- : 1 
 m 
 
CJass PTa3> S5 
 B(M)kifl4l— 
 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
AMATONDA. 
 
 3 Cale, 
 
 FROM THE GERMAN OF 
 
 ANTON WALL 
 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, 
 ORME, AND BROWN, 
 
 PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 1811. 
 

 Gift 
 
 W. h. Shoemaker 
 f S '06 
 
 Printed by Turner and Harwood, 
 St. John's Square, London. 
 
AD VERTISEMENT 
 
 BY THE TRANSLATOR. 
 
 Anton Wall, like Veit Weber and 
 Jean Paul, is a literary nom de guerre. 
 It has been assumed by one of the least 
 voluminous, but most elegant romance 
 writers in Germany, and has derived 
 celebrity and popularity from two or 
 three works of fiction, all of very small 
 extent. These little books have been 
 published at periods very remote from 
 a9 
 
each other, a circumstance not less 
 singula, than their style and character; 
 for it is a very strange thing in Ger- 
 many to find a distinguished, who is 
 not also a voluminous writer. The 
 author himself, who, if still living, 
 must be advanced in years, is not less 
 remarkable than his works. The 
 greater part of his life has been spent, 
 in a state of utter seclusion, and in 
 a way so capricious and whimsical, 
 as to bring upon him an imputation' of 
 insanity from the world at large, which, 
 when its ordinary customs are despised 
 and disregarded, is unwilling to consi- 
 der the exercise, even of rare intellec- 
 tual powers, as the certain proof of a 
 sound mind. 
 
In the summer of the year 1802, I 
 passed through the town of Altenburg, 
 in the course of a tour through the 
 Electorate of Saxony ; and having made 
 enquiries of my intelligent landlord 
 concerning the remarkable people of 
 his place, was instantly informed of 
 Anton Wall, and urged to call upon 
 him ; for, in Germany, artists, scho- 
 lars, and men of letters, consider a 
 visit even from strangers, without any 
 introduction, as an homage to their 
 talents, not an intrusion on their re- 
 tirement. " Anton Wall, for we al- 
 ways call him so/' continued my land- 
 lord, " though his real name is Heine. 
 will be very glad to see you, and you 
 are sure to find him at home ; he has 
 
VI 
 
 not been out of bed these six weeks.* 5 
 On beginning to express some pity at 
 this intelligence, I was soon interrupted 
 by a laugh. " He is as healthy as you 
 are, but chooses to spend all his time 
 in bed. He sometimes keeps his room 
 for months, perhaps years, rising only 
 to have a change of linen ! " On mak- 
 ing further enquiries, I understood that 
 he passed his days, as far as was known, 
 with few or no books, so that his time 
 was seemingly dreamt away. He lived 
 frugally, not penuriously, and was be- 
 lieved to possess property sufficient for 
 his slender wants. Other particulars 
 were added, which it is less incumbent 
 on me to notice, than that, while his 
 oddities exposed him to something like 
 
ridicule, he seemed to be universally 
 beloved. A kinder creature, it was 
 said, never existed. He loved every 
 one, but especially children, of whom 
 he was the general favourite ; and when 
 he occasionally left his room, he was 
 fond of collecting young people toge- 
 ther, and treating them with a dance, 
 or other unexpensive frolic. 
 
 Having received this previous infor- 
 mation, I was conducted to the apart- 
 ments of Anton Wall, which consisted 
 of the attic story of a large house. On 
 knocking at the chamber door, I was 
 desired to come in, by a faint voice at 
 a distance ; and on entering a spacious 
 room, perceived a ruddy, healthyly- 
 looki ng, elderly man lying in a bed at 
 
the further end of it. He instantly sup- 
 ported himself on one arm, pulled off 
 his white night cap, and begged me to 
 come forward, with a courteousness and 
 good humour which at once removed 
 all thoughts of sickness. A pleasing 
 impression was instantly produced on 
 my mind, by a general air of neatness 
 in all I saw. The apartment was white- 
 washed, the furniture very plain, but 
 neat, and set in great order, and the 
 linen, bed clothes, &c, remarkably 
 clean. I introduced myself to Mr, 
 Heine by a reference to his works, of 
 which he heard, I perceived, with great 
 pleasure, but without manifesting a 
 greater avidity of praise than they may 
 be allowed to feel, who receive scarcely 
 
IX 
 
 any other reward for their labours, 
 " Which of my little books do you like 
 best?" said he. "Amatonda." "Per- 
 haps you are right. Do you know 
 whom I meant to laugh at in the 
 poet Selim? It is Jean Paul. " I ob- 
 served, that Jean Paul and Klopstock 
 were the only two German writers 
 whom I was afraid to read, from their 
 obscurity. "And yet," said Anton 
 Wall, ,s they are admired for their ob- 
 scurity ; and so was Selim." A long 
 conversation followed, which lasted 
 more than two hours, in which my 
 author displayed a naivete, good hu- 
 mour, and gaiety which corresponded 
 with the tone of his works, and left an 
 impression on my mind highly advan- 
 a 5 
 
tageous both to his taste, his penetra- 
 tion, and his good nature. The Ger- 
 man critics and reviewers were not for- 
 gotten. Anton Wall professed to be 
 ignorant of the judgments passed on 
 himself, and expressed himself flatter- 
 ed by the singular good fortune he 
 enjoyed in receiving praise from the 
 most fastidious of all the German cri- 
 tics, the Schlegels. These brothers had, 
 at that period, rendered themselves 
 formidable to the great body of popular 
 German writers, by the severity of 
 their criticisms. They had raised, what 
 was invidiously called, a new school 
 of taste, which probably still survives, 
 though the leaders have been since 
 dispersed. August Wilhelm Schlegel^ 
 
the elder brother, and the translator of 
 Shakespear, attached himself to the 
 celebrated Madame de Stael, and is 
 said, in the late German papers, to 
 have embarked for America with that 
 lady, in the capacity of tutor to her 
 son. Frederic Schlegel is the reputed 
 author of the last admirable Declara- 
 tion of War against France, by Austria, 
 and has had the honour, in common 
 with Gentz^ of being proscribed by the 
 French government. In the fourth 
 number of the Athenceum, published 
 by the Schlegels, the following short 
 review is given of Amatonda. It may 
 supply the place of remarks by the 
 translator. 
 
 " It sounds, itself, like a tale of ro- 
 
Xil 
 
 mance, that Anton Wall, who has 
 long been lost to us, has appeared 
 again, and has again delighted us with 
 a tale, a Persian one too : its title is 
 Amalonda. It deserves to be called a 
 bagatelle, and that is no trifle, for it 
 is elegant, roguish, and sports with 
 French levity and grace. Some critics 
 may want a greater quantity of allegory 
 and moral ; while others, who think 
 that a fairy tale should sparkle, like a 
 lustre, with all the colours of the 
 prism, may think it not sufficiently 
 oriental and wonderful. The reader is 
 disappointed in the expectation that 
 the magician will succeed in taking in 
 all the four brothers ; but, in return, 
 has the satisfaction to find that one of 
 
Xlll 
 
 them, at least, out- wits the conjuror. 
 One of the sons of the merchant seems 
 at last to be forgotten. The Sultana 
 Biribi, with her eyes that sparkle like 
 brilliants, departs from the oriental 
 costume, in the great purity of her love 
 for Solmar. From the. first familiarity 
 of the lovers, we expect a conclusion 
 more in character. It is to be wished 
 for every poet, that he may be thrice 
 embraced by the fairy Amatonda ; and 
 certainly Anton Wall, who has set up 
 the delightful custom, ought not to be 
 excluded from the benefit of it." 
 
 It may be, however, right to add, 
 that this fairy tale differs from all other 
 fairy tales, both in its moral tendency, 
 and in the economy of its structure. 
 
XIV 
 
 Contrary to the usual practice, the" 
 author has recourse to as little, not as 
 much marvellous machinery as possi- 
 ble ; and A matonda herself, who gives 
 a name to the piece, makes her appear* 
 ance only to " point a moral," as sim- 
 ple as it is momentous, and to impart 
 keeping and colouring to a picture of 
 moral excellence and domestic felicity, 
 we are not accustomed to seek among 
 imaginary beings in the tropical regi- 
 ons of romance. It is an Oriental tale> 
 but the usual stately style of such fic- 
 tions is resorted to only to heighten, 
 by contrast, the colloquial familiarity, 
 and playful, satirical humour which 
 characterise the author's manner. The 
 only works which at all resemble it, 
 
XV 
 
 are, Count Hamilton's Fairy Tales, 
 and the Legendary Tales of Musaeus. 
 Hamilton, however, has more wit than 
 humour; and, though a Scotchman 
 by birth, is, in his writings, a volatile 
 Parisian voluptuary. Musaeus's ex- 
 quisite legends are original only in the 
 style and humour. The stones are fa- 
 miliar to the German nursery, 
 
xvu 
 
 TO A LADY. 
 
 I am still alive, my fair friend; or 
 rather, I am alive once more, but for 
 how long I cannot tell ; therefore, to 
 give some token of existence, I send 
 you a Persian tale. It is one of the 
 10,000 my great-aunt inherited from 
 my uncle, and which I purchased of 
 her for 100,000 pearls. I gave her my 
 translation to peruse, and she said that 
 grandmothers might safely read it, and 
 even young married ladies also, but on 
 no account innocent girls ; because the 
 word Love, she says, is to be found in 
 it, and innocent girls never, of their 
 
XVI11 
 
 own accord, think of love. Now I 
 confess that I have myself observed, 
 there is something in this same Jove, 
 quite contrary to the nature of inno- 
 cent girls ; because, whenever they do 
 fall in love, they never fail to sigh 
 most pitifully. I entreat you, there- 
 fore, conceal this tale most carefully 
 from them all. 
 
 You will be pleased, also, to hide 
 this Dedication from your husband ; 
 for, Who knows ? he might imagine, 
 that when I made my translation, I 
 now and then thought of you. 
 
 Have you read Bathmendi ? Flo- 
 rian's uncle had very different sources 
 from myself. 
 
 I kiss your hand, and — long live 
 Amatonda ! 
 
XIX 
 
 TO THE READER, 
 
 I had an uncle, who was fall of sense 
 and whims ; but his whims -were par- 
 doned for the sake of his sense, and 
 his sense for the sake of his whims. 
 Among these whims were two, to 
 which all others were subordinate ; 
 these were, his love of pearls and tales. 
 One morning he continued standing 
 for a whole hour in a brown study at 
 the window, and answered the saluta- 
 tions of no one. At length, laying the 
 end of the fore finger of his right hand 
 on the spot where the forehead ends 
 
and the nose begins, he muttered be- 
 tween his teeth, "• European pearls 
 have a great deal too little water, and 
 European tales a great deal too" much." 
 He shut the window, sold his three 
 estates, and embarked. He rambled 
 over Persia, Arabia, and the Indies, 
 and made a collection of pearls and 
 tales ! 
 
 After he had spent one and twenty 
 years in furnishing his cabinet, he re- 
 turned back to Europe. He brought 
 with him 100,000 select pearls, and 
 10,000 select tales. He purchased 
 himself a handsome garden in the sub- 
 urbs, and lived a solitary life in the 
 midst of his treasures, appearing at 
 none of the plc-nics or court balls. 
 
XXI 
 
 After he had spent ten years in look- 
 ing over his pearls, and reading over 
 his tales, he fell sick, made his will, 
 and died. He bequeathed me his 
 pearls, because I was young ; and my 
 great-aunt his tales, because she was 
 old. We both of us uttered profound 
 sighs at the death of the good man, but 
 my great-aunt could not cry, nor my- 
 self neither. 
 
 When we came to take possession of 
 our legacies, my great-aunt looked 
 upon my casket, which contained the 
 100,000 select pearls, and fetched a 
 deep sigh ; while I cast my eyes upon 
 my great-aunt's cupboard, with the 
 10,000 select tales, and sighed also. 
 On this, my great-aunt looked full in 
 
XXtl 
 
 my face, and I also looked in her's. 
 On a sudden we stretched out our 
 hands towards each other, and then, 
 without exchanging a single word, 1 
 gave my great-aunt the 100,000 pearls, 
 and she gave me the 10,000 tales. 
 She was willing also to give me 100,000 
 kisses into the bargain, but I am con- 
 fident that I took only five and an half 
 of them. On this, we both fell a cry- 
 ing for the dear deceased. I wept al- 
 most a whole day, and my great-aunt 
 wept several months ! 
 
 I am thus in possession of 10,000 
 Eastern tales, and, at the same time, 
 of a very good heart. But he who has 
 the latter, cannot possibly keep the 
 former to himself. I purpose to im- 
 
part them all, one by one, to those of 
 my female friends who may wish to 
 hear them from me ; and I here give, 
 as a specimen, the first I opened. I 
 am willing to let this specimen pass for 
 nothing ; but I expect a reward for the 
 remainder. If my aforesaid female 
 friends will grant me what I declined 
 accepting from my great-aunt, I shall 
 be quite contented. The modern phi- 
 losophers profess disinterested bene- 
 volence ; while the ancients never 
 wrought a good action without a re- 
 ward. I still belong to the old school ; 
 and turn now to my tale. 
 
AMATONDA. 
 
 Once upon a time there reigned in 
 Persia a mighty Shah, and under this 
 Shah there lived at Basra a wealthy 
 merchant. Who this Shah was, is of 
 no importance to our tale, but the 
 merchant was called Bator ; and his 
 fame was spread throughout the whole 
 empire, and his notes were accepted, 
 even for millions, at the very furthest 
 corner of the Indies. His palace was 
 the seat of affluence and refined taste. 
 He was known throughout Asia by the 
 title of the magnificent. The poets 
 
 B 
 
of the province, moreover, called him 
 the guardian-angel of the sciences, and 
 kissed the hem of his garment ; and 
 the emirs of the province saluted him 
 with the greeting "friend of my soul;" 
 for Bator distributed gold to the poets, 
 and accepted the bills of the emirs, and 
 he invited them all to feasts and enter- 
 tainments. 
 
 Now, while Bator was regaling the 
 heralds of his virtues and the friends of 
 his soul, his agents were carrying on 
 his~ business for him. Some persons, 
 indeed, insinuated to him that it was 
 their own business, not his, they were 
 carrying on, but he w r as pleased that 
 they should employ their leisure hours 
 to a good account for themselves : be- 
 sides, their day-books and their ledgers 
 were most methodically kept : there 
 was not a blot or an erasure in any one 
 ef them 
 
3 
 
 A great merchant ought to make 
 great enterprises ; for who else should 
 make them, and how else are great 
 merchants themselves made ? It was 
 the agents of Bator who projected these 
 enterprises, and Bator himself who 
 signed his approbation of them over his 
 morning-chocolate. But it was not 
 their fault that homeward-bound ves- 
 sels were wrecked in storms, and ca- 
 ravans plundered by robbers] By a 
 succession of such unexpected inci- 
 dents, the account books of Bator were 
 filled with the list of his losses, and 
 his iron chests were emptied of their 
 treasures. And the tact was beyond a 
 doubt, since the cash keepers and the 
 account keepers told the same story. 
 
 The best resource a man has who is 
 
 in the way of bad luck, is to risque all 
 
 he has, blindly at a venture ; for so, he 
 
 may not only recover all he has lost. 
 
 b 2 
 
but become richer than before. This, at 
 least, was the proposal made to Bator 
 by his agents, but an obdurate ill for- 
 tune baffled all their good designs. 
 One rash enterprise failed after another ; 
 till at last, on one fine morning of 
 spring, while Bator was reposing on 
 his couch while one of the poets of 
 Persia was reading to him aloud a di- 
 dactic poem, dedicated to himself, on 
 the Triumphs of Commerce, the whole 
 body of his agents entered his apart- 
 ment, to inform him that his iron 
 chests were exhausted, and that he 
 had not wherewith to answer a quarter 
 of the pressing demands which were 
 made upon him. 
 
 It is a well ascertained fact, that the 
 poets of Persia never torment a poor 
 man with reading their verses to him ; 
 and that the emirs of Persia never kiss 
 a ruined man on both cheeks, or style 
 
him friend of my soul. Bator saw 
 himself on a sudden, not merely de- 
 serted, but even shunned. He im- 
 plored his agents, as the last act of 
 kindness to. him, to distribute the re- 
 mains of his fortune among his cre- 
 ditors ; and these agents discharged 
 their task so faithfully, that, having 
 paid every man his demand in full, 
 they immediately formed establish- 
 ments for themselves, meaning to take 
 a warning by the misfortunes of their 
 master, and resolving to cany on their 
 own business with their own eyes ! 
 
 A few jewels which belonged to the 
 wife of Bator, were all he could save 
 of his property. These he secured ; 
 and then taking her and his four young 
 children by the hand, he stole out of 
 Basra by moon-light, no one observing 
 him, and repaired to a remote corner 
 of the province of Tauris. Here he 
 
purchased a small piece of ground, the 
 produce of which just sufficed for the 
 scanty maintenance of his family. 
 
 He had resolved to attend, himself, 
 to the management of his petty con- 
 cerns ; and for several weeks, and even 
 months, was indefatigable in his new 
 and laborious occupations ; but, from 
 time to time, a sort of home-sickness 
 fell upon him, which rendered him 
 unfit for business of every kind. His 
 slaves from that time worked as much 
 as they pleased, and his fields and 
 flocks thrived as well as they could. 
 
 Thus a number of tedious years 
 elapsed, till decease robbed him of his 
 wife. He loved her tenderly, and she 
 merited his love. She never reproach- 
 ed him on account of his misfortunes, 
 and the resignation with which she en- 
 dured them alleviated his despair. He 
 now found himself utterly abandoned, 
 
and his afflictions overwhelmed him. 
 He took to his bed, felt the approach 
 of his last hour, and summoned his 
 four sons to appear before him. 
 
 " My dear sons," said he, " my 
 last hour is come. Draw near to me, 
 and receive the benediction of a father. 
 You have all shewn me the affection 
 of children in my misfortunes ; may 
 you be rewarded for it by greater hap- 
 piness than I ever enjoyed, and may 
 your happiness be more lasting than 
 mine. When I am dead, inter me hy 
 the side of your mother, and then 
 break open the letter which I here give 
 to Solmar." — Bator would have con- 
 tinued, but his breath failed him, and 
 he gave up the ghost. The four bro- 
 thers wept bitterly over their deceased 
 father ; they laid him by the side of 
 their mother ; and, having performed 
 the rites of burial as decently as their 
 
poverty permitted, the letter was open- 
 ed by the eldest of them, and read 
 aloud to his brothers. 
 
 " My dear children," read Solmar. 
 " in your infancy I was Bator the 
 Magnificent, the rich merchant of 
 Basra. Misfortunes burst upon me, 
 and I took refuge in the asylum where 
 I have since resided. Here I was able 
 to provide a bare subsistence for you 
 with labour and with anxiety, for I 
 loved you all with equal fondness, and 
 I looked forward with dread to the 
 time when you would be left to share 
 between you the property which had 
 scarcely sufficed for the nourishment 
 of one family. At length I was re- 
 lieved from my apprehensions. A 
 source of bounty was opened to you, 
 of which I was not permitted to share, 
 and which 1 was not allowed to make 
 known to you till my decease. Be 
 
consoled, therefore, for my loss, and 
 hearken attentively to what I am per- 
 mitted to relate to you. 
 
 " I had once a sister, whom in my 
 infancy I loved affectionately, but dis- 
 sentions arose between us, and for 
 more than thirty years we have been 
 separated ; hence you never saw or 
 heard of her. She lately died, and at 
 her decease she left you a valuable 
 legacy, deposited in the hands of her 
 confidential friend, the magician Al- 
 gol, to be distributed among you after 
 my death. 
 
 " Algol the magician is a very kind 
 and courteous man, and has the repu- 
 tation of being a great philanthropist. 
 No one can charge him with having 
 done him an injustice ; and he offers 
 his good counsels to every one who is 
 willing to follow his advice, and sense 
 to understand it. My sister and I he- 
 B 5 
 
10 
 
 came acquainted with him many years 
 ago, through the introduction of a der- 
 vise, and for a long time I kept up my 
 connection with him. I owe it, in 
 fact, to his instructions, that I be- 
 came at Basra the idol of all the poets, 
 and the bosom-friend of all the emirs, 
 and that my house became the seat of 
 good taste, hospitality, and pleasure. 
 It is true, that when my 'misfortunes 
 arose, he abandoned me as well as the 
 poets and emirs, but he accuses me of 
 not having comprehended his secret 
 advice ; for secret I was bound to keep 
 it from all men, even from you, my 
 sons ; and it is his rule never again to 
 listen to those who have already mis- 
 understood him. 
 
 " The magician dwells at the dis- 
 tance of a three day's journey from 
 hence, in the midst of the mountain- 
 forests to the east of us, on a high hill, 
 
11 
 
 the sides of which are clothed with 
 cedars, and on the bare summit of 
 which is an observatory. The paper 
 that I inclose points out the road 
 through the forest, which will conduct 
 you to a spot where you will find the 
 path obstructed by a vast block of 
 black marble. There you will meet 
 with a milk-white doe, which will ap- 
 pear, and lead you through the laby- 
 rinth, on your striking the black mar- 
 ble, and pronouncing aloud the name 
 of Algol. 
 
 " Proceed without delay, my sons, 
 on this journey. Omit no expression 
 of reverence towards the magician, 
 from whose hands you will receive the 
 legacy reserved for you : use it with 
 temperance and prudence, and con- 
 tinue to maintain brotherly concord 
 among you. So may ye enjoy unin- 
 terrupted felicity to the end of your 
 
12 
 
 days ; so may those days be many ; 
 and, as I now invoke a blessing on 
 your heads from heaven, may ye one 
 day bless your children and your grand- 
 children. Amen." 
 
 This letter of farewel from their fa- 
 ther revived the grief of the four bro- 
 thers. They embraced each other af- 
 fectionately, and vowed to preserve 
 their mutual love under all the changes 
 of their fortune. They immediately 
 began their preparations for their jour- 
 ney ; and having dispatched these, left 
 their abode at Beitulsalam at day-break. 
 Hassan, however, the youngest, was 
 the last to quit the residence of his 
 youth, and whenever he ascended an 
 eminence, did not fail to stop and look 
 around, that he might have the last 
 glimpse of the objects that were dear 
 to him ; but the three elder brothers 
 neither stopped nor looked around 
 
13 
 
 them, but pressed forward eagerly and 
 full of hope. 
 
 They reached the mountain-forests 
 to the east without any mishap, and, 
 by the aid of their father's instructions, 
 which they were constantly examining, 
 arrived at the huge block of black mar- 
 ble which appeared to bar up the road. 
 The eldest of them struck the marble, 
 and exclaimed aloud, Algol. In an 
 instant there started up a milk-white 
 doe, with a golden bell about her neck. 
 The gentle animal set out on her jour- 
 ney without delay, and went trippingly 
 along, while' the golden bell tinkled 
 cheerfully at her neck, springing over 
 bridges and paths, between brambles 
 and briars, and across hills and vallies, 
 till at length, having led the four sons 
 of Bator through the dark clefts of a 
 vast rock, and brought them to the 
 bank of a broad river which ran along 
 
14 
 
 a beautiful valley, she suddenly va- 
 nished from their sight. On the oppo- 
 site shore the hopeful travellers beheld 
 a hill, the sides of which were covered 
 with cedars, and on the summit of 
 which they discerned an edifice, in 
 which they doubted not the magician 
 resided. While they were consulting 
 together by what means they might 
 cross the river, they beheld a dwarf 
 ferrying towards them in a little boat. 
 His breast was protected by a golden 
 shield, and at his waist hung a golden 
 key. He saluted them courteously, 
 and asked them what they desired in 
 the recesses of the forest. 
 
 " May it please your honour," said 
 Solmar, " our desire is to cross this 
 stream ; for we are the sons of the de- 
 ceased Bator, once the rich merchant 
 of Basra, and lately the inhabitant of 
 Beituisalam, in the province of Tauris. 
 
15 
 
 At his death he enjoined us to repair 
 hither, and testify our reverence for the 
 great magician Algol ; and we are now 
 here in obedience to his injunc- 
 tions. " 
 
 " The great magician Algol," an- 
 swered the dwarf, " has already read 
 your arrival in the stars. In his name 
 I bid you welcome ; and he has sent 
 me to conduct you over the stream, 
 and lead you to his presence." 
 
 The four brothers were astonished 
 that their journey should be written in 
 the stars ; but did not hesitate to step 
 into the little boat, which the dwarf 
 brought to the edge of the river. 
 
 " I wish you joy," resumed the 
 dwarf, " that you have placed your- 
 selves under the protection of my mas- 
 ter. The powerful Algol is the most 
 benevolent, as w 7 ell as the richest and 
 wisest of men. Unlike other sorcerers, 
 
16 
 
 enchanters, conjurors, and magicians, 
 he does not employ his vast riches, and 
 still vaster learning, in deluding and 
 tormenting poor mortal creatures, but 
 applies them for no other purpose than 
 to make men happy. Here he dwells 
 in solitude, studying the stars for the 
 benefit of mankind. He seldom leaves 
 his secret apartments, never but to 
 partake in the joys of friendship ; but 
 delights to receive there those he can 
 benefit by his wisdom. It is moreover 
 his especial joy to give good counsel 
 to the young, and lead them on the 
 right road of life. There are, indeed, 
 persons who affirm that my master's 
 right counsel has,only led them wrong, 
 but this was because they either did 
 not follow, or did not understand his 
 counsel. The former is very common, 
 and the latter not impossible, on ac- 
 count of the great learning of mv mas- 
 
17 
 
 ter ; for you are well aware, that the 
 more learned a man is, the more hard 
 it is to comprehend him. But fear no- 
 thing, for I have to inform you that he 
 is to-day in singularly good humour. 
 I will answer for it he will most graci- 
 ously receive you, most hospitably en- 
 tertain you, and not dismiss you with- 
 out the richest presents. " 
 
 The four brothers were delighted at 
 all they heard, and firmly resolved not 
 to tremble at the sight of the great 
 magician, nor to suffer a word of his 
 good counsel to escape them, that they 
 might be sure to comprehend it. They 
 had now reached the opposite shore of 
 the river, and they alighted. The dwarf 
 then whistled three times upon the 
 golden key which was suspended at 
 his w 7 aist, when three gloomy rocks, 
 which presented their rugged fronts at 
 the spot where they landed, slowly 
 
18 
 
 sunk into the earth, and two folding 
 doors, which were wrought in the so- 
 lid earth, harshly creaking as they 
 opened, displayed the entrance into a 
 subterraneous castle. 
 
 The dwarf led them through six 
 anti-chambers, which were sparingly 
 illuminated, and left them in the se- 
 venth, where only a single lamp was 
 burning. After a short time, the dwarf 
 returned. The brothers, in spite of 
 their resolution, felt their hearts beat 
 violently, and their breath was almost 
 taken from them. 
 
 " Algol awaits you on his throne," 
 said he, and in an instant the lofty 
 folding doors of the presence-chambeT 
 were thrown open. 
 
 The stream of light which poured 
 from the immense hall, nearly deprived 
 the sons of Bator of their eye-sight, as 
 well as their power of motion. They, 
 
19 
 
 however, staggered into the apartment, 
 and at the threshold fell upon their 
 faces before the hundred girandoles 
 from which the dazzling rays of light 
 were emitted ; and before the four and 
 twenty giants of massive silver, which, 
 in two rows, were shouldering their 
 chesnut-coloured clubs ; and before the 
 precious stones which sparkled from 
 the canopy ; and before the magician 
 himself, who sat beneath the canopy, 
 Algol arose, and advanced to meet 
 them. He graciously commanded them 
 to rise, and saluted them one after the 
 other. He kissed them on both cheeks, 
 as formerly the emirs had kissed the 
 cheeks of their father Bator. 
 
 " Ye are welcome, my children," 
 said he, " ye are most heartily wel- 
 come. From the hour that 1 knew 
 you were on your journey, I could 
 with difficulty wait for the present mo- 
 
20 
 
 merit. Lay aside your timidity, and 
 be assured that in me ye behold your 
 best friend. " 
 
 He then made a sign to them that 
 they should repose on the white and 
 gold embroidered cushions which were 
 placed on his right and left. They 
 obeyed him, and he seated himself un- 
 der the throne in th/3 midst of them. 
 
 " Yes, my sons, " he continued, "I 
 repeat it to you once more, your visit 
 gives me the greatest joy; and I shall 
 ever reckon the day when I became 
 acquainted with the sons of my worthy 
 friend Bator, among the number of my 
 festal days. Alas ! that my friend can 
 not himself be with us at this hour, 
 that we have to lament his loss, and 
 that that loss should be so premature ! 
 For, my sons, if it were desert that 
 determined the ages of men, your fa- 
 ther would have survived a century 
 
21 
 
 longer : — He, who was at once the 
 pearl of the Persian empire, and the- 
 crown of his province : He, a think- 
 ing man without cunning, and a phi- 
 lanthropist without weakness : He, 
 who, when he committed the only 
 error of his life, (I mean in precipi- 
 tately paying his creditors,) evinced a 
 magnanimity of soul which even they 
 must admire who could not praise it 
 without qualification." 
 
 Algol paused, and putting the end 
 of his little finger to his left eye, ap- 
 peared to rub a tear from it. The four 
 brothers were sensibly affected, and 
 wept bitterly. 
 
 " But, my children," resumed Al- 
 gol, " I will not embitter the joys of 
 this day by indulging in painful recol- 
 lections. A departed friend cannot be 
 re-called by the tears we shed to his 
 memory ; and unless all my knowledge 
 
22 
 
 deceives . me, the place which Bator 
 held in my affections will be amply 
 supplied by you; for, if my eyes re- 
 ally behold what they seem to behold, 
 the genius of my departed friend dwells 
 with all its power and loveliness in 
 each of his offspring. Henceforth, 
 therefore, 1 will attach myself to you, 
 and seek to discharge what I owe to 
 the ashes of the father, by awakening 
 the spirit which is in his sons. This 
 duty is sacred ; but the fulfilment [of 
 it is as sweet as it is sacred. — Yet let 
 me not forget ! — Before 1 discharge 
 this obligation, the performance of ano- 
 ther must precede it, which is equally 
 sacred, and equally sweet." 
 
 Algol stamped with his foot. The 
 dwarf with the golden shield and the 
 golden key entered, received a secret 
 command from his master, and retired. 
 In a few minutes he returned, and be- 
 
23 
 
 hind him came in pairs eight moors,, 
 all dressed in rose-coloured satin. Each 
 pair bore between them a casket of 
 black ebony, edged with silver. The 
 moors set the caskets before their mas- 
 ter, and went out as they came in. 
 
 "My sons," began the benevolent 
 magician again, " a lady, a friend 
 whose memory will be ever dear to 
 me, entrusted me with a commission, 
 which it is the first of my duties to- 
 wards you to execute. You already 
 know that your excellent aunt, one of 
 mv most intimate friends, felt the anx- 
 • iety of a mother for your future wel- 
 fare ; and I am assured that during your 
 whole lives ye will gratefully revere 
 her memory. Behold here the gifts 
 which her love has provided for you, 
 and which her confidence deposited for 
 a time in my hands. With the most 
 heartfelt satisfaction I render them to 
 
2 k 
 
 you, and cordialiy wish you joy in the 
 possession of them. Your portion is 
 besides equal, and each of you pos- 
 sesses ten thousand Persian pieces of 
 gold." 
 
