suited to the slumber of a Christian, there was one among them, the Cross, which, by a remarkable coincidence, is an emblem alike common to the Gentile and the Christian-being, to the former, a shadowy type of that immortality, of which, to the latter, it is a substantial and assuring pledge. Nightly, upon this cross, which she had often seen her lost mother kiss, did she breathe forth a solemn and heartfelt vow, never to abandon the faith which that departed spirit had bequeathed to her. To such enthusiasm, indeed, did her heart at such moments rise, that, but for the last injunctions from those pallid lips, she would, at once, have avowed her perilous secret, and boldly pronounced the words, I am a Christian,' among those benighted shrines ! "But the will of her, to whom she owed more than life, was to be obeyed. To escape from this haunt of superstition must now, she felt, be her first object; and, in planning the means of effecting it, her mind, day and night, was employed. It was with a loathing not to be concealed, that she now found herself compelled to resume her idolatrous services at the shrine. To some of the offices of Theora she succeeded, as is the custom, by inheritance; and in the performance of these tasks sanctified as they were in her eyes by the pure spirit she had seen engaged in them-there was a sort of melancholy pleasure in which her sorrow found relief. But the part she was again forced to take, in the scenic shows of the Mysteries, brought with it a sense of degradation and wrong which she could no longer endure. "Already had she formed, in her own mind, a plan of escape, in which her acquaintance with all the windings of this mystic realm gave her confidence, when the solemn reception of Alciphron, as an Initiate, took place. "From the first moment of the landing of that philosopher at Alexandria, he had become an object of suspicion and watchfulness to the inquisitorial Orcus, whom phi.osophy, in any shape, naturally alarmed, but to whom the sect over which the young Athenian presided was particularly obnoxious. The accomplishments of Alciphron, his popularity, wherever he went, and the bold freedom with which he indulged his wit at the expense of religion, were all faithfully reported to the High Priest by his spies, and awakened in his mind no kindly feelings towards the stranger. In dealing with an infidel, such a personage as Orcus could know no other alternative but that of either converting or destroying him; and though his spite, as a man, would have been more gratified by the latter proceeding, his pride, as a priest, led him to prefer the triumph of the former. "The first descent of the Epicurean into the pyramid became speedily known, and the alarm was immediately given to the priests below. As soon as they had discovered that the young philosopher of Athens was the intruder, and that he not only still continued to linger round the pyramid, but was ob served to look often and wistfully towards the portal, it was concluded that his curiosity would impel him to try a second descent; and Orcus, blessing the good chance which had thus brought the wild bird into his net, resolved not to suffer an opportunity so precious to be wasted. "Instantly, the whole of that wonderful machinery, by which the phantasms and illusions of Initiation are produced, were put in active preparation throughout that subterranean realm; and the increased stir and vigizace awakened among its inmates, by this more than ordinary display of the resources of priestcraft, rendered the accomplishment of Alethe's purpose, at such a moment, peculiarly difficult. Wholly ignorant of the important share which it had been her own fortune to take in attracting the young philosopher down to this region, she but heard of him vaguely, as the Chief of a great Grecian sect, who had been led, by either curiosty or accident, to expose himself to the first trials of Initiation; and whom the priests, she could see, were endeavoring to ensnare in their toils, by every art and lure with which their dark science had gifted them. "To her mind, the image of a philosopher, such as Alciphron had been represented to her, came associated with ideas of age and reverence; and, more than once, the possibility of his being made instrumental to her deliverance flashed a hope across her heart in which she could not refrain from indulging Often had she been told by Theora of the many Gentile sages, who had laid their wisdom down humbly at the foot of the Cross; and though this | Initiate, she feared, could hardly be among the number, yet the rumors which she had gathered from the servants of the Temple, of his undisguised contempt for the errors of Heathenism, led her to j hope she might find tolerance, if not sympathy, in her appeal to him. "Nor was it solely with a view to her own chance of deliverance that she thus connected him in her thoughts with the plan which she meditated The look of proud and self-gratulating malice, with which the High Priest had mentioned this Infidel." as he styled him, when giving her instructions in the scene she was to