diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:15:27 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:15:27 -0700 |
| commit | 2953885b711e6c8328229fcac7819a3e83dbee89 (patch) | |
| tree | 06a76e24b5128e0692d04957d5d5091c1feff013 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 652-0.txt | 4473 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 652-0.zip | bin | 0 -> 91770 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 652-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 522059 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 652-h/652-h.htm | 4562 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 652-h/images/coverb.jpg | bin | 0 -> 286442 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 652-h/images/covers.jpg | bin | 0 -> 31015 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 652-h/images/p0b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 101988 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 652-h/images/p0s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 9136 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/rslas10.txt | 4527 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/rslas10.zip | bin | 0 -> 88660 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/rslas10h.htm | 4390 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/rslas10h.zip | bin | 0 -> 89465 bytes |
15 files changed, 17968 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/652-0.txt b/652-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d92110 --- /dev/null +++ b/652-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4473 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Rasselas, by Samuel Johnson, Edited by Henry +Morley + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Rasselas + Prince of Abyssinia + + +Author: Samuel Johnson + +Editor: Henry Morley + +Release Date: January 31, 2013 [eBook #652] +[This file was first posted on September 17, 1996] +[Last updated September 8, 2020] + + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RASSELAS*** + + +Transcribed from the 1889 Cassell & Company edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + + [Picture: Book cover] + + CASSELL’S NATIONAL LIBRARY. + + * * * * * + + + + + + RASSELAS + PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA + + + * * * * * + + BY + + SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. + + [Picture: Decorative image] + + CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED: + LONDON, PARIS & MELBOURNE. + 1889. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +RASSELAS was written by Samuel Johnson in the year 1759, when his age was +fifty. He had written his _London_ in 1738; his _Vanity of Human Wishes_ +in 1740; his _Rambler_ between March, 1750, and March, 1752. In 1755 his +_Dictionary_ had appeared, and Dublin, by giving him its honorary LL.D., +had enabled his friends to call him “Doctor” Johnson. His friends were +many, and his honour among men was great. He owed them to his union of +intellectual power with unflinching probity. But he had worked hard, +battling against the wolf without, and the black dog within—poverty and +hypochondria. He was still poor, though his personal wants did not +exceed a hundred pounds a year. His wife had been seven years dead, and +he missed her sorely. His old mother, who lived to the age of ninety, +died poor in January of this year, 1759. In her old age, Johnson had +sought to help her from his earnings. At her death there were some +little debts, and there were costs of burial. That he might earn enough +to pay them he wrote _Rasselas_. + +_Rasselas_ was written in the evenings of one week, and sent to press +while being written. Johnson earned by it a hundred pounds, with +twenty-five pounds more for a second edition. It was published in March +or April; Johnson never read it after it had been published until more +than twenty years afterwards. Then, finding it in a chaise with Boswell, +he took it up and read it eagerly. + +This is one of Johnson’s letters to his mother, written after he knew +that her last illness had come upon her. It is dated about ten days +before her death. The “Miss” referred to in it was a faithful friend. +“Miss” was his home name for an affectionate step-daughter, Lucy Porter:— + + “HONOURED MADAM,— + + “The account which Miss gives me of your health pierces my heart. + God comfort and preserve you, and save you, for the sake of Jesus + Christ. + + “I would have Miss read to you from time to time the Passion of our + Saviour; and sometimes the sentences in the Communion Service + beginning—’Come unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and + I will give you rest.’ + + “I have just now read a physical book which inclines me to think that + a strong infusion of the bark would do you good. Do, dear mother, + try it. + + “Pray, send me your blessing, and forgive all that I have done amiss + to you. And whatever you would have done, and what debts you would + have paid first, or anything else that you would direct, let Miss put + it down; I shall endeavour to obey you. + + “I have got twelve guineas to send you” [six were borrowed. There + was a note in Johnson’s Diary of six guineas repaid to Allen, the + printer, who had lent them when he wanted to send money to his dying + mother], “but unhappily am at a loss how to send it to-night. If I + cannot send it to-night, it will come by the next post. + + “Pray, do not omit anything mentioned in this letter. God bless you + for ever and ever. + + “I am, + “Your dutiful Son, + “SAM. JOHNSON. + + “_Jan._ 13, 1759.” + +That is the personal side of the tale of _Rasselas_. In that way Johnson +suddenly, on urgent pressure, carried out a design that had been in his +mind. The success of Eastern tales, written as a form of moral essay, in +the _Rambler_ and _Adventurer_, upon suggestion, no doubt, of Addison’s +_Vision of Mirza_, had prompted him to express his view of life more +fully than in essay form by way of Oriental apologue; and his early work +on Father Lobo’s Voyage to Abyssinia, caused him to choose Abyssinia for +the land in which to lay his fable. + +But Johnson’s _Rasselas_ has also a close relation to the time when it +was written, as Johnson himself had to the time in which he lived. From +the beginning of the century—and especially, in England, since the +beginning of the reign of George the Second—there had been a growing +sense of the ills of life, associated in some minds with doubt whether +there could be a just God ruling this unhappy world. Hard problems of +humanity pressed more and more on earnest minds. The feeling expressed +in Johnson’s _Vanity of Human __Wishes_ had deepened everywhere by the +year 1759. This has intense expression in _Rasselas_, where all the joys +of life, without active use of the energies of life, can give no joy; and +where all uses of the energies of men are for the attainment of ideals +worthless or delusive. This life was to Johnson, and to almost all the +earnest thinkers of his time, unhappy in itself—a school-house where the +rod was ever active. But in its unhappiness Johnson found no power that +could overthrow his faith. To him this world was but a place of +education for the happiness that would be to the faithful in the world to +come. There was a great dread for him in the question, Who shall be +found faithful? But there was no doubt in his mind that the happiness of +man is to be found only beyond the grave. This was a feeling spread +through Europe in the darkness gathering before the outburst of the storm +of the great French Revolution. Even Gray, in his _Ode on a Distant +Prospect of Eton College_, regarded Eton boys at their sports as “little +victims,” unconscious of the doom of miseries awaiting them in life. +Thus Johnson’s _Rasselas_ is a book doubly typical. We have in it the +spirit of the writer when it best expressed the spirit of his time. + + H. M. + + + + +CHAPTER I +DESCRIPTION OF A PALACE IN A VALLEY. + + +YE who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue with +eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the +promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be +supplied by the morrow, attend to the history of Rasselas, Prince of +Abyssinia. + +Rasselas was the fourth son of the mighty Emperor in whose dominions the +father of waters begins his course—whose bounty pours down the streams of +plenty, and scatters over the world the harvests of Egypt. + +According to the custom which has descended from age to age among the +monarchs of the torrid zone, Rasselas was confined in a private palace, +with the other sons and daughters of Abyssinian royalty, till the order +of succession should call him to the throne. + +The place which the wisdom or policy of antiquity had destined for the +residence of the Abyssinian princes was a spacious valley in the kingdom +of Amhara, surrounded on every side by mountains, of which the summits +overhang the middle part. The only passage by which it could be entered +was a cavern that passed under a rock, of which it had long been disputed +whether it was the work of nature or of human industry. The outlet of +the cavern was concealed by a thick wood, and the mouth which opened into +the valley was closed with gates of iron, forged by the artificers of +ancient days, so massive that no man, without the help of engines, could +open or shut them. + +From the mountains on every side rivulets descended that filled all the +valley with verdure and fertility, and formed a lake in the middle, +inhabited by fish of every species, and frequented by every fowl whom +nature has taught to dip the wing in water. This lake discharged its +superfluities by a stream, which entered a dark cleft of the mountain on +the northern side, and fell with dreadful noise from precipice to +precipice till it was heard no more. + +The sides of the mountains were covered with trees, the banks of the +brooks were diversified with flowers; every blast shook spices from the +rocks, and every month dropped fruits upon the ground. All animals that +bite the grass or browse the shrubs, whether wild or tame, wandered in +this extensive circuit, secured from beasts of prey by the mountains +which confined them. On one part were flocks and herds feeding in the +pastures, on another all the beasts of chase frisking in the lawns, the +sprightly kid was bounding on the rocks, the subtle monkey frolicking in +the trees, and the solemn elephant reposing in the shade. All the +diversities of the world were brought together, the blessings of nature +were collected, and its evils extracted and excluded. + +The valley, wide and fruitful, supplied its inhabitants with all the +necessaries of life, and all delights and superfluities were added at the +annual visit which the Emperor paid his children, when the iron gate was +opened to the sound of music, and during eight days every one that +resided in the valley was required to propose whatever might contribute +to make seclusion pleasant, to fill up the vacancies of attention, and +lessen the tediousness of time. Every desire was immediately granted. +All the artificers of pleasure were called to gladden the festivity; the +musicians exerted the power of harmony, and the dancers showed their +activity before the princes, in hopes that they should pass their lives +in blissful captivity, to which those only were admitted whose +performance was thought able to add novelty to luxury. Such was the +appearance of security and delight which this retirement afforded, that +they to whom it was new always desired that it might be perpetual; and as +those on whom the iron gate had once closed were never suffered to +return, the effect of longer experience could not be known. Thus every +year produced new scenes of delight, and new competitors for +imprisonment. + +The palace stood on an eminence, raised about thirty paces above the +surface of the lake. It was divided into many squares or courts, built +with greater or less magnificence according to the rank of those for whom +they were designed. The roofs were turned into arches of massive stone, +joined by a cement that grew harder by time, and the building stood from +century to century, deriding the solstitial rains and equinoctial +hurricanes, without need of reparation. + +This house, which was so large as to be fully known to none but some +ancient officers, who successively inherited the secrets of the place, +was built as if Suspicion herself had dictated the plan. To every room +there was an open and secret passage; every square had a communication +with the rest, either from the upper storeys by private galleries, or by +subterraneous passages from the lower apartments. Many of the columns +had unsuspected cavities, in which a long race of monarchs had deposited +their treasures. They then closed up the opening with marble, which was +never to be removed but in the utmost exigences of the kingdom, and +recorded their accumulations in a book, which was itself concealed in a +tower, not entered but by the Emperor, attended by the prince who stood +next in succession. + + + + +CHAPTER II +THE DISCONTENT OF RASSELAS IN THE HAPPY VALLEY. + + +HERE the sons and daughters of Abyssinia lived only to know the soft +vicissitudes of pleasure and repose, attended by all that were skilful to +delight, and gratified with whatever the senses can enjoy. They wandered +in gardens of fragrance, and slept in the fortresses of security. Every +art was practised to make them pleased with their own condition. The +sages who instructed them told them of nothing but the miseries of public +life, and described all beyond the mountains as regions of calamity, +where discord was always racing, and where man preyed upon man. To +heighten their opinion of their own felicity, they were daily entertained +with songs, the subject of which was the Happy Valley. Their appetites +were excited by frequent enumerations of different enjoyments, and +revelry and merriment were the business of every hour, from the dawn of +morning to the close of the evening. + +These methods were generally successful; few of the princes had ever +wished to enlarge their bounds, but passed their lives in full conviction +that they had all within their reach that art or nature could bestow, and +pitied those whom nature had excluded from this seat of tranquillity as +the sport of chance and the slaves of misery. + +Thus they rose in the morning and lay down at night, pleased with each +other and with themselves, all but Rasselas, who, in the twenty-sixth +year of his age, began to withdraw himself from the pastimes and +assemblies, and to delight in solitary walks and silent meditation. He +often sat before tables covered with luxury, and forgot to taste the +dainties that were placed before him; he rose abruptly in the midst of +the song, and hastily retired beyond the sound of music. His attendants +observed the change, and endeavoured to renew his love of pleasure. He +neglected their officiousness, repulsed their invitations, and spent day +after day on the banks of rivulets sheltered with trees, where he +sometimes listened to the birds in the branches, sometimes observed the +fish playing in the streams, and anon cast his eyes upon the pastures and +mountains filled with animals, of which some were biting the herbage, and +some sleeping among the bushes. The singularity of his humour made him +much observed. One of the sages, in whose conversation he had formerly +delighted, followed him secretly, in hope of discovering the cause of his +disquiet. Rasselas, who knew not that any one was near him, having for +some time fixed his eyes upon the goats that were browsing among the +rocks, began to compare their condition with his own. + +“What,” said he, “makes the difference between man and all the rest of +the animal creation? Every beast that strays beside me has the same +corporal necessities with myself: he is hungry, and crops the grass; he +is thirsty, and drinks the stream; his thirst and hunger are appeased; he +is satisfied, and sleeps; he rises again, and is hungry; he is again fed, +and is at rest. I am hungry and thirsty, like him, but when thirst and +hunger cease, I am not at rest. I am, like him, pained with want, but am +not, like him, satisfied with fulness. The intermediate hours are +tedious and gloomy; I long again to be hungry that I may again quicken +the attention. The birds peck the berries or the corn, and fly away to +the groves, where they sit in seeming happiness on the branches, and +waste their lives in tuning one unvaried series of sounds. I likewise +can call the lutist and the singer; but the sounds that pleased me +yesterday weary me to-day, and will grow yet more wearisome to-morrow. I +can discover in me no power of perception which is not glutted with its +proper pleasure, yet I do not feel myself delighted. Man surely has some +latent sense for which this place affords no gratification; or he has +some desire distinct from sense, which must be satisfied before he can be +happy.” + +After this he lifted up his head, and seeing the moon rising, walked +towards the palace. As he passed through the fields, and saw the animals +around him, “Ye,” said he, “are happy, and need not envy me that walk +thus among you, burdened with myself; nor do I, ye gentle beings, envy +your felicity; for it is not the felicity of man. I have many distresses +from which you are free; I fear pain when I do not feel it; I sometimes +shrink at evils recollected, and sometimes start at evils anticipated: +surely the equity of Providence has balanced peculiar sufferings with +peculiar enjoyments.” + +With observations like these the Prince amused himself as he returned, +uttering them with a plaintive voice, yet with a look that discovered him +to feel some complacence in his own perspicacity, and to receive some +solace of the miseries of life from consciousness of the delicacy with +which he felt and the eloquence with which he bewailed them. He mingled +cheerfully in the diversions of the evening, and all rejoiced to find +that his heart was lightened. + + + + +CHAPTER III +THE WANTS OF HIM THAT WANTS NOTHING. + + +ON the next day, his old instructor, imagining that he had now made +himself acquainted with his disease of mind, was in hope of curing it by +counsel, and officiously sought an opportunity of conference, which the +Prince, having long considered him as one whose intellects were +exhausted, was not very willing to afford. “Why,” said he, “does this +man thus intrude upon me? Shall I never be suffered to forget these +lectures, which pleased only while they were new, and to become new again +must be forgotten?” He then walked into the wood, and composed himself +to his usual meditations; when, before his thoughts had taken any settled +form, he perceived his pursuer at his side, and was at first prompted by +his impatience to go hastily away; but being unwilling to offend a man +whom he had once reverenced and still loved, he invited him to sit down +with him on the bank. + +The old man, thus encouraged, began to lament the change which had been +lately observed in the Prince, and to inquire why he so often retired +from the pleasures of the palace to loneliness and silence. “I fly from +pleasure,” said the Prince, “because pleasure has ceased to please: I am +lonely because I am miserable, and am unwilling to cloud with my presence +the happiness of others.” “You, sir,” said the sage, “are the first who +has complained of misery in the Happy Valley. I hope to convince you +that your complaints have no real cause. You are here in full possession +of all the Emperor of Abyssinia can bestow; here is neither labour to be +endured nor danger to be dreaded, yet here is all that labour or danger +can procure or purchase. Look round and tell me which of your wants is +without supply: if you want nothing, how are you unhappy?” + +“That I want nothing,” said the Prince, “or that I know not what I want, +is the cause of my complaint: if I had any known want, I should have a +certain wish; that wish would excite endeavour, and I should not then +repine to see the sun move so slowly towards the western mountains, or to +lament when the day breaks, and sleep will no longer hide me from myself. +When I see the kids and the lambs chasing one another, I fancy that I +should be happy if I had something to pursue. But, possessing all that I +can want, I find one day and one hour exactly like another, except that +the latter is still more tedious than the former. Let your experience +inform me how the day may now seem as short as in my childhood, while +nature was yet fresh, and every moment showed me what I never had +observed before. I have already enjoyed too much: give me something to +desire.” The old man was surprised at this new species of affliction, +and knew not what to reply, yet was unwilling to be silent. “Sir,” said +he, “if you had seen the miseries of the world, you would know how to +value your present state.” “Now,” said the Prince, “you have given me +something to desire. I shall long to see the miseries of the world, +since the sight of them is necessary to happiness.” + + + + +CHAPTER IV +THE PRINCE CONTINUES TO GRIEVE AND MUSE. + + +AT this time the sound of music proclaimed the hour of repast, and the +conversation was concluded. The old man went away sufficiently +discontented to find that his reasonings had produced the only conclusion +which they were intended to prevent. But in the decline of life, shame +and grief are of short duration: whether it be that we bear easily what +we have borne long; or that, finding ourselves in age less regarded, we +less regard others; or that we look with slight regard upon afflictions +to which we know that the hand of death is about to put an end. + +The Prince, whose views were extended to a wider space, could not +speedily quiet his emotions. He had been before terrified at the length +of life which nature promised him, because he considered that in a long +time much must be endured: he now rejoiced in his youth, because in many +years much might be done. The first beam of hope that had been ever +darted into his mind rekindled youth in his cheeks, and doubled the +lustre of his eyes. He was fired with the desire of doing something, +though he knew not yet, with distinctness, either end or means. He was +now no longer gloomy and unsocial; but considering himself as master of a +secret stock of happiness, which he could only enjoy by concealing it, he +affected to be busy in all the schemes of diversion, and endeavoured to +make others pleased with the state of which he himself was weary. But +pleasures can never be so multiplied or continued as not to leave much of +life unemployed; there were many hours, both of the night and day, which +he could spend without suspicion in solitary thought. The load of life +was much lightened; he went eagerly into the assemblies, because he +supposed the frequency of his presence necessary to the success of his +purposes; he retired gladly to privacy, because he had now a subject of +thought. His chief amusement was to picture to himself that world which +he had never seen, to place himself in various conditions, to be +entangled in imaginary difficulties, and to be engaged in wild +adventures; but, his benevolence always terminated his projects in the +relief of distress, the detection of fraud, the defeat of oppression, and +the diffusion of happiness. + +Thus passed twenty months of the life of Rasselas. He busied himself so +intensely in visionary bustle that he forgot his real solitude; and +amidst hourly preparations for the various incidents of human affairs, +neglected to consider by what means he should mingle with mankind. + +One day, as he was sitting on a bank, he feigned to himself an orphan +virgin robbed of her little portion by a treacherous lover, and crying +after him for restitution. So strongly was the image impressed upon his +mind that he started up in the maid’s defence, and ran forward to seize +the plunderer with all the eagerness of real pursuit. Fear naturally +quickens the flight of guilt. Rasselas could not catch the fugitive with +his utmost efforts; but, resolving to weary by perseverance him whom he +could not surpass in speed, he pressed on till the foot of the mountain +stopped his course. + +Here he recollected himself, and smiled at his own useless impetuosity. +Then raising his eyes to the mountain, “This,” said he, “is the fatal +obstacle that hinders at once the enjoyment of pleasure and the exercise +of virtue. How long is it that my hopes and wishes have flown beyond +this boundary of my life, which yet I never have attempted to surmount?” + +Struck with this reflection, he sat down to muse, and remembered that +since he first resolved to escape from his confinement, the sun had +passed twice over him in his annual course. He now felt a degree of +regret with which he had never been before acquainted. He considered how +much might have been done in the time which had passed, and left nothing +real behind it. He compared twenty months with the life of man. “In +life,” said he, “is not to be counted the ignorance of infancy or +imbecility of age. We are long before we are able to think, and we soon +cease from the power of acting. The true period of human existence may +be reasonably estimated at forty years, of which I have mused away the +four-and-twentieth part. What I have lost was certain, for I have +certainly possessed it; but of twenty months to come, who can assure me?” + +The consciousness of his own folly pierced him deeply, and he was long +before he could be reconciled to himself. “The rest of my time,” said +he, “has been lost by the crime or folly of my ancestors, and the absurd +institutions of my country; I remember it with disgust, yet without +remorse: but the months that have passed since new light darted into my +soul, since I formed a scheme of reasonable felicity, have been +squandered by my own fault. I have lost that which can never be +restored; I have seen the sun rise and set for twenty months, an idle +gazer on the light of heaven; in this time the birds have left the nest +of their mother, and committed themselves to the woods and to the skies; +the kid has forsaken the teat, and learned by degrees to climb the rocks +in quest of independent sustenance. I only have made no advances, but am +still helpless and ignorant. The moon, by more than twenty changes, +admonished me of the flux of life; the stream that rolled before my feet +upbraided my inactivity. I sat feasting on intellectual luxury, +regardless alike of the examples of the earth and the instructions of the +planets. Twenty months are passed: who shall restore them?” + +These sorrowful meditations fastened upon his mind; he passed four months +in resolving to lose no more time in idle resolves, and was awakened to +more vigorous exertion by hearing a maid, who had broken a porcelain cup, +remark that what cannot be repaired is not to be regretted. + +This was obvious; and Rasselas reproached himself that he had not +discovered it—having not known, or not considered, how many useful hints +are obtained by chance, and how often the mind, hurried by her own ardour +to distant views, neglects the truths that lie open before her. He for a +few hours regretted his regret, and from that time bent his whole mind +upon the means of escaping from the Valley of Happiness. + + + + +CHAPTER V +THE PRINCE MEDITATES HIS ESCAPE. + + +HE now found that it would be very difficult to effect that which it was +very easy to suppose effected. When he looked round about him, he saw +himself confined by the bars of nature, which had never yet been broken, +and by the gate through which none that had once passed it were ever able +to return. He was now impatient as an eagle in a grate. He passed week +after week in clambering the mountains to see if there was any aperture +which the bushes might conceal, but found all the summits inaccessible by +their prominence. The iron gate he despaired to open for it was not only +secured with all the power of art, but was always watched by successive +sentinels, and was, by its position, exposed to the perpetual observation +of all the inhabitants. + +He then examined the cavern through which the waters of the lake were +discharged; and, looking down at a time when the sun shone strongly upon +its mouth, he discovered it to be full of broken rocks, which, though +they permitted the stream to flow through many narrow passages, would +stop any body of solid bulk. He returned discouraged and dejected; but +having now known the blessing of hope, resolved never to despair. + +In these fruitless researches he spent ten months. The time, however, +passed cheerfully away—in the morning he rose with new hope; in the +evening applauded his own diligence; and in the night slept soundly after +his fatigue. He met a thousand amusements, which beguiled his labour and +diversified his thoughts. He discerned the various instincts of animals +and properties of plants, and found the place replete with wonders, of +which he proposed to solace himself with the contemplation if he should +never be able to accomplish his flight—rejoicing that his endeavours, +though yet unsuccessful, had supplied him with a source of inexhaustible +inquiry. But his original curiosity was not yet abated; he resolved to +obtain some knowledge of the ways of men. His wish still continued, but +his hope grew less. He ceased to survey any longer the walls of his +prison, and spared to search by new toils for interstices which he knew +could not be found, yet determined to keep his design always in view, and +lay hold on any expedient that time should offer. + + + + +CHAPTER VI +A DISSERTATION ON THE ART OF FLYING. + + +AMONG the artists that had been allured into the Happy Valley, to labour +for the accommodation and pleasure of its inhabitants, was a man eminent +for his knowledge of the mechanic powers, who had contrived many engines +both of use and recreation. By a wheel which the stream turned he forced +the water into a tower, whence it was distributed to all the apartments +of the palace. He erected a pavilion in the garden, around which he kept +the air always cool by artificial showers. One of the groves, +appropriated to the ladies, was ventilated by fans, to which the rivulets +that ran through it gave a constant motion; and instruments of soft music +were played at proper distances, of which some played by the impulse of +the wind, and some by the power of the stream. + +This artist was sometimes visited by Rasselas who was pleased with every +kind of knowledge, imagining that the time would come when all his +acquisitions should be of use to him in the open world. He came one day +to amuse himself in his usual manner, and found the master busy in +building a sailing chariot. He saw that the design was practicable upon +a level surface, and with expressions of great esteem solicited its +completion. The workman was pleased to find himself so much regarded by +the Prince, and resolved to gain yet higher honours. “Sir,” said he, +“you have seen but a small part of what the mechanic sciences can +perform. I have been long of opinion that, instead of the tardy +conveyance of ships and chariots, man might use the swifter migration of +wings, that the fields of air are open to knowledge, and that only +ignorance and idleness need crawl upon the ground.” + +This hint rekindled the Prince’s desire of passing the mountains. Having +seen what the mechanist had already performed, he was willing to fancy +that he could do more, yet resolved to inquire further before he suffered +hope to afflict him by disappointment. “I am afraid,” said he to the +artist, “that your imagination prevails over your skill, and that you now +tell me rather what you wish than what you know. Every animal has his +element assigned him; the birds have the air, and man and beasts the +earth.” “So,” replied the mechanist, “fishes have the water, in which +yet beasts can swim by nature and man by art. He that can swim needs not +despair to fly; to swim is to fly in a grosser fluid, and to fly is to +swim in a subtler. We are only to proportion our power of resistance to +the different density of matter through which we are to pass. You will +be necessarily up-borne by the air if you can renew any impulse upon it +faster than the air can recede from the pressure.” + +“But the exercise of swimming,” said the Prince, “is very laborious; the +strongest limbs are soon wearied. I am afraid the act of flying will be +yet more violent; and wings will be of no great use unless we can fly +further than we can swim.” + +“The labour of rising from the ground,” said the artist, “will be great, +as we see it in the heavier domestic fowls; but as we mount higher the +earth’s attraction and the body’s gravity will be gradually diminished, +till we shall arrive at a region where the man shall float in the air +without any tendency to fall; no care will then be necessary but to move +forward, which the gentlest impulse will effect. You, sir, whose +curiosity is so extensive, will easily conceive with what pleasure a +philosopher, furnished with wings and hovering in the sky, would see the +earth and all its inhabitants rolling beneath him, and presenting to him +successively, by its diurnal motion, all the countries within the same +parallel. How must it amuse the pendent spectator to see the moving +scene of land and ocean, cities and deserts; to survey with equal +security the marts of trade and the fields of battle; mountains infested +by barbarians, and fruitful regions gladdened by plenty and lulled by +peace. How easily shall we then trace the Nile through all his passages, +pass over to distant regions, and examine the face of nature from one +extremity of the earth to the other.” + +“All this,” said the Prince, “is much to be desired, but I am afraid that +no man will be able to breathe in these regions of speculation and +tranquillity. I have been told that respiration is difficult upon lofty +mountains, yet from these precipices, though so high as to produce great +tenuity of air, it is very easy to fall; therefore I suspect that from +any height where life can be supported, there may be danger of too quick +descent.” + +“Nothing,” replied the artist, “will ever be attempted if all possible +objections must be first overcome. If you will favour my project, I will +try the first flight at my own hazard. I have considered the structure +of all volant animals, and find the folding continuity of the bat’s wings +most easily accommodated to the human form. Upon this model I shall +begin my task to-morrow, and in a year expect to tower into the air +beyond the malice and pursuit of man. But I will work only on this +condition, that the art shall not be divulged, and that you shall not +require me to make wings for any but ourselves.” + +“Why,” said Rasselas, “should you envy others so great an advantage? All +skill ought to be exerted for universal good; every man has owed much to +others, and ought to repay the kindness that he has received.” + +“If men were all virtuous,” returned the artist, “I should with great +alacrity teach them to fly. But what would be the security of the good +if the bad could at pleasure invade them from the sky? Against an army +sailing through the clouds neither walls, mountains, nor seas could +afford security. A flight of northern savages might hover in the wind +and light with irresistible violence upon the capital of a fruitful +reason. Even this valley, the retreat of princes, the abode of +happiness, might be violated by the sudden descent of some of the naked +nations that swarm on the coast of the southern sea!” + +The Prince promised secrecy, and waited for the performance, not wholly +hopeless of success. He visited the work from time to time, observed its +progress, and remarked many ingenious contrivances to facilitate motion +and unite levity with strength. The artist was every day more certain +that he should leave vultures and eagles behind him, and the contagion of +his confidence seized upon the Prince. In a year the wings were +finished; and on a morning appointed the maker appeared, furnished for +flight, on a little promontory; he waved his pinions awhile to gather +air, then leaped from his stand, and in an instant dropped into the lake. +His wings, which were of no use in the air, sustained him in the water; +and the Prince drew him to land half dead with terror and vexation. + + + + +CHAPTER VII +THE PRINCE FINDS A MAN OF LEARNING. + + +THE Prince was not much afflicted by this disaster, having suffered +himself to hope for a happier event only because he had no other means of +escape in view. He still persisted in his design to leave the Happy +Valley by the first opportunity. + +His imagination was now at a stand; he had no prospect of entering into +the world, and, notwithstanding all his endeavours to support himself, +discontent by degrees preyed upon him, and he began again to lose his +thoughts in sadness when the rainy season, which in these countries is +periodical, made it inconvenient to wander in the woods. + +The rain continued longer and with more violence than had ever been +known; the clouds broke on the surrounding mountains, and the torrents +streamed into the plain on every side, till the cavern was too narrow to +discharge the water. The lake overflowed its banks, and all the level of +the valley was covered with the inundation. The eminence on which the +palace was built, and some other spots of rising ground, were all that +the eye could now discover. The herds and flocks left the pasture, and +both the wild beasts and the tame retreated to the mountains. + +This inundation confined all the princes to domestic amusements, and the +attention of Rasselas was particularly seized by a poem (which Imlac +rehearsed) upon the various conditions of humanity. He commanded the +poet to attend him in his apartment, and recite his verses a second time; +then entering into familiar talk, he thought himself happy in having +found a man who knew the world so well, and could so skilfully paint the +scenes of life. He asked a thousand questions about things to which, +though common to all other mortals, his confinement from childhood had +kept him a stranger. The poet pitied his ignorance, and loved his +curiosity, and entertained him from day to day with novelty and +instruction so that the Prince regretted the necessity of sleep, and +longed till the morning should renew his pleasure. + +As they were sitting together, the Prince commanded Imlac to relate his +history, and to tell by what accident he was forced, or by what motive +induced, to close his life in the Happy Valley. As he was going to begin +his narrative, Rasselas was called to a concert, and obliged to restrain +his curiosity till the evening. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII +THE HISTORY OF IMLAC. + + +THE close of the day is, in the regions of the torrid zone, the only +season of diversion and entertainment, and it was therefore midnight +before the music ceased and the princesses retired. Rasselas then called +for his companion, and required him to begin the story of his life. + +“Sir,” said Imlac, “my history will not be long: the life that is devoted +to knowledge passes silently away, and is very little diversified by +events. To talk in public, to think in solitude, to read and to hear, to +inquire and answer inquiries, is the business of a scholar. He wanders +about the world without pomp or terror, and is neither known nor valued +but by men like himself. + +“I was born in the kingdom of Goiama, at no great distance from the +fountain of the Nile. My father was a wealthy merchant, who traded +between the inland countries of Africa and the ports of the Red Sea. He +was honest, frugal, and diligent, but of mean sentiments and narrow +comprehension; he desired only to be rich, and to conceal his riches, +lest he should be spoiled by the governors of the province.” + +“Surely,” said the Prince, “my father must be negligent of his charge if +any man in his dominions dares take that which belongs to another. Does +he not know that kings are accountable for injustice permitted as well as +done? If I were Emperor, not the meanest of my subjects should be +oppressed with impunity. My blood boils when I am told that a merchant +durst not enjoy his honest gains for fear of losing them by the rapacity +of power. Name the governor who robbed the people that I may declare his +crimes to the Emperor!” + +“Sir,” said Imlac, “your ardour is the natural effect of virtue animated +by youth. The time will come when you will acquit your father, and +perhaps hear with less impatience of the governor. Oppression is, in the +Abyssinian dominions, neither frequent nor tolerated; but no form of +government has been yet discovered by which cruelty can be wholly +prevented. Subordination supposes power on one part and subjection on +the other; and if power be in the hands of men it will sometimes be +abused. The vigilance of the supreme magistrate may do much, but much +will still remain undone. He can never know all the crimes that are +committed, and can seldom punish all that he knows.” + +“This,” said the Prince, “I do not understand; but I had rather hear thee +than dispute. Continue thy narration.” + +“My father,” proceeded Imlac, “originally intended that I should have no +other education than such as might qualify me for commerce; and +discovering in me great strength of memory and quickness of apprehension, +often declared his hope that I should be some time the richest man in +Abyssinia.” + +“Why,” said the Prince, “did thy father desire the increase of his wealth +when it was already greater than he durst discover or enjoy? I am +unwilling to doubt thy veracity, yet inconsistencies cannot both be +true.” + +“Inconsistencies,” answered Imlac, “cannot both be right; but, imputed to +man, they may both be true. Yet diversity is not inconsistency. My +father might expect a time of greater security. However, some desire is +necessary to keep life in motion; and he whose real wants are supplied +must admit those of fancy.” + +“This,” said the Prince, “I can in some measure conceive. I repent that +I interrupted thee.” + +“With this hope,” proceeded Imlac, “he sent me to school. But when I had +once found the delight of knowledge, and felt the pleasure of +intelligence and the pride of invention, I began silently to despise +riches, and determined to disappoint the purposes of my father, whose +grossness of conception raised my pity. I was twenty years old before +his tenderness would expose me to the fatigue of travel; in which time I +had been instructed, by successive masters, in all the literature of my +native country. As every hour taught me something new, I lived in a +continual course of gratification; but as I advanced towards manhood, I +lost much of the reverence with which I had been used to look on my +instructors; because when the lessons were ended I did not find them +wiser or better than common men. + +“At length my father resolved to initiate me in commerce; and, opening +one of his subterranean treasuries, counted out ten thousand pieces of +gold. ‘This, young man,’ said he, ‘is the stock with which you must +negotiate. I began with less than a fifth part, and you see how +diligence and parsimony have increased it. This is your own, to waste or +improve. If you squander it by negligence or caprice, you must wait for +my death before you will be rich; if in four years you double your stock, +we will thenceforward let subordination cease, and live together as +friends and partners, for he shall be always equal with me who is equally +skilled in the art of growing rich.’ + +“We laid out our money upon camels, concealed in bales of cheap goods, +and travelled to the shore of the Red Sea. When I cast my eye on the +expanse of waters, my heart bounded like that of a prisoner escaped. I +felt an inextinguishable curiosity kindle in my mind, and resolved to +snatch this opportunity of seeing the manners of other nations, and of +learning sciences unknown in Abyssinia. + +“I remembered that my father had obliged me to the improvement of my +stock, not by a promise, which I ought not to violate, but by a penalty, +which I was at liberty to incur; and therefore determined to gratify my +predominant desire, and, by drinking at the fountain of knowledge, to +quench the thirst of curiosity. + +“As I was supposed to trade without connection with my father, it was +easy for me to become acquainted with the master of a ship, and procure a +passage to some other country. I had no motives of choice to regulate my +voyage. It was sufficient for me that, wherever I wandered, I should see +a country which I had not seen before. I therefore entered a ship bound +for Surat, having left a letter for my father declaring my intention.” + + + + +CHAPTER IX +THE HISTORY OF IMLAC (_continued_). + + +“WHEN I first entered upon the world of waters, and lost sight of land, I +looked round about me in pleasing terror, and thinking my soul enlarged +by the boundless prospect, imagined that I could gaze around me for ever +without satiety; but in a short time I grew weary of looking on barren +uniformity, where I could only see again what I had already seen. I then +descended into the ship, and doubted for awhile whether all my future +pleasures would not end, like this, in disgust and disappointment. ‘Yet +surely,’ said I, ‘the ocean and the land are very different. The only +variety of water is rest and motion. But the earth has mountains and +valleys, deserts and cities; it is inhabited by men of different customs +and contrary opinions; and I may hope to find variety in life, though I +should miss it in nature.’ + +“With this thought I quieted my mind, and amused myself during the +voyage, sometimes by learning from the sailors the art of navigation, +which I have never practised, and sometimes by forming schemes for my +conduct in different situations, in not one of which I have been ever +placed. + +“I was almost weary of my naval amusements when we safely landed at +Surat. I secured my money and, purchasing some commodities for show, +joined myself to a caravan that was passing into the inland country. My +companions, for some reason or other, conjecturing that I was rich, and, +by my inquiries and admiration, finding that I was ignorant, considered +me as a novice whom they had a right to cheat, and who was to learn, at +the usual expense, the art of fraud. They exposed me to the theft of +servants and the exaction of officers, and saw me plundered upon false +pretences, without any advantage to themselves but that of rejoicing in +the superiority of their own knowledge.” + +“Stop a moment,” said the Prince; “is there such depravity in man as that +he should injure another without benefit to himself? I can easily +conceive that all are pleased with superiority; but your ignorance was +merely accidental, which, being neither your crime nor your folly, could +afford them no reason to applaud themselves; and the knowledge which they +had, and which you wanted, they might as effectually have shown by +warning as betraying you.” + +“Pride,” said Imlac, “is seldom delicate; it will please itself with very +mean advantages, and envy feels not its own happiness but when it may be +compared with the misery of others. They were my enemies because they +grieved to think me rich, and my oppressors because they delighted to +find me weak.” + +“Proceed,” said the Prince; “I doubt not of the facts which you relate, +but imagine that you impute them to mistaken motives.” + +“In this company,” said Imlac, “I arrived at Agra, the capital of +Hindostan, the city in which the Great Mogul commonly resides. I applied +myself to the language of the country, and in a few months was able to +converse with the learned men; some of whom I found morose and reserved, +and others easy and communicative; some were unwilling to teach another +what they had with difficulty learned themselves; and some showed that +the end of their studies was to gain the dignity of instructing. + +“To the tutor of the young princes I recommended myself so much that I +was presented to the Emperor as a man of uncommon knowledge. The Emperor +asked me many questions concerning my country and my travels, and though +I cannot now recollect anything that he uttered above the power of a +common man, he dismissed me astonished at his wisdom and enamoured of his +goodness. + +“My credit was now so high that the merchants with whom I had travelled +applied to me for recommendations to the ladies of the Court. I was +surprised at their confidence of solicitation and greatly reproached them +with their practices on the road. They heard me with cold indifference, +and showed no tokens of shame or sorrow. + +“They then urged their request with the offer of a bribe, but what I +would not do for kindness I would not do for money, and refused them, not +because they had injured me, but because I would not enable them to +injure others; for I knew they would have made use of my credit to cheat +those who should buy their wares. + +“Having resided at Agra till there was no more to be learned, I travelled +into Persia, where I saw many remains of ancient magnificence and +observed many new accommodations of life. The Persians are a nation +eminently social, and their assemblies afforded me daily opportunities of +remarking characters and manners, and of tracing human nature through all +its variations. + +“From Persia I passed into Arabia, where I saw a nation pastoral and +warlike, who lived without any settled habitation, whose wealth is their +flocks and herds, and who have carried on through ages an hereditary war +with mankind, though they neither covet nor envy their possessions.” + + + + +CHAPTER X +IMLAC’S HISTORY (_continued_)—A DISSERTATION UPON POETRY. + + +“WHEREVER I went I found that poetry was considered as the highest +learning, and regarded with a veneration somewhat approaching to that +which man would pay to angelic nature. And yet it fills me with wonder +that in almost all countries the most ancient poets are considered as the +best; whether it be that every other kind of knowledge is an acquisition +greatly attained, and poetry is a gift conferred at once; or that the +first poetry of every nation surprised them as a novelty, and retained +the credit by consent which it received by accident at first; or whether, +as the province of poetry is to describe nature and passion, which are +always the same, the first writers took possession of the most striking +objects for description and the most probable occurrences for fiction, +and left nothing to those that followed them but transcription of the +same events and new combinations of the same images. Whatever be the +reason, it is commonly observed that the early writers are in possession +of nature, and their followers of art; that the first excel in strength +and invention, and the latter in elegance and refinement. + +“I was desirous to add my name to this illustrious fraternity. I read +all the poets of Persia and Arabia, and was able to repeat by memory the +volumes that are suspended in the mosque of Mecca. But I soon found that +no man was ever great by imitations. My desire of excellence impelled me +to transfer my attention to nature and to life. Nature was to be my +subject, and men to be my auditors. I could never describe what I had +not seen. I could not hope to move those with delight or terror whose +interests and opinions I did not understand. + +“Being now resolved to be a poet, I saw everything with a new purpose; my +sphere of attention was suddenly magnified; no kind of knowledge was to +be overlooked. I ranged mountains and deserts for images and +resemblances, and pictured upon my mind every tree of the forest and +flower of the valley. I observed with equal care the crags of the rock +and the pinnacles of the palace. Sometimes I wandered along the mazes of +the rivulet, and sometimes watched the changes of the summer clouds. To +a poet nothing can be useless. Whatever is beautiful and whatever is +dreadful must be familiar to his imagination; he must be conversant with +all that is awfully vast or elegantly little. The plants of the garden, +the animals of the wood, the minerals of the earth, and meteors of the +sky, must all concur to store his mind with inexhaustible variety; for +every idea is useful for the enforcement or decoration of moral or +religious truth, and he who knows most will have most power of +diversifying his scenes and of gratifying his reader with remote +allusions and unexpected instruction. + +“All the appearances of nature I was therefore careful to study, and +every country which I have surveyed has contributed something to my +poetical powers.” + +“In so wide a survey,” said the Prince, “you must surely have left much +unobserved. I have lived till now within the circuit of the mountains, +and yet cannot walk abroad without the sight of something which I had +never beheld before, or never heeded.” + +“This business of a poet,” said Imlac, “is to examine, not the +individual, but the species; to remark general properties and large +appearances. He does not number the streaks of the tulip, or describe +the different shades of the verdure of the forest. He is to exhibit in +his portraits of nature such prominent and striking features as recall +the original to every mind, and must neglect the minuter discriminations, +which one may have remarked and another have neglected, for those +characteristics which are alike obvious to vigilance and carelessness. + +“But the knowledge of nature is only half the task of a poet; he must be +acquainted likewise with all the modes of life. His character requires +that he estimate the happiness and misery of every condition, observe the +power of all the passions in all their combinations, and trace the +changes of the human mind, as they are modified by various institutions +and accidental influences of climate or custom, from the sprightliness of +infancy to the despondence of decrepitude. He must divest himself of the +prejudices of his age and country; he must consider right and wrong in +their abstracted and invariable state; he must disregard present laws and +opinions, and rise to general and transcendental truths, which will +always be the same. He must, therefore, content himself with the slow +progress of his name, contemn the praise of his own time, and commit his +claims to the justice of posterity. He must write as the interpreter of +nature and the legislator of mankind, and consider himself as presiding +over the thoughts and manners of future generations, as a being superior +to time and place. + +“His labour is not yet at an end. He must know many languages and many +sciences, and, that his style may be worthy of his thoughts, must by +incessant practice familiarise to himself every delicacy of speech and +grace of harmony.” + + + + +CHAPTER XI +IMLAC’S NARRATIVE (_continued_)—A HINT OF PILGRIMAGE. + + +IMLAC now felt the enthusiastic fit, and was proceeding to aggrandise his +own profession, when then Prince cried out: “Enough! thou hast convinced +me that no human being can ever be a poet. Proceed with thy narration.” + +“To be a poet,” said Imlac, “is indeed very difficult.” + +“So difficult,” returned the Prince, “that I will at present hear no more +of his labours. Tell me whither you went when you had seen Persia.” + +“From Persia,” said the poet, “I travelled through Syria, and for three +years resided in Palestine, where I conversed with great numbers of the +northern and western nations of Europe, the nations which are now in +possession of all power and all knowledge, whose armies are irresistible, +and whose fleets command the remotest parts of the globe. When I +compared these men with the natives of our own kingdom and those that +surround us, they appeared almost another order of beings. In their +countries it is difficult to wish for anything that may not be obtained; +a thousand arts, of which we never heard, are continually labouring for +their convenience and pleasure, and whatever their own climate has denied +them is supplied by their commerce.” + +“By what means,” said the Prince, “are the Europeans thus powerful? or +why, since they can so easily visit Asia and Africa for trade or +conquest, cannot the Asiatics and Africans invade their coast, plant +colonies in their ports, and give laws to their natural princes? The +same wind that carries them back would bring us thither.” + +“They are more powerful, sir, than we,” answered Imlac, “because they are +wiser; knowledge will always predominate over ignorance, as man governs +the other animals. But why their knowledge is more than ours I know not +what reason can be given but the unsearchable will of the Supreme Being.” + +“When,” said the Prince with a sigh, “shall I be able to visit Palestine, +and mingle with this mighty confluence of nations? Till that happy +moment shall arrive, let me fill up the time with such representations as +thou canst give me. I am not ignorant of the motive that assembles such +numbers in that place, and cannot but consider it as the centre of wisdom +and piety, to which the best and wisest men of every land must be +continually resorting.” + +“There are some nations,” said Imlac, “that send few visitants to +Palestine; for many numerous and learned sects in Europe concur to +censure pilgrimage as superstitious, or deride it as ridiculous.” + +“You know,” said the Prince, “how little my life has made me acquainted +with diversity of opinions; it will be too long to hear the arguments on +both sides; you, that have considered them, tell me the result.” + +“Pilgrimage,” said Imlac, “like many other acts of piety, may be +reasonable or superstitious, according to the principles upon which it is +performed. Long journeys in search of truth are not commanded. Truth, +such as is necessary to the regulation of life, is always found where it +is honestly sought. Change of place is no natural cause of the increase +of piety, for it inevitably produces dissipation of mind. Yet, since men +go every day to view the fields where great actions have been performed, +and return with stronger impressions of the event, curiosity of the same +kind may naturally dispose us to view that country whence our religion +had its beginning, and I believe no man surveys those awful scenes +without some confirmation of holy resolutions. That the Supreme Being +may be more easily propitiated in one place than in another is the dream +of idle superstition, but that some places may operate upon our own minds +in an uncommon manner is an opinion which hourly experience will justify. +He who supposes that his vices may be more successfully combated in +Palestine, will perhaps find himself mistaken; yet he may go thither +without folly; he who thinks they will be more freely pardoned, +dishonours at once his reason and religion.” + +“These,” said the Prince, “are European distinctions. I will consider +them another time. What have you found to be the effect of knowledge? +Are those nations happier than we?” + +“There is so much infelicity,” said the poet, “in the world, that scarce +any man has leisure from his own distresses to estimate the comparative +happiness of others. Knowledge is certainly one of the means of +pleasure, as is confessed by the natural desire which every mind feels of +increasing its ideas. Ignorance is mere privation, by which nothing can +be produced; it is a vacuity in which the soul sits motionless and torpid +for want of attraction, and, without knowing why, we always rejoice when +we learn, and grieve when we forget. I am therefore inclined to conclude +that if nothing counteracts the natural consequence of learning, we grow +more happy as out minds take a wider range. + +“In enumerating the particular comforts of life, we shall find many +advantages on the side of the Europeans. They cure wounds and diseases +with which we languish and perish. We suffer inclemencies of weather +which they can obviate. They have engines for the despatch of many +laborious works, which we must perform by manual industry. There is such +communication between distant places that one friend can hardly be said +to be absent from another. Their policy removes all public +inconveniences; they have roads cut through the mountains, and bridges +laid over their rivers. And, if we descend to the privacies of life, +their habitations are more commodious and their possessions are more +secure.” + +“They are surely happy,” said the Prince, “who have all these +conveniences, of which I envy none so much as the facility with which +separated friends interchange their thoughts.” + +“The Europeans,” answered Imlac, “are less unhappy than we, but they are +not happy. Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be +endured and little to be enjoyed.” + + + + +CHAPTER XII +THE STORY OF IMLAC (_continued_). + + +“I AM not willing,” said the Prince, “to suppose that happiness is so +parsimoniously distributed to mortals, nor can I believe but that, if I +had the choice of life, I should be able to fill every day with pleasure. +I would injure no man, and should provoke no resentments; I would relieve +every distress, and should enjoy the benedictions of gratitude. I would +choose my friends among the wise and my wife among the virtuous, and +therefore should be in no danger from treachery or unkindness. My +children should by my care be learned and pious, and would repay to my +age what their childhood had received. What would dare to molest him who +might call on every side to thousands enriched by his bounty or assisted +by his power? And why should not life glide away in the soft +reciprocation of protection and reverence? All this may be done without +the help of European refinements, which appear by their effects to be +rather specious than useful. Let us leave them and pursue our journey.” + +“From Palestine,” said Imlac, “I passed through many regions of Asia; in +the more civilised kingdoms as a trader, and among the barbarians of the +mountains as a pilgrim. At last I began to long for my native country, +that I might repose after my travels and fatigues in the places where I +had spent my earliest years, and gladden my old companions with the +recital of my adventures. Often did I figure to myself those with whom I +had sported away the gay hours of dawning life, sitting round me in its +evening, wondering at my tales and listening to my counsels. + +“When this thought had taken possession of my mind, I considered every +moment as wasted which did not bring me nearer to Abyssinia. I hastened +into Egypt, and, notwithstanding my impatience, was detained ten months +in the contemplation of its ancient magnificence and in inquiries after +the remains of its ancient learning. I found in Cairo a mixture of all +nations: some brought thither by the love of knowledge, some by the hope +of gain; many by the desire of living after their own manner without +observation, and of lying hid in the obscurity of multitudes; for in a +city populous as Cairo it is possible to obtain at the same time the +gratifications of society and the secrecy of solitude. + +“From Cairo I travelled to Suez, and embarked on the Red Sea, passing +along the coast till I arrived at the port from which I had departed +twenty years before. Here I joined myself to a caravan, and re-entered +my native country. + +“I now expected the caresses of my kinsmen and the congratulations of my +friends, and was not without hope that my father, whatever value he had +set upon riches, would own with gladness and pride a son who was able to +add to the felicity and honour of the nation. But I was soon convinced +that my thoughts were vain. My father had been dead fourteen years, +having divided his wealth among my brothers, who were removed to some +other provinces. Of my companions, the greater part was in the grave; of +the rest, some could with difficulty remember me, and some considered me +as one corrupted by foreign manners. + +“A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected. I forgot, after a +time, my disappointment, and endeavoured to recommend myself to the +nobles of the kingdom; they admitted me to their tables, heard my story, +and dismissed me. I opened a school, and was prohibited to teach. I +then resolved to sit down in the quiet of domestic life, and addressed a +lady that was fond of my conversation, but rejected my suit because my +father was a merchant. + +“Wearied at last with solicitation and repulses, I resolved to hide +myself for ever from the world, and depend no longer on the opinion or +caprice of others. I waited for the time when the gate of the Happy +Valley should open, that I might bid farewell to hope and fear; the day +came, my performance was distinguished with favour, and I resigned myself +with joy to perpetual confinement.” + +“Hast thou here found happiness at last?” said Rasselas. “Tell me, +without reserve, art thou content with thy condition, or dost thou wish +to be again wandering and inquiring? All the inhabitants of this valley +celebrate their lot, and at the annual visit of the Emperor invite others +to partake of their felicity.” + +“Great Prince,” said Imlac, “I shall speak the truth. I know not one of +all your attendants who does not lament the hour when he entered this +retreat. I am less unhappy than the rest, because I have a mind replete +with images, which I can vary and combine at pleasure. I can amuse my +solitude by the renovation of the knowledge which begins to fade from my +memory, and by recollection of the accidents of my past life. Yet all +this ends in the sorrowful consideration that my acquirements are now +useless, and that none of my pleasures can be again enjoyed. The rest, +whose minds have no impression but of the present moment, are either +corroded by malignant passions or sit stupid in the gloom of perpetual +vacancy.” + +“What passions can infest those,” said the Prince, “who have no rivals? +We are in a place where impotence precludes malice, and where all envy is +repressed by community of enjoyments.” + +“There may be community,” said Imlac, “of material possessions, but there +can never be community of love or of esteem. It must happen that one +will please more than another; he that knows himself despised will always +be envious, and still more envious and malevolent if he is condemned to +live in the presence of those who despise him. The invitations by which +they allure others to a state which they feel to be wretched, proceed +from the natural malignity of hopeless misery. They are weary of +themselves and of each other, and expect to find relief in new +companions. They envy the liberty which their folly has forfeited, and +would gladly see all mankind imprisoned like themselves. + +“From this crime, however, I am wholly free. No man can say that he is +wretched by my persuasion. I look with pity on the crowds who are +annually soliciting admission to captivity, and wish that it were lawful +for me to warn them of their danger.” + +“My dear Imlac,” said the Prince, “I will open to thee my whole heart. I +have long meditated an escape from the Happy Valley. I have examined the +mountain on every side, but find myself insuperably barred—teach me the +way to break my prison; thou shalt be the companion of my flight, the +guide of my rambles, the partner of my fortune, and my sole director in +the _choice of life_. + +“Sir,” answered the poet, “your escape will be difficult, and perhaps you +may soon repent your curiosity. The world, which you figure to yourself +smooth and quiet as the lake in the valley, you will find a sea foaming +with tempests and boiling with whirlpools; you will be sometimes +overwhelmed by the waves of violence, and sometimes dashed against the +rocks of treachery. Amidst wrongs and frauds, competitions and +anxieties, you will wish a thousand times for these seats of quiet, and +willingly quit hope to be free from fear.” + +“Do not seek to deter me from my purpose,” said the Prince. “I am +impatient to see what thou hast seen; and since thou art thyself weary of +the valley, it is evident that thy former state was better than this. +Whatever be the consequence of my experiment, I am resolved to judge with +mine own eyes of the various conditions of men, and then to make +deliberately my _choice of life_.” + +“I am afraid,” said Imlac, “you are hindered by stronger restraints than +my persuasions; yet, if your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you +to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.” + + + + +CHAPTER XIII +RASSELAS DISCOVERS THE MEANS OF ESCAPE. + + +THE Prince now dismissed his favourite to rest; but the narrative of +wonders and novelties filled his mind with perturbation. He revolved all +that he had heard, and prepared innumerable questions for the morning. + +Much of his uneasiness was now removed. He had a friend to whom he could +impart his thoughts, and whose experience could assist him in his +designs. His heart was no longer condemned to swell with silent +vexation. He thought that even the Happy Valley might be endured with +such a companion, and that if they could range the world together he +should have nothing further to desire. + +In a few days the water was discharged, and the ground dried. The Prince +and Imlac then walked out together, to converse without the notice of the +rest. The Prince, whose thoughts were always on the wing, as he passed +by the gate said, with a countenance of sorrow, “Why art thou so strong, +and why is man so weak?” + +“Man is not weak,” answered his companion; “knowledge is more than +equivalent to force. The master of mechanics laughs at strength. I can +burst the gate, but cannot do it secretly. Some other expedient must be +tried.” + +As they were walking on the side of the mountain they observed that the +coneys, which the rain had driven from their burrows, had taken shelter +among the bushes, and formed holes behind them tending upwards in an +oblique line. “It has been the opinion of antiquity,” said Imlac, “that +human reason borrowed many arts from the instinct of animals; let us, +therefore, not think ourselves degraded by learning from the coney. We +may escape by piercing the mountain in the same direction. We will begin +where the summit hangs over the middle part, and labour upward till we +shall issue out beyond the prominence.” + +The eyes of the Prince, when he heard this proposal, sparkled with joy. +The execution was easy and the success certain. + +No time was now lost. They hastened early in the morning to choose a +place proper for their mine. They clambered with great fatigue among +crags and brambles, and returned without having discovered any part that +favoured their design. The second and the third day were spent in the +same manner, and with the same frustration; but on the fourth day they +found a small cavern concealed by a thicket, where they resolved to make +their experiment. + +Imlac procured instruments proper to hew stone and remove earth, and they +fell to their work on the next day with more eagerness than vigour. They +were presently exhausted by their efforts, and sat down to pant upon the +grass. The Prince for a moment appeared to be discouraged. “Sir,” said +his companion, “practice will enable us to continue our labour for a +longer time. Mark, however, how far we have advanced, and ye will find +that our toil will some time have an end. Great works are performed not +by strength, but perseverance; yonder palace was raised by single stones, +yet you see its height and spaciousness. He that shall walk with vigour +three hours a day, will pass in seven years a space equal to the +circumference of the globe.” + +They returned to their work day after day, and in a short time found a +fissure in the rock, which enabled them to pass far with very little +obstruction. This Rasselas considered as a good omen. “Do not disturb +your mind,” said Imlac, “with other hopes or fears than reason may +suggest; if you are pleased with the prognostics of good, you will be +terrified likewise with tokens of evil, and your whole life will be a +prey to superstition. Whatever facilitates our work is more than an +omen; it is a cause of success. This is one of those pleasing surprises +which often happen to active resolution. Many things difficult to design +prove easy to performance.” + + + + +CHAPTER XIV +RASSELAS AND IMLAC RECEIVE AN UNEXPECTED VISIT. + + +THEY had now wrought their way to the middle, and solaced their toil with +the approach of liberty, when the Prince, coming down to refresh himself +with air, found his sister Nekayah standing at the mouth of the cavity. +He started, and stood confused, afraid to tell his design, and yet +hopeless to conceal it. A few moments determined him to repose on her +fidelity, and secure her secrecy by a declaration without reserve. + +“Do not imagine,” said the Princess, “that I came hither as a spy. I had +long observed from my window that you and Imlac directed your walk every +day towards the same point, but I did not suppose you had any better +reason for the preference than a cooler shade or more fragrant bank, nor +followed you with any other design than to partake of your conversation. +Since, then, not suspicion, but fondness, has detected you, let me not +lose the advantage of my discovery. I am equally weary of confinement +with yourself, and not less desirous of knowing what is done or suffered +in the world. Permit me to fly with you from this tasteless +tranquillity, which will yet grow more loathsome when you have left me. +You may deny me to accompany you, but cannot hinder me from following.” + +The Prince, who loved Nekayah above his other sisters, had no inclination +to refuse her request, and grieved that he had lost an opportunity of +showing his confidence by a voluntary communication. It was, therefore, +agreed that she should leave the valley with them; and that in the +meantime she should watch, lest any other straggler should, by chance or +curiosity, follow them to the mountain. + +At length their labour was at an end. They saw light beyond the +prominence, and, issuing to the top of the mountain, beheld the Nile, yet +a narrow current, wandering beneath them. + +The Prince looked round with rapture, anticipated all the pleasures of +travel, and in thought was already transported beyond his father’s +dominions. Imlac, though very joyful at his escape, had less expectation +of pleasure in the world, which he had before tried and of which he had +been weary. + +Rasselas was so much delighted with a wider horizon, that he could not +soon be persuaded to return into the valley. He informed his sister that +the way was now open, and that nothing now remained but to prepare for +their departure. + + + + +CHAPTER XV +THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS LEAVE THE VALLEY, AND SEE MANY WONDERS. + + +THE Prince and Princess had jewels sufficient to make them rich whenever +they came into a place of commerce, which, by Imlac’s direction, they hid +in their clothes, and on the night of the next full moon all left the +valley. The Princess was followed only by a single favourite, who did +not know whither she was going. + +They clambered through the cavity, and began to go down on the other +side. The Princess and her maid turned their eyes toward every part, and +seeing nothing to bound their prospect, considered themselves in danger +of being lost in a dreary vacuity. They stopped and trembled. “I am +almost afraid,” said the Princess, “to begin a journey of which I cannot +perceive an end, and to venture into this immense plain where I may be +approached on every side by men whom I never saw.” The Prince felt +nearly the same emotions, though he thought it more manly to conceal +them. + +Imlac smiled at their terrors, and encouraged them to proceed. But the +Princess continued irresolute till she had been imperceptibly drawn +forward too far to return. + +In the morning they found some shepherds in the field, who set some milk +and fruits before them. The Princess wondered that she did not see a +palace ready for her reception and a table spread with delicacies; but +being faint and hungry, she drank the milk and ate the fruits, and +thought them of a higher flavour than the products of the valley. + +They travelled forward by easy journeys, being all unaccustomed to toil +and difficulty, and knowing that, though they might be missed, they could +not be pursued. In a few days they came into a more populous region, +where Imlac was diverted with the admiration which his companions +expressed at the diversity of manners, stations, and employments. Their +dress was such as might not bring upon them the suspicion of having +anything to conceal; yet the Prince, wherever he came, expected to be +obeyed, and the Princess was frighted because those who came into her +presence did not prostrate themselves. Imlac was forced to observe them +with great vigilance, lest they should betray their rank by their unusual +behaviour, and detained them several weeks in the first village to +accustom them to the sight of common mortals. + +By degrees the royal wanderers were taught to understand that they had +for a time laid aside their dignity, and were to expect only such regard +as liberality and courtesy could procure. And Imlac having by many +admonitions prepared them to endure the tumults of a port and the +ruggedness of the commercial race, brought them down to the sea-coast. + +The Prince and his sister, to whom everything was new, were gratified +equally at all places, and therefore remained for some months at the port +without any inclination to pass further. Imlac was content with their +stay, because he did not think it safe to expose them, unpractised in the +world, to the hazards of a foreign country. + +At last he began to fear lest they should be discovered, and proposed to +fix a day for their departure. They had no pretensions to judge for +themselves, and referred the whole scheme to his direction. He therefore +took passage in a ship to Suez, and, when the time came, with great +difficulty prevailed on the Princess to enter the vessel. They had a +quick and prosperous voyage, and from Suez travelled by land to Cairo. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI +THEY ENTER CAIRO, AND FIND EVERY MAN HAPPY. + + +AS they approached the city, which filled the strangers with +astonishment, “This,” said Imlac to the Prince, “is the place where +travellers and merchants assemble from all corners of the earth. You +will here find men of every character and every occupation. Commerce is +here honourable. I will act as a merchant, and you shall live as +strangers who have no other end of travel than curiosity; it will soon be +observed that we are rich. Our reputation will procure us access to all +whom we shall desire to know; you shall see all the conditions of +humanity, and enable yourselves at leisure to make your _choice of +life_.” + +They now entered the town, stunned by the noise and offended by the +crowds. Instruction had not yet so prevailed over habit but that they +wondered to see themselves pass undistinguished along the streets, and +met by the lowest of the people without reverence or notice. The +Princess could not at first bear the thought of being levelled with the +vulgar, and for some time continued in her chamber, where she was served +by her favourite Pekuah, as in the palace of the valley. + +Imlac, who understood traffic, sold part of the jewels the next day, and +hired a house, which he adorned with such magnificence that he was +immediately considered as a merchant of great wealth. His politeness +attracted many acquaintances, and his generosity made him courted by many +dependants. His companions, not being able to mix in the conversation, +could make no discovery of their ignorance or surprise, and were +gradually initiated in the world as they gained knowledge of the +language. + +The Prince had by frequent lectures been taught the use and nature of +money; but the ladies could not for a long time comprehend what the +merchants did with small pieces of gold and silver, or why things of so +little use should be received as an equivalent to the necessaries of +life. + +They studied the language two years, while Imlac was preparing to set +before them the various ranks and conditions of mankind. He grew +acquainted with all who had anything uncommon in their fortune or +conduct. He frequented the voluptuous and the frugal, the idle and the +busy, the merchants and the men of learning. + +The Prince now being able to converse with fluency, and having learned +the caution necessary to be observed in his intercourse with strangers, +began to accompany Imlac to places of resort, and to enter into all +assemblies, that he might make his _choice of life_. + +For some time he thought choice needless, because all appeared to him +really happy. Wherever he went he met gaiety and kindness, and heard the +song of joy or the laugh of carelessness. He began to believe that the +world overflowed with universal plenty, and that nothing was withheld +either from want or merit; that every hand showered liberality and every +heart melted with benevolence: “And who then,” says he, “will be suffered +to be wretched?” + +Imlac permitted the pleasing delusion, and was unwilling to crush the +hope of inexperience: till one day, having sat awhile silent, “I know +not,” said the Prince, “what can be the reason that I am more unhappy +than any of our friends. I see them perpetually and unalterably +cheerful, but feel my own mind restless and uneasy. I am unsatisfied +with those pleasures which I seem most to court. I live in the crowds of +jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to shun myself, and am only loud +and merry to conceal my sadness.” + +“Every man,” said Imlac, “may by examining his own mind guess what passes +in the minds of others. When you feel that your own gaiety is +counterfeit, it may justly lead you to suspect that of your companions +not to be sincere. Envy is commonly reciprocal. We are long before we +are convinced that happiness is never to be found, and each believes it +possessed by others, to keep alive the hope of obtaining it for himself. +In the assembly where you passed the last night there appeared such +sprightliness of air and volatility of fancy as might have suited beings +of a higher order, formed to inhabit serener regions, inaccessible to +care or sorrow; yet, believe me, Prince, was there not one who did not +dread the moment when solitude should deliver him to the tyranny of +reflection.” + +“This,” said the Prince, “may be true of others since it is true of me; +yet, whatever be the general infelicity of man, one condition is more +happy than another, and wisdom surely directs us to take the least evil +in the _choice of life_.” + +“The causes of good and evil,” answered Imlac, “are so various and +uncertain, so often entangled with each other, so diversified by various +relations, and so much subject to accidents which cannot be foreseen, +that he who would fix his condition upon incontestable reasons of +preference must live and die inquiring and deliberating.” + +“But, surely,” said Rasselas, “the wise men, to whom we listen with +reverence and wonder, chose that mode of life for themselves which they +thought most likely to make them happy.” + +“Very few,” said the poet, “live by choice. Every man is placed in the +present condition by causes which acted without his foresight, and with +which he did not always willingly co-operate, and therefore you will +rarely meet one who does not think the lot of his neighbour better than +his own.” + +“I am pleased to think,” said the Prince, “that my birth has given me at +least one advantage over others by enabling me to determine for myself. +I have here the world before me. I will review it at leisure: surely +happiness is somewhere to be found.” + + + + +CHAPTER XVII +THE PRINCE ASSOCIATES WITH YOUNG MEN OF SPIRIT AND GAIETY. + + +RASSELAS rose next day, and resolved to begin his experiments upon life. +“Youth,” cried he, “is the time of gladness: I will join myself to the +young men whose only business is to gratify their desires, and whose time +is all spent in a succession of enjoyments.” + +To such societies he was readily admitted, but a few days brought him +back weary and disgusted. Their mirth was without images, their laughter +without motive; their pleasures were gross and sensual, in which the mind +had no part; their conduct was at once wild and mean—they laughed at +order and at law, but the frown of power dejected and the eye of wisdom +abashed them. + +The Prince soon concluded that he should never be happy in a course of +life of which he was ashamed. He thought it unsuitable to a reasonable +being to act without a plan, and to be sad or cheerful only by chance. +“Happiness,” said he, “must be something solid and permanent, without +fear and without uncertainty.” + +But his young companions had gained so much of his regard by their +frankness and courtesy that he could not leave them without warning and +remonstrance. “My friends,” said he, “I have seriously considered our +manners and our prospects, and find that we have mistaken our own +interest. The first years of man must make provision for the last. He +that never thinks, never can be wise. Perpetual levity must end in +ignorance; and intemperance, though it may fire the spirits for an hour, +will make life short or miserable. Let us consider that youth is of no +long duration, and that in mature age, when the enchantments of fancy +shall cease, and phantoms of delight dance no more about us, we shall +have no comforts but the esteem of wise men and the means of doing good. +Let us therefore stop while to stop is in our power: let us live as men +who are some time to grow old, and to whom it will be the most dreadful +of all evils to count their past years by follies, and to be reminded of +their former luxuriance of health only by the maladies which riot has +produced.” + +They stared awhile in silence one upon another, and at last drove him +away by a general chorus of continued laughter. + +The consciousness that his sentiments were just and his intention kind +was scarcely sufficient to support him against the horror of derision. +But he recovered his tranquillity and pursued his search. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII +THE PRINCE FINDS A WISE AND HAPPY MAN. + + +AS he was one day walking in the street he saw a spacious building which +all were by the open doors invited to enter. He followed the stream of +people, and found it a hall or school of declamation, in which professors +read lectures to their auditory. He fixed his eye upon a sage raised +above the rest, who discoursed with great energy on the government of the +passions. His look was venerable, his action graceful, his pronunciation +clear, and his diction elegant. He showed with great strength of +sentiment and variety of illustration that human nature is degraded and +debased when the lower faculties predominate over the higher; that when +fancy, the parent of passion, usurps the dominion of the mind, nothing +ensues but the natural effect of unlawful government, perturbation, and +confusion; that she betrays the fortresses of the intellect to rebels, +and excites her children to sedition against their lawful sovereign. He +compared reason to the sun, of which the light is constant, uniform, and +lasting; and fancy to a meteor, of bright but transitory lustre, +irregular in its motion and delusive in its direction. + +He then communicated the various precepts given from time to time for the +conquest of passion, and displayed the happiness of those who had +obtained the important victory, after which man is no longer the slave of +fear nor the fool of hope; is no more emaciated by envy, inflamed by +anger, emasculated by tenderness, or depressed by grief; but walks on +calmly through the tumults or privacies of life, as the sun pursues alike +his course through the calm or the stormy sky. + +He enumerated many examples of heroes immovable by pain or pleasure, who +looked with indifference on those modes or accidents to which the vulgar +give the names of good and evil. He exhorted his hearers to lay aside +their prejudices, and arm themselves against the shafts of malice or +misfortune, by invulnerable patience: concluding that this state only was +happiness, and that this happiness was in every one’s power. + +Rasselas listened to him with the veneration due to the instructions of a +superior being, and waiting for him at the door, humbly implored the +liberty of visiting so great a master of true wisdom. The lecturer +hesitated a moment, when Rasselas put a purse of gold into his hand, +which he received with a mixture of joy and wonder. + +“I have found,” said the Prince at his return to Imlac, “a man who can +teach all that is necessary to be known; who, from the unshaken throne of +rational fortitude, looks down on the scenes of life changing beneath +him. He speaks, and attention watches his lips. He reasons, and +conviction closes his periods. This man shall be my future guide: I will +learn his doctrines and imitate his life.” + +“Be not too hasty,” said Imlac, “to trust or to admire the teachers of +morality: they discourse like angels, but they live like men.” + +Rasselas, who could not conceive how any man could reason so forcibly +without feeling the cogency of his own arguments, paid his visit in a few +days, and was denied admission. He had now learned the power of money, +and made his way by a piece of gold to the inner apartment, where he +found the philosopher in a room half darkened, with his eyes misty and +his face pale. “Sir,” said he, “you are come at a time when all human +friendship is useless; what I suffer cannot be remedied: what I have lost +cannot be supplied. My daughter, my only daughter, from whose tenderness +I expected all the comforts of my age, died last night of a fever. My +views, my purposes, my hopes, are at an end: I am now a lonely being, +disunited from society.” + +“Sir,” said the Prince, “mortality is an event by which a wise man can +never be surprised: we know that death is always near, and it should +therefore always be expected.” “Young man,” answered the philosopher, +“you speak like one that has never felt the pangs of separation.” “Have +you then forgot the precepts,” said Rasselas, “which you so powerfully +enforced? Has wisdom no strength to arm the heart against calamity? +Consider that external things are naturally variable, but truth and +reason are always the same.” “What comfort,” said the mourner, “can +truth and reason afford me? Of what effect are they now, but to tell me +that my daughter will not be restored?” + +The Prince, whose humanity would not suffer him to insult misery with +reproof, went away, convinced of the emptiness of rhetorical sounds, and +the inefficacy of polished periods and studied sentences. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX +A GLIMPSE OF PASTORAL LIFE. + + +HE was still eager upon the same inquiry; and having heard of a hermit +that lived near the lowest cataract of the Nile, and filled the whole +country with the fame of his sanctity, resolved to visit his retreat, and +inquire whether that felicity which public life could not afford was to +be found in solitude, and whether a man whose age and virtue made him +venerable could teach any peculiar art of shunning evils or enduring +them. + +Imlac and the Princess agreed to accompany him, and after the necessary +preparations, they began their journey. Their way lay through the +fields, where shepherds tended their flocks and the lambs were playing +upon the pasture. “This,” said the poet, “is the life which has been +often celebrated for its innocence and quiet; let us pass the heat of the +day among the shepherds’ tents, and know whether all our searches are not +to terminate in pastoral simplicity.” + +The proposal pleased them; and they induced the shepherds, by small +presents and familiar questions, to tell the opinion of their own state. +They were so rude and ignorant, so little able to compare the good with +the evil of the occupation, and so indistinct in their narratives and +descriptions, that very little could be learned from them. But it was +evident that their hearts were cankered with discontent; that they +considered themselves as condemned to labour for the luxury of the rich, +and looked up with stupid malevolence towards those that were placed +above them. + +The Princess pronounced with vehemence that she would never suffer these +envious savages to be her companions, and that she should not soon be +desirous of seeing any more specimens of rustic happiness; but could not +believe that all the accounts of primeval pleasures were fabulous, and +was in doubt whether life had anything that could be justly preferred to +the placid gratification of fields and woods. She hoped that the time +would come when, with a few virtuous and elegant companions, she should +gather flowers planted by her own hands, fondle the lambs of her own ewe, +and listen without care, among brooks and breezes, to one of her maidens +reading in the shade. + + + + +CHAPTER XX +THE DANGER OF PROSPERITY. + + +ON the next day they continued their journey till the heat compelled them +to look round for shelter. At a small distance they saw a thick wood, +which they no sooner entered than they perceived that they were +approaching the habitations of men. The shrubs were diligently cut away +to open walks where the shades ware darkest; the boughs of opposite trees +were artificially interwoven; seats of flowery turf were raised in vacant +spaces; and a rivulet that wantoned along the side of a winding path had +its banks sometimes opened into small basins, and its stream sometimes +obstructed by little mounds of stone heaped together to increase its +murmurs. + +They passed slowly through the wood, delighted with such unexpected +accommodations, and entertained each other with conjecturing what or who +he could be that in those rude and unfrequented regions had leisure and +art for such harmless luxury. + +As they advanced they heard the sound of music, and saw youths and +virgins dancing in the grove; and going still farther beheld a stately +palace built upon a hill surrounded by woods. The laws of Eastern +hospitality allowed them to enter, and the master welcomed them like a +man liberal and wealthy. + +He was skilful enough in appearances soon to discern that they were no +common guests, and spread his table with magnificence. The eloquence of +Imlac caught his attention, and the lofty courtesy of the Princess +excited his respect. When they offered to depart, he entreated their +stay, and was the next day more unwilling to dismiss them than before. +They were easily persuaded to stop, and civility grew up in time to +freedom and confidence. + +The Prince now saw all the domestics cheerful and all the face of nature +smiling round the place, and could not forbear to hope that he should +find here what he was seeking; but when he was congratulating the master +upon his possessions he answered with a sigh, “My condition has indeed +the appearance of happiness, but appearances are delusive. My prosperity +puts my life in danger; the Bassa of Egypt is my enemy, incensed only by +my wealth and popularity. I have been hitherto protected against him by +the princes of the country; but as the favour of the great is uncertain I +know not how soon my defenders may be persuaded to share the plunder with +the Bassa. I have sent my treasures into a distant country, and upon the +first alarm am prepared to follow them. Then will my enemies riot in my +mansion, and enjoy the gardens which I have planted.” + +They all joined in lamenting his danger and deprecating his exile; and +the Princess was so much disturbed with the tumult of grief and +indignation that she retired to her apartment. They continued with their +kind inviter a few days longer, and then went to find the hermit. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI +THE HAPPINESS OF SOLITUDE—THE HERMIT’S HISTORY. + + +THEY came on the third day, by the direction of the peasants, to the +hermit’s cell. It was a cavern in the side of a mountain, overshadowed +with palm trees, at such a distance from the cataract that nothing more +was heard than a gentle uniform murmur, such as composes the mind to +pensive meditation, especially when it was assisted by the wind whistling +among the branches. The first rude essay of Nature had been so much +improved by human labour that the cave contained several apartments +appropriated to different uses, and often afforded lodging to travellers +whom darkness or tempests happened to overtake. + +The hermit sat on a bench at the door, to enjoy the coolness of the +evening. On one side lay a book with pens and paper; on the other +mechanical instruments of various kinds. As they approached him +unregarded, the Princess observed that he had not the countenance of a +man that had found or could teach the way to happiness. + +They saluted him with great respect, which he repaid like a man not +unaccustomed to the forms of Courts. “My children,” said he, “if you +have lost your way, you shall be willingly supplied with such +conveniences for the night as this cavern will afford. I have all that +Nature requires, and you will not expect delicacies in a hermit’s cell.” + +They thanked him; and, entering, were pleased with the neatness and +regularity of the place. The hermit set flesh and wine before them, +though he fed only upon fruits and water. His discourse was cheerful +without levity, and pious without enthusiasm. He soon gained the esteem +of his guests, and the Princess repented her hasty censure. + +At last Imlac began thus: “I do not now wonder that your reputation is so +far extended: we have heard at Cairo of your wisdom, and came hither to +implore your direction for this young man and maiden in the _choice of +life_.” + +“To him that lives well,” answered the hermit, “every form of life is +good; nor can I give any other rule for choice than to remove all +apparent evil.” + +“He will most certainly remove from evil,” said the Prince, “who shall +devote himself to that solitude which you have recommended by your +example.” + +“I have indeed lived fifteen years in solitude,” said the hermit, “but +have no desire that my example should gain any imitators. In my youth I +professed arms, and was raised by degrees to the highest military rank. +I have traversed wide countries at the head of my troops, and seen many +battles and sieges. At last, being disgusted by the preferments of a +younger officer, and feeling that my vigour was beginning to decay, I +resolved to close my life in peace, having found the world full of +snares, discord, and misery. I had once escaped from the pursuit of the +enemy by the shelter of this cavern, and therefore chose it for my final +residence. I employed artificers to form it into chambers, and stored it +with all that I was likely to want. + +“For some time after my retreat I rejoiced like a tempest-beaten sailor +at his entrance into the harbour, being delighted with the sudden change +of the noise and hurry of war to stillness and repose. When the pleasure +of novelty went away, I employed my hours in examining the plants which +grow in the valley, and the minerals which I collected from the rocks. +But that inquiry is now grown tasteless and irksome. I have been for +some time unsettled and distracted: my mind is disturbed with a thousand +perplexities of doubt and vanities of imagination, which hourly prevail +upon me, because I have no opportunities of relaxation or diversion. I +am sometimes ashamed to think that I could not secure myself from vice +but by retiring from the exercise of virtue, and begin to suspect that I +was rather impelled by resentment than led by devotion into solitude. My +fancy riots in scenes of folly, and I lament that I have lost so much, +and have gained so little. In solitude, if I escape the example of bad +men, I want likewise the counsel and conversation of the good. I have +been long comparing the evils with the advantages of society, and resolve +to return into the world to-morrow. The life of a solitary man will be +certainly miserable, but not certainly devout.” + +They heard his resolution with surprise, but after a short pause offered +to conduct him to Cairo. He dug up a considerable treasure which he had +hid among the rocks, and accompanied them to the city, on which, as he +approached it, he gazed with rapture. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII +THE HAPPINESS OF A LIFE LED ACCORDING TO NATURE. + + +RASSELAS went often to an assembly of learned men, who met at stated +times to unbend their minds and compare their opinions. Their manners +were somewhat coarse, but their conversation was instructive, and their +disputations acute, though sometimes too violent, and often continued +till neither controvertist remembered upon what question he began. Some +faults were almost general among them: every one was pleased to hear the +genius or knowledge of another depreciated. + +In this assembly Rasselas was relating his interview with the hermit, and +the wonder with which he heard him censure a course of life which he had +so deliberately chosen and so laudably followed. The sentiments of the +hearers were various. Some were of opinion that the folly of his choice +had been justly punished by condemnation to perpetual perseverance. One +of the youngest among them, with great vehemence, pronounced him a +hypocrite. Some talked of the right of society to the labour of +individuals, and considered retirement as a desertion of duty. Others +readily allowed that there was a time when the claims of the public were +satisfied, and when a man might properly sequester himself, to review his +life and purify his heart. + +One who appeared more affected with the narrative than the rest thought +it likely that the hermit would in a few years go back to his retreat, +and perhaps, if shame did not restrain or death intercept him, return +once more from his retreat into the world. “For the hope of happiness,” +said he, “is so strongly impressed that the longest experience is not +able to efface it. Of the present state, whatever it be, we feel and are +forced to confess the misery; yet when the same state is again at a +distance, imagination paints it as desirable. But the time will surely +come when desire will no longer be our torment and no man shall be +wretched but by his own fault. + +“This,” said a philosopher who had heard him with tokens of great +impatience, “is the present condition of a wise man. The time is already +come when none are wretched but by their own fault. Nothing is more idle +than to inquire after happiness which Nature has kindly placed within our +reach. The way to be happy is to live according to Nature, in obedience +to that universal and unalterable law with which every heart is +originally impressed; which is not written on it by precept, but engraven +by destiny; not instilled by education, but infused at our nativity. He +that lives according to Nature will suffer nothing from the delusions of +hope or importunities of desire; he will receive and reject with +equability of temper; and act or suffer as the reason of things shall +alternately prescribe. Other men may amuse themselves with subtle +definitions or intricate ratiocination. Let them learn to be wise by +easier means: let them observe the hind of the forest and the linnet of +the grove: let them consider the life of animals, whose motions are +regulated by instinct; they obey their guide, and are happy. Let us +therefore at length cease to dispute, and learn to live: throw away the +encumbrance of precepts, which they who utter them with so much pride and +pomp do not understand, and carry with us this simple and intelligible +maxim: that deviation from Nature is deviation from happiness.” + +When he had spoken he looked round him with a placid air, and enjoyed the +consciousness of his own beneficence. + +“Sir,” said the Prince with great modesty, “as I, like all the rest of +mankind, am desirous of felicity, my closest attention has been fixed +upon your discourse: I doubt not the truth of a position which a man so +learned has so confidently advanced. Let me only know what it is to live +according to Nature.” + +“When I find young men so humble and so docile,” said the philosopher, “I +can deny them no information which my studies have enabled me to afford. +To live according to Nature is to act always with due regard to the +fitness arising from the relations and qualities of causes and effects; +to concur with the great and unchangeable scheme of universal felicity; +to co-operate with the general disposition and tendency of the present +system of things.” + +The Prince soon found that this was one of the sages whom he should +understand less as he heard him longer. He therefore bowed and was +silent; and the philosopher, supposing him satisfied and the rest +vanquished, rose up and departed with the air of a man that had +co-operated with the present system. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII +THE PRINCE AND HIS SISTER DIVIDE BETWEEN THEM THE WORK OF OBSERVATION. + + +RASSELAS returned home full of reflections, doubting how to direct his +future steps. Of the way to happiness he found the learned and simple +equally ignorant; but as he was yet young, he flattered himself that he +had time remaining for more experiments and further inquiries. He +communicated to Imlac his observations and his doubts, but was answered +by him with new doubts and remarks that gave him no comfort. He +therefore discoursed more frequently and freely with his sister, who had +yet the same hope with himself, and always assisted him to give some +reason why, though he had been hitherto frustrated, he might succeed at +last. + +“We have hitherto,” said she, “known but little of the world; we have +never yet been either great or mean. In our own country, though we had +royalty, we had no power; and in this we have not yet seen the private +recesses of domestic peace. Imlac favours not our search, lest we should +in time find him mistaken. We will divide the task between us; you shall +try what is to be found in the splendour of Courts, and I will range the +shades of humbler life. Perhaps command and authority may be the supreme +blessings, as they afford the most opportunities of doing good; or +perhaps what this world can give may be found in the modest habitations +of middle fortune—too low for great designs, and too high for penury and +distress.” + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV +THE PRINCE EXAMINES THE HAPPINESS OF HIGH STATIONS. + + +RASSELAS applauded the design, and appeared next day with a splendid +retinue at the Court of the Bassa. He was soon distinguished for his +magnificence, and admitted, as a Prince whose curiosity had brought him +from distant countries, to an intimacy with the great officers and +frequent conversation with the Bassa himself. + +He was at first inclined to believe that the man must be pleased with his +own condition whom all approached with reverence and heard with +obedience, and who had the power to extend his edicts to a whole kingdom. +“There can be no pleasure,” said he, “equal to that of feeling at once +the joy of thousands all made happy by wise administration. Yet, since +by the law of subordination this sublime delight can be in one nation but +the lot of one, it is surely reasonable to think that there is some +satisfaction more popular and accessible, and that millions can hardly be +subjected to the will of a single man, only to fill his particular breast +with incommunicable content.” + +These thoughts were often in his mind, and he found no solution of the +difficulty. But as presents and civilities gained him more familiarity, +he found that almost every man who stood high in his employment hated all +the rest and was hated by them, and that their lives were a continual +succession of plots and detections, stratagems and escapes, faction and +treachery. Many of those who surrounded the Bassa were sent only to +watch and report his conduct: every tongue was muttering censure, and +every eye was searching for a fault. + +At last the letters of revocation arrived: the Bassa was carried in +chains to Constantinople, and his name was mentioned no more. + +“What are we now to think of the prerogatives of power?” said Rasselas to +his sister: “is it without efficacy to good, or is the subordinate degree +only dangerous, and the supreme safe and glorious? Is the Sultan the +only happy man in his dominions, or is the Sultan himself subject to the +torments of suspicion and the dread of enemies?” + +In a short time the second Bassa was deposed. The Sultan that had +advanced him was murdered by the Janissaries, and his successor had other +views or different favourites. