An Account of the State of Learning IN THE Empire of Lilliput.

AS I always had a ſtrong Inclination to Reading, from the Time I firſt went to Emanuel-College in Cambridge, and had gone through the moſt valuable [6] ancient Writers; during my ſtay in Lilliput, I was very inquiſitive about the ſtate of Learning in that Nation, and received the following Information upon that Subject.

IN former Ages, the Govern⯑ment of the Iſland Blefuſcu was, in many reſpects, like what we call a Commonwealth, and for a long time flouriſhed both in Arms and Learning, whilſt the Lilliputians were a barbarous People; at this Time many ex⯑cellent Books were wrote in Oratory, Poetry, Hiſtory, and Philoſophy, but the Blefuſcudi⯑ans having at length loſt their Liberties and Form of Govern⯑ment, [7] which was changed into an Empire, Learning decay'd a⯑mongſt them very faſt; the faſter by reaſon of hot Diſ⯑putes which aroſe concerning the proper manner of Dreſſing and Eating Eggs; and in theſe the whole Studies of all the Learned Men of that Age were conſumed.

THE firſt Emperor of Ble⯑fuſcu, that he might ingratiate himſelf with his People, whom he had enſlaved, undertook an Expedition againſt the Iſland of Lilliput; which being then go⯑verned by ſeveral petty Kings, ignorant of the Arts of War, was, by Degrees, ſubdued to the [8] Empire of Blefuſcu. During this Intercourſe between the two Nations, the Blefuſcudian Lan⯑guage was very much changed, by the mixture of the Lillipu⯑tian; and thoſe Authors who wrote in the old Language were neglected, and underſtood by very few.

IN proceſs of Time the Lil⯑liputians grew weary of Sub⯑jection, flung off the Foreign Yoke, ſet up an Emperor of their own with great Succeſs, and ever ſince have been a di⯑ſtinct Empire from that of Blefuſcu.

[9] As they were an Ingenious People, and bleſſed with a Race of good Emperors, they ſoon excelled their Neighbours in Learning and Arms; they got together all the old Blefuſcudian Books, their Emperor founded a Gomflaſtru, or Seminary, with different Schools, to inſtruct their Youth in the old Blefuſ⯑cudian Language and Learning; and from thence choſe their Nardacs, Glumglums, and Hurgos, and the Emperors had them⯑ſelves a large Collection of theſe Books in a Library belong⯑ing to the Palace.

THUS the Lilliputians flou⯑riſhed in Politeneſs and Litera⯑ture, [10] for ſome Ages; till at length, by the Plenty of a long Peace, they alſo grew Corrupt, gave themſelves up to Idleneſs, Luxury, and Intriguing, and fell into Controverſies about breaking their Eggs; the old Blefuſcudian Books were laid aſide, and nothing regarded but Eggs and Politicks. The Gom⯑flaſtru indeed continued, each School had its Mulro, or Gover⯑nour and Scholars; but the taſte of the Age being changed, they only turned over the old Authors to amuſe themſelves, and enjoy'd the moderate Reve⯑nues bequeathed to them by for⯑mer Emperors. The preſent Emperor indeed had endeavour'd [11] to bring them into Eſteem again, he encreaſed their Poſſeſſions, and gave a Noble Preſent of Books to the Gomflaſtru; but having a debauched inconſtant People to rule over, and be⯑ing kept in continual Alarms of Wars by his Neighbours, he had not leiſure to perfect his good Intentions.

I was at this Time in his Favour, and when He heard that I had been inquiſitive a⯑bout theſe Affairs, He very graciouſly deſired me to look into his Library, and ſent Or⯑ders to the Keeper of it to uſe me with great Reſpect, and to preſent me with Five Hun⯑dred [12] Books, ſuch as I ſhould chooſe.

ACCORDINGLY, upon a Day appointed, I went to the Li⯑brary, which I took a view of in the ſame manner as I had done of the reſt of the palace, by lying down and looking in at the Window: The Building was ruinous, the Inſide duſty, the Books many in Number, but ſcattered about in great Diſorder; the Library-Keeper, whoſe Name is BULLUM, was alone ſtalking amidſt the Rub⯑biſh. As ſoon as he ſaw my Face at the Window, he made his beſt Bow, and began his Speech to me, which, as I was afterwards informed, he had [13] taken a great deal of Pains a⯑bout, knowing me to be in the Emperor's good Graces. Moſt part of what he ſpoke was unintelligible to me, by a ridi⯑culous Mixture of the old Blefuſcudian Language: And what I did underſtand was fulſome Flattery, and Comple⯑ments that nothing mortal could deſerve.

