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05 - Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

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  Speaker 1: Chapter five, the author, by an extraordinary stratagem prevents an invasion.
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  Speaker 1: Our high title of honor is conferred upon him. Ambassadors
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  Speaker 1: arrive from the Emperor of Blefuscue and sue for peace.
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  Speaker 1: The Empres's apartment on fire by an accident, the Author
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  Speaker 1: instrumental and safe in the rest of the palace. The
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  Speaker 1: Empire of Blefuscue is an island situated to the northeast
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  Speaker 1: of Lilliput, from which it is parted only by a
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  Speaker 1: channel of eight hundred yards wide. I had not yet
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  Speaker 1: seen it, and upon this notice of an intended invasion,
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  Speaker 1: I avoided appearing on that side of the coast, for
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  Speaker 1: fear of being discovered by some of the enemy's ships,
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  Speaker 1: who had received no intelligence of me. All intercourse between
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  Speaker 1: the two empires having been strictly forbidden during the war,
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  Speaker 1: upon pain of death, and an embargo laid by our
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  Speaker 1: Emperor upon all vessels whatsoever, I communicated to his Majesty
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  Speaker 1: a project I had formed of seizing the enemy's the
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  Speaker 1: whole fleet, which, as our scouts assured us, lay at
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  Speaker 1: anchor in the harbor, ready to sail with the first
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  Speaker 1: fair wind. I consulted the most experienced seamen upon the
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  Speaker 1: depth of the channel, which they had often plumbed, who
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  Speaker 1: told me that in the middle, at high water, it
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  Speaker 1: was seventy glumgluffs deep, which is about six feet of
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  Speaker 1: European measure, and the rest of it fifty glumgluffs at most.
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  Speaker 1: I walked towards the northeast coast, over against Blefuscue, where
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  Speaker 1: lying down behind a hillock, I took out my small
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  Speaker 1: perspective glass and viewed the enemy's fleet at anchor, consisting
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  Speaker 1: of about fifty men of war and a great number
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  Speaker 1: of transports. I then came back to my house and
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  Speaker 1: gave orders for which I had a warrant, for a
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  Speaker 1: great quantity of the strongest cable and bars of iron.
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  Speaker 1: The cable was about as thick as pack thread, and
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  Speaker 1: the bars of the length and size of a knitting needle.
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  Speaker 1: I trebled the cable to make it stronger, and for
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  Speaker 1: the same reason I twisted three of the iron bars together,
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  Speaker 1: bending the extremities into a hook. Having thus fixed fifty
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  Speaker 1: hooks to as many cables, I went back to the
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  Speaker 1: northeast coast, and, putting off my coat, shoes and stockings,
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  Speaker 1: walked into the sea in my leather jerkin. About half
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  Speaker 1: an hour before high water, I waded with what haste
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  Speaker 1: I could, and swam in the middle about thirty yards
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  Speaker 1: till I felt ground. I arrived at the fleet in
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  Speaker 1: less than half an hour. The enemy was so frightened
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  Speaker 1: when they saw me that they leaped out of their
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  Speaker 1: ships and swam to shore, where there could not be
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  Speaker 1: fewer than thirty thousand sols. I then took my tackling,
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  Speaker 1: and fastening a hook to the hole at the prow
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  Speaker 1: of each I tied all the cords together at the end.
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  Speaker 1: While I was thus employed, the enemy discharged several thousand arrows,
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  Speaker 1: many of which stuck in my hands and face, and
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  Speaker 1: beside the excessive smart gave me much disturbance in my work.
