almoft hoarse. In return to which, I heard a great fhout repeated three times, giving me fuch transports of joy, as are not to be conceived but by thofe who feel them. I now heard a trampling over my head, and fomebody calling through the hole, with a loud voice in the English tongue, If there be any < body below, let them fpeak.' I anfwered I was an Englishman, drawn by ill fortune into the greatest calamity that ever any creature underwent, and begged, by all that was moving, to be delivered out of the dungeon I was in. The voice replied, I was fafe, for my box was fattened to their fhip; and the carpenter fhould immediately come and faw a hole in the cover large enough to pull me out. I answered, that was needlefs, and would take up too much time, for there was no more to be done, but let one of the crew put his finger into the ring, and take the box out of the fea into the ship, and fo into the captain's cabbin. Some of them, upon hearing me talk fo wildly, thought I was mad, others laughed, for, indeed, it never came into my head, that I was now got among people of my own ftature and ftrength. The carpenter came, and in a few minutes fawed a paffage about four feet fquare, then let down a fmall ladder, upon which I mounted, and from thence was taken into the fhip in a very weak condition.

The failors were all in amazement, and afked me a thoufand questions, which I had no inclination to anfwer. I was equally confounded at the fight of fo many pigmies, for fuch I took them to be, after having fo long accufomed mine eyes to the monftrous obj &ts I had left. But the captain, Mr. Thomas Wilcocks, an honeft worthy Shropshire man, obferving I was ready to faint, took me into his cabbin, gave me a cordial to comfort me, and made me turn in upon his own bed, advifing me to take a little reft, of which I had great need. Before I went to fleep. I gave him to understand that I had fome valuable furniture in my box, too good to be loft; a fine hammock, an handfome field-bed, two chairs, a table, and a cabinet. That my closet was hung on all fides, or rather quilt ed, with filk and cotton: that, if he would let one of the crew bring my clofet into his cabbin, I would open it there before him, and thew him my goods. The captain, heating me utter

thefe abfurdities, concluded I was raying: however, (I fuppofe, to pacify me be promifed to give order, as I defred and, going upon deck, fent fome of his men down into my clofet, from whence (as I afterwards found) they drew up all my goods, and ftripped of the quilting; but the chairs, cabinet, and bedstead, being ferewed to the floor, were much damaged by the ignorance of the feamen, who tore them up by force. Then they knocked off fome of the boards for the ufe of the hip, and when they had got all they had a mind for, let the hulk drop into the fea; which, by reafon of many breaches made in the bottom and fides, funk to rights. And, indeed, I was glad not to have been a fpectator of the havock they made; because I am confident it would have fenfibly touched me, by bringing former paffages into my mind, which I had rather forget.

I flept fome hours, but perpetually difturbed with dreams of the place I had left, and the dangers I had efcaped, However, upon waking, I found myfelf much recovered. It was now about eight o'clock at night; and the captain ordered fupper immediately, thinking I had already fafted too long. He entertained me with great kindness, obferving me not to look wildly or talk inconfiftently; and when we were left alone, defired I would give him a relation of my travels, and by what accident I came to be fet adrift in that monftrous wooden cheft. He faid, that about twelve o'clock at noon, as he was looking through his glafs, he fpied it at a distance, and thought it was a fail, which he had a mind to make, being not much out of his courfe, in hopes of buying fome bifcuit, his own beginning to fall fhort. That upon coming nearer, and finding his error, he fent out his long-boat to discover what I was; that his men came back in a fright, fwearing they had feen a fwimming houfe. That he laughed at their folly, and went himself in the boat, ordering his men to take a ftrong cable along with them. That the weather being calm, he rowed round me several times, obferved my windows, and the wire-lattices that defended them. That he discovered two ftaples upon one fide, which was all of boards, without any paffage for light. He then commanded his men to row up to that fide, and fastening a cable to one of the fta

ples

ples, ordered them to tow my cheft, (as they called it) towards the fhip. When it was there, he gave directions to faften another cable to the ring fixed in the cover, and to raise up my cheft with pullies, which all the failors were not able to do above two or three feet. He faid, they faw my ftick and handkerchief thrust out of the hole, and concluded that fome unhappy man must be fhut up in the cavity. I asked whether he or his crew had feen any prodigious bird in the air about the time he arft difcovered me? To which he an wered, that, difcourfing this matter with the failors while I was afleep, one of them said, he had obferved three eagles flying towards the north, but remarked nothing of their being larger than the usual fize, which I fuppofe muft be imputed to the great height they were at; and he could not guefs the reafon of my question. I then asked the captain, how far he reckoned we might be from land? He said, by the best computation he could make, we were at least a hundred leagues. I affured him, that he must be mistaken by almost half, for I had not left the country from whence I came above two hours before I dropped into the fea. Whereupon, he began again to think that my brain was disturbed, of which he gave me a hint, and advised me to go to bed in a cabbin he had provided. I affured him I was well refreshed with his good entertainment and company, and as much in my fenfes as ever I was in my life. He then grew ferious, and defired to ask me freely whether I were not troubled in mind by the conscious nefs of some enormous crime, for which I was punished at the command of fome prince, by exposing me in that cheft, as great criminals, in other countries, have been forced to fea in a leaky veffel without provifions: for although he fhould be forry to have taken so ill a man into his fhip, yet he would engage his word to fet me fafe afhore in the first port where we arrived. He added, that his fufpicions were much increased, by fome very abfurd speeches I had delivered at first to the failors, and afterwards to himself, in relation to my clofet or cheft, as well as by my odd looks and behaviour while I was at fupper.

I begged his patience to hear me tell my tory, which I faithfully did, from the last time I left England, to the mo

ment he first difcovered me. And as truth always forceth it's way into ra tional minds, fo this honeft worthy gentleman, who had fome tincture of learning, and very good fenfe, was immediately convinced of my candour and veracity. But, farther to confirm all I had faid, I entreated him to give order that my cabinet should be brought, of which I had the key in my pocket, (for he had already informed me how the feamen difpofed of my clofet.) I opened it in his own prefence, and fhewed him the fmall collection of rarities I made in the country from whence I had been fo ftrangely delivered. There was the comb I had contrived out of the ftumps of the king's beard, and another of the fame materials, but fix. ed into a paring of her majesty's thumbnail, which ferved for the back. There was a collection of needles and pins from a foot to half a yard long; four wafp-ftings, like joiners tacks; fome combings of the queen's hair; a gold ring which one day the made me a prefent of in a moft obliging manner, tak. ing it from her little finger, and throwing it over my head like a collar. I defired the captain would please to ac cept this ring in return of his civilities; which he abfolutely refufed. I fhewed him a corn that I had cut off with my own hand from a maid of honour's toe; it was about the bigness of a Kentish pippin, and grown fo hard that when I returned to England, I got it hollowed into a cup, and let in filver. Laftly, I defired him to fee the breeches I had then on, which were made of a moufe's fkin.

I could force nothing on him but a footman's tooth, which I obferved him to examine with great curiofity, and found he had a fancy for it. He received it with abundance of thanks, more than fuch a trifle could deferve. It was drawn by an unskilful furgeon, in a mistake from one of Giudalclitch's men, who was afflicted with the toothache, but it was as found as any in his head. I got it cleaned, and put it into my cabinet. It was about a foot long and four inches in diameter.

The captain was very well satisfied with this plain relation I had given hun, and faid, he hoped when we returned to England, I would oblige the world, by putting it in the paper and making it publick. My answer was, that I thought

we.