and found the natives in both thofe kingdoms very hard to believe, that the fact was poffibie; and it appeared from my aftonishment, when he first mentioned the matter to me, that I received it as a thing wholly new, and scarcely to be credited. That in the two kingdoms above mentioned, where during his refidence he had converfed very much, he obferved long life to be the universal defire and wish of mankind. That whoever had one foot in the grave, was fure to hold back the other as ftrongly as he could. That the oldeft had ftill hopes of living one day longer, and looked on death as the greatest evil, from which Nature always prompted him to retreat; only in this ifland of Luggnagg the appetite for living was not fo eager, from the continual example of the Struldbrugs before their eyes.

That the fyftem of living contrived by me was unreasonable and unjuft; because it fuppofed a perpetuity of youth, health, and vigour, which no man could be fo foolish to hope, however extravagant he may be in his wifhes*. That the queftion therefore was not, whether a man would chufe to be always in the prime of youth, attended with profperity and health; but how he would pafs a perpetual life under all the ufual disadvantages, which old age brings along with it. few men will avow their defires of being immortal upon fuch hard conditions, yet in the two king-. doms before mentioned, of Balnibari and Japan, he obferved that every man defired to put off death for fome time longer, let it approach ever fo late;

For although

*To this it may poffibly be objected, That the perpetuity of youth, health, and vigour, would be lefs a prodigy than the perpetuity of life in a body fubject to gradual decay, and might therefore be hoped without greater extravagance of folly. But the tentiment here expreffed, is that of a being to whom immortality, though not perpetual youth, was familiar; and in whom the with of perpetual youth only would have been extravagant, because that only appeared from facts to be impoffible,

and

and he rarely heard of any man who died willingly, except he were incited by the extremity of grief or torture. And he appealed to me, whether, in thofe countries I had travelled, as well as my own, I had not obferved the fame general difpofition +.

After this preface he gave me a particular account of the Strudbrugs among them. He faid, they commonly acted like mortals, till about thirtyyears old, after which by degrees they grew melancholy and dejected, encreafing in both till they came to fourfcore. This he learned from their own confeffion; for otherwife, there not being above two or three of that fpecies born in an age, they were too few to form a general obfervation by. When they came to fourfcore years, which is reckoned the extremity of living in this country, they had not only all the follies and infirmities of other old men, but many more, which arofe from the dreadful profpect of never dying. They were not only opinionative, peevish, covetous, morofe, vain, talkative; but incapable of friendship, and dead to all natural affection, which never defcended below their grand-children, Envy and impotent defires are their prevailing paffions. But thofe objects, against which their envy feems principally directed, are the vices of the younger fort, and the deaths of the old. By reflecting on the former they find

If it be faid, that although the folly of defiring life to be prolonged under the difadvantages of old age. is here finely expofed; yet the defire of terrestrial immortality upon terms, on which alone, in the nature of things, it is poffible, an exemption from difeafe, accident and decay, is tacitly allowed: It may be anfwered, that as we grow old by imperceptible degrees, fo for the most part we grow old without repining, and every man is ready to profess himself willing to die, when he shall be overtaken by the decrepitude of age in fome future period; yet when every other eye fees that period is arrived, he is ftill tenacious of life, and murmurs at the condition upon which he received his existence. To reconcile old age therefore to the thoughts of a diffolution, appears to be all that was neceffary in a moral writer for practical purpofes.

Part III. themfelves cut off from all poffibility of pleasure ; and whenever they fee a funeral, they lament and repine that others are gone to an harbour of rest, to which they themselves never can hope to arrive. They have no remembrance of any thing, but what they learned and obferved in their youth and midle age, and even that is very imperfect. And for the truth or particulars of any fact it is fafer to depend on common tradition, than upon their beft recollections. The leaft miferable among them appear to be thofe, who turn to dotage, and entirely lofe their memories; thefe meet with more pity and afliftance, becaufe they want many bad qualities which abound in others.

