and felt shame at having harbored them but an instant.

In the mean while, our rapid course continued without any interruption, through windings even more capriciously intricate' than any I had yet passed, and whose thick gloom seemed never to have been broken by a single glimmer of light. My unseen conductress was still at some distance before me, and the slight clue, to which I clung as if it were Destiny's own thread, was still kept, by the speed of her course, at full stretch between us. At length, suddenly stopping, she said, in a breathless whisper, "Seat thyself here;" and, at the same moment, led me by the hand to a sort of low car, in which, obeying her brief command, I lost not a moment in placing myself, while the❘ maideu, no less promptly, took her seat by my side.

A sudden click, like the touching of a spring, was then heard, and the car-which, as I had felt in entering it, leaned half-way over a steep descent -on being let loose from its station, shot down, almost perpendicularly, into the darkness, with a rapidity which, at first, nearly deprived me of breath. The wheels slid smoothly and noiselessly in grooves, and the impetus, which the car açquired in descending, was sufficient, I perceived, to carry it up an eminence that succeeded-from the summit of which it again rushed down another declivity, even still more long and precipitous than the former. In this manner we proceeded, by alternate falls and rises, till, at length, from the last and steepest elevation, the car descended upon a level of deep sand, where, after running for a few yards, it by degrees lost its motion, and stopped.

Here the maiden, alighting again, placed the riband in my hands-and again I followed her, though with more slowness and difficulty than before as our way now led up a flight of damp and time-worn steps, whose ascent seemed to the wearied and insecure foot interminable. Perceiving with what languor my guide advanced, I

1 In addition to the accounts which the ancients have left us of the prodigious excavations in all parts of Egypt-the fifteen hundred chambers under the Labyrinth--the subterranean stables of the Thebaid, containing a thousand horses-the crypts of Upper Egypt passing under the bed of the Nile, &c. &c.-the stories and traditions current among the Arabs still preserve the memory of those wonderful substructions. "Un Arabe," says Paul Lucas, "qui étoit avec nous, m'assura qu'étant entre autrefois dans le Labyrinthe, il avoit marché dans les chambres souterraines jusqu'en un lien où il y avoit une grande place environnée de plusieurs niches qui ressembloit à de petites boutiques, d'où l'on entroit dans d'autres allées et dans chambres, sans pouvoir en trouver la fin." In speaking, too, of the arcades along the Nile, near Cosscir, "Ils me dirent même que ces souterraines étoient si profondes

was on the point of making an effort to assist her progress, when the creak of an opening door above, and a faint gleam of light which, at the same moment, shone upon her figure, apprized me that we were at last arrived within reach of sunshine.

Joyfully I followed through this opening, and, by the dim light, could discern, that we were now in the sanctuary of a vast, ruined temple-having entered by a secret passage under the pedestal, upon which an image of the idol of the place once stord The first movement of the young maiden, after closing again the portal under the pedestal, was, without even a single look towards me, to cast her. self down upon her knees, with her hands clasped and uplifted, as if in thanksgiving or prayer. But she was unable, evidently, to sustain herself in this position; her strength could hold out no longer. Overcome by agitation and fatigue, she sunk e2090less upon the pavement.

Bewildered as I was myself, by the strange events of the night, I stood for some minutes looking upea her in a state of helplessness and aların. But, reminded, by my own feverish sensations, of the reviving effects of the air, I raised her gently in my arms, and crossing the corridor that surrounded the sanctuary, found my way to the outer vestibule | of the Temple. Here, shading her eyes from the sun, I placed her, reclining upon the steps, where the cool north-wind, then blowing freshly between the pillars, might play, with free draught, over her brow.

It was, indeed-as I now saw, with certaintythe same beautiful and mysterious girl, who had been the cause of my descent into that subterranean world, and who now, under such strange and unaccountable circumstances, was my guide back again to the realms of day. I looked around to discover where we were, and beheld such a scene of grandeur, as, could my eyes have been then attracted to i any object but the pale form reclining at my side, might well have induced them to dwell on its splendid beauties.

qu'il y en avoient qui alloient à trois journées de là, et qu'ils conduisoient dans un pays où l'on voyoit de beaux jardins, qu'on y trouvoit de belles maisons," &c. &c.

