unkempt, half-naked savage was that before me? The surprise was momentary.

I perceived that it was I myself whom I beheld in a large mirror at the end

of the hall. No wonder that the lover of the princely Idris should fail to

recognize himself in the miserable object there pourtrayed. My tattered

dress was that in which I had crawled half alive from the tempestuous sea.

My long and tangled hair hung in elf locks on my brow--my dark eyes, now

hollow and wild, gleamed from under them--my cheeks were discoloured by

the jaundice, which (the effect of misery and neglect) suffused my skin,

and were half hid by a beard of many days' growth.

Yet why should I not remain thus, I thought; the world is dead, and this

squalid attire is a fitter mourning garb than the foppery of a black suit.

And thus, methinks, I should have remained, had not hope, without which I

do not believe man could exist, whispered to me, that, in such a plight, I

should be an object of fear and aversion to the being, preserved I knew not

where, but I fondly trusted, at length, to be found by me. Will my readers

scorn the vanity, that made me attire myself with some care, for the sake

of this visionary being? Or will they forgive the freaks of a half crazed

imagination? I can easily forgive myself--for hope, however vague, was so

dear to me, and a sentiment of pleasure of so rare occurrence, that I

yielded readily to any idea, that cherished the one, or promised any

recurrence of the former to my sorrowing heart. After such occupation, I

visited every street, alley, and nook of Forli. These Italian towns

presented an appearance of still greater desolation, than those of England

or France. Plague had appeared here earlier--it had finished its course,

596

The Last Man