Chapter 17

NEW LORDS, NEW LAWS--GYRATION, ROTATION, AND ANOTHER NATION; ALSO AN
INVITATION.

I felt that my situation had now become exceedingly peculiar. It is
true that my modesty had been unexpectedly spared, by the very
ingenious turn Dr. Reasono had given to the history of our
connection with each other; but I could not see that I had gained
any other advantage by the expedient. All my own species had, in a
sense, cut me; and I was obliged to turn despondingly, and not
without humiliation, towards the inn, where the banquet ordered by
Mr. Poke waited our appearance.

I had reached the great square, when a tap on the knee drew my
attention to one at my side. The applicant for notice was a monikin,
who had all the physical peculiarities of a subject of Leaphigh, and
yet, who was to be distinguished from most of the inhabitants of
that country, by a longer and less cultivated nap to his natural
garment, greater shrewdness about the expression of the eyes and the
mouth, a general air of business, and, for a novelty, a bob-cauda.
He was accompanied by positively the least well-favored being of the
species I had yet seen. I was addressed by the former.

"Good morning, Sir John Goldencalf," he commenced, with a sort of
jerk, that I afterwards learned was meant for a diplomatic
salutation; "you have not met with the very best treatment to-day,
and I have been waiting for a good opportunity to make my
condolences, and to offer my services."

"Sir, you are only too good. I do feel a little wronged, and, I must
say, sympathy is most grateful to my feelings. You will, however,
allow me to express my surprise at your being acquainted with my
real name, as well as with my misfortunes?"

"Why, sir, to own the truth, I belong to an examining people. The
population is very much scattered in my country, and we have fallen
into a practice of inquiry that is very natural to such a state of
things. I think you must have observed that in passing along a
common highway, you rarely meet another without a nod; while
thousands are met in a crowded street without even a glance of the
eye. We develop this principle, sir; and never let any fact escape
us for the want of a laudable curiosity."

"You are not a subject of Leaphigh, then?"

"God forbid! No, sir, I am a citizen of Leaplow, a great and a
glorious republic that lies three days' sail from this island; a new
nation, which is in the enjoyment of all the advantages of youth and
vigor, and which is a perfect miracle for the boldness of its
conceptions, the purity of its institutions, and its sacred respect
for the rights of monikins. I have the honor to be, moreover, the
envoy-extraordinary