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV +THE PRINCESS PURSUES HER INQUIRY WITH MORE DILIGENCE THAN SUCCESS. + + +THE Princess in the meantime insinuated herself into many families; for +there are few doors through which liberality, joined with good humour, +cannot find its way. The daughters of many houses were airy and +cheerful; but Nekayah had been too long accustomed to the conversation of +Imlac and her brother to be much pleased with childish levity and prattle +which had no meaning. She found their thoughts narrow, their wishes low, +and their merriment often artificial. Their pleasures, poor as they +were, could not be preserved pure, but were embittered by petty +competitions and worthless emulation. They were always jealous of the +beauty of each other, of a quality to which solicitude can add nothing, +and from which detraction can take nothing away. Many were in love with +triflers like themselves, and many fancied that they were in love when in +truth they were only idle. Their affection was not fixed on sense or +virtue, and therefore seldom ended but in vexation. Their grief, +however, like their joy, was transient; everything floated in their mind +unconnected with the past or future, so that one desire easily gave way +to another, as a second stone, cast into the water, effaces and confounds +the circles of the first. + +With these girls she played as with inoffensive animals, and found them +proud of her countenance and weary of her company. + +But her purpose was to examine more deeply, and her affability easily +persuaded the hearts that were swelling with sorrow to discharge their +secrets in her ear, and those whom hope flattered or prosperity delighted +often courted her to partake their pleasure. + +The Princess and her brother commonly met in the evening in a private +summerhouse on the banks of the Nile, and related to each other the +occurrences of the day. As they were sitting together the Princess cast +her eyes upon the river that flowed before her. “Answer,” said she, +“great father of waters, thou that rollest thy goods through eighty +nations, to the invocations of the daughter of thy native king. Tell me +if thou waterest through all thy course a single habitation from which +thou dost not hear the murmurs of complaint.” + +“You are then,” said Rasselas, “not more successful in private houses +than I have been in Courts.” “I have, since the last partition of our +provinces,” said the Princess, “enabled myself to enter familiarly into +many families, where there was the fairest show of prosperity and peace, +and know not one house that is not haunted by some fury that destroys +their quiet. + +“I did not seek ease among the poor, because I concluded that there it +could not be found. But I saw many poor whom I had supposed to live in +affluence. Poverty has in large cities very different appearances. It +is often concealed in splendour and often in extravagance. It is the +care of a very great part of mankind to conceal their indigence from the +rest. They support themselves by temporary expedients, and every day is +lost in contriving for the morrow. + +“This, however, was an evil which, though frequent, I saw with less pain, +because I could relieve it. Yet some have refused my bounties; more +offended with my quickness to detect their wants than pleased with my +readiness to succour them; and others, whose exigencies compelled them to +admit my kindness, have never been able to forgive their benefactress. +Many, however, have been sincerely grateful without the ostentation of +gratitude or the hope of other favours.” + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI +THE PRINCESS CONTINUES HER REMARKS UPON PRIVATE LIFE. + + +NEKAYAH, perceiving her brother’s attention fixed, proceeded in her +narrative. + +“In families where there is or is not poverty there is commonly discord. +If a kingdom be, as Imlac tells us, a great family, a family likewise is +a little kingdom, torn with factions and exposed to revolutions. An +unpractised observer expects the love of parents and children to be +constant and equal. But this kindness seldom continues beyond the years +of infancy; in a short time the children become rivals to their parents. +Benefits are allowed by reproaches, and gratitude debased by envy. + +“Parents and children seldom act in concert; each child endeavours to +appropriate the esteem or the fondness of the parents; and the parents, +with yet less temptation, betray each other to their children. Thus, +some place their confidence in the father and some in the mother, and by +degrees the house is filled with artifices and feuds. + +“The opinions of children and parents, of the young and the old, are +naturally opposite, by the contrary effects of hope and despondency, of +expectation and experience, without crime or folly on either side. The +colours of life in youth and age appear different, as the face of Nature +in spring and winter. And how can children credit the assertions of +parents which their own eyes show them to be false? + +“Few parents act in such a manner as much to enforce their maxims by the +credit of their lives. The old man trusts wholly to slow contrivance and +gradual progression; the youth expects to force his way by genius, +vigour, and precipitance. The old man pays regard to riches, and the +youth reverences virtue. The old man deifies prudence; the youth commits +himself to magnanimity and chance. The young man, who intends no ill, +believes that none is intended, and therefore acts with openness and +candour; but his father; having suffered the injuries of fraud, is +impelled to suspect and too often allured to practise it. Age looks with +anger on the temerity of youth, and youth with contempt on the +scrupulosity of age. Thus parents and children for the greatest part +live on to love less and less; and if those whom Nature has thus closely +united are the torments of each other, where shall we look for tenderness +and consolations?” + +“Surely,” said the Prince, “you must have been unfortunate in your choice +of acquaintance. I am unwilling to believe that the most tender of all +relations is thus impeded in its effects by natural necessity.” + +“Domestic discord,” answered she, “is not inevitably and fatally +necessary, but yet it is not easily avoided. We seldom see that a whole +family is virtuous; the good and the evil cannot well agree, and the evil +can yet less agree with one another. Even the virtuous fall sometimes to +variance, when their virtues are of different kinds and tending to +extremes. In general, those parents have most reverence who most deserve +it, for he that lives well cannot be despised. + +“Many other evils infest private life. Some are the slaves of servants +whom they have trusted with their affairs. Some are kept in continual +anxiety by the caprice of rich relations, whom they cannot please and +dare not offend. Some husbands are imperious and some wives perverse, +and, as it is always more easy to do evil than good, though the wisdom or +virtue of one can very rarely make many happy, the folly or vice of one +makes many miserable.” + +“If such be the general effect of marriage,” said the Prince, “I shall +for the future think it dangerous to connect my interest with that of +another, lest I should be unhappy by my partner’s fault.” + +“I have met,” said the Princess, “with many who live single for that +reason, but I never found that their prudence ought to raise envy. They +dream away their time without friendship, without fondness, and are +driven to rid themselves of the day, for which they have no use, by +childish amusements or vicious delights. They act as beings under the +constant sense of some known inferiority that fills their minds with +rancour and their tongues with censure. They are peevish at home and +malevolent abroad, and, as the outlaws of human nature, make it their +business and their pleasure to disturb that society which debars them +from its privileges. To live without feeling or exciting sympathy, to be +fortunate without adding to the felicity of others, or afflicted without +tasting the balm of pity, is a state more gloomy than solitude; it is not +retreat but exclusion from mankind. Marriage has many pains, but +celibacy has no pleasures.” + +“What then is to be done?” said Rasselas. “The more we inquire the less +we can resolve. Surely he is most likely to please himself that has no +other inclination to regard.” + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII +DISQUISITION UPON GREATNESS. + + +THE conversation had a short pause. The Prince, having considered his +sister’s observation, told her that she had surveyed life with prejudice +and supposed misery where she did not find it. “Your narrative,” says +he, “throws yet a darker gloom upon the prospects of futurity. The +predictions of Imlac were but faint sketches of the evils painted by +Nekayah. I have been lately convinced that quiet is not the daughter of +grandeur or of power; that her presence is not to be bought by wealth nor +enforced by conquest. It is evident that as any man acts in a wider +compass he must be more exposed to opposition from enmity or miscarriage +from chance. Whoever has many to please or to govern must use the +ministry of many agents, some of whom will be wicked and some ignorant, +by some he will be misled and by others betrayed. If he gratifies one he +will offend another; those that are not favoured will think themselves +injured, and since favours can be conferred but upon few the greater +number will be always discontented.” + +“The discontent,” said the Princess, “which is thus unreasonable, I hope +that I shall always have spirit to despise and you power to repress.” + +“Discontent,” answered Rasselas, “will not always be without reason under +the most just and vigilant administration of public affairs. None, +however attentive, can always discover that merit which indigence or +faction may happen to obscure, and none, however powerful, can always +reward it. Yet he that sees inferior desert advanced above him will +naturally impute that preference to partiality or caprice, and indeed it +can scarcely be hoped that any man, however magnanimous by Nature or +exalted by condition, will be able to persist for ever in fixed and +inexorable justice of distribution; he will sometimes indulge his own +affections and sometimes those of his favourites; he will permit some to +please him who can never serve him; he will discover in those whom he +loves qualities which in reality they do not possess, and to those from +whom he receives pleasure he will in his turn endeavour to give it. Thus +will recommendations sometimes prevail which were purchased by money or +by the more destructive bribery of flattery and servility. + +“He that hath much to do will do something wrong, and of that wrong must +suffer the consequences, and if it were possible that he should always +act rightly, yet, when such numbers are to judge of his conduct, the bad +will censure and obstruct him by malevolence and the good sometimes by +mistake. + +“The highest stations cannot therefore hope to be the abodes of +happiness, which I would willingly believe to have fled from thrones and +palaces to seats of humble privacy and placid obscurity. For what can +hinder the satisfaction or intercept the expectations of him whose +abilities are adequate to his employments, who sees with his own eyes the +whole circuit of his influence, who chooses by his own knowledge all whom +he trusts, and whom none are tempted to deceive by hope or fear? Surely +he has nothing to do but to love and to be loved; to be virtuous and to +be happy.” + +“Whether perfect happiness would be procured by perfect goodness,” said +Nekayah, “this world will never afford an opportunity of deciding. But +this, at least, may be maintained, that we do not always find visible +happiness in proportion to visible virtue. All natural and almost all +political evils are incident alike to the bad and good; they are +confounded in the misery of a famine, and not much distinguished in the +fury of a faction; they sink together in a tempest and are driven +together from their country by invaders. All that virtue can afford is +quietness of conscience and a steady prospect of a happier state; this +may enable us to endure calamity with patience, but remember that +patience must oppose pain.” + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII +RASSELAS AND NEKAYAH CONTINUE THEIR CONVERSATION. + + +“DEAR Princess,” said Rasselas, “you fall into the common errors of +exaggeratory declamation, by producing in a familiar disquisition +examples of national calamities and scenes of extensive misery which are +found in books rather than in the world, and which, as they are horrid, +are ordained to be rare. Let us not imagine evils which we do not feel, +nor injure life by misrepresentations. I cannot bear that querulous +eloquence which threatens every city with a siege like that of Jerusalem, +that makes famine attend on every flight of locust, and suspends +pestilence on the wing of every blast that issues from the south. + +“On necessary and inevitable evils which overwhelm kingdoms at once all +disputation is vain; when they happen they must be endured. But it is +evident that these bursts of universal distress are more dreaded than +felt; thousands and tens of thousands flourish in youth and wither in +age, without the knowledge of any other than domestic evils, and share +the same pleasures and vexations, whether their kings are mild or cruel, +whether the armies of their country pursue their enemies or retreat +before them. While Courts are disturbed with intestine competitions and +ambassadors are negotiating in foreign countries, the smith still plies +his anvil and the husbandman drives his plough forward; the necessaries +of life are required and obtained, and the successive business of the +season continues to make its wonted revolutions. + +“Let us cease to consider what perhaps may never happen, and what, when +it shall happen, will laugh at human speculation. We will not endeavour +to modify the motions of the elements or to fix the destiny of kingdoms. +It is our business to consider what beings like us may perform, each +labouring for his own happiness by promoting within his circle, however +narrow, the happiness of others. + +“Marriage is evidently the dictate of Nature; men and women were made to +be the companions of each other, and therefore I cannot be persuaded but +that marriage is one of the means of happiness.” + +“I know not,” said the Princess, “whether marriage be more than one of +the innumerable modes of human misery. When I see and reckon the various +forms of connubial infelicity, the unexpected causes of lasting discord, +the diversities of temper, the oppositions of opinion, the rude +collisions of contrary desire where both are urged by violent impulses, +the obstinate contest of disagreeing virtues where both are supported by +consciousness of good intention, I am sometimes disposed to think, with +the severer casuists of most nations, that marriage is rather permitted +than approved, and that none, but by the instigation of a passion too +much indulged, entangle themselves with indissoluble compact.” + +“You seem to forget,” replied Rasselas, “that you have, even now +represented celibacy as less happy than marriage. Both conditions may be +bad, but they cannot both be worse. Thus it happens, when wrong opinions +are entertained, that they mutually destroy each other and leave the mind +open to truth.” + +“I did not expect,” answered, the Princess, “to hear that imputed to +falsehood which is the consequence only of frailty. To the mind, as to +the eye, it is difficult to compare with exactness objects vast in their +extent and various in their parts. When we see or conceive the whole at +once, we readily note the discriminations and decide the preference, but +of two systems, of which neither can be surveyed by any human being in +its full compass of magnitude and multiplicity of complication, where is +the wonder that, judging of the whole by parts, I am alternately affected +by one and the other as either presses on my memory or fancy? We differ +from ourselves just as we differ from each other when we see only part of +the question, as in the multifarious relations of politics and morality, +but when we perceive the whole at once, as in numerical computations, all +agree in one judgment, and none ever varies in his opinion.” + +“Let us not add,” said the Prince, “to the other evils of life the +bitterness of controversy, nor endeavour to vie with each other in +subtilties of argument. We are employed in a search of which both are +equally to enjoy the success or suffer by the miscarriage; it is +therefore fit that we assist each other. You surely conclude too hastily +from the infelicity of marriage against its institution; will not the +misery of life prove equally that life cannot be the gift of Heaven? The +world must be peopled by marriage or peopled without it.” + +“How the world is to be peopled,” returned Nekayah, “is not my care and +need not be yours. I see no danger that the present generation should +omit to leave successors behind them; we are not now inquiring for the +world, but for ourselves.” + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX +THE DEBATE ON MARRIAGE (_continued_). + + +“THE good of the whole,” says Rasselas, “is the same with the good of all +its parts. If marriage be best for mankind, it must be evidently best +for individuals; or a permanent and necessary duty must be the cause of +evil, and some must be inevitably sacrificed to the convenience of +others. In the estimate which you have made of the two states, it +appears that the incommodities of a single life are in a great measure +necessary and certain, but those of the conjugal state accidental and +avoidable. I cannot forbear to flatter myself that prudence and +benevolence will make marriage happy. The general folly of mankind is +the cause of general complaint. What can be expected but disappointment +and repentance from a choice made in the immaturity of youth, in the +ardour of desire, without judgment, without foresight, without inquiry +after conformity of opinions, similarity of manners, rectitude of +judgment, or purity of sentiment? + +“Such is the common process of marriage. A youth and maiden, meeting by +chance or brought together by artifice, exchange glances, reciprocate +civilities, go home and dream of one another. Having little to divert +attention or diversify thought, they find themselves uneasy when they are +apart, and therefore conclude that they shall be happy together. They +marry, and discover what nothing but voluntary blindness before had +concealed; they wear out life in altercations, and charge Nature with +cruelty. + +“From those early marriages proceeds likewise the rivalry of parents and +children: the son is eager to enjoy the world before the father is +willing to forsake it, and there is hardly room at once for two +generations. The daughter begins to bloom before the mother can be +content to fade, and neither can forbear to wish for the absence of the +other. + +“Surely all these evils may be avoided by that deliberation and delay +which prudence prescribes to irrevocable choice. In the variety and +jollity of youthful pleasures, life may be well enough supported without +the help of a partner. Longer time will increase experience, and wider +views will allow better opportunities of inquiry and selection; one +advantage at least will be certain, the parents will be visibly older +than their children.” + +“What reason cannot collect,” said Nekayah, “and what experiment has not +yet taught, can be known only from the report of others. I have been +told that late marriages are not eminently happy. This is a question too +important to be neglected; and I have often proposed it to those whose +accuracy of remark and comprehensiveness of knowledge made their +suffrages worthy of regard. They have generally determined that it is +dangerous for a man and woman to suspend their fate upon each other at a +time when opinions are fixed and habits are established, when friendships +have been contracted on both sides, when life has been planned into +method, and the mind has long enjoyed the contemplation of its own +prospects. + +“It is scarcely possible that two travelling through the world under the +conduct of chance should have been both directed to the same path, and it +will not often happen that either will quit the track which custom has +made pleasing. When the desultory levity of youth has settled into +regularity, it is soon succeeded by pride ashamed to yield, or obstinacy +delighting to contend. And even though mutual esteem produces mutual +desire to please, time itself, as it modifies unchangeably the external +mien, determines likewise the direction of the passions, and gives an +inflexible rigidity to the manners. Long customs are not easily broken; +he that attempts to change the course of his own life very often labours +in vain, and how shall we do that for others which we are seldom able to +do for ourselves?” + +“But surely,” interposed the Prince, “you suppose the chief motive of +choice forgotten or neglected. Whenever I shall seek a wife, it shall be +my first question whether she be willing to be led by reason.” + +“Thus it is,” said Nekayah, “that philosophers are deceived. There are a +thousand familiar disputes which reason never can decide; questions that +elude investigation, and make logic ridiculous; cases where something +must be done, and where little can be said. Consider the state of +mankind, and inquire how few can be supposed to act upon any occasions, +whether small or great, with all the reasons of action present to their +minds. Wretched would be the pair, above all names of wretchedness, who +should be doomed to adjust by reason every morning all the minute details +of a domestic day. + +“Those who marry at an advanced age will probably escape the +encroachments of their children, but in the diminution of this advantage +they will be likely to leave them, ignorant and helpless, to a guardian’s +mercy; or if that should not happen, they must at least go out of the +world before they see those whom they love best either wise or great. + +“From their children, if they have less to fear, they have less also to +hope; and they lose without equivalent the joys of early love, and the +convenience of uniting with manners pliant and minds susceptible of new +impressions, which might wear away their dissimilitudes by long +cohabitation, as soft bodies by continual attrition conform their +surfaces to each other. + +“I believe it will be found that those who marry late are best pleased +with their children, and those who marry early with their partners.” + +“The union of these two affections,” said Rasselas, “would produce all +that could be wished. Perhaps there is a time when marriage might unite +them—a time neither too early for the father nor too late for the +husband.” + +“Every hour,” answered the Princess, “confirms my prejudice in favour of +the position so often uttered by the mouth of Imlac, that ‘Nature sets +her gifts on the right hand and on the left.’ Those conditions which +flatter hope and attract desire are so constituted that as we approach +one we recede from another. There are goods so opposed that we cannot +seize both, but by too much prudence may pass between them at too great a +distance to reach either. This is often the fate of long consideration; +he does nothing who endeavours to do more than is allowed to humanity. +Flatter not yourself with contrarieties of pleasure. Of the blessings +set before you make your choice, and be content. No man can taste the +fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of the +spring; no man can at the same time fill his cup from the source and from +the mouth of the Nile.” + + + + +CHAPTER XXX +IMLAC ENTERS, AND CHANGES THE CONVERSATION. + + +HERE Imlac entered, and interrupted them. “Imlac,” said Rasselas, “I +have been taking from the Princess the dismal history of private life, +and am almost discouraged from further search.” + +“It seems to me,” said Imlac, “that while you are making the choice of +life you neglect to live. You wander about a single city, which, however +large and diversified, can now afford few novelties, and forget that you +are in a country famous among the earliest monarchies for the power and +wisdom of its inhabitants—a country where the sciences first dawned that +illuminate the world, and beyond which the arts cannot be traced of civil +society or domestic life. + +“The old Egyptians have left behind them monuments of industry and power +before which all European magnificence is confessed to fade away. The +ruins of their architecture are the schools of modern builders; and from +the wonders which time has spared we may conjecture, though uncertainly, +what it has destroyed.” + +“My curiosity,” said Rasselas, “does not very strongly lead me to survey +piles of stone or mounds of earth. My business is with man. I came +hither not to measure fragments of temples or trace choked aqueducts, but +to look upon the various scenes of the present world.” + +“The things that are now before us,” said the Princess, “require +attention, and deserve it. What have I to do with the heroes or the +monuments of ancient times—with times which can never return, and heroes +whose form of life was different from all that the present condition of +mankind requires or allows?” + +“To know anything,” returned the poet, “we must know its effects; to see +men, we must see their works, that we may learn what reason has dictated +or passion has excited, and find what are the most powerful motives of +action. To judge rightly of the present, we must oppose it to the past; +for all judgment is comparative, and of the future nothing can be known. +The truth is that no mind is much employed upon the present; recollection +and anticipation fill up almost all our moments. Our passions are joy +and grief, love and hatred, hope and fear. Of joy and grief, the past is +the object, and the future of hope and fear; even love and hatred respect +the past, for the cause must have been before the effect. + +“The present state of things is the consequence of the former; and it is +natural to inquire what were the sources of the good that we enjoy, or +the evils that we suffer. If we act only for ourselves, to neglect the +study of history is not prudent. If we are entrusted with the care of +others, it is not just. Ignorance, when it is voluntary, is criminal; +and he may properly be charged with evil who refused to learn how he +might prevent it. + +“There is no part of history so generally useful as that which relates to +the progress of the human mind, the gradual improvement of reason, the +successive advances of science, the vicissitudes of learning and +ignorance (which are the light and darkness of thinking beings), the +extinction and resuscitation of arts, and the revolutions of the +intellectual world. If accounts of battles and invasions are peculiarly +the business of princes, the useful or elegant arts are not to be +neglected; those who have kingdoms to govern have understandings to +cultivate. + +“Example is always more efficacious than precept. A soldier is formed in +war, and a painter must copy pictures. In this, contemplative life has +the advantage. Great actions are seldom seen, but the labours of art are +always at hand for those who desire to know what art has been able to +perform. + +“When the eye or the imagination is struck with any uncommon work, the +next transition of an active mind is to the means by which it was +performed. Here begins the true use of such contemplation. We enlarge +our comprehension by new ideas, and perhaps recover some art lost to +mankind, or learn what is less perfectly known in our own country. At +least we compare our own with former times, and either rejoice at our +improvements, or, what is the first motion towards good, discover our +defects.” + +“I am willing,” said the Prince, “to see all that can deserve my search.” + +“And I,” said the Princess, “shall rejoice to learn something of the +manners of antiquity.” + +“The most pompous monument of Egyptian greatness, and one of the most +bulky works of manual industry,” said Imlac, “are the Pyramids: fabrics +raised before the time of history, and of which the earliest narratives +afford us only uncertain traditions. Of these the greatest is still +standing, very little injured by time.” + +“Let us visit them to-morrow,” said Nekayah. “I have often heard of the +Pyramids, and shall not rest till I have seen them, within and without, +with my own eyes.” + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI +THEY VISIT THE PYRAMIDS. + + +THE resolution being thus taken, they set out the next day. They laid +tents upon their camels, being resolved to stay among the Pyramids till +their curiosity was fully satisfied. They travelled gently, turned aside +to everything remarkable, stopped from time to time and conversed with +the inhabitants, and observed the various appearances of towns ruined and +inhabited, of wild and cultivated nature. + +When they came to the Great Pyramid they were astonished at the extent of +the base and the height of the top. Imlac explained to them the +principles upon which the pyramidal form was chosen for a fabric intended +to co-extend its duration with that of the world: he showed that its +gradual diminution gave it such stability as defeated all the common +attacks of the elements, and could scarcely be overthrown by earthquakes +themselves, the least resistible of natural violence. A concussion that +should shatter the pyramid would threaten the dissolution of the +continent. + +They measured all its dimensions, and pitched their tents at its foot. +Next day they prepared to enter its interior apartments, and having hired +the common guides, climbed up to the first passage; when the favourite of +the Princess, looking into the cavity, stepped back and trembled. +“Pekuah,” said the Princess, “of what art thou afraid?” + +“Of the narrow entrance,” answered the lady, “and of the dreadful gloom. +I dare not enter a place which must surely be inhabited by unquiet souls. +The original possessors of these dreadful vaults will start up before us, +and perhaps shut us in for ever.” She spoke, and threw her arms round +the neck of her mistress. + +“If all your fear be of apparitions,” said the Prince, “I will promise +you safety. There is no danger from the dead: he that is once buried +will be seen no more.” + +“That the dead are seen no more,” said Imlac, “I will not undertake to +maintain against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all ages and of +all nations. There is no people, rude or learned, among whom apparitions +of the dead are not related and believed. This opinion, which perhaps +prevails as far as human nature is diffused, could become universal only +by its truth: those that never heard of one another would not have agreed +in a tale which nothing but experience can make credible. That it is +doubted by single cavillers can very little weaken the general evidence, +and some who deny it with their tongues confess it by their fears. + +“Yet I do not mean to add new terrors to those which have already seized +upon Pekuah. There can be no reason why spectres should haunt the +Pyramid more than other places, or why they should have power or will to +hurt innocence and purity. Our entrance is no violation of their +privileges: we can take nothing from them; how, then, can we offend +them?” + +“My dear Pekuah,” said the Princess, “I will always go before you, and +Imlac shall follow you. Remember that you are the companion of the +Princess of Abyssinia.” + +“If the Princess is pleased that her servant should die,” returned the +lady, “let her command some death less dreadful than enclosure in this +horrid cavern. You know I dare not disobey you—I must go if you command +me; but if I once enter, I never shall come back.” + +The Princess saw that her fear was too strong for expostulation or +reproof, and, embracing her, told her that she should stay in the tent +till their return. Pekuah was not yet satisfied, but entreated the +Princess not to pursue so dreadful a purpose as that of entering the +recesses of the Pyramids. “Though I cannot teach courage,” said Nekayah, +“I must not learn cowardice, nor leave at last undone what I came hither +only to do.” + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII +THEY ENTER THE PYRAMID. + + +PEKUAH descended to the tents, and the rest entered the Pyramid. They +passed through the galleries, surveyed the vaults of marble, and examined +the chest in which the body of the founder is supposed to have been +deposited. They then sat down in one of the most spacious chambers to +rest awhile before they attempted to return. + +“We have now,” said Imlac, “gratified our minds with an exact view of the +greatest work of man, except the wall of China. + +“Of the wall it is very easy to assign the motive. It secured a wealthy +and timorous nation from the incursions of barbarians, whose +unskilfulness in the arts made it easier for them to supply their wants +by rapine than by industry, and who from time to time poured in upon the +inhabitants of peaceful commerce as vultures descend upon domestic fowl. +Their celerity and fierceness made the wall necessary, and their +ignorance made it efficacious. + +“But for the Pyramids, no reason has ever been given adequate to the cost +and labour of the work. The narrowness of the chambers proves that it +could afford no retreat from enemies, and treasures might have been +reposited at far less expense with equal security. It seems to have been +erected only in compliance with that hunger of imagination which preys +incessantly upon life, and must be always appeased by some employment. +Those who have already all that they can enjoy must enlarge their +desires. He that has built for use till use is supplied must begin to +build for vanity, and extend his plan to the utmost power of human +performance that he may not be soon reduced to form another wish. + +“I consider this mighty structure as a monument of the insufficiency of +human enjoyments. A king whose power is unlimited, and whose treasures +surmount all real and imaginary wants, is compelled to solace, by the +erection of a pyramid, the satiety of dominion and tastelessness of +pleasures, and to amuse the tediousness of declining life by seeing +thousands labouring without end, and one stone, for no purpose, laid upon +another. Whoever thou art that, not content with a moderate condition, +imaginest happiness in royal magnificence, and dreamest that command or +riches can feed the appetite of novelty with perpetual gratifications, +survey the Pyramids, and confess thy folly!” + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII +THE PRINCESS MEETS WITH AN UNEXPECTED MISFORTUNE. + + +THEY rose up, and returned through the cavity at which they had entered; +and the Princess prepared for her favourite a long narrative of dark +labyrinths and costly rooms, and of the different impressions which the +varieties of the way had made upon her. But when they came to their +train, they found every one silent and dejected: the men discovered shame +and fear in their countenances, and the women were weeping in their +tents. + +What had happened they did not try to conjecture, but immediately +inquired. “You had scarcely entered into the Pyramid,” said one of the +attendants, “when a troop of Arabs rushed upon us: we were too few to +resist them, and too slow to escape. They were about to search the +tents, set us on our camels, and drive us along before them, when the +approach of some Turkish horsemen put them to flight: but they seized the +Lady Pekuah with her two maids, and carried them away: the Turks are now +pursuing them by our instigation, but I fear they will not be able to +overtake them.” + +The Princess was overpowered with surprise and grief. Rasselas, in the +first heat of his resentment, ordered his servants to follow him, and +prepared to pursue the robbers with his sabre in his hand. “Sir,” said +Imlac, “what can you hope from violence or valour? The Arabs are mounted +on horses trained to battle and retreat; we have only beasts of burden. +By leaving our present station we may lose the Princess, but cannot hope +to regain Pekuah.” + +In a short time the Turks returned, having not been able to reach the +enemy. The Princess burst out into new lamentations, and Rasselas could +scarcely forbear to reproach them with cowardice; but Imlac was of +opinion that the escape of the Arabs was no addition to their misfortune, +for perhaps they would have killed their captives rather than have +resigned them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV +THEY RETURN TO CAIRO WITHOUT PEKUAH. + + +THERE was nothing to be hoped from longer stay. They returned to Cairo, +repenting of their curiosity, censuring the negligence of the government, +lamenting their own rashness, which had neglected to procure a guard, +imagining many expedients by which the loss of Pekuah might have been +prevented, and resolving to do something for her recovery, though none +could find anything proper to be done. + +Nekayah retired to her chamber, where her women attempted to comfort her +by telling her that all had their troubles, and that Lady Pekuah had +enjoyed much happiness in the world for a long time, and might reasonably +expect a change of fortune. They hoped that some good would befall her +wheresoever she was, and that their mistress would find another friend +who might supply her place. + +The Princess made them no answer; and they continued the form of +condolence, not much grieved in their hearts that the favourite was lost. + +Next day the Prince presented to the Bassa a memorial of the wrong which +he had suffered, and a petition for redress. The Bassa threatened to +punish the robbers, but did not attempt to catch them; nor indeed could +any account or description be given by which he might direct the pursuit. + +It soon appeared that nothing would be done by authority. Governors +being accustomed to hear of more crimes than they can punish, and more +wrongs than they can redress, set themselves at ease by indiscriminate +negligence, and presently forget the request when they lose sight of the +petitioner. + +Imlac then endeavoured to gain some intelligence by private agents. He +found many who pretended to an exact knowledge of all the haunts of the +Arabs, and to regular correspondence with their chiefs, and who readily +undertook the recovery of Pekuah. Of these, some were furnished with +money for their journey, and came back no more; some were liberally paid +for accounts which a few days discovered to be false. But the Princess +would not suffer any means, however improbable, to be left untried. +While she was doing something, she kept her hope alive. As one expedient +failed, another was suggested; when one messenger returned unsuccessful, +another was despatched to a different quarter. + +Two months had now passed, and of Pekuah nothing had been heard; the +hopes which they had endeavoured to raise in each other grew more +languid; and the Princess, when she saw nothing more to be tried, sunk +down inconsolable in hopeless dejection. A thousand times she reproached +herself with the easy compliance by which she permitted her favourite to +stay behind her. “Had not my fondness,” said she, “lessened my +authority, Pekuah had not dared to talk of her terrors. She ought to +have feared me more than spectres. A severe look would have overpowered +her; a peremptory command would have compelled obedience. Why did +foolish indulgence prevail upon me? Why did I not speak, and refuse to +hear?” + +“Great Princess,” said Imlac, “do not reproach yourself for your virtue, +or consider that as blameable by which evil has accidentally been caused. +Your tenderness for the timidity of Pekuah was generous and kind. When +we act according to our duty, we commit the events to Him by whose laws +our actions are governed, and who will suffer none to be finally punished +for obedience. When, in prospect of some good, whether natural or moral, +we break the rules prescribed us, we withdraw from the direction of +superior wisdom, and take all consequences upon ourselves. Man cannot so +far know the connection of causes and events as that he may venture to do +wrong in order to do right. When we pursue our end by lawful means, we +may always console our miscarriage by the hope of future recompense. +When we consult only our own policy, and attempt to find a nearer way to +good by over-leaping the settled boundaries of right and wrong, we cannot +be happy even by success, because we cannot escape the consciousness of +our fault; but if we miscarry, the disappointment is irremediably +embittered. How comfortless is the sorrow of him who feels at once the +pangs of guilt and the vexation of calamity which guilt has brought upon +him! + +“Consider, Princess, what would have been your condition if the Lady +Pekuah had entreated to accompany you, and, being compelled to stay in +the tents, had been carried away; or how would you have borne the thought +if you had forced her into the Pyramid, and she had died before you in +agonies of terror?” + +“Had either happened,” said Nekayah, “I could not have endured life till +now; I should have been tortured to madness by the remembrance of such +cruelty, or must have pined away in abhorrence of myself.” + +“This, at least,” said Imlac, “is the present reward of virtuous conduct, +that no unlucky consequence can oblige us to repent it.” + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV +THE PRINCESS LANGUISHES FOR WANT OF PEKUAH. + + +NEKAYAH, being thus reconciled to herself, found that no evil is +insupportable but that which is accompanied with consciousness of wrong. +She was from that time delivered from the violence of tempestuous sorrow, +and sunk into silent pensiveness and gloomy tranquillity. She sat from +morning to evening recollecting all that had been done or said by her +Pekuah, treasured up with care every trifle on which Pekuah had set an +accidental value, and which might recall to mind any little incident or +careless conversation. The sentiments of her whom she now expected to +see no more were treasured in her memory as rules of life, and she +deliberated to no other end than to conjecture on any occasion what would +have been the opinion and counsel of Pekuah. + +The women by whom she was attended knew nothing of her real condition, +and therefore she could not talk to them but with caution and reserve. +She began to remit her curiosity, having no great desire to collect +notions which she had no convenience of uttering. Rasselas endeavoured +first to comfort and afterwards to divert her; he hired musicians, to +whom she seemed to listen, but did not hear them; and procured masters to +instruct her in various arts, whose lectures, when they visited her +again, were again to be repeated. She had lost her taste of pleasure and +her ambition of excellence; and her mind, though forced into short +excursions, always recurred to the image of her friend. + +Imlac was every morning earnestly enjoined to renew his inquiries, and +was asked every night whether he had yet heard of Pekuah; till, not being +able to return the Princess the answer that she desired, he was less and +less willing to come into her presence. She observed his backwardness, +and commanded him to attend her. “You are not,” said she, “to confound +impatience with resentment, or to suppose that I charge you with +negligence because I repine at your unsuccessfulness. I do not much +wonder at your absence. I know that the unhappy are never pleasing, and +that all naturally avoid the contagion of misery. To hear complaints is +wearisome alike to the wretched and the happy; for who would cloud by +adventitious grief the short gleams of gaiety which life allows us, or +who that is struggling under his own evils will add to them the miseries +of another? + +“The time is at hand when none shall be disturbed any longer by the sighs +of Nekayah: my search after happiness is now at an end. I am resolved to +retire from the world, with all its flatteries and deceits, and will hide +myself in solitude, without any other care than to compose my thoughts +and regulate my hours by a constant succession of innocent occupations, +till, with a mind purified from earthly desires, I shall enter into that +state to which all are hastening, and in which I hope again to enjoy the +friendship of Pekuah.” + +“Do not entangle your mind,” said Imlac, “by irrevocable determinations, +nor increase the burden of life by a voluntary accumulation of misery. +The weariness of retirement will continue to increase when the loss of +Pekuah is forgot. That you have been deprived of one pleasure is no very +good reason for rejection of the rest.” + +“Since Pekuah was taken from me,” said the Princess, “I have no pleasure +to reject or to retain. She that has no one to love or trust has little +to hope. She wants the radical principle of happiness. We may perhaps +allow that what satisfaction this world can afford must arise from the +conjunction of wealth, knowledge, and goodness. Wealth is nothing but as +it is bestowed, and knowledge nothing but as it is communicated. They +must therefore be imparted to others, and to whom could I now delight to +impart them? Goodness affords the only comfort which can be enjoyed +without a partner, and goodness may be practised in retirement.” + +“How far solitude may admit goodness or advance it, I shall not,” replied +Imlac, “dispute at present. Remember the confession of the pious hermit. +You will wish to return into the world when the image of your companion +has left your thoughts.” + +“That time,” said Nekayah, “will never come. The generous frankness, the +modest obsequiousness, and the faithful secrecy of my dear Pekuah will +always be more missed as I shall live longer to see vice and folly.” + +“The state of a mind oppressed with a sudden calamity,” said Imlac, “is +like that of the fabulous inhabitants of the new-created earth, who, when +the first night came upon them, supposed that day would never return. +When the clouds of sorrow gather over us, we see nothing beyond them, nor +can imagine how they will be dispelled; yet a new day succeeded to the +night, and sorrow is never long without a dawn of ease. But they who +restrain themselves from receiving comfort do as the savages would have +done had they put out their eyes when it was dark. Our minds, like our +bodies, are in continual flux; something is hourly lost, and something +acquired. To lose much at once is inconvenient to either, but while the +vital power remains uninjured, nature will find the means of reparation. +Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eye; and while we +glide along the stream of time, whatever we leave behind us is always +lessening, and that which we approach increasing in magnitude. Do not +suffer life to stagnate: it will grow muddy for want of motion; commit +yourself again to the current of the world; Pekuah will vanish by +degrees; you will meet in your way some other favourite, or learn to +diffuse yourself in general conversation.” + +“At least,” said the Prince, “do not despair before all remedies have +been tried. The inquiry after the unfortunate lady is still continued, +and shall be carried on with yet greater diligence, on condition that you +will promise to wait a year for the event, without any unalterable +resolution.” + +Nekayah thought this a reasonable demand, and made the promise to her +brother, who had been obliged by Imlac to require it. Imlac had, indeed, +no great hope of regaining Pekuah; but he supposed that if he could +secure the interval of a year, the Princess would be then in no danger of +a cloister. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI +PEKUAH IS STILL REMEMBERED. THE PROGRESS OF SORROW. + + +NEKAYAH, seeing that nothing was omitted for the recovery of her +favourite, and having by her promise set her intention of retirement at a +distance, began imperceptibly to return to common cares and common +pleasures. She rejoiced without her own consent at the suspension of her +sorrows, and sometimes caught herself with indignation in the act of +turning away her mind from the remembrance of her whom yet she resolved +never to forget. + +She then appointed a certain hour of the day for meditation on the merits +and fondness of Pekuah, and for some weeks retired constantly at the time +fixed, and returned with her eyes swollen and her countenance clouded. +By degrees she grew less scrupulous, and suffered any important and +pressing avocation to delay the tribute of daily tears. She then yielded +to less occasions, and sometimes forgot what she was indeed afraid to +remember, and at last wholly released herself from the duty of periodical +affliction. + +Her real love of Pekuah was not yet diminished. A thousand occurrences +brought her back to memory, and a thousand wants, which nothing but the +confidence of friendship can supply, made her frequently regretted. She +therefore solicited Imlac never to desist from inquiry, and to leave no +art of intelligence untried, that at least she might have the comfort of +knowing that she did not suffer by negligence or sluggishness. “Yet +what,” said she, “is to be expected from our pursuit of happiness, when +we find the state of life to be such that happiness itself is the cause +of misery? Why should we endeavour to attain that of which the +possession cannot be secured? I shall henceforward fear to yield my +heart to excellence, however bright, or to fondness, however tender, lest +I should lose again what I have lost in Pekuah.” + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII +THE PRINCESS HEARS NEWS OF PEKUAH. + + +IN seven mouths one of the messengers who had been sent away upon the day +when the promise was drawn from the Princess, returned, after many +unsuccessful rambles, from the borders of Nubia, with an account that +Pekuah was in the hands of an Arab chief, who possessed a castle or +fortress on the extremity of Egypt. The Arab, whose revenue was plunder, +was willing to restore her, with her two attendants, for two hundred +ounces of gold. + +The price was no subject of debate. The Princess was in ecstasies when +she heard that her favourite was alive, and might so cheaply be ransomed. +She could not think of delaying for a moment Pekuah’s happiness or her +own, but entreated her brother to send back the messenger with the sum +required. Imlac, being consulted, was not very confident of the veracity +of the relater, and was still more doubtful of the Arab’s faith, who +might, if he were too liberally trusted, detain at once the money and the +captives. He thought it dangerous to put themselves in the power of the +Arab by going into his district; and could not expect that the rover +would so much expose himself as to come into the lower country, where he +might be seized by the forces of the Bassa. + +It is difficult to negotiate where neither will trust. But Imlac, after +some deliberation, directed the messenger to propose that Pekuah should +be conducted by ten horsemen to the monastery of St. Anthony, which is +situated in the deserts of Upper Egypt, where she should be met by the +same number, and her ransom should be paid. + +That no time might be lost, as they expected that the proposal would not +be refused, they immediately began their journey to the monastery; and +when they arrived, Imlac went forward with the former messenger to the +Arab’s fortress. Rasselas was desirous to go with them; but neither his +sister nor Imlac would consent. The Arab, according to the custom of his +nation, observed the laws of hospitality with great exactness to those +who put themselves into his power, and in a few days brought Pekuah, with +her maids, by easy journeys, to the place appointed, where, receiving the +stipulated price, he restored her, with great respect, to liberty and her +friends, and undertook to conduct them back towards Cairo beyond all +danger of robbery or violence. + +The Princess and her favourite embraced each other with transport too +violent to be expressed, and went out together to pour the tears of +tenderness in secret, and exchange professions of kindness and gratitude. +After a few hours they returned into the refectory of the convent, where, +in the presence of the prior and his brethren, the Prince required of +Pekuah the history of her adventures. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII +THE ADVENTURES OF THE LADY PEKUAH. + + +“AT what time and in what manner I was forced away,” said Pekuah, “your +servants have told you. The suddenness of the event struck me with +surprise, and I was at first rather stupefied than agitated with any +passion of either fear or sorrow. My confusion was increased by the +speed and tumult of our flight, while we were followed by the Turks, who, +as it seemed, soon despaired to overtake us, or were afraid of those whom +they made a show of menacing. + +“When the Arabs saw themselves out of danger, they slackened their +course; and as I was less harassed by external violence, I began to feel +more uneasiness in my mind. After some time we stopped near a spring +shaded with trees, in a pleasant meadow, where we were set upon the +ground, and offered such refreshments as our masters were partaking. I +was suffered to sit with my maids apart from the rest, and none attempted +to comfort or insult us. Here I first began to feel the full weight of +my misery. The girls sat weeping in silence, and from time to time +looked on me for succour. I knew not to what condition we were doomed, +nor could conjecture where would be the place of our captivity, or whence +to draw any hope of deliverance. I was in the hands of robbers and +savages, and had no reason to suppose that their pity was more than their +justice, or that they would forbear the gratification of any ardour of +desire or caprice of cruelty. I, however, kissed my maids, and +endeavoured to pacify them by remarking that we were yet treated with +decency, and that since we were now carried beyond pursuit, there was no +danger of violence to our lives. + +“When we were to be set again on horseback, my maids clung round me, and +refused to be parted; but I commanded them not to irritate those who had +us in their power. We travelled the remaining part of the day through an +unfrequented and pathless country, and came by moonlight to the side of a +hill, where the rest of the troop was stationed. Their tents were +pitched and their fires kindled, and our chief was welcomed as a man much +beloved by his dependents. + +“We were received into a large tent, where we found women who had +attended their husbands in the expedition. They set before us the supper +which they had provided, and I ate it rather to encourage my maids than +to comply with any appetite of my own. When the meat was taken away, +they spread the carpets for repose. I was weary, and hoped to find in +sleep that remission of distress which nature seldom denies. Ordering +myself, therefore, to be undressed, I observed that the women looked very +earnestly upon me, not expecting, I suppose, to see me so submissively +attended. When my upper vest was taken off, they were apparently struck +with the splendour of my clothes, and one of them timorously laid her +hand upon the embroidery. She then went out, and in a short time came +back with another woman, who seemed to be of higher rank and greater +authority. She did, at her entrance, the usual act of reverence, and, +taking me by the hand placed me in a smaller tent, spread with finer +carpets, where I spent the night quietly with my maids. + +“In the morning, as I was sitting on the grass, the chief of the troop +came towards me. I rose up to receive him, and he bowed with great +respect. ‘Illustrious lady,’ said he, ‘my fortune is better than I had +presumed to hope: I am told by my women that I have a princess in my +camp.’ ‘Sir,’ answered I, ‘your women have deceived themselves and you; +I am not a princess, but an unhappy stranger who intended soon to have +left this country, in which I am now to be imprisoned for ever.’ +‘Whoever or whencesoever you are,’ returned the Arab, ‘your dress and +that of your servants show your rank to be high and your wealth to be +great. Why should you, who can so easily procure your ransom, think +yourself in danger of perpetual captivity? The purpose of my incursions +is to increase my riches, or, more properly, to gather tribute. The sons +of Ishmael are the natural and hereditary lords of this part of the +continent, which is usurped by late invaders and low-born tyrants, from +whom we are compelled to take by the sword what is denied to justice. +The violence of war admits no distinction: the lance that is lifted at +guilt and power will sometimes fall on innocence and gentleness.’ + +“‘How little,’ said I, ‘did I expect that yesterday it should have fallen +upon me!’ + +“’Misfortunes,’ answered the Arab, ‘should always be expected. If the +eye of hostility could learn reverence or pity, excellence like yours had +been exempt from injury. But the angels of affliction spread their toils +alike for the virtuous and the wicked, for the mighty and the mean. Do +not be disconsolate; I am not one of the lawless and cruel rovers of the +desert; I know the rules of civil life; I will fix your ransom, give a +passport to your messenger, and perform my stipulation with nice +punctuality.’ + +“You will easily believe that I was pleased with his courtesy, and +finding that his predominant passion was desire for money, I began now to +think my danger less, for I knew that no sum would be thought too great +for the release of Pekuah. I told him that he should have no reason to +charge me with ingratitude if I was used with kindness, and that any +ransom which could be expected for a maid of common rank would be paid, +but that he must not persist to rate me as a princess. He said he would +consider what he should demand, and then, smiling, bowed and retired. + +“Soon after the women came about me, each contending to be more officious +than the other, and my maids themselves were served with reverence. We +travelled onward by short journeys. On the fourth day the chief told me +that my ransom must be two hundred ounces of gold, which I not only +promised him, but told him that I would add fifty more if I and my maids +were honourably treated. + +“I never knew the power of gold before. From that time I was the leader +of the troop. The march of every day was longer or shorter as I +commanded, and the tents were pitched where I chose to rest. We now had +camels and other conveniences for travel; my own women were always at my +side, and I amused myself with observing the manners of the vagrant +nations, and with viewing remains of ancient edifices, with which these +deserted countries appear to have been in some distant age lavishly +embellished. + +“The chief of the band was a man far from illiterate: he was able to +travel by the stars or the compass, and had marked in his erratic +expeditions such places as are most worthy the notice of a passenger. He +observed to me that buildings are always best preserved in places little +frequented and difficult of access; for when once a country declines from +its primitive splendour, the more inhabitants are left, the quicker ruin +will be made. Walls supply stones more easily than quarries; and palaces +and temples will be demolished to make stables of granite and cottages of +porphyry.’” + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX +THE ADVENTURES OF PEKUAH (_continued_). + + +“WE wandered about in this manner for some weeks, either, as our chief +pretended, for my gratification, or, as I rather suspected, for some +convenience of his own. I endeavoured to appear contented where +sullenness and resentment would have been of no use, and that endeavour +conduced much to the calmness of my mind; but my heart was always with +Nekayah, and the troubles of the night much overbalanced the amusements +of the day. My women, who threw all their cares upon their mistress, set +their minds at ease from the time when they saw me treated with respect, +and gave themselves up to the incidental alleviations of our fatigue +without solicitude or sorrow. I was pleased with their pleasure, and +animated with their confidence. My condition had lost much of its +terror, since I found that the Arab ranged the country merely to get +riches. Avarice is a uniform and tractable vice: other intellectual +distempers are different in different constitutions of mind; that which +soothes the pride of one will offend the pride of another; but to the +favour of the covetous there is a ready way—bring money, and nothing is +denied. + +“At last we came to the dwelling of our chief; a strong and spacious +house, built with stone in an island of the Nile, which lies, as I was +told, under the tropic. ‘Lady,’ said the Arab, ‘you shall rest after +your journey a few weeks in this place, where you are to consider +yourself as Sovereign. My occupation is war: I have therefore chosen +this obscure residence, from which I can issue unexpected, and to which I +can retire unpursued. You may now repose in security: here are few +pleasures, but here is no danger.’ He then led me into the inner +apartments, and seating me on the richest couch, bowed to the ground. + +“His women, who considered me as a rival, looked on me with malignity; +but being soon informed that I was a great lady detained only for my +ransom, they began to vie with each other in obsequiousness and +reverence. + +“Being again comforted with new assurances of speedy liberty, I was for +some days diverted from impatience by the novelty of the place. The +turrets overlooked the country to a great distance, and afforded a view +of many windings of the stream. In the day I wandered from one place to +another, as the course of the sun varied the splendour of the prospect, +and saw many things which I had never seen before. The crocodiles and +river-horses are common in this unpeopled region; and I often looked upon +them with terror, though I knew they could not hurt me. For some time I +expected to see mermaids and tritons, which, as Imlac has told me, the +European travellers have stationed in the Nile; but no such beings ever +appeared, and the Arab, when I inquired after them, laughed at my +credulity. + +“At night the Arab always attended me to a tower set apart for celestial +observations, where he endeavoured to teach me the names and courses of +the stars. I had no great inclination to this study; but an appearance +of attention was necessary to please my instructor, who valued himself +for his skill, and in a little while I found some employment requisite to +beguile the tediousness of time, which was to be passed always amidst the +same objects. I was weary of looking in the morning on things from which +I had turned away weary in the evening: I therefore was at last willing +to observe the stars rather than do nothing, but could not always compose +my thoughts, and was very often thinking on Nekayah when others imagined +me contemplating the sky. Soon after, the Arab went upon another +expedition, and then my only pleasure was to talk with my maids about the +accident by which we were carried away, and the happiness we should all +enjoy at the end of our captivity.” + +“There were women in your Arab’s fortress,” said the Princess; “why did +you not make them your companions, enjoy their conversation, and partake +their diversions? In a place where they found business or amusement, why +should you alone sit corroded with idle melancholy? or why could not you +bear for a few months that condition to which they were condemned for +life?” + +“The diversions of the women,” answered Pekuah, “were only childish play, +by which the mind accustomed to stronger operations could not be kept +busy. I could do all which they delighted in doing by powers merely +sensitive, while my intellectual faculties were flown to Cairo. They ran +from room to room, as a bird hops from wire to wire in his cage. They +danced for the sake of motion, as lambs frisk in a meadow. One sometimes +pretended to be hurt that the rest might be alarmed, or hid herself that +another might seek her. Part of their time passed in watching the +progress of light bodies that floated on the river, and part in marking +the various forms into which clouds broke in the sky. + +“Their business was only needlework, in which I and my maids sometimes +helped them; but you know that the mind will easily straggle from the +fingers, nor will you suspect that captivity and absence from Nekayah +could receive solace from silken flowers. + +“Nor was much satisfaction to be hoped from their conversation: for of +what could they be expected to talk? They had seen nothing, for they had +lived from early youth in that narrow spot: of what they had not seen +they could have no knowledge, for they could not read. They had no idea +but of the few things that were within their view, and had hardly names +for anything but their clothes and their food. As I bore a superior +character, I was often called to terminate their quarrels, which I +decided as equitably as I could. If it could have amused me to hear the +complaints of each against the rest, I might have been often detained by +long stories; but the motives of their animosity were so small that I +could not listen without interrupting the tale.” + +“How,” said Rasselas, “can the Arab, whom you represented as a man of +more than common accomplishments, take any pleasure in his seraglio, when +it is filled only with women like these? Are they exquisitely +beautiful?” + +“They do not,” said Pekuah, “want that unaffecting and ignoble beauty +which may subsist without sprightliness or sublimity, without energy of +thought or dignity of virtue. But to a man like the Arab such beauty was +only a flower casually plucked and carelessly thrown away. Whatever +pleasures he might find among them, they were not those of friendship or +society. When they were playing about him he looked on them with +inattentive superiority; when they vied for his regard he sometimes +turned away disgusted. As they had no knowledge, their talk could take +nothing from the tediousness of life; as they had no choice, their +fondness, or appearance of fondness, excited in him neither pride nor +gratitude. He was not exalted in his own esteem by the smiles of a woman +who saw no other man, nor was much obliged by that regard of which he +could never know the sincerity, and which he might often perceive to be +exerted not so much to delight him as to pain a rival. That which he +gave, and they received, as love, was only a careless distribution of +superfluous time, such love as man can bestow upon that which he +despises, such as has neither hope nor fear, neither joy nor sorrow.” + +“You have reason, lady, to think yourself happy,” said Imlac, “that you +have been thus easily dismissed. How could a mind, hungry for knowledge, +be willing, in an intellectual famine, to lose such a banquet as Pekuah’s +conversation?” + +“I am inclined to believe,” answered Pekuah, “that he was for some time +in suspense; for, notwithstanding his promise, whenever I proposed to +despatch a messenger to Cairo he found some excuse for delay. While I +was detained in his house he made many incursions into the neighbouring +countries, and perhaps he would have refused to discharge me had his +plunder been equal to his wishes. He returned always courteous, related +his adventures, delighted to hear my observations, and endeavoured to +advance my acquaintance with the stars. When I importuned him to send +away my letters, he soothed me with professions of honour and sincerity; +and when I could be no longer decently denied, put his troop again in +motion, and left me to govern in his absence. I was much afflicted by +this studied procrastination, and was sometimes afraid that I should be +forgotten; that you would leave Cairo, and I must end my days in an +island of the Nile. + +“I grew at last hopeless and dejected, and cared so little to entertain +him, that he for a while more frequently talked with my maids. That he +should fall in love with them or with me, might have been equally fatal, +and I was not much pleased with the growing friendship. My anxiety was +not long, for, as I recovered some degree of cheerfulness, he returned to +me, and I could not forbear to despise my former uneasiness. + +“He still delayed to send for my ransom, and would perhaps never have +determined had not your agent found his way to him. The gold, which he +would not fetch, he could not reject when it was offered. He hastened to +prepare for our journey hither, like a man delivered from the pain of an +intestine conflict. I took leave of my companions in the house, who +dismissed me with cold indifference.” + +Nekayah having heard her favourite’s relation, rose and embraced her, and +Rasselas gave her a hundred ounces of gold, which she presented to the +Arab for the fifty that were promised. + + + + +CHAPTER XL +THE HISTORY OF A MAN OF LEARNING. + + +THEY returned to Cairo, and were so well pleased at finding themselves +together that none of them went much abroad. The Prince began to love +learning, and one day declared to Imlac that he intended to devote +himself to science and pass the rest of his days in literary solitude. + +“Before you make your final choice,” answered Imlac, “you ought to +examine its hazards, and converse with some of those who are grown old in +the company of themselves. I have just left the observatory of one of +the most learned astronomers in the world, who has spent forty years in +unwearied attention to the motion and appearances of the celestial +bodies, and has drawn out his soul in endless calculations. He admits a +few friends once a month to hear his deductions and enjoy his +discoveries. I was introduced as a man of knowledge worthy of his +notice. Men of various ideas and fluent conversation are commonly +welcome to those whose thoughts have been long fixed upon a single point, +and who find the images of other things stealing away. I delighted him +with my remarks. He smiled at the narrative of my travels, and was glad +to forget the constellations and descend for a moment into the lower +world. + +“On the next day of vacation I renewed my visit, and was so fortunate as +to please him again. He relaxed from that time the severity of his rule, +and permitted me to enter at my own choice. I found him always busy, and +always glad to be relieved. As each knew much which the other was +desirous of learning, we exchanged our notions with great delight. I +perceived that I had every day more of his confidence, and always found +new cause of admiration in the profundity of his mind. His comprehension +is vast, his memory capacious and retentive, his discourse is methodical, +and his expression clear. + +“His integrity and benevolence are equal to his learning. His deepest +researches and most favourite studies are willingly interrupted for any +opportunity of doing good by his counsel or his riches. To his closest +retreat, at his most busy moments, all are admitted that want his +assistance; ‘For though I exclude idleness and pleasure, I will never,’ +says he, ‘bar my doors against charity. To man is permitted the +contemplation of the skies, but the practice of virtue is commanded.’” + +“Surely,” said the Princess, “this man is happy.” + +“I visited him,” said Imlac, “with more and more frequency, and was every +time more enamoured of his conversation; he was sublime without +haughtiness, courteous without formality, and communicative without +ostentation. I was at first, great Princess, of your opinion, thought +him the happiest of mankind, and often congratulated him on the blessing +that he enjoyed. He seemed to hear nothing with indifference but the +praises of his condition, to which he always returned a general answer, +and diverted the conversation to some other topic. + +“Amidst this willingness to be pleased and labour to please, I had +quickly reason to imagine that some painful sentiment pressed upon his +mind. He often looked up earnestly towards the sun, and let his voice +fall in the midst of his discourse. He would sometimes, when we were +alone, gaze upon me in silence with the air of a man who longed to speak +what he was yet resolved to suppress. He would often send for me with +vehement injunction of haste, though when I came to him he had nothing +extraordinary to say; and sometimes, when I was leaving him, would call +me back, pause a few moments, and then dismiss me.” + + + + +CHAPTER XLI +THE ASTRONOMER DISCOVERS THE CAUSE OF HIS UNEASINESS. + + +“AT last the time came when the secret burst his reserve. We were +sitting together last night in the turret of his house watching the +immersion of a satellite of Jupiter. A sudden tempest clouded the sky +and disappointed our observation. We sat awhile silent in the dark, and +then he addressed himself to me in these words: ‘Imlac, I have long +considered thy friendship as the greatest blessing of my life. Integrity +without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is +dangerous and dreadful. I have found in thee all the qualities requisite +for trust—benevolence, experience, and fortitude. I have long discharged +an office which I must soon quit at the call of Nature, and shall rejoice +in the hour of imbecility and pain to devolve it upon thee.’ + +“I thought myself honoured by this testimony, and protested that whatever +could conduce to his happiness would add likewise to mine. + +“‘Hear, Imlac, what thou wilt not without difficulty credit. I have +possessed for five years the regulation of the weather and the +distribution of the seasons. The sun has listened to my dictates, and +passed from tropic to tropic by my direction; the clouds at my call have +poured their waters, and the Nile has overflowed at my command. I have +restrained the rage of the dog-star, and mitigated the fervours of the +crab. The winds alone, of all the elemental powers, have hitherto +refused my authority, and multitudes have perished by equinoctial +tempests which I found myself unable to prohibit or restrain. I have +administered this great office with exact justice, and made to the +different nations of the earth an impartial dividend of rain and +sunshine. What must have been the misery of half the globe if I had +limited the clouds to particular regions, or confined the sun to either +side of the equator?’” + + + + +CHAPTER XLII +THE OPINION OF THE ASTRONOMER IS EXPLAINED AND JUSTIFIED. + + +“I SUPPOSE he discovered in me, through the obscurity of the room, some +tokens of amazement and doubt, for after a short pause he proceeded +thus:— + +“‘Not to be easily credited will neither surprise nor offend me, for I am +probably the first of human beings to whom this trust has been imparted. +Nor do I know whether to deem this distinction a reward or punishment. +Since I have possessed it I have been far less happy than before, and +nothing but the consciousness of good intention could have enabled me to +support the weariness of unremitted vigilance.’ + +“‘How long, sir,’ said I, ‘has this great office been in your hands?’ + +“‘About ten years ago,’ said he, ‘my daily observations of the changes of +the sky led me to consider whether, if I had the power of the seasons, I +could confer greater plenty upon the inhabitants of the earth. This +contemplation fastened on my mind, and I sat days and nights in imaginary +dominion, pouring upon this country and that the showers of fertility, +and seconding every fall of rain with a due proportion of sunshine. I +had yet only the will to do good, and did not imagine that I should ever +have the power. + +“‘One day as I was looking on the fields withering with heat, I felt in +my mind a sudden wish that I could send rain on the southern mountains, +and raise the Nile to an inundation. In the hurry of my imagination I +commanded rain to fall; and by comparing the time of my command with that +of the inundation, I found that the clouds had listened to my lips.’ + +“‘Might not some other cause,’ said I, ‘produce this concurrence? The +Nile does not always rise on the same day.’ + +“‘Do not believe,’ said he, with impatience, ‘that such objections could +escape me. I reasoned long against my own conviction, and laboured +against truth with the utmost obstinacy. I sometimes suspected myself of +madness, and should not have dared to impart this secret but to a man +like you, capable of distinguishing the wonderful from the impossible, +and the incredible from the false.’ + +“‘Why, sir,’ said I, ‘do you call that incredible which you know, or +think you know, to be true?’ + +“‘Because,’ said he, ‘I cannot prove it by any external evidence; and I +know too well the laws of demonstration to think that my conviction ought +to influence another, who cannot, like me, be conscious of its force. I +therefore shall not attempt to gain credit by disputation. It is +sufficient that I feel this power that I have long possessed, and every +day exerted it. But the life of man is short; the infirmities of age +increase upon me, and the time will soon come when the regulator of the +year must mingle with the dust. The care of appointing a successor has +long disturbed me; the night and the day have been spent in comparisons +of all the characters which have come to my knowledge, and I have yet +found none so worthy as thyself.’” + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII +THE ASTRONOMER LEAVES IMLAC HIS DIRECTIONS. + + +“‘HEAR, therefore, what I shall impart with attention, such as the +welfare of a world requires. If the task of a king be considered as +difficult, who has the care only of a few millions, to whom he cannot do +much good or harm, what must be the anxiety of him on whom depends the +action of the elements and the great gifts of light and heat? Hear me, +therefore, with attention. + +“‘I have diligently considered the position of the earth and sun, and +formed innumerable schemes, in which I changed their situation. I have +sometimes turned aside the axis of the earth, and sometimes varied the +ecliptic of the sun, but I have found it impossible to make a disposition +by which the world may be advantaged; what one region gains another loses +by an imaginable alteration, even without considering the distant parts +of the solar system with which we are acquainted. Do not, therefore, in +thy administration of the year, indulge thy pride by innovation; do not +please thyself with thinking that thou canst make thyself renowned to all +future ages by disordering the seasons. The memory of mischief is no +desirable fame. Much less will it become thee to let kindness or +interest prevail. Never rob other countries of rain to pour it on thine +own. For us the Nile is sufficient.’ + +“I promised that when I possessed the power I would use it with +inflexible integrity; and he dismissed me, pressing my hand. ‘My heart,’ +said he, ‘will be now at rest, and my benevolence will no more destroy my +quiet; I have found a man of wisdom and virtue, to whom I can cheerfully +bequeath the inheritance of the sun.’” + +The Prince heard this narration with very serious regard; but the +Princess smiled, and Pekuah convulsed herself with laughter. “Ladies,” +said Imlac, “to mock the heaviest of human afflictions is neither +charitable nor wise. Few can attain this man’s knowledge and few +practise his virtues, but all may suffer his calamity. Of the +uncertainties of our present state, the most dreadful and alarming is the +uncertain continuance of reason.” + +The Princess was recollected, and the favourite was abashed. Rasselas, +more deeply affected, inquired of Imlac whether he thought such maladies +of the mind frequent, and how they were contracted. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV +THE DANGEROUS PREVALENCE OF IMAGINATION. + + +“DISORDERS of intellect,” answered Imlac, “happen much more often than +superficial observers will easily believe. Perhaps if we speak with +rigorous exactness, no human mind is in its right state. There is no man +whose imagination does not sometimes predominate over his reason who can +regulate his attention wholly by his will, and whose ideas will come and +go at his command. No man will be found in whose mind airy notions do +not sometimes tyrannise, and force him to hope or fear beyond the limits +of sober probability. All power of fancy over reason is a degree of +insanity, but while this power is such as we can control and repress it +is not visible to others, nor considered as any deprivation of the mental +faculties; it is not pronounced madness but when it becomes ungovernable, +and apparently influences speech or action. + +“To indulge the power of fiction and send imagination out upon the wing +is often the sport of those who delight too much in silent speculation. +When we are alone we are not always busy; the labour of excogitation is +too violent to last long; the ardour of inquiry will sometimes give way +to idleness or satiety. He who has nothing external that can divert him +must find pleasure in his own thoughts, and must conceive himself what he +is not; for who is pleased with what he is? He then expatiates in +boundless futurity, and culls from all imaginable conditions that which +for the present moment he should most desire, amuses his desires with +impossible enjoyments, and confers upon his pride unattainable dominion. +The mind dances from scene to scene, unites all pleasures in all +combinations, and riots in delights which Nature and fortune, with all +their bounty, cannot bestow. + +“In time some particular train of ideas fixes the attention; all other +intellectual gratifications are rejected; the mind, in weariness or +leisure, recurs constantly to the favourite conception, and feasts on the +luscious falsehood whenever she is offended with the bitterness of truth. +By degrees the reign of fancy is confirmed; she grows first imperious and +in time despotic. Then fictions begin to operate as realities, false +opinions fasten upon the mind, and life passes in dreams of rapture or of +anguish. + +“This, sir, is one of the dangers of solitude, which the hermit has +confessed not always to promote goodness, and the astronomer’s misery has +proved to be not always propitious to wisdom.” + +“I will no more,” said the favourite, “imagine myself the Queen of +Abyssinia. I have often spent the hours which the Princess gave to my +own disposal in adjusting ceremonies and regulating the Court; I have +repressed the pride of the powerful and granted the petitions of the +poor; I have built new palaces in more happy situations, planted groves +upon the tops of mountains, and have exulted in the beneficence of +royalty, till, when the Princess entered, I had almost forgotten to bow +down before her.” + +“And I,” said the Princess, “will not allow myself any more to play the +shepherdess in my waking dreams. I have often soothed my thoughts with +the quiet and innocence of pastoral employments, till I have in my +chamber heard the winds whistle and the sheep bleat; sometimes freed the +lamb entangled in the thicket, and sometimes with my crook encountered +the wolf. I have a dress like that of the village maids, which I put on +to help my imagination, and a pipe on which I play softly, and suppose +myself followed by my flocks.” + +“I will confess,” said the Prince, “an indulgence of fantastic delight +more dangerous than yours. I have frequently endeavoured to imagine the +possibility of a perfect government, by which all wrong should be +restrained, all vice reformed, and all the subjects preserved in +tranquillity and innocence. This thought produced innumerable schemes of +reformation, and dictated many useful regulations and salutary effects. +This has been the sport and sometimes the labour of my solitude, and I +start when I think with how little anguish I once supposed the death of +my father and my brothers.” + +“Such,” said Imlac, “are the effects of visionary schemes. When we first +form them, we know them to be absurd, but familiarise them by degrees, +and in time lose sight of their folly.” + + + + +CHAPTER XLV +THEY DISCOURSE WITH AN OLD MAN. + + +THE evening was now far past, and they rose to return home. As they +walked along the banks of the Nile, delighted with the beams of the moon +quivering on the water, they saw at a small distance an old man whom the +Prince had often heard in the assembly of the sages. “Yonder,” said he, +“is one whose years have calmed his passions, but not clouded his reason. +Let us close the disquisitions of the night by inquiring what are his +sentiments of his own state, that we may know whether youth alone is to +struggle with vexation, and whether any better hope remains for the +latter part of life.” + +Here the sage approached and saluted them. They invited him to join +their walk, and prattled awhile as acquaintance that had unexpectedly met +one another. The old man was cheerful and talkative, and the way seemed +short in his company. He was pleased to find himself not disregarded, +accompanied them to their house, and, at the Prince’s request, entered +with them. They placed him in the seat of honour, and set wine and +conserves before him. + +“Sir,” said the Princess, “an evening walk must give to a man of learning +like you pleasures which ignorance and youth can hardly conceive. You +know the qualities and the causes of all that you behold—the laws by +which the river flows, the periods in which the planets perform their +revolutions. Everything must supply you with contemplation, and renew +the consciousness of your own dignity.” + +“Lady,” answered he, “let the gay and the vigorous expect pleasure in +their excursions: it is enough that age can attain ease. To me the world +has lost its novelty. I look round, and see what I remember to have seen +in happier days. I rest against a tree, and consider that in the same +shade I once disputed upon the annual overflow of the Nile with a friend +who is now silent in the grave. I cast my eyes upwards, fix them on the +changing moon, and think with pain on the vicissitudes of life. I have +ceased to take much delight in physical truth; for what have I to do with +those things which I am soon to leave?” + +“You may at least recreate yourself,” said Imlac, “with the recollection +of an honourable and useful life, and enjoy the praise which all agree to +give you.” + +“Praise,” said the sage with a sigh, “is to an old man an empty sound. I +have neither mother to be delighted with the reputation of her son, nor +wife to partake the honours of her husband. I have outlived my friends +and my rivals. Nothing is now of much importance; for I cannot extend my +interest beyond myself. Youth is delighted with applause, because it is +considered as the earnest of some future good, and because the prospect +of life is far extended; but to me, who am now declining to decrepitude, +there is little to be feared from the malevolence of men, and yet less to +be hoped from their affection or esteem. Something they may yet take +away, but they can give me nothing. Riches would now be useless, and +high employment would be pain. My retrospect of life recalls to my view +many opportunities of good neglected, much time squandered upon trifles, +and more lost in idleness and vacancy. I leave many great designs +unattempted, and many great attempts unfinished. My mind is burdened +with no heavy crime, and therefore I compose myself to tranquillity; +endeavour to abstract my thoughts from hopes and cares which, though +reason knows them to be vain, still try to keep their old possession of +the heart; expect, with serene humility, that hour which nature cannot +long delay, and hope to possess in a better state that happiness which +here I could not find, and that virtue which here I have not attained.” + +He arose and went away, leaving his audience not much elated with the +hope of long life. The Prince consoled himself with remarking that it +was not reasonable to be disappointed by this account; for age had never +been considered as the season of felicity, and if it was possible to be +easy in decline and weakness, it was likely that the days of vigour and +alacrity might be happy; that the noon of life might be bright, if the +evening could be calm. + +The Princess suspected that age was querulous and malignant, and +delighted to repress the expectations of those who had newly entered the +world. She had seen the possessors of estates look with envy on their +heirs, and known many who enjoyed pleasures no longer than they could +confine it to themselves. + +Pekuah conjectured that the man was older than he appeared, and was +willing to impute his complaints to delirious dejection; or else supposed +that he had been unfortunate, and was therefore discontented. “For +nothing,” said she, “is more common than to call our own condition the +condition of life.” + +Imlac, who had no desire to see them depressed, smiled at the comforts +which they could so readily procure to themselves; and remembered that at +the same age he was equally confident of unmingled prosperity, and +equally fertile of consolatory expedients. He forbore to force upon them +unwelcome knowledge, which time itself would too soon impress. The +Princess and her lady retired; the madness of the astronomer hung upon +their minds; and they desired Imlac to enter upon his office, and delay +next morning the rising of the sun. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI +THE PRINCESS AND PEKUAH VISIT THE ASTRONOMER. + + +THE Princess and Pekuah, having talked in private of Imlac’s astronomer, +thought his character at once so amiable and so strange that they could +not be satisfied without a nearer knowledge, and Imlac was requested to +find the means of bringing them together. + +This was somewhat difficult. The philosopher had never received any +visits from women, though he lived in a city that had in it many +Europeans, who followed the manners of their own countries, and many from +other parts of the world, that lived there with European liberty. The +ladies would not be refused, and several schemes were proposed for the +accomplishment of their design. It was proposed to introduce them as +strangers in distress, to whom the sage was always accessible; but after +some deliberation it appeared that by this artifice no acquaintance could +be formed, for their conversation would be short, and they could not +decently importune him often. “This,” said Rasselas, “is true; but I +have yet a stronger objection against the misrepresentation of your +state. I have always considered it as treason against the great republic +of human nature to make any man’s virtues the means of deceiving him, +whether on great or little occasions. All imposture weakens confidence +and chills benevolence. When the sage finds that you are not what you +seemed, he will feel the resentment natural to a man who, conscious of +great abilities, discovers that he has been tricked by understandings +meaner than his own, and perhaps the distrust which he can never +afterwards wholly lay aside may stop the voice of counsel and close the +hand of charity; and where will you find the power of restoring his +benefactions to mankind, or his peace to himself?” + +To this no reply was attempted, and Imlac began to hope that their +curiosity would subside; but next day Pekuah told him she had now found +an honest pretence for a visit to the astronomer, for she would solicit +permission to continue under him the studies in which she had been +initiated by the Arab, and the Princess might go with her, either as a +fellow-student, or because a woman could not decently come alone. “I am +afraid,” said Imlac, “that he will soon be weary of your company. Men +advanced far in knowledge do not love to repeat the elements of their +art, and I am not certain that even of the elements, as he will deliver +them, connected with inferences and mingled with reflections, you are a +very capable auditress.” “That,” said Pekuah, “must be my care. I ask +of you only to take me thither. My knowledge is perhaps more than you +imagine it, and by concurring always with his opinions I shall make him +think it greater than it is.” + +The astronomer, in pursuance of this resolution, was told that a foreign +lady, travelling in search of knowledge, had heard of his reputation, and +was desirous to become his scholar. The uncommonness of the proposal +raised at once his surprise and curiosity, and when after a short +deliberation he consented to admit her, he could not stay without +impatience till the next day. + +The ladies dressed themselves magnificently, and were attended by Imlac +to the astronomer, who was pleased to see himself approached with respect +by persons of so splendid an appearance. In the exchange of the first +civilities he was timorous and bashful; but when the talk became regular, +he recollected his powers, and justified the character which Imlac had +given. Inquiring of Pekuah what could have turned her inclination +towards astronomy, he received from her a history of her adventure at the +Pyramid, and of the time passed in the Arab’s island. She told her tale +with ease and elegance, and her conversation took possession of his +heart. The discourse was then turned to astronomy. Pekuah displayed +what she knew. He looked upon her as a prodigy of genius, and entreated +her not to desist from a study which she had so happily begun. + +They came again and again, and were every time more welcome than before. +The sage endeavoured to amuse them, that they might prolong their visits, +for he found his thoughts grow brighter in their company; the clouds of +solitude vanished by degrees as he forced himself to entertain them, and +he grieved when he was left, at their departure, to his old employment of +regulating the seasons. + +The Princess and her favourite had now watched his lips for several +months, and could not catch a single word from which they could judge +whether he continued or not in the opinion of his preternatural +commission. They often contrived to bring him to an open declaration; +but he easily eluded all their attacks, and, on which side soever they +pressed him, escaped from them to some other topic. + +As their familiarity increased, they invited him often to the house of +Imlac, where they distinguished him by extraordinary respect. He began +gradually to delight in sublunary pleasures. He came early and departed +late; laboured to recommend himself by assiduity and compliance; excited +their curiosity after new arts, that they might still want his +assistance; and when they made any excursion of pleasure or inquiry, +entreated to attend them. + +By long experience of his integrity and wisdom, the Prince and his sister +were convinced that he might be trusted without danger; and lest he +should draw any false hopes from the civilities which he received, +discovered to him their condition, with the motives of their journey, and +required his opinion on the choice of life. + +“Of the various conditions which the world spreads before you which you +shall prefer,” said the sage, “I am not able to instruct you. I can only +tell that I have chosen wrong. I have passed my time in study without +experience—in the attainment of sciences which can for the most part be +but remotely useful to mankind. I have purchased knowledge at the +expense of all the common comforts of life; I have missed the endearing +elegance of female friendship, and the happy commerce of domestic +tenderness. If I have obtained any prerogatives above other students, +they have been accompanied with fear, disquiet, and scrupulosity; but +even of these prerogatives, whatever they were, I have, since my thoughts +have been diversified by more intercourse with the world, begun to +question the reality. When I have been for a few days lost in pleasing +dissipation, I am always tempted to think that my inquiries have ended in +error, and that I have suffered much, and suffered it in vain.” + +Imlac was delighted to find that the sage’s understanding was breaking +through its mists, and resolved to detain him from the planets till he +should forget his task of ruling them, and reason should recover its +original influence. + +From this time the astronomer was received into familiar friendship, and +partook of all their projects and pleasures; his respect kept him +attentive, and the activity of Rasselas did not leave much time +unengaged. Something was always to be done; the day was spent in making +observations, which furnished talk for the evening, and the evening was +closed with a scheme for the morrow. + +The sage confessed to Imlac that since he had mingled in the gay tumults +of life, and divided his hours by a succession of amusements, he found +the conviction of his authority over the skies fade gradually from his +mind, and began to trust less to an opinion which he never could prove to +others, and which he now found subject to variation, from causes in which +reason had no part. “If I am accidentally left alone for a few hours,” +said he, “my inveterate persuasion rushes upon my soul, and my thoughts +are chained down by some irresistible violence; but they are soon +disentangled by the Prince’s conversation, and instantaneously released +at the entrance of Pekuah. I am like a man habitually afraid of +spectres, who is set at ease by a lamp, and wonders at the dread which +harassed him in the dark; yet, if his lamp be extinguished, feels again +the terrors which he knows that when it is light he shall feel no more. +But I am sometimes afraid, lest I indulge my quiet by criminal +negligence, and voluntarily forget the great charge with which I am +entrusted. If I favour myself in a known error, or am determined by my +own ease in a doubtful question of this importance, how dreadful is my +crime!” + +“No disease of the imagination,” answered Imlac, “is so difficult of cure +as that which is complicated with the dread of guilt; fancy and +conscience then act interchangeably upon us, and so often shift their +places, that the illusions of one are not distinguished from the dictates +of the other. If fancy presents images not moral or religious, the mind +drives them away when they give it pain; but when melancholy notions take +the form of duty, they lay hold on the faculties without opposition, +because we are afraid to exclude or banish them. For this reason the +superstitious are often melancholy, and the melancholy almost always +superstitious. + +“But do not let the suggestions of timidity overpower your better reason; +the danger of neglect can be but as the probability of the obligation, +which, when you consider it with freedom, you find very little, and that +little growing every day less. Open your heart to the influence of the +light, which from time to time breaks in upon you; when scruples +importune you, which you in your lucid moments know to be vain, do not +stand to parley, but fly to business or to Pekuah; and keep this thought +always prevalent, that you are only one atom of the mass of humanity, and +have neither such virtue nor vice as that you should be singled out for +supernatural favours or afflictions.” + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII +THE PRINCE ENTERS, AND BRINGS A NEW TOPIC. + + +“ALL this,” said the astronomer, “I have often thought; but my reason has +been so long subjugated by an uncontrollable and overwhelming idea, that +it durst not confide in its own decisions. I now see how fatally I +betrayed my quiet, by suffering chimeras to prey upon me in secret; but +melancholy shrinks from communication, and I never found a man before to +whom I could impart my troubles, though I had been certain of relief. I +rejoice to find my own sentiments confirmed by yours, who are not easily +deceived, and can have no motive or purpose to deceive. I hope that time +and variety will dissipate the gloom that has so long surrounded me, and +the latter part of my days will be spent in peace.” + +“Your learning and virtue,” said Imlac, “may justly give you hopes.” + +Rasselas then entered, with the Princess and Pekuah, and inquired whether +they had contrived any new diversion for the next day. “Such,” said +Nekayah, “is the state of life, that none are happy but by the +anticipation of change; the change itself is nothing; when we have made +it the next wish is to change again. The world is not yet exhausted: let +me see something to-morrow which I never saw before.” + +“Variety,” said Rasselas, “is so necessary to content, that even the +Happy Valley disgusted me by the recurrence of its luxuries; yet I could +not forbear to reproach myself with impatience when I saw the monks of +St. Anthony support, without complaint, a life, not of uniform delight, +but uniform hardship.” + +“Those men,” answered Imlac, “are less wretched in their silent convent +than the Abyssinian princes in their prison of pleasure. Whatever is +done by the monks is incited by an adequate and reasonable motive. Their +labour supplies them with necessaries; it therefore cannot be omitted, +and is certainly rewarded. Their devotion prepares them for another +state, and reminds them of its approach while it fits them for it. Their +time is regularly distributed; one duty succeeds another, so that they +are not left open to the distraction of unguided choice, nor lost in the +shades of listless inactivity. There is a certain task to be performed +at an appropriated hour, and their toils are cheerful, because they +consider them as acts of piety by which they are always advancing towards +endless felicity.” + +“Do you think,” said Nekayah, “that the monastic rule is a more holy and +less imperfect state than any other? May not he equally hope for future +happiness who converses openly with mankind, who succours the distressed +by his charity, instructs the ignorant by his learning, and contributes +by his industry to the general system of life, even though he should omit +some of the mortifications which are practised in the cloister, and allow +himself such harmless delights as his condition may place within his +reach?” + +“This,” said Imlac, “is a question which has long divided the wise and +perplexed the good. I am afraid to decide on either part. He that lives +well in the world is better than he that lives well in a monastery. But +perhaps everyone is not able to stem the temptations of public life, and +if he cannot conquer he may properly retreat. Some have little power to +do good, and have likewise little strength to resist evil. Many are +weary of the conflicts with adversity, and are willing to eject those +passions which have long busied them in vain. And many are dismissed by +age and diseases from the more laborious duties of society. In +monasteries the weak and timorous may be happily sheltered, the weary may +repose, and the penitent may meditate. Those retreats of prayer and +contemplation have something so congenial to the mind of man, that +perhaps there is scarcely one that does not purpose to close his life in +pious abstraction, with a few associates serious as himself.” + +“Such,” said Pekuah, “has often been my wish, and I have heard the +Princess declare that she should not willingly die in a crowd.” + +“The liberty of using harmless pleasures,” proceeded Imlac, “will not be +disputed, but it is still to be examined what pleasures are harmless. +The evil of any pleasure that Nekayah can image is not in the act itself +but in its consequences. Pleasure in itself harmless may become +mischievous by endearing to us a state which we know to be transient and +probatory, and withdrawing our thoughts from that of which every hour +brings us nearer to the beginning, and of which no length of time will +bring us to the end. Mortification is not virtuous in itself, nor has +any other use but that it disengages us from the allurements of sense. +In the state of future perfection to which we all aspire there will be +pleasure without danger and security without restraint.” + +The Princess was silent, and Rasselas, turning to the astronomer, asked +him whether he could not delay her retreat by showing her something which +she had not seen before. + +“Your curiosity,” said the sage, “has been so general, and your pursuit +of knowledge so vigorous, that novelties are not now very easily to be +found; but what you can no longer procure from the living may be given by +the dead. Among the wonders of this country are the catacombs, or the +ancient repositories in which the bodies of the earliest generations were +lodged, and where, by the virtue of the gums which embalmed them, they +yet remain without corruption.” + +“I know not,” said Rasselas, “what pleasure the sight of the catacombs +can afford; but, since nothing else is offered, I am resolved to view +them, and shall place this with my other things which I have done because +I would do something.” + +They hired a guard of horsemen, and the next day visited the catacombs. +When they were about to descend into the sepulchral caves, “Pekuah,” said +the Princess, “we are now again invading the habitations of the dead; I +know that you will stay behind. Let me find you safe when I return.” +“No, I will not be left,” answered Pekuah, “I will go down between you +and the Prince.” + +They then all descended, and roved with wonder through the labyrinth of +subterraneous passages, where the bodies were laid in rows on either +side. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII +IMLAC DISCOURSES ON THE NATURE OF THE SOUL. + + +“WHAT reason,” said the Prince, “can be given why the Egyptians should +thus expensively preserve those carcases which some nations consume with +fire, others lay to mingle with the earth, and all agree to remove from +their sight as soon as decent rites can be performed?” + +“The original of ancient customs,” said Imlac, “is commonly unknown, for +the practice often continues when the cause has ceased; and concerning +superstitious ceremonies it is vain to conjecture; for what reason did +not dictate, reason cannot explain. I have long believed that the +practice of embalming arose only from tenderness to the remains of +relations or friends; and to this opinion I am more inclined because it +seems impossible that this care should have been general; had all the +dead been embalmed, their repositories must in time have been more +spacious than the dwellings of the living. I suppose only the rich or +honourable were secured from corruption, and the rest left to the course +of nature. + +“But it is commonly supposed that the Egyptians believed the soul to live +as long as the body continued undissolved, and therefore tried this +method of eluding death.” + +“Could the wise Egyptians,” said Nekayah, “think so grossly of the soul? +If the soul could once survive its separation, what could it afterwards +receive or suffer from the body?” + +“The Egyptians would doubtless think erroneously,” said the astronomer, +“in the darkness of heathenism and the first dawn of philosophy. The +nature of the soul is still disputed amidst all our opportunities of +clearer knowledge; some yet say that it may be material, who, +nevertheless, believe it to be immortal.” + +“Some,” answered Imlac, “have indeed said that the soul is material, but +I can scarcely believe that any man has thought it who knew how to think; +for all the conclusions of reason enforce the immateriality of mind, and +all the notices of sense and investigations of science concur to prove +the unconsciousness of matter. + +“It was never supposed that cogitation is inherent in matter, or that +every particle is a thinking being. Yet if any part of matter be devoid +of thought, what part can we suppose to think? Matter can differ from +matter only in form, density, bulk, motion, and direction of motion. To +which of these, however varied or combined, can consciousness be annexed? +To be round or square, to be solid or fluid, to be great or little, to be +moved slowly or swiftly, one way or another, are modes of material +existence all equally alien from the nature of cogitation. If matter be +once without thought, it can only be made to think by some new +modification; but all the modifications which it can admit are equally +unconnected with cogitative powers.” + +“But the materialists,” said the astronomer, “urge that matter may have +qualities with which we are unacquainted.” + +“He who will determine,” returned Imlac, “against that which he knows +because there may be something which he knows not; he that can set +hypothetical possibility against acknowledged certainty, is not to be +admitted among reasonable beings. All that we know of matter is, that +matter is inert, senseless, and lifeless; and if this conviction cannot +he opposed but by referring us to something that we know not, we have all +the evidence that human intellect can admit. If that which is known may +be overruled by that which is unknown, no being, not omniscient, can +arrive at certainty.” + +“Yet let us not,” said the astronomer, “too arrogantly limit the +Creator’s power.” + +“It is no limitation of Omnipotence,” replied the poet, “to suppose that +one thing is not consistent with another, that the same proposition +cannot be at once true and false, that the same number cannot be even and +odd, that cogitation cannot be conferred on that which is created +incapable of cogitation.” + +“I know not,” said Nekayah, “any great use of this question. Does that +immateriality, which in my opinion you have sufficiently proved, +necessarily include eternal duration?” + +“Of immateriality,” said Imlac, “our ideas are negative, and therefore +obscure. Immateriality seems to imply a natural power of perpetual +duration as a consequence of exemption from all causes of decay: whatever +perishes is destroyed by the solution of its contexture and separation of +its parts; nor can we conceive how that which has no parts, and therefore +admits no solution, can be naturally corrupted or impaired.” + +“I know not,” said Rasselas, “how to conceive anything without extension: +what is extended must have parts, and you allow that whatever has parts +may be destroyed.” + +“Consider your own conceptions,” replied Imlac, “and the difficulty will +be less. You will find substance without extension. An ideal form is no +less real than material bulk; yet an ideal form has no extension. It is +no less certain, when you think on a pyramid, that your mind possesses +the idea of a pyramid, than that the pyramid itself is standing. What +space does the idea of a pyramid occupy more than the idea of a grain of +corn? or how can either idea suffer laceration? As is the effect, such +is the cause; as thought, such is the power that thinks, a power +impassive and indiscerptible.” + +“But the Being,” said Nekayah, “whom I fear to name, the Being which made +the soul, can destroy it.” + +“He surely can destroy it,” answered Imlac, “since, however imperishable, +it receives from a superior nature its power of duration. That it will +not perish by any inherent cause of decay or principle of corruption, may +be shown by philosophy; but philosophy can tell no more. That it will +not be annihilated by Him that made it, we must humbly learn from higher +authority.” + +The whole assembly stood awhile silent and collected. “Let us return,” +said Rasselas, “from this scene of mortality. How gloomy would be these +mansions of the dead to him who did not know that he should never die; +that what now acts shall continue its agency, and what now thinks shall +think on for ever. Those that lie here stretched before us, the wise and +the powerful of ancient times, warn us to remember the shortness of our +present state; they were perhaps snatched away while they were busy, like +us, in the _choice of life_.” + +“To me,” said the Princess, “the choice of life is become less important; +I hope hereafter to think only on the choice of eternity.” + +They then hastened out of the caverns, and under the protection of their +guard returned to Cairo. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX +THE CONCLUSION, IN WHICH NOTHING IS CONCLUDED. + + +IT was now the time of the inundation of the Nile. A few days after +their visit to the catacombs the river began to rise. + +They were confined to their house. The whole region being under water, +gave them no invitation to any excursions; and being well supplied with +materials for talk, they diverted themselves with comparisons of the +different forms of life which they had observed, and with various schemes +of happiness which each of them had formed. + +Pekuah was never so much charmed with any place as the Convent of St. +Anthony, where the Arab restored her to the Princess, and wished only to +fill it with pious maidens and to be made prioress of the order. She was +weary of expectation and disgust, and would gladly be fixed in some +unvariable state. + +The Princess thought that, of all sublunary things, knowledge was the +best. She desired first to learn all sciences, and then proposed to +found a college of learned women, in which she would preside, that, by +conversing with the old and educating the young, she might divide her +time between the acquisition and communication of wisdom, and raise up +for the next age models of prudence and patterns of piety. + +The Prince desired a little kingdom in which he might administer justice +in his own person and see all the parts of government with his own eyes; +but he could never fix the limits of his dominion, and was always adding +to the number of his subjects. + +Imlac and the astronomer were contented to be driven along the stream of +life without directing their course to any particular port. + +Of those wishes that they had formed they well knew that none could be +obtained. They deliberated awhile what was to be done, and resolved, +when the inundation should cease, to return to Abyssinia. + + * * * * * + + * * * * * + + Printed by Cassell & Company, Limited, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RASSELAS*** + + +******* This file should be named 652-0.txt or 652-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/5/652 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at + www.gutenberg.org/license. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 +North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/652-0.zip b/652-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e1ec81e --- /dev/null +++ b/652-0.zip diff --git a/652-h.zip b/652-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce9d558 --- /dev/null +++ b/652-h.zip diff --git a/652-h/652-h.htm b/652-h/652-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b2ae4d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/652-h/652-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4562 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Rasselas, by Samuel Johnson</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + .GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + p.gutindent { margin-left: 2em; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid;} + div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + div.gapmediumdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Rasselas, by Samuel Johnson, Edited by Henry +Morley + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Rasselas + Prince of Abyssinia + + +Author: Samuel Johnson + +Editor: Henry Morley + +Release Date: January 31, 2013 [eBook #652] +[This file was first posted on September 17, 1996] +[Last updated September 8, 2020] + + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RASSELAS*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1889 Cassell & Company edition by +David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/coverb.