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LIFE
AND STRANGE SURPRIZING
ADVENTURES
OF
ROBINSON CRUSOE,
The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is one of those books that we all know even if we have never read it. With his first work of fiction, Daniel Defoe--a businessman turned poet, journalist, and political propagandist--created a character who very quickly went on to have a life that went well beyond the pages of the book that first appeared, without build-up, fanfare, or even the author's name on the title page, in April 1719. Robinson Crusoe was an immediate bestseller; the bookseller went through several editions in the first year alone. By August, Defoe had produced a sequel, The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a work that he wrote quickly in part to head off the possibility that someone else might beat him to it. Over the last three hundred years, the story of a person isolated on a deserted island or something like it, has been used by dozens, maybe hundreds of writers, who have made it a genre of its own, the "Robinsoniad," a genre that includes satirical parodies like Gulliver's Travels, children's books like The Swiss Family Robinson, Bugs Bunny cartoons, television situation comedies like Gilligan's Island, and science fiction works like the 2015 film The Martian. Robinson Crusoe, the man and the book in which he first appeared, has become one of the foundational myths of the modern world.The story of one man's survival has become so well known in all of these instances that it can be difficult to see through the mythology to analyze Defoe's original book and to imagine what its first readers might have noticed and found so striking. It is important to recognize, for example, that the book is told in the first person, by a narrator who never lets on that this is a work of fiction. Defoe's name, as noted above, did not appear on the title page of the first edition (although it quickly became clear to those in the know that he was the author), or even in any of the many editions issued in his lifetime. Although the book is famous for the many years that Crusoe spends on the island, it takes a while for him to get there, and his experiences both before and after his time there are worth paying attention to for the way that they frame the central experience. Defoe's prose is sometimes clunky-he has a tendency to shape sentences and paragraphs that would never pass muster with a modern copyeditor--but it is also capable of great beauty and insight, and rewards careful attention.
Perhaps most important, this is not a "novel" in any sense that either Defoe or we would recognize. In 1719, that word was most typically associated with short works of romantic fiction. This book, by contrast, has no romance at all (one of the stranger things about it, in fact, is how little Crusoe thinks of sex), is very long, and grounds itself thoroughly in circumstantial details drawn from a world that can be identified and verified. Robinson Crusoe dates its events precisely, and locates its scenes in real places that can be found on a map. (In fact, The Farther Adventures includes a map, inviting the reader to trace its fictional hero's exploits as he were an explorer in the world.) Defoe is very likely basing at least parts of the story on the real-life experience of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who had been left on a deserted island for several years. Even the slave trading voyage that Crusoe goes on that results in the shipwreck that isolates him was drawn from contemporary events; because of the outbreak of war with Spain in 1718, the English South Sea Company found itself unable to exercise its right to transport slaves from Africa to the Spanish colonies in the Americas, with the result that private merchants were undertaking such voyages, as Crusoe does. Contemporaries quickly recognized that Crusoe's story was fictional, but took a lot of pleasure in the way that it blurred the lines between the real world and the imagination. Robinson Crusoe has remained perhaps the single most important, influential, and popular work of fiction in the English language ever since.
YORK,MARINER:
Who lived Eight and Twenty Years all alone in
an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of AMERICA,
near the Mouth of the Great River of OROONOQUE;
Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, where
in all the Men perished but himself.
WITH
An Account how he was at last as strangely
deliver'd by PYRATES.
Written by Himself.
LONDON:
Printed for W. TAYLOR at the
Shipin
Pater-Noster-Row.
IF ever the Story of any private Man's Adventures in the World were worth making Publick, and were acceptable when Publish'd, the Editor of this Account thinks this will be so.
The Wonders of this Man's Life exceed all that (he thinks) is to be found extant; the Life of one Man being scarce capable of a greater Variety.
The Story is told with Modesty, with Seriousness, and with a
religious Application of Events to the Uses to which wise Men Oxford English Dictionary
The Editor believes the thing to be a just History of Fact; neither is there any Appearance of Fiction in it: And however thinks, because all such things are dispatch'd, that the Improvement of it, as well to the Diversion, as to the Instruction of the Reader, will be the same; and as such, he thinks, without farther Compliment to the World, he does them a great Service in the Publication.
&c.[Audio File]
I Was born in the Year 1632, in the City of
York,
Hull: He got a good Estate by Merchandise, and leaving
off his Trade, lived afterward at York, from whence he had married my
Mother, whose Relations were named Robinson, a very good Family in that
Country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer;
England, we are now called, nay we call our
selves, and write our Name Crusoe, and so my Companions always call'd
me.
English Regiment of Foot in Flanders,
formerly commanded by the famous Coll. Lockhart, and was killed at the
Battle near Dunkirk inagast the Spaniards: What became of my second
Brother I never knew any more than my Father or Mother did know what was become of
me.
Being the third Son of the Family, and not bred to any Trade, my Head began to be fill'd very early with rambling Thoughts: My Father, who was very ancient, had given me a competent Share of Learning, as far as House-Education, and a Country Free-School generally goes, and design'd me for the Law; but I would be satisfied with nothing but going to Sea, and my Inclination to this led me so strongly against the Will, nay the Commands of my Father, and against all the Entreaties and Perswasions of my Mother and other Friends, that there seem'd to be something fatal in that Propension of Nature tending directly to the Life of Misery which was to befal me.
My Father, a wise and grave Man, gave me serious and excellent Counsel against what
he foresaw was my Design
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Low Life, which he had found by long Experience
was the best State in the World, the most suited to human Happiness, not exposed to
the Miseries and Hardships, the Labour and Sufferings of the mechanick
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viz. That this was the State of
Life which all other People envied, that Kings have frequently lamented the miserable Consequences of being born to great
things, and wish'd they had been placed in the Middle of the two Extremes, between
the Mean and the Great; that the wise Man gave his Testimony to this as the just
Standard of true Felicity, when he prayed to have neither
Poverty or Riches.
He bid me observe it, and I should always find, that the Calamities of Life were
shared among the upper and lower Part of Mankind; but that the middle Station had the
fewest Disasters, and was not expos'd to so many Vicissitudes as the higher or lower
Part of Mankind; nay, they were not subjected to so many
Distempers and Uneasinesses either of Body or Mind, as those were who, by vicious
Living, Luxury and Extravagancies on one Hand, or by hard Labour, Want of
Necessaries, and mean or insufficient Diet on the other Hand, bring Distempers upon themselves by the natural Consequences of their Way of Living; That the middle Station of Life was calculated for all kind of Vertues and all
kinds of Enjoyments; that Peace and Plenty were the
Hand-maids of a middle Fortune; that Temperance, Moderation, Quietness, Health,
After this, he press'd me earnestly, and in the most affectionate manner, not to play
the young Man, not to precipitate my self into Miseries which Nature and the Station
of Life I was born in, seem'd to have provided against; that I was under no Necessity
of seeking my Bread; that he would do well for me, and endeavour to enter me fairly
into the Station of Life which he had been just recommending
to me; and that if I was not very easy and happy in the
World, it must be my meer Fate or Fault that must hinder it, and that he should have
nothing to answer for, having thus discharg'd his Duty in
warning me against Measures which he knew would be to my Hurt: In a word, that as he
would do very kind things for me if I would stay and settle at Home as he directed,
so he would not have so much Hand in my Misfortunes, as to
give me any Encouragement to go away: And to close all, he told me I had my elder
Brother for an Example, to whom he had used the same earnest Perswasions to keep him
from going into the Low Country Wars, but could not prevail,
I observed in this last Part of his Discourse, which was truly Prophetick, tho' I suppose my Father did not know it to be so himself; I say, I observed the Tears run down his Face very plentifully, and especially when he spoke of my Brother who was kill'd; and that when he spoke of my having Leisure to repent, and none to assist me, he was so mov'd, that he broke off the Discourse, and told me, his Heart was so full he could say no more to me.
I was sincerely affected with this Discourse, as indeed who could be otherwise; and I
resolv'd not to think of going abroad any more, but to settle at home according to my
Father's Desire. But alas! a few Days wore it all off; and in short, to prevent any
of my Father's farther Importunities, in a few Weeks after, I resolv'd to run quite
away from him. However, I did not act so hastily neither as my first Heat of
Resolution prompted, but I took my Mother, at a time when I thought her a little
pleasanter than ordinary, and told her, that my Thoughts were so entirely bent upon
seeing the World, that I should never settle to any thing with Resolution enough to
go through with it, and my Father had better give me his Consent than force me to go
without it; that I was now Eighteen Years old, which was too late to go Apprentice to a Trade
This put my Mother into a great Passion: She told me, she knew it would be to no Purpose to speak to my Father upon any such Subject; that he knew too well what was my Interest to give his Consent to any thing so much for my Hurt, and that she wondered how I could think of any such thing after such a Discourse as I had had with my Father, and such kind and tender Expressions as she knew my Father had us'd to me; and that in short, if I would ruine my self there was no Help for me; but I might depend I should never have their Consent to it: That for her Part she would not have so much Hand in my Destruction; and I should never have it to say, that my Mother was willing when my Father was not.
Tho' my Mother refused to move it to my Father, yet as I have heard afterwards, she reported all the Discourse to him, and that my Father, after shewing a great Concern at it, said to her with a Sigh, That Boy might be happy if he would stay at home, but if he goes abroad he will be the miserablest Wretch that was ever born: I can give no Consent to it.
It was not till almost a Year after this that I broke loose, tho' in the mean time I
continued obstinately deaf to all Proposals of settling to
Business, and frequently expostulating with my Father and Mother, about their being
so positively determin'd against what they knew my Inclinations prompted me to. But
being one Day at Hull
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London, in his Father's Ship, and prompting
me to go with them, with the common Allurement of Seafaring Men, viz That it
should cost me nothing for my Passage, I consulted neither Father or Mother any more,
nor so much as sent them Word of it; but leaving them to
hear of it as they might, without asking God's Blessing, or my Father's, without any
Consideration of Circumstances or Consequences, and in an
ill Hour, God knows. On the first of September 1661
I went on Board a Ship bound for London; never any young Adventurer's
Misfortunes, I believe, began sooner, or continued longer
than mine. The Ship was no sooner gotten out of the Humber, but the Wind began to blow, and the Winds to rise in a most frightful
manner; and as I had never been at Sea before, I was most
inexpressibly sick in Body, and terrify'd in my Mind: I began now seriously to reflect upon what I had done, and how justly I was overtaken by the Judgment of Heaven for my wicked
leaving my Father's House, and abandoning my Duty; all the
good Counsel of my Parents, my Father's Tears and my
Mother's Entreaties came now fresh into my Mind, and my
Conscience, which was not yet come to the Pitch of Hardness which it has been since,
reproach'd me with the Contempt of Advice, and the Breach of my Duty to God and my
Father.
All this while the Storm encreas'd, and the Sea, which I had never been upon before,
went very high, tho' nothing like what I have seen many times since; no, nor like
what I saw a few Days after: But it was enough to affect me then, who was but a young
Sailor, and had never known any thing of the matter. I expected every Wave would have
swallowed us up, and that every time the Ship fell down, as I thought, in the Trough
or Hollow
These wise and sober Thoughts continued all the while the Storm continued, and indeed
some time after; but the next Day the Wind was abated and
the Sea calmer, and I began to be a little inur'd
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I had slept well in the Night, and was now no more Sea sick but very chearful,
looking with Wonder upon the Sea that was so rough and terrible the Day before, and could be so calm and so pleasant in so little time after.
And now least my good Resolutions should continue, my Companion, who had indeed
entic'd me away, comes to me, Well Bob, says he, clapping me on the
Shoulder, How do you do after it? I warrant you were frighted, wa'n't you, last
Night, when it blew but a Cap full of Wind? A
Cap full d'you call it? said I, 'twas a terrible
Storm: A Storm, you Fool you, replies he, do you call that a Storm why it
was nothing at all; give us but a good Ship and Sea Room, and we think nothing of
such a Squal of Wind as that; but you're but a fresh Water Sailor, Bob;
come let us make a Bowl of Punch and we'll forget all that, d'ye see what
charming Weather 'tis now. To make short this sad Part of my Story, we went
the old way of all Sailors, the Punch was made, and I was made drunk with it, and in
that one Night's Wickedness I drowned all my Repentance, all
my Reflections upon my past Conduct, and all my Resolutions for my future. In a word,
as the Sea was returned to its Smoothness of Surface and
settled Calmness by the Abatement of that Storm, so the Hurry of my Thoughts being
over, my Fears and Apprehensions of being swallow'd up by the Sea being forgotten,
and the Current of my former Desires return'd, I entirely forgot the Vows and Promises
viz. at South-west, for seven or eight Days, during which time a great
many Ships from Newcastle came into the same Roads, as the common Harbour where the Ships might wait for a Wind for the
River.
We had not however rid
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By this Time it blew a terrible Storm indeed, and now I began to see Terror and
Amazement in the Faces even of the Seamen themselves. The Master, tho' vigilant to
the Business of preserving the Ship, yet as he went in and out of his Cabbin by me, I
could hear him softly to himself say several times, Lord be merciful to us, we
shall be all lost, we shall be all undone; and the like. During these first
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Towards Evening the Mate and Boat-Swain
Any one may judge what a Condition I must be in at all this, who was but a young
Sailor, and who had been in such a Fright before at but a little. But if I can express at this Distance the
We work'd on, but the Water encreasing in the Hold, it was apparent that the Ship
would founder, and tho' the Storm began to abate a little, yet as it was not possible
she could swim till we might run into a Port, so the Master continued firing Guns for
Help; and a light Ship who had rid it out just a Head of us ventured a Boat out to
help us. It was with the utmost Hazard the Boat came near us, but it was impossible
for us to get on Board, or for the Boat to lie near the Ship Side, till at last the
Men rowing very heartily, and venturing their Lives to save ours, our Men cast them a
Rope over the Stern with a Buoy to it, and then vered it out a great Length, which
they after great Labour and Hazard took hold of and we
hall'd them close under our Stern and got all into their Boat. It was to no Purpose
for them or us after we were in the Boat to think of reaching to their own Ship, so
all agreed to let her drive and only to pull her in towards
Shore as much as we could, and our Master promised them, That if the Boat was stav'd
upon Shore he would make it good to their
Master
We were not much more than a quarter of an Hour out of our Ship but we saw her sink,
and then I understood for the first time what was meant by a Ship foundering in the
Sea; I must acknowledge
While we were in this Condition, the Men yet labouring at the Oar to bring the Boat
near the Shore, we could see, when our Boat mounting the Waves, we were able to see
the Shore, a great many People running along the Shore to assist us when we should
come near, but we made but slow way towards the Shore, nor were we able to reach the
Shore, till being past the Light-House at Winterton, the Shore falls off to the Westward towards Cromer, and so
the Land broke off a little the Violence of the Wind: Here we got in, and tho' not
without much Difficulty got all safe on Shore and walk'd
afterwards on Foot to Yarmouth, where, as unfortunate Men, we were used with great Humanity as well by the Magistrates of the
Town, who assign'd us good Quarters, as by particular Merchants and Owners of Ships,
and had Money given us sufficient to carry us either to
London or back to Hull, as we thought fit.
Had I now had the Sense to have gone back to Hull, and have gone home, I had
been happy, and my Father, an Emblem of our Blessed Saviour's Parable, had even kill'd the fatted Calf for me
Yarmouth Road, it was a
great while before he had any Assurance that I was not drown'd.
But my ill Fate push'd me on now with an Obstinacy that
nothing could resist; and tho' I had several times loud
Calls from my Reason and my more composed Judgment to go home, yet I had
My Comrade, who had help'd to harden me before, and who was
the Master's Son, was now less forward than I; the first time he spoke to me after we
were at Yarmouth, which was not till two or three Days, for we were
separated in the Town to several Quarters; I say, the first time he saw me, it
appear'd his Tone was alter'd, and looking very melancholy and shaking his Head,
ask'd me how I did, and telling his Father who I was, and how I had come this Voyage
only for a Trial in order to go farther abroad; his Father turning to me with a very
grave and concern'd Tone, Young Man, says he, you ought never to go to
Sea any more, you ought to take this for a plain and visible Token that you are
not to be a Seafaring Man, why, Sir, said I, will you go to Sea no more?
That is another Case, said he, it is my Calling, and therefore my
Duty; but as you made this Voyage for a Trial, you see what a Taste Heaven has
given you of what you are to expect if you persist; perhaps this is all befallen
us on your Account, like
Jonah
in the Ship of Tarshish Pray, continues he, what are you?
and on what Account did you go to Sea? Upon that I told him some of my Story;
at the End of which he burst out with a strange kind of Passion, What had I done,
says he, that such an unhappy Wretch should come into my Ship? I would not set my
Foot in And young Man, said he,
depend upon it, if you do not go back, where-ever you go, you will meet with
nothing but Disasters and Disappointments till your
Father's Words are fulfilled upon you.
We parted soon after; for I made him little Answer, and I saw him no more; which way
he went, I know not. As for me, having some Money in my
Pocket, I travelled to London by Land; and there, as well as on the Road,
had many Struggles with my self, what Course of Life I
should take, and whether I should go Home, or go to Sea.
As to going Home, Shame opposed the best Motions that offered to my Thoughts; and it
immediately occurr'd to me how I should be laugh'd at
among the Neighbours, and should be asham'd to see, not my Father and Mother only,
but even every Body else; from whence I have since often observed, how incongruous
and irrational the common Temper of Mankind is, especially
of Youth, to that Reason which ought to guide them in such Cases, viz. That
they are not asham'd to sin, and yet are asham'd to repent; not asham'd of the Action for which they ought justly to be esteemed Fools, but are
asham'd of the returning, which only can make them be esteem'd wise Men.
In this State of Life however I remained some time, uncertain what Measures to take,
and what Course of Life to lead. An irresistible Reluctance continu'd to going Home;
and as I stay'd a while,
That evil Influence which carryed me first away from my Father's House, that hurried
me into the wild and indigested Notion of raising my Fortune; and that imprest those
Conceits so forcibly upon me, as to make me deaf to all good Advice, and to the
Entreaties and even Command of my Father: I say the same
Influence, whatever it was, presented the most unfortunate of all Enterprises to my
View; and I went on board a Vessel bound to the Coast of Africa; or, as our
Sailors vulgarly call it, a Voyage to Guinea.
It was my great Misfortune that in all these Adventures I did not ship my self as a
Sailor; whereby, tho' I might indeed have workt a little harder than ordinary, yet at
the same time I had learn'd the Duty and Office of a Fore-mast Man
It was my Lot first of all to fall into pretty good Company in London, which
does not always happen to such loose and unguided young
Fellows as I then was; the Devil generally not omitting to lay some Snare for them
very early: But it was not so with me, I first fell acquainted with the Master of a
Ship who had been on the Coast of Guinea; and who having had very good
Success there, was resolved
I embrac'd the Offer, and entring into a strict Friendship with this Captain, who was
an honest and plain-dealing Man, I went the Voyage with him, and carried a small Adventure
l. I had mustered
together by the Assistance of some of my Relations whom I
corresponded with, and who, I believe, got my Father, or at
least my Mother, to contribute so much as that to my first Adventure.
This was the only Voyage which I may say was successful in all my Adventures, and
which I owe to the Integrity and Honesty of my Friend the Captain, under whom also I got a competent Knowledge of the
Mathematicks and the Rules of Navigation, learn'd how to
keep an Account of the Ship's Course, take an Observation; and in short, to
understand some things that were needful to be understood by
a Sailor: For, as he took Delight to introduce me, I took Delight to learn; and, in a
word, this Voyage made me both a Sailor and a Merchant: for I brought Home
L.
5.9
Ounces
London at my Return, almost 300 l.
I was now set up for a Guiney Trader
l. of my new gain'd
Wealth, so that I had 200 left, and which I lodg'd with my Friend's Widow, who was
very just to me, yet I fell into terrible Misfortunes in this Voyage; and the first
was this, viz. Our Ship making her Course towards the Canary
Islands, or rather between those Islands, and the African Shore, was
surprised in the Grey of the Morning, by a Turkish Rover of Sallee,
Moors.
The Usage I had
As my new Patron or Master had taken me Home to his House, so I was in hopes that he
would take me with him when he went to Sea again, believing
that it would some time or other be his Fate to be taken by a Spanish or
Portugal Man of War; and that then I should be set at Liberty. But this
Hope of mine was soon taken away; for when he went to Sea, he left me on Shoar to
look after his
Here I meditated nothing but my Escape; and what Method I might take to effect it,
but found no Way that had the least Probability in it: Nothing presented to make the Supposition of it rational;
for I had no Body to communicate it to, that would embark with me; no Fellow-Slave,
no Englishman, Irishman, or Scotsman there
but my self; so that for two Years, tho' I often pleased my self with the
Imagination, yet I never had the least encouraging Prospect
of putting it in Practice.
After about two Years an odd Circumstance presented it self,
which put the old Thought of making some Attempt for my
Liberty, again in my Head: My Patron lying at Home longer than usual, without fitting out his Ship, which, as I heard, was for
want of Money; he used constantly, once or twice a Week, sometimes oftner, if the
Weather was fair, to take the Ship's Pinnace
Maresco with him to row the Boat, we made him very merry, and I
prov'd very dexterous in catching Fish; insomuch that sometimes he would send me with
a Moor, one of his Kinsmen, and the Youth the Maresco,
It happen'd one time, that going a fishing in a stark calm Morning, a Fog rose so
thick, that tho' we were not half a League from the Shoar we lost Sight of it; and
rowing we knew not whither or which way, we labour'd all Day and all the next Night,
and when the Morning came we found we had pull'd off to Sea instead of pulling in for
the Shoar; and that we were at least two Leagues from
But our Patron warn'd by this Disaster, resolved to take more Care of himself for the
future; and having lying by him the Long-boat of our English Ship we had
taken, he resolved he would not go a fishing any more without a Compass and some
Provision; so he ordered the Carpenter of his Ship, who also was an English
Slave, to build a little State-room or Cabin in the middle of the Long Boat, like
that of a Barge, with a Place to stand behind it to steer and hale home the
Main-sheet; and Room before for a hand or two to stand and work the Sails; she sail'd
with that we call a Shoulder of Mutton Sail; and the Boom
gib'd
We went frequently out with this Boat a fishing, and as I was most dextrous to catch
fish for him, he never went without me: It happen'd that he had appointed to go out
in this Boat, either for Pleasure or for Fish, with two or three Moors of
some Distinction in that Place, and for whom he had provided extraordinarily; and had
therefore sent on board the Boat over Night, a larger Store of Provisions than
ordinary; and had order'd me to get ready three Fuzees with Powder and Shot, which
were on board his Ship; for that they design'd some Sport of
Fowling as well as Fishing.
I got all things ready as he had directed, and waited the next Morning with the Boat,
washed
This Moment my former Notions of Deliverance darted into my Thoughts, for now I found I was like to have a little Ship at my Command; and my Master being gone, I prepar'd to furnish my self, not for a fishing Business but for a Voyage; tho' I knew not, neither did I so much as consider whither I should steer; for any where to get out of that Place was my Way.
My first Contrivance was to make a Pretence to speak to this Moor, to get
something for our Subsistance on board; for I told him we must not presume to eat of
our Patroon's Bread, he said that was true; so he brought a large Basket of Rusk or
Bisket of their kind, and three Jarrs with fresh Water into the Boat; I knew where my
Patroon's Case of Bottles stood, which it was evident by the make were taken out of
some English Prize; and I convey'd them into the Boat while the
Moor was on Shoar, as if they had been there before, for our Master: I
convey'd also a great Lump of Bees-Wax into the Boat, which weighed above half a Hundred Weight
Ismael, who they call
Muly
Moely, so I call'd to him,
Moely said I, our Patroon's Guns are on board
the Boat, can you not get a little Powder and Shot, it may be we may kill some
Alcamies (a Fowl like our Curlieus) says he, I'll bring some, and accordingly he
brought a great Leather Pouch which held about a Pound and half of Powder, or rather
more; and another with Shot, that had five or six Pound, with some Bullets; and put
all into the Boat: At the same time I had found some Powder of my Masters in the
Great Cabbin, with which I fill'd one of the large Bottles in the Case, which was
almost empty; pouring what was in it into another: and thus furnished with every
thing needful, we sail'd out of the Port to fish: The Castle which is at the Entrance
of the Port knew who we were, and took no Notice of us; and we were not above a Mile
out of the Port before we hal'd in our Sail, and set us down to fish: The Wind blew
from the N. NE. which was contrary to my Desire; for had it blown southerly I had
been sure to have made the Coast of Spain, and at least reacht to the Bay of
Cadiz
After we had fisht some time and catcht nothing, for when I had Fish on my Hook, I
would not pull them up, that he might not see them; I said to the Moor, this
will not do, our Master will not be thus serv'd, we must stand farther off: He
thinking no harm agreed, and being in the head of the
Boat set the Sails; and as I had the Helm I run the Boat out near a League farther,
and then brought her too as if I would fish; when giving the Boy the Helm, I stept
forward to where the Moor was, and making as if I stoopt for something
I could ha' been content to ha' taken this Moor with me, and ha' drown'd the
Boy, but there was no venturing to trust him: When he was gone I turn'd to the Boy,
who they call'd Xury, and said to him, Xury, if you will be
faithful to me I'll make you a great Man, but if you will not stroak your Face to be
true to me, that is, swear by Mahomet and his Father's Beard, I
must throw you into the Sea too; the Boy smil'd in my Face and spoke so innocently that I could not mistrust him; and swore to be
faithful to me, and go all over the World with me.
While I was in View of the Moor that was swimming, I stood out directly to
Sea with the Boat, rather stretching to Windward, that they might think me gone
towards the Straits-mouth (as indeed any one that had been in their Wits
must ha' been supposed to do) for who would ha' suppos'd we
were saild
But as soon as it grew dusk in the Evening, I chang'd my Course, and steer'd directly
South and by East, bending my Course a little toward the East, that I might keep in
with the Shoar; and having a fair fresh Gale of Wind, and a smooth quiet Sea, I made
such Sail that I believe by the next Day at Three a Clock in the Afternoon, when I
first made the Land, I could not be less than 150 Miles South of Sallee;
quite beyond the Emperor of Morocco's Dominions, or
indeed of any other King thereabouts, for we saw no
People.
Yet such was the Fright I had taken at the Moors, and the dreadful
Apprehensions I had of falling into their Hands, that I would not stop, or go on
Shoar, or come to an Anchor; the Wind continuing fair, 'till I had sail'd in that
manner five Days: And then the Wind shifting to the southward, I concluded also that if any of our Vessels were in Chase of me, they also
would now give over
Xury said I, then I won't, but it
may be we may see Men by Day, who will be as bad to us as those Lyons; then we
give them the shoot Gun says Xury laughing, make them run
wey; such English Xury spoke by conversing among us Slaves, however I was glad to see the Boy so cheerful, and I gave him a
Dram
Xury's Advice was good, and I took it, we dropt our
little Anchor and lay still all Night; I say still, for we
slept none! for in two or three Hours we saw vast great Creatures (we knew not what
to call them) of many sorts, come down to the Sea-shoar and run into the Water,
wallowing and washing themselves for the Pleasure of cooling themselves; and they
made such hideous Howlings and Yellings, that I never indeed heard the like.
Xury was dreadfully frighted, and indeed so was I too; but we were both more
frighted when we heard one of these mighty Creatures come swimming towards our Boat, we could not see him, but we might hear him by his blowing
to be a monstrous, huge and furious Beast; Xury
said it was a Lyon, and it might be so for ought I know; but poor Xury cryed
to me to weigh the Anchor and row away; no says I, Xury, we can slip our
Cable with the Buoy to it and go off to Sea, they cannot
follow us far; I had no sooner said so, but I perceiv'd the Creature (whatever it
was) within Two Oars Length, which something surprized me; however I immediately
stept to the Cabbin-door, and taking up my Gun fir'd at him, upon which he
immediately turn'd about and swam towards the Shoar
again.
But it is impossible to describe the horrible Noises, and
hideous Cryes and Howlings, that were
Be that as it would, we were oblig'd to go on Shoar somewhere or other for Water, for
we had not a Pint left in the Boat; when or where to get to it was the Point:
Xury said, if I would let him go on Shoar with one of the Jarrs, he would
find if there was any Water and bring some to me. I ask'd him why he would go? Why I
should not go and he stay in the Boat? The Boy answer'd with so much Affection that
made me love him ever after. Says he, If wild Mans come, they eat me, you go
wey. Well, Xury, said I, we will both go, and if the wild Man's come
we will kill them, they shall Eat neither of us; so I gave Xury a piece of
Rusk-bread to Eat and a Dram out of our Patroons Case of
Bottles which I mentioned before; and we hal'd the Boat in as near the Shoar as we
thought was proper, and so waded on Shoar, carrying nothing
but our Arms and two Jarrs for Water.
I did not care to go out of Sight of the Boat, fearing the coming of Canoes with
Savages down the River; but the Boy seeing a low Place about a Mile up
the Country rambled to it; and by and by I saw him come running towards me, I thought
he was pursued by some Savage, or Xury came with, was to tell me he had found good Water and seen no
wild Mans.
But we found afterwards that we need not take such Pains for Water, for a little higher up the Creek where we were, we found the Water fresh when the Tide was out, which flowed but a little way up; so we filled our Jarrs and feasted on the Hare we had killed, and prepared to go on our Way, having seen no Foot-steps of any humane Creature in that part of the Country.
As I had been one Voyage to this Coast before, I knew very well that the Islands of
the Canaries, and the Cape de
Verd Islands also, lay not far off from the Coast English Traded, I should find some of
their Vessels upon their usual Design of Trade, that would relieve and take us
in.
By the best of my Calculation, that Place were I now was, must be that Country, which
lying between the Emperor of Morocco
Negro's, lies wast and uninhabited, except by wild Beasts; the
Negroes having abandon'd it and gone farther South for fear of the
Moors; and the Moors
Moors use it for their Hunting only, where they go like an Army, two or three thousand Men at a time; and
indeed for near an hundred Miles together upon this Coast, we saw nothing but a wast
uninhabited Country, by Day; and heard nothing but Howlings and Roaring of wild
Beasts, by Night.
Once or twice in the Day time, I thought I saw the Pico of
Teneriffe, being the high top of the Mountain Teneriffe in the
Canaries; and had a great mind to venture out in hopes of reaching
thither; but having tried twice I was forced in again by contrary Winds, the Sea also
going too high for my little Vessel, so I resolved to pursue my first Design and keep
along the Shoar.
Several times I was obliged to land for fresh Water, after we had left this Place;
and once in particular, being early in the Morning, we came to an Anchor under a
little Point of Land which was pretty high, and the Tide beginning to flow, we lay
still to go farther in; Xury, whose Eyes were more about him than it seems
mine were, calls softly to me, and tells me that we had best go farther off the
Shoar; for, says he, look yonder lies a dreadful Monster on the side of that Hillock
fast asleep: I look'd where he pointed, and saw a dreadful Monster indeed, for it was
a terrible great Lyon that lay on the Side of the Shoar, under the Shade of a Piece
of the Hill that hung as it were a little over him. Xury, says I, you shall
go on Shoar and kill him; Xury look'd frighted, and said, Me kill! he
eat me at one Mouth; one Mouthful he meant; however, I said no more to the
Boy, but Xury took Heart, and would have me let him go on Shoar: Well, go said I,
so the Boy jump'd into the Water, and taking a little Gun in
one Hand swam to Shoar with the other Hand, and coming close to the Creature, put the
Muzzle of the Piece to his Ear, and shot him into the Head again which dispatch'd him quite.
This was Game indeed to us, but this was no Food, and I was very sorry to lose three
Charges of Powder and Shot upon a Creature that was good for nothing to us. However
Xury said he would have some of him; so he comes on board, and ask'd me
to give him the Hatchet; for what, Xury, said I? Me cut off his
Head, said he. However Xury could not cut
off his Head, but he cut off a Foot and brought it with him, and it was a monstrous
great one.
Xury and I went to work with him; but Xury
was much the better Workman at it, for I knew very ill how to do it. Indeed it took
us up both the whole Day, but at last we got of the Hide of him, and spreading it on
the top of our Cabbin, the Sun effectually dried it in two Days time, and it
afterwards serv'd me to lye upon.
After this Stop we made on to the Southward continually for ten or twelve Days,
living very sparing on our Provisions, which began to abate very much, and going no
oftner into the Shoar than we were oblig'd to for fresh Water; my Design in this was to make the River Gambia or
Sennegall, that is to say, any where about
the Cape de Verd,
European Ship, and if I did not, I knew not
what Course I had to take, but to seek out for the Islands, or perish there among the Negroes. I knew that all the
Ships from Europe, which sail'd either to the Coast of Guiney, or
to Brasil, or to the East-Indies,
Cape or those Islands; and
in a word, I put the whole of my Fortune upon this single Point, either that I must
meet with some Ship, or must perish.
When I had pursued this Resolution about ten Days longer, as I have said, I began to
see that the Land was inhabited, and in two or three Places as we sailed by, we saw
People stand upon the Shoar to look at us, we could also perceive they were quite
Black and Stark-naked. I was once inclin'd to ha' gone on Shoar to them; but
Xury was my better Councellor, and said to me, no go, no go;
however I hal'd in nearer the Shoar that I might talk to them, and I found they run
along the Shoar by me a good way; I observ'd they had Xury said was a Lance, and that they would throw them a
great way with good aim; so I kept at a distance, but talk'd with them by Signs as
well as I could; and particularly made Signs for some thing to Eat, they beckon'd to
me to stop my Boat, and that they would fetch me some Meat; upon this I lower'd the
top of my Sail, and lay by, and two of them run up into the Country, and in less than
half an Hour came back and brought with them two Pieces of dry Flesh and some Corn,
such as is the Produce of their Country, but we neither knew what the one or the
other was; however we were willing to accept it, but how to come at it was our next
Dispute, for I was not for venturing on Shore to them, and they were as much affraid
of us; but they took a safe way for us all, for they brought it to the Shore and laid
it down, and went and stood a great way off till we fetch'd it on Board, and then
came close to us again.
We made Signs of Thanks to them, for we had nothing to make them amends; but an
Opportunity offer'd that very Instant to oblige them
wonderfully, for while we were lying by the Shore, came
two mighty Creatures one pursuing the other, (as we took it) with great Fury, from
the Mountains towards the Sea; whether it was the Male pursuing the Female, or
whether they were in Sport or in Rage, we could not tell, any more than we could tell
whether it was usual or strange, but I believe it was the
latter; because in the first Place, those ravenous Creatures seldom appear but in the
Night; and in the second Place, we found the People terribly frighted, especially the
Women. The Man that had the Lance or Dart did not fly from them, but the rest did;
however as the two Creatures Negroes, but plung'd themselves into the Sea and swam about as if they
had come for their Diversion; at last one of them began to come nearer our Boat than
at first I expected, but I lay ready for him, for I had loaded my Gun with all
possible Expedition, and bad Xury load both the other; as soon as he came
fairly within my reach, I fir'd, and shot him directly into
the Head; immediately he sunk down into the Water, but rose instantly and plung'd up
and down as if he was struggling for Life; and so indeed he was, he immediately made
to the Shore, but between the Wound which was his mortal Hurt, and the strangling of
the Water, he dyed just before he reach'd the Shore.
It is impossible to express the Astonishment of these poor Creatures at the Noise and
the Fire of my Gun; some of them were even ready to dye for Fear, and fell down as
Dead with the very Terror. But when they saw the Creature dead and sunk in the Water,
and that I made Signs to them to come to the Shore; they took Heart and came to the
Shore and began to search for the Creature, I found him by his Blood staining the
Water, and by the help of a Rope which I slung round him and gave the
Negroes to hawl, they drag'd him on Shore, and found that it was a most
curious Leopard, spotted and fine to an admirable Degree,
and the Negroes held up their Hands with Admiration to think what it was I
had kill'd him with.
The other Creature frighted with the flash of Fire and the Noise of the Gun swam on
Shore, and ran up directly to the Mountains from whence they came, nor could I at
that Distance know what it was. I found quickly the Negroes were for eating
the Flesh of this Creature, so I was willing Xury on
Shore with my Jarrs, and filled them all three: The Women
were as stark Naked as the Men.
I was now furnished with Roots and Corn, such as it was, and Water, and leaving my
friendly Negroes, I made forward for about eleven
Days more without offering to go near the Shoar, till I saw the Land run out a great
Length into the Sea, at about the Distance of four or five
Leagues before me, and the Sea being very calm I kept a large, offing to make this
Point; at length, doubling the Point at about two Leagues from the Land, I saw
plainly Land on the other Side to Seaward; then I concluded, as it was most certain
indeed, that this was the Cape de Verd, and those the Islands, call'd from thence Cape de Verd
Islands. However they were at a great Distance, and I could not well tell
what I had best to do, for if I
In this Dilemna, as I was very pensive, I stept into the Cabbin and sat me down,
Xury having the Helm, when on a suddain the Boy cry'd out, Master,
Master, a Ship with a Sail, and the foolish Boy was frighted out of his Wits,
thinking it must needs be some of his Master's Ships sent to pursue us, when, I knew
we were gotten far enough out of their reach. I jump'd out of the Cabbin, and
immediately saw not only the Ship, but what she was, (viz.) that it was a
Portuguese Ship, and as I thought was bound to the Coast of
Guinea for Negroes. But when I observ'd the Course she steer'd,
I was soon convinc'd they were bound some other way, and did not design to come any
nearer to the Shoar; upon which I stretch'd out to Sea as much as I could, resolving
to speak with them if possible.
With all the Sail I could make, I found I should not be able to come in their Way,
but that they would be gone by, before I could make any Signal to them; but after I
had crowded to the utmost, and began to despair, they it seems saw me by the help of
their Perspective-Glasses, and that it was some European Boat, which as they
supposed must belong to some Ship that was lost, so they shortned Sail to let me come up. I was encouraged with this, and as I had my Patroon's
Antient on Board, I made a Waft of it to them for a Signal of Distress, and fir'd a
Gun, both which they saw, for they told me they saw the Smoke, tho' they did not hear
the Gun; upon these Signals they very kindly brought too, and lay by for me, and in
about three Hours time I came up with them.
They ask'd me what I was, in Portuguese, and in Spanish, and in
French, but I understood none of Scots Sailor who was on board, call'd to me, and I
answer'd him, and told him I was an Englishman, that I had made my escape
out of Slavery from the Moors at Sallee; then they bad me come on
board, and very kindly took me in, and all my Goods.
It was an inexpressible Joy to me, that any one will believe, that I was thus
deliver'd, as I esteem'd it, from such a miserable and
almost hopeless Condition as I was in, and I immediately
offered all I had to the Captain of the Ship, as a Return
for my Deliverance; but he generously told me, he would take nothing from me, but
that all I had should be deliver'd safe to me when I came to the Brasils,
for says he, I have sav'd your Life on no other Terms than I would be glad to be
saved my self, and it may one time or other be my Lot to be taken up in the same
Condition; besides, said he, when I carry you to the Brasils, so
great a way from your own Country, if I should take from you what you have, you
will be starved there, and then I only take away that Life I have given. No, no,
Seignor Inglese, says he, Mr. Englishman, I will carry you
thither in Charity, and those things will help you to buy your Subsistance there
and your Passage home again.
As he was Charitable in his Proposal, so he was Just in the Performance to a tittle
As to my Boat it was a very good one, and that he saw, and told me he would buy it of
me for the Ship's use, and ask'd me what I would have for it? I told him he had been
so generous to me in every thing, that I could not offer to make any Brasil, and when it came there, if any
one offer'd to give more he would make it up; he offer'd me
also 60 Pieces of Eight more for my Boy Xury, which I was loath to take, not
that I was not willing to let the Captain have him, but I was very loath to sell the
poor Boy's Liberty, who had assisted me so faithfully in
procuring my own. However when I let him know my Reason. he
own'd it to be just, and offer'd me this Medium, that he would give the Boy an
Obligation to set him free in ten Years, if he turn'd Christian; upon this, and
Xury saying he was willing to go to him, I let the Captain have him.
We had a very good Voyage to the Brasils, and arriv'd in the Bay de Todos los Santos, or All-Saints Bay,
The generous Treatment the Captain gave me, I can never enough remember; he would
take nothing of me for my Passage, gave me twenty Ducats
Brasilo.
I had not been long here, but being recommended to the House
of a good honest Man like himself, who had an
Ingeino as they call it; that is, a London remitted to me. To this Purpose getting a kind of a Letter of
Naturalization, I purchased as much Land that was Uncur'd, as my Money would reach,
and form'd a Plan for my Plantation and Settlement, and such
a one as might be suitable to the Stock which I proposed to my self to receive from
England.
I had a Neighbour, a Portugueze of Lisbon, but born of
English Parents, whose Name was Wells, and in much such
Circumstances as I was. I call him my Neighbour, because his Plantation lay next to
mine, and we went on very sociably together. My Stock was but low as well as his; and
we rather planted for Food than any thing else, for about two Years. However, we
began to increase, and our Land began to come into Order; so that the third Year we
planted some Tobacco, and made each of us a large Piece of Ground ready for planting
Canes in the Year to come; but we both wanted Help, and now I found more than before,
I had done wrong in parting with my Boy Xury.
But alas! for me to do wrong that never did right, was no great Wonder: I had no
Remedy but to go on; I was gotten into an Employment quite remote to my Genius, and
directly contrary to the Life I delighted in, and for which I forsook my Father's House, and broke thro' all his good Advice; nay, I
was coming into the very Middle Station, or upper Degree of low Life, which my Father
advised me to before; and which if I resolved to go on
England among my Friends, as ha' gone
5000 Miles off to do it among Strangers and Salvages in a Wilderness, and at such a
Distance, as never to hear from any Part of the World that had the least Knowledge of
me.
In this manner I used to look upon my Condition with the utmost Regret. I had no body to converse with but now and then this Neighbour; no Work to be done, but by the Labour of my Hands; and I used to say, I liv'd just like a Man cast away upon some desolate Island, that had no body there but himself. But how just has it been, and how should all Men reflect, that when they compare their present Conditions with others that are worse, Heaven may oblige them to make the Exchange, and be convinc'd of their former Felicity by their Experience: I say, how just has it been, that the truly solitary Life I reflected on in an Island of meer Desolation should be my Lot, who had so often unjustly compar'd it with the Life which I then led, in which had I continued, I had in all Probability been exceeding prosperous and rich.
I was in some Degree settled in my Measures for carrying on the Plantation, before my
kind Friend the Captain of the Ship that took me up at Sea, went back; for the Ship
remained there in providing his Loading, and preparing for
his Voyage, near three Months, when telling him what little Stock I had left behind
me in London, he gave me this friendly and sincere Advice, Seignior
Inglese says he; for so he always called me, if you will give me Letters, and
a Procuration here in Form to me, with Orders to the Person who has your Money in
London, to send your Effects to Lisbon, to such Persons as I
shall direct,
This was so wholesom Advice, and look'd so friendly, that I could not but be
convinc'd it was the best Course I could take; so I accordingly prepared Letters to
the Gentlewoman with whom I had left my Money, and a Procuration to the
Portuguese Captain, as he desired.
I wrote the English Captain's Widow a full Account of all my Adventures, my
Slavery, Escape, and how I had met with the Portugal Captain at Sea, the
Humanity of his Behaviour, and in what Condition I was
now in, with all other necessary Directions for my Supply; and when this honest
Captain came to Lisbon, he found means by some of the English
Merchants there, to send over not the Order only, but a full Account of my Story to a
Merchant at London, who represented it effectually to her; whereupon, she
not only delivered the Money, but out of her own Pocket sent the Portugal
Captain a very handsom Present for his Humanity and Charity
to me.
The Merchant in London vesting this Hundred Pounds in English
Goods, such as the Captain had writ for, sent them directly to him at
Lisbon, and he brought them all safe to me to the Brasils, among
which, without my Direction (for I was too young in my Business to think of them) he
had taken Care to have all Sorts of Tools, Iron-Work, and Utensils
When this Cargo arrived, I thought my Fortunes made, for I was surprised with the Joy of it; and my good Steward the Captain had laid out the Five Pounds which my Friend had sent him for a Present for himself, to purchase, and bring me over a Servant under Bond for six Years Service, and would not accept of any Consideration, except a little Tobacco, which I would have him accept, being of my own Produce.
Neither was this all; but my Goods being all English Manufactures, such as
Cloath, Stuffs, Bays, and things particularly valuable and desirable in the Country,
I found means to sell them to a very great Advantage; so that I might say, I had more
than four times the Value of my first Cargo, and was now infinitely beyond my poor
Neighbour, I mean in the Advancement of my Plantation; for the first thing I did, I
bought me a Negro Slave, and an European Servant also; I mean another
besides that which the Captain brought me from Lisbon.
But as abus'd Prosperity is oftentimes made the very Means of our greatest Adversity,
so was it with me. I went on the next Year with great Success in my Plantation: I
raised fifty great Rolls of Tobacco on my own Ground, more
than I had disposed of for Necessaries among my Neighbours; and these fifty Rolls
being each of above a 100
Wt.
Lisbon: and now
increasing in Business and in Wealth, my Head began to be full of Projects and Undertakings beyond my Reach; such as are indeed
often the Ruine of the best Heads in Business.
As I had once done thus in my breaking away from my Parents, so I could not be content now, but I must go and leave the happy View I had of being a rich and thriving Man in my new Plantation, only to pursue a rash and immoderate Desire of rising faster than the Nature of the Thing admitted; and thus I cast my self down again into the deepest Gulph of human Misery that ever Man fell into, or perhaps could be consistent with Life and a State Health of in the World.
[Audio File]To come then by just Degrees, to the Particulars of this
Part of my Story; you may suppose, that having now lived
almost four Years in the Brasilo, and beginning to thrive and prosper very well upon my Plantation; I had not only learn'd the
Language, but had contracted Acquaintance and Friendship among my Fellow-Planters, as
well as among the Merchants at St. Salvadore, which was our Port; and that
in my Discourses among Guinea, the manner
of Trading with the Negroes there, and how easy it was to purchase upon the
Coast, for Trifles, such as Beads, Toys, Knives, Scissars, Hatchets, bits of Glass,
and the like; not only Gold Dust, Guinea Grains, Elephants Teeth,
&c. but Negroes for the Service of the Brasils, in
great Numbers.
They listened always very attentively to my Discourses on these Heads, but especially
to that Part which related to the buying Negroes, which was a Trade at that
time not only not far entred into, but as far as it was, had been carried on by the
Assiento's
Spain and
Portugal, and engross'd in the Publick, so that few Negroes were
brought, and those excessive dear.
It happen'd, being in Company with some Merchants and
Planters of my Acquaintance, and talking of those things very earnestly, three of
them came to me the next Morning, and told me they had been musing very much upon
what I had discoursed with them of, the last Night, and they came to make a secret
Proposal to me; and after enjoining me Secrecy, they told me, that they had a mind to
fit out a Ship to go to Guinea,
Negroes
Negroes on Shoar privately, and divide them among their
own Plantations; and in a Word, the Question was, whether I would go their
Super-Cargo in the Ship to manage the Trading Part upon the Coast Guinea? And they offer'd me that I should
have my equal Share of the Negroes without providing any Part of the
Stock.
This was a fair Proposal it must be confess'd, had it been made to any one that had
not had a Settlement and Plantation of his own to look after, which was in a fair way
of coming to be very Considerable, and with a good Stock upon it. But for me that was
thus entered and established, and had nothing to do but go on as I had begun for
three or four Years more, and to have sent for the other hundred Pound from
England, and who in that time, and with that little Addition, could
scarce ha' fail'd of being worth three or four thousand
Pounds Sterling, and that encreasing too; for me to think of such a Voyage, was the
most prepostorous Thing that ever Man in such Circumstances could be guilty of.
But I that was born to be my own Destroyer, could no more resist the Offer than I
could restrain my first rambling Designs, when my Father's good Counsel was lost upon me. In a word, I told them
I would go with all my Heart, if they would undertake to look after my Plantation in
my Absence, and would dispose of it to such as I should direct if I miscarry'd. This
they all engag'd to do, and entred into Writings or Covenants to do so; and I made a formal Will, disposing of my
Plantation and Effects, in Case of my Death, making the Captain of the Ship that had
sav'd my Life as before, my universal Heir, but obliging him to dispose of my Effects
as I had directed in my Will, one half of the Produce being
to himself, and the other to be ship'd to England.
In short, I took all possible Caution to preserve my Effects, and keep up my
Plantation; had I used half as much Prudence to have look'd
into my
But I was hurried on, and obey'd blindly the Dictates of my Fancy rather than my
Reason; and accordingly the Ship being fitted out, and the Cargo furnished, and all
things done as by Agreement, by my Partners in the Voyage. I
went on Board in an evil Hour, the _____ th of _____ , being the same Day eight Year that I went from my Father and Mother at Hull, in order to act the Rebel to their Authority, and
the Fool to my own Interest.
Our Ship was about 120 Tun Burthen, carried 6 Guns, and 14 Men, besides the Master,
his Boy, and my self; we had on board no large Cargo of Goods, except of such Toys as
were fit for our Trade with the Negroes, such as Beads, bits of Glass,
Shells, and odd Trifles, especially little Looking-Glasses, Knives, Scissars,
Hatchets, and the like.
The same Day I went on board we set sail, standing away to the Northward upon our own
Coast, with Design to stretch over for the Affrican Coast, when they came
about 10 or 12 Degrees of Northern Latitude, which it seems was the manner of their Course in those Days. We had very good Weather,
only excessive hot, all the way upon our own Coast, till we
came the Height of Cape St. Augustino, from whence keeping farther
off at Sea we lost Sight of Land, and steer'd as if we was bound for the Isle Fernand de Noronha
N.E. by N.
and leaving those Isles on the East; in this Course we past the Line in about 12 Days
time, and were by our last Observation in 7 Degrees 22 Min.
In this Distress, we had besides the Terror of the Storm, one of our Men dyed of the
Calenture
Cape St. Augustino; so that he found he was
gotten upon the Coast of Guinea, or
the North Part of Brasil,
Amozones, toward that of the River
Oronoque, commonly call'd the Great River,
Brasil.
I was positively against that, and looking over the Charts of the Sea-Coast of
America with him, we concluded there was no inhabited Country for us to
have recourse to, till we came within the Circle of the Carrible-Islands,
Barbadoes, which by keeping off Mexico, we might easily
perform, as we hoped, in about fifteen Days Sail; whereas we could not possibly make
our Voyage to the Coast of Affrica without some Assistance, both to our Ship
and to our selves.
With this Design we chang'd our Course and steer'd away N. W. by W.
in order to reach some of our English Islands, where I hoped for Relief; but our Voyage was otherwise determined, for being in
the Latitude of 12 Deg. 18 Min. a second Storm came upon us, which carry'd us away with the same Impetuosity Westward, and drove us so out
of the very Way of all humane Commerce, that had all our Lives been saved, as to the
Sea, we were rather in Danger of being devoured by Savages
than ever returning to our own Country.
In this Distress, the Wind still blowing very hard, one of our Men early in the
Morning, cry'd out, Land; and we had no sooner run out of the Cabbin to look
out in hopes of seeing where abouts in the World we were; but the Ship struck upon a
Sand, and in a moment her Motion being so stopp'd, the Sea broke over her in such a
manner, that we expected we should all have perish'd
immediately, and we were immediately driven into our close
Quarters to shelter us from the very Foam and Sprye of the Sea.
It is not easy for any one, who has not been in the like Condition, to describe or
conceive the Consternation of Men in such Circumstances; we knew nothing where we
were, or upon what Land it was we were driven, whether an Island or the Main, whether
inhabited or not inhabited; and as the Rage of the Wind was still great, tho' rather less than at first, we could not so much as
Now tho' we thought that the Wind did a little abate, yet
the Ship having thus struck upon the Sand, and sticking too fast for us to expect her
getting off, we were in a dreadful Condition indeed, and had nothing to do but to
think of saving our Lives as well as we could; we had a Boat
at our Stern just before the Storm, but she was first stav'd
In this Distress the Mate of our Vessel lays hold of the Boat, and with the help of
the rest of the Men, they got her slung over the Ship's-side, and getting all into
her, let go, and committed our selves being Eleven in Number, to God's Mercy, and the
wild Sea; for tho' the Storm was abated considerably, yet the Sea went dreadful high
upon the Shore, and might well be call'd, Den wild Zee,
Dutch call the Sea in a Storm.
What the Shore was, whether Rock or Sand, whether Steep or Shoal, we knew not; the
only Hope that could rationally give us the least Shadow of Expectation, was, if we
might happen into some Bay or Gulph, or the Mouth of some River, where by great
Chance we might have run our Boat in, or got under the Lee of the Land
After we had row'd, or rather driven about a League and a Half
Nothing can describe the Counfusion of Thought which I felt when I sunk into the
Water; for tho' I swam very well, yet I could not deliver my self from the Waves so
as to draw Breath, till that Wave
The Wave that came upon me again, buried me at once 20 or 30 Foot deep in its own
Body; and I could feel my self carried with a mighty Force and Swiftness towards the
Shore a very great Way; but I held my Breath, and assisted my self to swim still
forward with all my Might. I was ready to burst with holding my Breath, when, as I
felt my self rising up, so to my immediate Relief, I found my Head and Hands shoot
out above the Surface of the Water; and tho' it was not two Seconds of Time that I
could keep my self so, yet it reliev'd me greatly, gave me Breath and new Courage. I
was covered again with Water a good while, but not so long but I held it out; and
finding the Water had spent it self, and began to return, I strook forward against the Return of the Waves, and felt Ground again
with my Feet. I stood still a few
The last Time of these two had well near been fatal to me; for the Sea having hurried me along as before, landed me, or rather dash'd me against a Piece of a Rock, and that with such Force, as it left me senseless, and indeed helpless, as to my own Deliverance; for the Blow taking my Side and Breast, beat the Breath as it were quite out of my Body; and had it returned again immediately, I must have been strangled in the Water; but I recover'd a little before the return of the Waves, and seeing I should be cover'd again with the Water, I resolv'd to hold fast by a Piece of the Rock, and so to hold my Breath, if possible, till the Wave went back; now as the Waves were not so high as at first, being nearer Land, I held my Hold till the Wave abated, and then fetch'd another Run, which brought me so near the Shore, that the next Wave, tho' it went over me, yet did not so swallow me up as to carry me away, and the next run I took, I got to the main Land, where, to my great Comfort, I clamber'd up the Clifts of the Shore, and sat me down upon the Grass, free from Danger, and quite out of the Reach of the Water.
I was now landed, and safe on Shore, and began to look up and thank God that my Life
was sav'd in a Case wherein there was some Minutes before scarce any room to hope. I
believe it is impossible to express to the Life what the
Extasies and Transports of viz. That when a Malefactor who has the Halter about his Neck, is tyed up, and just going to
be turn'd off, and has a Reprieve brought to him: I say, I do not wonder that they
bring a Surgeon with it, to let him Blood that very Moment
they tell him of it, that the Surprise may not drive the Animal Spirits from the
Heart, and overwhelm him:
I walk'd about on the Shore, lifting up my Hands, and my whole Being, as I may say,
wrapt up in the Contemplation of my Deliverance, making a Thousand Gestures and Motions which I cannot describe, reflecting upon all my Comerades
that were drown'd, and that there should not be one Soul sav'd but my self; for, as
for them, I never saw them afterwards, or any Sign of them, except three of their
Hats, one Cap, and two Shoes that were not
Fellows.
I cast my Eyes to the stranded Vessel, when the Breach and Froth of the Sea being so big, I could hardly see it, it lay so far off, and considered, Lord! how was it possible I could get on Shore?
After I had solac'd my Mind with the comfortable Part of my Condition, I began to
look round me to see what kind of Place I was in, and what was next to be done, and I
soon found my Comforts abate, and that in a word I had a dreadful Deliverance: For I
was wet, had no Clothes to shift me, nor any thing either to eat or drink to comfort
me, neither did I see any Prospect before me, but that of
perishing with Hunger, or being devour'd by wild Beasts; and that which was
particularly afflicting to me, was, that I had no Weapon either to hunt
All the Remedy that offer'd to my Thoughts at that Time, was, to get up into a thick
bushy Tree like a Firr, but thorny, which grew near me, and where I resolv'd to set
all Night, and consider the next Day what Death I should dye, for as yet I saw no
Prospect of Life; I walk'd about a Furlong
When I wak'd it was broad Day, the Weather clear, and the Storm abated, so that the
Sea did not rage and swell as before: But that which surpris'd me most, was, that the Ship was lifted off in the Night from the Sand where
she lay, by the Swelling of the Tyde, and was driven up almost as far as the Rock which I first mention'd,
When I came down from my Appartment in the Tree, I look'd about me again, and the first thing I found was the Boat, which lay as the Wind and the Sea had toss'd her up upon the Land, about two Miles on my right Hand, I walk'd as far as I could upon the Shore to have got to her, but found a Neck or Inlet of Water between me and the Boat, which was about half a Mile broad, so I came back for the present, being more intent upon getting at the Ship, where I hop'd to find something for my present Subsistence.
A little after Noon I found the Sea very calm, and the Tyde ebb'd so far out, that I
could come within a Quarter of a Mile of the Ship; and here I found a fresh renewing
of my Grief, for I saw evidently, that if we had kept on board, we had been all safe,
that is to say, we had all got safe on Shore, and I had not been so miserable as to
be left entirely destitute of all Comfort and Company, as I
now was; this forc'd Tears from my Eyes again, but as there was little Relief in
that, I resolv'd, if possible, to get to the Ship, so I pull'd off my Clothes, for
the Weather was hot to Extremity, and took the Water, but when I came to the Ship, my
Difficulty was still greater to know how to get on board, for as she lay a ground,
and high out of the Water, there was nothing within my Reach to lay hold of, I swam
round her twice, and the second Time I spy'd a small Piece of a Rope, which I
wonder'd I did not see at first, hang down by the Fore-Chains so low,
It was in vain to sit still and wish for what was not to be had, and this Extremity
rouz'd my Application
My Raft was now strong enough to bear any reasonable Weight; my next Care was what to
load it with, and how to preserve what I laid upon it from the Surf of the Sea; But I
was not long considering this, I first laid all the Plank or
Boards upon it that I could get, and having consider'd well what I most wanted, I
first got three of the Seamens Chests, which I had broken open and empty'd, and
lower'd them down upon my Raft; the first of these I fill'd with Provision,
viz. Bread, Rice, three Dutch Cheeses, five Pieces of dry'd Goat's Flesh,
which we liv'd much upon, and a little Remainder of
European Corn which had been laid by for some Fowls which we brought to
Sea with us, but the Fowls were kill'd, there had been some Barly and Wheat together,
but, to my great Disappointment, I found afterwards that the
Rats had eaten or spoil'd it all; as for Liquors, I found several Cases of Bottles belonging to our Skipper
My next Care was for some Ammunition and Arms; there were two very good Fowling-pieces
I had three Encouragements, 1. A smooth calm Sea, 2. The Tide rising and setting in
to the Shore, 3. What little Wind there was blew me towards the Land; and thus,
having found two or three broken Oars belong to the Boat, and besides the Tools which were in the Chest, I found two Saws,
an Axe, and a Hammer, and with this Cargo I put to Sea: For a Mile, or thereabouts,
my Raft went very well, only that I found it drive a little distant from the Place
where I had landed before, by which I perceiv'd that there
was some Indraft
As I imagin'd, so it was, there appear'd before me a little opening of the Land, and I found a strong Current of the Tide set into it, so I guided my Raft as well as I could to keep in the Middle of the Stream: But here I had like to have suffer'd a second Shipwreck, which, if I had, I think verily would have broke my Heart, for knowing nothing of the Coast, my Raft run a-ground at one End of it upon a Shoal, and not being a-ground at the other End, it wanted but a little that all my Cargo had slip'd off towards that End that was a-float, and so fall'n into the Water: I did my utmost by setting my Back against the Chests, to keep them in their Places, but could not thrust off the Raft with all my Strength, neither durst I stir from the Posture I was in, but holding up the Chests with all my Might, stood in that Manner near half an Hour, in which time the rising of the Water brought me a little more upon a Level, and a little after, the Water still rising, my Raft floated again, and I thrust her off with the Oar I had, into the Channel, and then driving up higher, I at length found my self in the Mouth of a little River, with Land on both Sides, and a strong Current or Tide running up, I look'd on both Sides for a proper Place to get to Shore, for I was not willing to be driven too high up the River, hoping in time to see some Ship at Sea, and therefore resolv'd to place my self as near the Coast as I could.
At length I spy'd a little Cove on the right Shore of the Creek, to which with great
Pain and Difficulty I guided my Raft, and at last got so near,
My next Work was to view the Country, and seek a proper Place for my Habitation, and
where to stow my Goods to secure them from whatever might happen; where I was I yet
knew not, whether on the Continent or on an Island, whether
inhabited or not inhabited, whether in Danger of wild
Beasts or not: There was a Hill not above a Mile from me, which rose up very steep
and high, and which seem'd to over-top some other Hills which lay as in a Ridge from
it northward; I took out one of the fowling Pieces, and one of the Pistols, and an Horn of Powder, and thus arm'd I travell'd for
Discovery up to the Top of that Hill, where after I had with great Labour and
Difficulty got to the Top, I saw my Fate to my great
Affliction, (viz.) that I was in an Island environ'd
I found also that the Island I was in was barren, and, as I saw good Reason to believe, un-inhabited, except by wild Beasts, of whom however I saw none, yet I saw Abundance of Fowls, but knew not their Kinds, neither when I kill'd them could I tell what was fit for Food, and what not; at my coming back, I shot at a great Bird which I saw sitting upon a Tree on the Side of a great Wood, I believe it was the first Gun that had been fir'd there since the Creation of the World; I had no sooner fir'd, but from all the Parts of the Wood there arose an innumerable Number of Fowls of many Sorts, making a confus'd Screaming, and crying every one according to his usual Note; but not one of them of any Kind that I knew: As for the Creature I kill'd, I took it to be a Kind of a Hawk, its Colour and Beak resembling it, but had no Talons or Claws more than common, its Flesh was Carrion, and fit for nothing.
Contented with this Discovery, I came back to my Raft, and fell to Work to bring my Cargoe on Shore, which took me up the rest of that Day, and what to do with my self at Night I knew not, nor indeed where to rest; for I was afraid to lie down on the Ground, not knowing but some wild Beast might devour me, tho', as I afterwards found, there was really no Need for those Fears.
However, as well as I could, I barricado'd my self round with the Chests and Boards
that I had brought on Shore, and made a Kind of a Hut for that Night's Lodging; as
for Food, I yet saw not which Way to supply my self, except that I had
I now began to consider, that I might yet get a great many Things out of the Ship, which would be useful to me, and particularly some of the Rigging, and Sails, and such other Things as might come to Land, and I resolv'd to make another Voyage on Board the Vessel, if possible; and as I knew that the first Storm that blew must necessarily break her all in Pieces, I resolv'd to set all other Things apart, 'till I got every Thing out of the Ship that I could get; then I call'd a Council, that is to say, in my Thoughts, whether I should take back the Raft, but this appear'd impracticable; so I resolv'd to go as before, when the Tide was down, and I did so, only that I stripp'd before I went from my Hut, having nothing on but a Chequer'd Shirt, and a Pair of Linnen Drawers, and a Pair of Pumps on my Feet.
I got on Board the Ship, as before, and prepar'd a second Raft, and having had
Experience of the first, I neither made this so unwieldy, nor loaded it so hard, but
yet I brought away several Things very useful to me; as first, in the Carpenter's
Stores I found two or three Bags full of Nails and Spikes, a great Skrew-Jack, a
Dozen or two of Hatchets, and above all, that most useful Thing call'd a Grindstone
Besides these Things, I took all the Mens Cloths that I could find, and a spare
Fore-top-sail, a Hammock,
I was under some Apprehensions during my Absence from the Land, that at least my Provisions might be devour'd on Shore; but when I came back, I found no Sign of any Visitor, only there sat a Creature like a wild Cat upon one of the Chests, which when I came towards it, ran away a little Distance, and then stood still; she sat very compos'd, and unconcern'd, and look'd full in my Face, as if she had a Mind to be acquainted with me, I presented my Gun at her, but as she did not understand it, she was perfectly unconcern'd at it, nor did she offer to stir away; upon which I toss'd her a Bit of Bisket, tho' by the Way I was not very free of it, for my Store was not great: However, I spar'd her a Bit, I say, and she went to it, smell'd of it, and ate it, and look'd (as pleas'd) for more, but I thank'd her, and could spare no more; so she march'd off.
Having got my second Cargoe on Shore, tho' I was fain
When I had done this I block'd up the Door of the Tent with some Boards within, and
an empty Chest set up on End without, and spreading one of
the Beds upon the Ground, laying my two Pistols just at my Head, and my Gun at Length
by me, I went to Bed for the first Time, and slept
I had the biggest Maggazin
But that which comforted me more still was, that at last of all, after I had made
five or six such Voyages as these, and thought I had nothing more to expect from the
Ship that was worth my medling with, I say, after all this,
I found a great Hogshead
The next Day I made another Voyage; and now having plunder'd the Ship of what was
portable
I had been now thirteen Days on Shore, and had been eleven Times on Board the Ship;
in which Time I had brought away all that one Pair of Hands could well be suppos'd
capable to bring, tho' I believe verily, had the calm
Weather held, I should have brought away the whole Ship Piece by Piece: But preparing
the 12th Time to go on Board, I found the Wind begin to rise; however at low Water I went on Board, and tho' I thought I had rumag'd the Cabbin so effectually, as that nothing more could
be found, yet I discover'd a Locker with Drawers in it, in one of which I found two
or three Razors, and one Pair of large Sizzers, with some ten or a Dozen of good
Knives and European Coin, some Brasil,
some Pieces of Eight, some Gold, some Silver.
I smil'd to my self at the Sight of this Money, O Drug! Said I aloud, what art thou good for, Thou art not worth to me, no not the taking off of the Ground, one of those Knives is worth all this Heap, I have no Manner of use for thee, e'en remain where thou art, and go to the Bottom as a Creature whose Life is not worth saving. However, upon Second Thoughts, I took it away, and wrapping all this in a Piece of Canvas, I began to think of making another Raft, but while I was preparing this, I found the Sky over-cast, and the Wind began to rise, and in a Quarter of an Hour it blew a fresh Gale from the Shore; it presently occur'd to me, that it was in vain to pretend to make a Raft with the Wind off Shore, and that it was my Business to be gone before the Tide of Flood began, otherwise I might not be able to reach the Shore at all: Accordingly I let my self down into the Water, and swam cross the Channel, which lay between the Ship and the Sands, and even that with Difficulty enough, partly with the Weight of the Things I had about me, and partly the Roughness of the Water, for the Wind rose very hastily, and before it was quite high Water, it blew a Storm.
But I was gotten home to my little Tent, where I lay with all my Wealth about me very
secure. It blew very hard all that Night, and in the Morning when I look'd out,
behold no more Ship was to be seen; I was a little surpriz'd, but recover'd my self
with this satisfactory Reflection, viz. That I had lost no time, nor abated
no Dilligence to get every thing out of her that could be useful to me, and that
indeed there was little left in her that I
I now gave over any more Thoughts of the Ship, or of any thing out of her, except what might drive on Shore from her Wreck, as indeed divers Pieces of her afterwards did; but those things were of small use to me.
My Thoughts were now wholly employ'd about securing my self against either Savages, if any should appear, or wild Beasts, if any were in the Island; and I had many Thoughts of the Method how to do this, and what kind of Dwelling to make, whether I should make me a Cave in the Earth, or a Tent upon the Earth: And, in short, I resolv'd upon both, the Manner and Discription of which, it may not be improper to give an Account of.
I sooon found the Place I was in was not for my Settlement, particularly because it was upon a low moorish Ground near the Sea, and I believ'd would not be wholsome, and more particularly because there was no fresh Water near it, so I resolv'd to find a more healthy and more convenient Spot of Ground.
I consulted several Things in my Situation which I found would be proper for me, 1st. Health, and fresh Water I just now mention'd, 2dly. Shelter from the Heat of the Sun, 3dly. Security from ravenous Creatures, whether Men or Beasts, 4thly. a View to the Sea, that if God sent any Ship in Sight, I might not lose any Advantage for my Deliverance, of which I was not willing to banish all my Expectation yet.
In search of a Place proper for this, I found a little Plain on the Side of a rising
Hill, whose Front towards this little Plain, was steep as a House-side, so that
nothing could come down upon me from the Top; on the Side of this Rock
On the Flat of the Green, just before this hollow Place, I resolv'd to pitch my Tent:
This Plain was not above an Hundred Yards broad, and about twice as long, and lay
like a Green before my Door, and at the End of it descended irregularly every Way
down into the Low-grounds by the Sea-side. It was on the N. N. W. Side of
the Hill, so that I was shelter'd from the Heat every Day, till it came to a
W. and by S. Sun, or thereabouts, which in those Countries is
near the Setting.
Before I set up my Tent, I drew a half Circle before the hollow Place, which took in
about Ten Yards in its Semi-diameter
In this half Circle I pitch'd two Rows of strong Stakes, driving them into the Ground till they stood very firm like Piles, the biggest End being out of the Ground about Five Foot and a Half, and sharpen'd on the Top: The two Rows did not stand above Six Inches from one another.
Then I took the Pieces of Cable which I had cut in the Ship, and I laid them in Rows one upon another, within the Circle, between these two Rows of Stakes, up to the Top, placing other Stakes in the In-side, leaning against them, about two Foot and a half high, like a Spurr to a Post, and this Fence was so strong, that neither Man or Beast could get into it or over it: This cost me a great deal of Time and Labour, especially to cut the Piles in the Woods, bring them to the Place, and drive them into the Earth.
The Entrance into this Place I made to be not by a Door, but by a short Ladder to go
over
Into this Fence or Fortress, with infinite Labour, I carry'd
all my Riches, all my Provisions, Ammunition and Stores, of which you have the
Account above, and I made me a large Tent, which, to preserve me from the Rains that
in one Part of the Year are very violent there, I made double, viz. One
smaller Tent within, and one larger Tent above it, and cover'd the uppermost with a
large Tarpaulin which I had sav'd among the Sails.
And now I lay no more for a while in the Bed which I had brought on Shore, but in a Hammock, which was indeed a very good one, and belong'd to the Mate of the Ship.
Into this Tent I brought all my Provisions, and every thing that would spoil by the Wet, and having thus enclos'd all my Goods, I made up the Entrance, which till now I had left open, and so pass'd and re-pass'd, as I said, by a short Ladder.
When I had done this, I began to work my Way into the Rock, and bringing all the Earth and Stones that I dug down out thro' my Tent, I laid 'em up within my Fence in the Nature of a Terras, that so it rais'd the Ground within about a Foot and a Half; and thus I made me a Cave just behind my Tent, which serv'd me like a Cellar to my House.
It cost me much Labour, and many Days, before all these
Things were brought to Perfection, and therefore I must go back to some other Things
which took up some of my Thoughts. At the same time it
Such Impression did this make upon me, that after the Storm was over, I laid aside
all my Works, my Building, and Fortifying, and apply'd my self to make Bags and Boxes
to separate the Powder, and keep it a little and a little in a Parcel, in hope, that
whatever might come, it might not all take Fire at once, and to keep it so apart that
it should not be possible to make one part fire another: I finish'd this Work in
about a Fort night, and I think my Powder, which in all was about 240 l.
In the Interval of time while this was doing I went out once at least every Day with
my Gun, as well to divert my self, as to see if I could kill any thing fit for Food,
and as near as I could to acquaint viz. That they were so shy, so subtile, and so swift of Foot, that it was
the difficultest thing in the World to come at them: But I was not discourag'd at
this, not doubting but I might now and then shoot one, as it soon happen'd, for after I had found their Haunts a little, I laid
wait in this Manner for them: I observ'd if they saw me in the Valleys, tho' they
were upon the Rocks, they would run away as in a terrible Fright; but if they were
feeding in the Valleys, and I was upon the Rocks, they took no Notice of me, from
whence I concluded, that by the Position of their Opticks, their Sight was so
directed downward, that they did not readily see Objects
that were above them; so afterward I took this Method, I always clim'd the Rocks
first to get above them, and then had frequently a fair Mark. The first shot I made
among these Creatures, I kill'd a She-Goat which had a little Kid by her which she
gave Suck to, which griev'd me heartily; but when the Old one fell, the Kid stood
stock still by her till I came and took her up, and not only so, but when I carry'd
the Old one with me upon my Shoulders, the Kid follow'd me quite to my Enclosure,
upon which I laid down the Dam, and took the Kid in my Arms, and carry'd it over my
Pale, in hopes to have bred it up tame, but it would not eat, so I was forc'd to kill
it and eat it my self; these two supply'd me with Flesh a great while, for I eat
sparingly; and sav'd my Provisions (my Bread especially) as much as possibly I
could.
I had a dismal Prospect of my Condition, for as I was not cast away upon that Island
without being driven, as is said, by a violent Storm quite
out of the Course of our intended Voyage, and a great Way, viz. some
Hundreds of Leagues out of the ordinary Course of the Trade of Mankind, I had great
Reason to consider it as a Determination of Heaven, that in this desolate Place, and
in this desolate Manner I should end my Life; the Tears would run plentifully down my
Face when I made these Reflections, and sometimes I would expostulate with my self, Why Providence should thus compleatly
ruine its Creatures, and render them so absolutely miserable, so without Help
abandon'd, so entirely depress'd, that it could hardly be rational to be thankful for such a Life.
But something always return'd swift upon me to check these Thoughts, and to reprove
me; and particularly one Day walking with my Gun in my Hand by the Sea-side, I was
very pensive upon the Subject of my present Condition, when Reason as it were
expostulated with me t'other Way, thus: Well, you are in a desolate Condition 'tis
true, but pray remember, Where are the rest of you? Did not you come Eleven of you
into the Boat, where are the Ten? Why were not they sav'd and you lost? Why were you
singled out? Is it better to be here or there, and then I pointed to the Sea? All
Then it occurr'd to me again, how well I was furnish'd for my Subsistence, and what
would have been my Case if it had not happen'd, Which was an Hundred Thousand to
one, that the Ship floated from the Place where she first struck and was
driven so near to the Shore that I had time to get all
these Things out of her: What would have been my Case, if I had been to have liv'd in
the Condition in which I at first came on Shore, without
Necessaries of Life, or Necessaries to supply and procure them? Particularly said I
aloud, (tho' to my self) what should I ha' done without a Gun, without Ammunition,
without any Tools to make any thing, or to work with, without Clothes, Bedding, a
Tent, or any manner of Covering, and that now I had all
these to a Sufficient Quantity, and was in a fair way to provide my self in such a
manner, as to live without my Gun when my Ammunition was
spent; so that I had a tollerable View of subsisting without any Want as long as I
liv'd; for I consider'd from the beginning how I would provide for the Accidents that might happen, and for the time that was to
come, even not only after my Ammunition should be spent, but even after my Health or
Strength should decay.
I confess I had not entertain'd any Notion of my Ammunition being destroy'd at one Blast, I mean my Powder being blown up by Lightning, and this made the Thoughts of it so surprising to me when it lighten'd and thunder'd, as I observ'd just now.
And now being to enter into a melancholy Relation of a Scene
of silent Life, such perhaps as was never heard of in the World before, I shall take
it from its Beginning, and continue it in its Sept. when, in the Manner as
above said, I first set Foot upon this horrid Island, when the Sun being, to us, in
its Autumnal Equinox, was almost just over my Head, for I reckon'd my self, by
Observation, to be in the Latitude of 9
Degrees 22 Minutes North of the Line.
After I had been there about Ten or Twelve Days, it came into my Thoughts, that I
should lose my Reckoning of Time for want of Books and Pen and Ink, and should even
forget the Sabbath Days from the working Days; but to
prevent this I cut it with my Knife upon a large Post, in Captital Letters, and
making it into a great Cross I set it up on the Shore where I first landed, viz.
I came on Shore here on the 30th of Sept. 1659. Upon the Sides
of this square Post I cut every Day a Notch with my Knife, and every seventh Notch
was as long again as the rest, and every first Day of the Month as long again as that
long one, and thus I kept my Kalander, or weekly, monthly,
and yearly reckoning of Time.
In the next place we are to observe, that among the many things which I brought out
of the Ship in the several Voyages, which, as above mention'd, I made to it, I got
several things of less Value, but not all less useful to me, which I omitted setting down before; as in particular, Pens, Ink, and Paper,
several Parcels in the Captain's, Mate's, Gunner's, and Carpenter's keeping, three or
four Compasses, some Mathematical Instruments, Dials, Perspectives, Charts, and Books
of Navigation, all which I huddel'd together, whether I might want them or no; also I
found three very good Bibles which came to me in my Cargo from England, and which I had pack'd up among my things;
some Portugueze Books also, and among them two
And this put me in mind that I wanted many things, notwithstanding all that I had amass'd together, and of these, this of Ink was one, as also Spade, Pick-Axe, and Shovel to dig or remove the Earth, Needles, Pins, and Thread; as for Linnen, I soon learn'd to want that without much Difficulty.
This want of Tools made every Work I did go on heavily, and it was near a whole Year
before I had entirely finish'd my little Pale or surrounded Habitation: The Piles or
Stakes, which were as heavy as I could well lift, were a long time in cutting and preparing in the Woods, and more by far in bringing
home, so that I spent some times two Days in cuttting and bringing home one of those
Posts, and a third Day in driving it into the Ground; for which Purpose I got a heavy
Piece of Wood at first, but at last bethought my self of one of the Iron Crows, which
however tho' I found it, yet
But what need I ha' been concern'd at the Tediousness of any thing I had to do, seeing I had time enough to do it in, nor had I any other Employment if that had been over, at least, that I could foresee, except the ranging the Island to seek for Food, which I did more or less every Day.
I now began to consider seriously my Condition, and the Circumstance I was reduc'd to, and I drew up the State of my Affairs in Writing, not so much to leave them to any that were to come after me, for I was like to have but few Heirs, as to deliver my Thoughts from daily poring upon them, and afflicting my Mind; and as my Reason began now to master my Despondency, I began to comfort my self as well as I could, and to set the good against the Evil, that I might have something to distinguish my Case from worse, and I stated it very impartially, like Debtor and Creditor, the Comforts I enjoy'd, against the Miseries I suffer'd, Thus,
Upon the whole, here was an undoubted Testimony, that there
was scarce any Condition in the World so miserable, but there was something
Negative or something Positiv to be
thankful for in it; and let this stand as a Direction from the Experience of the most miserable of all Conditions in this World,
that we may always find in it something to comfort our selves from, and to set in the
Description of Good and Evil, on the Credit Side of the
Accompt.
Having now brought my Mind a little to relish my Condition, and given over looking out to Sea to see if I could spy a Ship, I say, giving over these things, I began to apply my self to accommodate my way of Living, and to make things as easy to me as I could.
I have already observ'd how I brought all my Goods into this Pale, and into the Cave which I had made behind me: But I must observe too, that at first this was a confus'd Heap of Goods, which as they lay in no Order, so they took up all my Place, I had no room to turn my self; so I set my self to enlarge my Cave and Works farther into the Earth, for it was a loose sandy Rock, which yielded easily to the Labour I bestow'd on it; and so when I found I was pretty safe as to Beasts of Prey, I work'd side-ways to the Right Hand into the Rock, and then turning to the Right again, work'd quite out and made me a Door to come out, on the Out-side of my Pale or Fortification.
This gave me not only Egress and Regress, as it were a back Way to my Tent and to my Store-house, but gave me room to stow my Goods.
And now I began to apply my self to make such necessary things as I found I most wanted, as particularly a Chair and a Table, for without these I was not able to enjoy the few Comforts I had in the World, I could not write, or eat, or do several things with so much Pleasure without a Table.
So I went to work; and here I must needs observe, that as
Reason is the Substance and Original
However, I made me a Table and a Chair, as I observ'd above, in the first Place, and this I did out of the short Pieces of Boards that I brought on my Raft from the Ship: But when I had wrought out some Boards, as above, I made large Shelves of the Breadth of a Foot and Half one over another, all along one Side of my Cave, to lay all my Tools, Nails, and Iron-work, and in a Word, to separate every thing at large in their Places, that I might come easily at them; I knock'd Pieces into the Wall of the Rock to hang my Guns and all things that would hang up.
And now it was when I began to keep a Journal of every Days
Employment, for indeed at first I was in too much Hurry, and not only Hurry as to
Labour, but in too much Discomposure of Mind, and my Journal would ha' been full of
many dull things: For Example, I must have said thus. Sept. the 30th. After
I got to Shore and had escap'd drowning, instead of being thankful to God for my
Deliverance, having first vomited with the great Quantity of salt Water which was
gotten into my Stomach, and recovering my self a little, I ran about the Shore,
wringing my Hands and beating my Head and Face, exclaiming
at my Misery, and crying out, I was undone, undone, till tyr'd and faint I was forc'd
to lye down on the Ground to repose, but durst not sleep for fear of being devour'd.
Some Days after this, and after I had been on board the Ship, and got all that I could out of her, yet I could not forbear getting up to the Top of a little Mountain and looking out to Sea in hopes of seeing a Ship, then fancy at a vast Distance I spy'd a Sail, please my self with the Hopes of it, and then after looking steadily till I was almost blind, lose it quite, and sit down and weep like a Child, and thus encrease my Misery by my Folly.
But having gotten over these things in some Measure, and
having settled my houshold Stuff and Habitation, made me a
Table and a Chair, and all as handsome about me as I could, I began to keep
The JOURNAL.
September 30, 1659. I poor miserable Robinson Crusoe, being
shipwreck'd, during a dreadful Storm, in the offing, came on Shore on this dismal
unfortunate Island, which I call'd the Island of Despair, all the rest of the Ship's Company being drown'd, and my self almost
dead.
All the rest of that Day I spent in afflicting my self at the dismal Circumstances I
was brought to, viz. I had neither Food, House, Clothes, Weapon, or Place to
fly to, and in Despair of any Relief, saw nothing but Death before me, either that I
should be devour'd by wild Beasts, murther'd by Savages, or starv'd to Death for Want
of Food. At the Approach of Night, I slept in a Tree for fear of wild Creatures, but
slept soundly tho' it rain'd all Night.
October 1. In the Morning I saw to my great Surprise the Ship had floated with the high Tide, and was driven on Shore again much
nearer the Island, which as it was some Comfort on one hand, for seeing her sit
upright, and not broken to Pieces, I hop'd, if the Wind
abated, I might get on board, and get some Food and Necessaries out of her for my
Relief; so on the other hand, it renew'd my Grief at the Loss of my Comrades, who I
imagin'd if we had all staid on board might have sav'd
the Ship, or at least that they would not have been all drown'd as they were; and
that had the Men been sav'd, we might perhaps have built us a Boat out of the Ruins
of the Ship, to have carried
From the 1st of October, to the 24th. All these Days entirely spent in many
several Voyages to get all I could out of the Ship, which I brought on Shore, every
Tide of Flood, upon Rafts. Much Rain also in these Days, tho' with some Intervals of
fair Weather: But, it seems, this was the rainy Season.
Oct. 20. I overset
Oct. 25. It rain'd all Night and all Day, with some Gusts of Wind, during
which time the Ship broke in Pieces, the Wind blowing a little harder than before,
and was no more to be seen, except the Wreck of her, and that only at low Water. I
spent this Day in covering and securing the Goods which I had sav'd, that the Rain
might not spoil them.
Oct. 26. I walk'd about the Shore almost all Day to find out a place to fix
my Habitation, greatly concern'd to secure my self from an Attack in the Night,
either from wild Beasts or Men. Towards Night I fix'd upon a proper Place under a
Rock, and mark'd out a Semi-Circle for my Encampment, which
I resolv'd to strengthen with a Work, Wall, or Fortification made of double Piles,
lin'd within with Cables, and without with Turf.
From the 26th. to the 30th. I work'd very hard in carrying all my Goods to my new
Habitation,
The 31st. in the Morning I went out into the Island with my Gun to see for some Food, and discover the Country, when I kill'd a She-Goat, and her Kid follow'd me home, which I afterwards kill'd also because it would not feed.
November 1. I set up my Tent under a Rock, and lay there for the first
Night, making it as large as I could with Stakes driven in to swing my Hammock upon.
Nov. 2. I set up all my Chests and Boards, and the Pieces of Timber which
made my Rafts, and with them form'd a Fence round me, a little within the Place I had mark'd out for my Fortification.
Nov. 3. I went out with my Gun and kill'd two Fowls like Ducks, which were
very good Food. In the Afternoon went to work to make me a Table.
Nov. 4. This Morning I began to order my times of Work, of going out with my
Gun, time of Sleep, and time of Diversion, viz. Every Morning I walk'd out
with my Gun for two or three Hours if it did not rain, then employ'd my self to work
till about Eleven a-Clock, then eat what I had to live on, and from Twelve to Two I
lay down to sleep, the Weather being excessive hot, and then in the Evening to work
again: The working Part of this Day and of the next were wholly employ'd in making my
Table, for I was yet but a very sorry Workman, tho' Time and Necessity made me a
compleat natural Mechanick soon after, as I believe it would do any one else.
Nov. 5. This Day went abroad with my Gun and my Dog, and kill'd a wild Cat,
her Skin pretty soft, but her Flesh good for nothing: Every
Nov. 6. After my Morning Walk I went to work with my Table again, and
finish'd it, tho' not to my liking; nor was it long before I learn'd to mend it.
Nov. 7. Now it began to be settled fair Weather. The 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th,
and Part of the 12th. (for the 11th. was Sunday) I took wholly up to make me a Chair,
and with much ado brought it to a tolerable Shape, but never to please me, and even
in the making I pull'd it in Pieces several times.
Note, I soon neglected my keeping Sundays, for omitting my Mark for them
on my Post, I forgot which was which.
Nov. 13. This Day it rain'd, which refresh'd me exceedingly, and cool'd the
Earth, but it was accompany'd with terrible Thunder and
Lightning, which frighted me dreadfully for fear of my Powder; as soon as it was over, I resolv'd to separate my Stock of Powder into as many
little Parcels as possible, that it might not be in Danger.
Nov. 14, 15, 16. These three Days I spent in making little square Chests or
Boxes, which might hold about a Pound or two Pound, at most, of Powder, and so
putting the Powder in, I stow'd it in Places as secure and remote from one another as
possible. On one of these three Days I kill'd a large Bird that was good to eat, but
I know not what to call it.
Nov. 17. This Day I began to dig behind my Tent into the Rock to make room
for my farther Note, Two
Things I wanted exceedingly for this Work, viz. A
Pick-axe, a Shovel, and a Wheel-barrow or Basket, so I desisted from my Work, and
began to consider how to supply that Want and make me some Tools; as for a Pick-axe,
I made use of the Iron Crows, which were proper enough, tho' heavy; but the next
thing was a Shovel or Spade, this was so absolutely
necessary, that indeed I could do nothing effectually without it, but what kind of
one to make I knew not.
Nov. 18. The next Day in searching the Woods I found a Tree of that Wood, or
like it, which, in the Brasils they call the Iron Tree,
The excessive Hardness of the Wood, and having no other Way, made me a long while
upon this Machine, for I work'd it effectually by little and little into the Form of
a Shovel or Spade, the Handle exactly shap'd like ours in England, only that
the broad Part having no Iron shod upon it at Bottom, it
would not last me so long, however it serv'd well enough for the uses which I had occasion
to put it to; but never was a Shovel, I believe, made after that Fashion, or so long
a making.
I was still deficient, for I wanted a Basket or a Wheel-barrow, a Basket I could not
make by any Means, having no such things as Twigs that would bend to make Wicker
Ware, at least none yet found out; and as to a Wheel-barrow, I fancy'd I could make
all but the Wheel, but that I had no Notion of, neither did I know how to go about
it; besides I had no possible Way to make the Iron Gudgeons
This was not so difficult to me as the making the Shovel; and yet this, and the Shovel, and the Attempt which I made in vain, to make a Wheel-Barrow, took me up no less than four Days, I mean always, excepting my Morning Walk with my Gun, which I seldom fail'd, and very seldom fail'd also bringing Home something fit to eat.
Nov. 23. My other Work having now stood still, because of my making these
Tools; when they were finish'd, I went on, and working every Day, as my Strength and
Time allow'd, I spent eighteen Days entirely in widening and
deepening my Cave, that it might hold my Goods commodiously.
Note, During all this Time, I work'd to make this Room or Cave spacious
enough to accommodate me as a Warehouse or Magazin, a
Kitchen, a Dining-room, and a Cellar; as for my Lodging, I kept to the Tent, except
that some Times in the wet Season of the Year, it rain'd so hard, that I could not
keep my self dry, which caused me afterwards to cover all my
Place within my Pale with long Poles in the Form of Rafters leaning against the Rock,
and load them with Flaggs and large Leaves of Trees like a Thatch.
December 10th, I began now to think my Cave or Vault finished, when on a
Sudden, (it seems I had made it too large) a great Quantity of Earth fell down from
the Top and one Side, so much, that in short it frighted me, and not without Reason too; for if I had been under it I had never wanted a
Grave-Digger: Upon this Disaster I had
Dec. 11. This Day I went to Work with it accordingly, and got two Shores or Posts pitch'd upright to the Top, with two Pieces of
Boards a-cross over each Post, this I finish'd the next Day; and setting more Posts
up with Boards, in about a Week more I had the Roof secur'd; and the Posts standing
in Rows, serv'd me for Partitions to part of my House.
Dec. 17. From this Day to the Twentieth I plac'd Shelves, and knock'd up
Nails on the Posts to hang every Thing up that could be hung up, and now I began to
be in some Order within Doors.
Dec. 20. Now I carry'd every Thing into the Cave, and began to furnish my
House, and set up some Pieces of Boards, like a Dresser, to order my Victuals upon,
but Boards began to be very scarce with me; also I made me another Table.
Dec. 24. Much Rain all Night and all Day, no stirring out.
Dec. 25. Rain all Day.
Dec. 26. No Rain, and the Earth much cooler than before, and pleasanter.
Dec. 27. Kill'd a young Goat, and lam'd another so
as that I catch'd it, and led it Home in a String; when I had it Home, I bound and
splinter'd up its Leg which was broke, N. B. I
took such Care of it, that it liv'd, and the Leg grew well, and as strong as ever;
but by my nursing it so long it grew tame, and fed upon the
little Green at my Door, and would not go away: This was
the first Time that I entertain'd a Thought of breeding up some tame Creatures,
Dec. 28, 29, 30. Great Heats and no Breeze; so that there was no Stirring
abroad, except in the Evening for Food; this Time I spent in putting all my Things in
Order within Doors.
January 1. Very hot still, but I went abroad early
and late with my Gun, and lay still in the Middle of the Day; this Evening going
farther into the Valleys which lay towards the Center of the Island, I found there
was plenty of Goats, tho' exceeding shy and hard to come at, however I resolv'd to
try if I could not bring my Dog to hunt them down.
Jan. 2. Accordingly, the next Day, I went out with my Dog, and set him upon
the Goats; but I was mistaken, for they all fac'd about upon the Dog, and he knew his
Danger too well, for he would not come near them.
Jan. 3. I began my Fence or Wall; which being still
jealous
N. B. This Wall being describ'd before, I purposely omit what was said in
the Journal; it is sufficient to observe, that I was no less
Time than from the 3d of January to the 14th of
April, working, finishing, and perfecting this Wall, tho' it was no more
than about 24 Yards in Length, being a half Circle from one Place in the
Rock to another Place about eight Yards from it, the Door of the Cave being in the
Center behind it.
All this Time I work'd very hard, the Rains hindering me many Days, nay sometimes
Weeks together; but I thought I should never be perfectly
secure 'till this Wall was finish'd; and it is
When this Wall was finished, and the Out-side double fenc'd with a Turff-Wall rais'd up close to it, I perswaded my self, that if any People were to come on Shore there, they would not perceive any Thing like a Habitation; and it was very well I did so, as may be observ'd hereafter upon a very remarkable Occasion.
During this Time, I made my Rounds in the Woods for Game every Day when the Rain admitted me, and made frequent Discoveries in these Walks of something or other to my Advantage; particularly I found a Kind of wild Pidgeons, who built not as Wood Pidgeons in a Tree, but rather as House Pidgeons, in the Holes of the Rocks; and taking some young ones, I endeavoured to bread them up tame, and did so; but when they grew older they flew all away, which perhaps was at first for Want of feeding them, for I had nothing to give them; however I frequently found their Nests, and got their young ones, which were very good Meat.
And now, in the managing my houshold Affairs, I found my self wanting in many Things,
which I thought at first it was impossible for me to make, as indeed as to some of
them it was; for Instance, I could never make a Cask to be hooped
as I observed before, but I cou'd never arrive to the Capacity of making
one by them, tho' I spent many Weeks about it; I could neither put in the Heads, or
joint the Staves
African Adventure, but I had none of that
now; the only Remedy I had was, that when I had kill'd a
Goat, I sav'd the Tallow, and with a little Dish made of Clay, which I bak'd in the
Sun, to which I added a Wick of some Oakum, I made me a Lamp; and this gave me Light,
tho' not a clear steady Light like a Candle; in the Middle of all my Labours it
happen'd, that rumaging my Things, I found a little Bag, which, as I hinted before,
had been fill'd with Corn for the feeding of Poultry, not for this Voyage, but
before, as I suppose, when the Ship came from Lisbon, what little Remainder
of Corn had been in the Bag, was all devour'd with the Rats, and I saw nothing in the
Bag but Husks and Dust; and being willing to have the Bag for some other Use, I think
it was to put Powder in, when I divided it for Fear of the Lightning, or some such
Use, I shook the Husks of Corn out of it on one Side of my Fortification under the
Rock.
It was a little before the great Rains, just now mention'd, that I threw this Stuff
away, taking no Notice of any Thing, and not so much as remembring that I had thrown any Thing there; when about a Month after, or thereabout, I
saw some few Stalks of something green, shooting out of the Ground, which I fancy'd
might be some Plant I had not seen, but I was surpriz'd and perfectly astonish'd, when, after a little longer Time, I saw about ten or twelve Ears come out, which were perfect green
Barley of the same Kind as our European, nay, as
our English Barley.
This touch'd my Heart a little, and brought Tears out of my Eyes, and I began to
bless my self, that such a Prodigy of Nature should happen
upon my Account; and this was the more strange to me, because I saw near it still all
along by the Side of the Rock, some other straggling Stalks, which prov'd to be
Stalks of Ryce, and which I knew, because I had seen it grow in Africa when
I was ashore there.
I not only thought these the pure Productions of Providence for my Support, but not
doubting, but that there was more in the Place, I went all over that Part of the
Island, where I had been before, peering in every Corner, and under every Rock, to
see for more of it, but I could not find any; at last it occur'd to my Thoughts, that
I had shook a Bag of Chickens
Meat
I carefully sav'd the Ears of this Corn you may be sure in their Season, which was
about the End of June; and laying up every Corn, I resolv'd to sow them all
again, hoping in Time to have some Quantity sufficient to supply me with Bread; But
it was not till the 4th Year that I could allow my self the least Grain of this Corn
to eat, and even then but sparingly, as I shall say afterwards in its Order; for I lost all that I sow'd the first Season, by not
observing the proper Time; for I sow'd it just before the dry Season, so that it
never came up at all, at least, not as it would ha' done: Of which in its Place.
Besides this Barley, there was, as above, 20 or 30 Stalks of Ryce, which I preserv'd
with the same Care, and whose Use was of the same Kind or to the same Purpose,
(viz.) to make me Bread, or rather Food; for I found Ways to cook it up
without baking, tho' I did that also after some Time. But
to return to my Journal,
I work'd excessive hard these three or four Months to get my Wall done; and the 14th
of April I closed it up, contriving to go into it, not by a Door, but over
the Wall by a Ladder, that
April 16. I finish'd the Ladder, so I went up with the Ladder to the Top,
and then pull'd it up after me, and let it down in the In-side: This was a compleat
Enclosure to me; for within I had Room enough, and nothing could come at me from
without, unless it could first mount my Wall.
The very next Day after this Wall was finish'd, I had almost had all my Labour
overthrown at once, and my self kill'd, the Case was thus, As I was busy in the
Inside of it, behind my Tent, just in the Entrance into my Cave, I was terribly
frighted with a most dreadful surprising Thing indeed; for
all on a sudden I found the Earth come crumbling down from the Roof of my Cave, and
from the Edge of the Hill over my Head, and two of the Posts I had set up in the Cave
crack'd in a frightful Manner; I was heartily scar'd, but thought nothing of what was
really the Cause, only thinking that the Top of my Cave was falling in, as some of it
had done before; and for Fear I shou'd be bury'd in it, I run foreward to my Ladder,
and not thinking my self safe there neither, I got over my Wall for Fear of the
Pieces of the Hill which I expected might roll down upon me: I was no sooner stepp'd down upon the firm Ground, but I plainly saw it was a terrible Earthquake, for the Ground I stood
on shook three Times at about eight Minutes Distance, with
three such Shocks, as would have overturn'd the strongest Building that could be
suppos'd to have stood on the Earth, and a great Piece of the Top of a Rock, which
stood about half a Mile from me next the Sea, fell down with
such a terrible Noise, as I never heard in all my Life, I perceiv'd also, the very
Sea was put into violent Motion by it; and I believe the
I was so amaz'd with the Thing it self, having never felt the like, or discours'd with any one that had, that I was like one dead or stupify'd; and the Motion of the Earth made my Stomach sick like one that was toss'd at Sea; but the Noise of the falling of the Rock awak'd me as it were, and rousing me from the stupify'd Condition I was in, fill'd me with Horror, and I thought of nothing then but the Hill falling upon my Tent and all my houshold Goods, and burying all at once; and this sunk my very Soul within me a second Time.
After the third Shock was over, and I felt no more for some Time, I began to take
Courage, and yet I had not Heart enough to go over my Wall again, for Fear of being
buried alive, but sat still upon the Ground, greatly cast down and disconsolate, not knowing what to do: All this while I had not
the least serious religious Thought, nothing but the common, Lord ha' Mercy upon
me; and when it was over, that went away too.
While I sat thus, I found the Air over-cast, and grow cloudy, as if it would Rain; soon after that the Wind rose by little and little, so that, in less than half an Hour, it blew a most dreadful Hurricane: The Sea was all on a Sudden cover'd over with Foam and Froth, the Shore was cover'd with the Breach of the Water, the Trees were torn up by the Roots, and a terrible Storm it was; and this held about three Hours, and then began to abate, and in two Hours more it was stark calm, and began to rain very hard.
All this while I sat upon the Ground very much terrify'd and dejected, when on a
sudden it came into my thoughts, that these Winds and Rain being the Consequences of the
Earthquake
This violent Rain forc'd me to a new Work, viz. To cut a Hole thro' my new
Fortification like a Sink to let the Water go out, which would else have drown'd my
Cave. After I had been in my Cave some time, and found still no more Shocks of the
Earthquake follow, I began to be more compos'd; and now to
support my Spirits, which indeed wanted it very much, I went to my little Store and
took a small Sup of Rum, which however I did then and always very sparingly, knowing
I could have no more when that was gone.
It continu'd raining all that Night, and great Part of the next Day, so that I could not stir abroad, but my Mind being more compos'd, I began to think of what I had best do, concluding that if the Island was subject to these Earthquakes, there would be no living for me in a Cave, but I must consider of building me some little Hut in an open Place which I might surround with a Wall as I had done here, and so make my self secure from wild Beasts or Men; but concluded, if I staid where I was, I should certainly, one time or other, be bury'd alive.
With these Thoughts I resolv'd to remove my Tent from the Place where it stood, which
was just under the hanging Precipice of the Hill, and which, if it should be shaken
again, would certainly fall upon my Tent: And I spent the
two next April, in contriving where and how to remove my
Habitation.
The fear of being swallow'd up alive, made me that I never slept in quiet, and yet the Apprehensions of lying abroad without any Fence was almost equal to it; but still when I look'd about and saw how every thing was put in order, how pleasantly conceal'd I was, and how safe from Danger, it made me very loath to remove.
In the mean time it occur'd to me that it would require a vast deal of time for me to
do this, and that I must be contented to run the Venture where I was, till I had
form'd a Camp for my self, and had secur'd it so as to remove to it: So with this
Resolution I compos'd my self for a time, and resolv'd that
I would go to work with all Speed to build me a Wall with Piles and Cables,
&c. in a Circle as before, and set my Tent up in it when it was
finish'd, but that I would venture to stay where I was till it was finish'd and fit
to remove to. This was the 21st.
April 22. The next Morning I began to consider of Means to put this Resolve
in Execution, but I was at a great loss about my Tools; I had three large Axes and
abundance of Hatchets, (for we carried the Hatchets for Traffick with the Indians) Note, I had never seen any such thing
in England, or at least not to take Notice how it was done, tho' since I
April 28, 29. These two whole Days I took up in grinding my Tools, my
Machine for turning my Grindstone performing very well.
April 30. Having perceiv'd my Bread had been low a great while, now I took a
Survey of it, and reduc'd my self to one Bisket-cake a Day, which made my Heart very
heavy.
May 1. In the Morning looking towards the Sea-side, the Tide being low, I
saw something lye on the Shore bigger than ordinary, and it look'd like a Cask, when
I came to it, I found a small Barrel, and two or three Pieces of the Wreck of the
Ship, which were driven on Shore by the late Hurricane, and looking towards the Wreck
itself, I thought it seem'd to lye higher out of the Water
than it us'd to do; I examin'd the Barrel which was driven on Shore, and soon found
it was a Barrel of Gunpowder, but it had taken Water, and the Powder was cak'd as
hard as a Stone, however I roll'd it farther on Shore for
the present, and went on upon the Sands as near as I could to the Wreck of the Ship
to look for more.
When I came down to the Ship I found it strangely remov'd,
The Fore-castle which lay before bury'd in Sand, was heav'd
up at least Six Foot, and the Stern which was broke to Pieces and parted from the
rest by the Force of the Sea soon after I had left rummaging her, was toss'd, as it
were, up, and cast on one Side, and the Sand was thrown so high on that Side next her
Stern, that whereas there was a great Place of Water before, so that I could not come
within a Quarter of a Mile of the Wreck without swimming, I could now walk
This wholly diverted my Thoughts from the Design of removing my Habitation; and I busied my self mightily that Day especially, in searching whether I could make any Way into the Ship, but I found nothing was to be expected of that Kind, for that all the In-side of the Ship was choack'd up with Sand: However, as I had learn'd not to despair of any Thing, I resolv'd to pull every Thing to Pieces that I could of the Ship, concluding, that every Thing I could get from her would be of some Use or other to me.
May 3. I began with my Saw, and cut a Piece of a Beam thro', which I thought
held some of the upper Part or Quarter-Deck together, and when I had cut it thro', I
clear'd away the Sand as well as I could from the Side which lay highest; but the
Tide coming in, I was oblig'd to give over for that Time.
May 4. I went a fishing, but caught not one Fish that I durst eat of, till I
was weary of my Sport, when just going to leave off, I caught a young Dolphin. I had
made me a long Line of some Rope Yarn, but I had no Hooks, yet I frequently caught
Fish enough, as much as I car'd to eat; all which I dry'd in the Sun, and eat them
dry.
May 5. Work'd on the Wreck, cut another Beam asunder, and brought three
great Fir Planks off from the Decks, which I ty'd together, and made swim on Shore
when the Tide of Flood came on.
May 6. Work'd on the Wreck, got several Iron Bolts out of her, and other
Pieces of Iron Work, work'd very hard, and came Home very much tyr'd, and had
Thoughts of giving it over.
May 7. Went to the Wreck again, but with an Intent not to work, but found
the Weight of the Wreck had broke itself down, the Beams being cut, that several
Pieces of the Ship seem'd to lie loose, and the In-side of the Hold lay so open, that
I could see into it, but almost full of Water and Sand.
May 8. Went to the Wreck, and carry'd an Iron Crow to wrench up the Deck,
which lay now quite clear of the Water or Sand; I wrench'd open two Planks, and
brought them on Shore also with the Tide: I left the Iron Crow in the Wreck for next
Day.
May 9. Went to the Wreck, and with the Crow made Way into the Body of the
Wreck, and felt several Casks, and loosen'd them with the Crow, but could not break
them up; I felt also the Roll of English Lead, and could stir it, but it was
too heavy to remove.
May 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Went every Day to the Wreck, and got a great deal of
Pieces of Timber, and Boards, or Plank, and 2 or 300 Weight
of Iron.
May 15. I carry'd two Hatchets to try if I could not cut a Piece off of the
Roll of Lead, by placing the Edge of one Hatchet, and driving it with the other; but
as it lay about a Foot and a half in the Water, I could not make any Blow to drive
the Hatchet.
May 16. It had blow'd hard in the Night, and the Wreck appear'd more broken
by the Force of the Water; but I stay'd so long in the Woods to get Pidgeons for
Food, that the Tide prevented me going to the Wreck that Day.
May 17. I saw some Pieces of the Wreck blown on Shore, at a great Distance,
near two Miles off me, but resolv'd to see what they were, and found it was a Piece
of the Head, but too heavy for me to bring away.
May 24. Every Day to this Day I work'd on the Wreck, and with hard Labour I
loosen'd some Things so much with the Crow, that the first blowing Tide several Casks
floated out, and two of the Seamens Chests; but the Wind blowing from the Shore,
nothing came to Land that Day, but Pieces of Timber, and a Hogshead which had some
Brazil Pork in it, but the Salt-water and the Sand had spoil'd it.
I continu'd this Work every Day to the 15th of June, except the Time
necessary to get Food, which I always appointed, during this Part of my Employment,
to be when the Tide was up, that I might be ready when it was ebb'd out, and by this
Time I had gotten Timber, and Plank, and Iron-Work enough, to have builded a good
Boat, if I had known how; and also, I got at several Times, and in several Pieces,
near 100 Weight
June 16. Going down to the Sea-side, I found a large Tortoise or Turtle;
this was the first I had seen, which it seems was only my Misfortune, not any Defect
of the Place, or Scarcity; for had I happen'd to be on the
other Side of the Island, I might have had Hundreds of them every Day, as I found
afterwards; but perhaps had paid dear enough for them.
June 17. I spent in cooking the Turtle; I found in her threescore Eggs; and
her Flesh was to me at that Time the most savoury and pleasant that ever I tasted in
my Life, having had no Flesh,
June 18. Rain'd all Day, and I stay'd within. I thought at this Time the
Rain felt Cold, and I was something chilly, which I knew was not usual in that
Latitude.
June 19. Very ill, and shivering, as if the Weather
had been cold.
June 20. No Rest all Night, violent Pains in my Head, and feaverish.
June 21. Very ill, frighted almost to Death with the Apprehensions of my sad
Condition, to be sick, and no Help: Pray'd to GOD for the first Time since the Storm
off of Hull, but scarce knew what I said, or why; my Thoughts being all
confused.
June 22. A little better, but under dreadful Apprehensions of Sickness.
June 23. Very bad again, cold and shivering, and then a violent
Head-ach.
June 24. Much better.
June 25. An Ague very violent; the Fit held me seven Hours, cold Fit and
hot, with faint Sweats after it.
June 26. Better; and having no Victuals to eat, took my Gun, but found my
self very weak; however I kill'd a She-Goat, and with much Difficulty got it Home, and broil'd some of it, and eat; I wou'd fain have stew'd it,
and made some Broath, but had no Pot.
June 27. The Ague again so violent, that I lay a-Bed all Day, and neither
eat or drank. I was ready to perish for Thirst, but so weak, I had not Strength to
stand up, or to get my self any Water to drink: Pray'd to God again, but was
light-headed, and when I was not, I was so ignorant, that I
knew not what to say; only I lay and Lord look upon me, Lord pity me, Lord have Mercy upon me: I suppose I did
nothing else for two or three Hours, till the Fit wearing off, I fell asleep, and did
not wake till far in the Night; when I wak'd, I found my self much refresh'd, but
weak, and exceeding thirsty: However, as I had no Water in
my whole Habitation, I was forc'd to lie till Morning, and
went to sleep again: In this second Sleep, I had this terrible Dream.
I thought, that I was sitting on the Ground on the Out-side of my Wall, where I sat
when the Storm blew after the Earthquake, and that I saw a Man descend from a great
black Cloud, in a bright Flame of Fire, and light
He was no sooner landed upon the Earth, but he moved forward towards me, with a long
Spear or Weapon in his Hand, to kill me; and when he came to a rising Ground, at some
Distance, he spoke to me, or I heard a Voice so terrible, that it is impossible to
express the Terror of it; all that I can say, I understood, was this, Seeing all
these Things have not brought thee to Repentance, now thou shalt die: At
which Words, I thought he lifted up the Spear that was in his Hand, to kill me.
No one, that shall ever read this Account, will expect that I should be able to
describe the Horrors of my Soul at this terrible Vision, I mean, that even while it
was a Dream, I even dreamed of those Horrors; nor is it any more possible to describe
I had alas! no divine Knowledge; what I had received by the good Instruction of my Father was then worn out by an uninterrupted Series, for 8 Years, of Seafaring Wickedness, and a constant Conversation with nothing but such as were like my self, wicked and prophane to the last Degree: I do not remember that I had in all that Time one Thought that so much as tended either to looking upwards toward God, or inwards towards a Reflection upon my own Ways: But a certain Stupidity of Soul, without Desire of Good, or Conscience of Evil, had entirely overwhelm'd me, and I was all that the most hardned, unthinking, wicked Creature among our common Sailors, can be supposed to be, not having the least Sense, either of the Fear of God in Danger, or of Thankfulness to God in Deliverances.
In the relating what is already past of my Story, this will be the more easily
believ'd, when I shall add, that thro' all the Variety of Miseries that had to this
Day befallen me, I never had so much as one Thought of it being the Hand of God, or
that it was a just Punishment for my Sin; my rebellious
Behaviour against my Father, or my present Sins which were
great; or so much as a Punishment for the general Course of
my wicked Life. When I was on the desperate Expedition on the desart Shores of Africa, I never had so much as one
Thought of what would become of me; or one Wish to God to direct me whether I should
go, or to keep me from the Danger which apparently surrounded me, as well from voracious Creatures as cruel Savages: But I was meerly
thoughtless of a God, or a Providence; acted like a meer Brute from the Principles of
Nature, and by the Dictates of common Sense only, and indeed hardly that.
Portugal Captain, well us'd, and dealt justly and honourably with, as
well as charitably, I had not the least Thankfulness on my Thoughts: When again I was
shipwreck'd, ruin'd, and in Danger of drowning on this Island, I was as far from Remorse, or looking on it as a Judgment; I only said to my
self often, that I was an unfortunate Dog, and born to be always
miserable.
It is true, when I got on Shore first here, and found all my Ship's Crew drown'd, and
my self spar'd, I was surpriz'd with a Kind of Extasie, and some Transports of Soul,
which, had the Grace of God assisted, might have come up to true Thankfulness; but it ended where it begun, in a meer common
Flight of Joy, or as I may say, being glad I was alive, without the least
Reflection upon the distinguishing Goodness of the Hand which had preserv'd me, and
had singled me out to be preserv'd, when all the rest were
destroy'd; or an Enquiry why Providence had been thus
merciful to me; even just the same common Sort of Joy which Seamen generally have
after they are got safe ashore from a Shipwreck, which they drown all in the next
Bowl of Punch, and forget almost as soon as it is over, and all the rest of my Life
was like it.
Even when I was afterwards, on due Consideration, made
sensible of my Condition, how I was cast on this dreadful Place, out of the Reach of
humane Kind, out of all Hope of Relief, or Prospect of
Redemption, as soon as I saw but a Prospect of living, and that I should not starve
and perish for Hunger, all the Sense of my Affliction wore off, and I begun to be
very easy, apply'd my self to the Works proper for my Preservation and Supply, and
was far enough from being afflicted at my Condition, as a
Judgment from Heaven, or as the
The growing up of the Corn, as is hinted in my Journal, had at first some little Influence upon me, and began to affect me with Seriousness, as long as I thought it had something miraculous in it; but as soon as ever that Part of the Thought was remov'd, all the Impression which was rais'd from it, wore off also, as I have noted already.
Even the Earthquake, tho' nothing could be more terrible in its Nature, or more immediately directing to the invisible Power which alone directs such Things, yet no sooner was the first Fright over, but the Impression it had made went off also. I had no more Sense of God or his Judgments, much less of the present Affliction of my Circumstances being from his Hand, than if I had been in the most prosperous Condition of Life.
But now when I began to be sick, and a leisurely View of the Miseries of Death came to place itself before me; when my Spirits began to sink under the Burthen of a strong Distemper, and Nature was exhausted with the Violence of the Feaver; Conscience that had slept so long, begun to awake, and I began to reproach my self with my past Life, in which I had so evidently, by uncommon Wickedness, provok'd the Justice of God to lay me under uncommon Strokes, and to deal with me in so vindictive a Manner.
These Reflections oppress'd me for the second or third Day of my Distemper, and in
the Violence, as well of the Feaver, as of the dreadful Reproaches of my Conscience,
extorted some Words from me, like praying to God, tho' I cannot say they were either
a Prayer attended with Desires or with Hopes; it was rather the Voice of meer Fright
and Distress; my Thoughts were confus'd, the
In this Interval, the good Advice of my Father came to my Mind, and presently his
Prediction which I mention'd at the Beginning of this Story, viz. That if I did
take this foolish Step, God would not bless me, and I would have Leisure hereafter
to reflect upon having neglected his Counsel, when there might be none to assist
in my Recovery. Now, said I aloud, My dear Father's Words are come to pass:
God's Justice has overtaken me, and I have none to help or hear me: I rejected the
Voice of Providence, which had mercifully put me in a Posture or Station of Life, wherein I might have been happy and easy; but
I would neither see it my self, or learn to know the Blessing of it from my Parents;
I left them to mourn over my Folly, and now I am left to mourn under the Consequences
of it: I refus'd their Help and Assistance who wou'd have lifted me into the World,
and wou'd have made every Thing easy to me, and now I have Difficulties to struggle with, too great for even Nature itself to support, and no Assistance, no Help, no Comfort, no Advice;
then I cry'd out, Lord be my Help, for I am in great Distress.
This was the first Prayer, if I may call it so, that I had made for many Years: But I return to my Journal.
June 28. Having been somewhat refresh'd with the Sleep I had had, and the
Fit being entirely off, I got up; and tho' the Fright and Terror of my Dream was very
great, yet I consider'd, that the Fit of the Ague wou'd return again the next Day,
and now was my Time to get something to refresh and support my self when I should be
ill; and the first Thing I did, I fill'd a large square Case Bottle with Water, and
set it upon my Table, in Reach of my Bed; and to take off
the chill or aguish Disposition of the Water, I put about a Quarter of a Pint of Rum
into it, and mix'd them together; then I got me a Piece of the Goat's Flesh, and
broil'd it on the Coals, but could eat very little; I walk'd about, but was very
weak, and withal very sad and heavy-hearted in the Sense of my miserable Condition;
dreading the Return of my Distemper the next Day; at
Night I made my Supper of three of the Turtle's Eggs, which I roasted in the Ashes,
and eat, as we call it, in the Shell; and this was the first Bit of Meat
After I had eaten, I try'd to walk, but found my self so weak, that I cou'd hardly carry the Gun, (for I never went out without that) so I went but a little Way, and sat down upon the Ground, looking out upon the Sea, which was just before me, and very calm and smooth: As I sat here, some such Thoughts as these occurred to me.
What is this Earth and Sea of which I have seen so much, whence is it produc'd, and what am I, and all the other Creatures, wild and tame, humane and brutal, whence are we?
Then it follow'd most naturally, It is God that has made it all: Well, but then it came on strangely, if God has made all these Things, He guides and governs them all, and all Things that concern them; for the Power that could make all Things, must certainly have Power to guide and direct them.
If so, nothing can happen in the great Circuit of his Works, either without his Knowledge or Appointment.
And if nothing happens without his Knowledge, he knows that I am here, and am in this dreadful Condition; and if nothing happens without his Appointment, he has appointed all this to befal me.
Nothing occurr'd to my Thought to contradict any of these Conclusions; and therefore it rested upon me with the greater Force, that it must needs be, that God had appointed all this to befal me; that I was brought to this miserable Circumstance by his Direction, he having the sole Power, not of me only, but of every Thing that happen'd in the World. Immediately it follow'd,
Why has God done this to me? What have I done to be thus us'd?
My Conscience presently check'd me in that Enquiry, as if I
had blasphem'd, and methought it spoke to me like a Voice; WRETCH! dost thou ask
what thou hast done! look back upon a dreadful mis-spent Life, and ask thy
self what thou hast not done? ask, Why is it that thou wert not long ago
destroy'd? Why wert thou not drown'd in
Yarmouth Roads? Kill'd in the Fight when the Ship was taken by the Sallee
Man of War? Devour'd by the wild Beasts
on the Coast of Africa? Or, Drown'd HERE, when all the Crew perish'd but
thy self? Dost thou ask, What have I done?
I was struck dumb with these Reflections, as one astonish'd, and had not a Word to
say, no not to answer to my self, but rise up pensive and sad, walk'd back to my
Retreat, and went up over my Wall, as if I had been going to Bed, but my Thoughts
were sadly disturb'd, and I had no Inclination to Sleep; so
I sat down in my Chair, and lighted my Lamp, for it began to be dark: Now as the
Apprehension of the Return of my Distemper terrify'd me very
much, it occurr'd to my Thought, that the Brasilians take no Physick but
their Tobacco, for almost all Distempers; and I had a Piece of a Roll of Tobacco in
one of the Chests, which was quite cur'd, and some also that was green and not quite
cur'd.
I went, directed by Heaven no doubt; for in this Chest I found a Cure, both for Soul
and Body, I open'd the Chest, and found what I look'd for, viz. the Tobacco;
and as the few Books, I had sav'd, lay there too, I took out one of the Bibles which
I mention'd before, and which to this Time I had not found Leisure, or so much as
Inclination to look into; I say, I took it out, and brought both that and the Tobacco
with me to the Table.
What Use to make of the Tobacco, I knew not, as to my Distemper, or whether it was
good for it or no; but I try'd several Experiments with it, as if I was resolv'd it
should hit one Way or other: I first took a Piece of a Leaf, and chew'd it in my
Mouth, which indeed at first almost stupify'd my Brain, the Tobacco being green and
strong, and that I had not been much us'd to it; then I took some and steeped it an
Hour or two in some Rum, and resolv'd to take a Dose of it when I lay down;
In the Interval of this Operation, I took up the Bible and began to read, but my Head
was too much disturb'd with the Tobacco to bear reading, at least that Time; only
having open'd the Book casually, the first Words that
occurr'd to me were these, Call on me
in the Day of Trouble
The Words were very apt to my Case, and made some Impression upon my Thoughts at the
Time of reading them, tho' not so much as they did afterwards; for as for being deliver'd, the Word had no Sound, as I may say, to
me; the Thing was so remote, so impossible in my Apprehension of Things, that I began
to say as the Children of Israel did, when they were promis'd Flesh to eat
Can God spread a Table in the
Wilderness; so I began to say, Can God himself deliver me from this Place?
and as it was not for many Years that any Hope appear'd, this prevail'd very often
upon my Thoughts: But however, the Words made a great Impression upon me, and I mused
upon them very often. It grew now late, and the Tobacco had, as I said, doz'd my Head
so much, that I inclin'd to sleep; so I left my Lamp burning in the Cave, least I
should want any Thing in the Night, and went to Bed; but before I lay down, I did
what I never had done in all my Life, I kneel'd down and pray'd to God to fulfil the
Promise to me, that if I call'd upon him in the Day of Trouble, he would deliver me;
after my broken and imperfect Prayer was over, I drunk
the Rum in which I had steep'd the Tobacco, which was so
strong and rank of the Tobacco, that indeed I could scarce get it down; immediately
Be that however one Way or th' other, when I awak'd I found my self exceedingly refresh'd, and my Spirits lively and chearful; when I got up, I was stronger than I was the Day before, and my Stomach better, for I was hungry; and in short, I had no Fit the next Day, but continu'd much alter'd for the better; this was the 29th.
The 30th was my well Day of Course, and I went abroad with my Gun, but did not care
to travel too far, I kill'd a Sea Fowl or two, something
like a brand Goose, and brought them Home, but was not very forward to eat them; so I
ate some more of the Turtle's Eggs, which were very good. This Evening I renew'd the
Medicine which I had suppos'd did me good the Day before, viz. the Tobacco steep'd in Rum, only I did not take so much as before, nor did I chew any of the Leaf, or hold my Head over
the Smoke; however, I was not so well the next Day, which was the first of
July, as I hop'd I shou'd have been; for I had a little Spice of the cold
Fit, but it was not much.
July 2. I renew'd the Medicine all the three Ways, and doz'd my self with it
as at first; and doubled the Quantity which I drank.
I will deliver
thee, and the Impossibility of my Deliverance lay much upon my Mind in Barr
of my ever expecting it: But as I was discouraging my self with such Thoughts, it
occurr'd to my Mind, that I pored so much upon my Deliverance from the main Affliction, that I disregarded the Deliverance I had receiv'd; and I was, as it were, made to ask my self such
Questions as these, viz. Have I not been deliver'd, and wonderfully too,
from Sickness? from the most distress'd Condition that could be, and that was so
frightful to me, and what Notice I had taken of it: Had I done my Part, God had
deliver'd me, but I had not glorify'd him; that
is to say, I had not own'd and been thankful for that as a Deliverance, and how cou'd
I expect greater Deliverance?
This touch'd my Heart very much, and immediately I kneeel'd down and gave God Thanks aloud, for my Recovery from my Sickness.
July 4. In the Morning I took the Bible, and beginning at the New Testament, I began seriously to read it, and impos'd upon my
self to read a while every Morning and every Night, not tying my self to the Number
of Chapters, but as long as my Thoughts shou'd engage me: It was not long after I set
seriously to this Work, but I found my Heart more deeply and sincerely affected with
the Wickedness of my past Life: The Impression of my Dream
reviv'd, and the Words, All these Things have not brought thee to
Repentance, ran seriously in my Thought: I was
earnestly begging of God to give me Repentance, when it happen'd providentially the
very Day that reading the Scriture, Jesus, thou Son of David, Jesus, thou exalted
Prince and Saviour, give me Repentance!
This was the first Time that I could say, in the true Sense of the Words, that I pray'd in all my Life; for now I pray'd with a Sense of my Condition, and with a true Scripture View of Hope founded on the Encouragement of the Word of God; and from this Time, I may say, I began to have Hope that God would hear me.
Now I began to construe the Words mentioned above, Call on me, and I will deliver
you, in a different Sense from what I had ever done
before; for then I had no Notion of any thing being call'd Deliverance, but my being deliver'd from the Captivity I was
in; for tho' I was indeed at large in the Place, yet the Island was certainly a
Prison to me, and that in the worst Sense in the World; but now I learn'd to take it
in another Sense: Now I look'd back upon my past Life with such Horrour, and my Sins
appear'd so dreadful, that my Soul sought nothing of God, but Deliverance from the Load of Guilt that bore down all my Comfort:
As for my solitary Life it was nothing; I did not so much as pray to be deliver'd
from it, or think of it; It was all of no Consideration in Comparison to this: And I
add this Part here, to hint to whoever shall read it, that whenever they come to a
true Sense of things, they will find Deliverance from Sin a
much greater Blessing, that Deliverance from Affliction.
But leaving this Part, I return to my Journal.
From the 4th of July to the 14th, I was chiefly employ'd in walking about
with my Gun in my Hand, a little and a little, at a Time, as a Man that was gathering
up his Strength after a Fit of Sickness: For it is hardly to be imagin'd, how low I
was, and to what Weakness I was reduc'd. The Application which I made Use of was
perfectly new, and perhaps what had never cur'd an Ague before, neither can I
recommend it to any one to practise, by this Experiment; and tho' it did carry off the Fit, yet it rather contributed to weakening me; for I had frequent Convulsions in my Nerves and
Limbs for some Time.
I learn'd from it also this in particular, that being abroad
in the rainy Season was the most pernicious thing to my
Health that could be, especially in those Rains which came attended with Storms and
Hurricanes of Wind; for as the Rain which came in the dry Season was always most
accompany'd with such Storms, so I found that Rain was much more dangerous than the
Rain which fell in September and October.
I had been now in this unhappy Island above 10 Months, all Possibility of Deliverance
from this Condition, seem'd to be entirely taken from me; and I firmly believed, that
no humane Shape had ever set Foot upon that Place: Having now secur'd
It was the 15th of July that I began to take a more particular Survey of the
Island it self: I went up the Creek first, where, as I hinted, I brought my Rafts on
Shore; I found after I came about two Miles up, that the Tide did not flow any
higher, and that it was no more than a little Brook of running Water, and very fresh
and good; but this being the dry Season, there was hardly any Water in some Parrs of
it, at least, not enough to run in any Stream, so as it could be perceiv'd.
On the Bank of this Brook I found many pleasant
Savana's, or Meadows; plain, smooth, and cover'd with Grass; and on the
rising Parts of them next to the higher Grounds, where the Water, as it might be supposed, never overflow'd, I found a great deal of Tobacco,
green, and growing to a great and very strong Stalk; there were divers other Plants which I had no Notion of, or Understanding about, and might perhaps have Vertues of their own, which I could not find out.
I searched for the Cassava Root Indians in all that Climate make their Bread of, but I
could find none. I saw large Plants of Alloes, but did not then understand them. I
saw several Sugar Canes, but wild, and for want of Cultivation, imperfect. I contented my self with these Discoveries for this
Time, and came back musing with my self what Course I might take to know the Vertue
and Goodness of any of the Fruits or Plants which I should discover; but could bring
it to no Conclusion; for in short, I had made so little
Observation while I was in the Brasils, that I
knew little
The next Day, the 16th, I went up the same Way again, and after going something
farther than I had gone the Day before, I found the Brook, and the Savana's
began to cease, and the Country became more woody than
before; in this Part I found different Fruits, and particularly I found Mellons upon
the Ground in great Abundance, and Grapes upon the Trees; the Vines had spread indeed
over the Trees, and the Clusters of Grapes were just now in their Prime, very ripe
and rich: This was a surprising Discovery, and I was exceeding glad of them; but I
was warn'd by my Experience to eat sparingly of them, remembring, that when I was
ashore in Barbary, the eating of Grapes kill'd several of our
English Men who were Slaves there, by throwing them into Fluxes and Feavers
I spent all that Evening there, and went not back to my Habitation, which by the Way was the first Night, as I might say, I had lain from Home. In the Night I took my first Contrivance, and got up into a Tree, where I slept well, and the next Morning proceeded upon my Discovery, travelling near four Miles, as I might judge by the Length of the Valley, keeping still due North, with a Ridge of Hills on the South and North-side of me.
At the End of this March I came to an Opening, where the
Country seem'd to descend to the Spring, that it looked like a planted
Garden.
I descended a little on the Side of that delicious Vale, surveying it with a secret
Kind of Pleasure, (tho' mixt with my other afflicting Thoughts) to think that this
was all my own, that I was King and Lord of all this Country indefeasibly, and had a
Right of Possession; and if I could convey it, I might have it in Inheritance, as
compleatly as any Lord of a Mannor in England. I saw here Abundance of Cocoa
Trees, Orange, and Lemmon, and Citron Trees; but all wild,
and very few bearing any Fruit, at least not then: However,
the green Limes that I gathered, were not only pleasant to eat, but very wholesome;
and I mix'd their Juice afterwards with Water, which made it very wholesome, and very
cool, and refreshing.
I found now I had Business enough to gather and carry Home; and I resolv'd to lay up a Store, as well of Grapes, as Limes and Lemons, to furnish my self for the wet Season, which I knew was approaching.
In Order to this, I gather'd a great Heap of Grapes in one Place, and a lesser Heap in another Place, and a great Parcel of Limes and Lemons in another Place; and taking a few of each with me, I travell'd homeward, and resolv'd to come again, and bring a Bag or Sack, or what I could make to carry the rest Home.
Accordingly, having spent three Days in this Journey, I came Home; so I must now call
my Tent and my Cave: But, before I got thither, the
The next Day, being the 19th, I went back, having made me two small Bags to bring Home my Harvest: But I was surpriz'd, when coming to my Heap of Grapes, which were so rich and fine when I gather'd them, I found them all spread about, trod to Pieces, and dragg'd about, some here, some there, and Abundance eaten and devour'd: By this I concluded, there were some wild Creatures thereabouts, which had done this; but what they were, I knew not.
However, as I found there there was no laying them up on Heaps, and no carrying them away in a Sack, but that one Way they would be destroy'd, and the other Way they would be crush'd with their own Weight. I took another Course; for I gather'd a large Quantity of the Grapes, and hung them up upon the out Branches of the Trees, that they might cure and dry in the Sun; and as for the Limes and Lemons, I carry'd as many back as I could well stand under.
When I came Home from this Journey, I contemplated with great Pleasure the Fruitfulness of that Valley, and the Pleasantness of the Scituation, the Security from Storms on that Side the Water, and the Wood, and concluded, that I had pitch'd upon a Place to fix my Abode, which was by far the worst Part of the Country. Upon the Whole I began to consider of removing my Habitation; and to look out for a Place equally safe, as where I now was scituate, if possible, in that pleasant fruitful Part of the Island.
However, I was so Enamour'd of this Place, that I spent much of my Time there, for
the whole remaining Part of the Month of July; and tho' upon second Thoughts
I resolv'd as above, not to remove, yet I built me a little kind of a Bower, and
surrounded it at a Distance with a strong Fence, being a double Hedge, as high as I
could reach, well stak'd, and fill'd between with Brushwood; and here I lay very secure, sometimes two or three Nights together,
always going over it with a Ladder, as before; so that I fancy'd now I had my
Country-House, and my Sea-Coast-House: And this Work took me up to the Beginning of August.
I had but newly finish'd my Fence, and began to enjoy my Labour, but the Rains came on, and made me stick close to my first Habitation; for tho' I had made me a Tent like the other, with a Piece of a Sail, and spread it very well; yet I had not the Shelter of a Hill to keep me from Storms, nor a Cave behind me to retreat into, when the Rains were extraordinary.
August, as I
said, I had finish'd my Bower, and began to enjoy my self. The third of
August, I found the Grapes I had hung up were perfectly dry'd, and
indeed, were excellent good Raisins of the Sun; so I began to take them down from the
Trees, and it was very happy that I did so; for the Rains which follow'd would have
spoil'd them, and I had lost the best Part of my Winter Food; for I had above two
hundred large Bunches of them. No sooner had I taken them all down, and carry'd most
of them Home to my Cave, but it began to rain, and from hence, which was the
fourteenth of August, it rain'd more or less, every Day, till the Middle of
October; and sometimes so violently, that I could not stir out of my Cave
for several Days.
In this Season I was much surpriz'd with the Increase of my Family; I had been
concern'd for the Loss of one of my Cats, who run away from me, or as I thought had
been dead, and I heard no more Tale or Tidings of her, till to my Astonishment she came Home about the End of August, with
three Kittens; this was the more strange to me, because tho' I had kill'd a
wild Cat, as I call'd it, with my Gun; yet I thought it was a quite differing Kind
from our European Cats; yet the young Cats were the same Kind of House breed
like the old one; and both my Cats being Females, I thought it very strange: But from
these three Cats, I afterwards came to be so pester'd with Cats, that I was forc'd to
kill them like Vermine, or wild Beasts, and to drive them from my House as much as
possible.
From the fourteenth of August to the twenty sixth, incessant Rain, so that I
could not stir, and was now very careful not to be much wet. In this Confinement I
began to be straitned for Food, but
During this Confinement in my Cover, by the Rain, I work'd daily two or three Hours at enlarging my Cave, and by Degrees work'd it on towards one Side, till I came to the Out-Side of the Hill, and made a Door or Way out, which came beyond my Fence or Wall, and so I came in and out this Way; but I was not perfectly easy at lying so open; for as I had manag'd my self before, I was in a perfect Enclosure, whereas now I thought I lay expos'd, and open for any Thing to come in upon me; and yet I could not perceive that there was any living Thing to fear, the biggest Creature that I had yet seen upon the Island being a Goat.
September the thirtieth, I was now come to the unhappy Anniversary of my
Landing. I cast up
A little after this my Ink began to fail me, and so I contented my self to use it
more sparingly, and to write down only the most remarkable Events of my Life, without
continuing a daily Memorandum of other Things.
The rainy Season, and the dry Season, began now to appear regular to me, and I
learn'd to divide them so, as to provide for them accordingly. But I bought all my
Experience before I had it; and this I am going to relate, was one of the most discouraging Experiments that I made at all: I have mention'd
that I had sav'd the few Ears of Barley and Rice, which I had so surprizingly found
spring up, as I thought, of themselves, and believe there was about thirty Stalks of
Rice, and about twenty of Barley; and now I thought it a proper Time to sow it after
the Rains, the Sun being in its Southern Position going from me.
Accordingly I dug up a Piece of Ground as well as I could with my wooden Spade, and dividing it into two Parts, I sow'd my Grain; but as I was sowing, it casually occur'd to my Thoughts, That I would not sow it all at first, because I did not know when was the proper Time for it; so I sow'd about two Thirds of the Seed, leaving about a Handful of each.
Finding my first Seed did not grow, which I easily imagin'd was by the Drought, I
sought for a moister Peice of Ground to make another Trial in, and I dug up a Piece
of Ground near my new Bower, and sow'd the rest of my Seed in February, a
little before the Vernal
Equinox
March and April to water it, sprung up
very pleasantly, and yielded a very good Crop; but having Part of the Seed left only,
and not daring to sow all that I had, I had but a small Quantity at last, my whole
Crop not amounting to above half a Peck
But by this Experiment I was made Master of my Business, and knew exactly when the proper Season was to sow; and that I might expect two Seed Times, and two Harvests every Year.
While this Corn was growing, I made a little Discovery which was of use to me
afterwards: As soon as the Rains were over, and the Weather began to settle, which was about the Month of November, I made a Visit up the Country to my Bower,
where though I had not been some Months, yet I found all Things just as I left them.
The Circle or double Hedge that I had made, was not only firm and entire; but the Stakes which I had cut out of
some Trees that grew thereabouts, were all shot out and grown with long Branches, as
much as a Willow-Tree usually shoots the first Year after lopping its Head. I could
not tell what Tree to
This made me resolve to cut some more Stakes, and make me a Hedge like this in a
Semicircle round my Wall; I mean that of my first Dwelling, which I did; and placing
the Trees or Stakes in a double Row, at about eight Yards distance from my first
Fence, they grew presently, and were at first a fine Cover to my Habitation, and
afterward serv'd for a Defence also, as I shall observe in its Order.
I found now, That the Seasons of the Year might generally be divided, not into
Summer and Winter, as in Europe; but into the Rainy
Seasons, and the Dry Seasons, which were generally thus,
February, Rainy, the Sun being then on, or near the
Equinox.
March, Rainy, the Sun being then on, or near the
Equinox.
April, Rainy, the Sun being then on, or near the
Equinox.
April, Dry, the Sun being then to the North
of the Line.May, Dry, the Sun being then to the North of the
Line.June, Dry, the Sun being then to the North of the
Line.July, Dry, the Sun being then to the North of the
Line.August, Dry, the Sun being then to the North
of the Line.August, Rainy, the
Sun being then come back.September, Rainy, the Sun being then come back.October, Rainy, the Sun being then come back.October, Dry, the Sun being then to the
South of the Line.November, Dry, the Sun being then to the South of
the Line.December, Dry, the Sun being then to the South of
the Line.January, Dry, the Sun being then to the South of the
Line.February, Dry, the Sun being then to the
South of the Line.
The Rainy Season sometimes held longer or shorter, as the Winds happen'd to blow; but this was the general Observation I made: After I had found by Experience, the ill Consequence of being abroad in the Rain. I took Care to furnish my self with Provisions before hand, that I might not be oblig'd to go out; and I sat within Doors as much as possible during the wet Months.
This Time I found much Employment, (and very suitable also to the Time) for I found
great Occasion of many Things which I had no way to furnish my self with, but by hard
Labour and constant Application; particularly, I try'd many
Ways to make my self a Basket, but all the Twigs I could get for the Purpose prov'd
so brittle, that they would do nothing. It prov'd of excellent Advantage to me now, That when I was a Boy, I used to take
great Delight in standing at a Basket-makers, in the Town where my Father
liv'd, to see them make their Wicker-ware; and being as Boys usually are,
very officious to help, and a great Observer of the Manner how they work'd those
Things, and sometimes lending a Hand, I had by this Means full Knowledge of the
Methods of it, that I wanted nothing but the Materials; when it came into my Mind,
That the Twigs of that Tree from whence I cut my Stakes that grew, Sallows,
and Willows, and Osiers in England, and I resolv'd to
try.
Accordingly the next Day, I went to my Country-House, as I
call'd it, and cutting some of the smaller Twigs, I found them to my Purpose as much
as I could desire; whereupon I came the next Time prepar'd with a Hatchet to cut down
a Quantity, which I soon found, for there was great Plenty of them; these I set up to
dry within my Circle or Hedge, and when they were fit for Use, I carry'd them to my
Cave, and here during the next Season, I employ'd my self in making, as well as I
could, a great many Baskets, both to carry Earth, or to carry or lay up any
Thing as I had occasion; and tho' I did not finish them very handsomly, yet I made them sufficiently serviceable for my
Purpose; and thus afterwards I took Care never to be without
them; and as my Wicker-ware decay'd, I made more, especially, I made strong
deep Baskets to place my Corn in, instead of Sacks, when I should come to have any
Quantity of it.
Having master'd this Difficulty, and employ'd a World of Time about it, I bestirr'd
my self to see if possible how to supply two Wants: I had no Vessels to hold any
Thing that was Liquid, except two Runlets which were almost
full of Rum, and some Glass-Bottles, some of the common Size, and others which were
Case-Bottles-Square
&c. I had not so much as a Pot to boil
any Thing, except a great Kettle, which I sav'd out of the Ship, and which was too
big for such Use as I desir'd it, viz. To make Broth, and stew a Bit of Meat
by it self. The Second Thing I would fain
I employ'd my self in Planting my Second Rows of Stakes or Piles and in this
Wicker working all the Summer, or dry Season, when another Business took
me up more Time than it could be imagin'd I could spare.
I mention'd before, That I had a great Mind to see the whole Island, and that I had
travell'd up the Brook, and so on to where I built my Bower, and where I had an
Opening quite to the Sea on the other Side of the Island; I now resolv'd to travel
quite Cross to the Sea-Shore on that Side; so taking my Gun, a Hatchet, and my Dog,
and a larger Quantity of Powder and Shot than usual, with two Bisket Cakes, and a
great Bunch of Raisins in my Pouch for my Store, I began my Journey; when I had
pass'd the Vale where my Bower stood as above, I came within View of the Sea, to the
West, and it being a very clear Day, I fairly descry'd Land, whether an
Island or a Continent, I could not tell; but it lay very high, extending from the
West, to the W. S. W.
I could not tell what Part of the World this might be, otherwise than that I know it
must be Part of America, and as I concluded by all my Observations, must be
near the Spanish Dominions
Spanish Coast, I should certainly, one
Time or other, see some Vessel pass or re-pass one Way or other; but if not, then it
was the Savage Coast between the Spanish Country and
Brasils, which are indeed the worst of Savages; for they are
Cannibals, or Men-eaters
With these Considerations I walk'd very leisurely forward, I
found that Side of the Island where I now was, much pleasanter than mine, the open or
Savanna Fields sweet, adorn'd with Flowers and Grass, and full of very
fine Woods. I saw Abundance of Parrots, and fain I would
have caught one, if possible to have kept it to be tame, and taught it to speak to
me. I did, after some Pains taking, catch a young Parrot, for I knock'd it down with
a Stick, and having recover'd it, I brought it home; but it was some Years before I
could make him speak: However, at last I taught him to call me by my Name very
familiarly: But the Accident that follow'd, tho' it be a
Trifle, will be very diverting in its Place.
I was exceedingly diverted with this Journey: I found in the low Grounds Hares, as I
thought them to be, and Foxes, but they differ'd greatly from all the other Kinds I
had met with; nor could I satisfy my self to eat them, tho' I kill'd several: But I
had no Need to be ventrous; for I had no Want of Food, and of that which was very
good too; especially these three Sorts, viz. Goats, Pidgeons, and Turtle or Tortoise; which, added to my Grapes,
Leaden-hall Market
I never travell'd in this Journey above two Miles outright in a Day, or thereabouts; but I took so many Turns and Returns, to see what Discoveries I could make, that I came weary enough to the Place where I resolv'd to sit down for all Night; and then I either repos'd my self in a Tree, or surrounded my self with a Row of Stakes set upright in the Ground, either from one Tree to another, or so as no wild Creature could come at me, without waking me.
As soon as I came to the Sea Shore, I was surpriz'd to see
that I had taken up my Lot on the worst Side of the Island; for here indeed the Shore
was cover'd with innumerable Turtles, whereas on the other Side I had found but three
in a Year and half. Here was also an infinite Number of Fowls, of many Kinds, some
which I had seen, and some which I had not seen of before, and many of them very good
Meat; but such as I knew not the Names of, except those call'd Penguins.
I could have shot as many as I pleas'd, but was very sparing of my Powder and Shot; and therefore had more Mind to kill a she Goat, if I could, which I could better feed on; and though there were many Goats here more than on my Side the Island, yet it was with much more Difficulty that I could come near them, the Country being flat and even, and they saw me much sooner than when I was on the Hill.
I confess this Side of the Country was much pleasanter than mine, but yet I had not
the least Inclination to remove; for as I was fix'd in my Habitation, it became natural to me, and I seem'd all the while I was here, to be as
it were upon a Journey, and from Home: However, I travell'd
along East, I suppose about twelve Miles; and then setting up a great Pole upon
the Shore for a Mark, I concluded I would go Home again; and that the next Journey I
took should be on the other Side of the Island, East from my Dwelling, and
so round till I came to my Post again: Of which in its Place.
I took another Way to come back than that I went, thinking I could easily keep all the Island so much in my View, that I could not miss finding my first Dwelling by viewing the Country; but I found my self mistaken; for being come about two or three Miles, I found my self descended into a very large Valley; but so surrounded with Hills, and those Hills cover'd with Wood, that I could not see which was my Way by any Direction but that of the Sun, nor even then, unless I knew very well the Position of the Sun at that Time of the Day.
It happen'd to my farther Misfortune, That the Weather prov'd hazey for three or four Days, while I was in this Valley; and not being able to see the Sun, I wander'd about very uncomfortably, and at last was oblig'd to find out the Sea Side, look for my Post, and come back the same Way I went; and then by easy Journies I turn'd Homeward, the Weather being exceeding hot, and my Gun, Ammunition, Hatchet, and other Things very heavy.
In this Journey my Dog surpriz'd a young Kid, and seiz'd upon it, and I running in to take hold of it, caught it, and sav'd it alive from the Dog: I had a great Mind to bring it Home if I could; for I had often been musing, Whether it might not be possible to get a Kid or two, and so raise a Breed of tame Goats, which might supply me when my Powder and Shot should be all spent.
I cannot express what a Satisfaction it was to me, to come into my old Hutch, and lye down in my Hamock-Bed: This little wandring Journey, without settled Place of Abode, had been so unpleasant to me, that my own House, as I call'd it to my self, was a perfect Settlement to me, compar'd to that; and it rendred every Thing about me so comfortable, that I resolv'd I would never go a great Way from it again, while it should be my Lot to stay on the Island.
I repos'd my self here a Week, to rest and regale my self after my long Journey;
during which, most of the Time was taken up in the weighty Affair of making a Cage
for my Poll
Sept.
in the same solemn Manner as before, being the Anniversary
of my Landing on the Island, having now been there two Years, and no more Prospect of
being deliver'd, than the first Day I came there. I spent the whole Day in humble and
thankful Acknowledgments of the many wonderful Mercies which my Solitary Condition
was attended with, and without which it might have been infinitely more miserable. I
gave humble and hearty Thanks that God had been pleas'd to discover to me, even that
it was possible I might be more happy in this Solitary Condition, than I should have
been in a Liberty of Society, and in all the Pleasures of the World. That he could
fully make up to me, the Deficiencies of my Solitary State, and the want of Humane
Society by his Presence, and the Communications of his
Grace to my Soul, supporting, comforting, and encouraging me to depend upon his
Providence here, and hope for his Eternal Presence hereafter.
It was now that I began sensibly to feel how much more happy this Life I now led was, with all its miserable Circumstances, than the wicked, cursed, abominable Life I led all the past Part of my Days; and now I chang'd both my Sorrows and my Joys; my very Desires alter'd, my Affections chang'd their Gusts, and my Delights were perfectly new, from what they were at my first Coming, or indeed for the two Years past.
Before, as I walk'd about, either on my Hunting, or for
viewing the Country; the Anguish of my Soul at my Condition, would break out upon me
on a sudden, and my very Heart would die within me, to think of the Woods, the
Mountains, the Desarts I was in; and how I was a Prisoner lock'd up with the Eternal
Bars and Bolts of the
But now I began to exercise my self with new Thoughts; I daily read the Word of God,
and apply'd all the Comforts of it to my present State: One
Morning being very sad, I open'd the Bible upon these Words, I will never, never leave thee, nor forsake thee
From this Moment I began to conclude in my Mind, That it was possible for me to be more happy in this forsaken Solitary Condition, than it was probable I should ever have been in any other Particular State in the World; and with this Thought I was going to give Thanks to God for bringing me to this Place.
I know not what it was, but something shock'd my Mind at that Thought, and I durst
not speak the Words: How canst thou be such a Hypocrite, England, without any Order
of mine, to pack it up among my Goods; and for assisting me afterwards to save it out
of the Wreck of the Ship.
Thus, and in this Disposition of Mind, I began my third Year; and tho' I have not
given the Reader the Trouble of so particular Account of my
Works this Year as the first; yet in General it may be observ'd, That I was very
seldom idle; but having regularly divided my Time, according to the several daily
Employments that were before me, such as, First, My Duty to God, and the
Reading the Scriptures, which I constantly set apart some
Time for thrice every Day. Secondly, The going Abroad with my Gun for Food,
which generally took me up three Hours in every Morning, when it did not Rain.
Thirdly, The ordering, curing, preserving, and cooking what I had kill'd
or catch'd for my Supply; these took up great Part of the Day; also it is to be
considered that the middle of the Day when the Sun was in the Zenith, the
Violence of the Heat was too great to stir out; so that about four Hours in the Evening was all the Time I could be suppos'd to work in;
with this Exception, That sometimes I chang'd my Hours of
Hunting and Working, and went to work in the
To this short Time allow'd for Labour, I desire may be added the exceeding Laboriousness of my Work; the many Hours which for want of Tools, want of Help, and want of Skill; every Thing I did, took up out of my Time: For Example, I was full two and forty Days making me a Board for a long Shelf, which I wanted in my Cave; whereas two Sawyers with their Tools, and a Saw-Pit, would have cut six of them out of the same Tree in half a Day.
My Case was this, It was to be a large Tree, which was to be cut down, because my
Board was to be a broad one. This Tree I was three Days a cutting down, and two more
cutting off the Bows, and reducing it to a Log, or Piece of Timber. With inexpressible hacking and hewing I reduc'd both
the Sides of it into Chips, till it begun to be light enough
to move; than I turn'd it, and made one Side of it smooth, and flat, as a Board from
End to End; then turning that Side downward, cut the other Side, till I brought the
Plank to be about three Inches thick, and smooth on both Sides. Any one may judge the
Labour of my Hands in such a Piece of Work; but Labour and Patience carry'd me
through that and many other Things: I only observe this in Particular, to shew, The
Reason why so much of my Time went away with so little Work, viz. That what
might be a little to be done with Help and Tools, was a vast Labour, and requir'd a
prodigious Time to do alone, and by hand.
But notwithstanding this, with Patience and Labour I went through many Things; and indeed every Thing that my Circumstances made necessary to me to do, as will appear by what follows.
November
and December, expecting my Crop of Barley and Rice.
The Ground I had manur'd or dug up for them was not great; for as I observ'd, my Seed
of each was not above the Quantity of half a Peck; for I had lost one whole Crop by
sowing in the dry Season; but now my Crop promis'd very well, when on a sudden I
found I was in Danger of losing it all again by Enemies of
several Sorts, which it was scarce possible to keep from it; as First, The Goats, and
wild Creatures which I call'd Hares, who tasting the Sweetness of the Blade, lay in
it Night and Day, as soon as it came up, and eat it so close, that it could get no
Time to shoot up into Stalk.
This I saw no Remedy for, but by making an Enclosure about it with a Hedge, which I did with a great deal of Toil; and the more, because it requir'd Speed. However, as my Arable Land was but small, suited to my Crop, I got it totally well fenc'd, in about three Weeks Time; and shooting some of the Creatures in the Day Time, I set my Dog to guard it in the Night, tying him up to a Stake at the Gate, where he would stand and bark all Night long; so in a little Time the Enemies forsook the Place, and the Corn grew very strong, and well, and began to ripen apace.
But as the Beasts ruined me before, while my Corn was in the Blade; so the Birds were
as likely to ruin me now, when it was in the Ear; for going
along by the Place to see how it throve, I saw my little Crop surrounded with Fowls
of I know not how many sorts, who stood as it were watching
till I should be gone: I immediately let fly among them (for
I always had my Gun with me) I had no sooner shot but there rose up a a little
This touch'd me sensibly, for I foresaw, that in a few Days they would devour all my Hopes, that I should be starv'd, and never be able to raise a Crop at all, and what to do I could not tell: However I resolv'd not to loose my Corn, if possible, tho' I should watch it Night and Day. In the first Place, I went among it to see what Damage was already done, and found they had spoil'd a good deal of it, but that as it was yet too Green for them, the Loss was not so great, but that the Remainder was like to be a good Crop if it could be sav'd.
I staid by it to load my Gun, and then coming away I could easily see the Thieves
sitting upon all the Trees about me, as if they only waited till I was gone away, and
the Event proved it to be so; for as I walk'd off as if I was gone, I was no sooner
out of their sight, but they dropt down one by one into the Corn again. I was so
provok'd that I could not have Patience to stay till more came on, knowing that every
Grain that they eat now, was, as it might be said, a Peck-loaf
England, (viz.) Hang'd them in Chains for a Terror to others
December, which was our
second Harvest of the Year, I reap'd my Crop.
I was sadly put to it for a Scythe or a Sicle to cut it down, and all I could do was
to make one as well as I could out of one of the Broad Swords or Cutlasses, which I
sav'd among the Arms out of the Ship. However, as my first Crop was but small I had
no great Difficulty to cut it down; in short, I reap'd it my Way, for I cut nothing
off but the Ears, and carry'd it away in a great Basket which I had made, and so
rubb'd it out with my Hands; and at the End of all my Harvesting, I found that out of
my half Peck of Seed, I had near two Bushels of Rice, and above two Bushels and half
of Barley, that is to say, by my Guess, for I had
no Measure at that time.
However, this was a great Encouragement to me, and I foresaw that in time, it wou'd please God to supply me with Bread: And yet here I was perplex'd again, for I neither knew how to grind or make Meal of my Corn, or indeed how to clean it and part it; nor if made into Meal, how to make Bread of it, and if how to make it, yet I knew not how to bake it; these things being added to my Desire of having a good Quantity for Store, and to secure a constant Supply, I resolv'd not to taste any of this Crop but to preserve it all for Seed against the next Season, and in the mean time to employ all my Study and Hours of Working to accomplish this great Work of Providing my self with Corn and Bread.
It might be truly said, that now I work'd for my Bread; 'tis a little wonderful, and
what I believe few People have thought much upon,
(viz.) the strange multitude of little Things necessary in the
I that was reduced to a meer State of Nature, found this to my daily Discouragement, and was made more and more sensible of it every Hour, even after I had got the first Handful of Seed-Corn, which, as I have said, came up unexpectedly, and indeed to a surprize.
First, I had no Plow to turn up the Earth, no Spade or Shovel to dig it. Well, this I conquer'd, by making a wooden Spade, as I observ'd before; but this did my Work in but a wooden manner, and tho' it cost me a great many Days to make it, yet for want of Iron it not only wore out the sooner, but made my Work the harder, and made it be perform'd much worse.
However this I bore with, and was content to work it out with Patience, and bear with
the badness of the Performance. When the Corn was sow'd, I
had no Harrow
When it was growing and grown, I have observ'd already, how
many things I wanted, to Fence it, Secure it, Mow or Reap it, Cure and Carry it Home,
Thrash
But first, I was to prepare more Land, for I had now Seed enough to sow above an Acre
of Ground. Before I did this, I had a Weeks-work at least to make me a Spade, which
when it was done was but a sorry one indeed, and very heavy, and requir'd double
Labour to work with it; however I went thro' that, and sow'd my Seed in two large
flat Pieces of Ground, as near my House as I could find them to my Mind
Within Doors, that is, when it rained, and I could not go out, I found
Employment on the following Occasions; always observing,
that all the while I was at work I diverted my self with talking to my Parrot, and teaching him to Speak, and I quickly learn'd him to know his
own Name, and at last to speak it out pretty loud POLL, which was the first Word I
ever heard spoken in the Island by any Mouth but my own. This therefore was not my
Work, but an assistant to my
Work
viz.) I had &c. which was the Thing I was
upon, I resolv'd to make some as large as I could, and
fit only to stand like Jarrs to hold what should be put into them.
It would make the Reader pity me, or rather laugh at me, to tell how many awkward ways I took to raise this Paste, what odd mishapen ugly things I made, how many of them fell in, and how many fell out, the Clay not being stiff enough to bear its own Weight; how many crack'd by the over violent Heat of the Sun, being set out too hastily; and how many fell in pieces with only removing, as well before as after they were dry'd; and in a word, how after having labour'd hard to find the Clay, to dig it, to temper it, to bring it home and work it; I could not make above two large earthen ugly things, I cannot call them Jarrs, in about two Months Labour.
However, as the Sun bak'd these Two, very dry and hard, I lifted them very gently up,
and set them down again in two great Wicker-Baskets which I had made on purpose for
them, that they might not break, and as between the Pot and the Basket there was a
little room to spare, I stuff'd it full of the Rice and Barley Straw, and these two
Pots being to stand always dry, I thought would
Tho' I miscarried so much in my Design for large Pots, yet I made several smaller
things with better Success, such as little round Pots, flat Dishes, Pitchers and Pipkins
But all this would not answer my End, which was to get an earthen Pot to hold what was Liquid, and bear the Fire, which none of these could do. It happen'd after some time, making a pretty large Fire for cooking my Meat, when I went to put it out after I had done with it, I found a broken Piece of one of my Earthen-ware Vessels in the Fire, burnt as hard as a Stone, and red as a Tile. I was agreeably suppris'd to see it, and said to my self, that certainly they might be made to burn whole if they would burn broken.
This set me to studying how to order my Fire, so as to make it burn me some Pots. I
had no Notion of a Kiln, such as the Potters burn in, or of glazing them with Lead,
tho' I had some Lead to do it with; but I plac'd three large Pipkins, and two or three Pots in a Pile one upon another, and
plac'd my Fire-wood all round it with a great Heap of Embers under them, I ply'd the
Fire with fresh Fuel round the out-side, and upon the top, till I saw the Pots in the
inside red hot quite thro', and observ'd that they did not crack at all; when I saw
them clear red, I let them stand in that Heat about 5 or 6 Hours, till I found one of
them, tho' it did not crack, did melt or run, for the Sand which was mixed with the
Clay melted by the violence of the Heat, and would have run into Glass if I had gone
on, so I slack'd my Fire gradually till the Pots began to abate of the red
After this Experiment, I need not say that I wanted no sort of Earthen Ware for my
Use; but I must needs say, as to the Shapes of them, they were very indifferent, as
any one may suppose, when I had no way of making them; but as the Children make
Dirt-Pies, or as a Woman would make Pies, that never learn'd to raise Past.
No Joy at a Thing of so mean a Nature was ever equal to mine, when I found I had made an Earthen Pot that would bear the Fire; and I had hardly Patience to stay till they were cold, before I set one upon the Fire again, with some Water in it, to boil me some Meat, which it did admirably well; and with a Piece of a Kid, I made some very good Broth, though I wanted Oatmeal, and several other Ingredients, requisite to make it so good as I would have had it been.
My next Concern was, to get me a Stone Mortar, to stamp or beat some Corn in; for as
to the Mill, there was no thought at arriving to that Perfection of Art, with one Pair of Hands. To supply this Want I was at a great Loss;
for of all Trades in the World I was as perfectly unqualify'd for a Stone-cutter, as
for any whatever; neither had I any Tools to go about it with. I spent many a Day to
find out a great Stone big enough to cut hollow, and make fit for a Mortar, and could
find none at all; except what was in the solid Rock, and which I had no way to dig or
cut out; nor indeed were the Rocks in the Island of Hardness
sufficient, but were all of a sandy crumbling Stone, Indians in Brasil make their Canoes. After
this, I made a great heavy Pestle or Beater, of the Wood
call'd the Iron-wood, and this I prepar'd and laid by against
My next Difficulty was to make a Sieve, or Search
When the Fire-wood was burnt pretty much into Embers, or
live Coals, I drew them forward upon this Hearth, so as to cover it all over, and
there I let them lye, till the Hearth was very hot, then sweeping away all the
Embers, I set down my Loaf, or Loaves, and whelming down the Earthen Pot upon them,
drew the Embers all round the Out-side of the Pot, to keep in, and add to the Heat;
and thus, as well as in the best Oven in the World, I bak'd my Barley Loaves, and
became in little Time a meer Pastry-Cook into the Bargain; for I made my self several
Cakes of the Rice, and Puddings
It need not be wondred at, if all these Things took me up most Part of the third Year
of my Abode here; for it is to be observ'd, That in the Intervals of these Things, I had my new Harvest and Husbandry
to manage; for I reap'd my Corn in its Season, and carry'd it Home as well as I
could, and laid it up in the Ear, in my large Baskets, till I had
And now indeed my Stock of Corn increasing, I really wanted to build my Barns bigger. I wanted a Place to lay it up in; for the Increase of the Corn now yielded me so much, that I had of the Barley about twenty Bushels, and of the Rice as much, or more; insomuch, that now I resolv'd to begin to use it freely; for my Bread had been quite gone a great while; Also I resolved to see what Quantity would be sufficient for me a whole Year, and to sow but once a Year.
Upon the whole, I found that the forty Bushels of Barley and Rice, was much more than
I could consume in a Year; so I resolv'd to sow just the same Quantity every Year,
that I sow'd the last, in Hopes that such a Quantity would fully provide me with
Bread, &c.
All the while these Things were doing, you may be sure my Thoughts run many times upon the Prospect of Land which I had seen from the other Side of the Island, and I was not without secret Wishes that I were on Shore there, fancying the seeing the main Land, and in an inhabited Country, I might find some Way or other to convey my self farther, and perhaps at last find some Means of Escape.
But all this while I made no Allowance for the Dangers of such a Condition, and how I
might fall into the Hands of Savages, and perhaps such as I might have Reason to
think far worse than the Lions and Tigers of
Africa. That if I once came into their Power, I
should run a Hazard more than a thousand to one of being kill'd, and perhaps of being eaten; for I had heard that the People of the
Carribean Coast were Canibals, or Man-eaters; and I knew by the Latiude
that I could not be far off Europeans who had fallen into their Hands had been serv'd,
even when they had been ten or twenty together; much more I that was but one, and
could make little or no Defence: All these Things, I say,
which I ought to have consider'd well of, and did cast up in my Thoughts afterwards,
yet took up none of my Apprehensions at first; but my Head run mightily upon the
Thought of getting over to the Shore.
Now I wish'd for my Boy Xury, and the long Boat, with the Shoulder of Mutton
Sail, with which I sail'd above a thousand Miles on the Coast of Africk; but
this was in vain. Then I thought I would go and look at our Ship's Boat, which, as I
have said, was blown up upon the Shore, a great Way in the Storm, when we were first
cast away. She lay almost where she did at first, but not quite; and was turn'd by
the Force of the Waves and the Winds almost Bottom upward, against a high Ridge of
Beachy rough Sand; but no Water about her as before.
If I had had Hands to have refitted her, and to have launch'd her into the Water, the
Boat would have done well enough, and I might have gone back into the
Brasils with her easily enough; but I might have foreseen, That I could
no more turn her, and set her upright upon her Bottom, than I could remove the
Island: However, I went to the Woods, and cut Levers and Rollers, and brought them to
the Boat, resolv'd to try what I could do, suggesting to my self, That I if could but
turn her down, I might easily repair the Damage she had receiv'd, and she would be a
very good Boat, and I might go to Sea in her very easily.
I spar'd no Pains indeed, in this Piece of fruitless Toil, and spent, I think, three
or four Weeks about
But when I had done this, I was unable to stir it up again, or to get under it, much less to move it forward, towards the Water; so I was forc'd to give it over; and yet, though I gave over the Hopes of the Boat, my desire to venture over for the Main increased, rather than decreased, as the Means for it seem'd impossible.
This at length put me upon thinking, Whether it was not possible to make my self a
Canoe, or Periagua,
viz.
of the Trunk of a great Tree. This I not only thought possible, but easy, and pleas'd
my self extreamly with the Thoughts of making it, and with my having much more
Convenience for it than any of the Negroes or Indians; but not at
all considering the particular Inconveniences which I lay
under, more than the Indians did, viz. Want of Hands to move it,
when it was made, into the Water, a Difficulty much harder for me to surmount, than
all the Consequences of Want of Tools could be to them; for what was it to me, That
when I had chosen a vast Tree in the Woods, I might with much Trouble cut it down, if
after I might be able with my Tools to hew and dub the
Out-side into the proper Shape of a Boat, and burn or cut out the In-side to make it
hollow, so to make a Boat of it: If after all this, I must leave it just there where
I found it, and was not able to launch it into the Water.
One would have thought, I could not have had the least Reflection upon my Mind of my
Circumstance,
I went to work upon this Boat, the most like a Fool, that ever Man did, who had any
of his Senses awake. I pleas'd my self with the Design, without determining whether I was ever able to undertake it;
not but that the Difficulty of launching my Boat came often into my Head; but I put a
stop to my own Enquiries into it, by this foolish Answer which I gave my self,
Let's first make it, I'll warrant I'll find some Way or other to get it along,
when 'tis done.
This was a most preposterous Method; but the Eagerness of my Fancy prevail'd, and to
work I went. I fell'd a Cedar Tree: I question much whether Solomon
Jerusalem. It was five Foot ten Inches Diameter at the lower Part
next the Stump, and four Foot eleven Inches Diameter at the End of twenty two Foot,
after which it lessen'd for a while, and then parted into
Branches: It was not without infinite Labour that I fell'd this Tree: I was twenty
Days hacking and hewing at it at the Bottom. I was fourteen
more getting the Branches and Limbs, and the vast spreading Head of it cut off, which I hack'd and hew'd through
with Axe and Hatchet, and inexpressible Labour: After this, it cost me a Month to
shape it, and dub it to a Proportion, and to something like the Bottom of a Boat,
that it might swim upright Periagua, and big enough to have carry'd six and twenty Men, and
consequently big enough to have carry'd me and all my Cargo.
When I had gone through this Work, I was extremely delighted
with it. The Boat was really much bigger than I ever saw a Canoe, or
Periagua, that was made of one Tree, in my
Life. Many a weary Stroke it had cost, you may be sure; and
there remain'd nothing but to get it into the Water; and had I gotten it into the
Water, I make no question but I should have began the maddest Voyage, and the most
unlikely to be perform'd, that ever was undertaken.
But all my Devices to get it into the Water fail'd me; tho' they cost me infinite
Labour too. It lay about one hundred Yards from the Water, and not more: But the
first Inconvenience was, it was up Hill towards the Creek; well, to take away this Discouragement, I resolv'd to dig into the Surface
of the Earth, and so make a Declivity
Canoe, than I could the other Boat.
Then I measur'd the Distance of Ground, and resolv'd to cut a Dock, or Canal, to
bring the Water up to the Canoe, seeing I could not
bring the Canoe down to the Water: Well, I began this Work, and when I began
to enter into it, and calculate how deep it was to be dug,
how broad,
This griev'd me heartily, and now I saw, tho' too late, the Folly of beginning a Work before we count the Cost; and before we judge rightly of our own Strength to go through with it.
In the middle of this Work, I finish'd my fourth Year in this Place, and kept my
Anniversary with the same Devotion, and with as much Comfort as ever before; for by a
constant Study, and serious Application of the Word of God, and by the Assistance of his Grace, I gain'd a different Knowledge from what I had before. I entertain'd different Notions of Things. I look'd now upon the World as a
Thing remote, which I had nothing to do with, no Expectation from, and indeed no Desires about: In a Word, I had nothing indeed to do with it,
nor was ever like to have; so I thought it look'd as we may perhaps look upon it
hereafter, viz. as a Place I had liv'd in, but was come out of it; and well
might I say, as Father Abraham to
Dives According to one of Christ's parables, a rich man dies and goes to
hell, while Lazarus, the leper outside his gates, dies and is taken to
Abraham's bosom. When the rich man begs Abraham to send Lazarus down from
heaven to grant him reprieve from hellfire, Abraham refuses, telling him,
"Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed" (Luke 16:26). Crusoe places
himself in Abraham's position of spiritual transcendence over the rest of the
world., Between me and thee is a great Gulph fix'd.
In the first Place, I was remov'd from all the Wickedness of the World here. I had
neither the Lust of the Flesh, the Lust of the Eye, or the Pride of Life. I
had nothing to covet; for I had all that I was now capable of enjoying: I was Lord of
the whole Mannor; or if I pleas'd, I might call my self King, or Emperor over the
whole Country which I had Possession of. There were no Rivals. I had no Competitor,
none to dispute Sovereignty or
But all I could make use of, was, All that was valuable. I had enough to eat, and to
supply my Wants, and, what was all the rest to me? If I kill'd more Flesh than I
could eat, the Dog must eat it, or the Vermin. If I sow'd more Corn than I could eat,
it must be spoil'd. The Trees that I cut down, were lying to rot on the Ground. I
could make no more use of them than for Fewel
In a Word, The Nature and Experience of Things dictated to me upon just Reflection,
That all the good Things of this World, are no farther good to us, than they are for
our Use; and that whatever we may heap up indeed to give others, we enjoy just as
much as we can use, and no more. The most covetous griping Miser in the World would
have been cur'd of the Vice of Covetousness, if he had been in my Case; for I
possess'd infinitely more than I knew what to do with. I had no room for Desire,
except it was of Things which I had not, and they were but Trifles, though indeed of
great Use to me. I had, as I hinted before, a Parcel of
Money, as well Gold as Silver, about thirty six Pounds Sterling: Alas! There the
nasty sorry useless Stuff lay; I had no manner of Business for it; and I often
thought with my self, That I would have given a Handful of it for a Gross
Turnip and Carrot Seed out of England, or for a Handful
of Pease and Beans, and a Bottle of Ink: As it was, I had
not the least Advantage by it, or Benefit from it; but there it lay in a Drawer, and
grew mouldy with the Damp of the Cave, in the wet Season; and if I had had the Drawer
full of Diamonds, it had been the same Case; and they had been of no manner of Value
to me, because of no Use.
I had now brought my State of Life to be much easier in it self than it was at first,
and much easier to my Mind, as well as to my Body. I frequently sat down to my Meat
with Thankfulness, and admir'd the Hand of God's Providence,
which had thus spread my Table in the Wilderness. I learn'd to look more upon the
bright Side of my Condition, and less upon the dark Side;
and to consider what I enjoy'd, rather than what I wanted; and this gave me sometimes
such secret Comforts, that I cannot express them; and which I take Notice of here, to
put those discontented People in Mind of it, who cannot enjoy comfortably what God
has given them; because they see, and covet something that
he has not given them: All our Discontents about what we
want, appear'd to me, to spring from the Want
Another Reflection was of great Use to me, and doubtless would be so to any one that
should fall into such Distress as mine was; and this was, To compare my present
Condition with what I at first expected it should be; nay, with what it would
certainly have been, if the good Providence of God had not wonderfully order'd the
Ship to be cast up nearer to the Shore, where I not only could
I spent whole Hours, I may say whole Days, in representing to my self in the most
lively Colours, how I must have acted, if I had got nothing out of the Ship. How I
could not have so much as got any Food, except Fish and Turtles; and that as it was
long before I found any of them, I must have perish'd first. That I should have
liv'd, if I had not perish'd, like a meer Savage. That if I had kill'd a Goat, or a
Fowl, by any Contrivance, I had no way to flea
These Reflections made me very sensible of the Goodness of Providence to me, and very
thankful for my present Condition, with all its Hardships and Misfortunes: And this
Part also I cannot but recommend to the Reflection of those, who are apt in their
Misery to say, Is any Affliction like mine! Let them consider, How much
worse the Cases of some People are, and their Case might have been, if Providence had
thought fit.
I had another Reflection which assisted me also to comfort my Mind with Hopes; and
this was, comparing my present Condition with what I had deserv'd, and had therefore
Reason to expect from the Hand of Providence. I had liv'd a dreadful Life, perfectly
destitute of the Knowledge and Fear of God. I had been well instructed by Father and
Mother; neither had they been wanting to
me
So void was I of every Thing that was good, or of the least Sense of what I was, or
was to be, that in the greatest Deliverances I enjoy'd, such as my Escape from
Sallee; my being taken up by the Portuguese Master of the Ship;
my being planted so well in the Brasils; my
receiving the Cargo from England, and the like; I never had once the Word
Thank God, so much as on my Mind, or in my Mouth; nor in the greatest
Distress, had I so much as a Thought to pray to him, or so much as to say, Lord
have Mercy upon me; no nor to mention the Name of God, unless it was to swear
by, and blaspheme it.
I had terrible Reflections upon my Mind for many Months, as I have already observ'd,
on the Account of my wicked and hardned Life past; and when I look'd about me and
considered what particular Providences had attended me since
my coming into this Place, and how God had dealt bountifully with me; had not only punished me less than my
Iniquity had deserv'd, but had so plentifully provided for
me; this gave me great hopes that my
With these Reflections I work'd my Mind up, not only to Resignation to the Will of
God in the present Disposition of my Circumstances; but even to a sincere
Thankfulness for my Condition, and that I who was yet a living Man, ought not to
complain, seeing I had not the due Punishment of my Sins;
that I enjoy'd so many Mercies which I had no reason to have expected in that Place;
that I ought never more to repine at my Condition but to rejoyce, and to give daily
Thanks for that daily
Bread
In a word, as my Life was a Life of Sorrow, one way, so it was a Life of Mercy, another; and I wanted nothing to make it a Life of Comfort, but to be able to make my Sence of God's Goodness to me, and Care over me in this Condition, be my daily Consolation; and after I did make a just Improvement of these things, I went away and was no more sad.
I had now been here so long, that many Things which I brought on Shore for my Help, were either quite gone, or very much wasted and near spent.
First I had observed, that the same Day that I broke away from my Father and my
Friends, and run away to Hull,
The same Day of the Year that I escaped out of the Wreck of that Ship in
Yarmouth Rodes, that same Day-Year afterwards I made my escape from
Sallee in the Boat.
The same Day of the Year I was born on (viz.) the 30th of
September, that same Day, I had my Life so miraculously saved 26 Year
after, when I was cast on Shore in this Island, so that my wicked Life, and my
solitary Life begun both on a Day.
The next Thing to my Ink's, being wasted, was that of my Bread, I mean the Bisket which I brought out of the Ship, this I had husbanded to the last degree, allowing my self but one Cake of Bread a Day for above a Year, and yet I was quite without Bread for near a Year before I got any Corn of my own, and great Reason I had to be thankful that I had any at all, the getting it being, as has been already observed, next to miraculous.
The Reason why I could not go quite naked, was, I could not bear the heat of the Sun so well when quite naked, as with some Cloaths on; nay, the very Heat frequently blistered my Skin; whereas with a Shirt on, the Air itself made some Motion and whistling under that Shirt was twofold cooler than without it, no more could I ever bring my self to go out in the heat of Sun, without a Cap or a Hat; the heat of the Sun beating with such Violence as it does in that Place, would give me the Head-ach presently, by darting so directly on my Head, without a Cap or Hat on, so that I could not bear it, whereas, if I put on my Hat, it would presently go away.
Upon those Views I began to consider about putting the few
Rags I had, which I call'd Cloaths, into some Order; I had worn out all the
Wast-coats I had, and my Business was now to try if I could not make Jackets out of
the great Watch-Coats which I had by me, and with such other Materials as I had, so I
set to Work a Taylering, or rather indeed a Botching, for I made most
I have mentioned that I saved the Skins of all the Creatures that I kill'd, I mean
four-footed ones, and I had hung them up stretch'd out with Sticks in the Sun, by
which means some of them were so dry and hard that they were fit for little, but
others it seems were very useful. The first thing I made of these was a great Cap for
my Head, with the Hair on the out Side to shoor off the Rain; and this I perform'd so
well, that after this I made me a Suit of Cloaths wholly of these Skins, that is to
say, a Wastcoat, and Breeches open at Knees, and both loose, for they were rather
wanting to keep me cool than to keep me warm. I must not omit to acknowledge that
they were wretchedly made; for if I was a bad Carpenter, I was a worse
Tayler. However, they were such as I made very good shift with; and when
I was abroad, if it happen'd to rain, the Hair of my Wastcoat and Cap being
outermost, I was kept very dry.
After this I spent a great deal of Time and Pains to make me an Umbrella; I was
indeed in great want of one, and had a great Mind to make one; I had seen them made
in the Brasils, where they are very useful in the great Heats which are
there. And I felt the Heats every jot as great here, and greater too, being nearer
the Equinox; besides, as I was oblig'd to be much abroad, it was a most useful thing
to me, as well for the Rains as the Heats. I took a world of Pains at it, and was a
great while before I could make any thing likely to hold; nay, after I thought I had
hit the Way, I spoil'd 2 or 3 before I made one to my Mind; but
Thus I liv'd mighty comfortably, my Mind being entirely composed by resigning to the Will of God, and throwing my self wholly upon the Disposal of his Providence. This made my Life better than sociable, for when I began to regret the want of Conversation, I would ask my self whether thus conversing mutually with my own Thoughts, and, as I hope I may say, with even God himself by Ejaculations, was not better than the utmost Enjoyment of humane Society in the World.
[Audio File]I cannot say that after this, for five Years, any extraordinary thing happened to me,
but I liv'd on in the same Course, in the same Posture and Place, just as before; the
chief things I was employ'd in, besides my yearly Labour of planting my Barley and
Rice, and curing my Raisins, of both which I always kept up
just enough to have sufficient Stock of one Year's Provisions beforehand. I say,
besides this yearly Labour, and my daily Labour of going out with my Gun, I had one
Labour to make me a Canoe, which at last I finished. So that by digging a Canal to it of six Foot wide, and four Foot deep, I
brought it into the Creek, almost half a Mile. As for the first, which was so vastly
big,
However, though my little Periagau was finish'd;
yet the Size of it was not at all answerable to the Design which I had in View, when
I made the first; I mean, Of venturing over to the Terra Firma, where it was
above forty Miles broad; accordingly, the Smallness of my
Boat assisted to put an End to that Design, and now I thought no more of it: But as I
had a Boat, my next Design was to make a Tour round the Island; for as I had been on
the other Side, in one Place, crossing as I have already
describ'd it, over the Land; so the Discoveries I made in
that little Journey, made me very eager to see other Parts
of the Coast; and now I had a Boat, I thought of nothing but sailing round the
Island.
For this Purpose, that I might do every Thing with Discretion and Consideration, I fitted up a little Mast to my Boat, and made a Sail to it, out of some of the Pieces of the Ship's Sail, which lay in store; and of which I had a great Stock by me.
Having fitted my Mast and Sail, and try'd the Boat, I found she would sail very well:
Then I made little Lockers, or Boxes, at either End of my Boat, to put Provisions,
Necessaries and Ammunition, &c. into, to be kept dry, either from Rain, or the Sprye of the Sea; and
a little long hollow Place I cut in the In-side of the Boat, where I could lay my
Gun, making a Flap to hang down over it to keep it dry.
I fix'd my Umbrella also in a Step at the Stern, like a Mast, to stand over my Head,
and keep the Heat of the Sun off of me like an Auning; and thus I every now and then
took a little Voyage upon the Sea, but never went far out, nor far from the little
Creek; but at last being eager to view the Circumference of my little Kingdom, I
resolv'd upon my Tour, and accordingly I victuall'd my Ship for the Voyage, putting
in two Dozen of my Loaves (Cakes I should rather
call them)
It was the sixth of November, in the sixth Year of my Reign, or my
Captivity, which you please, That I set out on this Voyage, and I found it much
longer than I expected; for though the Island it self was not very large, yet when I
came to the East Side of it, I found a great Ledge of Rocks lye out above
two Leagues into the Sea, some above Water, some under it;
and beyond that, a Shoal of Sand, lying dry half a League more; so that I was oblig'd
to go a great Way out to Sea to double the Point.
When first I discover'd them, I was going to give over my Enterprise, and come back
again, not knowing how far it might oblige me to go out to Sea; and above all,
doubting how I should get back
Having secur'd my Boat, I took my Gun, and went on Shore, climbing up upon a Hill, which seem'd to over-look that Point, where I saw the full Extent of it, and resolv'd to venture.
In my viewing the Sea from that Hill where I stood, I perceiv'd a strong, and indeed,
a most furious Current, which run to the East, and
even came close to the Point; and I took the more Notice of
it, because I saw there might be some Danger; that when I
came into it, I might be carry'd out to Sea by the Strength of it, and not be able to
make the Island again; and indeed, had I not gotten first up upon this Hill, I
believe it would have been so; for there was the same Current on the other Side the
Island, only, that it set off at a farther Distance; and I saw there was a strong
Eddy under the Shore; so I had nothing to do but to get in out of the first Current,
and I should presently be in an Eddy.
I lay here, however, two Days; because the Wind blowing pretty fresh at E. S. E.
The third Day in the Morning, the Wind having abated over
Night, the Sea was calm, and I ventur'd; but I am a warning Piece again, to all rash
and ignorant Pilots; for no sooner was I come to the Point, when even I was not my
Boat's Length from the Shore, but I found my self in a great Depth of Water, and a
Current like the Sluice of a Mill: It carry'd my Boat a long with it
And now I saw how easy it was for the Providence of God to
make the most miserable Condition Mankind could be in
worse. Now I look'd back upon my desolate solitary Island, as the most
pleasant Place in the World, and all the Happiness my Heart could wish for, was to be
but there again. I stretch'd out my Hands to it with eager
Wishes. O happy Desart, said I, I shall never see thee more. O miserable Creature,
said I, whether am I going: Then I reproach'd my self with
my unthankful Temper, and how I had repin'd at my solitary Condition; and now what
would I give to be on Shore there again. Thus we never see the true State of our
Condition, till it is illustrated to us by its Contraries; nor know how to value what
we enjoy, but by the want of it. It is scarce possible to imagine the Consternation I
was now in, Northward, that is, towards the
Side of the Current which the Eddy lay on, as possibly I could; when about Noon, as
the Sun pass'd the Meridian, I thought I felt a little
Breeze of Wind in my Face, springing up from the S.
S. E.
North, as much as possible, to get out of the Current.
Just as I had set my Mast and Sail, and the Boat began to stretch away, I saw even by
the Clearness of the Water, some Alteration of the Current was near; for where the
Current was so strong, the Water was foul; but perceiving
the Water clear, I found the Current abate, and presently I found to the
East, at about half a Mile, a Breach of the Sea upon some Rocks; these
Rocks I found caus'd the Current to part again, and as the main Stress of it ran away
more Southerly, leaving the Rocks to the North-East; so the other
return'd by the Repulse of the Rocks, and made a strong Eddy, which run back again to
the North-West, with a very sharp Stream.
This Eddy carryed me about a League in my Way back again directly towards the Island, but about two Leagues more to the Northward than the Current which carried me away at first; so that when I came near the Island, I found my self open to the Northern Shore of it, that is to say, the other End of the Island opposite to that which I went out from.
When I had made something more than a League of Way by the help of this Current or
Eddy, I found it was spent and serv'd me no farther. However, I found that being
between the two great Currents, (viz.) that on the South Side which had
hurried me away, and that on the North which lay about a
League on the other Side. I say between these two, in the wake of the Island, I found
the Water at least still and running no Way, and having still a Breeze of Wind fair
for me, I kept on steering directly for the Island, tho' not
making such fresh Way as I did before.
About four a-Clock in the Evening, being then within about a League of the Island, I
found the Point of the Rocks which occasioned this Disaster, stretching out as is
describ'd before to the Southward, and casting off the
Current more Southwardly, had of Course made another Eddy to
the North, and this I found very strong, but not directly setting the Way my Course
lay which was due West, but
When I was on Shore I fell on my Knees and gave God Thanks for my Deliverance, resolving to lay aside all Thoughts of my Deliverance by my Boat, and refreshing my self with such Things as I had, I brought my Boat close to the Shore in a little Cove that I had spy'd under some Trees, and lay'd me down to sleep, being quite spent with the Labour and Fatigue of the Voyage.
I was now at a great Loss which Way to get Home with my Boat, I had run so much Hazard, and knew too much the Case to think of attempting it by the Way I went out, and what might be at the other Side (I mean the West Side) I knew not, nor had I any Mind to run any more Ventures; so I only resolved in the Morning to make my Way Westward along the Shore and to see if there was no Creek where I might lay up my Frigate in Safety, so as to have her again if I wanted her; in about three Mile or thereabout coasting the Shore, I came to a very good Inlet or Bay about a Mile over, which narrowed till it came to a very little Rivulet or Brook, where I found a very convenient Harbour for my Boat and where she lay as if she had been in a little Dock made on Purpose for her. Here I put in, and having stow'd my Boat very safe, I went on Shore to look about me and see where I was.
I soon found I had but a little past by the Place where I had been before, when I
travell'd on Foot to that Shore; so taking nothing out of my Boat, but my Gun and my
Umbrella, for it was exceeding hot, I began my March: The
Way was comfortable enough after such a Voyage as I had
I got over the Fence, and laid me down in the Shade to rest my Limbs; for I was very
weary, and fell asleep: But judge you, if you can, that read my Story, what a
Surprize I must be in, when I was wak'd out of my Sleep by a Voice calling me by my
Name several times, Robin, Robin, Robin Crusoe, poor Robin Crusoe,
where are you Robin Crusoe? Where are you? Where
have you been?
I was so dead asleep at first, being fatigu'd with Rowing, or Paddling, as it is
call'd, the first Part of the Day, and with walking the latter Part, that I did not
wake thoroughly, but dozing between sleeping and waking,
thought I dream'd that some Body spoke to me: But as the Voice continu'd to repeat
Robin Crusoe, Robin Crusoe, at last I began to wake more perfectly, and
was at first dreadfully frighted, and started up in the utmost Consternation: But no sooner were my Eyes open, but I saw my Poll
sitting on the Top of the Hedge; and immediately knew that it was he that spoke to
me; for just in such bemoaning Language I had used to talk to him, and teach him; and
he had learn'd it so perfectly, that he would sit upon my Finger, and lay his Bill
close to my Face, and cry, Poor Robin Crusoe, Where are you? Where have
you been? How come you here? And such things as I had taught him.
However, even though I knew it was the Parrot, and that indeed it could be no Body
else, it was a good while before I could compose my self: First, I was amazed how the
Creature got thither, and then, how he should just keep about the Place, and no where
else: But as I was well satisfied it Poll, I got it over; and holding out my Hand, and calling
him by his Name Poll, the sociable Creature came to me, and sat upon my
Thumb, as he used to do, and continu'd talking to me, Poor Robin Crusoe, and
how did I come here? and where had I been? just as if he had
been overjoy'd to see me again; and so I carry'd him Home along with me.
I had now had enough of rambling to Sea for some time, and had enough to do for many Days to sit still, and reflect upon the Danger I had been in: I would have been very glad to have had my Boat again on my Side of the Island; but I knew not how it was practicable to get it about as to the East Side of the Island, which I had gone round; I knew well enough there was no venturing that Way; my very heart would shrink, and my very Blood run chill but to think of it: And as to the other Side of the Island, I did not know how it might be there; but supposing the Current ran with the same Force against the Shore at the East as it pass'd by it on the other, I might run the same Risk of being driven down the Stream, and carry'd by the Island, as I had been before, of being carry'd away from it; so with these Thoughts I contented my self to be without any Boat, though it had been the Product of so many Months Labour to make it, and of so many more to get it unto the Sea.
In this Government of my Temper, I remain'd near a Year, liv'd a very sedate retir'd Life, as you may well suppose; and my Thoughts being very much composed as to my Condition, and fully comforted in resigning my self to the Dispositions of Providence, I thought I liv'd really very happily in all things, except that of Society.
Carpenter, especially considering
how few Tools I had.
Besides this, I arriv'd at an unexpected Perfection in my Earthen Ware, and contriv'd well enough to make them with a Wheel, which I found infinitely easyer and better; because I made things round and shapable, which before were filthy things indeed to look on. But I think I was never more vain of my own Performance, or more joyful for any thing I found out, than for my being able to make a Tobacco-Pipe. And tho' it was a very ugly clumsy thing, when it was done, and only burnt red like other Earthen Ware, yet as it was hard and firm, and would draw the Smoke, I was exceedingly comforted with it, for I had been always used to smoke, and there were Pipes in the Ship, but I forgot them at first, not knowing that there was Tobacco in the Island; and afterwards, when I search'd the Ship again, I could not come at any Pipes at all.
In my Wicker Ware also I improved much, and made abundance of necessary Baskets, as
well as my Invention shew'd me, tho' not very handsome, yet they were such as were
very handy and convenient for my laying things up in, or
fetching things home in. For Example, if I kill'd a Goat abroad, I could hang it up
in a Tree, flea it, and dress it, and cut it in Pieces, and bring it home in a
Basket, and the like by a Turtle, I could cut it up, take out the Eggs, and a Piece
or two of the Flesh, which was enough for me, and bring them home in a Basket, and
leave the rest behind me. Also large deep Baskets were my
Receivers for my Corn, which I always rubb'd out as
I began now to perceive my Powder abated considerably, and this was a Want which it was impossible for me to supply, and I began seriously to consider what I must do when I should have no more Powder; that is to say, how I should do to kill any Goat, I had, as is observ'd in the third Year of my being here, kept a young Kid, and bred her up tame, and I was in hope of getting a He-Goat, but I could not by any Means bring it to pass, 'till my Kid grew an old Goat; and I could never find in my Heart to kill her, till she dy'd at last of meer Age.
But being now in the eleventh Year of my Residence, and, as I have said, my Ammunition growing low, I set my self to study some Art to trap and snare the Goats, to see whether I could not catch some of them alive, and particularly I wanted a She-Goat great with young.
To this Purpose I made Snares to hamper them, and I do believe they were more than once taken in them, but my Tackle was not good, for I had no Wire, and I always found them broken, and my Bait devoured.
At length I resolv'd to try a Pit-fall, so I dug several
large Pits in the Earth, in Places where I had observ'd the Goats used to feed, and
over these Pits I plac'd Hurdles of my own making too, with a great Weight upon them;
and several times I put Ears of Barley, and dry Rice, without setting the Trap, and I could easily perceive that the Goats
had gone in and eaten up the Corn, for I could see the Mark of their Feet. At length
I set three Traps in one Night, and going the next Morning I found them all standing,
and yet the Bait eaten and gone: This was very discouraging.
As to the old one, I knew not what to do with him, he was so fierce I durst not go into the Pit to him; that is to say, to go about to bring him away alive, which was what I wanted. I could have kill'd him, but that was not my Business, nor would it answer my End. So I e'en let him out, and he ran away as if he had been frighted out of his Wits: But I had forgot then what I learn'd afterwards, that Hunger will tame a Lyon. If I had let him stay there three or four Days without Food, and then have carry'd him some Water to drink, and then a little Corn, he would have been as tame as one of the Kids, for they are mighty sagacious tractable Creatures where they are well used.
However, for the present I let him go, knowing no better at that time; then I went to the three Kids, and taking them one by one, I tyed them with Strings together, and with some Difficulty brought them all home.
It was a good while before they wou'd feed, but throwing them some sweet Corn, it tempted them and they began to be tame; and now I found that if I expected to supply my self with Goat-Flesh when I had no Powder or Shot left, breeding some up tame was my only way, when perhaps I might have them about my House like a Flock of Sheep.
But then it presently occurr'd to me, that I must keep the tame from the wild, or
else they would always run wild when they grew up, and the
only Way for this was to have some enclosed Piece of
This was a great Undertaking for one Pair of Hands, yet as I saw there was an
absolute Necessity of doing it, my first Piece of Work was
to find out a proper Piece of Ground, viz. where there was likely to be
Herbage for them to eat, Water for them to drink, and Cover to keep them from the
Sun.
Those who understand such Enclosures will think I had very little Contrivance
Savanna, (as our People call it in the Western Collonies,)
which had two or three little Drills
My Hedge was begun and carry'd on, I believe, about fifty Yards, when this Thought occurr'd to me, so I presently stopt short, and for the first beginning I resolv'd to enclose a Piece of about 150 Yards in length, and 100 Yards in breadth, which as it would maintain as many as I should have in any reasonable time, so as my Flock encreased, I could add more Ground to my Enclosure.
This answer'd my End, and in about a Year and half I had a Flock of about twelve Goats, Kids and all; and in two Years more I had three and forty, besides several that I took and kill'd for my Food. And after that I enclosed five several Pieces of Ground to feed them in, with little Pens to drive them into, to take them as I wanted, and Gates out of one Piece of Ground into another.
But this was not all, for now I not only had Goats Flesh to feed on when I pleas'd, but Milk too, a thing which indeed in my beginning I did not so much as think of, and which, when it came into my Thoughts, was really an agreeable Surprize. For now I set up my Dairy, and had sometimes a Gallon or two of Milk in a Day, And as Nature, who gives Supplies of Food to every Creature, dictates even naturally how to make use of it; so I that had never milk'd a Cow, much less a Goat, or seen Butter or Cheese made, very readily and handily, tho' after a great many Essays and Miscarriages, made me both Butter and Cheese at last, and never wanted it afterwards.
How mercifully can our great Creator treat his Creatures, even in those Conditions in
which they seem'd to be overwhelm'd in Destruction. How
It would have made a Stoick smile to have seen, me and my little Family sit down to Dinner; there was my Majesty the Prince and Lord of the whole Island; I had the Lives of all my Subjects at my absolute Command. I could hang, draw, give Liberty, and take it away, and no Rebels among all my Sublects.
Then to see how like a King I din'd too all alone, attended by my Servants,
Poll, as if he had been my Favourite, was the only Person permitted to
talk to me. My Dog who was now grown very old and crazy
But these were not the two Cats which I brought on Shore at first, for they were both of them dead, and had been interr'd near my Habitation by my own Hand; but one of them having multiply'd by I know not what Kind of Creature, these were two which I had preserv'd tame, whereas the rest run wild in the Woods, and became indeed troublesom to me at last; for they would often come into my House, and plunder me too, till at last I was obliged to shoot them, and did kill a great many; at length they left me with this Attendance, and in this plentiful Manner I lived; neither could I be said to want any thing but Society, and of that in some time after this, I was like to have too much.
