mparing the activity of her commerce, the extent of
her navigation, the magnificence of her buildings, the arts and industry
of her inhabitants, with what Egypt and Syria had once possessed, I was
gratified to find in modern Europe the departed splendor of Asia; but
the charm of my reverie was soon dissolved by a last term of comparison.
Reflecting that such had once been the activity of the places I was
then contemplating, who knows, said I, but such may one day be the
abandonment of our countries? Who knows if on the banks of the Seine,
the Thames, the Zuyder-Zee, where now, in the tumult of so many
enjoyments, the heart and the eye suffice not for the multitude of
sensations,--who knows if some traveller, like myself, shall not one day
sit on their silent ruins, and weep in solitude over the ashes of their
inhabitants, and the memory of their former greatness.

At these words, my eyes filled with tears: and covering my head with the
fold of my mantle, I sank into gloomy meditations on all human affairs.
Ah! hapless man, said I in my grief, a blind fatality sports with thy
destiny!* A fatal necessity rules with the hand of chance the lot of
mortals! But no: it is the justice of heaven fulfilling its decrees!--a
God of mystery exercising his incomprehensible judgments! Doubtless
he has pronounced a secret anathema against this land: blasting with
maledictions the present, for the sins of past generations. Oh! who
shall dare to fathom the depths of the Omnipotent?

* Fatality is the universal and rooted prejudice of the
East. "It was written," is there the answer to every thing.
Hence result an unconcern and apathy, the most powerful
impediments to instruction and civilization.

And sunk in profound melancholy, I remained motionless.

CHAPTER III.

THE APPARITION.

While thus absorbed, a sound struck my ear, like the agitation of a
flowing robe, or that of slow footsteps on dry and rustling grass.
Startled, I opened my mantle, and looking about with fear and trembling,
suddenly, on my left, by the glimmering light of the moon, through
the columns and ruins of a neighboring temple, I thought I saw an
apparition, pale, clothed in large and flowing robes, such as spectres
are painted rising from their tombs. I shuddered: and while agitated and
hesitating whether to fly or to advance toward the object, a distinct
voice, in solemn tones, pronounced these words:

How long will man importune