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diff --git a/78143-0.txt b/78143-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2d33718 --- /dev/null +++ b/78143-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6450 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78143 *** + + + + + NOURMAHAL, + + An Oriental Romance. + + BY MICHAEL J. QUIN, + + AUTHOR OF “A STEAM VOYAGE DOWN THE DANUBE,” + “A VISIT TO SPAIN,” ETC. + + IN THREE VOLUMES. + + VOL. III. + + LONDON: + HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER, + 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. + + 1838. + + LONDON: + PRINTED BY STEWART AND MURRAY, + OLD BAILEY. + + + + + TABLE OF CONTENTS + + CHAPTER I. + CHAPTER II. + CHAPTER III. + CHAPTER IV. + CHAPTER V. + CHAPTER VI. + CHAPTER VII. + CHAPTER VIII. + CHAPTER IX. + CHAPTER X. + CHAPTER X (continued). + CHAPTER XI. + CHAPTER XII. + CHAPTER XIII. + CHAPTER XIV. + CHAPTER XV. + CHAPTER XVI. + CHAPTER XVII. + CHAPTER XVIII. + CHAPTER XIX. + NOTES TO VOLUME I. + NOTES TO VOLUME II. + NOTES TO VOLUME III. + TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES + PUBLISHER ADVERTISEMENTS + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + Tell him the balmy breath of spring + Hath waked from winter sleep + The hills and vales;--that on the wing + In airy circles sweep + The blithesome birds from tree to tree, + Sweet minstrels of the grove! + Oh! bid him feel their ecstasy, + But tell not that I love! + + Tell him the primrose now is seen + On every bank and brae; + That all the fields look gaily green + Beneath the cloudless day. + Hark! the brooks murmur as they fall, + Soft as the turtle-dove! + Oh! how these scenes the past recall! + But tell not that I love! + + Tell him that now in every dale, + Beneath the hawthorn shade, + The shepherd woos, with artless tale, + The fond believing maid. + All nature smiles, and I alone + A sense of sadness prove; + Oh! bid him come ere Spring be gone, + But tell not that I love! + + STORY-TELLER OF CASHMERE. + + +It would be vain to deny that the presence of the young prince inspired +the gay equestrians, amongst whom he rode towards the fortress of +Kebeer, (as old Chunder called the subah’s castle,) with a more than +ordinary degree of animation. Besides Nourmahal’s special attendants, +or rather companions, for as such she usually treated those whose +duty it was to render her personal service, all the ladies of the +harem happened to have been out with her upon this occasion. They had +expressed an ardent curiosity to see the hermit, concerning whom Kanun +had told them every thing she had heard from her mistress--and rather +something more, for she, led on by her fertile imagination, ascribed +to Zeinedeen many magical attributes to which he made no sort of +pretension. + +It was unfortunate for the purpose of his light-hearted visitors, that +Nourmahal did not find the sage in a mood in which she could have +thought of asking him to admit them to his presence. She had access to +his tower under all circumstances, for he felt so deep an interest in +her fortunes, that he was never unprepared to receive her, or unwilling +to afford her the consolation and advice which the peculiarity of her +situation required. + +On more than one occasion expressions of almost paternal affection +towards her escaped his lips. Kazim’s name, too, he mentioned, as if +it had been long familiar to him. To the surprise of Nourmahal, he +appeared fully acquainted with the history of her family, from Kazim’s +first entrance into the college of Ulug Beg, to his elevation to the +highest civil office of the empire. He moreover informed her that both +her parents had, by the order of the emperor, set out for Cashmere, but +he feared that they were summoned to the emperor’s presence for no good +purpose. He suspected that Bochari intended to use them as instruments +for promoting his design, in some way or other, to obtain possession of +prince Chusero. + +This intelligence was at once the source of joy and alarm to the mind +of Nourmahal. Scarcely any event could have been more delightful to +her, than the arrival in Cashmere of those whom she loved with all the +tenderness of the only affection, that never in her bosom was mingled +with pain. But the dimly shadowed suspicions of Zeinedeen filled +her with anticipations of evil, which the immediate approach of the +imperial troops was by no means calculated to diminish. + +It happened, that while Nourmahal was with the hermit, breathing +all her anxiety upon this subject, three foreign, and very +remarkable-looking persons were admitted into his chamber, with whom +he at once entered into discussions that seemed to have been going on +for some days, as topics were frequently alluded to, on which Zeinedeen +and the strangers appeared to have already agreed. The latter spoke in +the Persian language, with an accent novel to the ear of Nourmahal, +but with an elegance of idiom which, combined with the extraordinary +statements they made, won her for the moment from her own thoughts. + +The strangers had the crowns of their heads closely shaved, a wreath +of hair being still preserved, which, broken only over the forehead, +fell gracefully towards the back and shoulders. Upon the eldest of the +three, who was named Aquaviva, the lapse of more than seventy years +appeared to have left few traces beyond the silvery lustre of his +locks. Monserrate and Euriquez, his companions, were much younger. +Their countenances, of the noble European mould, and browned by the +sun of Hindostan, through which they had recently travelled, exhibited +a degree of lofty resolution, and, at the same time, of angelic +sweetness, which at once fixed Nourmahal’s attention. They were arrayed +in long flowing garbs of white camlet, cinctured at the waist by black +woollen cords, from which depended beads of an ebony colour, having +attached to them silver medals impressed with the portrait of a saint, +whom they called the Virgin, and crucifixes of the same material, +bearing the outstretched figure of a divine sufferer, whom they styled +the Messiah. When they first entered the hermit’s chamber their heads +were enveloped in cowls, which they drew back upon their mantles in +making their obeisance. Their feet were sandalled. + +Zeinedeen was not unwilling that Nourmahal should hear the tidings +these interesting strangers came to announce. They spoke of a land +that once flowed with milk and honey, and contained a people the +peculiar favourites of the High God, amongst whom this Messiah was +born--amongst whom he spent his life--teaching them doctrines of the +most sublime description. But while he was yet an infant they sought +his death, and not being able to discover him, they slew innocents +without number, filling their beauteous cities with mourning, in order +that he should not escape their unprovoked vengeance. To his words, +when he grew up, they would not listen; and when wonders, such as earth +had never witnessed before--a voice from the skies--the leper suddenly +cleansed--the incurable restored to health--the dead to life--doctrines +which no mind merely human could have conceived, bore in letters of +light, testimony to his origin and his mission--the very people who +ought to have been the first to love and worship him, condemned him to +crucifixion! + +Nourmahal’s heart wept as Aquaviva unfolded the history of the Holy One +represented on his beads. She expressed a strong desire to learn more +upon the subject, but the advancing day, and the recollection that the +ladies of the harem were waiting below, prevented her from prolonging +her visit. + +That group of fair equestrians, take them all in all, when joined by +Nourmahal, formed as lovely a cavalcade as the eye of a warrior could +desire to rest upon. Some three or four were originally captives, who +had become the property of Afkun by right of war, during the civil +contests which had taken place in Cashmere. Others he had purchased +from the masters of caravans passing through the country, with a view +to protect them from the tyranny of their owners, of whose conduct +towards them they had but too much reason to complain. They were +almost all Georgian or Mingrelian females, scarcely inferior to those +of Circassia in gracefulness of figure, or purity of complexion, and +more than equal to them in liveliness of temper and quickness of +intelligence. + +The single passion by which the heart of the subah was engrossed, left +him but a slight fund of affection for the secondary ornaments of his +establishment. It was a necessary part of his state, as viceroy, to +have his harem filled with bright-eyed damsels. To a generous soul like +his, it was no small gratification to have the means of affording a +safe and agreeable home to females, whose exposure to vicissitude and +suffering became only more imminent, in proportion to the beauty by +which they were distinguished. + +Amongst all his cares and griefs, Afkun never forgot what was due to +the happiness even of the lowliest of those inmates of his household. +He cherished them for their very dependence upon him. All that he knew +of love,--the deepest, the tenderest, that ever fired the pulse of +man,--he consecrated to Nourmahal. He gave it the more, the more he was +forsaken; for hope still lent a gleam of sunshine even to his visions +of despair. But, at the same time, he continued uniformly to discharge, +with the utmost delicacy and kindness, his duties towards all those +who were under his protection. They felt and returned his beneficence. +They beheld, without jealousy, the unequivocal homage which he paid to +his principal consort; they even sympathized in those sufferings which +his heart silently sustained; and their only rivalry with each other +was to see who should best succeed, by gaiety of manner, by composition +of new airs or dances, or dramatic amusements, to beguile him of that +despondency to which his noble spirit seemed a predestined victim. + +Nevertheless, as they rode along,--so natural is coquetry to the +sex,--they were not insensible, as many a side-glance and playful +smile could tell, to the martial bearing of the young prince, who now +commanded their escort. Some pitied him for his misfortunes; some could +not help admiring him for the reports they had heard of his valour; +others thought it but right to yield him the allegiance of their +hearts, as the person best entitled, in the subah’s opinion, to the +crown of Hindostan. For some reason or other, or no reason at all, the +language of admiration was eloquent in every eye. Girths never before +had such a propensity to loosen, or whips to fall, or ponies, hitherto +as quiet as the caged dove, to discharge themselves of their tremulous +burthens. It was the prerogative of the prince to compose their alarms; +his highness had abundant work on his hands, to pay, on all sides, the +attentions which the exigencies of each moment demanded. + +Afkun, riding by the side of Nourmahal, could well afford to smile +at these little accidents. Although she appeared more than usually +reserved, (the intelligence about her beloved parents,--the tidings +of the strange dervishes,--the unexpected meeting with the emperor, +might well have made her so,) still for Afkun it was enough to know +that he was so near to the star of his existence. There was something +even in the checked pacing of his proud Arabian, moving step for step +with her favourite palfrey, which afforded him pleasure. He spoke +cheerfully of the strong defences of the castle, which he pointed out +to Nourmahal as they approached that fortress. He showed her that its +heights were domineered by no others within the reach of the most +powerful artillery; that no hostile force could attempt to cross the +moat by which it was surrounded, without being exposed to instant +destruction, and that the idea of scaling the mural precipices which +ascended from the moat to the citadel would be insanity, even if all +other difficulties had been overcome. What pangs would not have rent +the bosom of that animated soldier, had he known how lightly his +observations fell upon the heart to which they were addressed, and that +other words, of more than magic power, were still breathing round it a +music that turned all other sounds adrift upon the empty air! + +Behind Nourmahal, however, rode a maid,--that pale Circassian,--for +whom no look, no word that escaped the subah was ever lost, when she +was within its influence. Nothing, perhaps, would have surprised Kanun +so much as to be told by some lynx-eyed observer of her conduct, that +however contented she felt in the presence of her mistress, to whom +she was affectionately attached, she might have been said to live only +when breathing the same atmosphere with Afkun. He was indeed the sun in +whose rays her lilied countenance unfolded all its natural charms. But, +ah! that sun, she often thought to herself, was so far above her reach, +that beyond the delight of contemplating it often from her humble +station, she conceived no hope. + +The subah never had the slightest cause for suspecting this tender and +silent love. As the handmaid of her to whom he was so utterly devoted, +she was always pleasing in his sight. So was any tree or plant which +Nourmahal preferred. So was any bird she fed from her own hand, or any +prospect of the scene around, which she thought particularly beautiful. +He could not indeed but have observed the diligence with which Kanun +always arranged his toilet, placing in the vases of his cabinet those +flowers which she knew he liked best, because they were favourites of +Nourmahal, and preparing for his use napkins fringed by her own skill +with gold, and perfumed with the most grateful essences. All these +attentions he marked with delight, because he hoped that they were +suggested by Nourmahal. It never occurred to him that they might have +emanated from any other source. + +Kanun believed it to be her province, to busy herself as much as +possible in every thing of a domestic nature that related to the subah. +She kept the keys of his ward-robe--was always the first to enter his +cabinet after he quitted it--often rested her head, and gave free scope +to sighs, to tears, on the cushion still warm with his breath after his +noon-tide slumber. She suffered no hand but her own to gather up the +fine linen he had just left off. It exhaled a fragrance that revived +the fading bloom of her heart. But, affected as she was by all these +symptoms of an unchangeable, adoring, passion, she dared not to confess +even to her most secret reflections, that existence would for her have +no value, if Afkun were no more. + +Nobody who had beheld that gay and gallant cavalcade crossing the +drawbridge of the castle, would have supposed that they were entering +a species of prison, in which, according to all probability, they were +likely to be strictly enclosed for months to come. With the exception +of the viceroy and his consort, all looked as cheerful as the open +day. The prince, full of the ardour of youth, entered into the playful +sallies of his fair companions, with unrestrained glee, carefully +preserving himself, however, within the limits of that decorous +familiarity, which, as a guest of the subah, it was incumbent upon him +not to violate. The least transgression, in this respect, would have +at once solved every bond between them. Omrah, prince, or emperor, +whatever the rank, or power, of the man, received within the door, be +to him sacred the treasures of the harem, or his blood must answer for +it. Upon this point our laws, our feelings of honour, know no exception +or indulgence. The harem we defend at the peril of all things,--wealth, +station, glory, life, a thousand lives if we possessed them. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + Oh! that I were a shepherd boy, + Upon some green hill side; + Fair flocks and herds my only joy, + A pipe my only pride! + Then far from war and thee I’d stray + In search of peace alone, + Courting the shade the live-long day, + Unknowing and unknown. + + The birds that with sweet rapture greet + The morn, my mates would be; + And ocean murmuring at my feet, + Would lend its minstrelsy + To soothe the anguish of this breast, + That once lived on thy smile, + Nor feared, while in its sunshine blest, + ’Twas meant but to beguile! + + But no,--I ne’er shall thee accuse, + Thy heart no falsehood stains: + ’Twas Fancy gave thy cheek those hues, + That held my soul in chains. + Forget thy vow--the heaven I felt, + Believing thou wert mine; + And think the valley where we knelt, + A visionary shrine! + + STORY-TELLER OF CASHMERE. + + +The drawbridge being passed by the whole party, was, on the instant, +raised by the warders of the castle, one of whom stated to Afkun, in +a low voice, that not only the van-guards, but the imperial troops, +had been just seen from the watch-tower, descending the mountains, and +approaching rapidly towards the capital. + +“Oh! thanks to Allah!” exclaimed Nourmahal, who over-heard the +communication. + +The warder looked no less astonished than the subah, who controlled his +feelings, however, until having alighted, he assisted his consort to +dismount, and conducted her to her chamber. + +“What am I to understand, Nourmahal, from these words you have just +uttered?” + +“That I am transported with the hope of soon again beholding my beloved +parents!” + +Afkun had not seen Nourmahal betray so much emotion, since the morning +she quitted Agra. He could not comprehend it. It came upon him as if a +thunder-cloud broke upon his head. + +“Yes, Afkun--my parents--your friends--they are, or will speedily +be with the army. Zeinedeen has informed me so; and may Allah grant +that my father’s presence, his unfailing wisdom, his just influence +with both the contending parties, may bring these dire contests to a +peaceable issue!” + +“I was not prepared for this. The high chancellor, Kazim;--he, indeed, +whom I have never ceased to love--he, Nourmahal, who placed this hand +in mine--if any power on earth can subdue the malice of Bochari--can +extinguish that torch which has set the empire in conflagration--it +must be Kazim.” + +“Wonder then no longer, Afkun, at my feelings of joy.” + +“I share them with you; nothing could happen which would afford me much +greater happiness than to receive within our gates those two beloved +sources of your existence, by you scarcely more beloved than by me.” + +Nourmahal, in the flush of happiness that lightened in her countenance, +thanked her husband with one of those heavenly smiles, for which, were +it his to bestow, he would have given the empire of the world. + +“Oh! cherished one,” he exclaimed, folding his arm round her waist, and +looking in fixed rapture upon her glowing cheek--“Oh! Nourmahal--should +it be Kazim’s fortune, by his sage counsels to terminate this war, +consistently with the just rights of the prince, and the interests +of the empire--say that we shall retire from these turmoils of lofty +station, and take up our abode in some solitude, where we shall +thenceforth live only for each other! Promise me but this--and for +myself I shall demand no other terms.” + +“My hand is yours, Afkun. You know who it was that surrendered it to +your care. Never--I truly believe--never was a wife more beloved than I +have been--than I am!--beloved much--far beyond my deserts”---- + +“That, Nourmahal, were impossible.” + +“You have often--too often,” she added, turning away her eyes, “felt +the insensibility with which I have met your affection--that affection +ever to me the same--ever generous--ever ardent. Forgive, Afkun, these +tears--they rush from all the fountains of my soul”---- + +“They are natural--sacred. The hope of seeing again, and soon, those +whom we both so truly love”---- + +“Would that that were the only cause!” + +“You feel no alarm for the safety of the high chancellor?” + +“None--no--no. Oh, these unbidden witnesses!--they will reveal all!” +exclaimed Nourmahal, endeavouring to check the tears that flooded her +cheek. + +Afkun trembled, fearful that some dreadful disclosure was coming. He +led Nourmahal to the divan; sitting by her, he took her hand in his, +and repeatedly kissing it, besought her to be comforted. + +“Alas! speak not thus to me--no kind word passes your lips that is not +a barbed arrow to my soul.” + +“I have no suspicions, Nourmahal, of your honour--but if”---- + +“Say it at once--if you thought me false to you”---- + +“Ah, if that calamity be mine, Afkun has no further occupation in this +world!” + +“You would plunge your knife here?” + +“Allah be my witness that I would freely pour out all my blood for +you--be your guilt what it may!” + +“Had you tendered me the poisoned bowl, I could now drain it to the +dregs!” + +“Oh! why did I not perish at Lahore? Why on the battle-field was there +no sepulchre for me?” + +“It is I--it is I--that should not have seen this day!” + +“It is gone--the light of my heart--for ever! A hope--I will confess +it--was growing there that when these contentions were over, I should +abandon all pursuits of glory, and fly to some mountain home, where, +dedicated entirely to thee, Nourmahal, by thee solely cherished in +return, we should yield all our remaining days to the repose of +well-tried affection. That vision which has cheered me through many +a weary hour--which nerved my arm, and fired my soul in moments of +desperate engagement--which even forbade me to remember the marks +of indifference from thee that sometimes forced themselves on my +attention--that enchanting vision is no more. Oh, Allah!” exclaimed the +subah, rising and wringing his hands together in frantic grief--“Oh, +spirit of justice!--of benevolence, for such thou must be, who rulest +the world--what have I done to deserve this terrible penalty at thy +hands? Nourmahal faithless to me?”---- + +“Understand all my guilt--but not more. Your rights as my consort--my +honour as your wedded wife--remain, and ever shall remain to the last +moment of my life inviolate.” + +Afkun heard this declaration, made in the emphatic and dignified tone +of innocence, with a manifest sense of joy. A gleam of light flashed +from his livid face. + +“Repeat those words--they bring back the ebbing current to my heart.” + +“The daughter of the house of Ayas--I will add, the wife of Shere +Afkun--knows too well the respect she owes to her family, to her +honoured lord, to herself, to incur any guilt that would degrade her in +her own, or in their esteem.” + +“Spoken like an Ayas. Oh Heaven, I thank thee that I have lived to hear +these words, happen what may! What then is there, Nourmahal, which I +cannot endure--cannot forgive?” + +“That which I dare not disclose to thee now, Afkun. Leave me. I am in +agony.” + +“Ah, the fatal truth is now before me! I read it in those tears.--The +sultan!”---- + +“I am, indeed, betrayed. You now know that which I have long +endeavoured to conceal--the fate against which I have struggled, but +which my woman’s strength has not been sufficient to subdue. It is +written in the books of Heaven against me.” + +The warrior of a hundred fields--the slayer of the lion and the +tiger--he who by his single arm rescued a besieged town from a host +of invaders--and tore up the mound that turned a river from its +course--fell breathless as the still-born babe beneath the withering +sound of these words. + +Nourmahal shrieked in alarm, fearful that the noble spirit had +departed. Kanun was instantly with her. Beholding the subah fallen +on the floor,--Nourmahal on her knees,--her cheeks pale,--her hands +endeavouring to open his, which were still clasped,--her lips uttering +incoherent cries,--the trembling maid knew not for a moment what to do. +Instinctively hastening to her own room, she returned with vases of +spikenard and vinegar, which she poured upon Afkun’s temples, rubbing +them with all her force. Then kindling frankincense, she held it to +the channels of his breath, while some of her companions, whom she +called to her assistance, bore away Nourmahal to her bed-chamber. The +affectionate Circassian, baring the feet of the subah, directed others +to anoint them in hot oil, while she continued, until her strength +was exhausted by her often-renewed exertions, to increase the nearly +subsided pulse of life which she still felt in his veins. It grew +stronger by degrees. The lips trembled and received again the colour +of health. The eye-lids opened, and the spirit within them looked out, +apparently in search of an object no longer to be seen. + +“She is gone!” said Afkun, with a sob of anguish that seemed to rend +his bosom; “she is gone from me. We meet no more here!” + +Kanun, kneeling down by her master, gently raised his head, and +prevailed upon him to taste a little sherbet. The pressure of his hand +upon her burning forehead told her how much he thanked her for her +services. He held her still near him. Her hair being dishevelled by her +exertions, he kindly parted it, and gazed for a moment on those eyes +all beaming upon him with confessions, which fell like drops of evening +upon the parched flower. + +“There is, at all events,” he said, in a melancholy voice, “one being +who loves Afkun. Be it thine, Kanun, to preserve the urn in which my +ashes shall soon be enclosed. I desire for it no other monument than +this faithful lap, in which my head is now laid. Open the sepulchre +sometimes,--speak to me, and let a tear witness that you love your +master. Be faithful to me while you live; it will be some consolation +to my afflicted spirit. And when your hour is come, let them deposit +your remains with mine.” + +The subah, rising gently, extricated himself from the arms of the +weeping girl, who, lost to every recollection save that of her love so +long suppressed, so unexpectedly recognised beyond the highest hope +she had ever allowed herself to cherish, continued on the carpet as if +she feared to lose the position in which she had the double happiness +of restoring her lord to life, and of receiving from him permission to +cherish, even beyond the grave, the only idol of her soul. It was a +bequest which she would not have exchanged for a sceptre. Love never +before obtained such a reward. She was inspired with the presentiment +that she might be summoned, before many hours elapsed, to perform the +office assigned to her, an office fraught with pangs of unutterable +grief, but of grief made sacred to her by affection,--of grief dearer +to her than any joy,--of grief destined, sooner or later, to seal upon +them both the same tomb,--their bridal bed,--the nuptial bower, where +they were never to separate! + +Afkun ascended the watch-tower of the citadel, and plainly observed +drawn scymitars and spear-heads flashing in the sun, through clouds +of dust, in the direction of the pass through which masses of cavalry +could alone enter Cashmere. Their appearance was not necessary to +confirm the dark forebodings with which his mind was filled, although +his reason was convinced that, in a military point of view, his +position was impregnable. + +Accompanied by the prince, he walked several times round the ramparts, +examined the guns planted on them, sounded the fidelity of the men who +formed the garrison, inspected the fountains, the stores of rice, +corn, and ammunition, took into his own possession the keys of the +inner gate, between which and the port-cullis, now firmly secured, the +chains of the draw-bridge were coiled up. He felt satisfied that he +was prepared for a blockade, not of months, but of years, if the enemy +thought fit to persevere so long; as to any other species of hostility, +he gave it not a moment’s reflection. + +Nothing which had occurred would, however, prevent him from sending +a messenger to the emperor, with letters for Kazim Ayas and Mangeli, +inviting them to the castle, and proposing a truce during the period +they might have permission to remain there. Having informed Nourmahal +of his intention upon this point, and letters from both, addressed +to the high chancellor, under cover to Jehangire, having been placed +in the hands of an officer, the latter, escorted by twenty spearmen, +with their shields upon their backs, set out for the encampment of the +imperial army. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + The islands saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth + were astonished; they drew near and came. + + THE ROYAL PROPHET. + + +Chunder’s announcement of the approach of the emperor suspended the +conference, in which the hermit was engaged with the three foreign +dervishes. Zeinedeen, as well as his visitors, were fully apprised of +the entry of the imperial army into the province, but they were not +prepared to behold the sovereign, in the simple attire of a Himalayan +hunter. The hermit received Jehangire with every token of respect, +assuring him that, although unescorted, beneath his roof the son of +Acbar--of a master whom he loved and honoured for his virtues, his +matchless valour, his devotion to the welfare of all his people, to +whatever religious sect they belonged, his munificent patronage of +learned men, and his selection for the great offices of state of +persons entitled to them by their integrity and talents--was secure +from every danger, and welcome to all the hospitality, however humble, +which that roof could afford. + +Jehangire was affected by the warm-hearted reception which he +experienced from the hermit. The three strangers were about to make +their obeisances, when the emperor interposed, and saying in a familiar +way that as he was at present nothing more than a pilgrim, they must +treat him as such. Probably they were proceeding also to the temple of +Mahadeo, and would permit him to accompany them. + +Aquaviva confessed that he and his companions were indeed, as the +emperor conjectured, pilgrims; but that their homage was due to other +shrines, in which the presence of the divinity depended upon no time or +season. + +Auzeem remarked the courtly, yet simple and earnest manner in which +the stranger uttered these words, and drawing Jehangire aside, +informed him in a low voice that he believed these persons to be the +missionaries from the country of the Franks, who had obtained a license +from his majesty not long since to visit Hindostan. The emperor, +expressing his satisfaction at having thus encountered them, questioned +them on that point. They immediately produced the imperial rescript +to which Auzeem alluded, and expressed their happiness on being so +unexpectedly placed in the imperial presence. + +Jehangire prided himself, and not altogether unjustly, upon his +acquaintance with the theological points of difficulty, that formed +the principal subjects of controversy among the diversified sects with +which his empire abounded. He was, therefore, strongly disposed to +enter at once upon the discussion of the doctrines which the strangers +came to inculcate. But Aquaviva, feeling that the great object he had +in view might be endangered, by embarking at the moment in an argument +with the emperor, humbly sought permission to wait upon his majesty at +some more favourable season, when his mind would be relieved from the +pressure of the civil war. + +The hermit took the same view; but the emperor, remarking that topics +of this description were to him a favourite source of recreation, fixed +that the missionaries should attend him in the camp the following day. +He then gave them leave to withdraw; but as his curiosity to learn +the species of faith which they professed was strongly excited, he +requested, after their departure, that Zeinedeen would enlighten him on +that subject. The hermit expressed his readiness to obey the emperor’s +desire, though he felt scarcely competent to unfold so mighty a theme, +as he had been enabled to catch only a faint glimmering of it from the +communications of the strangers. + +“But, sire,” he continued, “I have heard enough from those holy +men--for such I believe them to be--to convince my mind that they come +amongst us with tidings of no common character. When I look upwards and +behold in the midst of night the numberless worlds by which this small +planet is surrounded, I am astonished at the immeasurable affection +which the Great Spirit must bear to the beings whom he has placed here, +if it be true, as these messengers declare, that he has sent hither, +not a seraph, nor an archangel, but a God, to open to us the path by +which we are to ascend to his presence!” + +“The books of the sibyls, and the traditions of all ages,” observed +Jehangire, “abound in predictions upon this subject. Mahomet applied +them to himself; but I must confess that I have never been able to +satisfy my understanding as to the propriety of his claims.” + +“The strangers,” pursued Zeinedeen, “have produced to me books of +unquestionable antiquity, of which it is manifest that the Koran is +little more than a paraphrase.” + +“I had an opportunity of seeing in Persia,” remarked Auzeem, “the +writings to which you allude. The plagiarisms of the prophet are +palpable.” + +“It is now about sixteen centuries ago, as these foreigners say, since +three or four sages, skilled in the science of the heavens, while +engaged in contemplating the myriads of lights that glow in those happy +regions, beheld an orb of singular lustre suddenly descend from the +utmost heights of space. It then moved in the direction of the Great +Sea, and the sages, struck with admiration of its wonderful beauty, +as well as with a profound impression that it was the herald of some +supernatural event, followed it in its course, until it stopped over +an obscure village near Jerusalem. On their way they inquired of some +shepherds, who were keeping the night watches over their flocks, +whether any great king was lately born in that country; but before +the shepherds could give any answer to their questions, they were +all encompassed by a canopy of fire, which could have been no other +than the brightness of God. The air was filled with breathings of +incomparable harmony, while in the canopy were seen hosts of angelic +forms, whose voices proclaimed the birth of an infant, come to redeem +mankind from the penalty which their early disobedience to the Supreme +One would otherwise have entailed upon them. ‘Glory, therefore,’ sung +the heavenly host, ‘be to God in the highest, and peace to men of good +will!’” + +“I would have given my empire,” exclaimed Jehangire, “to have heard +those sounds.” + +“Following the course indicated by the star, the sages and the +shepherds entered a cave that had been commonly used as a stable, and +there they found laid in a manger, wrapped in bands of coarse linen, +a child newly born. They worshipped him, declaring all that they had +heard, and made him offerings of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. + +“The Jewish authorities, fearful that the end of their power was come, +sought the destruction of the infant; but he was taken into Egypt, +where he was preserved from their hatred. Returning afterwards to +Syria, he spent his early years in retirement amongst the mountains +and by the sea of Tiberias, whose lonely shores he seems to have loved +with a particular affection. The humble fishermen, who frequented its +waters, were his chosen companions. To them he imparted his doctrines, +and confided the propagation of the faith which he came to establish.” + +“This is strange, seeing that his first worshippers were sages,” said +Auzeem. + +“Every thing about this visitor of our planet was wonderful. He +appears, throughout the whole of his life here, to have been raised +above all men, not by the display of any symbol of authority, but by +his invariable meekness and humility. The single word LOVE, embraced +the whole of his religion--love for the Highest God, of whom the angels +sung--love for men to whom they announced the tidings of his perpetual +peace. + +“Many events above the course of nature bore witness to the origin and +mission of this Teacher. Persons troubled with evil demons he rescued +from their sufferings; by a word he raised the dead to life, stilled +the tempest, gave language to the dumb, and hearing to the deaf, and +blood to the withered hand, and vision to the faded eye. He walked upon +the foaming waves of the sea. He passed, unseen, through multitudes. +He fed thousands upon a small basket of fish and bread, and still +abundant fragments remained after they were satisfied. While he was +inculcating his doctrine, on one occasion, amidst his chosen ministers, +upon the summit of a mountain, his face was suddenly illuminated, and +his garments became whiter than the snow. Two of the patriarchs of +the elder days descended from heaven, and conversed with him upon the +approaching termination of his career upon earth. They were succeeded +by a cloud, from which the Great Spirit spoke, declaring the Messiah to +be his Son, and commanding obedience to his precepts. + +“One would think, that after such evidence as these events furnished +to the character of the Holy One, the generation of that day, at all +events, would have unanimously accepted him as their master, and loved +him as their mediator. On the contrary, they gave no belief to the +awful signs of his office; they despised his admonitions, ridiculed him +as an impostor, and finally sacrificed him to the jealousy of their +priesthood. The sun shrouded itself while the mob of Jerusalem nailed +him to a cross. The dead looked out from their sepulchres, disturbed by +the woe which convulsed all nature. But for that act, the haughty city, +whose palaces and temples glittered as the fairest then upon earth, +soon after became a heap of ruins, which it still remains, and the +descendants of that mob have been scattered through all nations, never +to be re-united until they repent them of their crime.” + +“I have often remarked those Hebrews,” said the emperor, “in the +bazaars at Agra. Their countenances betray them as an outlawed race. +They never look composed. There are traces of agitation on the +quivering lip and the heated cheek, which have always made me look +at them, I knew not why, with suspicion, as if they had been fugitive +murderers.” + +“He, the crucified, in three days arose from his tomb, and after +repeating to his ministers all that he had previously taught them, +ascended to the bright regions whence he came.” + +“This is, in truth,” observed Auzeem, “a marvellous narrative. We have, +in Hindostan, a variety of traditions which evidently relate to the +Syrian prophet; and several of our poets even assure us, that there are +nights so perfectly clear and calm, as to disclose the path of light by +which he trod through the stars on his way to his heavenly abode.” + +“But the greatest wonder of all, as it seems to me,” pursued the +hermit, “is the rapid and secure progress which the new doctrine made +through many nations. The ministers of the Messiah were all of them, +without exception, poor and uneducated men. But a Spirit is said to +have descended upon them, before they went forth to teach, which fired +their hearts with indomitable fortitude, and endowed their tongues +with every language. These inspired priests, without the aid of torch +or sword, overthrew myriads of idols, and substituted in their shrines +the cross. The sanguinary and superstitious rites to which men had +been accustomed they abolished, and in their room they established an +unbloody sacrifice, and a system of worship the most pure, the most +spiritual and exalting, which the human mind could adopt, as a memorial +of the redeeming God, and as a bond of sanctity between earth and +heaven.” + +“I am deeply interested in this subject which you have just disclosed +to us,” said the emperor, “and should be much delighted if, when next +the strangers celebrate the rites of their religion, I could be present +to witness them. As to the shrine of Mahadeo, let it be demolished.” + +“Methinks it is the hour,” rejoined Zeinedeen, rising and looking at +the sun, “when they perform their mid-day worship. They have converted +a large cavern in the neighbouring mountain into a temple, where they +are already attended by many followers. Yes, I hear the echo of the +hymn to the Virgin by which they usually preface their service.” + +“Let us join them,” exclaimed the emperor, “without delay.” + +As the hermit and his companions proceeded towards the mountain whence +the sounds proceeded, they were struck by the peculiar solemnity and +harmony of the tones which reached their ears. There was no effort at +effect in the music. It was the simple modulation of a suppliant heart +bending before the throne of the Most High, breathing of confidence in +the affection of the Parent to whom it was addressed, and calculated to +raise the soul to the contemplation of other worlds. + +It swelled and died gradually upon the air as they went along, and at +some turns in the path it floated apparently so near them, that they +could almost distinguish the words. At the next step the melody died +away, as if it were terminated, and again a few paces and the full +choir, for all the worshippers joined in the anthem, resounded from the +cavern, at the entrance to which Jehangire and his companions paused to +listen. