--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Johnson, Samuel collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 10 number: 10 published: 1907-08 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Samuel Johnson, "The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia. XXXIX–XLII," *Improvement Era* 10, no. 10 (August 1907): 790–798.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera10010unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera10010unse start_page: 790 end_page: 798 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1907-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera10010unse publication_year: 1907 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1907, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia. XXXIX–XLII THE HISTORY OF RASSELAS. PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA. BY SA.MUEL JOHNSON, LL. D. CHAPTER XXXIX. THE ADVENTURES OF PEKUAH CONTINUED. "We wandered about in this manner for some weeks, whether, as our chief pretended, for my gratification, or, as I rather suspected, for some convenience of his own. I endeavored to appear contented where sullenness and resentment would have been of no use, and that endeavor conduced much to the calmness of my mind; but my heart was always with Nekayah, and the trou- bles of the night much overbalanced the amusements of the day. My women, who threw all their cares upon their mistress, set their minds at ease from the time when they saw me treated with respect, and gave themselves up to the incidental alleviations of our fatigue without solicitude or sorrow. I was pleased with their pleasure and animated with their confidence. My condition had lost much of its terror; since I found that the Arab ranged the country merely for riches. Avarice is ,a uniform and tract- able vice: other intellectual distempers are different in different constitutions of mind; that which soothes the pride of one, will offend the pride of another; but to the favor of the covetous there is a ready way; bring money and nothing is denied. "At last we came to the dwelling of our chief, a strong and spacious house built with stone in an island of the Nile, which lies, as I was told, under the tropics. 'Lady, ' said the Arab, 'you shall rest after your journey a few weeks in this place, where you are to consider yourself as sovereign. My occupation is war: I THE HISTORY OF RASSELAS. 791 have therefore chosen this obscure residence, from which I can issue unexpected, and to which I can retire unpursued. You may now repose in security; here are few pleasures, but here is no danger.' He then led me into the inner apartments, and, seating me on the richest couch, bowed to the ground. His women, who considered me as a riva', looked on me with malignity; but being soon informed that I was a great lady detained only for my ran- som, they began to vie with each other in obsequiousness and reverence. "Being again ccmforted with new assurances of speedy lib- erty, I was for some days diverted from impatience by the novelty of the place. The turrets overlooked the country to a great dis- tance, and afforded a view of many windings of the stream. In the day I wandered from one place to another, as the course of the sun varied the splendor of the prospect,and saw many things which I had never seen before. The crocodiles and river- horses are common in this unpeopled region, and I often looked upon them with terror, though I knew that they could not hurt me. For some time I expected to see mermaids, and tritons, which, as Imlac has told me, the European travelers have stationed in the Nile; but no such beings ever appeared, and the Arab, when I inquired after them, laughed at my credulity. "At night the Arab always attended me to a tower set apart for celestial observations, where he endeavored to teach me the names and courses of the stars. I had no great inclination to this study, but an appearance of attention was necessary to please my instructor, who valued himself for his skill, and in a little while I found some employment requisite to beguile the tediousness of time, which was to be passed always amidst the same objects. I was weary of looking in the morning on things from which I had turned away weary in the evening: I therefore was at last will- ing to observe the stars rather than do nothing, but could not al- ways compose my imagination, and was very often thinking of Nekayah, when others thought me contemplating the sky. Soon after the Arab went upon another expedition, and then my only pleasure was to talk with my maids about the accident by which we were carried away, and the happiness that we shculd all enjoy at the end of our captivity." 792 IMPROVEMENT ERA. "There were women in your Arab's fortress," said the prin- cess, "why did you not make them your companions, enjoy their conversation, and partake of their diversions? In a place where they found business or amusement, why should you alone sit cor- roded with idle melancholy? or why could not you bear for a few months that condition to which they were condemned for life?" "The diversions of the women," answered Pekuah, "were only childish play, by which the mind, accustomed to stronger oper- ations, could not be kept busy. I could do all which they delighted in doing by powers merely sensitive, while my intellectual faculties were flown to Cairo. They ran from room to room, as a bird hops from wire to wire in his cage. They danced for the sake of motion, as lambs frisk in a meadow. One sometimes pretended to be hurt that the rest might be alarmed; or hid herself that another might seek. Part of their time passed in watching the progress of light bodies that floated on the river, and part in marking the various forms into which clouds broke in the sky. "Their business was only needlework in which I and my maids sometimes helped them; but you know that the mind will easily straggle from the fingers, nor will you suspect that captivity and absence from Nekayah could receive solace from silken flowers. "Nor was much satisfaction to be hoped from their conversa- tion; for of what could they be expected to talk? They hsd seen nothing, for they had lived from early youth in that narrow spot of what they had not seen, they could have no knowledge, for they could not read. They had no ideas but of the few things that were within their view, and had hardly names for anything but their clothes and their food. As I bore a superior character, I was of ten called to terminate their quarrels, which I decided as equitably as I could. If it could have amused me to hear the complaints of each against the rest, I might have been often de- tained by long stories, but the motives of their animosity were so small, that I could not listen without interrupting the tale." "How," said Rasselas, "can the Arab, whom you represented as a man of more than ordinary accomplishments, take any pleas- ure in his seraglio, when it is filled only with women like these? Are they exquisitely beautiful?" "They do not," said Pekuah, "want that unaffecting and THE HISTORY OF RASSELAS. 