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forming a labyrinth difficult to thread. Old age must be my excuse for thus pursuing the description of my home-but to proceed with my story.

I was the youngest son of a numerous family, who for many centuries have possessed the wide tract of land named Oakleigh, surrounding the hall; but one by one I saw them drop into the silent tomb, whilst I was left, the last of this ancient house, solitary and companionless: the devastating storm had felled the hardy trees, whilst the weak and sickly sapling remained unhurt, unimpaired by the tempest! Time rolled on, and beheld me daily improving under the tuition of my kind mother, whose instruction filled my young mind with those virtuous principles which a Christian monitress loves to instil into the heart of her pupil. Accustomed to exercise and feats of activity, I outgrew the tender habits which in childhood often threatened to end my existence; and, ere I had arrived at my twelfth birthday, no cottage boy in the neighbourhood was half as strong and healthy as myself. It was at this period that an incident occurred, which during my life has never failed to agitate me strongly when I reflect on it. The close of the year 1762 had set in with tempestuous weather, even for the dreary season of winter; the fierce howling wind which swept around the towers would have destroyed a less firm mansion than Oakleigh; and fearful was the fall of the stately timber in our shady park during these gales and hurricanes. One evening when I had returned from a long ramble on the seashore, which was about two miles from home, I paused awhile to rest on one of the large heavy couches beside the hall fire, ere I sought the presence of my parents. The sun had set amid clouds of an angry hue, and a portentious mass of a dull leaden colour which overspread the face of the heavens gave indications of the storm that night was to witness. The large iron lamp in the centre of the apartment was not yet lit: and the blaze of the huge billets of wood in the wide chimney served not to dissipate the darkness which hid the boundary of the hall from me.

A tradition, which had formed part of my nursery lore, and which is still extant, suddenly, by some unaccountable chance, rose to my remembrance,; and as I pondered on its mysterious tendency, an involuntary shudder crept through my frame, All was silent save the hoarse rumbling of the wind in the chimney; no distant post-bell sounded on my ear, which I should have welcomed as fondly as the traveller does the spring of water on the burning plains of Arabia. I was by myself, and separated from the domestic apartments by a long winding passage, which, such was the fear that oppressed me, I dared not traverse alone. The legend which my nurse had so often related to me contained, spite of the good dame's circumlocution, only one part which seriously interested me ;—it was, that the spirit of one of my noble ancestors, who had been massacred during the wars of the Roses, would always appear to warn his descendants of their approaching dissolution. A certain part of the hall was the spot mentioned where the spectre became visible; the time was also knownthe hour following sunset. Oh how dearly did the remembrance of my childish days return in full force, as I reflected on my nurse's tale. At this noment the deep-toned bell struck the fatal hour. This, then, was the time-the very place where the visitant's form had been perceived. I cast my eyes up to a low, dark,

oaken balcony, formerly used as music-gallery, which stretched along the upper part of the hall; it was almost imperceptible, but still I could discern the old banners which hung beneath, waving to and fro in the chill night air; and the gilded ornaments of the organ reflected the flame of the fire, which, in fitful flashes, was now decaying. I tried in vain to avert my eyes from the dreaded spot: fascinated, as by the rattlesnake, who lures his victim to his jaws, did my eyes turn to the mysterious gallery. I was spell-boundrooted to the couch. How long I might have remained in this state I know not, when suddenly a strong and vivid light shone around the apartment, illuminating the arched roof, and darting, as the lightning, into each dark corner; and revealing rusty armour, and the numerous trophies of the chace, which clothed its polished sides. I was raised to the acmé of terror as I beheld the unearthly flash. I tried to scream, but the sound died away on my parched lips-the power of speech was denied me.