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  Speaker 1: My greatest apprehension was for mine eyes, which I should
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  Speaker 1: have infallibly lost if I had not sly thought of
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  Speaker 1: an expedient. I kept, among my other little necessities a
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  Speaker 1: pair of spectacles in a private pocket, which, as I
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  Speaker 1: observed before, had escaped the Emperor's searches. These I took
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  Speaker 1: out and fastened as strongly as I could upon my nose,
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  Speaker 1: and thus armed went on boldly with my work in
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  Speaker 1: spite of the enemy's arrows, many of which struck against
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  Speaker 1: the glasses of my spectacles, but without any other effect
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  Speaker 1: further than a little to decompose them. I had now
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  Speaker 1: fastened all the hooks and taken the knot in my hand,
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  Speaker 1: began to pull, but not a ship would stir, for
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  Speaker 1: they were all too fast held by their anchors, so
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  Speaker 1: that the boldest part of my enterprise remained. I therefore
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  Speaker 1: let go of the cord, and, leaving the hooks fixed
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  Speaker 1: to the ships, I resolutely cut with my knife the
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  Speaker 1: cables that fastened the anchors, receiving about two hundred shots
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  Speaker 1: in my face and hands. Then I took up the
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  Speaker 1: knotted end of the cables to which my hooks were tied,
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  Speaker 1: and with great ease drew fifty of the enemy's largest
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  Speaker 1: men of war after me. The Blefuscudians, who had not
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  Speaker 1: the least imagination of what I intended, were at first
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  Speaker 1: confounded with astonishment. They had seen me cut the cables,
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  Speaker 1: and thought my design was only to let the ships
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  Speaker 1: run adrift or fall foul of each other. But when
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  Speaker 1: they perceived the whole fleet moving in order and saw
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  Speaker 1: me pulling out the end, they set up such a
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  Speaker 1: scream of grief and despair, as it is almost impossible
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  Speaker 1: to describe or conceive. When I had got out of danger,
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  Speaker 1: I stopped awhile to pick out the arrows that had
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  Speaker 1: stuck in my hands and face, and rubbed on some
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  Speaker 1: of the same ointment that was given me at my
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  Speaker 1: first arrival. As I have formerly mentioned, I then took
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  Speaker 1: off my spectacles, and, waiting about an hour till the
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  Speaker 1: tide was a little fallen, I waded through the middle
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  Speaker 1: with my cargo and arrived safe at the royal port
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  Speaker 1: of Lilliput. The Emperor and his whole court stood on
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  Speaker 1: the shore, expecting the issue of the great adventure. They
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  Speaker 1: saw the ships move forward in a large half moon,
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  Speaker 1: but could not discern me, who was up to my
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  Speaker 1: breast in water. When I advanced to the middle of
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  Speaker 1: the channel, they were yet in more pain because I
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  Speaker 1: was under water to my neck. The Emperor concluded me
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  Speaker 1: to be drowned, and that the enemy's fleet was approaching
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  Speaker 1: in a hostile manner. But he was soon eased of
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  Speaker 1: his fears, for the channel growing shallow at every step
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  Speaker 1: I made. I came in a short time within hearing
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  Speaker 1: and holding up the end of the cable by which
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  Speaker 1: the fleet was fastened, I cried out in a loud voice,
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  Speaker 1: long live the most poissant King of Lilliput. This great
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  Speaker 1: prince received me at my landing with all possible encomiums,
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  Speaker 1: and created me a nardic upon the spot, which is
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  Speaker 1: the highest title of honor among them. His Majesty desired
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  Speaker 1: I would take some other opportunity of bringing all the
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  Speaker 1: rest of his enemy ships into his ports. And so
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  Speaker 1: unmeasurable as the ambition of princes, that he seemed to
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  Speaker 1: think of nothing less than reducing the whole empire of
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  Speaker 1: Blefiscue into a province and governing it by a viceroy,
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  Speaker 1: of destroying the big Indian exiles, and compelling that people
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  Speaker 1: to break the smaller end of their eggs, by which
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  Speaker 1: he would remain the sole monarch of the whole world.
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  Speaker 1: But I endeavored to divert him from the design by
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  Speaker 1: many arguments drawn from the topics of policy as well
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  Speaker 1: as justice. And I plainly protested that I would never
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  Speaker 1: be an instrument of bringing a free and brave people
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  Speaker 1: into slavery. And when the matter was debated in council,
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  Speaker 1: the wisest part of the ministry were of my opinion.
