suggestion. Although both travelers flew "with incredible swiftness," the eighteenth-century flyers found that it was "about a Month before we came into the Attraction of the Moon." Brunt's account of the preparation for the ascent into the orb of the moon is almost as careful as a modern account of an ascent into the stratosphere. His bird flyers lay their plans deliberately and upon the basis of the most recent scientific discoveries. There is nothing fortuitous about their final ascent. Brunt was clearly aware of the work of many scientists, notably Boyle, upon the nature and rarefaction of the air. His flyers proceed by slow stages, accustoming themselves gradually to the rarefied air, assisting their respiration by the use of wet sponges. They learn by experience the answer to the problems with which Godwin's mind had played but which many later scientific writers had considered more definitely: what is the nature of gravity; how far beyond the confines of the earth does it extend; what would happen to man could he "pass the Atmosphere"? The generation to which Captain Samuel Brunt belonged might still delight in the fantastic; but like our own generation, it insisted that fantasy must rest upon that which is at least scientifically possible, if not probable.

A Voyage to Cacklogallinia is republished today because of its appeal to many readers. It offers something to the student of economic history; something to the student of early science. It is one of several little-known "voyages to the moon," of which the most famous are those of Cyrano de Bergerac, a form of reading in which our ancestors delighted and which deserve to be collected. But apart from having a not-inconsiderable historical interest, it remains the kind of tale which may be read at any time because it appeals to the fundamental love of adventure in human beings. Its author was undoubtedly only one of many men who, under the influence of Godwin, Swift, and others, could weave a tale in an accepted pattern. Yet there are elements which make it unique; and it deserves at least this opportunity of rising phoenix-like from the ashes of the past and being treasured by posterity.

Marjorie Nicolson

Smith College
Northampton, Mass.
Nov. 3, 1939

A

VOYAGE

TO

Cacklogallinia:

With a Description of the

Religion, Policy, Customs
and Manners, of that
Country.

By Captain Samuel Brunt.

LONDON:

Printed by J. Watson in Black-Fryers, and
sold by the Booksellers of London and
Westminster. 1727

[Price Sticht, Two Shillings and Sixpence.]

A

VOYAGE

TO

Cacklogallinia, &c.

Othing is more common than a Traveller's beginning the Account of his Voyages with one of his own Family; in which, if he can't boast Antiquity, he is sure to make it up with the Probity of his Ancestors. As it can no way interest my Reader, I shall decline following a Method, which I can't but think ridiculous, as unnecessary. I shall only say, that by the Death of my Father and Mother, which happen'd while I was an Infant, I fell to the Care of my Grandfather by my Mother, who was a Citizen of some Note in Bristol, and at the Age of Thirteen sent me to Sea Prentice to a Master of a Merchant-man.

My two first Voyages were to Jamaica, in which nothing remarkable happen'd. Our third Voyage was to Guinea and Jamaica; we slaved, and arrived happily at that Island; but it being Time of War, and our Men fearing they should be press'd (for we were mann'd a-peak) Twelve, and myself, went on Shore a little to the Eastward of