Motionless, I remained like one of the marble statues, which seemed in the vivid light to be frowning on me from their pedestals. Presently the flame seemed concentrated in the music-gallery, in which I plainly saw the figure of a mailed warrior standing in silent majesty, and casting a scrutinizing glance on the pavement beneath him; thrice he shook his ungloved hand, and thrice pronouncing the word " Prepare!" vanished in the gloom that succeeded. Thus, then (thought I), have I beheld the appearance of Sir Hildebrand the brave; though whose departure from life it foretold, I was at a loss to discover; but the dreadful recollection of the spectral form, its plumed helmet, and impressive ejaculations, was more than I could bear. I remember uttering a piercing shriek as the harrowing thought returned, and also the force of my fall on the marble pavement-then my ideas were hushed in insensibility.

I awoke on the following morning with a dimness of thought which follows a trance occasioned by intense terror. I threw open the casement, and a current of mild cool air rushed into the apartment: all around me wore a look of calmness and peace; save a few riven branches, there remained nothing indicative of the preceding night's tempest. But I could not forget the vision, and strolled out on the terrace to endeavour to regain my composure. The sun's rays were gilding each part of the building-all was glowing in the yellow light. I met a few of the domestics-they bore a strange appearance of mingled fear and sorrow: when I spoke to them," they shook their heads and turned aside.” This was to me very unaccountable, and I sought the presence of my mother, to enquire the cause of such strange behaviour. The breakfast room, the library, all were traversed in vain; and I hastily turned to my parents' apartments, in a remote part of the building. With a quick step I entered a closet which communicated with their sleeping room, and cautiously drawing aside the arras, which still hung before the door, I stepped into the space beyond. How strongly does my mind revert to that sad moment! At one glance I saw that my mother was my only surviving parent-my father, Sir Charles Lattimer, had ceased to exist.

Thus, then, by dreadful experience, I found the tradition of my family was not the chimera of a heated imagination, but a legend of deep and powerful interest;

and who will now smile at my superstition, when I say that the tale of the Omen I implicitly believe?

LOVE AND THE VIOLET.

Who calls the rose my fav'rite flow'r ?
I own her beauty's magic power;
My cheek her colours softly flush-
My wings are tinted with her blush.
But, see! are not these melting eyes,
Rich with the violet's deep blue dyes?
Give me at morning's early hour-
Give me that lovely bending flower
With dew upon its purple bloom,
My spirit in its sweet perfume,
Shedding its odours round like youth
In its first confidence and truth.

I steal the rose's bright disguise,
To veil myself to human eyes;
And in its loveliness and charm
You may discern my mortal form.
But would you know me-ne'er forget
My soul is in the violet.

VENOMOUS SERPENTS.

L.

DURING a residence of six years in the interior of the Cape Colony, and in the course of various journies through the interior (extending to upwards of 3,000 miles), I have met with a considerable number of snakes; yet I do not recollect of ever being exposed, except in one instance, to any imminent hazard of being bit by any of them. On the occasion referred to I was superintending some Hotentots, whom I had employed to clear away a patch of thicket from a spot selected for cultivation, when one of the men suddenly recoiling, with signs of great alarm, exclaimed that there was a Cobra-Capello in the bush. Not being at that time fully aware of the dangerous character of this sort of snake, I approached to look at him. The Hotentots called out to me to take care, for he was going to spring. Before they had well spoken, or I had caught a view of the reptile, I heard him hiss fiercely, and then dart himself towards me amidst the underwood. At the same instant, instinctively springing back to avoid him, I fell over a steep bank into the dry stony bed of a torrent; by which I suffered some severe bruises, but fortunately escaped the more formidable danger to which I had too incautiously exposed myself. The Hottentots then assailed the snake with sticks and stones, and forced him (though not before he had made another spring and missed one of them still more narrowly than myself) to Here he became a safe take refuge up a mimosa tree. and easy mark to their missiles, and was speedily beaten down, with a broken back, and consequently incapable of further mischief. The Hottentots, having cut off his head, carefully buried it in the ground; a practice which they never omit on such occasions, and which arises from their apprehension of some one incautiously treading on the head of the dead snake, and sustaining injury from its fangs; for they believe that the dreadful virus, far from being extinguished with life, retains its fatal energy for weeks, even for months, afterwards. This snake measured nearly six feet in length, and was the largest Cobra I have met with.

