spirit was rebuked before him:  ‘Hear me,’ said he, ’thou tyrant! for it is thy genius that speaks by my voice.  What has been the fruit of all thy guilt, but accumulated misery?  What joy hast thou derived from undivided empire? what joy from the prohibition of my marriage with Almeida? what good from that power, which some evil daemon has added to thy own? what, at this moment, is thy portion, but rage and anguish, disappointment, and despair?  Even I, whom thou seest the captive of thy power, whom thou hast wronged of empire, and yet more of love; even I am happy, in comparison of thee.  I know that my sufferings, however multiplied, are short, for they shall end with life, and no life is long:  then shall the everlasting ages commence; and through everlasting ages thy sufferings shall increase.  The moment is now near, when thou shalt tread that line which alone is the path to heaven, the narrow path that is stretched over the pit, which smokes for ever, and for ever!  When thine aking eye shall look forward to the end that is far distant, and when behind thou shalt find no retreat; when thy steps shall faulter, and thou shalt tremble at the depth beneath, which thought itself is not able to fathom; then shall the angel of distribution lift his inexorable hand against thee:  from the irremeable way shall thy feet be smitten; thou shalt plunge in the burning flood; and though thou shalt live for ever, thou shalt rise no more.’

As the words of Hamet struck Almoran with terror, and over-awed him by an influence which he could not surmount; Hamet was forced from his presence, before any other orders had been given about him, than were implied in the menace that was addressed to Almeida:  no violence, therefore, was yet offered him; but he was secured, till the king’s pleasure should be known, in a dungeon not far from the palace, to which he was conducted by a subterraneous passage; and the door being closed upon him, he was left in silence, darkness, and solitude, such as may be imagined before the voice of the Almighty produced light and life.

When Almoran was sufficiently recollected to consider his situation, he despaired of prevailing upon Almeida to gratify his wishes, till her attachment to Hamet was irreparably broken; and he, therefore, resolved to put him to death.  With this view, he repeated the signal, which convened the ministers of death to his presence; but the sound was lost in a peal of thunder that instantly followed it, and the Genius, from whom he received the talisman, again stood before him.

‘Almoran,’ said the Genius, ’I am now compelled into thy presence by the command of a superior power; whom, if I should dare to disobey, the energy of his will might drive me, in a moment, beyond the limits of nature and the reach of thought, to spend eternity alone, without comfort, and without hope.’  ‘And what,’ said Almoran, ’is the will of this mighty and tremendous being?’