OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 507

 

 

cied felicity which he enjoyed in the full exercise of all those vices, he
said, he was at leisure to look upon the dark side of them, where he
found all manner of deformity; and was now convinced, that virtue
only makes a man truly wise, rich, and great, and preserves him in
the way to a superior happiness in a future state; and in this, he said,
they were more happy in their banishment than all their enemies
were, who had the full possession of all the wealth and power that they
(the banished) had left behind them.

Nor, sir, said he, do I bring my mind to this politically, by the
necessity of my circumstances, which some call miserable; but if I
know any thing of myself, I would not go back, no, not though my
master, the Czar, should call me, and offer to reinstate me in all my
former grandeur; I say, I would no more go back to it, than I believe
my soul when it shall be delivered from this prison of the body, and
has had a taste of the glorious state beyond life, would come back to
the jail of flesh and blood it is now enclosed in, and leave heaven, to
' deal in the dirt and grime of human affairs.

He spake this with so much warmth in his temper, so much earnest-
ness and motion of his spirits, which were apparent in his countenance,
that it was evident it was the true sense of his soul; and indeed there
was no room to doubt his sincerity.

I told him, I once thought myself a kind of a monarch in my old sta-
tion, of which I had given him an account, but that I thought he was:
not a monarch only, but a great conqueror; for- he that has got a vic-
tory over his own exorbitant desires, and has the absolute dominion
over himself, and whose reason entirely governs his will, is certainly
greater than he that conquers a city. ‘But, my lord,” said I, “shall
I take the liberty to ask you a question ?’”—“ With all my heart,’ said
he.—‘‘If the door of your liberty was opened,” said I, ‘would not
you take hold of it to deliver yourself from this exile?”

‘“‘ Hold,” said he, “your question is subtle, and requires some serious
just distinctions to give it a sincere answer; and I’ll give it you from
the bottom of my heart. Nothing that I know of in this world would
move me to deliver myself from the state of banishment, except these
two: first, the enjoyment of my relations; and, secondly, a little
warmer climate. But I protest to you, that to go back to the pomp
of the court, the glory, the power, the hurry of a minister of state ;
the wealth, the gaiety, and the pleasures, that is to say, follies of a
courtier ; if my master should send me word this moment, that he
‘restores me to all he banished me from, I protest, if I know myself at
all, I would not leave this wilderness, these deserts, and these fiuzen
lakes, f-v the palace of Moscow.”