My little Hottentot corporal, Pict Spandilly, who as sisted in killing this Cobra, had a still narrower escape from a small but venomous snake, of which I have forgotten the eolonial apellation. Pict and his men (six soldiers of the Cape corps, placed at that time under my directions for the protection of our remote settlement against the Caffres), slept in a tent adjoining to mine, pitched in a grove of mimosas on the brink of the Bavian's river; and one morning, when he rose from his conch of dried grass, Pict felt something living moving about his thigh in the inside of his leathern trowsers. Thinking it was only one of the harmless lizards which swarm in every part of South Africa, be did not at first much mind it, but came out to the open air, laughing, and shaking his limb to dislodge the crawling vermin. But when a black wriggling snake came tumbling down about his naked ankles, poor Spandilly, uttering a cry of horror, kicked the reptile off; and, though he had in reality sustained no injury, could scarcely for some time be persuaded that he was not a gone man,

It is, in fact, from apprehensions of danger, or the instinct of self-defence, far more than from any peculiar fierceness or innate malignity, that the serpent race ever assail man or any of the larger animals. They turn, of course, against the foot that tramples on, or the hand that threatens them; but, happily, nature has not armed them, in addition to their formidable powers of destruction, with the disposition of exerting those powers from motives of mere wanton cruelty, or for purposes unconnected with their own subsistence or security. Were it otherwise, countries like the Cape would be altogether uninhabitable. As it is, the annoyance experienced from the numerous poisonous snakes is not such as, on the whole, to affect the comfort of those accustomed to it, in any considerable degree.

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Conversing on this subject one day with my friend Captain H who had been for many years a resident, and is now a magistrate in the interior, I enquired whether he had ever, in the course of his campaigns on the Caffre and Bushman frontiers, and when necessarily obliged to sleep in the desert or jungle in the open air, suffered injury or incurred danger from serpents: he replied, that the only occasion he recollected of incurring any great hazard of this sort was the following: Being upon a military expedition across the frontier," said Captain H——, "I had slept one night, as usual, wrapt up in my cloak, beneath a tree. On awakening at daybreak, the first object I peceived on raising my head from the saddle, which served for my pillow, was the tail of an enormous Puff-Adder lying across my breast, the head of the reptile being muffled under the folds of my cloak close to my body, whither it had betaken itself, apparently for warmth, during the chillness of the night; there was extreme hazard, that if I alarmed it by moving, it might bite me in a vital part-seizing it therefore softly by the tail, I pulled it out with a sudden jerk, and threw it violently to a distance. By this means I escaped without injury: but had I happened to have unwittingly offended this uninvited bedfellow before I was aware of his presence, I might, in all probability, have fatally atoned for my heedlessness."

An incident, scarcely less alarming, occurred to Mrs. H-, the wife of the officer just mentioned. She

was sleeping with her infant upon a camp-bed in a little clay-built cabin, such as are used by the military in their temporary cantonments in that fine climate,— when looking up one morning, she perceived a snake making its way through the thatch, almost directly above her couch, and swinging with its body to and fro, with its little malignant eyes gleaming upon her face. She screamed in terror, and covered up her child, in in. stant apprehension of the reptile's descent. Before her

servant answered her call, it had in fact wriggled its way through the thatch, and fallen into the room, but fortunately without any attempt to injure the lady or her child, It immediately took refuge in a corner, where it was afterward discovered and destroyed.

Somewhat similar was the situation, on one occasion, of another lady of my acquaintance, the wife of my friend Mr. Devenish, of Mount Devenish, Bavian's River. Going into her nursery one night, she found a Puff-Adder standing erect on its tail (in the usual mode of that dangerous serpent), by the side of the cradle where her infant lay asleep. She screamed in horror, but durst not approach for fear that the reptile, which began to hiss and inflate its jaws (as it usually does when irritated), should spring upon the child. Fortunately her husband was at hand, and hearing her out-cry, hastened to her aid, and with a single blow destroyed the serpent.

