:

light, which, from time to time, breaks in upon you when fcruples importune you, which you in your lucid moments know to be vain, do not ftand to parley, but fly to bufinefs or to Pekuah, and keep this thought always prevalent, that you are only one atom of the mafs of humanity, and have neither fuch virtue nor vice, as that you fhould be fingled out for fupernatural favours or afflictions."

CHAP. XLVI.

THE PRINCE ENTERS, AND BRINGS A NEW TOPICK.

A'

LL this, faid the aftronomer, I have often thought, but my reafon has been fo long fubjugated by an uncontrolable and overwhelming idea, that it durft not confide in its own decifions. I now fee how fatally I betrayed my quiet, by fuffering chimeras to prey upon me in fecret; but melancholy fhrinks 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 fentiments confirmed by yours, who are not eafily deceived, and can have no motive or purpose to deceive. I hope that time and variety will difpate the gloom that has fo long furrounded me, and the latter part of my days will be spent in peace."

"Your learning and virtue, faid Imlac, may juftly give you hopes."

Raffelas then entered with the princefs and Pekuah, and inquired, whether they had contrived any new diverfion for the next day? "Such, faid Ne

kayah,

kayah, 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 wifh is to change again. The world is not yet exhausted; let me fee something to-morrow which I never saw before."

Variety, faid Raffelas, is fo neceffary to content, that even the happy valley difgufted me by the recurrence of its luxuries; yet I could not forbear to reproach myself with impatience, when I faw the monks of St. Anthony fupport, without complaint, a life, not of uniform delight, but uniform hardship."

"Those men, anfwered Imlac, are lefs wretched in their filent convent than the Abiffinian princes in their prison of pleasure. Whatever is done by the monks is incited by an adequate and reafonable motive. Their labour fupplies them with neceffaries; it therefore cannot be omitted, and is certainly rewarded. Their devotion prepares them for another ftate, and reminds them of its approach, while it fits them for it. Their time is regularly diftributed; one duty fucceeds another, fo that they are not left open to the diftraction of unguided choice, nor loft in the shades of liftlefs inactivity. There is a certain tafk to be performed at an appropriated hour; and their toils are cheerful, because they confider them as acts of piety, by which they are always advancing towards endless felicity."

"Do you think, faid Nekayah, that the monaftic rule is a more holy and lefs imperfect ftate th any other? May not he equally hope for fi happiness who converfes openly with mankind

fuccours the diftreffed by his charity, inftructs the ignorant by his learning, and contributes by his induftry to the general fyftem of life; even though he fhould omit fome of the mortifications which are practifed in the cloifter, and allow himself fuch harmless delights as his condition may place within his reach ?"

"This, faid Imlac, is a queftion which has long divided the wife, 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 monaftery. But, perhaps, every one is not able to ftem the temptations of publick life; and if he cannot conquer, he may properly retreat. Some have little power to do good, and have likewife little ftrength to refift evil. Many are weary of their conflicts with adverfity, and are willing to eject thofe paffions which have long bufied them in vain. And many are difmiffed by age and diseases from the more laborious duties of fociety. In monafteries the weak and timorous may be happily fheltered, the weary may repofe, and the penitent may meditate. Thofe retreats of prayer and contemplation have fomething fo congenial to the mind of man, that, perhaps, there is fcarcely one that does not purpofe to clofe his life in pious abftraction with a few affociates furious as himfelf."

Such, faid Pekuah, has often been my wifh, and I have heard the princefs declare, that he should not willingly die in a crowd."

"The liberty of using harmless pleafures, proceeded Imlac, will not be difputed; but it is ftill to

be

be examined what pleasures are harmless. The evil of any pleasure that Nekayah can image is not in the act itself, but in its confequences. Pleasure, in itself harmless, may become mischievous, by endearing to us a ftate which we know to be tranfient 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 itfelf, nor has any other ufe, but that it difengages us from the allurements of fenfe. In the state of future perfection, to which we all afpire, there will be pleasure without danger, and fecurity without reftraint."

The princess was filent, and Raffelas, turning to the aftronomer, afked him, whether he could not delay her retreat, by fhewing her fomething which fhe had not feen before?

"Your curiofity, faid the fage, has been fo general, and your pursuit of knowledge fo 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 repofitories, in which the bodies of the earlieft generations were lodged, and where, by the virtue of the gums which embalmed them, they yet remain without corruption."

"I know not, faid Raffelas, what pleasure the fight of the catacombs can afford; but, fince nothing elfe offered, I am refolved to view them, and fhall place this with many other things which I have done, because I would do fomething."

They

They hired a guard of horsemen, and the next day vifited the catacombs. When they were about to defcend into the fepulchral caves, "Pekuah, faid the princefs, we are now again invading the habitations of the dead; I know that you will ftay behind; let me find you fafe when I return.” "No, I will not be left, answered Pekuah; I will go down between you and the prince."

They then all defcended, and roved with wonder through the labyrinth of fubterraneous paffages, where the bodies were laid in rows on either fide.

CHAP. XLVII.

IMLAC DISCOURSES ON THE NATURE OF THE SOUL.

WHA

HAT reafon, faid the prince, can be given, why the Egyptians fhould thus expenfively preferve thofe carcafes which fome nations confume with fire, others lay to mingle with the earth, and all agree to remove from their fight, as foon as decent rites can be performed?”

"The original of ancient cuftoms, faid Imlac, is commonly unknown; for the practice often continues when the caufe has ceafed; and concerning fuperftitious ceremonies it is vain to conjecture; for what reafon did not dictate, reafon cannot explain, I have long believed that the practice of embalming arole only from tenderness to the remains of relations or friends, and to this opinion I am more inclined, because it seems impoffible that this care fhould have been general: had all the dead been embalmed,