See also in M. Quatremère's Memoires sur l'Egypte, tom. i. p. 142., an account of a subterranean reservoir, said to have been discovered at Kaïs, and of the expedition undertaken by a party of persons, in a long narrow boat, for the purpose of exploring it. "Leur voyage avoit été de six jours, dout les quatre premiers furent employes à pénétrer les bords; les deux autres à revenir au lieu d'où ils étoient parts. Pendant tout cet intervalle ils ne purent atteindre l'extrémité du bassin. L'émir Ala-cddin-Tamboga, gouverneur de Behnesa, écrivit ces détails au sultan, qui en fut extrême ment surpris."

1

I was now standing, I found, on the small island in the centre of Lake Moris;' and that sanctuary, woere we had just emerged from darkness, formed part of the ruins of an ancient temple, which was, (as I have since learned,) in the grander days of Memphis, a place of pilgrimage for worshippers from all parts of Egypt. The fair Lake, itself, out of whose waters once rose pavilions, palaces, and even lofty pyramids, was still, though divested of many of these wonders, a scene of interest and splendor such as the whole world could not equal. While the shores still sparkled with mansions and temples, that bore testimony to the luxury of a living race, the voice of the Past, speaking out of unnumbered ruins, whose summits, here and there, rose blackly above the wave, told of times long fled, and generations long swept away, before whose giant remains all the glory of the present stood humbled. Over the southern bank of the Lake hung the dark relics of the Labyrinth ;-its twelve Royal Palaces, representing the mansions of the Zodiac-its thundering portals and constellated halls, having left nothing now behind but a few frowning ruins, which, contrasted with the soft groves of acacia and olive around them, seemed to rebuke the luxuriant smiles of nature, and threw a melancholy grandeur over the whole scene.

The effects of the air, in reanimating the young Priestess, were less speedy than I had expected ;her eyes were still closed, and she remained pale and insensible. Alarmed, I now rested her head (which had been, for some time, supported by my arm) against the base of one of the columns, with my cloak for its pillow, while I hastened to procure some water from the Lake. The temple stood high, and the descent to the shore was precipitous. But, my Epicurean habits having but little impaired my activity, I soon descended, with the lightness of a desert deer, to the bottom. Here, plucking from a fty bean-tree, whose flowers stood, shining like gold above the water, one of those large hollowed leaves that serve as cups for the Hebes of the Nile, I filled it from the Lake, and hurried back with the cool draught towards the Temple. It was not, however, without some difficulty that I at last succeeded in bearing my rustic chalice steadily up the steep; more than once did an unlucky slip waste

1 The position here given to Lake Maris, in making it the immediate boundary of the city of Memphis to the south, corresponds exactly with the site assigned to it by Maillet:

Memphis avoit encore à son midi un vaste reservoir, par où tout ce qui peut servir à la commodit› et à l'agrément de la vie lui étoit voiture abondamment de toutes les parties de l'Egypte. Ce lac qui la terminoit de ce côté-là," &c. &c.Tom. fi. p. 7.

2" On voit sur la rive orientale des antiquités qui sont presque entièrement sous les eaux."-Belzoni.

all its contents, and as often did I return impatiently to refill it.

During this time, the young maiden was fast recovering her animation and consciousness; and, at the moment when I appeared above the edge of the steep, was just rising from the steps, with her hand pressed to her forehead, as if confusedly recalling the recollection of what had occurred. No sooner did she observe me, than a short cry of alarm broke from her lips. Looking anxiously round, as though she sought for protection, and halfaudibly uttering the words, "Where is he?" she made an effort, as I approached, to retreat into the Temple.

Already, however, I was by her side, and taking her hand, as she turned away from me, gently in mine, asked, "Whom dost thou seek, fail Priestess?"

thus, for the first t.xe, breaking the silence she had enjoined, and in a tone that might have reassured the most timid spirit. But my words had no effect in calming her apprehension. Trembling, and with her eyes still averted towards the Temple, she continued in a voice of suppressed alarm,"Where can he be?-that venerable Athenian, that philosopher, who ———”

66

"Here, here," I exclaimed, anxiously, interrupting her "behold him still by thy side-the same, the very same, who saw thee steal from under the Veils of the Sanctuary, whom thou hast guided by a clue through those labyrinths below, and who now only waits his command from those lips, to devote himself through life and death to thy service." As I spoke these words, she turned slowly round, and looking timidly in my face, while her own burned with blushes, said, in a tone of doubt and wonder, "Thou!" and then hid her eyes in her hands.

