THE HISTORY O F RASSE LA S, PRINCE OF ABISSINIA. CHAP. I. DESCRIPTION OF A PALACE IN A YE VALLEY. E who liften with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and perfue with eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the prefent day will be fupplied by the morrow; attend to the hiftory of Raffelas prince of Abiffinia. Raffelas was the fourth fon of the mighty emperour, in whofe dominions the Father of Waters begins his course; whose bounty pours down the streams of plenty, and fcatters over half the world the harvests of Egypt. 1 the According to the custom which has defcended from age to age among monarchs of the torrid zone, Raffelas was confined in a private palace, with the other fons and daughters of Abiffinian royalty, till the order of fucceffion fhould call him to the throne. The place, which the wifdom or policy of antiquity had deftined for the refidence of the Abiffinian princes, was a fpacious valley in the kingdom of Amhara, furrounded on every fide by mountains, of which the fummits overhang |