CONTENTS. Page Description of a Palace in a Valley, The Discontent of Rasselas in the Happy Valley, The Wants of him that wants Nothing, Page The Prince examines the Happiness of High Stations, 98 They return to Cairo without Pekuah, The Princess languishes for Want of Pekuah, The History of a Man of Learning, The Astronomer discovers the Cause of his Uneasiness, . 169 The Opinion of the Astronomer is Explained and Justified, 171 The Astronomer leaves Imlac his Directions, The Dangerous Prevalence of Imagination, They discourse with an Old Man, The Princess and Pekuah visit the Astronomer, The Prince enters, and brings a New Topic, RASSELAS. 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 half the world the harvests of Egypt. According to the custom which has descended from age to age among the monarchs of the torrid zone, |