perpetual hum and bustle from the throng round the palace, which added to

the noise of fireworks, the frequent explosion of arms, the tramp to and

fro of horsemen and carriages, to which effervescence he was the focus,

retarded his recovery. So we retired awhile to Eleusis, and here rest and

tender care added each day to the strength of our invalid. The zealous

attention of Perdita claimed the first rank in the causes which induced his

rapid recovery; but the second was surely the delight he felt in the

affection and good will of the Greeks. We are said to love much those whom

we greatly benefit. Raymond had fought and conquered for the Athenians; he

had suffered, on their account, peril, imprisonment, and hardship; their

gratitude affected him deeply, and he inly vowed to unite his fate for ever

to that of a people so enthusiastically devoted to him.

Social feeling and sympathy constituted a marked feature in my disposition.

In early youth, the living drama acted around me, drew me heart and soul

into its vortex. I was now conscious of a change. I loved, I hoped, I

enjoyed; but there was something besides this. I was inquisitive as to the

internal principles of action of those around me: anxious to read their

thoughts justly, and for ever occupied in divining their inmost mind. All

events, at the same time that they deeply interested me, arranged

themselves in pictures before me. I gave the right place to every personage

in the groupe, the just balance to every sentiment. This undercurrent of

thought, often soothed me amidst distress, and even agony. It gave ideality

to that, from which, taken in naked truth, the soul would have revolted: it

bestowed pictorial colours on misery and disease, and not unfrequently

relieved me from despair in deplorable changes. This faculty, or instinct,

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The Last Man