seen from the Castle of St. Germain, that Louis XIV. quitted
that admirable residence, and established a new one in the
savage forests of Versailles.

(This note, like many others, has been omitted from the
American editions. It seems pertinent to the subject, and
is explanatory of the text.--Pub.)

Ah! when the dream of life is over, what will then avail all its
agitations, if not one trace of utility remains behind?


O Ruins! to your school I will return! I will seek again the calm of
your solitudes; and there, far from the afflicting spectacle of the
passions, I will cherish in remembrance the love of man, I will
employ myself on the means of effecting good for him, and build my own
happiness on the promotion of his.



THE RUINS OF EMPIRES.


CHAPTER I.

THE JOURNEY.


In the eleventh year of the reign of Abd-ul-Hamid, son of Ahmid, emperor
of the Turks; when the Nogais-Tartars were driven from the Crimea, and a