Salmagundi; or, The whim-whams and opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, esq. [pseud.] and others. By William Irving, James Kirke Paulding and Washington Irving. Printed from the original ed., with a preface and notes by Evert A. Duyckinck.

AN ALLEGORY. 403
be admired by the connoisseur of human character, as a perfection of art, but the heart is not to be deceived by the superficial
illusion; it turns with delight to the timid, retiring fair one,
whose smile is the smile of nature; whose blush is the soft suffusion of delicate sensibility; and whose affections, unblighted
by the chilling effects of dissipation, glow with all the tenderness
and purity of artless youth. Hers is a singleness of mind, a native innocence of manners, and a sweet timidity that steal insensibly upon the heart, and lead it a willing captive; though
venturing occasionally among the fairy haunts of pleasure, she
shrinks from the broad glare of notoriety, and seems to seek
refuge among her friends, even from the admiration of the
world.
These observations bring to mind a little allegory in one of
the manuscripts of the sage Mustapha, which, being in some
measure applicable to the subject of this essay, we transcribe for
the benefit of our fair readers.
Among the numerous race of the Bedouins, who people the
vast tracts of Arabia Deserta, is a small tribe, remarkable for
their habits of solitude and love of independence. They are of
a rambling disposition, roving from waste to waste, slaking their
thirst at such scanty pools as are found in those cheerless plains,
and glory in the unenvied liberty they enjoy. A youthful Arab
of this tribe, a simple son of nature, at length growing weary of
his precarious and unsettled mode of life, determined to set out
ill search of some permanent abode. "I will seek," said he,
" some happy region, some generous clime, where the dews of
heaven diffuse fertility; I will find out some unfailing stream,
and, forsaking the joyless life of my forefathers, settle on its borders, dispose my mind to gentle pleasures and tranquil enjoyments, and never wander more."