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.”