to exert in favour of his brother, received the command with a look,
that expressed not only approbation but joy: 'Let the sword of
destruction,' said he, 'be the guard of the tyrant; the strength of my
lord shall be the bonds of love: those, who honour thee as ALMORAN,
shall rejoice in thee as the friend of HAMET.' To ALMORAN, who was
conscious to no kindness for his brother, the praise of Osmyn was a
reproach: he was offended at the joy which he saw kindled in his
countenance, by a command to shew favour to HAMET; and was fired with
sudden rage at that condemnation of his real conduct, which was implied
by an encomium on the generosity of which he assumed the appearance for
a malevolent and perfidious purpose: his brow was contracted, his lip
quivered, and the hilt of his dagger was again grasped in his hand.
Osmyn was again overwhelmed with terror and confusion; he had again
offended, but knew not his offence. In the mean time, ALMORAN
recollecting that to express displeasure against Osmyn was to betray his
own secret, endeavoured to suppress his anger; but his anger was
succeeded by remorse, regret, and disappointment. The anguish of his
mind broke out in imperfect murmurs: 'What I am, said, he, 'is, to this
wretch, the object not only of hatred but of scorn; and he commends
only what I am not, in what to him I would seem to be.

These sounds, which, tho' not articulate, were yet uttered with great
emotion, were still mistaken by Osmyn for the overflowings of capricious
and causeless anger: 'My life,' says he to himself, 'is even now
suspended in a doubtful balance. Whenever I approach this tyrant, I
tread the borders of destruction: like a hood-winked wretch, who is left
to wander near the brink of a precipice, I know my danger; but which way
soever I turn, I know not whether I shall incur or avoid it.'

In these reflections, did the reign and the slave pass those moments in