ch the common mind
would have sunk under. His fame, his superior manners, were of that rare
kind, that distance from his birth-place could be no obstacle to his
making friends, if he chose to disclose his name in any city of Asia.

I have no dates to guide me in placing the several anecdotes in their
proper order; this, however, will be excused, as I do not pretend to give
his history.

'On one occasion, Saadie was journeying on foot, and being overtaken by
the Arabs, (who, or a party of, it may be presumed, were at war with
Persia), he was taken prisoner, and conveyed by them, with many others, to
Aleppo. The prisoners, as they arrived, were all devoted to the public
works (fortifying the city), and obliged to labour according to their
ability.

'Saadie, unused to any branch of mechanical labour, could only be employed
in conveying mortar to the more scientific workmen. For many months he
laboured in this way, degrading as the employment was, without a murmur,
or a desire that his fate had been otherways ordained. Hundreds of men
then living in Aleppo would have been proud of the honour and the good
name they must have acquired from the world, by delivering the Poet from
his thraldom, had they known he was amongst them, a slave to the Arabs;
for Saadie was revered as a saint by those who had either read his works,
or heard of his name, extolled as it was for his virtues. But Saadie
placed his trust in God alone, and his confidence never for an instant
forsook him; he kept his name concealed from all around him, laboured as
commanded, and was contented.

'Many months of degrading servitude had passed by, when one day, it so
happened that a rich Jew merchant, who had formerly lived at Shiraaz, and
there had been honoured by the regard of the idolized Saadie, visited
Aleppo, on his mercantile concerns. Curiosity led him to survey the
improvements going on in the city; and passing the spot where Saadie was
then presenting his load of mortar to the mason, he thought he recognized
the Poet, yet deemed it impossible that he should be engaged in so
degrading an employment, who was the object of universal veneration in
Persia. Still the likeness to his former friend was so striking, that he
felt no trifling degree of pleasure, whilst contemplating those features
whose resemblance recalled the image of that holy man who was so dear to
him, and brought back to his recollection many delightful hours of
friendly converse, which