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + I myself will take of the marrow of the high cedar, + and will set it: on the high mountains of Israel will I + plant it; and it shall become a great cedar, and every + fowl shall make its nest under the branches thereof. + + EZEKIEL. + + +Proceeding forward, the emperor and his companions perceived an altar +raised at the end of the subterranean gallery, and illumined by +torches, amidst which were arranged bunches of flowers. Upon the altar +was spread a snow-white cloth, fringed with gold, and before a small +shrine of variegated marble, which was erected on the middle of the +altar, stood a richly chased golden chalice, covered by a paten of the +same material. Over both was disposed a veil of brocade, embroidered +with silver. + +The cavern chapel was nearly filled with shepherds and peasants, +dressed out in their holiday costume, for it happened to be a festival +of the Virgin. They were all kneeling, and waiting with profound +devotion for the commencement of the service. Aquaviva, and his two +companions, appeared prostrate at the foot of the altar, habited in +vestments of brocade like that with which the chalice was covered, the +figure of a cross being worked in silver on the backs of the sacred +garments. Aquaviva wore a mitre of silver tissue; his assistants were +bare-headed. + +Rising from the attitude of silent supplication, which they had for +some minutes preserved, they stood and prayed aloud that God might send +them his light and truth, and pardon them their sins, that so they +might enter his sanctuary with pure minds. They appealed to the Virgin, +and to the saints by whom the eternal throne is surrounded, to mediate +in their behalf. + +A beautiful boy, clad in a muslin surplice, then placed in Aquaviva’s +hand a golden censer, filled with kindled frankincense, with which he +fumed the altar. Having again intreated the mercy of God, he paused a +moment, and entoned in a sweet voice, tremulous with piety, that hymn +of joy, of which the heavenly messengers, who proclaimed the arrival of +the Messiah, pronounced the first words--“Glory to the God on high, and +on earth peace to men of good will.” + +The assembly took up the anthem, and in a burst of exclamation declared +their adhesion to the faith of the Redeemer. Him they praised, and +blessed, and adored--him they acknowledged to be the Christ, come to +take away the sins of the world. To him, sitting in majesty at the +right hand of the Father, they prayed for protection, because he is +the Holy One, who, with the Spirit, is most high in the glory of the +Omnipotent. + +A splendidly illuminated missal being then placed on a stand, +Monserrate read from it a selection of verses from the Canticles, each +of which bore some allusion to the Messiah. He was the graceful fawn +leaping on the mountains, and skipping over the hills;--the lover +peeping through the lattices, and calling on his beautiful one to come, +for that the winter was past, the rain was gone, the flowers appeared +in the land, it was the time of pruning, the voice of the turtle-dove +was heard, the fig-tree had put forth her green figs, and the vines in +flower yielded their delicious fragrance. “Arise, my beautiful one, and +come, shew me thy face; let thy voice sound in my ear, for thy voice is +sweet, and thy face comely.” + +“Such is the affectionate language,” said the venerable prelate, when +he afterwards explained these verses to his simple and confiding +audience, “in which the Messiah is represented as addressing his +church, after the difficulties attending its first establishment were +surmounted. Ages of opposition and suffering were her winter; but the +spring-day of her hopes, the promise of her universal triumph, was +already at hand.” + +These verses were followed by a history of the Virgin, during a visit +which she paid to one of her relatives in the hill-country of Juda, to +announce the tidings which an angel brought her, that the Spirit of +the Most High should overshadow her, and that she should bring forth +a Son. Her cousin, to whom she communicated this intelligence, was a +woman far advanced in years; but in her womb lived one who was to be +the predecessor of the Messiah, to proclaim his approach, to fill the +valley, to level the mountain before him, and to prepare the path in +which he should go. That infant, enshrined though he was, heard the +Virgin’s voice of salutation, and leaped with joy. Her aged hostess +blessed her, and the rejoicing maiden, inspired by the sublimity and +sanctity of her office, poured forth her soul in a hymn to the mighty +God, who regarded the humility of his handmaid, and entitled her to be +called “blessed” by all future generations. + +The audience listened to these truths, and to the explanations +of Aquaviva, with earnest attention, and the most lively marks +of pleasure, feeling like travellers who had been long lost in a +wilderness, and at length rescued from despair by the arrival of a +guide, who pointed out the way of which they were in search. + +Their hearts were in their voices, when they joined the prelate +in again plighting their allegiance to the Creator of heaven and +earth, and of all things visible and invisible--to the Redeemer, +the “Light of light,” and to the Holy Spirit by whom he became +incarnate--commemorating, at the same time, his crucifixion, his +resurrection, his ascension; and expressing their belief that he will +come again to earth, to judge those whom he shall find living, and all +the nations of the dead who shall rise from their tombs at the summons +of the dread archangel. + +It was the great object of the rite, at which they were now assembled, +to prepare them for that awful day, and to propitiate the Deity through +the sacrifice about to be offered--an unspotted host, which the +suppliant prelate with upraised hands tendered to Heaven, not only for +his own sins, and for those of all present, but for all christians, +whether passing or passed through the stages of this life. With the +host the prelate offered also wine and water--mysterious symbols of +the union of the Divinity with human nature--raising the chalice as an +odour of sweetness for the salvation of the whole world. + +The progress of the rite became more and more solemn as it advanced. +The censer was again filled with burning frankincense, and brought +by that beautiful boy to the prelate, who again fumed the altar, and +prayed that through the intercession of Michael the archangel, and of +all the elect standing round the eternal throne, the incense might be +blessed, and that, ascending to that throne, it might invoke upon the +worshippers the benedictions of the Most High. + +The prelate then washed his hands among the “innocent”--and well they +might be so called, a cluster of boys all robed in white, one of whom +kneeling held a silver basin, while a second poured water on the +prelate’s fingers from a ewer of the same material. A third presented +him with a napkin fringed with gold. + +Turning once more to the altar, and placing himself in the attitude +of a high-priest, filling the most sublime of all human stations, he +called upon the prostrate assembly to elevate their hearts to God, and +to give Him thanks, for it was truly fit and just that they should at +all times, and in all places, express their gratitude to the Eternal, +whom the angels and the archangels, the cherubim and the seraphim, and +the whole host of heaven, never ceased to proclaim as the holy God, +with whose glory the heavens and the earth were filled--in whose praise +unnumbered worlds, rolling through the oceans of space, resounded with +alleluias. + +Many of the saints were then called upon by name--the Virgin +Mother--the glorious apostles--the armies of heroic martyrs, who had +sealed their faith by their heart’s blood--Peter and Paul, and John +and Damian--and the whole court of heaven, to give their aid on this +occasion, that the oblation tendered to the Supreme Father for his +human family might be accepted, and be converted into the body and +blood of the Redeemer. + +The awful words of consecration, pronounced in a low solemn voice, +being breathed upon the host and chalice, they were held up, through +clouds of incense, to the adoration of the people, who, in profound +silence struck their breasts, filled with gratitude and wonder that so +great a God should visit them, and that too under a veil suitable to +human vision--and protecting it from being overwhelmed by the living +splendour of his glory! + +It was an affectionate thought, to choose the moment after this +act, for uttering a prayer for parents, relations, friends, and +all christians, without exception, who had departed from this life; +and while the Redeemer was still present, to intreat that he would +grant them a place of refreshment, light, and peace. Nor was it less +appropriate, to offer up at such a time a fervent orison to God, +couched in the simple language which the Messiah had himself framed, +entreating that earth might be made to emulate heaven in blessing the +name of the Most High, and in executing his will; that he would protect +all those who called upon that sacred name, and forgive them as they +forgave those who offended them. + +The lamb thus offered for the living and the dead being consumed, hymns +of thanksgiving followed;--in these the hermit joined with a degree of +enthusiasm, which attested his admiration of a faith that appeared at +once to have touched his soul with its light, and to have captivated +his heart by the divine love for mankind it disclosed through every +expression of its beautiful ritual. + +“Oh, sire!” he exclaimed, when as they were returning from this +scene, the emperor questioned him upon the mystery of the sacrifice; +“do not ask my understanding to explain matters altogether above my +comprehension. Can this be a human conception? Could any intellect, +informed merely as yours or mine might be, however pregnant with +knowledge, however matured by experience, have thought of such +doctrines as those delivered by the Messiah; or have planned a +sacrifice such as he has directed his followers to offer? + +“What is man? An insect living on a planet that is but as a mole-hill +to the Himalas. What do I understand even of what goes on under my own +eye? Can I tell you how the acorn becomes the spreading oak?--how the +wretched looking worm, that moves itself with difficulty along the +earth, by-and-by sports in celestial colours upon double wings through +the skies?--how the rain of winter becomes the wine of autumn?---the +dew of to-night the milk and honey of to-morrow? I break a fragment +of a rock, and I behold in it a creature full of life. Can I tell you +how it has slept there for thousands of years without dying? I take up +a drop of water, and I behold it teeming with a world of creatures of +its own. Can I tell you how or why they came there; for what purpose +they have received the most perfect organization which their wants +can require? I listen to the zephyr with delight,--to the tempest with +admiration,--to the thunder with awe. Can I say whence they come? Can +I measure the Power which tempers the one to the unshorn lamb, and +renders it music to the human ear? Can I check the storm or arrest the +lightning, and ask them to explain to me the mysteries that overwhelm +my mind, when I think of the worlds I am to see when I shake off this +clay by which my spirit is incumbered? + +“Fool! It was my madness once to suppose that I could quell the +elemental tumults which sometimes break out amongst these mountains; +that I could count the stars, and calculate their influence upon the +destinies of mankind, as if men were the objects for whom those vast +worlds have been summoned to existence! I tremble at my inconceivable +presumption. I bow to the Supreme One henceforth. I am scarcely a child +in his presence. A child!--yes! his child--his creature,--for whom he +sent his own best beloved to this my dwelling. I have found the truth, +which the stars had failed to teach me--the peace which this world +could never give me--the hope, the certainty, if I but endeavour to +merit it, which no other worship could afford me, of mingling my voice +with those alleluias which I can almost hear as I speak, swelling to +the throne of light from all parts of the universe.” + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + Sing, sing them forth + Songs of the past-away, + To mingle with the woe and mirth, + And music of to-day: + Legends of other hours, + Stray leaves of faded flowers, + Sing, sing them forth! + + Hush! breathe ye low + The quaint love words; + The whisper-voice of long ago, + Fond, old records + Of dreamy hopes and fears, + And hearts of other years, + Oh! breathe them low! + + YSSEB. + + +The display of the imperial standard upon the principal pavilion, +announced the arrival of Jehangire at the encampment of his troops, +which was established at the distance of little more than a league +from the subah’s castle. Attended by Bochari and Auzeem, he was on +horseback at the dawn of the day, and approaching the castle as nearly +as he could, without danger of being observed, he convinced himself +that the account given by Chunder, of the impregnable character of that +fortress, was by no means exaggerated. He was, therefore, the more +disposed to attend to the counsel of Bochari, who recommended that the +high chancellor should exert his influence with the subah to surrender +the castle upon reasonable conditions. + +The question then was, what those conditions should be. Chusero’s +submission to the imperial authority could, under no circumstances, +be dispensed with. He must place himself absolutely at the disposal +of his father, upon whose indulgent consideration, however, he might +confidently rely. His right of succession to the throne was to be +preserved to him in case he should accept the terms now proposed. + +It was resolved also that Shere Afkun should resign Cashmere, but that, +instead of it, he should be presented with Bengal. Kazim, who was +present at the council, during the discussion of these propositions, +fully approved of them. He only wondered at the moderate character +by which they were pervaded. Auzeem listened in silence to the very +conciliatory language held by Bochari on the occasion, who professed +to think that he knew of no other means of terminating the civil war, +seeing that the subah might hold out against them to an indefinite +period. + +Nothing, therefore, added Bochari, could have been more opportune +than the arrival of the messengers, who were charged with letters +from the subah and his consort for Kazim. An answer might be returned +forthwith on his part, accepting their invitation, and if it were not +inconvenient to him, he might depart from the camp in the course of +the evening for the castle. The high chancellor having signified his +assent to this arrangement, Bochari observed that it was due to the +dignity of the exalted office held by Kazim that he should proceed to +the castle with all the outward circumstances of honour which could be +devised for that purpose, and with an abundance of presents for his +daughter, as was usual on such occasions. Jehangire fully approved of +this course, and directed that twenty palanquins filled with gold and +silver cloths of Persia, carpets, and shawls, and silks, should be +despatched in Kazim’s train. Bochari took it upon himself to arrange +all the necessary pageantry. + +Shere Afkun’s messengers having received letters in answer to those +which he and Nourmahal had addressed to Kazim and Mangeli, and also +communications under the hand of the emperor, embracing the proposals +which had been agreed upon in council, they set out upon their return +to the castle. Upon dismounting within the gates they speedily diffused +the intelligence, with which Bochari took care they should have been +made fully acquainted, that the high chancellor was coming thither in +the evening, for the purpose of negotiating a peace upon terms that +could hardly fail to be acceptable to all parties. These tidings were +received with unbounded joy by the great mass of the inmates of the +fortress, who, however secure they deemed themselves from any immediate +danger, felt by no means free from alarm when they observed from the +eminences the powerful force by which the emperor was attended. + +The ladies of the harem especially, relieved from the trepidations +with which that spectacle filled their minds, looked forward with more +than ordinary interest to the agreeable office of preparing for the +reception of Nourmahal’s beloved parents. The news reached them while +they were assembled in the general bath-room; and never, perhaps, +before did they enjoy with more intense delight the luxuries of that +scene. Perfumed waters were poured over them from silver vases by +black slaves, well experienced in all the arts by which the delicious +languor of exhaustion may be prolonged to the very verge of visionary +existence. Reclining on marble slabs, heated to the exact degree that +most favours repose, they were each wrapped in loose robes, which +when saturated might be said no longer to conceal the forms beneath +them, they presented the appearance of beings scarcely belonging to +this world. Surrounded by a hazy atmosphere of variable fragrance, the +slaves standing by the flowing fountains, and collecting the tempered +element in their vases, or pouring it with a gentle grace upon the +almost slumbering nymph below, seemed so many magicians empowered to +detain in forgetfulness all the beauteous victims entrusted to their +care. + +At the appointed moment, however, the fountains ceased to flow, +otherwise the spell might know no limit. The vapours cleared away, +the humid garments were exchanged for ample well-aired wrappers, and +all hastened to the saloon, where the hair, after being thoroughly +dried, was anointed with fragrant oils, plaited in long folds, and +tied at the extremity with golden cords, from which tassels of the +same material depended. A painted handkerchief was intertwined with +it on the top of the head, the ends of which, fringed with gold, fell +gracefully on the shoulders. The hair in front, drawn down a little +over the forehead, was parted and braided over the ear, and decorated +by a few simple flowers, such as the geranium, or the monthly white +rose, according to the complexion or fancy of the wearer. A light +sleep, such as the houris enjoy when lulled to repose by the bulbul of +Paradise, restored the energies which the bath had almost stolen away; +and coffee, followed by viands of every description, confectionery, +ices, sherbets, and Kabul nectar, which the prophet himself could not +have rejected if offered to his lips, prepared for the further labours +of the toilet. + +Fine lawn chemisettes, edged with lace, tunics of green or +ruby-coloured silk, descending below the knee, confined at the waist by +cinctures of gold or silver tissue, having in front clasps of emerald +or diamond, trowsers of snow-white lawn, necklaces of pearl, armlets +and bracelets of variegated precious stones, and tiny slippers richly +flowered with gold, generally completed the costume of the harem. + +The operations of the toilet having been concluded, the ladies waited +the presence of Nourmahal, before they set about arranging the series +of amusements with which they resolved to entertain the expected +guests. She seldom passed a day of which she did not devote some +portion to her fair companions. She taught most of them to read, and +accustomed them, by her own example, to derive pleasure from the +writings of the most popular poets, which she put into their hands. To +her instruction also several of them were indebted for a knowledge of +embroidery. Before the commencement of the civil war, when all was at +peace in the castle, and before the happiness of Afkun received its +death-blow, he seldom claimed his privilege of entry into the harem +with more pleasure, than during the hours when he was likely to find +Nourmahal there, presiding over the operations of the frame, upon which +numbers of fairy fingers were busy, animating the canvass stretched out +before them with landscapes copied from her sketches, or scenes of real +or mimic war, dictated by her copious knowledge, or suggested by her +splendid imagination. + +Mainuna, a Mingrelian, always took care that the hours usually devoted +to industry should not encroach upon those which belonged to pleasure. +At the first touch of her tambourine, which she flung up in the air and +then caught upon her fingers, while its silver bells resounded of joy, +a general clatter of merriment was raised, and all adjourned to the +music saloon. + +Sometimes Nourmahal found herself surrounded by a mob of petitioners, +who would take no refusal, and bore her with them into the apartment, +from which there was no escape until she awoke for them those sounds +from the lyre which they all confessed they never could find in it +by any exertion of their own. They unanimously declared that the +modulations which she elicited, must have come from some viewless +chords, created for the moment by her enchanting power. + +On the present occasion, however, her mind was not in a mood to assist +in the preparation of festivities. She hardly knew whether she should +experience more of pleasure or of sorrow from the visit of her +parents, to whom she would probably deem it necessary to disclose the +interview she had with the emperor, and the decisive confession she had +made to Afkun. To bare her whole heart to her mother--to hide in that +affectionate bosom her tears, her blushes, her exalted anticipations, +her agony for the sufferings she had inflicted on the subah, was the +only course by which she could relieve her heart from the accumulated +burthens by which it was oppressed. + +To Mainuna, therefore, she delegated the office of arranging the +amusements of the harem, during the sojourn of the high-chancellor +and his attendants at the castle--an office which that light-hearted +girl undertook with measureless delight, as she was full of all sorts +of projects, masqued balls, fancy fairs, dramatic interludes, musical +concerts, and new dances, for the realization of which she had long +been importuning her stars. + +Calling all her companions together in her own apartment, they sat on +the carpet in a circle, and as she developed her plans, they discussed +them one by one, with all due gravity. The parts which each was to +perform in the approaching exhibitions, were assigned in a way to +create no jealousies, and it having been settled that the first evening +was to be dedicated to the concert and the masquerade ball, the fair +senators dispersed for the purpose of selecting their most sumptuous +dresses and ornaments, that nothing might be wanted which could tend to +the gratification of their distinguished guests. + +As the sun was setting, the sentinels on the watch-tower observed a +long train of palanquins winding down from the hill upon which the +imperial tents were erected. Orders were immediately given to let +the draw-bridge down. A veteran officer who happened to be in the +watch-tower when the palanquins first appeared in sight, was struck by +their number; he counted no less than five-and-twenty; and as to each +palanquin there were four bearers, his cautious habits of garrison +discipline suggested, that it was not in conformity with ordinary +rules, that so many men from the ranks of the enemy should be admitted +at once within the walls. He directed, therefore, that only one +palanquin should be suffered to enter at a time; and that the bearers, +after setting it down in a spacious hall, generally used for that +purpose, should immediately re-cross the drawbridge, and return to the +camp. + +As the procession approached the gate, Zeinedeen made his appearance +in the plain, walking hastily towards it. Kazim and Mangeli, who +had been anxiously gazing on the windows of the castle, hoping that +they might discern, in some of them, the figure of her in whom all +their affections were concentrated, did not perceive the hermit until +they heard him ordering their bearers, in a peremptory tone, to stop +for a moment. Kazim, surprised, and by no means pleased, that his +progress should be retarded at such a moment, opening the curtain +of the palanquin, demanded the cause of the interruption. Zeinedeen +made no answer, but looking steadily at Kazim, smiled with a look of +recognition, which, to Mangeli, was altogether incomprehensible. The +palanquin, however, was immediately let down by order of her companion, +who, going forth, threw himself into the arms already wide extended to +receive him. + +“My best of benefactors! my more than friend! my father! for such, +indeed, you have been to me! do I behold you once more?” + +“You recollect the poor dervish, then, Kazim?” + +“Recollect! Never has left my heart the impression of that face, which +came to my humble stall all wreathed in those smiles which are now +again upon your countenance, and announced to me those destinies, which +have ever since been fortunate.” + +“You see my ambition was no mean one. A poor, despised dervish, a mere +mendicant; nevertheless, from the moment I saw you at Samarcand, and +witnessed the proofs of your genius, I resolved that you should not +pine in obscurity. The boy, in whom I delighted as a scholar, I now +behold as the high chancellor of Hindostan! Welcome, dear Kazim, to my +heart!” + +Mangeli needed no explanation of this occurrence. Often had the +dervish--their good genius as they loved to call him--been the subject +of their conversation, when walking together in their garden, apart +from all the world, they talked over the steps of their chequered +career, from their hut on the Ilamish, to their palace on the Jumna. +She too would have gladly followed her husband’s example, and embraced +the kind old man; but Zeinedeen prevented her from rising. + +“No,” he said, “Mangeli; for I shall know you by no other name. I +shall keep you no longer from the pleasure you are about to enjoy, in +beholding your beloved child. It is but a few days since I have seen +her, and gladdened her heart with the tidings of your speedy arrival in +the camp.” + +“But you shall not part from us again,” said Mangeli, pressing the +arm of the dervish with both her hands. “You must come with us to our +Nourmahal.” + +“You must, indeed,” added Kazim. “If the chancellor have any authority, +he shall use it in this instance.” + +“And it shall be obeyed, provided the subah will admit me. I have some +things to say to you, which will demand instant attention. Allah, bless +you both! I shall walk beside your palanquin to the castle.” + +As they were now, however, but a short distance from the draw-bridge, +Kazim would not permit the hermit to proceed thither alone. Closing +the curtains of the palanquin, he resigned Mangeli to the care of the +bearers; and, notwithstanding the remonstrances of Zeinedeen, who +urged the chancellor not to descend from his state by walking, side by +side, with an humble dervish, he proceeded on foot, having, he said, a +thousand questions to put to his friend, which he could not begin too +soon. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + Within his halls are heard the songs of joy, + The clash of cymbals, and the thrilling notes + Of harps, and drums, and merry feet are seen + Winding the Labyrinthine dance. But hark! + What sounds are those that echo in the air? + Are they the wailings of the infant storm? + Or come they from the regions of the dead? + + HINDOO DRAMA. + + +Afkun hastened across the bridge, to receive the man whom he esteemed +above all the other objects now left to him to love upon earth. +Profound and various were the emotions with which they met on both +sides. By political principle, enemies--by connexion, father and son, +and as much attached to each other as if the same blood circulated in +their veins,--they embraced in silence--a silence more affecting than +any language could be under the circumstances. For Zeinedeen, however, +as Kazim’s friend, the subah found the pleasant words of hospitality, +and for Mangeli, whose palanquin he attended into the hall, those +expressions of affection, which, for the moment, superseded all other +thoughts. + +The four palanquins, which immediately followed that of Kazim, +contained his suite and the female attendants of his consort. The +remaining twenty, which were closely latticed, appeared to be heavily +stored with presents, over which superb Indian shawls were spread. As +there was not time for disburthening the latter, the servants of the +castle being all busily engaged in preparing for the festivities of the +evening, the vehicles were arranged in the hall, side by side. + +Kanun was in attendance, to conduct the agitated parents to the chamber +where they were to see their child. As they approached it, the door +of the apartment was opened. “My mother!--my father!” exclaimed that +well-known voice, as Nourmahal came forth to meet them--pressing an arm +round the neck of each--kissing them again and again--her eyes filled +with tears--tears of that sacred joy, in which a grief still more +sacred had its share. + +Upon the part of the parents there was the same mysterious double +emotion. The time that had elapsed since the marriage of Nourmahal +appeared to have been but a day. It brought with it the conviction, +however, that she whom they so deeply loved had been absent from the +home of her infancy, and with that thought came the anticipation of the +period when death would produce between them a separation still more +enduring. Maternal and filial love summoned together, at once, these +recollections of the past, these fears of the future. It was not until +they again became somewhat more accustomed to the presence and voices +of each other, that the feeling of delight, in thus meeting once more, +charmed away their apprehensions. + +Seated between the two beloved fountains of her life, Nourmahal gave +herself up to all the luxury of rapture. Now looking at one dear +countenance, now on the other, she examined with affectionate curiosity +the changes wrought in each since last she beheld them. She was +herself the subject of similar vigilance, especially from the eye of +Mangeli, who had already noticed in that forehead, once so open and so +innocent, variations of expression approaching to traces of care, if +not of anxiety, which she had never discerned there before. It was too +soon yet to inquire farther into the cause of these external changes. +As their visit was to extend to several days, ample opportunities +would occur for every explanation which was necessary to soothe the +solicitude of a mother. + +The sounds of many musical instruments from the harem, reminded +Nourmahal of the commencement of the festivities, which had been +prepared in honour of the subah’s guests. Having attended her parents +to the apartments assigned to their use, she proceeded, with Kanun’s +assistance, to arrange her toilet for the evening. No art of the +Circassian could, however, succeed in restoring to the cheek of +her mistress its wonted lustre. The first emotions caused by the +occurrences of the evening having subsided, she dreaded the idea of +again meeting Afkun--of meeting him too in the presence of those who +would necessarily notice her manner towards him with peculiar anxiety. +Nevertheless, the effort was to be made; and Nourmahal felt that when +her resolution was put to the test, she could at all times call to her +aid the powers of a mind of no common order. + +It was some relief to her feelings, that when she went into the +ball-room with her mother, her rapid glance around could nowhere +discern the subah. He was still detained in the dining-hall, where, in +addition to the Prince and Kazim, several omrahs, and the principal +officers of the garrison, were engaged in consultation upon the +propositions which had been made by the emperor. Meantime masqued +figures, arrayed in every variety of fanciful costume, some as veteran +dames, whose business it was to go from harem to harem to arrange love +affairs--some as gipsies, who had the power to predict fortunes--some +as pilgrims, on their way to Mecca--some as story-tellers and reciters +of poetry--some as poor ballad-singers, lame and querulous, with a +patch on one eye, indicative of recent battle--some as doctresses, +skilled in those most baffling of all maladies, the diseases of the +heart--some as holy dervishes, full of all sorts of sanctified +admonitions for inexperienced maidens--some as slaves, just arrived +from Mingrelia, and offering to sell themselves to the highest +bidder--were moving about in all directions. + +In one place an auction was going on, at which the auctioneer was most +eloquent in describing the charms of his own wife, whom he wished to +sell, as it was his intention to retire altogether from matrimonial +life. He had vowed, he said, to write a theological work in forty +volumes; he found study inconsistent with wedded occupations, his +wife complaining, very naturally, that he devoted more of his time to +books than he did to her; they therefore both agreed to part upon the +most amicable terms. He spoke of her eyes as rivals to the evening +star, displayed her ringlets as stolen from the head of a sleeping +goddess, and her face as the model of female beauty. The lady was +closely covered all the time, by way of consulting her modesty, which +would have blushed at such eulogies. Prices ran high. A hundred rupees +soon swelled to five hundred--then to a thousand--two--three--four +thousand. A sonorous voice having cried out ten thousand, the bargain +was at once struck, the lady was unveiled, when she turned out to be an +old beldame, with a face furrowed by wrinkles, a solitary eye, and a +pile of black hair, stolen, indeed, as the auctioneer said, from some +quarter or another. The buyer appealed to all that were present against +the fraud practised upon him; but they unanimously decided the bargain +to be irrevocable, and he was compelled to take his purchase home, +amidst the laughter of the assembly. + +In another quarter actors were engaged in the performance of a drama, +the interest of which turned upon a dispute between two gossipping +dames, as to which of them was entitled to the higher reward for +bringing about a recent marriage. One alleged, that she was the first +to mention the gentleman to the lady--the other, that she was the first +to mention the lady to the gentleman. One swore, that in one day she +took seven messages from the gentleman to the lady--against which her +rival produced an account of seven-and-twenty refusals from the lady +to the gentleman, all despatched in one morning, and which would have +been fatal to the union but for her clever management. This claim +to superior skill threw her antagonist into a rage, during which she +enumerated all the marriages she had ever made--the difficulties which +she overcame in reconciling young maidens to ancient bachelors, and +cadets without fortune to opulent old widows, not always of the most +comely appearance. + +The controversy seemed likely to have no end, except in an appeal to +blows, when the bride herself came forward and stated that the reward +for priority belonged to neither of the belligerents, for that a +third agent had commenced the affair before either of them knew any +thing about it. The bridegroom confirmed this statement, to which, +however, the parties declined giving any credit, unless the said agent +was produced. To this the bride consented, and going out, said she +would send the woman to them. In a few moments a wizen-faced little +creature, wrapped in a cloak, and supported on crutches, made her +appearance, whom the bridegroom acknowledged to be the first who gave +him intelligence of the attractions of the maiden who had since become +his wife, whereupon the two rivals both set to scolding her in the +most furious manner, and knocking her crutches from under her, reviled +her as an impostor. In the affray, the cloak was not spared, which they +tore off her shoulders, when, to their amazement and horror, the object +of their wrath turned out to be the bride herself, who, all blushing, +confessed that she had assumed that disguise to win the hand of one +towards whom her heart impelled her the first day she beheld him in the +streets through her lattice. + +Mangeli and Nourmahal could not help being amused by these scenes of +merriment, which were sustained with all the spirit of mirth, doubly +zested by a long privation of similar enjoyments. The prince and the +omrahs now made their appearance, followed by the officers of the +garrison; the intelligence that the emperor’s propositions had been +accepted, was speedily diffused, and this circumstance, added to the +gay costume of the officers and their hearty participation in the +entertainments, contributed to heighten the animation of the scene. + +Two closely masqued figures, whom Nourmahal suspected to be her +father and the subah remained at the lower end of the saloon in deep +conversation. She felt no wish to interrupt it, and affected to busy +herself, though her feelings were far from being at ease, in describing +to her mother the qualities of the different inmates of the harem, as +they came in succession to kiss the hem of her garments. + +Zeinedeen, who had no occasion for disguise, passed through the saloons +to observe, for a moment, a spectacle so new to him. His curiosity, +however, having been soon satisfied, and the heat and glaring light +of a thousand lamps having affected him with a sense of giddiness, he +withdrew from this scene of merriment, and endeavoured to make his +way to the ramparts, in order to recover his usual composure. Being +unacquainted with the interior of the castle, he found himself involved +in a labyrinth of chambers appropriated to different purposes, until +he at length arrived in the spacious hall, where the palanquins that +had arrived with Kazim were arranged. It struck him, as he entered this +apartment, which was quite open to the air in front, and illuminated +almost throughout its whole extent by the moon, then riding in full +glory through the blue firmament, that he heard some rustling among +the palanquins, which were rather more remote than the others from the +light. + +He stopped a moment, when he was still more startled by perceiving the +shadow of a head moving along the wall; he called out, hoping that +it was a sentinel who might shew him the way to the ramparts. But he +received no answer, the head disappearing the moment his call was +uttered. + +Zeinedeen’s suspicions being roused, he retraced his steps a little +as softly as possible, and then stopping, he listened with all the +attention he could command in the first moment of his alarm. He felt +that he was near a number of persons, whose breathing discomposed the +stillness that ought to have prevailed, if the palanquins, round which +the curtains were still closed, had been all occupied only by the +presents sent to Nourmahal. + +Seized by an irresistible presentiment, that some treachery was +meditated; and impelled, also, by the distrust which he always felt +with respect to Bochari, he returned to the ball-room, and addressing +himself to Kazim, entreated that he, and Mangeli, and Nourmahal, would +withdraw, one by one, from the saloon, and repair to the apartments of +the latter, without a moment’s delay, for that danger was at hand. He +would follow them thither as soon as possible. + +The hermit then looked about anxiously in search of the subah, whom he +found in earnest conversation with Chusero. They had both noticed two +or three strange faces in the ball-room, which, upon being pointed out +to Kazim, he declared to be new also to him. The unbidden guests thus +observed, had entered the saloon separately; but were evidently, from +their side glances at one another, present for some common purpose. +They mingled in the dance; but their movements were so awkward, and +their manners so rude, that the fair damsels, whose hands they presumed +to touch, instinctively recoiled from their advances. + +Zeinedeen asked the subah whether any person had examined the +palanquins containing the chancellor’s presents? Afkun answered +that he did not know. The hermit then mentioned to him his +suspicions--suspicions which were by no means diminished when Chusero +remarked, that the three strangers were no longer to be seen in the +ball-room. + +This was no time for deliberation. Afkun resolved at once to proceed +to the hall, where the palanquins were placed; but, as he opened the +door of a gallery leading in that direction, a dark mass of armed men +hurrying along the gallery, rushed towards the saloon, at the same +time pouring on all before them a deadly discharge of musquetry. Afkun +fell, pierced by several balls, one of which passed through his heart. +He never breathed again. The prince was wounded in the thigh, and fell +also. But there was a cry amongst the assassins, “Take care of the +prince!” He was borne away upon the shoulders of a gigantic ruffian. +The hermit, who happened to be immediately behind Afkun when the door +was opened, escaped unhurt. + +Being unarmed, he had no chance of offering any resistance. Hastening +to one of the windows of the saloon, which was open, as they all were +in consequence of the heat of the weather, he leaped down into the +court-yard, fortunately lighting on a pile of brambly wood collected +for firing. + +Though astounded for a moment by the shock, he soon came to himself, +and hastened towards Nourmahal’s apartments, where, notwithstanding his +admonitions, he scarcely ventured to hope that he should find her and +her parents in safety. + +Several of the women were slain by the first discharge of musquetry. +Some of the omrahs and officers of the garrison, who, as usual, wore +ataghans in their cinctures, having laid aside their pistols that they +might join the more easily in the dance, attacked their assailants with +all the fury of desperation. But the musquetry soon overpowered them. +The successive vollies which were repeated with fiendish deliberation, +strewed the floor with groups of dead and dying, who fell over each +other shrieking. + +The cries of the defenceless females were appalling. Some appeared at +the windows, their garments on fire, stretching out their arms, and +rending the air with shouts for assistance from the garrison. But their +cries were shortly silenced. Lifted sabres hewed them down without +mercy. Torrents of blood ran along the boards that so lately resounded +to the merry step of the dancer. The echoes of rejoicing song, and +harp, and dulcimer, were overtaken in their career by screams of agony +which were heard in every direction. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + Hark! ’tis the thunder of the war, + They call, the trumpets shrill; + Arise, go forth. Alas! ’tis vain,-- + Thy gallant heart is still! + A banner waves above thy head, + And laurels deck thy brow; + But what avails this pageantry + To the beloved one now? + + I never more shall hear thy voice, + My beautiful! my brave! + Thou’rt gone in all the pride of youth + And glory to thy grave. + Oh, would that I thy fate had shared! + That I were laid with thee; + For now thou’rt gone, the peopled world + Is desolate to me! + + STORY-TELLER OF CASHMERE. + + +The soldiers of the garrison, taking up their arms, repaired as +speedily as possible to the scene of slaughter. Two or three of their +officers, though fearfully wounded, bravely led them on to the conflict +with the assassins, so long as the latter could be distinguished. But +the moment these heard the troops coming, they proceeded to break and +extinguish the lamps, and skulking away in the darkness, unfortunately +effected their escape with little loss. Their confederates had already +secured for them a retreat by the draw-bridge, to which, in the +dreadful confusion of the hour, the usual attention had not been paid; +and it was soon ascertained that the prince, who had been, in the first +instance, borne away wounded on the shoulders of one of the ruffians, +undoubtedly remained their captive. + +Search was made, as soon as lights could be obtained, for the body of +the subah, who was already known to have been the first victim of this +infamous scheme of indiscriminate murder. It was found in a recess of +the gallery, near the spot where he first fell, but not alone. Kneeling +down by his side, and bent closely over his pallid cheek, was seen the +figure of a female, whose hand, filled with hair she had torn from her +head, was pressed upon Afkun’s bared breast, the hair being saturated +with blood which had welled from the death-wound. Looking up at the +group of soldiers who surrounded her, she beckoned them wildly to go +away. + +“Oh foul murderers begone! Take my life too, if ye be not content with +all the blood ye have shed. Oh, my noble master! my brave warrior! +where is thy voice? speak to me but once--one little word,--’tis Kanun +that asks,--her whom you bade to love you!” + +The men, each of whom would have sacrificed his life for his commander, +thought not of brushing away from their cheeks the tears that burst +forth when they beheld him there laid prostrate. Vainly hoping that he +still lived, they raised his head a little from the floor. The movement +seemed to increase Kanun’s distraction. Grasping a scymitar, which one +of the men held in his hand, she wrested it from him by an effort of +feverish strength, and repelling them from the dead body, dared them +to approach one step farther at their peril. But the weapon slipped +from her hold. A gush of blood from her side shewed that she, too, was +soon to be numbered in the holocaust immolated on that dreadful night. +Pressing her hand upon her forehead, she reeled and would have fallen, +had she not been sustained by one of the soldiers. + +“Ye keep me from him,” she exclaimed. “Oh, in mercy spare me at least +while he breathes! Let me be near him,--let me warm him with my life! +Oh, look! his hand moves! My lord! my master! they are your friends. +I see they are. Their looks, their tears tell me so. They are come to +receive your orders. The enemy are out! I hear their horses tramping +this way! Up, before they are at the gates! Ah, you used not to be so +slow when the battle raged!” + +One of the soldiers fetched some water, with which he chafed her +temples; while the others anxiously pressed their hands over every part +of Afkun’s frame, endeavouring to find there some pulse of life. But +all the veins were still. That voice, by them so much beloved, was for +ever silenced. That arm, once their protection, and the terror of a +thousand foes, was now laid low, never again to wield the blade that +had dealt destruction wherever it gleamed. + +“Go, tell my mistress that the subah is here; that he waits to see her +before he goes to meet the invader. Why do you not go? you know how +he adores her. But she, alas! never loved him!--never! Oh, to see how +he kissed the earth on which she walked, and yet she loved him not! +But she had no hand in this murder. No, no; accuse her not of that. +This is all the work of that base-born Bochari. Yes, I know it. It is +written here. The very walls, do they not cry out, Bochari, Bochari, +the murderer!” + +“She cannot be far from the truth,” said one of the soldiers. “It is +certain that the assassins came from the camp; that they got admission +within the gates in the palanquins which were supposed to be filled +only with presents for Nourmahal; that they lay concealed until the +festivities of the evening were at their height, and that they all +rushed forth in a body to the saloon, where they at once gained their +double object of murdering the subah, and capturing the prince. Some +affirm that Bochari himself was present, and that it was he who, laying +hands on the prince, bore him away.” + +“Alas! it is all over!” exclaimed Kanun, taking up one of the subah’s +hands, which dropped lifeless again on the floor; “but thy fall will +not be unavenged. Blood will have blood. Ah! to think that thou +shouldest have perished in this manner! He said,--there are those +who heard him, and mind ye obey his words,--he said, that the same +urn,--the same, remember,--should contain the ashes of us both. My +moment is come,--it rankles here, whatever it was that the murderers +discharged upon us all,--the pain,--oh, the agony!--but it is nothing. +Joy! joy! that I remain not behind thee! I come, my beloved mistress! +Oh, where is she? Tell me if she be safe?” + +The soldiers quieted her apprehensions upon this point, assuring her +that the high chancellor, his wife and daughter, had fortunately +quitted the saloon a few moments before the massacre had commenced. + +“Oh, thanks to Allah! She was ever to me a good and kind mistress,--to +me, to all of us! May every happiness await her,--she deserves +it,--although she did not love thee as she ought. Ah, the pangs that +thou must have suffered on her account! Thy manly heart was indeed +bruised by many a long night’s grief! None knew thy secret sorrow so +well as Kanun. None lamented for thee but Kanun. The day-star of thy +life was set.--Remember, the same urn.--I come; thy voice--I hear +it from some other world--I come, beloved master! thy slave,--thy +Kanun,--thy”-- + +A sob of agony told that her spirit was no more on earth. The soldiers, +separating her gently from the body of the subah, upon whose knees her +hands were clasped, bore her into the saloon, where they laid her upon +a divan. They then conveyed the remains of the subah to his apartments +in the castle, and watched by them during the remainder of the night. + +The dawn of the following morning displayed a melancholy spectacle in +those chambers, so lately the abode of mirth in its many forms. The +prospect of a speedy peace had lent wings to every body engaged in +those scenes of joy. But how changed from what they had been a few +hours before, were those now prostrated in every direction. Scarcely +a member of the harem escaped the slaughter. Some, whose clothes took +fire, were partially burnt; tresses upon which so much care had been +bestowed, were consumed to their roots; cheeks and lips, which the +sun of the preceding day had seen so full of health and loveliness, +presented but foul masses of deformity; limbs endowed with every grace, +while still moving in the circles of the cheerful dance, arrested in +their gaiety, bent beneath the sylph-like burdens they could no longer +bear, never to rise again. Mainuna was found with her tambourine still +in her hand; the instrument was pierced by no fewer than three balls. +A horrid gash on the neck disclosed the terrible destiny of that +guileless and light-hearted girl. Musical instruments broken, ornaments +thrown about in every part of the saloon, heaps of mangled bodies, +blood trickling through the floor and clotted in vast quantities, +fragments of gold and silver tissue, unbound turbans, broken scymitars, +separated hands and feet, blood-stained walls and cushions, related +with awful voices a tale of woe that called aloud to Heaven for +vengeance upon the perpetrators of that merciless tragedy. + +The survivors of the garrison lost no time in preparing funeral pyres, +to which the unhappy victims were consigned. The ashes of the subah +were collected with particular care, as were those also of Kanun; and, +as he had directed, the relics of both were deposited in the same urn, +and placed in the mausoleum of the fortress. + +The soldier was rightly informed, who mentioned that Nourmahal and +both her parents had retired from the saloon, but a few moments before +the first fatal discharge of musquetry was heard. Kazim, taking +warning, more from Zeinedeen’s alarming manner than even from the words +he used, hastened to Mangeli and his daughter, whom he found together, +and concealing his apprehensions as much as he could, directed them +to precede him out of the saloon, as he had something to say to both +of the utmost importance. They were scarcely arrived in Nourmahal’s +private apartments when the firing began. The terrible cries which +followed needed no interpretation. The apartments of Nourmahal offered +no better chance of safety than any other part of the castle from the +fury of assassins, such as those who, Kazim concluded, must by some +treacherous, stratagem have found their way into the fortress. + +To consult for the safety of the two beings, who were infinitely dearer +to him than his own existence, was naturally his first, his only care. +They could give him no assistance. Every shriek that came from the +saloon, threw them both into agonies of alarm, which rendered even the +mind of Nourmahal incapable of offering any suggestion for effecting +their escape. Every noise they heard, they took to be the footsteps of +the approaching murderers. They utterly despaired of safety, and could +with difficulty clasp their trembling hands to utter a prayer to Heaven +for protection. Death appeared so near them, that they waited for it to +break into the chamber. + +Moments passed, however, and they still lived. The tumult did not +spread beyond that part of the castle where it had begun. Kazim’s +presence of mind never left him for an instant. Opening the door, he +advanced a few paces into the adjoining corridor, and listened until +he heard footsteps. They approached him rapidly. He retreated, and, +shutting the door, locked it on the inside. The trembling women hung +upon his neck. He requested them to be silent, if they valued their +own lives. A knock, quickly repeated, and then a voice--“It is the +hermit”--hush! + +Kazim having assured himself that he was not mistaken, opened the door. + +“Oh! my beloved friends,” exclaimed Zeinedeen; “Allah be praised, you +three are here! So far well. But no part of the castle is safe. The +assassins will, doubtless, be here immediately. You have a better +chance of safety without than within. I heard the draw-bridge let down. +The stratagem has been too skilfully planned. Wrap shawls around you. +You, Kazim, take charge of Mangeli Leave this dear one to me.” + +Zeinedeen led the way, having flung a shawl over Nourmahal’s head. +Kazim bore Mangeli in his arms, her limbs having refused to move. +Down they stepped rapidly by a private staircase into a small +court-yard--then through an archway to a passage which opened to the +ramparts. The firing still continued--the shouts of the combatants +came upon their ears with dreadful intensity. The hermit perceiving +the grand portal, ran towards it. Kazim followed, without knowing +whither he was going. A winding ladder led down to the porch. They were +speedily at its foot--then on to the gate. Men were fighting on the +draw-bridge--two were flung over into the water beneath--shots passed. +Zeinedeen rushed on, grasping Nourmahal in his arms--they passed. +Kazim with his burthen lingered. He too passed. Hastening through the +plain, they ran towards the mountain, seeking the first shade, the +first rock, that could shut out the view of pursuers, if any. There the +breathless fugitives checked their career. + +No word was said. The four clung together, in silent thanksgiving to +the Omnipotent. Their palpitating hearts beat against each other. As +they calmed a little, they thought they heard other persons breathing +loudly near them. Zeinedeen searched anxiously around. They might +be pursuers, or fugitives like themselves. He could feel, or see +nobody. The breathing still went on louder than before. At length they +discovered that it was but the effect of their own excitement. The +hill-side on which they rested was in profound repose. Cattle were +sleeping beneath them in the quiet moonlight. A stream stole softly +by, glistening now and then. The hermit and Kazim presented a portion +of the delicious element, in the hollow of their hands, to Mangeli and +Nourmahal. It restored the exhausted spirits of the daughter at once; +but the mother’s terrors were still unallayed. She held Kazim close to +her--would not suffer him again to go to the brook. Nourmahal spoke to +her in vain--she was cold with terror. A slight hysterical laugh was +succeeded by a swoon, in which she remained for some minutes. + +Nourmahal moistened her mother’s temples and her lips with water. When +she recovered she still trembled. Zeinedeen, who was well acquainted +with the spot where they now were, feeling that Mangeli might be in +danger if they remained here longer, resolved, at all hazards, to +proceed on towards his own residence. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + When morn is waking in its mirth, + And flowers are softly weeping, + The quiet bosom of the earth + In pearly dew-drops steeping: + I love to feel the zephyr’s sigh, + To list the wild birds’ singing; + And watch along the silent sky + The morn’s gay beauty springing. + + YSSEE. + + +The fugitives, though able to walk but slowly onwards, felt a growing +consciousness of safety, which gradually restored strength to Mangeli +and Nourmahal, without lessening the sense of horror still pressing +on their minds. The moon had already grown pale. The day-star was +hastening through clouds whose lower edges were lines of a saffron +hue,--the faint reflection of the ocean of light still beneath the +horizon. These were succeeded by streaks of thin vapour, sprinkled here +and there by roseate tints, while the sheep, busily browsing on the +ridges of the eastern mountains, appeared clothed in fleeces of gold. +The birds, chirping lowly to each other, flitted timidly amongst the +trees, summoning their tribes to meet the morning with their usual +anthems of adoration. The mists of night, gradually disappearing, left +the meadows enriched with dews that soon sparkled in the coming rays, +and the scenery of the country becoming every moment more clearly +defined, shewed its pastures, and gardens, and villages in all the +beauty of renovated life. + +Amidst the songs which burst from all sides upon the ears of the early +travellers, there were other tones of a still more soothing nature, +to which Zeinedeen called their attention. The missionaries were +already in their cavern chapel, engaged in the performance of their +matin-office, consisting partly of hymns and litanies which they sung, +aided by a small choir, partly of psalms, which they recited in those +solemn suppliant notes that seem to resound of the primitive ages of +the world. They called to their God, who they trusted would hear them +from his sacred hill, elevated above the heavens, who had made man +little less than the angels, and had subjected to him all creatures +that winged their way through the air, or trod the land, or moved +through the paths of the sea. Pure were the promises of that Great +Being, as silver tried by the fire: unblemished the tabernacles he had +prepared for those who loved him,--tabernacles set in the sun, from +which he came forth as a bridegroom from his bridal chamber. Ah! those +were the abodes to be desired more than the honey-comb--more than gold +or precious stones! + +There were seasons when even the best man felt miserable--when he +walked sorrowful all the day long--when his brain was filled with +illusions, and he mourned in the depths of his heart. Friends and +neighbours who used to draw near to him, stood afar off, and those were +multiplied who hated him wrongfully. But these were seasons not without +their use. They taught him that his days on earth were measured--that +he was to pass from it as an image from the face of the waters, and +that to disquiet his soul was of all things the most vain, even though +the companion of his peace, who ate his bread, and in whom he trusted, +had supplanted him. + +Those hours of sorrow passed, hope returned to him, because he was +right of heart, and bade him to look forward to the eternal firmament, +where it would be his happy destiny to join in the jubilee of those +spirits who exulted in the glory of the Supreme, who for ever sounded +the notes of joy from the trumpet, the psaltery, and the cymbal. + +These voices--so soft--so harmonious--so full of peace--so different +from the terrific cries which lately assailed their ears, came upon the +trembling nerves of the hermit and his companions like a heavenly balm. +They lingered to hear those tones repeated. They entered the humble +chapel, where they found the missionaries, in their plain monastic +attire, kneeling before their sacred altar, and singing the Litany of +the Virgin, whose intercession with the most High they entreated. It +was reasonable, said Aquaviva, turning to his brethren and the novices +who had already entered their convent, that the earthly being selected +as the shrine, the mother, the protectress of the Infant Messiah, who +watched him through life, and whose maternal heart was pierced with +many griefs at his death, should possess influence near the throne of +the Eternal. That influence, therefore, they solicited in the most +affectionate language. They appealed to her as the Holy Mary, the +virgin of virgins, whose bosom was fraught with every good and gracious +inspiration--the emblem of purity, destined to be hailed by all nations +as the blessed one--the mirror of fidelity and justice, but at the same +time the advocate of mercy, distinguished at once by her simplicity +and wisdom, her humility and devotion. They hailed her as the mystical +rose--the tower that seen afar gave hope to the wearied traveller--the +golden mansion that promised him repose--the ark that held the covenant +of peace between heaven and earth--the beauteous star of morning +issuing from the celestial gate, bearing tidings of strength to the +weak, of hope to the afflicted, of pardon to the repentant. She was the +queen of the angelic hosts, of the patriarchs, the prophets, and the +apostles. To her they put up their orisons, that she might mediate for +them--that to their prayers for the protection of the Most High she +might add her own. + +“Oh!” exclaimed Zeinedeen to Kazim, as quitting the chapel while +these thrilling words and tones still vibrated on his heart--“Oh! +how different the occupation of these good men from that of the +barbarians, from whose deadly weapons we have just escaped! How +soothing is that sweet music to my soul! The more I see of those holy +men, the more I know of the simplicity, the purity of their lives,--the +more I feel that they are to our land the harbingers of that truth +which it has never known before!” + +Mangeli, relieved by the copious tears which these beautiful +supplications to the maternal virgin drew from the inmost fountains of +her heart, clasped her arms round the neck of her Nourmahal, whom she +kissed again and again. Following the impulse of the piety she had just +witnessed, she looked up to the heavens, and, kneeling, prayed that her +child might be guarded by her who knew the solicitude of a mother, from +the many perils by which she was surrounded! Her companions, imitating +her example, prostrated themselves on the thymy heath, through which +they were passing, and uniting in her fervent petitions, rose with +renewed spirit to resume their journey. Zeinedeen’s hermitage soon +appeared in view; and his gates having been at length passed, the +party, feeling assured of their safety, surrendered themselves for a +few hours to that repose of which they all stood so much in need. + +The anxious mind of Kazim did not permit him, however, to prolong his +residence at the hermit’s abode. He felt it to be his duty to proceed +to the camp without delay, to lay before the emperor a statement of +the circumstances which he had witnessed, and to recommend that an +investigation should be made into the origin of a proceeding so much +at variance with the honour of the crown, so contrary to all the +recognized rules of warfare, and so fraught with indignity to himself +personally. He was not yet fully informed of all that had occurred on +that fatal evening of his visit to the subah’s castle. The observations +made by Zeinedeen in the hall of the palanquins,--the murderous +discharge of arms, to which the hermit had nearly fallen a victim in +the gallery--the tumult and combats which followed, created indeed +in his mind the most painful suspicions as to the participation of +Bochari in that dreadful tragedy. Inquiry would speedily bring home +the guilt to the real perpetrator, and that inquiry he was resolved +to prosecute--the criminal, whoever he was, should suffer for this +outrage upon all divine and human law, otherwise there was no longer +any justice to be found in Hindostan. If the emperor were weak enough +to permit such enormous iniquity to pass unexpiated, no man of prolity +could remain a moment longer in his service. + +Full of these noble resolutions, worthy at once of the pupil of Fazeel, +of the representative of the house of Ayaz, and of the high chancellor +of the empire, Kazim presented himself at an early hour on the +following morning, in the imperial pavilion, to which, by reason of his +official station, he had always free access. He found there a council +already sitting, and engaged in discussing the question whether Chusero +was to be instantly executed in the presence of the whole army, as an +example to traitors for all time to come, or to be imprisoned for life +in the fortress of Gwalior. + +Jehangire seemed irresolute--the natural feelings of the parent +opposing the sense of impartial justice, by which the sovereign ought +to be actuated in such a case. “For,” as Bochari put it, aided by the +omrahs, who servilely applauded every word he uttered as the oracles +of wisdom,--“how should it be possible for the laws to inflict due +punishment on other offenders against the majesty of the throne, if the +leader of the late rebellion--he on whose head was to be laid all the +blood shed in consequence of his foul attempt to dethrone his father, +were to go unpunished? Peace could never be restored--order could +never be established in the empire, where the very throne, assailed +by rebellion, was placed as a shield between the rebel and the axe of +justice. In this view of the case, he had no doubt the high chancellor +would at once coincide.” + +Kazim, thus called on to speak his opinion, hesitated not to declare +his horror against the crime of treason. The duty imposed upon the +emperor in all cases where the guilt of that high crime appeared to +be clearly established, was to cause the perpetrators of it to be +punished according to the laws. “Had the prince, who I have learned +is now a prisoner in the camp, been taken with arms in his hands, and +in the act of carrying on war against his lawful sovereign--against +his father too--an aggravation which would render the crime still more +revolting,--no doubt could be entertained as to the mode in which the +question ought to be decided. But the prince was not taken with arms +in his hands. He was not overcome in the field of battle. During a +period agreed upon as a truce,--when I was commissioned by my imperial +master to proceed to the subah’s castle, to act there as a mediator +between the emperor and the prince, and to effect a reconciliation +upon terms which were propounded in this council-room by the commander +himself,--the castle was taken possession of through some stratagem +that will through all ages reflect infamy upon its authors:--the truce, +to which the honour of the empire was sacredly pledged, was violated +with every circumstance of horror that could attend such a departure +from all law and decorum; and at a moment when I had received full +authority from the prince, as well from Afkun, my brave and noble +son----” + +“Another arch traitor, my lords,” exclaimed Bochari, rising and drawing +his sword. “The chancellor of the empire,--hear ye not this officer of +justice speak of the rebel subah, whose blood has already answered for +his deeds, as the brave subah--the noble subah? Vengeance, say I, upon +all traitors!” + +“I know it; my son has perished; I appeal to my imperial lord,--have I +ever palliated his crime?” + +“Let the high chancellor proceed,” said Jehangire. “It is his duty to +offer me his advice, and I _will_ hear it. Down with these swords; +you do but appear as executioners when you thus substitute your weapons +for deliberation. In this council all are free to speak their honest +opinions. This is not a charnel house, my lords; it is the council-room +of your emperor.” + +Kazim, overcome by the emotions which the intelligence of the violent +death of Afkun had crowded together in his mind, could not proceed for +a few moments. Auzeem availed himself of the interval to suggest, that +in a matter of so much importance to the welfare of the empire, it were +desirable that both the civil and the military authorities should, if +possible, act in unison. The country had had experience of the fidelity +of their illustrious commander and of the high chancellor; and he hoped +that the council would listen to the opinions of those distinguished +officers with the respect that was due to them. + +Bochari, who was astonished at the momentary energy displayed by +Jehangire, affected to yield to the course pointed out by Auzeem, and +restored his sword to its scabbard. The omrahs, his friends, followed +his example. + +“I never did, I never will, palliate a deed of treason against the +state,” resumed Kazim, speaking in a voice somewhat more composed, +though still tremulous with the agony of grief that was in his heart. +“But it is my duty, as well as my glory, to repeat that I had put an +end to the civil war”-- + +“You!” cried Bochari. + +“I,” repeated Kazim. “Here is my authority,” producing a written scroll +of paper; “it is signed by the prince.” + +“Give it me, give it me,” said Jehangire, rising and almost snatching +the paper out of Kazim’s hand. “Oh, my child! yes, it is his signature! +he accepts the terms which were offered him,--he submits to his father! +Oh Chusero, Chusero! how little you must have known that father’s +heart!” he added, pressing the paper to his lips and to his bosom. + +“I say, then, my lords,” resumed Kazim, with increasing firmness and +dignity, “that the prince has a right to the protection which he +has purchased by his submission to the terms that were proposed to +him. For the party who prescribed those conditions, to be the first +to violate them, would be to implicate the throne itself in a most +flagitious offence against all the laws of honour and good faith, and +to lower the emperor to the level of that assassin, who conceived and +executed the stratagem through which the fortress was entered, the +subah deprived of his life, and the inmates of his harem,--whom every +law of Hindostan surrounded with inviolable respect,--massacred without +discrimination!” + +“What! Nourmahal, too?” eagerly inquired Jehangire, rising and putting +his hand on his ataghan---- + +“By a miracle she is safe, sire,” answered Kazim. “The interposition +of Heaven in our favour sent to us a good dervish, by whose vigilance +we three were rescued from the slaughter, intended, I doubt not, for +her, as well as for her mother and myself. But I set no value upon my +life, nor is your throne worth the meanest slave in your empire, my +sovereign, if the perpetrators of that base massacre remain unpunished. +They were in the midst of their rejoicing--as fair--as guileless--as +happy an assemblage of unoffending women as ever graced the sanctuary +of a harem, when the arm of the murderer was bared against them within +their own walls. Is there a manly heart throughout all Hindostan,--can +any living being, invested with the human form, hear of such a horror +as this, without feeling every pulse of his life in arms to avenge it?” + +“It was a most foul deed,” said Jehangire. “Whom do you accuse as the +author of it?” + +“Suspicion--rumour with a thousand tongues already proclaim the +culprit--but it is my office to judge, not to accuse. All that I demand +at present is instant investigation upon this subject, before the +empire is roused to anger by the diffusion of the intelligence of what +has been done. This I demand, as the chief administrator of the laws. I +next demand the personal safety of the prince, to which I stand pledged +as the mediator, appointed by your majesty to negociate the peace.” + +“Spoken rightly, Kazim Ayaz,” said the emperor. “Go, tell my son that +the conditions to which he has here affixed his name shall be held +sacred. Also give the requisite orders for prosecuting the author +of the massacre at the castle; and may Allah forget me if I shall +suffer him to contaminate the earth, whoever he may be. The council is +dissolved.” + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + Beware, my Lord--there’s treason in the camp. + Go you not forth unarmed: men whisper low, + And shrug their shoulders, and the finger place + Upon the lip mysteriously. + + HINDOO DRAMA. + + +Bochari was, for the moment, astounded at the firmness exhibited by +the emperor. But he felt that he had no time to lose in taking his +measures; the question now concerned his own personal safety much more +than that of the prince, whose life was in the balance a few moments +before. Proceeding to his tent with the omrahs, whom he had gained over +to his party by largesses, and promises of high promotion, he charged +two of them to take Chusero under their care, and attended by an escort +of Orcha rajaputs, whom he had lately taken into his private pay, to +set out at once for the fortress of Gwalior, where they were to detain +the prince until further orders. + +These arrangements were put into a course of execution with so much +expedition, that before the high-chancellor could discover the tent in +which the prisoner had been confined, since his arrival in the camp, +the latter was on his way to the prison designed for him by Bochari. + +But the precautions of the Persian did not stop here. The presence +of Kazim in the camp, instead of being any longer subservient to his +purposes, was calculated, on the contrary, in every way to thwart them. +The ascendancy of that dignitary in the council, was already apparent; +and the new position in which the death of the subah had placed +Nourmahal, would, of necessity, add so materially to the chancellor’s +influence over the mind of the emperor, that all would be lost unless +the most vigorous steps were adopted, and that too without a moment’s +deliberation. Bochari having intimated these dangers to his confederate +omrahs and rajaputs, they assembled together in his tent. + +“You are perfectly aware, my friends,” said he, “that whatever outcry +may be raised against us for the contrivance to which we were obliged +to have recourse, in order to obtain an entrance into the subah’s +castle, it was one without which that fortress, in itself impregnable, +never could have been captured. The results justify all that we have +done.” + +To this assertion his associates readily assented. + +“I pledged myself to participate with you in the perils of that +enterprise. I was the first to quit the palanquins, to reconnoitre +the apartments of the castle, and to advance into the gallery. I have +the happiness to believe, that it was chiefly through my discharge +the arch-traitor fell. You know that I apprehended Chusero with my +own hand--and you will do me the justice to believe, that no motives, +except those arising from my deep interest in the welfare of the +empire, and my determination, that you shall receive the great rewards +due to you for your zealous co-operation with me on this important +occasion, could have induced me to expose your safety and my own to +the hazards, in which for several hours we were involved. Had we been +discovered before the moment for action arrived, can you doubt that we, +and not the enemies of the emperor, should have been the victims?” + +“It was but the turn of the dice,” said one of the omrahs. “We won--and +we must now maintain our position, or we shall soon be trampled in the +dust.” + +“The high-chancellor, you have observed--you, my lords, who were +present just now in the council--completely controls the emperor. +Nourmahal’s charms--and all must acknowledge that they are +unrivalled--will place the empire entirely at the feet of that family. +There is no act of sorcery which she will not put into requisition, in +order to prepare her way to the throne.” + +The rajaputs drew their scymitars, and evinced, by their manner, that +they were prepared to execute any directions which the commander would +be pleased to give them. + +“No, not yet. The moment has not arrived for measures of this +description. We cannot but know, that however hateful to us the +chancellor may be, and however incompatible with our just hopes his +influence with the emperor, there is a certain weight attached to his +name and office, which might operate to our prejudice if we were known +to have adopted any steps against him of a summary nature.” + +“His language in the council,” remarked one of the omrahs, “is not to +be tolerated. It was clearly treasonable.” + +“Treasonable, beyond all doubt,” said Bochari; “and Nourmahal can also +be considered in no other light than as a principal actor in the late +rebellion, seeing that she remained in the castle during the time, when +her consort was engaged in actual revolt against the emperor upon the +Sutledge, and afterwards at Lahore.” + +“Moreover,” added the omrah, who had spoken before, “has she not now +fled, instead of submitting to the emperor, as it would have become a +faithful subject to do?” + +“Our duty, therefore, is,” said Bochari, “to place the father and +daughter under arrest--to have them conveyed to Agra, whither the +emperor and army will forthwith return--to have the culprits regularly +arraigned for high treason--and to impose the responsibility of +convicting or acquitting them upon the lawful tribunals of the empire.” + +A buzz of approbation followed this suggestion, and measures were +taken on the instant for acting in conformity with it. But before the +confederates separated, they asked what course was to be adopted, in +case the emperor should not give his assent to these proceedings. + +“Leave that to me,” said Bochari; “I will secure you against any +opposition in that quarter.” + +The high chancellor, who had gone forth from the emperor’s pavilion +in search of the prince, speedily returned with an account that +Chusero had been just seen to quit the camp, attended by a body of +rajaputs. Jehangire immediately directed the commander to be summoned +to his presence; but the officer despatched on that duty, having been +prevented for some time from approaching Bochari’s tent by the guards +surrounding it, he was obliged to wait until the confederate council +was broken up. Bochari did not hesitate to obey the summons. + +“What have you done with my son, slave?” exclaimed the emperor, in +violent agitation. + +“That which was due to his rank, and to your wishes, sire,” answered +Bochari, with consummate coolness. + +“Explain.” + +“It was your majesty’s pleasure that his life should be preserved. Your +standard is planted on the citadel of the castle. There is no longer a +rebel force in this province. The army, having nothing further to do +here, is preparing to accompany your majesty to your capital, where +the exigencies of public affairs demand your presence. The prince has +preceded you, attended only by an escort suitable to his station, and +I am here, your slave, as you deign to designate me, ready to execute +your majesty’s further orders.” + +Jehangire looked bewildered. He examined Bochari’s countenance for a +moment or two, not knowing whether he should credit this statement, or +order the Persian under arrest. + +“Why was my son not brought to me, at all events, before he quitted the +camp? Did you not know how I loved him? Did you never feel the yearning +of a father’s heart to behold the countenance of a long lost child?” + +“It was his own desire to postpone the meeting for some days. His sense +of shame, he said--” + +“Let him be recalled--take horse, my lords,” said Jehangire, turning +to two of the omrahs in waiting; “fly after my son with the speed +of lightning. Bring him thither; he shall go with me to Agra, in +my palanquin. Insolent man, to assume this authority without even +consulting me.” + +The omrahs proceeded to execute the emperor’s mandate; but they +returned in a few minutes to his presence, and stated that the square +outside the pavilion was densely crowded with cavalry, who would not +permit them to pass through. + +Bochari turned pale, but still remained firm. + +The omrahs drew their swords, and placing themselves between the +emperor and the commander, declared their belief that designs were +entertained against his majesty’s life. They entreated him to retire. +Jehangire, hearing a tumult without, drew his knife, and cutting his +way through the screen of the pavilion, entered the bathing-tent which +was behind his sleeping apartment. Meantime the pavilion was filled +with armed men. + +“I accuse Kazim Ayaz of high treason,” said Bochari, in a loud +and commanding voice. “Guards, do your duty!” The chancellor was +immediately surrounded by rajaputs. The commander, followed by several +of the confederate omrahs, with drawn swords, went in search of the +emperor, who, having called all the attendants in waiting to his +assistance, appeared in front of them with his bared scymitar, resolved +to defend himself to the last. He raised the weapon to attack Bochari, +when, perceiving that his nobles and attendants were disarmed by the +intruders, he dropped his point and said, “I am betrayed.” + +“Say, on the contrary, my sovereign, that you are saved--saved from +machinations of which you had no conception.” + +“What is the meaning of all this? What have I done, that I am placed in +this situation?” + +“Conspirators had planned your destruction, sire. We have frustrated +their designs. The moment it was known that the prince had arrived a +prisoner in the camp, many of the omrahs, who had throughout the war +taken every occasion to exhibit their malignity against me, sought his +presence, and tendered him their allegiance. Your chancellor, even in +the council, dared to throw out the most infamous insinuations against +me; your life--my life--were no longer secure from danger.” + +“For myself I have no fear,” said the emperor. “The attachment of the +nobles to my son, is but a pledge of their fidelity to me--a fidelity +too, of which I have too many proofs to doubt it for a moment.” + +“If your majesty feel so assured upon this point, then all that it +remains for me to do is to place myself under your protection.” + +“Be certain of that. Is there any thing further which you can desire? +If not, it is my pleasure that you should withdraw.” + +“These omrahs, also, who stand behind me.” + +“What do they require?” + +“Full security for themselves and for me; without it we will not +retire.” + +“Name your terms, Bochari. I did not expect this treatment from you. I +have always appreciated your services.” + +“Your words in the council, sire--your words in the pavilion, when you +were pleased to vilify me by the appellation of slave, did not indicate +a very strong remembrance of my poor services to the empire.” + +“I own I was offended--outraged in my feelings by the sudden removal of +my son.” + +“Nay, sire, I presume not to make any remark upon your strange +language, or stranger manner to me--a traitor was by your side to whom +I impute both.” + +An officer here entered the tent, and having informed the commander +that the troops were on the march, that all the tents were struck, +and that persons were in waiting to take down his majesty’s pavilion, +Bochari ordered his horses to be brought. + +“These proceedings,” said Jehangire, “are altogether most +extraordinary. Well, let my horses be brought also.” + +“Sire! mine are wholly at your service.” + +“If I be still emperor of Hindostan, and have a horse which I can call +my own, I shall mount him.” + +Jehangire’s desire, upon this point, having been complied with, he and +Bochari rode slowly away together in the midst of a strong troop of +Orcha rajaputs, but in a direction different from that which the great +body of the army had taken. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + Oh, Death! Death! Thou art a great avenger. + ’Tis when thy arrow hath thy victim pierced, + That those, who mourn the lost, begin to know + His virtues, and remember in their heart + Of hearts how oft they caused the needless tear + To stain the cheek that ne’er shall blush again. + + MINHAGE. + + +Upon his departure from the hermitage for the imperial camp, Kazim +assured Mangeli, that if he did not return thither in the course of +the day, he would despatch a messenger to give an account to her of +his proceedings. He possessed, however, no means of accomplishing his +promise. The rajaputs, to whose custody he was consigned by Bochari, +though they treated him personally with respect, stated that they had +no orders to forward communications from him to any person whomsoever, +and that their duty was limited to attendance upon him until his +arrival at Agra. Astonished at this intelligence, and alarmed for the +effect which his continued absence and silence might produce upon +the already too much agitated mind of Mangeli he entreated, at all +events, that he might be permitted to see his wife and daughter before +departing for the capital. He was told that the ladies would probably +be at Agra before him, as swift-paced elephants had been already placed +at their disposal, in order to enable them to return thither with as +little delay as possible. + +Kazim needed no reflection to feel assured that he was now, with his +family, altogether in the hands of Bochari. He saw that, throughout +all the occurrences which had recently taken place, he had been an +instrument in the hands of that base and remorseless man. As to his +personal safety, he thought no more of it. Doubtless measures were +taken for sacrificing him, and having no longer any mode of avoiding +his fate, he resigned himself to the decrees of Providence, But to be +separated at such a moment from Mangeli and Nourmahal was, indeed, a +thought full of anxiety and grief. Could he be assured that they were +treated with ordinary respect,--could he be certain that they were yet +in existence,--even information to this extent would quiet the pangs +that every moment shot through his brain, threatening to bear away all +the power of reason. But the officer in command of the rajaputs was +inexorable. No entreaty could induce him to comply with Kazim’s desire +for gaining intelligence upon these points. They rode on night and day, +except for a few hours after noon-tide, sometimes on the public road, +more frequently through the bye-paths, taking the shortest course they +could find towards Agra. + +Kazim’s feelings told him accurately what those of his consort and +daughter were, under the circumstances in which they were placed. They +agreed, without hesitation, in the opinion that his duty to the empire +imposed upon him the necessity of losing no time in repairing to the +camp, and in demanding a full and an immediate investigation into the +origin of the massacre which had taken place at the castle. Zeinedeen +already apprised them of the conclusions at which _his_ mind had +arrived as to the stratagem which was practised by Bochari, with a view +to obtain possession of the castle. But he concealed from them the +apprehensions which he could not help entertaining, that the tragedy +was designed to comprehend Nourmahal, as well as the prince and the +subah, if not even the chancellor, whose integrity and great popularity +must have been felt by Bochari as a continual reproach upon his own +character. + +The distance of the imperial camp from the hermitage was not +considerable. It might easily be traversed by a horseman in an hour +or two. As the morning wore away without any letters from Kazim, +uneasiness became more and more wildly pictured upon Mangeli’s +countenance. Zeinedeen took them to the summit of the tower, whence +they could clearly see Kazim, if he were returning, or any messengers +despatched with communications for them. But they could discern no +object moving in any direction that led to the hermitage. + +Now and then a trooper galloped out from the camp, and having watered +his horse at a brook, that tumbled down the hill-side, where the +tents were erected, seemed preparing to cross it. But he instantly +returned the same way. Once or twice spearmen were seen moving beyond +the outposts. They crossed the brook; after washing their feet, they +hastened over the plain; but they then turned towards the castle, +for the garrison of which they appeared to be charged with some +instructions. Peasants also occasionally passed through the lines, +again over the brook into the plain, and upon the very path that led to +the hermitage. But they were speedily lost sight of. + +All Mangeli’s terrors of the preceding night were rapidly returning +upon her senses. Nourmahal endeavoured to soothe her mother’s alarm by +every suggestion she could make. But between watching at the window +for the appearance of her father, or of a messenger from him, and the +attentions of which her beloved parent stood so much in need, she +became almost distracted. Zeinedeen walked up and down in the apartment +where they were, his arms folded, and occasionally offering hopes, and +advising patience, which were very far from his own breast. Matters, +he plainly saw, were, from one quarter of an hour to another, assuming +a more sinister appearance, and it occurred to him that in not taking +steps for conveying Mangeli and Nourmahal from the hermitage, he was +not acting with his ordinary discretion. + +At length the approach of a troop of horsemen was announced by +Nourmahal. Zeinedeen looked out, and observing that they were galloping +with all the rapidity they could command, he lost no further time in +urging his companions to go with him to a place of safety. + +His intention was to lead them, by a secret passage at the foot of the +stair-case, to a subterranean chamber, where they might remain until +the object of the troopers in coming to the hermitage should be known. + +Unhappily, Mangeli, at the moment, fell into her daughter’s arms in +a swoon. Nourmahal, overwhelmed by anxiety for her mother, could not +be made to comprehend the necessity of yielding instant obedience to +the advice of Zeinedeen. Mangeli breathed again. The trampling of the +horses was heard. The hermit, taking both his companions by the hand, +conducted them to the staircase, but before he descended half-way, he +found it crowded with officers, whose long scabbards clattered on the +steps as they were hastening upwards in search of his guests. + +The hermit and his trembling companions were obliged to return to the +chamber they had just left. They were followed by the strangers. One +of the officers to whom the persons of Nourmahal and her mother were +well known, after paying them his homage in the most respectful manner, +stated that orders had been given for the immediate breaking up of +the encampment, and the return of the army to Agra; that the emperor, +after making arrangements for the future government of Cashmere, had +already set out for the capital, attended by the commander and the high +chancellor; and that the guards now in waiting were commissioned to +attend upon their highnesses on their journey homewards. + +This communication, made with an air of soldierly frankness and +sincerity, tended in no small degree to confirm the apprehensions which +the first announcement of the approach of the troops had kindled in the +hermit’s mind. + +“You have, of course,” he said, “letters from the high chancellor to +his family.” + +“I have no letters,” answered the officer; “nor am I aware that any of +my comrades have been charged with any other communication than that +which I have now made. Swift elephants will be here presently with +palanquins, and as the emperor and chancellor cannot be far on their +road, I should hope that we may easily overtake them in a few hours. + +“I own,” said Zeinedeen, “I am surprised that the chancellor was not +deputed by the emperor to take charge of his own family, or, at all +events, that you have no written, or even verbal communication from +him.” + +“There seemed to have been little time for ceremony of any sort this +morning; for such was the suddenness with which the orders for the +march of the troops were given, and put into execution, that we have +been most of us obliged to entrust the collection and care of our +baggage to the suttlers of the camp, many of whom, as perhaps you know, +are very little to be depended upon.” + +Mangeli and her daughter, having retired to a recess in one of the +windows, listened to this conversation with painful attention. The +arrival of the palanquins having been announced, they, however, had now +no alternative. It was not in Zeinedeen’s power, even had he wished +it, to defer their departure. They were informed that there were two +palanquins at their disposal; but that if they preferred proceeding +together in the same vehicle, they were perfectly at liberty to indulge +their wishes on that point. They might, moreover, rest assured of +meeting from the escort, appointed to accompany them, every possible +attention. + +Zeinedeen’s fears were, in a great measure, disarmed by these +assurances. Still a sense of disquietude lingered in his mind, which he +in vain exerted himself to compose. When the cavalcade was declared to +be ready for departure, Mangeli gave him her hand, fully expecting that +he would accompany them to Agra. The thought had not before occurred to +him. He mentioned her wishes to the officer in command, who, without +hesitation, declared that he knew of no objection that could be offered +to that course. A palanquin would be at the hermit’s service, if he +chose to accept it. + +Zeinedeen yielded to Mangeli’s entreaties, enforced as they were by +those of Nourmahal, and by the solicitude with which his thoughts were +filled for the fate of Kazim. Having informed his domestics of his +intention, and desired them, however, to be prepared for his speedy +return, he affectionately bade them farewell. + +Poor old Chunder was sadly grieved at the departure of his beloved +master. If he had tears he would have wept, but he could not. He was +sure they would never meet again. Holding Zeinedeen’s hands in his, +he kissed them, and prayed that Allah might protect him, and shower +upon his head every good gift. He would allow nobody to assist him in +raising his master to the palanquin,--a service, indeed, which he was +ill able to perform. But the old man’s affection was allowed by the +escort to have its way. + +All the preparations for the departure of the cavalcade having been +at length completed, it proceeded on its route. The lattices of the +palanquin in which Nourmahal and her mother reclined, were carefully +veiled, and female slaves were in readiness to wait upon them; so far +as their personal convenience was concerned, they found that every +arrangement had been provided necessary for a long journey. + +Under other circumstances, the expectation of returning once more +to “dear Agra,” as she often loved to call it, would have awakened +in Nourmahal’s bosom its most fervent emotions of rapture. But what +a world of reflections crowded upon her, as she passed by the castle +lately her residence, now no longer ruled by the subah! It had been to +her the scene of much suffering,--of many, many a gloomy hour, through +which the rays of sunshine, that now and then struggled through them, +were indeed but few! + +Her mother deeply sympathised with her in all the tears which the +retrospect of that scene called forth. They were tears of bitter +sorrow. It was now at last admitted by her once cold and alienated +heart, that she ought to have loved the husband who knew no joy on +earth which did not derive its light from her. His every look of +tenderness, to which, in life, she was indifferent; his timid advances +towards hope that she would love him, which she had repelled; his +generous abstinence from the slightest exhibition of unkindness, from +even a gesture that could be construed into reproach,--these and a +thousand other recollections now gathered in dense array before her, +and demanded, if not vengeance, at least expiation. + +Nourmahal never was inclined to conceal from herself the merits +of Afkun’s character. His faults, if any she had known, were now +forgotten. Her memory was active in shadowing out every particular +transaction, in which the part of the sufferer fell to his share, in +consequence of apathy on her side. Many were the instances in which she +now acknowledged that she showed him too little forbearance; many those +in which, by a slight act of assiduity, she might have spared him pain. +His spirit looked upon her placidly, telling her that he forgave all; +but it was this very meekness which wrung her heart with anguish. + +Would that the warrior had indeed heard the sobs of remorse which +escaped from that once proud breast, as pressing her head upon her +mother’s lap she yielded to all the intensity of a widow’s grief! She +mourned, not because she had ever felt for him the sentiment of love. +It would have been hypocrisy to have attributed her agony to any such +source. Nature, destiny, circumstances, for which it would have been +unjust to blame that beauteous woman, denied to her the faculty of +loving more than one being, who for good or for evil was appointed to +absorb all that she could ever know of that divine emotion. + +No; Nourmahal mourned because she had no longer the opportunity of +repaying Afkun, as far as she might have done, any measure of the +gratitude which she owed him for all his true enduring love, for all +his god-like generosity,--the remembrance of which, now that he was no +more, pierced her soul like a barbed arrow. + + + + + CHAPTER X (continued). + + The worse the ill that fate on noble souls + Inflicts, the more their firmness; and they arm + Their spirits with adamant to meet the blow. + + HINDOO PLAY. + + +As the escort pursued their journey from day to day, they were +occasionally joined by stragglers from the main body of the army, who +seemed full of some extraordinary intelligence, which they communicated +in whispers, and with many shrugs of the shoulder to the officers. +The frequent occurrence of those communications, and the mysterious +manner in which the officers appeared to converse about them, amongst +themselves, attracted the observation, and renewed the alarm of +Zeinedeen. He more than once distinctly overhead the words “high +treason” connected with Kazim’s name. Nourmahal’s name also was often +mentioned. He saw, moreover, that after the officers received this +intelligence, whatever it was, they became more rigid in enforcing +discipline amongst the escort. + +During the halts of the first day, Mangeli often inquired whether +they were yet in sight of the imperial guards, who would be easily +distinguishable by their begla plumes from the other regiments of the +army. But nothing of the kind was observable. Upon the route, by which +she was travelling, few objects were to be seen moving, except the +soldiers by whom her palanquin were attended. She counted the hours +with the most harassing anxiety, as they passed one after another, +without realizing the expectation she had been led to entertain, +that they would speedily overtake the imperial suite, and be under +the protection of her husband. At every halt she grew more and more +impatient. Her foreboding fears were shared by Nourmahal, who, +after the first outbursts of grief, with which her heart had been +overladen, applied all the energies she could command to control her +apprehensions, and to wear upon her countenance, for the encouragement +and consolation of her agonised mother, some degree of calmness. + +After the difficult descents of Pees-Punchal, and the Bember were +passed, the travellers had still many wearisome days before them, until +they embarked on the Jumna. Nothing was yet heard of the emperor, or +the chancellor, beyond vague reports, that they were not with the +army, which took the road to Lahore, but that they might be expected +shortly to arrive at Agra. Mangeli, as well as Nourmahal, appeared to +feel considerable relief on entering the vessel which was to convey +them down the river. They had suffered much fatigue from the heavy, +and, at the same time, rapid movements of the elephants, and from +their close confinement within the palanquins. They had now a cabin +assigned to their own use, to which, on their request, Zeinedeen was +permitted unreserved access. His presence lent them fortitude, even +when his conversation failed to beguile them of the fears, by which +they continued to be affected concerning Kazim. + +The lofty minarets, and domes of the capital, at length announced the +termination of their journey. They naturally expected to be conveyed +by water to the marble steps, which led from the shore of the Jumna +to the chancellor’s palace; but the officer, under whose care they +had been placed, stated that he had no orders to that effect. His +instructions, he said, which he was bound rigidly to obey, mentioned +particular apartments in one of the castles of the citadel, which were +prepared for their accommodation, until the arrival of the chancellor. +Zeinedeen did not conceal his surprise at this arrangement. Still he +had no advice to offer, but continued patience and resignation to the +will of Providence, who would doubtless sooner or later put a period to +their disappointments. + +The astonishment of the good hermit, and the sense of alarm which +continued to prey upon the spirits of the mother and daughter, were +far from being mitigated, when upon being handed over by the commander +of the escort to the governor of the citadel, to whom at the same time +the former delivered a letter under the imperial seal, the wearied +travellers were conducted to a quarter of the citadel, which appeared +to be the residence of the lowest menials attached to the service of +the imperial palace. The chamber, into which they were first shown, +was lighted only by a small narrow window near the ceiling. Even that +solitary window had a strong iron bar running down the middle, which +not only added to the dimness of the apartment, but explained to them +at once their real situation. + +“Are we then prisoners?” asked Nourmahal, turning to the governor, +after she had rapidly surveyed the chamber. + +“My office has often been a painful one,” he replied, “but never more +so than at this moment. The orders which I have received from the +emperor----” + +“From the emperor?” + +“From the emperor.” + +“Impossible!” exclaimed Nourmahal. + +“The seal and the signature leave no room for doubt upon that point. +Here is the imperial warrant, which I am bound at the peril of my head +to put into execution.” + +“Oh! it must be some mistake. Jehangire would never think of assigning +to Nourmahal such an apartment as this,--it must be some cruel +imposition.” + +Zeinedeen asked permission to look at the document, which he +immediately returned to the governor, observing that there seemed to be +no reason to doubt its authenticity. + +“You see here, however,” added the governor, “the worst of your +apartments. There are others connected with it, which are much more +spacious and cheerful, and overlook the river; but they will not be +prepared for your use until to-morrow, as I was not apprised, until the +very moment of your arrival, that personages of so much distinction +were to be lodged in this wing of the citadel.” + +“Every new circumstance of this business appears more inexplicable than +the one by which it is preceded,” said Zeinedeen. “Do you know if the +emperor be yet arrived?” + +“His majesty is not yet arrived,” answered the governor, “but he is +expected early to-morrow morning.” + +“That, at all events, is something,” said Nourmahal, pressing +her mother to her bosom. “The enigma will soon be solved--the +suspense--dearest and best of mothers,” she added, fervidly kissing her +pallid cheeks--“in which we must spend the night, will be of no great +duration. The high chancellor, sir, is he with the emperor?” + +“So the last couriers say.” + +“You hear that, mother? _He_ is safe at all events. He will, +indeed, be surprised to find us in this prison. You, of course, know, +sir, that this is the consort, and I am the daughter of Kazim Ayas.” + +“I should have known that, even had your names not been set forth in +the warrant.” + +It afforded Zeinedeen some relief to observe that Nourmahal’s natural +fortitude of mind had not abandoned her on this trying occasion; that, +on the contrary, it seemed growing upon her with each new difficulty, +which this sudden reverse of her fortunes presented to her view. He +most anxiously aided her in the exertions she made to infuse her own +courage into the bosom of her mother; but the mind of Mangeli was cast +in a different mould. She was altogether an instrument played upon +by the affections. “Were but Kazim with me,” she repeated a thousand +times, “I could endure any thing. But separate from him I am nothing. +I know not what to do or to say. I have no sense of any thing going +on around me. I feel that my child is here,” she added, pausing, and +looking steadfastly into Nourmahal’s eyes. “Oh, thanks to Alla!--Yes, +my beloved child! born to me in the desert, with no covering to protect +thee save the coiled serpent,--no pillow to sustain thee, save the +burning sand,--no food to nurture thee in this dried up bosom,--the +howling blast for thy lullaby,--and for thy nurse, the horrid vulture! +Oh, God, be again and again adored! We were then guarded by Thy +merciful hand!” + +“And will be guarded still by Him, mother! Be comforted, to-morrow, +to-morrow must end our woes.” + +The governor, who was himself a parent, could not witness this scene +without a degree of emotion, which he in vain endeavoured to repress. +Drawing Zeinedeen aside, he told him in a low voice, interrupted by +pangs which choked his utterance, that he would see if, by any exertion +he could make, the other rooms belonging to that suite could be placed +at their disposal before night. Warmly pressing the hermit’s arm, as +a token of the interest which he felt in their behalf, he quitted the +chamber, locking the door after him as gently as possible, to prevent +them from hearing that most dismal of all sounds, the shooting of the +bolt that announces the loss of liberty. + +The only article of furniture which Zeinedeen could discover in the +prison where they now stood, was a low divan close to the bare wall, +constructed of wood, and a thin ragged cushion. The floor appeared to +be composed of hard clay. Drawing Nourmahal and her mother towards +the divan, he persuaded them to rest there for a while, and await +the result of the efforts of the governor, who, he had no doubt, was +disposed to render them all the service in his power. + +During the journey from Cashmere to Agra, the hermit collected from +several members of the escort, with whom he conversed whenever the +halts permitted him to do so, various particulars concerning the +sanguinary scenes which had been perpetrated at the fortress of Kebeer. +These particulars he now took an opportunity of detailing to Mangeli +and Nourmahal, hoping that if they could give their attention to the +relation of woes much more grievous than their own, they might be +gradually prepared for the privations to which he clearly foresaw +they were now doomed for some time. The death of Kanun particularly +affected her mistress. The circumstances with which it was attended, +were calculated to touch her heart. She was much attached to that +girl, whom, though originally placed in attendance upon her as a +slave, she considered in the light of a sister. Far from entertaining +any impulse of jealousy, on hearing of the passion which Kanun had +secretly cherished for Afkun, she only wondered that she had not +herself observed it at an earlier period. Many little circumstances +now occurred to her recollection, which confirmed all Zeinedeen had +heard upon that subject; and it was even some consolation to her to +know, that in his last moments the subah was not wholly abandoned to +the merciless outlaws by whose hands he fell. It was some balm to her +troubled spirit to think, that the attendant whom she best loved, clung +to her suffering consort on that occasion, and rendered him the last +services which he was capable of receiving. + +For the many other innocent victims of that dreadful night, Nourmahal +expressed deep regret. She called to mind, and mentioned to her mother, +the various traits of amiability by which they were distinguished, +and the brilliant talents they occasionally displayed, which required +nothing more than education to render them perfect. + +But these details speedily led to the conclusion, that the annals of +Hindostan had furnished no instance of treachery more disgraceful to +its authors, than that by which the fortress was gained to the emperor. +Zeinedeen expressed his entire conviction, that Jehangire could have +known nothing of the nature of the presents, which were conveyed within +the walls in the fatal palanquins. Rumour universally ascribed the +contrivance of that iniquitous scheme to the mind of Bochari, to which +every base device, every species of crime, was known to be familiar. + +“It is impossible, therefore, to doubt,” said Nourmahal, “that it is +to the Persian we are to attribute the position in which we are now +placed. It clearly entered into his designs to involve the whole of us +in destruction on that terrible night. The deed once consummated, it +could not be recalled; and by the power which he unhappily possesses, +he would have easily put an end to all inquiries about us. But Alla +having, through your instrumentality, Zeinedeen, protected us from the +machinations of that murderous scene, he durst not venture to attack +us again through the same kind of warfare. No doubt he now seeks to +accomplish his purpose by some other means.” + +“Bochari is, indeed, to be dreaded,” observed the hermit. “But there is +an eye above us all, from which nothing can be concealed--an arm which, +sooner or later, is sure to overtake and strike down the murderer. The +Persian will, probably, fabricate some charge--indeed it is currently +reported, that he has already prepared an accusation of high-treason +against the chancellor.” + +“Oh! that he would dare to charge my husband with treason to the +state,” exclaimed Mangeli, with an unwonted degree of energy. “Oh! that +the Persian would venture on such an accusation as that! There is not +a child in Hindostan, who does not know Kazim’s true attachment to the +emperor, and to the people under his sceptre! The day of that trial +would be the last that Bochari ever would see. No troops could protect +him from the indignation of the inhabitants of Agra, from the first +omrah down to the lowest slave!” + +“It is publicly said, that the emperor himself is nothing more or less +than a captive in the hands of Bochari,” added Zeinedeen. “On leaving +the camp his majesty rode unarmed by the side of the Persian, and +surrounded by a troop of Orcha rajaputs.” + +“Orcha rajaputs?” asked Mangeli. + +“So I am informed.” + +“Those are the assassins, by whose hands Abul Fazeel, our beloved +friend, perished, when on his way to the Deccan,” added Mangeli. + +Nourmahal had not heard before of the death of Fazeel. The name +arrested her attention, for she had heard it recently pronounced in a +tone she was not likely to forget. She inquired minutely into all the +particulars of that transaction, which her mother related as far as she +knew them. + +The governor at length re-appeared, followed by slaves with lights, his +beaming countenance indicating the pleasure which he said he felt in +having succeeded, in obtaining better accommodation for them than those +which that miserable chamber afforded. Proceeding to a door, opposite +to the one by which he entered, he opened it, and conducted Nourmahal +and her mother to a spacious apartment plainly carpeted, but furnished +with divans, cushions, and mattresses, sufficient for their use. This +room communicated with another, which, he added, would also be at their +service, and overlooked the Jumna, as they would perceive when the +day-light should return. A frugal supper was then placed before them, +of which, however, they were none of them in spirits to partake. + +It was arranged, that Zeinedeen should avail himself of the hospitable +offer made by the governor of a suitable residence during the time he +might feel disposed to remain in Agra. The party then separated for +the night--Mangeli and Nourmahal consigning themselves to mattresses, +placed close to each other, little solicitous, however, of repose, +which they had no wish to enjoy, until they should be assured of the +return and the safety of the chancellor. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + May Heaven preserve your gentle heart + From every sorrow mortals know! + What joys this world can here impart, + And what the next, may each bestow. + + HAFIZ. + + +Never was the return of morning expected with more anxiety by +Nourmahal, than during that night, which to her, particularly, +appeared as if it would never end. For the first hour or two she +sustained her mother’s head upon her arm. Perceiving that her dear +parent, overwhelmed by the fatigue and pain she had endured, gradually +lapsed into sleep, she gently withdrew her arm, and substituting a +cushion for it rose from the mattress, with a view to penetrate to the +apartment, which, as the governor said, overlooked the Jumna. + +Taking in her hand a small lamp, which one of the slaves had left on +the floor, she proceeded bare-footed, listening, now and then, to +ascertain that her mother remained undisturbed, and, passing into an +outer room, discovered that the only window it contained was strongly +secured by an iron lattice within, and by shutters that opened on the +outside. It occurred to her that, as was usually the case on the river, +where external access to the shutters would be inconvenient, they were +under the control of a spring-bolt, fixed in some part of the frame +of the window within. After searching carefully at both sides of the +frame, she failed to find any indication of the spring, and was about +to give up the object of her pursuit in despair, when the light of the +lamp gleamed on a brass ring, suspended in one of the squares of the +lattice. On her pulling this ring, the bolt by which the shutters were +made fast, immediately receded from its place, they flew back, and +disclosed the river tranquilly flowing beneath. + +The canopy of the heavens exhibited myriads of suns of other worlds, +shining with that clear and intense brightness, which still indicated +that the night was scarcely half way through its course. Nourmahal +gazed on them earnestly, as if she would intreat them to pale their +light, and make way for the morning. But they continued to assert their +dominion over the earth, shining through a sky without a cloud, azure +from the horizon to the zenith, without a break prophetic of the day +that was still to come. She sat listening to the current, that now and +then gently rippled as it passed by, without disturbing, even by a +murmur, the profound silence that reigned every where around. + +Putting the lamp down she sat in the window, and clasping her hands +fervently, prayed to the Creator of those glorious orbs, whose +admirable harmony gave token every moment of his perpetual presence and +power, that he would look down upon her beloved parents, and preserve +them from the persecutions to which, she feared, they were about to be +subjected. + +While these tacit supplications occupied her whole mind, the chill +of the night-air passed with a tremor through her thinly-covered +limbs. Returning to her mattress, she found her mother still sleeping. +Kneeling by her side, she renewed her prayer. Undesirous even of a +moment’s repose, she resumed her usual apparel, and again took her +place at the window, to watch for the earliest indications of the dawn. +But the stars appeared to have lost not a ray of their lustre. The +transparent azure of the firmament was still perfectly undisturbed, as +far as her limited range of vision could enable her to observe. + +Leaning her cheek upon her hand, she gave herself up to the thousand +thoughts that pressed upon her unquiet mind. “Is all this a dream?” +she asked herself. “Am I once more in Agra? Is this the Jumna, upon +whose banks I have spent so many days of happiness;--ah! of true +happiness,--when I knew no feeling save intense love for my dear +parents, and had no care, except what was brought upon me by my +gazelles and favourite flowers? + +“In Agra! in the citadel! within the same walls that inclose the +emperor’s palace, and yet in a prison!--and for what? What have I done +to call for such treatment as this? Whom have I offended? The emperor? +It is by his order, and under his signature, that my beloved mother and +I have been sent to this dreary abode! When I last saw him, how little +did I expect this! + +“But it cannot be his act. It cannot be that Jehangire has willingly +affixed his signature to any decree against me. He has been imposed +upon by some wicked invention. My life upon it, Bochari is the author +of this proceeding. I know not what my father may have said in the +council to draw upon him that bad man’s wrath. Kazim’s noble soul would +disdain to hide the indignation he felt, at the flagitious stratagem by +which the fortress was entered. It is not improbable that high words +passed between them, and that something fell from my father capable of +being misinterpreted. But I,--what have I said? what deed have I even +attempted, to palliate any accusation against me? + +“No matter; I suffer with my parents. I share their destiny, whatever +it may be. That is a consolation. To be united with them in the +residence of misery,--if misery is to come,--oh, how infinitely more +acceptable is it to me than all the splendour which Hindostan can +afford! + +“The vision of life is then passed. There was a time when Nourmahal +looked forward to other scenes, painted by her glowing fancy in +etherial colours which she thought could never deceive her, could never +fade. Alas! those bright hallucinations have vanished. But a little +month ago the vice queen of Cashmere, now a prisoner in the meanest +part of the seraglio! But a little month ago worshipped by the supreme +lord of Hindostan,--_worshipped_, why should I not say it? and now +reduced below the condition of a slave! + +“They will doubtless apply against my father all the machinery of +falsehood. He knows not how to meet such an adversary as Bochari. He +will exhibit his ingenuous and stainless forehead without a shield to +ward off their arrows. They will degrade him from his high office. They +will endeavour to tarnish his splendid name. They will confiscate his +wealth, and reduce him to mendicancy; no, not to mendicancy,--that they +shall never do, while Nourmahal has a hand to labour for him. + +“It is now I ought to thank thee, God! for having endowed me +with gifts which may enable me to administer to the support of my +beloved parents. Even though in prison my mind is free, my hands are +unshackled. Zeinedeen shall be our steward. I can work; I can make +dresses for the courtly dames, I can get a tambour and make tapestry, I +can flower muslins and brocades. Our wants will be but few; we are not +unacquainted with poverty, and we may still be happy, if our enemies do +but leave us together. + +“My mother will at first feel these vicissitudes deeply,--not for her +own sake, but for ours. My father can take to his books again. He may +find ample occupation in writing the story of his own eventful life; +he may, perhaps, add to it some of the scenes which his daughter has +witnessed during her short career; and haply the day may come when the +fates of Kazim Ayas and Nourmahal shall afford entertainment, if not +instruction, to distant nations. Oh, those alone who have truly loved +will know how to appreciate the difficulties in which she has been +placed! They will not say that Nourmahal had no heart because she could +not dispose of it at will,--because she could not transfer it from one +shrine to another, as if it were a victim that could be renewed! + +“Poetry, music, painting, oh divine arts! oh possessions beyond the +control of the tyrant’s animosity! these shall be our lights to +cheer our prison-home, and to win even my weeping mother back to her +beautiful smiles! + +“Hush! what step was that? does my mother wake? I shall see. No; she +breathes lowly, quietly. Thanks to Heaven! she will rise refreshed. It +is near again. Not a footstep, it is the fall of the oar on the waters. +It approaches. I may, perhaps, see it through the window if it be a +boat. Yes. There it moves rapidly down the middle of the stream, almost +like a phantom on the waters. The night, me-thinks, has grown darker. +The stars have nearly all gone out, and those that remain seem shorn +of more than half their brilliancy. It feels colder too. Oh, welcome +sight! A greyish hue is in the east. It is expanding gradually on each +side, and rising higher and higher. The stars have wholly vanished. The +mysterious hand of Time is throwing back the curtains of night. How +regal are those folds of their lining which I see, all gold and purple! +There he comes! the glorious sun! a god bounding up the arches of +space, dispensing joy to all creatures, to all save the doomed family +of Ayas!” + +Nourmahal had scarcely turned from the window when her footsteps were +arrested by a sudden blast of trumpets, followed by numerous volleys +of artillery. These were the well known heralds that proclaimed to all +Agra the entry of the emperor into his palace. She had no occasion to +awake her mother to listen to these sounds. Her unhappy parent was +already roused from her lethargy, for such it was, rather than sleep, +in which her senses were wrapped during the greater portion of the +night. Looking vacantly around her, she asked, “Where am I? What place +is this? Ah! my Nourmahal--thee--thee, I know, my beloved. Where thou +art it must be our home! But your father. Has he risen? Has he gone +to the council? Nay; I do not remember that he was here in the night. +Tell me!