The Prince of Abissinia: A Tale |
Common terms and phrases
Abiffinia aftronomer againſt amuſe anſwered Arab Baffa becauſe buſineſs Cairo caufe cauſe CHAP cloſe confidered converfation courſe curiofity cuſtom defire delighted diſcover eafily eſcape evil fage faid Imlac faid Nekayah faid Raffelas faid the prince fame favourite fearch fecured feen fhall fhort fide filent fince firſt folitude fome fomething fometimes foon forrow ftate ftill fuch fuffer fupplied fuppofe furely happineſs happy happy valley herſelf himſelf hope houſe increaſe itſelf knowledge labour laft laſt learning leaſt lefs loft mifery mind moſt mountains muft muſt myſelf nature neceffary never Nile obferved paffed paffions Pekuah perfue pleaſed pleaſure preſent princefs promiſed purpoſe pyramid queſtion raiſed reaſon refolved reft refuſed reſt ſaid ſchemes ſee ſeemed ſhall ſhe ſhould ſome ſpent ſtate ſtay ſtream themſelves theſe thofe thoſe thought thouſand tion uſe valley vifit weary whofe whoſe wiſdom wiſh yourſelf СНАР
Popular passages
Page 64 - And yet it fills me with wonder, that, in almost all countries, the most ancient poets are considered as the best : whether it be that every other kind of knowledge is an acquisition gradually attained, and poetry is a gift conferred at once ; or that the first poetry of every nation surprised them as a novelty, and retained the credit by consent which it received by accident at first : or whether, as the province of poetry is to describe Nature and Passion...
Page 8 - They then closed up the opening with marble, which was never to be removed but in the utmost exigencies of the kingdom ; and recorded their accumulations in a book, which was itself concealed in a tower, not entered but by the emperor, attended by the prince who stood next in succession.
Page 13 - I am hungry and thirsty like him, but when thirst and hunger cease I am not at rest : I am, like him, pained with want, but am not, like him, satisfied with fulness. The intermediate hours are tedious and gloomy ; I long again to be hungry that I may again quicken my attention.
Page 115 - He fixed his eye upon a sage raised above the rest, who discoursed with great energy on the government of the passions. His look was venerable, his action graceful, his pronunciation clear, and his diction elegant.
Page 4 - The sides of the mountains were covered with trees; the banks of the brooks were diversified with flowers; every blast shook spices from the rocks and every month dropped fruits upon the ground.
Page 38 - But the exercise of swimming, said the prince, is very laborious : the strongest limbs are soon wearied. I am afraid the act of flying will be yet more violent ; and wings will be of no great use, unless we can fly further than we can swim.
Page 133 - My fancy riots in scenes of folly, and I lament that I have lost so much, and have gained so little. In solitude, if I escape the example of bad men, I want likewise the counsel and conversation of the good.
Page 67 - To a poet nothing can be useless. Whatever is beautiful, and whatever is dreadful, must be familiar to his imagination : he must be conversant with all that is awfully vast or elegantly little. The plants of the garden, the animals of the wood, the minerals of the earth, and meteors of the sky, must all concur to store his mind with inexhaustible variety...
Page 66 - Being now resolved to be a poet, I saw every thing with a new purpose ; my sphere of attention was suddenly magnified ; no kind of knowledge was to be overlooked. I ranged mountains and deserts for images and resemblances, and pictured upon my mind every tree of the forest and flower of the valley. I observed with equal care the crags of the rock and the pinnacles of the palace. Sometimes I wandered along the mazes of the rivulet, and sometimes watched the changes of the summer clouds.
Page 38 - The labour of rising from the ground," said the artist, " will be great, as we see it in the heavier domestic fowls ; but as we mount higher, the earth's attraction and the body's gravity will be gradually diminished, till we shall arrive at a region where the man will float in the air without any tendency to fall ; no care will then be necessary but to move forwards, which the gentlest impulse will effect.