It is not very unusual, indeed, for snakes of various sorts are to be found in the houses at the Cape, nor does it, in ordinary cases, excite any violent alarin when such inmates are discovered. They make their way both over the roofs and under the walls, in search of food and shelter, and especially in pursuit of mice, which many of them chiefly subsist upon. During my residence in the interior, however, I recollect of only two instances of their being found in my own cabin. On one of these occasions I had sent a servant girl (a bare legged Hottentot) to bring me some article from a neighbouring hut. On returning with it, she cried out. before entering the cabin-" Oh, Mynheer! Mynheer! what shall I do? A snake has twined itself round my ankles, and if I open the door he will come into the house." "Never mind," I replied: "open the door, and let him come in if he dare." She obeyed, and in glided the snake, luckily without having harmed the poor girl. I stood prepared, and instantly smote him dead; and afterwards found him to be one of the very venomous sort called Nachtslang.

ON THE DEATH OF A DAUGHTER.

"Tis o'er, in that long sigh she past,
Th' enfranchised spirit soars at last
And now I gaze with tearless eye
On what to view was agony.
That panting heart is tranquil now,
And heavenly calm-that ruffled brow,
And those pale lips, which feebly strove
To force one parting smile of love,
Retain it yet,-soft, placid, mild
As when it graced my living child.
Oh! I have watched with fondest care,
To see my op'ning flow'ret blow;
And felt the joy that parents share-
The pride which fathers only know.

And I have sat the long, long night,
And marked that tender flow'r decay;
Not turn abruptly from the sight,
But slowly, sadly, waste away!

The spoiler came, yet paus'd as though
So meek a victim check'd his arm;
Half gave, and half withheld the blow,
As forced to strike, yet loathe to harm.
We saw that fair cheek's fading bloom,
The ceaseless canker worm consume,

And gazed on hopelessly:

Till the mute suffering pictured there,
Wrung from a father's heart a prayer-

Ch, God! a prayer his child might die :
Ay! from his lips;-the rebel heart
E'en then, refused to bear a part.

But the sad conflict's past-'tis o'er,
That gentle bosom throbs no more;
The spirit's freed-through realms of light
Faith's eagle-glance pursues her flight
To other worlds, to happier skies:
Hope dries the tear which sorrow weepeth;
No mortal sound, the voice which cries,
"The damsel is not dead but sleepeth."

THE FISHERMAN OF ORMUS.

ONE day the famous enchantress Dalle-Mutaleha, her brow girded with the carbuncle crown, darted from the mountains of Kaff, borne by the bird Simourg, of speed equalling the wind. She directed her flight towards Bagdad. When above the islands of Ormus, she met with in the air the angel Tir-Aban, mounted on Borak, the celestial courser of the Prophet.

"Whither goest thou?" said the sorceress to the genius of sciences.

"I am going," he answered, "to comfort a learned man in poverty.'

"And I to relieve a rich one who is dying of ennui from ignorance. Which of the two is most to be pitied?"

"The rich blockhead, undoubtedly."

"It may be, but opulence has its pleasures." "The pleasures of the imagination exceed them all." "The rich enjoy leisure and honour. They are followed by crowds of admirers. For them praise was

invented, and praise is a delicious draught"

"Which is followed by satiety and disgust. The mortal whom I inspire, is blest even by his dreams. He possesses all that his imagination pictures; he lives in a suppositious world, which he can change or destroy at pleasure. When his mind is weary of its own creations, he can fly to his beloved books; and what society even of the wisest and most virtuous, can compare with those precious depositories which contain the purest essence of the noblest spirits of all ages? Would he be more happy, could they who composed them issue from the grave to bear him company? I think not. Few good authors are equal to their works."

