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to pursue the new path, which he supposed only to make a few meanders, in compliance with the varieties of the ground, and to end at last in the common road.

7. Having thus calmed his solicitude, he renewed his расе, though he suspected that he was not gaining ground. This uneasiness of his mind inclined him to lay hold on every new object, and give way to every sensation that might soothe or divert him. He listened to every echo; he mounted every hill for a fresh prospect; he turned aside to every cascade; and pleased himself with tracing the course of a gentle river that rolled among the trees, and watered a large region with innumerable circumvolutions.

8. In these amusements, the hours passed away unaccounted; his deviations had perplexed his memory, and he knew not towards what point to travel. He stood pensive and confused, afraid to go forward, lest he should go wrong; yet conscious that the time of loitering was now past. While he was thus tortured with uncertainty, the sky was overspread with clouds ; the day vanished from before him; and a sudden tempest gathered round his head.

9. He was now roused by his danger to a quick and painful remembrance of his folly; he now saw how happiness is lost when ease is consulted; he lamented the unmanly impatience that prompted him to seek shelter in the grove; and despised he petty curiosity that led him on from trifle to trifle. While ne was thus reflecting, the air grew blacker, and a clap of thunder broke his meditation.

10. He now resolved to do what yet remained in his power, o tread back the ground which he had passed, and try to find some issue where the wood might open into the plain. He prostrated himself on the ground, and recommended his life to the Lord of nature. He rose with confidence and tranquillity, and pressed on with resolution. The beasts of the desert were in motion, and on every hand were heard the mingled howls of rage and fear, and ravage and expiration. All the horrors of darkness and solitude surrounded him: the winds roared in the woods; and the torrents tumbled from the hills.

11. Thus forlorn and distressed, he wandered through the wild, without knowing whither he was going, or whether he was every moment drawing nearer to safety, or to destruction. At length, not fear, but labor, began to overcome him; his breath grew short, and his knees trembled; and he was on the

* Meander, the name of a winding river in Phrygia—a winding course

point of lying down in resignation to his fate, when he beheld, through the brambles, the glimmer of a taper.

12. He advanced towards the light; and finding that it proceeded from the cottage of a hermit, he called humbly at the door and obtained admission. The old man set before him such provisions as he had collected for himself, on which Obidah fed with eagerness and gratitude.

13. When the repast was over, " tell me," said the hermit, "by what chance thou hast been brought hither? I have been now twenty years an inhabitant of the wilderness, in which I never saw a man before." Obidah then related the occurrences of his journey, without any concealment or palliation.

14. "Son," said the hermit, "let the errors and follies, the dangers and escapes of this day, sink deep into thy heart. Remember, my son, that human life is the journey of a day. We rise in the morning of youth, full of vigor, and full of expectation; we set forward with spirit and hope, and travel on a while with gaiety and with diligence.

15." In a short time, we remit our fervor, and endeavor to find some mitigation of our duty, and some more easy means of obtaining the same end. We then relax our vigor, and resolve no longer to be terrified with crimes at a distance; but rely upon our own constancy, and venture to approach what we resolve never to touch. We thus enter the bowers of ease, and repose in the shades of security.

16. "Here the heart softens, and vigilance subsides; we are then willing to enquire whether another advance cannot be made, and whether we may not, at least, turn our eyes upon the gardens of pleasure. We approach them with scruple and hesitation; we enter them, but enter timorous and trembling; and always hope to pass through them without losing the road of virtue, which for a while, we keep in our sight, and to which we purpose to return. But temptation succeeds temptation, and one compliance prepares us for another; we in time lose the happiness of innocence, and solace our disquiet with sensual gratifications.

17. "By degrees, we let fall the remembrance of our original intention, and quit the only adequate object of rational desire. We entangle ourself in business, immerge ourselves in luxury, and rove through the labyrinths of inconstancy; till the darkness of old age begins to invade us, and disease and anxiety obstruct our way. We then look back upon our lives with horror, with sorrow, with repentance; and wish, but too often vainly wish, that we had not forsaken the ways of virtue."

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18. "Happy are they, my son, who shall learn from thy example, not to despair; but shall remember, that, though the day is past, and their strength is wasted, there yet remains one effort to be made: that reformation is never hopeless, nor sincere endeavors ever unassisted; that the wanderer may at length return after all his errors; and that he who implores strength and courage from above, shall find danger and difficulty give way before him. Go now, my son, to thy repose; commit thyself to the care of omnipotence; and when the morning calls again to toil, begin anew thy journey and thy life."

LESSON LXXII.

The Mummy.*-SMITH.

1. AND thou hast walk'd about (how strange a story!)
In Thebes't streets three thousand years ago,
When the Memnonium‡ was in all its glory,
And time had not begun to overthrow
Those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous,
Of which the very ruins are tremendous.