England been to meet such a Man as I was, it must either have frighted
them, or rais'd a great deal of Laughter; and as I frequently stood still to look at
my self, I could not but smile at the Notion of my travelling through
Yorkshire with such an Equipage, and in such a Dress: Be pleas'd to take
a Scetch of my Figure as follows,
I had a great high shapeless Cap, made of a Goat's Skin, with a Flap hanging down behind, as well to keep the Sun from me, as to shoot the Rain off from running into my Neck; nothing being so hurtful in these Climates, as the Rain upon the Flesh under the Cloaths.
I had a short Jacket of Goat-Skin, the Skirts coming down to
about the middle of my Thighs; and a Pair of open-knee'd Breeches of the same, the
Breeches were made of the Skin of an old He-goat, whose Hair hung down such
a Length on either Side, that like Pantaloons
I had on a broad Belt of Goat's-Skin dry'd, which I drew together with two Thongs
Equinox. My Beard I had once suffer'd to grow till it was about a Quarter
of a Yard long; but as I had both Scissars and Razors sufficient, I had cut it pretty short, except what grew on my upper Lip, which I had
trimm'd into a large Pair of Mahometan WhiskersTurks, who I saw at Sallee; for the Moors did
not wear such, tho' the Turks did; of these Muschatoes
England would
have pass'd for frightful.
But all this is by the by; for as to my Figure, I had so few to observe me, that it
was of no manner of Consequence; so I say no more to that Part. In this kind of
Figure I went my new Journey, and was out five or six Days. I travell'd first along
the
I was at a strange Loss to understand this, and resolv'd to spend some Time in the
observing it, to see if nothing from the Sets of the Tide had occasion'd it; but I was presently convinc'd how it was,
viz. That the Tide of Ebb setting from the West, and joyning
with the Current of Waters from some great River on the Shore, must be the Occasion
of this Current; and that according as the Wind blew more forcibly from the
West, or from the North, this Current came nearer, or went
farther from the Shore; for waiting thereabouts till Evening, I went up to the Rock
again, and then the Tide of Ebb being made, I plainly saw the Current again as before, only, that it run farther of, being near half a League
from the Shore; whereas in my Case, it set close upon the Shore, and hurry'd me and
my Canoe along with it, which at another Time it would not have done.
This Observation convinc'd me, That I had nothing to do but
to observe the Ebbing and the Flowing of the Tide, and I might very easily bring my
Boat about the Island again: But when I began to think of
putting it in Practice, I had such a Terror upon my Spirits at the Remembrance of the
Danger I had been in, that I could not think of it again with any Patience; but on
the contrary, I took up another Resolution which was more safe, Periagau or Canoe; and so have one
for one Side of the Island, and one for the other.
You are to understand, that now I had, as I may call it, two Plantations in the Island; one my little Fortification or Tent, with the Wall about it under the Rock, with the Cave behind me, which by this Time I had enlarg'd into several Apartments, or Caves, one within another. One of these, which was the dryest, and largest, and had a Door out beyond my Wall or Fortification; that is to say, beyond where my Wall joyn'd to the Rock, was all fill'd up with the large Earthen Pots, of which I have given an Account, and with fourteen or fifteen great Baskets, which would hold five or six Bushels each, where I laid up my Stores of Provision, especially my Corn, some in the Ear cut off short from the Straw, and the other rubb'd out with my Hand.
As for my Wall made, as before, with long Stakes or Piles, those Piles grew
all like Trees, and were by this Time grown so big, and spread so very much, that
there was not the least Appearance to any one's View of any Habitation behind
them.
Near this Dwelling of mine, but a little farther within the Land, and upon lower Ground, lay my two Pieces of Corn-Ground, which I kept duly cultivated and sow'd, and which duly yielded me their Harvest in its Season; and whenever I had occasion for more Corn, I had more Land adjoyning as fit as that.
Besides this, I had my Country Seat, and I had now a tollerable Plantation there
also; for first, I had my little Bower, as I call'd it, which I kept in Repair;
that is to say, I kept the Hedge which circled it in, constantly fitted
up to its usual Height,
Adjoyning to this I had my Enclosures for my Cattle, that is to say, my Goats: And as I had taken an inconceivable deal of Pains to fence and enclose this Ground, so I was so uneasy to see it kept entire, lest the Goats should break thro', that I never left off till with infinite Labour I had stuck the Out-side of the Hedge so full of small Stakes, and so near to one another, that it was rather a Pale than a Hedge, and there was scarce Room to put a Hand thro' between them, which afterwards when those Stakes grew, as they all did in the next rainy Season, made the Enclosure strong like a Wall, indeed stronger than any Wall.
This will testify for me that I was not idle, and that I spared no Pains to bring to
pass whatever appear'd necessary for my comfortable Support; for I consider'd the keeping up a Breed of tame
Creatures thus at my Hand, would be a living Magazine of
Flesh, Milk, Butter and Cheese,
In this Place also I had my Grapes growing, which I principally depended on for my Winter Store of Raisins; and which I never fail'd to preserve very carefully, as the best and most agreeable Dainty of my whole Diet; and indeed they were not agreeable only, but physical, wholesome, nourishing, and refreshing to the last Degree.
As this was also about half Way between my other Habitation,
and the Place where I had laid up my Boat, I generally stay'd, and lay here in my Way
thither; for I used frequently to visit my Boat, and I kept all Things about or
belonging to her in very good Order; sometimes I went out in her to divert my self,
but no more hazardous Voyages would I go, nor scarce ever above a Stone's Cast
It happen'd one Day about Noon going towards my Boat, I was exceedingly surpriz'd
with the Print of a Man's naked Foot on the Shore, which was very plain to be seen in
the Sand: I stood like one Thunder-struck, or as if I had seen an Apparition; I
listen'd, I look'd round me, I could hear nothing, nor see any Thing, I went up to a
rising Ground to look farther, I went up the Shore and down the Shore, but it was all
one, I could see no other
When I came to my Castle, for so I think I call'd it ever after this, I fled into it like one pursued; whether I went over by the Ladder as first contriv'd, or went in at the Hole in the Rock, which I call'd a Door, I cannot remember; no, nor could I remember the next Morning, for never frighted Hare fled to Cover, or Fox to Earth, with more Terror of Mind than I to this Retreat.
I slept none that Night; the farther I was from the Occasion of my Fright, the
greater my Apprehensions were, which is something contrary
to the Nature of such Things, and especially to the usual
Practice of all Creatures in Fear: But I was so embarrass'd with my own frightful
Ideas of the Thing, that I form'd nothing but dismal Imaginations to my self, even tho' I was now a great way off of it. Sometimes I fancy'd it
must be the Devil; and Reason joyn'd in with me upon this
Supposition: For how should any other Thing in human Satan should take human Shape upon him in such a Place where there could
be no manner of Occasion for it, but to leave the Print of his Foot behind him, and
that even for no Purpose too, for he could not be sure I should see it; this was an
Amusement the other Way; I consider'd that the Devil might have found out abundance
of other Ways to have terrify'd me than this of the single Print of a Foot. That as I
liv'd quite on the other Side of the Island, he would never have been so simple to
leave a Mark in a Place where 'twas Ten Thousand to one whether I should ever see it or not, and in the Sand too, which the first Surge of the
Sea upon a high Wind would have defac'd entirely: All this seem'd inconsistent with
the Thing it self, and with all the Notions we usually entertain of the Subtilty of
the Devil.
Abundance of such Things as these assisted to argue me out
of all Apprehensions of its being the Devil: And I presently concluded then, that it
must be some more dangerous Creature, (viz.) That it must be some of the
Savages of the main Land over-against me, who had wander'd out to Sea in their
Canoes; and either driven by the Currents, or by contrary Winds had made
While these Reflections were rowling upon my Mind, I was very thankful in my
Thoughts, that I was so happy as not to be thereabouts at that Time, or that they did
not see my Boat, by which they would have concluded that some Inhabitants
Thus my Fear banish'd all my religious Hope; all that former Confidence in God which was founded upon such wonderful Experience as I had had of his Goodness, now vanished, as if he that had fed me by Miracle hitherto, could not preserve by his Power the Provision which he had made for me by his Goodness. I reproach'd my self with my Easiness, that would not sow any more Corn one Year than would just serve me till the next Season, as if no Accident could intervene to prevent my enjoying the Crop that was upon the Ground; and this I thought so just a Reproof, that I resolv'd for the future to have two or three Years Corn beforehand, so that whatever might come, I might not perish for want of Bread.
How strange a Chequer Work
I say, that I should now tremble at the very Apprehensions of seeing
a Man, and was ready to sink into the Ground at but the Shadow or silent Appearance
of a Man's having set his Foot in the Island.
Such is the uneven State of human Life: And it afforded me a great many curious Speculations afterwards, when I had a little recover'd my first Surprize; I consider'd that this was the Station of Life the infinitely wise and good Providence of God had determin'd for me, that as I could not foresee what the Ends of Divine Wisdom might be in all this, so I was not to dispute his Sovereignty, who, as I was his Creature, had an undoubted Right by Creation to govern and dispose of me absolutely as he thought fit; and who, as I was a Creature who had offended him, had likewise a judicial Right to condemn me to what Punishment he thought fit; and that it was my Part to submit to bear his Indignation, because I had sinn'd against him.
I then reflected that God, who was not only Righteous but Omnipotent, as he had thought fit thus to punish and afflict me, so he was able to deliver me; that if he did not think fit to do it, 'twas my unquestion'd Duty to resign my self absolutely and entirely to his Will; and on the other Hand, it was my Duty also to hope in him, pray to him, and quietly to attend the Dictates and Directions of his daily Providence.
viz. One Morning early,
lying in my Bed, and fill'd with Thought about my Danger from the Appearance of
Savages, I found it discompos'd me very much, upon which
those Words of the Scripture came into my Thoughts, Call upon me in the Day of Trouble, and I will deliver, and thou
shalt glorify me.
Upon this, rising chearfully out of my Bed, my Heart was not only comforted, but I
was guided and encourag'd to pray earnestly to God for Deliverance: When I had done praying, I took up my Bible, and opening it to read, the
first Words that presented to me, were, Wait
on the Lord, and be of good Cheer, and he shall strengthen thy Heart; wait, I say,
on the Lord:
In the middle of these Cogitations, Apprehensions and
Reflections, it came into my Thought one Day, that all this might be a meer Chimera
Heartning my self therefore with the Belief that this was nothing but the Print of
one of my own Feet, and so I might be truly said to start
However, as I went down thus two or three Days, and having seen nothing, I began to
be a little bolder; and to think there was really nothing in
it, but my own Imagination: But I cou'd not perswade my self
fully of this, till I should go down to the Shore again, and see this Print of a
Foot, and measure it by my own, and see if there was any Similitude or Fitness, that I might be assur'd it was my own Foot: But when I came to
the Place, First, It appear'd evidently to me, that when I laid up my Boat,
I could not possibly be on Shore any where there about. Secondly, When I
came to measure the Mark with my own Foot, I found my Foot
not so large by a great deal; both these Things fill'd my Head with new Imaginations,
and gave me the Vapours
O what ridiculous Resolution Men take, when possess'd with Fear! It deprives them of the Use of those Means which Reason offers for their Relief. The first Thing I propos'd to my self, was, to throw down my Enclosures, and turn all my tame Cattle wild into the Woods, that the Enemy might not find them; and then frequent the Island in Prospect of the same, or the like Booty: Then to the simple Thing of Digging up my two Corn Fields, that they might not find such a Grain there, and still be prompted to frequent the Island; then to demolish my Bower, and Tent, that they might not see any Vestiges of Habitation, and be prompted to look farther, in order to find out the Persons inhabiting.
These were the Subject of the first Night's Cogitation,
after I was come Home again, while the Apprehensions which had so over-run my Mind
were fresh upon me, and my Head was full of Vapours, as
above: Thus Fear of Danger is ten thousand Times more
terrifying than Danger it self, when apparent to the Eyes; and we find the Burthen of Anxiety greater by much, than the Evil which we are
anxious about; and which was worse than all this, I had not that Relief in this
Trouble from the Resignation I used to practise, that I hop'd to have. I look'd, I
thought, like Saul, who
complain'd not only that the Philistines were upon him; but that God had
forsaken him
This Confusion of my Thoughts kept me waking all Night; but in the Morning I fell asleep, and having by the Amusement of my Mind, been, as it were, tyr'd, and my Spirits exhausted; I slept very soundly, and wak'd much better compos'd than I had ever been before; and now I began to think sedately; and upon the utmost Debate with my self, I concluded, That this Island, which was so exceeding pleasant, fruitful, and no farther from the main Land than as I had seen, was not so entirely abandon'd as I might imagine: That altho' there were no stated Inhabitants who liv'd on the Spot; yet that there might sometimes come Boats off from the Shore, who either with Design, or perhaps never, but when they were driven by cross Winds, might come to this Place.
That I had liv'd here fifteen Years now, and had not met with the least Shadow or Figure of any People yet; and that if at any Time they should be driven here, it was probable they went away again as soon as ever they could, seeing they had never thought fit to fix there upon any Occasion, to this Time.
That the most I cou'd suggest any Danger from, was, from any such casual accidental
Landing of straggling People from the Main, who, as it was likely if they were driven
hither, were here against their Wills; so they made no stay here, but went off again
with all possible Speed, seldom staying one Night on Shore, least they should not
have the Help of the Tides, and Day-light back again; and that therefore I had
nothing to do but to consider
Now I began sorely to repent, that I had dug my Cave so large, as to bring a Door through again, which Door, as I said, came out beyond where my Fortification joyn'd to the Rock; upon maturely considering this therefore, I resolv'd to draw me a second Fortification, in the same Manner of a Semicircle, at a Distance from my Wall, just where I had planted a double Row of Trees, about twelve Years before, of which I made mention: These Trees having been planted so thick before, they wanted but a few Piles to be driven between them, that they should be thicker, and stronger, and my Wall would be soon finish'd.
So that I had now a double Wall, and my outer Wall was thickned with Pieces of Timber, old Cables, and every Thing I could think of, to make it strong; having in it seven little Holes, about as big as I might put my Arm out at: In the In-side of this, I thickned my Wall to above ten Foot thick, with continual bringing Earth out of my Cave, and laying it at the Foot of the Wall, and walking upon it; and through the seven Holes, I contriv'd to plant the Musquets, of which I took Notice, that I got seven on Shore out of the Ship; these, I say, I planted like my Cannon, and fitted them into Frames that held them like a Carriage, that so I could fire all the seven Guns in two Minutes Time: This Wall I was many a weary Month a finishing, and yet never thought my self safe till it was done.
When this was done, I stuck all the Ground without my Wall, for a great way every
way, as full with Stakes or Sticks of the Osier
Thus in two Years Time I had a thick Grove and in five or six Years Time I had a Wood before my Dwelling, growing so monstrous thick and strong, that it was indeed perfectly impassable; and no Men of what kind soever, would ever imagine that there was any Thing beyond it, much less a Habitation: As for the Way which I propos'd to my self to go in and out, for I left no Avenue; it was by setting two Ladders, one to a Part of the Rock which was low, and then broke in, and left room to place another Ladder upon that; so when the two Ladders were taken down, no Man living could come down to me without mischieving himself; and if they had come down, they were still on the Out-side of my outer Wall.
Thus I took all the Measures humane Prudence could suggest for my own Preservation; and it will be seen at length, that they were not altogether without just Reason; though I foresaw nothing at that Time, more than my meer Fear suggested to me.
[Audio File]While this was doing, I was not altogether Careless of my other Affairs; for I had a great Concern upon me, for my little Herd of Goats; they were not only a present Supply to me upon every Occasion, and began to be sufficient to me, without the Expence of Powder and Shot; but also without the Fatigue of Hunting after the wild Ones, and I was loth to lose the Advantage of them, and to have them all to nurse up over again.
To this Purpose, after long Consideration, I could think of but two Ways to preserve
them;
Accordingly I spent some Time to find out the most retir'd Parts of the Island; and I pitch'd upon one which was as private indeed as my Heart could wish for; it was a little damp Piece of Ground in the Middle of the hollow and thick Woods, where, as is observ'd, I almost lost my self once before, endeavouring to come back that Way from the Eastern Part of the Island: Here I found a clear Piece of Land near three Acres, so surrounded with Woods, that it was almost an Enclosure by Nature, at least it did not want near so much Labour to make it so, as the other Pieces of Ground I had work'd so hard at.
I immediately went to Work with this Piece of Ground, and in less than a Month's Time, I had so fenc'd it round, that my Flock or Herd, call it which you please, who were not so wild now as at first they might be supposed to be, were well enough secur'd in it. So, without any farther Delay, I removed ten young She-Goats and two He-Goats to this Piece; and when they were there, I continued to perfect the Fence till I had made it as secure as the other, which, however, I did at more Leisure, and it took me up more Time by a great deal.
the Fear of Man; and this I
must observe with Grief too, that the Discomposure of my
Mind had too great Impressions also upon the religious Part
of my Thoughts, for the Dread and Terror of falling into the Hands of Savages and Canibals, lay so upon my Spirits, that I seldom
found my self in a due Temper for Application to my Maker
But to go on; After I had thus secur'd one Part of my little living Stock, I went
about the whole Island, searching for another private Place, to make West Point of the Island, than I had ever done yet, and looking out to
Sea, I thought I saw a Boat upon the Sea, at a great
Distance; I had found a Prospective Glass
When I was come down the Hill, to the End of the Island, where indeed I had never
been before, I was presently convinc'd, that the seeing the Print of a Man's Foot,
was not such a strange Thing in the Island as I imagin'd; and but that it was a special Providence that I was cast upon the Side of the Island,
where the Savages never came: I should easily have known,
that nothing was more frequent than for the Canoes from the Main, when they
happen'd to be a little too far out at Sea, to shoot over
to that Side of the Island for Harbour; likewise as they often met, and fought in
their Canoes, the Victors having taken any
Prisoners, would bring them over to this Shore, where according to their dreadful Customs, being all Canibals, they would kill
and eat them; of which hereafter.
When I was come down the Hill, to the Shore, as I said above, being the S.
W. Point of the Island, I was perfectly confounded
and amaz'd; nor is it possible for me to express the Horror of my Mind, at seeing the
Shore spread with Skulls, Hands, Feet, and other Bones of humane Bodies; and
particularly I observ'd a Place where there had
I was so astonish'd with the Sight of these Things, that I entertain'd no Notions of any Danger to my self from it for a long while; All my Apprehensions were bury'd in the Thoughts of such a Pitch of inhuman, hellish Brutality, and the Horror of the Degeneracy of Humane Nature; which though I had heard of often, yet I never had so near a View of before; in short, I turn'd away my Face from the horrid Spectacle; my Stomach grew sick, and I was just at the Point of Fainting, when Nature discharg'd the Disorder from my Stomach; and having vomited with an uncommon Violence, I was a little reliev'd; but cou'd not bear to stay in the Place a Moment; so I gat me up the Hill again, with all the Speed I cou'd, and walk'd on towards my own Habitation.
When I came a little out of that Part of the Island, I stood
still a while as amaz'd; and then recovering my self, I
look'd up with the utmost Affection of my Soul, and with a
Flood of Tears in my Eyes, gave God Thanks that had cast my first Lot in a Part of
the World, where I was distinguish'd
Canibals to make my self known to.
Yet I entertain'd such an Abhorrence of the Savage Wretches, that I have been
speaking of, and of the wretched inhuman Custom of their devouring and eating one
another up, that I continu'd pensive, and sad, and kept close within my own Circle
for almost two Years after this: When I say my own Circle, I mean by it, my three
Plantations, viz. my Castle, my Country Seat, which I call'd my Bower, and
my Enclosure in the Woods; nor did I look after this for any other Use than as an
Enclosure for my Goats; for the Aversion which Nature gave me to these hellish
Wretches, was such, that I was fearful of seeing them, as of seeing the Devil
himself; nor did I so much as go to look after my Boat, in all this Time; but began
rather to think of making me another; for I cou'd not think of ever making any more
Attempts, to bring the other Boat round the Island to me, least
Time however, and the Satisfaction I had, that I was in no Danger of being discover'd
by these People, began to wear off my Uneasiness about them; and I began to live just
in the same compos'd Manner as before; only with this Difference, that I used more
Caution, and kept my Eyes more about me than I did before,
least I should happen to be seen by any of them; and particularly, I was more
cautious of firing my Gun, least any of them being on the Island, should happen to
hear of it; and it was therefore a very good Providence to me, that I had furnish'd
my self with a tame Breed of Goats, that I needed not hunt any more about the Woods,
or shoot at them; and if I did catch any of them after this, it was by Traps, and
Snares, as I had done before; so that for two Years after this, I believe I never
fir'd my Gun once of, though I never went out without it; and which was more, as I
had sav'd three Pistols out of the Ship, I always carry'd
them out with me, or at least two of them, sticking them in my Goat-skin Belt; also I
furbish'd up one of the great Cutlashes
Things going on thus, as I have said, for some Time; I seem'd, excepting these
Cautions, to be reduc'd to my former calm, sedate Way of Living, all these Things
tended to shewing me more and more how far my Condition was from being miserable, compar'd to some others; nay, to many other Particulars of Life, which it might have pleased,
As in my present Condition there were not really many Things which I wanted; so
indeed I thought that the Frights I had been in about these Savage Wretches, and the
Concern I had been in for my own Preservation, had taken off the Edge of my Invention for my own Conveniences; and I had dropp'd a good
Design
Sometimes I contriv'd to dig a Hole under the Place where they made their Fire, and
put in five or six Pound of Gun-powder, which when they kindled their Fire, would
consequently take Fire, and blow up all that was near it; but as in the first Place I
should be very loth to wast so much Powder upon them, my Store being now within the
Quantity of one Barrel; so neither could I be sure of its
going off, at any certain Time; when it might surprise them,
and at best, that it would do little more than just blow the Fire about their Ears
and fright them, but not sufficient to make them forsake the Place; so I laid it
aside, and then propos'd, that I would place my self in Ambush, in some convenient Place, with my three Guns, all double loaded; and in
the middle of their bloody Ceremony, let fly at them, when I
should be sure to kill or wound perhaps two or three at every shoot; and then falling
in upon them with my three Pistols,
I went so far with it in my Imagination, that I employ'd my self several Days to find
out proper Places to put my self in Ambuscade
Well, at length I found a Place in the Side of the Hill, where I was satisfy'd I might securely wait, till I saw any of their Boats coming, and might then, even before they would be ready to come on Shore, convey my self unseen into Thickets of Trees, in one of which there was a Hollow large enough to conceal me entirely; and were I might sit, and observe all their bloody Doings, and take my full aim at their Heads, when they were so close together, as that it would be next to impossible that I should miss my Shoot, or that I could fail wounding three or four of them at the first Shoot.
In this Place then I resolv'd to fix my Design, and accordingly I prepar'd two
Muskets, and my ordinary Fowling Piece. The two Muskets I loaded with a Brace of Slugs
After I had thus laid the Scheme of my Design, and in my Imagination put it in
Practice, I continually made my Tour every Morning up to the
Top of the Hill, which was from my Castle, as I call'd it, about three Miles, or
more, to see if I cou'd observe any Boats upon the Sea, coming near the Island, or
standing over towards it; but I began to tire of this hard
Duty, after I had for two or three Months constantly kept my Watch; but came always
back without any Discovery, there having not in all that Time been the least Appearance, not only on, or near the Shore; but not on the whole
Ocean, so far as my Eyes or Glasses
As long as I kept up my daily Tour to the Hill, to look out; so long also I kept up
the Vigour of my Design, and my Spirits seem'd to be all the while in a suitable
Form, for so outragious an Execution as the killing twenty
or thirty naked Savages, for an Offence which I had not at all entred into a
Discussion of in my Thoughts, any farther than my Passions were at first fir'd by the
Horror I conceiv'd at the unnatural Custom of that People of the Country, who it seems had been suffer'd by Providence in his
wise Disposition
When I had consider'd this a little, it follow'd necessarily, that I was certainly in the Wrong in it, that these People were not Murtherers in the Sense that I had before condemn'd them, in my Thoughts; any more than those Christians were Murtherers, who often put to Death the Prisoners taken in Battle; or more frequently, upon many Occasions, put whole Troops of Men to the Sword, without giving Quarter, though they threw down their Arms and submitted.
In the next Place it occurr'd to me, that albeit the Usage they thus gave one
another, was thus brutish and inhuman; yet it was really nothing to me: These People
had done me no Injury. That if they Spaniards in all their Barbarities practis'd in America, and where they destroy'd Millions of these
People, who however they were Idolaters and Barbarians, and
had several bloody and barbarous Rites in their Customs, such as sacrificing human
Bodies to their Idols, were yet, as to the Spaniards, very innocent People;
and that the rooting them out of the Country, is spoken of with the utmost Abhorrence
and Detestation, by even the Spaniards themselves, at this Time; and by all
other Christian Nations of Europe, as a meer
Butchery, a bloody and unnatural Piece of Cruelty,
unjustifiable either to God or Man; and such, as for which
the very Name of a Spaniard is reckon'd to be
frightful and terrible to all People of Humanity, or of Christian Compassion: As if the Kingdom of Spain were particularly Eminent for
the Product of a Race of Men, who were without Principles of Tenderness, or the
common Bowels of Pity to the Miserable, which is reckon'd to be a Mark of generous
Temper in the Mind.
These Considerations really put me to a Pause, and to a kind of a Full-stop; and I began by little and little to be off of my Design, and to conclude, I had taken wrong Measures in my Resolutions to attack the Savages; that it was not my Business to meddle with them, unless they first attack'd me, and this it was my Business if possible to prevent; but that if I were discover'd, and attack'd, then I knew my Duty.
Upon the whole I concluded, That neither in Principle or in Policy, I ought one way or other to concern my self in this Affair. That my Business was by all possible Means to conceal my self from them, and not to leave the least Signal to them to guess by, that there were any living Creatures upon the Island; I mean of humane Shape.
Religion joyn'd in with this Prudential, and I was convinc'd now many Ways, that I was perfectly out of my Duty, when I was laying all my bloody Schemes for the Destruction of innocent Creatures, I mean innocent as to me: As to the Crimes they were guilty of towards one another, I had nothing to do with them; they were National, and I ought to leave them to the Justice of God, who is the Governour of Nations, and knows how by National Punishments to make a just Retribution for National Offences; and to bring publick Judgments upon those who offend in a publick Manner, by such Ways as best pleases him.
This appear'd so clear to me now, that nothing was a greater Satisfaction to me, than
that I had not been suffer'd to do a Thing which I now saw so much Reason to believe
would have been no less a Sin, than that of wilful Murther, if I had committed
In this Disposition I continu'd, for near a Year after this; and so far was I from
desiring an Occasion for falling upon these Wretches, that
in all that Time, I never once went up the Hill to see whether there were any of them
in Sight, or to know whether any of them had been on Shore there, or not, that I
might not be tempted to renew any of my Contrivances against
them, or be provok'd by any Advantage which might present it self, to fall upon them;
only this I did, I went and remov'd my Boat, which I had on the other Side the
Island, and carry'd it down to the East End of the whole Island, where I ran
it into a little Cove which I found under some high Rocks, and where I knew, by
Reason of the Currents, the Savages durst not, at least would not come with their
Boats, upon any Account whatsoever.
With my Boat I carry'd away every Thing that I had left there belonging to her,
though not necessary for the bare going thither,
viz. A Mast and Sail which I had made for her, and a Thing like an
Anchor, but indeed which could not be call'd either Anchor or Grapling; however, it
was the best I could make of its kind: All these I remov'd,
that there might not be the least Shadow of any Discovery, or any Appearance of any
Boat, or of any human Habitation upon the Island.
Besides this, I kept my self, as I said, more retir'd than
ever, and seldom went from my Cell, other viz. To
milk my She-goats, and manage my little Flock, in the Wood; which as it was quite on
the other Part of the Island, was quite out of Danger; for certain it is, that these
Savage People who sometimes haunted this Island, never came with any Thoughts of
finding any Thing here; and consequently never wandred off from the Coast; and I
doubt not, but they might have been several Times on Shore, after my Apprehensions of
them had made me cautious as well as before; and indeed, I look'd back with some
Horror upon the Thoughts of what my Condition would have
been, if I had chop'd upon them
The Thoughts of this sometimes sunk my very Soul within me, and distress'd my Mind so
much, that I could not soon recover it, to think what I should have done, and how I
not only should not have been able to resist them, but even should not have had
Presence of Mind enough to do what I might have done; much less, what now after so
much Consideration and Preparation I might be able to do:
Indeed, after serious thinking of these Things, I should be very Melancholly, and
sometimes it would last a great while; but I resolv'd it
at last all into Thankfulness to that Providence, which had deliver'd me from so many
unseen Dangers, and had kept me from those Mischiefs which
This renew'd a Contemplation, which often had come to my Thoughts in former Time,
when first I began to see the merciful Dispositions of Heaven, in the Dangers we run
through in this Life. How wonderfully we are deliver'd, when we know nothing of it. How when we are in (a Quandary, as we
call it) a Doubt or Hesitation, whether to go this Way, or that Way, a secret Hint
shall direct us this Way, when we intended to go that Way; nay, when Sense, our own
Inclination, and perhaps Business has call'd to go the other Way, yet a strange
Impression upon the Mind, from we know not what Springs, and by we know not what
Power, shall over-rule us to go this Way; and it shall
afterwards appear, that had we gone that Way which we should have gone, and even to
our Imagination ought to have gone, we should have been ruin'd and lost: Upon these,
and many like Reflections, I afterwards made it a certain
Rule with me, That whenever I found those secret Hints, or
pressings of my Mind, to doing, or not doing any Thing that presented; or to going this Way, or that Way, I never fail'd to
obey the secret Dictate; though I knew no other Reason for it, than that such a
Pressure, or such a Hint hung upon my Mind: I could give many Examples of the Success of this Conduct in the Course of my Life; but more
especially in the latter Part of my inhabiting this unhappy
Island; besides many Occasions which it is very likely I
might have taken Notice of, if I had seen with the same Eyes then, that I saw with
now: But 'tis never too late to be wise; and I cannot but advise all considering Men, whose Lives are attended with such extraordinary
I believe the Reader of this will not think strange, if I confess that these
Anxieties, these constant Dangers I liv'd in, and the
Concern that was now upon me, put an End to all Invention, and to all the
Contrivances that I had laid for my future Accommodations and Conveniencies. I had
the Care of my Safety more now upon my Hands, than that of my Food. I car'd not to
drive a Nail, or chop a Stick of Wood now, for fear the Noise I should make should be
heard; much less would I fire a Gun, for the same Reason; and above all, I was
intollerably uneasy at making any Fire, least the Smoke which is visible at a great
Distance in the Day should betray me; and for this Reason I remov'd that Part of my Business which requir'd Fire; such as burning of Pots, and
Pipes, &c. into my new Apartment in the Woods, where after I had been
some time, I found to my unspeakable Consolation, a meer
natural Cave in the Earth, which went in a vast way, and where, I dare say, no Savage, had he been at the Mouth of it, would be so hardy as
to venture in, nor indeed, would any Man else; but one who like me, wanted nothing so
much as a safe Retreat.
I was afraid of making a Smoke about my Habitation, as I
said before; and yet I could not live there without baking my Bread, cooking my Meat,
&c. so I contriv'd to burn some Wood here, as I had seen done in
England, under Turf, till it became Chark, or
dry Coal; and then putting the Fire out, I preserv'd the Coal to carry Home; and
perform the other Services which Fire was wanting for at
Home without Danger of Smoke.
But this is by the by: While I was cutting down some Wood here, I perceiv'd that behind a very thick Branch of low Brushwood, or under Wood, there was a kind of hollow Place; I was curious to look into it, and getting with Difficulty into the Mouth of it, I found it was pretty large; that is to say, sufficient for me to stand upright in it, and perhaps another with me; but I must confess to you, I made more hast out than I did in, when looking farther into the Place, and which was perfectly dark, I saw two broad shining Eyes of some Creature, whether Devil or Man I knew not, which twinkl'd like two Stars, the dim Light from the Cave's Mouth shining directly in and making the Reflection.
However, after some Pause, I recover'd my self, and began to call my self a thousand
Fools, and tell my self, that he that was afraid to see the Devil, was not fit to live twenty Years in an Island all alone; and that I durst to
believe there was nothing as if of Words half
express'd, and then a deep Sigh again: I stepp'd back, and was indeed struck with
such a Surprize, that it put me into a cold Sweat; and if I had had a Hat on my Head,
I will not answer for it, that my Hair might not have lifted it off. But still
plucking up my Spirits as well as I could, and encouraging my self a little with
considering that the Power and Presence of God was every where, and was able to
protect me; upon this I stepp'd forward again, and by the Light of the Firebrand,
holding it up a little over my Head, I saw lying on the Ground a most monstrous
frightful old He-goat, just making his Will, as we say, and
gasping for Life, and dying indeed of meer old Age.
I stirr'd him a little to see if I could get him out, and he essay'd to get up, but was not able to raise himself; and I thought with my self, he might even lie there; for if he had frighted me so, he would certainly fright any of the Savages, if any of them should be so hardy as to come in there, while he had any Life in him.
I was now recover'd from my Surprize, and began to look
round me, when I found the Cave was but very small, that is to say, it might be about
twelve Foot over, but in no manner of Shape, either round or
square, no Hands having ever been employ'd in making it, but those of meer Nature: I
observ'd also, that there was a Place at the farther Side of
it, that went in farther, but was so
Accordingly the next Day, I came provided with six large Candles of my own making;
for I made very good Candles now of Goat's
Tallow
as I have said, almost ten Yards; which by
the way, I thought was a Venture bold enough, considering that I knew not how far it
might go, nor what was beyond it. When I was got through the Strait
The Place I was in, was a most delightful Cavity, or Grotto,
of its kind, as could be expected, though perfectly dark; the Floor was dry and
level, and had a sort of small lose Gravel upon it, so that there was no nauseous or
venemous Creature to be seen, neither was there any damp, or wet, on the Sides or
Roof: The only Difficulty in it was the Entrance, which
however as it was a Place of Security, and such a Retreat as I wanted, I thought that
was a Convenience; so that I was really rejoyc'd at the Discovery, and resolv'd without any Delay, to bring some of those Things
which I was most anxious about, to this viz. Two Fowling-Pieces, for I had three in all; and three
Muskets, for of them I had eight in all; so I kept at my Castle only five, which
stood ready mounted like Pieces of Cannon, on my out-most Fence; and were ready also
to take out upon any Expedition.
Upon this Occasion of removing my Ammunition, I took occasion to open the Barrel of Powder which I took up out of the Sea, and which had been wet; and I found that the Water had penetrated about three or four Inches into the Powder, on every Side, which caking and growing hard, had preserv'd the inside like a Kernel in a Shell; so that I had near sixty Pound of very good Powder in the Center of the Cask, and this was an agreeable Discovery to me at that Time; so I carry'd all away thither, never keeping above two or three Pound of Powder with me in my Castle, for fear of a Surprize of any kind: I also carry'd thither all the Lead I had left for Bullets.
I fancy'd my self now like one of the ancient Giants, which are said to live in Caves; and Holes, in the Rocks, where none could come at them; for I perswaded my self while I was here, if five hundred Savages were to hunt me, they could never find me out; or if they did, they would not venture to attack me here.
The old Goat who I found expiring, dy'd in the Mouth of the Cave, the next Day after I made this Discovery; and I found it much easier to dig a great Hole there, and throw him in, and cover him with Earth, than to drag him out; so I interr'd him there, to prevent the Offence to my Nose.
I was now in my twenty third Year of Residence in this Island, and was so naturaliz'd to the Place,
and to the Manner of Living, that could I have but enjoy'd the Certainty that no
Savages would come to the Place to disturb me, I could have been content to have
capitulated for spending the rest of my Time there, even to the last Moment, till I had laid me down and dy'd, like the old Goat in
the Cave. I had also arriv'd to some little Diversions and Amusements, which made the
Time pass more pleasantly with me a great deal, than it did before; as First, I had
taught my Poll, as I noted before, to speak; and he did it so familiarly, and talk'd
so articulately and plain, that it was very pleasant to me; and he liv'd with me no
less than six and twenty Years: How long he might live afterwards, I know not; though
I know they have a Notion in the Brasils, that they live a hundred Years; perhaps poor Poll may be alive there still,
calling after Poor Robin Crusoe to this Day. I wish no English Man
the ill Luck to come there and hear him; but if he did, he would certainly believe it
was the Devil. My Dog was a very pleasant and loving Companion to me, for no less
than sixteen Years of my Time, and then dy'd, of meer old
Age; as for my Cats, they multiply'd as I have observ'd to that Degree, that I was
oblig'd to shoot several of them at first, to keep them from devouring me, and all I had; but at length, when the two old Ones
I brought with me were gone, and after some time continually driving them from me,
and letting them have no Provision with me, they all ran wild into the Woods, except
two or three Favourites, which I kept tame; and whose Young when they had any, I
always drown'd; and these were part of my Family: Besides these, I always kept two or
three houshold Kids about me, who I Robin Crusoe; but none like my first; nor indeed did I take the Pains with any of them that I had done with him. I had also
several tame Sea-Fowls, whose Names I know not, who I caught upon the Shore, and cut
their Wings; and the little Stakes which I had planted
before my Castle Wall being now grown up to a good thick Grove, these Fowls all liv'd
among these low Trees, and bred there, which was very agreeable to me; so that as I
said above, I began to be very well contented with the Life
I led, if it might but have been secur'd from the dread of the Savages.
But it was otherwise
directed
viz. How frequently in the Course of our Lives, the
Evil which in it self we seek most to shun, and which when we are fallen into it, is
the most dreadful to us, is oftentimes the very Means or Door of our Deliverance, by
which alone we can be rais'd again from the Affliction we are fallen into. I cou'd
give many Examples of this in the Course of my unaccountable
Life; but in nothing was it more particularly remarkable,
than in the Circumstances of my last Years of solitary Residence in this Island.
It was now the Month of December, as I said above,
in my twenty third Year; and this being the Southern Solstice, for Winter I
cannot call it, was the particular Time of my Harvest, and requir'd my being pretty
much abroad in the Fields, when going out pretty early in the Morning, even before it
was thorow Day-light, I was surpriz'd with seeing a Light of
some Fire upon the Shore, at a Distance from me, of about
two Mile towards the End of the Island, where I had observ'd some Savages
I was indeed terribly surpriz'd at the Sight, and stepp'd short within my Grove, not daring to go out, least I might be surpriz'd; and yet I had no more Peace within, from the Apprehensions I had, that if these Savages in rambling over the Island, should find my Corn standing, or cut, or any of my Works and Improvements, they would immediately conclude, that there were People in the Place, and would then never give over till they had found me out: In this Extremity I went back directly to my Castle, pull'd up the Ladder after me, and made all Things without look as wild and natural as I could.
Then I prepar'd my self within, putting my self in a Posture of Defence; I loaded all my Cannon, as I call'd them; that is to say, my Muskets, which were mounted upon my new Fortification, and all my Pistols, and resolv'd to defend my self to the last Gasp, not forgetting seriously to commend my self to the Divine Protection, and earnestly to pray to God to deliver me out of the Hands of the Barbarians; and in this Posture I continu'd about two Hours; but began to be mighty impatient for Intelligence abroad, for I had no Spies to send out.
After sitting a while longer, and musing what I should do in this Case, I was not
able to bear sitting in Ignorance any longer; so setting up
my Ladder to the Side of the Hill, where there was a flat
Place, as I observ'd before, and then pulling the Ladder up after me, I set it up
again, and mounted to the Top of the Hill; and pulling out
my Perspective Glass, which I had taken on Purpose, I laid me down flat on my Belly,
on the Ground, and began to look for the Place; I presently found
They had two Canoes with them, which they had haled up upon the Shore; and
as it was then Tide of Ebb, they seem'd to me to wait for the Return of the Flood, to
go away again; it is not easy to imagine what Confusion this Sight put me into,
especially seeing them come on my Side the Island, and so near me too; but when I
observ'd their coming must be always with the Current of the Ebb, I began afterwards
to be more sedate in my Mind, being satisfy'd that I might go abroad with Safety all
the Time of the Tide of Flood, if they were not on Shore before: And having made this
Observation, I went abroad about my Harvest Work with the more Composure.
As I expected, so it prov'd; for as soon as the Tide made to the Westward, I
saw them all take Boat, and row (or paddle as we call it) all away: I should have
observ'd, that for an Hour and more before they went off, they went to dancing, and I
could easily discern their Postures, and Gestures, by my Glasses: I could not
perceive by my nicest
As soon as I saw them shipp'd, and gone, I took two Guns upon my Shoulders, and two
Pistols at my Girdle, and my great Sword by my Side, without
a Scabbard, and with all the Speed I was able to make, I went away to the Hill, where
I had discover'd Canoes more of Savages on that Place; and looking out
farther, I saw they were all at Sea together, making over
for the Main.
This was a dreadful Sight to me, especially when going down to the Shore, I could see
the Marks of Horror, which the dismal Work they had been about had left behind it, viz. The Blood, the Bones, and part of the Flesh
of humane Bodies, eaten and devour'd by those Wretches, with Merriment and Sport: I
was so fill'd with Indignation at the Sight, that I began now to premeditate the
Destruction of the next that I saw there, let them be who, or how many soever.
It seem'd evident to me, that the Visits which they thus make to this Island, are not very frequent; for it was above fifteen Months before any more of them came on Shore there again; that is to say, I neither saw them, or any Footsteps, or Signals of them, in all that Time; for as to the rainy Seasons, then they are sure not to come abroad, at least not so far; yet all this while I liv'd uncomfortably, by reason of the constant Apprehensions I was in of their coming upon me by Surprize; from whence I observe, that the Expectation of Evil is more bitter than the Suffering, especially if there is no room to shake off that Expectation, or those Apprehensions.
During all this Time, I was in the murthering Humour; and took up most of my Hours,
which should have been better employ'd, in contriving how to circumvent, and fall
upon them, the very next Time I should see them; especially if they should be
divided, as they were the last Time, into ad infinitum, till I should be
at length no less a Murtherer than they were in being Man-eaters; and perhaps much
more so.
I spent my Days now in great Perplexity, and Anxiety of Mind, expecting that I should
one Day or other fall into the Hands of these merciless Creatures; and if I did at any Time venture abroad, it was not without looking round me
with the greatest Care and Caution imaginable; and now I
found to my great Comfort, how happy
Canoes with them, in a few Days, and then I knew what to
expect.
However, I wore out a Year and three Months more, before I ever saw any more of the
Savages, and then I found them again, as I shall soon observe. It is true, they might
have been there once, or twice; but either they made no stay, or at least I did not
hear them; but in the Month of May, as near as I could calculate, and in my
four and twentieth Year, I had a very strange Encounter with them, of which in its
Place.
The Perturbation of my Mind, during this fifteen or sixteen
Months Interval, was very great; I slept unquiet, dream'd always frightful Dreams,
and often started out of my Sleep in the Night: In the Day great Troubles overwhelm'd
my Mind, and in the Night I dream'd often of killing the May, on
the sixteenth Day I think, as well as my poor wooden Calendar would reckon; for I
markt all upon the Post still; I say, it was the sixteenth of May, that it
blew a very great Storm of Wind, all Day, with a great deal of Lightning, and
Thunder, and a very foul Night it was after it; I know not what was the particular
Occasion of it; but as I was reading in the Bible, and taken up with very serious
Thoughts about my present Condition, I was surpriz'd with a Noise of a Gun as I
thought fir'd at Sea.
This was to be sure a Surprize of a quite different Nature from any I had met with before; for the Notions this put into my Thoughts, were quite of another kind. I started up in the greatest hast imaginable, and in a trice clapt my Ladder to the middle Place of the Rock, and pull'd it after me, and mounting it the second Time, got to the Top of the Hill, the very Moment, that a Flash of Fire bid me listen for a second Gun, which accordingly, in about half a Minute I heard; and by the sound, knew that it was from that Part of the Sea where I was driven down the Current in my Boat.
I immediately consider'd that this must be some Ship in Distress, and that they had
some Comrade, or some other Ship in Company, and fir'd these Guns for Signals of
Distress, and to obtain Help: I had this Presence of Mind at that Minute, as to think
that though I could not help them, it may be they might help me; so I brought
together all the dry Wood I could get at hand, and making a good handsome Pile, I set
it on Fire upon the Hill; the Wood was dry, and blaz'd freely; and though the Wind
blew very hard, yet it burnt fairly out; that I was certain, if there was any such
Thing as a East of the Island,
whether a Sail, or a Hull, I could not distinguish, no not with my Glasses, the
Distance was so great, and the Weather still something haizy also; at least it was so
out at Sea.
I look'd frequently at it all that Day, and soon perceiv'd that it did not move; so I
presently concluded, that it was a Ship at an Anchor, and
being eager, you may be sure, to be satisfy'd, I took my Gun in my Hand, and run
toward the South Side of the Island, to the Rocks where I had formerly been
carry'd away with the Current, and getting up there, the Weather by this Time being
perfectly clear, I could plainly see to my great Sorrow, the Wreck of a Ship cast
away in the Night, upon those concealed Rocks which I found, when I was out in my
Boat; and which Rocks, as they check'd the Violence of the Stream, and made a kind of
Counter-stream, or Eddy, were the Occasion of my recovering from the most desperate
hopeless Condition that ever I had been in, in all my
Life.
Thus what is one Man's Safety, is another Man's Destruction; for it seems these Men,
whoever they were, being out of their Knowledge, and the Rocks being wholly under
Water, had been driven upon them in the Night, the Wind blowing hard at E.
and E. N. E: Had they seen the Island, as I must necessarily suppose they
did not, they must, as I thought, have endeavour'd to have sav'd themselves on Shore
by the Help of their Boat; but their firing of Guns for Help, especially when they
saw, as I
As all these were but Conjectures at best; so in the Condition I was in, I could do no more than look on upon the Misery of the poor Men, and pity them, which had still this good Effect on my Side, that it gave me more and more Cause to give Thanks to God who had so happily and comfortably provided for me in my desolate Condition; and that of two Ships Companies who were now cast away upon this part of the World, not one Life should be spar'd but mine: I learn'd here again to observe, that it is very rare that the Providence of God casts us into any Condition of Life so low, or any Misery so great, but we may see something or other to be thankful for; and may see others in worse Circumstances than our own.
I cannot explain by any possible Energy of Words, what a strange longing or hankering of Desires I felt in my Soul upon this Sight; breaking out sometimes thus; O that there had been but one or two; nay, or but one Soul sav'd out of this Ship, to have escap'd to me, that I might but have had one Companion, one Fellow-Creature to have spoken to me, and to have convers'd with! In all the Time of my solitary Life, I never felt so earnest, so strong a Desire after the Society of my Fellow-Creatures, or so deep a Regret at the want of it.
There are some secret moving Springs in the Affections, which when they are set a going by some Object in view, or be it some Object, though not in view, yet rendred present to the Mind by the Power of Imagination, that Motion carries out the Soul by its Impetuosity to such violent eager embracings of the Object, that the Absence of it is insupportable.
Such were these earnest Wishings, That but one Man had been sav'd! O that it had
been but One! I believe I repeated the Words, O that it had been but
One! A thousand Times; and the Desires were so mov'd by it, that when I spoke
the Words, my Hands would clinch together, and my Fingers press the Palms of my
Hands, that if I had had any soft Thing in my Hand, it wou'd have crusht it involuntarily; and my Teeth in my Head wou'd strike
Let the Naturalists explain these Things, and the Reason and Manner of them; all I
can say to them, is, to describe the Fact, which was even surprising to me when I
found it
But it was not to be; either their Fate or mine, or both, forbid it; for till the
last Year of my being on this Island, I never knew whether any were saved out of that Ship or no; and had only the Affliction some Days after, to see the Corps of a drownded Boy come on Shore, at the End of the Island which was
next
It was now calm, and I had a great mind to venture out in my Boat, to this Wreck; not
doubting but I might find something on board, that might
be useful to me; but that did not altogether press me so much, as the Possibility
that there might be yet some living Creature on board, whose Life I might not only
save, but might by saving that Life, comfort my own to the last Degree; and this
Thought clung so to my Heart, that I could not be quiet, Night or Day, but I must
venture out in my Boat on board this Wreck; and committing the rest to God's
Providence, I thought
Under the Power of this Impression, I hasten'd back to my Castle, prepar'd every
Thing for my Voyage, took a Quantity of Bread, a great Pot for fresh Water, a Compass
to steer by, a Bottle of Rum; for I had still a great deal of that left; a Basket full of Raisins: And thus loading my self with every
Thing necessary, I went down to my Boat, got the Water out of her, and got her
afloat, loaded all my Cargo in her, and then went Home again for more; my second Cargo was a great Bag full of Rice,
the Umbrella to set up over my Head for Shade; another large Pot full of fresh Water,
and about two Dozen of my small Loaves, or Barley Cakes, more than before, with a
Bottle of Goat's-Milk, and a Cheese; all which, with great Labour and Sweat, I
brought to my Boat; and praying to God to direct my Voyage, I put out, and Rowing or
Padling the Canoe along the Shore, I came at last to the utmost Point of the Island on that Side, (viz.) N. E. And now I was to
launch out into the Ocean, and either to venture, or not to venture. I look'd on the
rapid Currents which ran constantly on both Sides of the Island, at a Distance, and
which were very terrible to me, from the Remembrance of the Hazard I had been in
before, and my Heart began to fail me; for I foresaw that if I was driven into either
of those Currents, I should be carry'd a vast Way out to Sea, and perhaps out of my
Reach, or Sight of the Island again; and that then, as my Boat was but small, if any
little Gale of Wind should rise, I should be inevitably lost.
Encourag'd with this Observation, I resolv'd the next Morning to set out with the
first of the Tide; and reposing my self for the Night in the Canoe, under the great
Watch-coat, I mention'd, I launched out: I made first a little out to Sea full North,
till I began to feel the Benefit of the Current, which set
Eastward, and which carry'd me at a great rate, and yet did not so hurry me as the
Southern Side Current had done before, and so as to take from me all Government of
the Boat; but having a
It was a dismal Sight to look at: The Ship, which by its building was
Spanish, stuck fast, jaum'd in between two Rocks; all the Stern and
Quarter of her was beaten to pieces, with the Sea; and as her Forecastle, which stuck
in the Rocks, had run on with great Violence, her Mainmast and Foremast were brought
by the Board; that is to say, broken short off; but her Boltsprit
After this I went on board; but the first Sight I met with, was two Men drown'd, in
the Cookroom, or Forecastle of the Ship, with their Arms
fast about one another: I concluded, as is indeed probable, that when the Ship
struck, it being in a Storm, the Sea broke so high, and so continually over her, that
the Men were not able to bear it, and were strangled with the constant rushing in of
the Water, as much as if they had been under Water. Besides
the Dog, there was nothing left in the Ship that had Life; nor any Goods that I could
see, but what were spoil'd by the Water. There were some Casks of Liquor, whether
Wine or Brandy, I knew not, which lay lower in the Hold; and which, the Water being
ebb'd out, I
Had the Stern of the Ship been fix'd, and the Forepart broken off, I am perswaded I
might have made a good Voyage; for by what I found in these two Chests, I had room to
suppose, the Ship had a great deal of Wealth on board; and if I may guess by the
Course she steer'd, she must have been bound from the Buenos Ayres, or the
Rio de la Plata, in the South Part of America, beyond the
Brasils, to the Havana, in the Gulph of Mexico, and so
perhaps to Spain:
I found besides these Chests, a little Cask full of Liquor, of about twenty Gallons, which I got into my Boat, with much Difficulty; there were several Muskets in a Cabin, and a great Powder-horn, with about 4 Pounds of Powder in it; as for the Muskets, I had no occasion for them; so I left them, but took the Powder-horn: I took a Fire Shovel and Tongs, which I wanted extremely; as also two little Brass Kettles, a Copper Pot to make Chocolate, and a Gridiron; and with this Cargo, and the Dog, I came away, the Tide beginning to make home again; and the same Evening, about an Hour within Night, I reach'd the Island again, weary and fatigu'd to the last Degree.
I repos'd that Night in the Boat, and in the Morning I
resolved to harbour what I had gotten in my new Cave, not to carry it home to my
Castle. After refreshing my self, I got all my Cargo on
Shore, and began to examine the Particulars: The Cask of Liquor I found to be a kind
of Rum, but not such Brasils; and in a Word, not at all good; but when I came to open the
Chests, I found several Things, of great use to me: For Example, I found in one, a
fine Case of Bottles, of an extraordinary kind, and fill'd with Cordial Waters, fine, and very good; the Bottles held about three
Pints each, and were tipp'd with Silver: I found two Pots of very good Succades
The other Chest I found had some Cloaths in it, but of little Value; but by the
Circumstances it must have belong'd to the Gunner's Mate; though there was no Powder
in it; but about two Pound of fine glaz'd
Powder
English Shoes and Stockings, which
were Things I greatly wanted, but had not had on my Feet now
for many Years: I had indeed gotten two pair of Shoes now, which I took off of the
Feet of the English Shoes, either for Ease, or Service; being rather what we call Pumps
Well, however, I lugg'd this Money home to my Cave, and laid it up, as I had done
that before, which I brought from our own Ship; but it was great Pity as I said, that
the other Part of this Ship had not come to my Share; for I am satisfy'd I might have
loaded my Canoe several Times over with Money,
which if I had ever escap'd to England, would have lain here safe enough,
till I might have come again and fetch'd it.
Having now brought all my Things on Shore, and secur'd them, I went back to my Boat,
and row'd, or paddled her along the Shore, to her old Harbour, where I laid her up,
and made the best of my way to my old Habitation, where I found every thing safe and
quiet; so I began to repose my self, live after my old fashion, and take care of my
Family Affairs; and for a while, I liv'd easy enough; only that I was more vigilant
than I us'd to be, look'd out oftner, and did not go abroad so much; and if at any
time I did stir with any Freedom, it was always to the East Part of the
Island, where I was pretty well satisfy'd the Savages never
came, and where I could go without so many Precautions, and such a Load of Arms and
Ammunition, as I always carry'd with me, if I went the other way.
I liv'd in this Condition near two Years more; but my unlucky Head, that was always
to let me Sallee in, I should have ventur'd to
Sea, bound any where, I knew not whither.
I have been in all my Circumstances a Memento to those who are touch'd with
the general Plague of Mankind, whence, for ought I know, one half of their Miseries
flow; I mean, that of not being satisfy'd with the Station wherein God and Nature has plac'd them; for not to look back upon my primitive
Condition, and the excellent Advice of my Father, the Opposition to which, was,
as I may call it, my ORIGINAL SIN
Brasils, as a Planter, bless'd me with confin'd Desires, and I could have
been contented to have gone on gradually, I might have been by this Time; I mean,
in the Time of my being in this Island, one of the
most considerable Planters in the Brasils, nay, I am perswaded, that by the
Improvements I had made, in that little Time I liv'd
there, and the Encrease I should probably have made, if I had stay'd, I might have
been worth an hundred thousand Moydors
Guinea,
to fetch Negroes; when Patience and Time would have so encreas'd our Stock at
But as this is ordinarily the Fate of young Heads, so Reflection upon the Folly of it, is as ordinarily the Exercise of more Years, or of the dear bought Experience of Time; and so it was with me now; and yet so deep had the Mistake taken root in my Temper, that I could not satisfy my self in my Station, but was continually poring upon the Means, and Possibility of my Escape from this Place; and that I may with the greater Pleasure to the Reader, bring on the remaining Part of my Story, it may not be improper, to give some Account of my first Conceptions on the Subject of this foolish Scheme, for my Escape; and how, and upon what Foundation I acted.
I am now to be suppos'd retir'd into my Castle, after my late Voyage to the Wreck, my
Frigate laid up, and secur'd under Water, as usual, and my Condition restor'd to what it was before: I had more Wealth indeed than I had before,
but was not at all the richer; for I had no more use for it, than the
Indians of Peru had, before the Spaniards came
there.
It was one of the Nights in the rainy Season in March, the four and
twentieth Year of my first setting Foot in this Island of
Solitariness; I was lying in my Bed, or Hammock, awake, very well in Health, had no
Pain, no Distemper, no Uneasiness of Body; no, nor any Uneasiness of Mind, more than
ordinary; but could by no means close my Eyes; that is, so as to sleep; no, not a
Wink all Night long, otherwise than as follows:
as I may call it, to
my coming to this Island; and also of the Part of my Life, since I came to this
Island. In my Reflections upon the State of my Case, since I came on Shore on this
Island, I was comparing the happy Posture of my Affairs,
in the first Years of my Habitation here, compar'd to the Life of Anxiety, Fear and
Care, which I had liv'd ever since I had seen the Print of a Foot in the Sand; not
that I did not believe the Savages had frequented the Island even all the while, and
might have been several Hundreds of them at Times on Shore there; but I had never
known it, and was incapable of any Apprehensions about it; my Satisfaction was
perfect, though my Danger was the same; and I was as happy in not knowing my Danger,
as if I had never really been expos'd to it: This furnish'd my Thoughts with many
very profitable Reflections, and particularly this one, How infinitely Good that
Providence is, which has provided in its Government of Mankind, such narrow bounds to his Sight and Knowledge of Things, and though
he walks in the midst of so many thousand Dangers, the Sight
of which, if discover'd to him, would distract his Mind, and sink his Spirits; he is
kept serene, and calm, by having the Events of Things hid from his Eyes, and knowing
nothing the Dangers which surround him.
After these Thoughts had for some Time entertain'd me, I
came to reflect seriously upon the real Danger I had been in, for so many Years, in
this very Island; and how I had walk'd about in the greatest Security, and with all
possible Tranquillity; viz. That of falling into the Hands of Cannibals, and Savages, who would
have seiz'd on me with the same View, as I did of a Goat, or a Turtle; and have
thought it no more a Crime to kill and devour me, than I did of a Pidgeon, or a Curlieu
When these Thoughts were over, my Head was for some time taken up in considering the Nature of these wretched Creatures; I mean, the Savages; and how it came to pass in the World, that the wise Governour of all Things should give up any of his Creatures to such Inhumanity; nay, to something so much below, even Brutality it self, as to devour its own kind; but as this ended in some (at that Time fruitless) Speculations, it occurr'd to me to enquire, what Part of the World these Wretches liv'd in; how far off the Coast was from whence they came; what they ventur'd over so far from home for; what kind of Boats they had; and why I might not order my self, and my Business so, that I might be as able to go over thither, as they were to come to me.
I never so much as troubl'd my self, to consider what I should do with my self, when
I came thither; what would become of me, if I fell into the
Hands of the Savages; or how I should escape from them, if they attempted me; no, nor
so much as how it was possible for me to reach the Coast, and Africk,
till I came to some inhabited Country, and where I might
find some Relief; and after all perhaps, I might fall in
with some Christian Ship, that might take me in; and if the worse came to the worst,
I could but die, which would put an end to all these Miseries at once. Pray note, all
this was the fruit of a disturb'd Mind, an impatient Temper,
made as it were desperate by the long Continuance of my Troubles, and the
Disappointments I had met in the Wreck, I had been on board of; and where I had been
so near the obtaining what I so earnestly long'd for, viz. Some-body to
speak to, and to learn some Knowledge from of the Place where I was, and of the
probable Means of my Deliverance; I say, I was agitated wholly by these Thoughts: All
my Calm of Mind in my Resignation to Providence, and waiting
the Issue of the Dispositions of Heaven, seem'd to be suspended; and I had, as it
were, no Power to turn my Thoughts to any thing, but to the Project of a Voyage to
the Main, which came upon me with such Force, and such an Impetuosity of Desire, that it was not to be resisted.
Canoes, and eleven Savages coming to Land, and
that they brought with them another Savage, who they were going to kill, in Order to
eat him; when on a sudden, the Savage that they were going
to kill, jumpt away, and ran for his Life; and I thought in my Sleep, that he came
running into my little thick Grove, before my Fortification, to hide himself; and
that I seeing him alone, and not perceiving that the other
sought him that Way, show'd my self to him, and smiling upon him, encourag'd him;
that he kneel'd down to me, seeming to pray me to assist him; upon which I shew'd my
Ladder, made him go up, and carry'd him into my Cave, and he became my Servant; and that as soon as I had gotten this Man, I said to my self, now I may certainly venture to the main Land; for this Fellow will serve
me as a Pilot, and will tell me what to do, and whether to go for Provisions; and
whether not to go for fear of being devoured, what Places to venture into, and what to escape: I wak'd with this
Thought, and was under such inexpressible Impressions of
Joy, at the Prospect of my Escape in my Dream, that the Disappointments which I felt
upon coming to my self, and finding it was no more than a Dream, were equally
extravagant the
Upon this however, I made this Conclusion, that my only Way to go about an Attempt
for an Escape, was, if possible, to get a Savage into my Possession; and if possible,
it should be one of their Prisoners, who they had condemn'd to be eaten, and should
bring thither to kill; but these Thoughts still were attended with this Difficulty,
that it was impossible to effect this, without attacking a
whole Caravan of them, and killing them all; and this was not only a very desperate
Attempt, and might miscarry; but on the other Hand, I had
greaty scrupled the Lawfulness of it to me; and my Heart trembled at the thoughts of
shedding so much Blood, tho' it was for my Deliverance. I
need not repeat the Arguments which occurr'd to me against this, they being the same
mention'd before; but tho' I had other Reasons to offer now (viz.) that
those Men were Enemies to my Life, and would devour me, if they could; that it was
Self-preservation in the highest Degree, to deliver my self from this Death of a
Life, and was acting in my own Defence, as much as if they were actually assaulting
me, and the like. I say, tho' these Things argued for it, yet the Thoughts of
shedding Humane Blood for my Deliverance, were very Terrible to me, and such as I
could by no Means reconcile my self to, a great while.
However at last, after many secret Disputes with my self, and after great
Perplexities about it, for all these Arguments one Way and another struggl'd in my
Head a long Time, the eager prevailing Desire of Deliverance at length master'd all
the rest; and I resolv'd, if possible, to get one of those Savages into my Hands,
cost what it
With these Resolutions in my Thoughts, I set my self upon the Scout, as often as
possible, and indeed so often till I was heartily tir'd of
it, for it was above a Year and Half that I waited, and for great part of that Time
went out to the West End, and to the South West Corner of the
Island, almost every Day, to see for Canoes, but none appear'd. This was very
discouraging, and began to trouble me much, tho' I cannot
say that it did in this Case, as it had done some time before that, (viz.)
wear off the Edge of my Desire to the Thing. But the longer it seem'd to be delay'd,
the more eager I was for it; in a Word, I was not at first so careful to shun the sight of these Savages, and avoid being seen
by them, as I was now eager to be upon them.
Besides, I fancied my self able to manage One, nay, Two or Three Savages, if I had them so as to make them entirely Slaves to me, to do whatever I should direct them, and to prevent their being able at any time to do me any Hurt. It was a great while, that I pleas'd my self with this Affair, but nothing still presented; all my Fancies and Schemes came to nothing, for no Savages came near me for a great while.
About a Year and half after I had entertain'd these Notions, and by long musing, had
as it were resolved them all into nothing, for want of an Occasion to put them in Execution, I was surpriz'd Canoes all on Shore together on my side the Island; and the People who
belong'd to them all landed, and out of my sight: The Number of them broke all my
Measures, for seeing so many, and knowing that they always came four or six, or
sometimes more in a Boat, I could not tell what to think of it, or how to take my
Measures, to attack Twenty or Thirty Men single handed; so I
lay still in my Castle, perplex'd and discomforted: However I put my self into all
the same Postures for an Attack that I had formerly
provided, and was just ready for Action, if any Thing had presented; having waited a good while, listening to hear if they made any
Noise; at length being very impatient, I set my Guns at the Foot of my Ladder, and
clamber'd up to the Top of the Hill, by my two Stages as usual; standing so however
that my Head did not appear above the Hill, so that they could not perceive me by any
Means; here I observ'd by the help of my Perspective Glass, that they were no less
than Thirty in Number, that they had a Fire kindled, that they had had Meat dress'd.
How they had cook'd it, that I knew not, or what it was; but they were all Dancing in
I know not how many barbarous Gestures and Figures, their own Way, round the
Fire.
While I was thus looking on them, I perceived by my Perspective, two miserable
Wretches dragg'd from the Boats, where it seems they were laid by, and were now
brought out for the Slaughter. I perceived one of them immediately fell, being
knock'd down, I suppose with a Club or Wooden Sword, for that was their way, and two
or three others were at work immediately cutting him open for their Cookery, while
the other Victim was left standing by himself, till they should be ready for
I was dreadfully frighted, (that I must acknowledge) when I
perceived him to run my Way; and especially, when as I thought I saw him pursued by
the whole Body, and now I expected that part of my Dream was coming to pass, and that
he would certainly take shelter in my Grove; but I could not depend by any means upon
my Dream for the rest of it, (viz.) that the other Savages would not pursue
him thither, and find him there. However I kept my Station, and my Spirits began to
recover, when I found that there was not above three Men that follow'd him, and still
more was I encourag'd, when I found that he outstrip'd them exceedingly in running,
and gain'd Ground of them, so that if he could but hold it for half an Hour, I saw
easily he would fairly get away from them all.
There was between them and my Castle, the Creek which I mention'd often at the first
part of my Story, when I landed my Cargoes out of the Ship; and this I saw plainly,
he must necessarily swim over, or the poor Wretch would be taken there: But when the
Savage escaping came thither, he made nothing of it, tho'
the Tide was then up, but plunging in, swam thro' in about Thirty Strokes or
thereabouts, landed and ran on with exceeding Strength and Swiftness; when the Three
Persons came to the Creek, I found that Two of them could Swim, but the Third cou'd
not, and that standing on the other Side, he look'd at the other, but went no
further; and soon after went
I observ'd, that the two who swam, were yet more than twice as long swimming over the
Creek, as the Fellow was, that fled from them: It came now very warmly upon my
Thoughts, and indeed irresistibly, that now was my Time to get me a Servant, and
perhaps a Companion, or Assistant; and that I was call'd plainly by Providence to
save this poor Creature's Life; I immediately run down the Ladders with all possible
Expedition, fetches my two Guns, for they were both but at the Foot of the Ladders,
as I observ'd above; and getting up again, with the same haste, to the Top of the
Hill, I cross'd toward the Sea; and having a very short Cut, and all down Hill, clapp'd
my own excepted, for above Twenty Five Years.
But there was no time for such Reflections now, the Savage
who was knock'd down recover'd himself so far, as to sit up upon the Ground, and I
perceived that my Savage began to be afraid; but when I saw that, I presented my other for so I call him now,
made a Motion to me to lend him my Sword, which hung naked in a Belt by my side; so I
did, he no sooner had it, but he runs to his Enemy, and at
one blow cut off his Head as cleaverly, no Executioner in Germany, could
have done it sooner or better; which I thought very strange, for one who I had Reason
to believe never saw a Sword in his Life before, except
their own Wooden Swords; however it seems, as I learn'd afterwards, they make their
Wooden Swords so sharp, so heavy, and the Wood is so hard, that they will cut off
Heads even with them, ay and Arms, and that at one blow too; when he had done this,
he comes laughing to me in Sign of Triumph, and brought me the Sword again, and with
abundance of Gestures which I did not understand, laid it down with the Head of the
Savage, that he had kill'd just before me.
But that which astonish'd him most, was to know how I had kill'd the other Indian so far off, so pointing to him, he made Signs to me to let him go to him, so I bad him go, as well as I could, when he came to him, he stood like one amaz'd, looking at him, turn'd him first on one side, then on t'other, look'd at the Wound the Bullet had made, which it seems was just in his Breast, where it had made a Hole, and no great Quantity of Blood had follow'd, but he had bled inwardly, for he was quite dead; He took up his Bow, and Arrows, and came back, so I turn'd to go away, and beckon'd to him to follow me, making Signs to him, that more might come after them.
Upon this he sign'd to me, that he should bury them with Sand, that they might not be
seen by the rest if they follow'd; and so I made Signs again to him to do so; he fell
to Work, and in an instant he viz. That he came into my Grove for shelter.
Here I gave him Bread, and a Bunch of Raisins to eat, and a Draught of Water, which I found he was indeed in great Distress for, by his Running; and having refresh'd him, I made Signs for him to go lie down and sleep; pointing to a Place where I had laid a great Parcel of Rice Straw, and a Blanket upon it, which I used to sleep upon my self sometimes; so the poor Creature laid down, and went to sleep.
He was a comely handsome Fellow, perfectly well made; with straight strong Limbs, not
too large; tall and well shap'd, and as I reckon, about twenty six Years of Age. He
had a very good Countenance, not a fierce and surly Aspect; but seem'd to have
something very manly in his Face, and yet he had all the Sweetness and Softness of an
European in his Countenance too, especially when he smil'd. His Hair was
long and black, not curl'd like Wool; his Forehead very high, and large, and a great
Vivacity and sparkling Sharpness in his Eyes. The Colour of his Skin was not quite
black, but very tawny; and yet not of an ugly yellow nauseous tawny, as the
Brasilians, and Virginians, and other Natives of America are; but of a bright kind of a dun olive Colour, that had in it something very agreeable; tho' not very
easy to describe. His Face was round, and plump; his Nose small, not flat like the
Negroes, a very good Mouth, thin Lips, and his Friday, which was the Day I sav'd his Life; I call'd him so for the
Memory of the Time; I likewise taught him to say Master, and then let him
know, that was to be my Name; I likewise taught him to say, YES, and NO, and to know
the Meaning of them; I gave him some Milk, in an earthen Pot, and let him see me
Drink it before him, and sop my Bread in it; and I gave him a Cake of Bread, to do
the like, which he quickly comply'd with, and made Signs that it was very good for
him.
I kept there with him all that Night; but as soon as it was Day, I beckon'd to him to
come with me, and let him know, I would give him some Cloaths, at which he seem'd
very glad, for he was stark naked: As we went by the Place where he had bury'd the
two Men, he pointed exactly to the Place, and shew'd me the Marks that he had made to
find them again, making Signs to me, Canoes; so that it was
plain they were gone, and had left their two Comrades behind them, without any search
after them.
But I was not content with this Discovery; but having now more Courage, and
consequently more Curiosity, I takes my Man Friday
Friday made nothing of it: The Place was cover'd with humane
Bones, the Ground dy'd with their Blood, great Pieces of Flesh left here and there,
half eaten, mangl'd and scorch'd; and in short, all the Tokens of the triumphant
Feast they had been making there, after a Victory over their Enemies: I saw three
Skulls, five Hands, and the Bones of three or four Legs and Feet, and abundance of
other Parts of the Bodies; and Friday, by his Signs, made me understand,
that they brought over four Prisoners to feast upon; that three of them were eaten
up,
I caus'd Friday to gather all the Skulls, Bones, Flesh, and whatever
remain'd, and lay them togethere on a Heap, and make a great
Fire upon it, and burn them all to Ashes: I found Friday had still a
hankering Stomach after some of the Flesh, and was still a Cannibal in his Nature;
but I discover'd
When we had done this, we came back to our Castle, and there I fell to work for my
Man Friday; and first of all, I gave him a pair of Linnen Drawers, which I had out of the poor Gunner's Chest I mention'd,
and which I found in the Wreck; and which with a little Alteration fitted him very
well; then I made him a Jerkin of Goat's-skin, as well as my Skill would allow; and I
was now grown a tollerable good Taylor; and I gave him a Cap, which I had made of a
Hare-skin, very convenient, and fashionable enough; and thus he was cloath'd for the
present, tollerably well; and was mighty well pleas'd to see himself almost as well
cloath'd as his Master: It is true, he went awkardly in these Things at first;
wearing the Drawers was very awkard to him, and the Sleeves of the Wast-coat gall'd
his Shoulders, and the inside of his Arms; but a little easing them where he
complain'd
The next Day after I came home to my Hutch with him, I began to consider where I
should lodge him, and that I might do well for him, and yet be perfectly easy my
self; I made a little Tent for him in the vacant Place between my two Fortifications,
in the inside of the last, and in the outside of the first; and as there was a Door,
or Entrance there into my Cave, I made a formal fram'd Door Case, and a Door to it of
Boards, and set it up in the Passage, a little within the Entrance; and causing the
Door to open on the inside, I barr'd it up in the Night, taking in my Ladders too; so
that Friday could no way come at me in the inside of my innermost Wall,
without making so much Noise in getting over, that it must needs waken me; for my
first Wall had now a compleat Roof over it of long Poles, covering all my Tent, and
leaning up to the side of the Hill, which was again laid cross with smaller Sticks
instead of Laths
But I needed none of all this Precaution; for never Man had
a more faithful, loving, sincere Servant, than
Friday was to me; without Passions, Sullenness or Designs, perfectly
oblig'd and engag'd; his very Affections were ty'd to me,
like those of a Child to a Father; and I dare say, he would have sacrific'd his Life
for the saving mine, upon any occasion whatsoever; the many Testimonies
This frequently gave me occasion to observe, and that with wonder, that however it had pleas'd God, in his Providence, and in the Government of the Works of his Hands, to take from so great a Part of the World of his Creatures, the best uses to which their Faculties, and the Powers of their Souls are adapted; yet that he has bestow'd upon them the same Powers, the same Reason, the same Affections, the same Sentiments of Kindness and Obligation, the same Passions and Resentments of Wrongs; the same Sense of Gratitude, Sincerity, Fidelity, and all the Capacities of doing Good, and receiving Good, that he has given to us; and that when he pleases to offer to them Occasions of exerting these, they are as ready, nay, more ready to apply them to the right Uses for which they were bestow'd, than we are; and this made me very melancholly sometimes, in reflecting as the several Occasions presented, how mean a Use we make of all these, even though we have these Powers enlighten'd by the great Lamp of Instruction, the Spirit of God, and by the Knowledge of his Word, added to our Understanding; and why it has pleas'd God to hide the like saving Knowledge from so many Millions of Souls, who if I might judge by this poor Savage, would make a much better use of it than we did.
From hence, I sometimes was led too far to invade the Soveraignty of
Providence, and as it were arraign the Justice of so arbitrary a
Disposition of Things, that should hide that Light from some, and reveal it to
others, and yet expect a like Duty from both: But I shut it up, and check'd my
Thoughts with this Conclusion, (1st.) That we
But to return to my New Companion; I was greatly delighted with him, and made it my Business to teach him every Thing, that was proper to make him useful, handy, and helpful; but especially to make him speak, and understand me when I spake, and he was the aptest Schollar that ever was, and particularly was so merry, so constantly diligent, and so pleased, when he cou'd but understand me, or make me understand him, that it was very pleasant to me to talk to him; and now my Life began to be so easy, that I began to say to my self, that could I but have been safe from more Savages, I cared not, if I was never to remove from the place while I lived.
[Audio File]After I had been two or three Days return'd to my Castle, I thought that, in order to
bring Friday off from his horrid way of feeding, and from the Relish of a
Cannibal's Stomach, I ought to let him taste other Flesh; so I took him out with me
one Morning to the Woods: I went indeed intending to kill a Kid out of my own Flock,
and bring him home and dress it. But as I was going, I saw a She Goat lying down in
the Shade, and two young Kids sitting by her, I catch'd hold of Friday, hold says I, stand still; and made Signs to him
I soon found a way to convince him that I would do him no harm, and taking him up by
the Hand laugh'd at him, and pointed to the Kid which I had kill'd, beckoned to him
to run and fetch it, which he did; and while he was wondering and looking to see how
the Creature was kill'd, I loaded my Gun again, and by and
by I saw a great Fowl like a Hawk sit upon a Tree within Shot; so to let
Friday understand a little what I would do, I call'd him to me again,
pointed at the Fowl which was indeed a Parrot, tho' I thought it had been a Hawk, I
say pointing to the Parrot, and to my Gun, and to the Ground under the Parrot, to let
him see I would make it fall, I made him understand that I would shoot and kill that
Bird; according I fir'd and bad him look, and immediately he saw the Parrot fall, he
stood like one frighted again, notwithstanding all I had
said to him; and I found he was the more amaz'd, because he did not see me put any
Thing into the Gun; but thought that there must be some wonderful Fund of Death and
Destruction in that Thing, able to kill Man, Beast,
Well, after his Astonishment was a little over at this, I pointed to him to run and
fetch the Bird I had shot, which he did, but stay'd some Time; for the Parrot not
being quite dead, was flutter'd away a good way off from the Place where she fell;
however, he found her, took her up, and brought her to me; and as I had perceiv'd his
Ignorance about the Gun before, I took this Advantage to
charge the Gun again, and not let him see me do it, that I might be ready for any
other Mark that might present; but nothing more offer'd at that Time; so I brought
home the Kid, and the same Evening I took the Skin off, and cut it out as well as I
could; and having a Pot for that purpose, I boil'd, or stew'd some of the Flesh, and
made some very good Broth; and after I had begun to eat some, I gave some to my Man,
who seem'd very glad of it, and lik'd it very well; but that
which was strangest to him, was, to see me eat Salt with it; he made a Sign to me,
that the Salt was not good to eat, and putting a little into his own Mouth, he seem'd
to nauseate it, and would spit and sputter at it, washing his Mouth with fresh Water
after it; on the other hand, I took some Meat in my Mouth without Salt, and I
pretended to spit and sputter for want of Salt, as fast as he had done at the Salt;
but it would not do, he
Having thus fed him with boil'd Meat and Broth, I was resolv'd to feast him the next
Day with roasting a Piece of the Kid; this I did by hanging it before the Fire, in a
String, as I had seen many People do in England, setting two Poles up, one
on each side the Fire, and one cross on the Top, and tying the String to the
Cross-stick, letting the Meat turn continually: This Friday admir'd very much; but when he came to taste the Flesh, he took so
many ways to tell me how well he lik'd it, that I could not but understand him; and
at last he told me he would never eat Man's Flesh any more, which I was very glad to
hear.
The next Day I set him to work to beating some Corn out, and sifting it in the manner
I us'd to do, as I observ'd before, and he soon understood how to do it as well as I,
especially after he had seen what the Meaning of it was, and that it was to make
Bread of; for after that I let him see me make my Bread, and bake it too, and in a
little Time Friday was able to do all the Work for me, as well as I could do
it my self.
I begun now to consider, that having two Mouths to feed, instead of one, I must
provide more Ground for my Harvest, and plant a larger Quantity of Corn, than I us'd
to do; so I mark'd out a larger Piece of Land, and began the Fence in the same Manner
as before, in which Friday not only work'd very willingly, and very hard;
but did it very chearfully, and I told him what it was for; that it was for Corn to
make more Bread, because he was now with me, and that I might have enough for him,
and my self too: He appear'd very sensible of that Part, and let me know, that he
thought I had
This was the pleasantest Year of all the Life I led in this Place; Friday
began to talk pretty well, and understand the Names of almost every Thing I had
occasion to call for, and of every Place I had to send him to, and talk'd a great
deal to me; so that in short I began now to have some Use for my Tongue again, which
indeed I had very little occasion for before; that is to say, about Speech;
besides the Pleasure of talking to him, I had a singular Satisfaction in the Fellow himself; his simple unfeign'd Honesty,
appear'd to me more and more every Day, and I began really to love the Creature; and
on his Side, I believe he lov'd me more than it was possible for him ever to love any
Thing before.
I had a Mind once to try if he had any hankering Inclination to his own Country
again, and having learn'd him English so well that he could answer me almost
any Questions, I ask'd him whether the Nation that he
belong'd to never conquer'd in Battle, at which he smil'd; and said; yes, yes, we
always fight the better; that is, he meant always get the better in Fight; and so we
began the following Discourse: You always fight the better said I, How came you to be
taken Prisoner then, Friday?
Friday, My Nation beat much, for all that.
Master, How beat; if your Nation beat them, how come you to be taken?
Friday, They more many than my Nation in the Place where me was; they take
one, two, three, and me; my Nation over beat them in the yonder Place, where me no
was; there my Nation take one, two, great Thousand.
Master, But why did not your Side recover you from the Hands of your Enemies
then?
Friday, They run one, two, three, and me, and make go in the Canoe;
my Nation have no Canoe that time.
Master, Well, Friday, and What does your Nation do with the Men they take, do they carry them away, and eat them, as these
did?
Friday, Yes, my Nation eat Man's too, eat all up.
Master, Where do they carry them?
Friday, Go to other Place where they think.
Master, Do they come hither?
Friday, Yes, yes, they come hither; come other else Place.
Master, Have you been here with them?
Friday, Yes, I been here; [points to the N. W. Side of the
Island] which it seems was their Side.
By this I understood, that my Man Friday had formerly been among the
Savages, who us'd to come on Shore on the farther Part of the Island, on the same Man eating Occasions that he was now
brought for; and sometime after, when I took the Courage to carry him to that Side,
being the same I formerly mention'd, he presently knew
the Place, and told me, he was there once when they eat up twenty Men, two Women, and
one Child; he could not tell Twenty in English; but he numbred them by
laying so many Stones on a Row, and pointing to me to tell them over.
I have told this Passage, because it introduces what follows; that after I had had
this Discourse with him, I ask'd him how far it was from our Island to the Shore, and whether the Canoes were not often lost; he told
me, there was no Danger, no Canoes ever lost; but that after a little way
out to the Sea, there was a Current, and Wind, always one way in the Morning, the
other in the Afternoon.
Oroonooko; in the Mouth, or the Gulph of which River, as I found afterwards, our Island lay; and this Land
which I perceiv'd to the W. and N. W. was the great Island
Trinidad, on the North Point of the Mouth of the River: I ask'd
Friday a thousand Questions about the Country, the Inhabitants, the Sea,
the Coast, and what Nation were near; he told me all he knew with the greatest
Openness imaginable; I ask'd him the Names of the several
Nations of his Sort of People; but could get no other Name
than Caribs; from whence I easily understood, that
these were the Caribbees, which our Maps place on the Part of
America, which reaches from the Mouth of the River Oroonooko to
Guiana, and onwards to St. Martha: He told me that up a great
way beyond the Moon, that was, beyond the Setting of the Moon, which must be
W. from their Country, there dwelt white bearded Men, like me; and
pointed to my great Whiskers, which I mention'd before; and that they had kill'd
much Mans, that was his Word; by all which I understood, he meant the
Spaniards, whose Cruelties in America had been spread over the
whole Countries, and was remember'd by all the Nations from Father to Son.
I enquir'd if he could tell me how I might come from this Island, and get among those
white Men; he told me, yes, yes, I might go in two Canoe; I could not
understand what he meant, or make him describe to me what he meant by two
Canoe, till at last with great Difficulty, I found he meant it must be in a
large great Boat, as big as two Canoes.
Friday's Discourse began
to relish with me very well, and from this Time I entertain'd some Hopes, that one
Time or other, I might find an Opportunity to make my Escape from this Place; and
that this poor Savage might be a Means to help me to do it.
During the long Time that Friday has now been with me, and that he began to
speak to me, and understand me, I was not wanting to lay a Foundation of religious Knowledge in his Mind; particularly I ask'd him one Time who made him? The poor
Creature did not understand me at all, but thought I had ask'd who was his Father;
but I took it by another handle, and ask'd him who made the Sea, the Ground we walk'd
on, and the Hills, and Woods; he told me it was one old Benamuckee, that liv'd beyond all: He could describe nothing of this great
Person, but that he was very old; much older he said than the Sea, or the Land; than
the Moon, or the Stars: I ask'd him then, if this old Person had made all Things, why
did not all Things worship him; he look'd very grave, and with a perfect Look of
Innocence, said, All Things do say O to him: I ask'd him if the People who
die in his Country went away any where; he said, yes, they all went to Benamuckee
From these Things, I began to instruct him in the Knowledge of the true God: I told
him that the great Maker of all Things liv'd up there, pointing up towards Heaven:
That he governs the World by the same Power and Providence by which he had made it:
That he was omnipotent, could do every Thing for us, give every Thing to us, take
every Thing from us; and thus by Degrees I open'd his Eyes.
He listned with great Attention, Jesus
Christ being sent to redeem us, and of the Manner of making our Prayers to
God, and his being able to hear us, even into Heaven; he told me one Day, that if our
God could hear us up beyond the Sun, he must needs be a
greater God than their Benamuckee, who liv'd but a little way off, and yet
could not hear, till they went up to the great Mountains where he dwelt, to speak to
him; I ask'd him if ever he went thither, to speak to him; he said no, they never
went that were young Men; none went thither but the old Men, who he call'd their Oowocakee,
O,
(so he called saying Prayers) and then came back, and told them what
Benamuckee said: By this I observ'd, That there is Priestcraft,
even amongst the most blinded ignorant Pagans in the World;
and the Policy of making a secret Religion, in order to
preserve the Veneration of the People to the Clergy, is not
only to be found in the Roman, but perhaps among
all Religions in the World, even among the most brutish and barbarous Savages.
I endeavour'd to clear up this Fraud, to my Man Friday, and told him, that
the Pretence of their old Men going up the Mountains, to say O to their God
Benamuckee, was a Cheat, and their bringing Word from thence what he
said, was much more so; that if they met with any Answer, or spake with any one
there, it must be with an evil Spirit: And then I entred into a long Discourse with him about the Devil, the Original of him, his
Rebellion against God, his Enmity to Man, the Reason of it, his setting himself up in
the dark Parts of the World to be Worship'd instead of God,
and as God; and the many Stratagems
I found it was not so easie to imprint right Notions in his Mind about the Devil, as it was about the Being of a God. Nature assisted all my Arguments to Evidence to him, even the Necessity of a great first Cause and over-ruling governing Power; a secret directing Providence, and of the Equity, and Justice, of paying Homage to him that made us, and the like. But there appeared nothing of all this in the Notion of an evil Spirit; of his Original, his Being, his Nature, and above all of his Inclination to do Evil, and to draw us in to do so too; and the poor Creature puzzl'd me once in such a manner, by a Question meerly natural and innocent, that I scarce knew what to say to him. I had been talking a great deal to him of the Power of God, his Omnipotence, his dreadful Nature to Sin, his being a consuming Fire to the Workers of Iniquity, how, as he had made us all, he could destroy us and all the World in a Moment; and he listen'd with great Seriousness to me all the while.
After this, I had been telling him how the Devil was God's
Enemy in the Hearts of Men, and used all his Malice and Skill to defeat the good
Designs of Providence, and to ruine the Kingdom of Christ in the World; and the like.
Well, says Friday, but you say, God is so strong, so great, is he not much
strong, much might as the Devil? Yes, yes, says I, Friday, God is stronger
than the Devil, God is above the Devil, and therefore we pray to God to tread him
down under our Feet, But, says he again, if God
much strong, much might as the Devil, why God no kill the Devil, so make him no
more do wicked?
I was strangely surpriz'd at his Question, and after all, tho' I was now an old Man,
yet I was but a young Doctor, and ill enough quallified for a Casuist, or a Solver of
Difficulties: And at first I could not tell what to say, so I pretended not to hear
him, and ask'd him what he said? But he was too earnest for an Answer to forget his
Question; so that he repeated it in the very same broken
Words, as above. By this time I had recovered my self a little, and I said, God
will at last punish him severely; he is reserv'd for the Judgment, and is
to be cast into the Bottomless-Pit, to dwell with everlasting Fire. This did not satisfie Friday, but he returns upon
me, repeating my Words, RESERVE, AT LAST, me no underderstand; but, Why not kill
the Devil now, not kill great ago? You may as well ask me, said I,
Why God does not kill you and I, when we do wicked Things here that offend him? We
are preserv'd to repent and be pardon'd: He muses a while at this; well,
well, says he, mighty affectionately, that well; so you, I, Devil, all
wicked, all preserve, repent, God pardon all.
Here I was run down again by him to the last Degree, and it was a Testimony to me,
how the meer Notions of Nature, though they will guide reasonable Creatures to the Knowledge of a God, and of a Worship or Homage due to the supreme Being, of God as the
Consequence of our Nature; yet nothing but divine Revelation can from the Knowledge
of Jesus Christ, and of a Redemption purchas'd for
us, of a Mediator of the new Covenant, and of an Intercessor, at the Foot-stool of
God's Throne; I say, nothing but a Revelation from Heaven, can form these in Jesus Christ; I mean, the Word of God, and the Spirit of
God promis'd for the Guide and Sanctifier of his People, are the absolutely necessary Instructors of the Souls of Men, in the saving
Knowledge of God, and the Means of Salvation.
I therefore diverted the present Discourse between me and my
Man, rising up hastily, as upon some sudden Occasion of going out; then sending him
for something a good way off, I seriously pray'd to God that he would enable me to
instruct savingly this poor Savage, assisting by his Spirit
the Heart of the poor ignorant Creature, to receive the Light of the Knowledge of God
in Christ, reconciling him to himself, and would
guide me to speak so to him from the Word of God, as his Conscience might be
convinc'd, his Eyes open'd, and his Soul sav'd. When he came again to me, I entred
into a long Discourse with him upon the Subject of the Redemption of Man by the
Saviour of the World, and of the Doctrine of the Gospel preach'd from Heaven,
viz. of Repentance towards God, and Faith in our Blessed Lord
Jesus. I then explain'd to him, as well as I could, why our Blessed
Redeemer took not on him the Nature of Angels, but the Seed of Abraham, and
how for that Reason the fallen Angels had no Share in the Redemption; that he came
only to the lost Sheep of the House of Israel, and the like.
I had, God knows, more Sincerity than Knowledge, in
all the Methods I took for this poor Creature's Instruction, and must acknowledge
what I believe all that act upon the same Principle will find, That in laying Things
open to him, I really inform'd and instructed my self in many Things, that either I
did not know, or had not fully consider'd for ought I knew, the Soul of a poor Savage, and bring him to the true Knowledge of Religion, and
of the Christian Doctrine, that he might know Christ Jesus, to know whom is Life
eternal. I say, when I reflected upon all these
Things, a secret Joy run through every Part of my Soul, and I frequently rejoyc'd
that ever I was brought to this Place, which I had so often thought the most dreadful
of all Afflictions that could possibly have befallen me.
In this thankful Frame I continu'd all the Remainder of my
Time, and the Conversation which employ'd the Hours between Friday and I,
was such, as made the three Years which we liv'd there together perfectly and
compleatly happy, if any such Thing as compleat Happiness can be form'd in a
sublunary State. The Savage was now a good
Christian, a much better than I; though I have reason to
hope, and bless God for it, that we were equally penitent, and comforted restor'd
Penitents; we had here the Word of God to read, and no farther off from his Spirit to
instruct, than if we had been in England.
as I said before, a much better
Scholar in the Scripture Knowledge, than I should ever have been by my own private
meer Reading. Another thing I cannot refrain from observing
here also from Experience, in this retir'd Part of my Life,
viz. How infinite and inexpressible a Blessing
it is, that the Knowledge of God, and of the Doctrine of Salvation by Christ Jesus, is so plainly laid down in the Word of God; so easy
to be receiv'd and understood: That as the bare reading the
Scripture made me capable of understanding enough of my Duty, to carry me directly on
to the great Work of sincere Repentance for my Sins, and laying hold of a Saviour for Life and Salvation, to a stated Reformation in Practice,
and Obedience to all God's Commands, and this without any Teacher or Instructer; I mean, humane; so the same plain
Instruction sufficiently serv'd to the enlightning this
Savage Creature, and bringing him to be such a Christian, as I have known few equal
to him in my Life.
As to all the Disputes, Wranglings, Strife and Contention, which has happen'd in the
World about Religion, whether Niceties in Doctrines, or Schemes of Church Government,
they were all perfectly useless to us; as for ought I can
yet see, they have been to all the rest of the World: We had the sure Guide
to Heaven, viz. The Word of God; and we had, blessed be God,
comfortable Views of the Spirit of God teaching and
instructing us by his Word, leading us into all Truth, and making us both
willing and obedient to the Instruction of his Word; and
I cannot see the least Use that the greatest
After Friday and I became more intimately acquainted, and that he could understand almost all I said to him, and speak
fluently, though in broken English to me; I acquainted him with my own Story, or at least so much of it as related to my coming into
the Place, how I had liv'd there, and how long. I let him into the Mystery, for such
it was to him, of Gunpowder, and Bullet, and taught him how to shoot: I gave him a
Knife, which he was wonderfully delighted with, and I made
him a Belt, with a Frog hanging to it, such as in England we wear Hangers
I describ'd to him the Country of Europe, and particularly England,
which I came from; how we liv'd, how we worshipp'd God, how we behav'd to one
another; and how we traded in Ships to all Parts of the World: I gave him an Account
of the Wreck which I had been on board of, and shew'd him as near as I could, the
Place where she lay; but she was all beaten in Pieces before, and gone.
I shew'd him the Ruins of our Boat, which we lost when we escap'd, and which I could
not stir with my whole Strength then; but was now fallen almost all to Pieces: Upon
seeing this Boat, Friday stood musing a great while, and said nothing; I
ask'd him what it was he study'd upon, at last says he, me see such Boat like
come to Place at my Nation.
I did not understand him a good while; but at last, when I had examin'd farther into
it, I understood European Ship must have been cast away upon
their Coast, and the Boat might get loose, and drive a Shore; but was so dull, that I
never once thought of Men making escape from a Wreck thither, much less whence they
might come; so I only enquir'd after a Description of the
Boat.
Friday describ'd the Boat to me well enough; but brought me better to
understand him, when he added with some Warmth, we save
the white Mans from drown: Then I presently ask'd him, if there was any white Mans, as he call'd them, in the Boat;
yes, he said, the Boat full white Mans: I ask'd him how many; he
told upon his Fingers seventeen: I ask'd him then what become of them; he told me,
they live, they dwell at my Nation.
This put new Thoughts into my Head; for I presently imagin'd, that these might be the
Men belonging to the Ship, that was cast away in Sight of my Island, as I
now call it; and who after the Ship was struck on the Rock, and they saw her inevitably lost, had sav'd themselves in their Boat, and were
landed upon that wild Shore among the Savages.
Upon this, I enquir'd of him more critically, What was become of them? He assur'd me
they lived still there; that they had been there about four
Years; that the Savages let them alone, and gave them Victuals to live. I ask'd him,
How it came to pass they did not kill them and eat them? He said, No, they make
Brother with them; that is, as I understood him, a Truce: And then he added,
They no eat Mans but when make the War fight; that is to
It was after this some considerable Time, that being upon the Top of the Hill, at the
East Side of the Island, from whence as I have said, I had in a clear Day
discover'd the Main, or Continent of America; Friday, the Weather being very
serene, looks very earnestly towards the Main Land, and in a kind of Surprise, falls
a jumping and dancing, and calls out to me, for I was at some Distance from him: I
ask'd him, What was the Matter? O joy! Says he, O glad! There see my
Country, there my Nation!
I observ'd an extraordinary Sense of Pleasure appear'd in
his Face, and his Eyes sparkled, and his Countenance discover'd a strange Eagerness,
as if he had a Mind to be in his own Country again; and this Observation of mine, put
a great many Thoughts into me, which made me at first not so easy about my new Man
Friday as I was before; and I made no doubt, but that if Friday
could get back to his own Nation again, he would not only forget all his Religion,
but all his Obligation to me; and would be forward enough to give his Countrymen an
Account of me, and come back perhaps with a hundred or two
of them, and make a Feast upon me, at which he might be as merry as he us'd to be
with those of his Enemies, when they were taken in War.
But I wrong'd the poor honest Creature very much, for which I was very sorry
afterwards. However as my Jealousy encreased, and held me some Weeks, I was a little
more circumspect, and not so familiar and kind to him as before; in which I was
certainly in the Wrong too, the honest grateful Creature
having no thought about it, but what consisted with the best Principles, both
While my Jealousy of him lasted, you may be sure I was every Day pumping him to see if he would discover any of the new Thoughts, which I suspected were in him; but I found every thing he said was so Honest, and so Innocent, that I could find nothing to nourish my Suspicion; and in spight of all my Uneasiness he made me at last entirely his own again, nor did he in the least perceive that I was Uneasie, and therefore I could not suspect him of Deceit.
One Day walking up the same Hill, but the Weather being haizy at Sea, so that we
could not see the Continent, I call'd to him, and said, Friday, do not you wish your self in your own Country, your own Nation? Yes, he said, he be much O glad to
be at his own Nation. What would you do there said I, would you turn Wild
again, eat Mens Flesh again, and be a Savage as you were before. He lookt full of
Concern, and shaking his Head said, No no, Friday tell them to live
Good, tell them to pray God, tell them to eat Corn-bread,
Cattle-flesh, Milk, no eat Man again: Why then said I to him, They will
kill you. He look'd grave at that, and then said, No, they no kill me,
they willing love learn: He meant by this, they would be willing to learn. He
added, they learn'd much of the Bearded-Mans that come in the Boat. Then I ask'd him
if he would go back to them? He smil'd at that, and told me he could not swim so far.
I told him I would make a Canoe for him. He told me, he would go, if I
would go with him. I go! says I, why they will Eat me if I come there? No,
no, says he, me make they no Eat you; me make they much Love you: He meant
he would tell them how I had kill'd his Enemies, and sav'd his Life, and so he
From this time I confess I had a Mind to venture over, and see if I could possibly
joyn with these Bearded-men, who I made no doubt were Spaniards or
Portuguese; not doubting but if I could we might find some Method to
Escape from thence, being upon the Continent, and a good Company together; better
than I could from an Island 40 Miles off the Shore, and alone without Help. So after
some Days I took Friday to work again, by way of Discourse, and told him I
would give him a Boat to go back to his own Nation; and accordingly I carry'd him to
my Frigate which lay on the other Side of the Island, and having clear'd it of Water, for I always kept it sunk in the Water; I brought it out,
shewed it him, and we both went into it.
I found he was a most dextrous Fellow at managing it, would
make it go almost as swift and fast again as I could; so when he was in, I said to
him, Well now, Friday, shall we go to your Nation?
He look'd very dull at my saying so, which it seems was, because he thought the Boat
too small to go so far. I told him then I had a bigger; so the next Day I went to the
Place where the first Boat lay which I had made, but which I could not get into
Water: He said that was big enough; but then as I had taken no Care of it, and it had
lain two or three and twenty Years there, the Sun had split and dry'd it, that it was
in a manner rotten. Friday told me such a Boat would do very well, and would
carry much enough Vittle, Drink, Bread, that was his Way of Talking.
Why, you angry mad with Friday, what me done? I ask'd
him what he meant; I told him I was not angry with him at all. No angry! No
angry! says he, repeating the Words several Times, Why send Friday
home away to my Nation? Why, (says I) Friday, did you not say
you wish'd you were there? Yes, yes, says he, wish be both there, no
wish Friday there, no Master there. In a Word, he would not think of
going there without me; I go there! Friday, (says I) what shall I do
there? He turn'd very quick upon me at this: You do great deal much
good, says he, you teach wild Mans be good sober tame Mans; you tell them
know God, pray God, and live new Life. Alas! Friday, (says I) thou
knowest not what thou sayest, I am but an ignorant Man my self. Yes, yes,
says he, you teachee me Good, you teachee them Good. No, no, Friday, (says
I) you shall go without me, leave me here to live by my self, as I did
before. He look'd confus'd again at that Word, and running to one of the
Hatchets which he used to wear, he takes it up hastily, comes and gives it me,
What must I do with this? says I to him. You take, kill Friday;
(says he.) What must I kill you for? said I again. He returns very quick,
What you send Friday away for? take, kill Friday, no
send Friday away. This he spoke so
earnestly, that I saw Tears stand in his Eyes: In a Word, I so plainly discover'd the
utmost Affection in him to me, and a firm Resolution in him, that I told him then,
and often after, that I would never send him away from me, if he was willing to stay
with me.
viz.) That there were seventeen bearded Men there; and
therefore, without any more Delay, I went to Work with
Friday to find out a great Tree proper to fell, and make a large Periagua
or Canoe to undertake the Voyage. There were Trees enough in the Island to have built
a little Fleet, not of Periagua's and Canoes, but even of good large Vessels. But the
main Thing I look'd at, was to get one so near the Water that we might launch it when
it was made, to avoid the Mistake I committed at first.
At last, Friday
pitch'd upon
Nicaragua Wood, for
it was much of the same Colour and Smell. Friday was for burning the Hollow
or Cavity of this Tree out to make it for a Boat. But I shew'd him how rather to cut
it out with Tools, which, after I had shew'd him how to use, he did very handily, and
in about a Month's hard Labour, we finished it, and made it very handsome, especially
when with our Axes, which I shew'd him how to handle, we cut and hew'd the out-side
into the true Shape of a Boat; after this, however, it cost us near a Fortnight's
Time to get
When she was in the Water, and tho' she was so big it amazed me to see with what
Dexterity and how swift my Man Friday would manage her, and paddle her
along; so I ask'd him if he would, and if we might venture over in her. Yes,
he said, he venture over in her very well, tho' great blow Wind. However, I
had a farther Design that he knew nothing of, and that was to make a Mast and Sail
and to fit her with an Anchor and Cable: As to a Mast, that was easy enough to get;
so I pitch'd upon a strait young Cedar-Tree, which I found near the Place, and which
there was great Plenty of in the Island, and I set Friday to Work to cut it
down, and gave him Directions how to shape and order it. But as to the Sail, that was
my particular Care; I knew I had old Sails, or rather Pieces
of old Sails enough; but as I had had them now six and twenty Years by me, and had
not been very careful to preserve them, not imagining that I should ever have this
kind of Use for them, I did not doubt but they were all rotten, and indeed most of
them were so; however, I found two Pieces which appear'd pretty good, and with these
I went to Work, and with a great deal of Pains, and awkward tedious stitching (you
may be sure) for Want of Needles, I at length made a three Corner'd ugly Thing, like
what we call in England, a Shoulder of Mutton Sail, to go with a Boom
Barbary, as related in the first
Part of my Story.
viz. rigging and fitting my Mast and Sails; for I finish'd them very
compleat, making a small Stay, and a Sail, or Foresail to it, to assist, if we should
turn to Windward; and which was more than all, I fix'd a Rudder to the Stern of her,
to steer with; and though I was but a bungling Shipwright, yet as I knew the
Usefulness, and even Necessity of such a Thing, I apply'd my self with so much Pains
to do it, that at last I brought it to pass; though considering the many dull
Contrivances I had for it that fail'd, I think it cost me almost as much Labour as
making the Boat.
After all this was done too, I had my Man Friday to
teach as to what belong'd to the Navigation of my Boat; for though he knew very well
how to paddle a Canoe, he knew nothing what belong'd to a Sail, and a
Rudder; and was the most amaz'd, when he saw me work the Boat too and again in the
Sea by the Rudder, and how the Sail gyb'd
I was now entred on the seven and twentieth Year of my Captivity in this Place;
though the three last Years that I had this Creature with me, ought rather to be left
out of the Account, my Habitation
The rainy Season was in the mean Time upon me, when I kept more within Doors than at
other Times; so I had stow'd our new Vessel as secure as we could, bringing her up
into the Creek, where as I said, in the Beginning I landed my Rafts from the Ship,
and haling her up to the Shore, at high Water mark, I made my Man Friday dig
a little Dock, just big enough to hold her, and just deep enough to give her Water enough to fleet
November and December, in which I design'd to make my Adventure.
When the settled Season began to come in, as the thought of my Design return'd with
the fair Weather, I was preparing daily for the Voyage; and the first Thing I did,
was to lay by a certain Quantity of Provisions, being the Stores for our Voyage; and
intended in a Week or a Fortnight's Friday, and bid him go to the Sea Shore, and see
if he could find a Turtle, or Tortoise, a Thing which we generally got once a Week,
for the Sake of the Eggs, as well as the Flesh: Friday had not been long
gone, when he came running back, and flew over my outer Wall, or Fence, like one that
felt not the Ground, or the Steps he set his Feet on; and before I had time to speak
to him, he cries out to me, O Master! O Master! O
Sorrow! O bad! What's the Matter, Friday, says I; O yonder,
there, says he, one, two, three Canoe! one, two, three! By his way
of speaking, I concluded there were six; but on enquiry, I
found it was but three: Well, Friday, says I, do not be frighted; so I
heartned him up as well as I could: However, I saw the poor Fellow was most terribly
scar'd; for nothing ran in his Head but that they were come to look for him, and
would cut him in Pieces, and eat him; and the poor Fellow trembled so, that I scarce
knew what to do with him: I comforted him as well as I could, and told him I was in
as much Danger as he, and that they would eat me as well as him; but, says
I, Friday, we must resolve to fight them; Can you fight, Friday? Me
shoot, says he, but there come many great Number. No matter for
that, said I again, our Guns will fright them that we do not kill; so I ask'd him,
Whether if I resolv'd to defend him, he would defend me, and stand by me, and do just
as I bid him? He said, Me die, when you bid die, Master; so I went and
fetch'd a good Dram of Rum, and gave him; for I had been so good a Husband of my Rum, that I had a great deal left: When he had
drank it, I made him take the two Fowling-Pieces, which we always carry'd, and load
them with large Swan-Shot, as big as small Pistol Friday his Hatchet.
When I had thus prepar'd my self, I took my Perspective-Glass, and went up to the Side of the Hill, to see what I could discover;
and I found quickly, by my Glass, that there were one and twenty Savages, three Prisoners, and three Canoes; and that
their whole Business seem'd to be the triumphant Banquet
upon these three humane Bodies, (a barbarous Feast indeed) but nothing else more than
as I had observ'd was usual with them.
I observ'd also, that they were landed not where they had done, when Friday
made his Escape; but nearer to my Creek, where the Shore was low, and where a thick
Wood came close almost down to the Sea: This, with the Abhorrence of the inhumane
Errand these Wretches came about, fill'd me with such Indignation, that I came down
again to Friday, and told him, I was resolv'd to go down to them, and kill
them all; and ask'd him, If he would stand by me? He was now gotten over his Fright,
and his Spirits being a little rais'd, with the Dram I had given him, he was very
chearful, and told me, as before, he would die, when I bid die.
In this Fit of Fury, I took first and divided the Arms which I had charg'd, as
before, between us; I gave Friday one Pistol to stick in his Girdle, and
three Guns upon his Shoulder; and I took one Pistol, and the
other three my self; and in this Posture we march'd out: I
took a small Bottle of Rum in my Pocket, and gave Friday a large Bag, with
more Powder and Bullet; and as to Orders, I charg'd him to keep close behind me, and
not to stir, or shoot, or do any Thing, till I bid him; and
While I was making this March, my former Thoughts returning, I began to abate my
Resolution; I do not mean, that I entertain'd any Fear of
their Number; for as they were naked, unarm'd Wretches, 'tis certain I was superior
to them; nay, though
Friday might justify it, because
he was a declar'd Enemy, and in a State of War with those very particular People; and
it was lawful for him to attack them; but I could not say the same with respect to
me: These Things were so warmly press'd upon my Thoughts, all the way as I went, that
I resolv'd I would only go and place my self near them, that I might observe their
barbarous Feast, and that I would act then as God should direct; but that unless something offer'd that was
With this Resolution I enter'd the Wood, and with all possible Waryness and Silence,
Friday following close at my Heels, I march'd
till I came to the Skirt
Friday, and
shewing him a great Tree, which was just at the Corner of the Wood, I bad
European, and
had Cloaths on.
There was another Tree, and a little Thicket beyond it, about fifty Yards nearer to
them than the Place where I was, which by going a little way about, I saw I might
come at undiscover'd, and that then I should be within half Shot of them; so I
with-held my Passion, though I was indeed enrag'd to the
highest Degree, and going back about twenty Paces, I got behind some Bushes, which
held all the way, till I came to the other Tree; and then I came to a little rising
Ground, which gave me a
I had now not a Moment to loose; for nineteen of the dreadful Wretches sat upon the
Ground, all close huddled together, and had just sent the other two to butcher the
poor Christian, and bring him perhaps Limb by Limb to their Fire, and they
were stoop'd down to untie the Bands, at his Feet; I turn'd to Friday, now
Friday, said I, do as I bad thee; Friday said he would; then
Friday, says I, do exactly as you see me do, fail in nothing; so I set
down one of the Muskets, and the Fowling-Piece, upon the Ground, and Friday
did the like by his; and with the other Musket, I took my aim at the Savages, bidding
him do the like; then asking him, If he was ready? He said, yes, then fire at them,
said I; and the same Moment I fir'd also.
Friday took his Aim so much better than I, that on the Side that he shot, he
kill'd two of them, and wounded three more; and on my Side, I kill'd one, and wounded
two: They were, you may be sure, in a dreadful Consternation; and all of them, who
were not hurt, jump'd up upon their Feet, but did not immediately know which way to
run, or which way to look; for they knew not from whence their Destruction came:
Friday kept his Eyes close upon me, that as I had bid him, he might
observe what I did; so as soon as the first Shot was made, I threw down the Piece,
and took up the Fowling-Piece, and Friday did the like; he see me cock, and
present
Friday, said
I; yes, says he; let fly then, says I, in the Name of God, and with that I fir'd
again among the amaz'd Wretches, and so did Friday; and as our Pieces were
now loaden with what I call'd Swan-Shot, or small Pistol Bullets,
Now Friday, says I, laying down the discharg'd Pieces, and taking up the
Musket, which was yet loaden; follow me, says I, which he did, with a great deal of
Courage; upon which I rush'd out of the Wood, and shew'd my self, and Friday
close at my Foot; as soon as I perceiv'd they saw me, I shouted as loud as I could,
and bad Friday do so too; and running as fast as I could, which by the
way, was not very fast, being loaden with Arms as I was, I made directly
towards the poor Victim, who was, as I said, lying upon the Beach, or Shore, between
the Place where they sat, and the Sea; the two Butchers who were just going to work
with him, had left him, at the Suprize of our first Fire, and fled in a terrible
Fright, to the Sea Side, and had jump'd into a Canoe, and three more of the
rest made the same way; I turn'd to Friday, and bid him step forwards, and
fire at them; he understood me immediately, and running
about forty Yards, to be near them, he shot at them, and I thought he had kill'd them
all; for I see them all fall of a Heap into the Boat; though I saw two of them up
again quickly: However, he kill'd two of them, and wounded the third; so that he lay
down in the Bottom of the Boat, as if he had been dead.
While my Man Friday fir'd at them, I pull'd out my Knife, and cut the Flags
that bound the poor Victim, and loosing his Hands, and Feets, I lifted him up, and
ask'd him in the Portuguese Tongue, What he was? He answer'd in Latin,
Christianus; but was so weak, and faint, that he could scarce Espagniole; and being a little recover'd,
let me know by all the Signs he could possibly make, how much he was in my Debt for
his Deliverance; Seignior, said I, with as much Spanish as I could
make up, we will talk afterwards; but we must fight now; if you have any Strength
left, take this Pistol, and Sword, and lay about you; he took them very thankfully,
and no sooner had he the Arms in his Hands, but as if they had put new Vigour into
him, he flew upon his Murtherers, like a Fury, and had cut two of them in Pieces, in
an instant; for the Truth is, as the whole was a Surprize to them; so the poor
Creatures were so much frighted with the Noise of our Pieces, that they fell down for
meer Amazement, and Fear; and had no more Power to attempt their own Escape, than their Flesh had to resist our
Shot; and that was the Case of those Five that Friday shot at in the Boat;
for as three of them fell with the Hurt they receiv'd; so the other two fell with the Fright.
I kept my Piece in my Hand still, without firing, being willing to keep my Charge
ready; because I had given the Spaniard my Pistol, and Sword; so I call'd to
Friday, and bad him run up to the Tree, from whence we first fir'd, and
fetch the Arms which lay there, that had been discharg'd, which he did with great
Swiftness; and then giving him my Musket, I sat down my self to load all the rest
again, and bad them come to me when they wanted: While I was
loading these Pieces, there happen'd a fierce Engagement
between the Spaniard, and one of the Savages, who made at him with one of
Spaniard, who was as bold, and as brave as could be imagin'd, though
weak, had fought this Indian a good while, and had cut him two great Wounds
on his Head; but the Savage being a stout lusty Fellow, closing in with him, had
thrown him down (being faint) and was wringing my Sword out of his Hand, when the
Spaniard, tho' undermost wisely quitting the Sword, drew the Pistol from
his Girdle, shot the Savage through the Body, and kill'd him upon the Spot; before I,
who was running to help him, could come near him.
Friday being now left to his Liberty, pursu'd the flying Wretches with no
Weapon in his Hand, but his Hatchet; and with that he dispatch'd those three, who, as
I said before, were wounded at first and fallen, and all the rest he could come up
with, and the Spaniard coming to me for a Gun, I gave him one of the
Fowling-Pieces, with which he pursu'd two of the Savages, and wounded them both; but
as he was not able to run, they both got from him into the Wood, where
Friday pursu'd them, and kill'd one of them; but the other was too nimble
for him, and though he was wounded, yet had plunged himself into the Sea, and swam
with all his might off to those two who were left in the Canoe, which three
in the Canoe, with one wounded, who we know not
whether he dy'd or no, were all that escap'd our Hands of one and twenty: The Account
of the Rest is as follows;
Friday in the Boat.Ditto, of those at first wounded.Ditto, in the Wood.Spaniard.
Friday in his Chase of them.
Those that were in the Canoe, work'd hard to get out of Gun-Shot; and though
Friday made two or three Shot at them, I did not find that he hit any of
them: Friday would fain have had me took one of their Canoes, and
pursu'd them; and indeed I was very anxious about their Escape, least carrying the News home to their People, they should come back
perhaps with two or three hundred of their Canoes, and devour us by meer
Multitude; so I consented to pursue them by Sea, and running to one of their
Canoes, I jump'd in, and bad Friday follow me; but when I was in
the Canoe, I was surpriz'd to find another poor Creature lye there alive, bound Hand and Foot, as the Spaniard was, for
the Slaughter, and almost dead with Fear, not knowing what the Matter was; for he had
not been able to look up over the Side of the Boat, he was ty'd so hard, Neck and
Heels, and had been ty'd so long, that he had really but little Life in him.
I immediately cut the twisted Flags, or Rushes, which they had bound him with, and would have helped him up; but he could not stand, or speak, but groan'd most piteously, believing it seems still that he was only unbound in order to be kill'd.
When Friday came to him, I bad him speak to him, and tell him of his
Deliverance, and pulling out my Bottle, made him give the poor Wretch a Friday came to hear him speak, and look in his Face, it would have mov'd
any one to Tears, to have seen how Friday kiss'd him, embrac'd him, hugg'd
him, cry'd, laugh'd, hollow'd, jump'd about, danc'd, sung,
then cry'd again, wrung his Hands, beat his own Face, and Head, and then sung, and
jump'd about again, like a distracted Creature: It was a good while before I could
make him speak to me, or tell me what was the Matter; but
when he came a little to himself, he told me, that it was his Father.
It is not easy for me to express how it mov'd me to see what Extasy and filial
Affection had work'd in this poor Savage, at the Sight of his Father, and of his being deliver'd from Death; nor indeed can
I describe half the Extravagancies of his Affection after this; for he went into the
Boat and out of the Boat a great many times: When he went in to him, he would sit
down by him, open his Breast, and hold his Father's Head close to his Bosom, half an
Hour together, to nourish it; then he took his Arms and
Ankles, which were numb'd and stiff with the Binding, and chaffed and rubbed them
with his Hands; and I perceiving what the Case was, gave him
some Rum out of my Bottle, to rub them with, which did them a great deal of Good.
This Action put an End to our Pursuit of the Canoe, with the other Savages,
who were now gotten almost out of Sight; and it was happy for us that we did not; for
it blew so hard within two Hours after, and before they could be gotten a Quarter of
their Way, and continued blowing so hard all Night, and that from the
North-west, which was against them, that I could not suppose
But to return to Friday, he was so busy about his Father, that I could not
find in my Heart to take him off for some time: But after I thought he could leave
him a little, I call'd him to me, and he came jumping and laughing, and pleas'd to
the highest Extream; then I ask'd him, If he had given his Father any Bread? He shook
his Head, and said, None: Ugly
Dog
As tempting as it is to read this as Friday
insulting the Spaniard, he is actually referring (rather alarmingly) to
himself! eat all up self; so I gave him a Cake of Bread out of a
little Pouch I carry'd on Purpose; I also gave him a Dram for himself, but he would
not taste it, but carry'd it to his Father: I had in my
Pocket also two or three Bunches of my Raisins, so I gave
him a Handful of them for his Father. He had no sooner given his Father these Raisins, but I saw him come out of the Boat, and
run away, as if he had been bewitch'd, he run at such a Rate; for he was the swiftest
Fellow of his Foot that ever I saw; I say, he run at such
a Rate, that he was out of Sight, as it were, in an instant; and though I call'd, and
hollow'd too, after him, it was all one, away he went, and in a Quarter of an Hour, I
saw him come back again, though not so fast as he went; and
as he came nearer, I found his Pace was slacker, because he had something in his
Hand.
When he came up to me, I found he had been quite Home for an Earthen Jugg or Pot to bring his Father some fresh Water, and that he had got two more Cakes, or Loaves of Bread: The Bread he gave me, but the Water he carry'd to his Father: However, as I was very thirsty too, I took a little Sup of it. This Water reviv'd his Father more than all the Rum or Spirits I had given him; for he was just fainting with Thirst.
Spaniard, who was in as much Want of it as his Father; and I sent one of
the Cakes, that Friday brought, to the Spaniard too, who was indeed
very weak, and was reposing himself upon a green Place under the Shade of a Tree; and
whose Limbs were also very stiff, and very much swell'd with the rude Bandage he had
been ty'd with. When I saw that upon Friday's
coming to him with the Water, he sat up and drank, and took the Bread, and began to
eat, I went to him, and gave him a Handful of Raisins; he look'd up in my Face with
all the Tokens of Gratitude and Thankfulness, that could appear in any Countenance;
but was so weak, notwithstanding he had so exerted himsef in
the Fight, that he could not stand up upon his Feet; he try'd to do it two or three
times, but was really not able, his Ankles were so swell'd and so painful to him; so
I bad him sit still, and caused Friday to rub his Ankles, and bathe them
with Rum, as he had done his Father's.
I observ'd the poor affectionate Creature every two Minutes, or perhaps less, all the
while he was here, turn'd his Head about, to see if his Father was in the same Place, and Posture, as he left him sitting; and at last he
found he was not to be seen; at which he started up, and without speaking a Word,
flew with that Swiftness to him, that one could scarce perceive his Feet to touch the
Ground, as he went: But when he came, he only found he had laid himself down to ease
his Limbs; so Friday came back to me presently, and I then spoke to the
Spaniard to let Friday help him up if he could, and lead him to
the Boat, and then he should carry him to our Dwelling, where Friday, a lusty
strong Fellow, took the Sqaniard quite up upon his Back, and carry'd him
away to the Boat, and set him down softly upon the Side or Gunnel of the Canoe, with
his Feet in the inside of it, and then lifted him quite in, and set him close to his
Father, and presently stepping out again, launched the
Boat off, and paddled it along the Shore faster than I could
walk, tho' the Wind blew pretty hard too; so he brought them
both safe into our Creek; and leaving them in the Boat, runs away to fetch the other
Canoe. As he pass'd me, I spoke to him, and ask'd him, whither he went, he told me,
Go fetch more Boat; so away he went like the Wind; for sure never Man or
Horse run like him, and he had the other Canoe in the Creek, almost as soon as I got
to it by Land; so he wafted me over, and then went to help
our new Guests out of the Boat, which he did; but they were neither of them able to
walk; so that poor Friday knew not what to do.
To remedy this, I went to Work in my Thought, and calling to Friday to bid
them sit down on the Bank while he came to me, I soon made a Kind of Hand-Barrow to
lay them on, and Friday and I carry'd them up both together upon it between
us: But when we got them to the outside of our Wall or Fortification, we were at a
worse Loss than before; for it was impossible to get them
over; and I was resolv'd not to break it down: So I set to Work again; and
Friday and I, in about 2 Hours time, made a very handsom Tent, cover'd
with old Sails, and above that with Boughs of Trees, being in the Space without our
outward Fence, and between that and the Grove of young Wood which I had planted: And
here we made them two Beds of such things as I had (viz.) of good
Rice-Straw,
My Island was now peopled, and I thought my self very rich in Subjects; and it was a
merry Reflection which I frequently made, How like a King I
look'd. First of all, the whole Country was my own meer Property; so that I had an
undoubted Right of Dominion. 2dly, My People were perfectly subjected: I was absolute Lord and Lawgiver; they
all owed their Lives to me, and were ready to lay down their Lives, if there had
been Occasion of it, for me. It was remarkable too,
we had but three Subjects, and they were of three different Religions. My Man
Friday was a Protestant, his Father was a Pagan and a
Cannibal, and the Spaniard was a Papist: However, I allow'd
Liberty of Conscience throughout my Dominions: But this is
by the Way.
As soon as I had secur'd my two weak rescued Prisoners, and given them Shelter, and a
Place to rest them upon, I began to think of making some Provision for them: And the
first thing I did, I order'd Friday to take a yearling
Friday to
Work to boiling and stewing, and made them a very good Dish, I assure you, of Flesh
and Broth, having put some Barley and Rice also into the
Broth; and as I cook'd it without
Friday being my
Interpreter, especially to his Father, and indeed to the
Spaniard too; for the Spaniard spoke the Language of the
Savages pretty well.
After we had dined, or rather supped, I order'd Friday to take one of the
Canoes, and go and fetch our Muskets and other Fire-Arms, which for Want of time we
had left upon the Place of Battle, and the next Day I order'd him to go and bury the
dead Bodies of the Savages, which lay open to the Sun, and would presently be
offensive; and I also order'd him to bury the horrid Remains of their barbarous
Feast, which I knew were pretty much
Savages being there; so that when I went again, I could scarce know
where it was, otherwise than by the Corner of the Wood pointing to the Place.
I then began to enter into a little Conversation with my two new Subjects; and first
I set Friday to enquire of his Father, what he thought of the Escape of the
Savages in that Canoe, and whether we might expect a Return of them with
a Power too great for us to resist: His first Opinion was, that the Savages in the
Boat never could live out the Storm which blew that Night they went off, but must of
Necessity be drowned or driven South to those
other Shores where they were as sure to be devoured as they were to be drowned if
they were cast away; but as to what they would do if they came safe on Shore, he said
he knew not; but it was his Opinion that they were so dreadfully frighted with the
Manner of their being attack'd, the Noise and the Fire, that he believed they would
tell their People, they were all kill'd by Thunder and Lightning, not by the Hand of
Man, and that the two which appear'd, (viz.) Friday
and me, were two Heavenly
This however I knew not, and therefore was under continual Apprehensions for a good while, and kept always upon my Guard, me and all my Army; for as we were now four of us, I would have ventur'd upon a hundred of them fairly in the open Field at any Time.
[Audio File]In a little Time, however, no more Canoes appearing, the
Fear of their Coming wore off, and I began to take my former Thoughts of a Voyage to
the Main into Consideration, being likewise assur'd by
Friday's Father, that I might depend upon good Usage from their Nation on
his Account, if I would go.
But my Thoughts were a little suspended, when I had a serious Discourse with the
Spaniard, and when I understood that there were sixteen more of his
Countrymen and Portuguese, which is near that Number, who having been cast
away, and made their Escape to that Side, liv'd there at Peace indeed with the Savages, but were very sore put to it for
Necessaries, and indeed for Life: I ask'd him all the Particulars of their Voyage,
and found they were a Spanish Ship bound from the Rio de la Plata
Havana, being directed to
leave their Loading there, which was chiefly Hides and
Silver, and to bring back what European Goods they could meet with there;
that they had five Portuguese Seamen on Board, who
they took out of another Wreck; that five of their own Men were drowned when the
first Ship was lost, and that these escaped thro' infinite Dangers and Hazards, and
arriv'd almost starv'd on the Cannibal Coast, where
they expected to have been devour'd every Moment.
He told me, they had some Arms with them, but they were perfectly useless, for that they had neither Powder or Ball, the Washing of the Sea having spoil'd all their Powder but a little, which they used at their first Landing to provide themselves some Food.
I ask'd him what he thought would become of them there, and if they had form'd no Design of making any Escape? He said, They had many Consultations about it, but that having neither Vessel, or Tools to build one, or Provisions of any kind, their Councils always ended in Tears and Despair.
I ask'd him how he thought they would receive a Proposal from me, which might tend
towards an Escape? And whether, if they were all here, it
might not be done? I told him with Freedom, I fear'd mostly their Treachery and ill
Usage of me, if I put my Life in their Hands; for that Gratitude was no inherent
Virtue in the Nature of Man; nor did Men always square their Dealings by the Obligations they had receiv'd, so much as they did by the
Advantages they expected. I told him it would be very hard, that I should be the
Instrument of their Deliverance, and that they should afterwards make me their Prisoner in New
Spain,
English Man was certain to be made a Sacrifice, Savages, and be devour'd
alive, than fall into the merciless Claws of the Priests, and be carry'd into the
Inquisition. I added, That otherwise I was
perswaded, if they were all here, we might, with so many Hands, build a Bark large
enough to carry us all away, either to the Brasils South-ward, or to the
Islands
Spanish Coast North-ward: But that if in
Requital they should, when I had put Weapons into their Hands, carry me by Force
among their own People, I might be ill used for my Kindness to them, and make my Case
worse than it was before.
He answer'd with a great deal of Candor and Ingenuity, That their Condition was so miserable, and they were so sensible of it, that he believed they would abhor the Thought of using any Man unkindly that should contribute to their Deliverance; and that, if I pleased, he would go to them with the old Man, and discourse with them about it, and return again, and bring me their Answer: That he would make Conditions with them upon their solemn Oath, That they should be absolutely under my Leading, as their Commander and Captain; and that they should swear upon the Holy Sacraments and the Gospel, to be true to me, and to go to such Christian Country, as that I should agree to, and no other; and to be directed wholly and absolutely to my Orders, 'till they were landed safely in such Country, as I intended; and that he would bring a Contract from them under their Hands for that Purpose.
Then he told me, he would first swear to me himself, That he would never stir from me
as long as he liv'd, 'till I gave him Orders; and that he would take my Side to the
last Drop of his Blood,
He told me, they were all of them very civil honest Men, and they were under the
greatest Distress imaginable, having neither Weapons or
Cloaths, nor any Food, but at the Mercy and Discretion of the Savages; out
of all Hopes of ever returning to their own Country; and that he was sure, if I would
undertake their Relief, they would live and die by me.
Upon these Assurances, I resolv'd to venture to relieve them, if possible, and to
send the old Savage and this Spaniard over to them to treat: But
when we had gotten all things in a Readiness to go, the Spaniard himself
started an Objection, which had so much Prudence in it on one hand, and so much
Sincerity on the other hand, that I could not but be very well satisfy'd in it; and
by his Advice, put off the Deliverance of his Comerades, for at least half a Year.
The Case was thus:
He had been with us now about a Month; during which time, I
had let him see in what Manner I had provided, with the
Assistance of Providence, for my Support; and he saw
evidently what Stock of Corn and Rice I had laid up; which as it was more than
sufficient for my self, so it was not sufficient, at least without good Husbandry,
for my Family; now it was encreas'd to Number four: But much
less would it be sufficient, if his Country-men, who were, as he said, fourteen still
alive, should come over. And least of all should it be sufficient to victual our
Vessel, if we should build one, for a Voyage to any of the Christian Colonies of America. So he told me, he
thought it would be more advisable, to let him and the two other, dig and cultivate
some more Land, as much as I could spare Seed to sow; and that we Israel, though
they rejoyc'd at first for their being deliver'd out of Egypt, yet rebell'd
even against God himself that deliver'd them, when they came to want Bread in the Wilderness.
His Caution was so seasonable, and his Advice so good, that I could not but be very well pleased with his Proposal, as well as I was satisfy'd with his Fidelity. So we fell to digging all four of us, as well as the Wooden Tools we were furnish'd with permitted; and in about a Month's time, by the End of which it was Seed time, we had gotten as much Land cur'd and trim'd up, as we sowed 22 Bushels of Barley on, and 16 Jarrs of Rice, which was in short all the Seed we had to spare; nor indeed did we leave our selves Barley sufficient for our own Food, for the six Months that we had to expect our Crop, that is to say, reckoning from the time we set our Seed aside for sowing; for it is not to be supposed it is six Months in the Ground in the Country.
Having now Society enough, and our Number being sufficient to put us out of Fear of
the Savages, if they had come, unless their Number
had been very great, we went freely all over the Island, where-ever we found
Occasion; and as here we had our Escape or Deliverance upon our Thoughts, it was
impossible, at least for me, to have the Means of it out of mine; to this
Purpose, I mark'd out several Trees which I thought fit for our Work, and I set
Friday and his Father to cutting them down; and
then I caused the Spaniard,
At the same time I contriv'd to encrease my little Flock of
tame Goats as much as I could; and to this Purpose, I made Friday and the
Spaniard go out one Day, and my self with Friday the next Day;
for we took our Turns: And by this Means we got above 20 young Kids to breed up with
the rest; for when-ever we shot the Dam, we saved the Kids, and added them to our
Flock: But above all, the Season for curing the Grapes coming on, I caused such a prodigious Quantity to be hung up in
the Sun, that I believe, had we been at Alicant,
It was now Harvest, and our Crop in good Order; it was not
the most plentiful Encrease I had seen in the Island, but however it was enough to
answer our End; for from our 22 Bushels of Barley, we
brought in and thrashed out above 220 Bushels; and the like in Proportion of the
Rice, which was Store enough for our Food to the next Harvest, tho' all the 16
Spaniards had been on Shore with me; or if we had been ready for a
Voyage, it would very plentifully have victualled our Ship, to have carry'd us to any
Part of the World, that is to say, of America.
(viz.) great Baskets in which we kept it; and the Spaniard was
very handy and dexterous at this Part, and often blam'd me
that I did not make some things, for Defence, of this Kind of Work; but I saw no Need
of it.
And now having a full Supply of Food for all the Guests I expected, I gave the
Spaniard Leave to go over to the Main, to see what he could do
with those he had left behind him there. I gave him a strict Charge in Writing, Not
to bring any Man with him, who would not first swear in the Presence of himself and
of the old Savage, That he would no way injure, fight with, or attack the
Person he should find in the Island, who was so kind to send for them in order to
their Deliverance; but that they would stand by and defend
him against all such Attempts, and where-ever they went, would be entirely under and
subjected to his Commands; and that this should be put in Writing, and signed with
their Hands: How we were to have this done, when I knew they had neither Pen or Ink; that indeed was a Question which we never
asked.
Under these Instructions, the Spaniard, and the old Savage the
Father of Friday, went away in one of the Canoes, which they might be said
to come in, or rather were brought in, when they came as Prisoners to be devour'd by
the Savages.
I gave each of them a Musket with a Firelock on it, and about eight Charges of Powder
and Ball, charging them to be very good Husbands
Oxford English Dictionary
This was a chearful Work, being the first Measures used by
me in View of my Deliverance for
They went away with a fair Gale on the Day that the Moon was at Full by my Account,
in the Month of October: But as for an exact Reckoning of Days, after I had
once lost it, I could never recover it again; nor had I kept even the Number of Years
so punctually, as to be sure that I was right, tho' as it prov'd, when I afterwards
examin'd my Account, I found I had kept a true Reckoning of
Years.
It was no less than eight Days I had waited for them, when a strange and unforeseen
Accident interveen'd, of which the like has not perhaps been
heard of in History: I was fast asleep in my Hutch one Morning, when my Man
Friday came running in to me, and call'd aloud, Master, Master, they are
come, they are come.
I jump'd up, and regardless of Danger, I went out, as soon as I could get my Cloaths
on, thro' my little Grove, which by the Way was by this time grown to be a very thick
Wood; I say, regardless of Danger, I went without my Arms,
which was not my Custom to do: But I was surpriz'd, when
turning my Eyes to the Sea, I presently saw a Boat at about
a League and half's Distance, standing in for the Shore,
with a Shoulder of Mutton Sail, as they call it; and the Wind blowing pretty fair to bring them in; also I observ'd presently,
that they did not come from that Side which the Shore lay on, but from the Southermost Friday in, and bid him lie close, for these were
not the People we look'd for, and that we might not know yet whether they were
Friends or Enemies.
In the next Place, I went in to fetch my Perspective Glass, to see what I could make of them; and having taken the Ladder out, I climb'd up to the Top of the Hill, as I used to do when I was apprehensive of any thing, and to take my View the plainer without being discover'd.
I had scarce set my Foot on the Hill, when my Eye plainly discover'd a Ship lying at
an Anchor, at about two Leagues and an half's Distance from me South-south-east, but
not above a League and an half from the Shore. By my Observation it appear'd plainly to be an English Ship, and the Boat
appear'd to be an English Long-Boat.
I cannot express the Confusion I was in, tho' the Joy of seeing a Ship, and one who I
had Reason to believe was Mann'd by my own Country-men, and consequently Friends, was
such as I cannot describe; but yet I had some secret Doubts
hung about me, I cannot tell from whence they came, bidding
me keep upon my Guard. In the first Place, it occurr'd to me to consider what
Business an English Ship could have in that Part of the World, since it was
not the Way to or from any Part of the World, where the English had any
Traffick; and I knew there had been no Storms to drive
them in there, as in Distress; and that if they were English really, it was
most probable that they were here upon no good Design; and that I had better continue
as I was, than fall into the Hands of Thieves and Murtherers.
Let no Man despise the secret Hints and Notices of Danger,
which sometimes are given him, when he may think there is no Possibility of its being
The present Question abundantly confirms me in the Justice of this Reasoning; for had I not been made cautious by this secret Admonition, come it from whence it will, I had been undone inevitably, and in a far worse Condition than before, as you will see presently.
I had not kept my self long in this Posture, but I saw the Boat draw near the Shore, as if they look'd for a Creek to thrust in at for the Convenience of Landing; however, as they did not come quite far enough, they did not see the little Inlet where I formerly landed my Rafts; but run their Boat on Shore upon the Beach, at about half a Mile from me, which was very happy for me; for otherwise they would have landed just as I may say at my Door, and would soon have beaten me out of my Castle, and perhaps have plunder'd me of all I had.
When they were on Shore, I was fully satisfy'd that they were English Men;
at least, most of them; one or two I thought were Dutch; but it did not
prove so: There were in all eleven Men, whereof three of them I found were unarm'd,
and as I thought, bound; and when the first four or five of them were jump'd on
Shore, they took those three out of the Boat as Prisoners: One of the three I could
perceive using the most passionate Gestures of
I was perfectly confounded at the Sight, and knew not what the Meaning of it should
be. Friday call'd out to me in English, as
well as he could, O Master! You see English Mans eat Prisoner
as well as Savage Mans. Why, says I, Friday, Do you think they
are a going to eat them then? Yes, says Friday,
They will eat them: No, no, says I, Friday, I am afraid they will
murther them indeed, but you may be sure they will not eat them.
All this while I had no thought of what the Matter really was; but stood trembling with the Horror of the Sight, expecting every Moment when the three Prisoners should be kill'd; nay, once I saw one of the Villains lift up his Arm with a great Cutlash, as the Seamen call it, or Sword, to strike one of the poor Men; and I expected to see him fall every Moment, at which all the Blood in my Body seem'd to run chill in my Veins.
I wish'd heartily now for my Spaniard, and the Savage that was gone
with him; or that I had any way to have come undiscover'd
within shot of them, that I might have rescu'd the three Men; for I saw no Fire Arms
they had among them; but it fell out to my Mind another way.
After I had observ'd the outragious Usage of the three Men, by the insolent Seamen, I observ'd the Fellows run scattering about the Land, as if they wanted to see the Country: I observ'd that the three other Men had Liberty to go also where they pleas'd; but they sat down all three upon the Ground, very pensive, and look'd like Men in Despair.
As I knew nothing that Night of the Supply I was to receive by the providential Driving of the Ship nearer the Land, by the Storms and Tide, by which I have since been so long nourish'd and supported; so these three poor desolate Men knew nothing how certain of Deliverance and Supply they were, how near it was to them, and how effectually and really they were in a Condition of Safety, at the same Time that they thought themselves lost, and their Case desperate.
So little do we see before us in the World, and so much reason have we to depend chearfully upon the great Maker of the World, that he does not leave his Creatures so absolutely destitute, but that in the worst Circumstances they have always something to be thankful for, and sometimes are nearer their Deliverance than they imagine; nay, are even brought to their Deliverance by the Means by which they seem to be brought to their Destruction.
It was just at the Top of High-Water when these People came on Shore, and while partly they stood parlying with the Prisoners they brought, and partly while they rambled about to see what kind of a Place they were in; they had carelesly staid till the Tide was spent, and the Water was ebb'd considerably away, leaving their Boat a-ground.
They had left two Men in the Boat, who as I found afterwards, having drank a little
too much Brandy, fell a-sleep; however, one of them waking sooner than the other, and
finding the Boat too fast
In this Condition, like true Seamen who are perhaps the
least of all Mankind given to fore-thought, they gave it over, and away they stroll'd
about the Country again; and I heard one of them say aloud to another, calling them
off from the Boat, Why let her alone, Jack, can't ye, she will float
next Tide; by which I was fully confirm'd in the main Enquiry, of what
Countrymen they were.
All this while I kept my self very close, not once daring to stir out of my Castle, any farther than to my Place of Observation, near the Top of the Hill; and very glad I was, to think how well it was fortify'd: I knew it was no less than ten Hours before the Boat could be on float again, and by that Time it would be dark, and I might be at more Liberty to see their Motions, and to hear their Discourse, if they had any.
In the mean Time, I fitted my self up for a Battle, as
before; though with more Caution, knowing I had to do with another kind of Enemy than
I had at first: I order'd Friday also, who I had made an excellent Marks-Man
with his Gun, to load himself with Arms: I took my self two
Fowling-Pieces, and I gave him three Muskets; my Figure indeed was very fierce; I had
my formidable Goat-Skin Coat on, with the great Cap I have mention'd, a naked Sword
by my Side, two Pistols in my Belt, and a Gun upon each Shoulder.
It was my Design, as I said above, not to have made any Attempt till it was Dark: But
about Two a Clock, being the Heat of the Day, I found
Upon this I resolv'd to discover my self to them, and learn something of their
Condition: Immediately I march'd in the Figure as above, my Man Friday at a
good Distance behind me, as formidable for his Arms as I,
but not making quite so staring a Spectre-like Figure as I did.
I came as near them undiscover'd as I could, and then before any of them saw me, I
call'd aloud to them in Spanish, What are ye
Gentlemen?
They started up at the Noise, but were ten times more confounded when they saw me,
and the uncouth Figure that I made. They made no Answer at all, but I thought I
perceiv'd them just going to fly from me, when I spoke to them in English,
Gentlemen, said I, do not be surpriz'd at me; perhaps you may have a Friend near you
when you did not expect it. He must be sent directly from
Heaven then, said one of them very gravely to me, and pulling off his Hat at the
same time to me, for our Condition is past the Help of Man. All Help is from
Heaven, Sir, said I. But can you put a Stranger in the way how to help you,
for you seem to me to be in some great Distress? I saw you when you landed, and when
you seem'd to make Applications to the Brutes that came with you, I saw one of them
lift up his Sword to kill you.
The poor Man with Tears running down his Face, and trembling, looking like one
astonish'd, return'd, Am I talking to God, or Man! Is it a real Man, or an Angel! Be in no fear about that,
Sir, said I, if God had sent an Angel to relieve you, he would have come
better Cloath'd, and Arm'd after another manner than you see me in; pray lay aside
your Fears, I am a Man, an English-man, and dispos'd to assist you, you see; I have one Servant only; we have Arms and Ammunition;
tell us freely, Can we serve you? — What is your Case?
Our Case, said he, Sir, is too long to tell you, while our Murtherers are so near; but in short, Sir, I was Commander of that Ship, my Men have Mutinied against me; they have been hardly prevail'd on not to Murther me, and at last have set me on Shore in this desolate Place, with these two Men with me; one my Mate, the other a Passenger, where we expected to Perish, believing the Place to be uninhabited, and know not yet what to think of it.
Where are those Brutes, your Enemies, said I, do you know where they are gone?
There they lye, Sir, said he, pointing to a Thicket of Trees; my
Heart trembles, for fear they have seen us, and heard you speak, if they have,
they will certainly Murther us all.
Have they any Fire-Arms, said I, He answered they had only two Pieces, and
one which they left in the Boat. Well then, said I, leave the rest to me; I see they
are all asleep, it is an easie thing to kill them all; but shall we rather take them
Prisoners? He told me there were two desperate Villains
among them, that it was scarce safe to shew any Mercy to; but if they were secur'd, he believ'd all the rest would return to their Duty.
I ask'd him, which they were? He told me he could not at that distance describe them;
but he would obey my Orders in any thing
Look you, Sir, said I, if I venture upon your Deliverance, are you willing to make two Conditions with me; he anticipated my Proposals, by telling me, that both he and the Ship, if recover'd, should be wholly Directed and Commanded by me in every thing; and if the Ship was not recover'd, he would live and dye with me in what Part of the World soever I would send him; and the two other Men said the same.
Well, says I, my Conditions are but two. 1. That while you stay on
this Island with me, you will not pretend to any Authority here; and if I put Arms
into your Hands, you will upon all Occasions give them up to me, and do no Prejudice
to me or mine, upon this Island, and in the mean time be govern'd by my Orders.
2. That if the Ship is, or may be recover'd, you will carry me and my Man to
England Passage free.
He gave me all the Assurances that the Invention and Faith of Man could devise, that he would comply with these most reasonable Demands, and besides would owe his Life to me, and acknowledge it upon all Occasions as long as he liv'd.
Well then, said I, here are three Muskets for you, with Powder and Ball;
tell me next what you think is proper to be done. He shew'd all the Testimony of his
Gratitude that he was able; but offer'd to be wholly guided by me. I told him I
thought it was hard venturing any thing; but the best Method I could think of was to
fire upon them at once, as they lay; and if any was not kill'd at the first Volley,
and offered to submit,
He said very modestly, that he was loath to kill them, if he could help it, but that
those two were incorrigible Villains, and had been the Authors of all the Mutiny in the Ship, and if they escaped, we should be undone
still; for they would go on Board, and bring the whole Ship's Company, and destroy us all. Well then, says I,
Necessity legitimates my Advice; for it is
the only Way to save our Lives. However, seeing him still cautious of shedding Blood,
I told him they should go themselves, and manage as they found convenient.
In the Middle of this Discourse, we heard some of them awake, and soon after, we saw
two of them on their Feet, I ask'd him, if either of them were of the Men who he had
said were the Heads of the Mutiny? He said, No: Well then, said I, you may
let them escape, and Providence seems to have wakned them on Purpose to save
themselves. Now, says I, if the rest escape you, it is your Fault.
Animated with this, he took the Musket, I had given him, in his Hand, and a Pistol in
his Belt, and his two Comerades with him, with each Man a Piece in his Hand, The two
Men who were with him, going first, made some Noise, at which one of the Seamen who
was awake, turn'd about, and seeing them coming, cry'd out to the rest; but it was
too late then; for the Moment he cry'd out, they fir'd; I mean the two Men,
the Captain wisely reserving his own Piece: They had so well aim'd their Shot at the
Men they knew, that one of them was kill'd on the Spot, and the other very much
wounded; but not being dead, he started up upon his Feet, and call'd eagerly for Jamaica from whence they came: They gave him all the Protestations
of their Sincerity that could be desir'd, and he was willing to believe them, and
spare their Lives, which I was not against, only that I oblig'd him to keep them
bound Hand and Foot while they were upon the Island.
While this was doing, I sent Friday with the Captain's Mate to the Boat,
with Orders to secure her, and bring away the Oars, and Sail, which they did; and by
and by, three straggling Men that were (happily for them) parted from the rest came
back upon hearing the Guns fir'd, and seeing their Captain, who before was their
Prisoner, now their Conqueror, they submitted to be bound also; and so our Victory
was compleat.
It now remain'd, that the Captain and I should enquire into one another's
Circumstances: I began first, and told him my whole History, which he heard with an
Attention even to Amazement; and particularly, at the wonderful Manner of my being
furnish'd with Provisitions and Ammunition; and indeed, as my Story is a whole
Collection of Wonders, it affected him deeply; but when he
reflected
After this Communication was at an End, I carry'd him and
his two Men into my Apartment, leading them in, just where I came out, viz.
At the Top of the House, where I refresh'd them with such Provisions as I had, and
shew'd them all the Contrivances I had made, during my long, long, inhabiting that
Place.
All I shew'd them, all I said to them, was perfectly
amazing; but above all, the Captain admir'd my Fortification, and how perfectly I had
conceal'd my Retreat with a Grove of Trees, which having been now planted near twenty
Years, and the Trees growing much faster than in England, was become a
little Wood, and so thick, that it was unpassable in any Part of it, but at that one
Side, where I had reserv'd my little winding Passage into it: I told him, this was my
Castle, and my Residence; but that I had a Seat in the Country, as most Princes have, whither I could retreat upon Occasion, and I would
shew him that too another Time; but at present, our Business was to consider how to
recover the Ship: He agreed with me as to that; but told me, he was perfectly at a
Loss what Measures to take; for that there were still six
and twenty Hands on board, who having entred into a cursed Conspiracy, by which they
had all forfeited their Lives to the Law, would be harden'd in it now by Desperation;
and would carry it on, knowing that if they were reduc'd, they should be brought to
the Gallows, as soon as they came to England, or to any of the
English Colonies; and that therefore there would be no attacking them,
with so small a Number as we were.
Upon this, I told him the first Thing we had to do, was to stave
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When we had carry'd all these Things on Shore (the Oars, Mast, Sail, and Rudder of the Boat, were carry'd away before, as above) we knock'd a great Hole in her Bottom, that if they had come strong enough to master us, yet they could not carry off the Boat.
Indeed, it was not much in my Thoughts, that we could be able to recover the Ship;
but my View was that if they went away without the Boat, I did not much question to
make her fit again, to carry us away to the
Leeward Islands
Spaniards, in my Way, for I had them still in my Thoughts.
While we were thus preparing our Designs, and had first, by main Strength heav'd the
Boat up upon the Beach, so high that the Tide would not
fleet her off at High-Water-Mark; and besides, had broke a Hole in her Bottom, too
big to be quickly stopp'd, and were sat down musing what we should do; we heard the
Ship fire a Gun, and saw her make a Waft with her
Antient
At last, when all their Signals and Firings prov'd fruitless, and they found the Boat did not stir, we saw them by the Help of my Glasses, hoist another Boat out, and row towards the Shore; and we found as they approach'd, that there was no less than ten Men in her, and that they had Fire-Arms with them.
As the Ship lay almost two Leagues from the Shore, we had a full View of them as they
came, and a plain Sight of the Men even of their Faces,
because the Tide having set them a little to the East of the other Boat,
they row'd up under Shore, to come to the same Place, where the other had landed, and where the Boat lay.
By this Means, I say, we had a full View of them, and the Captain knew the Persons and Characters of all the Men in the Boat, of whom he said, that there were three very honest Fellows, who he was sure were led into this Conspiracy by the rest, being over-power'd and frighted.
But that as for the Boatswain, who it seems was the chief Officer among them, and all
the rest, they were as outragious as any of the Ship's Crew, and were no doubt made
desperate in their new Enterprize,
I smil'd at him, and told him, that Men in our Circumstances were past the Operation
of Fear: That seeing almost every Condition that could be, was better than that which
we were suppos'd to be in, we ought to expect that the Consequence, whether Death or Life, would be sure to be a Deliverance: I ask'd him, What he thought of the Circumstances of my Life? And, Whether a Deliveance were not worth venturing for? And where, Sir, said I,
is your Belief of my being preserv'd here on purpose to save your Life, which
elevated you a little while ago? For my Part, said I, there seems to be but one Thing
amiss in all the Prospect of it; What's that? Says he; why, said I, 'Tis,
that as you say, there are three or four honest Fellows among them, which should be
spar'd; had they been all of the wicked Part of the Crew, I should have thought God's
Providence had singled them out to deliver them into your Hands; for depend upon it,
every Man of them that comes a-shore are our own, and shall die, or live, as they
behave to us.
As I spoke this with a rais'd Voice and chearful Countenance, I found it greatly encourag'd him; so we set vigorously to our Business: We had upon the first Appearance of the Boat's coming from the Ship, consider'd of separating our Prisoners, and had indeed secur'd them effectually.
Two of them, of whom the Captain was less assur'd than
ordinary, I sent with Friday, and one of the three (deliver'd Men) to my
Cave, where they were remote enough, and out of Danger of being heard or discover'd,
or of finding their way out of the Woods, if they could have deliver'd themselves:
Here they left them bound, but gave them Provisions, and
promis'd them if they continu'd there quietly, Friday gave them Candles (such as we made our selves)
for their Comfort; and they did not know but that he stood Sentinel over them at the
Entrance.
The other Prisoners had better Usage; two of them were kept pinion'd indeed, because the Captain was not free to trust them; but the other two were taken into my Service upon their Captain's Recommendation, and upon their solemnly engaging to live and die with us; so with them and the three honest Men, we were seven Men, well arm'd; and I made no doubt we shou'd be able to deal well enough with the Ten that were a coming, considering that the Captain had said, there were three or four honest Men among them also.
As soon as they got to the Place where their other Boat lay, they run their Boat in to the Beach, and came all on Shore, haling the Boat up after them, which I was glad to see; for I was afraid they would rather have left the Boat at an Anchor, some Distance from the Shore, with some Hands in her, to guard her; and so we should not be able to seize the Boat.
Being on Shore, the first Thing they did, they ran all to their other Boat, and it was easy to see that they were under a great Surprize, to find her stripp'd as above, of all that was in her, and a great hole in her Bottom.
After they had mus'd a while upon this, they set up two or three great Shouts, hollowing
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They were so astonish'd at the Surprize of this, that as they told us afterwards, they resolv'd to go all on board again to their Ship, and let them know, that the Men were all murther'd, and the Long-Boat stav'd; accordingly they immediately launch'd their Boat again, and gat all of them on board.
The Captain was terribly amaz'd, and even confounded at this, believing they would go on board the Ship again, and set Sail, giving their Comrades for lost, and so he should still lose the Ship, which he was in Hopes we should have recover'd; but he was quickly as much frighted the other way.
They had not been long put off with the Boat, but we perceiv'd them all coming on
Shore again; but with this new Measure in their Conduct, which it seems they
consulted together upon, viz. To leave three Men in the Boat, and the rest
to go on Shore, and go up into the Country to look for their Fellows.
This was a great Disappointment to us; for now we were at a Loss what to do; for our seizing those seven Men on Shore would be no Advantage to us, if we let the Boat escape; because they would then row away to the Ship, and then the rest of them would be sure to weigh and set Sail, and so our recovering the Ship would be lost.
However, we had no Remedy, but to wait and see what the Issue of Things might
present; the seven Men came on Shore, and the three who remain'd
Those that came on Shore, kept close together, marching towards the Top of the little Hill, under which my Habitation lay; and we could see them plainly, though they could not perceive us: We could have been very glad they would have come nearer to us, so that we might have fir'd at them, or that they would have gone farther off, that we might have come abroad.
But when they were come to the Brow
North-East Part, and where the
Island lay lowest, they shouted, and hollow'd, till they were weary; and not caring
it seems to venture far from the Shore, nor far from one another, they sat down
together under a Tree, to consider of it: Had they thought fit to have gone to sleep
there, as the other Party of them had done, they had
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The Captain made a very just Proposal to me, upon this Consultation of theirs,
viz. That perhaps they would all fire a Volley
again, to endeavour to make their Fellows hear, and that we
should all Sally upon them, just at the Juncture when their Pieces were all
discharg'd, and they would certainly yield, and we should have them without
Blood-shed: I lik'd the Proposal, provided it was done while we were near enough to
come up to them, before they could load their Pieces again.
We waited a great while, though very impatient for their removing; and were very uneasy, when after long Consultations, we saw them start all up, and march down toward the Sea: It seems they had such dreadful Apprehensions upon them, of the Danger of the Place, that they resolv'd to go on board the Ship again, give their Companions over for lost, and so go on with their intended Voyage with the Ship.
As soon as I perceiv'd them go towards the Shore, I imagin'd it to be as it really was, That they had given over their Search, and were for going back again; and the Captain, as soon as I told him my Thoughts, was ready to sink at the Apprehensions of it; but I presently thought of a Stratagem to fetch them back again, and which answer'd my End to a Tittle.
I order'd Friday, and the Captain's Mate, to go over the little Creek
Westward, towards the Place were the Savages came on Shore, when
Friday was rescu'd; and as soon as they came to a little rising Ground,
at about half a Mile Distance, I bad them hollow, as loud as they could, and wait
till they found the Seamen heard them; that as soon as ever they heard the Seamen
answer them, they should return it again, and then keeping out of Sight, take a
round, always answering when the other hollow'd, to draw them as far into the Island,
and among the
They were just going into the Boat, when Friday and the Mate hollow'd, and
they presently heard them, and answering, run along the Shore Westward, towards the Voice they heard, when they were
presently stopp'd by the Creek, where the Water being up, they could not get over,
and call'd for the Boat to come up, and set
them over
When they had set themselves over, I observ'd, that the Boat being gone up a good way into the Creek, and as it were, in a Harbour within the Land, they took one of the three Men out of her to go along with them, and left only two in the Boat, having fastned her to the Stump of a little Tree on the Shore.
This was what I wish'd for, and immediately leaving
Friday and the Captain's Mate to their Business, I took the rest with me,
and crossing the Creek out of their Sight, we surpriz'd the two Men before they were
aware; one of them lying on Shore, and the other being in the Boat; the Fellow on
Shore, was between sleeping and waking, and going to start up, the Captain who was
foremost, ran in upon him, and knock'd him down, and then call'd out to him in the
Boat, to yield, or he was a dead Man.
There needed very few Arguments to perswade a single Man to yield, when he saw five Men upon him, and his Comrade knock'd down; besides, this was it seems one of the three who were not so hearty in the Mutiny as the rest of the Crew, and therefore was easily perswaded, not only to yield, but afterwards to joyn very sincere with us.
In the mean time, Friday and the Captain's Mate so well manag'd their
Business with the rest, that they drew them by hollowing and answering, from
We had nothing now to do, but to watch for them, in the Dark, and to fall upon them, so as to make sure work with them.
It was several Hours after Friday came back to me, before they came back to
their Boat; and we could hear the foremost of them long before they came quite up,
calling to those behind to come along, and could also hear them answer and complain,
how lame and tyr'd they were, and not able to come any faster, which was very welcome
News to us.
At length they came up to the Boat; but 'tis impossible to express their Confusion, when they found the Boat fast a-Ground in the Creek, the Tide ebb'd out, and their two Men gone: We could hear them call to one another in a most lamentable Manner, telling one another, they were gotten into an inchanted Island; that either there were Inhabitants in it, and they should all be murther'd, or else there were Devils and Spirits in it, and they should be all carry'd away, and devour'd.
They hallow'd again, and call'd their two Comerades by their Names, a great many times, but no Answer. After some time, we could see them, by the little Light there was, run about wringing their Hands like Men in Despair; and that sometimes they would go and sit down in the Boat to rest themselves, then come ashore again, and walk about again, and so over the same thing again.
Friday and the Captain, to creep upon their Hands and Feet as close to
the Ground as they could, that they might not be discover'd, and get as near them as
they could possibly, before they offered to fire.
They had not been long in that Posture, but that the Boatswain, who was the principal
Ringleader of the Mutiny, and had now shewn himself the most dejected and dispirited
of all the rest, came walking towards them with two more of their Crew; the Captain
was so eager, as having this principal Rogue so much in his Power, that he could
hardly have Patience to let him come so near, as to be sure of him; for they only
heard his Tongue before: But when they came nearer, the Captain and Friday
starting up on their Feet, let fly at them.
The Boatswain was kill'd upon the Spot, the next Man was shot into the Body, and fell just by him, tho' he did not die 'till an Hour or two after; and the third run for it.
At the Noise of the Fire, I immediately advanc'd with my
whole Army, which was now 8 Men, viz. my self Generalissimo, Friday
my Lieutenant-General, the Captain and his two Men, and the
three Prisoners of War, who we had trusted with Arms.
Tom Smith, Tom Smith; Tom Smith answered
immediately, Who's that, Robinson? for it seems he knew his Voice: T'other
answered, Ay, ay; for God's Sake, Tom Smith, throw down your Arms, and
yield, or, you are all dead Men this Moment.
Who must we yield to? where are they? (says Smith again;) Here
they are, says he, here's our Captain, and fifty Men with him, have been
hunting you this two Hours; the Boatswain is kill'd, Will Frye is wounded,
and I am a Prisoner; and if you do not yield, you are all lost.
Will they give us Quarter then, (says Tom Smith) and we will yield? I'll
go and ask, if you promise to yield, says
Robinson; so he ask'd the Captain, and the Captain then calls himself
out, You Smith, you know my Voice, if you lay down your Arms immediately,
and submit, you shall have your Lives all but Will Atkins.
Upon this, Will Atkins cry'd out, For God's Sake, Captain, give me
Quarter, what have I done? They have been all as bad as I, which by the Way
was not true neither; for it seems this Will Atkins was the first Man that
laid hold of the Captain, when they first mutiny'd, and used him barbarously, in
tying his Hands, and giving him injurious Language. However, the Captain told him he
must lay down his Arms at Discretion, and trust to the Governour's
In a Word, they all laid down their Arms, and
begg'd their Lives; and I sent the Man that had parley'd with them, and two more,
who bound them all; and then my great Army of 50 Men
Our next Work was to repair the Boat, and think of seizing the Ship; and as for the Captain, now he had Leisure to parley with them: He expostulated with them upon the Villany of their Practices with him, and at length upon the farther Wickedness of their Design; and how certainly it must bring them to Misery and Distress in the End, and perhaps to the Gallows.
They all appear'd very penitent, and begg'd hard for their Lives; as for that, he
told them, they were none of his Prisoners, but the Commander of the Island, that
they thought they had set him on Shore in a barren uninhabitated Island, but it had
pleased God so to direct them, that the Island was inhabited, and that the Governour
was an English Man; that he might hang them all there, if he pleased; but as
he had given them all Quarter, he supposed he would send them to England to
be dealt with there, as Justice requir'd, except Atkins, who he was commanded by the Governour to advise to prepare for Death;
for that he would be hang'd in the Morning.
Though this was all a Fiction of his own, yet it had its desired Effect;
Atkins fell upon his Knees to beg the Captain to interceed with the
Governour for his Life; and all the rest beg'd of him England.
It now occurr'd to me, that the time of our Deliverance was
come, and that it would be a most easy thing to bring these Fellows in, to be hearty
in getting Possession of the Ship; so I retir'd in the Dark from them, that they
might not see what Kind of a Governour they had, and call'd the Captain to me; when I
call'd, as at a good Distance, one of the Men was order'd to
speak again, and say to the Captain, Captain, the Commander calls for you;
and presently the Captain reply'd, Tell his Excellency, I am just a coming:
This more perfectly amused them; and they all believed that
the Commander was just by with his fifty Men.
Upon the Captain's coming to me, I told him my Project for seizing the Ship, which he lik'd of wonderfully well, and resolv'd to put it in Execution the next Morning.
But in Order to execute it with more Art, and secure of Success, I told him, we must
divide the Prisoners, and that he should go and take Atkins and two more of
the worst of them, and send them pinion'd to the Cave where the others lay: This was
committed to Friday and the two Men who came on Shore with the Captain.
They convey'd them to the Cave, as to a Prison; and it was indeed a dismal Place, especially to Men in their Condition.
The other I order'd to my Bower, as I call'd it, of which I have given a
full Description; and as it was fenc'd in, and they
pinion'd, the Place was secure enough, considering they were upon their Behaviour
To these in the Morning I sent the Captain, who was to enter into a Parley with them,
in a Word to try them, and tell me, whether he thought they England, they would all
be hang'd in Chains, to be sure; but that if they would join in so just an Attempt,
as to recover the Ship, he would have the Governour's Engagement for their Pardon.
Any one may guess how readily such a Proposal would be accepted by Men in their Condition; they fell down on their Knees to the Captain, and promised with the deepest Imprecations, that they would be faithful to him to the last Drop, and that they should owe their Lives to him, and would go with him all over the World, that they would own him for a Father to them as long as they liv'd.
Well, says the Captain, I must go and tell the Governour what you say, and see what I can do to bring him to consent to it: So he brought me an Account of the Temper he found them in; and that he verily believ'd they would be faithful.
However, that we might be very secure, I
told him he should go back again, and choose out five of them, and tell them, they
might see that he did not want Men
my Cave) as Hostages, for the Fidelity of
those five; and that if they prov'd unfaithful in the Execution, the five Hostages
should be hang'd in Chains alive upon the Shore.
This look'd severe, and convinc'd them that the Governour was in Earnest; however
they had no
Our Strength was now thus ordered for the Expedition: 1. The Captain, his Mate, and Passenger. 2. Then the two Prisoners of the first Gang, to whom having their Characters from the Captain, I had given their Liberty, and trusted them with Arms. 3. The other two who I had kept till now, in my Apartment, pinion'd; but upon the Captain's Motion, had now releas'd. 4. The single Man taken in the Boat. 5. These five releas'd at last: So that they were thirteen in all, besides five we kept Prisoners in the Cave, and the two Hostages.
I ask'd the Captain, if he was willing to venture with these
Hands on Board the Ship; for as for me and my Man Friday, I did not think it
was proper for us to stir, having seven Men left behind; and it was Employment enough
for us to keep them assunder, and supply them with Victuals.
As to the five in the Cave, I resolv'd to keep them fast, but Friday went in
twice a Day to them, to supply them with Necessaries; and I made the other two carry
Provisions to a certain Distance, where Friday was to take it.
When I shew'd my self to the two Hostages, it was with the Captain, who told them, I
was the Person the Governour had order'd to look after them, and that it was the
Governour's Pleasure they should not stir any where, but by my Direction; that if they did, they should be fetch'd into the Castle, and be lay'd in Irons; so that as we never
suffered them to see me as Governour, so I now appear'd as another Person, and spoke
of the
The Captain now had no Difficulty before him, but to furnish his two Boats, stop the
Breach of one, and Man them. He made his Passenger Captain of one, with four other
Men; and himself, and his Mate, and six more, went in the
other: And they contriv'd their Business very well; for
they came up to the Ship about Midnight: As soon as they came within Call of the
Ship, he made Robinson hale them, and tell them they had brought off the Men
and the Boat, but that it was a long time before they had found them, and the like;
holding them in a Chat 'till they came to the Ship's Side; when the Captain and the
Mate entring first with their Arms, immediately knock'd down the second Mate and
Carpenter, with the But-end of their Muskets, being very faithfully seconded by their
Men, they secur'd all the rest that were upon the Main and Quarter Decks, and began
to fasten the Hatches to keep them down who were below, when the other Boat and their
Men entring at the fore Chains, secur'd the Fore-Castle of the Ship, and the Scuttle
which went down into the Cook Room, making three Men they found there, Prisoners.
When this was done, and all safe upon Deck, the Captain order'd the Mate with three
Men to break into the Round-House
As soon as the Ship was thus secur'd, the Captain order'd seven Guns to be fir'd, which was the Signal agreed upon with me, to give me Notice of his Success, which you may be sure I was very glad to hear, having sat watching upon the Shore for it till near two of the Clock in the Morning.
Having thus heard the Signal plainly, I laid me down; and it having been a Day of
great Fatigue to me, I slept very sound, 'till I was something surpriz'd with the Noise of a Gun; and presently starting up, I
heard a Man call me by the Name of Governour, Governour, and presently I knew the
Captain's Voice, when climbing up to the Top of the Hill, there he stood, and
pointing to the Ship, he embrac'd me in his Arms, My dear Friend and
Deliverer, says he, there's your Ship, for she is all yours, and so are
we and all that belong to her. I cast my Eyes to the Ship, and there she rode
within little more than half a Mile of the Shore; for they had weighed her Anchor as soon as they were Masters of her; and the
Weather being fair, had brought her to an Anchor just against the Mouth of the little
Creek; and the Tide being up, the Captain had brought the Pinnace in near the Place
where I at first landed my Rafts, and so landed just at my Door.
I was at first ready to sink down with the Surprize. For I
saw my Deliverance indeed visibly put into my Hands, all things easy, and a large
Ship just ready to carry me away whither I pleased
He perceived the Surprize, and immediately pulls a Bottle out of his Pocket, and gave me a Dram of Cordial, which he had brought on Purpose for me; after I had drank it, I sat down upon the Ground; and though it brought me to my self, yet it was a good while before I could speak a Word to him.
All this while the poor Man was in as great an Extasy as I, only not under any Surprize, as I was; and he said a thousand kind tender things to me, to compose me and bring me to my self; but such was the Flood of Joy in my Breast, that it put all my Spirits into Confusion, at last it broke out into Tears, and in a little while after, I recovered my Speech.
Then I took my Turn, and embrac'd him as my Deliverer; and we rejoyc'd together. I told him, I look upon him as a Man sent from Heaven to deliver me, and that the whole Transaction seemed to be a Chain of Wonders; that such things as these were the Testimonies we had of a secret Hand of Providence governing the World, and an Evidence, that the Eyes of an infinite Power could search into the remotest Corner of the World, and send Help to the Miserable whenever he pleased.
I forgot not to lift up my Heart in Thankfulness to Heaven, and what Heart could forbear to bless him, who had not only in a miraculous Manner provided for once in such a Wilderness, and in such a desolate Condition, but from whom every Deliverance must always be acknowledged to proceed.
First he had brought me a Case of Bottles full of excellent Cordial Waters, six large
Bottles of Madera Wine; the Bottles held two Quarts a-piece; two Pound of
excellent good Tobacco, twelve good Pieces of the Ship's Beef, and six Pieces of
Pork, with a Bag of Pease, and about a hundred Weight of Bisket.
He brought me also a Box of Sugar, a Box of Flower, a Bag full of Lemons, and two Bottles of Lime-Juice, and Abundance of other things: But besides these, and what was a thousand times more useful to me, he brought me six clean new Shirts, six very good Neckcloaths, two Pair of Gloves, one Pair of Shoes, a Hat, and one Pair of Stockings, and a very good Suit of Cloaths of his own, which had been worn but very little: In a Word, he cloathed me from Head to Foot.
It was a very kind and agreeable Present, as any one may imagine to one in my Circumstances: But never was any thing in the World of that Kind so unpleasant, awkard, and uneasy, as it was to me to wear such Cloaths at their first putting on.
After these Ceremonies past, and after all his good things were brought into my
little Apartment, we began to consult what was to be done
with the Prisoners we had; for it was worth considering, English Colony he could come at; and I found that the
Captain himself was very anxious about it.
Upon this, I told him, that if he desir'd it, I durst undertake to bring the two Men
he spoke of, to make it their own Request that he should leave them upon the Island:
I should be very glad of that, says the Captain, with all my
Heart.
Well, says I, I will send for them up, and talk with them for you; so I caused
Friday and the two Hostages, for they were now discharg'd, their Comrades having perform'd their Promise; I say, I caused them to go to the Cave, and bring up the five Men
pinion'd, as they were, to the Bower, and keep them there 'till I came.
After some time, I came thither dress'd in my new Habit, and now I was call'd Governour again; being all met, and the Captain with me, I caused the Men to be brought before me, and I told them, I had had a full Account of their villanous Behaviour to the Captain, and how they had run away with the Ship, and were preparing to commit farther Robberies, but that Providence had ensnar'd them in their own Ways, and that they were fallen into the Pit which they had digged for others.
I let them know, that by my Direction the Ship had been seiz'd, that she lay now in
the Road; and they might see by and by, that their new Captain Oxford English Dictionary
That as to them, I wanted to know what they had to say, why I should not execute them as Pirates taken in the Fact, as by my Commission they could not doubt I had Authority to do.
One of them answer'd in the Name of the rest, That they had nothing to say but this,
That when they were taken, the Captain promis'd them their Lives, and they humbly
implor'd my Mercy; But I told them, I knew not what Mercy to shew them; for as for my
self, I had resolv'd to quit the Island with all my Men, and had taken Passage with
the Captain to go for England: And as for the Captain, he could not carry
them to England, other than as Prisoners in Irons to be try'd for Mutiny,
and running away with the Ship; the Consequence of which, they must needs know, would
be the Gallows; so that I could not tell which was best for them, unless they had a
Mind to take their Fate in the Island; if they desir'd, that I did not care, as I had
Liberty to leave it, I had some Inclination to give them their Lives, if they thought
they could shift on Shore.
They seem'd very thankful for it, said they would much rather venture to stay there,
than to be carry'd to England to be hang'd; so I
left it on that Issue.
However, the Captain seem'd to make some Difficulty of it, as if he durst not leave
them there: Upon this I seem'd a little angry with the Captain, and told him, That
they were my Prisoners, not his; and that seeing I had
offered them so much Favour, I would be as good as my Word; and that if he did not
think fit to consent to it, I would set them at Liberty, as I found them; and
Upon this they appear'd very thankful, and I accordingly set them at Liberty, and bad them retire into the Woods to the Place whence they came, and I would leave them some Fire Arms, some Ammunition, and some Directions how they should live very well, if they thought fit.
Upon this I prepar'd to go on Board the Ship, but told the Captain, that I would stay that Night to prepare my things, and desir'd him to go on Board in the mean time, and keep all right in the Ship, and send the Boat on Shore the next Day for me; ordering him in the mean time to cause the new Captain who was kill'd, to be hang'd at the Yard-Arm that these Men might see him.
When the Captain was gone, I sent for the Men up to me to my Apartment, and entred seriously into Discourse with them of their Circumstances, I told them, I thought they had made a right Choice; that if the Captain carry'd them away, they would certainly be hang'd. I shewed them the new Captain, hanging at the Yard-Arm of the Ship, and told them they had nothing less to expect.
When they had all declar'd their Willingness to stay, I then told them, I would let
them into the Story of my living there, and put them into the Way of making it easy
to them: Accordingly I gave them the whole History of the Place, and of my coming to
it; shew'd them my Fortifications, the Way I made my Bread, planted my Corn, cured my Grapes; and in a Word, all that was necessary to make them easy: I told them the Story also of the
sixteen Spaniards that were to be expected; for
whom I left a Letter, and made them promise to treat them in common with
themselves.
viz. Five
Muskets, three Fowling Pieces, and three Swords. I had above a Barrel and half of
Powder left; for after the first Year or two, I used but little, and wasted none. I
gave them a Description of the Way I manag'd the Goats, and Directions to milk and
fatten them, and to make both Butter and Cheese.
In a Word, I gave them every Part of my own Story; and I told them, I would prevail with the Captain to leave them two Barrels of Gun-Powder more, and some Garden-Seeds, which I told them I would have been very glade of; also I gave them the Bag of Pease which the Captain had brought me to eat, and bad them be sure to sow and encrease them.
[Audio File]Having done all this, I left them the next Day, and went on Board the Ship: We prepared immediately to sail, but did not weigh that Night: The next Morning early, two of the five Men came swiming to the Ship's Side, and making a most lamentable Complaint of the other three, begged to be taken into the Ship, for God's Sake, for they should be murthered, and begg'd the Captain to take them on Board, tho' he hang'd them immediately.
Upon this the Captain pretended to have no Power without me; But after some Difficulty, and after their solemn Promises of Amendment, they were taken, and were some time after soundly whipp'd and pickl'd; after which, they prov'd very honest and quiet Fellows.
Some time after this, the Boat was order'd on Shore, the Tide being up, with the
things promised to the Men, to which the Captain at my Intercession caused their Chests and Cloaths to be aded, which they took, and were very thankful for; I also
encourag'd them, by telling them, that if
When I took leave of this Island, I carry'd on board for Reliques, the great
Goat's-Skin-Cap I had made, my Umbrella, and my Parrot; also I forgot not to take the
Money I formerly mention'd, which had lain by me so long useless, that it was grown
rusty, or tarnish'd, and could hardly pass for Silver, till it had been a little
rubb'd, and handled; as also the Money I found in the Wreck of the Spanish
Ship.
And thus I left the Island, the Nineteenth of December, as I found by the
Ship's Account, in the Year 1686, after I had been upon it eight and twenty Years,
two Months, and 19 Days; being deliver'd from this second Captivity, the same Day of
the Month, that I first made my Escape in the
Barco-Longo
Oxford English Dictionary
Moors of Sallee.
In this Vessel, after a long Voyage, I arriv'd in England, the Eleventh of
June, in the Year 1687, having been thirty and five Years absent.
When I came to England, I was as perfect a Stranger to all the World, as if
I had never been known there. My Benefactor and faithful Steward, who I had left in Trust with my Money, was alive; but had had great
Misfortunes in the World; was become a Widow the second Time, and very low in the
World: I made her easy as to what she ow'd me, assuring her, I would give her no
Trouble; but on the contrary, in Gratitude to her former Care and Faithfulness to me,
I reliev'd her as my little Stock would afford, which at that Time would indeed allow
me to do but little for her; but I assur'd her, I would never forget her former
Kindness to me; nor did I forget her, when I had sufficient to help her, as shall be
observ'd in its Place.
Yorkshire; but my Father was dead, and my Mother, and all the Family extinct, except that I found two Sisters, and two of
the Children of one of my Brothers; and as I had been long ago given over for dead,
there had been no Provision made for me; so that in a Word, I found nothing to
relieve, or assist me; and that little Money I had, would not do much for me, as to
settling in the World.
I met with one Piece of Gratitude indeed, which I did not expect; and this was, That the Master of the Ship, who I had so happily deliver'd, and by the same Means sav'd the Ship and Cargo, having given a very handsome Account to the Owners, of the Manner how I had sav'd the Lives of the Men, and the Ship, they invited me to meet them, and some other Merchants concern'd, and altogether made me a very handsome Compliment upon the Subject, and a Present of almost two hundred Pounds Sterling.
But after making several Reflections upon the Circumstances of my Life, and how
little way this would go towards settling me in the World, I resolv'd to go to Lisbon, and see if I might not come
by some Information of the State of my Plantation in the Brasils, and of
what was become of my Partner, who I had reason to suppose had some Years now given
me over for dead.
With this View I took Shipping for Lisbon, where I arriv'd in April
following; my Man Friday accompanying me very
honestly in all these Ramblings, and proving a most faithful Servant upon all Occasions.
When I came to Lisbon, I found out by Enquiry, and to my particular
Satisfaction, my old Friend the Captain of the Ship, who first took me up at Sea, off
of the Shore of Africk: He was now Brasil Trade. The old Man did not
know me, and indeed, I hardly knew him; but I soon brought him to my Remembrance, and as soon brought my self to his Remembrance, when I told him who I was.
After some passionate Expressions of the old Acquaintance, I
enquir'd, you may be sure, after my Plantation and my Partner: The old Man told me he
had not been in the Brasils for about nine Years; but that he could assure
me, that when he came away, my Partner was living, but the Trustees, who I had join'd
with him to take Cognizance of my Part, were both dead; that however, he believ'd that I would have a very good Account of the
Improvement of the Plantation; for that upon the general Belief of my being cast
away, and drown'd, my Trustees had given in the Account of the Produce of my Part of
the Plantation, to the Procurator Fiscal, who had appropriated it, in Case I never
came to claim it; one Third to the King, and two Thirds to the Monastery of St.
Augustine, to be expended for the Benefit of
the Poor, and for the Conversion of the Indians to the Catholick Faith; but that if I appear'd, or any one for me, to
claim the Inheritance, it should be restor'd; only that the Improvement, or Annual
Production, being distributed to charitable Uses, could not be restor'd; but he
assur'd me, that the Steward of the King's Revenue (from Lands) and the Proviedore, or Steward of the Monastery, had taken great Care all
along, that the Incumbent, that is to say my Partner, gave every Year a faithful
Account o, the Produce, of which they receiv'd duly my Moiety.
He told me, he could not tell exactly, to what Degree the Plantation was improv'd; but this he knew, that my Partner was grown exceeding Rich upon the enjoying but one half of it; and that to the best of his Remembrance, he had heard, that the King's Third of my Part, which was it seems granted away to some other Monastery, or Religious House, amounted to above two hundred Moidores a Year; that as to my being restor'd to a quiet Possession of it, there was no question to be made of that, my Partner being alive to witness my Title, and my Name being also enrolled in the Register of the Country; also he told me, That the Survivors of my two Trustees, were very fair honest People, and very Wealthy; and he believ'd I would not only have their Assistance for putting me in Possession, but would find a very considerable Sum of Money in their Hands, for my Account; being the Produce of the Farm while their Fathers held the Trust, and before it was given up as above, which as he remember'd, was for about twelve Years.
I shew'd my self a little concern'd, and uneasy at this Account, and enquir'd of the
old Captain, How it came to pass, that the Trustees should thus dispose my Effects,
when he knew that I had made my Will, and had made him, the Portuguese Captain, my universal Heir, &c.
He told me, that was true; but that as there was no Proof of my being dead, he could
not act as Executor, until some certain Account should Ingenio, so
they call'd the Sugar-House, and had given his Son, who was now at the
Brasils, Order to do it.
But, says the old Man, I have one Piece of News to tell you, which perhaps may not be
so acceptable to you as the rest, and that is, That believing you were lost, and all
the World believing so also, your Partner and Trustees did
offer to accompt to me in your Name, for six or eight of
the first Years of Profits, which I receiv'd; but there being at the time, says he,
great Disbursments for encreasing the Works, building an
Ingenio, and buying Slaves, it did not amount to near so much as
afterwards it produced: However, says the old Man, I shall give you a true Account of
what I have received in all, and how I have disposed of it.
After a few Days farther Conference with this ancient Friend, he brought me an
Account of the six first Years Income of my Plantation, sign'd by my Partner and the
Merchants Trustees, being always deliver'd in Goods,
viz. Tobacco in Roll, and Sugar in Chests, besides Rum, Molossus,
&c. which is the Consequence of a Sugar Work; and I found by this
Account, that every Year the Income considerably encreased;
but as above, the Disbursement being large, the Sum at first was small: However, the
old Man let me see, that he was Debtor to me 470 Moidores of Gold, besides 60 Chests
of Sugar, and 15 double Rolls of Tobacco which were lost in
his Ship; he having been Lisbon about 11 Years after my leaving the Place.
The good Man then began to complain of his Misfortunes, and how he had been obliged to make Use of my Money to recover his Losses, and buy him a Share in a new Ship: However, my old Friend, says he, you shall not want a Supply in your Necessity; and as soon as my Son returns, you shall be fully satisfy'd.
Upon this, he pulls out an old Pouch, and gives me 160 Portugal Moidores in
Gold; and giving me the Writing of his Title to the Ship, which his Son was gone to
the Brasils in, of which he was a Quarter Part Owner, and his Son another, he puts them both into my Hands for Security of the rest.
I was too much mov'd with the Honesty and Kindness of the poor Man, to be able to
bear this; and remembring what he had done for me, how he had taken me up at Sea, and
how generously he had used me on all Occasions, and particularly, how sincere a
Friend he was now to me, I could hardly refrain Weeping at what he said to me:
Therefore, first I asked him, if his Circumstances admitted him to spare so much
Money at that time, and if it would not straiten him? He
told me, he could not say but it might straiten him a little
Oxford English Dictionary
Every thing the good Man said was full of Affection, and I
could hardly refrain from Tears while he spoke: In short, I took 100 of the Moidores, and call'd for a Pen and Ink to give him a Receipt
for them; then I returned him the rest, and told him, If ever I had Possession of the
Plantation, I would return the other to him also, as indeed I afterwards did; and that as to the Bill of Sale of
When this was pass'd, the old Man began to ask me, If he should put me into a Method
to make my Claim to my Plantation? I told him, I thought to go over to it my self: He
said, I might do so if I pleas'd; but that if I did not, there were Ways enough to secure my Right, and immediately to appropriate the Profits to my Use; and as there were Ships in
the River of Lisbon, just ready to go away to Brasil, he made me
enter my Name in a Publick Register, with his Affidavit, affirming upon Oath that I
was alive, and that I was the same Person who took up the Land for the Planting the
said Plantation at first.
This being regularly attested by a Notary, and a Procuration affix'd, he directed me to send it with a Letter of his Writing, to a Merchant of his Acquaintance at the Place, and then propos'd my staying with him till an Account came of the Return.
Never any Thing was more honourable, than the Proceedings upon this Procuration; for in less than seven Months, I receiv'd a large Packet from the Survivors of my Trustees the Merchants, for whose Account I went to Sea, in which were the following particular Letters and Papers enclos'd.
First, There was the Account Current of the Produce of my Farm, or
Plantation, from the Year when their Fathers had ballanc'd with my old Portugal Captain, being for six Years; the Ballance
appear'd to be 1174 Moidores in my Favour.
Secondly, There was the Account of four Years more while they kept the
Effects in their Hands, before the Government claim'd the Administration, as being
the Effects of a Person not to be found, which they call'd Civil Death; and
the Ballance of this, the Value of the Plantation encreasing, amounted to Cruisadoes, which made 3241 Moidores.
Thirdly, There was the Prior of the Augustin's Account, who had
receiv'd the Profits for above fourteen Years; but not being to account for what was
dispos'd to the Hospital, very honestly declar'd he had 872
Moidores not distributed, which he acknowledged to my Account, as to the King's Part,
that refunded nothing.
There was a Letter of my Partner's, congratulating me very
affectionately upon my being alive, giving me an Account how the Estate was improv'd, and what it produced a Year, with a Particular of the Number of Squares or Acres that it contained;
how planted, how many Slaves there were upon it, and making two and twenty Crosses
for Blessings, told me he had said so many Ave Marias to thank the Blessed
Virgin that I was alive; inviting me very passionately to come over and take
Possession of my own; and in the mean time to give him Orders to whom he should
deliver my Effects, if I did not come my self; concluding with a hearty Tender of his Friendship, and that of
his Family, and sent me, as a Present, seven fine Leopard's Skins, which he had it
seems received from Africa, by some other Ship which he had sent thither,
and who it seems had made a better Voyage than I: He sent me
also five Chests of excellent Sweet-meats, and an hundred Pieces of Gold uncoin'd,
not quite so large as Moidores.
I might well say, now indeed, That the latter End of Job was better than the
Beginning. It is impossible to express here the Flutterings of my very Heart, when I
look'd over these Letters, and especially when I found all my Wealth about me; for as
the Brasil Ships come all in Fleets, the same Ships which brought my
Letters, brought my Goods; and the Effects were safe in the River before the Letters came to my Hand. In a Word, I turned pale, and grew sick;
and had not the old Man run and fetch'd me a Cordial, I believe the sudden Surprize
of Joy had overset Nature, and I
had
Oxford English Dictionary
Nay after that, I continu'd very ill, and was so some Hours, 'till a Physician being
sent for, and something of the real Cause of my Illness being known, he order'd me to
be let Blood; after which, I had Relief, and grew well: But I verily believe, if it
had not been eas'd by a Vent given in that
Manner, to the Spirits
I was now Master, all on a Sudden, of above 5000 l. Sterling in Money, and
had an Estate, as I might well call it, in the Brasils, of above a thousand
Pounds a Year, as sure as an Estate of Lands in England: And in a Word, I
was in a Condition which I scarce knew how to understand, or how to compose my self,
for the Enjoyment of it.
The first thing I did, was to recompense my original
Benefactor, my good old Captain, who had been first charitable to me in my Distress,
kind to me in my Beginning, and honest to me at the End: I shew'd him all that was
sent me, I
I was now to consider which Way to steer my Course next; and what to do with the Estate that Providence had thus put into my Hands; and indeed I had more Care upon my Head now, than I had in my silent State of Life in the Island, where I wanted nothing but what I had, and had nothing but what I wanted: Whereas I had now a great Charge upon me, and my Business was how to secure it. I had ne'er a Cave now to hide my Money in, or a Place where it might lye without Lock or Key, 'till it grew mouldy and tarnish'd before any Body would meddle with it: On the contrary, I knew not where to put it, or who to trust with it. My old Patron, the Captain, indeed was honest, and that was the only Refuge I had.
In the next Place, my Interest in the Brasils seem'd to summon me thither,
but now I could not tell, how to think of going thither, 'till I had England my self, and take my Effects with me.
It was some Months however before I resolved upon this; and therefore, as I had
rewarded the old Captain fully, and to his Satisfaction, who had been my former
Benefactor, so I began to think of my poor Widow, whose Husband had been my first
Benefactor, and she, while it was in her Power, my faithful Steward and Instructor.
So the first thing I did, I got a Merchant in Lisbon to write to his
Correspondent in London, not only to pay a Bill, but to go find her out, and
carry her in Money, an hundred Pounds from me, and to talk
with her, and comfort her in her Poverty, by telling her she
should, if I liv'd, have a further Supply: At the same time
I sent my two Sisters in the Country, each of them an Hundred Pounds, they being,
though not in Want, yet not in very good Circumstances; one having been marry'd, and
left a Widow; and the other having a Husband not so kind to
her as he should be.
But among all my Relations, or Acquaintances, I could not yet pitch upon one, to whom
I durst commit the Gross of my Stock, that I might go away
to the Brasils, and leave things safe behind me; and this greatly perplex'd
me.
I had once a Mind to have gone to the Brasils, and have settled my self
there; for I was, as it were, naturaliz'd to the Place; but I had some little Scruple, in my Mind about Religion, which insensibly drew me back, of which I shall say Oxford English Dictionary
But, as I have said, this was not the main thing that kept me from going to the
Brasils, but that really I did not know with
whom to leave my Effects behind me; so I resolv'd at last to go to England
with it, where, if I arrived, I concluded I should make some Acquaintance, or find
some Relations that would be faithful to me; and according I prepar'd to go for England with all my Wealth.
In order to prepare things for my going Home, I first, the Brasil Fleet
being just going away, resolved to give Answers suitable to the just and faithful
Account of things I had from thence; and first to the
Prior of St. Augustine I wrote a Letter full of Thanks for their just
Dealings, and the Offer of the 872 Moidores, which was indisposed of, which I desir'd might be given 500 to the Monastery, and 372 to the
Poor, as the Prior should direct, desiring the good
Padres Prayers for me, and the like.
I wrote next a Letter of Thanks to my two Trustees, with all the Acknowledgment that so much Justice and Honesty call'd for; as for sending them any Present, they were far above having any Occasion of it.
Lastly, I wrote to my Partner, acknowledging his Industry in the Improving
the Plantation, and his Integrity in encreasing the Stock of the Works, giving him
Instructions for his future Government Italian Silks for his Wife, and two
Daughters, for such the Captain's Son inform'd me he had; with two Pieces of fine
English broad Cloath, the best I could get in Lisbon, five
Pieces of black Bays
Flanders Lace of a good Value.
Having thus settled my Affairs, sold my Cargoe, and turn'd
all my Effects into good Bills of Exchange, my next Difficulty was, which Way to go
to England: I had been accustom'd enough to the Sea, and yet I had a strange
Aversion to going to England by Sea at that time; and though I could give no
Reason for it, yet the Difficulty encreas'd upon me so much, that though I had once
shipp'd my Baggage, in order to go, yet I alter'd my Mind, and that not once, but two
or three times.
It is true, I had been very unfortunate by Sea, and this might be some of the Reason:
But let no Man slight the strong Impulses of his own Thoughts in Cases of such
Moment: Two of the Ships which I had singl'd out to go in, I mean, more particularly
singl'd out than any other, that is to say, so as in one of them to put my things on
Board, and in the other to have agreed with the Captain; I say, two of these Ships
miscarry'd, viz. One was taken by the
Algerine
Start near
Torbay
Oxford English Dictionary
Groyne
Biscay
Rochell
Oxford English Dictionary
Paris, and so to
Calais and Dover; or to go up to Madrid, and so all the
Way by Land thro' France.
In a Word, I was so prepossess'd against my goingt by Sea at all, except from
Calais to Dover, that I resolv'd to travel all the Way by Land;
which as I was not in Haste, and did not value the Charge, was by much the pleasanter
Way; and to make it more so, my old Captain brought an English Gentleman, the Son of a Merchant in Lisbon, who was willing
to travel with me: After which, we pick'd up two more English Merchants
also, and two young Portuguese Gentlemen, the last going to Paris
only; so that we were in all six of us, and five Servants; the two Merchants and the
two Portuguese, contenting themselves with one Servant, between two, to save the Charge; and as for me, I got an English
Sailor to travel with me as a Servant, besides my Man Friday, who was too
much a Stranger to be capable of supplying the Place of a Servant on the Road.
In this Manner I set out from Lisbon; and our Company being all very well
mounted and armed, we made a little Troop, whereof they did me the Honour to call me
Captain, as well because I was the oldest Man, as because I had two Servants, and indeed was the Original
As I have troubled you with none of my Sea-Journals, so I shall trouble you now with
none of my Land-Journal: But some Adventures that happen'd
When we came to Madrid, we being all of us Strangers to Spain, were
willing to stay some time to see the Court of Spain, and to see what was
worth observing; but it being the latter Part of the Summer, we hasten'd away, and
set out from Madrid about the Middle of October: But when we came
to the Edge of Navarre, we were alarm'd at several Towns on the Way, with an
Account, that so much Snow was fallen on the French Side of the Mountains,
that several Travellers were obliged to come back to
Pampeluna
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When we came to Pampeluna it self, we found it so indeed; and to me that had
been always used to a hot Climate, and indeed to Countries where we could scarce bear
any Cloaths on, the Cold was insufferable; nor indeed was it more painful than it was
surprising, to come but ten Days before out of the old
Castile where the Weather was not only warm but very hot, and immediately to feel a
Wind from the Pyrenean Mountains, so very keen, so
severely cold, as to be intollerable, and to endanger benumbing and perishing of our
Fingers and Toes.
Poor Friday was really frighted when he saw the Mountains all cover'd with
Snow, and felt cold Weather, which he had never seen or felt before in his Life.
To mend the Matter, when we came to Pampeluna, it
continued snowing with so much Violence, and so long, that
the People said, Winter was come before its time, and the Roads which were difficult
before, were now quite impassable: For in a Word, the Snow lay in some Places too
thick for us to travel; and being not hard frozen, as Pampeluna; when seeing the Winter coming on, and no Likelihood of its being better; for it was the severest Winter all
over Europe that had been known in the Memory of Man. I propos'd that we
should all go away to
Fonterabia
Bourdeaux
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But while we were considering this, there came in four French Gentlemen, who
having been stopp'd on the French Side of the Passes, as we were on the
Spanish, had found out a Guide, who traversing
the Country near the Head of
Languedoc
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We sent for this Guide, who told us, he would undertake to carry us the same Way with
no Hazard from the Snow, provided we were armed sufficiently
to protect our selves from wild Beasts; for he said, upon these great Snows, it was
frequent for some Wolves to show themselves at the Foot
of the Mountains, being made ravenous for Want of Food, the Ground being covered with
Snow: We told him, we were well enough prepar'd for such Creatures as they were, if
he would ensure us from a Kind of two-legged
Wolves
French Side of the
Mountains
He satisfy'd us there was no Danger of that kind in the Way that we were to go; so we
readily agreed to follow him, as did also twelve other Gentlemen, French, some Spanish; who,
as I said, had attempted to go, and were oblig'd to come back again.
Accordingly, we all set out from Pampeluna, with our Guide, on the fifteenth
of November; and indeed, I was surpriz'd, when
instead of going forward, he came directly back with us, on
the same Road that we came from Madrid, above twenty Miles; when being
pass'd two Rivers, and come into the plain Country, we found our selves in a warm
Climate again, where the Country was pleasant, and no Snow
to be seen; but on a sudden, turning to his left, he approach'd the Mountains another
Way; and though it is true, the Hills and Precipices look'd dreadful, yet he made so
many Tours
Oxford English Dictionary
Languedoc and
Gascoign, all green and flourishing; tho' indeed it was at a great
Distance, and we had some rough Way to pass yet.
We were a little uneasy however, when we found it snow'd one whole Day, and a Night,
so fast, that we could not travel; but he bid us be easy, we should soon be past it
all: We found indeed, that we began to descend every Day, and to come more
North than before; and so depending upon our Guide, we went on.
