club of Hercules was close at hand. The virtuoso showed me the
chisel of Phidias, Claude's palette, and the brush of Apelles,
observing that he intended to bestow the former either on Greenough,
Crawford, or Powers, and the two latter upon Washington Allston.
There was a small vase of oracular gas from Delphos, which I trust
will be submitted to the scientific analysis of Professor Silliman.
I was deeply moved on beholding a vial of the tears into which Niobe
was dissolved; nor less so on learning that a shapeless fragment of
salt was a relic of that victim of despondency and sinful regrets,--
Lot's wife. My companion appeared to set great value upon some
Egyptian darkness in a blacking-jug. Several of the shelves were
covered by a collection of coins, among which, however, I remember
none but the Splendid Shilling, celebrated by Phillips, and a
dollar's worth of the iron money of Lycurgus, weighing about fifty
pounds.

Walking carelessly onward, I had nearly fallen over a huge bundle,
like a peddler's pack, done up in sackcloth, and very securely
strapped and corded.

"It is Christian's burden of sin," said the virtuoso.

"O, pray let us open it!" cried I. "For many a year I have longed
to know its contents."

"Look into your own consciousness and memory," replied the virtuoso.
"You will there find a list of whatever it contains."

As this was all undeniable truth, I threw a melancholy look at the
burden and passed on. A collection of old garments, banging on