"If I am accidentally left alone for a few hours, said he, my inveterate persuasion rushes upon my soul, and my thoughts are chained down by some irresistible violence, but they are soon disentangled by the prince's conversation, and instantaneously released at the entrance of Pekuah."
[Rasselas] The Prince of Abissinia. A Tale in Two Volumes
At least 37 entries in the ESTC (1759, 1760, 1766, 1768, 1775, 1777, 1783, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1798, 1799, 1800).<br>
<br>
See <u>The Prince of Abissinia. A Tale. In Two Volumes.</u> (London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley; and W. Johnston, 1759). &lt;<a href="http://estc.bl.uk/T139510">Link to ESTC</a>&gt;
&lt;<a href="http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/rasselas.html">Link to Jack Lynch's online edition</a>&gt;<br>
<br>
Reading <u>The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia</u>, ed. Thomas Keymer (Oxford: OUP, 2009). 