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Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World `
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by Jonathan Swift `
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THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER. `
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[As given in the original edition.] `
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The author of these Travels, Mr. Lemuel Gulliver, is my ancient and `
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intimate friend; there is likewise some relation between us on the `
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mother's side. About three years ago, Mr. Gulliver growing weary `
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of the concourse of curious people coming to him at his house in `
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Redriff, made a small purchase of land, with a convenient house, `
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near Newark, in Nottinghamshire, his native country; where he now `
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lives retired, yet in good esteem among his neighbours. `
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Although Mr. Gulliver was born in Nottinghamshire, where his father `
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dwelt, yet I have heard him say his family came from Oxfordshire; `
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to confirm which, I have observed in the churchyard at Banbury in `
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that county, several tombs and monuments of the Gullivers. `
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Before he quitted Redriff, he left the custody of the following `
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papers in my hands, with the liberty to dispose of them as I should `
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think fit. I have carefully perused them three times. The style `
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is very plain and simple; and the only fault I find is, that the `
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author, after the manner of travellers, is a little too `
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circumstantial. There is an air of truth apparent through the `
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whole; and indeed the author was so distinguished for his veracity, `
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that it became a sort of proverb among his neighbours at Redriff, `
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when any one affirmed a thing, to say, it was as true as if Mr. `
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Gulliver had spoken it. `
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By the advice of several worthy persons, to whom, with the author's `
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permission, I communicated these papers, I now venture to send them `
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into the world, hoping they may be, at least for some time, a `
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better entertainment to our young noblemen, than the common `
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scribbles of politics and party. `
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This volume would have been at least twice as large, if I had not `
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made bold to strike out innumerable passages relating to the winds `
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and tides, as well as to the variations and bearings in the several `
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voyages, together with the minute descriptions of the management of `
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the ship in storms, in the style of sailors; likewise the account `
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of longitudes and latitudes; wherein I have reason to apprehend, `
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that Mr. Gulliver may be a little dissatisfied. But I was resolved `
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to fit the work as much as possible to the general capacity of `
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readers. However, if my own ignorance in sea affairs shall have `
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led me to commit some mistakes, I alone am answerable for them. `
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And if any traveller hath a curiosity to see the whole work at `
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large, as it came from the hands of the author, I will be ready to `
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gratify him. `
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As for any further particulars relating to the author, the reader `
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will receive satisfaction from the first pages of the book. `
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RICHARD SYMPSON. `
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A LETTER FROM CAPTAIN GULLIVER TO HIS COUSIN SYMPSON. `
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WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1727. `
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I hope you will be ready to own publicly, whenever you shall be `
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called to it, that by your great and frequent urgency you prevailed `
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on me to publish a very loose and uncorrect account of my travels, `
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with directions to hire some young gentleman of either university `
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to put them in order, and correct the style, as my cousin Dampier `
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did, by my advice, in his book called "A Voyage round the world." `
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But I do not remember I gave you power to consent that any thing `
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should be omitted, and much less that any thing should be inserted; `
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therefore, as to the latter, I do here renounce every thing of that `
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kind; particularly a paragraph about her majesty Queen Anne, of `
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most pious and glorious memory; although I did reverence and esteem `
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her more than any of human species. But you, or your interpolator, `
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ought to have considered, that it was not my inclination, so was it `
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not decent to praise any animal of our composition before my master `
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Houyhnhnm: And besides, the fact was altogether false; for to my `
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knowledge, being in England during some part of her majesty's `
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reign, she did govern by a chief minister; nay even by two `
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successively, the first whereof was the lord of Godolphin, and the `
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second the lord of Oxford; so that you have made me say the thing `
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that was not. Likewise in the account of the academy of `
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projectors, and several passages of my discourse to my master `
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Houyhnhnm, you have either omitted some material circumstances, or `
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minced or changed them in such a manner, that I do hardly know my `
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own work. When I formerly hinted to you something of this in a `
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letter, you were pleased to answer that you were afraid of giving `
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offence; that people in power were very watchful over the press, `
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and apt not only to interpret, but to punish every thing which `
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looked like an innuendo (as I think you call it). But, pray how `
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could that which I spoke so many years ago, and at about five `
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thousand leagues distance, in another reign, be applied to any of `
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the Yahoos, who now are said to govern the herd; especially at a `
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time when I little thought, or feared, the unhappiness of living `
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under them? Have not I the most reason to complain, when I see `
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these very Yahoos carried by Houyhnhnms in a vehicle, as if they `
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were brutes, and those the rational creatures? And indeed to avoid `
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so monstrous and detestable a sight was one principal motive of my `
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retirement hither. `
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Thus much I thought proper to tell you in relation to yourself, and `
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to the trust I reposed in you. `
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I do, in the next place, complain of my own great want of judgment, `