If a Struldbrug happen to marry one of his own kind, the marriage is diffolved of courfe by the courrety of the kingdom, as foon as the younger of the two comes to be fourfcore. For the law thinks it a reasonable indulgence that thofe, who are condemned without any fault of their own to a perpetual continuance in the world, should not have their mifery doubled by the load of a wife.

As foon as they have compleated the term of eighty years, they are looked on as dead in law; their heirs immediately fucceed to their eftates, only a final pittance is referved for their fupport; and the poor ones are maintained at the public charge. After that period they are held incapable of any emoloyment of truft or profit; they cannot purchafe lands or take leafes; neither are they allowed to be witneffes in any caufe, either civil or criminal, not even for the decifion of meers and bounds.

At ninety they lofe their teeth and hair; they have at that age no diftinction of tafte, but eat and drink whatever they can get without relish or appetite. The difeafes they were fubject to ftill continue, without encreafing or diminishing. In talking they forget the common appellation of things,

and

and the names of perfons, even of thofe who are their nearest friends and relations. For the fame reason they never can amuse themfelves with reading, because their memory will not ferve to carry them from the beginning of a fentence to the end, and by this defect they are deprived of the only entertainment, whereof they might otherwife be capable.

The language of this country being always upon the flux, the Struldbrugs of one age do not underftand those of another; neither are they able after two hundred years to hold any conversation (farther than by a few general words) with their neighbours the mortals; and thus they lie under the difadvutage of living like foreigners in their own* country.

This was the account given me of the Struldbrugs, as near as I can remember. I afterwards faw five or fix of different ages, the youngest not aboveTM two hundred years old, who were brought to me at feveral times by fome of my friends; but although they were told that I was a great traveller and had seen all the world, they had not the leaft curiofity to ask me a question; only defired I would give them flumfkudafk, or a token of remembrance: which is a modeft way of begging, to avoid the law, that ftrictly forbids it, becaufe they are provided for by the public, although indeed with a very fcanty allowance.

They are defpifed and hated by all forts of ple; when one of them is born, it is reckoned ominous, and their birth is recorded very particularly; fo that you may know their age by confulting the register; which however hath not been kept above a thousand years paft, or at least hath been destroyed by time or public disturbances. But the ufual way of computing how old they are, is, by afking them what kings or great perfons they can remember, and then confulting history; for in

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fallibly

fallibly the laft prince in their mind did not begin his reign after they were fourfcore years old.

They were the most mortifying fight I ever be. held; and the women more horrible than the men. Befides the ufual deformities in extreme old age, they acquired an additional ghaftlinefs in proportion to their number of years, which is not to be defcribed; and, among half a dozen, I foon diftinguished which was the eldeft, although there was not above a century or two between them.

The reader will eafily believe, that from what I had heard and feen, my keen appetite for perpetuity of life was much abated. I grew heartily afhamed of the pleafing vifions I had formed; and thought no tyrant could invent a death, into which I could not run with pleasure from fuch a life. The king heard of all that had paffed between me and my friends upon this occafion, and rallied me very plea fantly; wishing I could fend a couple of Struldbrugs to my own country to arm our people against the fear of death *, but this it feems is forbidden by the fundamental laws of the kingdom, or elfe. I fhould have been well content with the trouble and expence of tranfporting them.

I could not but agree, that the laws of this kingdom relating to the Struldbrugs were foundedupon the ftrongest reafons, and fuch as any other country would be under the neceflity of enacting in the like circumstances. Otherwife, as avarice is the neceffary confequent of old age, thofe immortals would in time become proprietors of the whole nation, and engrofs the civil power; which, for want of abilities to manage, must end in the ruin of the public.

*Perhaps it may not be wholly useless to remark, that the fight of a Struldbrug would no otherwife arm thofe against the fear of death, who have no hope beyond it, than a man is armed against the fear of breaking his limbs who jumps out of a window when his house is -on fire.

CHAP.