things assumed strange and ghastly shapes.  The wild animals in the woods took fright at the unknown shapes figured on the ground.  They fled they knew not whither; and the citizens were filled with greater dread, at the convulsion which “shook lions into civil streets;”—­birds, strong-winged eagles, suddenly blinded, fell in the market-places, while owls and bats shewed themselves welcoming the early night.  Gradually the object of fear sank beneath the horizon, and to the last shot up shadowy beams into the otherwise radiant air.  Such was the tale sent us from Asia, from the eastern extremity of Europe, and from Africa as far west as the Golden Coast.  Whether this story were true or not, the effects were certain.  Through Asia, from the banks of the Nile to the shores of the Caspian, from the Hellespont even to the sea of Oman, a sudden panic was driven.  The men filled the mosques; the women, veiled, hastened to the tombs, and carried offerings to the dead, thus to preserve the living.  The plague was forgotten, in this new fear which the black sun had spread; and, though the dead multiplied, and the streets of Ispahan, of Pekin, and of Delhi were strewed with pestilence-struck corpses, men passed on, gazing on the ominous sky, regardless of the death beneath their feet.  The christians sought their churches,—­christian maidens, even at the feast of roses, clad in white, with shining veils, sought, in long procession, the places consecrated to their religion, filling the air with their hymns; while, ever and anon, from the lips of some poor mourner in the crowd, a voice of wailing burst, and the rest looked up, fancying they could discern the sweeping wings of angels, who passed over the earth, lamenting the disasters about to fall on man.

In the sunny clime of Persia, in the crowded cities of China, amidst the aromatic groves of Cashmere, and along the southern shores of the Mediterranean, such scenes had place.  Even in Greece the tale of the sun of darkness encreased the fears and despair of the dying multitude.  We, in our cloudy isle, were far removed from danger, and the only circumstance that brought these disasters at all home to us, was the daily arrival of vessels from the east, crowded with emigrants, mostly English; for the Moslems, though the fear of death was spread keenly among them, still clung together; that, if they were to die (and if they were, death would as readily meet them on the homeless sea, or in far England, as in Persia,)—­ if they were to die, their bones might rest in earth made sacred by the relics of true believers.  Mecca had never before been so crowded with pilgrims; yet the Arabs neglected to pillage the caravans, but, humble and weaponless, they joined the procession, praying Mahomet to avert plague from their tents and deserts.