 their prospect, considered themselves as in danger of being
lost in a dreary vacuity. They stopped and trembled. »I am almost afraid, said
the princess, to begin a journey of which I cannot perceive an end, and to
venture into this immense plain where I may be approached on every side by men
whom I never saw.« The prince felt nearly the same emotions, though he thought
it more manly to conceal them.
    Imlac smiled at their terrours, and encouraged them to proceed; but the
princess continued irresolute till she had been imperceptibly drawn forward too
far to return.
    In the morning they found some shepherds in the field, who set milk and
fruits before them. The princess wondered that she did not see a palace ready
for her reception, and a table spread with delicacies; but, being faint and
hungry, she drank the milk and eat the fruits, and thought them of a higher
flavour than the products of the valley.
    They travelled forward by easy journeys, being all unaccustomed to toil or
difficulty, and knowing, that though they might be missed, they could not be
pursued. In a few days they came into a more populous region, where Imlac was
diverted with the admiration which his companions expressed at the diversity of
manners, stations and employments.
    Their dress was such as might not bring upon them the suspicion of having
any thing to conceal, yet the prince, wherever he came, expected to be obeyed,
and the princess was frighted, because those that came into her presence did not
prostrate themselves before her. Imlac was forced to observe them with great
vigilance, lest they should betray their rank by their unusual behaviour, and
detained them several weeks in the first village to accustom them to the sight
of common mortals.
    By degrees the royal wanderers were taught to understand that they had for a
time laid aside their dignity, and were to expect only such regard as liberality
and courtesy could procure. And Imlac, having, by many admonitions, prepared
them to endure the tumults of a port, and the ruggedness of the commercial race,
brought them down to the sea-coast.
    The prince and his sister, to whom every thing was new, were gratified
equally at all places, and therefore remained for some months at the port
without any inclination to pass further. Imlac was content with their stay,
because he did not think it safe to expose them, unpractised in the world, to
the hazards of a foreign country.
    At last he began to fear lest they should be discovered, and proposed to fix
a day for their departure. They
