hear thee than dispute. Continue thy narration."

"My father," proceeded Imlac, "originally intended that I should
have no other education than such as might qualify me for commerce;
and discovering in me great strength of memory and quickness of
apprehension, often declared his hope that I should be some time
the richest man in Abyssinia."

"Why," said the Prince, "did thy father desire the increase of his
wealth when it was already greater than he durst discover or enjoy?
I am unwilling to doubt thy veracity, yet inconsistencies cannot
both be true."

"Inconsistencies," answered Imlac, "cannot both be right; but,
imputed to man, they may both be true. Yet diversity is not
inconsistency. My father might expect a time of greater security.
However, some desire is necessary to keep life in motion; and he
whose real wants are supplied must admit those of fancy."

"This," said the Prince, "I can in some measure conceive. I repent
that I interrupted thee."

"With this hope," proceeded Imlac, "he sent me to school. But when
I had once found the delight of knowledge, and felt the pleasure of
intelligence and the pride of invention, I began silently to
despise riches, and determined to disappoint the purposes of my
father, whose grossness of conception raised my pity. I was twenty
years old before his tenderness would expose me to the fatigue of
travel; in which time I had been instructed, by successive masters,
in all the literature of my native country. As every hour taught