knows moft, will have moft power of diverfifying his scenes, and of gratifying his reader with remote allufions and unexpected inftruction.

"All the appearances of nature I was therefore careful to ftudy, and every country which I have furveyed has contributed fomething to my poetical powers."

"In fo wide a furvey, faid the prince, you must furely have left much unobferved. I have lived, till now, within the circuit of thefe mountains, and yet cannot walk abroad without the fight of fomething which I had never beheld before, or never heeded."

"The business of a poet, faid Imlac, is to examine, not the individual, but the fpecies; to remark general properties and large appearances; he does not number the ftreaks of the tulip, or describe the different fhades in the verdure of the foreft. He is to exhibit in his portraits of nature fuch prominent and striking features, as recall the original to every mind; and must neglect the minuter difcriminations, which one may have remarked, and another have neglected, for thofe characteristicks which are alike obvious to vigilance and careleffnefs.

"But the knowledge of nature is only half the task of a poet; he must be acquainted likewife with all the modes of life. His character requires that he estimate the happiness and mifery of every condition; observe the power of all the paffions in all their combinations, and trace the changes of the human mind as they are modified by various inftitutions and accidental influences of climate or custom, from the sprightliness of infancy to the de- | spondence

fpondence of decrepitude. He must divest himself of the prejudices of his age or country; he must confider right and wrong in their abstracted and invariable state; he must disregard prefent laws and opinions, and rife to general and tranfcendental truths, which will always be the fame: he must therefore content himself with the flow progrefs of his name; contemn the applause of his own time, and commit his claims to the juftice of pofterity. He must write as the interpreter of nature, and the legiflator of mankind, and confider himself as prefiding over the thoughts and manners of future generations; as a being superior to time and place.

"His labour is not yet at an end: he must know many languages and many fciences; and, that his style may be worthy of his thoughts, must, by inceffant practice, familiarize to himself every delicacy of speech and grace of harmony."

CHA P. XI.

IMLAC'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED. A HINT ON

IM

PILGRIMAGE.

MLAC now felt the enthusiastick fit, and was proceeding to aggrandize his own profeffion, when the prince cried out,/ Enough! thou haft convinced me, that no human being can ever be a poet. Proceed with thy narration."

"To be a poet, faid Imlac, is indeed very difficult." "So difficult, returned the prince, that I will at prefent hear no more of his labours. Tell me whither you went when you had feen Perfia."

<< From

"From Perfia, faid the poet, I travelled through Syria, and for three years refided in Palestine, where I conversed with great numbers of the northern and western nations of Europe; the nations which are now in poffeffion of all power and all knowledge; whofe armies are irresistible, and whofe fleets command the remoteft parts of the globe. When I compared these men with the natives of our own kingdom, and thofe that furround us, they ap peared almost another order of beings. In their countries it is difficult to wifh for any thing that may not be obtained: a thoufand arts, of which we never heard, are continually labouring for their convenience and pleasure; and whatever their own climate has denied them is fupplied by their com

merce."

By what means, faid the prince, are the Europeans thus powerful, or why, fince they can fo easily visit Afia and Africa for trade or conquest, cannot the Afiaticks and Africans invade their coafts, plant colonies in their ports, and give laws to their natural princes? The fame wind that carries them back would bring us thither."

They are more powerful, Sir, than we, answered Imlac, because they are wifer; knowledge will always predominate over ignorance, as man governs' the other animals. But why their knowledge is more than ours, I know not what reafon can be given, but the unfearchable will of the Supreme Being."

"When, faid the prince with a figh, fhall I be able to vifit Paleftine, and mingle with this mighty confluence of nations? Till that happy moment fhall VOL. XI.

D

arrive,

arrive, let me fill up the time with fuch reprefentations as thou canst give me. I am not ig

norant of the motive that affembles fuch numbers in that place, and cannot but confider it as the centre of wisdom and piety, to which the best and wifeft men of every land must be continually reforting."

"There are fome nations, faid Imlac, that fend few vifitants to Palestine; for many numerous and learned fects in Europe concur to cenfure pilgrimage as fuperftitious, or deride it as ridiculous."

"You know, faid the prince, how little my life has made me acquainted with diverfity of opinions: it will be too long to hear the arguments on both fides; you, that have confidered them, tell me the refult."

Pilgrimage, faid Imlac, like many other acts of piety, may be reasonable or superftitious, according to the principles upon which it is performed. Long journies in fearch of truth are not commanded. Truth, fuch as is neceffary to the regulation of life, is always found where it is honeftly fought. Change of place is no natural caufe of the increase of piety, for it inevitably produces diffipation of mind. Yet, fince men go every day to view the fields where great actions have been performed, and return with stronger impreffions of the event, curiofity of the fame kind may naturally difpofe us to view that country whence our religion had its beginning; and I believe no man furveys those awful fcenes without fome confirmation of holy refolutions. That the Supreme Being may be more eafily propitiated in one place than in another, is

the dream of idle superstition; but that fome places may operate upon our own minds in an uncommon manner, is an opinion which hourly experience will justify. He who fuppofes that his vices may be more fuccessfully combated in Paleftine, will,

perhaps, find himself mistaken, yet he may go thi

ther without folly: he who thinks they will be more freely pardoned, difhonours at once his reason and religion."

"Thefe, faid the prince, are European diftinctions. I will confider them another time. What have you found to be the effect of knowledge? Are those nations happier than we?"

"There is fo much infelicity, faid the poet, in the world, that scarce any man has leifure from his own diftreffes to estimate the comparative happiness of others. Knowledge is certainly one of the means of pleasure, as is confeffed by the natural defire which every mind feels of increasing its ideas. Ignorance is mere privation, by which nothing can be produced it is a vacuity in which the foul fits motionless and torpid for want of attraction; and, without knowing why, we always rejoice when we learn, and grieve when we forget. I am therefore inclined to conclude, that if nothing counteracts the natural confequence of learning, we grow more happy as our minds take a wider range.

"In enumerating the particular comforts of life we shall find many advantages on the fide of the Europeans. They cure wounds and difeafes with which we languish and perish. We suffer inclemencies of weather which they can obviate. They have engines for the dispatch of many laborious works,

D 2