It was about two Hours before Night, when our Guide being something before us, and
not just in Sight, out rushed three monstrous Wolves, and after them a Bear, out of a
hollow Way, adjoyning to a thick Wood; two of the Wolves
flew upon the Guide, and had he been half a Mile before us,
he had been devour'd indeed, before we could Friday being
next me, I bid him ride up, and see what was the Matter; as soon as Friday
came in Sight of the Man, he hollow'd as loud as t'other, O Master! O Master! But like a bold Fellow, rode directly up to the poor Man, and with his Pistol shot the Wolf
that attack'd him into the Head.
It was happy for the poor Man, that it was my Man Friday; for he having been
us'd to that kind of Creature in his Country, had no Fear upon him; but went close up
to him, and shot him as above; whereas any of us, would have fir'd at a farther
Distance, and have perhaps either miss'd the Wolf, or endanger'd shooting the
Man.
But it was enough to have terrify'd a bolder Man than I, and indeed it alarm'd all
our Company, when with the Noise of Friday's
Pistol, we heard on both Sides the dismallest Howling of Wolves, and the Noise
redoubled by the Eccho of the Mountains, that it was to us as if there had been a
prodigious Multitude of them; and perhaps indeed there was not such a Few, as that we
had no cause of Apprehensions.
However, as Friday had kill'd this Wolf, the other
that had fastned upon the Horse, left him immediately, and
fled; having happily fastned upon his Head, where the Bosses of the Bridle had stuck
in his Teeth; so that he had not done him much Hurt: The Man indeed was most Hurt;
for the raging Creature had bit him twice, once on the Arm, and the other Time a
little above his Knee; and he was just as it were tumbling down by the Friday came up
and shot the Wolf.
It is easy to suppose, that at the Noise of Friday's Pistol, we all mended our Pace, and rid up as fast as the Way (which was
very difficult) would give us leave, to see what was the Matter; as soon as we came
clear of the Trees, which blinded us before, we saw clearly what had been the Case,
and how Friday had disengag'd the poor Guide; though we did not presently
discern what kind of Creature it was he had kill'd.
But never was a Fight manag'd so hardily, and in such a surprizing Manner, as that
which follow'd between Friday and the Bear, which gave us all (though at
first we were surpriz'd and afraid for him) the greatest Diversion imaginable: As the
Bear is a heavy, clumsey Creature, and does not gallop as the Wolf does, who is
swift, and light; so he has two particular Qualities, which generally are the Rule of
his Actions; First, As to Men, who are not his proper Prey; I say, not his proper
Prey; because tho' I cannot say what excessive Hunger might do, which was now their
Case, the Ground being all cover'd with Snow; but as to Men, he does not usually attempt them, unless they first attack him: On the
contrary, if you meet him in the Woods, if you don't meddle with him, he won't meddle
with you; but then you must take Care to be very Civil to him, and give him the Road;
for he is a very nice Gentleman, he won't go a Step out of his Way for a Prince; nay,
if you are really afraid, your best way is to look another Way, and keep going on;
for sometimes if you stop, and stand still, and look steadily at him, he takes it for
an Affront; but if you throw or toss any Thing at him, and it hits him, though it
were but a bit of a Stick, as big as your Finger, he takes it for an Affront, and
sets all
My Man Friday had deliver'd our Guide, and when we came up to him, he was
helping him off from his Horse; for the Man was both hurt and frighted, and indeed,
the last more than the first; when on the sudden, we spy'd the Bear come out of the
Wood, and a vast monstrous One it was, the biggest by far that ever I saw: We were
all a little surpriz'd, when we saw him; but when Friday saw him, it was
easy to see Joy and Courage in the Fellow's Countenance; O! O! O! Says
Friday, three Times, pointing to him; O Master! You give me
te Leave! Me shakee te Hand with him: Me make you good laugh.
I was surpriz'd to see the Fellow so pleas'd; You Fool you, says I, he
will eat you up! Eatee me up! Eatee me up! Says Friday, twice over
again; Me eatee him up; me makee you good laugh: You all stay here, me show you
good laugh; so down he sits, and gets his Boots off in a Moment, and put on a
Pair of Pumps (as we call the flat Shoes they wear) and which he had in his Pocket,
gives my other Servant his Horse, and with his Gun away he flew swift like the
Wind.
The Bear was walking softly on, and offer'd to meddle with no Body, till
Friday coming pretty near, calls to him, as if the Bear could understand
him; Hark ye, hark ye, says Friday, me speakee wit you: We follow'd
at a Distance; for now being come down on the Gascoign side of the Mountains, we were entred a vast great Forest, where the Country
was plain, and pretty open, though many Trees in it scatter'd here and there.
Friday, who had as we say, the Heels of the Bear, came up with him quickly,
and takes up a great Stone, and throws at him, and hit him just on the Head; but did
him no more harm, than if he had thrown it against a Wall; but it answer'd
Friday's End; for the Rogue was so void of Fear, that he did it purely to
make the Bear follow him, and show us some Laugh as he call'd it.
As soon as the Bear felt the Stone, and saw him, he turns about, and comes after him,
taking Devilish long Strides, and shuffling along at a
strange Rate, so as would have put a Horse to a middling Gallop; away runs Friday, and takes his Course, as if he run towards us for
Help; so we all resolv'd to fire at once upon the Bear, and deliver my Man; though I
was angry at him heartily, for bringing the Bear back upon us, when he was going
about his own Business another Way; and especially I was angry that he had turn'd the
Bear upon us, and then run away; and I call'd out, You Dog, said I, is
this your making us laugh? Come away, and take your Horse, that we may shoot the
Creature ; he hears me, and crys out, No shoot, no shoot, stand still,
you get much Laugh. And as the nimble Creature run two Foot for the Beast's
one, he turn'd on a sudden, on one side of us, and seeing a great Oak-Tree, fit for
his Purpose, he beckon'd to us to follow, and doubling his
Pace, he gets nimbly up the Tree, laying his Gun down upon the Ground, at about five
or six Yards from the Bottom of the Tree.
The Bear soon came to the Tree, and we follow'd at a
Distance; the first Thing he did, he stopp'd at the Gun, smelt to it, but let it lye,
and up he scrambles into the Tree, climbing like a Cat, though so monstrously heavy:
I was amaz'd at the Folly, as I thought it, of my Man, and could not for my Life see
any Thing to laugh at yet, till seeing
When we came to the Tree, there was Friday got out to the small End of a
large Limb of the Tree, and the Bear got about half way to him; as soon as the Bear
got out to that part where the Limb of the Tree was weaker, Ha, says he to
us, now you see me teachee the Bear dance; so he falls a jumping and shaking
the Bough, at which the Bear began to totter, but stood still, and begun to look
behind him, to see how he should get back; then indeed we did laugh heartily: But
Friday had not done with him by a great deal; when he sees him stand
still, he calls out to him again, as if he had suppos'd the Bear could speak
English; What you no come farther, pray you come farther; so he left
jumping and shaking the Trees; and the Bear, just as if
he had understood what he said, did come a little further, then he fell a jumping
again, and the Bear stopp'd again.
We thought now was a good time to knock him on the Head, and call'd to
Friday to stand still, and we would shoot the Bear; but he cry'd out
earnestly, O pray! O pray! No shoot, me shoot, by and then; he would have
said, By and by: However, to shorten the Story, Friday danc'd so
much, and the Bear stood so ticklish, that we had laughing enough indeed, but still
could not imagine what the Fellow would do; for first we thought he depended upon shaking the Bear off; and we found the Bear was
too cunning for that too; for he would not go out far enough to be thrown down, but
clings fast with his great broad Claws and Feet, so that we could not imagine what
would be the End of it, and where the Jest would be at last.
Friday put us out of doubt
quickly; for seeing the Bear cling fast to the Bough, and that he would not be
perswaded to come any farther; Well, well, says Friday, you no come
farther, me go, me go; you no come to me, me go come to you; and upon this,
he goes out to the smallest End of the Bough, where it would bend with his Weight,
and gently lets himself down by it, sliding down the Bough, till he came near enough
to jump down on his Feet, and away he run to his Gun, takes it up, and stands
still.
Well, said I to him Friday, What will you do now? Why don't you shoot him?
No shoot, says Friday, no yet, me shoot now, me no kill; me stay,
give you one more laugh; and indeed so he did, as you will see presently; for
when the Bear see his Enemy gone, he comes back from the
Bough where he stood; but did it mighty leisurely, looking behind him every Step, and
coming backward till he got into the Body of the Tree; then with the same hinder End
foremost, he came down the Tree, grasping it with his Claws, and moving one Foot at a
Time, very leisurely; at this Juncture, and just before he could set his hind Feet
upon the Ground, Friday stept up close to him, clapt the Muzzle of his Piece
into his Ear, and shot him dead as a Stone.
Then the Rogue turn'd about, to see if we did not laugh, and when he saw we were
pleas'd by our Looks, he falls a laughing himself very loud; so we kill Bear in
my Country, says Friday; so you kill them, says I, Why you have no
Guns: No, says he, no Gun, but shoot, great much long Arrow.
This was indeed a good Diversion to us; but we were still in a wild Place, and our
Guide very much hurt, and what to do we hardly knew; the Howling of Wolves run much
in my Head; and indeed, Africa,
These things, and the Approach of Night, called us off, or
else, as Friday would have had us, we should certainly have taken the Skin
of this monstrous Creature off, which was worth saving; but we had three Leagues to
go, and our Guide hasten'd us, so we left him, and went forward on our Journey.
The Ground was still cover'd with Snow, tho' not so deep and dangerous as on the Mountains, and the ravenous Creatures, as we heard afterwards, were come down into the Forest and plain Country, press'd by Hunger to seek for Food; and had done a great deal of Mischief in the Villages, where they surpriz'd the Country People, kill'd a great many of their Sheep and Horses, and some People too.
We had one dangerous Place to pass, which our Guide told us, if there were any more Wolves in the Country, we should find them there; and this was in a small Plain, surrounded with Woods on every Side, and a long narrow Defile or Lane, which we were to pass to get through the Wood, and then we should come to the Village where we were to lodge.
It was within half an Hour of Sun-set when we entred the first Wood; and a little
after Sun-set, when we came into the Plain, we met with nothing in the first Wood, except, that in a little Plain within the Wood, which was
not above two Furlongs over, we saw five great Wolves cross the Road, full Speed one
after another, as if they had been in Chase of some Prey, and had it in View,
Upon this our Guide, who by the Way was a wretched faint-hearted Fellow, bid us keep in a ready Posture; for he believed there were more Wolves a coming.
We kept our Arms ready, and our Eyes about us, but we saw no more Wolves, 'till we came thro' that Wood, which was near half a League, and entred the Plain; as soon as we came into the Plain, we had Occasion enough to look about us: The first Object we met with, was a dead Horse; that is to say, a poor Horse which the Wolves had kill'd, and at least a Dozen of them at Work; we could not say eating of him, but picking of his Bones rather; for they had eaten up all the Flesh before.
We did not think fit to disturb them at their Feast, neither did they take much
Notice of us: Friday would have let fly at them, but I would not suffer him
by any Means; for I found we were like to have more Business upon our Hands than we
were aware of. We were not gone half over the Plain, but we began to hear the Wolves
howl in the Wood on our Left, in a frightful Manner, and
presently after we saw about a hundred coming on directly towards us, all in a Body,
and most of them in a Line, as regularly as an Army drawn up by experienc'd Officers.
I scarce knew in what Manner to receive them; but found to draw our selves in a close
Line was the only Way: so we form'd in a Moment: But that we might not have too much
Interval, I order'd, that only every other Man should fire,
and that the others who had not fir'd should stand ready to
give them a second Volley immediately, if they continued to advance upon us, and that
then Oxford English Dictionary
This gave us leisure to charge our Pieces again, and that we might loose no Time, we kept going; but we had but little more than loaded our Fusees, and put our selves into a Readiness, when we heard a terrible Noise in the same Wood, on our Left, only that it was farther onward the same Way we were to go.
The Night was coming on, and the Light began to be dusky,
which made it worse on our Side; but the Noise encreasing, we could easily perceive
that it was the Howling and Yelling of those hellish
Creatures; and on a sudden, we perceiv'd 2 or 3 Troops of Wolves, one on our Left,
one behind us, and one on our Front; so that we seem'd to be surrounded with 'em;
however, as they did not fall upon us, we kept our Way forward, as fast as
On a sudden, at another opening of the Wood, we heard the Noise of a Gun; and looking that Way, out rush'd a Horse, with a Saddle, and a Bridle on him, flying like the Wind, and sixteen or seventeen Wolves after him, full Speed; indeed, the Horse had the Heels of them; but as we suppos'd that he could not hold it at that rate, we doubted not but they would get up with him at last, and no question but they did.
But here we had a most horrible Sight; for riding up to the Entrance where the Horse came out, we found the Carcass of another Horse, and of two Men, devour'd by the ravenous Creatures, and one of the Men was no doubt the same who we heard fir'd the Gun; for there lay a Gun just by him, fir'd off; but as to the Man, his Head, and the upper Part of his Body was eaten up.
This fill'd us with Horror, and we knew not what Course to take, but the Creatures
resolv'd us soon; for they gather'd about us presently, in hopes of Prey; and I
verily believe there were three hundred of them: It happen'd
very much to our Advantage, that at the Entrance into the
Wood, but a little Way from it, there lay some large Timber Trees, which had been cut
down the Summer before, and I suppose lay there for Carriage
Oxford English Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary
We did so, and it was well we did; for never was a more furious Charge than the Creatures made upon us in the Place; they came on us with a growling kind of a Noise (and mounted the Piece of Timber, which as I said, was our Breast Work) as if they were only rushing upon their Prey; and this Fury of theirs, it seems, was principally occasion'd by their seeing our Horses behind us, which was the Prey they aim'd at: I order'd our Men to fire as before, every other Man; and they took their Aim so sure, that indeed they kill'd several of the Wolves at the first Volley; but there was a Necessity to keep a continual Firing; for they came on like Devils, those behind pushing on those before.
When we had fir'd our second Volley of our Fusees, we thought they stopp'd a little, and I hop'd they would have gone off; but it was but a Moment; for others came forward again; so we fir'd two Volleys of our Pistols, and I believe in these four Firings, we had kill'd seventeen or eighteen of them, and lam'd twice as many; yet they came on again.
I was loath to spend our last Shot too hastily; so I call'd my Servant, not my Man
Friday, for he was better employ'd; for with the greatest Dexterity
imaginable, he had charg'd my Fusee, and his own, while we were engag'd; but as I
said, I call'd my other Man, and giving him a Horn of Powder, I bad him lay a Train,
all along the Piece of Timber, and let it be a large Train;
he did so, and had but just Time to get away, when the Wolves came up to it, and some
were got up upon it; when I snapping an uncharg'd Pistol, close to the Powder,
Upon which I order'd our last Pistol to be fir'd off in one Volley, and after that we gave a Shout; upon this, the Wolves turn'd Tail, and we sally'd immediately upon near twenty lame Ones, who we found struggling on the Ground, and fell a cutting them with our Swords, which answer'd our Expectation; for the Crying and Howling they made, was better understood by their Fellows, so that they all fled and left us.
We had, first and last, kill'd about three Score of them; and had it been Day-Light,
we had
Oxford English Dictionary
The next Morning our Guide was so ill, and his Limbs swell'd with the rankling of his
two Wounds, that he could go no farther; so we were oblig'd to Tholouse,
where we found a warm Climate, a fruitful pleasant Country,
and no Snow, no Wolves, or any Thing like them; but when we told our Story at
Tholouse, they told us it was nothing but what was ordinary in the great
Forest at the Foot of the Mountains, especially when the
Snow lay on the Ground: But they enquir'd much what kind of a Guide we had gotten, that would venture to bring us that Way in such a
severe Season; and told us, it was very
much
Oxford English Dictionary
For my Part, I was never so sensible of Danger in my Life; for seeing above three
hundred Devils come roaring and open mouth'd to devour us, and having nothing to
shelter us, or retreat to, I gave my self over for lost; and as it was. I believe, I
I have nothing uncommon to take Notice of, in my Passage through France;
nothing but what other Travellers have given an Account of,
with much more Advantage than I can. I travell'd from Bourdeaux to
Paris, and without any considerable Stay, came to Callais, and
landed safe at Dover, the fourteenth of January, after having had a
severely cold Season to travel in.
I was now come to the Center of my Travels, and had in a little Time all my new discover'd Estate safe about me, the Bills of Exchange which I brought with me having been very currently paid.
My principal Guide, and Privy Councellor, was my good antient Widow, who in Gratitude for the Money I had sent her, thought no Pains too much, or Care too great, to employ for me; and I trusted her so entirely with every Thing, that I was perfectly easy as to the Security of my Effects; and indeed, I was very happy from my Beginning, and now to the End, in the unspotted Integrity of this good Gentlewoman.
And now I began to think of leaving my Effects with this Woman, and setting out for
Lisbon, and so to the Brasils; but now another Scruple came in
my Way, and that was Religion; for as I had entertain'd some
Doubts about the Roman Religion, even while I was abroad, especially in my
State of Solitude; so I knew there was no going to the
Brasils
Oxford English Dictionary
Roman Catholick Religion, without any Reserve;
unless on the other hand, I resolv'd to be a Sacrifice to my Principles, be a Martyr
for Religion, and die in the Inquisition; so
To this Purpose I wrote to my old Friend at Lisbon, who in Return gave me
Notice, that he could easily dispose of it there: But that if I thought fit to give
him Leave to offer it in my Name to the two Merchants, the Survivors of my Trustees,
who liv'd in the Brasils, who must fully understand the Value of it, who
liv'd just upon the Spot, and who I knew were very rich; so that he believ'd they
would be fond of buying it; he did not doubt, but I should make 4 or 5000 Pieces of
Eight, the more of it.
Accordingly I agreed, gave him Order to offer it to them, and he did so; and in about
8 Months more, the Ship being then return'd, he sent me Account, that they had
accepted the Offer, and had remitted 33000 Pieces of Eight, to a Correspondent of theirs at Lisbon, to pay for it.
In Return, I sign'd the Instrument of Sale in the Form which they sent from
Lisbon, and sent it to my old Man, who sent me Bills of Exchange for
328000 Pieces of Eight to me, for the Estate; reserving the
Payment of 100 Moidores a Year to him, the old Man, during his Life, and 50 Moidores afterwards to his Son for his Life, which I had
promised them, which the Plantation was to make good as a Rent-Charge. And thus I
have given the first Part of a Life of Fortune and Adventure, a Life of Providences Checquer-Work, and of a Variety which the World will
seldom be able to show the like of: Beginning foolishly, but closing much more
happily than any Part of it ever gave me Leave so much as to hope for.
Any one would think, that in this State of complicated good
Fortune, I was past running any more Hazards; and so indeed I had been, if other Brasils, yet I could not keep the Country out of
my Head, and had a great Mind to be upon the Wing again, especially I could not
resist the strong Inclination I had to see my Island, and to know if the poor
Spaniards were in Being there, and how the Rogues I left there had used
them.
My true Friend, the Widow, earnestly diswaded me from it, and so far prevail'd with me, that for almost seven Years she prevented my running Abroad; during which time, I took my two Nephews, the Children of one of my Sisters into my Care: The eldest having something of his own, I bred up as a Gentleman, and gave him a Settlement of some Addition to his Estate, after my Decease; the other I put out to a Captain of a Ship; and after five Years, finding him a sensible bold enterprising young Fellow, I put him into a good Ship, and sent him to Sea: And this young Fellow afterwards drew me in, as old as I was, to farther Adventures my self.
In the mean time, I in Part settled my self here; for first of all I marry'd, and
that not either to my Disadvantage or Dissatisfaction, and had three Children, two
Sons and one Daughter: But my Wife dying, and my Nephew coming Home with good Success
from a Voyage to Spain, my Inclination to go
Abroad, and his Importunity prevailed and engag'd me to go in his Ship, as a private
Trader to the East Indies: This was in the Year 1694.
In this Voyage I visited my new Collony in the Island, saw my Successors the
Spaniards, had the whole Story of their Lives, and of the Villains I left
there; how at first they insulted the poor Spaniards,
Spaniards
were oblig'd to use Violence with them, how they were subjected to the
Spaniards, how honestly the Spaniards used them; a History, if
it were entred into, as full of Variety and wonderful Accidents, as my own Part,
particularly also as to their Battles with the Carribeans, who landed
several times upon the Island, and as to the Improvement they made upon the Island it
self, and how five of them made an Attempt upon the main Land, and brought away
eleven Men and five Women Prisoners, by which, at my coming, I found about twenty
young Children on the Island.
Here I stay'd about 20 Days, left them Supplies of all
necessary things, and particularly of Arms, Powder, Shot, Cloaths, Tools, and two
Workmen, which I brought from England with me, viz. a Carpenter and
a Smith.
Besides this, I shar'd the Island into Parts with 'em, reserv'd to my self the Property of the whole, but gave them such Parts respectively as they agreed on; and having settled all things with them, and engaged them not to leave the Place, I left them there.
From thence I touch'd at the Brasils, from whence I sent a Bark, which I
bought there, with more People to the Island, and in it, besides other Supplies, I sent seven Women, being such as I found proper for
Service, or for Wives to such as would take them: As to the English Men, I
promis'd them to send them some Women from England, with a good Cargoe of
Necessaries, if they would apply themselves to Planting, which I afterwards perform'd. And the Fellows prov'd very honest and diligent
after they were master'd, and had their Properties set apart for them. I sent them
Brasils
But all these things, with an Account how 300 Caribbees came and invaded
them, and ruin'd their Plantations, and how they fought with that whole Number twice,
and were at first defeated, and three of them kill'd; but at last a Storm destroying
their Enemies Cannoes, they famish'd or destroy'd almost all the rest, and renew'd
and recover'd the Possession of their Plantation, and still liv'd upon the
Island.
All these things, with some very surprizing Incidents in some new Adventures of my own, for ten Years more, I may perhaps give a farther Account of hereafter.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) and Richard Steele (1672-1729) lived rich lives on their
own, but here we will briefly talk about them together as a way of introducing the
collaborative journalism for which they are now best remembered, the essay
series The Tatler (1709-1711) and The Spectator (1711-1712).
Born just a few weeks
apart, Addison and Steele knew each other from the age of thirteen, and they also
overlapped at Oxford (though they attended different colleges, Addison going to
Queen's and Magdelen and Steele to Christ Church and Merton). They crossed paths
again in London in the early part of the eighteenth century; both of them had
political and literary ambitions. By all accounts, Addison and Steele had very
different personalities. Addison had many friends and seems to have been brilliant
at getting influential people to support and help him. But his personal demeanor was
serious and he wrote ambitious poems and the century's most significant verse
tragedy,
Cato (1713), a play that is rarely staged now but was a staple of the
repertory for decades. Steele was more a journalist at heart, and his plays are all
comedies (to be sure, Addison wrote a comedy, too, but it was not very successful,
whereas Steele had several hits). And a lot of people seemed to be unable to take
Steele very seriously; he was notorious for running up big debts, and was often
mocked in the public press of the period.
Surely part of the difference between the two men and the way that they were
received by others had to do with issues of class and ethnicity. Steele was Irish,
and although he was from a respectable family in Dublin (his father was an attorney)
he did not have much of a family network in England to help him make his way in the
world. He almost certainly faced his share of the prejudice against Irish people
that many English people harbored for centuries. After his time at Oxford (which he
left without completing a degree), Steele went into the army, and did well, rising
to become a captain. He started writing poetry and drama as a side project while he
was still in the military. At some point, though, his military career stalled, and
he came to London to work in the government; he got a position at court, and took on
the job of editing the official newspaper, the London Gazette. Addison was not from
a particularly wealthy or noble family, either, but the Addisons were well-placed in
the power structure of the Church of England, the official state church. Addison's
father Lancelot was the chaplain of the English garrison at Tangier, in Morocco, and
would later become the Dean of the cathedral at Lichfield. One of Addison's brothers
became the English governor of Madras, in India. Joseph Addison seems to have been
identified early on as someone who would have a significant public career. After
finishing his degree at Oxford, he was sent on a grand tour of the continent at
government expense, and would go on to be a member of Parliament (he was essentially
given a seat there; he did not have to campaign) and a cabinet minister.
Steele left London Gazette and started The Tatler in 1709. This journal, which was
published three times a week, was something new and innovative. Rather than focusing
on the news, it offered essays on a variety of topics: theater reviews, essays on
clothing and manners, and so on. It was fast-paced, entertaining, and in an age when
much print publication was bitterly political, was non-partisan. The Tatler was
immediately popular. Steele asked Addison and other friends to join him (it was
surely hard to come up with enough material on his own), and Addison contributed
several dozen essays. The Tatler folded at the start of 1711, but was almost
immediately followed by The Spectator. Here Addison took the lead, contributing a
larger number of essays than Steele and, most scholars agree, setting the tone for
the new journal. The Spectator, which was published every day except Sunday, ran 555
issues, until finally running out of steam.
Both journals were widely read in their first publication, and perhaps even more so
over the course of the next two centuries when they were collected together and
bound up as book-length volumes. A set of The Tatlers and The Spectators was
something that every middle-class household with aspirations to looking like its
members took literature seriously would want to have. These essays were published in
that kind of format scores of times in the English-speaking world, their essays
often being offered to students as examples of clear, vigorous English prose; they
were also translated into most of the European languages. In our time, these essays
have become newly relevant as having inaugurated what the sociologist Jürgen
Habermas dubbed "the bourgeois public sphere," a domain of society separate from the
state or the royal courts where middle class people came together to debate social
issues. Even more recently, these short, comparatively informal essays, published
frequently, have been compared to blogging. Well, maybe. Whatever the case, the
early eighteenth-century journalism of Joseph Addison and Richard Steele remains an
entertaining and valuable look into the attitudes, tastes, and styles of their period.
At top: Joseph Addison; below, Richard Steele. Both of these portraits were painted by Godfrey Kneller, as part of a series he did around 1710 of portraits of members of the "Kit-Kat Club," a group of Whig politicians who met for drinking and sociability. Both portraits are now in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753-1781) became the first
African-American woman to publish a volume of her own poetry when her book Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was published
in Boston in 1773. She was born in west Africa and was kidnapped by slave traders
and brought by ship to Boston in 1761; she was believed to be seven or eight years
old, but we know almost nothing else about her childhood in Africa or her family
there. The slave ship that carried her was called the Phillis, and she was given that name when she was purchased by the Wheatleys,
a well-off and prominent Boston family. John Wheatley was originally a tailor who
branched out into a substantial business in wholesaling, shipping, and
money-lending; his wife Susanna became an active supporter of Methodist and
Presbyterian missionaries who came from England to preach in the colonies. When they
purchased Phillis, the Wheatleys had eighteen-year-old twins, Nathaniel and Mary,
and several other enslaved men and women working in their household.
The Wheatleys seem quickly to have recognized Phillis's precocious talents with language, and taught her to read English, almost certainly starting with the King James translation of the Bible. Before long, however, she was reading the works of English poets like Alexander Pope and John Milton, as well as English translations of classical poets like Homer, Virgil, and Ovid. John Wheatley testified that within sixteen months of her arrival, Phillis was able to read even the most difficult parts of the Bible, which is extraordinary for any nine-year-old and pretty much unprecedented for enslaved African-Americans in the eighteenth century, most of whom were never taught to read by their masters. White Americans generally feared teaching the people they claimed ownership over how to read and write lest they use those tools to work against the system that kept them in bondage, and in many places it was illegal to teach enslaved people to read. Phillis began publishing poems in New England newspapers at the age of fourteen, and continued to publish occasional poetry (that is, poems on particular current occasions or events) in newspapers over the next several years. She wrote poems of consolation addressed to people who had lost loved ones, but also poems addressing public events like the Boston Massacre in 1773.
Wheatley had a breakthrough of sorts when she published her elegaic poem "On Death of
George Whitefield" in pamphlet form in October 1770. Whitefield, the most famous
preacher of the day, had preached several times in August 1770 at the Old South
Church in Boston (Wheatley may have heard him then; the Wheatley family certainly
knew him personally), but died unexpectedly the next month in Newburyport,
Massachussetts, about 35 miles north of Boston, and was buried there. Wheatley's
poem on Whitefield was widely sold in New England, and then republished in London to
great acclaim. The Wheatleys sought subscribers for a volume of her poetry to be
published in Boston, but they do not seem to have attracted enough of them to make
the venture financially viable (why they did not subsidize it themselves is unknown;
they certainly could have afforded to). They turned to Archibald Bell, a London
publisher of religious texts, who was able to gain the patronage of Selina, the
Countess of Huntington. She had been George Whitefield's patron and was a prominent
supporter of Methodist causes in England. The Countess helped subsidize the
publication of Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and
Moral in 1773, which Wheatley in turn dedicated to her. Phillis Wheatley
went to London (accompanied by Nathaniel Wheatley and traveling on the Wheatleys'
own ship) to supervise the printing and publication of her book, and was treated as
a celebrity, meeting aristocrats and prominent public figures (including Benjamin
Franklin, then resident in London officially as an advocate for the colony of
Pennsylvania, but serving in general as a voice for the cause of the American
colonists), and being given tours of the Tower of London and the British Museum. She
returned to Boston just before the book was published. Susanna was ill (she died in
early 1774), and Nathaniel may have prevailed upon Phillis to return to help take
care of her. But, as Vincent Caretta has suggested, Phillis may also have made a
deal here, exchanging her willingness to return to Boston for the guarantee of her
freedom. In any case, she was released from enslavement in October 1773, and
although she stayed a part of the Wheatley household until the death of John
Wheatley in 1778, she was now a free woman.
After John Wheatley's death, Phillis married John Peters, a free black man who was a grocer in Boston. She solicited subscriptions for a second volume of poetry, but with little success, and although some of the poems that would have gone into the volume were later published in newspapers, a lot of them were lost. John Peters had financial troubles and spent much time in jail for debt. He was in jail, in fact, when Phillis died of unknown causes in December 1784.
Readers immediately recognized the great skill with which Wheatley adapted
contemporary English poetic forms, such as the heroic couplet and iambic pentameter
blank verse, and classical models to topics such as her own enslavement and the
situation of the American colonies. It is not surprising to discover that many
contemporary critics had a hard time disentangling her identity as a teen-aged
African-American enslaved girl from their evaluation of the quality and significance
of her verse. Her publisher Archibald Bell insisted, it seems, that John Wheatley
have prominent Bostonians testify that the poems were indeed by Phillis and not
written by someone else, and he did so; the testimony appears at the beginning of
the published Poems. Other critics enlisted her in the
nascent abolitionist cause, using her obvious gifts as evidence for the equality of
Africans with Europeans, and proof that slavery was immoral. As scholars in recent
decades have studied and recovered her poems and letters, Phillis Wheatley's place
as one of the most important and originary voices of American literature has become
secure.
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano is
the first example in English of the slave narrative, the autobiography written by
one of the millions of persons from Africa or of African descent who were enslaved
in the Atlantic world between the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries. Equiano’s
is an extraordinary memoir, telling the author’s life story from his birth in west
Africa, in what was then known as Essaka (in what is now the nation of Nigeria), his
kidnapping, the middle passage across the Atlantic ocean in a slave ship, the
brutality of the slave system in the American colonies in the Caribbean, the
mainland of North America, and at sea. Equiano also tells the story of his life as a
free man of color; after he was finally able to purchase his freedom in 1766, he was
a merchant, a seaman, a musician, a barber, a civil servant, and, finally, a writer
who took to the pages of London newspapers to argue on behalf of his fellow
Afro-Britons before publishing this account of his life.
Equiano’s book offered the first full description of the middle passage, a description harrowing in its sensory vividness:
The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so
intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time, and
some of us had been permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air; but now
that the whole ship’s cargo were confined together, it became absolutely
pestilential. The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to
the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn
himself, almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspirations, so that the
air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and
brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died, thus falling victims
to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers. This wretched
situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become
insupportable; and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children
often fell, and were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women, and the groans
of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. Happily
perhaps for myself I was soon reduced so low here that it was thought necessary
to keep me almost always on deck; and from my extreme youth I was not put in
fetters. In this situation I expected every hour to share the fate of my
companions, some of whom were almost daily brought upon deck at the point of
death, which I began to hope would soon put an end to my miseries. Often did I
think many of the inhabitants of the deep much more happy than myself. I envied
them the freedom they enjoyed, and as often wished I could change my condition
for theirs. Every circumstance I met with served only to render my state more
painful, and heighten my apprehensions, and my opinion of the cruelty of the
whites.
Equiano’s book is both a personal story and a powerful item of testimony about the
larger system of slave-trading that supported the economic system through which
Britain developed a global empire. Spanning the transatlantic world, Equiano’s story
powerfully captures the lived experience of slavery in the eighteenth century
through the eyes of an observer with almost unbelievable resourcefulness and
resilience. The book is also interesting as a literary document. Equiano is clearly
familiar with the genre of the spiritual autobiography, the Puritan form of
self-examination and life writing that shaped works such as Defoe’s
Robinson Crusoe
, and he also cites English poets
such as John Milton and Alexander Pope, demonstrating his mastery of the canon of
great English literature. Equiano’s Interesting Narrative is
one of the most absorbing, indeed interesting first-person
stories of the entire century, a work that both narrates a remarkable set of
experiences and shrewdly shapes it through the forms available to its author to make
the case for the abolition of the slave trade.
It is important to note, however, that in the last two decades, scholars have raised
doubts about the truth of some parts of Equiano’s Interesting
Narrative. Vincent Carretta, probably the leading scholar in the United
States on Equiano’s work and life, has discovered documents such as Royal Navy
muster rolls where Equiano (who was identified for much of his adult life as
“Gustavus Vassa,” the name given to him by Michael Pascal, his first owner) is
recorded as having been born in colonial South Carolina. So too does the record of
his baptism into Christianity in 1759 at St. Margaret’s Church in London. It is
possible, then, that Equiano is misrepresenting his place of birth, perhaps because
he believed that his story would be more compelling if he were able to describe
himself as a native-born African. Other scholars have suggested that there may be
other reasons to account for the discrepancy; Equiano was not responsible for
creating these records, and there may be all sorts of reasons why the people who
were in charge of these documents, or he, might have decided not to have identified
him as having born in Africa, some of which we probably cannot reconstruct from this
distance. The question of where Equiano was born will probably remain unresolved
until better documentary evidence or new ways of understanding the evidence that we
already have become available. What no one has ever questioned is that Equiano’s Interesting Narrative is extremely accurate in its depiction
of the way that the eighteenth-century slave system worked, the horrors of the
middle passage, and the constant threats to their freedom and well-being experienced
by free people of color, particularly in the American colonies.
The publication of the Interesting Narrative was an important
event in its own right. First issued in the spring of 1789, the book was timed to
coincide with a Parliamentary initiative to end Britain’s participation in the
international slave trade. This was the goal of the first abolitionist movement, a
movement originating largely with Quakers that was adopted and secularized by a
combination of evangelical and more secular writers in the 1780s and that found its
institutional centers of gravity in the largely white Society for Effecting the
Abolition of the Slave Trade, founded in 1787, and in the Sons of Africa, a society
of free persons of African descent in Great Britain in which Equiano had a
leadership role. This generation of abolitionists focused on ending the slave trade
rather than for the ending of slavery as an institution and the emancipation of all
enslaved people in large part because they believed it to be unviable politically.
Rather, they focused on ending the slave trade, arguing that if slave owners were
unable to purchase new slaves kidnapped and transported from Africa, they would be
forced to be more benevolent to their own slaves, and the institution would be
forced to reform itself. Equiano was active in these abolitionist circles, and his
book in part serves the function of a petition to Parliament to end the slave trade,
with the names of the book’s subscribers identifying themselves as allies and
co-petitioners in the cause. The first edition begins by including the names of 311
people who subscribed to it and thereby subsidized its printing, and later editions
(nine in all in Equiano’s lifetime, a testimony to the great demand for his book)
added more, eventually totalling over a thousand, as more people wanted both to own
the book and to ally themselves with the abolitionist cause. Subscribers were thus
taking an interest in this book in the financial sense, publicly advancing resources
to support Equiano and the movement that the book was published to support. The Interesting Narrative was first printed in the United States
in New York in 1791 (without Equiano’s permission, as was typical for books
reprinted from Britain in the early decades of the new republic), and was widely
reprinted throughout the first half of the nineteenth century.
Equiano toured throughout the British Isles in the early 1790s, making speaking
engagements to promote the abolitionist cause, and also to support sales of his
book, for which he had retained copyright. This turned out to be a smart business
decision; he made a fair amount of money from sales of the Interesting Narrative. Equiano married a woman named Susannah Cullen in
1792; they had two daughters, only one of whom survived to adulthood. But neither
Olaudah or Susannah was able to enjoy their married life for very long. Susanna died
in 1796 and Olaudah died in 1797. The abolitionist cause to which the Interesting Narrative was a major contributor succeeded only
after his death, as Britain ended its participation in the slave trade in 1807, and
finally abolished slavery in its colonial holdings in 1833. Slavery in the United
States continued until the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.
Daniel Defoe (c. 1660-1731) came to writing fiction in late middle age, after decades in which he did a variety of things. He grew up in a Dissenting household in London; his father, James Foe, made and sold candles. (Daniel added the prefix "de" to his name some time in the 1690s, probably to make himself appear more sophisticated). Since his family were not members of the Church of England, Defoe could not go to either Cambridge or Oxford, but he had a good education at a separate school set up for Dissenters, and it seems as though he intended to become a minister. We do not know why that plan changed, but by the mid-1680s at least, Defoe had set out to make his living as a London tradesman. Defoe ran several businesses in his twenties, thirties, and forties: he owned a factory that made roofing tiles, he sold men's undergarments and stockings, he raised civet cats (for the purposes of making perfume), he invested in a scheme to build diving bells to reach sunken treasure. All of these businesses ultimately failed, and Defoe declared bankruptcy more than once in his life. Lawsuits from the period suggest that Defoe was perhaps not always the most scrupulous businessman in history, either.
Alongside these business ventures or, to use the lingo of the period, "projects," from his mid-thirties Defoe also pursued a second career, as a writer. In 1697, he wrote An Essay on Projects, a book that outlined various plans for public and private institutions: a school for young women, insurance schemes for widows and sailors, merchant banks. Writing became a "project" like any other, and eventually it was Defoe's primary occupation. He was a prolific writer of poetry, journalism, conduct literature, economic tracts, political essays, and outright propaganda. Many of these works were published anonymously, so there is a lively and ongoing debate among modern scholars as to exactly how much Defoe wrote in the first two decades of the eighteenth century, and precisely which of the many pamphlets that various people have assigned to him over the years were ones that he actually wrote, But any way you count it, his published output was enormous.
In 1719, Defoe published The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a work that became an instant success and that immediately became a kind of modern myth, one with great staying power in our collective imaginations ever since. Defoe followed that up with a series of extended works of fiction: The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1720), Memoirs of a Cavalier (1720),Captain Singleton (1720); Moll Flanders (1722); Colonel Jacque (1722), A Journal of the Plague Year (1722), The Fortunate Mistress (1724). We now think of these books as important contributors to the history of the novel in English, which would go on in the course of the eighteenth century to become an increasingly popular and sophisticated mode of literature. But Defoe never called these works "novels," and it seems to have been important to him that these extended works of prose fiction seemed to be true stories. Each of these works is narrated in the first person by its protagonist, who sets his or her story in a world that is real and recognizable. And each of these books responds to issues and stories that were circulating in the print media of the day. Robinson Crusoe responds in general terms to the interest in colonialization and travel narratives, but also more specifically to the story of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who, like Crusoe, was marooned on an island for several years. Selkirk told his story to Richard Steele, who wrote it up in his own journal, The Englishman in 1713. Moll Flanders responds to the intense public in crime and criminals in the 1720s. The Fortunate Mistress is surely a response of sorts to Eliza Haywood's 1723 work Idalia, or, the Unfortunate Mistress. Given all that he did and wrote in his lifetime, Defoe might be surprised to know that he is now remembered primarily as a writer of fiction, but there is no denying the engrossing power of these works.
Image: Daniel Defoe, from the frontispiece to his poem Jure Divino, published in 1706. (National Portrait Gallery, London)
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PRINCE
OF
ABISSINIA.
A Voyage to Abyssinia, published in 1735, was a loose translation of a seventeenth-century travel narrative by the Portuguese Jesuit Jerome Lobo.
TALE.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
THE SECOND EDITION.
ODSLEY,in Pall-Mall;
and W.
JOHNSTON, in Ludgate-Street.
OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
CHAP. I. DESCRIPTION of a palace in a valley page 1
CHAP. II. The discontent of Rasselas in the happy valley 9
CHAP. III. The wants of him that wants nothing 16
CHAP. IV. The prince continues to grieve and muse 20
CHAP. V. The prince meditates his escape 30
CHAP. VI. A dissertation on the art of flying 33
CHAP. VII. The prince finds a man of learning 43
CHAP. VIII. The history of Imlac 46
CHAP. IX. The history of Imlac continued 56
CHAP. X. Imlac's history continued. A dissertation upon poetry 64
CHAP. XI. Imlac's narrative continued. A hint on pilgrimage 71
CHAP. XI. The story of Imlac continued 80
CHAP. XIII. Raffelas discovers the means of escape
91 CHAP. XIV. Rasselas and Imlac receive an unexpec-
ted visit 97
CHAP.
CHAP. XV. The prince and princess leave the valley,
and see many wonders 101
CHAP. XVI. They enter Cairo, and find every man
happy 106
CHAP. XVII. The prince associates with young men of
spirit and gaiety 115
CHAP. XVIII. The prince finds a wife and happy man
119 CHAP. XIX. A glimpse of pastoral life 126
CHAP. XX. The danger of prosperity 129
CHAP. XXI. The happiness of solitude. The hermit's history 134
CHAP. XXII. The happiness of a life led according to nature 141
CHAP. XXIII. The prince and his sister divide between them the work of observation 148
CHAP. XXIV. The prince examines the happiness of high stations 150
CHAP. XXV. The princess persues her enquiry with more diligence than success 154
HISTORY
OF
RASSELAS,
PRINCE OF ABISSINIA. CHAP. I. Description of a palace in a valley.
YE who listen with credulity to the
whispers of fancy, and persue
with eagerness the phantoms of hope;
who expect that age will perform the
promises of youth, and that the deficien-
Rasselas was the fourth son of the
mighty emperour, in whose dominions
the Father of waters begins his course;
whose bounty pours down the streams
of plenty, and scatters over half the
world the harvests of
According to the custom which has descended from age to age among the monarchs of the torrid zone, Rasselas was confined in a private palace, with the other sons and daughters of Abissinian royalty, till the order of succession should call him to the throne.
The place, which the wisdom or policy of antiquity had destined for the residence of the Abissinian princes, was a
From the mountains on every side, rivulets descended that filled all the valley
with verdure and fertility, and formed a
lake in the middle inhabited by fish of
every species, and frequented by every
The sides of the mountains were covered with trees, the banks of the brooks
were diversified with flowers; every blast
shook spices from the rocks, and every
month dropped fruits upon the ground.
All animals that bite the grass, or
brouse the shrub, whether wild or tame,
wandered in this extensive circuit, secured from beasts of prey by the mountains which confined them. On one part
were flocks and herds feeding in the pastures, on another all the beasts of chase
The valley; wide and fruitful, supplied
its inhabitants with the necessaries of
life, and all delights and superfluities were
added at the annual visit which the emperour paid his children, when the iron
gate was opened to the sound of musick;
and during eight days every one that resided in the valley was required to propose whatever might contribute to make
seclusion pleasant, to fill up the vacancies of attention, and lessen the tedious-
The palace stood on an eminence raised about thirty paces above the surface of the lake. It was divided into many squares or courts, built with greater or less magnificence according to the rank of those for whom they were designed. The roofs were turned into arches of massy stone joined by a cement that grew harder by time, and the building stood from century to century, deriding the solstitial rains and equinocial hurricanes, without need of reparation.
This house, which was so large as to
be fully known to none but some ancient
officers who successively inherited the se-
crets of the place, was built as if sus-
picion herself had dictated the plan. To
every room there was an open and secret
passage, every square had a communica-
HERE the sons and daughters of Abissinia lived only to know the
soft vicissitudcs of pleasure and repose,
attended by all that were skilful to delight, and gratified with whatever the
senses can enjoy. They wandered in gardens of fragrance, and slept in the fortresses of security. Every art was practised to make them pleased with their
own condition. The sages who instructed them, told them of nothing but the
miseries of publick life, and described all
beyond the mountains as regions of ca-
To heighten their opinion of their own felicity, they were daily entertained with songs, the subject of which was the happy valley. Their appetites were excited by frequent enumerations of different enjoyments, and revelry and merriment was the business of every hour from the dawn of morning to the close of even.
These methods were generally successful; few of the Princes had ever wished
to enlarge their bounds, but passed their
lives in full conviction that they had all
within their reach that art or nature could
bestow, and pitied those whom fate had
excluded from this feat of tranquility, as
Thus they rose in the morning and
lay down at night, pleased with each
other and with themselves, all but Rasselas, who, in the twenty-sixth year
of his age, began to withdraw himself
from their pastimes and assemblies, and
to delight in solitary walks and silent meditation. He often sat before tables co-
vered with luxury, and forgot to taste
the dainties
This singularity of his humour
"What," said he, " makes the difference between man and all the rest of the
animal creation? Every beast that strays
beside me has the same corporal necessities with myself; he is hungry and crops
the grass, he is thirsty and drinks the
stream, his thirst and hunger are appeased, he is satisfied and sleeps; he rises
again and is hungry, he is again fed and
is at reft. I am hungry and thirsty like
him, but when thirst and hunger cease
I am not at rest; I am, like him, pained
with want, but am not, like him, satisfied with fulness. The intermediate
hours are tedious and gloomy; I long
again to be hungry that I may again
quicken my attention. The birds peck
the berries or the corn, and fly away to
the groves where they sit in seeming happiness on the branches, and waste their
After this he lifted up his head, and
seeing the moon rising, walked towards
the palace. As he passed through the
fields, and saw the animals around him,
"Ye, said he, are happy, and need not
envy me that walk thus among you, bur-
With observations like these the prince
amused himself as he returned, utering
them with a plaintive voice, yet with a
look that discovered him to feel some
complacence in his own perspicacity, and
to receive some solace of the miseries of
life, from consciousnes of the delicacy
with which he felt, and the eloquence
with which he bewailed them. He min-
ON the next day his old instructor,
imagining that he had now made
himself acquainted with his disease of
mind
Dictionary of the English Language, Samuel Johnson defines "disease" as "Distemper; malady; sickness; morbid state.">
The old man, thus encouraged, be-
gan to lament the change which had been
lately observed in the prince, and to enquire why he so often retired from the
pleasures of the palace, to loneliness and
silence. "I fly from pleasure, said the
"That I want nothing, said the prince,
or that I know not what I want, is the
cause of my complaint; if I had any
The old man was surprized at this new species of affliction, and knew not what to reply, yet was unwilling to be silent. "Sir, said he, if you had seen the miseries of the world, you would know how to value your present state." "Now, said the prince, you have given me some- thing to desire; I shall long to see the miseries of the world, since the sight of them is necessary to happiness."
CHAP. IV. The prince continues to grieve and muse.AT this time the sound of musick proclaimed the hour of repast
The prince, whose views were extended to a wider space, could not speedily quiet his emotions. He had been before terrified at the length of life which nature promised him, because he considered that in a long time much must be endured; he now rejoiced in his youth, because in many years much might be done.
This first beam of hope, that had been ever darted into his mind, rekindled youth in his cheeks, and doubled the lustre of his eyes. He was fired with the desire of doing something, though he knew not yet with distinctness, either end or means.
He was now no longer gloomy and
unsocial; but, confidering himself as
master of a secret stock of happiness,
which he could enjoy only by concealing
it, he affected to be busy in all schemes
of diversion, and endeavoured to make
others pleased with the state of which he
himself was weary. But pleasures never can be so multiplied or continued,
His chief amusement was to picture
to himself that world which he had never
seen; to place himself in various conditions; to be entangled in imaginary dif\ficulties, and to be engaged in wild adventures: but his benevolence always
terminated his projects in the relief of
distress, the detection of fraud, the de-
Thus passed twenty months of the life of Rasselas. He busied himself so intensely in visionary bustle, that he forgot his real solitude; and, amidst hourly preparations for the various incidents of human affairs, neglected to confider by what means he should mingle with mankind.
One day, as he was sitting on a bank,
he feigned to himself
Here he recollected himself, and smiled at his own useless impetuosity. Then raising his eyes to the mountain, "This, said he, is the fatal obstacle that hinders at once the enjoyment of pleasure, and the exercise of virtue. How long is it that my hopes and wishes have flown beyond this boundary of my life, which yet I never have attempted to surmount!
Struck with this reflection, he sat
down to muse, and remembered, that
since he first resolved to escape from his
confinement, the sun had passed twice
over him in his annual course. He now
felt a degree of regret with which he had
never been before acquainted. He considered how much might have been done
in the time which had passed, and left
nothing real behind it. He compared
twenty months with the life of man.
"In life, said he, is not to be counted
the ignorance of infancy, or imbecility
of age. We are long before we are able
to think, and we soon cease from the
power of acting. The true period of
human existence may be reasonably estimated as forty years, of which I have
mused away the four and twentieth part
The consciousness of his own folly
pierced him deeply, and he was long before he could be reconciled to himself.
''The rest of my time, said he, has
been lost by the crime or folly of my ancestors, and the absurd institutions of my
country; I remember it with disgust, yet
without remorse: but the months that
have passed since new light darted into
my soul, since I formed a scheme of reasonable felicity, have been squandered by
my own fault. I have lost that which
can never be restored: I have seen the
sun rise and set for twenty months, an
idle gazer on the light of heaven: In
this time the birds have left the nest of
their mother, and committed themselves
These sorrowful meditations fastened
upon his mind; he past four months
in resolving to lose no more time in idle
resolves, and was awakened to more
vigorous exertion by hearing a maid,
This was obvious; and Rasselas re- proached himself that he had not disco- vered it, having not known, or not con- sidered, how many useful hints are ob- tained by chance, and how often the mind, hurried by her own ardour to dis- tant views, neglects the truths that lie open before her. He, for a few hours, regretted his regret, and from that time bent his whole mind upon the means of escaping from the valley of happiness.
He now found that it would be very
difficult to effect that which it was
very easy to suppose effected. When he
looked round about him, he saw himself confined by the bars of nature which
had never yet been broken, and by the
gate, through which none that once had
passed it were ever able to return. He
was now impatient as an eagle in a
grate. He passed week after week in
clambering the mountains, to see if there
was any aperture which the bushes might
conceal, but found all the summits inaccessible by their prominence. The iron
He then examined the cavern through which the waters of the lake were discharged; and, looking down at a time when the sun shone strongly upon its mouth, he discovered it to be full of broken rocks, which, though they permitted the stream to flow through many narrow passages, would stop any body of solid bulk. He returned discouraged and dejected; but, having now known the blessing of hope, resolved never to despair.
In these fruitless searches he spent ten months. The time, however, passed chearfully away: in the morning he rose with new hope, in the evening applauded his own diligence, and in the night slept sound after his fatigue. He met a thousand amusements which beguiled his labour, and diversified his thoughts. He discerned the various instincts of animals, and properties of plants, and found the place replete with wonders, of which he purposed to solace himself with the contemplation, if he should never be able to accomplish his flight; rejoicing that his endeavours, though yet unsucessful, had supplied him with a source of inexhaustible enquiry.
But his original curiosity was not yet
abated; he resolved to obtain some know-
Among the artists that had
been allured into the happy valley, to labour for the accommodation and
pleasure of its inhabitants, was a man
eminent for his knowledge of the mechanick powers, who had contrived ma-
This artist was sometimes visited by
Rasselas, who was pleased with every
kind of knowledge, imagining that the
time would come when all his acquisitions
This hint rekindled the prince's desire
of passing the mountains; having seen
what the mechanist had already performed, he was willing to fancy that he
could do more; yet resolved to enquire
further before he suffered hope to afflict
him by disappointment. "I am afraid,
said he to the artist, that your imagination prevails over your skill, and that
you now tell me rather what you wish
than what you know. Every animal has
his element assigned him; the birds have
the air, and man and beasts the earth."
"So, replied the mechanist, fishes have
the water, in which yet beasts can swim
by nature, and men by art. He that can
swim needs not despair to fly: to swim is
to fly in a grosser fluid, and to fly is to
swim in a subtler. We are only to proportion our power of resistance to the
"But the exercise of swimming, said the prince, is very laborious; the strong-est limbs are soon wearied; I am afraid the act of flying will be yet more violent, and wings will be of no great use, unless we can fly further than we can swim."
"The labour of rising from the
ground, said the artist, will be great, as
we see it in the heavier domestick fowls;
but, as we mount higher, the earth's attraction, and the body's gravity, will be gra-
dually diminished, till we shall arrive at
"All this, said the prince, is much to be desired, but I am afraid that no man will be able to breathe in these regions of speculation and tranquility. I have been told, that respiration is difficult upon lofty mountains, yet from these precipices, though so high as to produce great tenuity of the air, it is very easy to fall: therefore I suspect, that from any height, where life can be supported, there may be danger of too quick descent."
"Nothing, replied the artist, will ever
be attempted, if all possible objections
must be first overcome. If you will fa-
"Why, said Rasselas, should you envy others so great an advantage? All skill ought to be exerted for universal good; every man has owed much to others, and ought to repay the kindness that he has received."
"If men were all virtuous, returned the artist, 1 should with great alacrity teach them all to fly. But what would be the security of the good, if the bad could at pleasure invade them from the sky? Against an army sailing through the clouds neither walls, nor mountains, nor seas, could afford any security. A flight of northern savages might hover in the wind, and light at once with irresistible violence, upon the capital of a fruitful region that was rolling under them. Even this valley, the retreat of princes, the abode of happiness, might be violated by the sudden descent of some of the naked nations that swarm on the coast of the southern sea."
The prince promised secrecy, and waited for the performance, not wholly hope-
In a year the wings were finished, and, on a morning appointed, the maker appeared furnished for flight on a little promontory: he waved his pinions a while to gather air, then leaped from his stand, and in an instant dropped into the lake. His wings, which were of no use in the air, sustained him in the water, and the prince drew him to land, half dead with terrour and vexation.
The prince was not much afflicted by this disaster, having suffered himself to hope for a happier event, only because he had no other means of escape in view. He still persisted in his design to leave the happy valley by the first opportunity.
His imagination was now at a stand;
he had no prospect of entering into the
world; and, notwithstanding all his endeavours to support himself, discontent
by degrees preyed upon him, and he began again to lose his thoughts in sadness
The rain continued longer and with more violence than had been ever known: the clouds broke on the surrounding mountains, and the torrents streamed in to the plain on every side, till the cavern was too narrow to discharge the water. The lake overflowed its banks, and all the level of the valley was covered with the inundation. The eminence, on which the palace was built, and some other spots of rising ground, were all that the eye could now discover. The herds and flocks left the pastures, and both the wild beasts and the tame retreated to the mountains.
This inundation confined all the princes to domestick amusements, and the attention of Rasselas was particularly seized by a poem, which Imlac rehearsed upon the various conditions of humanity. He commanded the poet to attend him in his apartment, and recite his verses a second time; then entering into familiar talk, he thought himself happy in having found a man who knew the world so well, and could so skilfully paint the scenes of life. He asked a thousand questions about things, to which, though common to all other mortals, his confinement from childhood had kept him a stranger. The poet pitied his ignorance, and loved his curiosity, and entertained him from day to day with novelty and instruction, so that the prince regretted the necessity of sleep,
and longed till the morning should renew his pleasure.
As they were sitting together, the prince commanded Imlac to relate his history, and to tell by what accident he was forced, or by what motive induced, to close his life in the happy valley. As he was going to begin his narrative, Rasselas was called to a concert, and obliged to restrain his curiosity till the evening.
CHAP. VIII. The history of ImlacTHE close of the day is, in the regions of the torrid zone
"Sir, said Imlac, my history will not be long: the life that is devoted to knowledge pases silently away, and is very little diversified by events. To talk in publick, to think in solitude, to read and to hear, to inquire, and answer inquiries, is the business of a scholar. He wanders about the world without pomp or terrour, and is neither known nor valued but by men like himself.
"Surely, said the prince, my father
must be negligent of his charge, if any
man in his dominions dares take that
which belongs to another. Does he not
know that kings are accountable for injustice permitted as well as done? If I
were emperour, not the meanest of my subjects should be oppressed with impunity.
My blood boils when I am told that a
merchant durst not enjoy his honest gains
for fear of losing them by the rapacity
"Sir, said Imlac, your ardour is
the natural effect of virtue animated
by youth: the time will come when you,
will acquit your father, and perhaps hear
with less impatience of the governour.
Oppression is, in the Abissinian dominions,
neither frequent nor tolerated; but no
form of government has been yet discovered; by which cruelty can be wholly prevented. Subordination supposes
power on one part and subjection on the
other; and if power be in the hands
of men, it will sometimes be abused.
The vigilance of the supreme magistrate
may do much, but much will still remain undone. He can never know all
"This, said the prince, I do not understand, but I had rather hear thee than dispute. Continue thy narration."
"My father, proceeded Imlac, originally intended that I should have no other education, than such as might qualify me for commerce; and discovering in me great strength of memory, and quickness of apprehension, often declared his hope that I should be some time the richest man in Abissinia."
"Why, said the prince, did thy fa-ther desire the increase of his wealth,
when it was already greater than he durst
discover or enjoy? I am unwilling to
"Inconsistencies, answered Imlac, cannot both be right, but, imputed to man, they may both be true. Yet diversity is not inconsistency. My father might expect a time of greater security. However, some desire is necessary to keep life in motion, and he, whose real wants are supplied, must admit those of fancy."
"This, said the prince, I can in some measure conceive. I repent that I interrupted thee."
"With this hope, proceeded Imlac,
he sent me to school; but when I
had once found the delight of knowledge,
"'At length my father resolved to initiate me in commerce, and, opening one
of his subterranean treasuries, counted
out ten thousand pieces of gold. This,
young man, said he, is the stock with
which you must negociate. I began with
less than the fifth part, and you see
how diligence and parsimony have increased it. This is your own to waste
or to improve. If you squander it by negligence or caprice, you must wait for
my death before you will be rich: if, in
four years, you double your stock, we
will thenceforward let subordination
cease, and live together as friends and
partners; for he shall always be equal
with me, who is equally skilled in the art
of growing rich.
"I remembered that my father had obliged me to the improvement of my stock, not by a promise which I ought not to violate, but by a penalty which I was at liberty to incur; and therefore determined to gratify my predominant desire, and by drinking at the fountains of knowledge, to quench the thirst of curiosity.
"As I was supposed to trade without
connexion with my father, it was easy
for me to become acquainted with the
matter of a ship, and procure a passage
to some other country. I had no motives
of choice to regulate my voyage; it was
sufficient for me that, wherever I wandered, I should see a country which I
had not seen before. I therefore entered
a ship bound for
WHEN I first entered upon the
world of waters, and lost sight
of land, I looked round about me with
pleasing terrour, and thinking my soul
enlarged by the boundless prospect, imagined that I could gaze round for ever
without satiety; but, in a short time, I
grew weary of looking on barren uniformity, where I could only see again
what I had already seen. I then descended into the ship, and doubted for a while
whether all my future pleasures would not
end like this in disgust and disappoint-
"With this thought I quieted my mind; and amused myself during the voyage, sometimes by learning from the sailors the art of navigation, which I have never practiced, and sometimes by forming schemes for my conduct in different situations, in not one of which I have been ever placed.
"I was almost weary of my naval amuse-
ments when we landed safely at Surat. I
"Stop a moment, said the prince. Is
there such depravity in man, as that he
should injure another without benefit to
"Pride, said Imlac, is seldom delicate, it will please itself with very mean advantages; and envy feels not its own happiness, but when it may be compared with the misery of others. They were my enemies because they grieved to think me rich, and my oppressors because they delighted to find me weak."
"Proceed, said the prince: I doubt not of the facts which you relate, but imagine that you impute them to mistaken motives."
"In this company, said Imlac,
I arrived at
"To the tutor of the young princes I recommended myself so much, that I was presented to the emperour as a man of uncommon knowledge. The emperour asked me many questions concerning my country and my travels; and though I cannot now recollect any thing that he uttered above the power of a common man, he dismissed me astonished at his wisdom, and enamoured of his goodness.
"My credit was now so high, that
the merchants, with whom I had travelled, applied to me for recommendations
to the ladies of the court. I was surprised at their confidence of solicitation,
and gently reproached them with their
practices on the road. They heard me
"They then urged their request with the offer of a bribe; but what I would not do for kindness I would not do for money; and refused them, not because they had injured me, but because I would not enable them to injure others; for I knew they would have made use of my credit to cheat those who should buy their wares.
"Having resided at Agra till there
was no more to be learned, I travelled
into
"From Persia I passed into
WHEREVER I went, I foundthat Poetry was considered as the
highest learning, and regarded with a veneration somewhat approaching to that
which man would pay to the Angelick
Nature. And it yet fills me with wonder, that, in almost all countries, the
most ancient poets are considered as the
best: whether it be that every other
kind of knowledge is an acquisition
gradually attained, and poetry is a gift
conferred at once; or that the first
poetry of every nation surprised them as
"I was desirous to add my name to this
illustrious fraternity. I read all the poets
of Persia and Arabia, and was able to
"Being now resolved to be a poet, I saw
everything with a new purpose; my sphere
of attention was suddenly magnified: no
kind of knowledge was to be overlooked.
I ranged mountains and deserts for images
and resemblances, and pictured upon my
mind every tree of the forest and flower
of the valley. I observed with equal
"All the appearances of nature I was therefore careful to study, and every country which I have surveyed has contributed something to my poetical powers."
"In so wide a survey, said the prince, you must surely have left much unob- served. I have lived, till now, within the circuit of these mountains, and yet cannot walk abroad without the sight of something which I had never beheld before, or never heeded."
"The business of a poet, said Imlac, is to examine, not the individual,
but the species; to remark general properties and large appearances: he does
not number the streaks of the tulip, or
describe the different shades in the ver-
"But the knowledge of nature is only half the talk of a poet; he must be acquainted like wife with all the modes of life. His character requires that he estimate the happiness and misery of every condition; observe the power of all the passions in all their combinations, and trace the changes of the human mind as they are modified by various institutions and accidental influ
ences of climate or custom, from the spriteliness of infancy to the despondence of decrepitude. He must divest himself of the prejudices of his age or country; he must consider right and wrong in their abstracted and invariable state; he must disregard present laws and opinions, and rise to general and transcendental truths, which will always be the fame: he must therefore content himself with the flow progress of his name; contemn the applause of his own time, and commit his claims to the justice of posterity. He must write as the interpreter of nature, and the legislator of mankind, and consider himself as presiding over the thoughts and manners of future generations; as a being superiour to time and place.
"His labour is not yet at an end: he must know many languages and many sciences; and, that his stile may be worthy of his thoughts, must by incessant practice, familiarize to himself every delicacy of speech and grace of harmony."
CHAP. XI. Imlac's narrative continued. A hint on pilgrimage.IMLAC now felt the enthusiastic fit, and was proceeding to aggrandize his own profession, when the prince cried out, "Enough! Thou hast convinced me, that no human being can ever be a poet. Proceed with thy narration."
"To be a poet, said Imlac, is indeed
very difficult." "So difficult, returned
the prince, that I will at present hear no
"From Persia, said the poet, I traveled through
"By what means, said the prince, are the Europeans thus powerful? or why, since they can so easily visit Asia and Africa for trade or conquest, cannot the Asiaticks and Africans invade their coasts, plant colonies in their ports, and give laws to their natural princes? The same wind that carries them back would bring us thither."
"They are more powerful, Sir, than
we, answered Imlac, because they are
wiser; knowledge will always predominate over ignorance, as man governs the
other animals. But why their knowledge is more than ours, I know not what
"When, said the prince with a sigh, shall I be able to visit Palestine, and mingle with this mighty confluence of nations? Till that happy moment shall arrive, let me fill up the time with such representations as thou canst give me. I am not ignorant of the motive that assembles such numbers in that place, and cannot but consider it as the center of wisdom and piety, to which the best and wisest men of every land must be continually resorting."
"There are some nations, said Imlac,
that send few visitants to Palestine; for,
many numerous and learned sects in
Europe, concur to censure pilgrimage
"You know, said the prince, how little my life has made me acquainted with diversity of opinions: it will be too long to hear the arguments on both sides; you, that have considered them, tell me the result."
Pilgrimage, said Imlac, like many
other acts of piety, may be reasonable
or superstious, according to the principles upon which it is performed. Long
journies in search of truth are not com manded. Truth, such as is necessary to
the regulation of life, is always found
where it is honestly sought. Change of
place is no natural cause of the increase
of piety, for it inevitably produces dis-
"These, said the prince, are European distintions. I will consider them another time. What have you found to be the effect of knowledge? Are those nations happier than we?"
"There is so much infelicity, said the
poet, in the world, that scarce any man
has leisure from his own distresses to estimate the comparative happiness of others.
Knowledge is certainly one of the means
of pleasure, as is confessed by the natural desire which every mind feels of
increaring its ideas. Ignorance is mere
privation, by which nothing can be produced: it is a vacuity in which the soul
fits motionless and torpid for want of at-
"In enumerating the particular comforts of life we shall find many advantages on the side of the Europeans. They
cure wounds and diseases with which we
languish and perish. We suffer inclemencies of weather which they can obviate. They have engines for the despatch
of many laborious works, which we
must perform by manual industry.
There is such communication between.
distant places, that one friend can hardly
be said to be absent from another. Their
"They are surely happy, said the prince, who have all these conveniencies, of which I envy none so much as the facility with which separated friends interchange their thoughts."
"The Europeans, answered Imlac, are less unhappy than we, but they are not happy. Human life is every where a state in which much is to be endured, and little to be enjoyed."
I AM not yet willing, said the prince,
I to suppose that happiness is so parsimoniously distributed to mortals; nor
can believe but that, if I had the choice
of life, I should be able to fill every day
with pleasure. I would injure no man,
and should provoke no resentment: I
would relieve every distress, and should
enjoy the benedictions of gratitude. I
would choose my friends among the wise,
and my wife among the virtuous; and
therefore should be, in no danger from
treachery, or unkindness. My children
should, by my care, be learned and pious,
"From Palestine, said Imlac, I passed
through many regions of Asia; in the
more civilized kingdoms as a trader, and
among the Barbarians of the mountains
as a pilgrim. At last I began to long
for my native country, that I might repose after my travels, and fatigues; in the
"When this thought had taken possession of my mind, I considered every
moment as wasted which did not bring
me nearer to Abissinia. I hastened into
Egypt, and, notwithstanding my impatience, was detained ten months in the contemplation of its ancient magnificence, and
in enquiries after the remains of its ancient
learning. I found in
gain, and many by the desire of living after their own manner without observation, and of lying hid in the obscurity of multitudes: for, in a city, populous as Cairo, it is possible to obtain at the same time the gratifications of society, and the secrecy of solitude.
"From Cairo I travelled to
"I now expected the caresses of my
kinsmen, and the congratulations of my
friends, and was not without hope that
my father, whatever value he had set
upon riches, would own with gladness
"A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected. I forgot, after a time, my disappointment, and endeavoured to recommend myself to the nobles of the kingdom: they admitted me to their tables, heard my story, and dismissed me. I opened a school, and was prohibited to teach. I then resolved to sit down in the
quiet of domestick life, and addressed a lady that was fond of my conversation, but rejected my suit, because my father was a merchant.
"Wearied at last with solicitation and repulses, I resolved to hide myself for ever from the world, and depend no longer on the opinion or caprice of others. I waited for the time when the gate of the happy valley should open that I might bid farewell to hope and fear: the day came; my performance was distinguished with favour, and I resigned myself with joy to perpetual confinement."
"Hast thou here found happiness at last? said Rasselas. Tell me without reserve; art thou content with thy condition? or, dost thou wish to be again
wandering and inquiring? All the inhabitants of this valley celebrate their lot, and, at the annual visit of the emperour, invite others to partake of their felicity."
"Great prince, said Imlac, I shall speak the truth: I know not one of all your attendants who does not lament the hour when he entered this retreat. I am less unhappy than the rest, because I have a mind replete with images, which I can vary and combine at pleasure. I can amuse my solitude by the renovation of the knowledge which begins to fade from my memory, and by recollection of the accidents of my past life. Yet all this ends in the sorrowful consideration, that my acquirements are now useless, and that none of my pleasures can be again
enjoyed. The rest, whose minds have no impression but of the present moment, are either corroded by malignant passions, or sit stupid in the gloom of perpetual vacancy."
"What passions can infest those, said the prince, who have no rivals? We are in a place where impotence precludes malice, and where all envy is repressed by community of enjoyments."
"There may be community, said Imlac, of material possessions, but there can never be community of love or of esteem. It must happen that one will please more than another; he that knows himself despised will always be envious; and still more envious and malevolent, if he is
condemned to live in the presence of those who despise him. The invitations, by which they allure others to a state which they feel to be wretched, proceed from the natural malignity of hopeless misery. They are weary of themselves, and of each other, and expect to find relief in new companions. They envy the liberty which their folly has forfeited, and would gladly see all mankind imprisoned like themselves.
"From this crime, however, I am wholly free. No man can say that he is wretched by my persuasion. I look with pity on the crowds who are annually soliciting admission to captivity, and wish that it were lawful for me to warn them of their danger."
My dear Imlac, said the prince, I will open to thee my whole heart. I have long meditated an escape from the happy valley. I have examined the mountains on every side, but find myself insuperably barred: teach me the way to break my prison; thou shalt be the companion of my flight, the guide of my rambles, the partner of my fortune, and my sole director in the choice of life."
"Sir, answered the poet, your escape will be difficult, and, perhaps, you may soon repent your curiosity. The world, which you figure to yourself smooth and quiet as the lake in the valley, you will find a sea foaming with tempests, and boiling with whirlpools: you will be sometimes overwhelmed by the waves of
violence, and sometimes dashed against the rocks of treachery. Amidst wrongs and frauds, competitions and anxieties, you will wish a thousand times for these feats of quiet, and willingly quit hope to be free from fear."
"Do not seek to deter me from my purpose, said the prince: I am impatient to see what thou hast seen; and, since thou art thyself weary of the valley, it is evident, that thy former state was better than this. Whatever be the consequence of my experiment, I am resolved to judge with my own eyes of the various conditions of men, and then to make deliberately my choice of life."
"I am afraid, said Imlac, you are hindered by stronger. Restraints than my
persuasions yet, if your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill."
CHAP. XIII. Rasselas discovers the means of escape.THE prince now dismissed his favourite to rest, but the narrative of wonders and novelties filled his mind with perturbation. He revolved all that he had heard, and prepared innumerable questions for the morning.
Much of his uneasiness was now removed. He had a friend to whom he
could impart his thoughts, and whose experience could assist him in his designs. His heart was no longer condemned to swell with silent vexation. He thought that even the happy valley might be endured with such a companion, and that, if they could range the world together, he should have nothing further to desire.
In a few days the water was discharged, and the ground dried. The prince and Imlac then walked out together to converse without the notice of the rest. The prince, whose thoughts were always on the wing, as he passed by the gate, said, with a countenance of sorrow, "Why art thou so strong, and why is man so weak?"
"Man is not weak, answered his companion; knowledge is more than equivalent to force. The master of mechanicks laughs at strength. I can burst the gate, but cannot do it secretly. Some other expedient must be tried."
As they were walking on the side of
the mountain, they observed that the
conies
will begin where the summit hangs over the middle part, and labour upward till we shall issue out beyond the prominence."
The eyes of the prince, when he heard this proposal, sparkled with joy. The execution was easy, and the success certain.
No time was now lost. They hastened early in the morning to chuse a place proper for their mine. They clam- bered with great fatigue among crags and brambles, and returned without having discovered any part that favoured their design. The second and the third day were spent in the same manner, and with the same frustration. But, on the fourth, they found a small cavern, con-
cealed by a thicket, where they resolved to make their experiment.
Imlac procured instruments proper to hew stone and remove earth, and they fell to their work on the next day with more eagerness than vigour. They were presently exhausted by their efforts, and sat down to pant upon the grass. The prince, for a moment, appeared to be discouraged. "Sir, said his companion, practice will enable us to continue our labour for a longer time; mark, however, how far we have advanced, and you will find that our toil will some time have an end. Great works are performed, not by strength, but perseverance: yonder palace was raised by single stones, yet you see its height and spaciousness. He that shall walk with vigour three hours a day
will pass in seven years a space equal to
the circumference of the globe."
They returned to their work day after day, and, in a short time, found a fissure in the rock, which enabled them to pass far with very little obstruction. This Rasselas confidered as a good omen. "Do not disturb your mind, said Imlac, with other hopes or fears than reason may suggest: if you are pleased with prognosticks of good, you will be terrified likewise with tokens of evil, and your whole life will be a prey to superstition. Whatever facilitates our work is more than an omen, it is a cause of success. This is one of those pleasing surprises which often happen to active resolution. Many things difficult to design prove easy to performance."
THEY had now wrought their way to the middle, and solaced their toil with the approach of liberty, when the prince, coming down to refresh himself with air, found his sister Nekayah standing before the mouth of the cavity. He started and stood confused, afraid to tell his design, and yet hopeless to conceal it. A few moments determined him to repose on her fidelity, and secure her secrecy by a declaration without reserve.
"Do not imagine, said the princess, that I came hither as a spy: I had long observed from my window, that you and
Imlac directed your walk every day towards the same point, but I did not sup- pose you had any better reason for the preference than a cooler shade, or more fragrant bank; nor followed you with any other design than to partake of your conversation. Since then not suspicion but fondness has detected you, let me not lose the advantage of my discovery. I am equally weary of confinement with yourself, and not less desirous of knowing what is done or suffered in the world, Permit me to fly with you from this tasteless tranquility, which will yet grow more loathsome when you have left me. You may deny me to accompany you, but cannot hinder me from following."
The prince, who loved Nekayah above his other sisters, had no inclination to
refuse her request, and grieved that he had lost an opportunity of shewing his confidence by a voluntary communication. It was therefore agreed that she should leave the valley with them; and that, in the mean time, she should watch, lest any other straggler should, by chance or curiosity, follow them to the mountain.
At length their labour was at an end; they saw light beyond the prominence, and, issuing to the top of the mountain, beheld the Nile, yet a narrow current, wandering beneath them.
The prince looked round with rapture, anticipated all the pleasures of travel, and in thought was already transported beyond his father's dominions. Imlac,
though very joyful at his escape, had less expectation of pleasure in the world, which he had before tried, and of which he had been weary.
Rasselas was so much delighted with a wider horizon, that he could not soon be persuaded to return into the valley. He informed his sister that the way was open, and that nothing now remained but to prepare for their departure.
THE prince and princess had jewels sufficient to make them rich whenever they came into a place of commerce, which, by Imlac's direction, they hid in their cloaths, and, on the night of the next full moon, all left the valley. The princess was followed only by a single favourite, who did not know whither she was going.
They clambered through the cavity, and began to go down on the other side. The princess and her maid turned their
eyes towards every part, and, seeing nothing to bound their prospect, considered themselves as in danger of being lost in a dreary vacuity. They stopped and trembled. "I am almost afraid, said the princess, to begin a journey of which I cannot perceive an end, and to venture into this immense plain where I may be approached on every side by men whom I never saw." The prince felt nearly the same emotions, though he thought it more manly to conceal them.
Imlac smiled at their terrours, and encouraged them to proceed; but the princess continued irresolute till she had been imperceptibly drawn forward too far to return.
In the morning they found some shepherds in the field, who set milk and fruits before them. The princess wondered that she did not see a palace ready for her reception, and a table spread with delicacies; but, being faint and hungry, she drank the milk and eat the fruits, and thought them of a higher flavour than the products of the valley.
They travelled forward by easy journeys, being all unaccustomed to toil or difficulty, and knowing, that though they might be missed, they could not be persued. In a few days they came into a more populous region, where Imlac was diverted with the admiration which his companions expressed at the diversity of manners, stations and employments.
Their dress was such as might not bring upon them the suspicion of having any thing to conceal, yet the prince, where. ever he came, expected to be obeyed, and the princess was frighted, because those that came into her presence did not prostrate themselves before her. Imlac was forced to observe them with great vigilance, lest they should betray their rank by their unusual behaviour, and detained them several weeks in the first village to accustom them to the sight of common mortals.
By degrees the royal wanderers were taught to understand that they had for a time laid aside their dignity, and were to expect only such regard as liberality and courtesy could procure. And Imlac, having, by many admonitions, prepared them
to endure the tumults of a port, and the ruggedness of the commercial race, brought them down to the sea-coast.
The prince and his sister, to whom every thing was new, were gratified equally at all places, and therefore remained for some months at the port without any inclination to pass further. Imlac was content with their stay, because he did not think it safe to ex- pose them, unpracticed in the world, to the hazards of a foreign country.
At last he began to fear lest they should be discovered, and proposed to fix. a day for their departure. They had no pretensions to judge for themselves, and. referred the whole scheme to his direction, He therefore took passage in a ship to
Suez; and, when the time came, with great difficulty prevailed on the princess to enter the vessel. They had a quick and prosperous voyage, and from Suez travelled by land to Cairo.
CHAP. XVI. They enter Cairo, and find every man happy.AS they approached the city, whichfilled the strangers with astonishment, "This, said Imlac to the prince, is the place where travellers and merchants assemble from all the corners of the earth. You will here find men of every character, and every occupation. Commerce is here honourable: I will act
as a merchant, and you shall live as strangers, who have no other end of travel than curiosity; it will soon be observed that we are rich; our reputation will procure us access to all whom we shall desire to know; you will see all the conditions of humanity, and enable yourself at leisure to make your choice of life."
They now entered the town, stunned by the noise, and offended by the crowds. Instruction had not yet so prevailed over habit, but that they wondered to see themselves pass undistinguished along the street, and met by the lowest of the people without reverence or notice. The princess could not at first bear the thought of being levelled with the vulgar, and, for some days, continued in
her chamber, where she was served by her favourite Pekuah as in the palace of the valley.
Imlac, who understood traffick, sold part of the jewels the next day, and hired a house, which he adorned with such magnificence, that he was immediately considered as a merchant of great wealth. His politeness attracted many acquaintance, and his generosity made him courted by many dependants. His table was crowded by men of every nation, who all admired his knowledge, and solicited his favour. His companions, not being able to mix in the con- versation, could make no discovery of their ignorance or surprise, and were gradually initiated in the world as they gained knowledge of the language.
The prince had, by frequent lectures, been taught the use and nature of money; but the ladies could not, for a long time, comprehend what the merchants did with small pieces of gold and silver, or why things of so little use should be received as equivalent to the necessaries of life.
They studied the language two years, while Imlac was preparing to set before them the various ranks and conditions of mankind. He grew acquainted with all who had any thing uncommon in their fortune or conduct. He frequented the voluptuous and the frugal, the idle and, the busy, the merchants and the men of learning.
The prince, being now able to con- verse with fluency, and having learned
the caution necessary to be observed in his intercourse with strangers, began to accompany Imlac to places of resort, and to enter into all assemblies, that he might make his choice of life.
For some time he thought choice need- less, because all appeared to him equally happy. Wherever he went he met gayety and kindness, and heard the song of joy, or the laugh of carelesness. He began to believe that the world over- flowed with universal plenty, and that nothing was withheld either from want or merit; that every hand showered liberality, and every heart melted with benevolence: "and who then, says he, will be suffered to be wretched ?"
Imlac permitted the pleasing delusion, and was unwilling to crush the hope of inexperience; till one day, having sat a while silent, "I know not, said the prince, what can be the reason that I am more unhappy than any of our friends I see them perpetually and unalterably chearful, but feel my own mind restless and uneasy. I am unsatisfied with those pleasures which I seem most to court; I live in the crowds of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to shun myself, and am only loud and merry to conceal my sadness."
Every man, said Imlac, may, by examining his own mind, guess what passes in the minds of others: when you feel that your own gaiety is counterfeit, it may justly lead you to suspect that of your
companions not to be sincere. Envy is commonly reciprocal. We are long before we are convinced that happiness is never to be found, and each believes it possessed by others, to keep alive the hope of obtaining it for himself. In the assembly, where you passed the last night, there appeared such spriteliness of air, and volatility of fancy, as might have suited beings of an higher order, formed to inhabit serener regions inaccessible to care or sorrow: yet, believe me, prince, there was not one who did not dread the moment when solitude should deliver him to the tyranny of reflection."
"This, said the prince, may be true of others, since it is true of me; yet, whatever be the general infelicity of man, one condition is more happy than ano-
ther, and wisdom surely directs us to take the least evil in the choice of life."
"The causes of good and evil, answered Imlac, are so various and uncertain, so often entangled with each other, so diversified by various relations, and so much subject to accidents, which cannot be foreseen, that he who would fix his condition upon incontestable reasons of preference, must live and die inquiring and deliberating."
"But surely, said Rasselas, the wise men, to whom we listen with reverence and wonder, chose that mode of life for themselves which they thought most likely to make them happy."
"Very few, said the poet, live by choice. Every man is placed in his present condition by causes which acted without his foresight, and with which he did not always willingly co-operate; and therefore you will rarely meet one who does not think the lot of his neighbour better than his own."
"I am pleased to think, said the prince, that my birth has given me at least one advantage over others, by enabling me to determine for myself. I have here the world before me; I will review it at leisure: surely happiness is somewhere to be found."
RASSELAS rose next day, and resolved to begin his experiments upon life. "Youth, cried he, is the time of gladness: I will join myself to the young men, whose only business is to gratify their desires, and whose time is all spent in a succession of enjoyments."
To such societies he was readily admitted, but a few days brought him back weary and disgusted. Their mirth was without images, their laughter with-
out motive; their pleasures were gross and sensual, in which the mind had no part; their conduct was at once wild and mean; they laughed at order and at law, but the frown of power dejected, and the eye of wisdom abashed them.
The prince soon concluded, that he should never be happy in a course of life of which he was ashamed. He thought it unsuitable to a reasonable being to act without a plan, and to be sad or chearful only by chance. "Happiness, said he, must be something solid and permanent, without fear and without uncertainty."
But his young companions had gained so much of his regard by their frankness and courtesy, that he could not leave them
without warning and remonstrance. "My friends, said he, I have seriously considered our manners and our prospects, and find that we have mistaken our own interest. The first years of man must make provision for the last. He that never thinks never can be wise. Perpetual levity must end in ignorance; and intemperance, though it may fire the spirits for an hour, will make life short or miserable. Let us consider that youth is of no long duration, and that in maturer age, when the enchantments of fancy shall cease, and phantoms of delight dance no more about us, we shall have no comforts but the esteem of wise men, and the means of doing good. Let us, therefore, stop, while to stop is in our power: let us live as men who are sometime to grow old, and to whom it will
be the most dreadful of all evils not to count their past years but by follies, and to be reminded of their former luxuriance of health only by the maladies which riot has produced."
They stared a while in silence one upon another, and, at last, drove him away by a general chorus of continued laughter.
The consciousness that his sentiments were just, and his intentions kind, was scarcely sufficient to support him against the horrour of derision. But he recovered his tranquility, and persued his search.
As he was one day walking in the street, he saw a spacious building
which all were, by the open doors, invited to enter: he followed the stream
of people, and found it a hall or school
of declamation, in which professors read
lectures to their auditory. He fixed his eye
upon a sage raised above the rest, who discoursed with great energy on the government of the passions. His look was venerable, his action graceful, his pronunciation clear, and his diction elegant. He showed, with great strength of sentiment,
He then communicated the various precepts given from time to time for the conquest of passion, and displayed the
happiness of those who had obtained the important victory, after which man is no longer the slave of fear, nor the fool of hope; is no more emaciated by envy, inflamed by anger, emasculated by tenderness, or depressed by grief; but. walks on calmly through the tumults or the privacies of life, as the sun persues alike his course through the calm or the stormy sky. He enumerated many examples of heroes immovable by pain or pleasure, who looked with indifference on those modes or accidents to which the vulgar give the names of good and evil. He exhorted his hearers to lay aside their prejudices, and arm themselves against the shafts of malice or misfortune, by invulnerable patience; concluding, that
this state only was happiness, and that this happiness was in every one's power.
Rasselas listened to him with the veneration due to the instructions of a superiour being, and, waiting for him at the door, humbly implored the liberty of visiting so great a master of true wisdom. The lecturer hesitated a moment, when Rasselas put a purse of gold into his hand, which he received with a mixture of joy and wonder.
"I have found, said the prince, at his return to Imlac, a man who can teach all that is necessary to be known, who, from the unshaken throne of rational fortitude, looks down on the scenes of life changing beneath him. He speaks, and attention watches his lips. - He reasons,
and conviction closes his periods. This man shall be my future guide: I will learn his doctrines, and imitate his life."
"Be not too hasty, said Imlac, to trust, or to admire, the teachers of mo- rality: they discourse like angels, but they live like men."
Rasselas, who could not conceive how any man could reason so forcibly without feeling the cogency of his own arguments, paid his visit in a few days, and was denied admission. He had now learned the power of money, and made his way by a piece of gold to the inner apartment where he found the philosopher in a room half darkened, with his eyes misty, and his face pale. "Sir, said he, you are come at a time when all human friend-
ship is useless; what I suffer cannot be remedied, what I have lost cannot be supplied. My daughter, my only daughter, from whose tenderness I expected all the comforts of my age, died last night of a fever. My views, my purposes, my hopes are at an end: I am now a lonely being disunited from society."
"Sir, said the prince, mortality is an event by which a wife man can never be surprised: we know that death is always near, and it should therefore always be expected." Young man, answered the philosopher, you speak like one that has never felt the pangs of separation." "Have you the forgot the precepts, said Rasselas, which you so powerfully enforced? Has wisdom no strength to arm the heart against calamity? Consider,
that external things are naturally variable, but truth and reason are always the fame." "What comfort, said the mourner, can truth and reason afford me? of what effect are they now, but to tell me, that my daughter will not be restored?"
The prince, whose humanity would not suffer him to insult misery with reproof, went away convinced of the emptiness of rhetorical sound, and the inefficacy of polished periods and studied sentences.
He was still eager upon the fame enquiry; and, having heard of a
hermit, that lived near the lowest cataract of the Nile, and filled the whole
country with the fame of his sanctity,
resolved to visit his retreat, and enquire
whether that felicity, which publick life
could not afford, was to be found in solitude; and whether a man, whose age
and virtue made him venerable, could
teach any peculiar art of shunning evils,
or enduring them.
Imlac
The proposal pleased them, and they induced the shepherds, by small presents and familiar questions, to tell their opinion of their own state: they were so rude and ignorant, so little able to compare the good with the evil of the occupation, and so indistinct in their nar-
ratives and descriptions, that very little could be learned from them. But it was evident that their hearts were cankered with discontent; that they considered themselves as condemned to labour for the luxury of the rich, and looked up with stupid malevolence toward those that were placed above them.
The princess pronounced with vehemence, that she would never suffer these envious savages to be her companions, and that she should not soon be desirous of seeing any more specimens of rustick happiness; but could not believe that all the accounts of primeval pleasures were fabulous, and was yet in doubt whether life had any thing that could be justly preferred to the placid gratifications of fidds and woods. She hoped that the
time would come, when with a few vir- tuous and elegant companions, she should gather flowers planted by her own hand, fondle the lambs of her own ewe, and listen, without care, among brooks and breezes, to one of her maidens reading in the shade.
CHAP. XX. The danger of prosperity.On the next day they continued their
journey, till the heat compelled
them to look round for shelter. At a
small distance they saw a thick wood,
which they no sooner entered than they
perceived that they were approaching the
habitations of men. The shrubs were
They passed slowly through the wood, delighted with such unexpected accommodations, and entertained each other with conjecturing what, or who, he could be, that in those rude and unfrequented regions, had leisure and art for such harmless luxury.
As they advanced, they heard the sound of musick, and saw youths and virgins dancing in the grove; and, going still further, beheld a stately palace built upon a hill surrounded with woods. The laws of eastern hospitality allowed them to enter, and the master welcomed them like a man liberal and wealthy.
He was skilful enough in appearances soon to discern that they were no common guests, and spread his table with magnificence. The eloquence of Imlac caught his attention, and the lofty courtesy of the princess excited his respect. When they offered to depart he entreated their stay, and was the next day still more unwilling to dismiss them than before. They were easily persuaded to
stop, and civility grew up in time to freedom and confidence.
The prince now saw all the domesticks chearful, and all the face of nature smiling round the place, and could not forbear to hope that he should find here what he was seeking; but when he was congratulating the master upon his possessions, he answered with a sigh, "My condition has indeed the appearance of happiness, but appearances are delusive. My prosperity puts my life in danger; the Bassa of Egypt is my enemy, incensed only by my wealth and popularity. I have been hitherto protected against him by the princes of the country; but, as the favour of the great is uncertain, I know not how soon my defenders may be persuaded to share the plunder with
the Bassa. I have sent my treasures into a distant country, and, upon the first alarm, am prepared to follow them. then will my enemies riot in my mansion, and enjoy the gardens which I have planted."
They all joined in lamenting his danger, and deprecating his exile; and the princess was so much disturbed with the tumult of grief and indignation, that she retired to her apartment. They continued with their kind inviter a few days longer, and then went forward to find the hermit.
THEY came on the third day, by
the direction of the peasants, to
the hermit's cell: it was a cavern in
the side of a mountain, over-shadowed
with palm-trees; at such a distance from
the cataract
apartments, appropriated to different uses, and often afforded lodging to travellers, whom darkness or tempests happened to overtake.
The hermit sat on a bench at the door, to enjoy the coolness of the evening. On one side lay a book with pens and papers, on the other mechanical instruments of various kinds. As they approached him unregarded, the princess observed that he had not the countenance of a man that had found, or could teach, the way to happiness.
They saluted him with great respect, which he repaid like a man not unaccustomed to the forms of courts. "My children, said he, if you have lost, your way, you shall be willingly supplied with
such conveniencies for the night as this cavern will afford. I have all that nature requires, and you will not expect delicacies in a hermit's cell."
They thanked him, and, entering, were pleased with the neatness and regularity of the place. The hermit set flesh and wine before them, though he fed only upon fruits and water. His discourse was chearful without levity, and pious without enthusiasm. He soon gained the esteem of his guests, and the princess repented of her hasty censure.
At last Imlac began thus: "I do not now wonder that your reputation is so far extended; we have heard at Cairo of your wisdom, and came hither to im-
plore your direction for this young man and maiden in the choice of life".
"To him that lives well, answered the hermit, every form of life is good; nor can I give any other rule for choice, than to remove from all apparent evil."
"He will remove most certainly from evil, said the prince, who shall devote himself to that solitude which you have recommended by your example."
"I have indeed lived fifteen years in solitude, said the hermit, but have no desire that my example should gain any imitators. In my youth I professed arms, and was raised by degrees to the highest military rank. I have traversed wide countries at the head of my troops, and
seen many battles and sieges. At last,
being disgusted by the preferments
"For some time after my retreat, I rejoiced like a tempest-beaten sailor at his entrance into the harbour, being delighted with the sudden change of the noise and hurry of war, to stillness and repose. When the pleasure of novelty went away, I employed my hours in ex-
amining the plants which grow in the valley, and the minerals which I collected from the rocks. But that enquiry is now grown tasteless and irksome. I have been for some time unsettled and distracted: my mind is disturbed with a thousand perplexities of doubt, and vanities of imagination, which hourly prevail upon me, because I have no opportunities of relaxation or diversion. I am sometimes ashamed to think that I could not secure myself from vice, but by retiring from the exercise of virtue, and begin to suspect that I was rather impelled by resentment, than led by devo- tion, into solitude. My fancy riots in scenes of folly, and I lament that I have lost so much, and have gained so little. In solitude, if I escape the example of bad men, I want likewise the
counsel and conversation of the good. I have been long comparing the evils with the advantages of society, and resolve to return into the world tomorrow, The life of a solitary man will be certainly miserable, but not certainly devout."
They heard his resolution with surprise, but, after a short pause, offered to conduct him to Cairo. He dug up a considerable treasure which he had hid among the rocks, and accompanied them to the city, on which, as he approached it, he gazed with rapture.
RASSELAS went often to an assembly of learned men, who met at stated times to unbend their minds, and compare their opinions. Their manners were somewhat coarse, but their conversation was instructive, and their disputations acute, though sometimes too violent, and often continued till neither controvertist remembered upon what question they began. Some faults were almost general among them: every one was desirous to dictate to the rest, and every one was pleased to
hear the genius or knowledge of another depreciated.
In this assembly Rasselas was relating his interview with the hermit, and the wonder with which he heard him censure a course of life which he had so deliberately chosen, and so laudably followed. The sentiments of the hearers were various. Some were of opinion, that the folly of his choice had been justly punished by condemnation to perpetual perseverance. One of the youngest among them, with great vehemence, pronounced him an hypocrite. Some talked of the right of society to the labour of individuals, and considered re- tirement as a desertion of duty. Others readily allowed, that there was a time when the claims of the publick were sa-
tisfied, and when a man might properly sequester himself, to review his life, and purify his heart.
One, who appeared more affected with the narrative than the rest, thought it likely, that the hermit would, in a few years, go back to his retreat, and, perhaps, if shame did not restrain, or death intercept him, return once more from his retreat into the world: "'For the hope of happiness, said he, is so strongly impressed, that the longest experience is not able to efface it. Of the present state, whatever it be, we feel, and are forced to confess, the misery, yet, when the same state is again at a distance, imagination paints it as desirable. But the time will surely come, when desire will be no longer our torment, and no
man shall be wretched but by his own fault."
"This, said a philosopher, who had heard him with tokens of great impatience, is the present condition of a wise man. The time is already come, when none are wretched but by their own fault. Nothing is more idle, than to enquire after happiness, which nature has kindly placed within our reach. The way to be happy is to live according to nature, in obedience to that universal and unalterable law with which every heart is originally impressed; which is not written on it by precept, but engraven by destiny, not instilled by education, but infused at our nativity. He that lives according to nature will suffer nothing from the delusions of hope, or importunities of de-
sire: he will receive and reject with equability of temper; and at or suffer as the reason of things shall alternately prescribe. Other men may amuse themselves with subtle definitions, or intricate ratiocination. Let them learn to be wise by easier means: let them observe the hind of the forest, and the linnet of the grove: let them consider the life of animals, whose motions are regulated by instinct; they obey their guide and are happy. Let us therefore, at length, cease to dispute, and learn to live; throw away the incumbrance of precepts, which thev who utter them with so much pride and pomp do not understand, and carry with us this simple and intelligible maxim, That deviation from nature is deviation from happiness."
When he had spoken, he looked round him with a placid air, and enjoyed the consciousness of his own beneficence. "Sir, said the prince, with great modesty, as I, like all the rest of mankind, am desirous of felicity, my closest attention has been fixed upon your discourse: I doubt not the truth of a position which a man so learned has so confidently advanced. Let me only know what it is to live according to nature."
"When I find young men so humble and so docile, said the philosopher, I can deny them no information which my studies have enabled me to afford. To live according to nature, is to act always with due regard to the fitness arising from the relations and qualities of causes and effects; to concur with the great and un-
changeable scheme of universal felicity, to co-operate with the general disposition and tendency of the present system of things."
The prince soon found that this was one of the sages whom he should understand less as he heard him longer. He therefore bowed and was silent, and the philosopher, supposing him satisfied, and the rest vanquished, rose up and departed with the air of a man that had co-operated with the present system.
RASSELAS returned home full
of reflexions, doubtful how to direct his future steps. Of the way to
happiness he found the learned and simple equally ignorant; but, as he was
yet young, he flattered himself that he
had time remaining for more experiments, and further enquiries. He communicated to Imlac his observations and
his doubts, but was answered by him
with new doubts, and remarks that gave
"We have hitherto, said she, known but little of the world: we have never yet been either great or mean. In our own country, though we had royalty, we had no power, and in this we have not yet seen the private recesses of domestick peace. Imlac favours not our search, lest we should in time find him mistaken. We will divide the task between us: you shall try what is to be found in the splendour of courts, and I will range the shades of humbler life. Perhaps
command and authority may be the su- preme blessings, as they afford most op- portunities of doing good: or, perhaps, what this world can give may be found in the modest habitations of middle for- tune; too low for great designs, and too high for penury and distress."
CHAP. XXIV. The prince examines the happiness of high stations. RASSELAS applauded the design,
and appeared next day with a
splendid retinue at the court of the Bassa.
He was soon distinguished for his magnificence, and admired, as a prince whose
curiosity had brought him from distant
He was at first inclined to believe, that the man must be pleased with his own condition, whom all approached with reverence, and heard with obedience, and who had the power to extend his edicts to a whole kingdom." There can be no pleasure, said he, equal to that of feeling at once the joy of thousands all made happy by wise administration. Yet, since, by the law of subordination, this sublime delight can be in one nation but the lot of one, it is surely reasonable to think that there is some satisfaction more popular and accessible, and that millions can hardly be subjected to the will
of a single man, only to fill his particular breads with incommunicable content."
These thoughts were often in his mind, and he found no solution of the difficulty. But as presents and civilities gained him more familiarity, he found that almost every man who stood high in employment hated all the reft, and was hated by them, and that their lives were a continual succession of plots and detestions, stratagems and escapes, faction and treachery. Many of those, who surrounded the Bassa, were sent only to watch and report his conduct; every tongue was muttering censure, and every eye was searching for a fault.
At last the letters of revocation ar- rived, the Bassa was carried in chains to
Constantinople, and his name was men- tioned no more.
"What are we now to think of the prerogatives of power, said Rasselas to his sister; is it without any efficacy to good? or, is the subordinate degree only dangerous, and the supreme safe and glorious? Is the Sultan the only happy man in his dominions? or, is the Sultan himself subject to the torments of suspicion, and the dread of enemies?"
In a short time the second Bassa
THE princess, in the mean time, insinuated herself into many families; for there are few doors, through which liberality, joined with good humour, cannot find its way. The daughters of many houses were airy and chearful, but Nekayah had been too long accustomed to the conversation of Imlac and her brother to be much pleased with childish levity and prattle which had no meaning. She found their thoughts narrow, their wishes low, and their merri-
But her purpose was to examine more deeply, and her affability easily persuaded the hearts that were swelling with sorrow to discharge their secrets in her ear: and those whom hope flattered, or prosperity delighted, often courted her to partake their pleasures.
The princess and her brother commonly met in the evening in a private summerhouse on the bank of the Nile, and related to each other the occurrences of the
day. As they were sitting together, the
princess cast her eyes upon the river that
flowed before her. "Answer, said she,
"You are then, said Rasselas, not more successful in private houses than I have been in courts." "I have, since the last partition of our provinces, said the princess, enabled myself to enter familiarly into many families, where there was the fairest show of prosperity and peace, and know not one house that is not haunted by some fury that destroys its quiet.
"I did not seek ease among the poor, because I concluded that there it could not be found. But I saw many poor whom I had supposed to live in affluence. Poverty has, in large cities, very different appearances: it is often concealed in splendour, and often in extravagance. It is the care of a very great part of makind to conceal their indigence from the rest: they support themselves by temporary expedients, and every day is lost in contriving for the morrow.
"This, however, was an evil, which,
though frequent, I saw with less pain,
because I could relieve it. Yet some
have refused my bounties; more offended
with my quickness to detect their wants,
than pleased with my readiness to succour
them: and others, whose exigencies com-
END of the FIRST VOLUME.
CONTENTS
OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
CHAP. XXVI. THE princess continues her remarks upon private life page 1
CHAP. XXVII. Disquisition upon greatness
CHAP. XXVIII. Rasselas and Nekayah continue their conversation 14
CHAP. XXVIII. The debate on marriage continued 21
CHAP. XXIX. Imlac enters, and changes the conversation 31
CHAP. XXX. They visit the pyramids 38
CHAP. XXXI. They enter the pyramid 44
CHAP. XXXII. The princess meets with an unexpected misfortune 4 7
CHAP. XXXIII. They return to Cairo without Pekuah
50 CHAP. XXXIV. The princess languishes for want of Pekuah 58
CHAP. XXXV. Pekuah is still remembered. The pro gres of sorrow. 67
CHAP. XXXVI. The princess hears news of Pekuah 70
CHAP. XXXVII. The adventures of the lady Pekuah 74
CHAP. XXXVIII. The adventures of Pekuah continued 8.
CHAP. XXXIX. The history of a man of learning 98
CHAP. XL. Cause of his uneasiness 104
CHAP. XLI The opinion of the astronomer is explained and justified 107
CHAP. XLII. The astronomer leaves Imlac his directions 112
CHAP.
CHAP. XLIII. The dangerous prevalence of imagination 116
CHAP. XLIV. They discourse with an old man 122
CHAP. XLV. The princess and Pekuah visit the astronomer 130
CHAP. XLVI. The prince enters, and brings a new topick 144
CHAP. XLVII. Imlac discourses on the nature of the soul 153
CHAP. XLVIII. The conclusion, in which nothing is concluded 163
Nekayah perceiving her brother's attention fixed, proceeded in her narrative. "In families, where there is or is not poverty, there is commonly discord: if a kingdom be, as Imlac tells
us, a great family, a family likewise is a little kingdom, torn with factions and exposed to revolutions. An unpracticed observer expects the love of parents and children to be constant and equal; but this kindness seldom continues beyond the years of infancy: in a short time the children become rivals to their parents. Benefits are allayed by reproaches, and gratitude debased by envy.
"Parents and children seldom act in concert: each child endeavours to appropriate the esteem or fondness of the parents, and the parents, with yet less temptation, betray each other to their children; thus some place their confidence in the father, and some in the mother, and, by degrees, the house is filled with artifices and feuds.
"The opinions of children and parents, of the young and the old, are naturally opposite, by the contrary effects of hope and despondence, of expectation and experience, without crime or folly on either side. The colours of life in youth and age appear different, as the face of nature in spring and winter. And how can children credit the assertions of parents, which their own eyes show them to be false?
"Few parents act in such a manner
as much to enforce their maxims by the
credit of their lives. The old man trusts
wholly to slow contrivance
The old man deifies prudence: the youth
commits himself to magnanimity and
chance. The young man, who intends
no ill, believes that none is intended,
and therefore acts with openness and
candour: but his father, having suffered the injuries of fraud, is impelled
to suspect, and too often allured to practice it. Age looks with anger on the
temerity of youth, and youth with contempt on the scrupulosity
"Surely, said the prince, you must have been unfortunate in your choice of
acquaintance: I am unwilling to believe, that the most tender of all relations is thus impeded in its effects by natural necessity."
"Domestic discord, answered he, is not inevitably and fatally necessary; but yet is not easily avoided. We seldom see that a whole family is virtuous: the good and evil cannot well agree; and the evil can yet less agree with one another: even the virtuous fall sometimes to variance, when their virtues are of different kinds, and tending to extremes. In general, those parents have most reverence who most deserve it: for he that lives well cannot be despised.
"Many other evils infest private life. Some are the slaves of servants whom they have trusted with their affairs. Some are kept in continual anxiety to the ca-
price of rich relations, whom they can not please, and dare not offend. Some husbands are imperious, and some wives perverse: and, as it is always more easy to do evil than good, theugh the wisdom or virtue of one can very rarely make many happy, the folly or vice of one may often make many miserable."
"If such be the general effect of marriage, said the prince, I shall, for the future, think it dangerous to connect my interest with that of another, lest I should be unhappy by my partner's fault."
"I have met, said the princess, with many who live single for that reason; but I never found that their prudence ought to raise envy. They dream away their
time without friendship, without fondness, and are driven to rid themselves of the day, for which they have no use, by childish amusements, or vicious delights. They act as beings under the constant sense of some known inferiority, that fills their minds with rancour, and their tongues with censure. They are peevish at home, and malevolent abroad; and, as the out-laws of human nature, make it their business and their pleasure to disturb that society which debars them from its privileges. To live without feeling or exciting sympathy, to be fortunate without adding to the felicity of others, or afflicted without tasting the balm of pity, is a state more gloomy than solitude: it is not retreat but exclusion from mankind. Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures."
"What then is to be done? said Rasselas; the more we enquire, the less we can resolve. Surely he is most likely to please himself that has no other inclination to regard."
CHAP. XXVII. Disquisition upon greatness.The conversation had a short pause.
The prince, having considered his sister's observations, told her, that she had surveyed life with prejudice, and supposed misery where she did not find it. "Your narrative, says he, throws yet a darker gloom upon the prospects of futurity: the predictions of Imlac were but faint sketches of the evils painted by Nekayah, I have been
lately convinced that quiet is not the daughter of grandeur, or of power: that her presence is not to be bought by wealth, nor enforced by conquest. It is evident, that as any man acts in a wider compass, he must be more exposed to opposition from enmity or miscarriage from chance; whoever has many to please or to govern, must use the ministry of many agents, some of whom will be wicked, and some ignorant; by some he will be misled, and by others betrayed. If he gratifies one he will offend another: those that are not favoured will think themselves injured; and, since favours can be conferred but upon few, the greater number will be always discontented."
"The discontent," said the princess, "Which is thus unreasonable, I hope that I shall always have spirit to despise, and you, power to repress."
"Discontent," answered Rasselas, "Will
not always be without reason under the
most just or vigilant administration of
public affairs. None, however attentive, can always discover that merit
which indigence or faction may happen to obscure; and none, however
powerful, can always reward it. Yet,
he that fees inferior desert advanced above him, will naturally impute
that preference to partiality or caprice
Dictionary.
fixed and inexorable justice of distribution: he will sometimes indulge his own affections, and sometimes those of his favorites; he will permit some to please him who can never serve him; he will discover in those whom he loves qualities which in reality they do not possess; and to those, from whom he receives pleasure, he will in his turn endeavor to give it. Thus will recommendations sometimes prevail which were purchased by money, or by the more destructive bribery of flattery and servility."
"He that has much to do will do something wrong, and of that wrong must suffer the consequences; and, if it were possible that he should always act rightly, yet when such numbers are to judge of his conduct, the bad will cen-
sure and obstruct him by malevolence, and the good sometimes by mistake.
"The highest stations cannot therefore hope to be the abodes of happiness, which I would willingly believe to have fled from thrones and palaces to seats of humble privacy and placid obscurity. For what can hinder the satisfaction, or intercept the expectations, of him whose abilities are adequate to his employments, who sees with his own eyes the whole circuit of his influence, who chooses by his own knowledge all whom he trusts, and whom none are tempted to deceive by hope or fear? Surely he has nothing to do but to love and to be loved, to be virtuous and to be happy."
"Whether perfect happiness would be procured by perfect goodness, said Nekayah, this world will never afford an opportunity of deciding. But this, at least, may be maintained, that we do not always find visible happiness in proportion to visible virtue. All natural and almost all political evils, are incident alike to the bad and good: they are confounded in the misery of a famine, and not much distinguished in the fury of a faction; they sink together in a tempest, and are driven together from their country by invaders. All that virtue can afford is quietness of conscience, a steady prospect of a happier state; this may enable us to endure calamity with patience; but remember that patience must suppose pain."
"Dear princess," said Rasselas, you fall into the common errors of exaggeratory declamation, by
producing, in a familiar disquisition, examples of national calamities, and scenes
of extensive misery, which are found
in books rather than in the world, and
which, as they are horrid, are ordained
to be rare. Let us not imagine evils
which we do not feel, nor injure life by
misrepresentations. I cannot bear that
querulous
"On necessary and inevitable evils,
which overwhelm kingdoms at once, all
disputation is vain: when they happen
they must be endured. But it is evident,
that these bursts of universal distress are
more dreaded than felt: thousands and
ten thousands flourish in youth, and wither in age, without the knowledge of
any other than domestic evils, and
share the same pleasures and vexations
whether their kings are mild or cruel,
whether the armies of their country persue their enemies, or retreat before them.
While courts are disturbed with intestine
gotiating in foreign countries, the smith still plies his anvil, and the husbandman drives his plow forward; the necessaries of life are required and obtained, and the successive business of the seasons continues to make its wonted revolutions."
"Let us cease to consider what, perhaps, may never happen, and what, when it shall happen, will laugh at human speculation. We will not endeavor to modify the motions of the elements, or to fix the destiny of kingdoms. It is our business to consider what beings like us may perform; each laboring for his own happiness, by promoting within his circle, however narrow, the happiness of others.
"Marriage is evidently the dictate of nature; men and women were made to be companions of each other, and therefore I cannot be persuaded but that marriage is one of the means of happiness."
"I know not, said the princess, whether marriage be more than one of the
innumerable modes of human misery.
When I see and reckon the various
forms of connubial
Dictionary
riage is rather permitted than approved, and that none, but by the instigation of a passion too much indulged, entangle themselves with indissoluble compacts."
"You seem to forget," replied Rasselas "That you have, even now, represented celibacy as less happy than marriage. Both conditions may be bad, but they cannot both be worst. Thus it happens when wrong opinions are entertained, that they mutually destroy each other, and leave the mind open to truth."
"I did not expect, answered the prin- cess, to hear that imputed to falsehood which is the consequence only of frailty. To the mind, as to the eye, it is difficult to compare with exactness objects vast in their extent, and various in their
parts. Where we see or conceive the whole at once we readily note the discriminations and decide the preference: but of two systems, of which neither can be surveyed by any human being in its full compass of magnitude and multiplicity of complication, where is the wonder, that judging of the whole by parts, I am alternately affected by one and the other as either presses on my memory or fancy? We differ from ourselves just as we differ from each other, when we see only part of the question, as in the multifarious relations of politics and morality: but when we perceive the whole at once, as in numerical computations, all agree in one judgment, and none ever varies his opinion."
"Let us not add," said the prince, "To the other evils of life, the bitterness of controversy, nor endeavor to vie with each other in futilties of argument. We are employed in a search, of which both are equally to enjoy the success, or suffer by the miscarriage. It is therefore fit that we assist each other. You surely conclude too hastily from the infelicity of marriage against its institution; will not the misery of life prove equally that life cannot be the gift of heaven? The world must be peopled by marriage, or peopled without it."
"How the world is to be peopled," returned Nekayah, "Is not my care, and needs not be yours. I see no danger that the present generation should omit to leave successors behind them: we are not
now enquiring for the world, but for ourselves."
CHAP. XXVIII. The debate on marriage continued.
"The good of the whole," says Rasselas, "Is the same with the
good of all its parts. If marriage be
best for mankind it must be evidently
best for individuals, or a permanent and
necessary duty must be the cause of
evil, and some must be inevitably sacrificed to the convenience of others. In
the estimate which you have made of the
two states, it appears that the incommodities of a single life are, in a great
"I cannot forbear to flatter myself that prudence and benevolence will make marriage happy. The general folly of mankind is the cause of general complaint. What can be expeted but disappointment and repentance from a choice made in the immaturity of youth, in the ardour of desire, without judgment, without foresight, without enquiry after conformity of opinions, similarity of manners, rectitude of judgment, or purity of sentiment.
"Such is the common process of marriage. A youth and maiden meeting by chance, or brought together by artifice, exchange glances, reciprocate civi-
lities, go home, and dream of one another. Having little to divert attention, or diversify thought, they find themselves uneasy when they are apart, and therefore conclude that they shall be happy together. They marry, and discover what nothing but voluntary blindness had before concealed; they wear out life in altercations, and charge nature with cruelty.
"From those early marriages proceeds likewise the rivalry of parents and children: the son is eager to enjoy the world before the father is willing to forsake it, and there is hardly room at once for two generations. The daughter begins to bloom before the mother can be content to fade, and neither can forbear to wish for the absence of the other.
"Surely all these evils may be avoided by that deliberation and delay which prudence prescribes to irrevocable choice. In the variety and jollity of youthful pleasures life may be well enough supported without the help of a partner. Longer time will increase experience, and wider views will allow better opportunities of enquiry and selection: one advantage, at least, will be certain; the parents will be visibly older than their children."
"What reason cannot collect," said Nekayah, "And what experiment has not yet taught, can be known only from the report of others. I have been told that late marriages are not eminently happy. This is a question too important to be neglected, and I have often proposed it to
those, whole accuracy of remark, and comprehensiveness of knowledge, made their suffrages worthy of regard. They have generally determined, that it is dangerous for a man and woman to suspend their fate upon each other, at a time when opinions are fixed, and habits are established; when friendships have been contrasted on both sides, when life has been planned into method, and the mind has long enjoyed the contemplation of its own prospects.
"It is scarcely possible that two travelling through the world under the conduct of chance, should have been both directed to the same path, and it will not often happen that either will quit the track which custom has made pleasing. When the desultory levity
of youth has settled into regularity, it is soon succeeded by pride ashamed to yield, or obstinacy delighting to contend. And even though mutual esteem produces mutual desire to please, time itself, as it molifies unchangeably the external mien, determines likewise the direction of the passions, and gives an inflexible rigidity to the manners. Long customs are not easily broken: he that attempts to change the course of his own life, very often labors in vain; and how shall we do that for others which we are seldom able to do for ourselves?"
"But surely" interposed the prince, you suppse the chief motive of choice forgotten or neglected. Whenever I shall seek a wife, it shall be my first
question, whether she be willing to be led by reason?"
"Thus it is," said Nekayah, "That philosophers are deceived. There are a thousand familiar disputes which reason never can decide; questions that elude invesigation, and make logic ridiculous; cases where something must be done, and where little can be said. Consider the state of mankind, and enquire how few can be supposed to act upon any occasions, whether small or great, with all the reasons of action present to their minds. Wretched would be the pair above all names of wretchedness, who should be doomed to adjust by reason every morning all the minute detail of a domestic day,
"Those who marry at an advanced age, will probably escape the encroachments of their children; but, in diminuzation of this advantage, they will be likely to leave them, ignorant and helpless, to a guardian's mercy: or, if that should not happen, they must at least go out of the world before they see those whom they love best either wife or great.
"From their children, if they have less to fear, they have less also to hope, and they lose, without equivalent, the joys of early love, and the convenience of uniting with manners pliant, and minds susceptible of new impressions, which might wear away their dissimilitudes by long cohabitation, as soft bodies, by continual attrition, conform their surfaces to each other.
"I believe it will be found that those who marry late are best pleased with their children, and those who marry early with their partners."
"The union of there two affections," said Rasselas, "Would produce all that could be wished. Perhaps there is a time when marriage might unite them, a time neither too early for the father, nor too late for the husband."
"Every hour," answered the princess, "Confirms my prejudice in favor of the position so often uttered by the mouth of Imlac, 'That nature sets her gifts on the right hand and on the left.' Those conditions, which flatter hope and attract desire, are so constituted, that, as we approach one, we recede from another.
There are goods so opposed that we cannot seize both, but, by too much prudence, may pass between them at too great a distance to reach either. This is often the fate of long consideration; he does nothing who endeavors to do more than is allowed to humanity. Flatter not yourself with contrarieties of pleasure. Of the blessings let before you make your choice, and be content. No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of the spring: no man can, at the same time, fill his cup from the source and from the mouth of the Nile."
Here Imlac entered, and interrupted them. "Imlac, said Rasselas, I have been taking from the princess the dismal history of private life, and am almost discouraged from further search." "It seems to me, said Imlac, that while you are making the choice of life, you neglect to live. You wander about a single city, which, however large and
diversified, can now afford few novelties, and forget that you are in a country, famous among the earliest monarchies for the power and wisdom of its inhabitants; a country where the sciences first dawned that illuminate the world, and beyond which the arts cannot be traced of civil society or domestic life.
"The old Egyptians have left behind them monuments of industry and power before which all European magnificence is confessed to fade away. The ruins of their architecture are the schools of modern builders, and from the wonders which time has spared we may conjecture, though uncertainly, what it has destroyed."
"My curiosity," said Rasselas, "does not very strongly lead me to survey piles of stone, or mounds of earth; my business is with man. I came hither not to measure fragments of temples, or trace choaked aqueducts, but to look upon the various scenes of the present world."
"The things that are now before us," said the princess, "Require attention, and deserve it. What have I to do with the heroes or the monuments of ancient times? with times which never can return, and heroes, whose form of life was different from all that the present condition of mankind requires or allows."
"To know any thing, returned the poet, we mull know its effects; to see men we must see their works, that we
may learn what reason has dictated, or passion has incited, and find what are the most powerful motives of action. To judge rightly of the present we must oppose it to the past; for all judgment is comparative, and of the future nothing can be known. The truth is, that no mind is much employed upon the present: recollection and anticipation fill up almost all our moments. Our passions are joy and grief, love and hatred, hope and fear. Of joy and grief the past is the object, and the future of hope and fear; even love and hatred respect the past, for the cause must have been before the effect.
"The present state of things is the consequence of the former, and it is natural to inquire what were the cources
of the good that we enjoy, or of the evil that we suffer. If we act only for our selves, to neglect the study of history is not prudent: if we are entrusted with the care of others, it is not just. Ignorance, when it is voluntary, is criminal; and he may properly be charged with evil who refused to learn how he might prevent it.
"There is no part of history so generally useful as that which relates the pro gress of the human mind, the gradual improvement of reason, the successive advances of science, the vissitudes of learning and ignorance which are the light and darkness of thinking beings, the extinction and resuscitation of arts, and the revolutions of the intellectual world. If accounts of battles and invasions are
peculiarly the business of princes, the useful or elegant arts are not to be neglected; those who have kingdoms to govern, have understandings to cultivate.
"Example is always more efficacious than precept. A soldier is formed in war, and a painter must copy pictures. In this, contemplative life has the advantage: great actions are seldom seen, but the labors of art are always at hand for those who desire to know what art has been able to perform.
"When the eye or the imagination is struck with any uncommon work the next transition of an active mind is to the means by which it was performed. Here begins the true use of such contemplation; we enlarge our compre-
hension by new ideas, and perhaps recover some art lost to mankind, or learn what is less perfectly known in our own country. At least we compare our own with former times, and either rejoice at our improvements, or, what is the first motion towards good, discover our defects?
"I am willing," said the prince, "To see all that can deserve my search." "And I," said the princess, "Shall rejoice to learn something of the manners of antiquity."
"The most pompous monument of Egyptian greatness, and one of the most bulky works of manual industry, said Imlac, are the pyramids; fabrics raised before the time of history, and of which the earlieft narratives afford us only, un-
certain traditions. Of these the greatest is still standing very little injured by time."
"Let us visit them tomorrow," said Nekayah. "I have often heard of the Pyramids, and shall not rest, till I have seen them within and without with my own eyes."
CHAP. XXX. They visit the Pyramids.
The resolution being thus taken,
they set out the next day. They laid
tents upon their camels, being resolved
to stay among the pyramids till their curosity was fully satisfied. They tra-
When they came to the great pyramid they were astonished at the extent of the base, and the height of the top. Imlac explained to them the principles upon which the pyramidal form was chosen for a fabric intended to co-extend its duration with that of the world: he showed that its gradual diminution gave it such liability, as defeated all the common attacks of the elements, and could scarcely be overthrown by earthquakes themselves, the least resistible of natural violence. A conclusion that
should shatter the pyramid would threaten the dissolution of the continent.
They measured all its dimensions, and pitched their tents at its foot. Next day they prepared to enter its interior apartments, and having hired the common guides climbed up to the first passage, when the favorite of the princess, looking into the cavity, stepped back and trembled. "Pekuah," said the princess, "Of what art thou afraid?" "Of the narrow entrance," answered the lady, "And of the dreadful gloom. I dare not enter a place which must surely be inhabited by unquiet souls. The original possessors of these dreadful vaults will start up before us, and, perhaps, shut us in for ever." She spoke, and threw her arms round the neck of her mistress. "If
"If all your fear be of apparitions," said the prince, "I will promise you safety: there is no danger from the dead; he that is once buried will be seen no more."
"That the dead are seen no more,"
said Imiac, "I will nor undertake to maintain against the concurrent and unvaried
testimony of all ages, and of all nations,
There is no people, rude or learned,
among whom apparitions of the dead
are not related and believed. This opinion, which, perhaps, prevails as far as
human nature is diffused, could become
universal only by its truth: those, that
never heard of one another, would not
have agreed in a tale which nothing but
experience can make credible. That
it is doubted by single cavillers
Dictionary
and some who deny it with their tongues confess it by their fears.
"Yet I do not mean to add new terrors to those which have already seized upon Pekuah. There can be no reason why spectres should haunt the pyramid more than other places, or why they should have power or will to hurt innocence and purity. Our entrance is no violation of their priviledges; we can take nothing from them, how then can we offend them?"
"My dear Pekuah," said the princess, "I will always go before you, and Imlac shall follow you. Remember that you are the companion of the princess of Abissinia."
If the princess is pleased that her servant should die, returned the lady, let her command some death less dreadful than enclosure in this horrid cavern. You know I dare not disobey you: I must go if you command me; but, if I once enter, I never shall come back."
"The princess saw that her fear was too strong for expostulation or reproof, and embracing her, told her that she should stay in the tent till their return. Pekuah was yet not satisfied, but entreated the princess not to persue so dreadful a purpose as that of entering the recesses of the pyramid. "Though I cannot teach courage," said Nekayah, "I must not learn cowardise; nor leave, at last undone what I came hither only to do."
PEKUAH descended to the tents, and the rest entered the pyramid: they passed through the galleries, surveyed the vaults of marble, and examined the chest in which the body of the founder is supposed to have been reposited. They then sat down in one of the most spacious chambers to rest a while before they attempted to return.
"We have now, said Imlac, gratified our minds with an exact view of the greatest work of man, except the wall of China.
"Of the wall it is very easy to assign the motives. It secured a wealthy and timorous nation from the incursions of Barbarians, whose unskilfulness in arts made it easier for them to supply their wants by rapine than by industry, and who from time to time poured in upon the habitations of peaceful commerce, as vultures descend upon domestick fowl. Their celerity and fierceness made the wall necessary, and their ignorance made it efficacious.
"But for the pyramids no reason has ever been given adequate to the cost and labour of the work. The narrowness of the chambers proves that it could afford no retreat from enemies, and treasures might have been reposited at far less expence wih equal security. It seems to
have been erected only in compliance with that hunger of imagination which preys incessantly upon life, and must be always appeased by some employment. Those who have already all that they can enjoy, must enlarge their desires. He that has built for use, till use is supplied, must begin to build for vanity, and extend his plan to the utmost power of human performance, that he may not be soon reduced to form another wish.
"I consider this mighty structure as a monument of the insufficiency of human enjoyments. A king, whose power is unlimited, and whose treasures surmount all real and imaginary wants, is compelled to solace, by the erection of a pyramid, the satiety of dominion and tastelesness of pleasures, and to amuse
the tediousness of declining life, by seeing thousands labouring without end, and one stone, for no purpose, laid upon another. Whoever thou art, that, not content with a moderate condition, imaginest happiness in royal magnificence, and dreamest that command or riches can feed the appetite of novelty with perpetual gratifications, survey the pyramids, and confess thy folly!"
CHAP. XXXII. The princess meets with an unexpected misfortune.They rose up, and returned through the cavity at which they
had entered, and the princess prepared
Dictionary.
What had happened they did not try to conjecture, but immediately enquired. "You had scarcely entered into the pyramid, said one of the attendants, when a troop of Arabs rushed upon us: we were too few to resist them, and too slow to escape. They were about to search the tents, set us on our camels, and drive us along before them, when the approach of some Turkish horsemen put them to
flight; but they seized the lady Pekuah with her two maids, and carried them away: the Turks are now persuing them by our instigation, but I fear they will not be able to overtake them."
The princess was overpowered with surprise and grief. Rasselas, in the first heat of his resentment, ordered his servants to follow him, and prepared to persue the robbers with his sabre in his hand. "Sir, said Imlac, what can you hope from violence or valour? the Arabs are mounted on horses trained to battle and retreat; we have only beasts of burden. By leaving our present station we may lose the princess, but cannot hope to regain Pekuah."
In a short time the Turks returned, having not been able to reach the enemy. The princess burst out into new lamentations, and Rasselas could scarcely forbear to reproach them with cowardice; but Imlac was of opinion, that the escape of the Arabs was no addition to their misfortune, for, perhaps, they would have killed their captives rather than have resigned them.
CHAP. XXXIII. They return to Cairo without Pekuah.
There was nothing to be hoped from longer stay. They returned
to Cairo repenting of their curiosity,
Nekayah retired to her chamber, where her women attempted to comfort her, by telling her that all had their troubles, and that lady Pekuah had enjoyed much happiness in the world for a long time, and might reasonably expect a change of fortune. They hoped that some good would befal her wheresoever she was, and that their mistress would find another friend who might supply her place.
The princess made them no answer, and they continued the form of condolence, not much grieved in their hearts that the favourite was lost.
Next day the prince presented to the Bassa a memorial of the wrong which he had suffered, and a petition for redress. The Bassa threatened to punish the robbers, but did not attempt to catch them, nor, indeed, could any account or description be given by which he might direct the persuit.
It soon appeared that nothing would be done by authority. Governors, being accustomed to hear of more crimes than they can punish, and more wrongs than they can redress, set themselves at ease by indiscriminate negligence, and
presently forget the request when they lose sight of the petitioner.
Imlac then endeavoured to gain some intelligence by private agents. He found many who pretended to an exact knowledge of all the haunts of the Arabs, and to regular correspondence with their chiefs, and who readily undertook the recovery of Pekuah. Of these, some were furnished with money for their journey, and came back no more; some were liberally paid for accounts which a few days discovered to be false. But the princess would not suffer any means, however improbable, to be left untried. While she was doing something she kept her hope alive. As one expedient failed, another was suggested; when one mes-
senger returned unsuccessful, another was despatched to a different quarter. Two months had now passed, and of Pekuah nothing had been heard; the hopes which they had endeavoured to raise in each other grew more languid, and the princess, when she saw nothing more to be tried, sunk down inconsolable in hopeless dejection. A thousand times she reproached herself with the easy compliance by which she permitted her favourite to stay behind her. "Had not my fondness, said she, lessened my authority, Pekuah had not dared to talk of her terrours. She ought to have feared me more than spectres. A severe look would have overpowered her; a peremptory command would have compelled obedience. Why did foolish in-
dulgence prevail upon me? Why did I not speak and refuse to hear?"
"Great princess, said Imlac, do not reproach yourself for your virtue, or consider that as blameable by which evil has accidentally been caused. Your tenderness for the timidity of Pekuah was generous and kind. When we act according to our duty, we commit the event to him by whose laws our actions are governed, and who will suffer none to be finally punished for obedience. When, in prospect of some good, whether natural or moral, we break the rules prescribed us, we withdraw from the direction of superiour wisdom, and take all consequences upon ourselves. Man cannot so far know the connexion of causes and events, as that he may
venture to do wrong in order to do right. When we persue our end by lawful means, we may always console our miscarriage by the hope of future recompense. When we consult only our own policy, and attempt to find a nearer way to good, by overleaping the settled boundaries of right and wrong, we cannot be happy even by success, because we cannot escape the consciousness of our fault; but, if we miscarry, the disappointment is irremediably embittered. How comfortless is the sorrow of him, who feels at once the pangs of guilt, and the vexation of calamity which guilt has brought upon him?
"Consider, princess, what would have been your condition, if the lady Pekuah had entreated to accompany you,
and, being compelled to stay in the tents, had been carried away; or how would you have born the thought, if you had forced her into the pyramid, and she had died before you in agonies of terrour."
"Had either happened, said Nekayah, I could not have endured life till now: I should have been tortured to madness by the remembrance of such cruelty, or must have pined away in abhorrence of myself."
"This at least, said Imlac, is the present reward of virtuous conduct, that no unlucky consequence can oblige us to repent it."
Nekayah, being thus reconciled to herself, found that no evil is insupportable but that which is accompanied with consciousness of wrong, She was, from that time, delivered from the violence of tempestuous sorrow, and sunk into silent pensiveness and gloomy tranquillity. She sat from morning to evening recollecting all that had been done or said by her Pekuah, treasured up with care every trifle on which Pekuah had set an accidental value, and which might recall to mind any little incident
or careless conversation. The sentiments of her, whom she now expected to see no more, were treasured in her memory as rules of life, and she deliberated to no other end than to conjecture on any occasion what would have been the opinion and counsel of Pekuah.
The women, by whom she was attended, knew nothing of her real condition, and therefore she could not talk to them but with caution and reserve. She began to remit her curiosity, having no great care to collect notions which she had no convenience of uttering. Rasselas endeavoured first to comfort and afterwards to divert her; he hired musicians, to whom she seemed to listen, but did not hear them, and procured masters to instruct her in various arts, whose
lectures, when they visited her again, were again to be repeated. She had lost her taste of pleasure and her ambition of excellence. And her mind, though forced into short excursions, always recurred to the image of her friend.
Imlac was every morning earnestly enjoined to renew his enquiries, and was asked every night whether he had yet heard of Pekuah, till not being able to return the princess the answer that she desired, he was less and less willing to come into her presence. She observed his backwardness, and commanded him to attend her. "You are not, said she, to confound impatience with resentment, or to suppose that I charge you with negligence, because I repine at your unsuccessfulness. I do not much wonder at
your absence; I know that the unhappy
are never pleasing, and that all naturally
avoid the contagion of misery. To hear
complaints is wearisome alike to the
wretched and the happy; for who would
cloud by adventitious
"The time is at hand, when none shall be disturbed any longer by the sighs of Nekayah: my search after happiness is now at an end. I am resolved to retire from the world with all its flatteries and deceits, and will hide myself in solitude, without any other care than to compose my thoughts, and regulate my hours by a constant succession of innocent occu-
pations, till, with a mind purified from all earthly desires, I shall enter into that state, to which all are hastening, and in which I hope again to enjoy the friendship of Pekuah."
"Do not entangle your mind, said Imlac, by irrevocable determinations, nor increase the burthen of life by a voluntary accumulation of misery: the weariness of retirement will continue or increase when the loss of Pekuah is forgotten. That you have been deprived of one pleasure is no very good reason for rejection of the rest." "Since Pekuah was taken from me, said the princess, I have no pleasure to reject or to retain. She that has no one to love or trust has little to hope. She
wants the radical principle of happiness. We may, perhaps, allow that what satisfaction this world can afford, must arise from the conjunction of wealth, knowledge and goodness: wealth is nothing but as it is bestowed, and knowledge nothing but as it is communicated: they must therefore be imparted to others, and to whom could I now delight to impart them? Goodness affords the only comfort which can be enjoyed without a partner, and goodness may be praised in retirement."
"How far solitude may admit goodness, or advance it, I shall not, replied Imlac, dispute at present. Remember the confession of the pious hermit. You will wish to return into the world, when the image of your companion has left your thoughts." "That time, said Ne-
kayah, will never come. The generous frankness, the modest obsequiousness, and the faithful secrecy of my dear Pekuah, will always be more missed, as I shall live longer to see vice and folly." "The state of a mind oppressed with a sudden calamity, said Imlac, is like that of the fabulous inhabitants of the new created earth, who, when the first night came upon them, supposed that day never would return. When the clouds of sorrow gather over us, we see nothing beyond them, nor can imagine how they will be dispelled: yet a new day succeeded to the night, and sorrow is never long without a dawn of ease. But they who restrain themselves from receiving comfort, do as the savages would have done, had they put out their eyes when it was dark. Our minds,
like our bodies, are in continual flux; something is hourly lost, and something acquired. To lose much at once is inconvenient to either, but while the vital powers remain uninjured, nature will find the means of reparation. Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eye, and while we glide along the stream of time, whatever we leave behind us is always lessening, and that which we approach increasing in magnitude. Do not suffer life to stagnate; it will grow muddy for want of motion: commit yourself again to the current of the world; Pekuah will vanish by degrees; you will meet in your way some other favourite, or learn to diffuse yourself in general conversation."
"At least, said the prince, do not despair before all remedies have been tried: the enquiry after the unfortunate lady is still continued, and shall be carried on with yet greater diligence, on condition that you will promise to wait a year for the event, without any unalterable resolution."
Nekayah thought this a reasonable demand, and made the promise to her brother, who had been advised by Imlac to require it. Imlac had, indeed, no great hope of regaining Pekuah, but he supposed, that if he could secure the interval of a year, the princess would be then in no danger of a cloister.
NEKAYAH, seeing that nothing was omitted for the recovery of her favourite, and having, by her promise, set her intention of retirement at a distance, began imperceptibly to return to common cares and common pleasures. She rejoiced without her own consent at the suspension of her sorrows, and sometimes caught herself with indignation in the act of turning away her mind from the remembrance of her, whom yet she resolved never to forget.
She then appointed a certain hour of the day for meditation on the merits and fondness of Pekuah, and for some weeks retired constantly at the time fixed, and returned with her eyes swollen and her countenance clouded. By degrees she grew less scrupulous, and suffered any important and pressing avocation to de- lay the tribute of daily tears. She then yielded to less occasions; sometimes forgot what she was indeed afraid to remember, and, at last, wholly released herself from the duty of periodical affliction.
Her real love of Pekuah was yet not diminished. A thousand occurrences brought her lack to memory, and a thousand wants, which nothing but the confidence of friendship can supply, made her frequently regretted. She,
therefore, solicited Imlac never to desist from enquiry, and to leave no art of intelligence untried, that, at least, she might have the comfort of knowing that she did not suffer by negligence or sluggishness. "Yet what, said she, is to be expected from our persuit of happiness, when we find the state of life to be such, that happiness itself is the cause of mi- sery? Why should we endeavour to attain that, of which the possession cannot be secured? I shall henceforward fear to yield my heart to excellence, however bright, or to fondness, however tender, left I should lose again what I have lost in Pekuah."
In seven months, one of the messengers, who had been sent away upon the day when the promise was drawn from the princess, returned, after many unsuccessful rambles, from the borders of Nubia, with an account that Pekuah was in the hands of an Arab chief, who possessed a castle or fortress on the extremity of Egypt. The Arab, whose revenue was plunder, was willing to restore her, with her two attendants, for two hundred ounces of gold.
The price was no subject of debate. The princess was in extasies when she heard that her favourite was alive, and might so cheaply be ransomed. She could not think of delaying for a moment Pekuah's happiness or her own, but entreated her brother to send back the messenger with, the sum required. Imlac, being consulted, was not very confident of the veracity of the relator, and was still more doubtful of the Arab's faith, who might, if he were too liberally trusted, detain at once the money and the captives. He thought it dangerous to put themselves in the power of the Arab, by going into his district, and could not expect that the Rover would so much expose himself as to come into the lower country, where he might be seized by the forces of the Bassa.
It is difficult to negotiate where neither will trust. But Imlac, after some
deliberation, directed the messenger to
propose that Pekuah should be conducted
by ten horsemen to the monastery of St.
Anthony
That no time might be lost, as they expeced that the proposal would not be refused, they immediately began their journey to the monastary; and, when they arrived, Imlac went forward with the former messenger to the Arab's fortress. Rasselas was desirous to go with them, but neither his sister nor Imlac would consent. The Arab, according to the custom of his nation, observed the laws
of hospitality with great exactness to those who put themselves into his power, and, in a few days, brought Pekuah with her maids, by easy journeys, to their place appointed, where receiving the stipulated price, he restored her with great respect to liberty and her friends, and undertook to conduct them back towards Cairo beyond all danger of robbery or violence.
The princess and her favourite embraced each other with transport too violent to be expressed, and went out together to pour the tears of tenderness in secret, and exchange professions of kindness and gratitude. After a few hours they returned into the refectory of the convent, where, in the presence of the prior and his brethren, the prince required
of Pekuah the history of her adventures.
CHAP. XXXVII. The adventures of the lady Pekuah."At what time, and in what manner, I was forced away, said Pekuah, your servants have told you. The suddenness of the event struck me with surprise, and I was at first rather stupified than agitated with any passion of either fear or sorrow. My confusion was encreased by the speed and tumult of our flight while we were followed by the Turks, who, as it seemed, soon despaired to overtake us, or were afraid of those whom they made a shew of menacing.
"When the Arabs saw themselves out of danger they slackened their course, and as I was less harassed by external violence, I began to feel more uneasiness in my mind. After some time we stopped near a spring shaded with trees in a pleasant meadow, where we were set upon the ground, and offered such refreshments as our masters were partaking. I was suffered to sit with my maids apart from the rest, and none attempted to comfort or insult us. Here I first began to feel the full weight of my misery. The girls sat weeping in silence, and from time to time looked on me for succour. I knew not to what condition we were doomed, nor could conjecture where would be the place of our captivity, or whence to draw any hope of deliverance. I was in the hands, of rob-
bers and savages, and had no reason to suppose that their pity was more than their justice, or that they would forbear the gratification of any ardour of desire, or caprice of cruelty. I, however, kissed my maids, and endeavoured to pacify them by remarking, that we were yet treated with decency, and that, since we were now carried beyond persuit, there was no danger of violence to our lives.
"When we were to be set again on horseback, my maids clung round me, and refused to be parted, but I commanded them not to irritate those who had us in their power. We travelled the remaining part of the day through an unfrequented and pathless country, and came by moonlight to the side of a hill, where the rest of the troop was sta-
tioned. Their tents were pitched, and their fires kindled, and our chief was welcomed as a man much beloved by his dependants.
"We were received into a large tent, where we found women who had attended their husbands in the expedition. They set before us the supper which they had provided, and I eat it rather to encourage my maids than to comply with any appetite of my own. When the meat was taken away they spread the carpets for repose. I was weary, and hoped to find in sleep that remission of distress which nature seldom denies. Ordering myself therefore to be undrest, I observed that the women looked very earnestly upon me, not expecting, I suppose, to see me so submissively attended.
When my upper vest was taken off, they were apparently struck with the splendour of my cloaths, and one of them timorously laid her hand upon the embroidery. She then went out, and, in a short time, came back with another woman, who seemed to be of higher rank, and greater authority. She did, at her entrance, the usual act of reverence, and, taking me by the hand, placed me in a smaller tent, spread with finer carpets, where I spent the night quietly with my maids.
"In the morning, as I was sitting on the grass, the chief of the troop came towards me. I rose up to receive him, and he bowed with great respect. "Illustrious lady, said he, my fortune is better than I had presumed to hope; I am told by my women, that I have a prin-
cess in my camp."Sir, answered I, your women have deceived themselves and you; I am not a princess, but an unhappy stranger who intended soon to have left this country, in which I am now to be imprisoned for ever. "Whoever, or whencesoever, you are, returned the Arab, your dress, and that of your servants, show your rank to be high, and your wealth to be great. Why should you, who can so easily procure your ransome, think yourself in danger of perpetual captivity? The purpose of my incursions is to encrease my riches, or more properly to gather tribute. The sons of Ishmael are the natural and hereditary lords of this part of the continent, which is usurped by late invaders, and low-born tyrants, from whom we are compelled to take by the sword what
is denied to justice. The violence of war admits no distinction; the lance that is lifted at guilt and power will sometimes fall on innocence and gentleness." "How little, said I, did I expect that yesterday it should have fallen upon me."
"Misfortunes, answered the Arab, should always be expected. If the eye of hostility could learn reverence or pity, excellence like yours had been exempt from injury. But the angels of affliction spread their toils alike for the virtuous and the wicked, for the mighty and the mean."Do not be disconsolate; I am not one of the lawless and cruel rovers of the desart; I know the rules of civil life: I will fix your ransome, give a pas-
port to your messenger, and perform my stipulation with nice punctuality."
"You will easily believe that I was pleased with his courtesy; and finding that his predominant passion was desire of money, I began now to think my danger less, for I knew that no sum would be thought too great for, the release of Pekuah. I told him that he should have no reason to charge me with ingratitude, if I was used with kindness, and that any ransome, which could be expected for a maid of common rank, would be paid, but that he must not persist to rate me as a princess. He said, he would consider what he should demand, and then, smiling, bowed and re- tired.
"Soon after the women came about me, each contending to be more officious than the other, and my maids themselves were served with reverence. We travelled, onward by short journeys. On the fourth day the chief told me, that my ransome must be two hundred ounces of gold, which I not only promised him, but told him, that I would add fifty more, if I and my maids were honoura- bly treated.
"I never knew the power of gold before. From that time I was the leader of the troop. The march of every day was longer or shorter as I commanded, and the tents were pitched where I chose to rest. We now had camels and other conveniencies for travel, my own women were always at my side, and I amused
myself with observing the manners of the vagrant nations, and with viewing remains of ancient edifices with which these deserted countries appear to have been, in some distant age, lavishly embellished.
"The chief of the band was a man far from illiterate: he was able to travel by the stars or the compass, and had marked in his erratick expeditions such places as are most worthy the notice of a passenger. He observed to me, that buildings are always best preserved in places little frequented, and difficult of access: for, when once a country declines from its primitive splendour, the more inhabitants are left, the quicker ruin will be made. Walls supply stones more easily than quarries, and palaces
and temples will be demolished to make stables of granate, and cottages of porphyry.
CHAP. XXXVIII. The adventures of Pekuah continued."We wandered about in this manner for some weeks, whether, as our chief pretended, for my gratification, or, as I rather suspected, for some convenience of his own. I endeavoured to appear contented where sullenness and resentment would have been of no use, and that endeavour conduced much to the calmness of my mind; but my heart was always with Nekayah,
and the troubles of the night much overbalanced the amusements of the day. My women, who threw all their cares upon their mistress, set their minds at ease from the time when they saw me treated with respect, and gave themselves up to the incidental alleviations of our fatigue without solicitude or sorrow. I was pleased with their pleasure, and animated with their confidence. My condition had lost much of its terrour, since I found that the Arab ranged the country merely to get riches. Avarice is an uniform and tractable vice: other intellectual distempers are different in different constitutions of mind; that which sooths the pride of one will offend the pride of another; but to the favour of the covetous there is a ready way, bring money and nothing is denied.
"At last we came to the dwelling of our chief, a strong and spacious house built with stone in an island of the Nile, which lies, as I was told under the tropick. "Lady, said the Arab, you shall rest after your journey a few weeks in this place, where you are to consider yourself as sovereign. My occupation is war: I have therefore chosen this obscure residence, from which I can issue unexpected, and to which I can retire unpersued. You may now repose in security: here are few pleasures, but here is no danger." He then led me into the inner apartments, and seating me on the richest couch, bowed to the ground. His women, who considered me as a rival, looked on me with malignity; but being soon informed that I was a great lady detained only for my ransome,
they began to vie with each other in obsequiousness and reverence.
Being again comforted with new assurances of speedy liberty, I was for some days diverted from impatience by the novelty of the place. The turrets overlooked the country to a great distance, and afforded a view; of many windings of the stream. In the day I wandered from one place to another as the course of the sun varied the splendour of the prospect, and saw many things which I had never seen before. The crocodiles and river-horses are common in this unpeopled region, and I often looked upon them with terrour, though I knew that they could not hurt me. For some time I expected to see mermaids and tritons, which, as Imlac has told
me, the European travellers have stationed in the Nile, but no such beings ever appeared, and the Arab, when I enquired after them, laughed at my credulity.
"At night the Arab always attended me to a tower set apart for celestial observations where he endeavoured to teach me the names and courses of the stars. I had no great inclination to this study, but an appearance of attention was necessary to please my instructor, who valued himself for his skill, and, in a little while, I found some employment requisite to beguile the tediousness of time, which was to be passed always amidst the same objects. I was weary of looking in the morning on things from which I had turned away weary in the evening: I
therefore was at last willing to observe the stars rather than do nothing, but could not always compose my thoughts, and was very often thinking on Nekayah when others imagined me contemplating the sky. Soon after the Arab went upon another expedition, and then my only pleasure was to talk with my maids about the accident by which we were carried away, and the happiness that we should all enjoy at the end of our captivity."
"There were women in your Arab's fortress, said the princess, why did you not make them your companions, enjoy their conversation, and partake their diversions? In a place where they found
business or amusement, why should you alone sit corroded with idle melancholy?
or why could not you bear for a few months that condition to which they were condemned for life?" "The diversions of the women, answered Pekuah, were only childish play, by which the mind accustomed to stronger operations could not be kept busy. I could do all which they delighted in doing by powers merely sensitive, while my intellectual faculties were flown to Cairo. They ran from room to room as a bird hops from wire to wire in his cage. They danced for the sake of motion, as lambs frisk in a meadow. One sometimes pretended to be hurt that the rest might be alarmed, or hid herself that another might seek her. Part of their time passed in watching the progress of light bodies that floated on the river, and part
in marking the various forms into which clouds broke in the sky.
"Their business was only needlework, in which I and my maids sometimes helped them; but you know that the mind will easily straggle from the fingers, nor will you suspect that captivity and absence from Nekayah could receive solace from silken flowers.
"Nor was much satisfaction to be hoped from their conversation: for of what could they be expected to talk? They had seen nothing; for they had lived from early youth in that narrow spot: of what they had not seen they could have no knowledge, for they could not read. They had no ideas but of the few things that were within their view,
and had hardly names for any thing but their cloaths and their food. As I bore a superior character, I was often called to terminate their quarrels, which I decided as equitably as I could. If it could have amused me to hear the complaints of each against the rest, I might have been often detained by long stories, but the motives of their animosity were so small that I could not listen without intercepting the tale."
"How, said Rasselas can the Arab, whom you represented as a man of more than common accomplishments, take any pleasure in his seraglio when it is filled only with women like these. Are they exquisitely beautiful?"
"They do not, said Pekuah, want that unaffecting and ignoble beauty which may subsist without spriteliness or sublimity, without energy of thought or dignity of virtue. But to a man like the Arab such beauty was only a flower casually plucked and carelessly thrown away. Whatever pleasures he might find among them, they were not those of friendship or society. When they were playing about him he looked on them with inattentive superiority: when they vied for his regard he sometimes turned away disgusted. As they had no knowledge, their talk could take nothing from the tediousness of life: as they had no choice, their fondness, or appearance of fondness, excited in him neither pride nor gratitude; he was not exalted in his own esteem by the smiles of a woman
who saw no other man, nor was much obliged by that regard, of which he could never know the sincerity, and which he might often perceive to be exerted not so much to delight him as to pain a rival. That which he gave, and they received, as love, was only a careless distribution of superfluous time, such love as man can bestow upon that which he despises, such as has neither hope nor fear, neither joy nor sorrow."
"You have reason, lady, to think yourself happy, said Imlac, that you have been thus easily dismissed. How could a mind, hungry for knowledge, be willing, in an intellectual famine, to lose such a banquet as Pekuah's conver- sation?"
"I am inclined to believe, answered Pekuah, that he was for some time in suspense; for, notwithstanding his promise, whenever I proposed to dispatch a messenger to Cairo, he found some excuse for delay. While I was detained in his house he made many incursions into the neighbouring countries, and, perhaps, he would have refused to discharge me, had his plunder been equal to his wishes. He returned always courteous, related his adventures, delighted to hear my observations, and endeavoured to advance my acquaintance with the stars. When I importuned him to send away my letters, he toothed me with professions of honour and sincerity; and, when I could be no longer decently denied, put his troop again in motion, and left me to govern in his absence. I was much afflicted by
this studied procrastination, and was sometimes afraid that I should be forgotten; that you would leave Cairo, and I must end my days in an island of the Nile.
"I grew at last hopeless and dejected, and cared so little to entertain him, that he for a while more frequently talked with my maids. That he should fall in love with them, or with me, might have been equally fatal, and I was not much pleased with the growing friendship. My anxiety was not long; for, as I recovered some degree of chearfulness, he returned to me, and I could not forbear to despise my former uneasiness.
"He still delayed to send for my ransome, and would, perhaps, never have determined, had not your agent found
his way to him. The gold, which he would not fetch, he could not reject when it was offered. He hastened to prepare for our journey hither, like a man delivered from the pain of an intestine conflict. I took leave of my companions in the house, who dismissed me with cold indifference."
Nekayah, having heard her favourite's relation, rose and embraced her, and Rasselas gave her an hundred ounces of gold, which she presented to the Arab for the fifty that were promised.
They returned to Cairo, and were so well pleased at finding themselves together, that none of them went much abroad. The prince began to love learning, and one day declared to Imlac, that he intended to devote himself to science, and pass the rest of his days in literary solitude.
"Before you make your final choice, answered Imlac, you ought to examine its hazards, and converse with some of those who are grown old in the company of themselves. I have just left
the observatory of one of the most learned astronomers in the world, who has spent forty years in unwearied attention to the motions and appearances of the celestial bodies, and has drawn out his foul in endless calculations. He ad mits a few friends once a month to hear his deductions and enjoy his discoveries. I was introduced as a man of knowledge worthy of his notice. Men of various ideas and fluent conversation are commonly welcome to those whose thoughts have been long fixed upon a single point, and who find the images of other things stealing away. I delighted him with my remarks, he smiled at the narrative of my travels, and was glad to forget the constellations, and descend for a moment into the lower world.
"On the next day of vacation I renewed my visit, and was so fortunate as to please him again. He relaxed from that time the severity of his rule, and permitted me to enter at my own choice. I found him always busy, and always glad to be relieved. As each knew much which the other was desirous of learning, we exchanged our notions with great delight. I perceived that I had every day more of his confidence, and always found new cause of admiration in the profundity of his mind. His comprehension is vast, his memory capacious and retentive, his discourse is methodical, and his expression clear.
His integrity and benevolence are equal to his learning. His deepest re-
searches and most favourite studies are willingly interrupted for any opportunity of doing good by his counsel or his riches. To his closest retreat, at his most busy moments, all are admitted that want his assistance: "For though I exclude idleness and pleasure, I will never, says he, bar my doors against charity. To man is permitted the contemplation of the skies, but the prac-tice of virtue is commanded."
"Surely, said the princess, this man is happy."
I visited him, said Imlac, with more and more frequency, and was every time more enamoured of his conversation: he was sublime without haughtiness, courteous without formality, and
communicative without ostentation. I was at first, great princess of your opinion, thought him the happiest of mankind, and often congratulated him on the blessing that he enjoyed. He seemed to hear nothing with indifference but the praises of his condition, to which he always returned a general answer, and diverted the conversation to some other topick.
"Amidst this willingness to be pleased, and labour to please, I had quickly reason to imagine that some painful sentiment pressed upon his mind. He often looked up earnertly towards the fun, and let his voice fall in the midst of his discourse. He would sometimes, when we were alone, gaze upon me in silence with the air of a man who
longed to speak what he was yet resolved to suppress. He would often send for me with vehement injuntions of haste, though, when I came to him, he had nothing extraordinary to say. And sometimes, when I was leaving him, would call me back, pause a few moments and then dismiss me.
At last the time came when the secret burst his reserve. We were
sitting together last night in the turret
of his house, watching the emersion
is dangerous and dreadful. I have found in thee all the qualities requisite for trust, benevolence, experience, and fortitude. I have long discharged an office which I must soon quit at the call of nature, and shall rejoice in the hour of imbecility and pain to devolve it upon thee.
"I thought myself honoured by this testimony, and protested that whatever could conduce to his happiness would add likewise to mine."
"Hear, Imlac, what thou wilt not without difficulty credit. I have possessed for five years the regulation of weather, and the distribution of the seasons: the sun has listened to my dictates, and passed from tropick to tropick by my direction; the clouds, at
my call, have poured their waters, and the Nile has overflowed at my command; I have restrained the rage of the dog- star, and mitigated the fervours of the crab. The winds alone, of all the elemental powers, have hitherto refused my authority, and multitudes have perished by equinoctial tempests which I found myself unable to prohibit or re- strain. I have administered this great office with exact justice, and made to the different nations of the earth an impartial dividend of rain and sunshine. What must have been the misery of half the globe, if I had limited the clouds to particular regions, or confined the sun to either side of the equator?"
"I suppose he discovered in me, through the obscurity of the room, some tokens of amazement and doubt, for, after a short pause, he proceeded thus:"
"Not to be easily credited will neither surprise nor offend me; for I am, probably, the first of human beings to whom this trust has been imparted. Nor do I know whether to deem this distinction a reward or punishment; since I have possessed it I have been far less hap-
py than before, and nothing but the consciousness of good intention could have enabled me to support the weariness of unremitted vigilance."
"How long, Sir, said I, has this great office been in your hands?"
"About ten years ago, said he, my daily observations of the changes of the sky led me to confider, whether, if I had the power of the seasons, I could confer greater plenty upon the inhabitants of the earth. This contemplation fastened on my mind, and I sat days and nights in imaginary dominion, pouring upon this country and that the showers of fertility, and seconding every fall of rain with a due proportion of sunshine. I had yet only the will to do
good, and did not imagine that I should ever have the power.
"One day as I was looking on the fields withering with heat, I felt in my mind a sudden with that I could send rain on the southern mountains, and raise the Nile to an inundation. In the hurry of my imagination I commanded rain to fall, and, by comparing the time of, my command, with that of the inundation, I found that the clouds had listned to my lips."
"Might not some other cause, said I, produce this concurrence? the Nile does not always rise on the fame day."
"Do not believe, said he with impatience, that such objections could escape
me: I reasoned long against my own convicion, and laboured against truth with the utmost obstinacy. I sometimes suspected myself of madness, and should not have dared to impart this secret but to a man like you, capable of distinguishing the wonderful from the impossible, and the incredible from the false."
"Why, Sir, said I, do you call that incredible, which you know, or think you know, to be true?"
"Because, said he, I cannot prove it by any external evidence; and I know too well the laws of demonstration to think that my conviction ought to influence another, who cannot, like me, be conscious of its force. I, therefore, shall
not attempt to gain credit by disputation. It is sufficient that I feel this power, that I have long possessed, and every day exerted it. But the life of man is short, the infirmities of age increase upon me, and the time will soon come when the regulator of the year must mingle with the dust. The care of appointing a successor has long disturbed me; the night and the day have been spent in comparisons of all the characters which have come to my knowledge, and I have yet found none so worthy as thyself.
"HEAR therefore, what I shall impart, with attention, such as the welfare of a world requires. If the task of a king be considered as difficult, who has the care only of a few millions, to whom he cannot do much good or harm, what must be the anxiety of him, on whom depends the action of the elements, and the great gifts of light and heat!--Hear me therefore with attention.
"I have diligently considered the position of the earth and fun, and formed
innumerable schemes in which I changed
their situation. I have sometimes turned
aside the axis of the earth, and sometimes varied the ecliptick of the sun
countries of rain to pour it on thine own. For us the Nile is sufficient."
"I promised that when I possesed the power, I would use it with inflexible integrity, and he dismissed me, pressing my hand." "My heart, said he, will be now at rest, and my benevolence will no more destroy my quiet: I have found a man of wisdom and virtue, to whom I can chearfully bequeath the inheritance of the sun."
The prince heard this narration with very serious regard, but the princess smiled, and Pekuah convulsed herself with laughter. "Ladies, said Imlac, to mock the heaviest of human afflictions is neither charitable nor wise. Few can attain this man's knowledge,
and few practise his virtues; but all may suffer his calamity. Of the uncertainties of our present state, the most dread- ful and alarming is the uncertain continuance of reason."
The princess was recollected, and the favourite was abashed. Rasselas, more deeply affected, enquired of Imlac, whether he thought such maladies of the mind frequent, and how they were contracted.
"DISORDERS of intellect, answered Imlac, happen much more often than superficial observers will easily believe. Perhaps, if we speak with rigorous exactness, no human mind is in its right state. There is no man whose imagination does not sometimes predominate over his reason, who can regulate his attention wholly by his will, and whose ideas will come and go at his command. No man will befound in whose mind airy notions do not sometimes tyrannise, and force him to hope or fear be-
yond the limits of sober probability. All power of fancy over reason is a degree of insanity; but while this power is such as we can controul and repress, it is not visible to others, nor considered as any depravation of the mental faculties: it is not pronounced madness but when it comes ungovernable, and apparently in- fluences speech or action.
"To indulge the power of fiction, and
send imagination out upon the wing, is
often the sport of those who delight too
much in silent speculation. When we
are alone we are not always busy; the
labour of excogitation
own thoughts, and must conceive himself what he is not; for who is pleased with what he is? He then expatiates in boundless futurity, and culls from all imaginable conditions that which for the present moment he should most desire, amuses his desires with impossible enjoyments, and confers upon his pride unattainable dominion. The mind dances from scene to scene, unites all pleasures in all combinations, and riots in delights which nature and fortune, with all their bounty cannot bestow.
"In time some particular train or ideas fixes the attention, all other intellectual gratifications are rejected, the mind, in weariness or leisure, recurs constantly to the favourite conception, and feasts on the luscious falsehood whenever
she is offended with the bitterness of truth. By degrees the reign of fancy is confirmed; the grows first imperious, and in time despotick. Then fictions begin to operate as realities, false opinions fasten upon the mind, and life passes in dreams of rapture or of anguish.
"This, Sir, is one of the dangers of solitude, which the hermit has confessed not always to promote goodness, and the astronomer's misery has proved to be not always propitious to wisdom."
I will no more, said the favourite, imagine myself the queen of Abissinia. I have often spent the hours, which the princess gave to my own disposal, in adjusting ceremonies and regulating the court; I have repressed the pride of the
powerful, and granted the petitions of the poor; I have built new palaces in more happy situations, planted groves upon the tops of mountains, and have exulted in the beneficence of royalty, till, when the princess entered, I had almost forgotten to bow down before her."
"And I, said the princess, will not allow myself any more to play the shepherdess in my waking dreams. I have often soothed my thoughts with the quiet and innocence of pastoral employments, till I have in my chamber heard the winds whistle, and the sheep bleat; Sometimes freed the lamb entangled in the thicket, and sometimes with my crook encountered the wolf. I have a dress like that of the village maids, which I put on to help my imagination, and a pipe on
which I play softly, and suppose myself followed by my flocks." "I will confess, said the prince, an indulgence of fantastick delight more dangerous than yours. I have frequently endeavoured to image the possibility of a perfect government, by which all wrong should be restrained, all vice reformed, and all the subects preserved in tranquility and innocence. This thought produced innumerable schemes of reformation, and dictated many useful regulations and salutary edicts. This has been the sport and sometimes the labour of my solitude; and I start, when I think with how little anguish I once supposed the death of my father and my brothers."
"Such, says Imlac, are the effects of visionary schemes: when we first form them we know them to be absurd, but familiarise them by degrees, and in time lose sight of their folly."
CHAP. XLIV. They discourse with an old man.THE evening was now far past, and they rose to return home. As they walked along the bank of the Nile, delighted with the beams of the moon quivering on the water, they saw at a small distance an old man, whom the prince had often heard in the assembly of the sages. "Yonder, said he, is one whose years have calmed his passions,
but not clouded his reason: let us close the disquisitions of the night, by enquiring what are his sentiments of his own state, that we may know whether youth alone is to struggle with vexation, and whether any better hope remains for the latter part of life."
Here the sage approached and saluted them. They invited him to join their walk, and prattled a while as acquaintance that had unexpectedly met one another. The old man was chearful and talkative, and the way seemed short in his company. He was pleased to find himself not disregarded, accompanied them to their house, and, at the prince's request, entered with them. They placed him in the seat of honour, and set wine and conserves before him.
"Sir, said the princess, an evening walk must give to a man of learning, like you, pleasures which ignorance and youth can hardly conceive You know the qualities and the causes of all that you behold, the laws by which the river flows, the periods in which the planets perform their revolutions. Every thing must supply you with contemplation, and renew the consciousness of your own
dignity." "Lady, answered he, let the gay and the vigorous expect pleasure in their excursions, it is enough that age can obnovelty: I look round, and see what I remember to have seen in happier days. I rest against a tree, and consider, that in the same shade I once disputed upon
the
the annual overflow of the Nile with a friend who is now silent in the grave. I cast my eyes upwards, fix them on the changing moon, and think with pain on the vicissitudes of life. I have ceased to take much delight in physical truth; for what have I to do with those things which I am soon to leave?"
"You may at least recreate yourself, said Imlac, with the recollection of an honourable and useful life, and enjoy the praise which all agree to give you."
"Praise, said the sage, with a sigh, is to an old man an empty sound. I have neither mother to be delighted with the reputation of her son, nor wife to partake the honours of her husband. I have outlived my friends and my rivals.
Nothing is now of much importance; for I cannot extend my interest beyond myself. Youth is delighted with applause, because it is considered as the earnest of some future good, and because the prospect of life is far extended: but to me, who am now declining to decrepitude, there is little to be feared from the malevolence of men, and yet less to be hoped from their affection or esteem. Something they may yet take away, but they can give me nothing. Riches would now be useless, and high employment would be pain. My retrospect of life recalls to my view many opportunities of good neglected, much time squandered upon trifles, and more lost in idleness and vacancy. I leave many great designs unattempted, and many great attempts unfinished. My mind is bur-
thened with no heavy crime, and therefore I compose myself to tranquility; endeavour to abstract my thoughts from hopes and cares, which, though reason knows them to be vain, still try to keep their old possession of the heart; expect, with serene humility, that hour which nature cannot long delay; and hope to possess in a better state that happiness which here I could not find, and that virtue which here I have not attained."
He rose and went away, leaving his audience not much elated with the hope of long life. The prince consoled himself with remarking, that it was not reasonable to be disappointed by this account; for age had never been considered as the season of felicity, and, if it was possible to be easy in decline and weak-
ness, it was likely that the days of vigour and alacrity might be happy: that the noon of life might be bright, if the evening could be calm.
The princess suspected that age was querulous and malignant, and delighted to repress the expectations of those who had newly entered the world. She had seen the possessors of estates look with envy on their heirs, and known many who enjoy pleasure no longer than they can confine it to themselves.
Pekuah conjectured, that the man was older than he appeared, and was willing to impute his complaints to delirious dejection; or else supposed that he had been unfortunate, and was therefore discontented: "For nothing, said
she, is more common than to call our own condition, the condition of life."
Imlac, who had no desire to see them depressed, smiled at the comforts which they could so readily procure to themselves, and remembered, that at the same age, he was equally confident of unmingled prosperity, and equally fertile of consolatory expedients. He forbore to force upon them unwelcome knowledge, which time itself would too soon impress. The princess and her lady retired; the madness of the astronomer hung upon their minds, and they desired Imlac to enter upon his office, and delay next morning the rising of the sun.
THE princess and Pekuah having talked in private of Imlac's astronomer, thought his character at once so amiable and so strange, that they could not be satisfied without a nearer knowledge, and Imlac was requested to find the means of bringing them together.
This was somewhat difficult; the philosopher had never received any visits from women, though he lived in a city that had in it many Europeans who followed the manners of their own coun-
tries, and many from other parts of the world that lived there with European liberty. The ladies would not be refused, and several schemes were proposed for the accomplishment of their design. It was proposed to introduce them as strangers in distress, to whom the sage was always accessible; but, after some deliberation, it appeared, that by this artifice, no acquaintance could be formed, for their conversation would be short, and they could not decently importune him often. "This, said Rasselas, is true; but I have yet a stronger objection against the misrepresentation of your state. I have always considered it as treason against the great republick of human nature, to make any man's virtues the means of deceiving him, whether on great or little occasions. All imposture
weakens confidence and chills benevolence. When the sage finds that you are not what you seemed, he will feel the resentment natural to a man who, conscious of great abilities, discovers that he has been tricked by understandings meaner than his own, and, perhaps, the distrust, which he can never afterwards wholly lay aside, may stop the voice of counsel, and close the hand of charity; and where will you find the power of restoring his benefactions to mankind, or his peace to himself?"
To this no reply was attempted, and Imlac began to hope that their curiosity would subside; but, next day, Pekuah told him, she had now found an honest pretence for a visit to the astronomer, for she would solicite permission to conti-
nue under him the studies in which she had been initiated by the Arab, and the princes might go with her either as a fellow-student, or because a woman could not decently come alone. "I am afraid, said Imlac, that he will be soon weary of your company: men advanced far in knowledge do not love to repeat the elements of their art, and I am not certain that even of the elements, as he will deliver them connected with inferences, and mingled with reflections, you are a very capable auditress." "That, said Pekuah, must be my care: I ask of you only to take me thither. My knowledge is, perhaps, more than you imagine it, and by concurring always with his opinions I shall make him think it greater than it is."
The astronomer, in pursuance of this resolution, was told, that a foreign lady, travelling in search of knowledge, had heard of his reputation, and was desirous to become his scholar. The uncommonness of the proposal raised at once his surprize and curiosity, and when, after a short deliberation, he consented to admit her, he could not stay without impatience till the next day.
The ladies dressed themselves magnificently, and were attended by Imlac to the astronomer, who was pleased to see himself approached with respect by persons of so splendid an appearance. In the exchange of the first civilities he was timorous and bashful; but when the talk became regular, he recollected his powers, and justified the character which
Imlac had given. Enquiring of Pekuah what could have turned her inclination towards astronomy, he received from her a history of her adventure at the pyramid, and of the time passed in the Arab's island. She told her tale with ease and elegance, and her conversation took possession of his heart. The discourse was then turned to astronomy: Pekuah displayed what she knew: he looked upon her as a prodigy of genius, and intreated her not to desist from a study which she had so happily begun.
They came again and again, and were every time more welcome than before. The sage endeavoured to amuse them, that they might prolong their visits, for he found his thoughts grow brighter in their company; the clouds of solicitude
vanished by degrees, as he forced himself to entertain them; and he grieved when he was left at their departure to his old employment of regulating the seasons.
The princess and her favourite had
now watched his lips for several months,
and could not catch a single word from
which they could judge whether he continued, or not, in the opinion of his
preternatural
As their familiarity increased they invited him often to the house of Imlac, where they distinguished him by extra-
ordinary respect. He began gradually to delight in sublunary pleasures. He came early and departed late; laboured to recommend himself by assiduity and compliance; excited their curiosity after new arts, that they might still want his assistance; and when they made any excursion of pleasure or enquiry, entreated to attend them.
By long experience of his integrity and wisdom, the prince and his sister were convinced that he might be trusted with out danger; and left he should draw any false hopes from the civilities which he received, discovered to him their condition, with the motives of their journey, and required his opinion. on the choice of life.
"Of the various conditions which the world spreads before you, which you shall prefer, said the sage, I am not able to instruct you. I can only tell that I have chosen wrong. I have passed my time in study without experience; in the attainment of sciences which can, for the most part, be but remotely useful to mankind. I have purchased knowledge at the expence of all the common comforts of life: I have missed the endearing elegance of female friendship, and the happy commerce of the domestick tenderness. If I have obtained any prerogatives above other students, they have been accompanied with fear, disquiet
and scrupulosity; but even of these prerogatives, whatever they were, I have since my thoughts have been diversified by more intercourse with the world, be
gun to question the reality. When I have been for a few days lost in pleasing dissipation, I am always tempted to think that my enquiries have ended in errour, and that I have suffered much, and susfered it in vain."
Imlac was delighted to find that the sage's understanding was breaking through its mists, and resolved to detain him from the planets till he should forget his talk of ruling them, and reason should recover its original influence.
From this time the astronomer was received into familiar friendship, and partook of all their projects and pleasures: his respect kept him attentive, and the activity of Rasselas did not leave much time unengaged. Something was al-
ways to be done; the day was spent in making observations which furnished talk for the evening, and the evening was closed with a scheme for the morrow.
The sage confessed to Imlac, that since he had mingled in the gay tumults of life, and divided his hours by a succession of amusements, he found the conviction of his authority over the skies fade gradually from his mind, and began to trust less to an opinion which he never could prove to others, and which he now found subject to variation from causes in which reason had no part. "If I am accidentally left alone for a few hours, said he, my inveterate persuasion rushes upon my foul, and my thoughts are chained down by some irresistible
violence, but they are soon disentangled by the prince's conversation, and instantaneously released at the entrance of Pekuah. I am like a man habitually afraid of spectres, who is set at ease by a lamp, and wonders at the dread which harrassed him in the dark, yet, if his lamp be extinguished, feels again the terrours which he knows that when it is light he shall feel no more. But I am sometimes afraid left I indulge my quiet by criminal negligence, and voluntarily forget the great charge with which I am intrusted. If I favour myself in a known errour, or am determined by my own ease in a doubtful question of this importance, how dreadful is my crime!"
No disease of the imagination, answered Imlac, is so difficult of cure, as
that which is complicated with the dread of guilt: fancy and conscience then act interchangeably upon us, and so often shift their places, that the illusions of one are not distinguished from the dictates of the other. If fancy presents images not moral or religious, the mind drives them away when they give it pain, but when melancholick notions take the form of duty, they lay hold on the faculties without opposition, because we are afraid to exclude or banish them. For this reason the superstitious are often melancholy, and the melancholy almost always superstitious.
"But do not let the suggestions of timidity overpower your better reason: the danger of neglect can be but as the probability of the obligation, which
when you consider it with freedom, you find very little, and that little growing every day less. Open your heart to the influence of the light, which, from time to time, breaks in upon you: when scruples importune you, which you in your lucid moments know to be vain, do not stand to parley, but fly to business or to Pekuah, and keep this thought always prevalent, that you are only one atom of the mass of humanity, and have neither such virtue nor vice, as that you should be singled out for supernatural favours or afflictions."
"ALL this, said the astronomer, I have often thought, but my reason has been so long subjugated by an uncontrolable and overwhelming idea, that it durst not confide in its own decision. I now see how fatally I betrayed my quiet, by suffering chimeras to prey upon me in secret; but melancholy shrinks from communication, and I never found a man before, to whom I could impart my troubles, though I had been certain of relief, I rejoice to find my own sentiments confirmed by yours,
who are not easily deceived, and can have no motive or purpose to deceive. I hope that time and variety will dissipate the gloom that has so long surrounded me, and the latter part of my days will be spent in peace."
"Your learning and virtue, said Imlac, may justly give you hopes."
Rasselas then entered with the princess and Pekuah, and enquired whether they had contrived any new diversion for the next day. "Such, said Nekayah, is the state of life, that none are happy but by the anticipation of change: the change itself is nothing; when we have made it, the next wish is to change again. The world is not yet exhausted;
let me see something to morrow which I never saw before."
"Variety, said Rasselas, is so necessary to content, that even the happy valley disgusted me by the recurrence of its luxuries; yet I could not forbear to reproach myself with impatience, when I saw the monks of St. Anthony support without complaint, a life, not of uniform delight, but uniform hardship."
"Those men, answered Imlac, are less wretched in their silent convent than the Abissinian princes in their prison of pleasure. Whatever is done by the monks is incited by an adequate and reasonable motive. Their labour supplies them with necessaries; it therefore cannot be omitted, and is certainly rewarded.
Their devotion prepares them for another state, and reminds them of its approach, while it fits them for it. Their time is regularly distributed; one duty succeeds another, so that they are not left open to the distraction of unguided choice, nor lost in the shades of listless inactivity. There is a certain talk to be performed at an appropriated hour; and their toils are cheerful, because they consider them as acts of piety, by which they are always advancing towards endless felicity."
"Do you think, said Nekayah, that the monastick rule is a more holy and less imperfect state than any other? May not he equally hope for future happiness who converses openly with mankind, who succours the distressed by his
charity, instructs the ignorant by his learning, and contributes by his industry to the general system of life; even though he should omit some of the mortifications which are practised in the cloister, and allow himself such harmless delights as his condition may place within his reach?"
"This, said Imlac, is a question which has long divided the wise, and perplexed the good. I am afraid to decide on either part. He that lives well in the world is better than he that lives well in a monastery. But, perhaps, every one is not able to stem the temptations of publick life; and, if he cannot conquer, he may properly retreat. Some have little power to do good, and have likewise little strength to resist evil. Many are weary of their conflicts with adversity, and are
willing to eject those passions which have long buried them in vain. And many are dismissed by age and diseases from the more laborious duties of society. In monasteries the weak and timorous may be happily sheltered, the weary may repose, and the penitent may meditate. Those retreats of prayer and contemplation have something so congenial to the mind of man, that, perhaps, there is scarcely one that does not purpose to close his life in pious abstraction with a few associates serious as himself."
"Such, said Pekuah, has often been my wish, and I have heard the princess declare, that she should not willingly die in a croud."
"The liberty of using harmless pleasures, proceeded Imlac, will not be disputed; but it is still to be examined what pleasures are harmless. The evil of any pleasure that Nekayah can image is not in the act itself, but in its consequences. Pleasure, in itself harmless, may become mischievous, by endearing to us a state which we know to be transient and probatory, and withdrawing our thoughts from that, of which every hour brings us nearer to the beginning, and of which no length of time will bring us to the end. Mortification is not virtuous in itself, nor has any other use, but that it disengages us from the allurements of sense. In the state of future perfection to which we all aspire, there will be pleasure without danger, and security without restraint."
The princess was silent, and Rasselas, turning to the astronomer, asked him, whether he could not delay her retreat, by shewing her something which she had not seen before.
"Your curiority, said the sage, has been so general, and your pursuit of knowledge so vigorous, that novelties are not now very easily to be found: but what you can no longer procure from the living may be given by the dead. Among the wonders of this country are the catacombs, or the ancient repositories, in which the bodies of the earliest generations were lodged, and where, by the virtue of the gums which embalmed them, they yet remain without corruption."
"I know not, said Rasselas, what pleasure the sight of the catacombs can afford; but, since nothing else is offered, I am resolved to view them, and shall place this with many other things which I have done, because I would do some thing."
They hired a guard of horsemen, and the next day visited the catacombs. When they were about to descend into the sepulchral caves, "Pekuah, said the princess, we are now again invading the habitations of the dead; I know that you will stay behind; let me find you safe when I return." "No, I will not be left, answered Pekuah; I will go down between you and the prince."
They then all descended, and roved with wonder through the labyrinth of subterraneous passages, where the bodies were laid in rows on either side.
CHAP. XLVII. Imlac discourses on the nature of the soul."WHAT reason, said the prince, can be given, why the Egyptians should thus expensively preserve those carcasses which some nations consume with fire, others lay to mingle with the earth, and all agree to remove from their sight, as soon as decent rites can be performed?"
"The original of ancient customs, said Imlac, is commonly unknown; for the practice often continues when the cause has ceased; and concerning superstitious ceremonies it is vain to conjecture; for what reason did not dictate reason cannot explain. I have long believed that the practice of embalming arose only from tenderness to the remains of relations or friends, and to this opinion I am more inclined, because it seems impossible that this care should have been general: had all the dead been embalmed, their repositories must in time have been more spacious than the dwellings of the living. I suppose only the rich or honourable were secured from corruption, and the rest left to the course of nature.
"But it is commonly supposed that the Egyptians believed the soul to live as long as the body continued undissolved, and therefore tried this method of eluding death."
"Could the wise Egyptians, said Nekayah, think so grosly of the soul? If the soul could once survive its separation, what could it afterwards receive or suffer from the body?
"The Egyptians would doubtless think erroneously, said the astronomer, in the darkness of heathenism, and the first dawn of philosophy. The nature of the soul is still disputed amidst all our opportunities of clearer knowledge: some yet say, that it may be material, who, nevertheless, believe it to be immortal."
"Some, answered Imlac, have indeed said that the soul is material, but I can scarcely believe that any man has thought it, who knew how to think; for all the conclusions of reason enforce the immateriality of mind, and all the notices of sense and investigations of science concur to prove the unconsciousness of matter.
"It was never supposed that cogitation is inherent in matter, or that every particle is a thinking being. Yet, if any part of matter be devoid of thought, what part can we suppose to think? Matter can differ from matter only in form, density, bulk, motion, and direction of motion: to which of these, however varied or combined, can consciousness be annexed? To be round or square, to
be solid or fluid, to be great or little, to be moved slowly or swiftly one way or another, are modes of material existence, all equally alien from the nature of cogitation. If matter be once without thought, it can only be made to think by some new modification, but all the modifications which it can admit are equally unconnected with cogitative powers."
"But the materialists, said the astronomer, urge that matter may have qualities with which we are unacquainted."
"He who will determine, returned Imlac, against that which he knows, because there may be something which he knows not; he that can set hypothetical possibility against acknowledged certainty, is not
to be admitted among reasonable beings. All that we know of matter is, that matter is inert, senseless and lifeless; and if this conviction cannot be opposed but by referring us to something that we know not, we have all the evidence that human intellect can admit. If that which is known may be over ruled by that which is unknown, no being, not omniscient, can arrive at certainty."
"Yet let us not, said the astronomer, too arrogantly limit the Creator's power."
"It is no limitation of omnipotence, replied the poet, to suppose that one thing is not consistent with another, that the same proposition cannot be at once true and false, that the same number cannot be even and odd, that cogi-
tation cannot be conferred on that which is created incapable of cogitation."
"I know not, said Nekayah, any great use of this question. Does that immateriality, which, in my opinion, you have sufficiently proved, necessarily include eternal duration?"
"Of immateriality, said Imlac, our ideas are negative, and therefore obscure. Immateriality seems, to imply a natural power of perpetual duration as a consequence of exemption from all causes of decay: whatever perishes is destroyed by the solution of its contexture, and separation of its parts; nor can we conceive how that which has no parts, and therefore admits no solution, can be naturally corrupted or impaired."
"I know not, said Rasselas, how to conceive any thing without extension: what is extended must have parts, and you allow, that whatever has parts may be destroyed."
"Consider your own conceptions, replied Imlac, and the difficulty will be less. You will find subtance without extension. An ideal form is no less real than material bulk: yet an ideal form has no extension. It is no less certain, when you think on a pyramid, that your mind posseses the idea of a pyramid, than that the pyramid itself is standing. What space does the idea of a pyramid occupy more than the idea of a grain of corn? or how can either idea suffer laceration? As is the effect such is the cause; as
thought is, such is the power that thinks; a power impassive and indiscerpible."
"But the Being, said Nekayah, whom I fear to name, the Being which made the soul, can destroy it."
"He, surely, can destroy it, answered Imlac, since, however unperishable, it receives from a superiour nature its power of duration. That it will not perish by any inherent cause of decay, or principle of corruption, may be shown by philosophy; but philosophy can tell no more. That it wll not be annihilated by him that made it, we must humbly learn from higher authority."
The whole assembly stood a while silent and collected. "Let us return, said Rasselas, from this scene of mortality.
How gloomy would be these mansions of the dead to him who did not know that he shall never die; that what now acts shall continue its agency, and what now thinks shall think on for ever. Those that lie here stretched before us, the wise and the powerful of antient times, warn us to remember the shortness of our present state: they were, perhaps, snatched away while they were busy, like us, in the choice of life."
"To me, said the princess, the choice of life is become less important; I hope hereafter to think only on the choice of eternity."
They then hastened out of the caverns, and, under the protection of their guard, returned to Cairo.
IT was now the time of the inundation of the Nile: a few days after their visit to the catacombs, the river began to rise.
They were confined to their house. The whole region being under water gave them no invitation to any excursions, and, being well supplied with materials for talk, they diverted themselves with comparisons of the different forms of life which they had observed, and with various schemes of happiness which each of them had formed.
Pekuah was never so much charmed with any place as the convent of St Anthony, where the Arab restored her to the princess, and wished only to fill it with pious maidens, and to be made prioress of the order: she was weary of expectation and disgust, and would gladly be fixed in some unvariable state.
The princess thought, that of all sublunary things, knowledge was the best: She desired first to learn all sciences, and then purposed to found a college of learned women, in which she would preside, that, by converting with the old,
and educating the young, she might divide her time between the acquisition and communication of wisdom, and raise up for the next age models of prudence, and patterns of piety.
The prince desired a little kingdom, in which he might administer justice in his own person, and see all the parts of government with his own eyes; but he could never fix the limits of his dominion, and was always adding to the number of his subjects.
Imlac and the astronomer were contented to be driven along the stream of life without direcing their course to any particular port.
Of these wishes that they had formed they well knew that none could be obtained. They deliberated a while what was to be done, and resolved, when the inundation should cease, to return to Abissinia.
FINIS.
Several poems compiled with great variety of wit and learningpublished in Boston in 1678. This text is sometimes referred to by its alternate title, and the sobriquet given to Anne Bradstreet, "The Tenth Muse". Title page drawn from the University of Pennsylvania's
Celebration of Women Writers.
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in Context
project, which provides an accessible, curated, and marked-up selection of primary
sources relevant to the study and the teaching of British and American literature of
the 18th century. This project is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
and developed by faculty at The University of Virginia and Marymount University.
Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources, with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable sources. If you notice an error in these annotations, please contact lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.
Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded.
Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.
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Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section.
POEMS
Compiled with great variety of Wit and
Learning, full of Delight;
Wherein especially is contained a compleat
Discourse, and Description of
The Four { ELEMENTS
CONSTITUTIONS,
AGES of Man,
SEASONS of the Year.
Together with an exact Epitome of
the three first
Monarchyes
Viz, The { ASSYRIAN,
PERSIAN,
GRECIAN.
And beginning of theRomane Common-wealth
to the end of their last King:
With diverse other pleasant & serious
Poems,
By a Gentlewoman in
New-England.
The second Edition, Corrected by the Author,
and enlarged by an Addition of several other
Poems found amongst her Papers
after her Death.
and enlarged by an Addition of several other
Poems found amongst her Papers
after her Death.
Boston,
John Foster,
AND
John Noble, at his Circulating Library, in St. Martin's-Court, near Leicefter-Square.
MDCCLXVII
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in Context
project, which provides an accessible, curated, and marked-up selection of
primary sources relevant to the study and the teaching of British and American
literature. This project is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
and developed by faculty at The University of Virginia, Marymount University,
and George Mason University.
Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources,
with links and/or Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) provided where possible.
Glosses of archaic words and word usages are derived from the Oxford English
Dictionary Online, accessed through the University of Oregon Libraries.
Annotations also include common knowledge, defined as information that can
be found in multiple reliable sources. If you notice an error in these
annotations, please contact lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.
We recognize the technological infrastructure that has allowed us to create
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conditions of their access to this edition as a site of entanglement with
and indebtedness to Indigenous communities whose stewardship of the land
stretches back to times immemorial and persists to this day.
Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded. Additional redundant quotation marks have been removed, and quotation marks modernized for ease of reading.
Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.
Page breaks have been retained. Catchwords, signatures, and running headers have not. Unnumbered pages are labeled by signature. Where pages break in the middle of a word, the complete word is indicated at the beginning of the second page. Where footnotes in the original continue across a page break, the full text of the note is associated with the first page in the range.
Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the sources section.
ADVENTURES
OF
UNCA ELIZA WINKFIELD.
COMPILED BY HERSELF.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
Library, opposite
;Gray's-Inn Gate,
Holbourn
AND
The Female Americanmay have been the product of the "stable of writers" the Nobles employed "to produce new work at a rapid pace" for their libraries-something like the eighteenth-century equivalent of Internet content farms. See Zuck, "Who Wrote
The Female American?" in
English Literary History89.3 (2022): 669. DOI:10.1353/elh.2022.0023.
, nearSt. Martin's-Court
.Leicester-Square
Female American;
OR, THE
ADVENTURES
OF UNCA ELIZA WINKFIELD.
CHAP. I.
Our heroine traverses the island; description of an uncommon animal, with her thoughts thereon.
I HAD matter enough to employ my thoughts
during this interim, to reconsider what I had said, and what method
I should pursue for the future with these people. Besides, I had some
domestick cares
Among the various kinds of birds I found one sort exceeding beautiful.
It was about the size of a large parrot; its feathers delightfully
variegated
The absurd nature of the fictious animal described in this passage implies
a metaphorical meaning. The animal's only means of survival is deceiving its
prey, pretending to sleep in order to capture it. Anna Brickhouse connects
this description to Unca Eliza's own deception of the island's Indigenous
people, claiming that "Unca Eliza is both transfixed and patently disturbed
by the greed and violence of this strange colonial animal. A nightmarish
embodiment of her own predicament." Brickhouse, "The Indian Slave Trade in
Unca Eliza Winkfield's
The Female American."
The Yearbook of English Studies 46 (2016): 115-126.
DOI: 10.1353/yes.2016.0008.
It was at this time labouring to get into a kind of pasture.
I determined to watch its motions, thinking it might be seeking
its prey; for I did not doubt but that the goodness and wisdom of
providence,
At length he got into the grass, and then laid himself down,
extended as if dead. I came up to him behind, for his looks were
too terrifying to face him, and sitting down at some distance, was
resolved to watch, that I might discover whether he chose this place
merely for rest, or with some other view. He soon changed his posture
a little, so that I could perceive that his eyes were shut, and his lips
closed; I therefore concluded that he was going to sleep; however, I
still continued in my place. The hair on his body was very thick and
long, perhaps five or six inches; the extremities of every cluster of
them formed a kind of bunch, or small tuft, as large as an hasel-nut.
Having sat about a quarter of an hour, I saw a great number of field-mice
My curiosity was amply gratified, if an human being may say so, of
The phrase "though a woman" serves as a brief but significant
acknowledgment of gendered restrictions on knowledge in eighteenth-century
England. Although Unca Eliza is depicted as a strong and smart
individual who challenges traditional gender roles, she establishes
her credibility by referencing foundational male philosophers,
indicating her awareness of cultural expectations regarding women's
intellectual ability. Scholar Jill Conway asserts that "European
women intellectuals were either declasse, or else they lived a
contemplative life in a religious community." Unca Eliza's isolation
on the island literalizes the social exile faced by intellectual
women at the time. See Conway, "Perspectives on the History of Women's
Education in the United States."
History of Education Quarterly 14.1 (1974): 1–12.
DOI: 10.2307/367602.Women and Enlightenment in Eighteenth Century Britain
(Cambridge University Press, 2009), Karen O'Brien writes that, while the
progress of women in eighteenth-century Britain cannot be likened to feminism
as we know it, the Enlightenment "created a framework and a language for
understanding the gendered structures of society without which nineteenth-century
feminism would not have been possible" (2).
But to return to the event which gave rise to this digression,
I should be very glad if I could inform the reader, and especially myself, by what means
The Indians return to the island; she continues her instructions, and commands them to return weekly.
THUS did I busy or amuse myself; and indeed I cannot
imagine to myself any situation in which a thinking being, free from pain of
body, and great anxiety of mind, cannot divert itself. I can always find
something, from without or within myself, for my amusement. Often have I been
diverted with watching the flights of a fly, or the excursions of a spider, till
my mind has been so filled with the display of the infinite wisdom of the
How miserable must those be who complain for want of amusement! How wretched such
a state! What! want matter for thought? Can a thinking being, such as man is,
say thus? Look round, is not all nature about thee teeming with subjects well
adapted for thy contemplation, happily prepared for thy entertainment? But
whither will my
This allusion to
Robinson Crusoe(1719) establishes
Daniel Defoe's castaway novel as inspiration for
The Female American. Though these tales are similar in content and fabrication,
The Female American ironically attempts to discredit its
precursor due to its fictitious storyline. To learn more about the parallels
between these two works, see Tremaine McDowell, "An American Robinson Crusoe"
American Literature 1.3 (1929): 307-09.
Such imaginary scenes, like those of a play, may have a temporary effect, but not permanent, like the real ones of mine.
At length the appointed morning came, against whose advent I took care to be
ready placed within the statue. Having waited a short time, I saw only the seven
priests advancing towards me. I wondered not to see them followed by any of
their people, and thought it very odd. When they were come up pretty near, they
stopt
High-Priest. "It is our business to instruct the people, and if you will please to teach us, we will inform them accordingly."
The Female American."
The Eighteenth Century, 53.2 (2012): 189-207.
Answer. "Why?"
High-priest. "Because we live by teaching them, and if you only should teach them, they will not give us those good things which they now do."
Answer. "But I will not teach you only; I will teach them also. Nor
The peremptory
manner in which I uttered these words, seemed to affect them much.
To this I agreed, and accordingly they immediately withdrew, having taken a respectful leave.
As soon as they were gone, I descended into my subterraneous apartments, took
some refreshments, and spent the remainder of the day in providing some
necessaries, and rambling about the island. The next morning, I took care early
to place myself in the statue. Nor had I waited very long, before I perceived
the priests coming forward, with a considerable number of the people with them.
The
Unca Eliza likely refers to the work of Anglican clergyman John Wilkins (1614-1672),
pictured at right. In
Of The Principles And Duties Of Natural Religion (1734),
available via the Internet Archive,
Wilkins proposed that the matter and form of living things provide evidence of God's divine authority, an idea Unca Eliza
explores here.
As I was well acquainted with the manners of the Indians, I adapted my discourse
to their own way of reasoning, and avoided all such terms, and modes of speech,
as are intelligible only to Europeans. When I had discoursed near three hours in
this manner, I desisted, desiring them to take some
As soon as I had taken my place as before, I called to my audience, who
respectfully returned to their former station. I repeated the leave I had given
to them, to ask any questions relative to my discourse. All the priests, in
their turns, asked me
I therefore addressed myself to them with some sharpness, reminding them of what
I had told them before, "that I would not teach them only;
Upon this the priests submissively bowed, and declared their readiness to obey my
commands. I then proceeded, as well as I could, further to explain what I had
delivered in the fore part of the day; and concluded with telling them, I should
be ready to continue my instructions to them, for that I had much more to say,
once a week, provided the priests would attend that day week, and so on, with as
many of the people as should choose to come; but as the high-priest was very
aged and infirm, he might come, or not, as he pleased. To this the
Perplexed in what manner to act, she ascends the idol, addresses the Indians, and informs them, that a person shall come to instruct them in the knowledge of the trueGod .
I Now once more found myself left to my little
occupations, and to my own thoughts. I soon, and easily, fulfilled the demands
of the former; but not so those of the latter. I had engaged in an affair that
required the utmost attention, and not the smallest abilities. This latter
reflection startled me. When an
arduous
These were discouraging reflections, and the more I considered them, the more I
was intimidated; and I heartily repented that I had ever spoken to them,
I concluded to trust providence, in adopting that course, which, upon the most
mature consideration, should appear to have the fewest difficulties, and the
most advantages on its side. It
Oracle.
"This his holy will he hath revealed to many thousands of men and women like you, who live in other parts of the earth, and now you also may know his holy will and be happy.
"
"But forasmuch as mankind had by their great wickedness offended
"He was, whilst upon earth, attended by certain persons, called his disciples, who
wrote the history of his life. This history, with the writings of the holy men,
who lived before his coming into the world, and the writings of his disciples,
"With respect to teaching you the holy religion of the son of
"Therefore, that you may not want that instruction, which is necessary to your happiness here, and after you are dead, you shall be taught in this manner.
"A person shall come to you, like yourselves, and that you may be the less fearful
or suspicious, that
"She shall bring with her the holy writings I have been speaking of, and shall
teach all of you, especially your priests, who shall instruct you after her
departure, the knowledge of the true
"You must be sure to show the greatest respect to her, do every thing that she
shall command you, never ask who she is, from
whence
"But I do not want to force her among you: if you do not choose she should come,
speak, and she shall not come; and I will be
dumb
Answer. "Let her come! let her come! let her come! and we will love and obey her."
This was the cry of all, with a noise in my ears like that of thunder; whilst they showed every outward sign of joy. As soon as all were again silent, I once more addressed them.
Oracle. "Hear me then, let as many of you as please come here three days hence,
two hours after the sun is risen, and you will see her sitting upon these steps,
drest
I now was silent, when the whole multitude shouted,
Answer. "We will meet her! we will meet her!"
This important business of the day being thus concluded, they all returned home,
and left me not a little pleased at the happy
expedient
Unca Eliza's use of the term 'retreat'
here may be a nod to Robinson Crusoe, who describes a section of the island
as his 'Summer Retreat.' This eighteenth-century illustration of Crusoe's
retreat is captioned with a quote from Defoe's novel: 'In this place also
I had my grapes growing, which I principally depended on for my Winter Store
of Raisins, and which I never fear to preserve very carefully.' Like Crusoe,
Unca Eliza finds unexpected abundance in her new home, fueling her faith
that God has a plan for her and will provide for her needs.
