sat on the shaft of a column,
my elbow reposing on my knee, and head reclining on my hand, my eyes
fixed, sometimes on the desert, sometimes on the ruins, and fell into a
profound reverie.

* An animal resembling a dog and a fox. It preys on other
small animals, and upon the bodies of the dead on the field
of battle. It is the Canis aureus of Linnaeus.

CHAPTER II.

THE REVERIE.

Here, said I, once flourished an opulent city; here was the seat of a
powerful empire. Yes! these places now so wild and desolate, were once
animated by a living multitude; a busy crowd thronged in these streets,
now so solitary. Within these walls, where now reigns the silence
of death, the noise of the arts, and the shouts of joy and festivity
incessantly resounded; these piles of marble were regular palaces; these
fallen columns adorned the majesty of temples; these ruined galleries
surrounded public places. Here assembled a numerous people for the
sacred duties of their religion, and the anxious cares of their
subsistence; here industry, parent of enjoyments, collected the riches
of all climes, and the purple of Tyre was exchanged for the precious
thread of Serica;* the soft tissues of Cassimere for the sumptuous
tapestry of Lydia; the amber of the Baltic for the pearls and perfumes
of Arabia; the gold of Ophir for the tin of Thule.

* The precious thread of Serica.--That is, the silk
originally derived from the mountainous country where the
great wall terminates, and which appears to have been the
cradle of the Chinese empire. The tissues of Cassimere.--
The shawls which Ezekiel seems to have described under the
appellation of Choud-choud. The gold of Ophir.--This
country, which was one of the twelve Arab cantons, and which
has so much and so unsuccessfully been sought for by the
antiquarians, has left, however, some trace of itself in
Ofor, in the province of Oman, upon the Persian Gulf,
neighboring on one side to the Sabeans, who are celebrated
by Strabo for their abundance of gold, and on the other to
Aula or Hevila, where the pearl fishery was carried on. See
the 27th chapter of Ezekiel, which gives a very curious and
extensive picture of the commerce of Asia at that period.

And now behold what remains of this powerful city: a miserable skeleton!
What of its vast domination: a doubtful and obscure remembrance! To
the noisy conc