Return-Behold, that Princely Youth Claims the full tribute of thy tear; His soften'd heart its last sad duty pays With pious woe, that while it weeps obeys, And struggles with its pangs in generous strife. For ah! how oft rebellious grief will turn, İndignant turn from consolation's strain, Bend o'er its treasured misery and spurn The soothing cares that seek to lull its pains. If upon earth one sight is found, 70 80 Unto his sovereign's throne; An empire o'er the heart is given, And bounteous as the breath of heaven. And such had been, O peerless Fair! Thy empire in these favour'd lands, But who shall question His commands? And seek His awful ways to scan, 130 140 180 THE MIRROR. "Sic vivendum est tanquam in conspectu vivamus; sic cogitandum tanquam aliquís in pectore intimo inspicere possit." SEN. Ep.. NO sooner had day-break flung its gray light upon my window, than 1 arose from my couch, fresh with sleep and vigorous with rest. It was one of the finest mornings of an Eastern spring. As I bounded across the plains of Patna, every leaf was bright with dew-drops; the birds were playing their music in the copses, and the Ganges was crimsoned with the magnificence of the rising sun. My eye was gladdened by the loveliness of nature; my heart overflowed with a plenitude of bliss. Delighting in the consciousness of existence, and grateful for the happiness it bestowed, I prostrated myself before the majesty of Heaven, in the silent expression of unutterable feeling. At the door of his tent, tasting the early winds that played among the branches and swept the odours of the flowers, sat the venerable Bramin of Orissa. The muses had crowned him with the chaplets of immortality, aud the genius of India had spread her treasures at his feet. The sages sought his wisdom, the youth of Hindostan pressed around him for instruction, and the whole empire resounded with the fame of Odallah. I approached to take a final leave of this ancient friend of my father and guide of my early days, to obtain his parting counsel, to receive his last embrace. My son," said he, “thou art now returning to the land of thy fathers, distinguished by the honours and laden with the opulence of the East. Thy country is the seat of learning and of science, of religion and of virtue; but it is also the home of infamy, and the abode of vice. Thy wealth will expose thee to the designs of avarice, and thy simplicity will render thee the dupe of imposition. Rank will court thy alliance, beauty spread her snares in thy path, and flattery surround thy table. Willingly would I impart to thee the dictates of wisdom, and impress upon thy mind the lessons of experience, but youth is apt to forget the counsels of age, and the sagest precepts are lost in the intoxications of pleasure. For half a century has the midnight lamp illuminated my tent, and the morning sun shone upon my labours. To my unremitting toil, philosophy has yielded her richest stores, and nature has unfolded her deepest secrets. Behold, then, Vivaldo, this small Mirror-the result of the most abstruse and subtile combinations in the profound science of alchy my. On touching this silver spring, the glass will assume the appearance of crystal, and reflect the person then predominant in thy mind; aud on pressing this spring of gold, thou wilt observe a talismanick tablet, which will disclose to thee, with unerring fidelity, the real motives of action in any character exhibited by the mirror. Thus wilt thou possess a knowledge of mankind which will ensure thy escape from ten thousand dangers, to which youth and ignorance would expose thee. Go, my son, and use this gift with dis |