It now only remained to prepare for my departure. The day before the return of
the Indians I collected together all my clothes, and the few books that I had;
but had no chest to put them in, having broken that when I tumbled it down from
the rock. I considered how to supply this want, and at last concluded to tie
them up as well as I could with twigs, having no cords. Having first chosen such
things as I intended to make my appearance in, I wrapt my bundle up in one of
the priest's
Apparels herself in the richest manner, and waits the approach of the Indians; acquaints them she was sent by the oracle; presents them with rings, and partakes of a repast.
WHEN the expected morning came, I awoke by day-break,
drest
I had made myself a kind of wicker basket, which I filled with a great
When I left my subterraneous dwelling, I not only bolted the door, but covered it
over with earth. Being come to the statue I sat down on the highest step, in all
my finery, the crown
Thus I sat, with my bow and arrows hung over my shoulders, waiting for the
important interview, my mind not a little agitated between hope and fear.
However, I very solemnly recommended myself and my
undertaking
I had sat near an hour before they approached; but at last saw them advance in
the same order as at their first coming. At the first sight of them my heart
leapt, and every limb trembled, and for a moment I wished myself within my
subterraneous habitation. But as they advanced slowly, I had time enough to
recover myself, and, before they came near enough to distinguish my
countenance,
As they came near, led by the high-priest and the others, they bowed almost to the
ground at every step; I still kept my seat looking firmly at them. When they
were come near enough to hold a conversation, they halted, and the priests and
all the company, who were about
They did so; when, observing that they held a profound silence, I thus addressed
them, with as much affability
"I suppose you are come to invite me to reside in your country?"
To this the high-priest answered, "Yes;" which was presently ecchoed throughout the whole multitude.
I then desired the high-priest to sit down at my right hand, which he did, not without some mannerly reluctance; I then placed the other priests on the steps a little lower on the right and left hand.
sitting with the priests in this manner, I again addressed them:
"I suppose most of you were here three days ago, and heard, or know, what was then delivered from above," pointing up to the statue. "In consequence of what was then promised you, and to which you who were then present agreed, I am come to live among you, at least for some time, and to instruct you; observe what was then enjoined you.
"You must obey my commands, observe my instructions, never ask who I am, from whence I come, or whether, or when, I will leave you.
"Though if at any time you should desire me to quit your country, you may tell me
so, and I will leave you. And further, you are never to oppose my coming here,
as I shall do from time to time, nor any of you presume to follow me
hither
"If you will faithfully observe these things, I will come and live with you, acquaint you with the holy books of God, instruct you in the knowledge of God, and in the ways of his religion; which will make you happy for ever."
Here I paused; when the high-priest arose up with great
reverence,
Answer. "I thank you for your kind offer; but I will not be your queen, therefore you may choose whom you please. But, as you desire it, I will come and live among you, and will be only your instructor."
I had scarcely finished my answer, before the whole company made the greatest acclamations of joy, crying out,
"Come! Come! Come! and make us happy."
I arose up, and, after their manner, made three respectful bows to them; which were returned with new acclamations of joy.
As soon as all were silent again, I sat down, and taking out of my twig- basket two of the best rings, I presented them to the high-priest, and to each of the priests two others, near in goodness to those of the high-priest's; when, finding that I had a sufficient number of rings, I desired the people to come to me one by one, and I presented each with a ring, which they all received with great expressions of joy.
I soon found that they yet were confounded in their ideas about me, and conceived of me, as one more than mortal; for the high-priest, with great reverence, asked me if I ever ate and drank?
I chearfully replied "Yes; and if you have brought any
provisions,
Before I began to eat, I stood up and said grace, at which they seemed much
surprised. Then the priests and I took a comfortable
repast
The high-priest, hearing me conclude with the name of
She embarks with the Indians for their country; expoundsinterprets, comments on,
explains the scriptures to them, and
translates the Bible and Common Prayer into the
Indian language. Visits her island.
WHILST these things past, I considered, that as I was
entering upon an affair of the utmost importance, it would by highly necessary
to commence with prayer. I was indeed sensible that it would be, in a great
measure, very unintelligible to the Indians, yet I could not be satisfied with
the omission, and thought I might pray in such a manner as that they, at least,
would understand that I was
As I could sing very well, having learnt whilst I was in
When we approached the destined shore, it was covered with the natives, who, when
I landed, respectively
prostrated
How greatly was my situation changed! From a solitary being, obliged to seek my
food from day to day, I was attended by a whole nation,
all ready to serve me;
The Female American."
1650-1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern
Era 18 (2011): 129-149.The Female American (1767) and Daniel Defoe's
Robinson Crusoe(1719). While Crusoe
finds his religion after he is stranded on the island, Unca Eliza has
always been well versed in Christianity and has "unwavering confidence
in religious knowledge," according to Jonahs Kneitly. See
"The Female Americanand Its Liminal Spaces."
Studies in Religion and the Enlightenment3.1 2023)
28-40, DOI:10.32655/srej.2023.3.1.3 2023
As to the priests, I had expected much difficulty with them, and no little
opposition; but was very agreeably
surprized
The Eighteenth Century 53.2 (2012): 189-207,
jstor.org/stable/41468177.
Others, like Katherine Whitcomb, point out that Unca Eliza's seemingly
flawless ability to understand any Indigenous language she encounters neglects
the linguistic diversity of Indigenous communities and "reduces the cultures
of different people to such a simplistic view that the reader cannot
differentiate one culture from the next." See "
Unca Eliza as Hybrid Colonizer," in The Student Theorist: An Open Handbook of
Collective College Theory, Public Commons Publishing, 2018: 80.
I from time to time read the Bible in public to them, and, as I was able,
explained it. I cannot but say I found myself very happy, among these plain,
illiterate, honest people. There was nothing that they could do to please me,
but they did it; and often expressed their hope, of my never leaving them. I
found the manner of introducing myself among them was highly serviceable to me:
for though,
I sometimes amused myself in shooting with my bow and arrows, in which I exceeded
any of them. But even this circumstance,
trifling
When the same time returned next year, at which season they used to visit the oracle, the priests asked me, in the name of the people, if they should go to visit the oracle. I answered by no means, for that they would never more hear any answers from it.
I passed near two years very agreeably among them; in which I not only finished
the translation of the Bible, as well as that of the Catechism, but indeed of
most of the
prayers in the Common Prayer-Book.
The Female American, like its contemporary
Robinson Crusoe (1719),
reflects the historical reality of Christian efforts that imposed
European literacy and religious practices on Indigenous populations.
Unca Eliza's translations of the Bible and the Common Prayer Book
echo these real-world initiatives, which
American Christianities: A History of Dominance and
Diversity
(University of North Carolina Press, 2011).
While the novel critiques the violence often associated with
missionary work, it still promotes a "myth of non-colonial conversion,"
as Edward Simon highlights. Christianity is portrayed as a natural
extension of human reason. The idea that rational individual would willingly
convert upon encountering Christianity obscures the coercion that
often underpinned such conversions. See Simon,
"Unca Eliza Winkfield and the Fantasy of Non-Colonial Conversion in
The Female American."
Women's Studies 45.7 (2016): 649–59.
I could not help making one observation, and that a very just one. I remembered
when I was in
The writers that Unca Eliza remembers from her
uncle's study likely include Deists like
But to continue my history. In the beginning of the third summer of my being
here, not having been for a long time at my old island, on account
Every time I made this visit, I always went into my subterraneous apartments, to get some rings to distribute among the Indians. I suppose they wondered how I came by them, but never asked me. And, that they might have no suspicion that I brought them from the island, I never gave them any on my return to them; but always a few days before I intended a visit to my old habitation.
Lands on her island, ascends the idol, perceives two Europeans approach the statue, one of whom she finds to be her cousin, speaks to them from the oracle, and after several interrogations discovers herself.
AS soon then as I was landed I walked to the iron door,
which I always left covered with earth, and
fastened
I supposed that they belonged to some ship, that had either cast anchor off the island, upon some occasion, or other, or were shipwrecked; nay, thought I, they may be pirates. Whatever might be the cause of their landing, I had much to fear.
Indeed I was safe where I was; but how was I to get home? and to stay long in
such a place I could not. My next fear was for the poor Indians, who would come
in the evening, and not finding me by the shore, as usual, would no doubt come
upon the island, in search of me, and be
taken for slaves.
Unca Eliza fears the Europeans could capture the Indigenous people of the island
and sell them into slavery. For more, see Anna Brickhouse, "The Indian Slave
Trade in Unca Eliza Winkfield's
The Female American,"
The Yearbook of English Studies 46 (2016): 115-26.
DOI: 10.5699/yearenglstud.46.2016.0115.
"I know not," replied one who stood by him, "nor can I take pleasure in any discovery in a place where, no doubt, my dear cousin was starved to death or devoured by beasts."
These words, and the voice, alarmed me. "Sure," cried I within myself, "he speaks of me, and it is my cousin Winkfield."
As he came nearer, I thought more certainly it was he. I listened attentively to their conversation, in hopes to hear something that might confirm my suspicion. They stood still, I suppose, to examined the statue, when as often as one of them spoke, I was the more confirmed, by hearing and seeing him, that it was my uncle's son. "But how," cried I, "should he come here? how know I was left on this island?"
These reflections destroyed my first suspicions, and my former fears began
I heard these last words, including my name, too distinctly any longer to doubt, whether the speaker was my cousin, or not, and perceiving the company, was walking away cried out, "Winkfield, stay!"
At these words my cousin started violently, and turning round, as they all did, said to his companion, "surely, Charles, I was called!" "No doubt," replied his companion Charles, "but it must be some of our companions who called you; for this island is uninhabited: we have been over it enough to see its bounds."
Mr. Winkfield "No, Charles; it was too loud a voice to be human. Did not you hear it, gentlemen?" speaking to his company.
Company. "Yes, indeed; and it was like thunder."
The joy of finding my cousin raised my spirits, and I was determined to indulge
Mr. Winkfield. "Sure it must be the spirit of my dear cousin! My father, who you know is far from being superstitious, has often said, he believes, that upon very important occasions, departed spirits are suffered to appear again: O that I could hear the voice again!"
Unca Winkfield. "Is your father alive?"
Mr. Winkfield. "Hark! it speaks again, like thunder! amazing!—shall I answer? Yes I will. I hope so, he was alive a few months ago."
One of the company. "This is strange, indeed! But it may be dangerous to stay; you know not with whom you may be conversing, it may be an evil spirit, and may hurt us. I have heard of such; let us go."
Another of the company. "I think the same; and never heard that any departed spirit, if it did return upon any particular occasion, spoke with a thundering voice as this. Besides, look at that statue, it brings to my mind the oracles that we read of in ancient history; and, to my appreension, the voice seemed to come from thence; and, perhaps, it may be true, as we have read, that devils speak from such kind of statues."
Mr. Winkfield. "You speak with reason; but, I think, I could be almost content to speak to the devil to hear news of my cousin."
Charles. "Fie, talk not so; let us commit ourselves to God, and wait a little to hear if it will speak again, and listen if the sound comes really from the statue; but do not speak any more to it."
I could not help being much diverted at their fears; but unwilling yet to
discover myself, I however determined to dissipate their terrors; and beginning
a midnight hymn of my uncle's composing, which my cousin had set notes to, and
taught me to sing, they started when I begun; but as
"An evil spirit would not sing such holy words. My father composed them, and I taught my cousin to sing them."
One of the company. "Thus is not to be accounted for; yet we read that Satan can transform himself into an angel of light."
Mr. Winkfield. Away! I have no fears; I will speak to it.—Does my cousin Unca live?"
Unca. "She lives, and is happy."
Mr. Winkfield. "Perhaps, in heaven."
Unca. "No; she lives upon earth."
Mr. Winkfield. "Shall I ever see her?"
Unca. "You may."
Mr. Winkfield. "But when and where?"
Unca. "Here; and that soon too."
Mr. Winkfield. "Let me see her then."
Unca. "You shall, if you will do one thing."
Mr. Winkfield. "I will do any thing that"—
Charles. "Stop, be not rash; ask what you are to do before you promise. I am myself not without my suspicions."
Mr. Winkfield. "I was going to say, I would do any thing not unworthy of a christian."
Charles. "I am satisfied."
Mr. Winkfield. "If I may see my cousin I will do any thing not unworthy of a christian."
Unca. "What I shall require is worthy of a christian"
Mr. Winkfield. "Propose it then."
Unca. "It is only to continue all of you where you are,
and do you sing your favourite hymn, and before you have
done you shall see, It begins, "Whilst thus the sun illumes our sphere,
And bids the earth bring forth, O spirit,
deign in me
Mr. Winkfield. "I will do it—But who, or what, Charles, can this invisible being be, who seems thus intimately to know me?"
Charles. "I know not—but its request is innocent and pious
As this hymn was a pretty long one, I knew it would give me sufficient time to
carry my design into execution; which was to go out of my
subterraneous
I had found among my clothes a small parcel of brass wire, which I had to mend my
cages, in which I was
I had a mind to try what effect it would have in the statue. I found out a method
to fix it, opposite to the mouth, withinside of the statue, and when the
As I found the wind sat full against the statue, I placed the instrument before
it, and heard it play with a loudness that I could not have borne long. This no
doubt could not but give my visitors a new alarm; yet, from the nature of it,
was less terrifying than my speaking had been, with such a magnifying voice, as
the mechanism of the statue occasioned: and indeed they
Mr. Winkfield. "Ha! how sweet, but strange are these sounds!"
Company. "Astonishing beyond conception!"
One of the company. "This can be no human artifice; the loudness of it
exceeds the power of art. I wish we were safe aboard our ships. I never was
credulous;
Mr. Winkfield. "Let us be men, at least, and reflect that we are come in an honest
cause. I own these appearances are very extraordinary: but they may
portend
Charles. "True—Let us construe the omen in our favour, and be composed, and let Mr. Winkfield sing the hymn he promised."
Their conversation was so earnest, that they did not perceive me advancing,
taking a slope till I got behind them, though at some distance, just
"I have sung the hymn, but where is
As he said these words, I moved gently towards the left, and then walked
forwards, till I came upon a line with them. The
musick
"Bless me! what is that?"
Upon this all turned and saw me, to their great surprize. They stood still and silent like mutes. I now bowed my staff as saluting them, and exposed my face to their full view, not very far from them, when my cousin, in his turn, exclaimed,
"It is my cousin's face! but can it be her?"
Unca. "It is."
Mr. Winkfield. "And living too?"
Unca. "Yes, cousin, and living too; and smiling, added,
but have you forgot all your
gallantry,
Having said this, I began, slowly, to step forward, when one of the company cried out,
"Nay, if you all have a mind to stay till the devil comes to you, I will not; and ran away as fast as he could."
I still kept slowly moving on, whilst my cousin, and the rest, stood amazed, half
leaning back, as if in doubt whether to stay or run after their companion. Their
great amazement confounded me. I was at a loss what to say
Unca. "Dear Cousin Winkfield, be not so much alarmed,
I am really your cousin
Mr. Winkfield. "You indeed appear to be such; but the strange things which I have seen and heard to-day, and your no less extraordinary appearance, scarce leave me sufficiently master of my senses to form a right judgment of what I see and hear."
By this time I was got close up to him, for he stood like a statue, and giving my hand said,
"Cousin Winkfield, be composed, and satisfied, that it is your cousin Unca who speaks to you."
He then took me in his arms, embraced and kissed me, and as soon as his transports, at finding me, a little subsided he said,
"But, pray my dear Unca, what mean the huge statue;
the monstrous voice, loud like thunder, that talked to me and sung;
this loud musick, which I still hear; the strange rich dress I see you in, and
Unca. "Stop, dear cousin; you have asked too many questions, and such as cannot be answered in a hurry: and I have, on my part, my questions to ask you, for your appearance here is very surprizing to me. How you should know of my being here is what I cannot conjecture. But of these things we will talk together at our leisure, when you are more composed."
One of the company, terrified at Unca's appearance, runs to the ship, and makes such a report to the crew, that they refuse to take them on board.
BY this time the company, being pretty well satisfied that I
was a mortal, which at first they doubted of, came up to us, and wished us joy
on our unexpected happy meeting. We thanked them, and I assured them, they need
not be under any uneasiness; for that they were perfectly safe where they were:
for however extraordinary what they had heard and seen might appear to them, the
whole was the effect only of natural causes. They were too
My cousin now briefly informed me, that one of the gentlemen in company, whom he
called Captain Shore, the very day I was left on this island, took my ship and
the captain of it prisoner; and had sent him to
I answered that I was entirely at his disposal for a few hours. "For a few hours!" returned he briskly, "why, must my dear Unca and I ever part again? You talk strangely; and once more make me almost doubt the reality of what I see and hear."
"Yes, we must part for a little," answered I, "but I will soon satisfy
As we walked along I told him, that I had come over on a visit to the island that morning, and that at night I was obliged to return back to the island on which I had lived above two years; or otherwise my friends there would be under great uneasiness at my absence. Thus we went on talking, till we came to the shore, when my cousin was greatly surprised at not seeing the boat.
"I ordered the boat," said he, "to wait for me here; and though Mr. Lock in his fright might take it to go on board, he should have sent it back, and there has been time enough for its return."
Upon which Captain Shore took a glass out of his pocket to look at the ship,
which rode at anchor, some distance off. "Bless me," said he of a sudden, "what do
I see! they are preparing to set sail. Sure the crew have not mutinied." He then
called to them as loud as he could, and waved his handkerchief. He then said,
"they made a signal that they see me." In a little time after he saw the boat
coming. It soon appeared; but as it came near to the shore, the sailors it seems
heard the musick from the statue, as the wind blew
directly off from the island; this, together with my
tawny complection
"Mr. Lock said right, this is certainly some inchanted island, and I would not row a stroke nearer if it was for the king."
second sailor. "Nor I; for I hear the devil's bagpipes playing as loud as thunder."
Third sailor. "Aye; and don't you see that she-devil there
wrapt
Fourth sailor. "I suppose she is the devil's wife, and this is their wedding-day, which makes her so fine and have so much musick."
Fifth sailor. "I don't fear all the devils in hell, for I am a good
Sixth sailor. "I wish though I had her devilship's gold crown and gown, I would go no more to sea."
Fifth sailor. "You fool, if you had them in your hand, they would all turn to dust."
We were obliged to hear this strange dialogue before captain Shore could put in
a word. At last, with much ado, he made them hear him; but neither threats nor
fair words could prevail upon them to come nearer the shore, whilst I stayed
there. One of them said, that Mr.
We therefore called a council, and had agreed to sail directly, if captain Shore had not called to us.
As soon as the sailor had done talking, I told my cousin that I would leave them, that they might go on board their ship, and try to undeceive the crew, and that I would meet him the next morning at the steps. My cousin was much concerned at this unexpected sudden separation; but it appeared absolutely necessary, and there was no time for deliberation; for the men threatened every moment to row back to the ship.
Mr. Winkfield left on shore; and after relating what passed between him and the ship's company, Unca and he retire in the evening to the other island.
THUS I left them, lamenting my own folly for not having
discovered myself in a less alarming manner. As soon as I was got out of sight,
the sailors set up a shout of joy, whilst I pensively walked on to my
subterraneous apartments. I hastened up into the statue, to remove the occasion,
which had had no little effect in the late unlucky incident. Here I sat musing
on what might be the consequences of this
I had taken no refreshment, since I came upon the island, in the morning; and my
grief was too great to let me think of any, till at last, fatigued with weeping
and fasting, I grew faint. I then thought I would leave the place, and take some
refreshment; but not till I had sought comfort of him who
I did so, and was walking to the place where I had put some provisions, till I might want them, when I found part of the evils that my mind foreboded but too true; for who should I see walking solitarily along towards the statue, but my poor cousin! He did not see me till I called to him.
"Cousin Winkfield, said I, what have my fears proved true? will they not receive you on board?"
Mr. Winkfield. "No; but be not alarmed, my dear Unca, captain Shore will soon be here again, and if, in the mean time, I can be with you I shall be happy."
Unca. "But will not your father and mother be alarmed at your delay?"
Mr. Winkfield. "They will not: for as I supposed it would be uncertain how long I might be searching for you, if I ever found you, I desired two years absence."
Unca. "I am so far satisfied. But relate what happened after I left you on the shore."
Mr. Winkfield. "As soon as you had left us, the sailors waited till you was got out of sight, and then set up a great shout, which possibly you heard."
Unca. "I did hear it, and from that moment was filled with fears, lest they should murder you, or leave you on shore, as they have done."
Mr. Winkfield. "Weep not for me, my dear Unca, for to live with you I should be contented if he never returns."
Unca. "I feel the tenderness of your expression. But my manner of living, length
of time hath rendered agreeable to me; but it would be
Mr. Winkfield. "Stop, dear cousin! nor talk of leaving you; I never can, nor"―
Unca. "Hold, this is the language of a lover, ill suited to the present
time and circumstances. The day wears away apace,
We then walked to where I had stored my provisions, and there sat
Mr. Winkfield. "I said the sailors shouted when you were out of sight, and instead
of rowing up to us, as we expected, boldly told the captain, that they had sworn
before they set out, not to bring me on board; being determined never to sail in
company with, a man, who, as Mr. Locke told them, had talked and sang songs with
the devil: and had it not been for us, you know, captain, said one of them, he
would have brought a she-devil on board with him, and as soon as she was on
board, to besure captain, she would have sunk the ship, and flown away with us
all—No, no, good captain, we are bad enough, indeed; but we won't
Jack. "Yes, that I did. And she has left a terrible stink of
brimstone
All. "Smell it! aye to be sure; do you think we have no noses?"
Captain Shore was in a great passion. He told them "they were
mutineers
"No, no, captain, though we don't like the devil's company, we are honest fellows; we don't want to run away with the ship; that would be going to the devil another way, and I warrant he would trim us for using his lady so ill. You are our captain, and we will take you on board, if you please; but Mr. Winkfield is only a passenger, and we are not obliged to take him."
Finding there was no good to be done with them, I whispered the captain that I
would stay on shore all night, at all events; but desired he would come to me in
the morning, and let me know if he had brought them to reason. However, as I had
not
Sailor. "Well, sir, if she is not a devil, I suppose she is a witch, and that is as bad; and that made the captain set her on shore. And pray was that tall monster who sung and played upon the bag-pipes your cousin too? You know, sir, we heard him play ourselves, and the devil could not play louder."
Mr. Winkfield. "I was confounded at this question, not knowing myself how to account for what I had heard. They saw my confusion, and laughed: I therefore once more told the captain I would leave them, and hoped to see him in the morning. so we shook hands, and parted; he looking at me with great concern. I remembered you said, you should not leave this place till night. I was therefore walking up to the statue, in order to wait there some time, in hopes of seeing you thereabouts; if not, I intended walking up and down in quest of you: but as I was going thither, I had the pleasure of hearing you call me."
Unca. "I am very glad you found me so soon, for the sun is declining apace; and if you had missed me you would have passed an uneasy night. For though there is here nothing to hurt you, you could not know that. But as we have done eating, let us go down to the seaside, where a canoe will soon be ready to carry us where you shall pass the night in safety. In the morning we will return here, and I hope we shall see the captain, and hear that matters are made up on board. And as I suppose you are impatient to know that had happened to me since I was put upon this island, and to know the meaning of the extraordinary things that you have seen and heard, I will inform you as we go along."
They return in the morning to see whether the captain had brought the crew to obedience; but find they had forced him to sail back toEurope .
WE now walked down to the seaside, where two Indians
waited with my canoe. They seemed surprised at the appearance of a stranger,
especially of a white man, as having never seen one before. I quickly spoke
chearfully
European History
Online, Institute of European History, 19 May 2011.
"What a series," cried he, "of amazing
providences!
Mr. Winkfield. "They are too good to oppose so
pious
Unca. "That we must land," returned I, very gravely, "for we are
I saw he was chagrined
Their usual joy at my presence now revived, and they came up to us,
shewing
We were up the next day very early, breakfasted, and then set out for the island. During our voyage, the night before, I was the chief speaker; but now, in his turn, my cousin briefly told me how he came to know where I was; of which hereafter.
Nor did he omit any opportunity in the course of his narration to give me to
understand, that he had all along preserved that affection for me that he had
formerly
professed.
When we had reached the island, I ordered the Indians not to return as usual, not
knowing what sudden occasion I might have for them; but strictly charged them
not to advance a foot forward into the island, nor to row to any other part of
it. My cousin and I now crossed the island to the place where we expected the
boat to come to. We sat and walked up and down here, by turns, till noon, but
saw no boat. We then took some of the provisions we had brought, and dined. In
short, we passed the whole afternoon, till it was time to think of returning
home, without seeing any signs of a boat: we therefore feared the crew had
mutinied,
My concern, indeed, arose upon my cousin's account, for had the ship arrived I would not have gone away in it, being determined to live and die amongst my dear Indians. Nor, indeed, was it his intention to have gone home in her, but to have sent word to his parents that he had found me, and was determined to live and die with me; which, however, as often as he mentioned it, I most strongly opposed.
My cousin insisted upon his going without me the next morning, to which I was forced to agree; but was greatly surprised to see him return before noon. "What means this quick return? cried I; I cannot conjecture the occasion."
Mr. Winkfield. "It seems, said he, as if providence, though by a somewhat adverse
stroke, designs that I shall carry my resolution to teach the
Indians into practice, and spend my days with my dear Unca,
whether she will or no; for as I drew near, this morning, to the part of the shore
where we yesterday waited for the boat, I saw, as I thought, several chests, and
casks, and such, indeed, they were: and when I came up to
I solemnly assure you, that I have done every thing in my power, both by
threats and promises, to induce the crew to let me fetch you on board;
but in vain: so deeply has Mr. Locke's foolish reports wrought upon
their superstitious minds; for which indeed he is now very sorry. All
that I can obtain is, that they will carry all your goods, and put them
on shore by break of day, to-morrow, provided they see nothing of your
cousin, as I hope they will not, and that you
If I am so happy as to live to come again, I will set up an high pole, in
some conspicuous
I was heartily sorry at reading of this; but my cousin smiled, and said he should
now live with me whether I would, or not. "I am," added he, "only uneasy for my
father and mother; but I know when they are assured that you are living, and
that we are together, their concern will be greatly lessened, and they will
comfort themselves with the pleasing hope of hearing of us both next year. And
it is in your power, my dear Unca, greatly to add to their pleasure, by enabling
me to acquaint them, that you have become their daughter. Let us then be united
in the glorious work you have begun; teach me the Indian language, and I will join
the glorious task you have commenced, and
This last remark had some weight with me, yet I declined a direct answer; for
though I loved him as a friend and relation, I had never considered him as a
lover; nor any other person. It appeared to me, indeed, as if it must be as he
would have it, yet
Embark their effects for the inhabited island. Mr. Winkfield marries his cousin and proceeds in the work of conversion. He relates by what means he came to the knowledge of her being in that part of the world.
THE next morning my cousin set out with a sufficient
number of canoes, and brought all his things over. Besides a proper stock of
clothes for himself, and some useful books, he had, as if certain of finding me
living, and the naked inhabitant of a desolate island, brought over apparel for
me. The linen indeed was very acceptable to me, as I now began to be in great
want of it.
I was very much pleased to see a basket with about a dozen live fowls, cocks and hens; with these the island was soon stocked, and were very pleasing to the Indians, who had never seen any before. But what were these to the many other things the Indians had never seen before, at which they wondered, and were delighted with? a gun and the surprising effects of gunpowder, a telescope, and many other European curiosities, and without which indeed they were sufficiently happy! However, the sight of these raised in them an high opinion of my cousin, next to that they had for me.
I passed my time happily enough, before my cousin's arrival, but more so
afterwards; for from his presence I
From the time of my cousin's settling here, or rather
my husband,
Unca Eliza refers to Mr. Winkfield as her cousin until they are married,
after she refers to him as her husband. Marriage among family members was
socially acceptable throughout the eighteenth century. Commonly, the upper
class chose familial marriages to maintain wealth and respected social
status. Susan McKinnon, "Cousin Marriage, Hierarchy, and Heredity:
Contestations over Domestic and National Body Politics in 19th-century America."
Journal of the British Academy 7 (2019): 61-88.
DOI:10.5871/jba/007.061
Being now more at leisure, I desired my husband to recount to me at large, what he had at first but briefly told me of, concerning his learning where I was, and of the captain who had robbed me, and set me on the uninhabited island. It was thus:
"There came one day," said my husband, "a
sea-faring
"Yes, sir," replied the stranger: "your brother, I am sorry to inform you, died just
as he was about to set out for
Mr. Winkfield senior. "I am very much concerned to hear of my dear brother's death—
But as to my niece, does she intend to come over to
Stranger. "As to your niece, I do not come from her. I never was at
Mr. Winkfield senior. "Indeed, after hearing of the death of my brother, I shall
be still farther grieved to hear of any affliction that may have
befallen
Stranger. "I shall be ready to give you all the information that I can about her. But as I cannot do so in a few words, I must beg your patience, whilst I relate to you circumstantially all the particulars that I know."
"I am, sir, a captain of a merchant-ship.
"We were, in no wise, capable of defending ourselves, the pirate being a ship of force: we, therefore, were obliged to suffer them to come aboard us. As soon as the captain got upon deck, he addressed himself to me in these words:"
Pirate.
Merchant Captain. "I am bound, sir, for
Pirate. "If you please, I will go into your cabin with you, and there open my business more fully."
Merchant Captain. "According to his request, captain Shore, (for that he told me
was his name) and his mate, and I, retired into my cabin, when he soon resumed
his
discourse
Captain Shore. "I was a few years ago, as I find you are, a merchant captain; but
having very bad success, I proposed to my mate, here, to turn pirate, to which
he consenting, we broke our intentions to the crew, who too
readily
"The last prize we made was in this manner. Discovering a small ship, we, as
usual, made what sail we could till we came pretty near to her, and then fired a
gun for her to bring to. As she was a ship of no force, and we had our guns out
ready to
"But suspecting the captain to be guilty"—
Here Mr. Winkfield senior interrupted him somewhat peevishly. "Pardon me, sir,"
cried he, "you are very
prolix.
Merchant Captain. "No, sir, she was not, and may be yet living for ought I know to the contrary."
Mr. Winkfield senior. "May be yet living! you talk mysteriously. I thought you came to tell me news about her, and you only say she may be yet living—I abhor suspence; if you know any thing concerning her, tell it me at once."
Mr. Winkfield junior. "Honoured sir, don't be in such a hurry, you will offend the gentleman, and we may never come to the perfect knowledge of this affair."
Merchant Captain. "Sir I take no offence, I attribute your father's
Mr. Winkfield senior. "I am of a warm temper, sir, the subject is very interesting, and in affection I know no difference between my niece and my daughter; I hope therefore you will excuse my rude interruption, and be pleased to proceed in your own way."
Merchant Captain. "I am satisfied. I left off I think, with saying that
notwithstanding the captain's denial of what the Indians accused him of, and
though backed by his crew,
Mr. Winkfield senior. "You did, good sir, what am I next to hear? poor
Merchant Captain. "I was determined, said captain Shore, to come to the bottom of
this affair, and therefore made every inquiry that I could. The account the
Indians gave me was this, that their mistress's name was
Continues his relation.
Unca Eliza's cousin and husband, Winkfield junior, continues
his relation (i.e., story) of having heard the stranger (a.k.a. the merchant captain)
retell the story he heard from the pirate (a.k.a. captain Shore).
Some account of captain Shore, who resolves to leave off his piratical practices.
"HAVING heard
this relation, continued captain Shore,
"However, I was determined, if possible, to make the captain confess his guilt:
looking therefore very sternly, I gave orders that my men should take and hang
him up at the yard-arm, where the poor Indian
"At the instant I uttered this command these words of scripture came strong upon
my mind, suddenly like lightning, Thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou
art, that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou
"I then ordered that he should be secured, and all his men, and to make the best of our way with both ships to our island. When we arrived there, I ordered all possible care to be taken of the three Indians. But the poor Indian who had been hung up, died in a few days. Whilst he lived, he greatly lamented the fate of his mistress, and almost his last words were, Pray hang the wicked captain. As to the females they soon recovered, their wounds being but slight.
"The day after we reached our island, I told my mate what had passed in my mind
the day before; and that I was determined to leave off the evil course I had
unhappily engaged in, at all events. He seemed much affected with what I said,
and, after pausing some time, answered, But how shall we be able to
extricate
"To this I replied, that I was determined to save my soul, if I could not my body,
and would sooner get, by some means or other, to
"I answered, I have not been without my thoughts concerning them. You know
they all love me much, and are not such wicked men as most of their profession
commonly are. And I have at times heard them lament their long absence from
their families, and now and then express some dislike at the unhappy way they
are in. I intend therefore to talk to them, and to propose a way
"Accordingly the same evening I called them all together, and, my mate being present, thus addressed them:
"My dear countrymen!
"I once was so unhappy, and so wicked, as to persuade you to join with me in the
evil course, which we have but too successfully followed for some years. What
distress, by our robberies, have we brought upon many innocent persons? But how
much greater distress will come upon us, unless we most seriously repent of our
sins?
"From that moment it was, I hope, given me to repent, and I am determined to break
off my sins, let the event be what it will. As I once led you into the ways of
sin, happy should I be, if I might recover you to the paths of virtue.
"It is to keep the prisoners we took yesterday close confined on board their own
ship, and to secure that and the treasure in it, and to draw up the whole
account of this affair to send it to the injured lady's uncle in
"They accordingly came to me the next morning, when they all expressed their
hearty consent to my proposal. Though I could not but observe, that this
unanimity
"I answered, that since they were come to this resolution, our immediate business
was to watch for the opportunity, and that when it offered, I told them, that
they must be sure to continue upon the island till I should return, unless I
staid
"And now, sir, said captain Shore, speaking still to me, the wished-for opportunity offers, if you please to afford it; but I lay you under no restraint; for though I wish you may grant my desire, you are at your liberty. If you have any reason to object to it, you are welcome to pursue your voyage in peace and safety; for I will not offer the least injury to you, or any with you."
"For my part, answered I, I am very ready to give you all the assistance in my
power, towards carrying so good a resolution into action, and as I have some
business to transact upon the coast of
"Well then," replied captain Shore, "I will go on board my own ship, and get together
such things as I want, and return to you, that we may proceed upon our voyage.
In the mean time, sir, in order to remove any bad impressions that your crew may
have conceived of me, be pleased to inform them that I did not stop you as a
pirate, but only to request the favour of a passage to
"As soon as captain Shore returned on board with his baggage, we set sail, and
when we arrived upon the coast of
After captain Shore had obtained a pardon for himself and crew, he returns in search of Mrs. Winkfield. Fate of the captain who left her on the uninhabited island. They resolve to settle their affairs inEngland ,
and live with the Indians. Conclusion.
"MY father and I heard this wonderful relation with great
attention and surprise; but still mourned for you, my dear Unca,
being ignorant of your fate. However, we proceeded to bring the captain to
justice. The case was laid before the king and council, together with captain
Shore's petition, on behalf of himself and people. I got the conditional pardon
"As soon as captain Shore received notice of this, he came home to
"Whilst he was making the proper preparations for his voyage, we were much together. I asked him, as he was well acquainted with those parts where my cousin had been left upon some island or other thereabouts, whether he thought it improbable to discover the island.
"He answered, I know those parts extremely well, and I doubt not, that
"It is not impossible, added I; but she may be yet living. I have read of as surprising deliverances; at the worst we may find her bones, and pay the last honours to her dear unhappy memory: and here, my dear Unca, I wept indeed!
"My father and mother consented with pleasure, and as soon as every thing was
settled, and ready, we
Thus my husband ended his extraordinary relation; full of a wonderful
Captain Shore. "I shall pass over the unimportant accidents that occurred
"I should have returned much sooner here, continued captain Shore; but as my ship,
and Mrs. Winkfield's were both arrived a week before me, I was obliged to stay
till the cargoes were landed, and what belonged to Mrs. Winkfield committed to
your father's care. Besides, I was obliged to attend the trial of the captain
and the crew, who were found guilty upon their own confession. The captain, and
three of his men, were hanged at
Execution-Dock,
Piracy was punishable by the death penalty. In the engraving at right,
a pirate, thought to be Captain James Lowry, is awaiting execution by hanging at
In return to captain Shore's relation, we acquainted him with every thing that we
had done in his absence, and satisfied his curiosity about the wonderful things
that he had met with upon the island. When we had finished our account, the
captain expressed great surprise and satisfaction at what had happened, and
added, "Since what has befallen me, I shall not like to reside in
We now agreed captain Shore and my husband should return together to
The destruction of the idol might reflect Unca Eliza's Christian conversion
of the island's Indigenous people, in the removal of what she believes to be
an idolatrous figure. Yet Roslyn Irving reads this moment as symbolic of Unca Eliza'
integration with the Indigenous people in America, where "removing the statue is
perhaps symbolic of a conversion narrative never fully realised."
See "Reading for Friday in
The Female American (1767),"
Nordic Journal of English Studies 23 (2024): 41.
DOI: 10.35360/njes.2024.23287.
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THE
Country Cousins;
OR, A
Journey to London,
A NOVEL.
Printed for F. and J. Noble.
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Benjamin Franklin was sixteen years old and working as an apprentice in the
Boston print shop of his older brother James when, in April 1722, he began
writing a series of essays to be published in the New-England
Courant (which his brother published) under the pseudonym of "Silence
Dogood." In his Autobiography, Benjamin remembered
slipping these essays, written in disguised handwriting, under the door of the
Courant's office; he assumed (probably correctly)
that James would refuse to print an essay from him if he simply asked or
submitted it under his own name. James published the essays, which became very
popular among the newspaper's readers. Benjamin kept his authorship of the
series a secret, even from his brother, until after he finished writing them in
October 1722, at which point James printed an advertisement asking for "Silence
Dogood" to come forth. Benjamin confessed that he was the author, which seems to
have annoyed his older brother. It was not too long after that that Benjamin
left his brother's shop--breaking his apprenticeship--and moved to
Philadelphia.
The Silence Dogood essays are written in the persona of a middle-aged woman, but
the title character is very clearly indebted to Mr. Spectator, the avatar of
Addison and Steele's Spectator series, published a decade
earlier. It is testimony to how widely influential the Spectator was that even in colonial America, teenaged boys were
reading it and taking it as a model for their own writing. In the Autobiography, Franklin remembers how much he loved the
Spectator, and how he first came across it at the age
of sixteen: "an odd volume of the Spectator fell into my
hands. This was a publication I had never seen. I bought the volume, and
read it again and again. I was enchanted with it, thought the style
excellent, and wished it were in my power to imitate it. With this view I
selected some of the papers, made short summaries of the sense of each
period, and put them for a few days aside. I then, without looking at the
book, endeavoured to restore the essays to their true form, and to express
each thought at length, as it was in the original, employing the most
appropriate words that occurred to my mind. I afterwards compared my
Spectator with the original; I perceived some faults, which I
corrected." If the Spectator gave Franklin a model
for his prose style, so too did it give him a persona to inhabit; the "Silence"
in Silence Dogood's name clearly alludes to the taciturn Mr. Spectator as
invented by Addison and Steele. The surname "Dogood" also alludes to a famous
writer, in this case a colonial writer: the prolific Boston cleric Cotton
Mather, whose 1710 collection Bonifacius: or, Essays to Do
Good, advocating the reader to undertake charitable works, Franklin
also remembered as a book that had a great impact on him as a young man. The
startling thing about the Silence Dogood essays (in addition to the fact that
they were written by a sixteen-year-old), is that Franklin adopts the persona of
a woman, a persona that enables him adopt, but also gently mock, the kinds of
sentiments expressed by authority figures like Mather. Franklin would continue
to use personae, male and female, throughout his career, the most famous of
these being the Poor Richard of his Almanack. And there's a sense in which the
"Benjamin Franklin" of the Autobiography and of history
was also a persona, a role that Franklin played on the public stage of the
trans-Atlantic world.
There were fourteen Silence Dogood essays in all, published every two weeks in
the pages of the New England Courant, for which, as we
have seen, James Franklin was the publisher. The New England
Courant was the first independently-published newspaper in colonial
America; that is, it operated independently of government authority. So much so
that the colonial government in Massachusetts frequently attempted to censor the
newspaper and jailed James Franklin several times when he published articles
that were thought to defame public officials (Cotton Mather, for example).
During these periods, Benjamin was listed as the official publisher of the
newspaper. It was finally closed for good in 1726. Benjamin had long since moved
on, and was at this point finishing a stint as a journeyman printer in London
and preparing to return to Philadelphia, where he opened a print shop of his
own.
New-England Courant.
Sir,
It may not be improper in the first place to inform your Readers, that I intend once a Fortnight to present them, by the Help of this Paper, with a short Epistle, which I presume will add somewhat to their Entertainment.
And since it is observed, that the Generality of People, now a days, are
unwilling either to commend or dispraise what they read, until they are in some measure informed who
or what the Author of it is, whether he be poor or rich, old or young, a Schollar or a
Leather
Apron Man
, &c and
give their Opinion of the Performance, according to the Knowledge which they
have of the Author's Circumstances, it may not be amiss to begin with a short
Account of my past Life and present Condition, that the Reader may not be at a
Loss to judge whether or no my
Lucubrations are
worth his reading.
At the time of my Birth, my Parents were on Ship-board in their Way from London
to N. England. My Entrance into
this troublesome World was attended with the Death of my Father, a Misfortune,
which tho' I was not then capable of knowing, I shall never be able to forget;
for as he, poor Man, stood upon the Deck rejoycing at my Birth, a merciless Wave
entred the Ship, and in one Moment carry'd him beyond Reprieve. Thus, was the
first Day which I saw, the last that was seen by my Father; and thus was my disconsolate Mother at
once made both a Parent and a Widow.
When we arrived at Boston (which was not long after) I was put to Nurse in a Country Place, at a small Distance from the Town, where I went to School, and past my Infancy and Childhood in Vanity and Idleness, until I was bound out Apprentice, that I might no longer be a Charge to my Indigent Mother, who was put to hard Shifts for a Living.
My Master was a Country Minister, a pious good-natur'd young Man, and a Batchelor: he labour'd with all his Might to instil vertuous and godly Principles into my tender Soul, well knowing that it was the most suitable Time to make deep and lasting Impressions on the Mind, while it was yet untainted with Vice, free and unbiass'd. He endeavour'd that I might be instructed in all that Knowledge and Learning which is necessary for our Sex, and deny'd me no Accomplishment that could possibly be attained in a Country Place; such as all Sorts of Needle-Work, Writing, Arithmetick, &c. and observing that I took a more than ordinary Delight in reading ingenious Books, he gave me the free Use of his Library, which tho' it was but small, yet it was well chose, to inform the Understanding rightly, and enable the Mind to frame great and noble Ideas.
Before I had liv'd quite two Years with this Reverend Gentleman, my indulgent Mother departed this Life, leaving me as it were by my self, having no Relation on Earth within my Knowledge.
I will not abuse your Patience with a tedious Recital of all the frivolous
Accidents of my Life, that happened from this Time until I arrived to Years of Discretion, only
inform you that I liv'd a chearful Country Life, spending my leisure Time either
in some innocent Diversion with the neighbouring Females, or in some shady
Retirement, with the best of Company, Books. Thus I past
away the Time with a Mixture of Profit and Pleasure, having no affliction but
what was imaginary, and created in my own Fancy; as nothing is more common with
us Women, than to be grieving for nothing, when we have nothing else to grieve
for.
As I would not engross too much of your Paper at once, I will defer the Remainder of my Story until my next Letter; in the mean time desiring your Readers to exercise their Patience, and bear with my Humours now and then, because I shall trouble them but seldom. I am not insensible of the Impossibility of pleasing all, but I would not willingly displease any; and for those who will take Offence were none is intended, they are beneath the Notice of Your Humble Servant,
SILENCE DOGOOD.
New-England Courant.
Sir,
Histories of Lives are seldom entertaining, unless they contain something either admirable or exemplar: And since there is little or nothing of this Nature in my own Adventures, I will not tire your Readers with tedious Particulars of no Consequence, but will briefly, and in as few Words as possible, relate the most material Occurrences of my Life, and according to my Promise, confine all to this Letter.
My Reverend master who had hitherto remained a Batchelor, (after much meditation on the Eighteenth verse of the Second Chapter of Genesis,) took up a Resolution to marry; and having made several unsuccessful fruitless Attempts on the more topping Sort of our Sex, and being tir'd with making troublesome Journeys and Visits to no Purpose, he began unexpectedly to cast a loving Eye upon Me, whom he had brought up cleverly to his Hand.
There is certainly scarce any Part of a Man's Life in which he appears more silly and ridiculous, than when he makes his first Onset in Courtship. The aukward Manner in which my Master first discover'd his Intentions, made me, in spite of my Reverence to his Person, burst out into an unmannerly Laughter: However, having ask'd his Pardon, and with much ado compos'd my Countenance, I promis'd him I would take his Proposal into serious Consideration, and speedily give him an Answer.
As he had been a great Benefactor (and in a Manner a Father to me) I could not well deny his Request, when I once perceived he was in earnest. Whether it was Love, or Gratitude, or Pride, or all Three that made me consent, I know not; but it is certain, he found it no hard Matter, by the Help of his Rhetorick, to conquer my Heart, and perswade me to marry him.
This unexpected Match was very astonishing to all the Country round about, and served to furnish them with Discourse for a long Time after; some approving it, others disliking it, as they were led by their various Fancies and Inclinations.
We lived happily together in the Heighth of conjugal Love and mutual Endearments, for near Seven Years, in which Time we added Two likely Girls and a Boy to the Family of the Dogoods: But alas! When my Sun was in its meridian Altitude, inexorable unrelenting Death, as if he had envy'd my Happiness and Tranquility, and resolv'd to make me entirely miserable by the Loss of so good an Husband, hastened his Flight to the Heavenly World, by a sudden unexpected Departure from this.
I have now remained in a State of Widowhood for several Years, but it is a State I never much admir'd, and I am apt to fancy that I could be easily perswaded to marry again, provided I was sure of a good-humour'd, sober, agreeable Companion: But one, even with these few good Qualities, being hard to find, I have lately relinquish'd all Thoughts of that Nature.
At present I pass away my leisure Hours in Conversation, either with my honest Neighbour Rusticus and his Family, or with the ingenious Minister of our Town, who now lodges at my House, and by whose Assistance I intend now and then to beautify my Writings with a Sentence or two in the learned Languages, which will not only be fashionable, and pleasing to those who do not understand it, but will likewise be very ornamental.
I shall conclude this with my own Character, which (one would think) I should be
best able to give. Know then, That I am an Enemy to Vice,
and a Friend to Vertue. I am one of an extensive Charity, and a great Forgiver
of private Injuries: A hearty Lover of the Clergy and all
good Men, and a mortal Enemy to arbitrary Government and unlimited Power. I am
naturally very jealous for the Rights and Liberties of my Country; and the least
appearance of an Incroachment on those invaluable Priviledges, is apt to make my
Blood boil exceedingly. I have likewise a natural Inclination to observe and
reprove the Faults of others, at which I have an excellent Faculty. I speak this
by Way of Warning to all such whose Offences shall come under my Cognizance, for
I never intend to wrap my Talent in a Napkin. To be brief; I am courteous and
affable, good humour'd (unless I am first provok'd,) and handsome, and sometimes
witty, but always, Sir, Your Friend and Humble Servant,
SILENCE DOGOOD.
New-England Courant.
Sir.
It is undoubtedly the Duty of all Persons to serve the Country they live in,
according to their Abilities; yet I sincerely acknowledge, that I have hitherto
been very deficient in this Particular; whether it was for want of Will or
Opportunity, I will not at present stand to determine: Let it suffice, that I
now take up a Resolution, to do for the future all that lies
in my Way for the Service of my Countrymen.
I have from my Youth been indefatigably studious to gain and treasure up in my Mind all useful and desireable Knowledge, especially such as tends to improve the Mind, and enlarge the Understanding: And as I have found it very beneficial to me, I am not without Hopes, that communicating my small Stock in this Manner, by Peace-meal to the Publick, may be at least in some Measure useful.
I am very sensible that it is impossible for me, or indeed any one Writer to please all Readers at once. Various Persons have different Sentiments; and that which is pleasant and delightful to one, gives another a Disgust. He that would (in this Way of Writing) please all, is under a Necessity to make his Themes almost as numerous as his Letters. He must one while be merry and diverting, then more solid and serious; one while sharp and satyrical, then (to mollify that) be sober and religious; at one Time let the Subject be Politicks, then let the next Theme be Love: Thus will every one, one Time or other find some thing agreeable to his own Fancy, and in his Turn be delighted.
According to this Method I intend to proceed, bestowing now and then a few gentle Reproofs on those who deserve them, not forgetting at the same time to applaud those whose Actions merit Commendation. And here I must not forget to invite the ingenious Part of your Readers, particularly those of my own Sex to enter into a Correspondence with me, assuring them, that their Condescension in this Particular shall be received as a Favour, and accordingly acknowledged.
I think I have now finish'd the Foundation, and I intend in my next to begin to
raise the Building. Having nothing more to write at present, I must make the
usual excuse in such Cases, of being in haste, assuring
you that I speak from my Heart when I call my self, The most humble and obedient
of all the Servants your Merits have acquir'd,
SILENCE DOGOOD.
An sum etiam nunc vel Graecè loqui vel Latinè docendus?Cicero. To the Author of the
New-England Courant.
Sir,
Discoursing the other Day at Dinner with my Reverend Boarder, formerly mention'd,
(whom for Distinction sake we will call by the Name of Clericus,) concerning the
Education of Children, I ask'd his Advice about my young Son William, whether or
no I had best bestow upon him Academical Learning, or (as our Phrase is) bring him up at our College: He perswaded me to do it by
all Means, using many weighty Arguments with me, and answering all the
Objections that I could form against it; telling me withal, that he did not
doubt but that the Lad would take his Learning very well, and not idle away his
Time as too many there now-a-days do. These Words of Clericus gave me a
Curiosity to inquire a little more strictly into the present Circumstances of
that famous Seminary of
Learning; but the Information which he gave me, was neither pleasant, nor such
as I expected.
As soon as Dinner was over, I took a solitary Walk into my Orchard, still
ruminating on Clericus's Discourse with much Consideration, until I came to my
usual Place of Retirement under the Great Apple-Tree;
where having seated my self, and carelessly laid my Head on a verdant Bank, I fell by Degrees
into a soft and undisturbed Slumber. My waking Thoughts remained with me in my
Sleep, and before I awak'd again, I dreamt the following Dream.
I fancy'd I was travelling over pleasant and delightful Fields and Meadows, and thro' many small Country Towns and Villages; and as I pass'd along, all Places resounded with the Fame of the Temple of Learning: Every Peasant, who had wherewithal, was preparing to send one of his Children at least to this famous Place; and in this Case most of them consulted their own Purses instead of their Childrens Capacities: So that I observed, a great many, yea, the most part of those who were travelling thither, were little better than Dunces and Blockheads. Alas! alas!
At length I entred upon a spacious Plain, in the Midst of which was erected a large and stately Edifice: It was to this that a great Company of Youths from all Parts of the Country were going; so stepping in among the Crowd, I passed on with them, and presently arrived at the Gate.
The Passage was kept by two sturdy Porters named Riches and Poverty, and the
latter obstinately refused to give Entrance to any who had not first gain'd the
Favour of the former; so that I observed, many who came even to the very Gate,
were obliged to travel back again as ignorant as they came, for want of this
necessary Qualification. However, as a Spectator I gain'd Admittance, and with the rest
entred directly into the Temple.
In the Middle of the great Hall stood a stately and magnificent Throne, which was
ascended to by two high and difficult Steps. On the Top of it sat Learning in
awful State; she was apparelled wholly in Black, and surrounded almost on every
Side with innumerable Volumes in all Languages. She seem'd very busily employ'd
in writing something on half a Sheet of Paper, and upon Enquiry, I understood
she was preparing a Paper, call'd, The New-England
Courant. On her Right Hand sat English, with a
pleasant smiling Countenance, and handsomely attir'd; and on her left were
seated several Antique Figures with their Faces vail'd. I
was considerably puzzl'd to guess who they were, until one informed me, (who
stood beside me,) that those Figures on her left Hand were Latin, Greek, Hebrew,
&c. and that they were very much reserv'd, and seldom or never unvail'd
their Faces here, and then to few or none, tho' most of those who have in this
Place acquir'd so much Learning as to distinguish them from English, pretended to an intimate Acquaintance with them. I then
enquir'd of him, what could be the Reason why they continued vail'd, in this
Place especially: He pointed to the Foot of the Throne, where I saw Idleness, attended with Ignorance,
and these (he informed me) were they, who first vail'd them, and still kept them
so.
Now I observed, that the whole Tribe who entred into the Temple with me, began to
climb the Throne; but the Work proving troublesome and difficult to most of
them, they withdrew their Hands from the Plow, and contented themselves to sit
at the Foot, with Madam Idleness and her Maid Ignorance, until those who were assisted by Diligence and
a docible Temper, had well nigh got up the first Step: But the Time
drawing nigh in which they could no way avoid ascending, they were fain to crave the Assistance of those
who had got up before them, and who, for the Reward perhaps of a Pint of Milk, or a Piece of Plumb-Cake
, lent the Lubbers a helping Hand, and sat them
in the Eye of the World, upon a Level with themselves.
The other Step being in the same Manner ascended, and the usual Ceremonies at an
End, every Beetle-Scull seem'd well satisfy'd with his own Portion of Learning,
tho' perhaps he was e'en just as ignorant as ever. And
now the Time of their Departure being come, they march'd out of Doors to make
Room for another Company, who waited for Entrance: And I, having seen all that
was to be seen, quitted the hall likewise, and went to make my Observations on
those who were just gone out before me.
Some I perceiv'd took to Merchandizing, others to Travelling, some to one Thing, some to another,
and some to Nothing; and many of them from henceforth, for want of Patrimony, liv'd as poor as
Church Mice, being
unable to dig, and asham'd to beg, and to live by their Wits it was impossible.
But the most Part of the Crowd went along a large beaten Path, which led to a
Temple at the further End of the Plain, call'd, The Temple of
Theology
. The
Business of those who were employ'd in this Temple being laborious and painful,
I wonder'd exceedingly to see so many go towards it; but while I was pondering
this Matter in my Mind, I spy'd
Pecunia
behind a Curtain, beckoning to them
with her Hand, which Sight immediately satisfy'd me for whose Sake it was, that
a great Part of them (I will not say all) travel'd that Road. In this Temple I
saw nothing worth mentioning, except the ambitious and fraudulent Contrivances
of Plagius, who (notwithstanding
he had been severely reprehended for such Practices before) was diligently
transcribing some eloquent Paragraphs out of Tillotson's Works
, &c.,
to embellish his own.
Now I bethought my self in my Sleep, that it was Time to be at Home, and as I fancy'd I was travelling back thither, I reflected in my Mind on the extream Folly of those Parents, who, blind to their Childrens Dulness, and insensible of the Solidity of their Skulls, because they think their Purses can afford it, will needs send them to the Temple of Learning, where, for want of a suitable Genius, they learn little more than how to carry themselves handsomely, and enter a Room genteely, (which might as well be acquir'd at a Dancing-School,) and from whence they return, after Abundance of Trouble and Charge, as great Blockheads as ever, only more proud and self-conceited.
While I was in the midst of these unpleasant Reflections, Clericus (who with a
Book in his Hand was walking under the Trees) accidentally awak'd me; to him I
related my Dream with all its Particulars, and he, without much Study, presently
interpreted it, assuring me, That it was
a lively Representation of Harvard College, Etcetera. I remain, Sir, Your Humble Servant,
SILENCE DOGOOD.
Mulier Mulieri magis congruet. Ter. To the Author of the
New-England Courant.
Sir,
I shall here present your Readers with a Letter from one, who informs me that I have begun at the wrong End of my Business, and that I ought to begin at Home, and censure the Vices and Follies of my own Sex, before I venture to meddle with your's: Nevertheless, I am resolved to dedicate this Speculation to the Fair Tribe, and endeavour to show, that Mr. Ephraim charges Women with being particularly guilty of Pride, Idleness, &c. wrongfully, inasmuch as the Men have not only as great a Share in those Vices as the Women, but are likewise in a great Measure the Cause of that which the Women are guilty of. I think it will be best to produce my Antagonist, before I encounter him.
"Madam
"My Design in troubling you with this Letter is, to desire you would begin with
your own Sex first: Let the first Volley of your Resentments be directed against
Female Vice; let Female Idleness, Ignorance and
Folly, (which are Vices more peculiar to your Sex than to our's,) be the Subject
of your Satyrs, but more especially
Female Pride, which I think is intollerable. Here is a large Field that wants
Cultivation, and which I believe you are able (if willing) to improve with
Advantage; and when you have once reformed the Women, you will find it a much
easier Task to reform the Men, because Women are the prime Causes of a great
many Male Enormities.
This is all at present from Your Friendly Wellwisher,
After Thanks to my Correspondent for his Kindness in cutting out Work for me, I
must assure him, that I find it a very difficult Matter to reprove Women separate from the
Men; for what Vice is there in which the Men have not as great a Share as the
Women? and in some have they not a far greater, as in Drunkenness, Swearing,
&c.? And if they have, then it follows, that when a Vice is to be reproved,
Men, who are most culpable, deserve the most Reprehension, and certainly
therefore, ought to have it. But we will wave this Point at present, and proceed
to a particular Consideration of what my Correspondent calls Female Vice.
As for Idleness, if I should Quaere,
Where are the greatest Number of its Votaries to be found, with us or the Men? it might I believe be
easily and truly answer'd, With the latter. For
notwithstanding the Men are commonly complaining how hard they are forc'd to
labour, only to maintain their Wives in Pomp and Idleness, yet if you go among the Women, you will learn,
that they have always more Work upon their Hands than they are
able to do; and that a Woman's Work is never done, &c. But however,
Suppose we should grant for once, that we are generally more idle than the Men,
(without making any Allowance for the Weakness of the
Sex,) I desire to know whose Fault it is? Are not the Men to blame for
their Folly in maintaining us in Idleness? Who is there that can be handsomely
Supported in Affluence, Ease and Pleasure by another, that will chuse rather to
earn his Bread by the Sweat of his own Brows? And if a Man will be so fond and
so foolish, as to labour hard himself for a Livelihood, and suffer his Wife in
the mean Time to sit in Ease and Idleness, let him not blame her if she does so,
for it is in a great Measure his own Fault.
And now for the Ignorance and Folly which he reproaches us with, let us see (if we are Fools and Ignoramus's) whose is the Fault, the Men's or our's. An ingenious Writer, having this Subject in Hand, has the following Words, wherein he lays the Fault wholly on the Men, for not allowing Women the Advantages of Education.
"I have (says he) often thought of it as one of the most barbarous Customs in the World, considering us as a civiliz'd and Christian Country, that we deny the Advantages of Learning to Women. We reproach the Sex every Day with Folly and Impertinence, while I am confident, had they the Advantages of Education equal to us, they would be guilty of less than our selves. One would wonder indeed how it should happen that Women are conversible at all, since they are only beholding to natural Parts for all their Knowledge. Their Youth is spent to teach them to stitch and sew, or make Baubles: They are taught to read indeed, and perhaps to write their Names, or so; and that is the Heighth of a Womans Education. And I would but ask any who slight the Sex for their Understanding, What is a Man (a Gentleman, I mean) good for that is taught no more? If Knowledge and Understanding had been useless Additions to the Sex, God Almighty would never have given them Capacities, for he made nothing Needless. What has the Woman done to forfeit the Priviledge of being taught? Does she plague us with her Pride and Impertinence? Why did we not let her learn, that she might have had more Wit? Shall we upbraid Women with Folly, when 'tis only the Error of this inhumane Custom that hindred them being made wiser."
So much for Female Ignorance and Folly, and now let us a little consider the
Pride which my Correspondent thinks is intollerable. By
this Expression of his, one would think he is some dejected Swain, tyranniz'd over by some cruel haughty Nymph, who (perhaps he thinks) has no
more Reason to be proud than himself. Alas-a-day! What
shall we say in this Case! Why truly, if Women are proud, it is certainly owing
to the Men still; for if they will be such Simpletons as
to humble themselves at their Feet, and fill their credulous Ears with extravagant Praises of their
Wit, Beauty, and other Accomplishments (perhaps where there are none too,) and
when Women are by this Means perswaded that they are Something more than humane,
what Wonder is it, if they carry themselves haughtily, and live extravagantly.
Notwithstanding, I believe there are more Instances of extravagant Pride to be
found among Men than among Women, and this Fault is certainly more hainous in
the former than in the latter.
Upon the whole, I conclude, that it will be impossible to lash any Vice, of which the Men are not equally guilty with the Women, and consequently deserve an equal (if not a greater) Share in the Censure. However, I exhort both to amend, where both are culpable, otherwise they may expect to be severely handled by Sir, Your Humble Servant,
SILENCE DOGOOD
N.B. Mrs. Dogood has lately left her Seat in the Country,
and come to Boston, where she intends to tarry for the Summer Season, in order to compleat her Observations of
the present reigning Vices of the Town.
Quem Dies videt veniens Superbum, Hunc Dies vidit fugiens jacentem.Seneca. To the Author of the
New-England Courant.
Sir,
Among the many reigning Vices of the Town which may at any Time come under my
Consideration and Reprehension, there is none which I am more inclin'd to expose
than that of Pride. It is acknowledg'd by all to be a
Vice the most hateful to God and Man. Even those who nourish it in themselves,
hate to see it in others. The proud Man aspires after Nothing less than an
unlimited Superiority over his Fellow-Creatures. He has made himself a King in
SoliloquyS; fancies himself conquering the World; and the
Inhabitants thereof consulting on proper Methods to acknowledge his Merit. I
speak it to my Shame, I my self was a Queen from the Fourteenth to the
Eighteenth Year of my Age, and govern'd the World all the Time of my being
govern'd by my Master. But this speculative Pride may be the Subject of another
Letter: I shall at present confine my Thoughts to what we call Pride of Apparel. This Sort of Pride has been growing upon us ever
since we parted with our Homespun Cloaths for
Fourteen Penny Stuffs
, &c.
And the Pride of Apparel has begot and nourish'd in us a Pride of
Heart, which portends
the Ruin of Church and State. Pride goeth before Destruction,
and a haughty Spirit before a Fall: And I remember my late Reverend
Husband would often say upon this Text, That a Fall was the natural Consequence, as well as Punishment of
Pride. Daily Experience is sufficient to evince the Truth of this Observation. Persons of small Fortune under
the Dominion of this Vice, seldom consider their Inability to maintain
themselves in it, but strive to imitate their Superiors in Estate, or Equals in
Folly, until one Misfortune comes upon the Neck of another, and every Step they
take is a Step backwards. By striving to appear rich they become really poor,
and deprive themselves of that Pity and Charity which is due to the humble poor
Man, who is made so more immediately by Providence.
This Pride of Apparel will appear the more foolish, if we consider, that those airy Mortals, who have no other Way of making themselves considerable but by gorgeous Apparel, draw after them Crowds of Imitators, who hate each other while they endeavour after a Similitude of Manners. They destroy by Example, and envy one another's Destruction.
I cannot dismiss this Subject without some Observations on a particular Fashion
now reigning among my own Sex, the most immodest and inconvenient of any the Art
of Woman has invented, namely, that of
Hoop-Petticoats
. By these they are incommoded in their General
and Particular Calling, and therefore they cannot answer the Ends of either
necessary or ornamental Apparel. These monstrous topsy-turvy
Mortar-Pieces
, are neither fit for the Church, the Hall, or the
Kitchen; and if a Number of them were well mounted on Noddles-Island, they would look more like Engines of
War for bombarding the Town, than Ornaments of the Fair Sex. An honest Neighbour
of mine, happening to be in Town some time since on a publick Day, inform'd me,
that he saw four Gentlewomen with their Hoops half mounted in a Balcony, as they
withdrew to the Wall, to the great Terror of the Militia, who (he thinks) might
attribute their irregular Volleys to the formidable Appearance of the Ladies
Petticoats.
I assure you, Sir, I have but little Hopes of perswading my Sex, by this Letter, utterly to relinquish the extravagant Foolery, and Indication of Immodesty, in this monstrous Garb of their's; but I would at least desire them to lessen the Circumference of their Hoops, and leave it with them to consider, Whether they, who pay no Rates or Taxes, ought to take up more Room in the King's High-Way, than the Men, who yearly contribute to the Support of the Government. I am, Sir, Your Humble Servant,
SILENCE DOGOOD.
New-England Courant.
Sir,
It has been the Complaint of many Ingenious Foreigners, who have travell'd
amongst us, That good Poetry is not to be expected in
New-England. I am apt to Fancy, the Reason is, not because our
Countreymen are altogether void of a Poetical Genius, nor yet because we have
not those Advantages of Education which other Countries have, but purely because
we do not afford that Praise and Encouragement which is merited, when any thing
extraordinary of this Kind is produc'd among us: Upon which Consideration I have
determined, when I meet with a Good Piece of New-England Poetry, to give it a
suitable Encomium, and thereby
endeavour to discover to the World some of its Beautys, in order to encourage
the Author to go on, and bless the World with more, and more Excellent
Productions.
There has lately appear'd among us a most Excellent Piece of Poetry, entituled,
An Elegy upon the much Lamented Death of Mrs. Mehitebell
Kitel, Wife of Mr. John Kitel of Salem, &c. It may justly be said
in its Praise, without Flattery to the Author, that it is the most Extraordinary Piece that ever was wrote in New-England.
The Language is so soft and Easy, the Expression so moving and pathetick, but
above all, the Verse and Numbers so Charming and Natural, that it is almost
beyond Comparison,
And o'er the Laws of Harmony a Sovereign Queen she reigns.
I find no English Author, Ancient or Modern, whose Elegies may be compar'd with
this, in respect to the Elegance of Stile, or Smoothness of Rhime; and for the
affecting Part, I will leave your Readers to judge, if ever they read any Lines,
that would sooner make them draw their Breath and Sigh,
if not shed Tears, than these following.
a Sister,
In another Place,
Some little Timebefore she yielded up her Breath,
She said, I ne'er shall hear one Sermon more on Earth.
some little Timebefore she expir'd,
But the Threefold Appellation in the first Line
must not pass unobserved. That Line in the celebrated Watts,
the Just,
the Generous,
and the Young,
is nothing Comparable to it. The latter only mentions three Qualifications of one Person who was deceased, which therefore could raise
Grief and Compassion but for One. Whereas the former,
(our most excellent Poet) gives his Reader a Sort of
an Idea of the Death of Three Persons, viz.
which is Three Times as great a Loss as the Death of One, and consequently must raise Three
Times as much Grief and Compassion in the Reader.
I should be very much straitned for Room, if I should attempt to discover even half the Excellencies of this Elegy which are obvious to me. Yet I cannot omit one Observation, which is, that the Author has (to his Honour) invented a new Species of Poetry, which wants a Name, and was never before known. His Muse scorns to be confin'd to the old Measures and Limits, or to observe the dull Rules of Criticks;
Nor Rapin gives her Rules to fly, nor Purcell Notes to sing. Watts.
Now 'tis Pity that such an Excellent Piece should not be dignify'd with a
particular Name; and seeing it cannot justly be called, either
Epic, Sapphic, Lyric, or Pindaric
, nor any other Name yet invented, I
presume it may, (in Honour and Remembrance of the Dead) be called the Kitelic. Thus much in the Praise
of Kitelic Poetry.
It is certain, that those Elegies which are of our own Growth, (and our Soil seldom produces any other sort of Poetry) are by far the greatest part, wretchedly Dull and Ridiculous. Now since it is imagin'd by many, that our Poets are honest, well-meaning Fellows, who do their best, and that if they had but some Instructions how to govern Fancy with Judgment, they would make indifferent good Elegies; I shall here subjoin a Receipt for that purpose, which was left me as a Legacy, (among other valuable Rarities) by my Reverend Husband. It is as follows,
For the Title of your Elegy. Of these you may have enough
ready made to your Hands; but if you should chuse to make it your self, you must
be sure not to omit the Words
Aetatis Suae
, which will Beautify it
exceedingly.
For the Subject of your Elegy. Take one of your Neighbours
who has lately departed this Life; it is no great matter at what Age the Party
dy'd, but it will be best if he went away suddenly, being Kill'd, Drown'd, or Froze to
Death.
Having chose the Person, take all his Virtues, Excellencies, &c. and if he
have not enough, you may borrow some to make up a sufficient Quantity: To these
add his last Words, dying Expressions, &c. if they are to be had; mix all
these together, and be sure you strain them well. Then
season all with a Handful or two of Melancholly Expressions, such as, Dreadful, Deadly, cruel cold Death, unhappy Fate,
weeping Eyes, &c. Have mixed all these
Ingredients well, put them into the empty Scull of some young Harvard; (but in Case you
have ne'er a One at Hand, you may use your own,) there let them Ferment for the
Space of a Fortnight, and by that Time they will be incorporated into a Body,
which take out, and having prepared a sufficient Quantity of double Rhimes, such
as, Power, Flower; Quiver, Shiver; Grieve us, Leave us; tell
you, excel you; Expeditions, Physicians; Fatigue him, Intrigue him; &c. you must
spread all upon Paper, and if you can procure a Scrap of Latin to put at the
End, it will garnish it mightily; then having affixed your Name at the Bottom,
with a
Moestus
Composuit
, you will have an Excellent Elegy.
N.B.
This
Receipt will serve when a Female is the Subject of your Elegy, provided you
borrow a greater Quantity of Virtues, Excellencies, &c. Sir, Your
Servant,
Silence Dogood
p.s. I shall make no other Answer to Hypercarpus's Criticism on my last Letter than
this,
Mater me genuit,
peperit mox filia matrem.
.
New-England Courant.
Sir,
I prefer the following Abstract from the London Journal to any Thing of my own, and therefore shall present it to your Readers this week without any further Preface.
"Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech; which is the Right of every Man, as far as by it, he does not hurt or controul the Right of another: And this is the only Check it ought to suffer, and the only Bounds it ought to know.
"This sacred Privilege is so essential to free Goverments, that the Security of
Property, and the Freedom of Speech always go together; and in those wretched
Countries where a Man cannot call his Tongue his own, he can scarce call any
Thing else his own. Whoever would overthrow the Liberty of a Nation, must begin
by subduing the Freeness of Speech; a Thing terrible to
Publick Traytors.
"This Secret was so well known to the Court of King Charles the First, that his wicked Ministry procured a Proclamation, to forbid the People to talk of Parliaments, which those Traytors had laid aside. To assert the undoubted Right of the Subject, and defend his Majesty's legal Prerogative, was called Disaffection, and punished as Sedition. Nay, People were forbid to talk of Religion in their Families: For the Priests had combined with the Ministers to cook up Tyranny, and suppress Truth and the Law, while the late King James, when Duke of York, went avowedly to Mass, Men were fined, imprisoned and undone, for saying he was a Papist: And that King Charles the Second might live more securely a Papist, there was an Act of Parliament made, declaring it Treason to say that he was one.
"That Men ought to speak well of their Governours is true,
while their Governours deserve to be well spoken of; but
to do publick Mischief, without hearing of it, is only the Prerogative and Felicity of Tyranny: A free
People will be shewing that they are so, by their Freedom
of Speech.
"The Administration of Government, is nothing else but the Attendance of the Trustees of the People upon the Interest and Affairs of
the People: And as it is the Part and Business of the People, for whose Sake
alone all publick Matters are, or ought to be transacted, to see whether they be
well or ill transacted; so it is the Interest, and ought to be the Ambition, of
all honest Magistrates, to have their Deeds openly examined, and publickly
scann'd: Only the wicked Governours of Men dread what is
said of them;
Audivit
Tiberius probra queis lacerabitur, atque perculsus est. The
publick Censure was true, else he had not felt it bitter.
Freedom of Speech is ever the Symptom, as well as the Effect of a good
Government. In old Rome, all was left to the Judgment and Pleasure of the
People, who examined the publick Proceedings with such Discretion, and censured
those who administred them with such Equity and Mildness, that in the space of
Three Hundred Years, not five publick Ministers suffered unjustly. Indeed
whenever the Commons proceeded to Violence, the great
Ones had been the Agressors.
"Guilt only dreads Liberty of Speech, which drags it out
of its lurking Holes, and exposes its Deformity and Horrour to Daylight."
Horatius, Valerius, Cincinnatus, and other
vertuous and undesigning Magistrates of the Roman Commonwealth, had nothing to
fear from Liberty of Speech. Their virtuous
Administration, the more it was examin'd, the more it brightned and gain'd by
Enquiry. When Valerius in particular, was accused upon some slight grounds of
affecting the Diadem; he, who was
the first Minister of Rome, does not accuse the People for examining his
Conduct, but approved his Innocence in a Speech to them; and gave such
Satisfaction to them, and gained such Popularity to himself, that they gave him
a new Name;
inde
cognomen factum Publicolae est
; to denote that he was their
Favourite and their Friend.
Latae deinde leges — Ante omnes de provocatione
Adversus Magistratus Ad Populum, Livii, lib. 2. Cap. 8.
"But Things afterwards took another Turn. Rome, with the Loss of its Liberty,
lost also its Freedom of Speech; then Mens Words began to be feared and watched;
and then first began the poysonous Race of Informers,
banished indeed under the righteous Administration of Titus, Narva, Trajan,
Aurelius, &c. but encouraged and enriched under the vile
Ministry of Sejanus, Tigillinus, Pallas, and Cleander:
Queri libet,
quod in secreta nostra non inquirant principes, nisi quos Odimus,
says Pliny to Trajan.
"The best Princes have ever encouraged and promoted Freedom of Speech; they know
that upright Measures would defend themselves, and that all upright Men would
defend them. Tacitus, speaking of
the Reign of some of the Princes abovemention'd, says with Extasy, Rara Temporum felicitate, ubi sentire quae velis, & quae
sentias dicere licetA blessed Time when you might think what you would,
and speak what you thought.
"I doubt not but old Spencer and his Son, who were the Chief
Ministers and Betrayers of Edward the Second, would have
been very glad to have stopped the Mouths of all the honest Men in England. They
dreaded to be called Traytors, because they were Traytors. And I dare say, Queen Elizabeth's Walsingham, who deserved no
Reproaches, feared none. Misrepresentation of publick Measures is easily
overthrown, by representing publick Measures truly; when they are honest, they
ought to be publickly known, that they may be publickly commended; but if they
are knavish or pernicious, they ought to be
publickly exposed, in order to be publickly detested." Yours, &c.,
SILENCE DOGOOD.
New-England Courant.
Sir,
It has been for some Time a Question with me, Whether a Commonwealth suffers more
by hypocritical Pretenders to Religion, or by the openly Profane? But some late Thoughts of this Nature, have
inclined me to think, that the Hypocrite is the most dangerous Person of the
Two, especially if he sustains a Post in the Government, and we consider his
Conduct as it regards the Publick. The first Artifice of a State
Hypocrite is, by a few savoury Expressions which cost him Nothing, to
betray the best Men in his Country into an Opinion of his Goodness; and if the
Country wherein he lives is noted for the Purity of Religion, he the more easily
gains his End, and consequently may more justly be expos'd and detested. A
notoriously profane Person in a private Capacity, ruins himself, and perhaps
forwards the Destruction of a few of his Equals; but a publick Hypocrite every
day deceives his betters, and makes them the Ignorant Trumpeters of his supposed Godliness: They take
him for a Saint, and pass him for one, without considering that they are (as it
were) the Instruments of publick Mischief out of Conscience, and ruin their
Country for God's sake.
This Political Description of a Hypocrite, may (for ought I know) be taken for a
new Doctrine by some of your Readers; but let them consider, that a little Religion, and a little Honesty, goes a great way in
Courts. 'Tis not inconsistent with Charity to distrust a Religious Man
in Power, tho' he may be a good Man; he has many Temptations "to propagate publick Destruction for Personal Advantages and
Security": And if his Natural Temper be covetous, and his Actions often
contradict his pious Discourse, we may with great Reason conclude, that he has
some other Design in his Religion besides barely getting to Heaven. But the most
dangerous Hypocrite in a Common-Wealth, is one who leaves the
Gospel for the sake of the Law: A Man compounded of Law and Gospel, is
able to cheat a whole Country with his Religion, and then destroy them under
Colour of
Law
: And here the Clergy are in great Danger of being deceiv'd,
and the People of being deceiv'd by the Clergy, until the Monster arrives to
such Power and Wealth, that he is out of the reach of both, and can oppress the
People without their own blind Assistance. And it is a sad Observation, that
when the People too late see their Error, yet the Clergy still persist in their
Encomiums on the
Hypocrite; and when he happens to die for the Good of his
Country, without leaving behind him the Memory of one
good Action, he shall be sure to have his Funeral Sermon stuff'd with
Pious Expressions which he dropt at such a Time, and
at such a Place, and on such an Occasion; than which nothing can be more
prejudicial to the Interest of Religion, nor indeed to the Memory of the Person
deceas'd. The Reason of this Blindness in the Clergy is, because they are
honourably supported (as they ought to be) by their People, and see nor feel
nothing of the Oppression which is obvious and burdensome to every one else.
But this Subject raises in me an Indignation not to be born; and if we have had, or are like to have any Instances of this Nature in New England, we cannot better manifest our Love to Religion and the Country, than by setting the Deceivers in a true Light, and undeceiving the Deceived, however such Discoveries may be represented by the ignorant or designing Enemies of our Peace and Safety.
I shall conclude with a Paragraph or two from an ingenious Political Writer in
the London Journal, the better to convince your Readers,
that Publick Destruction may be easily carry'd on by hypocritical Pretenders to Religion.
"A raging Passion for immoderate Gain had made Men universally and intensely
hard-hearted: They were every where devouring one another. And yet the Directors
and their Accomplices, who were the acting Instruments of all this outrageous
Madness and Mischief, set up for wonderful pious Persons, while they were
defying Almighty God, and plundering Men; and they set apart a Fund of
Subscriptions for charitable Uses; that is, they mercilessly made a whole People
Beggars, and charitably supported a few necessitous and
worthless Favourites. I doubt not, but if the Villany had gone on with
Success, they would have had their Names handed down to Posterity with
Encomiums; as the Names of other publick Robbers have
been! We have Historians and Ode Makers now living, very
proper for such a Task. It is certain, that most People did, at one Time,
believe the Directors to be great and
worthy Persons. And an honest Country Clergyman told me last Summer,
upon the Road, that Sir John was an excellent publick-spirited Person, for that
he had beautified his Chancel.
"Upon the whole we must not judge of one another by their best Actions; since the worst Men do some Good, and all Men make fine Professions: But we must judge of Men by the whole of their Conduct, and the Effects of it. Thorough Honesty requires great and long Proof, since many a Man, long thought honest, has at length proved a Knave. And it is from judging without Proof, or false Proof, that Mankind continue Unhappy." I am, Sir, Your humble Servant,
SILENCE DOGOOD.
Optimè societas hominum servabitur. Cic. To the Author of the
New-England Courant.
Sir,
Discoursing lately with an intimate Friend of mine of the lamentable Condition of Widows, he put into my Hands a Book, wherein the ingenious Author proposes (I think) a certain Method for their Relief. I have often thought of some such Project for their Benefit my self, and intended to communicate my Thoughts to the Publick; but to prefer my own Proposals to what follows, would be rather an Argument of Vanity in me than Good Will to the many Hundreds of my Fellow-Sufferers now in New-England.
“We have (says he) abundance of Women, who have been Bred well, and Liv’d well, Ruin’d in a few Years, and perhaps, left Young, with a House full of Children, and nothing to Support them; which falls generally upon the Wives of the Inferior Clergy, or of Shopkeepers and Artificers.
“They marry Wives with perhaps £300 to
£1000 Portion, and can settle no Jointure upon them; either they are Extravagant and
Idle, and Waste it, or Trade decays, or Losses, or a Thousand Contingences
happen to bring a Tradesman to Poverty, and he Breaks; the Poor Young Woman, it
may be, has Three or Four Children, and is driven to a thousand shifts, while he
lies in the Mint or Fryars under the Dilemma of a Statute of Bankrupt; but if he Dies, then she is
absolutely Undone, unless she has Friends to go to.
“Suppose an Office to be Erected, to be call’d An Office of
Ensurance for Widows, upon the following Conditions;
“Two thousand Women, or their Husbands for them, Enter their Names into a
Register to be kept for that purpose, with the Names, Age, and Trade of their
Husbands, with the Place of their abode, Paying at the Time of their Entring
5s
.
down with 1s. 4d. per Quarter, which is to the setting up and support of an
Office with Clerks, and all proper Officers for the same; for
there is no maintaining such without Charge; they receive every one of
them a Certificate, Seal’d by the Secretary of the Office, and Sign’d by the
Governors, for the Articles hereafter mentioned.
“If any one of the Women becomes a Widow, at any Time after Six Months from the Date of her Subscription, upon due Notice given, and Claim made at the Office in form, as shall be directed, she shall receive within Six Months after such Claim made, the Sum of £500 in Money, without any Deductions, saving some small Fees to the Officers, which the Trustees must settle, that they may be known.
“In Consideration of this, every Woman so Subscribing, Obliges her self to Pay as
often as any Member of the Society becomes a Widow, the due Proportion or Share
allotted to her to Pay, towards the £500 for the said Widow, provided her Share
does not exceed the Sum of 5s.
“No Seamen or Soldiers Wives to be accepted into such a Proposal as this, on the Account before mention’d, because the Contingences of their Lives are not equal to others, unless they will admit this general Exception, supposing they do not Die out of the Kingdom.
“It might also be an Exception, That if the Widow, that Claim’d, had really,
bona
fide
,left her by her Husband to her own use, clear of all Debts and
Legacies, £2000 she shou’d have no Claim; the Intent being to Aid the Poor, not
add to the Rich. But there lies a great many Objections against such an Article:
As
“One Exception must be made; and that is, Either very unequal Matches, as when a Woman of Nineteen Marries an old Man of Seventy; or Women who have infirm Husbands, I mean known and publickly so. To remedy which, Two things are to be done.
“One grand Objection against this Proposal, is, How you will oblige People to pay either their Subscription, or their Quarteridge.
“To this I answer, By no Compulsion (tho’ that might be
perform’d too) but altogether voluntary; only with this Argument to move it,
that if they do not continue their Payments, they lose the Benefit of their past
Contributions.
“I know it lies as a fair Objection against such a Project as this, That the
number of Claims are so uncertain, That no Body knows what they engage in, when
they Subscribe, for so many may die Annually out of Two Thousand, as may perhaps
make my Payment £20 or 25
per Ann
., and if a Woman happen to Pay that for
Twenty Years, though she receives the £500 at last she is a great Loser; but if
she dies before her Husband, she has lessened his Estate considerably, and
brought a great Loss upon him.
“First, I say to this, That I wou’d have such a Proposal
as this be so fair and easy, that if any Person who had Subscrib’d found the
Payments too high, and the Claims fall too often, it shou’d be at their Liberty
at any Time, upon Notice given, to be released and stand Oblig’d no longer; and
if so,
Volenti non
fit Injuria
; every one knows best what their own
Circumstances will bear.
“In the next Place, because Death is a Contingency, no Man can directly Calculate, and all that Subscribe must take the Hazard; yet that a Prejudice against this Notion may not be built on wrong Grounds, let’s examine a little the Probable hazard, and see how many shall die Annually out of 2000 Subscribers, accounting by the common proportion of Burials, to the number of the Living.
“Sir William Petty in his Political Arithmetick, by a very
Ingenious Calculation, brings the Account of Burials in London, to be 1 in 40
Annually, and proves it by all the proper Rules of proportion’d Computation; and
I’le take my Scheme from thence. If then One in Forty of all the People in
England should Die, that supposes Fifty to Die every Year out of our Two
Thousand Subscribers; and for a Woman to Contribute 5s.
to every one, would certainly be to agree to Pay £12 10s.
per Ann. upon her Husband’s Life, to receive £500
when he Di’d, and lose it if she Di’d first; and yet this wou’d not be a hazard
beyond reason too great for the Gain.
“But I shall offer some Reasons to prove this to be impossible in our Case;
First, Sir William Petty allows the City of London to contain about a Million of
People, and our Yearly Bill of Mortality never yet amounted to 25000 in the most
Sickly Years we have had, Plague Years excepted, sometimes but to 20000, which
is but One in Fifty: Now it is to be consider’d here, that Children and Ancient
People make up, one time with another, at least one third of our Bills of
Mortality; and our Assurances lies upon none but the
Midling Age of the People, which is the only age wherein Life is any thing
steady; and if that be allow’d, there cannot Die by his Computation, above One
in Eighty of such People, every Year; but because I would be sure to leave Room
for Casualty, I’le allow one in Fifty shall Die out of our Number
Subscrib’d.
“Secondly, It must be allow’d, that our Payments falling due only on the Death of
Husbands, this One in Fifty must not be reckoned upon the Two thousand; for ’tis
to be suppos’d at least as many Women shall die as Men, and then there is
nothing to Pay; so that One in Fifty upon One Thousand, is the most that I can
suppose shall claim the Contribution in a Year, which is Twenty Claims a Year at
5s. each, and is £5 per Ann.
and if a Woman pays this for Twenty Year, and claims at last, she is Gainer
enough, and no extraordinary Loser if she never claims at all: And I verily
believe any Office might undertake to demand at all Adventures not above £6 per Ann. and secure the Subscriber £500 in case she come
to claim as a Widow.”
I would leave this to the Consideration of all who are concern’d for their own or
their Neighbour’s Temporal
Happiness; and I am humbly of Opinion, that the Country is ripe for many such
Friendly Societies, whereby every Man might help
another, without any Disservice to himself. We have many charitable Gentlemen
who Yearly give liberally to the Poor, and where can they better bestow their
Charity than on those who become so by Providence, and for ought they know on
themselves. But above all, the Clergy have the most need of coming into some
such Project as this. They as well as poor Men (according to the Proverb)
generally abound in Children; and how many Clergymen in the Country are forc’d
to labour in their Fields, to keep themselves in a Condition above Want? How
then shall they be able to leave any thing to their forsaken, dejected, and
almost forgotten Wives and Children. For my own Part, I have nothing left to
live on, but Contentment and a few Cows; and tho’ I cannot expect to be reliev’d
by this Project, yet it would be no small Satisfaction to me to see it put in
Practice for the Benefit of others. I am, Sir, &c.
SILENCE DOGOOD
Neque licitum interea est meam amicam visere.To the Author of the
New-England Courant.
Sir,
From a natural Compassion to my Fellow-Creatures, I have sometimes been betray'd into Tears at the Sight of an Object of Charity, who by a bear [sic] Relation of his Circumstances, seem'd to demand the Assistance of those about him. The following Petition represents in so lively a Manner the forlorn State of a Virgin well stricken in Years and Repentance, that I cannot forbear publishing it at this Time, with some Advice to the Petitioner.
To Mrs. Silence Dogood.
"1. That your Petitioner being puff'd up in her younger Years with a numerous Train of Humble Servants, had the Vanity to think, that her extraordinary Wit and Beauty would continually recommend her to the Esteem of the Gallants; and therefore as soon as it came to be publickly known that any Gentleman address'd her, he was immediately discarded.
"2. That several of your Petitioners Humble Servants, who upon their being rejected by her, were, to all Apperance in a dying Condition, have since recover'd their Health, and been several Years married, to the great Surprize and Grief of your Petitioner, who parted with them upon no other Conditions, but that they should die or run distracted for her, as several of them faithfully promis'd to do.
"3. That your Petitioner finding her self disappointed in and neglected by her
former Adorers, and no new Offers appearing for some Years past, she has been
industriously contracting Acquaintance with several Families in Town and
Country, where any young Gentlemen or Widowers have resided, and endeavour'd to
appear as conversable as possible before them: She has likewise been a strict
Observer of the Fashion, and always appear'd well dress'd. And the better to
restore her decay'd Beauty, she has consum'd above Fifty Pound's Worth of the most approved Cosmeticks. But all won't do.
"Your Petitioner therefore most humbly prays, That you would be pleased to form a Project for the Relief of all those penitent Mortals of the fair Sex, that are like to be punish'd with their Virginity until old Age, for the Pride and Insolence of their Youth.
"And your Petitioner (as in Duty bound) shall ever pray, &c.
Margaret Aftercast"
Were I endow'd with the Faculty of Match-making, it should be improv'd for the
Benefit of Mrs. Margaret, and others in her Condition: But since my extream
Modesty and Taciturnity,
forbids an Attempt of this Nature, I would advise them to relieve themselves in
a Method of Friendly Society; and that already publish'd
for Widows, I conceive would be a very proper Proposal for them, whereby every
single Woman, upon full Proof given of her continuing a Virgin for the Space of
Eighteen Years, (dating her Virginity from the Age of Twelve,) should be
entituled to £500 in ready Cash.
But then it will be necessary to make the following Exceptions.
1. That no Woman shall be admitted into the Society after she is Twenty Five Years old, who has made a Practice of entertaining and discarding Humble Servants, without sufficient Reason for so doing, until she has manifested her Repentance in Writing under her Hand.
2. No Member of the Society who has declar'd before two credible Witnesses, That it is well known she has refus'd several good Offers
since the Time of her Subscribing, shall be entituled to the £500 when
she comes of Age; that is to say, Thirty Years.
3. No Woman, who after claiming and receiving, has had the good Fortune to marry, shall entertain any Company with Encomiums on her Husband, above the Space of one Hour at a Time, upon Pain of returning one half the Money into the Office, for the first Offence; and upon the second Offence to return the Remainder. I am, Sir, Your Humble Servant,
SILENCE DOGOOD
Quod est in cordi sobrii, est in ore ebrii. To the Author of the
New-England Courant.
Sir,
It is no unprofitable tho' unpleasant Pursuit, diligently to inspect and consider
the Manners and Conversation of Men, who, insensible of the greatest Enjoyments
of humane Life, abandon themselves to Vice from a false Notion of Pleasure and good Fellowship. A true and natural
Representation of any Enormity, is often the best Argument against it and Means
of removing it, when the most severe Reprehensions alone, are found
ineffectual.
I would in this letter improve the little Observation I have made on the Vice of
Drunkeness, the better to reclaim the good Fellows who usually pay the Devotions of the Evening
to Bacchus.
I doubt not but moderate Drinking has been improv'd for
the Diffusion of Knowledge among the ingenious Part of Mankind, who want the
Talent of a ready Utterance, in order to discover the Conceptions of their Minds
in an entertaining and intelligible Manner. 'Tis true, drinking does not improve our Faculties, but it enables us to use them; and therefore I conclude, that much Study and
Experience, and a little Liquor, are of absolute Necessity for some Tempers, in
order to make them accomplish'd Orators. Dic. Ponder discovers an excellent
Judgment when he is inspir'd with a Glass or two of
Claret
, but he passes for a
Fool among those of small Observation, who never saw him the better for Drink.
And here it will not be improper to observe, That the moderate Use of Liquor,
and a well plac'd and well regulated Anger, often produce this same Effect; and
some who cannot ordinarily talk but in broken Sentences and false Grammar, do in
the Heat of Passion express themselves with as much Eloquence as Warmth. Hence
it is that my own Sex are generally the most eloquent, because the most
passionate. "It has been said in the Praise of some Men, (says an ingenious
Author,) that they could talk whole Hours together upon any thing; but it must
be owned to the Honour of the other Sex, that there are many among them who can
talk whole Hours together upon Nothing. I have known a Woman branch out into a
long extempore Dissertation
on the Edging of a Petticoat, and
chide her Servant for breaking a
China Cup, in all the Figures of Rhetorick."
But after all it must be consider'd, that no Pleasure can give Satisfaction or
prove advantageous to a reasonable Mind, which is not
attended with the Restraints of Reason. Enjoyment is not
to be found by Excess in any sensual Gratification; but on the contrary, the
immoderate Cravings of the Voluptuary, are always succeeded with Loathing and a palled Appetite. What Pleasure can
the Drunkard have in the Reflection, that, while in his Cups, he retain'd only
the Shape of a Man, and acted the Part of a Beast; or that from reasonable
Discourse a few Minutes before, he descended to Impertinence and Nonsense?
I cannot pretend to account for the different Effects of Liquor on Persons of
different Dispositions, who are guilty of Excess in the Use of it. 'Tis strange
to see Men of a regular Conversation become rakish and profane when intoxicated with Drink, and
yet more surprizing to observe, that some who appear to be the most profligate Wretches when
sober, become mighty religious in their Cups, and will then, and at no other
Time address their Maker, but when they are destitute of Reason, and actually
affronting him. Some shrink
in the Wetting, and others
swell to such an unusual Bulk in their Imaginations, that they can in an Instant
understand all Arts and Sciences, by the liberal Education of a little vivifying
Punch, or a sufficient Quantity of other exhilerating
Liquor.
And as the Effects of Liquor are various, so are the Characters given to its
Devourers. It argues some Shame in the Drunkards themselves, in that they have
invented numberless Words and Phrases to cover their Folly, whose proper
Significations are harmless, or have no Signification at all. They are seldom
known to be drunk, tho' they are very often
boozey, cogey, tipsey,
fox'd, merry, mellow, fuddl'd, groatable, Confoundedly cut, See two
Moons, are Among the Philistines, In a very good Humour, See the Sun,
or, The Sun has shone upon them; they Clip the King's English, are
Almost froze, Feavourish, In their Altitudes, Pretty well enter'd,
&c. In short, every Day produces some new Word or Phrase which
might be added to the Vocabulary of the
Tiplers
: But I have chose to mention these
few, because if at any Time a Man of Sobriety and Temperance happens to cut himself confoundedly, or is almost
froze, or feavourish, or accidentally sees the Sun, &c. he may escape the Imputation of being drunk, when his Misfortune comes to be related. I am Sir,
Your Humble Servant,
SILENCE DOGOOD
New-England Courant.
Sir,
In Persons of a contemplative Disposition, the most indifferent Things provoke the Exercise of the Imagination; and the Satisfactions which often arise to them thereby, are a certain Relief to the Labour of the Mind (when it has been intensely fix'd on more substantial Subjects) as well as to that of the Body.
In one of the late pleasant Moon-light Evenings, I so far indulg'd in my self the
Humour of the Town in walking abroad, as to continue from my Lodgings two or
three Hours later than usual, and was pleas'd beyond Expectation before my
Return. Here I found various Company to observe, and various Discourse to attend
to. I met indeed with the common Fate of Listeners, (who
hear no good of themselves,) but from a Consciousness
of my Innocence, receiv'd it with a Satisfaction beyond what the Love of
Flattery and the Daubings of a
Parasite could produce. The Company who rally'd me were about Twenty in Number,
of both Sexes; and tho' the Confusion of Tongues (like
that of Babel) which always happens among so many impetuous Talkers, render'd their Discourse not so
intelligible as I could wish, I learnt thus much, That one of the Females
pretended to know me, from some Discourse she had heard at a certain House
before the Publication of one of my Letters; adding, That I
was a Person of an ill Character, and kept a criminal Correspondence with a
Gentleman who assisted me in Writing. One of the Gallants clear'd me of this
random Charge, by saying, That tho' I wrote in the Character
of a Woman, he knew me to be a Man; But, continu'd he, he has more need of endeavouring a Reformation in himself,
than spending his Wit in satyrizing others.
I had no sooner left this Set of Ramblers, but I met a Crowd of
Tarpolins
and their Doxies, link'd to each other by the
Arms, who ran (by their own Account) after the Rate of
Six Knots an Hour
, and bent
their Course towards the Common. Their eager and amorous Emotions of Body,
occasion'd by taking their Mistresses in Tow, they call'd
wild Steerage
: And as a Pair of them happen'd to trip and come to
the Ground, the Company were call'd upon to bring to, for
that Jack and Betty were founder'd. But this Fleet were
not less comical or irregular in their Progress than a Company of Females I soon
after came up with, who, by throwing their Heads to the Right and Left, at every
one who pass'd by them, I concluded came out with no other Design than to revive
the Spirit of Love in Disappointed Batchelors, and expose themselves to Sale to
the first Bidder.
But it would take up too much Room in your Paper to mention all the Occasions of
Diversion I met with in this Night's Ramble. As it grew later, I observed, that many pensive Youths with
down Looks and a slow Pace, would be ever now and then crying out on the Cruelty
of their Mistresses; others with a more rapid Pace and chearful Air, would be
swinging their Canes and clapping their Cheeks, and whispering at certain
Intervals, I'm certain I shall have her! This is more than I
expected! How charmingly she talks! &c.
Upon the whole I conclude, That our Night-Walkers are a
Set of People, who contribute very much to the Health and Satisfaction of those
who have been fatigu'd with Business or Study, and occasionally observe their
pretty Gestures and Impertinencies. But among Men of Business, the Shoemakers, and other Dealers in Leather, are doubly oblig'd to them,
inasmuch as they exceedingly promote the Consumption of their Ware: And I have
heard of a Shoemaker, who being ask'd by a noted Rambler,
Whether he could tell how long her Shoes would last;
very prettily answer'd, That he knew how many Days she might
wear them, but not how many Nights; because they were then put to a more
violent and irregular Service than when she employ'd her self in the common
Affairs of the House. I am, Sir, Your Humble Servant,
SILENCE DOGOOD
Earum causarum quantum quaeque valeat, videamus. Cicero. To the Author of the
New-England Courant.
Sir,
It often happens, that the most zealous Advocates for any Cause find themselves
disappointed in the first Appearance of Success in the Propagation of their
Opinion; and the Disappointment appears unavoidable, when their easy Proselytes too suddenly start
into Extreams, and are immediately fill'd with Arguments to invalidate their
former Practice. This creates a Suspicion in the more considerate Part of
Mankind, that those who are thus given to Change, neither
fear God, nor honour the King.
In Matters of Religion, he that alters his Opinion on a religious Account, must certainly go thro' much Reading, hear many
Arguments on both Sides, and undergo many Struggles in his Conscience, before he
can come to a full Resolution: Secular Interest will indeed make quick Work with
an immoral Man, especially if, notwithstanding the Alteration of his Opinion, he
can with any Appearance of Credit retain his Immorality. But, by this Turn of
Thought I would not be suspected of Uncharitableness to those Clergymen at
Connecticut, who have lately embrac'd the Establish'd Religion of our Nation,
some of whom I hear made their Professions with a Seriousness becoming their
Order: However, since they have deny'd the Validity of Ordination by the Hands of Presbyters, and
consequently their Power of Administring the Sacraments,
&c. we may justly expect a suitable Manifestation of their Repentance for
invading the Priests Office, and living so long in a Corah-like Rebellion. All I would
endeavour to shew is, That an indiscreet Zeal for spreading an Opinion, hurts
the Cause of the Zealot. There are too many blind Zealots among every
Denomination of Christians; and he that propagates the Gospel among
Rakes
and
Beaus
without
reforming them in their Morals, is every whit as ridiculous and impolitick as a
Statesman who makes Tools of Ideots and Tale-Bearers.
Much to my present Purpose are the Words of two Ingenious Authors of the Church of England, tho' in all Probability they were tainted with Whiggish Principles; and with these I shall conclude this Letter.
"I would (says one) have every zealous Man examine his Heart thoroughly, and, I believe, he will often find that what he calls a Zeal for his Religion, is either Pride, Interest or Ill-nature. A Man who differs from another in Opinion sets himself above him in his own Judgment, and in several Particulars pretends to be the wiser Person. This is a great Provocation to the Proud Man, and gives a keen Edge to what he calls his Zeal. And that this is the Case very often, we may observe from the Behaviour of some of the most Zealous for Orthodoxy, who have often great Friendships and Intimacies with vicious immoral Men, provided they do but agree with them in the same Scheme of Belief. The Reason is, because the vicious Believer gives the Precedency to the virtuous Man, and allows the good Christian to be the worthier Person, at the same Time that he cannot come up to his Perfections. This we find exemplified in that trite Passage which we see quoted in almost every System of Ethicks, tho' upon another Occasion;
On the contrary, it is certain if our Zeal were true and genuine, we should be much more angry with a Sinner than a Heretick, since there are several Cases which may excuse the latter before his great Judge, but none which can excuse the former."
"I have (says another) found by Experience, that it is impossible to talk
distinctly without defining the Words of which we make use. There is not a Term
in our Language which wants Explanation so much as the Word Church. One would think when People utter it, they should have in
their Minds Ideas of Virtue and Religion; but that important Monosyllable drags
all the other Words in the Language after it, and it is made use of to express
both Praise and Blame, according to the Character of him who speaks it. By this
means it happens, that no one knows what his Neighbour means when he says such a
one is for or against the Church. It has happen'd that he who is seen every Day
at Church, has not been counted in the Eye of the World a Churchman; and he who
is very zealous to oblige every one to frequent it but himself, has been a very
good Son of the Church. This Praepossession is the best Handle imaginable
for Politicians to make use of, for managing the Loves and Hatreds of Mankind to
the Purposes to which they would lead them. But this is not a Thing for Fools to
meddle with, for they only bring Disesteem upon those whom they attempt to serve, when they
unskilfully pronounce Terms of Art. I have observed great Evils arise from this
Practice, and not only the Cause of Piety, but also the secular Interest of
Clergymen, has extreamly suffered by the general unexplained Signification of
the Word Church." I am, Sir, Your Humble Servant.
SILENCE DOGOOD
Fourteen nights or two weeks. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Letter. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
The opposite of praise. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
A working class man, what might later be called a blue-collar worker.
An abbreviation for et cetera. Source: Wikipedia
An early form of "whether or not."
"Lucubrations" are writings produced by candle-light; so, these would be essays written alone at night after a day's work. The word itself already sounded a bit pompous in the early eighteenth century, so the speaker is to some degree making fun of herself.
New England
Inconsolable, despondent. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Young women were sometimes bound as apprentices, usually in trades that were traditionally gendered female (like weaving), but the vast majority of apprentices in this era were young men. At the time of this writing, Franklin was serving an apprenticeship in the printshop of his older brother James.
Poor, destitute. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Trying to determine how many people in colonial America could read in the early eighteenth century is an enormous challenge. The evidence is scanty and fragmentary. The best evidence, though, would suggest that literacy rates among English settler-colonists would have been highest in New England, because of the history of Puritanism in the colony. Puritans had long prized the ability for individuals to read the Bible on their own, and literacy was correspondingly comparatively high in places where Puritanism dominated.
The time in a person's life when they are presumed to be able to make sound judgements.
That is, "where".
"And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone: I will make him an help meet for him." King James Bible, Genesis 2:18
That is, upper-class women, who were probably socially more highly ranked than a country clergyman could expect to marry.
That is, when I was in the prime of life.
That is, this world.
Tirelessly. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Piece by piece, or in small bits. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Soften; make tender. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Censures or Rebukes; subject to blame or scorn. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
"Should I be taught to speak either Greek or Latin?" Franklin is quoting here from the Roman orator Cicero. The essay that follows, taking the form of a dream vision, is a satire on Harvard College and its requirement that students study Greek and Latin.
A place of education such as a school or a college. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Green; of vegetation. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Gatekeepers. Source: Oxford English Dictionoary
A nod to the series of periodical essays, The Spectator, which Franklin used as a model for his Silence Dogood letters.
Ready to be taught; submissive to instruction. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Near or almost. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Happy, please. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
A fruitcake packed full of different types of candied and dried fruits such as plums, raisins, and orange peel. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
A large clumsy idiot who is often lazy and idle. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Engaged in the selling and trade of goods. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Property that, by ancient right, belongs to an institution. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
The expression "church mice" is used to describe people who are poor and quiet. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
The Study of God, and God's relations with man and the universe. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Latin for money or wealth.
A personification of plagiarism, here referring to clerics stealing from the sermons of more established ministers.
John Tillotson was the Archbishop of Canterbury in late seventeenth century.
In the manner of the gentry. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
"One woman agrees the most with another." The line is from the Roman playwright Terence.
A form of writing that mocks or ridicules something. The word actually comes from the Latin word "satura," meaning a full plate of varied foods. But the spelling "satyr" derives from a false etymology, which imagined that the term came from the Greek word for a mythological demon that was often depicted as a half-human, half-goat creature. The demon is generally a representation of lust and rage. For this reason, "satire" was often been associated with writing that was fierce and agressive. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Deviation in behavior, often from moral or legal normality. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Ephraim: The second son of Joseph and Asenath, as shown by Book of Genesis. The name Ephraim became related to the idea of "being fruitful." Censorious: one who gives constant censure and finds faults. Source: Oxford English Dictionary and Wikipedia
Rebuke; express disapproval. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
To question or query. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
People bound to a religious life or a certain vow. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Ostentatious display; boastful, prideful with a negative connotation. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Scolds or censures. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Capable of being converted. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
A showy trinket that's of little worth, often made for children to play with. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Irrelevance. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Censure
An innocent, rose-coloured country lover, such as one found in pastoral poetry. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
A woman or lover with sexual power or magic over a man. Coming from mythology, nymphs are spirits that take the form of women who, similarly to sirens, were said to charm men and lead them to sin or death. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Ready or willing. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
To urge earnestly. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Guilty. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
To linger or stay. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
"A man who stands proudly at the start of the day is flattened by its end." Franklin is quoting here from the Roman tragedian Seneca.
A speech or talk given alone or aloud without addressing any person. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Has given rise to. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Fortells as an omen or other supernatural means. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
To overcome. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Subjected to inconveience; troubled. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
A mortar is a hard-walled bowl that is used to grind things with a pestle. Here Franklin is saying the hoop-skirts are like thick, over-turned bowls. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Historically one of Boston Harbor Islands, that has now been reconnected to the mainland by filling the strait that used to separate it from the mainland. Noddle's Island now makes up the southern part of the East Boston neighborhood.
Having used Latin quotations for his epigraphs to this point, Franklin here switches to a contemporary poem, drawing an extract from a 1709 poem called "The Adventurous Muse" by the English poet Isaac Watts.
Grand expression of praise. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Calling of Names. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Rene Rapin (1621-1687) was a French cleric, poet, and critic, whose essays on poetry gave "rules" on composition.
Henry Purcell (1669-1695) was considered to be the greatest English composer of the era. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
A series of common poetical styles of the time. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
That is, a new genre based on this poem about Mehitabel Kitel.
Add to the end of a statement. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Recipe
Latin: "Of his or her age"
Skull
Latin: "a mourner composed it"
"N.B." is used to signify something important in a text; "note well." Source: Oxford English Dictionary
"Dogood" is
responding to a piece in the June 18th issue of the Courant by a writer who went by the pseudonym "Hypercarpus,"
(something like "great complainer"). There, Hypercarpus had complained that
Dogood's claim in her sixth letter that wearing elaborate clothing like hoop
skirts was making women proud had it backwards--that the pride came first,
and then wearing skirts was simply an expression of it. It's an argument
about cause and effect; Hypercarpus thinks that vanity causes people to try
to distinguish themselves in the world with clothing; Dogood argues that the
clothing leads to vanity.
Dogood's last word here is a Latin tag that responds to the criticism with a kind of a riddle that describes cause and effect as an infinite loop, sort of like the question of which comes first, a chicken or an egg: a woman gives birth to a daughter, who in turn gives birth to a woman who herself becomes a mother. A cause becomes an effect that in turn becomes a cause.
Latin: "My mother gave birth to me, and then a daughter gave birth to a mother."
Charles I of England reigned from 1625-1649 until his execution. Charles I was defeated in the English Civil War and was eventually beheaded by Oliver Cromwell's army after being found guilty of high treason. Source: Wikipedia
Hostility or animosity. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Mutiny or rebellion. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
James II (1633-1701) became king upon the death of his brother, Charles II. During his short reign, he made it clear that he intended to return the country to Roman Catholicism, prompting his removal by Parliament in 1688 and replacement by William and Mary.
A Roman Catholic. Source: Oxford English Dictionoary
After Oliver Cromwell's death in 1658 the monarchy was restored with Charles II in 1660. Although he restored the Church of England, he secretly and increasingly became sympathatic to Roman Catholicism. Source: Wikipedia
Happiness. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Latin: "Tiberius heard
reproaches that wounded and upset him." The quote is from the Roman poet
Tacitus, but Franklin is almost certainly lifting it from the London
periodical entitled Cato's Letters, a series of
political essays published by John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, who put this
quote in the issue 15, February 15, 1721. The series was widely read
throughout the British colonial world.
Marcus Valerius Volusus was a consul of the Roman Republic in 505 BC.
Roman senator remembered for his public virtue.
A crown. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Latin: "friend of the people"
Franklin is again
lifting a Latin quotation from Cato's Letters, number
15, which is here citing a line from the Roman historian Livy: "Laws were
proposed, the first of them an appeal from the people to the
government."
Once again
Franklin is lifting from Cato's Letters issue 15,
which cites this alleged Latin quotation: "We may well complain that only
those leaders who inquire into our secrets are those we hate."
Roman historian.
Edward II of England reigned from 1284-1327. He was forced to abdicate the throne after losing power, being betrayed by his own wife Isabella, the daughter of King Philip IV of France. Source: Wikipedia
Francis Walsingham was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England. He was famously known as her 'spymaster,' a man who used gathered intelligence from across Europe to disrupt attempts on the Queen's life, penetrated the Spanish Military, and secured the Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. Source: Wikipedia
Vulgar or villainous; mischievous. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Wicked, intending harm. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
"The corruption of the best is the worst." This is a proverbial Latin expression.
Trickery, deceit. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Metaphorically one who praises and advocates for. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
The apparent or de facto authority, as opposed to the actual authority established. Frequently said with negative connotations, suggesting that the authority is just a pretext for corrupt behavior. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
High-flown expressions of praise. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Disdain or contempt. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
The section of a church that is used by the offiates, such as the clergy or a priest, during their performance of the services of the church. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
A dishonest or villainous man. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
"The society of men will best be preserved." Again, Franklin cites the Roman orator Cicero.
Artisans or craftsmen. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
A fair amount of money given as a dowry or a gift to the husband along with the wife upon marriage. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
An estate for the wife to be used upon the death of the husband. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
A place where money is coined, usually under the authority of a government. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
The quarters of a certain religious order. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
£sd, known as "pounds, shillings, and pence" is the name for the pre-decimal currency system common in the British Empire. In the system there are twelve pence in a shilling twenty shilling in a pound. Source: Oxford English Dictionary and Wikipedia
In good faith. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
To renounce or abandon forever. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
To deprive someone what is rightfully theirs with fraud. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Weak, feeble, or sick. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Illness or disorder. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Payment made quarterly. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
'Per year.' Source: Oxford English Dictionary
A common law doctrine which states that is one willingly puts themselves in a place where harm may occur, knowing that harm may occur, then they are unable to bring a claim against the other party. More shortly: To a willing person, injury is not done. Source: Wikipedia
Temporary. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
A parenthetical insertion used to call attention to something anomalous in the original work. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Fine gentlemen. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
That would have been a lot of money. You could live on fifty pounds a year.
That repents with sincere desire to amend the sin. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Habitual silence or reservedness in speech. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
High-flown expressions of praise. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Whatever is in the heart of the sober person, is in the mouth of the drunkard.
The Roman god of wine. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
A red wine. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Of the moment, without preparation or premeditation. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
A petticoat is an underskirt worn underneath a gown that is given a decorative bottom edge for in case the dress is ever lifted and the petticoat is shown. Source: Oxford English Dictionoary and Wikipedia
To scold. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
of or pertaining to sensuous or luxurious pleasures.
Weakened or impaired. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Irrelevance. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Immoral or promiscuous. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Reckless, extravagant, and wasteful. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
To insult deliberately. Source: Oxforod English Dictionary
Here the phrase is being used to mean: when drunk or inebriated. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Life-giving or animating in a physical and/or mental manner. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Here Franklin is giving a list of euphemistic ways drunkards will describe themselves to avoid using the negatively connotated word "drunk."
A habitual drinker; a drunk. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
The attribution or assignment of a fault or crime. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Covers or coats. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Characterized by rapid, forceful, and/or violent motion. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Fine, brave gentlemen. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Ones who are recreationally out walking or wandering. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Unmarried mistresses; prostitutes. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Here a knot stands in for a nautical mile. A nautical mile is equal to 1.15 miles, thus six knots an hour is equivalent to about seven miles in an hour. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
The action of steering something such as a boat, ship, or airship. Here Franklin is most likely using a play on words to show how the seamen brought their women around. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Aimless wandering for recreation. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Irrelevancies, trivialities. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Converts. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Korah led a revolt against Moses and his brother Aaron, as recounted in the book of Numbers. Such a rebellion, that is, goes against the leaders of the established faith.
Immoral or promiscuous people. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
The suitors of ladies. Source: Oxford English dictionary
One who gossips or blackmails. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
The Whig party was a political faction in the British Empire, opposed by the rival faction: the Tory Party. The origin of the Whigs lay in constitutional monarchism as opposed to absolute monarchy. Source: Oxford English Dictionary and Wikipedia
"I see a better
thing and approve of it, but I follow something worse." from Ovid's Metamorphoses
Anyone who has religious opinions or practices that don't fall in line with the Catholic or orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Prepossession: having take possession beforehand. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Disregard, low esteem, and/or low expectations. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in Context
project, which provides an accessible, reliable, curated, and marked-up selection of
primary sources relevant to the study and the teaching of British and American
literature. This project is was initially funded by the National Endowment for the
Humanities and developed by faculty at The University of Virginia and Marymount
University.
Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources, with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable sources. If you notice an error in these annotations, please contact lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.
Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded.
Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.
Page breaks have been retained. Catchwords, signatures, and running headers have not.
Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section for more information.
Alexander Pope’s “Windsor-Forest” is both a very personal poem and a very public poem. Personal in the sense that in it Pope is remembering the place where he grew up. Pope’s family moved to the town of Binfield, in Windsor Forest outside of London, when he was a child because, as Catholics, they were at risk of persecution in London after the Revolution of 1688-1689 deposed a Catholic ruler (James II) in favor of a Protestant one (William III). “Windsor-Forest” is also a very public poem in that it was published to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, a treaty that ended the long War of the Spanish Succession. That war had been very expensive, with the British government taking on unprecedented levels of debt, the kind of thing that made some people as nervous then as government debt does now. And the war and its aftermath were also incredibly political divisive. The two main political factions in Parliament, the Whigs and the Tories, were bitterly opposed to one another, and conspiracy theories abounded, as Whigs worried (with some justification) that the more conservative members of the Tory faction were secretly plotting to restore the Stuarts to the throne. Pope attempts to articulate a position above partisan politics here, arguing through the poem that the peace treaty would bring about a new era of political harmony and economic prosperity. Poets have often written poems to celebrate victories on the battlefield; by contrast, “Windsor-Forest” celebrates the signing of a peace treaty.
Pope was not the only writer to publish a poem on this occasion. In the early eighteenth century, poetry was often a public art, and poems would frequently be written to commemorate a significant political event, or to argue on one side of an issue or another. Not all of the poems written to mark the Treaty of Utrecht were in favor of it; a number of poets and other writers described the treaty as a kind of sell out, arguing that Britain was getting a bad deal. The French king Louis XIV and his forces were weakened by all the years of war, they argued (Louis died the next year, in fact), and Britain and its allies would get better terms by continuing to fight. Pope, like others who identified themselves politically as Tories, was in favor of the peace settlement, and the verdict of history is in many ways on his side. Pope is particularly prescient in this poem in describing the signing of the Treaty as an epochal event, one that had enormous implications for Britain. For the peace settlement of 1713 transformed the circum-Atlantic world, setting the terms under which Britain would come to dominate trade, establishing its first empire in the Caribbean and the North American mainland. Specifically, the Treaty gave Britain possession of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, which had been ruled by France. The French government also agreed to stop its support of the Jacobite court around the son of the exiled Stuart monarch James II. Crucially, Britain also received the asientoasiento, the contract to enslave African subjects for the Spanish colonies in the Americas, a concession that would eventually lead to Britain’s domination of the Atlantic trade in enslaved people. In its combination of nostalgia for the pastoral world of the past, its shrewd assessment of the present, and its prophetic vision of a future where London would become the center of an empire, “Windsor-Forest” is an astonishing imaginative response to what was on the one hand, the conclusion of a tedious diplomatic process, and on the other, the establishment of a framework that would shape the history of the entire Atlantic basin to the present day.
But although “Windsor-Forest” was published to commemorate the Treaty of Utrecht, much of it was not new in 1713. When he reissued “Windsor-Forest” in 1736, Pope noted that he had composed parts of the poem as early as 1704, when he was just sixteen years old. Such a long process of composition was not unusual for Pope; he often composed poems over periods of many years, sharing them with friends whose opinion he respected, reworking, revising, and finally stitching things together for publication either when he felt that the work had reached a good enough state or when (as with “Windsor Forest”) an occasion presented itself. And even after it was published, Pope continued to revise it every time it needed to be reprinted; this, too was the way he tended to work. There is a sense in which none of Pope’s poems was ever completely finished, since he continued to work and rework them in ways large and small.
With this poem, Pope also makes a claim for himself to be the great poet of Britain’s ascension to the status of an imperial power. By invoking Virgil’s Eclogues in the epigraph to the poem, Pope is also suggesting that he thinks of himself as following in Virgil’s footsteps. Virgil’s Eclogues are poems about the countryside that also celebrate Rome’s new political order under the emperor Augustus. The implication is that with “Windsor-Forest,” Pope is writing a modern eclogue of his own, one that identifies the Treaty of Utrecht as the moment when Britain could claim an empire equal to that of Rome, and when he could claim his position as the heir to Virgil, the poet celebrating his nation’s power.
GEORGELord
LANSDOWN.
hispoem to the Roman politician Varus, who had some role in doling out property after a war. Perhaps Pope is hinting that maybe his friend Greville might do something along those lines for him.
Image: George Granville, Baron Lansdowne. (Wikimedia Commons). The engraving here is of a portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller, who was well known for painting the portraits of prominent men in this period.
Non injussa cano: Te nostrae,Vare,MyricaeVari
Te Nemus omne canet; nec Phaebo gratior ulla est
Quam sibi quaepraescripsit Pagina nomen.The epigraph is from the sixth Eclogueby the Roman poet Virgil: "I do not sing except by request: to you, Varus, our shrubs and groves all sing. There is not any page more pleasing to Apollo himself than those on which the name Varus is written." Pope is flattering Lansdown, his patron, by comparing him to Varus, a Roman official who was responsible for distributing land to soldiers after a war.
LONDON:
Printed for
Bernard Lintottat the
Cross-Keysin
Fleet-street.
To the Right Honourable
GEORGE Lord LANSDOWN.
Windsor!and thy green Retreats,
Granvillecommands: Your Aid O Muses bring!
Granvillecan refuse to sing?
Eden,vanish'd now so long,
These,were my Breast inspir'd with equal Flame,
Chaos-like together crush'd and bruis'd,
Indiaboast her Plants, nor envy we
Olympusyields a nobler Sight,
Panwith Flocks, with Fruits
Pomonacrown'd,
Florapaints th' enamel'd Ground,
Ceres' Gifts in waving Prospect stand,
Nimrodfirst the bloody Chace began,
Normanboasts that barb'rous Name,
durst,
Saxonspar'd, and bloody
Dane,
Sportremain.
Rufus,tugging at the deadly Dart,
Liberty, Britannia's Goddess, rears
Albionsends her eager Sons to War,
Britannia's Standard flies.
Arcturusclouds the Sky,
TyrianDye,
Cancerglows with
Phoebus' fiery Car;
Arcadiaboast her spacious Plain,
Windsor!since thy Shades have seen
Dianastray'd
Thames!the fair
Lodonanam'd,
Lodona's Fate, in long Oblivion cast,
Pansaw and lov'd, and furious with Desire
Thamesshe calls for Aid,
Dianahelp her injur'd Maid.
Cynthia!ah—tho' banish'd from thy Train,
Thames.
BritishFloods!
Neptune's self from all his Floods receives
Pomore swells the Poets Lays,
Windsor's fam'd Abodes,
Jovehimself, subdu'd by Beauty still,
Olympusfor a nobler Hill.
Scipioonce admir'd,
Atticus,and
Trumbalthus retir'd
Thames's Banks which fragrant Breezes fill,
Cooper's Hill.
Cooper's Hill eternal Wreaths shall grow,
Thamesshall flow)
Denhamsung;
Cowley's Tongue.
Cowleystrung
Denhamsung?
Granvillesings?
WindsorHills in lofty Numbers rise,
Star.
Surreyfelt the sacred Rage,
Surrey,the
Granvilleof a former Age:
Cupidstun'd his Lyre,
Geraldine,bright Object of his Vow,
Myranow.
Windsorbore,
Edward's Acts adorn the shining Page,
Cressi's glorious Field,
Verrio's Colours fall,
Franceappear,
Britain's Spear.
Henrymourn,
Edwardsleeps:
Albioncould contain,
Beleriumto the
GermanMain,
Charles's Tomb for ever known,
Albionshed,
ANNAsaid—Let Discord cease!
Peace!
Thamesadvanc'd his rev'rend Head.
Augustarose in Gold.
Isis,and the fruitful
Tame:
Kennetswift, for silver Eels renown'd;
Loddonslow, with verdant Alders crown'd:
Cole,whose clear Streams his flow'ry Islands lave;
Wey,that rolls a milky Wave:
Vandalisappears;
Leehis sedgy Tresses rears:
Mole,that hides his diving Flood;
Darent,stain'd with
DanishBlood.
Windsor-Domes and pompous Turrets rise,
Peace!hail long-expected Days,
Thames's Glory to the Stars shall raise!
Tyber's Streams immortal
Romebehold,
Hermusswells with Tydes of Gold,
Nilusflows,
Volga's Banks with Iron Squadrons shine,
Rhine,
Gangesarm a servile Train;
BritishBlood
Iber's Sands, or
Ister's foaming Flood;
Villa'son my Side
Augusta's glitt'ring Spires increase,
White-Hallascend!
BritishQUEEN.
Windsor!now shall leave their Woods,
Britain's Thunder, and her Cross display,
Phoebuswarm the ripening Ore to Gold.
Thamesshall flow for all Mankind,
Peace!from Shore to Shore,
Indiansin their native Groves
Peruonce more a Race of Kings behold,
Mexico'sbe roof'd with Gold.
Discorddwell:
Pride,pale
Terror,gloomy
Care,
Ambition,shall attend her there.
Vengeancebath'd in Gore retires,
Envyher own Snakes shall feel,
Persecutionmourn her broken Wheel:
Factionroars,
Rebellionbites her Chain,
Albion's Golden Days.
Granville's Verse recite,
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in
Context project, which provides an accessible, curated, and marked-up
selection of primary sources relevant to the study and the teaching of British
and American literature of the 18th century. This project is funded by the
National Endowment for the Humanities and developed by faculty at The University
of Virginia and Marymount University.
Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources, with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable sources. If you notice an error in these annotations, please contact lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.
Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded.
Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.
Page breaks have been retained. Catchwords, signatures, and running headers have not. Where pages break in the middle of a word, the complete word has been indicated prior to the page beginning.
Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section.
Non aliter quam qui adverso vix flumine lembum
Remegiis subigit: si brachia forte remisit,
Atque illum in praeceps prono rapit alveus amni.Virg
Georgicsby the Roman poet Virgil
Monday, March 12, 1711.
It is with much Satisfaction that I hear this great City
London and Westminster, who I hope will take care to distinguish
themselves from the thoughtless Herd of their ignorant and unattentive Brethren.
Since I have raised to myself so great an Audience, I shall spare no Pains to
make their Instruction agreeable, and their Diversion useful. For which Reasons
I shall endeavour to enliven Morality with Wit, and to temper Wit with Morality,
that my Readers may, if possible, both Ways find their account in the
Speculation of the Day. And to the End that their Virtue and Discretion may not
be short transient intermitting Starts of Thought, I have resolved to refresh
their Memories from Day to Day, till I have recovered them out of that desperate
State of Vice and Folly, into which the Age is fallen. The Mind that lies fallow
Socrates, that he brought Philosophy down from Heaven, to
inhabit among Men; and I shall be ambitious to have it said of me, that I have
brought Philosophy out of Closets and Libraries, Schools and Colleges, to dwell
in Clubs and Assemblies, at Tea-tables, and in Coffee houses.
I would therefore in a very particular Manner recommend these my Speculations to
all well-regulated Families, that set apart an Hour in every Morning for Tea and
Bread and Butter; and would earnestly advise them for their Good to order this
Paper to be punctually served up, and to be looked upon as a Part of the Tea Equipage
Sir Francis Bacon observes, that a well-written Book,
compared with its Rivals and Antagonists, is like Moses's
Serpent, that immediately swallow'd up and devoured those of the Egyptians. I shall not be so vain as to think, that where
the SPECTATOR appears, the other publick Prints will vanish; but shall leave it
to my Readers Consideration, whether, Is it not much better to be let into the
Knowledge of ones-self, than to hear what passes in
Muscovy
Poland; and to amuse our
selves with such Writings as tend to the wearing out of Ignorance; Passion, and
Prejudice, than such as naturally conduce to inflame Hatreds, and make Enmities
In the next Place, I would recommend this Paper to the daily Perusal of those
Gentlemen whom I cannot but consider as my good Brothers and Allies, I mean the
Fraternity of Spectators who live in the World without having any thing to do in
it; and either by the Affluence of their Fortunes, or Laziness of their
Dispositions, have no other Business with the rest of Mankind but to look upon
them. Under this Class of Men are comprehended all contemplative Tradesmen,
titular Physicians, Fellows of the Royal Society
There is another Set of Men that I must likewise lay a Claim to, whom I have
lately called the Blanks of Society, as being altogether unfurnish'd with Ideas,
till the Business and Conversation of the Day has supplied them. I have often
considered these poor Souls with an Eye of great Commiseration
Dutch
Mail
But there are none to whom this Paper will be more useful than to the female
World. I have often thought there has not been sufficient Pains taken in finding
out proper Employments and Diversions for the Fair ones. Their Amusements seem
contrived for them rather as they are Women, than as they are reasonable
Creatures; and are more adapted to the Sex, than to the Species. The Toilet
I know several of my Friends and Well-wishers are in great Pain for me, lest I
should not be able to keep up the Spirit of a Paper which I oblige myself to
furnish every Day: But to make them easy in this Particular, I will promise them
faithfully to give it over as soon as I grow dull. This I know will be Matter of
great Raillery
C.
The Spectatorare taken from Project Gutenberg's digital edition, which uses the 1891 printing of the three-volume collected edition of
The Spectatoredited by Henry Morley and printed by George Routledge and Sons. That is in turn a reprint of Morley's 1883 edition, which was published as part of
Morley's Universal Library, a series offering inexpensive reprints of canonical texts. The annotations have been added by students and faculty at the University of Virginia.
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in Context
project, which provides an accessible, curated, and marked-up selection of primary
sources relevant to the study and the teaching of British and American literature of
the 18th century. This project is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
and developed by faculty at The University of Virginia and Marymount University.
Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources, with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable sources. If you notice an error in these annotations, please contact lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.
Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded.
Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.
Page breaks have been retained. Catchwords, signatures, and running headers have not. Where pages break in the middle of a word, the complete word has been indicated prior to the page beginning.
Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section.
May 15, 1711
Demetri teque Tigelli/Discipularum inter jubeo plorare cathedras.-Hor
AFTER having at large explained what Wit is, and described the false Appearances of it, all that Labour seems but an useless Enquiry, without some Time be spent in considering the Application of it. The Seat of Wit, when one speaks as a Man of the Town and the World, is the Play-house; I shall therefore fill this Paper with Reflections upon the Use of it in that Place. The Application of Wit in the Theatre has as strong an Effect upon the Manners of our Gentlemen, as the Taste of it has upon the Writings of our Authors. It may, perhaps, look like a very presumptuous Work, though not Foreign from the Duty of a SPECTATOR, to tax the Writings of such as have long had the general Applause of a Nation; But I shall always make Reason, Truth, and Nature the Measures of Praise and Dispraise; if those are for me, the Generality of Opinion is of no Consequence against me; if they are against me, the general Opinion cannot long support me.
Without further Preface, I am going to look into some of our most applauded Plays, and see whether they deserve the Figure they at present bear in the Imagination of Men, or not.
In reflecting upon these Works, I shall chiefly dwell upon that for which each respective Play is most celebrated. The Present Paper shall be employed upon
Sir Fopling Flutter
The Man of Mode, or Sir Fopling Flutter,is a 1676 play by George Etherege, which was still enormously popular at the time of this essay. Dorimant and Harriet are the central characters and lovers in this satirical take on the aristocratic culture of the Restoration period.Dorimant and Harriot are the Characters of greatest Consequence, and if these are Low and Mean, the Reputation of the Play is very Unjust.
I will take for granted, that a fine Gentleman should he honest in his Actions, and refined in his Language. Instead of this, our Hero in this Piece is a direct Knave in his Designs, and a Clown in his Language. Bellair is his Admirer and Friend; in return for which, because he is forsooth
Loveit, and the Barbarity of Triumphing over her Anguish for losing him, is another Instance of his Honesty, as well as his Good-nature. As to his fine Language; he calls the Orange-Woman
An Over-grown Jade, with a Flasket
A long and shallow basket. Source: Oxford English Dictionary of Guts before her; and salutes her with a pretty Phrase of How now, Double Tripe.
"Tripe" is guts or intestines; in this context, it is being used contemptuously to mock the orange-woman.
Upon the mention of a Country Gentlewoman, whom he knows nothing of, (no one can imagine why) he will lay his Life she is some awkward ill-fashioned country Toad, who not having above four Dozen of Hairs on her Head, has adorned her Baldness with a large white Fruz
A bundle of short branches that produces a frizzy appearance. Soure: Oxford English Dictionary, that she may look Sparkishly in the Forefront of the King's Box
The box reserved for the King (at this time Charles II, who was known to patronize the theatre, unlike later monarchs) was of course the best seating in the house, located in the middle of the first mezzanine. at an old Play. Unnatural Mixture of senseless Common-Place!
As to the Generosity of his Temper, he tells his poor Footman, If he did not wait better--he would turn him away, in the insolent Phrase of, I'll uncase you
Strip a person; most likely in this case, of their position. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
.
Now for Mrs. Harriot: She laughs at Obedience to an absent Mother, whose Tenderness Busie describes to be very exquisite, for that she is so pleased with finding Harriot again, that she cannot chide
Scold or rebuke. Source: Oxford English Dictionary her for being out of the way. This Witty Daughter, and fine Lady, has so little Respect for this good Woman, that she Ridicules her Air in taking Leave, and cries, In what Struggle is my poor Mother yonder? See, see, her Head tottering, her Eyes staring, and her under Lip trembling. But all this is atoned for, because she has more Wit than than is usual in her Sex, and as much Malice, tho' she is as Wild as you would wish her and has a Demureness in her Looks that makes it so surprising! Then to recommend her as a fit Spouse for his Hero, the Poet makes her speak her Sense of Marriage very ingeniously: I think, says she, I might be brought to endure him, and that is all a reasonable Woman should expect in an Husband. It is, methinks, unnatural that we are not made to understand how she that was bred under a silly pious old Mother, that would never trust her out of her sight, came to be so Polite.
It cannot be denied, but that the Negligence of every thing, which engages the Attention of the sober and valuable Part of Mankind, appears very well drawn in this Piece: But it is denied, that it is necessary to the Character of a Fine Gentleman, that he should in that manner trample upon all Order and Decency. As for the Character of Dorimant, it is more of a Coxcomb
Fopling. He says of one of his Companions, that a good Correspondence between them is their mutual Interest. Speaking of that Friend, be declares, their being much together makes the Women think the better of his Understanding, and judge more favourably of my Reputation. It makes him pass upon some for a Man of very good Sense, and me upon others for a very civil Person.
This whole celebrated Piece is a perfect Contradiction to good Manners, good Sense, and common Honesty; and as there is nothing in it but what is built upon the Ruin of Virtue and Innocence, according to the Notion of Merit in this Comedy, I take the Shoemaker to be, in reality, the Fine Gentleman of the Play: For it seems he is an Atheist, if we may depend upon his Character as given by the Orange-Woman, who is her self far from being the lowest in the Play. She says of a Fine Man who is Dorimant's Companion, There is not such another Heathen in the Town, except the Shoemaker. His Pretension to be the Hero of the Drama appears still more in his own Description of his way of Living with his Lady. There is, says he, never a Man in Town lives more like a Gentleman with his Wife than I do; I never mind her Motions; she never enquires into mine. We speak to one another civilly, hate one another heartily; and because it is Vulgar to Lye and Soak together, we have each of us our several Settle-Bed
Soaking together is as good as if Dorimant had spoken it himself; and, I think, since he puts Human Nature in as ugly a Form as the Circumstances will bear, and is a staunch Unbeliever, he is very much Wronged in having no part of the good Fortune bestowed in the last Act.
To speak plainly of this whole Work, I think nothing but being lost to a sense of Innocence and Virtue can make any one see this Comedy, without observing more frequent Occasion to move Sorrow and Indignation, than Mirth and Laughter. At the same time I allow it to be Nature, but it is Nature in its utmost Corruption and Degeneracy.
R.
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in Context
project, which provides an accessible, curated, and marked-up selection of
primary sources relevant to the study and the teaching of British and American
literature. This project is funded by the National Endowment
for the Humanities and developed by faculty and students at The University of Virginia and
Marymount University.
Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources, with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable sources. If you notice an error in these annotations, please contact lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.
Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded.
Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.
Page breaks have been retained. Catchwords, signatures, and running headers have not. Where pages break in the middle of a word, the complete word has been indicated prior to the page beginning.
Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section.
OF
PEACE
Between
The Most Serene and Mighty PRINCE
CHARLES II.
King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland,
Defender of the Faith, etc.
IndianKings and Queens, etc.
and
Most Excellent Majesty
Articles of Peace between the most Mighty Prince, and our Dread Sovereign Lord
CHARLES the Second, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and
Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. And the several Indian Kings and Queens,
etc. Assenters and Subscribers hereunto, made and concluded at the Camp at
Middle Plantation the Twenty ninth day of May 1677. being the day of the most
happy Birth and Restauration of our said Sovereign Lord, and in the Nine and twentieth Year of His Majesties Reign, By the Right Honourable Herbert Jefferies
Esquire, Lieutenant Governour of His Majesties Colony of Virginia.
Present,
The Honourable Sir John Berry Knight, and Francis Morison Esq; His most Sacred Majesties Comissioners appointed under the Great Seal of England for the Affairs of Virginia,
And The Honourable Council of State of the said Colony.
Whereas His most Sacred Majesty hath of His Own Royal Grace and meer Motion
Intrusted to my Care and Endeavours theIndians: In Order whereunto (with the
Advice and Assistance of the Honourable Sir John Berry Knight, and Francis
Morison Esquire) I have caused to be drawn up these ensuing Articles and
Overtures, for the firm Grounding, and sure Establishment of a good and just
Peace with the said Indians. And that it may be a Secure and Lasting one
(Founded upon the strong Pillars of Reciprocal Justice) by Confirming to them
their Just Rights, and by Redress of their Wrongs and Injuries, That so the
great God (who is a God of Peace, and lover of Justice) may uphold and prosper
this our Mutual League and Amity, It is hereby Concluded, Consented to, and
mutually Agreed, as followeth;
That the respective Indian Kings and Queens do from henceforth acknowledge to
have their immediate Dependency on, and own all Subjection to the Great King of
England, our now Dread Sovereign, His Heirs and Sucessors, when they pay their
Tribute to His Majesties Governour for the time being.
That thereupon the said Indian Kings and Queens and their Subjects, shall hold
their Lands, and have the same Confirmed to them and their Posterity, by Patent
under the Seal of this His Majesties Colony, without any Fee, Gratuity or Reward
for the same, in such sort, and in as free and firm manner as others His
Majesties Subjects have and enjoy their Lands and Possessions, payingIndian Arrows.
That all Indians who are in Amity with Us, and have not Land sufficient to Plant
upon, be (upon Information) forthwith provided for, and Land laid out and
Confirmed to them as aforesaid, never to be disturbed therein, or taken from
them, so long as they own, keep and maintain their due Obedience and Subjection
to His Majesty, His Governour and Government, and Amity and Friendship towards
the English.
Whereas by the mutual Discontents, Complaints, Jealousies and Fears of English
and Indians, occasioned by the Violent Intrusions of divers English into their
Lands, forcing the Indians by way of Revenge, to kill the Cattel and Hogs of the English,English shall
Seat or Plant nearer than Three miles of any Indian Town; and whosoever hath
made, or shall make any Incroachment upon their Lands, shall be removed from
thence, and proceeded against as by the former Peace made, when the Honourable
Colonel Francis Morison was Governour, and the Act of Assembly grounded
thereupon, is Provided and Enacted.
That the said Indians be well Secured and Defended in their Persons, Goods and Properties,English; and
that upon any breach or violation, hereof the aggrieved Indians do in the first
place repair and Address themselves to the Governour, acquainting him therewith
(without rashly and suddenly betaking themselves to any Hostile course for
Satisfaction) who will Inflict such Punishment on the wilful Infringers hereof,
as the Laws of England or this Countrey permit, and as if such hurt or injury
had been done to any Englishman; which is but just and reasonable, they owning
themselves to be under the Allegiance of His most Sacred Majesty.
That no Indian King or Queen be Imprisoned without a special Warrant from His
Majesties Governour and Two of the Council, and that no other Indian be
Imprisoned without a Warrant from a Justice of Peace, upon sufficient cause of
Commitment
That the said Indians have and enjoy their wonted conveniences of Oystering,
Fishing, and gathering Tuchahoe, Curtenemons, Wild Oats, Rushes, Puckoone, or
any thing else (for their natural support) not useful to the English, upon the
English Dividends; Always provided they first repair to some Publick Magistrate
of good Repute, and inform him of their number and business, who shall not
refuse them a Certificate upon this or any other Lawful occasion, so that they
make due return thereof when they come back, and go directly home about their
business, without wearing or carrying any manner of Weapon, or lodging under any
Englishmans Dwelling-house one night.
That no Foreign Indian be suffered to come to any English Plantation without a
friendly neighbor Indian in his company with suchIndian King is to refuse to send a safe Conduct with the
Foreigner, upon any Lawful occasion of his coming in, and that no Indian do
paint or disguise themselves when they come in.
That all Indian Kings and Queens Tributary to the English, having notice of any
March of strange Indians near the English Quarters or Plantations, do forthwith
repair to some one of the next Officers of the Militia, and acquaint him of
their Nation, number, and design, and which way they bend their course.
That if necessary, a convenient Party be presently sent out by the next Colonel
of the Militia, to Aid, Strengthen, and joyn with our friendly Indians against
any Foreign Attempt, Incursion or Depredation upon the Indian Towns.
That every Indian fit to bear Arms, of the Neighbouring Nations in Peace with
us, have such quantity of Powder and Shot allotted him, as the Right Honourable
the Governour shall think sufficient on any occasion, and that such numbers of
them be ready to go out with out Forces upon any March against the Enemy, and to
receive such Pay for their good Services, as shall be thought fit.
That each Indian King and Queen have equal Power to Govern their own People, and
none to have greater Power then other, Except the Queen of Pamunkey, to whom
several scattered Nations do now again own their ancient Subjection, and are
agreed to come in and Plant themselves under her Power and Government; Who with
her, are also hereby included into this presentEnglish.
That no person whatsoever shall entertain or keep any Neighbouring Indian as
Servant, or otherwise, but by Licence of the Governour, and to be upon
Obligation answerable for all Injuries and Damages by him or them happening to
be done to any English.
That no English harbour or entertain any Vagrant or Runaway Indian, but convey
him home by way of Pass, from Justice to Justice to his own Town, under Penalty
of paying so much per day for harbouring him, as by the Law for entertaining of
Runaways is recoverable.
That no Indian (of those in Amity with us) shall serve for any longer time then
English of the like Ages should serve by Act of Assembly, and shall not be sold
as Slaves.
That every Indian King and Queen in the Moneth of March every year, with some of
their Great Men, shall tender their Obedience to the Right Honourable His
Majesties Governour at the place of his Residence, whereever it shall be, and
then and there pay the accustomed Tribute of Twenty Beaver Skins to the
Governour, and also their Quit-Rent aforesaid, in acknowledgment they hold their
Crowns and Lands of the Great King of England.
That due care be had and taken that those Indian Kings and Queens, their Great
Men and Attendants that come on any PublickEnglish Subject
shall abuse, revile, hurt or wrong them at any time in word or deed.
That upon the Discord or Breach of Peace happening to arise between any of the
Indians in Amity with the English, upon the first appearance and beginning
thereof, and before they enter into any open Acts of Hostility or War one
against another, they shall repair to His Majesties Governour, by whose Justice
and Wisdom it is concluded such Difference shall be made up and decided, and to
whose final Determination the said Indians shall submit and conform themselves.
That for the preventing the frequent mischiefsIndians and English, That there be one
of each Nation of our Neighbouring Indians that can already speak, or may become
capable of speaking English, admitted together with those of the English, to be
their own Interpreters.
That the several Indians concluded in this Peace, do forthwith restore to the
respective English Parents and Owners all such Children, Servants and Horses,
which they have at any time taken from them, and are now remaining with them the
said Indians, or which they can make discovery of.
That the Trade with the said Indians be continued, limited, restrained or laid
open, as shall make best for the Peace and Quiet
The Sign of the Queen of Pamunkey, on behalf of her self and the several Indians
under her Subjection.
The Sign of the Queen of Waonoke.
The Sign of the King of the Nottoways.
The Sign of the King of the Nancymond Indians.
The Sign of Captain John West. Son to the Queen of Pamunkey.
Convenit cum Originali.
Test. Tho. Ludwell Secretary.
Memorandum the 29th day of May, 1677.
That this Instrument of Peace being Read and Expounded to the several Indian
Kings and Queens then present (at the Court at Middle Plantation) by
Interpreters Sworn truly to perform the same, the said Indian Kings and Queens
Signed and delivered the Articles to the Honourable Governour upon their Knees,
and received that other part, Signed and Delivered on behalf of the Kings
Majesty, in the same posture of kneeling, of their own accords kissing the Paper
as they Transferred it from hand to hand to each other, until every one had done
the like Mark of Reverence to it, in sign of a most free and joyful acceptance
of this Peace concluded with them. At the same time Pericuhtah King of the
Appomatucks being then present, did earnestly desire to be admitted to the
Signing this Peace with the rest; but he being suspected and Complained of to
have Committed by himself or SubjectsEnglish general satisfaction, to find there was so just
Inquisition made of the Bloud of their Slaughtered Brethren.
This document, most typically remembered as the “Treaty of Middle Plantation,” after the place where it was ratified (the site of present-day Williamsburg, Virginia) was signed in May 1677 by the governor representing the English colonial government and the leaders of several indigenous tribes, primarily the Pamunkey and Mattaponi, to bring an end to a series of conflicts between the English settlers and the native people of the region. The conflicts are most often referred to as “Bacon’s Rebellion” after the English settler Nathaniel Bacon, who in 1676 led attacks against native groups and then an armed uprising against William Berkeley, then the English governor, and his administration. The Rebellion is a complicated and often ugly story, but a key component was that Bacon and the colonists who joined him in rising up against their own government, argued that Berkeley was not sufficiently brutal to the native American population in the area, which Bacon wished to eliminate completely to clear land for settlement by English colonists. Bacon’s uprising exposed divisions with the colonists between the elite members of the government (which was in favor of promoting the intersts of settlers but not interest in sparking conflict with the native people) and the farmers, indentured servants, and also some enslaved African people who fought on Bacon’s side. But the conflict also exposed and exacerbated divisions with the local indigenous nations. Bacon and his followers burned the colonial capital of Jamestown down, but he died of unexpectedly of dysentery in October 1676. The rebellion lost its momentum with the loss of its leader. The British government restored order and executed some of the other central figures in the uprising. Berkeley, who seemed unable to please anybody, was relieved of his office and went back to England, where he died in July 1677. The English king, Charles II, sent a commission consisting of John Berry and Francis Morison to investigate the situation, as well as a new governor, Herbert Jeffreys, to replace the discredited Berkeley.
The treaty to establish a durable peace was largely negotiated between the commissioners and a group of natives led by the Pamunkey leader Cockacoeske, who had become the most prominent representative of the indigenous people in the region. (We follow convention in identifying the “author” of the treaty as Charles Stuart or Charles II, as all royal proclamations and treaties were credited to him, but the terms were worked out on the ground, using language that followed legal and diplomatic precedent.) Under the terms of the treaty, the native peoples avowed their loyalty to the English crown. In return, the different tribes were recognized as sovereign over their own citizens, and were granted various kinds of protection against future attempts at violence against them by English settlers. Colonists were, for example, not allowed to claim any land within three miles of a native village. This in effect established the first reservations for indigenous people in territory that was becoming increasingly dominated by the English. The treaty also consolidated Cockacoeske, the “Queen of Pamunkey,” as the leader of the indigenous people of the area, insisting that other tribes declare their allegiance to her.
The native people probably had reason to regret the terms of the treaty. English settlers often ignored the three-mile rule, and Cockacoeske had mixed success in getting other indigenous leaders to acknowledge her authority. But the Treaty of Middle Plantation remains in force to this day. Representatives of the Mattaponi and Pamunky people bring gifts such as turkey and deer to the Governor of Virginia each year, usually around Thanksgiving, in symbolic fulfillment of their obligations for the "tribute" called for by the treaty. In theory, the Treaty of Middle Plantation protected indigenous people from acts of violence and codified their sovereignty, something that Bacon and his followers would not have accepted. But the document is also one of many that marks the long history of the displacement of native people in the Americas from the lands that they had lived on for many centuries.
Englishthrone in 1660. It is impossible to know whether this is a coincidence, or whether the
Englishcommissioners planned the treaty signing to occur on a day that they knew that their boss considered to be an auspicious one.
A novel. With nine pages of advertisements at the end of volume 2 and an announcement of increased rates for seven circulating libraries at the end of volume 1.
For more information about this item, see the ESTC entry at http://estc.bl.uk/T66366.
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in Context
project, which provides an accessible, curated, and marked-up selection of
primary sources relevant to the study and the teaching of British and American
literature of the 18th century. This project is funded by the National Endowment
for the Humanities and developed by faculty at The University of Virginia and
Marymount University.
Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources,
with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common
knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable
sources. If you notice an error in these annotations, please contact
lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.
As editors, we occupy different positions with respect to the ongoing
processes of colonialism and settler colonialism in which The Female American participates. Dr. Zoe Todd (Métis nation) writes that non-Indigenous folks tend to appreciate Indigenous
scholarship but “balk at addressing specific Indigenous societies whose
homeland they occupy.” While land acknowledgements will not rectify the
historical or contemporary violence affecting Indigenous communities, this
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We, the editors, identify individually as both uninvited settlers on
Indigenous land and as Black and Indigenous kin–that is, people related to
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acknowledge our feelings of conflict in publishing a text that reproduces
harmful representations of Indigeneity, minimizes the presence of Indigenous
people, and potentially furthers a reading of colonialism that undermines
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settlers, we recognize that ideas of Indigeneity represented in The Female
American reproduce stereotypes, inaccuracies, and literary violence. We
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our responsibility to support equity movements like Water for Warm Springs until this land is returned to its rightful
inhabitants.
The Female American begins with the history of the
seventeenth-century English arrival in Tsenacomoco, the homeland of the
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cultural heritage site in the greater Williamsburg, Virginia area. Many
Indigenous peoples hold ancestral and present-day relationships to this
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Upper Mattaponi, and Rappahannock. Indeed, this edition is hosted at the
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and indebtedness to Indigenous communities whose stewardship of the land
stretches back to times immemorial and persists to this day.
Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded. Additional redundant quotation marks have been removed, and quotation marks modernized for ease of reading.
Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.
Page breaks have been retained. Catchwords, signatures, and running headers have not. Where pages break in the middle of a word, the complete word has been indicated at the top of the new page.
Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section.
OR, THE ADVENTURES
OF UNCA ELIZA WINKFIELD,
COMPILED BY HERSELF.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
Library, opposite
AND
THE following extraordinary History will prove either acceptable or not to the reader; in either case, it ought to be a matter of indifference to him from what quarter, or by what means, he receives it.
But if curiosity demands a satisfaction of this kind, all that he can receive is only this, that I found it among the papers of my late father.
Upon a perusal of it, I found it both pleasing and instructive,
Female American;
OR THE
ADVENTURES
OF UNCA ELIZA WINKFIELD. CHAP. I.
Motives for writing this history; discovery ofVirginia ; the author's grandfather
settles there; he is killed by the natives; his son is taken prisoner, but
is saved by one of the king's daughters.
THE following history of my life I never completely
related but to one person; and at that time had no intention of committing it to
writing: but finding the remembrance of
The Female American "an irresistible antidote to the two pillars of the
eighteenth-century development of the realist novel: masculine individualism
and female domesticity" (
"Realism and the Unreal in The Female American", 324).
The peaceful reign of According to the Joyner Library at East Carolina University, "Wingandacoa" is
another name for the mainland of Virginia.
Anno Dom.
In
The
At the time of the massacre, mentioned above, my grandfather was killed, and my
father, with a few more, was taken prisoners by the Indians; and as it was a
very dark night, was hurried along many miles before he could perfectly discover
any objects: at length the rising sun discovered to his view, at some distance,
a large river with a great number
He was a clergyman, and one of true piety and sound erudition. When his brother,
my father, was about to quit
My father at this time was about twenty years old, of a remarkable fair
complexion for a man, with brown hair, black eyes, and was well shaped. I The Female
American fundamentally changes Winkfield’s experience living on the island
compared to Robinson Crusoe and the portrayal of the 'Indians' she
encounters.
The next day, soon after sun-rising, my father and his five unhappy companions
were brought out of their cabin; their cloaths
"Men, for I see you have legs, arms, and heads
as we have, look to the sun
Biblical passages quoted by the narrator do not
perfectly match the wording of any English translation. Here and throughout,
we have chosen to link to the King James Version, which was the official
Anglican Bible in the eighteenth century.
This said, the Indians took up their bows and, arrows, whilst others bound
This tender and extraordinary treatment had so far composed my father's mind,
that, joined with the excessive heat of the day, and the wine together, he was
so much overcome, that he insensibly fell asleep, amidst his reflections on this
strange adventure. When he awoke, he found two Indian slaves fanning and
defending him from the flies; which in that country are very hurtful. No sooner
did they perceive he was awake, but one of his attendants withdrew, and
presently returned, I cannot say with his fair, but with his black deliverer,
who, smiling, gently pulled him by his chain, and led him, now willing and
fearless, to a neighbouring
Here he again saw the king, before whom he bowed; whilst his patroness presented
the end of the chain she held to her father, who with much seeming affability
returned it to his daughter. By this act my father understood he gave him as a
captive to his daughter, who, immediately breaking the chain from around his
neck, threw it at his feet, making a motion to him that he should set his foot
upon it, which he having done, she clapt her hands, and cried out,
Hala pana chi nu,
Though my father did not then understand her words, he could not but
The princess continued some hours with him, and they participated of a collation
of fruits, whilst the princess continually talked to him, as if he had Inventing Eden
, 180).
Though a complexion so different, as that of the princess from an European,
cannot but at first disgust, yet by degrees my father grew insensible to the
difference, and in other respects her person was not inferior to that of the
greatest European beauty; but what
They had now lived together six months, and understood each other tolerably, when
Unca, for that was the princess's name, proposed their marriage. As she was a
Pagan, though my father sincerely loved her, and wished for that union, he could
not help shewing some uneasiness at the proposal
Thus love and religion agreeably divided their time; and so happy was my father with his princess, that he almost forgot his former situation, and begun to look upon the country he was in as his own, nor indeed did he ever expect to see any other again; and he now loved Unca as much as she did him, and was therefore willing to make her and her country his for ever; but an unexpected event soon gave a different turn to their affirs.
The king's eldest daughter conceives a passion for him, which produces disagreeable consequences, from which he is delivered by Unca.
MY father had never seen any other of the king's
daughters since the day of his deliverance from death, but his dear Unca, till
one day sitting in a wood to shelter himself from the excessive heat of the sun,
the king's eldest daughter approached him. As soon as my father saw her,
supposing she was one of the king's daughters, he arose to salute her with the
profoundest respect. "Winca," said she, "I have long sought for such
My father was so much surprized at this unexpected declaration, that he was not
able immediately to reply; but as
Saying this, she clapt her hands together, and immediately six male Indians appeared from behind the trees, where they had stood at some distance unperceived by him. "Seize that white infidel," cried she; and in an instant all power of defence or flight was equally taken from him. She then took a pomegranate-shell out of a kind of pocket that she wore by her side, and going up to a poisonous herb, squeezed the juice of it into it; then advancing to my father, "Here," said she, "be mine, or drink this; I offer you love and death; make your choice." "I can love none but Unca," replied he.
She then ordered four of the slaves to hold my father whilst the two others were
about to force the poisonous
It seems the princess Unca, having missed my father, arrived just after her
sister and the slaves had retired, and saw him sink upon the ground. As she
Science and the Modern World
)The Female Americanis set prior
to the founding of the Royal Society and may reflect a fantasy of
returning to a simpler time of connection between religion and
nature.
During their short walk, my father related to the princess Unca all that had
passed between him and the princess Alluca, her sister. When he had
Early the next morning the princess Unca, and her father, came to the hut where
his daughter had concealed my father. Here a consultation was begun. The king
said, "He could no more blame his eldest daughter than he did his younger, for
loving my father; that Alluca had conceived an affection for
As my father considered marriage as a
civil, as well as a religious, ceremony
The author’s discourse on marriage may be a response to Daniel Defoe’s
This also might be read as the set-up to a joke mocking Puritans,
completed in a few paragraphs.Religious Courtship
(1722). Puritan dissention toward liturgical practices meant that
matrimonial ceremonies were modest, private engagements in the presence
of a minister. Although its ritual was informal, marriage was regarded
as the cornerstone of civic development through family building. This
scene could perhaps be read as pushing Puritan logic ad absurdum: if a
minister is merely witness to the marital vows, any kind of witness
would do. Anglican matrimony, by contrast, would be facilitated publicly
by a priest according to the ceremony prescribed in The Book of Common Prayer.
My father being again settled with his dear Unca, in his own habitation, they were now married, according to
the rights of the church of England
As my father had persuaded his wife to conform to the European dress, he provided
for her as well as he could, till he had an opportunity of procuring cloaths
more suitable to her dignity. He took every opportunity that offered to send
part of his riches over to
My father built him a more elegant house, which was suitably furnished, and his
plantation by far the best and largest of any about him. This was a work of
time. In the interim, my mother, proving with child from the night of their
marriage, was safely delivered of me. I was, a month after, baptized by the name
of Unca Eliza. The king, my grand-father, frequently sent a messenger to inquire
after his children, who always attended with some present of fruit, flowers, or
something more valuable. Thus happily did my father and mother live together,
till I was about six years old; during which time they never heard the least
news about their sister Alluca: but at this period an Indian brought
A little after, as my father and mother were sitting in the garden, and I playing
at their feet, a slave informed them that two Indians were come from the
princess Alluca. As soon as they came into the garden my father was surprised to
see that they had each of them a great coat on, contrary to the Indian custom:
he had scarce made this reflection before one of them, being come close up to
him, pulled a short dagger out of his sleeve, and made a push at him, which most
probably would have proved mortal, had not he, by a sudden motion, avoided it.
At the same instant my mother gave a loud
What is human felicity? How often our greatest pleasures procure us the greatest misery! This moment behold a happy couple mutually endearing themselves to each other, whilst the infant offspring of their loves beholds their joys, partakes of, and adds to them. The next--but let the scene sink into darkness! 'tis too affecting for a daughter's pen to draw.
Death of the Indian queen; Unca and her father embark forEngland ; provides for
his brother; a description of the person and dress of the female American;
her father returns to Virginia ; for which she afterwards sails, where her father
dies.
AS soon as my mother was buried, and my father a little
composed, he called for the surviving assassin, and from him learnt that the
princess Alluca had compelled him and his companion to be the instruments of her
revenge on them, for his having slighted her love
The Female American can lead to negative perceptions in the real
world. Additionally, this negative characterization of Alluca lends additional
support to the growing scholarly
consensus that Winkfield was not a woman of color.
It was not long after before my aunt the queen died of grief. A little before her
death, she ordered, that after her decease her heart should be sent to my father
with this message: "Receive a heart that, whilst it lived,
This renewed my father's grief, which had indeed but little subsided; therefore
to divert his sorrows, and give me a better education, he determined to return
to
If I was kindly entertained by my uncle, I was little less caressed by the
neighbours. My tawny
complexion
The Female Americanto the
Bildungsroman genre. Similar to modern “coming-of-age” stories, the Bildungsroman
centers around the growth of a character and their understanding of the world. In
this context, Unca Eliza’s attention to her otherness can be viewed as an early
development in her understanding and critique of the imperial world.
My uncommon complexion, singular dress, and the grand manner in which I appeared,
always attended by two female and two male slaves, could not fail of making me
much taken notice of. I was accordingly invited by all the neighbouring gentry,
who treated me in a degree little inferior to that of a princess, as I was
always called; and indeed I might have been a queen,
My uncle, who gave his daughters the same learned education with his son, desired I might make one of their society. This was very agreeable to my father, and no less so to me, who was very fond of my cousins, and willing to do what they did. I could already speak the Indian language as well as English, or rather with more fluency.
In this manner we lived near a year, happy I should say all of us, but my father,
who, as he had no business to do, grew more melancholy: he therefore resolved to
revisit the country
I continued here till I was eighteen years of age; during which time I made a
great progress in the Greek Émile
,
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) argues that any education of women beyond
housework should aim to “make them more effective and stimulating companions for
their husbands,” and only that (see
An Oxford Companion to the
Romantic Age: Education
).Michèle Cohen argues that
the limiting of the female curriculum was “not to meet the needs of
femininity so much as to produce femininity” (322). A proto-feminist critic of this
system, Mary Astell
(1666-1731), protested as early as 1694 that women were being bred deliberately in
“ignorance and vanity” (
A Serious Proposal to the Ladies
, 31). The emphasis here on the
female education and its difference from that of men gives interesting insight into
the role of women during this time period.
Young as I was, I often thought on my dear mother, and honoured her memory with
many tears. And as I found it was the custom in
My father, by this time, begun to think my absence long, and desired my return,
which was equally agreeable
During our voyage, my cousin neglected no opportunity to renew his addresses to
me, which he had before
I shall not trouble my readers with any particulars of our voyage, and shall only
say, that after a tedious and indifferent one, I once more found myself in the
embraces of a tender father. The fight of me revived in his memory the
remembrance of my dear mother, which drew from him a flood of tears, with which
I sincerely joined mine. As soon as these subsided,
There was one circumstance attending my education, whilst under my uncle's
tuition, that, in justice to his memory, I ought not to omit, the religious
part; and in this he was as
But to return to my father: neither his riches, business, nor even my company,
whom he most affectionately loved, could cure him of that melancholy under which
he laboured from the decease of my mother. This, at
Unca buys a sloop, and embarks forEngland ; the captain proposes a match between
her and his son; her slaves and attendants massacred, and herself left on an
uninhabited island.
HAVING paid my father every funeral honour I could, and
having nothing now to attach me to this country, and the bulk of my great
fortune lying in
This proposal he accepted with great joy, and having got together a sufficient
number of hands to navigate our vessel, I prepared to embark. Notwithstanding
what my father had before sent to
We sailed with the first fair wind,
and had not been on our voyage above a day
I now expected my own destiny; and it soon arrived. The captain, who had left the
cabin, to dispose of his prisoners, returned, and once more asked me if I would
sign the bond? I answered, no; and at the same time desired that my two maids
might have some care taken of their wounds. He replied, he had no surgeon, and
if they did not grow well soon he should throw them overboard; but if they
recovered, he should sell them the first opportunity: he then left the cabin. A
few hours afterwards we came to an uninhabited island, where he put me on shore,
for nothing that I said could soften his heart. I begged hard for both, or one,
of my maids; but all the favour I could obtain, was my bow and quiver of arrows:
She offers up praise to God; takes refuge in an hermitagea solitary or lonely habitation, possibly
the habitation of a hermit. , where she finds a manuscript left by
the deceased inhabitant, in which are intsructions how to subsist on the
island; reflections on her situation.
THUS disconsolate, and alone, I sat on the sea-shore. My
grief was too great for my spirits to bear;
I sunk in a swoon
The Female American
and Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719)
mention their main characters falling into a swoon or “fainting-fit”
(Oxford
English Dictionary). Crusoe faints as he
braves a tremendous storm at sea, while Unca Eliza faints in instances like
being stranded on an island, getting overstimulated, and thinking she sees a ghost.
Crusoe faints in response to a proportionally more severe situation, which can be
read as a commentary from Winkfield on the expected submissive roles of women in
eighteenth-century life. Winkfield’s use of swoon contrasts the major themes of
female authority and gender performance seen throughout the novel.Te Deum before we sigh a litany
Filled with these ideas I fell on my knees, and thanked God, who had delivered me
out of the hand of the wicked, and that now I was in his only. On this occasion,
these words of
I was so near now as to perceive a door half open: I listened and heard no noise.
Fearful to retire, or to enter, I stood trembling a long time. How long I might
have remained in this condition I know not, had not a sudden noise behind me,
like the hallooing of
The sun still shone pretty bright through the holes in the wall, which was of
stone, and perfectly discovered
This reflection restored me to such tranquility of mind, that I rested myself
with the pleasing expectation of his return, which, considering it was near
night, I thought could not be long. As I had now fresh cause to be thankful, I
was so; and found I had spirits enough to sing a short Latin hymn of praise. But
still no hermit appeared, and the sun was now set; but the moon was risen, and
shone with so much brightness into the cell, that I scarcely missed the greater
luminary. As I thus sat waiting,
"If this book should ever fall into the hands of any person, it is to inform him that I lived on this uninhabited island forty years; but now, finding the symptoms of death upon me, I am going to retire to another stone room, where I shall lay me down, and, if God pleases, rest for ever from all my troubles."
As this was dated, as to the month and year, tho' without day of the month, I
concluded he must be dead, as it was a month ago, and therefore gave over
I immediately turned to the page referred to, and found that it was yet two
months to the time of the Indians coming on this island. I now thought I might
sleep securely; I therefore shut the door, and fastened it with a heavy stone
that lay there, I supposed for that use. Coming back from the door I spied The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food
and Drink in America.Οὐ μή σε ἀνῶ ουδ’ οὐμήσε ἐνκαταλίπω.
Having read the whole chapter, and said my prayers, I prepared to take my rest on
the stone couch, and laid down in my clothes, with more composure,
notwithstanding my dreadful situation, than my wicked captain, I think, could
But now other cares came into my mind. The roots I fed on were not all of them
good, but only a few of them
This information gave me great pleasure; I immediately searched and found the
steel and flint, and near them dry leaves and touch-wood. I now thought of
setting fire to one end of my box, as thinking it better to burn part of my
clothes than come at none of them: but however, I declined this method, in hopes
of finding some better expedient; but was still very uneasy, lest the tide
should remove it into the sea, or bury it out of sight in the sands; but I was
obliged to run every risk. A few days afterwards what I wished for was effected
by a means that I at first thought would have entirely deprived me of my chest.
I
However, the next day, the storm being over the night before, and the sun shining
very bright, I again visited
The Invention of the Oral: Print Commerce and Fugitive Voices in Eighteenth-
Century Britain
, how “the consumption of sound is at once
physiological and psychological” and that “social and personal factors influence
not only what we hear but what it means.” The recognition that she is the source
of the noise changes the psychological meaning of the sound for Unca Eliza,
despite experiencing the natural physiological response.
But to return to where I left off: having found the steel and flint, I
immediately made a trial of them, and they were in very good order. I found
three lamp-shells ready prepared; I lighted them, and they burnt very well. My
next attempt was to get some goats milk, as I had yet tasted nothing but
My next attempt was to kill a goat
A Movable Feast: Ten Millennia of Food Globalization
,
156).Inventing Eden
, 12). Moreover, this passage may illustrate the ideology
of "Adamic innocence," which Hutchins also discusses. Some Europeans held that
Native Americans maintained an innocence akin to that of Adam and Eve before they
sinned by eating the fruit in the Garden of Eden. Unca Eliza may embody not only Eve,
but a foreign religion (Christianity) intruding on the Adamic innocence of the goat,
which is native to the land.
My next care was to provide a new stock of roots, as those I found in the cell
were nearly consumed. It was not long before I found plenty; these I roasted on
a fire, and laid them up. If I was now rich in provisions, I was quickly more
so; for almost every day, looking into the hermit's manuscript book, I learned
from thence
What a plentiful table was here, furnished only at the expence of a little
trouble! This happiness I owed to the misfortunes of another; for had not the
hermit made these discoveries, and left the means of my coming at the knowledge
of them, how miserable must have been the state of a lonely woman! Doubtless I
should soon have perished with hunger! How graciously does the goodness of
providence
If this reflection gladdened my heart, it was succeeded by one that gave me no
less pain: "At last," cried I, "he died!--died here!--what might he not feel for
want of some kind friend to ease his sufferings in his last hours! Forty years
without human society! no opportunity offered to restore him to his native, or
to any other country! must this be my fate?"
Tears gushed from mine eyes, and sorrow
filled my heart. An Oxford Companion to the
Romantic Age: Sensibility
).
According to the Oxford English Dictionary,
the definition
of “sensibility” when the novel was written was “The quality of being readily
and strongly affected by emotional or artistic influences and experiences;
emotional awareness; susceptibility or sensitivity to, keen awareness of” (4.a.).
This passage could seem to reflect stereotypes of women as overly emotional, which
existed then and still continue today. However, at this time, it was seen as a
morally good thing to have emotion – as a man or a woman – making Unca Eliza’s
display of emotion here something to be admired that actually represents her
empathy and strength of virtue.
The thoughts of her distress occasion a severe fever; recovers; seeks comfort in her own reflections.
As I had now settled my manner of living, I was very
easy on that head, till this reflection destroyed all my peace: 'Tis true, I am
well provided for the present; whilst the summer and fine weather continue, I
can, with little difficulty, or rather amusement, supply myself with fish,
flesh, and fowl; but winter no doubt will come, and how severe that season may
prove I cannot foretel. How shall I, during the inclemency of it, procure the
means of subsistence? There will be less plenty of birds; the gum, which now
spontaneously
At length, my thirst was happily allayed; but the river was not dried up.
I now attempted to get up and crawl to my cell; but found myself too weak to do
either. All I could do was, to sit up sometimes a little. The sun, indeed, dried
my clothes apace, but its heat was too violent to bear long; I was forced
therefore to crawl a little way off under the shade of some trees that grew on
the banks of the river; but this I was long performing, though not above two or
three yards off. The shade of the trees protecting me from the sun's scorching
beams, and the cool breezes which came upon me from the river refreshing me
greatly, I once more fell asleep. When I awaked I was greatly but agreeably
surprised to find how much better I was. My clothes were quite dry; and now I
hoped I might be able to get to my cell; for I saw the sun was
Towards morning I slept soundly, and when I awaked I was much surprised to find
how my strength was recruited, or rather my weakness abated. I got up, and most
heartily thanked God for my recovery, and with the help of two sticks made shift
to walk, though slowly. I reached some of the yellow fruit with which I used to
entice the goats, and laid it before the door, in hopes, that the goats would
see it, for I could not walk in search of them;
Being thus recovered, I could not but reflect that I owed my late sickness to my giving way to those anxious corroding cares that had arisen in my mind concerning my future subsistence; and I could not but condemn my folly, and mourn for the sinfulness of it, and of which, I hope, I heartily repented.
My dear uncle was a great recommender of meditation: "That man," said he, "hardly
knows that he is a thinking being, who does not often meditate by himself. It
is," said he, "a glorious privilege, and he who practises
By reflecting on my late sickness and the occasion of it, I was led into
"In vain, I find, are the precepts
How many have voluntarily quitted the advantages of society, to avoid the
temptations of it, in a worse retirement than yours?–-Thus might I reason with a
heathen, and I think, not without success. But is not Unca a christian, or would
be such? Receive then the instructions of a higher school, and learn of a better
master. Remember him who through sufferings was made perfect, and that the
disciple is not to be above his "master. Let then your whole life be one
continual
Ἀφορωντες εις τὴν Ιησοῦν.
Thus did I endeavour to fortify my heart, and to learn patience and resignation to the dispensations of providence; nor were my attempts in vain; nor did I ever again suffer such anxious cares as those from which I was just now delivered. Submission or hope, one or both, were ever after in a less or greater degree my solace.
Again consults the hermit's manuscript; some account of his life; finds the hermitage to be the temple of the sun; discovers a great number of mummies, and on her return from exploring the temple, perceives the hermit at his devotions.
I HAD not yet read the hermit's manuscript regularly,
but here and there, as I hoped to find some necessary and useful directions for
my manner of subsistence. But having now pretty well attained this desirable
end, I purposed to read it from the beginning regularly through, without
omitting any part. But before I begun, for I found it
As I have this manuscript still in my possession, I shall do no more than give a
very short view of its contents, though the whole of it would very well The Hermit (1727), which recounts the
discovery of an Englishman on a remote island who had lived there for fifty
years and had no desire to return to society. The manuscript, and in
particular the summary given here, may be parodying the autobiographical
account present in
Robinson Crusoe
(1719)
But his residence here proved the happy means of his conversion, of which with
great modesty and ingenuousness, he gives an ample account. The manner of his
living here was attended with a greater variety of events, than could have been
expected from such a solitary situation. His occasional reflections are sensible
and pious, useful and pertinent. The cell, as I called it, that I now inhabited,
I found to be but one of many others; the ruins, as he rationally conjectured,
of some very ancient palace, or rather temple, which he supposed anciently
belonged to a very large statue, or image, at a considerable distance from the
place of my habitation, and to which the ruins approached, and in part
surrounded. This he imagined to
I had not patience to go through the whole history, till I had seen this
extraordinary idol. For this purpose, I got up early the next morning, put some
roots in my pocket, and a shell to drink out of, that I might have the whole day
at my command. I could not, indeed, but have observed before, that there were
many other stone rooms besides that which I inhabited; but had never as yet gone
into any other excepting two; in one of which 1 laid up the branches of yellow
fruit I gathered for the goats, and the other in which I kept my dried goat's
flesh, and some dried fish. Upon searching, I found some uninhabitable, others
in as good condition as that I dwelt in, some well lighted with holes on the
sides, others dark. But being curious to see if I could discover why this
distinction was
The first room I entered, I found surrounded with mummies, like those I have read
of in the histories of
Some other rooms, which were much more spacious, were filled with stone coffins,
with just room to pass between, and against the walls they were placed, at a
little distance between each, to the height of four coffins. These I supposed
had not been embalmed, for as they were all uncovered, I could see no remains of
their bodies but the ashes; but at the head of each, lay a kind of coronet. I
took up several of them, and imagined they were made of gold, as I afterwards
found they were. I suppose,
I should have observed that when I was viewing the mummies, I found golden coronets
I had indulged myself so long in my rambles among these dormitories, that it was
dark before I reached my cell. But what was my astonishment when pushing the
door open, I saw in my cell a light! This, at the same instant, discovered to my
sight, a venerable
Being a little more composed, I got up, and accompanied the old man into the
cell; though not as yet thoroughly satisfied whether I conversed with the
"Holy father," said I, "I thought you had been dead some weeks ago; are you
really living, or do I converse with a spirit?" "My daughter," returned the
hermit, "I am really a living body, though too weak and faint to live much
longer. But how comes it that you speak to me in a manner as if you knew me? I
was surprized to see you here, but more so to hear you talk in this manner; and,
did not your late swooning convince me that you are a mortal like myself,
This gave me occasion to acquaint him with the cause of my coming on the island, and what had passed since, to the time of our meeting.
"Have I then," cried he, "been so happy as to have my misfortunes prove the means
of affording assistance to an innocent and unhappy sufferer? Thanks be to
God!--I wrote," continued he, "the memorandum of my supposed approaching death,
that you have read, and thinking my end to be very near, walked out with a
design to go to one of the dormitories belonging, as I find by your information,
to the
The hermit dies; the idol of the sun described; discovers a subterranean cell, that leads to the inside of the idol; a terrible tempest.
FNDING the hermit stopped his discourse, I told him, I believed that he really
saw me, for that about a month ago, as already related in the foregoing part of
my life*
During our conversation we refreshed ourselves with some goats flesh and roots,
and, now the night being far spent, I persuaded the hermit, after much intreaty,
to repose himself on the stone couch, whilst I sat in the chair. The sun was far
advanced the next morning, when I found the hermit still reclined on the couch.
I thought he might still be sleeping, and went softly out, to get some goats
milk for our breakfast, and after my return waited some hours for his awaking;
but as he did not stir, I began to suspect he might be dead. At last I persuaded
myself to go nearer, and now perceived he was really so. I was sorry so soon to
have lost
When I quitted the room entirely, I pulled the door after me, and with loose
stones, of which there were plenty, so closed it up that no creature could
enter. The day was now too far spent to renew the searches of the day before;
which I therefore deferred till the next day, when I awoke early, and having
provided for my subsistence as before, once more visited these solitary ruins.
Now, at the distance of about a mile from the place of my abode, as near as I
could calculate, I came near to the
Having now pretty well satisfied my curiosity, I began my walk home again. In my
way thither, as I kept a strait way as nearly as the buildings would admit, I
struck my foot against something and fell down. I got no hurt; as soon as I was
up again, I turned round to see at what I had stumbled, and found it to be a
large iron bar. Upon removing the earth, that covered
As soon as I was got to the bottom of the stairs, and had lost all sight of the
light above, I sat down one of my lighted lamps; at a further distance I sat
down another in the same manner, and with a third and my tinder-box, in case the
light should go out, then proceeded. I made use of these three lights to render
the passage less terrifying, and that I might be in less danger of being left in
total darkness. I found this passage very narrow, capable of admitting only one
person to walk abreast, but high enough to admit a person of more than the
highest stature. Almost all the way on each side there were a kind of nitches or
holes. Upon examining them I found they contained a variety of things, all of
gold, of which I knew not the use,
I was surprised to find how little they were tarnished; but the place in which
they hung was very dry, and had very little air. Among these vestments were some
of more extraordinary workmanship and richness. The largest was, as it were,
sprinkled over with precious stones, and here and there a large diamond. It
appeared to be in the same fashion
In the same room was a golden staff, or rod, with a small image of the sun on the
top of it. I supposed these two last vestments might have belonged to the high
priest; and the staff likewise. In looking over the gold rings, I found one
which was set round with precious stones, with a very large one in the middle,
which shone with a lustre equal
Having sufficiently satisfied my curiosity with looking at treasures that could
yield me no real service, I walked on a little farther, and found another flight
of stairs; these I ascended, wondering whither they would lead me. They were
very narrow and steep; which I soon found, led me up into the image of the sun.
At last I got quite into the body of it, and my head within the head of it.
There were holes through the mouth, eyes, nose, and ears of it; so that I could
distinctly see all over the island before me, of which the
My astonishment was so great at what I had seen, that I exclaimed aloud, "What
wonders are here!" As I spoke these words pretty loud, I had scarcely uttered
them, before I was almost stunned with the sound of my own voice. This image,
particularly the head of it, it seems, was so wonderfully constructed as to
increase the sound of even a low voice to
such a degree as to exceed that of the loudest speaker
The Battle of the Books: History and Literature in the Augustan
Age
.
I now thought it time to descend and go home, lest the night should come on me.
The extraordinary things that I had seen afforded me a variety of agreeable
reflections
Essay to the Advancement of Music (1672) and explains how “for
Salmon, then, the taste for harmony or music was firstly a natural faculty
granted by God, which you might either have, or be deprived of,” as
opposed to “noise” which DuBois describes as “not an objective fact or
reality but something we are forced to react to.” In this part of The Female American, Unca seems to perceive the thunder
as both “noise” and “music,” in that she is “forced to react” to it (being
alarmed by it), yet senses and addresses musicality in it, as it fills her
thinking with an admiration for God. This represents the eighteenth-century
shift DuBois addresses, from thinking that “music should entirely pertain
to the realm of the pleasant, ordered and beautiful” to exploring “theories
of the sublime, which encouraged a shift from the object (i.e. music) to
the subject (i.e. the listener).”
Storms of this kind, that sometimes happen in
But what did I behold! Imagination can scarcely conceive such a total darkness as
then covered the earth; as if every particle of light had been annihilated, and
primitive chaos
Paradise Lost, Book 1.
I supposed this dreadful hurricane might continue two hours, when it gradually
expired, or rather seemed to retire elsewhere, in more low and distant sounds,
and all was calm as though it had always been so. I soon became composed myself,
and once more retired to rest. But what a new scene presented itself the next
morning, when I came out of my habitation to view the effects that the last
night might have produced! My way was frequently obstructed by trees torn up
with their roots, and scattered here and there, and the earth in many places
covered
I now turned my steps back to the more inland parts, where I beheld the same
havock made among the trees, beasts, and birds, but no hurt done
I now returned home, and having thoroughly gratified my curiosity in searching among the ancient ruins and exploring the contents of them, I spent my time in my little domestic concerns, my devotions, and reading the few books that I found in my chest.
Terrified at the annual visitation of the Indians, she intends to conceal herself in the subterranean passage; resolves to convert the Indians; takes her station in the body of the idol.
THE time now drew pretty near when the Indians were to
come to pay their annual visit to the idol of the sun. This reflection put me
upon thinking how I should secrete
I had no sooner made my fixed determination to retire to this place, but a very
strange thought arose in my mind. It was
nothing less than this, to ascend into the hollow idol
With respect to the Indians, I very well knew that they are generally of
But leaving these reflections to those who are so happy as to think, I return to
my history. I reflected that as there were several holes, or openings in the
image, I might possibly be seen through them by the Indians, before I might have
leisure to judge whether I should address myself to them or not; which might be
attended with unforeseen consequences, to my great disadvantage. To come to a
certainty
Though this danger was entirely removed, there still remained another. I had
discovered, as the reader may remember, that such was the wonderful mechanism of this statue, that the
least sound became very audible
Alarming as this consideration was, it soon subsided. For to avoid the
possibility of this event, I determined
There were now but three days to come before their arrival, during which, I
changed my mind, perhaps, as many times as there are hours in that space. This
moment I imagined hundreds of Indians prostrate before me with reverence and
attention, whilst like a lawgiver, I uttered precepts, and, like an orator,
inculcated them with a voice magnified almost to the loudness of thunder. At
another time my soul shrunk within me at the imagined noise of their dreadful
yell; whilst my imagination painted to me an enraged
As one, or other of these thoughts prevailed, I resolved for or against, the
undertaking. At last, with more than female
English Dictionary (1773), Fables Ancient and Modern
(1700): “The heroine assum’d the woman’s place, Confirm’d her mind, and
fortify’d her face.” Unca Eliza’s claim to “fortify her mind” instead of her
face effectively reverses Dryden’s idea of the heroine, which focuses on the
heroine’s physical features. In this phrase, Unca Eliza not only claims the
status of “heroine” but also pushes the heroine to a more complex state that is
not merely focused on the physical.The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and
Drink in America.
When I came to the foot of the statue I pulled off my shoes, and left them there,
that I might not make any noise with them in changing my possture as I sat.
Though my situation was dark within, yet as the moon shone very bright, I had a
very agreeable prospect
The Female American
necessitates personal development in order to achieve marriage. Yet by claiming the
title of "heroine" before marriage here, she reimagines female heroism outside the
expectations of eighteenth-century literature.The Female American was unfamiliar
with the location in which the novel is set. The likely location of Unca’s island,
the
It was darkness all around me, and I could not find my lamp and tinderbox. The
earthquake still continued, as I perceived by the motion of the ground beneath
me. I thought it could not be long before I should be buried alive in the earth;
and therefore, as well as my disturbed spirits would permit, recommended
Finds herself unable to get out of the idol; after despairing of extricatingfreeing herself, forces open the
passage; and perceives the earthquake had destroyed her habitation.
IN this melancholy situation did I continue for some
hours, when I supposed the earthquake was over; for I no longer felt the motion
of it. But the thunder still continued, yet with less violence, and the claps
were not so frequent. I got up, and once more ascended into the image, saw no
appearance of the Indians, and supposed that they would not be able to come at
all at that time. Whilst I sat here, I
I should have been glad to have found my lamp; but as I could not, I groped my
way as well as I could to the stairs, which led up to the trapdoor, which,
having reached, I endeavoured to unbolt; but as the bolts were large and very
rusty, they gave me a great deal of trouble and much pain, forced the skin off
my hands, and made them very sore and bloody. At last they both gave back, when
I pushed the door upwards; but what was my terror at finding it would not give
way! I was persuaded that I had unbolted it; and therefore concluded, in my
mind, that the earthquake had overturned some of the earth above,
How dreadful my situation! no other prospect before me but that of a certain
lingering death! I sat a long time on the stairs in the most melancholy
condition. I endeavoured to pray, but could not; at last I did, when, a little
more composed, I got up to look at that light which I never expected to Robinson Crusoe, when
the titular character is "
wrapt up in the Contemplation of [his] Deliverance" after surviving a
shipwreck. Crusoe views his survival as divine providence granted in exchange for
increased piety. Both characters’ survival becomes a catalyst for recommitting
to their faith, with Unca Eliza intensifying her efforts to impose her
religious views on the Indigenous people of the island.
Thus did I indulge the severest reflections on my own conduct. At last I thought
I would once more look at my prison-door, but with no hopes of escape. For this
purpose I struck fire, and lighted my lamp, and having reached the door, I
carefully examined the bolts, which I thought I discovered to be not quite drawn
back; this gave me a little hope. I tried one of them with much pain, for my
hands were very sore, and at last it gave back a little; now my hopes were quite
revived, and gave me fresh strength to attempt the other, and was again
successful, and so happy as to raise the door up. Thus had my mistake procured
all this uneasiness to me; and how many of our miseries do often flow from our
mistakes? I
The thoughts of living under-ground were very disagreeable; but no better
habitation remained for me. It was well for me, that I had the precaution to
remove my few effects out of my cell, which by the fall of it might have been
destroyed, but which I found safe where I had deposited them. I took some
provisions, and some more lamps and fat, in order to render my dark abode as
light as I could, and with an heavy heart returned back to the place I had left
but a little while before, not thinking I should ever have made it the voluntary
place of my residence, if indeed I may say voluntary; for it was necessity, not
a free choice, that led me thither. Having entered by the door and fastened it,
I lighted five other lamps, with that I carried in my hand ready lighted, but
A melancholy situation this! and scarcely was I able to bear it; but I summoned
every thing that could give me comfort, or inspire me with fortitude. Among
other things I considered that it was in every respect better than being on the
ground above, exposed to the air and other accidents; that here, at least, was a
safe retreat; that my distress was neither owing to my own sin or folly; and
that, above all, no place is excluded from the presence of God; that his
providential eye was still watching over me, and
The Indians land, and approach the idol; the high-priest interrogates the statue, from which she makes responses, and instructs them in the principles of the Christian religion.
AS soon as I awoke I got up, and finding two of my lamps
yet burning, I took one of them, walked to the stairs that led up to the statue,
which I ascended, and found the sun had been risen some time, and that it was a
very fine calm morning. I had not been here long before I heard a prodigious
noise of voices, when looking forwards, I discovered a great number of Indians
approaching, at some distance.
There was a great number of them, men, women, and children, who as they drew
nearer formed themselves, as it were, into ranks, the oldest men first, then the
younger, after there the eldest women, and the youngest ; lastly the
Having approached within a few yards of the statue, they all stopt; when the high
priest, and the six others, with the whole assembly, very devoutly prostrated
I still kept silence; not thinking it as yet a proper time to interrupt them.
When this part of their worship was over, they all stood, and the high-priest
made an address to the sun, in a very low feeble voice, which yet I could hear
very plainly, and to my great joy and encouragement, perfectly understood. The
purport
Robinson Crusoe
(1719), which contrasts loudness
as power with deafness as limitation. This limitation in
Crusoe is explored further in
And now the high-priest begun again, but in a very different manner than before,
who stood, as did the rest, and
I now was preparing to speak, thinking I could not have a better opportunity,
when the high-priest gave me a much fairer occasion; for, raising his voice,
seemingly, as loud
WHO IS GOD BUT THE SUN?
To whom I immediately replied, in so very loud,
yet equally distinct, a voice
The Invention of the Oral
that early Christian authors warned against “old
wives' tales” as “religious beliefs that hampered Enlightenment rational thought” (50).
Winkfield minimizes the unbelievability of women's oral presentation by emphasizing
Unca Eliza’s religious authority. Volume is a sign of power: her voice is "very loud,
yet equally distinct" with that of the high-priest. While she is unknown to these
people, she asserts herself orally as spiritually powerful.
HE WHO MADE THE SUN.
I must acknowledge I trembled when I had done, and was even sorry I had spoken,
though truly and properly; yet I rightly concluded that I must proceed--No
sooner had I uttered there words, but the lay-assembly leaped up from the
ground, as if frantick
And now the following dialogue
commenced between the high-priest and me
Small Catechism (1529). The idea that all doctrine
must be justified by scripture, or else rejected, was a founding tenet of
Lutheran Protestantism. The Church of England adopted a similar format in
the Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647), which
provides short answers to theological questions.
The scene is similar to
Robinson Crusoe's attempt to instruct Friday in his faith. While
Crusoe offers general Christian answers to Friday’s questions, Unca Eliza
responds to the Indigenous people’s questions with scripture she has
memorized.
High-Priest.
"Who then is that God?"
Answer. "He who always was, is, and ever
willl be."
High-Priest. "Where does he dwell?"
Answer. "In heaven, though indeed he is present every
where; for
High-Priest. "Can we see him?"
Answer. "No; for no man can see God whilst he
lives."
High-Priest. "Shall we then see him after we are
dead?"
Answer. "Yes; all good men shall see him, and be happy
with him; but every wicked man will be banished from his presence, and be
miserable."
High-Priest. "Who is a good man?"
Answer. "He who believes in God, who loves and obeys him,
and does by every man as he would be done by."
High-Priest. "Who is a wicked
man?"
Answer. "He who does not believe in God, love, and obey
him; and he who does not do by every one as he would be done
by."
Here after a short silence, he continued his questions.
High-Priest. "Are you God?"
Answer. "No."
High-Priest. "Are you the sun?"
Answer. "No; for the sun can neither understand, nor see,
nor hear, as I do."
High-Priest. "Who are you then?"
Though I did not mean to impose myself upon them as God, and had declared I was not God, yet I thought it necessary to check this question, judging it as yet too soon to declare myself, and therefore replied,
Answer. "Do not ask; for I will not answer to any
questions but as I see proper."
At this instant our dialogue was strangely stopt, and I was greatly surprized to see the whole assembly throw themselves upon the ground, tear, and beat themselves, venting their grief in cries and unintelligible accents, the priests behaving as madly as they. Whilst I beheld this extraordinary change with a concern and surprize that prevented my speaking to them, they all ran away, except the highpriest, who was too feeble, as fast as they could towards the sea-side.
For my own part my ideas were so confused upon this occasion, that I was
incapable of thought. What have I said, at last cried I, within myself, that
could thus terrify these people? I paused, and as my custom is on all sudden and
A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia
(1590) and
Observations Gathered out of a Discourse of the Plantation of the
Southerne Colonie in Virginia
(1625) depicts the Indigenous tribes of
Virginia worshipping the sun. Percy’s account of the Native peoples he encounters
more closely resembles the religious beliefs of the "Indians" Unca Eliza meets in
The Female American, as both groups appear solely to worship
the sun, whereash Harriot’s account mentions the existence of the moon and stars as
additional gods.
But observing that he continued motionless, and not knowing but he might be dead,
I extended my voice to the highest pitch I could, depending on the mechanism of
the statue, for its reaching to the ears of the affrighted multitude; and thus
called after them: "Return, I am not the evil being whom ye dread; return and provoke me not, to destroy you
I know not whether the casuists
He immediately arose; and turning to the people, beckoned to them to come forwards. This encouraged them to come again to their former station; when he said to them, "The oracle will not hurt you; but he will be heard."
This was as I wished; but, observing the signs of fear still strongly stampt upon them, I thus addressed them:
"Fear not, I am not the evil being; and if you will hearken to me, he shall never hurt you."
These words had the desired effect; they immediately appeared calm and pleased, bowing to the earth with profound reverence. After this the highpriest spoke to me, with a trembling voice.
High-Priest. "Will you protect us from the evil being,
that he may not hurt us?"
Answer. "God, who hath all power only, and who is good
and gracious, "will protect you, and will not suf"fer the evil being to hurt
you."
High-Priest. "But must we not pray to the evil being not
to hurt us?"
Answer. "No; you must pray to God
only."
High-Priest. "Must we not pray to the Sun?"
Answer. "No; for he was made by God, to give you light
and heat, and has no understanding."
High-Priest. "Will he not be angry then, and leave us in
the dark."
Answer. "No; look at that tree on your right hand, you
know it grows, bears leaves and fruit; do you think it can see, or hear, or
unnderstand?"
High-Priest. "I don't know."
Answer. "Can it move about from place to place, as you
do?"
High-Priest. "I believe not?"
Answer. "I told you before that God made all things; the
sun is one of those things which he hath made by his great power, and hath fixed
it in the air, but it cannot move from place to place, by any power that it hath
in itself, as you can, but is moved as God pleases. It can neither see, hear,
speak, nor think as you can, who therefore art a more excellent creature than
the sun, and therefore must not worship him, for he was made for your use, any
more
High-Priest. "Did God send you to teach
us?"
Answer." He brought me
hear
As it was now high noon, I thought they might want to refresh themselves, and
therefore said, "You may now eat and drink, and then I will speak to you
again." The whole assembly
I was myself very glad to have a little time, to consider how I should proceed on
this extraordinary occasion. Whilst I took some refreshment myself, I reflected
very deliberately upon this important business I had undertaken, and prayed to
God that I might be the means of instructing them in the truth, and bring them, happily, to the knowledge of Christianity
Scholars have pointed towards the resemblance between
Unca Eliza and the
Mohegan minister
Upon this they all set up a shout of joy, and having made their obeisances
November 8,
1766 .
WE, Proprietors of Circulating Libraries, finding it impossible to
continue the Business of Lending Books to Read on the late low Terms of Subscription, with the same Degree of
Reputation to ourselves, and Satisfaction to the Public, as we did at a
time when neither so great a number of New Books were published, nor the
Demand for them so great as now, have been compelled to advance the Sum
of one Shilling on our Quarterly, and Eighteen Pence on our
Yearly Subscribers, in order to avoid the
disagreeable Alternative of throwing up that Branch of Business, which
hath so many Years been a Source of Amusement, and, we will venture to
add, Instruction to the Public, or of suffering it to languish through a
want of a proper Supply of New Books, so
essentially necessary to its Credit and Support. And whereas, we have
experienced the most chearful Compliance from our Subscribers in the
Payment of the trifling Sum so reasonably advanced upon them; we hereby
(each for himself) take this Opportunity of assuring them in particular, and the Public in
general, that no Pains nor Expence in our Power shall be wanting to
render our respective Libraries (in point of Utility, Extensiveness, and
Amusement) of such Advantage over all others, who shall continue to lend
at the old Price (if any such should be
Four
Shillings per Quarter,
OR
Twelve
Shillings per Year.
, nearFrancis Noble
,John Noble
, nearWilliams Bathoe
,Thomas Lownds
andT. Vernor
,J. Chater
T. Jones,
,William Cooke
Several poems compiled with great variety of wit and learningpublished in Boston in 1678. This text is sometimes referred to by its alternate title, and the sobriquet given to Anne Bradstreet, "The Tenth Muse". Title page drawn from the University of Pennsylvania's
Celebration of Women Writers.
