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XVII. The Journey of a Day; a Picture of Human Life. OBIDAR, the fon of Abenfina, left the caravanfera

early in the morning, and purfued his journey through the plains of Indoftan. He was fresh and vigorous with reft; he was animated with hope; he was incited by desire; he walked fwiftly forward over the vallies, and faw the hills gradually rifing before him. As he passed along, his ears were delighted with the morning fong of the bird of paradife, he was fanned by the last flutters of the finking breeze, and fprinkled with dew by groves of fpices; he fometimes contemplated the towering height of the oak, monarch of the hills; and fome. times caught the gentle fragrance of the primrofe, eldest daughter of the fpring: all his fenfes were gratified, and all care was banished from his heart.

Thus he went on till the fun approached his meridian, and the increasing heat preyed upon his ftrength; he then looked round about him for fome more commodious path. He faw, on his right hand, a grove that feemed to wave its fhades as a fign of invitation; he entered it, and found the coolness and verdure irrefiftibly pleasant. He did not, however, forget whither he was travelling, but found a narrow way bordered with flowers, which appeared to have the fame direction with the main road, and was pleased, that, by this happy experiment, he had found means to unite pleafure with business, and to gain the rewards of diligence without fuffering its fatigues. He, therefore, ftill continued to walk for a time, without the least remiffion of his ardour, except that he was fometimes tempted to ftop by the mufic of the birds, whom the heat had affembled in the fhade, and fometimes amufed himself with plucking the flowers that covered the banks on either fide, or the fruits that hung upon the branches. At laft the green path began to decline from its firft tendency, and to wind among hills and thickets, cooled with fountains, and murmuring with water-falls. Here Obidah paused for a time, and began to confider whether it were longer fafe to forfake the known and common track; but remembering

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that the heat was now in its greatest violence, and that the plain was dufty and uneven, he refolved to purfue the new path, which he fuppofed only to make a few meanders, in compliance with the varieties of the ground, and to end at laft in the common road.

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Having thus calmed his folicitude, he renewed his pace, though he fufpected that he was not gaining ground. This unealinefs of his mind inclined him to lay hold on every new object, and give way to every fenfation that might footh or divert him. He liftened to every echo, he mounted every hill for a fresh profpect, he turned afide to every cascade, and pleased himself with tracing the course of a gentle river that rolled among the trees, and watered a large region with innumerable circumvolutions. In thefe amufements, the hours paffed away unaccounted, his deviations had perplexed his memory, and he knew not towards what point to travel. He flood pensive and confused, afraid to go forward left he fhould go wrong, yet conscious that the time of loitering was now paft. While he was thus tortured with uncertainty, the sky was overfpread with clouds, the day vanifhed from before him, and a fudden tempeft gathered round his head. He was now roused by his danger to a quick and painful remembrance of his folly, he now faw how happiness is loft when cafe is confulted; he lamented the unmanly impatience that prompted him to feek fhelter in the grove, and defpifed the petty curio fity that led him on from trifle to trifle. While he was thus reflecting, the air grew blacker, and a clap of thunder broke his meditation.

He now refolved to do what remained yet in his power, to tread back the ground which he had paffed, and try to find fome iffue where the wood might open into the plain. He proftrated himfelf on the ground, and commended his life to the Lord of nature. He rofe with confidence and tranquillity, and preffed on with his fabre in his hand, for the beafts of the defert were in motion, and on every hand were heard the mingled howls of rage and fear, and ravage and expiration; all the horrours of darkness and folitude furrounded him'; the winds roared in the woods, and the torrents tumbled from the hills.

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Thus forlorn and diftreffed, he wandered through the wild, without knowing whither he was going, or whether he was every moment drawing nearer to fafety or to deftruction. At length not fear but labour began to overcome him; his breath grew fhort, and his knees trembled, and he was on the point of lying down in refignation to his fate, when he beheld through the brambles the glimmer of a taper. He advanced towards the light, and finding that it proceeded from the cottage of a hermit, he called humbly at the door, and obtained admiffion. The old man fet before him fuch provifions as he had collected for himself, on which Obidah fed with eagerness and gratitude.

