SUMMARY : The Humours and Dispositions of the Laputians described. An Account of their Learning. Of the King and his Court. The Author's Reception there. The Inhabitants subject to Fears and Disquietudes. An Account of the Women.

   AT MY ALIGHTING I was surrounded by a Crowd of People, but those who stood nearest seemed to be of better
Quality. They beheld me with all the Marks and Circumstances of wonder; neither indeed was I much in their Debt;
having never till then seen a Race of Mortals so singular in their Shapes, Habits, and Countenances. Their Heads were all
reclined either to the Right, or the Left; one of their Eyes turned inward, and the other directly up to the Zenith. Their
outward Garments were adorned with the Figures of Suns, Moons, and Stars, interwoven with those of Fiddles, Flutes,
Harps, Trumpets, Guittars, Harpsichords, and many more Instruments of Musick, unknown to us in Europe. I observed
here and there many in the Habit of Servants, with a blown Bladder fastned like a Flail to the End of a short Stick, which
they carried in their Hands. In each Bladder was a small Quantity of dried Pease, or little Pebbles, (as I was afterwards
informed.) With these Bladders they now and then flapped the Mouths and Ears of those who stood near them, of which
Practice I could not then conceive the Meaning. It seems the Minds of these People are so taken up with intense
Speculations, that they neither can speak, nor attend to the Discourses of others, without being rouzed by some external
Taction upon the Organs of Speech and Hearing; for which Reason those Persons who are able to afford it always keep
a Flapper (the Original is Climenole) in their Family, as one of their Domesticks; nor ever walk abroad or make Visits
without him. And the Business of this Officer is, when two or more Persons are in Company, gently to strike with his
Bladder the Mouth of him who is to speak, and the right Ear of him or them to whom the Speaker addresses himself.
This Flapper is likewise employed diligently to attend his Master in his Walks, and upon Occasion to give him a soft
Flap on his Eyes; because he is always so wrapped up in Cogitation, that he is in manifest Danger of falling down every
Precipice, and bouncing his Head against every Post; and in the Streets, of jostling others, or being jostled himself into
the Kennel.

It was necessary to give the Reader this Information, without which he would be at the same Loss with me, to
understand the Proceedings of these People, as they conducted me up the Stairs, to the Top of the Island, and from
thence to the Royal Palace. While we were ascending, they forgot several Times what they were about, and left me to
my self, till their Memories were again rouzed by their Flappers; for they appeared altogether unmoved by the Sight of
my foreign Habit and Countenance, and by the Shouts of the Vulgar, whose Thoughts and Minds were more
disengaged.

At last we entered the Palace, and proceeded into the Chamber of Presence; where I saw the King seated on his
Throne, attended on each Side by Persons of prime Quality. Before the Throne, was a large Table filled with Globes and
Spheres, and Mathematical Instruments of all Kinds. His Majesty took not the least Notice of us, although our Entrance
were not without sufficient Noise, by the Concourse of all Persons belonging to the Court. But he was then deep in a
Problem, and we attended at least an Hour, before he could solve it. There stood by him on each Side, a young Page,
with Flaps in their Hands; and when they saw he was at Leisure, one of them gently struck his Mouth, and the other his
right Ear; at which he Started like one awakened on the sudden, and looking towards me and the Company I was in,
recollected the Occasion of our coming, whereof he had been informed before. He spoke some Words, whereupon
immediately a young Man with a flap came up to my Side, and flapped me gently on the Right Ear; but I made Signs, as
well as I could, that I had no Occasion for such an Instrument; which, as I afterwards found, gave his Majesty and the
whole Court a very mean Opinion of my Understanding. The King, as far as I could conjecture, asked me several
Questions, and I addressed my self to him in all the Languages I had. When it was found, that I could neither understand
nor be understood, I was conducted by the his Order to an Apartment in his Palace, (this Prince being distinguished
above all his Predecessors for his Hospitality to Strangers, ) where two Servants were appointed to attend me. My
Dinner was brought, and four Persons of Quality, whom I remembered to have seen very near the King's Person, did me
the Honour to dine with me. We had two Courses, of three Dishes each. In the first Course, there was a Shoulder of
Mutton, cut into an AEquilateral Triangle; a Piece of Beef into a Rhomboides; and a Pudding into a Cycloid. The second
Course was two Ducks, trussed up into the Form of Fiddles; Sausages and Puddings resembling Flutes and Haut-boys,
and a Breast of Veal in the Shape of a Harp. The Servants cut our Bread into Cones, Cylinders, Parallelograms, and
several other Mathematical Figures.

While we were at Dinner, I made bold to ask the Names of several Things in their Language; and those noble Persons,
by the Assistance of their Flappers, delighted to give me Answers, hoping to raise my Admiration of their great Abilities,
if I could be brought to converse with them. I was soon able to call for Bread and Drink, or whatever else I wanted.

