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He must know many languages and many sciences, and, that his style may be worthy of his thoughts, must by incessant practice familiarise to himself every delicacy of speech and grace of harmony." Imlac now felt the enthusiastic fit, and was proceeding to aggrandise his own profession, when then Prince cried out: "Enough! thou hast convinced me that no human being can ever be a poet.
At this point Imlac entered, and having refused to talk upon the subject of their discourse, persuaded them to visit the great pyramid. "I consider this mighty structure," said he, as they reposed in one of its chambers, "as a monument of the insufficiency of human enjoyments.
"Pride," said Imlac, "is seldom delicate; it will please itself with very mean advantages, and envy feels not its own happiness but when it may be compared with the misery of others. They were my enemies because they grieved to think me rich, and my oppressors because they delighted to find me weak."
They travelled forward by easy journeys, being all unaccustomed to toil and difficulty, and knowing that, though they might be missed, they could not be pursued. In a few days they came into a more populous region, where Imlac was diverted with the admiration which his companions expressed at the diversity of manners, stations, and employments.
"Tell me, without reserve, art thou content with thy condition, or dost thou wish to be again wandering and inquiring? All the inhabitants of this valley celebrate their lot, and at the annual visit of the emperor invite others to partake of their felicity. Is this felicity genuine or feigned?" "Great prince," said Imlac, "I shall speak the truth.
"Do not entangle your mind," said Imlac, "by irrevocable determinations, nor increase the burden of life by a voluntary accumulation of misery. The weariness of retirement will continue to increase when the loss of Pekuah is forgot. That you have been deprived of one pleasure is no very good reason for rejection of the rest."
"Be not too hasty," said Imlac, "to trust or to admire the teachers of morality: they discourse like angels, but they live like men." Rasselas, who could not conceive how any man could reason so forcibly without feeling the cogency of his own arguments, paid his visit in a few days, and was denied admission.
To this no reply was attempted, and Imlac began to hope that their curiosity would subside; but next day Pekuah told him she had now found an honest pretence for a visit to the astronomer, for she would solicit permission to continue under him the studies in which she had been initiated by the Arab, and the Princess might go with her, either as a fellow-student, or because a woman could not decently come alone.
Thrale's, he found the coach was at the door waiting to carry Mrs. and Miss Thrale, and Signor Baretti, their Italian master, to Bath . This was not shewing the attention which might have been expected to the 'Guide, Philosopher, and Friend , the Imlac who had hastened from the country to console a distressed mother, who he understood was very anxious for his return.
'Disorders of intellect, answered Imlac, 'happen much more often than superficial observers will easily believe. Perhaps, if we speak with rigorous exactness, no human mind is in its right state. Rasselas, ch. 44. See ante, i. 397, for Kit Smart's madness in praying. Yet he gave lessons in Latin to Miss Burney and Miss Thrale. Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 243.
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