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of his countenance ſoon returned; and ſtretching out his hands towards heaven. "Stranger," ſaid he, "the knowledge which I have received from the Prophet, I will communicate to thee.
"As I was ſitting once at the porch of the Temple penſive and alone mine eyes wandered among the multitude that was ſcattered before me: and while I remarked the warineſs and ſolicitude which was viſible in every countenance, I was ſuddenly ſtruck with a ſenſe of condition. Wretched mortals, ſaid I, to what purpoſe are you buſy? If to produce happineſs, by whom is it enjoyed? Do the linens of Egypt, and the ſilks of Perſia, beſtow felicity on thoſe who wear them, equal to the wretchedneſs of yonder ſlaves, whom I ſee leading the camels who bring them? Is the fierceneſs of the texture, or the ſplendor of the tints, regarded with delight by thoſe to whom cuſtom has tendered them familiar? Or, can the power of habit render others inſenſible of pain, who live only to traverſe the Deſert: a ſcene of dreadful uniformity, where a ⟨barren⟩ level is bounded only by the
