moment, like a pilgrim transfixed by lightning in the
desert; he then smote his breast, and looking upward, his eyes by
degrees overflowed with tears, and they fell, like dew distilling from
the mountain, in a calm and silent shower. As his grief was thus mingled
with devotion, his mind in a short time recovered its tranquillity,
though not its chearfulness, and he desired to be conducted to his
brother.

He found him surrounded by the lords of his court, his eye still
restless and ardent, and his deportment elate and assuming. HAMET
pressed hastily through the circle, and prostrated himself before him:
ALMORAN received the homage with a tumultuous pleasure; but at length
raised him from the ground, and assured him of his protection, though
without any expressions either of kindness or of sorrow: 'HAMET,' says
he, 'if I have no cause to complain of you as a subject, you shall have
no cause to complain of me as a king.' HAMET, whose heart was again
pierced by the cold and distant behaviour of his brother, suppressed the
sigh that struggled in his bosom, and secretly wiped away the tear that
started to his eye: he retired, with his looks fixed upon the ground, to
a remote corner of the apartment; and though his heart yearned to
embrace his brother, his modest diffidence restrained him from intruding
upon the king.

In this situation were ALMORAN and HAMET, when OMAR entered the
apartment. OMAR, upon whose head the hand of time became heavy, had from
his youth acquainted himself with wisdom: to him nature had revealed
herself in the silence of the night, when his lamp was burning alone,
and his eyes only were open: to him was known the power of the Seal of
Solomon; and to him the knowlege of things invisible had been revealed.
Nor was the virtue of OMAR inferior to his knowlege; his heart was a
fountain of good, which though it flowed through innumerable streams was
never dry: yet was the virtue of OMAR cloathed with humility; and he was
still pressing nearer to perfection, by a devotion which though elevated
was rational, and though regular was warm. From the council of OMAR,
Solyman had derived glory and strength; and to him he had committed the
education of his children.

When he entered the apartment, the croud, touched at once with reverence
and love, drew back; every eye was cast downward, and every tongue was
silent. The full of days approached the king, and kneeling before him he
put into his hand a sealed paper