built; the marking out of fields; the attempt at cultivation; the eager

curiosity to discover unknown animals and herbs; the excursions for the

sake of exploring the country? Our habitations were palaces our food was

ready stored in granaries--there was no need of labour, no

inquisitiveness, no restless desire to get on. If we had been assured that

we should secure the lives of our present numbers, there would have been

more vivacity and hope in our councils. We should have discussed as to the

period when the existing produce for man's sustenance would no longer

suffice for us, and what mode of life we should then adopt. We should have

considered more carefully our future plans, and debated concerning the spot

where we should in future dwell. But summer and the plague were near, and

we dared not look forward. Every heart sickened at the thought of

amusement; if the younger part of our community were ever impelled, by

youthful and untamed hilarity, to enter on any dance or song, to cheer the

melancholy time, they would suddenly break off, checked by a mournful look

or agonizing sigh from any one among them, who was prevented by sorrows and

losses from mingling in the festivity. If laughter echoed under our roof,

yet the heart was vacant of joy; and, when ever it chanced that I witnessed

such attempts at pastime, they encreased instead of diminishing my sense of

woe. In the midst of the pleasure-hunting throng, I would close my eyes,

and see before me the obscure cavern, where was garnered the mortality of

Idris, and the dead lay around, mouldering in hushed repose. When I again

became aware of the present hour, softest melody of Lydian flute, or

harmonious maze of graceful dance, was but as the demoniac chorus in the

Wolf's Glen, and the caperings of the reptiles that surrounded the magic

circle.

504

The Last Man