Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 3).djvu/170

 and humiliating, to the pride of human nature.

For who that beheld those stupendous buildings, those superb monuments of antiquity, once adorned by the most virtuous and bravest of mankind, now trampled under foot, decayed, mutilated, and sinking into ruin; but must shrink into nothing, on a comparative view of his own littleness, of the modern architecture of the present day, and feel, that soon the one will be no more, lost and forgotten; levelled to the earth, without a stone remaining to engage either veneration or regret: Whilst on this hallowed ground ages hence, mankind will tread with reverence, and recall to their minds those heroes who once were the saviours of their country, and to the latest posterity will be the envy and admiration of mankind.

Ferdinand eagerly gazed on every part of this immense building. His enthusiastic spirit seemed raised above himself. He glowed with delightful recollections, and traced in his mind's eye, those mighty armies