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Book cover" +title= +"Book cover" +src="images/covers.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center">CASSELL’S NATIONAL +LIBRARY.</p> +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<h1><span class="smcap">Rasselas</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA</span></h1> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="GutSmall">BY</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center">SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p0b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative image" +title= +"Decorative image" +src="images/p0s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center">CASSELL & COMPANY, <span +class="smcap">Limited</span>:<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">LONDON, PARIS & MELBOURNE.</span><br +/> +1889.</p> +<h2><a name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +5</span>INTRODUCTION.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Rasselas</span> was written by Samuel +Johnson in the year 1759, when his age was fifty. He had +written his <i>London</i> in 1738; his <i>Vanity of Human +Wishes</i> in 1740; his <i>Rambler</i> between March, 1750, and +March, 1752. In 1755 his <i>Dictionary</i> had appeared, +and Dublin, by giving him its honorary LL.D., had enabled his +friends to call him “Doctor” Johnson. His +friends were many, and his honour among men was great. He +owed them to his union of intellectual power with unflinching +probity. But he had worked hard, battling against the wolf +without, and the black dog within—poverty and +hypochondria. He was still poor, though his personal wants +did not exceed a hundred pounds a year. His wife had been +seven years dead, and he missed her sorely. His old mother, +who lived to the age of ninety, died poor in January of this +year, 1759. In her old age, Johnson had sought to help her +from his earnings. At her death there were some little +debts, and there were costs of burial. That he might earn +enough to pay them he wrote <i>Rasselas</i>.</p> +<p><i>Rasselas</i> was written in the evenings of one week, and +sent to press while being written. Johnson earned by it a +hundred pounds, with <a name="page6"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +6</span>twenty-five pounds more for a second edition. It +was published in March or April; Johnson never read it after it +had been published until more than twenty years afterwards. +Then, finding it in a chaise with Boswell, he took it up and read +it eagerly.</p> +<p>This is one of Johnson’s letters to his mother, written +after he knew that her last illness had come upon her. It +is dated about ten days before her death. The +“Miss” referred to in it was a faithful friend. +“Miss” was his home name for an affectionate +step-daughter, Lucy Porter:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“<span class="smcap">Honoured +Madam</span>,—</p> +<p>“The account which Miss gives me of your health pierces +my heart. God comfort and preserve you, and save you, for +the sake of Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>“I would have Miss read to you from time to time the +Passion of our Saviour; and sometimes the sentences in the +Communion Service beginning—’Come unto me, all ye +that travail and are heavy laden, and I will give you +rest.’</p> +<p>“I have just now read a physical book which inclines me +to think that a strong infusion of the bark would do you +good. Do, dear mother, try it.</p> +<p>“Pray, send me your blessing, and forgive all that I +have done amiss to you. And whatever you would have done, +and what debts you would have paid first, or anything else that +you would direct, let Miss put it down; I shall endeavour to obey +you.</p> +<p>“I have got twelve guineas to send you” [six were +borrowed. There was a note in Johnson’s Diary of six +guineas repaid to Allen, the printer, who had lent them when he +wanted to send money to his dying mother], “but unhappily +<a name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 7</span>am at a loss +how to send it to-night. If I cannot send it to-night, it +will come by the next post.</p> +<p>“Pray, do not omit anything mentioned in this +letter. God bless you for ever and ever.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">“I am,<br /> +“Your dutiful Son,<br /> +“<span class="smcap">Sam. Johnson</span>.</p> +<p>“<i>Jan.</i> 13, 1759.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>That is the personal side of the tale of +<i>Rasselas</i>. In that way Johnson suddenly, on urgent +pressure, carried out a design that had been in his mind. +The success of Eastern tales, written as a form of moral essay, +in the <i>Rambler</i> and <i>Adventurer</i>, upon suggestion, no +doubt, of Addison’s <i>Vision of Mirza</i>, had prompted +him to express his view of life more fully than in essay form by +way of Oriental apologue; and his early work on Father +Lobo’s Voyage to Abyssinia, caused him to choose Abyssinia +for the land in which to lay his fable.</p> +<p>But Johnson’s <i>Rasselas</i> has also a close relation +to the time when it was written, as Johnson himself had to the +time in which he lived. From the beginning of the +century—and especially, in England, since the beginning of +the reign of George the Second—there had been a growing +sense of the ills of life, associated in some minds with doubt +whether there could be a just God ruling this unhappy +world. Hard problems of humanity pressed more and more on +earnest minds. The feeling expressed in Johnson’s +<i>Vanity of Human </i><a name="page8"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 8</span><i>Wishes</i> had deepened everywhere +by the year 1759. This has intense expression in +<i>Rasselas</i>, where all the joys of life, without active use +of the energies of life, can give no joy; and where all uses of +the energies of men are for the attainment of ideals worthless or +delusive. This life was to Johnson, and to almost all the +earnest thinkers of his time, unhappy in itself—a +school-house where the rod was ever active. But in its +unhappiness Johnson found no power that could overthrow his +faith. To him this world was but a place of education for +the happiness that would be to the faithful in the world to +come. There was a great dread for him in the question, Who +shall be found faithful? But there was no doubt in his mind +that the happiness of man is to be found only beyond the +grave. This was a feeling spread through Europe in the +darkness gathering before the outburst of the storm of the great +French Revolution. Even Gray, in his <i>Ode on a Distant +Prospect of Eton College</i>, regarded Eton boys at their sports +as “little victims,” unconscious of the doom of +miseries awaiting them in life. Thus Johnson’s +<i>Rasselas</i> is a book doubly typical. We have in it the +spirit of the writer when it best expressed the spirit of his +time.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">H. M.</p> +<h2><a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 9</span>CHAPTER +I<br /> +DESCRIPTION OF A PALACE IN A VALLEY.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Ye</span> who listen with credulity to the +whispers of fancy, and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of +hope; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and +that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the +morrow, attend to the history of Rasselas, Prince of +Abyssinia.</p> +<p>Rasselas was the fourth son of the mighty Emperor in whose +dominions the father of waters begins his course—whose +bounty pours down the streams of plenty, and scatters over the +world the harvests of Egypt.</p> +<p>According to the custom which has descended from age to age +among the monarchs of the torrid zone, Rasselas was confined in a +private palace, with the other sons and daughters of Abyssinian +royalty, till the order of succession should call him to the +throne.</p> +<p>The place which the wisdom or policy of antiquity had destined +for the residence of the Abyssinian princes was a spacious valley +in the kingdom of Amhara, surrounded on every side by mountains, +of which the summits overhang the middle part. The only +passage by which it could be entered was a cavern that passed +under a rock, of which it had long been disputed whether it was +the work of nature or of human industry. The outlet of the +cavern was concealed by a thick wood, and the mouth which opened +into the valley was closed with gates of iron, forged by the +artificers of ancient days, so massive that no man, without the +help of engines, could open or shut them.</p> +<p>From the mountains on every side rivulets descended that +filled all the valley with verdure and fertility, and formed a +lake in the middle, inhabited by fish of every species, and +frequented by every fowl whom nature has taught to dip the wing +in water. This lake discharged its superfluities by a +stream, which entered a dark cleft of the mountain on the +northern side, and fell with dreadful noise from precipice to +precipice till it was heard no more.</p> +<p>The sides of the mountains were covered with trees, the banks +of the brooks were diversified with flowers; every blast shook +spices from the rocks, and every month dropped fruits upon the +ground. All animals that bite the grass or browse the +shrubs, whether wild or tame, wandered in this extensive circuit, +secured from beasts of prey by the mountains which confined +them. On one part were flocks and herds feeding in the +pastures, on another all the beasts of chase frisking in the +lawns, the sprightly kid was bounding on the rocks, the subtle +monkey frolicking in the trees, and the solemn elephant reposing +in the shade. All the diversities of the world were brought +together, the blessings of nature were collected, and its evils +extracted and excluded.</p> +<p>The valley, wide and fruitful, supplied its inhabitants with +all the necessaries of life, and all delights and superfluities +were added at the annual visit which the Emperor paid his +children, when the iron gate was opened to the sound of music, +and during eight days every one that resided in the valley was +required to propose whatever might contribute to make seclusion +pleasant, to fill up the vacancies of attention, and lessen the +tediousness of time. Every desire was immediately +granted. All the artificers of pleasure were called to +gladden the festivity; the musicians exerted the power of +harmony, and the dancers showed their activity before the +princes, in hopes that they should pass their lives in blissful +captivity, to which those only were admitted whose performance +was thought able to add novelty to luxury. Such was the +appearance of security and delight which this retirement +afforded, that they to whom it was new always desired that it +might be perpetual; and as those on whom the iron gate had once +closed were never suffered to return, the effect of longer +experience could not be known. Thus every year produced new +scenes of delight, and new competitors for imprisonment.</p> +<p>The palace stood on an eminence, raised about thirty paces +above the surface of the lake. It was divided into many +squares or courts, built with greater or less magnificence +according to the rank of those for whom they were designed. +The roofs were turned into arches of massive stone, joined by a +cement that grew harder by time, and the building stood from +century to century, deriding the solstitial rains and equinoctial +hurricanes, without need of reparation.</p> +<p>This house, which was so large as to be fully known to none +but some ancient officers, who successively inherited the secrets +of the place, was built as if Suspicion herself had dictated the +plan. To every room there was an open and secret passage; +every square had a communication with the rest, either from the +upper storeys by private galleries, or by subterraneous passages +from the lower apartments. Many of the columns had +unsuspected cavities, in which a long race of monarchs had +deposited their treasures. They then closed up the opening +with marble, which was never to be removed but in the utmost +exigences of the kingdom, and recorded their accumulations in a +book, which was itself concealed in a tower, not entered but by +the Emperor, attended by the prince who stood next in +succession.</p> +<h2><a name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +13</span>CHAPTER II<br /> +THE DISCONTENT OF RASSELAS IN THE HAPPY VALLEY.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Here</span> the sons and daughters of +Abyssinia lived only to know the soft vicissitudes of pleasure +and repose, attended by all that were skilful to delight, and +gratified with whatever the senses can enjoy. They wandered +in gardens of fragrance, and slept in the fortresses of +security. Every art was practised to make them pleased with +their own condition. The sages who instructed them told +them of nothing but the miseries of public life, and described +all beyond the mountains as regions of calamity, where discord +was always racing, and where man preyed upon man. To +heighten their opinion of their own felicity, they were daily +entertained with songs, the subject of which was the Happy +Valley. Their appetites were excited by frequent +enumerations of different enjoyments, and revelry and merriment +were the business of every hour, from the dawn of morning to the +close of the evening.</p> +<p>These methods were generally successful; few of the princes +had ever wished to enlarge their bounds, but passed their lives +in full conviction that they had all within their reach that art +or nature could bestow, and pitied those whom nature had excluded +from this seat of tranquillity as the sport of chance and the +slaves of misery.</p> +<p>Thus they rose in the morning and lay down at night, pleased +with each other and with themselves, all but Rasselas, who, in +the twenty-sixth year of his age, began to withdraw himself from +the pastimes and assemblies, and to delight in solitary walks and +silent meditation. He often sat before tables covered with +luxury, and forgot to taste the dainties that were placed before +him; he rose abruptly in the midst of the song, and hastily +retired beyond the sound of music. His attendants observed +the change, and endeavoured to renew his love of pleasure. +He neglected their officiousness, repulsed their invitations, and +spent day after day on the banks of rivulets sheltered with +trees, where he sometimes listened to the birds in the branches, +sometimes observed the fish playing in the streams, and anon cast +his eyes upon the pastures and mountains filled with animals, of +which some were biting the herbage, and some sleeping among the +bushes. The singularity of his humour made him much +observed. One of the sages, in whose conversation he had +formerly delighted, followed him secretly, in hope of discovering +the cause of his disquiet. Rasselas, who knew not that any +one was near him, having for some time fixed his eyes upon the +goats that were browsing among the rocks, began to compare their +condition with his own.</p> +<p>“What,” said he, “makes the difference +between man and all the rest of the animal creation? Every +beast that strays beside me has the same corporal necessities +with myself: he is hungry, and crops the grass; he is thirsty, +and drinks the stream; his thirst and hunger are appeased; he is +satisfied, and sleeps; he rises again, and is hungry; he is again +fed, and is at rest. I am hungry and thirsty, like him, but +when thirst and hunger cease, I am not at rest. I am, like +him, pained with want, but am not, like him, satisfied with +fulness. The intermediate hours are tedious and gloomy; I +long again to be hungry that I may again quicken the +attention. The birds peck the berries or the corn, and fly +away to the groves, where they sit in seeming happiness on the +branches, and waste their lives in tuning one unvaried series of +sounds. I likewise can call the lutist and the singer; but +the sounds that pleased me yesterday weary me to-day, and will +grow yet more wearisome to-morrow. I can discover in me no +power of perception which is not glutted with its proper +pleasure, yet I do not feel myself delighted. Man surely +has some latent sense for which this place affords no +gratification; or he has some desire distinct from sense, which +must be satisfied before he can be happy.”</p> +<p>After this he lifted up his head, and seeing the moon rising, +walked towards the palace. As he passed through the fields, +and saw the animals around him, “Ye,” said he, +“are happy, and need not envy me that walk thus among you, +burdened with myself; nor do I, ye gentle beings, envy your +felicity; for it is not the felicity of man. I have many +distresses from which you are free; I fear pain when I do not +feel it; I sometimes shrink at evils recollected, and sometimes +start at evils anticipated: surely the equity of Providence has +balanced peculiar sufferings with peculiar enjoyments.”</p> +<p>With observations like these the Prince amused himself as he +returned, uttering them with a plaintive voice, yet with a look +that discovered him to feel some complacence in his own +perspicacity, and to receive some solace of the miseries of life +from consciousness of the delicacy with which he felt and the +eloquence with which he bewailed them. He mingled +cheerfully in the diversions of the evening, and all rejoiced to +find that his heart was lightened.</p> +<h2><a name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +17</span>CHAPTER III<br /> +THE WANTS OF HIM THAT WANTS NOTHING.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">On</span> the next day, his old +instructor, imagining that he had now made himself acquainted +with his disease of mind, was in hope of curing it by counsel, +and officiously sought an opportunity of conference, which the +Prince, having long considered him as one whose intellects were +exhausted, was not very willing to afford. +“Why,” said he, “does this man thus intrude +upon me? Shall I never be suffered to forget these +lectures, which pleased only while they were new, and to become +new again must be forgotten?” He then walked into the +wood, and composed himself to his usual meditations; when, before +his thoughts had taken any settled form, he perceived his pursuer +at his side, and was at first prompted by his impatience to go +hastily away; but being unwilling to offend a man whom he had +once reverenced and still loved, he invited him to sit down with +him on the bank.</p> +<p>The old man, thus encouraged, began to lament the change which +had been lately observed in the Prince, and to inquire why he so +often retired from the pleasures of the palace to loneliness and +silence. “I fly from pleasure,” said the +Prince, “because pleasure has ceased to please: I am lonely +because I am miserable, and am unwilling to cloud with my +presence the happiness of others.” “You, +sir,” said the sage, “are the first who has +complained of misery in the Happy Valley. I hope to +convince you that your complaints have no real cause. You +are here in full possession of all the Emperor of Abyssinia can +bestow; here is neither labour to be endured nor danger to be +dreaded, yet here is all that labour or danger can procure or +purchase. Look round and tell me which of your wants is +without supply: if you want nothing, how are you +unhappy?”</p> +<p>“That I want nothing,” said the Prince, “or +that I know not what I want, is the cause of my complaint: if I +had any known want, I should have a certain wish; that wish would +excite endeavour, and I should not then repine to see the sun +move so slowly towards the western mountains, or to lament when +the day breaks, and sleep will no longer hide me from +myself. When I see the kids and the lambs chasing one +another, I fancy that I should be happy if I had something to +pursue. But, possessing all that I can want, I find one day +and one hour exactly like another, except that the latter is +still more tedious than the former. Let your experience +inform me how the day may now seem as short as in my childhood, +while nature was yet fresh, and every moment showed me what I +never had observed before. I have already enjoyed too much: +give me something to desire.” The old man was +surprised at this new species of affliction, and knew not what to +reply, yet was unwilling to be silent. “Sir,” +said he, “if you had seen the miseries of the world, you +would know how to value your present state.” +“Now,” said the Prince, “you have given me +something to desire. I shall long to see the miseries of +the world, since the sight of them is necessary to +happiness.”</p> +<h2><a name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +20</span>CHAPTER IV<br /> +THE PRINCE CONTINUES TO GRIEVE AND MUSE.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">At</span> this time the sound of music +proclaimed the hour of repast, and the conversation was +concluded. The old man went away sufficiently discontented +to find that his reasonings had produced the only conclusion +which they were intended to prevent. But in the decline of +life, shame and grief are of short duration: whether it be that +we bear easily what we have borne long; or that, finding +ourselves in age less regarded, we less regard others; or that we +look with slight regard upon afflictions to which we know that +the hand of death is about to put an end.</p> +<p>The Prince, whose views were extended to a wider space, could +not speedily quiet his emotions. He had been before +terrified at the length of life which nature promised him, +because he considered that in a long time much must be endured: +he now rejoiced in his youth, because in many years much might be +done. The first beam of hope that had been ever darted into +his mind rekindled youth in his cheeks, and doubled the lustre of +his eyes. He was fired with the desire of doing something, +though he knew not yet, with distinctness, either end or +means. He was now no longer gloomy and unsocial; but +considering himself as master of a secret stock of happiness, +which he could only enjoy by concealing it, he affected to be +busy in all the schemes of diversion, and endeavoured to make +others pleased with the state of which he himself was +weary. But pleasures can never be so multiplied or +continued as not to leave much of life unemployed; there were +many hours, both of the night and day, which he could spend +without suspicion in solitary thought. The load of life was +much lightened; he went eagerly into the assemblies, because he +supposed the frequency of his presence necessary to the success +of his purposes; he retired gladly to privacy, because he had now +a subject of thought. His chief amusement was to picture to +himself that world which he had never seen, to place himself in +various conditions, to be entangled in imaginary difficulties, +and to be engaged in wild adventures; but, his benevolence always +terminated his projects in the relief of distress, the detection +of fraud, the defeat of oppression, and the diffusion of +happiness.</p> +<p>Thus passed twenty months of the life of Rasselas. He +busied himself so intensely in visionary bustle that he forgot +his real solitude; and amidst hourly preparations for the various +incidents of human affairs, neglected to consider by what means +he should mingle with mankind.</p> +<p>One day, as he was sitting on a bank, he feigned to himself an +orphan virgin robbed of her little portion by a treacherous +lover, and crying after him for restitution. So strongly +was the image impressed upon his mind that he started up in the +maid’s defence, and ran forward to seize the plunderer with +all the eagerness of real pursuit. Fear naturally quickens +the flight of guilt. Rasselas could not catch the fugitive +with his utmost efforts; but, resolving to weary by perseverance +him whom he could not surpass in speed, he pressed on till the +foot of the mountain stopped his course.</p> +<p>Here he recollected himself, and smiled at his own useless +impetuosity. Then raising his eyes to the mountain, +“This,” said he, “is the fatal obstacle that +hinders at once the enjoyment of pleasure and the exercise of +virtue. How long is it that my hopes and wishes have flown +beyond this boundary of my life, which yet I never have attempted +to surmount?”</p> +<p>Struck with this reflection, he sat down to muse, and +remembered that since he first resolved to escape from his +confinement, the sun had passed twice over him in his annual +course. He now felt a degree of regret with which he had +never been before acquainted. He considered how much might +have been done in the time which had passed, and left nothing +real behind it. He compared twenty months with the life of +man. “In life,” said he, “is not to be +counted the ignorance of infancy or imbecility of age. We +are long before we are able to think, and we soon cease from the +power of acting. The true period of human existence may be +reasonably estimated at forty years, of which I have mused away +the four-and-twentieth part. What I have lost was certain, +for I have certainly possessed it; but of twenty months to come, +who can assure me?”</p> +<p>The consciousness of his own folly pierced him deeply, and he +was long before he could be reconciled to himself. +“The rest of my time,” said he, “has been lost +by the crime or folly of my ancestors, and the absurd +institutions of my country; I remember it with disgust, yet +without remorse: but the months that have passed since new light +darted into my soul, since I formed a scheme of reasonable +felicity, have been squandered by my own fault. I have lost +that which can never be restored; I have seen the sun rise and +set for twenty months, an idle gazer on the light of heaven; in +this time the birds have left the nest of their mother, and +committed themselves to the woods and to the skies; the kid has +forsaken the teat, and learned by degrees to climb the rocks in +quest of independent sustenance. I only have made no +advances, but am still helpless and ignorant. The moon, by +more than twenty changes, admonished me of the flux of life; the +stream that rolled before my feet upbraided my inactivity. +I sat feasting on intellectual luxury, regardless alike of the +examples of the earth and the instructions of the planets. +Twenty months are passed: who shall restore them?”</p> +<p>These sorrowful meditations fastened upon his mind; he passed +four months in resolving to lose no more time in idle resolves, +and was awakened to more vigorous exertion by hearing a maid, who +had broken a porcelain cup, remark that what cannot be repaired +is not to be regretted.</p> +<p><a name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 25</span>This +was obvious; and Rasselas reproached himself that he had not +discovered it—having not known, or not considered, how many +useful hints are obtained by chance, and how often the mind, +hurried by her own ardour to distant views, neglects the truths +that lie open before her. He for a few hours regretted his +regret, and from that time bent his whole mind upon the means of +escaping from the Valley of Happiness.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER V<br /> +THE PRINCE MEDITATES HIS ESCAPE.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">He</span> now found that it would be very +difficult to effect that which it was very easy to suppose +effected. When he looked round about him, he saw himself +confined by the bars of nature, which had never yet been broken, +and by the gate through which none that had once passed it were +ever able to return. He was now impatient as an eagle in a +grate. He passed week after week in clambering the +mountains to see if there was any aperture which the bushes might +conceal, but found all the summits inaccessible by their +prominence. The iron gate he despaired to open for it was +not only secured with all the power of art, but was always +watched by successive sentinels, and was, by its position, +exposed to the perpetual observation of all the inhabitants.</p> +<p>He then examined the cavern through which the waters of the +lake were discharged; and, looking down at a time when the sun +shone strongly upon its mouth, he discovered it to be full of +broken rocks, which, though they permitted the stream to flow +through many narrow passages, would stop any body of solid +bulk. He returned discouraged and dejected; but having now +known the blessing of hope, resolved never to despair.</p> +<p>In these fruitless researches he spent ten months. The +time, however, passed cheerfully away—in the morning he +rose with new hope; in the evening applauded his own diligence; +and in the night slept soundly after his fatigue. He met a +thousand amusements, which beguiled his labour and diversified +his thoughts. He discerned the various instincts of animals +and properties of plants, and found the place replete with +wonders, of which he proposed to solace himself with the +contemplation if he should never be able to accomplish his +flight—rejoicing that his endeavours, though yet +unsuccessful, had supplied him with a source of inexhaustible +inquiry. <a name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +27</span>But his original curiosity was not yet abated; he +resolved to obtain some knowledge of the ways of men. His +wish still continued, but his hope grew less. He ceased to +survey any longer the walls of his prison, and spared to search +by new toils for interstices which he knew could not be found, +yet determined to keep his design always in view, and lay hold on +any expedient that time should offer.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI<br /> +A DISSERTATION ON THE ART OF FLYING.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Among</span> the artists that had been +allured into the Happy Valley, to labour for the accommodation +and pleasure of its inhabitants, was a man eminent for his +knowledge of the mechanic powers, who had contrived many engines +both of use and recreation. By a wheel which the stream +turned he forced the water into a tower, whence it was +distributed to all the apartments of the palace. He erected +a pavilion in the garden, around which he kept the air always +cool by artificial showers. One of the groves, appropriated +to the ladies, was ventilated by fans, to which the rivulets that +ran through it gave a constant motion; and instruments of soft +music were played at proper distances, of which some played by +the impulse of the wind, and some by the power of the stream.</p> +<p>This artist was sometimes visited by Rasselas who was pleased +with every kind of knowledge, imagining that the time would come +when all his acquisitions should be of use to him in the open +world. He came one day to amuse himself in his usual +manner, and found the master busy in building a sailing +chariot. He saw that the design was practicable upon a +level surface, and with expressions of great esteem solicited its +completion. The workman was pleased to find himself so much +regarded by the Prince, and resolved to gain yet higher +honours. “Sir,” said he, “you have seen +but a small part of what the mechanic sciences can perform. +I have been long of opinion that, instead of the tardy conveyance +of ships and chariots, man might use the swifter migration of +wings, that the fields of air are open to knowledge, and that +only ignorance and idleness need crawl upon the +ground.”</p> +<p>This hint rekindled the Prince’s desire of passing the +mountains. Having seen what the mechanist had already +performed, he was willing to fancy that he could do more, yet +resolved to inquire further before he suffered hope to afflict +him by disappointment. “I am afraid,” said he +to the artist, “that your imagination prevails over your +skill, and that you now tell me rather what you wish than what +you know. Every animal has his element assigned him; the +birds have the air, and man and beasts the earth.” +“So,” replied the mechanist, “fishes have the +water, in which yet beasts can swim by nature and man by +art. He that can swim needs not despair to fly; to swim is +to fly in a grosser fluid, and to fly is to swim in a +subtler. We are only to proportion our power of resistance +to the different density of matter through which we are to +pass. You will be necessarily up-borne by the air if you +can renew any impulse upon it faster than the air can recede from +the pressure.”</p> +<p>“But the exercise of swimming,” said the Prince, +“is very laborious; the strongest limbs are soon +wearied. I am afraid the act of flying will be yet more +violent; and wings will be of no great use unless we can fly +further than we can swim.”</p> +<p>“The labour of rising from the ground,” said the +artist, “will be great, as we see it in the heavier +domestic fowls; but as we mount higher the earth’s +attraction and the body’s gravity will be gradually +diminished, till we shall arrive at a region where the man shall +float in the air without any tendency to fall; no care will then +be necessary but to move forward, which the gentlest impulse will +effect. You, sir, whose curiosity is so extensive, will +easily conceive with what pleasure a philosopher, furnished with +wings and hovering in the sky, would see the earth and all its +inhabitants rolling beneath him, and presenting to him +successively, by its diurnal motion, all the countries within the +same parallel. How must it amuse the pendent spectator to +see the moving scene of land and ocean, cities and deserts; to +survey with equal security the marts of trade and the fields of +battle; mountains infested by barbarians, and fruitful regions +gladdened by plenty and lulled by peace. How easily shall +we then trace the Nile through all his passages, pass over to +distant regions, and examine the face of nature from one +extremity of the earth to the other.”</p> +<p>“All this,” said the Prince, “is much to be +desired, but I am afraid that no man will be able to breathe in +these regions of speculation and tranquillity. I have been +told that respiration is difficult upon lofty mountains, yet from +these precipices, though so high as to produce great tenuity of +air, it is very easy to fall; therefore I suspect that from any +height where life can be supported, there may be danger of too +quick descent.”</p> +<p>“Nothing,” replied the artist, “will ever be +attempted if all possible objections must be first +overcome. If you will favour my project, I will try the +first flight at my own hazard. I have considered the +structure of all volant animals, and find the folding continuity +of the bat’s wings most easily accommodated to the human +form. Upon this model I shall begin my task to-morrow, and +in a year expect to tower into the air beyond the malice and +pursuit of man. But I will work only on this condition, +that the art shall not be divulged, and that you shall not +require me to make wings for any but ourselves.”</p> +<p>“Why,” said Rasselas, “should you envy +others so great an advantage? All skill ought to be exerted +for universal good; every man has owed much to others, and ought +to repay the kindness that he has received.”</p> +<p>“If men were all virtuous,” returned the artist, +“I should with great alacrity teach them to fly. But +what would be the security of the good if the bad could at +pleasure invade them from the sky? Against an army sailing +through the clouds neither walls, mountains, nor seas could +afford security. A flight of northern savages might hover +in the wind and light with irresistible violence upon the capital +of a fruitful reason. Even this valley, the retreat of +princes, the abode of happiness, might be violated by the sudden +descent of some of the naked nations that swarm on the coast of +the southern sea!”</p> +<p>The Prince promised secrecy, and waited for the performance, +not wholly hopeless of success. He visited the work from +time to time, observed its progress, and remarked many ingenious +contrivances to facilitate motion and unite levity with +strength. The artist was every day more certain that he +should leave vultures and eagles behind him, and the contagion of +his confidence seized upon the Prince. In a year the wings +were finished; and on a morning appointed the maker appeared, +furnished for flight, on a little promontory; he waved his +pinions awhile to gather air, then leaped from his stand, and in +an instant dropped into the lake. His wings, which were of +no use in the air, sustained him in the water; and the Prince +drew him to land half dead with terror and vexation.</p> +<h2><a name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +33</span>CHAPTER VII<br /> +THE PRINCE FINDS A MAN OF LEARNING.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Prince was not much afflicted +by this disaster, having suffered himself to hope for a happier +event only because he had no other means of escape in view. +He still persisted in his design to leave the Happy Valley by the +first opportunity.</p> +<p>His imagination was now at a stand; he had no prospect of +entering into the world, and, notwithstanding all his endeavours +to support himself, discontent by degrees preyed upon him, and he +began again to lose his thoughts in sadness when the rainy +season, which in these countries is periodical, made it +inconvenient to wander in the woods.</p> +<p>The rain continued longer and with more violence than had ever +been known; the clouds broke on the surrounding mountains, and +the torrents streamed into the plain on every side, till the +cavern was too narrow to discharge the water. The lake +overflowed its banks, and all the level of the valley was covered +with the inundation. The eminence on which the palace was +built, and some other spots of rising ground, were all that the +eye could now discover. The herds and flocks left the +pasture, and both the wild beasts and the tame retreated to the +mountains.</p> +<p>This inundation confined all the princes to domestic +amusements, and the attention of Rasselas was particularly seized +by a poem (which Imlac rehearsed) upon the various conditions of +humanity. He commanded the poet to attend him in his +apartment, and recite his verses a second time; then entering +into familiar talk, he thought himself happy in having found a +man who knew the world so well, and could so skilfully paint the +scenes of life. He asked a thousand questions about things +to which, though common to all other mortals, his confinement +from childhood had kept him a stranger. The poet pitied his +ignorance, and loved his curiosity, and entertained him from day +to day with novelty and instruction so that the Prince regretted +the necessity of sleep, and longed till the morning should renew +his pleasure.</p> +<p>As they were sitting together, the Prince commanded Imlac to +relate his history, and to tell by what accident he was forced, +or by what motive induced, to close his life in the Happy +Valley. As he was going to begin his narrative, Rasselas +was called to a concert, and obliged to restrain his curiosity +till the evening.</p> +<h2><a name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +35</span>CHAPTER VIII<br /> +THE HISTORY OF IMLAC.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> close of the day is, in the +regions of the torrid zone, the only season of diversion and +entertainment, and it was therefore midnight before the music +ceased and the princesses retired. Rasselas then called for +his companion, and required him to begin the story of his +life.</p> +<p>“Sir,” said Imlac, “my history will not be +long: the life that is devoted to knowledge passes silently away, +and is very little diversified by events. To talk in +public, to think in solitude, to read and to hear, to inquire and +answer inquiries, is the business of a scholar. He wanders +about the world without pomp or terror, and is neither known nor +valued but by men like himself.</p> +<p>“I was born in the kingdom of Goiama, at no great +distance from the fountain of the Nile. My father was a +wealthy merchant, who traded between the inland countries of +Africa and the ports of the Red Sea. He was honest, frugal, +and diligent, but of mean sentiments and narrow comprehension; he +desired only to be rich, and to conceal his riches, lest he +should be spoiled by the governors of the province.”</p> +<p>“Surely,” said the Prince, “my father must +be negligent of his charge if any man in his dominions dares take +that which belongs to another. Does he not know that kings +are accountable for injustice permitted as well as done? If +I were Emperor, not the meanest of my subjects should be +oppressed with impunity. My blood boils when I am told that +a merchant durst not enjoy his honest gains for fear of losing +them by the rapacity of power. Name the governor who robbed +the people that I may declare his crimes to the +Emperor!”</p> +<p>“Sir,” said Imlac, “your ardour is the +natural effect of virtue animated by youth. The time will +come when you will acquit your father, and perhaps hear with less +impatience of the governor. Oppression is, in the +Abyssinian dominions, neither frequent nor tolerated; but no form +of government has been yet discovered by which cruelty can be +wholly prevented. Subordination supposes power on one part +and subjection on the other; and if power be in the hands of men +it will sometimes be abused. The vigilance of the supreme +magistrate may do much, but much will still remain undone. +He can never know all the crimes that are committed, and can +seldom punish all that he knows.”</p> +<p>“This,” said the Prince, “I do not +understand; but I had rather hear thee than dispute. +Continue thy narration.”</p> +<p>“My father,” proceeded Imlac, “originally +intended that I should have no other education than such as might +qualify me for commerce; and discovering in me great strength of +memory and quickness of apprehension, often declared his hope +that I should be some time the richest man in +Abyssinia.”</p> +<p>“Why,” said the Prince, “did thy father +desire the increase of his wealth when it was already greater +than he durst discover or enjoy? I am unwilling to doubt +thy veracity, yet inconsistencies cannot both be true.”</p> +<p>“Inconsistencies,” answered Imlac, “cannot +both be right; but, imputed to man, they may both be true. +Yet diversity is not inconsistency. My father might expect +a time of greater security. However, some desire is +necessary to keep life in motion; and he whose real wants are +supplied must admit those of fancy.”</p> +<p>“This,” said the Prince, “I can in some +measure conceive. I repent that I interrupted +thee.”</p> +<p>“With this hope,” proceeded Imlac, “he sent +me to school. But when I had once found the delight of +knowledge, and felt the pleasure of intelligence and the pride of +invention, I began silently to despise riches, and determined to +disappoint the purposes of my father, whose grossness of +conception raised my pity. I was twenty years old before +his tenderness would expose me to the fatigue of travel; in which +time I had been instructed, by successive masters, in all the +literature of my native country. As every hour taught me +something new, I lived in a continual course of gratification; +but as I advanced towards manhood, I lost much of the reverence +with which I had been used to look on my instructors; because +when the lessons were ended I did not find them wiser or better +than common men.</p> +<p>“At length my father resolved to initiate me in +commerce; and, opening one of his subterranean treasuries, +counted out ten thousand pieces of gold. ‘This, young +man,’ said he, ‘is the stock with which you must +negotiate. I began with less than a fifth part, and you see +how diligence and parsimony have increased it. This is your +own, to waste or improve. If you squander it by negligence +or caprice, you must wait for my death before you will be rich; +if in four years you double your stock, we will thenceforward let +subordination cease, and live together as friends and partners, +for he shall be always equal with me who is equally skilled in +the art of growing rich.’</p> +<p>“We laid out our money upon camels, concealed in bales +of cheap goods, and travelled to the shore of the Red Sea. +When I cast my eye on the expanse of waters, my heart bounded +like that of a prisoner escaped. I felt an inextinguishable +curiosity kindle in my mind, and resolved to snatch this +opportunity of seeing the manners of other nations, and of +learning sciences unknown in Abyssinia.</p> +<p>“I remembered that my father had obliged me to the +improvement of my stock, not by a promise, which I ought not to +violate, but by a penalty, which I was at liberty to incur; and +therefore determined to gratify my predominant desire, and, by +drinking at the fountain of knowledge, to quench the thirst of +curiosity.</p> +<p>“As I was supposed to trade without connection with my +father, it was easy for me to become acquainted with the master +of a ship, and procure a passage to some other country. I +had no motives of choice to regulate my voyage. It was +sufficient <a name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +40</span>for me that, wherever I wandered, I should see a country +which I had not seen before. I therefore entered a ship +bound for Surat, having left a letter for my father declaring my +intention.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX<br /> +THE HISTORY OF IMLAC (<i>continued</i>).</h2> +<p>“<span class="smcap">When</span> I first entered upon +the world of waters, and lost sight of land, I looked round about +me in pleasing terror, and thinking my soul enlarged by the +boundless prospect, imagined that I could gaze around me for ever +without satiety; but in a short time I grew weary of looking on +barren uniformity, where I could only see again what I had +already seen. I then descended into the ship, and doubted +for awhile whether all my future pleasures would not end, like +this, in disgust and disappointment. ‘Yet +surely,’ said I, ‘the ocean and the land are very +different. The only variety of water is rest and +motion. But the earth has mountains and valleys, deserts +and cities; it is inhabited by men of different customs and +contrary opinions; and I may hope to find variety in life, though +I should miss it in nature.’</p> +<p>“With this thought I quieted my mind, and amused myself +during the voyage, sometimes by learning from the sailors the art +of navigation, which I have never practised, and sometimes by +forming schemes for my conduct in different situations, in not +one of which I have been ever placed.</p> +<p>“I was almost weary of my naval amusements when we +safely landed at Surat. I secured my money and, purchasing +some commodities for show, joined myself to a caravan that was +passing into the inland country. My companions, for some +reason or other, conjecturing that I was rich, and, by my +inquiries and admiration, finding that I was ignorant, considered +me as a novice whom they had a right to cheat, and who was to +learn, at the usual expense, the art of fraud. They exposed +me to the theft of servants and the exaction of officers, and saw +me plundered upon false pretences, without any advantage to +themselves but that of rejoicing in the superiority of their own +knowledge.”</p> +<p>“Stop a moment,” said the Prince; “is there +such depravity in man as that he should injure another without +benefit to himself? I can easily conceive that all are +pleased with superiority; but your ignorance was merely +accidental, which, being neither your crime nor your folly, could +afford them no reason to applaud themselves; and the knowledge +which they had, and which you wanted, they might as effectually +have shown by warning as betraying you.”</p> +<p>“Pride,” said Imlac, “is seldom delicate; it +will please itself with very mean advantages, and envy feels not +its own happiness but when it may be compared with the misery of +others. They were my enemies because they grieved to think +me rich, and my oppressors because they delighted to find me +weak.”</p> +<p>“Proceed,” said the Prince; “I doubt not of +the facts which you relate, but imagine that you impute them to +mistaken motives.”</p> +<p>“In this company,” said Imlac, “I arrived at +Agra, the capital of Hindostan, the city in which the Great Mogul +commonly resides. I applied myself to the language of the +country, and in a few months was able to converse with the +learned men; some of whom I found morose and reserved, and others +easy and communicative; some were unwilling to teach another what +they had with difficulty learned themselves; and some showed that +the end of their studies was to gain the dignity of +instructing.</p> +<p>“To the tutor of the young princes I recommended myself +so much that I was presented to the Emperor as a man of uncommon +knowledge. The Emperor asked me many questions concerning +my country and my travels, and though I cannot now recollect +anything that he uttered above the power of a common man, he +dismissed me astonished at his wisdom and enamoured of his +goodness.</p> +<p>“My credit was now so high that the merchants with whom +I had travelled applied to me for recommendations to the ladies +of the Court. I was surprised at their confidence of +solicitation and greatly reproached them with their practices on +the road. They heard me with cold indifference, and showed +no tokens of shame or sorrow.</p> +<p>“They then urged their request with the offer of a +bribe, but what I would not do for kindness I would not do for +money, and refused them, not because they had injured me, but +because I would not enable them to injure others; for I knew they +would have made use of my credit to cheat those who should buy +their wares.</p> +<p>“Having resided at Agra till there was no more to be +learned, I travelled into Persia, where I saw many remains of +ancient magnificence and observed many new accommodations of +life. The Persians <a name="page44"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 44</span>are a nation eminently social, and +their assemblies afforded me daily opportunities of remarking +characters and manners, and of tracing human nature through all +its variations.</p> +<p>“From Persia I passed into Arabia, where I saw a nation +pastoral and warlike, who lived without any settled habitation, +whose wealth is their flocks and herds, and who have carried on +through ages an hereditary war with mankind, though they neither +covet nor envy their possessions.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER X<br /> +IMLAC’S HISTORY (<i>continued</i>)—A DISSERTATION +UPON POETRY.</h2> +<p>“<span class="smcap">Wherever</span> I went I found that +poetry was considered as the highest learning, and regarded with +a veneration somewhat approaching to that which man would pay to +angelic nature. And yet it fills me with wonder that in +almost all countries the most ancient poets are considered as the +best; whether it be that every other kind of knowledge is an +acquisition greatly attained, and poetry is a gift conferred at +once; or that the first poetry of every nation surprised them as +a novelty, and retained the credit by consent which it received +by accident at first; or whether, as the province of poetry is to +describe nature and passion, which are always the same, the first +writers took possession of the most striking objects for +description and the most probable occurrences for fiction, and +left nothing to those that followed them but transcription of the +same events and new combinations of the same images. +Whatever be the reason, it is commonly observed that the early +writers are in possession of nature, and their followers of art; +that the first excel in strength and invention, and the latter in +elegance and refinement.</p> +<p>“I was desirous to add my name to this illustrious +fraternity. I read all the poets of Persia and Arabia, and +was able to repeat by memory the volumes that are suspended in +the mosque of Mecca. But I soon found that no man was ever +great by imitations. My desire of excellence impelled me to +transfer my attention to nature and to life. Nature was to +be my subject, and men to be my auditors. I could never +describe what I had not seen. I could not hope to move +those with delight or terror whose interests and opinions I did +not understand.</p> +<p>“Being now resolved to be a poet, I saw everything with +a new purpose; my sphere of attention was suddenly magnified; no +kind of knowledge was to be overlooked. I ranged mountains +and deserts for images and resemblances, and pictured upon my +mind every tree of the forest and flower of the valley. I +observed with equal care the crags of the rock and the pinnacles +of the palace. Sometimes I wandered along the mazes of the +rivulet, and sometimes watched the changes of the summer +clouds. To a poet nothing can be useless. Whatever is +beautiful and whatever is dreadful must be familiar to his +imagination; he must be conversant with all that is awfully vast +or elegantly little. The plants of the garden, the animals +of the wood, the minerals of the earth, and meteors of the sky, +must all concur to store his mind with inexhaustible variety; for +every idea is useful for the enforcement or decoration of moral +or religious truth, and he who knows most will have most power of +diversifying his scenes and of gratifying his reader with remote +allusions and unexpected instruction.</p> +<p>“All the appearances of nature I was therefore careful +to study, and every country which I have surveyed has contributed +something to my poetical powers.”</p> +<p>“In so wide a survey,” said the Prince, “you +must surely have left much unobserved. I have lived till +now within the circuit of the mountains, and yet cannot walk +abroad without the sight of something which I had never beheld +before, or never heeded.”</p> +<p>“This business of a poet,” said Imlac, “is +to examine, not the individual, but the species; to remark +general properties and large appearances. He does not +number the streaks of the tulip, or describe the different shades +of the verdure of the forest. He is to exhibit in his +portraits of nature such prominent and striking features as +recall the original to every mind, and must neglect the minuter +discriminations, which one may have remarked and another have +neglected, for those characteristics which are alike obvious to +vigilance and carelessness.</p> +<p>“But the knowledge of nature is only half the task of a +poet; he must be acquainted likewise with all the modes of +life. His character requires that he estimate the happiness +and misery of every condition, observe the power of all the +passions in all their combinations, and trace the changes of the +human mind, as they are modified by various institutions and +accidental influences of climate or custom, from the +sprightliness of infancy to the despondence of decrepitude. +He must divest himself of the prejudices of his age and country; +he must consider right and wrong in their abstracted and +invariable state; he must disregard present laws and opinions, +and rise to general and transcendental truths, which will always +be the same. He must, therefore, content himself with the +slow progress of his name, contemn the praise of his own time, +and commit his claims to the justice of posterity. He must +write as the interpreter of nature and the legislator of mankind, +and consider himself as presiding over the thoughts and manners +of future generations, as a being superior to time and place.</p> +<p>“His labour is not yet at an end. He must know +many languages and many sciences, and, that his style may be +worthy of his thoughts, must by incessant practice familiarise to +himself every delicacy of speech and grace of harmony.”</p> +<h2><a name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +49</span>CHAPTER XI<br /> +IMLAC’S NARRATIVE (<i>continued</i>)—A HINT OF +PILGRIMAGE.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Imlac</span> now felt the enthusiastic +fit, and was proceeding to aggrandise his own profession, when +then Prince cried out: “Enough! thou hast convinced me that +no human being can ever be a poet. Proceed with thy +narration.”</p> +<p>“To be a poet,” said Imlac, “is indeed very +difficult.”</p> +<p>“So difficult,” returned the Prince, “that I +will at present hear no more of his labours. Tell me +whither you went when you had seen Persia.”</p> +<p>“From Persia,” said the poet, “I travelled +through Syria, and for three years resided in Palestine, where I +conversed with great numbers of the northern and western nations +of Europe, the nations which are now in possession of all power +and all knowledge, whose armies are irresistible, and whose +fleets command the remotest parts of the globe. When I +compared these men with the natives of our own kingdom and those +that surround us, they appeared almost another order of +beings. In their countries it is difficult to wish for +anything that may not be obtained; a thousand arts, of which we +never heard, are continually labouring for their convenience and +pleasure, and whatever their own climate has denied them is +supplied by their commerce.”</p> +<p>“By what means,” said the Prince, “are the +Europeans thus powerful? or why, since they can so easily visit +Asia and Africa for trade or conquest, cannot the Asiatics and +Africans invade their coast, plant colonies in their ports, and +give laws to their natural princes? The same wind that +carries them back would bring us thither.”</p> +<p>“They are more powerful, sir, than we,” answered +Imlac, “because they are wiser; knowledge will always +predominate over ignorance, as man governs the other +animals. But why their knowledge is more than ours I know +not what reason can be given but the unsearchable will of the +Supreme Being.”</p> +<p>“When,” said the Prince with a sigh, “shall +I be able to visit Palestine, and mingle with this mighty +confluence of nations? Till that happy moment shall arrive, +let me fill up the time with such representations as thou canst +give me. I am not ignorant of the motive that assembles +such numbers in that place, and cannot but consider it as the +centre of wisdom and piety, to which the best and wisest men of +every land must be continually resorting.”</p> +<p>“There are some nations,” said Imlac, “that +send few visitants to Palestine; for many numerous and learned +sects in Europe concur to censure pilgrimage as superstitious, or +deride it as ridiculous.”</p> +<p>“You know,” said the Prince, “how little my +life has made me acquainted with diversity of opinions; it will +be too long to hear the arguments on both sides; you, that have +considered them, tell me the result.”</p> +<p>“Pilgrimage,” said Imlac, “like many other +acts of piety, may be reasonable or superstitious, according to +the principles upon which it is performed. Long journeys in +search of truth are not commanded. Truth, such as is +necessary to the regulation of life, is always found where it is +honestly sought. Change of place is no natural cause of the +increase of piety, for it inevitably produces dissipation of +mind. Yet, since men go every day to view the fields where +great actions have been performed, and return with stronger +impressions of the event, curiosity of the same kind may +naturally dispose us to view that country whence our religion had +its beginning, and I believe no man surveys those awful scenes +without some confirmation of holy resolutions. That the +Supreme Being may be more easily propitiated in one place than in +another is the dream of idle superstition, but that some places +may operate upon our own minds in an uncommon manner is an +opinion which hourly experience will justify. He who +supposes that his vices may be more successfully combated in +Palestine, will perhaps find himself mistaken; yet he may go +thither without folly; he who thinks they will be more freely +pardoned, dishonours at once his reason and religion.”</p> +<p>“These,” said the Prince, “are European +distinctions. I will consider them another time. What +have you found to be the effect of knowledge? Are those +nations happier than we?”</p> +<p>“There is so much infelicity,” said the poet, +“in the world, that scarce any man has leisure from his own +distresses to estimate the comparative happiness of others. +Knowledge is certainly one of the means of pleasure, as is +confessed by the natural desire which every mind feels of +increasing its ideas. Ignorance is mere privation, by which +nothing can be produced; it is a vacuity in which the soul sits +motionless and torpid for want of attraction, and, without +knowing why, we always rejoice when we learn, and grieve when we +forget. I am therefore inclined to conclude that if nothing +counteracts the natural consequence of learning, we grow more +happy as out minds take a wider range.</p> +<p>“In enumerating the particular comforts of life, we +shall find many advantages on the side of the Europeans. +They cure wounds and diseases with which we languish and +perish. We suffer inclemencies of weather which they can +obviate. They have engines for the despatch of many +laborious works, which we must perform by manual industry. +There is such communication between distant places that one +friend can hardly be said to be absent from another. Their +policy removes all public inconveniences; they have roads cut +through the mountains, and bridges laid over their rivers. +And, if we descend to the privacies of life, their habitations +are more commodious and their possessions are more +secure.”</p> +<p>“They are surely happy,” said the Prince, +“who have all these conveniences, of which I envy none so +much as the facility with which separated friends interchange +their thoughts.”</p> +<p>“The Europeans,” answered Imlac, “are less +<a name="page54"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 54</span>unhappy +than we, but they are not happy. Human life is everywhere a +state in which much is to be endured and little to be +enjoyed.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII<br /> +THE STORY OF IMLAC (<i>continued</i>).</h2> +<p>“I <span class="smcap">am</span> not willing,” +said the Prince, “to suppose that happiness is so +parsimoniously distributed to mortals, nor can I believe but +that, if I had the choice of life, I should be able to fill every +day with pleasure. I would injure no man, and should +provoke no resentments; I would relieve every distress, and +should enjoy the benedictions of gratitude. I would choose +my friends among the wise and my wife among the virtuous, and +therefore should be in no danger from treachery or +unkindness. My children should by my care be learned and +pious, and would repay to my age what their childhood had +received. What would dare to molest him who might call on +every side to thousands enriched by his bounty or assisted by his +power? And why should not life glide away in the soft +reciprocation of protection and reverence? All this may be +done without the help of European refinements, which appear by +their effects to be rather specious than useful. Let us +leave them and pursue our journey.”</p> +<p>“From Palestine,” said Imlac, “I passed +through many regions of Asia; in the more civilised kingdoms as a +trader, and among the barbarians of the mountains as a +pilgrim. At last I began to long for my native country, +that I might repose after my travels and fatigues in the places +where I had spent my earliest years, and gladden my old +companions with the recital of my adventures. Often did I +figure to myself those with whom I had sported away the gay hours +of dawning life, sitting round me in its evening, wondering at my +tales and listening to my counsels.</p> +<p>“When this thought had taken possession of my mind, I +considered every moment as wasted which did not bring me nearer +to Abyssinia. I hastened into Egypt, and, notwithstanding +my impatience, was detained ten months in the contemplation of +its ancient magnificence and in inquiries after the remains of +its ancient learning. I found in Cairo a mixture of all +nations: some brought thither by the love of knowledge, some by +the hope of gain; many by the desire of living after their own +manner without observation, and of lying hid in the obscurity of +multitudes; for in a city populous as Cairo it is possible to +obtain at the same time the gratifications of society and the +secrecy of solitude.</p> +<p>“From Cairo I travelled to Suez, and embarked on the Red +Sea, passing along the coast till I arrived at the port from +which I had departed twenty years before. Here I joined +myself to a caravan, and re-entered my native country.</p> +<p>“I now expected the caresses of my kinsmen and the +congratulations of my friends, and was not without hope that my +father, whatever value he had set upon riches, would own with +gladness and pride a son who was able to add to the felicity and +honour of the nation. But I was soon convinced that my +thoughts were vain. My father had been dead fourteen years, +having divided his wealth among my brothers, who were removed to +some other provinces. Of my companions, the greater part +was in the grave; of the rest, some could with difficulty +remember me, and some considered me as one corrupted by foreign +manners.</p> +<p>“A man used to vicissitudes is not easily +dejected. I forgot, after a time, my disappointment, and +endeavoured to recommend myself to the nobles of the kingdom; +they admitted me to their tables, heard my story, and dismissed +me. I opened a school, and was prohibited to teach. I +then resolved to sit down in the quiet of domestic life, and +addressed a lady that was fond of my conversation, but rejected +my suit because my father was a merchant.</p> +<p>“Wearied at last with solicitation and repulses, I +resolved to hide myself for ever from the world, and depend no +longer on the opinion or caprice of others. I waited for +the time when the gate of the Happy Valley should open, that I +might bid farewell to hope and fear; the day came, my performance +was distinguished with favour, and I resigned myself with joy to +perpetual confinement.”</p> +<p>“Hast thou here found happiness at last?” said +Rasselas. “Tell me, without reserve, art thou content +with thy condition, or dost thou wish to be again wandering and +inquiring? All the inhabitants of this valley celebrate +their lot, and at the annual visit of the Emperor invite others +to partake of their felicity.”</p> +<p>“Great Prince,” said Imlac, “I shall speak +the truth. I know not one of all your attendants who does +not lament the hour when he entered this retreat. I am less +unhappy than the rest, because I have a mind replete with images, +which I can vary and combine at pleasure. I can amuse my +solitude by the renovation of the knowledge which begins to fade +from my memory, and by recollection of the accidents of my past +life. Yet all this ends in the sorrowful consideration that +my acquirements are now useless, and that none of my pleasures +can be again enjoyed. The rest, whose minds have no +impression but of the present moment, are either corroded by +malignant passions or sit stupid in the gloom of perpetual +vacancy.”</p> +<p>“What passions can infest those,” said the Prince, +“who have no rivals? We are in a place where +impotence precludes malice, and where all envy is repressed by +community of enjoyments.”</p> +<p>“There may be community,” said Imlac, “of +material possessions, but there can never be community of love or +of esteem. It must happen that one will please more than +another; he that knows himself despised will always be envious, +and still more envious and malevolent if he is condemned to live +in the presence of those who despise him. The invitations +by which they allure others to a state which they feel to be +wretched, proceed from the natural malignity of hopeless +misery. They are weary of themselves and of each other, and +expect to find relief in new companions. They envy the +liberty which their folly has forfeited, and would gladly see all +mankind imprisoned like themselves.</p> +<p>“From this crime, however, I am wholly free. No +man can say that he is wretched by my persuasion. I look +with pity on the crowds who are annually soliciting admission to +captivity, and wish that it were lawful for me to warn them of +their danger.”</p> +<p>“My dear Imlac,” said the Prince, “I will +open to thee my whole heart. I have long meditated an +escape from the Happy Valley. I have examined the mountain +on every side, but find myself insuperably barred—teach me +the way to break my prison; thou shalt be the companion of my +flight, the guide of my rambles, the partner of my fortune, and +my sole director in the <i>choice of life</i>.</p> +<p>“Sir,” answered the poet, “your escape will +be difficult, and perhaps you may soon repent your +curiosity. The world, which you figure to yourself smooth +and quiet as the lake in the valley, you will find a sea foaming +with tempests and boiling with whirlpools; you will be sometimes +overwhelmed by the waves of violence, and sometimes dashed +against the rocks of treachery. Amidst wrongs and frauds, +competitions and anxieties, you will wish a thousand <a +name="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 60</span>times for +these seats of quiet, and willingly quit hope to be free from +fear.”</p> +<p>“Do not seek to deter me from my purpose,” said +the Prince. “I am impatient to see what thou hast +seen; and since thou art thyself weary of the valley, it is +evident that thy former state was better than this. +Whatever be the consequence of my experiment, I am resolved to +judge with mine own eyes of the various conditions of men, and +then to make deliberately my <i>choice of life</i>.”</p> +<p>“I am afraid,” said Imlac, “you are hindered +by stronger restraints than my persuasions; yet, if your +determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. +Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII<br /> +RASSELAS DISCOVERS THE MEANS OF ESCAPE.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Prince now dismissed his +favourite to rest; but the narrative of wonders and novelties +filled his mind with perturbation. He revolved all that he +had heard, and prepared innumerable questions for the +morning.</p> +<p>Much of his uneasiness was now removed. He had a friend +to whom he could impart his thoughts, and whose experience could +assist him in his designs. His heart was no longer +condemned to swell with silent vexation. He thought that +even the Happy Valley might be endured with such a companion, and +that if they could range the world together he should have +nothing further to desire.</p> +<p>In a few days the water was discharged, and the ground +dried. The Prince and Imlac then walked out together, to +converse without the notice of the rest. The Prince, whose +thoughts were always on the wing, as he passed by the gate said, +with a countenance of sorrow, “Why art thou so strong, and +why is man so weak?”</p> +<p>“Man is not weak,” answered his companion; +“knowledge is more than equivalent to force. The +master of mechanics laughs at strength. I can burst the +gate, but cannot do it secretly. Some other expedient must +be tried.”</p> +<p>As they were walking on the side of the mountain they observed +that the coneys, which the rain had driven from their burrows, +had taken shelter among the bushes, and formed holes behind them +tending upwards in an oblique line. “It has +been the opinion of antiquity,” said Imlac, “that +human reason borrowed many arts from the instinct of animals; let +us, therefore, not think ourselves degraded by learning from the +coney. We may escape by piercing the mountain in the same +direction. We will begin where the summit hangs over the +middle part, and labour upward till we shall issue out beyond the +prominence.”</p> +<p>The eyes of the Prince, when he heard this proposal, sparkled +with joy. The execution was easy and the success +certain.</p> +<p>No time was now lost. They hastened early in the morning +to choose a place proper for their mine. They clambered +with great fatigue among crags and brambles, and returned without +having discovered any part that favoured their design. The +second and the third day were spent in the same manner, and with +the same frustration; but on the fourth day they found a small +cavern concealed by a thicket, where they resolved to make their +experiment.</p> +<p>Imlac procured instruments proper to hew stone and remove +earth, and they fell to their work on the next day with more +eagerness than vigour. They were presently exhausted by +their efforts, and sat down to pant upon the grass. The +Prince for a moment appeared to be discouraged. +“Sir,” said his companion, “practice will +enable us to continue our labour for a longer time. Mark, +however, how far we have advanced, and ye will find that our toil +will some time have an end. Great works are performed not +by strength, but perseverance; yonder palace was raised by single +stones, yet you see its height and spaciousness. He that +shall walk with vigour three hours a day, will pass in seven +years a space equal to the circumference of the globe.”</p> +<p>They returned to their work day after day, and in a short time +found a fissure in the rock, which enabled them to pass far with +very little obstruction. This Rasselas considered as a good +omen. “Do not disturb your mind,” said Imlac, +“with other hopes or fears than reason may suggest; if you +are pleased with the prognostics of good, you will be terrified +likewise with tokens of evil, and your whole life will be a prey +to superstition. Whatever facilitates our work is more than +an omen; it is a cause of success. This is one of those +pleasing surprises which often happen to active resolution. +Many things difficult to design prove easy to +performance.”</p> +<h2><a name="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +64</span>CHAPTER XIV<br /> +RASSELAS AND IMLAC RECEIVE AN UNEXPECTED VISIT.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">They</span> had now wrought their way to +the middle, and solaced their toil with the approach of liberty, +when the Prince, coming down to refresh himself with air, found +his sister Nekayah standing at the mouth of the cavity. He +started, and stood confused, afraid to tell his design, and yet +hopeless to conceal it. A few moments determined him to +repose on her fidelity, and secure her secrecy by a declaration +without reserve.</p> +<p>“Do not imagine,” said the Princess, “that I +came hither as a spy. I had long observed from my window +that you and Imlac directed your walk every day towards the same +point, but I did not suppose you had any better reason for the +preference than a cooler shade or more fragrant bank, nor +followed you with any other design than to partake of your +conversation. Since, then, not suspicion, but fondness, has +detected you, let me not lose the advantage of my +discovery. I am equally weary of confinement with yourself, +and not less desirous of knowing what is done or suffered in the +world. Permit me to fly with you from this tasteless +tranquillity, which will yet grow more loathsome when you have +left me. You may deny me to accompany you, but cannot +hinder me from following.”</p> +<p>The Prince, who loved Nekayah above his other sisters, had no +inclination to refuse her request, and grieved that he had lost +an opportunity of showing his confidence by a voluntary +communication. It was, therefore, agreed that she should +leave the valley with them; and that in the meantime she should +watch, lest any other straggler should, by chance or curiosity, +follow them to the mountain.</p> +<p>At length their labour was at an end. They saw light +beyond the prominence, and, issuing to the top of the mountain, +beheld the Nile, yet a narrow current, wandering beneath +them.</p> +<p>The Prince looked round with rapture, anticipated all the +pleasures of travel, and in thought was already transported +beyond his father’s dominions. Imlac, though very +joyful at his escape, had less expectation of pleasure in the +world, which he had before tried and of which he had been +weary.</p> +<p>Rasselas was so much delighted with a wider horizon, that he +could not soon be persuaded to <a name="page66"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 66</span>return into the valley. He +informed his sister that the way was now open, and that nothing +now remained but to prepare for their departure.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XV<br /> +THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS LEAVE THE VALLEY, AND SEE MANY +WONDERS.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Prince and Princess had jewels +sufficient to make them rich whenever they came into a place of +commerce, which, by Imlac’s direction, they hid in their +clothes, and on the night of the next full moon all left the +valley. The Princess was followed only by a single +favourite, who did not know whither she was going.</p> +<p>They clambered through the cavity, and began to go down on the +other side. The Princess and her maid turned their eyes +toward every part, and seeing nothing to bound their prospect, +considered themselves in danger of being lost in a dreary +vacuity. They stopped and trembled. “I am +almost afraid,” said the Princess, “to begin a +journey of which I cannot perceive an end, and to venture into +this immense plain where I may be approached on every side by men +whom I never saw.” The Prince felt nearly the same +emotions, though he thought it more manly to conceal them.</p> +<p>Imlac smiled at their terrors, and encouraged them to +proceed. But the Princess continued irresolute till she had +been imperceptibly drawn forward too far to return.</p> +<p>In the morning they found some shepherds in the field, who set +some milk and fruits before them. The Princess wondered +that she did not see a palace ready for her reception and a table +spread with delicacies; but being faint and hungry, she drank the +milk and ate the fruits, and thought them of a higher flavour +than the products of the valley.</p> +<p>They travelled forward by easy journeys, being all +unaccustomed to toil and difficulty, and knowing that, though +they might be missed, they could not be pursued. In a few +days they came into a more populous region, where Imlac was +diverted with the admiration which his companions expressed at +the diversity of manners, stations, and employments. Their +dress was such as might not bring upon them the suspicion of +having anything to conceal; yet the Prince, wherever he came, +expected to be obeyed, and the Princess was frighted because +those who came into her presence did not prostrate +themselves. Imlac was forced to observe them with great +vigilance, lest they should betray their rank by their unusual +behaviour, and detained them several weeks in the first village +to accustom them to the sight of common mortals.</p> +<p>By degrees the royal wanderers were taught to understand that +they had for a time laid aside their dignity, and were to expect +only such regard as liberality and courtesy could procure. +And Imlac having by many admonitions prepared them to endure the +tumults of a port and the ruggedness of the commercial race, +brought them down to the sea-coast.</p> +<p>The Prince and his sister, to whom everything was new, were +gratified equally at all places, and therefore remained for some +months at the port without any inclination to pass further. +Imlac was content with their stay, because he did not think it +safe to expose them, unpractised in the world, to the hazards of +a foreign country.</p> +<p>At last he began to fear lest they should be discovered, and +proposed to fix a day for their departure. They had no +pretensions to judge for themselves, and referred the whole +scheme to his direction. He therefore took passage in a +ship to Suez, and, when the time came, with great difficulty <a +name="page69"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 69</span>prevailed on +the Princess to enter the vessel. They had a quick and +prosperous voyage, and from Suez travelled by land to Cairo.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI<br /> +THEY ENTER CAIRO, AND FIND EVERY MAN HAPPY.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">As</span> they approached the city, which +filled the strangers with astonishment, “This,” said +Imlac to the Prince, “is the place where travellers and +merchants assemble from all corners of the earth. You will +here find men of every character and every occupation. +Commerce is here honourable. I will act as a merchant, and +you shall live as strangers who have no other end of travel than +curiosity; it will soon be observed that we are rich. Our +reputation will procure us access to all whom we shall desire to +know; you shall see all the conditions of humanity, and enable +yourselves at leisure to make your <i>choice of +life</i>.”</p> +<p>They now entered the town, stunned by the noise and offended +by the crowds. Instruction had not yet so prevailed over +habit but that they wondered to see themselves pass +undistinguished along the streets, and met by the lowest of the +people without reverence or notice. The Princess could not +at first bear the thought of being levelled with the vulgar, and +for some time continued in her chamber, where she was served by +her favourite Pekuah, as in the palace of the valley.</p> +<p>Imlac, who understood traffic, sold part of the jewels the +next day, and hired a house, which he adorned with such +magnificence that he was immediately considered as a merchant of +great wealth. His politeness attracted many acquaintances, +and his generosity made him courted by many dependants. His +companions, not being able to mix in the conversation, could make +no discovery of their ignorance or surprise, and were gradually +initiated in the world as they gained knowledge of the +language.</p> +<p>The Prince had by frequent lectures been taught the use and +nature of money; but the ladies could not for a long time +comprehend what the merchants did with small pieces of gold and +silver, or why things of so little use should be received as an +equivalent to the necessaries of life.</p> +<p>They studied the language two years, while Imlac was preparing +to set before them the various ranks and conditions of +mankind. He grew acquainted with all who had anything +uncommon in their fortune or conduct. He frequented the +voluptuous and the frugal, the idle and the busy, the merchants +and the men of learning.</p> +<p>The Prince now being able to converse with fluency, and having +learned the caution necessary to be observed in his intercourse +with strangers, began to accompany Imlac to places of resort, and +to enter into all assemblies, that he might make his <i>choice of +life</i>.</p> +<p>For some time he thought choice needless, because all appeared +to him really happy. Wherever he went he met gaiety and +kindness, and heard the song of joy or the laugh of +carelessness. He began to believe that the world overflowed +with universal plenty, and that nothing was withheld either from +want or merit; that every hand showered liberality and every +heart melted with benevolence: “And who then,” says +he, “will be suffered to be wretched?”</p> +<p>Imlac permitted the pleasing delusion, and was unwilling to +crush the hope of inexperience: till one day, having sat awhile +silent, “I know not,” said the Prince, “what +can be the reason that I am more unhappy than any of our +friends. I see them perpetually and unalterably cheerful, +but feel my own mind restless and uneasy. I am unsatisfied +with those pleasures which I seem most to court. I live in +the crowds of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to shun +myself, and am only loud and merry to conceal my +sadness.”</p> +<p>“Every man,” said Imlac, “may by examining +his own mind guess what passes in the minds of others. When +you feel that your own gaiety is counterfeit, it may justly lead +you to suspect that of your companions not to be sincere. +Envy is commonly reciprocal. We are long before we are +convinced that happiness is never to be found, and each believes +it possessed by others, to keep alive the hope of obtaining it +for himself. In the assembly where you passed the last +night there appeared such sprightliness of air and volatility of +fancy as might have suited beings of a higher order, formed to +inhabit serener regions, inaccessible to care or sorrow; yet, +believe me, Prince, was there not one who did not dread the +moment when solitude should deliver him to the tyranny of +reflection.”</p> +<p>“This,” said the Prince, “may be true of +others since it is true of me; yet, whatever be the general +infelicity of man, one condition is more happy than another, and +wisdom surely directs us to take the least evil in the <i>choice +of life</i>.”</p> +<p>“The causes of good and evil,” answered Imlac, +“are so various and uncertain, so often entangled with each +other, so diversified by various relations, and so much subject +to accidents which cannot be foreseen, that he who would fix his +condition upon incontestable reasons of preference must live and +die inquiring and deliberating.”</p> +<p>“But, surely,” said Rasselas, “the wise men, +to whom we listen with reverence and wonder, chose that mode of +life for themselves which they thought most likely to make them +happy.”</p> +<p>“Very few,” said the poet, “live by +choice. Every man is placed in the present condition by +causes which acted without his foresight, and with which he did +not always willingly co-operate, and therefore you will rarely +meet one who does not think the lot of his neighbour better than +his own.”</p> +<p>“I am pleased to think,” said the Prince, +“that my birth has given me at least one advantage over +others by enabling me to determine for myself. I have here +the world before me. I will review it at leisure: surely +happiness is somewhere to be found.”</p> +<h2><a name="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +74</span>CHAPTER XVII<br /> +THE PRINCE ASSOCIATES WITH YOUNG MEN OF SPIRIT AND GAIETY.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Rasselas</span> rose next day, and +resolved to begin his experiments upon life. +“Youth,” cried he, “is the time of gladness: I +will join myself to the young men whose only business is to +gratify their desires, and whose time is all spent in a +succession of enjoyments.”</p> +<p>To such societies he was readily admitted, but a few days +brought him back weary and disgusted. Their mirth was +without images, their laughter without motive; their pleasures +were gross and sensual, in which the mind had no part; their +conduct was at once wild and mean—they laughed at order and +at law, but the frown of power dejected and the eye of wisdom +abashed them.</p> +<p>The Prince soon concluded that he should never be happy in a +course of life of which he was ashamed. He thought it +unsuitable to a reasonable being to act without a plan, and to be +sad or cheerful only by chance. “Happiness,” +said he, “must be something solid and permanent, without +fear and without uncertainty.”</p> +<p>But his young companions had gained so much of his regard by +their frankness and courtesy that he could not leave them without +warning and remonstrance. “My friends,” said +he, “I have seriously considered our manners and our +prospects, and find that we have mistaken our own interest. +The first years of man must make provision for the last. He +that never thinks, never can be wise. Perpetual levity must +end in ignorance; and intemperance, though it may fire the +spirits for an hour, will make life short or miserable. Let +us consider that youth is of no long duration, and that in mature +age, when the enchantments of fancy shall cease, and phantoms of +delight dance no more about us, we shall have no comforts but the +esteem of wise men and the means of doing good. Let us +therefore stop while to stop is in our power: let us live as men +who are some time to grow old, and to whom it will be the most +dreadful of all evils to count their past years by follies, and +to be reminded of their former luxuriance of health only by the +maladies which riot has produced.”</p> +<p>They stared awhile in silence one upon another, and at last +drove him away by a general chorus of continued laughter.</p> +<p><a name="page76"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 76</span>The +consciousness that his sentiments were just and his intention +kind was scarcely sufficient to support him against the horror of +derision. But he recovered his tranquillity and pursued his +search.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> +THE PRINCE FINDS A WISE AND HAPPY MAN.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">As</span> he was one day walking in the +street he saw a spacious building which all were by the open +doors invited to enter. He followed the stream of people, +and found it a hall or school of declamation, in which professors +read lectures to their auditory. He fixed his eye upon a +sage raised above the rest, who discoursed with great energy on +the government of the passions. His look was venerable, his +action graceful, his pronunciation clear, and his diction +elegant. He showed with great strength of sentiment and +variety of illustration that human nature is degraded and debased +when the lower faculties predominate over the higher; that when +fancy, the parent of passion, usurps the dominion of the mind, +nothing ensues but the natural effect of unlawful government, +perturbation, and confusion; that she betrays the fortresses of +the intellect to rebels, and excites her children to sedition +against their lawful sovereign. He compared reason to the +sun, of which the light is constant, uniform, and lasting; and +fancy to a meteor, of bright but transitory lustre, irregular in +its motion and delusive in its direction.</p> +<p>He then communicated the various precepts given from time to +time for the conquest of passion, and displayed the happiness of +those who had obtained the important victory, after which man is +no longer the slave of fear nor the fool of hope; is no more +emaciated by envy, inflamed by anger, emasculated by tenderness, +or depressed by grief; but walks on calmly through the tumults or +privacies of life, as the sun pursues alike his course through +the calm or the stormy sky.</p> +<p>He enumerated many examples of heroes immovable by pain or +pleasure, who looked with indifference on those modes or +accidents to which the vulgar give the names of good and +evil. He exhorted his hearers to lay aside their +prejudices, and arm themselves against the shafts of malice or +misfortune, by invulnerable patience: concluding that this state +only was happiness, and that this happiness was in every +one’s power.</p> +<p>Rasselas listened to him with the veneration due to the +instructions of a superior being, and waiting for him at the +door, humbly implored the liberty of visiting so great a master +of true wisdom. The lecturer hesitated a moment, when +Rasselas put a purse of gold into his hand, which he received +with a mixture of joy and wonder.</p> +<p>“I have found,” said the Prince at his return to +Imlac, “a man who can teach all that is necessary to be +known; who, from the unshaken throne of rational fortitude, looks +down on the scenes of life changing beneath him. He speaks, +and attention watches his lips. He reasons, and conviction +closes his periods. This man shall be my future guide: I +will learn his doctrines and imitate his life.”</p> +<p>“Be not too hasty,” said Imlac, “to trust or +to admire the teachers of morality: they discourse like angels, +but they live like men.”</p> +<p>Rasselas, who could not conceive how any man could reason so +forcibly without feeling the cogency of his own arguments, paid +his visit in a few days, and was denied admission. He had +now learned the power of money, and made his way by a piece of +gold to the inner apartment, where he found the philosopher in a +room half darkened, with his eyes misty and his face pale. +“Sir,” said he, “you are come at a time when +all human friendship is useless; what I suffer cannot be +remedied: what I have lost cannot be supplied. My daughter, +my only daughter, from whose tenderness I expected all the +comforts of my age, died last night of a fever. My views, +my purposes, my hopes, are at an end: I am now a lonely being, +disunited from society.”</p> +<p>“Sir,” said the Prince, “mortality is an +event by which a wise man can never be surprised: we know that +death is always near, and it should therefore always be +expected.” “Young man,” answered the +philosopher, “you speak like one that has never felt the +pangs of separation.” “Have you then forgot the +precepts,” said Rasselas, “which you so powerfully +enforced? Has wisdom no strength to arm the heart against +calamity? Consider that external things are naturally +variable, but truth and reason are always the same.” +“What comfort,” said the mourner, “can truth +and reason afford me? Of what effect are they now, but to +tell me that my daughter will not be restored?”</p> +<p>The Prince, whose humanity would not suffer him to insult +misery with reproof, went away, convinced of the emptiness of +rhetorical sounds, and the inefficacy of polished periods and +studied sentences.</p> +<h2><a name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +80</span>CHAPTER XIX<br /> +A GLIMPSE OF PASTORAL LIFE.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">He</span> was still eager upon the same +inquiry; and having heard of a hermit that lived near the lowest +cataract of the Nile, and filled the whole country with the fame +of his sanctity, resolved to visit his retreat, and inquire +whether that felicity which public life could not afford was to +be found in solitude, and whether a man whose age and virtue made +him venerable could teach any peculiar art of shunning evils or +enduring them.</p> +<p>Imlac and the Princess agreed to accompany him, and after the +necessary preparations, they began their journey. Their way +lay through the fields, where shepherds tended their flocks and +the lambs were playing upon the pasture. +“This,” said the poet, “is the life which has +been often celebrated for its innocence and quiet; let us pass +the heat of the day among the shepherds’ tents, and know +whether all our searches are not to terminate in pastoral +simplicity.”</p> +<p>The proposal pleased them; and they induced the shepherds, by +small presents and familiar questions, to tell the opinion of +their own state. They were so rude and ignorant, so little +able to compare the good with the evil of the occupation, and so +indistinct in their narratives and descriptions, that very little +could be learned from them. But it was evident that their +hearts were cankered with discontent; that they considered +themselves as condemned to labour for the luxury of the rich, and +looked up with stupid malevolence towards those that were placed +above them.</p> +<p>The Princess pronounced with vehemence that she would never +suffer these envious savages to be her companions, and that she +should not soon be desirous of seeing any more specimens of +rustic happiness; but could not believe that all the accounts of +primeval pleasures were fabulous, and was in doubt whether life +had anything that could be justly preferred to the placid +gratification of fields and woods. She hoped that the time +would come when, with a few virtuous and elegant companions, she +should gather flowers planted by her own hands, fondle the lambs +of her own ewe, and listen without care, among brooks and +breezes, to one of her maidens reading in the shade.</p> +<h2><a name="page82"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +82</span>CHAPTER XX<br /> +THE DANGER OF PROSPERITY.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">On</span> the next day they continued +their journey till the heat compelled them to look round for +shelter. At a small distance they saw a thick wood, which +they no sooner entered than they perceived that they were +approaching the habitations of men. The shrubs were +diligently cut away to open walks where the shades ware darkest; +the boughs of opposite trees were artificially interwoven; seats +of flowery turf were raised in vacant spaces; and a rivulet that +wantoned along the side of a winding path had its banks sometimes +opened into small basins, and its stream sometimes obstructed by +little mounds of stone heaped together to increase its +murmurs.</p> +<p>They passed slowly through the wood, delighted with such +unexpected accommodations, and entertained each other with +conjecturing what or who he could be that in those rude and +unfrequented regions had leisure and art for such harmless +luxury.</p> +<p>As they advanced they heard the sound of music, and saw youths +and virgins dancing in the grove; and going still farther beheld +a stately palace built upon a hill surrounded by woods. The +laws of Eastern hospitality allowed them to enter, and the master +welcomed them like a man liberal and wealthy.</p> +<p>He was skilful enough in appearances soon to discern that they +were no common guests, and spread his table with +magnificence. The eloquence of Imlac caught his attention, +and the lofty courtesy of the Princess excited his respect. +When they offered to depart, he entreated their stay, and was the +next day more unwilling to dismiss them than before. They +were easily persuaded to stop, and civility grew up in time to +freedom and confidence.</p> +<p>The Prince now saw all the domestics cheerful and all the face +of nature smiling round the place, and could not forbear to hope +that he should find here what he was seeking; but when he was +congratulating the master upon his possessions he answered with a +sigh, “My condition has indeed the appearance of happiness, +but appearances are delusive. My prosperity puts my life in +danger; the Bassa of Egypt is my enemy, incensed only by my +wealth and popularity. I have been hitherto protected +against him by the princes of the country; but as the favour of +the great is uncertain I know <a name="page84"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 84</span>not how soon my defenders may be +persuaded to share the plunder with the Bassa. I have sent +my treasures into a distant country, and upon the first alarm am +prepared to follow them. Then will my enemies riot in my +mansion, and enjoy the gardens which I have planted.”</p> +<p>They all joined in lamenting his danger and deprecating his +exile; and the Princess was so much disturbed with the tumult of +grief and indignation that she retired to her apartment. +They continued with their kind inviter a few days longer, and +then went to find the hermit.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI<br /> +THE HAPPINESS OF SOLITUDE—THE HERMIT’S HISTORY.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">They</span> came on the third day, by the +direction of the peasants, to the hermit’s cell. It +was a cavern in the side of a mountain, overshadowed with palm +trees, at such a distance from the cataract that nothing more was +heard than a gentle uniform murmur, such as composes the mind to +pensive meditation, especially when it was assisted by the wind +whistling among the branches. The first rude essay of +Nature had been so much improved by human labour that the cave +contained several apartments appropriated to different uses, and +often afforded lodging to travellers whom darkness or tempests +happened to overtake.</p> +<p>The hermit sat on a bench at the door, to enjoy the coolness +of the evening. On one side lay a book with pens and paper; +on the other mechanical instruments of various kinds. As +they approached him unregarded, the Princess observed that he had +not the countenance of a man that had found or could teach the +way to happiness.</p> +<p>They saluted him with great respect, which he repaid like a +man not unaccustomed to the forms of Courts. “My +children,” said he, “if you have lost your way, you +shall be willingly supplied with such conveniences for the night +as this cavern will afford. I have all that Nature +requires, and you will not expect delicacies in a hermit’s +cell.”</p> +<p>They thanked him; and, entering, were pleased with the +neatness and regularity of the place. The hermit set flesh +and wine before them, though he fed only upon fruits and +water. His discourse was cheerful without levity, and pious +without enthusiasm. He soon gained the esteem of his +guests, and the Princess repented her hasty censure.</p> +<p>At last Imlac began thus: “I do not now wonder that your +reputation is so far extended: we have heard at Cairo of your +wisdom, and came hither to implore your direction for this young +man and maiden in the <i>choice of life</i>.”</p> +<p>“To him that lives well,” answered the hermit, +“every form of life is good; nor can I give any other rule +for choice than to remove all apparent evil.”</p> +<p>“He will most certainly remove from evil,” said +the Prince, “who shall devote himself to that solitude +which you have recommended by your example.”</p> +<p>“I have indeed lived fifteen years in solitude,” +said the hermit, “but have no desire that my example should +gain any imitators. In my youth I professed arms, and was +raised by degrees to the highest military rank. I have +traversed wide countries at the head of my troops, and seen many +battles and sieges. At last, being disgusted by the +preferments of a younger officer, and feeling that my vigour was +beginning to decay, I resolved to close my life in peace, having +found the world full of snares, discord, and misery. I had +once escaped from the pursuit of the enemy by the shelter of this +cavern, and therefore chose it for my final residence. I +employed artificers to form it into chambers, and stored it with +all that I was likely to want.</p> +<p>“For some time after my retreat I rejoiced like a +tempest-beaten sailor at his entrance into the harbour, being +delighted with the sudden change of the noise and hurry of war to +stillness and repose. When the pleasure of novelty went +away, I employed my hours in examining the plants which grow in +the valley, and the minerals which I collected from the +rocks. But that inquiry is now grown tasteless and +irksome. I have been for some time unsettled and +distracted: my mind is disturbed with a thousand perplexities of +doubt and vanities of imagination, which hourly prevail upon me, +because I have no opportunities of relaxation or diversion. +I am sometimes ashamed to think that I could not secure myself +from vice but by retiring from the exercise of virtue, and begin +to suspect that I was rather impelled by resentment than led by +devotion into solitude. My fancy riots in scenes of folly, +and I lament that I have lost so much, and have gained so +little. In solitude, if I escape the example of bad men, I +want likewise the counsel and conversation of the good. I +have been long comparing the evils with <a +name="page88"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 88</span>the +advantages of society, and resolve to return into the world +to-morrow. The life of a solitary man will be certainly +miserable, but not certainly devout.”</p> +<p>They heard his resolution with surprise, but after a short +pause offered to conduct him to Cairo. He dug up a +considerable treasure which he had hid among the rocks, and +accompanied them to the city, on which, as he approached it, he +gazed with rapture.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII<br /> +THE HAPPINESS OF A LIFE LED ACCORDING TO NATURE.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Rasselas</span> went often to an assembly +of learned men, who met at stated times to unbend their minds and +compare their opinions. Their manners were somewhat coarse, +but their conversation was instructive, and their disputations +acute, though sometimes too violent, and often continued till +neither controvertist remembered upon what question he +began. Some faults were almost general among them: every +one was pleased to hear the genius or knowledge of another +depreciated.</p> +<p>In this assembly Rasselas was relating his interview with the +hermit, and the wonder with which he heard him censure a course +of life which he had so deliberately chosen and so laudably +followed. The sentiments of the hearers were various. +Some were of opinion that the folly of his choice had been justly +punished by condemnation to perpetual perseverance. One of +the youngest among them, with great vehemence, pronounced him a +hypocrite. Some talked of the right of society to the +labour of individuals, and considered retirement as a desertion +of duty. Others readily allowed that there was a time when +the claims of the public were satisfied, and when a man might +properly sequester himself, to review his life and purify his +heart.</p> +<p>One who appeared more affected with the narrative than the +rest thought it likely that the hermit would in a few years go +back to his retreat, and perhaps, if shame did not restrain or +death intercept him, return once more from his retreat into the +world. “For the hope of happiness,” said he, +“is so strongly impressed that the longest experience is +not able to efface it. Of the present state, whatever it +be, we feel and are forced to confess the misery; yet when the +same state is again at a distance, imagination paints it as +desirable. But the time will surely come when desire will +no longer be our torment and no man shall be wretched but by his +own fault.</p> +<p>“This,” said a philosopher who had heard him with +tokens of great impatience, “is the present condition of a +wise man. The time is already come when none are wretched +but by their own fault. Nothing is more idle than to +inquire after happiness which Nature has kindly placed within our +reach. The way to be happy is to live according to Nature, +in obedience to that universal and unalterable law with which +every heart is originally impressed; which is not written on it +by precept, but engraven by destiny; not instilled by education, +but infused at our nativity. He that lives according to +Nature will suffer nothing from the delusions of hope or +importunities of desire; he will receive and reject with +equability of temper; and act or suffer as the reason of things +shall alternately prescribe. Other men may amuse themselves +with subtle definitions or intricate ratiocination. Let +them learn to be wise by easier means: let them observe the hind +of the forest and the linnet of the grove: let them consider the +life of animals, whose motions are regulated by instinct; they +obey their guide, and are happy. Let us therefore at length +cease to dispute, and learn to live: throw away the encumbrance +of precepts, which they who utter them with so much pride and +pomp do not understand, and carry with us this simple and +intelligible maxim: that deviation from Nature is deviation from +happiness.”</p> +<p>When he had spoken he looked round him with a placid air, and +enjoyed the consciousness of his own beneficence.</p> +<p>“Sir,” said the Prince with great modesty, +“as I, like all the rest of mankind, am desirous of +felicity, my closest attention has been fixed upon your +discourse: I doubt not the truth of a position which a man so +learned has so confidently advanced. Let me only know what +it is to live according to Nature.”</p> +<p>“When I find young men so humble and so docile,” +said the philosopher, “I can deny them no information which +my studies have enabled me to afford. To live according to +Nature is to act always with due regard to the fitness arising +from the relations and qualities of causes and effects; to concur +with the great and unchangeable scheme of universal felicity; to +co-operate with the general disposition and tendency of the +present system of things.”</p> +<p><a name="page92"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 92</span>The +Prince soon found that this was one of the sages whom he should +understand less as he heard him longer. He therefore bowed +and was silent; and the philosopher, supposing him satisfied and +the rest vanquished, rose up and departed with the air of a man +that had co-operated with the present system.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> +THE PRINCE AND HIS SISTER DIVIDE BETWEEN THEM THE WORK OF +OBSERVATION.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Rasselas</span> returned home full of +reflections, doubting how to direct his future steps. Of +the way to happiness he found the learned and simple equally +ignorant; but as he was yet young, he flattered himself that he +had time remaining for more experiments and further +inquiries. He communicated to Imlac his observations and +his doubts, but was answered by him with new doubts and remarks +that gave him no comfort. He therefore discoursed more +frequently and freely with his sister, who had yet the same hope +with himself, and always assisted him to give some reason why, +though he had been hitherto frustrated, he might succeed at +last.</p> +<p><a name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +93</span>“We have hitherto,” said she, “known +but little of the world; we have never yet been either great or +mean. In our own country, though we had royalty, we had no +power; and in this we have not yet seen the private recesses of +domestic peace. Imlac favours not our search, lest we +should in time find him mistaken. We will divide the task +between us; you shall try what is to be found in the splendour of +Courts, and I will range the shades of humbler life. +Perhaps command and authority may be the supreme blessings, as +they afford the most opportunities of doing good; or perhaps what +this world can give may be found in the modest habitations of +middle fortune—too low for great designs, and too high for +penury and distress.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV<br /> +THE PRINCE EXAMINES THE HAPPINESS OF HIGH STATIONS.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Rasselas</span> applauded the design, and +appeared next day with a splendid retinue at the Court of the +Bassa. He was soon distinguished for his magnificence, and +admitted, as a Prince whose curiosity had brought him from +distant countries, to an intimacy with the great officers and +frequent conversation with the Bassa himself.</p> +<p>He was at first inclined to believe that the man must be +pleased with his own condition whom all approached with reverence +and heard with obedience, and who had the power to extend his +edicts to a whole kingdom. “There can be no +pleasure,” said he, “equal to that of feeling at once +the joy of thousands all made happy by wise administration. +Yet, since by the law of subordination this sublime delight can +be in one nation but the lot of one, it is surely reasonable to +think that there is some satisfaction more popular and +accessible, and that millions can hardly be subjected to the will +of a single man, only to fill his particular breast with +incommunicable content.”