legory the several schemes of wit, whether false,
mixed, or true, that have been the subject of my late papers.
Methought I was transported into a country that was filled with prodigies
and enchantments, governed by the goddess of Falsehood, and entitled the
Region of False Wit. There was nothing in the fields, the woods, and the
rivers, that appeared natural. Several of the trees blossomed in leaf-
gold, some of them produced bone-lace, and some of them precious stones.
The fountains bubbled in an opera tune, and were filled with stags, wild
bears, and mermaids, that lived among the waters; at the same time that
dolphins and several kinds of fish played upon the banks, or took their
pastime in the meadows. The birds had many of them golden beaks, and
human voices. The flowers perfumed the air with smells of incense,
ambergris, and pulvillios; and were so interwoven with one another, that
they grew up in pieces of embroidery. The winds were filled with sighs
and messages of distant lovers. As I was walking to and fro in this
enchanted wilderness, I could not forbear breaking out into soliloquies
upon the several wonders which lay before me, when, to my great surprise,
I found there were artificial echoes in every walk, that, by repetitions
of certain words which I spoke, agreed with me or contradicted me in
everything I said. In the midst of my conversation with these invisible
companions, I discovered in the centre of a very dark grove a monstrous
fabric built after the Gothic manner, and covered with innumerable
devices in that barbarous kind of sculpture. I immediately went up to
it, and found it to be a kind of heathen temple consecrated to the god of
Dulness. Upon my entrance I saw the deity of the place, dressed in the
habit of a monk, with a book in one hand and a rattle in the other. Upon
his right hand was Industry, with a lamp burning before her; and on his
left, Caprice, with a monkey sitting on her shoulder. Before his feet
there stood an altar of a very odd make, which, as I afterwards found,
was shaped in that manner to comply with the inscription that surrounded
it. Upon the altar there lay several offerings of axes, wings, and eggs,
cut in paper, and inscribed with verses. The temple was filled with
votaries, who applied themselves to different diversions, as their
fancies directed them. In one part of it I saw a regiment of anagrams,
who were continually in motion, turning to the right or t
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