ANOTHER of the loyal companions of the prince, having advanced the swift-paced steed of eloquence into the plain of speech, represented, that through pre­servers of traditions, and the historians of secret events, it was thus related.

In a certain city there was a middle aged man, of good figure, by profession a soldier; who possessed the goods of life in abundance, and lived in perfect ease and affluence. His time, night and day, he passed in the joys of company and delights of society, but refrained from intercourse with women. Shunning the dangers of matrimony, he quaffed the goblet of celibacy, and drank the liquor of the winestore of single life. Thus in all delight and enjoyment he passed a care­less life in reputation; till after a length of time, when the star of his fortunes was descending from the altitude of honour to the depth of disgrace, an offi­cious friend, who was preparing (unknowingly) a thousand evils, intruded on his time, and seeing his ease and afflu­ence, said to him in privacy, “My friend, the chiefest of all blessings which God has bestowed on man, is the society of woman. No solitary delights can equal it; nor do all the other pleasures of the world exceed those of female company and conver­sation. With all your wealth and enjoyments, to deprive yourself of this happiness, and to waste your pre­cious youth, which has no return, in singleness, and to quit the pleasing scenes of the world in disappointment, true wisdom forbids.”

The young soldier replied, “My kind friend, though thy sweet speeches give delight to the palate of the mind, yet, as women by nature deviate from the arduous path of rectitude; and the rose of their composition is void of the tinge and scent of constancy, I have avoided connection with this fickle race, and have dissolved the treaty of association with the sex. If I now should venture upon it, I dread lest some unwelcome or dishonourable occurrence should happen, which might cause me disgrace among men, and the stores of character and repu­tation, which in so long a period I have collected, should be destroyed in the twinkling of an eye, and the remains of life be spent in lamenting my honour.”

The companion replied, “My honourable friend, what unbecoming idea is this, that has possessed thy mind? Not all women are destitute of the ornaments of constancy, or the graces of virtue; for beneath this azure dome are numbers, by the aus­pices of whose purity the pillars of the world are kept firm. If thy idea was just, and all men who are hasten­ing upon this earthly plain, (many of whom compared to thee, are much wiser) having kept their chambers destitute of the gleams of the marriage lamp, had been averse from the sub­lime command, the connecting bands of theworld would be dissolved, the threads of offspring, and descent be broken, and the race of man in a very short time be at an end. Certainly this fantasy is wrong, which has been impressed on thy imagination. By no means admit such an unworthy idea, and remain not deprived of such an inexpressible felicity. Now, whilst the flower of thy age in the garden of life is moist with the water and glow of manhood, and the autumnal blight of grey hairs has not found admission to the rose-bush of thy existence, perform thy duty; otherwise, when opportunity shall have passed from thy hands, thou wilt be ashamed; and howmuchsoever thou mayest clap the hands of regret together, it will not relieve thee.”

The officer, by the temptations and enticements of his friend, being led aside from the path of security and repose, fixed his resolve to marry; and, after much search and many enquiries, took a daughter seven* years old, from a virtuous family, and of honourable descent, into the bands of wedlock. Having selected some matrons of virtu­ous dispositions, the perceptions even of whose fancy the odour of vice had not reached, he instructed them that night and day they should lay before her les­sons of integrity, propriety of conduct, modesty and caution; and so represent to her the deformity of vice and unbe­coming actions (engaging in which would lead to evil) that their enormity should impress her mind, and she fearfully refrain from them. When the duennas, by giving necessary admonitions, teach­ing her praise-worthy accomplishments, and setting before her proper rules of conduct, had directed her to the paths of duty, by the happy example of good company, and repeated traditions of the celebrated for virtue; the mirror of her mind, being prepared to receive virtuous impressions, became the reflector of good qualities, and the source of meritorious actions.

The husband, on beholding the orna­ments of her virtue and graces of her fidelity, was filled with joy and exulta­tion; and resigned his heart like a ball to the mace of her amber-scented looks. He drank the wine of life from her gentle bosom, and from the tree of her soul-ravishing stature, gathered the fruit of hope. Fondly supposing his past age a vapour, he fancied her pleasureable company a new life.

The wife, who as yet was innocent of the arts of woman and the wiles of the sex, for some time fixed her heart on the love of her husband; and with sincere affection and tenderness attended to his commands. When he beheld her beauty accompanied with modesty, and her smiles indicating the constancy of a friend, his heart and life fell a sacrifice to her lovely manners. Esteeming a moment’s absence from her as a great affliction, he willingly enchained his soul in the fetters of her love.

