CHAPTER XIX--A GLIMPSE OF PASTORAL LIFE.
He was still eager upon the same inquiry; and having heard of a
hermit that lived near the lowest cataract of the Nile, and filled
the whole country with the fame of his sanctity, resolved to visit
his retreat, and inquire whether that felicity which public life
could not afford was to be found in solitude, and whether a man
whose age and virtue made him venerable could teach any peculiar
art of shunning evils or enduring them.
Imlac and the Princess agreed to accompany him, and after the
necessary preparations, they began their journey. Their way lay
through the fields, where shepherds tended their flocks and the
lambs were playing upon the pasture. "This," said the poet, "is
the life which has been often celebrated for its innocence and
quiet; let us pass the heat of the day among the shepherds' tents,
and know whether all our searches are not to terminate in pastoral
simplicity."
The proposal pleased them; and they induced the shepherds, by small
presents and familiar questions, to tell the opinion of their own
state.
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