Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 12 — page 13: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Gulliver’s Travels. ——- --—- the reach of his ing to let him go. I was soon relieved by one of our servants, who re gy Fa the bird’s neck; and I had him next day for dinner, by the queen’s com- mand. This linnet, as near as ican remember, seem- ed to be somewhat larger than an English swan. The maids of honor often invited Glumdalclitch to their apartments, and desired she would bring me along with her, on purpose to have the pleasure of apcing and touching me. They would often strip me naked from top to and lay me at full length in their bosoms; wherewith I was much disgusted, be- cause, to say the truth, a very offensive smell came from their Seine, which I do not mention, or intend, to the disadvantage of those excellent ladies, for whom I have all manner of “yen but I conceive that my sense was more acute, In proportion to my littleness, and that those illustrious persons were no more ble to their lovers, or to each other, than people of the same quality are with us in Eng- land. And, after all, I found their natural smell was much more sup ble than when they used per- fumes, under which I immediately swooned away. I cannot forget, that an intimate friend of mine in Lilliput too the freedom, in a warm day, when I had used a good deal of exercise, to complain of a strong smell about me, although I am as little fault that way as most of my sex; but I suppose faculty of smelling was as nice in regard to me, as mine was to that of this people. Upon this point, I cannot forbear doing justice to the queen my mis- tress, and Glumdalclitch my nurse, whose persons were as sweet as those of any lady in Englan That which gave me most uneasiness among these maids of honor (when my nurse carried me to visit them), was, to see them use me without any manner of ceremony, like a creature who had no sort of con- cupiscence; for they would strip themselves to the sicin, and put their smocks on in my gests. while I was placed on their toilet, directly before their es; which, I eh sure, to me vee very far from being a tempting sight, or from giv me an other emotions than those of horror ant dingust: their skins appeared so coarse and uneven, so vari- ously colored, when I saw them near, with a mole here and there as broad as a trencher, and hanging from it thicker than pack-threads. One day, a young gentleman, who was nephew to my nurse’s governess, came and pressed them both to see an execution. It was of a man who had mur- dered one of that gentleman’s intimate acquaintance. Glumdalclitch was prevailed on to be of the com- pany, very , was naturally tender-hearted; and as for myself, al- though I abhorred such kind of s tacles, yet my curiosity tempted me to see something that I thought thust be extraordi The malefactor was fixed in a chair upona old erected for that purpose, claws, that I was twenty times think- But LOS tt Sst SSS much against her inclination, for she | and his head cut off at one blow, with a sword about | forty feet long. such a prodigious quantity of blood, and so high in the air, that the great jet d'eau at Versailles was not ual, for the time it lasted; and the head, when it fell on the scaffold floor, gave such a bounce as made me start, although I was at least half an English mile distant. The queen, who often used to hear me talk of my gea-voyages, and took all occasions to divert me when I was melancholy, asked me whether I under- The veins and arteries spouted up | _— —_—_—_ was held by the middle in the air, till Glumdalclitch ran to my relief. Another time, one of the servants, whose office it was to fill was J trough every third day with fresh water, was SO careless as to let a huge frog (not percei it) slip out of his pail. The frog lay concealed till was put into my boat, but then, seeing a resting- place, climbed up, and made it lean so much on one side, that I was forced to balance it with all my weight on the other, to prevent ovesturnny: When the frog was got in, it hopped at once half the length of the t, and then over head, backward and forward, daubing my face and clothes with its odious slime. e largeness of its features made it appear the most deformed animal that can be conceived. However, I desired Glumdalclitch to let me deal with italone. I banged it a good while with one of my sculls, and at last forced it to leap out of the boat. But the greatest danger I ever underwent in that ingdom was from a monkey, who belonged to one of the clerks of the kitchen. Glumdalclitch had lock- ed me up in her closet, while she went somewhere upon business, or a visit. The weather being very warm, the closet-window was left open, as well as the windows and the door of my bigger box, in which I usually lived, because of its ence. I sat queky medita ng at my table, I heard something bounce in at the closet-window, and skip about from one side to the other; wherea though I was much alarmed, yet I ventured to look out, but not mggive Reig > my seat; and then I saw this frolicsome al frisking and leaping up and coun, paw he oe to my Bene i” e eva to view with great pleasure and curiosity, Pp in at the door and every window. I setreaton to the further corner of my room, or box; but the monkey, looking in at every side, put me into such a fright that I wanted presence of mind to conceal mysel under the bed, as I might easily have done. ter some time spent in ping, ey ng, and chatter- ing, he at last espied me; and reaching one of his paws in at the door, as a cat does when she plays with a mouse, although I often shifted place to avoid him, he at length seized the lappet of my coat (which, being made of that country was very thick and strong), and dragged me out. He took me up in his right fore-foot, and held me as a nurse does a child she is going to suckle, just as I have seen