thy eyes; so, I pray you, let my words pass."

They had now arrived at the knot of palm-trees and the fountain
which welled out from beneath their shade in sparkling profusion.

We have spoken of a moment of truce in the midst of war; and
this, a spot of beauty in the midst of a sterile desert, was
scarce less dear to the imagination. It was a scene which,
perhaps, would elsewhere have deserved little notice; but as the
single speck, in a boundless horizon, which promised the
refreshment of shade and living water, these blessings, held
cheap where they are common, rendered the fountain and its
neighbourhood a little paradise. Some generous or charitable
hand, ere yet the evil days of Palestine began, had walled in and
arched over the fountain, to preserve it from being absorbed in
the earth, or choked by the flitting clouds of dust with which
the least breath of wind covered the desert. The arch was now
broken, and partly ruinous; but it still so far projected over
and covered in the fountain that it excluded the sun in a great
measure from its waters, which, hardly touched by a straggling
beam, while all around was blazing, lay in a steady repose, alike
delightful to the eye and the imagination. Stealing from under
the arch, they were first received in a marble basin, much
defaced indeed, but still cheering the eye, by showing that the
place was anciently considered as a station, that the hand of man
had been there and that man's accommodation had been in some
measure attended to. The thirsty and weary traveller was
reminded by these signs that others had suffered similar
difficulties, reposed in the same spot, and, doubtless, found
their way in safety to a more fertile country. Again, the scarce