ORASMIN; or the FOLLY of DESPONDENCY: An Oriental Fable. CHAPTER I. riches and honour were his WHY Bißeneth man to the il- ing had smiled on lufive whisper of hope? Why How often hath difafter baffled the efforts of my youthful strength! How oft, pursuing the phantoms of ambition or defire, have I funk, exhausted, amid the mazy wanderings of inextricable error! Yet ftill, at the flattering dawn of novelty or joy, my foul has awaked, reinvigorated, from its despair; nor reflected that the flattering dawn was but the early harbinger of another night. Active I arofe, and chafed, with enthusiastic ardour, the fleeting forms of expected gratification: but the profpect of felicity ftill vanished as I approached; the rose of delight still faded from my touch; and the thorn of anguish was left feftering in my hand. Turn, then, my foul, from the feducing revels of fancy; urge me no more through the toilfome path of unavailing exertion; but penfive, and reclined in gloomy inactivity, let me mourn the youthful feafon that hath fleeted without enjoyment, and brood over the anguish of a joyless heart.' Such were the reflections of Orafmin, the son of Haffarac, the wealthy citizen of Bagdad: yet, if Orasmin might with juftice complain, ah! who among the children of men may be expected to exult ? The perfon of Orafmin was formed by the partial hand of Nature, and adorned with peculiar grace; and Alla had showered his choiceft bleffings on his head. With beauty and majefty were blended activity and ftrength; But impetuous in his temper, and impatient of difappointment or delay, he confidered, as too little, the bleffings he had received, and, in lamenting the abfent, neglected the prefent good. Many were the projects he had formed for the attainment of felicity; and many the objects he had pursued with impetuous ardour; but, enraged by the disappointment of too fanguine hopes, and impatient of the needful feafon of probation, he ftopped in the mid career, and abandoned them ere attained, or turned difgufted to fome new expedient, juft as fuccefs was preparing to fmile upon the old. Thus were the youthful fpirits of Orafmin wearied and overspent ; and the time which perfeverance might profitably have employed, was diffipated in repining, and impatient verfatility, till, thankless to heaven, and heedlefs of the boon of life, he threw himself difconfolate on his couch, and repined at his untoward lot. But the ingrate was not abandoned to his gloomy will, nor neglected by the power whom he ferved fo ill. A genius of light appeared refulgent before him, and cheered him with reviving hope. Arife, O Orafmin! from this couch of anxiety, and liften,' faid the fpirit, to my inftructive voice. Too foon is thy foul abandoned to defpairs for though, feeking felicity, thou haft hitherto fought in vain, yet perfeverance might fecure thee the boon defired. Roufe then, once more, and prepare thee for the purfuit, obedient to the inftructions I shall unfold. True, many are the objects that have mocked thy efforts to attain ; and many, when attained, have failed of the defired effect; yet one ftill remains, which, if thou haft fortitude to acquire it, fhall blefs thee to the fummit of thy wish; for if thou re X 2 pofeft pofeft with confidence, on the power by whom I am commiffioned, and performeft what is needful in the trial of thy worth, a blooming nymph, whofe form is of no earthly mould, and in whose bosom is enshrined the rich talisman of felicity, is defined for the reward of thy faith. But as the wavering of thy mind has prevented the timely feizure of thy bliis, the powers of enchantment have prevailed for awhile against her, and thy courage and steady fortitude muft refcue her from her cruel chains. Fix then the fword of valour in the girdle of patience, and brace the fhield of confidence on thy determined arm, and thy efforts hall refcue the celeftial hourie from the enchanted tower of Aladin, and receive the golden amulet of felicity as her dower.' Orafmin proftrated himself, with joyful gratitude, at the feet of the genius, and received his inftructions with an attentive ear: nor were inftructions all that he obtained; for thefe were accompanied by a fword of ethereal temper, which was to affift him in the hour of need, and, if appealed to whenever prudence required, would vanquish every oppofing foe. Thus armed, and thus intructed, he prepared for the adventure, and, quitting the house of his father, at break of day went in queft of the blooming hourie, who had the golden amulet of felicity. Three days