793 ignoble beauty which may subsist without sprightliness or sublim- ity, without energy of thought or dignity of virtue. But to a man like the Arab such beauty was only a flower casually plucked and carlessly thrown away. Whatever pleasures he might find among them, they were not those of friendship or society. When they were playing about him, he looked on them with inattentive superiority; when they vied for his regard, he sometimes turned away disgusted. As they had no knowledge, their talk could take nothing from the tediousness of life; as they had no choice, their fondness or appearance of fondness, excited in him neither pride nor gratitude: he was not exalted in his own esteem by the smiles of a woman who saw no other man, nor was much obliged by that regard of which he could never know the sincerity, and which he might often perceive to be exerted, not so much to delight him as to pain a rival. That which he gave, and they received as love, was only a careless distribution of superfluous time, such lore as man can bestow upon that which he despises, such as has neither hope nor fear, neither joy nor sorrow." "You have reason, lady, to think yourself happy, " said Imlac> ' 'that you have been thus easily dismissed. How could a mind hungry for knowledge, be willing, in an intellectual famine, to lose such a banquet as Pekuah's conversation?" "I am inclined to believe, " answered Pekuah, "that he was for some time in suspense; for notwithstanding his promise, whenever I proposed to dispatch a messanger to Cairo, he found some excuse for delay. While I was detained in his house, he made many excursions into the neighboring countries, and, per- haps, he would have refused to discharge me, had his plunder been equal to his wishes. He returned always courteous, related his adventures, delighted to hear my observations, and endeavored to advance my acquaintance with the stars. When I importuned him to send away my letters, he soothed me with professions of honor and sincerity; and, when I could be no longer decently denied, put his troop again in motion, and left me to govern in his absence. I was much afflicted by this studied procrastination, and was sometimes afraid that I should be forgotten; that you would leave Cairo, and I must end my days in an island of the Nile. "I grew at last hopeless and dejected, and cared so little to 794 IMPROVEMENT ERA. entertain him, that he for a while more frequently talked with my maids. That he should fall in love with them, or with me, might have been equally fatal, and was not much pleased with the I growing friendship. My anxiety was not long; for as I recovered some degree of cheerfulness, he returned to me, and I could not forbear to despise my former uneasiness. "He still delayed to send for my ransom, and would, per- haps, never have determined, had not your agent found his way to him. The gold, which he would not fetch, he could not reject when it was offered. He hastened to prepare for our journey hither, like a man delivered from the pain of an intestine conflict. I took leave of my companions in the house, who dismissed me with cold indifference." Nekayah, having heard her favorite's relation, rose and embraced her; and Rasselas gave her a hundred ounces of gold, which she presented to the Arab for the fifty that were prom- ised. CHAPTER XL. THE HISTORY OF A MAN OF LEARNING. They returned to Cairo, and were so well pleased at finding thems3lves together that none of them went much abroad. The prince began to love learning, and one day declared to Imlac, that he intended to devote himself to science, and pass the rest of his days in literary solitude. "Before you make your final choice, " answered Imlac, "you ought to examine its hazards and converse with some of those who are grown old in the company of themselves. I have just left the observatory of one of the most learned astronomers in the world, who has spent forty years in unwearied attention to the motions and appearances of the celestial bodies, and has drawn out his soul in endless calculations. He admits a few friends once a month to hear his deductions and enjoy his discoveries. I was introduced as a man of knowledge worthy of his notice. Men of various ideas and fluent conversation are commonly welcomed to those whose thoughts have been long fixed npon a single point, and who find the images of other things stealing away. I delighted THE HISTORY OF RASSELAS. 795 him with my remarks; he smiled at the narrative of my travels; and was glad to forget the constellations, and descend for a moment into the lower world. ' 'On the next day of vacation I renewed my visit, and was so fortunate as to please him again. He relaxed from that time the severity of his rule, and permitted me to enter at my own choice. I found him always busy, and always glad to be relieved. As each knew much which the other was desirous of learning, we exchanged our notions with great delight. I perceived that I had every day more of his confidence, and always found new cause of admiration in the profundity of his mind. His comprehension is vast, his memory capacious and retentive, his discourse is methodical and his expression clear. "His integrity and benevolence are equal to his learning. His deepest researches and most favorite studies are willingly inter- rupted for an opportunity of doing good by his counsel or his riches. To his closest retreat, st his most busy moments, all are admitted