comforts but the esteem of wise men and the means of doing good.
Let us therefore stop while to stop is in our power: let us live
as men who are some time to grow old, and to whom it will be the
most dreadful of all evils to count their past years by follies,
and to be reminded of their former luxuriance of health only by the
maladies which riot has produced."

They stared awhile in silence one upon another, and at last drove
him away by a general chorus of continued laughter.

The consciousness that his sentiments were just and his intention
kind was scarcely sufficient to support him against the horror of
derision. But he recovered his tranquillity and pursued his
search.



CHAPTER XVIII--THE PRINCE FINDS A WISE AND HAPPY MAN.



As he was one day walking in the street he saw a spacious building
which all were by the open doors invited to enter. He followed the
stream of people, and found it a hall or school of declamation, in
which professors read lectures to their auditory. He fixed his eye
upon a sage raised above the rest, who discoursed with great energy
on the government of the passions. His look was venerable, his
action graceful, his pronunciation clear, and his diction elegant.
He showed with great strength of sentiment and variety of
illustration that human nature is degraded and debased when the