had rather hear
thee than dispute. Continue thy narration."

"My father," proceeded Imlac, "originally intended that I should have no
other education, than such as might qualify me for commerce; and,
discovering in me great strength of memory, and quickness of
apprehension, often declared his hope, that I should be, some time, the
richest man in Abissinia."

"Why," said the prince, "did thy father desire the increase of his
wealth, when it was already greater than he durst discover or enjoy? I
am unwilling to doubt thy veracity, yet inconsistencies cannot both be
true."

"Inconsistencies," answered Imlac, "cannot both be right, but, imputed
to man, they may both be true. Yet diversity is not inconsistency. My
father might expect a time of greater security. However, some desire is
necessary to keep life in motion, and he, whose real wants are supplied,
must admit those of fancy."

"This," said the prince, "I can, in some measure, conceive. I repent
that I interrupted thee."

"With this hope," proceeded Imlac, "he sent me to school; but when I had
once found the delight of knowledge, and felt the pleasure of
intelligence and the pride of invention, I began, silently, to despise
riches, and determined to disappoint the purpose of my father, whose
grossness of conception raised my pity. I was twenty years old before
his tenderness would expose me to the fatigue of travel, in which time I
had been instructed, by successive masters, in all the literature of my
native country. As every hour taught me something new, I lived in a
continual course of gratifications; but, as I advanced towards manhood,
I lost much of the reverence with which I had been used to look on my
instructers; because, when the lesson was ended, I did not find them
wiser or better than common men.

"At length my father resolved to initiate me in commerce, and, opening
one of his subterranean treasuries, counted out ten thousand pieces of
gold. This, young man, said he, is the stock with which you must
negotiate. I began with less than the fifth part, and you see how
diligence and parsimony have increased it. This is your own, to waste or
to improve. If you squander it by negligence or caprice, you must wait
for my death, before you will be rich: if, in four years, you double
your stock, we will thenceforward let subordination cease, and live
together as friends and partners; for he shall always be equal with me,
who is equally skilled in the art of