An account of the state of learning in the empire of Lilliput: Together with the history and character of Bullum the Emperor's Library-Keeper. Faithfully transcribed out of Captain Lemuel Gulliver's General description of the empire of Lilliput, ...

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An Account of the State of Learning IN THE Empire of Lilliput.

AS I always had a strong Inclination to Reading, from the Time I first went to Emanuel-College in Cambridge, and had gone through the most valuable ancient Writers; during my stay in Lilliput, I was very inquisitive about the state of Learning in that Nation, and received the following Information upon that Subject.

IN former Ages, the Government of the Island Blefuscu was, in many respects, like what we call a Commonwealth, and for a long time flourished both in Arms and Learning, whilst the Lilliputians were a barbarous People; at this Time many excellent Books were wrote in Oratory, Poetry, History, and Philosophy, but the Blefuscudians having at length lost their Liberties and Form of Government, which was changed into an Empire, Learning decay'd amongst them very fast; the faster by reason of hot Disputes which arose concerning the proper manner of Dressing and Eating Eggs; and in these the whole Studies of all the Learned Men of that Age were consumed.

THE first Emperor of Blefuscu, that he might ingratiate himself with his People, whom he had enslaved, undertook an Expedition against the Island of Lilliput; which being then governed by several petty Kings, ignorant of the Arts of War, was, by Degrees, subdued to the Empire of Blefuscu. During this Intercourse between the two Nations, the Blefuscudian Language was very much changed, by the mixture of the Lilliputian; and those Authors who wrote in the old Language were neglected, and understood by very few.

IN process of Time the Lilliputians grew weary of Subjection, flung off the Foreign Yoke, set up an Emperor of their own with great Success, and ever since have been a distinct Empire from that of Blefuscu.

As they were an Ingenious People, and blessed with a Race of good Emperors, they soon excelled their Neighbours in Learning and Arms; they got together all the old Blefuscudian Books, their Emperor founded a Gomflastru, or Seminary, with different Schools, to instruct their Youth in the old Blefuscudian Language and Learning; and from thence chose their Nardacs, Glumglums, and Hurgos, and the Emperors had themselves a large Collection of these Books in a Library belonging to the Palace.

THUS the Lilliputians flourished in Politeness and Literature, for some Ages; till at length, by the Plenty of a long Peace, they also grew Corrupt, gave themselves up to Idleness, Luxury, and Intriguing, and fell into Controversies about breaking their Eggs; the old Blefuscudian Books were laid aside, and nothing regarded but Eggs and Politicks. The Gomflastru indeed continued, each School had its Mulro, or Governour and Scholars; but the taste of the Age being changed, they only turned over the old Authors to amuse themselves, and enjoy'd the moderate Revenues bequeathed to them by former Emperors. The present Emperor indeed had endeavour'd to bring them into Esteem again, he encreased their Possessions, and gave a Noble Present of Books to the Gomflastru; but having a debauched inconstant People to rule over, and being kept in continual Alarms of Wars by his Neighbours, he had not leisure to perfect his good Intentions.

I was at this Time in his Favour, and when He heard that I had been inquisitive about these Affairs, He very graciously desired me to look into his Library, and sent Orders to the Keeper of it to use me with great Respect, and to present me with Five Hundred Books, such as I should choose.

ACCORDINGLY, upon a Day appointed, I went to the Library, which I took a view of in the same manner as I had done of the rest of the palace, by lying down and looking in at the Window: The Building was ruinous, the Inside dusty, the Books many in Number, but scattered about in great Disorder; the Library-Keeper, whose Name is BULLUM, was alone stalking amidst the Rubbish. As soon as he saw my Face at the Window, he made his best Bow, and began his Speech to me, which, as I was afterwards informed, he had taken a great deal of Pains about, knowing me to be in the Emperor's good Graces. Most part of what he spoke was unintelligible to me, by a ridiculous Mixture of the old Blefuscudian Language: And what I did understand was fulsome Flattery, and Complements that nothing mortal could deserve.

THIS was very dull Entertainment to a Man of my Modesty, and thereupon finding his Speech would be long, and that he was forced to strain his Voice to make me hear at that distance; I thought it would be a kindness to us both to put a stop to him, which I did, returning him Thanks, in few Words, for his great Opinion of me, and desired to see him the next Day, that I might choose out the Five Hundred Books which the Emperor had given me.