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  Speaker 1: This open, bold declaration of mine was so opposite to
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  Speaker 1: the schemes and politics of his Imperial Majesty that he
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  Speaker 1: could never forgive me. He mentioned it in a very
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  Speaker 1: artful manner at council, where I was told that some
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  Speaker 1: of the wisest appeared, at least by their silence, to
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  Speaker 1: be of my opinion, but others, who were my secret enemies,
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  Speaker 1: could not forbear some expressions which by a side wind
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  Speaker 1: reflected on me, And from this time began in an
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  Speaker 1: intrigue between His Majesty and a juntaou of ministers maliciously
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  Speaker 1: bent against me, which broke out in less than two months,
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  Speaker 1: and had liked to have ended in my utter destruction
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  Speaker 1: of so little way to the greatest services to princes,
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  Speaker 1: when put into the balance with a refusal to gratify
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  Speaker 1: their passions. About three weeks after this exploit, there arrived
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  Speaker 1: a solemn embassy from Blefriscue with humble offers of peace,
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  Speaker 1: which was soon concluded upon conditions very advantageous to our Emperor,
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  Speaker 1: wherewith I shall not trouble the reader. There were six
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  Speaker 1: ambassadors with a train of about five hundred persons, and
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  Speaker 1: their entry was very magnificent, suitable to the grandeur of
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  Speaker 1: their master and the importance of their business. When their
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  Speaker 1: treaty was finished, wherein I did them several good offices
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  Speaker 1: by the credit I now had, or at least appeared
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  Speaker 1: to have at court. Their excellencies, who were privately told
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  Speaker 1: how much I had been their friend, made me a
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  Speaker 1: visit in form They began, with many common implements upon
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  Speaker 1: my valor and generosity, invited me to that kingdom in
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  Speaker 1: the Emperor their Master's name, and desired me to show
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  Speaker 1: them some proofs of my prodigious strength, of which they
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  Speaker 1: had heard so many wonders. Wherein I readily obliged them,
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  Speaker 1: but shall not trouble the reader with the particulars. When
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  Speaker 1: I had for some time entertained their excellencies to their
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  Speaker 1: infinite satisfaction and surprise, I desired they would do me
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  Speaker 1: the honor to present my most humble respects to the
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  Speaker 1: Emperor their Master, the renown of whose virtues had so
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  Speaker 1: justly filled the whole world with admiration, and whose royal
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  Speaker 1: person I resolved to attend before I returned to my
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  Speaker 1: own country. Accordingly, the next time I had the honor
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  Speaker 1: to see our Emperor, I desired his general license to
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  Speaker 1: wait on the Bluffiescudian monarch, which he was pleased to
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  Speaker 1: grant me, as I could perceive in a very cold manner,
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  Speaker 1: but could not guess the reason till I had a
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  Speaker 1: whisper from a certain person that fil Napp and Bogolam
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  Speaker 1: had represented my intercourse with those of the membassadors as
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  Speaker 1: a mark of disaffection, from which I am sure my
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  Speaker 1: heart was wholly free. And this was the first time
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  Speaker 1: I began to conceive some imperfect idea of courts and ministers.
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  Speaker 1: It is to be observed that these ambassadors spoke to
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  Speaker 1: me by an interpreter, the languages of both empires differing
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  Speaker 1: as much from each other as any two in Europe,
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  Speaker 1: and each nation priding itself upon the antiquity, beauty, and
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  Speaker 1: energy of their own tongue, with an avowed contempt for
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  Speaker 1: that of their neighbor. Yet our Emperor, standing upon the
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  Speaker 1: advantage she had gotten by the seizure of their fleet,
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  Speaker 1: obliged them to deliver their credentials and make their speech
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  Speaker 1: in their Lilepusian tongue. And it must be confessed that
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  Speaker 1: from the great intercourse of trade and commerce between both realms,
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  Speaker 1: from the continual reception of exiles, which is mutual among them,
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  Speaker 1: and from the custom in each empire to send their
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  Speaker 1: young nobility and richer gentry to the other in order
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  Speaker 1: to polish themselves by seeing the world and understand it
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  Speaker 1: men and manners. There are few persons of distinction, or
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  Speaker 1: merchants or seamen who dwell in the maritime parts. But