</p> +<p>These thoughts were often in his mind, and he found no +solution of the difficulty. But as presents and civilities +gained him more familiarity, he found that almost every man who +stood high in his employment hated all the rest and was hated by +them, and that their lives were a continual succession of plots +and detections, stratagems and escapes, faction and +treachery. Many of those who surrounded the Bassa were sent +only to watch and <a name="page95"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +95</span>report his conduct: every tongue was muttering censure, +and every eye was searching for a fault.</p> +<p>At last the letters of revocation arrived: the Bassa was +carried in chains to Constantinople, and his name was mentioned +no more.</p> +<p>“What are we now to think of the prerogatives of +power?” said Rasselas to his sister: “is it without +efficacy to good, or is the subordinate degree only dangerous, +and the supreme safe and glorious? Is the Sultan the only +happy man in his dominions, or is the Sultan himself subject to +the torments of suspicion and the dread of enemies?”</p> +<p>In a short time the second Bassa was deposed. The Sultan +that had advanced him was murdered by the Janissaries, and his +successor had other views or different favourites.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV<br /> +THE PRINCESS PURSUES HER INQUIRY WITH MORE DILIGENCE THAN +SUCCESS.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Princess in the meantime +insinuated herself into many families; for there are few doors +through which liberality, joined with good humour, cannot find +its way. The daughters of many houses were airy and +cheerful; but Nekayah had been too long accustomed to the +conversation of Imlac and her brother to be much pleased with +childish levity and prattle which had no meaning. She found +their thoughts narrow, their wishes low, and their merriment +often artificial. Their pleasures, poor as they were, could +not be preserved pure, but were embittered by petty competitions +and worthless emulation. They were always jealous of the +beauty of each other, of a quality to which solicitude can add +nothing, and from which detraction can take nothing away. +Many were in love with triflers like themselves, and many fancied +that they were in love when in truth they were only idle. +Their affection was not fixed on sense or virtue, and therefore +seldom ended but in vexation. Their grief, however, like +their joy, was transient; everything floated in their mind +unconnected with the past or future, so that one desire easily +gave way to another, as a second stone, cast into the water, +effaces and confounds the circles of the first.</p> +<p>With these girls she played as with inoffensive animals, and +found them proud of her countenance and weary of her company.</p> +<p>But her purpose was to examine more deeply, and her affability +easily persuaded the hearts that were swelling with sorrow to +discharge their secrets in her ear, and those whom hope flattered +or prosperity delighted often courted her to partake their +pleasure.</p> +<p>The Princess and her brother commonly met in the evening in a +private summerhouse on the banks of the Nile, and related to each +other the occurrences of the day. As they were sitting +together the Princess cast her eyes upon the river that flowed +before her. “Answer,” said she, “great +father of waters, thou that rollest thy goods through eighty +nations, to the invocations of the daughter of thy native +king. Tell me if thou waterest through all thy course a +single habitation from which thou dost not hear the murmurs of +complaint.”</p> +<p>“You are then,” said Rasselas, “not more +successful in private houses than I have been in +Courts.” “I have, since the last partition of +our provinces,” said the Princess, “enabled myself to +enter familiarly into many families, where there was the fairest +show of prosperity and peace, and know not one house that is not +haunted by some fury that destroys their quiet.</p> +<p>“I did not seek ease among the poor, because I concluded +that there it could not be found. But I saw many poor whom +I had supposed to live in affluence. Poverty has in large +cities very different appearances. It is often concealed in +splendour and often in extravagance. It is the care of a +very great part of mankind to conceal their indigence from the +rest. They support themselves by temporary expedients, and +every day is lost in contriving for the morrow.</p> +<p>“This, however, was an evil which, though frequent, I +saw with less pain, because I could relieve it. Yet some +have refused my bounties; more offended with my quickness to +detect their wants than pleased with my readiness to succour +them; and others, whose exigencies compelled them to admit my +kindness, have never been able to forgive their +benefactress. Many, however, have been sincerely grateful +without the ostentation of gratitude or the hope of other +favours.”</p> +<h2><a name="page99"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +99</span>CHAPTER XXVI<br /> +THE PRINCESS CONTINUES HER REMARKS UPON PRIVATE LIFE.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Nekayah</span>, perceiving her +brother’s attention fixed, proceeded in her narrative.</p> +<p>“In families where there is or is not poverty there is +commonly discord. If a kingdom be, as Imlac tells us, a +great family, a family likewise is a little kingdom, torn with +factions and exposed to revolutions. An unpractised +observer expects the love of parents and children to be constant +and equal. But this kindness seldom continues beyond the +years of infancy; in a short time the children become rivals to +their parents. Benefits are allowed by reproaches, and +gratitude debased by envy.</p> +<p>“Parents and children seldom act in concert; each child +endeavours to appropriate the esteem or the fondness of the +parents; and the parents, with yet less temptation, betray each +other to their children. Thus, some place their confidence +in the father and some in the mother, and by degrees the house is +filled with artifices and feuds.</p> +<p>“The opinions of children and parents, of the young and +the old, are naturally opposite, by the contrary effects of hope +and despondency, of expectation and experience, without crime or +folly on either side. The colours of life in youth and age +appear different, as the face of Nature in spring and +winter. And how can children credit the assertions of +parents which their own eyes show them to be false?</p> +<p>“Few parents act in such a manner as much to enforce +their maxims by the credit of their lives. The old man +trusts wholly to slow contrivance and gradual progression; the +youth expects to force his way by genius, vigour, and +precipitance. The old man pays regard to riches, and the +youth reverences virtue. The old man deifies prudence; the +youth commits himself to magnanimity and chance. The young +man, who intends no ill, believes that none is intended, and +therefore acts with openness and candour; but his father; having +suffered the injuries of fraud, is impelled to suspect and too +often allured to practise it. Age looks with anger on the +temerity of youth, and youth with contempt on the scrupulosity of +age. Thus parents and children for the greatest part live +on to love less and less; and if those whom Nature has thus +closely united are the torments of each other, where shall we +look for tenderness and consolations?”</p> +<p>“Surely,” said the Prince, “you must have +been unfortunate in your choice of acquaintance. I am +unwilling to believe that the most tender of all relations is +thus impeded in its effects by natural necessity.”</p> +<p>“Domestic discord,” answered she, “is not +inevitably and fatally necessary, but yet it is not easily +avoided. We seldom see that a whole family is virtuous; the +good and the evil cannot well agree, and the evil can yet less +agree with one another. Even the virtuous fall sometimes to +variance, when their virtues are of different kinds and tending +to extremes. In general, those parents have most reverence +who most deserve it, for he that lives well cannot be +despised.</p> +<p>“Many other evils infest private life. Some are +the slaves of servants whom they have trusted with their +affairs. Some are kept in continual anxiety by the caprice +of rich relations, whom they cannot please and dare not +offend. Some husbands are imperious and some wives +perverse, and, as it is always more easy to do evil than good, +though the wisdom or virtue of one can very rarely make many +happy, the folly or vice of one makes many miserable.”</p> +<p>“If such be the general effect of marriage,” said +the Prince, “I shall for the future think it dangerous to +connect my interest with that of another, lest I should be +unhappy by my partner’s fault.”</p> +<p>“I have met,” said the Princess, “with many +who live single for that reason, but I never found that their +prudence ought to raise envy. They dream away their time +without friendship, without fondness, and are driven to rid +themselves of the day, for which they have no use, by childish +amusements or vicious delights. They act as beings under +the constant sense of some known inferiority that fills their +minds with rancour and their tongues with censure. They are +peevish at home and malevolent abroad, and, as the outlaws of +human nature, make it their business and their pleasure to +disturb that society which debars them from its privileges. +To live without feeling or exciting sympathy, to be fortunate +without adding to the felicity of others, or afflicted without +tasting the balm of pity, is a state more gloomy than solitude; +it is not retreat but exclusion from mankind. Marriage has +many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.”</p> +<p>“What then is to be done?” said Rasselas. +“The more we inquire the less we can resolve. Surely +he is most likely to please himself that has no other inclination +to regard.”</p> +<h2><a name="page103"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +103</span>CHAPTER XXVII<br /> +DISQUISITION UPON GREATNESS.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> conversation had a short +pause. The Prince, having considered his sister’s +observation, told her that she had surveyed life with prejudice +and supposed misery where she did not find it. “Your +narrative,” says he, “throws yet a darker gloom upon +the prospects of futurity. The predictions of Imlac were +but faint sketches of the evils painted by Nekayah. I have +been lately convinced that quiet is not the daughter of grandeur +or of power; that her presence is not to be bought by wealth nor +enforced by conquest. It is evident that as any man acts in +a wider compass he must be more exposed to opposition from enmity +or miscarriage from chance. Whoever has many to please or +to govern must use the ministry of many agents, some of whom will +be wicked and some ignorant, by some he will be misled and by +others betrayed. If he gratifies one he will offend +another; those that are not favoured will think themselves +injured, and since favours can be conferred but upon few the +greater number will be always discontented.”</p> +<p>“The discontent,” said the Princess, “which +is thus unreasonable, I hope that I shall always have spirit to +despise and you power to repress.”</p> +<p>“Discontent,” answered Rasselas, “will not +always be without reason under the most just and vigilant +administration of public affairs. None, however attentive, +can always discover that merit which indigence or faction may +happen to obscure, and none, however powerful, can always reward +it. Yet he that sees inferior desert advanced above him +will naturally impute that preference to partiality or caprice, +and indeed it can scarcely be hoped that any man, however +magnanimous by Nature or exalted by condition, will be able to +persist for ever in fixed and inexorable justice of distribution; +he will sometimes indulge his own affections and sometimes those +of his favourites; he will permit some to please him who can +never serve him; he will discover in those whom he loves +qualities which in reality they do not possess, and to those from +whom he receives pleasure he will in his turn endeavour to give +it. Thus will recommendations sometimes prevail which were +purchased by money or by the more destructive bribery of flattery +and servility.</p> +<p>“He that hath much to do will do something wrong, and of +that wrong must suffer the consequences, and if it were possible +that he should always act rightly, yet, when such numbers are to +judge of his conduct, the bad will censure and obstruct him by +malevolence and the good sometimes by mistake.</p> +<p>“The highest stations cannot therefore hope to be the +abodes of happiness, which I would willingly believe to have fled +from thrones and palaces to seats of humble privacy and placid +obscurity. For what can hinder the satisfaction or +intercept the expectations of him whose abilities are adequate to +his employments, who sees with his own eyes the whole circuit of +his influence, who chooses by his own knowledge all whom he +trusts, and whom none are tempted to deceive by hope or +fear? Surely he has nothing to do but to love and to be +loved; to be virtuous and to be happy.”</p> +<p>“Whether perfect happiness would be procured by perfect +goodness,” said Nekayah, “this world will never +afford an opportunity of deciding. But this, at least, may +be maintained, that we do not always find visible happiness in +proportion to visible virtue. All natural and almost all +political evils are incident alike to the bad and good; they are +confounded in the misery of a famine, and not much distinguished +in the fury of a faction; they <a name="page106"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 106</span>sink together in a tempest and are +driven together from their country by invaders. All that +virtue can afford is quietness of conscience and a steady +prospect of a happier state; this may enable us to endure +calamity with patience, but remember that patience must oppose +pain.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII<br /> +RASSELAS AND NEKAYAH CONTINUE THEIR CONVERSATION.</h2> +<p>“<span class="smcap">Dear</span> Princess,” said +Rasselas, “you fall into the common errors of exaggeratory +declamation, by producing in a familiar disquisition examples of +national calamities and scenes of extensive misery which are +found in books rather than in the world, and which, as they are +horrid, are ordained to be rare. Let us not imagine evils +which we do not feel, nor injure life by +misrepresentations. I cannot bear that querulous eloquence +which threatens every city with a siege like that of Jerusalem, +that makes famine attend on every flight of locust, and suspends +pestilence on the wing of every blast that issues from the +south.</p> +<p>“On necessary and inevitable evils which overwhelm +kingdoms at once all disputation is vain; when they happen they +must be endured. But it is evident that these bursts of +universal distress are more dreaded than felt; thousands and tens +of thousands flourish in youth and wither in age, without the +knowledge of any other than domestic evils, and share the same +pleasures and vexations, whether their kings are mild or cruel, +whether the armies of their country pursue their enemies or +retreat before them. While Courts are disturbed with +intestine competitions and ambassadors are negotiating in foreign +countries, the smith still plies his anvil and the husbandman +drives his plough forward; the necessaries of life are required +and obtained, and the successive business of the season continues +to make its wonted revolutions.</p> +<p>“Let us cease to consider what perhaps may never happen, +and what, when it shall happen, will laugh at human +speculation. We will not endeavour to modify the motions of +the elements or to fix the destiny of kingdoms. It is our +business to consider what beings like us may perform, each +labouring for his own happiness by promoting within his circle, +however narrow, the happiness of others.</p> +<p>“Marriage is evidently the dictate of Nature; men and +women were made to be the companions of each other, and therefore +I cannot be persuaded but that marriage is one of the means of +happiness.”</p> +<p>“I know not,” said the Princess, “whether +marriage be more than one of the innumerable modes of human +misery. When I see and reckon the various forms of +connubial infelicity, the unexpected causes of lasting discord, +the diversities of temper, the oppositions of opinion, the rude +collisions of contrary desire where both are urged by violent +impulses, the obstinate contest of disagreeing virtues where both +are supported by consciousness of good intention, I am sometimes +disposed to think, with the severer casuists of most nations, +that marriage is rather permitted than approved, and that none, +but by the instigation of a passion too much indulged, entangle +themselves with indissoluble compact.”</p> +<p>“You seem to forget,” replied Rasselas, +“that you have, even now represented celibacy as less happy +than marriage. Both conditions may be bad, but they cannot +both be worse. Thus it happens, when wrong opinions are +entertained, that they mutually destroy each other and leave the +mind open to truth.”</p> +<p>“I did not expect,” answered, the Princess, +“to hear that imputed to falsehood which is the consequence +only of frailty. To the mind, as to the eye, it is +difficult to compare with exactness objects vast in their extent +and various in their parts. When we see or conceive the +whole at once, we readily note the discriminations and decide the +preference, but of two systems, of which neither can be surveyed +by any human being in its full compass of magnitude and +multiplicity of complication, where is the wonder that, judging +of the whole by parts, I am alternately affected by one and the +other as either presses on my memory or fancy? We differ +from ourselves just as we differ from each other when we see only +part of the question, as in the multifarious relations of +politics and morality, but when we perceive the whole at once, as +in numerical computations, all agree in one judgment, and none +ever varies in his opinion.”</p> +<p>“Let us not add,” said the Prince, “to the +other evils of life the bitterness of controversy, nor endeavour +to vie with each other in subtilties of argument. We are +employed in a search of which both are equally to enjoy the +success or suffer by the miscarriage; it is therefore fit that we +assist each other. You surely conclude too hastily from the +infelicity of marriage against its institution; <a +name="page110"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 110</span>will not +the misery of life prove equally that life cannot be the gift of +Heaven? The world must be peopled by marriage or peopled +without it.”</p> +<p>“How the world is to be peopled,” returned +Nekayah, “is not my care and need not be yours. I see +no danger that the present generation should omit to leave +successors behind them; we are not now inquiring for the world, +but for ourselves.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX<br /> +THE DEBATE ON MARRIAGE (<i>continued</i>).</h2> +<p>“<span class="smcap">The</span> good of the +whole,” says Rasselas, “is the same with the good of +all its parts. If marriage be best for mankind, it must be +evidently best for individuals; or a permanent and necessary duty +must be the cause of evil, and some must be inevitably sacrificed +to the convenience of others. In the estimate which you +have made of the two states, it appears that the incommodities of +a single life are in a great measure necessary and certain, but +those of the conjugal state accidental and avoidable. I +cannot forbear to flatter myself that prudence and benevolence +will make marriage happy. The general folly of mankind is +the cause of general complaint. What can be expected but +disappointment and repentance from a choice made in the +immaturity of youth, in the ardour of desire, without judgment, +without foresight, without inquiry after conformity of opinions, +similarity of manners, rectitude of judgment, or purity of +sentiment?</p> +<p>“Such is the common process of marriage. A youth +and maiden, meeting by chance or brought together by artifice, +exchange glances, reciprocate civilities, go home and dream of +one another. Having little to divert attention or diversify +thought, they find themselves uneasy when they are apart, and +therefore conclude that they shall be happy together. They +marry, and discover what nothing but voluntary blindness before +had concealed; they wear out life in altercations, and charge +Nature with cruelty.</p> +<p>“From those early marriages proceeds likewise the +rivalry of parents and children: the son is eager to enjoy the +world before the father is willing to forsake it, and there is +hardly room at once for two generations. The daughter +begins to bloom before the mother can be content to fade, and +neither can forbear to wish for the absence of the other.</p> +<p>“Surely all these evils may be avoided by that +deliberation and delay which prudence prescribes to irrevocable +choice. In the variety and jollity of youthful pleasures, +life may be well enough supported without the help of a +partner. Longer time will increase experience, and wider +views will allow better opportunities of inquiry and selection; +one advantage at least will be certain, the parents will be +visibly older than their children.”</p> +<p>“What reason cannot collect,” said Nekayah, +“and what experiment has not yet taught, can be known only +from the report of others. I have been told that late +marriages are not eminently happy. This is a question too +important to be neglected; and I have often proposed it to those +whose accuracy of remark and comprehensiveness of knowledge made +their suffrages worthy of regard. They have generally +determined that it is dangerous for a man and woman to suspend +their fate upon each other at a time when opinions are fixed and +habits are established, when friendships have been contracted on +both sides, when life has been planned into method, and the mind +has long enjoyed the contemplation of its own prospects.</p> +<p>“It is scarcely possible that two travelling through the +world under the conduct of chance should have been both directed +to the same path, and it will not often happen that either will +quit the track which custom has made pleasing. When the +desultory levity of youth has settled into regularity, it is soon +succeeded by pride ashamed to yield, or obstinacy delighting to +contend. And even though mutual esteem produces mutual +desire to please, time itself, as it modifies unchangeably the +external mien, determines likewise the direction of the passions, +and gives an inflexible rigidity to the manners. Long +customs are not easily broken; he that attempts to change the +course of his own life very often labours in vain, and how shall +we do that for others which we are seldom able to do for +ourselves?”</p> +<p>“But surely,” interposed the Prince, “you +suppose the chief motive of choice forgotten or neglected. +Whenever I shall seek a wife, it shall be my first question +whether she be willing to be led by reason.”</p> +<p>“Thus it is,” said Nekayah, “that +philosophers are deceived. There are a thousand familiar +disputes which reason never can decide; questions that elude +investigation, and make logic ridiculous; cases where something +must be done, and where little can be said. Consider the +state of mankind, and inquire how few can be supposed to act upon +any occasions, whether small or great, with all the reasons of +action present to their minds. Wretched would be the pair, +above all names of wretchedness, who should be doomed to adjust +by reason every morning all the minute details of a domestic +day.</p> +<p>“Those who marry at an advanced age will probably escape +the encroachments of their children, but in the diminution of +this advantage they will be likely to leave them, ignorant and +helpless, to a guardian’s mercy; or if that should not +happen, they must at least go out of the world before they see +those whom they love best either wise or great.</p> +<p>“From their children, if they have less to fear, they +have less also to hope; and they lose without equivalent the joys +of early love, and the convenience of uniting with manners pliant +and minds susceptible of new impressions, which might wear away +their dissimilitudes by long cohabitation, as soft bodies by +continual attrition conform their surfaces to each other.</p> +<p>“I believe it will be found that those who marry late +are best pleased with their children, and those who marry early +with their partners.”</p> +<p>“The union of these two affections,” said +Rasselas, “would produce all that could be wished. +Perhaps there is a time when marriage might unite them—a +time neither too early for the father nor too late for the +husband.”</p> +<p>“Every hour,” answered the Princess, +“confirms my prejudice in favour of the position so often +uttered by the mouth of Imlac, that ‘Nature sets her gifts +on the right hand and on the left.’ Those conditions +which flatter hope and attract desire are so constituted that as +we approach one we recede from another. There are goods so +opposed that we cannot seize both, but by too much prudence may +pass between them at too great a distance to reach either. +This is often the fate of long consideration; he does nothing who +endeavours to do more than is allowed to humanity. Flatter +not yourself with contrarieties of pleasure. Of the +blessings set before you make your choice, and be content. +No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his +scent with the flowers of the spring; no man can at the same time +fill his cup from the source and from the mouth of the +Nile.”</p> +<h2><a name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +116</span>CHAPTER XXX<br /> +IMLAC ENTERS, AND CHANGES THE CONVERSATION.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Here</span> Imlac entered, and interrupted +them. “Imlac,” said Rasselas, “I have +been taking from the Princess the dismal history of private life, +and am almost discouraged from further search.”</p> +<p>“It seems to me,” said Imlac, “that while +you are making the choice of life you neglect to live. You +wander about a single city, which, however large and diversified, +can now afford few novelties, and forget that you are in a +country famous among the earliest monarchies for the power and +wisdom of its inhabitants—a country where the sciences +first dawned that illuminate the world, and beyond which the arts +cannot be traced of civil society or domestic life.</p> +<p>“The old Egyptians have left behind them monuments of +industry and power before which all European magnificence is +confessed to fade away. The ruins of their architecture are +the schools of modern builders; and from the wonders which time +has spared we may conjecture, though uncertainly, what it has +destroyed.”</p> +<p>“My curiosity,” said Rasselas, “does not +very strongly lead me to survey piles of stone or mounds of +earth. My business is with man. I came hither not to +measure fragments of temples or trace choked aqueducts, but to +look upon the various scenes of the present world.”</p> +<p>“The things that are now before us,” said the +Princess, “require attention, and deserve it. What +have I to do with the heroes or the monuments of ancient +times—with times which can never return, and heroes whose +form of life was different from all that the present condition of +mankind requires or allows?”</p> +<p>“To know anything,” returned the poet, “we +must know its effects; to see men, we must see their works, that +we may learn what reason has dictated or passion has excited, and +find what are the most powerful motives of action. To judge +rightly of the present, we must oppose it to the past; for all +judgment is comparative, and of the future nothing can be +known. The truth is that no mind is much employed upon the +present; recollection and anticipation fill up almost all our +moments. Our passions are joy and grief, love and hatred, +hope and fear. Of joy and grief, the past is the object, +and the future of hope and fear; even love and hatred respect the +past, for the cause must have been before the effect.</p> +<p>“The present state of things is the consequence of the +former; and it is natural to inquire what were the sources of the +good that we enjoy, or the evils that we suffer. If we act +only for ourselves, to neglect the study of history is not +prudent. If we are entrusted with the care of others, it is +not just. Ignorance, when it is voluntary, is criminal; and +he may properly be charged with evil who refused to learn how he +might prevent it.</p> +<p>“There is no part of history so generally useful as that +which relates to the progress of the human mind, the gradual +improvement of reason, the successive advances of science, the +vicissitudes of learning and ignorance (which are the light and +darkness of thinking beings), the extinction and resuscitation of +arts, and the revolutions of the intellectual world. If +accounts of battles and invasions are peculiarly the business of +princes, the useful or elegant arts are not to be neglected; +those who have kingdoms to govern have understandings to +cultivate.</p> +<p>“Example is always more efficacious than precept. +A soldier is formed in war, and a painter must copy +pictures. In this, contemplative life has the +advantage. Great actions are seldom seen, but the labours +of art are always at hand for those who desire to know what art +has been able to perform.</p> +<p>“When the eye or the imagination is struck with any +uncommon work, the next transition of an active mind is to the +means by which it was performed. Here begins the true use +of such contemplation. We enlarge our comprehension by new +ideas, and perhaps recover some art lost to mankind, or learn +what is less perfectly known in our own country. At least +we compare our own with former times, and either rejoice at our +improvements, or, what is the first motion towards good, discover +our defects.”</p> +<p>“I am willing,” said the Prince, “to see all +that can deserve my search.”</p> +<p>“And I,” said the Princess, “shall rejoice +to learn something of the manners of antiquity.”</p> +<p>“The most pompous monument of Egyptian greatness, and +one of the most bulky works of manual industry,” said +Imlac, “are the Pyramids: fabrics raised before the time of +history, and of which the earliest narratives afford us only +uncertain traditions. Of these the greatest is still +standing, very little injured by time.”</p> +<p><a name="page120"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +120</span>“Let us visit them to-morrow,” said +Nekayah. “I have often heard of the Pyramids, and +shall not rest till I have seen them, within and without, with my +own eyes.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXI<br /> +THEY VISIT THE PYRAMIDS.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> resolution being thus taken, +they set out the next day. They laid tents upon their +camels, being resolved to stay among the Pyramids till their +curiosity was fully satisfied. They travelled gently, +turned aside to everything remarkable, stopped from time to time +and conversed with the inhabitants, and observed the various +appearances of towns ruined and inhabited, of wild and cultivated +nature.</p> +<p>When they came to the Great Pyramid they were astonished at +the extent of the base and the height of the top. Imlac +explained to them the principles upon which the pyramidal form +was chosen for a fabric intended to co-extend its duration with +that of the world: he showed that its gradual diminution gave it +such stability as defeated all the common attacks of the +elements, and could scarcely be overthrown by earthquakes +themselves, the least resistible of natural violence. A +concussion that should shatter the pyramid would threaten the +dissolution of the continent.</p> +<p>They measured all its dimensions, and pitched their tents at +its foot. Next day they prepared to enter its interior +apartments, and having hired the common guides, climbed up to the +first passage; when the favourite of the Princess, looking into +the cavity, stepped back and trembled. +“Pekuah,” said the Princess, “of what art thou +afraid?”</p> +<p>“Of the narrow entrance,” answered the lady, +“and of the dreadful gloom. I dare not enter a place +which must surely be inhabited by unquiet souls. The +original possessors of these dreadful vaults will start up before +us, and perhaps shut us in for ever.” She spoke, and +threw her arms round the neck of her mistress.</p> +<p>“If all your fear be of apparitions,” said the +Prince, “I will promise you safety. There is no +danger from the dead: he that is once buried will be seen no +more.”</p> +<p>“That the dead are seen no more,” said Imlac, +“I will not undertake to maintain against the concurrent +and unvaried testimony of all ages and of all nations. +There is no people, rude or learned, among whom apparitions of +the dead are not related and believed. This opinion, which +perhaps prevails as far as human nature is diffused, could become +universal only by its truth: those that never heard of one +another would not have agreed in a tale which nothing but +experience can make credible. That it is doubted by single +cavillers can very little weaken the general evidence, and some +who deny it with their tongues confess it by their fears.</p> +<p>“Yet I do not mean to add new terrors to those which +have already seized upon Pekuah. There can be no reason why +spectres should haunt the Pyramid more than other places, or why +they should have power or will to hurt innocence and +purity. Our entrance is no violation of their privileges: +we can take nothing from them; how, then, can we offend +them?”</p> +<p>“My dear Pekuah,” said the Princess, “I will +always go before you, and Imlac shall follow you. Remember +that you are the companion of the Princess of +Abyssinia.”</p> +<p>“If the Princess is pleased that her servant should +die,” returned the lady, “let her command some death +less dreadful than enclosure in this horrid cavern. You +know I dare not disobey you—<a name="page123"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 123</span>I must go if you command me; but if +I once enter, I never shall come back.”</p> +<p>The Princess saw that her fear was too strong for +expostulation or reproof, and, embracing her, told her that she +should stay in the tent till their return. Pekuah was not +yet satisfied, but entreated the Princess not to pursue so +dreadful a purpose as that of entering the recesses of the +Pyramids. “Though I cannot teach courage,” said +Nekayah, “I must not learn cowardice, nor leave at last +undone what I came hither only to do.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXII<br /> +THEY ENTER THE PYRAMID.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Pekuah</span> descended to the tents, and +the rest entered the Pyramid. They passed through the +galleries, surveyed the vaults of marble, and examined the chest +in which the body of the founder is supposed to have been +deposited. They then sat down in one of the most spacious +chambers to rest awhile before they attempted to return.</p> +<p>“We have now,” said Imlac, “gratified our +minds with an exact view of the greatest work of man, except the +wall of China.</p> +<p>“Of the wall it is very easy to assign the motive. +It secured a wealthy and timorous nation from the incursions of +barbarians, whose unskilfulness in the arts made it easier for +them to supply their wants by rapine than by industry, and who +from time to time poured in upon the inhabitants of peaceful +commerce as vultures descend upon domestic fowl. Their +celerity and fierceness made the wall necessary, and their +ignorance made it efficacious.</p> +<p>“But for the Pyramids, no reason has ever been given +adequate to the cost and labour of the work. The narrowness +of the chambers proves that it could afford no retreat from +enemies, and treasures might have been reposited at far less +expense with equal security. It seems to have been erected +only in compliance with that hunger of imagination which preys +incessantly upon life, and must be always appeased by some +employment. Those who have already all that they can enjoy +must enlarge their desires. He that has built for use till +use is supplied must begin to build for vanity, and extend his +plan to the utmost power of human performance that he may not be +soon reduced to form another wish.</p> +<p>“I consider this mighty structure as a monument of the +insufficiency of human enjoyments. A king <a +name="page125"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 125</span>whose power +is unlimited, and whose treasures surmount all real and imaginary +wants, is compelled to solace, by the erection of a pyramid, the +satiety of dominion and tastelessness of pleasures, and to amuse +the tediousness of declining life by seeing thousands labouring +without end, and one stone, for no purpose, laid upon +another. Whoever thou art that, not content with a moderate +condition, imaginest happiness in royal magnificence, and +dreamest that command or riches can feed the appetite of novelty +with perpetual gratifications, survey the Pyramids, and confess +thy folly!”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII<br /> +THE PRINCESS MEETS WITH AN UNEXPECTED MISFORTUNE.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">They</span> rose up, and returned through +the cavity at which they had entered; and the Princess prepared +for her favourite a long narrative of dark labyrinths and costly +rooms, and of the different impressions which the varieties of +the way had made upon her. But when they came to their +train, they found every one silent and dejected: the men +discovered shame and fear in their countenances, and the women +were weeping in their tents.</p> +<p>What had happened they did not try to conjecture, but +immediately inquired. “You had scarcely entered into +the Pyramid,” said one of the attendants, “when a +troop of Arabs rushed upon us: we were too few to resist them, +and too slow to escape. They were about to search the +tents, set us on our camels, and drive us along before them, when +the approach of some Turkish horsemen put them to flight: but +they seized the Lady Pekuah with her two maids, and carried them +away: the Turks are now pursuing them by our instigation, but I +fear they will not be able to overtake them.”</p> +<p>The Princess was overpowered with surprise and grief. +Rasselas, in the first heat of his resentment, ordered his +servants to follow him, and prepared to pursue the robbers with +his sabre in his hand. “Sir,” said Imlac, +“what can you hope from violence or valour? The Arabs +are mounted on horses trained to battle and retreat; we have only +beasts of burden. By leaving our present station we may +lose the Princess, but cannot hope to regain Pekuah.”</p> +<p>In a short time the Turks returned, having not been able to +reach the enemy. The Princess burst <a +name="page127"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 127</span>out into +new lamentations, and Rasselas could scarcely forbear to reproach +them with cowardice; but Imlac was of opinion that the escape of +the Arabs was no addition to their misfortune, for perhaps they +would have killed their captives rather than have resigned +them.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV<br /> +THEY RETURN TO CAIRO WITHOUT PEKUAH.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">There</span> was nothing to be hoped from +longer stay. They returned to Cairo, repenting of their +curiosity, censuring the negligence of the government, lamenting +their own rashness, which had neglected to procure a guard, +imagining many expedients by which the loss of Pekuah might have +been prevented, and resolving to do something for her recovery, +though none could find anything proper to be done.</p> +<p>Nekayah retired to her chamber, where her women attempted to +comfort her by telling her that all had their troubles, and that +Lady Pekuah had enjoyed much happiness in the world for a long +time, and might reasonably expect a change of fortune. They +hoped that some good would befall her wheresoever she was, and +that their mistress would find another friend who might supply +her place.</p> +<p>The Princess made them no answer; and they continued the form +of condolence, not much grieved in their hearts that the +favourite was lost.</p> +<p>Next day the Prince presented to the Bassa a memorial of the +wrong which he had suffered, and a petition for redress. +The Bassa threatened to punish the robbers, but did not attempt +to catch them; nor indeed could any account or description be +given by which he might direct the pursuit.</p> +<p>It soon appeared that nothing would be done by +authority. Governors being accustomed to hear of more +crimes than they can punish, and more wrongs than they can +redress, set themselves at ease by indiscriminate negligence, and +presently forget the request when they lose sight of the +petitioner.</p> +<p>Imlac then endeavoured to gain some intelligence by private +agents. He found many who pretended to an exact knowledge +of all the haunts of the Arabs, and to regular correspondence +with their chiefs, and who readily undertook the recovery of +Pekuah. Of these, some were furnished with money for their +journey, and came back no more; some were liberally paid for +accounts which a few days discovered to be false. But the +Princess would not suffer any means, however improbable, to be +left untried. While she was doing something, she kept her +hope alive. As one expedient failed, another was suggested; +when one messenger returned unsuccessful, another was despatched +to a different quarter.</p> +<p>Two months had now passed, and of Pekuah nothing had been +heard; the hopes which they had endeavoured to raise in each +other grew more languid; and the Princess, when she saw nothing +more to be tried, sunk down inconsolable in hopeless +dejection. A thousand times she reproached herself with the +easy compliance by which she permitted her favourite to stay +behind her. “Had not my fondness,” said she, +“lessened my authority, Pekuah had not dared to talk of her +terrors. She ought to have feared me more than +spectres. A severe look would have overpowered her; a +peremptory command would have compelled obedience. Why did +foolish indulgence prevail upon me? Why did I not speak, +and refuse to hear?”</p> +<p>“Great Princess,” said Imlac, “do not +reproach yourself for your virtue, or consider that as blameable +by which evil has accidentally been caused. Your tenderness +for the timidity of Pekuah was generous and kind. When we +act according to our duty, we commit the events to Him by whose +laws our actions are governed, and who will suffer none to be +finally punished for obedience. When, in prospect of some +good, whether natural or moral, we break the rules prescribed us, +we withdraw from the direction of superior wisdom, and take all +consequences upon ourselves. Man cannot so far know the +connection of causes and events as that he may venture to do +wrong in order to do right. When we pursue our end by +lawful means, we may always console our miscarriage by the hope +of future recompense. When we consult only our own policy, +and attempt to find a nearer way to good by over-leaping the +settled boundaries of right and wrong, we cannot be happy even by +success, because we cannot escape the consciousness of our fault; +but if we miscarry, the disappointment is irremediably +embittered. How comfortless is the sorrow of him who feels +at once the pangs of guilt and the vexation of calamity which +guilt has brought upon him!</p> +<p>“Consider, Princess, what would have been your condition +if the Lady Pekuah had entreated to accompany you, and, being +compelled to stay in the tents, had been carried away; or how +would you have borne the thought if you had forced her <a +name="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 131</span>into the +Pyramid, and she had died before you in agonies of +terror?”</p> +<p>“Had either happened,” said Nekayah, “I +could not have endured life till now; I should have been tortured +to madness by the remembrance of such cruelty, or must have pined +away in abhorrence of myself.”</p> +<p>“This, at least,” said Imlac, “is the +present reward of virtuous conduct, that no unlucky consequence +can oblige us to repent it.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXV<br /> +THE PRINCESS LANGUISHES FOR WANT OF PEKUAH.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Nekayah</span>, being thus reconciled to +herself, found that no evil is insupportable but that which is +accompanied with consciousness of wrong. She was from that +time delivered from the violence of tempestuous sorrow, and sunk +into silent pensiveness and gloomy tranquillity. She sat +from morning to evening recollecting all that had been done or +said by her Pekuah, treasured up with care every trifle on which +Pekuah had set an accidental value, and which might recall to +mind any little incident or careless conversation. The +sentiments of her whom she now expected to see no more were +treasured in her memory as rules of life, and she deliberated to +no other end than to conjecture on any occasion what would have +been the opinion and counsel of Pekuah.</p> +<p>The women by whom she was attended knew nothing of her real +condition, and therefore she could not talk to them but with +caution and reserve. She began to remit her curiosity, +having no great desire to collect notions which she had no +convenience of uttering. Rasselas endeavoured first to +comfort and afterwards to divert her; he hired musicians, to whom +she seemed to listen, but did not hear them; and procured masters +to instruct her in various arts, whose lectures, when they +visited her again, were again to be repeated. She had lost +her taste of pleasure and her ambition of excellence; and her +mind, though forced into short excursions, always recurred to the +image of her friend.</p> +<p>Imlac was every morning earnestly enjoined to renew his +inquiries, and was asked every night whether he had yet heard of +Pekuah; till, not being able to return the Princess the answer +that she desired, he was less and less willing to come into her +presence. She observed his backwardness, and commanded him +to attend her. “You are not,” said she, +“to confound impatience with resentment, or to suppose that +I charge you with negligence because I repine at your +unsuccessfulness. I do not much wonder at your +absence. I know that the unhappy are never pleasing, and +that all naturally avoid the contagion of misery. To hear +complaints is wearisome alike to the wretched and the happy; for +who would cloud by adventitious grief the short gleams of gaiety +which life allows us, or who that is struggling under his own +evils will add to them the miseries of another?</p> +<p>“The time is at hand when none shall be disturbed any +longer by the sighs of Nekayah: my search after happiness is now +at an end. I am resolved to retire from the world, with all +its flatteries and deceits, and will hide myself in solitude, +without any other care than to compose my thoughts and regulate +my hours by a constant succession of innocent occupations, till, +with a mind purified from earthly desires, I shall enter into +that state to which all are hastening, and in which I hope again +to enjoy the friendship of Pekuah.”</p> +<p>“Do not entangle your mind,” said Imlac, “by +irrevocable determinations, nor increase the burden of life by a +voluntary accumulation of misery. The weariness of +retirement will continue to increase when the loss of Pekuah is +forgot. That you have been deprived of one pleasure is no +very good reason for rejection of the rest.”</p> +<p>“Since Pekuah was taken from me,” said the +Princess, “I have no pleasure to reject or to retain. +She that has no one to love or trust has little to hope. +She wants the radical principle of happiness. We may +perhaps allow that what satisfaction this world can afford must +arise from the conjunction of wealth, knowledge, and +goodness. Wealth is nothing but as it is bestowed, and +knowledge nothing but as it is communicated. They must +therefore be imparted to others, and to whom could I now delight +to impart them? Goodness affords the only comfort which can +be enjoyed without a partner, and goodness may be practised in +retirement.”</p> +<p>“How far solitude may admit goodness or advance it, I +shall not,” replied Imlac, “dispute at present. +Remember the confession of the pious hermit. You will wish +to return into the world when the image of your companion has +left your thoughts.”</p> +<p>“That time,” said Nekayah, “will never +come. The generous frankness, the modest obsequiousness, +and the faithful secrecy of my dear Pekuah will always be more +missed as I shall live longer to see vice and folly.”</p> +<p>“The state of a mind oppressed with a sudden +calamity,” said Imlac, “is like that of the fabulous +inhabitants of the new-created earth, who, when the first night +came upon them, supposed that day would never return. When +the clouds of sorrow gather over us, we see nothing beyond them, +nor can imagine how they will be dispelled; yet a new day +succeeded to the night, and sorrow is never long without a dawn +of ease. But they who restrain themselves from receiving +comfort do as the savages would have done had they put out their +eyes when it was dark. Our minds, like our bodies, are in +continual flux; something is hourly lost, and something +acquired. To lose much at once is inconvenient to either, +but while the vital power remains uninjured, nature will find the +means of reparation. Distance has the same effect on the +mind as on the eye; and while we glide along the stream of time, +whatever we leave behind us is always lessening, and that which +we approach increasing in magnitude. Do not suffer life to +<a name="page136"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +136</span>stagnate: it will grow muddy for want of motion; commit +yourself again to the current of the world; Pekuah will vanish by +degrees; you will meet in your way some other favourite, or learn +to diffuse yourself in general conversation.”</p> +<p>“At least,” said the Prince, “do not despair +before all remedies have been tried. The inquiry after the +unfortunate lady is still continued, and shall be carried on with +yet greater diligence, on condition that you will promise to wait +a year for the event, without any unalterable +resolution.”</p> +<p>Nekayah thought this a reasonable demand, and made the promise +to her brother, who had been obliged by Imlac to require +it. Imlac had, indeed, no great hope of regaining Pekuah; +but he supposed that if he could secure the interval of a year, +the Princess would be then in no danger of a cloister.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVI<br /> +PEKUAH IS STILL REMEMBERED. THE PROGRESS OF SORROW.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Nekayah</span>, seeing that nothing was +omitted for the recovery of her favourite, and having by her +promise set her intention of retirement at a distance, began +imperceptibly to return to common cares and common +pleasures. She rejoiced without her own consent at the +suspension of her sorrows, and sometimes caught herself with +indignation in the act of turning away her mind from the +remembrance of her whom yet she resolved never to forget.</p> +<p>She then appointed a certain hour of the day for meditation on +the merits and fondness of Pekuah, and for some weeks retired +constantly at the time fixed, and returned with her eyes swollen +and her countenance clouded. By degrees she grew less +scrupulous, and suffered any important and pressing avocation to +delay the tribute of daily tears. She then yielded to less +occasions, and sometimes forgot what she was indeed afraid to +remember, and at last wholly released herself from the duty of +periodical affliction.</p> +<p>Her real love of Pekuah was not yet diminished. A +thousand occurrences brought her back to memory, and a thousand +wants, which nothing but the confidence of friendship can supply, +made her frequently regretted. She therefore solicited +Imlac never to desist from inquiry, and to leave no art of +intelligence untried, that at least she might have the comfort of +knowing that she did not suffer by <a name="page138"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 138</span>negligence or sluggishness. +“Yet what,” said she, “is to be expected from +our pursuit of happiness, when we find the state of life to be +such that happiness itself is the cause of misery? Why +should we endeavour to attain that of which the possession cannot +be secured? I shall henceforward fear to yield my heart to +excellence, however bright, or to fondness, however tender, lest +I should lose again what I have lost in Pekuah.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVII<br /> +THE PRINCESS HEARS NEWS OF PEKUAH.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> seven mouths one of the +messengers who had been sent away upon the day when the promise +was drawn from the Princess, returned, after many unsuccessful +rambles, from the borders of Nubia, with an account that Pekuah +was in the hands of an Arab chief, who possessed a castle or +fortress on the extremity of Egypt. The Arab, whose revenue +was plunder, was willing to restore her, with her two attendants, +for two hundred ounces of gold.</p> +<p>The price was no subject of debate. The Princess was in +ecstasies when she heard that her favourite was alive, and might +so cheaply be ransomed. She could not think of delaying for +a moment Pekuah’s happiness or her own, but entreated her +brother to send back the messenger with the sum required. +Imlac, being consulted, was not very confident of the veracity of +the relater, and was still more doubtful of the Arab’s +faith, who might, if he were too liberally trusted, detain at +once the money and the captives. He thought it dangerous to +put themselves in the power of the Arab by going into his +district; and could not expect that the rover would so much +expose himself as to come into the lower country, where he might +be seized by the forces of the Bassa.</p> +<p>It is difficult to negotiate where neither will trust. +But Imlac, after some deliberation, directed the messenger to +propose that Pekuah should be conducted by ten horsemen to the +monastery of St. Anthony, which is situated in the deserts of +Upper Egypt, where she should be met by the same number, and her +ransom should be paid.</p> +<p>That no time might be lost, as they expected that the proposal +would not be refused, they immediately began their journey to the +monastery; and when they arrived, Imlac went forward with the +former messenger to the Arab’s fortress. Rasselas was +desirous to go with them; but neither his sister nor Imlac would +consent. The Arab, according to the custom of his nation, +observed the laws of hospitality with great exactness to those +who put themselves into his power, and in a few days brought +Pekuah, with her maids, by easy journeys, to the place appointed, +where, receiving the stipulated price, he restored her, with +great respect, to liberty and her friends, and undertook to +conduct them back towards Cairo beyond all danger of robbery or +violence.</p> +<p>The Princess and her favourite embraced each other with +transport too violent to be expressed, and went out together to +pour the tears of tenderness in secret, and exchange professions +of kindness and gratitude. After a few hours they returned +into the refectory of the convent, where, in the presence of the +prior and his brethren, the Prince required of Pekuah the history +of her adventures.</p> +<h2><a name="page141"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +141</span>CHAPTER XXXVIII<br /> +THE ADVENTURES OF THE LADY PEKUAH.</h2> +<p>“<span class="smcap">At</span> what time and in what +manner I was forced away,” said Pekuah, “your +servants have told you. The suddenness of the event struck +me with surprise, and I was at first rather stupefied than +agitated with any passion of either fear or sorrow. My +confusion was increased by the speed and tumult of our flight, +while we were followed by the Turks, who, as it seemed, soon +despaired to overtake us, or were afraid of those whom they made +a show of menacing.</p> +<p>“When the Arabs saw themselves out of danger, they +slackened their course; and as I was less harassed by external +violence, I began to feel more uneasiness in my mind. After +some time we stopped near a spring shaded with trees, in a +pleasant meadow, where we were set upon the ground, and offered +such refreshments as our masters were partaking. I was +suffered to sit with my maids apart from the rest, and none +attempted to comfort or insult us. Here I first began to +feel the full weight of my misery. The girls sat weeping in +silence, and from time to time looked on me for succour. I +knew not to what condition we were doomed, nor could conjecture +where would be the place of our captivity, or whence to draw any +hope of deliverance. I was in the hands of robbers and +savages, and had no reason to suppose that their pity was more +than their justice, or that they would forbear the gratification +of any ardour of desire or caprice of cruelty. I, however, +kissed my maids, and endeavoured to pacify them by remarking that +we were yet treated with decency, and that since we were now +carried beyond pursuit, there was no danger of violence to our +lives.</p> +<p>“When we were to be set again on horseback, my maids +clung round me, and refused to be parted; but I commanded them +not to irritate those who had us in their power. We +travelled the remaining part of the day through an unfrequented +and pathless country, and came by moonlight to the side of a +hill, where the rest of the troop was stationed. Their +tents were pitched and their fires kindled, and our chief was +welcomed as a man much beloved by his dependents.</p> +<p>“We were received into a large tent, where we found +women who had attended their husbands in the expedition. +They set before us the supper which they had provided, and I ate +it rather to encourage my maids than to comply with any appetite +of my own. When the meat was taken away, they spread the +carpets for repose. I was weary, and hoped to find in sleep +that remission of distress which nature seldom denies. +Ordering myself, therefore, to be undressed, I observed that the +women looked very earnestly upon me, not expecting, I suppose, to +see me so submissively attended. When my upper vest was +taken off, they were apparently struck with the splendour of my +clothes, and one of them timorously laid her hand upon the +embroidery. She then went out, and in a short time came +back with another woman, who seemed to be of higher rank and +greater authority. She did, at her entrance, the usual act +of reverence, and, taking me by the hand placed me in a smaller +tent, spread with finer carpets, where I spent the night quietly +with my maids.</p> +<p>“In the morning, as I was sitting on the grass, the +chief of the troop came towards me. I rose up to receive +him, and he bowed with great respect. ‘Illustrious +lady,’ said he, ‘my fortune is better than I had +presumed to hope: I am told by my women that I have a princess in +my camp.’ ‘Sir,’ answered I, ‘your +women have deceived themselves and you; I am not a princess, but +an unhappy stranger who intended soon to have left this country, +in which I am now to be imprisoned for ever.’ +‘Whoever or whencesoever you are,’ returned the Arab, +‘your dress and that of your servants show your rank to be +high and your wealth to be great. Why should you, who can +so easily procure your ransom, think yourself in danger of +perpetual captivity? The purpose of my incursions is to +increase my riches, or, more properly, to gather tribute. +The sons of Ishmael are the natural and hereditary lords of this +part of the continent, which is usurped by late invaders and +low-born tyrants, from whom we are compelled to take by the sword +what is denied to justice. The violence of war admits no +distinction: the lance that is lifted at guilt and power will +sometimes fall on innocence and gentleness.’</p> +<p>“‘How little,’ said I, ‘did I expect +that yesterday it should have fallen upon me!’</p> +<p>“’Misfortunes,’ answered the Arab, +‘should always be expected. If the eye of hostility +could learn reverence or pity, excellence like yours had been +exempt from injury. But the angels of affliction spread +their toils alike for the virtuous and the wicked, for the mighty +and the mean. Do not be disconsolate; I am not one of the +lawless and cruel rovers of the desert; I know the rules of civil +life; I will fix your ransom, give a passport to your messenger, +and perform my stipulation with nice punctuality.’</p> +<p>“You will easily believe that I was pleased with his +courtesy, and finding that his predominant passion was desire for +money, I began now to think my danger less, for I knew that no +sum would be thought too great for the release of Pekuah. I +told him that he should have no reason to charge me with +ingratitude if I was used with kindness, and that any ransom +which could be expected for a maid of common rank would be paid, +but that he must not persist to rate me as a princess. He +said he would consider what he should demand, and then, smiling, +bowed and retired.</p> +<p>“Soon after the women came about me, each contending to +be more officious than the other, and my maids themselves were +served with reverence. We travelled onward by short +journeys. On the fourth day the chief told me that my +ransom must be two hundred ounces of gold, which I not only +promised him, but told him that I would add fifty more if I and +my maids were honourably treated.</p> +<p>“I never knew the power of gold before. From that +time I was the leader of the troop. The march of every day +was longer or shorter as I commanded, and the tents were pitched +where I chose to rest. We now had camels and other +conveniences for travel; my own women were always at my side, and +I amused myself with observing the manners of the vagrant +nations, and with viewing remains of ancient edifices, with which +these deserted countries appear to have been in some distant age +lavishly embellished.</p> +<p>“The chief of the band was a man far from illiterate: he +was able to travel by the stars or the compass, and had marked in +his erratic expeditions such places as are most worthy the notice +of a passenger. He observed to me that buildings are always +best preserved in places little frequented and difficult of +access; for when once a country declines from its primitive +splendour, the more inhabitants are left, the quicker ruin will +be made. Walls supply stones more easily than quarries; and +palaces and temples will be demolished to make stables of granite +and cottages of porphyry.’”</p> +<h2><a name="page147"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +147</span>CHAPTER XXXIX<br /> +THE ADVENTURES OF PEKUAH (<i>continued</i>).</h2> +<p>“<span class="smcap">We</span> wandered about in this +manner for some weeks, either, as our chief pretended, for my +gratification, or, as I rather suspected, for some convenience of +his own. I endeavoured to appear contented where sullenness +and resentment would have been of no use, and that endeavour +conduced much to the calmness of my mind; but my heart was always +with Nekayah, and the troubles of the night much overbalanced the +amusements of the day. My women, who threw all their cares +upon their mistress, set their minds at ease from the time when +they saw me treated with respect, and gave themselves up to the +incidental alleviations of our fatigue without solicitude or +sorrow. I was pleased with their pleasure, and animated +with their confidence. My condition had lost much of its +terror, since I found that the Arab ranged the country merely to +get riches. Avarice is a uniform and tractable vice: other +intellectual distempers are different in different constitutions +of mind; that which soothes the pride of one will offend the +pride of another; but to the favour of the covetous there is a +ready way—bring money, and nothing is denied.</p> +<p>“At last we came to the dwelling of our chief; a strong +and spacious house, built with stone in an island of the Nile, +which lies, as I was told, under the tropic. +‘Lady,’ said the Arab, ‘you shall rest after +your journey a few weeks in this place, where you are to consider +yourself as Sovereign. My occupation is war: I have +therefore chosen this obscure residence, from which I can issue +unexpected, and to which I can retire unpursued. You may +now repose in security: here are few pleasures, but here is no +danger.’ He then led me into the inner apartments, +and seating me on the richest couch, bowed to the ground.</p> +<p>“His women, who considered me as a rival, looked on me +with malignity; but being soon informed that I was a great lady +detained only for my ransom, they began to vie with each other in +obsequiousness and reverence.</p> +<p>“Being again comforted with new assurances of speedy +liberty, I was for some days diverted from impatience by the +novelty of the place. The turrets overlooked the country to +a great distance, and afforded a view of many windings of the +stream. In the day I wandered from one place to another, as +the course of the sun varied the splendour of the prospect, and +saw many things which I had never seen before. The +crocodiles and river-horses are common in this unpeopled region; +and I often looked upon them with terror, though I knew they +could not hurt me. For some time I expected to see mermaids +and tritons, which, as Imlac has told me, the European travellers +have stationed in the Nile; but no such beings ever appeared, and +the Arab, when I inquired after them, laughed at my +credulity.</p> +<p>“At night the Arab always attended me to a tower set +apart for celestial observations, where he endeavoured to teach +me the names and courses of the stars. I had no great +inclination to this study; but an appearance of attention was +necessary to please my instructor, who valued himself for his +skill, and in a little while I found some employment requisite to +beguile the tediousness of time, which was to be passed always +amidst the same objects. I was weary of looking in the +morning on things from which I had turned away weary in the +evening: I therefore was at last willing to observe the stars +rather than do nothing, but could not always compose my thoughts, +and was very often thinking on Nekayah when others imagined me +contemplating the sky. Soon after, the Arab went upon +another expedition, and then my only pleasure was to talk with my +maids about the accident by which we were carried away, and the +happiness we should all enjoy at the end of our +captivity.”</p> +<p>“There were women in your Arab’s fortress,” +said the Princess; “why did you not make them your +companions, enjoy their conversation, and partake their +diversions? In a place where they found business or +amusement, why should you alone sit corroded with idle +melancholy? or why could not you bear for a few months that +condition to which they were condemned for life?”</p> +<p>“The diversions of the women,” answered Pekuah, +“were only childish play, by which the mind accustomed to +stronger operations could not be kept busy. I could do all +which they delighted in doing by powers merely sensitive, while +my intellectual faculties were flown to Cairo. They ran +from room to room, as a bird hops from wire to wire in his +cage. They danced for the sake of motion, as lambs frisk in +a meadow. One sometimes pretended to be hurt that the rest +might be alarmed, or hid herself that another might seek +her. Part of their time passed in watching the progress of +light bodies that floated on the river, and part in marking the +various forms into which clouds broke in the sky.</p> +<p>“Their business was only needlework, in which I and my +maids sometimes helped them; but you know that the mind will +easily straggle from the fingers, nor will you suspect that +captivity and absence from Nekayah could receive solace from +silken flowers.</p> +<p>“Nor was much satisfaction to be hoped from their +conversation: for of what could they be expected to talk? +They had seen nothing, for they had lived from early youth in +that narrow spot: of what they had not seen they could have no +knowledge, for they could not read. They had no idea but of +the few things that were within their view, and had hardly names +for anything but their clothes and their food. As I bore a +superior character, I was often called to terminate their +quarrels, which I decided as equitably as I could. If it +could have amused me to hear the complaints of each against the +rest, I might have been often detained by long stories; but the +motives of their animosity were so small that I could not listen +without interrupting the tale.”</p> +<p>“How,” said Rasselas, “can the Arab, whom +you represented as a man of more than common accomplishments, +take any pleasure in his seraglio, when it is filled only with +women like these? Are they exquisitely +beautiful?”</p> +<p>“They do not,” said Pekuah, “want that +unaffecting and ignoble beauty which may subsist without +sprightliness or sublimity, without energy of thought or dignity +of virtue. But to a man like the Arab such beauty was only +a flower casually plucked and carelessly thrown away. +Whatever pleasures he might find among them, they were not those +of friendship or society. When they were playing about him +he looked on them with inattentive superiority; when they vied +for his regard he sometimes turned away disgusted. As they +had no knowledge, their talk could take nothing from the +tediousness of life; as they had no choice, their fondness, or +appearance of fondness, excited in him neither pride nor +gratitude. He was not exalted in his own esteem by the +smiles of a woman who saw no other man, nor was much obliged by +that regard of which he could never know the sincerity, and which +he might often perceive to be exerted not so much to delight him +as to pain a rival. That which he gave, and they received, +as love, was only a careless distribution of superfluous time, +such love as man can bestow upon that which he despises, such as +has neither hope nor fear, neither joy nor sorrow.”</p> +<p>“You have reason, lady, to think yourself happy,” +said Imlac, “that you have been thus easily +dismissed. How could a mind, hungry for knowledge, be +willing, in an intellectual famine, to lose such a banquet as +Pekuah’s conversation?”</p> +<p>“I am inclined to believe,” answered Pekuah, +“that he was for some time in suspense; for, +notwithstanding his promise, whenever I proposed to despatch a +messenger to Cairo he found some excuse for delay. While I +was detained in his house he made many incursions into the +neighbouring countries, and perhaps he would have refused to +discharge me had his plunder been equal to his wishes. He +returned always courteous, related his adventures, delighted to +hear my observations, and endeavoured to advance my acquaintance +with the stars. When I importuned him to send away my +letters, he soothed me with professions of honour and sincerity; +and when I could be no longer decently denied, put his troop +again in motion, and left me to govern in his absence. I +was much afflicted by this studied procrastination, and was +sometimes afraid that I should be forgotten; that you would leave +Cairo, and I must end my days in an island of the Nile.</p> +<p>“I grew at last hopeless and dejected, and cared so +little to entertain him, that he for a while more frequently +talked with my maids. That he should fall in love with them +or with me, might have been equally fatal, and I was not much +pleased with the growing friendship. My anxiety was not +long, for, as I recovered some degree of cheerfulness, he +returned to me, and I could not forbear to despise my former +uneasiness.</p> +<p>“He still delayed to send for my ransom, and would +perhaps never have determined had not your agent found his way to +him. The gold, which he would not fetch, he could not +reject when it was offered. He hastened to prepare for our +journey hither, like a man delivered from the pain of an +intestine conflict. I took leave of my companions in the +house, who dismissed me with cold indifference.”</p> +<p>Nekayah having heard her favourite’s relation, rose and +embraced her, and Rasselas gave her a hundred ounces of gold, +which she presented to the Arab for the fifty that were +promised.</p> +<h2><a name="page155"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +155</span>CHAPTER XL<br /> +THE HISTORY OF A MAN OF LEARNING.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">They</span> returned to Cairo, and were so +well pleased at finding themselves together that none of them +went much abroad. The Prince began to love learning, and +one day declared to Imlac that he intended to devote himself to +science and pass the rest of his days in literary solitude.</p> +<p>“Before you make your final choice,” answered +Imlac, “you ought to examine its hazards, and converse with +some of those who are grown old in the company of +themselves. I have just left the observatory of one of the +most learned astronomers in the world, who has spent forty years +in unwearied attention to the motion and appearances of the +celestial bodies, and has drawn out his soul in endless +calculations. He admits a few friends once a month to hear +his deductions and enjoy his discoveries. I was introduced +as a man of knowledge worthy of his notice. Men of various +ideas and fluent conversation are commonly welcome to those whose +thoughts have been long fixed upon a single point, and who find +the images of other things stealing away. I delighted him +with my remarks. He smiled at the narrative of my travels, +and was glad to forget the constellations and descend for a +moment into the lower world.</p> +<p>“On the next day of vacation I renewed my visit, and was +so fortunate as to please him again. He relaxed from that +time the severity of his rule, and permitted me to enter at my +own choice. I found him always busy, and always glad to be +relieved. As each knew much which the other was desirous of +learning, we exchanged our notions with great delight. I +perceived that I had every day more of his confidence, and always +found new cause of admiration in the profundity of his +mind. His comprehension is vast, his memory capacious and +retentive, his discourse is methodical, and his expression +clear.</p> +<p>“His integrity and benevolence are equal to his +learning. His deepest researches and most favourite studies +are willingly interrupted for any opportunity of doing good by +his counsel or his riches. To his closest retreat, at his +most busy moments, all are admitted that want his assistance; +‘For though I exclude idleness and pleasure, I will +never,’ says he, ‘bar my doors against charity. +To man is permitted the contemplation of the skies, but the +practice of virtue is commanded.’”</p> +<p>“Surely,” said the Princess, “this man is +happy.”</p> +<p>“I visited him,” said Imlac, “with more and +more frequency, and was every time more enamoured of his +conversation; he was sublime without haughtiness, courteous +without formality, and communicative without ostentation. I +was at first, great Princess, of your opinion, thought him the +happiest of mankind, and often congratulated him on the blessing +that he enjoyed. He seemed to hear nothing with +indifference but the praises of his condition, to which he always +returned a general answer, and diverted the conversation to some +other topic.</p> +<p>“Amidst this willingness to be pleased and labour to +please, I had quickly reason to imagine that some painful +sentiment pressed upon his mind. He often looked up +earnestly towards the sun, and let his voice fall in the midst of +his discourse. He would sometimes, when we were alone, gaze +upon me in silence with the air of a man who longed to speak what +he was yet resolved to suppress. He would often send for me +with vehement injunction of haste, though when I came to him he +had nothing extraordinary to say; and sometimes, when I was +leaving him, would call me back, pause a few moments, and then +dismiss me.”</p> +<h2><a name="page158"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +158</span>CHAPTER XLI<br /> +THE ASTRONOMER DISCOVERS THE CAUSE OF HIS UNEASINESS.</h2> +<p>“<span class="smcap">At</span> last the time came when +the secret burst his reserve. We were sitting together last +night in the turret of his house watching the immersion of a +satellite of Jupiter. A sudden tempest clouded the sky and +disappointed our observation. We sat awhile silent in the +dark, and then he addressed himself to me in these words: +‘Imlac, I have long considered thy friendship as the +greatest blessing of my life. Integrity without knowledge +is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous +and dreadful. I have found in thee all the qualities +requisite for trust—benevolence, experience, and +fortitude. I have long discharged an office which I must +soon quit at the call of Nature, and shall rejoice in the hour of +imbecility and pain to devolve it upon thee.’</p> +<p>“I thought myself honoured by this testimony, and +protested that whatever could conduce to his happiness would add +likewise to mine.</p> +<p>“‘Hear, Imlac, what thou wilt not without +difficulty credit. I have possessed for five years the <a +name="page159"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 159</span>regulation +of the weather and the distribution of the seasons. The sun +has listened to my dictates, and passed from tropic to tropic by +my direction; the clouds at my call have poured their waters, and +the Nile has overflowed at my command. I have restrained +the rage of the dog-star, and mitigated the fervours of the +crab. The winds alone, of all the elemental powers, have +hitherto refused my authority, and multitudes have perished by +equinoctial tempests which I found myself unable to prohibit or +restrain. I have administered this great office with exact +justice, and made to the different nations of the earth an +impartial dividend of rain and sunshine. What must have +been the misery of half the globe if I had limited the clouds to +particular regions, or confined the sun to either side of the +equator?’”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLII<br /> +THE OPINION OF THE ASTRONOMER IS EXPLAINED AND JUSTIFIED.</h2> +<p>“I <span class="smcap">suppose</span> he discovered in +me, through the obscurity of the room, some tokens of amazement +and doubt, for after a short pause he proceeded thus:—</p> +<p>“‘Not to be easily credited will neither surprise +nor offend me, for I am probably the first of human beings to +whom this trust has been imparted. Nor do I know whether to +deem this distinction a reward or punishment. Since I have +possessed it I have been far less happy than before, and nothing +but the consciousness of good intention could have enabled me to +support the weariness of unremitted vigilance.’</p> +<p>“‘How long, sir,’ said I, ‘has this +great office been in your hands?’</p> +<p>“‘About ten years ago,’ said he, ‘my +daily observations of the changes of the sky led me to consider +whether, if I had the power of the seasons, I could confer +greater plenty upon the inhabitants of the earth. This +contemplation fastened on my mind, and I sat days and nights in +imaginary dominion, pouring upon this country and that the +showers of fertility, and seconding every fall of rain with a due +proportion of sunshine. I had yet only the will to do good, +and did not imagine that I should ever have the power.</p> +<p>“‘One day as I was looking on the fields withering +with heat, I felt in my mind a sudden wish that I could send rain +on the southern mountains, and raise the Nile to an +inundation. In the hurry of my imagination I commanded rain +to fall; and by comparing the time of my command with that of the +inundation, I found that the clouds had listened to my +lips.’</p> +<p>“‘Might not some other cause,’ said I, +‘produce this concurrence? The Nile does not always +rise on the same day.’</p> +<p>“‘Do not believe,’ said he, with impatience, +‘that such objections could escape me. I reasoned +long against my own conviction, and laboured against truth with +the utmost obstinacy. I sometimes suspected myself of +madness, and should not have dared to impart this secret but to a +man like you, capable of distinguishing the wonderful from the +impossible, and the incredible from the false.’</p> +<p>“‘Why, sir,’ said I, ‘do you call that +incredible which you know, or think you know, to be +true?’</p> +<p>“‘Because,’ said he, ‘I cannot prove +it by any external evidence; and I know too well the laws of +demonstration to think that my conviction ought to influence +another, who cannot, like me, be conscious of its force. I +therefore shall not attempt to gain credit by disputation. +It is sufficient that I feel this power that I have long +possessed, and every day exerted it. But the life of man is +short; the infirmities of age increase <a +name="page162"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 162</span>upon me, +and the time will soon come when the regulator of the year must +mingle with the dust. The care of appointing a successor +has long disturbed me; the night and the day have been spent in +comparisons of all the characters which have come to my +knowledge, and I have yet found none so worthy as +thyself.’”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLIII<br /> +THE ASTRONOMER LEAVES IMLAC HIS DIRECTIONS.</h2> +<p>“‘<span class="smcap">Hear</span>, therefore, what +I shall impart with attention, such as the welfare of a world +requires. If the task of a king be considered as difficult, +who has the care only of a few millions, to whom he cannot do +much good or harm, what must be the anxiety of him on whom +depends the action of the elements and the great gifts of light +and heat? Hear me, therefore, with attention.</p> +<p>“‘I have diligently considered the position of the +earth and sun, and formed innumerable schemes, in which I changed +their situation. I have sometimes turned aside the axis of +the earth, and sometimes varied the ecliptic of the sun, but I +have found it impossible to make a disposition by which the world +may be advantaged; what one region gains another loses by an +imaginable alteration, even without considering the distant parts +of the solar system with which we are acquainted. Do not, +therefore, in thy administration of the year, indulge thy pride +by innovation; do not please thyself with thinking that thou +canst make thyself renowned to all future ages by disordering the +seasons. The memory of mischief is no desirable fame. +Much less will it become thee to let kindness or interest +prevail. Never rob other countries of rain to pour it on +thine own. For us the Nile is sufficient.’</p> +<p>“I promised that when I possessed the power I would use +it with inflexible integrity; and he dismissed me, pressing my +hand. ‘My heart,’ said he, ‘will be now +at rest, and my benevolence will no more destroy my quiet; I have +found a man of wisdom and virtue, to whom I can cheerfully +bequeath the inheritance of the sun.’”</p> +<p>The Prince heard this narration with very serious regard; but +the Princess smiled, and Pekuah convulsed herself with +laughter. “Ladies,” said Imlac, “to mock +the heaviest of human afflictions is neither charitable nor +wise. Few can attain this man’s knowledge and few +practise his virtues, but all may suffer his calamity. Of +the uncertainties <a name="page164"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +164</span>of our present state, the most dreadful and alarming is +the uncertain continuance of reason.”</p> +<p>The Princess was recollected, and the favourite was +abashed. Rasselas, more deeply affected, inquired of Imlac +whether he thought such maladies of the mind frequent, and how +they were contracted.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLIV<br /> +THE DANGEROUS PREVALENCE OF IMAGINATION.</h2> +<p>“<span class="smcap">Disorders</span> of +intellect,” answered Imlac, “happen much more often +than superficial observers will easily believe. Perhaps if +we speak with rigorous exactness, no human mind is in its right +state. There is no man whose imagination does not sometimes +predominate over his reason who can regulate his attention wholly +by his will, and whose ideas will come and go at his +command. No man will be found in whose mind airy notions do +not sometimes tyrannise, and force him to hope or fear beyond the +limits of sober probability. All power of fancy over reason +is a degree of insanity, but while this power is such as we can +control and repress it is not visible to others, nor considered +as any deprivation of the mental faculties; it is not pronounced +madness but when it becomes ungovernable, and apparently +influences speech or action.</p> +<p>“To indulge the power of fiction and send imagination +out upon the wing is often the sport of those who delight too +much in silent speculation. When we are alone we are not +always busy; the labour of excogitation is too violent to last +long; the ardour of inquiry will sometimes give way to idleness +or satiety. He who has nothing external that can divert him +must find pleasure in his own thoughts, and must conceive himself +what he is not; for who is pleased with what he is? He then +expatiates in boundless futurity, and culls from all imaginable +conditions that which for the present moment he should most +desire, amuses his desires with impossible enjoyments, and +confers upon his pride unattainable dominion. The mind +dances from scene to scene, unites all pleasures in all +combinations, and riots in delights which Nature and fortune, +with all their bounty, cannot bestow.</p> +<p>“In time some particular train of ideas fixes the +attention; all other intellectual gratifications are rejected; +the mind, in weariness or leisure, recurs constantly to the +favourite conception, and feasts on the luscious falsehood +whenever she is offended with the bitterness of truth. By +degrees the reign of fancy is confirmed; she grows first +imperious and in time despotic. Then fictions begin to +operate as realities, false opinions fasten upon the mind, and +life passes in dreams of rapture or of anguish.</p> +<p>“This, sir, is one of the dangers of solitude, which the +hermit has confessed not always to promote goodness, and the +astronomer’s misery has proved to be not always propitious +to wisdom.”</p> +<p>“I will no more,” said the favourite, +“imagine myself the Queen of Abyssinia. I have often +spent the hours which the Princess gave to my own disposal in +adjusting ceremonies and regulating the Court; I have repressed +the pride of the powerful and granted the petitions of the poor; +I have built new palaces in more happy situations, planted groves +upon the tops of mountains, and have exulted in the beneficence +of royalty, till, when the Princess entered, I had almost +forgotten to bow down before her.”</p> +<p>“And I,” said the Princess, “will not allow +myself any more to play the shepherdess in my waking +dreams. I have often soothed my thoughts with the quiet and +innocence of pastoral employments, till I have in my chamber +heard the winds whistle and the sheep bleat; sometimes freed the +lamb entangled in the thicket, and sometimes with my crook +encountered the wolf. I have a dress like that of the +village maids, which I put on to help my imagination, and a pipe +on which I play softly, and suppose myself followed by my +flocks.”</p> +<p>“I will confess,” said the Prince, “an +indulgence of fantastic delight more dangerous than yours. +I have frequently endeavoured to imagine the possibility of a +perfect government, by which all wrong should be restrained, all +vice reformed, and all the subjects preserved in tranquillity and +innocence. This thought produced innumerable schemes of +reformation, and dictated many useful regulations and salutary +effects. This has been the sport and sometimes the labour +of my solitude, and I start when I think with how little anguish +I once supposed the death of my father and my +brothers.”</p> +<p>“Such,” said Imlac, “are the effects of +visionary schemes. When we first form them, we know them to +be absurd, but familiarise them by degrees, and in time lose +sight of their folly.”</p> +<h2><a name="page168"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +168</span>CHAPTER XLV<br /> +THEY DISCOURSE WITH AN OLD MAN.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> evening was now far past, and +they rose to return home. As they walked along the banks of +the Nile, delighted with the beams of the moon quivering on the +water, they saw at a small distance an old man whom the Prince +had often heard in the assembly of the sages. +“Yonder,” said he, “is one whose years have +calmed his passions, but not clouded his reason. Let us +close the disquisitions of the night by inquiring what are his +sentiments of his own state, that we may know whether youth alone +is to struggle with vexation, and whether any better hope remains +for the latter part of life.”</p> +<p>Here the sage approached and saluted them. They invited +him to join their walk, and prattled awhile as acquaintance that +had unexpectedly met one another. The old man was cheerful +and talkative, and the way seemed short in his company. He +was pleased to find himself not disregarded, accompanied them to +their house, and, at the Prince’s request, entered with +them. They placed him in the seat of honour, and set wine +and conserves before him.</p> +<p>“Sir,” said the Princess, “an evening walk +must give to a man of learning like you pleasures which ignorance +and youth can hardly conceive. You know the qualities and +the causes of all that you behold—the laws by which the +river flows, the periods in which the planets perform their +revolutions. Everything must supply you with contemplation, +and renew the consciousness of your own dignity.”</p> +<p>“Lady,” answered he, “let the gay and the +vigorous expect pleasure in their excursions: it is enough that +age can attain ease. To me the world has lost its +novelty. I look round, and see what I remember to have seen +in happier days. I rest against a tree, and consider that +in the same shade I once disputed upon the annual overflow of the +Nile with a friend who is now silent in the grave. I cast +my eyes upwards, fix them on the changing moon, and think with +pain on the vicissitudes of life. I have ceased to take +much delight in physical truth; for what have I to do with those +things which I am soon to leave?”</p> +<p>“You may at least recreate yourself,” said Imlac, +“with the recollection of an honourable and useful life, +and enjoy the praise which all agree to give you.”</p> +<p>“Praise,” said the sage with a sigh, “is to +an old man an empty sound. I have neither mother to be +delighted with the reputation of her son, nor wife to partake the +honours of her husband. I have outlived my friends and my +rivals. Nothing is now of much importance; for I cannot +extend my interest beyond myself. Youth is delighted with +applause, because it is considered as the earnest of some future +good, and because the prospect of life is far extended; but to +me, who am now declining to decrepitude, there is little to be +feared from the malevolence of men, and yet less to be hoped from +their affection or esteem. Something they may yet take +away, but they can give me nothing. Riches would now be +useless, and high employment would be pain. My retrospect +of life recalls to my view many opportunities of good neglected, +much time squandered upon trifles, and more lost in idleness and +vacancy. I leave many great designs unattempted, and many +great attempts unfinished. My mind is burdened with no +heavy crime, and therefore I compose myself to tranquillity; +endeavour to abstract my thoughts from hopes and cares which, +though reason knows them to be vain, still try to keep their old +possession of the heart; expect, with serene humility, that hour +which nature cannot long delay, and hope to possess in a better +state that happiness which here I could not find, and that virtue +which here I have not attained.”</p> +<p>He arose and went away, leaving his audience not much elated +with the hope of long life. The Prince consoled himself +with remarking that it was not reasonable to be disappointed by +this account; for age had never been considered as the season of +felicity, and if it was possible to be easy in decline and +weakness, it was likely that the days of vigour and alacrity +might be happy; that the noon of life might be bright, if the +evening could be calm.</p> +<p>The Princess suspected that age was querulous and malignant, +and delighted to repress the expectations of those who had newly +entered the world. She had seen the possessors of estates +look with envy on their heirs, and known many who enjoyed +pleasures no longer than they could confine it to themselves.</p> +<p>Pekuah conjectured that the man was older than he appeared, +and was willing to impute his complaints to delirious dejection; +or else supposed that he had been unfortunate, and was therefore +discontented. “For nothing,” said she, +“is more common than to call our own condition the +condition of life.”</p> +<p><a name="page172"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +172</span>Imlac, who had no desire to see them depressed, smiled +at the comforts which they could so readily procure to +themselves; and remembered that at the same age he was equally +confident of unmingled prosperity, and equally fertile of +consolatory expedients. He forbore to force upon them +unwelcome knowledge, which time itself would too soon +impress. The Princess and her lady retired; the madness of +the astronomer hung upon their minds; and they desired Imlac to +enter upon his office, and delay next morning the rising of the +sun.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLVI<br /> +THE PRINCESS AND PEKUAH VISIT THE ASTRONOMER.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Princess and Pekuah, having +talked in private of Imlac’s astronomer, thought his +character at once so amiable and so strange that they could not +be satisfied without a nearer knowledge, and Imlac was requested +to find the means of bringing them together.</p> +<p>This was somewhat difficult. The philosopher had never +received any visits from women, though he lived in a city that +had in it many Europeans, who followed the manners of their own +countries, and many from other parts of the world, that lived +there with European liberty. The ladies would not be +refused, and several schemes were proposed for the accomplishment +of their design. It was proposed to introduce them as +strangers in distress, to whom the sage was always accessible; +but after some deliberation it appeared that by this artifice no +acquaintance could be formed, for their conversation would be +short, and they could not decently importune him often. +“This,” said Rasselas, “is true; but I have yet +a stronger objection against the misrepresentation of your +state. I have always considered it as treason against the +great republic of human nature to make any man’s virtues +the means of deceiving him, whether on great or little +occasions. All imposture weakens confidence and chills +benevolence. When the sage finds that you are not what you +seemed, he will feel the resentment natural to a man who, +conscious of great abilities, discovers that he has been tricked +by understandings meaner than his own, and perhaps the distrust +which he can never afterwards wholly lay aside may stop the voice +of counsel and close the hand of charity; and where will you find +the power of restoring his benefactions to mankind, or his peace +to himself?”</p> +<p>To this no reply was attempted, and Imlac began to hope that +their curiosity would subside; but next day Pekuah told him she +had now found an honest pretence for a visit to the astronomer, +for she would solicit permission to continue under him the +studies in which she had been initiated by the Arab, and the +Princess might go with her, either as a fellow-student, or +because a woman could not decently come alone. “I am +afraid,” said Imlac, “that he will soon be weary of +your company. Men advanced far in knowledge do not love to +repeat the elements of their art, and I am not certain that even +of the elements, as he will deliver them, connected with +inferences and mingled with reflections, you are a very capable +auditress.” “That,” said Pekuah, +“must be my care. I ask of you only to take me +thither. My knowledge is perhaps more than you imagine it, +and by concurring always with his opinions I shall make him think +it greater than it is.”</p> +<p>The astronomer, in pursuance of this resolution, was told that +a foreign lady, travelling in search of knowledge, had heard of +his reputation, and was desirous to become his scholar. The +uncommonness of the proposal raised at once his surprise and +curiosity, and when after a short deliberation he consented to +admit her, he could not stay without impatience till the next +day.</p> +<p>The ladies dressed themselves magnificently, and were attended +by Imlac to the astronomer, who was pleased to see himself +approached with respect by persons of so splendid an +appearance. In the exchange of the first civilities he was +timorous and bashful; but when the talk became regular, he +recollected his powers, and justified the character which Imlac +had given. Inquiring of Pekuah what could have turned her +inclination towards astronomy, he received from her a history of +her adventure at the Pyramid, and of the time passed in the +Arab’s island. She told her tale with ease and +elegance, and her conversation took possession of his +heart. The discourse was then turned to astronomy. +Pekuah displayed what she knew. He looked upon her as a +prodigy of genius, and entreated her not to desist from a study +which she had so happily begun.</p> +<p>They came again and again, and were every time more welcome +than before. The sage endeavoured to amuse them, that they +might prolong their visits, for he found his thoughts grow +brighter in their company; the clouds of solitude vanished by +degrees as he forced himself to entertain them, and he grieved +when he was left, at their departure, to his old employment of +regulating the seasons.</p> +<p>The Princess and her favourite had now watched his lips for +several months, and could not catch a single word from which they +could judge whether he continued or not in the opinion of his +preternatural commission. They often contrived to bring him +to an open declaration; but he easily eluded all their attacks, +and, on which side soever they pressed him, escaped from them to +some other topic.</p> +<p>As their familiarity increased, they invited him often to the +house of Imlac, where they distinguished him by extraordinary +respect. He began gradually to delight in sublunary +pleasures. He came early and departed late; laboured to +recommend himself by assiduity and compliance; excited their +curiosity after new arts, that they might still want his +assistance; and when they made any excursion of pleasure or +inquiry, entreated to attend them.</p> +<p>By long experience of his integrity and wisdom, the Prince and +his sister were convinced that he might be trusted without +danger; and lest he should draw any false hopes from the +civilities which he received, discovered to him their condition, +with the motives of their journey, and required his opinion on +the choice of life.</p> +<p>“Of the various conditions which the world spreads +before you which you shall prefer,” said the sage, “I +am not able to instruct you. I can only tell that I have +chosen wrong. I have passed my time in study without +experience—in the attainment of sciences which can for the +most part be but remotely useful to mankind. I have +purchased knowledge at the expense of all the common comforts of +life; I have missed the endearing elegance of female friendship, +and the happy commerce of domestic tenderness. If I have +obtained any prerogatives above other students, they have been +accompanied with fear, disquiet, and scrupulosity; but even of +these prerogatives, whatever they were, I have, since my thoughts +have been diversified by more intercourse with the world, begun +to question the reality. When I have been for a few days +lost in pleasing dissipation, I am always tempted to think that +my inquiries have ended in error, and that I have suffered much, +and suffered it in vain.”</p> +<p>Imlac was delighted to find that the sage’s +understanding was breaking through its mists, and resolved to +detain him from the planets till he should forget his task of +ruling them, and reason should recover its original +influence.</p> +<p>From this time the astronomer was received into familiar +friendship, and partook of all their projects and pleasures; his +respect kept him attentive, and the activity of Rasselas did not +leave much time unengaged. Something was always to be done; +the day was spent in making observations, which furnished talk +for the evening, and the evening was closed with a scheme for the +morrow.</p> +<p>The sage confessed to Imlac that since he had mingled in the +gay tumults of life, and divided his hours by a succession of +amusements, he found the conviction of his authority over the +skies fade gradually from his mind, and began to trust less to an +opinion which he never could prove to others, and which he now +found subject to variation, from causes in which reason had no +part. “If I am accidentally left alone for a few +hours,” said he, “my inveterate persuasion rushes +upon my soul, and my thoughts are chained down by some +irresistible violence; but they are soon disentangled by the +Prince’s conversation, and instantaneously released at the +entrance of Pekuah. I am like a man habitually afraid of +spectres, who is set at ease by a lamp, and wonders at the dread +which harassed him in the dark; yet, if his lamp be extinguished, +feels again the terrors which he knows that when it is light he +shall feel no more. But I am sometimes afraid, lest I +indulge my quiet by criminal negligence, and voluntarily forget +the great charge with which I am entrusted. If I favour +myself in a known error, or am determined by my own ease in a +doubtful question of this importance, how dreadful is my +crime!”</p> +<p>“No disease of the imagination,” answered Imlac, +“is so difficult of cure as that which is complicated with +the dread of guilt; fancy and conscience then act interchangeably +upon us, and so often shift their places, that the illusions of +one are not distinguished from the dictates of the other. +If fancy presents images not moral or religious, the mind drives +them away when they give it pain; but when melancholy notions +take the form of duty, they lay hold on the faculties without +opposition, because we are afraid to exclude or banish +them. For this reason the superstitious are often +melancholy, and the melancholy almost always superstitious.</p> +<p>“But do not let the suggestions of timidity overpower +your better reason; the danger of neglect <a +name="page180"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 180</span>can be but +as the probability of the obligation, which, when you consider it +with freedom, you find very little, and that little growing every +day less. Open your heart to the influence of the light, +which from time to time breaks in upon you; when scruples +importune you, which you in your lucid moments know to be vain, +do not stand to parley, but fly to business or to Pekuah; and +keep this thought always prevalent, that you are only one atom of +the mass of humanity, and have neither such virtue nor vice as +that you should be singled out for supernatural favours or +afflictions.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLVII<br /> +THE PRINCE ENTERS, AND BRINGS A NEW TOPIC.</h2> +<p>“<span class="smcap">All</span> this,” said the +astronomer, “I have often thought; but my reason has been +so long subjugated by an uncontrollable and overwhelming idea, +that it durst not confide in its own decisions. I now see +how fatally I betrayed my quiet, by suffering chimeras to prey +upon me in secret; but melancholy shrinks from communication, and +I never found a man before to whom I could impart my troubles, +though I had been certain of relief. I rejoice to find my +own sentiments confirmed by yours, who are not easily deceived, +and can have no motive or purpose to deceive. I hope that +time and variety will dissipate the gloom that has so long +surrounded me, and the latter part of my days will be spent in +peace.”</p> +<p>“Your learning and virtue,” said Imlac, “may +justly give you hopes.”</p> +<p>Rasselas then entered, with the Princess and Pekuah, and +inquired whether they had contrived any new diversion for the +next day. “Such,” said Nekayah, “is the +state of life, that none are happy but by the anticipation of +change; the change itself is nothing; when we have made it the +next wish is to change again. The world is not yet +exhausted: let me see something to-morrow which I never saw +before.”</p> +<p>“Variety,” said Rasselas, “is so necessary +to content, that even the Happy Valley disgusted me by the +recurrence of its luxuries; yet I could not forbear to reproach +myself with impatience when I saw the monks of St. Anthony +support, without complaint, a life, not of uniform delight, but +uniform hardship.”</p> +<p>“Those men,” answered Imlac, “are less +wretched in their silent convent than the Abyssinian princes in +their prison of pleasure. Whatever is done by the monks is +incited by an adequate and reasonable motive. Their labour +supplies them with necessaries; it therefore cannot be omitted, +and is certainly rewarded. Their devotion prepares them for +another state, and reminds them of its approach while it fits +them for it. Their time is regularly distributed; one duty +succeeds another, so that they are not left open to the +distraction of unguided choice, nor lost in the shades of +listless inactivity. There is a certain task to be +performed at an appropriated hour, and their toils are cheerful, +because they consider them as acts of piety by which they are +always advancing towards endless felicity.”</p> +<p>“Do you think,” said Nekayah, “that the +monastic rule is a more holy and less imperfect state than any +other? May not he equally hope for future happiness who +converses openly with mankind, who succours the distressed by his +charity, instructs the ignorant by his learning, and contributes +by his industry to the general system of life, even though he +should omit some of the mortifications which are practised in the +cloister, and allow himself such harmless delights as his +condition may place within his reach?”</p> +<p>“This,” said Imlac, “is a question which has +long divided the wise and perplexed the good. I am afraid +to decide on either part. He that lives well in the world +is better than he that lives well in a monastery. But +perhaps everyone is not able to stem the temptations of public +life, and if he cannot conquer he may properly retreat. +Some have little power to do good, and have likewise little +strength to resist evil. Many are weary of the conflicts +with adversity, and are willing to eject those passions which +have long busied them in vain. And many are dismissed by +age and diseases from the more laborious duties of society. +In monasteries the weak and timorous may be happily sheltered, +the weary may repose, and the penitent may meditate. Those +retreats of prayer and contemplation have something so congenial +to the mind of man, that perhaps there is scarcely one that does +not purpose to close his life in pious abstraction, with a few +associates serious as himself.”</p> +<p>“Such,” said Pekuah, “has often been my +wish, and I have heard the Princess declare that she should not +willingly die in a crowd.”</p> +<p>“The liberty of using harmless pleasures,” +proceeded Imlac, “will not be disputed, but it is still to +be examined what pleasures are harmless. The evil of any +pleasure that Nekayah can image is not in the act itself but in +its consequences. Pleasure in itself harmless may become +mischievous by endearing to us a state which we know to be +transient and probatory, and withdrawing our thoughts from that +of which every hour brings us nearer to the beginning, and of +which no length of time will bring us to the end. +Mortification is not virtuous in itself, nor has any other use +but that it disengages us from the allurements of sense. In +the state of future perfection to which we all aspire there will +be pleasure without danger and security without +restraint.”</p> +<p>The Princess was silent, and Rasselas, turning to the +astronomer, asked him whether he could not delay her retreat by +showing her something which she had not seen before.</p> +<p>“Your curiosity,” said the sage, “has been +so general, and your pursuit of knowledge so vigorous, that +novelties are not now very easily to be found; but what you can +no longer procure from the living may be given by the dead. +Among the wonders of this country are the catacombs, or the +ancient repositories in which the bodies of the earliest +generations were lodged, and where, by the virtue of the gums +which embalmed them, they yet remain without +corruption.”</p> +<p><a name="page185"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +185</span>“I know not,” said Rasselas, “what +pleasure the sight of the catacombs can afford; but, since +nothing else is offered, I am resolved to view them, and shall +place this with my other things which I have done because I would +do something.”</p> +<p>They hired a guard of horsemen, and the next day visited the +catacombs. When they were about to descend into the +sepulchral caves, “Pekuah,” said the Princess, +“we are now again invading the habitations of the dead; I +know that you will stay behind. Let me find you safe when I +return.” “No, I will not be left,” +answered Pekuah, “I will go down between you and the +Prince.”</p> +<p>They then all descended, and roved with wonder through the +labyrinth of subterraneous passages, where the bodies were laid +in rows on either side.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLVIII<br /> +IMLAC DISCOURSES ON THE NATURE OF THE SOUL.</h2> +<p>“<span class="smcap">What</span> reason,” said the +Prince, “can be given why the Egyptians should thus +expensively preserve those carcases which some nations consume +with fire, others lay to mingle with the earth, and all agree to +remove from their sight as soon as decent rites can be +performed?”</p> +<p>“The original of ancient customs,” said Imlac, +“is commonly unknown, for the practice often continues when +the cause has ceased; and concerning superstitious ceremonies it +is vain to conjecture; for what reason did not dictate, reason +cannot explain. I have long believed that the practice of +embalming arose only from tenderness to the remains of relations +or friends; and to this opinion I am more inclined because it +seems impossible that this care should have been general; had all +the dead been embalmed, their repositories must in time have been +more spacious than the dwellings of the living. I suppose +only the rich or honourable were secured from corruption, and the +rest left to the course of nature.</p> +<p>“But it is commonly supposed that the Egyptians believed +the soul to live as long as the body continued undissolved, and +therefore tried this method of eluding death.”