AFTER this preface he gave me a particular account of the Struldbrugs among them. He faid, they commonly acted like mortals, till about thirty years 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 otherwise, there not being above two or three of that species 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 themselves cut off from all poflibility of pleasure; and whenever they see a funeral, they lament and repine that others are gone to an harbour of reft, 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 middle 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 best 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 affiftance, becaufe they want many bad qualities, which abound in others. IF a Struldbrug happened to marry one of his own kind, the marriage is diffolved of courfe by the courtefy of the kingdom, as foon as the younger of the two comes to be fourfcore. For the law thinks it a reasonable indulgence, that every other eye fees that this period is arrived, he is ftill tenaci ous of life, and murmurs at the condition upon which he received his exiftence. To reconcile old age therefore to the thoughts of a diffolution, appears to be all that was neceflary in a moral writer for practical purposes. Hawkef. that thofe, who are condemned without any fault of their own to a perpetual continuance in the world, should not have their misery 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 fmall pittance is reserved for their fupport; and the poor ones are maintained at the public charge. After that period they are held incapable of any employment of truft or profit; they cannot purchase lands, or take leafes; neither are they allowed to be witneffes in any cause, either civil or criminal, not even for the decifion of meers and bounds. Ar ninety they lofe their teeth and hair; they have at that age no distinction of taste, but eat and drink whatever they can get without relifh or appetite. The difeafes they were fubject to still continue, without encreafing or diminishing. In talking they forget the common appellation of things, and the names of perfons, even of thofe who are their nearest friends and relations. For the fame reafon they never can amuse themselves with reading, because their memory will not ferve to carry them from the beginning of a sentence to the end; and by this defect they are deprived of the only entertainment, whereof they might otherwise be capable. THE language of this country being always upon the flux, the Struldbrugs of one age do not understand thofe of another; neither are they able after two hundred years to hold any converfation (farther than by a few general words) with their neighbours, the mortals; and thus they lie under the difadvantage 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 above 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 least curiofity to ask me a question; only defired I would give them flumfkudofk, or a token of remembrance; which is a modeft way of begging, to avoid the law, that strictly forbids it, becaufe they are provided for for by the public, although indeed with a very scanty allowance. THEY are defpifed and hated by all forts of people; when one of them is born it is reckoned ominous, and their birth is recorded very particularly; so that you may know their age by confulting the register; which however hath not been kept above a thousand years past, or at least hath been deftroyed by time or public difturbances. But the ufual way of computing how old they are, is, by asking them what kings or great perfons they can remember, and then confulting history; for infal libly the last prince in their mind did not begin his reign. after they were fourscore years old. THEY were the most mortifying fight I ever beheld; and the women more horrible than men. Befides the usual 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 ashamed of the pleafing vifions I had formed; and thought no tyrant could invent a death, into which I would 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 pleasantly; wifhing 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 else 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 founded upon the strong eft * Perhaps it may not be wholly useless to remark, that the fight of a Struldbrug would no otherwife arm those 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 houfe is on fire. Hawkef eft reafons, and fuch as any other country would be under the neceffity of enacting in the like circumftances. Otherwise, as avarice is the neceffary confequent of old age, thofe immortals would in time become proprietors of the whole nation, and engross the civil power; which for want of abilities to manage, must end in the ruin of the public. CHAP. XI. The author leaves Luggnagg, and fails to Japan. From thence he returns in a Dutch hip to Amsterdam, and from Amfterdam to England. I Thought this account of the Struldbrugs might be fome entertainment to the reader, because it seems to be a little out of the common way; at least I do not remember to have met the like in any book of travels, that hath come to my hands and if I am deceived my excufe muft be, that it is neceffary* for travellers, who defcribe the fame country, very often to agree in dwelling on the fame particulars, without deferving the cenfure of having borrowed or transcribed from those who wrote before them. THERE is indeed a perpetual commerce between this kingdom and the great empire of Japan; and it is very probable, that the Japanese authors may have given fome account of the Struldbrugs; but my ftay in Japan was so short, and I was fo entirely a ftranger to the language, that I was not qualified to make any inquiries. But I hope the Dutch upon this notice will be curious and able enough to fupply my defects. His Majefty having often-preffed me to accept fome em The word neceffary is here used in the fame manner, as when by the idiom of our language it means convenient, though it is to be understood in its proper and original fignification. "Travel lers who defcribe the fame country, very often necessarily agree "in dwelling on the fame particulars, and therefore do not deferue "the cenfure of having borrowed, etc." Hawkef. employment in his court, and finding me abfolutely determined to return to my native country, was pleased to give me his licence to depart, and honoured me with a letter of recommendation under his own hand to the Emperor of Japan. He likewife prefented me with four hundred forty-four large pieces of gold (this nation delighting in even numbers) and a red diamond, which I fold in England for eleven hundred pounds. On the 6th day of May, 1709, I took a folemn leave of his Majefty and all my friends. This Prince was fo gracious, as to order a guard to conduct me to Glanguenftald, which is a royal port to the fouth-west part of the island. In fix days I found a veffel ready to carry me to Japan, and spent fifteen days in the voyage. We landed at a fmall port-town called Xamofchi, fituated on the fouth-eaft part of Japan; the town lies on the western point, where there is a narrow ftreight leading north-ward into a long arm of the fea, upon the north-west part of which Yedo the metropolis ftands. At landing I fhewed the custom-houfe officers my letter from the King of Luggnagg to his Imperial Majefty. They knew the feal perfectly well; it was as broad as the palm of my hand. The impreffion was A king lifting up a lame beggar from the earth. The magiftrates of the town, hearing of my letter, received me as a public minifter; they provided me with carriages and fervants, and bore my charges to Yedo, where I was admitted to an audience,and delivered my letter, which was opened with great ceremony, and explained to the Emperor by an interpreter, who then gave me notice by his Majefty's order, that I should fignify my requeft, and whatever it were, it fhould be granted for the fake of his royal brother of Luggnagg. This interpreter was a perfon employed to tranfact affairs with the Hollanders; he foom conjectured by my countenance, that I was an European, and therefore repeated his Majefty's commands in low Dutch, which he fpoke perfectly well. I anfwered (as I had before determined) that I was a Dutch merchant shipwrecked in a very remote country, from whence I had travelled by sea and land to Luggnagg, and then took shipping for Japan, where I knew my countrymen often traded, and with fome of thefe I hoped to get an opportunity of returning into |