out of Curiosity visit me at mine own House, we neither of us are able to 
deliver our Conceptions in a Manner intelligible to the other. 

If the Censure of Yahoos could any Way affect me, I should have great 
Reason to complain that some of them are so bold as to think my Book of 
Travels a mere Fiction out of mine own brain; and have gone so far as to 
drop Hints, that the Houyhnhnms and Yahoos have no more Existence than 
the Inhabitants of Utopia. 

Indeed I must confess, that as to the People of Lilliput, Brobdingrag (for so 
the Word should have been spelt, and not erroneously Brobdingnag), and 
Laputa; I have never yet heard of any Yahoo so presumptuous as to dispute 
their being, or the Facts I have related concerning them; because the Truth 
immediately strikes every Reader with Conviction. And is there less 
Probability in my Account of the Houyhnhnms or Yahoos, when it is 
manifest as to the latter, there are so many Thousands even in this City, 
who only differ from their Brother Brutes in Houyhnhnmland, because 
they use a Sort of a Jabber, and do not go naked? I wrote for their 
Amendment, and not their Approbation. The united Praise of the whole 
Race would be of less Consequence to me than the neighing of those two 
degenerate Houyhnhnms I keep in my stable; because from these, 
degenerate as they are, I still improve in some Virtues, without any 
Mixture of Vice. 

Do these miserable Animals presume to think that I am so far degenerated 
as to defend my veracity? Yahoo as I am, it is well known through all 
Houyhnhnmland, that by the Instructions and Example of my illustrious 
Master I was able in the Compass of two Years (although I confess with the 
utmost Difficulty) to remove that infernal Habit of Lying, Shuffling, 
Deceiving, and Equivocating, so deeply rooted in the very Souls of all my 
Species, especially the Europeans. 

I have other Complaints to make upon this vexatious Occasion; but I 
forbear troubling myself or you any further. I must freely confess, that 
since my last Return, some Corruptions of my Yahoo Nature have revived 
in me by conversing with a few of your Species, and particularly those of 
mine own Family, by an unavoidable Necessity; else I should never have 
attempted so absurd a Project as that of reforming the Yahoo Race in this 
Kingdom; but I have now done with all visionary Schemes for ever. 

April 2, 1727. 

THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER 

THE AUTHOR of these Travels, Mr. Lemuel Gulliver, is my antient and 
intimate Friend; there is likewise some Relation between us by the Mother's 
Side. About three Years ago Mr. Gulliver, growing weary of the 
Concourse of curious People coming to him at his House in Redriff, made a 
small purchase of land, with a convenient house, near Newark in 
Nottinghamshire, his native Country; where he now lives retired, yet in 
good Esteem among his Neighbors. 

Although Mr. Gulliver was born in Nottinghamshire, where his Father 
dwelt, yet I have heard him say his Family came from Oxfordshire; to 
confirm which, I have observed in the Church-Yard at Banbury, in that 
County, several Tombs and Monuments of the Gullivers. 

Before he quitted Redriff, he left the Custody of the following Papers in 
my Hands, with the Liberty to dispose of them as I should think fit. I have 
carefully perused them three Times. The style is very plain and simple; and 
the only Fault I find is, that the Author, after the Manner of Travelers, is a 
little too circumstantial. There is an Air of Truth apparent through the 
whole; and indeed the Author was so distinguished for his Veracity, that it 
became a Sort of Proverb among his Neighbors at Redriff, when any one 
affirmed a Thing, to say it was as true as if Mr. Gulliver had spoke it. 

By the Advice of several worthy Persons, to whom, with the Author's 
Permission, I communicated these Papers, I now venture to send them into 
the World, hoping they may be at least, for some time, a better 
Entertainment to our young Noblemen than the common Scribbles of 
Politicks and Party. 

This Volume would have been at least twice as large, if I had not made 
bold to strike out innumerable Passages relating to the Winds and Tides, as 
well as to the Variations and Bearings in the several Voyages; together with 
the minute Descriptions of the Management of the Ship in Storms, in the 
Style of Sailors. Likewise the Account of the Longitudes and Latitudes; 
wherein I have Reason to apprehend that Mr. Gulliver may be a little 
dissatisfied. But I was resolved to fit the Work as much as possible to the 
general Capacity of Readers. However, if my own Ignorance in Sea-Affairs 
shall have led me to commit some Mistakes, I alone am answerable for 
them. And if any Traveller hath a Curiosity to see the whole Work at 
large, as it came from the Hand of the Author, I shall be ready to gratify 
him. 

As for any further Particulars relating to the Author, the Reader will 
receive Satisfaction from the first Pages of the Book. 

Richard Sympson. 

PART I: A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT

                           [Plate 1: Lilliput]

CHAPTER I.

The Author gives some Account of himself and Family:  His first 
Inducements to travel.  He is shipwreck'd, and swims for his Life:  Gets 
safe on shoar in the Country of Lilliput:  Is made a Prisoner, and carry'd 
up the Country.