I knew not how to interpret a reception so unexpected. That some mistake or disappointment had occurred was evident; but so inexplicable did the whole adventure appear to me, that it was in vain to think of unravelling any part of it. Weak and agitated, she now tottered to the steps of the Temple, and there seating herself, with her forehead against the cold marble, seemed for some moments absorbed in the most anxious thought; while silent and watchful I awaited her decision,

3"Quorundam autem domorum (in Labyrintho) talis est situs, ut adaperientibus fores tonitruum intus terribile existat."-Pliny.

4 Strabo. According to the French translator of Strabo, it was the fruit of the faba Ægyptiaca, not the leaf, that was used for this purpose. "Le ribwpiov," he says, "devoit s'entendre de la capsule ou fruit de cette plante, dont les Egyptiens se servoient comme d'un vase, imaginant que l'eau du Nil y devenoit délicieuse."

serve as the deep tenderness of my feeling towards her would admit-left her to court that restoring rest, which the agitation of her spirits so much required.

I lost not a moment in obeying the welcome command. With a thousand wild hopes naturally crowding upon my fancy, at the thoughts of a voyage, under such auspices, I descended rapidly to the shore, and hailing one of those boats that ply upon the Lake for hire, arranged speedily for a passage down the canal to the Nile. Having learned, too, from the boatmen, a more easy path up the rock, I hastened back to the Temple for my fair charge; and, without a word or look, that could alarm, even by its kindness, or disturb the innocent confidence which she now evidently reposed in me, led her down by the winding path to the boat.

Every thing around looked sunny and smiling as we embarked. The morning was in its first freshness, and the path of the breeze might clearly be traced over the Lake, as it went wakening up the waters from their sleep of the night. The gay, golden-winged birds that haunt these shores, were, in every direction, skimming along the Lake; while, with a graver consciousness of beauty, the swan and the pelican were seen dressing their white plumage in the mirror of its wave. To add to the liveliness of the scene, there came, at intervals, on the breeze, a sweet tinkling of musical instruments from boats at a distance, employed thus early in pursuing the fish of these waters,' that allow themselves to be decoyed into the nets by music.

The vessel I had selected for our voyage was one of those small pleasure-boats or yachts-so much in use among the luxurious navigators of the Nile in the centre of which rises a pavilion of cedar or cypress wood, adorned richly on the outside, with religious emblems, and gayly fitted up, within, for feasting and repose. To the door of this pavilion I now led my companion, and, after a few words of

For myself, though repose was hardly less necessary to me, the state of ferment in which I had been so long kept, appeared to render it hopeless. Having thrown myself on the deck of the vessel, under an awning which the sailors had raised for me, I continued, for some hours, in a sort of vague day-dream-sometimes passing in review the scenes of that subterranean drama, and sometimes, with my eyes fixed in drowsy vacancy, receiving passively the impressions of the bright scenery through which we passed.

The banks of the canal were then luxuriantly wooded. Under the tufts of the light and towering palm were seen the orange and he citron, interlacing their boughs; while, here and there, huge tamarisks thickened the shade, and, at the very edge of the bank, the willow of Babylon stood bending its graceful branches into the water. Occasionally, out of the depth of these groves, there shone a small temple or pleasure-house; while, now and then, an opening in their line of foliage allowed the eye to wander over extensive fields, all covered with beds of those pale, sweet roses, for which this district of Egypt is so celebrated.

The activity of the morning hour was visible in every direction. Flights of doves and lapwings were fluttering among the leaves; and the white heron, which had been roosting all night in some date-tree, now stood sunning its wings upon the green bank, or floated, like living silver, over the flood. The flowers, too, both of land and water, looked all just freshly awakened ;-and, most of all, the superb lotus, which, having risen along with the sun from the wave, was now holding up her chalice for a full draught of his light.

