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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seven, The author, being informed of a design to
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  Speaker 1: accuse him of high treason, makes us escape to Blefuscue
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  Speaker 1: his reception there. Before I proceed to give an account
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  Speaker 1: of my leaving this kingdom, it may be proper to
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  Speaker 1: inform the reader of a private intrigue which had been
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  Speaker 1: for two months forming against me. I had been hitherto
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  Speaker 1: all my life a stranger to courts for which I
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  Speaker 1: was unqualified by the meanness of my condition. I had
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  Speaker 1: indeed heard and read enough of the dispositions of great
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  Speaker 1: princes and ministers, but never expected to have found such
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  Speaker 1: terrible effects of them in some remoter country, governed, as
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  Speaker 1: I thought, by very different maxims from those in Europe.
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  Speaker 1: When I was just preparing to pay my attendance on
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  Speaker 1: the Emperor of Blefuscue, a considerable person at court to
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  Speaker 1: whom I had been very serviceable at a time when
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  Speaker 1: he lay under the highest displeasure of his Imperial majesty,
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  Speaker 1: came to my house very privately at night, in a
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  Speaker 1: close chair, and without sending his name desired admittance. The
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  Speaker 1: chairman was dismissed. I put the chair, with his lordship
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  Speaker 1: in it into my coat pocket, and giving orders to
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  Speaker 1: a trusty servant to say I was indisposed and gone
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  Speaker 1: to sleep. I fastened the door of my house, placed
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  Speaker 1: the chair on the table according to my usual custom,
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  Speaker 1: and sat down by it after the common salutations were over,
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  Speaker 1: observing his Lordship's countenance full of concern, and inquiring into
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  Speaker 1: the reason he desired, I would hear him with all patience,
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  Speaker 1: in a manner that highly concerned my honor and my life.
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  Speaker 1: His speech was to the following effect, for I took
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  Speaker 1: notes of it as soon as he left me. You
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  Speaker 1: ought to know, said he, that several committees of Council
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  Speaker 1: had been lately called in the most private manner on
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  Speaker 1: your account. And it is but two days since his
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  Speaker 1: Majesty came to a full resolution. You are very sensible
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  Speaker 1: that Skyrish bogolonm Galbert, or High Admiral, has been your
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  Speaker 1: mortal enemy almost ever since your arrival. His original reasons
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  Speaker 1: I know not, but his hatred has increased since your
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  Speaker 1: great success against Blefiscue, by which his glorious Admiral is
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  Speaker 1: much obscured. This lord, in conjunction with filling up the
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  Speaker 1: High Treasurer, whose enmity against you is notorious. An account
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  Speaker 1: of his Lady Limb Tuck, the General luck On, the Chamberlain,
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  Speaker 1: and baum Off, the Grand Justicsary have prepared articles of
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  Speaker 1: impeachment against you for treason and other capital crimes. This
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  Speaker 1: preface made me so impatient, being conscious of my own
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  Speaker 1: merits and innocent, that I was going to interrupt him
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  Speaker 1: when he entreated me to be silent, and thus proceeded.
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  Speaker 1: Out of the gratitude for the favors you have done me,
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  Speaker 1: I procured information of the whole proceedings and a copy
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  Speaker 1: of the articles, wherein I venture my head for your service.