did he purfue his courfe over the defert heath, ftill glowing with unabated ardour. The fweet affurance of fuccefs gave ftrength to his finews, and imparted fprightly vigour to his mind. Intent upon his object, and willing to be pleafed, all appeared delightful that was prefented to his view; each rural beauty brightened in his eye, as he travelled onward; fweeter breathed the fragrance from the perfumed flower, and richer in his ear founded the warblings of the feathered choir. And now - while foft on the humid landscape fhone the mildness of the moon, and hills and purling rivulets reflected the folemn ray through an avenue in the trees, dark-fhadowing the lonely scene, a castle was descried afar (fuch as the tower of Aladin had been delineated by the genius) and the heart of Orasmin danced in his breat. He drew forth his fabre with eager valour, and darted, with recruited vigour, through the fhadowy path that promifed to conduct him to the fummt of all his hopes. But the face of heaven became fuddenly enveloped with clouds; the gentle breeze was filenced by the loud howlings of the formy north ; pealing thunders burst reiterated from the lowering fkies, and forked lightnings played round the astonished head of the traveller. Father of the faithful!' faid the adventurer, as he advanced, 'affift the valour of my foul! Guide me by thy wisdom in this trial of my ftrength, and direct my unconscious feet to the hourie with celeftial charms.' Thus prayed the adventurer, with becoming fervour, and the many-coloured flame that played innoxious round his head, feemed to indicate that his prayer was heard. Impelled by a power unfeen, he travelled briskly through the foreft, unimpeded by the tangling copfe. But loft feemed his toil in the leafy labyrinths he trod; for when the tempeft fubfided in the calm of peace, and the moon resumed the azure regency of heaven, the traveller looked in vain for the enchanted caftle of Aladin, and mourned the difappointment of his hopes. As the feeble rays of the moon could but partially penetrate the thick gloom of the leafy labyrinth, the imperfect light was infufficient for the wifhes of Orafmin, who refifting the impulfe which had hitherto guided him, as he fuppofed, aftray, fatigued himself in vain in attempting to emerge from the foreft. Chaffing with rage, he lamented the bitternefs of his fate, and condemning life as a scene of nothing but difappointment and woe, he forgot that his prefent night of anxiety had been preceded by three whole days of cheerful expectation and delight. Joy, however, returned to the heart of the traveller, with the dawn of day, when, looking around, he difcovered a winding avenue, fkirted by majestic palms, and worn by the frequent tread of human feps. He purfued the beaten path with reviving hope, and found that it conducted to the public road, which he hailed as the highway of his wishes. Nor fmall was the increase of fatisfaction he received, when the manfion of hospitality appeared by the way-fide, inviting the weary pilgrim to reft. He accepted the invitation with cheerfulness and delight, and banqueted on the repaft to which fatigue had imparted an additional relish. CHAPTER II. HAVING fatisfied himself with food, and repofed, Orafmin renewed his journey wirh unabated ftrength; but fullennefs and difcontent intruded upon his mind, when he reflected on the disappointment of the preceding night; and the fuppofition that his toils were again to begin, abated the cheerful ardour of youth. He purfued his way, however, ftill anxious for the blooming reward, and diffipated at times the angry gloom from his brow, by picturing the future felicity of his days, and the charms of his intended bride. But weariness overtook him toward the clofe of evening, while not an habitation was to be feen to fhelter his aching head; and his vexation was increafed by the perplexity of his mind, as he knew not which road he should prefer. High-towering toward the left, this was gilded by the defcending fun, and enamelled by Nature with the choiceft blooms, which wooed the feathered fongiters from the flowering copfe, and called forth their laft cheerful lays; while that, low-defcending obliquely to the right, was obfcured by impenetrable gloom. Lot was the cheerfulness of the folar ray, and aguith vapours infected the fullen air. Hoarfe croaked the reptile from the unwholefome marth, and despondency echoed the difcordant note. The doubting Orafmin was called upon to choose, and the choice appeared decifive; for the steep defcent between the