Samuel Johnson 
Rasselas Prince of Abyssinia [PDF ebook] 

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Than I have Yet, whatever additional shade his own particular sensations’may have thrown on his representation of life, attentive observa tion and close inquiry have convinced me that there is too much reality in the gloomy picture. The truth, however, is, that we judge of the happiness and misery of life differently at dif ferent times, according to the state of our changeable frame. I always remember a re mark made to me by aturkish lady educated in France: ‘ma foi, Monsieur, moire bonheur depend de la fagon que notre sang circule.’ This have I learnt from a pretty hard course of experience, and would, from sincere benevo lence, impress upon all who honor this book with a perusal, that, until a steady conviction is obtained, that the present life is an imperfect state, and only a passage to a better, if we com ply with the divine scheme of progressive im provement; and also that it is a part of the mysterious plan of Providence, that intellectual beings must ‘be made perfect through suffer ing;’ there will be a continual recurrence of disappointment and uneasiness. But if we walk.