YE

E who liften with credulity to the whispers of 1 fancy, and perfue 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 hiftory of Raffelas prince of Abiffinia.

Raffelas was the fourth fon of the mighty emperour, in whofe dominions the Father of Waters begins his courfe; whofe bounty pours down the ftreams of plenty, and scatters over half the world the harvests of Egypt.

10

According to the custom which has defcended from age to age among the monarchs of the torrid zone, Raffelas was confined in a private palace, with the other fons and daughters of Abiffinian royalty, 15 till the order of fucceffion fhould call him to the throne.

The place, which the wifdom or policy of antiquity had deftined for the residence of the AbiffiVOL. XI.

B

nian

W nian princes, was a spacious valley in the kingdom of Amhara, furrounded on every fide by mountains, of which the fummits overhang the middle part. The only paffage, by which it could be entered, was a cavern that paffed under a rock, of which it 25 has long been difputed whether it was the work of nature or of human induftry. The outlet of the cavern was concealed by a thick wood, and the mouth which opened into the valley was clofed with gates of iron, forged by the artificers of ancient days, fo maffy that no man could without the help of engines open or fhut them.

30

From the mountains on every fide, rivulets defcended that filled all the valley with verdure and fertility, and formed a lake in the middle inhabited by fish of every fpecies, and frequented by every fowl whom nature has taught to dip the wing in

This lake difcharged its fuperfluities by a ftream which entered a dark cleft of the mountain on the northern fide, and fell with dreadful noife from precipice to precipice till it was heard no more.

The fides of the mountains were covered with trees, the banks of the brooks were diverfified with flowers; every blaft fhook fpices from the rocks, and every month dropped fruits upon the ground. All animals that bite the grafs, or brouse the fhrub, whether wild or tame, wandered in this extenfive circuit, fecured from beafts of prey by the mountains which confined them. On one part were flocks and herds feeding in the paftures, on another all the beafts of chafe frifking in the lawns; the fprightly kid was bounding on the rocks, the fubtle monkey frolicking in the trees, and the

folemn

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folemn elephant repofing in the fhade. All the diversities of the world were brought together, the bleffings of nature were collected, and its evils extracted and excluded.

The valley, wide and fruitful, fupplied its inhabitants with the neceffaries of life, and all delights and fuperfluities were added at the annual vifit bo which the emperour paid his children, when the iron gate was opened to the found of mufick; and during eight days every one that refided in the valley was required to propofe whatever might contribute to make feclufion pleafant, to fill up the vacancies of attention, and leffen the tediousness of time. Every defire was immediately granted. All the artificers of pleasure were called to gladden the feftivity; the musicians exerted the power of harmony, and the dancers fhewed their activity before the princes, in hope that they fhould pafs their lives in this blifsful captivity, to which those only were admitted whofe perforinance was thought able to add novelty to luxury. Such was the appearance of fecurity and delight which this retirement afforded, that they, to whom it was new, always defired that it might be perpetual; and as those, on whom the iron gate had once closed, were never suffered to return, the effect of longer experience could not be known. Thus every year produced new schemes of delight, and new competitors for imprisonment.

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The palace stood on an eminence raised about thirty paces above the furface of the lake. It was divided into many fquares or courts, built with greater or less magnificence, according to the rank

of thofe for whom they were defigned. The roofs were turned into arches of maffy ftone joined by a cement that grew harder by time, and the building ftood from century to century deriding the folftitial rains and equinoctial hurricanes, without need of reparation.

This houfe, which was fo large as to be fully known to none but fome ancient officers who fucceffively inherited the fecrets of the place, was built as if fufpicion herself had dictated the plan. To every room there was an open and fecret paffage, every square had a communication with the rest, either from the upper ftories by private galleries, or by fubterranean paffages from the lower apartMany of the columns had unsuspected cavities, in which a long race of monarchs had repofited their treasures. They then closed up the opening with marble, which was never to be removed but in the utmoft exigencies of the kingdom; and recorded their accumulations in a book which was itself concealed in a tower not entered but by the emperour, attended by the prince who ftood

ments.

next in fucceffion.

CHA P. II.

THE DISCONTENT OF RASSELAS IN THE HAPPY

VALLEY.

ERE the fons and daughters of Abiffinia lived

HERE

only to know the foft viciffitudes of pleasure and repofe, attended by all that were fkilful to delight, and gratified with whatever the fenfes can

enjoy.

enjoy. They wandered in gardens of fragrance, and flept in the fortreffes of fecurity. Every art was practifed to make them pleased with their own condition. The fages who inftructed them, told them of nothing but the miferies of publick life, and described all beyond the mountains as regions of calamity, where difcord was always raging, and where man preyed upon man.

To heighten their opinion of their own felicity, they were daily entertained with fongs, the fubject of which was the happy valley. Their appetites were excited by frequent enumerations of different enjoyments, and revelry and merriment was the business of every hour from the dawn of morning to the clofe of even.

These methods were generally fuccefsful; few of the princes had ever wifhed to enlarge their bounds, but paffed their lives in full conviction that they had all within their reach that art or nature could bestow, and pitied those whom fate had excluded from this feat of tranquillity, as the sport of chance and the flaves of mifery.

Thus they rofe in the morning and lay down at night, pleased with each other and with themselves, all but Raffelas, who in the twenty-fixth year of his age began to withdraw himself from their paftimes and assemblies, and to delight in folitary walks and filent meditation. He often fat before tables covered with luxury, and forgot to taste the dainties that were placed before him: he rose abruptly in the midst of the fong, and haftily retired. beyond the found of mufick. His attendants obferved the change, and endeavoured to renew his