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y drinking at the fountain  of knowledge; to quench the thirst of curiosity。
〃As I was supposed to trade without connection with my father; it  was easy for me to become acquainted with the master of a ship; and  procure a passage to some other country。  I had no motives of  choice to regulate my voyage。  It was sufficient for me that;  wherever I wandered; I should see a country which I had not seen  before。  I therefore entered a ship bound for Surat; having left a  letter for my father declaring my intention。〃

CHAPTER IX … THE HISTORY OF IMLAC (CONTINUED)。

〃WHEN I first entered upon the world of waters; and lost sight of  land; I looked round about me in pleasing terror; and thinking my  soul enlarged by the boundless prospect; imagined that I could gaze  around me for ever without satiety; but in a short time I grew  weary of looking on barren uniformity; where I could only see again  what I had already seen。  I then descended into the ship; and  doubted for awhile whether all my future pleasures would not end;  like this; in disgust and disappointment。  'Yet surely;' said I;  'the ocean and the land are very different。  The only variety of  water is rest and motion。  But the earth has mountains and valleys;  deserts and cities; it is inhabited by men of different customs and  contrary opinions; and I may hope to find variety in life; though I  should miss it in nature。'
〃With this thought I quieted my mind; and amused myself during the  voyage; sometimes by learning from the sailors the art of  navigation; which I have never practised; and sometimes by forming  schemes for my conduct in different situations; in not one of which  I have been ever placed。
〃I was almost weary of my naval amusements when we safely landed at  Surat。  I secured my money and; purchasing some commodities for  show; joined myself to a caravan that was passing into the inland  country。  My companions; for some reason or other; conjecturing  that I was rich; and; by my inquiries and admiration; finding that  I was ignorant; considered me as a novice whom they had a right to  cheat; and who was to learn; at the usual expense; the art of  fraud。  They exposed me to the theft of servants and the exaction  of officers; and saw me plundered upon false pretences; without any  advantage to themselves but that of rejoicing in the superiority of  their own knowledge。〃
〃Stop a moment;〃 said the Prince; 〃is there such depravity in man  as that he should injure another without benefit to himself?  I can  easily conceive that all are pleased with superiority; but your  ignorance was merely accidental; which; being neither your crime  nor your folly; could afford them no reason to applaud themselves;  and the knowledge which they had; and which you wanted; they might  as effectually have shown by warning as betraying you。〃
〃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。〃
〃Proceed;〃 said the Prince; 〃I doubt not of the facts which you  relate; but imagine that you impute them to mistaken motives。〃
〃In this company;〃 said Imlac; 〃I arrived at Agra; the capital of  Hindostan; the city in which the Great Mogul commonly resides。  I  applied myself to the language of the country; and in a few months  was able to converse with the learned men; some of whom I found  morose and reserved; and others easy and communicative; some were  unwilling to teach another what they had with difficulty learned  themselves; and some showed that the end of their studies was to  gain the dignity of instructing。
〃To the tutor of the young princes I recommended myself so much  that I was presented to the Emperor as a man of uncommon knowledge。   The Emperor asked me many questions concerning my country and my  travels; and though I cannot now recollect anything that he uttered  above the power of a common man; he dismissed me astonished at his  wisdom and enamoured of his goodness。
〃My credit was now so high that the merchants with whom I had  travelled applied to me for recommendations to the ladies of the  Court。  I was surprised at their confidence of solicitation and  greatly reproached them with their practices on the road。  They  heard me with cold indifference; and showed no tokens of shame or  sorrow。
〃They then urged their request with the offer of a bribe; but what  I would not do for kindness I would not do for money; and refused  them; not because they had injured me; but because I would not  enable them to injure others; for I knew they would have made use  of my credit to cheat those who should buy their wares。
〃Having resided at Agra till there was no more to be learned; I  travelled into Persia; where I saw many remains of ancient  magnificence and observed many new accommodations of life。  The  Persians are a nation eminently social; and their assemblies  afforded me daily opportunities of remarking characters and  manners; and of tracing human nature through all its variations。
〃From Persia I passed into Arabia; where I saw a nation pastoral  and warlike; who lived without any settled habitation; whose wealth  is their flocks and herds; and who have carried on through ages an  hereditary war with mankind; though they neither covet nor envy  their possessions。〃

CHAPTER X … IMLAC'S HISTORY (CONTINUED) … A DISSERTATION UPON  POETRY。

〃WHEREVER I went I found that poetry was considered as the highest  learning; and regarded with a veneration somewhat approaching to  that which man would pay to angelic nature。  And yet it fills me  with wonder that in almost all countries the most ancient poets are  considered as the best; whether it be that every other kind of  knowledge is an acquisition greatly attained; and poetry is a gift  conferred at once; or that the first poetry of every nation  surprised them as a novelty; and retained the credit by consent  which it received by accident at first; or whether; as the province  of poetry is to describe nature and passion; which are always the  same; the first writers took possession of the most striking  objects for description and the most probable occurrences for  fiction; and left nothing to those that followed them but  transcription of the same events and new combinations of the same  images。  Whatever be the reason; it is commonly observed that the  early writers are in possession of nature; and their followers of  art; that the first excel in strength and invention; and the latter  in elegance and refinement。
〃I was desirous to add my name to this illustrious fraternity。  I  read all the poets of Persia and Arabia; and was able to repeat by  memory the volumes that are suspended in the mosque of Mecca。  But  I soon found that no man was ever great by imitations。  My desire  of excellence impelled me to transfer my attention to nature and to  life。  Nature was to be my subject; and men to be my auditors。  I  could never describe what I had not seen。  I could not hope to move  those with delight or terror whose interests and opinions I did not  understand。
Being now resolved to be a poet; I saw everything with a new  purpose; my sphere of attention was suddenly magnified; no kind of  knowledge was to be overlooked。  I ranged mountains and deserts for  images and resemblances; and pictured upon my mind every tree of  the forest and flower of the valley。  I observed with equal care  the crags of the rock and the pinnacles of the palace。  Sometimes I  wandered along the mazes of the rivulet; and sometimes watched the  changes of the summer clouds。  To a poet nothing can be useless。   Whatever is beautiful and whatever is dreadful must be familiar to  his imagination; he must be conversant with all that is awfully  vast or elegantly little。  The plants of the garden; the animals of  the wood; the minerals of the earth; and meteors of the sky; must  all concur to store his mind with inexhaustible variety; for every  idea is useful for the enforcement or decoration of moral or  religious truth; and he who knows most will have most power of  diversifying his scenes and of gratifying his reader with remote  allusions and unexpected instruction。
〃All the appearances of nature I was therefore careful to study;  and every country which I have surveyed has contributed something  to my poetical powers。〃
〃In so wide a survey;〃 said the Prince; 〃you must surely have left  much unobserved。  I have lived till now within the circuit of the  mountains; and yet cannot walk abroad without the sight of  something which I had never beheld before; or never heeded。〃
〃This business of a poet;〃 said Imlac; 〃is to examine; not the  individual; but the species; to remark general properties and large  appearances。  He does not number the streaks of the tulip; or  describe the different shades of the verdure of the forest。  He is  to exhibit in his portraits of nature such prominent and striking  features as recall the original to every mind; and must neglect the  minuter discriminations; which one may have remarked and another  have neglected; for those characteristics which are alike obviou

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