EARLY LIFE. 59 



heavy head a disordered stomach loss of reason, 

 health, and time ; and surely I shall never eat but to 

 satisfy nature ; my health shall be constant, my ideas 

 always luminous and pure. All this is so easy that 

 there is no merit in keeping to it. Then (continued 

 Memnon) I must think a little of my fortune. My 

 desires are moderate ; my income is lodged in the 

 hands of the Eeceiver-General of the Finances of 

 Nineveh ; I have wherewithal to live independent ; 

 and that is the greatest of earthly blessings. I shall 

 never have the disagreeable necessity of paying court 

 to anybody. I shall envy no one, and be envied by 

 none. Besides, here is another thing equally plain. 

 I have friends : I shall keep them ; so they can have 

 nothing to dispute with me about : I shall never be 

 out of humour with them, nor they with me. In all 

 this there's no sort of difficulty. Having thus formed 

 in his room his little scheme of wisdom, Memnon put 

 his head out of the window. He saw two women 

 washing near his house, under the plane-trees : one 

 of them was old, and seemed not to be thinking 

 about anything; the other was young, handsome, 

 and appeared much engaged. She sighed ; she wept; 

 and seemed to have only the more graces. Our sage 

 was moved not with the beauty of the lady (he was 

 quite confident he never could be guilty of such a 

 weakness), but he was touched with the affliction she 

 appeared to be in. He went down -stairs, and ap- 

 proached the young daughter of Nineveh, in the 

 intention of consoling her with wisdom. The fair 



