 among the Houyhnhnms, the White, the Sorrel, and
the Iron-grey, were not so exactly shaped as the Bay, the Dapple-grey, and the
Black; nor born with equal Talents of Mind, or a Capacity to improve them; and
therefore continued always in the Condition of Servants, without ever aspiring
to match out of their own Race, which in that Country would be reckoned
monstrous and unnatural.
    I made his Honour my most humble Acknowledgements for the good Opinion he
was pleased to conceive of me; but assured him at the same Time, that my Birth
was of the lower Sort, having been born of plain, honest Parents, who were just
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 Noblemen are bred
from their Childhood in Idleness and Luxury; that, as soon as Years will permit,
they consume their Vigour, and contract odious Diseases among lewd Females; and
when their Fortunes are almost ruined, they marry some Woman of mean Birth,
disagreeable Person, and unsound Constitution, merely for the sake of Money,
whom they hate and despise. That, the Productions of such Marriages are
generally scrophulous, rickety or deformed Children; by which Means the Family
seldom continues above three Generations, unless the Wife take Care to provide a
healthy Father among her Neighbours, or Domesticks, in order to improve and
continue the Breed. That, a weak diseased Body, a meager Countenance, and sallow
Complexion, are the true Marks of noble Blood; and a healthy robust Appearance
is so disgraceful 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 those of his Body; being a Composition of Spleen, Dulness, Ignorance,
Caprice, Sensuality and Pride.
    Without the Consent of this illustrious Body, no Law can be enacted,
repealed, or altered: And these Nobles have likewise the Decision of all our
Possessions without Appeal.
 

                                   Chap. VII.

The Author's great Love of his Native Country. His Master's Observations upon
the Constitution and Administration of England, as described by the Author, with
parallel Cases and Comparisons. His Master's Observations upon human Nature.
 
The Reader may be disposed to wonder how I could prevail on my self to give so
free a Representation of my own Species, among a Race of Mortals who were
already too apt to conceive the vilest Opinion of Human Kind, from that entire
Congruity betwixt me and their Yahoos.
