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draught is wasted, I have another at
hand." This potion he immediately
administered. During this short inter-
val, the Sage found himself able to
raise his head, with assistance, and to
swallow a small portion of the liquid.
"Now he is able to take his, or
rather my medicines," said the Arabian
physician : "we shall do very well-
returning pulse -re-animation.-What
have we now to fear?"
"Fever!" said Abi.
Weakness, languor, and decline!"
added Coltor.

"All these symptoms will fly before the operation of my medicines," said the physician.

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So, perhaps, will the breath of the patient,” added Abi.

At the return of recollection, Myron looked around him, and observed, that he was laid upon an elegant bed in a handsome chamber. Astonished at the transition, from the situation where, as his senses gathered strength, he remembered he had fallen, the first use he made of his voice was to inquire how this change had been effected?

The two virgins had by this time approached his bed; and hearing the question of the Sage, each put her finger upon her lips. The physician, who stood on the other side, honoured these actions with a nod of approba

tion.

Though at their appearance the astonishment of Myron was more than doubled, he perfectly understood their sigus, and was consequently silent. The virgins retired, but soon after returned; and one of them presented to him a plate of boiled rice, the other a basket of fruit. The physician, who had first caught his newly recovered sight, and who now attracted his attention, said, "Before food is administered, my patient must take another dose. This draught, which is poured from a phial bearing the seal of Solomon, cannot be too often taken; it is composed of- -but it is no matter of what it is composed; suffer me to administer it.'

Myron acquiesced, took the medicine, and found himself still more revived. An animating glow seemed to pervade his system. He ate, drank, and gathered strength every hour.

"I have," said the physician, as he retired, almost done my part. I shall now leave Nature to perform hers."

His faithful slaves, overwhelmed with joy at the revival of their master, kneeled by the sides of his bed, while they offered their prayers for his speedy and perfect recovery; and then, with, the rest of the company, withdrew.

When Myron was alone, the first impression upon his mind was, that all the transactions of the day, every form that had flitted before his astonished sight, was visionary. He pursued this idea till it gathered strength from contemplation; and what was at first doubt and conjecture, seemed every moment to acquire stability, and to subside into certainty. He then most gravely imagined that he had passed the bourn that separates mortality from immortality, and t! at he had arrived in the hand of souls. Wearied with thought, at length he sunk into a profound sleep. When he awoke, he found himself much refreshed; the wanderings of fancy receded; the clear light of reason dawned upon his mind; and the visions of the night fled before it. He now perfectly recollected his late preservation, and lifted up his heart in prayers to the Omnipotent for his present safety. He raised himself in his bed as well as the feebleness of his body would permit, and, kneeling, repeated his acknowledgments for the blessings conferred upon him. These orisons performed, he again sunk into a sweet repose.

A few days restored the strength of Myron. Assisted by his slaves he arose; and dressing himselfin an Arabian habit, which his benevolent host had prepared for him, he was conducted into another apartment of the building, which he could not help observing was in the cottage stile, and that all the rooms through which he passed were planned upon Athenian models, and furnished with Athenian taste and elegance.

When he had descended the staircase, and crossed a small hall, he entered a beautiful parlour, wherein he found the two virgins whom he had before seen, who announced each other to him by the names of Anime and Lydice.

After tendering his thanks to them for the interest they had taken in his preservation, (of which he had, from his slaves, learned the circumstances,) he inquired for the commander of the band, to whose benevolent exertions, he said, under Heaven, he owed his life.

“Our father,” replied Lydice, "has taken a journey to Tayef."

"That, if I mistake not, is a town of Arabia Felix."

"In which country," continued Lydice, " you now arc, This small village, which is called Saft, is almost on the border of the Desert. Ten days since, under the protection of our father, some slaves and Turkish guards, we were returning from a place at the distance of two days' journey, called Kas Hell, whither we had been to an annual celebration which attracts all the Christians in this large district, when we were so fortunate as to be able to afford you that assistance which has been attended with such success.”

