g to everlasting, and He illuminated my darkness with His
light. I know, by such sensations as the world either feels not at all,
or feels unnoticed without knowledge of their use, when the powers that
are invisible are permitted to mingle in the walks of men; and well I
know, that some being, who is more than mortal, has joined with ALMORAN
against thee, since the veil of night was last spread upon the earth.'

HAMET, whose blood was chilled with horror, and whose nerves were no
longer obedient to his will, after several ineffectual attempts to
speak, looked up at OMAR; and striking his hand upon his breast, cried
out, in an earnest, but faultering voice, 'What shall I do?' 'Thou must
do,' said OMAR, 'that which is RIGHT. Let not thy foot be drawn by any
allurement, or driven by any terror, from the path of virtue. While thou
art there, thou art in safety: and though the world should unite against
thee, by the united world thou canst not be hurt.'

'But what friendly power,' said HAMET, 'shall guard even the path of
virtue from grief and pain; from the silent shaft of disappointed love,
or the sounding scourge of outrageous jealousy? These, surely, have
overtaken the foot of perseverance; and by these, though I should
persevere, may my feet be overtaken.' 'What thou sayest,' replied OMAR,
'is true; and it is true also, that the tempest which roots up the
forest, is driven over the mountain with unabated rage: but from the
mountain, what can it take more than the vegetable dust, which the hand
of nature has scattered upon the moss that covers it? As the dust is to
the mountain, so is all that the storms of life can take from virtue, to
the sum of good which the Omnipotent has appointed for its reward.'
HAMET, whose eye now expressed a kind of doubtful confidence, a hope
that was repressed by fear, remained still silent; and OMAR, perceiving
the state of his mind, proceeded to fortify it by new precepts: 'If
heaven,' said he, 'should vanish like a vapour, and this firm orb of
earth should crumble into dust, the virtuous mind would stand unmoved
amidst the ruins of nature: for He, who has appointed the heavens and
the earth to fail, has said to virtue, "Fear not; for thou canst neither
perish, nor be wretched." Call up thy strength, therefore, to the fight
in which thou art sure of conquest: do thou only that which is RIGHT,
and leave the event to Heaven.'

HAMET, in this conference with OMAR, having gradually recovered