Page:The Prince of Abissinia - Johnson (1759) - 01.djvu/161

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ABISSINIA.
151

countries, to an intimacy with the great officers, and frequent conversation with the Bassa himself.

He was at first inclined to believe, that the man must be pleased with his own condition, whom all approached with reverence, and heard with obedience, and who had the power to extend his edicts to a whole kingdom. "There can be no pleasure, said he, equal to that of feeling at once the joy of thousands all made happy by wise administration. Yet, since, by the law of subordination, this sublime delight can be in one nation but the lot of one, it is surely reasonable to think there is some satisfaction more popular and accessible, and that millions can hardly be subjected to the will of a single

L 4
man,