Part 42 (1/2)

Such was the man into whose presence I was conducted He was seated in a corner, after the manner of Persia; therefore I could not ascertain what his height ht be, but his bust was extremely fine His head was symmetrically placed on his shoulders, which were blended in an easy curve with his neck; whilst his tight dress helped to give great breadth to his breast His face was one of the handsost , his teeth and mouth exquisite, and his beard the envy of all beholders

In short, as a specimen of the country he represented, none could have been better selected

When we had interchanged our greetings as true believers, he said to me, ?Are you an Irani??

?Yes,? said I, ?so please you?

?Then why in looks an Os and a country of whom no one need be ashamed?

?Yes,? answered I, ?your ordonnances are truth, and I a, since I have put on the airs of a Turk My days have been passed in bitterness, and led myself by a connexion with this hated people; and e is in God and you?

?How is this?? said he: ?speak Has a child of Ispahan (for such you are by your accent) been taken in by a Turk? This is wonderful indeed! We travel all this way to make them feed upon our abomination, not to learn to eat theirs?

I then related the whole ofto the end As I proceeded he seee he becahter at the settleave of the entertainnificence and grandeur, afforded hiht; and the more I descanted upon the deception which I had practised upon the cows of Turks, as he called them, the more interest he took in my narrative, which he constantly interrupted by his exclamations, ?Aye, well done, oh Ispahani! Oh! thou bankrupt! By Allah! You did well! If I had been there, I could not have done better?

But when I informed him of the manner I had been served byscene in my own house, of the screams of my women, of the speeches of my wife?s relations,--and when I represented the very words, look, and attitude hich Iproduced the syree, that I thought the veins in his forehead would have burst; and he actually rolled hihter

?But a! the situation in which I am now placed Instead of the bed of roses upon which I slept, I have not even a pillohereon to lay my head As for the horses and velvet which I used to bestride, happy should I now be could I claim even an ass for my own And when I call to mind the luxuries in which I revelled, my rich dresses, my splendid horses, my train of servants, my marble baths, my pipes,a ar--conceive the bitter recollections which prey upon hter in my breast, whatever they may do in yours?

?But those Turks, those heavy buffaloes of Turks,? roared he, still screahter; ?praise be to Allah! I can see thereat caps, and their e all that the sharp-witted one on believing, had they not been undeceived by a similar species of madman

?But what have I to do in the business?? said he to me ?I am neither your father nor your uncle, to interfere and make it up with your wife?s relations; nor ae the case between you?

?No,? answered I; ?but you are erent upon earth; and you can see justice done er be oppressed?

?But would you get back possession of your wife,? said he, ?and stand a chance of being ood would all your riches be, if the day after repossessing them you were found dead in your bed? No, no; lend ood council Throw off your Turkish clothes, and be a Persian again; and when in your proper character, I will keep you in mind, and see what may be done for you Your story has interested reeable, and believe s are to be done in the world than to s pipe all day, with no other object in life than to sleep upon a bed of roses, and to ride a fat horse In the meanwhile, take up your quarters here; look upon yourself as one of my suite for the present, and whenever I wish to be ain?

Upon this I went up to hie what steps to take in this unsettled posture of my affairs

CHAPTER LXXIV

He becomes useful to an ambassador, who makes him a partaker of his confidence

Necessity, so the poet sayeth, ?is as a strong rider with sharp stirrups, whohorse sometimes will not do?

I was disappointed, vexed, anda life of ease and enjoyed to have recourse to enuity to keep me from starvation

?If I have lost a home,? said I, ?see I have found a friend Let me not reject his proffered protection; and the sah the labyrinth of life will doubtless again take th safely landthe path I ought to pursue?

I determined to make the most of my access to the a which he had taken toour succeeding interviews

He made use of me to acquire inforovernment, and uponallmy own fortune, I had turned my mind but little to public events Of the nations of the world I scarcely knew any but my own and the Turks By nahans, the Tartars, the Curds, and the Arabs were known toseen different specimens of them as slaves in our houses Of the Franks,--the Russians (if such they e in Persia, and I had also heard of the Ingliz and the Franciz