w anything of the
infinite attempts which had been made from Europe, as well by the
English as the Dutch, to discover a passage that way into those parts
of the world; and as William pressed as earnestly to go on to the north
to rescue those poor men, so the ship's {50} company began to incline
to it; and, in a word, we all come to this, that we would stand in to
the shore of Formosa, to find this priest again, and have a further
account of it all from him. Accordingly the sloop went over; but when
they came there, the vessels were very unhappily sailed, and this put
an end to our inquiry after them, and perhaps may have disappointed
mankind of one of the most noble discoveries that ever was made, or
will again be made, in the world, for the good of mankind in general;
but so much for that.

William was so uneasy at losing this opportunity, that he pressed us
earnestly to go up to Japan to find out these men. He told us that if
it was nothing but to recover thirteen honest poor men from a kind of
captivity, which they would otherwise never be redeemed from, and
where, perhaps, they might, some time or other, be murdered by the
barbarous people, in defence of their idolatry, it were very well worth
our while, and it would be, in some measure, making amends for the
mischiefs we had done in the world; but we, that had no concern upon us
for the mischiefs we had done, had much less about any satisfactions to
be made for it, so he found that kind of discourse would weigh very
little with us. Then he pressed us very earnestly to let him have the
sloop to go by himself, and I told him I would not oppose it; but when
he came to the sloop none of the men would go with him; for the case
was plain, they had all a share in the cargo of the great ship, as well
as in that of the sloop, and the richness of the cargo was such that
they would not leave it by any means; so poor William, much to {51} his
mortification, was obliged to give it over. What became of those
thirteen men, or whether they are not there still, I can give no
account of.

(_Captain Singleton_.)

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745

THE ART OF CONVERSATION

I have observed few obvious subjects to have been so seldom, or, at
least, so slightly handled as this; and, indeed, I know few so
difficult to be treated as it ought, nor yet upon which there seemeth
so much to be said.

Most things, pursued by men for the happiness of public or private
life, our wit or f