to inform thee. But what hints I am at liberty to give, I will.

Thou shalt know then, that in his first Voyage he was carried by a profperous Storm, to a Difof the Remains of the ancient Pygmæan

covery

Empire.

That in his fecond, he was as happily fhipwreck'd on the Land of the Giants, now the most humane people in the world.

That in his third Voyage, he discover'd a whole Kingdom of Philofophers, who govern by the Mathematicks; with whose admirable Schemes and Projects he returned to benefit his own dear Country; but had the misfortune to find them rejected by the envious Ministers of Queen Anne, and himself fent treacherously away.

And hence it is, that in his fourth Voyage he discovers a Vein of Melancholy proceeding almoft to a Difguft of his Species; but above all, a mortal Deteftation to the whole flagitious Race of Ministers, and a final Refolution not to give in any Memorial to the Secretary of State, in order to fubject the Lands he discovered to the Crown of Great Britain.

Now if, by these hints, the Reader can help himself to a farther discovery of the Nature and Contents of these Travels, he is welcome to as much light as they afford him; I am obliged, by all the tyes of honour, not to fpeak more openly.

But if any man fhall ever fee fuch very extraordinary Voyages, into fuch very extraordinary Nations, which manifeft the most distinguishing marks of a Philofopher, a Politician, and a Legiflator; and can imagine them to belong to a Surgeon of a Ship, or a Captain of a Merchantman, let him remain in his Ignorance.

And whoever he be, that shall farther obferve, in every page of fuch a book, that cordial Love of Mankind, that inviolable Regard to Truth, that Paffion for his dear Country, and that particular attachment to the excellent Princefs Queen Anne; furely that man deserves to be pitied, if by all those vifible Signs and Characters, he cannot distinguish and acknowledge the Great Scriblerus.

CHAP. XIV.

Of the Discoveries and Works of the Great Scriblerus, made and to be made, written and to be written, known and unknown.

HERE the

ERE therefore, at this great Period, we end our first Book. And here, O Reader, we entreat thee utterly to forget all thou hast hitherto read, and to caft thy eyes only forward, to

• Gulliver's Travels were firft intended as a part of Scrible. rus's Memoirs.

that boundless Field the next shall open unto thee; the fruits of which (if thine, or our fins do not prevent) are to spread and multiply over this our work, and over all the face of the Earth.

In the mean time, know what thou oweft, and what thou yet may'ft owe, to this excellent Perfon, this Prodigy of our Age; who may well be called, The Philofopher of Ultimate Causes, fince by a Sagacity peculiar to himself, he hath discover'd Effects in their very Caufe; and without the trivial helps of Experiments, or Obfervations, hath been the Inventor of most of the modern Systems and Hypothefes.

He hath enriched Mathematicks with many precife and geometrical Quadratures of the Circle. He first discovered the Caufe of Gravity, and the inteftine Motion of Fluids.

To him we owe all the observations on the Parallax of the Pole-Star, and all the new Theories of the Deluge.

He it was, that first taught the right use fometimes of the Fuga Vacui, and fometimes of the Materia Subtilis, in refolving the grand Phænomena of Nature.

He it was, that firft found out the Palpability of Colours; and by the delicacy of his Touch, could distinguish the different Vibrations of the heteroge neous Rays of Light.

His were the Projects of Perpetuum Mobiles, Flying Engines, and Pacing Saddles; the Method

of discovering the Longitude by Bomb-Vessels, and of increafing the Trade-Wind by vaft plantations of Reeds and Sedges.

I shall mention only a few of his Philosophical and Mathematical Works.

1. A compleat Digeft of the Laws of Nature, with a Review of those that are obfolete or repealed, and of those that are ready to be renew'd and put in force.

2. A Mechanical Explication of the Formation of the Universe, according to the Epicurean Hypothefis.

3. An Investigation of the Quantity of real Matter in the Universe, with the proportion of the fpecifick Gravity of folid Matter to that of fluid.

4. Microscopical Observations of the Figure and Bulk of the conftituent Parts of all fluids. A Calculation of the proportion in which the Fluids of the earth decrease, and of the period in which they will be totally exhausted.

5. A Computation of the Duration of the Sun, and how long it will last before it be burn'd out.

6. A Method to apply the Force arifing from the immense Velocity of Light to mechanical purpofes.

7. An answer to the question of a curious Gentleman; How long a New Star was lighted up before its appearance to the Inhabitants of our earth? To which is fubjoined a Calculation, how

much the Inhabitants of the Moon eat for Supper, confidering that they pafs a Night equal to fifteen of our natural days.

8. A Demonstration of the natural Dominion of the Inhabitants of the Earth over those of the Moon, if ever an intercourse should be opened between them. With a Propofal of a PartitionTreaty, among the earthly Potentates, in cafe of fuch discovery.

9. Tide-Tables, for a Comet, that is to approximate towards the Earth.

10. The Number of the Inhabitants of London determined by the Reports of the Gold-finders, and the Tonnage of their Carriages; with allowance for the extraordinary quantity of the Ingefta and Egefla of the people of England, and a deduction of what is left under dead walls, and dry ditches.

It will from hence be evident, how much all his Studies were directed to the univerfal Benefit of Mankind. Numerous have been his Projects to this end, of which Two alone will be fufficient to show the amazing Grandeur of his Genius. The first was a Proposal, by a general contribution of all Princes, to pierce the first cruft or Nucleus of this our Earth, quite through, to the next concentrical Sphere. The advantage he proposed from it was, to find the Parallax of the Fixt Stars; but chiefly to refute Sir Ifaac Newton's Theory of Gra