Gulliver's Final Reflections and Farewell — Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver closes with a direct address: sixteen years and seven months of travel told for truth, not ornament. He wishes travellers swore before the Lord High Chancellor, condemns fabulous voyage writers, and credits Houyhnhnm lectures for keeping him from varying from fact. He claims his book should meet no censurers, then turns to colonies. Conquering Lilliput is hardly worth a fleet; Brobdingnag and Laputa are risky; Houyhnhnm hooves would confound European ranks. He sketches the pirate pattern: storm, plunder, rename, memorial stone, sample captives, pardon, then slaughter in God's name. He ironically praises British colonizing, then says the countries he saw want neither conquest nor tobacco and that he never thought to take possession for the crown. He takes final leave from Redriff, promising to apply Houyhnhnm virtue, tolerate human sight in a glass, and respect horses for his master's sake. Last week he let his wife sit at the far end of a long table; he still stops his nose with rue, lavender, or tobacco. Natural Yahoo vices he can bear; pride in a diseased lump breaks his patience. Houyhnhnms have no name for that vice, and he entreats anyone tinctured with it not to come in his sight.