The reader will easily believe, that from what I had
hear and seen, my keen appetite for perpetuity of
life was much abated. I grew heartily ashamed
of the pleasing visions I had formed; and thought
no tyrant could invent a death into which I would not
run with pleasure, from such a life. The king
heard of all that had passed between me and my friends
upon this occasion, and rallied me very pleasantly;
wishing I could send a couple of struldbrugs to my
own country, to arm our people against the fear of
death; but this, it seems, is forbidden by the fundamental
laws of the kingdom, or else I should have been well
content with the trouble and expense of transporting
them.
I could not but agree, that the laws of this kingdom
relative to the struldbrugs were founded upon the
strongest reasons, and such as any other country would
be under the necessity of enacting, in the like circumstances.
Otherwise, as avarice is the necessary consequence
of old age, those 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.
CHAPTER XI.
[The author leaves Luggnagg, and sails to Japan.
From thence he returns in a Dutch ship to Amsterdam,
and from Amsterdam to England.]
I thought this account of the struldbrugs might be
some 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 has come to my hands: and if I am deceived,
my excuse must be, that it is necessary for travellers
who describe the same country, very often to agree
in dwelling on the same particulars, without deserving
the censure 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
some account of the struldbrugs; but my stay in Japan
was so short, and I was so entirely a stranger 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 supply my defects.
His majesty having often pressed me to accept some
employment in his court, and finding me absolutely
determined to return to my native country, was pleased
to give me his license to depart; and honoured me
with a letter of recommendation, under his own hand,
to the Emperor of Japan. He likewise presented
me with four hundred and forty-four large pieces of
gold (this nation delighting in even numbers), and
a red diamond, which I sold in England for eleven
hundred pounds.
