Thus, if _The Castle of Otranto_ has suffered rather badly in its passage through time, although it will always remain one of the chief curiosities of our literature, and if we cannot altogether make up our minds about _Vathek_, there can be no doubt whatever of the permanent value of _Rasselas_. It is a greater and more subtle book than it is commonly thought to be. Too many people know only Boswell’s Johnson--here we have Johnson himself, discussing marriage, the art of flying, and the soul. And what strikes us most in re-reading him now, quite apart from the style which is essentially of its period, is the modernity of his thought. Even more than most profound thinkers who are modern for all time by having reached a certain depth of consciousness that never changes, Johnson in certain passages of his book astonishes by the way in which he has anticipated the conclusions of contemporary thinkers. His conception of the mind is essentially modern, showing it as at once the creator and destroyer of all values and systems, and yet “the continuance of reason” being uncertain--although madness is determined only by the degree to which one idea or one set of ideas predominates to the exclusion of others--he says, in effect, with Pirandello--“That’s the truth if you think it is!” But realizing the final inefficacy of any one system of belief, and being deficient in real faith, he was content, like his own Imlac, “to be driven along the stream of life, without directing his course to any particular port.” And so _Rasselas_ ends, as all good discussions on life must, with a conclusion “in which nothing is concluded.” PHILIP HENDERSON. _For biographical notes on the authors and short bibliographies see the beginning of each story._ CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION vii THE HISTORY OF RASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA. By Samuel Johnson 1 THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO, A GOTHIC STORY. By Horace Walpole 97 VATHEK, AN ARABIAN TALE. By William Beckford 193 NOTES TO VATHEK 279 THE HISTORY OF RASSELAS PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA BY DOCTOR JOHNSON SAMUEL JOHNSON