ose around to be a deliberate insult, if not
even a preconcerted signal, of open treachery, and had not a heaven-sent
breeze at that moment carried the hat of a very dignified bystander into
the upper branches of an opportune tree, and successfully turned aside
the attention of the assembly into a most immoderate exhibition of utter
loss of gravity, I should undoubtedly have been publicly tortured, if
not actually torn to pieces.

But the incident first alluded to was of an even more
elaborately-contrived density than these, and some of the details are
still unrolled before the keenest edge of this one's inner perception.
Nevertheless, all is now set down in unbroken exactness for your
impartial judgment.

At the time of this exploit I had only ventured out on a few occasions,
and then, save those recorded, to no considerable extent; for it had
already become obvious that the enterprises in which I persistently
became involved never contributed to my material prosperity, and the
disappointment of finding that even when I could remember nine words
of a sentence in their language none of the barbarians could understand
even so much as a tenth of my own, further cast down my enthusiasm.

On the day which has been the object of this person's narration from
the first, he set out to become more fully instructed in the subjects
already indicated, and proceeding in a direction of which he had no
actual knowledge, he soon found himself in a populous and degraded
quarter of the city. Presently, to his reasonable astonishment, he saw
before him at a point where two ill-constructed thoroughfares met, a
spacious and important building, many-storied in height, ornamented
with a profusion of gold and crystal, marble and precious stones,
and displaying from a tall pole the three-hued emblem of undeniable
authority. A never-ending stream of people passed in and out by the
numerous doors; the strains of expertly wielded instruments could be
distinctly heard inside, and the warm odour of a most prepossessing
spiced incense permeated the surroundings. "Assuredly," thought the
person who is now recording the incident, "this is one of the Temples
of barbarian worship"; and to set all further doubt at rest he saw in
letters of gilt splendour a variety of praiseworthy and appropriate
inscriptions, among which he read and understood, "Excellent," "Fine
Old," "Well Matured," "Spirits only of the choicest quality within,"
together with many ot