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

And hence it is, that in his fourth Voyage he difcovers a Vein of Melancholy proceeding almoft to a Difguft of his Species; but above all, a mortal Detestation to the whole flagitious Race of Minifters, 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 difcovery 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 speak more openly.

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

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

;

*Gulliver's Travels were firft intended as a part of Scriblerus's Menoir:.

$

CHAP

CHAP. XIV.

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

HE

ERE therefore, at this great Period, we end our firft Book. And here, O Reader, we entreat thee utterly to forget all thou haft hitherto read, and to caft thy eyes only forward, to that boundless Field the next fhall 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 Caufes, fince by a Sagacity peculiar to himself, he hath difcover'd Effects in their very Caufe; and without the trivial helps of Experimen's, or Observations, hath been the Inventor of moft of the modern Syftems. and Hypotheses.

He hath enriched Mathematicks with many precise and geometrical Quadratures of the Circle. He firft difcovered the Cauje of Gravity, and the inteftine Motion of Fluids.

To him we owe all the obfervations 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 first found out the Palpability of Colours; and by the delicacy of his Touch, could distinguish

diftinguish the different Vibrations of the heterogeneous 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 increasing the Trade-Wind by vaft plantations of Reeds and Sedges.

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

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

1. 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 Univerfe, with the proportion of the fpecifick Gravity of folid Matter to that of fluid.

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

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 queftion 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 Demonftration of the natural Dominion of the Inhabitants of the Earth over thofe of the Moon, if ever an intercourfe fhould 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 Egefta 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 fhow the amazing Grandeur of his Genius. The firft was a Propofal, by a general contribution of all Princes, to pierce the firft cruft or Nucleus of this our Earth, quite through, to the next concentrical Sphere. The advantage he propofed from it was, to find the Parallax of the Fixt Stars; but chiefly to refute Sir Ifaac Newton's Theory of Gravity, and Mr. Halley's of the Variations. The fecond was, to build Two Poles to the Meridian, with immenfe Light-houfes on the top of them; to fupply the defect of Nature, and to make the Longitude as easy to be calculated as the Latitude. Both these he could not but think very practicable, by the Power of all the Potentates of the World.

May we prefume after thefe to mention, how he defcended from the fublime to the beneficial parts of Knowledge, and particularly his extraor

dinary

dinary practice of Phyfick. From the Age, Complexion, or Weight of the perfon given, he contrived to prescribe at a distance, as well as at a Patient's bed fide He taught the way to many modern Physicians, to cure their Patients by Intuition, and to others to cure without looking on them at all. He projected a Menftruum to diffolve the Stone, made of Dr. Woodward's Univerfal Delugewater. His alfo was the device to relieve Confumptive or Asthmatick perfons by bringing fresh Air out of the Country to Town, by pipes of the nature of the Recipients of Air pumps : And to introduce the Native air of a man's country into any other in which he should travel, with a feafonable Intromiffion of fuch Steams as were most familiar to him; to the inexpreffible comfort of many Scotfmen, Laplanders, and white Bears.

In Phyfiognomy, his penetration is such, that from the Picture only of any person, he can write his Life; and from the features of the Parents, draw the Portrait of any Child that is to be born.

Nor hath he been fo enrapt in these Studies, as to neglect the Polite Arts of Painting, Architecture, Mufick, Poetry, etc. It was he that gave the first hint to our modern Painters, to improve the Likene's of their Portraits by the ufe of fuch Colours as would faithfully and conftantly accompany the Life, not only in its prefent ftate, but in all its alterations, decays, age, and death itself.

In Architecture, he builds not with fo much regard to prefent fymmetry or conveniency, as with a Thought well worthy a true lover of Antiquity, to wit, the noble effect the Building will have to pofterity, when it fhall fall and become a Ruin.

As to Mufic, I think Heidegger has not the face to deny that he has been much beholden to his Scores.