fame parallel. How muft it amufe the pendent spectator to see the moving scene of land and ocean, cities and deferts! To furvey with equal fecurity the marts of trade, and the fields of battle; mountains infested by barbarians, and fruitful regions gladdened by plenty, and lulled by peace! How easily shall we then trace the Nile through all his paffage; pafs over to distant regions, and examine the face of nature from one extremity of the earth to the other!"

"All this, faid the prince, is much to be defired but I am afraid that no man will be able to breathe in these regions of fpeculation and tranquillity. I have been told, that reípiration is difficult upon lofty mountains, yet from these precipices, though fo high as to produce great tenuity of air, it is very eafy to fall: therefore I fufpect, that from any height, where life can be fupported, there may be danger of too quick defcent."

"Nothing, replied the artift, will ever be attempted, if all poffible objections must be first Overcome. If you will favour my project, I will try the first flight at my own hazard. I have confidered the ftructure of all volant animals, and find the folding continuity of the bat's wings moft eafily accommodated to the human form. Upon this model I fhall begin my tafk to-morrow, and in a year expect to tower into the air beyond the malice and pursuit of man. But I will work only on this condition, that the art shall not be divulged, and that you fhall not require me to make wings for any but curfelves."

Why,

fo

Why, faid Raffelas, fhould you envy others

great an advantage? All skill ought to be exerted for univerfal good; every man has owed much to others, and ought to repay the kindness that he has

received."

"If men were all virtuous, returned the artist, I fhould with great alacrity teach them all to fly. But what would be the fecurity of the good, if the bad could at pleasure invade them from the fky? Against an army failing through the clouds, neither walls, nor mountains, nor feas, could afford any fecurity. A flight of northern favages might hover in the wind, and light at once with irrefiftible violence upon the capital of a fruitful region that was rolling under them. Even this valley, the retreat of princes, the abode of happiness, might be violated by the fudden defcent of fome of the naked nations that swarm on the coaft of the southern fea."

The prince promifed fecrecy, and waited for the performance, not wholly hopeless of fuccefs. He visited the work from time to time, obferved its progrefs, and remarked many ingenious contrivances to facilitate motion, and unite levity with ftrength. The artist was every day more certain that he should leave vultures and eagles behind him, and the contagion of his confidence feized upon the prince.

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 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, fuftained him

in the water, and the prince drew him to land, half dead with terror and vexation.

CHAP. VII.

THE PRINCE FINDS A MAN OF LEARNING.

THE

HE prince was not much afflicted by this disaster, having fuffered himself to hope for a happier event, only because he had no other means of escape in view. He ftill persisted in his defign to leave the happy valley by the first opportunity.

His imagination was now at a ftand; he had no profpect of entering into the world; and, notwithstanding all his endeavours to fupport himself, difcontent by degrees preyed upon him, and he began again to lofe his thoughts in fadness, when the rainy feason, 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 furrounding mountains, and the torrents ftreamed into the plain on every fide, 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 was built, and fome other spots of rifing ground, were all that the eye could now discover. The herds and flocks left the pastures, and both the wild beafts and the tame retreated to the mountains.

This inundation confined all the princes to domestick amusements, and the attention of Raffelas

was

was particularly feized by a poem, which Imlac rehearsed, upon the various conditions of humanity. He commanded the poet to attend him in his apartment, and recite his verfes a fecond time; then entering into familiar talk, he thought himfelf happy in having found a man who knew the world fo well, and could fo fkilfully paint the fcenes of life. He asked a thousand questions about things, to which, though common to all other mortals, his confinement from childhood had kept him a ftranger. The poet pitied his ignorance, and loved his curiofity, and entertained him from day to day with novelty and inftruction, fo that the prince regretted the neceffity of fleep, and longed till the morning fhould renew his pleasure.

As they were fitting together, the prince commanded Imlac to relate his hiftory, and to tell by what accident he was forced, or by what motive induced, to clofe his life in the happy valley. As he was going to begin his narrative, Raffelas was called to a concert, and obliged to reftrain his curiofity till the evening.

THE

CHAP. VIII.

THE HISTORY OF IMLAC.

HE clofe of the day is, in the regions of the torrid zone, the only feafon of diverfion and entertainment, and it was therefore midnight before the musick ceased, and the princeffes retired. Raffelas then called for his companion, and required him to begin the ftory of his life,

"Sir, faid Imlac, my history will not be long: the life that is devoted to knowledge paffes filently away, and is very little diverfified by events. To talk in publick, to think in folitude, to read and to hear, to enquire, and anfwer enquiries, is the bufinefs of a fcholar. He wanders about the world without pomp or terrour, and is neither known nor valued but by men 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 Africk and the ports of the Red Sea. He was honeft, frugal, and diligent, but of mean fentiments, and narrow comprehenfion he defired only to be rich, and to conceal his riches, left he should be fspoiled by the governours of the province."

Surely, faid 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 injuftice permitted as well as done? If I were emperour, not the meaneft of my fubjects fhould be oppreffed with impunity. My blood boils when I am told that a merchant durft not enjoy his honeft gains for fear of lofing them by the rapacity of power. Name the governour who robbed the people, that I may declare his crimes to the emperour."

"Sir, faid Imlac, your ardour is the natural effect of virtue animated by youth: the time will come when you will acquit your father, and perhaps hear with lefs impatience of the governour. Oppreffion