THIS was very dull Enter⯑tainment to a Man of my Mo⯑deſty, and thereupon finding his Speech would be long, and that he was forced to ſtrain his Voice to make me hear at that diſtance; I thought it would be a kindneſs to us both [14] to put a ſtop to him, which I did, returning him Thanks, in few Words, for his great Opinion of me, and deſired to ſee him the next Day, that I might chooſe out the Five Hun⯑dred Books which the Emperor had given me.

BULLUM, as I heard after⯑wards, was in great Wrath, and loaded me with many op⯑probrious Names, for refuſing to hear his Speech out, and daring to treat a Man of his Learning with ſo little reſpect. However, he ſtifled his Reſent⯑ment a little for the preſent, and came to me at the Time appointed.

[15] I DESIRED him to ſhew me a Catalogue of the Books, and to give me ſome Account of what they treated of, that I might be able to make a Choice. He replied, That he had not troubled himſelf to bring a written Catalogue, but that he had one in his Memory, and immediately he repeated to me the Titles of a vaſt Num⯑ber of old Blefuſcudian Books, and run on with a great flu⯑ency of Speech, till he was out of Breath.

IT was a Pain to me to for⯑bear Laughing, to hear BULLUM ſputter out ſo much Jargon; [16] at laſt I told him, That I was not in the leaſt wiſer for what he had ſaid, becauſe I under⯑ſtood not a Syllable of the Lan⯑guage he ſpoke. At that, as he ſtood on the Table before me, he put out his Under-Lip▪ and ſtaring me full in the Face, ſaid, with a great deal of Con⯑tempt, Not underſtand Blefuſcu⯑dian! What do you underſtand?

I WAS a little Diſcompoſed at this Treatment; but not knowing then what Intereſt he had at Court, I reſolved to uſe him Civilly; and replied, That I underſtood eight or nine Lan⯑guages, if there was any Merit in that; but that none of the [17] Books in his Library would be of any Uſe to me, that were not written in Lilliputian. Lil⯑liputian! ſays he, I cannot re⯑peat the Titles of many of them, but I will ſend you Five Hun⯑dred in a few Days: And thus he left me.

I WAS very impatient to re⯑ceive this curious Preſent; but BULLUM broke his Word; for about this Time my Intereſt at Court began to decline. I could not prevail upon him to deliver the Books to me: At laſt, after much Importunity, he came to me himſelf, atten⯑ded by a Servant, with only Five Books.

[18] I WAS ſurprized at this, and aſked if the reſt were upon the Road: He anſwer'd, That ſince he had ſeen me laſt, he had ſpent ſome Days in carefully peruſing the Emperor's Orders; that he had diſcovered the Word Hundred to be an In⯑terpolation; and that the true Reading was Five Books, which, in Obedience to the Emperor, he had brought me.

I HAD indeed been put off ſo long, that I ſuſpected I ſhould have had none, and therefore agreed to have the Five Books, deſigning to have made my Complaint afterwards, [19] but BULLUM had another Trick to play me. It was the Cuſtom, he ſaid, for all Stran⯑gers to make him a Com⯑plement in Writing, which he deſired me to comply with, and then he would deliver the Books to me. He had brought the Form, which I was to tranſcribe and ſign with my own Name. The Words were theſe:

OUT of an earneſt Deſire to get Poſſeſſion of the Books, I ſubmitted even to this Demand of BULLUM, who then ordering them to be flung down before me, turned nimbly upon his Heel and left me. He had picked out for me the Five worſt Books in the Library, according to his Judgment; but when I came to peruſe them with a Microſcope, (the biggeſt being a Folio about half an Inch long) I found they were very [21] Curious in their kind, but treat⯑ing of Subjects that BULLUM was not converſant in. There was,

• 1. A Collection of Poetry.
• 2. An Eſſay on Humility; ne⯑ceſſary for all Lilliputians, who are very much inclined to think well of themſelves, and meanly of others.
• 3. A Diſſertation upon Tra⯑mecſans and Slamecſans, or High-heel'd and Low-heel'd Shoes.
• 4. A Bundle of Controverſies concerning the primitive way of breaking Eggs.
• 5. The Blundecral, or Al [...]