that want his assistance: 'For, though I exclude idleness and pleasure, I will never,' says he, 'bar mv door against charity. To man is permitted the contemplation of the skies, but the " practice of virtue is commanded.' "Surely," said the princess, "this man is happy." "I visited him," said Imlac, "with more and more frequency, and was every time more enamored of his conversation; he was sub- lime without haughtiness, courteous without formality, and com- municative without ostentation. I was at first, great princess, of your opinion, thought him the happiest of mankind, and often congratulated him on the blessing he enjoyed. He seemed to hear nothing with indifference but the praises of his condition, to which he always returned a general answer, and diverted the conversa- tion to some other topic. "Amidst this willingness to be pleased and labor to please, I had quickly reason to imagine that some painful sentiment pressed upon his mind. He often looked up earnestly toward the sun, and let his voice fall in the midst of his discourse. He would sometimes, when we were alone, gaze upon me in silence with the air of a man who longed to speak what he #as yet resolved to ' — 796 THE IMPROVEMENT ERA. suppress. He would often send for me with vehement injunctions of haste, though, when I came to him, he had nothing extraordi- nary to say. And sometimes, when I was leaving him, he would call me back, pause a few moments, and then dismiss me." CHAPTER XLI. THE ASTRONOMER DISCOVERS THE CAUSE OF HIS UNEASINESS. "At last the time came when the secret burst his reserve. We were sitting together in the turret of his house watching the emersion of a sattelite of Jupiter. A sudden tempest clouded the sky, and disappointed our observation. We sat awhile silent in the dark, and then he addressed himself to me in these words: Imlac, I have long considered thy friendship as the greatest bless- ing of my life. Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. I have found in thee all the qualities requisite for trust, benevolence, experience and fortitude. I have long discharged an office which I must soon quit at the call of nature, and shall rejoice in the hour of imbecility and pain, to devolve it upon thee. 4, "I thought myself honored by this testimony, and protested that whatever would conduce to his happiness would add likewise to mine." " 'Hear, Imlac, what thou wilt not without difficulty credit. I have possessed for five years the regulation of the weather and the distribution of the seasons; the sun has listened to mv dictates, and passed from tropic to tropic by my direction; the clouds at my call, have poured their waters, and the Nile has overflowed at my command; I have restrained the rage of the dog-star, and miti- gated the fervors of the crab. The winds alone, of all the elem- ental powers, have hitherto refused my authority, and multitudes have perished by equinoctial tempest, which I have found myself unable to prohibit or restrain. I have administered this great office with exact justice, and made to the different nations of the earth an impartial dividend of rain and sunshine. What must have been the misery of half the globe if I had limited the clouds to " ' THE HISTORY OF RASSELAS. 797 certain regions, or confined the sun to either side of the equator?' CHAPTER XLII. THE OPINION OF THE ASTRONOMER IS EXPLAINED AND JUSTIFIED. "I suppose he discovered in me, through the obscurity of the room, some tokens of amazement and doubt, for, after a short pause, he proceeded thus: " 'Not to be easily credited will neither surprise nor offend me; for I am probably the first human beings to whom this of trust has been imparted. Nor do I know whether to deem the distinction a reward or a punishment; since I have possessed it I have been far less happy than before, and nothing but the con- sciousness of good intention could have enabled me to support the weariness of unremitted vigilance. " 'How long, sir,' said I, 'has this great office been in your hands?' " 'About ten years ago,' said he, 'my daily observations of the changes of the sky led me to consider whether, if I had the power of the seasons, I could confer greater plenty upon the inhabitants of the earth. This contemplation fastened upon my mind, and I sat days and nights in imaginary dominion, pouring upon this country and that the showers of fertility, and seconding every fall of rain with a due proportion of sunshine. I had yet only the will to do good and did not imagine that I should ever have the power. " 'One day,as I was looking on the fields withering with heat,I felt in my mind a sudden wish that I could send rain on the southern mountains, and raise the Nile to an inundation. In the hurry of my imagination I commanded rain to fall; and, by com- paring the time of my command with that of the inundation, I found that the clouds had listened to my lips.' " 'Might not some other cause,' said I, 'produce this concur- rence? The Nile does not always rise on the same day.' " 'Do not believe,' said he with impatience, 'that such objec- tions could escape me: I reasoned long against my own convic- tion, and labored against truth with the utmost obstinacy. I sometimes suspected myself of madness, and should not have dared " ! 798 IMPROVEMENT ERA. to impart the secret but to a man like you, capable of distinguish- ing the wonderful from the impossible, and the incredible from the false.' "'Why, sir,' said I, 'do you call that incredible which you know, or think you know to be true?' " 'Because,' said he, 'I cannot prove it by any external evi- dence; and I know too well the laws of demonstration to think that my conviction ought to influence another, who cannot, like me, be conscious of its force. I therefore shall not attempt to gain credit by disputation. It is sufficient that I feel this power, that I have long possessed, and every day exerted it. But the life of man is short, the infirmities of age increase upon me, and the time will soon come when the regulator of the year must mingle with the dust. The care of appointing a successor has long dis- turbed me; the night and the day have been spent in comparisons of the characters which have come to my knowledge, and I have yet found none so worthy as thyself.' [to be continued.]