</p> +<p>“Could the wise Egyptians,” said Nekayah, +“think so grossly of the soul? If the soul could once +survive its separation, what could it afterwards receive or +suffer from the body?”</p> +<p>“The Egyptians would doubtless think erroneously,” +said the astronomer, “in the darkness of heathenism and the +first dawn of philosophy. The nature of the soul is still +disputed amidst all our opportunities of clearer knowledge; some +yet say that it may be material, who, nevertheless, believe it to +be immortal.”</p> +<p>“Some,” answered Imlac, “have indeed said +that the soul is material, but I can scarcely believe that any +man has thought it who knew how to think; for all the conclusions +of reason enforce the immateriality of mind, and all the notices +of sense and investigations of science concur to prove the +unconsciousness of matter.</p> +<p>“It was never supposed that cogitation is inherent in +matter, or that every particle is a thinking being. Yet if +any part of matter be devoid of thought, what part can we suppose +to think? Matter can differ from matter only in form, +density, bulk, motion, and direction of motion. To which of +these, however varied or combined, can consciousness be +annexed? To be round or square, to be solid or fluid, to be +great or little, to be moved slowly or swiftly, one way or +another, are modes of material existence all equally alien from +the nature of cogitation. If matter be once without +thought, it can only be made to think by some new modification; +but all the modifications which it can admit are equally +unconnected with cogitative powers.”</p> +<p>“But the materialists,” said the astronomer, +“urge that matter may have qualities with which we are +unacquainted.”</p> +<p>“He who will determine,” returned Imlac, +“against that which he knows because there may be something +which he knows not; he that can set hypothetical possibility +against acknowledged certainty, is not to be admitted among +reasonable beings. All that we know of matter is, that +matter is inert, senseless, and lifeless; and if this conviction +cannot he opposed but by referring us to something that we know +not, we have all the evidence that human intellect can +admit. If that which is known may be overruled by that +which is unknown, no being, not omniscient, can arrive at +certainty.”</p> +<p>“Yet let us not,” said the astronomer, “too +arrogantly limit the Creator’s power.”</p> +<p>“It is no limitation of Omnipotence,” replied the +poet, “to suppose that one thing is not consistent with +another, that the same proposition cannot be at once true and +false, that the same number cannot be even and odd, that +cogitation cannot be conferred on that which is created incapable +of cogitation.”</p> +<p>“I know not,” said Nekayah, “any great use +of this question. Does that immateriality, which in my +opinion you have sufficiently proved, necessarily include eternal +duration?”</p> +<p>“Of immateriality,” said Imlac, “our ideas +are negative, and therefore obscure. Immateriality seems to +imply a natural power of perpetual duration as a consequence of +exemption from all causes of decay: whatever perishes is +destroyed by the solution of its contexture and separation of its +parts; nor can we conceive how that which has no parts, and +therefore admits no solution, can be naturally corrupted or +impaired.”</p> +<p>“I know not,” said Rasselas, “how to +conceive anything without extension: what is extended must have +parts, and you allow that whatever has parts may be +destroyed.”</p> +<p>“Consider your own conceptions,” replied Imlac, +“and the difficulty will be less. You will find +substance without extension. An ideal form is no less real +than material bulk; yet an ideal form has no extension. It +is no less certain, when you think on a pyramid, that your mind +possesses the idea of a pyramid, than that the pyramid itself is +standing. What space does the idea of a pyramid occupy more +than the idea of a grain of corn? or how can either idea suffer +laceration? As is the effect, such is the cause; as +thought, such is the power that thinks, a power impassive and +indiscerptible.”</p> +<p>“But the Being,” said Nekayah, “whom I fear +to name, the Being which made the soul, can destroy +it.”</p> +<p>“He surely can destroy it,” answered Imlac, +“since, however imperishable, it receives from a superior +nature its power of duration. That it will not perish by +any inherent cause of decay or principle of corruption, may be +shown by philosophy; but philosophy can tell no more. That +it will not be annihilated by Him that made it, we must humbly +learn from higher authority.”</p> +<p>The whole assembly stood awhile silent and collected. +“Let us return,” said Rasselas, “from this +scene of mortality. How gloomy would be these mansions of +the dead to him who did not know that he should never die; that +what now acts shall continue its agency, and what now thinks +shall think on for ever. Those that lie here stretched +before us, the wise and the powerful of ancient times, warn us to +remember the shortness of our present state; they were perhaps +snatched away while they were busy, like us, in the <i>choice of +life</i>.”</p> +<p>“To me,” said the Princess, “the choice of +life is become less important; I hope hereafter to think only on +the choice of eternity.”</p> +<p>They then hastened out of the caverns, and under the +protection of their guard returned to Cairo.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XLIX<br /> +THE CONCLUSION, IN WHICH NOTHING IS CONCLUDED.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was now the time of the +inundation of the Nile. A few days after their visit to the +catacombs the river began to rise.</p> +<p>They were confined to their house. The whole region +being under water, gave them no invitation to any excursions; and +being well supplied with materials for talk, they diverted +themselves with comparisons of the different forms of life which +they had observed, and with various schemes of happiness which +each of them had formed.</p> +<p>Pekuah was never so much charmed with any place as the Convent +of St. Anthony, where the Arab restored her to the Princess, and +wished only to fill it with pious maidens and to be made prioress +of the order. She was weary of expectation and disgust, and +would gladly be fixed in some unvariable state.</p> +<p>The Princess thought that, of all sublunary things, knowledge +was the best. She desired first to learn all sciences, and +then proposed to found a college of learned women, in which she +would preside, that, by conversing with the old and educating the +young, she might divide her time between the acquisition and +communication of wisdom, and raise up for the next age models of +prudence and patterns of piety.</p> +<p>The Prince desired a little kingdom in which he might +administer justice in his own person and see all the parts of +government with his own eyes; but he could never fix the limits +of his dominion, and was always adding to the number of his +subjects.</p> +<p>Imlac and the astronomer were contented to be driven along the +stream of life without directing their course to any particular +port.</p> +<p>Of those wishes that they had formed they well knew that none +could be obtained. They deliberated awhile what was to be +done, and resolved, when the inundation should cease, to return +to Abyssinia.</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">Printed by Cassell & Company, +Limited, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RASSELAS***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 652-h.htm or 652-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/5/652 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at + www.gutenberg.org/license. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 +North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. +</pre></body> +</html> diff --git a/652-h/images/coverb.jpg b/652-h/images/coverb.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..98a4959 --- /dev/null +++ b/652-h/images/coverb.jpg diff --git a/652-h/images/covers.jpg b/652-h/images/covers.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5833903 --- /dev/null +++ b/652-h/images/covers.jpg diff --git a/652-h/images/p0b.jpg b/652-h/images/p0b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd399cd --- /dev/null +++ b/652-h/images/p0b.jpg diff --git a/652-h/images/p0s.jpg b/652-h/images/p0s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..31da0b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/652-h/images/p0s.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d36d63 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #652 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/652) diff --git a/old/rslas10.txt b/old/rslas10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c40f4ca --- /dev/null +++ b/old/rslas10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4527 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, by Samuel Johnson +(#2 in our series by Samuel Johnson) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia + +Author: Samuel Johnson + +Release Date: September, 1996 [EBook #652] +[This file was first posted on September 17, 1996] +[Most recently updated: September 8, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, RASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA *** + + + + +Transcribed from the 1889 Cassell & Company edition by David Price, +email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + +RASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA + + + + +CHAPTER I--DESCRIPTION OF A PALACE IN A VALLEY. + + + +Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue +with eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will +perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the +present day will be supplied by the morrow, attend to the history +of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia. + +Rasselas was the fourth son of the mighty Emperor in whose +dominions the father of waters begins his course--whose bounty +pours down the streams of plenty, and scatters over the world the +harvests of Egypt. + +According to the custom which has descended from age to age among +the monarchs of the torrid zone, Rasselas was confined in a private +palace, with the other sons and daughters of Abyssinian royalty, +till the order of succession should call him to the throne. + +The place which the wisdom or policy of antiquity had destined for +the residence of the Abyssinian princes was a spacious valley in +the kingdom of Amhara, surrounded on every side by mountains, of +which the summits overhang the middle part. The only passage by +which it could be entered was a cavern that passed under a rock, of +which it had long been disputed whether it was the work of nature +or of human industry. The outlet of the cavern was concealed by a +thick wood, and the mouth which opened into the valley was closed +with gates of iron, forged by the artificers of ancient days, so +massive that no man, without the help of engines, could open or +shut them. + +From the mountains on every side rivulets descended that filled all +the valley with verdure and fertility, and formed a lake in the +middle, inhabited by fish of every species, and frequented by every +fowl whom nature has taught to dip the wing in water. This lake +discharged its superfluities by a stream, which entered a dark +cleft of the mountain on the northern side, and fell with dreadful +noise from precipice to precipice till it was heard no more. + +The sides of the mountains were covered with trees, the banks of +the brooks were diversified with flowers; every blast shook spices +from the rocks, and every month dropped fruits upon the ground. +All animals that bite the grass or browse the shrubs, whether wild +or tame, wandered in this extensive circuit, secured from beasts of +prey by the mountains which confined them. On one part were flocks +and herds feeding in the pastures, on another all the beasts of +chase frisking in the lawns, the sprightly kid was bounding on the +rocks, the subtle monkey frolicking in the trees, and the solemn +elephant reposing in the shade. All the diversities of the world +were brought together, the blessings of nature were collected, and +its evils extracted and excluded. + +The valley, wide and fruitful, supplied its inhabitants with all +the necessaries of life, and all delights and superfluities were +added at the annual visit which the Emperor paid his children, when +the iron gate was opened to the sound of music, and during eight +days every one that resided in the valley was required to propose +whatever might contribute to make seclusion pleasant, to fill up +the vacancies of attention, and lessen the tediousness of time. +Every desire was immediately granted. All the artificers of +pleasure were called to gladden the festivity; the musicians +exerted the power of harmony, and the dancers showed their activity +before the princes, in hopes that they should pass their lives in +blissful captivity, to which those only were admitted whose +performance was thought able to add novelty to luxury. Such was +the appearance of security and delight which this retirement +afforded, that they to whom it was new always desired that it might +be perpetual; and as those on whom the iron gate had once closed +were never suffered to return, the effect of longer experience +could not be known. Thus every year produced new scenes of +delight, and new competitors for imprisonment. + +The palace stood on an eminence, raised about thirty paces above +the surface of the lake. It was divided into many squares or +courts, built with greater or less magnificence according to the +rank of those for whom they were designed. The roofs were turned +into arches of massive stone, joined by a cement that grew harder +by time, and the building stood from century to century, deriding +the solstitial rains and equinoctial hurricanes, without need of +reparation. + +This house, which was so large as to be fully known to none but +some ancient officers, who successively inherited the secrets of +the place, was built as if Suspicion herself had dictated the plan. +To every room there was an open and secret passage; every square +had a communication with the rest, either from the upper storeys by +private galleries, or by subterraneous passages from the lower +apartments. Many of the columns had unsuspected cavities, in which +a long race of monarchs had deposited their treasures. They then +closed up the opening with marble, which was never to be removed +but in the utmost exigences of the kingdom, and recorded their +accumulations in a book, which was itself concealed in a tower, not +entered but by the Emperor, attended by the prince who stood next +in succession. + + + +CHAPTER II--THE DISCONTENT OF RASSELAS IN THE HAPPY VALLEY. + + + +Here the sons and daughters of Abyssinia lived only to know the +soft vicissitudes of pleasure and repose, attended by all that were +skilful to delight, and gratified with whatever the senses can +enjoy. They wandered in gardens of fragrance, and slept in the +fortresses of security. Every art was practised to make them +pleased with their own condition. The sages who instructed them +told them of nothing but the miseries of public life, and described +all beyond the mountains as regions of calamity, where discord was +always racing, and where man preyed upon man. To heighten their +opinion of their own felicity, they were daily entertained with +songs, the subject of which was the Happy Valley. Their appetites +were excited by frequent enumerations of different enjoyments, and +revelry and merriment were the business of every hour, from the +dawn of morning to the close of the evening. + +These methods were generally successful; few of the princes had +ever wished to enlarge their bounds, but passed their lives in full +conviction that they had all within their reach that art or nature +could bestow, and pitied those whom nature had excluded from this +seat of tranquillity as the sport of chance and the slaves of +misery. + +Thus they rose in the morning and lay down at night, pleased with +each other and with themselves, all but Rasselas, who, in the +twenty-sixth year of his age, began to withdraw himself from the +pastimes and assemblies, and to delight in solitary walks and +silent meditation. He often sat before tables covered with luxury, +and forgot to taste the dainties that were placed before him; he +rose abruptly in the midst of the song, and hastily retired beyond +the sound of music. His attendants observed the change, and +endeavoured to renew his love of pleasure. He neglected their +officiousness, repulsed their invitations, and spent day after day +on the banks of rivulets sheltered with trees, where he sometimes +listened to the birds in the branches, sometimes observed the fish +playing in the streams, and anon cast his eyes upon the pastures +and mountains filled with animals, of which some were biting the +herbage, and some sleeping among the bushes. The singularity of +his humour made him much observed. One of the sages, in whose +conversation he had formerly delighted, followed him secretly, in +hope of discovering the cause of his disquiet. Rasselas, who knew +not that any one was near him, having for some time fixed his eyes +upon the goats that were browsing among the rocks, began to compare +their condition with his own. + +"What," said he, "makes the difference between man and all the rest +of the animal creation? Every beast that strays beside me has the +same corporal necessities with myself: he is hungry, and crops the +grass; he is thirsty, and drinks the stream; his thirst and hunger +are appeased; he is satisfied, and sleeps; he rises again, and is +hungry; he is again fed, and is at rest. I am hungry and thirsty, +like him, but when thirst and hunger cease, I am not at rest. I +am, like him, pained with want, but am not, like him, satisfied +with fulness. The intermediate hours are tedious and gloomy; I +long again to be hungry that I may again quicken the attention. +The birds peck the berries or the corn, and fly away to the groves, +where they sit in seeming happiness on the branches, and waste +their lives in tuning one unvaried series of sounds. I likewise +can call the lutist and the singer; but the sounds that pleased me +yesterday weary me to-day, and will grow yet more wearisome to- +morrow. I can discover in me no power of perception which is not +glutted with its proper pleasure, yet I do not feel myself +delighted. Man surely has some latent sense for which this place +affords no gratification; or he has some desire distinct from +sense, which must be satisfied before he can be happy." + +After this he lifted up his head, and seeing the moon rising, +walked towards the palace. As he passed through the fields, and +saw the animals around him, "Ye," said he, "are happy, and need not +envy me that walk thus among you, burdened with myself; nor do I, +ye gentle beings, envy your felicity; for it is not the felicity of +man. I have many distresses from which you are free; I fear pain +when I do not feel it; I sometimes shrink at evils recollected, and +sometimes start at evils anticipated: surely the equity of +Providence has balanced peculiar sufferings with peculiar +enjoyments." + +With observations like these the Prince amused himself as he +returned, uttering them with a plaintive voice, yet with a look +that discovered him to feel some complacence in his own +perspicacity, and to receive some solace of the miseries of life +from consciousness of the delicacy with which he felt and the +eloquence with which he bewailed them. He mingled cheerfully in +the diversions of the evening, and all rejoiced to find that his +heart was lightened. + + + +CHAPTER III--THE WANTS OF HIM THAT WANTS NOTHING. + + + +On the next day, his old instructor, imagining that he had now made +himself acquainted with his disease of mind, was in hope of curing +it by counsel, and officiously sought an opportunity of conference, +which the Prince, having long considered him as one whose +intellects were exhausted, was not very willing to afford. "Why," +said he, "does this man thus intrude upon me? Shall I never be +suffered to forget these lectures, which pleased only while they +were new, and to become new again must be forgotten?" He then +walked into the wood, and composed himself to his usual +meditations; when, before his thoughts had taken any settled form, +he perceived his pursuer at his side, and was at first prompted by +his impatience to go hastily away; but being unwilling to offend a +man whom he had once reverenced and still loved, he invited him to +sit down with him on the bank. + +The old man, thus encouraged, began to lament the change which had +been lately observed in the Prince, and to inquire why he so often +retired from the pleasures of the palace to loneliness and silence. +"I fly from pleasure," said the Prince, "because pleasure has +ceased to please: I am lonely because I am miserable, and am +unwilling to cloud with my presence the happiness of others." +"You, sir," said the sage, "are the first who has complained of +misery in the Happy Valley. I hope to convince you that your +complaints have no real cause. You are here in full possession of +all the Emperor of Abyssinia can bestow; here is neither labour to +be endured nor danger to be dreaded, yet here is all that labour or +danger can procure or purchase. Look round and tell me which of +your wants is without supply: if you want nothing, how are you +unhappy?" + +"That I want nothing," said the Prince, "or that I know not what I +want, is the cause of my complaint: if I had any known want, I +should have a certain wish; that wish would excite endeavour, and I +should not then repine to see the sun move so slowly towards the +western mountains, or to lament when the day breaks, and sleep will +no longer hide me from myself. When I see the kids and the lambs +chasing one another, I fancy that I should be happy if I had +something to pursue. But, possessing all that I can want, I find +one day and one hour exactly like another, except that the latter +is still more tedious than the former. Let your experience inform +me how the day may now seem as short as in my childhood, while +nature was yet fresh, and every moment showed me what I never had +observed before. I have already enjoyed too much: give me +something to desire." The old man was surprised at this new +species of affliction, and knew not what to reply, yet was +unwilling to be silent. "Sir," said he, "if you had seen the +miseries of the world, you would know how to value your present +state." "Now," said the Prince, "you have given me something to +desire. I shall long to see the miseries of the world, since the +sight of them is necessary to happiness." + + + +CHAPTER IV--THE PRINCE CONTINUES TO GRIEVE AND MUSE. + + + +At this time the sound of music proclaimed the hour of repast, and +the conversation was concluded. The old man went away sufficiently +discontented to find that his reasonings had produced the only +conclusion which they were intended to prevent. But in the decline +of life, shame and grief are of short duration: whether it be that +we bear easily what we have borne long; or that, finding ourselves +in age less regarded, we less regard others; or that we look with +slight regard upon afflictions to which we know that the hand of +death is about to put an end. + +The Prince, whose views were extended to a wider space, could not +speedily quiet his emotions. He had been before terrified at the +length of life which nature promised him, because he considered +that in a long time much must be endured: he now rejoiced in his +youth, because in many years much might be done. The first beam of +hope that had been ever darted into his mind rekindled youth in his +cheeks, and doubled the lustre of his eyes. He was fired with the +desire of doing something, though he knew not yet, with +distinctness, either end or means. He was now no longer gloomy and +unsocial; but considering himself as master of a secret stock of +happiness, which he could only enjoy by concealing it, he affected +to be busy in all the schemes of diversion, and endeavoured to make +others pleased with the state of which he himself was weary. But +pleasures can never be so multiplied or continued as not to leave +much of life unemployed; there were many hours, both of the night +and day, which he could spend without suspicion in solitary +thought. The load of life was much lightened; he went eagerly into +the assemblies, because he supposed the frequency of his presence +necessary to the success of his purposes; he retired gladly to +privacy, because he had now a subject of thought. His chief +amusement was to picture to himself that world which he had never +seen, to place himself in various conditions, to be entangled in +imaginary difficulties, and to be engaged in wild adventures; but, +his benevolence always terminated his projects in the relief of +distress, the detection of fraud, the defeat of oppression, and the +diffusion of happiness. + +Thus passed twenty months of the life of Rasselas. He busied +himself so intensely in visionary bustle that he forgot his real +solitude; and amidst hourly preparations for the various incidents +of human affairs, neglected to consider by what means he should +mingle with mankind. + +One day, as he was sitting on a bank, he feigned to himself an +orphan virgin robbed of her little portion by a treacherous lover, +and crying after him for restitution. So strongly was the image +impressed upon his mind that he started up in the maid's defence, +and ran forward to seize the plunderer with all the eagerness of +real pursuit. Fear naturally quickens the flight of guilt. +Rasselas could not catch the fugitive with his utmost efforts; but, +resolving to weary by perseverance him whom he could not surpass in +speed, he pressed on till the foot of the mountain stopped his +course. + +Here he recollected himself, and smiled at his own useless +impetuosity. Then raising his eyes to the mountain, "This," said +he, "is the fatal obstacle that hinders at once the enjoyment of +pleasure and the exercise of virtue. How long is it that my hopes +and wishes have flown beyond this boundary of my life, which yet I +never have attempted to surmount?" + +Struck with this reflection, he sat down to muse, and remembered +that since he first resolved to escape from his confinement, the +sun had passed twice over him in his annual course. He now felt a +degree of regret with which he had never been before acquainted. +He considered how much might have been done in the time which had +passed, and left nothing real behind it. He compared twenty months +with the life of man. "In life," said he, "is not to be counted +the ignorance of infancy or imbecility of age. We are long before +we are able to think, and we soon cease from the power of acting. +The true period of human existence may be reasonably estimated at +forty years, of which I have mused away the four-and-twentieth +part. What I have lost was certain, for I have certainly possessed +it; but of twenty months to come, who can assure me?" + +The consciousness of his own folly pierced him deeply, and he was +long before he could be reconciled to himself. "The rest of my +time," said he, "has been lost by the crime or folly of my +ancestors, and the absurd institutions of my country; I remember it +with disgust, yet without remorse: but the months that have passed +since new light darted into my soul, since I formed a scheme of +reasonable felicity, have been squandered by my own fault. I have +lost that which can never be restored; I have seen the sun rise and +set for twenty months, an idle gazer on the light of heaven; in +this time the birds have left the nest of their mother, and +committed themselves to the woods and to the skies; the kid has +forsaken the teat, and learned by degrees to climb the rocks in +quest of independent sustenance. I only have made no advances, but +am still helpless and ignorant. The moon, by more than twenty +changes, admonished me of the flux of life; the stream that rolled +before my feet upbraided my inactivity. I sat feasting on +intellectual luxury, regardless alike of the examples of the earth +and the instructions of the planets. Twenty months are passed: +who shall restore them?" + +These sorrowful meditations fastened upon his mind; he passed four +months in resolving to lose no more time in idle resolves, and was +awakened to more vigorous exertion by hearing a maid, who had +broken a porcelain cup, remark that what cannot be repaired is not +to be regretted. + +This was obvious; and Rasselas reproached himself that he had not +discovered it--having not known, or not considered, how many useful +hints are obtained by chance, and how often the mind, hurried by +her own ardour to distant views, neglects the truths that lie open +before her. He for a few hours regretted his regret, and from that +time bent his whole mind upon the means of escaping from the Valley +of Happiness. + + + +CHAPTER V--THE PRINCE MEDITATES HIS ESCAPE. + + + +He now found that it would be very difficult to effect that which +it was very easy to suppose effected. When he looked round about +him, he saw himself confined by the bars of nature, which had never +yet been broken, and by the gate through which none that had once +passed it were ever able to return. He was now impatient as an +eagle in a grate. He passed week after week in clambering the +mountains to see if there was any aperture which the bushes might +conceal, but found all the summits inaccessible by their +prominence. The iron gate he despaired to open for it was not only +secured with all the power of art, but was always watched by +successive sentinels, and was, by its position, exposed to the +perpetual observation of all the inhabitants. + +He then examined the cavern through which the waters of the lake +were discharged; and, looking down at a time when the sun shone +strongly upon its mouth, he discovered it to be full of broken +rocks, which, though they permitted the stream to flow through many +narrow passages, would stop any body of solid bulk. He returned +discouraged and dejected; but having now known the blessing of +hope, resolved never to despair. + +In these fruitless researches he spent ten months. The time, +however, passed cheerfully away--in the morning he rose with new +hope; in the evening applauded his own diligence; and in the night +slept soundly after his fatigue. He met a thousand amusements, +which beguiled his labour and diversified his thoughts. He +discerned the various instincts of animals and properties of +plants, and found the place replete with wonders, of which he +proposed to solace himself with the contemplation if he should +never be able to accomplish his flight--rejoicing that his +endeavours, though yet unsuccessful, had supplied him with a source +of inexhaustible inquiry. But his original curiosity was not yet +abated; he resolved to obtain some knowledge of the ways of men. +His wish still continued, but his hope grew less. He ceased to +survey any longer the walls of his prison, and spared to search by +new toils for interstices which he knew could not be found, yet +determined to keep his design always in view, and lay hold on any +expedient that time should offer. + + + +CHAPTER VI--A DISSERTATION ON THE ART OF FLYING. + + + +Among the artists that had been allured into the Happy Valley, to +labour for the accommodation and pleasure of its inhabitants, was a +man eminent for his knowledge of the mechanic powers, who had +contrived many engines both of use and recreation. By a wheel +which the stream turned he forced the water into a tower, whence it +was distributed to all the apartments of the palace. He erected a +pavilion in the garden, around which he kept the air always cool by +artificial showers. One of the groves, appropriated to the ladies, +was ventilated by fans, to which the rivulets that ran through it +gave a constant motion; and instruments of soft music were played +at proper distances, of which some played by the impulse of the +wind, and some by the power of the stream. + +This artist was sometimes visited by Rasselas who was pleased with +every kind of knowledge, imagining that the time would come when +all his acquisitions should be of use to him in the open world. He +came one day to amuse himself in his usual manner, and found the +master busy in building a sailing chariot. He saw that the design +was practicable upon a level surface, and with expressions of great +esteem solicited its completion. The workman was pleased to find +himself so much regarded by the Prince, and resolved to gain yet +higher honours. "Sir," said he, "you have seen but a small part of +what the mechanic sciences can perform. I have been long of +opinion that, instead of the tardy conveyance of ships and +chariots, man might use the swifter migration of wings, that the +fields of air are open to knowledge, and that only ignorance and +idleness need crawl upon the ground." + +This hint rekindled the Prince's desire of passing the mountains. +Having seen what the mechanist had already performed, he was +willing to fancy that he could do more, yet resolved to inquire +further before he suffered hope to afflict him by disappointment. +"I am afraid," said he to the artist, "that your imagination +prevails over your skill, and that you now tell me rather what you +wish than what you know. Every animal has his element assigned +him; the birds have the air, and man and beasts the earth." "So," +replied the mechanist, "fishes have the water, in which yet beasts +can swim by nature and man by art. He that can swim needs not +despair to fly; to swim is to fly in a grosser fluid, and to fly is +to swim in a subtler. We are only to proportion our power of +resistance to the different density of matter through which we are +to pass. You will be necessarily up-borne by the air if you can +renew any impulse upon it faster than the air can recede from the +pressure." + +"But the exercise of swimming," said the Prince, "is very +laborious; the strongest limbs are soon wearied. I am afraid the +act of flying will be yet more violent; and wings will be of no +great use unless we can fly further than we can swim." + +"The labour of rising from the ground," said the artist, "will be +great, as we see it in the heavier domestic fowls; but as we mount +higher the earth's attraction and the body's gravity will be +gradually diminished, till we shall arrive at a region where the +man shall float in the air without any tendency to fall; no care +will then be necessary but to move forward, which the gentlest +impulse will effect. You, sir, whose curiosity is so extensive, +will easily conceive with what pleasure a philosopher, furnished +with wings and hovering in the sky, would see the earth and all its +inhabitants rolling beneath him, and presenting to him +successively, by its diurnal motion, all the countries within the +same parallel. How must it amuse the pendent spectator to see the +moving scene of land and ocean, cities and deserts; to survey with +equal security the marts of trade and the fields of battle; +mountains infested by barbarians, and fruitful regions gladdened by +plenty and lulled by peace. How easily shall we then trace the +Nile through all his passages, pass over to distant regions, and +examine the face of nature from one extremity of the earth to the +other." + +"All this," said the Prince, "is much to be desired, but I am +afraid that no man will be able to breathe in these regions of +speculation and tranquillity. I have been told that respiration is +difficult upon lofty mountains, yet from these precipices, though +so high as to produce great tenuity of air, it is very easy to +fall; therefore I suspect that from any height where life can be +supported, there may be danger of too quick descent." + +"Nothing," replied the artist, "will ever be attempted if all +possible objections must be first overcome. If you will favour my +project, I will try the first flight at my own hazard. I have +considered the structure of all volant animals, and find the +folding continuity of the bat's wings most easily accommodated to +the human form. Upon this model I shall begin my task to-morrow, +and in a year expect to tower into the air beyond the malice and +pursuit of man. But I will work only on this condition, that the +art shall not be divulged, and that you shall not require me to +make wings for any but ourselves." + +"Why," said Rasselas, "should you envy others so great an +advantage? All skill ought to be exerted for universal good; every +man has owed much to others, and ought to repay the kindness that +he has received." + +"If men were all virtuous," returned the artist, "I should with +great alacrity teach them to fly. But what would be the security +of the good if the bad could at pleasure invade them from the sky? +Against an army sailing through the clouds neither walls, +mountains, nor seas could afford security. A flight of northern +savages might hover in the wind and light with irresistible +violence upon the capital of a fruitful reason. Even this valley, +the retreat of princes, the abode of happiness, might be violated +by the sudden descent of some of the naked nations that swarm on +the coast of the southern sea!" + +The Prince promised secrecy, and waited for the performance, not +wholly hopeless of success. He visited the work from time to time, +observed its progress, and remarked many ingenious contrivances to +facilitate motion and unite levity with strength. The artist was +every day more certain that he should leave vultures and eagles +behind him, and the contagion of his confidence seized upon the +Prince. In a year the wings were finished; and on a morning +appointed the maker appeared, furnished for flight, on a little +promontory; he waved his pinions awhile to gather air, then leaped +from his stand, and in an instant dropped into the lake. His +wings, which were of no use in the air, sustained him in the water; +and the Prince drew him to land half dead with terror and vexation. + + + +CHAPTER VII-- THE PRINCE FINDS A MAN OF LEARNING. + + + +The Prince was not much afflicted by this disaster, having suffered +himself to hope for a happier event only because he had no other +means of escape in view. He still persisted in his design to leave +the Happy Valley by the first opportunity. + +His imagination was now at a stand; he had no prospect of entering +into the world, and, notwithstanding all his endeavours to support +himself, discontent by degrees preyed upon him, and he began again +to lose his thoughts in sadness when the rainy season, which in +these countries is periodical, made it inconvenient to wander in +the woods. + +The rain continued longer and with more violence than had ever been +known; the clouds broke on the surrounding mountains, and the +torrents streamed into the plain on every side, till the cavern was +too narrow to discharge the water. The lake overflowed its banks, +and all the level of the valley was covered with the inundation. +The eminence on which the palace was built, and some other spots of +rising ground, were all that the eye could now discover. The herds +and flocks left the pasture, and both the wild beasts and the tame +retreated to the mountains. + +This inundation confined all the princes to domestic amusements, +and the attention of Rasselas was particularly seized by a poem +(which Imlac rehearsed) upon the various conditions of humanity. +He commanded the poet to attend him in his apartment, and recite +his verses a second time; then entering into familiar talk, he +thought himself happy in having found a man who knew the world so +well, and could so skilfully paint the scenes of life. He asked a +thousand questions about things to which, though common to all +other mortals, his confinement from childhood had kept him a +stranger. The poet pitied his ignorance, and loved his curiosity, +and entertained him from day to day with novelty and instruction so +that the Prince regretted the necessity of sleep, and longed till +the morning should renew his pleasure. + +As they were sitting together, the Prince commanded Imlac to relate +his history, and to tell by what accident he was forced, or by what +motive induced, to close his life in the Happy Valley. As he was +going to begin his narrative, Rasselas was called to a concert, and +obliged to restrain his curiosity till the evening. + + + +CHAPTER VIII--THE HISTORY OF IMLAC. + + + +The close of the day is, in the regions of the torrid zone, the +only season of diversion and entertainment, and it was therefore +midnight before the music ceased and the princesses retired. +Rasselas then called for his companion, and required him to begin +the story of his life. + +"Sir," said Imlac, "my history will not be long: the life that is +devoted to knowledge passes silently away, and is very little +diversified by events. To talk in public, to think in solitude, to +read and to hear, to inquire and answer inquiries, is the business +of a scholar. He wanders about the world without pomp or terror, +and is neither known nor valued but by men like himself. + +"I was born in the kingdom of Goiama, at no great distance from the +fountain of the Nile. My father was a wealthy merchant, who traded +between the inland countries of Africa and the ports of the Red +Sea. He was honest, frugal, and diligent, but of mean sentiments +and narrow comprehension; he desired only to be rich, and to +conceal his riches, lest he should be spoiled by the governors of +the province." + +"Surely," said the Prince, "my father must be negligent of his +charge if any man in his dominions dares take that which belongs to +another. Does he not know that kings are accountable for injustice +permitted as well as done? If I were Emperor, not the meanest of +my subjects should he oppressed with impunity. My blood boils when +I am told that a merchant durst not enjoy his honest gains for fear +of losing them by the rapacity of power. Name the governor who +robbed the people that I may declare his crimes to the Emperor!" + +"Sir," said Imlac, "your ardour is the natural effect of virtue +animated by youth. The time will come when you will acquit your +father, and perhaps hear with less impatience of the governor. +Oppression is, in the Abyssinian dominions, neither frequent nor +tolerated; but no form of government has been yet discovered by +which cruelty can be wholly prevented. Subordination supposes +power on one part and subjection on the other; and if power be in +the hands of men it will sometimes be abused. The vigilance of the +supreme magistrate may do much, but much will still remain undone. +He can never know all the crimes that are committed, and can seldom +punish all that he knows." + +"This," said the Prince, "I do not understand; but I had rather +hear thee than dispute. Continue thy narration." + +"My father," proceeded Imlac, "originally intended that I should +have no other education than such as might qualify me for commerce; +and discovering in me great strength of memory and quickness of +apprehension, often declared his hope that I should be some time +the richest man in Abyssinia." + +"Why," said the Prince, "did thy father desire the increase of his +wealth when it was already greater than he durst discover or enjoy? +I am unwilling to doubt thy veracity, yet inconsistencies cannot +both be true." + +"Inconsistencies," answered Imlac, "cannot both be right; but, +imputed to man, they may both be true. Yet diversity is not +inconsistency. My father might expect a time of greater security. +However, some desire is necessary to keep life in motion; and he +whose real wants are supplied must admit those of fancy." + +"This," said the Prince, "I can in some measure conceive. I repent +that I interrupted thee." + +"With this hope," proceeded Imlac, "he sent me to school. But when +I had once found the delight of knowledge, and felt the pleasure of +intelligence and the pride of invention, I began silently to +despise riches, and determined to disappoint the purposes of my +father, whose grossness of conception raised my pity. I was twenty +years old before his tenderness would expose me to the fatigue of +travel; in which time I had been instructed, by successive masters, +in all the literature of my native country. As every hour taught +me something new, I lived in a continual course of gratification; +but as I advanced towards manhood, I lost much of the reverence +with which I had been used to look on my instructors; because when +the lessons were ended I did not find them wiser or better than +common men. + +"At length my father resolved to initiate me in commerce; and, +opening one of his subterranean treasuries, counted out ten +thousand pieces of gold. 'This, young man,' said he, 'is the stock +with which you must negotiate. I began with less than a fifth +part, and you see how diligence and parsimony have increased it. +This is your own, to waste or improve. If you squander it by +negligence or caprice, you must wait for my death before you will +be rich; if in four years you double your stock, we will +thenceforward let subordination cease, and live together as friends +and partners, for he shall be always equal with me who is equally +skilled in the art of growing rich.' + +"We laid out our money upon camels, concealed in bales of cheap +goods, and travelled to the shore of the Red Sea. When I cast my +eye on the expanse of waters, my heart bounded like that of a +prisoner escaped. I felt an inextinguishable curiosity kindle in +my mind, and resolved to snatch this opportunity of seeing the +manners of other nations, and of learning sciences unknown in +Abyssinia. + +"I remembered that my father had obliged me to the improvement of +my stock, not by a promise, which I ought not to violate, but by a +penalty, which I was at liberty to incur; and therefore determined +to gratify my predominant desire, and, by drinking at the fountain +of knowledge, to quench the thirst of curiosity. + +"As I was supposed to trade without connection with my father, it +was easy for me to become acquainted with the master of a ship, and +procure a passage to some other country. I had no motives of +choice to regulate my voyage. It was sufficient for me that, +wherever I wandered, I should see a country which I had not seen +before. I therefore entered a ship bound for Surat, having left a +letter for my father declaring my intention." + + + +CHAPTER IX--THE HISTORY OF IMLAC (continued). + + + +"When I first entered upon the world of waters, and lost sight of +land, I looked round about me in pleasing terror, and thinking my +soul enlarged by the boundless prospect, imagined that I could gaze +around me for ever without satiety; but in a short time I grew +weary of looking on barren uniformity, where I could only see again +what I had already seen. I then descended into the ship, and +doubted for awhile whether all my future pleasures would not end, +like this, in disgust and disappointment. 'Yet surely,' said I, +'the ocean and the land are very different. The only variety of +water is rest and motion. But the earth has mountains and valleys, +deserts and cities; it is inhabited by men of different customs and +contrary opinions; and I may hope to find variety in life, though I +should miss it in nature.' + +"With this thought I quieted my mind, and amused myself during the +voyage, sometimes by learning from the sailors the art of +navigation, which I have never practised, and sometimes by forming +schemes for my conduct in different situations, in not one of which +I have been ever placed. + +"I was almost weary of my naval amusements when we safely landed at +Surat. I secured my money and, purchasing some commodities for +show, joined myself to a caravan that was passing into the inland +country. My companions, for some reason or other, conjecturing +that I was rich, and, by my inquiries and admiration, finding that +I was ignorant, considered me as a novice whom they had a right to +cheat, and who was to learn, at the usual expense, the art of +fraud. They exposed me to the theft of servants and the exaction +of officers, and saw me plundered upon false pretences, without any +advantage to themselves but that of rejoicing in the superiority of +their own knowledge." + +"Stop a moment," said the Prince; "is there such depravity in man +as that he should injure another without benefit to himself? I can +easily conceive that all are pleased with superiority; but your +ignorance was merely accidental, which, being neither your crime +nor your folly, could afford them no reason to applaud themselves; +and the knowledge which they had, and which you wanted, they might +as effectually have shown by warning as betraying you." + +"Pride," said Imlac, "is seldom delicate; it will please itself +with very mean advantages, and envy feels not its own happiness but +when it may be compared with the misery of others. They were my +enemies because they grieved to think me rich, and my oppressors +because they delighted to find me weak." + +"Proceed," said the Prince; "I doubt not of the facts which you +relate, but imagine that you impute them to mistaken motives." + +"In this company," said Imlac, "I arrived at Agra, the capital of +Hindostan, the city in which the Great Mogul commonly resides. I +applied myself to the language of the country, and in a few months +was able to converse with the learned men; some of whom I found +morose and reserved, and others easy and communicative; some were +unwilling to teach another what they had with difficulty learned +themselves; and some showed that the end of their studies was to +gain the dignity of instructing. + +"To the tutor of the young princes I recommended myself so much +that I was presented to the Emperor as a man of uncommon knowledge. +The Emperor asked me many questions concerning my country and my +travels, and though I cannot now recollect anything that he uttered +above the power of a common man, he dismissed me astonished at his +wisdom and enamoured of his goodness. + +"My credit was now so high that the merchants with whom I had +travelled applied to me for recommendations to the ladies of the +Court. I was surprised at their confidence of solicitation and +greatly reproached them with their practices on the road. They +heard me with cold indifference, and showed no tokens of shame or +sorrow. + +"They then urged their request with the offer of a bribe, but what +I would not do for kindness I would not do for money, and refused +them, not because they had injured me, but because I would not +enable them to injure others; for I knew they would have made use +of my credit to cheat those who should buy their wares. + +"Having resided at Agra till there was no more to be learned, I +travelled into Persia, where I saw many remains of ancient +magnificence and observed many new accommodations of life. The +Persians are a nation eminently social, and their assemblies +afforded me daily opportunities of remarking characters and +manners, and of tracing human nature through all its variations. + +"From Persia I passed into Arabia, where I saw a nation pastoral +and warlike, who lived without any settled habitation, whose wealth +is their flocks and herds, and who have carried on through ages an +hereditary war with mankind, though they neither covet nor envy +their possessions." + + + +CHAPTER X--IMLAC'S HISTORY (continued)--A DISSERTATION UPON POETRY. + + + +"Wherever I went I found that poetry was considered as the highest +learning, and regarded with a veneration somewhat approaching to +that which man would pay to angelic nature. And yet it fills me +with wonder that in almost all countries the most ancient poets are +considered as the best; whether it be that every other kind of +knowledge is an acquisition greatly attained, and poetry is a gift +conferred at once; or that the first poetry of every nation +surprised them as a novelty, and retained the credit by consent +which it received by accident at first; or whether, as the province +of poetry is to describe nature and passion, which are always the +same, the first writers took possession of the most striking +objects for description and the most probable occurrences for +fiction, and left nothing to those that followed them but +transcription of the same events and new combinations of the same +images. Whatever be the reason, it is commonly observed that the +early writers are in possession of nature, and their followers of +art; that the first excel in strength and invention, and the latter +in elegance and refinement. + +"I was desirous to add my name to this illustrious fraternity. I +read all the poets of Persia and Arabia, and was able to repeat by +memory the volumes that are suspended in the mosque of Mecca. But +I soon found that no man was ever great by imitations. My desire +of excellence impelled me to transfer my attention to nature and to +life. Nature was to be my subject, and men to be my auditors. I +could never describe what I had not seen. I could not hope to move +those with delight or terror whose interests and opinions I did not +understand. + +Being now resolved to be a poet, I saw everything with a new +purpose; my sphere of attention was suddenly magnified; no kind of +knowledge was to be overlooked. I ranged mountains and deserts for +images and resemblances, and pictured upon my mind every tree of +the forest and flower of the valley. I observed with equal care +the crags of the rock and the pinnacles of the palace. Sometimes I +wandered along the mazes of the rivulet, and sometimes watched the +changes of the summer clouds. To a poet nothing can be useless. +Whatever is beautiful and whatever is dreadful must be familiar to +his imagination; he must be conversant with all that is awfully +vast or elegantly little. The plants of the garden, the animals of +the wood, the minerals of the earth, and meteors of the sky, must +all concur to store his mind with inexhaustible variety; for every +idea is useful for the enforcement or decoration of moral or +religious truth, and he who knows most will have most power of +diversifying his scenes and of gratifying his reader with remote +allusions and unexpected instruction. + +"All the appearances of nature I was therefore careful to study, +and every country which I have surveyed has contributed something +to my poetical powers." + +"In so wide a survey," said the Prince, "you must surely have left +much unobserved. I have lived till now within the circuit of the +mountains, and yet cannot walk abroad without the sight of +something which I had never beheld before, or never heeded." + +"This business of a poet," said Imlac, "is to examine, not the +individual, but the species; to remark general properties and large +appearances. He does not number the streaks of the tulip, or +describe the different shades of the verdure of the forest. He is +to exhibit in his portraits of nature such prominent and striking +features as recall the original to every mind, and must neglect the +minuter discriminations, which one may have remarked and another +have neglected, for those characteristics which are alike obvious +to vigilance and carelessness. + +"But the knowledge of nature is only half the task of a poet; he +must be acquainted likewise with all the modes of life. His +character requires that he estimate the happiness and misery of +every condition, observe the power of all the passions in all their +combinations, and trace the changes of the human mind, as they are +modified by various institutions and accidental influences of +climate or custom, from the sprightliness of infancy to the +despondence of decrepitude. He must divest himself of the +prejudices of his age and country; he must consider right and wrong +in their abstracted and invariable state; he must disregard present +laws and opinions, and rise to general and transcendental truths, +which will always be the same. He must, therefore, content himself +with the slow progress of his name, contemn the praise of his own +time, and commit his claims to the justice of posterity. He must +write as the interpreter of nature and the legislator of mankind, +and consider himself as presiding over the thoughts and manners of +future generations, as a being superior to time and place. + +"His labour is not yet at an end. He must know many languages and +many sciences, and, that his style may be worthy of his thoughts, +must by incessant practice familiarise to himself every delicacy of +speech and grace of harmony." + + + +CHAPTER XI--IMLAC'S NARRATIVE (continued)--A HINT OF PILGRIMAGE. + + + +Imlac now felt the enthusiastic fit, and was proceeding to +aggrandise his own profession, when then Prince cried out: +"Enough! thou hast convinced me that no human being can ever be a +poet. Proceed with thy narration." + +"To be a poet," said Imlac, "is indeed very difficult." + +"So difficult," returned the Prince, "that I will at present hear +no more of his labours. Tell me whither you went when you had seen +Persia." + +"From Persia," said the poet, "I travelled through Syria, and for +three years resided in Palestine, where I conversed with great +numbers of the northern and western nations of Europe, the nations +which are now in possession of all power and all knowledge, whose +armies are irresistible, and whose fleets command the remotest +parts of the globe. When I compared these men with the natives of +our own kingdom and those that surround us, they appeared almost +another order of beings. In their countries it is difficult to +wish for anything that may not be obtained; a thousand arts, of +which we never heard, are continually labouring for their +convenience and pleasure, and whatever their own climate has denied +them is supplied by their commerce." + +"By what means," said the Prince, "are the Europeans thus powerful? +or why, since they can so easily visit Asia and Africa for trade or +conquest, cannot the Asiatics and Africans invade their coast, +plant colonies in their ports, and give laws to their natural +princes? The same wind that carries them back would bring us +thither." + +"They are more powerful, sir, than we," answered Imlac, "because +they are wiser; knowledge will always predominate over ignorance, +as man governs the other animals. But why their knowledge is more +than ours I know not what reason can be given but the unsearchable +will of the Supreme Being." + +"When," said the Prince with a sigh, "shall I be able to visit +Palestine, and mingle with this mighty confluence of nations? Till +that happy moment shall arrive, let me fill up the time with such +representations as thou canst give me. I am not ignorant of the +motive that assembles such numbers in that place, and cannot but +consider it as the centre of wisdom and piety, to which the best +and wisest men of every land must be continually resorting." + +"There are some nations," said Imlac, "that send few visitants to +Palestine; for many numerous and learned sects in Europe concur to +censure pilgrimage as superstitious, or deride it as ridiculous." + +"You know," said the Prince, "how little my life has made me +acquainted with diversity of opinions; it will be too long to hear +the arguments on both sides; you, that have considered them, tell +me the result." + +"Pilgrimage," said Imlac, "like many other acts of piety, may be +reasonable or superstitious, according to the principles upon which +it is performed. Long journeys in search of truth are not +commanded. Truth, such as is necessary to the regulation of life, +is always found where it is honestly sought. Change of place is no +natural cause of the increase of piety, for it inevitably produces +dissipation of mind. Yet, since men go every day to view the +fields where great actions have been performed, and return with +stronger impressions of the event, curiosity of the same kind may +naturally dispose us to view that country whence our religion had +its beginning, and I believe no man surveys those awful scenes +without some confirmation of holy resolutions. That the Supreme +Being may be more easily propitiated in one place than in another +is the dream of idle superstition, but that some places may operate +upon our own minds in an uncommon manner is an opinion which hourly +experience will justify. He who supposes that his vices may be +more successfully combated in Palestine, will perhaps find himself +mistaken; yet he may go thither without folly; he who thinks they +will be more freely pardoned, dishonours at once his reason and +religion." + +"These," said the Prince, "are European distinctions. I will +consider them another time. What have you found to be the effect +of knowledge? Are those nations happier than we?" + +"There is so much infelicity," said the poet, "in the world, that +scarce any man has leisure from his own distresses to estimate the +comparative happiness of others. Knowledge is certainly one of the +means of pleasure, as is confessed by the natural desire which +every mind feels of increasing its ideas. Ignorance is mere +privation, by which nothing can be produced; it is a vacuity in +which the soul sits motionless and torpid for want of attraction, +and, without knowing why, we always rejoice when we learn, and +grieve when we forget. I am therefore inclined to conclude that if +nothing counteracts the natural consequence of learning, we grow +more happy as out minds take a wider range. + +"In enumerating the particular comforts of life, we shall find many +advantages on the side of the Europeans. They cure wounds and +diseases with which we languish and perish. We suffer inclemencies +of weather which they can obviate. They have engines for the +despatch of many laborious works, which we must perform by manual +industry. There is such communication between distant places that +one friend can hardly be said to be absent from another. Their +policy removes all public inconveniences; they have roads cut +through the mountains, and bridges laid over their rivers. And, if +we descend to the privacies of life, their habitations are more +commodious and their possessions are more secure." + +"They are surely happy," said the Prince, "who have all these +conveniences, of which I envy none so much as the facility with +which separated friends interchange their thoughts." + +"The Europeans," answered Imlac, "are less unhappy than we, but +they are not happy. Human life is everywhere a state in which much +is to be endured and little to be enjoyed." + + + +CHAPTER XII--THE STORY OF IMLAC (continued). + + + +"I am not willing," said the Prince, "to suppose that happiness is +so parsimoniously distributed to mortals, nor can I believe but +that, if I had the choice of life, I should be able to fill every +day with pleasure. I would injure no man, and should provoke no +resentments; I would relieve every distress, and should enjoy the +benedictions of gratitude. I would choose my friends among the +wise and my wife among the virtuous, and therefore should be in no +danger from treachery or unkindness. My children should by my care +be learned and pious, and would repay to my age what their +childhood had received. What would dare to molest him who might +call on every side to thousands enriched by his bounty or assisted +by his power? And why should not life glide away in the soft +reciprocation of protection and reverence? All this may be done +without the help of European refinements, which appear by their +effects to be rather specious than useful. Let us leave them and +pursue our journey." + +"From Palestine," said Imlac, "I passed through many regions of +Asia; in the more civilised kingdoms as a trader, and among the +barbarians of the mountains as a pilgrim. At last I began to long +for my native country, that I might repose after my travels and +fatigues in the places where I had spent my earliest years, and +gladden my old companions with the recital of my adventures. Often +did I figure to myself those with whom I had sported away the gay +hours of dawning life, sitting round me in its evening, wondering +at my tales and listening to my counsels. + +"When this thought had taken possession of my mind, I considered +every moment as wasted which did not bring me nearer to Abyssinia. +I hastened into Egypt, and, notwithstanding my impatience, was +detained ten months in the contemplation of its ancient +magnificence and in inquiries after the remains of its ancient +learning. I found in Cairo a mixture of all nations: some brought +thither by the love of knowledge, some by the hope of gain; many by +the desire of living after their own manner without observation, +and of lying hid in the obscurity of multitudes; for in a city +populous as Cairo it is possible to obtain at the same time the +gratifications of society and the secrecy of solitude. + +"From Cairo I travelled to Suez, and embarked on the Red Sea, +passing along the coast till I arrived at the port from which I had +departed twenty years before. Here I joined myself to a caravan, +and re-entered my native country. + +"I now expected the caresses of my kinsmen and the congratulations +of my friends, and was not without hope that my father, whatever +value he had set upon riches, would own with gladness and pride a +son who was able to add to the felicity and honour of the nation. +But I was soon convinced that my thoughts were vain. My father had +been dead fourteen years, having divided his wealth among my +brothers, who were removed to some other provinces. Of my +companions, the greater part was in the grave; of the rest, some +could with difficulty remember me, and some considered me as one +corrupted by foreign manners. + +"A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected. I forgot, +after a time, my disappointment, and endeavoured to recommend +myself to the nobles of the kingdom; they admitted me to their +tables, heard my story, and dismissed me. I opened a school, and +was prohibited to teach. I then resolved to sit down in the quiet +of domestic life, and addressed a lady that was fond of my +conversation, but rejected my suit because my father was a +merchant. + +"Wearied at last with solicitation and repulses, I resolved to hide +myself for ever from the world, and depend no longer on the opinion +or caprice of others. I waited for the time when the gate of the +Happy Valley should open, that I might bid farewell to hope and +fear; the day came, my performance was distinguished with favour, +and I resigned myself with joy to perpetual confinement." + +"Hast thou here found happiness at last?" said Rasselas. "Tell me, +without reserve, art thou content with thy condition, or dost thou +wish to be again wandering and inquiring? All the inhabitants of +this valley celebrate their lot, and at the annual visit of the +Emperor invite others to partake of their felicity." + +"Great Prince," said Imlac, "I shall speak the truth. I know not +one of all your attendants who does not lament the hour when he +entered this retreat. I am less unhappy than the rest, because I +have a mind replete with images, which I can vary and combine at +pleasure. I can amuse my solitude by the renovation of the +knowledge which begins to fade from my memory, and by recollection +of the accidents of my past life. Yet all this ends in the +sorrowful consideration that my acquirements are now useless, and +that none of my pleasures can be again enjoyed. The rest, whose +minds have no impression but of the present moment, are either +corroded by malignant passions or sit stupid in the gloom of +perpetual vacancy." + +"What passions can infest those," said the Prince, "who have no +rivals? We are in a place where impotence precludes malice, and +where all envy is repressed by community of enjoyments." + +"There may be community," said Imlac, "of material possessions, but +there can never be community of love or of esteem. It must happen +that one will please more than another; he that knows himself +despised will always be envious, and still more envious and +malevolent if he is condemned to live in the presence of those who +despise him. The invitations by which they allure others to a +state which they feel to be wretched, proceed from the natural +malignity of hopeless misery. They are weary of themselves and of +each other, and expect to find relief in new companions. They envy +the liberty which their folly has forfeited, and would gladly see +all mankind imprisoned like themselves. + +"From this crime, however, I am wholly free. No man can say that +he is wretched by my persuasion. I look with pity on the crowds +who are annually soliciting admission to captivity, and wish that +it were lawful for me to warn them of their danger." + +"My dear Imlac," said the Prince, "I will open to thee my whole +heart. I have long meditated an escape from the Happy Valley. I +have examined the mountain on every side, but find myself +insuperably barred--teach me the way to break my prison; thou shalt +be the companion of my flight, the guide of my rambles, the partner +of my fortune, and my sole director in the CHOICE OF LIFE. + +"Sir," answered the poet, "your escape will be difficult, and +perhaps you may soon repent your curiosity. The world, which you +figure to yourself smooth and quiet as the lake in the valley, you +will find a sea foaming with tempests and boiling with whirlpools; +you will be sometimes overwhelmed by the waves of violence, and +sometimes dashed against the rocks of treachery. Amidst wrongs and +frauds, competitions and anxieties, you will wish a thousand times +for these seats of quiet, and willingly quit hope to be free from +fear." + +"Do not seek to deter me from my purpose," said the Prince. "I am +impatient to see what thou hast seen; and since thou art thyself +weary of the valley, it is evident that thy former state was better +than this. Whatever be the consequence of my experiment, I am +resolved to judge with mine own eyes of the various conditions of +men, and then to make deliberately my CHOICE OF LIFE." + +"I am afraid," said Imlac, "you are hindered by stronger restraints +than my persuasions; yet, if your determination is fixed, I do not +counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and +skill." + + + +CHAPTER XIII--RASSELAS DISCOVERS THE MEANS OF ESCAPE. + + + +The Prince now dismissed his favourite to rest; but the narrative +of wonders and novelties filled his mind with perturbation. He +revolved all that he had heard, and prepared innumerable questions +for the morning. + +Much of his uneasiness was now removed. He had a friend to whom he +could impart his thoughts, and whose experience could assist him in +his designs. His heart was no longer condemned to swell with +silent vexation. He thought that even the Happy Valley might be +endured with such a companion, and that if they could range the +world together he should have nothing further to desire. + +In a few days the water was discharged, and the ground dried. The +Prince and Imlac then walked out together, to converse without the +notice of the rest. The Prince, whose thoughts were always on the +wing, as he passed by the gate said, with a countenance of sorrow, +"Why art thou so strong, and why is man so weak?" + +"Man is not weak," answered his companion; "knowledge is more than +equivalent to force. The master of mechanics laughs at strength. +I can burst the gate, but cannot do it secretly. Some other +expedient must be tried." + + As they were walking on the side of the mountain they observed +that the coneys, which the rain had driven from their burrows, had +taken shelter among the bushes, and formed holes behind them +tending upwards in an oblique line. "It has been the opinion of +antiquity," said Imlac, "that human reason borrowed many arts from +the instinct of animals; let us, therefore, not think ourselves +degraded by learning from the coney. We may escape by piercing the +mountain in the same direction. We will begin where the summit +hangs over the middle part, and labour upward till we shall issue +out beyond the prominence." + +The eyes of the Prince, when he heard this proposal, sparkled with +joy. The execution was easy and the success certain. + +No time was now lost. They hastened early in the morning to choose +a place proper for their mine. They clambered with great fatigue +among crags and brambles, and returned without having discovered +any part that favoured their design. The second and the third day +were spent in the same manner, and with the same frustration; but +on the fourth day they found a small cavern concealed by a thicket, +where they resolved to make their experiment. + +Imlac procured instruments proper to hew stone and remove earth, +and they fell to their work on the next day with more eagerness +than vigour. They were presently exhausted by their efforts, and +sat down to pant upon the grass. The Prince for a moment appeared +to be discouraged. "Sir," said his companion, "practice will +enable us to continue our labour for a longer time. Mark, however, +how far we have advanced, and ye will find that our toil will some +time have an end. Great works are performed not by strength, but +perseverance; yonder palace was raised by single stones, yet you +see its height and spaciousness. He that shall walk with vigour +three hours a day, will pass in seven years a space equal to the +circumference of the globe." + +They returned to their work day after day, and in a short time +found a fissure in the rock, which enabled them to pass far with +very little obstruction. This Rasselas considered as a good omen. +"Do not disturb your mind," said Imlac, "with other hopes or fears +than reason may suggest; if you are pleased with the prognostics of +good, you will be terrified likewise with tokens of evil, and your +whole life will be a prey to superstition. Whatever facilitates +our work is more than an omen; it is a cause of success. This is +one of those pleasing surprises which often happen to active +resolution. Many things difficult to design prove easy to +performance." + + + +CHAPTER XIV--RASSELAS AND IMLAC RECEIVE AN UNEXPECTED VISIT. + + + +They had now wrought their way to the middle, and solaced their +toil with the approach of liberty, when the Prince, coming down to +refresh himself with air, found his sister Nekayah standing at the +mouth of the cavity. He started, and stood confused, afraid to +tell his design, and yet hopeless to conceal it. A few moments +determined him to repose on her fidelity, and secure her secrecy by +a declaration without reserve. + +"Do not imagine," said the Princess, "that I came hither as a spy. +I had long observed from my window that you and Imlac directed your +walk every day towards the same point, but I did not suppose you +had any better reason for the preference than a cooler shade or +more fragrant bank, nor followed you with any other design than to +partake of your conversation. Since, then, not suspicion, but +fondness, has detected you, let me not lose the advantage of my +discovery. I am equally weary of confinement with yourself, and +not less desirous of knowing what is done or suffered in the world. +Permit me to fly with you from this tasteless tranquillity, which +will yet grow more loathsome when you have left me. You may deny +me to accompany you, but cannot hinder me from following." + +The Prince, who loved Nekayah above his other sisters, had no +inclination to refuse her request, and grieved that he had lost an +opportunity of showing his confidence by a voluntary communication. +It was, therefore, agreed that she should leave the valley with +them; and that in the meantime she should watch, lest any other +straggler should, by chance or curiosity, follow them to the +mountain. + +At length their labour was at an end. They saw light beyond the +prominence, and, issuing to the top of the mountain, beheld the +Nile, yet a narrow current, wandering beneath them. + +The Prince looked round with rapture, anticipated all the pleasures +of travel, and in thought was already transported beyond his +father's dominions. Imlac, though very joyful at his escape, had +less expectation of pleasure in the world, which he had before +tried and of which he had been weary. + +Rasselas was so much delighted with a wider horizon, that he could +not soon be persuaded to return into the valley. He informed his +sister that the way was now open, and that nothing now remained but +to prepare for their departure. + + + +CHAPTER XV--THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS LEAVE THE VALLEY, AND SEE MANY +WONDERS. + + + +The Prince and Princess had jewels sufficient to make them rich +whenever they came into a place of commerce, which, by Imlac's +direction, they hid in their clothes, and on the night of the next +full moon all left the valley. The Princess was followed only by a +single favourite, who did not know whither she was going. + +They clambered through the cavity, and began to go down on the +other side. The Princess and her maid turned their eyes toward +every part, and seeing nothing to bound their prospect, considered +themselves in danger of being lost in a dreary vacuity. They +stopped and trembled. "I am almost afraid," said the Princess, "to +begin a journey of which I cannot perceive an end, and to venture +into this immense plain where I may be approached on every side by +men whom I never saw." The Prince felt nearly the same emotions, +though he thought it more manly to conceal them. + +Imlac smiled at their terrors, and encouraged them to proceed. But +the Princess continued irresolute till she had been imperceptibly +drawn forward too far to return. + +In the morning they found some shepherds in the field, who set some +milk and fruits before them. The Princess wondered that she did +not see a palace ready for her reception and a table spread with +delicacies; but being faint and hungry, she drank the milk and ate +the fruits, and thought them of a higher flavour than the products +of the valley. + +They travelled forward by easy journeys, being all unaccustomed to +toil and difficulty, and knowing that, though they might be missed, +they could not be pursued. In a few days they came into a more +populous region, where Imlac was diverted with the admiration which +his companions expressed at the diversity of manners, stations, and +employments. Their dress was such as might not bring upon them the +suspicion of having anything to conceal; yet the Prince, wherever +he came, expected to be obeyed, and the Princess was frighted +because those who came into her presence did not prostrate +themselves. Imlac was forced to observe them with great vigilance, +lest they should betray their rank by their unusual behaviour, and +detained them several weeks in the first village to accustom them +to the sight of common mortals. + +By degrees the royal wanderers were taught to understand that they +had for a time laid aside their dignity, and were to expect only +such regard as liberality and courtesy could procure. And Imlac +having by many admonitions prepared them to endure the tumults of a +port and the ruggedness of the commercial race, brought them down +to the sea-coast. + +The Prince and his sister, to whom everything was new, were +gratified equally at all places, and therefore remained for some +months at the port without any inclination to pass further. Imlac +was content with their stay, because he did not think it safe to +expose them, unpractised in the world, to the hazards of a foreign +country. + +At last he began to fear lest they should be discovered, and +proposed to fix a day for their departure. They had no pretensions +to judge for themselves, and referred the whole scheme to his +direction. He therefore took passage in a ship to Suez, and, when +the time came, with great difficulty prevailed on the Princess to +enter the vessel. + +They had a quick and prosperous voyage, and from Suez travelled by +land to Cairo. + + + +CHAPTER XVI--THEY ENTER CAIRO, AND FIND EVERY MAN HAPPY. + + + +As they approached the city, which filled the strangers with +astonishment, "This," said Imlac to the Prince, "is the place where +travellers and merchants assemble from all corners of the earth. +You will here find men of every character and every occupation. +Commerce is here honourable. I will act as a merchant, and you +shall live as strangers who have no other end of travel than +curiosity; it will soon be observed that we are rich. Our +reputation will procure us access to all whom we shall desire to +know; you shall see all the conditions of humanity, and enable +yourselves at leisure to make your CHOICE OF LIFE." + +They now entered the town, stunned by the noise and offended by the +crowds. Instruction had not yet so prevailed over habit but that +they wondered to see themselves pass undistinguished along the +streets, and met by the lowest of the people without reverence or +notice. The Princess could not at first bear the thought of being +levelled with the vulgar, and for some time continued in her +chamber, where she was served by her favourite Pekuah, as in the +palace of the valley. + +Imlac, who understood traffic, sold part of the jewels the next +day, and hired a house, which he adorned with such magnificence +that he was immediately considered as a merchant of great wealth. +His politeness attracted many acquaintances, and his generosity +made him courted by many dependants. His companions, not being +able to mix in the conversation, could make no discovery of their +ignorance or surprise, and were gradually initiated in the world as +they gained knowledge of the language. + +The Prince had by frequent lectures been taught the use and nature +of money; but the ladies could not for a long time comprehend what +the merchants did with small pieces of gold and silver, or why +things of so little use should be received as an equivalent to the +necessaries of life. + +They studied the language two years, while Imlac was preparing to +set before them the various ranks and conditions of mankind. He +grew acquainted with all who had anything uncommon in their fortune +or conduct. He frequented the voluptuous and the frugal, the idle +and the busy, the merchants and the men of learning. + +The Prince now being able to converse with fluency, and having +learned the caution necessary to be observed in his intercourse +with strangers, began to accompany Imlac to places of resort, and +to enter into all assemblies, that he might make his CHOICE OF +LIFE. + +For some time he thought choice needless, because all appeared to +him really happy. Wherever he went he met gaiety and kindness, and +heard the song of joy or the laugh of carelessness. He began to +believe that the world overflowed with universal plenty, and that +nothing was withheld either from want or merit; that every hand +showered liberality and every heart melted with benevolence: "And +who then," says he, "will be suffered to be wretched?" + +Imlac permitted the pleasing delusion, and was unwilling to crush +the hope of inexperience: till one day, having sat awhile silent, +"I know not," said the Prince, "what can be the reason that I am +more unhappy than any of our friends. I see them perpetually and +unalterably cheerful, but feel my own mind restless and uneasy. I +am unsatisfied with those pleasures which I seem most to court. I +live in the crowds of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to +shun myself, and am only loud and merry to conceal my sadness." + +"Every man," said Imlac, "may by examining his own mind guess what +passes in the minds of others. When you feel that your own gaiety +is counterfeit, it may justly lead you to suspect that of your +companions not to be sincere. Envy is commonly reciprocal. We are +long before we are convinced that happiness is never to be found, +and each believes it possessed by others, to keep alive the hope of +obtaining it for himself. In the assembly where you passed the +last night there appeared such sprightliness of air and volatility +of fancy as might have suited beings of a higher order, formed to +inhabit serener regions, inaccessible to care or sorrow; yet, +believe me, Prince, was there not one who did not dread the moment +when solitude should deliver him to the tyranny of reflection." + +"This," said the Prince, "may be true of others since it is true of +me; yet, whatever be the general infelicity of man, one condition +is more happy than another, and wisdom surely directs us to take +the least evil in the CHOICE OF LIFE." + +"The causes of good and evil," answered Imlac, "are so various and +uncertain, so often entangled with each other, so diversified by +various relations, and so much subject to accidents which cannot be +foreseen, that he who would fix his condition upon incontestable +reasons of preference must live and die inquiring and +deliberating." + +"But, surely," said Rasselas, "the wise men, to whom we listen with +reverence and wonder, chose that mode of life for themselves which +they thought most likely to make them happy." + +"Very few," said the poet, "live by choice. Every man is placed in +the present condition by causes which acted without his foresight, +and with which he did not always willingly co-operate, and +therefore you will rarely meet one who does not think the lot of +his neighbour better than his own." + +"I am pleased to think," said the Prince, "that my birth has given +me at least one advantage over others by enabling me to determine +for myself. I have here the world before me. I will review it at +leisure: surely happiness is somewhere to be found." + + + +CHAPTER XVII--THE PRINCE ASSOCIATES WITH YOUNG MEN OF SPIRIT AND +GAIETY. + + + +Rasselas rose next day, and resolved to begin his experiments upon +life. "Youth," cried he, "is the time of gladness: I will join +myself to the young men whose only business is to gratify their +desires, and whose time is all spent in a succession of +enjoyments." + +To such societies he was readily admitted, but a few days brought +him back weary and disgusted. Their mirth was without images, +their laughter without motive; their pleasures were gross and +sensual, in which the mind had no part; their conduct was at once +wild and mean--they laughed at order and at law, but the frown of +power dejected and the eye of wisdom abashed them. + +The Prince soon concluded that he should never be happy in a course +of life of which he was ashamed. He thought it unsuitable to a +reasonable being to act without a plan, and to be sad or cheerful +only by chance. "Happiness," said he, "must be something solid and +permanent, without fear and without uncertainty." + +But his young companions had gained so much of his regard by their +frankness and courtesy that he could not leave them without warning +and remonstrance. "My friends," said he, "I have seriously +considered our manners and our prospects, and find that we have +mistaken our own interest. The first years of man must make +provision for the last. He that never thinks, never can be wise. +Perpetual levity must end in ignorance; and intemperance, though it +may fire the spirits for an hour, will make life short or +miserable. Let us consider that youth is of no long duration, and +that in mature age, when the enchantments of fancy shall cease, and +phantoms of delight dance no more about us, we shall have no +comforts but the esteem of wise men and the means of doing good. +Let us therefore stop while to stop is in our power: let us live +as men who are some time to grow old, and to whom it will be the +most dreadful of all evils to count their past years by follies, +and to be reminded of their former luxuriance of health only by the +maladies which riot has produced." + +They stared awhile in silence one upon another, and at last drove +him away by a general chorus of continued laughter. + +The consciousness that his sentiments were just and his intention +kind was scarcely sufficient to support him against the horror of +derision. But he recovered his tranquillity and pursued his +search. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII--THE PRINCE FINDS A WISE AND HAPPY MAN. + + + +As he was one day walking in the street he saw a spacious building +which all were by the open doors invited to enter. He followed the +stream of people, and found it a hall or school of declamation, in +which professors read lectures to their auditory. He fixed his eye +upon a sage raised above the rest, who discoursed with great energy +on the government of the passions. His look was venerable, his +action graceful, his pronunciation clear, and his diction elegant. +He showed with great strength of sentiment and variety of +illustration that human nature is degraded and debased when the +lower faculties predominate over the higher; that when fancy, the +parent of passion, usurps the dominion of the mind, nothing ensues +but the natural effect of unlawful government, perturbation, and +confusion; that she betrays the fortresses of the intellect to +rebels, and excites her children to sedition against their lawful +sovereign. He compared reason to the sun, of which the light is +constant, uniform, and lasting; and fancy to a meteor, of bright +but transitory lustre, irregular in its motion and delusive in its +direction. + +He then communicated the various precepts given from time to time +for the conquest of passion, and displayed the happiness of those +who had obtained the important victory, after which man is no +longer the slave of fear nor the fool of hope; is no more emaciated +by envy, inflamed by anger, emasculated by tenderness, or depressed +by grief; but walks on calmly through the tumults or privacies of +life, as the sun pursues alike his course through the calm or the +stormy sky. + +He enumerated many examples of heroes immovable by pain or +pleasure, who looked with indifference on those modes or accidents +to which the vulgar give the names of good and evil. He exhorted +his hearers to lay aside their prejudices, and arm themselves +against the shafts of malice or misfortune, by invulnerable +patience: concluding that this state only was happiness, and that +this happiness was in every one's power. + +Rasselas listened to him with the veneration due to the +instructions of a superior being, and waiting for him at the door, +humbly implored the liberty of visiting so great a master of true +wisdom. The lecturer hesitated a moment, when Rasselas put a purse +of gold into his hand, which he received with a mixture of joy and +wonder. + +"I have found," said the Prince at his return to Imlac, "a man who +can teach all that is necessary to be known; who, from the unshaken +throne of rational fortitude, looks down on the scenes of life +changing beneath him. He speaks, and attention watches his lips. +He reasons, and conviction closes his periods. This man shall be +my future guide: I will learn his doctrines and imitate his life." + +"Be not too hasty," said Imlac, "to trust or to admire the teachers +of morality: they discourse like angels, but they live like men." + +Rasselas, who could not conceive how any man could reason so +forcibly without feeling the cogency of his own arguments, paid his +visit in a few days, and was denied admission. He had now learned +the power of money, and made his way by a piece of gold to the +inner apartment, where he found the philosopher in a room half +darkened, with his eyes misty and his face pale. "Sir," said he, +"you are come at a time when all human friendship is useless; what +I suffer cannot be remedied: what I have lost cannot be supplied. +My daughter, my only daughter, from whose tenderness I expected all +the comforts of my age, died last night of a fever. My views, my +purposes, my hopes, are at an end: I am now a lonely being, +disunited from society." + +"Sir," said the Prince, "mortality is an event by which a wise man +can never be surprised: we know that death is always near, and it +should therefore always be expected." "Young man," answered the +philosopher, "you speak like one that has never felt the pangs of +separation." "Have you then forgot the precepts," said Rasselas, +"which you so powerfully enforced? Has wisdom no strength to arm +the heart against calamity? Consider that external things are +naturally variable, but truth and reason are always the same." +"What comfort," said the mourner, "can truth and reason afford me? +Of what effect are they now, but to tell me that my daughter will +not be restored?" + +The Prince, whose humanity would not suffer him to insult misery +with reproof, went away, convinced of the emptiness of rhetorical +sounds, and the inefficacy of polished periods and studied +sentences. + + + +CHAPTER XIX--A GLIMPSE OF PASTORAL LIFE. + + + +He was still eager upon the same inquiry; and having heard of a +hermit that lived near the lowest cataract of the Nile, and filled +the whole country with the fame of his sanctity, resolved to visit +his retreat, and inquire whether that felicity which public life +could not afford was to be found in solitude, and whether a man +whose age and virtue made him venerable could teach any peculiar +art of shunning evils or enduring them. + +Imlac and the Princess agreed to accompany him, and after the +necessary preparations, they began their journey. Their way lay +through the fields, where shepherds tended their flocks and the +lambs were playing upon the pasture. "This," said the poet, "is +the life which has been often celebrated for its innocence and +quiet; let us pass the heat of the day among the shepherds' tents, +and know whether all our searches are not to terminate in pastoral +simplicity." + +The proposal pleased them; and they induced the shepherds, by small +presents and familiar questions, to tell the opinion of their own +state. They were so rude and ignorant, so little able to compare +the good with the evil of the occupation, and so indistinct in +their narratives and descriptions, that very little could be +learned from them. But it was evident that their hearts were +cankered with discontent; that they considered themselves as +condemned to labour for the luxury of the rich, and looked up with +stupid malevolence towards those that were placed above them. + +The Princess pronounced with vehemence that she would never suffer +these envious savages to be her companions, and that she should not +soon be desirous of seeing any more specimens of rustic happiness; +but could not believe that all the accounts of primeval pleasures +were fabulous, and was in doubt whether life had anything that +could be justly preferred to the placid gratification of fields and +woods. She hoped that the time would come when, with a few +virtuous and elegant companions, she should gather flowers planted +by her own hands, fondle the lambs of her own ewe, and listen +without care, among brooks and breezes, to one of her maidens +reading in the shade. + + + +CHAPTER XX--THE DANGER OF PROSPERITY. + + + +On the next day they continued their journey till the heat +compelled them to look round for shelter. At a small distance they +saw a thick wood, which they no sooner entered than they perceived +that they were approaching the habitations of men. The shrubs were +diligently cut away to open walks where the shades ware darkest; +the boughs of opposite trees were artificially interwoven; seats of +flowery turf were raised in vacant spaces; and a rivulet that +wantoned along the side of a winding path had its banks sometimes +opened into small basins, and its stream sometimes obstructed by +little mounds of stone heaped together to increase its murmurs. + +They passed slowly through the wood, delighted with such unexpected +accommodations, and entertained each other with conjecturing what +or who he could be that in those rude and unfrequented regions had +leisure and art for such harmless luxury. + +As they advanced they heard the sound of music, and saw youths and +virgins dancing in the grove; and going still farther beheld a +stately palace built upon a hill surrounded by woods. The laws of +Eastern hospitality allowed them to enter, and the master welcomed +them like a man liberal and wealthy. + +He was skilful enough in appearances soon to discern that they were +no common guests, and spread his table with magnificence. The +eloquence of Imlac caught his attention, and the lofty courtesy of +the Princess excited his respect. When they offered to depart, he +entreated their stay, and was the next day more unwilling to +dismiss them than before. They were easily persuaded to stop, and +civility grew up in time to freedom and confidence. + +The Prince now saw all the domestics cheerful and all the face of +nature smiling round the place, and could not forbear to hope that +he should find here what he was seeking; but when he was +congratulating the master upon his possessions he answered with a +sigh, "My condition has indeed the appearance of happiness, but +appearances are delusive. My prosperity puts my life in danger; +the Bassa of Egypt is my enemy, incensed only by my wealth and +popularity. I have been hitherto protected against him by the +princes of the country; but as the favour of the great is uncertain +I know not how soon my defenders may be persuaded to share the +plunder with the Bassa. I have sent my treasures into a distant +country, and upon the first alarm am prepared to follow them. Then +will my enemies riot in my mansion, and enjoy the gardens which I +have planted." + +They all joined in lamenting his danger and deprecating his exile; +and the Princess was so much disturbed with the tumult of grief and +indignation that she retired to her apartment. They continued with +their kind inviter a few days longer, and then went to find the +hermit. + + + +CHAPTER XXI--THE HAPPINESS OF SOLITUDE--THE HERMIT'S HISTORY. + + + +They came on the third day, by the direction of the peasants, to +the hermit's cell. It was a cavern in the side of a mountain, +overshadowed with palm trees, at such a distance from the cataract +that nothing more was heard than a gentle uniform murmur, such as +composes the mind to pensive meditation, especially when it was +assisted by the wind whistling among the branches. The first rude +essay of Nature had been so much improved by human labour that the +cave contained several apartments appropriated to different uses, +and often afforded lodging to travellers whom darkness or tempests +happened to overtake. + +The hermit sat on a bench at the door, to enjoy the coolness of the +evening. On one side lay a book with pens and paper; on the other +mechanical instruments of various kinds. As they approached him +unregarded, the Princess observed that he had not the countenance +of a man that had found or could teach the way to happiness. + +They saluted him with great respect, which he repaid like a man not +unaccustomed to the forms of Courts. "My children," said he, "if +you have lost your way, you shall be willingly supplied with such +conveniences for the night as this cavern will afford. I have all +that Nature requires, and you will not expect delicacies in a +hermit's cell." + +They thanked him; and, entering, were pleased with the neatness and +regularity of the place. The hermit set flesh and wine before +them, though he fed only upon fruits and water. His discourse was +cheerful without levity, and pious without enthusiasm. He soon +gained the esteem of his guests, and the Princess repented her +hasty censure. + +At last Imlac began thus: "I do not now wonder that your +reputation is so far extended: we have heard at Cairo of your +wisdom, and came hither to implore your direction for this young +man and maiden in the CHOICE OF LIFE." + +"To him that lives well," answered the hermit, "every form of life +is good; nor can I give any other rule for choice than to remove +all apparent evil." + +"He will most certainly remove from evil," said the Prince, "who +shall devote himself to that solitude which you have recommended by +your example." + +"I have indeed lived fifteen years in solitude," said the hermit, +"but have no desire that my example should gain any imitators. In +my youth I professed arms, and was raised by degrees to the highest +military rank. I have traversed wide countries at the head of my +troops, and seen many battles and sieges. At last, being disgusted +by the preferments of a younger officer, and feeling that my vigour +was beginning to decay, I resolved to close my life in peace, +having found the world full of snares, discord, and misery. I had +once escaped from the pursuit of the enemy by the shelter of this +cavern, and therefore chose it for my final residence. I employed +artificers to form it into chambers, and stored it with all that I +was likely to want. + +"For some time after my retreat I rejoiced like a tempest-beaten +sailor at his entrance into the harbour, being delighted with the +sudden change of the noise and hurry of war to stillness and +repose. When the pleasure of novelty went away, I employed my +hours in examining the plants which grow in the valley, and the +minerals which I collected from the rocks. But that inquiry is now +grown tasteless and irksome. I have been for some time unsettled +and distracted: my mind is disturbed with a thousand perplexities +of doubt and vanities of imagination, which hourly prevail upon me, +because I have no opportunities of relaxation or diversion. I am +sometimes ashamed to think that I could not secure myself from vice +but by retiring from the exercise of virtue, and begin to suspect +that I was rather impelled by resentment than led by devotion into +solitude. My fancy riots in scenes of folly, and I lament that I +have lost so much, and have gained so little. In solitude, if I +escape the example of bad men, I want likewise the counsel and +conversation of the good. I have been long comparing the evils +with the advantages of society, and resolve to return into the +world to-morrow. The life of a solitary man will be certainly +miserable, but not certainly devout." + +They heard his resolution with surprise, but after a short pause +offered to conduct him to Cairo. He dug up a considerable treasure +which he had hid among the rocks, and accompanied them to the city, +on which, as he approached it, he gazed with rapture. + + + +CHAPTER XXII--THE HAPPINESS OF A LIFE LED ACCORDING TO NATURE. + + + +Rasselas went often to an assembly of learned men, who met at +stated times to unbend their minds and compare their opinions. +Their manners were somewhat coarse, but their conversation was +instructive, and their disputations acute, though sometimes too +violent, and often continued till neither controvertist remembered +upon what question he began. Some faults were almost general among +them: every one was pleased to hear the genius or knowledge of +another depreciated. + +In this assembly Rasselas was relating his interview with the +hermit, and the wonder with which he heard him censure a course of +life which he had so deliberately chosen and so laudably followed. +The sentiments of the hearers were various. Some were of opinion +that the folly of his choice had been justly punished by +condemnation to perpetual perseverance. One of the youngest among +them, with great vehemence, pronounced him a hypocrite. Some +talked of the right of society to the labour of individuals, and +considered retirement as a desertion of duty. Others readily +allowed that there was a time when the claims of the public were +satisfied, and when a man might properly sequester himself, to +review his life and purify his heart. + +One who appeared more affected with the narrative than the rest +thought it likely that the hermit would in a few years go back to +his retreat, and perhaps, if shame did not restrain or death +intercept him, return once more from his retreat into the world. +"For the hope of happiness," said he, "is so strongly impressed +that the longest experience is not able to efface it. Of the +present state, whatever it be, we feel and are forced to confess +the misery; yet when the same state is again at a distance, +imagination paints it as desirable. But the time will surely come +when desire will no longer be our torment and no man shall be +wretched but by his own fault. + +"This," said a philosopher who had heard him with tokens of great +impatience, "is the present condition of a wise man. The time is +already come when none are wretched but by their own fault. +Nothing is more idle than to inquire after happiness which Nature +has kindly placed within our reach. The way to be happy is to live +according to Nature, in obedience to that universal and unalterable +law with which every heart is originally impressed; which is not +written on it by precept, but engraven by destiny; not instilled by +education, but infused at our nativity. He that lives according to +Nature will suffer nothing from the delusions of hope or +importunities of desire; he will receive and reject with equability +of temper; and act or suffer as the reason of things shall +alternately prescribe. Other men may amuse themselves with subtle +definitions or intricate ratiocination. Let them learn to be wise +by easier means: let them observe the hind of the forest and the +linnet of the grove: let them consider the life of animals, whose +motions are regulated by instinct; they obey their guide, and are +happy. Let us therefore at length cease to dispute, and learn to +live: throw away the encumbrance of precepts, which they who utter +them with so much pride and pomp do not understand, and carry with +us this simple and intelligible maxim: that deviation from Nature +is deviation from happiness. + +When he had spoken he looked round him with a placid air, and +enjoyed the consciousness of his own beneficence. + +"Sir," said the Prince with great modesty, "as I, like all the rest +of mankind, am desirous of felicity, my closest attention has been +fixed upon your discourse: I doubt not the truth of a position +which a man so learned has so confidently advanced. Let me only +know what it is to live according to Nature." + +"When I find young men so humble and so docile," said the +philosopher, "I can deny them no information which my studies have +enabled me to afford. To live according to Nature is to act always +with due regard to the fitness arising from the relations and +qualities of causes and effects; to concur with the great and +unchangeable scheme of universal felicity; to co-operate with the +general disposition and tendency of the present system of things." + +The Prince soon found that this was one of the sages whom he should +understand less as he heard him longer. He therefore bowed and was +silent; and the philosopher, supposing him satisfied and the rest +vanquished, rose up and departed with the air of a man that had co- +operated with the present system. