212 A GARDEN DIARY 



together in China, or Indostan. From kindred 

 feelings I soon brought Egypt and all her gods 

 under the same law. I was stared at, grinned 

 at, hooted at, chattered at, by monkeys, by 

 paraquets, by cockatoos. I ran into pagodas ; 

 and was fixed for centuries at the summit, or in 

 secret rooms ; I was the idol ; I was the priest ; 

 I was worshipped ; I was sacrificed ; I fled from 

 the wrath of Brahma through all the forests of 

 Asia : Vishnu hated me ; Seeva laid wait for me. 

 I came suddenly upon I sis and Osiris ; I had 

 done a deed, they said, which the ibis and the 

 crocodile trembled at. I was buried for a 

 thousand years in stone coffins, with mummies 

 and sphinxes, in narrow chambers, at the heart 

 of eternal pyramids. I was kissed with cancer- 

 ous kisses by crocodiles, and laid, confounded 

 with all unutterable slimy things, amongst reeds 

 and Nilotic mud." 



