Where a young man evinced qualities which, when tested, showed that he would make but a second-rate artist, the character-divers demonstrated that these youths possessed natural tendencies better fitting them for some other pursuit.

I have in my thoughts at this moment a favourite subject of the artistic pavement;—­a man—­Zolea by name—­who as a boy was inattentive to his studies, while his talent for sketching from nature[1] was so remarkable, that even during school hours, with his eye seemingly on his book, he would occupy himself in sketching those around him.  Every one, except the character-divers, thought that Nature intended this boy for a great artist.  These demonstrated that as an artist he would never attain a high position; and after observing how he occupied himself in play-hours, and subjecting him to numerous tests, so completely cured him of his want of application and other defects, that he became the wisest and greatest among our kings.  He aided me much in the devising and carrying out many things for the well-being of our planet.

     [Footnote 1:  All students, even beginners, sketch from
     nature, no other sketching is allowed.]

Had I not been the son of a king I should probably have been educated as a harpist; for even as a child I showed great disposition for the harp, and composed both words and music for my favourite instrument; but my father’s chief councillor, a man of great sagacity, saw in me the germ of intellectual powers far beyond those required for the most perfect execution of the harp, and, counselled by this sage, I was led to other studies by judicious treatment, to the doubting surprise of my early tutors.

* * * * *

I will now give you some account of one of the great works begun and ended in my reign.

This work, called ‘The Wonder’ of my Planet, was by our poets often spoken of as resembling my polity in the strength of its foundation, and in beauty, grandeur, and stability, as a work which, like my laws, they said had saved a world from destruction, and would endure for ever!

VIII.

THE STAR CITY.

     “The City of delights.  The beloved of the Angels.”

The power of the sun in my world is great, and the heat and light are excessive.  The great heat being, however, tempered by cooling, refreshing winds, and gushing waters, is to our constitutions generally agreeable, except at the period called the extreme season.

The colours in the sky are in great variety, and of exceeding transparency and brightness, some parts presenting masses of gorgeous reds, golden colours, rich greens, and pinks of many shades.

The skies present also the appearance of a most irregular and uneven surface—­as though there were high hills, some with their peaks, some with their bases, towards the earth, and with large spaces between, so that whilst in one part these hill-peaks and bases appear only a few miles off, other parts of the sky seem very distant.