the same sort of creature do with a kitten in Europe; and when I offered to struggle, he squeezed me so hard that I thought it more prudent to submit, I have good reason to believe that he took me for a young one of his own species, by his often stroking my face very gently with his other paw. In these diversions he was interrupted by a noise at the closet -door, as if eomenody were opening it; Mh wring og he sud- denly leaped up to the window at which he had come in, and thence upon the leads and —— walking upon three legs, and holding me in the fourth, till he clambered up to a roof that was next to ours, I heard Glumdalclitch give a shriek at the moment he was carrying me out, The poor girl was almost distracted; that quarter of the palace was all in an uproar; the servants ran for ladders, The monkey wasseen by hundreds in the court, sitting upon the ness and conveni- al- _vidge of a building, holding me like a baby in one of | squeezed out of the stood how to handle a sail or an oar, and whether | a little exercise of rowing might not be convenient for my health. I answered, that I understood both very well; for, although my proper employment had been to be surgeon or doctor to the ship, yet often, upon a pinch, I was forced to work like a common mariner. done in their country, where the smallest wherry was equa to a first-rate man-of-war among us; and such a t as I could manage would never live in any of _ stones, hopin But I could not see how this could be | fo their rivers, Her majesty said, if I would contrive a | boat, her own joiner should make it, and she would rovide a place for me to sailin. The fellow wasan enious workman, and, by my instructions, in ten days finished a pleasure-boat, with all its tackling, able conveniently to hold eight Europeans. When it was finished, the queen was so delighted that she | ran with it in her la of trial; where I could not manage my two sculls, or little oars, for want of room. But the queen had be- fore contrived another project. She ordered the qoiner to make a wooden trough, of three hundred | eet long, fifty broad, and eight deep; which, being well pitched, to prevent leaking, was placed on the floor, along the wall, in an outer room of the palace. a cock near the bottom, $9 let out ol water when it began to grow stale; and two servants co easily fill it in half an hour. Herel often used to row for my own diversion, as well as that of the queen and her ladies, who thought themselves well entertained with my skill and agility, Sometimes I would put up my sail, and then my business was only to steer, while their fans; and, when they were weary, some of their pages would blow my sail forward with their breath, while I showed my art by steering starboard or lar- board as I pleased. en I had done, Glumdal- clitch always carried back my boat into her closet, and hung it on a nail to dry. In this exercise I once met an accident, which had like to have cost me my life; for, one of the pages having put my boat into the trough, the governess who attended Glumdalclitch very officiously lifted me pe to place me in the boat; but I —_ at rough her fingers, and should inf ly have fallen down forty feet, upon the floor, if, by the luck- iest chance in the world, I had not been stopped by a cor -pin that stuck in the good gentlewoman’s stomacher; the head of the pin passed between m shirt and the waistband of my to the king, who ordered it to | be put in a cistern full of water, with me init, by way | | ting me into e. the ladies gave me a gale with | | ing my hand u th a eehes and than, | ond clapping my pon the his fore-paws, and feedi me with the other, by cramming into my mout some victuals he had on one side of his chaps, and tting me when I would not eat; whereat many of he rabble below could not forbear laughing, neither do I think they justly ought to be blamed, for, without question, the — was ridiculous enough to every- body but myself. Some of the people threw u to drive the monkey down; but t was strictly forbidden, or else, very probably, my brains had been dashed out. The ladders were now applied, and mounted b several men; which the monkey observing, and find- ing himself almost encompassed, not being able to make speed enough with his three | let me drop on a ridge-tile, and made his escape. Here I sat for some time, five hundred yards from the yA ag expecting every moment to be blown down by the ay ae to fall by my own giddiness, and come tumb over and over from the ridge to the eaves; but an honest lad, one of gy Boag a footmen, climbed up, and put- is breeches-pocket, brought me down I was almost choked with the filthy stuff the mon- key had crammed down my throat; but my dear lit- tle nurse picked it out of my mouth with a small needle, and then I fell a-vomiting, which gave me great relief. Yet Il was so weak and bruised in the sides with the squeezes given by this odious animal, that I was for to keep my bed a aang poe The , queen, and all the court, sent every day to in- quire after my health, and her majesty made me several visits during my sickness. e monkey was ed, and an order made that no such animal should be kept about the palace. en I attended 1 the king after my recovery, to return him thanks for his favors, he was pleased to rally me a good deal upon this adventure. He asked me what my thoughts and speculations were while I layin the monkey's paw; how I liked the victuals he gave me, and his manner of feeding; and whether the fresh air on the roof had sharpened my stomach. He desired to know what I would have done upon such an occasion in my own country. I told his majesty, that in Europe we had no mon- keys except such as were brought for curiosities from other places, and so small, that I could deal with a dozen of them together, if they presumed to attack me. And as for that monstrous animal, with whom I was so lately engaged (it was