uch, that many of them, thro' Folly or
Superstition, will come in Bodies to the House of a Minister, and beg as
the greatest Favour and Honour, they and their Families may be served up
to his Lordship's Table; and I have seen the Fools, who had thus offered
themselves, and been accepted, if there was not immediate Occasion for
them, strut in the Streets with a Chain of Silver about their Necks,
which they look'd upon as the greatest Honour; and when call'd for by
his Lordship's Cook, run exulting, and offer their Throats to his Knife;
tho' this Nation was, in Time past, the bravest, and the most tenacious
of their Liberty, of any of the feather'd Race. But I have digress'd too
far.
My new Master, or, more properly, Lord, order'd an Apartment and a Table
for me, with a Tutor to teach me the Languages, by whose Diligence, and
my own _Avidity_ of Learning, I began in Four Months to understand a
great Part of what was said to me; and my Lord was so very much pleased
at my Progress, that he gave my Tutor a Post, which raised him about
Four Inches. My Lord forbore asking me any Questions concerning my self,
till I was perfectly Master or the Languages, which I was in about
Eleven Months.
He one Day sent for me into his Chamber, and accosted me in the
following Words:
Probusomo (_which is, Monster of Nature, the Name he gave me_)
I have suspended my Curiosity of enquiring whence, and how you came
into this Kingdom, till we could perfectly understand each other,
that I might not be troubled with an imperfect Relation: Now that
you are Master of our Language, tell me of what Part of the World
you are; whether you are of savage, or a civiliz'd Nation? if of the
latter, what is your Policy, what are your Manners and Customs, and
what Accident brought you hither?
I threw my self on my Face, and kiss'd his right golden Spur (for the
Grandees saw off those which Nature has provided them, and substitute
these in their Places) then rising, I answer'd, That I was of _Europe_,
a Country so distant from _Cacklogallinia_, that I was near Six Moons at
Sea, before I was cast on its Coast.
Why, _said he_, is it possible you can swim so long? for you being
destitute of Wings, can have no other Method of passing so vast a
Water.
I told him we pass'd the Seas in Ships, and gave him a Description of
them, but could not make him have the least Idea of what I meant, till
the next Day, that I hollow'd, shap'd, and
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