 The four brothers bowed themselves 
 three times to the earth, each took 
 possession of his ebony casket, which 
 he was just able to lift from the ground. 
 Each stammered a few words of grate- 
 ful thanks, and bowed himself again 
 three times to the earth. 
 
 The magician pointed to their cush- 
 ions, and they again reposed upon 
 them. He waved his hand, and in- 
 stantly the floor began to shake, for 
 the four and twenty giants of massive 
 silver marched solemnly away in mea- 
 sured steps, which made the hall trem- 
 ble beneath their tread. 
 
 " My sons, " began Algol again, as 
 soon as he found himself alone with the 
 
c >5 
 
 four children of Bator and the dwarf, 
 - — " my sons, ye have no friend by 
 whose experience ye may be guided, 
 and ye are from henceforward left to 
 the guidance of your own will. Know, 
 my children, that youth is surrounded 
 by dangers, and that those dangers are 
 encreased ten-fold by the caskets of 
 gold which stand before you. But, — I 
 loved Bator once, as a father loveth his 
 sons, and I love you now as I once 
 loved your father. Ye have henceforth 
 to supply his place to me, and I will 
 supply his place to you. Hearken, 
 therefore, attentively to what I am 
 about to say, and suffer not one of my 
 words to pass unheeded." 
 
 The magician here paused, and cast 
 his eyes upon the ground for a short 
 period, like one sunken in deep medita- 
 tion. The four brothers took advantage 
 of this pause to adjust themselves on 
 c 
 
26 
 
 their cushions, and collect together 
 their scattered thoughts. 
 
 Algol had already given them gold, 
 and was now about to give them wis- 
 dom also. Wisdom is a hundred times 
 more precious than gold ; and each of 
 them made a solemn vow that he would 
 deeply impress on his mind the sayings 
 of his benefactor. Hassan alone, he 
 who paused as he stood upon the hills 
 on the road from Beitulsalam, look- 
 ing back upon his father's dwelling ; 
 had the strange whim of watching, not 
 only the words of the benevolent ma- 
 gician, but also his eyes, his left nos- 
 tril, and his upper lip. Fof Algol was, 
 in fact, a very well-made man, and 
 had a prepossessing figure ; but his 
 upper lip, from time to time, without 
 any absolute necessity for it, exposed 
 to sight some half dozen of his teeth ; 
 his left nostril had acquired the habit 
 
27 
 
 of indulging in sudden twitches and 
 snatches ; and his eyes, which were in 
 perpetual converse with the eternal 
 eyes of heaven, were obstinately bent 
 on refusing to meet those of all mortal 
 beings. 
 
 After Algol had given the four youths 
 time to stretch their faculties to a state 
 of the most rigid attention, he rubbed 
 his forehead and eyes slowly with his 
 right hand, and began to speak again. 
 
 " My sons/' said he, " ye all know, 
 and every one knows, that in this em- 
 pire of Persia there are a great number 
 of fairies. Ye know also that these 
 fairies rival each other in beauty, riches, 
 and power. But ye do not know, 
 what indeed few are informed of, that 
 among these fairies is one who surpasses 
 all the rest in beauty, power, and riches, 
 and that this queen of all fairies bears 
 the name of Am atoxda. O, my sons ! 
 c 2 
 
28 
 
 he who knows the fairy Amatonda, is 
 transported with rapture when he hears 
 but her name pronounced ; and let him, 
 whose heart has never beaten, seek to 
 know her, and feel whether he has a 
 heart that is still capable of beating. 
 
 " For know, that he, before whom 
 the fairy Amatonda has but a single 
 time appeared, — whom she has but 
 once encircled within her magic arms, 
 — whom she has but once pressed to 
 her virgin bosom, and transported with 
 one fairy kiss, — he is from henceforth 
 become the favorite of destiny, and has 
 nought further to fear from the caprice 
 of fortune. From the moment of this 
 embrace, his repose cannot be disturbed 
 by omnipotent Nature herself; his bliss 
 cannot be assailed by the shocks of 
 eternal destiny. 
 
 44 From henceforward the treasures 
 of th£ earth may fall to his share ; he 
 
29 
 
 will receive them as unexpected guests 
 are received. He may be suddenly 
 stripped of these treasures; and he will 
 see them depart as we behold strangers 
 depart. Let him ascend to the highest 
 dignities, he will know how to clothe 
 himself in them, .as a man puts on a 
 cloak of ceremony ; he may be dis- 
 missed from his dignities, and he will 
 stand as completely equipped as be- 
 fore. And, what transcends in im- 
 portance every other prerogative, my 
 sons, the highest of all the enjoyments 
 granted to mortals, that fore-taste of 
 the ravishing delights which await you 
 in the Paradise of the great Prophet, 
 that which gives life to all pleasure, 
 and is the spirit of all life — Love, my 
 children, will be a source of bliss only, 
 not of anguish to him. a 
 
 H All the charms of those half-earthly, 
 half-celestial beings, which ye call beau- 
 
30 
 
 teous women, will be his own. He will 
 enjoy what is earthly in them, like a 
 voluptuary, but he will break the rose 
 without touching the thorn. Let this 
 earthly bliss be denied him, he will 
 still smile, for he will feel that what is 
 not of earth cannot be torn from him. 
 For know, that the demi-god who has 
 once cast his eyes upon celestial beauty, 
 rests in the enjoyment of it as long as , 
 the blood flows through his veins." 
 
 The four youths of Beitulsalam gave 
 no sign of life. Their mouths were 
 open: their eyes were without motion. 
 Nothing like this had ever been said to 
 them in the province of Tauris. Algol 
 was silent, that the functions of life 
 might be renewed in them, and now 
 a four-fold exclamation was echoed 
 from the marble walls of the immense 
 apartment. 
 
 " Yes, my sons," Algol resumed, 
 
31 
 
 4i he whom the fairy Amatonda has 
 embraced, enjoys the repose of the 
 blessed, whether he be transplanted 
 into a gorgeous palace, or left to pass 
 his days in the solitude of a lowly cot- 
 tage ; whether he press into the midst 
 of giddy crowds, or whether he wander 
 alone in the retired wilderness. But 
 even in Persia, there are found few ex- 
 amples of such an embrace in the 
 course of a whole century ; for the 
 fairy Amatonda has proclaimed the 
 inviolable law, that she will embrace 
 him only who lives in entire peace with 
 his own heart. This peace, let me 
 however remind you, is of no easy 
 attainment ; but it is not therefore im- 
 possible. Noble minds yearn after 
 arduous achievements ; they scorn the 
 easy acquisition ; and he who earnestly 
 wills to do what he can, will not fail 
 to do what he wills, more especially 
 
39 
 
 if he reject not the guidance of an ex- 
 perienced friend." 
 
 An involuntary movement, which 
 proceeded from the heaving bosoms of 
 the youths, and appeared on a sudden 
 to invigorate their arms, which were 
 before lying motionless on the cushions, 
 indicated to the magician that they too 
 loved the arduous. He mused for a 
 few seconds, to let the vibrations of 
 the movement die away, and then 
 continued. 
 
 " Your noble disquietude, my young 
 friends, betrays the longing desire of 
 your hearts; and, unless 1 have decy- 
 phered amiss the book of fate, I have 
 read in it the name of Amatonda united 
 to that of the sons of Bator. The light 
 which I partake of shall therefore shine 
 to you also, and my finger shall point 
 out to every one of you, the path which 
 will assuredly conduct him to the arms 
 
33 
 
 of the fairy princess. But each of you, 
 my children, has a heart as well as eyes 
 which are his own. Each of you has 
 other wishes, other wants, other 
 claims ; and were all of you to make 
 your pilgrimage to Amatonda on the 
 same road, three of you at least would 
 certainly fai). Your paths diverge 
 widely from each other, but at the 
 end of each stands Amatonda, with 
 open arms ready to receive you. 
 
 " But, lest I should be the cause of 
 a needless jealousy among you, it is 
 necessary that I should communicate 
 to each apart what it is necessary that 
 each should know ; and I am assured 
 that you will preserve within the re- 
 cesses of your several bosoms the 
 secret which I shall impart. I will 
 now for a short time dismiss you, that 
 you may, without restraint, enjoy the 
 c 5 
 
34 
 
 refreshments which a laborious journey 
 must have rendered needful. " 
 
 The four brothers arose, and pro- 
 strated themselves on the earth before 
 the wisdom which had been addressed 
 to them. The dwarf made a sign, and 
 they followed him with unsteady steps 
 into another hall, the walls of which 
 appeared to consist only of unbroken 
 mirrors. But on a sudden, — let the 
 reader conceive the astonishment of 
 the innocent strangers, or rather let 
 him prepare himself for emotions of 
 secret terror, — on a sudden, they be- 
 held at their side — four unspeakably 
 benignant, and unspeakably bashful 
 maidens, who were all enveloped in a 
 garment resembling the azure firma- 
 ment, besprinkled with silver stars, 
 and who probably had only that morn- 
 ing left the paradise of the great Prophet. 
 
35 
 
 Had the sons of Bator on a sud- 
 den beheld four wolves or four bears, 
 they would have been terrified, that 
 is true; but they would certainly have 
 sought for safety in the strength of 
 their arms. But against such aerial 
 phenomena, there is no thinking of 
 either armour or escape. For, let an 
 army of 10,000 sturdy striplings be 
 assembled in Persia, — all armed from 
 head to foot, with scymeters in their 
 hands, and ready for combat; — let 
 the colours be flying around them, and 
 the matches be lighted ; — ■ let the 
 trumpets and kettle-drums urge the 
 warriors to the attack ; — and then let 
 an army of 10,000 blooming maidens 
 appear before them, armed with no- 
 thing but thin. muslin which flutters 
 around them, and the silken girdle 
 which somewhat restrains the flutter- 
 ing. — Let the female general step 
 
36 
 
 modestly forward, and, bending herself 
 gracefully, with a divine smile, lay 
 her right hand on her bosom, and point 
 with her left to the fearful squadron 
 behind, — the haughty colours will 
 be soon seen unsteadily waving in both 
 wings of the hostile army; — and then 
 let her raise her voice, and, with down- 
 cast eves and bashful blush, humbly 
 beg that the general of the male army 
 will have the goodness, without delay, 
 to surrender at discretion; — and one 
 might wager, without danger, a million 
 pieces of Persian gold against a chesnut, 
 that, before the fourth part of an hour 
 has elapsed, the matches will be ex- 
 tinguished under feet, the army and 
 swords cast upon the ground, and their 
 former possessors led into slavery. 
 For the well known fable of that tre- 
 mendous being, who, by the glances 
 which beam merely from two beauteous 
 
eyes, stuns and confounds all living 
 beings, and renders them as motionless 
 as stone, but not as hard : — this fable, 
 be it known, was not invented in jest, 
 but in Persia, no man dares confess that 
 he understands it. 
 
 The four brothers from Beitulsalam 
 were far from being recovered from 
 their consternation, when the four 
 maidens from Paradise already stretch- 
 ed out their arms towards them, with a 
 ravishing condescension, and then they 
 all sat in pairs upon the rose-coloured 
 sofas. 
 
 Lambs and innocent striplings have 
 from time immemorial had this in com- 
 mon, that they lose all their appetite 
 for food when shut up with wolves and 
 innocent maidens. The four aerial 
 forms took each one golden cup after 
 the other, and pressed the young men, 
 with the sweetest entreaties, to accept 
 
38 
 
 of refreshment from one of the cups at 
 least: but it was all in vain; not one 
 of them could take a single sip ; while 
 the paleness of death and the flush of 
 a fever alternately set upon their 
 cheeks. There they were, with fixed 
 eyes, now and then bending their 
 heads in silence, and unable to pro- 
 nounce, or even to call to their recol- 
 lection, any one of the many thousand 
 words of the Persian language with 
 which thtey were acquainted. 
 
 Hassan alone recovered his voice for 
 a moment. He suddenly sunk from 
 his sofa upon the floor, and, throwing 
 himself before the figure which had 
 him in her power, exclaimed eagerly: 
 
 " Are you, then, perhaps, the fairy 
 Amatonda? and have you, then, se- 
 cretly embraced me while I was lost 
 in astonishment ?" 
 
 " No, Persian!" replied the maiden, 
 
39 
 
 blushing sweetly as she spake, " my 
 name is not Amatonda, and I never 
 embraced any one but these, my play- 
 fellows. Algol is occupied in his 
 observatory, and he sent us hither that 
 we might invite you to take some 
 refreshment. It is a sad pity that we 
 are so unfit for our office. 5 ' 
 
 Now, it is notorious that the daugh- 
 ters of Paradise have two hands, and 
 it is also notorious that those hands 
 have the secret power of attracting to 
 them the lips of all the young men 
 who kneel before them, whosoever 
 they may be. While, therefore, Has- 
 san was on his knees, and the maiden 
 was answering him, one of her hands 
 began to exert its power, and Hassan 
 was instantly compelled to cover it 
 with burning kisses. After a short 
 time, the other hand began to attract 
 more strongly than the former, and 
 
40 
 
 Hassan was under the necessity of 
 loading that too with his embraces. 
 And in this way both hands continued 
 to play their tricks with poor Hassan ; 
 for the hand which was not kissed al- 
 ways had a stronger attraction than the 
 one on which his lips actually lay. 
 
 His brothers, in like manner, were 
 not long able to retain their seats on 
 their sofas. It was quite affecting to 
 behold how, one after the other, they 
 were each drawn down to the feet of 
 these female magicians, by some secret 
 enchantment; and how they, as well 
 as Hassan, were made sport of by the 
 two hands of their respective torment- 
 ors. Hassan, however, had luckily 
 just found out the expedient of kissing 
 both hands of his persecutor at once, 
 when a clap of thunder put a sudden 
 end to the necromancy. 
 
 Algol, who possibly on this one occa- 
 
 
41 
 
 sion had not been looking at the stars, 
 believed that the sons of Bator had 
 now had time to take the refreshment 
 which was offered them, and gave an 
 intimation by thunder from his obser- 
 vatory, that the dwarf should conduct 
 the youths to him. 
 
 The dwarf entered, and the daugh- 
 ters of Paradise instantly glowed like 
 young roses in the morning dew. The 
 dwarf requested the brothers to follow 
 him, but the sorceresses had already 
 enveloped their invisible toils so closely 
 round them, that they did not hear 
 his message till it had been thrice re- 
 peated. They tore themselves quickly 
 from the maidens ; the invisible toils 
 all burst with a few loud sighs, and 
 the dwarf opened the door. Hassan, 
 even when he had reached it, might 
 possibly feet that he was bound by 
 some cords, for he hastily sprang back. 
 
42 
 
 and threw himself upon the hand of 
 the enchantress, probably to moisten 
 the ligatures by which he was still 
 bound, with the tears which fell from 
 him. 
 
 They followed the dwarf to the ob- 
 servatory, who made them ascend 
 some hundred steps, and, having de- 
 sired the three younger brothers to 
 tarry in the anti-chamber, he opened 
 the door of the observatory to the 
 eldest. 
 
 Algol sat upon a sofa, and before 
 him stood a desk, on which was a 
 huge volume. It lay open, and was 
 covered with unknown characters. 
 Towards each of the four quarters of 
 the firmament a number of telescopes 
 were fixed, and on the floor there lay 
 around, some rolls of parchment. Sol- 
 mar was ordered to place himself upon 
 the sofa. 
 
43 
 
 " My son/* began Algolin a solemn 
 tone, " of thee much will be spoken, and 
 I wish thee joy to victory and glory. 
 Thou appearest astonished at my ad- 
 dress ; but I will explain it to thee as 
 far as thy welfare requires. 
 
 " Even now, valor announces itself 
 in the firmness of thy step ; and the 
 piercing glance of thy eye would point 
 out to me thy future destination, had 
 I not elsewhere read the prognostics of 
 thy fame. Perhaps thou art yet unac- 
 quainted with thyself; but I will cause 
 a prancing steed to march before thee, 
 equipped for the field — a trumpet 
 shall invite it to the combat ; it shall 
 neigh, and beat the ground with its 
 feet, eager to rush upon the foe, and 
 
 Thou hast betrayed thyself ; I see 
 
 thy eyes sparkle ; and from this hour 
 thou art become conscious of thy own 
 nature. Yes, my son, thy swelling 
 
44 
 
 chest demands to be covered with a 
 breast-plate ; and thy right arm has 
 been strung with muscles of iron, that 
 it may wield a sword. A youth en- 
 dued with thy fire and thy conscious- 
 ness, is not formed for the inglorious 
 ease of a country life, or the paltry 
 restlessness of commerce, or the con- 
 suming ennui of a court. Thy calling 
 is to pass thy days on the war-horse, 
 and thy nights in the tented field: the 
 sole way which thou hast to take in 
 search of the entire repose of thy heart, 
 is the way on which the trumpet of 
 war shall lead thee. 
 
 " I see thou art resolved; and there- 
 fore I will at once give thee the intel- 
 ligence thou needest, that thou mayst 
 without delay enter on the career which 
 leads thee to glory. The stars have in- 
 structed me, that the ravaging Osmans 
 have entered one of the frontier-pro- 
 
45 
 
 vinces. The barbarians are scattering 
 fire and sword in every direction, and 
 are leading men, women, and children 
 into slavery. The Shah of Persia is 
 collecting a powerful army to avenge 
 this inroad. Arise, then, and let me 
 initiate thee into thy calling." 
 
 Algol arose, and fixed a gorgeous 
 belt on the loins of the eldest son of 
 Bator. To the belt was attached a 
 sword with a sparkling hilt. 
 
 " This sword, my son, pierces every 
 bone on which it alights. Accept it 
 as a proof of my love, and by its aid 
 acquire to thyself an immortal name 
 in the annals of Persia; and, in so 
 doing, also, the eternal repose of thy 
 heart. Equip for thyself a warlike 
 steed, hasten to the army which the 
 Shah of Persia has collected, and so- 
 licit permission to join in avenging thy 
 country. 
 
46 
 
 " In spirit, I already see thee mount- 
 ing thy charger, and drawing forth thy 
 sword on the day of the first battle. 
 Thou invitest volunteers to join thee. 
 Thou places t thyself at their head. 
 Thou and they rush together, like a 
 torrent, upon the ranks of the Osmans. 
 A dreadful combat ensues between 
 man and man. To the ridit and left 
 
 o 
 
 thou spreadest mutilation and slaugh- 
 ter. Thy sword hews thee a passage 
 into the phalanx of the Osmans, and 
 their ranks are broken and overwhelm- 
 ed. Thy arm has decided the first bat- 
 tle, and thy name resounds from wing 
 to wing of the Persian army. I see 
 the commander in chief in search of 
 thee ; he embraces thee, and entrusts 
 to thee a division of his army. Thou 
 pressest forward, and never recedest ; 
 and he who fights under thy banner, 
 feels his ^trcn^th encreased four-fold, 
 
The Shah of Persia entrusts an army 
 to thee ; thou conquerest provinces, 
 
 and but I refrain ; it becomes not 
 
 me to anticipate the history of the 
 Persian empire. 
 
 " Hasten, therefore, mount thy 
 steed, and repair to the army ; for 
 only on the reeking field of slaughter, 
 in the midst of streams of blood, and 
 surrounded by the groans and cries of 
 the wounded and the dying, willAma- 
 tonda appear before thee^ and embrace 
 thee." 
 
 Solmar fell prostrate upon the earth, 
 kissed the hem of Algol's garment, and 
 glowed with impatience to rush upon 
 the swarms of the ravaging Osmans. 
 
 The magician smiled with benignity 
 upon him, making a sign that he might 
 retire. The dwarf then beckoned to 
 Murad, the second brother, who 
 entered the apartment, and placed 
 
4S 
 
 himself on the sofa by the side of 
 Algol. 
 
 " My son," said the magician, as 
 he turned over one of the leaves of his 
 huge book, " I once knew a young 
 man, whom nature had furnished with 
 the most powerful of all letters of in- 
 troduction, the efficacy of which was 
 instantly acknowledged by all who 
 perused it: it consisted in the gift of 
 pleasing. This youth had a noble and 
 slender figure ; his body could assume 
 every graceful posture, and all his 
 movements were unconstrained and 
 unpretending. AV r hile the prepossessing 
 features of his countenance seemed to 
 solicit kindness, his aquiline nose im- 
 plied the power of seizing it with vio- 
 lence, in case of necessity. And, with 
 these attractions, it was to no purpose 
 that the modesty which sat upon his 
 forehead* seemed, as it were, to over- 
 
49 
 
 shadow the acuteness which shone m 
 his eyes. This youth, however, took 
 this letter of introduction, and buried 
 it in a wilderness. I ask thee, there- 
 fore, my son, whether, in acting thus, 
 he did right or wrong. M 
 
 " Surely, not right, " answered Mu- 
 rad with precipitation, and at the same 
 time he bowed lowly towards the earth. 
 
 " My dear son," continued the ma- 
 gician, " he is not culpable who does 
 not possess a talent ; but he is, who 
 neglects to employ what he does pos- 
 sess : but the youth of whom I spake 
 is thyself, and thou wouldst commit a 
 species of self-murder, wert thou any 
 longer to bury thy graces and powers 
 in a remote province of Persia. He 
 who possesses understanding, manners, 
 and an aquiline nose, is born to please 
 and to govern ; and he who is formed 
 to govern, will find repose no where 
 
 P 
 
50 
 
 but in the seat of power, and will 
 never be embraced by Amatonda but 
 at the court of a mighty sultan. And 
 in these words I have pointed out to 
 thee thy career." 
 
 Murad bowed before the magician 
 with deep veneration. 
 
 " In our courts of Asia, understand- 
 ing is prized beyond all estimation ; but 
 in none is it more highly valued than 
 in the capital of the Sultan of Cash- 
 mire. Every spark of intelligence is 
 there the object of universal admiration, 
 and even the appearance only of a spark 
 sets the city in tumult. It is there- 
 fore thy duty, immediately on thy re- 
 turn, to take an eternal farewel of Bei- 
 tulsalam, and repair to Cashmire. 
 
 " When thou art there, my son, be- 
 gin thy career as a stranger, by enquir- 
 ing the names of those who at present 
 stand in the favour of the court, that 
 
5\ 
 
 thou mayst find out their male slaves 
 and female slaves, and fall prostrate be- 
 fore them. These slaves will praise thy 
 understanding to their masters, and 
 their masters' wives, and thou wilt 
 again fall prostrate before them, yet 
 not so humbly as before the slave 
 through whom thou hast gained ad- 
 mittance. Thou wilt then endeavour 
 to profit, especially among the women, 
 by the praises which will have preceded 
 thee ; and if these women are wanting 
 in youth, or if their youth is wanting 
 in attractions, they will be more sus- 
 ceptible to the impression of thy at- 
 tentions and importunities. 
 
 " In general, I trust to thy own 
 sense of decorum, that thou wilt accus- 
 tom thyself in Cashmire to think what 
 thou dost not say, and to say what 
 thou dost not think; — to give the 
 name of a virtue to vice, and of a vice 
 D 2 
 
.52 
 
 to virtue ; — -to kiss thy friends twice, 
 and thy enemies four times ; — and in 
 every instance to profit by the present 
 occasion, and make use of thy under- 
 standing. ,, 
 
 Algol drew from his finger a dia- 
 mond ring, and presented it to Murad. 
 
 " And that in Cashmire thou mayst 
 err as seldom as possible, this ring, 
 with which my paternal care furnishes 
 thee, will press the inner part of thy 
 finger when thou speakest too warmly 
 Op any subject, and the outer part of 
 it when thy language is too cold. Go 
 thy way, my son, please and govern. 
 When the inhabitants of the kingdom 
 of Cashmire shall fall down on their 
 faces before thee ; — when the grandees 
 of the court shall anxiously watch the 
 expression of thy countenance; — -when 
 the sultan shall now and then grate- 
 fully press thee by the hand ; — and 
 
53 
 
 when the sultanas shall burn with jea- 
 lousy, and intrigue for the privilege of 
 assuring thee in private of their favor ; 
 — then first in some secret chamber of 
 the palace at Cashmire, will Amatonda 
 appear before thee, and embrace thee>" 
 
 Murad sprang hastily up, and hur- 
 ried towards the door ; but on a sudden 
 he recollected himself, threw himself 
 in a graceful posture once more upon 
 the sofa, and kissed three times the 
 carpet upon which the feet of the ma- 
 gician rested. 
 
 Algol, with an approving smile, in- 
 formed him he might retire. The dwarf 
 made a sign to the third brother, and 
 Selim entered, and placed himself on 
 the sofa on which his brother sat be- 
 fore. 
 
 " My son, V said the magician, " sul- 
 tans-die, and are forgotten ; heroes die, 
 and are accursed ; poets die, and are 
 
54 
 
 deified. I have more than a year long- 
 ed to behold thee face to face, and am 
 overjoyed that this day has crowned 
 my wishes. Dost thou know this 
 writing? " 
 
 The magician put into his hand some 
 papers which lay near him ; and Selim, 
 having recognised his own hand-writ- 
 ing, blushed, and made a deep bow. 
 
 " A present from thy father," con- 
 tinued Algol, " and one I would part 
 with for no price. I have heard that 
 the author would often spend his days 
 without food, and his nights without 
 sleep, in order to inscribe on paper the 
 workings of his fancy; but thus much 
 I certainly know, that he is regardless 
 of both sleep and food, who contem- 
 plates these his creations. How ad- 
 mirable are they ! What the omnipo- 
 tence of Nature could never unite, is 
 here combined and consolidated with 
 
55 
 
 perfect harmony ; and what Nature 
 could never separate, hold here an in- 
 dependent existence, and wonder at 
 each other when they meet. Yes, my 
 son, when Nature had produced the 
 fancy of this poet, she beheld her own 
 daughter with wonder, kissed her, and 
 dismissed her with these words, — 4 Go 
 thy way, and prosper, my daughter, 
 though thy mother will be eclipsed by 
 thee ; and this is just, for the mother, 
 if she purpose to shake the earth, must 
 at least set a volcano in motion, but 
 the daughter lets a single rose-leaf fall, 
 and the pillars of the globe totter !' " 
 
 Selim sat in silent meditation, and' 
 cast his eyes upon the ground. 
 
 " I said, when poets die; forgive me, 
 Selim, I erred, poets never die. They 
 cannot die, at least not until every 
 thing has perished which can perish. 
 Yes, my son, poets alone are immortal, 
 
66 
 
 and Selim, the son of Bator, was born 
 a poet. " 
 
 Selim breathed anxiously, and be- 
 held Algol with an air of melan- 
 choly. 
 
 " The feverish carnation of thy 
 cheek, my son, the melting of thy 
 eye, and even the sigh, which, if I 
 mistake not, I lately heard, betray to 
 me that thou art conscious of thy own 
 nature, and hast a presentiment of the 
 larger horizon marked out for thee. 
 Thy presentiment is just, my son. 
 Hitherto thou hast known nothing but 
 — ■ how shall 1 fitly name it ? — the mo- 
 notonous confusion of lifeless nature. As 
 yet, thou art unacquainted with the 
 great world, and art ignorant of the in- 
 exhaustible affluence of forms which 
 it presents to thee; of the delightful 
 concatenation of passions by which it 
 is maintained ; and more especially of 
 
57 
 
 the ineffable bliss which springs from 
 refined love." 
 
 Selim attempted to suppress a sigh, 
 but the sigh was obstinate, and forced 
 itself a passage with violence. 
 
 " Be comforted, my son ; nothing is 
 yet lost ; and if thou honestly folio west 
 the counsels of an experienced friend, 
 thou wilt not fail to partake of immor- 
 tality,- peace with thy own heart, and 
 the embrace of Amatonda. There is 
 one spot on the earth alone adapted to 
 give thee entire repose. This spot has 
 been, during a century, the seat of cul- 
 tivated manners, and the school of good 
 taste; and there thou wilt find judges, 
 more especially female judges, who, 
 by their kind aid, will give to thy works 
 perfection, and, by their favouring 
 judgment, affix on them the stamp of 
 immortality. Agra, the splendid resi- 
 dence of the grand Mogul, is the spot 
 d 5 
 
5S 
 
 of which I speak. There, Selim, thou 
 wilt in one day find more materials for 
 thought, than in the province of Tauris 
 in a whole century." 
 
 Selim announced, by a low bow to 
 the magician, that he was resolved to 
 obey. 
 
 " Is it, then, thy concern to secure 
 the embrace of Amatonda, my son, 
 tarry not by the way ; hasten to Agra, 
 and rushing into the midst of the ra- 
 ging waves of that immense capital, 
 see, hear, imbibe all that presents 
 itself to thee, and be inspired. Then 
 pour forth the visions which thou w r ilt 
 behold, in one stream upon thy paper. 
 Should they be strange, perplexed, and 
 monstrous, so much the better for 
 thee. Change nothing, polish no- 
 thing, complete nothing. Thy work 
 must absolutely proceed from nothing, 
 and lead to nothing. It must present 
 
59 
 
 nothing upon which the mind can dis- 
 tinctly rest, but so much the more 
 that may be obscurely felt. Then seek, 
 in some dictionary, for some twenty 
 extravagant words ; write those words 
 on twenty pieces of paper, and let a 
 child draw one of them by chance. 
 Set the word which shall be drawn, at 
 the head of th^ work, and if thou place 
 two such words at the front of thy pro- 
 duction, then the issue will be more 
 sure. But both titles must have no 
 reference to each other, nor to thy 
 work. Then, happy Selim, bring 
 forth thy production on a sudden, and 
 thou wilt be astonished at the astonish- 
 ment of all Agra. " 
 
 Selim stared with wonder at the 
 magician. 
 
 " c Oh how divine a man ! 5 the ladies 
 will all exclaim ; — < there is no know- 
 ing what he aims at.?. — •■} It turns one 
 
60 
 
 quite giddy to follow him ; and then, it 
 is written so strangely and queerly, 
 that absolutely no common person is 
 able to read it aloud !' 'By Alia and 
 Bramha ! ' the men will afterward ex- 
 claim, ■ this is a genuine masterpiece, 
 — pure, luxuriant, inartificial nature, 
 no end, no design, no whole; you 
 may read it as well backwards as for- 
 wards ! ' — ' He never fails to give us 
 something to think upon; — we must 
 have him of our parties/ — Thy work, 
 my son, will be the novelty of the 
 day in all the four quarters of Agra. 
 The men will invite thee to their feasts, 
 and the women to their toilets. The 
 men will scatter incense before thee, 
 and the women will give thee their 
 scarfs to tye, and their veils to un- 
 bind/' 
 
 Selim sighed again, and deeper than 
 he had ever sighed before. 
 
61 
 
 64 Within twelve months after thy 
 arrival, thou wilt shower down thy 
 second work upon too happy Agra, 
 and thou thyself wilt bow before this 
 work, as if it were an oracle. But Agra 
 will become intoxicated ; and whoever 
 does not hail thee son of the gods, or at 
 least, brother of immortality, will be 
 banished from all good company by the 
 ladies. ' Oh, praised be our age ! ? 
 men and women will exclaim, ' a 
 being of a higher order has appeared 
 among us. We do not understand 
 what he says, but so much the more 
 just is our homage/ " 
 
 Algol handed a golden tube to the 
 son of Bator. 
 