After an interval of some years, on a pressing occasion, a journey became necessary. By force yielding his mind to separation, he proceeded on his expedi­tion. In the days of absence, daily did he torture the bird of his heart in the fire of grief, and shed a deluge of tears from his eyes. By every gale of spring, his message was to refresh the garden of his beloved. The hope of her com­pany, like the western breeze, became the means of unfolding the rose-bud of his heart.

It happened in the absence of the young man, that one day the wife, at a time when her mind was heedless of the snares of love, and her heart unre­flecting on the anxiety of her husband, having ascended the terrace of her house, suddenly met the eye of an handsome youth. Having drawn the veil of modesty over her face, she descended from the terrace; but the experienced gallant, when he saw the musky fawn, gave his heart in pursuit, and commissioned an old woman, that, in any way that might offer, she should ensnare the timorous deer of the plain of beauty and loveliness. The artful wretch having found her dwelling, entered it in the disguise of a seller of flowers, and making cheap bar­gains an introduction to confidence and esteem, repeatedly obtained the honour of admission; till at length she made deep the impression of intimacy. By degrees, after discoursing on various subjects, she at last slipped in the mention of her object, and impudently set forth the ardent desire and languishment of her employer.

The wife, foe to continence, at first, though she signified displeasure, and avoided listening to such speeches; yet, from constant repetition and renewal of declaration, at length gave ear to them, and was silent; till at last losing her modesty, she became estranged from the ways of grace, and fell into the path of error. She now began to accept presents of curiosities, listen to declarations of love, and flatteries became grateful to her mind. She accustomed herself daily to put her head out of the windows, to walk much on the terrace,* and with her crescent-like eyebrow to give the wink of invitation to her gallant. When the wine of desire was fermented, and the sea of love rose in waves, not satisfied with a go-between or messages, she admitted the lover into retirement; and, without the hindrance of an intruder, having quaffed the wine of joy, blighted the rose of her husband’s honour under the heat of the sun of wickedness. In short, in the course of one week, her obligations to her husband deserted her remembrance; and esteeming the regard and love of so many years as nothing worth, she, with all unconcern, drew forth the wine of pleasure from the kindly stores of her new friend, and daily and nightly from the garden of his com­pany gathered the flowers of delight.

A long time had passed in the above manner, when her husband returned in safety from his journey; but, from the pain of absence from this impure woman, his body was as the waning moon, and only the shadow of his former self. In his frame there was no strength, nor beauty in his aspect. The colour had fled from his once rosy cheek, and life depended in his body on a single thread. The nergus of his eye, from the anxiety of his mind, had assumed a jaundiced hue. When he beheld again the beauty of his beloved, he reached the shore of hope from the stormy waves of affliction, and escaped as it were from the whirlpool of despair. The perception of his heart scenting the odour of delight, he with transport clasped his wife in embrace. Prostrat­ing the forehead of humility on the dust of gratitude, and offering up earnest thanksgivings, he said, “To God be thanks and praise, that my eye at sight of thy beauty has again received light, and the star of my fortunes, having arisen from the depth of despair, has regained the ascendant of delight. The happiness of thy society is once more my lot, and the season of absence and vexation is past. If, for the remainder of my life, I should detail the anxiety and sorrow which occurred to me during separa­tion, I could not represent the tenth part.”

The wife, who had experienced the transport of a new partner, and quaffed from the stores of love the wine of desire, regarding the arrival of her husband as a dart in her side, said in her heart, “Would that he had fallen headlong into the gulf of annihilation, and never returned in safety from the desart of travel!” As much as the husband caressed and shewed fondness, the wife signi­fied disgust, and esteemed the sherbet of his company tasteless. The fatigues of his expedition and the anxieties of absence had reduced his health, and great alteration for the worse taken place in his countenance; so that she could not bear to see him. Added to this, as her wishes to quaff the wine of delight from the stores of her lover’s company, and to gather the rose of satisfaction from the tree of his society, were not now attain­able, she became divested of patience. The fumes of madness curling in her brain, from excess of passion she sunk on the ashes of vexation. At the instigation of Satan she formed a vile scheme, and projected a monstrous artifice.