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 FOOTMARKS. 29

masters of art. ' We reached Italy, but here his illness soon took a decided turn , he died , after a decline of eleven months , in a residence in the Piazza Barberini : and , as if the prophetic dream of his father was to be fulfilled to the letter , his whole effects , according to the invariable custom in Rome , ( for in Italy consumption is regarded as peculiarly infectious , ) were , on the same day on which he died and was buried , committed to the flames , with the furniture of his apartment , and even his carpet ; every thing , in short , ex- cept his papers. Nay, a friend who at that time resided with us in Rome , and subsequently re- turned , told me that two years afterwards the apartments inhabited by Emanuel still remained unoccupied as he left them.

“ I cared little, as you may imagine , during these shifting scenes , about financial concerns , and when I revisited this country , it was to find that I had returned to it only not absolutely a beggar , and destined , I fear , to make all my friends melancholy around me.

" Thus has a numerous family been effaced from the earth, though not from my heart , leav- ing behind them nothing but this portrait , which seems daily to hold forth the lesson , how vain is beauty , how fleeting is life ! "

Lceased, and the silence continued , while the portrait circulated once more among the now deeply affected and sympathizing assembly. The evening which had begun with loud revelry, had gradually glided into the deep stillness of night. The friends rose, and even the younger of them , who had proposed the health of their mistresses with such proud confidence and frolic vanity , separated in silence , after pressing the hand of the narrator , as if in token that he had become to all of them an object of esteem , of sympathy , and affection.

FOOTMARKS.

VOLTAIRE, in Zadig , has attributed to his hero a sagacity in tracing footsteps , which , no doubt , has often been considered an idle invention. Such a power, however , appears to be possessed by the Arabs to a degree which deprives even Zadig of the marvellous. " The Arab, " says Burckhardt , " Who has applied himself diligently to the study of footsteps , can generally ascertain , from inspecting the impression , to what indivi- dual of his own , or of some neighbouring tribe , the footstep belongs , and therefore is able to judge whether it was a stranger who passed or a friend . He likewise knows , from the slightness or depth of the impression , whether the man who made it carried a load or not . From a certain regularity of intervals between the steps , a Be- douin can judge whether that man , whose feet left the impression was fatigued or not , as the pace becomes more irregular and the intervals unequal ; hence he can calculate the chance of overtaking the man . Besides all this , every Arab knows the printed footsteps of his own

camels, and of those belonging to his immediate neighbours. He knows by the depth or slight- ness of the impression whether a camel was pasturing, and therefore not carrying any load , or mounted by one person only , or heavily load- ed. If the marks of the two fore feet appear to be deeper in the sand, he concludes that the camel had a weak breast , and this serves him as a clue to ascertain the owner. In fact, a Be- douin , from the impression of a camel's or of his driver's footsteps , draws so many conclusions , that he always learns something concerning the beast or its owner ; and in some cases this mode of acquiring knowledge appears almost super- natural. The Bedouin sagacity in this respect is wonderful, and becomes particularly useful in the pursuit of fugitives , or in searching after cattle. I have seen a man discover and trace the footsteps of his camel in a sandy valley, where a thousand of other footsteps crossed the road in every direction ; and this person could tell the name of every one who had passed there in the course of that morning. I myself found it often useful to know the impressions made by the feet of my own companions and camels ; as from circumstances which inevitably occur in the desert, travellers sometimes are separated from their friends. In passing through danger- ous districts, the Bedouin guides will seldom permit a townsman or stranger to walk by the side of his camel. If he wears shoes, every Bedouin who passes will know by the impression that some townsman has travelled that way ; and , if he walk barefooted , the mark of his step , less full than that of a Bedouin , immediately betrays the foot of a townsman , little accustomed to walk. It is therefore to be apprehended that the Be- douins, who regard every townsman as a rich man , might suppose him loaded with valuable property , and accordingly set out in pursuit of him. A keen Bedouin guide is constantly and exclusively occupied during his march in exa- mining footsteps, and frequently alights from his camel to acquire certainty respecting their na- ture. I have known instances of camels being traced by their masters during a distance of six days ' journey, to the dwelling of the man who had stolen them. Many secret transactions are brought to light by this knowledge of the athr, or footsteps ; and a Bedouin can scarcely hope to escape detection in any clandestine proceeding , as his passage is recorded upon the road in cha- racters that every one of his Arabian neighbours can read. " - Notes on the Bedouins and Waha- bys, by Burckhardt.

GENIUS is invoked in vain ; it obeys no sum- mons, heeds no invitation , lies not in the path of the persevering , follows not the traces of the in- dustrious : disdaining the hand of culture , it throws forth its blossoms in all the sportive lux- uriance of nature. Upon genius, every other mental plant may be engrafted ; but it must itself be of spontaneous growth -- an ever welcome , but always an unbidden guest.