 " My son, time will be invaluable 
 to thee in Agra; and he who saves 
 time, saves much. Accept, as a proof 
 of my love, this small tube. It con- 
 tains a pen which will never become 
 
69 
 
 blunt, and which will write as fast 
 as thou speakest. Hasten now to 
 thy splendid destiny. Wave the magic 
 rod of thy imagination over the im- 
 mense capital, and throw its inhabi- 
 tants into a state of rapture with thy 
 fictions, as if they were unheard of 
 visions of the air ; and then, when 
 on each morning the first question 
 which proceeds from the ladies of 
 Agra will be, ' What new work has 
 the immortal man produced?' — when 
 the traveller, on his return from Agra, 
 shall, before all things, relate whether 
 he had the felicity 7 of catching a glimpse 
 of thee, though at a distance; — and 
 when a lock of thy hair, divided into 
 many small portions, and enclosed in 
 a hundred sparkling lockets, shall 
 adorn a hundred of the fairest bosoms 
 in Agra; — then, Selim, while thou 
 art one evening by the side of one of 
 
63 
 
 the most brilliant beauties of Agra, in 
 the silence of a solitary apartment, and 
 by the faint light of a remote and single 
 taper, which has for an hour been neg- 
 lected ; — at such a moment, Selim, 
 Amatonda will appear before thee, and 
 embrace thee. " 
 
 The last words of the magician raised 
 the enthusiasm of Selim to its utmost 
 height. He could no longer restrain 
 himself; but sprang up hastily, and 
 embraced Algol. Then he sank down, 
 and kissed the hem of his garment. 
 Then he arose once more, and again 
 embraced the magician. 
 
 Algol, with a friendly smile, then 
 intimated to Selim that he should retire, 
 and the dwarf beckoned to the youngest 
 brother. Hassan entered ; but the ma- 
 gician was forced to press him three 
 times, before he would place himself 
 
64 
 
 on the seat his brothers had occupied 
 by the side of Algol. 
 
 " My son," said he, after he had 
 for some time silently perused the 
 great book, " thy innocent countenance 
 won my affections at the first moment 
 that I beheld thee ; and I especially 
 rejoiced to behold in thee the image 
 of thy father Bator, whom 1 never can 
 forget. That repose of soul which is 
 obvious to those who behold thee, 
 even if they have not studied the 
 human countenance, clearly shows 
 that thou art conscious of no evil ; and 
 the attractive benevolence which at 
 the same time also shines in thy eye, 
 announces to every one that thou 
 suspectest no evil in others. But, my 
 child, this purity of heart, which, on 
 the one hand, so delights me, on the 
 other hand, makes me tremble for thee. 
 
65 
 
 " Men are selfish, deceitful, and ma- 
 lignant. Thou art generous, confiden- 
 tial, and compassionate. Thy father, 
 whom I have bitterly deplored, has left 
 thee. Thy elder brothers, whom I 
 heartily love, must also leave thee in 
 search of Amatonda. Thou standest 
 alone, without a guide, a counsellor, 
 or friend. The good are, alas ! destined 
 to be the prey of the wicked ; and, 
 wert thou to remain longer alone in the 
 midst of a corrupt world, thou wouldst 
 soon fatally experience this in thyself. 
 Thy heart would then be indignant 
 against mankind ; peace with thyself 
 would be lost for ever; and Amatonda 
 would never be found by thee." 
 
 Hassan sighed aloud, as soon as he 
 heard the name of Amatonda. 
 
 "But there still remain asylums 
 whither integrity, brotherly love, and 
 ail the social virtues have fled for re- 
 
66 
 
 fuge; where peace and fidelity take up 
 their abode ; and from which deceit 
 and dissention are expelled. " 
 
 Hassan fixed his looks upon the eye 
 of the magician, who at the same time 
 grasped his hand. 
 
 " Thou canst readily imagine that I 
 speak of those venerable walls which 
 resound only with pious prayers and 
 sacred hymns ; and whose inhabitants 
 call each other brothers, and are really 
 brothers. Arise, therefore, my son, 
 secure the purity of thy soul, or, for 
 it is the same thing, peace in thy heart. 
 Leave Beitulsalam behind thee. Re- 
 ceive the legacy of thy aunt, and all 
 that js thine ; give one half of it to the 
 poor, and the other half to the holy 
 abode which thou wilt select as thy place 
 of refuge, and become a pious dervise." 
 
 Hassan slowly withdrew his hand 
 from the hand of the magician, 
 
67 
 
 " Thy heroic resolution will resound 
 through all Persia. Men and women 
 will be anxious to behold the bloom- 
 ing youth who gave one half of his 
 property to the poor, and one half to 
 the sanctuary. From each province 
 the worshippers of the great Prophet 
 will make their pilgrimage to the abode 
 of the new saint, and will spread the 
 fame of thy devotion through every 
 province to which they return. The 
 virtues, my son, are contagious ; and 
 from thee will proceed the virtues of 
 other men." 
 
 Algol took a small girdle of hair 
 which lay by him, and presented it to 
 the youth. 
 
 " With this girdle I consecrate thee 
 to thy vocation. He who wears it 
 is able to continue for twelve hours, with- 
 out intermission, and without becoming 
 giddy, the dance round the sacred ring 
 
68 
 
 of the venerable servants of the Pro- 
 phet. While thy holy brethren, stun- 
 ned and senseless from the rotary 
 motion, will lie on the ground, thou 
 wilt be able, to the wonder of the pro- 
 strate believers, to sustain the dance 
 for many hours, and at last stand 
 upright upon one foot ! Believers will 
 from that hour fall on their faces when 
 they behold thee but at a distance. 
 They will, by degrees, lead all the sick 
 who are afflicted to thee, and the touch 
 of thy hand will cure the diseases of 
 those who have faith in thee. At 
 length, in the midst of the grateful 
 blessings of the poor, whom thou wilt 
 have fed, clothed, and healed ; — 
 amid the eulogies and benedictions of 
 the holy brethren, whose pride and 
 oracle thou wilt be; — amid the burn- 
 ing kisses which men and women will 
 press with ardent devotion on the 
 
69 
 
 prints of thy feet; — at some solemn 
 celebration which will take place within 
 those holy walls, in the presence of 
 thy brethren and all the people, Ama- 
 tonda ivill on a sudden appear before 
 thee, and embrace thee" 
 
 Hassan was sunk in deep meditation. 
 The magician made a sign to him that 
 he might retire. Hassan arose, and, 
 in his absence of mind, forgot to kiss 
 the hem of Algol's garment, and went 
 out to his brothers. 
 
 The dwarf invited the four sons of 
 Bator to empty a small golden cup 
 to the health of their sublime bene- 
 factor. Each emptied the golden cup, 
 and, as they severally opened their 
 eyes, they found themselves on their 
 beds in Beitulsalam ; and by the bed 
 of each stood his casket containing the 
 pieces of gold ; and on each casket was 
 severally laid the present given by the 
 
70 
 
 magician to the four sons of Bator. 
 The inchanted draught from the golden 
 cup had thrown them into a deep 
 slumber, and a chariot, drawn by fly- 
 ing dragons, had rapidly brought them 
 to their lowly dwelling. 
 
 Having recovered from their asto- 
 nishment, the sons of Bator proceeded 
 to examine their caskets, and found 
 the magician was a man of his word : 
 not one of the promised number of the 
 pieces of gold was missing. They all 
 deposited their treasures in a place of 
 security, and departed in silence in 
 different directions. 
 
 Murad withdrew to a retired spot, 
 in order to practise genuflexions and 
 prostrations ; and at the same time he 
 fixed his admiring eyes on the finger 
 which bore the diamond ring, the pre- 
 sent from Algol. 
 
 Selim, also, finding himself alone, 
 
n 
 
 pronounced with rapture an inter- 
 minable poem in praise of his bene- 
 factor Algol, and with his golden pen 
 affixed it upon paper, while in the act 
 of declaiming it. 
 
 Solmar, lost in fancy, wandered to 
 a neighbouring thicket, and there, with 
 his sword, hewed himself a path through 
 thorns and briars. 
 
 Hassan, in the mean while, went and 
 hid his girdle in the hollow of a tree, 
 and, with his hands crossed behind 
 him, sauntered through the fields of 
 which he was co-inheritor. As he 
 walked, he frequently shook his head, 
 remained now and then motionless in 
 his path, talked often to himself, and 
 muttered between his lips something 
 concerning the fairy Amatonda. 
 
 Night came on, and the brothers 
 were once more together. They could 
 not converse, and soon retired to their 
 
72 
 
 several chambers : but there they could 
 not sleep. They sighed as they lay 
 restless on their beds ; nor could any 
 one of them, during the whole night, 
 find a posture in which he could repose. 
 Day broke, and they all sprang 
 hastily from their beds ; but, when 
 they met, each was occupied by his 
 own meditations. At length, Selim 
 broke silence, by asking how many 
 days' journey it might be to Agra; 
 and instantly Murad enquired the dis- 
 tance from Cashmire; and Solmar how 
 far it was to the Osman frontiers. No 
 one, however, answered the enquiries 
 of his brother, and they all relapsed 
 into their former silence. Hassan alone 
 made no enquiries ; for he had been 
 standing unmoved at the window, with 
 his eyes fixed on the door of his neigh- 
 bour's house which was on the oppo- 
 site side of the way. 
 
73 
 
 When they sat down to their noon- 
 day meal, it was immediately obvious 
 that no one was hungry. From mere 
 ennui, the brothers began at length to 
 converse ; first of the weather, then 
 of the ravaging Osmans, the great 
 mogul, and the sultanas of Cashmire ; 
 and at last the three elder brothers con- 
 fessed that they had pressing business 
 in the wide world, and were obliged 
 to abandon Beitulsalam for ever. It 
 was further discovered to be indis- 
 pensably necessary for them to sell 
 their paternal inheritance to the first 
 purchaser they could find, and divide 
 the produce between them. 
 
 " Brothers/' said Hassan, " I know 
 of a purchaser ; call some intelligent 
 person on whom you can rely ; let him 
 estimate the value of our fathers land ; 
 I have no business in the wide world, 
 and our bargain will soon be closed." 
 
74 
 
 Hassan's proposal was received with 
 great approbation. The intelligent 
 person was found, the land was esti- 
 mated, and the three elder brothers 
 received the purchase money from 
 Hassan without a moment's delay. 
 
 He who is looking forward to the 
 joys of life, has no time to lose. The 
 three brothers hastened the prepara- 
 tions for their journey as much as 
 possible, and, on one fine morning, set 
 off together in search of Amatonda. 
 
 Hassan embraced them all with tears 
 in his eyes, one after the other, wished 
 them success and joy in all their un- 
 dertakings, looked after them as long 
 as he could see them, and then con- 
 tinued standing pensively at the en- 
 trance of his paternal inheritance, 
 which was now become his property. 
 
 " I wish, with all my heart," said 
 he to himself, " that they may meet 
 
 
75 
 
 with Mrs. Amatonda, whoever she 
 may be; but for my part, I will not stir 
 a step after her. " 
 
 He then seized a spade, took his 
 girdle of hair which the magician had 
 given him, from out of the hollow tree 
 in which he had placed it, and walked 
 slowly along to the furthest corner of 
 his little estate, muttering to himself 
 as he went along. He then dug a deep 
 hole, and threw his girdle into it. 
 
 " I can use thee for nothing," said 
 Jie ; and if the great Prophet preserve 
 to me these two hands and this spade, 
 I care not a fig for any present a sorce- 
 rer can make me. " 
 
 He was thus employed in shovelling 
 the soil upon his girdle, when a young 
 dervise passed by, and begged alms of 
 him : Hassan stopped, and gave him 
 something. The dervise thanked htm 
 e 2 
 
76 
 
 humbly, and asked him what lie was 
 burying. 
 
 " A magic girdle, " said Hassan. 
 
 " How ! a magic girdle ! and what, 
 then, is its virtue ? " 
 
 " He who wears it, can turn himself 
 round in a circle for twelve hours 
 without ceasing, and without growing 
 giddy." 
 
 " By the great Prophet ! and durst 
 thou bury so great a jewel ? Give it 
 to me." 
 
 " Take it, if thou wilt; I envy no 
 one his acquisition." 
 
 The dervise threw himself upon the 
 earth, and, with both hands, eagerly 
 dragged up the precious girdle. Has- 
 san filled up the hole again with his 
 spade, and they departed, well pleased, 
 from each other. 
 
 Solitude in Beitulsalam is an un- 
 
pleasant situation at the age of twenty- 
 one ; and if it should happen that the 
 reel use should have a female neigh- 
 bour with a pair of blue eyes, and 
 being only eighteen years old, who in 
 like manner lives alone, this solitude 
 then becomes one of the greatest tor- 
 ments conceivable. However, Amina, 
 the daughter of Abuhissar, did not 
 live quite alone; for she was mistress 
 of the little cottage of her aged father ; 
 and everyone at Beitulsalam said, that 
 she discharged her duties as house- 
 keeper with as much sweetness and 
 alacrity, as her worthy mother had 
 done before her, who had been dead 
 about a year. 
 
 When Hassan had lived three whole 
 days in solitude, his dwelling became 
 quite a burthen to him. He had no 
 other relief than to keep continually 
 opening the casement which fronted 
 
7$ 
 
 the abode of Amina. But might not 
 any stranger who passed the street, 
 to say nothing of the inhabitants of 
 Beitulsalam, hit upon the idea that 
 Hassan might be standing at the win- 
 dow in order to look at Amina when 
 she came out ? He blushed at the 
 thought, and always shut the window 
 whenever it occurred to him ; but as 
 he was always forgetting it again, he 
 resolved to go into the fields where no 
 one could see him. 
 
 After wandering about some time, 
 he fell into a deep reverie, and then 
 quite unintentionally knocked at the 
 door of his neighbour's house. The 
 aged Abuhissar was not at home : 
 Amina came to the door, and with 
 her usual good nature invited Hassan 
 to step in. Hassan then discovered 
 where he was, and was frightened at 
 his blunder. But the thin^ could no 
 
79 
 
 longer be remedied ; so he went in 
 with Am in a. 
 
 C1 Good day, Amina," said Hassan, 
 at last. 
 
 t£ I thank you, Hassan, " said 
 Amina. 
 
 Hassan and Amina had been for 
 years very civil to each other, and 
 Amina was always pleased when Has- 
 san came. They had at all times a 
 number of things to relate, and when 
 they parted, there was always a some- 
 thing they had forgotten. They then 
 turned back to begin again their con- 
 versation, and in this way, would 
 sometimes take leave of each other 
 three times successively before they 
 could separate ; but at those times, the 
 eyes of each used to be fixed upon the 
 eyes of the other, and Hassan did not 
 cast down his eyes before Amina, nor 
 Amina her's before Hassan. 
 
80 
 ■*■ 
 
 Hassan sat on his accustomed place, 
 but he remained a long while before 
 he spake ; Amina sat and spun. 
 
 " Amina," said he, " have you 
 heard, perhaps, that my brothers are 
 gone into the wide world ? " 
 
 " Into the wide world ?" 
 
 " Aye; but I am not gone with 
 them. " 
 
 " So I see, Hassan." 
 
 " For I have bought the land of 
 them." 
 
 " Is it possible ! and do you remain 
 in Beitulsalam ? " 
 
 " Yes, and am resolved to be, and 
 
 to remain a farmer; and what 
 
 was I going to say ? " 
 
 " Indeed, Hassan, I cannot tell 
 you." 
 
 " Oh ! I was going to say, that I 
 am now all alone in the house." 
 
 " Alone! you have people enough 
 
81 
 
 with you. — You are not afraid, I 
 hope ? " 
 
 44 Oh no, it is not that I am afraid. 
 
 — I mean only 1 mean that 
 
 I have forgotten again what I was 
 going to say." 
 
 44 As to that, Hassan, we accustom 
 ourselves to every thing. You must 
 learn to bear it, Hassan." 
 
 From this moment, Hassan had not 
 a word more to say. He sat and cast 
 his eyes upon the ground. Amina 
 continued to spin gently at her wheel. 
 She looked several times in his face ; 
 at first smiling as she looked, then 
 bashfully, and afterwards only by 
 catching a rapid glance of him. At 
 length, she could not possibly cast her 
 eyes upon him any longer, and her 
 cheeks began to glow like a rose. 
 
 After having plyed her wheel for a 
 quarter of an hour, and more than 
 
82 
 
 once broken her thread, Hassan sighed 
 deeply, and then hastily sprang up. 
 Amina was alarmed ; and instantly 
 rose up also, and trembled as she stood. 
 " Are you not well, Amina?" said he, 
 catching hold of her arm, and, in doing 
 this, he distinctly heard her heart beat- 
 ing. He pressed her to his bosom, 
 and with his cheek touched her's. 
 
 " Are you not well, Amina?" said 
 he. " Hassan, leave me," said she, 
 stammering. 
 
 " Amina, I am afraid you are not 
 well ; or are you angry, perhaps ? " 
 
 " And why should I be angry, then, 
 Hassan ? " 
 
 i; May I come again, Amina ? " 
 
 " You may come again, but leave 
 me now." 
 
 " You speak so softly, Amina, that 
 I cannot understand you." 
 
 " Leave me, dear Hassan, but come 
 again to-morrow." 
 
S3 
 
 Now this is throughout all Tauris a 
 custom, from time immemorial : when- 
 ever a trembling stripling has held a 
 stammering maiden in his arms, and, 
 having pressed his cheeks on her's, the 
 cheeks of both glow more and more 
 fervently, and their hearts beat quicker 
 and quicker; does the young man then 
 ask, with a faultering voice, whether he 
 may come again, and does the maiden 
 then answer, with quivering lips, come 
 again to-morrow: — this same " come 
 again to-morrow, " is a flash of light- 
 ning which runs through all his nerves, 
 fires his veins* beams through his 
 whole frame, and for four-and-twenty 
 hours transforms him to a higher genius, 
 whose earthly part is borne on the 
 wings of the celestial part of him. 
 
 The flash of lightning, " come 
 again to-morrow," on a sudden sepa- 
 rated the cheek of Hassan from the 
 
84 
 
 cheek of Amina. Without uttering a 
 word, the son of Bator, taking the 
 powerless and patient Amina into his 
 arms, bore her to the chair on which 
 her father usually sat, and grasping her 
 trembling hands, imprinted upon them 
 two kisses, which were seven times 
 more ardent than those he was for- 
 merly obliged to press on the hands of 
 the daughter of Paradise, whom he 
 had seen in the dwelling of the ma- 
 gician Algol. 
 
 " I shall come, Amina, 1 shall come," 
 he cried, and rushed from the house 
 into the open air. 
 
 ;; Come again to-morrow," said he, 
 to the shrubs and flowers which stood in 
 his path; and they were far behind him. 
 
 i; Come again to-morrow," said he, 
 to the streams, as they murmuring ran 
 beneath his feet ; and they vanished 
 from before him. 
 
85 
 
 He wandered into the beautiful 
 grove which was the boundary of his 
 land. He kissed the rock b}' the foun- 
 tain side on which he had once plucked 
 flowers with Amina ; he embraced the 
 trees on which were inscribed the 
 initials of her name ; he knelt down 
 on the seat of turf which he had one day 
 secretly raised for her: and to the rock, 
 the trees, and the turf-seat, and to the 
 shrubs and bushes, and to all the birds 
 which could be either seen or heard, 
 and to the roads and paths which he 
 crossed, the bounding enthusiast ex- 
 claimed, — " Leave me, dear Hassan," 
 — and " Come again to-morrow." 
 
 It was at the dusk of the evening 
 that he entered his court yard. He 
 immediately called his slaves together, 
 and announced to them that his fields 
 were henceforth to become pleasure 
 gardens, and that he could therefore 
 
86 
 
 no longer use any slaves. The slaves 
 were alarmed, and looked at each 
 other with sorrow; for Hassan was 
 beloved by them all. 
 
 " Ye are free, " he continued, " and 
 may serve whom ye please ; but I 
 will give all who choose to remain, 
 the wages which others give to a free 
 servant. But there are two things that 
 I require from everyone who works for 
 me ; he must be merry, and he must 
 be active. Now go, fetch music, and 
 if ye choose to dance till morning, 
 L have nothing against it. Leave me 
 now, and come again to-morrow." 
 
 Hassan hastened to his chamber, 
 and locked himself in. He sat down 
 pensively, and in a few moments be- 
 gan to weep bitter tears, as if some 
 great calamity had befallen him. He 
 threw himself on his couch, and slept 
 like a demi-god who takes rest after 
 
87 
 
 the enjoyment of unaccustomed bliss. 
 When Hassan awoke, he found that 
 the sun had already proceeded one- 
 "^fourth of his course. 
 
 " I am glad of it, " said Hassan ; " I 
 should otherwise have found the morn- 
 ing very tedious." 
 
 Hassan came down. The slaves 
 were all collected together to attend 
 upon him. The eldest stept forward, 
 and said: 
 
 " Hassan, not one of us chooses to 
 leave you. Your land shall become a 
 paradise, and, that it may be soon, we 
 we will instantly set about making it 
 so ; and when we are once become 
 active, merriment will come of itself; 
 for when we are aged or afflicted, you 
 will not drive us from you." 
 
 " Oh, never ! " said Hassan, inter- 
 rupting the speaker, " never, by the 
 great Prophet. " 
 
88 
 
 11 Yesterday we did not dance, be- 
 cause we were so much alarmed; but 
 to-day, ifyou permit it, we will dance." 
 
 " With all my heart, and you are all,, 
 my guests." 
 
 " Here, then, we give you our 
 hands, as a pledge that we will be 
 active and merry ; and that the people 
 who pass Beitulsalam in a few years 
 shall be in astonishment, when they 
 behold your cattle, your fields, and 
 your gardens, and that we all love you 
 as our best friend and father." 
 
 " And that I love you as my chil- 
 dren,'' said Hassan, embracing the 
 spokesman ; and he then took from 
 each of his workmen the promise which 
 had been made in their name. 
 
 " And had you but a partner," re- 
 sumed the former orator, " we should 
 be very happy ifyou w r ould dance with 
 us." 
 
89 
 
 Hassan^s cheeks glowed, and, giving 
 hastily the necessary directions for the 
 festival of the day, he disappeared. 
 m Amina, in the mean while, sat at 
 home, and had a thousand troubles. 
 Every thing, as the phrase is, was at 
 cross-purposes with her. At other 
 times, she was dressed before it was 
 thought she had even begun. This 
 morning, her hands spoiled every thing 
 they touched. 
 
 Her snow-white neck handkerchief 
 fell upon the ground. It is true, not a 
 grain of dust could be seen ; but there 
 might be one upon it, and to wear a 
 dusty handkerchief was against all de- 
 corum. She instantly picked out 
 another, but it was her ill luck to light 
 upon the most obstinate creature of an 
 handkerchief that had ever been seen; 
 for it suffered itself to be drawn, pulled, 
 plucked, and twitched for a whole 
 
90 
 
 quarter of an hour, without falling into 
 a single fold, which for an instant would 
 pass muster. It was absolutely neces- 
 sary to make way for a third. This 
 was happily the best-natured creature 
 under the sun. Fold most obediently 
 followed fold, and the two corners, 
 which covered the sweetest twin-forms 
 in all Tauris, resembled each other 
 with such minute exactness, that it 
 seemed as if the one half was cast in 
 the mould of the other. But in this 
 way it looked as if some cunning and 
 toilsome art had been applied to the 
 handkerchief, and people could not 
 fail to comment on the vast pains 
 taken about so mere a trifle. This 
 would have been too unjust to be en- 
 dured ; therefore, another quarter of an 
 hour was spent in endeavours to cor- 
 rect, with exquisite skill, the too exact 
 symmetry of tiie handkerchief. At 
 
91 
 
 last, however, connoisseurs would have 
 «worn that the graceful flow of the 
 beauteous, breathing veil, had been 
 the work of a single moment ; at the 
 same time that it exhibited the most 
 enchanting form which an happy artist 
 had ever traced in the moment of in- 
 spiration. 
 
 After a few coy ribbands, and some 
 dozen intractable pins, had, with in- 
 comparable patience, been reduced to 
 obedience, Amina left her apartment, 
 and placed herself at her spinning 
 wheel. 
 
 But there was no enduring the 
 wheel. At one time it hummed till it 
 made Amina's very head ache ; at ano- 
 ther time, it stood awry ; now it spun 
 a thread as thick as a quill, and now 
 it absolutely stood motionless. Who 
 could help losing her patience at last ? 
 and, in fact, the gentle Amina was 
 
m 
 
 obliged, every five minutes, to look 
 out at the window, in order to catch a 
 little fresh air. At length she resolved 
 to take her wheel to pieces, in order 
 to find out the reason why it should 
 chance, just on this morning, to go so 
 ill : and she was thus employed when 
 she heard a knocking at -the door. 
 
 Abuhissar, a lively old man of sixty 
 years of age, whose good heart shone 
 in his very eyes, had all the while been 
 calmly smoking his pipe in his great 
 chair, and watching the distresses of 
 his poor child, at which he now and 
 then indulged in a gentle smile. He 
 arose, and, on the present occasion, 
 did what was commonly done by 
 Amina herself, he opened the door for 
 her. It was Hassan who entered. 
 
 Abuhissar received his neighbour 
 with his usual hearty shake of the 
 hand, and led him in. 
 
m 
 
 Amiua, just as Hassan entered, was 
 stooping down to the very ground, in 
 order to pick up her two hands full of 
 pieces of the wheel : her face, there- 
 fore, from mere stooping, and with all 
 the innocence in the world, was of a 
 crimson dye when she lifted it up, and 
 she had not the power to greet Hassan 
 in any other way, than by offering him 
 one of her little fingers. 
 
 " Welcome, Hassan," said Abu- 
 hissar, " and sit down." 
 
 " Father Abuhissar," Hassan began ; 
 but he was forced to stop, for he was 
 utterly out of breath. 
 
 " You look very warm, Hassan ; 
 have you been running a great way ? " 
 
 i s Father Abuhissar, " said Hassan 
 a second time, " my brothers are gone 
 into the wide world." 
 
 " I saw 7 them go away the other day; 
 and may good luck go with them into 
 
94 
 
 the wide world. But you, too, are 
 changed, I see." 
 
 Now this change consisted in the 
 mere circumstance, that Hassan, who 
 usually wore the rustic dress of the 
 humbler inhabitants of Beitulsalam, 
 had this morning, by accident, put on 
 the richer garments of the wealthier 
 landholders of the province, so that he 
 looked handsomer than ever Abuhissar 
 had seen him before. 
 
 " Father Abuhissar, n began Hassan 
 a third time, and, in so doing, he placed 
 himself so cunningly, that Amina could 
 not possibly see his countenance, " to- 
 day, 1 want good counsel from you." 
 
 " Speak on, Hassan, and if in any 
 thing I can serve you, I am at your 
 command." 
 
 At this instant a great piece of the 
 wheel fell from Amina's hand, and 
 rolled upon the ground. 
 
95 
 
 " Father Abuhissar, I have paid my 
 brothers for their share of my father's 
 land, and now I am quite alone. 1 
 
 " I wish you joy, Hassan. Much 
 may be made of it." 
 
 " But I meant to say, I am now so 
 alone in my house, that I feel quite 
 uncomfortably. " 
 
 " Good Hassan," said the old man, 
 smiling, " there is an easy remedy. 
 You have only to saddle the best horse 
 of your stable, and scour the country 
 round, till you have heard of a lovely 
 young girl who will make a lovely 
 young' wife ; and when you have found 
 such a one, then lead your horse 
 courteously into the stable of her fa- 
 ther, make your enquiries of him about 
 wheat and barley, or about cows and 
 sheep. " — - 
 
 " And what then -}" said Hassan 
 hastily. 
 
96 
 
 " And then you will see whether 
 the treasure be worth carrying away ; 
 and if it be, you will first make enqui- 
 ries of the maiden, that the father may 
 not dispose of the daughter against her 
 will ; and when you have agreed with 
 her, you will speak to the parent." 
 
 Now, at this very instant, Amina 
 heard a knocking at the door, and rush- 
 ed out with precipitation, to see who 
 was there, though it happened that the 
 noise was so gentle, and Abuhissar and 
 Hassan were so much occupied in their 
 conversation, that they heard nothing. 
 
 " And then ? " asked Hassan*again, 
 and at the same time rose from his 
 seat, as if he, too, would run to see who 
 was at the door. 
 
 " And then," said Abuhissar, " the 
 parent makes enquiries concerning you 
 and your property, and gives you his 
 daughter, and his blessing with her." 
 
97 
 
 " And his blessing with her ! V ex- 
 claimed Hassan ; and the words were 
 no sooner out of his lips, than he was, 
 in the twinkling of an eye, out of the 
 door* Amina saw him, as he passed 
 by her in the entry, and Abuhissar 
 saw, through the window, that he ran 
 into his own house. Amina came 
 again into the room, and began to set 
 right her wheel. Abuhissar coolly 
 filled his pipe again, placed himself in 
 his arm-chair, and laughed aloud at 
 the impetuosity of Hassan. 
 
 " We shall not see him for a month, " 
 said he, at length, to Amina ; " but we 
 may observe, at the same time, with 
 what spirit he conducts his affairsJ 
 Only mark my words, Amina, — his 
 estate will be one day worth looking 
 at." 
 
 Amina worked so very hard, that she 
 saw nothing and heard nothing, ana 
 
 F 
 
98 
 
 had still less time to answer what was 
 said to her. Abuhissar continued 
 smoking. 
 
 " It is certainly true/' said he, after a 
 long pause, " I have always been fond of 
 him; and I thought, Amiua, that you, 
 too, did not dislike him. He is a quiet, 
 steady, orderly man, and I cannot say 
 that I ever heard a bad word proceed 
 from him." 
 
 Amina had, during the whole time, 
 been turning, screwing, and fixing her 
 wheel ; and now that she looked at 
 her work, she thought she had never 
 heard of so vile a spinning wheel. 
 Abuhissar paused again. 
 
 * k Heaven be his guide ! M he con- 
 tinued ; " he needs a brisk and notable 
 manager, and I should be sorry were 
 he to choose in a hurry. " 
 
 " Father, there he is again ! and 
 on horseback,' 5 exclaimed Amina, and 
 
99 
 
 flung her arms round Abuhissar'sneck, 
 that she might hide her face in his 
 bosom. 
 
 " Why, what is the matter with 
 you, girl ? have you any thing to fear ? 
 besides, I hear nothing." 
 
 The girls of Persia, when they have 
 said to a young man " come again to- 
 morrow, " have, the following day, an 
 inexpressibly fine hearing. Amina was 
 in the right. Hassan came actually on 
 horseback. He had laid the very best 
 accoutrements which his father had 
 left him, upon the finest steed of his 
 stable. 
 
 He stepped boldly to Abuhissar's 
 front door, alighted, put his horse into 
 a stable, and entered the room, booted 
 and spurred. Amina continued hang- 
 ing at her father's bosom, and would 
 not look on him. 
 
 " Father Abuhissar," said Hassan. 
 f2 
 
100 
 
 " I am come to seek for a lovely young 
 girl, who will make a lovely young 
 wife ; I have led my horse into your 
 stable ; I am come to ask after wheat 
 and barley, cows and sheep ; I shall 
 accept your invitation to dinner, and I 
 wish now to speak a few words with 
 Amina alone. " 
 
 Abuhissar gazed with astonishment, 
 and laid down his pipe. He freed 
 himself from Amina, arose, and crossed 
 his arms. He opened his lips to say 
 s< unething, and shut them slowly again, 
 for he had nothing to say. 
 
