more; and gave me Leave to put on my Cloaths again, for I was fhuddering with Cold.

I EXPRESSED my Uneafinefs at his giving me fo often the Appellation of Yahoo, an odious Animal, for which I had fo utter an Hatred and Contempt. I begged he would forbear applying that Word to me, and take the fame Order in his Family, and among his Friends whom he suffered to fee me. I requested likewife, that the Secret of my having a falfe Covering to my Body might be known to none but himself, at least as long as my prefent Cloathing fhould laft: For, as to what the Sorrel Nag, his Valet, had obferved, his Honour might command him to conceal it.

ALL this my Master very graciously consented to; and thus the Secret was kept until my Cloaths began to wear out, which I was forced to fupply by feveral Contrivances, that shall hereafter be mentioned. In the mean Time, he defired I would go on with my utmost Diligence to learn their Language, because he was more aftonished at my Capacity for Speech and Reason, than at the Figure of my Body, whether it were covered or no; adding, that he waited with fome Impatience to hear the Wonders which I promised to tell him.

FROM thenceforward he doubled the Pains he had been at to inftruct me; he brought me into all Company, and made them treat me with Civility, because, as he told them privately, this would put me into good Humour, and make me more diverting.

EVERY Day when I waited on him, beside the Trouble he was at in teaching, he would ask me feveral Questions concerning my felf, which I anfwered as well as I could; and by thofe Means he had already received fome general Ideas, although

very imperfect. It would be tedious to relate the feveral Steps, by which I advanced to a more regular Conversation: But, the first Account I gave of my felf in any Order and Length, was to this Purpose:

THAT, I came from a very far Country, as I already had attempted to tell him, with about fifty more of my own Species; That, we travelled upon the Seas, in a great hollow Veffel made of Wood, and larger than his Honour's Houfe. I defcribed the Ship to him in the best Terms I could; and explained by the Help of my Handkerchief difplayed, how it was driven forward by the Wind. That, upon a Quarrel among us, I was fet on Shoar on this Coast, where I walked forward without knowing whither, until he delivered me from the Perfecution of thofe execrable Yaboos. He afked me, Who made the Ship, and how it was poffible that the Houyhnhnms of my Country would leave it to the Management of Brutes? My Anfwer was, that I durft proceed no farther in my Relation, unless he would give me his Word and Honour that he would not be offended; and then I would tell him the Wonders I had fo often promifed. He agreed; and I went on by affuring him, that the Ship was made by Creatures like my felf, who in all the Countries I had travelled, as well as in my own, were the only governing, rational Animals; and that upon my Arrival hither, I was as much aftonifhed to fee the Houyhnhnms act like rational Beings, as he or his Friends could be in finding fome Marks of Reason in a Creature he was pleafed to call a Yahoo; to which I owned my Refemblance in every Part, but could not account for their degenerate and brutal Nature. I faid farther, that if good Fortune VOL. III.

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ever

ever restored me to my native Country, to relate my Travels hither, as I refolved to do; every Body would believe that I faid the Thing which was not; that I invented the Story out of my own Head: And with all poffible Refpect to himself, his Family, and Friends, and under his Promise of not being offended, our Countrymen would hardly think it probable, that a Houyhnhnm should be the prefiding Creature of a Nation, and a Yaboo the Brute.

CHAP.

CHA P. IV.

The Houyhnhnms Notion of Truth and Falfhood. The Author's Difcourfe difapproved by his Mafter. The Author gives a more particular Account of bimfelf, and the Accidents of his Voyage.

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Y Master heard me with great Appearances of Uneafinefs in his Countenance; because doubting or not believing, are fo little known in this

Country, that the Inhabitants cannot tell how to behave themselves under fuch Circumftances. And, I remember, in frequent Difcourfes with my Mafter concerning the Nature of Manhood, in other Parts of the World; having Occafion to talk of Lying, and falfe Reprefentation, it was with much Difficulty that he comprehended what I meant; although he had otherwise a most acute Judgment. For, he argued thus; That the Ufe of Speech was to make us understand one another, and to receive Information of Facts; now, if any one faid the Thing which was not, thefe Ends were defeated; because, I cannot properly be faid to understand him; and, I am fo far from receiving Information, that he leaves me worse than in Ignorance; for I am led to believe a Thing Black,

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when

when it is White; and Short, when it is Long. And, these were all the Notions he had concerning that Faculty of Lying, fo perfectly well understood, and fo univerfally practifed among human Creatures.

To return from this Digreflion; when I afferted that the Yaboos were the only governing Animals in my Country; which my Mafter faid was altogether past his Conception, he defired to know, whether we had Houyhnhnms among us, and what was their Employment: I told him, we had great Numbers; that in Summer they grazed in the Fields, and in Winter were kept in Houses, with Hay and Oats, where Yahoo-Servants were employed to rub their Skins fmooth, comb their Manes, pick their Feet, ferve them with Food, and make their Beds. I understand you well, faid my Mafter; it is now very plain from all you have spoken, that whatever Share of Reason the Yaboos pretend to, the Houyhnhnms are your Mafters; I heartily with our Taboos would be fo tractable. I begged his Honour would please to excufe me from proceeding any farther, because I was very certain that the Account he expected from me would be highly displeasing. But, he infifted in commanding me to let him know the beft and the worst I told him he fhould be obeyed. I owned, that the Houyhnhnms among us, whom we called Horfes, were the moft generous and comely Animals we had; that they excelled in Strength and Swiftnefs; and when they belonged to Perfons of Quality, employed in Travelling, Racing, and drawing Chariots, they were treated with much Kindness and Care, until they fell into Diseases, or became foundered in the Feet; but then they were fold, and used to all Kind of Drudgery until

they