 After Dinner my Company withdrew, and a Person was sent to me by the King's Order, attended by a Flapper. He
brought with him Pen, Ink, and Paper, and three or four Books; giving me to understand by Signs, that he was sent to
teach me the Language. We sat together four Hours, in which Time I wrote down a great Number of Words in Columns,
with the Translations over against them. I likewise made a Shift to learn several short Sentences. For my tutor would
order one of my Servants to fetch something, to turn about, to make a Bow, to sit, or stand, or walk, and the like. Then I
took down the Sentence in Writing. He shewed me also in one of his Books, the Figures of the Sun, Moon, and Stars,
the Zodiack, the Tropics, and Polar Circles, together with the Denominations of many Figures of Planes and Solids. He
gave me the Names and Descriptions of all the Musical Instruments, and the general Terms of Art in playing on each of
them. After he had left me, I placed all my Words with their Interpretations in alphabetical Order. And thus in a few
Days, by the help of a very Faithful Memory, I got some Insight into their Language.

 The Word, which I interpret the Flying or Floating Island, is in the Original Laputa; whereof I could never learn the
true Etymology. Lap in the old obsolete Language signifieth High, and Untuh a Governor; from which they say by
Corruption was derived Laputa, from Lapuntuh. But I do not approve of this Derivation, which seems to be a little
strained. I ventured to offer to the Learned among them a Conjecture of my own, that Laputa was quasi Lap outed;
Lap signifying properly the dancing of the Sun Beams in the Sea; and outed a Wing, which however I shall not obtrude,
but submit to the judicious Reader.

 Those to whom the King had entrusted me, observing how ill I was clad, ordered a Taylor to come next Morning, and
take my Measure for a Suit of Cloths. This Operator did his Office after a different Manner from those of his Trade in
Europe. He first took my Altitude by a Quadrant, and then with Rule and Compasses, described the Dimensions and
Out-Lines of my whole Body; all which he entered upon Paper, and in six Days brought my Cloths very ill made, and
quite out of Shape, by happening to mistake a Figure in the Calculation. But my Comfort was, that I observed such
Accidents very frequent, and little regarded.

 During my Confinement for want of Cloaths, and by an Indisposition that held me some Days longer, I much enlarged
my Dictionary; and when I went next to Court, was able to understand many Things the King spoke, and to return him
some Kind of Answers. His Majesty had given Orders that the Island should move North-East and by East, to the
vertical Point over Lagado, the Metropolis of the whole Kingdom, below upon the firm Earth. It was about Ninety
Leagues distant, and our Voyage lasted four Days and an Half. I was not in the least sensible of the progressive Motion
made in the Air by the Island. On the second Morning, about Eleven o'Clock, the King himself in Person, attended by
his Nobility, Courtiers, and Officers, having prepared all their Musical Instruments, played on them for three Hours
without Intermission; so that I was quite stunned with the Noise; neither could I possibly guess the Meaning, till my Tutor
informed me. He said, that the People of their Island had their Ears adapted to hear the Musick of the Spheres, which
always played at certain Periods; and the Court was now prepared to bear their Part in whatever Instrument they most
excelled.

 In our Journey towards Lagado the Capital City, his Majesty ordered that the Island should stop over certain Towns
and Villages, from whence he might receive the Petitions of his Subjects. And to this Purpose, several Packthreads were
let down with small Weights at the Bottom. On these Packthreads, the People strung their Petitions, which mounted up
directly like the Scraps of Paper fastned by School-boys at the End of the String that holds their Kite. Sometimes we
received wine and Victuals from below, which were drawn up by Pullies.

 The Knowledge I had in Mathematicks gave me great Assistance in acquiring their Phraseology, which depended much
upon that Science and Musick; and in the latter I was not unskilled. Their Ideas are perpetually conversant in Lines and
Figures. If they would, for Example, praise the Beauty of a Woman, or any other Animal, they describe it by Rhombs,
Circles, Parallelograms, Ellipses, and other Geometrical Terms; or by Words of Art drawn from Musick, needless here
to repeat. I observed in the King's Kitchen all sorts of Mathematical and Musical Instruments, after the Figures of which
they cut up the Joynts that were served to his Majesty's Table.

 Their Houses are very ill built, the Walls bevil without one right Angle in any Apartment; and this Defect ariseth from the
Contempt they bear to practical Geometry; which they despise as vulgar and mechanick, those Instructions they give
being too refined for the Intellectuals of their Workmen; which occasions perpetual Mistakes. And although they are
dextrous enough upon a Piece of Paper in the Management of the Rule, the Pencil, and the Divider, yet in the common
Actions and Behaviour of Life, I have not seen a more clumsy, awkward, and unhandy People, nor so slow and
perplexed in their Conceptions upon all other Subjects, except those of Mathematicks and Musick. They are very bad
Reasoners, and vehemently given to Opposition, unless when they happen to be of the right Opinion, which is seldom
their Case. Imagination, Fancy, and Invention, they are wholly Strangers to, nor have any Words in their Language by
which those Ideas can be expressed; the whole Compass of their Thoughts and Mind, being shut up within the two
forementioned Sciences.