 Amina stood with one hand on her 
 father's arm. to keep her from sinking, 
 and covered both her eyes with the 
 other ; probably for fear she should see 
 Hassan. 
 
 Hassan, on his part, took courage, 
 stepped forward, and clasped Amina 
 in his arms. 
 
101 
 
 - l And your blessing with her, father 
 Abuhissar!" 
 
 Abuhissar looked, alternately, first 
 on his daughter, and then on Hassan. 
 
 " And will you go with him, Ami- 
 na?" 
 
 g As you please, dear father. " 
 
 44 No, no, the question is, whether 
 you go willingly." . 
 
 44 You are not displeased with me, 
 are you ? " 
 
 44 Therefore, with all your heart ; is 
 it not so?" 
 
 44 What I do at all, I do with all my 
 heart. " 
 
 44 And with her my blessing," said 
 Abuhissar^ placing the right hand of 
 Amina in the right hand of Hassan ; 
 44 and with her my blessing." 
 
 Hassan and Amina fell on each 
 other's neck, and wept, and said not a 
 word. Abuhissar looked on for a few 
 
102 
 
 moments, shook his head, and turned 
 away, to wipe a tear from his eye. 
 
 " But, Amina," said Abuh'issar, 
 " this lad has begged a dinner from 
 me, and, if you do not attend to the 
 kitchen, I shall not keep my promise.*' 
 
 " That is true/' said Hassan, " but 
 a word on another subject, father Abu- 
 hissar. My slaves are all become my 
 free workmen, and on that account 
 they have a dance to-day. They have 
 invited me to it, and they expressly 
 sent me out to seek a partner. I will 
 take back my horse, inform them I 
 have procured a partner, and I will 
 then return, and be your guest to din- 
 ner." ^ 
 
 Having said this, Hassan instantly 
 vanished, and Abuhissar and Amina 
 stood with their eyes fixed on each 
 other for a few seconds ; and then-, as 
 they could not embrac^ the hare-brained 
 
103 
 
 fellow who had ran from them, they em- 
 braced each other in his stead. Amina 
 then ran with a light heart into the 
 kitchen, and Abuhissar slowly repaired 
 to the court-yard to cleave wood. In 
 the kitchen, Amina had the misfortune 
 to break, not a few pieces of crockery- 
 ware ; and in the yard, the servants of 
 Abuhissar shook their heads as they 
 beheld their master. 
 
 Hassan kept his word. He came at 
 the appointed time ; and, if the omni- 
 potent Shah of Persia had ever been 
 as cheerful over his table of an hundred 
 covers, as Abuhissar, Hassan, and Ami- 
 na were at their frugal board, he might 
 at the end of his days have said, ' It is 
 true, I have never been omnipotent, 
 but I have once in my life had a good 
 dinner. V 
 
 They had scarcely risen from table, 
 and Hassan was just relating that his 
 
104 
 
 servants were about to come with music 
 to fetch himself. Abuhissar, and his 
 daughter to their dance, when one of 
 them entered the room, panting for 
 breath. 
 
 " What is the matter?" said Has- 
 san. 
 
 <c Sir, an accident has happened." 
 
 ;v Where? be quick." 
 
 " In the middle of the yard ; — an 
 
 axle-tree is broken — snapt in two." 
 
 " What axle-tree ? speak." 
 
 " One belonging to a grand princess." 
 
 "Have you all lost your senses?" 
 
 **. Sir, our heads are a little out of 
 
 order to-day, that is true ; but the 
 
 princess is there notwithstanding. — • 
 
 She had lost her way in the wood, and 
 
 drove over the road into your fields ; — 
 
 she is in a splendid carriage, drawn by 
 
 eight gfeys; — she asked leave to ride 
 
 through the vard, and, just as the car- 
 
105 
 
 riage was in the middle, down it 
 broke. " 
 
 " Has any one received any injury, 
 then ? " 
 
 " Nobody but the axle-tree ; but 
 that cannot be mended these twenty- 
 four hours ; and she has a great body 
 of people with her, and three young 
 ladies with her, and twelve knights on 
 horseback ; and all the knights have 
 bugle-horns at their backs, or some- 
 thing like them." 
 
 " But who is she, after all?" 
 
 " We know nothing, but that she is 
 vastly condescending, and squeezes 
 every body by the hand ; and then, 
 sir, she is so handsome — three times 
 handsomer than the three fine young 
 ladies ; and, though she has a black 
 silk veil over her face, we have made 
 a circle round her, and would all rather 
 kneel than stand ! " 
 
106 
 
 u But you gave her all the help you 
 could?" 
 
 " Aye, sir, we all ran up directly, 
 and she asked us a number of questions ; 
 your name, and who you are, and where 
 you were ; and she knows that you are 
 with the young lady, and that you 
 have given us our liberty, and that we 
 are to fetch you in a body to dance 
 with us ; — and she was so pleased to 
 hear this, — and cast her eyes so up to 
 heaven — if we had had no belief in 
 heaven before, we should have believed 
 in the one behind the veil." 
 
 " And where does she spend the 
 night ? " 
 
 " Why, sir, that is another part of 
 the business. She means to stay with 
 you, and dance with you, and the 
 three young ladies also ; and then we 
 offered to come and fetch you, but she 
 would not permit us : she said no one 
 
107 
 
 ought to call a lover from his mis- 
 tress." 
 
 " Do you hear, Amina? " said Has- 
 san; " the foreign princess seems really 
 to have a great deal of understanding ; 
 I like her already, though I have not 
 seen her." 
 
 " She has, I dare say, been a bride 
 before now," said Amina ; and then 
 she hid her blushing face behind the 
 shoulder of Hassan. 
 
 " I have one thing more to say* 
 Hassan," said the messenger; — " she 
 let me come, in order that I should tell 
 you, she means to visit you here her* 
 self. » 
 
 At this instant the door opened, and 
 in a trice, every one of the party drew 
 back a few steps with reverence, and 
 then all at the same moment dropt on 
 one knee ; and yet the entire dress of 
 the figure which entered, consisted in 
 
108 
 
 nothing but a long white robe, a nar- 
 row rose-coloured girdle, and a black 
 veil which covered her face, and a part 
 of the flaxen, silken hair, which, in 
 rich curls, flowed down her neck and 
 shoulders. 
 
 The messenger took flight, but he 
 well knew what he had said. ' They 
 believed in the heaven behind the veil ;' 
 for now the stranger threw back her 
 veil, and Abu hiss ar, Hassan, and 
 Amina fancied they beheld heaven it- 
 self. 
 
 u Arise, my children, arise, V said' 
 the princess ; and she said this with 
 so sweet a voice, that no one could 
 possibly continue prostrate before her. 
 
 " You see a poor traveller, whose 
 carriage is broken down," said she, 
 " and who must beg a lodging of some 
 kind friend." 
 
 ■ Your highness will do as you 
 
109 
 
 please with my house," said Hassan ; 
 44 and if your attendants have not room 
 enough — — " 
 
 44 I have settled every thing, good 
 Hassan," said she; " you will give 
 yourself no further trouble. — But, my 
 children, I have now a favour to ask 
 of you all three : I have an unspeak- 
 able pleasure in being with those who 
 are themselves heartily pleased. " 
 
 44 Oh, my gracious princess/' said 
 Amina hastily, " ask whatever you 
 please ! V 
 
 44 And you give me your hand upon 
 it, my dear girl ? " said the princess. 
 
 44 With all my heart," said Amina, 
 and gave her hand. 
 
 44 And you, too, my good Hassan?" 
 
 44 What Amina consents to, I always 
 consent to also." 
 
 44 And you, father Abuhissar ? " 
 
 * 4 With all my heart," 
 
no 
 
 The princess stepped to the window* 
 and made a sign with a white handker- 
 chief: two knights were heard to ride 
 off instantly. 
 
 " They are gone for the cadi and the 
 imam, " she resinned ; " and now, as 
 the bride's mother, 1 have to make 
 the bridal bed. " 
 
 The stranger, whom no one could 
 withstand, then took Amina by the 
 hand with a benignant smile, who went 
 patiently with her, without manifest <- 
 ing the least shew of resistance. Now* 
 this was quite contrary to the custom 
 of Persian maidens, who all, from their 
 sixteenth year, are constantly remind- 
 ing their mothers in secret of the bri- 
 dal bed ; but, as soon as it is actually 
 to be made, in the presence of the 
 whole world, they then immediately 
 begin to weep, and continue to shed 
 tears till they are almost blind. 
 
in 
 
 Abuhissar felt he knew not how, and 
 began again to shake his head without 
 intermission ; and Hassan stood mo- 
 tionless, with his eyes fixed on the 
 door through which they had disap- 
 peared. 
 
 " The more we become acquainted 
 with the foreign princess," said he, 
 " the more we perceive that she is 
 wiser than all of us." 
 
 Amina was accustomed to have every 
 thing in order ; and the princess dis- 
 played an astonishing promptitude in 
 making bridal beds. Whatever she 
 touched, was at once m its proper 
 place ; and, before Amen could be said 
 three times, they both entered the room 
 again. Hassan fixed his eyes upon 
 them with surprize. 
 
 " Oh, my princess ! " said he, in a 
 plaintive tone. 
 
 " Why so?" 
 
112 
 
 " You are come back much too 
 soon, M said he. 
 
 " My good Hassan, I make my bri- 
 dal beds like Love. " 
 
 " And how does Love make them }" 
 
 " In the twinkling of an eye." 
 
 Amina had stepped to the window, 
 and probably was not listening to them. 
 Hassan clasped her with his arms, and 
 stooped with his cheek to her's. She 
 turned her lips to his. 
 
 Hassan gave a spring for joy. "I 
 shall never forget your highness for 
 this/'* said he. " Oh that my brothers 
 were present here to-day ! " 
 
 " And where are they, then ? " said 
 the princess. 
 
 " I may venture to tell you/' he 
 replied ; " they are gone in search of 
 the fairy Amatonda. " 
 
 " And for what purpose, may I 
 ask?" 
 
113 
 
 " To be embraced by her, and be- 
 come great men. " 
 
 " And where do they seek the 
 fairy?" 
 
 " In the great world. 3 ' 
 
 " In the great world ? " 
 
 " Aye ; in great towns, and among 
 great people." 
 
 " Is the fairy, then, known to you 
 all ? » 
 
 " Yes, your highness, we know her 
 very well. She is the most beautiful 
 of all the fairies in Persia ; she must, 
 therefore, at least be as handsome as 
 to-day the bride-mother and the bride. 
 And he who has seen her, and been 
 embraced by her, lives for ever after- 
 wards in the Paradise of the Prophet ; 
 but she embraces no one who has not 
 a good conscience, and a contented 
 heart. " 
 
114 
 
 " And would not your brothers take 
 you with them ? " 
 
 " I would not go with them. 5 ' 
 
 " And why not?" 
 
 " I feel all due respect for my lady, 
 the fairy Amatonda ; but if she do not 
 come to me, I shall never go in search 
 of her." 
 
 u You seem to me a saint of a very 
 strange description. " 
 
 " Any thing in the world, your high- 
 ness, but no saint. I have seen some 
 five or six of them at my father's, but 
 they did nothing but quarrel and in- 
 trigue. Whenever I see any one hang 
 down his head, and be gloomy, who is 
 neither sick nor unhappy, I fly from 
 him, and watch his dagger." 
 
 " But what if the fairy Amatonda 
 should have a vast quantity of gold 
 and jewels ? " 
 
I io 
 
 w I should be ashamed of myself 
 were she to offer me any." 
 
 " Are brilliant jewels, then, of no 
 value ? *' 
 
 " Aye, truly ; but have not I, my 
 princess, jewels enow in my clods of 
 earth? — -I shall not have spent them 
 all, these ten years ; and besides, before 
 the end of the fifth year, they will 
 sparkle in autumn, with more colours 
 than all the fairy Amatonda's jewels 
 can shew. " 
 
 " But, then, she has gold ! " 
 
 " Aye; but by the great prophet, 
 princess,. I am myself a maker of gold 
 by profession ! " 
 
 " In a certain sense, that is true ; 
 but, good Hassan, your mode is a la- 
 borious one." 
 
 " The labour is the best part of it, 
 your highness ! Have the goodness, 
 princess, to take the sprig of an apple- 
 
116 
 
 tree, plant it, water it, and nurse it 
 for ten long years, and then, for the 
 first time, pluck a wretched, solitary 
 apple from your tree ; and, at the same 
 moment, let your neighbour come and 
 present you with a beautiful pine- 
 apple ; and then do honour to the 
 truth, and tell me which gives you the 
 most heartfelt pleasure, the pine-apple 
 of your neighbour, or the miserable, 
 shrivelled apple, from the petty tree 
 you yourself planted. '■' 
 
 " You are a dangerous advocate, my 
 
 good Hassan But in case, now, the 
 
 fairy Amatonda could raise her friends 
 to high honours ? " 
 
 " Why, then, God be praised, she 
 would come too late. *' 
 
 " Too late ! " 
 
 " A n't please your highness, of the 
 three highest honours in the world, 1 
 have one ahead v ; the second I shall 
 
117 
 
 possess this very day; and the third- 
 let me whisper in your ear — the third 
 we shall know how to provide for/' 
 
 " We women are somewhat curious, 
 good Hassan." 
 
 " I will explain that in a minute to 
 you. In the first place, I am a farmer, 
 and every day in the year the Shah of 
 Persia (whom God preserve) and all 
 his viziers, sit at the table I furnish, 
 whether they will or not ; and they 
 are heartily welcome to it, and I pride 
 myself upon it. So I have already the 
 first highest honour." 
 
 " And the second ? " 
 
 t4 Why, is it not, my princess, a 
 high honour, when a beautiful woman 
 allows a man every day in the year to 
 call her his wife ? For, if you deny 
 me this, we are friends no longer ; and 
 were the fairy Amatonda here, I would 
 say the very same thing to her face, ,r 
 
US 
 
 " Let Amina reward you for this, 
 my good Hassan : and now for the 
 third highest honour ?" 
 
 " Nay, nay, your highness, I have 
 promised to be upon my good beha- 
 viour ; and though it is the most inno- 
 cent thing in the world, yet " 
 
 " I will answer for you, Hassan, 
 Say what it is." 
 
 " My gracious princess, whenever 1 
 chance to fall among a dozen little 
 boys and girls, we are, in an instant, 
 one heart and one soul — and what 
 one of us does not know, the other 
 does ; and so we are never able to se- 
 parate. — Indeed, indeed, I dare say 
 no more, for I stand under discipline." 
 
 "This, Hassan, I must reward you 
 for myself; " and saying this, the prin- 
 cess on a sudden clasped Hassan in 
 her arms, and kissed him three times 
 on the lips. 
 
119 
 
 u Now, Amina, has he deserved 
 nothing ? " 
 
 Amina flew into the arms of Hassan, 
 and kissed him as the princess had 
 kissed him. 
 
 " You need not wait now for Ama- 
 tonda's embrace, my dear Hassan ; she 
 has embraced you ; and your dwelling 
 may now be the resort of pilgrims, for 
 it is the abode of the blessed. " 
 
 " See, now, my gracious princess, 
 you will confess yourself that I want 
 no lady-fairies. Madam Amatonda, 
 who lives in the clouds, need not 
 trouble herself to come down on my 
 account ; but after my Amatonda of 
 the spinning-wheel, I shall still travel 
 many a pleasant step. — And one 
 word more, my princess, wait only 
 ten years, and then you shall see won- 
 ders." 
 
 ? I may, therefore, ask for a night's 
 
120 
 
 lodging, whenever I pass through Bei- 
 tulsalam again ?" 
 
 " Do, Amina, speak a good word 
 for us to our noble bride-mother, that 
 she do not again ask us questions 
 which make the flesh creep on one's 
 bones." 
 
 A noise was now heard. The cadi 
 and the imam entered the apartment. 
 They were venerable old men, with 
 long silvery beards. They bowed down 
 to the earth when they beheld the 
 majestic figure of the princess, and 
 remained at a respectful distance. 
 
 " Are you already instructed in your 
 office, ye venerable ministers of the 
 law ? n asked the princess. 
 
 * Whoever you may be, princess," 
 answered the cadi, " we are instructed, 
 and we wait your command." 
 
 " Hasten, then, to discharge your 
 functions, and be this day our guests. 
 
121 
 
 — Abuhissar as bride-father, and my- 
 self as bride-mother, hereby give this 
 maiden to this youth, as his lawful 
 wife." 
 
 Hassan and Aminagave their assent- 
 ing yes with alacrity, to the interroga- 
 tories of the cadi ; Abuhissar and the 
 princess laid their two hands together; 
 the cadi wrote a few lines ; the imam 
 pronounced his blessing ; and the 
 happy Hassan became the husband of 
 the happy Araina. 
 
 '* I have gold and jewels in abun- 
 dance, w said the princess, as she em- 
 braced them both ; "but I am too 
 poor to make you a wedding present." 
 
 At this moment, the messenger 
 entered again, who had before an- 
 nounced the arrival of the princess. 
 
 " Oh, sir, more strange things have 
 happened ! " and he could scarcely speak 
 for weeping. 
 
 G 
 
122 
 
 41 Be quick; what is it?" said 
 Hassan, alarmed. 
 
 " I do not know whether I may say, 
 in this company." 
 
 44 My good man," said the princess, 
 " you may go on with your story." 
 
 " Why, sir, it has not stopped at 
 the twelve." 
 
 " At what twelve?" 
 
 " The twelve knights on horseback, 
 with the bugle-horns." 
 
 44 What then ? " 
 
 44 There are four-and-twenty more of 
 them now ; and our own musicians 
 have thrown their pipes and their flutes 
 aside, and are bent on dancing, them- 
 selves; and every body in the whole 
 house has been crying for joy this half 
 hour." 
 
 44 And why so? do make an end of 
 your story." 
 
 44 Dear sir, whenever any two of 
 
123 
 
 them come blowing their bugles, they 
 bring a whole village from the neigh- 
 bourhood with them. Man, woman, 
 and child, master and servant, all come 
 together ; and the old ones come hob- 
 bling on their crutches, and the mothers 
 bring their children at the breast ; and 
 they are all waiting yonder in the 
 great meadow. — And there are come, 
 also, a number of waggons full of wine 
 and sweetmeats, — and the three fine 
 young ladies are distributing them to 
 all the people, that they may be able 
 to hold out in the dancing; — and such 
 a feast was never seen. — And every 
 house in Beitulsalam is empty, save 
 your house and this house; — and 
 whoever hears the music must go and 
 join them ; and I must go and join 
 them again, too I" 
 
 He then ran off, and an ancient ser- 
 vant of the princess, probably her 
 g2 
 
f*4 
 
 house-steward, entered, and announced 
 that every thing was ready. 
 
 " My good Hassan," said the prin- 
 cess, " I am fond of music, and all 
 my people are musical ; and, as I can 
 do nothing else for you, 1 have at least 
 provided you music for to-da\ r ; and 
 if your marriage-feast is not splendid, 
 I hope it will, at all events, be merry: 
 and you, Omar, may now give the 
 signal." 
 
 The old man went out, and an instant 
 afterwards the music was heard. It 
 approached from Hassan's house, and 
 a long, long train followed it. Hassan's 
 people were the first who came, and 
 all Beitulsalam had come with them. 
 The bride-mother, Hassan, and Amina 
 joined the procession, and walked fore- 
 most. Abuhissar, the cadi, and the 
 imam were on the second row. Every 
 eye beamed with joy; but they walked 
 
125 
 
 slowly, and without uttering a word. 
 Such heavenly music had never been 
 heard. They all trod on the ground as if 
 they were fearful of losing a note of it. 
 
 The train arrived at the entrance of 
 the great meadow : it was a spacious 
 and smooth plain. The foreign visitors 
 of all ages had formed a wide circle, 
 and stood on tip-toe, eager to behold 
 those who were advancing ; and, when 
 these were arrived, they opened the 
 circle witlr reverence, and received 
 the train among them. The twelve 
 knights, who led on the procession, 
 joined in the centre the four-and-twen- 
 ty, who had been entertaining the visi- 
 tors on the meadow. 
 
 It was one of the sweetest evenings 
 of spring : not a breeze stirred. The 
 sun had but a quarter of his course to 
 pursue. 
 
 " The dance of the fairy Amaton- 
 
226 
 
 da," — exclaimed the princess, ad- 
 dressing herself to the musicians, and 
 at the same time she took Hassan's 
 hand. 
 
 At once the music sprang up, and 
 notes were heard, the like of which 
 had never pierced mortal ear through- 
 out all Persia, nor had ever entered 
 the heart of man ; and the princess 
 and Hassan danced together the dance 
 of the fairy Amatonda. 
 
 Now, this dance of the fairy Ama- 
 tonda, was nothing else than the inar- 
 tificial dance which is incessantly 
 danced in this western country, as far 
 as can be beheld from the observatory 
 at Seeberg. — It was the dance which 
 couples eternal simplicity with never- 
 ending variety ; — the dance which the 
 moon keeps up with the earth, the 
 earth with the planets, and the planets 
 with the sun— -which pairs intimacy 
 
127 
 
 and innocence, and delight and joy 
 with sadness. It is the dance of 
 joy and love ; for it is the dance of 
 nature ! 
 
 The Persian maidens dance it to 
 this day with the Persian youths. Four 
 arms constitute a world : every world 
 forms a circle. Every world turns 
 round itself, and every world turns 
 round the chorus, which, from its 
 centre, gives the law to its movement. 
 
 The Persian maidens call this the 
 dance of Amaionda ; and they dance 
 it in such a wise, that it has never yet 
 blown away the roses from their 
 cheeks, or breathed a creeping poison 
 into their bosom. It is sometimes 
 imitated out of Persia, and this imita- 
 tion is called f das laexdernj Laeu- 
 dering.* .But it is often danced too 
 
 * Laendering is a slow and graceful mode of 
 dancing the Walz. It is no unusual thing to- 
 
228 
 
 quickly, and is never mixed with sing- 
 ing. 
 
 The princess had scarcely turned a 
 dozen times round with Hassan, when 
 no individual could any longer resist 
 
 begin the dance by laendering a few minutes ; 
 after which, by gradually and imperceptibly 
 quickening the music, the most rapid movements 
 of the ordinary walz are produced. This dance, 
 as the English reader knows, from description 
 at least, consists in the two-fold circular motion, 
 which the author, with no forced similitude, 
 has compared to the movements of the planetary 
 system ; viz. each couple, having clasped each 
 other, turn round incessantly, and, at the same 
 time, make the circuit of the room. For no 
 adequate reason, this dance stands in evil repute 
 in these islands, though probably practised in 
 every other country in Eurcpe. The translator 
 at least, has seen it performed with equal spirit, 
 and he hopes with equal innocence, in the most 
 northernly provinces of Germany, and in the 
 warm climate of Spain. T. 
 
129 
 
 the music. The children of a year's 
 age, who began but yesterday to stand 
 alone, wound their way from the 
 bosoms of their mothers, stretched 
 out their little arms to other children, 
 lifted up one foot after the other, and 
 laendered. The mothers were glad 
 that their children could find an occu- 
 pation, and, each holding out her 
 arms to a neighbour, laendered also. 
 The children of eighty years of age 
 cautiously drew close to the musicians, 
 laid their crutches on a heap, and 
 laendered. And Abuhissar, and the 
 cadi, and the imam laendered; and the 
 boys and the girls, the young men and 
 the young women, ail, all laendered ; 
 and there was no one who did not 
 laender, save the six-and-thirty who 
 played on the horns, and the sucklings 
 who slept to the music. And those 
 who were passing on the road heark- 
 g ^ 
 
130 
 
 ened, and then came near, and forgot 
 their journey, and laendered. And 
 the children of eighty years laendered 
 in the innermost circle, round the mu- 
 sic, and next them laendered the chil- 
 dren of one year, and the children of 
 ten years next to them ; and all the 
 other children laendered promiscuously 
 in the outward circle; and all four 
 circles laendered as gently, as if they 
 feared to awaken the sucklings ; and., 
 besides the celestial notes which set 
 every one in motion, nothing was 
 heard but the gentle and uniform steps 
 of the dancers, and the soft fluttering 
 of their garments. And he who had 
 a word to say to his partner, whispered 
 it softly in her ear; and she who had 
 an answ r er to give, gave the answer in 
 like manner. But never before had so 
 many sighs died away upon a meadow, 
 never before had so many tears sparkled 
 
\3i 
 
 in an evening sun ; and yet they had 
 never felt themselves so innocent and 
 so happy. 
 
 The sun went down ; and they looked 
 at him, and laendered. The full-moon 
 arose from behind a grove, and stared 
 with her broad face upon the meadow, 
 on which every one was laendering, 
 as well as herself. The dancers from 
 the meadow turned up their moist and 
 beaming eyes to her, and joyfully laen- 
 dered on. She arose higher; and every 
 one laendered. She reached her highest 
 point ; and every one laendered, and 
 laendered, and laendered ! — — — — 
 
 Now, here it is impossible to think 
 otherwise, than that the Persian his- 
 torian, who first related this tale, 
 must at this place have risen up, he 
 and all his pupils together, to laender 
 with his fair hearers ; for, on this very 
 
132 
 
 spot, the thread of the narrative is 
 broken. 
 
 It is, to be sure, easy enough to 
 conceive, how an honest man may 
 throw every thing aside, in order to 
 dance with a Persian maiden the dance 
 of the fairy Amatonda ; but it is abso- 
 lutely inconceivable, to him who knows 
 the Persian maidens, and their zeal for 
 self-improvement, how they could let 
 the relator of this history go from the 
 spot, without at least knowing whether 
 the cadi and the imam went to bed all 
 night ! 
 
 Be this as it may, we can no where 
 find the least intelligence, whether 
 the cadi or imam, or in general, whether 
 any one soul in Beitulsalam, slept on 
 the night of Hassan and Amina's mar- 
 riage. For the relator of this tale here 
 breaks off this part of his history, and 
 never returns to it ; and, for this once, 
 
135 
 
 therefore, the burning anxiety of the 
 Persian maidens to instruct them- 
 selves, was outweighed by their love 
 of dancing. 
 
134 
 
 Hassan's brothers, on leaving Bei- 
 tulsalam, travelled together to the 
 capital of the adjoining province of 
 Persia, in order to equip themselves for 
 ■ their further journies; and, as soon as 
 their arrangements were all made, they 
 embraced each other and separated, 
 each With his several attendants: the 
 one to the south, the other to the east, 
 and the third to the west. 
 
 The poet Selim clapped spurs to his 
 steed, and posted towards the empire 
 of the great Mogul. Murad suffered 
 his horse to cut all kinds of capers, as 
 he pranced through the suburbs which 
 led to the kingdom of Cashmire; and, 
 while he went along,- greeted, with 
 courtesy, all the people of distinction, 
 whom the achievements of his steed 
 
135 
 
 had drawn to their windows. Solmar, 
 absorbed in deep contemplation, rode 
 gently through the gate which led to 
 the country of the Osmans. Their 
 hearts were all swelling with hope ; 
 and each said to himself, that, when 
 arrived at the place of his destination, 
 he would assume a different character. 
 Solmar had already made eight days 5 
 journey, having with him six horses, 
 a servant, and two grooms, when he 
 arrived at a village which lay in ashes, 
 and was deserted by its inhabitants. 
 He proceeded further, and came to a 
 second village, also in ashes, and aban- 
 doned. He came to a third ; it was, 
 in like manner, a heap of smoking 
 ruins ; and he saw a venerable old 
 man, sitting upon a stone by the side 
 of his horse, apparently sunk in medi- 
 tation upon the gloomy scene around 
 him. 
 
136 
 
 u Who burnt these villages ? " said 
 Solmar to the old man. 
 
 " The Monguls, my son." 
 
 " You mean the Osmans." 
 
 " I mean the Monguls." 
 
 " Is Persia, then, at war with the 
 Monguls?" 
 
 " The Monguls are the Shah's allies 
 against the Osmans." 
 
 " Do the Shah's allies burn his vii* 
 lages }" 
 
 " And why not ? Are not allies to 
 have any pleasures in reward of their 
 services ? ° 
 
 44 And do the Persians suffer this ? u 
 
 " They must; the Monguls would 
 otherwise be offended with them. " 
 
 " And the omnipotent Shah endures 
 it?" 
 
 " He must." 
 
 " How so ! Why, /, such a one 
 as I am, would not submit to this ; 
 
137 
 
 and shall the omnipotent Shah of Per- 
 sia be forced to it ? " 
 
 " He must; the Khan of the Mon- 
 guls would otherwise resent it. " 
 
 " Resent it ! and how ? by burning 
 his villages ? ? ' 
 
 " But if he were, besides that, to 
 be his enemy?" 
 
 " Besides that! that is, be his enemy 
 besides burning his villages ! Oh that 
 I was Shah for only one year ! " 
 
 " And what would you then do ? " 
 
 " Bid defiance to his resentment ! " 
 
 11 The Monguls have ravaged all 
 China and the Indies." 
 
 " I would bid defiance to his resent- 
 ment ! " 
 
 " Every one trembles at the name 
 of the Monguls. " 
 
 " I would bid defiance to his resent- 
 ment ! " 
 
 " And who are you, my son ? " 
 
W)8 
 
 i4 Solmar, the son of Bator." 
 
 44 The great merchant of Basra ? " 
 
 u And afterwards a husbandman 
 at Beitulsalam." 
 
 44 And whither are you going ? " 
 
 44 To the frontiers, against the Gs- 
 mans. " 
 
 44 My son, on this road you aviII 
 find no provisions ; spend this night 
 with me, at the distance of half a day's 
 journey : I desire to speak further with 
 you."' 
 
 44 And what is your name, my good 
 old man ? " 
 
 " My name is Cosru ; and the vizier, 
 to whose army you are repairing, is 
 the seventh since my fall." 
 
 i; Holy Prophet ! and you were 
 grand vizier ? " 
 
 44 And have lived contentedly for 
 these twelve years, since I was ba- 
 nished from Ispahan. I have a daughter 
 
139 
 
 and a grand-daughter, who are still 
 left to nurse me ; and a cottage and 
 garden, which maintains me. I heard 
 of the horrid deeds committed by the 
 allied troops, and I repaired hither, 
 that I might behold their devastations 
 with my own eyes." 
 
 The old man mounted his horse, and 
 they rode away. Towards the close 
 of the day, they reached an ascent, 
 from which they had an uninterrupted 
 prospect into an extensive plain. 
 
 " Cosru," exclaimed Solmar, " I 
 see, at the end of yonder plain, two 
 female figures. " 
 
 " Are they dressed in white ?" 
 
 " In white ; and, as it seems, with 
 dark flowing locks. " 
 
 " That is my daughter Sahire, with 
 her Lilly, a girl of thirteen years of 
 age ; they are come to meet me." 
 
 " What is that r At the end of the 
 
140 
 
 wood I behold four horsemen ; they 
 are not Persians. " 
 
 " Great God ! they are Monguls." 
 
 Solmar's steed flew across the plain ; 
 but the distance was too remote. — Sa- 
 hire was still struggling; Lilly's gar- 
 ment was already half torn, and they 
 had sunken in despair upon the ground, 
 when Solmar reached the monsters. 
 
 " Hold ! " he exclaimed ; and the 
 head of the foremost rolled upon the 
 turf. 
 