[22] THESE Books I brought ſafe with me to England, and deſign either to publiſh them, or elſe to preſent them to the Univer⯑ſity which I had once the Ho⯑nour to be a Member of.

BUT to return to BULLUM. I was amazed at his Behaviour towards me, eſpecially conſider⯑ing I was a Nardac, to which Title he generally paid a pro⯑found Reſpect. This made [...] deſirous of getting an Account of his Hiſtory and Character, which, having ſomething extra⯑ordinary in them, I ſhall lay be⯑fore my Reader.

[23] BULLUM is a tall raw-bon'd Man, I believe near ſix Inches and an half high; from his In⯑fancy he apply'd himſelf, with great Induſtry, to the old Ble⯑fuſcudian Language, in which he made ſuch a Progreſs, that he almoſt forgot his native Lillipu⯑tian; and at this Time he can neither Write nor ſpeak two Sentences, without a Mixture of old Blefuſcudian: Theſe Qua⯑lifications, joined to an undaun⯑ted forward Spirit, and a few good Friends, prevail'd with the Emperor's Grandfather to make him Keeper of his Library, and a Mulro in the Gomflaſtru; tho' moſt Men thought him fitter to [24] be one of the Royal Guards. Theſe Places ſoon helped him to Riches, and upon the Strength of them he ſoon began to de⯑ſpiſe every Body, and to be de⯑ſpiſed by every Body. This en⯑gaged him in many Quarrels, which he managed in a very odd manner; whenever he thought himſelf affronted, he immediately flung a great Book at his Ad⯑verſary, and, if he could, fell'd him to the Earth; but if his Adverſary ſtood his Ground and flung another Book at him, which was ſometimes done with great Violence, then he com⯑plain'd to the Grand Juſticiary, that theſe Affronts were deſigned to the Emperor, and that he was [25] ſingled out only as being the Emperor's Servant. By this Trick he got that Great Officer to favour him, which made his Enemies Cautious, and him In⯑ſolent.

BULLUM attended the Court ſome Years, but could not get into an higher Poſt; for though he conſtantly wore the Heels of his Shoes High or Low, as the Faſhion was, yet having a long Back and a ſtiff Neck, he never could, with any dexterity, creep under the Stick, which the Em⯑peror or the Chief Miniſter held. As to his dancing on the Rope, I ſhall ſpeak of it preſently; but the greateſt Skill at that [26] Art will not procure a Man a Place at Court, without ſome Agility at the Stick.

BULLUM, vexed at theſe Diſappointments, withdrew from Court, and only appeared there upon extraordinary Occaſions, at other Times he retired to his Poſt of Mulro in the Gomflatu, there he led a gloomy ſolitary Life, heaped up Wealth, and pored upon the old Blefuſcu⯑dian Books. It might have been expected, that from ſo long an Acquaintance with thoſe admi⯑rable Writers, he ſhould have grown more Polite and Humane; but his Manner was never to regard the Sence or Subject of [27] the Author, but only the Shape of the Letters, in which he arrived to ſuch Perfection, that, as I have been aſſured, he could tell, very near, in what Year of the Blefuſcudian Com⯑monwealth any Book was writ⯑ten; and to this, and to re⯑ſtoring the old Characters that were effaced, all his Labour was confined.

UPON theſe Points he had wrote ſeveral Books, ſome in the Blefuſcudian, and ſome in the mixed Language; and when⯑ever he had finiſhed a Book, he preſented it to ſome Great Man at Court, with a Panegy⯑rical Oration; ſo contrived that [28] it would fit any Man in a great Poſt; and the higheſt Bidder had it.

WHILST I was in Lilliput, he propoſed to publiſh a new Blundecral of Alcoran; and, that he might do ſomething uncom⯑mon, he began at the End, and deſigned to have wrote back⯑wards; but the Lilliputians, ſome liking the old Blundecral, others not caring for any, gave him no encouragement; and therefore he deſiſted from that Project.