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII--THE PRINCE AND HIS SISTER DIVIDE BETWEEN THEM THE +WORK OF OBSERVATION. + + + +Rasselas returned home full of reflections, doubting how to direct +his future steps. Of the way to happiness he found the learned and +simple equally ignorant; but as he was yet young, he flattered +himself that he had time remaining for more experiments and further +inquiries. He communicated to Imlac his observations and his +doubts, but was answered by him with new doubts and remarks that +gave him no comfort. He therefore discoursed more frequently and +freely with his sister, who had yet the same hope with himself, and +always assisted him to give some reason why, though he had been +hitherto frustrated, he might succeed at last. + +"We have hitherto," said she, "known but little of the world; we +have never yet been either great or mean. In our own country, +though we had royalty, we had no power; and in this we have not yet +seen the private recesses of domestic peace. Imlac favours not our +search, lest we should in time find him mistaken. We will divide +the task between us; you shall try what is to be found in the +splendour of Courts, and I will range the shades of humbler life. +Perhaps command and authority may be the supreme blessings, as they +afford the most opportunities of doing good; or perhaps what this +world can give may be found in the modest habitations of middle +fortune--too low for great designs, and too high for penury and +distress." + + + +CHAPTER XXIV--THE PRINCE EXAMINES THE HAPPINESS OF HIGH STATIONS. + + + +Rasselas applauded the design, and appeared next day with a +splendid retinue at the Court of the Bassa. He was soon +distinguished for his magnificence, and admitted, as a Prince whose +curiosity had brought him from distant countries, to an intimacy +with the great officers and frequent conversation with the Bassa +himself. + +He was at first inclined to believe that the man must be pleased +with his own condition whom all approached with reverence and heard +with obedience, and who had the power to extend his edicts to a +whole kingdom. "There can be no pleasure," said he, "equal to that +of feeling at once the joy of thousands all made happy by wise +administration. Yet, since by the law of subordination this +sublime delight can be in one nation but the lot of one, it is +surely reasonable to think that there is some satisfaction more +popular and accessible, and that millions can hardly be subjected +to the will of a single man, only to fill his particular breast +with incommunicable content." + +These thoughts were often in his mind, and he found no solution of +the difficulty. But as presents and civilities gained him more +familiarity, he found that almost every man who stood high in his +employment hated all the rest and was hated by them, and that their +lives were a continual succession of plots and detections, +stratagems and escapes, faction and treachery. Many of those who +surrounded the Bassa were sent only to watch and report his +conduct: every tongue was muttering censure, and every eye was +searching for a fault. + +At last the letters of revocation arrived: the Bassa was carried +in chains to Constantinople, and his name was mentioned no more. + +"What are we now to think of the prerogatives of power?" said +Rasselas to his sister: "is it without efficacy to good, or is the +subordinate degree only dangerous, and the supreme safe and +glorious? Is the Sultan the only happy man in his dominions, or is +the Sultan himself subject to the torments of suspicion and the +dread of enemies?" + +In a short time the second Bassa was deposed. The Sultan that had +advanced him was murdered by the Janissaries, and his successor had +other views or different favourites. + + + +CHAPTER XXV--THE PRINCESS PURSUES HER INQUIRY WITH MORE DILIGENCE +THAN SUCCESS. + + + +The Princess in the meantime insinuated herself into many families; +for there are few doors through which liberality, joined with good +humour, cannot find its way. The daughters of many houses were +airy and cheerful; but Nekayah had been too long accustomed to the +conversation of Imlac and her brother to be much pleased with +childish levity and prattle which had no meaning. She found their +thoughts narrow, their wishes low, and their merriment often +artificial. Their pleasures, poor as they were, could not be +preserved pure, but were embittered by petty competitions and +worthless emulation. They were always jealous of the beauty of +each other, of a quality to which solicitude can add nothing, and +from which detraction can take nothing away. Many were in love +with triflers like themselves, and many fancied that they were in +love when in truth they were only idle. Their affection was not +fixed on sense or virtue, and therefore seldom ended but in +vexation. Their grief, however, like their joy, was transient; +everything floated in their mind unconnected with the past or +future, so that one desire easily gave way to another, as a second +stone, cast into the water, effaces and confounds the circles of +the first. + +With these girls she played as with inoffensive animals, and found +them proud of her countenance and weary of her company. + +But her purpose was to examine more deeply, and her affability +easily persuaded the hearts that were swelling with sorrow to +discharge their secrets in her ear, and those whom hope flattered +or prosperity delighted often courted her to partake their +pleasure. + +The Princess and her brother commonly met in the evening in a +private summerhouse on the banks of the Nile, and related to each +other the occurrences of the day. As they were sitting together +the Princess cast her eyes upon the river that flowed before her. +"Answer," said she, "great father of waters, thou that rollest thy +goods through eighty nations, to the invocations of the daughter of +thy native king. Tell me if thou waterest through all thy course a +single habitation from which thou dost not hear the murmurs of +complaint." + +"You are then," said Rasselas, "not more successful in private +houses than I have been in Courts." "I have, since the last +partition of our provinces," said the Princess, "enabled myself to +enter familiarly into many families, where there was the fairest +show of prosperity and peace, and know not one house that is not +haunted by some fury that destroys their quiet. + +"I did not seek ease among the poor, because I concluded that there +it could not be found. But I saw many poor whom I had supposed to +live in affluence. Poverty has in large cities very different +appearances. It is often concealed in splendour and often in +extravagance. It is the care of a very great part of mankind to +conceal their indigence from the rest. They support themselves by +temporary expedients, and every day is lost in contriving for the +morrow. + +"This, however, was an evil which, though frequent, I saw with less +pain, because I could relieve it. Yet some have refused my +bounties; more offended with my quickness to detect their wants +than pleased with my readiness to succour them; and others, whose +exigencies compelled them to admit my kindness, have never been +able to forgive their benefactress. Many, however, have been +sincerely grateful without the ostentation of gratitude or the hope +of other favours." + + + +CHAPTER XXVI--THE PRINCESS CONTINUES HER REMARKS UPON PRIVATE LIFE. + + + +Nekayah, perceiving her brother's attention fixed, proceeded in her +narrative. + +"In families where there is or is not poverty there is commonly +discord. If a kingdom be, as Imlac tells us, a great family, a +family likewise is a little kingdom, torn with factions and exposed +to revolutions. An unpractised observer expects the love of +parents and children to be constant and equal. But this kindness +seldom continues beyond the years of infancy; in a short time the +children become rivals to their parents. Benefits are allowed by +reproaches, and gratitude debased by envy. + +"Parents and children seldom act in concert; each child endeavours +to appropriate the esteem or the fondness of the parents; and the +parents, with yet less temptation, betray each other to their +children. Thus, some place their confidence in the father and some +in the mother, and by degrees the house is filled with artifices +and feuds. + +"The opinions of children and parents, of the young and the old, +are naturally opposite, by the contrary effects of hope and +despondency, of expectation and experience, without crime or folly +on either side. The colours of life in youth and age appear +different, as the face of Nature in spring and winter. And how can +children credit the assertions of parents which their own eyes show +them to be false? + +"Few parents act in such a manner as much to enforce their maxims +by the credit of their lives. The old man trusts wholly to slow +contrivance and gradual progression; the youth expects to force his +way by genius, vigour, and precipitance. The old man pays regard +to riches, and the youth reverences virtue. The old man deifies +prudence; the youth commits himself to magnanimity and chance. The +young man, who intends no ill, believes that none is intended, and +therefore acts with openness and candour; but his father; having +suffered the injuries of fraud, is impelled to suspect and too +often allured to practise it. Age looks with anger on the temerity +of youth, and youth with contempt on the scrupulosity of age. Thus +parents and children for the greatest part live on to love less and +less; and if those whom Nature has thus closely united are the +torments of each other, where shall we look for tenderness and +consolations?" + +"Surely," said the Prince, "you must have been unfortunate in your +choice of acquaintance. I am unwilling to believe that the most +tender of all relations is thus impeded in its effects by natural +necessity." + +"Domestic discord," answered she, "is not inevitably and fatally +necessary, but yet it is not easily avoided. We seldom see that a +whole family is virtuous; the good and the evil cannot well agree, +and the evil can yet less agree with one another. Even the +virtuous fall sometimes to variance, when their virtues are of +different kinds and tending to extremes. In general, those parents +have most reverence who most deserve it, for he that lives well +cannot be despised. + +"Many other evils infest private life. Some are the slaves of +servants whom they have trusted with their affairs. Some are kept +in continual anxiety by the caprice of rich relations, whom they +cannot please and dare not offend. Some husbands are imperious and +some wives perverse, and, as it is always more easy to do evil than +good, though the wisdom or virtue of one can very rarely make many +happy, the folly or vice of one makes many miserable." + +"If such be the general effect of marriage," said the Prince, "I +shall for the future think it dangerous to connect my interest with +that of another, lest I should be unhappy by my partner's fault." + +"I have met," said the Princess, "with many who live single for +that reason, but I never found that their prudence ought to raise +envy. They dream away their time without friendship, without +fondness, and are driven to rid themselves of the day, for which +they have no use, by childish amusements or vicious delights. They +act as beings under the constant sense of some known inferiority +that fills their minds with rancour and their tongues with censure. +They are peevish at home and malevolent abroad, and, as the outlaws +of human nature, make it their business and their pleasure to +disturb that society which debars them from its privileges. To +live without feeling or exciting sympathy, to be fortunate without +adding to the felicity of others, or afflicted without tasting the +balm of pity, is a state more gloomy than solitude; it is not +retreat but exclusion from mankind. Marriage has many pains, but +celibacy has no pleasures." + +"What then is to be done?" said Rasselas. "The more we inquire the +less we can resolve. Surely he is most likely to please himself +that has no other inclination to regard." + + + +CHAPTER XXVII--DISQUISITION UPON GREATNESS. + + + +The conversation had a short pause. The Prince, having considered +his sister's observation, told her that she had surveyed life with +prejudice and supposed misery where she did not find it. "Your +narrative," says he, "throws yet a darker gloom upon the prospects +of futurity. The predictions of Imlac were but faint sketches of +the evils painted by Nekayah. I have been lately convinced that +quiet is not the daughter of grandeur or of power; that her +presence is not to be bought by wealth nor enforced by conquest. +It is evident that as any man acts in a wider compass he must be +more exposed to opposition from enmity or miscarriage from chance. +Whoever has many to please or to govern must use the ministry of +many agents, some of whom will be wicked and some ignorant, by some +he will be misled and by others betrayed. If he gratifies one he +will offend another; those that are not favoured will think +themselves injured, and since favours can be conferred but upon few +the greater number will be always discontented." + +"The discontent," said the Princess, "which is thus unreasonable, I +hope that I shall always have spirit to despise and you power to +repress." + +"Discontent," answered Rasselas, "will not always be without reason +under the most just and vigilant administration of public affairs. +None, however attentive, can always discover that merit which +indigence or faction may happen to obscure, and none, however +powerful, can always reward it. Yet he that sees inferior desert +advanced above him will naturally impute that preference to +partiality or caprice, and indeed it can scarcely be hoped that any +man, however magnanimous by Nature or exalted by condition, will be +able to persist for ever in fixed and inexorable justice of +distribution; he will sometimes indulge his own affections and +sometimes those of his favourites; he will permit some to please +him who can never serve him; he will discover in those whom he +loves qualities which in reality they do not possess, and to those +from whom he receives pleasure he will in his turn endeavour to +give it. Thus will recommendations sometimes prevail which were +purchased by money or by the more destructive bribery of flattery +and servility. + +"He that hath much to do will do something wrong, and of that wrong +must suffer the consequences, and if it were possible that he +should always act rightly, yet, when such numbers are to judge of +his conduct, the bad will censure and obstruct him by malevolence +and the good sometimes by mistake. + +"The highest stations cannot therefore hope to be the abodes of +happiness, which I would willingly believe to have fled from +thrones and palaces to seats of humble privacy and placid +obscurity. For what can hinder the satisfaction or intercept the +expectations of him whose abilities are adequate to his +employments, who sees with his own eyes the whole circuit of his +influence, who chooses by his own knowledge all whom he trusts, and +whom none are tempted to deceive by hope or fear? Surely he has +nothing to do but to love and to be loved; to be virtuous and to be +happy." + +"Whether perfect happiness would be procured by perfect goodness," +said Nekayah, "this world will never afford an opportunity of +deciding. But this, at least, may be maintained, that we do not +always find visible happiness in proportion to visible virtue. All +natural and almost all political evils are incident alike to the +bad and good; they are confounded in the misery of a famine, and +not much distinguished in the fury of a faction; they sink together +in a tempest and are driven together from their country by +invaders. All that virtue can afford is quietness of conscience +and a steady prospect of a happier state; this may enable us to +endure calamity with patience, but remember that patience must +oppose pain." + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII--RASSELAS AND NEKAYAH CONTINUE THEIR CONVERSATION. + + + +"Dear Princess," said Rasselas, "you fall into the common errors of +exaggeratory declamation, by producing in a familiar disquisition +examples of national calamities and scenes of extensive misery +which are found in books rather than in the world, and which, as +they are horrid, are ordained to be rare. Let us not imagine evils +which we do not feel, nor injure life by misrepresentations. I +cannot bear that querulous eloquence which threatens every city +with a siege like that of Jerusalem, that makes famine attend on +every flight of locust, and suspends pestilence on the wing of +every blast that issues from the south. + +"On necessary and inevitable evils which overwhelm kingdoms at once +all disputation is vain; when they happen they must be endured. +But it is evident that these bursts of universal distress are more +dreaded than felt; thousands and tens of thousands flourish in +youth and wither in age, without the knowledge of any other than +domestic evils, and share the same pleasures and vexations, whether +their kings are mild or cruel, whether the armies of their country +pursue their enemies or retreat before them. While Courts are +disturbed with intestine competitions and ambassadors are +negotiating in foreign countries, the smith still plies his anvil +and the husbandman drives his plough forward; the necessaries of +life are required and obtained, and the successive business of the +season continues to make its wonted revolutions. + +"Let us cease to consider what perhaps may never happen, and what, +when it shall happen, will laugh at human speculation. We will not +endeavour to modify the motions of the elements or to fix the +destiny of kingdoms. It is our business to consider what beings +like us may perform, each labouring for his own happiness by +promoting within his circle, however narrow, the happiness of +others. + +"Marriage is evidently the dictate of Nature; men and women were +made to be the companions of each other, and therefore I cannot be +persuaded but that marriage is one of the means of happiness." + +"I know not," said the Princess, "whether marriage be more than one +of the innumerable modes of human misery. When I see and reckon +the various forms of connubial infelicity, the unexpected causes of +lasting discord, the diversities of temper, the oppositions of +opinion, the rude collisions of contrary desire where both are +urged by violent impulses, the obstinate contest of disagreeing +virtues where both are supported by consciousness of good +intention, I am sometimes disposed to think, with the severer +casuists of most nations, that marriage is rather permitted than +approved, and that none, but by the instigation of a passion too +much indulged, entangle themselves with indissoluble compact." + +"You seem to forget," replied Rasselas, "that you have, even now +represented celibacy as less happy than marriage. Both conditions +may be bad, but they cannot both be worse. Thus it happens, when +wrong opinions are entertained, that they mutually destroy each +other and leave the mind open to truth." + +"I did not expect," answered, the Princess, "to hear that imputed +to falsehood which is the consequence only of frailty. To the +mind, as to the eye, it is difficult to compare with exactness +objects vast in their extent and various in their parts. When we +see or conceive the whole at once, we readily note the +discriminations and decide the preference, but of two systems, of +which neither can be surveyed by any human being in its full +compass of magnitude and multiplicity of complication, where is the +wonder that, judging of the whole by parts, I am alternately +affected by one and the other as either presses on my memory or +fancy? We differ from ourselves just as we differ from each other +when we see only part of the question, as in the multifarious +relations of politics and morality, but when we perceive the whole +at once, as in numerical computations, all agree in one judgment, +and none ever varies in his opinion." + +"Let us not add," said the Prince, "to the other evils of life the +bitterness of controversy, nor endeavour to vie with each other in +subtilties of argument. We are employed in a search of which both +are equally to enjoy the success or suffer by the miscarriage; it +is therefore fit that we assist each other. You surely conclude +too hastily from the infelicity of marriage against its +institution; will not the misery of life prove equally that life +cannot be the gift of Heaven? The world must be peopled by +marriage or peopled without it." + +"How the world is to be peopled," returned Nekayah, "is not my care +and need not be yours. I see no danger that the present generation +should omit to leave successors behind them; we are not now +inquiring for the world, but for ourselves." + + + +CHAPTER XXIX--THE DEBATE ON MARRIAGE (continued). + + + +"The good of the whole," says Rasselas, "is the same with the good +of all its parts. If marriage be best for mankind, it must be +evidently best for individuals; or a permanent and necessary duty +must be the cause of evil, and some must be inevitably sacrificed +to the convenience of others. In the estimate which you have made +of the two states, it appears that the incommodities of a single +life are in a great measure necessary and certain, but those of the +conjugal state accidental and avoidable. I cannot forbear to +flatter myself that prudence and benevolence will make marriage +happy. The general folly of mankind is the cause of general +complaint. What can be expected but disappointment and repentance +from a choice made in the immaturity of youth, in the ardour of +desire, without judgment, without foresight, without inquiry after +conformity of opinions, similarity of manners, rectitude of +judgment, or purity of sentiment? + +"Such is the common process of marriage. A youth and maiden, +meeting by chance or brought together by artifice, exchange +glances, reciprocate civilities, go home and dream of one another. +Having little to divert attention or diversify thought, they find +themselves uneasy when they are apart, and therefore conclude that +they shall be happy together. They marry, and discover what +nothing but voluntary blindness before had concealed; they wear out +life in altercations, and charge Nature with cruelty. + +"From those early marriages proceeds likewise the rivalry of +parents and children: the son is eager to enjoy the world before +the father is willing to forsake it, and there is hardly room at +once for two generations. The daughter begins to bloom before the +mother can be content to fade, and neither can forbear to wish for +the absence of the other. + +"Surely all these evils may be avoided by that deliberation and +delay which prudence prescribes to irrevocable choice. In the +variety and jollity of youthful pleasures, life may be well enough +supported without the help of a partner. Longer time will increase +experience, and wider views will allow better opportunities of +inquiry and selection; one advantage at least will be certain, the +parents will be visibly older than their children." + +"What reason cannot collect," and Nekayah, "and what experiment has +not yet taught, can be known only from the report of others. I +have been told that late marriages are not eminently happy. This +is a question too important to be neglected; and I have often +proposed it to those whose accuracy of remark and comprehensiveness +of knowledge made their suffrages worthy of regard. They have +generally determined that it is dangerous for a man and woman to +suspend their fate upon each other at a time when opinions are +fixed and habits are established, when friendships have been +contracted on both sides, when life has been planned into method, +and the mind has long enjoyed the contemplation of its own +prospects. + +"It is scarcely possible that two travelling through the world +under the conduct of chance should have been both directed to the +same path, and it will not often happen that either will quit the +track which custom has made pleasing. When the desultory levity of +youth has settled into regularity, it is soon succeeded by pride +ashamed to yield, or obstinacy delighting to contend. And even +though mutual esteem produces mutual desire to please, time itself, +as it modifies unchangeably the external mien, determines likewise +the direction of the passions, and gives an inflexible rigidity to +the manners. Long customs are not easily broken; he that attempts +to change the course of his own life very often labours in vain, +and how shall we do that for others which we are seldom able to do +for ourselves?" + +"But surely," interposed the Prince, "you suppose the chief motive +of choice forgotten or neglected. Whenever I shall seek a wife, it +shall be my first question whether she be willing to be led by +reason." + +"Thus it is," said Nekayah, "that philosophers are deceived. There +are a thousand familiar disputes which reason never can decide; +questions that elude investigation, and make logic ridiculous; +cases where something must be done, and where little can be said. +Consider the state of mankind, and inquire how few can be supposed +to act upon any occasions, whether small or great, with all the +reasons of action present to their minds. Wretched would be the +pair, above all names of wretchedness, who should be doomed to +adjust by reason every morning all the minute details of a domestic +day. + +"Those who marry at an advanced age will probably escape the +encroachments of their children, but in the diminution of this +advantage they will be likely to leave them, ignorant and helpless, +to a guardian's mercy; or if that should not happen, they must at +least go out of the world before they see those whom they love best +either wise or great. + +"From their children, if they have less to fear, they have less +also to hope; and they lose without equivalent the joys of early +love, and the convenience of uniting with manners pliant and minds +susceptible of new impressions, which might wear away their +dissimilitudes by long cohabitation, as soft bodies by continual +attrition conform their surfaces to each other. + +"I believe it will be found that those who marry late are best +pleased with their children, and those who marry early with their +partners." + +"The union of these two affections," said Rasselas, "would produce +all that could be wished. Perhaps there is a time when marriage +might unite them--a time neither too early for the father nor too +late for the husband." + +"Every hour," answered the Princess, "confirms my prejudice in +favour of the position so often uttered by the mouth of Imlac, that +'Nature sets her gifts on the right hand and on the left.' Those +conditions which flatter hope and attract desire are so constituted +that as we approach one we recede from another. There are goods so +opposed that we cannot seize both, but by too much prudence may +pass between them at too great a distance to reach either. This is +often the fate of long consideration; he does nothing who +endeavours to do more than is allowed to humanity. Flatter not +yourself with contrarieties of pleasure. Of the blessings set +before you make your choice, and be content. No man can taste the +fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers +of the spring; no man can at the same time fill his cup from the +source and from the mouth of the Nile." + + + +CHAPTER XXX--IMLAC ENTERS, AND CHANGES THE CONVERSATION. + + + +Here Imlac entered, and interrupted them. "Imlac," said Rasselas, +"I have been taking from the Princess the dismal history of private +life, and am almost discouraged from further search." + +"It seems to me," said Imlac, "that while you are making the choice +of life you neglect to live. You wander about a single city, +which, however large and diversified, can now afford few novelties, +and forget that you are in a country famous among the earliest +monarchies for the power and wisdom of its inhabitants--a country +where the sciences first dawned that illuminate the world, and +beyond which the arts cannot be traced of civil society or domestic +life. + +"The old Egyptians have left behind them monuments of industry and +power before which all European magnificence is confessed to fade +away. The ruins of their architecture are the schools of modern +builders; and from the wonders which time has spared we may +conjecture, though uncertainly, what it has destroyed." + +"My curiosity," said Rasselas, "does not very strongly lead me to +survey piles of stone or mounds of earth. My business is with man. +I came hither not to measure fragments of temples or trace choked +aqueducts, but to look upon the various scenes of the present +world." + +"The things that are now before us," said the Princess, "require +attention, and deserve it. What have I to do with the heroes or +the monuments of ancient times--with times which can never return, +and heroes whose form of life was different from all that the +present condition of mankind requires or allows?" + +"To know anything," returned the poet, "we must know its effects; +to see men, we must see their works, that we may learn what reason +has dictated or passion has excited, and find what are the most +powerful motives of action. To judge rightly of the present, we +must oppose it to the past; for all judgment is comparative, and of +the future nothing can be known. The truth is that no mind is much +employed upon the present; recollection and anticipation fill up +almost all our moments. Our passions are joy and grief, love and +hatred, hope and fear. Of joy and grief, the past is the object, +and the future of hope and fear; even love and hatred respect the +past, for the cause must have been before the effect. + +"The present state of things is the consequence of the former; and +it is natural to inquire what were the sources of the good that we +enjoy, or the evils that we suffer. If we act only for ourselves, +to neglect the study of history is not prudent. If we are +entrusted with the care of others, it is not just. Ignorance, when +it is voluntary, is criminal; and he may properly be charged with +evil who refused to learn how he might prevent it. + +"There is no part of history so generally useful as that which +relates to the progress of the human mind, the gradual improvement +of reason, the successive advances of science, the vicissitudes of +learning and ignorance (which are the light and darkness of +thinking beings), the extinction and resuscitation of arts, and the +revolutions of the intellectual world. If accounts of battles and +invasions are peculiarly the business of princes, the useful or +elegant arts are not to be neglected; those who have kingdoms to +govern have understandings to cultivate. + +"Example is always more efficacious than precept. A soldier is +formed in war, and a painter must copy pictures. In this, +contemplative life has the advantage. Great actions are seldom +seen, but the labours of art are always at hand for those who +desire to know what art has been able to perform. + +"When the eye or the imagination is struck with any uncommon work, +the next transition of an active mind is to the means by which it +was performed. Here begins the true use of such contemplation. We +enlarge our comprehension by new ideas, and perhaps recover some +art lost to mankind, or learn what is less perfectly known in our +own country. At least we compare our own with former times, and +either rejoice at our improvements, or, what is the first motion +towards good, discover our defects." + +"I am willing," said the Prince, "to see all that can deserve my +search." + +"And I," said the Princess, "shall rejoice to learn something of +the manners of antiquity." + +"The most pompous monument of Egyptian greatness, and one of the +most bulky works of manual industry," said Imlac, "are the +Pyramids: fabrics raised before the time of history, and of which +the earliest narratives afford us only uncertain traditions. Of +these the greatest is still standing, very little injured by time." + +"Let us visit them to-morrow," said Nekayah. "I have often heard +of the Pyramids, and shall not rest till I have seen them, within +and without, with my own eyes." + + + +CHAPTER XXXI--THEY VISIT THE PYRAMIDS. + + + +The resolution being thus taken, they set out the next day. They +laid tents upon their camels, being resolved to stay among the +Pyramids till their curiosity was fully satisfied. They travelled +gently, turned aside to everything remarkable, stopped from time to +time and conversed with the inhabitants, and observed the various +appearances of towns ruined and inhabited, of wild and cultivated +nature. + +When they came to the Great Pyramid they were astonished at the +extent of the base and the height of the top. Imlac explained to +them the principles upon which the pyramidal form was chosen for a +fabric intended to co-extend its duration with that of the world: +he showed that its gradual diminution gave it such stability as +defeated all the common attacks of the elements, and could scarcely +be overthrown by earthquakes themselves, the least resistible of +natural violence. A concussion that should shatter the pyramid +would threaten the dissolution of the continent. + +They measured all its dimensions, and pitched their tents at its +foot. Next day they prepared to enter its interior apartments, and +having hired the common guides, climbed up to the first passage; +when the favourite of the Princess, looking into the cavity, +stepped back and trembled. "Pekuah," said the Princess, "of what +art thou afraid?" + +"Of the narrow entrance," answered the lady, "and of the dreadful +gloom. I dare not enter a place which must surely be inhabited by +unquiet souls. The original possessors of these dreadful vaults +will start up before us, and perhaps shut us in for ever." She +spoke, and threw her arms round the neck of her mistress. + +"If all your fear be of apparitions," said the Prince, "I will +promise you safety. There is no danger from the dead: he that is +once buried will be seen no more." + +"That the dead are seen no more," said Imlac, "I will not undertake +to maintain against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all +ages and of all nations. There is no people, rude or learned, +among whom apparitions of the dead are not related and believed. +This opinion, which perhaps prevails as far as human nature is +diffused, could become universal only by its truth: those that +never heard of one another would not have agreed in a tale which +nothing but experience can make credible. That it is doubted by +single cavillers can very little weaken the general evidence, and +some who deny it with their tongues confess it by their fears. + +"Yet I do not mean to add new terrors to those which have already +seized upon Pekuah. There can be no reason why spectres should +haunt the Pyramid more than other places, or why they should have +power or will to hurt innocence and purity. Our entrance is no +violation of their privileges: we can take nothing from them; how, +then, can we offend them?" + +"My dear Pekuah," said the Princess, "I will always go before you, +and Imlac shall follow you. Remember that you are the companion of +the Princess of Abyssinia." + +"If the Princess is pleased that her servant should die," returned +the lady, "let her command some death less dreadful than enclosure +in this horrid cavern. You know I dare not disobey you--I must go +if you command me; but if I once enter, I never shall come back." + +The Princess saw that her fear was too strong for expostulation or +reproof, and, embracing her, told her that she should stay in the +tent till their return. Pekuah was not yet satisfied, but +entreated the Princess not to pursue so dreadful a purpose as that +of entering the recesses of the Pyramids. "Though I cannot teach +courage," said Nekayah, "I must not learn cowardice, nor leave at +last undone what I came hither only to do." + + + +CHAPTER XXXII--THEY ENTER THE PYRAMID. + + + +Pekuah descended to the tents, and the rest entered the Pyramid. +They passed through the galleries, surveyed the vaults of marble, +and examined the chest in which the body of the founder is supposed +to have been deposited. They then sat down in one of the most +spacious chambers to rest awhile before they attempted to return. + +"We have now," said Imlac, "gratified our minds with an exact view +of the greatest work of man, except the wall of China. + +"Of the wall it is very easy to assign the motive. It secured a +wealthy and timorous nation from the incursions of barbarians, +whose unskilfulness in the arts made it easier for them to supply +their wants by rapine than by industry, and who from time to time +poured in upon the inhabitants of peaceful commerce as vultures +descend upon domestic fowl. Their celerity and fierceness made the +wall necessary, and their ignorance made it efficacious. + +"But for the Pyramids, no reason has ever been given adequate to +the cost and labour of the work. The narrowness of the chambers +proves that it could afford no retreat from enemies, and treasures +might have been reposited at far less expense with equal security. +It seems to have been erected only in compliance with that hunger +of imagination which preys incessantly upon life, and must be +always appeased by some employment. Those who have already all +that they can enjoy must enlarge their desires. He that has built +for use till use is supplied must begin to build for vanity, and +extend his plan to the utmost power of human performance that he +may not be soon reduced to form another wish. + +"I consider this mighty structure as a monument of the +insufficiency of human enjoyments. A king whose power is +unlimited, and whose treasures surmount all real and imaginary +wants, is compelled to solace, by the erection of a pyramid, the +satiety of dominion and tastelessness of pleasures, and to amuse +the tediousness of declining life by seeing thousands labouring +without end, and one stone, for no purpose, laid upon another. +Whoever thou art that, not content with a moderate condition, +imaginest happiness in royal magnificence, and dreamest that +command or riches can feed the appetite of novelty with perpetual +gratifications, survey the Pyramids, and confess thy folly!" + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII--THE PRINCESS MEETS WITH AN UNEXPECTED MISFORTUNE. + + + +They rose up, and returned through the cavity at which they had +entered; and the Princess prepared for her favourite a long +narrative of dark labyrinths and costly rooms, and of the different +impressions which the varieties of the way had made upon her. But +when they came to their train, they found every one silent and +dejected: the men discovered shame and fear in their countenances, +and the women were weeping in their tents. + +What had happened they did not try to conjecture, but immediately +inquired. "You had scarcely entered into the Pyramid," said one of +the attendants, "when a troop of Arabs rushed upon us: we were too +few to resist them, and too slow to escape. They were about to +search the tents, set us on our camels, and drive us along before +them, when the approach of some Turkish horsemen put them to +flight: but they seized the Lady Pekuah with her two maids, and +carried them away: the Turks are now pursuing them by our +instigation, but I fear they will not be able to overtake them." + +The Princess was overpowered with surprise and grief. Rasselas, in +the first heat of his resentment, ordered his servants to follow +him, and prepared to pursue the robbers with his sabre in his hand. +"Sir," said Imlac, "what can you hope from violence or valour? The +Arabs are mounted on horses trained to battle and retreat; we have +only beasts of burden. By leaving our present station we may lose +the Princess, but cannot hope to regain Pekuah." + +In a short time the Turks returned, having not been able to reach +the enemy. The Princess burst out into new lamentations, and +Rasselas could scarcely forbear to reproach them with cowardice; +but Imlac was of opinion that the escape of the Arabs was no +addition to their misfortune, for perhaps they would have killed +their captives rather than have resigned them. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV--THEY RETURN TO CAIRO WITHOUT PEKUAH. + + + +There was nothing to be hoped from longer stay. They returned to +Cairo, repenting of their curiosity, censuring the negligence of +the government, lamenting their own rashness, which had neglected +to procure a guard, imagining many expedients by which the loss of +Pekuah might have been prevented, and resolving to do something for +her recovery, though none could find anything proper to be done. + +Nekayah retired to her chamber, where her women attempted to +comfort her by telling her that all had their troubles, and that +Lady Pekuah had enjoyed much happiness in the world for a long +time, and might reasonably expect a change of fortune. They hoped +that some good would befall her wheresoever she was, and that their +mistress would find another friend who might supply her place. + +The Princess made them no answer; and they continued the form of +condolence, not much grieved in their hearts that the favourite was +lost. + +Next day the Prince presented to the Bassa a memorial of the wrong +which he had suffered, and a petition for redress. The Bassa +threatened to punish the robbers, but did not attempt to catch +them; nor indeed could any account or description be given by which +he might direct the pursuit. + +It soon appeared that nothing would be done by authority. +Governors being accustomed to hear of more crimes than they can +punish, and more wrongs than they can redress, set themselves at +ease by indiscriminate negligence, and presently forget the request +when they lose sight of the petitioner. + +Imlac then endeavoured to gain some intelligence by private agents. +He found many who pretended to an exact knowledge of all the haunts +of the Arabs, and to regular correspondence with their chiefs, and +who readily undertook the recovery of Pekuah. Of these, some were +furnished with money for their journey, and came back no more; some +were liberally paid for accounts which a few days discovered to be +false. But the Princess would not suffer any means, however +improbable, to be left untried. While she was doing something, she +kept her hope alive. As one expedient failed, another was +suggested; when one messenger returned unsuccessful, another was +despatched to a different quarter. + +Two months had now passed, and of Pekuah nothing had been heard; +the hopes which they had endeavoured to raise in each other grew +more languid; and the Princess, when she saw nothing more to be +tried, sunk down inconsolable in hopeless dejection. A thousand +times she reproached herself with the easy compliance by which she +permitted her favourite to stay behind her. "Had not my fondness," +said she, "lessened my authority, Pekuah had not dared to talk of +her terrors. She ought to have feared me more than spectres. A +severe look would have overpowered her; a peremptory command would +have compelled obedience. Why did foolish indulgence prevail upon +me? Why did I not speak, and refuse to hear?" + +"Great Princess," said Imlac, "do not reproach yourself for your +virtue, or consider that as blameable by which evil has +accidentally been caused. Your tenderness for the timidity of +Pekuah was generous and kind. When we act according to our duty, +we commit the events to Him by whose laws our actions are governed, +and who will suffer none to be finally punished for obedience. +When, in prospect of some good, whether natural or moral, we break +the rules prescribed us, we withdraw from the direction of superior +wisdom, and take all consequences upon ourselves. Man cannot so +far know the connection of causes and events as that he may venture +to do wrong in order to do right. When we pursue our end by lawful +means, we may always console our miscarriage by the hope of future +recompense. When we consult only our own policy, and attempt to +find a nearer way to good by over-leaping the settled boundaries of +right and wrong, we cannot be happy even by success, because we +cannot escape the consciousness of our fault; but if we miscarry, +the disappointment is irremediably embittered. How comfortless is +the sorrow of him who feels at once the pangs of guilt and the +vexation of calamity which guilt has brought upon him! + +"Consider, Princess, what would have been your condition if the +Lady Pekuah had entreated to accompany you, and, being compelled to +stay in the tents, had been carried away; or how would you have +borne the thought if you had forced her into the Pyramid, and she +had died before you in agonies of terror?" + +"Had either happened," said Nekayah, "I could not have endured life +till now; I should have been tortured to madness by the remembrance +of such cruelty, or must have pined away in abhorrence of myself." + +"This, at least," said Imlac, "is the present reward of virtuous +conduct, that no unlucky consequence can oblige us to repent it." + + + +CHAPTER XXXV--THE PRINCESS LANGUISHES FOR WANT OF PEKUAH. + + + +Nekayah, being thus reconciled to herself, found that no evil is +insupportable but that which is accompanied with consciousness of +wrong. She was from that time delivered from the violence of +tempestuous sorrow, and sunk into silent pensiveness and gloomy +tranquillity. She sat from morning to evening recollecting all +that had been done or said by her Pekuah, treasured up with care +every trifle on which Pekuah had set an accidental value, and which +might recall to mind any little incident or careless conversation. +The sentiments of her whom she now expected to see no more were +treasured in her memory as rules of life, and she deliberated to no +other end than to conjecture on any occasion what would have been +the opinion and counsel of Pekuah. + +The women by whom she was attended knew nothing of her real +condition, and therefore she could not talk to them but with +caution and reserve. She began to remit her curiosity, having no +great desire to collect notions which she had no convenience of +uttering. Rasselas endeavoured first to comfort and afterwards to +divert her; he hired musicians, to whom she seemed to listen, but +did not hear them; and procured masters to instruct her in various +arts, whose lectures, when they visited her again, were again to be +repeated. She had lost her taste of pleasure and her ambition of +excellence; and her mind, though forced into short excursions, +always recurred to the image of her friend. + +Imlac was every morning earnestly enjoined to renew his inquiries, +and was asked every night whether he had yet heard of Pekuah; till, +not being able to return the Princess the answer that she desired, +he was less and less willing to come into her presence. She +observed his backwardness, and commanded him to attend her. "You +are not," said she, "to confound impatience with resentment, or to +suppose that I charge you with negligence because I repine at your +unsuccessfulness. I do not much wonder at your absence. I know +that the unhappy are never pleasing, and that all naturally avoid +the contagion of misery. To hear complaints is wearisome alike to +the wretched and the happy; for who would cloud by adventitious +grief the short gleams of gaiety which life allows us, or who that +is struggling under his own evils will add to them the miseries of +another? + +"The time is at hand when none shall be disturbed any longer by the +sighs of Nekayah: my search after happiness is now at an end. I +am resolved to retire from the world, with all its flatteries and +deceits, and will hide myself in solitude, without any other care +than to compose my thoughts and regulate my hours by a constant +succession of innocent occupations, till, with a mind purified from +earthly desires, I shall enter into that state to which all are +hastening, and in which I hope again to enjoy the friendship of +Pekuah." + +"Do not entangle your mind," said Imlac, "by irrevocable +determinations, nor increase the burden of life by a voluntary +accumulation of misery. The weariness of retirement will continue +to increase when the loss of Pekuah is forgot. That you have been +deprived of one pleasure is no very good reason for rejection of +the rest." + +"Since Pekuah was taken from me," said the Princess, "I have no +pleasure to reject or to retain. She that has no one to love or +trust has little to hope. She wants the radical principle of +happiness. We may perhaps allow that what satisfaction this world +can afford must arise from the conjunction of wealth, knowledge, +and goodness. Wealth is nothing but as it is bestowed, and +knowledge nothing but as it is communicated. They must therefore +be imparted to others, and to whom could I now delight to impart +them? Goodness affords the only comfort which can be enjoyed +without a partner, and goodness may be practised in retirement." + +"How far solitude may admit goodness or advance it, I shall not," +replied Imlac, "dispute at present. Remember the confession of the +pious hermit. You will wish to return into the world when the +image of your companion has left your thoughts." + +"That time," said Nekayah, "will never come. The generous +frankness, the modest obsequiousness, and the faithful secrecy of +my dear Pekuah will always be more missed as I shall live longer to +see vice and folly." + +"The state of a mind oppressed with a sudden calamity," said Imlac, +"is like that of the fabulous inhabitants of the new-created earth, +who, when the first night came upon them, supposed that day would +never return. When the clouds of sorrow gather over us, we see +nothing beyond them, nor can imagine how they will be dispelled; +yet a new day succeeded to the night, and sorrow is never long +without a dawn of ease. But they who restrain themselves from +receiving comfort do as the savages would have done had they put +out their eyes when it was dark. Our minds, like our bodies, are +in continual flux; something is hourly lost, and something +acquired. To lose much at once is inconvenient to either, but +while the vital power remains uninjured, nature will find the means +of reparation. Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the +eye; and while we glide along the stream of time, whatever we leave +behind us is always lessening, and that which we approach +increasing in magnitude. Do not suffer life to stagnate: it will +grow muddy for want of motion; commit yourself again to the current +of the world; Pekuah will vanish by degrees; you will meet in your +way some other favourite, or learn to diffuse yourself in general +conversation." + +"At least," said the Prince, "do not despair before all remedies +have been tried. The inquiry after the unfortunate lady is still +continued, and shall be carried on with yet greater diligence, on +condition that you will promise to wait a year for the event, +without any unalterable resolution." + +Nekayah thought this a reasonable demand, and made the promise to +her brother, who had been obliged by Imlac to require it. Imlac +had, indeed, no great hope of regaining Pekuah; but he supposed +that if he could secure the interval of a year, the Princess would +be then in no danger of a cloister. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI--PEKUAH IS STILL REMEMBERED. THE PROGRESS OF SORROW. + + + +Nekayah, seeing that nothing was omitted for the recovery of her +favourite, and having by her promise set her intention of +retirement at a distance, began imperceptibly to return to common +cares and common pleasures. She rejoiced without her own consent +at the suspension of her sorrows, and sometimes caught herself with +indignation in the act of turning away her mind from the +remembrance of her whom yet she resolved never to forget. + +She then appointed a certain hour of the day for meditation on the +merits and fondness of Pekuah, and for some weeks retired +constantly at the time fixed, and returned with her eyes swollen +and her countenance clouded. By degrees she grew less scrupulous, +and suffered any important and pressing avocation to delay the +tribute of daily tears. She then yielded to less occasions, and +sometimes forgot what she was indeed afraid to remember, and at +last wholly released herself from the duty of periodical +affliction. + +Her real love of Pekuah was not yet diminished. A thousand +occurrences brought her back to memory, and a thousand wants, which +nothing but the confidence of friendship can supply, made her +frequently regretted. She therefore solicited Imlac never to +desist from inquiry, and to leave no art of intelligence untried, +that at least she might have the comfort of knowing that she did +not suffer by negligence or sluggishness. "Yet what," said she, +"is to be expected from our pursuit of happiness, when we find the +state of life to be such that happiness itself is the cause of +misery? Why should we endeavour to attain that of which the +possession cannot be secured? I shall henceforward fear to yield +my heart to excellence, however bright, or to fondness, however +tender, lest I should lose again what I have lost in Pekuah." + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII--THE PRINCESS HEARS NEWS OF PEKUAH. + + + +In seven mouths one of the messengers who had been sent away upon +the day when the promise was drawn from the Princess, returned, +after many unsuccessful rambles, from the borders of Nubia, with an +account that Pekuah was in the hands of an Arab chief, who +possessed a castle or fortress on the extremity of Egypt. The +Arab, whose revenue was plunder, was willing to restore her, with +her two attendants, for two hundred ounces of gold. + +The price was no subject of debate. The Princess was in ecstasies +when she heard that her favourite was alive, and might so cheaply +be ransomed. She could not think of delaying for a moment Pekuah's +happiness or her own, but entreated her brother to send back the +messenger with the sum required. Imlac, being consulted, was not +very confident of the veracity of the relater, and was still more +doubtful of the Arab's faith, who might, if he were too liberally +trusted, detain at once the money and the captives. He thought it +dangerous to put themselves in the power of the Arab by going into +his district; and could not expect that the rover would so much +expose himself as to come into the lower country, where he might be +seized by the forces of the Bassa. + +It is difficult to negotiate where neither will trust. But Imlac, +after some deliberation, directed the messenger to propose that +Pekuah should be conducted by ten horsemen to the monastery of St. +Anthony, which is situated in the deserts of Upper Egypt, where she +should be met by the same number, and her ransom should be paid. + +That no time might be lost, as they expected that the proposal +would not be refused, they immediately began their journey to the +monastery; and when they arrived, Imlac went forward with the +former messenger to the Arab's fortress. Rasselas was desirous to +go with them; but neither his sister nor Imlac would consent. The +Arab, according to the custom of his nation, observed the laws of +hospitality with great exactness to those who put themselves into +his power, and in a few days brought Pekuah, with her maids, by +easy journeys, to the place appointed, where, receiving the +stipulated price, he restored her, with great respect, to liberty +and her friends, and undertook to conduct them back towards Cairo +beyond all danger of robbery or violence. + +The Princess and her favourite embraced each other with transport +too violent to be expressed, and went out together to pour the +tears of tenderness in secret, and exchange professions of kindness +and gratitude. After a few hours they returned into the refectory +of the convent, where, in the presence of the prior and his +brethren, the Prince required of Pekuah the history of her +adventures. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII--THE ADVENTURES OF THE LADY PEKUAH. + + + +"At what time and in what manner I was forced away," said Pekuah, +"your servants have told you. The suddenness of the event struck +me with surprise, and I was at first rather stupefied than agitated +with any passion of either fear or sorrow. My confusion was +increased by the speed and tumult of our flight, while we were +followed by the Turks, who, as it seemed, soon despaired to +overtake us, or were afraid of those whom they made a show of +menacing. + +"When the Arabs saw themselves out of danger, they slackened their +course; and as I was less harassed by external violence, I began to +feel more uneasiness in my mind. After some time we stopped near a +spring shaded with trees, in a pleasant meadow, where we were set +upon the ground, and offered such refreshments as our masters were +partaking. I was suffered to sit with my maids apart from the +rest, and none attempted to comfort or insult us. Here I first +began to feel the full weight of my misery. The girls sat weeping +in silence, and from time to time looked on me for succour. I knew +not to what condition we were doomed, nor could conjecture where +would be the place of our captivity, or whence to draw any hope of +deliverance. I was in the hands of robbers and savages, and had no +reason to suppose that their pity was more than their justice, or +that they would forbear the gratification of any ardour of desire +or caprice of cruelty. I, however, kissed my maids, and +endeavoured to pacify them by remarking that we were yet treated +with decency, and that since we were now carried beyond pursuit, +there was no danger of violence to our lives. + +"When we were to be set again on horseback, my maids clung round +me, and refused to be parted; but I commanded them not to irritate +those who had us in their power. We travelled the remaining part +of the day through an unfrequented and pathless country, and came +by moonlight to the side of a hill, where the rest of the troop was +stationed. Their tents were pitched and their fires kindled, and +our chief was welcomed as a man much beloved by his dependents. + +"We were received into a large tent, where we found women who had +attended their husbands in the expedition. They set before us the +supper which they had provided, and I ate it rather to encourage my +maids than to comply with any appetite of my own. When the meat +was taken away, they spread the carpets for repose. I was weary, +and hoped to find in sleep that remission of distress which nature +seldom denies. Ordering myself, therefore, to be undressed, I +observed that the women looked very earnestly upon me, not +expecting, I suppose, to see me so submissively attended. When my +upper vest was taken off, they were apparently struck with the +splendour of my clothes, and one of them timorously laid her hand +upon the embroidery. She then went out, and in a short time came +back with another woman, who seemed to be of higher rank and +greater authority. She did, at her entrance, the usual act of +reverence, and, taking me by the hand placed me in a smaller tent, +spread with finer carpets, where I spent the night quietly with my +maids. + +"In the morning, as I was sitting on the grass, the chief of the +troop came towards me. I rose up to receive him, and he bowed with +great respect. 'Illustrious lady,' said he, 'my fortune is better +than I had presumed to hope: I am told by my women that I have a +princess in my camp.' 'Sir,' answered I, 'your women have deceived +themselves and you; I am not a princess, but an unhappy stranger +who intended soon to have left this country, in which I am now to +be imprisoned for ever.' 'Whoever or whencesoever you are,' +returned the Arab, 'your dress and that of your servants show your +rank to be high and your wealth to be great. Why should you, who +can so easily procure your ransom, think yourself in danger of +perpetual captivity? The purpose of my incursions is to increase +my riches, or, more property, to gather tribute. The sons of +Ishmael are the natural and hereditary lords of this part of the +continent, which is usurped by late invaders and low-born tyrants, +from whom we are compelled to take by the sword what is denied to +justice. The violence of war admits no distinction: the lance +that is lifted at guilt and power will sometimes fall on innocence +and gentleness.' + +"'How little,' said I, 'did I expect that yesterday it should have +fallen upon me!' + +"'Misfortunes,' answered the Arab, 'should always be expected. If +the eye of hostility could learn reverence or pity, excellence like +yours had been exempt from injury. But the angels of affliction +spread their toils alike for the virtuous and the wicked, for the +mighty and the mean. Do not be disconsolate; I am not one of the +lawless and cruel rovers of the desert; I know the rules of civil +life; I will fix your ransom, give a passport to your messenger, +and perform my stipulation with nice punctuality.' + +"You will easily believe that I was pleased with his courtesy, and +finding that his predominant passion was desire for money, I began +now to think my danger less, for I knew that no sum would be +thought too great for the release of Pekuah. I told him that he +should have no reason to charge me with ingratitude if I was used +with kindness, and that any ransom which could be expected for a +maid of common rank would be paid, but that he must not persist to +rate me as a princess. He said he would consider what he should +demand, and then, smiling, bowed and retired. + +"Soon after the women came about me, each contending to be more +officious than the other, and my maids themselves were served with +reverence. We travelled onward by short journeys. On the fourth +day the chief told me that my ransom must be two hundred ounces of +gold, which I not only promised him, but told him that I would add +fifty more if I and my maids were honourably treated. + +"I never knew the power of gold before. From that time I was the +leader of the troop. The march of every day was longer or shorter +as I commanded, and the tents were pitched where I chose to rest. +We now had camels and other conveniences for travel; my own women +were always at my side, and I amused myself with observing the +manners of the vagrant nations, and with viewing remains of ancient +edifices, with which these deserted countries appear to have been +in some distant age lavishly embellished. + +"The chief of the band was a man far from illiterate: he was able +to travel by the stars or the compass, and had marked in his +erratic expeditions such places as are most worthy the notice of a +passenger. He observed to me that buildings are always best +preserved in places little frequented and difficult of access; for +when once a country declines from its primitive splendour, the more +inhabitants are left, the quicker ruin will be made. Walls supply +stones more easily than quarries; and palaces and temples will be +demolished to make stables of granite and cottages of porphyry.'" + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX--THE ADVENTURES OF PEKUAH (continued). + + + +"We wandered about in this manner for some weeks, either, as our +chief pretended, for my gratification, or, as I rather suspected, +for some convenience of his own. I endeavoured to appear contented +where sullenness and resentment would have been of no use, and that +endeavour conduced much to the calmness of my mind; but my heart +was always with Nekayah, and the troubles of the night much +overbalanced the amusements of the day. My women, who threw all +their cares upon their mistress, set their minds at ease from the +time when they saw me treated with respect, and gave themselves up +to the incidental alleviations of our fatigue without solicitude or +sorrow. I was pleased with their pleasure, and animated with their +confidence. My condition had lost much of its terror, since I +found that the Arab ranged the country merely to get riches. +Avarice is a uniform and tractable vice: other intellectual +distempers are different in different constitutions of mind; that +which soothes the pride of one will offend the pride of another; +but to the favour of the covetous there is a ready way--bring +money, and nothing is denied. + +"At last we came to the dwelling of our chief; a strong and +spacious house, built with stone in an island of the Nile, which +lies, as I was told, under the tropic. 'Lady,' said the Arab, 'you +shall rest after your journey a few weeks in this place, where you +are to consider yourself as Sovereign. My occupation is war: I +have therefore chosen this obscure residence, from which I can +issue unexpected, and to which I can retire unpursued. You may now +repose in security: here are few pleasures, but here is no +danger.' He then led me into the inner apartments, and seating me +on the richest couch, bowed to the ground. + +"His women, who considered me as a rival, looked on me with +malignity; but being soon informed that I was a great lady detained +only for my ransom, they began to vie with each other in +obsequiousness and reverence. + +"Being again comforted with new assurances of speedy liberty, I was +for some days diverted from impatience by the novelty of the place. +The turrets overlooked the country to a great distance, and +afforded a view of many windings of the stream. In the day I +wandered from one place to another, as the course of the sun varied +the splendour of the prospect, and saw many things which I had +never seen before. The crocodiles and river-horses are common in +this unpeopled region; and I often looked upon them with terror, +though I knew they could not hurt me. For some time I expected to +see mermaids and tritons, which, as Imlac has told me, the European +travellers have stationed in the Nile; but no such beings ever +appeared, and the Arab, when I inquired after them, laughed at my +credulity. + +"At night the Arab always attended me to a tower set apart for +celestial observations, where he endeavoured to teach me the names +and courses of the stars. I had no great inclination to this +study; but an appearance of attention was necessary to please my +instructor, who valued himself for his skill, and in a little while +I found some employment requisite to beguile the tediousness of +time, which was to be passed always amidst the same objects. I was +weary of looking in the morning on things from which I had turned +away weary in the evening: I therefore was at last willing to +observe the stars rather than do nothing, but could not always +compose my thoughts, and was very often thinking on Nekayah when +others imagined me contemplating the sky. Soon after, the Arab +went upon another expedition, and then my only pleasure was to talk +with my maids about the accident by which we were carried away, and +the happiness we should all enjoy at the end of our captivity." + +"There were women in your Arab's fortress," said the Princess; "why +did you not make them your companions, enjoy their conversation, +and partake their diversions? In a place where they found business +or amusement, why should you alone sit corroded with idle +melancholy? or why could not you bear for a few months that +condition to which they were condemned for life?" + +"The diversions of the women," answered Pekuah, "were only childish +play, by which the mind accustomed to stronger operations could not +be kept busy. I could do all which they delighted in doing by +powers merely sensitive, while my intellectual faculties were flown +to Cairo. They ran from room to room, as a bird hops from wire to +wire in his cage. They danced for the sake of motion, as lambs +frisk in a meadow. One sometimes pretended to be hurt that the +rest might be alarmed, or hid herself that another might seek her. +Part of their time passed in watching the progress of light bodies +that floated on the river, and part in marking the various forms +into which clouds broke in the sky. + +"Their business was only needlework, in which I and my maids +sometimes helped them; but you know that the mind will easily +straggle from the fingers, nor will you suspect that captivity and +absence from Nekayah could receive solace from silken flowers. + +"Nor was much satisfaction to be hoped from their conversation: +for of what could they be expected to talk? They had seen nothing, +for they had lived from early youth in that narrow spot: of what +they had not seen they could have no knowledge, for they could not +read. They had no idea but of the few things that were within +their view, and had hardly names for anything but their clothes and +their food. As I bore a superior character, I was often called to +terminate their quarrels, which I decided as equitably as I could. +If it could have amused me to hear the complaints of each against +the rest, I might have been often detained by long stories; but the +motives of their animosity were so small that I could not listen +without interrupting the tale." + +"How," said Rasselas, "can the Arab, whom you represented as a man +of more than common accomplishments, take any pleasure in his +seraglio, when it is filled only with women like these? Are they +exquisitely beautiful?" + +"They do not," said Pekuah, "want that unaffecting and ignoble +beauty which may subsist without sprightliness or sublimity, +without energy of thought or dignity of virtue. But to a man like +the Arab such beauty was only a flower casually plucked and +carelessly thrown away. Whatever pleasures he might find among +them, they were not those of friendship or society. When they were +playing about him he looked on them with inattentive superiority; +when they vied for his regard he sometimes turned away disgusted. +As they had no knowledge, their talk could take nothing from the +tediousness of life; as they had no choice, their fondness, or +appearance of fondness, excited in him neither pride nor gratitude. +He was not exalted in his own esteem by the smiles of a woman who +saw no other man, nor was much obliged by that regard of which he +could never know the sincerity, and which he might often perceive +to be exerted not so much to delight him as to pain a rival. That +which he gave, and they received, as love, was only a careless +distribution of superfluous time, such love as man can bestow upon +that which he despises, such as has neither hope nor fear, neither +joy nor sorrow." + +"You have reason, lady, to think yourself happy," said Imlac, "that +you have been thus easily dismissed. How could a mind, hungry for +knowledge, be willing, in an intellectual famine, to lose such a +banquet as Pekuah's conversation?" + +"I am inclined to believe," answered Pekuah, "that he was for some +time in suspense; for, notwithstanding his promise, whenever I +proposed to despatch a messenger to Cairo he found some excuse for +delay. While I was detained in his house he made many incursions +into the neighbouring countries, and perhaps he would have refused +to discharge me had his plunder been equal to his wishes. He +returned always courteous, related his adventures, delighted to +hear my observations, and endeavoured to advance my acquaintance +with the stars. When I importuned him to send away my letters, he +soothed me with professions of honour and sincerity; and when I +could be no longer decently denied, put his troop again in motion, +and left me to govern in his absence. I was much afflicted by this +studied procrastination, and was sometimes afraid that I should be +forgotten; that you would leave Cairo, and I must end my days in an +island of the Nile. + +"I grew at last hopeless and dejected, and cared so little to +entertain him, that he for a while more frequently talked with my +maids. That he should fall in love with them or with me, might +have been equally fatal, and I was not much pleased with the +growing friendship. My anxiety was not long, for, as I recovered +some degree of cheerfulness, he returned to me, and I could not +forbear to despise my former uneasiness. + +"He still delayed to send for my ransom, and would perhaps never +have determined had not your agent found his way to him. The gold, +which he would not fetch, he could not reject when it was offered. +He hastened to prepare for our journey hither, like a man delivered +from the pain of an intestine conflict. I took leave of my +companions in the house, who dismissed me with cold indifference." + +Nekayah having heard her favourite's relation, rose and embraced +her, and Rasselas gave her a hundred ounces of gold, which she +presented to the Arab for the fifty that were promised. + + + +CHAPTER XL--THE HISTORY OF A MAN OF LEARNING. + + + +They returned to Cairo, and were so well pleased at finding +themselves together that none of them went much abroad. The Prince +began to love learning, and one day declared to Imlac that he +intended to devote himself to science and pass the rest of his days +in literary solitude. + +"Before you make your final choice," answered Imlac, "you ought to +examine its hazards, and converse with some of those who are grown +old in the company of themselves. I have just left the observatory +of one of the most learned astronomers in the world, who has spent +forty years in unwearied attention to the motion and appearances of +the celestial bodies, and has drawn out his soul in endless +calculations. He admits a few friends once a month to hear his +deductions and enjoy his discoveries. I was introduced as a man of +knowledge worthy of his notice. Men of various ideas and fluent +conversation are commonly welcome to those whose thoughts have been +long fixed upon a single point, and who find the images of other +things stealing away. I delighted him with my remarks. He smiled +at the narrative of my travels, and was glad to forget the +constellations and descend for a moment into the lower world. + +"On the next day of vacation I renewed my visit, and was so +fortunate as to please him again. He relaxed from that time the +severity of his rule, and permitted me to enter at my own choice. +I found him always busy, and always glad to be relieved. As each +knew much which the other was desirous of learning, we exchanged +our notions with great delight. I perceived that I had every day +more of his confidence, and always found new cause of admiration in +the profundity of his mind. His comprehension is vast, his memory +capacious and retentive, his discourse is methodical, and his +expression clear. + +"His integrity and benevolence are equal to his learning. His +deepest researches and most favourite studies are willingly +interrupted for any opportunity of doing good by his counsel or his +riches. To his closest retreat, at his most busy moments, all are +admitted that want his assistance; 'For though I exclude idleness +and pleasure, I will never,' says he, 'bar my doors against +charity. To man is permitted the contemplation of the skies, but +the practice of virtue is commanded.'" + +"Surely," said the Princess, "this man is happy." + +"I visited him," said Imlac, "with more and more frequency, and was +every time more enamoured of his conversation; he was sublime +without haughtiness, courteous without formality, and communicative +without ostentation. I was at first, great Princess, of your +opinion, thought him the happiest of mankind, and often +congratulated him on the blessing that he enjoyed. He seemed to +hear nothing with indifference but the praises of his condition, to +which he always returned a general answer, and diverted the +conversation to some other topic. + +"Amidst this willingness to be pleased and labour to please, I had +quickly reason to imagine that some painful sentiment pressed upon +his mind. He often looked up earnestly towards the sun, and let +his voice fall in the midst of his discourse. He would sometimes, +when we were alone, gaze upon me in silence with the air of a man +who longed to speak what he was yet resolved to suppress. He would +often send for me with vehement injunction of haste, though when I +came to him he had nothing extraordinary to say; and sometimes, +when I was leaving him, would call me back, pause a few moments, +and then dismiss me." + + + +CHAPTER XLI--THE ASTRONOMER DISCOVERS THE CAUSE OF HIS UNEASINESS. + + + +"At last the time came when the secret burst his reserve. We were +sitting together last night in the turret of his house watching the +immersion of a satellite of Jupiter. A sudden tempest clouded the +sky and disappointed our observation. We sat awhile silent in the +dark, and then he addressed himself to me in these words: 'Imlac, +I have long considered thy friendship as the greatest blessing of +my life. Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and +knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. I have +found in thee all the qualities requisite for trust--benevolence, +experience, and fortitude. I have long discharged an office which +I must soon quit at the call of Nature, and shall rejoice in the +hour of imbecility and pain to devolve it upon thee.' + +"I thought myself honoured by this testimony, and protested that +whatever could conduce to his happiness would add likewise to mine. + +"'Hear, Imlac, what thou wilt not without difficulty credit. I +have possessed for five years the regulation of the weather and the +distribution of the seasons. The sun has listened to my dictates, +and passed from tropic to tropic by my direction; the clouds at my +call have poured their waters, and the Nile has overflowed at my +command. I have restrained the rage of the dog-star, and mitigated +the fervours of the crab. The winds alone, of all the elemental +powers, have hitherto refused my authority, and multitudes have +perished by equinoctial tempests which I found myself unable to +prohibit or restrain. I have administered this great office with +exact justice, and made to the different nations of the earth an +impartial dividend of rain and sunshine. What must have been the +misery of half the globe if I had limited the clouds to particular +regions, or confined the sun to either side of the equator?'" + + + +CHAPTER XLII--THE OPINION OF THE ASTRONOMER IS EXPLAINED AND +JUSTIFIED. + + + +"I suppose he discovered in me, through the obscurity of the room, +some tokens of amazement and doubt, for after a short pause he +proceeded thus:- + +"'Not to be easily credited will neither surprise nor offend me, +for I am probably the first of human beings to whom this trust has +been imparted. Nor do I know whether to deem this distinction a +reward or punishment. Since I have possessed it I have been far +less happy than before, and nothing but the consciousness of good +intention could have enabled me to support the weariness of +unremitted vigilance.' + +"'How long, sir,' said I, 'has this great office been in your +hands?' + +"'About ten years ago,' said he, 'my daily observations of the +changes of the sky led me to consider whether, if I had the power +of the seasons, I could confer greater plenty upon the inhabitants +of the earth. This contemplation fastened on my mind, and I sat +days and nights in imaginary dominion, pouring upon this country +and that the showers of fertility, and seconding every fall of rain +with a due proportion of sunshine. I had yet only the will to do +good, and did not imagine that I should ever have the power. + +"'One day as I was looking on the fields withering with heat, I +felt in my mind a sudden wish that I could send rain on the +southern mountains, and raise the Nile to an inundation. In the +hurry of my imagination I commanded rain to fall; and by comparing +the time of my command with that of the inundation, I found that +the clouds had listened to my lips.' + +"'Might not some other cause,' said I, 'produce this concurrence? +The Nile does not always rise on the same day.' + +"'Do not believe,' said he, with impatience, 'that such objections +could escape me. I reasoned long against my own conviction, and +laboured against truth with the utmost obstinacy. I sometimes +suspected myself of madness, and should not have dared to impart +this secret but to a man like you, capable of distinguishing the +wonderful from the impossible, and the incredible from the false.' + +"'Why, sir,' said I, 'do you call that incredible which you know, +or think you know, to be true?' + +"'Because,' said he, 'I cannot prove it by any external evidence; +and I know too well the laws of demonstration to think that my +conviction ought to influence another, who cannot, like me, be +conscious of its force. I therefore shall not attempt to gain +credit by disputation. It is sufficient that I feel this power +that I have long possessed, and every day exerted it. But the life +of man is short; the infirmities of age increase upon me, and the +time will soon come when the regulator of the year must mingle with +the dust. The care of appointing a successor has long disturbed +me; the night and the day have been spent in comparisons of all the +characters which have come to my knowledge, and I have yet found +none so worthy as thyself.'" + + + +CHAPTER XLIII--THE ASTRONOMER LEAVES IMLAC HIS DIRECTIONS. + + + +"'Hear, therefore, what I shall impart with attention, such as the +welfare of a world requires. If the task of a king be considered +as difficult, who has the care only of a few millions, to whom he +cannot do much good or harm, what must be the anxiety of him on +whom depends the action of the elements and the great gifts of +light and heat? Hear me, therefore, with attention. + +"'I have diligently considered the position of the earth and sun, +and formed innumerable schemes, in which I changed their situation. +I have sometimes turned aside the axis of the earth, and sometimes +varied the ecliptic of the sun, but I have found it impossible to +make a disposition by which the world may be advantaged; what one +region gains another loses by an imaginable alteration, even +without considering the distant parts of the solar system with +which we are acquainted. Do not, therefore, in thy administration +of the year, indulge thy pride by innovation; do not please thyself +with thinking that thou canst make thyself renowned to all future +ages by disordering the seasons. The memory of mischief is no +desirable fame. Much less will it become thee to let kindness or +interest prevail. Never rob other countries of rain to pour it on +thine own. For us the Nile is sufficient.' + +"I promised that when I possessed the power I would use it with +inflexible integrity; and he dismissed me, pressing my hand. 'My +heart,' said he, 'will be now at rest, and my benevolence will no +more destroy my quiet; I have found a man of wisdom and virtue, to +whom I can cheerfully bequeath the inheritance of the sun.'" + +The Prince heard this narration with very serious regard; but the +Princess smiled, and Pekuah convulsed herself with laughter. +"Ladies," said Imlac, "to mock the heaviest of human afflictions is +neither charitable nor wise. Few can attain this man's knowledge +and few practise his virtues, but all may suffer his calamity. Of +the uncertainties of our present state, the most dreadful and +alarming is the uncertain continuance of reason." + +The Princess was recollected, and the favourite was abashed. +Rasselas, more deeply affected, inquired of Imlac whether he +thought such maladies of the mind frequent, and how they were +contracted. + + + +CHAPTER XLIV--THE DANGEROUS PREVALENCE OF IMAGINATION. + + + +"Disorders of intellect," answered Imlac, "happen much more often +than superficial observers will easily believe. Perhaps if we +speak with rigorous exactness, no human mind is in its right state. +There is no man whose imagination does not sometimes predominate +over his reason who can regulate his attention wholly by his will, +and whose ideas will come and go at his command. No man will be +found in whose mind airy notions do not sometimes tyrannise, and +force him to hope or fear beyond the limits of sober probability. +All power of fancy over reason is a degree of insanity, but while +this power is such as we can control and repress it is not visible +to others, nor considered as any deprivation of the mental +faculties; it is not pronounced madness but when it becomes +ungovernable, and apparently influences speech or action. + +"To indulge the power of fiction and send imagination out upon the +wing is often the sport of those who delight too much in silent +speculation. When we are alone we are not always busy; the labour +of excogitation is too violent to last long; the ardour of inquiry +will sometimes give way to idleness or satiety. He who has nothing +external that can divert him must find pleasure in his own +thoughts, and must conceive himself what he is not; for who is +pleased with what he is? He then expatiates in boundless futurity, +and culls from all imaginable conditions that which for the present +moment he should most desire, amuses his desires with impossible +enjoyments, and confers upon his pride unattainable dominion. The +mind dances from scene to scene, unites all pleasures in all +combinations, and riots in delights which Nature and fortune, with +all their bounty, cannot bestow. + +"In time some particular train of ideas fixes the attention; all +other intellectual gratifications are rejected; the mind, in +weariness or leisure, recurs constantly to the favourite +conception, and feasts on the luscious falsehood whenever she is +offended with the bitterness of truth. By degrees the reign of +fancy is confirmed; she grows first imperious and in time despotic. +Then fictions begin to operate as realities, false opinions fasten +upon the mind, and life passes in dreams of rapture or of anguish. + +"This, sir, is one of the dangers of solitude, which the hermit has +confessed not always to promote goodness, and the astronomer's +misery has proved to be not always propitious to wisdom." + +"I will no more," said the favourite, "imagine myself the Queen of +Abyssinia. I have often spent the hours which the Princess gave to +my own disposal in adjusting ceremonies and regulating the Court; I +have repressed the pride of the powerful and granted the petitions +of the poor; I have built new palaces in more happy situations, +planted groves upon the tops of mountains, and have exulted in the +beneficence of royalty, till, when the Princess entered, I had +almost forgotten to bow down before her." + +"And I," said the Princess, "will not allow myself any more to play +the shepherdess in my waking dreams. I have often soothed my +thoughts with the quiet and innocence of pastoral employments, till +I have in my chamber heard the winds whistle and the sheep bleat; +sometimes freed the lamb entangled in the thicket, and sometimes +with my crook encountered the wolf. I have a dress like that of +the village maids, which I put on to help my imagination, and a +pipe on which I play softly, and suppose myself followed by my +flocks." + +"I will confess," said the Prince, "an indulgence of fantastic +delight more dangerous than yours. I have frequently endeavoured +to imagine the possibility of a perfect government, by which all +wrong should be restrained, all vice reformed, and all the subjects +preserved in tranquillity and innocence. This thought produced +innumerable schemes of reformation, and dictated many useful +regulations and salutary effects. This has been the sport and +sometimes the labour of my solitude, and I start when I think with +how little anguish I once supposed the death of my father and my +brothers." + +"Such," said Imlac, "are the effects of visionary schemes. When we +first form them, we know them to be absurd, but familiarise them by +degrees, and in time lose sight of their folly." + + + +CHAPTER XLV--THEY DISCOURSE WITH AN OLD MAN. + + + +The evening was now far past, and they rose to return home. As +they walked along the banks of the Nile, delighted with the beams +of the moon quivering on the water, they saw at a small distance an +old man whom the Prince had often heard in the assembly of the +sages. "Yonder," said he, "is one whose years have calmed his +passions, but not clouded his reason. Let us close the +disquisitions of the night by inquiring what are his sentiments of +his own state, that we may know whether youth alone is to struggle +with vexation, and whether any better hope remains for the latter +part of life." + +Here the sage approached and saluted them. They invited him to +join their walk, and prattled awhile as acquaintance that had +unexpectedly met one another. The old man was cheerful and +talkative, and the way seemed short in his company. He was pleased +to find himself not disregarded, accompanied them to their house, +and, at the Prince's request, entered with them. They placed him +in the seat of honour, and set wine and conserves before him. + +"Sir," said the Princess, "an evening walk must give to a man of +learning like you pleasures which ignorance and youth can hardly +conceive. You know the qualities and the causes of all that you +behold--the laws by which the river flows, the periods in which the +planets perform their revolutions. Everything must supply you with +contemplation, and renew the consciousness of your own dignity." + +"Lady," answered he, "let the gay and the vigorous expect pleasure +in their excursions: it is enough that age can attain ease. To me +the world has lost its novelty. I look round, and see what I +remember to have seen in happier days. I rest against a tree, and +consider that in the same shade I once disputed upon the annual +overflow of the Nile with a friend who is now silent in the grave. +I cast my eyes upwards, fix them on the changing moon, and think +with pain on the vicissitudes of life. I have ceased to take much +delight in physical truth; for what have I to do with those things +which I am soon to leave?" + +"You may at least recreate yourself," said Imlac, "with the +recollection of an honourable and useful life, and enjoy the praise +which all agree to give you." + +"Praise," said the sage with a sigh, "is to an old man an empty +sound. I have neither mother to be delighted with the reputation +of her son, nor wife to partake the honours of her husband. I have +outlived my friends and my rivals. Nothing is now of much +importance; for I cannot extend my interest beyond myself. Youth +is delighted with applause, because it is considered as the earnest +of some future good, and because the prospect of life is far +extended; but to me, who am now declining to decrepitude, there is +little to be feared from the malevolence of men, and yet less to be +hoped from their affection or esteem. Something they may yet take +away, but they can give me nothing. Riches would now be useless, +and high employment would be pain. My retrospect of life recalls +to my view many opportunities of good neglected, much time +squandered upon trifles, and more lost in idleness and vacancy. I +leave many great designs unattempted, and many great attempts +unfinished. My mind is burdened with no heavy crime, and therefore +I compose myself to tranquillity; endeavour to abstract my thoughts +from hopes and cares which, though reason knows them to be vain, +still try to keep their old possession of the heart; expect, with +serene humility, that hour which nature cannot long delay, and hope +to possess in a better state that happiness which here I could not +find, and that virtue which here I have not attained." + +He arose and went away, leaving his audience not much elated with +the hope of long life. The Prince consoled himself with remarking +that it was not reasonable to be disappointed by this account; for +age had never been considered as the season of felicity, and if it +was possible to be easy in decline and weakness, it was likely that +the days of vigour and alacrity might be happy; that the noon of +life might be bright, if the evening could be calm. + +The Princess suspected that age was querulous and malignant, and +delighted to repress the expectations of those who had newly +entered the world. She had seen the possessors of estates look +with envy on their heirs, and known many who enjoyed pleasures no +longer than they could confine it to themselves. + +Pekuah conjectured that the man was older than he appeared, and was +willing to impute his complaints to delirious dejection; or else +supposed that he had been unfortunate, and was therefore +discontented. "For nothing," said she, "is more common than to +call our own condition the condition of life." + +Imlac, who had no desire to see them depressed, smiled at the +comforts which they could so readily procure to themselves; and +remembered that at the same age he was equally confident of +unmingled prosperity, and equally fertile of consolatory +expedients. He forbore to force upon them unwelcome knowledge, +which time itself would too soon impress. The Princess and her +lady retired; the madness of the astronomer hung upon their minds; +and they desired Imlac to enter upon his office, and delay next +morning the rising of the sun. + + + +CHAPTER XLVI--THE PRINCESS AND PEKUAH VISIT THE ASTRONOMER. + + + +The Princess and Pekuah, having talked in private of Imlac's +astronomer, thought his character at once so amiable and so strange +that they could not be satisfied without a nearer knowledge, and +Imlac was requested to find the means of bringing them together. + +This was somewhat difficult. The philosopher had never received +any visits from women, though he lived in a city that had in it +many Europeans, who followed the manners of their own countries, +and many from other parts of the world, that lived there with +European liberty. The ladies would not be refused, and several +schemes were proposed for the accomplishment of their design. It +was proposed to introduce them as strangers in distress, to whom +the sage was always accessible; but after some deliberation it +appeared that by this artifice no acquaintance could be formed, for +their conversation would be short, and they could not decently +importune him often. "This," said Rasselas, "is true; but I have +yet a stronger objection against the misrepresentation of your +state. I have always considered it as treason against the great +republic of human nature to make any man's virtues the means of +deceiving him, whether on great or little occasions. All imposture +weakens confidence and chills benevolence. When the sage finds +that you are not what you seemed, he will feel the resentment +natural to a man who, conscious of great abilities, discovers that +he has been tricked by understandings meaner than his own, and +perhaps the distrust which he can never afterwards wholly lay aside +may stop the voice of counsel and close the hand of charity; and +where will you find the power of restoring his benefactions to +mankind, or his peace to himself?" + +To this no reply was attempted, and Imlac began to hope that their +curiosity would subside; but next day Pekuah told him she had now +found an honest pretence for a visit to the astronomer, for she +would solicit permission to continue under him the studies in which +she had been initiated by the Arab, and the Princess might go with +her, either as a fellow-student, or because a woman could not +decently come alone. "I am afraid," said Imlac, "that he will soon +be weary of your company. Men advanced far in knowledge do not +love to repeat the elements of their art, and I am not certain that +even of the elements, as he will deliver them, connected with +inferences and mingled with reflections, you are a very capable +auditress." "That," said Pekuah, "must be my care. I ask of you +only to take me thither. My knowledge is perhaps more than you +imagine it, and by concurring always with his opinions I shall make +him think it greater than it is." + +The astronomer, in pursuance of this resolution, was told that a +foreign lady, travelling in search of knowledge, had heard of his +reputation, and was desirous to become his scholar. The +uncommonness of the proposal raised at once his surprise and +curiosity, and when after a short deliberation he consented to +admit her, he could not stay without impatience till the next day. + +The ladies dressed themselves magnificently, and were attended by +Imlac to the astronomer, who was pleased to see himself approached +with respect by persons of so splendid an appearance. In the +exchange of the first civilities he was timorous and bashful; but +when the talk became regular, he recollected his powers, and +justified the character which Imlac had given. Inquiring of Pekuah +what could have turned her inclination towards astronomy, he +received from her a history of her adventure at the Pyramid, and of +the time passed in the Arab's island. She told her tale with ease +and elegance, and her conversation took possession of his heart. +The discourse was then turned to astronomy. Pekuah displayed what +she knew. He looked upon her as a prodigy of genius, and entreated +her not to desist from a study which she had so happily begun. + +They came again and again, and were every time more welcome than +before. The sage endeavoured to amuse them, that they might +prolong their visits, for he found his thoughts grow brighter in +their company; the clouds of solitude vanished by degrees as he +forced himself to entertain them, and he grieved when he was left, +at their departure, to his old employment of regulating the +seasons. + +The Princess and her favourite had now watched his lips for several +months, and could not catch a single word from which they could +judge whether he continued or not in the opinion of his +preternatural commission. They often contrived to bring him to an +open declaration; but he easily eluded all their attacks, and, on +which side soever they pressed him, escaped from them to some other +topic. + +As their familiarity increased, they invited him often to the house +of Imlac, where they distinguished him by extraordinary respect. +He began gradually to delight in sublunary pleasures. He came +early and departed late; laboured to recommend himself by assiduity +and compliance; excited their curiosity after new arts, that they +might still want his assistance; and when they made any excursion +of pleasure or inquiry, entreated to attend them. + +By long experience of his integrity and wisdom, the Prince and his +sister were convinced that he might be trusted without danger; and +lest he should draw any false hopes from the civilities which he +received, discovered to him their condition, with the motives of +their journey, and required his opinion on the choice of life. + +"Of the various conditions which the world spreads before you which +you shall prefer," said the sage, "I am not able to instruct you. +I can only tell that I have chosen wrong. I have passed my time in +study without experience--in the attainment of sciences which can +for the most part be but remotely useful to mankind. I have +purchased knowledge at the expense of all the common comforts of +life; I have missed the endearing elegance of female friendship, +and the happy commerce of domestic tenderness. If I have obtained +any prerogatives above other students, they have been accompanied +with fear, disquiet, and scrupulosity; but even of these +prerogatives, whatever they were, I have, since my thoughts have +been diversified by more intercourse with the world, begun to +question the reality. When I have been for a few days lost in +pleasing dissipation, I am always tempted to think that my +inquiries have ended in error, and that I have suffered much, and +suffered it in vain." + +Imlac was delighted to find that the sage's understanding was +breaking through its mists, and resolved to detain him from the +planets till he should forget his task of ruling them, and reason +should recover its original influence. + +From this time the astronomer was received into familiar +friendship, and partook of all their projects and pleasures; his +respect kept him attentive, and the activity of Rasselas did not +leave much time unengaged. Something was always to be done; the +day was spent in making observations, which furnished talk for the +evening, and the evening was closed with a scheme for the morrow. + +The sage confessed to Imlac that since he had mingled in the gay +tumults of life, and divided his hours by a succession of +amusements, he found the conviction of his authority over the skies +fade gradually from his mind, and began to trust less to an opinion +which he never could prove to others, and which he now found +subject to variation, from causes in which reason had no part. "If +I am accidentally left alone for a few hours," said he, "my +inveterate persuasion rushes upon my soul, and my thoughts are +chained down by some irresistible violence; but they are soon +disentangled by the Prince's conversation, and instantaneously +released at the entrance of Pekuah. I am like a man habitually +afraid of spectres, who is set at ease by a lamp, and wonders at +the dread which harassed him in the dark; yet, if his lamp be +extinguished, feels again the terrors which he knows that when it +is light he shall feel no more. But I am sometimes afraid, lest I +indulge my quiet by criminal negligence, and voluntarily forget the +great charge with which I am entrusted. If I favour myself in a +known error, or am determined by my own ease in a doubtful question +of this importance, how dreadful is my crime!" + +"No disease of the imagination," answered Imlac, "is so difficult +of cure as that which is complicated with the dread of guilt; fancy +and conscience then act interchangeably upon us, and so often shift +their places, that the illusions of one are not distinguished from +the dictates of the other. If fancy presents images not moral or +religious, the mind drives them away when they give it pain; but +when melancholy notions take the form of duty, they lay hold on the +faculties without opposition, because we are afraid to exclude or +banish them. For this reason the superstitious are often +melancholy, and the melancholy almost always superstitious. + +"But do not let the suggestions of timidity overpower your better +reason; the danger of neglect can be but as the probability of the +obligation, which, when you consider it with freedom, you find very +little, and that little growing every day less. Open your heart to +the influence of the light, which from time to time breaks in upon +you; when scruples importune you, which you in your lucid moments +know to be vain, do not stand to parley, but fly to business or to +Pekuah; and keep this thought always prevalent, that you are only +one atom of the mass of humanity, and have neither such virtue nor +vice as that you should be singled out for supernatural favours or +afflictions." + + + +CHAPTER XLVII--THE PRINCE ENTERS, AND BRINGS A NEW TOPIC. + + + +"All this," said the astronomer, "I have often thought; but my +reason has been so long subjugated by an uncontrollable and +overwhelming idea, that it durst not confide in its own decisions. +I now see how fatally I betrayed my quiet, by suffering chimeras to +prey upon me in secret; but melancholy shrinks from communication, +and I never found a man before to whom I could impart my troubles, +though I had been certain of relief. I rejoice to find my own +sentiments confirmed by yours, who are not easily deceived, and can +have no motive or purpose to deceive. I hope that time and variety +will dissipate the gloom that has so long surrounded me, and the +latter part of my days will be spent in peace." + +"Your learning and virtue," said Imlac, "may justly give you +hopes." + +Rasselas then entered, with the Princess and Pekuah, and inquired +whether they had contrived any new diversion for the next day. +"Such," said Nekayah, "is the state of life, that none are happy +but by the anticipation of change; the change itself is nothing; +when we have made it the next wish is to change again. The world +is not yet exhausted: let me see something to-morrow which I never +saw before." + +"Variety," said Rasselas, "is so necessary to content, that even +the Happy Valley disgusted me by the recurrence of its luxuries; +yet I could not forbear to reproach myself with impatience when I +saw the monks of St. Anthony support, without complaint, a life, +not of uniform delight, but uniform hardship." + +"Those men," answered Imlac, "are less wretched in their silent +convent than the Abyssinian princes in their prison of pleasure. +Whatever is done by the monks is incited by an adequate and +reasonable motive. Their labour supplies them with necessaries; it +therefore cannot be omitted, and is certainly rewarded. Their +devotion prepares them for another state, and reminds them of its +approach while it fits them for it. Their time is regularly +distributed; one duty succeeds another, so that they are not left +open to the distraction of unguided choice, nor lost in the shades +of listless inactivity. There is a certain task to be performed at +an appropriated hour, and their toils are cheerful, because they +consider them as acts of piety by which they are always advancing +towards endless felicity." + +"Do you think," said Nekayah, "that the monastic rule is a more +holy and less imperfect state than any other? May not he equally +hope for future happiness who converses openly with mankind, who +succours the distressed by his charity, instructs the ignorant by +his learning, and contributes by his industry to the general system +of life, even though he should omit some of the mortifications +which are practised in the cloister, and allow himself such +harmless delights as his condition may place within his reach?" + +"This," said Imlac, "is a question which has long divided the wise +and perplexed the good. I am afraid to decide on either part. He +that lives well in the world is better than he that lives well in a +monastery. But perhaps everyone is not able to stem the +temptations of public life, and if he cannot conquer he may +properly retreat. Some have little power to do good, and have +likewise little strength to resist evil. Many are weary of the +conflicts with adversity, and are willing to eject those passions +which have long busied them in vain. And many are dismissed by age +and diseases from the more laborious duties of society. In +monasteries the weak and timorous may be happily sheltered, the +weary may repose, and the penitent may meditate. Those retreats of +prayer and contemplation have something so congenial to the mind of +man, that perhaps there is scarcely one that does not purpose to +close his life in pious abstraction, with a few associates serious +as himself." + +"Such," said Pekuah, "has often been my wish, and I have heard the +Princess declare that she should not willingly die in a crowd." + +"The liberty of using harmless pleasures," proceeded Imlac, "will +not be disputed, but it is still to be examined what pleasures are +harmless. The evil of any pleasure that Nekayah can image is not +in the act itself but in its consequences. Pleasure in itself +harmless may become mischievous by endearing to us a state which we +know to be transient and probatory, and withdrawing our thoughts +from that of which every hour brings us nearer to the beginning, +and of which no length of time will bring us to the end. +Mortification is not virtuous in itself, nor has any other use but +that it disengages us from the allurements of sense. In the state +of future perfection to which we all aspire there will be pleasure +without danger and security without restraint." + +The Princess was silent, and Rasselas, turning to the astronomer, +asked him whether he could not delay her retreat by showing her +something which she had not seen before. + +"Your curiosity," said the sage, "has been so general, and your +pursuit of knowledge so vigorous, that novelties are not now very +easily to be found; but what you can no longer procure from the +living may be given by the dead. Among the wonders of this country +are the catacombs, or the ancient repositories in which the bodies +of the earliest generations were lodged, and where, by the virtue +of the gums which embalmed them, they yet remain without +corruption." + +"I know not," said Rasselas, "what pleasure the sight of the +catacombs can afford; but, since nothing else is offered, I am +resolved to view them, and shall place this with my other things +which I have done because I would do something." + +They hired a guard of horsemen, and the next day visited the +catacombs. When they were about to descend into the sepulchral +caves, "Pekuah," said the Princess, "we are now again invading the +habitations of the dead; I know that you will stay behind. Let me +find you safe when I return." "No, I will not be left," answered +Pekuah, "I will go down between you and the Prince." + +They then all descended, and roved with wonder through the +labyrinth of subterraneous passages, where the bodies were laid in +rows on either side. + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII--IMLAC DISCOURSES ON THE NATURE OF THE SOUL. + + + +"What reason," said the Prince, "can be given why the Egyptians +should thus expensively preserve those carcases which some nations +consume with fire, others lay to mingle with the earth, and all +agree to remove from their sight as soon as decent rites can be +performed?" + +"The original of ancient customs," said Imlac, "is commonly +unknown, for the practice often continues when the cause has +ceased; and concerning superstitious ceremonies it is vain to +conjecture; for what reason did not dictate, reason cannot explain. +I have long believed that the practice of embalming arose only from +tenderness to the remains of relations or friends; and to this +opinion I am more inclined because it seems impossible that this +care should have been general; had all the dead been embalmed, +their repositories must in time have been more spacious than the +dwellings of the living. I suppose only the rich or honourable +were secured from corruption, and the rest left to the course of +nature. + +"But it is commonly supposed that the Egyptians believed the soul +to live as long as the body continued undissolved, and therefore +tried this method of eluding death." + +"Could the wise Egyptians," said Nekayah, "think so grossly of the +soul? If the soul could once survive its separation, what could it +afterwards receive or suffer from the body?" + +"The Egyptians would doubtless think erroneously," said the +astronomer, "in the darkness of heathenism and the first dawn of +philosophy. The nature of the soul is still disputed amidst all +our opportunities of clearer knowledge; some yet say that it may be +material, who, nevertheless, believe it to be immortal." + +"Some," answered Imlac, "have indeed said that the soul is +material, but I can scarcely believe that any man has thought it +who knew how to think; for all the conclusions of reason enforce +the immateriality of mind, and all the notices of sense and +investigations of science concur to prove the unconsciousness of +matter. + +"It was never supposed that cogitation is inherent in matter, or +that every particle is a thinking being. Yet if any part of matter +be devoid of thought, what part can we suppose to think? Matter +can differ from matter only in form, density, bulk, motion, and +direction of motion. To which of these, however varied or +combined, can consciousness be annexed? To be round or square, to +be solid or fluid, to be great or little, to be moved slowly or +swiftly, one way or another, are modes of material existence all +equally alien from the nature of cogitation. If matter be once +without thought, it can only be made to think by some new +modification; but all the modifications which it can admit are +equally unconnected with cogitative powers." + +"But the materialists," said the astronomer, "urge that matter may +have qualities with which we are unacquainted." + +"He who will determine," returned Imlac, "against that which he +knows because there may be something which he knows not; he that +can set hypothetical possibility against acknowledged certainty, is +not to be admitted among reasonable beings. All that we know of +matter is, that matter is inert, senseless, and lifeless; and if +this conviction cannot he opposed but by referring us to something +that we know not, we have all the evidence that human intellect can +admit. If that which is known may be overruled by that which is +unknown, no being, not omniscient, can arrive at certainty." + +"Yet let us not," said the astronomer, "too arrogantly limit the +Creator's power." + +"It is no limitation of Omnipotence," replied the poet, "to suppose +that one thing is not consistent with another, that the same +proposition cannot be at once true and false, that the same number +cannot be even and odd, that cogitation cannot be conferred on that +which is created incapable of cogitation." + +"I know not," said Nekayah, "any great use of this question. Does +that immateriality, which in my opinion you have sufficiently +proved, necessarily include eternal duration?" + +"Of immateriality," said Imlac, "our ideas are negative, and +therefore obscure. Immateriality seems to imply a natural power of +perpetual duration as a consequence of exemption from all causes of +decay: whatever perishes is destroyed by the solution of its +contexture and separation of its parts; nor can we conceive how +that which has no parts, and therefore admits no solution, can be +naturally corrupted or impaired." + +"I know not," said Rasselas, "how to conceive anything without +extension: what is extended must have parts, and you allow that +whatever has parts may be destroyed." + +"Consider your own conceptions," replied Imlac, "and the difficulty +will be less. You will find substance without extension. An ideal +form is no less real than material bulk; yet an ideal form has no +extension. It is no less certain, when you think on a pyramid, +that your mind possesses the idea of a pyramid, than that the +pyramid itself is standing. What space does the idea of a pyramid +occupy more than the idea of a grain of corn? or how can either +idea suffer laceration? As is the effect, such is the cause; as +thought, such is the power that thinks, a power impassive and +indiscerptible." + +"But the Being," said Nekayah, "whom I fear to name, the Being +which made the soul, can destroy it." + +"He surely can destroy it," answered Imlac, "since, however +imperishable, it receives from a superior nature its power of +duration. That it will not perish by any inherent cause of decay +or principle of corruption, may be shown by philosophy; but +philosophy can tell no more. That it will not be annihilated by +Him that made it, we must humbly learn from higher authority." + +The whole assembly stood awhile silent and collected. "Let us +return," said Rasselas, "from this scene of mortality. How gloomy +would be these mansions of the dead to him who did not know that he +should never die; that what now acts shall continue its agency, and +what now thinks shall think on for ever. Those that lie here +stretched before us, the wise and the powerful of ancient times, +warn us to remember the shortness of our present state; they were +perhaps snatched away while they were busy, like us, in the CHOICE +OF LIFE." + +"To me," said the Princess, "the choice of life is become less +important; I hope hereafter to think only on the choice of +eternity." + +They then hastened out of the caverns, and under the protection of +their guard returned to Cairo. + + + +CHAPTER XLIX--THE CONCLUSION, IN WHICH NOTHING IS CONCLUDED. + + + +It was now the time of the inundation of the Nile. A few days +after their visit to the catacombs the river began to rise. + +They were confined to their house. The whole region being under +water, gave them no invitation to any excursions; and being well +supplied with materials for talk, they diverted themselves with +comparisons of the different forms of life which they had observed, +and with various schemes of happiness which each of them had +formed. + +Pekuah was never so much charmed with any place as the Convent of +St. Anthony, where the Arab restored her to the Princess, and +wished only to fill it with pious maidens and to be made prioress +of the order. She was weary of expectation and disgust, and would +gladly be fixed in some unvariable state. + +The Princess thought that, of all sublunary things, knowledge was +the best. She desired first to learn all sciences, and then +proposed to found a college of learned women, in which she would +preside, that, by conversing with the old and educating the young, +she might divide her time between the acquisition and communication +of wisdom, and raise up for the next age models of prudence and +patterns of piety. + +The Prince desired a little kingdom in which he might administer +justice in his own person and see all the parts of government with +his own eyes; but he could never fix the limits of his dominion, +and was always adding to the number of his subjects. + +Imlac and the astronomer were contented to be driven along the +stream of life without directing their course to any particular +port. + +Of those wishes that they had formed they well knew that none could +be obtained. They deliberated awhile what was to be done, and +resolved, when the inundation should cease, to return to Abyssinia. