the wildest improbabilities with an air of veracity rivalling
Defoe himself. (See also Vol. X, p. 282.)


_I.--A Voyage to Lilliput_


My father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire, but the charge of
maintaining me at Cambridge being too great, after three years there I
was bound apprentice to an eminent surgeon in London; in my spare time I
studied navigation, and mathematics, useful to those who travel, as I
always believed, at some time, it would be my fortune to do.

After studying physics in Leyden for two years, I became surgeon to the
Swallow, and made a voyage or two in the Levant. I then settled in
London, married, but after some years, my business beginning to fail,
having consulted with my wife, I determined to go again to sea and made
several voyages to the East and West Indies, by which I got some
addition to my fortune.

In 1699, being on a voyage in the South Seas, we were driven on a rock,
and the ship immediately split. I conclude my companions were all lost;
for my part, I swam as fortune directed me, and being pushed forward by
wind and tide, found myself at last within my depth, and had to wade
near a mile before I got to shore. I was extremely tired, and lay down
on the grass and slept soundly until daylight. I attempted to rise, but
found myself strongly fastened to the ground, not able to turn even my
head. I felt something moving gently up my leg, and over my breast, when
bending my eyes downward, I perceived a human creature, not six inches
high, with a bow and arrows in his hand; and felt a number more