it was diftributed to all the apartments of the palace. He erected a pavilion in the garden, around which he kept the air always cool by artificial fhowers. One of the groves, appropriated to the ladies, was ventilated by fans, to which the rivulet that run through it gave a conftant motion; and inftruments of foft mufick were placed at proper distances, of which fome played by the impulse of the wind, and fome by the power of the ftream.

This artift was fometimes vifited by Raffelas, who was pleafed with every kind of knowledge, imagining that the time would come when all his acquifitions fhould be of ufe to him in the open world. He came one day to amufe himself in his ufual manner, and found the mafter bufy in building a failing chariot: he faw that the defign was practicable upon a level surface, and with expreffions of great esteem folicited its completion. The workman was pleased to find himself so much regarded by the prince, and refolved to gain yet higher honours. "Sir, faid he, you have seen but a small part of what the mechanick sciences can perform. I have been long of opinion, that instead of the tardy conveyance of ships and chariots, man might use the fwifter migration of wings; that the fields of air are open to knowledge, and that only ignorance. and idleness need crawl upon the ground."

This hint rekindled the prince's defire of paffing the mountains; having feen what the mechanist had already performed, he was willing to fancy that he could do more; yet refolved to enquire further, before he suffered hope to afflict him by difappointment. "I am afraid, faid he to the artist, that

your

your imagination prevails over your skill, and that you now tell me rather what you wifh, than what you know. Every animal has his element affigned him; the birds have the air, and man and beasts the earth." "So, replied the mechanist, fifhes have the water, in which yet beafts can swim by nature, and men by art. He that can swim needs not despair to fly to fwim is to fly in a groffer fluid, and to fly is to fwim in a fubtler. We are only to proportion our power of refiftance to the different density of matter through which we are to pafs. You will be neceffarily upborn by the air, if you can renew any impulfe upon it, fafter than the air can recede from the preffure."

"But the exercife of fwimming, faid the prince, is very laborious; the strongest limbs are foon wearied; I am afraid the act of flying will be yet more violent, and wings will be of no great use, unless we can fly further than we can swim."

"The labour of rifing from the ground, faid the artist, will be great, as we fee it in the heavier domestick fowls, but as we mount higher, the earth's attraction, and the body's gravity, will be gradually diminished, till we shall arrive at a region where the man will float in the air without any tendency to fall: no care will then be neceffary but to move forwards, which the gentlest impulse will effect. You, Sir, whofe curiofity is fo extensive, will eafily conceive with what pleasure a philofopher, furnished with wings, and hovering in the sky, would fee the earth, and all its inhabitants, rolling beneath him, and prefenting to him fucceffively, by its diurnal motion, all the countries within the VOL. XI. fame

C

fame parallel. How muft it amufe the pendent fpectator to see the moving fcene of land and ocean, cities and deferts! To furvey with equal fecurity the marts of trade, and the fields of battle; mountains infefted by barbarians, and fruitful regions gladdened by plenty, and lulled by peace! How eafily fhall we then trace the Nile through all his paffage; pafs over to diftant 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 refpiration is difficult upon lofty mountains, yet from thefe 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 structure of all volant animals, and find the folding continuity of the bat's wings most easily accommodated to the human form. Upon this model I fhall begin my task to-morrow, and in a year expect to tower into the air beyond the malice and purfuit of man. But I will work only on this condition, that the art fhall not be divulged, and that you shall not require me to make wings for any but ourselves."

<< Why,

"Why, faid Raffelas, fhould you envy others fo great an advantage? All fkill 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 artift, 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 sky? 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 fwarm on the coaft of the fouthern sea."

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 fhould 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 inftant dropped into the lake. His wings, which were of no use in the air, sustained 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 difafter, having suffered himself to hope for a happier event, only because he had no other means of escape in view. He ftill perfifted in his defign to leave the happy valley by the first opportunity.

His imagination was now at a stand; he had no profpect of entering into the world; and, notwithstanding all his endeavours to fupport himself, discontent by degrees preyed upon him, and he began again to lofe his thoughts in fadness, when the rainy feason, which in thefe 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 streamed into the plain on every fide, till the cavern was too narrow to discharge the water. The Jake 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 difcover. 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