oppofing roads was guarded by entangling briars, whose luxuriant fhoots, high-twining with the hanging trees, prohibited the human, step. Vexation and doubt!' exclaimed the traveller, with a frown that reproached the arrangements of heaven; is this the certain chase of felicity and fuccefs that was to atone for difappointment paft? Which way shall I proceed, unguided and perplexed, that the caftle of Aladin may be gained? But dark be the doubtful path that Orafmin treads, for dark is the fate to which Orasmin is doomed.' He faid, and proceeded by the downward track with painful and undetermined ftep; his gloomy mind fill whispering to return, and foreboding difappointment and error. Nor were the whispers of Fancy de lufive, though his fullen foul rejected the warning voice; for when, bewildered and overspent, he would have repofed on the marshy foil, his ear was disturbed by the rushing of impetuous ftreams. He started with terror at the unusual noise; and faintly, through the gloomy mifts, defcried the roaring waves. And let them come,' faid the gloomy child of desperation, Orafmin fhall meet their fury. Welcome, ye roaring harbingers of death! for what unto me, but difappointment and pain, are the bleffings of this boated life? Not for me is defigned the houric of immortal charms, nor shall the talifman of felicity be mine; but heaven has mocked me with fallacious hopes, to retain, yet a little longer, the tyrant power of torturing an unrefifting flave.' Thus fpoke the blafphemer, and, rufhing toward the torrent, would have caftle thou beheldeft on the third night of thy adventure was an illufion of the necromancer, and deftined for thy deftruction; and had not the darkness and the tempeft impeded thy courfe, thou hadft been buried in the pitfalls prepared by thy treacherous foe. Thy petition to Alla was timely, and was heard; and, unfeen and unknown, I impelled thy unconfcious feet toward the dwelling of the hourie with celeftial charms, from which the path to the delufive caftle would have conducted thee afar. have perished in its roaring wave, when a light burst through the gloom, and the genius who before had roufed him from the defponding couch, fhone in confpicuous majefty before him; but more fevere was the glance of his reproving eye, and his admonitions were delivered in a more angry tone. Prefumptuous particle of created duft,' exclaimed the celestial meffenger, once more is thy guardian genius commiffioned to preferve thee, and to reprove the bold blafphemies of thy rebellious lips. Durft thou, on whom heaven has showered down its choiceft bleflings, arraign the mercies, and the juftice of the power by whom thou art bleffed, and, complaining of the hard conditions of the tenure of life, prefume to relinquish that tenure before thy appointed date? Charging thy difcontent on the neglect of the Is the Almighty then a tyrant, that moft high, and the confequences of mocks with fallacious hopes? or art thy disobedience of my inftructions thou an ungrateful rebel, perverting on the arrangements of that provi- his beneficent defigns? Tremble, thou dence, whose wisdom thy weak eyes audacious offender, at the answer of are incompetent to penetrate; dareft thy heart; and confefs, that if thy life thou tax thy fate with the calamities is a fcene of disappointment and woe, thou endureft, when thou waft pre- the blame is in thy folly and impiety viously informed how those calamities alone, that rejected the opportunities might be shunned ? of felicity and success !' • When thou waft firft roused to this effay of thy faith and valour, waft thou not warned to fhun the downward path of melancholy, and pursue the cheerful track of afpiring hope; to afcend with vigour in the face of toil, and feize by active confidence the palm of joy, fince finking in the lafitude of defpondency, would but enervate thy ftrength in the aguish dell, or overwhelm thee in the torrents of ruin and despair? Yet thou haft gloomily neglected the upland path. for the dreary horrors of this irriguous vale. And now heaven is reproached as the cruel author of the woes, which, but for disobedience againft heaven, thou hadst never known. Nor here did thy offence begin. The murmurs of thy folly had been heard before; and the providence that preferved thee was execrated for having liftened to thy prayer. The . Yet the favour of heaven was returned by impatient difcontent; and, with impious diftruft, didft thou abuse the firft ray of imperfect light, to reject the affiftance it offered; and trufting in felf-willed pride, thou