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When the repait was over, Tell me, faid the hermit, by what chance thou haft been brought hither; I have been now twenty years an inhabitant of the wildernefs, in which I never faw a man before.' Obidah them related the occurrences of his journey, without any concealment or palliation.

Son, faid the hermit, let the errours and follies, the dangers and efcape of this day, fink deep into thy heart. Remember, my fon, that human life is the journey of a day. We rife in the morning of youth, full of vigour and full of expectation; we fet forward with fpirit and hope, with gaiety and with diligence, and travel on a while in the trait road of piety towards the mansions of reft. In a fhort time we remit our fervour, and endeavour to find fome mitigation of our duty, and fome more eafy means of obtaining the fame end. We then relax our vigour, and refolve no longer to be terrified with crimes at a diftance, but rely upon our own conftancy, and venture to approach what we refolve never to touch. We thus enter the bowers of ease, and repofe in the fhades of fecurity. Here the heart foftens, and vigilance fubfides; we are then willing to enquire whether another advance cannot be made, and whether we may not, at least, turn our eyes upon the gardens of pleafure. We approach them with fcruple and hefitation; we enter them, but enter timorous and trembling, and always hope to pafs through them without lofing the pad of virtue, which we, for a while, keep in our and to which we propofe to return. But tempe

tation fucceeds temptation, and one compliance prepares us for another; we in time lofe the happiness of innocence, and folace our difquiet with fenfual gratifications. By degrees we let fall the remembrance of our original intention, and quit the only adequate object of rational defire. We entangle ourselves in bufinefs, immerge ourfelves in luxury, and rove through the labyrinths of inconftancy, till the darknefs of old age begins to invade us, and difeafe and anxiety obftruct our way. W then look back upon our lives with horrour, with forrow, with repentance; and will, but too often vainly with, that we had not forfaken the ways of virtue. Happy are they, my fon, who fhall learn from thy example not to despair, but fhall remember, that though the day is past, and their firength is wafted, there yet remains one effort to be made; that reformation is never hopeless,, nor fincere endeavours ever unassisted; that the wanderer may at length retorn after all his errours; and that he who implores ftrength and courage from above, fhall find danger and difficulty give way before him. Go now, my fon, to thy repofe; commit thyself to the care: of Omnipotence; and when the morning, calls again to toil, begin anew thy journey and thy life.'.

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SECTION IV.

I. Defcription of the Amphitheatre of Titus. POSTERITY admires, and will long admire, the awful remains of the amphitheatre of Titus, which fo well deferved the epithet of Coloffal. It was a building of an elliptic figure, five hundred and fixty-four feet in length, and four hundred and fixty-feven in breadth; founded on fourfcore arches; and rifing, with four fucceffive or ders of architecture, to the height of one hundred and forty feet. The outfide of the edifice was encrusted with marble, and decorated with ftatues. The flopes of the vaft concave which formed the infide, were filled and furrounded with fixty or eighty rows of feats of marble, covered with cushions, and capable of receiving with ease above fourfcore thousand spectators. Sixty-four vomitories (for by that name the doors were very aptly diftinguifhed) poured forth the immenfe multitude; and the entrances, paffages, and ftair-cafes, were contrived with fuch exquifite fkill, that each perfon, whether of the fenatorial, the equeftrian, or the plebeian order, arrived at his destined place, without trouble or confufion.

Nothing was omitted which in any refpect could be fubfervient to the convenience and pleasure of the fpectators. They were protected from the fun and rain by an ample canopy, occafionally drawn over their heads. The air was continually refreshed by the playing of fountains, and profufely impregnated by the grateful fcent of aromatics. In the centre of the edifice, the arena or stage was ftrewed with the finest fand, and fucceffively affumed the most different forms. At one moment, it feemed to rife out of the earth like the garden of the Hefperides; at another, it exhibited the rugged rocks and cavern's of Thrace. The fubterraneous pipes conveyed an inexhaustible fupply of water; and what had juft before appeared a level plain, might be fuddenly converted into a wide lake, covered with armed veffels, and replenished with the monfters of the deep.

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