Denning Rickeung 4-9-47 57985 Confessions in Elysium. IN pursuing those remarkable events which have occurred to me....in such quick succession....from the day I left Delphos till my banishment from Athens,....I have neglected to say one word relative to my beloved Psyche. Neither time.....or circumstances..... however, had power to drive her from my mind, where she reigned the adored empress of my heart. I commissioned every creature..... whom business or curiosity led to foreign parts....to enquire after her.....I had numberless copies taken from her portrait.......which I distributed the better to insure success ;....and offered large rewards to any who should bring me intelligence of her. All this I did from an apprehension that the enraged priestess would use every artifice to conceal her from my enquiries.....perhaps sell her to a merchant, who might transport her to some foreign clime, where, change of name and distance, would preclude all possibility of our reunion. Her diabolical machinations succeeded too well.....Hitherto,......all my anxieties have been unrewarded by the least trace of my charming innocent. To return......I left Athens without a sigh of regret......and continued travelling eastward for many days. One evening........almost spent with fatigue......I found myself at sun-set surrounded by a wood I had been traversing the whole day, without finding an outlet to conduct me to an habitation of any sort. I despaired of bettering my situation now night was coming on...and strol led in search of some convenient spot to stretch out my wearied limbs..... when I discovered a hill close by. This reanimated me......and in the expectation of distinguishing some lights from the top......I determined to ascend. I proceeded with much difficulty through a very narrow.....winding....... path.......overgrown with briars which were matted across............and made it almost impossible to advance....My impatience increased every moment..... for the more I persisted..........the more distant the summit appeared from me. At last.......in perfect despair,........I threw myself down.....almost breathless.....resolving to give up the attempt. Nothing could give a more lively idea of the sports of fortune than the miserable situation to which I now found myself reduced......who,.....but a |