As to their laws, nothing can be better calculated for the happiness and well ordering of fociety; but the execution of them is intirely out of ufe, and they hang up, like the skin of an Allegator in an apothecary's fhop, rather for fhew than fervice: their cuftoms, manners, and behaviour are fo much the reverfe of what they were fome ages paft, that one would think it impoffible the Topfy-Turvyans I faw should ever be defcended from perfons capable of framing fo excellent a conftitution, and statutes for fupporting it.

< CERTAIN it is, notwithstanding, that they were once a wife and gallant people; but avarice on the one hand, and luxury on the other, have poisoned and enervated all their nobler paffions, and rendered them, both in public and private life, no lefs deferving of contempt than formerly they were of veneration and efteem.

THE island, though no more than an hundred and fifty miles in length, and not quite forty in breadth, contains two cities, and feveral very populous towns: there is alfo an university or rather an academy; but how much thofe who are too great to submit to rules, profit by their ftudies, the reader may guefs by what I • have faid in another place of their conduct and • behaviour.

THE youth, however, pride themselves very much on their return from thence, and look down with a kind of scorn on those who have not been allowed this feeming advantage.

As it will doubtless be expected I should say

• fome

• fomething of their towns and cities, I fhall give 6 as exact an account of these alfo as poffible: their streets are, generally fpeaking, very nar· row, and the buildings irregular, except in the capital, where fomewhat more care and skill feems to have been employed.

Ir is very plain, that architecture is a science thefe iflanders were never practifed in; for the palaces of their greateft men, and even thofe of the Theodo's, or high priests, are extremely • rude and barbarous, though adorned, after their manner, with precious ftones and gold.

I MUST obferve, that gold is not coined here, • as in other countries, into money, nor will any that is fo pafs among them; but it is used in furniture, and bought with a kind of mixed metal, which we have nothing in Europe, nor any where else in the known world, I ever heard of, that in the least resembles it.

THEIR temples are very little ornamented, • and lefs frequented: they are alfo for the most part low-roofed, and quite over-looked by the palace of the chief Theodo of that district, who always lives near, and by the capacious hall feems to be fuperior to the deity he pretends to • ferve.

THE houfes of the nobility, and great offi" cers of state, are not wanting in richness, what4 ever deficiencies there may be in elegance; but those of the inferior gentry and mechanics fhew, by their decay and wretched appearance, the hardships and miferable condition their owners labour under.

I HAVE faid there were good laws; but what will appear very ftrange, throughout the whole island there is not one court of judicature, all affairs relating to meum and tuum being decided by perfons at the helm; fo that it often ⚫ happens that the younger branches of a family inherit, and the elder are turned out to ftarve, ⚫ according as interest and favour directs.

BUT as gaming is the chief business, as well as amusement of the Tupfy-Turvyans, large halls are erected for that purpofe, not only in every quarter of the capital, but alfo in every town, and even little village.

THE doors of thefe halls being kept continually open, both night and day, it is amazing to fee what numbers of people are always crowding in to pay their adoration to the goddess Fortune, whofe image is placed at the upper end, • under a magnificent canopy. All ages, all degrees, all fects, unite in this univerfal worship: all referve, all pride of birth, - all difference in opinion is here intirely laid aside :the prince and the pedlar, the lady that keeps a chariot, and the drab that trowls a wheelbarrow, the prude, and the avowed proftitute, the ecclefiaftic and ballad-finger are • on an equal foot:-nothing but gain, dear gain, is regarded, and the lord has as little remorfe for winning from the cobler all he is master of in the whole world, though the wretch hangs him• felf the next morning for the lofs, as he would for having got the fame fum from him who could beft fpare it in the company: but ruin and deftruction are with them more matters of mirth and derifion, than pity or relief.

• THESE

THESE are all the edifices of note that I re'member, except the theatre, which indeed is 'tolerable as to the building, were it intended for another use, but ridiculous for that to which it is put:- if originally erected for a playhouse, as they told me it was, never fure was fo great a blunderer as the architect; for the ftage being round in the manner of a cockpit, thofe of the audience, who fit in one half of the circle, can " only fee the actors backs.

I MUST Own, indeed, that according to the ⚫ performances exhibited there, this is little to be regarded, for the perfon who has the manage< ment of this very grand affair, as it is accoun⚫ted, perceiving the audiences begin to flacken, and at length become fo thin, that there was feldom fufficient to defray the expence, in compliance with the fantastic humour of the age, and bring more company, introduced a new kind of entertainment; which was to bring twenty or thirty affes on the ftage, dreffed in ribbands, and hung round with bells.

THIS, like all other novelties in fo capricious a nation, afforded infinite fatisfaction; and when the poor creatures, unufed to fuch harneffing, happened to bray, or to knock their heads one ' against the other, as they often did, the whole ⚫ houfe ecchoed with acclamations, as if fome elegant piece of wit had been performed.

• BUT this mode of diverfion was but of a short ⚫ continuance; for the actors, jealous of these new brothers, and fearing they should lofe their falaries if the animal creation got the better of the rational one, in the approbation of the town, fet themselves about contriving how they should

• fup

• fupplant them, which they effected by the following method:

THEY procured the skins of several sorts of creatures, fuch as bears, bulls, babboons, dogs, and dragons, and having transformed themfelves into the shape, acted the manners, of these animals fo much to the life, that they foon found their labour had not been in vain: much greater applaufe was given to them in their brute characters, than they even had received in those of heroes and fine gentlemen; perhaps too with good reafon, but of that I do not pretend to be pofitive.

THEY ftill, however, at least at my leaving them they did fo, continue to act pieces, or interludes, which they divide into two claffes, and call either the terrible, or the merry, meaning I fuppofe what we do by tragedy and comedy; but I think that diftinction might very well be laid afide in the Topfy-Turvy drama, being equally prepofterous, out of nature, and far from either wit or humour in the one, or truth, justice, or propriety in the other.

- THIS indeed must be acknowledged, that their drama is a true picture of the times, and fo far juftifiable; but how degenerate, how depraved must be the taste of these wretched iflanders, to be pleafed with feeing themselves in fuch 6 a mirror.

MILITARY difcipline is much practised among them: - encampments and reviews are frequent, and they make as good a fhew as any nation in the world: better dreffed foldiers I

never faw, but as to their prowefs, I dare not anfwer;