THE HISTORY OF RASSELAS Prince of Abyssinia BY SAMUEL JOHNSON LLD LONDON T. FISHER UNWIN 17 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C. 1883 251 g.755. PREFACE. 'RASSELAS,' published in 1759, was widely read in this country, and afterwards translated into most of the languages of Europe. Of all Dr Johnson's works, none had such an extensive circulation, or were read with greater avidity. It was written when the author was in the zenith of his intellectual power, and after he had acquired an extensive knowledge of the world and human nature, and experienced in his own history many of the anxieties and sorrows of the present state. Leaving his native city of Lichfield, he repaired to London with the view of engaging in literary labour. He was a stranger in the great metropolis, and being entirely dependent on literature for his daily bread, acutely felt its precariousness as a means of living, and realized in all its fulness the force of the saying, afterwards uttered by Sir Walter Scott, that 'literature is a good staff, but a bad crutch.' He is known to have walked repeatedly the streets of London at midnight, in company with Richard Savage, neither having had the means of procuring shelter for the night. He was not blessed with health of body, and from his father he inherited a 'vile melancholy,' which cast a sombre shade over his existence, and often troubled him with gloomy forebodings. Having seen much and felt many of the vicissitudes of life, he was fitted in a high degree to give a delineation of it in its varied stages. In 'Rasselas' these are set forth with all the power and beauty of diction for which he was remarkable, and clothed in all the charms of Oriental imagery. In the words of Boswell, his peerless biographer, he 'leads us through the most important scenes of human life, and shows us that the stage of our being is full of "vanity and vexation of spirit." 6 It is pleasing, however, to reflect that better days dawned upon Johnson subsequent to the publication of Rasselas.' After toiling for thirty years in London, amid many privations, his merits as a writer became known, and he acquired a name and a place in the literary world. The Government, in appreciation of his services to the cause of literature, bestowed upon him a pension of £300 annually during life. He did not now dwell in comparative obscurity or pine in the shade of neglect; his society was courted by many, who though delighted with his writings, were charmed by the brilliancy of his conversation, for his colloquial powers were unrivalled. Along with Sir Joshua Reynolds,-one of the earliest of his eminent friends,-he originated the club, afterwards known as the Literary Club. This took place in 1764, and numbered among its members, Edmund Burke, Oliver Goldsmith, and other celebrities of the time. In this distinguished society Johnson shone pre-eminent, and by general consent was allowed to occupy the chief place. Not long after this he made the acquaintance of the Thrale family, which afterwards led to the closest friendship. During sixteen years a large portion of his life was spent under the roof of the opulent brewer who, with his accomplished wife, highly appreciated the talents of Johnson, and delighted in his society. The kindness bestowed upon him in this, to him, congenial home, to use his own words, 'soothed twenty years of a life radically wretched.' The occasion of the publication of 'Rasselas' was the death of the author's aged mother. He wrote the tale with the view of paying the expense of her funeral and some small debts she had incurred. Truly he had the pen of a ready writer, for 'Rasselas' was composed in the evenings of a single week, sent to the printer in portions as it was written, and, like the |