Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 5 by Charles Sylvester
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Charles Sylvester >> Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 5
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28 [Illustration: HE TURNED HIS FACE AND KISSED
HER CLIMBING
_Geraint and Enid_]
JOURNEYS THROUGH BOOKLAND
A NEW AND ORIGINAL
PLAN FOR READING APPLIED TO THE
WORLD'S BEST LITERATURE
FOR CHILDREN
_BY_
CHARLES H. SYLVESTER
_Author of English and American Literature_
VOLUME FIVE
_New Edition_
[Illustration]
1922
CONTENTS
JONATHAN SWIFT.
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS _Jonathan Swift_
THE BALLAD OF AGINCOURT _Michael Drayton_
SOME CHILDREN'S BOOKS OF THE PAST _Grace E Sellon_
LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT _Cardinal Veuman_
LET SOMETHING GOOD BE SAID _James Whitcomb Riley_
POLONIUS' ADVICE _Shakespeare_
KING ARTHUR
BALIN AND BALAN
GERAINT AND ENID _Alfred Tennyson_
THE HOLY GRAIL _Adapted from Thomas Malory_
DISSENSIONS AT KING ARTHUR'S COURT
THE PASSING OF ARTHUR _Alfred Tennyson_
HENRY HUDSON'S FOURTH VOYAGE _Henry R Cleveland_
THE RISE OF ROBERT BRUCE _Walter Scott_
BRUCE AND THE SPIDER _Bernard Arton_
THE HEART OF BRUCE _William E Aytoun_
THE SKELETON IN ARMOR _Henry Wadsworth Longfellow_
HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM GHENT TO AIX
_Robert Browning_
REMINISCENCES OF A PIONEER _Edwin D. Coe_
THE BUCCANEERS
CAPTAIN MORGAN AT MARACAIBO
BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT _Benjamin Franklin_
READING HISTORY
THE AMERICAN FLAG _Joseph Rodman Drake_
BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC _Julia Ward Howe_
"STONEWALL" JACKSON'S WAY _J.W. Palmer_
BARON MUNCHAUSEN
THE FIDDLING PARSON _Davy Crockett_
WE PLAN A RIVER TRIP _Jerome K Jerome_
ON COMIC SONGS _Jerome K Jerome_
THE INCHCAPE ROCK _Robert Southey_
TOM BROWN AT RUBGY _Thomas Hughes_
PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES
The Classification of Selections, see General Index at end of Volume X
ILLUSTRATIONS
HE TURN'D HIS FACE AND KISS'D HER CLIMBING (Color Plate)
_Donn P Crane_
JONATHAN SWIFT (Halftone)
GULLIVER'S JOURNEY TO THE METROPOLIS _Iris Weddell White_
THE EMPEROR VISITS GULLIVER _Iris Weddell White_
GULLIVER AND THE PISTOL (Color Plate) _G H Mitchell_
GULLIVER'S WATCH IS BORNE AWAY _Iris Weddell White_
GULLIVER ER TAKES THE ENEMY'S FLEET _Iris Weddell White_
GULLIVER BRINGS IN THE DRIFTING BOAT _Harry L Gage_
THE BABY SEIZES GULLIVER _Iris Weddell White_
A GALE WITH THEIR FANS _Iris Weddell White_
GULLIVER AND THE KING _Iris Weddell White_
"VICTOR I WILL REMAIN" _R F Babcock_
CHILDREN WITH HORNBOOKS _Laura K Deal_
ARTHUR DRAWS THE SWORD _Jessie Arms_
KING ARTHUR (Halftone)
THE WEDDING OF ARTHUR AND GUINEVERE _Jessie Arms_
MERLIN SAVES ARTHUR _Donn P Crane_
ARTHUR RECEIVES EXCALIBUR _Donn P Crane_
THE DAMSEL LET FALL HER MANTLE _Donn P Crane_
THE LIGHT _Donn P Crane_
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON (Halftone)
GERAINT HEARS ENID SINGING _Donn P Crane_
ENID LEADS THE WAY _Donn P Crane_
ENID WATCHING BY GERAINT _Donn P Crane_
SIR GALAHAD _Jessie Arms_
THE SHIP APPROACHES THE CITY OF SARRAS _Jessie Arms_
THE LAST APPEARANCE OF THE SANGREAI _Donn P Crane_
THE BARGE MOVED FROM THE BRINK _Donn P Crane_
CUT ADRIFT IN HUDSON'S BAY _R F Babcock_
SAVAGES ON THE SHORE _R F Babcock_
BRUCE KILLS COMYN _Donn P Crane_
SHE BROUGHT HER TWO SONS _Donn P Crane_
THE ASCENT TO THE CASTLE OF EDINBURGH _Donn P Crane_
BRUCE SLAYS SIR HENRY DE BOHUN _Donn P Crane_
BRUCE BEHELD A SPIDER _Donn P Crane_
I SAW A PILGRIM STAND _Donn P Crane_
HELD THE HEART ALOFT _Donn P Crane_
I WAS A VIKING OLD _R F Babcock_
THREE WEEKS WE WESTWARD BORE _R F Babcock_
I CAST LOOSE MY BUFF COAT _Donn P Crane_
HALF A DOZEN INDIANS BOLTED IN _R F Babcock_
HE FISHED OUT AN OLD BUNGTOWN CENT _R F Babcock_
CHASING THE GEESE TO GET A NEW QUILL _R F Babcock_
THE FIRE SHIP GRAPPLED THE SPANIARD _Everett E Lowry_