BULLUM, as I heard afterwards, was in great Wrath, and loaded me with many opprobrious Names, for refusing to hear his Speech out, and daring to treat a Man of his Learning with so little respect. However, he stifled his Resentment a little for the present, and came to me at the Time appointed.

I DESIRED him to shew me a Catalogue of the Books, and to give me some Account of what they treated of, that I might be able to make a Choice. He replied, That he had not troubled himself to bring a written Catalogue, but that he had one in his Memory, and immediately he repeated to me the Titles of a vast Number of old Blefuscudian Books, and run on with a great fluency of Speech, till he was out of Breath.

IT was a Pain to me to forbear Laughing, to hear BULLUM sputter out so much Jargon; at last I told him, That I was not in the least wiser for what he had said, because I understood not a Syllable of the Language he spoke. At that, as he stood on the Table before me, he put out his Under-Lip▪ and staring me full in the Face, said, with a great deal of Contempt, Not understand Blefuscudian! What do you understand?

I WAS a little Discomposed at this Treatment; but not knowing then what Interest he had at Court, I resolved to use him Civilly; and replied, That I understood eight or nine Languages, if there was any Merit in that; but that none of the Books in his Library would be of any Use to me, that were not written in Lilliputian. Lilliputian! says he, I cannot repeat the Titles of many of them, but I will send you Five Hundred in a few Days: And thus he left me.

I WAS very impatient to receive this curious Present; but BULLUM broke his Word; for about this Time my Interest at Court began to decline. I could not prevail upon him to deliver the Books to me: At last, after much Importunity, he came to me himself, attended by a Servant, with only Five Books.

I WAS surprized at this, and asked if the rest were upon the Road: He answer'd, That since he had seen me last, he had spent some Days in carefully perusing the Emperor's Orders; that he had discovered the Word Hundred to be an Interpolation; and that the true Reading was Five Books, which, in Obedience to the Emperor, he had brought me.

I HAD indeed been put off so long, that I suspected I should have had none, and therefore agreed to have the Five Books, designing to have made my Complaint afterwards, but BULLUM had another Trick to play me. It was the Custom, he said, for all Strangers to make him a Complement in Writing, which he desired me to comply with, and then he would deliver the Books to me. He had brought the Form, which I was to transcribe and sign with my own Name. The Words were these:

Be it known to all Men, That BULLUM the Great Library-Keeper to the Emperor of Lilliput, and Mulro in the Gomflastru, is a Man of vast Erudition and Learning; all Parts of the World ring with his Praises; and whilst I was honoured with his Acquaintance, he used me with singular Humanity.

Quinbus Flestrin.

OUT of an earnest Desire to get Possession of the Books, I submitted even to this Demand of BULLUM, who then ordering them to be flung down before me, turned nimbly upon his Heel and left me. He had picked out for me the Five worst Books in the Library, according to his Judgment; but when I came to peruse them with a Microscope, (the biggest being a Folio about half an Inch long) I found they were very Curious in their kind, but treating of Subjects that BULLUM was not conversant in. There was,

- 1. A Collection of Poetry.

- 2. An Essay on Humility; necessary for all Lilliputians, who are very much inclined to think well of themselves, and meanly of others.

- 3. A Dissertation upon Tramecsans and Slamecsans, or High-heel'd and Low-heel'd Shoes.

- 4. A Bundle of Controversies concerning the primitive way of breaking Eggs.

- 5. The Blundecral, or Al••••…

THESE Books I brought safe with me to England, and design either to publish them, or else to present them to the University which I had once the Honour to be a Member of.

BUT to return to BULLUM. I was amazed at his Behaviour towards me, especially considering I was a Nardac, to which Title he generally paid a profound Respect. This made 〈◊〉 desirous of getting an Account of his History and Character, which, having something extraordinary in them, I shall lay before my Reader.

