He gazed with wonder and admiration upon the strange and fascinating
scene. The more he beheld, the more his curiosity was excited. He
breathed with difficulty; he advanced with a blended feeling of
eagerness and hesitation. Fresh wonders successively unfolded
themselves. Each turn developed a new scene of still and solemn
splendour. The echo of his step filled him with awe. He looked around
him with an amazed air, a fluttering heart, and a changing countenance.
All was silent: alone the Hebrew Prince stood amid the regal creation of
the Macedonian captains. Empires and dynasties flourish and pass away;
the proud metropolis becomes a solitude, the conquering kingdom even a
desert; but Israel still remains, still a descendant of the most ancient
kings breathed amid these royal ruins, and still the eternal sun could
never rise without gilding the towers of living Jerusalem. A word, a
deed, a single day, a single man, and we might be a nation.
A shout! he turns, he is seized; four ferocious Kourdish bandits grapple
and bind him.
The bandits hurried their captive through a street which appeared to
have been the principal way of the city. Nearly at its termination,
they turned by a small Ionian temple, and, clambering over some fallen
pillars, entered a quarter of the city of a more ruinous aspect than
that which Alroy had hitherto visited.
Pages:
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67