 Most of them, and especially those who deal in the Astronomical Part, have great Faith in judicial Astrology, although
they are ashamed to own it publickly. But, what I chiefly admired, and thought altogether unaccountable, was the strong
Disposition I observed in them towards News and Politicks, perpetually enquiring into public Affairs, giving their
Judgments in Matters of State; and passionately disputing every Inch of a Party Opinion. I have indeed observed the
same Disposition among most of the Mathematicians I have known in Europe; although I could never discover the least
Analogy between the two Sciences; unless those People suppose, that because the smallest Circle hath as many Degrees
as the largest, therefore the Regulation and Management of the World require no more Abilities than the handling and
turning of a Globe. But, I rather take this Quality to spring from a very common Infirmity of human Nature, inclining us to
be more curious and conceited in Matters where we have least Concern, and for which we are least adapted either by
Study or Nature.

 These People are under continual Disquietudes, never enjoying a Minute's Peace of Mind; and their Disturbances
proceed from Causes which very little affect the rest of Mortals. Their Apprehensions arise from several Changes they
dread in the Celestial Bodies. For Instance; that the Earth by the continual Approaches of the Sun towards it, must in
Course of Time be absorbed or swallowed up. That the Face of the Sun will by Degrees be encrusted with its own
Effluvia, and give no more Light to the World. That, the Earth very narrowly escaped a Brush from the Tail of the last
Comet, which would have infallibly reduced it to Ashes; and that the next, which they have calculated for One and Thirty
Years hence, will probably destroy us. For, if in its Perihelion it should approach within a certain Degree of the Sun, (as
by their Calculations they have Reason to dread) it will conceive a Degree of Heat ten Thousand Times more intense
than that of red hot glowing Iron; and in its Absence from the Sun, carry a blazing Tail Ten Hundred Thousand and
Fourteen Miles long; through which if the Earth should pass at the Distance of one Hundred Thousand Miles from the
Nucleus or main Body of the Comet, it must in its Passage be set on Fire, and reduced to Ashes. That the Sun daily
spending its Rays without any Nutriment to supply them, will at last be wholly consumed and annihilated; which must be
attended with the Destruction of this Earth, and of all the Planets that receive their Light from it.

 They are so perpetually alarmed with the Apprehensions of these and the like impending Dangers, that they can neither
sleep quietly in their Beds, nor have any Relish for the common Pleasures or Amusements of Life. When they meet an
Acquaintance in the Morning, the first Question is about the Sun's Health; how he looked at his Setting and Rising, and
what Hopes they have to avoid the Stroak of the approaching Comet. This conversation they are apt to run into with the
same Temper that boys discover, in delighting to hear terrible Stories of Sprites and Hobgoblins, which they greedily
listen to, and dare not go to Bed for fear.

 The Women of the Island have Abundance of Vivacity: they contemn their Husbands, and are exceedingly fond of
Strangers, whereof there is always a considerable Number from the Continent below, attending at Court, either upon
Affairs of the several Towns and Corporations, or their own particular Occasions; but are much despised, because they
want the same Endowments. Among these the Ladies chuse their Gallants: But the Vexation is, that they act with too
much Ease and Security; for the Husband is always so rapt in Speculation, that the Mistress and Lover may proceed to
the greatest Familiarities before his Face, if he be but provided with Paper and Implements, and without his Flapper at
his Side.

 The Wives and Daughters lament their Confinement to the Island, although I think it the most delicious Spot of Ground
in the World; and although they live here in the greatest Plenty and Magnificence, and are allowed to do whatever they
please: They long to see the World, and take the Diversions of the Metropolis, which they are not allowed to do without
a particular Licence from the King; and this is not easy to obtain, because the People of Quality have found by frequent
Experience, how hard it is to persuade their Women to return from below. I was told, that a great Court Lady, who had
several Children, is married to the prime Minister, the richest Subject in the Kingdom, a very graceful Person, extremely
fond of her, and lives in the finest Palace of the Island; went down to Lagado, on the Pretense of Health, there hid
herself for several Months, till the King sent a Warrant to search for her; and she was found in an obscure Eating-House
all in rags, having pawned her Cloths to maintain an old deformed Footman, who beat her every Day, and in whose
Company she was taken much against her Will. And although her Husband received her with all possible Kindness, and
without the least Reproach; she soon after contrived to steal down again with all her Jewels, to the same Gallant, and has
not been heard of since.

 This may perhaps pass with the Reader rather for an European or English Story, than for one of a Country so remote.
But he may please to consider, that the Caprices of Womankind are not limited by any Climate or Nation; and that they
are much more uniform than can be easily imagined.

 In about a Month's Time I had made a tolerable Proficiency in their Language, and was able to answer most of the
King's Questions, when I had the Honour to attend him. His Majesty discovered not the least Curiosity to enquire into
the Laws, Government, History, Religion, or Manners of the Countries where I had been; but confined his Questions to
the State of Mathematicks, and received the Account I gave him with great Contempt and Indifference, though often
rouzed by his Flapper on each Side.