| PART I. | |
| Page | |
|---|---|
| INTRODUCTION | [1] |
| CHAP. I. The Hurricane | [4] |
| CHAP. II. The fine Prospect | [9] |
| CHAP. III. The Voice | [13] |
| CHAP. IV. The Reverse | [16] |
| CHAP. V. The Apparitions | [24] |
| CHAP. VI. The Surfaces | [27] |
| CHAP. VII. The Globe | [34] |
| CHAP. VIII. The Discourses | [38] |
| CHAP. IX. Happiness | [46] |
| CHAP. X. The Hodge-Podge | [51] |
| CHAP. XI. The Mirrour | [56] |
| CHAP. XII. The Trial | [63] |
| CHAP. XIII. The Talents | [73] |
| CHAP. XIV. The Taste of the Age | [79] |
| CHAP. XV. The Female Reasoner | [82] |
| CHAP. XVI. The Crocodiles | [85] |
| CHAP. XVII. The Storm | [93] |
| CHAP. XVIII. The Gallery | [99] |
| CHAP. XIX. The other Side of the Gallery | [116] |
GIPHANTIA.
PART THE FIRST.
Introduction.
No man ever had a stronger inclination for travelling than myself. I consider’d the whole earth as my country, and all mankind as my brethren, and therefore thought it incumbent upon me to travel thro’ the earth and visit my brethren. I have walk’d over the ruins of the antient world, have view’d the monuments of modern pride, and, at the sight of all-devouring time, have wept over both. I have often found great folly among the nations that pass for the most civiliz’d, and sometimes as great wisdom among those that are counted the most savage. I have seen small states supported by virtue, and mighty empires shaken by vice, whilst a mistaken policy has been employ’d to inrich the subjects, without any endeavours to render them virtuous.
After having gone over the whole world and visited all the inhabitants, I find it does not answer the pains I have taken. I have just been reviewing my memoirs concerning the several nations, their prejudices, their customs and manners, their politicks, their laws, their religion, their history; and I have thrown them all into the fire. It grieves me to record such a monstrous mixture of humanity and barbarousness, of grandeur and meanness, of reason and folly.
The small part, I have preserv’d, is what I am now publishing. If it has no other merit, certainly it has novelty to recommend it.