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in Context
project, which provides an accessible, curated, and marked-up selection of primary
sources relevant to the study and the teaching of British and American literature of
the 18th century. This project is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
and developed by faculty at The University of Virginia and Marymount University.
Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources, with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable sources. If you notice an error in these annotations, please contact lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.
Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded.
Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.
Page breaks have been retained. Catchwords, signatures, and running headers have not. Where pages break in the middle of a word, the complete word has been indicated prior to the page beginning.
Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section.
POEMS
Compiled with great variety of Wit and
Learning, full of Delight;
Wherein especially is contained a compleat
Discourse, and Description of
The Four { ELEMENTS
CONSTITUTIONS,
AGES of Man,
SEASONS of the Year.
Together with an exact Epitome of
the three first
Monarchyes
Viz, The { ASSYRIAN,
PERSIAN,
GRECIAN.
And beginning of theRomane Common-wealth
to the end of their last King:
With diverse other pleasant & serious
Poems,
By a Gentlewoman in
New-England.
The second Edition, Corrected by the Author,
and enlarged by an Addition of several other
Poems found amongst her Papers
after her Death.
and enlarged by an Addition of several other
Poems found amongst her Papers
after her Death.
Boston,
John Foster,
Englandand New; concerning their present Troubles,
Anno,1642.
Hengistlike that
Saxonstout
Canutus,that brave valiant
Dane
Norman,whose victorious hand
Maudand
Stephenfor the crown contend?
Edwardbe depos'd? or is't the hour
Richardmust be clapt i'th tower?
Richmondsaid, the Nobles now implore?
Spainsbragging
Armado?
France,conspire your wrack,
Scotsplay false, behind your back?
Hollandquit you ill for all your love?
AlciesSon, nor
Henryesdaughter;
Johnno King,
Edward, Richard,to lose rule and life,
Lancastriansto renew old strife:
York,nor Earl of
Marchto soyle
Tudor,Roses to unite,
Spainsbraving Fleet a second time is sunk,
Franceknows how oft my fury she hath drunk:
Edwardthird and
Henryfifth of fame.
Scotlandhurts me now no more.
Hollandis I am in some suspence?
Romehere again,
Belzebubhimself such language hear;
Edwardsyouths, and
Clarencehapless son,
Janewhy didst thou dye in flowring prime?
Hydraesof my stout transgression.
Germanyesdismantled walls,
Rochelyielded to her Foe,
Irelandbleeding out her last,
Straffordlower by the head.
Laudbe't spoke, they held i'th tower
EnglandsMetropolitane that hour;
York,himself absents,
Gideon;
Mero's curse,
Baalsvestments forth to make a fire,
Romeswhore, with all her trumpery.
Essexwith a Loyal heart,
Charlesour King,
Rome,and all her Vassals rout;
Palestine:
Turkygoe,
Gogas thou hast done to
Rome.
Abraham's seed lift up your heads on high,
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in Context
project, which provides an accessible, curated, and marked-up selection of primary
sources relevant to the study and the teaching of British and American literature of
the 18th century. This project is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
and developed by faculty at The University of Virginia and Marymount University.
Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources, with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable sources. If you notice an error in these annotations, please contact lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.
Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded.
Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.
Page breaks have been retained. Catchwords, signatures, and running headers have not. Where pages break in the middle of a word, the complete word has been indicated prior to the page beginning.
Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section.
OR, THE
Royal Slave.
HISTORY.
A. BEHN.
LONDON,
Printed for
Will. Canning,at his Shop in
the
Temple-Cloysters.1688.
Right Honourable
THE Lord
MAITLAND.
Since the World is grown so Nice and Critical upon Dedications, and will Needs be
Judging the Book, by the Wit of the Patron; we ought, with a great deal of
Circumspection, to chuse a Person against whom there can be no Exception; and
whose Wit, and Worth, truly Merits all that one is capable of saying upon that
Occasion.
The most part of Dedications are charg'd with Flattery; and if the World knows a Man
has some Vices, they will not allow one to speak of his Virtues. This, my Lord, is
for want of thinking Rightly; if Men wou'd consider with Reason, they wou'd have
another sort of Opinion, and Esteem of Dedications; and wou'd believe almost every
Great Man has enough to make him Worthy of all that can be said of him there. My
Lord, a Picture-drawer, when he intends to make a good Picture, essays the Face many
Ways, and in many Lights, before he begins; that he may chuse, from the several
turns of it, which is most Agreeable, and gives it the best Grace; and if there be a
Scar, an ungrateful Mole, or any little Defect, they leave it out; and yet make the
Picture extreamly like: But he who has the good Fortune to draw a Face that is
exactly Charming in all its Parts and Features, what Colours or Agreements can be
added to make it Finer? All that he can give is but its due; and Glories in a Piece
whose Original alone gives it its Perfection. An ill Hand may diminish, but a good
Hand cannot augment its Beauty. A Poet is a Painter in his way; he draws to the
Life, but in another kind; we draw the Nobler part, the Soul and Mind; the Pictures
of the Pen shall out-last those of the Pencil, and even Worlds themselves. 'Tis a
short Chronicle of those Lives that possibly wou'd be forgotten by other Historians,
or lye neglected there, however deserving an immortal Fame; for Men of eminent Parts
are as Exemplary as even Monarchs themselves; and Virtue is a noble Lesson to be
learn'd, and 'tis by Comparison we can Judge and Chuse. 'Tis by such illustrious Presidents
Precedents. Source: Oxford English Dictionary, as your Lordship, the World
can be Better'd and Refin'd; when a great part of the lazy Nobility lity shall, with
Shame, behold the admirable Accomplishments of a Man so Great, and so Young.
Your Lordship has Read innumerable Volumes of Men, and Books; not Vainly for the gust
of Novelty, but Knowledge, excellent Knowledge: Like the industrious Bee, from every
Flower you return Laden with the precious Dew, which you are sure to turn to the
Publick Good. You hoard no one Perfection, but lay it all out in the Glorious Service
of your Religion and Country; to both which you are a useful and necessary Honour:
They both want such Supporters; and 'tis only Men of so elevated Parts, and fine
Knowledge; such noble Principles of Loyalty and Religion this Nation Sighs for. Where
shall we find a Man so Young, like St.
Augustine
, in the midst of all his
Youth and Gaiety, Teaching the World divine Precepts, true Notions of Faith, and
Excellent Morality, and, at the same time, be also a perfect Pattern of all that
accomplish a Great Man? You have, my Lord, all that refin'd Wit that Charms, and the
Affability that Obliges; a Generosity that gives a Lustre to your Nobility; that
Hospitality, and Greatness of Mind, that ingages the World; and that admirable
Conduct, that so well Instructs it. Our Nation ought to regret and bemoan their
Misfortunes, for not being able to claim the Honour of the Birth of a Man who is so
fit to serve his Majesty, and his Kingdoms, in all Great and Publick Affairs: And to
the Glory of your Nation be it spoken, it produces more considerable Men, for all
fine Sence, Wit, Wisdom, Breeding, and Generosity (for the generality of the
Nobility) than all other Nations can Boast; and the Fruitfulness of your Virtues
sufficiently make amends for the Barrenness of your Soil: Which however cannot be
incommode to your Lordship; since your Quality, and the Veneration that the
Commonalty naturally pay their Lords, creates a flowing Plenty there—that makes you
Happy. And to compleat your Happiness, my Lord, Heaven has blest you with a Lady, to
whom it has given all the Graces, Beauties, and Virtues of her Sex; all the Youth,
Sweetness of Nature; of a most illustrious Family; and who is a most rare Example to
all Wives of Quality, for her eminent Piety, Easiness, and Condescention; and as
absolutely merits Respect from all the World, as she does that Passion and
Resignation she receives from your Lordship; and which is, on her part, with so much
Tenderness return'd. Methinks your tranquil Lives are an Image of the new Made
and Beautiful Pair in Paradise: And 'tis the Prayers and Wishes of all, who have the
Honour to know you, that it may Eternally so continue, with Additions of all the
Blessings this World can give you.
My Lord, the Obligations I have to some of the Great Men of your Nation, particularly
to your Lordship, gives me an Ambition of making my Acknowledgments, by all the
Opportunities I can; and such humble Fruits, as my Industry produces, I lay at your
Lordships Feet. This is a true Story, of a Man Gallant enough to merit your
Protection; and, had he always been so Fortunate, he had not made so Inglorious an
end: The Royal Slave I had the Honour to know in my Travels to the other World; and
though I had none above me in that Country, yet I wanted power to preserve this Great
Man. If there be any thing that seems Romantick, I beseech your Lordship to consider,
these Countries do, in all things, so far differ from ours, that they produce
unconceivable Wonders; at least, they appear so to us, because New and Strange. What
I have mention'd I have taken-care shou'd be Truth, let the Critical Reader
judge as he pleases. 'Twill be no Commendation to the Book, to assure your Lordship I
writ it in a few Hours, though it may serve to Excuse some of its Faults of
Connexion; for I never rested my Pen a Moment for Thought: 'Tis purely the Merit of
my Slave that must render it worthy of the Honour it begs; and the Author of that of
Subscribing herself,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's most oblig'd
and obedient Servant,
A. BEHN.
HISTORY
OF THE
Royal Slave.
I do not pretend, in giving you the History of this Royal Slave, to
entertain my Reader with the Adventures of a feign'd Hero, whose Life and
Fortunes Fancy may manage at the Poets Pleasure; nor in relating the Truth, design to
adorn it with any Accidents, but such as arriv'd in earnest to him: And it shall come
I was my self an Eye-Witness,
Hero
himself, who gave us the whole Transactions of his Youth; and though I shall omit,
for Brevity's sake, a thousand little Accidents of his Life, which, however pleasant
to us, where History was scarce, and Adventures very rare; yet might prove tedious
and heavy to my Reader, in a World where he finds Diversions for every Minute,
The Scene of the last part of his Adventures lies in a Colony in America,
called West-Indies.
But before I give you the Story of this Gallant Slave, 'tis fit I tell you
the manner of bringing them to these new Colonies; for those they make use
of there, are not Natives of the place; for those we live with in perfect
Amity, without daring to command 'em; but on the contrary, caress 'em with all the
brotherly and friendly Affection in the World; trading with 'em for their Fish,
Venison, Buffilo's, Skins, and little Rarities; as Marmosets
Monkey as Minature. Then for little Parakeetoes, great Parrots,
Muckaws, and a thousand other Birds and Beasts of wonderful and
surprizing Forms, Shapes, and Colours. For Skins of prodigious Snakes, of which there
are some threescore Yards in length; as is the Skin of one that may be seen at His
Majesty's Antiquaries:
The Indian Queen, (1664) while wearing the feathered headdress referred to in this passage. Whether this headdress
was something that Behn herself brought back to England from Surinam in the 1660s is
impossible to know at this point. (courtesy British Library under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
&c. We dealt with 'em with Beads of all Colours, Knives, Axes, Pins
and Needles; which they us'd only as Tools to drill Holes
Adam and
Eve did the Fig-leaves; the Men wearing a long Stripe of Linen, which
they deal with us for. They thread these Beads also on long Cotton-threads, and make
Girdles to tie their Aprons to, which come twenty times, or more, about the Waste;
and then cross, like a Shoulder-belt, both ways, and round their Necks, Arms and
Legs. This Adornment, with their long black Hair, and the Face painted in little
Specks or Flowers here and there, makes 'em a wonderful Figure toIndian, dying for Love of a
very beautiful young Indian Maid; but all his Courtship was, to fold his
Arms, pursue her with his Eyes, and Sighs were all his Language: While she, as if no
such Lover were present; or rather, as if she desired none such, carefully guarded
her Eyes from beholding him; and never approach'd him, but she look'd down with all
the blushing Modesty I have seen in the most severe and cautious of our World. And
these People represented to me an absolute Idea of the first State of
Innocence, before Man knew how to sin: And 'tis most evident and plain, that simple
Nature is the most harmless, inoffenEnglish
Governor, who had given his Hand to come on such a Day to 'em, and neither came, nor
sent; believing, when once a Man's Word was past, nothing but Death cou'd or shou'd
prevent his keeping it: And when they saw he was not dead, they ask'd him, what Name
they had for a Man who promis'd a thing he did not do? The Governor told them, Such a
man was a Lyar, whichGovernor, you are a Lyar, and guilty of that Infamy.
They have a Native Justice, which knows no Fraud; and they understand no Vice, or
Cunning, but when they are taught by the White Men. They have Plurality of
Wives, which, when they grow old, they serve those that succeed 'em, who are young;
but with a Servitude easie and respected; and unless they take Slaves in War, they
have no other Attendants.
Those on that Continent where I was, had no King; but the oldest War-Captain
was obey'd with great Resignation.
A War-Captain is a Man who has lead them on to Battel with Conduct, and Success; of
whom I shall have Occasion to speak
With these People, as I said, we live in perfect Tranquillity, and good
Understanding, as it behooves us to do; they knowing all the places where to seek the
best Food of the Country, and the Means of getting it; and for very small and
unvaluable Trifles, supply us with what 'tis impossible for us to get; for they do
not only in the Wood, and over the Sevana's, in Hunting, supply the parts of
Hounds, by swiftly scouring through those almost impassable places; and by the meer
Activity of their Feet, run down the nimblest Deer, and other eatable Beasts: But in
the water, one wou'd think they were Gods of the Rivers, or Fellow-Citizens of the
Continent.
Negro's, Black-Slaves altogether; which are transported thither in this
manner.
Those who want Slaves, make a Bargain with a Master, or Captain of a Ship, and contract to pay him so much a-piece, a matter of twenty Pound a Head for as many as he agrees for, and to pay for 'em when they shall be deliver'd on such a Plantation: So that when there arrives a Ship laden with Slaves, they who have so contracted, go a-board, and receive their Number by Lot; and perhaps in one Lot that may be for ten, there may happen to be three or four Men; the rest, Women and Children: Or be there more or less of either Sex, you are oblig'd to be contented with your Lot.
Coramantien
Blacks so called, was one of those places in which
they found the most advantageous Trading for these Slaves; and thither most of our
great Traders in that Merchandice traffick'd; for that Nation is very war-like and
brave; and having a continual Campaign, being always in Hostility with one
neighbouring Prince or other, they had the fortune to take a great many Captives; for
all they took in Battel, were sold as Slaves; at least, those common Men who cou'd
not ransom themselves. Of these Slaves so taken, the General only has all the profit;
and of these Generals, our Captains and Masters of Ships buy all their Freights.
The King of Coramantien
Black Wives; for
most certainly, there are Beauties that can charm of that Colour. In his younger
Years he had had many gallant Men to his Sons, thirteen of which died in Battel,
conquering when they fell; and he had only left him for his Successor, one
Grand-Child, Son to one of these dead Victors; who, as soon as he cou'd bear a Bow in
his Hand, and a Quiver at his Back, was sent into the Field, to be trained up by one
of the oldest Generals, to War; where, from his natural Inclination to Arms, and the
Occasions given him, with the good Conduct of the old General, he became, at the Age
of Seventeen, one of the most expert Captains, and bravest Soldiers, that ever saw
Mars: So that he was ador'd as the Wonder of all
that World, and the Darling of the Soldiers. Besides, he was adorn'd with a native
Beauty so transcending all those of his gloomy Race, that he strook an Awe and
Reverence, even in those that knew not his Quality; as he did in me, who beheld him
with Surprize and Wonder, when afterwards he arriv'd in our World.
He had scarce arriv'd at his Seventeenth Year, when fighting by his Side, the General
was kill'd with an Arrow in his Eye, which the Prince Oroonoko (for so was
this gallant Moor call'd) very narrowly avoided; nor had he, if the General,
who saw the Arrow shot, and perceiving it aim'd at the Prince, had not bow'd his Head
between, on purpose to receive it in his own
'Twas then, afflicted as Oroonoko was, that he was proclaim'd Genéral in the
old Man's place; and then it was, at the finishing of that War, which had continu'd
for two Years, that the Prince came to Court; where he had hardly been a Month
together, from the time of his fifth Year, to that of Seventeen; and 'twas amazing to
imagine where it was he learn'd so much Humanity; or, to give his Accomplishments a
juster Name, where 'twas he got that real Greatness of Soul, those refin'd Notions of
true Honour, that absolute Generosity, and that Softness that was capable of the
highest Passions of Love and Gallantry, whose Objects were almostFrench-Man of Wit and Learning; who finding it turn to very good Account to
be a sort of Royal Tutor to this young Black, & perceiving him very
ready, apt, and quick of Apprehension, took a great pleasure to teach him Morals,
Language and Science; and was for it extreamly belov'd and valu'd by him. Another
Reason was, He lov'd, when he came from War, to see all the English
Gentlemen that traded thither; and did not only learn their Language, but that of the
Spaniards also, with whom he traded afterwards for Slaves.
I have often seen and convers'd with this great Man, and been a Romans; he had heard of the late Civil
Wars in England,
European Court.
This great and just Character of Oroonoko gave me an extream Curiosity to
see him, especially when I knew he spoke French and
English
Roman, instead of
African and flat. His Mouth, the finest shap'd that cou'd be seen; far
from those great turn'd Lips, which are so natural to the rest of the
Negroes. The whole Proportion and Air of his Face was so noble, and
exactly form'd, that, bating
White Men, especially to those of Christendom; and wou'd have
confess'd that Oroonoko was as capable even of reigning well, and of
governing as wisely, had as great a Soul, as politick
This Prince, such as I have describ'd him, whose Soul and Body were so admirably
adorn'd, was (while yet he was in the Court of his Grandfather) as I said, as capable
of Love, as 'twas possible for a brave and gallant Man to be;
I have already said, the old General was kill'd by the shot of an Arrow, by the Side
of this Prince, in Battel; and that Oroonoko was made General. This old dead
Hero had one only Daughter left of his Race; a Beauty that, to describe
her truly, one need say only, she was Female to the noble Male; the beautiful
Black Venus, to our young Mars; as charming in her Person as he,
and of delicate Vertues. I have seen an hundred White Men sighing after her,
and making a thousand Vows at her Feet, all vain, and unsuccessful: And she was,
indeed, too great for any, but a Prince of her own Nation to adore.
Oroonoko coming from the Wars, (which were now ended) after he had made his
Court to his Grandfather, he thought in Honour he ought to make a Visit to
Imoinda, the Daughter of his Foster-father, the dead General; and to make
some Excuses to her, because his Preservation was the Occasion of her Father's Death;
and to present her with those Slaves that had been taken in this last Battel, as the
Trophies of her Father's Victories. When he came, attended by all the young Soldiers
of any Merit, he was infinitely surpriz'd at the Beauty of this fair Queen of Night,
whose Face and Person was so exceeding all he had ever beheld, that lovely Modesty
with which she receiv'd him, that Softness in her Look, and Sighs, upon the
melancholy Occasion of Oroonoko, and a Prince of whom she had heard such admirable things; the
Awfulness wherewith she receiv'd him, and the Sweetness of her Words and Behaviour
while he stay'd, gain'd a perfect Conquest over his fierce Heart, and made him feel,
the Victor cou'd be subdu'd. So that having made his first Complements, and presented
her an hundred and fifty Slaves in Fetters, he told her with his Eyes, that he was
not insensible of her Charms; while Imoinda, who wish'd for nothing more
than so glorious a Conquest, was pleas'd to believe, she understood that silent
Language of new-born Love; and from that Moment, put on all her Additions to
Beauty.
Imoinda, he had the pleasure to
hear all his Followers speak of nothing but the Charms of that Maid; insomuch that,
even in the Presence of the old King, they were extolling her, and heightning, if
possible, the Beauties they had found in her: So that nothing else was talk'd of, no
other Sound was heard in every Corner where there were Whisperers, but Imoinda!
Imoinda!
'Twill be imagin'd Oroonoko stay'd not long before he made his second Visit;
nor, considering his Quality, not much longer before he told her, he ador'd her. I
have often heard him say, that he admir'd by what strange Inspiration he came to talk
things so soft, andImoinda with a Sense
of his Passion. She was touch'd with what he said, and return'd it all in such
Answers as went to his very Heart, with a Pleasure unknown before: Nor did he use
those Obligations ill, that Love had done him; but turn'd all his happy Moments to
the best advantage; and as he knew no Vice, his Flame aim'd at nothing but Honour, if
such a distinction may be made in Love; and especially in that Country, where Men
take to themselves as manyChristian-Countries, where they prefer
the bare Name of Religion; and, without Vertue or Morality, think that's sufficient.
But Oroonoko was none of those Professors; but as he had right Notions of
Honour, so he made her such Propositions as were not only and barely such; but,
contrary to the Custom of his Country, he made her Vows, she shou'd be the only woman
he wou'd possess while he liv'd; that no Age or Wrinkles shou'd incline him to
change, for her Soul wou'd be always fine, and always young; and he shou'd have an
eternal Idea in his Mind of the Charms she now Idea, when he cou'd find it no longer in her
Face.
After a thousand Assurances of his lasting Flame, and her eternal Empire over him, she condescended to receive him for her Husband; or rather, receiv'd him, as the greatest Honour the God's cou'd do her.
There is a certain Ceremony in these Cases to be observ'd, which I forgot to ask him how perform'd; but 'twas concluded on both sides, that, in Obedience to him, the Grand-father was to be first made acquainted with the Design: for they pay a most absolute Resignation to the Monarch, especially when he is a Parent also.
On the other side, the old King, who had many Wives, and manyWonder, before he us'd his Power to call
her to Court (where Maidens never came, unless for the King's private Use) he was
next to consider; and while he was so doing, he had Intelligence Imoinda was most certainly Mistress to the Prince
Oroonoko. This gave him some Shagrien; however, it gave him also
an Opportunity, one Day, when the Prince was a-hunting, to wait on a Man of Quality,
as his Slave and Attendant, who shou'd go and make a Present to Imoinda, as
from the Prince; he shou'd then, unknown, see this fair Maid, and have an Opportunity
to hear what Message she wou'd return the Prince for his Present; and from thence
gather the state of her Heart, and degree of her Inclination. This was put in
Execution, and the old Monarch saw, and burnt: He found her all he had heard, and
wou'd not delay his Happiness, but found he shou'd have some Obstacle to overcome her
Heart; for she express'd Oroonoko
entirely. This gave the old King some Affliction; but he salv'd it with this, that
the Obedience the People pay their King, was not at all inferior to what they pay'd
their Gods: And what Love wou'd not oblige Imoinda to do, Duty wou'd compel
her to.
He was therefore no sooner got to his Apartment, but he sent the Royal Veil to
Imoinda; that is, the Ceremony of Invitation; he sends the Lady, he has a
Mind to honour with his Bed, a Veil, with which she is cover'd, and secur'd for the
King's Use; and 'tis Death to disobey; besides, held a most impious Disobedience.
They brought her thus to Court; and the King, who had caus'd a very rich Bath to be
prepar'd, was led into it, where he sate under a Canopy, in State, to receive this
long'd for Virgin; whom he having commanded shou'd be brought to him, they (after
dis-robing her) led her to the Bath, and making fast the Doors, left her to descend.
The King, without more Courtship, bad her throw off her Mantle, and come to his Arms.
But Imoinda, all in
The King, enrag'd at this Delay, hastily demanded the Name of the bold Man, that had
marry'd a Woman of her Degree, without his Consent. Imoinda, seeing his Eyes
fierce, and his Hands tremble; Oroonoko himself. Therefore (said he) deny this Marriage,
and swear thy self a Maid. That (reply'd Imoinda) by all our Powers I do;
for I am not yet known to my Husband. 'Tis enough (said the King:) 'tis
enough
to satisfie both my Conscience, and my Heart. And rising from his Seat, he
went, and led her into the Bath; it being in vain for her to resist.
In this time the Prince, who was return'd from Hunting, went to visit his
Imoinda, but found her gone; and not only so, but heard she had receiv'd
the Royal Veil
Imoinda. He wou'd give way to that Hope, because it pleas'd him most, and
flatter'd best his Heart. Yet this O my Friends! were she in
wall'd Cities, or confin'd from me in Fortifications of the greatest Strength; did
Inchantments or Monsters detain her from me, I wou'd venture through any Hazard to
free her: Buthere, in the Arms of a feeble old Man, my Youth, my violent Love, my
Trade
in Arms, and all my vast Desire of Glory, avail me
nothing: Imoinda is as irrecoverably lost to me, as if she were snatch'd
by the cold Arms of Death: Oh! she is never to be retriev'd. If I wou'd wait
tedious Years, till Fate shou'd bow the old King to his Grave; even that wou'd not
leave me Imoinda free; but still that Custom that makes it so vile a
Crime for a Son to marry his Father's Wives or Mistresses, wou'd hinder my
Happiness; unless I wou'd either ignobly set an ill President to my Successors, or
abandon my Country, and fly with her to some unknown World, who never heard our
Story.
But it was objected to him, that his Case was not the same; for Imoinda
being his lawful Wife, by solemn Contract, 'twas he was the injur'd Man, and might,
if he so pleas'd, take Imoinda back, the Seraglio, it was both just and
lawful for him so to do.
This Reasoning had some force upon him, and he shou'd have been entirely comforted,
but for the Thought that she was possess'd by his Grand-father. However, he lov'd so
well, that he was resolv'd to believe what most favour'd his Hope; and to endeavour
to learn from Imoinda's own Mouth, what only she cou'd satisfie him in;
whether she was robb'd of that Blessing, which was only due to his Faith and Love.
But as it was very hard to get a Sight of the Women, for no Men ever enter'd into the
Otan, but when
While Oroonoko felt all the Agonies of Love, and suffer'd under a Torment
the most painful in the World, the old King was not exempted from his share of
Affliction. He was troubl'd for having been forc'd by an irresistable Passion, to rob
his Son
Oroonoko; and oftentimes cou'd not forbear speaking of him, though
her Life were, by Custom, forfeited by owning her Passion. But she spoke not of a
Lover only, but of a Prince dear to him, to whom she spoke; and of the Praises of a
Man, who, till now, fill'd the old Man's Soul with Joy at every Recital of his
Bravery, or even his Name. And 'twas this Dotage on our young Hero, that
gave Imoinda a thousand Privileges to speak of him, without offending; and
this Condescention in the old King, that made her take the Satisfaction of speaking
of him so very often.
Besides, he many times enquir'd how the Prince bore himself; and those of whom he
ask'd, being entirely Slaves to the Merits and Vertues Imoinda, and had
resign'd her willingly to the Pleasure of the King; that he diverted himself with his
Mathematicians, his Fortifications, his Officers, and his Hunting.
This pleas'd the old Lover, who fail'd not to report these things again to
Imoinda, that she might, by the Example of her young Lover, withdraw her
Heart, and rest better contented in his Arms. But however she was forc'd to receive
this unwelcome News, in all Appearance, with Unconcern, and Content, her Heart was
bursting within, and she was only happy when she cou'd get alone, to vent her Griefs
and Moans with Sighs and Tears.
Imoinda, he carry'd him with him, in his Train, to the Otan,
often to banquet with his Mistress. But as soon as he enter'd, one Day, into the
Apartment of Imoinda, with the King, at the first Glance from her Eyes,
notwithstanding all his determin d Resolution, he was ready to sink in the place
where he stood; and had certainly done so, but for the Support of Aboan, a
young Man, who was next to him; which, with his Change of Countenance,A Negro can change
Colour; for I have seen 'em as frequently blush, and look pale, and that as
visibly as ever I saw in the most beautiful White. And 'tis certain that
both these Changes were evident, this Day, in both these Lovers. And
Imoinda, who saw with some Joy the Change in the Prince's Face, and found
it in her own, strove to divert the King from beholding either, by a forc'd Caress,
with which she met him; which was a new Wound in the Heart of the poor dying Prince.
But as soon as the King was busy'd in looking on some fine thing of
Imoinda's making, she had time to tell the Prince with her angry,Imoinda no longer
doubted, but she was the only Delight, and the Darling of that Soul she found
pleading in 'em its Right of Love, which none was more willing to resign than she.
And 'twas this powerful Language alone that in an Instant convey'd all the Thoughts
of their Souls to each other; that they both found, there wanted but Opportunity to
make them both entirely happy. But when he saw another Door open'd by
Onahal, a former old Wife of Imoinda; and saw the Prospect of a Bed of State made ready, with Sweets
and Flowers for the Dalliance of the King; who immediately lead the trembling Victim
from his Sight, into that prepar'd Repose. What Rage! what wild Frenzies seiz'd his
Heart! which forcing to keep within Bounds, and to suffer without Noise, it became
the more insupportable, and rent his Soul with ten thousand Pains. He was forc'd to
retire, to vent his Groans; where he fell down on a Carpet, and lay struggling a long
time, and only breathing now and then,—O Imoinda! When Onahal had
finish'd her necessary Affair within, shutting the Door, she came forth to wait, till
the King call'd; and hearing some one sighing in the otherImoinda. She told him, he had not so
much Cause as he imagin'd, to afflict himself; for if he knew the King so well as she
did, he wou'd not lose a Moment in Jealousie, and that she was confident that
Imoinda bore, at this Minute, part in his Affliction. Aboan was
of the same Opinion; and both together, perswaded him to re-assume his Courage; and
all sitting down on the Carpet, the Prince said so many obliging things to
Onahal, that he half perswaded her to be of his Party. And she promis'd
him, she wou'd thus far comply with his just Desires, that sheImoinda know how faithful he was, what he suffer'd, and what he said.
This Discourse lasted till the King call'd, which gave Oroonoko a certain
Satisfaction; and with the Hope Onahal had made him conceive, he assum'd a
Look as gay as 'twas possible a Man in his Circumstances cou'd do; and presently
after, he was call'd in with the rest who waited without. The King commanded Musick
to be brought, and several of his young Wives and Mistresses came all together by his
Command, to dance before him; where Imoinda perform'd her Part with an Air
and Grace so passing all the rest, as her Beauty was above 'em; and receiv'd the
Present, ordain'd as a Prize. The Prince was every Moment more charm'd with the Onahal was retir'd to a Window with Aboan.
This Onahal, as I said, was one of the Cast-Mistresses
That once was a delicate
Woman. These abandon'd Ladies therefore endeavour to revenge all the
Despights, and Decays of Time, on these flourishing happy Ones. And 'twas this
Severity, that gave Oroonoko a thousand Fears he shou'd never prevail with
Onahal, to see Imoinda. But, as I said, she was now retir'd to a
Window with Aboan.
This young Man was not only one of the best Quality, but a Man Otan,
he had subdu'd the Heart of the antiquated Onahal, which had not forgot how
pleasant it was to be in Love: And though she had some Decays in her Face, she had
none in her Sence and Wit; she was there agreeable still, even to Aboan's
Youth; so that he took pleasure in entertaining her with Discourses of Love: He knew
also, that to make his Court to these She-Favourites, was the way to be great; these
being the Persons that do all Affairs and Business at Court. He had also observ'd
that she had given him Glances more tender and inviting, than she had done to others
of his Quality: And now, when he saw that her Favour cou'd so absolutely oblige the
Prince, he
Aboan fail'd not that Night to tell the Prince of his Success, and how
advantageous the Service of Onahal might be to his Amour with
Imoinda. The Prince was overjoy'd with this good News, and besought him,
if it were possible, to caress her so, as to engage her entirely; which he cou'd not
fail to do, if he comply'd with her Desires: For then (said the Prince)
her Life lying at your Mercy, she must grant you the Request you make in
my
Behalf. Aboan understood him; and assur'd him, he
would make Love so effectually, that he wou'd defie the most expert Mistress of the
Art, to find out whether he dissembl'd it, or had it really. And 'twas with
Impatience they waited the next Opportunity of going to the Otan.
The Wars came on, the Time of taking the Field approach'd, and 'twas impossible for
the Prince to delay his going at the Head of his Army, to encounter the Enemy: So
that every Day seem'd a tedious Year, till he saw his Imoinda; for he
believ'd he cou'd not live, if he were forc'd away without being so happy. 'Twas with
Impatience therefore, that he expected the next Visit the King wou'd make; and,
according to his Wish, it was not long.
Otan; he therefore urg'd
Aboan to make the best of this last Effort, and to explain himself so to
Onahal, that she, deferring her Enjoyment of her young Lover no longer,
might make way for the Prince to speak to Imoinda.
The whole Affair being agreed on between the Prince and Aboan, they attended
the King, as the Custom was, to the Otan; where, while the whole Company was
taken up in beholding the Dancing, and antick Postures the WomenOnahal singl'd out Aboan, whom she found
most pliable to her Wish. When she had him where she believ'd she cou'd not be heard,
she sigh'd to him, and softly cry'd, Ah, Aboan! When will you be
sensible of my Passion? I confess it with my Mouth, because I wou'd not give my
Eyes the Lye; and you have but too much already perceiv'd they have confess'd my
Flame: Nor wou'd I have you believe, that because I am the abandon'd Mistress of a
King, I esteem my self altogether divested of Charms. No, Aboan; I have
still a Rest of Beauty enough engaging, and have learn'd to please too well, not
to be desirable. I can have Lovers still, but will have none but Aboan.
Madam (reply'd the half-feigning Youth) you have already, by my Eyes,
found, you can still conquer; and I believe 'tis in pity of me,
you condescend to this kind Confession. But, Madam, Words are us'd to be so
small a part of our Country-Courtship, that 'tis rare one can get so happy an
Opportunity as to tell one's Heart; and those few Minutes we have are forc'd to be
snatch'd for more certain Proofs of Love, than speaking and sighing; and such I
languish for.
He spoke this with such a Tone, that she hop'd it true, and cou'd not forbear
believing it; and being wholly transported with Joy, for having subdu'd the finest of
all the King's Subjects to her Desires, she took from her Ears two large Pearls, and
commanded him to wear 'em in his. He wou'd have refus'd 'em, crying, Madam, these
are not the Proofs of your Love that I expect; 'tis Opportunity, 'tis a Lonehour
only, that can make me happy. But forcing the Pearls into hisOh! Do not fear a Woman's Invention, when Love
sets her a-thinking. And pressing his Hand, she cry'd, This Night you
shall be happy. Come to the Gate of the Orange-Groves, behind the Otan;
and I will be ready, about Mid-night, to receive you. 'Twas thus agreed,
and she left him, that no notice might be taken of their speaking together.
The Ladies were still dancing, and the King, laid on a Carpet, with a great deal of
pleasure, was beholding them, especially Imoinda; who that Day appear'd more
lovely than ever, being enliven'd with the good Tidings Onahal had brought
her of the constant Passion the Prince had for her. The Prince was laid on another
Carpet, at the other end of the Room, with his Eyes fix'd on the Object Imoinda employ her Eyes to any other Use,
than in beholding with infinite Pleasure the Joy she produc'd in those of the Prince.
But while she was more regarding him, than the Steps she took, she chanc'd to fall;
and so near him, as that leaping with extream force from the Carpet, he caught her in
his Arms as she fell; and 'twas visible to the whole Presence, the Joy wherewith he
receiv'd her: He clasp'd her close to his Bosom, and quite forgot that Reverence that
was due to the Mistress of a King, and that Punishment that is the Reward of a
Boldness of this nature; and had not the Presence of Mind of Imoinda (fonder
of his Safety, than herImoinda to her Apartment, and sent out Word to the Prince, to go
immediately to the Camp; and that if he were found another Night in Court, he shou'd
suffer the Death ordain'd for disobedient Offenders.
You may imagine how welcome this News was to Oroonoko, whose unseasonable
Transport and Caress of Imoinda was blam'd by all Men that lov'd him; and
now he perceiv'd his Fault, yet cry'd, That for such another Moment, he wou'd be
content to die.
All the Otan was in disorder about this Accident; and Onahal
Aboan. So that, e'er they
departed, they contriv'd it so, that the Prince and he shou'd come both that Night to
the Grove of the Otan, which was all of Oranges and Citrons; and that there
they shou'd wait her Orders.
They parted thus, with Grief enough, till Night; leaving the King in possession of
the lovely Maid. But nothing cou'd appease the Jealousie of the old Lover: He wou'd
not be impos'd on, but wou'd have it, that Imoinda made a false Step on
purpose to fall into Oroonoko's Bosom, and that all things look'd like a
Design on both sides, and 'twas in vain she protested her Innocence: He was old and
obstinate, and left her more
The King going to his Apartment, sent to know where the Prince was, and if he
intended to obey his Command. The Messenger return'd, and told him, he found the
Prince pensive, and altogether unpreparing for the Campaign; that he lay negligently
on the Ground, and answer'd very little. This confirm'd the Jealousie of the King,
and he commanded that they shou'd very narrowly and privately watch his Motions; and
that he shou'd not stir from his Apartment, but one Spy or other shou'd be employ'd
to watch him: So that the Hour approaching, wherein he was to go to the Citron-Grove;
and taking only Aboan along with him, he leaves his Apartment, and was
watch'd to theOtan; where he was seen to
enter, and where they left him, to carry back the Tidings to the King.
Oroonoko and Aboan were no sooner enter'd, but Onahal led
the Prince to the Apartment of Imoinda; who, not knowing any thing of her
Happiness, was laid in Bed. But Onahal only left him in her Chamber, to make
the best of his Opportunity, and took her dear Aboan to her own; where he
shew'd the heighth of Complaisance for his Prince, when, to give him an Opportunity,
he suffer'd himself to be caress'd in Bed by Onahal.
The Prince softly waken'd Imoinda, who was not a little surpriz'd with Joy
to find him there; and yet she trembl'd with a thousand Fears. I believe, he omitted
saying nothing to this young Maid,
'Tis not to be imagin'd the Satisfaction of these two young Lovers; nor the Vows she
made him, that she remain'd a spotless Maid, till that Night; and that what she did
with his Grand-father, had robb'd him of no part of her Virgin-Honour, the Gods, in
Mercy and Justice, having reserv'd that for her plighted Lord, to whom of Right it
belong'd. And 'tis impossible to express the TransportsRoyal Veil. 'Twas thus, between a thousand
Caresses, that both bemoan'd the hard Fate of Youth and Beauty, so liable to that
cruel Promotion: 'Twas a Glory that cou'd well have been spar'd here, though desir'd,
and aim'd at by all the young Females of that Kingdom.
But while they were thus fondly employ'd, forgetting how Time ran on, and that the
Dawn must conduct him far away from his only Happiness, they heard a great Noise in
the Otan, and unusual Voices of Men; at which the Prince, starting from the
Arms of the frighted Imoinda, ran to a little Battel-Ax he us'd to wear by
his Side; and having not so much leisure, as to put on his Habit, he oppos'd himself
against some who were already opening the Door; Oroonoko was not able to defend it; but was forc'd to
cry out with a commanding Voice, Whoever ye are that have the Boldness to attempt
to approach this Apartment thus rudely, know, that I, the Prince Oroonoko,
will revenge it with the certain Death of him that first enters: Therefore
stand back, and know, this place is sacred to Love, and me this Night; to Morrow
'tis the King's.
This he spoke with a Voice so resolv'd and assur'd, that they soon retir'd from the
Door, but cry'd, 'Tis by the King's Command we are come; and being satisfy'd by
thy Voice, O Prince, as much as if we had enter'd, we can report to the King the
Truth of all his Fears, and leave thee to provide for thy own Safety, as thou art
advis'd by thy Friends.
Imoinda; who trusting in the strength of her Charms,
believ'd she shou'd appease the Fury of a jealous King, by saying, She was surpriz'd,
and that it was by force of Arms he got into her Apartment. All her Concern now was
for his Life, and therefore she hasten'd him to the Camp; and with much a-do,
prevail'd on him to go: Nor was it she alone that prevail'd, Aboan and
Onahal both pleaded, and both assur'd him of a Lye that shou'd be well
enough contriv'd to secure Imoinda. So that, at last, with a Heart sad as
Death, dying Eyes, and sighing Soul, Oroonoko departed, and took his way to
the Camp.
Otan;
where beholding Imoinda with Rage in his Eyes, he upbraided her Wickedness
and Perfidy, and threatning her Royal Lover, she fell on her Face at his Feet,
bedewing the Floor with her Tears, and imploring his Pardon for a Fault which she had
not with her Will committed; as Onahal, who was also prostrate with her,
cou'd testifie: That, unknown to her, he had broke into her Apartment, and ravish'd
her. She spoke this much against her Conscience; but to save her own Life, 'twas
absolutely necessary she shou'd feign this Falsity. She knew it cou'd not injure the
Prince, he being fled to-an-Army that wou'd stand by him, against any Injuries that
shou'd assault him. However, Imoinda's
being ravish'd, chang'd the Measures of his Revenge; and whereas before he design'd
to be himself her Executioner, he now resolv'd she shou'd not die. But as it is the
greatest Crime in nature amongst 'em to touch a Woman, after having been possess'd by
a Son, a Father, or a Brother; so now he look'd on Imoinda as a polluted
thing, wholly unfit for his Embrace; nor wou'd he resign her to his Grand-son,
because she had receiv'd the Royal Veil. He therefore removes her from the
Otan, with Onahal; whom he put into safe Hands, with Order they
shou'd be both sold off, as Slaves, to another Country, either Christian, or
Heathen; 'twas no matter where.
Otan, knew any
thing of their Absence, or their Destiny.
The old King, nevertheless, executed this with a great deal of Reluctancy; but he
believ'd he had made a very great Conquest over himself, when he had once resolv'd,
and had perform'd what he resolv'd. He believ'd now, that his Love had been unjust;
and that he cou'd not expect the Gods, or Captain
of the Clouds
Oroonoko excus'd; and
Imoinda was belov'd by the Prince; even those
confess'd it now, who said the contrary before his Flame was abated. So that the King
being old, and not able to defend himself in War, and having no Sons of all his Race
remaining alive, but only this, to maintain him on his Throne; and looking on this as
a Man disoblig'd, first by the Rape of his Mistress, or rather, Wife; and now by
depriving of him wholly of her, he fear'd, might make him desperate, and do some
cruel thing, either to himself, or his old Grand-father, the Offender; he began to
repent him extreamly of the Contempt he had, in his Rage, put on Imoinda.
Besides, he consider'd he ought inImoinda did,
but cou'd not obtain that Honour. Seeing therefore it was certain that
Oroonoko wou'd highly resent this Affront, he thought good to make some
Excuse for his Rashness to him; and to that End he sent a Messenger to the Camp, with
Orders to treat with him about the Master, to gain his Pardon, and to endeavour to
mitigate his Grief; but that by no means he shou'd tell him, she was sold, but
secretly put to death;
When the Messenger came, he found the Prince upon the point of Engaging with the
Enemy; but as soon as he heard of the Arrival of the Messenger, he commanded him to
his Tent, where he embrac'd him, and receiv'd him with Joy; which was soon abated, by
the down-cast Looks of the Messenger, who was instantly demanded the Cause by
Oroonoko, who, impatient of Delay, ask'd a thousand Questions in a
Breath; and all concerning Imoinda: But there needed little Return, for he
cou'd almost answer himself of all he demanded, from his Sighs and Eyes. At last, the
Messenger casting himself at the Prince's Feet, and kissing them, with all the
Submission of a Man that had something to imploreOroonoko reply'd, with
a deep Sigh, and a languishing Voice,—I am arm'd against their worst Efforts—;
for I know they will tell me, Imoinda is no more—; and after that, you
may spare the rest. Then, commanding him to rise, he laid himself on a
Carpet, under a rich Pavillion, and remain'd a good while silent, and was hardly
heard to sigh. When he was come a little to himself, the Messenger ask'd him leave to
deliver that part of his Embassy, which the Prince had not yet devin'd: And the
Prince cry'd, I permit thee—Then he told him the Affliction Imoinda; and how he daign'd to ask Pardon for his Offence, and to implore
the Prince wou'd not suffer that Loss to touch his Heart too sensibly, which now all
the Gods cou'd not restore him, but might recompence him in Glory, which he begg'd he
wou'd pursue; and that Death, that common Revenger of all Injuries, wou'd soon even
the Account between him, and a feeble old Man.
Oroonoko bad him return his Duty to his Lord and Master; and to assure him,
there was no Account of Revenge to be adjusted between them; if there were, 'twas he
was the Agressor, and that Death wou'd be just, and, maugre
After having spoken this, whatever his greatest Officers, and Men of the best Rank
could do, they cou'd not raise him from the Carpet, or perswade him to Action, and
Resolutions of Life; but commanding all to retire, he shut himself into his Pavillion
all that Day, while the Enemy was ready to engage; and wondring at the Delay, the
whole Body of the chiefGo, (continu'd he, sighing) and divide it amongst you; and reap
with Joy what you so vainly prize, and leave me to my more welcome Destiny.
They then demanded what they shou'd do, and whom he For, O my Friends (said he!) it is not Titles
make Men brave, or good; or Birth that bestows Courage and Generosity, or makes
the Owner happy. Believe this, when you behold Oroonoko, the most
wretched, and abandon'd by Fortune, of all the Creation of the Gods. So
turning himself about, he wou'd make no more Reply to all they cou'd urge or
implore.
The Army beholding their Officers return unsuccessful, with sad Faces, and ominous
Looks, that Aboan had Orders to command as General; yet they were
so dismay'd for want of that great Example of Bravery, that they cou'd make but a
very feeble Resistance; and at last, down-right, fled before the Enemy, who pursu'd
'em to the very Tents, killing 'em: Nor cou'd all Aboan's Courage, which
that Day gain'd him immortal Glory, shame 'em into a Manly Defence of themselves. The
Guards that were left behind, Come, if we must die, let us meet Death the
noblest Way; and 'twill be more like Oroonoko to encounter him at an
Army's Head, opposing the Torrent of a conquering Foe, than lazily, on a Couch, to
wait his lingering Pleasure, and die every Moment by a thousand wrecking Thought;
or be tamely taken by an
Enemy, and led a whining, Love-sick Slave, to adorn the Triumphs
of Jamoan, that young Victor, who already is enter'd beyond the Limits I
had prescrib d him.
While he was speaking, he suffer'd his People to dress him for the Field; and
sallying out of his Pavillion, with more Life and Vigour in his Countenance than ever
he shew'd, he appear'd like some Divine Power descended to save his Country from
Destruction; and his People had purposely put him on all things that might make him
shine with most Splendor, to strike a reverend Awe into the Beholders. He flew into
the thickest of those that were pursuing his Men; and being animated with Despair, he
fought as if he came on purpose to die, and did such things as will not be believ'd
that Humane Hero;
who turning the Tide of the Victory, changing absolutely the Fate of the Day, gain'd
an entire Conquest; and Oroonoko having the good Fortune to single out
Jamoan, he took him Prisoner with his own Hand, having wounded him almost
to death.
This Jamoan afterwards became very dear to him, being a Man very gallant,
and of excellent Graces, and fine Parts; so that he never put him amongst the Rank of
Captives, as they us'd to do, without distinction, for the common Sale, or Market;
but kept himOroonoko; and by a thousand Tales and Adventures of Love and
Gallantry, flatter'd his Disease of Melancholy and Languishment; which I have often
heard him say, had certainly kill'd him, but for the Conversation of this Prince and
Aboan, the French Governor he had from his Childhood, of whom I
have spoken before, and who was a Man of admirable Wit, great Ingenuity and Learning;
all which he had infus'd into his young Pupil. This French-Man was banish'd
out of his own Country, for some Heretical Notions he held; and though he was a Man
of very little Religion, he
After the total Defeat of Jamoan's Army, which all fled, or were left dead
upon the Place, they spent some time in the Camp; Oroonoko chusing rather to
remain a while there in his Tents, than enter into a Place, or live in a Court where
he had so lately suffer d so great a Loss. The Officers therefore, who saw and knew
his Cause of Discontent, invented all sorts of Diversions and Sports, to entertain
their Prince: So that what with those Amuzements abroad, and others at home, that is,
within their Tents, with the Perswasions, Arguments and Care of his Friends and
Servants that he more peculiarly priz'd, he wore off in time a great part of that
Shagrien
Imoinda's Death had given him: Insomuch as having receiv'd a thousand
kind Embassies from the King, and Invitations to return to Court, he obey'd, though
with no little Reluctancy; and when he did so, there was a visible Change in him, and
for a long time he was much more melancholy than before. But Time lessens all
Extreams, and reduces 'em to Mediums and Unconcern; but no Motives or
Beauties, though all endeavour'd it, cou'd engage him in any sort of Amour, though he
had all the Invitations to it, both from his own Youth, and others Ambitions and
Designs.
Oroonoko was no sooner return'd from this last Conquest, and receiv'd at
Court with all the Joy English Ship.
This Person
Oroonoko, with whom he had traffick'd for Slaves, and had us'd to do the
same with his Predecessors.
This Commander was a Man of a finer sort of Address, and Conversation, better bred,
and more engaging, than most of that sort of Men are; so that he seem'd rather never
to have been bred out of a Court, than almost all his Life at Sea. This Captain
therefore was always better receiv'd at Court, than most of the Traders to those
Countries were; and Oroonoko, who was more
civiliz'd, according to the European Mode, than any other had been, and took
more Delight in the White Nations; and, above all, Men of Parts and Wit. To
this Captain he sold abundance of his Slaves; and for the Favour and Esteem he had
for him, made him many Presents, and oblig'd him to stay at Court as long as possibly
he cou'd. Which the Captain seem'd to take as a very great Honour done him,
entertaining the Prince every Day with Globes and Maps, and Mathematical Discourses
and Instruments; eating, drinking, hunting and living with him with so much
Familiarity, that it was not to be doubted, but he had gain'd very greatly upon the
Heart of this gallant young Man. And the Captain,Oroonoko was extreamly delighted; who met
him on the Shoar, attended by his French Governor, Jamoan, Aboan,
and about an hundred of the noblest of the Youths of the
The Prince having drunk hard of Punch, and several Sorts of Wine, as did all the rest
(for great Care was taken, they shou'd want nothing of that part of the
Entertainment) was very merry, and in great Admiration of the Ship, for he had never
been in one before; so that he was curious of beholding every place, where he
decently might descend. The rest, no less curious, who were not quite overcome with
Drinking, rambl'd at their pleasure Fore and Aft, as their Fancies
guided 'em: So that the Captain, who had
Some have commended this Act, as brave, in the Captain; but I will spare my Sence of it, and leave it to my Reader, to judge as he pleases.
This did not a little vex the Captain, and the more so, because, he found almost all
of 'em of the same Humour; so that the loss of so many brave Slaves, so tall and
goodly to behold, wou'd have been very considerable: He therefore order'd one to go
from him (for he wou'd not be seen himself) to Oroonoko, and to assure him
he was afflicted for having rashly done so unhospitable a Deed, and which cou'd not
be now remedied, since they were far from shore; but since he resented it in so high
a nature, he assur'd him he wou'd revoke his Resolution, and set both him and his
Friends a-shore on the next Land they shou'd touch at; and of this the Messenger gave
Oroonoko, whose Honour was such as he never had violated a Word in his
Life himself, much less a solemn Asseveration; believ'd in an instant what this Man
said, but reply'd, He expected for a Confirmation of this, to have his shameful
Fetters dismiss'd. This Demand was carried to the Captain, who return'd him
answer, That the Offence had been so great which he had put upon the Prince, that he
durst not trust him with Liberty while he remained in the Ship, for fear lest by a
Valour natural to him, and a Revenge that would animate that Valour, he might commit
some Outrage fatal to himself and the King his Master, to whom his Vessel
did belong. To this Oroonoko replied,Captain, as he was Lord of the King's Vessel, and General of
those Men under his Command.
This was deliver'd to the still doubting Captain, who could not resolve to
trust a Heathen he said, upon his Parole
Oroonoko then replied, He was very
sorry to hear that the Captain pretended to the Knowledge and Worship of any
Gods, who had taught him no better Principles, than not to Credit as he
would be Credited: but they told him the Difference of their Faith occasion'd that
Distrust: For the Captain had protested to him upon the Word of a
Christian,
GOD;
which if he shou'd violate, he would expect eternal Torment in the World to come.
Is that all the Obligation he has to be Just to his Oath, replied
Oroonoko? Let him know I Swear by my Honour, which to violate, wou'd not only
render me contemptible and despised by all brave and honest Men, and so give my
self perpetual pain, but it wou'd be eternally offending and diseasing all
Mankind, harming, betraying, circumventing and outraging all Men; but Punishments
hereafter are suffer'd by ones self; and the World takes no cognizances whether
this God have revenged em, or not, tis done so secretly, and deferr'd so
long: While the Man of no Honour, suffers every moment the scorn and contempt of
the honester World, and dies every day ignominiously in his Fame, which
is more valuable than Life: I speak not this to move Belief, but to shew you how
you mistake, when you imagine, That he who will violate his Honour, will keep his
Word with his Gods. So turning from him with a disdainful smile, he refused
to answer him, when he urg'd him to know what Answer he shou'd carry back to his
Captain; so that he departed without saying any more.
The Captain pondering and consulting what to do, it was concluded that
nothing but Oroonoko's Liberty wou'd encourage any of the rest to eat,
except the French-man, whom the Captain cou'd not pretend to keep
Prisoner, but only told him he was secured because he might act something in favour
of the Prince, but that he shou'd be freed as soon
This being resolv'd, to make the Obligation the greater, the Captain himself went to
Oroonoko; where, after many Complements, and Assurances of what he had
already promis'd, he receiving from the Prince his Parole, and his Hand, for
his good Behaviour, dismiss'd his Irons, and brought him to his own Cabin; where,
after having treated and repos'd him a while, for he had neither eat nor slept in
four Days before, he besought him to visit those obstinate People in Chains, who
refus'd all manner
Oroonoko, who was too generous, not to give Credit to his Words, shew'd
himself to his People, who were transported with Excess of Joy at the sight of their
Darling Prince; falling at his Feet, and kissing and embracing 'em; believing, as
some Divine Oracle, all he assur'd 'em. But he besought 'em to bear their Chains with
that Bravery that became those whom he had seen act so nobly in Arms; and that they
cou'd not give him greater Proofs of their Love and Friendship, since 'twas all the
Security the Captain (his Friend) cou'd have, against the Revenge, he said, they
might possibly justly take, for the
After this they no longer refus'd to eat, but took what was brought 'em, and were
pleas'd with their Captivity, since by it they hop'd to redeem the Prince, who, all
the rest of the Voyage, was treated with all the Respect due to his Birth, though
nothing cou'd divert his Melancholy; and he wou'd often sigh for Imoinda,
and think this a Punishment due to his Misfortune, in having left that noble Maid
behind him, that fatal Night, in the Otan, when he fled to the Camp.
Possess'd with a thousand Thoughts of past Joys with this fair young Person, and a
thousand Surinam, a Colony belonging to
the King of England, and where they were to deliver some part of their
Slaves. There the Merchants and Gentlemen of the Country going on Board, to demand
those Lots of Slaves they had already agreed on; and, amongst those, the Over-seers
of those Plantations where I then chanc'd to be, the Captain, who had given the Word,
order'd his Men to bring up those noble Slaves in Fetters, whom I have spoken of; and
having put 'em, some in one, and some in other Lots, with Women and Children (which
they call Pickaninies
Oroonoko was first seiz'd on, and sold to our Over-seer, who had the first
Lot, with seventeen more of all sorts and sizes; but not one of Quality with him.
When he saw this, he found what they meant; for, as I said, he understood
English pretty well; and being wholly unarm'd and defenceless, so as it
was in vain to make any Resistance, he only beheld the Captain with a Look all fierce
and disdainful, upbraiding him with Eyes, that forc'd Blushes on his guilty Cheeks,
he only cry'd, in passing over the Side of the Ship, Farewel, Sir:
'Tis worth my Suffering, to gain so true a Knowledge both of you, and of your Gods
by whom you swear. And desiring those that held him to forbear their pains,
and telling 'em he wou'd make no Resistance, he cry'd, Come, my Fellow-Slaves;
let as descend, and see if we can meet with more Honour and Honesty in the next
World we shall touch upon. So he nimbly leap'd into the Boat, and shewing no
more Concern, suffer'd himself to be row'd up the River, with his seventeen
Companions.
The Gentleman that bought him was a young Cornish Gentleman, whose Name was
Trefry; a Man of great Wit, and fine Learning, and was carry'd into those
Parts by the Lord—Governor
Oroonoko to the English, had a great
mind to be enquiring into his Quality and Fortune; which, though Oroonoko
endeavour'd to hide, by only confessing he was above the Rank of common Slaves,
Trefry soon found he was yet something greater than he confess'd; and
from that Moment began to conceive so vast an Esteem for him, that he ever after
lov'd him as his dearest Brother, and shew'd him all the Civilities due to so great a
Man.
Trefry was a very good Mathematician, and a Linguist; cou'dFrench and Spanish; and in the three Days they remain'd in
the Boat (for so long were they going from the Ship, to the Plantation) he
entertain'd Oroonoko so agreeably with his Art and Discourse, that he was no
less pleas'd with Trefry, than he was with the Prince; and he thought
himself, at least, fortunate in this, that since he was a Slave, as long as he wou'd
suffer himself to remain so, he had a Man of so excellent Wit and Parts for a Master:
So that before they had finish'd their Voyage up the River, he made no scruple of
declaring to Trefry all his Fortunes, and most part of what I have here
related, and put himself wholly into the Hands of his new Friend, whom he found
resenting all the Injuries were done him, and was charm'd with all the Greatnesses of
his Actions; Trefry promis'd to take care about the enquiring after
their Condition, and that he shou'd have an Account of 'em.
Though, as Oroonoko afterwards said, he had little Reason to credit the
Words of a Backearary
Trefry; he saw an Honesty in his Eyes, and he found him wise and witty
enough to understand Honour; for it was one of his Maxims, A Man of Wit cou'd not
be a Knave or Villain.
In their passage up the River
Oroonoko was gone before him, and all People were in Admiration of his
Beauty. Besides, he had a rich Habit on, in which he was taken, so different from the
rest, and which the Captain cou'd not strip him of, because he was forc'd to surprize
his Person in the Minute he sold him. When he found hisTrefry to give him
something more befitting a Slave; which he did, and took off his Robes. Nevertheless,
he shone through all; and his Osenbrigs
Holland Suit he had on) cou'd not conceal the Graces of his Looks and
Mien; and he had no less Admirers, than when he had his dazeling Habit on: The Royal
Youth appear'd in spight of the Slave, and People cou'd not help treating him after a
different manner, without designing it: As soon as they approach'd him, they
venerated and esteem'd him; his Eyes insensibly commanded Respect, and his Behaviour
insinuated it into every Soul. So that there was nothing talk'd of but this young and
gallant Slave, even by those who yet knew not that he was a Prince.
Christians never buy any Slaves
but they give 'em some Name of their own, their native ones being likely very
barbarous, and hard to pronounce; so that Mr. Trefry gave Oroonoko
that of Caesar
Roman; for 'tis most evident, he wanted no
part of the Personal Courage of that Caesar, and acted things as memorable,
had they been done in some part of the World replenish'd with People, and Historians,
that might have given him his due. But his Misfortune was, to fall in an obscure
World, that afforded only a Female Pen to celebrate his Fame; though I doubt not but
it had liv'd from others Endeavours, if the Dutch, who, immediately after
his Trefry, who design'd it, dy'd before he
began it; and bemoan'd himself for not having undertook it in time.
For the future therefore, I must call Oroonoko, Caesar, since by that Name
only he was known in our Western World, and by that Name he was receiv'd on Shoar at
Parham-House
Negroes were.
At last, he wou'd needs go view his Land, his House, and the Business assign'd him.
But he no sooner came to the Houses of the Slaves, which are like a little Town by it
self, the Negroes all having left Work, but they all came forth to behold
him, and found he was that Prince who had, at several times, sold most of 'em to
these Live, O King!
Long live, O King! And kissing his Feet, paid him even Divine Homage.
Several English Gentlemen were with him; and what Mr. Trefry had
told 'em, was here confirm'd; of which he himself before had no other Witness than
Caesar himself: But he was infinitely glad to find his Grandure confirm'd
by the Adoration of all the Slaves.
Caesar troubl'd with their Over-Joy, and Over-Ceremony, besought 'em to
rise, and to receive him as their Fellow-Slave; assuring them, he was no better. At
which English had much a-do to appease; but at
last they prevail'd with 'em, and they prepar'd all their barbarous Musick, and every
one kill'd and dress'd something of his own Stock (for every Family has their Land
apart, on which, at their leisuretimes, they breed all eatable things;) and clubbing
it together, made a most magnificent Supper, inviting their Grandee
Prince, to
honour it with his Presence; which he did, and several English with him;
where they all waited on him, some playing, others dancing before him all the time,
according to the Manners of their several Nations; and with unwearied Industry,
endeavouring to please and delight him.
Trefry told Caesar, that most of these young Slaves
were undon in Love, with a fine she Slave, whom they had had about Six
Months on their Land; the Prince, who never heard the Name of Love
without a Sigh, nor any mention of it without the Curiosity of examining further into
that tale, which of all Discourses was most agreeable to him, asked, how they came to
be so Unhappy, as to be all Undon for one fair Slave? Trefry, who was
naturally Amorous, and lov'd to talk of Love as well as any body, proceeded to tell
him, they had the most charming Black that ever was beheld on their
Plantation, about Fifteen or Sixteen Years old, as he guest; that, for
his part, he had done nothing but Sigh for her Slaves perpetually at her Feet;
and the whole Country resounded with the Fame of Clemene, for so, said he,
we have Christ'ned her: But she denys us all with such a noble Disdain, that 'tis a
Miracle to see, that she, who can give such eternal Desires, shou'd herself be all
Ice, and all Unconcern. She is adorn'd with the most Graceful Modesty that ever
beautifyed Youth; the softest Sigher—that, if she were capable of Love, one would
swear she languish'd for some absent happy Man; andI do not wonder,
replied the Prince, that Clemene shou'd refuse Slaves, being as you say
so Beautiful, but wonder how she escapes those who can entertain her as you can
do; or why, being your Slave, you do not oblige her to yield. I confess, said
Trefry, when I have, against her will, entertain'd her with Love so long, as
to be transported
with my Passion; even above Decency, I have been ready to make use of those
advantages of Strength and Force Nature has given me. But oh! she disarms me, with
that Modesty and Weeping so tender and so moving, that I retire, and thank my
Stars she overcame me. The Company laught at his Civility to a
Slave, and Caesar only applauded the nobleness of his Passion
and Nature; since that Slave might be Noble, or, what was better, have true Notions
of Honour and Vertue in her. Thus past they this Night, after having received, from
the Slaves, all imaginable Respect and Obedience.
The next Day Trefry ask'd Caesar to walk, when the heat was
allay'd, and designedly carried him by the Cottage of the fair Slave; and
But, says he, I would not wish you to approach, for, I am sure, you
will be in Love as soon as you behold her. Caesar assur'd him, he was proof
against all the Charms of that Sex; and that if he imagin'd his Heart cou'd be so
perfidious to Love again, after Imoinda, he believ'd he shou'd tear it from
his Bosom: They had no sooner spoke, but a little shock Dog, that Clemene
had presented her, which she took great Delight in, ran out; and she, not knowing any
body was there, ran to get it in again, and bolted out on those who were just
Speaking of her: When seeing them, she wou'd have run in again; but Trefry
caught her by the Hand, and cry'd, Clemene, however you
fly a Lover, you ought to pay some Respect to this Stranger: (pointing to
Caesar) But she, as if she had resolv'd never to raise her Eyes to the
Face of a Man again, bent 'em the more to the Earth, when he spoke, and gave the
Prince the Leasure to look the more at her. There needed no long Gazing,
or Consideration, to examin who this fair Creature was; he soon saw Imoinda
all over her; in a Minute he saw her Face, her Shape, her Air, her Modesty, and all
that call'd forth his Soul with Joy at his Eyes, and left his Body destitute of
almost Life; it stood without Motion, and, for a Minute, knew not that it had a
Being; and, I believe, he had never come to himself, so opprest he was with over-Joy,
if he had not met Imoinda
fall dead in the Hands of Trefry: this awaken'd him, and he ran to her aid,
and caught her in his Arms, where, by degrees, she came to herself; and 'tis needless
to tell with what transports, what extasies of Joy, they both a while beheld each
other, without Speaking; then Snatcht each other to their Arms; then Gaze again, as
if they still doubted whether they possess'd the Blessing: They Graspt, but when they
recovered their Speech, 'tis not to be imagin'd, what tender things they exprest to
each other; wondering what strange Fate had brought 'em again together. They soon
inform'd each other of their Fortunes, and equally bewail'd their Fate; but, at the
sameCaesar swore he disdain'd the Empire of the World, while he cou'd behold
his Imoinda; and she despis'd Grandure and Pomp, those Vanities of her Sex,
when she cou'd Gaze on Oroonoko. He ador'd the very Cottage where she
resided, and said, That little Inch of the World wou'd give him more Happiness than
all the Universe cou'd do; and she vow'd, It was a Pallace, while adorn'd with the
Presence of Oroonoko.
Trefry was infinitely pleas'd with this Novel
Clemene
Caesar had before spoke; and was
not a little satisfied, that Heaven was so kind to the Prince, as to sweeten
his Misfortunes by so lucky an Accident; and leaving the Lovers to themselves, was
impatient to come down to Parham House, (which was on the same
Plantation) to give me an Account of what had hapned. I was as impatient
to make these Lovers a Visit, having already made a Friendship with Caesar;
and from his own Mouth learn'd what I have related, which was confirmed by his
French-man, who was set on Shore to seek his Fortunes; and of whom they cou'd not
make a Slave, because a Christian; and he came daily to Parham Hill to see
and pay his RespectsPrince: So that concerning
and intresting my self, in all that related to Caesar, whom I had assur'd of
Liberty, as soon as the Governor arriv'd, I hasted presently to the Place where the
Lovers were, and was infinitely glad to find this Beautiful young Slave (who
had already gain'd all our Esteems, for her Modesty and her extraordinary Prettyness)
to be the same I had heard Caesar speak so much off. One may imagine then,
we paid her a treble Respect; and though from her being carv'd in fine Flowers and
Birds all over her Body, we took her to be of Quality before, yet, when we knew
Clemene was Imoinda, we cou'd not enough admire her.
I had forgot to tell you, that Caesar; and those who are so
Carv'd over the Body, resemble our Ancient Picts,
From that happy Day Caesar took Clemene for his Wife, to the
general Joy of all People; and there was as much Magnificence as the Country wou'd
afford at the Celebration of this Wedding: and in a very short time after she Caesar even adore her, knowing
he was the last of his Great Race. This new Accident made him more Impatient of
Liberty, and he was every Day treating with Trefry for his and
Clemene's Liberty; and offer'd either Gold, or a vast quantity of Slaves,
which shou'd be paid before they let him go, provided he cou'd have any Security that
he shou'd go when his Ransom was paid: They fed him from Day to Day with Promises,
and delay'd him, till the Lord Governor shou'd come; so that he began to suspect them
of falshood, and that they wou'd delay him till the time of his Wives delivery, and
make a Slave of that too, For all the Breed isCaesar, and to give him
all the Satisfaction I possibly cou'd; they knew he and Clemene were scarce
an Hour in a Day from my Lodgings; that they eat with me, and that I oblig'd 'em in
all things I was capable of: I entertain'd him with the Lives of the Romans, and
great Men, which charm'd him to my Company; and her, with teaching her all the pretty
Works that I was Mistress Caesar lik'd that the worst, and wou'd never be reconcil'd to our Notions
of the Trinity, of which he ever made a Jest; it was a Riddle, he said, wou'd turn
his Brain to conceive, and one cou'd not make him understand what Faith was. However,
these Conversations fail'd not altogether so well to divert him, that he lik'd the
Company of us Women much above the Men; for he cou'd not Drink; and he is but an ill
Companion in that Country that cannot: So that obliging him to love us very well, we
had all the Liberty of Speech with him, especially my self, whom he call'd Great Mistress; and indeed my Word wou'd go a great way
with him. For these Reasons, I had Opportunity to take notice to him, that he was not
well pleasd of late, as he us'd to be; was more retir'd and thoughtful; and told him,
I took it Ill he shou'd Suspect we wou'd break our Words with him, and not permit
both him and Clemene to return to his own Kingdom, which was not so long a
way, but when he was once on his Voyage he wou'd quickly arrive there. He made me
some Answers that shew'd a doubt in him, which made me ask him, what advantage it
wou'd be to doubt? it would but give us a Fear of him, and possibly compel us to
treat him so as I shou'd bePlantation where he
was, he wou'd sooner forfeit his eternal Liberty, and Life it self, than lift his
Hand against his greatest Enemy on that Place: He besought me to suffer no Fears upon
his Account, for he cou'd do nothing that Honour shou'd not dictate; but he accus'd
himself for having suffer'd Slavery so long; yet he charg'd that weakness on Love
alone, whoTigers of a monstrous Size, which this Continent affords in
abundance; and wonderful Snakes, such as Alexander
Amazons, and which Caesar took great Delight to
overcome; yet these were not Actions great enough for his large Soul, which was still
panting after more renown'd Action.
Before I parted that Day with him, I got, with much ado, a Promise from him to rest
yet a little longer with Patience, and wait the coming of the Lord Governor, who was
every Day expected on our Shore; he assur'd me he wou'd, and this Promise he desired
me to know was given perfectly in Complaisance to me,
After this, I neither thought it convenient to trust him much out of our View, nor
did the Country who fear'd him; but with one accord it was advis'd to treat him
Fairly, and oblige him to remain within such a compass, and that he shou'd be
permitted, as seldom as cou'd be, to go up to the Plantations of the Negroes; or, if
he did, to be accompany'd by some that shou'd be rather in appearance Attendants than
Spys. This Care was for some time taken, and Caesar look'd upon it as a Mark
of extraordinary Respect, and was glad his discontent had oblig'd 'em to be more
observant to him; he received new assurance from
My stay was to be short in that Country, because my Father dy'd at Sea, and never
arriv'd to possess the Honour was design'd him, (which was Lieutenant-General of Six
and thirty Islands, besides the Continent of Surinam) nor the advantages he
hop'd to reap by them; so that though we were oblig'd to continue on our Voyage, we
did not Dutch. 'Tis a Continent
whose vast Extent was never yet known, and may contain more Noble Earth than all the
Universe besides; for, they say, it reaches from East to West; one Way as far as
China, and another to Peru: It affords all things both for
Beauty and Use; 'tis there Eternal Spring, always the very Months of April,
May and June; the Shades are perpetual, the Trees, bearing at once
all degrees of Leaves and Fruit,Armadilly, a thing which I
can liken to nothing so well as a Rhinoceros; 'tis all in white Armor so
joynted, that it moves as well in it, as if it had nothing on; this Beast is about
the bigness of a Pig of Six Weeks old. But it were endless to give an Account of all
the divers Wonderfull and Strange things that Country affords, and which we took a
very great Delight to go in search of; though Caesar in our
Company on these Designs we fear'd no harm, nor suffer'd any.
As soon as I came into the Country, the best House in it was presented me, call'd St.
John's Hill. It stood on a vast Rock of white Marble, at the Foot of
which the River ran a vast depth down, and not to be descended on that side; the
little Waves still dashing and washing the foot of this Rock, made the softest
Murmurs and Purlings in the World; and the Oposite Bank was adorn'd with such vast
quantities of different Flowers eternally Blowing, and every Day and Hour new, fenc'd
behind 'em with lofty Trees of a Thousand rareItaly can produce a Shade to outvie this, which Nature had joyn'd with Art
to render so exceeding Fine; and 'tis a marvel to see how such vast Trees, as big as
English Oaks, cou'd take footing on so solid a Rock, and in so little Earth, as
cover'd that Rock but all things by Nature there are Rare, Delightful and Wonderful.
But to our Sports;
Sometimes we wou'd go surprizing, and in search of young Tigers
Caesar was with us, who had no
soonerTiger from her Nest, but going off, we
incounter'd the Dam, bearing a Buttock of a Cow, which he had torn off with his
mighty Paw, and going with it towards his Den; we had only four Women,
Caesar, and an English Gentleman, Brother to Harry Martin, the
great Oliverian;
Caesar had not laid
down his Cub, when he found the Tiger quit her Prey to make the
more speed towards him; and taking Mr. Martin's Sword desir'd him to stand
aside, or follow the Ladies. He obey'd him, and Caesar met this monstrousTiger, who was laid in her Bloud on the Ground; he took up the
Cub, and with an unconcern, that had nothing of the Joy or Gladness of a
Victory, he came and laid the Whelp at my Feet: We all extreamly wonder'd at his
Daring, and at the Bigness of the Beast, which was about the highth of an Heifer, but
of mighty, great, and strong Limbs.
Another time, being in the Woods, he kill'd a Tiger, which had long infested
that part, and born away abundance of Sheep and Oxen, and other things, that were for
the support of those to whom they belong'd; abundance of People assail'd this Beast,
some affirming they had shot herCaesar, had often
said, he had a mind to encounter this Monster, and spoke with several Gentlemen who
had attempted her; one crying, I shot her with so many poyson'd Arrows, another with
his Gun in this part of her, and another in that; so that he remarking all these
Places where she was shot, fancy'd still he shou'd overcome her, by giving her
another sort of a Wound than any had yet done; and one day said (at the Table)
What Trophies and Garlands Ladies will you make me, if I bring you home the
Heart of
this Ravenous Beast, that eats up all your Lambs and Pigs? We all promis'd
he shou'd be rewarded at all our Hands. So taking a Bow, which he chus'd out of a
great many, he went up in the Wood with two Gentlemen, where he imagin'd this
Devourer to be; they had not past very far in it, but they heard her Voice, growling
and grumbling, as if she were pleas'd with something she was doing. When they came in
view, they found her muzzling in the Belly of a new ravish'd Sheep, which she had
torn open; and seeing herself approach'd, she took fast hold of her Prey, with her
fore Paws, and set a very fierce raging Look on Caesar, without offering to
approach him; for fear, at theCaesar remain'd a good while, only taking aim, and
getting an opportunity to shoot her where he design'd; 'twas some time before he
cou'd accomplish it, and to wound her, and not kill her, wou'd but have enrag'd her
more, and indanger'd him: He had a Quiver of Arrows at his side, so that if one
fail'd he cou'd be supply'd; at last, retiring a little, he gave her opportunity to
eat, for he found she was Ravenous, and fell too as soon as she saw him retire; being
more eager of her Prey than of doing new Mischiefs. When he going softly to one side
of her, and hiding his Person behind certain Herbage that grew high and thick, Caesar cut him Open with a Knife,
to see where those Wounds were that had been reported to him, and why he did not Die
of 'em. But I shall now relate a thing that possibly will find no Credit among Men,
because 'tis a Notion commonly receiv'd with us, That nothing can receive a Wound in
the Heart and Live; but when the Heart of this courageous Animal was taken out, there
were SevenCaesar occasion of many
fine Discourses; of Accidents in War, and Strange Escapes.
At other times he wou'd go a Fishing; and discoursing on that Diversion, he found we
had in that Country a very Strange Fish, call'd, a Numb Eel,
Eel of which I
have eaten) that while it is alive, it has a quality so Cold, that those who are
Angling, though with a Line of never so great a length, with a Rod Eel,
seize him or her that holds the Rod with benumb'dness, that shall deprive 'em of
Sense, for a while; and some have fall'n into the Water, and others drop'd as dead on
the Banks of the Rivers where they stood, as soon as this Fish touches the Bait.
Caesar us'd to laugh at this, and believ'd it impossible a Man cou'd
loose his Force at the touch of a Fish; and cou'd not understand that Philosophy,
that a cold Quality should be of that Nature: However, he had a great Curiosity to
try whether it wou'd have the same effect on him it had on others, and often try'd,
but in vain; at last, the sought forEel, and have
dismist the Rod, before it cou'd have too much Power over him; for Experiment sake,
he grasp'd it but the harder, and fainting fell into the River; and being still
possest of the Rod, the Tide carry'd him senseless as he was a great way, till an
Indian Boat took him up; and perceiv'd, when they touch'd him, a Numbness
seize them, and by that knew the Rod was in his Hand; which, with a Paddle (that is,
a short Oar) they struck away, and snatch'd it into the Boat, Eel and all. If Caesar were almost Dead, with the effect of
this Fish, he was more so with that of the Water, where he had remain'd the space of
going a League; and they found they had much a-do to bring him back to Life: But, at
last, they did, and brought him home, where he was in a few Hours well Recover'd and
Refresh'd; and not a little Asham'd to find he shou'd be overcome by an Eel;
and that all the People, who heard his Defiance, wou'd Laugh at him. But we cheared
him up; and he, being convinc'd, we had the Eel at Supper; which was a
quarter of an Ell
About this time we were in many mortal Fears, about some Disputes the
English had with the Indians; so that we cou'd scarce trust our
selves, without great Numbers, to go to any Indian Towns, or Place, where
they abode; for fear they shou'd fall upon us, as they did immediately after my
coming away; and that it was in the possession of the Dutch, who us'd 'em
not so civilly as the English; so that they cut in pieces all they cou'd
take, getting into Houses, and hanging up the Mother, and all her Children about her;
and cut a Footman, I left behind me, all in Joynts, and nail'd him to Trees.
Indian Towns. But one Day,
bemoaning of our Misfortunes upon this account, Caesar told us, we need not
Fear; for if we had a mind to go, he wou'd undertake to be our Guard: Some wou'd, but
most wou'd not venture; about Eighteen of us resolv'd, and took Barge; and, after
Eight Days, arriv'd near an Indian Town: But approaching it, the Hearts of
some of our Company fail'd, and they wou'd not venture on Shore; so we Poll'd who
wou'd, and who wou'd not: For my part, I said, If Caesar wou'd, I wou'd go;
he resolv'd, so did my Brother, andIndians, as
trading among 'em; and being, by long Living there, become a perfect Indian
in Colour, we, who resolv'd to surprize 'em, by making 'em see something they never
had seen, (that is, White People) resolv'd only my self, my Brother, and Woman shou'd
go; so Caesar, the Fisherman, and the rest, hiding behind someTepeeme; taking their Hair up in their Hands, and spreading it wide to
those they call'd out too; as if they would say (as indeed it signify'd)
Numberless Wonders, or not to be recounted, no more than to number the
Hair of their Heads. By degrees they grewCaesar, and the rest, saw we were receiv'd with such
wonder, they came up to us; and finding the Indian Trader whom they knew,
(for 'tis Indian Traders, we hold a
Commerce with 'em; for they love not to go far from home, and we never go to them)
when they saw him therefore they set up a new Joy; and cry'd, in their Language,
Oh! here's our
Tiguamy
Voyage de la France
équixonale en l’isle de Cayenne (1654, pp. 395-7). Todd argues that Behn
records a traditional greeting and provides the translation herself; however, it
should be noted that the term Amora has connection with the Latin Amore,
suggesting that Behn plays with contemporary accounts and phonetics to further
depict the indigenous characters as loving and peaceful. The phrase likely
developed out of interactions between the natives and the Spanish.and
we shall now know whether those things can speak: So advancing to him, some
of 'em gave him their Hands, and cry'd, Amora Tiguamy, which is as much as,
How do you, or Welcome Friend; and all, with one din, began to
gabble to him, and ask'd, If we had Sense, and Wit? if we cou'd talk of affairs of
Life, and War, as they cou'd do? if we cou'd Hunt, Swim, and do a thousand things
they use? He answer'd 'em, We cou'd. Then Indian Stools, which they
cut out of one intire piece of Wood, and Paint, in a sort of Japan Work: They serve
every one their Mess
Peeie, that is, Prophet. They showed us
their Indian Peeie a Youth of about Sixteen Years old, as handsom as Nature
cou'd make a Man. They consecrate a beautiful Youth from his Infancy, and all Arts
are us'd to compleat him in the finest manner, both in Beauty and Shape: He is bred
to all the little Arts and cunning they are capable of; to all the Legerdemain
Peeie had a
very young Wife, who seeing my Bròther kiss her, came running and kiss'd me; after
this, they kiss'd one another, and made it a very great Jest, it being so Novel; and
new Admiration and Laughing went round the Multitude, that they never will forget
that Ceremony, never before us'd or known. Caesar had a mind to see and talk
with their War Captains, and we were conducted to one of their Houses; where
we beheld several of the Captains, who had been at
Councel: But so frightful a Vision it was to see 'em no Fancy can create; no such
Dreams can represent so dreadful a Spectacle. For my part I took 'em for Hobgoblins,
or Fiends, rather than Men; but however their Shapes appear'd, their Souls were very
Humane and Noble; but some wanted their Noses, some their Lips, some both Noses and
Lips, some their Ears, and others Cut through each Cheek, with long Slashes, through
which their Teeth appear'd; they had other several formidable Wounds and Scars, or
rather Dismemberings; they had Comitias,
Amora Tigame to us, at our entrance, and were
pleas'd we said as much to em; they seated us, and gave us Drink of the best Sort;
and wonder'd, as much as the others had done before, to see us. Caesar was
marvelling as much at their Faces, wondering how they shou'd all be so Wounded in
War; he was Impatient to know how they all came by those frightful Marks of Rage or
Malice, rather than Wounds got in Noble Battel: They told us, by our Interpreter,
That when any War was waging, twoCaptain, whose Fighting was past, and who cou'd only teach the Theory of
War, these two Men were to stand in Competition for the Generalship, or Great War
Captain; and being brought before the old Judges, now past Labour, they are ask'd,
What they dare do to shew they are worthy to lead an Army? When he, who is first
ask'd, making no Reply, Cuts of his Nose, and throws it contemptably on the Ground;
and the other does something to himself that he thinks surpasses him, and perhaps
deprives himself of Lips and an Eye; so they Slash on till one gives out, and many
have dy'd in this Debate. And 'its by a passive Valour they
In this Voyage Caesar begot so good an understanding between the
Indians and the English, that there were no more Fears, or Heart-burnings
Caesar made it his
Business to search out and provide for our Entertainment, especially to please his
dearly Ador'd Imoinda, who was a sharer in all our Adventures; we being
resolv'd to make her Chains as easy as we cou'd, and
As we were coming up again, we met with some Indians of strange Aspects;
that is, of a larger Size, and other sort of Features, than those of our Country: Our
Indian Slaves, that Row'd us, ask'd 'em some Questions, but they cou'd
not understand us; but shew'd us a long Cotton String, with several Knots on it; and
told us, they had been coming from the Mountains so many Moons
Parham, where they were kept till the Lord Governour came: And because
all the Country was mad to be going on this Golden Adventure, the Governour, by his
Letters, commanded (for they sent some of the Gold to him) that a Guard shou'd be set
at the Mouth of the River of Amazons
Thames) and prohibited all People from going up that River, it conducting
to those Mountains of Gold. But we going off for England before Dutch have the Advantage of it: And 'tis to
be bemoan'd what his Majesty lost by loosing that part of America.
Though this digression is a little from my Story, however since it contains some Proofs of the Curiosity and Daring of this great Man, I was content to omit nothing of his Character.
It was thus, for sometime we diverted him; but now Imoinda began to shew she
was with Child, and did nothing but Sigh and Weep for the Captivity of her Lord, her
Self, and the Infant yet Unborn; and believ'd,Caesar; and taking his Opportunity
one Sunday, when all the Whites were overtaken in Drink, as there were
abundance of several Trades, and Slaves for Four Years, that Inhabited among
the Negro Houses; and Sunday was their Day of Debauch, (otherwise
they were a sort of Spys upon Caesar;) he went pretending out of Goodness to
'em, to Feast amongst 'em; and sent all his Musick, and order'd a great Treat for the
whole Gang, about Three Hundred Negros; and about a Hundred and Fifty were
able to bear Arms, such as English had none but rusty
Swords, that no Strength cou'd draw from a Scabbard; except the People of particular
Quality, who took care to Oyl 'em and keep 'em in good Order: The Guns also, unless
here and there one, or those newly carri'd from England, wou'd do no good or
harm; for 'tis the Nature of that County to Rust and Eat up Iron, or any Metals, but
Gold and Silver. And they are very Unexpert at the Bow, which the Negros and
Indians are perfect Masters off.
Caesar, having singl'd out these Men from the Women and Children, made an
Harangue
Slaves till their Blood trickled from all Parts
of their Body; Blood, whose every drop ought to be Reveng'd with a Life of some of
those Tyrants, that impose it; And why, said he, my dear Friends and
Fellow-sufferers, shou'd we be Slaves to an unknown People? Have they Vanquish'd
us Nobly in Fight? Have they Won
us in Honourable Battel?
And are we, by the chance of War, become their Slaves? Oroonoko here is expressing what was known as
the "just war" doctrine of slavery, that those who lost a war could rightly be
enslaved. It is on this basis that Oroonoko himself owns slaves. The
distinction he is making here is that, according to this doctrine, slaves
gained through conquest are justified while slaves acquired through trickery or
commerce are not. This wou'd not anger a Noble Heart, this wou'd not
animate a Souldiers Soul; no, but we are Bought and Sold like Apes, or Monkeys, to
be the Sport of Women, Fools and Cowards; and the Support of Rogues, Runagades
Renegades, that have
abandon'd their own Countries, for Rapin, Murders, Thefts and Villanies: Do you
not hear every Day how they upbraid each other with infamy of Life, below the
Wildest Salvages; and shall we render Obedience to such a degenerate Race, who
have no one Humane Vertue left, to distinguish 'em from the vilest Creatures? Will
you, I say, suffer the Lash from such Hands? They all Reply'd, with one
accord,No, no, no; Caesar has spoke like a Great Captain; like a Great
King.
After this he wou'd have proceeded, but was interrupted by a tall Negro of
some more Quality than the rest, his Name was Tuscan;
Caesar, cry'd, My Lord, we
have listen'd with Joy and Attention to what you have said; and, were we only Men,
wou'd follow so great a Leader through the World: But oh! consider, we are
Husbands and Parents too, and have things more dear to us than Life; our Wives and
Children unfit for Travel, in these unpassable Woods, Mountains and Bogs; we have
not only difficult Lands to overcome, but Rivers to Wade, and Monsters to
Incounter;
Ravenous Beasts of Prey—To this, Caesar Reply'd, That Honour
was the First Principle in Nature, that was to be Obey'd; but as no Man wou'd
pretend to that, without all the Acts of Vertue, Compassion, Charity, Love,
Justice and Reason; he found it not inconsistent with that, to take an equal Care
of their Wives and Children, as they wou'd of themselves; and that he did not
Design, when he led them to Freedom, and Glorious Liberty, that they shou'd leave
that better part of themselves to Perish by the Hand of the Tyrant's Whip: But if
there were a Woman among them so degenerate from Love and Vertue to chuse Slavery
before the pursuit of her Husband, and with the hazard of her Life, to share with
him in
his Fortunes; that such an one ought to be Abandon'd, and left as a
Prey to the common Enemy.
To which they all Agreed,—and Bowed. After this, he spoke of the Impassable Woods and
Rivers; and convinc'd 'em, the more Danger, the more Glory. He told them that he had
heard of one Hannibal a great Captain, had Cut his Way through Mountains of solid Rocks
Tuscan then demanded, What he wou'd do? He said, they wou'd Travel towards
the Sea; Plant a New Colony, and Defend it by their Valour; and when they cou'd find
a Ship, either driven by stress of Weather, or guided by Providence that way, they
wou'd Sieze it, and make it a Prize, till it had Transported them to their own
Countries; at least, they shou'd be made Free in his Kingdom, and be Esteem'd as his
Fellowsufferers, and Men that had
They bow'd and kiss'd his Feet at this Resolution, and with one accord Vow'd to
follow him to Death. And that Night was appointed to begin their March; they made it
known to their Wives, and directed them to tie their Hamaca about their Shoulder, and
under their Arm like a Scarf; and to lead their Children that cou'd go, and carry
those that cou'd not. The Wives who pay an intire Obedience to their Husbands obey'd,
and stay'd for 'em, where they were appointed: The Men Caesar made a new incouraging Speech to 'em, and led 'em
out.
But, as they cou'd not march far that Night, on Monday early, when the Overseers went
to call 'em all together, to go to Work, they were extreamly surpris'd, to find not
one upon the Place, but all fled with what Baggage they had. You may imagine this
News was not only suddenly spread all over the Plantation, but soon reach'd
the Neighbouring ones; and we had by Noon about Six hundred Men, they call the
Militia of the County, that came to assist us in the persute of the
Fugitives:Caesar, and all hands were against the Parhamites, as they
call'd those of Parham Plantation; because they did not, in the first place,
love the Lord Governor; and secondly, they wou'd have it, that Caesar was
Ill us'd
Slaves; so that theyCaesar, was now
the only violent Man against him; and though he had nothing, and so need fear
nothing, yet talk'd and look'd bigger than any Man: He was a Fellow, whose Character
is not fit to be mention'd with the worst of the Slaves.
Voyage de la France
équixonale en l’isle de Cayenne (1654) and Henry Adis’s A Letter Sent from
Syrrinam (1664). As deputy governor of Surinam, Byam ruled the colony in the
absence of Lord Willoughby. According to Flannigan’s Antigua and the Antiguans. A Full Account of the Colony and its Inhabitants, after the Dutch takeover of
Surinam, Byam led many of the British colonists to Antigua, where became governor
and lived until c. 1670. Todd notes that both Biet and Adis, otherwise critical of
the colony in Surinam, praise Byam: Adis refers to him as “that worthy person,
whom your Lordship hath lately honoured with the Title and Power of your
Lieutenant General of this Continent of Guinah”; while Biet describes him as
brave, honorable, and civil (pp. 263, 279). Behn’s decision to portray him as
cowardly and deceitful appears to have been her own. On the other hand, Byam did
face accusations of unnecessary cruelty in his governance from an opposition group
led by John Allin. Byam wrote a tract An Exact Relation of the Most Execrable
Attempts of John Allin (1665) defending the need for harsh measures to govern the
unruly colonists and accusing Allin of insurrection.Caesar; or rather to persue him; most of their Arms
were of those sort of cruel Whips they call Cat
with Nine Tayls
Trefry went along, rather to be a Mediator than a Conqueror, in
such a Batail; for he foresaw, and knew, if by fighting they put the Negroes
into dispair, they were a sort of sullen Fellows, that wou'd drown, or kill
themselves, before they wou'd yield; and he advis'd that fair means was best: But
Byam was one that abounded in his own Wit
It was not hard to find these Fugitives; for as they fled they were forc'd to fire
and cut the Woods before 'em, so that NightCaesar
found he was persu'd, he put himself in a Posture of Defence, placing all the Women
and Children in the Reer; and himself, with Tuscan by his side, or next to
him, all promising to Dye or Conquer. Incourag'd thus, they never stood to Parley,
but fell on Pell-mell upon the English, and kill'd some, and wounded a good
many; they having recourse to their Whips, as the best of their Weapons: And as they
observ'd no Order, they perplex'd the Enemy so sorely, with Lashing 'em in the Eyes;
and the Women and Children, seeing their Husbands so treated, being of English cry out, Yield
and Live, Yield and be Pardon'd; they all run in amongst their Husbands and
Fathers, and hung about 'em, crying out, Yield, yield; and leave Caesar
to their Revenge; that by degrees the Slaves abandon'd
Caesar, and left him only Tuscan and his Heroick
Imoinda; who, grown big as she was, did nevertheless press near her Lord,
having a Bow, and a Quiver full of poyson'd Arrows, which she manag'd with such
dexterity, that she wounded several, and shot the Governor into the
Shoulder; of which Wound he had like to have Dy'd, but that an Indian Woman,
his Mistress, suck'd the Wound, and cleans'd it fromCaesar, who
he found was resolv'd to dye Fighting, and wou'd not be Taken; no more wou'd
Tuscan, or Imoinda. But he, more thirsting after Revenge of
another sort, than that of depriving him of Life, now made use of all his Art of
talking, and dissembling; and besought Caesar to yield himself upon Terms,
which he himself should propose, and should be Sacredly assented to and kept by him:
He told him, It was not that he any longer fear'd him, or cou'd believe the force of
Two Men, and a young Heroin, cou'd overcome all them, with all the Slaves now on
their side also; but it was the vast EsteemPrince, whose
Valour and Magnanimity deserv'd the Empire of the World. He protested to him, he
look'd upon this Action, as Gallant and Brave; however tending to the prejudice of
his Lord and Master, who wou'd by it have lost so considerable a number of
Slaves; that this Flight of his shou'd be look'd on as a heat of Youth,
and rashness of a too forward Courage, and an unconsider'd
So that if you
will be pleas'd, continued he, to surrender your self, all imaginable
Respect shall be paid you; and your Self, your Wife, and Child, if it be here
born, shall depart free out of our Land. But Caesar wou'd hear of no
Composition; though Byam urg'd, If he persu'd, and went on in his Design, he
wou'd inevitably Perish, either by great Snakes, wild Beasts, or Hunger; and
he ought to have regard to his Wife, whose Condition required ease, and not the
fatigues of tedious
Caesar told him, there was no Faith in the White Men, or the Gods they
Ador'd;Christians without his Weapon of Defence in his Hand; and, for his own
Security, never to credit one Word they spoke. As for the rashness and
inconsiderateness of his Action he wou'd confess the Governor is in the right; and
that he was asham'd of what he had done, in endeavoring to make those Free, who were
by Nature Slaves, poor wretched Rogues, fit to be us'd asChristians Tools; Dogs, treacherous and cowardly, fit for such Masters; and
they wanted only but to be whipt into the knowledge of the Christian Gods to
be the vilest of all creeping things; to learn to Worship such Deities as had not
Power to make 'em Just, Brave, or Honest. In fine, after a thousand things of this
Nature, not fit here to be recited, he told Byam, he had rather Dye than
Live upon the same Earth with such Dogs. But Trefry and Byam
pleaded and protested together so much, that Trefry believing the
Governor to mean what he said; and speaking very cordially himself,
generously put himself into Caesar's Hands, and took him aside, and
perswaded him, even with Tears,Caesar was overcome by his Wit and Reasons, and in
consideration of Imoinda; and demanding what he desir'd, and that it shou'd
be ratify'd by their Hands in Writing, because he had perceiv'd that was the common
way of contract between Man and Man, amongst the Whites: All this was perform'd, and
Tuscan's Pardon was put in, and they Surrender to the Governor, who
walked peaceably down into the Plantation with 'em, after giving order to
bury their dead. Caesar was very much toyl'd with the bustle of the Day; for
he had fought like a Fury
Tuscan perform'd
But they were no sooner arriv'd at the Place, where all the Slaves receive their
Punishments of Whipping, but they laid Hands on Caesar and Tuscan,
faint with heat and toyl; and, surprising them, Bound them to two several Stakes, and
Whipt them in a most deplorable and inhumane Manner, rending the very Flesh from
their Bones; especially Caesar, who was not perceiv'd to make any Mone, or
to alter his Face, only to roul his Eyes on the Faithless Governor, and
those he believ'd Guilty, with Fierceness and Indignation; and, to compleat his Rage,
he Slaves, who, but a few Davs before,
Ador'd him as something more than Mortal, now had a Whip to give him some Lashes,
while he strove not to break his Fetters; though, if he had, it were impossible: But
he pronounced a Woe and Revenge from his Eyes, that darted Fire, that 'twas at once
both Awful and Terrible to behold.
When they thought they were sufficiently Reveng'd on him, they unty'd him, almost
Fainting, with loss of Blood, from a thousand Wounds all over his Body; from which
they had rent his Cloaths, and led him Bleeding and Naked as he was; and loaded him
all over with Irons; and then rubbed hisIndian Pepper, which had like to have made him raving Mad;
and, in this Condition, made him so fast to the Ground that he cou'd not stir, if his
Pains and Wounds wou'd have given him leave. They spar'd Imoinda, and did
not let her see this Barbarity committed towards her Lord, but carry'd her down to
Parham, and shut her up; which was not in kindness to her, but for fear
she shou'd Dye with the Sight, or Miscarry; and then they shou'd loose a young
Slave, and perhaps the Mother.
You must know, that when the News was brought on Monday Morning, that Caesar
had betaken himself to the Woods,Negroes. We were possess'd with extream Fear, which no perswasions cou'd
Dissipate, that he wou'd secure himself till Night; and then, that he wou'd come down
and Cut all our Throats. This apprehension made all the Females of us fly down the
River, to be secur'd; and while we were away, they acted this Cruelty: For I suppose
I had Authority and Interest enough there, had I suspected any such thing, to have
prevented it; but we had not gon many Leagues, but the News overtook us that
Caesar was taken, and Whipt like a common Slave. We met on the
River with Colonel Martin, a Man of great Gallantry, Wit, andComedy, by
his own Name, in memory of so brave a Man
Colony: He was a Friend to
Caesar, and resented this false Dealing with him very much. We carried
him back to Parham, thinking to have made an Accomodation; when we came, the
First News we heard was, that the Governor was Dead of a Wound
Imoinda had given him; but it was not so well: But it seems he wou'd have
the Pleasure of beholding the Revenge he took on Caesar; and before the
cruel Ceremony was finish'd, he drop'dIndian Mistress heal'd, by Sucking the Wound.
We were no sooner Arriv'd, but we went up to the Plantation to see
Caesar, whom we found in a very Miserable and Unexpressable Condition;
and I have a Thousand times admired how he liv'd, in so much tormenting Pain. We said
all things to him, that Trouble, Pitty, and Good Nature cou'd suggest; Protesting our
Innocency of the Fact, and our Abhorance of such Cruelties. Making a Thousand
Professions of Services to him, and Begging as many Pardons for the Offenders,Byam; as for Trefry,
he confess'd he saw his Grief and Sorrow, for his Suffering, which he cou'd not
hinder, but was like to have been beaten down by the very Slaves, for
Speaking in his Defence: But for Byam, who was their Leader, their Head;—and
shou'd, by his Justice, and Honor, have been an Example to 'em.—For him, he wish'd to
Live, to take a dire Revenge of him, and said, It had been well for him, if he
had Sacrific'd me, instead of giving me the contemptable Whip. He refus'd to
Talk much, but Begging us to give him our Hands; he tookMartin, and always took his Counsel, like that of a Parent; and assur'd
him, he wou'd obey him in any thing, but his Revenge on Byam. Therefore,
said he, for his own Safety, let him speedily dispatch me; for if I cou'd
dispatch my self, I wou'd not, till that Justice were done to my injur'd Person,
and the contempt of a Souldier: No, I wou'd not kill my self, even after a
Whiping, but will be content to live with that Infamy, and be pointed at by every
grining Slave, till I have compleated my Revenge; and then you shall see that
Oroonoko scorns to live with the Indignity that was put on Caesar. All weParham.
The Governor was no sooner recover'd, and had heard of the menaces
Caesar, but he call'd his Council; who (not to disgrace them, or Burlesque
God or
Man; and had no sort of Principles to make 'em worthy the Name of Men:
But, at the very Council Table, wou'd Contradict and Fight with one another; and
Swear so bloodily that 'twas terrible to hear, and see 'em. (Some of 'em were
afterwards Hang'd, when the Dutch took possession of the place; others sent
off in Chains:) But calling these special Rulers of the Nation together, and
requiring their Counsel in this weighty Affair, they all concluded, that (Damn 'em)
it might be their own Cases; and that Caesar ought to be made an Example to
all the Negroes, to fright 'em from daring to threaten their Betters, their
LordsSlaves; and concluded, nemine
contradicente
Caesar shou'd be Hang'd.
Trefry then thought it time to use his Authority; and told Byam his
Command did not extend to his Lord's Plantation; and that Parham
was as much exempt from the Law as White-hall;
Parham
was a Sanctuary; and though his Lord were absent in Person, his Power was still in
Being there; which he had intrusted with him, as far as the Dominions of his
particularPlantations reach'd, and all that belong'd to it; the rest of the
Country, as Byam was Lieutenant to his Lord, he might exercise
his Tyrany upon. Trefry had others as powerful, or more, that int'rested
themselves in Caesar's Life, and absolutely said, He shou'd be Defended. So
turning the Governor, and his wise Council, out of Doors, (for they sate at
Parham-house) they set a Guard upon our Landing Place, and wou'd admit
none but those we call'd Friends to us and Caesar.
The Governor having remain'd wounded at Parham, till his recovery
was compleated, Caesar did not know but he was still there; and indeed, for
the most part, his time was spent there;Caesar. So that
Caesar did not at all doubt, if he once recover'd Strength, but he shou'd
find an opportunity of being Reveng'd on him: Though, after such a Revenge, he cou'd
not hope to Live; for if he escap'd the Fury of the English
Mobile
Imoinda there; but, for the
most part, his time was past in melancholy Thought, and black Designs; he consider'd,
if he shou'd do this Deed, and Dye, either in the Attempt, or after it, he left his
lovely Imoinda a Prey, or at best a Slave, to the inrag'd
Multitude; his great Heart cou'd not indure that Thought. Perhaps, said he,
she may be first Ravished by every Brute; exposed first to their nasty Lusts,
and then a shameful Death. No; he could not Live a Moment under that
Apprehension, too insupportable to be born. These were his Thoughts, and his silent
Arguments with his Heart, as he told us afterwards; so that now resolving not onlyByam, but all those he thought had inrag'd him;
pleasing his great Heart with the fancy'd Slaughter he shou'd make over the whole
Face of the Plantation. He first resolv'd on a Deed, that (however Horrid it
at first appear'd to us all) when we had heard his Reasons, we thought it Brave and
Just: Being able to Walk, and, as he believ'd, fit for the Execution of his great
Design, he beg'd Trefry to trust him into the Air, believing a Walk wou'd do
him good; which was granted him, and taking Imoinda with him, as he us'd to
do in his more happy and calmer Days, he led her up into a Wood, where, after (with a
thousand Sighs, and long Gazing silently on her Face, while
Imoinda; a thousand times he turn'd the Fatal
Knife that did the Deed, toward his own Heart, with a Resolution to go immediately
after her; but dire Revenge, which now was a thousand times more fierce in his Soul
than before, prevents him; and he wou'd cry out, No; since I have sacrificed
Imoinda to my Revenge, shall I loose that Glory which I have purchas'd so dear,
as at the Price of the fairest, dearest, softest Creature that ever Nature made?
No, no! Then, at her Name, Grief wou'd get the ascendant of Rage, and he
wou'd
He remain'd in this deploring Condition for two Days, and never rose from the Ground
where he had made his sad Sacrifice; at last, rousing from her side, and accusing
himself with living too long, now Imoinda was dead; and that the Deaths of
those barbarous Enemies were deferr'd too long, he resolv'd now to finish the great
Work; but offering to rise, he found his Strength so decay'd,
Caesar, and his Wife; some were of Opinion he was escap'd never to
return; others thought some Accident had hap'ned to him: But however, we fail'd not
to send out an hundred People several ways to search for him; a Party, of about
forty, went that way he took; among whom was Tuscan, who was perfectly
reconcil'd to Byam; they had not gon very far into the Wood, but they smelt
an unusual Smell, as of a dead Body; for Stinks must be very noisom that can be
distinguish'd among such a quantity of Natural Sweets, as every Inch of that Land
produces. So that they concluded they shou'd find him dead, or somebody thatCaesar heard he was approach'd; and though he had, during the space of
these eight Days, endeavor'd to rise, but found he wanted Strength, yet looking up,
and seeing his Pursuers, he rose, and reel'd to a Neighbouring Tree, against which he
fix'd his Back; and being within a dozen Yards of those that advanc'd, and saw him;
he call'd out to them, and bid them approach no nearer, if they wou'd be safe: So
that they stood still, and hardly believing their Eyes, that wou'd perswade them that
it was Caesar that spoke to 'em, so much was he alter'd; Behold her there;
they put off the Flowers that cover'd her with their Sticks, and found she was
kill'd; and cry'd out, Oh Monster! that hast murther'd thy Wife: Then asking
him, Why he did so cruel a Deed? He replied, he had no leasure to answer impertinent
Questions; You may go back, continued he, and tell the Faithless
Governor, he may thank Fortune that I am breathing my last; and that my Arm is too
feeble to obey my Heart, in what it had design'd him: But his Tongue
faultering, and trembling, he cou'd scarce end what he was saying. The English taking Advantage by his Weakness, cry'd, Let us take him
alive by all means: He heard 'em; and, as if he had reviv'd from a Fainting,
or a Dream, he cry'd out, No, Gentlemen, you are deceiv'd; you will find no
more Caesars to be Whipt; no more find a Faith in me: Feeble as you think
me, I have Strength yet left to secure me from a second Indignity. They swore
all a-new, and he only shook his Head, and beheld them with Scorn; then they cry'd
out, Who will venture on this single Man? Will no body? They stood all
silent while Caesar replied, Fatal will be the Attempt to the first
Adventurer; let him assure himself, and, at that Word, held up his Knife in a
menacing Posture, Look ye, ye faithless Crew, said he,'tis not Life I seek, nor am I afraid of Dying; and, at that Word, cut a
piece of Flesh from his own Throat, and threw it at 'em, yet still I wou'd Live
if I cou'd, till I had perfected my Revenge. But oh! it cannot be; I feel Life
gliding from my Eyes and Heart; and, if I make not haste, I shall yet fall a
Victim to the shameful Whip. At that, he rip'd up his own Belly; and took his
Bowels and pull'd 'em out, with what Strength he cou'd; while some, on their Knees
imploring, besought him to hold his Hand. But when they saw him tottering, they cry'd
out, Will none venture on him? A bold English cry'd, Yes, if he
were the Devil; (taking Courage when he saw him almost Dead) and swearing a
horrid Oath for his farewellCaesar,
with his Arm'd Hand met him so fairly, as stuck him to the Heart, and he fell Dead at
his Feet. Tuscan seeing that, cry'd out, I love thee, oh Caesar;
and therefore will not let thee Dye, if possible: And, running to him,
took him in his Arms; but, at the same time, warding a Blow that Caesar made
at his Bosom, he receiv'd it quite through his Arm; and Caesar having not
the Strength to pluck the Knife forth, though he attempted it, Tuscan
neither pull'd it out himself, nor suffer'd it to be pull'd out; but came down with
it sticking in his Arm; and the reason he gave for it was, because the Air shou'd not
get into the Wound: They put their Hands a-cross, and carriedCaesar between Six of 'em, fainted as he was; and they thought Dead, or just
Dying; and they brought him to Parham, and laid him on a Couch, and had the
Chirurgeon immediately to him, who drest his Wounds, and sow'd up his Belly, and us'd
means to bring him to Life, which they effected. We ran all to see him; and, if
before we thought him so beautiful a Sight, he was now so alter'd, that his Face was
like a Death's Head black'd over; nothing but Teeth, and Eyeholes: For some Days we
suffer'd no body to speak to him, but caused Cordials to be poured down his Throat,
which sustained his Life; and in six or seven Days he recover'd his Senses: For, you
must know, that Indies; unless Wounds in the Legs, which rarely ever cure.
When he was well enough to speak, we talk'd to him; and ask'd him some Questions
about his Wife, and the Reasons why he kill'd her; and he then told us what I have
related of that Resolution, and of his Parting; and he besought us, we would let him
Dye, and was extreamly Afflicted to think it was possible he might Live; he assur'd
us, if we did not Dispatch him, he wou'd prove very Fatal to a great many. We said
all we cou'd to make him Live, and gave him new Assurances; but he begg'd we wou'd
not think so poorly of him, or of his love to Imoinda, to Caesar)
afflicted at this News; and the Sight was gashly
Trefry, and the
Chirurgeons, promis'd all to take what possible care they cou'd of the Life of
Caesar; and I, taking Boat, went with other Company to Colonel
Martin's, about three Days Journy down the River; but I was no sooner
gon, but theGovernor taking Trefry, about some pretended earnest Business, a
Days Journy up the River; having communicated his Design to one Banister, a
wild Irish
Man
Parham, and forcibly took Caesar, and had him carried to the
same Post where he was Whip'd; and causing him to be ty'd to it, and a great Fire
made before him, he told him, he shou'd Dye like a Dog, as he was. Caesar
replied, this was the first piece of Bravery that ever Banister did; and he
never spoke Sence till he pronounc'd that Word; and, if he wou'd keep it, he wou'd
declare, in the other World, that he wasMy Friends, am I to Dye, or to be Whip'd? And they cry'd, Whip'd!
no; you shall not escape so well: And then he replied, smiling, A
Blessing on thee; and assur'd them, they need not tye him, for he wou'd stand
fixt, like a Rock; and indure Death so as shou'd encourage them to Dye. But if
you Whip me, said he, be sure you tye me fast.
He had learn'd to take Tobaco; and when he was assur'd he should Dye, he desir'd they
would give him a Pipe in his Mouth, ready Lighted, which they did; and the
Executioner came, and first cut off his Members,Caesar in Quarters, and sent them to several of the
chiefPlantations: One Quarter was sent to Colonel
Martin, who refus'd it; and swore, he had rather see the Quarters of
Banister, and the Governor himself, than those of
Caesar, on his Plantations; and that he cou'd govern his
Negroes without Terrifying and Grieving them with frightful Spectacles of
a mangl'd King.
Thus Dy'd this Great Man; worthy of a better Fate, and a more sublime Wit than mine
to write his Praise; yet, I hope, the Reputation of my Pen is considerable enough to
make his Glorious Name to survive to all Ages; with that of the Brave, the Beautiful,
and the Constant Imoinda.
Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) is one of the finest poets whose writings have survived from seventeenth-century New England. She was born Anne Dudley in England in 1612 to a wealthy and influential family. Her father, Thomas Dudley, was a Puritan who became a founding member of the Massachusetts Bay Company in the late 1620s. The Company was eager to develop a Puritan-oriented colony in north America, and when they launched their their first ship, the Arbella, in 1630, Thomas Dudley went with the expectation that he would serve as the colony’s deputy governor once they arrived. Anne, who was by this point married to Simon Bradstreet, a young man who had worked with her father, joined her father and husband on the journey, arriving in what is now Salem, Massachusetts in June 1630. She spent the rest of her life in New England.
The Bradstreets were an important family in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her father served in a number of significant administrative positions, and her husband was for many years the secretary of the colony, among many other things. Each also served as governor of the colony. Bradstreet remembered many years later that upon arrival in Massachusetts that “I came into this country, where I found a new World and new manners at which my heart rose.” The language is ambiguous: did her heart rise with pleasure or with unhappiness and resistance? But Anne also wrote that she made her peace with her new life, accepting it as “the way of God.” The Bradstreets lived in eastern Massachusetts, in what are now Boston, Cambridge, Ipswich, and North Andover, where Simon and Anne raised eight children. Anne died in 1672, having suffered for several years from poor health, the result of smallpox and possibly tuberculosis.
In ascribing her uprooting to North America as the will of God, Bradstreet shows her loyalty to the Puritanism that infused her life, her family, her writings, and the mission of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Puritan colonists who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony were eager to create a world apart, what John Winthrop, the first governor of the colony called “a city upon a hill” in a sermon he gave to the assembled colonists on the Arbella as they arrived. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was a Puritan enclave run more as a theocracy than as representative democracy. The colony was officially intolerant of other religious denominations, and the colonists were eager to “civilize” the native peoples of the area (including members of the Massachusetts tribe, from which the Company and Colony took its name) by converting them to Christianity. (The Company’s seal, reproduced here, depicts, incredibly, a native American asking for such help.)
Nonetheless, the Colony grew rapidly in the 1630s, with perhaps as many as 40,000 people emigrating to it from England.
What place did poetry have in such a culture? A surprisingly significant one. We tend to think of Puritans as opposed to sensual things and to aesthetic pleasures like those found in art and literature. But that is a false stereotype; the truth is closer to the opposite. Puritans worried about the sensuality of the world because they had such a healthy respect for its power that they felt the need to keep strict controls over how people interacted with and thought about it. Puritan leaders feared that indulgence in sensual things for their own sake interfered with the goal of seeing the world around us as a conduit to the divine. Human senses were a gift from God, and were thus so potent that they demanded proper control, education, and discipline. Poetry was a one way of channeling humans’ inherently sensual nature into worthwhile and uplifting pursuits, of learning how to see the world around us as so many signs of the immanent presence of God, and of shaping language so as to be able to share that insight with others. A fair number of Puritans, in both England and its colonial outpost in Massachusetts, wrote verse both for pleasure and as an expression of their faith. The famous Puritan minister Cotton Mather worried, in fact, that young ministers might spend neglect their scholarly studies by spending too much time reading and composing poetry. He observed in 1726 that the “Rickety Nation” of the Puritan people now “swarms withal” with a “Boundless and Sickly Appetite for poetry.”
Bradstreet may have written poetry from childhood, but none of that work has survived. What we do know is that she composed poetry throughout her adult life. In most modern anthologies, the bulk of the poems reproduced concern either domestic subjects (such as “To My Dear and Loving Husband” and “Verses upon the Burning of our House,” which are probably her most two famous poems for modern readers) or her observations of the natural world in her series entitled Contemplations. And these are indeed wonderful poems, rich with observation, intimacy, and emotion. But Bradstreet also wrote on more public subjects. Her book The Tenth Muse includes different series of poems on the natural elements, the four humours, the four seasons, and also “histories” of the four great monarchies. This last is a poem that is based (at least in part) on Sir Walter Raleigh’s History of the World. These were the poems that contemporaries noticed; in his Theatrum Poetarum (1675), an enormous book that compiled the names of all of the significant poets, ancient and modern, Edward Philips identified precisely these long political poems as the ones by which “Anne Broadstreet, a New-England Poetess,” would be remembered. Her poem “A Dialogue between Old and New England” is an explicitly political work, lamenting the crisis that befell the home country in the 1640s and hoping that the godliness of its colonial offspring might help renew it. Even on the frontier, Bradstreet kept engaged with the world beyond New England through her reading and her poetry, which addressed public and private subjects alike.
As was typical in this period, Bradstreet’s poems circulated among her family and friends in New England in manuscript form, and there is no evidence that she was interested in having them printed for wider publication. But The Tenth Muse was published in London when her brother in law John Woodbridge brought a manuscript copy of her poetry to a publisher there. The point of the title, which was probably not Bradstreet’s idea, is that the new world has produced a new, tenth muse to add to the nine muses of the classical world, the female goddesses who, according to the Greek mythological system that early modern Europeans loved, inspired poetry. The flattering implication in 1650, a year when England was suffering from the aftermath of a terrible civil war, a war that had seen the execution of the king only the year before, was that Bradstreet was such a goddess, and that her poetry, produced in a distant land that had been spared the conflict, might help redeem the fractured culture of the home country. Bradstreet may or may not have wanted these poems published—the evidence is ambiguous—but once they were out in the world, she worked on revising her poetry and adding to her body of writing with an eye towards producing a more authoritative edition. That edition, called Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning, was published posthumously in 1678.
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Olaudah Equiano
or
Gustavus Vassa,
the African
Published March 1 1789 by G. Vassa
INTERESTING NARRATIVE
OF
THE LIFE
OF
OLAUDAH EQUIANO,
OR
GUSTAVUS VASSA,
THE AFRICAN.
WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people,Isaiah xii. 2, 4.
[Entered at stationers-hall.]
PERMIT me, with the greatest deference and respect, to lay at your feet the following
genuine Narrative; the chief design of which is to excite in your august assemblies a
sense of compassion for the miseries which the Slave-Trade has entailed on my
unfortunate countrymen. By the horrors of that trade was I first torn away from all
the tender connexions that were naturally dear to my heart; but these,
I am sensible I ought to entreat your pardon for addressing to you a work so wholly
devoid of literary merit; but, as the production of an unlettered African, who is
actuated by the hope of becoming an instrument towards the relief of his suffering
countrymen, I trust that such a man, pleading in such a
cause, will be acquitted of boldness and presumption.
May the God of heaven inspire your hearts with peculiar benevolence on that important day when the question of Abolition is to be discussed, when thousands, in consequence of your Determination, are to look for Happiness or Misery!
LIST
OF
SUBSCRIBERS.
interior
prostitute
me.
OF
VOLUME I.
The author's account of his country, their manners and customs, &c.— Page 1
The author's birth and parentage—His being kidnapped with his sister—Horrors of a slave ship— Page 45
The author is carried to Virginia—Arrives in England—His wonder at a fall of snow— Page 89
A particular account of the celebrated engagement between Admiral Boscawen and Monsieur Le Clue— Page 130
Various interesting instances of oppression, cruelty, and extortion— Page 180
Favourable change in the author's situation—He commences merchant with threepence— Page 227
The author's account of his country, and their manners and
customs, Administration of Justice—Embrenché—Marriage ceremony, and public
entertainments—Mode of living—Dress—Manufactures
Buildings—Commerce—Agriculture—War and religion—Superstition of the
natives—Funeral ceremonies of the priests or magicians—Curious mode of
discovering poison—some hints concerning the origin of the author's
countrymen, with the opinions of different writers
on that subject.
I BELIEVE it is difficult for those who publish their own memoirs to escape the
imputation of vanity; nor is this particular favourite of
Heaven, and acknowledge the mercies of Providence in every occurrence of
my life. If then the following narrative does not appear sufficiently interesting
to engage general attention, let my motive be some excuse for its publication. I
am not so foolishly vain as to expect from it either immortality or literary
reputation. If it affords any satisfaction to my numerous friends, at whose
request it has been written, or in the smallest degree promotes the interests of
humanity, the ends for which it was undertaken will be fully attained, and every
wish of my heart gratified. Let it therefore be remembered, that, in wishing to
avoid censure, I do not aspire to praise.
* See Benezet's "Account of Guinea" throughout.
[Equiano's note]mark of grandeur. This mark is conferred on
the person entitled to it, by cutting the skin across at the top of the forehead,
and drawing it down to the eye-brows; and while it is in this situation applying a
warm hand, and rubbing it until it shrinks up into a thick weal across the lower part of the forehead. Most of the judges and
senators were thus marked; my father had long borne it: I had seen it conferred on
one of my brothers, and I also was destined to receive it
by my parents. Those Embrenché or chief men, decided disputes and punished crimes;
for which purpose they always assembled together. The proceedings were generally
short; and in most cases the law of retaliation prevailed. I remember a man was
brought before my father, and the other judges, for kidnapping a boy;
We are almost a nation of dancers, musicians, and poets. Thus every great event,
such as a triumphant return from battle, or other cause of public rejoicing is
celebrated in public dances which are accompanied with songs and music suited to
the occasion. The assembly is seperated into four divisions, which dance either
apart or in succession, and each with a character peculiar to itself. The first
division contains the married men, who in their dances frequently exhibit feats of
arms, and the representation of a battle. To these succeed the married women, who
dance in the second division. The young men accupy the third: and the maidens the
fourth. Each represents some interesting scene
As our manners are simple, our luxuries are few. The dress of both sexes is nearly
the same. It generally consists of a long piece of calico, or muslin, wrapped
loosely round the body, somewhat in the form of a * When
I was in Smyrna I have frequently seen the Greeks dance after this manner.
[Equiano's note]
Our manner of living is entirely plain; for as yet the natives are unacquainted
* The bowl is earthen, curiously figured, to which a
long reed is fixed as a tube. This tube is sometimes so long as to be borne
by one, and frequently out of grandeur, by two boys. [Equiano's
note]
In our buildings we study convenience rather than ornament. Each master of a
family has a large square piece of ground, surrounded with a moat or fence, or
enclosed with a wall made of red earth tempered: which, when dry, is as hard as
brick. Within this are his houses to accommodate his family and slaves; which, if
numerous, frequently present the appearance of a village. In the middle stands the
principal building, appropriated to the sole use of the master, and consisting
* When I was in Smyrna I saw the same kind of earth,
and brought some of it with me to England; it resembles musk in strength,
but is more delicious in scent, and is not unlike the smell of a rose.
[Equiano's note.]
As we live in a country where nature Oye-Eboe, which term signifies red
men living at a distance. They generally bring us fire-arms, gunpowder,
Our land is uncommonly rich and fruitful, and produces all kinds of vegetables in
great abundance. We have plenty of Indian corn, and vast quantities of cotton and
tobacco. Our pine apples grow without culture; they are about the size of the
largest sugar-loaf, and finely flavoured. We have also spices of different kinds,
particularly pepper; and a variety of delicious fruits which I have never seen in
Europe; together with gums of various kinds, and honey in abundance. All our
industry is exerted to improve those blessings of nature. Agriculture is our chief
employment; and every one,
even the children and women, are engaged in it. Thus we are all habituated to
labour from our earliest years. Every one contributes something to the common
Our tillage is exercised in a large plain or common, some hours walk from our
dwellings, and all the neighbours resort thither in a body. They use no beasts of
husbandry; and their only instruments are hoes, axes, shovels, and beaks, or
pointed iron to dig with. Sometimes we are visited by locusts, which come in large
clouds, so as to darken the air, and destroy our harvest. This however happens
rarely, but when * See Benezet's Account of Africa throughout. [Equiano's
note.]
As to religion, the natives believe that there is one Creator of all things, and
that he lives in the sun, and is girted round with a belt that he may never eat or
drink; but, according to some, he smokes a pipe, which is our own favourite
luxury. They believe he governs events, especially our deaths or captivity; but,
as for the doctrine of eternity, I do not remember to have ever heard of it: some
however believe in the transmigration of souls in
We compute the year from the day on which the sun crosses the line, and on its
setting that evening, there is a general shout throughout the land; at least I can
speak from my own knowledge, throughout our vicinity. The people at the same time
make a great noise with rattles, not unlike the basket rattles used by children
here, though much larger, and hold up their hands to heaven for a blessing. It is
then the greatest offerings are made; and those children whom our wise men foretel
will be fortunate are then presented to different people. I remember 'That if they
were to be eaten, they should be eaten with bitter herbs.'
We practised circumcision like the Jews, and made offerings and feasts on that
occasion in the same manner as they did. Like them also, our Olaudah, which, in our language, signifies vicissitude,
or fortunate also; one favoured, and having a loud voice and well spoken. I
remember we never polluted the name of the object of our adoration; on the
contrary, it was always mentioned with the greatest reverence; and we were totally
unacquainted with swearing, and all those terms of abuse and reproach which find
their way so readily and copiously into the language of more civilized people. The
only expressions of that kind I remember were, 'May you rot, or may you
swell, or may a beast take you.'
I have before remarked that the natives of this part of Africa are extremely
cleanly. This necessary habit
Though we had no places of public worship, we had priests and magicians, or wise
men. I do not remember
These magicians were also our doctors or physicians. They practised bleeding by
cupping; and were very successful in healing wounds and expelling poisons. They
had likewise some extraordinary method of discovering jealousy, theft, and
poisoning; the success of which no doubt they derived from the unbounded influence
over the credulity and superstition of the people. I do not remember what those
methods were, except that as to poisoning: I recollect an instance or two, which I
hope it will not be deemed impertinent here to insert, as it may serve as a kind
of specimen of the rest, and is still used by the negroes in the West Indies. A
young woman had been poisoned, but it was not known by whom: the doctor ordered
the corpse to be taken up by A Voyage to the River Sierra-Leone
(London: B. White and Son; and J. Sewell, 1788).
The natives are extremely cautious about poison. When they buy any eatable the
seller kisses it all round before the buyer, to shew him it is not poisoned; and
the same is done when any meat or drink is presented, particularly to a stranger.
We have serpents of different kinds, some of which are esteemed ominous when they
appear in our houses, and these we never molest. I remember two of those ominous
snakes, each of which was as thick as the calf of a man's leg, and in colour
resembling a dolphin in the water, crept at different times into my
Such is the imperfect sketch my
As to the difference of colour between the Eboan Africans and the modern Jews, I
shall not presume to account for it. It is a subject which has engaged the pens of
men of both genius and learning, and is far above my strength. The most able and
Reverend Mr. T. Clarkson,
however, in his much admired Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human
Species, has ascertained the cause in a manner that at once solves every objection
on that account, and, on my mind at least, I myself
have been a witness." There is also another instance‡
perfect negroes, retaining however a smattering of the Portuguese
language.
These instances, and a great many more which might be adduced, while they shew how
the complexions of the same persons vary in different climates it is hoped may
tend also to remove the prejudice that some conceive against the natives of Africa
on account of their colour. Surely the minds of the Spaniards did not change with
their complexions! Are there not causes enough to which the apparent inferiority
of an African may be ascribed without limiting the goodness of God and supposing
he forbore to stamp understanding on certainly his own image because "carved in ebony." Might it not naturally be ascribed to
their situation? When they come among Europeans, they are ignorant of their his ancestors were once, like the Africans,
uncivilized, and even barbarous. Did Nature make them
inferior to their sons? and should they too have been made
slaves? Every rational mind answers, No. Let such reflections as these melt the
pride of their superiority into sympathy for the wants and miseries of their sable brethren, and compel them to
acknowledge, that understanding is not confined to feature or colour. If, when
they look round the
The author's birth and parentage—His being kidnapped with his
sister—Their separation—Surprise at meeting again—Are finally
separated—Account of the different places and incidents the author met with
till his arrival on the coast—The effect the sight of a slave ship had on
him—He sails for the West Indies—Horrors of a slave ship—Arrives at
Barbadoes, where the cargo is sold and dispersed.
I HOPE the reader will not think I have trespassed on his patience in introducing
myself to him with some account of the manners and customs of my country. They had
been implanted
I have already acquainted the reader with the time and place of my birth. My
father, besides many slaves, had a numerous family, of which seven lived to grow
up, including myself and a sister; who was the only daughter. As I was the
youngest of the sons, I became, of course, the greatest favourite with my mother,
and was always with her; and she used to take particular
I heard frequent rustlings among the leaves; and being pretty sure they were
Soon after this my master's only daughter, and child by his first wife, sickened
and died, which affected him so much that for some time he was almost frantic, and
really would have killed himself, had he not been watched and prevented. However,
in a small time afterwards he recovered, and I was again sold. I was now carried
to the left of the sun's rising, through many dreary wastes and dismal woods,
amidst the hideous roarings of wild beasts. The people I was sold to used to carry
me very often, when I was tired, either on their shoulders or on their backs. I
saw many convenient well-built sheds along the road, at proper distances, to
accommodate the merchants and travellers, who lay in those buildings along with
From the time I left my own nation I always found somebody that understood me
till I came to the sea coast. The languages of different nations did not totally
differ, nor were they so copious as those of the Europeans, particularly the
English. They were therefore easily learned; and, while I was journeying thus
through Africa, I acquired two or three different tongues. In this manner I had
been travelling for a considerable time, when one evening to my great surprise,
whom should I see brought to the house where I was but my dear sister! As soon as
she saw me she gave a loud shriek, and ran into my arms—I was quite overpowered:
neither of us could speak; but, for a considerable time, time nor fortune have been able to
remove it; so that, while the thoughts of your sufferings have damped my
prosperity, they have mingled with adversity and increased its bitterness.
I did not long remain after my sister. I was again sold, and carried through a
number of places, till, after travelling a considerable time, I came to a town
called Tinmah, in the most beautiful country I had yet seen in Africa. It was
extremely rich, and there were many rivulets which flowed through it, and supplied
a large pond in the centre of the town, where the people washed. Here I first saw
and tasted cocoa nuts,
Thus, at the very moment I dreamed of the greatest happiness, I found my self
All the nations and people I had hitherto passed through resembled our own in
their manners, customs, and language: but I came at length to a country, the
inhabitants of which differed from us in all those particulars. I was very much
struck with this difference, especially when I came among
The first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast was the sea,
and a slave ship, which was then riding at anchor, and waiting for its cargo.
These filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror when I was
carried on board. I was immediately handled, and tossed up to see if I were sound,
by some of the crew; and I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of bad
spirits, and that they were going to kill me. Their complexions too
The author is carried to Virginia—His distress—surprise at
seeing a picture and a watch—Is bought by Captain Pascal, and sets out for
England—His terror during the voyage—Arrives in England—His wonder at a fall
of snow—Is sent to Guernsey, and in some time goes on board a ship of war
with his master—Some account of the expedition against Louisbourg under the
command of Admiral Boscawen, in 1758.
I now totally lost the small remains of comfort I had enjoyed in conversing with
my countrymen; the women too, who used to wash and take care of me, were all gone
different
I stayed in this island for a few days; I believe it could not be above a
fortnight; when I and some few more slaves, that were not saleable amongst the
rest, from very much fretting, were shipped off in a sloop for North America. On
the passage we were better treated than when we were coming from Africa, and we
had plenty of rice and fat pork. We were landed up a river a good way from the
sea, about Virginia county, where we saw few or none of our native Africans, and
not one soul who could talk to me. I was a few weeks weeding grass, and gathering
stones in a plantation; and at last all my companions were distributed different
ways, and only myself was left. I was now exceedingly miserable, and thought
myself worse off Gustavus Vasa. I at that time began to understand him a little, and
refused to be called so, and told him as well as I could that I would be called
Jacob; but he said I should not, and still called me Gustavus: and when I refused
to answer to my new name, which at first I did, it gained me many a cuff; so at
length I submitted, and by which I have been known ever since. The ship had a very
long passage; and on that account we had very short allowance of provisions.
Towards the last we had only one pound and a half of bread per week, and about the
same quantity of meat, and one quart of water a-day. We spoke with only one vessel
the whole time we were
However, all my alarms began to subside when we got sight of land; and at last the
ship arrived at Falmouth, after a passage of thirteen weeks. Every heart on board
seemed gladdened on our reaching the shore, and none more than mine. The captain
immediately went on shore, and sent on board some fresh provisions, which we
wanted very much: we made good use of them, and our famine was soon turned into
feasting, almost without ending. It was about the beginning of the spring 1757,
when I arrived in England, and I was near twelve years of age at that
I had often seen my master and Dick employed in reading; and I had a great
curiosity to talk to the books, as
My master lodged at the house of a gentleman in Falmouth, who had a fine little
daughter about six or seven years of age, and she grew prodigiously fond of me;
insomuch that we used to eat together, and had servants to wait on us. I was so
much caressed by this family that it often reminded me of the treatment I had
received from my little noble African master. After I had been here a few days, I
was sent on board of the ship; but the child cried so much after me that nothing
could pacify her till I was sent for again.
Our land forces laid siege to the town of Louisbourgh, while the French men of war
were blocked up in the harbour by the fleet, the batteries at the same time
playing upon them from the land. This they did with such effect, that one
The author is baptized—Narrowly escapes drowning—Goes on an
expedition to the Mediterranean—Incidents he met with there—Is witness to an
engagement between some English and French ships—A particular account of the
celebrated engagement between Admiral Boscawen and Mons. Le Clue, off Cape
Logas, in August 1759—Dreadful explosion of a French
ship—The author sails for England—His master appointed to the command of a
fire-ship—Meets a negro boy, from whom he experiences much
benevolence—Prepares for an expedition against Belle-Isle—A remarkable story
of a disaster which befel his ship—Arrives at Belle-Isle—Operations of the
landing
and siege—The author's danger and distress, with his manner
of extricating himself—Surrender of Belle-Isle—Transactions afterwards on
the coast of France—Remarkable instance of kidnapping—The author returns to
England—Hears talk of peace, and expects his freedom—His ship sails for
Deptford to be paid off, and when he arrives there he is suddenly seized by
his master and carried forcibly on board a West India ship and sold.
IT was now between two and three years since I first came to England, a great part
of which I had spent at sea; so that I became inured to that service, and began to
consider myself as happily situated; for my master treated me always extremely
well; and my attachment and gratitude to him were very great. From the various
scenes I had
While I was attending these ladies, their servants told me I could not go to
Heaven, unless I was baptized. This made me very uneasy; for I had now some faint
idea of a future state:
The Namur being again got ready for sea, my master, with his gang, was ordered on board; and, to my no small grief, I was obliged to leave my schoolmaster, whom I liked very much, and always attended while I stayed in London, to repair on board with my master. Nor did I leave my kind patronesses, the Miss Guerins, without uneasiness and regret. They often used to teach me to read, and took great pains to instruct me in the principles of religion and the knowledge of God. I therefore parted from those amiable ladies with reluctance: after receiving from them many friendly cautions how to conduct myself, and some valuable presents.
When I came to Spithead, I found we were destined for the Mediterranean,
I had frequently told several people, in my excursions on shore, the story of my
being kidnapped with my sister, and of our being separated, as I have related
before; and I had as often expressed my anxiety for her fate, and my sorrow at
having never met her again. One day, when I was on shore, and mentioning these
circumstances to some persons, one of them told me he knew
While we lay here the Preston came in from the Levant. As soon as she arrived, my
master told me I should now see my old companion, Dick, who was gone in her when
she sailed for Turkey. I was much rejoiced at this news, and expected every minute
to embrace him; and when the captain came on board of our ship, which he did
immediately after, I ran to inquire after my friend; but, with inexpressible
While we were at Gibralter, I saw a soldier hanging by the heels, at one of the
moles*
After lying at Gibralter for some
I used constantly to attend my master; and I was charmed with this place. All the
time we stayed it was like a fair with the natives, who brought us fruits of all
kinds, and sold them to us much cheaper than I got them in England. They used also
to bring wine down to us in hog and sheep skins, which diverted me very much. The
Spanish officers here treated our officers with great politeness and attention;
and some of them, in particular, used to come often to my master's tent to visit
him; where they would sometimes divert themselves by mounting me on the horses or
mules, so that I could not fall, and setting them off at full gallop; my imperfect
skill in horsemanship all the while affording them no small entertainment. After
the ships were
After this we sailed for Gibraltar, and arrived there about August 1759. Here we
remained with all our sails unbent, while the fleet was watering and doing other
necessary things. While we were in this situation, one day the admiral, with most
of the principal officers, and many people of all stations,
They had got the start of us so far that we were not able to come up with
them during the night; but at day-light we saw seven sail of the line of battle
some miles ahead. We immediately chased them till about four o'clock in the
evening, when our ships came up with them; and, though we were about fifteen large
ships, our gallant admiral only fought them with his own division, which consisted
of seven; so that we were just ship for ship. We passed by the whole of the
enemy's fleet in order to come at their commander,
The engagement now commenced with great fury on both sides: the Ocean immediately
returned our fire, and we continued engaged with each other for some time; during
which I was frequently stunned with the thundering of the great guns, whose
dreadful contents hurried many of my companions into awful eternity. At last the
French
My station during the engagement was on the middle-deck, where I was quartered
with another boy, to bring powder to the aftermost gun; and here I was a witness
of the dreadful fate of many of my companions, who, in the twinkling of an eye,
were dashed in pieces, and launched into eternity. Happily I escaped unhurt,
though the shot and splinters flew thick about me during the whole fight. Towards
the latter part of it my master was wounded,
Our ship suffered very much in this engagement; for, besides the number of our
killed and wounded, she was almost torn to pieces, and our rigging so
While I was here, I met with a trifling incident, which surprised me agreeably. I
was one day in a field belonging to a gentleman who had a black boy about my own
size; this boy
I had a mind on which every thing uncommon made its full impression, and every event which I considered as marvellous. Every extraordinary escape, or signal deliverance, either of myself or others, I looked upon to be effected by the interposition of Providence. We had not been above ten days at sea before an incident of this kind happened; which, whatever credit it may obtain from the reader, made no small impression on my mind.
We had on board a gunner, whose name was John Mondle; a man of very indifferent
morals. This man's cabin was between the decks, exactly over where I lay, abreast
of the quarter-deck
Now that I am on this subject I beg leave to relate another instance or two which
strongly raised my belief of the particular interposition of Heaven, and which
might not otherways have found a place here, from their insignificance. I belonged
for a few days in the year 1758, to the Jason, of fifty-four guns, at Plymouth;
and one night, when I
When we had refitted our ship, and all things were in readiness for attacking the place, the troops on board the transports were ordered to disembark; and my master as a junior captain, had a share in the command of the landing. This was on the 12th of April. The French were drawn up on the shore, and had made every disposition to oppose the landing of our men, only a small part of them this day being able to effect it; most of them, after fighting with great bravery, were cut off; and General Crawford, with a number of others, were taken prisoners. In this day's engagement we had also our lieutenant killed.
On the 21st of April we renewed our
for with a most dreadfull sound it hissed close by me, and struck a rock
at a little distance, which it shattered to pieces. When I saw what perilous
circumstances I was in, I attempted to return the nearest way I could find, and
thereby I got between the English and the French centinels. An English serjeant,
who commanded the outposts, seeing me, and surprised how I came there, (which was
by stealth along the seashore), reprimanded me very severely for it, and instantly
took the centinel off his post into custody, for his negligence in suffering me to
pass the lines. While I was in this situation I observed at a little distance a
French horse, belonging to some islanders, which I thought I would now mount,
We continued to besiege the citadel till June, when it surrendered. During the
siege I have counted above sixty shells and carcases in the air at once. When this
place was taken I went through the citadel, and in the bombproofs under it, which
were cut in the solid rock; and I thought it a surprising
After the taking of this island, our ships with some others commanded by commodore
Stanhope in the Swiftsure, went to Basse-road, where we blocked up a French fleet.
Our ships were there from June till February following; and in that time I saw a
great many scenes of war, and stratagems on both sides to destroy each others
fleet. Sometimes we would attack the French with some ships of the line; at other
times with boats; and frequently we made prizes. Once or twice the French attacked
us by throwing shells with their bomb-vessels; and one day as a French vessel was
throwing shells at our ships she broke from her springs, behind the isle of I de
Re: the tide being
We had different commanders while we were at this place, Commodores Stanhope,
Dennis, Lord Howe, &c. From hence, before the Spanish war began, our ship and
the Wasp sloop were sent to St. Sebastian in Spain, by Commodore Stanhope; and
Commodore Dennis afterwards sent our ship as a cartel to Bayonne in France*
After our ship was fitted out again for service, in September she went to
Guernsey, where I was very glad to see
In pursuance of our orders we sailed from Portsmouth for the Thames, and arrived
at Deptford the 10th of December, where we cast anchor just as it was high water.
The ship was up about half an hour, when my master ordered the barge to be manned;
and all in an instant, without having before given me the least reason to suspect
any thing of the matter, he forced me into the barge; saying, I was going to leave
him, but he would take care I should not. I was so struck with the unexpectedness
of this proceeding, that for some time I did not make a reply, only I made an
offer to go for my
The author's reflections on his situation—Is deceived by a
promise of being delivered—His despair at sailing for the West
Indies—Arrives at Montserrat, where he is sold to Mr. King—Various in
teresting instances of oppression, cruelty, and extortion, which the author
saw practised upon the slaves in the West Indies during his captivity from
the year 1763 to 1766—Address
on it to the planters.
THUS, at the moment I expected all my toils to end, was I plunged, as I supposed,
in a new slavery; in comparison of which all my service hitherto Lord would
appear for my deliverance.
soon afterwards, as my new master was going on shore, he called me to him, and
told me to behave myself well, and do the business of the ship the same as any of
the rest of the boys, and that I should fare the better for it; but I made him no
answer. I was then asked If I could swim, and I said, No, however I was made to
go under the deck, and was well watched. The next tide the ship got under way, and
soon after arrived at the Mother Bank, Portsmouth; where she waited a few days for
some of the West India convoy. While I was here I tried every means I could devise
amongst the people of the ship to get me a boat from the shore, as there was none
suffered to come alongside of the ship; and their own, whenever it was used,
However, the next morning, the 30th of December, the wind being brisk and
easterly, the Aeolus frigate, which was to escort the convoy, made a signal for
failing. All the ships
"The Dying Negro, A Poem"
, by Thomas Day and John Bicknell; as he notes, the poem was first published in 1773, and widely reprinted afterwards.
In this state of my mind our ship came to an anchor, and soon after discharged
her cargo. I now knew what it was to work hard; I was made to help to unload and
load the ship. And, to comfort me in my distress in that time, two of the sailors
robbed me of all my money, and ran away from the ship. I had been so long used to
an European climate, that at
About the middle of May, when the ship was got ready to sail for England, I all
the time believing that Fate's blackest clouds were gathering over my head, and
expecting their bursting would mix me with the dead, Captain Doran sent for me
ashore one morning, and I was told by the messenger that my fate was then
determined. With trembling steps and fluttering heart I came to the captain, and
found with him one Mr. Robert King, a quaker, and the first merchant in the place.
The captain then told
Mr. King dealt in all manner of merchandize, and kept from one to
Once, for a few days, I was let out to fit a vessel, and I had no victuals allowed
me by either party; at last I told my master of this treatment, and he took me
away from it. In many of the estates, on the different islands where I used to be
sent for rum or sugar, they would not deliver it to me, or any other negro; he was
therefore obliged to send a white man along with me to those places; and then he
used to pay him from six to ten pisterines a day. From being thus employed,
I had the good fortune to please my master in every department in which he
employed me; and there was scarcely any part of his business, or houshold affairs,
in which I was not occasionally engaged. I often supplied the place of a clerk, in
receiving and delivering cargoes to the ships, in tending stores, and delivering
goods: and, besides this, I used to shave and dress my master when convenient, and
take care of his horse; and when it was necessary, which was very often, I worked
likewise on board of different
I have sometimes heard it asserted that a negro cannot earn his master the first
cost; but nothing can be further from the truth. I suppose nine tenths of the
mechanics throughout the West Indies are negro slaves; and I well know the coopers
among them earn two dollars a day; the carpenters the same, and oftentimes more;
as also the masons, smiths, and fishermen, &c. and I have known many slaves
whose masters would not take a thousand pounds current for them.
My master was several times offered by different gentlemen one hundred guineas for
me; but he always told them he would not sell me, to my great joy: and I used to
double my diligence and care for fear of getting into the hands of those men who
did not
While I was thus employed by my master I was often a witness to cruelties of every
kind, which were exercised on my unhappy fellow slaves. I used frequently to have
different cargoes of new negroes in my care for sale; and it was almost a constant
practice with our clerks, and other whites, to commit violent depredations on the
chastity of the female slaves; and these I was, though with reluctance, obliged to
submit to at all times, being unable to
One Mr. D— told me that he had sold 41000 negroes, and that he once cut off a negro-man's leg for running away—I asked him if the man had died in the operation, how he as a christian could answer for the horrid act before God? and he told me, answering was a thing of another world; what he thought and did were policy. I told him that the christian doctrine taught us to do unto others as we would that others should do unto us. He then said that his scheme had the desired effect—it cured that man and some others of running away.
Another negro-man was half hanged, and then burnt, for attempting to poison
Even in Barbadoes, notwithstanding those humane exceptions which I have mentioned,
and others I am acquainted with, which justly make it quoted as a place where
slaves meet with the best treatment, and need fewest recruits of any in the West
Indies, yet this
While I was in Montserrat I knew a negro man, named Emanuel Sankey, who
endeavoured to escape from his miserable bondage, by concealing himself on board
of a London ship: but fate did not favour the poor oppressed man; for, being
discovered when the vessel was under sail, he was delivered up again to his
master. This Christian
Some Historical Account of Guinea
,first published in Philadelphia in 1771, was a widely-known and much reprinted text in this period.master immediately pinned the wretch down to the ground at
each wrist and ancle, and then took some sticks of sealing wax, and lighted them,
and droped it all over his back. There was another master who was noted for
cruelty; and I believe he had not a slave but what had been cut, and had pieces
fairly taken out of the flesh: and after they had been punished thus, he used to
make them get into a long wooden box or case he had for that purpose, in which he
shut them up during pleasure. It was just about the height and breadth of a man;
and the poor wretches had no room, when in the case to move.
It was very common in several of the islands, particularly in St. Kitt's, for the
slaves to be branded with the initial letters of their master's name; and a load
of heavy iron hooks hung about their necks. Indeed on the most
This they frequently do. A negro-man on board a vessel of my master, while I
belonged to her, having been put in irons for some trifling misdemeanor, and kept
in that state
Nor is there any greater regard shewn to the little property than there is to the
persons and lives of the negroes. I have already related an instance or two of
particular oppression out of many which I have witnessed; but the following is
frequent in all the islands. The wretched field-slaves, after toiling all the day
for an unfeeling owner, who gives them but little victuals, steal sometimes a few
moments from
The small account in which the life of a negro is held in the West Indies, is so
universally known, that it might seem impertinent to quote the following extract,
if some people had not been hardy enough of late to assert that negroes are on the
same footing in that respect as Europeans. By the 329th Act, page 125, of the
Assembly of Barbadoes, it is enacted 'That if
any negro, or other slave, under punishment by his master, or his order, for
running away, or any other crime or misdemeanor towards his said master,
unfortunately shall suffer in life or member, no person whatsoever wantonness, or only of
bloody-mindedness, or cruel iniention, wilfully kill a negro, or other
slave, of his own, he shall pay into the public treasury fifteen pounds
sterling.' And it is the same in most, if not all, of the West
India islands. Is not this one of the many acts of the islands which call loudly
for redress? And do not the Assembly which enacted it deserve the appellation of
savages and brutes rather than of christians and men? It is an act at once
unmerciful, unjust, and unwise; which for cruelty would disgrace an assembly of
those who are called barbarians; and for its injustice and insanity would shock the morality and common sense of a Samaide or
Hottentot.
Shocking as this and many more acts of the bloody West India code at first out of wantonness and
bloody-mindedness! But is
I have often seen slaves, particularly those who were meagre, in different
islands, put into scales and weighed; and then sold from three pence to six pence
or nine pence a pound. My master, however, whose humanity was shocked at this
mode, used to sell such by the lump. And at or after a sale it was not uncommon to
see negroes taken from their wives, wives taken from their husbands, and children
from their parents, and sent off to other islands, and wherever else their
merciless lords choose; and probably never more during life see each other!
Oftentimes my heart has bled at these
A poor Creole negro I knew well, who, after having been often thus transported
from island to island, at last resided in Montserrat. This man used to tell me
many melancholy tales of himself. Generally, after he had done working for his
master, he used to employ his few leisure moments to go a fishing. When he had
caught any fish, his master would frequently take them from him without paying
him; and at other times some other white people would serve him in the same
manner. One day he said to me, very movingly, 'sometimes when a white man take away my fish I go to my maser, and he get me
my right;
Nor was such usage as this confined to particular places or individuals; for,
But by changing your conduct, and treating your slaves as men,
every cause of fear would be banished. They would be faithful, honest, intelligent
and vigorous; and peace, prosperity, and happiness, would attend you.
some account of Brimstone-Hill in Montserrat—Favourable change in the author's situation—He commences merchant
with three pence—His various success in dealing in the different islands,
and America, and the impositions he meets with in his transactions with
Europeans—A curious imposition on human nature—Dan er of the surfs in the
West Indies—Remarkable instance of kidnapping a free mulatto—Ths author is
nearly murdered by Doctor Perkins in savannah.
IN the preceding chapter I have set before the reader a few of those many
instances of oppression, extortion, and cruelty, which I have been a witness
In the variety of departments in which I was employed by my master, I had an
opportunity of seeing many curious scenes in different islands; but, above all, I
was struck with a celebrated curiosity called Brimstone-Hill, which is a high and
steep mountain, some few miles from the town of Plymouth in Montserrat. I had
often heard of some
Some time in the year 1763, kind Providence seemed to appear rather more
favourable to me. One of my master's vessels, a Bermudas sloop, about sixty tons
burthen was commanded by one
After I had been sailing for some time with this captain, at length I endeavoured
to try my luck and commence merchant. I had but a very small capital to begin
with; for one single half bit, which is equal to three-pence in England, made up
my whole stock. However I trusted to the Lord to be St. Eustatia, a Dutch island, I bought a glass tumbler
with my half bit, and when I came to Montserrat I sold it for a bit, or six-pence.
Luckily we made several successive trips to St. Eustatia (which was a general mart
for the West Indies, about twenty leagues from Montserrat) and in our next,
finding my tumbler so profitable, with this one bit I bought two tumblers more;
and when I came back I sold them for two bits equal to a shilling sterling. When
we went again I bought with these two bits four more of these glasses, which I
sold for fout bits on our return to Montserrat: and in our next voyage to St.
Eustatia, I bought two glasses with one bit, and with the other three I bought a
jug of Geneva, nearly about three pints in measure. When we came to Montserrat, I
sold the gin for eight bits, and the tumblers for two, so that
At one of our trips to St. Kitt's, I had eleven bits of my own; and my friendly
captain lent me five more,
While I was in this place, St. Kitt's, a very curious imposition on human nature
took place:—A white man wanted to marry in the church a free black woman that had
land and slaves in Montserrat: but the clergyman told him it was against the law
of the place to marry a white and a black in the church. The man then asked to be
married on the water, to which the parson consented, and the two lovers went in
one boat, and the parson and
The reader cannot but judge of the irksomeness of this situation to a mind like
mine, in being daily exposed to new hardships and impositions, after having seen
many better days, and been as it were, in a state of freedom and plenty; added to
which, every part of the world I had hitherto been in, seemed to me a paradise in
comparison of the West Indies. My mind was therefore hourly replete with
inventions and thoughts of being freed, and, if possible, by honest and honourable
means; for I always remembered the old adage; and I trust it has ever been my
ruling principle, that "Honesty
While we lay in this place a very cruel thing happened on board of our sloop which
filled me with horror; though I found afterwards such practices were frequent.
There was a very clever and decent free young mulatto-man who sailed a long time
with us: he had a free woman for his wife, by whom he had a child; and she was
then living on shore, and all very happy. Our captain and mate, and other people
on board, and several elsewhere, even the natives of Bermudas, all knew this
I determined to make every exertion to obtain my freedom, and to return to Old
England. For this purpose I thought a knowledge of navigation might be of use to
me; for, though I did not intend to run away unless I should be ill used; yet, in
such a case, if I understood navigation, I might attempt my escape in our sloop, which was one of the swiftest
sailing vessels in the West Indies, and I could be at no loss for hands to join
me: and if I should make this attempt, I had intended to have gone for England;
but this, as I said, was only to be in the event of my meeting with any ill usage.
I
We soon got loaded again, and returned to Montserrat; and there, amongst the rest
of the islands, I sold my goods well; and in this manner I continued trading
during the year 1764; meeting with various scenes of imposition, as usual. After
this, my master fitted out his vessel for Philadelphia, in the year 1765; and
during the time we were loading her, and getting
While I was in this place a very extraordinary occurrence befell me. I had been
told one evening of a wise woman, a Mrs. Davis, who
revealed secrets, foretold events, & I put little faith in this story at first,
as I could
We arrived safe at Montserrat, where we discharged our cargo; and soon after that
we took slaves on board for St. Eustatia, and from thence to Georgia. I had always
exerted myself and did double work, in order to
The author's disgust at the West Indies—Forms schemes to
obtain his freedom—Ludicrous disappointment he and his Captain meet with in
Georgia—At last, by several successful voyages, he acquires a sum of money
sufficient to purchase it—Applies to his master, who accepts it, and grants
his manumission, to his great joy—He afterwards enters as a freeman on board
one of Mr. King's ships, and sails for Georgia—Impositions on free
negroes
as usual—His venture of turkies—sails for Montserrat, and on
his passage his friend the Captain, falls ill and dies.
EVERY day now brought me nearer my freedom, and I was impatient till we proceeded
again to sea, that I might have an opportunity of getting a sum large enough to
purchase it. I was not long ungratified; for, in the begining of the year 1766,
my master bought another sloop, named the Nancy, the largest I had ever seen. She
was partly laden, and was to proceed to Philadelphia; our Captain had his choice
of three, and I was well pleased he chose this, which was the largest; for, from
his having a large vessel, I had more room, and could carry a larger quantity of
goods with me. Accordingly, when we had delivered our old vessel, the Prudence,
and completed the lading of
One sunday morning while I was here, as I was going to church, I chanced to pass a
meeting-house. The doors being open, and the house full of people, it excited my
curiosity to go in. When I entered the house, to my great surprise, I saw a very
tall woman standing in the midst of them, speaking in an audible voice something
which I could not understand. Having never seen any thing of this kind before, I
stood and stared about me for some time, wondering at this odd scene. As soon as
it was over, I took an opportunity to make inquiry about the place and people,
when I was informed they were called Quakers. I particularly asked what that woman
I saw in the midst of them had said, but none of them were pleased to satisfy me,
so I quitted them, and soon after, as I was returning, I came to a church
When we had discharged our cargo here, and were loaded again, we left this
fruitful land once more, and set sail for Montserrat. My traffic had hitherto succeeded so well with me, that I
thought by selling my goods when we arrived at Montserrat, I should have enough to
purchase my freedom. But as soon as our vessel arrived there, my master came on
board, and gave orders for us to go to St. Eustatia, and discharge our cargo
there, and from thence proceed for Georgia. I was much disappointed at this; but,
thinking as usual, it was of no use to encounter with the decrees of fate, I
submitted without repining, and we went to St. Eustatia. After we
While we remained here an odd circumstance happened to the captain
When I got to the office and acquainted the Register with my errand, he congratulated me on the occasion, and told me he would draw up my manumission for half-price, which was a guinea. I thanked him for his kindness; and, having received it and paid him, I hastened to my master to get him to sign it, that I might be fully released. Accordingly he signed the manumission that day; so that, before night I, who had been a slave in the morning, trembling at the will of another, was become my own master and completely free. I thought this was the happiest day I had ever experienced; and my joy was still heightened by the blessings and prayers of many of the sable race, particularly the aged, to whom my heart had ever been attached with reverence.
Montserrat.—To all men unto whom these presents shall
come; I Robert King, of the parish of St. Anthony in the said island, merchant,
send greeting: Know ye that I the aforesaid Robert King, for and in
consideration of the sum of seventy pounds current money of the said island,
to me in hand paid, and to the intent that a negro man-slave, named GUSTAVUS
VASA, shall and may become free, have manumitted, emancipated, enfranchised,
and set free, and by these presents do manumit, emancipate, enfranchise, and
set free, the aforesaid negro man-slave,
ROBERT KING.
Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of Terry Legay, Montserrat.
Registered the within manumission at full length, this eleventh day of July, 1766, in liber D.
TERRY LEGAY, Register.
London, said to me, 'We hope you won't leave us, but that you will still be with the
vessels.' Here gratitude bowed me down; and none but the generous mind
can judge of my feelings, struggling between in clination and duty. However,
notwithstanding my wish to be in London, I obediently answered my benefactors
During our stay at this place, one evening a slave belonging to Mr. Read said
Yea-ma-chra. I was but just gone when Mr. Read, with the constables, came
for me, and searched the vessel; but, not finding me there, he swore he would have
me dead or alive. I was secreted
about five days; however, the good character which my captain always gave me as
well as some other gentlemen who also knew me, procured me some friends. At last
some of them told my Captain that he did not use me
After I had thanked all my friends for their kindness, I went on board again to my
work, of which I had always plenty. We were in haste to complete our lading, and were to carry twenty head
of cattle with us to the West-Indies, where they are a very profitable article. In
order to encourage me in working, and to make up for the time I had lost, my
Captain promised me the privilege of carrying two bullocks of
Many were surprised when they heard of my conducting the sloop into the port, and I now obtained a new appellation, and was called Captain. This elated me not a little, and it was quite flattering to my vanity to be thus styled by as high a title as any freeman in this place possessed. When the death of the captain became known, he was much regretted by all who knew him; for he was a man universally respected. At the same time the sable Captain lost no fame; for the success I had met with increased the affection of my friends in no small measure.
The author, to oblige Mr. King, once more embarks for Georgia
in one of his vessels—A new captain is appointed—They sail, and steer a new
course—Three remarkable dreams—The vessel is shipwrecked on the Bahama Bank,
but the crew are preserved, principally by means of the author—He sets out
from the island with the captain, in a small boat, in quest of a ship—Their
distress—Meet with a wrecker—Sail for Providence—Are overtaken again by a
terrible storm, and are all near perishing—Arrive at New Providence—The
author, after some time, sails from thence to Georgia—Meets with another
storm, and is obliged to put back and resit—Arrives at Georgia—Meets new
impositions—Two white men attempt
to kidnap him—Officiates as a parson at a funeral
ceremony—Bids adieu to Georgia, and sails for Martinico.
As I had now, by the death of my captain, lost my great benefactor and friend, I
had little inducement to remain longer in the West Indies, except my gratitude to
Mr. King, which I thought I had pretty well discharged in bringing back his vessel
safe, and delivering his cargo to his satisfaction. I began to think of leaving
this part of the world, of which I had been long tired, and returning to England,
where my heart had always been; but Mr. King still pressed me very much to stay
with his vessel; and he had done so much for me that I found myself unable to
refuse his requests, and consented to go another voyage to Georgia, as the mate,
from his ill state of health,
On the fourth of February, which was soon after we had got into our new course, I
dreamt the ship was wrecked amidst the surfs and rocks, and that I was the means
of saving every one on board; and on the night following I dreamed the very same
dream. These
I then advised to get the boat prepared against morning, and some of us began to
set about it; but others abandoned all care of the ship and themselves, and fell
to drinking. Our boat had a piece out of her bottom near two feet long, and we had
no materials to mend her; however, necessity being the mother of invention, I took
some pump leather and nailed it to the broken part, and plastered it over with
tallow-grease. And, thus prepared, with the utmost anxiety of mind we watched for
day-light, and thought every minute an hour till it appeared.
However, we continued all the day to toil and strain our exertions, till we had
brought all on board safe to the
My dream now returned upon my mind with all its force; it was fulfilled in every
part; for our danger was the same I had dreamt of; and I could not help looking on
myself as the principal instrument in effecting our deliverance: for, owing to
some of our people getting drunk, the rest of us were obliged to double our
exertions; and it was fortunate we did, for in a very little time longer the patch
of leather on the boat would have been worn out, and she would have been no longer
fit for service. Situated as we were, who could think that men should be so
careless of the danger they were in? for, if the wind had but raised the swell as
it was when the vessel struck, we must have bid a final farewel to all hopes of
deliverance; and though, I warned the people
Our first care, after refreshment, was to make ourselves tents to lodge in
On the second day of our voyage, we came to an island called Abbico, the largest
of the Bahama islands. We were much in want of water; for by this time our water
was expended, and we were exceedingly fatigued in pulling two days in the heat of
the sun; and it being late in the evening, we hauled the boat ashore to try for
water and remain during the night: when we came ashore we searched for water, but
could find none. When it was dark, we made a fire around us for fear of the wild
beasts, as the place was an entire thick wood, and we took it by turns to watch.
In this situation we found very little rest, and waited with impatience for the
morning. As
They belonged to a whaling schooner that was wrecked two days before us about nine miles to the north of our vessel. When she was wrecked some of them had taken to their boats and had left some of their people and property on a key, in the same manner as we had done; and were going, like us, to New Providence in quest of a ship, when they met with this little sloop, called a wrecker; their employment in those seas being to look after wrecks. They were then going to take the remainder of the people be longing to the schooner; for which the wrecker was to have all things belonging to the vessel, and likewise their people's help to get what they could out of her, and were then to carry the crew to New Providence.
Nothing could have been more fortunate than our meeting with this
We stayed in New Providence about seventeen or eighteen days; during which time I
met with many friends, who gave me encouragement to stay there with them, but I
declined it;
After our arrival we went up to the town of Savannah; and the same evening I went
to a friend's house to lodge, whose name was Mosa, a black man. We were very happy
at meeting each other; and after supper we had a light till it was between nine
and ten o'clock at night. About that time the watch or patrol came by; and,
discerning a light in the house, they knocked at the door: we opened it; and they
came in and sat down and drank some punch with us: they also begged some limes of
me, as they understood I had some, which I readily gave them. A little after this
they told me I must go to the watch-house with them: this surprised me a good
deal, after our kindness to them; and I asked them, Why so? They said that all
negroes who had a
I stayed in savannah some time, anxiously trying to get to Montserrat once more to see Mr. King, my old master, and then to take a final farewel of the American quarter of the globe. At last I met with a sloop called the speedwell, Captain John Bunton, which be longed to Grenada, and was bound to Martinico, a French island, with a cargo of rice, and I shipped myself on board of her.
Before I left Georgia, a black woman who had a child lying dead, being very
tenacious of the church burial service, and not able to get any white person to
perform it, applied to me for that purpose. I told her I was no parson;
The author arrives at Martinico—Meets with new
difficulties—Gets to Montserrat, where he takes leave of his old master, and
sails for England—Meets Capt. Pascal—Learns the French horn—Hires himself
with Doctor Irving, where be learns to freshen sea water—Leaves the doctor,
and goes a voyage to Turkey and Portugal; and afterwards goes a voyage to
Grenada, and another to Jamaica—Returns to the Doctor, and they embark
together on a voyage to the North Pole, with the Hon. Capt. Phipps—some
account of that voyage, and the dangers the author was in—He returns to
England.
I THUS took a final leave of Georgia; for the treatment I had received in it
The bearer hereof, Gustavus Vasa, was my slave for upwards of three years, during which he has always behaved himself well, and discharged his duty with honesty and assiduity.
Having obtained this, I parted from my kind master, after many sincere professions
of gratitude and regard,
We had a most prosperous voyage, and, at the end of seven weeks, arrived at
Cherry-Garden stairs. Thus were my longing eyes once more gratified with a sight
of London, after having been absent from it above four years. I immediately
received my wages, and I never had earned seven guineas so quick in my life
before; I had thirty-seven guineas in all, when I got cleared of the ship. I now
entered upon a scene quite new to me, but full of hope. In this situation my first
thoughts were to look out for some of my former friends, and amongst the first of
those were the Miss Guerins. As soon, therefore, as I had regaled myself I went in
In May 1769, soon after our return from Turkey, our ship made a delightful voyage
to Oporto in Portugal, where we arrived at the time of the carnival. On our
arrival, there were sent on board of us thirty-six articles to observe with very
heavy penalties if we should break any of them; and none of us even dared to go on
board any other
Our next voyage was to the Mediterranean. The ship was again got ready, and we
sailed in september for Genoa. This is one of the finest cities I ever saw; some
of the edifices were of beautiful marble, and made a most noble appearance; and
many had very curious fountains before them. The churches were rich and
magnificent, and curiously adorned both in the inside and out. But all this
grandeur was in my eyes disgraced by the galley slaves, whose condition both there
and in other parts of Italy is truly piteous and wretch ed. After we had stayed
there some
In April 1771, I shipped myself as a steward with Capt. Wm. Robertson of the ship Grenada Planter, once more to try my fortune in the West Indies; and we sailed from London for Madeira, Barbados, and the Grenades.
A white man, an islander, bought some goods of me to the amount of some pounds,
and made me many fair promises as usual, but without any intention of paying me.
He had likewise bought goods from some more of our people, whom he intended to
serve in the same manner; but he still amused us with promises. However, when our
ship was loaded, and near sailing, this honest buyer discovered no intention
In twenty-eight days time we arrived in England, and I got clear of this ship.
But, being still of a roving disposition, and desirous of seeing as many different
parts of the world as I could, I shipped myself soon after, in the same year, as
steward on board of a fine large ship, called the Jamaica, Captain David Watt; and
we sailed from England in December 1771, for Nevis and Jamaica. I found Jamaica to be a very fine large island, well
peopled, and the most considerable natural state I then was in, and was exceedingly
doubtful of a happy eternity if I should die in it. I had no hopes of my life
being prolonged for any time; for we saw that our existence could not be long on
the ice after leaving the ships, which were now out of sight, and some miles from
the boats.
The author leaves Doctor Irving, and engages on board a
Turkey ship—Account of a black man's being kidnapped on board and sent to
the West Indies, and the author's fruitless endeavours to procure his
freedom—some account of the manner of the author's conversion to the faith
of Jesus Christ.
Our voyage to the North Pole being ended, I returned to London with Doctor Irving,
with whom I continued for some time, during which I began seriously to reflect on
the dangers I had escaped, particularly those of my last voyage, which made a
lasting impression on my mind; and, by the grace of God,
In process of time I left my master, Doctor Irving, the purifier of waters. I
lodged in Coventry-court, Haymarket, where I was continually oppressed and much
concerned about the salvation of my soul, and was determined (in my own strength)
to be a first-rate Christian. I used every means for this purpose; and, not being
able to find any person amongst those with habeas
corpus for him, and got a tipstaff to
I had a great desire to read the bible the whole day at home; but not having a
convenient place for retirement, I left the house in the day, rather than stay
amongst the wicked ones; and that day as I was walking, it pleased God to direct
me to a house where there was an old sea-faring man, who experienced much of the
love of God shed abroad in his heart. He began to discourse with me; and, as I
desired to love the Lord, his conversation rejoiced me greatly; and indeed I had
never heard before the love of Christ to believers set forth in such a manner, and
in so clear a point of view. Here I had more questions to
After this I was resolved to win Heaven if possible; and if I perished I thought
it should be at the feet of Jesus, in praying to him for salvation. After having
been an eye-witness to some of the happiness which attended those who feared God,
I knew not how, with any
The next day I took courage, and went to Holborn, to see my new and worthy
acquaintance, the old man, Mr. C—; he, with his wife, a gracious woman, were at
work at silk weaving; they seemed mutually happy, and both quite glad to see me,
and I were already atoned for and
forgiven them whilst living; and if I did not experience the same before my exit,
the Lord would say at that great day to me, 'Go, ye
cursed,' &c. &c. for God would appear faithful in his judgments
to the wicked, as he would be faithful in shewing mercy to those were ordained to
it before the world was; therefore Christ Jesus seemed to be all in all to that
man's soul. I was much wounded at this discourse, and brought into such a dilemma
as I never expected. I asked him, if he was to die that
moment, whether he was sure to enter the kingdom of God? and added, 'Do you know that your sins are forgiven
you?' He answered in the affirmative. Then confusion, anger, and
discontent seized me, and I staggered much at this sort of doctrine; it
He did not admit me as a communicant; but recommended me to read the scriptures,
and hear the word preached, not to neglect fervent prayer to God, who has promised
to hear the suppli cations of those who seek him in godly sincerity; so I took my
leave of him, with many thanks, and resolved to follow his advice, so far as the
Lord would condescend to enable me. During this time I was out of employ, nor was
I
On the morning of the 6th of October, (I pray you to attend) all that day, I thought that I should either see or hear something supernatural. I had a secret impulse on my mind of something that was to take place, which drove me continually for that time to a throne of grace. It pleased God to enable me to wrestle with him, as Jacob did: I prayed that if sudden death were to happen, and I perished, it might be at Christ's feet.
During this period we remained at Cadiz until our ship got laden. We sailed about the fourth of November; and, having a good passage, we arrived in London the month following, to my comfort, with heartfelt gratitude to God for his rich and unspeakable mercies.
On my return I had but one text which puzzled me, or that the devil
The author embarks on board a ship bound for Cadiz—Is near
being shipwrecked—Goes to Malaga—Remarkable fine cathedral there—The author
disputes with a popish priest—Picking up eleven miserable men at sea in
returning to England—Engages again with Doctor Irving to accompany him to
Jamaica and the Musquito shore—Meets with an Indian prince on board—The
author attempts to instruct him in the truths of the Gospel—Frustrated by
the bad example of some in the ship—They arrive on the Musquito shore with
some slaves they purchased at Jamaica, and begin to cultivate a
plantation—some account of the manners and customs of the Musquito
Indians—successful device of the author's to quell a riot
among them—Curious entertainment given by them to Doctor Irving and the
author, who leaves the shore and goes for Jamaica—Is barbarously treated by
a man with whom he engaged for his passage—Escapes and goes to the Musquito
admiral, who treats him kindly—He gets another vessel and goes on
board—Instances of bad treatment—Meets Doctor Irving—Gets to Jamaica—Is
cheated by his captain—Leaves the Doctor and goes for England.
WHEN our ship was got ready for sea again, I was intreated by the captain to go in
her once more; but, as I felt myself now as happy as I could with to be in this
life, I for some time refused; however, the advice of my friends at last
prevailed; and, in full resignation to the will of God, I again
At this time there were many large Spanish flukers or passage-vessels full of
people crossing the channel; who seeing our condition, a number of them came
alongside of us. As many hands as could be employed began to work; some at our
three pumps, and the rest unloading the ship as fast as possible. There being only
a single rock called the Porpus on which we struck, we soon got off it, and
providentially it was then high water, we therefore run the ship
I was very much shocked at the custom of bull-baiting, and other diversions
Having taken at this place some fine wines, fruits, and money, we proceeded to
Cadiz, where we took about two tons more of money, &c. and then sailed for
England in the month of June. When we were about the north latitude 42, we had
contrary wind for
'Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death:
'Then they cried unto the Lord in their
trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. They that go down
The poor distressed captain said, 'that the
Lord is good; for, seeing that I am not fit to die, he therefore gave me a
space of time to repent.' I was very glad to hear this expression, and
took an opportunity when convenient of talking to him on the providence of God.
They told us they were Portuguese, and were in a brig loaded with corn, which
shifted that morning at five o'clock, owing to which the vessel sunk that instant
with two of the crew; and how these eleven got into the boat (which was lashed to
the deck) not one of them could tell.
I was happy once more amongst my friends and brethren, till November, when my old
friend, the celebrated Doctor Irving, bought a remarkable fine sloop, about 150
tons. He had a mind for a new adventure in cultivating a plantation at Jamaica,
and the Musquito shore; asked me to go with him, and said that he would trust me
with his estate in preference to any one. By the advice, therefore, of my friends,
I accepted of the offer, knowing that the harvest was fully ripe in those parts,
and hoped to be an instrument under God, of bringing some poor sinner to my well
beloved master, Jesus Christ. Before I embarked, I found with the Doctor four
Masquito 'How comes it that all the white men on board who can read and write, and
observe the sun,
I
answered him, the reason was, that they did not fear God; and that if any one of
them died so they could not go to, or be happy with God. He replied, that if these
persons went to hell he would go to hell too. I was sorry to hear this; and, as he
sometimes had the tooth-ach, and also some other persons in the ship at the same
time, I asked him if their tooth-ach made his easy: he said, No. Then I told him
if he and these people went to hell together, their pains would not make his any
lighter. This answer had great weight with him: it depressed his spirits much; and
he became ever after, during the passage, fond of being alone. When we were in the
latitude of Martinico, and near making the land, one morning we had a brisk gale
woolwow or flat-headed
Indians, who lived fifty or 'you rascal.'
I never saw any mode of worship among them;
but in this they were not worse than their European brethren or neighbours, for I
am sorry to say that there was not one white person in our dwelling, nor tell God to
make them dead. This operated on them like magic.—The clamour immediately ceased,
and I gave them some rum and a few other things; after which they went away
peaceably; and the Governor afterwards gave our neighbour, who was called Captain
Plasmyah, his hat again. When the Doctor returned, he was exceedingly glad at my
success in thus getting rid of our troublesome guests. The Musquito tourrie or dryckbot. The English of this expression is, a feast of drinking about,
of which it seems a corruption of language. The drink consisted of pine apples
roasted, and casades chewed or beaten in mortars; which, after lying some time,
ferments, and becomes so strong as to intoxicate, when drank in any quantity. We
had timely notice given to us of the entertainment. A white family, whithin five
miles of us, told us how the drink was made, and I and two others went before the
time to the village, where the mirth was appointed to be held, and there we saw
the whole art of making the drink, and also the kind of animals that were to be
eaten there. I cannot say the sight
The rainy season came on here about the latter end of May, which continued till
August very heavily; so that the rivers were overflowed, and our provisions then
in the ground were washed away. I thought this was in some measure a judgment upon
us for working on sundays, and it hurt my mind very much. I often wished to leave
this place and sail for Europe; for our mode of procedure and living in this
heathenish form was very irksome to me. The word of God saith, 'What does it avail a man if he gain the whole
world, and lose his own soul?'
This was much and heavily impressed on
my mind; and though
The bearer, Gustavus Vassa, has served me several years with strict honesty, sobriety, and fidelity. I can, therefore with justice recommend him for these qualifications; and indeed in every respect I consider him as an excellent servant. I do hereby certify that he always behaved well, and that he is perfectly trust-worthy.
Musquito shore,
June15, 1776.
'Christians! damn you, you are one of st. Paul's men; but by G—, except you
have st. Paul's or st. Peter's faith, and walk upon the water to the shore, you
shall not go out of the vessel;'
which I now learnt was going amongst
the spaniards towards Carthagena, where he swore he would sell me. I simply asked
him what right he had to sell me? but, without another word, he made some of his
people tie ropes round each of 'He hath determined the times before appointed, and
set bounds to our habitations,'
Acts xvii. 26. And, 'Who is there among you that feareth the Lord, that
obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light?
let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God,'
Isaiah
l. 20. And thus by the grace of God I was enabled to do. I found him a present
help in the time of need, and the captain's fury began to sub side as the night
approached: but I found,
The next morning we discovered that the vessel which had caused such a fury in the
captain was an English sloop. They soon came to an anchor where we were, and, to
my no small surprise, learned that Doctor Irving was on board of her on his way
from the Musquito shore to Jamaica. I was for going immediately to see this old
master and friend, but the captain would not suffe me to leave the vessel. I then
informe the Doctor, by letter, how I was treated and begged that he would take me
out of the sloop: but he informed me that it was not in his power, as he was a
passenger himself; but he sent me some rum and sugar for my own use. I now learned
that after I had left the estate which I managed for this gentleman
On the 14th of October, the Indian Queen arrived at Kingston in Jamaica. When we
were unloaded I demanded my wages, which amounted to eight pounds five shillings
sterling; but Captain Baker refused to give me one farthing, although it was the
hardest earned
One day I went with a free negroe taylor, named Joe Diamond, to one
We had many very heavy gales of wind in our passage; in the course of
On January the seventh, 1777, we arrived at Plymouth. I was happy once more to tread upon English ground; and, after passing some little time at Plymouth and Exeter, among some pious friends, whom I was happy to see, I went to London with a heart replete with thanks to God for past mercies.
Different transactions of the author's life till the present
time—His application to the late Bishop of London to be appointed a
missionary to Africa—some account of his share in the conduct of the late
expedition to Sierra Leone—Petition to the Queen—Conclusion.
SUCH were the various scenes which I was a witness to, and the fortune I
experienced until the year 1777. Since that period, my life has been more uniform,
and the incidents of it fewer, than in any other equal number of years preceding;
I therefore hasten to the conclusion of a narrative, which I
I had suffered so many impositions in my commercial transactions in different parts of the world, that I became heartily disgusted with the seafaring life, and was determined not to return to it, at least for some time. I therefore once more engaged in service shortly after my return, and continued for the most part in this situation until 1784.
Soon after my arrival in London, I saw a remarkable circumstance relative to
African complexion, which I thought so extraordinary, that I beg leave just to
mention it: A white negro woman, that I had formerly seen in London and other
parts, had married a white man, by whom she had three boys, and they were every
one mullattoes, and yet they had fine light hair. In 1779,
To the Right Reverend Father in God,ROBERT,
Lord Bishop of London:
THAT your memorialist is a native of Africa, and has a knowledge of the manners and customs of the inhabitants of that country.
That your memorialist has resided in different parts of Europe for twenty-two years last past, and embraced the Christian faith in the year 1759.
That your memorialist is desirous of returning to Africa as a missionary, if
encouraged by your Lordship, in hopes of being able to prevail upon his
countrymen to become Christians; and your memorialist is the more induced to
undertake the same, from the success that has attended the like undertakings
when encouraged by the Portugeuse
Your memorialist's only motive for soliciting the office of a missionary is, that he may be a means, under God, of reforming his countrymen and persuading them to embrace the Christian religion. Therefore your memorialist humbly prays your Lordship's encouragement and support in the undertaking.
I have resided near seven years on the coast of Africa, for most part of the time as commanding officer. From the knowledge I have of the country and its inhabitants, I am inclined to think that the within plan will be attended with great success, if countenanced by your Lordship. I beg leave further to represent to your Lordship, that the like attempts, when encouraged by other governments, have met with uncommon success; and at this very time I know a very respectable character a black priest at Cape Coast Castle. I know the within named Gustavus Vassa, and believe him a moral good man.
I have resided near five years on Senegambia on the coast of Africa, and have had the honour of silling very considerable employments in that province. I do approve of the within plan, and think the undertaking very laudable and proper, and that it deserves your Lordship's protection and encouragement, in which case it must be attended with the intended success.
My sole motive for thus dwelling on this transaction, or inserting these papers, is the opinion which gentlemen of sense and education, who are acquainted with Africa, entertain of the probability of converting the inhabitants of it to the faith of Jesus Christ, if the attempt were countenanced by the legislature.
shortly after this I left the Governor, and served a nobleman in the Dorsetshire
militia, whith whom I was encamped at Coxheath for some time;
In the year 1783, I visited eight counties in Wales, from motives of curiosity. While I was in that part of the country I was led to go down into a coal-pit in Shropshire, but my curiosity nearly cost me my life; for while I was in the pit the coals fell in, and buried one poor man, who was not far from me: upon this I got out as fast as I could, thinking the surface of the earth the safest part of it.
In the spring of 1784, I thought of visiting old ocean again. In consequence of
this I embarked as steward on board a fine new ship called the London, commanded
by Martin Hopkin, and sailed for New-York. I admired this city very much; it is
large and well-built, and abounds with provisions
Our ship having got laden were turned to London in January 1785. When she was
ready again for another voyage, the captain being an agreeable man, I sailed with
him from hence in the spring, March 1785, for Philadelphia. On the 5th of April,
we took our departure from the land's-end, with a pleasant gale; and about nine
o'clock that night the moon shone bright, and the sea was smooth, while our ship
I was very glad to see this favorite old town once more; and my pleasure was much
increased in seeing the worthy "Go ye and
do likewise!"
In October 1585, I was accompanied by some of the Africans, and presented this address of thanks to the gentlemen called Friends or Quakers, in Gracechurch-Court, Lombard-street:
GENTLEMEN,
By reading your book, entitled a Caution to Great Britain and
Gentlemen, could you, by perseverance, at last be enabled under God, to lighten in
any degree the heavy burthen of the afflicted, no doubt it would in some measure,
be the possible means, under God, of saving the souls of many of the oppressors;
and if so, sure we are that the God, whose eyes are ever upon
These gentlemen received us very kindly, with a promise to exert themselves on behalf of the oppressed Africans, and we parted.
While in town, I chanced once to be invited to a Quaker's wedding. The simple and yet expressive mode used at their solemnizations is worthy of note. The following is the true form of it:
After the company have met, they have seasonable exhortations by several of the
members; the bride and bridegroom stand up, and, taking each other
"Friends, in the fear of the Lord, and in the presence of this assembly, whom I desire to be my witnesses, I take this my friend, M. N. to be my wife; promising, through divine assistance, to be unto her a loving and faithful husband till death separate us:" and the woman makes the like declaration. Then the two first sign their names to the record, and as many more witnesses as have a mind. I had the honour to subscribe mine to a register in Gracechurch-Court, Lombard-street.—My hand is ever free—if any female Debonair wishes to obtain it, this mode I recommend.
We returned to London in August; and our ship not going immediately to sea, I
shipped as a steward in an American ship called the Harmony, Captain
WHEREAS you were directed, by our warrant of the 4th of last month, to
receive into your charge from Mr. Joseph Irwin, the surplus provisions
remaining of what was provided for the voyage, as well as the provisions
for the support of the black poor, after the landing at Sierra Leone,
with the cloathing, tools, and all other articles
I proceeded immediately to the executing of my duty on board the vessels destined for the voyage, where I continued till the March following.
During my continuanee in the employment of government, I was struck with the
flagrant abuses committed by the agent, and endeavoured to remedy
I could not silently suffer government to be thus cheated, and my countrymen
plundered and oppressed, and even lest destitude of the necessaries for almost
their existence. I therefore informed the Commissioners of the Navy of the agent's
proceeding; but my dismission was soon after procured, by means of a gentleman in
the city, whom the agent, conscious of his peculation,
Thus provided, they proceeded on their voyage; and at last, worn out by treatment,
perhaps not the most mild, and wasted by sickness, brought on by want of medicine,
cloaths, bedding, &c. they reached Sirrea Leona just at at the commencement of
the rains. At that season of the year it is impossible to cultivate the lands;
their provisions therefore were exhausted before they could derive any benefit
from agriculture; and it is not surprising
Thus ended my part of the long-talked of expedition to sierra Leona; an expedition which, however unfortunate in the event, was humane and politic in its design, nor was its failure owing to government: every thing was done on their part; but there was evidently sufficient mismanagement attending the conduct and execution of it to defeat its success.
I should not have been so ample in my account of this transaction, had not the
share I bore in it been made the subject of partial animadversion, and even my
dismission from my employment
The Memorial and Petition ofGUSTAVUS VASSA
a black Man, late Commissary to the black Poor going toAFRICA.
THAT your Lordships memorialist was, by the Honourable the Commissioners of his Majesty's Navy on the 4th of December last, appointed to the above employment by warrant from that board;
That he accordingly proceeded to the execution of his duty on board of the Vernon, being one of the ships appointed to proceed to Africa with the above poor;
That your memorialist, to his great grief and astonishment, received a
letter
That, conscious of having acted with the most perfect fidelity and the
greatest assiduity in discharging the trust reposed in him, he is
altogether at a loss to conceive the reasons of your Lordships having
altered the favourable opinion you were pleased to conceive of him,
sensible that your Lordships would not proceed to so severe a measure
without some apparent good cause; he therefore has every reason to
believe that his conduct has been grossly misrepresented to your
Lordships, and he is the more confirmed in his opinion, because, by
opposing measures of others concerned in the same expedition, which
tended to defeat your Lordships humane intentions, and to put the
government to a very considerable
Your petitioner therefore humbly prays that your Lordships will take his case into consideration, and that you will be pleased to order payment of the above referred-to account, amounting to 32l. 4s. and also the wages intended, which is most humbly submitted.
London,
May12, 1787.
The above petition was delivered into the hands of their Lordships, who were kind
enough, in the space of some few months afterwards, without hearing, to order me
50l. sterling—that is, 18l. wages for the time (upwards of four
From that period, to the present time, my life has passed in an even tenor, and great part of my study and attention has been to assist in the cause of my much injured countrymen.
March the 21st, 1788, I had the honour of presenting the Queen with a petition on behalf of my African brethren, which was received most graciously by Her Majesty*:
To theQUEEN's
most Excellent Majesty.
YOUR Majesty's well known benevolence and humanity emboldens
me to approach your royal presence, trusting that the obscurity of my situa tion will not prevent your Majesty from attending to the sufferings for which I plead.
Yet I do not solicit your royal pity, for my own distress; my sufferings, although numerous, are in a measure forgotten. I supplicate your Majesty's compassion for millions of my African countrymen, who groan under the lash of tyranny in the West Indies.
The oppression and cruelty exercised to the unhappy negroes there, have at length reached the British legislature, and they are now deliberating on its redress; even several persons of pro perty in slaves in the West Indies, have petitioned parliament against its continuance, sensible that it is as impolitic as it is unjust—and what is inhuman must ever be unwise.
I presume, therefore, gracious Queen, to implore your interposition with
your royal consort, in favour of the wretch ed Africans; that, by your
Majesty's benevolent influence, a period may now be put to their misery;
and that they may be raised from the condition of brutes, to which they
are at present degraded, to the rights and situation of freemen, and
admitted to partake of the blessings of your Majesty's happy government;
so shall your Majesty enjoy the heart-felt pleasure of procuring
happiness to millions, and be rewarded
And may the all-bountiful Creator shower on your Majesty, and the Royal Family, every bleffing that this world can afford, and every fulness of joy which divine revelation has promised us in the next.
The negro consolidated act, made by the assembly of Jamaica last year, and the new
act of amendment now in agitation there, contain a proof of the existence of those
charges that have been made against the
I hope to have the satisfaction of seeing the renovation of liberty and justice,
resting on the British government, to vindicate the honour of our common nature.
These are concerns which do not perhaps belong to any particular office: but, to
speak more seriously to every man of sentiment, actions like these are the just
and sure foundation of future fame; a reversion, though remote, is coveted by some
noble minds as a substantial good. It is upon these grounds that I hope and expect
the attention of gentlemen in power. These are designs consonant to the elevation
of their rank, and the dignity of their stations: they are ends suitable to the
nature of a free and ge nerous government; and, connected with views of empire and
dominion, * Granville Sharp, Esq the Reverend Thomas
Clarkson; the Reverend James Ramsay; our approved friends, men of virtue,
are an honour to their country, ornamental to human nature, happy in
themselves, and benefactors to mankind! [Equiano's note]'Those that honour their Maker have mercy on the poor.'
'It is righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin
is a reproach to any people; destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity,
and the wicked shall fall by their own wickedness.'
May the blessings
of the Lord be upon the heads of all those who commiserated the cases of the
oppressed negroes, and the fear of God prolong their days; and may their
expectations be filled with gladness! 'The
liberal devise liberal things, and by liberal things shall stand,'
Isaiah xxxii. 8. They can say with pious Job, 'Did not I weep for
Job xxx.
25.
As the inhuman traffic of slavery is to be taken into the consideration of the British legislature, I doubt not, if a system of commerce was established in Africa, the demand for manufactures will most rapidly augment, as the na tive inhabitants will insensibly adopt the British fashions, manners, customs, &c. In proportion to the civilization, so will be the consumption of British manufactures.
The wear and tear of a continent, nearly twice as large as Europe, and rich in vegetable and mineral productions, is much easier conceived than calculated.
A case in point.—It cost the Aborigines of Britain, little or nothing in clothing,
&c. The difference between their forefathers and the present generation,
It is trading upon safe grounds. A commercial intercourse with Africa opens an inexhaustible source of wealth to the manufacturing interests of Great Britain, and to all which the slave trade is an objection.
If I am not misinformed, the manufacturing interest is equal, if not superior, to the landed interest, as to the value, for reasons which will soon appear. The abolition of slavery, so diabolical, will give a most rapid extension of manufactures, which is totally and diametrically opposite to what some interested people assert.
Population, the bowels and surface of Africa, abound in valuable and use ful returns; the hidden treasures of cen turies will be brought to light and into circulation. Industry, enterprize, and mining, will have their full scope, pro portionably as they civilize. In a word, it lays open an endless field of commerce to the British manufactures and merchant adventurer. The manufacturing interest and the general inte rests are synonymous. The abolition of slavery would be in reality an universal good.
Tortures, murder, and every other imaginable barbarity and iniquity, are practised
upon the poor slaves with impunity.
This I conceive to be a theory founded upon facts, and therefore an infallible one. If the blacks were permitted to remain in their own country, they would double themselves every fifteen years. In proportion to such increase will be the demand for manufactures. Cotton and indigo grow spontaneously in most parts of Africa; a consideration this of no small consequence to the manufacturing towns of Great Britain. It opens a most immense, glorious, and happy prospect—the clothing, &c. of a continent ten thousand miles in circumference, and immensely rich in productions of every denomination in return for manufactures.
Equiano published the book by subscription, subsidizing the printing of the book by soliciting payment up front from people who would then receive their copy of the book (or copies; some people ordered multiple copies) when it was published. This was a shrewd move on Equiano's part, as it enabled him to retain copyright in his book, which meant that he received all of the profits, rather than, as was more typical in the period, receiving a lump sum in advance for his copyright. At the same time, the subscribers were able to associate themselves with the abolitionist cause; becoming a subscriber, and having your name published in this list, was like signing a petition in favor of ending the slave trade.
The Interesting Narrative was a great success, going into
nine editions in Equiano's lifetime. With each edition, the list of subscribers
grew; the first edition had 321 subscribers, which grew to 804 in the ninth
edition, published in 1794. Here we print the list of subscribers for the second
edition, published in 1789.
A prime area for the slave trade during this time due to its economic and military prowess. The upper hand in warfare was an important factor in the African slave trade because of the tradition in which African tribes would enslave other Africans after battles, viewing them as spoils of war.
The best color to wear in Europe during this time was purple since the color was hard to extract and get a hold of. If one was to wear purple it was usually because they were royal.
Interesting to note that they are living in an egalitarian culture when it comes to agriculture, the backbone to their existence.
The narrator appears to be proud that it is his land that is most commonly used for the slave trade due to his people's hardiness and work ethic.
Grisly account that does not parallel the thriving and forward thinking culture of the narrator's home that he described earlier.
Oblation: (the act of making a religious offering; specifically capitalized : the act of offering the eucharistic elements to God
.The act of making a religious offering; specifically capitalized : the act of offering the eucharistic elements to God (Merriam-Webster).
Religious laws require Jewish people to take part in ritual washing, including an immersion of the whole body (tevilah) and the pouring water over the hands (netilat yadayim). There is no specific correlation or proof that this contributed to higher hygiene levels among the Jewish population, however, so Equiano's statement is likely based on stereotypes of the time (Wikipedia).
John Gill (1697-1771) was a prominent biblical
scholar of the time, know most commonly for his in-depth biblical analysis in An Exposition of the New Testament (3 vols., 1746–8), and
Exposition of the Old Testament (6 vols.,
1748–63)(Wikipedia).
In Dr. Gill's analysis of Genesis 25:4, he
mentions an Aphra and Apher, not an Afer and Afra, which is a potential error on
Equiano's part. Dr. Gill contextualizes them by saying that they are the
sons of Abraham by Keturah...and all Africa, had their names, and that these
accompanied Hercules into Lybia
(Christianity.com).
Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846) was an English abolitionist that participated heavily in anti-slavery campaigns worldwide (Wikipedia).
Black or dark. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, relating to epidemic disease.
Can be defined as amazement and terror, or dismay (Oxford English Dictionary).
The Spartans, from ancient Greece, performed this same practice. The men stayed away from the women most of the time so they could focus on war and studying with their brothers. This practice helps the men stay sharp and not have either of the sexes be distracted by each other.
The use of the word "barbarity" is significant because during this time period, slaves were usually the ones that were dehumanized and deemed savages, whereas white people were considered civilized.
Oxford English Dictionary refers to a "sloop" as a "small, one-masted fore-and-aft rigged vessel" or a "relatively small ship-of-war carrying guns on the upper deck only."
Oxford English Dictionary refers to a "bastinado" as a "blow with a stick, usually on the soles of the feet."
A 15 to 20 foot long boat traditionally used to carry cargo and passengers in rivers and canals in England. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
By which Equiano means his trade history. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
In good condition. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
Deference or submission to a superior. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
Formal release from slavery or servitude. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
Allusion to Peter's escape from King Herrod's prison, when God sent an angel to miraculously save him. Source: King James Bible.
Allusion to story in 2 Kings when God mysteriously took Elijah and Enoch to Heaven before they died. Source: King James Bible.
A jail. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
To keep secret, conceal, hide. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
The loading of a ship with its cargo. Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Bull calves. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
Watertight. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
A designation, name, or title given. Source: Oxford English Dictioonary.
Designating the side of a vessel or sideward direction: the side away from the wind. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
The popular name of various delphinoid cetaceans, having a high falcate dorsal fin and a blunt rounded head, and remarkable for the spouting and blowing which accompanies their movements. Source: Oxford English Dictioanry.
These islands traded heavily in sugar cane. Barbados had one of the largest sugar industries in the world during the eighteenth century. Source: Oxford English Dictionary and Wikipedia.
A small island in the Caribbean. Source: Wikipedia.
Sheerness is a port to the east of London. See link for photo http://www.weather-forecast.com/locations/Sheerness.
Nitric Acid, Latin for Strong Water, it is a highly corrosive substance. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
Lantern. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
Walruses. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
A sand bar off the eastern coast of England. Source: Wikipedia.
Known today as Izmir, Turkey, this large port was an Ancient Greek city that’s strategically advantageous position has maintained it as a trading port to this day. Source: Wikipedia.
Persuade. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
This does not refer to the surgical definition of trepan which means to dig a hole in the scull. This is a lesser known definition meaning to ensnare or trap.
Reference to Joseph Alleine’s 1671 "An Alarm to the Unconverted," which was commonly referred to as the "Sure Guide to Heaven," that outlined the need for religious conversion of all people. Source: King James Bible.
'Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.' Source: Acts 4:12.
Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit." Source: John 3:5.
Heat of passion or desire, vehemence, ardent desire; warmth of emotion, zeal, fervour, eagerness, enthusiasm. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
A humble plea; an earnest request or entreaty or the action of addressing a solemn request to God. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
To utter, suggest, or inspire a form of words which is to be repeated or written down. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
A person mentioned in Canticles 6:12 whose chariots were famed for their swiftness. Source: Bible Study Tools.
