Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1886-09-10
Dome Department.
HISTORY OF RASSELAS,
PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA.
CHAPTER NL1N.

CHAPTER NLlN.
The dangerous prerdlence Of imagination.
''Disorders of intellect" answered
! lmlac. "happen much more often than
superficial observers will easily believe.
| Perhaps. if we speak with rigorous eX-
actnc>s. no human mind is in its right
state. There is no man whose imagina-
| tiun does not sometimes predominant
/ over his reason. who can regulate his
attention wholly by his will. and whose
ideas will come and go at his command.
! No man will be found in whose mind airy
notions do not sometimes tvrannize. and
force him to hope or fear beyond the
! limits of sober probability. All power of
| fancy over reason is degree of insanity;
! hut while this power is such as we con-
troll and repress. it is not visible to others
nor considered as any deprivation of the
mental faculties. 1t is not pronounced
madness but when it becomes ungovern-
able. and apparently influences speech or
action.
$50 indulge the power of fiction. and
send imagination out upon the wing, Is
often the sport of those who delight too
much in silent speculation. When we
are alone we are not always busy: the
labor of eXcOgitation is to violent too last
long: the arior OF inquiry will sometimes
give way to idleness or safety. He who
has nothing external that can divert him
must find pleasure in his own thoughts.
and must conceive himself what he is
not: for who is pleased with what he is !:
He then eXpatiates in boundlesS futurity,
and cull> from all imaginable conditions
that which for the present moment he
should most desire. amuSes his desires
with impossible eniUyments. and conferS
upon his pride unattainable dominion.
The mind dances from scene to scene.
unite- all pleasures in all combinations
and riots in delights which nature and
fortune. with all their bounty. cannot be
stow.
"ln time some particular train of ideas
fixes the attention: all other intellectual
Qualifications are rejected: the mind. in
WEAKNESS or leisure, recurS constantly to
the favorite conception. and fea>ts on
the luscious falsehood whenever she j.
offended with the bitterness of truth.
BY degrees the reign of fancy is confirm
ed: she grows first imperous. and in
time deSpotic. Then tictionS begin to OPP
crate rs realities. false opinions fasten
upon the mind. and life passes in dreams
of rapture or of anguish.
This. sir. is one of the dangers of sol
itude. which the hermit has confessed
not always to promote goodness. and the
astronomers misery has proved to be
not always propitious to wisdom.
II will no more" said the favorite,
''imagine myself the queen of Aby>sinia.
have often spent the hours. which the
princess gave to my own disposal. in
adjusting ceremonies and regulating the
court: have repres>ed the pride of the
powerful, and granted the petitions of
the poor: | have built new palaces in
more happy situations. planted groves
upon the tops of mountains, and have
eXulted in the beneticence of royalty.
till. when the princess entered. had
almost forgotten 70 bow down before
her"
And l." said the princess. Twill not
! allow myself any more to play the shep-
herdess in my waking dreams. have
often sOothed my thoughts with the
quiet and innocence of pastoral employ
ments. till have, in my chamber. heard
the winds whistle and the sheep bleat
sometimes freed the lamb entangled IN
the thicket, and sometimes with my
crook encountered the wolf. | have 4
dress like that of the village maids, which
| put on to help my imagination, and 1
pipe. on which play softly, and suppose
myself followed by my tlockS."
, II will confess" said the prince. ''al
indulgence of fantastic delight more
i dangerous than yours. | have frequent
ly endeavored to image the possibility o
Il perfect government. by which al
wrong should be restrained, all vice re
formed. aed all the subjects preserved il
tranquility and innocence. Thi
p thought produced innumerabe scheme
t of reformation, and dictated many use
ful regulations and salutary edicts. Th
has been the sport, and sometimes tn
labor, of my solitude: and | start. whel
- | think with how little anguish One
supposed the death of my father and IN!
. brothers,
|. "Such," says lmlac, "are the effect o
visionary schemes. When we first form
them we know them to be absurd, bu
II familiarize them by degrees, and in tim
!! lose sight of their folly"
~ ~ CHAPTER NLV.