--oh, my child! tell me, where is thy father, or I shall go +distracted? These walls--this chamber--these cushions;--all are strange +to me. Where are we?” + +“In Agra, dearest mother.” + +“In Agra? Impossible! In Agra! we should be in our own home. I should +not have forgotten our own bed-chamber. But this place--I have never +seen any place like it, it is so dismal!” + +“We are in Agra, mother; but not yet at home.” + +“What noise was that I heard just now?” + +“The trumpets and artillery announcing, I believe, the arrival of the +emperor.” + +“The emperor! Ah! I remember. Your father is with him. Yes--yes--he +will soon be here. Will he not, my beloved?” + +While Nourmahal was assisting her mother to rise, and to arrange her +attire, the sounds of several footsteps were heard hurrying along the +passages, outside their apartments. The door was immediately opened, +and several female slaves entered to tender their services to the +mother and daughter, and at the same time to prepare them for a visit +from the governor. In a few minutes the latter made his appearance, +accompanied by one whom the quick rush of Mangeli towards him, almost +before he entered, declared to be Kazim. + +“My cherished one, my child!” he exclaimed, in his well-known +affectionate voice, embracing them both at once; for Nourmahal’s +expectant eyes had scarcely allowed her mother to anticipate her in +pressing her arms around him. “Nothing is lost--all remains safe while +you are with me. Honours, office, wealth,--let them take all. We are +again together. I ask nothing more!” + +The governor considerately ordering the slaves to retire, withdrew, +also, himself, leaving the family alone. The first moments of meeting +were to each hours of joy. The uncertainty that they should ever see +each other again, was over. The anxiously-looked-for morning had come, +and with it doubt disappeared. The past was forgotten--the future not +yet thought of. They met--in a prison too--but even that circumstance +was overlooked in the gladness of those hearts that felt as if they +should never again be separated. + +When the first impulses of delight had in some measure subsided, Kazim +related to his dear companions all that had occurred to him since he +had left them at the hermitage. + +“On arriving at the camp, I found that preparations were making +for the execution of Chusero. I made my way to the emperor, fearful +that I should not arrive in time to prevent the decree for his death +from being signed; and I own that I entered the council, where he +was engaged, with very little of the senator about me. My blood was +in a fever of indignation, first, that my visit to the fortress, as +a mediator, should have been made the cover for all the calamity +that ensued; and next, that the prince, who had in truth surrendered +and placed his life in my hands, should have been dealt with so +perfidiously. I did not, you know I could not, conceal my thoughts, or +measure my language, in denouncing such an unheard-of violation of all +the principles of honour and justice. I produced the capitulation. The +emperor was as furious as I could be against that base Persian. Angry +words passed. Bochari and his friends drew their swords.” + +“In the council?” + +“In the emperor’s presence?” + +“In the council. I knew not whether they were about to sacrifice +the emperor, or me, or both. But, for myself, I had only one duty +to perform. I demanded the prince’s safety. I insisted upon it: +and drew up a decree on the spot, which the emperor signed, which I +counter-signed, securing full pardon to the prince, upon the terms +already agreed to. Bochari talked of treason, for I had spoken of my +son--my brave and noble Afkun; brave and noble he could never cease to +be, even though guilty of revolt,--this was my treason. I laughed at +the ignorance, the presumption, of the base-born slave. I looked upon +his words as empty sounds, and quitted the pavilion to seek Chusero. + +“Some time elapsed before I could discover the tent which he occupied. +As I approached it, I found it surrounded by a body of cavalry; before +I could pass through them, the prince was led out, compelled to ascend +a close howda, placed on a swift-footed elephant; and to depart from +the camp, attended by a strong escort. They said that they had the +emperor’s orders to take him to the fortress of Gwalior, which I knew +to be untrue. + +“I remonstrated against this proceeding, and declared my intention to +bring the authors of it to punishment. But my words had no effect, the +prince was out of sight in a few moments. On my return towards the +emperor’s pavilion, to inform him of this abuse of all authority, I +was myself apprehended under a decree, accusing me of high treason. I +demanded to see the decree. It was produced, signed by the emperor! +I could not believe my senses: I looked again and again, at the +signature. It was undoubtedly his hand-writing. But the law required +that it should be also signed by a civil member of the council. It was +so signed--by Auzeem!” + +“By Auzeem?” exclaimed Mangeli. “He, who has affected to be one of your +most intimate friends!” + +“It is inexplicable. No man’s faith is to be depended upon in these +times of civil strife. In our confidential conversations Auzeem has +much oftener taken exceptions to Bochari’s conduct than I have done. +Nevertheless he seldom, indeed, never opposes him in the council. On +the contrary, he seems to shrink from every occasion which might, by +possibility, bring him into collision with that person. And yet, to +do Auzeem justice, I must say that I have met with very few men of +more discernment, of more experience in the management of public +affairs, or of more unquestionable integrity than he is. By what arts +of seduction, or intimidation, he could have been prevailed upon to +countersign that decree, I am wholly at a loss to conjecture.” + +“It is too obvious, that Bochari is now the real emperor of Hindostan,” +observed Nourmahal. + +“He also accuses thee, my child, of the same crime that is laid to my +charge--of high treason; but upon what ground he rests that accusation +I could not learn.” + +“Good God! what is to become of us?” + +“My beloved Mangeli, it becomes us to be resigned to the ordinances of +that Supreme Being, whom you have well styled, the good God. He has, +indeed, been hitherto most bountiful to us. Let us place our dependence +upon Him, and rest assured He will not fail us, in this our hour of +adversity!” + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + “But they shall not obtain that for which they have + perpetrated their wicked deed. + + “And in place of benefit I will send them wretchedness. + + “Lo! they shall meet with retribution.” + + PERSIAN PROPHETS. + + +A general sense of alarm appeared to pervade the population of Agra, +upon its being made known that the emperor had returned to his palace, +without any of those exhibitions of triumph by which they conceived he +ought to have been accompanied on such an occasion. One of the most +formidable rebellions which had for many years disturbed the peace of +Hindostan, had been completely put down. The arms of Jehangire had not +only vindicated his right to the throne, but had been wielded with a +degree of valour, worthy of the best days of Acbar. Even to the omrahs, +and the troops who had distinguished themselves in the war, a public +entry into the capital, upon their return from the northern provinces, +was eminently due. But nothing of the kind was now to be expected. +The emperor had come back almost by stealth. It was ascertained that +he had arrived in a small boat by the Jumna, and landing at a private +staircase, that led into the seraglio, was conducted to his apartments +as if he had been a captive, instead of a conqueror. + +It was soon after further ascertained, that the omrahs, whose duty +it was, from their high birth, as well as from official station, to +keep guard at the palace, had been already displaced, and that their +functions were entrusted to common spearmen, members of that corps of +Orcha rajaputs, on whom the commander-in-chief seemed now resolved +to lavish all his favours. The very name of these troops was odious +in Agra. They were the known--unpunished--detested assassins of the +lamented Fazeel. They had taken no part in the late war. They had +been sent for by Bochari, while he was upon the march to Cashmere. It +was said, that besides their stipend from the treasury, he presented +them with double pay from his own purse; that they were, therefore, +instruments entirely subservient to his will, and that the late +revolt, though completely extinct, was to be made the pretext for new +regulations in the government of the most tyrannical nature. + +The public audiences, given from time immemorial by the emperors, +were discontinued. No person was allowed access to Jehangire, except +Bochari, and those specially furnished with his permission--and then +he could only be seen surrounded by a guard of the Orcha chieftains. +The reason assigned by the Persian for these extraordinary precautions +was, that he possessed in his hands undoubted evidence of a conspiracy, +in which most of the omrahs, and many of the inhabitants of Agra, +were engaged, the object of which was to assassinate the emperor, and +to raise Chusero to the throne. One of the chief conspirators, he +alleged, was the high-chancellor, against whom proceedings were about +to be instituted forthwith. + +These tidings, with the many false or exaggerated rumours to which +they gave birth, diffused a deep gloom over the whole capital. The +occupations and amusements of the people were, in a great measure, +suspended. Men were afraid to converse with each other upon any +matter relating to the empire, lest they should incur the vengeance +of Bochari, whose emissaries, profusely paid out of the imperial +treasury, were known to be actively employed in all directions. The +prisons were filled with persons of note, who had been apprehended upon +the denunciations of these spies, without the slightest proof of any +offence being brought against them. Each succeeding morning teemed with +mysterious reports of new arrests, and of secret decapitations, carried +into effect in defiance of every established form of legal procedure. + +This calamitous state of things continued for several months, during +which it became manifest that Bochari was the real master of the +empire, although the public ordinances were still signed by Jehangire. +He did not yet venture to displace the subahs of the provinces, who +had been appointed previously to the expedition to Cashmere. It was +not concealed, however, that they were all distributed amongst the +Orcha chieftains, who were to take possession of their offices as +soon as they could be spared from attendance in the capital. As they +constituted the principal support of the usurper, he feigned a variety +of excuses, from time to time, in order to detain them near his person. + +Zeinedeen, who was obliged to act with the greatest circumspection, +notwithstanding the sacredness usually attached to his character as a +dervish, did not fail to convey to Kazim accurate intelligence of these +events, which, he very justly stated, were felt with tenfold severity +by the people of Agra, as they were no longer under the protection of +the high-chancellor. While he was to be seen, they said, in the seat of +judgment, they smoked their chibouques in tranquillity, because they +knew that no injustice could reach them, if the administration of the +law were in the hands of Kazim Ayas. + +The first act of open resistance to the absolute authority exercised +by Bochari during a period of more than twelve months, occurred in +consequence of an attempt that was made by his order to raze the +mansion of the high chancellor to the ground. A private execution might +be attended with serious consequences the moment it became known. An +open trial might prove equally perilous. In order to feel the public +pulse with respect to his desired victim, he instructed his myrmidons +to proceed to that officer’s state residence, on the bank of the Jumna, +and to demolish it. The design became known, however, and the persons +employed to effect it no sooner commenced operations than an immense +crowd assembled at the place, and assailed them with bitter reproaches. +The men persevered,--troops having in the mean time arrived to their +assistance. This was the signal for a general tumult. A part of the +building had been already thrown down. The materials were made use of +by the people as missiles, which they hurled against their antagonists. +The cavalry found it impossible to act, so dense was the crowd by which +their movements were impeded. They were slaughtered in detail, and in +a few moments the whole of the workmen assembled to execute the orders +of Bochari, were compelled to fly from the ground. + +This event filled his mind with alarm. It demonstrated to him the very +slight foundation upon which his power was based, although it had +been suffered to continue so long, without meeting any considerable +opposition. He had failed, it was true, to obtain the concurrence of +any of the principal omrahs or rajahs in his system of tyranny. But +before this occurrence he felt an impression that his authority, armed +as it was with all the terrors which his position enabled him to call +to his assistance, was too formidable to permit of any serious attempt +at resistance. He trembled on his pinnacle. + +The long year already spent by Kazim and his family within the walls of +their prison, seemed nevertheless likely to be succeeded by another. +From an early period the governor of the citadel had been displaced, +because he was suspected of being favourable to their interests. The +estates bestowed upon Kazim, by Acbar and Jehangire, as rewards for his +important services to the empire, had been confiscated. His property of +a moveable nature, consisting of money, household furniture, horses, +and cattle of every description, had been seized and distributed, +as well as his estates, amongst the Orcha rajaputs whose rapacity +was insatiable. His office was abolished as no longer necessary in a +country, that had ceased to be governed by law. He and his wife and +daughter were studiously subjected to every species of privation. No +other food was allowed them than that which was daily divided among the +meanest prisoners,--rice, barley bread, and water. They were indeed +suffered to retain three female slaves, the daughters of a nurse +who had formerly lived in Kazim’s family. But no other persons were +permitted to enter their apartments, Zeinedeen alone excepted. + +These persecutions, accumulated one upon another, and accompanied +with every petty circumstance of mortification which the Persian +could invent, at first produced a sensible effect upon the health +and spirits of Mangeli. But the mild suggestions of her husband, and +the affectionate attentions of Nourmahal, whose character now shone +out in all its native dignity and beauty, soon beguiled her from the +melancholy anticipations in which she was prone to indulge. + +“We are, it is true,” he would say, “deprived of station, fortune, and +liberty. But we suffer in common with many others, who possess not our +resources for rendering these evils tolerable. Disease takes from some +the power of enjoyment in the midst of riches. We still have health. As +to high station, it can hardly be desirable to any elevated mind in the +present state of Hindostan; and the sense of freedom is in our souls, +although we are confined personally within these three chambers. + +“At all events let us not shadow out new misfortunes before they +actually come. When they do arrive, they are seldom so difficult to +bear as we imagine. Something altogether unforeseen occurs to limit +their duration, or to disarm them of their terrors. By anticipating +them, we give them reality so far as mental pain is concerned, when +in fact they may never approach us; and when they do, we suffer them +over again, thus unnecessarily doubling the affliction, with which they +would have been otherwise attended.” + +Nourmahal was not long in reducing to practice the resolutions, +which had often passed through her mind, as to providing against the +pressure of calamity, such as that in which she and her beloved +parents were now involved. She found means, through Zeinedeen’s +co-operation, of disposing of the jewels and trinkets which she +fortunately happened to have about her person, on the night of her +escape from the fortress, when she was so suddenly transferred from +the ball-room to the hermitage. The produce of these articles enabled +her to purchase, not merely the ordinary necessaries, but even some of +the luxuries of life, to which her parents had been accustomed; and, +moreover, a considerable quantity of brocade, silks, muslins, and other +materials, which, with the assistance of her attendants, she converted +into dresses of the most elegant description. Those maidens were at +first little versed in this sort of employment, but she spared no pains +in instructing them. Her patience, in shewing them how to execute their +work with the requisite degree of neatness, was admirable. + +Never perhaps did Kazim contemplate his daughter with a warmer +affection, or, more properly speaking, with a higher degree of +gratitude to Heaven, for having given him such a child, than when he +beheld her engaged in teaching those young women the very rudiments of +needlework, with which they had been before unacquainted, as they had +been brought up to the employment of cultivating flowers, destined to +be sold in the market of Agra. But they were of docile dispositions, +and they soon learned from their young mistress how to perform, with +readiness and precision, their assigned tasks, and even to bestow upon +them those little graces beyond the reach of mechanism, which flowed so +naturally from her own hand. + +Nothing could be more beautiful than the flowered muslins which +emanated occasionally from this domestic factory. It was Nourmahal’s +habit to draw the flowers first, and then when her fancy was pleased, +not only with their form, but their variety, to work them herself upon +the plain muslin. She did not follow the usual fashion of strewing only +one species of flower upon the material. She selected such as in colour +and feature best harmonised together, and these she disposed within +her tambour frame so tastefully, that the eye was at once struck with +the novelty, and captivated with the poetic elegance of her invention. +By the industry of her handmaids, these specimens of her art were +multiplied. They found a ready sale in the bazaars of Agra, and of +Delhi, whither they were conveyed by the care of Zeinedeen, and were +speedily so much in vogue amongst the ladies of the two cities, who +converted them into turbans, that the supply was seldom adequate to the +demand. + +In the same manner, the dresses in brocade and rich silks, which were +executed by Nourmahal and her gentle companions, were acknowledged, +even by persons the most experienced in the manufacture of female +apparel, to be inimitable. Even when nothing was done to improve the +texture of the material, there was an effect about the fashion of the +robe itself, which pronounced it to be fit only for a noble woman. But +when to the texture were added ornaments in gold or silver--whether +they assumed the resemblance of flowers, or bees, or butterflies, or +the insects that illuminate the forest, or the fishes that lighten over +the deep,--it was said that none but empresses ought to be allowed to +assume such splendid vestments. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + O branch of an exquisite rose plant, for whose + sake dost thou grow? Ah! on whom will that + smiling rose-bud confer delight? + + HAFIZ. + + +Nor did Nourmahal confine herself to these occupations, although, in a +profitable point of view, they were the most productive in which she +could have been engaged. The prices to which her manufactures speedily +rose, in consequence of the avidity with which they were sought +throughout Hindostan, would have enabled her to realize a handsome +fortune. But it was her pride to vary her employments, in order that +she should feel no talent under her command, which she did not +exercise on this occasion, in the service of her beloved parents. + +She had acquired, almost while she was a child, the art of carving in +ivory. This she now put into requisition, and imparted also to her +handmaids. They combined to create from the shapeless masses, which +Zeinedeen procured for them, miniature temples, towers, baskets, images +of the Hindoo gods, chessmen, and small essence cases of the most +exquisite description. + +One of the most remarkable of their productions, was a model of the +market-place in Agra, and of portions of the streets immediately +leading into it. There were to be seen, either in the market, or +hastening towards it, vendors of fruits, vegetables, flowers, milk, +rice, honeycomb, perfumes, medicines, jewels, trinkets, books, and +ballads; horses, camels, and elephants; birds and beasts of every kind. + +The actors in this varied scene were so cunningly displayed, in the +expression of countenance,--in attitude,--in costume sometimes very +ragged,--often scanty in the extreme, that they seemed actually to +live, and to be shouting out the names of the different objects which +they had to sell. Those objects were necessarily all upon the most +minute scale. But they were imitated in every respect with the most +elaborate skill, and with a degree of perfection altogether unrivalled. +It was said, that for this production alone Nourmahal received a +thousand gold rupees. + +Excelling, as she did, all other persons in almost every thing she +undertook, this pious daughter attended also with an assiduity which +she suffered no other occupation to interrupt, even to the meanest +department of her little household. She was usually the first to awake +every morning. Arraying herself in a plain cotton robe cinctured at +the waist and plaited on her bosom, in trowsers of the same material, +and slippers of russet cloth, her beautiful and abundant hair folded +into the narrowest possible compass on the crown of her head, and +braided over her temples, she called her handmaids to her assistance, +and proceeded to cleanse and put in order the apartment opening to +the Jumna, which was the sitting room of the family. This chamber, +so meanly furnished when they first took possession of it, she had +converted into a little paradise. The window, overlooking the river, +though of ample size, and admitting a quantity of light sufficient to +give the room a cheerful appearance, was, nevertheless, so closely +latticed, that it was calculated always to remind them of their captive +condition. She contrived, however, to modify its unpleasant effect in +that way, by gilding the bars, and wreathing them with festoons of +an artificial clematis, which, without intercepting any considerable +portion of the light, gave the window an airy and graceful appearance, +through the muslin curtains and drapery she suspended over it. The +walls were hung with rich damask of a bright amber colour, and the +vaulted ceiling was covered with folds of azure silk, which made the +room resemble the interior of a pavilion. For the wretched divan +which originally ran round the apartment, were substituted sofas and +ottomans, covered with purple velvet, decorated with superb fringes +and tassels of gold bullion. A Persian carpet, representing a leopard +in pursuit of antelopes and foxes, was spread upon the floor. Round +ebony-tables, and stands of red rose-wood, were disposed in the +corners, and exhibited a variety of beautiful porcelain jars and +vases, abundantly replenished with perfumes; silver filagree cases, +holding small china coffee cups, sherbet glasses, and gold baskets +always filled with the most delicious confectionary, and golden ewers +for ablutions. + +If any of the fringes, or linings, happened to be rent, Nourmahal was +ready with a needle and thread, in a silken case suspended from her +girdle, to repair them. She took her full share in brushing the carpet, +in preventing any dust from accumulating on the drapery, in arranging +the table for the morning meal, pounding the coffee in a mortar, +and preparing the beverage itself, in which she skilfully preserved +the fine aroma, that constitutes the juice of the mocha an almost +intoxicating nectar. Her father was fond of a small saffron cake, with +coriander seed mixed in it. She was careful to have a fresh supply for +him every morning, kneaded by her own hand, and baked under her own +eye on the hearth of a recess in the tower, which they were allowed to +use as a kitchen. The other meals of the day were arranged under her +mother’s superintendance. From these luxury was absent, Kazim always +preferring viands dressed with the utmost simplicity, followed by a +cup or two of generous wine, which he found conducive to health and +cheerfulness. + +Under Nourmahal’s care the two other apartments assigned to their use, +were also speedily altered from their original gloomy appearance. That +next to the principal saloon was the bed-chamber of her parents; the +other was occupied for the same purpose, by herself and her attendants. +The walls and ceilings of these rooms were hung with blue or green +silk, and abundantly furnished with carpets, mattresses, and cushions, +whose soft and soothing aspect invited to repose. + +The morning meal over, Nourmahal changed her cotton dress for a +snow-white lawn tunic and trowsers, and seated herself, with her +assistants, to the occupation marked out for the day. They were usually +richly apparelled, unless when menially employed; for, although their +mistress preferred very plain attire for herself, she felt a pleasure +in seeing her companions exhibiting some of the profits of their +labour, in the variety and elegance of their costume--a taste, on +her part, to which they--artless and rather pretty maidens--had no +objection. Mangeli now and then participated in their operations; but +she more frequently sat by her husband, knitting stockings, while he +read for the whole circle passages from the poetry he admired; or tales +from the Persian, which seemed to have peculiar charms for the slaves. +It was delightful to him to give them an indulgence in that respect. +But he always reserved some hours to himself for graver pursuits--the +study of law, the perusal of philosophical works, or the collection of +materials from his memory for a history of his own times. The evenings +were generally devoted to music. + +The spectacle of family affection, industry, innocence, cheerfulness, +and religion, presented by these illustrious prisoners and their +domestics, when congregated together during the coolness of the early +summer morning, was one which even a cherub, winging his way through +space charged with a message from heaven to distant worlds, would have +stopped to contemplate. What could Bochari have done against persons +of this description, whose mental resources defied all his powers of +persecution? The fame of Nourmahal’s productions was spread all over +the empire. But the admiration in which they were universally held, +was secondary to the applause and sympathy which she won from every +parent, for the earnest and successful application of her varied +talents to the support of those whom her filial piety rendered so +sacred in her estimation. Bochari well knew that any attempt to follow +up his fabricated charges of high treason against her, would be, in +truth, to bring upon his head a revolution. For any such consequence as +that, he was as yet insufficiently prepared. Nothing was left undone +by which he could hope eventually to accomplish the extirpation of the +house of Ayas. So long as Kazim and Nourmahal existed, he felt them as +obstacles in his way to the throne, at which he now aimed. But time +was still wanted to mature his designs. The experiment tried upon the +mansion of the chancellor, afforded him a warning which he had not yet +forgotten. + +The spirit of deep discontent was, he knew from his emissaries, +spreading from day to day amongst the people. The emperor was seldom +seen by them beyond the walls of the seraglio. Indeed he was scarcely +ever heard of, as, although all the acts of authority were still +carried on in his name, it was known that he was very little consulted +with respect even to measures of the first importance. The only person +with whom the Persian seemed to share his absolute power was Auzeem, +from whom, on every occasion on which he sought them, he received +assistance and counsel, to the astonishment and regret of all those +omrahs who were acquainted with that minister’s character. They could +not understand how Auzeem, hitherto looked up to for the experience +of the statesman, the honour of the true nobleman, the fidelity with +which he served the emperor abroad and at home, and even the particular +and zealous regard which he evinced towards Jehangire, could have been +prevailed upon to abandon the interest of his master and friend; of the +man who, in familiarity, called him uncle; and dedicate all his powers +to the consolidation of the tyranny which the usurper had established. + +Indeed, Bochari himself sometimes wondered at the readiness with which +Auzeem entered into his views. He never found in that adviser any +disposition to halt at measures of a moderate character, when a crisis, +or even a minor disturbance was apprehended. Auzeem always resolved +in favour of the sternest course. His suggestions were shaped with +a direct tendency to put down all chance of any successful revolt +against Bochari’s authority. His influence over the emperor was every +day becoming greater; but Bochari had no reason to be jealous of it, +because it was manifestly used for the purpose of reconciling Jehangire +to the idea that his life was in perpetual danger from the poniards of +conspirators, and that he could not do better than allow Bochari to +take into his hands the uncontrolled government of the empire. + +So entirely did the Persian rely upon Auzeem’s zeal in his favour, that +he latterly seldom thought it necessary to communicate personally with +the emperor. The bickerings, and downright quarrels which occurred +between him and Jehangire, at almost every interview, produced feelings +so opposite to those kindled in the heart of the Persian by the daily +increasing adulation of his numerous parasites, that most of his time +was passed in their company. + +Nothing was now talked of amongst these persons but the abdication +of the emperor. They induced Bochari to believe that the apparent +tranquillity which had prevailed for some time, without any remarkable +interruption, was an unequivocal testimony of his success in the plans +he had put into action for reducing the country under his yoke. The +idea was readily taken up by the Orcha chieftains and their dependants, +who had become very impatient, on account of the procrastinating +answers which the Persian was obliged to give to their importunities +for the vice-royalties he had promised them. If the emperor were +dethroned, the authority under which the different subahs of the +provinces had been acting would, of course, altogether cease, and their +successors would experience no difficulty in taking possession of their +offices. + +Even in this audacious design, Auzeem appeared to concur. The moment it +was hinted to him by Bochari, he declared himself in favour of it. + +“Indeed,” said he, “to be candid with you, this is a measure which I +have already considered in all its bearings. Nor do I apprehend that +the emperor will strongly object to it. He has lately almost wholly +alienated his mind from affairs of state.” + +“And has returned, no doubt, to his theological follies, mingling with +them, as usual, his devotions also to the wine-cup?” + +“As to that, you are aware of his habits from a very early age.” + +“It would be a pity to disturb them. If the reports of the seraglio may +be depended upon, the uncle and the nephew still spend many a night +together, alternately reading the Koran, and shewing their respect for +it, by having their tables laden with flasks of Cabul wine. Ha! ha! ha!” + +“Ha! ha! ha! Ah, my friend, I believe, after all, that we have found +the true philosopher’s stone; the real talisman of happiness. To you +we consign all the cares of the empire; while no hour passes us by, +that is not redolent of pleasure. Ha! ha! ha!” + +“Keep to that--keep to that, Auzeem. His majesty shall never want +supplies from Cabul. Now as to the abdication.” + +“There will be no difficulty in the matter, if you do but arrange it +prudently.” + +“What would you advise me to do?” + +“You are aware of that foolish passion which Jehangire has long +entertained for Nourmahal.” + +“She is a dangerous woman. Her name is in every body’s mouth. It is +chalked upon all the walls in Agra.” + +“It must be owned that she is an extraordinary woman. Hurled by +your arm from a palace to a prison, she has contrived to diffuse +her reputation throughout the empire, by the productions of her +industry--productions having nothing in them which you can charge as +treasonable, and yet calculated to produce political consequences of +the most important character.” + +“That is precisely my feeling, though I had never been able so clearly +to understand her designs before.” + +“Every brocade she sends out is a proclamation against your authority.” + +“This must be put a stop to.” + +“I agree with you; but the question is, how?” + +“Jehangire is still, you say, attached to her?” + +“Ardently. I am convinced that he would give his crown for her hand.” + +“Depend upon it, she would then put the crown on her own head. +No--Auzeem, this must not be thought of. Cannot your experience +suggest some other course for getting rid of that woman?” + +“Let Jehangire marry her, upon condition that he abdicates, and that +both retire to Persia upon an adequate income, secured to them out of +the treasury.” + +“Well thought of. You have proved my best friend, Auzeem. When the +sceptre shall be grasped in this hand, look upon Cashmere as yours.” + +“That would be a reward far above my merits. It is a sufficient +compensation to me to feel, that I have in any way contributed to the +establishment of the power, which you now so worthily exercise. I shall +go, forthwith, to sound the emperor.” + +“If I am deceived in that man,” thought Bochari to himself, as Auzeem +quitted the cabinet in which they had been conversing, “I can never +again put trust in any human being. Jehangire wedded to Nourmahal! +Would they not then be too strong for me? Her name has a sorcery about +it, which seems to have turned the heads of the people of Agra. The +very ballads sung through the market-place are full of her praises. +Conspiracy is at the bottom of this. I have no doubt of it. If she +would go to Persia, however, and be contented to remain there, that +would be some security. And then the diadem of Hindostan would indeed +be mine! Oh! glorious destiny for the son of a portrait-painter, as +the malignant omrahs are pleased to call me! Their day will come yet. +Nourmahal too, and her imperial lover, let them be but once beyond the +confines of the empire; I shall take good care that they never return.” + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + As calm in danger’s hour, + As if from peril far he stood + In some sequestered bower. + + ANTAR. + + +“When shall the long days of this thraldom be over?” asked the emperor, +upon seeing Auzeem at their usual hour of meeting in the evening. + +“Patience, my sovereign--patience, but for a little time further, and +you will find that the policy we have adopted was the only one that +could have guided you safely, through the perilous rocks amidst which +the vessel of the state has been so long, and so fearfully struggling. +The Orcha rajaputs are growing fiercer every day in their demands upon +the usurper. Those demands he dare not yet comply with.” + +“The monies of the state,--of my people,--are all at the command of +that set of banditti. They have emptied the treasury, which, when it +was under my care, was always overflowing.” + +“They are worthy of the master whom they serve. But for the moment, +power is in their hands. You know how we have failed in endeavouring to +bring together the omrahs, who ought to come to rescue the throne from +its present degradation. Their mutual jealousies,--their fears,--their +horror of co-operating with the people whom they despise as slaves, in +any well organised measure for the overthrow of the Persian,--will earn +for them infamy in the annals of Hindostan.” + +“Do you consider, then, that all our hopes are at an end in that +quarter?” + +“Entirely so. I have exhausted every means within my reach for +gathering their opinions, and dispositions. It was necessary that I +should proceed with the utmost precaution; for if a single false step +were taken, which tended to betray my real intentions, the cause was +lost.” + +“Bochari has then no suspicions of your attachment to his interests?” + +“I believe none--at least none which he can render tangible. A mind +like his, full of the recollections of guilt, cannot be free from doubt +as to the length to which he can depend upon any person, with whom he +is engaged in the conduct of affairs. But I am necessary to him. It +was my object to make myself so. He has nobody in his confidence who +can draw up a decree, upon the most ordinary matters referred to the +council, and if I were to absent myself from it for a day, I know not +what calamities might follow.” + +“My dear Auzeem, you expose yourself to no common dangers in the +difficult part which you have to perform. Upon your head, at this +moment, rest the destinies of my people.” + +“You know Auzeem, sire,--you know that his heart and his head are +yours. This is no common tyranny which we have to destroy. These +Orcha rajaputs are restrained by no law, divine or human. They are +ready instruments for the perpetration of any crime which their +remorseless employer may think necessary to his safety. That you, and +the chancellor, and Nourmahal have hitherto been secured from their +poniards, is to be attributed solely to his fear that the time is not +yet arrived, when he might venture upon such quarry with impunity. The +inferior prey of the forest is still sufficient to feed the vultures by +whom he is surrounded.” + +“Have none of them yet departed for the provinces?” + +“None! He dare not part with them. Upon whom could he depend, if they +were away?” + +“Upon the people of Agra! Has he not been lately distributing largesses +privately amongst them, with a view to induce them to proclaim him +emperor?” + +“There again he is hampered with difficulties. It became known to the +rajaputs that sums of money were sent, by his order, to several of the +cadis, to be divided amongst the poor of the different districts of +the capital,--the poor, being described by his decree, however, to be +only those capable of bearing arms, and who would bind themselves in +allegiance to him by the great oath.” + +“Have the cadis then turned against me?” + +“He has put creatures of his own into almost every office connected +with the police, and the administration of the laws. But the +rajaputs, as soon as they heard of this appropriation of the public +money, remonstrated against it, in terms which soon deterred him +from repeating that experiment. Let him but pursue his own course a +little longer, and you will find that he must become their slave. I +ascertained this morning, that the Orcha chieftains have had, within +these ten days, more than one meeting, at which Bochari was not +present.” + +“Indeed! that is of importance. What are they about, think you?” + +“They have conducted their councils with the utmost secrecy. But from +all I could learn, I conclude that they have resolved to fix a day, +beyond which they will not wait in Agra for the official warrants of +their appointments to the provinces, which they claim for the services +they have already performed.” + +“Do they expect me to sign these warrants?” + +“They expect that you will abdicate the throne.” + +“They shall take my head first. May this right hand be palsied, if ever +it should hold the reed for any such purpose!” + +“Sire, there are occasions when sovereigns, situated as you now +unfortunately happen to be, must appear for a season to go with the +stream. It was by taking this course, that we have hitherto steered +amongst the quicksands by which we have been beset. Your determination +is mine. Nevertheless, permit me to hold out to the Persian that the +idea is not altogether impracticable.” + +“Upon that, as upon all other matters relating to my interests, I +confide, my dear Auzeem, in your well-tried fidelity and discretion.” + +“I have hitherto dissuaded you from opening any communication with +Nourmahal.” + +“In that, also, the matter of all others nearest to my heart, I +have yielded to your suggestions. Say, have I not some merit for my +self-denial in that respect, seeing that by her conduct in captivity +she has won the esteem of the whole empire, and, by her tenderness +for her beloved parents, has increased a hundred-fold, if that were +possible, her claims to my affection. Oh, Nourmahal! the light of my +heart--if Heaven would promise thee to be yet mine--there are no +arrows in the quiver of adversity which could reach my soul!” + +“Adversity has, indeed, no power over a mind like hers.” + +“Is she not a noble being? Was I wrong in giving her my heart, from the +moment I was able to appreciate her charms? Her beauty was matchless; +but it was the lustre shed over it by her brilliant mind that +fascinated me.” + +“Her natural place is undoubtedly beside thee, upon the Indian throne.” + +“Had she been in that place when I first occupied it myself, this +cruel tyranny would never have dared to lift its head. But it is a +consolation to me that I made no attempt to interfere with Afkun’s +lawful rights, as secured to him by his marriage. No! Allah is my +witness, that I held, as I still, and ever shall hold, it to be my +first duty to adhere rigidly in all things, to the ordinances which I +have received from my ancestors.” + +“We must not appear to take any step at present, without the knowledge +of Bochari. He is fully impressed with the idea, that if an ample +income were secured to you, you would have no difficulty in retiring +with Nourmahal to Persia, and giving up all your rights, as well as +those of your descendants, to the throne.” + +“He is, then, under a complete illusion.” + +“It is, however, an illusion necessary at this moment to your safety. +Suppose you see Nourmahal.” + +“Nothing would be more delightful to me. But is that a matter so easy +to be accomplished?” + +“We shall see.” + +“He would not permit her to quit her prison, even for a day.” + +“Nor is it necessary. He is already prepared for your visiting her +secretly.” + +“Then let us go at once.” + +“Zeinedeen informed me, that the family occupy three chambers, and that +the apartment we first enter is sufficiently gloomy to conceal you +there for a few minutes, while I break the matter to her, as well as +to the chancellor. At present they must labour under impressions, not +advantageous either to your majesty, or me. For instance, the order for +their imprisonment is signed by your hand, as well as by mine.” + +“True, I had forgotten that. The chancellor would, no doubt, more than +conjecture that we acted on that occasion, under a coercion which we +had no power to resist.” + +“These are things I must clear up to him. But here comes Zeinedeen. I +charged him this morning, to make the best of his way through the most +frequented parts of the city, and to ascertain what is going on there +with reference to the intentions of Bochari.” + +Zeinedeen, having made his obeisance to the emperor, stated that agents +were very actively employed in almost every quarter of the metropolis, +in diffusing intelligence that the emperor had abdicated, in +consequence of ill health, and that he was about to proceed to Persia, +under the advice of his physicians, in order that he might benefit from +a change of climate. + +“It is well,” said Auzeem. “And the rajaputs--have you heard any thing +of their proceedings, since you were with me this morning?” + +“I have seen the merchant.” + +“The merchant?” asked Jehangire. “Who is this merchant?” + +“One of the unhappiest of men, sire,” answered Zeinedeen. “It is but +a few weeks ago since he sought me at my residence, and prostrating +himself on the ground before me, entreated that I would pray with him +to Allah, for pardon of many enormities which he has perpetrated upon +the instigation of Bochari.” + +“He was formerly much engaged,” added Auzeem, “in chemical experiments, +with a view to discover the talismanic compound, which would enable +him to convert all things into gold. He spent all his fortune in that +vain pursuit; but, in the course of his inquiries, he lighted upon many +curious secrets of nature, which were before unknown.” + +“He was, unhappily,” resumed Zeinedeen, looking on the ground, “one of +the principal agents of Bochari, in procuring the assassination of the +greatest ornament of this empire.” + +“Ah! you mean Abul Fazeel,” observed the emperor, in a voice trembling +with emotion. “I, too, ought to pray with him for pardon--if, indeed, +some words, which in the madness of a moment I once uttered, tended +in any way to encourage that Persian in his hatred to the very name +of that most distinguished man. I never can sufficiently repent me of +those hasty expressions. Often, in the height of prosperity, have +they come back upon the fibres of my heart, forbidding me to entertain +any sense of happiness, while his blood remained unavenged. And +when care was on my brow, and trouble in my soul, these words were +still whispered in my ears, still calling for vengeance. Oh! Fazeel, +if you could now witness the situation to which Hindostan and its +nominal master are reduced, by the hand of the minion whom I was then +fostering--whose counsels I so foolishly preferred to thine--with whom +I took part against thee, whenever opportunity offered, thy noble soul +would pity Jehangire!” + +“This man,” resumed Zeinedeen, “being possessed of great ingenuity +in almost every kind of art, in mechanism, in the modes of preparing +different kinds of poison, and of increasing, or altogether +neutralising the power of those matches which are commonly used by +gunners, was sent for one evening by Bochari, who, shewing a large +bag of gold, promised that that treasure should be his reward, if he +would undertake the performance of a task which required the greatest +possible expedition. The unfortunate merchant having inquired what it +was, Bochari said, that Fazeel had set out for the Deccan, attended, +it was true, only by a small escort. It was probable that they would +be attacked on their way by the Orcha rajaputs; but he feared that the +latter might be worsted in the encounter, unless the match-locks of +their antagonists were rendered ineffective. The merchant at once saw +all that was required of him, and undertook to effect it, receiving at +the time half the promised reward. The result I need not state. He it +was who destroyed all the matches of the escort, under the pretence of +affording them the benefit of a new and infallible invention.” + +“It is, however,” observed Auzeem, “something in his favour, that he +appears now really overwhelmed by a sense of his crimes, and anxious to +repair them, as far as reparation is possible.” + +“At first I doubted,” continued Zeinedeen, “the purpose for which he +came to me. It very naturally occurred to me that he was still in the +employment of Bochari.” + +“And so he undoubtedly is,” said Auzeem. “I have indisputable evidence +of that fact; for he has been engaged during these last three days in +a secret chamber of the tower, occupied by Bochari, in concocting a +large quantity of poison, of the most subtle nature, for some purpose +or another.” + +“You are correctly informed,” resumed Zeinedeen, “the merchant has +disclosed that circumstance to me, and it was not until he unveiled +his mind in every respect, that I had courage to allow him to visit me +again. His desire now is, that he may be instrumental in saving the +empire from the tyranny by which it is oppressed. He hopes that he may +thus, in some measure, expiate his former guilt. I am to see him again +at midnight, when he proposes to make further revelations.” + +The hermit then withdrew. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + Love ye the moon? Behold her face! + And there the lucid planet trace. + If breath of musky fragrance please, + Her balmy odours scent the breeze. + Possessed of every sportive wile, + ’Tis bliss, ’tis heaven, to see her smile. + + FERDOSI. + + +Auzeem, accompanied by the emperor, proceeded in the dusk of the +evening, both muffled up in cloaks, towards that quarter of the +seraglio in which the illustrious prisoners were confined. The keys +having been already sent to Auzeem, by order of Bochari, who fondly +hoped that the result would not fail to promote his own designs, the +minister opened the door as gently as possible. He then locked it again +on the inside, and requesting Jehangire to remain in the apartment +used as a sleeping-room by Nourmahal and her attendants, he advanced +to their sitting-chamber, where he found the family engaged in evening +prayer. Amongst the other orisons which they uttered, in an audible and +fervent tone, was one for the rescue of the empire from the thraldom +in which it was now held by the usurper, and for the preservation of +their imperial master, “for still our master he is,” added Kazim, “even +though this intelligence, we have received of his abdication, be true. +No other sovereign lord shall we acknowledge while he lives. May Allah +look down upon him, and protect him from his enemies, even though his +was the hand which authorised our confinement within these walls!” + +Auzeem, checked by these sounds, stopped near the door of their saloon, +which happened to be half open. The emperor, on whose ear some of the +words also alighted, could not restrain himself from going forward. +Placing himself behind Auzeem, he contemplated the group within, with +the most lively emotion. A silver lamp, suspended from the roof of +the chamber, diffused over it a brilliant light, which enabled them +clearly to distinguish every object. + +As soon as the family rose from prayer they sat in a circle, when +Nourmahal, by Kazim’s desire, read some portions of a book which she +held in her hand, and which purported to be a history of the Syrian +prophet, of whose mission Jehangire and his companion had heard in +Cashmere. It was a narrative of the sufferings of the god, written in +a simple style of language, that touched the heart. It lost none of +its sweetness or power in the accents of Nourmahal. She then took her +mandolin, and preluding, with her accustomed grace upon the instrument, +sung the first notes of a vesper hymn, in which her handmaids joined. +They purposely restrained their voices within a low compass, in order +that they might not be heard beyond the precincts of their prison. But +the melody seemed, on that account, still more enchanting. It reminded +Auzeem of the warbling of the birds at even-tide, during their late +excursion amongst the forests of the Himalas. Jehangire was tremulous +with rapture, on hearing again that voice which exercised so much +power over his soul. It was with the utmost difficulty he restrained +himself from rushing forward, and at all hazards, folding the admirable +musician in his arms. + +Auzeem advanced into the saloon, and throwing back his cloak, +apologised for intruding on their privacy, adding that he was charged +with a communication for Kazim, whom he still designated as chancellor, +which would permit of no delay. Although the different members of the +group were more or less startled by the suddenness of his appearance, +they were in some degree prepared for it, as Auzeem had previously +instructed the hermit to give them an intimation of his intentions. + +“How is this?” asked Kazim; “you do me the honour to address me as +chancellor, although there is no man in the empire who knows better +than you do, that I have no longer either office or fortune in this +country. The decrees by which I was stripped of both were under your +signature.” + +“Of this we will talk at another time,” said Auzeem. “I appear here by +no means in the character of an enemy to the happiness of your family. +On the contrary, I hope very shortly to convince you, that you have +never had a friend more sincerely anxious than I am, to relieve you +from the position in which you have been so long unhappily placed.” + +“Undoubtedly, explanation is necessary upon this point. Indeed, +looking to the present condition of the empire, as it is reported to +us from those who have an opportunity of observing it, I can imagine +many circumstances by which your conduct might have been influenced. +Zeinedeen has taught us to rely upon your good faith, although hitherto +appearances have been so violently against you. Your open co-operation, +in almost all the acts of the usurper, would, you must allow, be a +serious obstacle in the way of your obtaining the confidence of any +faithful servant of the emperor--if, indeed, Jehangire still continue +to bear that title. We are informed that his majesty has abdicated.” + +While Kazim was yet speaking, Mangeli and Nourmahal, feeling that the +conversation was assuming a tone of importance, withdrew to the lower +part of the saloon, leaving the two statesmen together. Nourmahal and +her attendants resumed their labours at a piece of tapestry, upon which +they had been engaged for some days, representing one of the battles +of Acbar. Her mother took up her tambour, and endeavoured to proceed +with a rose she was embroidering on muslin; but her anxiety to know the +object of Auzeem’s mission, allowed her to make very little progress. +Jehangire, concealed in the obscurity of the outer chamber, observed +the whole scene with a degree of solicitude scarcely inferior to that +of the wife and mother. + +“If this report be true,” continued Kazim, “it must, I presume, be the +result of dire necessity; and if affairs have arrived at such a crisis +as this, I fear that those who, whether designedly or not, have been +instrumental to it, have brought upon their heads responsibility of a +most formidable nature.” + +“It does seem an essential portion of Bochari’s plans,” replied Auzeem, +“to compel the emperor to abdicate the throne; and I should be glad if +any man would inform me, what means we possess to resist his design, +in case he should persevere in his measures for carrying it into +execution.” + +Nourmahal now listened to their discourse with more earnestness even +than Mangeli. + +“Can he not find some mode of withdrawing from the seraglio,” asked +Kazim, “and of be-taking himself to Delhi or Lahore, where, I am +convinced, he would be soon surrounded by faithful subjects, more than +sufficiently numerous to destroy the odious faction now leagued against +him?” + +“I much fear that any attempt of that kind would be perilous in the +extreme. Failure would be instantly followed by assassination. Bochari +has himself proposed the retirement of Jehangire to Persia.” + +“Then it is all over. The fate of the empire is sealed.” + +“He further proposes to discontinue your imprisonment, and that of your +family, upon condition that”-- + +“Do not say any condition which shall separate my fate from that of +my imperial master. I would much rather abide here, than be free upon +terms of that description.” + +“Excellent man!” breathed Jehangire; “it is only in adversity that I +can truly estimate all thy worth.” + +“The condition proposed is,” resumed Auzeem, “that you and your family +should also withdraw from Hindostan.” + +“Dear, dear father,” exclaimed Nourmahal, rising and hastening to +Kazim, whom she tenderly embraced, “do not hesitate one moment in +accepting this offer. We shall go back to the Ilamish,--to the home you +once loved,--where we shall be happy as the day is long.” + +“And if you suffer Jehangire to join you,” exclaimed the emperor, +no longer capable of remaining in his place of concealment, “his +happiness, too, will be complete!” + +“The emperor! my lord! my master!” said Kazim, first touching the +ground, and then his forehead with his right hand. Nourmahal followed +his example, but kept her eyes fixed on the ground. + +“No longer emperor, my friend, if the usurper may be believed. I am +now before you, simply as Selim,--once the ruler of Hindostan, now a +prisoner within the walls of his own palace, and soon, I suppose, to be +even an exile from the land of his birth!” + +“God is great,” said Kazim, in his voice of noble resignation. “Empire +is in his hands; he gives and resumes it at his pleasure, and we can +only bend to his decree.” + +“Here are, indeed, examples of submission to the will of the most High, +which dignify misfortune. What do I behold? A wretched, gloomy prison +absolutely turned into a splendid residence! I can recognise the hand +that has worked this miracle; it is here,” added Jehangire, taking +Nourmahal’s right hand between both of his. “Whatever be thy future +destiny, Nourmahal, would that these rooms could be for ever preserved +in their present beauty and magnificence, as a record at once of thy +skill and industry, and above all, of thy piety towards the best of +parents! Heaven surely will reward virtues such as you have displayed +during the whole of this long and severe trial, imposed upon you by the +basest of men.” + +“If I deserved any reward, Sire, I have already received it, and much +more, in these words of approbation.” + +“You have heard, Nourmahal, from Auzeem, of the critical state to +which the empire has been reduced by the oppressor, into whose hands +a combination of most unexpected circumstances appears to have, for +the present, transferred my sceptre. For these two years back I have +been no more than the nominal ruler of Hindostan. I am now required +to abdicate, and to become an outcast from my own dominions. Should +necessity compel me to take that course, say, shall there be a home for +me, too, on the Ilamish?” + +“Oh yes! it will be our delight to surround thee; as thy slaves to wait +upon thee, to administer to thy happiness, to beguile thee from the +recollection of thy natural pre-eminence, and to cheer thee, to the +last hour of existence, by every means in our power.” + +“Auzeem, I have hitherto resisted the demands of the usurper for +my abdication. Let him be informed forthwith, that I oppose them +no longer. I feel that I shall be much happier on the banks of the +Ilamish, with these dear companions of my solitude, than I ever could +be again upon a throne, which I have hitherto found only a fountain +of every bitterness. From the height to which I was elevated, I saw, +with very few exceptions,--exceptions almost comprehended in the circle +that now hears me,--nothing but selfishness, ingratitude, rapacity, and +meanness, in mankind. I have been shocked by the picture of innate +hypocrisy and worthlessness which they have constantly exhibited before +me. They are not worth any further sacrifices. Be it arranged that I +quit this wretched country.” + +Auzeem observed, that it might be prudent not to yield too easily to +the usurper’s exactions, lest he might withhold also the provision of +which he spoke, for the emperor’s future maintenance. + +“That shall be no bar,” said Nourmahal. “Yield nothing upon that +ground, for here,” she added, opening a cabinet filled with gold, the +produce of her industry, “here is a supply of wealth sufficient, at +least for the present, to meet every exigency. For the future, while +health and reason shall remain, those who have earned this treasure, +may be able to replenish it--if, indeed, it will be accepted.” + +“Dearest--noblest of women,” said Jehangire in a tone of deep emotion, +“how proud I feel in confessing before those who love you, as they love +their own hearts, that you have been long the object of my warmest +affection. Kazim, my best of friends, you will bear witness, that so +long as the laws of the empire interposed obstacles between me and +this idol of my soul, I never even so much as hinted to you the state +of my feelings upon this subject, agonising as they often have been.” + +“We are aware, sire, of the generous restraints which you imposed upon +yourself in that respect. And had I but known, at an earlier period, +your predisposition in favour of Nourmahal, much pain might have been +spared on either side.” + +“If I have an ambition still to recover my throne, which, I may say, is +lost, it would only be that I might enjoy the satisfaction of sharing +it with this dear one.” + +“I thank destiny for giving me the opportunity to shew, that it was +not your imperial station I looked at, when my heart first knew those +emotions which drew me towards you--emotions which I have never +forgotten--never could conquer. My beloved mother knows what I have +suffered--she will tell you all.” + +“And I will listen to your disclosures, Mangeli, with feelings which +I shall often intreat you to renew. Oh! how delightful it is to know +that one is loved for one’s self!--that no motive of external splendour +or station alloys the purity of that divine affection which moves two +souls to mutual adoration, the first moment they meet! This is a joy +which I never felt before. I would not give it away for an empire!” + +Some pebbles flung up against the lattice attracted the attention of +Auzeem, who happened to be standing near the window. He mentioned the +circumstance to Kazim, who said, + +“It must be Zeinedeen. Whenever he cannot obtain entrance into our +prison, he takes this mode of communicating with us. I shall speak to +him. All is safe here, Zeinedeen--have you any message?” + +“There is a terrible tumult going on in the city,” answered Zeinedeen, +who was alone in a small boat on the Jumna. “There is a vast crowd +of the populace in the neighbourhood of a house, where they say the +conspirators are assembled, who are to proclaim Bochari emperor at +the break of day. The people are indignant beyond any thing I can +describe. They are endeavouring to pull the house down. Listen! There +are discharges of fire-arms.” + +“The people--they are for Jehangire?” + +“All for Jehangire--they swear that they will no longer live under the +usurper.” + +“My noble, faithful people,” exclaimed Jehangire. “Let us go forth, +Auzeem, and place ourselves at their head.” + +“I have been expecting this outbreak, sire,” said Auzeem; “but I fear +it is premature. It would not be prudent to expose yourself at this +moment. Zeinedeen,” he continued, addressing the hermit, “the emperor +is here. Can you inform us where are the rajaputs?” + +“They have just gone down from the citadel, to rescue their party from +the perils with which they are threatened. Let me pray you to take care +of the emperor. The night is teeming with rumours of his assassination. +It is given out that he refused to abdicate, and that upon attempting +to escape from the seraglio, he was murdered by his own guards. I must +depart. I perceive a boat coming this way. Be admonished in time.” + +“Then this is their real plot. I thought I had tracked the Persian +through all his deceptions; but I see he has over-reached me at last,” +said Auzeem. + +“Yours, my lord, has been a most hazardous policy,” remarked Kazim. + +“I own it--but the emperor is still safe--that is the principal object, +and I do not yet despair. Bochari is aware that we are here.” + +“If he be, then you may expect to see the rajaputs around us +presently,” said Kazim. + +“They will have sufficient employment with the people for a while. But +I confess we have not a moment to lose.” + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + They shall not drink wine with a song; the drink + shall be bitter to them that drink it. + + THE ROYAL PROPHET. + + +While the emperor, Auzeem, and Kazim, were still in consultation as to +the course which they ought to pursue, several discharges of fire-arms +were heard from the lower parts of the city, followed by loud shoutings. + +“If I rightly recollect, sire,” continued the minister, “there is an +entrance somewhere in this part of the seraglio to the canal, that +was formerly used for supplying the large marble bath, constructed by +Acbar.” + +“Let me remember. Yes, there is a door leading to the sluices. The +sluices are hard by--are they not?” + +“They are in a small creek--just near the foot of this tower.” + +“Then the door--” + +“Oh! yes, yes--I know where it is,” said Nourmahal. “I noticed it when +we were arranging the drapery on the wall. It was almost covered with +cobwebs.” + +“The bath, I believe, would contain a hundred of us, if we were so +many,” continued Auzeem. + +“Five hundred have banqueted there occasionally,” said the emperor, +“when the heats were violent.” + +“The door is here,” cried out Nourmahal, pressing with her hand +against a part of the drapery, with which the walls of her own and her +handmaids’ bed-chamber were hung. “Shall we cut through the silk?” + +“If we do,” said Auzeem, “it may lead to our immediate detection. +Loosen it at the bottom, and at the extreme ends of the wall, and let +it be lifted up altogether, while I try the door.” + +His directions were speedily executed, the emperor and Kazim busily +helping in the operation. The door was easily found, but it was +strongly locked. + +“Perhaps the key will be found amongst these,” said Auzeem, producing +an iron chain, to which several keys, amongst them the key of the door +by which he and the emperor entered, were appended. + +After trying one or two, he found the third readily admitted into the +lock, but it was so rusty that it was with great difficulty he was +enabled to force back the bolt. The door yielded to his pressure, +and, taking the lamp from Nourmahal’s hand, he looked into the hollow +space below, to which he discovered a descent, by means of stone steps +inserted in the wall. + +While Auzeem and the emperor explored the entrance to the canal +sluices, Kazim suggested to Nourmahal the expediency of collecting +their money and precious stones, as quickly as possible. + +These were speedily put into small rice-bags, and Auzeem having felt +assured that they might escape through the canal, (from which water had +been long excluded), to the marble bath, suggested that they should +lose no time in flying thither, until the result of the tumult should +be known. + +The whole party descended safely into the canal, the drapery was then +permitted to fall down as it was before, and the door having been +locked on the inside, by Auzeem, he preceded them, holding the lamp in +his hand. + +They had not advanced many paces, when they heard the trampling of feet +in the corridors above their head, and then a loud knocking. Auzeem +concealed the lamp under his cloak, and prayed his companions, in a low +voice, to remain as they were for a few moments. The knocking still +continued. It was evidently at the outer door of their late prison. +Orders were issued repeatedly to open the door, and threats were +uttered to force it, if these orders were not instantly obeyed. A loud +crash followed soon after, and a crowd of persons were heard rushing +into the apartments. + +Kazim could not help feeling strange suspicions passing through his +mind, while this scene was going on. Auzeem had by no means as yet +won his entire confidence. The acts of that minister, during the two +years of the usurpation which had just elapsed, were all in favour +of the success of the Persian. His coolness, at the present arduous +moment,--his knowledge of the subterraneous localities of that part of +the seraglio,--his possession of the keys, which he could only have +procured from the governor by a special order from Bochari,--all tended +to excite his alarm, not only for himself and his family, but for the +emperor. + +“It is obvious,” Kazim thought to himself, “that we are all, at this +moment, in the power of any person who has admission to the sluices. +If they were opened, a body of water would be in upon us in a moment +from the Jumna, from which it would be impossible for us to effect +our deliverance. Can it be that we have been brought here by the +instrumentality of this man, in order that, after being sacrificed, +no trace might remain, by which the deed should be brought home to +Bochari?” + +Labouring under these apprehensions, to which the circumstances +appeared to give probability, but which, however, he ventured not to +breathe to any of his companions, he asked Auzeem to let him have the +lamp for a moment, to look for some article which he had purposely +dropped. + +“Hush, my dear friend,” said Auzeem,--“hush! Hear you not these +voices;--they are the rajaputs,--they are in the prison we have just +quitted. Be cautious, or we shall be betrayed.” + +“There is nobody here,” exclaimed several voices at once,--“it must be +all a trick,--this is no prison,--these are apartments equal to the +palace itself.” + +“It is a trick,” others repeated. “Bochari never meant us to find +prisoners here. He told us that we should meet not merely with the +chancellor, but also with Auzeem and the emperor.” + +“They must be somewhere here,” said a rajaput,--“we shall soon find +them, if we set fire to the drapery.” + +“No; no;” said another,--“if we set fire to the drapery, we may burn +down the whole seraglio. Pull down every hanging and curtain, and leave +no nook unexplored.” + +“It is all idle,” observed a third. “We have been manifestly dispatched +here on a wrong scent. These rooms are so splendidly furnished, that +it is absurd to suppose they were ever used as a prison. They belong to +some special favourite of the harem.” + +The rajaputs remained for some time in the apartments, exploring every +corner, and venting their anger, in the most violent expressions, +against Bochari, who had, as they said, debarred them of their prey. +They forthwith proceeded to plunder the rooms of every thing costly +they could find in them, and to divide the spoil amongst themselves. +This was an operation of no small difficulty, and attended by loud +and passionate contentions, during which the clashing of sabres was +frequently heard by the fugitives below. + +Kazim still persevered, until he obtained the lamp from Auzeem, when, +having picked up the article he had dropped, he moved forward a little +way, and, carefully examining the walls of the canal, observed that in +one part some repairs had been made, evidently of a recent character. +Pieces of timber, and chips, freshly cut, were on the floor, and near +them a saw, and an axe, quite bright, as if the workman had only just +left them there. These appearances tended not a little to increase his +suspicions. + +“If I recollect right,” said Jehangire, “there is somewhere hereabout a +small bath, which I have sometimes used myself. The walls, I perceive, +have been falling in here. Somebody has been at work propping them up.” + +“These timbers seem fresh from the saw,” remarked Kazim. “There is a +recess here, which evidently leads into the small bath you mention, +sire. But I cannot conceive for what purpose these repairs have been +made at this moment. The baths, I presume, have not been recently used?” + +“Not to my knowledge,” said Jehangire. + +“Give me the lamp; let me cover it,” said Auzeem. “See, there is a +light advancing towards us. Let us withdraw into the recess.” + +This fresh occurrence gave new strength to Kazim’s suspicions. He was +determined to watch very closely. Looking out from the recess, he +observed a light advancing rapidly from the further end of the canal, +and behind it a figure that seemed almost a shadow. As the figure +hastened onward, Kazim retired with the whole party into the small +bath, in order to elude observation. + +“I think it will now do,” said the person to himself, whoever he was, +that held the light. “Any obstruction falling in this direction might +have been fatal to the whole scheme. These timbers will prevent the +wall here from falling in, at least for the present. For the future, +it is no concern of mine. Let me now go on to the sluices. I fear they +will hardly yield to the spring, unless the wheels be thoroughly oiled; +it is so long since they have been worked.” + +“Here,” thought Kazim, “is a revelation of the very design which has +crossed my mind. The man, however, seems unaccompanied. It would not be +difficult for us to master him.” + +Pulling the emperor by the cloak, Kazim whispered into his ear, “Have +you no fears, Sire. Is not all this very strange?” + +“Hush!” said Jehangire; “he is only going to examine the sluices. +Something, no doubt, is meditated; but let us be prudent.” + +The figure passed on to the sluices. Kazim observed him carefully +oiling the wheels, and examining every part of the machinery belonging +to them. They were composed of two iron gates, one of which, being on +a level with the usual height of the river, was capable of being let +down as low as the surface of its bed, to admit the water into the +baths either gradually, or in a volume sufficient to fill them in a +moment, as might be required. The other gate was fitted to be drawn +upward, so as to allow a boat to proceed from the Jumna to the larger +bath, that bath having been, in former days, occasionally used by the +ladies of the harem as a sort of haven, where they landed from their +covered boats, or embarked in them, when they chose to take excursions +on the river. The immediate entrance into the bath was guarded by a +gate of bronze, richly gilt, and cut through in arabesque designs, to +admit the cool air from the river on those occasions, when the bath was +converted into a banqueting hall. + +Kazim looked anxiously for the return of the figure which he had +observed. At length it did retrace its steps, and carrying away the saw +and axe, and other tools which had been upon the floor, disappeared. + +After remaining in the recess for some time, Auzeem proposed to advance +alone, with a view to discover some place of safety for the party, and +also to communicate, if he could, with Zeinedeen, from whom he now +became extremely anxious to learn the progress of events in the city. +The hermit also, had promised to see the merchant at midnight, and to +obtain from him information as to the purpose for which the poison, +prepared with so much care, was intended. To Kazim, whose suspicions +were far from being as yet lulled, it appeared better that they should +all go forward together, at least as far as the bath. Jehangire was of +the same opinion. He added, that there was a secret staircase near the +bronze gate, which led to the dome, and it struck him that in no place +could they be more assured of safety than within the gallery by which +the dome was surrounded. + +The party, therefore, proceeded forward, until they approached near +the bronze gate, through the apertures in which they perceived a light +moving about in the marble bath. Again concealing the lamp beneath his +cloak, Auzeem stepped stealthily to the gate, followed by Kazim, who +recognized the figure he had already seen, standing in the middle of +the bath, and holding up his torch so as to flash its glare around him +as far as he could. + +Much to their astonishment, they saw that tables were laid out all +round the chamber, laden with candelabras and gold vases, sherbet, +ices, and confectionery, and every preparation made, necessary for +the entertainment of a large number of guests. A separate table was +placed near the centre, and before it a divan covered with cloth of +gold, evidently intended as a throne for the master of the feast. Upon +this table were seen several small phials. While Auzeem and Kazim were +observing this scene, with the greatest anxiety, a second figure, +wrapped up in a cloak, was observed descending into the bath by the +marble stairs that led into it from the palace. Advancing towards the +person who held the light, the new visitor grasped him by the throat: +snatching the torch out of his hand, he held it up in his face, and +asked in a fierce, broken voice:-- + +“Why are you here at this hour? I have been in search of you at your +own apartment. I found that cursed Dervish there. What is the meaning +of all this? This saw and axe, what are they for? Tell me instantly, +or your life is not worth this torch.” + +The voice in which these words were uttered, and the face unveiled +by his cloak falling on the floor, at once announced the angry +interrogator. It was Bochari. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + Boast not of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what the + day to come may bring forth. + + PROVERBS. + + +“Your highness,” answered the merchant, “may easily see what has +brought me hither. Look on that table.” + +“Ha! the phials. True; I--I had forgotten. Will these be sufficient?” + +“There is enough in one to destroy an army.” + +“Is it of that powerful compound essence you described to me?” + +“It is,” answered the wretched man, trembling the while so much, that +his words were scarcely audible. + +“You have not yet distributed any portion of it in the vases?” + +“Not yet. I have just come hither for the purpose.” + +“Stay awhile. I am not sure yet whether I shall adhere to my original +purpose. These rajaputs, they have served me well in that tumult. They +rescued my own life from peril. But for them the house in which my +friends were assembled, would have been levelled to the ground. But +again, can I depend upon them at the moment I am proclaimed? Have you +heard aught else of that chieftain of theirs, Mohabet, whom you said +they talked of elevating to the throne instead of me?” + +“No more than I have already told your highness. What they said amongst +themselves, as I overheard them in their discourse, was, that they did +not see why they should not have an emperor of their own blood.” + +“Of course, they reviled the Persian--the upstart--the son of the +portrait-painter,--did they not?” + +“They said a great many things, which I dare not repeat to your +highness.” + +“Caitiff! tell me all; or, by the Heavens, you die!” + +“They did use the words you have mentioned.” + +“Villains! they shall soon be with Fazeel. Open the phials.” + +The unfortunate slave, already wasted to a mere skeleton, could +scarcely collect from his trembling muscles, sufficient strength to +uncork the phials. + +“And yet, if Mohabet could be secured; for, on whom am I to depend, if +these rajaputs fail me? My confederates among the omrahs are, after +all, but few. The slightest turn of fortune against me would sever the +bond between us. True--I have bought over a large party amongst the +people, by giving them largesses, and by promising to divide amongst +them the mines of Golconda. Could I be but secure of their fidelity! +Yes--open the phials. Let me see--it is not a liquid.” + +“It is a composition to be spread by this brush at the bottom of the +vases into which the wine is to be poured.” + +“Bring hither the vases.” + +“By this time,” said Bochari, throwing himself on the divan, while +his demon-like agent was employed in collecting the vases from the +tables--“By this time, the fate of the emperor, and of his two choice +ministers, is sealed. That was a splendid combination--Auzeem--the +wisest of men, as he believed himself to be, whom I so long succeeded +in cajoling; Kazim, whom I dreaded even more than the emperor; and, +above all, Nourmahal, who, if she lived, would have overthrown me +by the mere exhibition of her presence in the palace before the +people,--all cut off by one masterly movement! It was a grand act in +this swelling drama. All collected in one focus, by my management. +Auzeem, my prime agent, and at a moment too, when he, perhaps--for he +is a consummate dissembler--conceived that he was forwarding his own +plans for the restoration of power to Jehangire! It was excellent. +Little did they expect, when this morning’s sun rose, that they should +be sleeping to-night in the bed of the Jumna! Such was the account you +received, also; was it not?” + +“Did your highness speak?” + +“Why, man, you tremble as if you were looking on an evil genius. What +is the matter?” + +“Has your highness seen nothing?” + +“What do you mean?” + +“Methought I saw shadows moving near you.” + +“Ha! ha! ha! The shadows of the emperor, I suppose, and of his faithful +ministers.” + +“Alas! if the report be true, they are in a cold and lowly sepulchre.” + +“If true, sayest thou? Doubt it not.” + +“There they are again; they stare upon me through the portal. Oh, +mercy!--mercy!” + +The emperor had been attracted to the bronze gate, where Auzeem and +Kazim could not help remaining to witness the issue of this scene of +treachery and guilt. The light flashing on their countenances as the +merchant passed near them, struck his soul, already steeped in crime, +with terror. They instantly drew back; and, prepared by a simultaneous +impulse, if the gate were opened, to rush at once upon the usurper, and +slay him on the spot. But the merchant’s terror took a different turn. + +“No!--of the emperor’s blood, these hands are guiltless. It is +Fazeel--see--see--and his brave companions--the victims of my cursed +act. Oh! kill me a thousand times--but look not at me thus!” exclaimed +the wretch, falling on his knees, and clasping together his withered +hands. + +Bochari rose from his couch, looking almost as pale as his companion. + +“This is a madness that has come over you! Come--come.” + +“That is he--that is he--the real murderer. Not me--he it was who did +it all--I was but a machine in his hands.” + +“Another word of this, vile slave! and this knife shall be buried in +your heart.” + +“Heart? Oh! you will find neither heart nor blood here. Here is my +naked breast; relieve me of life--I ask nothing more.” + +Bochari paused, while he contemplated, with horror, the convulsed +features of his accomplice. The knife fell from his hand on the marble +floor. Affrighted by the sound of his own weapon, he started back. The +torch, still held between the trembling hands of the merchant, glared +upon the countenances of the two murderers. They looked as if they had +already met in those regions upon which Hope is never to dawn! + +The emperor and his companions, now fully aware of the dangers which +they had just escaped, looked forward with just alarm to those which +they had still to encounter. Matters had arrived at such a crisis, with +respect to Bochari, that there appeared to be no crime which he was +not ready to perpetrate; no hazard which he was not resolved to court, +in defence of his usurpation. Lavish as he had been in his presents +to the Orcha rajaputs, and faithful as they had hitherto been to his +cause, nevertheless, it seemed that as the hour approached, which was +to put their allegiance to the most important test, he trembled for +their sincerity. He was to be proclaimed emperor of Hindostan, as soon +as the sun should appear above the horizon. But how long should he +retain the throne, which was to depend for its security upon such venal +support? They had already divided amongst themselves the provinces of +the empire. Should they proceed to take possession of them, what was to +become of his crown? + +The people! Could he look to them for assistance? He had sent his +emissaries amongst them to canvass for their voices--to purchase +them--and he had received promises of extensive aid. But the great +danger he had to apprehend was that arising from the ambition of +Mohabet, a proud and fierce Orcha chieftain, whom some of his followers +seemed resolved to set up in opposition to the Persian. It would be a +disgrace; they said, to their ancient blood, and to the rank which they +had formerly held in the empire--a rank which they had now a favourable +prospect of recovering--to prostrate themselves before a foreigner of +mean birth, who possessed no title whatever to the throne except his +sword. Without them, that sword would be of little value. Counting upon +the facility with which they had hitherto maintained him in possession +of supreme authority, they began to feel that they were themselves the +real masters of the empire, and that the throne was a prize which it +was in their discretion to bestow upon any person whom they thought fit +to elevate to the imperial mantle. + +Bochari was fully aware of the notions which the rajaputs entertained +upon this subject. He felt all the insecurity of his position, +and scarcely knew what measures he could take to improve it. The +destruction of the whole band, by means of the deadly composition which +his unhappy agent had prepared, suggested itself to his mind as an +alternative, in case he should find the populace in his favour. But if +the latter failed him, then he had no resource to fly to except the +rajaputs. Agitated by the doubtful prospects in which he was involved, +he had invited all the Orcha chieftains, and as many of their followers +as the large bath could hold, to a banquet, at which they were to swear +allegiance to him, after his proclamation the following morning. He had +instructed the merchant to diffuse over the interior of the wine-vases +the solution contained in the phials; and yet, at the moment when that +operation was to have been carried into effect, he entered the bath, in +order to prevent it. Again he wavered in his purpose--again resumed it. + +The thought occurred more than once to Auzeem, that while the two +demons--for such they might be truly called--were holding their +atrocious council, it would have been a most just retribution, if, +after placing his companions in safety, he should hasten to the +sluices, and suffer the Jumna to avenge the cause of the empire. But +the idea, that the destruction of Bochari at that moment, would only +lead, very probably, to the proclamation of Mohabet, instead of the +Persian, taught him the prudence of delay. + +Meantime the morning was rapidly advancing. Bochari, still doubtful as +to the course he should take, beheld his prime instrument before him, +in the last agonies of death. The wretched man had never known what it +was to possess a peaceful mind, since the period when, seduced by a +large reward, he had made the weapons of Fazeel’s escort powerless in +their hands. Before that time, he had given his time and his thoughts +chiefly to chemical experiments, in which he displayed uncommon +perseverance, and a wonderful acquaintance with the secrets of nature. +But, in following up his labours, he reduced himself to the lowest +degree of poverty. To redeem his fortunes, he accepted the infamous +mission confided to him by Bochari; but the price for which he bartered +his soul, was soon exhausted, and then he had nothing to depend upon, +save the precarious bounty of his patron. In return, he was compelled +to refuse no task, however criminal it might be, which that hard master +imposed. Tranquil sleep he never knew again. Horror filled his mind, +and attenuated his frame to such a degree, that he looked the very +picture of the evil one. His residence was a secret chamber in the +tower occupied by the Persian; and there, through the lonely night, he +pursued experiments dictated by his tyrant, with a view to discover the +compounds most capable of extinguishing life in the shortest possible +space of time. He was right in stating, that of the phials which he had +placed on the table in the banquet-room, the quantity contained in one +alone would have been enough to cause the destruction of an army. The +slightest portion of it, lodged in the bottom of a large vase, would be +sufficient to poison all the wine it could contain. + +But there was now little time for deliberation--the day dimly dawned +through the dome-lights of the bath. The wretched merchant, overcome +by the terrors with which his soul had been appalled, and reduced to +the last extremity of impotence by misery and disease, gave up his +wearied spirit on the floor. There was no other creature in existence, +to whom Bochari dared to intrust the secret of his infernal design. He +had not the time to accomplish it himself, for the sounds of shoutings +were already echoing through the air. To execute the work partially, +would only expose him to discovery, and to certain revenge. There were +upwards of five hundred vases on the tables. When he beheld their +number, and looked on the breathless thing, upon whose agency he had +depended, a pang of despair shot through his frame, which, like a flash +of the anger-lightning of Heaven, opened before him the dreadful volume +that contained the record of his crimes. + +“Oh! those shouts,” he exclaimed, “are they for, or against me? +Methinks, I hear them utter the cursed name of Mohabet. Hush! What is +to be done? This body--how am I to dispose of it? Bochari! do they +say? These phials--if found here, will betray all. Let me hide them +in my girdle. My ataghan!