Burdened, loaded, weighed down. Source: Oxford English Dictionary).
'For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.' Source: Romans 6:6.
An area of central London, which lies in the south-west corner of the City of London. The name Blackfriars was first used in 1317 and derives from the black cappa worn by the Dominican Friars who moved their priory from Holborn to the area between the River Thames and Legate Hill in 1276. Source: Blackfriars, Oxford, England.
A spelling of the word "showed." Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
A feeling of revulsion; disgusted loathing. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
Sly or cunning intelligence. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
Showing lack of respect for God or religion. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
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Marymount University.
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PROPOSAL
CHILDREN
OF
POOR PEOPLE
From being a
Burthen to their parents,
OR THE
COUNTRY,
AND
For making them Beneficial to the
PUBLICK.
Dublin, printed by
S. Harding:
London, Re-printed; and sold by
J. Roberts
in
Warwick-lane, and the Pamphlet-Shops
M.DCC.XXIX
It is a melancholly Object to those, who walk through this great Town, or travel
in the Country, when they see the streets, the roads, and the cabbin-doors
crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an Alms. These Mothers
instead of being able to work for their honest lively-hood, are forced to employ
all their time in Stroling to beg Sustenance for their helpless infants who, as
they grow up, either turn Thieves for want of work, or
leave their dear native Country, to fight for the Pretender in
Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes.
I think it is agreed by all Parties, that this prodigious number of Children in
the Arms, or on the Backs, or at the heels of their
Mothers, and frequently of their Fathers, is in the
present deplorable state of the Kingdom, a very great additional
grievance; and therefore whoever could find out a fair, cheap and easy method of
making these Children sound and useful Members of the common-wealth, would
deserve so well of the publick, as to have his Statue set up for a preserver of
the Nation.
But my Intention is very far from being confined to provide only for the
Children of professed Beggars: it is of a much greater
extent, and shall take in the whole number of infants at a certain Age, who are
born of Parents in effect as little able to support them, as those who demand
our Charity in the Streets.
As to my own part, having turned my thoughts for many Years, upon this important
Subject, and maturely weighed the several Schemes of our
Projectors, I have always found them grossly mistaken in their
computation. It is true, a Child just dropt from its Dam
may be supported by her Milk, for a Solar year, with little other Nourishment:
at most not above the Value of two Shillings, which the Mother may certainly
get, or the Value in Scraps, by her lawful Occupation of
begging; and it is exactly at one year Old that I propose to provide for them in
such a manner, as, instead of being a Charge upon their Parents, or the Parish, or wanting Food and Raiment for the rest of their Lives, they shall, on
the Contrary, contribute to the Feeding, and partly to the Cloathing of many
Thousands.
There is likewise another great Advantage in my Scheme, that it will prevent
those voluntary Abortions, and that horrid practice of
Women murdering their Bastard Children, alas! too
frequent among us, Sacrificing the poor innocent Babes, I
doubt, more to avoid the Expence than the Shame, which would move Tears and Pity
in the most Savage and inhuman breast.
The number of Souls in this Kingdom being usually reckoned one Million and a
half, of these I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand Couple whose
Wives are Breeders; from which number I Substract thirty Thousand Couples, who
are able to maintain their own Children, although I apprehend there cannot be so
many, under the present distresses of the Kingdom but
this being granted, there will remain an hundred and seventy thousand Breeders.
I again Substract fifty Thousand, for those Women who miscarry, or whose
Children dye by accident or disease within the Year. There only remain an
hundred and twenty thousand Children of poor Parents annually born. The question
therefore is, How this number shall be reared, and provided for? which, as I
have already said, under the present Situation of Affairs, is utterly impossible
by all the methods hitherto proposed. For we can neither
employ them in Handicraft or Agriculture; they
neither build Houses, (I mean in the Country) nor cultivate Land: they can very
seldom pick up a Lively-hood by Stealing till they arrive
at six years Old; except where they are of towardly parts, although I confess
they learn the Rudiments much earlier; during which time they can however be
properly looked upon only as Probationers: As I have been
informed by a principal Gentleman in the County of Cavan,
who protested to me, that he never knew above one or two Instances under the Age
of six, even in a part of the Kingdom so renowned for the
quickest proficiency in that Art.
I am assured by our Merchants, that a Boy or a Girl before twelve years Old, is
no saleable Commodity, and even when they come to this Age, they will not yield
above three Pounds, or three Pounds and half a Crown at most, on the Exchange;
which cannot turn to Account either to the Parents or Kingdom, the Charge of
Nutriments and Rags having been at least four times that Value.
I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be
lyable to the least Objection.
I have been assured by a very knowing Americanof my
acquaintance in London, that a young healthy Child well
Nursed, is, at a year Old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome Food,
whether Stewed, Roasted, Baked, or Boyled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a Fricasie, or a Ragoust.
I do therefore humbly offer it to publick consideration,
that of the hundred and twenty thousand Children, already computed, twenty
thousand may be reserved for Breed, whereof only one fourth part to be Males;
which is more than we allow to Sheep, black Cattle, or
Swine, and my reason is, that these Children are
seldom the Fruits of Mrriage, a Circumstance not much regarded
by our Savages, therefore, one Male will be
sufficient to serve four Females. That the remaining
hundred thousand may, at a year Old, be offered in Sale to the persons of Quality and Fortune, through the
Kingdom, always advising the Mother to let them Suck plentifully in the last
Month, so as to render them Plump, and Fat for a good Table. A Child will make
two Dishes at an Entertainment for Friends, and when the Family dines alone, the
fore or hind Quarter will make a reasonable Dish, and seasoned with a little
Pepper or Salt, will be very good Boiled on the fourth Day, especially in Winter.
I have reckoned upon a Medium, that a Child just born will weigh 12 pounds, and
in a solar Year, if tollerably nursed, encreaseth to 28 Pound.
I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for Landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the
Parents, seem to have the best Title to the Children.
Infant's flesh will be in Season throughout the Year, but more plentiful in March, and a little before and after; for we are told by
a grave Author, an eminent French Physician, that Fish being a
prolifick Dyet, there are more Children born in Roman
Catholick Countries about nine Months after Lent, than at any other Season, therefore reckoning a Year after Lent, the Markets will be more glutted than usual,
because the Number of Popish Infants, is at least three
to one in this Kingdom, and therefore it will have one other Collateral
advantage, by lessening the Number of Papists among us.
I have already computed the Charge of nursing a Beggars Child (in which list I
reckon all Cottagers, Labourers, and four fifths of the
Farmers) to be about two Shillings per Annum, Rags Included; and I believe no Gentleman would repine to
give Ten Shillings for the Carcass of a good fat Child,
which, as I have said, will make four Dishes of excellent Nutritive Meat, when
he hath only some particular friend, or his own Family to Dine with him. Thus
the Squire will learn to be a good Landlord, and grow popular among his Tenants,
the Mother will have Eight Shillings neat profit, and be fit for Work till she
produces another Child.
Those who are more thrifty (as I must confess the Times
require) may stay the Carcass; the Skin of which, Artificially dressed,
will make admirable Gloves for Ladies, and Summer Boots for fine Gentlemen.
As to our City of Dublin, Shambles may be appointed for
this purpose, in the most convenient parts of it, and Butchers we may be assured
will not be wanting; although I rather recommend buying the Children alive, and
dressing them hot from the Knife, as we do roasting Pigs.
A very worthy Person, a true Lover of his Country, and
whose Virtues I highly esteem, was lately pleased, in discoursing on this
matter, to offer a refinement upon my Scheme. He said, that many Gentlemen of
this Kingdom, having of late destroyed their Deer, he conceived that the want of
Venison might be well supplyed by the Bodies of young Lads and Maidens, not
exceeding fourteen Years of Age, nor under twelve; so great a Number of both
Sexes in every Country being now ready to Starve for want of Work and Service:
And these to be disposed of by their Parents if alive, or otherwise by their
nearest Relations. But with due deference to so excellent a friend, and so
deserving a Patriot, I cannot be altogether in his Sentiments; for as to the
Males, my American acquaintance assured me from frequent
Experience, that their flesh was generally Tough and Lean, like that of our
School-boys, by continual exercise, and their Taste disagreeable, and to Fatten
them would not answer the Charge. Then as to the Females, it would, I think,
with humble Submission, be a loss to the Publick, because
they soon would become Breeders themselves: And besides, it is not improbable
that some scrupulous People might be apt to Censure such a Practice, (although
indeed very unjustly) as a little bordering upon Cruelty, which, I confess, hath
always been with me the strongest objection against any Project, however so well
intended.
But in order to justify my friend, he confessed, that this expedient was put
into his head by the famous Sallmanaazor, a Native of the
Island Formosa, who came from thence to London, above twenty Years ago, and in Conversation told my friend,
that in his Country, when any young Person happened to be put to Death, the
Executioner sold the Carcass to Persons of Quality, as a
prime Dainty; and that, in his Time, the Body of a plump Girl of fifteen, who
was crucified for an attempt to Poison the Emperor, was sold to his Imperial Majesty's prime Minister of State, and other great Mandarins of the Court in Joints from
the Gibbet, at four hundred Crowns. Neither indeed can I deny, that if
the same use were made of several plump young Girls in this Town, who, without
one single Groat to their Fortunes, cannot stir abroad without a Chair, and
appear at a Play-House and Assemblies in Foreign fineries which they never will Pay for; the
Kingdom would not be the worse.
Some Persons of a desponding Spirit are in great concern about that vast Number
of poor People, who are aged, diseased, or maimed; and I have been desired to
imploy my thoughts what Course may be taken, to ease the Nation of so grievous
an Incumbrance. But I am not in the least pain upon that matter, because it is
very well known, that they are every Day dying, and rotting, by cold and famine, and filth, and vermin, as fast as can be reasonably expected. And as to
the young Labourers, they are now in almost as hopeful a Condition. They cannot
get Work, and consequently pine away from want of Nourishment, to a degree, that
if at any time they are accidentally hired to common Labour, they have not
strength to perform it, and thus the Country and themselves are happily
delivered from the Evils to come.
I have too long degressed, and therefore shall return to my subject. I think the
advantages by the Proposal which I have made are obvious and many, as well as of
the highest importance.
For first, as I have already observed, it would greatly lessen the Number of Papists, with whom we are Yearly over-run, being the
principal Breeders of the nation, as well as our most dangerous Enemies, and who
stay at home on purpose with a design to deliver the Kingdom
to the Pretender, hoping to take their Advantage by the absence of so many good Protestants, who have chosen rather to
leave their Country, than stay at home, and pay Tythes against their Conscience
to an Episcopal Curate.
Secondly, the poorer Tenants will have something valuable
of their own, which by Law may be made lyable to a Distress, and help to pay
their Landlord's Rent, their Corn and Cattle being already seazed, and Money a thing unknown.
Thirdly, Whereas the Maintainance of an hundred thousand
Children, from two Years old, and upwards, cannot be computed at less than Ten
Shillings a piece per Annum, the Nation's Stock will be
thereby encreased fifty thousand pounds per Annum,
besides the profit of a new Dish, introduced to the Tables of all Gentlemen of Fortune in the Kingdom, who have any
refinement in Taste, and the Money will circulate among our selves, the Goods
being entirely of our own Growth and Manufacture.
Fourthly, The constant Breeders, besides the gain of
Eight Shillings ster. per Annum, by the Sale of their
Children, will be rid of the Charge of maintaining them after the first Year.
Fifthly, This food would likewise bring great Custom to Taverns, where the Vintners will certainly be
so prudent as to procure the best receipts for dressing it to perfection; and
consequently have their Houses frequented by all the fine
Gentlemen, who justly value themselves upon their knowledge in good
Eating; and a skilful Cook, who understands how to oblige his Guests, will
contrive to make it as expensive as they please.
Sixthly, This would be a great Inducement to Marriage,
which all wise Nations have either encouraged by Rewards, or enforced by Laws
and Penalties. It would encrease the care and tenderness of Mothers towards
their Children, when they were sure of a Settlement for Life to the poor Babes,
provided in some sort by the Publick, to their Annual profit instead of Expence,
we should soon see an honest Emulation among the married Women, which of them could bring the fattest Child to the
Market. Men would become as fond of their Wives,
during the Time of their Pregnancy, as they are now of their Mares in Foal, their Cows in Calf, or Sows when they are ready to Farrow, nor offer to Beat or
Kick them (as is too frequent a practice) for fear of a Miscarriage.
Many other advantages might be enumerated: For instance, the addition of some
thousand Carcases in our exportation of Barreled Beef. The Propagation of Swines Flesh, and Improvement in the Art of making good
Bacon, so much wanted among us by the great
destruction of Pigs, too frequent at our Tables, which
are no way comparable in Taste, or Magnificence to a well grown, fat Yearling
Child, which Roasted whole will make a considerable Figure at a Lord Mayor's Feast, or any other Publick Entertainment.
But this, and many others, I omit, being studious of Brevity.
Supposing that one thousand Families in this City, would be constant Customers
for Infants Flesh, besides others who might have it at Merry
meetings, particularly at Weddings and Christenings, I compute that Dublin would take off Annually about twenty thousand Carcases, and the
rest of the Kingdom (where probably they will be Sold somewhat Cheaper) the
remaining eighty thousand.
I can think of no one objection, that will possibly be raised against this proposal,
unless it should be urged, that the number of people will be thereby much lessened in the kingdom.
This I freely own, and was indeed one principal design in offering it to the world.
I desire the reader will observe, that I calculate my remedy for this one individual Kingdom of Ireland,
and for no other that ever was, is, or, I think, ever can be upon Earth.
Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients: Of taxing our absentees at five shillings a pound:
Of using neither clothes, nor houshold furniture, except what is of our own growth and manufacture:
Of utterly rejecting the materials and instruments that promote foreign luxury:
Of curing the expensiveness of pride, vanity, idleness, and gaming in our women:
Of introducing a vein of parsimony, prudence and temperance: Of learning to love our country,
wherein we differ even from Laplanders, and the inhabitants of Topinamboo: Of quitting our animosities and factions,
nor acting any longer like the Jews, who were murdering one another at the very moment their city was taken:
Of being a little cautious not to sell our country and consciences for nothing:
Of teaching landlords to have at least one degree of mercy towards their tenants.
Lastly, of putting a spirit of honesty, industry, and skill into our shopkeepers,
who, if a resolution could now be taken to buy only our native goods,
would immediately unite to cheat and exact upon us in the price, the measure, and the goodness,
nor could ever yet be brought to make one fair proposal of just dealing, though often and earnestly invited to it.
Therefore I repeat, let no man talk to me of these and the like expedients, till he hath at least some glympse of hope,
that there will ever be some hearty and sincere attempt to put them into practice.
But, as to my self, having been wearied out for many Years with offering vain,
idle, visionary thoughts, and at length utterly despairing of Success, I
fortunately fell upon this Proposal, which, as it is wholly new, so it hath
something Solid and Real, of no Expence and little Trouble, full in our own
Power, and whereby we can incur no Danger in disoblinging
England. For this kind of Commodity will not bear Exportation, and
Flesh being of too tender a Consistance, to admit a long continuance in Salt,
although perhaps I could name a Country, which would be
glad to Eat up our whole Nation without it.
After all I am not so violently bent upon my own Opinion, as to reject any
Offer, proposed by wise Men, which shall be found equally Innocent, Cheap, Easy
and Effectual. But before something of that kind shall be advanced in
Contradiction to my Scheme, and offering a better, I desire the Author or
Authors will be pleased maturely to consider two points. First, as things now stand, how they will be able to find Food and
Raiment for a hundred thousand useless Mouths and Backs. And Secondly, there being a round Million of Creatures in humane Figure,
throughout this Kingdom, whose whole Subsi-stance put into a common Stock, would
leave them in Debt two Million of Pounds Sterl, adding
those who are Beggars by Profession, to the Bulk of Farmers, Cottagers and
Labourers, with their Wives and Children, who are Beggars in Effect; I desire
those Politicians who dislike my Overture, and may
perhaps be so bold to attempt an Answer, that they will first ask the Parents of
these Mortals, whether they would not at this Day think it a great Happiness to
have been sold for Food at a year Old, in the manner I prescribe, and thereby
have avoided such a perpetual Scene of Misfortunes, as they have since gone
through, by the oppression of Land-lords, the
impossibility of paying Rent without Money or Trade, the want of common
Sustenance, with neither House nor Cloaths to cover them from the Inclemencies
of the Weather, and the most inevitable Prospect of intailing the like, or
greater Miseries, upon their Breed for ever.
I Profess, in the sincerity of my Heart, that I have not the least personal
Interest in endeavouring to promote this necessary Work, having no other Motive
than the publick Good of my Country, by advancing our Trade, providing for Infants, relieving the Poor, and giving
some Pleasure to the Rich. I have no Children, by which I can propose
to get a single Penny; the youngest being nine Years old, and my Wife past Child
bearing.
The Christian Century. You can see the earliest typescript at the Samford Library Special Collection website.
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in Context
project, which provides an accessible, reliable, curated, and marked-up selection of
primary sources relevant to the study and the teaching of British and American
literature. This project is was initially funded by the National Endowment for the
Humanities and developed by faculty at The University of Virginia and Marymount
University.
Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources, with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable sources. If you notice an error in these annotations, please contact lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.
Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded.
Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.
Page breaks have been retained. Catchwords, signatures, and running headers have not.
Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section for more information.
An Ecumenical Weekly
June 12, 1963
Birmingham Jail
Pope John XXIII
An Editorial
expressed by a group of eight clergymen.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN,
While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent
statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause
to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms
that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than
such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for
constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that
your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in
what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.
I think I should indicate why I am here in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against "outsiders coming in." I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Frequently we share staff, educational and financial resources with our affiliates. Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct action program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here. I am here because I have organizational ties here.
But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far afield, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.
Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.
You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.
In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. We have gone through all these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Police brutality is widely known. Its unjust treatment of Negroes in the courts is a notorious reality.There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation.
Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham's economic community. In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the merchants--for example, to remove the stores' humiliating racial signs. On the basis of these promises, the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights agreed to a moratorium on all demonstrations. As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. The signs remained.
As in so many past experiences, our hopes had
But Birmingham's mayoral election was coming up in March When we discovered that the Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene "Bull" Connor, had piled up enough votes to be in the run off, we decided to postpone the demonstrations until the day after the run-off so that they could not be used to cloud the issues..It is evident then, that we did not move irresponsibly into direct action Like many others, we waited to see Mr. Connor defeated, and to this end we endured postponement after postponement. Having aided in this community need, we felt that our direct action program could be delayed no longer.
You may well ask,: "Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I readily acknowledge that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could shake off the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.
One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates have taken in Birmingham is untimely. Some have asked: "Why didn't you give the new city administration time to act?" The only answer that I can give to this query is that the new Birmingham administration must be prodded about as much as the outgoing one, before it will act. We are sadly mistaken if we feel that the election of Albert Boutwell as mayor will bring the millennium to Birmingham. While Mr. Boutwell is a much more gentle person than Mr. Connor, they are both segregationists, dedicated to maintenance of the status quo. I have hope that Mr. Boutwell will be reasonable enough to see the futility of massive resistance to desegregation. But he will not see this without pressure from devotees of civil rights. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." As our distinguished jurors once said, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."
We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given
rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward
gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace
toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those
who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, "Wait." But when
you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown
your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen
curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the
vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight
cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find
your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you
You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would agree with Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."
Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I it" relationship for an "I thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to disobey segregation ordinances, for such ordinances are morally wrong.".
Let us consider some of the ways in which a law can be unjust. A law is unjust, for example, if a majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. By the same token, a law in all probability is just if the majority itself willing to obey it. lf. This is sameness made legal. Let me give another explanation. Also a law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state's segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?
Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.
I hope you are able to see the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.
Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was
evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey
the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake.
It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face
hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to
certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a
reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience.we should never forget that
I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its puss-flowing ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.
In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? Isn't this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? Isn't this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical inquiries precipitated the act by the misguided populace in which they made him drink hemlock? Isn't this like condemning Jesus because his unique God consciousness and never ceasing devotion to God's will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see that, as the federal courts have consistently affirmed, it is wrong to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic constitutional rights because the quest may precipitate violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber.
I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: "All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost 2,000 years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.
You speak of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At first I was rather
disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of
an extremist. I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two
opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up
in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained
of self respect and a sense of "somebodiness" that they have adjusted to
segregation; and in part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree
of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by
segregation, have unconciously become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other
force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it
I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the "do nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle.
If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as "rabble rousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies--a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare.
Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained. Consciously or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, he should readily understand why public demonstrations are taking place. The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides -and try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history. So I have not said to my people: "Get rid of your discontent." Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist.
But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . . ." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime--the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.
I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need. Perhaps I was too optimistic; perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action. I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still all too few in quantity, but they are big in quality. Some -such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs, Ann Braden and Sarah Patton Boyle--have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms. Others have marched with us down nameless streets of the South. They have languished in filthy, roach infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of policemen who view them as "dirty nigger-lovers." Unlike so many of their moderate brothers and sisters, they have recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful "action" antidotes to combat the disease of segregation.
Let me take note of my other major disappointment. Though there are some notable exceptions, I have also been disappointed with the white church and its leadership. I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its boom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen.
When I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in
Montgomery, Alabama, a
In spite of my shattered dreams, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and, with deep moral concern, would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure. I had hoped that each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed.
I have heard numerous southern religious leaders admonish their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers declare: "Follow this decree because integration is morally right and because the Negro is your brother." In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: "Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern." And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely other worldly religion which makes a strange, un-Biblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular.
We are moving toward the close of the 20th century with a religious community largely adjusted to the status quo-a tailllight behind other community agencies rather than a headlight leading men to higher levels of justice.
I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South's beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing Heavenward, and at her impressive religious education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: "What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?"
Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.
There was a time when the church was very powerful--in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators."' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests.
Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent--and often even vocal--sanction of things as they are.
But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.
Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too
inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps
I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the
church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful
to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken
loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners
in the struggle for freedom. They have left their secure congregations and
walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us. They have gone down the
highways of the South on tortuous rides for freedom. Yes, they have gone to
jail with us. Some have been dismissed from their churches, have lost the
support of their bishops and fellow ministers. But they have acted in the faith
that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Their witness has been
the spiritual salt that has preserved
I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America's destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here. For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation -and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.
Before closing I feel impelled to mention one other point in your statement that has troubled me profoundly. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping "order" and "preventing violence." I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.
It is true that the police have exercised a degree of discipline in handling the demonstrators. In this sense they have conducted themselves rather "nonviolently" in public. But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of segregation. Over the past few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. Perhaps Mr. Connor and his policemen have been rather nonviolent in public, as was Chief Pritchett in Albany, Georgia, but they have used the moral means of nonviolence to maintain the immoral end of racial injustice. As T. S. Eliot has said: "The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason."
I wish you had commended the Negro sit inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the James Merediths, with the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face jeering and hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy two year old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: "My feets is tired, but my soul is at rest." They will be the young high school and college students, the young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience' sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?
If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.
I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil-rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.
A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Other than the title, there are no significant differences between the London version and that published in New England a short while before.
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in Context
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Soveraignty &; Goodness
OF
GOD,
Together,
With the Faithfulness of His Promises
Displayed;
Being a
NARRATIVE
Of the
Captivityand
Restaurationof
M
rs.
Mary Rowlandson.
Mary Rowlandson’s gripping account of her
experience as a captive of native Americans was enormously popular
in her own time and became widely influential as the paradigm for
the “captivity narrative,” a genre that would have hundreds of
examples over the next two centuries and would also help shape works
like Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. The book
was originally printed in 1682, first in Massachusetts and then,
quickly, in London as well, and was reprinted over and over again
for the next century and more. For good reason. Rowlandson’s work
taps into colonial fears about the indigenous population, Puritan
conceptions of the relationship between the material world and the
unseen world of the divine, and the perennial fears of all
patriarchal cultures about women’s sexuality. Her experience is
compelling and she writes vividly about it.
Rowlandson was born Mary White in England in around 1637, and her family moved to the Massachusetts Bay Colony when she was in her early teens. She married Joseph Rowlandson, a Puritan minister, in the 1650s, and they moved to Lancaster, in central Massachusetts, which was then essentially frontier territory for the English colonial settlers. In 1675, the native American leader Metacomet, head of the Wampanoag confederation of indigeneous peoples, led a series of attacks on English settlements. The conflict that followed for the next three years is remembered by English-speaking historians as “Prince Philip’s War,” because “Philip” was the name that the English settlers used for Metacomet. Metacomet’s forces attacked Lancaster on the morning of February 11, 1675, killing thirteen people, including Rowlandson’s sister and her sister’s children, as well as her brother-in-law. The natives took twenty-four English settlers prisoner, including Rowlandson and her three children. (Rowlandson’s husband Joseph was at this moment in Boston, trying to secure appropriations from the Massachusetts legislature to strengthen Lancashire’s defenses against the Wampanoag.) Rowlandson’s six-year-old daughter Sarah died of wounds suffered in the fight. Mary and her surviving children were held captive for eleven weeks, where they were moved progressively further away from the colonial settlements, into what is now the state of Vermont. She was eventually ransomed with funds raised by women in Boston.
Joseph Rowlandson died in 1678, and Mary moved with her children to
Boston. She remarried there, and published the first edition of her
Narrative with the Cambridge,
Massachusetts printer Samuel Greene. This version was entitled The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, together with
the Faithfulness of His Promises Displayed, being a Narrative of
the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. It
included a preface that was probably written by Increase Mather, the
leading Puritan minister in the colonies at the time, and also the
author of a narrative account of the war with Metacomet, A Brief History of the War with the Indians, in
New-England, published in Boston in 1676. The first London
edition of Rowlandson’s more personal account, printed in 1682, came
out under the title A True History of the
Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. The fact
that this book was printed three times in a single year on both
sides of the Atlantic attests to its significance among the
settler-colonists of North America and those in England who were
interested in their experience. It also, however, reminds us of the
partial and one-sided nature of this account; it is largely because
Rowlandson, as a high-ranking woman in the colonial heirarchy, had
access to publication that her story was recorded in this way. The
native peoples who allied against the colonists preserved their
version of the conflict in oral accounts that were, at best,
fragmented in the course of the progressive destruction of their
culture over the next years and decades. We have much still to learn
and understand about the often-violent encounters in this period
between European settler-colonists and the indigenous peoples of the
land that still typically goes--strangely, if you think about it for
a moment--by the name "New England."
know the Lords doings to, and
dealings with Her.
Especially to her dear Children and Relations,
made Publick at the earnest Desire of some Friends,
and for the benefit of the Afflicted.
Deut. 32.29 See now that I, even I am he, and there is no
God with me: I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal
neither is there any can deliver out of my hand.
Samuel Green,
READER.
Increase Mather (1639-1723), a Puritan minister, is widely considered to be the author of this preface. He was active in soliciting and collecting accounts of what English-speakers referred to as “King Philip’s War,” including his own “A Brief History of the Warr with the Indians in New England.” Mather also collected essays on miracles and illustrations of divine providence among New Englanders. It is likely that he encouraged Rowlandson to publish this account of her experience.
IT was on
Tuesday,
Feb. 1. 1675.
Narrhagansets
Nipmug
English Army lying in their own Country) were the second
time beaten up by the Forces of the united Colonies, who thereupon soon betook
themselves to flight, and were all the next day pursued by the English, some overtaken and destroyed, But on Thursday, Feb. 3. The English having now been
six dayes on their march, from their head quarters, at Wickford, in the Narrhaganset Country, toward,
and after the Enemy, and provision grown exceeding short, insomuch that they
were fain to kill some Horses for the supply, especially of their Indian friends, they were necessitated to consider what
was best to be done: And about noon (having hitherto followed the chase as hard
as they might) a Councill was called, and though some few were of another mind,
yet it was concluded by far the greater part of the Councill of War, that the
Army should desist the pursuit, and retire: the Forces of Plimouth and the Bay to the next Town of the
Bay, and Connecticut Forces to
their own next Towns: Which determination was immediately put in execution. The
consequent whereof, as it was not difficult to be foreseen by those that knew
the causless enmity of these Barbarians, against the English, and the malicious and revengefull spirit of
these Heathen: so it soon proved dismall.
The Narrhagansets were now driven quite from their own
Countrey, and all their provisions there hoarded up, to which they durst not at
present return, and being so numerous as they were, soon devoured those to whom
they went, whereby both the one and other were now reduced to extream straits,
and so necessitated to take the first and best opportunity for supply, and very
glad, no doubt of such an opportunity as this, to provide for themselves, and
make spoil of the English at once; and seeing themselves
thus discharged of their pursuers, and a little refreshed after their flight,
the very next week on
Thurseday, Feb. 10.
Lancaster: which small Town, remote from aid of
others, and not being Gerisoned as it might, the Army being now come in, and as
the time indeed required (the design of the Indians
against English
some time before) Joseph Rolandson, the faithfull Pastor of Christ in that
place, who being gone down to the Councill of the Massachusets to seek aid for the defence of the place, at his return
found the Town in flames, or smoke, his own house being set on fire by the
Enemy, through the disadvantage of a defective Fortification, and all in it
consumed: his precious yoke-fellow, and dear Children, wounded and captivated
(as the issue evidenced, and following Narrative declares) by these cruel and
barbarous Salvages. A sad Catestrophe! Thus all things come alike to all: None
knows either love or hatred by âll that is before him. It is no new thing for
Gods precious ones to drink as deep as others, of the Cup of common Calamity:
Take just Lot (yet captivated) for instance beside
others. But it is not my business to dilate on these things, but only in few
words introductively to preface to the following script, which is a Narrative of
the wonderfully awfull, wise, holy, powerfull, and gracious providence of God,
towards that worthy and precious Gentle woman, the dear Consort of the said
Reverend Mr. Rowlandson, and her Children with her, as in
casting of her into such a waterless pit, so in preserving, supporting, and
carrying thorow so many such extream hazards, unspeakable difficulties and
disconsolateness, and at last delivering her out of them all, and her surviving
Children also. It was a strange and amazing dispensation, that the Lord should
so afflict his precious Servant, and Hand maid: It was as strange, if not more,
that he should so bear up the spirits of his Servant under such bereavments, and
or his handmaid under such captivity, travels and hardships (much too hard for
flesh and blood) as he did, and at length deliver and restore. But he was their
Saviour, who hath said, When thou passest through the Waters,
I will be with thee, and thorough the Rivers, they shall not overflow thee:
When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, nor shall the
flame kindle upon thee, Isa. 93. ver. 2. and again.
He woundeth and his hands make whole. He shall deliver thee in troubles, yea
in seven there shall no evil touch thee: In Famine he shall redeem thee from
Death, and in War from the power of the sword, Job 5.18, 19, 20.
Methinks this dispensation doth bear some resemblance to those of Joseph, David and Daniel; yea, and
of the three Children too, the Stories whereof do represent us with the
excellent textures of divine providence, curious pieces of divine work: and
truly so doth this, and therefore not to be forgotten, but worthy to be
exhibited to, and viewed, and pondered by all, that disdain not to consider the
operation of his hands.
The works of the Lord (not only of Creation, but of Providence also, especially
those that do more peculiarly concern his
This Narrative was penned by the Gentlewoman her self, to be to her a memorandum
of Gods dealing with her, that she might never forget, but remember the same,
& the severall circumstances thereof, all the dayes of her life. A pious
scope which deserves both commendation and imitation: Some friends having
obtained a sight of it, could not but be so much affected with the many passages
of working providence discovered therein, as to judge it worthy of publick view,
and altogether unmeet that such works of God should be hid from present and
future Generations: And therefore though this Gentlewomans modesty would not
thrust it into the Press, yet her gratitude unto God made her not hardly
perswadable to let it pass, that God might have his due glory, and others
benefit by it as well as her self. I hope by this time none will cast any
reflection upon this Gentlewoman, on the score of this publication of her
affliction and deliverance. If any should, doubtless they may be reckoned with
the nine lepers,
Were there not
ten cleansed, where are the nine? but one returning to give God thanks.
Let such further know that this was a dispensation of publick note, and of
universall concernment, and so much the more, by how much the nearer this
Gentlewoman stood related to that faithfull Servant of God, whose capacity and
employment was publick in the house of God, and his name on that account of a
very sweet savour in the Churches of Christ, who is there of a true Christian
spirit, that did not look upon himself much concerned in this bereavment, this
Captivity in the time thereof, and in his deliverance when it came, yea more
then in many others; and how many are there, to whom so concerned, it will
doubtless be a very acceptable thing to see the way of God with this Gentlewoman
in the aforesaid dispensation, thus laid out and pourtrayed before their eyes.
To conclude whatever any coy phantasies may deem, yet it highly concerns those
that have so deeply tasted, how good the Lord is, to enquire with David, What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits
to me. Psal. 116.12. He thinks nothing too great; yea, being sensible
of his own disproportion to the due praises of God he cals in help. Oh, magnifie the Lord with me, let us exalt his Name
together, Psal. 34.3 And it is but reason, that out praises should
hold proportion with our prayers: and that as many hath helped together by
prayer for the obtaining of his Mercy, so praises should be returned by many on
this behalf; And forasmuch as not the generall but particular knowledge of
things makes deepest impression upon the affections, this Narrative
particularizing the several passages of this providence will nor a little
conduce thereunto. And therefore holy David in order to
the attainment of that end, accounts himself concerned to declare what God had
done for his soul, Psal. 66.16. Come
and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what God hath done for
my soul, i. e. for his life, see
v. 9, 10. He holdeth our soul in life, and suffers not our
feet to be moved, for thou our God hast proved us, thou hast tryed us, as
silver is tryed. Life-mercies, are heart-affecting-mercies, of great
impression and force, to enlarge pious hearts in the praises of God, so that
such know not how but to talk of Gods acts, and to speak of and publish his
wonderfull works. Deep troubles, when the waters come in unto thy soul, are wont
to produce vowes: vowes must be paid,
It is better not vow, than vow and not to pay.
I am confident that no Friend of divine Providence will ever
repent his time and pains, spent in reading over these sheets, but will judg
them worth perusing again and again.
Hear Reader, you may see an instance of the Soveraignty
of God, who doth what he will with his own as well as others; and who may say to
him,
What dost thou?
and
gathering together the out casts of Israel. Once and again you have
heard, but hear you may see, that power belongeth unto
God; that our God is the God of Salvation, and to him belong the issues
from Death. That our God is in the Heavens, and doth what ever pleases him. Here
you have
Sampsons Riddle
Rom. 8.28. verified, Out of the Eater
comes forth meat, and sweetness out of the strong; The worst of evils
working together for the best good. How evident is it that the Lord hath made
this Gentlewoman a gainer by all this affliction, that she can say, 'tis good for her, yea better that she hath been, then that
she should not have been, thus afflicted.
Oh how doth God shine forth in such things as these;
Reader, if thou gettest no good by such a Declaration as
this, the fault must needs be thine own. Read therefore, Peruse, Ponder, and
from hence lay up something from the experience of another, against thine own
turn comes, that so thou also through patience and consolation of the Scripture
mayest have hope.
CAPTIVITY ANDRESTAURATION OF Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. [Audio File]
ON the tenth of February 1675
came the Indians with great numbers upon Lancaster: Their first coming was about Sun-rising;
hearing the noise of some Guns, we looked out; several Houses were burning, and
the Smoke ascending to Heaven. There were five persons taken in one house, the
Father, and the Mother and a sucking Child, they knockt on the head; the other
two they took and carried away alive. Their were two others, who being out of
their Garison upon some occasion were set upon; one was knockt on the head, the
other escaped: Another their was who running along was shot and wounded, and
fell down; he begged of them his life, promising them Money (as they told me)
but they would not hearken to Indians about his Barn, ventured and went out, but
was quickly shot down. There were three others belonging to the same Garison who
were killed; the Indians getting up upon the roof of the
Barn, had advantage to shoot down upon them over their Fortification. Thus these
murtherous wretches went on, burning, and destroying before them.
At length they came and beset our own house, and quickly it was the dolefullest
day that ever mine eyes saw. The House stood upon the edge of a hill; some of the
Indians got behind the hill, others into the Barn,
and others behind any thing that could shelter them; from all which places they
shot against the House, so that the Bullets seemed to fly like hail; and quickly
they wounded one man among us, then another, and then a third, About two hours
(according to my observation, in that amazing time) they had been about the
house before they prevailed to fire it (which they did with Flax and Hemp, which
they brought out of the Barn, and there being no defence about the House, only
two Flankers at two opposite corners, and one of them not finished) they fired
it once, and one ventured out and quenched it, but they quickly fired it again,
and that took. Now is that dreadfull hour come, that I have often heard of (in
time of War, as it was the case of others) but now mine eyes see it. Some in our
house were fighting Lord, What shall we do? Then I took my Children (and one
of my sisters, hers) to go forth and leave the house: but as soon as we came to
the dore and appeared, the Indians shot so thick that the
bulletts rattled against the House, as if one had taken an handfull of stones
and threw them, so that we were fain to give back. We had six stout Dogs
belonging to our Garrison, but none of them would stir, though another time, if
any Indian had come to the door, they were ready to fly
upon him and tear him down. The Lord hereby would make us the more to
acknowledge his hand, and to see that our help is alwayes in him. But out we
must go, the fire increasing, and coming along behind us, roaring, and the Indians gaping before us with their Guns, Spears and
Hatchets to devour us. No sooner were we out of the House, but my Brother in Law
(being before wounded, in defending the house, in or near the throat) fell down
dead, wherat the Indians scornfully shouted, and
hallowed, and were presently upon him, stripping off his cloaths, the bulletts
flying thick, one went through my side, and the same (as would seem) through the
bowels and hand of my dear Child in my arms. One of my elder Sisters Children,
named William, had then his Leg broken, which the Indians perceiving, William was dead, and my self
was wounded, she said, And, Lord let me dy with them;
which was no sooner said, but she was struck with a Bullet, and fell down dead
over the threshold. I hope she is reaping the fruit of her good labours, being
faithfull to the service of God in her place. In her younger years she lay under
much trouble upon spiritual accounts, till it pleased God to make that precious
Scripture take hold of her heart, 2 Cor. 12.9. And be said unto me my Grace is sufficient for thee.
More then twenty years after I have heard her tell how sweet and comfortable
that place was to her, But to return: The Indians laid
hold of us, pulling me on way, and the Children another, and said, Come go along with us; I told them they would kill me:
they answered, If I were willing to go along with them, they
would not hurt me.
Oh the dolefull sight that now was to behold at this House!
Come, behold the works of the Lord, what dissolations he
has made in the Earth.
Job 1.15. And I
only am escaped alone to tell the News. There
I had often before this said, that if the Indians should come, I should chuse rather to be killed by them then
taken alive but when it came to the tryal my mind changed; their
glittering weapons so daunted my spirit, that I chose rather to go along with
those (as I may say) ravenous Beats,
Rowlandson tells her story in a series of removals, or “removes,”
that mark changes to her location as the raiding party traveled across
New England. Lisa Brooks, professor of English and American Studies at
Amherst College and the author of
Our Beloved Kin: New
History of King Philip's War created an interactive map of
their movements as part of that project that is available here.
Now away we must go with those Barbarous Indians) I asked them whither I might not lodge in the house that
night? to which they answered, what will you love English
men still? this was the dolefullest night that ever my eyes saw.
Oh the roaring, and singing and danceing, and yelling of those black
creatures in the night, which made the place a lively resemblance of hell.
And as miserable was the wast that was there made, of Horses, Cuttle, Sheep,
Swine, Calves, Lambssia, Roasting Pigs, and Fowls [which they had plundered
in the Town] some roasting, some lying and burning, and some boyling to feed
our merciless Enemles; who were joyfull enough though we were disconsolate.
To add to the dolefulness of the former day, and the dismalness of the
present night: my thoughts ran upon my losses and sad bereaved condition.
All was gone, my Husband gone (at least separated from me, he being in the
Bay; and to add to my grief, the Indians told me they
would kill him as he came homeward) my Children gone, my Relations and
Friends gone, our House and home and all our comforts within door, and
without, all was gone, (except my life) and I knew not but the next moment
that might go too. There remained nothing to me but one poor wounded English have fallen into their hands.
Those seven that were killed at
Lancaster
the summer before upon a
Sabbath dayJohn, and
Marlborough's Praying Indians,
Mosely
Boston, as the Indians told me.
But now, the next morning, I must turn my back upon the
Town, and travel with them into the vast and isolate Wilderness, I knew
not whether. It is not my tongue, or pen can express the sorrows
of my heart, and bitterness of my spirit, that I had
at this departure: but God was with me, in a wonderfull manner, carrying me
along, and bearing up my spirit, that it did not quite fail One of the Indians carried my poor wounded Babe upon a horse,
it went moaning all along, I shall dy, I shall dy. I went on foot after it,
with sorrow that cannot be exprest. At length I took it off the horse, and
carried it in my armes till my strength failed, and I
After this it quickly began to snow, and when night came
on, they stopt: and now down I must sit in the snow, by a little fire,
and a few boughs behind me, with my sick Child in my lap; and calling
much for water, being now (through the wound) fallen into a violent
Fever. My own wound also growing so stiff, that I could scarce sit
down or rise up; yet so it must be, that I must sit all this cold winter
night upon the cold snowy ground, with my sick Child in my armes, looking
that every hour would be the last of its life; and having no Christian
friend near me, either to comfort or help me. Oh, I
may see the wonderfull power of God, that my Spirit
did not utterly sink under my affliction: still the Lord upheld me with
his gracious and mercifull Spirit, and we were both alive to see the
light of the next morning.
The morning being come, they prepared to go
their way: One of the Indians
got up upon a horse, and they set me up behind him, with my poor sick
Babe in my lap. A very wearisome and tedious day I had of it; what
with my own wound, and my Childs being so exceeding sick, and in a
lamentable condition with her wound. It may be easily judged what a poor
feeble condition we were in, there being not the least crumb of refreshing
that came within either of our mouths, from Wednesday
night to Saturday night, except only a little cold
water. This day in the afternoon, about an hour by Sun, we came to the place
where they intendded, viz. an Indian Town, called
Wenimesset,
Quabaug. When we
were come, Oh the number of Pagans (now merciless enemies) that there came
about me, that I may say as David, Psal. 27.13, I had fainted, unless I had believed, &c The next
day was the Sabbath: I then remembred how careless I
had been of Gods holy time: how many Sabbaths I had lost and mispent, and
how evily I had walked in Gods sight; which lay so close unto my spirit,
that it was easie for me to see how righteous it was with God to cut off the
threed of my life, and cast me out of his presence for ever. Yet the Lord
still shewed mercy to me, and upheld me; and as he wounded me with one hand,
so he healed me with the other. This day there came to me one
Robbert Pepper
Roxbury ) who was taken in Captain Beers his Fight, and had been now a considerable time with the Indians; and up with them almost as far as Albany to see
king Philip,
Indian
Town, he obtained leave to come and see me. He told me, he himself was
wounded in the leg at Captain Beers his Fight; and
was not able some time to go, but as they carried him, and as he took Oaken
leaves and laid to his wound, and through the blessing of God he was able to
travel again. Then I took Oaken leaves and laid to my side, and with the
blessing of God it cured me also; yet before the cure was wrought, I may
say, as it is in Psal. 38.5, 6. My
wounds stink and are corrupt, I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly, I
go mourning all the day long. I sat much alone with a poor wounded
Child in my lap, which moaned night and day, having nothing to revive the
body, or cheer the spirits of her, but in stead of that, sometimes one Indian would come and tell me one hour, that your
Master will knock your Child in the head, and then a second, and then a
third, your Master will quickly knock your Child in the head.
This was the comfort I had from them, miserable
comforters are ye all, as he said.
Feb. 18.
1675. It being about six yeares, and five months old. It was nine
dayes from the first wounding, in this miserable condition, without
any refreshing of one nature or other, except a little cold water. I cannot
but take notice, how at another time I could not bear to be in the room
where any dead person was, but now the case is changed; I must and could ly
down by my dead Babe, side by side all the night after. I have thought since
of the wonderfull goodness of God to me, in preserving me in the use of my
reason and senses, in that distressed time, that I did not use wicked and
violent means to end my own miserable life. In the morning, when they
understood that my child was dead they sent for me home to my Masters
Wigwam: (by my Master in this writing, must be understood
Quanopin,
Saggamore,
Phillips wives
Sister; not that he first took me, but I was sold to him by another Narrhaganset Indian, who took me when first I came
out of the Garison) I went to take up my dead child
in my arms to carry it with me, but they bid me let it alone: there was no
resisting, but goe I must and leave it. When I had been at my masters wigwam, I took the first opportunity I could get, to go look after
my dead child: when I came I askt them what they had
done with it? then they told me it was upon the hill: then they went and There I left that at Child in the Wilderness, and must
commit it, and my self also in this Wilderness-condition, to him who is
above all. God having taken away this dear Child, I went to see my
daughter Mary, who was at this same Indian Town, at a Wigwam not very far off,
though we had little liberty or opportunity to see one another: she was
about ten years old, & taken from the door at first by a Praying Ind & afterward sold for a gun. When I
came in sight, she would fall a weeping; at which they were provoked, and
would not let me come near her, but bade me be gone; which was a
heart-cutting word to me. I had one Child dead, another in the Wilderness, I
knew not where, the third they would not let me come near to: Me
(as he said)
have ye bereaved of my Children, Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye
will take Benjamin also, all these things are
against me. I could not for still in this condition, but kept,
walking from one place to another. And as I was going along, my heart was
even overwhelm'd with the thoughts of my condition, and that I should have
Children, and a Nation which I knew
not ruled over them. Whereupon I earnestly entreated the Lord, that
he would consider my low estate, and shew me a token for good, and if it
were his blessed will, some sign and hope of some relief. And indeed quickly
the Lord answered, in some measure, my poor prayers: I was informed by himself, that he was
amongst a smaller percel of Indians, whose place was
about six miles off; with tears in his eyes, he asked me whether his Sister
Sarah was dead; and told me he had seen his
Sister Mary; and prayed me, that I would not be
troubled in reference to himself. The occasion of his coming to see me at
this time, was this: There was, as I said, about six
miles from us, a smal Plantation of Indians,
where it seems he had been during his Captivity: and at this time, there
were some Forces of the Ind. gathered out of
our company, and some also from them (among whom was my Sons master) to
go to assault and burn Medfield: In this time
of the absence of his master, his dame brought him to see me. I
took this to be some gracious answer to my earnest and unfeigned desire. The
next day, viz. to this, the
Indians returned from Medfield, all the
company, for those that belonged to the other smal company, came thorough
the Town that now we were at But before they came to us, Oh! the outragious
Sagamores Wigwam; and
then, Oh, the hideous insulting and triumphing that there was over some English mens scalps that they had taken (as their
manner it) and brought with them. I cannot but take notice of the wonderfull
mercy of God to me in those afflictions, in sending me a Bible one of the
Indians that came from Medfield fight, had brought some plunder, came to me, and asked
me, if I would have a Bible, he had got one in his Basket, I was glad of it,
and asked him, whether be thought the Indians would
let me read? he answered, yes; so I took the Bible, and in that melancholy
time, it came into my mind to read first the 28. Chap. of Deut. which I did, and when I had
read it, my dark heart wrought on this manner, That there
was no mercy for me, that the blessings were gone, and the Curses Came
in their room, and that I bad lost my
opportunity. But the Lord helped me still to go one reading till
I came to Chap. 30 the
seven first verses, where I sound, There was mercy
promised again, if we would return to him by reportance; and though we
were scartered from one end of the Earth to the other, yet the Lord
would gather us together, and turn all those curses upon our Enemies,
I do not desire to live to forget this Scripture, and what comfort it
was to me.
Now the Ind. began to talk of
removing from this place, some one way, and some another. There
were now besides my self nine, English Captives in
this place (all of them Children, except one Woman) I
got an opportunity to go and take my leave of them; they being to go one
way, and I another, I asked them whether they were
earnest with God for deliverance, they told me, they did as they
were able, and it was some comfort to me, that the Lord stirred up Children to look to him. The Woman viz. Goodwife Jostin told me, she should
never see me again, and that she could find in her heart to run away; I
wisht her not to run away by any means, for we were near thirty miles from any English Town, and
she very big with Child, and had but one week to reckon; and another Child
in her Arms, two years old, and bad Rivers there were to go over, & we
were feeble, with our poor & course entertainment. I had my Bible with
me, I pulled it out, and asked her whether she would read; we opened the
Bible and lighted on Psal. 27. in which Psalm we
especially took notice of that, ver. alt, Wait on the
Lord, Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine Heart, wait
I say on the Lord.
And now I must part with that
little Company I had. Here I parted from my
Daughter Mary, (whom I never saw again till I saw her in Dorcester,
returned from Captivity, and from four little Cousins Indians to let her go home; they not being
willing to that, and yet vexed with her importunity, gathered a great
company together about her, and stript her naked, and set her in the midst
of them; and when they had sung and danced about her (in their hellish
manner) as long as they pleased, they knockt her on head, and the child in
her arms with her: when they had done that, they made a fire and put them
both into it, and told the other Children that were with them, that if they
attempted to go home, they would serve them in like manner: The Children
said, she did not shed one tear, but prayed all the while. But to return to
my own Journey; we travelled about half a day or little more, and came to a
desolate place in the Wilderness, where there were no Wigwams or Inhabitants before; we came
about the middle of the afternoon to this place; cold and wet, and snowy,
and hungry, and weary, and no refreshing, for man, but the cold ground to
sit on, and our poor Indian cheer.
Heart-aking thoughts here I had
about my poor Children, who were scattered up and down among the
wild beasts of the forrest: My head was light &
dissey (either through hunger or hard lodging, or trouble or altogether) my
knees feeble, my body raw by sitting double night and day, that I cannot
express to man the affliction that lay upon my Spirit, but the Lord helped
me at that time to express it to himself. I opened my Bible to read, and the
Lord brought that precious Scripture to me, Jer.
31.16. Thus saith the Lord, refrain thy voice from
weeping, and thine eyes from tears, for thy work shall be rewarded, and
they shall come again from the land of the Enemy. This was a sweet
Cordial to me, when I sat down, and weept sweetly
over this Scripture. At this place we continued about four dayes.
The occasion (as I thought) of their moving at this time,
was, the English Army it being near and
following them: For they went, as if they had gone for their
lives, for some considerable way, and then they made a stop, and chose some
of their stoutest men, and sent them back to hold the English Army in play whilst the rest escaped: And then,
like Jehu,
they marched on furiously, with their
old, and with their young: some carried their old decrepit mothers, some
carried one, and some another. Four of them carried a great Indian upon a Bier; but going through a thick Wood
with him, they were hindred, and could make no hast; whereupon they took Bacquaug River.
Friday, a little after noon we came to this River. When all the
company was come up, and were gathered together, I thought to count the
number of them, but they were so many, and being somewhat in motion, it was
beyond my skil. In this travel, because of my wound, I was somewhat favoured
in my load; I carried only my knitting work and two quarts of parched meal:
Being very faint I asked my mistriss to give me one spoonfull of the meal,
but she would not give me a taste. They quickly fell to cutting dry trees,
to make Rafts to carry them over the river: and soon my turn came to go
over. By the advantage of some brush which they had laid upon the Raft to
sit upon, I did not wet my foot (which many of themselves at the other end
were mid-leg deep) which cannot but be acknowledged as a favour of God to my
weakned body, it being a very cold time. I was not before acquainted with
such kind of doings or dangers. When thou passest through
the water I will be with thee, and through the
Rivers they overflow thee, Isai. 43.2. A certain number of us got
over the River that night, but it was the night after the Sabbath before all
the company was got over. On the Saturday they boyled
an old Horses leg which they had got, and so we drank of the broth, as soon
as they thought it was ready, and when it was almost all gone, they filled
it up again.
The first week of my being among them, I hardly ate any
thing; the second week, I found my stomach grow very faint for want of
something; and yet it was very hard to get down their filthy trash: but
the third week, though I could think how formerly my stomach would turn
against this or that, and I could starve and dy before I could eat such
things, yet they were sweet and savoury to my taste. I was at this
time knitting a pair of white cotton stockins for my mistriss: and had not
yet wrought upon a Sabbath day; when the Sabbath came they bade me go to
work; I told them it was the Sabbath-day, and desired them to let me rest,
and told them I would do as much more to morrow; to which they answered me,
they would break my face. And here I cannot but take
notice of the strange providence of God in preserving the heathen: They were
many hundreds, old and young, some sick, and some lame many had
Papooses
Squaws,
Munday they set their Wigwams on fire, and
away they went: On that very day came the English
Army after them to this River, and saw the smoak of their Wigwams, and yet this River put a stop to them. God did not give
them courage or activity to go over after us; we were not ready for so great
a mercy as victory and deliverance; if we had been, God would have sound out
a way for the English
Indians with their Squaws
and Children, and all their
Luggage: Oh that my People had hearkened to me, and Israel had walked in my ways, I should
soon have subdued their Enemies, and turned my hand against their
Adversaries, Psal. 81.13.14.
On Munday ( as I said ) they set their Wigwams
on fire, and went away. It was a cold morning,
and before us there was a great Brook with ice on it; some waded throgh it,
up to the knees & higher, but others went till they came to a
Beaver-dam, and I amongst them, where through the good providence of God, I
did not wet my foot. I went along that day mourning
and lamenting, leaving farther my own Country, and travelling into the vast
and howling Wilderness, and I understood something of
Lot 's Wife's Temptation,
when she looked back
Indian Town
(though there were none but our own Company) The Indians were as thick as the trees: it seemd as if there had been
a thousand Hatchets going at once: if one looked before one, there was
nothing but Indians, and behind one, nothing but Indians, and so on either hand, I my self in the
midst, and no Christian soul near me, and yet how
hath the Lord preserved me in safety? Oh the experience
that I have had of the goodness of God, to me and mine!
After a restless and hungry night there, we had a
wearisome time of it the next day. The Swamp by which we lay, was,
as it were, a deep Dungeon, and an exceeding high and steep hill before it.
Before I got to the top of the hill, I thought my heart and legs, and all
would have broken, and failed me. What through faintness, and soreness of
body, it was a grievous day of travel to me. As we went
along, I saw a place where English Cattle had
been: that was comfort to me, such as it was: quickly after that we came
to an English Path, which so took with me, that
I thought I could have freely lyan down and dyed. That day, a
little after noon, we came to
Squaukheag,
Indians
quickly spread themselves over the deserted English
Fields, gleaning what they could find; some pickt up ears of Wheat that were
crickled down, some found ears of Indian Corn, some
found
Ground-nuts
Indian
Corn, and whilst I did but turn my back, one of them was stolen from me,
which much troubled me. There came an Indian to
them at that time, with a basket of Horse-liver; I asked him to give me a
piece: What, sayes he, can you eat
Horse-liver? I told him, I would try, For to the hungry Soul every bitter thing is sweet.
A solemn sight methought it was, to see Fields of wheat and Indian Corn forsaken and spoiled: and the remainders
of them to be food for our merciless Enemies. That night we had a mess of
wheat for our Supper.
On the morrow morning we must go over the River, i. e.
Connecticot,
Philip, two Cannoos full, they
had carried over, the next Turn I my self was to go; but as my foot was upon
the Cannoo to step in, there was a sudden out-cry
among them, and I must step back; and instead of going over the River, I
must go four or five miles up the River farther Northward. Some of the Indians ran one way, and some another. The cause of
this rout was, as I thought, their espying some English
Scouts, who were thereabout. In this travel up the River; about
noon the Company made a stop, and sate down; some to eat, and others to rest
them. As I sate amongst them, musing of things past, my Son Joseph unexpectedly came to me: we asked of each
others welfare, bemoaning our dolefull condition, and the change that had
come upon us: We had Husbands and
Father, and Children, and Sisters, and Friends, and Relations, and House,
and Home, and many Comforts of this Life: but now we may say, as Job,
Naked came I out of my Mothers Womb, and naked shall I
return: The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, Blessed be the Name
of the Lord. I asked him whither he would read; he told me, he
earnestly desired it, I gave him my Bible, and he lighted upon that
comfortable Scripture, Psal. 18.17, 18. I shall not dy but live, and declare the works of the
Lord: the Lord hath chastened me sore, yet he hath not given me over to
death. Look here, Mother (sayes he) did you
read this? And here I may take occasion to mention one principall ground of
my setting forth these Lines: even as the Psalmist sayes, To declare the Works of the Lord, and his wonderfull Power in
carrying us along, preserving us in the Wilderness,
while under the Enemies hand, and returning of us in safety again. And His
goodness in bringing to my hand so many comfortable and suitable Scriptures
in my distress. But to Return, We travelled on till night; and in the
morning, we must go over the River to Philip's Crew.
When I was in the Cannoo, I could not but be amazed at the numerous crew of
Pagans that were on the Bank on the other side. When I came ashore, they
gathered all about me, I sitting alone in the midst: I observed they asked
one another questions, and laughed, and rejoyced over their Gains and
Victories.
Then my heart began to fail: and I fell a weeping; which was the first time
to my remembrance, that I wept before them. Although I had met with so much
Affliction, and my heart was many times ready to break, yet could I not shed
one tear in their sight: but rather had been all this while in a maze, and
like one astonished: but now I may say as, Psal
137.1. By the Rivers of Babylon,
there we sate down: yea, we wept when we remembred Zion. There one
of them asked me, why I wept, I could hardly tell what to say: yet I
answered, they would kill me: No, said he, none will hurt you. Then came one
of them and gave me two spoon-fulls of Meal to comfort me, and another gave
me half a pint of Pease
Philip, he bade
me come in and sit down, and asked me whether I would smoke it (a usual
Complement now adayes amongst Saints and Sinners) but this no way suited me.
For though I had formerly used Tobacco, yet I had left it ever since I was
first taken. It seems to be a Bait, the Devil layes to
make men loose their precious time: I remember with shame, how
formerly, when I had taken two or three pipes, I was presently ready for
another, such a bewitching thing it is: But I thank God, he has now given me
power over it: surely there are many who may be better imployed than to ly
sucking a stinking Tobacco-pipe.
Now the Indians gather their Forces to go against North-Hampton: over-night one went about yelling and
hooting to give notice of the design. Whereupon they fell to boyling of
Ground-nuts, and parching of Corn (as many as had it) for their Provision:
and in the morning away they went: During my abode in this
place, Philip spake to me to make a shirt for his
boy, which I did, for which he gave me a
shilling: I offered the mony to my master, but
he bade me keep it: and with it I bought a piece
of Horse flesh. Afterwards he asked me to make a Cap for his boy,
for which he invited me to Dinner. I went, and he gave me a Pancake, about
as big as two fingers; it was made of parched wheat, beaten, and fryed in
Bears grease, but I though I
never tasted pleasanter meat in my life. There was a Squaw who spake to me to make a shirt for her
Sannup
That he was not asleep, but at Prayer; and lay so
that they might not observe what he was doing. I pray God he may remember
these things now he is returned in safety. At Wigwams, I thought I should have been blind, I could scarce
discern one Wigwam from another, There was here one
Mary Thurston of Medfield,
who seeing how it was with me, lent me a Hat to wear: but as soon as I was
gone, the Squaw (who owned that Mary Thurston ) came running after me, and got it away again. Here was the Squaw that gave me one
spoonfull of Meal. I put it in my Pocket to keep it safe: yet
notwithstanding some body stole it, but put five Indian Corns in the room of it: which Corns were the greatest
Provisions I had in my travel for one day.
The Indians returning from North-Hamptom, brought with them some Horses, and Sheep, and other
things which they had taken: I desired them, that they would carry me to Albany, upon one of those Horses, and sell me for
Powder: for so they had sometimes discoursed. I was utterly hopless of
getting home on foot, the way that I came. I could hardly bear to think of
the many weary steps I had taken, to come to this place.
But in stead of going either to Albany or homeward,
we must go five miles up the River, and then go over it. Here we abode a
while. Here lived a sorry Indian, who spoke to me to
make him a shirt, when I had done it, he would pay me nothing. But I would often be putting of him
in mind, and calling for my pay: at last he told me, if I would make another shirt, for a Papoos
not yet born, he would give me a knife, which he did when I had done it. I carried the knife in, and my master asked me to
give it him, and I was not a little glad that I had any thing that they
would accept of, and be pleased with. When we were at this place, my Masters
maid came home, she had been gone three weeks into
the Narrhaganset Country, to fetch Corn, where they
had stored up some in the ground: she brought home about a peck and half of
Corn. This was about the time that their great Captain,
Naananto
Narrhaganset Countrey. My Son being now about a mile from me, I
asked liberty to go and see him, they bade me go, and
away I went: but quickly lost my self, travelling over Hills and
thorough Swamps, and could not find the way to him. And I cannot
but admire at the wonderfull power and goodness of God to me, in that,
though I was gone from home, and met with all sorts of Indian, and those I had no knowledge of, and there being no
Christian soul near me; yet not one of them offered the least imaginable
miscarriage to me. I turned homeward again, and met with my master, he
shewed me the way to my Son: When I came to him I
found him not well; and withall he had a boyl on his side, which much
troubled him: We bemoaned one another Cast thy burden upon the Lord,
and He shall sustain thee, Psal. 55.22.
But I was fain to go and look after something to satisfie my hunger, and
going among the Wigwams, I went into one, and there
found a Squaw who, shewed her self very kind to me,
and gave me a piece of Bear. I put it
into my pocket,
Squaw, who had a Kettle of Ground nuts
boyling; I asked her to let me boyle my piece of Bear in her Kettle, which
she did, and gave me some Ground-nuts to eat with it: and I cannot but think
how pleasant it was to me. I have sometime seen Bear bake very handsomly
among the English, and some liked it, but the
thoughts that it was Bear, made me
One bitter cold day, I could find no room to sit down
before the fire: I went out, and could not tell what to do, but I went
in to another Wigwam, where they were also
sitting round the fire, but the Squaw laid a
skin for me, and bid me sit down, and gave me some Ground-nuts, and bade
me come again: and told me they would buy me, if they were able, and yet
these were strangers to me that I never saw before.
That day a small part of the Company removed about three
quarters of a mile, intending further the next day. When they came
to the place where they intended to lodge, and had pitched their wigwams; being hungry I went again back to the
place we were before at, to get something to eat: being encouraged by the
Squaws kindness, who bade me come again; when I
was there, there came an Indian to look after me, who
when he had found me, kickt me all along: I went home and found Venison
roasting that night, but they would not give me one bit of it. Sometimes I
met with favour, and sometimes with nothing but frowns.
The next day in the morning they took their Travel,
intending a dayes journey up the River, I took
my load at my back, and quickly we came to wade over the
River: and passed over tiresome and wearisome hills. One hill was
so steep that I was fain to creep up upon my knees, and to hold by the
twiggs and bushes to keep my self from falling backward. My head also was so
light, that I usually reeled as I went; but I hope all these wearisome steps
that I have taken, are but a forewarning of me to the heavenly rest. I know, O Lord, that thy Judgements are right, and that
thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me, Psal. 119 71.
It was upon a Sabbath-day-morning, that they prepared for
their Travel. This morning I asked my master whither he would sell
me to my Husband; he answered me
Nux,
Papoos, and returning, she found me sitting and
reading in my Bible; she snatched it hastily out of my hand, and threw it
out of doors; I ran out and catcht it up, and put it into my pocket, and
never let her see it afterward. Then they packed up their things to be gone,
and gave me my load: I complained it was too heavy, whereupon she gave me a
slap in the face, and bade me go; I lifted up my heart to God, hoping that
Redemption was not far off: and the rather because their insolency grew
worse and worse.
But the thoughts of my going homeward (for we bent our
course) much cheared my Spirit, and
made my burden seem light, and almost nothing at all.
But (to my amazment and great perplexity) the scale was soon turned:
for when we had gone a little way, on a sudden my mistriss gives out, she
would go no further, but turn back again, and said. I must go back again
with her, and she called her Sannup, and would have
had him gone back also, but he would not, but said, He
would go on, and come to us again in three dayes. My Spirit was
upon this, I confess, very impatient, and almost outragious. I thought I could as well have dyed as went back: I cannot
declare the trouble that I was in about it; but yet back again I must go. As
soon as I had an opportunity, I took my Bible to
read, and that quieting Scripture came to my hand, Psal. 46.10. Be still, and know that I am God. Which stilled my spirit for the present: But
a sore time of tryal, I concluded, I had to go through. My master being
gone, who seemed to me the best friend that I had of an Indian, both in cold and hunger, and quickly so it proved. Down I
sat, with my heart as full as it could hold, and yet so hungry that I could
not sit neither: but going out to see what I could find, and walking among
the Trees, I found six Acorns, and two Ches-nuts, which were some refreshment to me. Towards
Night I gathered me some sticks for my own comfort, that I might not ly
a-cold: but when we came to ly down they bade me go out, and ly
some-where-else, for they had company (they said) come in more than Wigwam they would be angry, and send me home again.
Then one of the Company drew his sword, and told me he would run me thorough
if I did not go presently. Then was I fain to stoop to this rude fellow, and
to go out in the night, I knew not whither. Mine eyes
have seen that fellow afterwards walking up and down Boston, under the appearance of a Friend-Indian, and severall others of the like Cut. I went to one
Wigwam, and they told me they had no room. Then I
went to another, and they said the same; at last an old Indian bade me come to him, and his Squaw
give me some Ground-nuts; she gave me also something to lay under my head,
and a good fire we had: and through the good providence of God, I had a
comfortable lodging that night. In the morning, another Indian bade me come at night, and he would give me six Ground
nuts, which I did. We were at this place and time about two miles from Connecticut River. We went in the morning to gather
Ground nuts, to the River, and went back again that night. I went with a good load at my back (for they when they went,
though but a little way, would carry all their trumpery with them) I told
them the skin was off my back, but I had no other comforting answer from
them than this, That it would be no matter if my head
were off too.
Instead of going toward the Bay, which was that I desired, I must go with them five or six miles down the River into a
mighty Thicket of Brush: where we abode almost a fortnight. Here
one asked me to make a shirt for her Papoos, for
which she gave me a mess of Broth, which was thickened with meal made of the
Bark of a Tree, and to make it the better, she had put into it about a
handfull of Pease, and a few roasted Ground-nuts, I had not seen my son a
pritty while, and here was an Indian of whom I made
inquiry after him, and asked him when he saw him: he answered me, that such
a time his master roasted him, and that himself did eat a piece of him, as
big as his two fingers, and that he was very good meat:
But the Lord upheld my Spirit, under this discouragement; and I
considered their horrible addictedness to lying, and that there is not
one of them that makes the least conscience of speaking of truth.
In this place, on a cold night, as I lay by the fire, I removed a stick that
kept the heat from me, a Squaw moved it down again,
at which I lookt up, and she threw a handfull of ashes in mine eyes; I
thought I should have been quite blinded, and have never seen more: but
lying down, the water run out of my eyes, and carried the dirt with it, that
by the morning, I recovered my sight again. Yet upon this, and the like
occasions, I hope it is not too much to say with
Job,
Job
19:21. Have pitty upon me, have pitty upon me, O ye my
Friends, for the Hand
of the Lord has touched me. And here I cannot but
remember how many times sitting in their Wigwams,
and musing on things past, I should suddenly leap up and run out, as if I
had been at home, forgetting where I was, and what my condition was: But
when I was without, and saw nothing but Wilderness,
and Woods, and a company of barbarous heathens: my
mind quickly returned to me, which made me think of that, spoken concerning
Sampson, who said
will go out and
shake myself as at other times, but he wist not that the Lord was
departed from him. About this time I began to think that all my
hopes of Restoration would come to nothing. I thought
of the English Army, and hoped for their coming, and
being taken by them, but that failed. I hoped to be
carried to Albany, at the Indians had discoursed before, but that failed also. I thought of
being sold to my Husband, as my master spake, but in stead of that, my
master himself was gone, and I left behind, so that my Spirit was now quite
réady to sink. I asked them to let me go out and pick up some sticks, that I
might get alone, And poure out my heart unto the
Lord. Then also I took my Bible to read, but I found no comfort
here neither: which many times I was went to find: So
easie a thing it is with God to dry up the Streames of Scripture-comfort
from us. Yet I can say, that in all my sorrows and afflictions,
God did not leave me to have my impatience work towards himself, as if his
wayes were unrighteous. But I knew that he laid upon me less then I deserved
Afterward, before this dolefull time ended with me, I was turning the
leaves of my Bible, and the Lord brought to me some Scriptures, which did a
little revive me, as that Isai. 55.8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your
wayes my ways saith the Lord. And also that, Psal. 37.5. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust
also in him, and he shal bring it to pass. About this time they
came yelping from Hadly, where they had killed three
English men, and brought one Captive with them,
viz. Thomas Read. They all gathered about the
poor Man, asking him many Questions. I desired also to go and see him; and
when I came, he was crying bitterly: supposing they would quickly kill him.
Whereupon I asked one of them, whether they intended to kill him; he
answered me, they would not: He being a little cheared with that, I asked
him about the welfare of my Husband, he told me he saw him such a time in
the Bay, and he was well, but very melancholly. By
which I certainly understood (though I suspected it
before) that whatsoever the Indians told me
respecting him was vanity and lies. Some of them told me, he was dead, and
they had killed him: some said he was Married again, and that the Governour
wished him to Marry; and told him he should have his choice, and that all
perswaded I was dead. So like were these barbarous creatures to him who was
a lyar from the beginning.
As I was sitting once in the Wigwam here, Philips Maid came in with the Child in her arms, and
asked me to give het a piece of my Apron, to make a flap for it, I told her
I would not: then my Mistriss bad me give it, but still I said no: the maid
told me if I would not give her a piece, she would tear a piece off it: I told her I would tear her Coat then with that my
Mistriss rises up, and takes up a stick big enough to have killed me, and
struck at me with it, but I stept out, and she struck the stick into the Mat
of the Wigwam. But while she was pulling of it out, I ran to the Maid and
gave her all my Apron, and so that storm went over.
Hearing that my Son was come to this place, I went to see him, and told him
his Father was well, but very melancholly: he told me he was as much grieved
for his Father as for himself; I wondred at his speech, for I thought I had
enough upon my spirit in reference to my self, to make me mindless of my
Husband and every one else: they being safe among their Friends. He told me
also, that a while before, his Master (together with other Indians) where going to the French for
Powder; but by the way the Mohawks
French,
Indians.
I went to see an English Youth in this place, one John Gilberd of Spring field I
found him lying without dores, upon to ground; I asked him how he did? he
told me he was very sick of a flux
indian Papoos, almost dead, (whose Parents had been
killed) in a bitter cold day, without fire or clothes: the young man himself
had nothing on, but his shirt & wastcoat. This sight was enough to melt
a heart of flint. There they lay quivering in the Cold, the youth round like
a dog; the Papoos stretcht out, with his eyes and
nose and mouth full of dirt, and yet alive, and groaning. I advised John to
go and get to some fire: he told me he could not stand, but I perswaded him
still, left he shouldly there and die: and with much adoe I got him to a
fire, and went my self home. As soon as I was got home, his Masters Daughter
came after me, to know what I had done with the English
man, I told her I had got him to a fire in such a place. Now had I
need to pray Pauls Prayer, 2 Thess. 3.2. That we may be delivered from
unreasonable and wicked men. For her satisfaction I went along
with her, and brought her to him; but before I got home again, it was noised
about, that I was running away and getting the English youth along with me: that as soon as I came in, they began
to rant and domineer: asking me where I had been, and what I had been doing?
and saying they would knock him on the head: I told them, I had been seeing
English
Youth, and that I would not run away, they told me I lyed, and
taking up a Hatchet, they came to me, and said they would knock me down if I
stirred out again; and so confined me to the Wigwam.
Now may I say with David, 2 Sam. 24.14. I am in a great strait. If I
keep in, I must dy with hunger, and if I go out, I must be knockt in head. This distressed condition
held that day, and half the next; And then the Lord
remembred me, whose mercyes are great. Then came an Indian to me with a pair of stockings that were too
big for him, and he would have me ravel them out, and knit them fit for him.
I shewed my self willing, and bid him ask my mistriss if I might go along with him a little way; she said yes, I might, but
I was not a little refresht with that news, that I had my liberty again.
Then I went along with him, and he gave me some roasted Ground-nuts, which
did again revive my feeble stomach.
Being got out of her sight: I had time and liberty again to look into my
Bible: Which was my Guid by day, and my Pillow by
night. Now that comfortable Scripture presented it self to me, Isa. 54.7. For a smal moment have
I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. Thus
the Lord carried me along from one time to another, and made good to me this
precious promise, and many others. Then my Son came to see
me, and I asked his master to let him stay a
while with me, that I I had done, that he was very hungry, but I had
nothing to relieve him; but bid him go into the Wigwams as he went along,
and see if he could get any thing among them. Which he did, and it seemes
tarried a little too long; for his Master was angry with him, and beat him,
and then sold him. Then he came running to tell me he had a new Master, and
that he had given him some Ground-nuts already. Then I went along with him to his new Master who told me he loved him:
and he should not want. So his Master carried him away, & I never saw
him afterward. till I saw him at
Pascataqua in Portsmouth.
That night they bade me go out of the Wigwam again:
my Mistrisses Papoos was sick, and it died that night, and there was one
benefit in it, that there was more room. I went to a Wigwam, and they bade me come in, and gave me a skin to ly upon,
and a mess of Venson and Ground-nuts, which was a choice Dish among them. On
the morrow they burried the Papoos, and afterward,
both morning and evening, there came a company to mourn and howle with her:
though I confess, I could not much condole with them. Many sorrowfull dayes
I had in this place: often getting alone; like a Crane,
or a Swallow so did I chatter: I did mourn as a Dove, mine eyes fail
with looking upward Oh, Lord I am oppressed, undertake for me,
Isa. 38 14 Hezekiah, ver. 3.
beseech thee, how I have walked
before thee in truth. Now had I time to
examine al my wayes: my Conscience did not accuse me of un-righteousness
toward one or other: yet I saw how in my walk with
God, I had been a careless creature. As David said
Against
thee, thee only have I sinned: & I might
say with the poor Publican
God be merciful unto me a sinner. On the
Sabbath-dayes, I could look upon the Sun and think how People were going to
the house of God, to have their Souls refresht; & then home, and their
bodies also: but I was destitute of both; & might say as the poor
Prodigal, he would fain have filled his belly with the
husks that the Swine did eat, and no mwaan gave unto him, Luke
15.16 For I must say with him,
Father I have sinned against Heaven, and in thy sight,
ver 21.
I remembred how on the night before & after the
Sabbath, when my Family was about me, and Relations and Neighbours with us,
we could pray and sing, and then refresh our bodies with the good creatures
of God; and then have a comfortable Bed to ly down on: but in stead of all
this, I had only a little Swill for the body, and
then like a Swine, must ly down on the ground. I cannot express to man the
sorrow that lay upon my Spirit, the Lord knows it. Yet that comfortable
Scripture would often come to my mind, For a small moment
have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies
will I gather thee.
Now must we pack up and be gone from this Thicket, bending our course toward
the Bay-towns. I haveing nothing to eat by the way this day, but a few
crumbs of Cake, that an Indian gave my girle the same
day we were taken. She gave it me, and I put it in my pocket: there it lay,
till it was so mouldy (for want of good baking) that one could not tell what
it was made of; it fell all to crumbs, & grew so dry and hard, that it
was like little flints; & this refreshed me many times, when I was ready
to faint. It was in my thoughts when I put it into my mouth; that if ever I
returned, I would tell the World what a blessing the Lord gave to such mean
food. As we went along, they killed a Deer, with a
young one in her, they gave me a piece of the Fawn,
and it was so young and tender, that one might eat the bones as well as the
flesh, and yet I thought it very good. When night came on we sate down; it
rained, but they quickly got up a Bark Wigwam, where I lay dry that night. I
looked out in the morning, and many of them had line in the rain all night
Deer, and
put it into the Paunch, and so boyled it. I could eat nothing of that,
though they ate it sweetly. And yet they were so nice in other things,
We went on our Travel. I having got one handfull of Ground-nuts, for my
support that day they gave me my load, and I went on cheerfully [with the
thoughts of going homeward] haveing my burden more on my back than my
spirit: we came to Baquang River again that day, near
which we abode a few dayes. Sometimes one of them would give me a Pipe,
another a little Tobacco, another a little Salt: which I would change for a
little Victuals. I cannot but think what a Wolvish appetite persons have in
a starving condition: for many times when they gave me that which was hot, I
was so greedy, that I should burn my mouth, that it would trouble me hours
after, and yet I should quickly do the same again. And after I was thorougly
hungry, I was never again satisfied. For though
sometimes it fell out, that I got enough, and did eat
till I could eat no more, yet I was as unsatisfied as I was when I began.
And now could I see that Scripture verified (there being many Scriptures
which we do not take notice of, or understand till we are afflicted) Mic. 6.14. Thou shalt eat and not
be satisfied. Now might I see more than ever before, the miseries
that Amos, 3. 6. Shal
there be evil in the City, and the Lord hath not done it? The Lord
help me to make a right improvment of His Word, and that I might learn that
great lesson, Mic. 6.8, 9. He hath
shewed thee (Oh Man) what is good, and what doth the Lord require of
thee, but to do justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God?
Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.
We began this Remove with wading over Baquag River: the water was up to the knees, and the stream very
swift, and so cold that I thought it would have cut me in sunder.
I was so weak and feeble, that I reeled as I went along, and thought there I
must end my dayes at last, after my bearing and getting thorough so many
difficulties; the Indians stood laughing to see me
staggering along: but in my distress the Lord gave me experience of the
truth, and goodness of that promise, Isai. 43.2. When thou passest thorough the Waters, I will be with thee, and through the Rivers, they shall not
overflow thee. Then I sat down to put on my stockins and shoos,
with the teares running down mine eyes, and many sorrowfull thoughts in my
heart, but I gat up to go along with them. Quickly there came up to us an
Indian, who informed them, that I must go to
Wachuset
Saggamores, about redeeming the Captives, and that there would be
another in fourteen dayes, and that I must be there ready. My heart was so
heavy before that I could scarce speak or go in the path; and yet now so
light, that I could run. My strength seemed to come again, and recruit my
feeble knees, and aking heart: yet it pleased them to go but one mile that
night, and there we stayed two dayes. In that time came a company of Indians to us, near thirty, all on horse-back. My
heart skipt within me, thinking they had been English
men at the first sight of them, for they were dressed in English Apparel, with Hats, white Neckcloths, and
Sashes about their wasts, and Ribbonds upon their shoulders: but when they
came near, their was a vast difference between the lovely faces of
Christians, and the foul looks of those Heathens, which much damped my
spirit again.
A comfortable Remove it was to me, because of my hopes.
They gave me a pack, and along we went chearfully; but quickly my will
proved more than my strength; having little or no refreshing my strength
failed me, and my spirits were almost quite gone. Now may I say with David,
Psal. I 19.22, 23, 24.
am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
I am gone like the shadow when it declineth:
I am tossed up and down like the locusts: my knees are
weak through fasting, and my flesh faileth
of fatness. At night we came to an Indian Town, and the Indians
sate down by a Wigwam discoursing, but I was almost
spent, and could scarce speak. I laid down my load, and went into the Wigwam, and there sat an Indian boyling of Horses feet (they being
wont to eat the flesh first, and when the feet were old and dried, and they
had nothing else, they would cut off the feet and use them) I asked him to
give me a little of his Broth, or Water they were boiling in; he took a
dish, and gave me one spoonfull of Samp
I put some of
the hot water to the Samp, and drank it up, and my spirit came again. He
gave me also a piece of the Ruff or
Ridding of the small Guts,
Jonathan, See, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I
tasted a little of this honey, 1 Sam.
14.29. Now is my Spirit revived again, though means be never so
inconsiderable, yet if the Lord bestow his blessing upon them, they shall
refresh both Soul and Body.
We took up our packs and along we went, but a wearisome
day I had of it. As we went along I saw an
English-man stript naked, and lying dead upon the
ground, but knew not who it was. Then we came to another Indian Town, where we stayed all night. In this Town there were
four English Children, Captives; and one of them my own Sisters.
Wigwam, where they were boyling Corn and
Beans, which was a lovely sight to see, but I could not get a taste thereof.
Then I went to another Wigwam, where there were two
of the English Children; the Squaw was boyling Horses feet, then she cut
me off a little piece, and gave one of the English
Children a piece also. Being very hungry I had quickly eat up
mine, but the Child could not bite it, it was so tough and sinewy, but lay
sucking, gnawing, chewing and slabbering of it in the mouth and hand, then I
took it of the Child, and eat it my self, and savoury it was to my taste.
Then I may say as Job Chap. 6.7.
The things that my soul refused to touch, are as my sorrowfull meat.
Thus the Lord made that pleasant refreshing, which another time would
have been an abomination. Then I went home to my mistresses Wigwam; and they told me I
disgraced my master with begging, and if I did so any more, they would knock
me in head: I told them, they had as good knock me in head as starve me to
death.
They said, when we went out, that we must travel to
Wachuset this day. But a bitter weary day I had of
it, travelling now three dayes to gether, without resting any day between.
At last, after many weary I saw Wachuset hills, but many
miles off. Then we came to a great Swamp, through
which we travelled up to the knees, in mud and water, which was heavy going
to one tyred before. Being almost spent, I thought I
should have sunk down at last, and never gat out; but I may say, as in Psal. 94.18. When my foot slipped, thy mercy, O Lord held me up.
Going along, having indeed my life, but little spirit, Philip, who was in the Company, came up and took me by the hand,
and said, Two weeks more and you shal be Mistress again.
I asked him, if he spake true? he answered, Yes, and quickly you shal come to your master again; who had been gone
from us three weeks. After many weary steps we came to Wachuset,
where he was
When I washt me? I told him not this month,
then he fetcht me some water himself, and bid me wash, and gave me the Glass
to see how I lookt; and bid his Squaw give me
something to eat: so she gave me a mess of Beans and meat, and a little
Ground-nut Cake. I was wonderfully revived with this
favour shewed me, Psal. 106.46 He
made them also to be pittied, of all those that carried them Captives.
My master had three Squaws, living
sometimes with one, and sometimes with another one, this old
Squaw, at whose Wigwan I was, and
with whom my Master had been those three weeks. Another was Wettimore, with whom I had lived and served all this
while: A severe and proud Dame she was; Wampom and Beads. The third Squaw was a younger one, by whom he had two Papooses. By that time I was refresht by the old Squaw, with whom my master was,
Wettimores Maid came to call me home, at which I fell a weeping.
Then the old Squaw told me, to encourage me, that if
I wanted victuals, I should come to her, and that I should ly there in her
Wigwam. Then I went with the maid, and quickly
came again and lodged there. The Squaw laid a Mat
under me, and a good Rugg over me; the first time I had any such kindness
showed me. I understood that Wettimore thought, that
if she should let me go and serve with the old Squaw,
she would be in danger to loose, not only my service, but the redemption pay
also. And I was not a little glad to hear this; being by it raised in my
hopes, that in Gods due time there would be an end of this sorrowfull hour.
Then came an Indians and asked me to knit him three
pair of Stockins, for which I had a Hat, and a silk handkerchief. Then
another asked me to make her a shift, for which she gave me an Apron.
Then came Tom and Peter, with the second Letter from the Council, about the
Captives. Though they were Indians, I gat
them by the hand, and They are all very well but
melancholy. They brought me two Biskets, and a pound of Tobacco.
The Tobacco I quickly gave away; when it was all gone, one asked me to give
him a pipe of Tobacco, I told him it was all gone; then
began he to rant and threaten. I told him when my Husband came I
would give him some: Hang him Rogue (sayes he) I will knock out his brains, if he comes here. And then
again, in the same breath they would say, That if there
should come an hunddred without Guns, they would do them no hurt.
So unstable and like mad men they were. So that fearing the worst, I durst
not send to my Husband, though there were some thoughts of his coming to
Redeem and fetch me, not knowing what might follow; For
there was little more trust to them then to the master they served.
When the Letter was come, the Saggamores met to
consult about the Captives, and called me to them to enquire how much my
husband would give to redeem me, when I came I sate down among them, as I
was wont to do, as their manner is: Then they bade me
stand up, and said, they were the General Court.
They bid me speak what I thought he would give, Now knowing that
all we had was destroyed by the Indians, I was in a
great strait: I thought if I should speak of but a little, it would be
slighted, and hinder Twenty pounds,
Boston, that for Twenty pounds I should be redeemed. It was a Praying- Indian that wrote their Letter for them. There was
another Praying Indian, who told me, that he had a
brother, that would not eat Horse; his conscience was so tender and
scrupulous (though as large as hell, for the destruction of poor Christians) Then he said, he read that Scripture to
him, 2 Kings, 6.25. There was a
famine in Samatia, and behold they besieged it,
untill an Asses head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the
fourth part of a Kab
of
Doves dung, for five pieces of silver. He expounded this place to
his brother, and shewed him that it was lawfull to eat that in a Famine
which is not at another time. And now, sayes he, he will eat Horse with any
Indiann of them all. There was another Praying-
Indian, who when he had done all the mischief
that he could, betrayed his own Father into the English hands, thereby to purchase his own life. Another Praying-
Indian was at
Sudbury-fight,
Indian, so wicked and
cruel, as to wear a string about his neck, strung with Christians fingers. Another Praying-Indian,
when they went to Sudbury-fight, went with them, and
his Squaw also with him, with her Papoos at her Powaw;
Deer-skin, with the company
round him in a ring who kneeled, and striking upon the ground with their
hands, and with sticks; and muttering or humming with their mouths, besides
him who kneeled in the ring, there also stood one with a Gun in his hand:
Then he one the Deer-skin made a speech, and all
manifested assent to it: and so they did many times together. Then they bade
him with the Gun go out of the ring, which he did, but when he was out, they
called him in again; but he seemed to make a stand, then they called the
more earnestly, till he returned again: Then they all sang. Then they gave
him two Guns, in either hand one: And so he on the Deer-skin began again; and at the end of every sentence in his
speaking, they all assented, humming or muttering with their mouthes, and
striking upon the ground with their hands. Then they bade him with the two
Guns go out of the ring again; which he did, a little way. Then they called
him in again, but he made a stand; so they called him with greater
earnestness; but he stood reeling and wavering as if he knew not whither he
should stand or fall, or which way to go. Then they called him with
exceeding great vehemency, all of them, one and another: after a little
while he turned in, staggering as he went, with his Armes stretched out, in
Deer-skin, made another speech unto which they
all assented in a rejoicing manner: and so they ended their business, and
forthwith went to Sudbury fight. To my thinking they
went without any scruple, but that they should prosper, and gain the
victory: And they went out not so rejoycing, but they came home with as
great a Victory. For they said they had killed two Captains, and almost an
hundred men. One English-man they brought along with
them: and he said, it was too true, for they had made sad work at Sudbury, as indeed it proved. Yet they came home
without that rejoycing and triumphing over their victory, which they were
wont to shew at other times: but rather like Dogs (as they say) which have
lost their cars. Yet I could not pereceive that it was for their own loss of
men: They said, they had not lost above five or six: and I missed none,
except in one Wigwam. When they went, they acted as if
the Devil had told them that they should gain the victory: and now they
acted, as if the Devil had told them they should have a fall. Whither it
were so or no, I cannot tell, but so it proved, for quickly they began to
fall, and so held on that Summer, till they came to utter ruine. They came
home on a Sabbath day, and the Powaw that kneeled
upon the Deer-skin came home (I may say, without
abuse) as black as the Devil. Papoos, of a hollandlaced Pillowbeer. About that time
there came an Indian to me and bid me come to his Wigwam, at night, and he would give me some Pork
& Ground nuts. Which I did, and as I was eating, another Indian said to me, he seems to be your good Friend,
but he killed two Englishmen at Sudbury, and there ly their Cloaths behind you: I looked behind
me, and there I saw bloody Cloaths, with Bullet holes in them; yet the Lord
suffered not this wretch to do me any hurt; Yea, instead of that, he many
times refresht me: five or six times did he and his Squaw refresh my feeble carcass. If I went to their Wigwam at any time, they would alwayes give me
something, and yet they were strangers that I never saw before. Another Squaw gave me a piece of fresh Pork, and a little
Salt with it, and lent me her Pan to Fry it in; and I cannot but remember
what a sweet, pleasant and delightfull relish that bit had to me, to this
day. So little do we prize common mercies when we have them to the full.
It was their usual manner to remove, when they bad done
any mischief, lest they should be found out: and so they did at this
time. We went about three or four miles, and there they built a
great Wigwam, big enough to hold an hundred Indians, which they did in preparation to a great day
of Dancing. Governour would be so angry for
his loss at Sudbury, that he would send no more
about the Captives, which made me grieve and tremble. My Sister being not
far from the place where we now were: and hearing that I was here, desired
her master to let her come and see me, and he was willing to it, and would
go with her: but she being ready before him, told him she wonld go before,
and was come within a Mile or two of the place; Then he overtook her, and
began to rant as if he had been mad; and made her go back again in the Rain;
so that I never saw her till I saw her in Charlestown. But the Lord requited many of their ill doings, for
this Indian her Master, was hanged afterward at Boston. The Indians now began
to come from all quarters, against their merry dancing day. Among some of
them came one
Good wife Kettle:
On a Sabbath day, the Sun being about an hour high in the
afternoon; came Mr.
John Hoar
the Council permitting him, and his own
foreward spirit inclining him) together with the two forementioned
Indians, Tom and Peter with their
third Letter from the Council. When they came near, I was abroad.
though I saw them not, they presently called me in, and bade me sit down and
not stir. Then they catched up their Guns, and away they ran, as if an Enemy
had been at hand; and the Guns went off apace I manifested some great
trouble, and they asked me what was the matter? I told them, I thought they had killed the English-man (for they had
in the mean time informed me that an English-man was
come) they said, No; They shot over his Horse and
under, and before his Horse; and they pusht him this way and that way, at
their pleasure: shewing what they conld do: Then they let them come to their
Wigwams. I begged of them to let me see the English man, but they would not. But there was I fain
to sit their pleasure. When they had talked their fill with him, they
suffered me to go to him. We asked each other of our welfare, and how my
Husband did, and all my Friends? He told me they were all well, and would be
glad to see me. Amongst other things which my Husband sent me, there came a
pound of Tobacco: which I sold for nine shillings in
Indians for want of Tobacco,
smoaked Hemlock, and Ground-Ivy. It was a great mistake in any, who thought I sent for
Tobacco: for through the savour of God, that
desire was overcome. I now asked them, whither I should go home with Mr. Hoar? They answered No, one
and another of them: and it being night, we lay down with that answer; in
the morning, Mr Hoar invited the Saggamores to Dinner; but when we went to get it ready, we fond
that they had stollen the greatest part of the Provision Mr. Hoar had brought, out of his Bags, in the night: And we may see the wonderfull power of God, in that one
passage, in that when there was such a great number of the Indians
together, and so greedy of a little good food; and no
English there, but Mr. Hoar and my self: that there
they did not knock us in the head, and take what we had: there being not
only some Provision, but also Trading-cloth, a part of the twenty pounds
agreed upon: But instead of doing us any mischief, they seemed to be
ashamed of the fact, and said, it were some
Matchit Indian
that did it. Oh, that we could believe that there is
no thing too hard for God! God shewed his Power over the Heathen in this,
as he did ever the hungry Lyons when
Daniel
was cast into the Den. Mr. Hoar called them betime to Dinner, but they are very little, they
being so busie in dressing themselves, and getting ready for their Dance:
which was carried one by eight of them; four Men and
Squaws: My
master and mistriss being two. He was dressed in his Holland shirt, with
great Laces sewed at the cail of it, he had his silver Buttons, his white
Stockins, his Garters were hung round with Shillings, and he had Girdles of
Wampom upon his head and shoulders. She had a
Kersey
Wampom from the Loins upward: her armes from her
elbows to her hands were covered with Bracelets; there were handfulls of
Neck-laces about her neck, and severall sorts of Jewels in her ears. She had
fine red Stokins, and white Shoos, her hair powdered and face painted Red,
that was alwayes before Black. And all the Dancers were after the same
manner. There were two other singing and knocking on a Kettle for their
musick. They keept hopping up and down one after another, with a Kettle of
water in the midst, standing warm upon some Embers, to drink of when they
were dry. They held on till it was almost night, throwing out Wampom to the standers by. At night I asked them
again, if I should go home? They all as one said No, except my Husband would
come for me. When we were lain down, my Master went out of the Wigwam, and by and by sent in an Indian called James the Printer, who told Mr. Hoar, that my Master
would let me go home to morrow, if he would let him have one pint of
Liquors. Then Mr. Hoar called his own Indians, Tom and Peter, and
bid them & go and see whither he would promise it before Philip smeling the
business cal'd me to him, and asked me what I would give him, to tell me
some good news, and speak a good word for me, I told him, I could not tell what to give him, I would anothing I had,
and asked him what he would have? He said, two Coats and twenty
shillings in Mony, and half a bushel of seed Corn, and some Tobacco. I
thanked him for his love: but I knew the good news as well as the crafty Fox. My Master after he had had his drink, quickly
came ranting into the Wigwam again, and called for
Mr. Hoar, drinking to him, and saying, He was a good man: and then again he would say, Hang him Rogue: Being almost drunk, he would drink to
him, and yet presently say he should be hanged. Then he called for me, I
trembled to hear him, yet I was fain to go to him, and he drank to me,
shewing no incivility. He was the first Indian I saw
drunk all the while that I was amongst them. At last his Squaw ran out, and he after her, round the Wigwam, with his mony jingling at his knees: But she escaped him:
But having an old Squaw he ran to her: and so through
the Lords mercy, we were no more troubled that night. Yet I had not a comfortable nights rest: for I
think I can say, I did not
sleep for three nights together. The night before the Letter came
from the Council, I could not rest. I was so full of feares and troubles,
God many times leaving us most in the dark, when deliverance Hoar being come, and that with such good tidings. The third night
I was even swallowed up with the thoughts of
things, viz. that ever I should go home again; and
that I must go, leaving my Children behind me in the Wilderness; so that sleep was now almost departed from mine eyes.
On Tuesday morning they called their General Court (as they call it) to consult and
determine, whether I should go home or no: And they all as one man did
seemingly consent to it, that I should go home; except
Philip,
But before I go any further, I would take leave to
mention a few remarkable passages of providence, which I took special notice
of in my afflicted time.
1. Of the fair opportunity lost in the long March, a
little after the
Fort-fight,
when our English Army was so
numerous, and in pursuit of the Enemy, and so
near as to take several and destroy them: and the Enemy in such distriss for food, that our men might track them
by their rooting in the earth for Groundnuts, whilest they were flying
for their lives. I say, that then our Army should want Provision,
and be forced to leave their pursuit and return homeward: and the very next
week the Enemy came upon our Town, like Bears bereft of their whelps, or so many ravenous
Wolves, rending us and our Lambs to
Shal there be evil in the City
Amos 3:6, 6:6-7, Psalm 118:23. and the Lord hath not
done it? They are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph, therefore shal they go Captive, with the first that go
Captive. It is the Lords doing, and it should be marvelous in our
eyes.
2. I cannot but remember how the Indians derided the
slowness, and dulness of the English Army, in its
setting out. For after the desolations at Lancaster
and Medfield, as I went along with them, they asked
me when I thought the English Army would come after
them? I told them I could not tell: It may be they will come in May, said they. Thus did they scoffe at us, as if the
English would be a quarter of a year getting
ready
3. Which also I have hinted before, when the English
Army with new supplies were sent forth to pursue
after the enemy, & they understanding it: fled before them till they
came to Baquaug River, where they forthwith
went over safely: that that River should be impassable to the
English. I can but admire to see the wonderfull providence of God in
preserving the heathen for farther affliction to our poor Countrey. They
could go in great numbers over, but the English must
stop: God had an over-ruling hand in all those things.
4. It was thought, if their Corn were cut down, they
would starve and dy with hunger: and all their Corn that could be found,
was destroyed, and
they driven from that little they had in store, into the
Woods in the midst of Winter; and yet how to admiration did the
Lord preserve them for his holy ends, and the destruction of many still
amongst the English! strangely did the Lord provide
for them; that I did not see (all the time I was among them) one Man, Woman,
or Child, die with hunger.
Though many times they would eat that, that a Hog or a Dog would hardly touch; yet by that God strengthned them to be a scourge to his People.
The chief and commonest food was Ground-nuts: They eat
also Nuts and Acorns, Harty choaks, Lilly roots, Ground beans, and
several other weeds and roots, that I know nor.
They would pick up old bones, and cut them to pieces at
the joynts, and if they were full of wormes and magots, they would scald
them over the fire to make the vermine come out, and then boile them,
and drink up the Liquor, and then beat the great end, of them in a
Morter, and so eat them. They would eat Horses guts, and ears, and
all sorts of wild Birds which they could catch: also Bear, Venison, Beaver,
Tortois, Frogs, Squirrels, Dogs, Skunks, Rattle-snakes; yea, the very Bark
of Trees; besides all sorts of creatures, and provision which they plundered
from the English. I can but stand in admiration to
see the wonderful power of God, in providing for such a vast number of our
Enemies Wilderness, where there was nothing to be seen, but from hand to
mouth. Many times in a morning, the generality of them, would eat up all
they had, and yet have some further supply against they wanted. It is said,
Psal. 81.13, 14. Oh, that my
People bad hearkned to me, and Israel had walked
in my wayes, I should soon have subdued their Enemies, and turned my
hand against their Adversaries. But now our perverse and evil
carriages in the sight of the Lord, have so offended him, that instead of
turning his hand against them, the Lord feeds & nourishes them up to be
a scourge to the whole Land.
5. Another thing that I would
observe is, the strange providence of God in turning things about when
the Indians was at the highest, and the
English at the lowest. I was with the Enemy eleven
weeks and five dayes, and not one Week passed without the fury of the Enemy,
and some desolation by fire and sword upon one place or other. They mourned
(with their black faces) for their own losses: yet triumphed and rejoyced in
their inhumane, and many times devilish cruelty to the English. They would boast much of their Victories; saying, that in
two hours time they had destroyed such a Captain, and
his Company at such a place; and such a Captain and his Company in
such a place; and such a Captain and his Company in such a place: and boast how many Towns they had destroyed, and then scoffe, and say,
They had done them a
good turn, to send them to Heaven so soon. Again,
they would say, This Summer that they would knock all the
Rogues in the head, or drive them into the Sea, or make them flie the
Countrey: thinking surely,
Agag-like
, The bitterness of Death is past. Now the Heathen
begins to think all is their own, & the poor Christians hopes to fail
(as to man) and now their eyes are more to God, and their hearts sigh
heaven-ward: and to say in good earnest, Help Lord, or we
perish: When the Lord had brought his people to this, that they saw
no help in any thing but himself; then be takes the quarrel into his own
hand: and though they had made a pit, in their own imaginations, as deep as
hell for the Christians that Summer, yet the Lord hurll'd them selves into
it. And the Lord had not so many wayes before to preserve them, but now he
hath as many to destroy them.
But to return again to my going home, where we may see a
remarkable change of Providence: At first they were all against
it, except my Husband would come for me; but afterwards they assented to it,
and seemed much to rejoyce in it; some askt me to send them some Bread,
others some Tobacco, others shaking me by the hand, offering me a Hood and
Scarfe to ride in; not one moving hand or tongue against it. Thus hath the
Lord answered my poor desire, and the many earnest requests of others put up
unto God for me. In my travels an Indian came to me,
and told me, if I were willing, Squaw would run away, and go home along with me:
I told him No: I was not willing to run away, but
desired to wait Gods time, that I might go home quietly, and without fear.
And now God hath granted me my desire. O the wonderfull power of God that
I have seen, and the experience that I have had:
I have been in the midst of those roaring Lyons, and
Salvage Bears, that feared neither God, nor Man, nor the Devil, by night
and day, alone and in company: sleeping all sorts together, and yet not
one of them ever offered me the least abuse of unchastity to me, in word
or action. Though some are ready to say, I speak it for my own
credit; But I speak it in the presence of God, and to his
Glory. Gods Power is as great now, and as sufficient to save, as
when he preserved Daniel in the Lions Den; or the
three Children in the fiery Furnace. I may well say
as his Psal. 107.12 Oh give
thanks unto the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever.
Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the
hand of the Enemy, especially that I should come away in the midst of so
many hundreds of Enemies quietly and peacably, and not a Dog moving his
tougue. So I took my leave of them, and in coming along my heart melted into
tears, more then all the while I was with them, and I was almost swallowed
up with the thoughts that ever I should go home again. About the Sun going
down, Mr. Hoar, and my self, and the two Indians came to Lancaster, and
a solemn sight it was to me. There had I lived many comfortable years
amongst my Relations and Neighbours, and now not one Christian to be seen, nor one house lest standing. We went on to a
Farm house that was yet standing, where we lay all night: and a comfortable
lodging we had, though nothing but straw to ly on. The Lord preserved us in
safety that night, and raised us up again in the morning, and carried us
along, that before noon, we came to Concord. Now was
I full of joy, and yet not without sorrow: joy to see such a lovely sight,
so many Christians together, and some of them my
Neighbours: There I met with my Brother, and my
Brother in Law, who asked me, if I knew where his Wife was? Poor heart! he
had helped to bury her, and knew it not; she being shot down by the house
was partly burnt: so that those who were at Boston at
the desolation of the Town, and came back afterward,
and buried the dead, did not know her. Yet I was not without sorrow, to
think how many were looking and longing, and my own Children amongst the
rest, to enioy that deliverance that I had now received: and I did not know whither ever I should see them again.
Being recruited with food and raiment, we went to Boston that day, where I met with my dear Husband, but the
thoughts of our dear Children, one being dead, and the other we could not
tell where, abated our comfort each to other. I I am not capable to declare it. But the
Lord knows them all by name: The Lord reward them seven
fold into their bosoms of his spirituals, for their temporals. The
twenty pounds the price of my redemption was
raised by some Boston Gentlemen, and Ms.Usher
Thomas Shepard of Charlstown
received us into his House, where we continued eleven weeks; and a Father
and Mother they were to us. And many more tender-hearted Friends we met with
in that place. We were now in the midst of love, yet not without much and
frequent heaviness of heart for our poor Children, and other Relations, who
were still in affliction. The week following, after my coming in, the
Governour and Gouncil sent forth to the Indians
again; and that not without saccess; for they brought in my Sister, and
Good-wife Kettle: Their not knowing where our
Children were, was a sore tryal to us still, and yet we were not without
secret hopes that we should see them again. That which was dead lay heavier
upon my spirit, than those which were alive And I was
walking through the valley of the shadow of Death: Then the Lord
brought, and now has fulfilled that reviving word unto me: Thus saith the Lord
Refrain thy voice from
weeping, and thine eyes from tears. for thy Work shall be rewarded,
saith the Lord, and they shall come again from the
Land of the Enemy. Now we were between them, the one on the East, and the other on the West: Our Son being nearest, we went to him first, to Portsmouth, where we met with him, and with the Major
also: who told us he had done what he could, but could not redeem him under
seven ponnds; which the good People thereabouts
were pleased to pay. The Lord reward the Major, and all the rest, though
unknown so me, for their labour of Love. My Sitters Son was redeemed for four pounds, which the Council gave order for the
payment of Having now received one of our Children, we hastened toward the
other: going back through Newbury, my Husband
Preached there on the Sabbath-day: for which they
rewarded him many fold.
On Monday we came to
Charlstown, where we heard that the Governour of
Road-Island had sent over for our Daughter, to take care
of her, being now
within his Jurisdiction: which should not pass without
our acknowledgments. But she being nearer Rehoboth than Road-Island, Mr. Newman went over, and took care of her, and brought
her to his own House. And the goodness of God was admirable to us in our low
estate, in that he raised up passionate Friends on every side to us, when we
had nothing to recompance any for their love. The Indians were now gone that way, that it was apprehended dangerous
to go to her: But the Carts which carried Provision to the English Army, being guarded, brought her with them to Dorchester, where we received her safe: blessed be
the Lord sor it, For great is his Power, and he can do
whatsoever seemeth him good. Her coming in was after this manner:
She was travelling one day with the Indians, with her
basket at her back; the company of Indians were got
before her, and gone out of sight, all except one Squaw; she followed the Squaw till night,
and then both of them lay down, having nothing over them but the heavens,
and under them but the earth. Thus she travelled three dayes together, not
knowing whither she was going: having nothing to eat or drink but water, and
green Hirtle-berries. At last they came into Providence, where she was kindly entertained by
several of that Town. The Indians often said, that I should never have her under twenty pounds: But now the Lord hath brought her in
upon free-cost, and given her to me the second Deut. 30: 4, 7. If any of thine be driven out
to the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather
thee, and from thence will he fetch thee. And the Lord thy God will put
all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them which hate thee, which
persecuted thee. Thus hath the Lord brought me and mine out of
that horrible pit, and hath set us in the midst of tender-hearted and
compassionate Christians. It is the desire of my soul, that we may walk
worthy of the mercies received, and which we are receiving.
Our Family being now gathered together (those of us that
were living) the South Church in Boston hired an House for us: Then were moved from Mr.
Shepards, those cordial Friends, and went to Boston,
where we continued about three quarters of a year:
Still the Lord went along with us, and provided graciously for us.
I thought it somewhat strange to set up House keeping with bare walls; but
as Solomon
sayes,
Mony answers all things; and that we had through the
benevolence of Christian friends, some in this Town,
and some in that, and others: And some from England,
that in a little time we might look, and see the House furnished with love.
The Lord hath been exceeding good to us in our low estate, in that when we
had neither house nor home, nor other necessaries; the Lord so moved the
hearts of these and those towards us, Prov. 18.24. There is a Friend
which sticketh closer than a Brother. And how many such Friends
have we found, and now living amongst? And truly such a Friend have we found
him to be unto us, in whose house we lived, viz. Mr.
James Whitcomb, a Friend unto us near hand, and
afar off.
I can remember the time, when I
used to sleep quietly without workings in my thoughts, whole nights
together, but now it is other wayes with me. When all are fast
about me, and no eye open, but his who ever waketh, my thoughts are upon
things past, upon the awfull dispensation of the Lord towards us; upon his
wonderfull power and might, in carrying of us through so many difficulties,
in returning us in safety, and suffering none to hurt us. I remember in the
night season, how the other day I was in the midst of thousands of enemies,
& nothing but death before me: It was then hard work to perswade my
self, that ever I should be satisfied with bread again. But now we are fed
with the finest of the Wheat, and, as I may say,
With honey out of the rock:
David said of himself, Psal. 6.6. I watered my Couch with
my tears. Oh! the wonderfull power of God that mine eyes have
seen, affording
I have seen the extrem vanity of this World: One hour
I have been in health, and wealth, wanting nothing: But the next hour in
sickness and wounds, and death, having nothing but sorrow and affliction.
Before I knew what affliction
meant, I was ready sometimes to wish for it.
When I lived in prosperity; having the comforts of the World about me,
my relations by me, my Heart chearfull: and taking little care for any
thing; and yet seeing many, whom I preferred before my self, under many
tryals and afflictions, in sickness, weakness, poverty, losses, crosses, and
cares of the World, I should be sometimes jealous least I should have my
portion in this life, and that Scripture would come to my mind, Heb. 12.6. For whom the Lord
loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth.
But now I see the Lord had his time to scourge and chasten me. The portion
of some is to have their afflictions by drops, now one drop and then
another; but the dregs of the Cup, the Wine of astonishment: like a sweeping
rain that leaveth no food, did the Lord prepare to be my portion Affliction
I wanted, and affliction I had, full measure (I thought) pressed down and
running over: yet I see, when God calls a Person to any thing, and through
never so many difficulties David did
It is good for me
that I have been afflicted: The Lord hath
shewed me the vanity of these outward things. That they are the
Vanity of vanities, and vexation of
spirit;
Moses said, Exod. 14.13. Stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord.
Gulliver's Travelsis complicated, and so too is the publication history of this digital edition. Swift's first publisher, Benjamin Motte, altered the text a bit to disguise some of the harshest and most obvious episodes of satire against the government. Most of these changes occur in Book I, where the Lilliputian court was enough like the court culture of London in 1726 that readers would be quick to make obvious connections. Swift does not seem to have been happy about the changes, and when the opportunity came in 1735 to revise the text back to what he had originally intended, Swift took it, and restored some of the original jokes. Our digital edition is based on the version encoded for the University of Virginia's E-Text Center in the 1990s and early 2000s. It in turn is a transcription of the 1784 edition of Swift's collected works as edited by Thomas Sheridan, which is based on the 1735 version. Why this particular edition was chosen by the E-Text Center for transcribing is at this point beyond reconstruction; one suspects that the facts that the edition was in the public domain and close at hand played a significant part. But the choice of base text explains why there are a few points where the reading text produced here differs from the page images, which are taken from a copy of the first, 1726 edition in the University of Michigan Library, digitized by Google and accessed through the HathiTrust.
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in
Context project, which provides an accessible, curated, and marked-up
selection of primary sources relevant to the study and the teaching of British
and American literature of the 18th century. This project is funded by the
National Endowment for the Humanities and developed by faculty at The University
of Virginia and Marymount University.
Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources, with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable sources. If you notice an error in these annotations, please contact lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.
Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded.
Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.
Page breaks have been retained. Catchwords, signatures, and running headers have not. Where pages break in the middle of a word, the complete word has been indicated prior to the page beginning.
Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section.
INTO SEVERAL
Remote NATIONS
OF THE
WORLD.
IN FOUR PARTS
LEMUEL GULLIVER,
first a Surgeon, and then a Captain
of several SHIPS
LONDON:
Printed forBENJ. MOTTE,
at the
MiddleTemple-Gate
Middle
inFleet-street
THE Author of these Travels, Mr. Lemuel Gulliver, is my
antient and intimate Friend; there is likewise some Relation between us by the
Mother's Side. About three Years ago, Mr. Gulliver
growing weary of the Concourse of Redriff, made a small Purchase of Land, with
a convenient House, near Newark in Nottinghamshire, his Native Country; where he now lives retired, yet
in good Esteem among his Neighbours.
Although Mr. Gulliver was born in Nottinghamshire, where his Father dwelt, yet I have heard him say, his
Family came from Oxfordshire; to confirm which, I have
observed in the Church-Yard at Banbury, in that County,
several Tombs and Monuments of the Gullivers.
Before he quitted Redriff, he left the Custody of the
following Papers in my Hands, with the liberty to Redriff, when any one affirm'd a Thing, to say, it was as
true as if Mr. Gulliver had spoke it.
By the Advice of several worthy Persons, to whom, with the Author's Permission,
I communicated these Papers, I now venture to send
This Volume would have been at least twice as large, if I had not made bold to
strike out innumerable Passages relating to the Winds and Tides, as well as to
the Variations and Bearings in the several Voyages; together with the minute
Descriptions of the Management of the Ship in Storms, in the Style of Sailors:
Likewise the Account of the Longitudes and Latitudes; wherein I have Reason to
apprehend that Mr. Gulliver may be a little dissatisfied:
But I was resolved
As for any further Particulars relating to the Author, the Reader will receive Satisfaction from the first Pages of the Book.
A LETTER FROM CAPTAIN GULLIVER TO HIS COUSIN SYMPSON. Written in the Year 1727.
I hope you will be ready to own publicly, whenever you shall be called to it,
that by your great and frequent urgency you prevailed on me to publish a very
loose and uncorrect account of my travels, with directions to hire some young
gentleman of either university to put them in order, and correct the style, as
my cousin Dampier
A New Voyage Round the
World (1697), told the story of his adventures, including one of
the first European accounts of the island of Australia.
Thus much I thought proper to tell you in relation to yourself, and to the trust I reposed in you.
I do, in the next place, complain of my own great want of judgment, in being
prevailed upon by the entreaties and false reasoning of you and some others,
very much against my own opinion, to suffer my travels to be published. Pray
bring to your mind how often I desired you to consider, when you insisted on the
motive of public good, that the Yahoos were a species of animals utterly
incapable of amendment by precept or example: and so it has proved; for, instead
of seeing a full stop put to all abuses and corruptions, at least in this little
island, as I had reason to expect; behold, after above six months warning, I
cannot learn that my book has produced one single effect according to my
intentions. I desired you would let me know, by a letter, when party and faction
were extinguished; judges learned and upright; pleaders honest and modest, with
some tincture of common sense, and Smithfield
I find likewise that your printer has been so careless as to confound the times, and mistake the dates, of my several voyages and returns; neither assigning the true year, nor the true month, nor day of the month: and I hear the original manuscript is all destroyed since the publication of my book; neither have I any copy left: however, I have sent you some corrections, which you may insert, if ever there should be a second edition: and yet I cannot stand to them; but shall leave that matter to my judicious and candid readers to adjust it as they please.
I hear some of our sea Yahoos find fault with my sea-language, as not proper in many parts, nor now in use. I cannot help it. In my first voyages, while I was young, I was instructed by the oldest mariners, and learned to speak as they did. But I have since found that the sea Yahoos are apt, like the land ones, to become new-fangled in their words, which the latter change every year; insomuch, as I remember upon each return to my own country their old dialect was so altered, that I could hardly understand the new. And I observe, when any Yahoo comes from London out of curiosity to visit me at my house, we neither of us are able to deliver our conceptions in a manner intelligible to the other.
If the censure of the Yahoos could any way affect me, I should have great reason to complain, that some of them are so bold as to think my book of travels a mere fiction out of mine own brain, and have gone so far as to drop hints, that the Houyhnhnms and Yahoos have no more existence than the inhabitants of Utopia.
Indeed I must confess, that as to the people of Lilliput, Brobdingrag (for so the word should have been spelt, and not erroneously Brobdingnag), and Laputa, I have never yet heard of any Yahoo so presumptuous as to dispute their being, or the facts I have related concerning them; because the truth immediately strikes every reader with conviction. And is there less probability in my account of the Houyhnhnms or Yahoos, when it is manifest as to the latter, there are so many thousands even in this country, who only differ from their brother brutes in Houyhnhnmland, because they use a sort of jabber, and do not go naked? I wrote for their amendment, and not their approbation. The united praise of the whole race would be of less consequence to me, than the neighing of those two degenerate Houyhnhnms I keep in my stable; because from these, degenerate as they are, I still improve in some virtues without any mixture of vice.
Do these miserable animals presume to think, that I am so degenerated as to defend my veracity? Yahoo as I am, it is well known through all Houyhnhnmland, that, by the instructions and example of my illustrious master, I was able in the compass of two years (although I confess with the utmost difficulty) to remove that infernal habit of lying, shuffling, deceiving, and equivocating, so deeply rooted in the very souls of all my species; especially the Europeans.
I have other complaints to make upon this vexatious occasion; but I forbear troubling myself or you any further. I must freely confess, that since my last return, some corruptions of my Yahoo nature have revived in me by conversing with a few of your species, and particularly those of my own family, by an unavoidable necessity; else I should never have attempted so absurd a project as that of reforming the Yahoo race in this kingdom; but I have now done with all such visionary schemes for ever.
When it was
first published in 1726, the book that we have come to call Gulliver’s Travels appeared, without any advance
notice or fanfare, on the shelves of London booksellers under the title
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the
World. The author was identified as “Lemuel Gulliver, first a
Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships." The name Jonathan Swift
appeared nowhere on the book; rather, “Lemuel Gulliver" was portrayed in
a frontispiece portrait that identified him as being fifty-eight years
old and a resident of Redriff, a village on the Thames river to the
southeast of London. Below the portrait appears a Latin quote from the
second Satire of the classical poet Persius, that translates as
something like "justice, uprightness, and nobility of soul, in the
sacred places of the mind, with a heart filled with generous honor,"
endorsing Gulliver as a man who could be believed. Redriff would also be
logical place for a retired seaman to be living, and details like this,
along with the frontispiece portrait, confer a sense of realism on the
book that follows. But of course there was no Lemuel Gulliver; the image
is a fake, the first of the many hoaxes that would follow. And by
quoting Persius (without identifying him as the author), the
frontispiece also might tip the savvy reader off to the fact that the
work it prefaces is a satire.
There was no one quite like the book’s real author, Jonathan Swift,
either. He was born in Ireland in 1667 to a family that was a part of
the wave of English people who went there in that period, English
Protestants who were encouraged to emigrate and take positions in Irish
institutions in order to bind that island more tightly to English
domination. Almost all biographical accounts state that his father, also
named Jonathan Swift, died seven months before he was born. But there is
no documentary evidence for that, or for his parents’ marriage, the date
of his father’s death, or even for Swift’s baptism. Swift’s most recent
biographer, Leo Damrosch, suggests that his real father may have been
Sir John Temple, a wealthy English nobleman who was living in Ireland at
the time and who knew Swift’s mother and her family. There is no way of
proving this, and we will probably never know one way or the other. But
if Sir John Temple were Swift's father, that
would explain some things, such as how Swift would become the private
secretary to William Temple, Sir John Temple’s son. Swift, who had an
undistinguished career as a student at Trinity College in Dublin, would
not have been an obvious choice, and he seems not to have met William
Temple before he began working for him. Again, we will probably never be
certain of the truth here, and Swift seems to have cultivated a certain
amount of mystery about his private life. Although we know, for example,
that he had intimate friendships with several women, notably Esther
Johnson (to whom he gave the name “Stella") and Esther Vanhomrigh (who
he referred to as Vanessa, a name that he invented), the full nature of
these relationships eluded, even mystified people then, and frustrates
us now. (Some people believed that Swift and Stella had been secretly
married; others thought that idea was ridiculous.) Friends found him to
be witty and generous, but he could also be demanding and moody. He
suffered for much of his life from Meniere’s disease, a disorder where
fluid builds up in the inner ear. The condition sometimes left him
bedridden for days as he dealt with intense vertigo and nausea; he
eventually went deaf. Satirists are often outsiders, and it is not hard
to imagine how Swift might have felt himself to be an outsider to his
society, set apart by his birth and his health to be an ironic observer
as often as a full participant.
Gulliver's Travels was immediately a hit with
readers, and it did not take long for its real author to be identified,
even though Swift publicly stayed silent about his role for several
years. The book was translated into French and other European languages
very early on; theatrical versions, some with children playing the
Lilliputians, were on the stage in London within a few years. Gulliver's
adventures, particularly his experiences with the small but ruthless
Lilliputians and the large but gentle Brobdignagians, have become myths
of the modern world, stories that everyone knows the general outlines of
even if they have never opened the book. But fully grasping what Swift
was up to has proven to be a challenge. Swift provided no gloss on his
own work, and the book defies an easy moral or satisfying conclusion.
What, exactly, are we to make of the Houyhnhnms, the intelligent horses
of book IV? They seem have come up with the kind of minimal, direct mode
of governance that Swift, in other writings, often advocated. But they
are also able to contemplete genocide, casually thinking of
exterminating all the Yahoos, a fact that Gulliver does not comment
upon. What do all of the encounters of Book III, where Gulliver visits a
series of miserable projectors of various kinds, add up to, if anything?
Who is this Gulliver, anyway, and what kind of character are we dealing
with? Swift plays with, defies, and undercuts our expectations for what
either a truthful travel narrative or a fictional story should be. Gulliver's Travels is one of the greatest books
in English from the eighteenth century.
A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT
CHAPTER I
The Author gives some account of himself and family. His first inducementsInducements are something that persuades or leads
someone to take a course of action.
Source: to travel. He is
shipwrecked, and swims for his life; gets safe on Shore in the country
of Lilliput;
Source:
Oxford English Dictionary.
is made a prisoner, and carried up the country.
My father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire
Soon after my return from Leyden, I was recommended, by my good master Mr.
Bates, to be surgeon to the Swallow, Oxford English
Dictionary
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But, my good master Bates
Onania: or, the Heinous Sin of Self-Pollution,
and All its Frightful Consequences, in Both Sexes, Considered,
published sometime in the early part of the century and reproduced
dozens of times over the course of the eighteenth century. Many readers
of the period would have come across a copy of this book at some
point. Masturbation was
widely condemned as a sin that was both anti-social and also dangerous,
likely to damage one's health. And it was also seen as an unhealthy
indulgence of fantasy at the expense of reality. Which suggests that one
possibility for the book that follows is that it is also a fantasy, a
kind of day-dream of Gulliver's, a man who does not seem to enjoy a lot
of success in the real world here making up a far more interesting life
for himself than he had ever really led. Swift never gives us enough
information to decide this question one way or another, but the joke,
and the fact that Gulliver seems oblivious to it, is one of many details
in the book that should lead a careful reader to be a little dubious
about the narrator's veracity.
The last of these voyages not proving very fortunate, I grew weary of the
sea, and intended to stay at home with my wife and family. I removed from
the Old jury to Fetter-Lane, and from thence to Wapping hoping to get
business among the sailors; but it
would not turn to account
It would not be proper, for some reasons, to trouble the reader with the
particulars of our adventures in those seas: let it suffice to inform him,
that in our passage from thence to the East Indies, we were driven by a
violent storm to the northwest of Van Diemen's Land
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Hekinah degul: the others repeated the same words several times,
but I then knew not what they meant. I lay all this while, as the reader may
believe, in great uneasiness: at length, struggling to get loose, I had the
fortune to break the strings, and wrench out the pegs that fastened my left
arm to the ground; for, by lifting it up to my face, I discovered the
methods they had taken to bind me, and at the same time, with a violent
pull, which gave me excessive pain, I a little loosened the strings tolgo phonac; when in an instant I felt above a
hundred arrows discharged on my left hand, which pricked me like so many
needles; and besides they shot another flight into the air, as we do bombs
in Europe, whereof many, I suppose, fell on my body (though I felt them not)
and some on my face, which I immediately covered with my left hand. When
this shower of arrows was over, I fell a groaning with grief and pain, and
then striving again to get loose, they discharged another volley larger than
the first, and some of them attempted with spears to stick me in the sides;
but, by good luck, I had on me a buff
jerkin
langro dehul
san: (these words and the former were afterwards repeated and
explained to me). Whereupon immediately about fifty of the inhabitants came,
and cut the strings that fastened the left side of my head, which gave me
the liberty of turning it to the right, and of observing the person and
gesture of him that was to speak. He appeared to be of a middle age, and
taller than any of the other three who attended him, whereof one was a page
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hekinah degul. They made me a sign that I should
throw down the two hogsheads, but first borach
mivola, and when they saw the vessels in the air,there was a universal
shout of hekinah degul. I confess I was often
tempted, while they were passing backwards and forwards on my body, to seize
forty or fifty of the first that came in my reach, and dash them against the
ground. But the remembrance of what I had felt, which probably might not be
the worst they could do, and the promise of honor I made them, for so I
interpreted my submissive behavior, soon drove out these imaginations.
Besides, I now considered myself as bound by the laws of hospitality to a
people who had treated me with so much expense and magnificence. However, in
my thoughts I could not sufficiently wonder at the intrepidity of these
diminutive mortals, who dare venture to mount and walk upon my body, while
one of my hands was at liberty, without trembling at the very sight of so
prodigious
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peplom selan, and I felt
great numbers of the people on my left side relaxing the cords to such a
degree, that I was able to turn upon my right, and to ease myself with making water
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It seems that upon the first moment I was discovered sleeping on the ground after my landing, the Emperor had early notice of it by an express; and determined in council that I should be tied in the manner I have related (which was done in the night while I slept), that plenty of meat and drink should be sent me, and a machine prepared to carry me to the capital city.
This resolution perhaps may appear very bold and dangerous, and I am confident would not be imitated by any prince in Europe on the like occasion; however, in my opinion, it was extremely prudent, as well as generous. For supposing these people had endeavored to kill me with their spears and arrows while I was asleep, I should certainly have awakened with the first sense of smart, which might so far have roused my rage and strength, as to have enabled me to break the strings wherewith I was tied; after which, as they were not able to make resistance, so they could expect no mercy.
These people are most excellent mathematicians, and arrived to great
perfection in mechanics by the countenance and encouragement of the Emperor,
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About four hours after we began our journey, I awaked by a very ridiculous accident; for the carriage being stopped a while to adjust something that was out of order, two or three of the young natives had the curiosity to see how I looked when I was asleep; they climbed up into the engine, and advancing very softly to my face, one of them, an officer in the Guards, put the sharp end of his half-pike a good way up into my left nostril, which tickled my nose like a straw, and made me sneeze violently: whereupon they stole off unperceived, and it was three weeks before I knew the cause of my awaking so suddenly. We made a long march the remaining part of that day, and rested at night with five hundred guards on each side of me, half with torches, and half with bows and arrows, ready to shoot me if I should offer to stir. The next morning at sunrise we continued our march, and arrived within two hundred yards of the city gates about noon. The Emperor, and all his court, came out to meet us; but his great officers would by no means suffer his Majesty to endanger his person by mounting on my body.
At the place where the carriage stopped, there stood an ancient temple,
esteemed to be the largest in the whole kingdom, which having been polluted
some years before by an unnatural
murder
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The Emperor ofLilliput,
attended by several of the nobility, come to see the Author in his confinement. The emperor's person and habit described. Learned men appointed to teach the Author their language. He gains favour by his mild disposition. His pockets are searched, and his sword and pistols taken from him.
[Audio File]
When I found myself on my feet, I looked about me, and must confess I never
beheld a more entertaining prospect. The country round appeared like a
continued garden, and the inclosed fields, which were generally forty feet
square, resembled so many beds of flowers. These fields were intermingled
with woods of half a stang
I had been for some hours extremely pressed by the necessities of nature;
which was no wonder, it being almost two days since I had last unburdened
myself. I was under great difficulties between urgency and shame. The best
expedient
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When this adventure was at an end, I came back out of my house, having
occasion for fresh air. The Emperor was already descended from the tower,
and advancing on horseback towards me, which had like to have cost him dear;
for the beast, though very well trained, yet wholly unused to such a sight,
which appeared as if a mountain moved before him, he reared up on his hinder
feet: but that prince, who is an excellent horseman, kept his seat, till his
attendants ran in, and held the bridle, while his Majesty had time to
dismount. When he alighted
The Lilliputian
King's facial features would have reminded Swift's readers of those of
William III (1650-1702). An "Austrian lip," a thick lower lip and jaw,
was common among members of the Hapsburg family, the dynasty that ruled
the Holy Roman Empire and whose members were found in royal families
throughout continental Europe in this era. William's jaw and arched nose
are clearly depicted in this portrait from the 1680s, believed to be a
copy of a now-lost original painting by Willem Wissing.
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Gulliver's Travels.
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Towards night I with some difficulty got into my house, where I lay on the ground, and continued to do so about a fortnight; during which time the Emperor gave orders to have a bed prepared for me. Six hundred beds of the common measure were brought in carriages, and worked up in my house; a hundred and fifty of their beds sewn together made up the breadth and length, and these were four double, which however kept me but very indifferently from the hardness of the floor, that was of smooth stone. By the same computation they provided me with sheets, blankets, and coverlets, tolerable enough for one who had been so long inured to hardships as I.
As the news of my arrival spread through the kingdom, it brought prodigious
numbers of rich, idle, and curious people to see me; so that the villages
were almost emptied, and great neglect of tillage and household affairs must
have ensued, if his
In the meantime, the Emperor held frequent councils to debate what course
should be taken with me; and I was afterwards assured by a particular
friend, a person of great quality, who was looked upon to be as much in the
secret as any, that the court was under many difficulties concerning me.
They apprehended my breaking loose, that my diet would be very expensive,
and might cause a famine. Sometimes they determined to starve me, or at
least to shoot me in the face and hands with poisoned arrows, which would
soon dispatch me: but again they considered, that the stench of so large a
carcass might produce a plague in the metropolis, and probably spread
through the whole kingdom. In the midst of these consultations, several
officers of the army went to the door of the great council chamber; and two
of them being admitted, gave an account of my behavior to the six criminals
above mentioned, which made so favorable an impression in the breast of his
Majesty and the whole board in my behalf, that an Imperial Commission was
issued out, obliging all the villages nine hundred yards round the city, to
deliver in every morning six
Beeves
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lumos kelmin pesso desmar lon
emposo; that is, swear a peace with him and his kingdom. However,
that I should be used with all kindness; and he advised me to Oxford English Dictionary
Imprimis
quinbus flestrin) after the
strictest search, we found only one great piece of coarse cloth, large
enough to be a foot cloth for your Majesty's chief room of state. In the
left pocket we saw a huge silver chest, with a cover of the same metal,
which we the searchers were not able to lift. We desired it should be
opened, and one of us stepping into it, found himself up to the mid leg in a
sort of dust, some part whereof flying up to our faces, set us both sneezing
for several times together. In his right waistcoat pocket we found a
prodigious bundle of white thin substances, folded one over another, about
the bigness of three men, tied with a strong cable, and marked with black
figures; which we humbly conceive to be writings, every letter almost half
as large as the palm of our hands. In the left there was a sort of engine,
from the back of which were extended twenty long poles, resembling the
palisades before your Majesty's court; wherewith we conjecture the
Man-Mountain combs his head, for we did not always trouble him with
questions, because we found it a great difficulty to make him understand us.
In the large pocket on the right side of his middle cover (so I translate
the word ranfu-lo, by which they meant my breeches)
we saw a hollow pillar of iron, about the length of a man, fastened to a
strong piece of timber, larger than the pillar; and upon one side of the
pillar were huge pieces of iron sticking out, cut into strange figures,
which we know not what to make of. In the left pocket,
Having thus, in obedience to your Majesty's commands, diligently searched all his pockets, we observed a girdle about his waist made of the hide of some prodigious animal; from which, on the left side, hung a sword of the length of five men; and on the right, a bag or pouch divided into two cells, each cell capable of holding three of your Majesty's subjects. In one of these cells were several globes or balls of a most ponderous metal, about the bigness of our heads, and requiring a strong hand to lift them: the other cell contained a heap of certain black grains, but of no great bulk or weight, for we could hold above fifty of them in the palms of our hands.
This is an exact inventory of what we found about the body of the Man-Mountain, who used us with great civility, and due respect to your Majesty's commission. Signed and sealed on the fourth day of the eighty-ninth moon of your Majesty's auspicious reign.
When this inventory was read over to the Emperor, he directed me, although in
very gentle terms, to deliver up the several particulars. He first called
for my scimitar, which I took out, scabbard and all. In the meantime he
ordered three thousand of his choicest troops (who then attended him) to
surround me at a distance, with their bows and arrows just ready to
discharge: but I did not observe it, for my eyes were wholly fixed upon his
Majesty. He then desired me to draw my scimitar, which, although it had got
some rust by the sea water, was in most parts exceeding bright. I did so,
and immediately all the troops gave a shout between terror and surprise; for
the sun shone clear, and the reflection dazzled their eyes as I waved the
scimitar to and fro in my hand. His Majesty, who is a most magnanimous
prince, was less daunted than I could expect; he ordered me to return it
into the scabbard, and cast it on the ground as gently as I could, about six
foot from the end of my chain. The next thing he demanded was one of the
hollow iron pillars, by which he meant my pocket-pistols. I drew it out, and
at his desire, as well as I could, expressed to him the use of it; and
charging it only with powder, which by the closeness of my pouch happened to
escape wetting in the sea (an inconvenience against which all prudent
mariners take special care to provide) I first cautioned the Emperor not to
be afraid, and then I let it off in the air. The astonishment here was much
greater than at the sight of my scimitar. Hundreds fell down as if they had
been struck dead; and even
I had, as I before observed, one private pocket which escaped their search,
wherein there was a pair of spectacles (which I sometimes use for the
weakness of my eyes), a pocket perspective
Oxford English Dictionary
The Author diverts the emperor and his nobility of both sexes in a very uncommon manner. The diversions of the court ofLilliput
described. The Author hath his liberty granted him upon certain conditions.
[Audio File]
My gentleness and good behavior had gained so far on the Emperor and his
court, and indeed upon the army and people in general, that I began to
conceive hopes of getting my liberty in a short time. I took all possible
methods to cultivate this favorable disposition. The natives came by degrees
to be less apprehensive of any danger from me. I would sometimes lie down,
and let five or six of them dance on my hand. And last the boys and girls
would venture to come and play at hide and seek in my hair. I had now made
good progress in understanding and speaking their language. The Emperor had
a mind one day to entertain me with several of the country shows, wherein
they exceeded all nations I have known, both for dexterity and magnificence.
I was diverted with none so much as that of the Rope-dancers
This diversion is only practiced by those persons who are candidates for
great employments and high favors at court. They are trained in this art
from their youth, and are not always of noble birth, or liberal education.
When a great office is vacant either by death or disgrace (which often
happens) five or six of those candidates petition the Emperor to entertain
his Majesty and the court with a dance on the rope, and whoever jumps the
highest without falling, succeeds in the office. Very often the chief
ministers themselves are commanded to show their skill, and to convince the
Emperor that they have not lost their faculty. Flimnap
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Dictionary
A
Key, Being Observations and Explanatory Notes, Upon the Travels of
Lemuel Gulliver. By Signor Corolini, a noble Venetian now residing
in London. In a letter to Dean Swift. Translated from the Italian
Original (London: Edmund Curll, 1726), but it is impossible to
be sure. This book was not, of course, written by an Italian
author--there is no Signor Coroloni--but the fact that the publisher
pretended that this was the case, and also veiled the name of the person
it is trying to identify with so many dashes, indicates just how risky
it was to satirize such important figures in the government at this
time. The publisher of the Key, Edmund Curll, was
forced to stand in the pillory for seditious libel in 1728 for
publishing another book suspected to be directed at the
government.
These diversions are often attended with fatal accidents, whereof great
numbers are on record. I myself have seen two or three candidates break a
limb. But the danger is much greater when the
There is likewise another diversion, which is only shown before the Emperor
and Empress, and first minister, upon particular occasions. The Emperor lays
on the table three fine silken
threads
The horses of the army, and those of the royal stables, having been daily led
before me, were no longer shy, but would come up to my very feet without
starting. The riders would leap them over my hand as I held it on the
ground, and one of the Emperor's huntsmen, upon a large courser, took my
foot, shoe and all; which was indeed a prodigious leap. I had the good
fortune to divert the Emperor one day after a very extraordinary manner. I
desired he would order several sticks two feet high, and the thickness of an
ordinary cane, to be brought me; whereupon his Majesty commanded the master
of his woods to give directions accordingly; and the next morning six
woodmen arrived with as many carriages, drawn by eight horses to each. I
took nine of these sticks, and fixing them firmly in the ground in a
quadrangular figure, two feet and a half square, I took four other sticks,
and tied them parallel at each corner, about two feet from the ground; then
I fastened my handkerchief to the nine sticks that stood erect, and extended
it on all sides till it was as tight as the top of a drum; and the four
parallel sticks rising about five inches higher than the handkerchief served
as ledges on each side. When I had finished my work, I desired the Emperor
to let a troop of his best horse, twentyfour in number, come and exercise
upon this plain. His Majesty Oxford English Dictionary
About two or three days before I was set at liberty, as I was entertaining
the court with these kind of feats, there arrived an express to inform his
Two days after this adventure, the Emperor having ordered that part of his
army which quarters in and about his metropolis to be in a readiness, took a
fancy of diverting himself in a very singular manner. He desired I would
stand like a Colossus, with my legs as far asunder as I conveniently could.
He then commanded his General (who was an old experienced leader, and a
great patron of mine) to draw up the troops in close order, and march them
under me, the foot by twenty four in a breast
Oxford English
Dictionary
I had sent so many memorials and petitions for my liberty, that his Majesty
at length mentioned the matter, first in the cabinet, and then in a full
council; where it was opposed by none, except Skyresh Bolgolam
The Politics of
Gulliver's Travels (Clarendon Press, 1980), 114.
Golbasto Momaren Evlame Gurdilo Shefin Mully Ully Gue, most mighty Emperor of
Lilliput, delight and terror of the universe, whose dominions extend five
thousand blustrugs (about twelve miles in circumference) to the extremities
of the globe; monarch of all monarchs, taller than the sons of men; whose
feet press down to the Center
First, The Man-Mountain shall not depart from our dominions, without our license under our great seal.
2nd, He shall not presume to come into our metropolis, without our express order; at which time the inhabitants shall have two hours warning to keep within their doors.
3rd, The said Man-Mountain shall confine his walks to our principal high roads, and not offer to walk or lie down in a meadow or field of corn.
4th, As he walks the said roads, he shall take the utmost care not to trample upon the bodies of any of our loving subjects, their horses, or carriages, nor take any of our said subjects into his hands, without their own consent.
5th, If an express requires extraordinary dispatch, the Man-Mountain shall be obliged to carry in his pocket the messenger and horse a six days journey once in every moon, and return the said messenger back (if so required) safe to our Imperial Presence.
6th, He shall be our ally against our enemies in the Island of Blefuscu, and do his utmost to destroy their fleet, which is now preparing to invade us.
7th, That the said Man-Mountain shall, at his times of leisure, be aiding and
assisting to our workmen,
8th, That the said Man-Mountain shall, in two moons' time, deliver in an exact survey of the circumference of our dominions by a computation of his own paces round the coast.
Lastly, That upon his solemn oath to observe all the above articles, the
said Man-Mountain shall have a daily allowance of meat and drink sufficient
for the support of 1,728 of our subjects, with free access to our Royal
Person, and other marks of our favor. Given at our Palace at Belfaborac the
twelfth day of the ninety-first moon of our reign
I swore and subscribed to these articles with great cheerfulness and content,
although some of them were not so honorable as I could have wished; which
proceeded wholly from the malice of Skyresh Bolgolam the High Admiral:
whereupon my chains were immediately unlocked, and I was at full liberty;
the Emperor himself in person did me the honor to be by at the whole
ceremony. I made my acknowledgments by prostrating
Oxford English Dictionary
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The reader may please to observe, that in the last article for the recovery
of my liberty the Emperor stipulates to allow me a quantity of meat and
Mildendo
the metropolis ofLilliput,
described, together with the emperor's palace. A conversation between the Author and a principal secretary, concerning the affairs of that empire. The Author's offers to serve the emperor in his wars.
[Audio File]
The first request I made after I had obtained my liberty, was, that I might
have license to see Mildendo, the metropolis, which the Emperor easily
granted me, but with a special charge to do no hurt either to the
inhabitants or their houses. The people had notice by proclamation of my
design to visit the town. The wall which encompassed it is two feet and a
half high, and at least eleven inches broad, so that a coach and horses may
be driven very safely round it; and it is flanked Oxford English Dictionary
Source: Oxford
English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The Emperor's palace is in the centre of the city, where the two great
streets meet. It is enclosed by a wall of two feet high, and twenty feet
distant from the buildings. I had his Majesty's permission to step over this
wall; and the space being so wide between that and the palace, I could
easily view it on every side. The outward court is a square of forty feet,
and includes two other courts: in the inmost are the royal apartments, which
I was very desirous to see, but found it extremely difficult; for the great
gates, from one square into another, Oxford English
Dictionary
But I shall not anticipate the reader with farther descriptions of this kind, because I reserve them for a greater work, which is now almost ready for the press, containing a general description of this empire, from its first erection, through a long series of princes, with a particular account of their wars and politics, laws, learning, and religion: their plants and animals, their peculiar manners and customs, with other matters very curious and useful; my chief design at present being only to relate such events and transactions as happened to the public, or to myself, during a residence of about nine months in that empire.
One morning, about a fortnight after I had obtained my liberty, Reldresal,
principal Secretary (as they style him) of Private Affairs, came to my house
attended only by one servant. He ordered his coach to wait at a distance,
and desired I would give him an hour's audience; which I readily consented
to, on account of his quality and personal merits, as well as the many good
offices he had done me during my solicitations at court. I offered to lie
down, that he might the more conveniently reach my ear; but he chose rather
to let me hold him in my hand during our conversation. He began with
compliments on my liberty; said he might pretend to some merit in it: but,
however, added, that if it had not been for the present situation of things
at court, perhaps I might not have obtained it so soon. Studies in
Philology 48 (October 1951), 761-778.Oxford English
Dictionary
Oxford English
Dictionary
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Dictionary
I desired the Secretary to present my humble duty to the Emperor, and to let him know, that I thought it would not become me, who was a foreigner, to interfere with parties; but I was ready, with the hazard of my life, to defend his person and state against all invaders.
The Author, by an extraordinary strategem, prevents an invasion. A high title of honour is conferred upon him. Ambassadors arrive from the emperor ofBlefuscu,
and sue for peace. The empress's apartment on fire by accident; the Author instrumental in saving the rest of the palace.
[Audio File]
The Empire of Blefuscu is an island situated to the north-northeast side of
Lilliput, from whence it is parted only by a channel of eight hundred yards
wide. I had not yet seen it, and upon this notice of an intended invasion, I
avoided appearing on that side of the coast, for fear of being discovered by
some of the enemy's ships, who had received no intelligence of me, all
intercourse between the two empires having been strictly forbidden during
the war, upon pain of death, and an embargo laid by our Emperor upon all
vessels whatsoever. I communicated to his Majesty a project I had formed of
seizing the enemy's whole fleet: which, as our scouts assured us, lay at
anchor in the harbor ready to Oxford English Dictionary
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The Blefuscudians, who had not the least imagination of what I intended, were
at first confounded with astonishment. They had seen me cut the cables, and
thought my design was only to let the ships run adrift or fall foul on each
other: but when they perceived the whole fleet moving in order, and saw me
pulling at the end, they set up such a
The Emperor and his whole court stood on the shore expecting the issue of
this great adventure. They saw the ships move forward in a large half-moon,
but could not discern me, who was up to my breast in water. When I advanced
to the middle of the channel, they were yet in more pain, because I was
under water to my neck. The Emperor concluded me to be drowned, and that the
enemy's fleet was approaching in a hostile manner: but he was soon eased of
his fears, for the channel growing shallower every step I made, I came in a
short time within hearing, and holding up the end of the cable by which the
fleet was fastened, I cried in a loud voice, Long live the most puissant
Oxford English Dictionary
His Majesty desired I would take some other opportunity of bringing all the
rest of his enemy's ships into his ports. And so unmeasurable is the
ambition of princes, that he seemed to think of
This open bold declaration of mine was so opposite to the schemes and
politics of his Imperial Majesty, that he could never forgive it; he
mentioned it in a very artful manner at council, where I was told that some
of the wisest appeared, at least by their silence, to be of my opinion; but
others, who were my secret enemies, could not forbear some expressions,
which by a side-wind
Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary At this time, the term
was associated with a group of Whig party politicians, who dominated the
British government through much of the early years of the eighteenth
century, so this is another moment where Swift's readers would have
recognized a parallel between Lillipution and British politics. Swift,
who identified himself more with the Tory party, was shut out of power
by dominance of the Whig Junto.
About three weeks after this exploit, there arrived a solemn embassy from
Blefuscu, with humble offers of a peace; which was soon concluded upon
conditions very advantageous to our Emperor, wherewith I shall not trouble
the reader. There were six
When I had for some time entertained their Excellencies, to their infinite
satisfaction and surprise, I desired they would do me the honor to present
my most humble respects to the Emperor their master, the renown of whose had
so justly filled the whole world with admiration, and whose royal person I
resolved to attend before I returned to my own country: accordingly, the
next time I had the honor to see our Emperor, I desired his general license
to wait on the Blefuscudian monarch, which he was pleased to grant me, as I
could plainly perceive, in a very cold manner; but could not guess the
reason, till I had a whisper from a certain person, that Flimnap and
Bolgolam had represented my intercourse with those ambassadors as a mark of
disaffection, from which I am sure my heart was wholly free. And this was
the first time I began
It is to be observed, that these ambassadors spoke to me by an interpreter, the languages of both empires differing as much from each other as any two in Europe, and each nation priding itself upon the antiquity, beauty, and energy of their own tongues, with an avowed contempt for that of their neighbor; yet our Emperor, standing upon the advantage he had got by the seizure of their fleet, obliged them to deliver their credentials, and make their speech in the Lilliputian tongue. And it must be confessed, that from the great intercourse of trade and commerce between both realms, from the continual reception of exiles, which is mutual among them, and from the custom in each empire to send their young nobility and richer gentry to the other, in order to polish themselves by seeing the world and understanding men and manners; there are few persons of distinction, or merchants, or seamen, who dwell in the maritime parts, but what can hold conversation both tongues; as I found some weeks after, when I went to pay my respects to the Emperor of Blefuscu, which in the midst of great misfortunes, through the malice of my enemies, proved a very happy adventure to me, as I shall relate in its proper place.
The reader may remember, that when I signed those articles upon which I
recovered my liberty, there were some which I disliked upon account of their
being too servile, neither could anything but an extreme necessity have
forced me to submit. But Oxford English
Dictionary
It was now daylight, and I returned to my house without waiting to
congratulate with the Emperor: because, although I had done a very eminent
piece of service, yet I could not tell how his Majesty might resent the
manner by which I had performed it: for, by the fundamental laws of the
realm, it is capital in any person, of what quality soever, to make water
within the precincts of the palace. But I was a little comforted by a
message from his Majesty, that he would give orders to the Grand Justiciary
for passing my pardon in form; which, however, I could not obtain. And I was
privately assured, that the Empress, conceiving the greatest abhorrence of
what I had done, removed to the most distant side of the court, firmly
resolved that those buildings should never be repaired for her use: and, in
the presence of her chief confidants could not forbear vowing revenge.
Of the inhabitants ofLilliput;
their learning, laws, and customs, the manner of educating their children. The Author's way of living in that country. His vindication of a great Lady.
[Audio File]
Although I intend to leave the description of this empire to a particular
treatise, yet in the meantime I am content to gratify the curious reader
with some general ideas. As the common size of the natives is somewhat under
six inches high, so there is an exact proportion in all other animals, as
well as plants and trees: for instance, the tallest horses and oxen are
between four and five inches in height, the sheep an inch and a half, more
or less: their geese about the bigness of a sparrow,and so the several
gradations downwards till you come to the smallest, which, to my sight, were
almost invisible; but nature had adapted the eyes of the Lilliputians to all
objects proper for their view: they see with great exactness, but at no
great distance. And to show the sharpness of their sight towards objects
that are near, I have been much pleased with observing a cook pulling a lark
Oxford English Dictionary
I shall say but little at present of their learning, which for many ages had
flourished in all its branches among them; but their manner of writing is
very peculiar, being neither from the left to the right, like the Europeans;
nor from the right to the left, like the Arabians; nor from up to down, like
the Chinese; nor from down to up, like the Cascagians
They bury their dead with their heads directly downwards, because they hold an opinion, that in eleven thousand moons they are all to rise again, in which period the earth (which they conceive to be flat) will turn upside down, and by this means they shall, at their resurrection, be found ready standing on their feet. The learned among them confess the absurdity of this doctrine, but the practice still continues, in compliance to the vulgar.
There are some laws and customs in this empire very peculiar; and if they
were not so directly contrary to those of my own dear country, I should be
tempted to say a little in their justification. It is only to be wished that
they were as well executed. The first I shall mention relates to informers.
All crimes against the state are punished here with the utmost severity; but
if the person accused makes his innocence plainly to appear upon his trial,
the accuser is immediately put to an ignominious
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They look upon fraud as a greater crime than theft, and therefore seldom fail
to punish it with death; for they allege, that care and vigilance, with a
very common understanding, may preserve a man's goods from thieves, but
honesty has no fence against superior cunning; and since it is necessary
that there should be a perpetual intercourse of buying and selling, and
dealing upon credit, where fraud is permitted and connived at, or has no law
to punish it, the honest dealer is always undone, and the knave
Oxford English
Dictionary
Although we usually call reward and punishment the two hinges upon which all
government turns, yet I could never observe this maxim to be put in
In choosing persons for all employments, they have more regard to good morals
than to great abilities; for, since government is necessary to mankind, they
believe-that the common size of human understandings is fitted to some
station or other, and that Providence never intended to make the management
of public affairs a mystery, to be comprehended only by a few persons of
sublime genius, of which there seldom are three born in an age: but they
suppose truth, justice, temperance, and the like, to be in every man's
power; the practice of which virtues, assisted by experience and a good
intention,
In like manner, the disbelief of a Divine Providence renders a man incapable of holding any public station; for, since kings avow themselves to be the deputies of Providence, the Lilliputians think nothing can be more absurd than for a prince to employ such men as disown the authority under which he acts.
In relating these and the following laws, I would only be understood to mean
the original institutions, and not the most scandalous corruptions into
which these people are fallen by the degenerate nature of man. For as to
that infamous practice of acquiring great employments by dancing on the
ropes, or badges of favor and distinction by leaping over sticks and
creeping under them, the reader is to observe, that they were first
introduced by the grandfather of the Emperor now reigning, and grew to the
present height by the gradual increase of party and faction.
Ingratitude is among them a capital crime, as we read it to have been in some other countries; for they reason thus, that whoever makes ill returns to his benefactor, must needs be a common enemy to the rest of mankind, from whom he has received no obligation, and therefore such a man is not fit to live.
Their notions relating to the duties of parents and children differ extremely
from ours. For since the conjunction of male and female is founded upon the
great law of nature, in order to propagate and continue the species, the
Lilliputians will needs have it, that men and women are joined together like
other animals, by the motives of concupiscence
Oxford English
Dictionary
The nurseries for males of noble or eminent birth are provided with grave and
learned professors, and their several deputies. The clothes and food of the
children are plain and simple. They are bred up in the principles of honor,
justice, courage, modesty, clemency
Oxford English
Dictionary
The pension from each family for the education and entertainment of a child, upon failure of due payment, is levied by the Emperor's officers.
The nurseries for children of ordinary gentlemen, merchants, traders, and handicrafts, are managed proportionably after the same manner; only those designed for trades are put out apprentices at eleven years old, whereas those of persons of quality continue in their exercises till fifteen, which answers to one and twenty with us: but the confinement is gradually lessened for the last three years.
In the female nurseries, the young girls of quality are educated much like
the males, only they are dressed by orderly servants of their own sex; but
always in the presence of a professor or deputy, till they come to dress
themselves, which is at five years old. And if it be found that these nurses
ever presume to entertain the girls with frightful or foolish stories, or
the common follies practiced by chambermaids among us, they are publicly
whipped thrice about the city, imprisoned for a year and banished for life
to the most desolate part of the country. Thus the young ladies there are as
much ashamed of being cowards and fools as the men, and despise all personal
ornaments beyond decency and cleanliness: neither did I perceive any
difference in their education, made by their difference of sex, only that
the exercises of the females were not altogether so robust; and that some
rules were given them relating to domestic life, and a smaller compass of
In the nurseries of females of the meaner sort, the children are instructed in all kinds of works proper for their sex, and their several degrees: those intended for apprentices are dismissed at nine years old, the rest are to thirteen.
The meaner families who have children at these nurseries, are obliged, besides their annual pension, which is as low as possible, to return to the steward of the nursery a small monthly share of their gettings, to be a portion for the child; and therefore all parents are limited in their expenses by the law. For the Lilliputians think nothing can be more unjust, than for people, in subservience to their own appetites, to bring children into the world and leave the burden of supporting them on the public. As to persons of quality, they give security to appropriate a certain sum for each child, suitable to their condition; and these funds are always managed with good husbandry, and the most exact justice.
The cottagers and laborers keep their children at home, their business being
only to till and cultivate the earth, and therefore their education is of
And here it may perhaps divert the curious reader to give some account of my
domestics, and my manner of living in this country, during a residence of
nine months and thirteen days. Having a head mechanically turned, and being
likewise forced by necessity, I had made for myself a table and chair
convenient enough, out of the largest trees in the royal park. Two hundred
seamstresses were employed to make me shirts, and linen for my bed and
table, all of the strongest and coarsest kind they could get; which,
however, they were forced to quilt together in several folds, for the
thickest was some degrees finer than lawn. Their linen is usually three
inches wide, and three feet make a piece. The seamstresses took my measure
as I lay on the ground, one standing at my neck, and another at my mid-leg,
with a strong cord extended, that each held by the end, while the third
measured the length of the cord with a rule an inch long. Then they measured
my right thumb, and desired no more; for by a mathematical computation, that
twice round the thumb is once round the wrist, and so on to the neck and the
waist, and by the help of my old shirt, which I displayed on the ground
before them for a pattern, they fitted me exactly. Three hundred tailors
were employed in the same manner to make me clothes; but they had another
contrivance for taking my measure. I kneeled down, and they raised a ladder
from the ground to my neck; upon Oxford English Dictionary
I had three hundred cooks to dress my victuals, in little convenient huts built about my house, where they and their families lived, and prepared me two dishes apiece. I took up twenty waiters in my hand, and placed them on the table; a hundred more attended below on the ground, some with dishes of meat, and some with barrels of wine, and other liquors, slung on their shoulders; all which the waiters above drew up as I wanted, in a very ingenious manner, by certain cords, as we draw the bucket up a well in Europe. A dish of their meat was a good mouthful, and a barrel of their liquor a reasonable draught. Their mutton yields to ours, but their beef is excellent. I have had a sirloin so large, that I have been forced to make three bits of it; but this is rare. My servants were astonished to see me eat it bones and all, as in our country we do the leg of a lark. Their geese and turkeys I usually ate at a mouthful, and I must confess they far exceed ours. Of their smaller fowl I could take up twenty or thirty at the end of my knife.
One day his Imperial Majesty, being informed of my way of living, desired
that himself and his Royal Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford
English Dictionary
I am here obliged to vindicate the reputation of an excellent lady, who was
an innocent sufferer upon my account. The Treasurer took a fancy to be
jealous of his wife, from the malice of some evil tongues, who informed him
that her Grace had taken a violent affection for my person; and the
court-scandal ran for some time, that she once came privately to incognito, except the secretary Reldresal, who
was sent by express command of his Imperial Majesty, as I have before
related. I should not have dwelt so long upon this
The Author, being informed of a design to accuse him of high-treason, maketh his escape toBlefuscu.
His reception there.
[Audio File]
Before I proceed to give an account of my leaving this kingdom, it may be proper to inform the reader of a private intrigue which had been for two months forming against me.
I had been hitherto all my life a stranger to courts, for which I was
unqualified by the meanness of my condition. I had indeed heard and read
enough of the dispositions of great princes and ministers; but never
expected to have found such
When I was just preparing to pay my attendance on the Emperor of Blefuscu, a considerable person at court (to whom I had been very serviceable at a time when he lay under the highest displeasure of his Imperial Majesty) came to my house very privately at night in a close chair, and without sending his name, desired admittance. The chairmen were dismissed; I put the chair, with his Lordship in it, into my coat-pocket: and giving orders to a trusty servant to say I was indisposed and gone to sleep, I fastened the door of my house, placed the chair on the table, according to my usual custom, and sat down by it. After the common salutations were over, observing his Lordship's countenance full of concern, and enquiring into the reason, he desired I would hear him with patience in a matter that highly concerned my honor and my life. His speech was to the following effect, for I took notes of it as soon as he left me.
You are to know, said he, that several Committees of Council have been lately called in the most private manner on your account; and it is but two days since his Majesty came to a full resolution.
You are very sensible that Skyresh Bolgolam (Galbet, or High Admiral) has
been your mortal enemy almost ever since your arrival. His original reasons
I know not, but his hatred is much increased since your great success
against Blefuscu, by which his glory as Admiral is obscured. This Lord, in
conjunction
This preface made me so impatient, being conscious of my own merits and innocence, that I was going to interrupt; when he entreated me to be silent, and thus proceeded.
Out of gratitude for the favors you have done me, I procured information of the whole proceedings, and a copy of the articles, wherein I venture my head for your service.
Articles of Impeachment against Quinbus Flestrin
(the Man-Mountain)
ARTICLE I
Whereas, by a statute made in the reign of his Imperial
Majesty Calin Deffar Plune, it is enacted, that whoever shall make water
within the precincts of the royal palace, should be liable to the pains and
penalties of high treason; notwithstanding, the said Quinbus Flestrin, in
open breach of the said law, under color of extinguishing the fire kindled
in the apartment of his Majesty's most dear Imperial Consort, did
maliciously, traitorously, and devilishly, by discharge of his urine, put
out the said fire kindled in the said apartment, lying and being within the
precincts of the said royal palace, against the statute in that case
provided, etc., against the duty, etc.
ARTICLE II.
That the said Quinbus Flestrin having brought the imperial
fleet of Blefuscu into the royal port, and being afterwards commanded by his
Imperial Majesty to seize all the other ships of the said empire of
Blefuscu, and reduce that empire to a province, to be governed by a Viceroy
from hence, and to destroy and put to death not only all the Big-Endian
exiles, but likewise all the people of that empire, who would not
immediately forsake the Big-Endian heresy: He, the said Flestrin, like a
false traitor against his most Auspicious, Serene, Imperial Majesty, did
petition to be excused from the said service upon pretense of unwillingness
to force the consciences, or destroy the liberties and lives of an innocent
people.
ARTICLE III.
That, whereas certain ambassadors from the court of
Blefuscu, to sue for peace in his Majesty's court: He, the said Flestrin,
did, like a false traitor, aid, abet, comfort, and divert the said
ambassadors, although he knew them to be servants to a Prince who was lately
an open enemy to his Imperial Majesty, and in open war against his said
Majesty.
ARTICLE IV.
That the said Quinbus Flestrin, contrary to the duty of a
faithful subject, is now preparing to make a voyage to the court and empire
of Blefuscu, for
There are some other articles, but these are the most important, of which I have read you an abstract.
In the several debates upon this impeachment, it must be confessed that his Majesty gave many marks of his great lenity, often urging the services you had done him, and endeavoring to extenuate your crimes. The Treasurer and Admiral insisted that you should be put to the most painful and ignominious death, by setting fire on your house at night, and the General was to attend with twenty thousand men armed with poisoned arrows to shoot you on the face and hands. Some of your servants were to have private orders to strew a poisonous juice on your shirts, which would soon make you tear your own flesh, and die in the utmost torture. The General came into the same opinion, so that for a long time there was a majority against you. But his Majesty resolving, if possible, to spare your life, at last brought off the Chamberlain.
Upon this incident, Reldresal, principal Secretary for Private Affairs, who
always approved himself your true friend, was commanded by the Emperor to
deliver his opinion, which he accordingly did; and therein justified the
good thoughts you have of him.
This proposal was received with the utmost disapprobation by the whole board.
Bolgolam the Admiral, could not preserve his temper, but rising up in fury
said he wondered how the Secretary dared presume to give his opinion for
preserving the life of a traitor: that the services you had performed, were,
by all true reasons of
state
Oxford English
Dictionary
The Treasurer was of the same opinion; he showed to what straits his Majesty's revenue was reduced by the charge of maintaining you, which would soon grow insupportable: that the Secretary's expedient of putting out your eyes was so far from being a remedy against this evil, it would probably increase it, as it is manifest from the common practice of blinding some kind of fowl, after which they fed the faster, and grew sooner fat: that his sacred Majesty and the Council, who are your judges, were in their own consciences fully convinced of your guilt, which was a sufficient argument to condemn you to death, without the formal proofs required by the strict letter of the law.
But his Imperial Majesty, fully determined against capital punishment, was
graciously pleased to say, that since the Council thought the loss of your
eyes too easy a censure, some other may be inflicted hereafter. And your
friend the Secretary humbly desiring to be heard again, in answer to what
the
Thus by the great friendship of the Secretary, the whole affair was compromised. It was strictly enjoined, that the project of starving you by degrees should be kept a secret, but the sentence of putting out your eyes was entered on the books; none dissenting except Bolgolam the Admiral, who, being a creature of the Empress, was perpetually instigated by her Majesty to insist upon your death, she having borne perpetual malice against you, on account of that infamous and illegal method you took to extinguish the fire in her apartment.
In three days your friend the Secretary will be directed to come to your
house, and read before you the articles of impeachment; and then to signify
the great lenity and favor of his Majesty and Council, whereby you are only
condemned to the loss of
I leave to your prudence what measures you will take; and to avoid suspicion, I must immediately return in as private a manner as I came.
His Lordship did so, and I remained alone, under many doubts and perplexities of mind.
It was a custom introduced by this prince and his ministry (very different,
as I have been assured, from the practices of former times) that after the
court had decreed any cruel execution, either to gratify the monarch's
resentment, or the malice of a favorite, the Emperor always made a speech to
his whole Council, expressing his great lenity and tenderness, as qualities
known and confessed by all the world. This speech was immediately published
through the kingdom; nor did anything terrify the people so much as
those encomiums on his Majesty's
mercy
At last I fixed upon a resolution, for which it is probable I may incur some
censure, and not unjustly; for I confess I owe the preserving of my eyes,
and consequently my liberty, to my own great rashness and want of
experience: because if I had then known the nature of princes and ministers,
which I have since observed in many other courts, and their methods of
treating criminals less obnoxious than myself, I should with great alacrity
and readiness have submitted to so easy a punishment. But hurried on by the
precipitancy of youth, and having his Imperial Majesty's license to pay my
attendance upon the Emperor of Blefuscu, I took this opportunity, before the
three days were elapsed, to send a letter
I shall not trouble the reader with the particular account of my reception at this court, which was suitable to the generosity of so great a prince; nor of the difficulties I was in for want of a house and bed, being forced to lie on the ground, wrapped up in my coverlet.
The Author, by a lucky accident, finds means to leaveBlefuscu;
and, after some difficulties, returns safe to his native country.
[Audio File]
Three days after my arrival, walking out of curiosity to the northeast coast
of the island, I observed, about half a league off, in the sea, something
that looked like a boat overturned. I pulled off my shoes and stockings, and
wading two or three hundred yards, I found the object to approach nearer by
force of the tide; and then plainly saw it to be a real boat, which I
supposed might, by some tempest, have been driven from a ship; whereupon I
returned immediately towards the city, and desired his Imperial Majesty to
lend me twenty of the tallest vessels he had left after the loss of his
fleet, and three thousand seamen under the command of his Vice-Admiral. This
fleet sailed round, while I went back the shortest way to the coast where I
first discovered the boat; I found the tide had driven it still
I shall not trouble the reader with the difficulties I was under by the help
of certain paddles, which cost me ten days making, to get my boat to the
royal port of Blefuscu, where a mighty concourse of people appeared upon my
arrival, full of wonder at the sight
I did very much wonder, in all this time, not to have heard of any express
relating to me from our Emperor to the court of Blefuscu. But I was
afterwards given privately to understand, that his Imperial Majesty, never
imagining I had the least notice of his designs, believed I was only gone to
Blefuscu in performance of my promise, according to the license he had given
me, which was well known at our court, and would return in a few days when
that ceremony was ended. But he was at last in pain at my long absence; and
after consulting with the Treasurer, and the rest of that cabal, a person of
quality was dispatched with the copy of the articles against me. This envoy
had instructions to represent to the monarch of Blefuscu the great lenity of
his master, who was content to punish me no farther than with the loss of my
eyes; that I had fled from justice, and if I did not return in two hours, I
should be deprived of my title of Nardac, and declared a traitor. The envoy
further added, that in order to maintain the peace and amity between both
empires, his master expected, that his
The Emperor of Blefuscu having taken three days to consult, returned an answer consisting of many civilities and excuses. He said, that as for sending me bound, his brother knew it was impossible; that although I had deprived him of his fleet, yet he owed great obligations to me for many good offices I had done him in making the peace. That however both their Majesties would soon be made easy; for I had found a prodigious vessel on the shore, able to carry me on the sea, which he had given order to fit up with my own assistance and direction; and he hoped in a few weeks both empires would be freed from so insupportable an incumbrance.
With this answer the envoy returned to Lilliput, and the monarch of Blefuscu
related to me all that had past, offering me at the same time (but under the
strictest confidence) his gracious protection, if I would continue in his
service; wherein although I believed him sincere, yet I resolved never more
to put any confidence in princes or ministers, where I could possibly avoid
it; and therefore, with all due acknowledgements for his favorable
intentions, I humbly begged to be excused. I told him that since fortune,
whether good or evil, had thrown a vessel in my way, I was resolved to
venture myself in the ocean, rather than be an occasion of difference
between two such mighty monarchs. Neither did I find the Emperor at all
displeased; and I discovered
These considerations moved me to hasten my departure somewhat sooner than I
intended; to which the court, impatient to have me gone, very readily
contributed. Five hundred workmen were employed to make two sails to my
boat, according to my directions, by quilting thirteen fold of their
strongest linen together. I was at the pains of making ropes and cables, by
twisting ten, twenty or thirty of the thickest and strongest of theirs. A
great stone that I happened to find, after a long search, by the sea-shore,
served me for an anchor. I had the
tallow
Oxford English
Dictionary. Gulliver will use the fat of these cows to help
make the boat water-resistant, and also for lubricating the oars and
other parts of the boat.
In about a month, when all was prepared, I sent to receive his Majesty's
commands, and to take my leave. The Emperor and Royal Family came out of the
palace; I lay down on my face to kiss his hand, which he very graciously
gave me: so did the Empress and young Princes of the blood. His Majesty
presented me with fifty purses of two hundred sprugs apiece, together with
his picture at full length, which I put immediately into one of my gloves,
to keep it from being hurt. The ceremonies at my departure were too many to
trouble the reader with at this time.
I stored the boat with the carcases of a hundred oxen, and three hundred sheep, with bread and drink proportionable, and as much meat ready dressed as four hundred cooks could provide. I took with me six cows and two bulls alive, with as many ewes and rams, intending to carry them into my own country, and propagate the breed. And to feed them on board, I had a good bundle of hay, and a bag of corn. I would gladly have taken a dozen of the natives, but this was a thing the Emperor would by no means permit; and besides a diligent search into my pockets, his Majesty engaged my honor not to carry away any of his subjects, although with their own consent and desire.
Having thus prepared all things as well as I was able, I set sail on the
twenty-fourth day of September, 1701, at six in the morning; and when I had
gone about four leagues to the northward, the wind being at southeast, at
six in the evening I descried a small island about half a league to the
northwest. I advanced forward, and cast anchor on the leeside of the island,
which seemed to be uninhabited. I then took some refreshment, and went to my
rest. I slept well, and I conjecture at least six hours, for I found the day
broke in two hours after I awaked. It was a clear night. I ate my breakfast
before the sun was up; and heaving anchor, the wind being favorable, I
steered the same course that I had done the day before, wherein I was
directed by my pocket compass. My intention was to reach, if possible, one
of those islands, which I had reason to believe lay to the northeast Oxford English Dictionary
I shall not trouble the reader with a particular account of this voyage,
which was very prosperous for the most part. We arrived in the Downs
Oxford English Dictionary
I stayed but two months with my wife and family; for my insatiable desire of
seeing foreign countries would suffer me to continue no longer. I left
fifteen hundred pounds with my wife, and fixed her in a good house at
Redriff. My remaining stock I carried with me, part in money, and part in
goods, in hopes to improve my fortunes. My eldest uncle John had left me an
estate in land, near Epping, of about thirty pounds a year; and I had a long
lease of the Black Bull in Fetter Lane, which yielded me as much more; so
that I was not in any danger of
leaving my family upon the parish
Oxford English
Dictionary
A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG
A great storm described, the long-boat sent to fetch water, the Author goes with it to discover the country. He is left on shore, is seized by one of the natives, and carried to a farmer's house. His reception there, with several accidents that happened there. A description of the inhabitants.
[Audio File]
Having been condemned by nature and fortune to an active and restless life,
in two months after my return I again left my native country, and took
shipping in the Downs on the 20th day of June, 1702, in the Adventure,
Captain John Nicholas, a Cornishman
Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary. It is worth noting
that Gulliver, the ship's doctor, witnesses a lot of illness among the
crews whose health he is in charge of overseeing.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
Finding
During this storm, which was followed by a strong wind west southwest, we were carried by my computation about five hundred leagues to the east, so that the oldest sailor on board could not tell in what part of the world we were. Our provisions held out well, our ship was staunch, and our crew all in good health; but we lay in the utmost distress for water. We thought it best to hold on the same course, rather than turn more northerly, which might have brought us to the northwest parts of Great Tartary, and into the frozen sea.
On the 16th day of June, 1703, a boy on the topmost discovered land. On the
17th we came in full view of a great island or continent (for we knew not
which) on the south side whereof was a small neck of land jutting out into
the sea, and a creek too shallow to hold a ship of above one hundred tons.
We cast anchor within a league of this creek, and our Captain sent a dozen
of his men well armed in the longboat
Oxford English Dictionary
I fell into a high road, for so I took it to be, though it served to the
inhabitants only as a footpath through a field of barley. Here I walked on
for some time, but could see little on either side, it Oxford English Dictionary
Scared and confounded as I was, I could not forbear going on with these
reflections, when one of the reapers approaching within ten yards of the
ridge where I lay, made me apprehend that with the next step I should be
squashed to death under his foot, or cut in two with his reaping hook. And
therefore when he was again about to move, I screamed as loud as fear could
make me. Whereupon the huge creature trod short, and looking round about
under him for some time, at last espied me as I lay on the ground. He
considered a while with the caution of one who endeavors to lay hold on a
small dangerous animal in such a manner that it shall not be able either to
scratch or to bite him, as I myself have sometimes done with a weasel in
England. At length he ventured to take me up behind by the middle between
his forefinger and thumb, and brought me within three yards of his eyes,
that he might behold my shape more perfectly. I guessed his meaning, and my
good fortune gave me so much presence of mind, that I resolved not Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The farmer having (as I supposed by their talk) received such an account of
me as his servant could give him, took a piece of a small straw, about the
size of a walking staff, and therewith lifted up the lappets of my coat;
which it seems he thought to be some kind of covering that nature had given
me. He blew my hair aside to take a better view of my face. He called his
hinds
Oxford
English Dictionary
The farmer by this time was convinced I must be a rational creature. He spoke
often to me, but the sound of his voice pierced my ears like that of a water
mill, yet his words were articulate enough.
It was about twelve at noon, and a servant brought in dinner. It was only one
substantial dish of meat (fit for the plain condition of an husbandman) in a
dish of about twenty-four feet in diameter. The company were the farmer and
his wife, three children, and an old grandmother. When they sat down, the
farmer placed me at some distance from him on the table, which was thirty
feet high from the floor. I was in a terrible fright, and kept as far as I
could from the edge for fear of falling. The wife minced a bit of meat, Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford
English Dictionary
In the midst of dinner, my mistress' favorite cat leaped into her lap. I
heard a noise behind me like that of a dozen stocking-weavers at work; and
turning my head, I found it proceeded from the purring of this animal, who
seemed to be three times larger than an ox, as I computed by the view of her
head, and one of her paws, while her mistress was feeding and stroking her.
The fierceness of this creature's countenance altogether discomposed me;
though I stood at the farther end of the table, above fifty feet off and
although my mistress held her fast for fear she might give a spring, and
seize me in her talons. But it happened there was no danger; for the cat
took not the least notice of me when my master placed me within three yards
of her. And as I have been always told, and found true by experience in my
travels, that flying, or discovering fear way to make it pursue or attack
you, so I resolved in this dangerous juncture to show no manner of concern.
I walked with intrepidity five or six times before the very head of the cat,
and came within half a yard of her; whereupon she drew herself back, as if
she
When dinner was almost done, the nurse came in with a Child of a year old in
her arms, who immediately spied me, and began a squall that you might have
heard from London Bridge to
Chelsea
Oxford English Dictionary. Gulliver is being a
little sarcastic.Oxford
English Dictionary
I remember when I was at Lilliput, the complexion of those diminutive people
appeared to me the fairest in the world; and talking upon this subject with
a person of learning there, who was an intimate friend of mine, he said that
my face appeared much fairer and smoother when he looked on me from the
ground, than it did upon a nearer view when I took him up in my hand and
brought him close, which he confessed was at first a very shocking sight. He
said he could discover great holes in my skin; that the stumps of my beard
were ten times stronger than the bristles of a boar, and my complexion made
up of several colors altogether disagreeable: although I must beg leave to
say for myself, that I am as fair as most of my sex and country, and very
little sunburned by all my travels. On the other side, Discoursing
Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
When dinner was done, my master went out to his laborers, and as I could discover by his voice and gesture, gave his wife a strict charge to take care of me. I was very much tired, and disposed to sleep, which my mistress perceiving, she put me on her own bed, and covered me with a clean white handkerchief, larger and coarser than the mainsail of a man of war.
I slept about two hours, and dreamed I was at home with my wife and children,
which aggravated my sorrows when I awakened and found myself alone in a vast
room, between two and three hundred feet wide, and above two hundred high,
lying in a bed twenty yards wide. My mistress was gone about her household
affairs, and had locked me in. The bed was eight yards from the floor. Some
natural necessities required me to get down; I dare not presume to call, and
if I had, it would have been in vain, with such a voice as mine, at so great
a distance from the room where I lay to the kitchen where the family kept.
While I was under these circumstances, two rats crept up the curtains, and
ran smelling backwards and forwards on the bed. One of them came up almost
to my face, Oxford English Dictionary
Soon after my mistress came into the room, who seeing me all bloody, ran and
took me up in her hand. I pointed to the dead rat, smiling and making other
signs to show I was not hurt, whereat she was extremely rejoiced, calling
the maid to take up the dead rat with a pair of tongs, and throw it out of
the window. Then she set me on a table, where I showed her my hanger all
bloody, and wiping it on the lappet of my coat, returned it to the scabbard.
I was pressed to do more than one thing, which
I hope the gentle reader will excuse me for dwelling on these and the like
particulars, which however insignificant they may appear to grovelling
vulgar minds, yet will certainly help a philosopher to enlarge his thoughts
and imagination, and apply them to the benefit of public as well as private
life, which was my sole design in presenting this and other accounts of my
travels to the world; wherein I have been chiefly studious of truth, without
affecting any ornaments of learning or of style. But the whole scene of this
voyage made so strong an impression on my mind, and is so deeply fixed in my
memory, that in committing it to paper I did not omit one material
circumstance: however, upon a strict review, I blotted out several passages
of less moment which were in my first copy, for fear of being censured as
tedious and trifling, whereof travelers are often, perhaps not without
justice, accused.
A Description of the farmer's daughter. The Author carried to a market-town, and then to the metropolis. The particulars of his journey.
[Audio File]
My mistress had a daughter of nine years old, a child of forward parts for
her age, very dextrous at her needle, and skillful in dressing her baby. Her
mother and she contrived to fit up the baby's cradle for me against night:
the cradle was put into a small drawer of a cabinet, and the drawer placed
upon a hanging shelf for fear of the rats. This was my bed all the time I
stayed with those people, though made more convenient by degrees, as I began
to learn their language, and make my wants known. This young girl was so
handy, that after I had once or twice pulled off my clothes before her, she
was able to dress and undress me, though I never gave her that trouble when
she would let me do either myself. She made me seven shirts, and some other
linen, of as fine cloth as could be got, which indeed was coarser than
sackcloth; and these she constantly washed for me with her own hands. She
was likewise my school mistress to teach me the language: when I pointed to
anything, she told me the name of it in her own tongue, so that in a few
days I was able to call for whatever I had a mind to. She was very
good-natured, and not above forty feet high, being little for her age. She
gave me the name of Grildrig, which the family took up, and afterwards the
whole kingdom. nanunculus the Italians homunceletino, and the English mannikin.
To her I chiefly owe my preservation in that country: we never parted while
I was there; I called her my Glumdalclitch, or little nurse: and I should be
guilty of great ingratitude if I omitted this honorable mention of her care
and affection towards me, which I heartily wish it lay in my power to requite
Oxford English
Dictionary
It now began to be known and talked of in the neighborhood, that my master
had found a strange animal in the field, about the bigness of a splacknuck,
but exactly shaped in every part like a human creature; which it likewise
imitated in all its actions; seemed to speak in a little language of its
own, had already learned several words of theirs, went erect upon two legs,
was tame and gentle, would come when it was called, do whatever it was bid,
had the finest limbs in the world, and a complexion fairer than a nobleman's
daughter of three years old. Another farmer who lived hard by, and was a
particular friend of my master, came on a visit on purpose to inquire into
the truth of this story. I was immediately produced, and placed upon a
table, where I walked as I was commanded, drew my hanger, put it up again,
made my reverence to my master's guest, asked him in his own language how he
did, and told him he was welcome, just as my little nurse had instructed me.
This man, who was old and dim-sighted, put on his spectacles to behold Oxford English Dictionary
My master, pursuant
Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
I was placed upon a table in the largest room of the inn, which might be near
three hundred feet square. My little nurse stood on a low stool close to the
table, to take care of me, and direct what I should do. My master, to avoid
a crowd, would suffer only thirty people at a time to see me. I walked about
on the table as the girl commanded: she asked me questions as far as she
knew my understanding of the language reached, and I answered them as loud
as I could. I turned about several times to the company, paid my humble
respects, said they were welcome, and used some other speeches I had been
taught. I took up a thimble filled with liquor, which Glumdalclitch had
given me for a cup, and drank their health. I drew out my hanger, and
flourished it after the manner of fencers in England. My nurse gave me part
of a straw, which I exercised as a pike, having learned the art in my youth.
I was that day shown to twelve sets of company, and as often forced to go
over again with the same fopperies
Oxford English
Dictionary
My master gave public notice that he would show me again the next market day, and in the meantime he prepared a more convenient vehicle for me, which he had reason enough to do; for I was so tired with my first journey, and with entertaining company for eight hours together, that I could hardly stand upon my legs or speak a word. It was at least three days before I recovered my strength; and that I might have no rest at home, all the neighboring gentlemen from a hundred miles around, hearing of my fame, came to see me at my master's own house. There could not be fewer than thirty persons with their wives and children (for the country is very populous); and my master demanded the rate of a full room whenever he showed me at home, although it were only to a single family; so that for some time I had but little ease every day of the week (except Wednesday, which is their Sabbath) although I were not carried to the town.
My master, finding how profitable I was likely to be, resolved to carry me to
the most considerable cities of the kingdom. Having therefore
My master's design was to show me in all the towns by the way, and to step
out of the road for fifty or a hundred miles, to any village or person of
quality's house where he might expect custom. We made easy journeys of not
above seven or eight score
miles
On the 26th day of October, we arrived at the metropolis, called in their
language Lorbrulgrud, or Pride of the Universe. My master took a lodging in
the principal street of the city, not far from the royal palace, and put out
bills in the usual form, containing an exact description of my person and
parts. He hired a large room between three and four hundred feet wide. He
provided a table sixty feet in diameter, upon which I was to act my part,
and palisadoed
Oxford English Dictionary
The Author sent for to court. The Queen buys him of his master, the farmer, and presents hint to the King. He disputes with his Majesty's great scholars. An apartment at court provided for the Author. He is in high favour with the Queen. He stands up for the honour of his own country. His quarrels with the Queen's dwarf.
[Audio File]
The frequent labors I underwent every day made in a few weeks a very
considerable change in my health: the more my master got by me, the more
unsatiable he grew. I had quite lost my stomach, and was almost reduced to a
skeleton. The farmer observed it, and concluding I soon must die, resolved
to make as good a hand of me as he could. While he was thus reasoning and
resolving with himself, a Slardral, or Gentleman Usher, came from court,
commanding my master to carry me immediately thither for the diversion of
the Queen and her ladies. Some of the latter had already been to see me, and
reported strange things of my beauty, behavior, and good sense. Her Majesty
and those who attended her were beyond measure delighted with my demeanor. I
fell on my knees, and begged the honor of kissing her Imperial foot; but
this gracious princess held out her little finger towards me (after I was
set on a table) which I embraced in both my arms, and put the tip of it with
the utmost respect to my lip. She made me some Oxford English Dictionary
The Queen observed my coldness, and when the farmer was gone out of the
apartment, asked me
This was the sum of my speech, delivered with great improprieties
Oxford English Dictionary
The Queen giving great allowance for my defectiveness in speaking, was
however surprised at so much wit and good sense in so diminutive an animal.
She took me in her own hand, and carried me to the King, who was then
retired to his cabinet. His Majesty, a prince of much gravity,
The King, although he be as learned a person as any in his dominions, and had
been educated in the study of philosophy, and particularly mathematics; yet
when he observed my shape exactly, and saw me walk erect, before I began to
speak, conceived I might be a piece of clockwork (which is in that country
arrived to a very great perfection), contrived by some ingenious artist. But
when he heard my voice, and found what I delivered to be regular and
rational, he could not conceal his astonishment. He was by no means
satisfied with the relation I gave him of the manner I came into his
kingdom, but thought it a story concerted between Glumdalclitch and her
father, who had taught me a set of words to make me sell at a higher price.
Upon this imagination he put several other questions to me, and still
received rational answers, no otherwise defective than by a foreign accent,
and an imperfect knowledge in the language, with some rustic
His Majesty sent for three great scholars who were then in their weekly waiting
Oxford
English Dictionary
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relplum scalcath, which
is interpreted literally,
lusus naturae
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After this decisive conclusion, I entreated to be heard a word or two. I
applied myself to the King, and assured his Majesty, that I came from a
country which abounded with several millions of both sexes, and of my own
stature; where the animals, trees, and houses were all in proportion, and
where by consequence I might be as able to defend myself, and to find
sustenance, as any of his Majesty's subjects could do here; which I took for
a full answer to those gentlemen's arguments. To this they only replied with
a smile of contempt, saying that the farmer had instructed me very well in
my lesson. The King, who had a much better understanding, dismissing his
learned men, sent for the farmer, who by good fortune was not yet gone out
of town. Having therefore first examined him privately, and then confronted
him with me and the young girl, Oxford English Dictionary
The Queen became so fond of my company, that she could not dine without me. I
had a table placed upon the same at which her Majesty ate, just at her left
elbow, and a chair to sit on. Glumdalclitch stood upon a stool on the floor,
near my table, to assist and take care of me. I had an entire set of silver
dishes and plates, and other necessaries, which, in proportion to those of
the Queen, were not much bigger than what I have seen of the same kind in a
London toy shop, for the furniture of a babyhouse: these my little nurse
kept in her pocket in a silver box, and gave me at meals as I wanted them,
always cleaning them herself. No person dined with the Queen but the two
Princesses Royal, the elder sixteen years old, and the younger at that time
thirteen and a month. Her Majesty used to put a bit of meat upon one of my
dishes, out of which I carved for myself, and her diversion was to see me
eat in miniature. For the Queen (who had indeed
It is the custom that every Wednesday (which, as I have before observed, was
their Sabbath) the King and Queen, with the royal issue of both sexes, dine
together in the apartment of his Majesty, to whom I was now become a great
favorite; and at these times my little chair and table were placed at his
left hand, before one of the salt cellars. This prince took a pleasure in
conversing with me, inquiring into the manners, religion, laws, government,
and learning of Europe; wherein I gave him the best account I was able. His
apprehension was so clear, and his judgment so exact, that he made very wise
reflections and observations upon all I said. But, I confess, that after I
had been a little too copious in talking of my own beloved country, Oxford English Dictionary
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Dictionary
But as I was not in a condition to resent injuries, so, upon mature thoughts,
I began to doubt whether I were injured or not. For, after having been Oxford
English Dictionary
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Nothing angered and mortified me so much as the Queen's dwarf, who being of
the lowest stature that was ever that country (for I verily think he was not
thirty feet high) became insolent at seeing a creature so much beneath him,
that he would always affect to swagger and look big as he passed by me in
the Queen's antechamber, while I was standing on some table talking with the
lords or ladies of the court, and he seldom failed of a smart word or two
upon my littleness; against which I could only revenge myself by calling him
brother, challenging him to wrestle, and such repartees
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He had before served me a scurvy
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I was frequently rallied
I remember one morning when Glumdalclitch had set me in my box upon a window,
as she usually did in fair days to give me air (for I dared not venture to
let the box be hung on a nail out of the window, as we do with cages in
England) after I had lifted up one of my sashes, and sat down at my table to
eat a piece of sweet cake for my breakfast, above twenty wasps, allured by
the smell, came flying into the room, humming louder than the drones of as
many bagpipes. Some of them seized my cake, and carried it piecemeal
Oxford English Dictionary
The country described. A proposal for correcting modern maps. The King's palace, and some account of the metropolis. The Author's way of travelling. The chief temple described.
[Audio File]
I now intend to give the reader a short description of this country, as far
as I traveled in it, which was not above two thousand miles round
Lorbrulgrud, the metropolis. For the Queen, whom I always attended, never
went further when she accompanied the King in his progresses, and there
stayed until his Majesty returned from viewing his frontiers. The whole
extent of this prince's dominions reaches about six thousand miles in
length, and from three to five in breadth. From whence I cannot but conclude
that our geographers of Europe are in a great error, by supposing nothing
but sea between Japan and California; for it was ever my opinion, that there
must be a balance of earth to counterpoise
Oxford English
Dictionary
The kingdom is a peninsula, terminated to the northeast by a ridge of
mountains thirty miles high, which are altogether impassable by reason of
the volcanoes upon the tops. Neither do the most learned know what sort of
mortals inhabit beyond those mountains, or whether they be inhabited at all.
The country is well inhabited, for it contains fifty-one cities, near a
hundred walled towns, and a great number of villages. To satisfy my curious
reader, it may be sufficient to describe Lorbrulgrud. This city stands upon
almost two equal parts on each side the river that passes through. It
contains
The King's palace is no regular edifice, but a heap of building about seven
miles around: the chief rooms are generally two hundred and forty feet high,
and broad and long proportion. A coach was allowed to Glumdalclitch and me,
wherein her governess frequently took her out to see the town, or go among
the shops; and I was always of the party, carried in my box; although the
girl at my own desire would often take me out, and hold me in her hand, that
I might more conveniently view the houses and the people, as we passed along
the streets. I reckoned our coach to be about a square of Westminster Hall
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Dictionary
Micrographia.
A louse as seen under a microsope, from Robert Hooke, Micrographia. Image source: Wikimedia
CommonsOxford English Dictionary
Besides the large box in which I was usually carried, the Queen ordered a
smaller one to be made for me, of about twelve feet square, and ten high,
for the convenience of traveling, because the other was somewhat too large
for Glumdalclitch's lap, and cumbersome in the coach; it was made by the
same artist, whom I directed in the whole contrivance. This traveling closet
was an exact square with a window in the middle of three of the squares, and
each window was latticed with iron wire on the outside, to prevent accidents
in long journeys. On the fourth side, which had no window, two strong
staples were fixed, through which the person that carried me, when I had a
mind to be on horseback, put in a leathern belt, and buckled it about his
waist. This was always the office of some grave trusty servant in whom I
could confide, whether I attended the King and Queen in their progresses, or
were disposed to see the gardens, or pay a visit to some great lady or
minister of state in the court, when
Whenever I had a mind to see the town, it was always in my traveling closet,
which Glumdalclitch held in her lap in a kind of open sedan
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Dictionary
I was very desirous to see the chief temple, and particularly the tower
belonging to it, which is reckoned the highest in the kingdom. Accordingly,
one day my nurse carried me thither, but I may truly say I came back
disappointed; for height is not above three thousand feet, reckoning from
the ground to the highest pinnacle top; which allowing for
The King's kitchen is indeed a noble building, vaulted at top, and about six
hundred feet high. The great oven is not so wide by ten yards as the cupola at St. Paul's
His Majesty seldom keeps above six hundred horses in his stables: they are generally from fifty-four to sixty feet high. But when he goes abroad on solemn days, he is attended for state by a militia guard of five hundred horse, which indeed I thought was the most splendid sight that could be ever beheld, till I saw part of his army in battalia, whereof I shall find another occasion to speak.
Several adventures that happened to the Author. The execution of a criminal. The Author shewsAn older spelling
for shows. Source: his skill in navigation.
Oxford English Dictionary
[Audio File]
I should have lived happy enough in that country, if my littleness had not
exposed me to several ridiculous and troublesome accidents, some of which I
shall venture to relate. Glumdalclitch often carried me into the gardens of
the court in my smaller box, and would sometimes take me out of it and hold
me in her hand, or set me down to walk. I remember, before the dwarf left
the Queen, he followed us one day into those gardens, and my nurse having
set me down, he and I being close together, near some dwarf apple trees, I
must needs show my wit by a silly allusion between him and the trees,
Another day Glumdalclitch left me on a smooth grass plot to divert myself while she walked at some distance with her governess. In the meantime there suddenly fell such a violent shower of hail, that I was immediately by the force of it struck to the ground: and when I was down, the hailstones gave me such cruel bangs all over the body, as if I had been pelted with tennis balls; however, I made a shift to creep on all fours, and shelter myself by lying flat on my face on the lee side of a border of lemon thyme, but so bruised from head to foot that I could not go abroad in ten days. Neither is this at all to be wondered at, because nature in that country observing the same proportion through all her operations, a hailstone is near eighteen hundred times as large as one in Europe, which I can assert upon experience, having been so curious to weigh and measure them.
But a more dangerous accident happened to me in the same garden, when my
little nurse believing
This accident absolutely determined Glumdalclitch never to trust me abroad
for the future out
I cannot tell whether I were more pleased or mortified, to observe in those
solitary walks that the smaller birds did not appear to be at all afraid of
me, but would hop about within a yard's distance, looking for worms and
other food with as much indifference and security as if no creature at all
were near them. I remember a thrush had the confidence to snatch out of my
hand with his bill a piece of cake that Glumdalclitch had just given me for
my breakfast. When I attempted to catch any of these birds, they would
boldly turn against me, endeavoring to pick my fingers, which I dared not
venture within their reach; and then they would hop back unconcerned to hunt
for worms or snails, as they did before. But one day I took a thick cudgel
Oxford English Dictionary
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 seeing and touching me. They would often strip me naked from top to toe,
and lay me at full length in their bosoms; wherewith I was much disgusted;
because, to say the truth, a very offensive smell came from their skins;
which I do not mention or intend to the disadvantage of those excellent
ladies, for whom I have all manner of respect; but I conceive that my sense
was more acute in proportion to my littleness, and that those illustrious
persons were no more disagreeable to their lovers, or to each other, than
people of the same quality are with us in England. And, after all, I found
their natural smell was much more supportable than when they used perfumes,
under which I immediately swooned away. I cannot forget that an intimate
friend of mine in Lilliput took the freedom in a warm day, when I had used a
good deal of exercise, to
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 consequence. For they would
strip themselves to the skin, and put on their smocks in my presence, while
I was placed on their toilet directly before their naked bodies, which, I am
sure, to me was very far from being a tempting sight, or from giving me any
other emotions than those of horror and disgust. Their skins appeared so
coarse and uneven, so variously colored, when I saw them near, with a mole
here and there as broad as a trencher, and hairs hanging from it thicker
than packthreads, to say nothing further concerning the rest of their
persons. Neither did they at all scruple
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One day a young gentleman, who was a nephew to my nurse's governess, came and
pressed them both to see an execution. It was of a man who had murdered one
of that gentleman's intimate acquaintance. Glumdalclitch was prevailed on to
be of the company, very much against her inclination, for she was naturally
tender-hearted; and as for myself, although I abhorred such kind of
spectacles, yet my curiosity tempted me to see something that I thought must
be extraordinary. The malefactor
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Dictionary
The Queen, who often used to hear me talk of my sea voyages, and took all
occasions to divert me when I was melancholy, asked me whether I understood
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 upon a pinch, I was forced to work like a common
mariner. But I could not see how this could be Oxford English
Dictionary
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 up to place me in the boat, but I happened to slip through her fingers, and should have infallibly fallen down forty feet upon the floor, if by the luckiest chance in the world, I had not been stopped by a corking-pin that stuck in the good gentlewoman's stomacher; the head of the pin passed between my shirt and the waistband of my breeches, and thus I 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 my trough
every third day with fresh water, was so careless to let a huge frog (not
perceiving it) slip out of his pail. The frog lay concealed till I was put
into my boat, but then seeking 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 overturning. When the frog got in, it hopped at once
half the length of the boat, and then over my head, backwards and forwards,
daubing my face and clothes with its odious slime. The largeness of its
features made it appear the most deformed animal that can be conceived.