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, RASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA *** + +This file should be named rslas10.txt or rslas10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, rslas11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, rslas10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +http://gutenberg.net or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext04 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext04 + +Or /etext03, 02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/old/rslas10.zip b/old/rslas10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6da166b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/rslas10.zip diff --git a/old/rslas10h.htm b/old/rslas10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b8e2af --- /dev/null +++ b/old/rslas10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4390 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> +<title>Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia</title> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, by Samuel Johnson</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, by Samuel Johnson +(#2 in our series by Samuel Johnson) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia + +Author: Samuel Johnson + +Release Date: September, 1996 [EBook #652] +[This file was first posted on September 17, 1996] +[Most recently updated: September 8, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII +</pre> +<p> +<a name="startoftext"></a> +Transcribed from the 1889 Cassell & Company edition by David Price, +email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +RASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER I - DESCRIPTION OF A PALACE IN A VALLEY.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue with +eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the +promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will +be supplied by the morrow, attend to the history of Rasselas, Prince +of Abyssinia.<br> +<br> +Rasselas was the fourth son of the mighty Emperor in whose dominions +the father of waters begins his course - whose bounty pours down the +streams of plenty, and scatters over the world the harvests of Egypt.<br> +<br> +According to the custom which has descended from age to age among the +monarchs of the torrid zone, Rasselas was confined in a private palace, +with the other sons and daughters of Abyssinian royalty, till the order +of succession should call him to the throne.<br> +<br> +The place which the wisdom or policy of antiquity had destined for the +residence of the Abyssinian princes was a spacious valley in the kingdom +of Amhara, surrounded on every side by mountains, of which the summits +overhang the middle part. The only passage by which it could be +entered was a cavern that passed under a rock, of which it had long +been disputed whether it was the work of nature or of human industry. +The outlet of the cavern was concealed by a thick wood, and the mouth +which opened into the valley was closed with gates of iron, forged by +the artificers of ancient days, so massive that no man, without the +help of engines, could open or shut them.<br> +<br> +From the mountains on every side rivulets descended that filled all +the valley with verdure and fertility, and formed a lake in the middle, +inhabited by fish of every species, and frequented by every fowl whom +nature has taught to dip the wing in water. This lake discharged +its superfluities by a stream, which entered a dark cleft of the mountain +on the northern side, and fell with dreadful noise from precipice to +precipice till it was heard no more.<br> +<br> +The sides of the mountains were covered with trees, the banks of the +brooks were diversified with flowers; every blast shook spices from +the rocks, and every month dropped fruits upon the ground. All +animals that bite the grass or browse the shrubs, whether wild or tame, +wandered in this extensive circuit, secured from beasts of prey by the +mountains which confined them. On one part were flocks and herds +feeding in the pastures, on another all the beasts of chase frisking +in the lawns, the sprightly kid was bounding on the rocks, the subtle +monkey frolicking in the trees, and the solemn elephant reposing in +the shade. All the diversities of the world were brought together, +the blessings of nature were collected, and its evils extracted and +excluded.<br> +<br> +The valley, wide and fruitful, supplied its inhabitants with all the +necessaries of life, and all delights and superfluities were added at +the annual visit which the Emperor paid his children, when the iron +gate was opened to the sound of music, and during eight days every one +that resided in the valley was required to propose whatever might contribute +to make seclusion pleasant, to fill up the vacancies of attention, and +lessen the tediousness of time. Every desire was immediately granted. +All the artificers of pleasure were called to gladden the festivity; +the musicians exerted the power of harmony, and the dancers showed their +activity before the princes, in hopes that they should pass their lives +in blissful captivity, to which those only were admitted whose performance +was thought able to add novelty to luxury. Such was the appearance +of security and delight which this retirement afforded, that they to +whom it was new always desired that it might be perpetual; and as those +on whom the iron gate had once closed were never suffered to return, +the effect of longer experience could not be known. Thus every +year produced new scenes of delight, and new competitors for imprisonment.<br> +<br> +The palace stood on an eminence, raised about thirty paces above the +surface of the lake. It was divided into many squares or courts, +built with greater or less magnificence according to the rank of those +for whom they were designed. The roofs were turned into arches +of massive stone, joined by a cement that grew harder by time, and the +building stood from century to century, deriding the solstitial rains +and equinoctial hurricanes, without need of reparation.<br> +<br> +This house, which was so large as to be fully known to none but some +ancient officers, who successively inherited the secrets of the place, +was built as if Suspicion herself had dictated the plan. To every +room there was an open and secret passage; every square had a communication +with the rest, either from the upper storeys by private galleries, or +by subterraneous passages from the lower apartments. Many of the +columns had unsuspected cavities, in which a long race of monarchs had +deposited their treasures. They then closed up the opening with +marble, which was never to be removed but in the utmost exigences of +the kingdom, and recorded their accumulations in a book, which was itself +concealed in a tower, not entered but by the Emperor, attended by the +prince who stood next in succession.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER II - THE DISCONTENT OF RASSELAS IN THE HAPPY VALLEY.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Here the sons and daughters of Abyssinia lived only to know the soft +vicissitudes of pleasure and repose, attended by all that were skilful +to delight, and gratified with whatever the senses can enjoy. +They wandered in gardens of fragrance, and slept in the fortresses of +security. Every art was practised to make them pleased with their +own condition. The sages who instructed them told them of nothing +but the miseries of public life, and described all beyond the mountains +as regions of calamity, where discord was always racing, and where man +preyed upon man. To heighten their opinion of their own felicity, +they were daily entertained with songs, the subject of which was the +Happy Valley. Their appetites were excited by frequent enumerations +of different enjoyments, and revelry and merriment were the business +of every hour, from the dawn of morning to the close of the evening.<br> +<br> +These methods were generally successful; few of the princes had ever +wished to enlarge their bounds, but passed their lives in full conviction +that they had all within their reach that art or nature could bestow, +and pitied those whom nature had excluded from this seat of tranquillity +as the sport of chance and the slaves of misery.<br> +<br> +Thus they rose in the morning and lay down at night, pleased with each +other and with themselves, all but Rasselas, who, in the twenty-sixth +year of his age, began to withdraw himself from the pastimes and assemblies, +and to delight in solitary walks and silent meditation. He often +sat before tables covered with luxury, and forgot to taste the dainties +that were placed before him; he rose abruptly in the midst of the song, +and hastily retired beyond the sound of music. His attendants +observed the change, and endeavoured to renew his love of pleasure. +He neglected their officiousness, repulsed their invitations, and spent +day after day on the banks of rivulets sheltered with trees, where he +sometimes listened to the birds in the branches, sometimes observed +the fish playing in the streams, and anon cast his eyes upon the pastures +and mountains filled with animals, of which some were biting the herbage, +and some sleeping among the bushes. The singularity of his humour +made him much observed. One of the sages, in whose conversation +he had formerly delighted, followed him secretly, in hope of discovering +the cause of his disquiet. Rasselas, who knew not that any one +was near him, having for some time fixed his eyes upon the goats that +were browsing among the rocks, began to compare their condition with +his own.<br> +<br> +“What,” said he, “makes the difference between man +and all the rest of the animal creation? Every beast that strays +beside me has the same corporal necessities with myself: he is hungry, +and crops the grass; he is thirsty, and drinks the stream; his thirst +and hunger are appeased; he is satisfied, and sleeps; he rises again, +and is hungry; he is again fed, and is at rest. I am hungry and +thirsty, like him, but when thirst and hunger cease, I am not at rest. +I am, like him, pained with want, but am not, like him, satisfied with +fulness. The intermediate hours are tedious and gloomy; I long +again to be hungry that I may again quicken the attention. The +birds peck the berries or the corn, and fly away to the groves, where +they sit in seeming happiness on the branches, and waste their lives +in tuning one unvaried series of sounds. I likewise can call the +lutist and the singer; but the sounds that pleased me yesterday weary +me to-day, and will grow yet more wearisome to-morrow. I can discover +in me no power of perception which is not glutted with its proper pleasure, +yet I do not feel myself delighted. Man surely has some latent +sense for which this place affords no gratification; or he has some +desire distinct from sense, which must be satisfied before he can be +happy.”<br> +<br> +After this he lifted up his head, and seeing the moon rising, walked +towards the palace. As he passed through the fields, and saw the +animals around him, “Ye,” said he, “are happy, and +need not envy me that walk thus among you, burdened with myself; nor +do I, ye gentle beings, envy your felicity; for it is not the felicity +of man. I have many distresses from which you are free; I fear +pain when I do not feel it; I sometimes shrink at evils recollected, +and sometimes start at evils anticipated: surely the equity of Providence +has balanced peculiar sufferings with peculiar enjoyments.”<br> +<br> +With observations like these the Prince amused himself as he returned, +uttering them with a plaintive voice, yet with a look that discovered +him to feel some complacence in his own perspicacity, and to receive +some solace of the miseries of life from consciousness of the delicacy +with which he felt and the eloquence with which he bewailed them. +He mingled cheerfully in the diversions of the evening, and all rejoiced +to find that his heart was lightened.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER III - THE WANTS OF HIM THAT WANTS NOTHING.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +On the next day, his old instructor, imagining that he had now made +himself acquainted with his disease of mind, was in hope of curing it +by counsel, and officiously sought an opportunity of conference, which +the Prince, having long considered him as one whose intellects were +exhausted, was not very willing to afford. “Why,” +said he, “does this man thus intrude upon me? Shall I never +be suffered to forget these lectures, which pleased only while they +were new, and to become new again must be forgotten?” He +then walked into the wood, and composed himself to his usual meditations; +when, before his thoughts had taken any settled form, he perceived his +pursuer at his side, and was at first prompted by his impatience to +go hastily away; but being unwilling to offend a man whom he had once +reverenced and still loved, he invited him to sit down with him on the +bank.<br> +<br> +The old man, thus encouraged, began to lament the change which had been +lately observed in the Prince, and to inquire why he so often retired +from the pleasures of the palace to loneliness and silence. “I +fly from pleasure,” said the Prince, “because pleasure has +ceased to please: I am lonely because I am miserable, and am unwilling +to cloud with my presence the happiness of others.” “You, +sir,” said the sage, “are the first who has complained of +misery in the Happy Valley. I hope to convince you that your complaints +have no real cause. You are here in full possession of all the +Emperor of Abyssinia can bestow; here is neither labour to be endured +nor danger to be dreaded, yet here is all that labour or danger can +procure or purchase. Look round and tell me which of your wants +is without supply: if you want nothing, how are you unhappy?”<br> +<br> +“That I want nothing,” said the Prince, “or that I +know not what I want, is the cause of my complaint: if I had any known +want, I should have a certain wish; that wish would excite endeavour, +and I should not then repine to see the sun move so slowly towards the +western mountains, or to lament when the day breaks, and sleep will +no longer hide me from myself. When I see the kids and the lambs +chasing one another, I fancy that I should be happy if I had something +to pursue. But, possessing all that I can want, I find one day +and one hour exactly like another, except that the latter is still more +tedious than the former. Let your experience inform me how the +day may now seem as short as in my childhood, while nature was yet fresh, +and every moment showed me what I never had observed before. I +have already enjoyed too much: give me something to desire.” +The old man was surprised at this new species of affliction, and knew +not what to reply, yet was unwilling to be silent. “Sir,” +said he, “if you had seen the miseries of the world, you would +know how to value your present state.” “Now,” +said the Prince, “you have given me something to desire. +I shall long to see the miseries of the world, since the sight of them +is necessary to happiness.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER IV - THE PRINCE CONTINUES TO GRIEVE AND MUSE.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +At this time the sound of music proclaimed the hour of repast, and the +conversation was concluded. The old man went away sufficiently +discontented to find that his reasonings had produced the only conclusion +which they were intended to prevent. But in the decline of life, +shame and grief are of short duration: whether it be that we bear easily +what we have borne long; or that, finding ourselves in age less regarded, +we less regard others; or that we look with slight regard upon afflictions +to which we know that the hand of death is about to put an end.<br> +<br> +The Prince, whose views were extended to a wider space, could not speedily +quiet his emotions. He had been before terrified at the length +of life which nature promised him, because he considered that in a long +time much must be endured: he now rejoiced in his youth, because in +many years much might be done. The first beam of hope that had +been ever darted into his mind rekindled youth in his cheeks, and doubled +the lustre of his eyes. He was fired with the desire of doing +something, though he knew not yet, with distinctness, either end or +means. He was now no longer gloomy and unsocial; but considering +himself as master of a secret stock of happiness, which he could only +enjoy by concealing it, he affected to be busy in all the schemes of +diversion, and endeavoured to make others pleased with the state of +which he himself was weary. But pleasures can never be so multiplied +or continued as not to leave much of life unemployed; there were many +hours, both of the night and day, which he could spend without suspicion +in solitary thought. The load of life was much lightened; he went +eagerly into the assemblies, because he supposed the frequency of his +presence necessary to the success of his purposes; he retired gladly +to privacy, because he had now a subject of thought. His chief +amusement was to picture to himself that world which he had never seen, +to place himself in various conditions, to be entangled in imaginary +difficulties, and to be engaged in wild adventures; but, his benevolence +always terminated his projects in the relief of distress, the detection +of fraud, the defeat of oppression, and the diffusion of happiness.<br> +<br> +Thus passed twenty months of the life of Rasselas. He busied himself +so intensely in visionary bustle that he forgot his real solitude; and +amidst hourly preparations for the various incidents of human affairs, +neglected to consider by what means he should mingle with mankind.<br> +<br> +One day, as he was sitting on a bank, he feigned to himself an orphan +virgin robbed of her little portion by a treacherous lover, and crying +after him for restitution. So strongly was the image impressed +upon his mind that he started up in the maid’s defence, and ran +forward to seize the plunderer with all the eagerness of real pursuit. +Fear naturally quickens the flight of guilt. Rasselas could not +catch the fugitive with his utmost efforts; but, resolving to weary +by perseverance him whom he could not surpass in speed, he pressed on +till the foot of the mountain stopped his course.<br> +<br> +Here he recollected himself, and smiled at his own useless impetuosity. +Then raising his eyes to the mountain, “This,” said he, +“is the fatal obstacle that hinders at once the enjoyment of pleasure +and the exercise of virtue. How long is it that my hopes and wishes +have flown beyond this boundary of my life, which yet I never have attempted +to surmount?”<br> +<br> +Struck with this reflection, he sat down to muse, and remembered that +since he first resolved to escape from his confinement, the sun had +passed twice over him in his annual course. He now felt a degree +of regret with which he had never been before acquainted. He considered +how much might have been done in the time which had passed, and left +nothing real behind it. He compared twenty months with the life +of man. “In life,” said he, “is not to be counted +the ignorance of infancy or imbecility of age. We are long before +we are able to think, and we soon cease from the power of acting. +The true period of human existence may be reasonably estimated at forty +years, of which I have mused away the four-and-twentieth part. +What I have lost was certain, for I have certainly possessed it; but +of twenty months to come, who can assure me?”<br> +<br> +The consciousness of his own folly pierced him deeply, and he was long +before he could be reconciled to himself. “The rest of my +time,” said he, “has been lost by the crime or folly of +my ancestors, and the absurd institutions of my country; I remember +it with disgust, yet without remorse: but the months that have passed +since new light darted into my soul, since I formed a scheme of reasonable +felicity, have been squandered by my own fault. I have lost that +which can never be restored; I have seen the sun rise and set for twenty +months, an idle gazer on the light of heaven; in this time the birds +have left the nest of their mother, and committed themselves to the +woods and to the skies; the kid has forsaken the teat, and learned by +degrees to climb the rocks in quest of independent sustenance. +I only have made no advances, but am still helpless and ignorant. +The moon, by more than twenty changes, admonished me of the flux of +life; the stream that rolled before my feet upbraided my inactivity. +I sat feasting on intellectual luxury, regardless alike of the examples +of the earth and the instructions of the planets. Twenty months +are passed: who shall restore them?”<br> +<br> +These sorrowful meditations fastened upon his mind; he passed four months +in resolving to lose no more time in idle resolves, and was awakened +to more vigorous exertion by hearing a maid, who had broken a porcelain +cup, remark that what cannot be repaired is not to be regretted.<br> +<br> +This was obvious; and Rasselas reproached himself that he had not discovered +it - having not known, or not considered, how many useful hints are +obtained by chance, and how often the mind, hurried by her own ardour +to distant views, neglects the truths that lie open before her. +He for a few hours regretted his regret, and from that time bent his +whole mind upon the means of escaping from the Valley of Happiness.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER V - THE PRINCE MEDITATES HIS ESCAPE.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +He now found that it would be very difficult to effect that which it +was very easy to suppose effected. When he looked round about +him, he saw himself confined by the bars of nature, which had never +yet been broken, and by the gate through which none that had once passed +it were ever able to return. He was now impatient as an eagle +in a grate. He passed week after week in clambering the mountains +to see if there was any aperture which the bushes might conceal, but +found all the summits inaccessible by their prominence. The iron +gate he despaired to open for it was not only secured with all the power +of art, but was always watched by successive sentinels, and was, by +its position, exposed to the perpetual observation of all the inhabitants.<br> +<br> +He then examined the cavern through which the waters of the lake were +discharged; and, looking down at a time when the sun shone strongly +upon its mouth, he discovered it to be full of broken rocks, which, +though they permitted the stream to flow through many narrow passages, +would stop any body of solid bulk. He returned discouraged and +dejected; but having now known the blessing of hope, resolved never +to despair.<br> +<br> +In these fruitless researches he spent ten months. The time, however, +passed cheerfully away - in the morning he rose with new hope; in the +evening applauded his own diligence; and in the night slept soundly +after his fatigue. He met a thousand amusements, which beguiled +his labour and diversified his thoughts. He discerned the various +instincts of animals and properties of plants, and found the place replete +with wonders, of which he proposed to solace himself with the contemplation +if he should never be able to accomplish his flight - rejoicing that +his endeavours, though yet unsuccessful, had supplied him with a source +of inexhaustible inquiry. But his original curiosity was not yet +abated; he resolved to obtain some knowledge of the ways of men. +His wish still continued, but his hope grew less. He ceased to +survey any longer the walls of his prison, and spared to search by new +toils for interstices which he knew could not be found, yet determined +to keep his design always in view, and lay hold on any expedient that +time should offer.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER VI - A DISSERTATION ON THE ART OF FLYING.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Among the artists that had been allured into the Happy Valley, to labour +for the accommodation and pleasure of its inhabitants, was a man eminent +for his knowledge of the mechanic powers, who had contrived many engines +both of use and recreation. By a wheel which the stream turned +he forced the water into a tower, whence it was distributed to all the +apartments of the palace. He erected a pavilion in the garden, +around which he kept the air always cool by artificial showers. +One of the groves, appropriated to the ladies, was ventilated by fans, +to which the rivulets that ran through it gave a constant motion; and +instruments of soft music were played at proper distances, of which +some played by the impulse of the wind, and some by the power of the +stream.<br> +<br> +This artist was sometimes visited by Rasselas who was pleased with every +kind of knowledge, imagining that the time would come when all his acquisitions +should be of use to him in the open world. He came one day to +amuse himself in his usual manner, and found the master busy in building +a sailing chariot. He saw that the design was practicable upon +a level surface, and with expressions of great esteem solicited its +completion. The workman was pleased to find himself so much regarded +by the Prince, and resolved to gain yet higher honours. “Sir,” +said he, “you have seen but a small part of what the mechanic +sciences can perform. I have been long of opinion that, instead +of the tardy conveyance of ships and chariots, man might use the swifter +migration of wings, that the fields of air are open to knowledge, and +that only ignorance and idleness need crawl upon the ground.”<br> +<br> +This hint rekindled the Prince’s desire of passing the mountains. +Having seen what the mechanist had already performed, he was willing +to fancy that he could do more, yet resolved to inquire further before +he suffered hope to afflict him by disappointment. “I am +afraid,” said he to the artist, “that your imagination prevails +over your skill, and that you now tell me rather what you wish than +what you know. Every animal has his element assigned him; the +birds have the air, and man and beasts the earth.” “So,” +replied the mechanist, “fishes have the water, in which yet beasts +can swim by nature and man by art. He that can swim needs not +despair to fly; to swim is to fly in a grosser fluid, and to fly is +to swim in a subtler. We are only to proportion our power of resistance +to the different density of matter through which we are to pass. +You will be necessarily up-borne by the air if you can renew any impulse +upon it faster than the air can recede from the pressure.”<br> +<br> +“But the exercise of swimming,” said the Prince, “is +very laborious; the strongest limbs are soon wearied. I am afraid +the act of flying will be yet more violent; and wings will be of no +great use unless we can fly further than we can swim.”<br> +<br> +“The labour of rising from the ground,” said the artist, +“will be great, as we see it in the heavier domestic fowls; but +as we mount higher the earth’s attraction and the body’s +gravity will be gradually diminished, till we shall arrive at a region +where the man shall float in the air without any tendency to fall; no +care will then be necessary but to move forward, which the gentlest +impulse will effect. You, sir, whose curiosity is so extensive, +will easily conceive with what pleasure a philosopher, furnished with +wings and hovering in the sky, would see the earth and all its inhabitants +rolling beneath him, and presenting to him successively, by its diurnal +motion, all the countries within the same parallel. How must it +amuse the pendent spectator to see the moving scene of land and ocean, +cities and deserts; to survey with equal security the marts of trade +and the fields of battle; mountains infested by barbarians, and fruitful +regions gladdened by plenty and lulled by peace. How easily shall +we then trace the Nile through all his passages, pass over to distant +regions, and examine the face of nature from one extremity of the earth +to the other.”<br> +<br> +“All this,” said the Prince, “is much to be desired, +but I am afraid that no man will be able to breathe in these regions +of speculation and tranquillity. I have been told that respiration +is difficult upon lofty mountains, yet from these precipices, though +so high as to produce great tenuity of air, it is very easy to fall; +therefore I suspect that from any height where life can be supported, +there may be danger of too quick descent.”<br> +<br> +“Nothing,” replied the artist, “will ever be attempted +if all possible objections must be first overcome. If you will +favour my project, I will try the first flight at my own hazard. +I have considered the structure of all volant animals, and find the +folding continuity of the bat’s wings most easily accommodated +to the human form. Upon this model I shall begin my task to-morrow, +and in a year expect to tower into the air beyond the malice and pursuit +of man. But I will work only on this condition, that the art shall +not be divulged, and that you shall not require me to make wings for +any but ourselves.”<br> +<br> +“Why,” said Rasselas, “should you envy others so great +an advantage? All skill ought to be exerted for universal good; +every man has owed much to others, and ought to repay the kindness that +he has received.”<br> +<br> +“If men were all virtuous,” returned the artist, “I +should with great alacrity teach them to fly. But what would be +the security of the good if the bad could at pleasure invade them from +the sky? Against an army sailing through the clouds neither walls, +mountains, nor seas could afford security. A flight of northern +savages might hover in the wind and light with irresistible violence +upon the capital of a fruitful reason. Even this valley, the retreat +of princes, the abode of happiness, might be violated by the sudden +descent of some of the naked nations that swarm on the coast of the +southern sea!”<br> +<br> +The Prince promised secrecy, and waited for the performance, not wholly +hopeless of success. He visited the work from time to time, observed +its progress, and remarked many ingenious contrivances to facilitate +motion and unite levity with strength. The artist was every day +more certain that he should leave vultures and eagles behind him, and +the contagion of his confidence seized upon the Prince. In a year +the wings were finished; and on a morning appointed the maker appeared, +furnished for flight, on a little promontory; he waved his pinions awhile +to gather air, then leaped from his stand, and in an instant dropped +into the lake. His wings, which were of no use in the air, sustained +him in the water; and the Prince drew him to land half dead with terror +and vexation.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER VII - THE PRINCE FINDS A MAN OF LEARNING.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +The Prince was not much afflicted by this disaster, having suffered +himself to hope for a happier event only because he had no other means +of escape in view. He still persisted in his design to leave the +Happy Valley by the first opportunity.<br> +<br> +His imagination was now at a stand; he had no prospect of entering into +the world, and, notwithstanding all his endeavours to support himself, +discontent by degrees preyed upon him, and he began again to lose his +thoughts in sadness when the rainy season, which in these countries +is periodical, made it inconvenient to wander in the woods.<br> +<br> +The rain continued longer and with more violence than had ever been +known; the clouds broke on the surrounding mountains, and the torrents +streamed into the plain on every side, till the cavern was too narrow +to discharge the water. The lake overflowed its banks, and all +the level of the valley was covered with the inundation. The eminence +on which the palace was built, and some other spots of rising ground, +were all that the eye could now discover. The herds and flocks +left the pasture, and both the wild beasts and the tame retreated to +the mountains.<br> +<br> +This inundation confined all the princes to domestic amusements, and +the attention of Rasselas was particularly seized by a poem (which Imlac +rehearsed) upon the various conditions of humanity. He commanded +the poet to attend him in his apartment, and recite his verses a second +time; then entering into familiar talk, he thought himself happy in +having found a man who knew the world so well, and could so skilfully +paint the scenes of life. He asked a thousand questions about +things to which, though common to all other mortals, his confinement +from childhood had kept him a stranger. The poet pitied his ignorance, +and loved his curiosity, and entertained him from day to day with novelty +and instruction so that the Prince regretted the necessity of sleep, +and longed till the morning should renew his pleasure.<br> +<br> +As they were sitting together, the Prince commanded Imlac to relate +his history, and to tell by what accident he was forced, or by what +motive induced, to close his life in the Happy Valley. As he was +going to begin his narrative, Rasselas was called to a concert, and +obliged to restrain his curiosity till the evening.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER VIII - THE HISTORY OF IMLAC.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +The close of the day is, in the regions of the torrid zone, the only +season of diversion and entertainment, and it was therefore midnight +before the music ceased and the princesses retired. Rasselas then +called for his companion, and required him to begin the story of his +life.<br> +<br> +“Sir,” said Imlac, “my history will not be long: the +life that is devoted to knowledge passes silently away, and is very +little diversified by events. To talk in public, to think in solitude, +to read and to hear, to inquire and answer inquiries, is the business +of a scholar. He wanders about the world without pomp or terror, +and is neither known nor valued but by men like himself.<br> +<br> +“I was born in the kingdom of Goiama, at no great distance from +the fountain of the Nile. My father was a wealthy merchant, who +traded between the inland countries of Africa and the ports of the Red +Sea. He was honest, frugal, and diligent, but of mean sentiments +and narrow comprehension; he desired only to be rich, and to conceal +his riches, lest he should be spoiled by the governors of the province.”<br> +<br> +“Surely,” said the Prince, “my father must be negligent +of his charge if any man in his dominions dares take that which belongs +to another. Does he not know that kings are accountable for injustice +permitted as well as done? If I were Emperor, not the meanest +of my subjects should he oppressed with impunity. My blood boils +when I am told that a merchant durst not enjoy his honest gains for +fear of losing them by the rapacity of power. Name the governor +who robbed the people that I may declare his crimes to the Emperor!”<br> +<br> +“Sir,” said Imlac, “your ardour is the natural effect +of virtue animated by youth. The time will come when you will +acquit your father, and perhaps hear with less impatience of the governor. +Oppression is, in the Abyssinian dominions, neither frequent nor tolerated; +but no form of government has been yet discovered by which cruelty can +be wholly prevented. Subordination supposes power on one part +and subjection on the other; and if power be in the hands of men it +will sometimes be abused. The vigilance of the supreme magistrate +may do much, but much will still remain undone. He can never know +all the crimes that are committed, and can seldom punish all that he +knows.”<br> +<br> +“This,” said the Prince, “I do not understand; but +I had rather hear thee than dispute. Continue thy narration.”<br> +<br> +“My father,” proceeded Imlac, “originally intended +that I should have no other education than such as might qualify me +for commerce; and discovering in me great strength of memory and quickness +of apprehension, often declared his hope that I should be some time +the richest man in Abyssinia.”<br> +<br> +“Why,” said the Prince, “did thy father desire the +increase of his wealth when it was already greater than he durst discover +or enjoy? I am unwilling to doubt thy veracity, yet inconsistencies +cannot both be true.”<br> +<br> +“Inconsistencies,” answered Imlac, “cannot both be +right; but, imputed to man, they may both be true. Yet diversity +is not inconsistency. My father might expect a time of greater +security. However, some desire is necessary to keep life in motion; +and he whose real wants are supplied must admit those of fancy.”<br> +<br> +“This,” said the Prince, “I can in some measure conceive. +I repent that I interrupted thee.”<br> +<br> +“With this hope,” proceeded Imlac, “he sent me to +school. But when I had once found the delight of knowledge, and +felt the pleasure of intelligence and the pride of invention, I began +silently to despise riches, and determined to disappoint the purposes +of my father, whose grossness of conception raised my pity. I +was twenty years old before his tenderness would expose me to the fatigue +of travel; in which time I had been instructed, by successive masters, +in all the literature of my native country. As every hour taught +me something new, I lived in a continual course of gratification; but +as I advanced towards manhood, I lost much of the reverence with which +I had been used to look on my instructors; because when the lessons +were ended I did not find them wiser or better than common men.<br> +<br> +“At length my father resolved to initiate me in commerce; and, +opening one of his subterranean treasuries, counted out ten thousand +pieces of gold. ‘This, young man,’ said he, ‘is +the stock with which you must negotiate. I began with less than +a fifth part, and you see how diligence and parsimony have increased +it. This is your own, to waste or improve. If you squander +it by negligence or caprice, you must wait for my death before you will +be rich; if in four years you double your stock, we will thenceforward +let subordination cease, and live together as friends and partners, +for he shall be always equal with me who is equally skilled in the art +of growing rich.’<br> +<br> +“We laid out our money upon camels, concealed in bales of cheap +goods, and travelled to the shore of the Red Sea. When I cast +my eye on the expanse of waters, my heart bounded like that of a prisoner +escaped. I felt an inextinguishable curiosity kindle in my mind, +and resolved to snatch this opportunity of seeing the manners of other +nations, and of learning sciences unknown in Abyssinia.<br> +<br> +“I remembered that my father had obliged me to the improvement +of my stock, not by a promise, which I ought not to violate, but by +a penalty, which I was at liberty to incur; and therefore determined +to gratify my predominant desire, and, by drinking at the fountain of +knowledge, to quench the thirst of curiosity.<br> +<br> +“As I was supposed to trade without connection with my father, +it was easy for me to become acquainted with the master of a ship, and +procure a passage to some other country. I had no motives of choice +to regulate my voyage. It was sufficient for me that, wherever +I wandered, I should see a country which I had not seen before. +I therefore entered a ship bound for Surat, having left a letter for +my father declaring my intention.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER IX - THE HISTORY OF IMLAC (<i>continued</i>).<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +“When I first entered upon the world of waters, and lost sight +of land, I looked round about me in pleasing terror, and thinking my +soul enlarged by the boundless prospect, imagined that I could gaze +around me for ever without satiety; but in a short time I grew weary +of looking on barren uniformity, where I could only see again what I +had already seen. I then descended into the ship, and doubted +for awhile whether all my future pleasures would not end, like this, +in disgust and disappointment. ‘Yet surely,’ said +I, ‘the ocean and the land are very different. The only +variety of water is rest and motion. But the earth has mountains +and valleys, deserts and cities; it is inhabited by men of different +customs and contrary opinions; and I may hope to find variety in life, +though I should miss it in nature.’<br> +<br> +“With this thought I quieted my mind, and amused myself during +the voyage, sometimes by learning from the sailors the art of navigation, +which I have never practised, and sometimes by forming schemes for my +conduct in different situations, in not one of which I have been ever +placed.<br> +<br> +“I was almost weary of my naval amusements when we safely landed +at Surat. I secured my money and, purchasing some commodities +for show, joined myself to a caravan that was passing into the inland +country. My companions, for some reason or other, conjecturing +that I was rich, and, by my inquiries and admiration, finding that I +was ignorant, considered me as a novice whom they had a right to cheat, +and who was to learn, at the usual expense, the art of fraud. +They exposed me to the theft of servants and the exaction of officers, +and saw me plundered upon false pretences, without any advantage to +themselves but that of rejoicing in the superiority of their own knowledge.”<br> +<br> +“Stop a moment,” said the Prince; “is there such depravity +in man as that he should injure another without benefit to himself? +I can easily conceive that all are pleased with superiority; but your +ignorance was merely accidental, which, being neither your crime nor +your folly, could afford them no reason to applaud themselves; and the +knowledge which they had, and which you wanted, they might as effectually +have shown by warning as betraying you.”<br> +<br> +“Pride,” said Imlac, “is seldom delicate; it will +please itself with very mean advantages, and envy feels not its own +happiness but when it may be compared with the misery of others. +They were my enemies because they grieved to think me rich, and my oppressors +because they delighted to find me weak.”<br> +<br> +“Proceed,” said the Prince; “I doubt not of the facts +which you relate, but imagine that you impute them to mistaken motives.”<br> +<br> +“In this company,” said Imlac, “I arrived at Agra, +the capital of Hindostan, the city in which the Great Mogul commonly +resides. I applied myself to the language of the country, and +in a few months was able to converse with the learned men; some of whom +I found morose and reserved, and others easy and communicative; some +were unwilling to teach another what they had with difficulty learned +themselves; and some showed that the end of their studies was to gain +the dignity of instructing.<br> +<br> +“To the tutor of the young princes I recommended myself so much +that I was presented to the Emperor as a man of uncommon knowledge. +The Emperor asked me many questions concerning my country and my travels, +and though I cannot now recollect anything that he uttered above the +power of a common man, he dismissed me astonished at his wisdom and +enamoured of his goodness.<br> +<br> +“My credit was now so high that the merchants with whom I had +travelled applied to me for recommendations to the ladies of the Court. +I was surprised at their confidence of solicitation and greatly reproached +them with their practices on the road. They heard me with cold +indifference, and showed no tokens of shame or sorrow.<br> +<br> +“They then urged their request with the offer of a bribe, but +what I would not do for kindness I would not do for money, and refused +them, not because they had injured me, but because I would not enable +them to injure others; for I knew they would have made use of my credit +to cheat those who should buy their wares.<br> +<br> +“Having resided at Agra till there was no more to be learned, +I travelled into Persia, where I saw many remains of ancient magnificence +and observed many new accommodations of life. The Persians are +a nation eminently social, and their assemblies afforded me daily opportunities +of remarking characters and manners, and of tracing human nature through +all its variations.<br> +<br> +“From Persia I passed into Arabia, where I saw a nation pastoral +and warlike, who lived without any settled habitation, whose wealth +is their flocks and herds, and who have carried on through ages an hereditary +war with mankind, though they neither covet nor envy their possessions.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER X - IMLAC’S HISTORY (<i>continued</i>) - A DISSERTATION +UPON POETRY.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +“Wherever I went I found that poetry was considered as the highest +learning, and regarded with a veneration somewhat approaching to that +which man would pay to angelic nature. And yet it fills me with +wonder that in almost all countries the most ancient poets are considered +as the best; whether it be that every other kind of knowledge is an +acquisition greatly attained, and poetry is a gift conferred at once; +or that the first poetry of every nation surprised them as a novelty, +and retained the credit by consent which it received by accident at +first; or whether, as the province of poetry is to describe nature and +passion, which are always the same, the first writers took possession +of the most striking objects for description and the most probable occurrences +for fiction, and left nothing to those that followed them but transcription +of the same events and new combinations of the same images. Whatever +be the reason, it is commonly observed that the early writers are in +possession of nature, and their followers of art; that the first excel +in strength and invention, and the latter in elegance and refinement.<br> +<br> +“I was desirous to add my name to this illustrious fraternity. +I read all the poets of Persia and Arabia, and was able to repeat by +memory the volumes that are suspended in the mosque of Mecca. +But I soon found that no man was ever great by imitations. My +desire of excellence impelled me to transfer my attention to nature +and to life. Nature was to be my subject, and men to be my auditors. +I could never describe what I had not seen. I could not hope to +move those with delight or terror whose interests and opinions I did +not understand.<br> +<br> +Being now resolved to be a poet, I saw everything with a new purpose; +my sphere of attention was suddenly magnified; no kind of knowledge +was to be overlooked. I ranged mountains and deserts for images +and resemblances, and pictured upon my mind every tree of the forest +and flower of the valley. I observed with equal care the crags +of the rock and the pinnacles of the palace. Sometimes I wandered +along the mazes of the rivulet, and sometimes watched the changes of +the summer clouds. To a poet nothing can be useless. Whatever +is beautiful and whatever is dreadful must be familiar to his imagination; +he must be conversant with all that is awfully vast or elegantly little. +The plants of the garden, the animals of the wood, the minerals of the +earth, and meteors of the sky, must all concur to store his mind with +inexhaustible variety; for every idea is useful for the enforcement +or decoration of moral or religious truth, and he who knows most will +have most power of diversifying his scenes and of gratifying his reader +with remote allusions and unexpected instruction.<br> +<br> +“All the appearances of nature I was therefore careful to study, +and every country which I have surveyed has contributed something to +my poetical powers.”<br> +<br> +“In so wide a survey,” said the Prince, “you must +surely have left much unobserved. I have lived till now within +the circuit of the mountains, and yet cannot walk abroad without the +sight of something which I had never beheld before, or never heeded.”<br> +<br> +“This business of a poet,” said Imlac, “is to examine, +not the individual, but the species; to remark general properties and +large appearances. He does not number the streaks of the tulip, +or describe the different shades of the verdure of the forest. +He is to exhibit in his portraits of nature such prominent and striking +features as recall the original to every mind, and must neglect the +minuter discriminations, which one may have remarked and another have +neglected, for those characteristics which are alike obvious to vigilance +and carelessness.<br> +<br> +“But the knowledge of nature is only half the task of a poet; +he must be acquainted likewise with all the modes of life. His +character requires that he estimate the happiness and misery of every +condition, observe the power of all the passions in all their combinations, +and trace the changes of the human mind, as they are modified by various +institutions and accidental influences of climate or custom, from the +sprightliness of infancy to the despondence of decrepitude. He +must divest himself of the prejudices of his age and country; he must +consider right and wrong in their abstracted and invariable state; he +must disregard present laws and opinions, and rise to general and transcendental +truths, which will always be the same. He must, therefore, content +himself with the slow progress of his name, contemn the praise of his +own time, and commit his claims to the justice of posterity. He +must write as the interpreter of nature and the legislator of mankind, +and consider himself as presiding over the thoughts and manners of future +generations, as a being superior to time and place.<br> +<br> +“His labour is not yet at an end. He must know many languages +and many sciences, and, that his style may be worthy of his thoughts, +must by incessant practice familiarise to himself every delicacy of +speech and grace of harmony.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XI - IMLAC’S NARRATIVE (<i>continued</i>) - A HINT OF +PILGRIMAGE.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Imlac now felt the enthusiastic fit, and was proceeding to aggrandise +his own profession, when then Prince cried out: “Enough! thou +hast convinced me that no human being can ever be a poet. Proceed +with thy narration.”<br> +<br> +“To be a poet,” said Imlac, “is indeed very difficult.”<br> +<br> +“So difficult,” returned the Prince, “that I will +at present hear no more of his labours. Tell me whither you went +when you had seen Persia.”<br> +<br> +“From Persia,” said the poet, “I travelled through +Syria, and for three years resided in Palestine, where I conversed with +great numbers of the northern and western nations of Europe, the nations +which are now in possession of all power and all knowledge, whose armies +are irresistible, and whose fleets command the remotest parts of the +globe. When I compared these men with the natives of our own kingdom +and those that surround us, they appeared almost another order of beings. +In their countries it is difficult to wish for anything that may not +be obtained; a thousand arts, of which we never heard, are continually +labouring for their convenience and pleasure, and whatever their own +climate has denied them is supplied by their commerce.”<br> +<br> +“By what means,” said the Prince, “are the Europeans +thus powerful? or why, since they can so easily visit Asia and Africa +for trade or conquest, cannot the Asiatics and Africans invade their +coast, plant colonies in their ports, and give laws to their natural +princes? The same wind that carries them back would bring us thither.”<br> +<br> +“They are more powerful, sir, than we,” answered Imlac, +“because they are wiser; knowledge will always predominate over +ignorance, as man governs the other animals. But why their knowledge +is more than ours I know not what reason can be given but the unsearchable +will of the Supreme Being.”<br> +<br> +“When,” said the Prince with a sigh, “shall I be able +to visit Palestine, and mingle with this mighty confluence of nations? +Till that happy moment shall arrive, let me fill up the time with such +representations as thou canst give me. I am not ignorant of the +motive that assembles such numbers in that place, and cannot but consider +it as the centre of wisdom and piety, to which the best and wisest men +of every land must be continually resorting.”<br> +<br> +“There are some nations,” said Imlac, “that send few +visitants to Palestine; for many numerous and learned sects in Europe +concur to censure pilgrimage as superstitious, or deride it as ridiculous.”<br> +<br> +“You know,” said the Prince, “how little my life has +made me acquainted with diversity of opinions; it will be too long to +hear the arguments on both sides; you, that have considered them, tell +me the result.”<br> +<br> +“Pilgrimage,” said Imlac, “like many other acts of +piety, may be reasonable or superstitious, according to the principles +upon which it is performed. Long journeys in search of truth are +not commanded. Truth, such as is necessary to the regulation of +life, is always found where it is honestly sought. Change of place +is no natural cause of the increase of piety, for it inevitably produces +dissipation of mind. Yet, since men go every day to view the fields +where great actions have been performed, and return with stronger impressions +of the event, curiosity of the same kind may naturally dispose us to +view that country whence our religion had its beginning, and I believe +no man surveys those awful scenes without some confirmation of holy +resolutions. That the Supreme Being may be more easily propitiated +in one place than in another is the dream of idle superstition, but +that some places may operate upon our own minds in an uncommon manner +is an opinion which hourly experience will justify. He who supposes +that his vices may be more successfully combated in Palestine, will +perhaps find himself mistaken; yet he may go thither without folly; +he who thinks they will be more freely pardoned, dishonours at once +his reason and religion.”<br> +<br> +“These,” said the Prince, “are European distinctions. +I will consider them another time. What have you found to be the +effect of knowledge? Are those nations happier than we?”<br> +<br> +“There is so much infelicity,” said the poet, “in +the world, that scarce any man has leisure from his own distresses to +estimate the comparative happiness of others. Knowledge is certainly +one of the means of pleasure, as is confessed by the natural desire +which every mind feels of increasing its ideas. Ignorance is mere +privation, by which nothing can be produced; it is a vacuity in which +the soul sits motionless and torpid for want of attraction, and, without +knowing why, we always rejoice when we learn, and grieve when we forget. +I am therefore inclined to conclude that if nothing counteracts the +natural consequence of learning, we grow more happy as out minds take +a wider range.<br> +<br> +“In enumerating the particular comforts of life, we shall find +many advantages on the side of the Europeans. They cure wounds +and diseases with which we languish and perish. We suffer inclemencies +of weather which they can obviate. They have engines for the despatch +of many laborious works, which we must perform by manual industry. +There is such communication between distant places that one friend can +hardly be said to be absent from another. Their policy removes +all public inconveniences; they have roads cut through the mountains, +and bridges laid over their rivers. And, if we descend to the +privacies of life, their habitations are more commodious and their possessions +are more secure.”<br> +<br> +“They are surely happy,” said the Prince, “who have +all these conveniences, of which I envy none so much as the facility +with which separated friends interchange their thoughts.”<br> +<br> +“The Europeans,” answered Imlac, “are less unhappy +than we, but they are not happy. Human life is everywhere a state +in which much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XII - THE STORY OF IMLAC (<i>continued</i>).<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +“I am not willing,” said the Prince, “to suppose that +happiness is so parsimoniously distributed to mortals, nor can I believe +but that, if I had the choice of life, I should be able to fill every +day with pleasure. I would injure no man, and should provoke no +resentments; I would relieve every distress, and should enjoy the benedictions +of gratitude. I would choose my friends among the wise and my +wife among the virtuous, and therefore should be in no danger from treachery +or unkindness. My children should by my care be learned and pious, +and would repay to my age what their childhood had received. What +would dare to molest him who might call on every side to thousands enriched +by his bounty or assisted by his power? And why should not life +glide away in the soft reciprocation of protection and reverence? +All this may be done without the help of European refinements, which +appear by their effects to be rather specious than useful. Let +us leave them and pursue our journey.”<br> +<br> +“From Palestine,” said Imlac, “I passed through many +regions of Asia; in the more civilised kingdoms as a trader, and among +the barbarians of the mountains as a pilgrim. At last I began +to long for my native country, that I might repose after my travels +and fatigues in the places where I had spent my earliest years, and +gladden my old companions with the recital of my adventures. Often +did I figure to myself those with whom I had sported away the gay hours +of dawning life, sitting round me in its evening, wondering at my tales +and listening to my counsels.<br> +<br> +“When this thought had taken possession of my mind, I considered +every moment as wasted which did not bring me nearer to Abyssinia. +I hastened into Egypt, and, notwithstanding my impatience, was detained +ten months in the contemplation of its ancient magnificence and in inquiries +after the remains of its ancient learning. I found in Cairo a +mixture of all nations: some brought thither by the love of knowledge, +some by the hope of gain; many by the desire of living after their own +manner without observation, and of lying hid in the obscurity of multitudes; +for in a city populous as Cairo it is possible to obtain at the same +time the gratifications of society and the secrecy of solitude.<br> +<br> +“From Cairo I travelled to Suez, and embarked on the Red Sea, +passing along the coast till I arrived at the port from which I had +departed twenty years before. Here I joined myself to a caravan, +and re-entered my native country.<br> +<br> +“I now expected the caresses of my kinsmen and the congratulations +of my friends, and was not without hope that my father, whatever value +he had set upon riches, would own with gladness and pride a son who +was able to add to the felicity and honour of the nation. But +I was soon convinced that my thoughts were vain. My father had +been dead fourteen years, having divided his wealth among my brothers, +who were removed to some other provinces. Of my companions, the +greater part was in the grave; of the rest, some could with difficulty +remember me, and some considered me as one corrupted by foreign manners.<br> +<br> +“A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected. I forgot, +after a time, my disappointment, and endeavoured to recommend myself +to the nobles of the kingdom; they admitted me to their tables, heard +my story, and dismissed me. I opened a school, and was prohibited +to teach. I then resolved to sit down in the quiet of domestic +life, and addressed a lady that was fond of my conversation, but rejected +my suit because my father was a merchant.<br> +<br> +“Wearied at last with solicitation and repulses, I resolved to +hide myself for ever from the world, and depend no longer on the opinion +or caprice of others. I waited for the time when the gate of the +Happy Valley should open, that I might bid farewell to hope and fear; +the day came, my performance was distinguished with favour, and I resigned +myself with joy to perpetual confinement.”<br> +<br> +“Hast thou here found happiness at last?” said Rasselas. +“Tell me, without reserve, art thou content with thy condition, +or dost thou wish to be again wandering and inquiring? All the +inhabitants of this valley celebrate their lot, and at the annual visit +of the Emperor invite others to partake of their felicity.”<br> +<br> +“Great Prince,” said Imlac, “I shall speak the truth. +I know not one of all your attendants who does not lament the hour when +he entered this retreat. I am less unhappy than the rest, because +I have a mind replete with images, which I can vary and combine at pleasure. +I can amuse my solitude by the renovation of the knowledge which begins +to fade from my memory, and by recollection of the accidents of my past +life. Yet all this ends in the sorrowful consideration that my +acquirements are now useless, and that none of my pleasures can be again +enjoyed. The rest, whose minds have no impression but of the present +moment, are either corroded by malignant passions or sit stupid in the +gloom of perpetual vacancy.”<br> +<br> +“What passions can infest those,” said the Prince, “who +have no rivals? We are in a place where impotence precludes malice, +and where all envy is repressed by community of enjoyments.”<br> +<br> +“There may be community,” said Imlac, “of material +possessions, but there can never be community of love or of esteem. +It must happen that one will please more than another; he that knows +himself despised will always be envious, and still more envious and +malevolent if he is condemned to live in the presence of those who despise +him. The invitations by which they allure others to a state which +they feel to be wretched, proceed from the natural malignity of hopeless +misery. They are weary of themselves and of each other, and expect +to find relief in new companions. They envy the liberty which +their folly has forfeited, and would gladly see all mankind imprisoned +like themselves.<br> +<br> +“From this crime, however, I am wholly free. No man can +say that he is wretched by my persuasion. I look with pity on +the crowds who are annually soliciting admission to captivity, and wish +that it were lawful for me to warn them of their danger.”<br> +<br> +“My dear Imlac,” said the Prince, “I will open to +thee my whole heart. I have long meditated an escape from the +Happy Valley. I have examined the mountain on every side, but +find myself insuperably barred - teach me the way to break my prison; +thou shalt be the companion of my flight, the guide of my rambles, the +partner of my fortune, and my sole director in the <i>choice of life.<br> +<br> +</i>“Sir,” answered the poet, “your escape will be +difficult, and perhaps you may soon repent your curiosity. The +world, which you figure to yourself smooth and quiet as the lake in +the valley, you will find a sea foaming with tempests and boiling with +whirlpools; you will be sometimes overwhelmed by the waves of violence, +and sometimes dashed against the rocks of treachery. Amidst wrongs +and frauds, competitions and anxieties, you will wish a thousand times +for these seats of quiet, and willingly quit hope to be free from fear.”<br> +<br> +“Do not seek to deter me from my purpose,” said the Prince. +“I am impatient to see what thou hast seen; and since thou art +thyself weary of the valley, it is evident that thy former state was +better than this. Whatever be the consequence of my experiment, +I am resolved to judge with mine own eyes of the various conditions +of men, and then to make deliberately my <i>choice of life</i>.”<br> +<br> +“I am afraid,” said Imlac, “you are hindered by stronger +restraints than my persuasions; yet, if your determination is fixed, +I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to +diligence and skill.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XIII - RASSELAS DISCOVERS THE MEANS OF ESCAPE.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +The Prince now dismissed his favourite to rest; but the narrative of +wonders and novelties filled his mind with perturbation. He revolved +all that he had heard, and prepared innumerable questions for the morning.<br> +<br> +Much of his uneasiness was now removed. He had a friend to whom +he could impart his thoughts, and whose experience could assist him +in his designs. His heart was no longer condemned to swell with +silent vexation. He thought that even the Happy Valley might be +endured with such a companion, and that if they could range the world +together he should have nothing further to desire.<br> +<br> +In a few days the water was discharged, and the ground dried. +The Prince and Imlac then walked out together, to converse without the +notice of the rest. The Prince, whose thoughts were always on +the wing, as he passed by the gate said, with a countenance of sorrow, +“Why art thou so strong, and why is man so weak?”<br> +<br> +“Man is not weak,” answered his companion; “knowledge +is more than equivalent to force. The master of mechanics laughs +at strength. I can burst the gate, but cannot do it secretly. +Some other expedient must be tried.”<br> +<br> + As they were walking on the side of the mountain they observed +that the coneys, which the rain had driven from their burrows, had taken +shelter among the bushes, and formed holes behind them tending upwards +in an oblique line. “It has been the opinion of antiquity,” +said Imlac, “that human reason borrowed many arts from the instinct +of animals; let us, therefore, not think ourselves degraded by learning +from the coney. We may escape by piercing the mountain in the +same direction. We will begin where the summit hangs over the +middle part, and labour upward till we shall issue out beyond the prominence.”<br> +<br> +The eyes of the Prince, when he heard this proposal, sparkled with joy. +The execution was easy and the success certain.<br> +<br> +No time was now lost. They hastened early in the morning to choose +a place proper for their mine. They clambered with great fatigue +among crags and brambles, and returned without having discovered any +part that favoured their design. The second and the third day +were spent in the same manner, and with the same frustration; but on +the fourth day they found a small cavern concealed by a thicket, where +they resolved to make their experiment.<br> +<br> +Imlac procured instruments proper to hew stone and remove earth, and +they fell to their work on the next day with more eagerness than vigour. +They were presently exhausted by their efforts, and sat down to pant +upon the grass. The Prince for a moment appeared to be discouraged. +“Sir,” said his companion, “practice will enable us +to continue our labour for a longer time. Mark, however, how far +we have advanced, and ye will find that our toil will some time have +an end. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance; +yonder palace was raised by single stones, yet you see its height and +spaciousness. He that shall walk with vigour three hours a day, +will pass in seven years a space equal to the circumference of the globe.”<br> +<br> +They returned to their work day after day, and in a short time found +a fissure in the rock, which enabled them to pass far with very little +obstruction. This Rasselas considered as a good omen. “Do +not disturb your mind,” said Imlac, “with other hopes or +fears than reason may suggest; if you are pleased with the prognostics +of good, you will be terrified likewise with tokens of evil, and your +whole life will be a prey to superstition. Whatever facilitates +our work is more than an omen; it is a cause of success. This +is one of those pleasing surprises which often happen to active resolution. +Many things difficult to design prove easy to performance.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XIV - RASSELAS AND IMLAC RECEIVE AN UNEXPECTED VISIT.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +They had now wrought their way to the middle, and solaced their toil +with the approach of liberty, when the Prince, coming down to refresh +himself with air, found his sister Nekayah standing at the mouth of +the cavity. He started, and stood confused, afraid to tell his +design, and yet hopeless to conceal it. A few moments determined +him to repose on her fidelity, and secure her secrecy by a declaration +without reserve.<br> +<br> +“Do not imagine,” said the Princess, “that I came +hither as a spy. I had long observed from my window that you and +Imlac directed your walk every day towards the same point, but I did +not suppose you had any better reason for the preference than a cooler +shade or more fragrant bank, nor followed you with any other design +than to partake of your conversation. Since, then, not suspicion, +but fondness, has detected you, let me not lose the advantage of my +discovery. I am equally weary of confinement with yourself, and +not less desirous of knowing what is done or suffered in the world. +Permit me to fly with you from this tasteless tranquillity, which will +yet grow more loathsome when you have left me. You may deny me +to accompany you, but cannot hinder me from following.”<br> +<br> +The Prince, who loved Nekayah above his other sisters, had no inclination +to refuse her request, and grieved that he had lost an opportunity of +showing his confidence by a voluntary communication. It was, therefore, +agreed that she should leave the valley with them; and that in the meantime +she should watch, lest any other straggler should, by chance or curiosity, +follow them to the mountain.<br> +<br> +At length their labour was at an end. They saw light beyond the +prominence, and, issuing to the top of the mountain, beheld the Nile, +yet a narrow current, wandering beneath them.<br> +<br> +The Prince looked round with rapture, anticipated all the pleasures +of travel, and in thought was already transported beyond his father’s +dominions. Imlac, though very joyful at his escape, had less expectation +of pleasure in the world, which he had before tried and of which he +had been weary.<br> +<br> +Rasselas was so much delighted with a wider horizon, that he could not +soon be persuaded to return into the valley. He informed his sister +that the way was now open, and that nothing now remained but to prepare +for their departure.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XV - THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS LEAVE THE VALLEY, AND SEE MANY +WONDERS.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +The Prince and Princess had jewels sufficient to make them rich whenever +they came into a place of commerce, which, by Imlac’s direction, +they hid in their clothes, and on the night of the next full moon all +left the valley. The Princess was followed only by a single favourite, +who did not know whither she was going.<br> +<br> +They clambered through the cavity, and began to go down on the other +side. The Princess and her maid turned their eyes toward every +part, and seeing nothing to bound their prospect, considered themselves +in danger of being lost in a dreary vacuity. They stopped and +trembled. “I am almost afraid,” said the Princess, +“to begin a journey of which I cannot perceive an end, and to +venture into this immense plain where I may be approached on every side +by men whom I never saw.” The Prince felt nearly the same +emotions, though he thought it more manly to conceal them.<br> +<br> +Imlac smiled at their terrors, and encouraged them to proceed. +But the Princess continued irresolute till she had been imperceptibly +drawn forward too far to return.<br> +<br> +In the morning they found some shepherds in the field, who set some +milk and fruits before them. The Princess wondered that she did +not see a palace ready for her reception and a table spread with delicacies; +but being faint and hungry, she drank the milk and ate the fruits, and +thought them of a higher flavour than the products of the valley.<br> +<br> +They travelled forward by easy journeys, being all unaccustomed to toil +and difficulty, and knowing that, though they might be missed, they +could not be pursued. In a few days they came into a more populous +region, where Imlac was diverted with the admiration which his companions +expressed at the diversity of manners, stations, and employments. +Their dress was such as might not bring upon them the suspicion of having +anything to conceal; yet the Prince, wherever he came, expected to be +obeyed, and the Princess was frighted because those who came into her +presence did not prostrate themselves. Imlac was forced to observe +them with great vigilance, lest they should betray their rank by their +unusual behaviour, and detained them several weeks in the first village +to accustom them to the sight of common mortals.<br> +<br> +By degrees the royal wanderers were taught to understand that they had +for a time laid aside their dignity, and were to expect only such regard +as liberality and courtesy could procure. And Imlac having by +many admonitions prepared them to endure the tumults of a port and the +ruggedness of the commercial race, brought them down to the sea-coast.<br> +<br> +The Prince and his sister, to whom everything was new, were gratified +equally at all places, and therefore remained for some months at the +port without any inclination to pass further. Imlac was content +with their stay, because he did not think it safe to expose them, unpractised +in the world, to the hazards of a foreign country.<br> +<br> +At last he began to fear lest they should be discovered, and proposed +to fix a day for their departure. They had no pretensions to judge +for themselves, and referred the whole scheme to his direction. +He therefore took passage in a ship to Suez, and, when the time came, +with great difficulty prevailed on the Princess to enter the vessel.<br> +<br> +They had a quick and prosperous voyage, and from Suez travelled by land +to Cairo.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XVI - THEY ENTER CAIRO, AND FIND EVERY MAN HAPPY.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +As they approached the city, which filled the strangers with astonishment, +“This,” said Imlac to the Prince, “is the place where +travellers and merchants assemble from all corners of the earth. +You will here find men of every character and every occupation. +Commerce is here honourable. I will act as a merchant, and you +shall live as strangers who have no other end of travel than curiosity; +it will soon be observed that we are rich. Our reputation will +procure us access to all whom we shall desire to know; you shall see +all the conditions of humanity, and enable yourselves at leisure to +make your <i>choice of life</i>.”<br> +<br> +They now entered the town, stunned by the noise and offended by the +crowds. Instruction had not yet so prevailed over habit but that +they wondered to see themselves pass undistinguished along the streets, +and met by the lowest of the people without reverence or notice. +The Princess could not at first bear the thought of being levelled with +the vulgar, and for some time continued in her chamber, where she was +served by her favourite Pekuah, as in the palace of the valley.<br> +<br> +Imlac, who understood traffic, sold part of the jewels the next day, +and hired a house, which he adorned with such magnificence that he was +immediately considered as a merchant of great wealth. His politeness +attracted many acquaintances, and his generosity made him courted by +many dependants. His companions, not being able to mix in the +conversation, could make no discovery of their ignorance or surprise, +and were gradually initiated in the world as they gained knowledge of +the language.<br> +<br> +The Prince had by frequent lectures been taught the use and nature of +money; but the ladies could not for a long time comprehend what the +merchants did with small pieces of gold and silver, or why things of +so little use should be received as an equivalent to the necessaries +of life.<br> +<br> +They studied the language two years, while Imlac was preparing to set +before them the various ranks and conditions of mankind. He grew +acquainted with all who had anything uncommon in their fortune or conduct. +He frequented the voluptuous and the frugal, the idle and the busy, +the merchants and the men of learning.<br> +<br> +The Prince now being able to converse with fluency, and having learned +the caution necessary to be observed in his intercourse with strangers, +began to accompany Imlac to places of resort, and to enter into all +assemblies, that he might make his <i>choice of life.<br> +<br> +</i>For some time he thought choice needless, because all appeared to +him really happy. Wherever he went he met gaiety and kindness, +and heard the song of joy or the laugh of carelessness. He began +to believe that the world overflowed with universal plenty, and that +nothing was withheld either from want or merit; that every hand showered +liberality and every heart melted with benevolence: “And who then,” +says he, “will be suffered to be wretched?”<br> +<br> +Imlac permitted the pleasing delusion, and was unwilling to crush the +hope of inexperience: till one day, having sat awhile silent, “I +know not,” said the Prince, “what can be the reason that +I am more unhappy than any of our friends. I see them perpetually +and unalterably cheerful, but feel my own mind restless and uneasy. +I am unsatisfied with those pleasures which I seem most to court. +I live in the crowds of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to +shun myself, and am only loud and merry to conceal my sadness.”<br> +<br> +“Every man,” said Imlac, “may by examining his own +mind guess what passes in the minds of others. When you feel that +your own gaiety is counterfeit, it may justly lead you to suspect that +of your companions not to be sincere. Envy is commonly reciprocal. +We are long before we are convinced that happiness is never to be found, +and each believes it possessed by others, to keep alive the hope of +obtaining it for himself. In the assembly where you passed the +last night there appeared such sprightliness of air and volatility of +fancy as might have suited beings of a higher order, formed to inhabit +serener regions, inaccessible to care or sorrow; yet, believe me, Prince, +was there not one who did not dread the moment when solitude should +deliver him to the tyranny of reflection.”<br> +<br> +“This,” said the Prince, “may be true of others since +it is true of me; yet, whatever be the general infelicity of man, one +condition is more happy than another, and wisdom surely directs us to +take the least evil in the <i>choice of life</i>.”<br> +<br> +“The causes of good and evil,” answered Imlac, “are +so various and uncertain, so often entangled with each other, so diversified +by various relations, and so much subject to accidents which cannot +be foreseen, that he who would fix his condition upon incontestable +reasons of preference must live and die inquiring and deliberating.”<br> +<br> +“But, surely,” said Rasselas, “the wise men, to whom +we listen with reverence and wonder, chose that mode of life for themselves +which they thought most likely to make them happy.”<br> +<br> +“Very few,” said the poet, “live by choice. +Every man is placed in the present condition by causes which acted without +his foresight, and with which he did not always willingly co-operate, +and therefore you will rarely meet one who does not think the lot of +his neighbour better than his own.”<br> +<br> +“I am pleased to think,” said the Prince, “that my +birth has given me at least one advantage over others by enabling me +to determine for myself. I have here the world before me. +I will review it at leisure: surely happiness is somewhere to be found.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XVII - THE PRINCE ASSOCIATES WITH YOUNG MEN OF SPIRIT AND GAIETY.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Rasselas rose next day, and resolved to begin his experiments upon life. +“Youth,” cried he, “is the time of gladness: I will +join myself to the young men whose only business is to gratify their +desires, and whose time is all spent in a succession of enjoyments.”<br> +<br> +To such societies he was readily admitted, but a few days brought him +back weary and disgusted. Their mirth was without images, their +laughter without motive; their pleasures were gross and sensual, in +which the mind had no part; their conduct was at once wild and mean +- they laughed at order and at law, but the frown of power dejected +and the eye of wisdom abashed them.<br> +<br> +The Prince soon concluded that he should never be happy in a course +of life of which he was ashamed. He thought it unsuitable to a +reasonable being to act without a plan, and to be sad or cheerful only +by chance. “Happiness,” said he, “must be something +solid and permanent, without fear and without uncertainty.”<br> +<br> +But his young companions had gained so much of his regard by their frankness +and courtesy that he could not leave them without warning and remonstrance. +“My friends,” said he, “I have seriously considered +our manners and our prospects, and find that we have mistaken our own +interest. The first years of man must make provision for the last. +He that never thinks, never can be wise. Perpetual levity must +end in ignorance; and intemperance, though it may fire the spirits for +an hour, will make life short or miserable. Let us consider that +youth is of no long duration, and that in mature age, when the enchantments +of fancy shall cease, and phantoms of delight dance no more about us, +we shall have no comforts but the esteem of wise men and the means of +doing good. Let us therefore stop while to stop is in our power: +let us live as men who are some time to grow old, and to whom it will +be the most dreadful of all evils to count their past years by follies, +and to be reminded of their former luxuriance of health only by the +maladies which riot has produced.”<br> +<br> +They stared awhile in silence one upon another, and at last drove him +away by a general chorus of continued laughter.<br> +<br> +The consciousness that his sentiments were just and his intention kind +was scarcely sufficient to support him against the horror of derision. +But he recovered his tranquillity and pursued his search.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XVIII - THE PRINCE FINDS A WISE AND HAPPY MAN.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +As he was one day walking in the street he saw a spacious building which +all were by the open doors invited to enter. He followed the stream +of people, and found it a hall or school of declamation, in which professors +read lectures to their auditory. He fixed his eye upon a sage +raised above the rest, who discoursed with great energy on the government +of the passions. His look was venerable, his action graceful, +his pronunciation clear, and his diction elegant. He showed with +great strength of sentiment and variety of illustration that human nature +is degraded and debased when the lower faculties predominate over the +higher; that when fancy, the parent of passion, usurps the dominion +of the mind, nothing ensues but the natural effect of unlawful government, +perturbation, and confusion; that she betrays the fortresses of the +intellect to rebels, and excites her children to sedition against their +lawful sovereign. He compared reason to the sun, of which the +light is constant, uniform, and lasting; and fancy to a meteor, of bright +but transitory lustre, irregular in its motion and delusive in its direction.<br> +<br> +He then communicated the various precepts given from time to time for +the conquest of passion, and displayed the happiness of those who had +obtained the important victory, after which man is no longer the slave +of fear nor the fool of hope; is no more emaciated by envy, inflamed +by anger, emasculated by tenderness, or depressed by grief; but walks +on calmly through the tumults or privacies of life, as the sun pursues +alike his course through the calm or the stormy sky.<br> +<br> +He enumerated many examples of heroes immovable by pain or pleasure, +who looked with indifference on those modes or accidents to which the +vulgar give the names of good and evil. He exhorted his hearers +to lay aside their prejudices, and arm themselves against the shafts +of malice or misfortune, by invulnerable patience: concluding that this +state only was happiness, and that this happiness was in every one’s +power.<br> +<br> +Rasselas listened to him with the veneration due to the instructions +of a superior being, and waiting for him at the door, humbly implored +the liberty of visiting so great a master of true wisdom. The +lecturer hesitated a moment, when Rasselas put a purse of gold into +his hand, which he received with a mixture of joy and wonder.<br> +<br> +“I have found,” said the Prince at his return to Imlac, +“a man who can teach all that is necessary to be known; who, from +the unshaken throne of rational fortitude, looks down on the scenes +of life changing beneath him. He speaks, and attention watches +his lips. He reasons, and conviction closes his periods. +This man shall be my future guide: I will learn his doctrines and imitate +his life.”<br> +<br> +“Be not too hasty,” said Imlac, “to trust or to admire +the teachers of morality: they discourse like angels, but they live +like men.”<br> +<br> +Rasselas, who could not conceive how any man could reason so forcibly +without feeling the cogency of his own arguments, paid his visit in +a few days, and was denied admission. He had now learned the power +of money, and made his way by a piece of gold to the inner apartment, +where he found the philosopher in a room half darkened, with his eyes +misty and his face pale. “Sir,” said he, “you +are come at a time when all human friendship is useless; what I suffer +cannot be remedied: what I have lost cannot be supplied. My daughter, +my only daughter, from whose tenderness I expected all the comforts +of my age, died last night of a fever. My views, my purposes, +my hopes, are at an end: I am now a lonely being, disunited from society.”<br> +<br> +“Sir,” said the Prince, “mortality is an event by +which a wise man can never be surprised: we know that death is always +near, and it should therefore always be expected.” “Young +man,” answered the philosopher, “you speak like one that +has never felt the pangs of separation.” “Have you +then forgot the precepts,” said Rasselas, “which you so +powerfully enforced? Has wisdom no strength to arm the heart against +calamity? Consider that external things are naturally variable, +but truth and reason are always the same.” “What comfort,” +said the mourner, “can truth and reason afford me? Of what +effect are they now, but to tell me that my daughter will not be restored?”<br> +<br> +The Prince, whose humanity would not suffer him to insult misery with +reproof, went away, convinced of the emptiness of rhetorical sounds, +and the inefficacy of polished periods and studied sentences.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XIX - A GLIMPSE OF PASTORAL LIFE.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +He was still eager upon the same inquiry; and having heard of a hermit +that lived near the lowest cataract of the Nile, and filled the whole +country with the fame of his sanctity, resolved to visit his retreat, +and inquire whether that felicity which public life could not afford +was to be found in solitude, and whether a man whose age and virtue +made him venerable could teach any peculiar art of shunning evils or +enduring them.<br> +<br> +Imlac and the Princess agreed to accompany him, and after the necessary +preparations, they began their journey. Their way lay through +the fields, where shepherds tended their flocks and the lambs were playing +upon the pasture. “This,” said the poet, “is +the life which has been often celebrated for its innocence and quiet; +let us pass the heat of the day among the shepherds’ tents, and +know whether all our searches are not to terminate in pastoral simplicity.”<br> +<br> +The proposal pleased them; and they induced the shepherds, by small +presents and familiar questions, to tell the opinion of their own state. +They were so rude and ignorant, so little able to compare the good with +the evil of the occupation, and so indistinct in their narratives and +descriptions, that very little could be learned from them. But +it was evident that their hearts were cankered with discontent; that +they considered themselves as condemned to labour for the luxury of +the rich, and looked up with stupid malevolence towards those that were +placed above them.<br> +<br> +The Princess pronounced with vehemence that she would never suffer these +envious savages to be her companions, and that she should not soon be +desirous of seeing any more specimens of rustic happiness; but could +not believe that all the accounts of primeval pleasures were fabulous, +and was in doubt whether life had anything that could be justly preferred +to the placid gratification of fields and woods. She hoped that +the time would come when, with a few virtuous and elegant companions, +she should gather flowers planted by her own hands, fondle the lambs +of her own ewe, and listen without care, among brooks and breezes, to +one of her maidens reading in the shade.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XX - THE DANGER OF PROSPERITY.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +On the next day they continued their journey till the heat compelled +them to look round for shelter. At a small distance they saw a +thick wood, which they no sooner entered than they perceived that they +were approaching the habitations of men. The shrubs were diligently +cut away to open walks where the shades ware darkest; the boughs of +opposite trees were artificially interwoven; seats of flowery turf were +raised in vacant spaces; and a rivulet that wantoned along the side +of a winding path had its banks sometimes opened into small basins, +and its stream sometimes obstructed by little mounds of stone heaped +together to increase its murmurs.<br> +<br> +They passed slowly through the wood, delighted with such unexpected +accommodations, and entertained each other with conjecturing what or +who he could be that in those rude and unfrequented regions had leisure +and art for such harmless luxury.<br> +<br> +As they advanced they heard the sound of music, and saw youths and virgins +dancing in the grove; and going still farther beheld a stately palace +built upon a hill surrounded by woods. The laws of Eastern hospitality +allowed them to enter, and the master welcomed them like a man liberal +and wealthy.<br> +<br> +He was skilful enough in appearances soon to discern that they were +no common guests, and spread his table with magnificence. The +eloquence of Imlac caught his attention, and the lofty courtesy of the +Princess excited his respect. When they offered to depart, he +entreated their stay, and was the next day more unwilling to dismiss +them than before. They were easily persuaded to stop, and civility +grew up in time to freedom and confidence.<br> +<br> +The Prince now saw all the domestics cheerful and all the face of nature +smiling round the place, and could not forbear to hope that he should +find here what he was seeking; but when he was congratulating the master +upon his possessions he answered with a sigh, “My condition has +indeed the appearance of happiness, but appearances are delusive. +My prosperity puts my life in danger; the Bassa of Egypt is my enemy, +incensed only by my wealth and popularity. I have been hitherto +protected against him by the princes of the country; but as the favour +of the great is uncertain I know not how soon my defenders may be persuaded +to share the plunder with the Bassa. I have sent my treasures +into a distant country, and upon the first alarm am prepared to follow +them. Then will my enemies riot in my mansion, and enjoy the gardens +which I have planted.”<br> +<br> +They all joined in lamenting his danger and deprecating his exile; and +the Princess was so much disturbed with the tumult of grief and indignation +that she retired to her apartment. They continued with their kind +inviter a few days longer, and then went to find the hermit.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXI - THE HAPPINESS OF SOLITUDE - THE HERMIT’S HISTORY.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +They came on the third day, by the direction of the peasants, to the +hermit’s cell. It was a cavern in the side of a mountain, +overshadowed with palm trees, at such a distance from the cataract that +nothing more was heard than a gentle uniform murmur, such as composes +the mind to pensive meditation, especially when it was assisted by the +wind whistling among the branches. The first rude essay of Nature +had been so much improved by human labour that the cave contained several +apartments appropriated to different uses, and often afforded lodging +to travellers whom darkness or tempests happened to overtake.<br> +<br> +The hermit sat on a bench at the door, to enjoy the coolness of the +evening. On one side lay a book with pens and paper; on the other +mechanical instruments of various kinds. As they approached him +unregarded, the Princess observed that he had not the countenance of +a man that had found or could teach the way to happiness.<br> +<br> +They saluted him with great respect, which he repaid like a man not +unaccustomed to the forms of Courts. “My children,” +said he, “if you have lost your way, you shall be willingly supplied +with such conveniences for the night as this cavern will afford. +I have all that Nature requires, and you will not expect delicacies +in a hermit’s cell.”<br> +<br> +They thanked him; and, entering, were pleased with the neatness and +regularity of the place. The hermit set flesh and wine before +them, though he fed only upon fruits and water. His discourse +was cheerful without levity, and pious without enthusiasm. He +soon gained the esteem of his guests, and the Princess repented her +hasty censure.<br> +<br> +At last Imlac began thus: “I do not now wonder that your reputation +is so far extended: we have heard at Cairo of your wisdom, and came +hither to implore your direction for this young man and maiden in the +<i>choice of life</i>.”<br> +<br> +“To him that lives well,” answered the hermit, “every +form of life is good; nor can I give any other rule for choice than +to remove all apparent evil.”<br> +<br> +“He will most certainly remove from evil,” said the Prince, +“who shall devote himself to that solitude which you have recommended +by your example.”<br> +<br> +“I have indeed lived fifteen years in solitude,” said the +hermit, “but have no desire that my example should gain any imitators. +In my youth I professed arms, and was raised by degrees to the highest +military rank. I have traversed wide countries at the head of +my troops, and seen many battles and sieges. At last, being disgusted +by the preferments of a younger officer, and feeling that my vigour +was beginning to decay, I resolved to close my life in peace, having +found the world full of snares, discord, and misery. I had once +escaped from the pursuit of the enemy by the shelter of this cavern, +and therefore chose it for my final residence. I employed artificers +to form it into chambers, and stored it with all that I was likely to +want.<br> +<br> +“For some time after my retreat I rejoiced like a tempest-beaten +sailor at his entrance into the harbour, being delighted with the sudden +change of the noise and hurry of war to stillness and repose. +When the pleasure of novelty went away, I employed my hours in examining +the plants which grow in the valley, and the minerals which I collected +from the rocks. But that inquiry is now grown tasteless and irksome. +I have been for some time unsettled and distracted: my mind is disturbed +with a thousand perplexities of doubt and vanities of imagination, which +hourly prevail upon me, because I have no opportunities of relaxation +or diversion. I am sometimes ashamed to think that I could not +secure myself from vice but by retiring from the exercise of virtue, +and begin to suspect that I was rather impelled by resentment than led +by devotion into solitude. My fancy riots in scenes of folly, +and I lament that I have lost so much, and have gained so little. +In solitude, if I escape the example of bad men, I want likewise the +counsel and conversation of the good. I have been long comparing +the evils with the advantages of society, and resolve to return into +the world to-morrow. The life of a solitary man will be certainly +miserable, but not certainly devout.”<br> +<br> +They heard his resolution with surprise, but after a short pause offered +to conduct him to Cairo. He dug up a considerable treasure which +he had hid among the rocks, and accompanied them to the city, on which, +as he approached it, he gazed with rapture.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXII - THE HAPPINESS OF A LIFE LED ACCORDING TO NATURE<i>.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</i>Rasselas went often to an assembly of learned men, who met at stated +times to unbend their minds and compare their opinions. Their +manners were somewhat coarse, but their conversation was instructive, +and their disputations acute, though sometimes too violent, and often +continued till neither controvertist remembered upon what question he +began. Some faults were almost general among them: every one was +pleased to hear the genius or knowledge of another depreciated.<br> +<br> +In this assembly Rasselas was relating his interview with the hermit, +and the wonder with which he heard him censure a course of life which +he had so deliberately chosen and so laudably followed. The sentiments +of the hearers were various. Some were of opinion that the folly +of his choice had been justly punished by condemnation to perpetual +perseverance. One of the youngest among them, with great vehemence, +pronounced him a hypocrite. Some talked of the right of society +to the labour of individuals, and considered retirement as a desertion +of duty. Others readily allowed that there was a time when the +claims of the public were satisfied, and when a man might properly sequester +himself, to review his life and purify his heart.<br> +<br> +One who appeared more affected with the narrative than the rest thought +it likely that the hermit would in a few years go back to his retreat, +and perhaps, if shame did not restrain or death intercept him, return +once more from his retreat into the world. “For the hope +of happiness,” said he, “is so strongly impressed that the +longest experience is not able to efface it. Of the present state, +whatever it be, we feel and are forced to confess the misery; yet when +the same state is again at a distance, imagination paints it as desirable. +But the time will surely come when desire will no longer be our torment +and no man shall be wretched but by his own fault.<br> +<br> +“This,” said a philosopher who had heard him with tokens +of great impatience, “is the present condition of a wise man. +The time is already come when none are wretched but by their own fault. +Nothing is more idle than to inquire after happiness which Nature has +kindly placed within our reach. The way to be happy is to live +according to Nature, in obedience to that universal and unalterable +law with which every heart is originally impressed; which is not written +on it by precept, but engraven by destiny; not instilled by education, +but infused at our nativity. He that lives according to Nature +will suffer nothing from the delusions of hope or importunities of desire; +he will receive and reject with equability of temper; and act or suffer +as the reason of things shall alternately prescribe. Other men +may amuse themselves with subtle definitions or intricate ratiocination. +Let them learn to be wise by easier means: let them observe the hind +of the forest and the linnet of the grove: let them consider the life +of animals, whose motions are regulated by instinct; they obey their +guide, and are happy. Let us therefore at length cease to dispute, +and learn to live: throw away the encumbrance of precepts, which they +who utter them with so much pride and pomp do not understand, and carry +with us this simple and intelligible maxim: that deviation from Nature +is deviation from happiness.<br> +<br> +When he had spoken he looked round him with a placid air, and enjoyed +the consciousness of his own beneficence.<br> +<br> +“Sir,” said the Prince with great modesty, “as I, +like all the rest of mankind, am desirous of felicity, my closest attention +has been fixed upon your discourse: I doubt not the truth of a position +which a man so learned has so confidently advanced. Let me only +know what it is to live according to Nature.”<br> +<br> +“When I find young men so humble and so docile,” said the +philosopher, “I can deny them no information which my studies +have enabled me to afford. To live according to Nature is to act +always with due regard to the fitness arising from the relations and +qualities of causes and effects; to concur with the great and unchangeable +scheme of universal felicity; to co-operate with the general disposition +and tendency of the present system of things.”<br> +<br> +The Prince soon found that this was one of the sages whom he should +understand less as he heard him longer. He therefore bowed and +was silent; and the philosopher, supposing him satisfied and the rest +vanquished, rose up and departed with the air of a man that had co-operated +with the present system.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXIII - THE PRINCE AND HIS SISTER DIVIDE BETWEEN THEM THE WORK +OF OBSERVATION.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Rasselas returned home full of reflections, doubting how to direct his +future steps. Of the way to happiness he found the learned and +simple equally ignorant; but as he was yet young, he flattered himself +that he had time remaining for more experiments and further inquiries. +He communicated to Imlac his observations and his doubts, but was answered +by him with new doubts and remarks that gave him no comfort. He +therefore discoursed more frequently and freely with his sister, who +had yet the same hope with himself, and always assisted him to give +some reason why, though he had been hitherto frustrated, he might succeed +at last.<br> +<br> +“We have hitherto,” said she, “known but little of +the world; we have never yet been either great or mean. In our +own country, though we had royalty, we had no power; and in this we +have not yet seen the private recesses of domestic peace. Imlac +favours not our search, lest we should in time find him mistaken. +We will divide the task between us; you shall try what is to be found +in the splendour of Courts, and I will range the shades of humbler life. +Perhaps command and authority may be the supreme blessings, as they +afford the most opportunities of doing good; or perhaps what this world +can give may be found in the modest habitations of middle fortune - +too low for great designs, and too high for penury and distress.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXIV - THE PRINCE EXAMINES THE HAPPINESS OF HIGH STATIONS.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Rasselas applauded the design, and appeared next day with a splendid +retinue at the Court of the Bassa. He was soon distinguished for +his magnificence, and admitted, as a Prince whose curiosity had brought +him from distant countries, to an intimacy with the great officers and +frequent conversation with the Bassa himself.<br> +<br> +He was at first inclined to believe that the man must be pleased with +his own condition whom all approached with reverence and heard with +obedience, and who had the power to extend his edicts to a whole kingdom. +“There can be no pleasure,” said he, “equal to that +of feeling at once the joy of thousands all made happy by wise administration. +Yet, since by the law of subordination this sublime delight can be in +one nation but the lot of one, it is surely reasonable to think that +there is some satisfaction more popular and accessible, and that millions +can hardly be subjected to the will of a single man, only to fill his +particular breast with incommunicable content.”<br> +<br> +These thoughts were often in his mind, and he found no solution of the +difficulty. But as presents and civilities gained him more familiarity, +he found that almost every man who stood high in his employment hated +all the rest and was hated by them, and that their lives were a continual +succession of plots and detections, stratagems and escapes, faction +and treachery. Many of those who surrounded the Bassa were sent +only to watch and report his conduct: every tongue was muttering censure, +and every eye was searching for a fault.<br> +<br> +At last the letters of revocation arrived: the Bassa was carried in +chains to Constantinople, and his name was mentioned no more.<br> +<br> +“What are we now to think of the prerogatives of power?” +said Rasselas to his sister: “is it without efficacy to good, +or is the subordinate degree only dangerous, and the supreme safe and +glorious? Is the Sultan the only happy man in his dominions, or +is the Sultan himself subject to the torments of suspicion and the dread +of enemies?”<br> +<br> +In a short time the second Bassa was deposed. The Sultan that +had advanced him was murdered by the Janissaries, and his successor +had other views or different favourites.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXV - THE PRINCESS PURSUES HER INQUIRY WITH MORE DILIGENCE THAN +SUCCESS.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +The Princess in the meantime insinuated herself into many families; +for there are few doors through which liberality, joined with good humour, +cannot find its way. The daughters of many houses were airy and +cheerful; but Nekayah had been too long accustomed to the conversation +of Imlac and her brother to be much pleased with childish levity and +prattle which had no meaning. She found their thoughts narrow, +their wishes low, and their merriment often artificial. Their +pleasures, poor as they were, could not be preserved pure, but were +embittered by petty competitions and worthless emulation. They +were always jealous of the beauty of each other, of a quality to which +solicitude can add nothing, and from which detraction can take nothing +away. Many were in love with triflers like themselves, and many +fancied that they were in love when in truth they were only idle. +Their affection was not fixed on sense or virtue, and therefore seldom +ended but in vexation. Their grief, however, like their joy, was +transient; everything floated in their mind unconnected with the past +or future, so that one desire easily gave way to another, as a second +stone, cast into the water, effaces and confounds the circles of the +first.<br> +<br> +With these girls she played as with inoffensive animals, and found them +proud of her countenance and weary of her company.<br> +<br> +But her purpose was to examine more deeply, and her affability easily +persuaded the hearts that were swelling with sorrow to discharge their +secrets in her ear, and those whom hope flattered or prosperity delighted +often courted her to partake their pleasure.<br> +<br> +The Princess and her brother commonly met in the evening in a private +summerhouse on the banks of the Nile, and related to each other the +occurrences of the day. As they were sitting together the Princess +cast her eyes upon the river that flowed before her. “Answer,” +said she, “great father of waters, thou that rollest thy goods +through eighty nations, to the invocations of the daughter of thy native +king. Tell me if thou waterest through all thy course a single +habitation from which thou dost not hear the murmurs of complaint.”<br> +<br> +“You are then,” said Rasselas, “not more successful +in private houses than I have been in Courts.” “I +have, since the last partition of our provinces,” said the Princess, +“enabled myself to enter familiarly into many families, where +there was the fairest show of prosperity and peace, and know not one +house that is not haunted by some fury that destroys their quiet.<br> +<br> +“I did not seek ease among the poor, because I concluded that +there it could not be found. But I saw many poor whom I had supposed +to live in affluence. Poverty has in large cities very different +appearances. It is often concealed in splendour and often in extravagance. +It is the care of a very great part of mankind to conceal their indigence +from the rest. They support themselves by temporary expedients, +and every day is lost in contriving for the morrow.<br> +<br> +“This, however, was an evil which, though frequent, I saw with +less pain, because I could relieve it. Yet some have refused my +bounties; more offended with my quickness to detect their wants than +pleased with my readiness to succour them; and others, whose exigencies +compelled them to admit my kindness, have never been able to forgive +their benefactress. Many, however, have been sincerely grateful +without the ostentation of gratitude or the hope of other favours.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXVI - THE PRINCESS CONTINUES HER REMARKS UPON PRIVATE LIFE.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Nekayah, perceiving her brother’s attention fixed, proceeded in +her narrative.<br> +<br> +“In families where there is or is not poverty there is commonly +discord. If a kingdom be, as Imlac tells us, a great family, a +family likewise is a little kingdom, torn with factions and exposed +to revolutions. An unpractised observer expects the love of parents +and children to be constant and equal. But this kindness seldom +continues beyond the years of infancy; in a short time the children +become rivals to their parents. Benefits are allowed by reproaches, +and gratitude debased by envy.<br> +<br> +“Parents and children seldom act in concert; each child endeavours +to appropriate the esteem or the fondness of the parents; and the parents, +with yet less temptation, betray each other to their children. +Thus, some place their confidence in the father and some in the mother, +and by degrees the house is filled with artifices and feuds.<br> +<br> +“The opinions of children and parents, of the young and the old, +are naturally opposite, by the contrary effects of hope and despondency, +of expectation and experience, without crime or folly on either side. +The colours of life in youth and age appear different, as the face of +Nature in spring and winter. And how can children credit the assertions +of parents which their own eyes show them to be false?<br> +<br> +“Few parents act in such a manner as much to enforce their maxims +by the credit of their lives. The old man trusts wholly to slow +contrivance and gradual progression; the youth expects to force his +way by genius, vigour, and precipitance. The old man pays regard +to riches, and the youth reverences virtue. The old man deifies +prudence; the youth commits himself to magnanimity and chance. +The young man, who intends no ill, believes that none is intended, and +therefore acts with openness and candour; but his father; having suffered +the injuries of fraud, is impelled to suspect and too often allured +to practise it. Age looks with anger on the temerity of youth, +and youth with contempt on the scrupulosity of age. Thus parents +and children for the greatest part live on to love less and less; and +if those whom Nature has thus closely united are the torments of each +other, where shall we look for tenderness and consolations?”