One great Excellency, in this Tribe, is their Skill at Prognofticks, wherein they seldom fail; their Predictions in real Diseases, when they rife to any Degree of Malignity, generally portending Death, which is always in their Power, when Recovery is not: And therefore, upon any unexpected Signs of Amendment, after they have pronounced their Sentence, rather than be accused as falfe Prophets, they know how to approve their Sagacity to the World, by a seasonable Dofe.

They are likewife of fpecial Ufe to Hufbands and Wives, who are grown weary of their Mates; to eldest Sons, to great Minifters of State, and often to Princes.

my

I had formerly, upon Occafion, difcourfed with Mafter upon the Nature of Government in general, and particularly of our own excellent Conftitution, defervedly the Wonder and Envy of the whole World. But having here accidentally mentioned a Minifter of State; he commanded me, fome Time after, to inform him, what Species of Yahoo I particularly meant by that Appella

tion.

I told him, that a Firft or Chief Minifter of State, who was the Perfon I intended to defcribe, was a Creature wholly exempt from Joy and Grief, Love and Hatred, Pity and Anger; at leaft, makes Ufe of no other Paffions, but a violent Defire of Wealth, Power, and Titles; that he applies his Words to all Ufes, except to the Indication of his Mind; that he never tells a Truth, but with an Intent that you should take it for a Lye; nor a Lye, but with a Defign that you should take it for a Truth; that those he speaks worst of, behind their Backs, are in the surest Way of Preferment :

and whenever he begins to praise you to others, or to yourself, you are from that Day forlorn. The worst Mark you can receive is a Promife, efpecially when it is confirmed with an Oath; after which, every wife Man retires, and gives over all Hopes.

There are three Methods by which a Man may rife to be Chief Minister: The firft is, by knowing how with Prudence to difpofe of a Wife, a Daughter, or a Sifter: The second, by betraying or undermining his Predeceffor: And the third is, by a furious Zeal in Public Assemblies against the Corruptions of the Court. But a wife Prince would rather choose to employ those who prac tife the last of these Methods; becaufe fuch Zealots prove always the moft obfequious and fubfervient to the Will and Paffions of their Mafter. That these Minifters, having all Employments at their Difpofal, preferve themfelyes in Power by bribing the Majority of a Senate or great Council; and at last, by an Expedient, called an Act of Indemnity (whereof I described the Nature to him) they fecure themfelves from after Reckonings, and retire from the Public, laden with the Spoils of the Nation.

The Palace of a Chief Minifter is a Seminary to breed up others in his own Trade: The Pages, Lacquies, and Porter, by imitating their Mafter, become Minifters of State in their several Diftricts, and learn to excel in the three principal Ingredients, of Infolence, Lying, and Bribery. Accordingly, they have a Subaltern Court paid to them by Perfons of the best Rank; and fometimes, by the Force of Dexterity and Impu dence, arrive, through feveral Gradations, to be Succeffors to their Lord.

He

He is ufually governed by a decayed Wench, or favourite Footman, who are the Tunnels through which all Graces are conveyed, and may properly be called, in the laft Refort, the Governors of the Kingdom.

One Day in Difcourfe, my Master, having heard me mention the Nobility of my Country, was pleafed to make me a Compliment, which I could not pretend to deferve: That he was fure, I must have been born of fome noble Family, because I far exceeded, in Shape, Colour, and Cleanlinefs, all the Yahoos of his Nation, although I feemed to fail in Strength and Agility, which must be imputed to my different Way of Living from those other Brutes; and befides, I was not only endowed with the Faculty of Speech, but likewife with fome Rudiments of Reafon, to a Degree, that, with all his Acquaintance, I passed for a Prodigy.

He made me obferve, that, among the Houyhnhnms, the White, the Sorrel, and the Iron-grey, were not fo exactly fhaped as the Bay, the Dapple-grey, and the Black; nor born with equal Talents of the Mind, or a Capacity to improve them ; and therefore continued always in the Condition of Servants, without ever afpiring to match out of their own Race, which, in that Country, would be reckoned monftrous and unnatural.

I made his Honour my most humble Acknowledgements for the good Opinion he was pleased to conceive of me; but affured him, at the fame Time, that my Birth was of the lower Sort, having been born of plain honeft Parents, who were juft able to give me a tolerable Education: That Nobility, among us, was altogether a different Thing from the Idea he had of it; that our

young

young Noblemen are bred from their Childhood in Idlenefs and Luxury; that, as foon as Years will permit, they confume their Vigour, and contract odious Difeafes among lewd Females; and, when their Fortunes are almost ruined, they marry fome Woman of mean Birth, disagreeable Perfon, and unfound Conftitution, merely for the Sake of Money, whom they hate and despise. That the Productions of fuch Marriages are generally fcrophulous, ricketty, or deformed Children; by which Means, the Family feldom continues above three Generations, unless the Wife takes Care to provide a healthy Father among her Neighbours or Domeftics, in order to improve and continue the Breed. That a weak diseased, Body, a meager Countenance, and fallow Complexion are the true Marks of Noble Blood; and a healthy robust Appearance is fo difgraceful in a Man of Quality, that the World concludes his real Father to have been a Groom, or a Coachman. The Imperfections of his Mind run parallel with thofe of his Body, being a Compofition of Spleen, Dulnefs, Ignorance, Caprice, Senfuality, and Pride.

Without the Confent of this illuftrious Body, no Law can be made, repealed, or altered; and these have the Decifions of all our Poffeffions, without Appeal.

CHAP.

CHAP. VII.

The Author's great Love of his native Country. His Mafter's Obfervations upon the Conftitution and Adminiftration of England, as defcribed by the Author, with parallel Cafes and Comparisons. His Mafter's Obfervations upon Human Nature.

T

HE Reader may be difpofed to wonder how I could prevail on myfelf to give fo free a Representation of my own Species, among a Race of Mortals, who are already too apt to conceive the vileft Opinion of Human Kind, from that intire Congruity betwixt me and their Yaboos. But I must freely confefs, that the many Virtues of thofe excellent Quadrupeds, placed in oppofite View to Human Corruptions, had fo far opened my Eyes, and enlarged my Understanding, that I began to view the Actions and Paffions of Man in a very different Light; and to think the Honour of my own Kind not worth managing; which, befides, it was impoffible for me to do, before a Perfon of fo acute a Judgment as my Mafter, who daily convinced me of a thoufand Faults in myself, whereof I had not the leaft Perception before, and which, among us, would ne ver be numbered, even among human Infirmities. I had likewife learned, from his Example, an utter Deteftation of all Falfhood or Difguife; and Truth appeared fo amiable to me, that I determined upon facrificing every Thing to it.

Let me deal fo candidly with the Reader, as to confefs, that there was yet a much stronger Motive for the Freedom I took in my Reprefentation

of