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hitherto sustained me was lost; as a building, whose props are loosened,
and whose foundations rock, totters and falls, so when enthusiasm and hope
deserted me, did my strength fail. I sat on the sole remaining step of an
edifice, which even in its downfall, was huge and magnificent; a few broken
walls, not dislodged by gunpowder, stood in fantastic groupes, and a flame
glimmered at intervals on the summit of the pile. For a time hunger and
sleep contended, till the constellations reeled before my eyes and then
were lost. I strove to rise, but my heavy lids closed, my limbs
over-wearied, claimed repose--I rested my head on the stone, I yielded to
the grateful sensation of utter forgetfulness; and in that scene of
desolation, on that night of despair--I slept.
[1] Calderon de la Barca.
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