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  Speaker 1: Articles of impeachment against quynbillis flesterin the Man Mountain, Article one,
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  Speaker 1: Whereas by a statute made in the reign of His
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  Speaker 1: Imperial Majesty Calin de far Plun, it is enacted that
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  Speaker 1: whoever shall make water within the precincts of the Royal
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  Speaker 1: Palace shall be liable to the pains and penalties of
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  Speaker 1: high treason. Notwithstanding the said quinbus flesterin in open breach
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  Speaker 1: of the said law, under colour of extinguishing the fire
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  Speaker 1: kindled in the apartment of His Majesty's most dear Imperial Consort,
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  Speaker 1: did maliciously treacherously and devilishly by discharge of his urine,
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  Speaker 1: put out the said fire kindled in the said apartment,
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  Speaker 1: lying and being within the precincts of the said Royal Palace,
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  Speaker 1: against the statute in that case provided, etc. Against the duty,
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  Speaker 1: et cetera. Article two, That the said quinbus Flestrin, having
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  Speaker 1: brought the Imperial fleet of Blefuscue into the Royal port,
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  Speaker 1: and being afterwards commanded by his Imperial Majesty, to seize
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  Speaker 1: all the other ships of the said Empire of Blefuscue,
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  Speaker 1: and reduce that empire to a province, to be governors
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  Speaker 1: by a viceroy from hence, and to destroy and put
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  Speaker 1: to death not only all the big Indian exiles, but
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  Speaker 1: likewise all the people of that Empire who would not
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  Speaker 1: immediately forsake the big Endian heresy. He, the said Flestrian,
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  Speaker 1: like a false traitor, against his most auspicious, serene Imperial Majesty,
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  Speaker 1: did petition to be excused from the said service, upon
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  Speaker 1: pretense of the unwillingness to force the consciences or destroy
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  Speaker 1: the liberties and lives of an innocent people. Article three, That,
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  Speaker 1: whereas certain ambassadors arrived from the Court of Blefuscue to
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  Speaker 1: sue for peace in his Majesty's court. He, the said flesterin, did,
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  Speaker 1: like a false traitor, aid abet comfort and divert the
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  Speaker 1: said ambassadors, although he knew them to be servants to
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  Speaker 1: a prince who was lately an open enemy to his
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  Speaker 1: Imperial Majesty, and in an open war against his said
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  Speaker 1: Imperial Majesty. Article four, that the said quinbus flesterin, contrary
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  Speaker 1: to the duty of a faithful subject, is now preparing
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  Speaker 1: to make a voyage to the court and Empire of Blefuscue,
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  Speaker 1: for which he has received only verbal license from his
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  Speaker 1: Imperial Majesty, and under color of the said license, does
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  Speaker 1: falsely and treacherously intend to take the said voyage, and
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  Speaker 1: thereby to aid comfort and abet the Emperor of Blefuscue,
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  Speaker 1: so lately an enemy and an open war with his
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  Speaker 1: Imperial Majesty. As foresaid, there are some other articles, but
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  Speaker 1: these are the most important, of which I have read
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  Speaker 1: you an abstract. In the several debates upon this impeachment,
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  Speaker 1: it must be confessed that his Majesty gave many marks
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  Speaker 1: of his great lenienty, often urge in the services you
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  Speaker 1: had done him. And endeavoring to extenuate your crimes. The
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  Speaker 1: Treasurer and Admiral insisted that you should be put to
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  Speaker 1: the most painful and ignominious death by setting fire to
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  Speaker 1: your house at night, and the General was to attend
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  Speaker 1: with twenty thousand men armed with poisoned arrows to shoot
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  Speaker 1: you on the face and hands. Some of it. Your
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  Speaker 1: servants were to have private orders to strew a poisonous
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  Speaker 1: juice on your shirts and sheets, which would soon make
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  Speaker 1: you tear your own flesh and die in the utmost torture.
