The Bengalle, or Sketches of Society in the East Volume 1 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1843 edition. Excerpt: ...the bereavement falls, as it were, within our own immediate ken; the home itself of all. Even where the deceased may have been barely intimate, he was yet of the few, whom the eye often recognised amidst the friendly circle; and in the failure of some slight office, some trivial but accustomed event within his share of the social compact, his absence is yet felt, and the wonted companion missed and regretted The vacant habitation daily meets the eye as we pass along, to tell the tale of it's present desolate loneliness, and denote the gloomy withdrawing of it's tenant. 'Tis as with the sad inmate of a cell; the removal of a companion of his solitude, of the very insect which had spun it's web for months before him, brings a damp upon the soul, and the heart becomes more depressed in it's new bereavement. In the narrow limit of a secluded station, where the affections, or even the simple regards of mere acquaintance, must concentrate, and fix upon the few, necessarily known to each other; 'tis a link broken in the chain that binds every one; 'tis an inroad upon the inclosure and fold of daily feeling; a speaking and fearful tale to all Men, indeed shudder, and the heart recoils within itself, when, from the scanty band of pilgrims, one falls from among the few on the narrow pathway, and sinks before themselves into the grave. What pang is there like that which strikes upon our own hearts, and our nearest sympathies We hear of war, till fancy, with it's colouring of romance, paints to us a scene of devastation; but we know it not, we feel it not, till the scourge spreads upon our fields, and the shell of the besieger falls beside our own tenement. "Pis as with the warning voice in the land of Egypt; it was unheeded and despised by her...