1831.] The Spirit. Seeker. 005 



" I heard the plague was raging afar off. I journeyed over mountains, 

 I crossed streams, I swam cataracts, and I forded rivers, with a feverish 

 impatience that hurried me on like lightning to arrive at the place where 

 I knew death was busy. I came. The air stunk in my nostrils with the 

 putrid steam which came from the dead, who lay around me mouldering 

 and festering in heaps. The dead-carts passed by — but those who had 

 loaded them had become part of the load. The graves lay open — those 

 who had dug them became the first occupiers of a dwelling they expected 

 others to tenant. The poor loaded themselves with riches, and died 

 before they could make use of their plunder. The rich flew from their 

 dwellings, but perished before they had arrived beyond the influence 

 of the pestilence. Thousands and thousands sickened daily, and all 

 shunned each other. The lover left his mistress, and the mother deserted 

 her children, and the friend of many years stood afar off from the brother 

 of his heart. They died — falling like autumn-leaves, when a strong 

 wind shakes the trees of the forest. Days passed — weeks passed— months 

 passed — and still they died. At last I stood the only living thing in a 

 vast and once-populous city. All was still as the grave. Not a leaf 

 stirred — not a stream flowed— not a wind whispered : for all the trees 

 were leafless trunks, and all the waters were stagnant pools. There was 

 not a breath stirring in the air, and the red sun glared in the sky with 

 an evil look, as if to curse the gazer with the quenchless fire of his move- 

 less eye. Solitary I stood in the high-places, as if the world had been 

 hushed into an everlasting sleep. Then I raised my voice, and called 

 aloud upon the Spirits of the Dead — the echoes died sullenly away. 

 Again I called — but they came not ! 



" I fled from the place in fear and loathing, and afterwards entered a 

 fortified town while it was being besieged by the enemy. Famine raged 

 within its walls, gnawing the gaunt frames of its brave defenders ; but 

 their bony hands still held the sword, and their almost fleshless limbs 

 still defended their impregnable city. I saw a rich man offer all his 

 wealth to a beggar, for a piece of putrid meat which he was devouring 

 voraciously — the beggar looked at the gold, and cast it from him with 

 scorn. A miser saved a loaf, though the rest had given up theirs for 

 the common good : he sold it in pieces for double their weight in silver, 

 and soon afterwards died of starvation. Soon there was nothing left. 

 l\Iany died raving mad, screaming for water to cool their burning tongues, 

 and in a short time there remained not enough to man the wall. Then the 

 remnant of the brave bands came to a resolution to perish by each 

 other's hands. I saw them expose their naked breasts to the sword, 

 and they died breathing defiance on their enemies. I stood upon the 

 prostrate bodies of the slain, and the fleshless skeletons of thousands 

 lay around me. I called upon the Spirits of the Dead with a voice that 

 might have awoke them from their sleep — but they came not ! 



" I have been on the field of battle after a bloody carnage, when 

 friend and foe were heaped together in the slaughter; and I have 

 entered conquered cities after a massacre, where the old and young, the 

 guilty and the innocent, the poor and the rich, the deformed and the 

 beautiful, were all butchered indiscriminately. I have been in all 

 places where I thought the Spirits of the Dead were most numer- 

 ous, and at all times and all seasons when I thought it most probable 

 they would appear to human ken ; and I have lifted up my voice in 

 solitary places, calling upon them to appear — but they came not ! 