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  Speaker 1: The General came into the same opinion, so that for
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  Speaker 1: a long time there was a majority against you, But
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  Speaker 1: his Majesty, resolving if possible, to spare your life, at
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  Speaker 1: last brought off the Chamberlain. Upon this incident, Real Dressel,
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  Speaker 1: Principal Secretary for Private Affairs, who always approved himself your
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  Speaker 1: true friend, was commanded by the Emperor to deliver his opinion,
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  Speaker 1: which he accordingly did, and therein justified the good thoughts
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  Speaker 1: you have of him. He allowed your crimes to be great,
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  Speaker 1: but that still there was room for mercy, the most
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  Speaker 1: commendable virtue in a prince, and for which his Majesty
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  Speaker 1: was so justly celebrated. He said, the friendship between you
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  Speaker 1: and him was so well known to the world, that
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  Speaker 1: perhaps the most honorable board might think him partial. However,
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  Speaker 1: in obedience to the command he received, he would freely
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  Speaker 1: offer his sentiments that if his Majesty, in consideration of
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  Speaker 1: your services, and pursuant to his own merciful disposition, would
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  Speaker 1: please to spare your life and only give orders to
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  Speaker 1: put out both your eyes, He humbly conceived that this expedient,
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  Speaker 1: just as might in some measure, be satisfied, and all
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  Speaker 1: the world would applaud the lenienty of the Emperor, as
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  Speaker 1: well as the fair and generous proceedings of those who
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  Speaker 1: have the honor to be his counselors. That the loss
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  Speaker 1: of your eyes would be no impediment to your bodily strength,
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  Speaker 1: by which you might still be useful to his Majesty,
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  Speaker 1: that blindness, in addition to courage, by concealing dangers from us,
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  Speaker 1: That the fear you had for your eyes was the
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  Speaker 1: greatest difficulty in bringing over the enemy's fleet, and it
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  Speaker 1: would be sufficient for you to see by the eyes
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  Speaker 1: of the ministers, since the great princes do no more.
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  Speaker 1: This proposal was received with the utmost disprobation by the
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  Speaker 1: whole board Bogolon, the Admiral could not preserve his temp but,
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  Speaker 1: rising up in fury, said, he wondered how the Secretary
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  Speaker 1: does presume to give his opinion for preserving the life
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  Speaker 1: of a traitor. That the services you had performed were
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  Speaker 1: by all true reasons of state the great aggravation of
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  Speaker 1: your crimes. That you, who were able to extinguish the
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  Speaker 1: fire by discharge of urine in Her Majesty's department, which
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  Speaker 1: he mentioned with horror, might at another time raise in
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  Speaker 1: anundation by the same means to drown the whole palace.
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  Speaker 1: And the same strength which enabled you to bring over
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  Speaker 1: the enemy's fleet might serve, upon the first discontent, to
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  Speaker 1: carry it back. That he had good reasons to think
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  Speaker 1: you were a big Indian in your heart, And as
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  Speaker 1: treason begins in the heart before it appears in overt acts,
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  Speaker 1: so he accused you as a traitor on that account,
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  Speaker 1: and therefore insisted you should be put to death. The
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  Speaker 1: treasurers of the same opinion, he showed to what straits
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  Speaker 1: his Majesty's revenue was reduced. But the charge of maintaining you,
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  Speaker 1: which would soon grow insupportable. That the Secretary's expedient of
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  Speaker 1: putting out your eyes was so far from being a
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  Speaker 1: remedy against this evil that it would probably increase it,
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  Speaker 1: as is manifest from the common practice of blinding some
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  Speaker 1: kind of fowls, after which they feed the faster and
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  Speaker 1: grow sooner fat. That His Sacred Majesty and the Council,
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  Speaker 1: who are your judges, were in their own consciences fully
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  Speaker 1: conceived of your guilt, which was a sufficient argument to
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  Speaker 1: condemn you to death without the formal proofs required by
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  Speaker 1: the strict letter of the law. But his Imperial Majesty,
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  Speaker 1: fully determined against capital punishment, was graciously pleased to say that,
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  Speaker 1: since the Council thought the loss of your eyes too easy,
