ESSAYS. 



877 



ESSAY X. 



WHERE Tauris lifts its head above the 

 storm, and presents nothing to the sight of the 

 distant traveller, but a prospect of nodding 

 rocks, falling torrents, and all the variety of 

 tremendous nature ; on the bleak bosom of 

 this frightful mountain, secluded from society, 

 and detesting the ways of men, lived Asem the 

 Man-hater. 



Asem had spent his youth with men ; had 

 shared in their amusements ; and had been 

 taught to love his fellow-creatures \vith the 

 most ardent affection : but from the tender- 

 ness of his disposition, he exhausted all his 

 fortune in relieving tne wants of the distressed. 

 The petitioner never sued in vain ; the weary 

 traveller never passed his door ; he only de- 

 sisted from doing *iOod when tie had no longer 

 the power of relieving. 



Fro n a fortune thus spent in benevolence, 

 he expected a grateful return from those he 

 had formerly relieved ; and made his appli- 

 cation with confidence of redress ; the ungrate- 

 ful world soon grew weary of his importunity ; 

 for pity is but a short-lived passion. He soon, 

 therefore, began to view mankind in a very 

 different light from that in which he had be- 

 fore beheld them ; he perceived a thousand 

 vices he had never before suspected to exist : 

 wherever he turned, ingratitude, dissimulation, 

 and treachery, contributed to increase his de- 

 testation of them. Resolved, therefore, to con- 

 tinue no longer in a world which he hated, 

 and which repaid his detestation with con- 

 tempt, he retired to this region of sterility, in 

 order to brood over his resentment in solitude, 

 and converse with the only honest heart he 

 knew ; namely, with his own. 



A cave was his only shelter from the in- 

 clemency of the weather ; fruits gathered with 

 difficulty from the mountain's side, his only 

 food ; and his drink was fetched with' danger 

 and toil from the headlong torrent. In this 

 manner he lived, sequestered from socie'y, 

 passing the hours in meditation and some- 



times exulting that he was able to live inde- 

 pendently of his fellow creatures. 



At the foot of the mountain, an extensive 

 lake displayed its glassy bosom ; reflecting on 

 its broad surface the impending horrors of the 

 mountain. To this capacious mirror he would 

 sometimes descend, and, reclining on its steep 

 bank, cast an eager look on the smooth ex- 

 panse that lay before him. ' How beautiful,' 

 he often cried, ' is nature ! how lovely, even 

 in her wildest scenes ! how finely contrasted 

 is the level plain that lies beneath me, with 

 yon awful pile that hides its tremendous head 

 in clouds! But the beauty of these scenes is 

 no way comparable with their utility ; from 

 hence an hundred rivers are supplied v\ hich 

 distribute health and verdure to the various 

 countries through uhich they flow. Every 

 part of the universe is beautiful, just, and wise ; 

 but man, vile man, is a solecism in nature; 

 the only monster in creation. Tempests and 

 whirlwinds have their use ; but vicious, un- 

 grateful man, is a blot in the fair page of uni- 

 versal beauty. Why was I born of that de- 

 tested species, whose vices are almost a re- 

 proach to the wisdom of the divine Creator ? 

 Were men entirely free from vice, all would 

 be uniformity, harmony, and order. A world 

 of moral rectitude should be the result of a 

 perfectly moral agent. Why, why then, O 

 Alia ! must I be thug confined in darkness, 

 doubt, and despair ?' 



Just as he uttered the word despair, he was 

 going to plunge into a hike beneath him, at 

 once to satisfy his doubts, and to put a period 

 to his anxiety ; w hen he perceived a most 

 majestic being walking on the surface of the 

 water, and approaching the bank on which he 

 stood. So unexpected an object at once check- 

 ed his purpose ; he stopped, contemplated, and 

 fancied he saw something awful and divine in 

 his aspect. 



' Son of Adam,' cried the genius. ' stop thy 

 rash purpose ; the father of the faithful has 



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