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tain them with the stories of witches and hobgoblins, as is too much practised in England; by which means they are as much ashamed of being fools or cowards, as the gentlemen themselves. Mr. Gulliver's suite of servants was very numerous. He had three hundred cooks to dress his victuals. He used to place twenty waiters upon the table and a hundred more attended on the ground, some with dishes of meat and some with wine. A shoulder of mutton was one mouthful and a barrel of liquor a reasonable draught. Once indeed he had a surloin of beef so immensely large, that he made three bits of it. The geese and turkeys were a scanty mouthful, and of their smaller fowls he frequently took up twenty or thirty at a time upon the end of his knife.

Flimnap, the treasurer, was always a mortal enemy to Mr. Gulliver. He represented to the Emperor the low condition of the treasury; and in short went so far as to inform him, that the Man-mountain had cost his Majesty above a million of money in eating and drinking, and that it was highly advisable that the first fair opportunity should be taken of dismissing him.

While Mr. Gulliver was preparing to pay a visit to the Emperor of Blefuscu, a person of rank called at his house privately, and in the night. After the common salutations were over, the worthy nobleman informed him, that at the instigation of Flimnap the Treasurer, Lemioc the Commander in chief, Lancon the Chamberlain, and Balinuff the grand justiciary his Majesty had resolved upon the following articles of impeachment against him, for treason and other capital crimes.

1. That after having seized and secured the fleet of Blefuscu, he did refuse to destroy all the other shipping, and to put the inhabitants to death, under a pretence of an unwillingness to destroy the liberties and lives of an innocent people.

2. That he was preparing to make a voyage to the court of Blefuscu (for which he had received only a verbal licence) and thereby to aid and abet

the Emperor of Blefuscu against his Imperial Majesty of Lilliput.

Mr. Gulliver at first thought of pleading to the articles, and boldly standing trial; but he recollected that state trials generally terminate as the judges please to direct. He then was strongly bent upon resistance, for while he had liberty, the whole strength of that empire could hardly subdue him, and he could easily with stones pelt the metropolis to pieces.

At last however he resolved to leave the island peaceably, and to visit the Emperor of Blefuscu. He went to that side of the island where the fleet lay, seized upon a large man of war, tied a cable to the prow, heaved anchor, and after stripping put his clothes into the vessel, and drawing it after him, soon arrived at the port of Blefuscu. His Majesty, the royal family, and great officers of the court immediately came out to receive him. The reception he met with was suitable to the generosity of so great a prince; but for want of. a proper house and bed he was forced to lie on the ground, wrapped up in his coverlet.

Three days after Mr. Gulliver arrived at Blefuscu, he observed something in the sea, about half a league from shore, that resembled a boat overturned; and after wading a considerable way, he found that the tide bore it towards the shore, and that it was really a boat, which some tempest had driven from a ship. By the time he had waded up to his chin, the boat was within reach; he then got behind it and with little difficulty pushed it ashore.

After some time he was informed that an envoy was arrived from Lilliput, with a' copy of the articles of impeachment, who represented the lenity of the Emperor his master, and that he was content the culprit should be punished only with the loss of his eyes; and that he hoped the Emperor of Blefuscu would order him to be sent back to Lilliput bound hand and foot.

To this the Emperor replied, that he believed their Majesties would soon be made easy. For that the Manmountain had found a prodigious vessel

on the shore, able to carry him to sea, which was ordered to be fitted up according to his own direction, and that he hoped in a few weeks both Empires would be freed from so insupportable an incumbrance; and with this answer the envoy returned to Lilliput.

Since fortune, whether good or evil, had thrown a boat in Mr. Gulliver's way, he was now resolved to venture himself upon the ocean; and the Emperor and most of his ministers were glad of the resolution.

Five hundred workmen were employed to make sails for the boat, by quilting thirteen folds of their strongest linen together. He twisted ten, twenty or thirty of their strongest cables together for ropes and a great stone served for an anchor. He formed masts and oars from some of the largest forest trees and the tallow of 300 oxen was used in greasing the boat.