Can I see your mother?" said Myron.

The virgins burst into tears, drew their veils over their faces.

and

Your fears," continued the Sage, "are a full, though melancholy, answer to my question; but still another presses upon my mind: You are not Arabians Indeed, to this the appearance of your lovely persons is a satisfactory reply."

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Though we were born in this village," said Anime, "our father and mother were Grecians,"

"If," cried Coltor, who entered with precipitation, Vou wish to see a most extraordinary spectacle, suffer ine to guide you to it."

* I must first be informed of what mature this extraordinary spectacle is," said Myron.

No very uncommon one in this village," added Lydice; for it is from such spectacles that its inhabitants derive their chief support. Your slave, to whom sights of this nature seem to be a novelty, alludes to the procession of a company of pilgrims, who are advancing to pay their devotions at the shrine of their Prophet in the holy cily of Mecent.”

Myron took a hand of each of the virgins, who shrouded themselves in their veils, and proceeded through a grove of palm and cassia, the height and beautiful intermixture of whose branches formed a most agreeable shade, while the borders, composed of orange, pomegranate, and other glowing and delicious fruit trees and shrubs, vines twining around and climbing over ebony bushes, and the blooming acacia, gave to it an appearance equally vivid and picturesque. Through this delightful walk they arrived at the village, which consisted of a considerable number of

Arabian houses, embosomed in trees, each of which was surrounded by a flourishing garden.

Although the Sage Myron was well acquainted with the ceremonial processions of the Hindoos and the Persians; though he had contemplated the rites of the different casis of the Gentoos; an I had more than once seen the magical movements of the worshippers of fire; heyet gazed with equal curiosity and pleisure at this Mahometan solemnity; which, he observed, consisted of pilgrims from many nations of Europe, Asia and Africa, characteristic in their dresses, their getions, and their countern Ges. Those sparate bands met at the village of Safi, ay a ceatre point, an 1, though their intentions were devotional, formed a kind of arrangement aimest military. Each corps was preceded by their banner, denoting the place whence they came. Each leader had the silver crescent, and streamers of the favourite colour of their holy Prophet, displayed before him. The Alcoran, upon a cushion of green velvet, richly embroidered with gold and precious stones, was enclosed in an ark of white skin, and borne by Ulemas, surrounded by pabis, some of whom were distinguished by silver maces, and Jauizaries, who carried the standards of their different regimenis.

Fraternities of Dervises, discriminated by their various dresses, companies of Fakirs, and other orders of the priesthood, the Mouliahs and Cadis of the towns and villages through which the cavalcade had passed, attended. Dromedaries, camels, and the most exquisitely formed Arabian coursers, loaded with presents, and attended by a number of slaves, closed the procession.

While the Sage was engaged in attentively gazing at these objects as they passed before loin, and listening to the observations of Anime and Lydice, Abi came to him, and, entrea'ing him to stop aside, said, "Oh, my beloved

master! I fear that some evil is fast approaching your person."

After the perils that I Ave escaped, · why should you be alarmed ?”

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Fecause," continued Abi, "one of the pilgrims, as he passed, fixed his eyes upon you, and said to his companion,

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That man, although in the disguise of an Arabian, is surely Myron of Larissa.' To which the other answered, Impossible! Myron, who acquired the appel

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"In their conversation," continued Myron," truth and falsehood are blended however, what you have heard convinces me that I am known, even in a situation so remote from Greece; and as I have no reason to be afraid of the recognition of any one, I will, therefore, as soon as I have conducted these virgins to the dwelling of their father, return, and seek those pilgrims."

"I rather imagine," said Abi, "that before this can be accomplished they will seek you. At the wells which are termed Holy, situated under the cypress crowned rocks at the bottom of this village, the whole caravan will halt, to refresh, and to load their camels with water, which is scarce in the remaining part of their journey, especially as they have had none since they have passed the great reservoir."

"If they do stop," said Myron, "I shall consider the short suspension of their pilgrimage as fortunate, for I wish to hear of my own family, of my own country, and many other circumstances, with which, as they know me, they probably are acquainted.