act before the philosopher in the valley, too plainly informed her of the dark desting that hung over him. She knew how many were the hapless candidates for Initiation who had bee doomed to a durance worse than that of the grave, for but a word, a whisper breathed against the sacred absurdities that they witnessed; and it was evident to her that the venerable Greek (for such her fancy represented Alciphron) was no less interested in escaping from the snares and perils of this region than herself. already was the image lighted up, and still she remained trembling in her hiding-place. "In a few minutes more the mighty Veils would have been withdrawn, and the glories of that scene of enchantment laid open-when, at length, summoning all her courage, and taking advantage of a momentary absence of those employed in preparing this splendid mockery, she stole from under the Veil, and found her way, through the gloom, to the Epicurean. There was then no time for explanation; "Hewn resolution was, at all events, fixed. That visionary scene, in which she had appeared before Alciphron-little knowing how ardent were the heart and imagination over which her beauty, at that moment, exercised its influence-was, she sol--she had but to trust to the simple words, Follow, emnly resolved, the very last unholy service, that superstition or imposture should ever command of her. "On the following night the Aspirant was to watch in the Great Temple of Isis. Such an opportunity of approaching and addressing him might never come again. Should he, from compassion for her situation, or a sense of the danger of his own, consent to lend his aid to her flight, most gladly would she accept it-well assured that no danger or treachery she might risk could be half so odious and fearful as those which she left behind. Should he, on the contrary, reject the proposal, her determination was equally fixed-to trust to that God whose eye watches over the innocent, and go forth alone. and be silent;' and the implicit readiness with which she found them obeyed filled her with no less surprise than the philosopher himself had felt in hearing them. "In a second or two they were on their way through the subterranean windings, leaving the ministers of Isis to waste their splendors on vacancy, through a long series of miracles and visions which they now exhibited-unconscious that he, whom they were taking such pains to dazzle, was already, under the guidance of the young Christian, far removed beyond the reach of their deceiving spells." CHAPTER XIV. "To reach the island in Lake Maris was her first great object; and there occurred fortunately, at this time, a mode of effecting her purpose, by which both the difficulty and dangers of the attempt would be much diminished. The day of the annual visitation of the High Priest to the Place of Weeping'-| SUCH was the singular story, of which this innoas that island in the centre of the Lake is called-cent girl now gave me, in her own touching lanwas now fast approaching; and Alethe knew that guage, the outline. the self-moving car, by which the High Priest and one of the Hierophants are conveyed down to the chambers under the Lake, stood then waiting in readiness. By availing herself of this expedient, she would gain the double advantage both of facilitating her own flight, and retarding the speed of her pur suers. "Having paid a last visit to the tomb of her beloved mother, and wept there, long and passionately, till her heart almost failed in the struggle-having paused, too, to give a kiss to her favorite ibis, which, although too much a Christian to worship, she was still child enough to love-she went early, with a trembling step, to the Sanctuary, and there hid herself in one of the recesses of the Shrine. Her intention was to steal out from thence to Alciphron, while it was yet dark, and before the illumination of the great Statue behind the Veils had begun. But her fears delayed her till it was almost too late; 1 Vide Wilford, Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. p. 340. The sun was just rising as she finished her narrative. Fearful of encountering the expression of those feelings with which, she could not but observe, I was affected by her recital, scarcely had she concluded the last sentence, when, rising abruptly from her seat, she hurried into the pavilion, leaving me with the words fast crowding for utterance to my lips. Oppressed by the various emotions thus sent back upon my heart, I lay down on the deck in a state of agitation, that defied even the most distant approaches of sleep. While every word she had uttered, every feeling she expressed, but ministered new fuel to that flame which consumed me, and to describe which, passion is far too weak a word, there was also much of her recital that disheartened and alarmed me. To find a Christian thus under the garb of a Memphian Priestess, was a discovery that, had my heart been less deeply interested, would but have more powerfully stimulated my imagination and pride. But, when I recollected the austerity of the faith she had embraced-the tender and