furface of the waves are to mariners. Fear nothing but your own confcience, and aim at nothing but the profperity of the empire. Then fhall thy throne be established like the everlasting mountains, and thy virtues be applauded in the utmost regions of the earth. Kings fhall feek thy friendship, and fages drink instruction from thy mouth. The merchant fhall flourish under thy protection and the ftranger fojourn fafely under the fhadow of the laws. The hearts of the widow and orphan fhall fing for joy, and the mouth of the infant, in lifping accents, declare thy praise." Immediately all the people proclaimed him king, and all the nobles congratulated him on his afcenfion to the crown, praying the Almighty to fhower down bleffings on his reign.

"Ah my dear governefs," faid Mifs Metville, "how much I admire the young prince. But what did the old king mean ? was he afraid of fpirits, that he talked of evil angels?"!

"The eaftern nations, my love, believe that after death they are in the care of good or bad fpirits, who reward or punish them according to their actions while living. You have too much understanding to give into fo weak an idea as that of spirits, though there is undoubtedly as certain a punishment for the wicked as there is a reward for the virtuous. But it grows late, to morrow I will relate to you a Perfian story on Luxury.

THIRD EVENING.

LUXURY,

A PERSIAN STORY.

SCHAH Abbas, at the beginning of his reign, was more. luxurious than became fo great a prince: one might have judged of the vastness of his empire by the variety of dishes at his table; fome were fent him from the Tigris; fome from the Euphrates; others from Oxus and the Cafpian sea. One day when he gave a dinner to his nobles, Mahomet Ali, keeper of the three tombs, was placed next to the best dish of all the feast, out of respect to the fanctity of his office; but instead of eating heartily.

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he fetched a difmal groan and began weeping. Schah Abbas, furprized at his behaviour, defired him to explain it to the company he would fain have been excused, but the Sophi ordered him on pain of his displeasure to acquaint him with the cause of his disorder.

Know then, faid he, O monarch of the earth, that when I saw thy table covered in this manner, it brought to my mind a dream, or rather a vision which was fent me from the prophet whom I ferve. On the seventh night of the moon Rhamazan, I was fleeping under the fhade of the sacred tombs, when methought the holy ravens of the fanctuary bore me up on their wings into the air, and in a few moments conveyed me to the lowest heavens, where the mef fenger of God, on whom be peace, was fitting in his luminous tribunal, to receive. petitions from the earth. Around him food an infinite throng of animals, of every fpecies

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fpecies and quality, which all joined in preferring a complaint against the Schah Abbas for destroying them wantonly and tyrannis cally, beyond what any neceffity could jus tify, or any natural appetite demand.

It was alledged that ten or twelve of them were often murdered to compose one dish for the niceness of thy palate; fome gave their tongues only, fome their bowels, fome their fat, others their brains or blood. In fhort they declared fuch constant waste was made of them, that unless a stop was put to it in time, they should perish entirely by gluttony. The prophet hearing this, bent his. brows and ordered fix vultures to fetch thee alive before him. They instantly brought thee to his tribunal, where he commanded thy ftomach to be opened, to see whether it was bigger or more capacious than those of other men; when it was found to be juft of the common size, he permitted all the animals to make reprisals on the

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