After every thing was in readiness, Mr. Gulliver took leave of the Emperor and the royal family, by whom he was presented with fifty purses of gold and a full-length picture of his Majesty. He stored the boat with the carcases of 100 oxen, 300 sheep, as much ready dressed meat as 300 cooks could provide, and bread and drink in proportion. He also took six cows and two bulls alive; the same number of ewes and rams, with a good bundle of hay and a bag of corn.

Thus equipped he set sail on the four and twentieth of September in the

HENRY

morning, and in the evening descried an island about four leagues distant. He advanced forward, and cast anchor on the lee-side of it. He then took some refreshment and went to rest. He eat his breakfast in the morning before the sun was up, and heaving anchor steered the same course he had done the day before. He discovered nothing all this day, but upon the next he descried a sail; he hailed her, but got no answer; yet as he found he gained upon her, he made all the sail he could, and in half an hour she espied him and hung out her ancient. (1) He came up with her at six in the evening, and was overjoyed to see her English colours; he put his live stock into his pockets, and got on board with all his cargo of provisions. The vessel was an English merchant-man returning from Japan, and was commanded by Mr. John Riddel, who, when Mr. Gulliver informed him of his adventures, imagined he had lost his wits; whereupon taking his oxen and sheep out of his pockets, after great astonishment he clearly convinced the crew of his veracity.

The remainder of this voyage was very prosperous; for they arrived in the Downs on the 13th of April. Mr. Gulliver found his wife and family in good health; his uncle had left him an estate near Epping of 50 pounds a-year, and he had a long lease of the Blackbull in Fetter-Lane that yielded him as much more, so that he immediately settled with his family at Redriff.

HENRY FIELDING.

ENRY FIELDING, born at Sharpham Park, Somersetshire, in 1707, of highly respectable parents, was educated at Eton, and afterwards studied for the law. By his marriage he obtained a large property, which however he ran through in three years, at the end of which time he renewed his legal studies and became a barrister; but his practice not enabling him to support his family, he began to write for the theatre and published some political pamphlets. In 1742 appeared his novel of 'Joseph Andrews,' which at once showed him to be an author of great original merit.

THE MAN OF THE HILL.

I was born in a village of Somersetshire, called Mark, in the year 1657;

His next works of importance are-'A Journey from This World to the Next,' and a 'History of Jonathan Wild. In 1749 Fielding was appointed a justice of Westminster and Middlesex, in which capacity he actively discharged his duties, and in the midst of these engagements he produced "Tom Jones, his best novel. In 1751 appeared 'Amelia,' which was Fielding's last work of fiction. The irregular life of his younger days brought on a premature old age and dropsy, on account of which he was advised to try a warmer climate. In 1754 he set sail for Lisbon, where he died in the same year.

my father was one of those whom they call gentlemen-farmers. He had a little

(1) Ensign.

estate of about 300 L. a year of his own, and rented another estate of near the same value. He was prudent and industrious, and so good a husbandman, that he might have led a very easy and comfortable life, had not a bad wife soured his domestic quiet. But though this circumstance perhaps made him miserable, it did not make him poor: for he confined her almost entirely at home, and rather chose to bear eternal upbraidings in his own house, than to injure his fortune by indulging her in the extravagances she desired abroad.

He had two sons, of whom I was the younger. He designed to give us both a good education; but my elder brother, who, unhappily for him, was the favourite of my mother, utterly neglected his learning; insomuch that after having been five or six years at school with little or no improvement, my father being told by his master, that it would be to no purpose to keep him longer there, at last complied with my mother in taking him home from the hands of that tyrant, as she called his master; though indeed he gave the lad much less correction than his idleness deserved, but much more it seems, than the young gentleman liked, who constantly complained to his mother of his severe treatment, and she as constantly gave him a hearing.