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (Halftone)
ON THE MARCH _Everett E Lowry_
THE AMBUSH _Everett E Lowry_
"STONEWALL" JACKSON (Halftone)
THE LION HAD JUMPED INTO THE CROCODILE'S MOUTH
_Donn P Crane_
I BEHELD A NOBLE STAG _Donn P Crane_
THE HIND PART OF THE POOR CREATURE WAS MISSING
_Donn P Crane_
WARRIORS OF THE MOON _Donn P Crane_
WE DESCENDED SAFELY ON A MOUNTAIN OF ICE _Donn P Crane_
THE PARSON FIDDLED _Donn P Crane_
"AIN'T YOU GOING TO PUT THE BOOK IN" _Herbert N Rudeen_
"WHEN I WAS YOUNG" _Herbert N Rudeen_
ONE DREADFUL SOUND HE SEEMED TO HEAR _R F Babcock_
RUGBY SCHOOL (Color Plate)
THE BULLY CAUGHT IT ON HIS ELBOW _Louis Grell_
"A FIGHT!" _Louis Grell_
TOM SITS ON MARTIN'S KNEE _Louis Grell_
JONATHAN SWIFT
The father of Jonathan Swift was a Dublin lawyer who died just as he was
beginning what might have been a profitable career, and before his only
son was born. The widow was left with so little money that when her son
was born in November, 1667, she was not able to take care of him. Her
brother-in-law undertook to provide for mother and child.
He procured a nurse who became so attached to her little charge that
when she received a small sum of money from a relative in England and
was compelled to go to that country, she stole the baby and took him
with her across the channel. It was more than three years before
Jonathan was brought back to Dublin, but he had been tenderly cared for,
and though but five years of age had been taught to spell and to read in
the Bible.
A year later he was sent to a good school, where he made rapid progress.
However, he could not have been always studious, for visitors to the
school are still shown a desk in which his name is deeply cut.
He was fourteen years old when he entered the University of Dublin,
where his record was not a very satisfactory one. When it came time for
him to graduate, his standing was too poor for him to take his degree,
but after some delay it was given him "by special favor," a term then
used in Dublin to show that a candidate did not pass in his
examinations.
After this, Swift remained three years at the University under the
pretense of studying, but he was chiefly notorious for his connection
with a gang of wild and disobedient students who were often under
censure of the faculty for their irregularities. For one offense Swift
was severely censured and compelled upon his knees to beg pardon of the
dean. This punishment he did not forgive, and long afterward he wrote
bitter things about Dr. Allen, the dean.
Yet while indulging in these follies, Swift learned to write well and
became noted for a peculiar satirical style that afterward made him much
feared by the government.
When the uncle who had first supported Swift had died, a second uncle
and his son took up the burden. At one time this cousin sent Swift quite
a large sum of money, a fact which seemed to change the nature of the
wild young spendthrift, who thereafter remained economical; in fact, he
became niggardly in his saving.
Swift's second degree from the University was earned creditably, and he
was much pleased with the praise and respect with which he was received.
This was owing to two years of diligent study which he spent at the home
of Sir William Temple, a leading statesman of the time and a distant
relative by marriage of Swift's mother.
Discouraged by his fruitless attempt to enter public life, he began to
study for the ministry, and, ultimately, he received a church
appointment, of which he wearied after a short experience.
Until 1710, he led a varied life, sometimes dependent upon his
relatives, and at others making his way in various political positions.
From the date above he was embroiled in heated political controversies
in which his bitter writings made him feared even by his friends and
fiercely hated by his enemies. But he steadily rose in power and
influence, and when his party triumphed he was rewarded for his
political services by being appointed dean of Saint Patrick's Cathedral
in Ireland.