"I could, on my side, say much on the subject of riches. I could expatiate on the real good which they procure, and, like you, display only the fair side of the picture; but I hate long discussions. Experience is the only sure path to truth. Let us then leave your learned man for the present to his poverty; according to your theory, he can easily bear it in dreaming opulence. 1, at the same time, will let my rich man keep

his ignorance a little longer. He has had it from his infancy, and must be used to it by this time. Meanwhile, let us make a joint experiment: let us find a person for whom I will clear the path of fortune, and you that of knowledge. When he has attained all they can yield, we will leave him to himself, and draw our conclusions from the operation of the regular influences of human nature and human events upon the object of our respective favour."

"Willingly," said Tir-Aban, "and I know at Ormus the very person for our project; it is a miserable fishermar; he is both poor and ignorant, and so weary of his lot, that we have only to lead him on a little, and we shall see him plunge most ardently into the double path we are to open for him."

Ismael was at that moment on the banks of the Persian Gulf; he was occupied in mending his nets. "What!" mournfully exclaimed he, "am I to pass my whole life in this wretched manner? No food but pastecks, or rice, or half-baked beans. No clothing but a courdi of miserable sackcloth, which leaves the prints of its coarse, hard thread upon my skin. No bed but the cold earth, or mat, which I should think delightful, were it but made of the reeds of the Euphrates, instead of the knotty straw of maize, in braids like rope, which only effaces the impression of my sackcloth courdi to plough yet deeper and more painful furrows. Nay, even to obtain these hard indulgencies, I must launch my terrada in the sea, to seek the sturgeon and the delicate destpich, with which I have these five years supplied the tables of the opulent, without having ever tasted either of them myself. I know not what the great pen above may have writtten down for me on the book of fate; but I am wretched. The gulph is deep, and it would be only doing myself a kindness to fling the fishes a last bait which they little look for, and end their persecutions and my own together."

At this moment Mutalhea and her companion appeared before him.

66

Ismael," said the sorceress, 66 thy complaints have reached us. Wouldst thou at once be rich and powerfull? The opportunity is offered. The son of the aged Noserat, so noted for his wealth, has just expired. suddenly in his bed, and the event is known to none but me. Thy voice and features so thoroughly resemble his, that it is impossible to discern the difference. Follow me; I will direct the removal of the body; thou mayst take his place."

Ismael was almost out of his wits with surprise and exultation. He jumped up behind the enchantress on the bird Simourg, and was forthwith in the apartment of the deceased. One last instruction remained to he given. The son of Noserat had a slight wink of the eye, which it was easy, but essential, to imitate. Ismael promised to pay due attention to the peculiarity and his protectress departed, saying she would visit him from time to time in secret. He passed the night. in repeating to himself the instructions of Mutaleha, and in winking his eyes to inure himself to the habit.

In the morning, slaves came to attend his toilet. He winked his eyes, and all went on charmingly. They dressed him in a superb robe of zerbafe, surmounted by a courdi of cloth of gold. A girdle of Termay wool, embroidered in pearls, set off his attire still more, and his head was loaded with a magnificent delbend, adorned with turquoises and rubies.

Poor Ismael did not know himself again. He was every moment on the point of betraying himself by his politeness to his slaves. He began almost to feel a respect for himself, and winked his eyes so much, that the master of his wardrobe inquired if he found himself indisposed. He trembled at these words, and was only recovered by the entrance of the governor of the kitchens, who came to take his orders for his first meal. He commanded him to bring him sturgeon and destpich. He was in hopes of seeing part of what he had caught the night before, and was quite delighted at the thought that he was at last to know his old adversaries of the gulph otherwise than by sight. They were soon set before him, escorted by a multitude of delicious fruits. He ate of every thing, got the first indigestion he had ever had, and considered himself the most fortunate of men.