My brother now, at the age of fifteen, bid adieu to all learning, and to every thing else but his dog and gun, with which latter he became so expert, that, though perhaps you may think it incredible, he could not only hit a standing mark with great certainty, but hath actually shot a crow as it was flying in the air. He was likewise excellent at finding a hare sitting, and was soon reputed one of the best sportsmen in the country; a reputation which both he and his mother enjoyed as much as if he had been thought the finest scholar.

The situation of my brother made me at first think my lot the harder, in being continued at school: but I soon changed my opinion, for as I advanced.

pretty fast in learning, my labours became easy, and my exercise so delightful, that holidays were my most unpleasant time: for my mother, who never loved me, now apprehending that I had the greater share of my father's affection, and finding, or at least thinking, that I was more taken notice of by some gentlemen of learning, and particularly by the parson of the parish, than my brother, she now hated my sight, and made home so disagreeable to me, that what is called by schoolboys Black Monday, was to me the whitest in the whole year.

Having, at length, gone through the school at Taunton, I was thence removed to Exeter College in Oxford, where I remained four years; at the end of which an accident took me off entirely from my studies; and hence I may truly date the rise (1) of all which happened to me afterwards in life.

There was at the same college with myself one Sir George Gresham, a young fellow who was entitled to a very considerable fortune; which he was not, by the will of his father, to come into full possession of, till he arrived at the age of twenty-five. However, the liberality of his guardians gave him little cause to regret the abundant caution of his father: for they allowed him five hundred pounds a year while he remained at the university, and lived as wicked and as profligate a life, as he could have done, had he been ever so entirely master of his fortune; for besides the five hundred a year which he received from his guardians, he found means to spend a thousand more. He was above the age of twenty-one, and had no difficulty in gaining what credit. he pleased.

This young fellow, among many other tolerably bad qualities, had one very diabolical. He had a great delight in destroying and ruining the youth of inferior fortune, by drawing them into expenses which they could not afford so well as himself; and the better, and worthier, and soberer any young man

(1) Beginning of all the misfortunes.

was, the greater pleasure and triumph | exorbitant, that my father, by slow had he in his destruction, thus acting degrees, opened his ears to the accounts the character which is recorded of the which he received from many quarters devil, and going about seeking whom of my present behaviour: and which he might devour. my mother failed not to echo very faithfully and loudly, adding: 'Ay, this is the fine gentleman, the scholar who doth so much honour to his family, and is to be the making of it. I thought what all this learning would come to. He is to be the ruin of us all, I find, after his elder brother had been denied necessaries for his sake, to perfect his education forsooth, for which he was to pay us such interest: I thought what the interest would come to.'

It was my misfortune to fall into an acquaintance and intimacy with this gentleman. My reputation of diligence in my studies made me a desirable object of his mischievous intention; and my own inclination made it sufficiently easy for him to effect his purpose; for though I had applied myself with much industry to books, in which I took great delight, there were other pleasures in which I was capable of taking much greater.

I had not long contracted an intimacy with Sir George, before I became a partaker of all his pleasures, and when I was once entered on that scene, neither my inclination nor my spirit, would suffer me to play an under-part. I was second to none of the company in any acts of debauchery; nay, I soon distinguished myself so notably in all riots and disorders, that my name generally stood first in the roll of delinquents; and, instead of being lamented as the unfortunate pupil of Sir George, I was now accused as the person who had misled and debauched that hopeful young gentleman; for though he was the ring-leader and promoter of all the mischief, he was never so considered. I fell at last under the censure of the vice-chancellor, and very narrowly escaped expulsion.

You will easily believe that such a life as I am now describing, must be incompatible with my further progress in learning; and that in proportion as I addicted myself more and more to loose pleasure, I must grow more and more remiss in application to my studies. This was truly the consequence; but this was not all. My expenses now greatly exceeded not only my former income, but those additions which I extorted from my poor generous father, on pretence of sums being necessary for preparing for my approaching degree of bachelor of arts. These demands, however, grew at last so frequent and

My father, therefore, began now to return remonstrances, instead of money, to my demands, which brought my affairs perhaps a little sooner to a crisis; but had he remitted me his whole income, it could have sufficed a very short time to support one who kept pace with the expenses of Sir George Gresham.

