better' even in this life.

"These men are the priesthood of an oppressed and a noble nation, which
has partaken of the proscription and bondage of the Jews and of the
Greeks, without the sullenness of the former or the servility of the
latter. This people has attained riches without usury, and all the
honours that can be awarded to slavery without intrigue. But they have
long occupied, nevertheless, a part of 'the House of Bondage,' who has
lately multiplied her many mansions. It would be difficult, perhaps, to
find the annals of a nation less stained with crimes than those of the
Armenians, whose virtues have been those of peace, and their vices those
of compulsion. But whatever may have been their destiny--and it has been
bitter--whatever it may be in future, their country must ever be one of
the most interesting on the globe; and perhaps their language only
requires to be more studied to become more attractive. If the Scriptures
are rightly understood, it was in Armenia that Paradise was
placed--Armenia, which has paid as dearly as the descendants of Adam for
that fleeting participation of its soil in the happiness of him who was
created from its dust. It was in Armenia that the flood first abated,
and the dove alighted. But with the disappearance of Paradise itself may
be dated almost the unhappiness of the country; for though long a
powerful kingdom, it was scarcely ever an independent one, and the
satraps of Persia and the pachas of Turkey have alike desolated the
region where God created man in his own image."

* * * * *

LETTER 259. TO MR. MOORE.

"Venice, January 28. 1817.

"Your letter of the 8th is before me. The remedy for your plethora
is simple--abstinence. I was obliged to have recourse to the like
some years ago, I mean in point of _diet_, and, with the exception
of some convivial weeks and days, (it might be months, now and
then,) have kept to Pythagoras ever since. For all this, let me
hear that you are better. You must not _indulge_ in 'filthy
beer,' nor in porter, nor eat _suppers_--the last are the devil to
those who swallow dinner.

"I am truly sorry to hear of your father's misfortune--cruel at any
time, but doubly cruel in advanced life. However, you will, at
least, have the satisfaction of doing your part by him, and depend
upon it, it will not be in vain. Fortune, to be sure, is a female,