ngth, comeliness, and speed of the inhabitants; and such
a constellation of virtues, in such amiable persons, produced in me the
highest veneration. At first, indeed, I did not feel that natural awe,
which the _Yahoos_ and all other animals bear toward them; but it grew
upon me by decrees, much sooner than I imagined, and was mingled with a
respectful love and gratitude, that they would condescend to distinguish
me from the rest of my species.

When I thought of my family, my friends, my countrymen, or the human race
in general, I considered them, as they really were, _Yahoos_ in shape and
disposition, perhaps a little more civilized, and qualified with the gift
of speech; but making no other use of reason, than to improve and
multiply those vices whereof their brethren in this country had only the
share that nature allotted them. When I happened to behold the
reflection of my own form in a lake or fountain, I turned away my face in
horror and detestation of myself, and could better endure the sight of a
common _Yahoo_ than of my own person. By conversing with the
_Houyhnhnms_, and looking upon them with delight, I fell to imitate their
gait and gesture, which is now grown into a habit; and my friends often
tell me, in a blunt way, "that I trot like a horse;" which, however, I
take for a great compliment. Neither shall I disown, that in speaking I
am apt to fall into the voice and manner of the _Houyhnhnms_, and hear
myself ridiculed on that account, without the least mortification.

In the midst of all this happiness, and when I looked upon myself to be
fully settled for life, my master sent for me one morning a little
earlier than his usual hour. I observed by his countenance that he was
in some perplexity, and at a loss how to begin what he had to speak.
After a short silence, he told me, "he did not know how I would take what
he was going to say: that in the last general assembly, when the affair
of the _Yahoos_ was entered upon, the representatives had taken offence
at his keeping a _Yahoo_ (meaning myself) in his family, more like a
_Houyhnhnm_ than a brute animal; that he was known frequently to converse
with me, as if he could receive some advantage or pleasure in my company;
that such a practice was not agreeable to reason or nature, or a thing
ever heard of before among them; the assembly did therefore exhort him
either to employ me like the rest of my species, or command me to swim
back to the place when