waft wearied, perplexed, and loft. The heart of Orafmin was humbled by the reproof; and the face of his confufion was hidden in his cloak, as he proftrated himself on the humid fhore of the torrent. • But roufe thee once again from the humid earth,' resumed the genius, with a milder tone, not yet is the forbearance of Alla quite withdrawn, and the prophet has permitted, once again, the voice of admonition: but hope not this indulgence more. Tread back then the devious path thou haft pursued, and tread it with confidence and ardour. Remember, that cheerful Hope is the parent of perfeverance; and that refignation to the fuperintendance of infinite wifdom is the duty of the purblind creature who is dependent on his parental will. Cultivate then, with inceffant care, the happy difpofitions, without which the talifman of felicity can ne ver be obtained, nor the Hourie with the preceding evening, he fhould celestial charms.' CHAPTER III. WHEN the genius had finished his timely admonition, he spread his ethereal wings, and vanished. Orafmin, reinvigorated with the vital ray of hope, trod back the devious way his dejected steps had ftrayed; and refreshed, as with flumber, at the dawn of day, began to ascend the cheerful upland path. The chorus of nature hailed him as he paffed, and confpired with the beauties of the extenfive profpect to encourage the vivacity of his heart. <If,' he exclaimed, the feathered warblers can thus rejoice, and the fawns gambol over the fresh paftures below, furely peace and felicity may be found upon earth; and wherefore fhould not man have his fhare? Begone, ye idle vifions of dejection; for hope fhall be the inmate of my foul.' As he spoke, the fmiling profpect ftill brightened to his view, and he feafted on the varied fcene. He furveyed the pleasant champaign from the fwelling height, and all was tranquillity and blits. The fweet diverfities of fun and fhade, of fwelling mountain and of lowly vale, of dark lowering wood and bright tranfluent ftream, of spreading palm, tufting the level green, and peaceful villages (whofe holy mofques invite to grateful praife) fcattered through all the profpect, whence poured the fons of cheerful industry; these all confpired to fwell his heart with rapture, and he faw, with unclouded eyes, the beneficence of heaven. As Orafmin was advancing thus cheerfully on his way, he paffed one of those manfions of hospitality, which the bounty of well-directed opulence erects for the entertainment of the benighted and the weary, that the pilgrim or the traveller may not perish unaffifted on the road. His heart was fmitten by felf-reproach, when he recollected, that had he advanced by the proper road on have attained the defirable retreat just at the due feason of refreshment and repofe; and he anxiously reflected, that perhaps the following night might overtake him, when no fuch refuge was at hand. The painful thought oft recurred as he advanced, and he frequently paufed to fend back a lingering glance, with a figh for what was loft by his folly, and a doubt for what might yet remain. Engroffed by thefe reflections, his fpirits began once more to flag; and, wrapt in mufing melancholy, he paffed feveral pleasant fprings without regard, which might have replenished with timely draughts his exhaufted cruife, fo that the heat of the day overtook him, without a draught to flake his thirst, in a place where not a fpring was to be found. The brooks that had murmured unnoticed as he paffed, now appeared to his imagination to reproach his neglect, and increase the langour produced by the raging heat. Again fighed Orafmin for the hofpitable inn, but he fighed for it in vain. As the verdure of the field before the noxious blaft, fo withered the cheerful hopes of the adventurer; and as the fapling in the drought of the ftony foil, fhrunk the vigour of his youthful ftrength. Painfully and flow, he dragged along his weary limbs, beneath the palm tree's fhade, and at the approach of night difcovered, as he had foreboded, no hofpitable roof to repose and recruit his ftrength. But the defire of felicity ftill urged him on his way, and dark as was the night, he yet continued his route, and pictured in each diftant bush the femblance of fome friendly habitation; and though each, as he advanced, difappointed his hopes, and each, in its turn, was marked in his impatient mind as the laft he would endeavour to attain, yet, ftill hoping amid defpair, he crawled toward fome newdiscovered point, and again removed the goal to which his efforts ftrained. But |