sacred tie associated with it in her memory, and the devotion of woman's heart to objects thus consecrated-her very perfections but widened the distance between us, and all that most kindled my passion at the same time chilled my hopes. forms of the rocky hills by which we were passing She looked pale and troubled, and rose eagerly to meet me, as if she had long and impatiently waited for my waking. Her heart, it was plain, had been disturbed from its security, and was beginning to take alarm at its own feelings. But, though vaguely conscious of the peril to which she was exposed, her reliance, as is usual in such cases, increased with her danger, and upon me, far more than on herself, did she seem to depend for saving her. To reach, as soon as possible, her asylum in the desert, was now the urgent object of her entreaties and wishes; and the selfreproach which she expressed at having, for a single moment, suffered her thoughts to be diverted from this sacred purpose, not only revealed the truth, that she had forgotten it, but betrayed even a glimmer Were we to be left to each other, as on this silent river, in such undisturbed communion of thoughts and feelings, I knew too well, I thought, both her sex's nature and my own, to feel a doubt that love would ultimately triumph. But the severity of the guardianship to which I must resign her-that of some monk of the desert, some stern Solitary-the influence such a monitor would gain over her mind -and the horror with which, ere long, he might teach her to regard the reprobate infidel upon whom she now smiled—in all this prospect I saw nothing but despair. After a few short hours, my dreaming consciousness of the cause. of happiness would be at an end, and such a dark chasm must then open between our fates, as would dissever them, wide as earth from heaven, asunder. It was true, she was now wholly in my power. I feared no witnesses but those of earth, and the solitude of the desert was at hand. But though I acknowledged not a heaven, I worshipped her who was, to me, its type and substitute. If, at any moment, a single thought of wrong or deceit, towards one so sacred arose in my mind, one look from her innocent eyes averted the sacrilege. Even passion itself felt a holy fear in her presence-like the flame trembling in the breeze of the sanctuary-and Love, pure Love, stood in place of Religion. As long as I knew not her story, I could indulge, at least, in dreams of the future. But, now-what expectation, what prospect remained? My single chance of happiness lay in the hope, however delusive, of being able to divert her thoughts from the fatal project she meditated; of weaning her, by persuasion and argument, from that austere faith, which I had before hated and now feared; and of attaching her, perhaps, alone and unlinked as she was in the world, to my own fortunes forever! In the agitation of these thoughts, I had started from my resting place, and continued to pace up and down, under a burning sun, till, exhausted both by thought and feeling, I sunk down, amid that blaze of light, into a sleep, which to my fevered brain seemed a sleep of fire. On awaking, I found the veil of Alethe laid carefully over my brow; while she, herself, sat near me, under the shadow of the sail, looking anxiously upon that leaf, which her mother had given her, and employed apparently in comparing its outlines with the course of the river, as well as with the Her sleep, she said, had been broken by ill-omened dreams. Every moment the shade of her mother had stood before her, rebuking, with mournful looks, her delay, and pointing, as she had done in death, to the eastern hills. Bursting into tears at this ac-| cusing recollection, she hastily placed the leaf, which she had been examining, in my hands, and implored that I would ascertain, without a moment's delay, what portion of our voyage was still unperformed, and in what space of time we might hope to accomplish it. I had, still less than herself, taken note of either place or distance; and could we have been left to | glide on in this dream of happiness, should never have thought of pausing to ask where it would end But such confidence was far soo sacred to be deceived; and, reluctant as I naturally felt, to enter on an inquiry which might soon dissipate even my last hope, her wish was sufficient to supersede even the selfishness of love, and on the instant I preceeded to obey her will. There stands on the eastern bank of the Nile, to the north of Antinoẽ, a high and steep rock, impending over the flood, which has borne, for ages, from a prodigy connected with it, the name of the Mountain of the Birds. Yearly, it is said, at a certain season and hour, large flocks of birds 23semble in the ravine, of which this rocky mounta forms one of the sides, and are there observed to ge through the mysterious ceremony of inserting each its beak into a particular cleft of the rock, till the cleft closes upon one of their number, when all the rest of the birds take wing, and leave the selected victim to die. Through the ravine, rendered famous by the charm-for such