"This, faid the prince, I can in fome meafure conceive. I repent that I interrupted thee." "With this hope, proceeded Imlac, he fent me to fchool; but when I had once found the delight of knowledge, and feit the pleasure of intelligence. and the pride of invention, I began filently to defpife riches, and determined to difappoint the purpose of my father, whofe groffnefs of conception railed my pity. I was twenty years old before his tendernefs would expofe me to the fatigue of travel, in which time I had been inftructed, by fucceffive mafters, in all the literature of my native country. As every hour taught me fomething new, I lived in a continual courfe of gratifications; but, as I advanced towards manhood, I loft much of the reverence with which I had been used to look on my inftructors; becaufe, when the leffon was ended, I did not find them wifer or better than common men. "At length my father refolved to initiate me in commerce, and opening one of his fubterranean treafuries, counted out ten thoufand pieces of gold. This, young man, faid Le, is the ftock with which you muit negociate. I began with lefs than the fifth part, and you fee how diligence and parfimony have increated it. This is your own to wafte or to improve. If you fquander it by negligence or carice, you must wait for my death before you will be tich: if, in four years, you double your stock, we will thenceforward et fubordination ceafe, and live together as friends and partners; for he fhall always be equal with me, who is equally fkilled in the art of growing rich. "We "We laid our money upon camels, concealed in bales of cheap goods, and travelled to the fhore of the Red Sea. When I cast my eye on the expansẹ of waters, my heart bounded like that of a prifoner escaped. I felt an unextinguishable curiofity kindle in my mind, and refolved to fnatch this opportunity of seeing the manners of other nations, and of learning fciences unknown in Abiffinia. "I remembered that my father had obliged me to the improvement of my stock, not by a promise which I ought not to violate, but by a penalty which I was at liberty to incur; and therefore determined to gratify my predominant defire, and by drinking at the fountains of knowledge, to quench the thirft of curiosity. "As I was fuppofed to trade without connexion with my father, it was eafy for me to become acquainted with the master of a ship, and procure a paffage to fome other country. I had no motives of choice to regulate my voyage; it was fufficient for me that, wherever I wandered, I should see a country which I had not feen before. I therefore entered a ship bound for Surat, having left a letter for my father declaring my intention. " CHA P. IX. THE HISTORY OF IMLAC CONTINUED. WHEN I firft entered upon the world of waters, and loft fight of land, I looked round about me with pleasing terrour, and thinking my foul enlarged by the boundless profpect, imagined that that I could gaze round for ever without fatiety; but, in a fhort time, I grew weary of looking on barren uniformity, where I could only fee again what I had already feen. I then defcended into the ship, and doubted for a while whether all my future pleafures would not end like this, in difguft and difappointment. Yet, furely, faid I, the c can and the land are very different; the only variety of water is reft and motion, but the earth has mountains and vallies, deferts and cities: it is inhabited by men of different cuftoms and contrary opinions; and I may hope to find variety in life, though I fhould mifs it in nature. "With this thought I quieted my mind, and amufed myself during the voyage, fometimes by learning from the failors the art of navigaon, which I have never practifed, and fometimes by forming fchemes for my conduct in different fituations, in not one of which I have been ever placed. "I was almoft weary of my naval amufements when we landed fafely at Surat. I fecured my money, and purchafing fome commodities for fhow, joined myfelf to a caravan that was paffing into the inland country. My companions, for fome reafon or other, conjeQuing that I was rich, and, by my enquiries and admiration, finding that I was ignorant, confidered me as a novice whom they had a right to cheat, and who was to learn at the ufual expence the art of fraud. They expofed me to the theft of fervants, and the exaction of officers, and faw me plundered upon falfe pretences, without any advantage to themfelves, but that that of rejoicing in the fuperiority of their own knowledge." "Stop a moment, faid the prince. Is there fuch depravity in man, as that he should injure another without benefit to himfelf? I can eafily conceive that all are pleafed with fuperiority; but your ignorance was merely accidental, which being neither your crime nor your folly, could afford them no reason to applaud themselves; and the knowledge which they had, and which you wanted, they might as effectually have fhewn by warning, as betraying you." "Pride, faid Imlac, is feldom delicate, it will please itself with very mean advantages; and envy feels not its own happinefs, but when it may be compared with the mifery of others. They were my enemies, because they grieved to think me rich; and my oppreffors, because they delighted to find me weak." Proceed, faid the prince: I doubt not of the facts which you relate, but imagine that you impute them to mistaken motives." "In this company, faid Imlac, I arrived at Agra, the capital of Indoftan, the city in which the great Mogul commonly refides. I applied myself to the language of the country, and in a few months was able to converfe with the learned men; some of whom I found morofe and referved, and others eafy and communicative; fome were unwilling to teach another what they had with difficulty learned themselves; and fome fhewed that the end of their tudies was to gain the dignity of inftructing. "To "To the tutor of the young princes I recommended myself so much, that I was prefented to the emperour as a man of uncommon knowledge. The emperour asked me many queftions concerning my country and my travels; and though I cannot now recollect any thing that he uttered above the power of a common man, he difmiffed me aftonished at his wifdom, and enamoured of his goodness. "My credit was now fo high, that the merchants, with whom I had travelled, appl i to me for recommendations to the ladies of the Court. I was furprifed at their confidence of folicitation, and gently reproached them with their practices on the road. They heard me with cold indifference, and fhewed no tokens of fhame or forrow. "They then urged their requeft with the offer of a bribe; but what I would not do for kindness, I would not do for money; and refufed them, not because they had injured me, but because I would not enable them to injure others; for I knew they would have made ufe of my credit to cheat those who fhould buy their wares. Having refided at Agra till there was no more to be learned, I travelled into Perfia, where I faw many remains of ancier magnificence, and obferved many new accommodations of life. The Perfians are a nation eminently focial, and their affemblies afforded me daily opportunities of remarking characters and manners, and of tracing human nature through all its variations. "From Perfia I paffed into Arabia, where I faw a nation at once paftoral and warlike; who live without |