were not above three Spans high, Pygmai ternas Spithamas longitudine excedunt: Then he produces a remarkable Inftance of their Bravery and Policy, Sagittis armati, infidentes Arietum, Caprarumque dorfis, verno tempore univerfo agmine ad mare defcendunt, & Ova pullofque Gruum conSumunt: ternis expeditionem eam menfibus conficiunt. What a noble fight would it be to fee these mighty and terrible Armies, with their Generals at their Head, mounted upon furious Rams and Goats, in full march on fuch a glorious Expedition? How much Bloed do they prudently fspare by crushing their future Enemies in Embrio, and preventing a threatning War? Tho' no Man living has a more laudable Partiality for my native Country than myself, yet I must think, that the valiant London Regiments, even with the Lord Mayor at their Head, do not make a more formidable Appearance; and were they to engage in Battle with these Warriors, I fhould tremble for the Confequences. I might now ask, if any Doubt remains concerning this eminent Nation of the Pygmies? If there does I refer to that great Master of Reason the renowned Ariftotle, and his Authority will be decifive: Thus he writes in his History of Animals, lib. 8. cap. 12. 5! No TTO wei or δι Πυγμαίοι κατοικέσιν, ἐν ὅτι, τότο μύθο, ἀλλ ̓ ὅτι κατὰ τὸν αληθεια, γένα μικρόν με, καὶ αυτοι, κι οι ἵπποι. Can a fuller Confirmation be given of Mr. Gulliver's Veracity than this Paffage of the learned Ariftotle? Does Mr. Gulliver relate that the Beasts of Lilliput were proportion'd to the Size of the Natives? Ariftotle affirms the fame of the Pygmaan Horfes: The hand of Nature is always regular in all her Productions, and adapts the Creatures of every Nation to ferve the Ufes and Benefits of the Inhabitants; Ariftotle obferv'd this order of Things in the Pygmaan State two thousand Years ago; and Mr. Gulliver relates, that the fame Order proceeds in Lilliput at this Day. So that the Captain's Veracity ftands upon a level with that of the Philofopher, and you cannot condemn the one without involving the other in the fame Condemnation; A curious Poem, celebrating the heroic Actions of the Pygmies is fallen into my hands, and I fhall oblige the Company with part of it. Quà radiis Phabi propitioribus India ferret, Pygmæum quondam fteterat, dum fata finebant, Imperium I cannot read the hard Fate of one of their famous Generals without Lamentation: It is to be wifh'd that the Poet had given us his Name, that it might have been as immortal as his Actions. Jamque acris inter medias fefe arduus infert What Slaughter did this little Achilles make amongst his Enemies? till, pardon, Ladies, thefe virtuous Tears! alas ! he was fnatch'd away in the midft of Victory, and then the Battle turn'd, and his Army was utterly overthrown. H 2 - Ingens, & formidabilis Ales With this Hero fell the Pygmean Empire, and, like the Parthian, Hirian and Roman States, is now no more! Sic Pygmaa domus, multos dominata per annos, Such, alas! is the end of all human Glory! You fee, Ladies, there have been Pygmiest, why then may there not be Lilliputians? You may fay that no Mag ever faw them but Mr Gulliver. What then? Muft he therefore be an Impoftor? Let me inftance in the difcovery of America; was the Perlon who first landed in America an Impoftor, becaufe he was the firit Difcoverer? All the World now knows that there is an America, and probably when the courfe of Navigation to Lilliput is better ftudied, it may foon, by the Lights which Mr. Gulliver has already given us, be as much frequented as the American Coafts. If it be objected, that the Territories of Lilliput are remote; and that Mr. Gulliver was wife in placing them at fo great a diftance to prevent a dif covery. It may be answered, that the Pygmaan State is fix'd by Ariftotle and other Hiftorians in an equal remoteness, but that the Advantage lies entirely on the Captain's fide, who was an eye-witness of what he relates, the others probably trusted to Tradition. * Thus we find the Pygmaan Fame spread over the old World, it reach'd our native Country, and fo fill'd us with Admiration, that our beft Authors have adorn'd their Writings with it. Does not Milton, in that ferious and admirable Work, Paradije Loft, plainly refer to this powerful People, and allude to their renowned Wars: That Small Infantry War'd on by Cranes And afterwards fix the place of their Empire: The ↑ It may easily be imagin'd, that after fome notable Victory gain'd by the Cranian Armies, they carried off some of their Prisoners, a few Fygmaan Gentlemen and Ladies, and planted them as a Colony on the Lilliputian Shores; and that in procefs of Time they became a populous and mighty Nation. I will not affilm, that this was exactly the Fact. but it bears the ftrongest Marks of Probability. When I made my Enquiries about Mr. Gulliver's Character I learned a great Anecdote from Mr. Thomas Hartford, Surgeon in Redriff, who married the Captain's youngest Daughter Joanna: He told me had frequently heard his Fatherin-law fay, that het Lilliputian Majefty was a perfect Beauty: He used to call her his Queen of Hearts, from the refemblance the bore to that amiable Picture on our Cards: She once offer'd to come over with him into England, not out of an unworthy affection to his Perfon, but out of a laudable Defire to fee the famous Nation of Great Britain: He added, that the Captain, while in Lilliput, kept the Secret invlolably, left it should have reach'd the Royal Ear, and di fturbed the matrimonial Union. The Pygman Race Beyond the Indian Mount ----- Is there a Man of Senfe in Great Britain who difputes the Excellence of Milton? Is not his Reputation cftablish'd beyond all Contradiction? And does not this great Man plainly speak of the Pygmies? 'Tis true, he liv'd at a great diftance from the Pygmæan Age, and lo he did from the Babylonian! but therefore did Babylon never exist? In short, his Name gives a Sanction to their Story, and he becomes, in fome degree, answerable for the Truth of it, by adopting it, and inferting it in his moft valuable Lucubrations: He that propagates a Fraud is an Accomplice in it. Befides, What if I should undertake to prove demonstratively, that we in Great Britain have been honoured with the production of an illuftrious Perfonage of a lower Stature than the Lilliputians? I fee, Ladies, you are furpriz'd, but fufpend your Wonder, the Task is not difficult: Who has not heard of the immortal Mr. Thomas Thumb and his glorious Actions? There is fcarce a pretty Eye in all Great Britain that has not frequently been clos'd with Odes recording his memorable Exploits: Is he not the favourite of every Nurfery, which may properly be fil'd the firit School, or Academy of Knowledge and Erudition? Who knows but that thofe great and immortal Princes Edward III. and Henry V. were first fir'd to a thirst of Glory by hearing his valorous Atchievements? And, perhaps, we owe Creffey and Agincourt to a Flame kindled in their infant Bofoms by the lefty Poems that celebrated his 'Glory. And I submit it, Ladies, to your impartial Judgments to determine, whether his History be a Truth or a Fiction? If it were a Fiction, Can it be imagin'd that the venerable Nobles of the Realm, and the virtuous, learned, and judicious Order of Efquires, thofe Lights and Ornanients of it, would fuffer their Offspring to imbibe a Fable and Fiction with their earliest Milk? No, no, they are too wife to permit it! Error is apt to ftrike deep Roots in a youthful Imagination: Is it then to be conceiv'd, that they would plant fo noxious, a Weed in a Soil fo fruitful, only to be at the trouble of eradicating it? "Tis certain they would not act fo inconfittently: And therefore this Argument is conclufive and unanswerable; for you cannot give up the Hiftory of Mr. Thumb, without difparaging the Judgments of the greatest Perfonages of the Land, highly renown'd for deep Learning and, folid Understandings, and without defrauding your native Kingdon of the ineftimable Honour it derives from your illuftrious Countryman. Quod procul a nobis flectat Fortuna gubernans. Now the Lilliputians were Giants in comparison of our Hero; yet who doubts of his exiftence? Then long live and flourish the renown'd Lilliputians! And may the Memory of Mr. Thumb's heroic Acti. ons defcend from Nursery to Nursery, and continue to delight and improve our latest Posterity! Neither is the Thummian Family extinct at this Day; Do we not fee Hundreds of it ftrutting about the Streets of London, and by an erect Gate and Look of Deafince vaunting their important Littleness? This is not out of Vanity, but to honour themselves by a laudable Imitation of their great Progenitor: 'Tis true they are now hot up into fome Inches of greater greater Altitude; but this happens by their Intermarrying with taller Families: But, in my Opinion, what they gain in Stature they lofe in Glory, as they lefs refemble their, noble Ancestor. I hope, Ladies, Mr. Gulliver ftands clear in your Judgments, with regard to the Lilliputians, I proceed now to defend him with refpect to the Brobdingnagians. They are, fays the Gentleman, of an immoderate Size! But does this difprove their Exiftence? Are there no Mountains because there are Molehills? The whole Objection arifes from meer Pride and Self-flattery; we are willing to make our own Stature the Standard of human Perfection ; Strange Prejudice! As if the contemptible Shrub were more beautiful than the tall Cedar! I have long been of Opinion, that the Race of Men in our Clime has gradually dwindled for fome thoufand of Years: How many Bones and Coffins have been dug up in diftant Nations of an exceeding Size? And I would ask this plain Queftion, If the Earth has produc'd in other Countries Men greatly fuperior to us in Stature, in former Days, why may it not ftill produce fuch Inhabitants in our Days, in more happy Climes? Or, in other words, Why may there not now be