Some Samuel Johnson Typed up by Me

This is from Samuel Johnson's Rasselas. Rasselas is literally "restless" spelled differently. It was written after Johnson's mother died as a direct response to her death. The book was actually and ostensibly written as a way to cover the costs of her funeral.

I have recently taken to Johnson because he was a great hero. I know more about his biography than I do about his writing, which is why I'm writing this here.


CHAPTER XI from Rasselas (63 in the 1976 Penguin addition with the Enright introduction)

Imlac's narrative continued. A hint on pilgrammageImlac now felt the enthusiastic fit, and was proceeding to aggrandize his own profession, when the prince cried out, 'Engouh! trhou hast convinced me, that no human being can ever be a poet. Proceed with thy narration.'
'To be a poet, said Imlac, is indeed very difficult.' 'So difficult, returned teh prince, that I will at present hear no more of this labours. Tell me whither you went when you had sen Persia.'
'From Persia, said teh poet, I travelled through Syria, and for three years resided in Palestine, where I conversed with great numbers of the northern and western nations of Europe; the nations which are now in possession of all power and all knowledge; whose armies are irresistible, and whose fleets command the remotest parts of the globe. When I compared these men with the natives of our own kingdom, and those that surround us, they appeared almost another order of beings. In their countries it is difficult to wish for any thing that may not be obtained.L: a thousand arts, of which we never heard, are continually labouring for their convenience and pleasure; and whatever their own climate has denied them is supplied by their commerce.'
'By what means, said the prince, are the Europeans thus powerful? or why, since they can so easily visit Asia and Africa for trade or conquest, cannot the Asiaticks and Africans invade their coasts, plant colonies in their ports and give laws to their natural princes? The same wind that carries them back would bring us thither.'
"They are more powerful, Sir, than we, answered Imlac, because they are wiser; knowledge always predominate over ignorance, as man governs the other animals. But why their knowledge is more than ours, I know not what reason can be given, but the unsearchable will of the Supreme Being.'
When, said the prince with a sigh, shall I be able to visit Palestine, and mingle with this mighty confluence of nations? Till that happy moment shall arrive, let me fill up the time with such representations as thou canst give me. I am not ignorant of the motive that assembles such numbers in that place, and cannot but consider it as the center of wisdom and piety, tow which the best and wisest man of every land must be continually resorting.'
'There are some nations, said Imlac, that send few visitants to Palestine; for many numerous and learned sects in Europe, concur to censure pilgrimage as superstitious, or deride it as ridiculous.'
'You konw, said the prince, how little my luife has made me aquainted with the diversity of opinions: it will be too long to hear the arguments on both sides; you, that have considered them, thell me the result.'
'Pilgrimage, said Imlac, like many other acts of piety may be reasonable or superstitious, acccording to the principles upon which it is performed,. long journeys in search of truth are not commanded. Truth, such as is necessary to the regulation of life, is always found where it is honestly sought. Change of place is no natural cause of the incerease of piety, for it inevitably produces dissipation of mind. Yet, since men go every day to view the fields where great actions have been performed, and return with stronger impressions of the event, curiosity of the same kind may naturally dispose us to view that country whence our religion had its beginning; and I believe no man surveys those awful scenes without some confirmation of holy resolutions. that the Supreme Being may be more easily propitiated in one place than in another, is the dream of idle superstition; but that some places may operate upon our owHe who supposes that his vices may be more successfully combatedin Palestine, will, perhaps, find himself mistaken, yet he may go thither without follyL: he who thinks they will be more freely pardoned, in minds in an uncommon manner, is an opinion which hourly experience will justify. He who supposes that his vices may be more successfully combated in Palestine, will, perhaps, find himself mistaken, yet he may go thither without folly: he who thinks they will be more freely pardoned, dishounours at once his reason and religion.'
'These, said the prince, are European distinctions. I will conside4r them another time. What have you found to be the effect of knowledge? Are those nations happier than we?'
'There is so much infelicity, said the poet, in the world, that scarce any man has leisure from his own distresses to estimate the comparative happiness of others. Knowledge is certainly one of the means of pleasure, as is confessed by the natural desire which every mind feels of increasing its ideas. Ignorance is mere privation, by which nothing can be produced: it is a vacuity in which the soul sits motionaless and torpid for want of attaraction; and, without knowing why, we always rejoice when we learn, and grive when we forget. I am therefore inclined to conclude, that, if nothing counteracts the natural consequence of learning, we grow more happy as our minds take a wider range.
'In enumerating the particular comfrots of life we shall find many advantages on the side of the Europeans. They cure wonds and diseases with which we languish and perish. We suffer inclemencies of weather which they can obcviate. they have engines for the despatch of many laborious works, which we must perform by manual industry. there is such comunication between distant places, that one friend can hardly be said to be absent from another. their policy removes all publick inconveniencies: they have roads cut through their mountains, and bridges laid upon their rivers. And, if we descend to the privacies of life, their habitations are more commodious, and their possessions are more secure.'
'They are surely happy, said the prince, who have all these conveniencies, of which I envy none so much as tehir facility with whcih separated friends interchange their thoughts.'
'The Europeans, answered Imlac, are less unhappy than we, but they are not happy. Human life is every where a state toin which much is to be endured, and little to be enjoyed.'