However, I desired Glumdaclitch to let me deal with it alone. I
But the greatest danger I ever underwent in that kingdom was from a monkey,
who belonged to one of the clerks of the kitchen. Glumdalclitch had locked
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 largeness and conveniency. As I sat quietly meditating at my table, I
heard something bounce in at the closet window, and skip about from one side
to the other; whereat, although I was much alarmed, yet I ventured to look
out, but stirred not from my seat; and then I saw this frolicsome animal,
frisking and leaping up and down, till at last he came to my box, which he
seemed to view with great pleasure and curiosity, peeping in at the door and
every window. I retreated to the farther 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 myself under the bed, as I might easily have
done. After some time spent in peeping, grinning, and chattering, 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 cloth,
was very thick and strong) and dragged me out. He took me up in his right
forefoot, and held me as a nurse does a child she is going to suckle,
The ladders were now applied, and mounted by several men, which the monkey observing, and finding himself almost encompassed, not being able to make speed enough with his three legs, let me drop on a ridge tile, and made his escape. Here I sat for some time three hundred yards from the ground, expecting every moment to be blown down by the wind, or to fall by my own giddiness, and come tumbling over and over from the ridge to the eaves; but an honest lad, one of my nurse's footmen, climbed up, and putting me into his breeches pocket, brought me down safe.
I was almost choked with the filthy stuff the monkey had crammed down my throat: but my dear little nurse picked it out of my mouth with a small needle, and then I fell to vomiting, which gave me great relief. Yet I was so weak and bruised in the sides with the squeezes given me by this odious animal, that I was forced to keep my bed a fortnight. The King, Queen, and all the court, sent every day to inquire after my health, and her Majesty made me several visits during my sickness. The monkey was killed, and an order made that no such animal should be kept about the palace.
When I attended 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 lay in the monkey's paw,
how I liked the victuals he gave me, his manner of feeding, and whether the
fresh air on the roof had sharpened my stomach. He desired to know what I
would have
I was every day furnishing the court with some ridiculous story; and
Glumdalclitch, although she loved me to excess, yet was arch enough to
inform
Several contrivances of the Author to please the King and Queen. He shews his skill in music. The King enquires into the state ofEngland,
which the Author relates to him. The King's observations thereon.
[Audio File]
I used to attend the King's levee
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And this puts me in mind of an amusement wherein I spent many of my leisure
hours. I desired the Queen's woman to save for me the combings 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 chair frames, no larger than those I
had in my box, and then to bore little holes with a fine awl
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Dictionary
The King, who delighted in music, had frequent concerts at court, to which I was sometimes carried, and set in my box on a table to hear them; but the noise was so great, that I could hardly distinguish the tunes. I am confident that all the drums and trumpets of a royal army, beating and sounding together just at your ears, could not equal it. My practice was to have my box removed from the places where the performers sat, as far as I could, then to shut the doors and windows of it, and draw the window curtains; after which I found their music not disagreeable.
I had learned in my youth to play a little upon the spinet
The King, who, as I before observed, was a prince of excellent understanding,
would frequently order that I should be brought in my box, and set upon the
table in his closet. He would then command me to bring one of my chairs out
of the box, and sit down within three yards distance upon the top of the
cabinet, which brought me almost to a level with his face. In this manner I
had several conversations with him. I one day took the freedom to tell his
Majesty, that the contempt he discovered towards Europe, and the rest of the
world, did not seem answerable to those excellent qualities of the mind he
was master of. That reason did
Imagine with thyself, courteous reader, how often I then wished for the
tongue of Demosthenes
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I began my discourse by informing his Majesty that our dominions consisted of
two islands, which composed three mighty kingdoms under one sovereign,
beside our plantations in America. I dwelt long upon the fertility of our
soil, and the temperature of our climate. I then spoke at large upon the
constitution of an English Parliament, partly made up of an illustrious body
called the House of Peers
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That the other part of the Parliament consisted of an assembly called the
House of Commons
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English Dictionary
I then descended to the Courts of justice, over which the judges, those
venerable sages and
This conversation was not ended under five audiences, each of several hours,
and the King heard the whole with great attention, frequently taking notes
of what I spoke, as well as memorandums
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Dictionary
When I had put an end to these long discourses, his Majesty in a sixth
audience, consulting his notes, proposed many doubts, queries, and
objections, upon every article. He asked what methods were used to cultivate
the minds and bodies of our young nobility, and in what kind of business
they commonly spent the first and teachable part of their lives. What course
was taken to supply that assembly when any noble family became extinct. What
qualifications were in those who were to be created new lords. Whether the
humor of the prince, a sum of money to a court lady, or a prime minister, or
a design of strengthening a party opposite to the public Oxford English
Dictionary
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Dictionary
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He then desired to know what arts were practiced in electing those whom I
commoners: whether a stranger with a strong purse might not influence the
vulgar voters to choose him before their own landlord, or the most
considerable gentleman in the neighborhood. How it came to pass, that people
were so violently bent upon getting into this assembly, which I allowed to
be a great trouble and expense, often to the ruin of their families, without
any salary or pension: because this appeared such an exalted strain of
virtue and public spirit, that his Majesty seemed to doubt it might possibly
not be always sincere: and he desired to know whether such zealous gentlemen
could have any views of refunding themselves for the charges and trouble
they were at, by sacrificing
Upon what I said in relation to our Courts of Justice, his Majesty desired to
be satisfied in several points: and this I was the better able to do, having
been formerly almost ruined by a long suit in chancery
He fell next upon the management of our treasury; and said he thought my
memory had failed me, because I computed our taxes at about five or six
millions a year, and when I came to mention the issues, he found they
sometimes amounted to more than double; for the notes he had taken were very
particular in this point, because he hoped, as he told me, that the
knowledge of our conduct might be useful to him, and he could not be
deceived in his calculations. But, if what I told him were true, he was
still at a loss how a kingdom could run out of its estate like a private
person. He asked me, who were our creditors; and where we should find money
to pay them. He wondered to hear me talk of such chargeable and extensive
wars; that certainly we must be a quarrelsome people, or live among very bad
neighbors, and that our generals must needs be richer than our kings. He
asked what business we had out of our own islands, unless upon the score of
trade or treaty, or to defend the coasts with our fleet. About all, he was
amazed to hear me talk of a mercenary standing army in the midst of peace,
and among a free people. He said, if we were governed by our own consent in
the persons of our representatives, he could not imagine of whom we were
afraid, or against whom we were to fight; and would hear my opinion, whether
a private man's house might not better be defended by himself, his children,
and family, than by half a dozen rascals picked up at a venture in the
streets, for small wages, who might get a hundred times more by cutting
their throats.
He laughed at my odd kind of arithmetic (as he was pleased to call it) in
reckoning the numbers of our people by a computation drawn from the several
sects among us in religion and politics. He said, he knew no reason, why
those who entertain opinions prejudicial to the public, should be obliged to
change, or should not be obliged to conceal them. And as it was tyranny in
any government to require the first, so it was weakness not to enforce the
second: for a man may be allowed to keep poisons in his closet, but not to
vend them about for cordials
He observed that among the diversions of our nobility and gentry I had
mentioned gaming. He desired to know at what age this entertainment was
usually taken up, and when it was laid down; how much of their time it
employed; whether it ever went so high as to affect their fortunes; whether
mean vicious people, by their dexterity in that art, might not arrive at
great riches, and sometimes keep our very nobles in dependence, as well as
habituate
He was perfectly astonished with the historical account I gave him of our
affairs during the last century, protesting it was only a heap of
conspiracies, rebellions, murders, massacres, revolutions, Oxford English Dictionary
His Majesty in another audience was at the pains to recapitulate
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Dictionary
The Author's love of his country. He makes a proposal of much advantage to the King, which is rejected. The King's great ignorance in politics. The learning of that country very imperfect and confined. Thee laws, and military affairs, and parties in the state.[Audio File]
Nothing but an extreme love of truth could have hindered me from concealing
this part of my story. It was in vain to discover my resentments, which were
always turned into ridicule; and I was forced to rest with patience while my
noble and most beloved country was so injuriously treated. I am heartily
sorry as any of my readers can possibly be, that such an occasion was given:
but this prince happened to be so curious and inquisitive upon every
particular, that it could not consist either with gratitude or good manners
to refuse giving him what satisfaction I was able. Yet thus much I may be
allowed to say in my own vindication, that I artfully eluded many of his
questions, and gave to every point a more favorable turn by Oxford English Dictionary
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Dictionary
But great allowances should be given to a King who lives wholly secluded from the rest of the world, and must therefore be altogether unacquainted with the manners and customs that most prevail in other nations; the want of which knowledge will ever produce many prejudices, and a certain narrowness of thinking, from which we and the politer countries of Europe are wholly exempted. And it would be hard indeed, if so remote a prince's notions of virtue and vice were to be offered as a standard for all mankind.
To confirm what I have now said, and further, to show the miserable effects
of a confined education, I shall here insert a passage which will hardly
obtain belief. In hopes to ingratiate
The King was struck with horror at the description I had given of those
terrible engines, and the proposal I had made. He was amazed how so impotent
and grovelling an insect as I (these were his expressions) could entertain
such inhuman ideas, and in so familiar a manner as to appear wholly unmoved
at all the scenes of blood and desolation, which I had painted as the common
effects of those destructive machines, whereof he said some evil genius,
enemy to mankind, must have been the first contriver
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Dictionary
A strange effect of narrow principles and short views that a prince possessed
of every quality which procures veneration, love, and esteem; of strong
parts, great wisdom, and profound learning, endued with admirable talents
for government, and almost adored by his subjects, should from a nice
unnecessary scruple, whereof in Europe we can have no conception, let slip
an opportunity to put into his hands, that would have made him absolute
master of the lives, the liberties, and the fortunes of his people. Neither
do I say this with the least intention to detract from the many virtues of
that excellent King, whose character I am sensible will on this account be
very much lessened in the opinion of an English reader: but I take this
defect among them to have risen from their ignorance, they not having
hitherto reduced politics into Oxford English
Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary.
The learning of this people is very defective, consisting only in morality,
history, poetry, and mathematics, wherein they must be allowed to excel. But
the last of these is wholly applied to what may be useful in life, to the
improvement of agriculture, and all mechanical arts; so that among us it
would be little esteemed. And as to ideas, entities, abstractions, and transcendentals
No law of that country must exceed in words the number of letters in their
alphabet, which consists only of twenty-two. But indeed few of them extend
even to that length. They are expressed in the most plain and simple terms,
wherein those people are not mercurial
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They have had the art of printing, as well as the Chinese, time out of mind.
But their libraries are not very large; for that of the King's which is
reckoned the biggest, does not amount to above a thousand volumes, placed in
a gallery twelve hundred feet long, from which I had liberty to borrow what
books I pleased. The Queen's joiner had contrived in one of Glumdalclitch's
rooms a kind of wooden machine twenty-five feet high, formed like a standing
ladder; the steps were each fifty feet long. It was indeed a moveable pair
of stairs, the lowest end placed at ten feet distance from the wall of the
chamber. The book I had a mind to read was put up leaning against the wall.
I first mounted to the upper step of the ladder, and turning my face towards
the book, began at the top of the page, and so walking to the right and left
about eight or ten yards, according to the length of the lines, till I had
gotten a little below the level of my eyes, and then descending gradually
till I came to the bottom; after which I mounted again and began Oxford English
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Their style is clear, masculine, and smooth, but not florid
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As to their military affairs, they boast that the King's army consists of a
hundred and seventy-six thousand foot, and thirty-two thousand horse: if
that may be called an army which is made up of tradesmen in the several
cities, and farmers in the country, whose commanders are only the nobility
I have often seen the militia of Lorbrulgrud drawn out to exercise in a great field near the city of twenty miles square. They were in all not above twenty-five thousand foot, and six thousand horse; but it was impossible for me to compute their number, considering the space of ground they took up. A cavalier mounted on a large steed, might be about a hundred feet high. I have seen this whole body of horse, upon a word of command, draw their swords at once, and brandish them in the air. Imagination can figure nothing so grand, so surprising, and so astonishing. It looked as if ten thousand flashes of lightning were darting at the same time from every quarter of the sky.
I was curious to know how this prince, to whose dominions there is no access
from any other country, came to think of armies, or to teach his people the
practice of military discipline. But I was soon informed, both by
conversation and reading their histories. For in the course of many ages
they have been troubled with the same disease to which the whole race of
mankind is subject; the nobility often contending for power, the people for
liberty, and the King for absolute dominion. All which,
The King and Queen make a progress to the frontiers. The Author attends them. The manner in which he leaves the country very particularly related. He returns toEngland.
[Audio File]
I had always a strong impulse that I should some time recover my liberty,
though it was impossible to conjecture by what means, or to form any project
with the least hope of succeeding. The ship in which I sailed was the first
ever known to be driven within sight of that coast, and the King had given
strict orders, that if at any time another appeared, it should be taken
ashore, and with all its crew and passengers brought in a tumbril
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I had now been two years in this country; and about the beginning of the third, Glumdalclitch and I attended the King and Queen in a progress to the coast of the kingdom. I was carried, as usual, in my traveling box, which, as I have already described, was a very convenient closet of twelve feet wide. And I had ordered a hammock to be fixed by silken ropes from the four corners at the top, to break the jolts, when a servant carried me before him on horseback, as I sometimes desired, and would often sleep in my hammock while we were upon the road. On the roof of my closet, just over the middle of the hammock, I ordered the joiner to cut out a hole a foot square, to give me air in hot weather as I slept, which hole I shut at pleasure with a board that drew backwards and forwards through a groove.
When we came to our journey's end, the King thought proper to pass a few days
at a palace he has near Flanflasnic, a city within eighteen English miles
In a little time I observed the noise of flutter of wings to increase very
fast, and my box was tossed up and down, like a sign post on a windy day. I
heard several bangs or buffets
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How often did I then wish myself with my dear Glumdalclitch, from whom one
single hour had so far divided me! And I may say with truth, that in the
midst of my own misfortunes I could not forbear lamenting my poor nurse, the
grief she would suffer for my loss, the displeasure of the Queen, and the
ruin of her fortune. Perhaps many travelers have not been under greater
difficulties and distress than I was at this juncture, expecting every
moment to see my box dashed in pieces, or at least overset by the first
violent blast, or a rising wave. A breach in one single pane of glass would
have been immediate death: nor could anything have preserved the windows,
but the strong lattice wires placed on the
I have already told the reader that there were two strong staples fixed upon
that side of my box which had no window, and into which the servant who used
to carry me on horseback would put a leathern belt, and buckle it about his
waist. Being in this disconsolate
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I found no effect from all I could do, but plainly perceived my closet to be
moved along; and in the space of an hour, or better, that side of the box
where the staples were, and had no window, struck against something that was
hard. I apprehended it to be a rock, and found myself tossed more than ever.
I plainly heard a noise upon the cover of my closet, like that of a cable,
and the grating of it as it passed through the ring. I then found myself
hoisted up by degrees at least three feet higher than I was before.
Whereupon I again thrust up my stick and handkerchief, calling for help till
I was almost hoarse. In return to which, I heard a great shout repeated
three times, giving me such transports of joy, as are not to be conceived
but by those who feel them. I now heard a trampling over my head, and
somebody calling through the hole with a loud voice in the English tongue:
If there be anybody below, let them speak. I answered, I was an Englishman,
drawn by ill fortune into the greatest calamity that ever any creature
underwent, and begged, by all that is moving, to be delivered out of the
dungeon I was in. The voice replied, I was
The sailors were all in amazement, and asked me a thousand questions, which I
had no inclination to answer. I was equally confounded at the sight of so
many pigmies
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I slept some hours, but perpetually disturbed with dreams of the place I had
left, and the dangers I had escaped. However, upon waking I found myself
much recovered. It was now about eight o'clock at night, and the Captain
ordered supper immediately, thinking I had already fasted too long. He
entertained me with great kindness, observing me not to look wildly, or talk
inconsistently: and when we were left alone, desired I would give him Oxford English Dictionary
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I begged his patience to hear me tell my story, which I faithfully did from
the last time I left England to the moment he first discovered me. And as
truth always forces its way into rational minds, so this honest worthy
gentleman, who had some tincture
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I could force nothing on him but a footman's tooth, which I observed him to examine with great curiosity, and found he had a fancy for it. He received it with abundance of thanks, more than such a trifle could deserve. It was drawn by an unskillful surgeon, in a mistake, from one of Glumdalclitch's men, who was afflicted with the toothache, but it was as sound as any in his head. I got it cleaned, and put it into my cabinet. It was about a foot long, and four inches in diameter.
The Captain was very well satisfied with plain relation I had given him, and said he hoped when we returned to England I would oblige the world by putting it in paper and making it public. My answer was that I thought we were already overstocked with books of travels; that nothing could now pass which was not extraordinary; wherein I doubted some authors less consulted truth than their own vanity, or interest, or the diversion of ignorant readers. That my story could contain little besides common events, without those ornamental descriptions of strange plants, trees, birds, and other animals, or of the barbarous customs and idolatry of savage people, with which most writers abound. However, I thanked him for his good opinion, and promised to take the matter into my thoughts.
He said he wondered at one thing very much, which was, to bear me speak so
loud, asking me whether the King or Queen of that country were thick
The Captain having been at Tonquin
As I was on the road, observing the littleness of the houses, the trees, the cattle, and the people, I began to think myself in Lilliput. I was afraid of trampling on every traveler I met, and often called aloud to have them stand out of the way, so that I had like to have gotten one or two broken heads for my impertinence.
When I came to my own house, for which I was forced to enquire, one of the
servants opening the door, I bent down to go in (like a goose under a gate)
for fear of striking my head. My wife ran out to embrace me, but I stooped
lower than her knees, thinking she could otherwise never be able to reach my
mouth. My daughter kneeled to ask my blessing, but I could not see her till
she arose, having been so long used to stand with my head and eyes erect to
above sixty feet; and then I went to take her up with one hand, by the
waist. I looked down upon the servants and one or two friends who were in
the house, as if they had been pigmies, and I a giant. I told my wife, she
had been too thrifty, for I found she had starved herself and her daughter
to nothing. In short, I behaved myself so unaccountably, that they were all
of the Captain's opinion when he first saw me, and concluded I had
In a little time I and my family and friends came to a right understanding: but my wife protested I should never go to sea any more; although my evil destiny so ordered that she had not power to hinder me, as the reader may know hereafter. In the mean time I here conclude the second part of my unfortunate voyages.
A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, BALNIBARBI, GLUBBDUBDRIB, LUGGNAGG AND JAPAN
[Audio File]
The Author sets out on his third voyage, is taken by pyrates. The malice of aDutchman.
His arrival at an Island. He is received intoLaputa.
I had not been at home above ten days, when Captain William Robinson, a
Cornish man, Commander of the Hope-well, a stout ship of three hundred tons,
came to my house. I had formerly been surgeon of another ship where he was
master, and a fourth part owner, in a voyage to the Levant; he had always
treated me more like a brother than an inferior officer, and hearing of my
arrival made me a visit, as I apprehended only out of friendship, for
nothing passed more than what is usual after long absences. But repeating
his visits often, expressing his joy to find me in good health, asking
whether I were now settled for life, adding that he intended a voyage to the
East Indies in two months; at last he plainly invited me, though with some
apologies, to be surgeon of the ship; that I should have another surgeon
under me besides our two mates; that my salary should be double to the usual
pay; and that
He said so many other obliging things, and I knew him to be so honest a man, that I could not reject his proposal; the thirst I had of seeing the world, notwithstanding my past misfortunes, continuing as violent as ever. The only difficulty that remained, was to persuade my wife, whose consent however I at last obtained by the prospect of advantage she proposed to her children.
We set out the 5th of August, 1706, and arrived at Fort St. George the 11th
of April 1707. We stayed there three weeks to refresh our crew, many of whom
were sick. From there we went to Tonquin, where the Captain resolved to
continue some time, because many of the goods he intended to buy were not
ready, nor could he expect to be dispatched in some months. Therefore in
hopes to defray
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We had not sailed more than three days, when a great storm arising, we were
driven five days to the north-northeast, and then to the east; after which
we had fair weather, but still with a pretty strong gale from
We were boarded about the same time by both the pirates, who entered
furiously at the head of their men, but finding us all prostrate upon our
faces (for so I gave order) they pinioned
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I observed among them a Dutchman, who seemed to be of some authority, though
he was not commander of either ship. He knew us by our countenances to be
Englishmen, and jabbering to us in his own language, swore we should be tied
back to back, and thrown into the sea. I spoke Dutch tolerably well; I told
him who we were, and begged him in consideration of our being Christians and
Protestants, of neighboring countries, in strict alliance, that he would
move the Captains to take some pity on us. This inflamed his rage; he
repeated his threatenings, and turning to his companions, spoke with great
vehemence, in the Japanese language, as I suppose, often using the word Christianos.
The largest of the two pirate ships was commanded by a Japanese Captain, who
spoke a little Dutch, but very imperfectly. He came up to me, and after
several questions, which I answered in great humility, he said we should not
die. I made the Captain a very low bow, and then turning to the Dutchman,
said, I was sorry to find more mercy in a heathen, than in a brother
Christian. But I Oxford English Dictionary
About an hour before we saw the pirates, I had taken an observation, and
found we were in the latitude of 46 N. and of longitude 183. When I was at
some distance from the pirates, I discovered by my pocket glass several
islands to the southeast. I set up my sail, the wind being fair, with a
design to reach the nearest of those islands, which I made a shift to do in
about three hours. It was all rocky; however I got many birds' eggs, and
striking fire, I kindled some heath
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The next day I sailed to another island, and then to a third and fourth, sometimes using my sail, and sometimes my paddles. But not to trouble the reader with a particular account of my distresses, let it suffice that on the fifth day I arrived at the last island in my sight, which lay south-southeast to the former.
This island was at a greater distance than I expected, and I did not reach it
in less than five hours. I encompassed it almost around before I could find
a convenient place to land in, which was a small creek about three times the
wideness of my canoe. I found the island to be all rocky, only a little
intermingled with tufts of grass and sweet smelling herbs. I took out my
small provisions, and after having refreshed myself, I secured the remainder
in a cave, whereof there were great numbers. I gathered plenty of eggs upon
the rocks, and got a quantity of dry seaweed and parched grass, which I
designed to kindle the next day, and roast my eggs as well as I could. (For
I had about me my flint, steel, match, and burning glass.) I lay all night
in the cave where I had lodged my provisions. My bed was the same dry grass
and seaweed which I intended for fuel. I slept very little, for the
disquiets of my mind prevailed over my weariness, and kept me awake. I
considered how impossible it was to preserve my life in so desolate a place,
and how miserable my end must be. Yet I found myself so listless and
desponding that I had not the
The natural love of life gave me some inward motions of joy, and I was ready
to entertain a hope that this adventure might some way or other help to
deliver me from the desolate place and condition I was in. But at the same
time the reader can hardly conceive my astonishment, to behold an island in
the air, inhabited by men, who were able (as it
The number of people increased, and in less than half an hour the island was
moved and raised in such a manner, that the lowest gallery appeared in a
parallel of less than a hundred yards distance from the height where I
stood. I then put myself into the most supplicating postures, and spoke in
the humblest accent, but received no answer. Those
They made signs for me to come down from the rock and go towards the shore,
which I accordingly did; and the flying island being raised to a convenient
height, the verge
The humours and dispositions of theLaputians
described. An account of their learning. Of the King, and his court. The Author's reception there. The inhabitants subject to fear and disquietudesDisturbances. Source: . An account of the
women.
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[Audio File]
At my alighting I was surrounded by a crowd of people, but those who stood
nearest seemed to be of better quality. They beheld me with all the marks
and circumstances of wonder; neither indeed was I much in their debt, having
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climenole) in their family, as one
of their domestics, nor ever walk abroad or make visits without him. And the
business of this officer is, when two or more persons are in company, Oxford English
Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
It was necessary to give the reader this information, without which he would be at the same loss with me, to understand the proceedings of these people, as they conducted me the stairs, to the top of the island, and from there to the royal palace. While we were ascending, they forgot several times what they were about, and left me to myself, till their memories were again roused by their flappers; for they appeared altogether unmoved by the sight of my foreign habit and countenance, and by the shouts of the vulgar, whose thoughts and minds were more disengaged.
At last we entered the palace, and proceeded into the chamber of presence,
where I saw the King seated on his throne, attended on each side by persons
of prime quality. Before the throne was a large table filled with globes and
spheres, and mathematical instruments of all kinds. His Majesty took not the
least notice of us, although our entrance was not Oxford English
Dictionary
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Dictionary
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While we were at dinner, I made bold to ask the names of several things in their language; and those noble persons, by the assistance of their flappers, delighted to give me answers, hoping to raise my admiration of their great abilities, if I could be brought to converse with them. I was soon able to call for bread and drink, or whatever else I wanted.
After dinner my company withdrew, and a person was sent to me by the King's
order, attended by a flapper. He brought with him pen, ink, and paper, and
three or four books, giving me to understand by signs, that he was sent to
teach me the language. We sat together four hours, in which time I wrote
down a great number of words in columns, with the translations over against
them. I likewise made a shift to learn several short sentences. For my tutor
would order one of my servants to fetch something, to turn about, to make a
bow, to sit, or stand, or walk, and the like. Then I took down the sentence
in writing. He showed me also in one of his books the figures of the sun,
moon, and stars, the zodiac, the tropics, and polar circles, together with
the denominations of many figures of planes and solids. He gave me the names
and descriptions of all the musical instruments, and the general terms of
art in playing on each of them.
The word, which I interpret the Flying or Floating Island, is in the original
Laputa, whereof I could never learn the true etymology.
Lap in the old obsolete language signifies high, and
untuh, a governor, from which they say by
corruption was derived Laputa, from Lapuntuh. But I do not approve of this
derivation, which seems to be a little strained. I ventured to offer to the
learned among them a conjecture of my own, that Laputa was quasi lap outed; lap signifying properly the dancing
of the sunbeams in the sea, and outed, a wing, which
however I shall not obtrude
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Those to whom the King had entrusted me, observing how ill I was clad, ordered a tailor to come next morning, and take my measure for a suit of clothes. This operator did his office after a different manner from those of his trade in Europe. He first took my height by a quadrant, and then with a rule and compasses described the dimensions and outlines of my whole body, all which he entered upon paper, and in six days brought my clothes very ill made, and quite out of shape, by happening to mistake a figure in the calculation. But my comfort was, that I observed such accidents very frequent, and little regarded.
During my confinement for want of clothes, and by an indisposition that held
me some days longer, Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary. Oddly enough,
for the great thinkers that they are, the Laputians are still following
the geocentric model of the solar system.
In our journey towards Lagado, the capital city, his Majesty ordered that the
island should stop over certain towns and villages, from whence he might
receive the petitions of his subjects. And to this purpose several
packthreads were let down with small weights at the bottom. On these
packthreads the people strung their petitions, which mounted up directly
like the scraps of paper fastened by school boys at the end of the string
that holds their
The knowledge I had in mathematics gave me great assistance in acquiring their phraseology, which depended much upon that science and music; and in the latter I was not unskilled. Their ideas are perpetually conversant in lines and figures. If they would, for example, praise the beauty of a woman, or any other animal, they describe it by rhombs, circles, parallelograms, ellipses, and other geometrical terms, or by words of art drawn from music, needless here to repeat. I observed in the King's kitchen all sorts of mathematical and musical instruments, after the figures of which they cut up the joints that were served to his Majesty's table.
Their houses are very ill built, the walls bevel
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Most of them, and especially those who deal in the astronomical part, have
great faith in judicial astrology, although they are ashamed to own it
publicly. But what I chiefly admired, and thought altogether unaccountable,
was the strong disposition I observed in them towards news and politics,
perpetually enquiring into public affairs, giving their judgments in matters
of state, and passionately disputing every inch of a party opinion. I have
indeed observed the same disposition among most of the mathematicians I have
known in Europe, although I could never discover the least analogy between
the two sciences; unless those people suppose, that because the smallest
circle hath as many degrees as the largest, therefore the regulation and
management of the world require no more abilities than the handling and
turning of a globe. But I rather take this quality to spring from a very
common infirmity
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These people are under continual disquietudes, never enjoying a minute's
peace of mind; and their disturbances proceed from causes which very little
affect the rest of mortals. Their apprehensions arise Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
They are so perpetually alarmed with the apprehensions of these and the like
impending dangers, that they can neither sleep quietly in their beds, nor
The women of the island have abundance of vivacity: they contemn their husbands, and are exceedingly fond of strangers, whereof there is always a considerable number from the continent below, attending at court, either upon affairs of the several towns and corporations, or their own particular occasions, but are much despised, because they want the same endowments. Among these the ladies choose their gallants: but the vexation is, that they act with too much ease and security, for the husband is always so rapt in speculation, that the mistress and lover may proceed to the greatest familiarities before his face, if he be but provided with paper and implements, and without his flapper at his side.
The wives and daughters lament their confinement to the island, although I
think it the most delicious spot of ground in the world; and although they
live here in the greatest plenty and magnificence, and are allowed to do
whatever they please, they long to see the world, and take the diversions of
the metropolis, which they are not allowed to
This may perhaps pass with the reader rather for an European or English
story, than for one of a country so remote. But he may please to consider,
that the caprices
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In about a month's time I had made a tolerable proficiency in their language,
and was able to answer most of the King's questions, when I had the honor to
attend him. His Majesty discovered not the least curiosity to inquire into
the laws, government, history, religion, or manners of the countries
A Phenomenon solved by modern philosophy and astronomy. TheLaputians'
great improvements in the latter. The King's method of suppressing insurrections.
[Audio File]
I desired leave of this prince to see the curiosities of the island, which he was graciously pleased to grant, and ordered my tutor to attend me. I chiefly wanted to know to what cause in art or in nature it owed its several motions, whereof I will now give a philosophical account to the reader.
The Flying or Floating Island is exactly circular, its diameter 7837 yards,
or about four miles and a half, and consequently contains ten thousand
acres. It is three hundred yards thick. The bottom or under surface, which
appears to those who view it from below, is one even regular plate of adamant
Oxford English Dictionary
At the centre of the island there is a chasm about fifty yards in diameter,
from whence the astronomers descend into a large dome, which is therefore
called Flandona Gagnole, or the Astronomer's Cave, situated at the depth of
a hundred yards beneath the upper surface of the adamant. In this cave are
twenty lamps continually burning, which from the reflection of the adamant
cast a strong light into every part. The place is stored with great variety
of sextants, quadrants, telescopes, astrolabes, and other astronomical
instruments. But the greatest curiosity, upon which the fate of the island
depends, is a loadstone
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Dictionary
The stone cannot be moved from its place by any force, because the hoop and
its feet are one continued piece with that body of adamant which constitutes
the bottom of the island.
By means of this loadstone, the island is made to rise and fall, and move
from one place to another. For with respect to that part of the earth over
which the monarch presides, the stone is endued at one of its sides with an
attractive power, and at the other with a repulsive. Upon placing the magnet
erect with its attracting end towards the earth, the island descends; but
when the repelling extremity points downwards, the island mounts directly
upwards. When the position of the stone is oblique
Oxford English
Dictionary
By this oblique motion the island is conveyed to different parts of the
monarch's dominions. To explain the manner of its progress, let AB represent a line drawn cross the dominions of
Balnibarbi, let the line cd represent the loadstone,
of which let d be the repelling end, and c the attracting end, the island being over C; let the stone be placed in the position cd, with its repelling end downwards; then the island
will be driven upwards obliquely towards D. When it
is arrived at D, let the stone E, and then the island will be carried obliquely
towards E; where if the stone be again turned upon
its axle till it stands in the position EF, with its
repelling point downwards, the island will rise obliquely towards F, where by directing the attracting end towards G, the island may be carried to G, and from G to H,
by turning the stone, so as to make its repelling extremity point directly
downwards. And thus by changing the situation of the stone as often as there
is occasion, the island is made to rise and fall by turns in an oblique
direction, and by those alternate risings and fallings (the obliquity being
not considerable) is from one part of the dominions to the other.
But it must be observed that this island cannot move beyond the extent of the dominions below, nor can it rise above the height of four miles. For which the astronomers (who have written large systems concerning the stone) assign the following reason: that the magnetic virtue does not extend beyond the distance of four Miles, and that the mineral which acts upon the stone in the bowels of the earth, and in the sea about six leagues distant from the shore, is not diffused through the whole globe, but terminated with the limits of the King's dominions; and it was easy from the great advantage of such a superior situation, for a prince to bring under his obedience whatever country lay within the attraction of that magnet.
When the stone is put parallel to the plane of the horizon, the island stands
still; for in that case the
This loadstone is under the care of certain astronomers, who from time to time give it such positions as the monarch directs. They spend the greatest part of their lives in observing the celestial bodies, which they do by the assistance of glasses far excelling ours in goodness. For although their largest telescopes do not exceed three feet, they magnify much more than those of a hundred yards among us, and at the same time show the stars with greater clearness. This advantage has enabled them to extend their discoveries much farther than our astronomers in Europe; for they have made a catalogue of ten thousand fixed stars, whereas the largest of ours do not contain above one third part of that number. They have likewise discovered two lesser stars, or satellites, which revolve about Mars, whereof the innermost is distant from the center of the primary planet exactly three of his diameters, and the outermost five; the former revolves in the space of ten hours, and the latter in twenty-one and a half; so that the squares of their periodical times are very near in the same proportion with the cubes of their distance from the center of Mars, which evidently shows them to be governed by the same law of gravitation that influences the other heavenly bodies.
They have observed ninety-three different comets, and settled their periods
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The King would be the most absolute prince in the universe, if he could but prevail on a ministry to join with him; but these having their estates below on the continent, and considering that the office of a favorite has a very uncertain tenure, would never consent to the enslaving their country.
If any town should engage in rebellion or mutiny, fall into violent factions,
or refuse to pay the usual tribute, the King has two methods of reducing
them to obedience. The first and the mildest course by keeping the island
hovering over such a town, and the lands about it, whereby he can deprive
them of the benefit of the sun and the rain, and consequently afflict the
inhabitants with dearth
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But there is still indeed a more weighty reason, why the kings of this
country have been always averse from executing so terrible an action, unless
upon the utmost necessity. For if the town intended to be destroyed should
have in it any tall rocks, as it generally falls out in the larger cities, a
situation probably chosen at first with a view to prevent such a
catastrophe; or if it abound in high spires, or pillars of stone, a sudden
fall might endanger the bottom or under surface of the island, which,
although it consist, as I have said, of one entire adamant two hundred yards
thick, might happen to crack by too great a shock, or burst by approaching
too near the fires from the houses below, as the backs both of iron and
stone will often do in our chimneys. Of all this the people are well
apprised, and understand how far to carry their obstinacy, where their
liberty or property is concerned. And the King, when he is highest provoked,
and most determined to press a city to rubbish, orders the island to descend
with great gentleness, out of a pretense of tenderness to his people, but
indeed for fear of breaking the adamantine bottom; in which case it is the
opinion of all their philosophers that the loadstone could no longer hold it
up, and the whole mass would fall to the ground.
About three years before my arrival among them, while the King was in his progress over his dominions, there happened an extraordinary accident which had like to have put a period to the fate of that monarchy, at least as it is now instituted. Lindalino, the second city in the kingdom, was the first his Majesty visited in his progress. Three days after his departure the inhabitants, who had often complained of great oppressions, shut the town gates, seized on the governor, and with incredible speed and labor erected four large towers, one at every corner of the city (which is an exact square), equal in height to a strong pointed rock that stands directly in the center of the city. Upon the top of each tower, as well as upon the rock, they fixed a great loadstone, and in case their design should fail, they had provided a vast quantity of the most combustible fuel, hoping to burst therewith the adamantine bottom of the island, if the loadstone project should miscarry.
It was eight months before the King had perfect notice that the Lindalinians
were in rebellion. He then commanded that the island should be wafted over
the city. The people were unanimous, and had laid in stores of provisions,
and a great river runs through the middle of the town. The King hovered over
them several days to deprive them of the sun and the rain. He ordered many
packthreads to be let down, yet not a person offered to send up a petition,
but instead thereof very bold demands, the redress of all their grievances,
great immunities, the choice of their own governor, and other like exorbitances
The King being now determined to reduce this proud people, ordered that the island should descend gently within forty yards of the top of the towers and rock. This was accordingly done; but the officers employed in that work found the descent much speedier than usual, and by turning the loadstone could not without great difficulty keep it in a firm position, but found the island inclining to fall. They sent the King immediate intelligence of this astonishing event, and begged his Majesty's permission to raise the island higher; the King consented, a general council was called, and the officers of the loadstone ordered to attend. One of the oldest and most expert among them obtained leave to try an experiment. He took a strong line of a hundred yards, and the island being raised over the town above the attracting power they had felt, he fastened a piece of adamant to the end of his line, which had in it a mixture of iron mineral, of the same nature with that whereof the bottom or lower surface of the island is composed, and from the lower gallery let it down slowly towards the top of the towers. The adamant was not descended four yards, before the officer felt it drawn so strongly downward that he could hardly pull it back. He then threw down several small pieces of adamant, and observed that they were all violently attracted by the top of the tower. The same experiment was made on the other three towers, and on the rock with the same effect.
This incident broke entirely the King's measures, and (to dwell no longer on other circumstances) he was forced to give the town their own conditions.
I was assured by a great minister that if the island had descended so near the town as not to be able to raise itself, the citizens were determined to fix it for ever, to kill the King and all his servants, and entirely change the government.
By a fundamental law of this realm, neither the king, nor either of his two elder sons, are permitted to leave the island; nor the queen, till she is past child-bearing.
The Author leavesLaputa,
is conveyed toBalnibarbi,
arrives at the metropolis. A description of the metropolis, and the country adjoining. The Author hospitably received by a great Lord. His conversation with that Lord.
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Although I cannot say that I was ill treated in this island, yet I must confess I thought myself too much neglected, not without some degree of contempt. For neither prince nor people appeared to be curious in any part of knowledge, except mathematics and music, wherein I was far their inferior, and upon that account very little regarded.
On the other side, after having seen all the curiosities of the island, I was
very desirous to leave it, being heartily weary of those people. They were
indeed excellent in two sciences for which I have great esteem, and wherein
I am not unversed; but at the same time so abstracted and involved in
speculation, that I never met with such disagreeable companions. I conversed
only with women, tradesmen, flappers, and court pages, during two months of
my abode there, by which at last I rendered myself extremely contemptible;
yet these were the
I had obtained by hard study a good degree of knowledge in their language; I was weary of being confined to an island where I received so little countenance, and resolved to leave it with the first opportunity.
There was a great lord at court, nearly related to the King, and for that reason alone used with respect. He was universally reckoned the most ignorant and stupid person among them. He had performed many eminent services for the crown, had great natural and acquired parts, adorned with integrity and honor, but so ill an ear for music, that his detractors reported he had been often known to beat time in the wrong place; neither could his tutors without extreme difficulty teach him to demonstrate the most easy proposition in the mathematics. He was pleased to show me many marks of favor, often did me the honor of a visit, desired to be informed in the affairs of Europe, the laws and customs, the manners and learning of the several countries where I had traveled. He listened to me with great attention, and made very wise observations on all I spoke. He had two flappers attending him for state, but never made use of them except at court, and in visits of ceremony, and would always command them to withdraw when we were alone together.
I entreated this illustrious person to intercede in my behalf with his
Majesty for leave to depart, which he accordingly did, as he was pleased to
tell
On the 16th day of February I took leave of his Majesty and the court. The
King made me a present to the value of about two hundred pounds English
The continent, as far as it is subject to the monarch of the Flying Island,
passes under the general name of Balnibarbi, and the metropolis, as I said
before, is called Lagado. I felt some little satisfaction in finding myself
on firm ground. I walked to the city without any concern, being clad like
one of the natives, and sufficiently instructed to converse with them. I
soon found out the person's house to whom I was recommended, presented my
letter from his friend the grandee
The next morning after my arrival, he took me in his chariot to see the town,
which is about half the size of London, but the houses very strangely built,
and most of them out of repair. The
This Lord Munodi was a person of the first rank, and had been some years Governor of Lagado, but by a cabal of ministers was discharged for insufficiency. However, the King treated him with tenderness, as a well-meaning man, but of a low contemptible understanding.
When I gave that free censure of the country and its inhabitants, he made no
further answer than by telling me that I had not been long enough among them
to form a judgment, and that the different nations of the world had
different customs, with other common topics to the same purpose. But when we
returned to his palace, he asked me how I
During our journey he made me observe the several methods used by farmers in
managing their lands, which to me were wholly unaccountable; for except in
some very few places I could not discover one ear of corn or blade of grass.
But in three hours' traveling the scene was wholly altered; we came into a
most beautiful country; farmers' houses at small distances, neatly built;
the fields enclosed, containing vineyards, corn grounds, and meadows.
Neither do I remember to have seen a more delightful prospect. His
Excellency observed my countenance to clear up; he told me with a sigh that
there his estate began, and would continue the same till we should come to
his house. That his countrymen ridiculed and despised him for managing his
affairs no better, and for setting so ill an example to the kingdom, which
however was followed by very few, such as were old, and willful, and weak
like himself.
We came at length to the house, which was indeed a noble structure, built according to the best rules of ancient architecture. The fountains, gardens, walks, avenues, and groves were all disposed with exact judgment and taste. I gave due praises to every thing I saw, whereof his Excellency took not the least notice till after supper, when, there being no third companion, he told me with a very melancholy air that he doubted he must throw down his houses in town and country, to rebuild them after the present mode, destroy all his plantations, and cast others into such a form as modern usage required, and give the same directions to all his tenants, unless he would submit to incur the censure of pride, singularity, affectation, ignorance, caprice, and perhaps increase his Majesty's displeasure.
That the admiration I appeared to be under would cease or diminish when he had informed me of some particulars, which probably I never heard of at court, the people there being too much taken up in their own speculations, to have regard to what passed here below.
The sum of his discourse was to this effect. That about forty years ago
certain persons went up to Laputa, either upon business or diversion, and
after five months continuance came back with a very little smattering in
mathematics, but full of volatile spirits acquired in that airy region. That
these persons upon their return began to dislike the management of every
thing below, and fell into schemes of putting all arts, sciences, languages,
and mechanics Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, a
journal that is published to this day. Like many conservative thinkers
of this era, Swift sees the Royal Society and experimental science as a
kind of fad, its members wasting their time pursueing trivial
things.
His Lordship added that he would not by any further particulars prevent the
pleasure I should certainly take in viewing the grand Academy, whither he
was resolved I should go. He only desired me to observe a ruined building
upon the side of a mountain about three miles distant, of which he gave me
this account. That he had a very convenient mill within half a mile of his
house, turned by a current from a large river, and sufficient for his own
family as well as a great number of his tenants. That about seven years ago
a club of those projectors came to him with proposals to destroy this mill,
and build another on the side of that mountain, on the long ridge whereof a
long canal must be cut for a repository of water, to be conveyed up by pipes
and engines to supply the mill; because the wind and air upon a height
agitated the water, and thereby made it fitter for motion; and because the
water descending down a declivity would turn the mill with half the current
of a river whose course is more upon a level. He said, that being then not
very well with the court, and pressed by many of his friends, he complied
with the proposal; and after employing an hundred men for two years, the
work miscarried, the projectors went off, laying the blame entirely. upon
him, railing at him ever since, and putting others upon the same experiment,
with equal assurance of success, as well as equal disappointment.
In a few days we came back to town, and his Excellency, considering the bad
character he had in the Academy, would not go with me himself, but
recommended me to a friend of his to bear me company thither. My lord was
pleased to represent me as a great admirer of projects, and a person of much
curiosity and easy belief; which indeed was not without truth, for I had
myself been a sort of projector
The Author permitted to see the grand academy ofLagado.
The Academy largely described. The arts wherein the professors employ themselves.
[Audio File]
This Academy is not an entire single building, but a continuation of several houses on both sides of a street, which growing waste was purchased and applied to that use.
I was received very kindly by the Warden, and went for many days to the Academy. Every room has in it one or more projectors, and I believe I could not be in fewer than five hundred rooms.
The first man I saw was of a meager aspect, with sooty hands and face, his
hair and beard long, ragged and singed in several places. His clothes,
shirt, and skin were all of the same color. He had been eight years upon a
project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put into
vials hermetically
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I went into another chamber, but was ready to hasten back, being almost
overcome with a horrible stink. My conductor pressed me forward, conjuring
me in a whisper to give no offense, which would be highly resented, and
therefore I dare not so much as stop my nose. The projector of this cell was
the most ancient student of the Academy; his face and beard were of a pale
yellow; his hands and clothes daubed over with filth. When I was presented
to him, he gave me a close embrace (a compliment I could well have excused).
His employment from his first coming into the Academy, was an operation to
reduce human excrement to its original food, by separating the several
parts, removing the tincture
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I saw another at work to calcine
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There was a most ingenious architect who had contrived a new method for building houses, by beginning at the roof, and working downwards to the foundation, which he justified to me by the like practice of those two prudent insects, the bee and the spider.
There was a man born blind, who had several apprentices in his own condition; their employment was to mix colors for painters, which their master taught them to distinguish by feeling and smelling. It was indeed my misfortune to find them at that time not very perfect in their lessons, and the professor himself happened to be generally mistaken; this artist is much encouraged and esteemed by the whole fraternity.
In another apartment I was highly pleased with a projector, who had found a
device of ploughing the ground with hogs, to save the charges of plows,
cattle, and labor. The method in this: in an acre of ground you bury, at six
inches distance and eight deep, a quantity of acorns, dates, chestnuts, and
other mast
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I went into another room, where the walls and ceiling were all hung round with cobwebs, except a narrow passage for the artist to go in and out. At my entrance he called aloud to me not to disturb his webs. He lamented the fatal mistake the world had been so long in of using silk worms, while we had such plenty of domestic insects, who infinitely excelled the former, because they understood how to weave as well as spin. And he proposed farther that by employing spiders the charge of dyeing silks should be wholly saved, whereof I was fully convinced when he showed me a vast number of flies most beautifully colored, wherewith he fed his spiders, assuring us that the webs would take a tincture from them; and as he had them of all hues, he hoped to fit everybody's fancy, as soon as he could find proper food for the flies, of certain gums, oils, and other glutinous matter to give a strength and consistence to the threads.
There was an astronomer who had undertaken to place a sundial upon the great
weathercock
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I was complaining of a small fit of the colic
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I visited many other apartments, but shall not trouble my reader with all the curiosities I observed, being studious of brevity.
I had hitherto seen only one side of the Academy, the other being
appropriated to the advancers of speculative learning, of which I shall say
something when I have mentioned one illustrious person more, who is called
among them the universal artist. He told us he had been thirty years
employing his thoughts for the improvement of human life. He had two large
rooms full of wonderful curiosities, and fifty men at work. Some were Oxford English
Dictionary
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wants to try to grow grain by using the husk rather than the seeds,
which is, of course, impossible.
We crossed a walk to the other part of the Academy, where, as I have already said, the projectors in speculative learning resided.
The first professor I saw was in a very large room, with forty pupils about
him. After salutation, observing me to look earnestly upon a frame, which
took up the greatest part of both the length and breadth of the room, he
said perhaps I might wonder to see him employed in a project for improving
speculative knowledge by practical and mechanical operations. But the world
would soon be sensible of its usefulness, and he flattered himself that a
more noble exalted thought never sprang in any other man's head. Everyone
knew how laborious the usual method is of attaining to arts and sciences;
whereas by his contrivance the most ignorant person at a reasonable charge,
and with a little bodily Oxford English Dictionary
Six hours a day the young students were employed in this labor, and the
professor showed me several volumes in large folio already collected, of
(SEE PLATE 5)
He assured me, that this invention had employed all his thoughts from his youth, that he had emptied the whole vocabulary into his frame, and made the strictest computation of the general proportion there is in books between the numbers of particles, nouns, and verbs, and other parts of speech.
I made my humblest acknowledgement to this illustrious person for his great
communicativeness, and promised if ever I had the good fortune to return to
my native country, that I would do him justice, as the sole inventor of this
wonderful machine; the form and contrivance of which I desired leave to delineate
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We next went to the school of languages, where three professors sat in consultation upon improving that of their own country.
The first project was to shorten discourse by cutting polysyllables into one, and leaving out verbs and participles, because in reality all things imaginable are but nouns.
The other project was a scheme for entirely abolishing all words whatsoever;
and this was urged as a great advantage in point of health as well as
brevity. For it is plain that every word we speak
But for short conversations a man may carry implements in his pockets and
under his arms, enough to supply him, and in his house he cannot be at a
Another great advantage proposed by this invention was that it would serve as a universal language to be understood in all civilized nations, whose goods and utensils are generally of the same kind, or nearly resembling, so that their uses might easily be comprehended. And thus ambassadors would be qualified to treat with foreign princes or ministers of state, to whose tongues they were utter strangers.
I was at the mathematical school, where the master taught his pupils after a
method scarce imaginable to us in Europe. The proposition and demonstration
were fairly written on a thin wafer, with ink composed of a cephalic
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how a tincture or extract could be made out of a head.
A further account of the academy. The Author proposes some improvements, which are honourably received.
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In the school of political projectors I was but ill entertained, the
professors appearing in my judgment wholly out of their senses, which is a
scene that never fails to make me melancholy. These unhappy people were
proposing schemes for persuading monarchs to choose favorites upon the score
of their wisdom, capacity, and virtue; of teaching ministers to consult the
public good; of rewarding merit, great abilities, eminent services; of
instructing princes to know their true interest by placing it on the same
foundation with that of their people; of choosing for employments persons
qualified to exercise them; with many other wild impossible chimeras
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But however I shall so far do justice to this part of the Academy, as to
acknowledge that all of them were not so visionary. There was a most
ingenious doctor who seemed to be perfectly versed in the whole nature and
system of government. This illustrious person had very usefully employed his
studies in finding out effectual remedies for all diseases Oxford
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This project could not be of any great expense to the public, and would, in
my poor opinion, be of much use for the dispatch of business in those
countries where senates have any share in the legislative power; beget
unanimity, shorten debates, open a few mouths which are now closed, and
close many more which are now open; curb the petulancy of the young, and
correct the positiveness of the old; rouse the stupid, and damp the pert
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Again, because it is a general complaint, that the favorites of princes are troubled with short and weak memories, the same doctor proposed, that whoever attended a first minister, after having told his business with the utmost brevity and in the plainest words, should at his departure give the said minister a tweak by the nose, or a kick in the belly, or tread on his corns, or lug him thrice by both ears, or pin into his breech, or pinch his arm black and blue, to prevent forgetfulness; and at every levee day repeat the same operation, till the business were done or absolutely refused.
He likewise directed, that every senator in the great council of a nation, after he had delivered his opinion, and argued in the defense of it, should be obliged to give his vote directly contrary; because if that were done, the result would infallibly terminate in the good of the public.
When parties in a state are violent, he offered a wonderful contrivance to
reconcile them. The method Oxford English
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I heard a very warm debate between two professors, about the most commodious
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The women were proposed to be taxed according to their beauty and skill in dressing, wherein they had the same privilege with the men, to be determined by their own judgment. But constancy, chastity, good sense, and good nature were not rated, because they would not bear the charge of collecting.
To keep senators in the interest of the crown, it was proposed that the
members should raffle for employments, every man first taking an oath, and
giving security that he would vote for the court, whether he won or not;
after which the losers had in their turn the liberty of raising upon the
next vacancy. Thus hope and expectation would be kept alive, none would
complain of broken promises, but impute their disappointments wholly to
fortune, whose
Another professor showed me a large paper of instructions for discovering plots and conspiracies against the government. He advised great statesmen to examine into the diet of all suspected persons; their times of eating; upon which side they lay in bed; with which hand they wiped their posteriors; to take a strict view of their excrements, and, from the color, the odor, the taste, the consistence, the crudeness of maturity of digestion, form a judgment of their thoughts and designs. Because men are never so serious, thoughtful, and intent, as when they are at stool, which he found by frequent experiment; for in such conjunctures, when he used merely as a trial to consider which was the best way of murdering the king, his ordure would have a tincture of green, but quite different when he thought only of raising an insurrection or burning the metropolis.
The whole discourse was written with great acuteness, containing many observations both curious and useful for politicians, but as I conceived not altogether complete. This I ventured to tell the author, and offered if he pleased to supply him with some additions. He received my proposition with more compliance than is usual among writers, especially those of the projecting species, professing he would be glad to receive further information.
I told him that in the kingdom of Tribnia
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When this method fails, they have two others more effectual, which the learned among them call acrostics and anagrams. First they can decipher all initial letters into political meanings. Thus, N. shall signify a plot; B. a regiment of horse; L. a fleet at sea; or secondly by transposing the letters of the alphabet in any suspected paper, they can discover the deepest designs of a discontented party. So for example if I should say in a letter to a friend, Our brother Tom has just got the piles, a skillful decipherer would discover that the same letters which compose that sentence may be analyzed into the following words: Resist -- a plot is brought home -- the tour. And this is the anagrammatic method.
The professor made me great acknowledgments for communicating these observations, and promised to make honorable mention of me in his treatise.
I saw nothing in this country that could invite me to a longer continuance,
and began to think of returning home to England.
The Author leavesLagado,
arrives atMaldonada.
No ship ready. He takes a short voyage toGlubbdubdrib.
His reception by the Governor.
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The continent of which this kingdom is a part extends itself, as I have reason to believe, eastward to that unknown tract of America, westward to California, and north to the Pacific Ocean, which is not above a hundred and fifty miles from Lagado, where there is a good port and much commerce with the great island of Luggnagg, situated to the northwest about 29 degrees north latitude, and 140 longitude. The island of Luggnagg stands southeastward of Japan, about a hundred leagues distant. There is a strict alliance between the Japanese Emperor and the King of Luggnagg, which affords frequent opportunities of sailing from one island to the other. I determined therefore to direct my course this way, in order to my return to Europe. I hired two mules with a guide to show me the way, and carry my small baggage. I took leave of my noble protector, who had shown me so much favor and made me a generous present at my departure.
My journey was without any accident or adventure worth relating. When I
arrived at the port of Maldonada (for so it is called) there was no ship in
the harbor bound for Luggnagg, nor likely to be in some time. The town is
about as large as Portsmouth
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Glubbdubdrib, as nearly as I can interpret the word, signifies the Island of
Sorcerers or Magicians. It is about one-third as large as the Isle of Wight
The Governor and his family are served and attended by domestics of a kind somewhat unusual. By his skill in necromancy, he has a power of calling whom he pleases from the dead, and commanding their service for twenty-four hours, but no longer; nor can he call the same persons up again in less than three months, except upon very extraordinary occasions.
When we arrived at the island, which was about eleven in the morning, one of
the gentlemen who accompanied me, went to the Governor, and desired Oxford English Dictionary
After this manner we continued in the island for ten days, most part of every
day with the Governor, and at night in our lodging. I soon grew so
familiarized to the sight of spirits, that the third or fourth time they
gave me no emotion at all; or if I had any apprehensions left, my curiosity
prevailed over them. For his Highness the Governor ordered me to call up
whatever persons I would choose to name, and in whatever numbers among all
the dead from the beginning of the world to the present time, and command
them to answer any questions I should think fit to ask; with this condition,
that my questions must be confined within the compass of the times they
lived in. And one thing I might depend upon, that they would certainly tell
me truth, for lying was a talent of no use in the lower world. I made my
humble acknowledgments to his Highness for so great a favor. We were in a
chamber from whence there was a fair prospect into the park. And because my
first inclination was to be entertained with scenes of pomp and
magnificence, I desired to see Alexander the Great
Next I saw Hannibal
I saw Caesar
The Governor at my request gave the sign for Caesar and Brutus
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It would be tedious to trouble the reader with relating what vast numbers of illustrious persons were called up, to gratify that insatiable desire I had to see the world in every period of antiquity placed before me. I chiefly fed my eyes with beholding the destroyers of tyrants and usurpers, and the restorers of liberty to oppressed and injured nations. But it is impossible to express the satisfaction I received in my own mind, after such a manner as to make it a suitable entertainment to the reader.
A further account ofGlubbdubdrib.
Ancient and modern history corrected.
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Having a desire to see those ancients who were most renowned for wit and
learning, I set apart one day on purpose. I proposed that Homer
The
Iliad and "The Odyssey">Source: Oxford English Dictionary
I then desired the Governor to call up Rene Descartes
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I spent five days in conversing with many others of the ancient learned. I
saw most of the first Roman
emperors
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The two gentlemen who conducted me to the island were pressed by their
private affairs to return in three days, which I employed in seeing some of
the modern dead, who had made the greatest figure for two or three hundred
years past in our own and other countries of Europe; and having been always
a great admirer of old illustrious families, I desired the Governor call up
a dozen or two of kings with their ancestors in order for eight or nine
generations. But my disappointment was grevious and unexpected. For instead
of a long train with royal diadems
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Nec
vir fortis, nec femina casta.
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I was chiefly disgusted with modern history. For having strictly examined all
the persons of greatest name in the courts of princes for a hundred years
past, I found how the world had been misled by prostitute writers, to
ascribe the greatest exploits in war to cowards, the wisest counsel to
fools, sincerity to flatterers, Roman virtue to betrayers of their country,
piety to atheists, chastity to sodomites
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Here I discovered the roguery
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I had the curiosity to enquire in a particular manner, by what method great
numbers had procured to themselves high titles of honor, and prodigious
estates; and I confined my inquiry to a very modern period; however, without
grating upon present times, because I would be sure to give no offense even
to foreigners (for I hope the reader need not be told that I do not in the
least intend my own country in what I say upon this occasion), a great
number of persons concerned were called up, and upon a very slight
examination, discovered such a scene of infamy, that I cannot reflect upon
it without some seriousness. Perjury, oppression, subornation, fraud, panderism
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I had often read of some great services done to princes and states, and
desired to see the persons by whom those services were performed. Upon
inquiry I was told that their names were to be found on
Among the rest there was one person whose case appeared a little singular. He
had a youth about eighteen years old standing by his side. He told me he had
for many years been commander of a ship, and in the sea fight of Actium
I was surprised to find corruption grown so high and so quick in that empire, by the force of luxury so lately introduced, which made me less wonder at many parallel cases in other countries, where vices of all kinds have reigned so much longer, and where the whole praise as well as pillage has been engrossed by the chief commander, who perhaps had the least title to either.
As every person called up made exactly the same appearance he had done in the world, it gave me melancholy reflections to observe how much the race of human kind was degenerate among us, within these hundred years past. How the pox under all its consequences and denominations had altered every lineament of an English countenance, shortened the size of bodies, unbraced the nerves, relaxed the sinews and muscles, introduced a sallow complexion, and rendered the flesh loose and rancid.
I descended so low as to desire that some English yeomen
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The Author returns toMaldonada.
Sails to the kingdom of Luggnagg.
The Author confined. He is sent for to court. The manner of his admittance. The King's great lenityMercifulness. Source: to his
subjects.
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The day of our departure being come, I took leave of his Highness the
Governor of Glubbdubdrib, and returned with my two companions to Maldonada,
where after a fortnight's waiting, a ship was ready to sail for Luggnagg.
The two gentlemen, and some others, were so generous and kind as to furnish
me with provisions, and see me on board. I was a month in this voyage. We
had one violent storm and were under a necessity of steering westward to get
into the tradewind, which holds for above sixty leagues
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Some of our sailors, whether out of treachery or inadvertence, had informed
the pilots that I was a stranger and a traveler, whereof these gave notice
to a custom house officer, by whom I was examined very strictly upon my
landing. This officer Oxford English
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I hired a young man who came in the same ship to be an interpreter; he was a
native of Luggnagg, but had lived some years at Maldonada, and was a perfect
master of both languages. By his assistance I was able to hold a
conversation with those who
The dispatch came from court about the time we expected. It contained a
warrant for conducting me and my retinue
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To return from this digression; when I had crept within four yards of the
throne, I raised myself gently upon my knees, and then striking my forehead
seven times on the ground, I pronounced the following words, as they had
been taught me the night before, Ickpling gloffthrobb
squutserumm blhiop mlashnalt zwin tnodbalkguffh slhiophad
gurdlubh asht. This is the compliment established by the laws of
the land for all persons admitted to the King's presence. It may be rendered
into English thus: May your Celestial Majesty outlive the sun, eleven moons
and a half. To this the King returned some answer, which although I could
not understand, yet I replied as I had been directed: Fluft drin yalerick dwuldom prastrad mirpush, which properly
signifies, My tongue is in the mouth of my friend, and by this expression
was meant that I desired leave to bring my interpreter; whereupon the young
man already mentioned was accordingly introduced, by whose intervention I
answered as many questions as his Majesty could put in over an hour. I spoke
in the Balnibarbian tongue, and my interpreter delivered my meaning in that
of Luggnagg.
The King was much delighted with my company, and ordered his Bliffmarklub or High Chamberlain, to appoint a lodging in the court for me and my interpreter, with a daily allowance for my table, and a large purse of gold for my common expenses.
I stayed three months in this country out of perfect obedience to his
Majesty, who was pleased highly to favor me, and made me very honorable
offers. But I thought it more consistent with prudence and justice to pass
the remainder of my days with my wife and family.
TheLuggnuggians
commended. A particular description of theStruldbrugs,
with many conversations between the Author and some eminent persons upon that subject.
[Audio File]
The Luggnaggians are a polite and generous people, and although they are not without some share of that pride which is peculiar to all Eastern countries, yet they show themselves courteous to strangers, especially such who are countenanced by the court. I had many acquaintance among persons of the best fashion, and being always attended by my interpreter, the conversation we had was not disagreeable.
One day in much good company I was asked by a person of quality, whether I
had seen any of their Struldbrugs, or Immortals. I said I had not, and
desired he would explain to me what he meant by such an appellation
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English Dictionary and Wikipedia
I freely own myself to have been struck with inexpressible delight upon
hearing this account, and the person who gave it me happening to understand
the Balnibarbian language, which I spoke very well, I could not forbear
breaking out into expressions perhaps a little too extravagant. I cried out
as in a rapture: Happy nation where every child hath at least a chance for
being immortal! Happy people who enjoy so many living examples of ancient
virtue, and have masters ready to instruct them in the wisdom of all former
ages! but, happiest beyond all comparison are those excellent struldbrugs,
who being born exempt from that universal calamity of human nature, have
their minds free and disengaged, without the weight and depression of
spirits caused by the continual apprehension of death. I discovered my
admiration that I had not observed any of these illustrious persons at
court; the black spot on the forehead being so remarkable a distinction,
that I could not have easily overlooked and it was impossible that his
Majesty,
The gentleman to whom I addressed my discourse, because (as I have already
observed) he spoke the language of Balnibarbi, said to me with a sort of a
smile, which usually arises from pity to the ignorant, that he was glad of
any occasion to keep me among them, and desired my permission to explain to
the company what I had spoke. He did so, and they talked together for some
time in their own language, whereof I understood not a syllable, neither
could I observe by their countenances what impression my discourse had made
on them. After a short silence, the same person told me that his friends and
mine (so he thought fit to express himself)
I answered, it was easy to be eloquent on so copious and delightful a subject, especially to me who have been often apt to amuse myself with visions of what I should do if I were a king, a general, or a great lord; and upon this very case I had frequently run over the whole system how I should employ myself and pass the time if I were sure to live for ever.
That if it had been my good fortune to come into the world a struldbrug, as
soon as I could discover my own happiness by understanding the difference
between life and death, I would first resolve by an arts and methods
whatsoever to procure myself riches. In the pursuit of which by thrift and
management, I might reasonably expect, in about two hundred years to be the
wealthiest man in the kingdom. In the second place, I would from my earliest
youth apply myself to the study of arts and sciences, by which I should
arrive in time to excell all others in learning. Lastly, I would carefully
record every action and event of consequence that happened in the public,
impartially draw the characters of the several successions of princes and
great ministers of state, with my own observations on every point. I would
exactly set down the several changes in customs, language, fashions of
dress,
I would never marry after threescore
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These struldbrugs and I would mutually communicate our observations and
memorials through the course of time, remark the several gradations by which
corruption steals into the world, and oppose it in every step, by giving
perpetual warning and instruction to mankind; which, added to the strong
influence of our own example, would
Add to all this the pleasure of seeing the various revolutions of states and empires, the changes in the lower and upper world, ancient cities in ruins, and obscure villages become the seats of kings. Famous rivers lessening into shallow brooks, the ocean leaving one coast dry, and overwhelming another; the discovery of many countries yet unknown. Barbarity over-running the politest nations, and the most barbarous become civilized. I should then see the discovery of the longitude, the perpetual motion, the universal medicine, and many other great inventions brought to the utmost perfection.
What wonderful discoveries should we make in astronomy, by outliving and confirming our own predictions, by observing the progress and returns of comets, with the changes of motion in the sun, moon, and stars.
I enlarged upon many other topics, which the natural desire of endless life
and sublunary happiness could easily furnish me with. When I had ended, and
the sum of my discourse had been interpreted as before, to the rest of the
company, there was a good deal of talk among them the language of the
country, not without some laughter at my expense. At last the same gentleman
who had been my interpreter said he was desired by the rest to set me right
in a few mistakes, which I had fallen into through the common imbecility of
human nature, and upon that allowance was less answerable for them. That
this breed of struldbrugs was peculiar
That the system of living contrived by me was unreasonable and unjust,
because it supposed a perpetuity of youth, health, and vigor, which no man
could be so foolish to hope, however extravagant he may be in his wishes.
That the question therefore was not whether a man would choose to be always
in the prime of youth, attended with prosperity and health, but how he would
pass a perpetual life under all the usual disadvantages which old age brings
along with it. For although few men will avow their desires of being
immortal upon such hard conditions, yet in the two kingdoms before mentioned
of Balnibarbi and Japan,
After this preface he gave me a particular account of the struldbrugs among
them. He said they commonly acted like mortals, till about thirty years old,
after which by degrees they grew melancholy and dejected, increasing in both
till they came to fourscore
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If a struldbrug happen to marry one of his own kind, the marriage is dissolved of course by the courtesy of the kingdom, as soon as the younger of the two comes to be fourscore. For the law thinks it a reasonable indulgence, that those who are condemned without any fault of their own to a perpetual continuance in the world, should not have their misery doubled by the load of a wife.
As soon as they have completed the term of eighty years, they are looked on
as dead in law; their heirs immediately succeed to their estates, only a
small pittance
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At ninety they lose their teeth and hair, they have at that age no
distinction of taste, but eat and
The language of this country being always upon the flux, the struldbrugs of one age do not understand those of another, neither are they able after two hundred years to hold any conversation (farther than by a few general words) with their neighbors the mortals; and thus they lie under the disadvantage of living like foreigners in their own country.
This was the account given me of the struldbrugs, as near as I can remember.
I afterwards saw five or six of different ages, the youngest not above two
hundred years old, who were brought to me at several times by some of my
friends; but although they were told that I was a great traveler, and had
seen all the world, they had not the least curiosity to ask me a question;
only desired I would give them slumskudask, or a token of remembrance, which
is a modest way of begging, to avoid the law that strictly forbids it,
because they are provided for
They are despised and hated by all sorts of people; when one of them is born, it is reckoned ominous, and their birth is recorded very particularly; so that you may know their age by consulting the registry, which however hath not been kept above a thousand years past, or at least hath been destroyed by time or public disturbances. But the usual way of computing how old they are, is by asking them what kings or great persons they can remember, and then consulting history, for infallibly the last prince in their mind did not begin his reign after they were fourscore years old.
They were the most mortifying sight I ever beheld, and the women more horrible than the men. Besides the usual deformities in extreme old age, they acquired an additional ghastliness in proportion to their number of years, which is not to be described; and among half a dozen, I soon distinguished which was the eldest, although there were not above a century or two between them.
The reader will easily believe, that from what I had heard and seen, my keen
appetite for perpetuity of life was much abated. I grew heartily ashamed of
the pleasing visions I had formed, and thought no tyrant could invent a
death into which I would not run with pleasure from such a life. The king
heard of all that had passed between me and my friends upon this occasion,
and rallied me very pleasantly, wishing I would send a couple of struldbrugs
to my own country, to arm our people against the
I could not but agree that the laws of this kingdom relating to the struldbrugs, were founded upon the strongest reasons, and such as any other country would be under the necessity of enacting in the like circumstances. Otherwise, as avarice is the necessary consequent of old age, those immortals would in time become proprietors of the whole nation, and engross the civil power, which, for want of abilities to manage, must end in the ruin of the public.
The Author leavesLuggnagg
and sails toJapan.
From thence he returns in aDutch
ship toAmsterdam,
and fromAmsterdam
toEngland.
[Audio File]
I thought this account of the Struldbrugs might be some entertainment to the reader, because it seems to be a little out of the common way, at least I do not remember to have met the like in any book of travels that has come to my hands; and if I am deceived, my excuse must be, that it is necessary for travelers, who describe the same country, very often to agree in dwelling on the same particulars, without deserving the censure of having borrowed or transcribed from those who wrote before them.
There is indeed a perpetual commerce between this kingdom and the great
empire of Japan, and
His Majesty having often pressed me to accept some employment in his court, and finding me absolutely determined to return to my native country, was pleased to give me his license to depart, and honored me with a letter of recommendation under his own hand to the Emperor of Japan. He likewise presented me with four hundred and forty-four large pieces of gold (this nation delighting in even numbers), and a red diamond which I sold in England for eleven hundred pounds.
On the 6th day of May, 1709 I took a solemn leave of his Majesty and all my
friends. This prince was so gracious as to order a guard to conduct me to
Glanguenstald, which is a royal port to the southwest part of the island. In
six days I found a vessel ready to carry me to Japan, and spent fifteen days
in the voyage. We landed at a small port town called Xamoschi, situated on
the southeast part of Japan; the town lies on the western point, where there
is a narrow strait, leading northward into a long arm of the sea, upon the
northwest part of which, Yedo the metropolis stands. At landing, I showed
the custom house officers my letter from the King of Luggnagg to his
Imperial Majesty. They knew the seal perfectly well; it was as broad as the
On the 9th day of June, 1709, I arrived at Nangasac, after a very long and
troublesome journey. I soon fell into the company of some Dutch sailors
belonging to the Amboyna
Nothing happened worth mentioning in this voyage. We sailed with a fair wind to the Cape of Good Hope, where we stayed only to take in fresh water. On the 10th of April we arrived safe at Amsterdam, having lost only three men by sickness in the voyage, and a fourth who fell from the foremast into the sea, not far from the coast of Guinea. From Amsterdam I soon after set sail for England in a small vessel belonging to that city.
On the 16th of April, 1710, we put in at the Downs. I landed the next
morning, and saw once more my native country after an absence of five years
and six months complete. I went straight to Redriff, where I arrived the
same day at two in the afternoon, and found my wife and family in good
health.
A VOYAGE TO THE COUNTRY OF THE HOUYHNHNMS
The Author sets out as Captain of a ship. His men conspire against him, confine him a long time to his cabbin, set him on shore in an unknown land. He travels up into the country.The Yahoos
a strange sort of animal, described. The Author meets twoHouyhnhnms.
[Audio File]
I continued at home with my wife and children about five months in a very
happy condition, if I could have learned the lesson of knowing when I was
well. I left my poor wife big with child, and accepted an advantageous offer
made me to be Captain of the Adventure, a stout merchantman
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I had several men die in my ship of calentures
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Upon the ninth day of May, 1711, one James Welch came down to my cabin; and
said he had orders from the Captain to set me ashore. I expostulated
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In this desolate condition I advanced forward, and soon got upon ground,
where I sat down on a Oxford
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anus, and
pudenda
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In the midst of this distress, I observed them all to run away of a sudden as
fast as they could, at which I ventured to leave the tree, and pursue the
road, wondering what it was that could put them into this fright. But
looking on my left hand, I saw a horse walking softly in the field; which my
persecutors having sooner discovered, was the cause of their flight. The
horse started a little when he came near me, but soon recovering himself,
looked full in my face with manifest tokens of wonder; he viewed my hands
and feet, walking round me several times. I would have pursued my journey,
but he placed himself directly in the way, yet looking with a very mild
aspect, never offering the least violence. We stood gazing at each other for
some time; at last I took the boldness to reach my hand towards his neck,
with a design to stroke it, using the common style and whistle of jockeys
when they are going to handle a strange horse. But this animal seeming to
receive my civilities with disdain, shook his head, and bent his brows,
softly raising up his
While he and I were thus employed, another horse came up; who applying
himself to the first in a very formal manner, they gently struck each
other's right hoof before, neighing several times by turns, and varying the
sound, which seemed to be almost articulate. They went some paces off, as if
it were to confer together, walking side by side, backward and forward, like
persons deliberating upon some affair of weight, but often turning their
eyes towards me, as it were to watch that I might not escape. I was amazed
to see such actions and behavior in brute beasts, and concluded with myself,
that if the inhabitants of this country were endued with a proportionable
degree of reason, they must needs be the wisest people upon earth. This
thought gave me so much comfort, that I resolved to go forward until I could
discover some house or village, or meet with any of the natives, leaving the
two horses to discourse together as they pleased. But the first, who was a
dapple gray, observing me to steal off, neighed after me in so expressive a
tone, that I fancied myself to understand what he meant; whereupon I turned
back, and came near him, to expect his farther commands, but concealing my
fear as much as I could, for I began to be in some pain, how this adventure
might terminate; and the reader will easily believe I did not much like my
present situation.
The two horses came up close to me, looking with great earnestness upon my
face and hands. The gray steed rubbed my hat all round with his right
forehoof, and discomposed it so much that I was forced to adjust it better,
by taking it off, and settling it again; whereat both he and his companion
(who was a brown bay) appeared to be much surprised; the latter felt the
lappet of my coat, and finding it to hang loose about me, they both looked
with new signs of wonder. He stroked my right hand, seeming to admire the
softness and color; but he squeezed it so hard between his hoof and his pastern
Upon the whole, the behavior of these animals was so orderly and rational, so
acute and judicious, that I at last concluded they must needs be magicians,
who had thus metamorphosed themselves upon some design, and seeing a
stranger the way, were resolved to divert themselves with him; or perhaps
were really amazed at the sight of a man so very different in habit,
feature, and complexion from those who might probably live so remote a
climate. Upon the strength of this reasoning, I ventured to address them in
the following manner: Gentlemen, if you be conjurers, as I have good cause
to believe, you can understand any language;
I could frequently distinguish the word Yahoo, which was repeated by each of
them several times; and although it was impossible for me to conjecture what
it meant, yet while the two horses were busy in conversation, I endeavored
to practice this word upon my tongue; and as soon as they were silent, I
boldly pronounced Yahoo in a loud voice, imitating, at the same time, as
near as I could, the neighing of a horse; at which they were both visibly
surprised, and the gray repeated the same word twice, as if he meant to
teach me the right accent, wherein I spoke after him as well as I could, and
found myself perceivably to improve every time, though very far from any
degree of perfection. Then the bay tried me with a second word, much harder
to be pronounced; but reducing it to the English orthography
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Dictionary
After some further discourse, which I then conjectured might relate to me,
the two friends took their leave, with the same compliment of striking each
other's hoof; and the gray made me signs that I should walk before him,
wherein I thought it prudent to comply, till I could find a better director.
When I offered to slacken my pace, he would cry Hhuun,
Hhuun; I guessed his meaning, and gave him to understand as well as
I could, that I was weary, and not able to walk faster; upon which he would
stand a while to let me rest.
The Author conducted by aHouyhnhnm
to his house. The house described. The Author's reception. The food of theHouyhnhnms.
The Author in distress for want of meat, is at last relieved. His manner of feeding in this country.
[Audio File]
Having traveled about three miles, we came to a long kind of building, made
of timber stuck in the ground, and wattled
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Beyond this room there were three others, reaching the length of the house,
to which you passed through three doors, opposite to each other, in the
manner of a vista; we went through the second room towards the third; here
the gray walked in first, beckoning me to attend: I waited in the second
room, and got ready my presents for the master and mistress of the house:
they were two knives, three bracelets of pearl, a small looking glass, and a
bead necklace. The horse neighed three or four times, and I waited to hear
some answers in a human voice, but I heard no other returns than in the same
dialect, only one or two a little shriller than his. I began to think that
this house must belong to some person of great note among them, because
there appeared so much ceremony before I Oxford
English Dictionary
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Dictionary
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The mare soon after my entrance, rose from her mat, and coming up close,
after having nicely observed my hands and face, gave me a most contemptuous
look; then turning to the horse, I heard the word Yahoo often repeated
betwixt them; the meaning of which word I could not then comprehend,
although it were the first I had learned to pronounce; but I was soon better
informed, to my everlasting mortification: for the horse beckoning to me
with his head, and repeating the word Hhuun, Hhuun, as he did upon the road,
which I understood was to attend him, led me out into a kind of court, where
was another building at some distance from the house. Here we entered, and I
saw Oxford English Dictionary
The master horse ordered a sorrel
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The great difficulty that seemed to stick with the two horses, was to see the
rest of my body so very different from that of a Yahoo, for which I was
obliged to my clothes whereof they had no conception. The sorrel nag offered
me a root, which he held (after their manner, as we shall describe in its
proper place) between his hoof and pastern; I took it in my hand, and having
smelt it, returned it to him again as civilly as I could. He brought out of
the Yahoo's kennel a piece of ass's flesh, but it smelt so offensively that
I turned from it with loathing: he then threw it to the Yahoo, by whom it
was greedily devoured. He afterwards showed me a wisp of hay, and a fetlock
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Dictionary
About noon I saw coming towards the house a kind of vehicle, drawn like a
sledge by four Yahoos. There was in it an old steed
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I happened to wear my gloves, which the master gray observing, seemed perplexed, discovering signs of wonder what I had done to my fore feet; he put his hoof three or four times to them, as if he would signify that I should reduce them to their former shape, which I presently did, pulling off both my gloves, and putting them into my pocket. This occasioned farther talk, and I saw the company was pleased with my behavior, whereof I soon found the good effects. I was ordered to speak the few words I understood, and while they were at dinner the master taught the names for oats, milk, fire, water, and some others; which I could readily pronounce after him, having from my youth a great facility in learning languages.
When dinner was done the master horse took me aside, and by signs and words
made me understand the concern that he was in, that I had nothing to eat.
Oats in their tongue are called hlunnh. This word I
pronounced two or three times; for although I had refused them at first, yet
upon second thoughts I considered that I could contrive to make of them a
kind of bread, which might be sufficient with milk to keep me alive, till I
could make my escape to some other country and to creatures of my own
species. The horse immediately ordered a white mare-servant of his family to
bring me a good Oxford
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This is enough to say upon the subject of my diet, wherewith other travelers
fill their books, as if the readers were personally concerned whether
When it grew towards evening, the master horse ordered a place for me to lodge in; it was but six yards from the house, and separated from the stable of the Yahoos. Here I got some straw, and covering myself with my own clothes, slept very sound. But I was in a short time better accommodated, as the reader shall know hereafter, when I come to treat more particularly about my way of living.
The Author studious to learn the language, theHouyhnhnm
his master assists in teaching him. The language described. SeveralHouyhnhnms
of quality came out of curiosity to see the Author. He gives his master a short account of his voyage.
[Audio File]
My principal endeavor was to learn the language, which my master (for so I
shall henceforth call him) and his children, and every servant of his house,
were desirous to teach me. For they looked upon it as a prodigy that a brute
animal should discover such marks of a rational creature. I pointed to every
thing and inquired the name of it, which I wrote down in my journal book
when I was alone, and corrected my bad accent by desiring those of the
family to pronounce it often. In
In speaking they pronounce through the nose and throat, and their language approaches nearest to the High Dutch or German of any I know in Europe; but is much more graceful and significant. The Emperor Charles made almost the same observation, when he said that if he were to speak to his horse it should be in High Dutch.
The curiosity and impatience of my master were so great, that he spent many
hours of his leisure to instruct me. He was convinced (as he afterwards told
me) that I must be a Yahoo, but my teachableness, civility, and cleanliness,
astonished him; which were qualities altogether so opposite to those
animals. He was most perplexed about my clothes, reasoning sometimes with
himself whether they were a part of my body; for I never pulled them off
till the family were asleep, and got them on before they waked in the
morning. My master was eager to learn from where I came, how I acquired
those appearances of reason which I discovered in all my actions, and to
know my story from my own mouth, which he hoped he should soon do by the
great proficiency I made in learning and pronouncing their words and
sentences. To help my memory, I formed all I learned into the English
alphabet, and wrote the words down with the translations. This last after
some time I ventured to do in my master's
In about ten weeks time I was able to understand most of his questions, and
in three months could give him some tolerable answers. He was extremely
curious to know from what part of the country I came, and how I was taught
to imitate a rational creature; because the Yahoos (whom he saw I exactly
resembled in my head, hands, and face, that were only visible), with some
appearance of cunning, and the strongest disposition to mischief, were
observed to be the most unteachable of all brutes. I answered that I came
over the sea from a far place, with many others of my own kind, in a great
hollow vessel made of the bodies of trees. That my companions forced me to
land on this coast, and then left me to shift for myself. It was with some
difficulty, and by the help of many signs, that I brought him to understand
me. He replied, that I must needs be mistaken, or that I said the thing
which was not. (For they have no word in their language to express lying or
falsehood.) He knew it was impossible that there could be a country beyond
the sea, or that a parcel of brutes could move a wooden vessel whither they
pleased upon water. He was sure no Houyhnhnm alive could make such a vessel,
nor would trust Yahoos to manage it.
The word Houyhnhnm, in their tongue, signifies a horse, and in its etymology
the perfection of nature. I told my master, that I
was at a loss for expression, but would improve as fast as I could; and
hoped in a short time I should be able to tell him wonders: he was pleased
to direct his own mare, his colt and foal, and the servants of the family,
to take all opportunities of instructing me, and every day for two or three
hours he was at the same pains himself. Several horses and mares of quality
in the neighborhood came often to our house upon the report spread of a
wonderful Yahoo, that could speak like a Houyhnhnm, and seemed in his words
and actions to discover some glimmerings of reason. These delighted to
converse with me: they put many questions, and received such answers as I
was able to return. By all these advantages I made so great a progress that
in five months from my arrival I understood whatever was spoke, and could
express myself tolerably well.
The Houyhnhnms who came to visit my master with the design of seeing and talking with me, could hardly believe me to be a right Yahoo, because my body had a different covering from others of my kind. They were astonished to observe me without the usual hair or skin, except on my head, face, and hands; but I discovered that secret to my master, upon an accident which happened about a fortnight before.
I have already told the reader, that every night when the family were gone to
bed it was my custom to strip and cover myself with my clothes. It
I had hitherto concealed the secret of my dress, in order to distinguish
myself as much as possible from that cursed race of Yahoos; but now I found
it in vain to do so any longer. Besides, I considered that my clothes and
shoes would soon wear out, which already were in a declining condition, and
must be supplied by some contrivance from the hides of Yahoos or other
brutes; whereby the whole secret would be known. I therefore told my master
that in the country from which I came those of my kind always covered their
bodies with the hairs of certain animals prepared by art, as well for
decency as to avoid the inclemencies of air, both hot and cold; of which, as
to my own person, I would give him immediate conviction, if he pleased to
command me; only desiring his excuse, if I did not expose those parts that
nature taught us to conceal. He said
My master observed the whole performance with great signs of curiosity and admiration. He took up all my clothes in his pastern, one piece after another, and examined them diligently; he then stroked my body very gently and looked round me several times, after which he said it was plain I must be a perfect Yahoo; but that I differed very much from the rest of my species, in the softness and whiteness and smoothness of my skin, my want of hair in several parts of my body, the shape and shortness of my claws behind and before, and my affectation of walking continually on my two hind feet. He desired to see no more, and gave me leave to put on my clothes again, for I was shuddering with cold.
I expressed my uneasiness at his giving me so often the appellation of Yahoo,
an odious animal for which I had so utter a hatred and contempt. I begged he
would forbear applying that word to me, and take the same order in his
family, and among his friends whom he suffered to see me. I requested
likewise
All this my master very graciously consented to, and thus the secret was kept till my clothes began to wear out, which I was forced to supply by several contrivances that shall hereafter be mentioned. In the meantime he desired I would go on with my utmost diligence to learn their language, because he was more astonished at my capacity for speech and reason than at the figure of my body, whether it were covered or not; adding that he waited with some impatience to hear the wonders which I promised to tell him.
From thenceforward he doubled the pains he had been at to instruct me; he
brought me into all company, and made them treat me with civility, because,
as he told them privately, this would put me into good humor and make me
more diverting
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Every day when I waited on him, beside the trouble he was at in teaching, he
would ask me several questions concerning myself, which I answered as well
as I could; and by these means he had already received some general ideas,
though very imperfect. It would be tedious to relate the several steps by
which I advanced to a more regular conversation: but the first account I
gave of myself in any order and length, was to this purpose:
That I came from a very far country, as I already had attempted to tell him,
with about fifty more of my own species; that we traveled upon the seas, in
a great hollow vessel made of wood, and larger than his Honor's house. I
described the ship to him in the best terms I could, and explained by the
help of my handkerchief displayed, how it was driven forward by the wind.
That upon a quarrel among us, I was set on shore on this coast, where I
walked forward without knowing whither, till he delivered me from the
persecution of those execrable Yahoos. He asked me who made the ship, and
how it was possible that the Houyhnhnms of my country would leave it to the
management of brutes? My answer was that I dare proceed no further in my
relation, unless he would give me his word and honor that he would not be
offended, and then I would tell him the wonders I had so often promised. He
agreed; and I went on by assuring him that the ship was made by creatures
was myself, who in all the countries I had traveled, as well as in my own,
were the only governing, rational animals; and that upon my arrival here I
was as much astonished to see the Houyhnhnms act like rational beings, as he
or his friends could be finding some marks of reason in a creature he was
pleased to call a Yahoo, to which I owned my resemblance in every part, but
could not account for their degenerate and brutal nature. I said farther
TheHouyhnhnms
notion of truth and falshood. The Author's discourse disapproved by his master. The Author gives a more particular account of himself, and the accidents of his voyage.
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My master heard me with great appearances of uneasiness in his countenance,
because doubting, or not believing, are so little known in this country,
that the inhabitants cannot tell how to behave themselves under such
circumstances. And I remember in frequent discourses with my master
concerning the nature of manhood in other parts of the world, having
occasion to talk of lying and false representation, it was with much
difficulty that he comprehended what I meant, although he had otherwise a
most acute judgment. For he argued thus: that the use of speech was to make
us understand one another, and to receive information of facts; now if
anyone said the thing which was
To return from this digression; when I asserted that the Yahoos were the only
governing animals in my country, which my master said was altogether past
his conception, he desired to know whether we had Houyhnhnms among us, and
what was their employment: I told him we had great numbers, that in summer
they grazed in the fields, and in winter were kept in houses, with hay and
oats, where Yahoo servants were employed to rub their skins smooth, comb
their manes, pick their feet, serve them with food, and make their beds. I
understand you well, said my master, it is now very plain, from all you have
spoken, that whatever share of reason the Yahoos pretend to, the Houyhnhnms
are your masters; I heartily wish our Yahoos would be so tractable. I begged
his Honor would please to excuse me from proceeding any farther, because I
was very certain that the account he expected from me would be highly
displeasing. But he insisted in commanding me to let him know the best and
the worst: I told him he should be obeyed. I owned that the Houyhnhnms among
us, whom Oxford English Dictionary
My master, after some expressions of great indignation
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It put me to the pains of many circumlocutions
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I assured him how extremely desirous I was that he should be satisfied on
every point; but I doubted much whether it would be possible for me to
explain myself on several subjects whereof his Honor could have no
conception, because I saw nothing in his country to which I could resemble
them. That however I would do my best, and strive to express myself by similitudes
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I said my birth was of honest parents in an island called England, which was
remote from this country, as many days' journey as the strongest of his
Honor's servants could travel in the annual course of the sun. That I was
bred a surgeon, whose trade it is to cure wounds and hurts in the body, got
by accident or violence; that my country was governed by a female man, whom
we called a Queen. That I left it to get riches, whereby I might maintain
myself and family when I should return. That in my last voyage I was
Commander of the ship, and had about fifty Yahoos under me, many of which
died at sea, and I was forced to
During this discourse my master was pleased to interrupt me several times; I
had made use of many circumlocutions in describing to him the nature of the
several crimes, for which most of our crew had been forced to fly their
country. This labor took up several days' conversation before he was able to
comprehend me. He was wholly at a loss to know what could be the use or
necessity of practicing those vices. To clear up which I endeavored to give
some ideas of the desire of power and riches, of the terrible effects Oxford English Dictionary
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The Author, at his master's command, informs him of the state ofEngland.
The causes of war among the Princes ofEurope.
The Author begins to explain theEnglish
constitution.
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The reader may please to observe, that the following extract
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In obedience therefore to his Honor's commands, I related to him the Revolution under the
Prince of Orange
He asked me what were the usual causes or motives that made one country go to
war with another. I answered they were innumerable, but I should only
mention a few of the chief. Sometimes the ambition of princes, who never
think they have land or people enough to govern; sometimes the
Sometimes the quarrel between two princes is to which of them shall
dispossess a third of his dominions, where neither of them pretend to any
right. Sometimes one prince quarrels with another, for fear the other should
quarrel with him. Sometimes a war is entered upon, because the enemy is too
strong, and sometimes because he is too weak. Sometimes our neighbors want
the things which we have, or have the things which we want; and we both
fight, till they take ours or give us theirs. It is a very justifiable cause
of a war to invade a country after the people have been wasted by famine,
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There is likewise a kind of beggarly
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What you have told me (said my master) upon the subject of war, does indeed discover most admirably the effects of that reason you pretend to: however, it is happy that the shame is greater than the danger; and that nature has left you utterly uncapable of doing much mischief.
For your mouths lying flat with your faces, you can hardly bite each other to any purpose, unless by consent. Then as to the claws upon your feet before and behind, they are so short and tender, that one of our Yahoos would drive a dozen of yours before him. And therefore in recounting the numbers of those who have been killed in battle, I cannot but think that you have said the thing which is not.
I could not forbear shaking my head and smiling a little at his ignorance.
And being no stranger to the art of war, I gave him a description of
cannons, culverins
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I was going on to more particulars, when my master commanded me silence. He
said whoever understood the nature of Yahoos might easily believe it
possible for so vile animals to be capable of every action I had named, if
their strength and cunning squalled
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He added, that he had heard too much upon the subject of war, both in this and some former discourses. There was another point which a little perplexed him at present. I had informed him, that some of our crew left their country on account of being ruined by Law; that I had already explained the meaning of the word; but he was at a loss how it should come to pass, that the law which was intended for every man's preservation, should be any man's ruin. Therefore he desired to be further satisfied what I meant by law, and the dispensers thereof, according to the present practice in my own country; because he thought nature and reason were sufficient guides for a reasonable animal, as we pretended to be, in showing us what we ought to do, and what to avoid.
I assured his Honor that law was a science wherein I had not much conversed, further than by employing advocates, in vain, upon some injustices that had been done me: however, I would give him all the satisfaction I was able.
I said there was a society of men among us, bred up from their youth in the
art of proving by Oxford English Dictionary
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In pleading they studiously avoid entering into the merits of the cause, but
are loud, violent, and tedious in dwelling upon all circumstances which are
not to the purpose. For instance, in the case already mentioned, they never
desire to know what claim or title my adversary has to my cow; but whether
the said cow were red or black, her horns long or short, whether the field I
graze her in be round or square, whether she was milked at home or abroad,
what diseases she is subject to, and the like; after which they consult
precedents, adjourn
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It is likewise to be observed, that this society has a peculiar cant
In the trial of persons accused for crimes against the state the method is much more short and commendable: the judge first sends to sound the disposition of those in power, after which he can easily hang or save the criminal, strictly preserving all due forms of law.
Here my master interposing, said it was a pity that creatures endowed with
such prodigious abilities of mind as these lawyers, by the description I
gave of them, must certainly be, were not rather encouraged to be
instructors of others in wisdom and knowledge. In answer to which I assured
his Honor that in all points out of their own trade, they were usually the
most ignorant and stupid generation among us, the most despicable in common
conversation, avowed enemies to all knowledge and learning, and equally to
pervert the general reason of mankind in every other subject of discourse,
as in that of their own profession.
A continuance of the state ofEngland.
The character of a first or chief minister of state inEuropean
Courts.
[Audio File]
My master was yet wholly at a loss to understand what motives could incite
this race of lawyers to perplex, disquiet, and weary themselves, and engage
in a confederacy of injustice, merely for the sake of injuring their fellow
animals; neither could he comprehend what I meant in saying they did it for
hire. Whereupon I was at much pains to describe to him the use of money, the
materials it was made of, and the value of the metals; that when a Yahoo had
got a great store of this precious substance, he was able to purchase
whatever he had a mind to; the finest clothing, the noblest houses, great
tracts of land, the most costly meats and drinks, and have his choice of the
most beautiful females. Therefore since money alone was able to perform all
these feats, our Yahoos thought they could never have enough of it to spend
or save, as they found themselves inclined from their natural bent either to
profusion or avarice. That the rich man enjoyed the fruit of the poor man's
labor, and the latter were a thousand to one in proportion to the former.
That the bulk of our people were forced to live miserably, by laboring every
day for small wages to make a few live plentifully. I enlarged myself much
on these and Oxford English
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That wine was not imported among us from foreign countries, to supply the want of water or other drinks, but because it was a sort of liquid which made us merry by putting us out of our senses, diverted all melancholy thoughts, begat wild extravagant imaginations in the brain, raised our hopes, and banished our fears, suspended every office of reason for a time, and deprived us of the use of our limbs, till we fell into a profound sleep; although it must be confessed, that we always awoke sick and dispirited and that the use of this liquor filled us with diseases, which made our lives uncomfortable and short.
But beside all this, the bulk of our people supported themselves by
furnishing the necessities or conveniences of life to the rich, and to each
other. For instance, when I am at home and dressed as I ought to be, I carry
on my body the workmanship of a hundred tradesmen; the building and
furniture of my house employ as many more, and five times the number to
adorn my wife.
I was going on to tell him of another sort of people, who get their
livelihood by attending the sick, having upon some occasions informed his
Honor that many of my crew had died of diseases. But here it was with the
utmost difficulty that I brought him to apprehend what I meant. He could
easily conceive that a Houyhnhnm grew weak and heavy a few days before his
death, or by some accident might hurt a limb. But that nature, who works all
things to perfection, should suffer any pains to breed in our bodies, he
thought impossible, and desired to know the reason of so unaccountable an
evil. I told him we fed on a thousand things which operated contrary to each
other; that we ate when we were not hungry, and drank without the
provocation of thirst; that we sat whole nights drinking strong liquors
without eating a bit, which disposed us to sloth, inflamed our bodies, and
precipitated or prevented digestion. That prostitute female Yahoos acquired
a certain malady, which bred rottenness in the bones of those who fell into
their embraces; that this and many other diseases were propagated from
father to son, so that great numbers come into the world with complicated
maladies upon them; that it would be endless to give him a catalogue of all
diseases incident to human bodies; for they could not be fewer than five or
six hundred, spread over every limb and joint; in short, every part,
external and intestine, having diseases appropriated to them. To remedy
which there was a sort of people bred up among us, in the profession
Their fundamental is that all diseases arise from repletion
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But besides real diseases we are subject to many that are only imaginary, for which the physicians have invented imaginary cures; these have their several names, and so have the drugs that are proper for them, and with these our female Yahoos are always infested.
One great excellency in this tribe is their skill at prognostics
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They are likewise of special use to husbands and wives who are grown weary of their mates, to eldest sons, to great ministers of state, and often to princes.
I had formerly upon occasion discoursed with my master upon the nature of
government in general, and particularly of our own excellent constitution,
deservedly the wonder and envy of the whole world. But having here
accidentally mentioned a minister of state, he commanded me some time after
to inform him what species of Yahoo I particularly meant by that
appellation.
I told him that a First or Chief Minister of State, who was the person I intended to describe, was a creature wholly exempt from joy and grief, love and hatred, pity and anger; at least made use of no other passions but a violent desire of wealth, power, and titles; that he applies his words to all uses, except to the indication of his mind; that he never tells a truth but with an intent that you should take it for a lie; nor a lie but with a design that you should take it for a truth; that those he speaks worst of behind their backs are in the surest way of preferment; and whenever he begins to praise you to others or to yourself, you are from that day forlorn. The worst mark you can receive is a promise, especially when it is confirmed with an oath; after which every wise man retires, and gives over all hopes.
There are three methods by which a man may rise to be chief minister: the
first is by knowing how with prudence to dispose of a wife, a daughter, or a
sister: the second, by betraying or undermining his predecessor: and the
third is by a furious zeal in public assemblies against the corruptions of
the court. But a wise prince would rather choose to employ those who
practice the last of these methods; because such zealots prove always the
most obsequious
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The palace of a chief minister is a seminary
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He is usually governed by a decayed wench or favorite footman, who are the tunnels through which all graces are conveyed, and may properly be called, in the last resort, the governors of the kingdom.
One day in discourse my master, having heard me mention the nobility of my
country, was pleased to make me a compliment which I could not pretend to
deserve: that he was sure I must have been born of some noble family,
because I far exceeded in shape, color, and cleanliness, all the Yahoos of
his nation, although I seemed to fail in strength and agility, which must be
imputed to my different way of living from those other brutes; and besides I
was not only endowed with the faculty of speech, but likewise with some
rudiments of reason, to a degree that with all his acquaintance I passed for
a prodigy.
He made me observe, that among the Houyhnhnms, the white, the sorrel, and the
iron grey were not so exactly shaped as the bay
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I made his Honor my most humble acknowledgments for the good opinion he was
pleased to conceive of me; but assured him at the same time that my birth
was of the lower sort, having been born of plain honest parents, who were
just able to give me a tolerable education; that nobility among us was
altogether a different thing from the idea he had of it; that our young
noblemen are bred from their childhood in idleness and luxury; that as soon
as years will permit, they consume their vigor and contract odious diseases
among lewd females; and when their fortunes are almost ruined, they marry
some woman of mean birth, disagreeable person, and unsound constitution,
merely for the sake of money, whom they hate and despise. That the
productions of such marriages are generally scrofulous, rickety, or deformed
children; by which means the family seldom continues above three
generations, unless the wife takes care to provide a healthy father among
her neighbors or domestics, in order to improve and continue the breed. That
a weak diseased body, a meagre countenance,
Without the consent of this illustrious body no law can be enacted, repealed, or altered; and these have the decision of all our possessions without appeal.
The Author's great love of his native country. His master's observations upon the constitution and administration ofEngland,
as described by the Author, with parallel cases and comparisons. His master's observations upon human nature.
[Audio File]
The reader may be disposed to wonder how I could prevail on myself to give so
free a representation of my own species, among a race of mortals who were
already too apt to conceive the vilest opinion of human kind, from that
entire congruity betwixt me and their Yahoos. But I must freely confess that
the many virtues of those excellent quadrupeds placed in opposite view to
human corruptions, had so far opened my eyes and enlarged my understanding,
that I began to view the actions and passions of man in a very different
Let me deal so candidly with the reader as to confess that there was yet a much stronger motive for the freedom I took in my representation of things. I had not been a year in this country before I contracted such a love and veneration for the inhabitants, that I entered on a firm resolution never to return to human kind, but to pass the rest of my life among these admirable Houyhnhnms in the contemplation and practice of every virtue; where I could have no example or incitement to vice. But it was decreed by fortune, my perpetual enemy, that so great a felicity should not fall to my share. However, it is now some comfort to reflect that in what I said of my countrymen I extenuated their faults as much as I dared before so strict an examiner, and upon every article gave as favorable a turn as the matter would bear. For indeed who is there alive that will not be swayed by his bias and partiality to the place of his birth?
I have related the substance of several conversations I had with my master,
during the greatest
When I had answered all his questions, and his curiosity seemed to be fully satisfied, he sent for me one morning early, and commanding me to sit down at some distance (an honor which he had never before conferred upon me), he said he had been very seriously considering my whole story, as far as it related both to myself and my country; that he looked upon us as sort of animals to whose share, by what accident he could not conjecture, some small pittance of reason had fallen, whereof we made no other use than by its assistance to aggravate our natural corruptions, and to acquire new ones which nature had not given us. That we disarmed ourselves of the few abilities she had bestowed, had been very successful in multiplying our original wants, and seemed to spend our whole lives in vain endeavors to supply them by our own inventions. That as to myself, it was manifest I had neither the strength or agility of a common Yahoo, that I walked infirmly on my hinder feet, had found out a contrivance to make my claws of no use or defense, and to remove the hair from my chin, which was intended as a shelter from the sun and the weather. Lastly, that I could neither run with speed, nor climb trees like my brethren (as he called them) the Yahoos in this country.
That our institutions of government and law were plainly owing to our gross
defects in reason, and by consequence, in virtue; because reason alone is
sufficient
He was the more confirmed in this opinion, because he observed that as I
agreed in every feature of my body with other Yahoos, except where it was to
my real disadvantage in point of strength, speed and activity, the shortness
of my claws, and some other particulars where nature had no part; so from
the representation I had given him of our lives, our manners, and our
actions, he found as near a resemblance in the disposition of our minds. He
said the Yahoos were known to hate one another more than they did any
different species of animals; and the reason usually assigned was the
odiousness of their own shapes, which all could see in the rest, but not in
themselves. He had therefore begun to think it not unwise in us to cover our
bodies, and by that invention conceal many of our own deformities from each
other, which would else be hardly supportable. But he now found he had been
mistaken, and that the dissensions of those brutes in his country were owing
to the same cause with ours, as I had described them. For if (said he) you
throw among five Yahoos as much food as would be sufficient for fifty, they
will, instead of eating peaceably, fall together by the ears, each single
one impatient to have all to itself; and therefore a servant was usually
employed to stand by while they were
That in some fields of his country there are certain shining stones of
several colors, whereof the Yahoos are violently fond, and when part of
these stones is fixed in the earth, as it sometimes happens, they will dig
with their claws for whole days to get them out, then carry them away, and
hide them by heaps in their kennels; but still looking round with great
caution, for fear their comrades should find out their treasure. My master
said he could never discover the reason of this unnatural appetite, or how
these stones could be of any use to a Yahoo; but now he believed it might
proceed from the same principle of avarice which I had ascribed to mankind:
that he had once, by way of experiment, privately removed a heap of these
My master farther assured me, which I also observed myself, that in the fields where the shining stones abound, the fiercest and most frequent battles are fought, occasioned by perpetual inroads of the neighboring Yahoos.
He said it was common when two Yahoos discovered such a stone in a field, and were contending which of them should be the proprietor, a third would take the advantage, and carry it away from them both; which my master would needs contend to have some kind of resemblance with our suits at law; wherein I thought it for our credit not to undeceive him; since the decision he mentioned was much more equitable than many decrees among us; because the plaintiff and defendant there lost nothing beside the stone they contended for, whereas our courts of equity would never have dismissed the cause while either of them had any thing left.
My master, his discourse, said there was nothing that rendered the Yahoos
more odious than
There was also another kind of root very juicy, but somewhat rare and difficult to be found, which the Yahoos sought for with much eagerness, and would suck it with great delight; and it produced in them the same effects that wine has upon us. It would make them sometimes hug, and sometimes tear one another; they would howl and grin, and chatter, and reel, and tumble, and then fall asleep in the dirt.
I did indeed observe that the Yahoos were the only animals in this country
subject to any diseases; which, however, were much fewer than horses have
among us, and contracted not by any ill treatment they meet with, but by the
nastiness and greediness of that sordid brute. Neither has their language
any more than a general appellation for those maladies, which is borrowed
from the name of the beast, and called Hnea-Yahoo, or the Yahoo's evil, and
the cure prescribed is a mixture of their own dung and urine forcibly put
down the Yahoo's throat. This I have since often known to have been taken
with success, and do freely recommend
As to learning, government, arts, manufactures, and the like, my master
confessed he could find little or no resemblance between the Yahoos of that
country and those in ours. For he only meant to observe what parity there
was in our natures. He had heard indeed some curious Houyhnhnms observe that
in most herds there was a sort of ruling Yahoo (as among us there is
generally some leading or principal stag in a park), who was always more
deformed in body and mischievous in disposition than any of the rest. That
this leader had usually a favorite as like himself as he could get, whose
employment was to lick his master's feet and posteriors, and drive the
female Yahoos to his kennel; for which he was now and then rewarded with a
piece of ass's flesh. This favorite is hated by the whole herd, and
therefore to protect himself, keeps always near the person of his leader. He
usually continues in office till worse can be found; but the very moment he
is discarded, his successor, at the head of all the Yahoos in that district,
young and old, male and female, come in a body, and discharge their
excrements upon him from head
I dared make no return to this malicious insinuation, which debased human understanding below the sagacity of a common hound, who has judgment enough to distinguish and follow the cry of the ablest dog in the pack, without being ever mistaken.
My master told me there were some qualities remarkable in the Yahoos, which he had not observed me to mention, or at least very slightly, in the accounts I had given him of human kind. He said those animals, like other brutes, had their females in common; but in this they differed, that the she Yahoo would admit the male while she was pregnant; and that the hes would quarrel and fight with the females as fiercely as with each other. Both which practices were such degrees of brutality, that no other sensitive creature ever arrived at.
Another thing he wondered at in the Yahoos was their strange disposition to
nastiness and dirt, whereas there appears to be a natural love of
cleanliness in all other animals. As to the former accusation, I was glad to
let it pass without any reply, because I had not a word to offer upon it in
defense of my species, which otherwise I certainly had done from my own
inclinations. But I could have easily vindicated human kind from the
imputation of singularity upon the last article, if there had been any swine
in that country (as unluckily for me
My master likewise mentioned another quality which his servants had discovered in several Yahoos, and to him was wholly unaccountable. He said, a fancy would sometimes take a Yahoo to retire into a corner, to lie down and howl and groan, and spurn away all that came near him, although he were young and fat, wanted neither food nor water; nor did the servants imagine what could possibly ail him. And the only remedy they found was to set him to hard work, after which he would infallibly come to himself. To this I was silent out of partiality to my own kind; yet here I could plainly discover the true seeds of spleen, which only seizes on the lazy, the luxurious, and the rich; who, if they were forced to undergo the same regimen, I would undertake for the cure.
His Honor had further observed that a female Yahoo would often stand behind a
bank or a bush, to gaze on the young males passing by, and then appear, and
hide, using many antic gestures and grimaces, at which time it was observed
that she had a most offensive smell; and when any of the males advanced,
would slowly retire, looking often
At other times if a female stranger came among them, three or four of her own sex would get about her, and stare and chatter, and grin, and smell her all over; and then turn off with gestures that seemed to express contempt and disdain.
Perhaps my master might refine a little in these speculations, which he had drawn from what he observed himself, or had been told him by others; however, I could not reflect without some amazement, and much sorrow, that the rudiments of coquetry, censure, and scandal, should have place by instinct in womankind.
I expected every moment that my master would accuse the Yahoos of those unnatural appetites in both
sexes
The Author relates several particulars of theYahoos.
The great virtues of theHouyhnhnms.
The education and exercise of their youth. Their general assembly.
[Audio File]
As I ought to have understood human nature much better than I supposed it
possible for my master to do, so it was easy to apply the character he gave
of the Yahoos to myself and my
They are prodigiously nimble from their infancy; however, I once caught a
young male of three years old, and endeavored by all marks of tenderness to
make it quiet; but the little imp fell a squalling and scratching and biting
with such violence that I was forced to let it go; and it was high time,
By what I could discover, the Yahoos appear to be the most unteachable of all
animals, their capacities never reaching higher than to draw or carry
burdens. Yet I am of opinion this defect arises chiefly from a perverse,
restive
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people were stereotypically promiscuous.
The Houyhnhnms keep the Yahoos for present use in huts not far from the
house; but the rest are sent abroad to certain fields, where they dig up
roots, eat several kinds of herbs, and search about for carrion, or
sometimes catch weasels and luhimuhs
They swim from their infancy like frogs, and are able to continue long under water, where they often take fish, which the females carry home to their young. And upon this occasion, I hope the reader will pardon my relating an odd adventure.
Being one day abroad with my protector, the sorrel nag, and the weather
exceeding hot, I entreated him to let me bathe in a river that was near. He
consented, and I immediately stripped myself stark naked, and went down
softly into the stream. It happened that a young female Yahoo, standing
behind a bank, saw the whole proceeding, and inflamed by desire, as the nag
and I conjectured, came running with all speed, and leaped into the water,
within five yards of the place where I bathed. I was never in my life so
terribly frighted; the nag was grazing at some distance, not suspecting any
harm. She embraced me after a most fulsome
This was matter of diversion to my master and his family, as well as of
mortification to myself. For now I could no longer deny that I was a real
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Having lived three years in this country, the reader I suppose will expect that I should, like other travelers, give him some account of the manners and customs of its inhabitants, which it was indeed my principal study to learn.
As these noble Houyhnhnms are endowed by nature with a general disposition to
all virtues, and have no conceptions or ideas of what is evil in a rational
creature, so their grand maxim is to cultivate reason, and to be wholly
governed by it. Neither is reason among them a point problematical as with
us, where men can argue with plausibility on both sides of the question; but
strikes you with immediate conviction; as it must needs do where it is not
mingled, obscured, or discolored by passion and interest. I remember it was
with extreme difficulty that I could bring my master to understand the
meaning of the word opinion, or how a point could be disputable; because
reason taught us to affirm or deny only where we are certain, and beyond our
knowledge we cannot do either. So that controversies, wranglings, disputes,
and positiveness in false or dubious propositions, are evils unknown among
the Houyhnhnms. In the like manner
Friendship and benevolence are the two principal virtues among the Houyhnhnms, and these not confined to particular objects, but universal to the whole race. For a stranger from the remotest part is equally treated with the nearest neighbor, and wherever he goes looks upon himself as at home. They preserve decency and civility in the highest degrees, but are altogether ignorant of ceremony. They have no fondness for their colts or foals, but the care they take in educating them proceeds entirely from the dictates of reason. And I observed my master to show the same affection to his neighbor's issue that he had for his own. They will have it that nature teaches them to love the whole species, and it is reason only that makes a distinction of persons, where there is a superior degree of virtue.
When the matron Houyhnhnms have produced one of each sex, they no longer
accompany with their consorts, except they lose one of their issue by
In their marriages they are exactly careful to choose such colors as will not
make any disagreeable mixture in the breed. Strength is chiefly valued in
the male, and comeliness in the female; not upon the account of love, but to
preserve the race from degenerating; for where a female happens to excel in
strength, a consort is chosen with regard to comeliness. Courtship, love,
presents, jointures, settlements, have no place in their thoughts, or terms
whereby to express them in their language. The young couple meet and are
joined, merely because it is the determination of their parents and friends:
it is what they see done every day, and they look upon it as one of the
necessary actions of a rational being. But the violation of marriage, or any
other unchastity, was never heard of; and the married pair pass their lives
with the same friendship and mutual benevolence that they bear to all others
of the same species who come in their way; without jealousy, fondness,
quarrelling, or discontent.
In educating the youth of both sexes, their method is admirable, and highly deserves our imitation. These are not suffered to taste a grain of oats, except upon certain days, till eighteen years old; nor milk, but very rarely; and in summer they graze two hours in the morning, and as long in the evening, which their parents likewise observe; but the servants are not allowed above half that time, and a great part of their grass is brought home, which they eat at the most convenient hours, when they can be best spared from work.
Temperance, industry, exercise and cleanliness, are the lessons equally enjoined
But the Houyhnhnms train up their youth to strength, speed, and hardiness, by
exercising them in running races up and down steep hills, and over hard
stony grounds; and when they are all in a sweat, they are ordered to leap
over head and ears into a pond or river. Four times a year the youth of a
certain district meet to show their proficiency in running and leaping, and
other feats of strength and agility; where the victor is rewarded with a
song made in his or her praise. On this festival the servants drive a herd
of Yahoos into the field, laden
Every fourth year, at the vernal equinox, there is a representative council of the whole nation, which meets in a plain about twenty miles from our house, and continues about five or six days. Here they inquire into the state and condition of the several districts; whether they abound or be deficient in hay or oats, or cows or Yahoos. And wherever there is any want (which is seldom) it is immediately supplied by unanimous consent and contribution. Here likewise the regulation of children is settled: as for instance, if a Houyhnhnm has two males, he changes one of them with another that has two females; and when a child has been lost by any casualty, where the mother is past breeding, it is determined what family in the district shall breed another to supply the loss.
A grand debate at the general assembly of theHouyhnhnms,
and how it was determined. The learning of theHouyhnhnms.
Their buildings. Their manner of burials. The defectiveness of their language.
[Audio File]
One of these grand assemblies was held in my time, about three months before
my departure, whither my master went as the representative of our district.
In this council was resumed
The question to be debated was whether the Yahoos should be exterminated from
the face of the earth. One of the members for the affirmative offered
several arguments of great strength and weight, alleging that as the Yahoos
were the most filthy, noisome, and deformed animal which nature ever
produced, so they were the most restive and indocible
Oxford
English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
Ylnhniamshy (or aborigines of the land), because of the violent
hatred the Houyhnhnms, as well as all other animals, bore them; which
although their evil disposition sufficiently deserved, could never have
arrived at so high a degree, if they had been aborigines, or else they would
have long since been rooted out. That the inhabitants taking a fancy to use
the service of the Yahoos, had very imprudently neglected to cultivate the
breed of asses, which were a comely animal, easily kept, more tame and
orderly, without any offensive smell, strong enough for labor, although they
yield to the other in agility of body; and if their braying be no agreeable
sound, it is far preferable to the horrible howlings of the Yahoos.
Several others declared their sentiments to the same purpose, when my master
proposed an expedient to the assembly, whereof he had indeed borrowed the
hint from me. He approved of the tradition mentioned by the honorable member
who spoke before, and affirmed that the two Yahoos said to be first seen
among them had been driven there over the sea; that coming to land and being
forsaken by their companions they retired to the mountains, and degenerating
by degrees, became in process of time, much more savage than those of their
own species in the country from where these two originals came. The reason
of his assertion was that he had now in his possession a certain wonderful
Yahoo (meaning myself), which most of them had heard of, and many of them
had seen. He then related to them how he first found me; that lyhannh, although it be
a much larger fowl.) That this invention might be practiced upon the younger
Yahoos here, which, besides rendering them tractable and fitter for use,
would in an age put an end to the whole species without destroying life.
That in the meantime the Houyhnhnms should be exhorted to cultivate the
breed of asses, which, as they are in all respects more valuable brutes, so
they have this advantage, to be fit for service at five years old, which the
others are not till twelve.
This was all my master thought fit to tell me at that time of what passed in the grand council. But he was pleased to conceal one particular, which related personally to myself, whereof I soon felt the unhappy effect, as the reader will know in its proper place, and from which I date all the succeeding misfortunes of my life.
The Houyhnhnms have no letters, and consequently their knowledge is all traditional. But there happening few events of any moment among a people so well united, naturally disposed to every virtue, wholly governed by reason, and cut off from all commerce with other nations, the historical part is easily preserved without burdening their memories. I have already observed that they are subject to no diseases, and therefore can have no need of physicians. However, they have excellent medicines composed of herbs, to cure accidental bruises and cuts in the pastern or frog of the foot by sharp stones, as well as other maims and hurts in the several parts of the body.
They calculate the year by the revolution of the sun and the moon, but use no subdivisions into weeks. They are well enough acquainted with the motions of those two luminaries, and understand the nature of eclipses; and this is the utmost progress of their astronomy.
In poetry they must be allowed to excel all other mortals; wherein the
justness of their similes, and the minuteness, as well as exactness of their
descriptions, are indeed inimitable. Their verses abound very much in both
of these, and usually
The Houyhnhnms use the hollow part between the pastern and the hoof of their
fore feet as we do our hands, and this with greater dexterity than I could
at first imagine. I have seen a white mare of our family thread a needle
(which I lent her on purpose) with that joint. They milk their cows, reap
their oats, and do all the work which requires hands, in the same manner.
They have a kind of hard flints, which by grinding against other stones,
they form into instruments, that serve instead of wedges, axes, and hammers.
With tools made of these flints they likewise cut their hay and reap their
oats, which there groweth naturally in several fields: the Yahoos draw home
the sheaves
Oxford English Dictionary
If they can avoid casualties, they die only of old age, and are buried in the
most obscure places that can be found, their friends and relations
expressing neither joy nor grief at their departure; nor does the dying
person discover the least regret that he is leaving the world, any more than
if he were upon returning home from a visit to one of his neighbors. I
remember my master having once made an appointment with a friend and his
family to come to his house upon some affair of importance, on the day fixed
the mistress and her two children came very late; she made two excuses,
first for her husband, who, as she said, happened that very morning to shnuwnh. The word is strongly expressive in their
language, but not easily rendered into English; it signifies, to retire to
his first mother. Her excuse for not coming sooner was that her husband
dying late in the morning, she was a good while consulting her servants
about a convenient place where his body should be laid; and I observed she
behaved herself at our house as cheerfully as the rest, and died about three
months after.
They live generally to seventy or seventy-five years, very seldom to fourscore
Oxford English Dictionary
I know not whether it may be worth observing that the Houyhnhnms have no word
in their language to express any thing that is evil, except what they borrow
from the deformities or ill qualities of the Yahoos. Thus they denote the
folly of a servant, an omission of a child, a stone that cuts their feet, a
continuance of foul or unseasonable weather, and the like, by adding to each
the epithet of Yahoo. For instance, Hhnm Yahoo, Whnaholm Yahoo, Ynlhmndwihlma
Yahoo, and an ill-contrived house Ynholmhnmrohlnw
Yahoo.
I could with great pleasure enlarge further upon the manners and virtues of
this excellent people; but intending in a short time to publish a volume by
itself expressly upon that subject, I refer the reader there, and in the
meantime, proceed to relate my own sad catastrophe.
The Author's oeconomy, and happy life, among theHouyhnhnms.
His great improvement in virtue by conversing with them. Their conversations. The Author hath notice given him by his master, that he must depart from the country. He falls into a swoon for grief; but submits. He contrives, and finishes a canoo, by the help of a fellow-servant, and puts to sea at a venture.
[Audio File]
I had settled my little economy to my own heart's content. My master had
ordered a room to be made for me after their manner, about six yards from
the house; the sides and floors of which I plastered with clay, and covered
with rushmats
nnuhnoh, the skin of which is Oxford English
Dictionary
Oxford English
Dictionary
Oxford English
Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
I had the favor of being admitted to several Houyhnhnms, who came to visit or
dine with my master; where his Honor graciously suffered me to wait in the
room, and listen to their discourse. Both he and his company would often
descend to ask me questions, and receive my answers. I had also sometimes
the honor of attending my master in his visits to others. I never presumed
to speak, except in answer to a question; and then I did it with inward
regret, because it was a loss of so much time for improving myself; but I
was infinitely delighted with the station of an humble auditor in such
conversations, where nothing passed but what was useful, expressed in the
fewest and most significant words; where the greatest decency was observed,
without the least degree of ceremony; where no person spoke without being
pleased himself, and pleasing his companions; where there was no
interruption, tediousness, heat, or difference of sentiments. They have a
notion that when people are met together, a silence does much improve
conversation: this I found to be true; for during those little intermissions
of talk, new ideas would arise in their thoughts, which very much enlivened
the discourse. Their subjects are generally on friendship and benevolence,
or order and economy; sometimes upon the visible operations Oxford English Dictionary
I freely confess that all the little knowledge I have of any value was
acquired by the lectures I received from my master, and from hearing the
discourses of him and his friends; to which I should be prouder to listen
than to dictate to the greatest and wisest assembly in Europe. I admired the
strength, comeliness, and speed of the inhabitants; and such a constellation
of virtues in such amiable persons produced in me the highest veneration. At
first, indeed, I did not feel that natural awe which the Yahoos and all
other animals bear towards them;
When I thought of my family, my friends, my countrymen, or human race in general, I considered them as they really were, Yahoos in shape and disposition, perhaps a little more civilized, and qualified with the gift of speech, but making no other use of reason than to improve and multiply those vices whereof their brethren in this country had only the share that nature allotted them. When I happened to behold the reflection of my own form in a lake or fountain, I turned away my face in horror and detestation of myself, and could better endure the sight of a common Yahoo than of my own person. By conversing with the Houyhnhnms, and looking upon them with delight, I fell to imitate their gait and gesture, which is now grown into an habit, and my friends often tell me in a blunt way, that I trot like a horse; which, however, I take for a great compliment. Neither shall I disown that in speaking I am apt to fall into the voice and manner of the Houyhnhnms, and hear myself ridiculed on that account without the least mortification.
In the midst of all this happiness, and when I looked upon myself to be fully
settled for life, my master sent for me one morning a little earlier than
his usual hour. I observed by his countenance that he was in some
perplexity, and at a loss how to begin what he had to speak. After a short
silence Oxford English
Dictionary
My master added that he was daily pressed by the Houyhnhnms of the
neighborhood to have the assembly's exhortation executed, which he could not
put off much longer. He doubted it would be impossible for me to swim to
another country, and therefore wished I would contrive some sort of vehicle
resembling those I had described to him, that might carry me on the sea; in
which work I should
I should here observe to the reader, that a decree of the general assembly in
this country is expressed by the word hnhloayn, which
signifies an exhortation, as near as I can render it; for they have no
conception how a rational creature can be compelled, but only advised or
exhorted, because no person can disobey reason without giving up his claim
to be a rational creature.
I was struck with the utmost grief and despair at my master's discourse, and
being unable to support the agonies I was under, I fell into a swoon at his
feet; when I came to myself he told me that he concluded I had been dead
(for these people are subject to no such imbecilities of nature). I answered
in a faint voice that death would have been too great a happiness; that
although I could not blame the assembly's exhortation, or the urgency of his
friends, yet, in my weak and corrupt judgment, I thought it might consist
with reason to have been less rigorous. That I could not swim a league, and
probably the nearest land to theirs might be distant above a hundred; that
many materials necessary for making a small vessel to carry me off, were
wholly wanting in this country, which, however, I would attempt in obedience
My master in a few words made me a very gracious reply, allowed me the space of two months to finish my boat; and ordered the sorrel nag, my fellow servant (for so this distance I may presume to call him) to follow my instructions, because I told my master that his help would be sufficient, and I knew he had a tenderness for me.
In his company my first business was to go to that part of the coast where my
rebellious crew had ordered me to be set on shore. I got upon a
After I had discovered this island, I considered no farther; but resolved it should, if possible, be the first place of my banishment, leaving the consequence to fortune.
I returned home, and consulting with the sorrel nag, we went into a copse
Oxford English Dictionary
I tried my canoe in a large pond near my master's house, and then corrected
in it what was amiss; stopping all the chinks with Yahoos' tallow
Oxford English
Dictionary
When all was ready, and the day came for my departure, I took leave of my
master and lady and the whole family, my eyes flowing with tears, and my
heart quite sunk with grief. But his Honor, out of curiosity, and perhaps
(if I may speak it without vanity) partly out of kindness, was determined to
see me in my canoe, and got several of his neighboring friends to accompany
him. I was forced to wait above an hour for the tide, and then observing the
wind very fortunately bearing towards the island to which I intended to
steer my course, I took a second leave of my master; but as I was going to
prostrate myself to kiss his hoof, he did me the honor to raise it gently to
my mouth. I am not ignorant how much I have been censured
I paid my respects to the rest of the Houyhnhnms in his Honor's company; then getting into my canoe, I pushed off from shore.
The Author's dangerous voyage. He arrives atNew-Holland
hoping to settle there. Is wounded with an arrow by one of the natives. Is seized and carried by force into a Portugueze ship. The great civilities of the captain. The Author arrives at England.
[Audio File]
I began this desperate voyage on February 15, 1714-15, at 9 o'clock in the
morning. The wind was very favorable; however, I made use at first only of
my paddles; but considering I should soon be weary, and that the wind might
chop about, I ventured set up my little sail; and thus with the help of the
tide I went at the rate of a league and a half an hour, as near as I could
guess. My master and his friends continued on the shore till I was almost
out of sight; and I often heard the sorrel nag (who always loved me) crying
out, Hnuy illa nyha majah Yahoo, Take care of
thyself, gentle Yahoo.
My design was, if possible, to discover some small island uninhabited, yet
sufficient by my labor to
The reader may remember what I related when my crew conspired against me and
confined me to my cabin. How I continued there several weeks without knowing
what course we took; and when I was put ashore in the long-boat, how the
sailors told me with oaths, whether true or false, that not in what part of
the world we were. However, I did then believe us to be about ten degrees
southward of the Cape of Good
Hope
I saw no inhabitants in the place where I landed, and being unarmed, I was
afraid of venturing far into the country. I found some shellfish on the
shore, and ate them raw, not daring to kindle a fire, for fear of being
discovered by the natives. I continued three days feeding on oysters and
limpets
On the fourth day, venturing out early a little too far, I saw twenty or
thirty natives upon a height, not above five hundred yards from me. They
were stark naked, men, women, and children, round a fire, as I could
discover by the smoke. One of them spied me, and gave notice to the rest;
five of them advanced towards me, leaving the women and children at the
fire. I made what haste I could to the shore, and getting into my
I was at a loss what to do, for I durst not return to the same landing-place, but stood to the north, and was forced to paddle; for the wind, though very gentle, was against me, blowing northwest. As I was looking about for a secure landing-place, I saw a sail to the north-northeast, which appearing every minute more visible, I was in some doubt whether I should wait for them or no; but at last my detestation of the Yahoo race prevailed, and turning my canoe, I sailed and paddled together to the south, and got into the same creek from whence I set out in the morning, choosing rather to trust myself among these barbarians, than live with European Yahoos. I drew up my canoe as close as I could to the shore, and hid myself behind a stone by the little brook, which, as I have already said, was excellent water.
The ship came withinhalf a
league
When they began to talk, I thought I never heard or saw any thing so
unnatural; for it appeared to me as dog or a cow should speak in England, or
a Yahoo in Houyhnhnm-land The honest Portuguese were equally amazed at my
strange dress, and the odd manner of delivering my words, which however they
understood very well. They spoke to me with great humanity, and said they
were sure the Captain would carry me gratis to Lisbon
His name was Pedro de Mendez; he was a very courteous and generous person; he
entreated me to give some account of myself, and desired to know what I
would eat or drink; said I should be used as well as himself, and spoke so
many obliging things, that I wondered to find such civilities from
After dinner Don Pedro came to me, and desired to know my reason for so
desperate an attempt, assured me he only meant to do me all the service he
was able, and spoke so very movingly, that at last I descended to treat him
like an animal which had some little portion of reason. I gave him a very
short relation of my voyage, of the conspiracy against me by own men, of the
country where they set me on shore, and of my three years residence there.
All which he looked upon as if it were a dream or a vision; whereat I took
great offense, for I had quite forgotten the faculty of lying, so peculiar
to Yahoos in all countries where they preside, and, consequently the
disposition of suspecting truth in others of their own I asked him whether
it were the custom in his country to say the thing that was not. I assured
him I had almost forgotten what he meant by falsehood, and if I had lived a
thousand years in Houyhnhnm-land,
The Captain, a wise man, after many endeavors to catch me tripping in some
part of my story, at last began to have a better opinion of my veracity
Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
Our voyage passed without any considerable accident. In gratitude to the
Captain I sometimes sat with him at his earnest request, and strove to
conceal my antipathy to human kind, although it often broke out, which he
suffered to pass without observation. But the greatest part of the day I
confined myself to my cabin, to avoid seeing any of the crew. The Captain
had often entreated me to strip myself of my savage dress, and offered to
lend me the best suit of clothes he had. This I would not be prevailed on to
accept, abhorring to cover myself with any thing that had been on the back
of a Yahoo. I only desired he would lend me
We arrived at Lisbon, Nov. 5, 1715. At our landing the Captain forced me to
cover myself with his cloak, to prevent the rabble from crowding about me. I
was conveyed to his own house, and at my earnest request he led me up to the
highest room backwards. I conjured him to conceal from all persons what I
had told him of the Houyhnhnms, because the least hint of such a story would
not only draw numbers of people to see me, but probably put me in danger of
being imprisoned, or burned by the Inquisition. The Captain persuaded me to
accept a suit of clothes newly made; but I would not suffer the tailor to
take my measure; however, Don Pedro being almost of my size, they fitted me
well enough. He accoutred
Oxford English Dictioanry
The Captain had no wife, nor above three servants, none of which were
suffered to attend at meals, and his whole deportment
In ten days Don Pedro, to whom I had given some account of my domestic affairs, put it upon me as a matter of honor and conscience, that I ought to return to my native country, and live at home with my wife and children. He told me there was an English ship in the port just ready to sail, and he would furnish me with all things necessary. It would be tedious to repeat his arguments, and my contradictions. He said it was altogether impossible to find such a solitary island as I had desired to live in; but I might command in my own house, and pass my time in a manner as recluse as I pleased.
I complied at last, finding I could not do better. I left Lisbon the 24th day
of November, in an English merchantman, but who was the master I never
inquired. Don Pedro accompanied me to the ship, and lent me twenty pounds
My wife and family received me with great surprise and joy, because they
concluded me certainly dead; but I must freely confess the sight of them
filled me only with hatred, disgust, and contempt,
As soon as I entered the house, my wife took me in her arms and kissed me, at
which, having not been used to the touch of that odious animal for so many
years, I fell in a swoon for almost an hour. At the time I am writing it is
five years since my last return to England: during the first year I could
not endure my wife or children in my presence, the very smell of them was
intolerable, much less could I suffer them to eat in the same room. To this
hour they dare not presume to touch my bread, or drink out of the same cup,
neither was I ever able to let one of them take me by the hand. The first
money I laid out was to buy two young stone-horses, which I keep in a good
stable, and next to them the groom is my greatest favorite; for I feel my
spirits revived by the smell he contracts in the stable. My horses
understand me tolerably well; I converse with them at least four hours every
day. They are strangers to bridle or saddle; they live in great amity with
me, and friendship to each other.
The Author's veracity. His design in publishing this work. His censure of those travellers who swerve from the truth. The Author clears himself from any sinister ends in writing. An objection answered. The method of planting colonies. His native country commended The right of the crown to those countries described by the Author, is justified. The difficulty of conquering them. The Author takes his last leave of the reader; proposeth his manner of living for the future; gives good advice and concludeth.
[Audio File]
Thus, gentle reader, I have given thee faithful history of my travels for sixteen years and above seven months; wherein I have not been so studious of ornament as truth. I could perhaps like others have astonished you with strange improbable tales; but I rather chose to relate plain matter of fact in the simplest manner and style; because my principal design was to inform, and not to amuse you.
It is easy for us who travel into remote countries, which are seldom visited
by Englishmen or other Europeans, to form descriptions of wonderful animals
both at sea and land. Whereas a traveler's chief aim should be to make men
wiser and better, and to improve their minds by the bad as well as good
example of what they deliver concerning foreign places.
I could heartily wish a law was enacted, that every traveler, before he were
permitted to publish his voyages, should be obliged to make oath before the
Lord High Chancellor that all he intended to print was absolutely true to
the best of his knowledge; for then the world would no longer be deceived as
it usually is, while some writers, to make their works pass the better upon
the public, impose the grossest falsities on the unwary reader. I have
perused several books of travels with great delight in my younger days; but
having since gone over most parts of the globe, and been able to contradict
many fabulous accounts from my own observation, it has given me a great
disgust against this part of reading, and some indignation to see the credulity
Nec si
miserum Fortuna Sinonem Finxit, vanum etiam, mendacemque
improba finget.
Aeneid, Book
II. The speaker here is Sinon, recounting the notorious incident in the
Trojan War where he convinced the Trojans that the giant wooden horse
left by the Greeks was a peace offering and that they should bring it
into the city of Troy. The famous "Trojan Horse" was actually filled
with Greek soldiers, leading to the destruction of the city. Sinon for
this reason has long been associated with lying and treachery. Gulliver
seems to have misread or misunderstood the point of the story
completely, taking Sinon's claim here that he is a truthful person at
face value.
I know very well how little reputation is to be gotten by writings which
require neither genius nor learning, nor indeed any other talent, except a
good
I am not a little pleased that this work of mine can possibly meet with no
censurers: for what objections can be made against a writer who relates only
plain facts that happened in such distant countries, where we have not the
least interest with respect either to trade or negotiations? I have
carefully avoided every fault with which common writers of travels are often
too justly charged.
I confess it was whispered to me that I was bound in duty as a subject of
England to have given in a memorial to a Secretary of State at my first
coming over; because whatever lands are discovered by a subject belong to
the Crown. But I doubt whether our conquests in the countries I treat of,
would be as easy as those of Ferdinando Cortez over the naked Americans. The
Lilliputians I think are hardly worth the charge of a fleet and army to
reduce them; and I question whether it might be prudent or safe to attempt
the Brobdingnagians; or whether an English army would be much at their ease
with the Flying Island over their heads. The Houyhnhnms, indeed, appear not
to be so well prepared for war, a science to which Oxford English Dictionary
Recalcitrat unclique tutus
Satire IIOxford English Dictionary
But I had another reason which made me less forward to enlarge his Majesty's
dominions by my discoveries. To say the truth, I had conceived a few
scruples with relation to the distributive justice of princes upon those
occasions. For instance, a crew of pirates are driven by a storm they know
not whither, at length a boy discovers land from the topmast, they go on
shore to rob and plunder, they see a harmless people, are entertained with
But this description, I confess, does by no means affect the British nation,
who may be an example to the whole world for their wisdom, care, and justice
in planting colonies; their liberal endowments for the advancement of
religion and learning; their choice of devout and able pastors to propagate
Christianity; their caution in stocking their provinces with people of sober
lives and conversations from this the mother kingdom; their strict regard to
the distribution of justice, in supplying the civil administration through
all their colonies with officers of the greatest abilities, utter strangers
to corruption; and to crown all, by sending the most vigilant and virtuous
governors, who have no other views than the happiness of the people over
whom they preside, and the honor of the King their master.
But, as those countries which I have described do not appear to have any desire of being conquered, and enslaved, murdered or driven out by colonies, nor abound either in gold, silver, sugar, or tobacco; I did humbly conceive they were by no means proper objects of our zeal, our valor, or our interest. However, if those whom it more concerns think fit to be of another opinion, I am ready to depose, when I shall be lawfully called, that no European did ever visit these countries before me. I mean, if the inhabitants ought to he believed; unless a dispute may arise about the two Yahoos, said to have been seen many ages ago in a mountain in Houyhnhnm-land, from whence the opinion is, that the race of those brutes has descended; and these, for anything I know, may have been English, which indeed I was apt to suspect from the lineaments of their posterity's countenances, although very much defaced. But, how far that will go to make out a title, I leave to the learned in colony-law.
But as to the formality of taking possession in my Sovereign's name, it never came once into my thoughts; and if it had, yet as my affairs then stood, I should perhaps in point of prudence and self-preservation have put it off to a better opportunity.
Having thus answered the only objection that can ever be raised against me as
a traveler, I here take a final leave of all my courteous readers, and
return to enjoy my own speculations in my little garden at Redriff, to apply
those excellent lessons of virtue which I learned among the Houyhnhnms, to
instruct the Yahoos of my own family as far as I shall find them docile
animals; to behold my figure often in a glass, and thus if possible
habituate myself by time to tolerate the sight of a human creature; to
lament the brutality of Houyhnhnms in my own country, but always treat their
persons
I began last week to permit my wife to sit at dinner with me, at the farthest end of a long table, and to answer (but with the utmost brevity) the few questions I ask her. Yet the smell of a Yahoo continuing very offensive, I always keep my nose well stopped with rue, lavender, or tobacco leaves. And although it be hard for a man late in life to remove old habits, I am not altogether out of hopes in some time to suffer a neighbor Yahoo in my company, without the apprehensions I am yet under of his teeth or his claws.
My reconcilement to the Yahoo-kind in general might not be so difficult, if
they would be content with those vices and follies only which nature has
entitled them to. I am not in the least provoked at the sight of a lawyer, a
pick-pocket, a colonel, a fool, a lord, a gamester, a politician, a
whore-master, a physician, an evidence, a suborner
Oxford English Dictionary
But the Houyhnhnms, who live under the government of reason, are no more proud of the good qualities they possess, than I should be for not wanting a leg or an arm, which no man in his wits would boast of, although he must be miserable without them. I dwell the longer upon this subject from the desire I have to make the society of an English Yahoo by any means not insupportable; and therefore I here entreat those who have any tincture of this absurd vice, that they will not presume to come in my sight.
Aphra Behn (c1640-1689) was perhaps the most
versatile, and was certainly one of the most important writers of the late
seventeenth century in English. She wrote and translated poetry, translated works of
science, published long works of fiction, and many authored many plays. It was as a
playwright that Behn was probably most successful in her own lifetime. Between 1670
and 1689, a couple dozen of her plays were staged in London; some of them continue
to be revived even now, most notably
The Rover.
We know very little of Aphra Behn’s life before she started her writing career in
London in the early 1670s. She never wrote a memoir (which is not surprising; people
did not do that kind of thing in her era), and relatively few letters have survived.
If she kept any kind of journal or diary, it has long since been lost. The lack of
public information about her life before the age of about thirty makes it clear,
though, that she did not come from a wealthy or prominent family. Scholars, working
largely with parish records and surviving government documents, have pieced together
some things. But often these are simply informed guesses rather than facts that we
can know for certain. The best biography is Janet Todd’s The
Secret Life of Aphra Behn, and what I note below relies on Todd’s work.
When and where was she born? who were her parents? We cannot
be sure. The best research we have indicated that was probably the person who is
recorded in a baptismal record as “Eaffrey” Johnson, born in December 1640 to a
Bartholomew and Elizabeth Johnson from Bishopsbourne, a town in Kent near
Canterbury. The Johnsons were not a wealthy family, but they were not desperately
poor, either; Bartholomew worked as a barber and at one time was in charge of
supervising the poor in a parish in Canterbury.
How did she get the name Behn? and how did she pronounce it?
Again, we are not sure, though the name seems to have come from a marriage she had
in the 1650s or 1660s. She may have married a man called Johann Behn, who shows up
in some business and shipping records of this period. No one has found a marriage
certificate. The marriage does not seem to have lasted all that long; maybe he died,
since she seems to be referred to as a widow in a single letter. We are not sure as
to how she pronounced her last name: like “ben”? like “bean”? like “bane”? opinions
vary.
Did she really go to Surinam in the 1660s? Maybe, though the
evidence for that is the narrator’s claim in Oroonoko. Which
might be true (Janet Todd believes her, and a lot of the circumstantial detail in
Oroonoko would be hard to invent if a person had not been
there), but there is much in Oroonoko that is obvious
fabrication, so she might be making her trip there up as well and be relating
information that she got at second hand. The story purports to be a true, first-hand
account of events in Surinam. But, in addition to inventing the story of the African
prince, Behn also seems to have invented the idea that her father was going to be
the lieutenant governor of the colony, as the narrator of that story claims; there
is no chance that her father was ever in a position to get such a significant job,
and he may very well have been dead by the time of her (purported) sojourn in
Surinam. There is is no independent evidence, like a government report or a ship’s
manifest, that places her in Surinam, so we cannot be certain one way or
another.
Did she really work as a spy? Yes, this we know. In the 1660s,
Aphra Behn was sent to Antwerp as a spy on behalf of the English government; her
mission (which involved trying to turn an English man there against the Dutch) seems
to have failed. She used the code name “Astrea” (a name associated in mythology with
the goddess of justice), a name that she continued to use as a poetic name
throughout her career. Behn may have done some other intelligence work for the
government at other times in her 20s. We do not know why she stopped her mission,
but she complained about not being paid, and at least one other person disparaged
her work. She may have not been cut out to be a spy.
When do we start to know unambiguous facts about her? In the
early 1670s, Behn started working in the theater as a playwright for the Duke’s
Company, one of the two theater troupes licensed to perform in London. From that
point on until her death in 1689, we know a lot about her professional life as a
writer from the plays that she staged, the books that she published, and the things
that people said about her. In these decades, Behn was one of the two leading
playwrights on the London stage; the other was John Dryden. In an era when many
plays were written by amateurs, aristocrats who would not want to be seen as
exerting themselves for money (Katherine Philips and William Wycherley would be
examples of this) Behn and Dryden were the professional playwrights, each under
contract (and therefore under pressure) to produce new works for the repertoire;
each supporting him or herself on their earnings. Like Dryden, Behn also wrote and
translated poetry. Behn also published fiction, something that Dryden did not do,
and her work is an important precursor of the eighteenth-century novel in
English.
Trying to make a living as a writer was difficult. It was hard then as it is now, for playwrights to follow the movement of audience taste, and hard to know if the many hours of effort that go into writing and staging a play would be met with success until the moment the production was staged. A hit could make a fair amount of money (authors would be paid out of gate receipts and could also get money for selling the rights to the print copy of the script), but a flop could be a costly waste of time and effort on everyone’s part. The period when Behn was writing was also a politically contentious time, and playwrights could be subject to censorship if they offended the wrong person. Writers hoped to get support from wealthy patrons, which is why almost all works of this period are prefaced by dedications, letters of extravagant praise aimed at people who the author is hoping will provide money or at least convince their wealthy friends to buy the book or attend the play. Behn was very prolific, and successful in the sense that she had many plays staged and many works published and read, but she had to keep writing to maintain herself and never seems to have made a lot of money.
It was particularly hard being a professional woman writer, and Behn seems to have blazed a trail here; there is probably no other woman writing in English who we could call a professional before she started working in the theater in the 1670s. It was considered immodest for a woman to put herself forward as a public figure in this period, which is why many women who wrote expressed reluctance at their work being published; a lot of their work remains in manuscript. Male critics of the eighteenth century often contrasted Behn, the public and professional writer, with Katherine Philips, who was cast as a model for genteel amateur woman writer; the contrast between “Astrea” (Behn's nickname) and “Orinda” (a nickname that Philips claimed) was usually cast in terms that favored the latter for her gentility and modesty. Behn was attacked for being a professional, sometimes compared with prostitutes. Here a contrast with John Dryden becomes stark. Dryden was no less a professional, but he was awarded with university degrees, became the poet laureate, and was in his later years considered a kind of sage. Behn, meanwhile, seems to ahve struggled for income and respectability.
One final note about Behn. In many ways, her career strikes us modern, and her prose works in particular have a lot of features that now seem to pave the way for the modern novel. But Behn was also a very conservative, traditional person in many ways. She was a staunch supporter of the Stuart monarchy and of the absolutist form of government that the Stuart kings Charles I and James II believed in. She was a woman of her time, trying to make a career as a writer and public figure in an era when this was very challenging for anyone, and especially difficult for a women from a modest background. Dramatist, poet, novelist, translator, professional: Aphra Behn left us one of the richest bodies of work of any writer of the seventeenth century.
The Spectatorare taken from Project Gutenberg's digital edition, which uses the 1891 printing of the three-volume collected edition of
The Spectatoredited by Henry Morley and printed by George Routledge and Sons. That is in turn a reprint of Morley's 1883 edition, which was published as part of
Morley's Universal Library, a series offering inexpensive reprints of canonical texts. The annotations have been added by students and faculty at the University of Virginia.
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in Context
project, which provides an accessible, curated, and marked-up selection of primary
sources relevant to the study and the teaching of British and American literature of
the 18th century. This project is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
and developed by faculty at The University of Virginia and Marymount University.
Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources, with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable sources. If you notice an error in these annotations, please contact lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.
Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded.
Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.
Page breaks have been retained. Catchwords, signatures, and running headers have not. Where pages break in the middle of a word, the complete word has been indicated prior to the page beginning.
Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section.
Friday, March 2, 1711
Ast Alli sex Et plures uno conclamant ore.-- Juv
Satire VII
THE first of our Society is a Gentleman of Worcestershire
The Man of Mode, whose title character Dorimant is a libertine who might have been modeled on Rochester. All of the figures named here had become notorious examples of the kind of licentiousness that people in Steele's era associated with the court culture of a few decades earlier.
The Gentleman next in Esteem and Authority among us, is another Batchelour, who is a Member of the Inner Temple
Demosthenes
Tully
Russel Court
The Person of next Consideration is Sir ANDREW FREEPORT, a Merchant of great Eminence in the City of London: A Person of indefatigable
British Common. He is acquainted with Commerce in all its Parts, and will tell you that it is a stupid and barbarous Way to extend Dominion by Arms; for true Power is to be got by Arts and industry. He will often argue, that if this Part of our Trade were well cultivated, we should gain from one Nation; and if another, from another. I have heard him prove that Diligence makes more lasting Acquisition than Valour, and that Sloth has ruin'd more Nations than the Sword. He abounds in several frugal Maxims, amongst which the greatest Favourite is, A Penny saved is a Penny got. A General Trader of good Sense is pleasanter Company than a general Scholar; and Sir ANDREW having a natural unaffected Eloquence, the Perspicuity
England may be richer than other Kingdoms, by as plain Methods as he himself is richer than other Men; tho at the same Time I can say this of him, that there is not a Point in the Compass, but blows home a Ship in which he is an Owner
Next to Sir ANDREW in the Club-room sits Captain SENTRY, a Gentleman of great Courage, good Understanding, but Invincible Modesty. He is one of those that deserve very well, but are very awkward at putting their Talents within the Observation of such as should take notice of them. He was some Years a Captain, and behaved himself with great Gallantry
But that our Society may not appear a Set of Humorists
French King's Wenches our Wives and Daughters had this Manner of curling their hair, that Way of placing their Hoods; whose Frailty was covered by such a Sort of Petticoat, and whose Vanity to show her Foot made that Part of the Dress so short in such a Year. In a Word, all his Conversation and Knowledge has been in the female World: As other Men of his Age will take Notice to you what such a Minister said upon such and such an Occasion, he will tell you when the Duke of Monmouth danced at Court such a Woman was then smitten, another was taken with him at the Head of his Troop in the Park. In all these important Relations, he has ever about the same Time received a kind Glance, or a Blow of a Fan, from some celebrated Beauty, Mother of the present Lord such-a-one. If you speak of a young Commoner that said a lively thing in the House, he starts up, He has good Blood in his Veins, Tom Mirabell begot
I cannot tell whether I am to account him whom I am next to Speak of, as one of our Company; for he visits us but seldom, but when he does, it adds to every Man else a new Enjoyment of himself. He is a Clergyman, a very philosophick Man, of general Learning, great Sanctity of Life, and the most exact good Breeding. He has the Misfortune to be of a very weak Constitution, and consequently cannot accept of such Cares and Business as Preferements
R.
The Spectatorare taken from Project Gutenberg's digital edition, which uses the 1891 printing of the three-volume collected edition of
The Spectatoredited by Henry Morley and printed by George Routledge and Sons. That is in turn a reprint of Morley's 1883 edition, which was published as part of
Morley's Universal Library, a series offering inexpensive reprints of canonical texts. The annotations have been added by students and faculty at the University of Virginia.
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in
Context project, which provides an accessible, curated, and marked-up
selection of primary sources relevant to the study and the teaching of British
and American literature of the 18th century. This project is funded by the
National Endowment for the Humanities and developed by faculty at The University
of Virginia and Marymount University.
Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources, with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable sources. If you notice an error in these annotations, please contact lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.
Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded.
Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.
Page breaks have been retained. Catchwords, signatures, and running headers have not. Where pages break in the middle of a word, the complete word has been indicated prior to the page beginning.
Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section.
The Spectator is the most famous work of
journalism of the eighteenth century in English. It helped define
what journalism could be. The series of daily essays, published like a
newspaper, set the pattern for a kind of writing that persists to the
present day. Comparatively short essays on topics of interest to
middle-class readers (politics, fashion, the arts), written in
straightforward, unfussy prose without professional jargon: this is a
mode of writing that is still standard in print and online journalism. A
collaboration between Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, The Spectator was for a long time after its
initial run in 1711 and 1712 held up to English students and readers as
a model of prose style, and although to our eyes there are moments where
the prose feels a little archaic, Addison and Steele's version of
English prose is much closer to the way that we write now than the prose
from a hundred, or even fifty years earlier (Elizabathan prose, for
example, is far more challenging to most modern readers than that
period's poetry, which is a reversal from what we might expect.) Addison
and Steele's main influence on writers and readers over the last three
hundred years may lie mostly in the way that the two of them developed
and popularized a style of English prose that is more or less the one
that we still use in much expository writing.
In modern times, The Spectatorhas been credited
with being essential to the formation of what the sociologist Jürgen
Habermas has influentially dubbed “the bourgeois public sphere.”
Habermas describes the bourgeois public sphere as being made up of
private individuals coming together to constitute a public, in this case
a public that was not affiliated with the government or the church, but
an independent body that could discuss important issues on its own.
Gathered together in coffee houses, over tea tables, or simply in their
homes, readers of The Spectator were among the
first citizens to have a print publication that became a common frame of
reference for middle-class English-speaking people. The journal set an
agenda and a way of thinking about society and the arts that seemed
derived, not from the aristocracy or the church, but from the shared
world of the readers themselves.
The Spectator followed on the heels of The Tatler, which had run from April 12, 1709 to
December 30, 1710. Steele had taken the lead with The
Tatler, asking for help from Addison and others on occasion to
fill out the pages. But it was Addison who seems to have been the leader
for The Spectator, supplying the first issue and
many others after that. In this case, timing was everything. Addison and
his Whig party had just lost a parliamentary election towards the end of
1710. Addison was a cabinet member, at the center of government
policy-making, so he suddenly found himself kicked out of office with
time on his hands; writing in collaboration with his old friend
Richard Steele was just the thing to keep his hand in the public
conversation. The Spectator differed in format in
significant ways from its immediate predecessor. It was published daily,
except for Sunday; The Tatler had come out three
days a week. Where The Tatler had generally had
several items in each issue, most issues of The
Spectator focused on a single topic. The new journal also had a
different framing device than the older one. Where Steele had arranged
the articles in The Tatler by the imagined
location in London from which various “correspondents” were sending him
information (theater news coming from Will's Coffee House, political
news from the St. James Coffee House, the whole thing being a parody of
the way that official newspapers published correspondence from foreign
cities), The Spectator had a fictional “club”
that would come up with ideas. Steele described its members in the
second issue: there was a country squire, Sir Roger de Coverly, a
lawyer, a businessman (Sir Andrew Freeport), a soldier (Major Sentry),
an aging libertine (Will Honeycomb), and a clergyman. Between them, the
Club represented many of the important segments of middle-class culture
in the eighteenth century. The Spectator Club never worked quite as it
seems to have been intended—relatively few issues feature it in any
central way—but it was another means by which the journal was projecting
itself as giving a voice to a variety of contemporary interests.
And the journal occasionally referred to the coffee-house culture that middle-class people (well, middle-class men, since women were generally not welcome) had developed in this period, a milieu (depicted here), where men met to socialize, gossip, talk over issues of the day, read from the coffee-shop's stock of newspapers and journals (which were expensive enough that individuals might not subscribe), and get their caffeine fix satisfied.
Most importantly, The Spectator introduces a new
kind of persona, what critics call an eidolon, in
the figure of “Mr. Spectator,” in whose voice all of the essays were
composed, no matter which of the two men was the actual author. The Spectator did not invent the concept of the
eidolon, but it provided perhaps its most
influential model, one imitated over and over again in works such as
Benjamin Franklin’s “Silence Dogood” pieces in The New
England Courant (1721), Samuel Johnson’sRambler essays (1750-52), and even the Federalist essays
composed by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to defend
the U. S. Constitution. Mr. Spectator projected himself as a civilized
man of the world, an observer looking on society like a fly on the wall.
He is well educated, but not a specialist in anything, which enables him
to comment on all sorts of things. In the course of its run, The Spectator offers essays on fashion, on
politics, on religion, on literature. Steele’s essay on Inkle and Yarico
(#11) popularized the story to eighteenth-century readers; it would
become a cultural phenomenon, with plays, musicals, and poems about the
doomed pair of lovers abounding in English-speaking culture over the
next few decades. Addison’s essays on John Milton's epic Paradise Lost and the series generally known as
“the pleasures of the imagination” became widely influential works of
literary criticism and aesthetic theory that to some extent established
a paradigm for what modern criticism could be. To be sure, this is a
very male eidolon, and it is no surprise to
discover that The Spectator’s essays are very
frequently condescending towards women readers. In the 1740s, Eliza
Haywood published a journal called The Female
Spectator http://www2.scc.rutgers.edu/spectator/haywood/, one
that forms a nice counterweight to the bluff masculinity of Addison and
Steele’s journal.
The Spectator ran from March 3, 1711 to December
6, 1712, comprising 555 issues in all. (On his own, Addison revived The Spectator briefly for a few months in 1714,
but these essays were generally not as popular.) Of these, about 250
issues each were written by Addison and Steele; Addison’s cousin Eustace
Budgell contributed a small number, as did the poet John Hughes. Over
time, we hope to add more issues of both The
Tatler and The Spectator to this digital
anthology.
Thursday, March 1, 1711.
Non fumum exfulgere, sed ex fumo dare lucem Cogitat, ut speciosa dehinc miracula promat.--Hor.
To be Continued every Day.
I HAVE observed, that a Reader seldom peruses a Book with Pleasure 'till he knows
whether the Writer of it be a black or a
fair Man
I was born to a small Hereditary Estate, which according to the tradition of the
village where it lies, was bounded by the same Hedges and Ditches in
William the
Conqueror's
As for the rest of my Infancy, there being nothing in it remarkable, I shall pass
it over in Silence. I find that, during my Nonage
Upon the Death of my Father I was resolved to travel into Foreign Countries, and
therefore left the University, with the Character of an odd unaccountable
Fellow, that had a great deal of Learning, if I would but show it. An insatiable
Thirst after Knowledge carried me into all the Countries of Europe, in which
there was any thing new or strange to be seen; nay, to such a Degree was my
curiosity raised, that having read the controversies of some great Men
concerning the Antiquities of Egypt, I made a Voyage to
Grand Cairo, on purpose to take the Measure of a
Pyramid; and, as soon as I had set my self right in that Particular, returned to
my Native Country with great Satisfaction.
I have passed my latter Years in this City, where I am frequently seen in most
publick Places, tho there are not above half a dozen of my select Friends that
know me; of whom my next Paper shall give a more particular Account. There is no
place of general Resort wherein I do not often make my appearance; sometimes I
am seen thrusting my Head into a Round of Politicians at
Wills
Childs; and, while
I seem attentive to nothing but the
Post-man
Sunday nights at St. James's
Coffee House, and sometimes join the little Committee of Politicks in
the Inner-Room, as one who comes there to hear and improve. My Face is likewise
very well known at the Grecian, the Cocoa-Tree, and in the Theaters both of Drury Lane and the
Hay-Market
Exchange for above these ten Years, and sometimes pass for a Jew in the Assembly of Stock-Jobbers
Jonathans. In short, where-ever I see a Cluster of People, I always
mix with them, tho I never open my Lips but in my own Club.
Thus I live in the World, rather as a Spectator of Mankind, than as one of the
Species; by which means I have made my self a Speculative Statesman, Soldier,
Merchant, and Artizan, without ever medling with any Practical Part in Life. I
am very well versed in the Theory of an Husband, or a Father, and can discern
the Errors in the Oeconomy, Business, and Diversion of others, better than those
who are engaged in them; as Standers-by discover Blots
Spectator positioned itself as a neutral journal, and
part of the reason why Addison and Steele tried to stay anonymous was to
keep up that pretense, since they were both well known to be Whigs.
I have given the Reader just so much of my History and Character, as to let him
see I am not altogether unqualified for the Business I have undertaken. As for
other Particulars in my Life and Adventures, I shall insert them in following
Papers, as I shall see occasion. In the mean time, when I consider how much I
have seen, read, and heard, I begin to blame my own Taciturnity
There are three very material Points which I have not spoken to in this Paper, and which, for several important Reasons, I must keep to my self; at least for some Time: I mean, an Account of my Name, my Age, and my Lodgings. I must confess I would gratify my Reader in any thing that is reasonable; but as for these three Particulars, though I am sensible they might tend very much to the Embellishment of my Paper, I cannot yet come to a Resolution of communicating them to the Publick. They would indeed draw me out of that Obscurity which I have enjoyed for many Years, and expose me in Publick Places to several Salutes and Civilities, which have been always very disagreeable to me; for the greatest pain I can suffer, is the being talked to, and being stared at. It is for this Reason likewise, that I keep my Complexion and Dress, as very great Secrets; tho it is not impossible, but I may make Discoveries of both in the Progress of the Work I have undertaken.
After having been thus particular upon my self; I shall in tomorrows Paper give
an Account of those Gentlemen who are concerned with me in this Work. For, as I
have before intimated
To the Spectator, at Mr. Buckleys, in Little Britain
.Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have appointed a
Committee to sit every Night, for the Inspection of all such Papers as may
contribute to the Advancement of the Public Weal
C.
The Spectatorare taken from Project Gutenberg's digital edition, which uses the 1891 printing of the three-volume collected edition of
The Spectatoredited by Henry Morley and printed by George Routledge and Sons. That is in turn a reprint of Morley's 1883 edition, which was published as part of
Morley's Universal Library, a series offering inexpensive reprints of canonical texts. The annotations have been added by students and faculty at the University of Virginia.
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in Context
project, which provides an accessible, curated, and marked-up selection of primary
sources relevant to the study and the teaching of British and American literature of
the 18th century. This project is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
and developed by faculty at The University of Virginia and Marymount University.
Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources, with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable sources. If you notice an error in these annotations, please contact lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.
Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded.
Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.
Page breaks have been retained. Catchwords, signatures, and running headers have not. Where pages break in the middle of a word, the complete word has been indicated prior to the page beginning.
Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section.
Tuesday, March 13, 1711.
Dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas.--Juv.
Arietta is visited by all Persons of both Sexes, who may have any Pretence to Wit and Gallantry
Honeycomb, who has prevailed upon her to admit me sometimes into her Assembly, as a civil, inoffensive Man. I found her accompanied with one Person only, a Common-Place Talker
Arietta, pursued his Discourse, which I found was upon the old Topick, of Constancy in Love. He went on with great Facility in repeating what he talks every Day of his Life; and, with the Ornaments of insignificant Laughs and Gestures, enforced his Arguments by Quotations out of Plays and Songs, which allude to the Perjuries of the Fair, the general Levity
Arietta's Taste and Understanding. She had often an Inclination to interrupt him, but could find no Opportunity, 'till the Larum
Ephesian Matron
Satyricon by the Roman writer Petronius, would have been so well known to his original readers that Steele did not have tell it. But it is not well known any more, so here is a brief summary. The husband of a woman from Ephesus died, and she was so wracked with grief that she accompanied him to his tomb. She stayed with the body for days, mourning and refusing to eat. The people of Ephesus were concerned for her, but also thought of her as a model of the faithful wife. Meanwhile, the governor of the province ordered the bodies of some robbers to be nailed to crosses near the tomb. A soldier sent to guard the bodies saw the light in the tomb, and, visiting the woman, tried to console her and encouraged her to eat. Eventually, she gave in, and then the soldier seduced her, and they had sex; in fact, they stayed in the tomb together for several days, with everyone around assuming that she had died of grief and hunger. But because the bodies of the robbers had been left unguarded, one of them was taken down by his family, who gave it an appropriate burial. Finally seeing the empty cross, and fearing that the soldier would be blamed and perhaps executed for dereliction of duty, the woman had the corpse of her husband put on the empty cross, since she would rather save a living man than preserve a dead one.
Arietta seemed to regard this Piece of Raillery
When she had a little recovered her self from the serious Anger she was in, she replied in the following manner.
Sir, when I consider, how perfectly new all you have said on this Subject is, and that the Story you have given us is not quite two thousand Years Old, I cannot but think it a Piece of Presumption
Fables, that highlights the need to examine one's evidence before it is presented or accepted. The fable shows a man and a lion disputing over which of them is better. To make his point the man points to a statue of a man that has subdued a lion. Undermining the man, the lion points out that if lions could sculpt they would most certainly create the statue the other way around. Later versions alter the story replacing the sculpture with instead a painting of a man subduing a lion. Source: WikipediaWe Lions are none of us Painters, else we could show a hundred Men ruled by Lions, for one Lion killed by a Man. You Men are Writers, and can represent us Women as Unbecoming as you please in your Works, while we are unable to return the Injury. You have twice or thrice observed in your Discourse, that Hypocrisy is the very Foundation of our Education; and that an Ability to dissemble our affections, is a professed Part of our Breeding. These, and such other Reflections, are sprinkled up and down the Writings of all Ages, by Authors, who leave behind them Memorials of their Resentment against the Scorn of particular Women, in Invectives
Petronius
Satyricon, the work that the story of the Ephesian matron comes from. Source: Oxford English DictionaryEphesian Lady; but when we consider this Question between the Sexes, which has been either a Point of Dispute or Raillery ever since there were Men and Women, let us take Facts from plain People, and from such as have not either Ambition or Capacity to embellish their Narrations with any Beauties of Imagination. I was the other Day amusing myself with
Ligon's Account of Barbadoes; and, in Answer to your well-wrought Tale, I will give you (as it dwells upon my Memory) Out of that honest Traveller, in his fifty fifth page, the History of Inkle and Yarico
A True and Exact History of Barbadoes
, written by Richard Ligon and published in 1657, is the source for the following story. For the most part, Ligon's book is what the title states, a careful description of the island of Barbados for the use of anyone in England who was interested in traveling or investing there. But he does include this (apparently) fictional story of a young man who fell in love with, but then betrayed, a native woman. Here is the original version, from Ligon:
This Indian dwelling neer the Sea-coast, upon the Main, an English ship put in to a Bay, and sent some of her men a shoar, to try what victualls or water they could finde, for in some distresse they were: But the Indians perceiving them to go up so far into the Country, as they were sure they could not make a safe retreat, intercepted them in their return, and fell upon them, chasing them into a Wood, and being dispersed there, some were taken, and some kill’d: but a young man amongst them stragling from the rest, was met by this Indian Maid, who upon the first sight fell in love with him, and hid him close from her Countrymen (the Indians) in a Cave, and there fed him, till they could safely go down to the shoar, where the ship lay at anchor, expecting the return of their friends.
But at last, seeing them upon the shoar, sent the long-Boat for them, took them aboard, and brought them away. But the youth, when he came ashoar in the Barbadoes, forgot the kindnesse of the poor maid, that had ventured her life for his safety, and sold her for a slave, who was as free born as he: And so poor Yarico for her love, lost her liberty.
Mr. Thomas Inkle of London, aged twenty Years, embarked in the Downs, on the good Ship called
Achilles, bound for the West Indies, on the 16th of June 1647, in order to improve his Fortune by Trade and Merchandize. Our Adventurer was the third Son of an eminent Citizen, who had taken particular Care to instill into his Mind an early Love of Gain, by making him a perfect Master of Numbers, and consequently giving him a quick View of Loss and Advantage, and preventing the natural Impulses of his Passions, by Prepossession
Inkle had a Person every way agreeable, a ruddy Vigour in his Countenance, Strength in his limbs, with Ringlets of fair Hair loosely flowing on his Shoulders. It happened, in the Course of the Voyage, that the Achilles, in some Distress, put into a Creek on the Main of America, in search of Provisions : The Youth, who is the Hero of my Story, among others, went ashore on this Occasion. From their first Landing they were observed by a Party of Indians, who hid themselves in the Woods for that Purpose. The English unadvisedly marched a great distance from the Shore into the Country, and were intercepted by the Natives, who slew the greatest Number of them. Our Adventurer escaped among others, by flying into a Forest. Upon his coming into a remote and pathless Part of the Wood, he threw himself tired and breathless on a little Hillock
Indian Maid rushed from a Thicket behind him After the first Surprize, they appeared mutually agreeable to each other. If the European was highly charmed with the Limbs, Features, and wild Graces of the Naked American; the American was no less taken with the Dress, Complexion, and Shape of an European, covered from Head to Foot. The Indian grew immediately enamoured of him, and consequently sollicitous for his Preservation: She therefore conveyed him to a Cave, where she gave him a Delicious Repast
Yarico, instructed by her Lover, discovered a Vessel on the Coast, to which she made Signals, and in the Night, with the utmost Joy and Satisfaction accompanied him to a Ships-Crew of his Country-Men, bound for Barbadoes. When a Vessel from the Main arrives in that Island, it seems the Planters come down to the Shoar, where there is an immediate Market of the Indians and other Slaves, as with us of Horses and Oxen.
To be short, Mr. Thomas Inkle, now coming into English Territories, began seriously to reflect upon his loss of Time, and to weigh with himself how many Days Interest of his Mony he had lost during his Stay with Yarico. This thought made the Young Man very pensive, and careful what Account he should be able to give his Friends of his Voyage. Upon which Considerations, the prudent and frugal young Man sold Yarico to a Barbadian
I was so touch'd with this Story, (which I think should be always a Counterpart to the Ephesian Matron) that I left the Room with Tears in my Eyes; which a Woman of Arietta's good Sense, did, I am sure, take for greater Applause, than any Compliments I could make her.
R.
The Turkish Embassy Letters, even though that was a title that Montagu herself never used. Our edition is based on a reprint of that 1762 edition, published by Sarah Goddard, a prominent publisher in colonial Rhode Island. She called it the "fourth edition," but it is not clear why; she was almost certainly setting from a copy of the text that had been published in London. Goddard's text was digitized by the Text Creation Partnership, and adapted for our Literature in Context edition. Additional information about their edition is available at: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=evans;idno=N31507.0001.001
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in Context
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Of the RIGHT HONOURABLE
Lady M—y W—y M—e:
Written, during her TRAVELS in
EUROPE, ASIA AND AFRICA,
TO
Persons of Distinction, Men of Letters. &.
in different PARTS of EUROPE.
WHICH CONTAIN,
Among other CURIOUS Relations,
ACCOUNTS of the POLICY and MANNERS
of the TURKS;
Drawn from Sources that have been inaccessible to
other Travellers.
THE FOURTH EDITION.
Printed and sold by SARAH GODDARD, and COMPANY.
BY A
LADY. Written in 1724.
I WAS going, like common editors, to advertise the reader of the beauties and excellencies of the work laid before him: To tell him that the illustrious author had opportunities, that other travellers, whatever their quality or curiosity may have been, cannot obtain; and a genius capable of making the best improvement of every opportunity. But if the reader, after perusing
one letter only, has not discernment to distinguish that natural elegance, that delicacy of sentiment and observation, that easy gracefulness, and lovely simplicity (which is the perfection of writing) and in which these
Letters
exceed all that have appeared in
The noble author had the goodness to lend me her M. S. to satisfy my curiosity in some enquiries I had made concerning her travels; and when I had it in my hands, how was it possible to part with it? I once had the vanity to hope I might acquaint the public, that it owed this invaluable treasure to my importunities. But alas! the most ingenious author has condemned it to obscurity during her life; and conviction, as well as deference, obliges me to yield to her reasons. However, if these
Letters
appear hereafter when I am in my grave, let this attend them, in testimony to posterity, that among her cotemporaries,
one
woman, at least, was just to her merit.
There is not any thing so excellent, but some will carp at it, and the rather, because of its excellency. But to such hypercritics, I shall only say * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *.
I confess, I am malicious enough to desire, that the world should see, to how much better purpose the LADIES travel than their LORDS; and that,
Male-Travels, all in the same tone, and stuft with the same trifles; a lady has the skill to strike out a new path, and to embellish a worn-out subject, with variety of fresh and elegant entertainment. For besides the vivacity and spirit which enlivens every part, and that inimitable beauty which spreads through the whole; besides the purity of the style, for which it may be justly accounted the standard of the English tongue; the reader will find a more true and accurate account of the customs and manners of the several nations, with whom this lady conversed, than he can in any other author. But as her ladyship's penetration discovers the inmost follies of the heart, so the candour of her temper passed over them with an air of pity rather than reproach; treating with the politeness of a severity of her judgment could not but condemn.
In short, let her own sex at least, do her justice, lay aside diabolical Envy, and its
Brother Malice
Malice
should be of the Masculine Gender: I believe it is both
Masculine
and
Feminine,
and I heartily wish it were
Neuter. [Author's note]
Tea-Table,
being more apt to think they frequent those public places where virtuous women never come. Let the men malign one another, if they think fit, and strive to pull down merit when they cannot equal it. Let us be better natured, than to give way to any unkind or disrespectful thought of so bright an ornament of our sex, merely because she has better sense; for I doubt not but our hearts will tell us, that this is the real and unpardonable offence, whatever may be pretended. Let us be better Christians, than to look upon her with an evil eye, only because the giver of all good gifts has entrusted and adorned her with the most excellent talents. Rather let us freely own the superiority of this sublime genius, as I do in the sincerity of my soul, pleased that a
woman triumphs, and proud to follow in her train. Let us offer her the palm which is so justly her due: and if we pretend to any laurels, lay them willingly at her feet.
May 31, 1725.
A Serious Proposal to the Ladies(1697), an early feminist tract. Astell's preface was written in 1724, at which point Montagu's book of letters was in manuscript circulation among their circle of friends. It was not printed until after Montagu's death in 1762. Astell had died many years earlier, in May 1731; she was sixty-four years old.
You see, Madam, how I lay every thing at your feet. As the tautology shews the poverty of my genius, it likewise shews the extent of your empire over my imagination.
THE editor of these Letters, who during his residence at Venice, was honoured with the esteem and friendship of their ingenious and elegant author, presents them to the public, for the two following Reasons.
First,
Because it was the manifest intention of the Lady M—y W—y M—e, that this SELECT COLLECTION of her Letters should be communicated to the public: an intention declared, not only to the Editor, but to a few more chosen friends, to whom she gave copies of these incomparable Letters.
The
Second
and principal reason that has engaged the Editor to let this collection see the light, is, that the publication of these letters will be an immortal monument to the memory of Lady M—y W—y; and will shew, as long as the English language endures,
real
character.
The SELECT COLLECTION, here published, was faithfully transcribed from the original manuscript of her ladyship at Venice.
The Letters from
Ratisbon, Vienna, Dresden, Peterwaradin, Belgrade, Adrianople, Constantinople, Pera, Tunis, Genoa, Lions,
and
Paris,
are, certainly, the most curious and interesting part of this publication; and both in point of
matter
and
form,
are, to say no more of them, singularly worthy of the curiosity and attention of all
men of taste,
and even of all
women of fashion.
As to those female readers, who read for improvement, and think their beauty an insipid thing if it is not seasoned by intellectual charms, they will find in these Letters what they seek for, and will behold in their author, an ornament and model to their sex.
I FLATTER myself (dear sister) that I shall give you some pleasure in letting you know that I have safely passed the sea, though we had the ill fortune of a storm. We were persuaded by the captain of the yatcht to set out in a calm, and he pretended there was nothing so easy as to tide it over; but, after two days slowly moving, the wind blew so hard, that none of the sailors could keep their feet, and we were all Sunday night tossed very handsomely. I never saw a man more frighted than the captain. For my part, I have been so lucky, neither to suffer from fear nor sea-sickness; tho', I confess, I was so impatient to see myself once more upon dry land, that I would not stay till the yatcht could get to
Rotterdam,
but went in a long-boat to
Helvoetsluys,
where we had voitures to carry us to
Briel.
I was charmed with the neatness of that little town; but my arrival at
Rotterdam,
presented me a new scene of pleasure. All the streets are paved with broad stones, and before many of the meanest artificers doors are placed seats of various coloured marbles, so neatly kept, that I assure you, I walked almost all over the town yesterday,
incognito,
in my slippers, without receiving one spot of dirt: and you may see the Dutch maids washing the pavement of the street, with more application than ours do our bed-chambers. The town seems so full of people, with such busy faces, all in
disinterested
offer. I can write enough in the stile of Rotterdam, to tell you plainly, in one word, that I expect returns of all the London news. You see I have already learnt to make a good bargain, and that it is not for nothing I will so much as tell you, I am, Your affectionate sister.
I MAKE haste to tell you, dear Madam, that after all the dreadful fatigues you threatened me with, I am hitherto very well pleased with my journey. We take care to make such short stages every day, that I rather fancy myself upon parties of pleasure, than upon the road, and sure nothing can be more agreeable than travelling in Holland. The whole country appears a large garden; the roads are well paved, shaded on each side with rows of trees, and boarded with large canals, full of boats, passing and repassing. Every twenty paces gives you the prospect of some villa, and every four hours, that of a large town, so surprisingly neat, I am sure you would be charmed with them. The place I am now at, is certainly one of the finest villages in the world. Here are several squares finely built, and, (what I think a particular beauty) the whole set with thick large trees. The
Voor-hout
is, at the same time, the Hide Park and Mall of the people of quality; for they take the air in it both on foot and in coaches. There are shops for wafers, cool liquors, &cc. I have been to see several of the most celebrated gardens, but I will not teize you with their descriptions. I dare swear you think my letter already long enough. But I must not conclude without begging your pardon, for not obeying your commands, in sending the lace you ordered me. Upon my word I can yet find none, that is not dearer than you may buy in London. If you want any India goods, here are great variety of pennyworths, and I shall follow your orders with great pleasure and exactness, being, Dear Madam, &cc. &cc.
I AM extremely sorry, my dear S. that your fears of disobliging your relations, and their fears for your health and safety, have hindered me from enjoying the happiness of your company, and you the pleasure of a diverting journey. I receive some degree of mortification from every agreeable novelty, or pleasing prospect, by the reflection of your having so unluckily missed the delight which I know it would have given you. If you were with me in this town, you would be ready to expect to receive visits from your
Nottingham
friends. No two places were ever more resembling; one has but to give the
Maese
the name of the
Trent,
and there is no distinguishing the prospect. The houses, like those of
Nottingham,
are built one above another, and are intermixed, in the same manner, with trees and gardens. The Tower, they call
Julius Caesar's, has the same situation with
Nottingham
Castle; and I cannot help fancying I see from it, the
Trent-field, Adboulton,
places so well known to us. 'Tis true, the fortifications make a considerable difference. All the learned in the art of war, bestow great commendations on them; for my part, that know nothing of the matter, I shall content myself with telling you, 'tis a very pretty walk on the ramparts, on which there is a tower, very deservedly called the
Belvidera,
where people go to drink coffee, tea, &cc. and enjoy one of the finest prospects in the world. The public walks have no great beauty, but the thick shade of the trees, which is solemnly delightful. But I must not forget to take
what d'ye call him,
in Bartholomew fair, which he kept up by extraordinary antic gestures, and preaching much such stuff, as t'other talked to the puppets. However the congregation seemed to receive it with great devotion; and I was informed, by some of his flock, that he is a person of particular fame amongst them. I believe by this time, you are as much tired with my account of him, as I was with his sermon; but I am sure your brother will excuse a digression in favour of the church of England. You know, speaking disrespectfully of the Calvinists, is the same thing as speaking honourably of the church. Adieu, my dear S. always remember me, and be assured, I can never forget you, &cc. &cc.
IF my lady—could have any notion of the fatigues that I have suffered these two last days, I am sure she would own it a great proof of regard, that I now sit down to write to her. We hired horses from Nimeguen hither, not having the conveniency of the
enchasures
of the relicks, though I could not help murmuring in my heart, at the profusion of pearls, diamonds, and rubies, bestowed on the adornment of rotten teeth and dirty rags. I own that I had wickedness enough to covet
St. Ursula'
s pearl necklace; though perhaps this was no wickedness at all, an image not being certainly one's neighbour; but I went yet farther, and wished the wench herself converted into dressing plate. I should also gladly see converted into silver, a great
St. Christopher,
which I imagine would look very well in a cistern. These were my pious reflections; though I was very well satisfied to see, piled up to the honour of our nation, the skulls
AFTER five days travelling post, I could not sit down to write on any other occasion than to tell my dear Lady, that I have not forgot her obliging command of sending her some account of my travels. I have already passed a large part of Germany, have seen all that is remarkable in Cologn, Frankfort, Wurtsburg, and this place. 'Tis impossible not to observe the difference between the free towns, and those under the government of absolute princes, as all the little sovereigns of Germany are. In the first there appears an air of commerce and plenty. The streets are well built and full of people, neatly and plainly dressed. The shops are loaded with merchandize, and the commonalty are clean and cheerful. In the other you see a sort of shabby finery, a number of dirty people of quality tawdered out; narrow nasty streets out of repair, wretchedly thin of inhabitants, and above half of the common sort asking alms. I cannot help fancying one, under the figure of a clean Dutch citizen's wife, and the other
The
Lutherans
are not quite free from these follies. I have seen here, in the principal church, a large piece of the Cross set in jewels, and the point of the spear, which, they told me, very gravely, was the same that pierced the side of our Saviour. But I was
I HAD the pleasure of receiving yours, but the day before I left London. I give you a thousand thanks for your good wishes, and have such an opinion of their efficacy, that, I am persuaded, I owe, in part, to them the good luck of having proceeded so far on my long journey without any ill accident. For I don't reckon it any, to have been stopped, a few days, in this town by a cold, since it has not only given me an opportunity of seeing all that is curious in it, but of making some acquaintance with the ladies, who have all been to see me with great civility, particularly
Madame
—, the wife of our King's envoy from Hanover. She has carried me to all the assemblies, and I have been magnificently entertained at her house, which is one of the finest here. You know that all the nobility of this
piques,
which divide the town almost into as many parties, as there are families. They choose rather to suffer the mortification of sitting almost alone on their assembly nights, than to recede one jot from their pretensions. I have not been here above a week, and yet I have heard from almost every one of them, the whole history of their wrongs, and dreadful complaints of the injustice of their neighbours, in hopes to draw me to their party. But I think it very prudent to remain neuter, though if I was to stay amongst them, there would be no possibility of continuing so, their quarrels running so high, that they will not be civil to those that visit their adversaries. The foundation of these everlasting disputes, turns entirely upon rank, place, and the title of Excellency, which they all pretend to, and what is very hard, will give it to no body. For my part I could not forbear advising them (for the public good) to give the title of Excellency to every body, which would include the receiving it from every body; but the very mention of such a dishonourable peace, was received with as much indignation, as Mrs.
Blackaire
did the motion of a reference. And indeed, I began to think myself ill-natured, to offer to take from
publicly
whispered as a piece of impertinent pride in me, that I have hitherto been fancily civil to every body, as if I thought no body good enough to quarrel with. I should be obliged to change my behaviour, if I did not intend to pursue my journey in a few days. I have been to see the churches here, and had the permission of touching the relics, which was never suffered in places where I was not known. I had, by this privilege, the opportunity of making an observation, which I doubt not might have been made in all the other churches, that the emeralds and rubies which they show round their relics and images, are most of them false; though they tell you that many of the
Crosses
and
Madonas,
set round with these stones, have been the gifts of Emperors and other great Princes. I don't doubt indeed but they were at first jewels of value; but the good fathers have found it convenient to apply them to other uses, and the people are just as well satisfied with bits of glass. Amongst these relics, they shewed me a prodigious claw set in cold, which they called the claw of a Griffin, and I could not forbear asking the Reverend Priest that shewed it, whether the Griffin was a Saint? The question almost put him beside his gravity; but he answered, they only kept it as a curiosity. I was very much scandalized at a large silver image of the
Trinity,
where the
Father
is represented under the figure of a decrepit old man, with a beard down to his knees, and triple crown on his head, holding in his arms. the Son, fixed on the Cross, and the
Holy Ghost,
in the shape of a dove hovering over him. Madam—is come this minute to call me to the assembly, and forces me to tell you very abruptly, that I am ever your, &cc. &cc.
I AM now, my dear sister, safely arrived at Vienna, and I thank God, have not at all suffered in my health, nor (what is dearer to me) in that of my child, by all our fatigues. We travelled by water from Ratisbon, a journey perfectly agreeable, down the Danube, in one of those little vessels, that they, very properly, call wooden houses, having in them all the conveniencies of a palace, stoves in the chambers, kitchens, &cc. they are rowed by twelve men each, and move with such an incredible swiftness, that in the same day you have the pleasure of a vast variety of prospects, and within the space of a few hours you have the pleasure of seeing a populous city, adorned with magnificent palaces, and the most romantic solitudes, which appear distant from the commerce of mankind, the banks of the Danube being charmingly diversified with woods, rocks, mountains covered with vines, fields of corn, large cities and ruins of antient castles. I saw the great towns of Passau and Lintz, famous for the retreat of the Imperial Court, when Vienna was besieged. This town, which has the honour of being the Emperor's residence, did not at all answer my expectation, nor ideas of it, being much less than I expected to find it; the streets are very close, and so narrow, one cannot observe the fine fronts of the palaces, though many of them very well deserve observation, being truly magnificent. They are all built of fine white stone, and are excessive high. For as the town is too little for the number of the people that desire to live in it, the builders seem to have projected to repair that misfortune, by clapping
suite
of eight or ten large rooms, all inlaid, the doors and windows richly carved and gilt, and the furniture such as is seldom seen in the palaces of foreign princes in other countries. Their apartments are adorned with hangings of the finest tapestry of Brussels, prodigious large looking-glasses in silver frames, fine japan tables, beds, chairs, canopies and window curtains of the richest Genoa damask or velvet, almost covered with gold lace or embroidery. All this is made gay by pictures and vast jars of japan china, and large lustres of rock crystal. I have already had the honour of being invited to dinner by several of the first people of quality, and I must do them the justice to say, the good taste and magnificence of their tables very well answer to that of their furniture. I have been more than once entertained with fifty dishes of meat, all served in silver, and well dressed; the dessert proportionable, served in the finest china. But the variety and richness of their wines, is
Schoonbourn,
the vice-chancellor's garden, where I was invited to dinner. I must own, I never saw a place so perfectly delightful as the
Fauxbourg
of Vienna. It is very large, and almost wholly composed of delicious palaces. If the Emperor found it proper to permit the gates of the town to be laid open, that the Fauxbourgs might be joined to it, he would have one of the largest and best built cities in Europe. Count Schoonbourn's villa is one of the most magnificent; the furniture all rich brocades, so well fancied and fitted up, nothing can look more gay and splendid; not to speak of a gallery, full of rarities of coral, mother of pearl, and throughout the whole house a profusion of gilding, carving, fine paintings, the most beautiful porcelain, statues of alabaster and ivory, and vast orange and lemon trees in gilt pots. The dinner was perfectly fine and well ordered, and made still more agreeable by the good humour of the Count. I have not yet been at court, being forced to stay for my gown, without which there is no waiting on the Empress; though I am not without great impatience to see a beauty that has been the admiration of so many different nations. When I have had that honour, I will not fail to let you know my real thoughts, always taking a particular pleasure in communicating them to my dear sister.
PERHAPS you'll laugh at me, for thanking you very gravely for all the obliging concern you express for me. 'Tis certain that I may, if I please, take the fine things you say to me for wit and raillery, and, it may be, it would be taking them right. But I never, in my life, was half so well disposed to take you in earnest, as I am at present, and that distance which makes the continuation of your friendship improbable, has very much increased my faith in it. I find that I have (as well as the rest of my sex) whatever face I set
on't, a strong disposition to believe in miracles. Don't fancy, however, that I am infected by the air of these popish countries; I have, indeed, so far wandered from the discipline of the church of England, as to have been last Sunday at the opera, which was performed in the garden of the
Favorita,
and I was so much pleased with it, I have not yet repented my seeing it. Nothing of That kind ever was more magnificent; and I can easily believe, what I am told, that the decorations and habits cost the Emperor thirty thousand pounds sterling. The stage was built over a very large canal, and at the beginning of the second act, divided into two parts, discovering the water, on which there immediately came, from different parts, two fleets of little gilded vessels, that gave the representation of a naval fight. It is not easy to imagine the beauty of this scene, which I took particular notice of. But all the rest were perfectly fine in their kinds. The story of the Opera is the Enchantment of
Alcina,
which gives opportunities for great
Jupiter'
s falling in love out of a peep-hole in the clouds, and ended with the birth of
Hercules.
But what was most pleasant was the use Jupiter made of his metamorphosis, for you no sooner saw him under the figure of
Amphitrion,
but instead of flying to
Alcmena,
with the raptures Mr.
Dryden
puts into his mouth, he sends for Amphitrion's taylor, and cheats him of a laced coat, and his banker of a bag of money, a Jew of a diamond ring, and bespeaks a great supper in his name;
Mercury
uses
Sosia
in the same manner. But I could not easily pardon the liberty the poet has taken of larding his play with, not only indecent expressions, but such gross words as I don't think our mob would suffer from a mountebank. Besides, the two Sosia's very fairly let down their breeches in the direct view of the boxes, which were full of people of the first rank that seemed very well pleased with their entertainment, and assured me this was a celebrated piece. I shall conclude my letter with this remarkable relation, very well worthy the serious consideration of Mr. Collier. I won't trouble you with farewell compliments, which I think generally as impertinent, as courtisies at leaving the room when the visit has been too long already.
THOUGH I have so lately troubled you, my dear sister, with a long letter, yet I will keep my promise in giving you an account of my first going to Court. In order to that ceremony, I was squeezed up in a gown, and adorned with a Gorget and the other implements thereunto belonging, a dress very inconvenient, but which certainly shows the neck and shape to great advantage. I cannot forbear giving you some description of the fashions here, which are more monstrous and contrary to all common sense and
Bourlé,
which is exactly of the same shape and kind, but about four times as big as those rolls our prudent milk-maids make use of to fix their pails upon. This machine they cover with their own hair, which they mix with a great deal of false, it being a particular beauty to have their heads too large to go into a moderate tub. Their hair is prodigiously powdered to conceal the mixture, and set out with three or four rows of bodkins (wonderfully large, that stick out two or three inches from their hair) made of diamonds, pearls, red, green and yellow stones, that it certainly requires as much art and experience to carry the load upright, as to dance upon May-day with the garland. Their whalebone petticoats outdo ours by several yards circumference, and cover some acres of ground. You may easily suppose how this extraordinary dress sets off and improves the natural ugliness, with which God Almighty has been pleased to endow them, generally speaking. Even the lovely Empress herself is obliged to comply, in some degree, with these absurd fashions, which they would not quite for all the world. I had a private audience (according to ceremony) of half an hour, and then all the other ladies were permitted to come and make their court. I was perfectly charmed with the Empress; I cannot however tell you that her features are regular; her eyes are not large, but have a lively look full of sweetness; her complexion the finest I ever saw; her nose and forehead well made, but her mouth has ten thousand charms, that touch the soul. When she smiles, 'tis
Juno,
the air of
Venus,
come not up to the truth. The
Graces
move, with her; the famous statue of Medicis was not formed with more delicate proportions; nothing can be added to the beauty of her neck and hands. Till I saw them, I did not believe there were any in nature so perfect, and I was almost sorry that my rank here did not permit me to kiss them; but they are kissed sufficiently, for every body, that waits on her, pays that homage at their entrance, and when they take leave. When the ladies were come in, she sat down to
Quinze.
I could not play at a game I had never seen before, and she ordered me a seat at her right hand, and had the goodness to talk to me very much, with that grace so natural to her. I expected every moment, when the men were to come in to pay their court; but this drawing-room is very different from that of England; no man enters it but the grand master, who comes in to advertise the Empress of the approach of the Emperor. His Imperial Majesty did me the honour of speaking to me in a very obliging manner, but he never speaks to any of the other ladies, and the whole passes with a gravity and air of ceremony that has something very formal in it. The Empress Amelia, dowager of the late Emperor Joseph, came this evening to wait on the reigning Empress, followed by the two arch-duchesses her daughters, who are very agreeable young princesses. Their Imperial Majesties rose and went to meet her at the door of the room, after which she was seated in an armed chair next the Empress and in the same manner at supper, and there the men had the
Ladies of the Key,
and wear gold keys by their sides; but what I find most pleasant, is the custom, which obliges them as long as they live, after they have left the Empress's service, to make her some present every year on the day of her feast. Her Majesty is served by no married women but the
Grande Maitresse,
who is generally a widow of the first quality, always very old, and is at the same time
groom of the stole
and mother of the maids. The dresses are not, at all, in the figure they pretend to in England, being looked upon no otherwise than as downright chamber-maids. I had an audience next day of the Empress-mother, a princess of great virtue and goodness, but who piques herself too much on a violent devotion. She is perpetually performing extraordinary acts of pennance, without having ever done any thing to deserve them. She has the same number of maids of honour, whom she suffers to go in colours; but she herself never quits her mourning; and sure nothing can be more dismal than the mourning here; even for a brother, there is not the least bit of linen to be seen; all black crape instead of it. The neck, ears and side of the face are covered with a plated piece of the same stuff, and the face that peeps out in the midst of it, looks as if it
"'Tis easy to be valiant here."
The second a FORTUNE holding a garland in her hand, the motto,
"For her whom Fortune favours."
The third was a SWORD with a laurel wreath on the point, the motto,
"Here is no shame to the vanquished."
—Near the Empress was a gilded trophy wreathed with flowers, and made of little crooks, on which were hung rich Turkish handkerchiefs, tippets, ribbons, laces, &cc. for the small prizes. The Empress gave the first with her own hand, which was a fine ruby ring set round with diamonds in a gold snuff box. There was for a second, a little Cupid set with brilliants, and besides these a set of fine china for the tea table, enchased in gold, japan trunks, fans, and many gallantries of the same nature. All the men of quality at Vienna were spectators; but the ladies only had permission to shoot, and the arch-duchess Amelia carried off the first prize. I was very well pleased with having seen this entertainment, and I do not know but it might make as good
I AM extremely rejoiced, but not at all surprised, at the long, delightful letter, you have had the goodness to send me. I know that you can think of an absent friend even in the midst of a court, and you love to oblige, where you can have no view of a return, and I expect from you that you should love me, and think of me, when you don't see me. I have compassion for the mortifications, that you tell me befal our little, old friend, and I pity her much more, since I know, that they are, only, owing to the barbarous customs of our country. Upon my word, if she were here, she would have no other fault but that of being something too young for the fashion, and she has nothing to do but to transplant herself hither about seven years hence, to be again a young and blooming beauty. I can assure you that wrinkles, or a small stoop in the shoulders, nay even grey hairs,
S—ff—k
with passion, or pressing to lead the Countess of O—d from an Opera. But such are the sights I see every day, and I don't perceive any body surprised at them but myself. A woman till five and thirty, is only looked upon as a raw girl, and can possibly make no noise in the world till about forty. I don't know what your ladyship may think of this matter, but 'tis a considerable comfort to me to know there is upon earth such a paradise for old women, and I am content to be insignificant at present, in the design of returning when I am fit to appear no where else. I cannot help lamenting on this occasion, the pitiful case of too many English ladies, long since retired to prudery and ratafia, whom if their stars had luckily conducted hither, would still shine in the first rank of beauties. Besides that perplexing word
reputation,
has quite another meaning here than what you give it at London, and getting a lover, is so far from losing, that 'tis properly getting reputation; ladies being much more respected in regard to the rank of their lovers, than that of their husbands.
But what you'll think very odd, the two sects that divide our whole nation of petticoats, are utterly unknown in this place. Here are neither
Coquettes
nor
Prudes.
No woman dares appear coquette enough to encourage two lovers at a time. And I have not seen any such prudes, as to pretend fidelity to their husbands, who are certainly the best-natured set of people in the world, and look upon their wives' gallants as favourably, as men do upon their deputies, that take the troublesome part of their business off their hands. They have not however the less to do on that account;
sub-marriages
generally last twenty years together, and the lady often commands the poor lover's estate, even to the utter ruin of his family. These connections, indeed, are as seldom begun by any real passion, as other matches; for a man makes but an ill figure that is not in some commerce of this nature, and a woman looks out for a lover as soon as she's married, as part of her equipage, without which she could not be genteel, and the first article of the treaty is establishing the pension, which remains to the lady, in case the gallant should prove inconstant. This chargeable point of honour, I look upon as the real foundation of so many wonderful instances of constancy. I really know several women of the first quality, whose pensions are as well known as their annual rents, and yet no body esteems them the less; on the contrary, their discretion would be called in question if they should be suspected to be mistresses for nothing. A great part of their emulation consists in trying who shall get most; and having no intrigue at all is so far a disgrace, that I'll assure you, a lady who is very much my friend here, told me but yesterday, how much I was obliged to her for justifying my conduct in a conversation relating to me, where it was publicly asserted, that I could not possibly have common sense, since I had been in town above a fortnight, and
Belles passions
are managed in this country. I was at the assembly of the Countess of—, and the young Count of—leading me down stairs, asked me how long I was to stay at Vienna; I made answer that my stay depended on the Emperor, and it was not in my power to determine it. Well, Madam, (said he) whether your time here is to be longer or shorter, I think you ought to pass it agreeably, and to that end you must engage in a
little affair of the heart.