<br> +<br> +“Surely,” said the Prince, “you must have been unfortunate +in your choice of acquaintance. I am unwilling to believe that +the most tender of all relations is thus impeded in its effects by natural +necessity.”<br> +<br> +“Domestic discord,” answered she, “is not inevitably +and fatally necessary, but yet it is not easily avoided. We seldom +see that a whole family is virtuous; the good and the evil cannot well +agree, and the evil can yet less agree with one another. Even +the virtuous fall sometimes to variance, when their virtues are of different +kinds and tending to extremes. In general, those parents have +most reverence who most deserve it, for he that lives well cannot be +despised.<br> +<br> +“Many other evils infest private life. Some are the slaves +of servants whom they have trusted with their affairs. Some are +kept in continual anxiety by the caprice of rich relations, whom they +cannot please and dare not offend. Some husbands are imperious +and some wives perverse, and, as it is always more easy to do evil than +good, though the wisdom or virtue of one can very rarely make many happy, +the folly or vice of one makes many miserable.”<br> +<br> +“If such be the general effect of marriage,” said the Prince, +“I shall for the future think it dangerous to connect my interest +with that of another, lest I should be unhappy by my partner’s +fault.”<br> +<br> +“I have met,” said the Princess, “with many who live +single for that reason, but I never found that their prudence ought +to raise envy. They dream away their time without friendship, +without fondness, and are driven to rid themselves of the day, for which +they have no use, by childish amusements or vicious delights. +They act as beings under the constant sense of some known inferiority +that fills their minds with rancour and their tongues with censure. +They are peevish at home and malevolent abroad, and, as the outlaws +of human nature, make it their business and their pleasure to disturb +that society which debars them from its privileges. To live without +feeling or exciting sympathy, to be fortunate without adding to the +felicity of others, or afflicted without tasting the balm of pity, is +a state more gloomy than solitude; it is not retreat but exclusion from +mankind. Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.”<br> +<br> +“What then is to be done?” said Rasselas. “The +more we inquire the less we can resolve. Surely he is most likely +to please himself that has no other inclination to regard.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXVII - DISQUISITION UPON GREATNESS.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +The conversation had a short pause. The Prince, having considered +his sister’s observation, told her that she had surveyed life +with prejudice and supposed misery where she did not find it. +“Your narrative,” says he, “throws yet a darker gloom +upon the prospects of futurity. The predictions of Imlac were +but faint sketches of the evils painted by Nekayah. I have been +lately convinced that quiet is not the daughter of grandeur or of power; +that her presence is not to be bought by wealth nor enforced by conquest. +It is evident that as any man acts in a wider compass he must be more +exposed to opposition from enmity or miscarriage from chance. +Whoever has many to please or to govern must use the ministry of many +agents, some of whom will be wicked and some ignorant, by some he will +be misled and by others betrayed. If he gratifies one he will +offend another; those that are not favoured will think themselves injured, +and since favours can be conferred but upon few the greater number will +be always discontented.”<br> +<br> +“The discontent,” said the Princess, “which is thus +unreasonable, I hope that I shall always have spirit to despise and +you power to repress.”<br> +<br> +“Discontent,” answered Rasselas, “will not always +be without reason under the most just and vigilant administration of +public affairs. None, however attentive, can always discover that +merit which indigence or faction may happen to obscure, and none, however +powerful, can always reward it. Yet he that sees inferior desert +advanced above him will naturally impute that preference to partiality +or caprice, and indeed it can scarcely be hoped that any man, however +magnanimous by Nature or exalted by condition, will be able to persist +for ever in fixed and inexorable justice of distribution; he will sometimes +indulge his own affections and sometimes those of his favourites; he +will permit some to please him who can never serve him; he will discover +in those whom he loves qualities which in reality they do not possess, +and to those from whom he receives pleasure he will in his turn endeavour +to give it. Thus will recommendations sometimes prevail which +were purchased by money or by the more destructive bribery of flattery +and servility.<br> +<br> +“He that hath much to do will do something wrong, and of that +wrong must suffer the consequences, and if it were possible that he +should always act rightly, yet, when such numbers are to judge of his +conduct, the bad will censure and obstruct him by malevolence and the +good sometimes by mistake.<br> +<br> +“The highest stations cannot therefore hope to be the abodes of +happiness, which I would willingly believe to have fled from thrones +and palaces to seats of humble privacy and placid obscurity. For +what can hinder the satisfaction or intercept the expectations of him +whose abilities are adequate to his employments, who sees with his own +eyes the whole circuit of his influence, who chooses by his own knowledge +all whom he trusts, and whom none are tempted to deceive by hope or +fear? Surely he has nothing to do but to love and to be loved; +to be virtuous and to be happy.”<br> +<br> +“Whether perfect happiness would be procured by perfect goodness,” +said Nekayah, “this world will never afford an opportunity of +deciding. But this, at least, may be maintained, that we do not +always find visible happiness in proportion to visible virtue. +All natural and almost all political evils are incident alike to the +bad and good; they are confounded in the misery of a famine, and not +much distinguished in the fury of a faction; they sink together in a +tempest and are driven together from their country by invaders. +All that virtue can afford is quietness of conscience and a steady prospect +of a happier state; this may enable us to endure calamity with patience, +but remember that patience must oppose pain.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXVIII - RASSELAS AND NEKAYAH CONTINUE THEIR CONVERSATION.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +“Dear Princess,” said Rasselas, “you fall into the +common errors of exaggeratory declamation, by producing in a familiar +disquisition examples of national calamities and scenes of extensive +misery which are found in books rather than in the world, and which, +as they are horrid, are ordained to be rare. Let us not imagine +evils which we do not feel, nor injure life by misrepresentations. +I cannot bear that querulous eloquence which threatens every city with +a siege like that of Jerusalem, that makes famine attend on every flight +of locust, and suspends pestilence on the wing of every blast that issues +from the south.<br> +<br> +“On necessary and inevitable evils which overwhelm kingdoms at +once all disputation is vain; when they happen they must be endured. +But it is evident that these bursts of universal distress are more dreaded +than felt; thousands and tens of thousands flourish in youth and wither +in age, without the knowledge of any other than domestic evils, and +share the same pleasures and vexations, whether their kings are mild +or cruel, whether the armies of their country pursue their enemies or +retreat before them. While Courts are disturbed with intestine +competitions and ambassadors are negotiating in foreign countries, the +smith still plies his anvil and the husbandman drives his plough forward; +the necessaries of life are required and obtained, and the successive +business of the season continues to make its wonted revolutions.<br> +<br> +“Let us cease to consider what perhaps may never happen, and what, +when it shall happen, will laugh at human speculation. We will +not endeavour to modify the motions of the elements or to fix the destiny +of kingdoms. It is our business to consider what beings like us +may perform, each labouring for his own happiness by promoting within +his circle, however narrow, the happiness of others.<br> +<br> +“Marriage is evidently the dictate of Nature; men and women were +made to be the companions of each other, and therefore I cannot be persuaded +but that marriage is one of the means of happiness.”<br> +<br> +“I know not,” said the Princess, “whether marriage +be more than one of the innumerable modes of human misery. When +I see and reckon the various forms of connubial infelicity, the unexpected +causes of lasting discord, the diversities of temper, the oppositions +of opinion, the rude collisions of contrary desire where both are urged +by violent impulses, the obstinate contest of disagreeing virtues where +both are supported by consciousness of good intention, I am sometimes +disposed to think, with the severer casuists of most nations, that marriage +is rather permitted than approved, and that none, but by the instigation +of a passion too much indulged, entangle themselves with indissoluble +compact.”<br> +<br> +“You seem to forget,” replied Rasselas, “that you +have, even now represented celibacy as less happy than marriage. +Both conditions may be bad, but they cannot both be worse. Thus +it happens, when wrong opinions are entertained, that they mutually +destroy each other and leave the mind open to truth.”<br> +<br> +“I did not expect,” answered, the Princess, “to hear +that imputed to falsehood which is the consequence only of frailty. +To the mind, as to the eye, it is difficult to compare with exactness +objects vast in their extent and various in their parts. When +we see or conceive the whole at once, we readily note the discriminations +and decide the preference, but of two systems, of which neither can +be surveyed by any human being in its full compass of magnitude and +multiplicity of complication, where is the wonder that, judging of the +whole by parts, I am alternately affected by one and the other as either +presses on my memory or fancy? We differ from ourselves just as +we differ from each other when we see only part of the question, as +in the multifarious relations of politics and morality, but when we +perceive the whole at once, as in numerical computations, all agree +in one judgment, and none ever varies in his opinion.”<br> +<br> +“Let us not add,” said the Prince, “to the other evils +of life the bitterness of controversy, nor endeavour to vie with each +other in subtilties of argument. We are employed in a search of +which both are equally to enjoy the success or suffer by the miscarriage; +it is therefore fit that we assist each other. You surely conclude +too hastily from the infelicity of marriage against its institution; +will not the misery of life prove equally that life cannot be the gift +of Heaven? The world must be peopled by marriage or peopled without +it.”<br> +<br> +“How the world is to be peopled,” returned Nekayah, “is +not my care and need not be yours. I see no danger that the present +generation should omit to leave successors behind them; we are not now +inquiring for the world, but for ourselves.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXIX - THE DEBATE ON MARRIAGE (<i>continued</i>).<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +“The good of the whole,” says Rasselas, “is the same +with the good of all its parts. If marriage be best for mankind, +it must be evidently best for individuals; or a permanent and necessary +duty must be the cause of evil, and some must be inevitably sacrificed +to the convenience of others. In the estimate which you have made +of the two states, it appears that the incommodities of a single life +are in a great measure necessary and certain, but those of the conjugal +state accidental and avoidable. I cannot forbear to flatter myself +that prudence and benevolence will make marriage happy. The general +folly of mankind is the cause of general complaint. What can be +expected but disappointment and repentance from a choice made in the +immaturity of youth, in the ardour of desire, without judgment, without +foresight, without inquiry after conformity of opinions, similarity +of manners, rectitude of judgment, or purity of sentiment?<br> +<br> +“Such is the common process of marriage. A youth and maiden, +meeting by chance or brought together by artifice, exchange glances, +reciprocate civilities, go home and dream of one another. Having +little to divert attention or diversify thought, they find themselves +uneasy when they are apart, and therefore conclude that they shall be +happy together. They marry, and discover what nothing but voluntary +blindness before had concealed; they wear out life in altercations, +and charge Nature with cruelty.<br> +<br> +“From those early marriages proceeds likewise the rivalry of parents +and children: the son is eager to enjoy the world before the father +is willing to forsake it, and there is hardly room at once for two generations. +The daughter begins to bloom before the mother can be content to fade, +and neither can forbear to wish for the absence of the other.<br> +<br> +“Surely all these evils may be avoided by that deliberation and +delay which prudence prescribes to irrevocable choice. In the +variety and jollity of youthful pleasures, life may be well enough supported +without the help of a partner. Longer time will increase experience, +and wider views will allow better opportunities of inquiry and selection; +one advantage at least will be certain, the parents will be visibly +older than their children.”<br> +<br> +“What reason cannot collect,” and Nekayah, “and what +experiment has not yet taught, can be known only from the report of +others. I have been told that late marriages are not eminently +happy. This is a question too important to be neglected; and I +have often proposed it to those whose accuracy of remark and comprehensiveness +of knowledge made their suffrages worthy of regard. They have +generally determined that it is dangerous for a man and woman to suspend +their fate upon each other at a time when opinions are fixed and habits +are established, when friendships have been contracted on both sides, +when life has been planned into method, and the mind has long enjoyed +the contemplation of its own prospects.<br> +<br> +“It is scarcely possible that two travelling through the world +under the conduct of chance should have been both directed to the same +path, and it will not often happen that either will quit the track which +custom has made pleasing. When the desultory levity of youth has +settled into regularity, it is soon succeeded by pride ashamed to yield, +or obstinacy delighting to contend. And even though mutual esteem +produces mutual desire to please, time itself, as it modifies unchangeably +the external mien, determines likewise the direction of the passions, +and gives an inflexible rigidity to the manners. Long customs +are not easily broken; he that attempts to change the course of his +own life very often labours in vain, and how shall we do that for others +which we are seldom able to do for ourselves?”<br> +<br> +“But surely,” interposed the Prince, “you suppose +the chief motive of choice forgotten or neglected. Whenever I +shall seek a wife, it shall be my first question whether she be willing +to be led by reason.”<br> +<br> +“Thus it is,” said Nekayah, “that philosophers are +deceived. There are a thousand familiar disputes which reason +never can decide; questions that elude investigation, and make logic +ridiculous; cases where something must be done, and where little can +be said. Consider the state of mankind, and inquire how few can +be supposed to act upon any occasions, whether small or great, with +all the reasons of action present to their minds. Wretched would +be the pair, above all names of wretchedness, who should be doomed to +adjust by reason every morning all the minute details of a domestic +day.<br> +<br> +“Those who marry at an advanced age will probably escape the encroachments +of their children, but in the diminution of this advantage they will +be likely to leave them, ignorant and helpless, to a guardian’s +mercy; or if that should not happen, they must at least go out of the +world before they see those whom they love best either wise or great.<br> +<br> +“From their children, if they have less to fear, they have less +also to hope; and they lose without equivalent the joys of early love, +and the convenience of uniting with manners pliant and minds susceptible +of new impressions, which might wear away their dissimilitudes by long +cohabitation, as soft bodies by continual attrition conform their surfaces +to each other.<br> +<br> +“I believe it will be found that those who marry late are best +pleased with their children, and those who marry early with their partners.”<br> +<br> +“The union of these two affections,” said Rasselas, “would +produce all that could be wished. Perhaps there is a time when +marriage might unite them - a time neither too early for the father +nor too late for the husband.”<br> +<br> +“Every hour,” answered the Princess, “confirms my +prejudice in favour of the position so often uttered by the mouth of +Imlac, that ‘Nature sets her gifts on the right hand and on the +left.’ Those conditions which flatter hope and attract desire +are so constituted that as we approach one we recede from another. +There are goods so opposed that we cannot seize both, but by too much +prudence may pass between them at too great a distance to reach either. +This is often the fate of long consideration; he does nothing who endeavours +to do more than is allowed to humanity. Flatter not yourself with +contrarieties of pleasure. Of the blessings set before you make +your choice, and be content. No man can taste the fruits of autumn +while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of the spring; no +man can at the same time fill his cup from the source and from the mouth +of the Nile.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXX - IMLAC ENTERS, AND CHANGES THE CONVERSATION.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Here Imlac entered, and interrupted them. “Imlac,” +said Rasselas, “I have been taking from the Princess the dismal +history of private life, and am almost discouraged from further search.”<br> +<br> +“It seems to me,” said Imlac, “that while you are +making the choice of life you neglect to live. You wander about +a single city, which, however large and diversified, can now afford +few novelties, and forget that you are in a country famous among the +earliest monarchies for the power and wisdom of its inhabitants - a +country where the sciences first dawned that illuminate the world, and +beyond which the arts cannot be traced of civil society or domestic +life.<br> +<br> +“The old Egyptians have left behind them monuments of industry +and power before which all European magnificence is confessed to fade +away. The ruins of their architecture are the schools of modern +builders; and from the wonders which time has spared we may conjecture, +though uncertainly, what it has destroyed.”<br> +<br> +“My curiosity,” said Rasselas, “does not very strongly +lead me to survey piles of stone or mounds of earth. My business +is with man. I came hither not to measure fragments of temples +or trace choked aqueducts, but to look upon the various scenes of the +present world.”<br> +<br> +“The things that are now before us,” said the Princess, +“require attention, and deserve it. What have I to do with +the heroes or the monuments of ancient times - with times which can +never return, and heroes whose form of life was different from all that +the present condition of mankind requires or allows?”<br> +<br> +“To know anything,” returned the poet, “we must know +its effects; to see men, we must see their works, that we may learn +what reason has dictated or passion has excited, and find what are the +most powerful motives of action. To judge rightly of the present, +we must oppose it to the past; for all judgment is comparative, and +of the future nothing can be known. The truth is that no mind +is much employed upon the present; recollection and anticipation fill +up almost all our moments. Our passions are joy and grief, love +and hatred, hope and fear. Of joy and grief, the past is the object, +and the future of hope and fear; even love and hatred respect the past, +for the cause must have been before the effect.<br> +<br> +“The present state of things is the consequence of the former; +and it is natural to inquire what were the sources of the good that +we enjoy, or the evils that we suffer. If we act only for ourselves, +to neglect the study of history is not prudent. If we are entrusted +with the care of others, it is not just. Ignorance, when it is +voluntary, is criminal; and he may properly be charged with evil who +refused to learn how he might prevent it.<br> +<br> +“There is no part of history so generally useful as that which +relates to the progress of the human mind, the gradual improvement of +reason, the successive advances of science, the vicissitudes of learning +and ignorance (which are the light and darkness of thinking beings), +the extinction and resuscitation of arts, and the revolutions of the +intellectual world. If accounts of battles and invasions are peculiarly +the business of princes, the useful or elegant arts are not to be neglected; +those who have kingdoms to govern have understandings to cultivate.<br> +<br> +“Example is always more efficacious than precept. A soldier +is formed in war, and a painter must copy pictures. In this, contemplative +life has the advantage. Great actions are seldom seen, but the +labours of art are always at hand for those who desire to know what +art has been able to perform.<br> +<br> +“When the eye or the imagination is struck with any uncommon work, +the next transition of an active mind is to the means by which it was +performed. Here begins the true use of such contemplation. +We enlarge our comprehension by new ideas, and perhaps recover some +art lost to mankind, or learn what is less perfectly known in our own +country. At least we compare our own with former times, and either +rejoice at our improvements, or, what is the first motion towards good, +discover our defects.”<br> +<br> +“I am willing,” said the Prince, “to see all that +can deserve my search.”<br> +<br> +“And I,” said the Princess, “shall rejoice to learn +something of the manners of antiquity.”<br> +<br> +“The most pompous monument of Egyptian greatness, and one of the +most bulky works of manual industry,” said Imlac, “are the +Pyramids: fabrics raised before the time of history, and of which the +earliest narratives afford us only uncertain traditions. Of these +the greatest is still standing, very little injured by time.”<br> +<br> +“Let us visit them to-morrow,” said Nekayah. “I +have often heard of the Pyramids, and shall not rest till I have seen +them, within and without, with my own eyes.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXXI - THEY VISIT THE PYRAMIDS.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +The resolution being thus taken, they set out the next day. They +laid tents upon their camels, being resolved to stay among the Pyramids +till their curiosity was fully satisfied. They travelled gently, +turned aside to everything remarkable, stopped from time to time and +conversed with the inhabitants, and observed the various appearances +of towns ruined and inhabited, of wild and cultivated nature.<br> +<br> +When they came to the Great Pyramid they were astonished at the extent +of the base and the height of the top. Imlac explained to them +the principles upon which the pyramidal form was chosen for a fabric +intended to co-extend its duration with that of the world: he showed +that its gradual diminution gave it such stability as defeated all the +common attacks of the elements, and could scarcely be overthrown by +earthquakes themselves, the least resistible of natural violence. +A concussion that should shatter the pyramid would threaten the dissolution +of the continent.<br> +<br> +They measured all its dimensions, and pitched their tents at its foot. +Next day they prepared to enter its interior apartments, and having +hired the common guides, climbed up to the first passage; when the favourite +of the Princess, looking into the cavity, stepped back and trembled. +“Pekuah,” said the Princess, “of what art thou afraid?”<br> +<br> +“Of the narrow entrance,” answered the lady, “and +of the dreadful gloom. I dare not enter a place which must surely +be inhabited by unquiet souls. The original possessors of these +dreadful vaults will start up before us, and perhaps shut us in for +ever.” She spoke, and threw her arms round the neck of her +mistress.<br> +<br> +“If all your fear be of apparitions,” said the Prince, “I +will promise you safety. There is no danger from the dead: he +that is once buried will be seen no more.”<br> +<br> +“That the dead are seen no more,” said Imlac, “I will +not undertake to maintain against the concurrent and unvaried testimony +of all ages and of all nations. There is no people, rude or learned, +among whom apparitions of the dead are not related and believed. +This opinion, which perhaps prevails as far as human nature is diffused, +could become universal only by its truth: those that never heard of +one another would not have agreed in a tale which nothing but experience +can make credible. That it is doubted by single cavillers can +very little weaken the general evidence, and some who deny it with their +tongues confess it by their fears.<br> +<br> +“Yet I do not mean to add new terrors to those which have already +seized upon Pekuah. There can be no reason why spectres should +haunt the Pyramid more than other places, or why they should have power +or will to hurt innocence and purity. Our entrance is no violation +of their privileges: we can take nothing from them; how, then, can we +offend them?”<br> +<br> +“My dear Pekuah,” said the Princess, “I will always +go before you, and Imlac shall follow you. Remember that you are +the companion of the Princess of Abyssinia.”<br> +<br> +“If the Princess is pleased that her servant should die,” +returned the lady, “let her command some death less dreadful than +enclosure in this horrid cavern. You know I dare not disobey you +- I must go if you command me; but if I once enter, I never shall come +back.”<br> +<br> +The Princess saw that her fear was too strong for expostulation or reproof, +and, embracing her, told her that she should stay in the tent till their +return. Pekuah was not yet satisfied, but entreated the Princess +not to pursue so dreadful a purpose as that of entering the recesses +of the Pyramids. “Though I cannot teach courage,” +said Nekayah, “I must not learn cowardice, nor leave at last undone +what I came hither only to do.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXXII - THEY ENTER THE PYRAMID.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Pekuah descended to the tents, and the rest entered the Pyramid. +They passed through the galleries, surveyed the vaults of marble, and +examined the chest in which the body of the founder is supposed to have +been deposited. They then sat down in one of the most spacious +chambers to rest awhile before they attempted to return.<br> +<br> +“We have now,” said Imlac, “gratified our minds with +an exact view of the greatest work of man, except the wall of China.<br> +<br> +“Of the wall it is very easy to assign the motive. It secured +a wealthy and timorous nation from the incursions of barbarians, whose +unskilfulness in the arts made it easier for them to supply their wants +by rapine than by industry, and who from time to time poured in upon +the inhabitants of peaceful commerce as vultures descend upon domestic +fowl. Their celerity and fierceness made the wall necessary, and +their ignorance made it efficacious.<br> +<br> +“But for the Pyramids, no reason has ever been given adequate +to the cost and labour of the work. The narrowness of the chambers +proves that it could afford no retreat from enemies, and treasures might +have been reposited at far less expense with equal security. It +seems to have been erected only in compliance with that hunger of imagination +which preys incessantly upon life, and must be always appeased by some +employment. Those who have already all that they can enjoy must +enlarge their desires. He that has built for use till use is supplied +must begin to build for vanity, and extend his plan to the utmost power +of human performance that he may not be soon reduced to form another +wish.<br> +<br> +“I consider this mighty structure as a monument of the insufficiency +of human enjoyments. A king whose power is unlimited, and whose +treasures surmount all real and imaginary wants, is compelled to solace, +by the erection of a pyramid, the satiety of dominion and tastelessness +of pleasures, and to amuse the tediousness of declining life by seeing +thousands labouring without end, and one stone, for no purpose, laid +upon another. Whoever thou art that, not content with a moderate +condition, imaginest happiness in royal magnificence, and dreamest that +command or riches can feed the appetite of novelty with perpetual gratifications, +survey the Pyramids, and confess thy folly!”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXXIII - THE PRINCESS MEETS WITH AN UNEXPECTED MISFORTUNE.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +They rose up, and returned through the cavity at which they had entered; +and the Princess prepared for her favourite a long narrative of dark +labyrinths and costly rooms, and of the different impressions which +the varieties of the way had made upon her. But when they came +to their train, they found every one silent and dejected: the men discovered +shame and fear in their countenances, and the women were weeping in +their tents.<br> +<br> +What had happened they did not try to conjecture, but immediately inquired. +“You had scarcely entered into the Pyramid,” said one of +the attendants, “when a troop of Arabs rushed upon us: we were +too few to resist them, and too slow to escape. They were about +to search the tents, set us on our camels, and drive us along before +them, when the approach of some Turkish horsemen put them to flight: +but they seized the Lady Pekuah with her two maids, and carried them +away: the Turks are now pursuing them by our instigation, but I fear +they will not be able to overtake them.”<br> +<br> +The Princess was overpowered with surprise and grief. Rasselas, +in the first heat of his resentment, ordered his servants to follow +him, and prepared to pursue the robbers with his sabre in his hand. +“Sir,” said Imlac, “what can you hope from violence +or valour? The Arabs are mounted on horses trained to battle and +retreat; we have only beasts of burden. By leaving our present +station we may lose the Princess, but cannot hope to regain Pekuah.”<br> +<br> +In a short time the Turks returned, having not been able to reach the +enemy. The Princess burst out into new lamentations, and Rasselas +could scarcely forbear to reproach them with cowardice; but Imlac was +of opinion that the escape of the Arabs was no addition to their misfortune, +for perhaps they would have killed their captives rather than have resigned +them.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXXIV - THEY RETURN TO CAIRO WITHOUT PEKUAH.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +There was nothing to be hoped from longer stay. They returned +to Cairo, repenting of their curiosity, censuring the negligence of +the government, lamenting their own rashness, which had neglected to +procure a guard, imagining many expedients by which the loss of Pekuah +might have been prevented, and resolving to do something for her recovery, +though none could find anything proper to be done.<br> +<br> +Nekayah retired to her chamber, where her women attempted to comfort +her by telling her that all had their troubles, and that Lady Pekuah +had enjoyed much happiness in the world for a long time, and might reasonably +expect a change of fortune. They hoped that some good would befall +her wheresoever she was, and that their mistress would find another +friend who might supply her place.<br> +<br> +The Princess made them no answer; and they continued the form of condolence, +not much grieved in their hearts that the favourite was lost.<br> +<br> +Next day the Prince presented to the Bassa a memorial of the wrong which +he had suffered, and a petition for redress. The Bassa threatened +to punish the robbers, but did not attempt to catch them; nor indeed +could any account or description be given by which he might direct the +pursuit.<br> +<br> +It soon appeared that nothing would be done by authority. Governors +being accustomed to hear of more crimes than they can punish, and more +wrongs than they can redress, set themselves at ease by indiscriminate +negligence, and presently forget the request when they lose sight of +the petitioner.<br> +<br> +Imlac then endeavoured to gain some intelligence by private agents. +He found many who pretended to an exact knowledge of all the haunts +of the Arabs, and to regular correspondence with their chiefs, and who +readily undertook the recovery of Pekuah. Of these, some were +furnished with money for their journey, and came back no more; some +were liberally paid for accounts which a few days discovered to be false. +But the Princess would not suffer any means, however improbable, to +be left untried. While she was doing something, she kept her hope +alive. As one expedient failed, another was suggested; when one +messenger returned unsuccessful, another was despatched to a different +quarter.<br> +<br> +Two months had now passed, and of Pekuah nothing had been heard; the +hopes which they had endeavoured to raise in each other grew more languid; +and the Princess, when she saw nothing more to be tried, sunk down inconsolable +in hopeless dejection. A thousand times she reproached herself +with the easy compliance by which she permitted her favourite to stay +behind her. “Had not my fondness,” said she, “lessened +my authority, Pekuah had not dared to talk of her terrors. She +ought to have feared me more than spectres. A severe look would +have overpowered her; a peremptory command would have compelled obedience. +Why did foolish indulgence prevail upon me? Why did I not speak, +and refuse to hear?”<br> +<br> +“Great Princess,” said Imlac, “do not reproach yourself +for your virtue, or consider that as blameable by which evil has accidentally +been caused. Your tenderness for the timidity of Pekuah was generous +and kind. When we act according to our duty, we commit the events +to Him by whose laws our actions are governed, and who will suffer none +to be finally punished for obedience. When, in prospect of some +good, whether natural or moral, we break the rules prescribed us, we +withdraw from the direction of superior wisdom, and take all consequences +upon ourselves. Man cannot so far know the connection of causes +and events as that he may venture to do wrong in order to do right. +When we pursue our end by lawful means, we may always console our miscarriage +by the hope of future recompense. When we consult only our own +policy, and attempt to find a nearer way to good by over-leaping the +settled boundaries of right and wrong, we cannot be happy even by success, +because we cannot escape the consciousness of our fault; but if we miscarry, +the disappointment is irremediably embittered. How comfortless +is the sorrow of him who feels at once the pangs of guilt and the vexation +of calamity which guilt has brought upon him!<br> +<br> +“Consider, Princess, what would have been your condition if the +Lady Pekuah had entreated to accompany you, and, being compelled to +stay in the tents, had been carried away; or how would you have borne +the thought if you had forced her into the Pyramid, and she had died +before you in agonies of terror?”<br> +<br> +“Had either happened,” said Nekayah, “I could not +have endured life till now; I should have been tortured to madness by +the remembrance of such cruelty, or must have pined away in abhorrence +of myself.”<br> +<br> +“This, at least,” said Imlac, “is the present reward +of virtuous conduct, that no unlucky consequence can oblige us to repent +it.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXXV - THE PRINCESS LANGUISHES FOR WANT OF PEKUAH.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Nekayah, being thus reconciled to herself, found that no evil is insupportable +but that which is accompanied with consciousness of wrong. She +was from that time delivered from the violence of tempestuous sorrow, +and sunk into silent pensiveness and gloomy tranquillity. She +sat from morning to evening recollecting all that had been done or said +by her Pekuah, treasured up with care every trifle on which Pekuah had +set an accidental value, and which might recall to mind any little incident +or careless conversation. The sentiments of her whom she now expected +to see no more were treasured in her memory as rules of life, and she +deliberated to no other end than to conjecture on any occasion what +would have been the opinion and counsel of Pekuah.<br> +<br> +The women by whom she was attended knew nothing of her real condition, +and therefore she could not talk to them but with caution and reserve. +She began to remit her curiosity, having no great desire to collect +notions which she had no convenience of uttering. Rasselas endeavoured +first to comfort and afterwards to divert her; he hired musicians, to +whom she seemed to listen, but did not hear them; and procured masters +to instruct her in various arts, whose lectures, when they visited her +again, were again to be repeated. She had lost her taste of pleasure +and her ambition of excellence; and her mind, though forced into short +excursions, always recurred to the image of her friend.<br> +<br> +Imlac was every morning earnestly enjoined to renew his inquiries, and +was asked every night whether he had yet heard of Pekuah; till, not +being able to return the Princess the answer that she desired, he was +less and less willing to come into her presence. She observed +his backwardness, and commanded him to attend her. “You +are not,” said she, “to confound impatience with resentment, +or to suppose that I charge you with negligence because I repine at +your unsuccessfulness. I do not much wonder at your absence. +I know that the unhappy are never pleasing, and that all naturally avoid +the contagion of misery. To hear complaints is wearisome alike +to the wretched and the happy; for who would cloud by adventitious grief +the short gleams of gaiety which life allows us, or who that is struggling +under his own evils will add to them the miseries of another?<br> +<br> +“The time is at hand when none shall be disturbed any longer by +the sighs of Nekayah: my search after happiness is now at an end. +I am resolved to retire from the world, with all its flatteries and +deceits, and will hide myself in solitude, without any other care than +to compose my thoughts and regulate my hours by a constant succession +of innocent occupations, till, with a mind purified from earthly desires, +I shall enter into that state to which all are hastening, and in which +I hope again to enjoy the friendship of Pekuah.”<br> +<br> +“Do not entangle your mind,” said Imlac, “by irrevocable +determinations, nor increase the burden of life by a voluntary accumulation +of misery. The weariness of retirement will continue to increase +when the loss of Pekuah is forgot. That you have been deprived +of one pleasure is no very good reason for rejection of the rest.”<br> +<br> +“Since Pekuah was taken from me,” said the Princess, “I +have no pleasure to reject or to retain. She that has no one to +love or trust has little to hope. She wants the radical principle +of happiness. We may perhaps allow that what satisfaction this +world can afford must arise from the conjunction of wealth, knowledge, +and goodness. Wealth is nothing but as it is bestowed, and knowledge +nothing but as it is communicated. They must therefore be imparted +to others, and to whom could I now delight to impart them? Goodness +affords the only comfort which can be enjoyed without a partner, and +goodness may be practised in retirement.”<br> +<br> +“How far solitude may admit goodness or advance it, I shall not,” +replied Imlac, “dispute at present. Remember the confession +of the pious hermit. You will wish to return into the world when +the image of your companion has left your thoughts.”<br> +<br> +“That time,” said Nekayah, “will never come. +The generous frankness, the modest obsequiousness, and the faithful +secrecy of my dear Pekuah will always be more missed as I shall live +longer to see vice and folly.”<br> +<br> +“The state of a mind oppressed with a sudden calamity,” +said Imlac, “is like that of the fabulous inhabitants of the new-created +earth, who, when the first night came upon them, supposed that day would +never return. When the clouds of sorrow gather over us, we see +nothing beyond them, nor can imagine how they will be dispelled; yet +a new day succeeded to the night, and sorrow is never long without a +dawn of ease. But they who restrain themselves from receiving +comfort do as the savages would have done had they put out their eyes +when it was dark. Our minds, like our bodies, are in continual +flux; something is hourly lost, and something acquired. To lose +much at once is inconvenient to either, but while the vital power remains +uninjured, nature will find the means of reparation. Distance +has the same effect on the mind as on the eye; and while we glide along +the stream of time, whatever we leave behind us is always lessening, +and that which we approach increasing in magnitude. Do not suffer +life to stagnate: it will grow muddy for want of motion; commit yourself +again to the current of the world; Pekuah will vanish by degrees; you +will meet in your way some other favourite, or learn to diffuse yourself +in general conversation.”<br> +<br> +“At least,” said the Prince, “do not despair before +all remedies have been tried. The inquiry after the unfortunate +lady is still continued, and shall be carried on with yet greater diligence, +on condition that you will promise to wait a year for the event, without +any unalterable resolution.”<br> +<br> +Nekayah thought this a reasonable demand, and made the promise to her +brother, who had been obliged by Imlac to require it. Imlac had, +indeed, no great hope of regaining Pekuah; but he supposed that if he +could secure the interval of a year, the Princess would be then in no +danger of a cloister.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXXVI - PEKUAH IS STILL REMEMBERED. THE PROGRESS OF SORROW.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Nekayah, seeing that nothing was omitted for the recovery of her favourite, +and having by her promise set her intention of retirement at a distance, +began imperceptibly to return to common cares and common pleasures. +She rejoiced without her own consent at the suspension of her sorrows, +and sometimes caught herself with indignation in the act of turning +away her mind from the remembrance of her whom yet she resolved never +to forget.<br> +<br> +She then appointed a certain hour of the day for meditation on the merits +and fondness of Pekuah, and for some weeks retired constantly at the +time fixed, and returned with her eyes swollen and her countenance clouded. +By degrees she grew less scrupulous, and suffered any important and +pressing avocation to delay the tribute of daily tears. She then +yielded to less occasions, and sometimes forgot what she was indeed +afraid to remember, and at last wholly released herself from the duty +of periodical affliction.<br> +<br> +Her real love of Pekuah was not yet diminished. A thousand occurrences +brought her back to memory, and a thousand wants, which nothing but +the confidence of friendship can supply, made her frequently regretted. +She therefore solicited Imlac never to desist from inquiry, and to leave +no art of intelligence untried, that at least she might have the comfort +of knowing that she did not suffer by negligence or sluggishness. +“Yet what,” said she, “is to be expected from our +pursuit of happiness, when we find the state of life to be such that +happiness itself is the cause of misery? Why should we endeavour +to attain that of which the possession cannot be secured? I shall +henceforward fear to yield my heart to excellence, however bright, or +to fondness, however tender, lest I should lose again what I have lost +in Pekuah.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXXVII - THE PRINCESS HEARS NEWS OF PEKUAH.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +In seven mouths one of the messengers who had been sent away upon the +day when the promise was drawn from the Princess, returned, after many +unsuccessful rambles, from the borders of Nubia, with an account that +Pekuah was in the hands of an Arab chief, who possessed a castle or +fortress on the extremity of Egypt. The Arab, whose revenue was +plunder, was willing to restore her, with her two attendants, for two +hundred ounces of gold.<br> +<br> +The price was no subject of debate. The Princess was in ecstasies +when she heard that her favourite was alive, and might so cheaply be +ransomed. She could not think of delaying for a moment Pekuah’s +happiness or her own, but entreated her brother to send back the messenger +with the sum required. Imlac, being consulted, was not very confident +of the veracity of the relater, and was still more doubtful of the Arab’s +faith, who might, if he were too liberally trusted, detain at once the +money and the captives. He thought it dangerous to put themselves +in the power of the Arab by going into his district; and could not expect +that the rover would so much expose himself as to come into the lower +country, where he might be seized by the forces of the Bassa.<br> +<br> +It is difficult to negotiate where neither will trust. But Imlac, +after some deliberation, directed the messenger to propose that Pekuah +should be conducted by ten horsemen to the monastery of St. Anthony, +which is situated in the deserts of Upper Egypt, where she should be +met by the same number, and her ransom should be paid.<br> +<br> +That no time might be lost, as they expected that the proposal would +not be refused, they immediately began their journey to the monastery; +and when they arrived, Imlac went forward with the former messenger +to the Arab’s fortress. Rasselas was desirous to go with +them; but neither his sister nor Imlac would consent. The Arab, +according to the custom of his nation, observed the laws of hospitality +with great exactness to those who put themselves into his power, and +in a few days brought Pekuah, with her maids, by easy journeys, to the +place appointed, where, receiving the stipulated price, he restored +her, with great respect, to liberty and her friends, and undertook to +conduct them back towards Cairo beyond all danger of robbery or violence.<br> +<br> +The Princess and her favourite embraced each other with transport too +violent to be expressed, and went out together to pour the tears of +tenderness in secret, and exchange professions of kindness and gratitude. +After a few hours they returned into the refectory of the convent, where, +in the presence of the prior and his brethren, the Prince required of +Pekuah the history of her adventures.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXXVIII - THE ADVENTURES OF THE LADY PEKUAH.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +“At what time and in what manner I was forced away,” said +Pekuah, “your servants have told you. The suddenness of +the event struck me with surprise, and I was at first rather stupefied +than agitated with any passion of either fear or sorrow. My confusion +was increased by the speed and tumult of our flight, while we were followed +by the Turks, who, as it seemed, soon despaired to overtake us, or were +afraid of those whom they made a show of menacing.<br> +<br> +“When the Arabs saw themselves out of danger, they slackened their +course; and as I was less harassed by external violence, I began to +feel more uneasiness in my mind. After some time we stopped near +a spring shaded with trees, in a pleasant meadow, where we were set +upon the ground, and offered such refreshments as our masters were partaking. +I was suffered to sit with my maids apart from the rest, and none attempted +to comfort or insult us. Here I first began to feel the full weight +of my misery. The girls sat weeping in silence, and from time +to time looked on me for succour. I knew not to what condition +we were doomed, nor could conjecture where would be the place of our +captivity, or whence to draw any hope of deliverance. I was in +the hands of robbers and savages, and had no reason to suppose that +their pity was more than their justice, or that they would forbear the +gratification of any ardour of desire or caprice of cruelty. I, +however, kissed my maids, and endeavoured to pacify them by remarking +that we were yet treated with decency, and that since we were now carried +beyond pursuit, there was no danger of violence to our lives.<br> +<br> +“When we were to be set again on horseback, my maids clung round +me, and refused to be parted; but I commanded them not to irritate those +who had us in their power. We travelled the remaining part of +the day through an unfrequented and pathless country, and came by moonlight +to the side of a hill, where the rest of the troop was stationed. +Their tents were pitched and their fires kindled, and our chief was +welcomed as a man much beloved by his dependents.<br> +<br> +“We were received into a large tent, where we found women who +had attended their husbands in the expedition. They set before +us the supper which they had provided, and I ate it rather to encourage +my maids than to comply with any appetite of my own. When the +meat was taken away, they spread the carpets for repose. I was +weary, and hoped to find in sleep that remission of distress which nature +seldom denies. Ordering myself, therefore, to be undressed, I +observed that the women looked very earnestly upon me, not expecting, +I suppose, to see me so submissively attended. When my upper vest +was taken off, they were apparently struck with the splendour of my +clothes, and one of them timorously laid her hand upon the embroidery. +She then went out, and in a short time came back with another woman, +who seemed to be of higher rank and greater authority. She did, +at her entrance, the usual act of reverence, and, taking me by the hand +placed me in a smaller tent, spread with finer carpets, where I spent +the night quietly with my maids.<br> +<br> +“In the morning, as I was sitting on the grass, the chief of the +troop came towards me. I rose up to receive him, and he bowed +with great respect. ‘Illustrious lady,’ said he, ‘my +fortune is better than I had presumed to hope: I am told by my women +that I have a princess in my camp.’ ‘Sir,’ answered +I, ‘your women have deceived themselves and you; I am not a princess, +but an unhappy stranger who intended soon to have left this country, +in which I am now to be imprisoned for ever.’ ‘Whoever +or whencesoever you are,’ returned the Arab, ‘your dress +and that of your servants show your rank to be high and your wealth +to be great. Why should you, who can so easily procure your ransom, +think yourself in danger of perpetual captivity? The purpose of +my incursions is to increase my riches, or, more property, to gather +tribute. The sons of Ishmael are the natural and hereditary lords +of this part of the continent, which is usurped by late invaders and +low-born tyrants, from whom we are compelled to take by the sword what +is denied to justice. The violence of war admits no distinction: +the lance that is lifted at guilt and power will sometimes fall on innocence +and gentleness.’<br> +<br> +“‘How little,’ said I, ‘did I expect that yesterday +it should have fallen upon me!’<br> +<br> +“’Misfortunes,’ answered the Arab, ‘should always +be expected. If the eye of hostility could learn reverence or +pity, excellence like yours had been exempt from injury. But the +angels of affliction spread their toils alike for the virtuous and the +wicked, for the mighty and the mean. Do not be disconsolate; I +am not one of the lawless and cruel rovers of the desert; I know the +rules of civil life; I will fix your ransom, give a passport to your +messenger, and perform my stipulation with nice punctuality.’<br> +<br> +“You will easily believe that I was pleased with his courtesy, +and finding that his predominant passion was desire for money, I began +now to think my danger less, for I knew that no sum would be thought +too great for the release of Pekuah. I told him that he should +have no reason to charge me with ingratitude if I was used with kindness, +and that any ransom which could be expected for a maid of common rank +would be paid, but that he must not persist to rate me as a princess. +He said he would consider what he should demand, and then, smiling, +bowed and retired.<br> +<br> +“Soon after the women came about me, each contending to be more +officious than the other, and my maids themselves were served with reverence. +We travelled onward by short journeys. On the fourth day the chief +told me that my ransom must be two hundred ounces of gold, which I not +only promised him, but told him that I would add fifty more if I and +my maids were honourably treated.<br> +<br> +“I never knew the power of gold before. From that time I +was the leader of the troop. The march of every day was longer +or shorter as I commanded, and the tents were pitched where I chose +to rest. We now had camels and other conveniences for travel; +my own women were always at my side, and I amused myself with observing +the manners of the vagrant nations, and with viewing remains of ancient +edifices, with which these deserted countries appear to have been in +some distant age lavishly embellished.<br> +<br> +“The chief of the band was a man far from illiterate: he was able +to travel by the stars or the compass, and had marked in his erratic +expeditions such places as are most worthy the notice of a passenger. +He observed to me that buildings are always best preserved in places +little frequented and difficult of access; for when once a country declines +from its primitive splendour, the more inhabitants are left, the quicker +ruin will be made. Walls supply stones more easily than quarries; +and palaces and temples will be demolished to make stables of granite +and cottages of porphyry.’”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXXIX - THE ADVENTURES OF PEKUAH (<i>continued</i>).<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +“We wandered about in this manner for some weeks, either, as our +chief pretended, for my gratification, or, as I rather suspected, for +some convenience of his own. I endeavoured to appear contented +where sullenness and resentment would have been of no use, and that +endeavour conduced much to the calmness of my mind; but my heart was +always with Nekayah, and the troubles of the night much overbalanced +the amusements of the day. My women, who threw all their cares +upon their mistress, set their minds at ease from the time when they +saw me treated with respect, and gave themselves up to the incidental +alleviations of our fatigue without solicitude or sorrow. I was +pleased with their pleasure, and animated with their confidence. +My condition had lost much of its terror, since I found that the Arab +ranged the country merely to get riches. Avarice is a uniform +and tractable vice: other intellectual distempers are different in different +constitutions of mind; that which soothes the pride of one will offend +the pride of another; but to the favour of the covetous there is a ready +way - bring money, and nothing is denied.<br> +<br> +“At last we came to the dwelling of our chief; a strong and spacious +house, built with stone in an island of the Nile, which lies, as I was +told, under the tropic. ‘Lady,’ said the Arab, ‘you +shall rest after your journey a few weeks in this place, where you are +to consider yourself as Sovereign. My occupation is war: I have +therefore chosen this obscure residence, from which I can issue unexpected, +and to which I can retire unpursued. You may now repose in security: +here are few pleasures, but here is no danger.’ He then +led me into the inner apartments, and seating me on the richest couch, +bowed to the ground.<br> +<br> +“His women, who considered me as a rival, looked on me with malignity; +but being soon informed that I was a great lady detained only for my +ransom, they began to vie with each other in obsequiousness and reverence.<br> +<br> +“Being again comforted with new assurances of speedy liberty, +I was for some days diverted from impatience by the novelty of the place. +The turrets overlooked the country to a great distance, and afforded +a view of many windings of the stream. In the day I wandered from +one place to another, as the course of the sun varied the splendour +of the prospect, and saw many things which I had never seen before. +The crocodiles and river-horses are common in this unpeopled region; +and I often looked upon them with terror, though I knew they could not +hurt me. For some time I expected to see mermaids and tritons, +which, as Imlac has told me, the European travellers have stationed +in the Nile; but no such beings ever appeared, and the Arab, when I +inquired after them, laughed at my credulity.<br> +<br> +“At night the Arab always attended me to a tower set apart for +celestial observations, where he endeavoured to teach me the names and +courses of the stars. I had no great inclination to this study; +but an appearance of attention was necessary to please my instructor, +who valued himself for his skill, and in a little while I found some +employment requisite to beguile the tediousness of time, which was to +be passed always amidst the same objects. I was weary of looking +in the morning on things from which I had turned away weary in the evening: +I therefore was at last willing to observe the stars rather than do +nothing, but could not always compose my thoughts, and was very often +thinking on Nekayah when others imagined me contemplating the sky. +Soon after, the Arab went upon another expedition, and then my only +pleasure was to talk with my maids about the accident by which we were +carried away, and the happiness we should all enjoy at the end of our +captivity.”<br> +<br> +“There were women in your Arab’s fortress,” said the +Princess; “why did you not make them your companions, enjoy their +conversation, and partake their diversions? In a place where they +found business or amusement, why should you alone sit corroded with +idle melancholy? or why could not you bear for a few months that condition +to which they were condemned for life?”<br> +<br> +“The diversions of the women,” answered Pekuah, “were +only childish play, by which the mind accustomed to stronger operations +could not be kept busy. I could do all which they delighted in +doing by powers merely sensitive, while my intellectual faculties were +flown to Cairo. They ran from room to room, as a bird hops from +wire to wire in his cage. They danced for the sake of motion, +as lambs frisk in a meadow. One sometimes pretended to be hurt +that the rest might be alarmed, or hid herself that another might seek +her. Part of their time passed in watching the progress of light +bodies that floated on the river, and part in marking the various forms +into which clouds broke in the sky.<br> +<br> +“Their business was only needlework, in which I and my maids sometimes +helped them; but you know that the mind will easily straggle from the +fingers, nor will you suspect that captivity and absence from Nekayah +could receive solace from silken flowers.<br> +<br> +“Nor was much satisfaction to be hoped from their conversation: +for of what could they be expected to talk? They had seen nothing, +for they had lived from early youth in that narrow spot: of what they +had not seen they could have no knowledge, for they could not read. +They had no idea but of the few things that were within their view, +and had hardly names for anything but their clothes and their food. +As I bore a superior character, I was often called to terminate their +quarrels, which I decided as equitably as I could. If it could +have amused me to hear the complaints of each against the rest, I might +have been often detained by long stories; but the motives of their animosity +were so small that I could not listen without interrupting the tale.”<br> +<br> +“How,” said Rasselas, “can the Arab, whom you represented +as a man of more than common accomplishments, take any pleasure in his +seraglio, when it is filled only with women like these? Are they +exquisitely beautiful?”<br> +<br> +“They do not,” said Pekuah, “want that unaffecting +and ignoble beauty which may subsist without sprightliness or sublimity, +without energy of thought or dignity of virtue. But to a man like +the Arab such beauty was only a flower casually plucked and carelessly +thrown away. Whatever pleasures he might find among them, they +were not those of friendship or society. When they were playing +about him he looked on them with inattentive superiority; when they +vied for his regard he sometimes turned away disgusted. As they +had no knowledge, their talk could take nothing from the tediousness +of life; as they had no choice, their fondness, or appearance of fondness, +excited in him neither pride nor gratitude. He was not exalted +in his own esteem by the smiles of a woman who saw no other man, nor +was much obliged by that regard of which he could never know the sincerity, +and which he might often perceive to be exerted not so much to delight +him as to pain a rival. That which he gave, and they received, +as love, was only a careless distribution of superfluous time, such +love as man can bestow upon that which he despises, such as has neither +hope nor fear, neither joy nor sorrow.”<br> +<br> +“You have reason, lady, to think yourself happy,” said Imlac, +“that you have been thus easily dismissed. How could a mind, +hungry for knowledge, be willing, in an intellectual famine, to lose +such a banquet as Pekuah’s conversation?”<br> +<br> +“I am inclined to believe,” answered Pekuah, “that +he was for some time in suspense; for, notwithstanding his promise, +whenever I proposed to despatch a messenger to Cairo he found some excuse +for delay. While I was detained in his house he made many incursions +into the neighbouring countries, and perhaps he would have refused to +discharge me had his plunder been equal to his wishes. He returned +always courteous, related his adventures, delighted to hear my observations, +and endeavoured to advance my acquaintance with the stars. When +I importuned him to send away my letters, he soothed me with professions +of honour and sincerity; and when I could be no longer decently denied, +put his troop again in motion, and left me to govern in his absence. +I was much afflicted by this studied procrastination, and was sometimes +afraid that I should be forgotten; that you would leave Cairo, and I +must end my days in an island of the Nile.<br> +<br> +“I grew at last hopeless and dejected, and cared so little to +entertain him, that he for a while more frequently talked with my maids. +That he should fall in love with them or with me, might have been equally +fatal, and I was not much pleased with the growing friendship. +My anxiety was not long, for, as I recovered some degree of cheerfulness, +he returned to me, and I could not forbear to despise my former uneasiness.<br> +<br> +“He still delayed to send for my ransom, and would perhaps never +have determined had not your agent found his way to him. The gold, +which he would not fetch, he could not reject when it was offered. +He hastened to prepare for our journey hither, like a man delivered +from the pain of an intestine conflict. I took leave of my companions +in the house, who dismissed me with cold indifference.”<br> +<br> +Nekayah having heard her favourite’s relation, rose and embraced +her, and Rasselas gave her a hundred ounces of gold, which she presented +to the Arab for the fifty that were promised.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XL - THE HISTORY OF A MAN OF LEARNING.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +They returned to Cairo, and were so well pleased at finding themselves +together that none of them went much abroad. The Prince began +to love learning, and one day declared to Imlac that he intended to +devote himself to science and pass the rest of his days in literary +solitude.<br> +<br> +“Before you make your final choice,” answered Imlac, “you +ought to examine its hazards, and converse with some of those who are +grown old in the company of themselves. I have just left the observatory +of one of the most learned astronomers in the world, who has spent forty +years in unwearied attention to the motion and appearances of the celestial +bodies, and has drawn out his soul in endless calculations. He +admits a few friends once a month to hear his deductions and enjoy his +discoveries. I was introduced as a man of knowledge worthy of +his notice. Men of various ideas and fluent conversation are commonly +welcome to those whose thoughts have been long fixed upon a single point, +and who find the images of other things stealing away. I delighted +him with my remarks. He smiled at the narrative of my travels, +and was glad to forget the constellations and descend for a moment into +the lower world.<br> +<br> +“On the next day of vacation I renewed my visit, and was so fortunate +as to please him again. He relaxed from that time the severity +of his rule, and permitted me to enter at my own choice. I found +him always busy, and always glad to be relieved. As each knew +much which the other was desirous of learning, we exchanged our notions +with great delight. I perceived that I had every day more of his +confidence, and always found new cause of admiration in the profundity +of his mind. His comprehension is vast, his memory capacious and +retentive, his discourse is methodical, and his expression clear.<br> +<br> +“His integrity and benevolence are equal to his learning. +His deepest researches and most favourite studies are willingly interrupted +for any opportunity of doing good by his counsel or his riches. +To his closest retreat, at his most busy moments, all are admitted that +want his assistance; ‘For though I exclude idleness and pleasure, +I will never,’ says he, ‘bar my doors against charity. +To man is permitted the contemplation of the skies, but the practice +of virtue is commanded.’”<br> +<br> +“Surely,” said the Princess, “this man is happy.”<br> +<br> +“I visited him,” said Imlac, “with more and more frequency, +and was every time more enamoured of his conversation; he was sublime +without haughtiness, courteous without formality, and communicative +without ostentation. I was at first, great Princess, of your opinion, +thought him the happiest of mankind, and often congratulated him on +the blessing that he enjoyed. He seemed to hear nothing with indifference +but the praises of his condition, to which he always returned a general +answer, and diverted the conversation to some other topic.<br> +<br> +“Amidst this willingness to be pleased and labour to please, I +had quickly reason to imagine that some painful sentiment pressed upon +his mind. He often looked up earnestly towards the sun, and let +his voice fall in the midst of his discourse. He would sometimes, +when we were alone, gaze upon me in silence with the air of a man who +longed to speak what he was yet resolved to suppress. He would +often send for me with vehement injunction of haste, though when I came +to him he had nothing extraordinary to say; and sometimes, when I was +leaving him, would call me back, pause a few moments, and then dismiss +me.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XLI - THE ASTRONOMER DISCOVERS THE CAUSE OF HIS UNEASINESS.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +“At last the time came when the secret burst his reserve. +We were sitting together last night in the turret of his house watching +the immersion of a satellite of Jupiter. A sudden tempest clouded +the sky and disappointed our observation. We sat awhile silent +in the dark, and then he addressed himself to me in these words: ‘Imlac, +I have long considered thy friendship as the greatest blessing of my +life. Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge +without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. I have found in thee +all the qualities requisite for trust - benevolence, experience, and +fortitude. I have long discharged an office which I must soon +quit at the call of Nature, and shall rejoice in the hour of imbecility +and pain to devolve it upon thee.’<br> +<br> +“I thought myself honoured by this testimony, and protested that +whatever could conduce to his happiness would add likewise to mine.<br> +<br> +“‘Hear, Imlac, what thou wilt not without difficulty credit. +I have possessed for five years the regulation of the weather and the +distribution of the seasons. The sun has listened to my dictates, +and passed from tropic to tropic by my direction; the clouds at my call +have poured their waters, and the Nile has overflowed at my command. +I have restrained the rage of the dog-star, and mitigated the fervours +of the crab. The winds alone, of all the elemental powers, have +hitherto refused my authority, and multitudes have perished by equinoctial +tempests which I found myself unable to prohibit or restrain. +I have administered this great office with exact justice, and made to +the different nations of the earth an impartial dividend of rain and +sunshine. What must have been the misery of half the globe if +I had limited the clouds to particular regions, or confined the sun +to either side of the equator?’”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XLII - THE OPINION OF THE ASTRONOMER IS EXPLAINED AND JUSTIFIED.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +“I suppose he discovered in me, through the obscurity of the room, +some tokens of amazement and doubt, for after a short pause he proceeded +thus:-<br> +<br> +“‘Not to be easily credited will neither surprise nor offend +me, for I am probably the first of human beings to whom this trust has +been imparted. Nor do I know whether to deem this distinction +a reward or punishment. Since I have possessed it I have been +far less happy than before, and nothing but the consciousness of good +intention could have enabled me to support the weariness of unremitted +vigilance.’<br> +<br> +“‘How long, sir,’ said I, ‘has this great office +been in your hands?’<br> +<br> +“‘About ten years ago,’ said he, ‘my daily observations +of the changes of the sky led me to consider whether, if I had the power +of the seasons, I could confer greater plenty upon the inhabitants of +the earth. This contemplation fastened on my mind, and I sat days +and nights in imaginary dominion, pouring upon this country and that +the showers of fertility, and seconding every fall of rain with a due +proportion of sunshine. I had yet only the will to do good, and +did not imagine that I should ever have the power.<br> +<br> +“‘One day as I was looking on the fields withering with +heat, I felt in my mind a sudden wish that I could send rain on the +southern mountains, and raise the Nile to an inundation. In the +hurry of my imagination I commanded rain to fall; and by comparing the +time of my command with that of the inundation, I found that the clouds +had listened to my lips.’<br> +<br> +“‘Might not some other cause,’ said I, ‘produce +this concurrence? The Nile does not always rise on the same day.’<br> +<br> +“‘Do not believe,’ said he, with impatience, ‘that +such objections could escape me. I reasoned long against my own +conviction, and laboured against truth with the utmost obstinacy. +I sometimes suspected myself of madness, and should not have dared to +impart this secret but to a man like you, capable of distinguishing +the wonderful from the impossible, and the incredible from the false.’<br> +<br> +“‘Why, sir,’ said I, ‘do you call that incredible +which you know, or think you know, to be true?’<br> +<br> +“‘Because,’ said he, ‘I cannot prove it by any +external evidence; and I know too well the laws of demonstration to +think that my conviction ought to influence another, who cannot, like +me, be conscious of its force. I therefore shall not attempt to +gain credit by disputation. It is sufficient that I feel this +power that I have long possessed, and every day exerted it. But +the life of man is short; the infirmities of age increase upon me, and +the time will soon come when the regulator of the year must mingle with +the dust. The care of appointing a successor has long disturbed +me; the night and the day have been spent in comparisons of all the +characters which have come to my knowledge, and I have yet found none +so worthy as thyself.’”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XLIII - THE ASTRONOMER LEAVES IMLAC HIS DIRECTIONS.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +“‘Hear, therefore, what I shall impart with attention, such +as the welfare of a world requires. If the task of a king be considered +as difficult, who has the care only of a few millions, to whom he cannot +do much good or harm, what must be the anxiety of him on whom depends +the action of the elements and the great gifts of light and heat? +Hear me, therefore, with attention.<br> +<br> +“‘I have diligently considered the position of the earth +and sun, and formed innumerable schemes, in which I changed their situation. +I have sometimes turned aside the axis of the earth, and sometimes varied +the ecliptic of the sun, but I have found it impossible to make a disposition +by which the world may be advantaged; what one region gains another +loses by an imaginable alteration, even without considering the distant +parts of the solar system with which we are acquainted. Do not, +therefore, in thy administration of the year, indulge thy pride by innovation; +do not please thyself with thinking that thou canst make thyself renowned +to all future ages by disordering the seasons. The memory of mischief +is no desirable fame. Much less will it become thee to let kindness +or interest prevail. Never rob other countries of rain to pour +it on thine own. For us the Nile is sufficient.’<br> +<br> +“I promised that when I possessed the power I would use it with +inflexible integrity; and he dismissed me, pressing my hand. ‘My +heart,’ said he, ‘will be now at rest, and my benevolence +will no more destroy my quiet; I have found a man of wisdom and virtue, +to whom I can cheerfully bequeath the inheritance of the sun.’”<br> +<br> +The Prince heard this narration with very serious regard; but the Princess +smiled, and Pekuah convulsed herself with laughter. “Ladies,” +said Imlac, “to mock the heaviest of human afflictions is neither +charitable nor wise. Few can attain this man’s knowledge +and few practise his virtues, but all may suffer his calamity. +Of the uncertainties of our present state, the most dreadful and alarming +is the uncertain continuance of reason.”<br> +<br> +The Princess was recollected, and the favourite was abashed. Rasselas, +more deeply affected, inquired of Imlac whether he thought such maladies +of the mind frequent, and how they were contracted.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XLIV - THE DANGEROUS PREVALENCE OF IMAGINATION.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +“Disorders of intellect,” answered Imlac, “happen +much more often than superficial observers will easily believe. +Perhaps if we speak with rigorous exactness, no human mind is in its +right state. There is no man whose imagination does not sometimes +predominate over his reason who can regulate his attention wholly by +his will, and whose ideas will come and go at his command. No +man will be found in whose mind airy notions do not sometimes tyrannise, +and force him to hope or fear beyond the limits of sober probability. +All power of fancy over reason is a degree of insanity, but while this +power is such as we can control and repress it is not visible to others, +nor considered as any deprivation of the mental faculties; it is not +pronounced madness but when it becomes ungovernable, and apparently +influences speech or action.<br> +<br> +“To indulge the power of fiction and send imagination out upon +the wing is often the sport of those who delight too much in silent +speculation. When we are alone we are not always busy; the labour +of excogitation is too violent to last long; the ardour of inquiry will +sometimes give way to idleness or satiety. He who has nothing +external that can divert him must find pleasure in his own thoughts, +and must conceive himself what he is not; for who is pleased with what +he is? He then expatiates in boundless futurity, and culls from +all imaginable conditions that which for the present moment he should +most desire, amuses his desires with impossible enjoyments, and confers +upon his pride unattainable dominion. The mind dances from scene +to scene, unites all pleasures in all combinations, and riots in delights +which Nature and fortune, with all their bounty, cannot bestow.<br> +<br> +“In time some particular train of ideas fixes the attention; all +other intellectual gratifications are rejected; the mind, in weariness +or leisure, recurs constantly to the favourite conception, and feasts +on the luscious falsehood whenever she is offended with the bitterness +of truth. By degrees the reign of fancy is confirmed; she grows +first imperious and in time despotic. Then fictions begin to operate +as realities, false opinions fasten upon the mind, and life passes in +dreams of rapture or of anguish.<br> +<br> +“This, sir, is one of the dangers of solitude, which the hermit +has confessed not always to promote goodness, and the astronomer’s +misery has proved to be not always propitious to wisdom.”<br> +<br> +“I will no more,” said the favourite, “imagine myself +the Queen of Abyssinia. I have often spent the hours which the +Princess gave to my own disposal in adjusting ceremonies and regulating +the Court; I have repressed the pride of the powerful and granted the +petitions of the poor; I have built new palaces in more happy situations, +planted groves upon the tops of mountains, and have exulted in the beneficence +of royalty, till, when the Princess entered, I had almost forgotten +to bow down before her.”<br> +<br> +“And I,” said the Princess, “will not allow myself +any more to play the shepherdess in my waking dreams. I have often +soothed my thoughts with the quiet and innocence of pastoral employments, +till I have in my chamber heard the winds whistle and the sheep bleat; +sometimes freed the lamb entangled in the thicket, and sometimes with +my crook encountered the wolf. I have a dress like that of the +village maids, which I put on to help my imagination, and a pipe on +which I play softly, and suppose myself followed by my flocks.”<br> +<br> +“I will confess,” said the Prince, “an indulgence +of fantastic delight more dangerous than yours. I have frequently +endeavoured to imagine the possibility of a perfect government, by which +all wrong should be restrained, all vice reformed, and all the subjects +preserved in tranquillity and innocence. This thought produced +innumerable schemes of reformation, and dictated many useful regulations +and salutary effects. This has been the sport and sometimes the +labour of my solitude, and I start when I think with how little anguish +I once supposed the death of my father and my brothers.”<br> +<br> +“Such,” said Imlac, “are the effects of visionary +schemes. When we first form them, we know them to be absurd, but +familiarise them by degrees, and in time lose sight of their folly.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XLV - THEY DISCOURSE WITH AN OLD MAN.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +The evening was now far past, and they rose to return home. As +they walked along the banks of the Nile, delighted with the beams of +the moon quivering on the water, they saw at a small distance an old +man whom the Prince had often heard in the assembly of the sages. +“Yonder,” said he, “is one whose years have calmed +his passions, but not clouded his reason. Let us close the disquisitions +of the night by inquiring what are his sentiments of his own state, +that we may know whether youth alone is to struggle with vexation, and +whether any better hope remains for the latter part of life.”<br> +<br> +Here the sage approached and saluted them. They invited him to +join their walk, and prattled awhile as acquaintance that had unexpectedly +met one another. The old man was cheerful and talkative, and the +way seemed short in his company. He was pleased to find himself +not disregarded, accompanied them to their house, and, at the Prince’s +request, entered with them. They placed him in the seat of honour, +and set wine and conserves before him.<br> +<br> +“Sir,” said the Princess, “an evening walk must give +to a man of learning like you pleasures which ignorance and youth can +hardly conceive. You know the qualities and the causes of all +that you behold - the laws by which the river flows, the periods in +which the planets perform their revolutions. Everything must supply +you with contemplation, and renew the consciousness of your own dignity.”<br> +<br> +“Lady,” answered he, “let the gay and the vigorous +expect pleasure in their excursions: it is enough that age can attain +ease. To me the world has lost its novelty. I look round, +and see what I remember to have seen in happier days. I rest against +a tree, and consider that in the same shade I once disputed upon the +annual overflow of the Nile with a friend who is now silent in the grave. +I cast my eyes upwards, fix them on the changing moon, and think with +pain on the vicissitudes of life. I have ceased to take much delight +in physical truth; for what have I to do with those things which I am +soon to leave?”<br> +<br> +“You may at least recreate yourself,” said Imlac, “with +the recollection of an honourable and useful life, and enjoy the praise +which all agree to give you.”<br> +<br> +“Praise,” said the sage with a sigh, “is to an old +man an empty sound. I have neither mother to be delighted with +the reputation of her son, nor wife to partake the honours of her husband. +I have outlived my friends and my rivals. Nothing is now of much +importance; for I cannot extend my interest beyond myself. Youth +is delighted with applause, because it is considered as the earnest +of some future good, and because the prospect of life is far extended; +but to me, who am now declining to decrepitude, there is little to be +feared from the malevolence of men, and yet less to be hoped from their +affection or esteem. Something they may yet take away, but they +can give me nothing. Riches would now be useless, and high employment +would be pain. My retrospect of life recalls to my view many opportunities +of good neglected, much time squandered upon trifles, and more lost +in idleness and vacancy. I leave many great designs unattempted, +and many great attempts unfinished. My mind is burdened with no +heavy crime, and therefore I compose myself to tranquillity; endeavour +to abstract my thoughts from hopes and cares which, though reason knows +them to be vain, still try to keep their old possession of the heart; +expect, with serene humility, that hour which nature cannot long delay, +and hope to possess in a better state that happiness which here I could +not find, and that virtue which here I have not attained.”<br> +<br> +He arose and went away, leaving his audience not much elated with the +hope of long life. The Prince consoled himself with remarking +that it was not reasonable to be disappointed by this account; for age +had never been considered as the season of felicity, and if it was possible +to be easy in decline and weakness, it was likely that the days of vigour +and alacrity might be happy; that the noon of life might be bright, +if the evening could be calm.<br> +<br> +The Princess suspected that age was querulous and malignant, and delighted +to repress the expectations of those who had newly entered the world. +She had seen the possessors of estates look with envy on their heirs, +and known many who enjoyed pleasures no longer than they could confine +it to themselves.<br> +<br> +Pekuah conjectured that the man was older than he appeared, and was +willing to impute his complaints to delirious dejection; or else supposed +that he had been unfortunate, and was therefore discontented. +“For nothing,” said she, “is more common than to call +our own condition the condition of life.”<br> +<br> +Imlac, who had no desire to see them depressed, smiled at the comforts +which they could so readily procure to themselves; and remembered that +at the same age he was equally confident of unmingled prosperity, and +equally fertile of consolatory expedients. He forbore to force +upon them unwelcome knowledge, which time itself would too soon impress. +The Princess and her lady retired; the madness of the astronomer hung +upon their minds; and they desired Imlac to enter upon his office, and +delay next morning the rising of the sun.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XLVI - THE PRINCESS AND PEKUAH VISIT THE ASTRONOMER.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +The Princess and Pekuah, having talked in private of Imlac’s astronomer, +thought his character at once so amiable and so strange that they could +not be satisfied without a nearer knowledge, and Imlac was requested +to find the means of bringing them together.<br> +<br> +This was somewhat difficult. The philosopher had never received +any visits from women, though he lived in a city that had in it many +Europeans, who followed the manners of their own countries, and many +from other parts of the world, that lived there with European liberty. +The ladies would not be refused, and several schemes were proposed for +the accomplishment of their design. It was proposed to introduce +them as strangers in distress, to whom the sage was always accessible; +but after some deliberation it appeared that by this artifice no acquaintance +could be formed, for their conversation would be short, and they could +not decently importune him often. “This,” said Rasselas, +“is true; but I have yet a stronger objection against the misrepresentation +of your state. I have always considered it as treason against +the great republic of human nature to make any man’s virtues the +means of deceiving him, whether on great or little occasions. +All imposture weakens confidence and chills benevolence. When +the sage finds that you are not what you seemed, he will feel the resentment +natural to a man who, conscious of great abilities, discovers that he +has been tricked by understandings meaner than his own, and perhaps +the distrust which he can never afterwards wholly lay aside may stop +the voice of counsel and close the hand of charity; and where will you +find the power of restoring his benefactions to mankind, or his peace +to himself?”<br> +<br> +To this no reply was attempted, and Imlac began to hope that their curiosity +would subside; but next day Pekuah told him she had now found an honest +pretence for a visit to the astronomer, for she would solicit permission +to continue under him the studies in which she had been initiated by +the Arab, and the Princess might go with her, either as a fellow-student, +or because a woman could not decently come alone. “I am +afraid,” said Imlac, “that he will soon be weary of your +company. Men advanced far in knowledge do not love to repeat the +elements of their art, and I am not certain that even of the elements, +as he will deliver them, connected with inferences and mingled with +reflections, you are a very capable auditress.” “That,” +said Pekuah, “must be my care. I ask of you only to take +me thither. My knowledge is perhaps more than you imagine it, +and by concurring always with his opinions I shall make him think it +greater than it is.”<br> +<br> +The astronomer, in pursuance of this resolution, was told that a foreign +lady, travelling in search of knowledge, had heard of his reputation, +and was desirous to become his scholar. The uncommonness of the +proposal raised at once his surprise and curiosity, and when after a +short deliberation he consented to admit her, he could not stay without +impatience till the next day.<br> +<br> +The ladies dressed themselves magnificently, and were attended by Imlac +to the astronomer, who was pleased to see himself approached with respect +by persons of so splendid an appearance. In the exchange of the +first civilities he was timorous and bashful; but when the talk became +regular, he recollected his powers, and justified the character which +Imlac had given. Inquiring of Pekuah what could have turned her +inclination towards astronomy, he received from her a history of her +adventure at the Pyramid, and of the time passed in the Arab’s +island. She told her tale with ease and elegance, and her conversation +took possession of his heart. The discourse was then turned to +astronomy. Pekuah displayed what she knew. He looked upon +her as a prodigy of genius, and entreated her not to desist from a study +which she had so happily begun.<br> +<br> +They came again and again, and were every time more welcome than before. +The sage endeavoured to amuse them, that they might prolong their visits, +for he found his thoughts grow brighter in their company; the clouds +of solitude vanished by degrees as he forced himself to entertain them, +and he grieved when he was left, at their departure, to his old employment +of regulating the seasons.<br> +<br> +The Princess and her favourite had now watched his lips for several +months, and could not catch a single word from which they could judge +whether he continued or not in the opinion of his preternatural commission. +They often contrived to bring him to an open declaration; but he easily +eluded all their attacks, and, on which side soever they pressed him, +escaped from them to some other topic.<br> +<br> +As their familiarity increased, they invited him often to the house +of Imlac, where they distinguished him by extraordinary respect. +He began gradually to delight in sublunary pleasures. He came +early and departed late; laboured to recommend himself by assiduity +and compliance; excited their curiosity after new arts, that they might +still want his assistance; and when they made any excursion of pleasure +or inquiry, entreated to attend them.<br> +<br> +By long experience of his integrity and wisdom, the Prince and his sister +were convinced that he might be trusted without danger; and lest he +should draw any false hopes from the civilities which he received, discovered +to him their condition, with the motives of their journey, and required +his opinion on the choice of life.<br> +<br> +“Of the various conditions which the world spreads before you +which you shall prefer,” said the sage, “I am not able to +instruct you. I can only tell that I have chosen wrong. +I have passed my time in study without experience - in the attainment +of sciences which can for the most part be but remotely useful to mankind. +I have purchased knowledge at the expense of all the common comforts +of life; I have missed the endearing elegance of female friendship, +and the happy commerce of domestic tenderness. If I have obtained +any prerogatives above other students, they have been accompanied with +fear, disquiet, and scrupulosity; but even of these prerogatives, whatever +they were, I have, since my thoughts have been diversified by more intercourse +with the world, begun to question the reality. When I have been +for a few days lost in pleasing dissipation, I am always tempted to +think that my inquiries have ended in error, and that I have suffered +much, and suffered it in vain.”<br> +<br> +Imlac was delighted to find that the sage’s understanding was +breaking through its mists, and resolved to detain him from the planets +till he should forget his task of ruling them, and reason should recover +its original influence.<br> +<br> +From this time the astronomer was received into familiar friendship, +and partook of all their projects and pleasures; his respect kept him +attentive, and the activity of Rasselas did not leave much time unengaged. +Something was always to be done; the day was spent in making observations, +which furnished talk for the evening, and the evening was closed with +a scheme for the morrow.<br> +<br> +The sage confessed to Imlac that since he had mingled in the gay tumults +of life, and divided his hours by a succession of amusements, he found +the conviction of his authority over the skies fade gradually from his +mind, and began to trust less to an opinion which he never could prove +to others, and which he now found subject to variation, from causes +in which reason had no part. “If I am accidentally left +alone for a few hours,” said he, “my inveterate persuasion +rushes upon my soul, and my thoughts are chained down by some irresistible +violence; but they are soon disentangled by the Prince’s conversation, +and instantaneously released at the entrance of Pekuah. I am like +a man habitually afraid of spectres, who is set at ease by a lamp, and +wonders at the dread which harassed him in the dark; yet, if his lamp +be extinguished, feels again the terrors which he knows that when it +is light he shall feel no more. But I am sometimes afraid, lest +I indulge my quiet by criminal negligence, and voluntarily forget the +great charge with which I am entrusted. If I favour myself in +a known error, or am determined by my own ease in a doubtful question +of this importance, how dreadful is my crime!”<br> +<br> +“No disease of the imagination,” answered Imlac, “is +so difficult of cure as that which is complicated with the dread of +guilt; fancy and conscience then act interchangeably upon us, and so +often shift their places, that the illusions of one are not distinguished +from the dictates of the other. If fancy presents images not moral +or religious, the mind drives them away when they give it pain; but +when melancholy notions take the form of duty, they lay hold on the +faculties without opposition, because we are afraid to exclude or banish +them. For this reason the superstitious are often melancholy, +and the melancholy almost always superstitious.<br> +<br> +“But do not let the suggestions of timidity overpower your better +reason; the danger of neglect can be but as the probability of the obligation, +which, when you consider it with freedom, you find very little, and +that little growing every day less. Open your heart to the influence +of the light, which from time to time breaks in upon you; when scruples +importune you, which you in your lucid moments know to be vain, do not +stand to parley, but fly to business or to Pekuah; and keep this thought +always prevalent, that you are only one atom of the mass of humanity, +and have neither such virtue nor vice as that you should be singled +out for supernatural favours or afflictions.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XLVII - THE PRINCE ENTERS, AND BRINGS A NEW TOPIC.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +“All this,” said the astronomer, “I have often thought; +but my reason has been so long subjugated by an uncontrollable and overwhelming +idea, that it durst not confide in its own decisions. I now see +how fatally I betrayed my quiet, by suffering chimeras to prey upon +me in secret; but melancholy shrinks from communication, and I never +found a man before to whom I could impart my troubles, though I had +been certain of relief. I rejoice to find my own sentiments confirmed +by yours, who are not easily deceived, and can have no motive or purpose +to deceive. I hope that time and variety will dissipate the gloom +that has so long surrounded me, and the latter part of my days will +be spent in peace.”<br> +<br> +“Your learning and virtue,” said Imlac, “may justly +give you hopes.”<br> +<br> +Rasselas then entered, with the Princess and Pekuah, and inquired whether +they had contrived any new diversion for the next day. “Such,” +said Nekayah, “is the state of life, that none are happy but by +the anticipation of change; the change itself is nothing; when we have +made it the next wish is to change again. The world is not yet +exhausted: let me see something to-morrow which I never saw before.”<br> +<br> +“Variety,” said Rasselas, “is so necessary to content, +that even the Happy Valley disgusted me by the recurrence of its luxuries; +yet I could not forbear to reproach myself with impatience when I saw +the monks of St. Anthony support, without complaint, a life, not of +uniform delight, but uniform hardship.”<br> +<br> +“Those men,” answered Imlac, “are less wretched in +their silent convent than the Abyssinian princes in their prison of +pleasure. Whatever is done by the monks is incited by an adequate +and reasonable motive. Their labour supplies them with necessaries; +it therefore cannot be omitted, and is certainly rewarded. Their +devotion prepares them for another state, and reminds them of its approach +while it fits them for it. Their time is regularly distributed; +one duty succeeds another, so that they are not left open to the distraction +of unguided choice, nor lost in the shades of listless inactivity. +There is a certain task to be performed at an appropriated hour, and +their toils are cheerful, because they consider them as acts of piety +by which they are always advancing towards endless felicity.”<br> +<br> +“Do you think,” said Nekayah, “that the monastic rule +is a more holy and less imperfect state than any other? May not +he equally hope for future happiness who converses openly with mankind, +who succours the distressed by his charity, instructs the ignorant by +his learning, and contributes by his industry to the general system +of life, even though he should omit some of the mortifications which +are practised in the cloister, and allow himself such harmless delights +as his condition may place within his reach?”<br> +<br> +“This,” said Imlac, “is a question which has long +divided the wise and perplexed the good. I am afraid to decide +on either part. He that lives well in the world is better than +he that lives well in a monastery. But perhaps everyone is not +able to stem the temptations of public life, and if he cannot conquer +he may properly retreat. Some have little power to do good, and +have likewise little strength to resist evil. Many are weary of +the conflicts with adversity, and are willing to eject those passions +which have long busied them in vain. And many are dismissed by +age and diseases from the more laborious duties of society. In +monasteries the weak and timorous may be happily sheltered, the weary +may repose, and the penitent may meditate. Those retreats of prayer +and contemplation have something so congenial to the mind of man, that +perhaps there is scarcely one that does not purpose to close his life +in pious abstraction, with a few associates serious as himself.”<br> +<br> +“Such,” said Pekuah, “has often been my wish, and +I have heard the Princess declare that she should not willingly die +in a crowd.”<br> +<br> +“The liberty of using harmless pleasures,” proceeded Imlac, +“will not be disputed, but it is still to be examined what pleasures +are harmless. The evil of any pleasure that Nekayah can image +is not in the act itself but in its consequences. Pleasure in +itself harmless may become mischievous by endearing to us a state which +we know to be transient and probatory, and withdrawing our thoughts +from that of which every hour brings us nearer to the beginning, and +of which no length of time will bring us to the end. Mortification +is not virtuous in itself, nor has any other use but that it disengages +us from the allurements of sense. In the state of future perfection +to which we all aspire there will be pleasure without danger and security +without restraint.”<br> +<br> +The Princess was silent, and Rasselas, turning to the astronomer, asked +him whether he could not delay her retreat by showing her something +which she had not seen before.<br> +<br> +“Your curiosity,” said the sage, “has been so general, +and your pursuit of knowledge so vigorous, that novelties are not now +very easily to be found; but what you can no longer procure from the +living may be given by the dead. Among the wonders of this country +are the catacombs, or the ancient repositories in which the bodies of +the earliest generations were lodged, and where, by the virtue of the +gums which embalmed them, they yet remain without corruption.”<br> +<br> +“I know not,” said Rasselas, “what pleasure the sight +of the catacombs can afford; but, since nothing else is offered, I am +resolved to view them, and shall place this with my other things which +I have done because I would do something.”<br> +<br> +They hired a guard of horsemen, and the next day visited the catacombs. +When they were about to descend into the sepulchral caves, “Pekuah,” +said the Princess, “we are now again invading the habitations +of the dead; I know that you will stay behind. Let me find you +safe when I return.” “No, I will not be left,” +answered Pekuah, “I will go down between you and the Prince.”<br> +<br> +They then all descended, and roved with wonder through the labyrinth +of subterraneous passages, where the bodies were laid in rows on either +side.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XLVIII - IMLAC DISCOURSES ON THE NATURE OF THE SOUL.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +“What reason,” said the Prince, “can be given why +the Egyptians should thus expensively preserve those carcases which +some nations consume with fire, others lay to mingle with the earth, +and all agree to remove from their sight as soon as decent rites can +be performed?”<br> +<br> +“The original of ancient customs,” said Imlac, “is +commonly unknown, for the practice often continues when the cause has +ceased; and concerning superstitious ceremonies it is vain to conjecture; +for what reason did not dictate, reason cannot explain. I have +long believed that the practice of embalming arose only from tenderness +to the remains of relations or friends; and to this opinion I am more +inclined because it seems impossible that this care should have been +general; had all the dead been embalmed, their repositories must in +time have been more spacious than the dwellings of the living. +I suppose only the rich or honourable were secured from corruption, +and the rest left to the course of nature.<br> +<br> +“But it is commonly supposed that the Egyptians believed the soul +to live as long as the body continued undissolved, and therefore tried +this method of eluding death.”<br> +<br> +“Could the wise Egyptians,” said Nekayah, “think so +grossly of the soul? If the soul could once survive its separation, +what could it afterwards receive or suffer from the body?”<br> +<br> +“The Egyptians would doubtless think erroneously,” said +the astronomer, “in the darkness of heathenism and the first dawn +of philosophy. The nature of the soul is still disputed amidst +all our opportunities of clearer knowledge; some yet say that it may +be material, who, nevertheless, believe it to be immortal.”<br> +<br> +“Some,” answered Imlac, “have indeed said that the +soul is material, but I can scarcely believe that any man has thought +it who knew how to think; for all the conclusions of reason enforce +the immateriality of mind, and all the notices of sense and investigations +of science concur to prove the unconsciousness of matter.<br> +<br> +“It was never supposed that cogitation is inherent in matter, +or that every particle is a thinking being. Yet if any part of +matter be devoid of thought, what part can we suppose to think? +Matter can differ from matter only in form, density, bulk, motion, and +direction of motion. To which of these, however varied or combined, +can consciousness be annexed? To be round or square, to be solid +or fluid, to be great or little, to be moved slowly or swiftly, one +way or another, are modes of material existence all equally alien from +the nature of cogitation. If matter be once without thought, it +can only be made to think by some new modification; but all the modifications +which it can admit are equally unconnected with cogitative powers.”<br> +<br> +“But the materialists,” said the astronomer, “urge +that matter may have qualities with which we are unacquainted.”<br> +<br> +“He who will determine,” returned Imlac, “against +that which he knows because there may be something which he knows not; +he that can set hypothetical possibility against acknowledged certainty, +is not to be admitted among reasonable beings. All that we know +of matter is, that matter is inert, senseless, and lifeless; and if +this conviction cannot he opposed but by referring us to something that +we know not, we have all the evidence that human intellect can admit. +If that which is known may be overruled by that which is unknown, no +being, not omniscient, can arrive at certainty.”<br> +<br> +“Yet let us not,” said the astronomer, “too arrogantly +limit the Creator’s power.”<br> +<br> +“It is no limitation of Omnipotence,” replied the poet, +“to suppose that one thing is not consistent with another, that +the same proposition cannot be at once true and false, that the same +number cannot be even and odd, that cogitation cannot be conferred on +that which is created incapable of cogitation.”<br> +<br> +“I know not,” said Nekayah, “any great use of this +question. Does that immateriality, which in my opinion you have +sufficiently proved, necessarily include eternal duration?”<br> +<br> +“Of immateriality,” said Imlac, “our ideas are negative, +and therefore obscure. Immateriality seems to imply a natural +power of perpetual duration as a consequence of exemption from all causes +of decay: whatever perishes is destroyed by the solution of its contexture +and separation of its parts; nor can we conceive how that which has +no parts, and therefore admits no solution, can be naturally corrupted +or impaired.”<br> +<br> +“I know not,” said Rasselas, “how to conceive anything +without extension: what is extended must have parts, and you allow that +whatever has parts may be destroyed.”<br> +<br> +“Consider your own conceptions,” replied Imlac, “and +the difficulty will be less. You will find substance without extension. +An ideal form is no less real than material bulk; yet an ideal form +has no extension. It is no less certain, when you think on a pyramid, +that your mind possesses the idea of a pyramid, than that the pyramid +itself is standing. What space does the idea of a pyramid occupy +more than the idea of a grain of corn? or how can either idea suffer +laceration? As is the effect, such is the cause; as thought, such +is the power that thinks, a power impassive and indiscerptible.”<br> +<br> +“But the Being,” said Nekayah, “whom I fear to name, +the Being which made the soul, can destroy it.”<br> +<br> +“He surely can destroy it,” answered Imlac, “since, +however imperishable, it receives from a superior nature its power of +duration. That it will not perish by any inherent cause of decay +or principle of corruption, may be shown by philosophy; but philosophy +can tell no more. That it will not be annihilated by Him that +made it, we must humbly learn from higher authority.”<br> +<br> +The whole assembly stood awhile silent and collected. “Let +us return,” said Rasselas, “from this scene of mortality. +How gloomy would be these mansions of the dead to him who did not know +that he should never die; that what now acts shall continue its agency, +and what now thinks shall think on for ever. Those that lie here +stretched before us, the wise and the powerful of ancient times, warn +us to remember the shortness of our present state; they were perhaps +snatched away while they were busy, like us, in the <i>choice of</i> +<i>life</i>.”<br> +<br> +“To me,” said the Princess, “the choice of life is +become less important; I hope hereafter to think only on the choice +of eternity.”<br> +<br> +They then hastened out of the caverns, and under the protection of their +guard returned to Cairo.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XLIX - THE CONCLUSION, IN WHICH NOTHING IS CONCLUDED.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +It was now the time of the inundation of the Nile. A few days +after their visit to the catacombs the river began to rise.<br> +<br> +They were confined to their house. The whole region being under +water, gave them no invitation to any excursions; and being well supplied +with materials for talk, they diverted themselves with comparisons of +the different forms of life which they had observed, and with various +schemes of happiness which each of them had formed.<br> +<br> +Pekuah was never so much charmed with any place as the Convent of St. +Anthony, where the Arab restored her to the Princess, and wished only +to fill it with pious maidens and to be made prioress of the order. +She was weary of expectation and disgust, and would gladly be fixed +in some unvariable state.<br> +<br> +The Princess thought that, of all sublunary things, knowledge was the +best. She desired first to learn all sciences, and then proposed +to found a college of learned women, in which she would preside, that, +by conversing with the old and educating the young, she might divide +her time between the acquisition and communication of wisdom, and raise +up for the next age models of prudence and patterns of piety.<br> +<br> +The Prince desired a little kingdom in which he might administer justice +in his own person and see all the parts of government with his own eyes; +but he could never fix the limits of his dominion, and was always adding +to the number of his subjects.<br> +<br> +Imlac and the astronomer were contented to be driven along the stream +of life without directing their course to any particular port.<br> +<br> +Of those wishes that they had formed they well knew that none could +be obtained. They deliberated awhile what was to be done, and +resolved, when the inundation should cease, to return to Abyssinia.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, RASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA ***<br> +<pre> + +******This file should be named rslas10h.htm or rslas10h.zip****** +Corrected EDITIONS of our EBooks get a new NUMBER, rslas11h.htm +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, rslas10ah.htm + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +http://gutenberg.net or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext04 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext04 + +Or /etext03, 02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart hart@pobox.com + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* +</pre></body> +</html> diff --git a/old/rslas10h.zip b/old/rslas10h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..47adcb6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/rslas10h.zip |