the multitude consider it-there ran, in ancient times, a canal from the Nile, some great and forgotten city, now buried in the desert To a short distance from the river this canal still exists, but, after having passed through the defile, its scanty waters disappear, and are wholly lost under the sands. It was in the neighborhood of this place, as I could collect from the delineations on the leafwhere a flight of birds represented the name of the mountain-that the abode of the Solitary, to whom Alethe was about to consign herself, was situated. Little as I knew of the geography of Egypt, it at once struck me, that we had long since left this mountain behind; and, on inquiring of our boatmen, I found my conjecture confirmed. We had, indeed, passed it on the preceding night; and, as the wind had been, ever since, blowing strongly from the north, and the sun was already sinking towards the horizon, we must be now, at least, a day's sail to the southward of the spot. This discovery, I confess, filled my heart with a feeling of joy which I found it difficult to conceal. It seemed as if fortune was conspiring with love in my behalf, and, by thus delaying the moment of our separation, afforded me a chance at least of happiness. Her look and manner, too, when in formed of our mistake, rather encouraged than chilled this secret hope. In the first moment of astonishment, her eyes opened upon me with a suddenness of splendor, under which I felt my own wink as though lightning had crossed them. But she again, as suddenly, let their lids fall, and, after a quiver of her lip, which showed the conflict of feeling then going on within, crossed her arms upon her bosom, and looked down silently upon the deck; her whole countenance sinking into an expression, sad, but resigned, as if she now felt that fate was on the side of wrong, and saw Love already stealing between her soul and heaven. I was not slow, of course, in availing myself of what I fancied to be the irresolution of her mind. But, still, fearful of exciting alarm by any appeal to feelings of regard or tenderness, I but addressed myself to her imagination, and to that love of novelty and wonders, which is ever ready to be awakened within the youthful breast. We were now approaching that region of miracles, Thebes. "In a day or two," said I, "we shall see, towering above the waters, the colossal Avenue of Sphinxes, and the bright Obelisks of the Sun. We shall visit the plain of Memnon, and behold those mighty 1 The voyages on the Nile are, under favorable circumstances, performed with considerable rapidity. "En cinq ou six jours," says Maillet, "on pourroit aisément remonter de l'embouchure du Nil à ses cataractes, ou descendre des cataractes jusqu'à la mer." The great uncertainty of the navigation is proved by what Belzoni tells us:-" Nous ne mîmes cette fois que deux jours et demi pour faire le trajet du Caire statues that fling their shadows at sunrise over the Libyan hills. We shall hear the image of the Son of the Morning responding to the first touch of light. From thence, in a few hours, a breeze like this will transport us to those sunny islands near the cataracts; there, to wander, among the sacred palmgroves of Phike, or sit, at noontide hour, in those cool alcoves, which the waterfall of Syene shadows under its arch. Oh, who is there that, with scenes of such loveliness within reach, would turn coldly away to the bleak desert, and leave this fair world, with all its enchantments, shining unseen and unenjoyed? At least"-I added, taking tenderly her hand in mine-"let a few more days be stolen from the dreary fate to which thou hast devoted thyself, and then _______99 She had heard but the last few words-the rest had been lost upon her. Startled by the tone of tenderness into which, in despite of all my resolves, I had suffered my voice to soften, she looked for an instant with passionate earnestness into my face ;then, dropping upon her knees with her clasped hands upraised, exclaimed,-"Tempt me not, in the name of God I implore thee, tempt me not to swerve from my sacred duty. Oh! take me instantly to that desert mountain, and I will bless thee forever." This appeal, I felt, could not be resisted-even though my heart were to break for it. Having silently intimated my assent to her prayer, by a slight pressure of her hand as I raised her from the deck, I proceeded immediately, as we were still in full career for the south, to give orders that our sail should be instantly lowered, and not a moment lost in retracing our course. In giving these directions, however, it, for the first time, occurred to me, that, as I had hired this yacht in the neighborhood of Memphis, where it was probable the flight of the young Priestess would be most vigilantly tracked, we should run the risk of betraying to the boatmen the place of her retreat; -and there was now a most favorable opportunity for taking precautions against this danger. Desiring, therefore, that we should be landed at a small village on the shore, under pretence of paying a visit to some shrine in the neighborhood, I there dismissed our barge, and was relieved from fear of further observation, by seeing it again set sail, and resume its course fleetly up the current. à Melawi, auquel, dans notre second voyage, nous avions employé dix-huit jours." 