—My heart (answered I gravely enough) does not engage very easily, and I have no design of parting with it. I see, Madam, (said he sighing) by the ill nature of that answer, I am not to hope for it, which is a great mortification to me that am charmed with you. But, however, I am still devoted to your service, and since I am not worthy of entertaining you myself, do me the honour of letting me know, whom you like best amongst us, and I'll engage to manage the affair entirely to your satisfaction. You may judge in what manner I should have received this compliment in my own country; but I was well enough acquainted with the way of this, to know that he really intended me an obligation, and I thanked him with a very grave courtesy, for his zeal to serve me, and only assured him, I had no occasion to make use of it. Thus you see, my dear, that gallantry and good breeding are as different, in different climates, as morality and religion. Who have the rightest notions of both, we shall never
Eclaircissement,
I own there is very little impatience in your, &cc. &cc.
I WAS never more agreeably surprised than by your obliging letter. 'Tis a peculiar mark of my esteem, that I tell you so, and I can assure you, that if I loved you one grain less than I do, I should be very sorry to see it so diverting as it is. The mortal aversion I have to writing makes me tremble at the thoughts of a new correspondent, and I believe I disobliged no less than a dozen of my London acquaintance by refusing to hear from them, though I did verily think they intended to send me very entertaining letters. But I had rather lose the pleasure of reading several witty things, than be forced to write many stupid ones. Yet in spite of these considerations, I am charmed with the proof of your friendship, and beg a continuation of the same goodness, though I fear the dulness of this will make you immediately repent of it. It is not from Austria that one can write with vivacity, and I am already infected with the phlegm of the country. Even their amours and their quarrels are carried on with a surprising temper, and they are never lively, but upon points of ceremony. There, I own, they shew all their passions, and 'tis not long since two coaches meeting in
YOU desire me, Madam, to send you some accounts of the customs here, and at the same time a description of Vienna. I am always willing to obey your commands, but you must upon this occasion take the will for the deed. If I should undertake to tell you all the particulars in which the manners
Rabutin
has the assembly constantly every night at her house; and the other ladies, whenever they have a mind to display the magnificence of their apartments, or oblige a friend by complimenting them on the day of their Saint, they declare, that on such a day the assembly shall be at their house in honour to the feast of the Count or Countess—
such a one.
These days are called days of
Gala,
and all the friends or relations of the lady, whose Saint it is, are obliged to appear in their best clothes and all their jewels. The mistress of the house takes no particular notice of any body, nor returns any body's visit; and, whoever pleases, may go, without the formality of being presented. The company are entertained with ice in several forms, winter and summer; afterwards they divide into several parties of ombre, piquett, or conversation, all games of hazard being forbid.
I saw t'other day the
Gala
for Count
Altheim,
the Emperor's favourite, and never in my life saw so many fine clothes ill fancied. They embroider the richest gold stuffs, and provided they can make their cloaths expensive enough, that is all the taste they shew in them. On other days the general dress is a scarf, and what you please under it.
St. Lawrence,
where the ease and neatness they seem to live with, appears to me much more edifying than those stricter orders, where perpetual pennance and nastinesses must breed discontent and wretchedness. The nuns are all of quality. I think there are to the number of fifty. They have each of them, a little cell perfectly clean, the walls of which are covered with pictures, more or less fine, according to their quality. A long white stone gallery runs by all of them, furnished with the pictures of exemplary sisters; the chapel is extremely neat and richly adorned. But I could not forbear laughing at their shewing me a wooden head of our Saviour, which they assured me, spoke, during the siege of Vienna; and, as a proof of it, bid me remark his mouth, which had been open ever since. Nothing can be more becoming than the dress of these nuns. It is a white robe, the sleeves of which are turned up with fine white callico, and their head dress the same, excepting a small veil of black crape that falls behind. They have a lower sort of serving nuns, that wait on them as their chamber-maids. They receive all visits of women, and play at ombre in their chambers with permission of their Abbess, which is very easy to be obtained. I never saw an old woman so good-natured; she is near fourscore, and yet shews very little sign of decay, being still lively and cheerful. She caressed me as if I had been her daughter, giving me some pretty things of her own work, and sweetmeats in abundance. The grate is not one of the most rigid; it is not very hard to put a head through; and I don't doubt but a man, a little more slender than
Salamis
came to the grate, while I was there, and the Abbess gave him her hand to kiss. But I was surprised to find here, the only beautiful young woman I have seen at Vienna, and not only beautiful but genteel, witty and agreeable, of a great family and who had been the admiration of the town. I could not forbear shewing my surprise at seeing a nun like her. She made me a thousand obliging compliments, and desired me to come often. It will be an infinite pleasure to me(said she sighing) but I avoid, with the greatest care, seeing any of my former acquaintance, and whenever they come to our convent, I lock myself in my cell. I observed tears come into her eyes, which touched me extremely, and I began to talk to her in that strain of tender pity she inspired me with; but she would not own to me, that she is not perfectly happy. I have since endeavoured to learn the real cause of her retirement, without being able to get any other account, but that every body was surprised at it, and no body guessed the reason. I have been several times to see her; but it gives me too much melancholy to see so ageeable a young creature buried alive. I am not surprised that nuns have so often inspired violent passions; the pity one naturally feels for them, when they seem worthy of another destiny, making an easy way for yet more tender sentiments. I never in my life had so little charity for the Roman. Catholic religion, as since I see the misery it occasions; so many poor unhappy women! and then the gross superstition of the common people, who are some or other of them, day and night, offering bits of candle to the wooden figures, that are set up in almost every street. The processions I see very often are a pageantry, as offensive
womanly
spirit of contradiction that works in me, but there never, before, was such zeal against popery in the heart of,
I DESERVE not all the reproaches you make me. If I have been some time without answering your letter, it is not, that I don't know how many thanks are due to you for it; or that I am stupid enough to prefer any amusements, to the pleasure of hearing from you; but after the professions of esteem you have so obligingly made me, I cannot help delaying, as long as I can, shewing you, that you are mistaken. If you are sincere, when you say, you expect to be extremely entertained by my letters, I ought to be mortified at the disappointment that I am sure you will receive, when you hear from me; tho' I have done my best endeavours to find out something worth writing to you. I have seen every thing that was to be seen with a very diligent curiosity. Here are some fine villa's, particularly, the late Prince of Lichtenstein's; but the statues are all modern, and the pictures not of the first hands. 'Tis true, the Emperor has some of great value. I was yesterday to see
Treasure,
where they seem to have been more diligent in amassing a great quantity of things, than in the choice of them. I spent above five hours there, and yet there were very few things that stopped me long to consider them. But the number is prodigious, being a very long gallery filled, on both sides, and five large rooms. There is a vast quantity of paintings, amongst which are many fine miniatures, but the most valuable pictures are a few of
Corregio,
those of
Titian
being at the
Favorita.
The cabinet of jewels did not appear to me so rich as I expected to see it. They shewed me here a cup, about the size of a tea dish, of one entire
emerald,
which they have so particular a respect for, that only the Emperor has the liberty of touching it. There is a large cabinet full of curiosities of clock-work, only one of which I thought worth observing, that was a craw fish with all the motions so natural, that it was hard to distinguish it from the life.
The next cabinet was a large collection of
Agates,
some of them extremely beautiful and of an uncommon size, and several vases of
Lapis Lazuli.
I was surprised to see the cabinet of medals so poorly furnished; I did not remark one of any value, and they are kept in a most ridiculous disorder. As to the
Antiques,
very few of them deserve that name. Upon my saying they were modern, I could not forbear laughing at the answer of the profound antiquary that shewed them, that
they were ancient enough, for to his knowledge they had been there these forty years;
but the next cabinet diverted me yet better, being nothing else but a parcel of wax babies, and toys in ivory, very well worthy to be presented to children of five years old. Two of the rooms were wholly filled
Leopold.
I won't trouble you with a catalogue of the rest of the lumber, but I must not forget to mention, a small piece of loadstone that held up an anchor of steel too heavy for me to lift. This is what I thought most curious in the whole treasure. There are some few heads of ancient statues; but several of them are defaced by modern additions. I foresee that you will be very little satisfied with this letter, and I dare hardly ask you, to be good-natured enough to charge the dulness of it, on the barrenness of the subject, and to overlook the stupidity of
I HOPE my dear sister wants no new proof of my sincere affection for her; but I am sure if you do, I could not give you a stronger than writing at this time, after three days, or, more properly speaking, three nights and days, hard post-travelling.—The kingdom of Bohemia is the most desert of any I have seen in Germany. The villages are so poor, and the post-houses so miserable, that clean straw and fair water are blessings not always to be met with, and better accommodation not to be hoped for.
This town was once the royal feat of the Bohemian King, and is still the capital of the kingdom. There are yet some remains of its former splendour, being one of the largest towns in Germany, but, for the most part, old built and thinly inhabited, which makes the houses very cheap. Those people of quality who cannot easily bear the expence of Vienna, choose to reside here, where they have assemblies, music, and all other diversions, (those of a court excepted) at very moderate rates, all things being here in great abundance, especially, the best wild fowl I ever tasted. I have already been visited by some of the most considerable ladies, whose relations I know at Vienna. They are dressed after the fashions there, after the manner that the people at Exeter imitate those of London; that is, their imitation is more excessive than the original. 'Tis not easy to describe what extraordinary figures they make. The person is so much lost between head-dress and petticoat, that they have as much occasion to write upon their backs,
"This is a Woman,"
for the information of travellers, as ever sign-post painter had to write,
This is a Bear.
I will not forget to write to you again from Dresden and Leipzig, being much more solicitous to content your curiosity, than to indulge my own repose.
I BELIEVE, dear sister, you will easily forgive my not writing to you from Dresden, as I promised, when I tell you, that I never went out of my chaise from Prague to this place. You may imagine how heartily I was tired with twenty-four hours post-travelling, without sleep or refreshment (for I can never sleep in a coach however fatigued.) We passed by moon-shine, the frightful precipices that divide Bohemia from Saxony, at the bottom of which runs the river Elbe; but I cannot say, that I had reason to fear drowning in it, being perfectly convinced, that in case of a tumble, it was utterly impossible to come alive to the bottom. In many places the road is so narrow, that I could not discern an inch of space between the wheels and the precipice. Yet I was so good a wife not to wake Mr. W—y, who was fast asleep by my side, to make him share in my fears, since the danger was unavoidable, till I perceived by the bright light of the moon, our postillions nodding on horse-back, while the horses were on a full gallop. Then indeed I thought it very convenient to call out to desire them to look where they were going. My calling waked Mr. W—y, and he was much more surprised than myself at the situation we were in, and assured me that he passed the Alps five times in different places, without ever having gone a road so dangerous. I have been told since, that 'tis
Minaudieres
in the whole world. They would think it a mortal sin against good breeding, if they either spoke or moved in a natural manner. They all affect a little soft lisp, and a pretty
pitty pat
step; which female frailties ought, however, to be forgiven them in favour of their civility and good nature to strangers, which I have a great deal of reason to praise.
The Countess of
Cozelle
is kept prisoner in a melancholy castle, some leagues from hence, and I cannot forbear telling you what I have heard of her, because it seems to me very extraordinary, though I foresee I shall swell my letter to the size of a pacquet.—She was mistress to the King of Poland (Elector of
strength
and
liberality.
I know not which charmed her most, but she consented to leave her husband and to give herself up to him intirely, being divorced publicly, in such a manner as by their laws, permits either party to marry again. God knows whether it was at this time, or in some other fond fit, but 'tis certain the king had the weakness to make her a formal contract of marriage; which, though it could signify nothing during the life of the Queen, pleased her so well, that she could not be contented, without telling it to all the people she saw, and giving herself the airs of a Queen. Men endure every thing while they are in love; but when the excess of passion was cooled by long possession, his Majesty begun to reflect on the ill consequences of leaving such a paper in her hands, and desired to have it restored to him. But she rather chose to endure all the most violent effects of his anger than give it up; and though she is one of the richest and most avaritious ladies of her country, she has refused the offer of the continuation of a large pension, and the security of a vast sum of money she has amassed, and has, at last, provoked the King to confine her person to a castle, where she endures all the terrors of a strait imprisonment, and remains still inflexible either to threats or promises. Her violent passions have brought her indeed into fits, which 'tis supposed will soon put an end to her
I could have wished Mr. W—y's business had permitted him a longer stay at Dresden.
Perhaps I am partial to a town where they profess the Protestant Religion, but every thing seemed to me with quite another air of politeness, than I have found in other places.
Leipsic,
where I am at present, is a town very considerable for its trade, and I take this opportunity of buying page's liveries, gold stuffs for myself, &cc. all things of that kind being at least double the price at Vienna, partly because of the excessive customs, and partly through want of genius and industry in the people, who make no one sort of thing there, so that the ladies are obliged to send, even for their shoes, out of Saxony. The fair here is one of the most considerable in Germany, and the resort of all the people of quality, as well as of the merchants. This is also a fortified town, but I avoid ever mentioning fortifications, being sensible that I know not how to speak of them. I am the more easy under my ignorance, when I reflect that I am sure you'll willingly forgive the omission; for if I made you the most exact description of all the ravelins and bastions I see in my travels, I dare swear you would ask me what is a ravelin? and what is a bastion?
I AM just come to Brunswick, a very old town, but which has the advantage of being the capital of the Duke of Wolfenbuttle's dominions, a family (not to speak of its ancient honours) illustrious, by having its younger branch on the throne of England, and having given two Empresses to Germany. I have not forgot to drink your health here in
Mum,
which I think very well deserves its reputation of being the best in the world. This letter is the third I have writ to you during my journey, and I declare to you, that if you don't send me immediately a full and true account of all the changes and chances amongst our London acquaintance, I will not write you any description of Hanover, (where I hope to be to night) though I know you have more curiosity to hear of that place than any other.
I RECEIVED your ladyship's letter but the day before I left Vienna, though, by the date, I ought to have had it much sooner; but nothing was ever worse regulated than the post in most parts of Germany. I can assure you the pacquet at Prague was behind my chaise, and in that manner conveyed to Dresden, so that the secrets of half the country were at my mercy, if I had had any curiosity for them. I would not longer delay my thanks for yours, though the number of my acquaintances here, and my duty of attending at court, leaves me hardly any time to dispose of. I am extremely pleased that I can tell you, without flattery or partiality, that our young Prince
Tour
of Germany, and cannot help observing a considerable difference between travelling here and in England. One sees none of those fine seats of noblemen, so common amongst us, nor any thing like a country gentleman's house, though they have many situations perfectly fine. But the whole people are divided into absolute sovereignties, where all the riches and magnificence are at court, or into communities of merchants, such as Nurenburgh and Frankfort, where they live always in town for the convenience of trade. The King's company of French comedians play here every night. They are very well dressed, and some of them not ill actors. His Majesty dines and sups constantly in public. The court is very numerous, and his affability and goodness makes it one of the most agreeable places in the world.
I AM very glad my dear Lady R—, that you have been so well pleased, as you tell me, at the report of my returning to England; though, like other pleasures, I can assure you it has no real foundation. I hope you know me enough to take my word against any report concerning me. 'Tis true, as to distance of place, I am much nearer to London than I was some weeks ago; but as to the thoughts of a return. I never was farther off in my life. I own, I could with great joy indulge the pleasing hopes of seeing you and the very few others that share my esteem; but while Mr. W—is determined to proceed in his design, I am determined to follow him.—I am running on upon my own affairs, that is to say, I am going to write very dully, as most people do, when they write of themselves. I will make haste to change the disagreeable subject, by telling you, that I am now got into the region of beauty. All the women have, literally, rosy cheeks, snowy foreheads and bosoms, jet eyebrows, and scarlet lips, to which they generally add coal-black hair. Those perfections never leave them, till the hour of their deaths, and have a very fine effect by candle light; but I could wish they were handsome with a little more variety. They resemble one another as much as Mrs.
Salmon's court of Great-Britain, and are in as much danger of melting away, by too near approaching
Traineaus.
This is a favourite diversion all over Germany. They are little machines fixed upon a sledge, that hold a lady and a gentleman, and are drawn by one horse. The gentleman has the honour of driving, and they move with a prodigious swiftness. The lady, the horse and the Traineau, are all as fine as they can be made, and when there are many of them together, 'tis a very agreeable show. At Vienna, where all pieces of magnificence are carried to excess, there are sometimes machines of this kind, that cost five or six hundred pounds English. The Duke of Wolfenbuttle is now at this court; you know he is nearly related to our King, and uncle to the remaining Empress, who is, I believe, the most beautiful Princess upon earth. She is now with child, which is all the consolation of the Imperial Court for the loss of the Arch-duke. I took my leave of her the day before I left Vienna, and she begun to speak to me, with so much grief and tenderness of the death of that young Prince, I had much ado to with-hold my tears. You know that I am not at all partial to people for their titles; but I own, that I love that charming Princess (if I may use so familiar an expression) and if I had not, I should have been very much moved at the tragical end of an only son, born after being so long desired, and at length killed by want of good management, weaning him in the beginning of the winter. Adieu, dear Lady R—, continue to write to me, and believe none of your goodness is lost upon.
I RECEIVED yours, dear sister, the very day I left Hanover. You may easily imagine I was then in too great a hurry to answer it, but you see I take the first opportunity of doing myself that pleasure. I came here the 15th, very late at night, after a terrible journey, in the worst roads and weather that ever poor traveller suffered. I have taken this little fatigue, merely to oblige the reigning Empress, and carry a message from her Imperial Majesty to the Duchess of Blankenburg, her mother, who is a Princess of great address and good breeding, and may be still called a fine woman. It was so late when I came to this town, I did not think it proper to disturb the Duke and Duchess with the news of my arrival; so I took up my quarters in a miserable inn; but as soon as I had sent my compliments to their Highnesses, they immediately sent me their own coach and six horses, which had however enough to do to draw us up the very high hill on which the castle is situated. The Duchess is extremely obliging to me, and this little court is not without its diversions. The Duke
taillys
at
Basset
every night, and the Duchess tells me, she is so well pleased with my company, that it makes her play less than she used to do. I should find it very difficult to steal time to write, if she was not now at church, where I cannot wait on her, not understanding
Hernhausen
in all its beauty; but in spite of the snow, I thought the gardens very fine. I was particularly surprised, at the vast number of orange trees, much larger than any I have ever seen in England, though this climate is certainly colder. But I had more reason to wonder, that night at the King's table, to see a present from a gentleman of this country, of two large baskets full of ripe oranges and lemons of different sorts, many of which were quite new to me; and what I thought worth all the rest, two ripe
Ananasses,
which, to my taste, are a fruit perfectly delicious. You know they are naturally the growth of
Brazil,
and I could not imagine how they came here but by enchantment. Upon enquiry, I learn't that they have brought their stoves to such perfection, they lengthen their summer as long as they please, giving to every plant the degree of heat it would receive from the sun in its native soil. The effect is very near the same; I am surprised we do not practise, in England, so useful an invention. This reflection leads me to consider our obstinacy in shaking with cold five months in the year, rather than make use of stoves, which are certainly one of the greatest conveniencies of life. Besides, they are so far from spoiling the form of a room, that they add very much to the magnificence of it, when they are painted and gilt, as they are at Vienna, or at Dresden, where they are often in the shapes of china
I HAVE just received here at Vienna, your ladyship's compliments on my return to England, sent me from Hanover. You see, Madam, all things that are asserted with confidence, are not absolutely true; and that you have no sort of reason to complain of me for making my designed return a mystery to you, when, you say, all the world are informed of it. You may tell all the world in my name, that they are never so well informed of my affairs as I am myself, that I am very positive I am at this time at Vienna, where the carnival is begun, and all sorts of diversions are carried to the greatest height, except that of masquing, which is never permitted during a war with the Turks. The balls are in public places, where the men pay a gold ducat at entrance, but the ladies nothing. I am told that
such a one,
has an intrigue with Count
such a one?
Would you have me write novels like the Countess of D'—, and is it not better to tell you a plain truth,
I AM now, dear sister, to take leave of you for a long time, and of Vienna for ever, designing, to-morrow, to begin my journey through Hungary in spite of the excessive cold, and deep snows, which is enough to damp a greater courage than I am mistress of. But my principle of
passive obedience,
carries me through every thing. I have had my audience of leave of the Empress. His Imperial Majesty was pleased to be present when I waited on the reigning Empress, and, after a very obliging conversation, both their Imperial Majesties invited me to take Vienna in my road back; but I have no thoughts, of enduring, over again, so great a fatigue. I delivered a letter from the Duchess of Blankenburg. I staid but a few days at that court, though her Highness pressed me very much to stay; and when I left her, engaged me to write to her. I wrote you a long letter from thence, which I hope you have received, though you don't mention it; but I believe I forgot to tell you one curiosity in all the German courts, which I cannot forbear taking notice of: All the princes keep favourite dwarfs. The Emperor and Empress have two of these little monsters, as ugly as devils, especially the female; but they are all bedawbed with diamonds, and stand at her Majesty's elbow in all public places. The Duke of Wolfenbuttle has one, and the Duchess of Blankenburg
Eugene
has been so good as to say all the things he could to persuade me to stay till the Danube is thawed, that I may have the conveniency of going by water, assuring me, that the houses in Hungary are such, as are no defence against the weather, and that I shall be obliged to travel three or four days between
Buda
and
Esseek,
without finding any house at all, through desart plains covered with snow; where the cold is so violent, many have been killed by it. I own these terrors have made a very deep impression on my mind, because I believe he tells me things truly as they are, and no body can be better informed of them.
Now I have named that great man, I am sure you expect, I should say something particular of him, having the advantage of seeing him very often; but I am as unwilling to speak of him at
Vienna,
as I should be to talk of
Hercules
in the court of
Omphale,
if I had seen him there. I don't know what comfort other people find in considering the weakness of great men, (because, perhaps, it brings them nearer to their level) but 'tis always a mortification to me, to observe, that there is no perfection in humanity. The young Prince of Portugal is the admiration of the whole court; he is handsome and polite with a great vivacity. All the officers tell wonders of his gallantry the last campaign. He is lodged at court with all the honours due to his rank.—Adieu, dear sister, this is the last account you will have from me of Vienna. If I survive my journey, you shall hear from me again. I can say with great truth, in the words of
Moneses, I have long learnt to hold myself as nothing;
but when I think of the fatigue my poor infant must suffer, I have all a mother's fondness
P. S. I have written a letter to my lady—, that I believe she won't like; and upon cooler reflection, I think I had done better to have let it alone; but I was downright peevish at all her questions, and her ridiculous imagination, that I have certainly seen abundance of wonders which I keep to myself out of meer malice. She is very angry that I won't lie like other travellers. I verily believe she expects I should tell her of the
Anthropophagie,
men whose heads grow below their shoulders; however, pray say something to pacify her.
I HAVE not time to answer your letter, being in all the hurry of preparing for my journey; but, I think, I ought to bid adieu to my friends with the same solemnity, as if I was going to mount a breach, at least, if I am to believe the information of the people here, who denounce all sort of terrors to me; and, indeed, the weather is at present such, as very few ever set out in. I am threatened, at the same time, with being frozen to death, buried in the snow, and taken by the Tartars, who ravage that part of Hungary I am to pass. 'Tis true, we shall have a considerable
escorte,
so that, possibly, I
adieus;
if I live, I will answer it. The same compliment to my Lady R—.
AT length, dear sister, I am safely arrived with all my family in good health at
Peterwaradin;
having suffered so little from the rigour of the season (against which we were well provided by furs) and found such tolerable accommodation every where, by the care of sending before, that I can hardly forbear laughing when I recollect all the frightful ideas that were given me of this journey. These, I see, were wholly owing to the tenderness of my Vienna friends, and their desire of keeping me with them for this winter. Perhaps it will not be disagreeable to you to give a short journal of my journey, being through a country entirely unknown to you, and very little passed, even by the Hungarians themselves, who generally choose to take the conveniency of going down the Danube. We have had the blessing of being favoured with finer weather than is common at this time of the year; though the snow was so deep, we were obliged to have our
Traineaus,
which move so swift and so easily, 'tis by far the most agreeable manner of travelling post, We came to
Raab
(the second day from Vienna) on the seventeenth instant, where Mr. W—sending word of our arrival to the governor, the best house in the town was provided for us, the garrison put under arms, a guard ordered at our door, and all other honours paid to us. The governor and all other officers immediately waited on Mr. W—, to know if there was any thing to be done for his service. The bishop of Temeswar came to visit us, with great civility, earnestly pressing us to dine with him next day; which we refusing, as being resolved to pursue our journey, he sent us several baskets of winter fruit, and a great variety of Hungarian wines, with a young hind just killed. This is a prelate of great power in this country, of the ancient family of
Nadasti, so considerable, for many ages, in this kingdom. He is a very polite, agreeable, cheerful old man, wearing the Hungarian habit, with a venerable white beard down to his girdle.—
Raab
is a strong own, well garrisoned and fortified, and was a long time the frontier town between the Turkish and German Empires. It has its name from the river
Rab,
on which it is situated, just on its meeting with the Danube, in an open champain country. It was first taken by the Turks under the command of Bassa
Sinan,
in the reign of Sultan
Amurath
III. in the year fifteen hundred ninety-four. The governor being supposed to have betrayed it, was afterwards beheaded by the Emperor's command. The Counts of
Swartzenburg
and
Palfi
retook it by surprise 1598, since which time it has remained in the hands of the Germans, though the Turks once more attempted to gain it by stratagem
Comora
on the other side of the river, we went the eighteenth to
Nosmuhl,
a small village, where, however, we made shift to find tolerable accommodation. We continued two days travelling between this place and
Buda,
thro' the finest plains in the world, as even as if they were paved, and extremely fruitful; but for the most part desart and uncultivated, laid waste by the long wars between the Turk and the Emperor; and the more cruel civil war, occasioned by the barbarous persecution of the Protestant religion, by the Emperor Leopold. That Prince has left behind him the character of an extraordinary piety, and was naturally of a mild merciful temper; but, putting his conscience into the hands of a jesuit, he was more cruel and treacherous to his poor Hungarian subjects, than ever the Turk has been to the Christians; breaking, without scruple, his coronation oath, and his faith solemnly given in many public treaties. Indeed nothing can be more melancholy than in travelling through Hungary, to reflect on the former flourishing state of that kingdom, and to see such a noble spot of earth almost uninhabited. Such are also the present circumstances of
Buda
(where we arrived very early the twenty second) once the royal seat of the Hungarian kings, whose palace there, was reckoned one of the most beautiful buildings of the age, now wholly destroyed, no part of the town having been repaired since the last siege, but the fortifications and the castle, which is the present residence of the governor general
Ragule,
an officer of great merit. He came immediately to see us, and carried us in his coach to his house, where I was received by his lady, with all possible civility,
Rascian
town, being altogether inhabited by that people. The governor assured me it would furnish twelve thousand fighting men. These towns look very odd; their houses stand in rows, many thousands of them so close together, that they appear, at a little distance, like old-fashioned thatched tents. They consist, every one of them, of one hovel above, and another under ground; these are their summer and winter apartments. Buda was first taken by
Solyman the Magnificent, in 1526, and lost the following year to Ferdinand the first, King of Bohemia.
Solyman
regained it by the treachery of the garrison, and voluntarily gave it into the hands of King
John
of Hungary, after whose death, his son being an infant,
Ferdinand
laid siege to it, and the Queen-mother was forced to call Solyman to her aid. He indeed raised the siege; but left a Turkish garrison in the town, and commanded her to remove her court from thence, which she was forced to submit to in 1541. It resisted afterwards the sieges laid to it, by the Marquis of Brandenburgh, in the year 1542; Count Schwartzenburg, in 1598; General Rosworm, 1602; and the Duke of Lorrain, commander of the Emperor's forces, in 1684, to whom it yielded in 1686, after an obstinate defence,
Apti Bassa,
the governor, being killed, fighting in the breach, with a Roman bravery. The loss of this town was so important, and so much resented by the Turks, that it occasioned the deposing of their Emperor
Mahomet
the Fourth, the year following.
Adam
and
Todowar,
both considerable towns, when in the hands of the Turks, but now quite ruined. The remains, however, of some Turkish towns, shew something of what they have been. This part of the country is very much over-grown with wood, and little frequented. 'Tis incredible what vast numbers of wild fowl we saw, which often live here to a good old age,—and
undisturb'd by guns, in quiet sleep.
—We came the five and twentieth to
Mohatch,
and were shewed the field near it, where
Lewis,
the young King of Hungary, lost his army and his life, being drowned in a ditch trying to fly from
Balybeus,
general of
Solyman
the Magnificent. This battle opened the first passage for the Turks into the heart of Hungary.—I don't name to you the little villages, of which I can say nothing remarkable, but I'll assure you, I have always found a warm stove and great plenty, particularly of wild boar, venison and all kinds of
Gibier.
The few people that inhabit Hungary, live easily enough; they have no money; but the woods and plains afford them provision in great abundance; they were ordered to give us all things necessary, even what horses we pleased to demand,
gratis;
but Mr. W—would not oppress the poor country people, by making use of this order, and always paid them to the full worth of what we had. They were so surprised at this unexpected generosity, which they are very little used to, that they always pressed upon us, at parting, a dozen of fat pheasants, or something of that sort for a present. Their dress is very
primitive,
being only a plain sheep's skin, and a cap and boots of the same stuff. You may easily imagine this lasts them many winters;
Veterani,
who invited us, with great civility, to pass the night at a little castle of his, a few miles off, assuring us we should have a very hard day's journey to reach
Essek.
This we found but too true, the woods being very dangerous, and scarce passable, from the vast quantity of wolves that hoard in them. We came, however, safe, though late, to Essek, where we stayed a day, to dispatch a courier with letters to the
Bassa
of Belgrade; and I took that opportunity of seeing the town, which is not very large, but fair built and well fortified. This was a town of great trade, very rich and populous, when in the hands of the Turks. It is situated on the
Drave,
which runs into the Danube. The bridge was esteemed one of the most extraordinary in the world, being eight thousand paces long, and all built of oak. It was burnt, and the city laid in ashes by Count
Lesly
1685, but was again repaired and fortified by the Turks, who however abandoned it in 1687. General
Dunnewalt
then took possession of it for the Emperor, in whose hands it has remained ever since, and is esteemed one of the bulwarks of Hungary. The twenty-eighth we went to Bocorvar, a very large Rascian town, all built after the manner I have described to you. We were met there by Colonel—, who would not suffer us to go any where but to his quarters, where I found his wife, a very agreeable Hungarian lady, and his niece and daughter, two pretty young women, crowded into three or four Rascian houses, cast into one, and made as neat and convenient as those places are capable of being made. The Hungarian ladies are much
I DID verily intend to write you a long letter from Peterwaraden, where I expected to stay three or four days, but the Bassa here was in such haste to see us, that he dispatched the courier back (which Mr. W—had sent to know the time he would send the convoy to meet us) without suffering him to pull off his boots. My letters were not thought important enough to stop our journey, and we left Peterwaradin the next day, being waited on by the chief officers of the garrison, and a considerable convoy of Germans and Rascians. The Emperor has several regiments of these people; but, to say the truth, they are rather plunderers than soldiers; having no pay, and being obliged to furnish their own
Carlowitz,
where the last great victory was obtained by Prince Eugene over the Turks. The marks of that glorious bloody day are yet recent, the field being yet strewed with the skulls and carcasses of unburied men, horses and camels. I could not look, without horror, on such numbers of mangled human bodies, nor without reflecting on the injustice of war, that makes murder, not only necessary, but meritorious. Nothing seems to be a plainer proof of the
irrationality
of mankind (whatever fine claims we pretend to reason) than the rage with which they contest for a small spot of ground, when such vast parts of fruitful earth lie quite uninhabited. 'Tis true, custom has now made it unavoidable; but can there be a greater demonstration of want of reason, than a custom being firmly established, so plainly contrary to the interest of man in general? I am a good deal inclined to believe Mr.
Hobbs,
that the
state of nature,
is a
state of war;
but thence I
We were met at Betsko (a village in the midway between Belgrade and Peterwaradin) by an Aga of the Janizaries, with a body of Turks, exceeding the the Germans by one hundred men, though the Bassa had engaged to send exactly the same number. You may judge by this of their fears. I am really persuaded, that they hardly thought the odds of one hundred men set them even with the Germans; however, I was very uneasy till they were parted, fearing some quarrel might arise notwithstanding the
parole
given. We came late to Belgrade, the deep snows making the ascent to it very difficult. It seems a strong city, fortified, on the east side, by the Danube; and on the south, by the river
Save,
and was formerly the barrier of Hungary. It was first taken by Solyman the Magnificent; and since, by the Emperor's forces, led by the Elector of Bavaria. The Emperor held it only two years, it being retaken by the Grand Vizier. It is now fortified with the utmost care and skill the Turks are capable of, and strengthened by a very numerous garrison, of their bravest Janizaries, commanded by a Bassa
Seraskier (i. e.
General;) though this last expression is not very just; for to say truth, the Seraskier, is commanded by the Janizaries. These troops have an absolute authority here, and their conduct carries much more the aspect of rebellion, than the appearance of subordination. You may judge of this by the following story, which at the same time, will
admirable
intelligence of the Governor of Peterwardin, though so few hours distant. We were told by him at Peterwaradin, that the garrison and inhabitants of Belgrade were so weary of the war, they had killed their Bassa about two months ago, in a mutiny, because he had suffered himself to be prevailed upon, by a bribe of five purses (five hundred pound sterling) to give permission to the Tartars to ravage the German frontiers. We were very well pleased to hear of such favourable dispositions in the people; but when we came hither, we found the governor had been ill informed, and the real truth of the story to be this. The late Bassa fell under the displeasure of his soldiers, for no other reason, but restraining their incursions on the Germans. They took it into their heads from that mildness, that he had intelligence with the enemy, and sent such information to the Grand Signior at Adrianople; but, redress not coming quick enough from thence, they assembled themselves in a tumultuous manner, and by force dragged their Bassa before the Cadi and Mufti, and there demanded justice in a mutinous way; one crying out, Why he protected the Infidels? Another, Why he squeezed them of their money? The Bassa, easily guessing their purpose, calmly replied to them, that they asked him too many questions, and that he had but one life, which must answer for all. They then immediately fell upon him with their scymitars, (without waiting the sentence of their heads of the law) and in a few moments cut him in pieces. The present Bassa has not dared to punish the murder; on the contrary, he affected to applaud the actors of it, as brave fellows, that knew how to do themselves justice. He takes all pretences of throwing money
You may imagine, I cannot be very easy in a town which is really under the government of an insolent soldiery.—We expected to be immediately dismissed, after a night's lodging here; but the Bassa detains us till he receives orders from Adrianople, which may, possibly, be a month a coming. In the mean time, we are lodged in one of the best houses, belonging to a very considerable man amongst them, and have a whole chamber of Janizaries to guard us. My only diversion is the conversation of our host
Achmet-beg,
a title something like that of Count in Germany. His father was a great Bassa, and he has been educated in the most polite Eastern learning, being perfectly skilled in the Arabic and Persian languages, and an extraordinary scribe, which they call
Effendi.
This accomplishment makes way to the greatest preferments; but he has had the good sense to prefer an easy, quiet secure life, to all the dangerous honours of the Porte. He sups with us every night, and drinks wine very freely. You cannot imagine how much he is delighted with the liberty of conversing with me. He has explained to me many pieces of Arabian poetry, which, I observe, are in numbers, not unlike ours, generally of an alternate verse, and of a very musical sound. Their expressions of love are very passionate and lively. I am so much pleased with them, I really believe I should learn to read Arabic, if I was to stay here a few months. He has a very good library of their books of all kinds; and, as he tells me, spends the greatest part of his life there. I pass for a great scholar with him, by relating to him some of the
I HAVE now, Madam, finished a journey that has not been undertaken by any Christian, since the time of the Greek Emperors; and I shall not regret all the fatigues I have suffered in it, if it gives me an opportunity of amusing your R. H. by an account of places utterly unknown amongst us; the Emperor's Embassadors, and those few English that have come hither, always going on the Danube to Nicopolis. But the river was now frozen, and Mr. W—was so zealous for the service of his Majesty, that he would not defer his journey to wait for the conveniency of that passage. We crossed the desarts of Servia, almost quite over-grown with wood, though a country naturally fertile. The inhabitants are industrious; but the oppression of the peasants is so great, they are forced to abandon their houses, and neglect their tillage; all they have being a prey to the Janizaries, whenever they please to seize upon it. We had a guard of five hundred of them, and I was almost in tears every day, to see their insolencies in the poor villages through which we passed.—After seven days travelling through thick woods, we came to Nissa, once the capital of Servia, situated in a fine plain on the river
Nissava,
in a very good air, and so fruitful a soil, that the great plenty is hardly
Sophia,
situated in a large beautiful plain on the river Isca, and surrounded with distant mountains. 'Tis hardly possible to see a more agreeable landskip. The city itself is very large and extremely populous. Here are hot baths, very famous for their medicinal virtues.—Four days journey from hence we arrived at
Philippopolis,
after having passed the ridges between the mountains of
Haemus
and
Rhodope,
which are always covered with snow. This town is situated on a rising ground, near the river Hebrus, and is almost wholly inhabited by Greeks; here are still some antient Christian churches. They have a bishop; and several of the richest Greeks live here; but they are forced to conceal their wealth with great care, the appearance
I AM now got into a new world, where every thing I see, appears to me a change of scene; and I write to your ladyship with some content of mind, hoping, at least, that you will find the charm of novelty in my letters, and no longer reproach me, that I tell you nothing extraordinary. I won't trouble you with a relation of our tedious journey; but I must not omit what I saw remarkable at
Sophia,
one
incognito,
I hired a Turkish coach. These voitures are not at all like ours, but much more convenient for the country, the heat being so great that glasses would be very troublesome. They are made a good deal in the manner of the Dutch stage coaches, having wooden lattices painted and gilded; the inside being also painted with baskets and nosegays of flowers, intermixed commonly with litle poetical mottos. They are covered all over with scarlet cloth, lined with silk, and very often richly embroidered and fringed. This covering entirely hides the persons, in them, but may be thrown back at pleasure, and thus permit the ladies to peep through the lattices. They hold four people very conveniently, seated on cushions, but not raised.
In one of these covered waggons, I went to the
Bagnio
about ten o'clock. It was already full of women. It is built of stone, in the shape of a dome, with no windows but in the roof, which gives light enough. There were five of these domes joined together, the outmost being less than the rest, and serving only as a hall, where the
Portress
stood at the door. Ladies of quality generally give this woman a crown or ten shillings, and I did not forget that ceremony. The next room is a very large one, paved with marble, and all round it are two raised Sofas of marble, one above another. There were four fountains of cold water in this room, falling first into marble basons, and then running on the floor in little channels made for that purpose, which carried the streams into the next room, something less than this,
I was in my travelling habit, which is a riding dress, and certainly appeared very extraordinary to them. Yet there was not one of them that shewed the least surprise or impertinent curiosity, but received me with all the obliging civility possible. I know no European court, where the ladies would have behaved themselves in so polite a manner to such a stranger. I believe, upon the whole, there were two hundred women, and yet none of those disdainful smiles, and satyrical whispers, that never fail in our assemblies, when any body appears that is not dressed exactly in the fashion. They repeated over and over to me. "UZELLE, PEK UZELLE," which is nothing but,
Charming, very charming."
—The first Sofas were covered with cushions and rich carpets, on which sat the ladies; and on the second, their slaves behind them, but without any distinction of rank by their dress, all being in the state of nature, that is, in plain English, stark naked, without any beauty or defect concealed. Yet there was not the least wanton smile or immodest gesture amongst them. They walked and moved with the same majestic grace, which Milton describes our General Mother with. There were many among them, as exactly proportioned as every any goddess was drawn by the pencil of a Guido or Titian,—And most of their skins shiningly white, only adorned by their beautiful hair, divided into many tresses, hanging on their shoulders, braided
I was here convinced of the truth of a reflection I have often made;
that if it were the fashion to go naked, the face would be hardly observed.
I perceived that the ladies of the most delicate skins and finest shapes, had the greatest share of my admiration, though their faces were sometimes less beautiful than those of their companions. To tell you the truth, I had wickedness enough, to wish secretly, that Mr.
Gervais
could have been there invisible. I fancy it would have very much improved his art, to see so many fine women naked, in different postures, some in conversation, some working, others drinking coffee or sherbet, and many negligently lying on their cushions, while their slaves (generally pretty girls of seventeen, or eighteen) were employ'd in braiding their hair in several pretty fancies. In short, 'tis the woman's coffee-house, where all the news of the town is told, scandal invented, &cc.—They generally take this diversion once a week, and stay there at least four or five hours, without getting cold, by immediate coming out of the hot-bath into the cool room, which was very surprising, to me. The lady, that seemed the most considerable amongst them, entreated me to sit by her, and would fain have undressed me for the bath, I excused myself with some difficulty. They being however all so earnest in persuading me, I was at last forced to open my shirt, and shew them my stays, which satisfied them very well; for, I saw, they believed I was locked up in that machine, and that it was not in my own power to open it, which contrivance they attributed to my husband.—I was charmed with their civility and beauty, and should have been very glad to pass more
Adieu, Madam, I am sure I have now entertained you, with an account of such a sight, as you never saw in your life, and what no book of travels could inform you of, as 'tis no less than death for a man to be found in one of these places.
YOU see that I am very exact in keeping the promise you engaged me to make. I know not, however, whether your curiosity will be satisfied with the accounts I shall give you, tho' I can assure you, the desire I have to oblige you to the utmost of my power, has made me very diligent in my inquiries and observations. 'Tis certain we have but very imperfect accounts of the manners and religion of these people. This part of the world being seldom visited, but by merchants, who mind little but their own affairs; or travellers, who make too short a stay to be able to report any thing exactly of their own knowledge. The Turks are too proud to converse familiarly with merchants, who can only pick up some confused informations, which are generally false, and can give no better account of the ways here,
Melibeus,
for the hope of his flock. When the Bassas travel, 'tis yet worse. Those oppressors are not content, with eating all that is to be eaten belonging to the peasants; after they have crammed themselves and their numerous retinue, they have the impudence to exact what they call
Teeth money,
a contribution for their use of their teeth, worn with doing them the honour of devouring their meat. This is literally and exactly true, however extravagant it may seem; and such is the natural corruption of a military government, their religion not allowing of this barbarity, any more than ours does.
I had the advantage of lodging three weeks at Belgrade, with a principal Effendi, that is to say, a scholar. This set of men are equally capable of preferments in the law or the church; those two sciences being cast into one, and a lawyer and a priest being the same word in the Turkish language. They are the only men really considerable in the Empire, all the profitable employments and church revenues
Mustapha,
and their power is so well known, that 'tis the Emperor's interest to flatter them.
This is a long digression. I was going to tell you, that an intimate, daily conversation with the Effendi
Achmet-beg,
gave me an opportunity of knowing their religion and morals in a more particular manner than perhaps any Christian ever did. I explained to him the difference between the religion of England and Rome; and he was pleased to hear there were Christians, that did not worship images, or adore the Virgin
Mary.
The ridicule of
Transubstantiation
appeared very strong to him.—Upon comparing our creeds together, I am convinced that if our friend Dr.—had free liberty of preaching here, it would be very easy to persuade the generality to Christianity, whose notions are very little different from his. Mr.
Whiston
would make a very good Apostle here. I don't doubt but his zeal will be much fired, if you communicate this account to him; but tell him, he must first have the gift of tongues, before he can possibly be of any use.—Mahometism is divided into as many sects as Christianity, and the first institution as much neglected, and obscured by interpretations. I cannot here forbear reflecting
Zeidi, Kudi, Jabari,
&cc. put me in mind of the
Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists,
and are equally zealous against one another. But the most prevailing opinion, if you search into the secret of the Effendi's, is plain Deism. This is indeed kept from the people, who are amused with a thousand different notions, according to the different interest of their preachers.—There are very few amongst them (Achmet-beg
denied there were any) so absurd, as to set up for wit, by declaring they believe no God at all. And Sir Paul Rycaut
is mistaken (as he commonly is) in calling the sect
Muterin
(i. e. the secret with us) Atheists, they being Deists, whose impiety consists in making a jest of their prophet.
Achmet-beg
did not own to me, that he was of this opinion, but made no scruple of deviating from some part of Mahomet's law, by drinking wine with the same freedom we did. When I asked him how he came to allow himself that liberty; he made answer, That all the creatures of God are good, and designed for the use of man; however, that the prohibition of wine was a very wise maxim, and meant for the common people, being the source of all disorders amongst them; but that the prophet never designed to confine those that knew how to use it with moderation; nevertheless, he said, that scandal ought to be avoided, and that he never drank it in public. This is the general way of thinking amongst them, and very few forbear drinking wine, that are able to afford it. He assured me, that if I understood Arabic, I should be very well pleased with reading the Alcoran, which is so far from the nonsense we charge it with, that 'tis the purest morality, delivered in the very best language. I have since heard impartial
Paulines.
They shew an old church where, they say, St.
Paul
preached, and he is their favourite Saint, after the same manner that St.
Peter
is at Rome; neither do they forget to give him the same preference over the rest of the Apostles.
But of all the religions I have seen, that of the
Arnounts
seems to me the most particular; they are natives of
Arnountlich,
the antient
Macedonia,
and still retain the courage and hardiness, tho' they have lost the name of Macedonians, being the best militia in the Turkish Empire, and the only check upon the Janizaries. They are foot soldiers; we had a guard of them, relieved in every considerable town we passed; they are clothed and armed at their own expence, dressed in clean white coarse cloth, carrying guns of a prodigious length, which they run with upon their shoulders, as if they did not feel the weight of them, the leader singing a sort of a rude tune, not unpleasant, and the rest making up the chorus. These people living between Christians and Mahometans, and not being skilled in controversy,
These are the remarks I have made, on the diversity of religions I have seen. I don't ask your pardon for the liberty I have taken in speaking of the Roman. I know you equally condemn the quackery of all churches, as much as you revere the sacred truths, in which we both agree.
You will expect I should say something to you of the antiquities of this country, but there are few remains of antient Greece. We passed near the piece of an arch which is commonly called
Trajan's gate,
from a supposition that he made it to shut up the passage over the mountains, between Sophia and Phillippopolis. But I rather believe it the remains of some triumphal arch (though I could not see any inscription;) for if that passage had been shut up, there are many others, that would serve for the march of an army; and notwithstanding the story of
Baldwin
Earl of Flanders, being overthrown in these straits, after he won Constantinople, I don't fancy the Germans would find themselves stopped by them at this day. 'Tis true, the road is now made (with great industry) as commodious as possible, for the march of the Turkish army; there is not one ditch or puddle between this place and Belgrade, that has not a large strong bridge of planks built over it; but the precipices
AS I never can forget the smallest of your ladyship's commands, my first business here, has been to enquire after the stuffs, you ordered me to look for, without being able to find what you would like. The difference of the dress here and at London
Caftans
and
Manteaus.
However, I will not give over my search, but renew it again at Constantinople, though I have reason to believe there is nothing finer than what is to be found here, as this place is at present the residence of the court. The Grand Sig
nior's eldest daughter was married some few days before I came hither, and upon that occasion the Turkish Ladies display all their magnificence. The bride was conducted to her husband's house in very great splendor. She is widow of the late Vizier, who was killed at Peterwaradin, though that ought rather to be called a
contract,
than a
marriage,
since she never has lived with him; however, the greatest part of his wealth is hers. He had the permission of visiting her in the Seraglio; and being one of the handsomest men in the empire, had very much engaged her affections.—When she saw this second husband, who is at least fifty, she could not forbear bursting into tears. He is indeed a man of merit, and the declared favourite of the Sultan, (which they call
Mosayp) but that is not enough to make him pleasing in the eyes of a girl of thirteen.
The government here is entirely in the hands of the army. The Grand Signior, with all his absolute power, is as much a slave as any of his subjects, and trembles at a Janizary's frown. Here is, indeed, a much greater appearance of subjection than amongst us; a minister of state is not spoke to, but upon the knee; should a reflection on his conduct be dropt in a coffee house, (for they have spies every where) the house would be raz'd to the ground, and perhaps the whole company put to the torture. No
huzzaing mobs, senseless pamphlets, and tavern disputes about politicks;
None of our harmless calling names! but when a minister here displeases the people, in three hours time he is dragged even from his master's arms. They cut off his hands, head and feet, and throw them before the palace-gate, with all the respect in the world; while the Sultan (to whom they all profess an unlimited adoration) sits trembling in his apartment, and dare neither defend nor revenge his favourite. This is the blessed condition of the most absolute monarch upon earth, who owns no
Law
but his
Will.
I cannot help wishing, in the loyalty of my heart, that the Parliament would send hither a ship load of your passive obedient men, that they might see arbitrary government in its clearest strongest light, where 'tis hard to judge, whether the Prince, People or Ministers, are most miserable. I could make many reflections on this subject; but I know, Madam, your own good sense, has already furnished you with better than I am capable of.
I went yesterday along with the French Ambassadress to see the Grand Signior in his passage to the Mosque. He was preceded by a numerous guard of Janizaries, with vast white feathers on their heads, as also by the
Spahis
and
Bostangees,
(these are foot and horse guards) and the Royal Gardeners, which are a very considerable body of men, dressed in different habits of fine lively colours, so that, at a distance, they appeared like a parterre of tulips. After them the Aga of the Janizaries, in a robe of purple velvet, lined with silver tissue, his horse led by two slaves richly dressed. Next him the
Kyzlier-Aga,
(your ladyship knows, this
Sublimity
himself, arrayed in green, lined with the fur of a black Muscovite fox, which is supposed worth a thousand pounds sterling, and mounted on a fine horse, with furniture embroidered with jewels. Six more horses richly caparisoned were led after him; and two of his principal courtiers bore, one his gold, and the other his silver coffee-pot, on a staff; another carried a silver stool on his head, for him to sit on.—It would be too tedious to tell your ladyship, the various dresses and turbants by which their rank is distinguished; but they are all extremely rich and gay, to the number of some thousands; so that perhaps there cannot be seen a more beautiful procession. The Sultan appeared to us a handsome man of about forty, with something, however, severe in his countenance, and his eyes very full and black. He happened to stop under the window where we stood, and (I suppose being told who we were) looked upon us very attentively, so that we had full leisure to consider him. The French Ambassadress agreed with me as to his good mien. I see that lady very often; she is young, and her conversation would be a great relief to me, if I could persuade her to live without those forms and ceremonies that make life formal and tiresome. But she is so delighted with her guards, her four and twenty footmen, gentlemen-ushers, &cc. that she would rather die than make me a visit without them; not to reckon a coachful of attending damsels yolep'd maids of honour. What vexes me is that as long as she will visit me with a troublesome equipage, I am obliged to do the same; however, our mutual interest makes us much together. I went with her the other day all
Cadi
(the chief civil officer of the town) and ordered him to send in some dozens. The poor man answered, that he had already sent about, but could get none. My Janizary, in the height of his zeal for my service, immediately locked him up prisoner in his room, telling him he deserved death for his impudence, in offering to excuse his not obeying my command; but, out of respect to me, he would not punish him but by my order. Accordingly he came very gravely to me, to ask what should be done to him; adding, by way of compliment, that if I pleased he would bring me his head.—This may give you some idea of the unlimited power of these fellows, who are all sworn brothers, and bound to revenge the injuries done to one another, whether at Cairo, Aleppo, or any part of the world. This inviolable league makes them so
I WISH to God, dear sister, that you were as regular in letting me know what passes on your side of the globe, as I am careful in endeavouring to amuse you by the account of all I see here, that I think worth your notice, You content yourself with telling me over and over, that the town is very dull; it may, possibly, be dull to you, when every day does not present you with something new; but for me, that am in arrears, at least two months news, all that seems very stale with you, would be very fresh and sweet here. Pray let me into more particulars, and I will try to awaken your gratitude, by giving you a full and true relation of the novelties of this place, none of which would surprise you more than a sight
The first part of my dress is a pair of drawers, very full, that reach to my shoes, and conceal the legs more modestly than your petticoats. They are of a thin rose coloured damask, brocaded with silver flowers. My shoes are of white kid leather, embroidered with gold. Over this hangs my smock, of a fine white silk gauze, edged with embroidery. This smock has wide sleeves, hanging half-way down the arm, and is closed at the neck with a diamond button; but the shape and colour of the bosom is very well to be distinguished through it.—The
Antery
is a waistcoat, made close to the shape, of white and gold damask, with very long sleeves falling back, and fringed with deep gold fringe, and should have diamond or pearl buttons. My
Caftan,
of the same stuff with my drawers, is a robe exactly fitted to my shape and reaching to my feet, with very long strait falling sleeves. Over this is the girdle, of about four fingers broad, which all that can afford it, have entirely of diamonds or other precious stones; those, who will not be at that expence, have it of exquisite embroidery on sattin; but it must be faftened before with a clasp of diamonds.—The
Curdee
is a loose robe they throw off, or put on, according to the weather, being of a rich brocade (mine, is green and gold) either lined with ermine or sables; the sleeves reach very little below the shoulders. The head-dress is composed of a cap, called
Talpock,
which is, in winter, of fine velvet embroidered with pearls or diamonds, and, in summer, of a light shining silver stuff. This is fixed on one side of the head, hanging a little
Bouquet
of jewels, made like natural flowers, that is, the
buds
of pearl; the
roses
of different coloured rubies; the
jessamines
of diamonds; the
jonquils
of topazes, &cc. so well set and enamelled, 'tis hard to imagine any thing of that kind so beautiful. The hair hangs at its full length behind, divided into tresses braided with pearl or ribbon, which is always in great quantity. I never saw in my life, so many fine heads of hair. In one lady's I have counted a hundred and ten of the tresses, all natural; but it must be owned that every kind of beauty is more common here than with us. 'Tis surprising to see a young woman that is not very handsome. They have naturally the most beautiful complexions in the world, and generally large black eyes. I can assure you with great truth, that the court of England (though I believe it the fairest in Christendom) does not contain so many beauties as are under our protection here. They generally shape their eye-brows, and both Greeks and Turks have the custom of putting round their eyes a black tincture, that, at distance, or by candle light, adds very much to the blackness of them. I fancy many of our ladies would be overjoyed to know this secret; but 'tis too visible by day. They dye their nails a rose-colour; but I own, I cannot enough accustom myself to this fashion, to find any beauty in it.
Murlins,
one that covers her face, all but her eyes; and another, that hides the whole dress of her head, and hangs half way down her back. Their shapes are also wholly concealed, by a thing they call a
Ferigee,
which no woman of any sort appears without; this has strait sleeves, that reach to their fingers ends, and it laps all round them, not unlike a riding-hood. In winter, 'tis of cloth; and in summer, of plain stuff or silk. You may guess then, how effectually this disguises them, so that there is no distinguishing the great lady from her slave. 'Tis impossible for the most jealous husband to know his wife, when he meets her, and no man dare touch or follow a woman in the street.
This perpetual masquerade gives them entire liberty of following their inclinations without danger of discovery. The most usual method of intrigue is, to send an appointment to the lover to meet the lady at a Jew's shop, which are as notoriously convenient as our Indian-houses; and yet, even those who don't make use of them, do not scruple to go to buy pennyworths, and tumble over rich goods, which are chiefly to be found amongst that sort of people. The great ladies seldom let their gallants know who they are; and 'tis so difficult to find it out, that they can very
Bassa
is executed, never violates the privileges of the
Haram,
(or womens apartment) which remains unsearched and entire to the widow. They are Queens of their slaves, whom the husband has no permission so much as to look upon, except it be an old woman or two that his lady chooses. 'Tis true, their law permits them four wives, but there is no instance of a man of quality that makes use of this liberty, or of a woman of rank that would suffer it. When a husband happens to be inconstant (as those things will happen) he keeps his mistress in a house apart, and visits her as privately as he can, just as 'tis with you. Amongst all the great men here, I only know the
Tefterdar
(i. e. Treasurer) that keeps a number of she-slaves, for his own use, (that is, on his own side of the house, for a slave once given to serve a lady, is entirely at her disposal) and he is spoke of as a libertine, or what we should call a rake; and his wife won't see him, though she continues to live in his house. Thus you see, dear sister, the manners of mankind do not differ so widely, as our
I DARE say you expect, at least, something very new in this letter, after I have gone a journey, not undertaken, by any Christian, for some hundred years. The most remarkable accident that happened to me, was my being very near over-turned into the Hebrus; and, if I had much regard for the glories that one's name enjoys after death, I should certainly be sorry for having missed the romantic conclusion of swimming down the same river in which the musical head of
Orpheus
repeated verses, so many ages since:
Who knows but some of your bright wits, might have found it a subject affording many poetical turns, and have told the world, in an heroic Elegy, that,
Caput a cervice revulsum,
Gurgite cum medio, portans Oeagrius Hebrus
Volveret, Euridicen vox ipsa, et frigida lingua
Ah! miseram Euridicen! anima fugiente vocabat,
Euridicen toto referebant flumine ripae.
As equal were our souls, so equal were our fates.
I am at this present moment writing in a house situated on the banks of the Hebrus, which runs under my chamber window. My garden is full of tall cypress trees, upon the branches of which, several couple of true turtles are saying soft things to one an other from morning till night. How naturally do
boughs
and
vows
come into my mind, at this minute? And must not you confess, to my praise, that 'tis more than an ordinary discretion, that can resist the wicked suggestions of poetry in a place where truth, for once, furnishes all the ideas of pastoral. The summer is already far advanced, in this part of the world; and for some miles round Adriaanople, the whole ground is laid out in gardens, and the banks of the rivers are set with rows of fruit trees, under which all the most considerable Turks divert themselves every evening, not with walking, that is not one of their pleasures; but a set party of them choose out a green spot, where the shade is very thick, and there they spread a carpet, on which they sit drinking their coffee, and are generally attended by some slave with a fine voice, or that plays on some instrument. Every twenty paces you may see one of these little companies, listening to the dashing of the river; and this taste is so universal, that the very gardeners are not without it. I have often seen them and their children sitting on the banks of the river, and playing on a rural instrument, perfectly answering the description of the ancient
Fistula,
being composed of unequal reeds, with a simple but agreeable softness in the sound.
Addison
might here make the experiment he speaks of in his travels; there not being one instrument of music among the Greek or Roman Statues, that is not to be found in the hands of the people of this country. The young lads generally divert themselves with making garlands for their favourite lambs, which I have often seen painted and adorned with flowers, lying at their feet, while they sung or played. It is not that they ever read Romances. But these are the ancient amusements here, and as natural to them as cudgel-playing and foot-ball to our British swains; the softness and warmth of the climate forbidding all rough exercises, which were never so much as heard of amongst them, and naturally inspiring a laziness and aversion to labour, which the great plenty indulges. These gardeners are the only happy race of country people in Turkey. They furnish all the city with fruits and herbs, and seem to live very easily. They are most of them Greeks, and have little houses in the midst of their gardens, where their wives and daughters, take a liberty, not permitted in the town, I mean to go unveiled. These wenches are very neat and handsome, and pass their time at their looms under the shade of the trees.
I no longer look upon
Theocritus
as a romantic writer; he has only given a plain image of the way of life amongst the peasants of his country; who, before oppression had reduced them to want, were, I suppose, all employed as the better sort of them are now. I don't doubt had he been born a Briton, but his
Idylliums
had been filled with descriptions of threshing and churning, both which are unknown here, the corn being all trod out by oxen; and butter (I speak it with sorrow) unheard of.
Homer
here, with an infinite pleasure, and find several little passages explained, that I did not before entirely comprehend the beauty of: Many of the customs, and much of the dress then in fashion, being yet retained. I don't wonder to find more remains here, of an age so distant, than is to be found in any other country, the Turks not taking that pains to introduce their own manners, as has been generally practised by other nations, that imagine themselves more polite. It would be too tedious to you to point out all the passages that relate to present customs. But I can assure you, that the Princesses and great ladies pass their time at their looms, embroidering veils and robes, surrounded by their maids, which are always very numerous, in the same manner as we find
Andromache
and
Helen
described. The description of the belt of
Menelaus,
exactly resembles those that are now worn by the great men, fastened before with broad golden clasps, and embroidered round with rich work. The snowy veil, that
Helen
throws over her face, is still fashionable; and I never see half a dozen of old Bashaws (as I do very often) with their reverend beards, sitting basking in the sun, but I recollect good King
Priam
and his counsellors. Their manner of dancing is certainly the same that
Diana
is
sung
to have danced on the banks of
Eurotas.
The great lady still leads the dance, and is followed by a troop of young girls, who imitate her steps, and, if she sings, make up the chorus. The tunes are extremely gay and lively, yet with something in them wonderfully soft. The steps are varied according to the pleasure of her that leads the dance, but always in exact time, and infinitely more agreeable than any of our dances, at least in my opinion. I sometimes make one in the train,
I should have told you, in the first place, that the Eastern manners give a great light into many Scripture passages that appear odd to us, their phrases being commonly what we should call Scripture language. The vulgar Turk is very different from what is spoke at court, or amongst the people of figure; who always mix so much Arabic and Persian in their discourse, that it may very well be called another language. And 'tis as ridiculous to make use of the expressions commonly used, in speaking to a great man or lady, as it would be to speak broad Yorkshire, or Somersetshire, in the drawing-room. Besides this destinction, they have what they call, the
sublime,
that is, a style proper for poetry, and which is the exact Scripture style. I believe you would be pleased to see a genuine example of this; and I am very glad I have it in my power to satisfy your curiosity, by sending you a faithful copy of the verses that
Ibraim Bassa,
the reigning favourite, has made for the young Princess, his contracted Wife, whom he is not yet permitted to visit without witnesses though she is gone home to his house. He is a man of wit and learning; and whether or no he is capable of writing good verse, you may be sure, that on such an occasion, he would not want the assistance of the best poets in the Empire. Thus the verses may be looked upon as a sample of their finest poetry; and I don't doubt you'll be of my mind, that it is most wonderfully resembling the
Song of Solomon,
which also was addressed to a Royal Bride.
THE Nightingale now wanders in the vines;
Her passion is to seek roses.
I went down to admire the beauty of the vines;
The sweetness of your charms has ravished my soul.
Your eyes are black and lovely
But wild and disdainful as those of a stag;
The wished possession is delayed from day to day,
The cruel SultanACHMET
will not permit me
To see those cheeks, more vermilion than roses.
I dare not snatch one of your kisses,
The sweetness of your charms has ravish'd my soul.
Your eyes are black and lovely,
But wild and disdainful as those of a stag.
The wretchedIBRAHIM
sighs in these verses,
One dart from our eyes has pierc'd thro' my heart.
Ah! when will the hour of possession arrive?
Must I yet wait a long time?
The sweetness of your charms has ravished my soul.
Ah!SULTANA!
stag-ey'd—an angel amongst angels!
I desire,—and, my desire remains unsatisfied.
Can you take delight to prey upon my heart?
My cries pierce the heavens!
My eyes are without sleep!
Turn to me,SULTANA—
let me gaze on thy beauty.
Adieu—I go down to the grave.
If you call me—I return.
My heart is—hot as sulphur;—sigh and it will flame.
Crown of my life, fair light of my eyes! MySULTANA! my Pincess!
I rub my face against the earth;—I am drown'd in scalding tears—I rave!
Have you no compassion? will you not turn to look upon me?
I have taken abundance of pains to get these verses in a literal translation; and if you were acquainted with my interpreters, I might spare myself the trouble of assuring you, that they have received no poetical touches from their hands. In my opinion, (allowing for the inevitable faults of a prose translation into a language so very different) there is a good deal of beauty in them. The epithet of
stag-ey'd
(though the sound is not very agreeable in English) pleases me extremely; and I think it a very lively image of the fire and indifference in his mistresses eyes.—Monsieur
Boileau
has very justly observed, that we are never to judge of the elevation of an expression in an antient author, by the sound it carries with us; since it may be extremely fine with them, when, at the same time, it appeals low or uncouth to us. You are so well acquainted with
Homer,
you cannot but have observed the same thing, and you must have the same indulgence for all oriental poetry. The repetitions at the end of the two first Stanza's are meant for a sort of
Chorus,
and are agreeable to the antient manner of writing. The music of the verses apparently changes in the third Stanza, where the burden is altered; and I think he very artfully seems more passionate at the conclusion, as 'tis natural for people to warm themselves by their
Ovid
amongst us, and is much the same as if an English poem should begin, by saying,—
"Now Philomela sings.".
Or what if I turned the whole into the stile of the English poetry, to see how it would look?
I have taken the liberty in the second verse, of following what I suppose the true sense of the author, though not literally expressed. By his saying,
he went down to admire the beauty of the Vines, and her charms ravished his soul;
I understand a poetical fiction, of having first seen her in the garden, where he was admiring the beauty of the spring. But I could not forbear retaining the comparison of her eyes with those of a stag, though perhaps the novelty of it may give it a burlesque sound in our language. I cannot determine, upon the whole, how well I have succeeded in the translation, neither do I think our English proper to express such violence of passion, which is very seldom felt amongst us. We want, also, those compound words which are very frequent and strong in the Turkish language.
You see I am pretty far gone in Oriental learning, and to say truth, I study very hard. I wish my studies may give me an occasion of entertaining your curiosity, which will be the utmost advantage hoped for from them, by,
IN my opinion, dear S. I ought rather to quarrel with you, for not answering my Nimeguen letter of August, till December, than to excuse my not wriing again till now. I am sure there is on my side a very good excuse for silence, having gone such tiresome land-journies, though I don't find the conclusion of them so bad as you seem to imagine. I am very easy here, and not in the solitude you fancy me. The great number of Greeks, French, English and Italians, that are under our protection, make their court to me from morning till night; and I'll assure you, are, many of them, very fine ladies; for there is no possibility for a Christian to live easily under this government, but by the protection of an Ambassador—and the richer they are, the greater is their danger.
Those dreadful stories you have heard of the
Plague,
have very little foundation in truth. I own, I have much ado to reconcile myself to the sound of a word, which has always given me such terrible ideas; though I am convinced there is little more in it, than a fever. As a proof this, let me tell you, that we passed through two or three towns most vio
lently infected. In the very next house where we lay, (in one of those places) two persons died of it. Luckily for me, I was so well deceived, that I knew
Plague.
There are many that escape it, neither is the air ever infected. I am persuaded that it would be as easy a matter to root it out here, as out of Italy and France; but it does so little mischief they are not very solicitous about it, and are content to suffer this distemper, instead of our variety, which they are utterly unacquainted with.
A propos
of distempers, I am going to tell you a thing, that will make you wish yourself here. The
small-pox,
so fatal, and so general amongst us, is here entirely harmless, by the invention of
engrafting,
which is the term they give it. There is a set of old women, who make it their business to perform the operation, every autumn, in the month of September, when the great heat is abated. People send to one another to know if any of their family has a mind to have the small-pox; they make parties for this purpose, and when they are met (commonly fifteen or sixteen together) the old women comes with a nut-shell full of the matter of the best sort of smallpox, and asks what veins you please to have opened. She immediately rips open that, you offer to her, with a large needle (which gives you no more pain than a common scratch) and puts into the vein, as much matter as can lie upon the head of her needle, and after that, binds up the little wound with a hollow bit of shell, and in this manner opens four or five veins. The Grecians have commonly the superstition of opening one in the middle of the forehead, one in each arm, and one on the breast, to mark the
I CAN now tell dear Mrs. T—, that I am safely arrived at the end of my very long journey. I will not tire you with the account of the many fatigues I have suffered. You would rather be informed of the strange things that are to be seen here; and a letter out of Turkey, that has nothing extraordinary in it, would be as great a disappointment as my visitors will receive at London, if I return thither without any rarities to shew them.—What shall I tell you of?—You never saw camels in your life; and perhaps the description of them will appear new to you; I can assure you, the first sight of them was so to me; and though I have seen hundreds of pictures of those animals, I never saw any that was resembling enough, to give a true idea of them. I am going to make a bold observation, and possibly a false one, because no body has ever made it before me; but I do take them to be of the stag-kind; their legs, bodies, and necks, are exactly shaped like them, and their colour very near the same. 'Tis true, they are much larger, being a great deal higher than a horse, and so swift, that, after the defeat of Peterwaradin, they far out-ran the swiftest horses, and brought the first news of the loss of the battle to Belgrade. They are never thoroughly tamed; the drivers take care to tye them one to another with
Turtles,
on the account of their innocence; and
Storcks
because they are supposed to make every winter the pilgrimage
Now I am talking of my chamber, I remember, the description of the houses here will be as new to you, as any of the birds or beasts. I suppose you have read in most of our accounts of Turkey, that their houses are the most miserable pieces of building in the world. I can speak very learnedly on that subject, having been in so many of them; and I assure you, 'tis no such thing. We are now lodged in a palace, belonging to the Grand Signior. I really think the manner of building here very agreeable, and proper for the country. 'Tis true, they are not at all solicitous to beautify the outsides of their houses, and they are generally built of wood, which, I own, is the cause of many inconveniencies; but this is not to be charged on the ill taste of the people, but on the oppression of the government. Every house, at the death of its master, is at the Grand Signior's disposal, and therefore no man cares to make a great expence, which he is not sure his family will be the better for. All their design is to build a house commodious, and that will last their lives; and they are very indifferent if it falls down the year after. Every house, great and small, is divided into two distinct parts, which only join together by a narrow passage. The first house has a large court before it, and open galleries all round it, which is, to me, a thing very
Haram,
that is, the ladies apartment, (for the name of Seraglio is peculiar to the Grand Signior) it has also a gallery running round it towards the garden, to which all the windows are turned, and the same number of chambers as the other, but more gay and splendid, both in painting and furniture. The second row of windows are very low, with grates like those of convents, the rooms are all spread with Persian carpets, and raised at one end of them (my chambers are raised at both ends) about two foot. This is the
Sopha,
which is laid with a richer sort of carpet, and all round it a sort of couch raised half a foot, covered with rich silk, according to the fancy or magnificence of the owner. Mine is of scarlet cloth with a gold fringe; round about this are placed, standing against the wall, two rows of cushions, the first very large, and the next little ones; and here the Turks display their greatest magnificence. They are generally brocade, or embroidery of gold wire upon white sattin—Nothing can look more gay and splendid.—These seats are also so convenient and easy, that I believe I shall never endure chairs as long as I live.—The rooms are low which I think no fault, and the ceiling is always of wood, generally inlaid or painted with flowers. They open in many places, with folding-doors, and serve for cabinets, I think more conveniently than ours. Between the windows are little arches to set pots of perfume or
You will perhaps be surprised at an account so different from what you have been entertained with by the common voyage-writers, who are very fond of speaking of what they don't know. It must be under a very particular character, or on some extraordinary occasion, that a Christian is admitted into the house of a man of quality, and their
Harams
are always forbidden ground. Thus they can only speak of the outside, which makes no great appearance; and the womens apartments are always built backward, removed from sight, and have no other prospect than the gardens, which are inclosed with very high walls. There is none of our parterres in them; but they are planted with high trees, which give an agreeable shade, and, to my fancy, a pleasing view. In the midst of the garden is the
Chiosk,
that is, a large room, commonly beautified with a fine foun
tain in the midst of it. It is raised nine or ten steps, and enclosed with gilded lattices, round which, vines, jessamines, and honey-suckles, make a sort of green wall. Large trees are planted round this place, which is the scene of their greatest pleasures, and where the ladies spend most of their hours, employed by their musick or embroidery.—In the public gardens, there are public
Chiosks,
where people go, that are not so
Hanns,
or Inns, extremely magnificent, many of them taking up a large square, built round with shops under stone arches, where poor artificers are lodged
gratis.
They have always a Mosque joining to them, and the body of the
Hann
is a most noble hall, capable of holding three or four hundred persons, the court extremely spacious, and cloisters round it, that give it the air of our colleges. I own, I think it a more reasonable piece of charity than the founding of convents.—I think I have now told you a great deal for once. If you don't like my choice of subjects, tell me what you would have me write upon; there is nobody more desirous to entertain you than, dear Mrs. T—,
I WROTE to you, dear sister, and to all my other English correspondents, by the last ship, and only Heaven can tell, when I shall have another opportunity of sending to you; but I cannot forbear to write again, though perhaps my letter may lye upon my hands this two months. To confess the truth, my head is so full of my entertainment yesterday, that
I was invited to dine with the Grand
Vizier
's lady, and it was with a great deal of pleasure I prepared myself for an entertainment, which was never before given to any Christian. I thought, I should very little satisfy her curiosity, (which I did not doubt was a considerable motive to the invitation) by going in a dress she was used to see, and therefore dressed myself in the court habit of Vienna, which is much more magnificent than ours. However, I chose to go
incognito,
to avoid any disputes about ceremony, and went in a Turkish coach, only attended by my woman, that held up my train, and the Greek lady, who was my interpretess. I was met, at the court-door, by her black Eunuch, who helped me out of the coach with great respect, and conducted me through several rooms, where her she slaves, finely dressed, were ranged on each side. In the innermost, I found the lady sitting on her sofa, in a sable vest. She advanced to meet me, and presented me half a dozen of her friends, with great civility. She seemed a very good woman, near fifty years old. I was surprised to observe so little magnificence in her house, the furniture being all very moderate; and except the habits and number of her slaves, nothing about her appeared expensive. She guessed at my thoughts, and told me, she was no longer of an age to spend either her time or money in superfluities; that her whole expence was in charity, and her whole employment praying to God. There was no affectation in this speech; both she and her husband are entirely given up to devotion. He never looks upon any other woman; and what is much more extraordinary, touches no bribes, notwithstanding the
Effendi
at Belgrade, who gave us very magnificent dinners, dressed by his own cooks. The first week they pleased me extremely; but, I own, I soon began to grow weary of their table, and desired our own cook might add a dish or two after our manner. But I attribute this to custom, and am very much inclined to believe that an Indian, who had never tasted of either, would prefer their cookery to ours. Their sauces are very high, all the roast very much done. They use a great deal of very rich spice. The soop is served for the last dish; and they have, at least, as great a variety of ragouts, as we have. I was very sorry I could not eat of as many as the good lady would have had me, who was very earnest in serving me of every thing. The treat concluded with coffee and perfumes, which is a high mark of respect; two slaves kneeling
censed
my hair, clothes, and handkerchief. After this ceremony, she commanded her slaves to play and dance, which they did with their guitars in their hands, and she excused to me their want of skill, saying she took no care to accomplish them in that art.
I returned her thanks, and soon after took my leave. I was conducted back in the same manner I entered, and would have gone strait to my own house
Kahya's
lady, saying, he was the second officer in the Empire, and ought indeed to be looked upon as the first, the Grand Vizier having only the name, while he exercised the authority. I had found so little diversion in the Vizier's
Haram,
that I had no mind to go into another. But her importunity prevailed with me, and I am extremely glad, I was so complaisant. All things here were with quite another air than at the Grand Vizier's; and the very house confessed the difference between an old devotee, and a young beauty. It was nicely clean and magnificent. I was met at the door by two black Eunuchs, who led me through a long gallery, between two ranks of beautiful young girls, with their hair finely plaited, almost hanging to their feet, all dressed in fine light damasks, brocaded with silver. I was sorry that decency did not permit me to stop to consider them nearer. But that thought was lost upon my entrance into a large room, or rather pavillion, built round with gilded sashes, which were most of them thrown up, and the trees planted near them gave an agreeable shade, which hindered the Sun from being troublesome. The jessamines and honey-suckles that twisted round their trunks, shed a soft perfume, increased by a white marble fountain playing sweet water in the lower part of the room, which fell into three or four basons, with a pleasing sound. The roof was painted with all sorts of flowers, falling out of gilded baskets, that seemed tumbling down. On a Sofa, raised three steps, and covered with fine Persian carpets, sat the Kahya's lady, leaning on cushions of white sattin embroidered; and at her feet sat two young girls about twelve years old, lovely as angels, dressed perfectly rich, and almost covered with jewels. But they were
Fatima,
for that is her name) so much her beauty effaced every thing I have seen, nay, all that has been called lovely either in England or Germany. I must own, that I never saw any thing so gloriously beautiful, nor can I recollect a face that would have been taken notice of near her's. She stood up to receive me, saluting me, after their fashion, putting her hand to her heart, with a sweetness full of majesty, that no court breeding could ever give. She ordered cushions to be given me, and took care to place me in the corner, which is the place of honour. I confess, though the Greek lady had before given me a great opinion of her beauty, I was so struck with admiration, that I could not, for some time, speak to her, being wholly taken up in gazing. That surprising harmony of features! That charming result of the whole! That exact proportion of body! That lovely bloom of complexion unsullied by art! The unutterable enchantment of her smile!—But her eyes!—Large and black, with all the soft languishment of the blue! every turn of her face discovering some new grace.
After my first surprise was over, I endeavoured, by nicely examining her face, to find out some imperfection, without any fruit of my search, but my being clearly convinced of the error of that vulgar notion, that a face exactly proportioned, and perfectly beautiful, would not be agreeable; nature having done for her, with more success, what
Appelles
is said to have essayed by a collection of the most exact features to form a perfect face. Add to all this, a behaviour so full of grace and sweetness, such easy motions with an air so majestic, yet free from stiffness or affectation, that I am persuaded, could she be suddenly transported upon the most polite throne of Europe, no body would
She was dressed in a
Caftan
of gold brocade, flowered with silver, very well fitted to her shape, and shewing to advantage the beauty of her bosom, only shaded by the thin gauze of her shift. Her drawers were pale pink, her waistcoat green and silver, her slippers white sattin finely embroidered; her lovely arms adorned with bracelets of diamonds, and her broad girdle set round with diamonds; upon her head a rich Turkish handkerchief of pink and silver, her own fine black hair hanging a great length, in various tresses, and on one side of her head some bodkins of jewels. I am afraid you will accuse me of extravagance in this description. I think I have read somewhere, that women always speak in rapture, when they speak of beauty, and I cannot imagine why they should not be allowed to do so. I rather think it a virtue to be able to admire without any mixture of desire or envy. The gravest writers have spoke with great warmth of some celebrated pictures and statues. The workmanship of Heaven, certainly excels all our weak imitations, and I think, has a much better claim to our praise. For my part, I am not ashamed to own, I took more pleasure in looking on the beauteous
Fatima
than the finest piece of sculpture could have given me. She told me the two girls at her feet were her daughters, though she appeared too young to be their mother. Her fair maids were ranged below the Sofa, to the number of twenty, and put me in mind of the pictures of the antient nymphs. I did not think all nature could have furnished such a scene of beauty. She made them a sign to play and dance. Four of
certain ideas.
The tunes so soft!—The motions so languishing! Accompanied with pauses and dying eyes! half-falling back, and then recovering themselves in so artful a manner, that I am very positive, the coldest and most rigid prude upon earth, could not have looked upon them without thinking of
something not to be spoke of.
—I suppose you may have read that the Turks have no music, but what is shocking to the ears; but this account is from those who never heard any but what is played in the streets, and is just as reasonable, as if a foreigner should take his ideas of English music, from the
bladder
and
string,
or the
marrow bones
and
cleavers.
I can assure you, that the music is extremely pathetic; 'tis true, I am inclined to prefer the Italian, but perhaps I am partial. I am acquainted with a Greek lady, who sings better than Mrs.
Robinson,
and is very well skilled in both, who gives the preference to the Turkish. 'Tis certain they have very fine natural voices, these were very agreeable. When the dance was over, four fair slaves came into the room, with silver censors in their hands, and perfumed the air with amber, aloes-wood, and others scents. After this, they served me coffee upon their knees, in the finest japan china, with
soucoups
of silver gilt. The lovely
Fatima
entertained me, all this while, in the most polite agreeable manner, calling me often
Uzelle Sultanam,
or the Beautiful Sultana, and desiring my friendship with the best grace in the world, lamenting that she could not entertain me in my own language.
I AM going to leave Adrianople, and I would not do it, without giving you some account of all that is curious in it, which I have taken a great deal of pains to see. I will not trouble you with wise dissertations, whether or no this is the same city that was antiently called
Orestesit
or
Oreste,
which you know better than I do. It is now called from the Emperor
Adrian,
and was the first European seat of the Turkish Empire, and has been the favourite residence of many Sultans. MAHOMET the fourth, and MUSTAPHA, the Brother of the reigning Emperor, were so fond of it, that they wholly abandoned Constantinople, which humour so far exasperated the Janizaries, that it was a considerable motive to the rebellions that
Maritza
(anciently the
Hebrus) on which it is situated, is dried up every summer, which contributes very much to make it unwholesome. It is now a very pleasant stream. There are two noble bridges built over it. I had the curiosity to go to see the Exchange in my Turkish dress, which is disguise sufficient. Yet I own, I was not very easy when I saw it crouded with Janizaries; but they dare not be rude to a woman, and made way for me with as much respect, as if I had been in my own figure. It is half a mile in length, the roof arched, and kept extremely neat. It holds three hundred and sixty-five shops, furnished with all sorts of rich goods, exposed to sale in the same manner as at the New Exchange in London. But the pavement is kept much neater, and the shops are all so clean, they seem just new painted.—Idle people of all sorts walk here for their diversion, or amuse themselves with drinking coffee, or sherbet, which is cried about as oranges and sweetmeats are in our playhouses. I observed most of the rich Tradesmen were Jews. That people are in incredible power in this country. They have many privileges above all the natural Turks themselves, and
"homme d'affaires;"
he is let into all his secrets, and does all his business. No bargain is made, no bribe received, no merchandise disposed of, but what passes through their hands. They are the physicians, the stewards, and the interpreters of all the great men. You may judge how advantageous this is to a people who never fail to make use of the smallest advantages. They have found the secret of making themselves so necessary, that they are certain of the protection of the court, whatever ministry is in power. Even the English, French, and Italian merchants, who are sensible of their artifices, are, however, forced to trust their affairs to their negotiation, nothing of trade being managed without them, and the meanest amongst them being too important to be disobliged, since the whole body take care of his interests with as much vigour as they would those of the most considerable of their members. There are many of them vastly rich, but they take care to make little public shew of it; though they live in their houses in the utmost luxury and magnificence. This copious subject has drawn me from my description of the exchange, founded by
Ali Bassa,
whose name it bears. Near it is the
Sherski,
a street of a mile in length, full of shops of all kind of fine merchandise, but excessive dear, nothing being made here. It is covered on the top with boards to keep out the rain, that merchants may meet conveniently in all weathers. The
Besiten
near it, is another exchange, built upon pillars, where all
Bassa's of three Tails,
have those ensigns of their power placed in a very conspicuous manner before their tents, which are adorned, on the top, with gilded balls, more or less, according to their different ranks. The ladies go in coaches to see the camp, as eagerly as ours did to that of
Hyde-Park;
but 'tis very easy to observe, that the soldiers do not begin the campaign with any great chearfulness. The war is a general grievance upon the people, but particularly hard upon the tradesmen, now that the Grand Signior is resolved to lead his army in person. Every company of them is obliged, upon this occasion, to make a present according to their ability.
I took the pains of rising at six in the morning to see the ceremony, which did not however begin till eight. The Grand Signior was at the Seraglio window, to see the procession, which passed thro' the principal streets. It was preceded by an
Effendi,
mounted on a camel, richly furnished, reading aloud the
Alcoran,
finely bound, laid upon a cushion. He was surrounded by a parcel of boys, in white, singing some verses of it, followed by a man dressed in green boughs, representing a clean husbandman sowing seed. After him several reapers with garlands of ears of corn, as
Ceres
is pictured, with scythes in their hands seeming to mow.
Captain Bassa
(Admiral) who refreshed me with coffee, sweetmeats, sherbet, &cc. with all possible civility.
I went two days after, to see the Mosque of Sultan
Selim
I. which is a building very well worth the curiosity of a traveller. I was dressed in my Turkish habit, and admitted without scruple; though I believe they guessed who I was, by the extreme officiousness of the door-keeper, to shew me every part of it. It is situated very advantageously in the midst of the city, and in the highest part of it, making a very noble show. The first court has four gates, and the innermost three. They are both of them surrounded with cloisters, with marble pillars of the Ionic order, finely polished, and of very lively colours; the whole pavement is of white marble, and the roof of the cloisters divided into several cupola's or domes, headed with gilt balls on the top. In the midst of each court are fine fountains of white marble; and before the great gate of the Mosque a portico with green marble pillars, which has five gates, the body of the Mosque being one prodigious dome. I understand so little of architecture, I dare not pretend to speak of the proportions. It seemed to be very regular; this I am sure of, it is vastly high and I thought it the noblest building I ever saw. It has two rows of marble galleries on pillars, with marble balustres; the pavement is also marble covered with Persian carpets. In my opinion, it is a great addition to its beauty, that it is not divided into pews, and encumbered with forms and benches like our churches;
Niche,
very like an altar, raised two steps, covered with gold brocade, and standing before it two silver gilt candlesticks, the height of a man, and in them white wax candles, as thick as a man's waist. The outside of the Mosque is adorned with towers vastly high, gilt on the top, from whence the
Imaums
call the people to prayers. I had the curiosity to go up one of them, which is contrived so artfully, as to give surprize to all that see it. There is but one door, which leads to three different stair-cases, going to the three different stories of the tower, in such a manner, that three priests may ascend, rounding, without ever meeting each other; a contrivance very much admired. Behind the Mosque, is an Exchange full of shops, where poor artificers are lodged gratis. I saw several Dervises at their prayers here. They are dressed in a plain piece of woollen, with their arms bare, and a woollen cap on their heads, like a high crowned hat without brims. I went to
I tell you nothing of the order of Mr. W—'s entry, and his audieuce. These things are always the same, and have been so often described, I won't trouble you with the repetition. The young Prince, about eleven years old, sits near his father, when he gives audience; he is a handsome boy, but, probably, will not immediately succeed the Sultan, there being two sons of Sultan, MUSTAPHA (his eldest brother) remaining; the eldest about twenty years old, on whom the hopes of the people are fixed. This reign has been bloody and avaritious. I am apt to believe they are very impatient to see the end of it. I am, Sir,
I HAVE had the advantage of very fine weather all my journey, and as the summer is now in its beauty, I enjoyed the pleasure of fine prospects; and the meadows being full of all sorts of garden flowers, and sweet herbs my berlin perfumed the air as it pressed them. The Grand Signior furnished us with thirty covered waggons for our baggage, and five coaches of the country for my women. We found the road full of the great
Spahis
and their equipages coming out of Asia to the war. They always travel with tents; but I chose to lie in houses all the way. I will not trouble you with the names of the villages we passed, in which there was nothing remarkable, but at
Ciorlu, we were lodged in a
Conac,
or little
Seraglio,
built for the use of the Grand Signior, when he goes this road. I had the curiosity to view all the apartments destined for the ladies of his court. They were in the midst of a thick grove of trees, made fresh by fountains; but I was most surprised to see the walls almost covered with little distichs of Turkish verse, writ with pencils. I made my interpreter explain them to me, and I found several of them very well turned; tho' I easily believed him, that they had lost much of their beauty in the translation. One was literally thus in English.
We come into this world; we lodge, and we depart;
He never goes, that's lodg'd within my heart.
Marmora,
the antient Propontis. We lay the next night at
Selivrea,
antiently a noble town. It is now a good sea port, and neatly built enough, and has a bridge of thirty-two arches. Here is a famous antient Greek church. I had given one of my coaches to a Greek lady, who desired the conveniency of travelling with me; she designed to pay her devotions, and I was glad of the opportunity of going with her. I found it an ill built edifice, set out with the same sort of ornaments, but less rich, as the Roman Catholic churches. They shewed me a saint's body, where I threw a piece of money; and a picture of the Virgin Mary, drawn by the hand of St. LUKE, very little to the credit of his painting; but, however, the finest Madona of Italy, is not more famous for her miracles. The Greeks have a monstrous taste in their pictures, which, for more finery, are always drawn upon a gold ground. You may imagine what a good air this has; but they have no notion either of shade or proportion. They have a bishop here, who officiated in his purple robe, and sent me a candle almost as big as myself for a present, when I was at my lodging. We lay that night at a town called
Bujuk Cekmege,
or Great Bridge; and the night following, at
Kujuk Cekmege,
or Little Bridge, in a very pleasant lodging, formerly a monastery of Dervises, having before it a large court, encompassed with marble cloisters, with a good fountain in the middle. The prospect from this place, and the gardens round it, is the most agreeable I have seen; and shews, that monks of all religions know how to choose their retirements. 'Tis now belonging to a
Hogia,
or School-master, who teaches boys here. I asked him to shew me his own apartment, and was surprised
We arrived the next day at Constantinople; but I can yet tell you very little of it, all my time having been taken up with receiving visits, which are, at least, a very good entertainment to the eyes, the young women being all beauties, and their beauty highly improved by the high taste of their dress.
Our palace is in
Pera,
which is no more a suburb of Constantinople, than Westminster is a suburb to London. All the Ambassadors are lodged very near each other. One part of our house shews us the Port, the City, and the Seraglio, and the distant hills of Asia, perhaps, all together, the most beautiful prospect in the world.
A certain French author says,
Constantinople
is twice as big as
Paris.
Mr. W—y is unwilling to own 'tis bigger than London, though I confess it appears to me to be so; but I don't believe 'tis so populous. The burying fields about it are certainly much larger than the whole city. 'Tis surprising what a vast deal of land is lost this way in Turkey. Sometimes I have seen burying places of several miles, belonging to very inconsiderable villages, which were formerly great towns, and retain no other mark of their antient grandeur, than this dismal one. On no occasion do they ever remove a stone that serves for a monument. Some of them are costly enough,
When I spoke of their religion, I forgot to mention two particularities, one of which I had read of, but it seemed so odd to me, I could not believe it; yet 'tis certainly true; that when a man has divorced his wife, in the most solemn manner, he can take her again upon no other terms, than permitting another man to pass a night with her; and there are some examples of those who have submitted to this law, rather than not have back their beloved. The other point of doctrine is very extraordinary. Any woman that dies unmarried, is looked upon to die in a state of reprobation. To confirm this belief, they reason, that the end of the creation of woman, is to increase and multiply, and that she is only properly employed in the works of her calling, when she is bringing forth children, or taking care of them, which are all the virtues that God expects from her. And indeed, their way of life, which shuts them out of all public commerce, does not permit them any other. Our vulgar notion, that they don't own women to have any souls, is a mistake. 'Tis true they say, they are not of so elevated a kind, and therefore must
I have already made some progress in a collection of Greek medals. Here are several professed antiquaries, who are ready to serve any body that desires them. But you cannot imagine how they stare in my face, when I enquire about them, as if no body was permitted to seek after medals, till they were grown a piece of antiquity themselves. I have got some very valuable ones of the Macedonian Kings, particularly one of PERSEUS, so lively, I fancy I can see all his ill qualities in his face. I have a Porphyry head finely cut, of the true Greek sculpture; but who is represents, is to be guessed at by the learned when I return. For you are not to suppose these antiquaries (who are all Greeks) know any thing. Their trade is only to sell; they have correspondents at Aleppo, Grand Cairo, in Arabia and Palestine, who send them all they can find, and very often great heaps, that are only fit to melt into pans and kettles. They get the best price they can for any of them, without knowing those that are valuable, from those that are not. Those that pretend to skill, generally find
I HOPE before this time, you have received two or three of my letters. I had yours but yesterday, though dated the third of February, in which you suppose me to be dead and buried. I have already let you know that I am still alive; but to say truth, I look upon my present circumstances to be exactly the same with those of departed spirits. The heats of Constantinople have driven me to this place, which perfectly answers the description of the Elysian fields. I am in the middle of a wood, consisting chiefly of fruit trees, watered by a vast number of fountains, famous for the excellency of their water, and divided into many shady walks, upon short grass, that seems to me artificial; but, I am assured, is the pure work of nature—within view of the Black-sea, from whence we perpetually enjoy the refreshment of cool breezes, that makes us insensible of the heat of the summer. The village is only inhabited by the richest amongst the Christians, who meet every night at a fountain, forty paces from my house, to sing and dance. The beauty and dress of the women, exactly resemble the ideas of the antient nymphs, as they are given us by the representations of the poets and painters. But what persuades me more fully of my decease, is the situation of my own mind, the profound ignorance I am in, of what passes among the living (which only comes to me by chance) and the
Of which solemn truth I am a
That spirits departed are wonderous kind,
To friends and relations left behind,
Which no body can deny.
dead
instance. I think
Virgil
is of the same opinion, that in human souls there will still be some remains of human passions:
And 'tis very necessary to make a perfect Elysium, that there should be a river
Curae non ipsae in morte relinquunt.
Lethe,
which I am not so happy as to find. To say truth, I am sometimes very weary of the singing and dancing, and sunshine, and wish for the smoke and impertinencies in which you toil; though I endeavour to persuade myself that I live in a more agreeable variety than you do; and that
Monday,
setting of partridges;
Tuesday,
reading English;
Wednesday,
studying in the Turkish language, (in which, by the way, I am already very learned;)
Thursday,
classical authors;
Friday,
spent in writing;
Saturday,
at my needle, and
Sunday,
admitting of visits and hearing of music, is a better way of disposing of the week, than,
Monday
at the drawing-room;
Tuesday,
Lady Mohun's;
Wednesday,
at the opera;
Thursday,
the play;
Friday,
Mrs. Chetwynd's, &cc. a perpetual round of hearing the same scandal, and seeing the same follies acted over and over, which here affect me no more than they do other dead people. I can now hear of displeasing things with pity and without indignation. The reflection
Congreve's, and desire to live in your remembrance, though dead to all the world beside.
I HEARTILY beg your ladyship's pardon; but I really could nor forbear laughing heartily at your letter, and the commissions you are pleased to honour me with. You desire me to buy you a Greek slave, who is to be mistress of a thousand good qualities. The Greeks are
subjects
and not
slaves.
Those who are to be bought in that manner, are either such as are taken in war, or stolen by the Tartars, from Russia, Circassia or Georgia, and are such miserable awkward poor wretches, you would not think any of them fit to be your house maids. 'Tis true, that many thousands were taken in the
Morea;
but they have been most of them redeemed by the charitable contributions of the Christians, or ransomed by their own relations at Venice. The fine
Circassians,
and their patron never sells them, except it is, as a punishment for some very great fault. If ever they grow weary of them, they either present them to a friend, or give them their freedom. Those that are exposed to sale at the markets, are always either guilty of some crime, or so entirely worthless, that they are of no use at all. I am afraid that you will doubt the truth of this account, which, I own, is very different from our common notions in England; but it is no less truth for all that.—Your whole letter is full of mistakes from one end to the other. I see you have taken your ideas of Turkey from that worthy author
Dumont,
who has writ with equal ignorance and confidence. 'Tis a particular pleasure to me here, to read the voyages to the Levant, which are generally so far removed from truth, and so full of absurdities, I am very well diverted with them. They never fail giving you an account of the women, whom, 'tis certain, they never saw; and talking very wisely of the genius of the men, into whose company they are never admittted; and very often describe
Mosques,
which they dared not even peep into. The Turks are very proud, and will not converse with a stranger they are not assured is considerable in his own country. I speak of the men of distinction; for, as to the ordinary fellows, you may imagine what ideas their conversation can give of the general genius of the people.
As to the balm of
Mecca,
I will certainly send you some; but it is not so easily got as you suppose it, and I cannot in conscience advise you to make use of it. I
statu quo;
nay, I am told by the ladies here, that 'tis much mended by the operation, which I confess I cannot perceive in my looking glass. Indeed, if one was to form an opinion of this balm from their faces, one should think very well of it. They all make use of it, and have the loveliest bloom in the world. For my part, I never intend to endure the pain of it again; let my complexion take its natural course, and decay in its own due time. I have very little esteem for medicines of this nature; but do as you please, Madam; only remember, before you use it, that your face will not be such as you will care to shew in the drawing room for some days after. If one was to believe the women in this country, there is a surer way of making one's self beloved, than by becoming handsome, though you know that's our method. But they pretend to the knowledge of secrets, that, by way of enchantment, give them the entire empire over whom they please. For me, who am not very apt to believe in wonders, I cannot find faith for this. I disputed the point last night with a lady, this
charms
herself; but that she could do it whenever she pleased; and staring me in my face, said, (with a very learned air) that no enchantments would have their effects upon me, and that there were some people exempt from their power, but very few. You may imagine how I laughed at this discourse: but all the women are of the same opinion. They don't pretend to any commerce with the devil, but only that there are certain compositions adapted to inspire love. If one could send over a ship-load of them, I fancy it would be a very quick way of raising an estate. What would not some ladies of our acquaintance give for such merchandize? Adieu, my dear lady—I cannot conclude my letter with a subject that affords more delightful scenes to the imagination. I leave you to figure to yourself, the extreme court that will be made to me, at my return, if my travels should furnish me such a useful piece of learning. I am, dear Madam,
I AM infinitely obliged to you, dear Mrs. T—for your entertaining letter. You are the only one of my correspondents that have judged right enough, to think I would gladly be informed of the news amongst you. All the rest of them tell me (almost in the same words) that they suppose I know every thing. Why they are pleased to suppose in this manner, I can guess no reason, except they are persuaded that the breed of
Mahomet
's pigeon still subsists in this country, and that I receive supernatural intelligence. I wish I could return your goodness with some diverting accounts from hence. But I know not what part of the scenes here would gratify your curiosity, or whether you have any curiosity at all, for things so far distant. To say the truth, I am, at this present writing, not very much turned for the recollection of what is diverting, my head being wholly filled with the preparations necessary for the increase of my family, which I expect every day. You may easily guess at my uneasy situation. But I am, however, comforted in some degree, by the glory that accrues to me from it, and a reflection on the contempt I should otherwise fall under. You won't know what to make of this speech: but, in this country, 'tis more despicable to be married and not fruitful, than 'tis with us to be fruitful before marriage. They have a notion, that whenever a woman leaves off bringing forth children,
received beauty,
as it is to shew the proofs of nobility, to be admitted
Knights of Malta) that they do not content themselves with using the natural means, but fly to all sorts of quackeries to avoid the scandal of being past child-bearing, and often kill themselves by them. Without any exaggeration, all the women of my acquaintance have twelve or thirteen children; and the old ones boast of having had five and twenty or thirty a-piece, and are respected according to the number they have produced.—When they are with child, 'tis their common expression to say,
They hope God will be so merciful as to send them two this time;
and when I have asked them sometimes, how they expected to provide for such a flock as they desire? They answer, that the plague will certainly kill half of them; which, indeed, generally happens without much concern to the parents, who are satisfied with the vanity of having brought forth so plentifully. The French Ambassadress is forced to comply with this fashion as well as myself. She has not been here much above a year, and has lain in once, and is big again. What is most wonderful, is, the exemption they seem to enjoy from the curse entailed on the sex. They see all company the day of their delivery, and at the fortnight's end, return visits, set out in their jewels and new clothes. I wish I may find the influence of the climate in this particular. But I fear I shall continue an English woman in that affair, as well as I do in my dread of fire and plague, which are two things very little feared here. Most families have had their houses burnt down once or twice, occasioned by their
Tendour,
the height of two foot, in the form of a table, covered with a fine carpet or embroidery. This is made only of wood, and they put into it a small quantity of hot ashes, and sit with their legs under the carpet. At this table they work, read, and, very often, sleep; and if they chance to dream, kick down the
Tendour,
and the hot ashes commonly set the house on fire. There were five hundred houses burnt in this manner about a fortnight ago, and I have seen several of the owners since, who seem not at all moved at so common a misfortune. They put their goods into a
Bark,
and see their houses burn with great philosophy, their persons being very seldom endangered, having no stairs to descend.
But having entertained you with things I don't like, 'tis but just I should tell you something what pleases me. The climate is delightful in the extremest degree. I am now sitting, this present fourth of January, with the windows open, enjoying the warm shine of the Sun, while you are freezing over a sad sea-coal fire; and my chamber is set out with carnations, roses, and jonquils, fresh from my garden. I am also charmed with many points of the Turkish law, to our shame be it spoken, better designed, and better executed than ours; particularly, the punishment of convicted liars (triumphant criminals in our country God knows:) They are burnt in the forehead with a hot iron, when they are proved the authors of any notorious falsehoods. How many white foreheads should we see disfigured? How many fine gentlemen would be forced to wear their wigs as low as their eye-brows, were this law in practice with us? I should go on to tell you many other parts of justice, but I must send for my midwife.
I HAVE not written to you, dear sister, these many months—a great piece of self-denial. But But I know not where to direct, or what part of the world you are in. I have received no letter from you since that short note of April last, in which you tell me, that you are on the point of leaving England, and promise me a direction for the place you stay in; but I have, in vain, expected it till now, and now I only learn from the Gazette, that you are returned, which induces me to venture this letter to your house at London. I had rather ten of my letters should be lost, than you imagine I don't write; and I think it is hard fortune, if one in ten don't reach you. However, I am resolved to keep the copies, as testimonies of my inclination to give you, to the utmost of my power, all the diverting part of my travels, while you are exempt from all the fatigues and inconveniencies.
In the first place then, I wish you joy of your niece; for I was brought to bed of a daughter
Hafiten,
favourite of the late Emperor Mustapha, who, you know, (or perhaps you don't know) was deposed by his brother, the reigning Sultan, and died a few weeks after, being poisoned, as it was generally believed. This lady was, immediately after his death, saluted with an absolute order to leave the Seraglio, and choose herself a husband among the great men at the Porte. I suppose you may imagine her overjoyed, at this proposal—Quite the contrary.—These women, who are called and esteem themselves Queens, look upon this liberty, as the greatest disgrace and affront that can happen to them. She threw herself at the Sultan's feet, and begged him to poignard her, rather than use her brother's widow with that contempt. She represented to him, in agonies of sorrow, that she was privileged from this misfortune, by having brought five princes into the Ottoman family; but all the boys being dead, and only one girl surviving, this excuse was not received, and she was compelled to make her choice. She chose
Bekir Effendi,
then secretary of state, and above four-score years old, to convince the world that she firmly intended to keep the vow she had made, of never suffering a second husband to approach her bed; and since she must honour some subject so far, as to be called his wife, she would choose him, as a mark of her gratitude, since it was he that had presented her at the age of ten
I was led into a large room, with a Sofa the whole length of it, adorned with white marble pillars like a
Ruelle,
covered with pale blew figured velvet, on a silver ground, with cushions of the same, where I was desired to repose till the Sultana appeared, who had contrived this manner of reception to avoid rising up at my entrance, though she made me an inclination of her head, when I rose up to her. I was very glad to observe a lady that had been distinguished by the favour of an Emperor, to whom beauties were every day, presented from all parts of the world. But she did not seem to me to have ever been half so beautiful as the fair
Fatima
I saw at Adrianople; though she had the remains of a fine face, more decayed by sorrow than time. But her dress was something so surprisingly rich, that I cannot forbear describing it to you. She wore a vest called
Dualma,
which differs from a Caftan by longer sleeves, and folding over at the bottom. It was of purple cloth, strait to her shape, and thick set, on each side down to her feet and round the sleeves, with pearls of the best water, of the same size as their buttons commonly are. You must not suppose that I mean as large as those of my Lord—, but about the bigness of a pea; and to these buttons, large loops of diamonds, in the form of those gold loops, so common on birthday
Talpoche
she had four strings of pearl—the whitest and most perfect in the world, at least enough to make four necklaces, every one as large as the Duchess of Marlborough's, and of the same shape, fastened with two roses, consisting of a large ruby for the middle stone, and round them twenty drops of clean diamonds to each. Besides this, her headdress was covered with bodkins of emeralds and diamonds. She wore large diamond bracelets, and had five rings on her fingers (except Mr. Pitt's) the largest I ever saw in my life. 'Tis for jewellers to compute the value of these things; but, according to the common estimation of jewels in our part of the world, her whole dress must be worth a hundred thousand pounds sterling. This I am sure of, that no European Queen has half the quantity, and the Empress's jewels, though very fine, would look very mean near hers. She gave me a dinner of fifty dishes of meat, which (after their fashion) were placed
sherbet
(which is the liquor they drink at meals) was served in china bowls; but the covers and salvers massy gold. After dinner, water was brought in gold basons, and towels of the same kind with the napkins, which I very unwillingly wiped my hands upon, and coffee was served in china with gold
Soucoups
The Sultana seemed in a very good humour, and talked to me with the utmost civility. I did not omit this opportunity of learning all that I possibly could of the
Seraglio,
which is so entirely unknown amongst us. She assured me that the story of the Sultan's
throwing a handkerchief,
is altogether fabulous; and the manner, upon that occasion, is no other than this: He sends the
Kyshir Aga,
to signify to the lady the honour he intends her. She is immediately complimented upon it by the others, and led to the bath, where she is perfumed and dressed in the most magnificent and becoming manner. The Emperor precedes his visit by a royal present, and then comes into her apartment: neither is there any such thing
happy she,
that he distingushed by any appearance of preference. But this seemed to me neither better nor worse than the circles in most courts, where the glance of the monarch is watched, and every smile is waited for with impatience, and envied by those who cannot obtain it.
She never mentioned the Sultan without tears in her eyes, yet she seemed very fond of the discourse. My past happiness,
said she,
appears a dream to me. Yet I cannot forget that I was beloved by the greatest and most lovely of mankind. I was chosen from all the rest, to make all his campaigns with him; and I would not survive him, if I was not passionately fond of the Princess my daughter. Yet all my tenderness for her was hardly enough to make me preserve my life. When I left him, I passed a whole twelve-month without seeing the light. Time has softened my despair; yet I now pass some days every week in tears, devoted to the memory of my Sultan.
There was no affectation in these words. It was easy to see she was in a deep melancholy, though her good humour made her willing to divert me.
She asked me to walk in her garden, and one of her slaves immediately brought her a
Pellice
of rich brocade lined with sables. I waited on her into the garden, which had nothing in it remarkable but the fountains; and from thence, she shewed me all her
Talpoche
set with bodkins of jewels, and near it three vests of fine fables, every one of which is at least worth a thousand dollars (two hundred pounds English money.) I don't doubt but these rich habits were purposely placed in sight, though they seemed negligently thrown on the Sofa. When I took my leave of her, I was complimented with perfumes as at the Grand Vizier's, and presented with a very fine embroidered handkerchief. Her slaves were to the number of thirty, besides ten little ones, the eldest not above seven years old. These were the most beautiful girls I ever saw, all richly dressed; and I observed that the Sultana took a great deal of pleasure in these lovely children, which is a vast expence; for there is not a handsome girl of that age, to be bought under a hundred pounds sterling. They wore little garlands of flowers, and their own hair, braided, which was all their head-dress; but their habits were all of gold stuffs. These served her coffee kneeling; brought water when she washed, &cc.—'Tis a great part of the business of the older slaves to take care of these young girls, to learn them to embroider, and to serve them as carefully as if they were children of the family. Now do you imagine I have entertained you, all this while, with a relation that has, at least, received many embellishments from my hand? This, you will say, is but too like the Arabian Tales—These embroidered napkins! and a jewel as large as a turkey's egg?—You forget, dear sister, those very tales were written by an author of this country, and (excepting the enchantments) are a real representation of the manners here. We travellers are in
we are dull, and we have observed nothing.
If we tell any thing new, we are laughed at as
fabulous and romantic,
not allowing either for the difference of ranks, which afford difference of company, or more curiosity, or the change of customs that happen every twenty years in every country. But the truth is, people judge of travellers, exactly with the same candour, good nature, and impartiality, they judge of their neighbours upon all occasions. For my part, if I live to return amongst you, I am so well acquainted with the morals of all my dear friends and acquaintances, that I am resolved to tell them nothing at all, to avoid the imputation (which their charity would certainly incline them to) of my telling too much. But I depend upon your knowing me enough, to believe whatever I seriously assert for truth; though I give you leave to be surprised at an account so new to you. But what would you say, if I told you, that I have been in a
Haram,
where the winter apartment was wainscotted with inlaid work of mother of pearl, ivory of different colours, and olive wood, exactly like the little boxes, you have seen brought out of this country; and in whose rooms designed for summer, the walls are all crusted with Japan china, the roofs gilt, and the floors spread with the finest Persian carpets? Yet there is nothing more true; such is the palace of my lovely friend, the fair
Fatima,
whom I was acquainted with at
Adrianople.
I went to visit her yesterday; and if possible, she appeared to me handsomer than before. She met me at the door of her chamber, and, giving me her hand with the best grace in the world; You Christian ladies (said she with a smile, that made her as beautiful as an angel) have the reputation
Hafifien,
is what one would naturally expect to find a Turkish lady, willing to oblige, but not knowing how to go about it; and 'tis easy to see in her manner, that she has lived excluded from the world. But
Fatima
has all the politeness and good breeding of a court, with an air that inspires at once, respect and tenderness; and now that I understand her language, I find her wit as agreeable as her beauty. She is very curious after the manners of other countries, and has not the partiality for her own, so common to little minds. A Greek that I carried with me, who had never seen her before (nor could have been admitted now, if she had not been admitted in my train) shewed that surprise at her beauty and manner, which is unavoidable at the first, sight, and said to me in Italian,—
"This is no Turkish lady, she is certainly some Christian."—Fatima
guessed she spoke of her, and asked what she said; I would not have told her, thinking she would have been no better pleased with the compliment, than one of our court beauties to be told, she had the air of a Turk. But the Greek lady told it to her, and she smiled, saying,
It is not the first time I have heard so; my mother was a Polozene taken at the siege of Caminiec; and my father used to rally me, saying, he believed his Christian wife had found some
Christian gallant; for that I had not the air of a Turkish girl.
—I assured her, that if all the Turkish ladies were like her, it was absolutely necessary to confine them from public view for the repose of mankind; and proceeded to tell her, what a noise such a face as hers would make in London or Paris.
I can't believe you,
replied she agreeably;
if beauty was so much valued in your country, as you say, they would never have suffered you to leave it.
—Perhaps, dear sister, you laugh at my vanity in repeating this compliment, but I only do it, as I think it very well turned, and give it you as an instance of the spirit of her conversation. Her house was magnificently furnished, and very well fancied; her winter rooms being furnished with figured velvet on gold grounds, and, those for summer, with fine Indian quilting embroidered with gold. The houses of the great Turkish ladies are kept clean with as much nicety as those in Holland. This was situated in a high part of the town; and from the window of her summer apartment we had the prospect of the sea, the islands and the Asian mountains,—My letter is insensibly grown so long, I am ashamed of it. This is a very bad symptom. 'Tis well if I don't degenerate into a down right story-teller. It may be, our proverb, that
knowledge is no burden,
may be true, as to one's self; but knowing too much, is very apt to make us troublesome to other people.
I AM extremely pleased, my dear lady, that you have, at length, found a commission for me, that I can answer without disappointing your expectations; though I must tell you, that it is not so easy as perhaps you think it; and that, if my curiosity had not been more diligent than any other stranger's has ever yet been, I must have answered you with an excuse, as I was forced to do, when you desired me to buy you a Greek slave. I have got for you, as you desire, a Turkish love-letter, which I have put into a little box, and ordered the captain of the
Smyrniote
to deliver it to you with this letter. The translation of it is literally as follows: The first piece you should pull out of the purse, is a little Pearl, which is in Turkish called
Ingi,
and must be understood in this manner:
- Ingi,
- Sensin Uzellerin gingi
- Pearl,
-
Fairest of the young.
- Caremfil,
- Caremfilsem cararen yōk
- Clove,
- Congē gulsum timarin yōk
- Benseny chok than severim
- Senin benden, haberin yōk
-
You are as slender as this clove! -
You are an unblown rose! -
I have long loved you, and you have not known it!
- Pul,
- Derdime derman bul
- Jonquil,
-
Have pity on my passion!
- Kihat,
- Birlerum sahāt sahāt
- Paper,
-
I faint every hour!
- Ermŭ,
- Ver bizé bir umut
- Pear,
-
Give me some hope.
- Jabun,
- Derdinden oldum zabūn
- Soap,
-
I am sick with love.
- Chemur,
- Ben Oliyim size umur
- Coal,
-
May I die, and all my years be yours!
- Gul,
- Ben aglarum sen gul
- A rose,
-
May you be pleased, and your sorrows mine!
- Hasir,
- Oliim sana yazir
- A straw,
-
Suffer me to be your slave.
- Jó hó
- Ustunē bulunmāz pahū
- Cloth,
-
Your price is not to be found.
- Tartsin,
- Sen ghel ben chekeim senin hargin
- Cinnamon,
-
But my fortune is yours.
- Girō,
- Esking-ilen oldum ghirā
- A match,
-
I burn, I burn! my flame consumes me!
- Sirma,
- Uzunu benden ā yirmā
- Goldthread,
-
Don't turn away your face.
- Satch,
- Bazmazun tatch
- Hair,
-
Crown of my head!
- Uzum,
- Benīm iki Cuzum
- Grape,
-
My eyes!
- Til,
- Ulugorum tez ghel
- Gold-wire,
-
I die—come quickly.
And by way of postscript:
- Beber,
- Bize bir dogm haber
- Pepper,
-
Send me an answer.
I fancy you are now wondering at my profound learning; but alas, dear madam, I am almost fallen into the misfortune so common to the ambitious; while they are employed on distant insignificant conquests abroad, a rebellion starts up at home;—I am in great danger of losing my English. I find 'tis not half so easy to me to write in it, as it was a twelvemonth ago. I am forced to study for expressions, and must leave off all other languages, and try to learn my mother tongue.—Human understanding is as much limited as human power, or human strength. The memory can retain but a certain number of images; and 'tis as impossible for one human creature to be perfect master of ten different languages, as to have, in perfect subjection, ten different kingdoms, or to fight against ten men at a time. I am afraid I shall at last know none as I should do. I live in a place, that very well represents the Tower of Babel; in Pera they speak
Turkish Greek, Hebrew, Armenian, Arabic, Persian, Russian, Sclavonian, Walachian, German, Dutch, French, English, Italian, Hungarian;
and what is worse, there are ten of these languages spoken in my own family. My grooms are
Arabs,
my footmen
French, English,
and
Germans;
my nurse an
Armenian;
my house maids
Russians;
half a dozen other servants
Greeks;
my steward an
Italian;
my Janizaries
Turks;
so that I live in perpetual hearing of this medley of sounds, which produces a very extraordinary effect upon the people that are born here; for they learn all these languages at the same time, and without knowing any of them well enough to write or read in it. There are very few men, women, or even children here, that have not the same compass of words in five or six of them. I know, myself, several infants of three or four years old, that speak Italian, French, Greek, Turkish, and Russian, which last they learn of their nurses, who are generally of that country. This seems almost incredible to you, and is, in my mind, one of the most curious things in this country, and takes off very much from the merit of our ladies, who set up for such extraordinary geniuses upon the credit of some superficial knowledge of French and Italian.
As I prefer English to all the rest, I am extremely mortified at the daily decay of it in my head, where, I'll assure you (with grief of heart) it is reduced to such a small number of words, I cannot recollect any tolerable phrase to conclude my letter with, and am forced to tell your ladyship very bluntly, that I am
AT length I have heard from my dear lady B—, for the first time. I am persuaded you have had the goodness to write before, but I have had the ill fortune to lose your letters. Since my last, I have stayed quietly at Constantinople, a city that I ought in conscience to give your ladyship a right notion of, since I know you can have none but what is partial and mistaken from the writings of travellers. 'Tis certain, there are many people that pass years here in
Pera,
without having ever seen it, and yet they all pretend to describe it,
Tophana,
and
Galata,
wholly inhabited by French-Christians (and which, together, make the appearance of a very fine town) are divided from it by the sea, which is not above half so broad as the broadest part of the Thames; but the Christian men are loath to hazard the adventures they sometimes meet with amongst the
Levents
or Seamen (worse monsters than our watermen) and the women must cover their faces to go there, which they have á perfect aversion to do. 'Tis true, they wear veils in Pera, but they are such as only serve to shew their beauty to more advantage, and would not be permitted in Constantinople. These reasons deter almost every creature from seeing it; and the French Ambassadress will return to France (I believe) without ever having been there. You'll wonder, madam, to hear me add, that I have been there very often. The
Asmack,
or Turkish veil, is become not only very easy, but agreeable to me; and if it was not, I would be content to endure some inconveniency to
Bosphorus,
the most beautiful variety of prospects present themselves. The Asian side is covered with fruit trees, villages, and the most delightful landskips in nature; on the European, stands Constantinople, situated on seven hills.—The unequal heights make it seem as large again as it is (tho' one of the largest cities in the world) shewing an agreeable mixture of gardens, pine and cypress trees, palaces, mosques, and public buildings, raised one above another, with as much beauty and appearance of symmetry as your ladyship ever saw in a cabinet adorned by the most skilful hands, where jars shew themselves above jars, mixed with canisters, babies, and candlesticks. This is a very odd comparison; but it gives me an exact idea of the thing. I have taken care to see as much of the Seraglio as is to be seen. It is on a point of land running into the sea; a palace of prodigious extent, but very irregular. The gardens take in a large compass of ground, full of high cypress trees, which is all I know of them. The buildings are all of white stone, headed on top, with gilded turrets and spires, which look very magnificent; and indeed, I believe there is no Christian King's palace half so large. There are six large courts in it, all built round and set with trees, having galleries of stone; one of those for the guard, another for the slaves, another for the officers of the kitchen, another for the stables, the fifth for the Divan, and the sixth for the apartment destined for audiences. On the ladies side there are, at least, as many more, with
The next remarkable structure is that of St.
Sophia,
which 'tis very difficult to see. I was forced to send three times to the
Caimaicam,
(the Governor of the Town) and he assembled the chief
Effendi's or heads of the law, and inquired of the
Mufti,
whether it was lawful to permit it. They passed some days in this important debate; but, I insisting on my request, permission was granted. I can't be informed why the Turks are more delicate on the subject of this Mosque, than on any of the others, where, what Christian pleases may enter without scruple. I fancy they imagine that, having been once consecrated, people, on pretence of curiosity, might profane it with prayers, particularly to those Saints, who are still very visible in Mosiaic work, and no other way defaced but by the decays of time; for it is absolutely false tho' so universally asserted, that the Turks defaced all the images that they found in the city. The dome of St.
Sophia
is said to be one hundred and thirteen foot diameter, built upon arches, sustained by vast pillars of marble, the pavement and stair-case marble. There are two rows of galleries supported with pillars of parti-coloured marble and the whole roof mosaic work, part of which decays very fast, and drops down. They presented me a handful of it; the composition seems to me a sort of glass, or that paste with which they make counterfeit jewels. They shew here the tomb of the Emperor
Constantine,
for which they have a great veneration.
This is a dull imperfect description of this celebrated building; but I understand architecture so little, that I am afraid of talking nonsense in endeavouring to speak of it particularly. Perhaps I am in the
Solyman
is an exact square, with four fine towers in the angles; in the midst is a noble
Cupola
supported with beautiful marble pillars; two lesser at the ends, supported in the same manner; the pavement and gallery round the Mosque, of marble; under the great cupola is a fountain adorned with such fine coloured pillars, that I can hardly think them natural marble; on the one side is the pulpit of white marble, and on the other the little gallery for the Grand Signior. A fine stair-case leads to it, and it is built up with gilded lattices. At the upper end is a sort of altar, where the name of God is written; and, before it, stand two candlesticks, as high as a man, with wax candles as thick as three flambeaux. The pavement is spread with fine carpets, and the Mosque illuminated with a vast number of lamps. The court leading to it is very spacious, with galleries of marble of green columns, covered with twenty-eight leaded cupola's on two sides, and a fine fountain of basons in the midst of it.
This description may serve for all the Mosques in Constantinople. The model is exactly the same, and they only differ in largeness and richness of materials. That of the Sultana VALIDA is the largest of all, built entirely of marble, the most prodigious, and I think the most beautiful structure I ever saw, be it spoke to the honour of our sex, for it was founded by the mother of MAHOMET the fourth. Between friends,
Paul's Church
would make a pitiful figure near it; as any of our squares would do, near the
Atlerdan,
or place of horses, (at
signifying a horse in Turkish.) This was the
Hippodrome,
in the reign of the Greek Emperors. In the midst of it is a brazen column of three serpents twisted together,
Your Lord will interpret these lines. Don't fancy they they are a love-letter to him.
Difficilis quondam, Dominis parere Serenis
Jussus, et extinctis palmam portare Tyrannis
Omnia Theodosio cedunt, sobolique perenni.
All the figures have their heads on; and I cannot forbear reflecting again on the impudence of authors, who all say they have not; but I dare swear the greatest part of them never saw them; but took the report from the Greeks, who resist, with incredible fortitude, the conviction of their own eyes, whenever they have invented lies to the dishonour of their enemies. Were you to believe them, there is nothing worth seeing in Constantinople, but
Sancta Sohpia,
tho' there are several larger, and in my opinion, more beautiful Mosques in that city. That of Sultan
Achmet,
has this particularity, that its gates are of brass. In all these Mosques there are little chapels, where are the tombs of the founders and their families, with wax candles burning before them.
Exchanges
are all noble buildings, full of fine alleys, the greatest part supported with pillars, and kept wonderfully neat. Every trade has its distinct alley, where the merchandize is disposed in the same order as in the New Exchange at London. The
Bisisten,
or jeweller's quarter, shews so much riches, such a vast quantity of diamonds, and all kinds of precious stones, that they dazzle the sight. The embroiderers is also very glittering, and people walk here as much for diversion as business. The markets are most of them handsome squares, and admirably well provided, perhaps better than in any other part of the world.
I know you'll expect I should say something particular of the slaves; and you will imagine me half a Turk, when I don't speak of it with the same horror other Christians have done before me. But I cannot forbear applauding the humanity of the Turks to these creatures; they are never ill used, and their slavery is in my opinion, no worse than servitude all over the world. 'Tis true they have no wages; but they give them yearly clothes to a higher value than our salaries to our ordinary servants. But you'll object, that men buy women
with an eye to evil.
In my opinion they are bought and sold as publicly and as infamously in all our Christian great cities.
I must add to the description of Constantinople, that the
Historical Pillar
is no more. It dropped down about two years before I came to this part of the world. I have seen no other footsteps of antiquity except the aquaeducts, which are so vast, that I am apt to believe they are yet more antient than the Greek Empire. The Turks, indeed, have clapped in some stones with Turkish inscriptions, to give their natives the honour of so great a work; but the
Hans
and
Monasteries;
the first are very large and numerous; the second few in number, and not at all magnificent. I had the curiosity to visit one of them, and to observe the devotions of the
Dervises,
which are as whimsical as any at Rome. These fellows have permission to marry, but are confined to an odd habit, which is only a piece of coarse white cloath, wrapped about them, with their legs and arms naked. Their order has few other rules, except that of performing their fantastick rites, every Tuesday and Friday, which is done in this manner: They meet together in a large hall, where they all stand with their eyes fixed on the ground, and their arms across, while the
Imaum
or preacher reads part of the
Alcoran
from a pulpit, placed in the midst; and when he has done, eight or ten of them make a melancholy concert with their pipes, which are no unmusical instruments. Then he reads again, and makes a short exposition on what he has read; after which they sing and play, till their Superior (the only one of them dressed in green) rises and begins a sort of solemn dance. They all stand about him in a regular figure, and while some play, the others tie their robe (which is very wide) fast round their waist, and begin to turn round with an amazing swiftness, and yet with great regard to the music, moving slower or faster as the tune is played. This lasts above an hour, without any of them shewing the least appearance of giddiness, which is not to be wondered at, when it is considered, they are all used to it from their infancy; most of them being devoted to this way of life from their birth. There turned amongst them some little Dervises of six or seven years old, who seemed no more disordered by that exercise than
There is no other God, but God, and Mahomet is his Prophet:
after which they kiss the Superor's hand and retire. The whole is performed with the most solemn gravity. Nothing can be more austere than the form of these people; they never raise their eyes, and seem devoted to contemplation. And as ridiculous as this is in description, there is something touching in the air of submission and mortification they assume.—This letter is of a horrible length; but you may burn it when you have read enough, &cc. &cc.
I AM now preparing to leave Constantinople, and perhaps you will accuse me of hypocrisy, when I tell you, 'tis with regret; but as I am used to the air, and have learnt the language, I am easy here; and as much as I love travelling, I tremble at the inconveniencies attending so great a journey, with a numerous family, and a little infant hanging at the breast. However, I endeavour, upon this occasion, to do as I have hitherto done in all the odd turns of my life; turn them, if I can, to my diversion. In order to this, I ramble every day, wrapped up in my
Ferige
and
Asmack,
about Constantinople, and amuse myself with seeing all that is curious in it. I know you will expect that this declaration should be followed with some account of what I have seen. But I am in no humour to copy what has been writ
Sancta Sophia
was founded by Justinian, &cc. I'll assure you 'tis not for want of learning, that I forbear writing all these bright things. I could also, with very little trouble, turn over
Knolles
and Sir
Paul Rycaut,
to give you a list of Turkish Emperors; but I will not tell you what you may find in every author that has writ of this country. I am more inclined, out of a true female spirit of contradiction, to tell you the falsehood of a great part of what you find in authors; as for example, in the admirable Mr.
Hill,
who so gravely asserts, that he saw in
Sancta Sophia,
a sweating pillar, very balsamic for disordered heads. There is not the least tradition of any such matter; and I suppose it was revealed to him in vision, during his wonderful stay in the Egyptian Catacombs; for I am sure he never heard of any such miracle here. 'Tis also very pleasant to observe how tenderly he and all his brethren voyage-writers, lament the miserable confinement of the Turkish ladies, who are perhaps more free than any ladies in the universe, and are the only women in the world, that lead a life of uninterrupted pleasure, exempt from cares, their whole time being spent in visiting, bathing, or the agreeable amusement of spending money and inventing new fashions. A husband would be thought mad that exacted any degree of oeconomy from his wife, whose expences are no way limited but by her own fancy. 'Tis his business to get money, and her's to spend it; and this noble prerogative extends itself to the very meanest of the sex. Here is a fellow that carries embroidered
I was, three days ago, at one of the finest in the town, and had the opportunity of seeing a Turkish bride received there, and all the ceremony used on that occasion, which made me recollect the
Epithalamium
of
Helen,
by
Theocritus;
and it seems to me, that the same customs have continued ever since. All the she friends, relations and acquaintance of the two families, newly allied, meet at the bagnio; several others go, out of curiosity, and I believe there were that day two hundred women. Those that were, or had been married, placed themselves round the rooms, on the marble sofas; but the virgins very hastily threw off their clothes, and appeared without other ornament, or covering, than their own long hair braided with pearl or ribbon. Two of them met the bride at the door, conducted by her mother and another grave relation. She was a beautiful maid of about seventeen, very richly dressed, and shining with jewels, but was presently reduced to the state of nature. Two others filled silver gilt pots with perfume, and begun the procession, the rest following in pairs, to the number of thirty. The leaders sung an
Epithalamium,
answered by the others in chorus, and the two last led the fair bride, her eyes fixed on the ground, with a charming affectation of modesty. In this order they marched round the three large rooms of the Bagnio. 'Tis not easy to
tour,
the bride was again led to every matron round the rooms, who saluted her with a compliment and a present, some of jewels, others of pieces of stuff, handkerchiefs, or little gallantries of that nature, which she thanked them for, by kissing their hands. I was very well pleased with having seen this ceremony; and you may believe me, that the Turkish ladies have, at least, as much wit and civility, nay liberty, as among us. 'Tis true, the same customs that give them so many opportunities of gratifying their evil inclinations (if they have any) also put it very fully in the power of their husbands to revenge themselves, if they are discovered; and I do not doubt but they suffer sometimes for their indiscretions in a very severe manner. About two months ago, there was found at day-break, not very far from my house, the bleeding body of a young woman, naked, only wrapp'd in a coarse sheet, with two wounds of a knife, one in her side, and another in her breast. She was not quite cold, and was so surprisingly beautiful, that there was very few men in Pera, that did not go to look upon her; but it was not possible for any body to know her, no woman's face being known. She was supposed to have been brought, in the dead of night, from the Constantinople side, and laid there. Very little inquiry was made about the murderer, and the corpse was privately buried without noise. Murder is never pursued by the King's officers, as with us. 'Tis the business of the next relations to revenge the dead person; and if they like better to compound the matter for money
She is a Spaniard, and was at Naples with her family, when that kingdom was part of the Spanish dominion. Coming from thence in a
Feloucca,
accompanied by her brother, they were attacked by the Turkish Admiral, boarded and taken.—And now how shall I modestly tell you the rest of her adventure? The same accident happened to her, that happen'd to the fair Lucretia so many years before her. But she was too good a Christian to kill herself, as that Heathenish Roman did. The Admiral was so much charmed with the beauty, and
long-suffering
of the fair captive, that, as his first compliment, he gave immediate liberty to her brother and attendants, who made haste to Spain, and in a few months sent the sum of four thousand pound sterling, as a ransom for his sister. The Turk took the money, which he presented to her, and told her she was at liberty. But the lady very discreetly weighed the different treatment she was likely to find in her native country. Her relations (as the kindest thing they could do for her in her present circumstances) would certainly confine her to a nunnery for the rest of her days.—Her Infidel lover was very handsome, very tender,
'Tis a degree of generosity to tell the truth, and 'tis very rare that any Turk will assert a solemn false-hood. I don't speak of the lowest sort; for as there is a great deal of ignoronce, there is very little virtue amongst them; and false witnesses are much cheaper than in Christendom, those wretches not being punished (even when they are publicly detected) with the rigour they ought to be
Now I am speaking of their law, I don't know, whether I have ever mentioned to you one custom peculiar to their country, I mean
adoption,
very common amongst the Turks, and yet more amongst the
Cadi,
and there declare they receive it for their heir. The parents, at the same time, renounce all future claim to it; a writing is drawn and witnessed, and a child thus adopted, cannot be disinherited. Yet I have seen some common beggars, that have refused to part with their children in this manner, to some of the richest among the Greeks; (so powerful is the instinctive affection that is natural to parents!) though the adopting fathers are generally very tender to these
children of their souls,
as they call them. I own this custom pleases me much better than our absurd one of following our name. Methinks 'tis much more reasonable to make happy and rich, an infant whom I educate after my own manner,
brought up
(in the Turkish phrase)
upon my knees,
and who has learnt to look upon me with a filial respect, than to give an estate to a creature without other merit or relation to me than that of a few letters. Yet this is an absurdity we see frequently practised.—Now I have mentioned the Armenians, perhaps it will be agreeable to tell you something of that nation, with which I am sure you are utterly unacquainted. I will not trouble you with the geographical account of the situation of their country, which you may see in the maps; or a relation of their antient greatness, which you may read in the Roman History. They are now subject to the Turks; and, being very industrious in trade, and increasing and multiplying, are dispersed
Gregory,
and are perhaps the devoutest Christians in the whole world. The chief precepts of their priests, enjoin the strict keeping of their Lents, which are, at least, seven months in every year, and are not to be dispensed with on the most emergent necessity; no occasion whatever can excuse them if they touch any thing more than mere herbs or roots, (without oil) and plain dry bread. That is their constant diet.—Mr. W—y has one of his interpreters of this nation, and the poor fellow was brought so low by the severity of his fasts, that his life was despaired of. Yet neither his master's commands, nor the doctors intreaties (who declared nothing else could save his life) were powerful enough to prevail with him to take two or three spoonfuls of broth. Excepting this, which may rather be called a custom than an article of faith, I see very little in their religion different from ours. 'Tis true, they seem to incline very much to Mr.
Whiston'
s doctrine; neither do I think the Greek church very distant from it, since 'tis certain, the Holy spirit's proceding
only
from the father, is making a plain subordination in the Son.—But the Armenians have no notion of
Transubstantiation,
whatever account Sir
Paul Rycaut
gives of them, (which account I am apt to believe was designed to compliment our court in 1679) and they have a great horror for those amongst them that change to the Roman religion. What is most extraordinary in their customs, is their matrimony; a ceremony, I believe, unparallel'd all over the world. They are always promised very young; but the espoused never see one another, till three days after their marriage. The bride is carried to church with
be she deaf, be she blind?
These are the literal words; to which having answered
yes,
she is led home to his house, accompanied with all the friends and relations on both sides, singing and dancing, and is placed on a cushion in the corner of the sofa; but her veil is never lifted up, not even by her husband. There is something so odd and monstrous in these ways, that I could not believe them till I had inquired of several Armenians myself, who all assured me of the truth of them, particularly one young fellow who wept when he spoke of it, being promised by his mother to a girl that he must marry in this manner, tho' he protested to me, he had rather die than submit to this slavery, having already figured his bride to himself, with all the deformities in nature.—I fancy I see you bless yourself at this terrible relation. I cannot conclude my letter with a more surprising story, yet 'tis as seriously true, as that I am,
I AM extremely pleased with hearing from you, and my vanity (the darling frailty of human kind) not a little flattered by the uncommon questions you ask me, tho' I am utterly incapable of answering them. And indeed were I as good Mathematician as
Euclid
himself, it requires an age's stay to make just observations on the air and vapours. I have not been yet a full year here, and am on the point of removing. Such is my rambling destiny. This will surprise you, and can surprise nobody so much as myself. Perhaps you will accuse me of laziness or dulness, or both together, that can leave this place without giving you some account of the Turkish court. I can only tell you that if you please to read Sir
Paul Rycaut,
you will there find a full and true account of the
Viziers,
the
Beglerby'
s, the civil and spiritual government, the officers of the
Seraglio,
&cc. things that 'tis very easy to procure lists of, and therefore may be depended on; tho' other stories, God knows—I say no more—every body is at liberty to write their own remarks; the manners of people may change; or some of them escape the observation of travellers; but 'tis not the same of the government, and for that reason, since I can tell you nothing new, I will tell you nothing of it. In the same silence shall be passed over the arsenal and seven towers, and for Mosques I have already described one of the noblest to you very particularly. But I cannot forbear taking
pleasure
from that of
vice,
and they are only mingled in the heads of fools.—But I allow you to laugh at me for the sensual declaration in saying, that I had rather be a rich Effendi with all his ignorance, than Sir Isaac Newton with all his knowledge.
I LEFT Constantinople the sixth of the last month, and this is the first post from whence I could send a letter, tho' I have often wished for the opportunity, that I might impart some of the pleasure I found in this voyage, through the most agreeable part of the world, where every scene presents me some poetical idea.
" Warm'd with poetic transport, I survey
" Th' immortal islands and the well known sea.
" For here so oft the Muse her harp has strung,
I beg your pardon for this sally, and will, if I can, continue the rest of my account in plain prose. The second day after we set sail, we passed
Gallipolis,
a fair city, situated in the bay of
Chersonesus,
and much respected by the Turks, being the first town they took in Europe. At five the next morning, we anchored in the Hellespont, between the castles of
Sestos
and
Abydos
now called the
Dardanelli.
There are now two little ancient castles, but of no strength, being commanded by a rising ground behind them, which I confess I should never have taken notice of, if I had not heard it observ'd by our captain and officers, my imagination being wholly employed by the tragic story that you are well acquainted with:
Verse again!—I am certainly infected by the poetical air I have passed through. That of Abydos is undoubtedly very amorous, since that soft passion betrayed the castle into the hands of the Turks, who besieged it in the reign of Orchanes. The Governor's daughter imagining to have seen her future husband in a dream (tho' I don't find she had either slept upon
The swimming Lover and the nightly Bride,
How
HERO
lov'd, and how
LEANDER
died.
Bride-cake
or kept
St. Agnes Fast) fancied she saw the dear figure in the form of one of her besiegers, and, being willing to obey her destiny, tossed a note to him over the wall, with the offer of her person and the delivery of the castle. He shewed it to his general, who consented to try the sincerity of her intentions and withdrew his army, ordering the young man to return with a select body of men at midnight. She admitted him at the appointed hour, he destroyed the garrison, took the father prisoner, and made her his wife. This town is in Asia, first founded by the Milesians.
Sestos
is in Europe, and was once the principal city of Chersonesus. Since I have seen this streight, I find nothing improbable in the adventure of
Leander,
or very wonderful in the bridge of boats of
Xerxes.
'Tis so narrow, 'tis not surprising a young lover should attempt to swim, or an ambitious King try to pass his army over it. But then 'tis so subject to storms, 'tis no wonder the lover perished and the bridge was broken. From hence we had a full view of mount Ida;
Where Juno once caress'd her amorous Jove,
And the world's master lay subdu'd by Love.
Hecuba
was buried, and about a league from that place is Cape
Janizary,
the famous promontory of
Sigaeum,
where we anchored. My curiosity supplied me with strength to climb to the top of it, to see the place where
Achilles
was buried, and where
Alexander
ran naked round his tomb in honour of him, which, no doubt, was a great comfort to his ghost. I saw there, the ruins of a very large city, and found a stone on which Mr. W—y plainly distinguished the words of
Sigan Polin.
We ordered this on board the ship; but were shew'd others much more curious by a Greek Priest, tho' a very ignorant fellow that could give no tolerable account of any thing. On each side the door of this little church lie two large stones, about ten feet long each, five in breadth and three in thickness. That on the right is very fine white marble, the side of it beautifully carved in
Bas relief;
it represents a woman, who seems to be designed for some Deity, sitting on a chair with a footstool, and before her another woman weeping and presenting to her a young child that she has in her arms, followed by a procession of women with children in the same manner. This is certainly part of a very ancient tomb; but I dare not pretend to give the true explanation of it. On the stone, on the left side, is a very fair inscription, but the Greek is too ancient for Mr. W—y's interpretation. I am very sorry not to have the original in my possession, which might have been purchased of the poor inhabitants for a small sum of money. But our captain assured us, that, without having machines made on purpose, 'twas impossible to bear it to the sea-side, and when it was there, his long-boat would not be large enough to hold it.
Sciote
habit, the women being in short petticoats fastened by straps round their shoulders, and large smock-sleeves of white linen, with neat shoes and stockings, and on their heads a large piece of muslin, which falls in large folds on their shoulders.—One of my countrymen, Mr.
Sands,
(whose book I doubt not you have read as one of the best of its kind) speaking of these ruins supposes them to have been the foundation of a city begun by Constantine, before his building Byzantium; but I see no good reason for that imagination, and am apt to believe them much more ancient.
We saw very plainly from this promontory, the river
Simois
rolling from mount Ida, and running through a very spacious valley. It is now a considerable river and is called
Simores;
it is joined in the vale by the
Scamander,
which appeared a small stream half-choaked with mud, but is perhaps large in the winter. This was
Xanthus
amongst the Gods, as Homer tells us, and 'tis by that heavenly name, the Nymph
Oenone
invokes it, in her Epistle to
Paris.
The Trojan Virgins used to offer their first favours to it by the name of Scamander, till the adventure, which
Monsieur de la Fontaine
has told so agreeably, abolished that heathenish ceremony. When the stream is mingled with the Simois, they run together to the sea.
All that is now left at
Troy
is the ground on which it stood; for I am firmly persuaded whatever pieces of antiquity may be found round it, are much more modern, and I think
Strabo
says the same thing. However there is some pleasure in seeing the valley where I imagined the famous duel of
Menelaus
and
Paris
had been fought, and where the greatest city
North of the promontory of Sigaeum we saw that of
Rhateum,
fam'd for the sepulchre of
Ajax.
While I viewed these celebrated fields and rivers I admired the exact geography of
Homer,
whom I had in my hand. Almost every epithet he gives to a mountain or plain, is still just for it; and I spent several hours here, in as agreeable
cogitations
as ever
Don Quixote
had on mount
Montesinos.
We failed next night, to the shore where 'tis vulgarly reported
Troy
stood, and I took the pains of rising at two in the morning to view coolly those ruins which are commonly shew'd to strangers, and which the Turks call
Eski-Stamboul,
i. e. Old Constantinople. For that reason as well as some others, I conjecture them to be the remains of that city begun by Constantine. I hired an ass (the only voiture to be had there) that I might go some miles into the country, and take a tour round the ancient walls which are of a vast extent. We found the remains of a castle on a hill, and of another in a valley, several broken pillars and two pedestals, from which I took these Latin inscriptions:
DIVI. AUG. COL. ET. COL. IUL. PHILIPENSIS EORUNDEM. ET PRINCIP. AM COL. IUL. PARIANAE. TRIBUN. MILIT. COH. XXXII. VOLUNTAR. TRIB. MILIT. LEG. XIII. GEM.
I do not doubt but the remains of a temple near this place, are the ruins of one dedicated to Augustus, and I know not why Mr.
Sands
calls it a Christian temple, since the Romans certainly built hereabouts. Here are many tombs of fine marble and vast pieces of granate, which are daily lessen'd by the prodigious balls that the Turks make, from them, for their cannon. We passed that evening the isle of
Tenedos,
once under the patronage of APOLLO, as he gave it in, himself, in the particulars of his estate, when he courted
Daphne.
It is but ten miles in circuit, but in those days very rich and well peopled, still famous for its excellent wine. I say nothing of
Tenes,
from whom it was called; but naming
Mytilene
where we passed next, I cannot forbear mentioning,
Leshos
where SAPPHO sung and PITTACUS reigned, famous for the birth of ALCEUS, THEOPHRASTUS and ARION, those masters in Poetry, Philosophy, and Musick. This was one of the last islands that remained in the Christian dominion after the
Catucuseno,
&cc. Princes that you are as well acquainted with as I am. 'Twas with regret I saw us sail from this island into the Egean sea, now the Archipelago, leaving
Scio
(the ancient
Chios) on the left, which is the richest and most populous of these islands, fruitful in cotton, corn and silk, planted with groves of orange and lemon trees, and the Arvisian mountain still celebrated for the Nectar that VIRGIL mentions. Here is the best manufacture of silks in all Turkey. The town is well built, the women famous for their beauty, and shew their faces as in Christendom. There are many rich families; tho' they confine their magnificence to the inside of their houses, to avoid the jealousy of the Turks, who have a Bassa here; however they enjoy a reasonable liberty, and indulge the genius of their country;
Their chains hang lightly on them, tho' 'tis not long since they were impos'd, not being under the Turk till 1566. But perhaps 'tis as easy to obey the Grand Signior as the state of Genoa, to whom they were sold by the Greek Emperor. But I forgot myself in these historical touches, which are very impertinent when I write to you. Passing the streight between the islands of
And eat and sing and dance away their time,
Fresh as their groves and happy as their clime.
Andros
and
Achaia,
now
Libadia,
we saw the promontory of Lunium, now called
Cape Colonna,
where are yet standing the vast pillars of a temple of MINERVA. This venerable sight made me think with double regret, on a beautiful temple of THESEUS, which I am assured was almost entire at Athens till the last campaign in the
Morea,
that the
Peloponnesus,
tho' it were only to look on the rivers of
Asopus, Peneus, Inachus
and
Eurotas,
the fields of
Arcadia
and other scenes of ancient Mythology. But instead of Demi-gods and Heroes, I was credibly informed, 'tis now over-run by robbers, and that I should run a great risque of falling into their hands by undertaking such a journey through a desart country, for which however I have so much respect, that I have much ado to hinder myself from troubling you with its whole history, from the foundation of Nycana and Corinth, to the last campaign here; but I check the inclination as I did that of landing. We failed quietly by
Cape Angelo,
once
Malea,
where I saw no remains of the famous temple of Apollo. We came that evening in sight of Candia: it is very mountainous; we easily distinguish'd that of Ida.—We have Virgil's authority that here were a hundred cities—
The chief of them—the scene of monstrous passions.—
Centum Urbes habitant Magnas
—
Metellus
first conquer'd this birth-place of his Jupiter; it fell afterwards into the hands of—I am running on to the very siege of Candia, and I am so angry with myself, that I will pass by all the other islands with this general reflection, that 'tis impossible to imagine any thing more agreeable than this journey would have been two or three thousand years since, when after drinking a dish of tea with SAPHO, I might gave gone, the same evening, to visit the temple of HOMER in
Chios,
and passed this voyage in taking plans of magnificent temples, delineating the miracles
vix humana videtur stirpe creatus
—
We passed
Trinacria
without hearing any of the
Syrens
that
Homer
describes, and, being thrown on neither
Sylla
nor
Charybdis,
came safe to
Malta,
first called Melita, from the abundance of honey. It is a whole rock cover'd with very little earth. The Grand Master lives here in the state of a sovereign Prince; but his strength at sea now is very small. The fortifications are reckon'd the best in the world, all cut in the solid rock with infinite expence and labour.—Off this island we were tossed by a severe storm, and were very glad, after eight days, to be able to put into
Porta Farine
on the African shore, where our ship now rides. At
Tunis
we were met by the English consul who resides here. I readily accepted of the offer of his house there for some days, being very curious to see this part of the world, and particularly the ruins of Carthage. I set out in his chaise at nine at night, the moon being at full. I saw the prospect of the country almost as well as I could have done by day light, and the heat of the sun is now so intolerable, 'tis impossible to travel at any other time. The soil is, for the most part, sandy, but every where
Indian fig,
which is an admirable fence, no wild beast being able to pass it. It grows a great height, very thick, and the spikes or thorns are as long and sharp as bodkins; it bears a fruit much eaten by the peasants, and which has no ill taste.
It being now the season of the Turkish
Ramadan,
or Lent, and all here professing, at least, the Mahometan religion, they fast till the going down of the sun and spend the night in feasting. We saw under the trees, companies of the country people, eating, singing and dancing to their wild musick. They are not quite black, but all mulattoes, and the most frightful creatures that can appear in a human figure. They are almost naked, only wearing a piece of coarse serge wrapped about them.—But the women have their arms to their very shoulders and their necks and faces adorn'd with flowers, stars, and various sorts of figures impress'd by gun-powder, a considerable addition to their natural deformity, which is, however, esteemed very ornamental amongst them; and I believe they suffer a good deal of pain by it.
About six miles from Tunis we saw the remains of that noble aqueduct, which carried the water to Carthage, over several high mountains, the length of forty miles. There are still many arches entire. We spent two hours viewing it with great attention, and Mr. W—y assured me, that of Rome is very much inferior to it. The stones are of a prodigious size, and yet all polish'd and so exactly fitted to each other, very little cement has been made use of to join them. Yet they may probably stand a thousand years
Sinan Bassa,
in the reign of SELIM II. From that time till now, it has remained tributary to the Grand Signior, governed by a Bey, who suffers the name of subject to the Turk, but has renounced the subjection, being absolute and very seldom paying any tribute. The great city of Bagdat is, at this time, in the same circumstances; and the Grand Signior connives at the loss of these dominions for fear of losing even the titles of them.
Carthage.
—I was however half broiled in the sun, and overjoyed to be led into one of the subterranean apartments, which they called the
stables of the Elephants,
but which I cannot believe were ever design'd for that use. I found in many of them broken pieces of columns of fine marble, and some of porphyry. I cannot think any body would take the insignificant pains of carrying them thither, and I cannot imagine such fine pillars were design'd for the use of stables. I am apt to believe they were summer apartments under their palaces, which the heat of the climate render'd necessary. They are now used as granaries by the country people. While I sat here, from the town of
Tents
not far off many of the women flocked in to see me, and we were equally entertain'd with viewing one another. Their posture in sitting, the colour of their skin, their lank black hair falling on each side their faces, their features and the shape of their limbs, differ so little from their country-people the baboons, 'tis hard to fancy them a distinct race; I could not help thinking there had been some ancient alliances between them.
When I was a little refresh'd by rest, and some milk and exquisite fruit they brought me, I went up the little hill where once stood the castle of
Byrsa,
and from thence I had a distinct view of the situation of the famous city of
Carthage,
which stood on an isthmus, the sea coming on each side of it. 'Tis now a marshy ground on one side, where there are saltponds. STRABO calls Carthage forty miles in circumference. There are now no remains of it, but what I have describ'd; and the history of it is too well known to want any abridgment of it. You see,
I BEG your pardon, my dear sister, that I did not write to you from
Tunis,
the only opportunity I have had, since I left Constantinople. But the heat there was so excessive, and the light so bad for the sight, I was half blind by writing one letter to the Abbot—, and durst not go to write many others, I had design'd; nor indeed could I have entertained you very well out of that barbarous country. I am now surrounded with subjects of pleasure, and so much charmed with the beauties of Italy, that I should think it a kind of ingratitude not to offer a little praise in return for the diversion I have had here.—I am in the house of Mrs.
D'Avenant
at St.
Pierre d' Arena,
and should be very unjust not to allow her a share of that praise I speak of, since her good humour and good company have very much contributed to render this place agreeable to me.
Genoa
is situated in a very fine bay, and being built on a rising hill intermixed with gardens, and beautified with the most excellent architecture, gives a very fine prospect off at sea; though it lost much of its beauty in my eyes, having been accustomed to that of Constantinople. The Genoese were once masters of several islands in the
Archipelago,
and all that part of Constantinople which is now called Galata. Their betraying the Christian cause, by facilitating the taking of Constantinople by the Turk, deserv'd what has since happened to them, even the loss of all their conquests on that side, to those Infidels. They are at present far from rich, and are despised by the French since their Doge was forced by the late King to go in person to Paris, to ask pardon for such a trifle as the arms of France over the house of the Envoy, being spatter'd with dung in the night. This, I suppose, was done by some of the Spanish faction, which still makes up the majority here, though they dare not openly declare it. The ladies affect the French habit, and are more genteel than those they imitate. I do not doubt but the custom of
Cizisbeis
has very much improved their airs. I know not whether you ever heard of those animals. Upon my word, nothing but my own eyes could have convinced me there were any such upon earth. The fashion begun here, and is now received all over Italy, where the husbands are not such terrible creatures as we represent them. There are none among them such brutes, as to pretend to find fault with a custom so well established,
and so politically founded, since I am assured that it was an expedient, first found out by the Senate, to put an end to those family hatreds, which tore their state to pieces, and to find employment for those young men, who were forced to cut one another's
pour passer le temps;
and it has succeeded so well, that since the introduction of
Cizisbey,
there has been nothing but peace and good humour amongst them. These are gentlemen who devote themselves to the service of a particular lady (I mean a married one, for the Virgins are all invisible, and confined to Convents:) They are obliged to wait on her to all publick places, such as the plays, opera's and assemblies, (which are called here
Conversations) where they wait behind her chair, take care of her fan and gloves, if she plays, have the privilege of whispers. &cc.—When she goes out, they serve her instead of a
lacquies gravely trotting by her chair. 'Tis their business to prepare for her at present against any day of public appearance, not forgetting that of her own name
Cizisbei
of their own choosing; but when the lady happens not to be of the same taste, as that often happens, she never fails to bring it about to have one of her own fancy. In former times, one beauty used to have eight or ten of these humble admirers; but those days of plenty and humility are no more. Men grow more scarce and saucy, and every lady is forced to content herself with one at a time.
You may see in this place the
glorious liberty
of a Republick, or, more properly, an Aristocracy, the common people being here as arrant slaves as the
Andrea Doria
(that great man who restor'd them that liberty they enjoy) have some particular privileges. When the Senate found it necessary to put a stop to the luxury of dress, forbidding the wearing of jewels and brocades, they left them at liberty to make what expence they pleased. I look with great pleasure on the statue of that hero, which is in the court belonging to the house of duke
Doria.
This puts me in mind of their palaces, which I can never describe as I ought.—Is it not enough that I say, they are most of them, the design of PALLADIO? The street call'd
Strada Novo,
is perhaps the most beautiful line of buildings in the world. I must particularly mention the vast palaces of
Durazzo,
those of the two
Balbi,
joined together by a magnificent colonade, that of the
Imperiale
at this village of St.
Pierred' Arena,
and another of the Doria. The perfection of architecture, and the utmost profusion of rich furniture are to be seen here, disposed with the most elegant taste, and lavish magnificence. But I am charmed with nothing so much as the collection of pictures by the pencils of
Raphael, Paulo Veronese, Titian, Caracci, Michael Angelo, Guido
and
Correggio,
which two I mention last as my particular favourites. I own, I can find no pleasure in objects of horror; and, in my opinion, the more naturally a crucifix is represented, the more disagreeable it is. These my beloved painters shew nature, and shew it in the most charming light. I was particularly pleased with a
Lucretia
in the house of
Balbi;
the expressive beauty of that face and bosom; gives all the passion of pity and
Cleopatra,
of the same hand, deserves to be mentioned; and I should say more of her, if Lucretia had not first engaged my eyes.—Here are also some inestimable ancient busto's—The Church of St.
Lawrence
is built of black and white marble, where is kept that famous plate of a single emerald, which is not now permitted to be handled, since a plot, which, they say, was discover'd to throw it on the pavement and break it; a childish piece of malice, which they ascribe to the King of Sicily, to be revenged for their refusing to fell it to him. The church of the
Annunciation
is finely lined with marble; the pillars are of red and white marble: that of St.
Ambrose
has been very much adorn'd by the Jesuits; but I confess all the churches appeared so mean to me, after that of
Sancta Sophia,
I can hardly do them the honour of writing down their names. But I hope you will own, I have made good use of my time, in seeing so much, since 'tis not many days that we have been out of the quarantine, from which no body is exempted, coming from the Levant. Ours, indeed, was very much shortened, and very agreeably pass'd in Mrs.
D' Avenant's
company, in the village of St.
Pierre Lárene,
about a mile from Genoa, in a house built by Palladio, so well designed, and so nobly proportioned, 'twas a pleasure to walk in it. We were visited here only by a few English, in the company of a noble Genoese, commissioned to see we did not touch one another.—I shall stay here some days longer, and could almost wish it were for all my life; but mine, I fear, is not destin'd to so much tranquility.
I CAME in two days, from Genoa, through fine roads to this place. I have already seen what is shew'd to strangers in the town, which indeed is not worth a very particular description; and I have not respect enough for the holy handkerchief, to speak long of it. The churches are handsome, and so is the King's palace; but I have lately seen such perfection of architecture, I did not give much of my attention to these pieces. The town itself is fairly built, situated in a fine plain on the banks of the
Po.
At a little distance from it, we saw the palaces of
La Venerie,
and
La Valentin,
both very agreeable retreats.—We were lodg'd in the
Piazza Royale,
which is one of the noblest squares I ever saw, with a fine portico of white stone quite round it. We were immediately visited by the
Chevalier
—, whom you knew in England, who with great civility, begg'd to introduce us at court, which is now kept at
Rivoli,
about a league from Turin. I went thither yesterday, and had the honour of waiting on the Queen, being presented to her by her first lady of honour. I found her Majesty in a magnificent apartment, with a train of handsome ladies all dress'd in gowns, amongst which it was easy to distinguish the fair Princess of Carignan. The Queen entertain'd me with a world of sweetness and affability, and seemed mistress of a great share of good sense. She did not forget to put me in mind of her English blood; and added, that
I REGEIVED, at my arrival here, both your obliging letters, and also letters from many of my other friends, design'd to Constantinople, and sent me from Marseilles hither; our merchant there, knowing we were upon our return. I am surprised to hear my sister—has left England. I suppose
Novalesse,
is through a very fine country, beautifully planted and enrich'd by art and nature. The next day we began to ascend mount
Cenis,
being carried in little seats of twisted offers, fixed upon poles, upon mens shoulders; our chaises taken to pieces and laid upon mules.
The prodigious prospect of mountains covered with eternal snow, of clouds hanging far below our feet, and of vast cascades tumbling down the rocks with a confused roaring, would have been entertaining to me, if I had suffer'd less from the extreme cold that reigns here. But the misty rain which fall perpetually, penetrated even the thick fur I was wrapped in; and I was half dead with cold before we got to the foot of the mountain, which was not till two hours after dark. This hill has a spacious plain on the top of it, and a fine lake there; but the descent is so steep and slippery, 'tis surprising to see these chairmen go so steadily as they do. Yet I was not half so much afraid of breaking my neck, as I was of falling sick, and the event has shew'd, that I plac'd my fears right.
The other mountains are now all passable for a chaise, and very fruitful in vines and pastures. Amongst them is a breed of the finest goats in the
Acquebellet
is the last, and soon after we entered
Pont Beauvoisin,
the frontier town of France, whose bridge parts this kingdom and the dominions of Savoy. The same night we arrived late at this town, where I have had nothing to do but to take care of my health. I think myself already out of any danger, and am determin'd, that the sore throat, which still remains, shall not confine me long. I am impatient to see the curiosities of this famous city, and more impatient to continue my journey to Paris, from whence I hope to write to you a more diverting letter than 'tis possible for me to do now, with a mind weaken'd by sickness, a head muddled with spleen, from a sorry inn, and a chamber cramm'd with mortifying objects of apothecaries viols and bottles.
I RECEIVED yours here, and should thank you for the pleasure you seem to enjoy from my return; but I can hardly forbear being angry at you, for rejoicing at what displeases me so much. You will think this but an odd compliment on my side. I'll assure you, 'tis not from insensibility of the joy of seeing my friends; but when I consider that I must, at the same time, see and hear a thousand disagreeable impertinents; that I must receive and pay
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I was also shewed, without the gate of St.
Justinus,
some remains of a Roman aquaeduct; and behind the monastery of St.
Mary,
there are the ruins of the Imperial palace, where the Emperor CLAUDIUS was born, and where SEVERUS lived. The great cathedral of St.
John
is a good Gothick building, and its clock much admired by the Germans. In one of
ignorance, ill taste, and vanity,
his sculptors could have made no other figures so proper for that purpose, as this statue, which represents the odd mixture of an old
beau,
who had a mind to be a
hero,
with a bushel of curl'd hair on his head, and a gilt trunchion in his hand.—The French have been so voluminous on the history of this town, I need say nothing of it. The houses are tolerably well built, and the
Belle cour
well planted, from whence is seen the celebrated joining of the Soane and Rhone.
I have had time to see every thing with great leisure, having been confined several days to this town by a swelling in my throat, the remains of a fever, occasioned by a cold I got in the damps of the Alps. The doctors here threaten me with all sorts of distempers, if I dare to leave them; but I, that know the obstinacy of it, think it just as possible to continue my way, to Paris, with it, as to go about the streets of Lyons, and am determin'd to pursue my journey to-morrow, in spite of doctors, apothecaries and sore throats.
When you see Lady R—, tell her I have received her letter, and will answer it from Paris, believing that the place that she would most willingly hear of.
I CANNOT give my dear Lady R—, a better proof of the pleasure I have in writing to her, than choosing to do it in this seat of various amusements, where I am,
accableed
with visits, and those so full of vivacity and compliments, that 'tis full employment enough to hearken,. whether on answers or not. The French Ambassadress at Constantinople, has a very considerable and numerous family here, who all come to see me, and are never weary of making enquiries. The air of Paris has already had a good effect on me; for I was never in better health, though I have been extreme ill, all the road from Lyons to this place. You may judge how agreeable the journey has been to me; which did not want the addition to make me dislike it. I think nothing so terrible as objects of misery, except one had the God like attribute of being capable to redress them; and all the country villages of France shew nothing else. While the post-horses are changed, the whole town comes out to beg, with such miserable starv'd faces, and thin tattered clothes, they need no other eloquence to persuade one of the wretchedness of their condition. This is all the French magnificence till you come to
Fontaine-bleau,
when you are shewed one thousand five hundred rooms in the King's hunting palace. The apartments of the royal family are very large, and richly gilt; but I saw nothing in the architecture or painting worth
The fair of St.
Lawrence
is now in season. You may be sure I have been carried thither, and think it much better dispos'd than ours of Bartholomew. The shops being all set in rows so regularly, and well lighted, they made up a very agreeable spectacle. But I was not at all satisfied with the
Grossierte
of their Harlequin, no more than with their music at the opera, which was abominably grating, after being used to that of Italy. Their house is a booth compared to that of the Hay-Market, and the playhouse not so neat as that of Lincoln's-Inn-fields; but then, it must be own'd, to their praise, their tragedians are much beyond any of ours. I should hardly allow Mrs. O—d a better place than to be confidante to La—. I have seen the Tragedy of BAJAZET so well represented, that I think our best actors can only be said to speak, but these to feel; and 'tis certainly infinitely more moving to see a man appear unhappy than to hear him say that he is so, with a joyful face and a stupid smirk in his countenance.—
A propos
of countenances, I must tell you something of the French ladies; I have seen all
P. S. I have met the Abbe here, who desires me to make his compliments to you.
YOU see I'm just to my word in writing to you from Paris, where I was very much surprised to meet my sister. I need not add, very much pleased. She as little expected to see me as I her (having not receiv'd my late letters) and this meeting would shine under the hand of
de Scuderie,
but I shall not imitate his style so far, as to tell you how often we embrac'd, how she enquir'd by what odd chance I return'd from Constantinople? And I answer'd her by asking, what adventure brought her to Paris? To shorten the story, all questions and answers, and exclamations and compliments being over, we agreed upon running about together, and have seen
Versailles, Trianon, Marli
and
St. Cloud,
We had an order for the water to play for our diversion, and I was followed thither by all the English at Paris. I own Versailles appeared to me rather vast than beautiful; and, after having seen the exact proportions of the Italian buildings, I thought the irregularity of it shocking.
The King's cabinet of antiquities and medals, is, indeed, very richly furnished. Amongst that collection, none pleased so well as the
Apotheosis
of
Germanicus,
on a large agate, which is one of the most delicate pieces of the kind, that I remember to have seen. I observ'd some ancient statues of great value. But the nauseous flattery and tawdry pencil of LEBURN, are equally disgusting in the gallery. I will not pretend to describe to you the great apartment,
Trianon,
in its littleness, pleased me better than Versailles;
Marli,
better than either of them, and
St. Cloud
best of all, having the advantage of the Seine running at the bottom of the gardens, the great cascade, &cc. You may find information in the aforesaid books, if you have any curiosity to know the exact number of the statues, and how many foot they cast upon the water.
We saw the King's picture in the magnificent house of the Duke D'Antin, who has the care of preserving them till his Majesty is of age. There are not many, but of the best hands. I looked with great pleasure on the
Arch-Angel
of RAPHAEL, where the sentiments of superior beings are as well expressed as in Milton. You won't forgive me, if I say nothing of the
Thuilleries,
much finer than our Mall; and the
Cour,
more agreeable than our
Hide-Park,
the high trees giving shade in the hottest season. At the
Louvre,
I had the opportunity of seeing the King accompanied by the Duke Regent. He is tall and well shap'd, but has not the air of holding the crown so many years as his grandfather. And now I am speaking of the court, I must say I saw nothing in France, that delighted me so much as to see an Englishman (at least a Briton) absolute at Paris; I mean Mr. LAW, who treats their Dukes and Peers extremely
"de haut en bas,"
and is treated by them with the utmost submission and respect.—Poor souls!—This reflection on their abject slavery, puts me in mind of the
place des victoires;
but I will not take up your time and my own with such descriptions, which are too numerous.
I AM willing to take your word for it that I shall really oblige you, by letting you know, as soon as possible, my safe passage over the water. I arrived this morning at Dover after being tossed a whole night in the packet boat in so violent a manner, that the master considering the weakness of his vessel, thought it proper to remove the mail, and gave us notice of the danger. We call'd a little fishing boat, which could hardly make up to us; while all the people on board us were crying to heaven. 'Tis hard
to imagine one's self in a scene of greater horror than on such an occasion, and yet shall I own it to you? tho' I was not at all willing
Dear Madam, will you take care of this point? if it should be lost!—Ah Lord we shall all be lost! Lord have mercy on my soul!—Pray Madam, take care of this headdress.
This easy transition from her soul to her head-dress, and the alternate agonies that both gave her, made it hard to determine which she thought of greatest value. But however, the scene was not so diverting but I was glad to get rid of it, and be thrown into the little boat, tho' with some hazard of breaking my neck. It brought me safe hither, and I cannot help looking with partial eyes on my native land. That partiality was certainly given us by nature, to prevent rambling, the effect of an ambitious thirst after knowledge, which we are not formed to enjoy. All we get by it is a fruitless desire of mixing the different pleasures and conveniences which are given to the different parts of the world, and cannot meet in any one of them. After having read all that is to be found in the languages I am mistress of, and having decayed my sight by midnight studies, I envy the easy peace of mind of a ruddy milk-maid, who undisturb'd by doubt, hears the sermon, with humility, every Sunday, not having confounded the sentiments of natural duty in her head
Beca figuas
of Italy are not so well tasted as a rump of beef, and that in short there is no perfect enjoyment of this life out of Old England. I pray God I may think so for the rest of my life; and since I must be contented with out scanty allowance of day-light, that I may forget the enlivening sun of Constantinople.
I HAVE this minute received a letter of yours sent me from Paris. I believe and hope I shall very soon see both you and Mr.
Congreve;
but as I am here in an inn, where we stay to regulate our march to London, bag and baggage, I shall employ some of my leisure time in answering that part of yours that seems to require an answer.
I must applaud your good nature in supposing that your pastoral lovers, (vulgarly called Haymakers) would have lived in everlasting joy and harmony, if the lightning had not interrupted their scheme of
John Hughes
and
Sarah Drew
were either wiser or more virtuous than their neighbours. That a well-set man of twenty-five should have a fancy to marry a brown woman of eighteen, is nothing marvellous; and I cannot help thinking that had they married, their lives would have passed in the common track with their fellow-parishioners. His endeavouring to shield her from a storm was a natural action, and what he would certainly have done for his horse, if he had been in the same situation. Neither am I of opinion that their sudden death was a reward of their mutual virtue. You know the Jews were reprov'd for thinking a village destroyed by fire, more wicked than those that had escaped the thunder. Time and chance happen to all men. Since you desire me to try my skill in an
epitaph,
I think the following lines perhaps more just, tho' not so poetical as yours.
Here lies John Hughes and Sarah Drew;
Perhaps you'll say, What's that to you?
Believe me, friend, much may be said
On that poor couple that are dead.
On Sunday next they should have married!
But see how oddly things are carried!
On Thursday last it rain'd and lighten'd,
These tender lovers sadly frighten'd,
Shelter'd beneath the cocking hay
In hopes to pass the time away.
But the
BOLD THUNDER
found them out
(Commission'd for that end no doubt)
And seizing on their trembling breath,
Consign'd them to the shades of death.
Who knows if 'twas not kindly done?
For had they seen the next year's sun,
A beaten wife and cuckold swain
Had jointly curs'd the marriage chain;
Now they are happy in their doom,
living,
humble servant, than be
celebrated
by all the pens in Europe.
I would write to Mr. C—; but suppose you will read this to him if he enquires after me.
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Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section.
ON
VARIOUS SUBJECTS,
RELIGIOUS AND MORAL.
PHILLIS WHEATLEY,
LONDON:
Messrs. COX and BERRY, King-Street,
BOSTON.
COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON,
THE FOLLOWING
POEMS
Are most respectfully
Inscribed,
By her much
obliged,
Very humble,
And devoted Servant,
1773.
THE following POEMS were written originally for the Amusement of the Author, as they were the Products of her leisure Moments. She had no Intention ever to have published them; nor would they now have made their Appearance, but at the Importunity of many of her best, and most generous Friends; to whom she considers herself, as under the greatest Obligations.
As her Attempts in Poetry are now sent into the World, it is hoped the Critic will
not severely censure their Defects; and we presume they have too much Merit
As to the Disadvantages she has laboured under, with Regard to Learning, nothing needs to be offered, as her Master's Letter in the following Page will sufficiently shew the Difficulties in the Respect she had to encounter.
With all their Imperfections, the Poems are now humbly submitted to the Perusal of the Public.
PHILLIS was brought from Africa to America, in the Year 1761, between Seven and Eight Years of Age. Without any Assistance from School Education, and by only what she was taught in the Family, she, in sixteen Months Time from her Arrival, attained the English Language, to which she was an utter Stranger before, the such a Degree, as to read any, the most difficult Parts of the Sacred Writings, to the great Astonishment of all who heard her.
As to her WRITING, her own Curiosity led her to it; and this she learnt in so short
a Time, that in the Year 1765, she wrote a
Letter to the
She has a great Inclination to learn the Latin Tongue, and has made some Progress in it. This Relation is given by her Master who bought her, and with whom she now lives.
AS it has been repeatedly suggested to the Publisher, by Persons, who have seen the Manuscript, that Numbers would be ready to suspect they were not really the Writings of PHILLIS, he has procured the following Attestation, from the most respectable Characters in Boston, that none might have the least Ground for disputing their Original.
WE whose Names are under-written, do assure the World, that the POEMS specified in
the following Page, *
-
His ExcellencyTHOMAS HUTCHINSON ,Governor, -
The Hon.ANDREW OLIVE R,Lieutenant-Governor.
-
The Hon.Thomas Hubbard, -
The Hon.John Erving, -
The Hon.James Pitts, -
The Hon.Harrison Gray, -
The Hon.James Bowdoin , - John Hancock,
Esq; - Joseph Green,
Esq; - Richard Carey,
Esq; -
The Rev.Charles Cheuney,D.D. -
The Rev.Mather Byles,D.D. -
The Rev.Ed. Pemberton,D.D. -
The Rev.Andrew Elliot,D.D. -
The Rev.Samuel Cooper,D.D. -
The Rev. Mr.Samuel Mather, -
The Rev. Mr.John Moorhead, -
Mr.John Wheatley,her Master.
N. B. The original Attestation, signed by the above Gentlemen, may be seen by applying to Archibald Bell, Bookseller, No. 8, Aldgate-Street.
Africa,...and now is, under the Disadvantage of serving as a Slave in a Family in [Boston]." Note Bales' name.
Homer
The Oddysseyand
The Illiad.
Patrocluscourts
Achilles'aid
The Illiad, which tells the story of the Trojan War and, specifically, Achilles' wrath. Achilles and Patroclus are lovers and friends; angered by Agammemnon, Achilles refuses to fight, but allows Patroclus to wear his armor and lead the Myrmidons against the Trojans. When Patroclus is killed by Hector, Achilles is grief-stricken and, enraged, he returns to battle to destroy the Trojans. The image included here, Gavin Hamilton's
Achilles Lamenting the Death of Patroclus(1760-1763), is housed in National Galleries, Scotland.
Pelides
Maro'sstrain
The Aeneid.
Nineinspire
Virgil's page,
Museswith the
MantuanSage
Museshome;
Helicon
Terence
Encylopedia Britannicanotes, Terence was enslaved and later freed by a Roman senator. Wheatley suggests a connection between herself and Terence, both of African origin; yet, Terence is "happier"--both in his poetic skill, and perhaps also in having been freed.
Africanby birth. [Wheatley's note.]
Muses, why this partial grace,
Afric's sable race;
Maecenas!shall be sung
Thames
Naiads
Pan and Syrinxis housed in the Getty Museum.
Phoebus
Aurora
Parnassus
Maecenas, thy paternal rays,
Virtueis near thee, and with gentle hand
Chastityalong;
Virtue, thro' my youthful years!
Greatness, or
Goodness, say what I shall call thee,
Wheatley works from the premise, commonly used among early women writers and the enslaved who were restricted from intellectual pursuits like writing, that her desire to write is "intrinsic" (1) or God-given, and therefore appropriate. The word "ardor" also connotes physical desire and flame-like passion, according to the OED (n.3).
According to
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and
Mythology
, the Muses are “inspiring goddesses of song" who
“presid[e] over the different kinds of poetry, and over the arts and
sciences." The “invocation of the muse” to aid the poet's work is often used
by neoclassical authors like those whom Wheatley has clearly read and was
influenced by, including Milton and Pope.
However, Hilene Flanzbaum suggests that Wheatley’s notably frequent
invocation of the muse is more significant than formulaic or imitative--it
is “the very means by which she usurps power for herself and claims a berth
for her own thoughts, emotions and desires. And while some may claim that
these functions accompany any appearance of the muse, when the muses bestow
their power on a black female slave, they transport Wheatley to a domain
surprisingly free of restriction and previously forbidden” (“Unprecedented Liberties”
75).
Egyptiangloom:
Wheatley here alludes to Exodus 10:21-22, wherein the ninth plague of darkness is visited upon Egypt. This reference is also in line with contemporary Orientalist notions about Egypt and Egyptian religiosity, which was believed to be full of occult practices. Early nineteenth-century British historian and scholar Thomas Maurice explores these ideas of idolatry and superstition in Observations on the Remains of Ancient Egyptian Grandeur and Superstition. A detailed focus on the Egyptian religious practices can be found in the chapter "Strictures on the superstitious rites of the Egyptians, particularly on the Nefarious Worship paid to Beasts, Esteemed Sacred, and called in Scripture the Abominations of Egypt" (74-83).
The sixteenth- and seventeenth-century
development of the microscope and the telescope had made great scientific
advancements possible, especially in astronomy; in the painting by Joseph
Wright here, you can see an eighteenth-century orrery--a scientific
clockwork instrument used to dramatize the motion of the planets in the
solar system (via Wikimedia Commons). Possibly an allusion to Alexander
Pope's 1733-34
Essay on Man (I.23-28), Wheatley here may
also be referencing contemporary scientific thought about the plurality of worlds.
Jesus' blood for your redemption flows.
According to the
Oxford English Dictionary deign means "to think it worthy of oneself" or "to think fit"
(n.1a). Today, it typically has a negative connotation, though it does not
here.
Ethiop
According
to the OED, the word Ethiop would
have been used during Wheatley's time most often to refer to "[a] black or
dark-skinned person; a black African," and only occasionally to the country
of Ethiopia, specifically (n.A). Included here, via the Norwich Collection at Stanford University, is a 1666 map
of Africa and the surrounding oceans, embellished with a variety of images.
In theological discussion, the word perdition means "the state of final spiritual ruin or damnation; the consignment of the unredeemed or wicked and impenitent soul to hell; the fate of those in hell; eternal death" (OED, "perdition" n.2a). In more general terms, it suggests ruin or degradation (n.1a).
Britishking reward!
George, belov'd by all the nations round,
The title of one Wheatley's most (in)famous poems, "On being brought from
AFRICA to AMERICA" alludes to the experiences of many Africans who became
subject to the transatlantic slave trade. Wheatley uses biblical references and
direct address to appeal to a Christian audience, while also defending the
ability of her "sable race" to become "refin'd" through Christian theology.
Henry Louis Gates, who in
Figures in Black: Words, Signs, and the "Racial" Self
(1989)
situates Wheatley as an important voice in the eighteenth-century debate about
natural human rights, summarizes the "recurrent suggestion that Wheatley has
remained aloof from matters that were in any sense racial, or more correctly,
'positively' racial," as a "misreading" (74-75). Notable for the complexity of
its brief discussion of blackness in the Christian slaveholding American
republic, this poem in particular is frequently criticized for its apparent
rejection of Africa and African-ness. However, Wheatley was working within a
non-free context, and her critique of slavery is mediated by Christianity
acquired as part of her enslavement. For a fuller exploration of Wheatley’s
poem, see
Authority and Female Authorship in Colonial America,
by William Scheick (especially chapter 4). The image included here,
via the
British Library, shows a diagram of the Brookes' slave ship
(c.1801).
Paganland,
Saviourtoo:
Wheatley's description
of those who "view our sable race with scornful eye" (5) is a clear
rejection of what Lena Hill
describes as "ignorant" interpretations of "visual blackness"
(37-38), as is her attribution of speech in direct discourse:
"'Their color is a diabolic die'" (6). Henry Louis Gates argues that
Wheatley's very presence as an author complicated assumptions of "natural"
inferiority. For more about this topic, see Gates'
Figures in
Black
and Walt Nott's discussion of Wheatley's public
persona in "From
'Uncultivated Barbarian' to 'Poetical Genius': The Public Presence of
Phillis Wheatley."
Christians,
Negros, black as
Cain,
The phrase "black as Cain" is a distortion of the
biblical idea of the mark of Cain (Genesis
4:15) and was used as justification for the enslavement of people
of color. Many scholars point out that this was Wheatley's "most maligned
poem," (Hill
37) which is ultimately about the inclusion of Africans in the
"Christian family" and her critique of "ignorant" interpretations of "visual
blackness" (37-38). For an interesting contemporary read of the mark of Cain
in anti-abolitionist discourse, see Josiah Priest's
Slavery as it Relates to the Negro (1843), where he
rejects the possibility that dark-skinned peoples could be related to Adam
by blood (134-136). For a larger reading of Wheatley's use of blackness and
the role of blackness in the early American imagination, see Lena Hill's
chapter "Witnessing Moral Authority in Pre-Abolition Literature," from
Visualizing
Blackness and the Creation of the African American Literary
Tradition
(2014)
Sewellnumber'd with the happy dead.
Christ'simage is imprest,
Saviour's sake!
Sewellis dead." Swift-pinion'd
Famethus cry'd.
Sewelldead," my trembling tongue reply'd,
Jesus' blood,
Christ, the bread descending from above,
George Whitefield (1714-1770; pronounced "wit-field") was one of the most
famous people of the eighteenth-century Anglophone world. As a student at
Oxford in the early 1730s, he got to know John and Charles Wesley, the founders
of the Methodist movement in the church of England. Whitefield joined them in
attempting to "methodize" the faith, returning it to the simple principles of
the early church. But more than the Wesley brothers, Whitefield made this
reformist movement into a public ministry. A famously charismatic public
speaker, Whitefield preached to crowds numbering in the thousands in England
and the American colonies, becoming a central figure in what was known as the
"Great Awakening," a revival of evangelical Protestantism that was influential
on both sides of the Atlantic. Benjamin Franklin and Olaudah Equiano were each
impressed (though in very different ways) when they saw Whitefield preach in
Philadelphia and Savannah, respectively. Whitefield made several visits to the
Boston area, and it seems likely that the Wheatleys saw him preach there.
Phillis might very well have joined them, but we cannot be sure. Whitefield
died unexpectedly in Newburyport, Massachusetts on September 30, 1770, a few
days after he left Boston on what turned out to be his last tour of the
colonies.
Phillis Wheatley's elegy for Whitefield changed her life, transforming her from a young enslaved woman with a small readership among friends of the Wheatley family to an author with an international readership. The poem was published as a broadside on October 11, 1770, and was an immediate success. It was reprinted several times in colonial cities, as well as London, and also appeared in several newspapers. The poem brought Wheatley to the attention of Selina, the Countess of Huntingdon, who is addressed in the poem itself. A fervent Methodist herself, the Countess was Whitefield's patron, supporting him on his evangelical missions. The Countess became Wheatley's patron as well, sponsoring the publication of her only volume of poems, published in London in 1773. The image included here shows a portrait of Whitefield by John Russel, from the National Portrait Gallery, UK.
Whitefieldwings with rapid course his way,
Zionthrough vast seas of day.
Americaexcel;
Americans, he said,
Africans, he longs for you,
Impartial Saviouris his title due:
Countess, we
Americansrevere
New Englanddeeply feels, the
Orphansmourn,
Whitefieldno more exerts his lab'ring breath,
Oxford English Dictionary; auditory: "An assembly of hearers, an audience."
Oxford English Dictionary, hence the meaning here is something like "usual audience."
Huntingdon, to whom Mr.
Whitefieldwas Chaplain. [Wheatley's note].
Nancyfair,
Enoughthou never yet wast known to say,
Leonardlaid,
Leonardmounts, and leaves the earth behind.
Israelrang'd, and there the foes array'd;
Philistinefoes,
Gathhe sprung,
Goliathwas his name,
Phoebusblaz'd refulgent on his shield:
Jacob'srace a chilling horror ran,
Philistia'seyes:
Israelstood amaz'd,
Jesse'sson in youthful bloom appears,
Israel'smonarch, and his troops arise,
Elah'svale the scene of combat lies.
David'ssire enjoin'd the son obey'd,
Israelfrom its post withdrew.
Israelfor his house shall gain;
Jesse'syoungest hope: "My brethren say,
Jacob, who destroys the chief,
Eliabheard, and kindled into ire
Eliabthus to
Jesse'syoungest heir,
Philistinefail no heart of man:
Davidthus: "I kept the fleecy care,
Goliathfall, and all his crew:
Davidspoke. The wond'ring king reply'd;
Philistia'sson
Goliathsay, shall grace to him be shown,
Jehovah'sawful hand
Davidcomes: the fatal stones demand
Davidundaunted thus, "Thy spear and shield
Jehovah'sname -- no other arms I bear,
Davidspoke;
Goliathheard and came
Davidmeets thee, meets thee not in vain;
Philistiatrembled as it whizz'd along:
Goliath'sfall no smaller terror yields
Davido'er the giant strode:
Goliath'ssword then laid its master dead,
Philistinesfled:
Saulthy thousands grasp'd th' impurpled sand
Davidthere were thy ten thousands laid:
Israel'sdamsels musically play'd.
Gathand
Ekronmany an hero lay,
Davidwith
Goliath'shead returns,
Salembrought, but in his tent he plac'd
Ner.
Philistiafled."
Goliath's head depending from his hand:
JesseI:
Solshould reign
Phoebusin unbounded space;
Pow'r, what
Wisdom, and what
Goodnesshine?
Wisdom, which attends
Jehovah'sways,
Wisdomrules them, and his
Pow'rdefends.
Nightin silence draws,
Almighty Cause;
Phoebus, as the day before,
Chaosheard, and trembled at the sound:
Fancy'squeen in giddy triumph reigns.
reasonthen restores,
Reason(so let
Fancyrove)
Love.
Recollection'sshrine,
Reasonlet this most causeless strife subside."
Lovepronounc'd, and
Reasonthus reply'd.
Lovewhere'er we turn our eyes
Nature'sconstant voice,
Phoebus, and dissolve the sky;
Olympus, and these starry skies.
Auroranow demands my song.
Aurorahail, and all the thousands dies,
Calliopeawake the sacred lyre,
Aurorarise.
Idumea'sroad?
Bozrah'sdies, with martial glories join'd,
Pow'rof war?
Zionthough her foes may rage,
Africin her great design.
Mneme, immortal pow'r, I trace thy spring:
fancy'ssight.
Mnemein our nocturnal visions pours
Phoebe'srealms, fair regent of the night;
phantompaints the actions done
Mneme, enthron'd within the human breast,
Maro'sentertaining strains
Mnemedreaded by the race,
Virtue, smiling in immortal green,
Recollectionsuch the pow'r enthron'd
Helicon'srefulgent heights attend,
Fancyflies,
Imagination!who can sing thy force?
Winterfrowns to
Fancy'sraptur'd eyes
Floramay resume her fragrant reign,
Sylvanusmay diffuse his honours round,
Fancymight now her silken pinions try
Tithon'sbed now might
Aurorarise,
Fancydresses to delight the
Muse;
Winteraustere forbids me to aspire,
Fancy'sflowing sea,
Charles, the happy subject of my song,
Phantomto our breast,
Phantomflies, and leaves the soul unblest."
valourkindles, and where
virtuelies:
Britanniaglories in no son like you.
Freedomrose
New-Englandto adorn:
Dartmouth, congratulates thy blissful sway:
Freedom'scharms unfold.
factiondies:
Goddesslong desir'd,
America, in mournful strain
Tyrannywith lawless hand
Freedomsprung,
Afric'sfancy'd happy seat:
Fame,
AE'lus'thunders round us roar,
Susannahskims the wat'ry way.
Pow'rpropitious hears the lay,
Thamesresponsive joins the song.
Solsheds benign his ray,
Britannia'sarms
Neptunekeep, record my pray'r,
Boston, October10, 1772.
Jamaica'sfervid shore she moves,
Goddesswith her hand
Neptune'swat'ry realm reclin'd
Americaexplore,
Northernmilder climes I long to greet,
Philadelphianport assign'd,
Bostonia'sarms,
Jamaica'srocks resound,
North-Carolina.
Boreaswith impetuous hand
Nereidsto usurp the land.
AEolusin his rapid chariot drove
Maria, a kind
Nereid'sshield
Nereid," 'twas thy God's command.
Avis, aged one Year.
Death'sdomain intent I fix my eyes,
Madam, let your grief be laid aside,
Deathreigns tyrant o'er this mortal shore.
Avisgive without a murm'ring heart,
Olympus'height look down, and see
Towninvolv'd in grief bereft of thee.
Lucysees thee mingle with the dead,
Tyler'ssoul returns,
Bostonfor her dear physician mourns.
Marshall'shealing hand,
AEsculapiusstay
Apollofrom his house of earth,
Great-Britainfor the Recovery of his Health.
Elysianscenes,
Britishshore,
Atlantic, not untry'd before:
Death, thy messenger dispatch'd his dart?
Pow'r,
Deatho'erspread,
James?" 'tis thus I seem to hear
Faithto heav'n's refulgent domes repair,
Death,
Wisdomstand.
Humanitybehold.
Virtuedid his charms impart;
Afric'smuse forgetful prove?
Friendshiplaurel-crown'd
Gracesall surround
Art.
Recollectiontake a tender part,
Virtuesshone:
Leonardmight return,
Ovid'sMetamorphoses, Book VI. and from a view of the Painting of Mr.
Richard Wilson.
Wilsonpainted, and what
Ovidwrote.
Phrygianqueen, all beautiful in woe.
Maeoniaspreads her wide domain
Niobedwelt, and held her potent reign:
Tantalusdivine,
Dodonean Jove,
Atlas, who with mighty pains
Amphion, who from
Jovetoo springs,
Aurorafills the ravish'd sight,
Niobe, thou turn'st thine eyes,
Aurora'steint,
Mantocomes, endu'd with mighty skill,
Thebes'wide streets
Tiresia'sdaughter came,
Latona'smandate to proclaim:
Maeonia'sprophetess began:
Thebans!great
Latona'swill obey,
Mantospoke. The
Thebanmaids obey,
Niobecomes with all her royal race,
Phrygiangarments of delightful hue,
Thebanladies fair
Coeus'offspring is obey'd,
Cadmus'palace, not unknown to fame,
Phrygiannations all revere my name.
Titanessbe deify'd,
Delostook the wand'rer in.
Latona'snumber will remain?
Thebandames, hence haste away,
Latonapay?
Amphion'sspouse,
Niobespoke. The
Thebanmaids obey'd,
Cynthus'summit, and indignant spoke;
Phoebus!behold, thy mother in disgrace,
Juno'sself, who reigns above,
Jove.
Niobe, sprung from
Tantalus, inspires
Thebanbosom with rebellious fires;
Apollo!wrap them in the shades of death."
Latonaceas'd, and ardent thus replies
Phoebejoin'd. -- They wing their instant flight;
Thebestrembled as th' immortal pow'rs alight.
Phoebusstands;
Cadmus'walls a plain extended lay,
Thebes'young princes pass'd in sport the day:
Ismenusfirst the racing pastime led,
Amphion'sbed,
Sipylus, the language hear
Phoebus'hand
wrestlingfound,
Apollo'shand
Alphenorsaw, and trembling at the view,
Alphenorfails in this fraternal deed,
Damasichonwait!
Deliangod
Apollosends a second dart;
Ilioneus, the last, directs his pray'r,
Apolloheard, and pity touch'd his heart,
Ilioneus, art doom'd to fall,
Fame
Cadmus'palace soon the tidings came:
Niobeheard, and with indignant eyes
Deliangod?
Jove?"
Amphiontoo, with grief oppress'd,
Niobenow, less haughty than before,
Thebansfrom
Latona'sshrine,
Goddess!with my woe;
Fatesher suit deny,
This Verse to the End is ther Work of another Hand. [Wheatley's note.]
According to Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American
Experience, Scipio Moorhead was an enslaved artist, principally known
for his painting of Phillis Wheatley, which became the basis for the
frontispiece to her 1773 collection of poems. The frontispiece is included in
this database. While no signed paintings by Moorhead survive, this poem by
Wheatley may describe two of his works. Moorhead was owned by the Presbyterian
minister John Moorhead of Boston and was likely tutored by Sarah Moorhead (Appiah and Gates
62).
AfricanPainter, on seeing his Works.
Salemblooms in endless spring.
Damon'stender sighs
Poems. For a deeper reading of Wheatley's use of the pastoral, see John C. Shield's scholarly essay, "Phillis Wheatley's Subversive Pastoral."
Aurora'seyes
March24, 1773.
Enoch. [Wheatley's note.]
Elijah. [Wheatley's note.]
Elisha'sview;
Deaththese only could exemption boast,
Death, fond
Nature,cease:
virtuousto the realms of peace;
Virtue'srewards can mortal pencil paint?
Oliver, assent refuse
Africmuse.
fate,
Benevolenceforgotten lie,
Mis'ry'seye.
New-England'ssmiling meads,
healthdeny'd.
Susannahmourns, nor can I bear
Britannia'sdistant shore
Healthappears! celestial dame!
Hebe'smantle o'er her Frame,
Londonlies
Aurora'sthousand dyes,
Britannia, I resign
New-England'ssmiling fields;
Temptationon the field
Boston, May7, 1773.
I. B.
Britain'sroyal standards grace;
Dardanhero fam'd of old
Britannia'sfame.
Rebus, by the Author of these POEMS,
Philliscan't refuse
Quailof most inviting taste
Israel'sarmy in the dreary waste;
Britain'sroyal standard borne,
Unicorn?
Emeraldwith a vivid verdure glows
Boston'sa town, polite and debonair,
Helenstrikes the mind with sweet surprise,
Euphorbusof the
Dardanline
Menelaus'hand to death resign:
C--mzealous to support our laws.
Quebecnow vanquish'd must obey,
Britainof immortal fame,
- To Maecenas 9
- On Virtue 13
- To the University of Cambridge, in New-England 15
- To the King's Most Excellent Majesty. 1768. 17
- On Being Brought from Africa18
- On the Death of the Rev. Dr. Sewell. 1769.19
- On the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield 22
- On the Death of a young Lady of five Years of Age 25
- On the Death of a young Gentleman 27
- To a Lady on the Death of her Husband 29
- Goliath of Gath 31
- Thoughts on the Works of Providence 43
- To a Lady on the Death of three Relations 51
- To a Clergyman on the Death of his Lady 53
- An Hymn to the Morning 56
- An Hymn to the Evening 58
- On Isaiah LXIII. 1-8 60
- On Recollection 62
- On Imagination 65
- A Funeral Poem on the Death of an Infant aged twelve Months 69
- To Captain H.D., of the 65th Regiment 72
- To the Rt. Hon. William, Earl of Dartmouth73
- Ode to Neptune76
- To a Lady on her coming to North America with her Son, for the Recovery of her Health 78
- To a Lady on her remarkable Preservation in a Hurricane in North Carolina 80
- To a Lady and her Children on the Death of her Son, and their Brother 82
- To a Gentleman and Lady on the Death of the Lady's Brother and Sister, and a
Child of the Name of
Avis, aged one Year 84 - On the Death of Dr. Samuel Marshall 86
- To a Gentleman on his Voyage to Great-Britain, for the Recovery of his Health 88
- To the Rev. Dr. Thomas Amory on reading his Sermons on Daily Devotion, in which that Duty is recommended and assisted 90
- On the Death of J. C. an Infant 92
- An Hymn to Humanity 95
- To the Hon. T. H. Esq; on the Death of his Daughter 98
- Niobe in Distress for her Children slain by Apollo, from
Ovid'sMetamorphoses, Book VI. and from a View of the Painting of Mr.Richard Wilson101 - To S. M. a young African Painter, on seeing his Works 114
- To his Honour the Lieutenant-Governor, on the Death of his Lady 116
- A Farewel to America 119
- A Rebus by I. B. 123
- An Answer to ditto, by
Phillis Wheatley124