 the Soil appeared to be excellent. I could not forbear
admiring at these odd Appearances both in Town and Country; and I made bold to
desire my Conductor, that he would be pleased to explain to me what could be
meant by so many busy Heads, Hands and Faces, both in the Streets and the
Fields, because I did not discover any good Effects they produced; but on the
contrary, I never knew a Soil so unhappily cultivated, Houses so ill contrived
and so ruinous, or a People whose Countenances and Habit expressed so much
Misery and Want.
    This Lord Munodi was a Person of the first Rank, and had been some Years
Governor of Lagado; but by a Cabal of Ministers was discharged for
Insufficiency. However the King treated him with Tenderness, as a well-meaning
Man, but of a low contemptible Understanding.
    When I gave that free Censure of the Country and its Inhabitants, he made no
further Answer than by telling me, that I had not been long enough among them to
form a Judgment; and that the different Nations of the World had different
Customs; with other common Topicks to the same Purpose. But when we returned to
his Palace, he asked me how I liked the Building, what Absurdities I observed,
and what Quarrel I had with the Dress and Looks of his Domesticks. This he might
safely do; because every Thing about him was magnificent, regular and polite. I
answered, that his Excellency's Prudence, Quality, and Fortune, had exempted him
from those Defects which Folly and Beggary had produced in others. He said, if I
would go with him to his Country House about Twenty Miles distant, where his
Estate lay, there would be more Leisure for this Kind of Conversation. I told
his Excellency, that I was entirely at his Disposal; and accordingly we set out
next Morning.
    During our Journey, he made me observe the several Methods used by Farmers
in managing their Lands; which to me were wholly unaccountable: For except in
some very few Places, I could not discover one Ear of Corn, or Blade of Grass.
But, in three Hours travelling, the Scene was wholly altered; we came into a
most beautiful Country; Farmers Houses at small Distances, neatly built, the
Fields enclosed, containing Vineyards, Corngrounds and Meadows. Neither do I
remember to have seen a more delightful Prospect. His Excellency observed my
Countenance to clear up; he told me with a Sigh, that there his Estate began,
and would continue the same till we should come to his House. That his
Countrymen ridiculed and