His appointment was exceedingly unpopular, even in Ireland, for few
believed him at all suited for a position in the church, much less for
one so high and important. On the day he was installed, some bitter
verses, of which the following are three, were found posted on the door
of the cathedral:
To-day this temple gets a dean,
Of parts and fame uncommon;
Used both to pray and to profane,
To serve both God and Mammon.
* * * * *
This place he got by wit and rhyme,
And many ways most odd;
And might a bishop be in time,
Did he believe in God.
* * * * *
And now when'er his deanship dies,
Upon his tomb be graven--
A man of God here buried lies,
Who never thought of heaven.
Unfortunately there was too much truth in the charges against Swift's
character, and his career, in spite of his genius, is a pitiful one. He
was admired for his wit and brilliancy, and courted by the noble and
powerful, but he was never able to gratify his ambitions, though he did
secure many devoted friends. From his disappointments he became moody,
bitter and discontented. This state of mind, together with other causes,
finally broke his health, destroyed his mind and left him but the sad
wreck of a brilliant manhood, and an old age of helpless imbecility.
Such a life has little that is attractive for anyone, but it does show
us that even a brilliant intellect cannot save a man who persistently
neglects to guard his character, and that fame does not always bring
happiness.
But Swift was by no means all bad, and his great services to Ireland are
still deservedly recognized by that devoted people. He really laid the
foundation for their prosperity and may be said to have created
constitutional liberty for them.
It is, however, as a wit and a writer that Swift is now chiefly famous.
Many are the stories told of his readiness in repartee, his bright
sallies in conversation, and of his skill in quick and caustic rhyming.
It is said that one day, when traveling in the south of Ireland, he
stopped to give his horse water at a brook which crossed the road; a
gentleman of the neighborhood halted for the same purpose, and saluted
him, a courtesy which was politely returned. They parted, but the
gentleman, struck by the dean's figure, sent his servant to inquire who
the man was. The messenger rode up to the dean and said, "Please, sir,
master would be obliged if you would tell him who you are."
"Willingly," replied the dean. "Tell your master I am the person that
bowed to him when we were giving our horses water at the brook yonder."
[Illustration: JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745]
Swift's interests lay rather with the common people than with the Irish
aristocracy, who, he thought, were arrant "grafters." Of one in
particular he said,
"So great was his bounty--
He erected a bridge--at the expense of the county."
The last thing Swift wrote was an epigram. It was in almost the final
lucid interval between periods of insanity that he was riding in the
park with his physician. As they drove along, Swift saw, for the first
time, a building that had recently been put up.
"What is that?" he inquired.
"That," said the physician, "is the new magazine in which are stored
arms and powder for the defence of the city."
"Oh!" said the dean, pulling out his notebook. "Let me take an item of
that; this is worth remarking: 'My tablets!' as Hamlet says, 'my
tablets! Memory put down that.'" Then he scribbled the following lines,
the last he ever penned:
"Behold a proof of Irish sense!
Here Irish wit is seen!
When nothing's left that's worth defence,
We build a magazine."
With the exception of _Gulliver's Travels_, very
little that Dean Swift wrote is now read by anyone
but students.
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS
INTRODUCTION
Gulliver's Travels was published in 1726 and without any allusion to the
real author, though many knew that the work must have come from the pen
of Dean Swift. Though the dean was habitually secretive in what he did,
he had some reason for not wishing to say in public that he had written
so bitter a satire on the government and on mankind.
The work was immediately popular, not only in the British Isles but on
the Continent as well. No such form of political satire had ever
appeared, and everyone was excited over its possibilities. Not all parts
of the work were considered equally good; some parts were thought to be
failures, and the Fourth Voyage was as a whole deservedly unpopular. The
Voyages to Lilliput and to Brobdingnag were considered the best, and to
them is to be attributed the greater part of the author's fame. Their
popularity continues with the years.
Lemuel Gulliver is represented as a British sailor who had been educated
as a doctor but whose wandering instincts led him back to the sea. On
his return from his voyages he writes the account of his adventures; and
the manner in which this account is written is so masterly that we
almost believe the things he tells.
In describing the manners, customs, and governments of the several
countries, he shows in his inimitable way the weakness of his king,
prince, nobles, government and mankind in general.
While the scholar and the man of affairs may still be interested in the
political significance of what is said and in a study of the keen
knowledge of human nature shown by the writer, yet it is principally as
a story that the work is now popular. Everybody enjoys reading about the
wonderful people who existed only in the imagination of the great dean
of Saint Patrick's.