--what has become of it? Aye, here it is. It +may yet serve me to good purpose, when all other weapons fail. I must +wrap this horrid burthen in my cloak,--true, it is not very heavy--and +bear it on my back to his chamber! Courage--they come. Bochari? Yes--it +is--in every voice--Bochari--Bochari! The diadem of India is mine. +The people are with me. The artillery confirms the tale. Oh! glorious +sounds. Roll on--I come. They call for Bochari--the emperor! Now let +the Orchas call me the foreigner--upstart--if they dare!” + +Saying these words, he took up his knife, and stowing the phials in his +girdle, and covering the lifeless body with his cloak, he placed it on +his back. He then retraced his way by the marble steps, and disappeared. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + Honour to him, who knows no fear, + But seeks the thickest fight; + While thousands fall before the spear + Held by that arm of might. + + Antar. + + +It was with the utmost difficulty that Mangeli, even with all the +assistance she could receive from her affectionate child and consort, +maintained her presence of mind, during the progress of the painful +scene just terminated. All personal anxiety was, however, now no +further thought of. The safety of the emperor was the principal object +of their solicitude, and the events, about to occur, became every +moment of such absorbing interest, that measures of a decided nature +could no longer be postponed. + +Jehangire declared his readiness to return at once to his apartments in +the palace, or even to proceed into the market-place of Agra, to shew +himself to his people, and thus to afford the best contradiction to the +rumours that had been circulated of his assassination. Auzeem feared, +that in the present state of things, any step of this kind would be +attended with a degree of hazard which ought not to be incurred. The +reign of the usurper, he said, was clearly drawing to a close. He +felt no doubt that the jealousy of Mohabet would speedily deprive the +Persian of the support of the main body of the rajaputs, and that if +the rival candidates for the throne, which they supposed to be vacant, +were left to settle their disputes amongst themselves, they would both +soon perish. + +Under these circumstances, Kazim strongly dwelt upon the expediency of +the emperor’s proceeding, with as much secrecy as possible, to Delhi, +where he would be certainly received with open arms, and be defended +with the utmost fidelity and enthusiasm. + +Auzeem inclined to this opinion, which Jehangire cordially adopted. He +would never hesitate, he said, if he had the opportunity, of throwing +himself upon the love of his subjects, in any part of his empire. +Whatever his personal faults and errors may have been--and that they +were numerous he would not deny--he was conscious of no act to which +he had been a willing party in his sovereign capacity, that was not +intended to promote the happiness of those whom Providence had placed +under his authority. Now that he was no longer under the restraint, +which had for more than two years kept him a prisoner in his own +palace, he was prepared to dare any danger, in order to rid the empire +of the oppression by which it was disgraced. + +It was then resolved that, at all events, Jehangire, attended by the +chancellor and his family, should proceed, by the Jumna, towards Delhi, +in a covered boat, if one could be immediately procured,--that Auzeem +should remain in Agra, to watch the course of events; and that if those +events should assume, as he confidently expected, a favourable turn, +he should despatch faithful messengers to inform the emperor, and to +recall him to the capital forthwith. + +It was still the grey of morning. Auzeem hastened towards the +apartments which had been so opportunely abandoned the night before, +and looked anxiously through the window, hoping that Zeinedeen’s boat +might present itself. He had no doubt that the solicitude of the +hermit, for the safety of the late prisoners, would have induced him to +collect all the intelligence he could as to the events going on in the +city, and to hover about in the river, until he could communicate them +without danger of detection. + +Fortunately Auzeem was not disappointed. The hermit’s boat was already +under the window. Auzeem desired him instantly to row on close to the +wall, until he should come to an iron gate, and to wait there. While +Zeinedeen was occupied in executing this direction, the minister +conducted his companions to the gate, and, raising the upper division +of it, by means of the machinery of the sluices, shewed them the +hermit’s boat just outside. Their embarkation was but the work of a +moment: the awning of the little vessel was immediately adjusted; +consisting of a canvass, which, being spread over hoops, completely +screened the passengers from view; and a sail was set, which, catching +a favourable breeze, bore the precious bark gaily against the lethargic +current of the Jumna. + +Jehangire felt transported with delight at the sudden change which +had taken place in his circumstances. He was now beside her who had +been so long the object of all his waking and sleeping visions of +felicity. Nothing was wanted to complete his happiness in that respect, +except the legal sanctions of marriage, which he was resolved to have +performed by the cadi of the first village at which they could land, +without incurring any danger of premature discovery. He was in the +bosom of a family he esteemed, not only on account of his Nourmahal, as +he now loved to call her, but because they had been uniformly zealous +in their attachment to him. The chancellor he admired for the noble and +disinterested character which he had displayed on every occasion that +called it into action; and the hermit, whose learning, and virtues, and +splendid intellect had won his regard the first hour he had known him, +gained so rapidly upon his heart, that he was resolved, if possible, to +detain him always near his own person. + +The bark was speedily out of sight of the capital, and beyond the +reach even of its sounds. Zeinedeen turned out to be an excellent +pilot. While they proceeded on their way, he stated that at midnight, +according to appointment, he had gone to the apartments of the +merchant, where he waited for two hours. Just as he was coming away, he +met Bochari at the door, who asked him what had brought him there. To +this question he found it difficult to give a direct answer, without +violating the confidence reposed in him by the merchant. He therefore +said that he was there at the request of the latter, who had promised +to explain some experiments of a chemical nature, in which he was +engaged; but as the merchant was not there, he would return another +time. Zeinedeen confessed that he much doubted whether the Persian +would, upon this representation, permit him to depart. However, finding +his movement not opposed, he proceeded down the stairs of the tower, +and returning to his boat, anxiously rowed up and down opposite their +prison window, until he was called by Auzeem. + +The emperor related to Zeinedeen all that they had witnessed in the +bath. The hermit was horror-struck. He lamented the fate of the unhappy +man, who had evinced a degree of contrition for his crimes, which +promised much in favour of his future efforts to expiate them as far as +he could, by a total change of life, and supplications to the Merciful +One. Whatever were his notions upon this point, it appeared highly +probable that his object, in making the midnight appointment with +Zeinedeen, was to inform the latter of some project he had contemplated +with reference to the sluices. It was evident that he had prepared them +for some purpose or another, which he dared not reveal to Bochari, and +of which the latter entertained not the most remote suspicion. + +The voyagers met scarcely any boats, except those of poor fishermen. +One of these they employed to procure them a store of provisions at a +farm-house, near which they passed. The provender thus obtained was +not very sumptuous, consisting chiefly of hard boiled eggs, some cold +fowls, a few cakes of unleavened bread, a basket of grapes, and a jar +of spring-water. The fresh air of the Jumna, however, gave the party a +relish for any thing they could obtain. Jehangire separated the limbs +of one of the bipeds with considerable tact, and distributed it with +his own hand. Kazim undertook the division of the bread; and Nourmahal, +spreading some vine-leaves on her lap, arranged there the bunches of +grapes, which she dispensed with a smiling hospitality, that dispelled +the gloom of the night from every body’s countenance. + +Her exertions, in this respect, were readily assisted by Zeinedeen, +who, as the bark rode steadily along over the rippling waters, related +various anecdotes of his life, interweaving with them admirably drawn +portraits of distinguished persons, whom he had known during his +intercourse with the world. From these he deviated into those tales +with which our Asiatic world abounds, much to the delight of Jehangire, +who owned that the cares of state had not yet been able to erase from +his mind the recollection of the raptures with which, when a boy, he +pored over the wondrous narratives of “The Enchanted Horse,” “The Forty +Thieves,” “Aladdin,” and “The Merchant of Bagdad.” + +“The human mind,” observed the hermit, “is truly a most astonishing +creation. The more we examine it, the less we can comprehend it. +We listen, as the child, the youth, the matured man, nay, as the +patriarch, with intense earnestness to the story-teller, while he +is weaving his web of fiction. We know that his production has no +truth in it, and yet, I doubt if truth, in its most attractive forms, +can exercise over us the charming influence which those productions +possess.” + +“I confess,” said Kazim, “that I must plead guilty to the same frailty, +if such it may be called. Many histories--many books and systems +of philosophy, which I have studied with all the diligence I could +command, have totally vanished from my memory. But I can even now +repeat, word for word, the adventures of the three princes, Houssain, +Ali, and Ahmed, during their struggle for the hand of Nourounihar.” + +“I remember it well,” said Jehangire, “and that piece of tapestry he +purchased at Bisnagar, by sitting on which, he was enabled to transport +himself wherever he wished.” + +Thus conversing, they arrived at length within view of a considerable +village, where the emperor knew there must be a cadi. He immediately +requested Zeinedeen to land, to proceed to the cadi’s house, and to +make arrangements for the solemnization of the ceremony, which was now +the first object of all his thoughts. Zeinedeen joyfully performed the +mission with which he was charged. The whole party debarked in the dusk +of the evening, and under the names of Selim and Mher-Ul-Nissa, were +united the two, whose hearts had long been intertwined by the most +ardent affection. The cadi, a venerable old man, who had never stirred +beyond the precincts of his village, little dreamed, when he was +setting down those names in his register, that he recorded the marriage +of the emperor and Nourmahal. The simple forms of the law having been +thus complied with, the party returned to their boat, and resumed their +voyage towards Delhi. + +Meanwhile, Auzeem, upon whose fidelity, prudence, and courage, the +fate of the empire now devolved, having carefully restored the upper +division of the sluices to its usual position, returned through the +subterraneous passage, near enough to the bronze portal, to be enabled +to observe every thing that might take place within the bath; or +rather, as it should now be called, the banquet-chamber. Soon after +Bochari had taken his departure, crowds of male and female slaves +entered the chamber and proceeded to heap the tables with cold viands, +filling the vases with rich Cabul wine, and making all the necessary +preparations for the inauguration feast, which was to be commenced at +sun-set. + +Bochari had succeeded in reaching his own apartments, without meeting +any obstacle. Thence he conveyed his horrid burthen to the secret +chamber previously occupied by the merchant. Having carefully secured +the door, he again listened, as the sun rose, to the sounds that were +rapidly approaching the citadel, until he convinced himself that he +heard his own name vociferated again and again. He felt, therefore, +no further hesitation in proceeding to the palace. There he met about +two hundred of the rajaputs, who, upon his appearance, hailed him as +emperor of Hindostan. + +He accepted their congratulations in a confused and awkward manner; +and when the imperial mantle, which two of the chieftains held in +their hands, was placed upon his shoulders, he trembled violently, +as if he had been seized by some fatal pestilence. He, however, soon +shook off the uneasy sensation, and entering the hall, in which the +emperor usually gave audience to the people, he ascended the throne. +The great state drum was then struck as a signal to the artillery on +the ramparts; and the gates of the citadel were thrown open, when +some hundreds of the lowest dregs of the populace appeared in the +great square, shouting “Long live Bochari, emperor of India!” Many of +them appeared intoxicated with wine. Some were evidently malefactors, +who had been permitted to escape from the prisons, upon condition of +aiding in the cry of the minions, who had been hired to proclaim the +new sovereign. The homage of such a motley crew had nothing in it of +a character to redeem their want of numbers. The exhibition of their +scantiness in that respect, as well as of the miserable apparel in +which they were brought to perform their assigned task, struck upon the +Persian’s heart as a fatal omen. + +He had been taught by his agents to expect that many of the opulent +merchants of Agra had espoused his cause, under the hope that he would +elevate them to the rank of omrahs. He was further led to believe +that the artizans, and a large number of the people, above the class +of mendicants, would join in hailing his accession to the throne. But +when he looked at the villanous bands before him, waving their ragged +turbans and girdles, or tossing up in the air their greasy caps, he +could not conceal from himself that his power was much more secure +when he wielded it in the name of Jehangire, than it could be with the +sceptre in his own hands. + +Bochari speedily discovered, also, that the attendance of the rajaputs +was by no means numerous. There were nearly a thousand of that body +altogether in his pay, and yet not above two or three hundred, at the +utmost, were present to greet his accession to the crown. Mohabet was +absent, together with all the rajaputs who were suspected of adhesion +to that chieftain’s cause. + +These circumstances wore a sinister aspect. Nevertheless, all the +fire of his ambition glowed within him, when he beheld the diadem, +glistening in its glorious pride of jewellery, placed before him upon +a cushion, and beside it the massive golden sceptre, set with emeralds +and rubies. Rising, he gave the signal for the great state-drum to be +again struck, and the silver trumpets to be sounded. He then planted +the crown upon his head--beneath the weight of which, however, he +felt as if he were sinking into the earth. The sceptre, also, he +grasped, but with a tremulous hand. The rajaputs, and the groups in the +square, again hailed him with the title of emperor; and the ceremony +being concluded, the miserable pageantry of the usurper’s first court +speedily passed away. + +The intelligence of his accession, together with the rumours spread, in +every quarter, of the emperor’s abdication and death, diffused a deep +gloom over the capital. Mohabet and his friends kept in close council +the whole of the day. They learned from their emissaries, from time to +time, a variety of circumstances, which enabled them to conclude, that +nothing would be less difficult of execution at that moment than the +complete overthrow of Bochari. They saw, that without their aid, he was +utterly powerless, and they therefore resolved, that unless he agreed +to assign to their party the principal offices of state, and the best +subahships in the empire, they should no longer acknowledge him as the +sovereign. + +The question, whether, after dethroning him, Mohabet should be set up +in his place, was attended, however, with greater difficulties than +they had at first foreseen. It was soldiers of their party who had been +despatched to Kazim’s prison, charged with the sanguinary commission +they had declared. But their promised victims had either escaped, or +must have been immolated by other hands. They could gain no clear or +decisive information upon this point. They sometimes suspected that +Bochari had concealed the emperor in some secret chamber of the palace, +for the purpose of using his popularity against Mohabet, in case the +latter should gain the ascendancy; but, at all events, they determined +on attending the inauguration banquet, to which they had been invited, +well armed. Before swearing the great oath of allegiance, they would +interrogate the Persian; and if they were satisfied as to the death or +abdication of the emperor, they would then compel him to concede the +terms they had already talked of, or transfer the throne to Mohabet. + +The latter, accompanied by about three hundred of his partizans, +proceeded in a body to the palace an hour before sunset, and, entering +the banquet-chamber, took their places at the tables. Bochari was duly +informed of their arrival, which he heard of with a lively sense of +pleasure. He looked upon it as a token of their adhesion to his cause, +which, from their absence during the morning, and the whole of the day, +he feared they had determined not to support any longer. Accompanied by +the two hundred rajaputs, who had remained faithful to him, decked out +in the most brilliant attire with which the imperial wardrobes could +furnish, he proceeded at the appointed hour to the place of meeting. +The silver trumpets, stationed on the fifty steps that led down to the +chamber, announced the approach of the new sovereign, who, as he moved +forward, surrounded by his guards, wearing the crown of Hindostan upon +his head, and bearing its sceptre in his hand, assumed for the moment +an appearance of real dignity, which, one would hardly have supposed, +the Persian could exhibit. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + “In the morning, when the raven of night had flown + away, the bird of dawn began to sing; the nightingales + warbled their enchanting notes, and rent the thin veils + of the rose-bud and the rose; the jasmine stood bathed + in dew, and the violet also sprinkled his fragrant locks. + At this time Zelika was sunk in pleasing slumber; her + heart was turned towards the altar of her sacred vision. + It was not sleep; it was rather a confused idea; it + was a kind of frenzy caused by her nightly melancholy. + Her damsels touched her feet with their faces; her + maidens approached and kissed her hand. Then she removed + the veil from her cheek, like a tulip besprinkled + with dew; she opened her eyes, yet dim with sleep. + From the border of her mantle the sun and moon arose; + she raised her head from the couch, and looked around + on every side.” + + JAMI. + + +Having taken his seat upon the divan, in the centre of the room, a +herald, superbly attired, then appeared beside him, and read out +the record of his accession to the throne, while the whole assembly +were standing. The herald having concluded with the words--“And, +therefore, Long live Bochari--Conqueror of the World--and the Padishah +of Hindostan,” the cry was loudly repeated on all sides, with so much +apparent enthusiasm and unanimity, that his spirit catching new fire +from the homage he had received, prompted him to rise, and to express, +in an improvised address, his sense of the proud honour they had +conferred upon him. He then desired the banquet to proceed, the herald, +in the mean time, making preparations for administering the great oath. + +The rajaputs, seated all round the chamber, on divans placed close by +the wall, the tables piled with gold and silver dishes, containing +the most sumptuous fare--the usurper enthroned in the centre, before +a golden table, also copiously supplied--the crowds of pages and +footmen, in splendid liveries, waiting on the guests--the trumpeters +on the fifty steps--the groups of black slaves employed in bringing +to the banquet the numerous dishes prepared for the occasion--the +candelabras, which shed their abundant and brilliant lustre over the +whole scene--myriads of censers, fuming with fragrance, amid the sounds +of martial music, interrupted now and then by the firing of artillery, +exhibited, upon the whole, a spectacle of human grandeur, worthy of a +better cause. + +The wine-vases were rapidly emptied, and as rapidly replenished, in +every quarter,--the imperial cellars having been thrown open on the +occasion. The festival appeared to be passing off with every symptom +of harmony and joy. Conversation was loud, eloquent, undisguised, at +every table. No whisperings were observed; no dark looks shed upon +the scene any shade of that sinister aspect, which had given to the +morning so desponding a character. Bochari looked upon his possession +of the throne as secured beyond all danger, and was already preparing +in his mind measures for suppressing any revolt that might break out in +the city, when his eye, which from the dreadful recollections of the +previous night, had been more than once fixed upon the bronze portal, +suddenly caught a shadowy figure moving inside it. + +The horrors that had overwhelmed the mind of the merchant seemed to +have been at once, as if by contagion, transferred to his own. His +gaze was fixed. His countenance, hitherto flushed with wine and the +excitement of the occasion, became deadly pale. In that shadowy +form he beheld Fazeel, as he thought, beckoning all his slaughtered +companions to assemble and witness the enthronement of their murderer. + +“Wine, wine!” exclaimed the usurper, in a voice scarcely audible, while +he still looked with glaring eyes upon the portal. The herald suggested +to him that the time had arrived for taking the great oath. + +“Wine!” repeated the Persian, his tongue cleaving to the roof of +his mouth;--“wine, I say. I am sick, sick at heart.” The words were +followed by a deep moan, which startled the whole assembly. Some of +the rajaputs already noticed the extraordinary attitude in which the +usurper had placed himself, half risen from his seat, his hand waving +as if in compliance with the call of some person through the portal, +his lips quivering, his limbs trembling beneath him. + +“But why me alone? I was not there. I touched thee not,” he exclaimed. + +“What means all this?” asked Mohabet, as, quitting his seat and +crossing the table, he hastened to Bochari. “What is all this? Has the +crown already turned your head?” + +“The crown! Ha! ha! ha! Take it,--see if it will deliver you from that +dreadful spectacle. Here--the leader of these rajaputs--here is your +real immolator.” + +“The Persian is mad,” said Mohabet; “hear ye what he says?” + +“Aye, hear ye what I say? Answer to those bleeding warriors,--answer to +Fazeel; were ye not his murderers?” + +The rajaputs, by an instantaneous impulse, all drew their scymitars. +The herald and all the attendants fled up the steps of the chamber, +looking backward affrighted, not knowing what was about to occur. + +“Are you the man to upbraid us,” cried out several voices; “you who, if +you were not the disguised astrologer that told us of the prey, at all +events employed that merchant who ensured it.” + +“It is false.” + +“He raves. Give him water. This is not like a sovereign. For shame! +Shake off this weakness. We wait to take the great oath,” said one of +the chieftains, who was attached to Bochari’s cause. + +“He begins his reign by insulting us all,” said Mohabet. + +“He knows not what he says,” resumed the usurper’s partizan. “Back to +your seats. It is but a cloud passing over his mind.” + +“I go--hush!--look at their hands, red with your blood. None of it is +here,” added Bochari, holding out both his hands; “they are white as +the lotus.” + +“We will not suffer this language. What! call us murderers? as if upon +us only rested the blood which he procured to be shed for his own +purposes.” + +“Down with the Persian!” + +“Down with the traitors!” cried out the two parties, as, separating, +they rushed upon each other. + +But before victory could declare on either side,--a victory that, +giving preponderance at that moment to one faction or the other, might +have been followed by many years of calamity to Hindostan, a hand +unseen was unerringly preparing the penalty due to both. Auzeem was +without the portal, anxiously expecting the very scene of contention +which had now arisen, though he presumed it would have proceeded from a +different cause. Fearful of involving the innocent with the guilty, he +waited until the herald and the attendants had hastened up the steps +in dismay. Then flying to the sluices, he struck the spring that held +the lower gate in its place, and at the moment that the scymitars of +the double oppressors of his country were lifted against each other, +the sudden inundation from the Jumna, like an angry god, quelled the +battle. + +No groan was heard. The weight of the waters above the heads of the +banditti was so tremendous, that nothing rose to the surface. The +attendants, who had reached the upper steps, looked in silent horror +upon the dark gulf below. + +“Now,” thought Auzeem, as he returned to the palace to find out some +faithful messengers whom he might despatch to the emperor; “now Kazim +will do me justice. I ought not to wonder at his suspicions. Mine was, +indeed, as he well designated it, an adventurous policy. To be seen +co-operating openly, and even zealously, with the late usurper during +a period of more than two years; countersigning his decrees; attending +his councils; suggesting and advising measures of state policy, and +assisting him even through the mazes of intrigue in which he was +frequently involved; and in all things acting (he believed) as if I had +utterly abandoned the emperor, whom I represented to be incapacitated +for his functions, I did, no doubt, incur an awful responsibility. + +“But I saw my course clearly from the moment the emperor was made +prisoner in his own tent in Cashmere. I saw we were completely in the +hands of the most ambitious, and the most remorseless of men. His next +step I knew would be the assumption of the crown. Nothing could be +gained--on the contrary--every thing would be hazarded by any premature +resistance. + +“The moment, long desired, however, has come at last. Success--more +complete than I ever dared to hope, has crowned my proceedings. So +perish all traitors to the honoured crown of the master, whom it will +be the glory of my life to have thus rescued from the base tyranny of +that Persian!” + +Before the morning dawned, all the imperial galleys were assembled +by the orders of Auzeem, and fully manned by crews attached to them, +the men dressed in their state apparel, and the imperial standards +flying. Intelligence of the awful event, which had put so decisive, +and so unexpected an end to the usurpation, was diffused with the +speed of lightning through the capital. The gloom, with which it had +been overspread the day before, was dispersed, as if by an enchanter’s +command. Every face beamed with rapturous joy. Families were seen in +the streets and market-places, embracing each other, and pouring out +tears of gladness. It was every where proclaimed that their beloved +emperor was safe, and that he might be expected in Agra the following +morning. The people seemed frantic with joy, for they venerated the +house of Acbar, and loved their lawful sovereign with an enthusiasm, +rendered still more intense by their hatred of the alien who had +usurped his sceptre. + +Couriers, on fleet Arabians, were directed by Auzeem to proceed +along both banks of the Jumna, with despatches for the emperor, +announcing, in a few words, what had taken place. The minister +described Zeinedeen’s boat so minutely, that they could hardly fail +to discover it. The state galleys, drawn against the current, by +trains of swift-paced elephants, and filled with those of the omrahs +and household officers, who had never wavered in their allegiance, +followed the couriers. The first messenger, who had the good fortune +to perceive the hermit’s boat just as the sun was setting, dashed +into the river on horseback, directing the animal’s head towards the +little bark, which was quietly gliding on in its course. He held up the +despatch in his right hand, waving it in triumph over his head, and +shouting--“Long live the emperor!” + +The glorious tidings first caught the ear of Nourmahal, whose heart +swelled with measureless delight, when, kissing her imperial consort, +she repeated the salutation--“Long live the emperor--my own beloved--my +husband--long and triumphantly may he reign in the hearts of his people +as he reigns in mine!” Jehangire, pressing her in his arms, returned +the kiss tenfold. + +The messenger flung the despatch into the boat as soon as he could get +near enough for that purpose. It was caught by Kazim, who handed it to +the emperor. + +“Admirable Auzeem! Read it, my lord chancellor, and suspect no more the +‘Preserver of the empire,’ as he shall henceforth be titled. Mangeli! +behold the empress of Hindostan!” + +The parents and the daughter were already locked in each other’s +arms. Their many griefs were now all merged in a flood of transport. +Zeinedeen, raising his eyes to Heaven, gave, from the bottom of his +soul, thanks to Heaven that he had been permitted to witness this +day of happiness for his country; and of just exultation for those +dear friends--his children he might call them--whose virtues had +been severely tried by prosperity, as well as by adversity. Without +waiting for a carpet to be spread, the emperor followed his example, +and the whole party, prostrating themselves, expressed, in silent +fervent prayer, their gratitude to the Omnipotent, for the transcendant +blessings He was then pleased to confer upon them. + +The banks of the river were speedily crowded by couriers, who arrived +one after another, but whose despatches were now superfluous. They +were followed by two hundred state galleys, one of which, looked +upon the waters, as the sun cast his parting rays upon them, a mass +of burnished gold. Approaching Zeinedeen’s boat, they formed in a +circle around it, and while the men, rising from their benches, and, +lifting their oars straight in the air, hailed their sovereign with +enthusiastic cheers, and the bands on board joined in the beautiful +national anthem, composed by Oustad Nâë, Jehangire ascended, by a +ladder of golden cords, to the deck of his own galley, on which the +imperial flag was immediately hoisted. + +Kazim and Zeinedeen assisted Nourmahal and Mangeli to the deck, where +they were received, and successively embraced by the emperor, who, +directing the cheers and music to cease for a moment, and, holding +Nourmahal by the right hand, proclaimed her the empress of Hindostan. +The intelligence was received with cheers, again and again repeated; +for her virtues, her accomplishments, and her beauty--beauty heightened +by the simplicity of her prison dress, which she still wore,--had +gained her the love of every man, who had a heart to recognize the +charms of filial affection, combined with an exalted passion, which +knew not how to descend from its throne. + +The couriers, returning to the capital, diffused the tidings of the +spectacle they had just witnessed, along the whole line of the Jumna. +The train of barges, forming in the rear of the imperial galley, +proceeded down the river, the oars moving to the sounds of martial +airs. The banks were every where crowded with people, who hastened +thither from the neighbouring towns and villages, holding in their +hands torches of pinewood, which gave to the darkening night almost +the splendor of day. Myriads of small fishing boats were launched on +the river, occupying it almost from bank to bank, at a short distance +behind the courtly procession. + +As the day approached, boats of every description were seen coming from +the capital, filled with gaily dressed parties, anxious to pay their +homage to the emperor and empress, who appeared on the deck of their +galley, and received the congratulations of the joyous people in the +most endearing manner. The beauty of Nourmahal was the theme of every +tongue, and never did that noble being look more captivating than when +thus beside him, whom she loved so well, fanned by the fresh zephyrs of +the summer morning, and arrayed in a plain muslin robe and turban, the +work of her own fingers, she stood under the flag of Hindostan. + +As soon as the crowds moving down the river were observable from the +tower of the citadel, the signal was given to the artillery. The guns +summoned from the city and its extensive suburbs, all their vast +population. The gates of the citadel were flung wide open; the great +square was in a moment filled with the exulting multitude, whose +incessant shouts, amidst the thunders of the ramparts and the music of +a hundred bands, proclaimed the universal gladness that prevailed. + +Upon arriving at the steps which led from the Jumna to the palace, +the emperor beheld Auzeem waiting to receive him. Jehangire summoned +him on board, and without permitting him to kneel, warmly embraced +him, and immediately invested him with the title of “Preserver of the +Empire.” In paying his homage to Nourmahal, Auzeem expressed to her the +sincerity of his joy, that she was now in the station to which it had +long been his hope that he would be instrumental in raising her. Kazim +and Mangeli poured out their gratitude to him for his services to +their family and their country; the chancellor, by the pressure of his +hand upon his heart, rather than by any words, telling him how truly +penitent he felt for having, even during a single hour, entertained the +slightest suspicions of the minister’s unabated zeal for the welfare of +Jehangire. + +The debarkation of the emperor and his consort took place under fresh +salutes of artillery from all parts of the capital. Upon surmounting +the steps, which were spread with cloth of gold, they beheld the whole +line before them strewed with flowers; on each side were ranged the +daughters of the faithful omrahs, arrayed in white robes, their heads +crowned with chaplets. Behind these beauteous maidens stood their +fathers, many of them of venerable age, weeping with joy for having +witnessed the restoration of their lawful sovereign, of whose cause +they had almost despaired. + +Jehangire and Nourmahal walked, hand-in-hand, along this fragrant path, +to the palace, where officers were in attendance with the imperial +vestments. Immediately proceeding to the Am-kas, the emperor and his +consort ascended the throne, the former wearing his crown. He was +followed by pages bearing upon a cushion another diadem, which he +placed on the brow of Nourmahal, amidst repeated bursts of acclamation +from the vast assembly below. They spent a great part of the day in +receiving the petitions of the people--petitions, unhappily filled with +the most afflicting narratives of the wrongs sustained by every class +of the community during the usurpation. + +It is needless to add, that the chancellor was speedily restored to +the eminent station which he had so long dignified by his virtues, +and adorned by his talents. His re-appearance in the supreme court of +justice was hailed with a degree of enthusiasm, scarcely secondary to +that with which the restoration of the lawful sovereign was rendered so +memorable in the annals of the capital. + +Zeinedeen contemplated all these unlooked-for changes with a sanguine +delight, which he would not, for the present at least, suffer to be +clouded in his mind by presages of those changes to which all human +happiness is liable. He made no effort to explore the future history of +Hindostan, contented that he saw, in the ascendancy which Nourmahal +appeared already to exercise over the mind of the emperor, a powerful +corrective of any defects which might have weakened his authority, +and prepared fresh troubles for his reign. It was too much to hope, +that the remaining years of that reign should be altogether free from +vicissitude; but from the united talents and power of the empress and +her father, he expected, with little fear of disappointment, that their +influence would ensure to Hindostan many years of felicity. + +For himself, Zeinedeen had now no further desire, except to return +to Cashmere, and to devote the evening of his life to the religious +and philosophical contemplations, that would best prepare him for +the brighter worlds, to which he looked forward with so much ardour. +Jehangire, however, would not hear of any plan, which would remove the +good hermit from the neighbourhood of Agra. It was arranged, therefore, +that a monastery should be constructed within a short distance of the +capital, upon the banks of the Jumna, which Aquaviva and his companions +should be invited to occupy; that in their sacred society, Zeinedeen +should spend his remaining years; and that thither Jehangire, +Nourmahal, Kazim, and Mangeli, should often repair, to talk over the +events by which they had been bound together in links of sympathy, +never to be solved at this side of the grave, and to renew their +thanksgivings to the Omnipotent, in those beautiful forms of prayer +furnished so abundantly by the ritual of the missionaries. + + THE END. + + + + + NOTES TO VOLUME I. + + + _Page 1._ + +The great chain of the Himalas divides Northern from Southern Asia. +Parallel to this chain, on the northern side, runs another considerable +range, called the Ice Mountains. These two ranges are connected by +a third, which commencing near Hindu-Kush, in the Himalas, proceeds +northward, and revives again beyond the Ice Mountains. This third +range, after it passes the Ice Mountains, goes under the name of the +Hills of Arjun. + + + _Page 23._ + +The _Indian_ pink indicates the country of its birth. We have +scarcely a flower, or a fruit, in Europe, which does not flourish in +Asia, as in its native place. + + + _Page 145._ + +This account of the birth of the infant, afterwards called Nourmahal, +is almost strictly historical. + + + _Page 149._ + +Our travellers in the East have made the phenomena of the “Mirage of +the Desert,” familiar to every body. Mr. George Robinson, whose tour +in Palestine and Syria (recently published by Mr. Colburn), written in +a most unpretending style, gives the best account I have ever read of +those highly interesting countries, thus speaks of a _moonlight_ +mirage, which he observed on his way from Damascus to Aleppo:--“Soon +after quitting the khan (it was still moonlight), I inquired of my +guide the name of some water, which I fancied I saw in the plain of the +East. The inquiry produced a laugh amongst my hearers. They told me +that what I took to be water, was nothing more than the bed of a salt +lake, the water of which, evaporating in summer, leaves an incrustation +of salt on the earth. It was either this, or a mirage of the moon, +which produced the delusion on the sight. On my arrival at Aleppo, I +mentioned the circumstance to a gentleman who had frequently performed +the journey from thence to Bagdad, and had, therefore, more than once +observed the latter phenomenon in the desert. On one occasion, he had +actually alighted from his camel, to fill his cup with the water he +thought he saw before him, ere he discovered his error.”