one for himself. But know that the defects of the older
steed may be compensated by the energies of the young rider, whereas the
violence of the young horse requires to be moderated by the cold temper
of the older."

So spoke the sage; but neither to this observation did Sir Kenneth
return any answer which could lead to a continuance of their
conversation, and the physician, wearied, perhaps, of administering
comfort to one who would not be comforted, signed to one of his retinue.

"Hassan," he said, "hast thou nothing wherewith to beguile the way?"

Hassan, story-teller and poet by profession, spurred up, upon this
summons, to exercise his calling. "Lord of the palace of life," he said,
addressing the physician, "thou, before whom the angel Azrael spreadeth
his wings for flight--thou, wiser than Solimaun Ben Daoud, upon whose
signet was inscribed the REAL NAME which controls the spirits of the
elements--forbid it, Heaven, that while thou travellest upon the track
of benevolence, bearing healing and hope wherever thou comest, thine own
course should be saddened for lack of the tale and of the song. Behold,
while thy servant is at thy side, he will pour forth the treasures of
his memory, as the fountain sendeth her stream beside the pathway, for
the refreshment or him that walketh thereon."

After this exordium, Hassan uplifted his voice, and began a tale of love
and magic, intermixed with feats of warlike achievement, and ornamented
with abundant quotations from the Persian poets, with whose compositions
the orator seemed familiar. The retinue of the physician, such excepted
as were necessarily detained in attendance on the camels, thronged up
to the narrator, and pressed as close as deference for their master
permitted, to enjoy the delight which the inhabitants of the East have
ever derived from this species of exhibition.

At another time, notwithstanding his imperfect knowledge of the
language, Sir Kenneth might have been interested in the recitation,
which, though dictated by a more extravagant imagination, and
expressed in more inflated and metaphorical language, bore yet a strong
resemblance to the romances of chivalry then so fashionable in Europe.
But as matters stood with him, he was scarcely even sensible that a
man in the centre of the cavalcade recited and sung, in a low tone, for
nearly two hours, modulating his voice to the various moods of passion
introduced into the tale, and receiving, in return,