 " Turn hither, wretches! " he cried 
 out again ; and the first blow cleaved 
 one head in twain ; with the second, he 
 carried off a head and one shoulder; 
 and with the third, he smote the fourth 
 Mongul in halves. 
 
 Sahire and Lilly had scarcely suf- 
 ficient strength remaining, to throw 
 themselves at the feet of their deliverer, 
 clasp his hands, and bathe them with 
 
m 
 
 their silent tears. Solmar raised them 
 up, with tokens of reverence, and de- 
 livered them into the hands of Cosru, 
 who was hastening to the spot. 
 
 " See, father Cosru, yonder lie the 
 invincibles. — He who has not hitherto 
 trembled before them, needs never do 
 it!" 
 
 They hastened to search the bodies 
 of the slain. Three heavily-laden pack- 
 horses stood near. Their burthens con- 
 sisted of nothing less precious than 
 gold. Each of the robbers had a trea- 
 sure of jewels in his belt ; and the belt 
 of the chief of them contained papers 
 worth more than all the gold and jew- 
 els. The villain was a confidant of the 
 Mongul general, who had sent him with 
 secret dispatches to the Khan. Solmar 
 read one of the papers aloud.— 
 
 " Most high and mighty sovereign 
 of the globe ! Monarch of monarchs, 
 
142 
 
 and sovereign of sovereigns ! under thy 
 footsteps the nations rejoice, for thou 
 art the sun of wisdom, and the deli- 
 verer of the earth ! 
 
 " The most worthless of thy slaves 
 executes thy sacred commands ; and 
 three provinces of thy ally lie already 
 in ashes. Thy army riots in pleasure. 
 We have glorious fire-works every 
 night ; and the women and daughters 
 of the land are beauteous, when they 
 wander naked and houseless. Thy army 
 delights in comforting them ! 
 
 " Thy slave hopes to produce a ge- 
 neral insurrection against the Shah. 
 The Shah will fly for refuge to thy 
 slave. Thy army will re-establish or- 
 der, and thy slave will lay all Persia at 
 thy feet. 
 
 " Thy army spares the Osmans, as 
 thou hast commanded them. They lay 
 waste whatever they touch ; and they 
 
143 
 
 are, though ignorantly, the ministers of 
 thy holy will. From Persia, the wings 
 of thy grace may, in due time, be 
 spread over them also ; and all the 
 countries of Asia will resound with thy 
 eternal name ; and all the seas will an- 
 nounce thy glory ; and thy slave will 
 cut out every tongue which does not 
 exclaim Amen ! " 
 
 They all stood mute with horror at 
 the detested writing. 
 
 " No ; by Allah ! " exclaimed Sol- 
 mar, and thrice waved his sword over 
 his head ; " No Amen shall ever be 
 uttered to the impious sound." 
 
 Cosru took from each the oath of 
 secrecy. They collected the booty ; 
 and, having mounted their horses, 
 hastened to Cosru^s dwelling. 
 
 Cosru and Solmar shut themselves 
 up in the inner apartment. They spent 
 the night in examining the remaining 
 
144 
 
 papers. Ten of the most powerful fa* 
 milies of Ispahan stood in open league 
 with the Monguls. Some of the first 
 officers of the empire, the three chief 
 eunuchs, and even the grand vizier 
 himself, had at least accepted presents 
 from them. 
 
 " We harness the two mules of Is- 
 pahan," was written in one place, op- 
 posite to an account of jewels, which 
 had been paid away ; and beneath was 
 added, " These are to be unharnessed 
 hereafter. It is disgusting to pay court 
 to such despicable creatures. But the 
 good cause requires a sacrifice now and 
 then. The camel of Ispahan is some- 
 what costly to maintain ; but in six 
 months he is ours, with saddle and 
 accoutrements, and we shall have the 
 stable into the bargain." 
 
 Now the two mules of Ispahan were, 
 as it appeared from the same papers, 
 
Us 
 
 ike sultana-mother, and the favourite 
 sultana Biribi. The general of the 
 Monguls had presented them with 
 ear-rings and bracelets. The camel 
 of Ispahan was the Shah himself, who 
 had been bribed by a casket of dia- 
 monds. The Shah, it was also inti- 
 mated, stood under the government of 
 those two women. He ate^ drank, 
 and slept ; and had no other passion 
 than that of playing, from morning to 
 evening, with precious stones. 
 
 ff Let us hasten to Ispahan, my 
 son;" cried Cosru. " We have two 
 offended women on our side, and are 
 therefore omnipotent. Long live the 
 Shah ! Persia is saved. - } 
 
 At the close of the fourth evening, 
 Solmar, accompanied by an Armenian, 
 had reached the guard of the castle at 
 Ispahan. They exhibited some superb 
 diamonds for sale ; and, by distributing 
 
 H 
 
146 
 
 pieces of gold with both hands, were 
 immediately admitted into the pre- 
 sence of the Shah. 
 
 The Shah soon perceived, among the 
 treasures of the merchants, a jewel, 
 the like of which he had never seen. 
 The joy he felt was indescribable ; and 
 he instantly sent for the sultana-mother, 
 and the sultana Biribi, Solmar en- 
 gaged the attention of the Shah. The 
 Armenian gradually drew the two prin- 
 cesses to a corner of the apartment. 
 
 M 1 have a piece here," whispered 
 the Armenian to the sultanas, " which 
 is worth precisely as much as the 
 Persian empire. Do you know this 
 writing ? " 
 
 64 That is the hand -writing of the 
 Mongul general/' said the sultana- 
 mother. 
 
 " And a charming man he is," added 
 the sultana Biribi ; " we are well ac~ 
 
147 
 
 quainted with his hand-writing, and 
 know it from a distance." 
 
 The Armenian presented the gene- 
 ral's account-book, in which the charm- 
 ing man had written the above lines. 
 The two princesses perused them with 
 eagerness at the same moment ; and 
 the shock they received from the con- 
 tents was so great, that they both 
 swooned, and sank to the ground. 
 The Armenian bore the sultana-mother 
 to one sofa, and Solmar, the sultana 
 Biribi to another. They had antici- 
 pated the effect of the letters upon the 
 weak nerves of the ladies, and had 
 brought strong odours with them. 
 
 <; It is of no importance," said the 
 sultan, with great composure. " It 
 will soon be over, and goes away of 
 itself; but so precious a jewel as this, 
 I never saw. Biribi, let the room be 
 darkened, and let twelve wax tapers 
 H 2 
 
14b 
 
 be brought in. I must compare it 
 with others. By the holy beard of the 
 Prophet, I never saw the like!" 
 
 " Sire ! " said the Armenian, and 
 gave the Shah the letters of the Mon- 
 gul general to his Khan, " the like of 
 this, too, thou hast never seen." 
 
 " O yes, old man ; that is written 
 by my good friend, the general of the 
 Monguls. I have a whole packet of 
 them." 
 
 " But, sire, not to the same pur- 
 port ; deign to peruse it." 
 
 The Shah read the paper. His terror 
 was no less than that of the sultanas, 
 and he also fainted away. 
 
 The fair Biribi was the first who 
 recovered. She clasped the beautiful 
 Soimar in her arms, and pressed him 
 to her bosom. 
 
 " Guardian^angel of Persia, what is 
 to be done ? " 
 
149 
 
 sc Beautiful Biribi ; let us first 
 shut the door. I have more such 
 jewels ! " 
 
 The door was shut; but the fair 
 Biribi was in so great alarm, that she 
 did not once let the beautiful Solmar 
 from her arms. The Armenian at 
 length brought the Shah to himself; 
 and, after a great deal of trouble, the 
 sultana-mother also. The Shah, when 
 he was recovered, could not utter a 
 word ; the sultana-mother spake of no- 
 thing but the camel of Ispahan and 
 the two mules ; and the fair Biribi 
 spake of nothing but the two guardian- 
 angels of Persia, one of whom she 
 held in her arms. 
 
 The Armenian now related how they 
 had come into the possession of these 
 papers ; and Solmar was pressed so 
 closely, that he could scarcely breathe. 
 The Armenian read the other papers ; 
 
150 
 
 and Solmar was implored, by burning 
 lips which were fixed on his cheek, 
 to rescue, protect, and save them. 
 
 " Oh, my children/' said the Shah 
 at length, and began to weep aloud, U I 
 am then, indeed, betrayed. Do none 
 of you know what is to be done ? " 
 
 " Sire," said the Armenian, " thou 
 hast still an aged, faithful servant left, 
 whom, twelve years ago, thou sentest 
 into banishment from Ispahan. He 
 has been happy in his solitude ; but 
 give him, for only eighteen months, 
 full power to act in thy name; promise 
 him that, at the end of that period, if 
 Persia is in safety, thou wilt allow 
 him to return to his solitude — and he 
 is ready to save thee and Persia." 
 
 " Yes, old man," said the Shah, 
 44 here is my hand and my word. He 
 shall come, and be grand-vizier with 
 unlimited power ; and, after eighteen 
 
151 
 
 months, he may retire whithersoever 
 he pleases." 
 
 The sultana-mother now fell on the 
 Armenian's neck, and protested he 
 should not leave her till the new 
 grand-vizier was come into the apart- 
 ment. The sultana Biribi threatened 
 the same to the handsome Solmar. The 
 Armenian took off a patch which dis- 
 guised his face. The sultana-mother 
 started with surprise. 
 
 " Thy slave Cosru is thy grand-vi- 
 sier, " said the Armenian ; and he 
 threw himself at the feet of the 
 Shah, and kissed the hem of his gar- 
 ment. 
 
 ft And has forgotten all that befel 
 him twelve years ago/' he added, and 
 he squeezed the hand of the sultana- 
 mother, who was well pleased at this 
 sign of reconciliation. 
 
 44 The moments are precious," he 
 
1.52 
 
 added; " I shall leave you, and lock 
 the door." 
 
 " We shall not depart from the 
 spot," said the fair Biribi ; and she sat 
 elose to Sohnar. 
 
 Cosru took the emperor's seal, and 
 shut the door. In a short time, a run- 
 ning to and fro, and the trampling of 
 horses, and the noise of carriages was 
 heard, in the court of the palace. It 
 became night. The Shah of Persia sat 
 without light, and the guardian-angel 
 of Persia sat without breath ! The fair 
 Biribi was so terribly afraid of being in 
 the dark, that she continued to weep ; 
 and one hot tear after another fell on 
 the cheek of Solmar. The sultana- 
 mother sat at the open window, and 
 looked out y though it was utter darkness. 
 Only she now and then muttered some- 
 thing about mules, and harnessing, and 
 unharnessing ; and she did not move 
 
153 
 
 when the Shah began to sleep aloud.* 
 The terror of the fair Biribi encreased 
 so greatly, that she now, with one of 
 her arms, clasped the neck of the 
 guardian -an gel, to make sure of t him 
 at least ! He continued, in fact, awake. 
 But the terror of the fair Biribi was 
 contagious. The Shah, it is true, slept 
 as loud as any sultan ever did; but 
 it was, notwithstanding, an easy thing 
 to hear the beating of the heart, both 
 of the sultana and the guardian-angel ; 
 and even if this could not have been 
 heard, their fearful situation might still 
 have been ascertained, by the sighs 
 
 * Ueberlaut zu schlafen. The English reader 
 will, perhaps, readily excuse this Germanism, 
 which is surely more elegant, as well as ingeni- 
 ous, than snore. Translators might, if they 
 dared, enrich their native idiom, by such adop- 
 tions from all languages. T. 
 
 H 5 
 
154 
 
 that came from them : and though 
 people, who are afraid of ghosts, on 
 other occasions, sing to keep up their 
 spirits, these, in their anxious fears, 
 spake not a word. 
 
 It was a happy circumstance that 
 the grand-vizier, at length, unlocked 
 the door. He was followed by wax 
 tapers and writing materials. 
 
 " Sire," said Cosru, as he entered, 
 u the palace is in trusty hands ; and 
 within half an hour, the city, too, will 
 be in safety. You may sleep this night 
 in security." 
 
 The Shah sat, with his head fallen 
 backwards, and answered not a word, 
 
 " The Shah has confidence in you, 
 grand-vizier," said the fair Biribi, " and 
 foresaw that he might sleep securely." 
 
 " The Shah does me great honour, 
 your highness." 
 
 Cosru then caused the Shah to be 
 
. 155 
 
 carried quietly to bed, and begged the 
 two sultanas to retire to rest. After 
 they had departed, a great deal was 
 dictated and written, Solmar, too, 
 was forced to write with the others, 
 but he made a number of mistakes ; 
 and, had any one examined his writing 
 closely, he might have, more than 
 once, detected the name of Biribi half 
 blotted from his paper. At the break 
 of day, the new commander of the 
 body-guard entered, and announced 
 that all the decreed arrests had been 
 carried into effect ; and that the strong 
 posts in the city were beset. Cosru 
 signed his mandates. They were seal- 
 ed ; and, having dispatched his mes- 
 sengers, be dismissed his secretaries, 
 that they might retire to rest. 
 
 Cosru threw himself on a sofa, and 
 slept quietly. Solmar laid himself at 
 full length upon another sofa, and did 
 
u6 
 
 not sleep at all. It was the very same 
 sofa on which the fair Biribi and him- 
 self had been so terribly frightened. 
 But it was not the sofa's fault ; for the 
 fair Biribi lay in a bed, and yet did not 
 sleep. In six hours time, Solmar was, 
 with Cosru, on the way to the army, 
 which was encamped against the Os» 
 mans. 
 
 Cosru took the grand-vizier, and 
 some other of the generals, into cus- 
 tody, and placed himself at the head 
 of the army. He came at a critical 
 moment. He found the collected army 
 highly incensed ; and their zeal, once 
 roused, could easily be turned against 
 the enemy. Cosru's predecessor had 
 sent one of his principal commanders 
 to the general of the Monguls, in or- 
 der to remonstrate with him on the 
 outrages committed against the Per- 
 sians, and the burning of their villages. 
 
167 
 
 The Mongul threatened the Persian 
 general with chastisement, unless he 
 left his camp instantly ; and the next 
 day he published a proclamation, by 
 beat of drum, that any Persian who 
 injured but a hair of the head of the 
 lowest retainer of the Mongul army, 
 should be treated as an enemy to the 
 good cause. 
 
 A private Mongul soldier had seized 
 a young Persian woman in her apart- 
 ment. He stifled her cries ; and her 
 child, who was near, screamed out for 
 help. The soldier rushed towards the 
 child, — and it lay dead at his feet. 
 The woman escaped, and fled for suc- 
 cour to the soldier's officer. He or- 
 dered her to be driven out of the camp 
 with derision ; and her dead child was 
 thrown upon the field, to be the prey 
 of the fowls of the air. Her husband 
 came home, procured a certificate of 
 
I5S 
 
 the fact from the Persian governor, and 
 hastened with it to the Mongul gene- 
 ral, who delivered the following judg- 
 ment. — 
 
 " The Khan is the vicegerent of 
 God ; the general, and the kings, and 
 the sovereigns of the world, are the 
 vicegerents of the Khan ; and the of- 
 ficers are the vicegerents of the gene- 
 ral ! The Persian, who, on account of 
 an insignificant occurrence, has com- 
 plained of an officer to his general, is 
 to receive one hundred lashes ; and the 
 Persian governor, who granted him the 
 certificate, is to make an apology to the 
 officer, or be sent in chains to the ge^ 
 neral ! " 
 
 The man, consequently, received his 
 hundred lashes; and the governor made 
 his apology. 
 
 This event was known over-night to 
 the whote Persian armv ; and the fol- 
 
i.59 
 
 lowing morning, the whole army had 
 but one soul. Cosru called a council 
 of war. Solmar stood behind Cosru, 
 and held sealed papers in his hand. 
 The council did not last long. 
 
 " Long live the Shah of Persia ! " 
 began Cosru. 
 
 " And confusion to the Monguls !"' 
 answered the eldest of the officers. 
 
 " Confusion to the Monguls ! 5? re- 
 peated all the other officers, and their 
 eyes flashed with rage. 
 
 " The Khan enters on his seventieth 
 year the day after to-morrow. The ge- 
 neral has made a requisition of brandy^ 
 and gives a feast to his men. We are 
 four days' march from head-quarters ; 
 but to-morrow night we shall be of the 
 party.'* 
 
 Cosru retired. Solmar delivered his 
 sealed instructions, with expressions of 
 
160 
 
 regard, to every one of the officers ; and 
 the council was dissolved. 
 
 Before an hour had elapsed, nothing 
 but the sharpening of swords was heard. 
 All who were permitted to go to the 
 feast, moistened them with tears of 
 joy ; and all who could not go, moist- 
 ened them with tears of sorrow. In 
 four hours 5 time, twenty-five thousand 
 visitors were furnished with horses, 
 and whatever they wanted for the two 
 succeeding days ; and in five hours' 
 time, they were on their march upon 
 more than ten of the high roads of the 
 country. Cosru commanded the cen- 
 tre. Solmar commanded a thousand 
 volunteers in the van. 
 
 The guides were excellent, and the 
 party unanimous. The guests arrived 
 at their place of destination in due 
 time; but they could not have been 
 
161 
 
 more unexpected. The general of the 
 Monguls was sitting in his loose robes, 
 drunk, at the head of a plentiful table, 
 and all the company were drunk also. 
 
 " Liberty and justice! V exclaimed 
 Solmar to his volunteers. " The day 
 of vengeance ! " roared a thousand Per- 
 sians ; and this was the watch-word of 
 destruction. The heads of many of 
 the guests who sat at the table, w 7 ere 
 scattered among the golden vessels 
 which had been stolen. The general 
 bellowed for rage, and seized a golden 
 goblet to defend himself. 
 
 " Monster ! " exclaimed Solmar, and 
 the monster lay in two halves at his 
 feet. One half consisted of the gnash- 
 ing head, the smoking neck, and the 
 right arm, which still grasped the gob- 
 let. 
 
 After this evening, not a man was 
 to be seen, who could say, 4 I was a 
 
1 62 
 
 bidden guest at the Mongul general's 
 feast ; ' for one half of the robbers, who 
 were already asleep, continued to sleep 
 on ; and the other half, which had not 
 slept, began their sleep for ever ! 
 
 The booty was immense ; but the 
 Persians had, on the morning of the 
 same day, sworn, of their own accord, 
 that they would devote one half of it 
 to the re-building of the smoking vil- 
 lages of their country, and securing its 
 passes against the Monguls. 
 
 On the next day, the army divided 
 itself to the right and left. Cosru ap- 
 peared unexpectedly in the rear of the 
 right wing of the Monguls, and Sol- 
 mar in the rear of the left wins:. The 
 Persians every where came unlooked- 
 for; and, in a week, not a Mongul 
 was to be seen on the territory of Per- 
 sia. The few scattered bodies which 
 fled towards the Osmans, were cut in 
 
163 
 
 pieces by them ; and those who at- 
 tempted to return home, were slaugh- 
 tered by the Persians : for, the first or- 
 ders which Cosru issued, when he left 
 the apartment of the Shah with his 
 privy seal, was to secure the mountain- 
 passes through which the Monguls had 
 to escape. 
 
 A thousand messengers announced, 
 through all the provinces of the Persian 
 empire, the day of vengeance which 
 had been kept ; and all the provinces 
 resounded with the names of Cosru 
 and Solmar. In every town and vil- 
 lage, the people were seen dancing for 
 joy. Enemies were reconciled, and 
 strangers fell on each other's necks. 
 
 The command of the grand-vizier, 
 that an hundred thousand men should 
 instantly enter the mountains, and for- 
 tify the passes, was carried into effect, 
 with songs, and shouts of triumph. 
 
1(>4 
 
 The women held up their babes to 
 their husbands, and looked towards the 
 Mongul mountains. The men seized 
 their arms and their tools, and hastened 
 away. The maidens, laying their hands 
 on their bosoms, pointed with their 
 fingers to the mountains, and the young 
 men departed from them without tak- 
 ing leave. 
 
 " Freedom and justice!" was the 
 morning shout of the workmen who 
 were fortifying the passes. " The day 
 of vengeance!" was the invariable an- 
 swer. 
 
 The Khan of the Monguls, the so- 
 vereign of sovereigns, did not know 
 that so much as a hair of the head 
 of any of the meanest of his subjects 
 had been touched, when a hundred 
 and fifty thousand of his enemies, the 
 Persians, had returned with triumph, 
 from the completion of their works of 
 
W6 
 
 defence on the mountains. After a 
 month, the Khan heard one half of 
 the affair, and he, by degrees, guessed 
 the other half. He cried for rage, 
 and his courtiers cried with him. He 
 drank brandy to inflame his fury ; and 
 one evening was found dead, amid 
 those who had, with him, been cursing 
 the Persians and mankind. 
 
 The fortifications on the mountain- 
 paths, which led into Persia, were com- 
 pleted. The Monguls, who were ac- 
 customed to repair on horseback to 
 pillage and murder, stood in dread of 
 narrow passes, which were open only 
 to travellers on foot, and which were 
 guarded by resolute defenders ; and 
 Persia did not, after that time, see her 
 rich plains laid waste by. them. 
 
 The kings of Asia recovered from 
 their blind superstition. They ceased 
 considering the Monguls as omnipo- 
 
166 
 
 tent ; and they therefore ceased to be 
 omnipotent. The writings which Sol- 
 mar had seized were published through- 
 out the empire by Cosru ; and hence- 
 forth, whoever proposed to any of the - 
 Asiatic kings to make a treaty with 
 the Monguls, was cast into irons ; and 
 whoever accepted a present from the 
 Monguls, lost his head. And when 
 the Khan of the Monguls issued a 
 command to any of the kings, the an- 
 swer he received was, " I will not ! " 
 and that was the end of the business. 
 But had not Solmar said to Cosru, that 
 they only were formidable who were 
 feared, Persia would have been laid 
 waste, and the kings of Asia would 
 have trembled before a horde of Mon- 
 guls. 
 
 Solmar received orders to cross Per- 
 sia with the 10,000 men who had an- 
 nihilated the left wing of the banditti s 
 
 
167 
 
 accordingly, he entered the southern 
 provinces, to attack the right, wing of 
 the Osmans. Solmar and his 10,000 
 men crossed the land with rapidity. 
 They had but lately known him; yet 
 he was beloved by them as a brother, 
 and feared by them as a father. He 
 spoke little, but he watched every 
 thing. He provided first for them, 
 and then for himself; but he tolerated 
 no disorders in others, as he commit- 
 ted none himself. What he command- 
 ed was sometimes hard to execute ; 
 but he commanded nothing that was 
 not carried into effect, and he took the 
 hardest part of the enterprise upon 
 himself. They all knew that he was 
 the real saviour of Persia. They knew 
 that it was he who had slain the four 
 robbers, by whose papers the atrocious 
 projects of the Khan against all Persia, 
 were detected. They had themselves 
 
168 
 
 seen him annihilate the Mongul gene- 
 ral, and lay whole rows of the tigers 
 at his feet. Had he ied them against 
 a fiery volcano, or even against the 
 raging sea, they would have followed 
 him with confidence, and said, " Since 
 he undertakes it, it must be possible ! " 
 
 Solmar did, in fact, arrive at his 
 post, with his 10,000 men, two clays 
 earlier than the grand-vizier had ex- 
 pected and required. And he arrived 
 at the critical moment, 
 
 It was not before the Monguls were 
 already annihilated, that the Osmans 
 received intelligence that a Avar had 
 broken out between them and the Per- 
 sians. The grand-vizier of the Osmans, 
 Ismael, caused splendid fire-works to 
 be exhibited in his camp, to testify 
 his joy at the intelligence; and the 
 day following, summoned all the ge- 
 nerals to a council of war. They re- 
 
169 
 
 solved to fall upon the enemy in the 
 remotest corner of the south, while 
 they thought he had still to contend 
 against the most inveterate of foes in 
 the north. 
 
 " By the Prophet, I did not expect 
 this! " said the grand-vizier with ex- 
 pressions of delight, as he squeezed 
 the hand of every member of the coun- 
 cil. 
 
 Ismael, therefore, proceeded at once 
 towards the south, taking care to ex- 
 cite as little disturbance as possible. 
 Cosru, however, was already at his 
 side, and planted himself in a favour- 
 able position. He excited still less 
 alarm than Ismael. The great differ- 
 ence between the two grand-viziers 
 was, that the one only saw, and that 
 the other was only seen. Cosru, in 
 order to render his enterprise decisive, 
 rested on his arms till he should be 
 i 
 
170 
 
 re-inforced by 100,000 men, that is, 
 10,000 men and Solmar. 
 
 Solmar was on the point of announc- 
 ing his arrival to Cosru, when a Jew- 
 was introduced to him. 
 
 " Long live the Shah of Persia!" 
 said the Jew. Three nights since, the 
 Osman grand-vizier Xsmaei lodged in my 
 house. Six Arabs of distinction came, 
 and remained the whole night with 
 him, and spoke with him alone. In 
 the morning I was sent for, and was 
 ordered to assist in weighing out gold 
 to them. I heard them speak of 
 50,000 Arabs, and of the fifth day, 
 and of the heighths behind the camp of 
 the right wing of the Osmans, On 
 hearing this, I took two camels, and 
 placed my wife and children on them ; 
 and am now come, through cross- 
 roads, to give intelligence of the alli- 
 ance to a Persian general, Ismael 
 
171 
 
 has fixed his camp, and is waiting for 
 the Arabs. The fifth day, is the day 
 after to-morrow. " 
 
 Solmar reflected for a moment. He 
 then fixed his eyes upon the Jew, and 
 said: 
 
 " Do you know the roads of the pro- 
 vince ? " 
 
 " General, I know all the roads and 
 paths in the country/' 
 
 " How far is the right wing of the 
 army encamped from the main army ?" 
 
 " General, at least the distance of a 
 day's journey." 
 
 4C Your wife and children are my 
 hostages, and you are my conductor." 
 
 Solmar wrote to the grand-vizier, 
 Cosru, " We are arrived earlier than 
 you commanded ; and we reached this 
 spot at a lucky hour. We shall engage 
 the enemy to-morrow, for our safety 
 i 2 
 
172 
 
 demands it. The bearer is acquainted 
 with the particulars, " 
 
 An officer was dispatched with this 
 letter, and with verbal instructions ; 
 and Solmar was employed in making 
 his arrangements with the Jew till be- 
 yond midnight. 
 
 As the following day was drawing 
 towards a close, the guards of the 
 right wing of the Osmans saw clouds 
 of dust arising, in every direction, 
 upon the hills behind their camp, and 
 at length clearly distinguished cavalry 
 proceeding down them, Shouts of joy 
 at the intelligence were sent forth from 
 every quarter of the camp ; and, in 
 every part, unarmed horsemen rode 
 out to welcome their allies from the 
 desert. But they were not the Arabs; 
 and, even before the sun had entirely 
 descended, Solmar was in possession 
 
173 
 
 of the rich camp of the Osmans. One- 
 third of the Osmans were slaughtered, 
 one-third were taken prisoners, and 
 one-third fled. The Jew was instantly 
 dispatched on a dromedary to Cosru. 
 
 Solmar gave orders that nothing 
 should be altered in the form of the 
 camp ; and the Persians looked, with 
 anxiety, for the clouds of dust which 
 were expected to arise from the hills 
 which led towards the desert. At 
 length, the Persian watch gave the ex- 
 pected signal of the arrival of the ene- 
 my. The Arabians, on approaching 
 the camp lately occupied by their 
 friends the Osmans, uttered tremen- 
 dous shouts of joy ; but Solmar, with 
 his Persians, rushed upon them ; and 
 the Arabians, being taken by surprise, 
 fled with precipitation. Those of them • 
 who escaped towards the desert, gave 
 to their fellows whom they met, such 
 
174 
 
 a description of the swords of the Per- 
 sians, and their leader, that the re- 
 mainder of the mercenary allies of the 
 Osmans thought it wiser to return back 
 to the desert whence they came, than 
 fulfil their engagements. 
 
 The day after the defeat of the Arabs 
 was a day of rest in the camp of the 
 Persians. Solmar caused his prisoners 
 to pass in review before him. They al- 
 ready surpassed his army in numbers. 
 WJiole companies of the fugitive Os- 
 mans had returned in the morning, 
 and surrendered themselves to the con- 
 queror at discretion, that they might 
 not perish for hunger in an unknown 
 and desolated country, or be torn in 
 pieces by wild beasts, or slaughter- 
 ed by the enraged inhabitants. Solmar 
 rf treated his prisoners with humanity. 
 He did, indeed, put three to death 
 with his own hand, who made a shew 
 
17o 
 
 of resistance; but he also, with his 
 own hand, helped to bind up the arm 
 of another, which had been broken in 
 his flight. 
 
 The Jew had promised to return this 
 day, and he kept his word. 
 
 " On the day after to-morrow, at 
 sun-rise," Cosru wrote, i: I will shew 
 the grand-vizier Ismael that I am near 
 him, which he is ignorant of at present ; 
 and in the preceding night, shall strike 
 an arm from his left wing. I confirm, 
 by anticipation, whatever treaty you 
 may make with their friends from the 
 desert." 
 
 " The friends from the desert are 
 already disposed of," said Solmar to 
 the collected officers of his army ; 
 " but we ought now to be acquainted 
 with the situation of the grand-vizief 
 Ismael, and his army of Osmans. " 
 
 Solmar caused his troops to draw 
 
176 
 
 lots. One-fourth of the men remained 
 to guard the prisoners and the camp, 
 and with the other three-fourths he set 
 off at midnight. The Jew led on the 
 army, and the train passed towards the 
 north. During the heat of the day, 
 they reposed in a shady valley ; and, 
 when they had crossed this valley, and 
 ascended a woody hill, they who 
 climbed upon the trees could distinctly 
 behold the camp of the grand-vizier 
 Ismael before them, and could even 
 distinguish the larger tents of the 
 enemy. 
 
 Solmar immediately observed the 
 roads into the plain, formed his plan 
 for the following morning, and distri- 
 buted his commands for the attack at 
 sun-rise. But Solmar had approached 
 too near to the OsmanS. 
 
 The horses in the camp of the Os- 
 mans neighed : the horses of the Per- 
 
177 
 
 sians answered, in every part of their 
 small army. The Persian horses had 
 repeated this several times, when 
 shouts were heard in the camp of the 
 Osmans. These shouts increased ; 
 and at length trumpets were heard. 
 Solmar* s watch descended from the 
 trees, and reported that the Osmans 
 were riding in all directions, and that 
 the tents began to move. 
 
 Had Solmar been attacked at this 
 moment, he must have been annihi- 
 lated ; and if the grand-vizier Ismael 
 had been capable of reflection, he 
 would have risked every thing to at- 
 tack him. 
 
 " We must make the assault even 
 to-day ■, " said Solmar, " or the camp 
 will escape us. " In three hours' time, 
 it was night; and there were 7 5 000 op- 
 posed to more than 60,000. But Solmar 
 had never projected an impossibility* 
 i 5 
 
i/o 
 
 The Persians rushed down from all the 
 vallies, glens, roads, and paths of the 
 woody hills, and unexpectedly appear- 
 ed in long streamy lines in the plain 
 below, and formed three bursting tor- 
 rents over the trembling surface. 
 