2. Speak! for thou long enough hast acted Dummy,
Thou hast a tongue-come let us hear its tune:
Thou'rt standing on thy legs, above ground, Mummy!
Revisiting the glimpses of the moon,

Not like thin ghosts or disembodied creatures,

But with thy bones and flesh, and limbs and features.

* Mummy, a human body embalmed, and wrapped up in linen clothes impregnated with gums, wax, &c. to prevent its decaying. Mummies are found in Egypt, a short distance from Cairo, in vaulted rooms under ground, cut in quarries of white stone. They are deposited, some in stone tombs, others in chests or coffins made of sicamore wood, which are often adorned with many hi-e-ro-glyph-ics, representing the qualities and actions of the deceased. They are supposed to be more than 3,000 years old.

+Thebes, an ancient city of Egypt, situated on both sides of the Nile, about 260 miles south of Cairo. Homer speaks of it as the city of an hundred gates; and Strabo, a writer of the first century, states that its length was then 10 miles. But the glory of Thebes, belongs to a period prior to the commencement of authentic history. Some suppose it to have been built by Osiris, and others, by Busiris, while others think it more ancient. It is now inhabited by about 3,000 Arabs, who have taken up their abode among its magnificent ruins.

* Mem-no-ni-um, a statue of Memnon, king of Ethiopia, which had the property of uttering a melodious sound at sun-rising.

3. Tell us for doubtless thou canst recollect,
To whom should we assign the sphinx's fame?
Was Cheops or Cephrenes architect

Of either Pyramid* that bears his name?
Is Pompey's pillar really a misnomer?

Had Thebes a hundred gates, as sung by Homer ?†

4. Perhaps thou wert a Mason, and forbidden
By oath to tell the mysteries of thy trade,
Then say what secret melody was hidden

In Memnon's statue which at sunrise played?
Perhaps thou wert a Priest-if so, my struggles
Are vain ;-Egyptian priests ne'er owned their juggles.

5. Perchance that very hand, now pinioned flat,
Has hob-a-nobb'd with Pharaoht glass to glass;
Or dropped a halfpenny in Homer's hat,

Or doffed thine own to let Queen Dido pass,
Or held, by Solomon's own invitation,
A torch at the great Temple's dedication.

6. I need not ask thee if that hand, when armed,
Has any Roman soldier mauled and knuckled,
For thon wert dead, and buried, and embalmed,
Ere Romulus and Remus had been suckled :-
Antiquity appears to have begun

Long after thy primeval race was run.

7. Since first thy form was in this box extended,

We have, above ground, seen some strange mutations;
The Roman empire has begun and ended;

New worlds have risen—we have lost old nations,
And countless kings have into dust been humbled,
While not a fragment of thy flesh has crumbled.

Pyr-a-mid, a large, solid body, or edifice, standing on a square or triangular base, and terminating in a point at the top. The Pyramids of Egypt have been the wonder of all ages of the world. The largest of them is that of Cheops, near Cairo. It is 500 feet high, and covers more than 11 acres. When, and for what purpose they were built, is unknown.

+ Homer, a celebrated Grecian poet, who lived about 907 B. C.

+ Pronounced Fa'-ro, an ancient king of Egypt.

Dido, founder of the Carthaginian Empire, 869 B. C.

Romulus and Remus, founders of the Roman Empire, 752 B. C. They were thrown, when infants, into the Tiber, but the river stopped, and a shewolf came and fed them with her milk.

8. Didst thou not hear the pother o'er thy head
When the great Persian conqueror, Cambyses,*
March'd armies o'er thy tomb with thundering tread,
O'erthrew Osiris,† Orus,† Apis,† Isis,t

And shook the Pyramids with fear and wonder,
When the gigantic Memnon fell asunder ?

9. If the tomb's secrets may not be confessed,
The nature of thy private life unfold;-

A heart has throbb'd beneath that leathern breast, And tears adown that dusky cheek have rolled :— Have children climb'd those knees, and kiss'd that face? What was thy name and station, age and race? 10. Statue of flesh-immortal of the dead! Imperishable type of evanescence!

Posthumous man, who quitt'st thy narrow bed,
And standest undecayed within our presence,
Thou wilt hear nothing till the Judgment morning,
When the great trump shall thrill thee with its warning.
11. Why should this worthless tegument endure,
If its undying guest be lost for ever?
O let us keep the soul embalmed and pure

In living virtue; that when both must sever,
Although corruption may our frame consume,
Th' immortal spirit in the skies may bloom.

LESSON LXXIII.

The Negro's Complaint.-Cowper.

1. FORC'D from home and all its pleasures,
Afric's coast I left forlorn ;

To increase a stranger's treasures,
O'er the raging billows borne.
Men from England bought and sold me,
Paid my price in paltry gold;

But though slave they have enroll'd me,

Minds are never to be sold.

Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great, was king of Persia, B. C. 529. He made war against the Egyptians, and ravaged their country in a most barbarous manner. He was cruel and vindictive in the extreme. He died in the eighth year of his reign, B. C. 521.

+ An Egyptian god.

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