f which he purposed to solace himself with the contemplation,
if he should never be able to accomplish his flight; rejoicing that his
endeavours, though yet unsuccessful, had supplied him with a source of
inexhaustible inquiry.

But his original curiosity was not yet abated; he resolved to obtain
some knowledge of the ways of men. His wish still continued, but his
hope grew less. He ceased to survey any longer the walls of his prison,
and spared to search, by new toils, for interstices which he knew could
not be found; yet determined to keep his design always in view, and lay
hold on any expedient that time should offer.

CHAP. VI.

A DISSERTATION ON THE ART OF FLYING.

Among the artists that had been allured into the happy valley, to labour
for the accommodation and pleasure of its inhabitants, was a man eminent
for his knowledge of the mechanick powers, who had contrived many
engines, both of use and recreation. By a wheel, which the stream
turned, he forced the water into a tower, whence it was distributed to
all the apartments of the palace. He erected a pavilion in the garden,
around which he kept the air always cool by artificial showers. One of
the groves, appropriated to the ladies, was ventilated by fans, to which
the rivulet, that ran through it, gave a constant motion; and
instruments of soft musick were placed at proper distances, of which
some played by the impulse of the wind, and some by the power of the
stream.

This artist was, sometimes, visited by Rasselas, who was pleased with
every kind of knowledge, imagining that the time would come, when all
his acquisitions should be of use to him in the open world. He came one
day to amuse himself in his usual manner, and found the master busy in
building a sailing chariot: he saw that the design was practicable upon
a level surface, and, with expressions of great esteem, solicited its
completion. The workman was pleased to find himself so much regarded by
the prince, and resolved to gain yet higher honours. "Sir," said he,
"you have seen but a small part of what the mechanick sciences can
perform. I have been long of opinion, that instead of the tardy
conveyance of ships and chariots, man might use the swifter migration of
wings; that the fields of air are open to knowledge, and that only
ignorance and idleness need crawl upon the ground."

This hint rekindled the prince's desire of passing the mountains: having
seen what the mechanist had already p