 Solmar and his Persians had erred. 
 The Osmans had no suspicion of an 
 enemy in their rear. They were aware 
 only of the approach of Cosru in their 
 front. For two hours before, some fu- 
 gitives from the right wing, half dead 
 with terror and fatigue, had reached 
 the camp of the Osmans, and given 
 intelligence that their right wing was 
 annihilated. 
 
 The thunder of the assailants on the 
 plain, was answered by the affrighted 
 cries of the attacked. Terror, which 
 uplifted the arms of the Osmans to- 
 wards heaven, at the same time fixed 
 their feet to the earth from which they 
 
m 
 
 endeavoured to flee. The central body 
 of Persians rushed towards the loftiest 
 tent. All who surrounded it were, in 
 a few moments, prostrate on the earth. 
 The aged vizier Ismael alone remained. 
 Solmar's sword was uplifted. The un- 
 armed old man presented his bare 
 neck. " Hold ! " exclaimed Solmar. 
 4 ^Hold ! " repeated the officers which 
 were around him ; and this cry was 
 echoed along the corps which Solmar 
 conducted. 
 
 " Father Ismael, I entreat you, give 
 me your signet, " said the modest 
 youth. 
 
 " Persians," said Solmar aloud, "the 
 aged Ismael stands under the protec- 
 tion of your arms. " 
 
 The Persian standards were planted 
 around the rich tents of Ismael. Sol- 
 mar sat beneath these tents, and Ismael 
 sat beside him. 
 
180 
 
 Solmar wrote to Cosru, " Ismael 
 lives, and sends his signet to your 
 highness. You are anxiously expect- 
 ed." 
 
 Solmar now heard some faint cries. 
 They were the cries of female voices. 
 He drew back a curtain, and three 
 women of ravishing beauty, with dis- 
 hevelled locks, and rent veils, threw 
 themselves at his feet, and implored 
 death from his hands. 
 
 " What is it that you mean, fair la- 
 dies ? ■? said he, raising them with to- 
 kens of respect. " Ismael, your wives 
 were never in greater securit}^. They 
 stand under the protection of Persian 
 conquerors." 
 
 . " By Allah ! " said Ismael, as he 
 wiped a tear from his eye, and grasped 
 the youth with his hand, " this I 
 should never have expected. " 
 
 One hundred men, mounted oil a 
 
181 
 
 hundred untired horses, with the Jew 
 at their head, had broke through the 
 astonished advanced guards. They 
 found Cosru already on the road. 
 
 Cosru arrived after midnight. The 
 moon was then in the first quarter. 
 When she was at the full, not an Os- 
 man was in Persia ; and when the se- 
 cond moon was at the full, the Persi- 
 ans possessed the territory of the Os- 
 mans as far as the Euphrates. 
 
 The Sultan of the Osmans sent mes- 
 sengers of peace, and Cosru appointed 
 Solmar to negociate with them. Peace 
 was concluded and signed. The Eu- 
 phrates became the boundary of the 
 Persian empire. All the prisoners and 
 captives were restored; and the Sultan 
 of the Osmans paid a contribution of 
 2,000,000 pieces of gold, in order to 
 re-build the desolated villages of Per- 
 
182 
 
 si a, and raise fortresses on the Eu- 
 phrates. 
 
 Cosru hastened back to Ispahan. 
 Solmar remained, as Generallissimo, at 
 the Euphrates. The Shah, the sul- 
 tana-mother, and the fair Biribi receiv- 
 ed the grand-vizier with silent em- 
 braces. 
 
 " Cosru, " said the Shah at length* 
 " Solmar merits a great reward. I 
 shall entrust to his care my palace, my 
 body-sruard, and my capital. Where 
 Solmar stands on the watch, there I 
 can sleep in safety." 
 
 " Yes, dear Cosru," said the sul- 
 tana-mother, " I beg your consent to 
 this." 
 
 The fair Biribi stood by, cast down 
 her eyes, played with her fingers, and 
 spake not a word. 
 
 Solmar wrote in answer to the grand- 
 
1S3 
 
 vizier, and earnestly entreated that the 
 Shah of Persia would be pleased to let 
 him remain at the Euphrates. 
 
 " At all events/' said the Shah, " he 
 must come and receive from my hands 
 a standard of honour, " 
 
 "An excellent thought, my son," 
 said the sultana-mother ; " he must at 
 least do that. " 
 
 " And you, Biribi, what is your opi- 
 nion ? " asked the Shah ; " you do not 
 speak a word. " 
 
 " My dear Shah/' said Biribi, "sup- 
 pose we were to let him rest for a time. 
 The journey is so immensely long; 
 and he will not only have to travel hi- 
 ther, he must also travel back again." 
 
 "Biribi is in the right, " said the 
 Shah ; " the good man ought to have 
 rest. I would not, for all the world, 
 undergo the fatigue he has endured, 
 
184 
 
 But I have thought of something: Bi- 
 ribi works the finest embroidery of any 
 one in Persia. She shall embroider the 
 flag of the standard, and he can in- 
 dulge in repose till Biribi has finished 
 her work. Besides, we will all write 
 a letter to him. I will dictate, Biribi 
 shall write, and my good mother shall 
 seal, and write the superscription. He 
 will not fail to come ; for I will put 
 none of my omnipotence in the letter^ 
 and nothing but reason. Sit down, 
 Biribi : I know how to manage such 
 matters." 
 
 The fair Biribi sat down opposite to 
 the Shah, and the Shah shut his eyes, 
 and began to dictate. 
 
 " Dear Solmar. We cannot live 
 without seeing you." 
 
 The fair Biribi now discovered that 
 she had too little light opposite to the 
 
185 
 
 Shah, and sat on one side of him, at a 
 window. She wrote the words which 
 the Shah had dictated. 
 
 " We think of you day and night, 
 and you must visit us." Biribi wrote. 
 "We must thank you in person, and 
 you shall hear from us when you are 
 to come." Biribi wrote. " The Shah 
 loves you ; his mother loves you ; w 
 Biribi wrote — " and the sultana Biribi 
 loves you ! " 
 
 Biribi did not write ; for she was, 
 just at that instant, under the neces- 
 sity of holding up her pen to the light, 
 in order to see where the threads in the 
 nib were hanging ; and when the pen 
 was wiped clean, the ink would not 
 run : and besides all this, the light 
 dazzled her eyes so much, that she 
 was forced to hold a handkerchief to 
 her face. 
 
 66 Dear Shah," said she, at last, " do 
 
186 
 
 you write something m the letter. He 
 will be so glad to see your writing/' 
 
 " This is errant folly," said the 
 Shah. " If Hove him, you may love 
 him too, I warrant. I know very well, 
 that of all my wives, you alone are in- 
 nocent ; but every thing must have its 
 limits. — Give me the pen: I will 
 write. yi 
 
 The fair Biribi gave him the paper, 
 and cast her eyes upon the ground. 
 
 "See, now, you have absolutely 
 spoiled the paper; and here are — one 
 ■ — two — ■ three — four — five wet spots 
 on it. I must either wait till they are 
 dry, or leave a blank in the wet places. 
 Yes, that is what I will do ; and when 
 he comes, I will tell him the fact, and 
 we will all laugh at you ! " 
 
 The Shah took the pen, and dictated 
 to himself aloud. 
 
 " And the sultana Biribi loves vou 
 
187 
 
 also; but, though she is not ashamed of 
 loving you, she is ashamed to write 
 you so, herself.^ 
 
 The Shah paused, put his right eibow 
 on his writing desk, and covered his 
 eyes with the palm of his hand. He 
 reflected awhile, read the whole letter 
 through, and then laid down his pen. 
 
 " No," said he, " I will write no 
 more to him ; and when a man has no- 
 thing further to say, he does best to 
 leave off. Come, dear mother, have 
 the goodness to seal the letter, and di- 
 rect it simply, ' To Solmar;' for, to 
 men like him, we should give no title 
 but their names. With others, it is 
 quite the contrary.'* 
 
 The sultana-mother put on the seal, 
 and wrote the address ; and a special 
 messenger w r as dispatched with it to 
 the Euphrates. 
 
IS8 
 
 " And now, good Biribi," said the 
 Shah, " do you embroider me the flag; 
 and be industrious, that we may see it 
 soon. But which of us, now, can 
 think of a fit inscription? Sleep upon 
 it, both of you ; and I will do so 
 too. " 
 
 " Son 9 " said the sultana-mother, 
 the next morning, " what shall be the 
 inscription ? " 
 
 " That is what I would learn of you, 
 mother." 
 
 " Shall it be long, or short ? " 
 
 " It must contain every thing that 
 it ought to contain ; and nothing that 
 does not belong to it. " 
 
 " Shall it be natural and simple ? " 
 
 " Natural, to be sure ! and, above 
 all, it must be rational; and by no 
 means omnipotent. " 
 
 "Well, then, my proposal is -'' 
 
189 
 
 " Quick ; let us hear it." 
 
 " To the Deliverer of Persia : Gra- 
 titude and Love.'' 1 
 
 The Shah sprang from his seat, and 
 embraced his mother : he then ran to 
 the fair Biribi, and embraced her also. 
 
 " It is a fine thought," he exclaimed. 
 " Yes, dear Biribi, you shall embroider 
 in it, gratitude and love; there is reason 
 in that, and not a word more than is 
 true. Now, Biribi, begin this instant; 
 and you may work by my side ; and if 
 I can eive anv assistance to vou, I will 
 doit with pleasure." 
 
 Now, the fair Biribi began her labour 
 on the very same day; but she did not 
 permit the Shah to give her any assist- 
 ance, and she embroidered in her own 
 apartment. The Shah couid now see 
 her but seldom ; and when at her work, 
 the door was always locked. 
 
 Her embroidery was completed ; and 
 
190 
 
 it was, in truth, the finest piece of 
 ^work that had ever been exhibited in 
 Persia. But she had strained her eyes 
 so, in the completion of it, that their 
 sparkling splendour was very sensibly 
 dimmed by it ; and the Shah himself 
 remarked, that she had become tired 
 of her labour, for the last word was by 
 no means so successfully worked as 
 the others. 
 
 Among all the virgins whom the 
 Shah was accustomed to call his wives, 
 — for real, genuine, regular wives, the 
 Shah had not possessed for the last 
 twenty years, — -the fair Biribi was 
 most dear to him ; and she only for the 
 sake of her sparkling eyes. He had 
 purchased her ten years before, when 
 eight years old ; and he affirmed, on 
 every occasion since, that he should 
 never again purchase a pair of brilliants 
 of such perfect beauty and splendour. 
 
191 
 
 It happened two years before, that, 
 as Biribi was one day playing between 
 the lofty walls of the palace, a little 
 bird flew into her bosom, to escape 
 the pursuit of a hawk, which had been 
 pouncing at it; and after the enemy 
 had been driven away, this little bird 
 suffered itself to be fondled and caress- 
 ed, and would not fly away again, 
 when left at liberty. On this occasion, 
 the eyes of Biribi expressed such joy 
 at the fondness of the little bird, that 
 the Shah on a sudden fell prostrate 
 upon the earth, and thanked aloud the 
 Creator of all things, for having made 
 the world, 
 
 " No," said he, as he returned into 
 the palace to the sultana-mother and 
 the three chief eunuchs, " No, truly, 
 such a thing never happened to me 
 before in all my life — such beams of 
 light in the eyes of Biribi. And the 
 
192 
 
 beams became sparkles, and the sparkles 
 became flashes; and from the fire came 
 clear water, and the water flashed as 
 well as the fire ; and from the water 
 came pearls, and the pearls shone like 
 the water i But in the flashes of the 
 fire, the water, and the* pearls, there 
 
 was a something aye, children, 
 
 1 could not sign a death-warrant to-day, 
 though for the murder of my mother. 
 — — And if I were to melt down all 
 the diamonds that ever were dug out 
 of the earth, into one stone, and melt 
 down all the diamonds now under the 
 earth, into another stone, they would 
 altogether be nothing, compared to 
 the eyes of Biribi, as she fondled the 
 little bird. What I prayed, I cannot 
 tell ; but I did pray, and I have now 
 seen, with my own eyes, the Paradise 
 of the great Prophet ! yy 
 Prom that day, the Shah had loved 
 
193 
 
 the fair Biribi like his dearest daughter, 
 and never suffered her to be absent 
 from him. Every one of her petitions 
 was granted ; and she made many, but 
 always for others, never for herself. 
 Yet no bird had ever after flown into 
 her bosom, nor had the Shah ever 
 since beheld so distinctly the Paradise 
 of the great Prophet ! 
 
 " My dear Biribi," said he, as he 
 took the embroidered standard from 
 her, " if you love me, you will make 
 no more embroidery during the next 
 half year, that your poor eyes may 
 have time to recover. Promise me 
 this. » 
 
 She gave him her hand to it, as the 
 messenger was announced who was 
 returned from the Euphrates. He 
 delivered Solmar's answer to the Shah., 
 who read aloud — 
 
 " Sire ! thy slave wears thy writing 
 
194 
 
 on his heart; and he has covered every 
 spot of the sacred paper with a thou- 
 sand kisses. Thy slave has been sum- 
 moned to the grand-vizier Cosru, to 
 receive commands concerning the main- 
 tenance of the province on the Eu- 
 phrates ; and he will lay himself at thy 
 feet on the last day of thi3 month. 
 Long live the sublime sultana-mother! 
 — Long live the sublime sultana Bi- 
 ribi ! " 
 
 "Ah, my dear Biribi, " said the 
 Shah joyfully, 4; he comes the day 
 after to-morrow. —Here it is — There ; 
 you have all the letter yourself. " 
 
 Biribi took the letter, and read, but 
 so rapidly, that she did not see what 
 she read ; and not seeing what she 
 read, she was forced to begin again ; 
 and because she was always beginning, 
 she never came to the end. 
 
 M Biribi, 35 exclaimed the Shah on a 
 
195 
 
 sudden, " do not spoil the paper by 
 squeezing it, but go to the window. — 
 I see that a bird has flown into your 
 bosom again/' 
 
 A heavenly blush was now spread 
 over the virgin cheeks of Biribi ; and 
 the Shah sat out of breath, and with 
 clasped hands. His head was gently 
 inclined towards the left side, and the 
 reflection from Biribi's eyes, and Bi- 
 ribi's cheeks, illumined his whole 
 countenance. Biribi sprang up, and 
 the Shah could not utter a word to 
 withhold her. 
 
 "Holy Prophet ! " exclaimed the 
 Shah, as he was in some measure come 
 to himself, " thou affordest more than 
 one foretaste of thy Paradise ; and this 
 is more delightful than all the others.'* 
 
 In the same retired apartment, in 
 which, with bolted door, the standard 
 was embroidered, Biribi now read the 
 k 2 
 
196 
 
 letter, for several hours successively ; 
 and, however hard the letter was to 
 read, it was nevertheless kindly treat- 
 ed at last ; for it was several times 
 pressed to the heart, and even, at 
 length, carried to the lips of the sul- 
 tana. Biribi then repaired to the win- 
 dow ; but from it there was nothing to 
 be seen but flowers, trees, birds, and 
 the whole city of Ispahan. She seized 
 the lute, ; but, in the first place, it was 
 sadly out of tune ; and, in the second 
 place, it made such a noise, that Bi- 
 ribi could not play and indulge in her 
 musings at the same time. She drew 
 all the curtains of the apartment close, 
 and threw herself, in the dusk of the 
 evening, upon a sofa. 
 
 It cannot be denied, the letter was 
 written with politeness ; yet it surely 
 was not necessary to place a sublime 
 sultana Biribi by the side of a sublime 
 
197 
 
 sultana-mother. The sultana-mother 
 was full five-and-fifty years of age, and 
 an epithet, by way of introduction, 
 was no more than her due. Most as- 
 suredly a distinction should have been 
 made in the letter, between her and 
 Biribi, and the sultana-mother had a 
 right to be offended that there was 
 none. It must be confessed, too, 
 there was something uncouth in the 
 concluding lines of the letter. The 
 beginning, on the contrary — the be- 
 ginning was very obliging. He wore 
 the Shah's writing on his heart, and 
 had covered every spot of the sacred 
 paper — mind, the paper, not the writ- 
 ing merely — with a thousand kisses. 
 Beyond a doubt, the vacant spaces were 
 not spared, on which the sultan could 
 not write. And who knows but it 
 might occur to the writer of this letter, 
 that the little bird in the bird-ca°;c 
 
198 
 
 was -not at all in fault, on account of 
 the five wet spots. — It was absolutely 
 necessary to reacLover the letter again. 
 
 She arose to look for the letter, but 
 it was vanished. It was not on the 
 table ; it was not on the chair ; it was 
 not behind the curtain. All the cup- 
 boards and drawers, all the caskets 
 and boxes were opened, but the letter 
 was in none of them. Biribi's anxiety 
 encreased every moment : at last, she 
 recollected that this poor letter might 
 possibly be fallen under the sofa. She 
 bent down, — she went on one knee, — 
 she heard a rustling, and the secret 
 was betrayed ! 
 
 Any noble Persian, says the oriental 
 narrator at this spot, who has just 
 completed a hundred noble achieve- 
 ments, and, at the end of them, is 
 allowed to rest his forehead and his 
 closed-eyes on the place on which the 
 
199 
 
 letter had rested, deems himself amply 
 rewarded for all he has achieved ; and 
 there is not, he adds, in the Paradise 
 of the holy Prophet, a single spot on 
 which mortals may more delightfully 
 repose, after the sufferings of life, and 
 the labour of great deeds. And the 
 Persian — all this is said by the oriental 
 narrator — and the Persian who does 
 not instantly guess this spot, deserves 
 never to be made acquainted with it ! 
 Biribi was alarmed ; she blushed ; 
 and, possibly fearing the letter might 
 make some resistance, she let it remain 
 where it lay. She sat down again ; 
 she laid her face on both arms to cover 
 her eyes ; and there she continued sit- 
 ting, though night had drawn on, till 
 she was roused to open the door to the 
 good Shah, who had already knocked 
 a dozen times, fearing some accident 
 had happened to her. 
 
200 
 
 Soimar's journey to Ispahan had 
 been made known to the provinces 
 through which he was to pass, by the 
 grand-vizier himself; and Solmar found, 
 at the end of his first day's journey, a 
 letter from Cosru. 
 
 " Solmar, 1 command you not to 
 shun the thanks of a grateful people. 
 The provinces have received no orders 
 from me ; and when a people begin to 
 render honour to great men, without 
 being commanded, it is on the point of 
 stimulating men to greatness ; and it 
 is high treason against the state, through 
 pride, to reject their homage. " 
 
 Solmar had now as few attendants 
 as when he proceeded to the frontiers 
 against the Osmans, but he had no- 
 thing to fear on his journey ; for the 
 inhabitants of the provinces stood in 
 rows on the high ways through which 
 he rode, and the children were placed 
 
201 
 
 on the shoulders of their fathers and 
 . mothers ; and they, too, were part of 
 his guard of honour.' 7 
 
 Freedom and independence ! was the 
 shout of the Persians who stood on the 
 high roads ; and, Long live the Shalt 
 of Persia, and his people! was the an- 
 swer of Solmar. And when he had 
 passed by, then the people told of the 
 persons whom he had looked in the 
 face ; and how courteously he bowed ; 
 and how kindly he smiled on the chil- 
 dren ; and how he was dressed ; and 
 how his horse was prouder than him- 
 self: and when all these things had 
 been said again and again, circles were 
 formed, and the people sang and 
 danced. 
 
 Solmar appeared before Ispahan. 
 The way through the town to the pa- 
 lace was strewed with flowers. The 
 inhabitants, of both sexes, stood ia 
 k 5 
 
their holyday clothes on each side of 
 the streets. The silence which pre- 
 vailed was that of admiration and awe. 
 
 Solmar arrived at the inner court of 
 the palace. The Shah, in his imperial 
 garments, stood at the head of his 
 body-guard, and held a standard in his 
 hand. 
 
 " Thanks to the saviour of Persia! " 
 said the Shah, as he rode forward, and 
 delivered the standard into the hand of 
 Solmar. A white flag was seen to 
 wave from the summit of the highest 
 tower of the castle ; and at the same 
 instant there arose, from the palace 
 down to the city of Ispahan, and from 
 the city of Ispahan up to the palace, 
 shouts of joy, which made the very 
 foundations of the hills to shake ; and 
 the birds that were flying in the air 
 above, felt the vibration from the shouts 
 below, 
 
103 
 
 %i Oh, Amatonda," whispered Sol- 
 mar softly, during the exclamations of 
 the populace, " Oh, Amatonda, wert 
 but thou near me ! " 
 
 Amatonda was not near him, but 
 the fair Biribi was, though she herself 
 knew not where ; for when the shouts 
 of joy were uttered, she was behold- 
 ing the scene from the palace window, 
 and she sank down by the side of a fe- 
 male slave, without sense or motion. 
 
 " Solmar is fatigued from the jour- 
 ney," said the Shah; "let him be 
 conducted to his apartment. He shall 
 be left to his repose to-day, and we 
 will not intrude upon him." 
 
 On the following day, Solmar was 
 presented to the Shah, the sultana- 
 mother, and the sultana Biribi. He 
 entered, and fell prostrate upon the 
 
 «arth. 
 
 * Why so } n said the Shah ; " Now 
 
204 
 
 I take this unkind. Arise, and em- 
 brace us all, one after the other, and 
 we will spend the day together like 
 rational beings." 
 
 Solmar arose, and embraced the 
 Shah respectfully; and he embraced 
 the sultana-mother respectfully ; and 
 he then, still more respectfully, kissed 
 the hand of the sultana Biribi. They 
 sat in a circle. They asked questions, 
 gave answers, and related histories; 
 and, in the heat of conversation, did 
 not remark, at least the Shah did not, 
 that the sultana Biribi had retired. 
 
 She ran into her apartments. She 
 sprang from one to the other. She 
 looked around her for living beings. 
 Her heart beat high ; her eyes spar- 
 kled ; she could scarcely breathe. She 
 came to the apartment where some 
 birds were flying at liberty, which she 
 had, half a year before, found in a nest 
 
206 
 
 without a mother, and had reared with 
 some trouble. The birds all fluttered 
 round her. 
 
 " Have you heard it already }" said 
 she. He embraced every one except 
 myself — and he trembled, and his 
 hand shook, and his lips quivered as 
 he kissed my hand ; — but I trembled 
 too — Yes, he embraced every one of 
 them, but he did not embrace me. " 
 
 The poor birds would have been 
 glad to receive their daily provender. 
 They were accustomed, not only 
 to fly at liberty in the apartment of 
 their mistress, but also to fetch their 
 food from thence. But yesterday, Sol- 
 mar arrived, and yesterday they found 
 nothing; to-day, also, nothing had 
 been left for them. They fluttered 
 round her lips, they alighted on her 
 hands, and pecked her fingers. At 
 length they played the dun so intelli- 
 
206 
 
 gibly, that their foster-mother under- 
 stood them. She uttered a thousand 
 reproaches against herself; and, to 
 make amends, threw to her starving 
 favourites at least as much food as they 
 could consume in a fortnight. But 
 then she toid them again and again, 
 that she alone had not been embraced. 
 At length she heard the voice of the 
 Shah, who came to look for her. He 
 comforted her ; and determined that 
 Solmar should, by way of penance, sa- 
 lute her three times instead of once. 
 
 " No, my dear Shah," said Biribi, 
 alarmed, " by the holy Prophet I con- 
 jure you, say not a word to him. I am 
 unspeakably happy, and you would only 
 make me quite wretched. I am pleased 
 with him ; and came only to give food 
 to my little birds here." 
 
 When the Shah saw that Biribi was 
 dancing and jumping, and that her 
 
207 
 
 eyes sparkled, he was contented ; and 
 as soon as he returned to Solmar, it 
 was agreed that they should write to 
 each other, at least twice every month. 
 After a few joyful days, Solmar de- 
 parted ; and she, who had laboured to 
 persuade herself that embraces meant 
 nothing, remained still unembraced. 
 But Solmar was somewhat more pen- 
 sive when he returned to the Euphra- 
 tes, than when he set out from thence, 
 On the contrary, the fair Biribi conti- 
 nued as spritely as ever. Neverthe- 
 less, her eyes always sparkled more 
 brilliantly on the days when a letter 
 from Solmar arrived, or when she an- 
 swered those letters, in the name of 
 the Shah, than on any other day. The 
 correspondence, besides, appeared to 
 give all parties equal pleasure, and was 
 therefore scrupulously kept up. In a 
 short time, how 7 ever, the phrase, " the 
 
SOS . 
 
 sublime sultana Biribi," was not to be 
 met with in the letters, because it met 
 with no encouragement ; and its place 
 was supplied by " my fair friend Bi- 
 ribi," to which no objection whatever 
 was made. 
 
 Sol mar was entreated by the Shah 
 to be a mediator between him and the 
 grand-vizier, that Cosru should remain 
 at the helm of the Persian empire as 
 long as he lived. 
 
 " As affairs now stand," replied 
 Cosru, to the great joy of *the Shah, 
 " I must release the Shah from his 
 promise ; and my duty compels me to 
 remain at my post, as long as strength 
 and permission are given me. Allah 
 and our Prophet preserve the Shah ! " 
 
 Cosru governed several years after- 
 wards ; and, when he was found one 
 evening lifeless at his writing-desk, the 
 Persia which he left behind, was a 
 
209 
 
 whole century different from the Persia 
 he found, when he accepted the seal 
 of government from the Shah ; and the 
 Shah w T as adored by all his people. 
 
 " Cosru is no more, and Solmar is 
 grand-vizier." 
 
 These few words, in the Shah's own 
 hand, were received by Solmar, just 
 as he was surveying the last of the new 
 fortresses raised on the Euphrates. He 
 did not answer : he came himself. 
 
 " O Amatonda ! ,J said he, as he 
 ascended the palace of Ispahan, " if 
 thou mean to embrace me, eradicate 
 first from my soul the image of my 
 friend Biribi." 
 
 Amatonda did not yet mean to em- 
 brace him ; for, except the Shah and 
 the sultana-mother, no one embraced 
 him ; not even the sultana Biribi. 
 
 The choice of the Shah met with 
 the lively approbation of all Persia. 
 
210 
 
 Solmar made no change in the system 
 pursued by Cosru ; he merely con- 
 tinued the work his predecessor had 
 begun i The Persian empire had not. 
 for centuries, been in greater repose, 
 or more flourishing, or in higher 
 honour, than at present ; yet no 
 Amatonda appeared to embrace Sol- 
 mar. 
 
 Solmar had held the reigns of the 
 Persian empire about fifteen months, 
 when the good Shah was one day 
 found dead in his cabinet, sitting with 
 his diamonds around him. His eldest 
 nephew, who could with difficulty 
 read or write, was brought forth from 
 a remote corner of the palace, to fill 
 the throne of Persia. Immediately 
 there was a new sultana-mother, new 
 reigning sultanas, new chiefs of the 
 eunuchs, new principles, and new 
 views. There would also have been 
 
211 
 
 a new grand-vizier immediately, but 
 the people and army were still feared. 
 
 A few days after trie death of the 
 Shah, his mother suddenly died, and 
 it was said, of grief. The fair Biribi 
 also would have died of grief in a few 
 days ; but the night before her death 
 she disappeared, and no one knew a 
 not even at court, whither she was 
 gone. All her valuables, and two 
 black eunuchs, had disappeared like- 
 wise. They were the two black slaves 
 who were by her side formerly, when 
 she was so rejoiced at saving the little 
 bird. The whole court were lost in 
 wonder at this flight ; and the assem- 
 bled privy-council were unanimously 
 of opinion, that it would be cruel to 
 obstruct the happiness of the young 
 widow. 
 
 On examining, for that express pur- 
 pose, the chronicles of Persia, there 
 
212 
 
 was not found, since the establishment 
 of the empire, a single instance of a 
 sultana who had fled with two black 
 slaves. They had all taken with them 
 some one of the body-guard, or a sturdy 
 dervise at least. 
 
 The news immediately ran through 
 the city ; and Sol mar, who was soon 
 informed of it, became pensive. He 
 was absorbed in his reflections, with his 
 eyes cast on the ground, when a cham- 
 berlain from the palace was announced. 
 The chamberlain delivered a precious 
 jewel to Solmar, and a writing from 
 the Shah, in which the services which 
 Solmar had rendered to the Persian 
 empire were warmly praised ; and, in 
 the most gracious terms, he was con- 
 firmed in his office. 
 
 This writing was industriously pub- 
 lished by the court through Ispahan, 
 and all the people said Amen. But 
 
( l\5 
 
 Solmar grew more pensive and sad than 
 before ; and the experienced men of 
 Ispahan, who were acquainted with 
 the custom of oriental courts, said in 
 their hearts, a sacrifice is in prepara- 
 tion. In the mean while, the court 
 did actually prepare splendid fire-works 
 for the city of Ispahan. 
 
 Every day the court sent the grand- 
 vizier a new mandate to execute. All 
 the mandates were most gracious ; but 
 they were strangely intricate, and the 
 last mandate usually contradicted all 
 the foregoing. 
 
 " No ; n said Solmar, as he perused 
 the tenth mandate, " the magician 
 has deceived me. Amatonda may 
 embrace whom she pleases ! I will go 
 to my brother Hassan, and help him 
 to cultivate his fields," 
 
 He drew his sword from its sheath, 
 broke it in pieces, and sat down to 
 
214 
 
 write. He humbly implored the Shah 
 in his letter, to allow him to resign 
 his high office, as he did not feel that 
 he had strength sufficient to carry 
 into effect the supreme will of his 
 imperial majesty. 
 
 The Shah waited three days before 
 he answered ; for the fire-works were 
 not ready. He was extremely afflicted 
 at the unexpected solicitation of Sol- 
 mar. He could not possibly dispense 
 altogether with his further services ; 
 and he accepted his resignation as 
 grand-vizier, only on condition that he 
 re-assumed the command in chief on 
 the Euphrates, on which station he 
 had already wrought such signal ser- 
 vices. 
 
 This gracious epistle was also made 
 known through all Ispahan ; but, on 
 this occasion, the people did not cry 
 Amen. On the contrary, in the mar- 
 
916 
 
 ket-places, and at the corners of the 
 streets of Ispahan, the words, banish- 
 ment, treachery ;, intrigue, evil -days, 
 were heard, every instant repeated. 
 Solmar was informed of this, and 
 hastened his departure to the Eu- 
 phrates ; but it was his fixed resolu- 
 tion, after a few months, once more 
 to solicit his discharge. 
 
 On the evening after Solmar's de- 
 parture, the splendid fire-works were 
 exhibited ; and all Ispahan, for a week 
 afterwards, had so much to relate of 
 those who were killed, and those who 
 were not killed from the explosion of 
 the fire-works, that few had any time to 
 think, none leisure to talk, of Solmar. 
 
 But the warriors at Ispahan, who 
 had fought with him against the Mon- 
 guls, and against the Osmans, they 
 still thought of him ; and as, in a short 
 time, they did not merely think, but 
 
216 
 
 now and then collected in small bodies 
 together, and talked aloud of him also, 
 the court, in its wisdom, saw that it 
 was necessary to take measures accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 These measures were accordingly 
 actually put in execution ; and more 
 then twenty couriers had been already 
 dispatched, about a fortnight before, 
 with orders addressed to the different 
 officers on the Euphrates, when one 
 evening, by pure accident, a dispute 
 arose in the inner court of the palace, 
 close to the guard-house. The dispute 
 led to a scuffle ; the scuffle to a riot ; 
 and the riot to a general insurrection 
 of all Ispahan. By break of day, a 
 swift dromedary w 7 as taken from the 
 stall of the murdered Shah, and a cou- 
 rier dispatched, with orders to Solmar 
 to repair instantly to Ispahan, and share 
 the government with the new Shah. 
 
