uld be wished. Perhaps there is a time, when marriage might unite
them, a time neither too early for the father, nor too late for the
husband."

"Every hour," answered the princess, "confirms my prejudice in favour of
the position, so often uttered by the mouth of Imlac: 'That nature sets
her gifts on the right hand and on the left.' Those conditions, which
flatter hope and attract desire, are so constituted, that, as we
approach one, we recede from another. There are goods so opposed, that
we cannot seize both, but, by too much prudence, may pass between them,
at too great a distance to reach either. This is often the fate of long
consideration; he does nothing, who endeavours to do more than is
allowed to humanity. Flatter not yourself with contrarieties of
pleasure. Of the blessings set before you make your choice, and be
content. No man can taste the fruits of autumn, while he is delighting
his scent with the flowers of the spring; no man can, at the same time,
fill his cup from the source and from the mouth of the Nile."

CHAP. XXX.

IMLAC ENTERS, AND CHANGES THE CONVERSATION.

Here Imlac entered, and interrupted them. "Imlac," said Rasselas, "I
have been taking from the princess the dismal history of private life,
and am almost discouraged from further search."

"It seems to me," said Imlac, "that, while you are making the choice of
life, you neglect to live. You wander about a single city, which,
however large and diversified, can now afford few novelties, and forget
that you are in a country, famous among the earliest monarchies for the
power and wisdom of its inhabitants; a country, where the sciences first
dawned that illuminate the world, and beyond which the arts cannot be
traced of civil society or domestick life.

"The old Egyptians have left behind them monuments of industry and
power, before which all European magnificence is confessed to fade away.
The ruins of their architecture are the schools of modern builders; and,
from the wonders which time has spared, we may conjecture, though
uncertainly, what it has destroyed."

"My curiosity," said Rasselas, "does not very strongly lead me to survey
piles of stone, or mounds of earth; my business is with man. I came
hither not to measure fragments of temples, or trace choked aqueducts,
but to look upon the various scenes of the present world."

"The things that are now before us," said the princess, "require
attention, and deserve it. What have I to