Brobdingnagians? But Examples are the strongest Arguments: Let us therefore once more confult Authority: See again the immortal Homer, Ody. 11. -375 Hence Ephialtes, bence ftern Otus Sprung, More fierce than Giants, more than Giants ftrong: The wondrous Youths had fearce nine Winters told, Nine Ells aloft they rear'd the tow'ring Head, &c. Here we have a lively Picture of the modern Brobdingnagians, --Patris vel montibus æques. And you will, Ladies, have fome Idea of these wonderful Perfons, by imagining you see Marcley-Hill once more taking a fancy to travel to find out a new Situation: This celebrated Author goes on to tell us, they pil'd Hills on Hills, Offa and Pelion, on Olympus, all Mountains of valit Dimenfions. Here I fix my Foot, and rest the Veracity of Mr. Gulliver on that of Homer: Does Mr. Gulliver (peak more largely of his Brob dingnagians, than Homer of Otus and Ephialtes? Why then must Homer be believ'd, and Gulliver called an Impoitor? This is ftrange Partiality! Let it be confider'd, that the Giants of Homer, at the Age of nine Years, were meer Babes, and yet were about eleven Yards high: Now fuppofing they had lived to Manhood, would they not have grown up to the noble Stature of the Brobdingnagians? and upon Marriage would they not have propagated a Race as large as They? I muit here, Ladies, beg leave to offer a Conjecture highly probable, relating to the origin of this wonderful Nation: It is oblerv'd, that in America there are Animals unknown to the old World; But why are they there ONLY, fay the Curious and Inquifitive? Why have they not fpread over the habitable Globe? I anfwer, Earthquakes or Inundations may have feparated the new World from From the old, and by the interpofition of Seas, confin'd them to their native Regions. And why, fay fome, have we no Brobdingnagians? The fame Reply will be a fufficient answer: They are cut off from the reft of the World by the interpofition of the Ocean. Suppofe Orion and his Family, or any of his Defcendants, or any other of the Stock of the old Giants, were driven, like Mr. Gulliver, by ftrefs of Weather, on the Brobdingnagian Coafts, they would naturally fettle there, and lofing their skill in Navigation, by finding no want of it, they muft neceffarily be cut off from all Communication with other Regions; but then would they not People their new Habitation with Giants, or Brobdingnagians? Undoubtedly they would! Is it not evident, that if Mr. Gulliver had been pleafed to carry Mrs. Gulliver along with him to Brobdingnag, he would have multiply'd his Kind by Sons and Daughters of his own Dimensions? This will not be deny'd. Why then fhould it be imagin'd that a Brobdingnagian Lady fhould be lefs fruitful in Procreation than Mrs. Gulliver? I lay great Weight on this Obfervation, because it gives as probable an account of the origin of this Nation, as almost any History gives of the peopling other Kingdoms; and a much better than that of the learned Athenians, who boafted themselves to be 'Autoxloves, or Coaval with their Country. To add more Arguments is as unneceffary as to prove, that the Sun fhines at Noon-day; otherwife I might call in to my affift ance that grave and antient Writer Heliod; he was an excellent Genealogift, and largely defcribes the Strength, Stature, and Pedigree of the Giants, thofe antient Brobdingnagians: I might quote the great Virgil, to fhow that Polypheme equal'd or exceeded the Brobdingnagians, for he affures us, that he waded into the Ionian Seas, and that the Waters scarce reach'd his Sides. This exactly agrees with the Defcription of Mr. Gulliver's Brobdignagian, who purfued the Boat that landed him on that Coaft. Now when two Authors, who could not poffibly write in concert, thus minutely agree in Circumstances, it is an infallible Proof that both confulted Veracity. Having now fettled this Point beyond all Exception, I addrefs myself to the third Objection of my ingenious Antagonist, which is, That the manner of Mr. Gulliver's Deliverance by the Eagle is incredible. But, Ladies, permit me to ask, Why incredible? The Objection fuppofes, that no Eagle could be ftrong enough to bear Mr. Gulliver and his Cage or Houfe thro' the Air, to fuch a distance as the Captain mentions; but does the Geutleman imagine that a Brobdingnagian Eagle is of the fame Size and Strength with the European? But I wave this Anfwer, and will not act like molt Difputants, who evade the Difficulty they cannot clear: I will have recourfe only to authentic History: Who has not heard of the Eagle that bore Ganymedes the Trojan to Heaven? Why then. might not an Eagle bear Mr. Gulliver a far lefs way? Who doubts but that an Eagle carried Jupiter and all his Thunders? Every School-boy learns from many excellent Authors, that Chariots are drawn thro' the. Air by Peacocks; nay, even by Doves and Sparrows: καλὰς δὲ σ' ἄγον Ωκέες ρηθεν, πλέτυγος μελαίνας Γλυκρὰ δικέοντες απ' ώραν αιθέρος διὰ μέσω Σαπφω I fhall |