2" Elles ont près de vingt mètres (61 pieds) d'élévation; et au lever du soleil, leurs ombres immenses s'étendent au loin sur la chaîne Libyenne." Description générale de Thebes, par MM. Jollois et Desvilliers. Paul Lucas. From the boats of all descriptions that lay idle beside the bank, I now selected one, in every respect, suited to my purpose-being, in its shape and accommodations, a miniature of our former vessel, but, at the same time, so light and small as to be manageable by myself alone, and requiring, with the advantage of the current, little more than a hand to steer it. This boat I succeeded, without much difficulty, in purchasing, and, after a short delay, we were again afloat down the current ;-the sun just then sinking, in conscious glory, over his own golden shrines in the Libyan waste. The evening was calmer and more lovely than any that had yet smiled upon our voyage; and, as we left the shore, a strain of sweet melody came soothingly over our ears. It was the voice of a young Nubian girl, whom we saw kneeling before an acacia, upon the bank, and singing, while her companions stood around, the wild song of invocation, which, in her country, they address to that enchanted tree: "Oh! Abyssinian tree, We pray, we pray to thee; Of thy bough's salute To the stranger who seeks thy bower.1 "Oh! Abyssinian tree, How the traveller blesses thee, Saying, 'Come, rest thee here.' Thus bow thy head to me!" In the burden of this song the companions of the young Nubian joined; and we heard the words, "Oh! Abyssinian tree," dying away on the breeze, long after the whole group had been lost to our eyes. Whether, in the new arrangement which I had made for our voyage, an motive, besides those which I professed, had a share, I can scarcely, even myself so bewildered were then my feelings determine. But no sooner had the current borne us away from all human dwellings, and we were alone on the waters, with not a soul near, than I felt how closely such solitude draws hearts together, and how much more we seemed to belong to each other, than when there were eyes around us. its danger, was manifest in every look and word of Alethe. The consciousness of the one great effort which she had made appeared to have satisfied her heart on the score of duty-while the devotedness with which she saw I attended to her every wish, was felt with all that trusting gratitude which, in woman, is the day-spring of love. She was, therefore, happy, innocently happy; and the confiding, and even affectionate, unreserve of her manner, while it rendered my trust more sacred, made it also far more difficult. It was only, however, upon subjec's unconnected with our situation or fate, that she yielded to such interchange of thought, or that her voice ventured to answer mine. The moment I alluded to the destiny that awaited us, all her cheerfulness fled, and she became saddened and silent. When I described to her the beauty of my own native land— its founts of inspiration and fields of glory-her eyes sparkled with sympathy, and sometimes even softened into fondness. But when I ventured to whisper, that, in that glorious country, a life full of love and liberty awaited her; when I proceeded to contrast the adoration and bliss she might command, with the gloomy austerities of the life to which she was hastening-it was like the coming of a sudden cloud over a summer sky. Her head sunk, as she listened; I waited in vain for an answer; and when, half playfully reproaching her for this silence. I stooped to take her hand, I could feel the warm tears fast falling over it. But even this-feeble as was the hope it held out -was still a glimpse of happiness. Though it foreboded that I should lose her, it also whispered the I was loved. Like that lake, in the land of Roses" whose waters are half sweet, half bitter,' I h my fate to be a compound of bliss and pain--but its very pain well worth all ordinary bliss. And thus did the hours of that night pass along while every moment shortened our happy die and the current seemed to flow with a swifter psor than any that ever yet hurried to the sea. Not a feature of the whole scene but lives, at this moment. freshly in my memory;-the broken starlight cz the water;-the rippling sound of the boat, as, without oar or sail, it went, like a thing of encharment, down the stream;-the scented fire, burn.25 beside us upon the deck, and then that face, which its light fell, revealing, at every mom some new charm-some blush or look, more beattiful than the last! Often, while I sat gazing, forgetful of all else. The same feeling, but without the same sense of in this world, our boat, left wholly to itself, weckt 1 See an account of this sensitive tree, which bends down Its branches to those who approach it, in M. Jomard's Description of Syene and the Cataracts. 2 The province of Arsinoë, now Fourn. 3 Paul Lucas. |