indeed as large as an elephant), if my fears had suffered me to think so far as to make use of my hanger Cg igh ped ral as spoke) when he poked his paw into my chamber, nertioge i 13 ee —-_ should have en him such a wound as would have made him to withdraw it, with more haste than he put it in. This I delivered in a firm tone, likea person who was jealous lest his courage should be called in question. However, my speech uced nothing else beside a loud laughter, w all the due to his majesty from those about him could not make them contain. This made me re- flect, how vain an attempt it is for a man to endeavor to do himself honor among those who are out of all d of equality or comparison with him. And be I have seen the moral of my own behavior very mors in England, since my return; where a little contemptible varlet, without the least title to birth, person, wit, or common sense, shall presume to look with ERETORON, and } xe himself upon a foot with the greatest persons of the kingdom. I was every day ne a court with some ridiculous story; and Glumdalclitch, although she loved me to excess, yet was arch enough to inform the queen, whenever I committed any folly that she thought would be diverting to her majesty. The girl, who had been out of order, was carried by her governess to take the air about an hour's distance, or thirty miles from town. They hted out of the coach near a small footpath in a , and Glumdal- clitch ye, mag my traveling —— went out of it to walk. ere was a cow-dung in the , and I must needs try my activity by attemp to over it. I took a run, but unfortunately jum short, and found myself just in the middle, up to my knees. I waded through with some difficulty, and one of the footmen wi me as clean as he could with his handkerchief, for I was filthily bemired; and my nurse confined me to my box till we re- turned home, where the queen was soon informed of what had passed, and the footmen spread it about the court; so that all the mirth for some days was at my expense. CHAPTER VL I usep to attend the king’s levee once or twice a week,and had often seen him under the barber's hand, which, indeed, was at first very terrible to behold, for the razor was almost twice as long as an ordinary scythe. His majesty, according to the custom of the country, was only shaved twice a week. I once pre- vailed on the barber to give me some of the suds or lather, out of which I picked forty or fifty of the strongest stumps of hair. I then took a piece of fine wood, and cut it like the back of a comb, making several holes in it at equal distances, with as small a needle as I could get from Glumdalclitch. I fixed in the stumps so artificially, scraping and sloping them with m e toward the points, that I made a very tolerable comb; which was a seasonable supply, my own being so much broken in the teeth that it was almost useless; neither did I know any artist in that country, so nice and exact, as would undertake to make me another. And this puts me in mind of an amusement, wherein I spent many of my leisure hours. I de- sired the queen’s woman to save for me the comb- ings of her majesty’s hair, whereof in time I got a good quantity; and consulting with my friend. the cabinet-maker, who had received general orders to do little jobs for me, I directed him to make two c es, no larger than those I had in my box, and to bore little holes with a fine awl round those cg where I designed the backs and seats; through ese holes I wove the strongest hairs I could pick out, just after the manner of cane chairs in England. When they were finished, I made a present of them to her mas saad who kept them in her cabinet, and used to show them for curiosities, indeed, they were the wonder of every one that beheld them. The queen would have had me sit upon one of these chairs, but I absolutely refused to obey her, proregsing 2 ees rather die a thousand deaths than place a onorable part of my body on those pre- cious hairs, that once adorned ber majesty’s head. Of these hairs (as I had always a mechanical genius) I likewise made a neat little purse, about five feet long, with her majesty’s name deciphered in gold letters, which I gave to Glumdalclitch, by the queen's consent. To say the truth, it was more for show than use, being not of strength to bear the w t of the larger coins, and therefore she —_ no in it but some little toys that girls are fond of. The king who delighted in music, had frequent con- certs at court, to which I was sometimes carried, and set in my box on a table to hear them; but the noise was so ny that I could hardly the tunes. lam confident that all the drums and trum- et of a royal army, beating and sounding together ust at your ears, could not equal it. practice was, to have my box removed from the where the performers sat, as far as I could, then to shut the doors and windows of it, and draw the window penelope. after which I found their music not dis- e. I had learned is voy outh to play a little upon the spinet; Glumdalclitch kept one in her chamber, and a master attended twice a week to teach her. I call- ed it a spinet, because it somewhat resembled that instrument, and was played upon in the same man- ner, A fancy came into my head, that I would en- tertain the xing and queen with an English tune n this instrument. But this appeared extremely P cult; for the spinet was near sixty feet long, each key “re 4 almost a foot wide, so that with my arms extended I could not reach to above five keys, and to press them down required a good smart stroke with my fist, which would be too great a labor, and to no purpose. The method I contrived was this: I pre- pared two round sticks, about the bigness of common cudgels; they were thicker at one end than the other, and I covered the thicker ends with pieces of a mouse’s skin, that by rapping on them I might neither damage the tops of the keys nor JOO eom (E (E(6)