happiness, might be violated by the sudden descent of some of the naked nations that swarm on the coasts of the southern sea.

The prince promised secrecy, and waited for the per5 formance, not wholly hopeless of success. He visited the work from time to time, observed its progress, and remarked the ingenious contrivances to facilitate motion and unite levity with strength. The artist was every day more certain that he should leave vultures Io and eagles behind him, and the contagion of his confidence seized upon the prince.

ΤΟ

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 a while to 15 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.

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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. 25 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 endeavors to support himself, discontent by 30 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 been ever known; the clouds broke on the 5 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 10 was built, and some other spots of rising ground, were all that the eye could now discover. The herds and flocks left the pastures, and both the wild beasts and the tame retreated to the mountains.

ر

This inundation confined all the princes to domestic 15 amusements, and the attention of Rasselas was particularly seized by a poem which Imlac recited 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, 20 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 25 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 acci

30

dent 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.

5

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 10 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 is 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 20 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 Afric and the ports of the Red Sea. 25 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 5 impunity. My blood boils when I am told that a merchant durst not enjoy his honest gain, for fear of losing by the rapacity of power. Name the governor who robbed the people, that I may declare his crimes to the emperor!"

ΙΟ

"Sir," said Imlac, "your ardor 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: 15 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 20 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 25 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 30 apprehension, often declared his hope that I should be some time the richest man in Abyssinia.”

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"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 Io 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 15 delight of knowledge, and felt the pleasure of intelligence and the pride of invention, I began silentlyto despise riches, and determined to disappoint the purpose of my father, whose grossness of conception raised my pity. I was twenty years old before 20 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 gratifications; but as I advanced to25 wards manhood, I lost much of the reverence with which I had been used to look on my instructors, because when the lesson was ended I did not find them wiser or better than common men.

"At length my father resolved to initiate me in com30 merce; and, opening one of his subterranean treasuries, counted out ten thousand pieces of gold. 'This, voung man,' said he, 'is the stock with which you must