Hamet might not, perhaps, be apprized of his advantage, till it was too late to improve it; that he was now a fugitive, and probably alone, leaving Persia behind him with all the speed he could make; and that, at the worst, if he should be still near, if he should know the transformation as soon as it should be made, and should instantly take the most effectual measures to improve it; yet as he could dissolve the charm in a moment, whenever it should be necessary for his safety, no formidable danger could be incurred by the experiment, to which he, therefore, proceeded without delay.

CHAP.  XIV.

In the mean time, Hamet, to whom his own safety was of no importance but for the sake of Almeida, resolved, if possible, to conceal himself near the city.  Having, therefore, reached the confines of the desert, by which it was bounded on the east, he quitted his horse, and determined to remain there till the multitude was dispersed; and the darkness of the evening might conceal his return, when in less than an hour he could reach the palace.

He sat down at the foot of the mountain Kabessed, without considering, that in this place he was most likely to be found, as those who travel the desert seldom fail to enter the cave that winds its way under the mountain, to drink of the water that issues there from a clear and copious spring.

He reviewed the scenes of the day that was now nearly passed, with a mixture of astonishment and distress, to which no description can be equal The sudden and amazing change that a few hours had made in his situation, appeared like a wild and distressful dream, from which he almost doubted whether he should not wake to the power and the felicity that he had lost.  He sat some time bewildered in the hurry and multiplicity of his thoughts, and at length burst out into passionate exclamations:  ‘What,’ says he, ’and where am I?  Am I, indeed, Hamet; that son of Solyman who divided the dominion of Persia with his brother, and who possessed the love of Almeida alone?  Dreadful vicissitude!  I am now an outcast, friendless and forlorn; without an associate, and without a dwelling:  for me the cup of adversity overflows, and the last dregs of sorrow have been wrung out for my portion:  the powers not only of the earth, but of the air, have combined against me; and how can I stand alone before them?  But is there no power that will interpose in my behalf?  If He, who is supreme, is good, I shall not perish.  But wherefore am I thus?  Why should the desires of vice be accomplished by superior powers; and why should superior powers be permitted to disappoint the expectations of virtue?  Yet let me not rashly question the ways of Him, in whose balance the world is weighed:  by Him, every evil is rendered subservient to good; and by His wisdom, the happiness of the whole is secured.  Yet I am but a part only, and for