About three years ago, Mr. Gulliver growing weary ofthe concourse of curious people coming to him at hishouse in Redriff, made a small purchase of land, witha convenient house, near Newark, inNottinghamshire, his native country; where he nowlives retired, yet in good esteem among hisneighbours.Although Mr. Gulliver was born in Nottinghamshire, where his father dwelt, yet I have heard him say hisfamily came from Oxfordshire; to confirm which, Ihave observed in the churchyard at Banbury in thatcounty, several tombs and monuments of theGullivers.Before he quitted Redriff, he left the custody of thefollowing papers in my hands, with the liberty todispose of them as I should think fit.I have carefully perused them three times.The style is very plain and simple; and the only fault Ifind is, that the author, after the manner of travellers, is a little too circumstantial.There is an air of truth apparent through the whole; and indeed the author was so distinguished for hisveracity, that it became a sort of proverb among hisneighbours at Redriff, when any one affirmed a thing, to say, it was as true as if Mr. Gulliver had spoken it.By the advice of several worthy persons, to whom, with the author’s permission, I communicated thesepapers, I now venture to send them into the world, hoping they may be, at least for some time, a betterentertainment to our young noblemen, than thecommon scribbles of politics and party.