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  Speaker 1: a censure some other way might be inflicted hereafter. And
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  Speaker 1: your friend the Secretary, humbly, desiring to be heard again
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  Speaker 1: in answer to what the Treasurer had objected concerning the
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  Speaker 1: Great Charge's Majesty, he was at in maintaining you, said
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  Speaker 1: that his Excellency, who had the sole disposal of the
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  Speaker 1: Emperor's revenue, might easily provide against the evil by gradually
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  Speaker 1: lessening your establishment, by which for want of sufficient, for
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  Speaker 1: you would grow weak and faint, and lose your appetite,
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  Speaker 1: and consequently decay and consume in a few months. Neither
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  Speaker 1: would the stent of your carcass be then so dangerous,
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  Speaker 1: when it should become more than half diminished, And immediately
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  Speaker 1: upon your death, five or six thousand of His Majesty's
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  Speaker 1: subjects might in two or three days cut your flesh
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  Speaker 1: from your bones, and take it away by cart loads,
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  Speaker 1: and bury it in distant parts to prevent infection, leaving
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  Speaker 1: the skeleton as a monument of admiration to prosperity. Thus,
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  Speaker 1: by the great friendship of the Secretary, the whole affair
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  Speaker 1: was compromised. It was strictly enjoined that the project of
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  Speaker 1: starving you by degrees should be kept a secret, but
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  Speaker 1: the sentence of putting out your eyes was entered on
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  Speaker 1: the book books. None dissenting except Bogolon, the Admiral, who,
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  Speaker 1: being a creature of the Empress, was perpetually instigated by
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  Speaker 1: Her Majesty to insist upon your death, she having borne
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  Speaker 1: perpetual malice against you, on account of that infamous and
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  Speaker 1: a legal method you took to extinguish the fire in
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  Speaker 1: her apartment in three days, your friend, the Secretary will
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  Speaker 1: be directed to come to your house and read before
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  Speaker 1: you the articles of impeachment, and then to signify the
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  Speaker 1: great lenienty in favor of His Majesty and council. Whereby
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  Speaker 1: you are only condemned to the loss of your eyes,
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  Speaker 1: which his Majesty does not question, you will gratefully and
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  Speaker 1: humbly submit to. And twenty of his Majesty's surgeons will
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  Speaker 1: attend in order to see the operation well performed. By
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  Speaker 1: discharging very sharp pointed arrows into the balls of your
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  Speaker 1: eyes as you lie on the ground, I leave you
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  Speaker 1: to your prudence what measures you would take, and to
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  Speaker 1: avoid suspicion, I must immediately return in as private a
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  Speaker 1: manner as I came. His lordship did so, and I
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  Speaker 1: remained alone under many doubts and perplexities of mind. It
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  Speaker 1: was a custom introduced by this Prince and his ministry
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  Speaker 1: very different, as I have been assured from the practice
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  Speaker 1: of former times, that after the court has decreed any
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  Speaker 1: cruel execution, either to gratify the monarch's resentment or the
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  Speaker 1: malice of a favorite, the Emperor always makes a speech
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  Speaker 1: to his whole council, expressed in his great lenienty and tenderness,
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  Speaker 1: as qualities known and confessed by all the world. This
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  Speaker 1: speech was immediately published throughout the kingdom. Nor did anything
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  Speaker 1: terrify the people so much as these encomiums on His
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  Speaker 1: Majesty's mercy, because it was observed that the more these
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  Speaker 1: praises were enlarged and insisted on, the more inhuman was
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  Speaker 1: the punishment, and the sufferer more innocent. Yet as to myself,
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  Speaker 1: I must confess, having never been designed for a courtier,
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  Speaker 1: either by my birth or education, I was so ill
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  Speaker 1: a judge of things that I could not discover the
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  Speaker 1: lenientity and favor of this sentence, but conceived it, perhaps erroneously,
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  Speaker 1: rather to be rigorous than gentle. I sometimes thought of
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  Speaker 1: standing my trial, for although I could not deny the
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  Speaker 1: facts alleged in several articles, yet I hoped they would
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  Speaker 1: admit of some extenuation. But having in my life pursued
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  Speaker 1: many state trials, which I ever observed to terminate as
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  Speaker 1: the judges thought fit to direct, I durst not rely
