 but others, who
were my secret Enemies, could not forbear some Expressions, which by a Side-wind
reflected on me. And from this Time began an Intrigue between his Majesty, and a
Junta of Ministers maliciously bent against me, which broke out in less than two
Months, and had like to have ended in my utter Destruction. Of so little Weight
are the greatest Services to Princes, when put into the Balance with a Refusal
to gratify their Passions.
    About three Weeks after this Exploit, there arrived a solemn Embassy from
Blefuscu, with humble Offers of a Peace; which was soon concluded upon
Conditions very advantageous to our Emperor; wherewith I shall not trouble the
Reader. There were six Ambassadors, with a Train of about five Hundred Persons;
and their Entry was very magnificent, suitable to the Grandeur of their Master,
and the Importance of their Business. When their Treaty was finished, wherein I
did them several good Offices by the Credit I now had, or at least appeared to
have at Court; their Excellencies, who were privately told how much I had been
their Friend, made me a Visit in Form. They began with many Compliments upon my
Valour and Generosity; invited me to that Kingdom in the Emperor their Master's
Name; and desired me to shew them some Proofs of my prodigious Strength, of
which they had heard so many Wonders; wherein I readily obliged them, but shall
not interrupt the Reader with the Particulars.
    When I had for some time entertained their Excellencies to their infinite
Satisfaction and Surprize, I desired they would do me the Honour to present my
most humble Respects to the Emperor their Master, the Renown of whose Virtues
had so justly filled the whole World with Admiration, and whose Royal Person I
resolved to attend before I returned to my own Country. Accordingly, the next
time I had the Honour to see our Emperor, I desired his general Licence to wait
on the Blefuscudian Monarch, which he was pleased to grant me, as I could
plainly perceive, in a very cold Manner; but could not guess the Reason, till I
had a Whisper from a certain Person, that Flimnap and Bolgolam had represented
my Intercourse with those Ambassadors, as a Mark of Disaffection, from which I
am sure my Heart was wholly free. And this was the first time I began to
conceive some imperfect Idea of Courts and Ministers.
    It is to be observed, that these Ambassadors spoke to me by an Interpreter;
the Languages of both Empires differing as much from each other as any two in
Europe, and each Nation priding itself upon the Antiquity