BULLUM is a tall raw-bon'd Man, I believe near six Inches and an half high; from his Infancy he apply'd himself, with great Industry, to the old Blefuscudian Language, in which he made such a Progress, that he almost forgot his native Lilliputian; and at this Time he can neither Write nor speak two Sentences, without a Mixture of old Blefuscudian: These Qualifications, joined to an undaunted forward Spirit, and a few good Friends, prevail'd with the Emperor's Grandfather to make him Keeper of his Library, and a Mulro in the Gomflastru; tho' most Men thought him fitter to be one of the Royal Guards. These Places soon helped him to Riches, and upon the Strength of them he soon began to despise every Body, and to be despised by every Body. This engaged him in many Quarrels, which he managed in a very odd manner; whenever he thought himself affronted, he immediately flung a great Book at his Adversary, and, if he could, fell'd him to the Earth; but if his Adversary stood his Ground and flung another Book at him, which was sometimes done with great Violence, then he complain'd to the Grand Justiciary, that these Affronts were designed to the Emperor, and that he was singled out only as being the Emperor's Servant. By this Trick he got that Great Officer to favour him, which made his Enemies Cautious, and him Insolent.

BULLUM attended the Court some Years, but could not get into an higher Post; for though he constantly wore the Heels of his Shoes High or Low, as the Fashion was, yet having a long Back and a stiff Neck, he never could, with any dexterity, creep under the Stick, which the Emperor or the Chief Minister held. As to his dancing on the Rope, I shall speak of it presently; but the greatest Skill at that Art will not procure a Man a Place at Court, without some Agility at the Stick.

BULLUM, vexed at these Disappointments, withdrew from Court, and only appeared there upon extraordinary Occasions, at other Times he retired to his Post of Mulro in the Gomflatu, there he led a gloomy solitary Life, heaped up Wealth, and pored upon the old Blefuscudian Books. It might have been expected, that from so long an Acquaintance with those admirable Writers, he should have grown more Polite and Humane; but his Manner was never to regard the Sence or Subject of the Author, but only the Shape of the Letters, in which he arrived to such Perfection, that, as I have been assured, he could tell, very near, in what Year of the Blefuscudian Commonwealth any Book was written; and to this, and to restoring the old Characters that were effaced, all his Labour was confined.

UPON these Points he had wrote several Books, some in the Blefuscudian, and some in the mixed Language; and whenever he had finished a Book, he presented it to some Great Man at Court, with a Panegyrical Oration; so contrived that it would fit any Man in a great Post; and the highest Bidder had it.

WHILST I was in Lilliput, he proposed to publish a new Blundecral of Alcoran; and, that he might do something uncommon, he began at the End, and designed to have wrote backwards; but the Lilliputians, some liking the old Blundecral, others not caring for any, gave him no encouragement; and therefore he desisted from that Project.

As this Nation was very much divided about breaking their Eggs, which they generally eat in Publick once a Day, or at least once in Seven Days, I desired to know how BULLUM behaved himself in this particular; and was told, That he was thought to have an Aversion to Eggs, for he was never seen to eat any in Publick, but once or twice in a Year, when his Post obliged him to it: At those Times he gave Orders to have them served up to him ready Dressed, and the Shells and Whites being carefully taken off, he gulped up the Yolks in a very indecent manner, and immediately drank a Bumper of strong Liquor after them, to wash the Taste out of his Mouth, and promote the Digestion of them.

WHEN any one represented to him the ill Example of this Practice, his Answer was, That his Modesty would not let him devour Eggs in Publick, when he had so many Eyes upon him; That he was not yet determined at which End he ought to break them; That the Shells and Whites were insipid, and only fit for Children; But for the Eggs themselves, he was so far from hating them, that he had a Dish at his own Table every Day. But whether this was Truth, or if they were at his Table, whether he eat of them or not, I could never learn.

BULLUM was always of an haughty Mind, and, in his own School, took a great deal of Pleasure in mimicking the Actions of the Emperor. Thus, he got a little Stick and used to divert himself in seeing his Scholars leap over, and creep under it, as he held it between his Hands. Those who performed best, were rewarded, sometimes, with a pompous Title in the old Blefuscudian Language, signifying, MOST LEARNED, MOST FAMOUS, MOST ACCOMPLISHED YOUTH, or the like: Sometimes with little Sugar-Plums; and sometimes only with the Promise of them.