217 
 
 The dromedary reached the Euphra- 
 tes ; but, in spite of its extreme haste> 
 it arrived just.eight-and-forty hours too 
 late. Solmar had, by command of the 
 court, proceeded in great haste to con- 
 struct a fortified camp opposite to the 
 desert ; the Arabs had discovered that 
 his corps <was very small ; they had 
 the day before suddenly fallen upon 
 him : he had fought like a lion ; he 
 had driven them back ; but, in the 
 midst of a rash pursuit, his corps was 
 attacked in the rear, by a detachment 
 which lay in ambush for him ; and it 
 cut to pieces. It was, indeed, remarked 
 by some of the private soldiers, that 
 the Arabs must have had the most 
 precise intelligence of their situation, 
 and that some of the Persian officers 
 had retreated at the first onset. 
 
 The new Shah, who was an half- 
 
 L 
 
218 
 
 brother of the murdered Shah, but a 
 young man of a better character, put on 
 mourning for Solmar ; and, without any 
 command from the court, all Ispahan 
 followed his example. All the orders 
 issued by Solmar were declared to be 
 still in force, and public affairs resumed 
 the course which he had prescribed. 
 Thus, the son of Bator governed Persia 
 after his death. 
 
 But Solmar was, properly speaking, 
 not really dead ; he was only on a 
 journey. The Arabs, who, after a 
 dreadful combat with him, had dis- 
 armed and bound him, were kind- 
 hearted souls ; and, instead of hewing 
 the fine handsome robust youth into 
 four quarters, by way of punishment, 
 they merely made money of him. They 
 sold him on the third day, in the midst 
 of the desert, to a caravan that was 
 
919 
 
 crossing it ; and Solmar, with his new 
 master, a Turk of distinction, found 
 himself on the road to Smyrna. 
 
 But Solmar did not behold Smyrna ; 
 for, on the way, the Turk sold him to 
 a Jew. The Jew sold him to a Chris- 
 tian. The Christian sold him to a 
 Dutchman. The Dutchman sold him 
 to an Englishman ; and the English- 
 man, when at Cairo, exchanged him 
 for a pipe, with the Mameluke Bey 
 Mustapha. 
 
 The Mameluke Beys are accustomed 
 every week to indulge in a few skir- 
 mishes in the streets of the city; but 
 they do this, not to disturb public re- 
 pose, only to maintain it. Nor was 
 there ever a school-boy injured by it, 
 because school-boys are not tolerated 
 in Cairo ; and as they have no school- 
 boys, they never hear the least com- 
 plaint concerning these skirmishes, 
 l 2 
 
220 
 
 They are, besides, the real fathers of 
 the people throughout all Egypt ; and 
 consider the wives and children, goods 
 and chattels of the Egyptians, just as 
 if they were their own property. 
 
 Solmar had not been three hours in 
 the house of the Bey Mustapha, before 
 he was forced to stand, with his sword 
 drawn, as centinel, before three heads 
 which were lying on a table. The 
 three heads were, those of his late 
 master the Bey Mustapha himself, the 
 Englishman, and the broker who had 
 negociated the barter between them. 
 The head of the Bey lay to the right, 
 that of his friend to the left, and be- 
 tween both heads lay the pipe, which 
 had been promised to the centinel, as 
 the reward for his keeping watch over 
 them. 
 
 This revolution had been occasioned 
 by the following occurrences. The 
 
2%I 
 
 Englishman had scarcely delivered up 
 his slave, and received the pipe in ex- 
 change, when, on a sudden, a loud 
 tumult was heard in the street. The 
 houses of the Beys are surrounded by 
 lofty walls, and these are secured by 
 strong gates. The Englishman sprang 
 up, layed his pipe upon a table, and 
 rushed out with Mustapha, to secure 
 the gates. But the gates were already 
 in the possession of others. The Bey 
 Ibrahim, who had, a year before, been 
 driven out of this house by the Bey 
 Mustapha, and had, since that time, 
 been conducting caravans in the desert, 
 in order to accumulate money, and 
 with that money purchase assistance, 
 now forced his way into the court- 
 yard, with a body of armed horsemen. 
 He slew everyone who made resistance, 
 and soon gained possession of his 
 ancient residence. The heads of the 
 
222 
 
 Bey Mustapha, and the Englishman, 
 whom Ibrahim, in his impetuosity? 
 mistook for a Bey, were brought in, 
 and for the present Jaid upon the table 
 on each side of the pipe. Ibrahim 
 himself entered ; Solmar stood there 
 unarmed. 
 
 c; Who are you ? " said Ibrahim. 
 
 " Sir," answered Solmar coolly, " at 
 the very moment you came in, I had 
 been exchanged for that pipe. My 
 old master was he on the left hand, and 
 my new one he on the right ; " point- 
 ing at the same time to the heads on 
 the table. 
 
 The barbarian smiled, and, survey- 
 ing Solmar from head to foot, replied, 
 i4 Your head shall answer for those of 
 your two late masters, and your reward 
 for watching them shall be the pipe 
 you were sold for. " 
 
 Solmar was furnished with arms, by 
 
223 
 
 Ibrahim's command, who went out to 
 secure his conquest. 
 
 Thus, the guardian -an gel of Persia, 
 who, eight months ago, in the name 
 of a good-hearted Shah who loved 
 him, watched over the happiness of 
 25,000,000 of men, who were daily 
 singing hymns in his praise, was now, 
 by command of a savage, watching 
 over the gory heads of two cannibals ; 
 and his wages were to be, the very 
 pipe for which he had been sold to a 
 Mameluke. 
 
 " Holy Prophet ! " said Sol mar, 
 ^ thou sayst truly. Allah is imcru* 
 tible; but he who has a pure conscience 
 adores, and is resigned. " 
 
 In an hour's time, Solmar was dis- 
 charged from his office. Ibrahim, at- 
 tended by a strong body of men, 
 paraded through the principal quarters 
 of the city. The two heads, raised 
 
224 
 
 on lofty poles, entered into the pro- 
 cession, but did not return with it, 
 having been left behind, as the train 
 for the last time passed by the borders 
 of the Nile. The pipe Solmar took 
 into his possession, as aipreservative 
 against all human weaknesses ! 
 
 On the following morning, Ibrahim, 
 again accompanied by a numerous 
 train of attendants, visited the assem- 
 bled divan ; and the divan of the Ma- 
 melukes being always on the side of 
 the strongest, felt no scruple in ac- 
 knowledging him as one of the govern- 
 ing Beys, and confirming him in his 
 office. As soon as Ibrahim returned, 
 he caused Solmar to be brought before 
 him. 
 
 " Slave! what is your name?" asked 
 Ibrahim. 
 
 " My last master had not given me 
 a name: The former called me gene- 
 
225 
 
 rally Europa, and when he saluted me 
 with his foot, he said, £ than dog/' " 
 
 " You shall be called Ali. What 
 do you understand ? " 
 
 tc Sir, I can dig ditches, plant trees, 
 and raise melons, onions, and arti- 
 chokes. I have observed an empty 
 spot in your court-yard, which is use- 
 less. Leave it to my care, and it shall 
 become a paradise/' 
 
 " Ali," said Ibrahim, " I must 
 spend a year in the desert. I prefer a 
 garden to barrenness. You shall do 
 what you please with the ground/' 
 
 Ali examined the spot. It was 
 first necessary to remove a wall that 
 was half fallen down. Ali proposed 
 this to his master, and solicited three 
 assistants to assist him in the labour. 
 Ibrahim promised him the assistants. 
 
 The Bey had received intelligence, 
 that Mustapha and his companions ex- 
 l .5 
 
peeted wares from Suez, and he sent a 
 party to intercept the camels. Three 
 camels were actually brought in, and 
 the conductors were brought in chains. 
 They were instantly sent to All, to 
 join him in his labour of pulling down 
 the old wall in the court of the Bey. 
 
 " Sir y " said Solmar, after a few 
 weeks, " let the three slaves be dis- 
 missed, and work with me yourself./ 7 
 
 " Ali, " said Ibrahim, " I will work 
 with you ; though I know not why I 
 always do what you desire. " 
 
 Ali and Ibrahim worked together? 
 and, after three days, Ibrahim himself 
 heard that the ground resounded as if 
 it were hollow. They continued their 
 labour, and, in a few days, Ibrahim 
 became the richest Bey which Cairo 
 had ever seen. The treasure in gold 
 and silver, pearls and jewels, which 
 Ibrahim and Solmar had found, was 
 
, 22? 
 
 immense. The booty of a conquered 
 province must have been deposited 
 here. 
 
 " But tell me, Ali," said Ibrahim 
 in the evening, " why you desired 
 that the other slaves should be dis- 
 missed. " 
 
 " Sir, what is not to be divulged, 
 should be known by one only." 
 
 " And if it had been divulged ? " 
 
 " You would have been in danger." 
 
 " But you are my slave ! - y 
 
 " And therefore I must be concerned 
 for your safety." 
 
 Ibrahim was startled, looked at the 
 slave, and walked backwards and for- 
 wards with an air of meditation. 
 
 " Listen to me ; I have an only 
 daughter. — Will you marry her ? " 
 
 " Sir, let me return to my native 
 country." 
 
228 
 
 rt My son-in-law will be my suc- 
 cessor." 
 
 " Let me return to my native coun- 
 try. " 
 
 " And all that I have will be his 
 property. " 
 
 " Sir, allow me to return into Per- 
 sia." 
 
 " If I do you a service, will you do 
 me one ? " 
 
 " Whatever is not wrong. " 
 
 " My affairs are in disorder, that is 
 wrong. You are a good manager, that 
 is not wrong. " 
 
 " Every one must discharge his ob- 
 ligations." 
 
 " Since, therefore, you have offered 
 an affront to me, by refusing my only 
 daughter, you shall take upon you the 
 management of my affairs for two 
 whole years from this day, and bring 
 
229 
 
 them into order; and, at the end of 
 that time, I will conduct you myself 
 through the desert. Is this wrong, 
 AH ? Will you consent to this }'" 
 " With joy, Sir/ 5 said Solmar. 
 Ibrahim drew off his ring, and put 
 it on the finger of Solmar, thereby 
 declaring him the overseer of his house- 
 hold. 
 
 " And I shall give you a thousand 
 zechins ; and besides, you will arrange 
 every thing at your pleasure." 
 " And the garden, Sir?" 
 " Shall be at your disposal." 
 Ali kept his word ; for in two years 
 time, the little wilderness within Ibra- 
 him's court-yard was become a- para- 
 dise. Ibrahim did not precisely keep 
 his word, for he let him depart it is true, 
 and accompanied him across the desart ; 
 but, instead of a thousand zechins, 
 
230 
 
 he gave him two beautiful horses, and 
 four heavily-laden camels. 
 
 When the caravan was about to de- 
 part, to which Ibrahim had accompa- 
 nied Solmar, he produced a casket, and 
 said, — i 
 
 " Ali, take this casket, and let it be 
 my marriage-present to your bride. Let 
 it remind her now and then of the name 
 of Ibrahim, and that Ibrahim promises 
 never more to injure mankind." 
 
 Ali took the casket, w r iped his eyes, 
 and embraced the Bey. 
 
 " But, Ali, I do not give this to you 
 for nothing. You shall pay me for it, 
 and more than it is worth*" 
 
 " What do you require, Ibrahim }" 
 
 Big round tears rolled down the 
 cheeks of the barbarian, and hung on 
 his thick black beard. He could not 
 speak, but fixed his eyes on the Per-^ 
 
231 
 
 sian. At length he made an effort^ 
 and spake. 
 
 " Give me, " said he, " give me 
 back the pipe which you wear at your 
 belt. When I return home, I will 
 touch my slaves with it, and they shall 
 be free. " 
 
 Ali took the pipe^ kissed it, pressed 
 it to his bosom, kissed it again, and 
 delivered it to the Bey. The barbarian 
 hung the pipe round his neck, hastily 
 turned round, mounted his horse, and, 
 giving his reins to it, departed without 
 uttering a word. 
 
 The caravan reached the Euphrates 
 with safety, and Solmar saw the Per- 
 sian frontier before him which he him* 
 self had formed. 
 
 " And now to Beitulsalam," said 
 he, having crossed the Persian river; 
 and separating himself from his com* 
 
232 
 
 panions, he and his attendants pro- 
 ceeded in haste along the road. 
 
 He had arrived within half a day^s 
 jourae}^ from Beitulsalarn, and was on 
 the point of leaving the house in which 
 he had slept the last night, when two 
 travellers, who had likewise slept in 
 the same inn, stepped at the same time 
 to the door. 
 
 On a sudden, six hands were seen 
 stretched out in the air, and three 
 voices were heard at the same instant 
 to exclaim, Holy Prophet ! Great Pro- 
 phet ! Just Prophet ! 
 
 These sounds proceeded from the 
 ci-devant Governor of Persia, the ci- 
 devant Governor of Indostan, and the 
 ci-devant Governor of Cashmire. They 
 were all on the road to Beitulsalam, 
 and had all slept in the same house, 
 without knowing any thing of each 
 other. 
 
933 
 
 After they had all expressed their 
 astonishment, embraced each other a 
 score times, and then been astonished 
 over again ; after each had, in a few 
 words, spoken of his past adventures, 
 they pursued their journey to Beitul- 
 salam. 
 
 " Have you, too, failed of Amaton- 
 da, my brothers?^ began Solmar, as 
 they were on the road. 
 
 " I am satisfied, brother, - answ :ved 
 Murad, " and with pleasure renounce 
 all claim to her. - 
 
 " And your ring ?" 
 
 " I have not even one of the thou- 
 sand pieces into which I broke it, for 
 they, all lie in the stream which flowed 
 beneath my window/' 
 
 44 And were you then the grand- 
 vizier of Cash mi re ?" 
 
 " Excuse me : the twelve grand- 
 
234 
 
 viziers of Cashmire stood under my 
 orders/' 
 
 " Twelve grand -viziers ! And what 
 had they to do?" 
 
 <c Each governed for the term of a 
 month. They bore severally the names 
 of the twelve signs of the zodiac." 
 
 " And what were you W 
 
 " Your humble servant was the 
 Great-Bear, and I governed without 
 intermission." 
 
 " The Great-Bear ! This is strange. " 
 
 " With }^our permission, the esta- 
 blishment has its use. The Sultans of 
 Cashmire are at the same time Sove- 
 reigns of the Great-Bear, and Com- 
 manders of the zodiac ; but they have 
 never been able to obtain possession of 
 both. Now, in order to shew that 
 they never renounced their just pre- 
 tensions " 
 
935 
 
 " All this may be very fine, brother. 
 But how came you, who were a stran- 
 ger, to form connections in Cashmire?" 
 " My very first acquaintance I owed 
 to one of my spurs. As I was cross- 
 ing the market-place, it tore the gown 
 of a well-dressed girl, who was carry- 
 ing an elegant basket of millinery under 
 her arm." 
 
 M That was a sad accident, brother." 
 " Quite the contrary, it was a happy 
 one ; for, in the first place, the spur 
 made a hole in her gown ; and in the 
 second, the millinery fell into the 
 dirt. " 
 
 " Worse and worse, brother." 
 " Better and better, I say, brother. 
 The girl was a slave, and the millinery 
 belonged to her mistress. I took the 
 girl by the arm, kissed her hand, led 
 her first to the great mercer's, and pur- 
 chased two complete dresses for her, 
 
936 
 
 and then went to the first milliner's, 
 and bought five times as much milli* 
 nery as fell into the dirt." 
 
 " And what was the end of this h? 
 
 " I kissed the hand of the slave once 
 more, and she recommended me to her 
 mistress, who was the favourite of a 
 cook. The cook recommended me to 
 his mistress, who was beloved by a do- 
 mestic mufti. He recommended me 
 to his lady, the wife of an upper se- 
 cretary ; and he, to his mistress, the 
 wife of the grand - vizier Aquarius. 
 Aquarius introduced me to his brother- 
 in-law, the grand-vizier Cancer. And 
 as I, wherever I went, either broke 
 looking glasses and china, or tore fine 
 laces, I was invited to the first circles ; 
 and the ladies, both married and single, 
 were visibly attached to me. At the end 
 of six years 1 was so fortunate, that the 
 only daughter of the grand-vizier Virgo, 
 
237 
 
 a girl of nineteen years of age, attached 
 herself to me for life. She was so so- 
 ciable, that she could not subsist an 
 hour without a friend to advise and 
 comfort her ; and she had so kind a 
 heart, that she had already adopted as 
 her own an infant of two years old." 
 
 44 And your ring, brother?" 
 
 " When I spake with any one of the 
 zodiac, of villages desolated by tem- 
 pests, or fields inundated by showers, 
 my ring pricked me inwards." 
 
 44 And why so ? " 
 
 44 It was the property of my ring to 
 prick me inwards when I spake too 
 warmly, and outwards when I spake 
 too coolly." 
 
 44 And did you ever feel it on the 
 outside ?" 
 
 44 See, here is my finger, brother 9 
 observe how hard it is ; for, whenever 
 I spake with a sultana about virtue. 
 
238 
 
 with a grand-vizier about sincerity, or 
 with a girl of twenty about innocence, 
 my ring would never endure it. And 
 if I ever spake with women, whether 
 they were twenty-five or ninety years 
 of age, and pronounced the word re- 
 spect, I could hardly help crying 
 through pain. My ring permitted no- 
 thing but adoration or secret jiames!" 
 
 " And in this way you became 
 Great-Bear ? " 
 
 " Yes, with the help of two wag- 
 goners." 
 
 " Two waggoners ! By the great Pro- 
 phet, Cashmire is a strange country. " 
 
 " Small events, brother, generally 
 lead to great ones. There was a fair in 
 the capital ; and I was standing at the 
 window, when two large waggons, 
 each drawn by four horses, and filled 
 with peasants of both sexes, in their 
 best clothes, drove against each other, 
 
239 
 
 and suddenly stopped. The waggon- 
 ers alighted, took their whips in their 
 hands, and kneeled to each other. 
 " Brother/' said one of the waggoners, 
 a I beg you will have the goodness to 
 turn aside." u Brother," replied the 
 other, " I entreat you not to make 
 such a request." " Brother, you know 
 my moderation. " " Brother, the 
 whole world knows mine." " Bro- 
 ther, I shall apply to legal remedies." 
 ** Brother, I shall have recourse to the 
 law. " And now they both rose, and 
 each ascending the other's waggon, 
 began to lash the peasants, who were 
 going to a dance, till they could not 
 lift their arms through fatigue. Then 
 they alighted from the waggons again, 
 and knelt again to each other. " Bro- 
 ther, it was never my intention to of- 
 fend you." " Brother, my friendship 
 for you was never interrupted for a 
 
240 
 
 moment. They then arose, embraced, 
 and then turned aside, and drove care- 
 fully by each other. V 
 
 " Brother, these are idle tales. " 
 44 The hero of Persia is too great a 
 man to let idle tales be told him. This 
 fair was derived from China; and the 
 waggoners of Cashmire had exercised 
 the right of holding it, and of going 
 to war with each other in the way de- 
 scribed, from time immemorial. Un- 
 fortunately, one of five eyes which 
 had been put out by the whips of the 
 waggoners, belonged to a peasant girl 
 who was beloved by a captain of the 
 body-guard ; therefore, in two hours* 
 time, an insurrection of the body- 
 guard took place, and the bodies of 
 the two waggoners were immediately 
 cast into x the river, but the whole body- 
 guard themselves still continued in a 
 state of mutiny, as they declared their 
 
lives to be in great peril. The Sultan, 
 all the Sultanas, the Great-Bear, the 
 Zodiac, and all the chief secretaries, 
 sat three days and three nights, to dis- 
 cover how the right of these waggoners 
 might be rendered less dangerous. The 
 Great-Bear made a speech one hour 
 Jong ; the grand- viziers each made 
 speeches of two hours length ; and the 
 Sultanas spoke for six hours : even the 
 Sultan spoke connectedly for several 
 seconds on the subject ; and yet no- 
 thing was settled ; and the body-guard 
 declared they still stood in danger of 
 their lives. Algol, my brother, had 
 informed me, that, in Cashmire, the 
 least spark of understanding was 
 esteemed. Algol is a knave; but he 
 understood Cashmire well. I took 
 heart, appeared before the permanent 
 diet, and proposed the law, that, in 
 future, the waggoners should flog none 
 
 M 
 
242 
 
 but each other. In an instant the Sul- 
 tan seized the Great-Bear, and kicked 
 him out of the zodiac »<V 
 
 " And you became Great-Bear ?" 
 
 " And I became Great-Bear, and 
 the body-guard peaceably dispersed/' 
 
 " Did the sultanas take any share 
 in the government ?" 
 
 " There were seven reigning sul- 
 tanas. Each of them governed the 
 empire of Cashmire for one day of the 
 week ; and each of them, once a week, 
 worked with me in the cabinet. There 
 was no rest any day, and I was never 
 dismissed till midnight. It was some- 
 what tedious to be Great-Bear of Cash- 
 mire, but I was every night expecting 
 the fairy Amatonda. Besides, I wor- 
 shipped the sultanas, and they were 
 ready to die a thousand deaths for me. 
 At the bottom, however, we meant no 
 harm to any one." 
 
^3 
 
 ^ And your wife, brother ? " 
 
 44 My wife had ill health, and could 
 not endure the air of the capital. She 
 lived with a select party in the coun- 
 try, or at a bathing place. Her adopt- 
 ed child died, her father died, and she 
 herself died at last. I lamented her 
 death, for we had never quarrelled; 
 and sire left me an handsome fortune/' 
 
 " And then you solicited your dis- 
 charge ? " 
 
 44 You will excuse me : I received 
 my discharge very unexpectedly, and 
 that was owing to a pair of twins." 
 
 44 A pair of twins ! " 
 
 44 Yes, and of my own creation. 
 Capricorn died suddenly. The Sul- 
 tana of the Cavalry instantly demanded 
 the post for her house-mufti, ancj the 
 Sultan gave her his promise of it. The 
 following day, the Sultana of the Ad- 
 miralty demanded the same post for 
 m 2 
 
244 
 
 her butler ; and the Sultan, forgetting 
 himself, promised it to her also. " 
 " Admiralty ! In Cashmire, too ?" 
 " Unquestionably, brother. We had 
 a great pond, an island, a gondola, and 
 a marine establishment.* I was sud- 
 denly called to the Sultan, and I found 
 him inconsolable. He told me, that 
 the two sultanas were in a violent rage 
 against him and each other ; the one 
 
 * The satire on war, so ingeniously couched 
 under the tale of the waggoners, is general, and 
 needs no application. The joke on the Admiral 
 of Cashmire, seems aimed at the court of Bava- 
 ria, where there is an high-admiral to command 
 over the ferry-boats of the Rhine. The disasters 
 of war have recently reduced the occupier of the 
 once mightiest throne in Europe, to a precisely 
 similar condition. The Emperor of Austria 
 will, nevertheless, doubtless, retain admirals to 
 command over ferry-boats and trading schuyts. 
 T. 
 
245 
 
 asserting, that the first promise was 
 binding; the other, that the last was 
 the strongest. The Sultan implored 
 me for this once to save his honour. I 
 paused a few seconds, and then pro- 
 posed to him to translate the grand- 
 vizier Gemini into the post of Capri- 
 com, and establish the house-mufti and 
 the butler jointly to fulfil the station of 
 the Twins. The Sultan sprang into 
 my arms for joy ; and instantly com- 
 manded the twelve new cannon, lately 
 sent to him as a present by the Empe- 
 ror of China, to be discharged three 
 times, and to announce through the 
 city, by the imperial heralds, the cre- 
 ation he had just made. This took 
 place accordingly ; but the governing- 
 sultanas of Cashmire were never able 
 to endure grand-viziers by halves. The 
 next night, the two sultanas met to- 
 gether 3 were reconciled, and joined in 
 
246 
 
 league against the unfortunate coun- 
 sellor. The following morning they 
 appeared together before the Sultan, 
 and represented to him, first, that in 
 the divan there were only twelve sofas 
 for the members of the zodiac ; second- 
 ly, that the mufti and steward, being 
 corpulent men, had scarcely room 
 singly on the sofa of Gemini ; thirdly, 
 that there were only twelve signs of 
 the zodiac ; and fourthly, that as soon 
 as the Sultan should have set up thir- 
 teen sofas, the Emperor of China, and 
 the other powers of the earth, would 
 believe that he had renounced his claim 
 to the zodiac. " That I will never 
 do," exclaimed the Sultan. In fine, 
 the heralds were sent around the city 
 again, to command that, on pain of 
 imprisonment, all persons should con- 
 sider the yesterday's discharge of can- 
 non as not having taken place, The 
 
two sultanas drew lots together. The 
 butler became Great-Bear, and the 
 mufti, Capricorn. The Capricorn of 
 a day became Gemini once more ; and 
 I, brother, was commanded to leave 
 the city within three, and the empire 
 within twelve days ! " 
 
 " And you, brother, are going to 
 take up your residence in Beitulsa- 
 !am ? " 
 
 i; My baggage is, with your leave, 
 already on the road to Ispahan. I 
 wished only to shew myself to my bro- 
 ther Hassan, and enquire what had 
 been the fate of you, my brothers. I 
 am in affluence; and should die of 
 ennui in a few weeks, in the solitude 
 of Beitulsalam. " 
 
 \l But our brother Selim does not 
 speak a word," said Solmar, after a 
 short pause ; " I'll wager he means to 
 surprise us with a poem." 
 
248 
 
 i; You are for once mistaken, dear 
 Solmar ; for he who is about to an- 
 nounce his bride and her parents at 
 Beitulsalam, and has left them at only 
 half a day's journey distance yy 
 
 " Happy Selim, your bride ! Or do 
 you speak, perhaps, of the poet's bride, 
 immortality ?" 
 
 " I speak of a real, actual bride ; one 
 whom a man can clasp in his arms, and 
 by whose arms he can be clasped again. 
 And, were the great Prophet at this 
 moment to step before me, holding in 
 his right hand the promise of immor- 
 tality, and in his left hand the consent 
 of Tabuna, and say, ' Choose, my son ! ' 
 I would fall at his feet, and say, ' Holy 
 Prophet, withdraw your right hand, 
 and give me your left.* " 
 
 " Selim, tell me no more of Tabuna 
 — or rather, do tell me of her. Does 
 she then possess, what irresistibly 
 
249 
 
 charms, pellucid eyes, which, with^ 
 out shunning a beholder, display, un- 
 veiled and without reserve, a soul full 
 of innocence,j>eace, and benevolence?" 
 
 " My dear Solmar, eyes 1 never once 
 saw in my bride. She has, in the 
 place of eyes, nothing but. two souls ; 
 and he who knows one of these souls, 
 knows the other also; and they are 
 comprehended in a moment/ 5 
 
 " Selim, give me your hand." 
 
 Solmar and Selim clasped each 
 other by the hand as they sat on their 
 steeds. Murad rode twenty paces be- 
 fore them, and kept playing with the 
 folds of his garment. 
 
 " Selim," began Solmar again, " tell 
 me more about your bride. " 
 
 " And have you a bride, too, Sol- 
 mar ? " 
 
 Solmar sighed, and continued his 
 interrogatories, 
 
 m 5 
 
25 
 
 44 Tell me. How did you arrive at 
 Agra ten years ago ? " 
 
 44 Full gallop. " 
 
 " And your first acquaintances 
 were ?" 
 
 " The court, and all the inhabitants 
 of Agra. " 
 
 " You wrote a poem, then ? " 
 
 " Seventy-two capital poems in eight 
 years. f5 
 
 " Seventy-two capital poems ! * 3 
 
 " And all, likewise, full gallop.'' 
 
 " And with applause ? " 
 
 " With unbounded applause. More 
 especially the last four-and-twenty, in 
 which I began to imitate my imitators." 
 
 " Had you successful imitators?" 
 
 " Some hundreds, for in Agra every 
 body wrote poems, and I was very easy 
 to imitate. " 
 
 " And what did your poems treat of?" 
 
 " Dear Solmar, I only wrote my 
 
poems ; I never read them! I do not 
 suppose that they treated of any thing : 
 for, in the first place, the magician 
 had impressed upon me, that they 
 should treat of nothing ; and secondly, 
 they were most greedily devoured by 
 all the gentlemen and ladies of Agra. 
 Thus much I know, that the poems of 
 my most successful imitators, whom, 
 that I might not be left behind, I was 
 at last obliged to imitate, resembled a 
 large space into which the inhabitants 
 of a town had thrown all their furni- 
 ture and effects during a conflagration. 
 This is called in Agra, beautiful dis- 
 order ■, and rare genius. And no inha- 
 bitant of Agra admires what is accord- 
 ing to, but what is contrary to rule ! " 
 
 " And after you had written seven- 
 ty-two capital poems ? " 
 
 " I became, on a sudden, grand-vi- 
 zier, " 
 
%52 
 
 "' Selim, I see you were always fond 
 of galloping." 
 
 " Aye, and this gallop I rode dur- 
 ing the great eclipse of the sun, two 
 years ago." 
 
 " The galloping of poets was always 
 peculiar." 
 
 " All Agra was in deep despair. 
 Some were wringing their hands, and 
 others were on their knees. Some took 
 poison, and others stabbed themselves. 
 A dervise, who could, for twelve 
 hours together, turn round in a circle 
 on one leg, without being giddy, and 
 who cured diseases by the touch of his 
 magical girdle, had, some days before, 
 prophesied that Agra would sink into 
 the earth. The eclipse of the sun took 
 place, and court and city were in de- 
 spair. A few only were composed 
 enough to resign themselves to their 
 deplorable destiny. It was announced 
 
253 
 
 to the grand Mogul, that I alone was 
 not alarmed, and that I was sitting at 
 an open window, near the palace, by 
 twelve wax tapers, calmly writing a 
 poem. I was instantly summoned 
 away from my seventy-two poems to 
 the palace of the grand Mogul ; and I 
 promised that^ in three hours, the sun 
 should be delivered from the great dra- 
 gon. After a few minutes, the chief 
 chamberlain brought me, on a golden 
 dish, the Emperor of Mogul's seal \ 
 and, on a silver dish, a silken cord. I 
 stretched out my hand to the golden 
 dish. After three hours, the sun was 
 delivered from the dragon, the dervise 
 was beheaded in the market-place of 
 Agra, and his girdle burnt by the hang- 
 man. The first decree which I issued 
 was, that, in future, whoever proclaim- 
 ed new prophecies, should be laid in 
 irons ; and that whoever interpreted 
 
2,54 
 
 old prophecies, should be declared a 
 lunatic. And accordingly, I instantly 
 appointed guardians to fifteen bramins 
 of distinction." 
 
 " And Amatonda?" 
 
 " Algol was a deceiver; but Ama- 
 tonda did appear." 
 