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  Speaker 1: on so dangerous a decision, in so critical a juncture,
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  Speaker 1: and against such powerful enemies. Once I was strongly bent
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  Speaker 1: upon resistance, For while I had liberty. The whole strength
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  Speaker 1: of that empire could hardly subdue me, and I might
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  Speaker 1: easily with stones pel the metropolis to pieces. But I
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  Speaker 1: soon rejected that project with horror, by remembering the oath
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  Speaker 1: I had made to the Emperor, the favors I had
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  Speaker 1: received from him, and the high title of Nardieu he
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  Speaker 1: had conferred upon me. Neither had I so soon learned
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  Speaker 1: the gratitude of courtiers to persuade myself that His Majesty's
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  Speaker 1: prayers and seventies acquitted me of all past obligations. At
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  Speaker 1: last I fixed upon a resolution for which it is
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  Speaker 1: probable I may incur some censure, and not unjustly, for
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  Speaker 1: I confess I owe the preserving of mine eyes, and
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  Speaker 1: consequently my liberty, to my own great rashness and want
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  Speaker 1: of experience. Because if I had then known the nature
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  Speaker 1: of princes and ministers, which I have since observed in
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  Speaker 1: many other courts, and their methods of treating criminals less
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  Speaker 1: obnoxious than myself, I should, with great alacrity and readiness
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  Speaker 1: have submitted to so easy a punishment, But hurried on
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  Speaker 1: by the precipitancy of youth, and having his imperial Majesty's
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  Speaker 1: license to pay my attendance upon the Emperor of Blefuscuie.
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  Speaker 1: I took this opportunity before the three days were elapsed,
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  Speaker 1: to send a letter to my friend the Secretary, signifying
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  Speaker 1: my resolution of setting out that morning for Blefuscue. Pursuant
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  Speaker 1: to the leave I had got, and without waiting for
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  Speaker 1: an answer, I went to that side of the island
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  Speaker 1: where our fleet lay. I seized a large man of war,
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  Speaker 1: tied a cable to the prow, and lifting up the anchors,
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  Speaker 1: I stripped myself, put my clothes together with my coverlet,
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  Speaker 1: which I carried under my arm into the vessel, and
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  Speaker 1: drawing it after me. Between wading and swimming, arrived at
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  Speaker 1: the royal port of Lethuskue, where the people had long
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  Speaker 1: expected me. They lent me two guides to direct me
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  Speaker 1: to the capital city, which is of the same name.
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  Speaker 1: I held them in my hands till I came within
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  Speaker 1: two hundred yards of the gate, and desired them to
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  Speaker 1: signify my arrival to one of the secretaries and let
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  Speaker 1: him know I there waited His Majesty's command. I had
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  Speaker 1: an answer in about an hour that His Majesty attended
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  Speaker 1: by the royal family and great officers of the court
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  Speaker 1: was coming out to receive me. I advanced a hundred yards.
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  Speaker 1: The Emperor and his train alighted from their horses, the
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  Speaker 1: Empress and ladies from their coaches, and I did not
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  Speaker 1: perceive there in any fright or concern. I lay on
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  Speaker 1: the ground to kiss His Majesty's and the Empress's hands.
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  Speaker 1: I told his Majesty that I was come according to
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  Speaker 1: my promise and with the license of the Emperor, my master,
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  Speaker 1: to have the honor of seeing so mighty a monarch,
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  Speaker 1: and to offer him any service in my power, consistent
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  Speaker 1: with my duty to my own prince, not mentioning a
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  Speaker 1: word in my disgrace. Because I had hitherown no regular
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  Speaker 1: information about it, I might suppose myself wholly ignorant of
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  Speaker 1: any such design. Neither could I reasonably conceive that the
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  Speaker 1: Emperor would discover the secret while I was out of
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  Speaker 1: his power, wherein, however, it soon appeared I was deceived.
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  Speaker 1: I shall not trouble the reader with the particular account
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  Speaker 1: of my reception at this court, which was suitable to
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  Speaker 1: the generosity of so great a prince, nor of the
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  Speaker 1: difficulties I was in for want of a house and
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  Speaker 1: bed being forced to lie on the ground, wrapped in
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  Speaker 1: my coverlet end of Chapter seven, Part one,