He next paid a visit to the harem of his predecessor. The young beauties of Georgia and Circassia made such an impression on him, that, in his extacy, he forgot to wink his eyes; but the congratulations he received on this subject frightened him so much, and so completely occupied his mind, that they entirely withdrew his attention from the caresses of his fair ones, who now began to wonder as much at the change in his susceptibility, as they before did at that in his eyelids.

Old Noserat saw the substitute for his son, and suspected nothing. Ismael passed fifteen days amidst the most splendid enjoyments of luxury and opulence; during which however, his assumed infirmity often put him to harsh trials. At the end of this time, the old man set off upon a journey to court, and left his supposed son to reign absolute in his palace. It was then that Ismael astonished the kingdom of Ormus, by the pomp of his equipages, and the magnificence of his

fêtes.

His saloons glittered with gold, and jasper, and porphyry. Their walls decked with translucent marble of Tauris, were inlaid with squares of enamel, and hung with the richest silks, and with velvet embroidered with silver, and with the finest stuffs of Kerman. They were thronged with buffoons, dressed in glittering brocade, and with sprightly, and sylph-like, and fascinating young dancing-girls, the braids of whose long, luxuriant hair ended in bouquets of precious gems, and who executed before him and his chosen friends exquisite dances, varying from the dignified to the burlesque from the austere to the voluptuous. Then came a repast, served up in gold, comprising every delicacy in fruit, or fish, or game, which the soft climate of Persia can produce. The buffet, which rose in the form of a pyramid, was crowned with numberless flasks of Venetian crystal, cut with points like diamonds, and sparkling with the bright hued wines of Shiraz and Georgia. Perfumed wax-lights, while they reflected numerous lustres upon the prismatic faces of the crystal, drew from them floods of empurpled rays; while their own scent of cinnamon and cloves mingled with the delicious perfumes from the vermillion cassolets suspended from the ceiling.

Then a troop of musicians, bearing haut-boys, and flutes, and tambourines, entered the banqueting-hall, and made it resound with harmonious airs. Ismael ordered cups of gold, of inestimable workmanship, to be distributed to the guests; and, after they were all intoxicated with wine, and bang, and afioun, he made each

a pesent, and the fête terminated with a general mascarri.

Every body was amused but Ismael. He alone took very little part in the entertainment, so occupied was he in regulating the convulsive movements of his eyelids. Dalle-Mutaleha came to him at night. He did not yet venture to complain; but he barely mentioned the inconvenience he suffered from the continual necessity of winking his eyes. She advised him to be patient, and promised to see him again soon.

The days flowed on, and renewed the same pleasures and the same ennui. Old Noserat returned from his journey. Ismael was away on a grand fishing party. The doting father, to give his darling son an agreeable surprise, sought him on the lake of Toranka. He appeared astonished at the youth's skill, and gently reproached him for having taken so much pains to acquire an art which could never be any credit to him. Ismael defended his old trade so warmly, that, in his earnestness, his eyes remained fixed in a steady stare. All of a sudden he thought of this. He at once fancied he saw a thousand swords turned towards him, to punish his imposture. He was seized with such a fright, that he changed colour, stammered, and was silent. Noserat supposing that his silence and embarrassment expressed his submission, availed himself of the opportunity, like a good father, to make him feel that it was more honorable to be surrounded by the wise and the learned, and to devote himself to study, than to waste his life among libertines, and buffoons, and dancing girls, acquiring no sciences but those of eating and angling.

Our fisherman listened to the old man respectfully, and promised to profit by his advice. In this he foresaw a double advantage. Knowledge is a plant which is easily cultivated in solitude. There he would be quite independent of the looks of the slaves who only seemed to him so many spies set to watch his winking. Besides, from learned men he could be under no apprehension. They were always too full of their own thoughts to think of his eyes. With astrologers he was equally safe. When their glances were not on the heavens, they were on a takium, and could not trouble his.

wn

His new project almost restored his tranquillity. He put it in execution; and presently, the Ismael who had sighed so devoutly after the goods of this world, forgot them all in dreaming of the treasures of science and the riches of the mind.