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experience has convinced us, that the poet had, in this instance, blundered into a meaning, and that a neglect of this meaning has contracted the risible muscles of the present generation, and, unfortunately for us, settled into show and sadness.

At the dawn of your dramatic career, I will, Sir, freely confess, I formed a good opinion of your juvenile productions. I will not so grossly flatter you as to say that I considered you as the ninth wonder of the world (Shakspeare was the eighth). But although I could certainly track you in the Snow of other authors, the Spectator and Shadwell for instance, your writings, unquestionably, in the paucity of wit and humour, then, alas! too. apparent, might be justly hailed as harbingers of the revival of true comedy.

Had you continued the course that you had so auspiciously begun, we should not now have occasion to lament, that every vestige of what may be deemed real dramatic genius seeins to have vanished from the stage.

Of your more modern production, I mean the garnishing with tawdry tinsel the cast off coat of KOTZEBUE, it is impossible to speak in terms of reprobation sufficiently strong. As a Manager and a Moralist, says my motto, "A nation's taste depends on you; Perhaps a nation's virtue too." However, if this be the case, the exhibition of PIZARRO has shown us, that there are times when they may both, with impunity, be sacrificed at the shrine of avarice.

Immorality, certainly, in that age wanted no stimulus; which leads me to observe, that the period of that exhibition formed an epoch which has been termed the era of theatrical affectation: and hence, I fear, laxity of moral principle turned its eyes to the stage as to a MIRROR, and improved upon the images that were there reflected.

This circumstance introduces into my mind the contemplation of the dramatic taste that has prevailed at different periods during the last half century. We have had the Celestial, the Heroic, the Terrestrial, the Rosycrusian, the Harmonious, the Sentimental. To this succeeded your first productions; which, with those of MURPHY and a FEW Other authors, afforded us a transient glimpse.

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of the revival of the comic. In a very short time, however, we were again benighted; and during our dramatic darkness, the ignis fatuus of false sensibility flew over from Germany, and in its erratic course bewildered authors, actors, and audiences. To this suc

ceeded the age of Comic frivolity; and we are now most happily arrived at the infantile age, both with respect to our actors and to our dramatic pieces. On the latter only I shall observe, and that very shortly. It strikes me, and I am sure it must appear singular to you, as it certainly is a strong trait of dramatic imbecility, that those popular tales which formed the libraries of our nurseries through great part of the eighteenth century, should, by a kind of retrogradation in understanding, be come the delight of our Nobles and grave Senators at the beginning of the nineteenth. When we see characters conspicuous for their dignity, and consequently for its concomitant, sense, sitting in a state of solemn astonish ment while the tale of Misnar is murdered, and a TOAD is brought to bed of the Clown, or at the other house sucking political wisdom from the golden egg of MOTHER GOOSE, what a pleasing idea must it give us of the talents of the times, and the supreme happiness of the system under which we can enjoy these innocent amusements! I, therefore, do conceive, that it is incumbent upon you to afford protection and encouragement to such pieces as I have mentioned. Of subjects for many, equally new and ingenious, I could, were I disposed to be prolix, disclose to you numbers, yet untouched; but as, till those have run themselves out of breath, they will not be wanted, I would rather conclude with a story which I probably learned from my nurse :When, in the exigence of their affairs, Timoleon was called to the assistance of the Syracusians, he found them fond of the most frivolous sports, and even their Sages delighted with infantile pastimes. He read them a lecture upon the subject; at which the majority of his auditors laughed. However, he had at last, in the Senate, the good fortune to convince them, that the minds of men were, in a great measure, moulded by their amusements, and their characters stamped by their pleasures. Therefore he warned them, that though their cruel insidious enemies, the Carthaginians, were, perhaps, vulnerable

on many points, yet to attack them with effect was very different from children's play.—I am, Sir,

Your obedient humble servant,

X. Y.

On the SILK MANUFACTORY. To the Editor of the European Magazine.

