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1"The pleasant showers and genial warmth of spring greatly altered the aspect of the earth. Men who before this change
2seemed to have been hid in caves dispersed themselves and were employed in various arts of cultivation. The birds sang
3in more cheerful notes, and the leaves began to bud forth on the trees. Happy, happy earth! Fit habitation for gods,
4which, so short a time before, was bleak, damp, and unwholesome. My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance
5of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope
6and anticipations of joy." Chapter 13 "I now hasten to the more moving part of my story. I shall relate events that
7impressed me with feelings which, from what I had been, have made me what I am. "Spring advanced rapidly; the weather
8became fine and the skies cloudless. It surprised me that what before was desert and gloomy should now bloom with the
9most beautiful flowers and verdure. My senses were gratified and refreshed by a thousand scents of delight and a
10thousand sights of beauty. "It was on one of these days, when my cottagers periodically rested from labour--the old man
11played on his guitar, and the children listened to him--that I observed the countenance of Felix was melancholy beyond
12expression; he sighed frequently, and once his father paused in his music, and I conjectured by his manner that he
13inquired the cause of his son's sorrow. Felix replied in a cheerful accent, and the old man was recommencing his music
14when someone tapped at the door. "It was a lady on horseback, accompanied by a country-man as a guide. The lady was
15dressed in a dark suit and covered with a thick black veil. Agatha asked a question, to which the stranger only replied
16by pronouncing, in a sweet accent, the name of Felix. Her voice was musical but unlike that of either of my friends. On
17hearing this word, Felix came up hastily to the lady, who, when she saw him, threw up her veil, and I beheld a
18countenance of angelic beauty and expression. Her hair of a shining raven black, and curiously braided; her eyes were
19dark, but gentle, although animated; her features of a regular proportion, and her complexion wondrously fair, each
20cheek tinged with a lovely pink. "Felix seemed ravished with delight when he saw her, every trait of sorrow vanished
21from his face, and it instantly expressed a degree of ecstatic joy, of which I could hardly have believed it capable;
22his eyes sparkled, as his cheek flushed with pleasure; and at that moment I thought him as beautiful as the stranger.
23She appeared affected by different feelings; wiping a few tears from her lovely eyes, she held out her hand to Felix,
24who kissed it rapturously and called her, as well as I could distinguish, his sweet Arabian. She did not appear to
25understand him, but smiled. He assisted her to dismount, and dismissing her guide, conducted her into the cottage. Some
26conversation took place between him and his father, and the young stranger knelt at the old man's feet and would have
27kissed his hand, but he raised her and embraced her affectionately. "I soon perceived that although the stranger uttered
28articulate sounds and appeared to have a language of her own, she was neither understood by nor herself understood the
29cottagers. They made many signs which I did not comprehend, but I saw that her presence diffused gladness through the
30cottage, dispelling their sorrow as the sun dissipates the morning mists. Felix seemed peculiarly happy and with smiles
31of delight welcomed his Arabian. Agatha, the ever-gentle Agatha, kissed the hands of the lovely stranger, and pointing
32to her brother, made signs which appeared to me to mean that he had been sorrowful until she came. Some hours passed
33thus, while they, by their countenances, expressed joy, the cause of which I did not comprehend. Presently I found, by
34the frequent recurrence of some sound which the stranger repeated after them, that she was endeavouring to learn their
35language; and the idea instantly occurred to me that I should make use of the same instructions to the same end. The
36stranger learned about twenty words at the first lesson; most of them, indeed, were those which I had before understood,
37but I profited by the others. "As night came on, Agatha and the Arabian retired early. When they separated Felix kissed
38the hand of the stranger and said, 'Good night sweet Safie.' He sat up much longer, conversing with his father, and by
39the frequent repetition of her name I conjectured that their lovely guest was the subject of their conversation. I
40ardently desired to understand them, and bent every faculty towards that purpose, but found it utterly impossible. "The
41next morning Felix went out to his work, and after the usual occupations of Agatha were finished, the Arabian sat at the
42feet of the old man, and taking his guitar, played some airs so entrancingly beautiful that they at once drew tears of
43sorrow and delight from my eyes. She sang, and her voice flowed in a rich cadence, swelling or dying away like a
44nightingale of the woods. "When she had finished, she gave the guitar to Agatha, who at first declined it. She played a
45simple air, and her voice accompanied it in sweet accents, but unlike the wondrous strain of the stranger. The old man
46appeared enraptured and said some words which Agatha endeavoured to explain to Safie, and by which he appeared to wish
47to express that she bestowed on him the greatest delight by her music. "The days now passed as peaceably as before, with
48the sole alteration that joy had taken place of sadness in the countenances of my friends. Safie was always gay and
49happy; she and I improved rapidly in the knowledge of language, so that in two months I began to comprehend most of the
50words uttered by my protectors. "In the meanwhile also the black ground was covered with herbage, and the green banks
51interspersed with innumerable flowers, sweet to the scent and the eyes, stars of pale radiance among the moonlight
52woods; the sun became warmer, the nights clear and balmy; and my nocturnal rambles were an extreme pleasure to me,
53although they were considerably shortened by the late setting and early rising of the sun, for I never ventured abroad
54during daylight, fearful of meeting with the same treatment I had formerly endured in the first village which I entered.
55"My days were spent in close attention, that I might more speedily master the language; and I may boast that I improved
56more rapidly than the Arabian, who understood very little and conversed in broken accents, whilst I comprehended and
57could imitate almost every word that was spoken. "While I improved in speech, I also learned the science of letters as
58it was taught to the stranger, and this opened before me a wide field for wonder and delight. "The book from which Felix
59instructed Safie was Volney's Ruins of Empires. I should not have understood the purport of this book had not Felix, in
60reading it, given very minute explanations. He had chosen this work, he said, because the declamatory style was framed
61in imitation of the Eastern authors. Through this work I obtained a cursory knowledge of history and a view of the
62several empires at present existing in the world; it gave me an insight into the manners, governments, and religions of
63the different nations of the earth. I heard of the slothful Asiatics, of the stupendous genius and mental activity of
64the Grecians, of the wars and wonderful virtue of the early Romans--of their subsequent degenerating--of the decline of
65that mighty empire, of chivalry, Christianity, and kings. I heard of the discovery of the American hemisphere and wept
66with Safie over the hapless fate of its original inhabitants. "These wonderful narrations inspired me with strange
67feelings. Was man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous and magnificent, yet so vicious and base? He appeared at one
68time a mere scion of the evil principle and at another as all that can be conceived of noble and godlike. To be a great
69and virtuous man appeared the highest honour that can befall a sensitive being; to be base and vicious, as many on
70record have been, appeared the lowest degradation, a condition more abject than that of the blind mole or harmless worm.
71For a long time I could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow, or even why there were laws and
72governments; but when I heard details of vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased and I turned away with disgust and
73loathing.
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