popular quacks in politics and piety, in church, camp, and state-who had so nobly sacrificed their whole lives and energies for the welfare of my beloved country, and thirty thousand a year for themselves; and I thanked God that I was now among beings with whom I could converse without having the opinions and sham sentiments of these learned individuals thrust before me as a fashionable standard and precedent, from which I dare in no wise to depart or disagree. I determined, too, to avoid those sound-minded, far-seeing men, whose practical wisdom had been so advantageous to themselves alone. I do detest these well-regulated minds, and had rather meet Afrit, Devil, or transcendental dreamer ten times over than one of these healthy-minded, sober, assinine understandings, and I rejoice to remember that I have ever shrunk from these whited walls with instinctive antipathy.

"There are men among us," said he, after a while, "who remember your world before the great floods, when the sea that is now, was land, and the whole hemisphere was tenanted by the gigantic reptiles of the deep; then the waste Atlantic bloomed like another Eden with vines and pomegranates. Some of us here have marked the wanderings of your sun full many a day, and have known the tronics bound with ice, and the

savage Cold howl along your sultry eastern deserts and luxuriant fields. Behold these countless beings yonder, moving hitherward and thitherwardclad in all garbs-men of all tongues, and nations, and ages, bearing still the mortal form."

I looked to the direction in which he pointed, and perceived that we had now entered the confines of the Eternal regions.

"You see," said he, "these vast realms, stretching away into infinity-this gorgeous city which we are now approaching, through which the Immortals wander for ever; they are the things of ages; nor do we associate here without order or inclination, according to the vulgar opinions men entertain of this world, wherein they seem to think that the departed souls are huddled indiscriminately together."

After awhile we found ourselves in the crowd, and presently entered an immense building-or rather a succession of lofty Halls—each leading into the other to an incalculable distance; the height and size seemed so immense, that the idea of limit was scarcely apparent to the mind. There was a strange unearthly appearance about the whole structure, and the massive columns rising aloft oppressed me with a painful idea of the stupendous and sublime.

"And now," said he, "I must wish you farewell."

I thought there was something very unkind in leaving me alone in this strange place, but I remembered he was no longer flesh and blood, and of course could expect nothing very warm-hearted from a ghost.

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Farewell, then, if it must be so, perhaps we shall meet again in the course of time."

"In the course of Eternity perhaps we shall," said he.

He went away, and was quickly lost in the throng. I stood desolate and solitary among that vast multitude, none of whom I had as yet recognized, and a sensation of loneliness came over me akin to that which a man feels, when unknown and unaccompanied, he stands amidst some gay assemblage, or moves among the haunts of pleasure and fashion-a Chiswick fête or Kensington Gardens to wit. All the world is there, but he is alone. For awhile I traversed those abodes where so many millions were congregated, at once pleased and confused with beholding the new faces; then I wandered into the open country, and after awhile again returned to that ever-changing concourse, to see if I could meet any former acquaintances there.

CHAPTER V.

"I disdain to handle any useful truth daintily, as if I feared it would sting me."-HORNE TOOKE.

AFTER awhile I began to get accustomed to the manners and usages of this new community; there was an etiquette with them, peculiar in itself, but by no means burthensome. I was among a people void of ceremony, dissimulation, or sympathy; the language of the heart was not their language, and they had long since forsaken their primitive tongue. This was the empire of mind alone. Here intellect reigned supreme, and had built itself a gigantic throne. Seldom was the voice of affection or the utterance of love heard in those stately halls. The soul-deep-seeing speculating on the things that have been and the things which are-piercing the hidden depths of nature, had long since emancipated itself from the warm and tender sympathies of humanity—mere adjuncts they to this tenement of flesh!

There was at first something fearful and repulsive in this drear and almighty sway of intellect alone, and it seemed that man had attained a frightful triumph, when self-inclosed and standing aloof, he had renounced all external support or kindred ties. There was an appaling magnificence in this cold and haughty superiority over all those desires, hopes, and gentle feelings, which are cherished among men ; but after awhile I began to feel the stately calmness of that lofty knowledge. Here was no rending of the affections, or contention of rival passions. Here was no discord or vehemence-no self-abasement, begotten by unrequited affection. If men loved not, neither did they mourn-if there was no feeling, there was no sorrow. It was a great satisfaction to escape all those cares and anxieties with which love and friendship are ever fraught.

I had long since observed a similar tendency among men on the earth. Passion, so dominant in the boy, weakens as intellect expands, and decays before the mind of the man, and with us, as with the dead, the change, after a while, seems very good, and we soon learn to laugh at the language of the heart.

I used to wander about Sphynx-like, asking questions of those I met, provided, always, they