Let us hasten to introduce our talisman. You may see it at this very moment, encircling the third finger of Doctor Glyphic's left hand; in fact, it is neither more nor less than a quaint diamond ring. The stone, though not surprisingly large, is surpassingly pure and brilliant ; as its keen delicate ray sparkles on the eye, one marvels whence, in the dead of night, it got together so much celestial fire! Observe the setting, the design is unique. Two fairy serpents, one golden, the other fashioned from black meteoric iron, are intertwined along their whole length, forming the hoop of the ring. Their heads approach the diamond from opposite sides, and each makes a mighty bite at it with tiny jaws studded with sharp little teeth. Thus their contest holds the stone. firmly in place. The whole forms a pretty symbol of the human soul, battled for by the good and evil principles. But the diamond seems in its entirety to be an awkward mouth ful for either. The snakes are wrought with wondrous dexterity and finish; each separate scale is distinguishable upon their glistening bodies, the wrinkling of the skin in the coils, the sparkling points of eyes, and the minute nostrils. Such works of art are not made nowa-days. The ring is an antique-a relic of an age when skill was out of all proportion to liberty-a very distant time! To deserve its setting, the stone must possess very exceptional qualities. Let us look more closely at it. It is Fortunately, its own lustre makes it visible in every part; the minuteness of our scrutiny need be limited only by our eye-power. cut with many facets-twenty-seven, if you choose to count them; perhaps (though we little credit such fantasies) some mystic significance may be intended in this number. centrating now our attention upon any single facet, we see either inscribed upon its surface, or showing through from the interior of the Con stone- -a sort of monogram or intricately designed character, not unlike those mysterious Chinese letters on tea chests. Every facet has a similar figure, though no two are identical. But the central-the twenty-seventh facetwhich is larger than the others, has an important peculiarity. We find therein concentrated and commingled the other twenty-six characters, which, separately unintelligible, form where thus united a plain and coherent narrative-the complete history, in fact, of the ring itself! A small part of this narrative—that, namely, which concerns the present owner of the ring— shall forthwith be read; the rest must be silence, although (going back as it does to the earliest records of the human race), many an interesting page must be skipped perforce. The advantages to a historian of a medium such as this, are too patent to need pointing out. Pretension and conjecture will be avoided, because unnecessary. The most trifling thought or deed of any person connected with this ring's history, is open to direct inspection. Were there more such talismans as this, the profession of authorship would become no less easy than delightful, and criticism would sting itself to death in despair of better prey. So far as is known, however, the enchanted ring is unique of its kind, and, such as it is, has long since vanished from the common reach. II. OUT OF EGYPT. BUT the small hours of the morning are slipping away; we must construe our hieroglyphics without further palaver. The sleeper lies on his side, his left hand resting beside his face upon the pillow. Were he to move it ever so little during our investigation, the history of years might be thrown into confusion. Nevertheless we shall hope to touch on the more important parts, and occasionally to go into details. Concentrating our attention upon the central facet, its clear ray strikes the imagination, and forthwith transports us to a distant age and clime. The air is full of lazy warmth; a fullfed river, glassing the hot blue sky, slides in long curves through a low-lying, illimitable |