them, not because they had injured me, but because I would not
enable them to injure others; for I knew they would have made use
of my credit to cheat those who should buy their wares.

"Having resided at Agra till there was no more to be learned, I
travelled into Persia, where I saw many remains of ancient
magnificence and observed many new accommodations of life. The
Persians are a nation eminently social, and their assemblies
afforded me daily opportunities of remarking characters and
manners, and of tracing human nature through all its variations.

"From Persia I passed into Arabia, where I saw a nation pastoral
and warlike, who lived without any settled habitation, whose wealth
is their flocks and herds, and who have carried on through ages an
hereditary war with mankind, though they neither covet nor envy
their possessions."



CHAPTER X--IMLAC'S HISTORY (continued)--A DISSERTATION UPON POETRY.



"Wherever I went I found that poetry was considered as the highest
learning, and regarded with a veneration somewhat approaching to
that which man would pay to angelic nature. And yet it fills me
with wonder that in almost all countries the most ancient poets are
considered as the best; whether it be that every other kind of
knowledge is an acquisition greatly attained, and poetry is a gift
conferred at once; or that the first poetry of every nation