e earth,--the more the sense of the goodness
of the All-good penetrates and suffuses us, and the more immediately
does our happiness seem to emanate from him. But, on the other hand, how
many virtues must lie dead in those who live in the world of death, and
refuse to die! Is not this sublime egotism, this state of abstraction
and reverie,--this self-wrapped and self-dependent majesty of existence,
a resignation of that nobility which incorporates our own welfare, our
joys, our hopes, our fears with others? To live on in no dread of foes,
undegraded by infirmity, secure through the cares, and free from the
disease of flesh, is a spectacle that captivates our pride. And yet dost
thou not more admire him who dies for another? Since I have loved her,
Mejnour, it seems almost cowardice to elude the grave which devours the
hearts that wrap us in their folds. I feel it,--the earth grows upon
my spirit. Thou wert right; eternal age, serene and passionless, is a
happier boon than eternal youth, with its yearnings and desires. Until
we can be all spirit, the tranquillity of solitude must be indifference.

....

Extracts from Letter IV.

I have received thy communication. What! is it so? Has thy pupil
disappointed thee? Alas, poor pupil! But--

....

(Here follow comments on those passages in Glyndon's life already known
to the reader, or about to be made so, with earnest adjurations to
Mejnour to watch yet over the fate of his scholar.)

....

But I cherish the same desire, with a warmer heart. My pupil! how the
terrors that shall encompass thine ordeal warn me from the task! Once
more I will seek the Son of Light.

....

Yes; Adon-Ai, long deaf to my call, at last has descended to my vision,
and left behind him the glory of his presence in the shape of Hope. Oh,
not impossible, Viola,--not impossible, that we yet may be united, soul
with soul!

Extract from Letter V.--(Many months after the last.)

Mejnour, awake from thine apathy,--rejoice! A new soul will be born to
the world,--a new soul that shall call me father. Ah, if they for whom
exist all the occupations and resources of human life,--if they can
thrill with exquisite emotion at the thought of hailing again their own
childhood in the faces of their children; if in that birth they are born
once more into the holy Innocence which is the first state of existence;
if they can feel that on man devolves almost an angel's duty, when
he has a life to guide from t