In this volume are printed some of the most enjoyable parts of the first
and second voyages. About the only changes from the original text are in
the omission of those passages which contribute nothing to the narrative
or which for other reasons it seems inadvisable to reprint. These
omissions put the real fictitious narrative into so small a compass that
children will be entertained from beginning to end.
The _Voyage to Lilliput_ was directed against the policy of the English
Court during the reign of George I. The real differences between the
parties were trifling; not more, to Swift's idea, than that between
_High-heels_ and _Low-heels_ in the court of Lilliput; and the
controversies between the churches were not greater than those between
the _Big-endians_ and the _Little-endians._ As the Prince of Wales was
thought to favor a union of parties, he was typified in the
heir-apparent of Lilliput who wore one shoe with a high heel and one
with a low heel. This explanation will give an idea of the nature of
Swift's milder satire.
The _Voyage to Brobdingnag_ advocates the principles then held by the
Tory party in England and attacks those of the Whigs.
The _Voyage to Laputa_, from which we give no selections, was not
generally understood and hence was not popular. Its chief purpose was to
ridicule the proceedings of the Royal Society, but Swift was not well
enough acquainted with music and some of the other sciences fostered by
the Society to attack them to advantage.
The _Voyage to the Houyhnhnms_ was a bitter screed against mankind,
and is in many respects disgusting. It showed Swift's venom against the
world and something of the approach of the malady which finally hurried
him into insanity.
The following selections are somewhat condensed from the original story,
chiefly by the omission of passages of no interest to people of to-day.
ADVENTURES IN LILLIPUT
_I. The Arrival_
We set sail from Bristol, May 4, 1699, and our voyage at first was very
prosperous.
It would not be proper, for some reasons, to trouble the reader with the
particulars of our adventures; let it suffice to inform him, that, in
our passage to the East Indies, we were driven by a violent storm to the
northwest of Van Diemen's Land.[1] By an observation we found ourselves
in the latitude of 30 degrees 2 minutes south. Twelve of our crew were
dead by immoderate labor and ill food; the rest were in a very weak
condition.
[Footnote 1: _Van Diemen's Land_ is the old name for Tasmania, an
island off the coast of Australia.]
On the 5th of November, which was the beginning of summer in those
parts, the weather being very hazy, the seamen spied a rock within half
a cable's length of the ship; but the wind was so strong that we were
driven directly upon it, and immediately split. Six of the crew, of whom
I was one, having let down the boat into the sea, made a shift to get
clear of the ship and the rock. We rowed, by my computation, about three
leagues, till we were able to work no longer, being already spent with
labor while we were in the ship. We, therefore, trusted ourselves to the
mercy of the waves; and in about half an hour the boat was overset by a
sudden flurry from the north. What became of my companions in the boat,
as well as those who escaped on the rock, or were left in the vessel, I
cannot tell, but conclude they were all lost.
For my own part, I swam as Fortune directed me, and was pushed forward
by wind and tide. I often let my legs drop, and could feel no bottom;
but when I was almost gone, and able to struggle no longer, I found
myself within my depth; and by this time the storm was much abated. The
declivity was so small, that I walked near a mile before I got to the
shore, which I conjectured was about eight o'clock in the evening. I
then advanced forward near half a mile, but could not discover any sign
of houses or inhabitants; at least I was in so weak a condition that I
did not observe them. I was extremely tired; and with that, and the heat
of the weather, and about half a pint of brandy that I drank as I left
the ship, I found myself much inclined to sleep. I lay down on the
grass, which was very short and soft, where I slept sounder than ever I
remember to have done in my life, and, as I reckoned, above nine hours;
for when I awaked it was just daylight.
I attempted to rise, but was not able to stir; for as I happened to lie
on my back, I found my arms and legs were strongly fastened on each side
to the ground, and my hair, which was long and thick, tied down in the
same manner. I likewise felt several slender ligatures across my body,
from my armpits to my thighs. I could only look upward; the sun began to
grow hot, and the light offended mine eyes. I heard a confused noise
about me, but, in the posture I lay, could see nothing except the sky.
In a little time I felt something alive moving on my left leg, which,
advancing gently forward over my breast, came almost up to my chin;
when, bending mine eyes downward as much as I could, I perceived it to
be a human creature not six inches high, with a bow and arrow in his
hands, and a quiver at his back. In the meantime, I felt at least forty
more of the same kind (as I conjectured) following the first. I was in
the utmost astonishment, and roared so loud that they all ran back in a
fright; and some of them, as I was afterward told, were hurt with the
falls they got by leaping from my sides upon the ground. However, they
soon returned; and one of them, who ventured so far as to get a full
sight of my face, lifting up his hands and eyes by way of admiration,
cried out, in a shrill but distinct voice, "Hekinah degul." The others
repeated the same words several times; but I then knew not what they
meant. I lay all this while, as the reader may believe, in great
uneasiness.