It is more than possible, that the distress I was now in for money, and the impracticability of going on in this manner, might have restored me at once to my senses and to my studies, had I opened my eyes, before I became involved in debts, from which I saw no hopes of ever extricating myself. This was indeed the great art of Sir George, and by which he accomplished the ruin of many, whom he afterwards laughed at as fools and coxcombs, for vying, as he called it, with a man of his fortune. To bring this about, he would now and then advance a little money himself, in order to support the credit of the unfortunate youth with other people; till by means of that very credit, he was irretrievably undone.

My mind being, by these means, grown as desperate as my fortune, there was scarce a wickedness which I did not meditate, in order for my relief. Selfmurder itself became the subject of my serious deliberation; and I had certainly resolved on it, had not a more shameful, though perhaps less sinful thought expelled it from my head. I protest, so many years have not washed away

the shame of this fact, and I shall blush while I relate it. I had a chum, (1) a very prudent, frugal young lad, who, though he had no very large allowance, had by his parsimony heaped up upwards of forty guinees, which I knew he kept in his escritoire. I took therefore an opportunity of purloining his key from his breeches-pocket while he was asleep, and thus made myself master of all his riches. After which I again conveyed his key into his pocket, and counterfeiting sleep, though I never once closed my eyes, lay in bed till after he arose and went to prayers, an exercise to which I had long been unaccustomed.

Timorous thieves, by extreme caution, often subject themselves to discoveries, which those of a bolder kind escape. Thus it happened to me; for had I boldly broke open his escritoire, I had, perhaps, escaped even his suspicion, but as it was plain that the person who robbed him had possessed himself of his key, he had no doubt, when he first missed his money, but that his chum was certainly the thief. Now, as he was of a fearful disposition, and much my inferior in strength, and I believe, in courage, he did not dare to confront me with my guilt, for fear of worse bodily consequences, which might happen to him. He repaired therefore immediately to the vice-chancellor, and, upon swearing to the robbery, and to the circumstances of it, very easily obtained a warrant against one who had now so bad a character through the whole university.

Luckily for me, I lay out of the college the next evening; for that day I attended a young lady in a chaise to Whitney, where we staid all night; and in our return the next morning to Oxford, I met one of my cronies, who acquainted me with sufficient news concerning myself to make me turn my horse another way.

Having now abandoned all thoughts of returning to Oxford, the next thing which offered itself was a journey to

(1) Chamber companion.

London. I imparted this intention to my companion, who at first remonstrated against it; but upon producing my wealth, she immediately consented. We then struck across the country into the great Cirencester road, and made such haste, that we spent the next evening save one in London.

I was now reduced to a much higher degree of distress than before; the necessaries of life began to be numbered among my wants: and what made my case still the more grievous, was, that my paramour, of whom I was now grown immoderately fond, shared the same distresses with myself. To see a woman you love in distress; to be unable to relieve her, and, at the same time, to reflect that you have brought her into this situation, is, perhaps, a curse of which no imagination can represent the horrors to those who have not felt it.

This circumstance so severely aggravated the horrors of my present situation, that they became absolutely intolerable. I could with less pain endure the raging of my own natural unsatisfied appetites, even hunger or thirst, than I could submit to leave ungratified the most whimsical desires of a woman, on whom I so extravagantly doated, that I firmly intended to marry her. But the good creature was unwilling to consent to an action which the world might think so much to my disadvantage. And, as possibly, she compassionated the daily anxieties which she must have perceived me suffer on her account, she resolved to put an end to my distress. soon indeed found means to relieve me from my troublesome and perplexed situation: for while I was distracted with various inventions to supply her with pleasures, she very kindly-betrayed me to one of her former lovers at Oxford, by whose care and diligence I was immediately apprehended and committed to gaol.

She

Here I first began seriously to reflect on the miscarriages of my former life, on the errors I had been guilty of; on the misfortunes which I had brought on myself; and on the grief which I

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