SIR,

ASI know that you are ever ready to

promote the interests of the manufacturing class of your countrymen, I trust that these few lines will find a ready admission into your valuable and highly entertaining Magazine; especially as they are intended to mark a change in fashion which has lately occurred, and which you will, I am sure, deem for the better, as you will think our fair countrywomen, at least in the street, had better have most of their charms covered, than all of themdiscovered. Yet although. morally speaking, you may approve of the change, it seems to bode no great good to the fraternity of which, though unworthy, I have the honour to be a member. For several seasons, indeed from the period that the ladies were addressed through the medium of this Magazine*, our business has flourished exceedingly, and our lovely compatriots, in the clothes that they did wear in suminer, suffered six in the shape of colombines, and other elegant forms, I believe I may say even down to skirts, to have its full share in the shading their persons in winter our manufacture triumphed in PELISSES, &C.; and I may be bold to say, that we have prevented more beauties from taking cold than all the Doctors in England; it is, therefore, not without deep regret, that I observe these truly elegant velvet, satin, and silk articles, laid aside for woollen, and the British fair now wrapped up in garments which are as clumsy in their forms, and have either a Carthusian cape, or as many capes as the box coats of their coachmen.

You must not think by this, Sir, that I am an enemy to the woollen manufactory. No! I am too liberal in my ideas. Let all trades live, say I: but there is certainly room enough in the feniale person, in cold weather, for garments of both textures, and the male is, in winter, wholly clad in cloth: therefore I must request the ladies to let our beautiful fabrics again have that share

*See Europ. Mag. Vol. XL, pp. 263–466.

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OBSERVING, in your Magazine for

August last, a letter from that very ingenious oculist and philanthropic man, Mr. Ware, respecting that disorder in the eyes, which, he observes has been generally, though improperly, termed the Ophthalmia; and which has, both in its symptoms and in its pro

gress, frequently appeared and spread

in this and other countries of Europe, with a malignity nearly equal to the Egyptian, I am induced to mention to you the mode in which Mr. Cheselden treated his own eyes, and prescribed to his patients, which is traditional in my family, to some of whom that very eminent Surgeon was intimately known. This I am still more strongly impelled to do, by hearing a report that the Ophthalmia, or by whatsoever other name this disorder is known, now rages with considerable violence among the military in particular, and that it is, as Mr. Ware has suggested, infectious.

Mr. Cheselden, I must observe, had remarkable fine eyes, and was totally free from any disorder in them. His method of preserving them in this healthy state, he said, was by a constant course of washing them several times

a day, four or five at least, with tepid water. This he used to practise, and indeed carried this habit so far, that, when at the tea-table, either at home or where he was intimate, he would frequently dip the corner of his cambric handkerchief in the bason and dab his eyes. The constantly moistening the eyes with warm water, and consequently keeping them free from morbid secretions, was a mode of treatment which he used to recommend, and which, judging from his own, was attended with great success.

This, Sir, you will observe, was the mode of treatment adopted by Mr. C. by way of prevention. Whether he would have prescribed cold, and even iced water to eyes in a state of high inflammation, it is impossible for me to say. Prevention is better than even cure therefore having, as I conceive, derived benefit from tepid water, I can only join the suffrage of my small experience to the very eminent example of Mr. C.; and am

Your very obedient humble servant, 6th Dec. 1807.

ESSAYS,

M.

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pleted, another portion of time added to the accumulating heap of former ages: again has stern winter obtruded his gloomy front, and the trees, divested of their verdure, proclaim the departure of another year.

NOTHER year is at length com

If we survey the various occurrences of this comparatively short period, what a rapid succession of prospects have been dissipated, which hope, from time to time, had fondly delineated in gay perspective; how has the desolating arm of ambition deformed the aspect of the world; hog many public and private bereavements have we experienced; all crowded into the narrow compass of a single year!

The irresistible rapidity of time has been acknowledged and lamented by men of every rank and every age: we are compelled to assent to what it is impossible we can deny, and what every

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