Having one evening retired to his apartment, he took up a manuscript by chance, which opened at these words: As many steps as you shall rise upon the ladder of fortune, so many will you have to descend. The ladder of knowledge has its support in heaven; and time, which crumbles the palaces of the wealthy on the heads of their possessors, only adds to the glory of the

sage. "It is a direct warning from the Prophet!" cried Ismael, "Of what use to me is the possession of fragile goods, of vases which break under the hand, of perfumes which evaporate, of wines which intoxicate, of rich dainties which cause indigestion? Ah! severe has been my experience! The life of the rich is a continual intoxication: the pleasure passes, the headache remains! Then, to be for ever in a state of apprehension! For ever winking the eyes! No-this is not life. But, to drink of the fountain of knowledge, --to hear ones name repeated from lip to lip-to secure

the admiration of posterity by noble and lasting works —that, aye that, is the real happiness! When Mos trazem dared to insult the Cojannesir, the rash caliph was hurled from the throne of Bagdad. Wise Alfarsi, prolific Avicenne-Saadi, the nightingale of Iran-Chekat, the eagle of genius-graceful Hasez, sublime Attar! Oh! that the name of Ismael might pass, like yours, in a blaze of glory to posterity! To secure such a blessing, how willingly would I give half my life!"

"The offer is accepted," instantly exclaimed TirAban, entering at that moment, followed by Mutaleha : Ismael was thunderstruck. "What!" cried the Egyptian sorceress, "have not my gifts, then, been enough for thee?"-" Alas! that fatal conditionthat everlasting wink of the eye"-" Short-sighted man! thinkest thou that he who foregoes the lot to which he has been destined by Providence, in pursuit of wealth and honours, can attain them without far greater discomforts than any thou hast suffered? But what thou now feelest, thousands have felt before thee. The least restraint poisons the most perfect happiness, as a single pearl misplaced in the dress of a woman, often makes her forget the diamonds with which she is covered.

I now resign thee to my companion, who is alone capable of fulfilling thy present desires. From this moment I take from thee the riches thou hast found so troublesome and useless. I have preserved the body of the son of Noserat : it shall remain in its place, day of mourning will thus have only been a few months delayed, and the affairs of his father's house will return to their natural course."

The

"You are to be the most learned of men," said TirAban.-I!" repeated Ismael in confusion-" I! I who am the most ignorant! I can understand how a poor man can suddenly become rich, but how a blockhead-" "The rough stone of Badakam, when purified by the rays of the sun, bocomes a ruby," said the angel. "Follow me. Science dwells not beneath the gilded roof. You must now be placed in a retreat better suited to the improvement of your condition." Ismael got up behind him on Borak: and the palace of Noserat, the Persian Gulf, and the kingdom of Ormus, presently disappeared from beneath them.

Wafted with the rapidity of an eagle's flight into Irak-Adjemy, Ismael found himself forthwith close to the city of Teheran, On the banks of a streamlet he saw a little cottage. It was simple, but commodiousunostentatious, but not without elegance. "This house," said Tir-Aban, "belongs to thee. Thou wilt here find the most precious of all furniture-books, and mathematical and astronomical instruments. Incense and myrrha will no longer burn for thee in golden cassolets; but the elcaya and the mastic tree will afford thee their shade and sweet perfume. Now, receive from me the gift of languages. They are the avenues to the temple of Science. But, before all, if thou wilt enlighten thy reason, learn to doubt. Doubt the gate of knowledge. He who doubts of nothing, examines nothing; he who examines nothing discovers nothing; and he who discovers nothing, may, perhaps be a good scholar, but never a true sage."

The angel then touched Ismael with his hand, reminded him that it was at the expense of one-half of his life that his name was to be made immortal, and, throwing himself on his celestial steed, disappeared.

In a few years, Ismael became famous for his vast

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