Such were the scenes that now successively presented themselves, and mingled with the vague reveries that floated through my mind, as our boat, with its high, capacious sail, swept along the flood. Though the occurrences of the last few days could not but appear to me one continued series of wonders, yet by far the greatest marvel of all was, that she, whose first look had sent wildfire into my heart-whom I had thought of ever since with a restlessness of passion, that would have dared all danger and wrong to obtain its object—she was now at this moment resting sacredly whin that

1 Elian, lib. vi. 32.

2 Called Thalameges, from the pavilion on the deck.Vide Strabo

As April is the season for gathering these roses (see Malte-Brun's Economical Calendar,) the Epicurean could not, of course, mean to say that he saw them actually in flower

Meanwhile, the sun had reached his meridian height. The busy hum of the morning had died gradually away, and all around was sleeping in the hot stillness of noon. The Nile-goose, having folded up her splendid wings, was lying motionless on the shadow of the sycamores in the water. Even the nimble lizards upon the bank' appeared to move less nimbly, as the light fell on their gold and azure hues. Overcome as I was with watching, and weary with thought, it was not long before I yielded to the becalming influence of the hour. Looking fixedly at the pavilion-as if once more to assure myself that I was in no dream or trance, but that the young Egyptian was really there-I felt my eyes close as I gazed, and in a few minutes sunk into a profound sleep.

CHAPTER XII.

Ir was by the canal through which we now sailed, that, in the more prosperous days of Memphis, the commerce of Upper Egypt and Nubia was transported to her magnificent Lake, and from thence, having paid tribute to the queen of cities, was poured forth again, through the Nile, into the ocean. The course of this canal to the river was not direct, but ascending in a southeasterly direction towards the Saïd; and in calms, or with adverse winds, the passage was tedious. But as the breeze was now blowing freshly from the north, there was every prospect of our reaching the river before nightfall. Rapidly, too, as our galley swept along the flood, its motion was so smooth as to be hardly felt; and the quiet gurgle of the waters, and the drowsy song of the boatman at the prow, were the only sounds that disturbed the deep silence which prevailed.

The sun, indeed, had nearly sunk behind the Libyan hills, before the sleep, into which these sounds had contributed to lull me, was broken; and the first object on which my eyes rested, in waking, was that fair young Priestess-seated within a porch which shaded the door of the pavilion, and

Her face was but half-turned towards me; and as she, once or twice, raised her eyes to the warm sky, whose light fell, softened through the trellis, over her cheek, I found all those feelings of reverence, which she had inspired me with in the chapel, return. There was even a purer and holier charm around her countenance, thus seen by the natural light of day, than in those dim and unhallowed regions below. She was now looking, too, direct to the glorious sky, and her pure eyes and that heaven, so worthy of each other, met.

After contemplating her for a few moments, with little less than adoration, I rose gently from my resting-place, and approached the pavilion. But the mere movement had startled her from her devotion. and, blushing and confused, she covered the volume with the folds of her robe.

In the art of winning upon female confidence, I had long, of course, been schooled; and, now that to the lessons of gallantry the inspiration of love was added, my ambition to please and to interest could hardly fail, it may be supposed, of success. I soon found, however, how much less fluent is the heart than the fancy, and how very different may be the operations of making love and feeling it. In the few words of greeting now exchanged between us, it was evident that the gay, the enterprising Epicurean was little less embarrassed than the secluded Priestess;-and, after one or two ineffectual efforts to converse, the eyes of both turned bashfully away, and we relapsed into silence.

From this situation-the result of timidity on one side, and of a feeling altogether new on the otherwe were, at length, relieved, after an interval of estrangement, by the boatmen announcing that the Nile was in sight. The countenance of the young Egyptian brightened at this intelligence; and the smile with which I congratulated her upon the speed of our voyage was responded to by another from her, so full of gratitude, that already an instinctive sympathy seemed established between us.

We were now on the point of entering that sacred river, of whose sweet waters the exile drinks in his dreams-for a draught of whose flood the royal daughters of the Ptolemies, when far away, on for

1 "L'or et l'azur brillent en bandes longitudinales sur leur corps entier, et leur quene est du plus beau bleu céleste." Sonnini

2 "Un canal," says Maillet, "très-profond et très-large y voituroit les eaux du Nil."

"Anciennement on portoit les eaux du Nil jusqu'à des contrées fort éloignées, et surtout chez les princesses du sang des Ptolomées, mariées dans des familles étrangères."-De Pauta

The water thus conveyed to other lands was, as we may collect from Juvenal, chiefly intended for the use of the Temples of Isis, established in those countries.

Si candida jusserit Io,

Ibit ad Ægypti finem, calidaque petitas
A Meroë portabit aquas, ut spargat in æde
Isidis, antiquo quæ proxima surgit ovili.

Sat. vi.