Authorās Preface
The general preface to the parts expunged from the printed accounts of my travels is at the start of the section entitled āBrobdingnag Chapter Oneā and I consider it superfluous to reiterate it here.
The reader of my published account of my sojourn in Lilliput may have been puzzled by the vindictiveness of the empress of that realm on the occasion of my extinguishing the conflagration in her apartments.
This hitherto suppressed incident, that is the only part of the relation of my stay in Lilliput that I was advised to withhold, may provide a more balanced view of the empressās distaste for me. All I can say in my defence is that the offence committed was involuntary and was largely caused by the empressās own acts. That it was her own fault would of course only inflame her rancour toward me. The incident of the conflagration reminded her, and in her eyes much the worse offence, the general populace, about the events of Ladiesā Day.
Jonathan Swift
Chapter One and Only
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The custom of Ladiesā Day in Lilliput. The empress pays a midnight visit. The toast to the empress. The result of the toast. The preparations for the whores. The actions of the naked women. The displacement of the staging. My sperm try to fulfil their function. The empress is not amused.
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Ladiesā Day in Lilliput seems to me to have similarities to the ancient Romansā celebration of Saturnalia. The Romans let servants rule their masters and indulge in unrestrained horseplay. The Lilliputians let women rule their men on Ladiesā Day. Common to both festivals was the understanding that any act committed by the unusually privileged group could not be redressed on days after the festival.
Whether the understanding was strictly observed, either by Roman masters or Lilliputian men, was something that gives me considerable misgivings. That there was licence is undisputed. That the licence was wholly unfettered and without consequence in the rest of the year: that I doubt. I think the Roman slaves and the Lilliputian women understood very well that there were things they could do that were beyond normal behaviour; and things they could not and should not do for fear of retaliation when the normal customs were resumed.
A Lilliputian lady could propose matrimony to a gentleman on Ladiesā Day. If he accepted the betrothal would proceed in due form. If he refused he was required to buy the lady a gown. The cost of the gown depended on his status. A poor man might buy the lady a second hand gown. A rich man would be expected to provide the lady with a silken gown designed by a fashionable dressmaker. Some ladies of advancing years were to be avoided on Ladiesā Day as they saw it as an opportunity of replenishing their wardrobe. No lady could make two proposals on Ladiesā Day and retain the title of lady. No lady could propose to a gentleman to whom she had not been introduced. Some eligible bachelors spent the day immured in their wine cellars so that they would not be obliged to buy a gown. Such behaviour was considered prudent if unsportsmanlike.
I was interested to observe the customs of Lilliput and to compare them with those of my own country. The advent of Ladiesā Day seemed to be an occasion to observe the reality of the event as opposed to the fables that I had been related.
However I was startled awake by the sounding of a tocsin adjacent to my ear shortly after midnight. I was informed by a loud voiced lady standing on a dais that the empress was without and wished to pledge my health on this day devoted to Ladies. Hurriedly fastening my points I left my dwelling and moved cautiously outside. This was at a time when I was still secured by chain in the vicinity of the temple.
The empress was standing on a platform erected just beyond my reach. The area before the temple was illuminated with numerous torches, the smoke of which made my eyes smart. The empress signed that she wished me to lie down which command I obeyed. The empress then, through the agency of the loud voiced lady who had delivered her invitation, that I should join her in a toast of mutual health on the start of this auspicious day. A team of twenty horses dragged forward a waggon on which was a container equating to an English half-pint measure.
I sat up, lifted the container from the waggon and pledged the empress desiring the loud voiced lady to convey my salutations and greetings. I then emptied the container at one draught. This prodigious act caused much twittering among the assembled ladies. The empress returned my pledge in a container of minuscule size. As she did so the smoke thinned enough for me to become aware that I was surrounded by a vast crowd of gaily-dressed ladies. It appeared that almost the entire female populace of the capital was assembled to greet me.