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in being prevailed upon by the entreaties and false reasoning of `
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you and some others, very much against my own opinion, to suffer my `
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travels to be published. Pray bring to your mind how often I `
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desired you to consider, when you insisted on the motive of public `
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good, that the Yahoos were a species of animals utterly incapable `
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of amendment by precept or example: and so it has proved; for, `
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instead of seeing a full stop put to all abuses and corruptions, at `
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least in this little island, as I had reason to expect; behold, `
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after above six months warning, I cannot learn that my book has `
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produced one single effect according to my intentions. I desired `
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you would let me know, by a letter, when party and faction were `
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extinguished; judges learned and upright; pleaders honest and `
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modest, with some tincture of common sense, and Smithfield blazing `
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with pyramids of law books; the young nobility's education entirely `
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changed; the physicians banished; the female Yahoos abounding in `
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virtue, honour, truth, and good sense; courts and levees of great `
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ministers thoroughly weeded and swept; wit, merit, and learning `
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rewarded; all disgracers of the press in prose and verse condemned `
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to eat nothing but their own cotton, and quench their thirst with `
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their own ink. These, and a thousand other reformations, I firmly `
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counted upon by your encouragement; as indeed they were plainly `
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deducible from the precepts delivered in my book. And it must be `
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owned, that seven months were a sufficient time to correct every `
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vice and folly to which Yahoos are subject, if their natures had `
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been capable of the least disposition to virtue or wisdom. Yet, so `
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far have you been from answering my expectation in any of your `
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letters; that on the contrary you are loading our carrier every `
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week with libels, and keys, and reflections, and memoirs, and `
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second parts; wherein I see myself accused of reflecting upon great `
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state folk; of degrading human nature (for so they have still the `
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confidence to style it), and of abusing the female sex. I find `
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likewise that the writers of those bundles are not agreed among `
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themselves; for some of them will not allow me to be the author of `
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my own travels; and others make me author of books to which I am `
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wholly a stranger. `
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I find likewise that your printer has been so careless as to `
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confound the times, and mistake the dates, of my several voyages `
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and returns; neither assigning the true year, nor the true month, `
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nor day of the month: and I hear the original manuscript is all `
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destroyed since the publication of my book; neither have I any copy `
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left: however, I have sent you some corrections, which you may `
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insert, if ever there should be a second edition: and yet I cannot `
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stand to them; but shall leave that matter to my judicious and `
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candid readers to adjust it as they please. `
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I hear some of our sea Yahoos find fault with my sea-language, as `
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not proper in many parts, nor now in use. I cannot help it. In my `
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first voyages, while I was young, I was instructed by the oldest `
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mariners, and learned to speak as they did. But I have since found `
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that the sea Yahoos are apt, like the land ones, to become new- `
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fangled in their words, which the latter change every year; `
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insomuch, as I remember upon each return to my own country their `
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old dialect was so altered, that I could hardly understand the new. `
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And I observe, when any Yahoo comes from London out of curiosity to `
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visit me at my house, we neither of us are able to deliver our `
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conceptions in a manner intelligible to the other. `
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If the censure of the Yahoos could any way affect me, I should have `
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great reason to complain, that some of them are so bold as to think `
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my book of travels a mere fiction out of mine own brain, and have `
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gone so far as to drop hints, that the Houyhnhnms and Yahoos have `
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no more existence than the inhabitants of Utopia. `
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Indeed I must confess, that as to the people of Lilliput, `
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Brobdingrag (for so the word should have been spelt, and not `
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erroneously Brobdingnag), and Laputa, I have never yet heard of any `
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Yahoo so presumptuous as to dispute their being, or the facts I `
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have related concerning them; because the truth immediately strikes `
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every reader with conviction. And is there less probability in my `
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account of the Houyhnhnms or Yahoos, when it is manifest as to the `
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latter, there are so many thousands even in this country, who only `
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differ from their brother brutes in Houyhnhnmland, because they use `
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a sort of jabber, and do not go naked? I wrote for their `
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amendment, and not their approbation. The united praise of the `
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whole race would be of less consequence to me, than the neighing of `
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those two degenerate Houyhnhnms I keep in my stable; because from `
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these, degenerate as they are, I still improve in some virtues `
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without any mixture of vice. `
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Do these miserable animals presume to think, that I am so `
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degenerated as to defend my veracity? Yahoo as I am, it is well `
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known through all Houyhnhnmland, that, by the instructions and `
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example of my illustrious master, I was able in the compass of two `
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years (although I confess with the utmost difficulty) to remove `
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that infernal habit of lying, shuffling, deceiving, and `
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equivocating, so deeply rooted in the very souls of all my species; `
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especially the Europeans. `
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I have other complaints to make upon this vexatious occasion; but I `
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forbear troubling myself or you any further. I must freely `
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confess, that since my last return, some corruptions of my Yahoo `
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nature have revived in me by conversing with a few of your species, `
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