have thy quarters removed to the society of these pretending foreigners,
methinks it would better suit thy groveling taste."

"Such a sudden bereavement might be more than my tender-hearted cousins
could well endure. May the gods forbid that I should be the means of
overwhelming you with unnecessary sorrow! And, besides, I fear I am not
such a favorite of the gods as to receive such a marked favor."

"A prodigious favor to be the companions of illiterate captives!" cried
Scribbo, with a disdainful curl of his lip. "The Chaldean who calls that
a favor, is anything but an ornament to his country."

"We may have different tastes in regard to ornament," replied the
good-natured cousin, looking with an arch smile on his cousin's heavy and
useless jewelry. "As for me, I am a plain young man. I value the useful
far above the ornamental. I consider healthy ablutions and clean linens
far more desirable than the decoration of our persons with ornamental
trash. And why may it not be so in the government? So much in regard to
ornaments. 'Ignorant and illiterate captives.' Ah, cousin! Believest thou
this? Dost thou not rather hope that this is so? Hope on! The day of
trial hastens apace! Hope vigorously and diligently; for such hope is of
short duration. Ye expect, by your superior learning, to humble the
youths of Judah in the presence of the king and his nobles. Ye are
sanguine in your expectations. Already ye see their heads bowing with
shame and embarrassment, while your own brows are decorated with
well-earned laurels. Do ye not already enjoy the bliss of the prophetic
vision, until the bursting in of the reality? Ah, ye do! Now think it not
over-officious in your cousin of low capacity to assure you that your
hopes are but the baseless fabrics of vain minds. The day of examination
will reveal to your astonished sensibilities that ye have dreamed the