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  Speaker 1: what can hold conversation in both tongues? As I found
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  Speaker 1: some weeks after when I went to pay my respects
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  Speaker 1: to the Emperor of Blefuscuie, which, in the midst of
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  Speaker 1: great misfortunes, through the malice of my enemies, proved a
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  Speaker 1: very happy adventure to me. As I shall relate in
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  Speaker 1: its proper place, the reader may remember that when I
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  Speaker 1: signed these articles upon which I recovered my liberty, there
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  Speaker 1: were some which I had disliked upon account of their
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  Speaker 1: being too servile. Neither could anything but an extreme necessity
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  Speaker 1: have forced me to submit. But being now a nardek
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  Speaker 1: of the highest rank in that empire, such offices were
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  Speaker 1: looked upon as below my dignity, and the Emperor, to
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  Speaker 1: do him justice, never once mentioned them to me. However,
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  Speaker 1: it was not long before I had opportunity of doing
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  Speaker 1: his Majesty at least, as I then thought, a most
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  Speaker 1: signal service. I was armed at midnight with the cries
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  Speaker 1: of many hundred people at my door, by which, being
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  Speaker 1: suddenly awaked, I was in some kind of terror. I
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  Speaker 1: heard the word burglm repeated incessantly. Several of the Emperor's court,
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  Speaker 1: making their way through the crowd, entreated me to come
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  Speaker 1: immediately to the palace, where Her Imperial Majesty's apartment was
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  Speaker 1: on fire by the carelessness of a maid of honor
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  Speaker 1: who fell asleep while she was reading a romance. I
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  Speaker 1: got up in an instant, and orders being given to
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  Speaker 1: clear the way before me, and it being likewise a
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  Speaker 1: moonshine night, I made a shift to get to the
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  Speaker 1: palace without trampling on any of the people. I found.
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  Speaker 1: They had already applied ladders to the walls of the apartment,
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  Speaker 1: and were well provided with buckets, but the water was
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  Speaker 1: at some distance. These buckets were about the size of
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  Speaker 1: large thymbols, and the poor people supplied me with them
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  Speaker 1: as fast as they could, but the flames was so
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  Speaker 1: violent that they did little good. I might easily have
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  Speaker 1: stifled it with my coat, which I had unfortunately left
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  Speaker 1: behind me for haste, and came way only in my
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  Speaker 1: leather jerkin. The case seemed wholly desperate and deplorable, and
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  Speaker 1: this magnificent palace would have been infallibly burnt down to
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  Speaker 1: the ground, if, by a presence of mind unusual to me,
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  Speaker 1: I had not suddenly thought of an expedient. I had
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  Speaker 1: the evening before drunk plentifully of a most delicious wine
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  Speaker 1: called glimmigrim. The bless Fustians call it flunck, but ours
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  Speaker 1: is esteemed the better sort, which is very diuretic. By
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  Speaker 1: the luckiest chance in the world, I had not discharged
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  Speaker 1: myself of any part of it, which I avoided in
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  Speaker 1: such a quantity, and applied so well to the proper places,
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  Speaker 1: that in three minutes the fire was wholly extinguished, and
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  Speaker 1: the rest of that noble pile, which had cost so
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  Speaker 1: many ages in erecting, preserved from destruction. It was now daylight,
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  Speaker 1: and I returned to my house without waiting to congratulate
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  Speaker 1: with the Emperor, because although I had done a very
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  Speaker 1: eminent piece of service, yet I could not tell how
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  Speaker 1: his Majesty might resent the manner by which I had
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  Speaker 1: performed it. For by the fundamental laws of the realm,
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  Speaker 1: it is capital in any person, of what quality soever
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  Speaker 1: to make water within the precincts of the Palace. But
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  Speaker 1: I was a little comforted by a message from His
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  Speaker 1: Majesty that he would give orders to the Grand Justicary
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  Speaker 1: for passing my pardon, in form which, however, I could
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  Speaker 1: not obtain. And I was privately assured that the Empress,
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  Speaker 1: conceiving the greatest abhorrence of what I had done, removed
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  Speaker 1: to the most distant side of the court, firmly resolved
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  Speaker 1: that those buildings should never be repaired for her use,
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  Speaker 1: and in the presence of her chief confidence could not
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  Speaker 1: forbear vowing revenge. End of Chapter five, Part one