As this Nation was very much divided about breaking their Eggs, which they gene⯑rally [29] eat in Publick once a Day, or at leaſt once in Seven Days, I deſired to know how BUL⯑LUM behaved himſelf in this particular; and was told, That he was thought to have an Averſion to Eggs, for he was never ſeen to eat any in Publick, but once or twice in a Year, when his Poſt obliged him to it: At thoſe Times he gave Orders to have them ſerved up to him ready Dreſſed, and the Shells and Whites being care⯑fully taken off, he gulped up the Yolks in a very indecent manner, and immediately drank a Bumper of ſtrong Liquor after them, to waſh the Taſte out [30] of his Mouth, and promote the Digeſtion of them.

WHEN any one repreſented to him the ill Example of this Practice, his Anſwer was, That his Modeſty would not let him devour Eggs in Publick, when he had ſo many Eyes upon him; That he was not yet de⯑termined at which End he ought to break them; That the Shells and Whites were inſipid, and only fit for Children; But for the Eggs themſelves, he was ſo far from hating them, that he had a Diſh at his own Table every Day. But whether this was Truth, or if they were at his Table, whether he eat of [31] them or not, I could never learn.

BULLUM was always of an haughty Mind, and, in his own School, took a great deal of Pleaſure in mimicking the Acti⯑ons of the Emperor. Thus, he got a little Stick and uſed to divert himſelf in ſeeing his Scholars leap over, and creep under it, as he held it between his Hands. Thoſe who per⯑formed beſt, were rewarded, ſometimes, with a pompous Title in the old Blefuſcudian Language, ſignifying, MOST LEARNED, MOST FAMOUS, MOST ACCOMPLISHED YOUTH, or the like: Sometimes with [32] little Sugar-Plums; and ſome⯑times only with the Promiſe of them.

IN dancing on the Ropes he took great delight himſelf; and this was the only Bodily Exerciſe he uſed. Thoſe who had been Eye-witneſſes, inform⯑ed me, that he could cut a Caper very high, but that he did it in a clumſy manner, and with little delight to the Spectators, who were in conti⯑nual apprehenſions of his fal⯑ling, which ſometimes he did very dangerouſly.

IT was obſerved, that he danced beſt in his own Houſe, [33] but that he never danced be⯑fore the Gomflaſtru with Suc⯑ceſs. When he firſt came to his Place of Mulro, he did nothing but Dance and cut Capers on the Ropes, for a Year together: As this was a new Sport in that Part of the Iſland, he got a great deal of Money by it; but ſtriving to leap higher than ordinary, he fell off from the Rope, broke his Head, and diſordered his Brain ſo much, that moſt People thought it would inca⯑pacitate him for his Poſt of Mulro: However, at length, he pretty well recovered; he himſelf ſays, he is as well, or better, than he was before [34] his Fall: But his Enemies think his Brain is ſtill affected by it.

SOME Years after, the pre⯑ſent Emperor, in a Progreſs through his Dominions, came to the Gomflaſtru; and BUL⯑LUM, without being aſked, was reſolved to divert His Majeſty with his Performance on the Strait-Rope; up he mounts, and Capers bravely, for ſome time; at laſt, endeavouring to ſhew the utmoſt of his Skill, in the midſt of an high Caper, he reached out his Right-Hand too far, which gave him a terrible Fall.

[35] MOST People imputed it to his Over-reaching himſelf; but he laid the Fault partly upon the Robes he was obliged to wear before the Emperour, which, as he ſaid, entangled his Feet; and partly upon the maliciouſneſs of a Bye-ſtander, whom he accuſed of pulling the Rope aſide, as he was in the midſt of his Caper: How⯑ever that was, poor BULLUM broke his Leg, and was carried to his own Houſe, where he continued Lame above Two Years, not being able to ſhew himſelf in Publick all that Time; and it was thought he would never have recovered, if the [36] Emperor at laſt, had not taken pity on him, and ſent one of his own Surgeons to him, who cured him immediately.

AFTER all theſe Misfor⯑tunes BULLUM could not for⯑ſake his beloved Diverſion, but as ſoon as he was recovered, he forgot all that was paſt, and danced again in his own School every Day; where, by his frequent Falls he ſo bruiſed himſelf, that it was believed they would come to a Mor⯑tification: Beſides, he dances ſo long upon the ſame Rope, that through Age and Rotten⯑neſs, and his great Weight, it muſt break at laſt; and the [37] Emperor would ſcarce lend him a Surgeon a ſecond Time; which indeed would be in vain, for he can never leave off the Sport, though he performs worſe and worſe every Day; ſo that, in all probability, he will break his Neck for a Concluſion.