The Prince of Abissinia ["Rasselas"]
By
Samuel Johnson
Transcription, correction, editorial commentary, and markup by Students and Staff at Texas A&M University and the University of Virginia
AbissiniaThe area of what is now Ethiopia. Johnson had long been interested in that part of Africa. His first published book, A Voyage to Abyssinia, published in 1735, was a loose translation of a seventeenth-century travel narrative by the Portuguese Jesuit Jerome Lobo. workThat is, whether the tunnel was a natural formation or made by people.daintiesdelicacies; treatssingularitytendency towards seclusionlutanistlute-playerdiseaseIn the 1755 edition of his Dictionary of the English Language, Samuel Johnson defines "disease" as "Distemper; malady; sickness; morbid state.">kidsbaby goatsrepastTime for supper, sleep, and other refreshment.feignedimaginedpartThe language here is confusing. Earlier, Johnson writes that Rasselas was twenty-six. After spending twenty months musing, he would have to be at least twenty-seven by this point. Is Rasselas saying that he became cognizant of his thoughts at age three, or is this just an error on Johnson's part?kidThat is, the baby goats have left their mothers and learned to climb the mountains for food.torridthe tropicsredThe Red Sea is the body of water that divides the Arabian Peninsula from the Horn of Africa. Modern nations that border the Red Sea include Sudan, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Jordan.rapacityJohnson defines "rapacity" as "Addictiveness to plunder; exercise of plunder; ravenousness."grossnessignoranceSuratA district within the state of Gujarat in India. This state is on the western coast of India so Imlac would have crossed the Arabian Sea to travel there. In the eighteenth century, Surat was a major sea port.AgraThe city of Agra was the capital of the Mughul empire that dominated the Indian subcontinent from the early 1500s until the eighteenth century, when the British East India Company systematically dismantled it. The "great Mogul" was the ruler of the empire. Agra is perhaps most famous now as the site of the Taj Mahal, built by the emperor Jahan as a tomb for his favorite wife Mumtaz Mahal in the seventeenth century.Persia>Now known as the modern state of Iran.ArabiaThe Arabian peninsula, now divided into the modern states of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates.SyriaIn Johnson's era (and Imlac's), not the modern state of Syria, but a somewhat larger and slightly amorphous region of the Middle East on the eastern short of the Mediterranean that included the modern state but also at times parts of modern Iraq, Lebanon, and Israel. PalestineIn this era, the region in the eastern Mediterranean comprising the modern state of Israel, but also Gaza, the West Bank of the Jordan river. SuezAn Egyptian port on the Red Sea, now close to the southern end of the Suez Canal, which was named for it when it was built in the middle of the nineteenth century.coniesRabbits or hares.circumferencePrecise measurements of the circumference of the Earth was new information in Johnson’s time. The Geodesic Mission to the Equator, which involved Spanish and French scientists, was an international expedition to find the Earth’s circumference, which began in 1735.cataractwaterfallprefermentsThat is, the preferential treatement extended towards the younger officer by their superiors.artificierscraftsmenBassa"The earlier form of the Turkish title pasha," meaning a military commmander or a provincial governor. Oxford English Dictionarycontrivanceskillful plotting or planningscrupulosityextremely scrict moral and ethical standardscaprice"Freak; fancy; whim; sudden change of humour." Johnson's Dictionary.querulouspetulant, exaggeratedintestineinternal, domesticconnubialmaritalcasuists"One that studies and settles cases of conscience." Johnson's Dictionarycavillers"A man fond of making objections; an unfair adversary; a captious disputant." Johnson's Dictionarytrain"A retinue; a number of followers or attendants." Johnson's Dictionary.adventitiousaccidental, coming about by chance rather than designmonasteryAn ancient Christian monastery in eastern Egypt, whose origins go back to around the year 350. It was founded in honor of St. Anthony (born around 251 AD), a hermit whose simple and ascetic life became a template for Christian monasticism. It is still a religious center, with a community of monks practicing the Captic Christian faith. emersionemergence; they are watching one of Jupiter's moons emerge from being hidden behind the planetecliptickthe plane taken by the earth as it orbits the sunexcogitationdiscovery or invention; mental effortpreternatural"Outside the ordinary course of nature; differing from or surpassing what is natural; unnatural." Oxford English Dictionary
THE
PRINCE
OF
ABISSINIA.AbissiniaAbissiniaThe area of what is now Ethiopia. Johnson had long been interested in that part of Africa. His first published book, A Voyage to Abyssinia, published in 1735, was a loose translation of a seventeenth-century travel narrative by the Portuguese Jesuit Jerome Lobo.
A
TALE.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
THE SECOND EDITION.
LONDON: Printed for R. and J. DODSLEY, in Pall-Mall;
and W. JOHNSTON, in Ludgate-Street. MDCCLIX.
PRINCE
OF
ABISSINIA.AbissiniaAbissiniaThe area of what is now Ethiopia. Johnson had long been interested in that part of Africa. His first published book, A Voyage to Abyssinia, published in 1735, was a loose translation of a seventeenth-century travel narrative by the Portuguese Jesuit Jerome Lobo.
A
TALE.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
THE SECOND EDITION.
LONDON: Printed for R. and J. DODSLEY, in Pall-Mall;
and W. JOHNSTON, in Ludgate-Street. MDCCLIX.
Page