pardon, for
taking this liberty with his ingenious performance, I must desire all
the masters and misses who read my translation of it, to be extremely
careful to avoid all the crimes and follies which it was intended to
correct; otherwise, if my friend the captain (who will probably hear of
their ill behaviour) should happen to speak of it, when he makes
another voyage to India, and it should by any means reach the ear of my
author, we may perhaps have a second volume, containing a mortifying
account of the surprising and lamentable transmigrations of some of the
naughty boys and girls in England.

CHAP. I.

_Of the wonderful Transmigration of_ Jack Idle _into the body of an
ass_.

One morning after breakfast I took a walk into the fields with my seven
dear children; which I did, not only for the benefit of their health,
but as a reward for their good behaviour. They always obey me and their
affectionate mother with the utmost cheerfulness; and I, in return, am
always ready to indulge them as far as my duty and their interest will
permit. When we had travelled about three miles from the city, where
Divine Providence has fixed our abode, we came to a range of little
tenements, or I should rather have called them sheds, over the midst of
which (and it was likewise the largest) was fixed a board, on which was
written in lofty capitals WAL*KINBEHOL*DANDLE*ARN,[1] which signifies,
_Walk in_, _behold_, _and learn_. While I was musing upon this strange
inscription, and wondering what curiosities there could be in such
contemptible little huts, the door of the middlemost was suddenly
opened by a Bramin, who with the greatest politeness and affability,
desired us to walk in, assuring me, that notwithstanding the mean
appearance of his little tenements, there were several things to be
seen in them, which might contribute to the entertainment and
instruction of my pretty fellow travellers. "I am, said he, as you may
perceive by my habit, a Bramin, and my name is _Wiseman_. All the time
I can spare from the worship of my Maker, and the contemplation of that
astonishing wisdom and beneficence which he has displayed in his works
of creation and providence, I cheerfully devote to the service of my
fellow mortals, and particularly of the younger and unexperienced part
of them. The most valuable service I can render them is to conduct them
into the paths of virtue and discretion. For this purpose, having been
gifted with th