II: THE DISCONTENT OF RASSELAS IN THE HAPPY VALLEY 235 III. THE WANTS OF HIM THAT WANTS NOTHING 239 IV. THE PRINCE CONTINUES TO GRIEVE AND MUSE VI. A DISSERTATION ON THE ART OF FLYING • XIV. RASSELAS AND IMLAC RECEIVE AN UNEXPECTED VISIT 282 XV. THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS LEAVE THE VALLEY, AND XVI. THEY ENTER CAIRO, AND FIND EVERY MAN HAPPY 287 XVII. THE PRINCE ASSOCIATES WITH YOUNG MEN OF SPIRIT AND GAIETY 291 CHAPTER XXI. THE HAPPINESS OF SOLITUDE. THE HERMIT'S HISTORY 302 XLVII. THE PRINCE ENTERS, AND BRINGS A NEW TOPIC THE HISTORY OF RASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA. CHAPTER I. DESCRIPTION OF A PALACE IN A VALLEY. YE who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue 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 history of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia. Rasselas was the fourth son of the mighty emperor, in whose dominions the Father of Waters begins his course; whose bounty pours down the streams of plenty, and scatters over half the world the harvests of Egypt. According to the custom which has descended from age to age among the monarchs of the torrid zone, Rasselas was confined in a private palace with the other sons and daughters of Abyssinian royalty, till the order of succession should call him to the throne |