Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 6.djvu/22

xvi the very souls of all my species; especially the Europeans.

I have other complaints to make upon this vexatious occasion; but I forbear troubling myself or you any farther. I must freely confess, that since my last some corruptions of my Yahoo nature have revived in me by conversing with a few of your species, and particularly those of my own family, by an unavoidable necessity; else I should never have attempted so absurd a project as that of reforming the Yahoo race in this kingdom: But I have now done with all such visionary schemes for ever.

2, 1727.

$$$$$$ That the original copy of these Travels was altered by the person, through whose hands it was conveyed to the press, is a fact; but the passages of which Mr. Gulliver complains in this letter, are to be found only in the first editions; for the dean having restored the text wherever it had been altered, sent the copy to the late Mr. Motte by the hands of Mr. Charles Ford. This copy has been exactly followed in every subsequent edition, except that printed in Ireland, by Mr. Faulkner; the editor of which, supposing the dean to be serious when he mentioned the corruptions of dates, and yet finding them unaltered, thought fit to alter them himself; there is however scarce one of these alterations, in which he has not committed a blunder: though while he was thus busy in defacing the parts that were perfect, he suffered the accidental blemishes of others to remain. A VOYAGE