 44 Appear in reality?" 
 
 44 She shall this very day embrace 
 you. " 
 
 44 Selim, you are still a poet." 
 
 44 I became so only since 1 went to 
 the school of Amatonda." 
 
 44 And how did you go to that 
 school ?" 
 
 44 In one of the walks which I took 
 in disguise, to examine the weights 
 and measures, &c, in the metropolis, 
 I had lost myself in a remote part of 
 the city, and no longer knew where I 
 was. I was in the midst of gardens, 
 and entered one of them to enquire my 
 
255 
 
 way. On walking in, I saw no one 
 but a beautiful young woman, sitting 
 in a remote arbour. Her dress was 
 very modest, but exceedingly elegant ; 
 and she did not perceive me, for her 
 eyes were fixed upon a book. The 
 smile which was continually renewed 
 on her cheek, was delightful, and ma- 
 nifested the liveliest pleasure. I in- 
 troduced myself as one who had lost 
 his way, and I confessed that I had 
 been for a short time contemplating 
 her, as she sat absorbed in study. She 
 w 7 as not in the least embarrassed, and 
 continued the conversation as if w r e 
 had known each other for years, 4 How 
 delightful and sweet a poem is this, y 
 said she, 4 which is ever changing, and 
 is yet always the same ; which always 
 promises what it does not perform, and 
 performs what it does not promise, 
 and yet always gives what the reader is 
 
256 
 
 most thankful for. It has already 
 thrown me into rapture these twenty 
 times, and will delight me twenty 
 times again. Such a poem is the more 
 delightful, since the poet Selim, who is 
 now ^rand-vizier, has> by his unhappy 
 authority, set the unnatural and mon- 
 strous on the throne! Selim, 5 added 
 she, after a pause, ' has talents, few 
 have so great as he has, and he could 
 himself give us such poems if he chose ; 
 but the incense which the inconside- 
 rate people of Agra have scattered 
 around him, conceals truth and nature 
 from him, and he has no friend to 
 counsel him. 5 c Yes, he has a friend, I 
 exclaimed; for he lies at your feet.' " 
 
 Solmar assured his brother of his 
 hearty congratulations. 
 
 " She was not in the least confound- 
 ed at this intimation. * Who are you, 
 charming creature?' I asked. 
 
957 
 
 ' The widow of a sick old man, 
 whom I married three years ago, when 
 I w r as sixteen years of age, out of obe- 
 dience to my poor parents. He wanted 
 in me nothing but a nurse and attend- 
 ant ; and died about a year since, leav- 
 ing me the mistress of his fortune. ' 
 
 ' And your name is ?'* 
 
 ' Tabuna. ' 
 
 c And the poem you were reading? 5 
 
 4 Is Mursa's poem on love.' 
 
 ' Mursa also lies at your feet, Ta- 
 buna ! ' 
 
 11 A blush now covered the before 
 unmoved countenance of Tabuna. Her 
 lips trembled, and she stammered. 
 Then she suddenly laid her arm on my 
 shoulder, bent herself forward, and, 
 having imprinted three kisses on my 
 lips, ran away. " 
 
 " And the grand-vizier, Selim-Mur- 
 
" Knelt tor half an hour, without 
 knowing that he was kneeling ! then 
 arose, caused a goldsmith to melt down 
 his golden pen, and sent the value re- 
 ceived from the goldsmith, together 
 with a hundred pieces -of gold, to the 
 chief almoner of Agra. The Poem on 
 Love I had written, hut not with my 
 swift pen, some years before. It had 
 a plan, and was polished. I sent it to 
 a dealer in poems under the name of 
 Mursa, but no one would read it. The 
 man then sent a few pieces of gold to 
 the chief licencer of poems, with a 
 request that he would prohibit it. By 
 this expedient, he sold all his copies in 
 a few days, and gained a handsome 
 sum by it. It was, notwithstanding, 
 forgotten in a month ! " 
 
 " But in what way did you leave 
 your post ? " 
 
 " Just as I entered it, in a gallop ! " 
 
259 
 
 s< And the cause was?*' 
 
 " The great dragon, and two of the 
 most beautiful little feet in Agra ! " 
 
 " I should have liked to witness the 
 plot. " 
 
 " First, I had commanded that the 
 fable of the great dragon and the sun 
 should be taught no longer in the 
 schools of the empire. Secondly, I 
 had said in my poem, that a small and 
 beautifully-turned female foot belongs 
 to the first beauties of creation. Before 
 the appearance of my poem, no one 
 could ever obtain a glimpse of a beau- 
 tiful foot in all Agra; but, immediately 
 afterwards, all the beautiful feet of the 
 city were to be seen, by all who were 
 curious ; and thus every one profited, 
 as well those who had the art of seeing, 
 as those who had the art of shewing 
 what might be seen ! But more espe- 
 cially the fair Corane rose prodigiously 
 
260 
 
 m the eyes of the grand Mogul. Co- 
 rane, as well as all his other wives, 
 had hitherto been eclipsed by the beau- 
 tiful Madina. My order banishing the 
 great dragon, gave offence to the chief 
 of the bramins, who stood in need of 
 the great dragon ; and the intimation 
 that beautiful little feet ought to be 
 seen, did not please the proud Madina. 
 
 But now, I think it would be 
 
 well if we were to push on with our 
 horses, that I may say, galloping I 
 went out, and galloping I came back 
 again. " * 
 
 * The author having told the translator, that 
 under the poet Seliin he meant to satirise the 
 celebrated romance-writer Jean Paul, the reader, 
 on taking leave of the copy in the tale, may 
 perhaps be willing to know something more than 
 the name of the original : a note concerning 
 him is added at the end of the volume. 
 
261 
 
 So saying, he clapped spurs to his 
 horse. Solmar followed him ; and when 
 they had overtaken Murad, they all 
 three galloped together towards Bei- 
 ttilsalam. 
 
262 
 
 It was precisely on the two hundred 
 and eighty-first day after the princess 
 had left the great meadow, and the 
 twelve villages were again filled with 
 their inhabitants, that something occur- 
 red to Hassan which had never occurred 
 to him before. 
 
 " It is the very father himself! " ex- 
 claimed a gossip, who ran as fast as 
 she could down the stairs. 
 
 " Aye," cried another who followed 
 her, " it is the very father to be sure, 
 but it has its mother's own eyes!" 
 
 Hassan was so startled at the intelli- 
 gence, that he jumped up without 
 saying a word, and bolting out of the 
 house, and running into the high road, 
 left Beitulsalam far behind him. They 
 who met him affirmed, that he ran on 
 without speaking a word to any one, or 
 
963 
 
 looking whither he went, and that he 
 now and then stopped J:o cut a caper or 
 two in the air. After ah absence of two 
 hours, he returned ; and sure the large 
 rocking-horse which he brought with 
 him, had never taken such leaps before. 
 As little Hassan absolutely refused rid- 
 ing out this morning, and would not 
 utter a word to say whether he liked his 
 own father, or even knew him, Hassan 
 himself mounted it, and then set it up 
 till Master Hassan might, at a future 
 day, be disposed to take a journey on it. 
 Ten years at length elapsed, and no 
 one well knew how in the house of 
 Hassan, from the day when there had 
 been so much dancing on the great 
 meadow. The time had been spent in 
 singing and jumping, and digging and 
 planting, and ploughing and " laender- 
 ing, " and laughing, and sowing, and 
 reaping. No one knew the fields of 
 
2b± 
 
 Hassan. His oaks and his beeches, 
 his chesnut and his fir woods grew up, 
 as in emulation of each other ; and 
 the fruit trees which Hassan had plant- 
 ed, were not a little vain of their loaded 
 branches. And whenever a sick man 
 wanted a cordial, he sent at once to 
 the handsome woman; and whoever 
 wanted counsel, went to the handsome 
 man; and whoever wanted a place, 
 offered themselves to the handsome 
 couple ; and the poor children who 
 wanted to learn how to spin, or sew, 
 or knit, with more than common dex- 
 terity, they, during the last three years, 
 came to the handsome Lilly, and by 
 her they were taught for nothing, and 
 they received the wool, worsted, and 
 linen into the bargain. 
 
 Now the handsome Lilly had, three 
 years before, arrived late one evening, 
 attended by two ugly blacks, and had 
 
965 
 
 spoken in private with Hassan. Has- 
 san then consulted with Amina, and 
 from that time Lilly had remained with 
 the handsome couple ; and the ugly 
 blacks remained there too, and helped 
 to plant trees. The beautiful Lilly 
 had, for a whole year, wept now and 
 then, but she gradually recovered her 
 cheerfulness, and retained it. Has- 
 san^ children loved her with all their 
 hearts, and she loved them again. But 
 the four boys and the four girls were 
 beloved by the whole village, for good- 
 ness sparkled in their roguish eyes ; 
 and when allowed to romp as they 
 pleased, no man could hear his own 
 voice. And Lilly had, three days be- 
 fore, made a present of a complete bri- 
 dal bed to the eldest daughter, whose 
 name was Amina, as she was then 
 eight years of age ; and on the bridal 
 bed there was not a stitch of the needle 
 
 N 
 
266 
 
 which had not been made by the beau- 
 tiful Lilly. 
 
 Now this very day ten years ago, a 
 foreign princess had made a bridal bed 
 in Beitulsalam ; and in the afternoon 
 a dance was to take place on the great 
 meadow, in commemoration of that 
 event. The cadi and imam were in- 
 vited, and all Beitulsalam too, and the 
 musicians were not forgotten ; and 
 Hassan's workmen were in their holy- 
 day dress; and Hassan's elder children 
 were forced to tell the younger every 
 minute, how long it would be till after- 
 noon. 
 
 Hassan had, some years before, built 
 a school-room, and from this room you 
 could look into the fields, and upon the 
 great meadow ; and the children this 
 morning had no desire whatever to 
 work, or learn their lessons, as they 
 were invited to a dance in the after- 
 
267 
 
 noon : and on a sudden, all the writing 
 books and knitting pins, slates and 
 wheels, were thrown on a heap toge- 
 ther ; and all the children came in a 
 tumult together, and the schoolmaster 
 and schoolmistress came with them. 
 
 " Hassan, open the gate-way. The 
 bride -mother! — the musicians on 
 horseback ! — the foreign princess ! " 
 
 No one in Hassan's house could stir 
 a step for very astonishment ; but the 
 children, and the schoolmaster and 
 schoolmistress, found a remedy, and 
 the gate-way was opened to the prin- 
 cess. She alighted, entered the house, 
 embraced Hassan and Amina, and fa- 
 ther Abuhissar, and also trie beautiful 
 Lilly, without asking who she was. 
 She kissed Hassan's children one after 
 the other, and was never tired of kiss- 
 ing them. 
 
 " Is it not true, my princess ? I 
 N 2 
 
263 
 
 have kept my promise, you see, " said 
 Hassan. 
 
 C1 And I as well, Hassan ; for I am 
 come to ask for a lodging with you. 
 But 1 come again with music to-day, 
 and I am again bride-mother." 
 
 " Again bride-mother?" 
 
 ' ; Aye; and this time, two-fold." 
 
 - And the bridal beds?" 
 
 * ; Yes, my children ; one of the 
 brides will bring her's with her, — we 
 must manage for the other." 
 
 Little Annua ran to Lilly, and whis- 
 pered something in her ear. Lilly 
 nodded her head in return. 
 
 " Princess," said the little Amina, 
 iC I will give you mine. I shall not 
 want it yet." 
 
 The princess, and Lilly, and the 
 little Amina went away. Lilly yielded 
 her apartment to the princess, and her- 
 self put it in order; and while they 
 
269 
 
 were so employed, three horsemen ar- 
 rived in full gallop. They alighted 
 and entered. What they said, no one 
 could understand, for they and Hassan 
 spake at the same time"; but everyone 
 saw that Hassan sprang from the arms 
 of one to the arms of another, and 
 that when he had embraced them all, 
 he began over again. At length he re- 
 lated to them, that, ten years ago, a 
 foreign princess had come and made 
 his bridal bed for him, and that she 
 was that day come to pay him a 
 visit. 
 
 The cadi and the imairr now entered^ 
 and shortly afterwards the princess re- 
 turned, and with her the beautiful 
 Lilly ; and instantly one of the three 
 horsemen looked with astonishment on 
 Lilly, and she uttered a scream, and 
 Solmar caught her in his arms. She 
 soon came to herself, and looked, after 
 
270 
 
 a tew minutes, as if one little bird after 
 another had flown into her bosom ! 
 
 " And do we meet at length for 
 ever, my princess? 5 ' said Solmar. 
 
 " For ever, " replied Biribi. " But 
 when I laid aside my name, I chose to 
 forget that i had ever been called a 
 sultana. M 
 
 " But if I were now to be the bride- 
 mother, " said the princess. 
 
 '•What then, my princess?" said 
 s <jlmar. 
 
 ;t Then the bridegroom ought first 
 to embrace the bride-mother, and hum- 
 bly beg of her to make the bridal bed 
 for him." 
 
 Solmar sank on one knee, and kissed 
 both her hands ; then he arose, em- 
 braced her, and received three kisses 
 on his lips. 
 
 Selim the poet no sooner beheld this, 
 than he sprang forward, and, without 
 
371 
 
 ceremony, clasped the princess in his 
 arms, and received what Solmar had 
 received. 
 
 Tabuna now appeared, and her pa- 
 rents and the bridal bed with her. Se- 
 lim saluted the bride as he passed by, 
 kissed the camel which had the bridal 
 bed, and then unpacked it, and car- 
 ried it to the princess, and lost no time 
 in doing it. 
 
 And the cadi and the imam then 
 fulfilled their functions ; and tidings 
 were brought that the great meadow 
 was occupied as it had been ten years 
 before ; viz. the twelve villages, and all 
 the inhabitants, and the old men, and 
 the sucklings, and the three young la- 
 dies, and cakes and wine ; and there 
 were, besides, five circles of lanterns, 
 one circle within the other I And they 
 all repaired to the great meadow ; and 
 the six-and-thirtv blew their horns ; 
 
272 
 
 and the whole assembly danced tosre- 
 ther the dance of the fairy Amatonda. 
 
 As day brake, a splendid globe was 
 seen in the air; and the globe became 
 continually greater and more splendid; 
 and when it had reached the great mea- 
 dow, it burst, and an illuminated ship 
 appeared on the green, which threw a 
 glorious light on all the country round. 
 And in the ship were seen twelve beau- 
 tiful maidens, who let down from its 
 sides, wheels and pencils, and hobby- 
 horses, and ploughs, and all kinds of 
 toys ; and on a sudden the princess 
 stood in the ship, which shone more 
 gloriously than before, and lifted her 
 right hand ; and they all knelt down 
 and were silent, while she said, in a 
 voice which pierced every bosom — 
 
 " Solmar, Selim, Hassan, no 
 generous heart, no noble soul 
 can lose the embrace of the 
 
273 
 
 VAIRY AMATONDA. But BE YE, 
 
 my children, industrious, and 
 ye shall be joyful. honour 
 the Shah. Obey the Laws. To- 
 lerate NO DERVISE AMONG YOU, 
 
 for he is a Thief. Tolerate 
 no Croaker among you, for he 
 is an Assassin ! " 
 
 A peal of thunder confirmed the 
 words of the fairy. Every one knelt, 
 and every one was silent. Only the 
 sucklings, who were awakened by the 
 thunder, clapped their little hands for 
 joy, as they saw the splendour in which 
 the beautiful fairy departed. 
 
 And all the people" obeyed the fairy 
 Amatonda ; and the fairy Amatonda 
 came every ten years successively to 
 the great meadow at Beitulsalam. She 
 brought music and innocent presents, 
 but neither gold nor silver. And when 
 they had all laender.ed till morning, she 
 » 5 
 
2?4 
 
 departed from , them, and all hearts 
 spake, and all tongues exclaimed — 
 Long live Amatonda ! And from hence- 
 forth, throughout the country, when 
 the friend meets his friend, the hus- 
 band his consort, and the young man 
 his mistress, they clasp each other by 
 the hand, and say, Long live Ama- 
 tonda ! Amatonda for ever I 
 
 THE EN Do 
 
NOTE 
 
 Referred to in Page 260, 
 
 Jean Paul Friederick Rickter is one of the 
 most voluminous and popular of the living Ger*> 
 man authors, who has been frequentty, and 
 most unmeritedly honoured by the appellation 
 of the German Sterne. An attempt to draw a 
 parallel between these writers, would end in a 
 contrast. They agree in scarcely any thing but in 
 being most strange, out-of-the-way, and whim- 
 sical in the form and plan of their several works ; 
 and if this be sufficient to suggest a comparison, 
 Rabelais might well form a third in the history 
 of modern literature. A general aim to unite 
 pathos and humour, are, however, all they have 
 in common ; for their pathos and humour are of 
 a different character* 
 
 Sterne excites our sensibility by appeals to our 
 ordinary sympathies, and for that purpose ex- 
 hibits representations of interesting portraits. — 
 A maniac girl, a negro, a parent on a death-bed, 
 a prisoner in a dungeon, &c, do not suppose in 
 the reader a mind which, to accompany the au- 
 thor, requires the stimulus of curiously-excited 
 
270 
 
 feelings. Jean Paul rouses the fancy of trie 
 readers, by exciting what may be called the ele- 
 ments of moral feeling. He dwells on vague 
 and vast objects. He is excessively fond of 
 dreams and visions. He brings back the va- 
 grant attention to thoughts of death and eter- 
 nity, and the transcience of human enjoyments; 
 and delights in the anticipation of feelings be- 
 longing to a future state of existence. Nothing- 
 can be more unlike Sterne than this. 
 
 Sterne's humour is chastely characteristic. All 
 that is excellent (and not merely queer and ex- 
 travagant) is, in him, dramatic. It is the keep- 
 ing that runs through the « Sentimental Jour- 
 ney, * and the mixture of humour that qualifies 
 the sensibility of Yorick, which has preserved 
 that book from being nauseous and surfeiting. 
 In like manner, those exquisite characters, My 
 Father Shandy, My Uncle Toby, Trim, and 
 Doctor Slop, justify the eccentricities of thought 
 ascribed to them. The translator dares not af- 
 firm that there is no humour in the characters 
 of Jean Paul's novels^, but certainly his humour 
 has a monotonous characters/and, in his various 
 works, always reminds the reader of the author 
 himself. But though Jean Paul generally passe? 
 
377 
 
 for a humourist, it is chiefly by wit that he ha? 
 gained himself his present celebrity. It is in 
 the exuberance of this quality, and in the infi- 
 nite variety of his knowledge, which is astonish- 
 ing, that he surpasses Sterne; as well as iii the 
 philosophic tendency of his works, and in the 
 reach of his faculties ; for he is equally distin- 
 guished by the profundity of his thought, and 
 the wildness cf his fancy. He is, at the same 
 time, utterly destitute of that exquisite simpli- 
 city and grace of style, which certainly will give 
 immortality to the fine passages in Sierne, and 
 for a long time, at least, preserve from oblivion 
 the trash so copiously mingled with them. 
 
 Sterne has been translated, perhaps, into every 
 polished language in Europe. Not one of the 
 numerous works of Jean Paul will probably 
 ever be read in any other than the German lan- 
 guage, nor in that long survive the author. 
 There have already been published several col- 
 lections of his line things, [beauties^ as our ma- 
 nufacturists term them,) and it is rather to be 
 wished than expected, that a similar selection 
 might be adapted to English readers, for what 
 Englishman ever reacT" three of his books ? It 
 is therefore to be apprehended, that as Jean, 
 
278 
 
 Paul has been outrageously eulogised, so he will* 
 hereafter, have less praise than he merits ; for, 
 after all, he has talents, which excite a lively 
 regret that they should not have been disciplined 
 to the production of any one work which de- 
 serves to live. In the celebrated ' Xenien,' 
 Epigrams published by Goethe and Schiller in 
 1797> there is one addressed to Jean Paul. — 
 " Could you husband your riches but as well 
 as others do their poverty, then you would in- 
 deed deserve our admiration !" It is this exu- 
 berance of matter, and the inability or disincli- 
 nation to give form to it, which is the characte- 
 ristic of Jean Paul. 
 
 Like Sterne, he is frequently unintelligible, 
 but in a very different way. Sterne alludes to 
 one knows not, and cures not what; and leaves 
 one in doubt whether the curtain he lets down 
 conceals any thing or nothing : Jean Paul is 
 constantly referring, without reserve, to subjects 
 of human learning, which the reader is more or 
 less frequently acquainted with, according to 
 the extent of his own information. It is chiefly 
 in the most strange and violent similies and 
 metaphors, referring not merely to all the sci- 
 ences which men in general are expected to 
 
279 
 
 learn, but also to every branch of professional 
 learning, such as ecclesiastical history and juris* 
 prudence, medicine, and every kind of local 
 knowledge, that he excites the astonishment, 
 and often provokes the resentment of his read- 
 ers ; yet, as these combinations are most whim- 
 sical, and drawn together at the same instant 
 from the most opposite sources, and as they 
 allude, not only to " all the reading that is ne- 
 ver read," but also to all the knowledge that is 
 seldom known, the vanity of the reader is not so 
 often wounded at the detection of his ignorance* 
 as it may be gratified by the occasional disco- 
 very of his own knowledge ; and the eulogist 
 of Jean Paul commonly qualities his praise, by 
 the confession, as is promised to Selim by Algol* 
 that he does not understand him. But in this 
 there is more of trick than genius. It was 
 acutely observed to the translator by an excel* 
 lent English critic of German literature, that 
 it seemed to him as if Jean Paul's works were 
 composed while the author was standing on the 
 steps of a bookcase ; as if he opened his volumes 
 promiscuously, and, having noted down some 
 recondite fact of art or science, then sought for 
 a moral analogy ; and, having collected a irom*> 
 
280 
 
 ber of these materials, afterwards strung them 
 together as he pleased ! A habit which Mr. 
 Bays seems to have indulged in, for he says 
 somewhere in tht: ' Rehearsal,' — " Egad, this 
 would make a hue simile, if 1 k tew what to 
 compare it to!" Jean Paul has made it his 
 particular study to find out such resemblances, 
 and owes halt' his fame to it. 
 
 The magician, in his instructions to the poe- 
 tical son of Bator, gives especial counsel as to 
 the composition of a title page. This, if such 
 an expression be allowable, is taken from ^he 
 life. The following are a few specimens of Jean 
 Paul's titles, viz. 
 
 " Biumen-Frucht und Dornenstukke ; oder 
 Ehestund, Tod, undHochzeit des arrnen Advo- 
 cate n F. S. Siebenkas, im Reichmarktsflecken 
 Kuhchnappel." 
 
 That is, literally, " Thorn-Flower and Fruit- 
 Pieces ; or Marrying, Matrimony, and Death of 
 the poor C'ouncelior F. S. Sevencheese, in the 
 Imperial Market-town of Snapcow. " 
 ¥ Hesperus, oder 45 Hundsposttagei " 
 That is, " Hesperus, or 45 Dog-post-days. " 
 " Jean Pauls Biographisehe Belustigungen 
 unter den Gehirnschale einer Riesin. " 
 
281 
 
 That is, " Jean Paul's Biographical Amuse- 
 ments under the Pericranium of a She-Giant." 
 
 Basta ! Nearly of such a description has the 
 translator lately turned over more than thirty vo- 
 lumes. Not all, however, are in any way narra- 
 tive : some are purely didactic, viz. " Levana, 
 or Theory of Education," " A System of Taste, 
 or Aesthatik," (-as the Germans from the Greek 
 have termed it,) &c. 
 
 The works which pass among men of letters 
 for the best of Jean Paul's writings, are his 
 ' Hesperus, ' * Titan, ' and ' Siebenkas, ' of 
 which * Titan ' only seems intended to produce 
 an effect by the story. The translator cannot 
 venture to speak of any one, even of these, from 
 his own knowledge ; nor will foreigners readily 
 encounter the difficulties which stand in the way 
 of a study of Jean Paul's writings, since, in 
 addition to his other literary impertinences, he 
 is an inventor of words ; and his style embraces 
 all the idioms of an elevated poetic prose, of 
 colloquial barbarisms, and even of provincial 
 phrases. 
 
 Dr. Johnson learnt Dutch in his old age, to 
 try whether his faculties were still in their full 
 vigour. A foreigner may, if he pleases, make 
 
2S2 
 
 a trial of his knowledge of the German, by at- 
 tempting to read Jean Paid. He needs not be 
 mortified if he should chance to fail. 
 
 The following fragments have been hastily 
 selected from Jean Paul s writings, as a speci- 
 men of his style, imagery, and turn of thought. 
 This is, in general, an unfair manner of exhibit- 
 ing an author, but no one has so little reason to 
 complain of it as Jean Paul, for whatever his 
 merits may be, he owes his fame only to the 
 striking passages of his books, with little refe- 
 rences to those higher qualities of a work of taste, 
 which are ascertained by the contemplation of it 
 as a whole. 
 
 " Women and Spanish houses have many 
 doors and few windows. It is easier to get into, 
 than to look into their hearts. And as to girls ! 
 I would rather attempt to guess at and pourtray 
 ten mothers, than two daughters. " 
 
 " The heart of a man who has a strong and 
 vigorous mind, must, like a china jar, be, at 
 first, turned too wide and big : in the furnace of 
 the world it shrinks to its proper size. In like 
 manner, I quarrel not with intolerance in. a 
 
283 
 
 young man, but in a few years I insist upon ha- 
 bits of tolerance. The one I consider as the 
 hard, sour, stony fruit of a youthful, vigorous 
 breast ; the other, as the same fruit ripened and 
 mellowed by time. " 
 
 " Nothing touches men more than beholding 
 a reconciliation. Our weaknesses are not too 
 dear a purchase for the hours of delight in which 
 they are forgiven ; and the angel, who never 
 feels anger, must envy the man who subdues it. 
 When you forgive, the man who has wounded 
 your breast is the sea-worm by which the mus- 
 cle-shell is pierced, while you yourself fill up 
 the aperture with a pearl. " 
 
 " By heaven ! It is not worth while lament- 
 ing our departure from a soil so parched and 
 barren, and covered with weeds and nettles, as 
 human life is ; which is, besides, short as an 
 epigram, and with a sting at its end. A spirit 
 above us throws us into life, and counts 70 or 
 80, as we sometimes hurl a stone into a deep 
 crater ; and then, after hearkening during some 
 eighty beatings of his pulse, or years, hears us 
 strike against the bottom — the grave. " 
 
984 
 
 «' That for which men sacrifice their lives and 
 fortunes, must be something loftier than both. 
 The good man is not so valiant when he defends 
 himself, as when he protects another ; the mo- 
 ther is a coward on her own behalf, a heroine for 
 her child. In short, it is for the nobler part of 
 him, it is for virtue that man opens his veins, 
 and offers up his spirit. The Christian martyr 
 calls this virtue, faith ; the savage, honour ; 
 the republican, liberty." 
 
 k ' The inhabitants of Mount Parnassus care 
 little for the laws of Mount Sinai. They are all 
 heretics, and are only kept from playing off their 
 epigrams against the ancient faith, by having 
 the harp of Klopstock between their fingers. 
 They love notning that belongs to the preacher 
 of the place, except his daughters. Their epi- 
 grams violate the eighth, and their other poems 
 the sixth commandment. They have recourse 
 to the names of the heathen gods, in order to 
 escape a Christian chastisement of their offences. 
 They load the sins of the old Adam upon little 
 Cupid, and worship the Devil in the shape of^i 
 fawn. " 
 
" The heart is infinitely and eternally new„ 
 We may satiate ourselves on the highest truths 
 and beauties which can be presented to our con- 
 templation ; by frequency of enjoyment, their 
 zest and charm may be taken away : but no 
 noble action ever comes too often, or too iate ; 
 nor does time itself reign over our moral charms 
 and graces. This immutability, which is so 
 strengthening to the soul, is raised not merely 
 on the infinite nature of the free breast, but on 
 this especial constitution of our nature, that it 
 is only out of ourselves that we consider desert 
 as a free grace and moral beauty, which we are 
 to love ; for within ourselves, we recognise it 
 merely as moral truth and moral necessity, which 
 we perceive and approve of. " 
 
 " The honour of a friend is a something so 
 sacred, that scarcely any thing but his own con- 
 fessioii of unworthiness justifies a doubt concern- 
 ing it. But it is only the absolutely noble mind 
 which can abstain from trying the tried friend; 
 from believing, when the enemy of the friend 
 accuses ; which blushes as at an unchaste 
 thought, at the silent and transient suspicion 
 which pollutes the pure image of his friend; 
 
2S6 
 
 and finally, which, when doubt is no longer to 
 be resisted, does not suffer that doubt to come 
 into action, and would rather be guilty of im- 
 providence, than incur an offence against the 
 holy spirit in man. This tirm confidence it is 
 easier to deserve from others, than ourselves to 
 possess. " 
 
 " If man were not immortal, no superior be- 
 ing could be so : at least, he could not be recog- 
 nised as such. The solitary God would be pre- 
 sented in vain to the torpid sense and unperceiv- 
 ing mind ; as, \\ ithout the atmosphere of the 
 earth, the sun would glare from the firmament, 
 and pierce the vaulted night, but it would not 
 illuminate." 
 
 *' Since heaven and earth are spread out so 
 spaciously, why should the mind creep and 
 cringe, and narrow itself?" 
 
 H Man would be on this globe an idle toy, 
 ashes and vapour, if he did not feel that he was 
 so. O God ! in this feeling is the pledge of our 
 immortality." 
 
.'37 
 
 " It is not reason, that is, conscience, which 
 makes us virtuous : reason is the wooden direct- 
 ing post on the high road of duty, but it can 
 neither bring us up to itself, nor force us forward 
 on our journey. Reason has the legislative, not 
 the executive power. The capacity of loving 
 the commands of reason, the still greater, of 
 obeying them, is a second conscience added to 
 the first. As Kant cannot in words assign what 
 it is that makes men bad, so that is not to be 
 expressed in words, which raises men above, and 
 rescues them from moral impurity." 
 
 " I would gladly receive in exchange one 
 moral, for ten metaphysical optimists : one who 
 does not, like the caterpillar, feed on a single 
 plant, but, like the butterfly, flutters over a 
 whole flower-bed of pleasures ; who has not 
 five, but a thousand senses — for women and 
 heroes, sciences and frolics, tragedies and come- 
 dies, nature and courts. There is a certain 
 higher toleration which the peace of Westphalia 
 does not give us, but a life purified by many 
 years and much instruction. This toleration 
 finds out the truth that lies in every sentiment, 
 the beautiful in every kind of beauty, and hu- 
 mour in every sport of fancy ; and does not con* 
 
288 
 
 sider, either in men, nations, or books, diversi- 
 ties and individuality of excellence as the ab- 
 sence of it. We should be pleased not merely 
 with the best, but with the good.'" 
 
 " Every strong sensation and affection par- 
 takes of the nature of insanity, and requires or 
 raises a world of its own. A man may be equally 
 angry that the clock has only, or already struck 
 twelve. I beg^of every one, once at least in his 
 life, to let his internal feelings speak out. He 
 will be astonished at the extent of his wishes, 
 which had been before but half expressed. Rage 
 wishes that the whole human race had but a 
 single neck ; love, a single heart ; melancholy, 
 two lachrymal ducts; and pride, that it had 
 only two bent knees." 
 
 " The repose and indifference which we by 
 effort acquire, are alone valuable. Man must 
 have both the power of passion, and power over 
 passion : he must be susceptible of the feelings . 
 which he subdues. The overflowings of the will 
 are like those streams which pollute the water 
 in the wells. Take the stream away, and the 
 well is dried up." 
 
 Printed by Turner aod Harwood, St. John's Square, 
 Clerkenwell, London,