The whole assembly stood a while silent,

and collected. " Let us return," said Rasse- las, " from this scene of mortality. How gloomy would be these mansions of the dead to him who did not know that he should never die; that what now acts shall continue its agency, and what now thinks shall think on for ever. Those that lie here stretched be- fore us, the wise and the powerful of ancient times, warn us to remember the shortness of our present state : they were, perhaps, snatched away while they were busy, like us, in the choice of life."

" To me," said the princess, " the choice of life is become less important; I hope hereafter to think only on the choice of eternity."

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