IN dancing on the Ropes he took great delight himself; and this was the only Bodily Exercise he used. Those who had been Eye-witnesses, informed me, that he could cut a Caper very high, but that he did it in a clumsy manner, and with little delight to the Spectators, who were in continual apprehensions of his falling, which sometimes he did very dangerously.

IT was observed, that he danced best in his own House, but that he never danced before the Gomflastru with Success. When he first came to his Place of Mulro, he did nothing but Dance and cut Capers on the Ropes, for a Year together: As this was a new Sport in that Part of the Island, he got a great deal of Money by it; but striving to leap higher than ordinary, he fell off from the Rope, broke his Head, and disordered his Brain so much, that most People thought it would incapacitate him for his Post of Mulro: However, at length, he pretty well recovered; he himself says, he is as well, or better, than he was before his Fall: But his Enemies think his Brain is still affected by it.

SOME Years after, the present Emperor, in a Progress through his Dominions, came to the Gomflastru; and BULLUM, without being asked, was resolved to divert His Majesty with his Performance on the Strait-Rope; up he mounts, and Capers bravely, for some time; at last, endeavouring to shew the utmost of his Skill, in the midst of an high Caper, he reached out his Right-Hand too far, which gave him a terrible Fall.

MOST People imputed it to his Over-reaching himself; but he laid the Fault partly upon the Robes he was obliged to wear before the Emperour, which, as he said, entangled his Feet; and partly upon the maliciousness of a Bye-stander, whom he accused of pulling the Rope aside, as he was in the midst of his Caper: However that was, poor BULLUM broke his Leg, and was carried to his own House, where he continued Lame above Two Years, not being able to shew himself in Publick all that Time; and it was thought he would never have recovered, if the Emperor at last, had not taken pity on him, and sent one of his own Surgeons to him, who cured him immediately.

AFTER all these Misfortunes BULLUM could not forsake his beloved Diversion, but as soon as he was recovered, he forgot all that was past, and danced again in his own School every Day; where, by his frequent Falls he so bruised himself, that it was believed they would come to a Mortification: Besides, he dances so long upon the same Rope, that through Age and Rottenness, and his great Weight, it must break at last; and the Emperor would scarce lend him a Surgeon a second Time; which indeed would be in vain, for he can never leave off the Sport, though he performs worse and worse every Day; so that, in all probability, he will break his Neck for a Conclusion.

FINIS.

An ACCOUNT of the State of Learning IN THE Empire of Lilliput.

Price Six-Pence.

An ACCOUNT of the State of Learning IN THE Empire of Lilliput.

Together with The HISTORY and CHARACTER of BULLUM the Emperor's Library-Keeper.

Faithfully Transcribed out of Captain LEMUEL GULLIVER'S General Description of the Empire of Lilliput, mention'd in the 69th Page of the First Volume of his Travels.

LONDON: Printed for J. ROBERTS in Warwick-Lane. MDCCXXVIII.

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An account of the state of learning in the empire of Lilliput: Together with the history and character of Bullum the Emperor's Library-Keeper. Faithfully transcribed out of Captain Lemuel Gulliver's General description of the empire of Lilliput, ...

Arbuthnot, John, 1667-1735.

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http://ota.ox.ac.uk/id/4373

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1106013727

ID [isbn13]

9781106013729

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K052215.000

ID [BIBNO]

CW3324614063

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0080201500

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— An account of the state of learning in the empire of Lilliput: Together with the history and character of Bullum the Emperor's Library-Keeper. Faithfully transcribed out of Captain Lemuel Gulliver's General description of the empire of Lilliput, ..., Arbuthnot, John, 1667-1735.. 37,[1]p. ; 8⁰. London :: printed for J. Roberts,. 1728.. [Anonymous. By John Arbuthnot.] [A satire on Richard Bentley.] [With a half-title.] [Reproduction of original from the British Library.] [English Short Title Catalog, ESTCT59716.] [Electronic data. Farmington Hills, Mich. : Thomson Gale, 2003. Page image (PNG). Digitized image of the microfilm version produced in Woodbridge, CT by Research Publications, 1982-2002 (later known as Primary Source Microfilm, an imprint of the Gale Group).]

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