--_Travels in +Palestine and Syria, by George Robinson, Esq._, vol. ii. p. 236. + + + + + NOTES TO VOLUME II. + + + _Page 9._ + +Jehangire has left behind a very curious auto-biographical fragment, +which has been translated by Major David Price, and published by the +Oriental Translation Committee--a body of distinguished persons, to +whom the country is much indebted for many publications of great +interest and value. In these “Memoirs” the emperor thus speaks of +Indragui:-- + +“Among my brother’s elephants devolved to me on the occasion was one +of which I could not but express the greatest admiration, and to +which I gave the name of Indraguj (_the elephant of India_). It +was of a size I never before beheld: such as to get upon its back +required a ladder of fourteen steps. It was of a disposition so gentle +and tractable, that under its most furious excitements, if an infant +unwarily threw itself in its way, it would lay hold of it with its +trunk, and place it out of danger with the utmost care and tenderness. +The animal was, at the same time, of such unparalleled speed and +activity, that the fleetest horse was not able to keep up with it; and +such was its courage, that it would attack, with perfect readiness, an +hundred of the fiercest of its kind. Such, in other respects, although +it may appear in some degree tedious to dwell upon the subject, were +indeed the qualities of this noble and intelligent quadruped, that I +assigned a band of music to attend upon it, and it was always preceded +by a company of forty spearmen.”--_Memoirs, &c._, p. 62. + + + _Page 39._ + +Bernier, in his amusing account of the Mogul Empire, mentions the +fountain of Send Brare. In the month of May, he says, when the melting +of the snows on the mountains of Cashmere has taken place, the fountain +flows and ebbs three times a-day--at the dawn, at noon, and at night. +After the lapse of fifteen days the fountain becomes dry, and so +remains until the same month in the following year. During the period +of its ebbing and flowing, pilgrims, he says, flocked from all parts to +purify themselves in the sacred spring, and to perform their devotions +in the temple that stood near it. The general belief in the efficacy +of the fountain to distribute the flowery messengers cast into it, is +stated by Abul Fazeel in his account of Cashmere. See the _Ayeen +Akberry_, vol. ii. p. 127. London. 1800. + + + _Page 41._ + +Bernier states, that on the summit of Pees-Punchal (from which a view +of Cashmere is first obtained by travellers from India) there lived +in the time of Jehangire a hermit, who was reputed to be a great +worker of miracles. He was said to have the power of raising all sorts +of storms. His white uncombed beard, extremely long and bushy, gave +him a remarkably savage aspect. He imposed a species of toll on all +persons passing the top of the mountain. He forbade them to make the +least noise during their progress, threatening them with tempest if +they dared to violate his mandate. Jehangire, according to Bernier, +when passing the mountain, in defiance of the hermit’s injunction, +ordered the kettle-drums to beat, and the trumpets to be sounded, the +consequence of which was, a furious tempest that menaced destruction +to his whole army. The phenomenon is, in fact, consistent with the +meteorological history of the Alps, where the concussions caused in the +atmosphere, by the discharge even of a pistol, are known to have been +attended with considerable danger. + + + _Page 62._ + +The fate of Sodom and Gomorrah was not limited to those two cities. It +is very well known, that in several parts of the east, towns have been +inhumed, either by the agency of the tempest or the earthquake. It is +not improbable that excavations, rightly directed in that region, would +bring to light more than one Herculaneum. + + + _Page 83._ + +In the memoirs of Jehangire, already alluded to, the operations of +the Bauzigurs are related at considerable length. The imperial author +prefaces his account of them in these words:-- + +“At the period of which I am about to speak there were to be found, +in the province of Bengal, performers in slight-of-hand, or jugglers, +of such unrivalled skill in their art, that I have thought a few +instances of their extraordinary dexterity not unworthy of a place +in these memorials. On one occasion, in particular, there came to +my court seven of these men, who confidently boasted that they were +capable of producing effects so strange as far to surpass the scope of +the human understanding: and most certainly, when they proceeded to +their operations, they exhibited in their performances things of so +extraordinary a nature, as without the actual demonstration the world +would not have conceived possible; such, indeed, as cannot but be +considered among the most surprising circumstances of the age in which +we live.”--_Memoirs, &c._ p. 96. + +The imperial author, after enumerating the performances of the +Bengalese, concludes with the following observations:-- + +“In very truth, however we may have bestowed upon these performances +the character of trick or juggle, they very evidently partake of the +nature of something beyond the exertion of human energy; at all events, +such performances were executed with inimitable skill, and if there +were in the execution any thing of facility, what should prevent their +accomplishment by a man of ordinary capacity? I have heard it stated, +that the art has been called the Semnanian (perhaps _asmaunian_, +‘celestial’), and I am informed that it is also known and practised +to a considerable extent among the nations of Europe. It may be said, +indeed, that there exists in some men a peculiar and essential faculty, +which enables them to accomplish things far beyond the ordinary scope +of human exertion, such as frequently to baffle the utmost subtilty of +the understanding to penetrate.”--_Memoirs, &c._ p. 104. + + + _Page 111._ + +May I confess that the portrait of Purveis, painted in the text, was +literally copied from a child of my own,--the delight of my heart,--my +only boy, who was standing at my knee while I wrote that page? He was +then little more than five years old, a model of meekness, beauty, +and affection. His intellect already gave promises of superiority, +which I dare not enumerate. The sheet containing that passage had +scarcely passed through the press, when a sudden blight--one of those +awful dispensations of Providence, into which we cannot presume to +enquire--descended upon my flower, and withered it almost in an +instant. On the Wednesday, our beloved Edward was the joy of his +home--all life and loveliness;--on the Monday, he was in his shroud. + + + _Page 115._ + +Jehangire’s decrees against drinking wine, are thus mentioned in his +“Memoirs:”-- + +“No person was permitted either to make or sell either wine or any +other kind of intoxicating liquor. I undertook to institute this +regulation, although it is sufficiently notorious that I have myself +the strongest inclination for wine, in which from the age of sixteen +I have liberally indulged. And in very truth, encompassed as I was +with youthful associates of congenial minds, breathing the air of a +delicious climate--ranging through lofty and splendid saloons, every +part of which decorated with all the graces of painting and sculpture, +and the floors bespread with the richest carpets of silk and gold, +would it not have been a species of folly to have rejected the aid of +an exhilarating cordial--and what cordial can surpass the juice of the +grape?”--_Memoirs, &c._ p. 6. + +The imperial author is very frank upon the subject of his own excesses; +but promises to give them up _some time or another_. + +“For myself, I cannot but acknowledge that such was the excess to which +I had carried my indulgence, that my usual daily allowance extended to +twenty, and sometimes to more than twenty cups, each cup containing +half a seir (about six ounces), and eight cups being equal to a maunn +of Irak. So far, indeed, was this baneful propensity carried, that +if I were but an hour without my beverage, my hands began to shake, +and I was unable to sit at rest. Convinced by these symptoms, that if +the habit gained upon me in this proportion my situation must soon +become one of the utmost peril, I felt it full time to devise some +expedient to abate the evil: and in six months I accordingly succeeded +in reducing my quantity gradually from twenty to five cups a day. At +entertainments I continued, however, to indulge in a cup or two more: +and on most occasions I made it a rule never to commence my indulgence +until about two hours before the close of the day. But now that the +affairs of the empire demand my utmost vigilance and attention, my +potations do not commence until after the hour of evening prayer, my +quantity never exceeding five cups on any occasion; neither would more +than that quantity suit the state of my stomach. Once a day I take +my regular meal, and once a day seems quite sufficient to assuage my +appetite for wine; but as drink seems not less necessary than meat for +the sustenance of man, it appears very difficult, if not impossible, +for me to discontinue altogether the use of wine. Nevertheless, I bear +in mind, and I trust in heaven that, like my grandfather Homayun, who +succeeded in divesting himself of the habit before he attained to the +age of forty-five, I also may be supported in my resolution, some time +or other to abandon the pernicious practice altogether. ‘In a point +wherein God has pronounced his sure displeasure, let the creature exert +himself ever so little towards amendment, and it may prove, in no small +degree, the means of eternal salvation.’” _Memoirs, &c._ p. 6, 7. + + + _Page 118._ + +Captain Hawkins (in “Purchas,” vol. i. p. 222,) gives the following +quaint sketch of the routine of the emperor’s life, from his own +observation:-- + +“First in the morning, about the break of day, he is at his beads, +with his face turned to the westward. The manner of his praying, when +he is at Agra, is in a private fair room, upon a goodly jet stone, +having only a Persian lamb-skin under him: having also some eight +chains of beads, every one of them containing four hundred. The beads +are of rich pearl, ballace rubies, diamonds, emeralds, lignum aloes, +Eshem, and coral. At the upper end of this jet stone, the pictures of +Our Lady and Christ are placed, graven in stone: so he turneth over +his beads, and saith three thousand two hundred words, according to +the number of his beads, and then his prayer is ended. After he hath +done, he sheweth himself to the people, receiving their salaams--unto +him multitudes do resort every morning for this purpose. This done, +he sleepeth two hours more, and then dineth and passeth his time with +his women, and at noon he sheweth himself to the people again, sitting +till three of the clock, viewing and seeing his pastimes and sports +made by men, and fighting of many sorts of beasts--every day sundry +kinds of pastime. Then at three o’clock all the nobles in general +(that be in Agra, and are well) resort unto the court, the king coming +forth in open audience, sitting in his seat royal, and every man +standing in his degree before him; his chiefest sort of nobles standing +within a red rail, and the rest without. They are all placed by his +lieutenant-general. This red rail is three steps higher than the place +where the rest stand, and within this red rail I was placed among the +chiefest of all. The rest are placed by officers, and they likewise +be within an outer very spacious place, railed; and without that +rail stand all sorts of horsemen and soldiers, that belong unto his +captains, and all other comers. At these rails there are many porters, +who have white rods to keep men in order. In the midst of the place, +right before the king, standeth one of his sheriffes, together with +his master-hangman, who is accompanied with forty hangmen, wearing on +their heads a certain quilted cap, different from all others, with an +hatchet on their shoulders; and others, with all sorts of whips, being +there ready to do what the king commandeth. The king heareth all causes +in this place, and stayeth some two hours every day. (These kings sit +daily in justice, and on the Tuesdays do their devotions.) Then he +departeth towards his private place of prayer. His prayer being ended, +four or five sorts of very well dressed and roasted meats are brought +him, of which, as he pleaseth he eateth a little to stay his stomach, +drinking once of his strong drink. Then he cometh forth into a private +room, where none can come but such as himself nominateth. (For two +years together I was one of his attendants here.) In this place he +drinketh other five cupfulls, which is the portion that the physicians +allot him. This done, he eateth opium, and then he ariseth; and being +in the height of his drink, he layeth him down to sleep, every man +departing to his own home. And after he hath slept two hours, they +awake him, and bring his supper to him, at which time he is not able to +feed himself; but it is thrust into his mouth by others, and this is +about one of the clock, and then he sleepeth the rest of the night.” + + + _Page 119._ + +Jehangire gives a similar account of the visit of Oustad Nâë, in his +“Memoirs.” + + + _Page 138._ + +The emperor’s visit to this hermit, is mentioned in his “Memoirs.” + + + _Page 146._ + +The wealth of the collector, and his acts of tyranny, as well as his +punishment, are recorded by Jehangire in his “Memoirs.” + + + _Page 149._ + +The emperor thus speaks of this Mogul merchant in his “Memoirs:”-- + +“A certain Moghûl had resided for some time in the place, employed, as +was supposed, in the pursuit of some commercial concern; and he was, +it seems, in the habit of inviting such females as he observed to be +addicted to liquor, to meet him in some of the gardens in the vicinity, +where he told them they would find and experience from him such a +reception as would surpass their most luxurious expectations. + +“The women thus invited, usually arrayed themselves in their richest +ornaments, and thus repaired to the place of appointment; where, as +it afterwards appeared, it was the practice of the villain first to +reduce them to a state of intoxication, and then to murder and strip +them of their ornaments, with which he returned to his own residence. +This he was permitted to continue for many a week, until he had, by +these nefarious means, contrived to amass treasure to the amount of +five-and-forty thousand tomauns.”[1]--_Memoirs, &c._ p. 118. + + [1] At thirty-three rupees to the tomaun, this would + be about fourteen lacs and eighty-five thousand rupees, or about + 150,000_l_. + + + _Page 287._ + +We find the following curious passage in the “Memoirs of Jehangire.” + +“While I remained in the precincts of Delhy, at the period to which +I shall now return, they described to me a species of feathered +game, with tails of a particular description, and the flesh of which +was of a flavour in the highest degree delicious. But what more +particularly attracted my curiosity was, that they spoke a language +known to none but to the natives of Kashmeir, who, by using a sort +of note or call, took from them the power of flight; and who were +thus able to catch them by thousands at a time. On a plain in the +neighbourhood, frequented by thousands of these birds in a flock, by +way of experiment, I employed about a thousand of the Kashmeirians +accustomed to the business, to give me a proof of their skill, and I +attended in person to view the sport. As had been represented to me, +about twenty of the Kashmeirians collected together, and produced a +sort of murmuring sound, which, attracting the attention of these +birds, they were drawn by degrees within such a distance of the men, +that they were taken in entire flocks. My pity was greatly moved by +the reflection that these harmless birds should have fallen victims to +this sort of treachery; that they should have been betrayed into the +hands of the destroyer by their irresistible love of harmonious sounds, +and that I should be found capable of consigning them to slaughter +from a mere idle and vicious curiosity; the next day, therefore, I +caused the whole, to the number of twenty thousand birds which had been +taken on the occasion, to be set at liberty. My object was obtained +in witnessing the fact; but to have seen them slaughtered would have +bespoken a want of compassion foreign to my nature.”--_Memoirs, &c._ +p. 132. + + + _Page 290._ + +The Rawil, Kuhy, or Laughing crows, assemble in numbers of from twenty +to fifty in the forests, and make a noise closely resembling many +persons laughing together. The plumage of the back, wings, and sides, +is of an olive brown; the tail of umber brown. The head is ornamented +with an elevated crest of rounded feathers. A black line passes from +the base of the beak, through the eyes, and occupies the ear coverts. +Excepting this black mark the whole of the head, throat, and breast, +are white. The feathers of the crest, as they approach the occiput, +appear as if slightly washed with Indian ink. The whole of this white +space is bounded by a band of rufous, which loses itself in the olive +brown of the rest of the body. + + + + + NOTES TO VOLUME III. + + + _Page 249._ + +Jehangire’s admiration of Eastern tales, was in keeping with his +fondness for wonders of every description. He relates, in his +“Memoirs,” a story which he states was told to him by a native of +Arabia. It might be well included in a new edition of the “Arabian +Nights:”-- + +“I shall here take upon me to relate, that once upon a time a native of +Arabia, who had passed the age of forty, was brought to the metropolis +for the purpose of being presented to me. When introduced to my +presence, I observed that he had lost his arm close to the shoulder, +and it occurred to me to ask him whether this was his condition from +his birth, or whether it was an injury which he had received in +battle. He seemed considerably embarrassed by the question; but stated +that the accident which had deprived him of his arm was attended +with circumstances so very extraordinary, as to be rather beyond +credibility, and might perhaps expose him to some degree of ridicule: +he had therefore made a vow never to describe it. On my importuning +him further, however, and urging that there could exist no reason for +concealment compatible with what he owed me for my protection, he +finally relented, and related what follows: + +“When I was about the age of fifteen, it happened to me to accompany my +father on a voyage to India; and at the expiration of about sixty days, +during which we had wandered in different directions through the ocean, +we were assailed by a storm so dreadful, as to be for ever impressed +upon my recollection. For three days and three nights successively, it +raged with such indescribable fury, the sea rose in such tremendous +surges, the rain descended in such torrents, and the peals of thunder +accompanied by lightning so incessant, as to be terrific in the utmost +degree. To complete the horrors of our situation, the ship’s mast, +which was as large in compass as two men with arms extended could +encircle, snapped in the middle, and falling upon the deck, destroyed +many of the crew. The vessel was therefore on the very verge of +foundering; but the tempest subsiding at the close of the third day, +we were for the present preserved from destruction, although we were +driven far from the course which led to the port of our destination. + +“When, however, the ship had for some days been pursuing this uncertain +course, we came in sight, unexpectedly, of what appeared to be a lofty +mountain in the midst of the ocean; and as we neared the spot it was +soon ascertained to be an island, covered with numerous buildings, and +interspersed with trees and river streams in most agreeable variety. +Our stock of water in the ship was nearly exhausted, and we therefore +steered close in land; and from certain fishermen, who were out in +their boats, we now learnt that the island was in possession of the +Portuguese Franks; that it was extremely populous, and that there were +no Mussulman inhabitants; moreover, that they had no intercourse with +strangers. + +“To be as brief as possible: as soon as the ship had reached the +anchoring ground and dropped her anchor, a Portuguese captain and +another officer came on board; and instantly, without leaving even an +infant child to take care of the ship, conveyed the whole of the ship’s +company, passengers and all, in boats to the shore; desiring, at the +same time, that we might not be under any apprehensions, for that as +soon as it could be discovered that there was among us a person that +suited a particular purpose, which they did not choose to explain, that +one alone would be detained, and the others dismissed without injury. +The port being theirs, and ourselves entirely at their mercy, we were +compelled to submit to all they said; and accordingly the whole ship’s +company, merchants, slaves, and mariners, to the number of twelve +hundred persons, were all crowded into one house. + +“From thence they sent for us one by one alternately, and stripping us +stark-naked, one of their hakeims, or physicians, proceeded to make +the minutest examination of our bodies, in every muscle, vein, and +limb, telling each respectively, after undergoing such examination, +that he was at liberty to go about his business. This they continued +to do until it came to the turn of myself and a brother who was with +us; and what was our dismay and horror when, after the described +examination, the hakeim delivered us into the custody of some of the +people in attendance, with orders to place us behind the curtain; +that is, where we should not be open to human intercourse. With the +exception of my brother and myself, the whole of the ship’s company, on +whose bodies they failed to discover the marks of which they were in +search, were now dismissed. Neither could my father, either by tears +or remonstrances succeed in diverting them from their purpose; to his +repeated demands to know in what his sons could have offended, that +out of a ship’s company of twelve hundred persons they alone should +be detained, they replied only by a frown, utterly disregarding every +entreaty. + +“They now conveyed my brother and myself to a part of the place where +they lodged us in separate chambers, opposite, however, to each other. +Every morning they brought us for food fowl kabaubs, honey, and white +bread, and this continued for the space of ten days. At the expiration +of that period the naokhoda (or commander of the ship), demanded +permission to proceed on his voyage. My father implored that he would +delay his departure, if it were only for two or three days longer, +when, peradventure, the Portuguese might be induced to give up his +sons. He presented himself to the ruler of the port, and again, by the +most humble entreaties endeavoured to obtain our release, but in vain. + +“The same medical person, on whose report we were detained, now came +with ten other Franks to the house or chamber where my brother was +confined, and again stripping him naked, they laid him on his back on +a board or table, where he was exposed to the same manual examination +as before, They then left him and came to me, and stretching me out +on a board in the same manner and plight, again examined my body in +every part as before. Again they returned to my brother; for, from the +situation of our prisons, the doors being exactly opposite, I could +distinctly observe all that passed. They sent for a large bowl and +a knife, and placing my brother, with his head over the bowl,--his +cries and supplications all in vain,--they struck him over the mouth, +and with the knife actually severed his head from the body, both the +head and his blood being received in the bowl. When the bleeding had +ceased, they took away the bowl of blood, which they immediately poured +into a pot of boiling oil, brought for the purpose, stirring the whole +together with a ladle, until both blood and oil became completely +amalgamated. Will it be believed, that after this they took the head, +and again fixing it exactly to the body, they continued to rub the +adjoining parts with the mixture of blood and oil, until the whole had +been applied. They left my brother in this state, closed the door, and +went their way. + +“At the expiration of three days from this, they sent for me from +my place of confinement, and telling me that they had obtained, at +my brother’s expense, all that was necessary to their purpose, they +pointed out to me the entrance to a place under ground, which they +said was the repository of gold and jewels to an incalculable amount. +Thither they informed me I was to descend, and that I might bring +away for myself as much of the contents as I had strength to carry. +At first I refused all belief to their assertions, conceiving that +doubtless they were about to send me where I was to be exposed to some +tremendous trial; but as their importunities were too well enforced, I +had no alternative but submission. + +“I entered the opening which led to the passage, and having descended +a flight of stairs, about fifty steps, I discovered four separate +chambers. In the first chamber, to my utter surprise, I beheld my +brother apparently restored to perfect health. He wore the dress and +habiliments of the Ferenguies, or Portuguese,--had on his head a cap +of the same people, profusely ornamented with pearl and precious +stones,--a sword, set with diamonds, by his side, and a staff, +similarly enriched, under his arm. My surprise was not diminished when +the moment he observed me I saw him turn away from me, as if under +feelings of the utmost disgust and disdain. I became so alarmed at a +reception so strange and unaccountable, that although I saw that it was +my own brother, the very marrow in my bones seemed to have been turned +into cold water. I ventured, however, to look into the second chamber, +and there I beheld heaps upon heaps of diamonds and rubies, and pearls +and emeralds, and every other description of precious stones, thrown +one on the other in astonishing profusion. The third chamber into which +I looked contained, in similar heaps, an immense profusion of gold; and +the fourth chamber was strewed middle deep with silver. + +“I had some difficulty in determining to which of these glittering +deposits I should give the preference. At last I recollected that a +single diamond was of greater value than all the gold I could gather +into my robe, and I accordingly decided on tucking up my skirts and +filling them with jewels. I put out my hand in order to take up some +of these glittering articles, when from some invisible agent, perhaps +it was the effect of some overpowering effluvia, I received a blow so +stunning, that I found it impossible to stand in the place any longer. +In my retreat, it was necessary to pass the chamber in which I had seen +my brother. The instant he perceived me about to pass, he drew his +sword, and made a furious cut at me. I endeavoured to avoid the stroke +by suddenly starting aside, but in vain; the blow took effect, and my +right arm dropped from the shoulder-joint. Thus wounded and bleeding, +I rushed from this deposit of treasure and horror, and at the entrance +above, found the physician and his associates, who had so mysteriously +determined the destiny of my unhappy brother. Some of them went below, +and brought away my mutilated arm; and having closed up the entrance, +with stone and mortar, conducted me, together with my arm, all bleeding +as I was, to the presence of the Portuguese governor, men, and women, +and children, flocking to the doors to behold the extraordinary +spectacle. + +“The wound in my shoulder continued to bleed; but having received from +the governor a compensation of three thousand tomauns, a horse, with +jewelled caparison, a number of beautiful female slaves, and many +males, with the promise of future favour in reserve, the Portuguese +physician was ordered to send for me, and applying some styptic +preparation to the wound it quickly healed, and so perfectly, that it +might be said I was thus armless from my birth. I was then dismissed, +and having shortly afterwards obtained a passage in another ship, +in about a month from my departure reached the port for which I was +destined. + +“On the above relation,” continues our imperial memorialist, “I have +to observe, that in all probability the extraordinary circumstances +to which it refers were effected through the operations of chimia +(‘alchemy’), known to be extensively practised among the Franks, +and in which the jugglers from Bengal appear to have been very well +instructed.” + + + _Page 264._ + +Nitocris, an Egyptian queen of great beauty, revenged herself for the +death of her brother and predecessor on the throne in a similar manner. +“On her accession, she invited those whom she suspected of being privy +to his murder, to a festival. A large subterraneous hall was prepared +for the occasion; and though it had the appearance of being fitted +up with a view to celebrate the proposed feast, it was, in reality, +designed for a very different purpose; for, when the guests were +assembled, the water of the Nile was introduced by a secret canal into +the apartment; and thus, by their death, she gratified her revenge, +without giving them an opportunity of suspecting her designs.”--See Mr. +Wilkinson’s _Manners and Customs of the Egyptians_, vol. i. p. 91. +London, Murray. 1838. This work appears to be the result of infinite +labour and research. It is fraught with the deepest interest for minds +anxious to dive into the early history of that most mysterious people. +The style in which it is got up is truly splendid. + + LONDON: + PRINTED BY STEWART AND MURRAY, + OLD BAILEY. + + + + + TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES + + +Small caps have been changed to all caps. Italics changed to _italic_. + +Due to a probable printer’s error, there are two chapters titled +_Chapter X_. The original numbering has been preserved as it appears in +the printed work, however “(continued)” has been added to the second +_Chapter X_ for clarity. + +A Table of Contents has been added by the transcriber. + +Variations in spelling of the same words have been left as originally +printed. + +Minor punctuation errors and missing or misplaced quotation marks have +been silently corrected. + +The following probable printing errors have been changed as listed +below: + +Page 7: “conntry” changed to “country”: +...passing through the country, with a view... + +Page 53: “assen” changed to “assent”: +The high chancellor having signified his assent to this arrangement... + +Page 180: “obtascles” changed to “obstacles”: +So long as Kazim and Nourmahal existed, he felt them as obstacles in +his way... + +Page 181: “Perian” changed to “Persian”: +The only person with whom the Persian seemed to share... + +Page 205: “circustances” changed to “circumstances”: +I can imagine many circumstances by which... + +Page 219: “may” changed to “many”: +They had not advanced many paces, when they heard... + + + + + PUBLISHER ADVERTISEMENTS + _13, Great Marlborough Street._ + + MR. COLBURN + HAS JUST PUBLISHED THE FOLLOWING + NEW WORKS OF FICTION. + + + I. + + THE COURTIER’S DAUGHTER. + By LADY STEPNEY. 3 vols. + + + II. + + SHAKSPEARE AND HIS FRIENDS; + OR, THE GOLDEN DAYS OF MERRY ENGLAND. + 3 vols. post 8vo. + + + III. + + MEN OF CHARACTER. + By DOUGLAS JERROLD, Esq. + 3 vols. post 8vo. with numerous Characteristic Illustrations + after Thackeray. + +“We must admonish thee, my worthy friend, (for perhaps thy heart may be +better than thy head) not to condemn a character as a bad one because +it is not perfectly a good one. If thou dost delight in these models +of perfection, there are books enow written to gratify thy taste; but +as we have not in the course of our conversation ever happened to +meet with any such person, we have not chosen to introduce any such +here.”--_Fielding._ + + + IV. + + ROYSTON GOWER; + OR, THE DAYS OF KING JOHN. + By THOMAS MILLER, + Author of “A Day in the Woods,” &c. 3 vols. post 8vo. + +“Mr. Miller has produced an extraordinary work. He has put life and +blood into the time of King John. Knights, Barons, Priests, and +high-born Damsels carry on the stirring plot through Court and Camp, +Judgment Seat and conflict, intrigue and wassail--the whole is a vivid +picture of a memorable period.”--_Literary Gazette._ + + + V. + + RAFF HALL. + By ROBERT SULIVAN, Esq. 3 vols. + +“A singular work; full of merit and amusement.”--_Dispatch._ +“A very lively, pleasant book. We have pleasure in doing justice to +Mr. Sullivan’s wit, and to the good feeling which animates his work; +it is humorous without being gross, and sensible without conceit or +pretence.”--_Atlas._ + + + VI. + + LOVE; A NOVEL + By LADY CHARLOTTE BURY. + Author of “Flirtation,” “The Divorced,” &c. 3 vols. + + “Oh, love! what is it in this world of ours + Which makes it fatal to be loved? Ah! why + With cypress branches hast thou wreathed thy bowers, + And made thy best interpreter a sigh?”--_Byron._ + + + VII. + + JANE LOMAX; + OR, A MOTHER’S CRIME. + By the Author of “Brambletye House,” &c. + 3 vols. post 8vo. + +“In ‘Jane Lomax’ Mr. Smith has broken fresh ground. He comes before +us with a novel either defying or disdaining all the old sources of +interest. He takes human beings in positions humble yet natural, +exposed to circumstances trying to the heart and tempting to the +passions, and, in a terrible career, exhibits the advance of crime +through the fears and affections.”--_New Monthly._ + + + VIII. + + MISS LANDON’S NEW NOVEL, + ETHEL CHURCHILL; + OR, THE TWO BRIDES. + A Story of the Reign of George II. 3 vols. + +“Such a record of female sentiment and passion as has hardly been +published since the days of Corinne.”--_Times._ + +“No writer less gifted than L. E. L. could have produced these +exquisite, affecting, and brilliant volumes.”--_Morning Post._ + + + IX. + + MRS. GORE’S NOVELETTES; + comprising-- + +Mary Raymond--The Abbey--Xaviera--Pierre l’Ecrevissier--Burgher +of St. Gall--The Scrap Stall--The Soldier’s Return--Le Lit de +Veille--The Miller of Corbeil--The Champion--Dorothea--Now or +Never--St. John of the Island--Verex--Sir Roger de Coverley’s Picture +Gallery--Wine--Napoleon at Fontainebleau--Lady Evelyn’s Three +Trials--La Tarantala--The Hair-Market of Evreux--Victoria. + + In 3 vols. post 8vo. + + + X. + + UNCLE HORACE + By the Authoress of “Sketches of Irish Character,” + “The Buccaneer,” &c.--In 3 vols. post 8vo. + +“Mrs. Hall’s new and delightful novel, bearing the title of ‘Uncle +Horace,’ more than sustains the high reputation of its popular +writer. Its bachelor hero, ‘Uncle Horace,’ is a capital and original +sketch--more truly and emphatically English than any character of +the kind we are acquainted with. This delightful work deserves to +attain a popularity not surpassed by that of any female writer of the +day.”--_Globe._ + + + XI. + + STORIES OF SPANISH LIFE. + Edited by LIEUT.-COL. CRAUFURD, Grenadier Guards. + 2 vols. post 8vo. + + + XII. + + VIOLET: A TALE + 2 vols. post. 8vo. + “A perfect revival of the genius of Inchbald.”--_Examiner._ + + + XIII. + + STOKESHILL PLACE; + OR, THE MAN OF BUSINESS. + By the Authoress of “Mrs. Armytage,” &c. + Second Edition, 3 vols. post 8vo. + +“This new novel will increase the already well-earned reputation +of Mrs. Gore. It is extremely well written. Mrs. Gore depicts +the conventional characters of society, and the secret springs +by which human motives are governed, with equal felicity. An +excellent moral is elicited by the events and the catastrophe of +‘Stokeshill-place.’”--_Times._ + + + XIV. + + HUMAN LIFE + By the Author of “Tremaine,” and “De Vere.” + Second Edition, 3 vols. + + + XV. + + THE DIVORCED. + By LADY CHARLOTTE BURY. + Authoress of “Flirtation,” &c. 2 vols. post 8vo. 18_s._ + + + + + HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, AND TRAVELS. + + + I. + + QUEEN ELIZABETH, AND HER TIMES. + Illustrated by + A SERIES OF ORIGINAL LETTERS, + +Selected from the inedited Private Correspondence of the Lord Treasurer +Burghley, the Great Earl of Leicester, the Secretaries Walsingham and +Smith, Sir Christopher Hatton, and most of the Distinguished Persons of +the Period, + + _Now first Published from the Originals_, + In 2 vols. 8vo., with Portraits. + + + II. + + LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF + ADMIRAL EARL ST. VINCENT. + By CAPTAIN BRENTON, R.N., + Author of “The Naval History of Great Britain,” &c. + 2 vols. 8vo. with Portrait. + + + III. + + SOUTH AMERICA AND THE PACIFIC. + COMPRISING + A JOURNEY ACROSS THE PAMPAS AND THE ANDES, + FROM BUENOS AYRES TO VALPARAISO, LIMA, + AND PANAMA, &c. + By the Hon. P. CAMPBELL SCARLETT. + In 2 vols. post 8vo., with numerous Illustrations. + + + IV. + + DIARY OF THE TIMES OF GEORGE IV. + WITH NUMEROUS ORIGINAL LETTERS OF + QUEEN CAROLINE, + AND OTHER ROYAL OR DISTINGUISHED PERSONS. + 2 vols. 8vo. + +“This work opens to our view the secret history of our Court and of +our Royal Family, for more than half a century. A perusal of these +important volumes will not tend, however, to raise either Courts or +Royalty in the public estimation. A number of the letters, anecdotes, +and private memoranda, written when the unhappy Princess was in Italy, +are very entertaining, and are full of exposures of politicians and +intriguers of every description.”--_Dispatch._ + + + V. + + THE RIVER AND THE DESART. + By MISS PARDOE, + Author of “The City of the Sultan,” &c. + Two vols. post 8vo., with numerous Illustrations. + + + VI. + + THE DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH’S PRIVATE + CORRESPONDENCE: + Illustrative of the Court and Times of Queen Anne, + (Now first published from the Originals,) + WITH HER SKETCHES AND OPINIONS OF HER + CONTEMPORARIES. + 2 vols. 8vo., with Portraits. + +“This is a very delightful work. We have closed the volumes with a +confirmed impression that in many of the highest points of conduct, +courage, and understanding, the Duchess of Marlborough was the most +remarkable woman of her own or any other day.”--_Examiner._ + + + VII. + + THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOSEPH HOLT, + GENERAL OF THE IRISH REBELS IN 1798. + Edited from his Original MS. in the possession of Sir W. Betham, + Ulster King at Arms, Keeper of the Irish Records, &c. + By T. CROFTON CROKER, Esq. + In 2 vols. 8vo., with Portrait. + +“We have read this work with great interest and satisfaction. It +is a most remarkable piece of Autobiography, teeming with romantic +incidents.”--_Chronicle._ + + + VIII. + + THE CITY OF THE SULTAN; + OR, DOMESTIC LIFE IN TURKEY. + By MISS PARDOE, + Authoress of “Traits and Traditions of Portugal,” &c. + Second Edition. 3 vols. post 8vo., with 18 Illustrations. + + + IX. + + CAPT. SPENCER’S TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA, &c. + SECOND EDITION. + With the + AUTHOR’S REPLY TO THE “QUARTERLY REVIEW.” + 2 vols. 8vo., with numerous Illustrations. + + + + + _New and cheaper Edition, with considerable Additions_. + NOW PUBLISHING, IN SIX MONTHLY PARTS, + Price 7_s._ 6_d._ each, + + MEMOIRS OF THE BEAUTIES + OF + THE COURT OF CHARLES II. + + With an + INTRODUCTORY VIEW OF THE STATE OF FEMALE SOCIETY, + AND ITS INFLUENCE DURING THAT REMARKABLE REIGN, + + By Mrs. JAMESON, + Authoress of “Characteristics of Women,” &c. + + COMPRISING A SERIES OF TWENTY-ONE SPLENDID PORTRAITS, + +Illustrating the Diaries of Pepys, Evelyn, Clarendon, and other +contemporary writers of that gay and interesting period, engraved by +the most distinguished artists, from Drawings made by order of her late +Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte. + +The following is a brief descriptive List of the Portraits comprised in +this Work, which supplies what has long been a desideratum in the fine +arts, and forms a desirable Companion to “Lodge’s Portraits.” + +CATHERINE OF BRAGANZA, the unhappy and slighted wife of Charles. + +LADY CASTLEMAINE, afterwards Duchess of Cleveland, the haughty enslaver +of the monarch. + +LA BELLE HAMILTON, Countess De Grammont, one of the ancestors of the +Jerningham family. + +The gentle and blameless COUNTESS OF OSSORY, interesting from her +beauty, her tenderness, and her feminine virtues. + +NELL GWYNNE, merry and open-hearted, who, with all her faults, was at +least exempt from the courtly vice of hypocrisy. + +The beautiful and wealthy DUCHESS OF SOMERSET, the wife of three +successive husbands, one of whom encountered a tragical fate. + +The noted FRANCES STEWART, Duchess of Richmond, whose marriage was the +immediate cause of Lord Clarendon’s disgrace. + +MISS LAWSON, mild and gentle, yet opposing the fortitude of virtue to +the perils of a licentious Court. + +The COUNTESS OF CHESTERFIELD, one of the fair principals of De +Grammont’s celebrated story of the “bas verts.” + +The COUNTESS OF SOUTHESK, whose faults, follies, and miseries, +constitute a tale well fitted to “point a moral.” + +The interesting and exemplary COUNTESS OF ROCHESTER. + +The beauteous and arrogant LADY DENHAM, interesting from the poetical +fame of her husband, and her own tragical fate. + +The magnificent LADY BELLASYS, renowned for her beauty, wit, and spirit. + +MRS. NOTT, fair, sentimental, and Madonna-like. + +ANNE DIGBY, Countess of Sutherland, beautiful and blameless, the friend +of the angelic Lady Russell, and of the excellent Evelyn. + +The fair Coquette, MRS. MIDDLETON. + +MISS BAGOT, the irreproachable wife of two libertine Lords. + +The fair, the elegant, and fascinating MISS JENNINGS, “who robbed the +men of their hearts, the women of their lovers, and never lost herself.” + +The DUCHESS OF PORTSMOUTH, one of the most absolute of Royal favourites. + +The COUNTESS OF NORTHUMBERLAND, distinguished for her uncommon grace +and beauty, and the blameless tenor of her life. + +And the DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE, fair, kind, and true, and wedded to a +Nobleman, who, to the valour and bearing of a Paladin of old Romance, +added the spirit of an ancient Roman. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78143 *** |