His domestics, for a time, redoubled their assiduities; but finding that no officiousness could soothe, nor4 exactness satisfy, they soon gave way to negligency and sloth; and he that once commanded nations, often languished in his chamber without an attendant.

In this melancholy state, he commanded messengers to recall his eldest son, Abouzaid, from the army. Abouzaid was alarmed at the account of his father's sickness, and hastened by long journeys to his place of residence. Morad was yet living, and felt his strength return at the embraces of his son; then commanding him to sit down at his bed-side, "Abouzaid," said he, "thy father has no more to hope or fear from the inhabitants of the earth; the cold hand of the angel of death is now upon him, and the voracious grave is howling for its prey. Hear, therefore, the precepts of ancient experience; let not

my

last instructions issue forth in vain. Thou hast seen me happy and calamitous: thou hast beheld my exaltation and my fall. My power is in the hands of my enemies; my treasures have rewarded my accusers; but mine inheritance the clemency of the emperor has spared, and my wisdom his anger could not take away. Cast thine eyes round thee: whatsoever thou beholdest will in a few hours be thine: apply thine ear to my dictates, and these possessions will promote thy happiness. Aspire not to public honours enter not the palaces of kings; thy wealth will set thee above insult: let thy moderation keep thee below envy. Content thyself with private dig5 Nothing more.

4 And no exactness.

nity; diffuse thy riches amongst thy friends; let every day extend thy beneficence; and suffer not thy heart to be at rest till thou art loved by all to whom thou art known. In the height of my power, I said to defamation, Who will hear thee? and to artifice, What canst thou perform? But, my son, despise not thou the malice of the weakest: remember that venom supplies the want of strength; and that the lion may perish by the puncture of an asp."

Morad expired in a few hours. Abouzaid, after the months of mourning, determined to regulate his conduct by his father's precepts, and cultivate the love of mankind by every art of kindness and endearment. He wisely considered that domestic happiness was first to be secured, and that none have so much power of doing good or hurt as those who are present in the house of negligence, hear the bursts of thoughtless merriment, and observe the starts of unguarded passion. He, therefore, augmented the pay of all his attendants, and requited every exertion of uncommon diligence by supernumerary gratuities. While he congratulated himself upon the fidelity and affection of his family, he was in the night alarmed by robbers; who being pursued and taken, declared that they had been admitted by one of his servants. The servant immediately confessed that he unbarred the door because another, not more worthy of confidence, was entrusted with the keys.

6 None Niemand. The verb must be put in the singular number.

7 To congratulate upon Glück wünschen zu.

8 To unbar aufriegeln.

9 To be entrusted with (say, to have in guard) in Verwahrung haben.

Abouzaid was thus convinced, that a dependent could not easily be made a 10 friend; and that while many were soliciting for the first rank of favour, all those would be alienated whom he disappointed. He, therefore, resolved to associate with a few equal companions, selected from among 11 the chief men of the province. With these he lived happily for a time, till familiarity set them free from restraint, and every man thought himself at liberty to indulge his own caprice, and advance his own opinions. They then disturbed each other with contrariety of inclinations, and difference of sentiments: and Abouzaid was necessitated to offend one party by concurrence, or both by indifference.

He afterwards determined to avoid a close union with beings so discordant in their nature, and to diffuse himself in a larger circle. He practised the smile of universal courtesy, and invited all to his table, but admitted none to his retirements. Many who had been rejected in his choice of friendship, now refused to accept his acquaintance; and of those whom plenty and magnificence drew to his table, every one pressed forward toward intimacy, thought himself overlooked in the crowd, and murmured because he was not distinguished above the rest. By degrees all made advances and all resented repulse. The table was then covered with delicaces in vain, the music sounded in empty rooms, and Abouzaid was 12 left to form in solitude some new scheme of pleasure or security.

Resolving now to try the force of gratitude, he inquired for men of science, whose merit was obscured by poverty. His house was soon crowded with poets, sculptors, painters, and designers, who wantoned in an expensive plenty, and employed their powers in celebrating their patron. But in a short time they forgot the distress from which they had been rescued, and began to consider their deliverer as a wretch of narrow capacity, who was growing great by works which he could not perform, and whom they overpaid by condescending to accept his bounties. Abouzaid heard their murmurs, and dismissed them; and from that hour continued blind to colours, and deaf to panegyric.

As the sons of art departed, muttering threats of perpetual infamy, Abouzaid, who stood at the gate, called to him Hamet the poet. "Hamet," said he, "thy ingratitude has put an end to my hopes and experiments. I have now learned the vanity of those labours that wish to be rewarded by human benevolence. I shall henceforth do good and avoid evil, without respect to the opinion of men; and resolve to solicit only the approbation of that Being whom alone we are sure to please by endeavouring to please him."

DR. JOHNSON.

II.

The Vision of Almet.

Almet the dervise, who watched the sacred lamp in the sepulchre of the prophet, as he one day rose up from the devotions of the morning, which he had performed at the gate of the temple, with his body turned towards the east, and his forehead on the earth, saw before him a man in splendid apparel, attended by a long retinue, who gazed steadfastly on him, with a look of mournful complacency, and seemed desirous to speak, but unwilling to offend.

The dervise, after a short silence, advanced, and saluting him with a calm dignity, which independence confers upon humility, requested that he would reveal his purpose.

"Almet," said the stranger, "thou seest before thee a man whom the hand of prosperity has overwhelmed with wretchedness. Whatever I once desired as the means of happiness I now possess; but I am not yet happy, and therefore I despair. I regret the lapse of time, because it glides away without enjoyment; and as I expect nothing in the future but the vanities of the past, I do not wish that the future should arrive yet I tremble lest it should be cut off; and my heart sinks when I anticipate the moment in which eternity shall close over the vacuity of my life, like the sea upon the path of a ship, and leave no traces of my existence more durable than the furrow which remains after the waves have united. If in the treasures of thy wisdom there is any precept to obtain felicity, vouchsafe it to me. For this pur