sons of the
different forms of life, which they had observed, and with various
schemes of happiness, which each of them had formed.

Pekuah was never so much charmed with any place as the convent of St.
Anthony, where the Arab restored her to the princess, and wished only to
fill it with pious maidens, and to be made prioress of the order: she
was weary of expectation and disgust, and would gladly be fixed in some
unvariable state.

The princess thought, that, of all sublunary things, knowledge was the
best: she desired, first, to learn all sciences, and then purposed to
found a college of learned women, in which she would preside; that, by
conversing with the old, and educating the young, she might divide her
time between the acquisition and communication of wisdom, and raise up,
fur the next age, models of prudence, and patterns of piety.

The prince desired a little kingdom, in which he might administer
justice in his own person, and see all the parts of government with his
own eyes; but he could never fix the limits of his dominion, and was
always adding to the number of his subjects.

Imlac and the astronomer were contented to be driven along the stream of
life, without directing their course to any particular port. Of these
wishes, that they had formed, they well knew that none could be
obtained. They deliberated awhile what was to be done, and resolved,
when the inundation should cease, to return to Abissinia.

LETTERS.

I.--To MR. JAMES ELPHINSTON.

Sept. 25th, 1750.

DEAR SIR,--You have, as I find by every kind of evidence, lost an
excellent mother; and I hope you will not think me incapable of
partaking of your grief. I have a mother, now eighty-two years of age,
whom, therefore, I must soon lose, unless it please God that she rather
should mourn for me. I read the letters in which you relate your
mother's death to Mrs. Strahan, and think I do myself honour, when I
tell you that I read them with tears; but tears are neither to you, nor
to me, of any farther use, when once the tribute of nature has been
paid. The business of life summons us away from useless grief, and calls
us to the exercise of those virtues, of which we are lamenting our
deprivation.

The greatest benefit which one friend can confer upon another, is to
guard and excite and elevate his virtues. This your mother will still
perform, if you diligently preserve the memory of her life, and of her
death: a life, so far as I can