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gentleman looking a little abashed, I turned my discourse to another subject: but thinking what had passed was of some consequence, I resolved to send a hasty sketch of it to you; and, with your approbation, I shall henceforward take the liberty of becoming your correspondent; for since it is in a manner impossible to be heard in a play-house, I have a mind to try what hope there is from the press; being very sin

cerely,

Sir,

Your humble Servant,

THE TRUNK-MAKER.

UNIVERSAL SPECTATOR, vol. iii. p. 282.

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He who hath lost his integrity hath nothing farther to lose:
Reputation is more valuable to man than wealth.

CHA-ABBAS, king of Persia, making a progress through his dominions, withdrew himself one day from his court, led by his curiosity to see the simple natural life of the peasants; taking with him only one of his courtiers." I have never yet had an opportunity (says the king to him) to observe the manners of men in a true light: what I have hitherto seen has been all disguise; the simplicity of nature has been hidden from me: therefore I have resolved to look into the country, and to consider those people whom we despise, notwithstanding they are the foundation and support of society. I am weary of being perpetually surrounded by courtiers, who watch my looks and my words to ensnare me with flattery. Be not surprized then that I have determined to lay aside the king for a time, that I may converse, freely and unknown, with husbandmen and shepherds.

He passed through several villages with his confident, and in every place as he passed he found the people dancing. His heart was ravished with delight, upon discovering the cheap, innocent, peaceable pleasures, which are not to be found but at a distance from courts. He went into a hut to refresh himself; and, as through fasting and exercise his appetite was keen, he made a delicious repast, and relished the coarse fare that was laid before him beyond the delicacies of his own table.

From the little green hut, Cha-Abbas wandered on with his companion, till he came to a meadow richly embroidered with flowers, and shaded on every side with spreading trees. He had not entered far into this luxuriant scene, when he heard the murmur of a brook; and, advancing forward, he perceived a young shepherd sitting on the bank of a stream, under the cool shade of a beech-tree, and playing on his pipe, while his flock fed along the fresh margin. The king came up to him, and, attentively eyeing him, was surprised at the sweetness and ingenuity of his countenance, tempered with a graceful simplicity. The mean apparel of the youth did not abate his comeliness, and the king took him for some young nobleman in disguise. Hereupon the shepherd informed him,

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that his father and his mother lived in the next village, and that his name was Alibez.

The more Cha-Abbas discoursed with him, the more he admired the modesty and the justness of his answers. His eyes were lively without the least fierceness, his voice was sweet and insinuating, and his features were neither harsh nor vulgar, nor yet soft and effeminate. The shepherd, who was not above sixteen years of age, was unconscious of his own advantageous form, and suspected not that his person, his speech, and his thoughts, were extraordinary, or peculiar more to him than to all the other swains of the village. But nature had been liberal to him, and had implanted that force of reason in his mind, which others acquire by education.

The king was charmed with conversing familiarly with him, and often smiled at the natural expressions of the youth, whose answers were unconstrained, his lips speaking the language of his heart; a style of conversation which, till then, the king had never heard. Wherefore he made a sign to the courtier, his companion, not to discover him; fearing that Alibez would immediately lose all his frankness and his natural graces, if he knew before whom he spoke.

After a long conversation," I am at last convinced (said the prince to his confident) that

the perfections of nature are not confined to birth and grandeur, and that the monarch is not always supérior to the peasant. Never was the son of a king better born than this young shepherd. I should think myself happy in a son, whose beauty, whose sense, and whose virtues, were equal to the rare endowments I have observed in this youth. If I judge aright, he would excel in any condition of life; and if proper care be taken of his education, he will undoubtedly one day prove an extraordinary man: therefore I am determined to rescue him from obscurity, and to educate him in my court."

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Hereupon the king disclosed himself to Alibez; whose countenance was agreeably varied with confusion, with surprize, and with joy. His parents consenting, Cha-Abbas took the lovely youth into his care, and returned to his palace. Alibez was taught to read and to write, to dance and to sing; and had masters appointed to instruct him in all the arts and sciences which embellish and improve the understanding. He was at first dazzled with the splendour of the court, and the great change in his fortune made some small alteration in his mind. His youth and his beauty both conspired to incline his heart a little to vanity. The sheep

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