At length, struggling to get loose, I had the fortune to break the
strings and wrench out the pegs that fastened my left arm to the ground;
for, by lifting it up to my face, I discovered the methods they had
taken to bind me, and, at the same time, with a violent pull, which gave
me excessive pain, I a little loosened the strings that tied down my
hair on the left side, so that I was just able to turn my head about two
inches. But the creatures ran off a second time, before I could seize
them; whereupon there was a great shout, in a very shrill accent, and,
after it ceased, I heard one of them cry aloud, "Tolgo phonac"; when, in
an instant, I felt above an hundred arrows discharged on my left hand,
which pricked me like so many needles; and, besides, they shot another
flight into the air, as we do bombs in Europe; whereof many, I suppose,
fell on my body (though I felt them not), and some on my face, which I
immediately covered with my left hand.
When this shower of arrows was over, I fell a-groaning with grief and
pain; and then, striving again to get loose, they discharged another
volley, larger than the first, and some of them attempted, with spears,
to stick me in the sides; but, by good luck, I had on me a buff[2]
jerkin, which they could not pierce. I thought it the most prudent
method to lie still; and my design was to continue so till night, when,
my left hand being already loose, I could easily free myself; and as for
the inhabitants, I had reason to believe I might be a match for the
greatest armies they could bring against me, if they were all of the
same size with him that I saw.
[Footnote 2: _Buff_ is the name given to a kind of leather, made
originally of buffalo hide, but later of the skins of other animals]
But fortune disposed otherwise of me. When the people observed I was
quiet, they discharged no more arrows; but, by the noise I heard, I knew
their numbers increased; and about four yards from me, over against my
right ear, I heard a knocking for above an hour, like that of people at
work; when, turning my head that way, as well as the pegs and strings
would permit me, I saw a stage erected about a foot and a half from the
ground, capable of holding four of the inhabitants, with two or three
ladders to mount it; from whence one of them, who seemed to be a person
of quality, made me a long speech, whereof I understood not one
syllable.
But I should have mentioned that, before the principal person began his
oration, he cried out three times, "Langro dehul san" (these words and
the former were afterward repeated and explained to me); whereupon,
immediately, about fifty of the inhabitants came and cut the strings
that fastened the left side of my head, which gave me the liberty of
turning it to the right, and of observing the person and gesture of him
that was to speak. He appeared to be of a middle age, and taller than
any of the other three who attended him; whereof one was a page, that
held up his train, and seemed to be somewhat longer than my middle
finger; the other two stood one on each side to support him. He acted
every part of an orator; and I could observe many periods of
threatenings, and others of promises, pity, and kindness.
I answered in a few words, but in the most submissive manner, lifting up
my left hand and both mine eyes to the sun, as calling him for a
witness: and being almost famished with hunger, having not eaten a
morsel for some hours before I left the ship, I found the demands of
nature so strong upon me that I could not forbear showing my impatience
(perhaps against the strict rules of decency) by putting my finger
frequently on my mouth, to signify that I wanted food.
The _hurgo_ (for so they call a great lord, as I afterward learned)
understood me very well. He descended from the stage, and commanded that
several ladders should be applied to my sides, on which above an hundred
of the inhabitants mounted, and walked toward my mouth, laden with
baskets full of meat, which had been provided and sent thither by the
king's orders, upon the first intelligence he received of me. I observed
there was the flesh of several animals, but could not distinguish them
by the taste. There were shoulders, legs, and loins, shaped like those
of mutton, and very well dressed but smaller than the wings of a lark. I
eat them by two or three at a mouthful, and took three loaves at a time,
about the bigness of musket-bullets. They supplied me as fast as they
could, showing a thousand marks of wonder and astonishment at my bulk
and appetite.
I then made another sign, that I wanted drink. They found by my eating
that a small quantity would not suffice me; and, being a most ingenious
people, they slung up, with great dexterity, one of their largest
hogsheads, then rolled it toward my hand, and beat out the top. I drank
it off at a draught, which I might well do, for it did not hold half a
pint, and tasted like a small wine of Burgundy, but much more delicious.
They brought me a second hogshead, which I drank in the same manner, and
made signs for more; but they had none to give me.
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