It is stated, also, in the Maasir-ool-Moolook, that his son Mahmood, having built a pleasure-house in an elegant garden near the city of Ghizny, invited his father, whenit was finished, to a mag­nificent entertainment which he had prepared for him.

Mahmood, in the joy of his heart, desired the opinion of Subooktugeen concerning the house and garden, which were much admired on account of the taste displayed in their formation. The king, to the great disappointment of his son, told him that he viewed the whole as a bauble, which any of his subjects might raise by the means of wealth; observing, that it was the business of a prince to raise more durable fabrics to fame, which might stand for ever, as objects worthy of imitation, but difficult to be surpassed by posterity. The poet Nizamy Oorazy of Samarkand makes upon this saying the following reflection: “Notwith-“standing the numerous palaces built by Mah-“mood, who vaunted of their beauty and mag-“nificence, yet we see not one stone in its proper “place; though the poems of Oonsurry * still “remains a splendid monument of his talents.”

It is related in the Turjooma Yemny, that a short time previously to his death, Ameer Nasir-ood-Deen Subooktugeen held a conversation with Sheikh Abool Futteh of Boost. He observed, “In “the exertions we make to avert disease with the “hopes of recovery, I am forcibly reminded of “the condition of sheep and the butcher. In “the first instance, the sheep is brought into a “strange place, is bound by the feet, and is appre-“hensive that his end is approaching. After much “exertion he submits; and, on being shorn of his “fleece, is allowed to get up and be at liberty; “this ceremony is more than once renewed during “his life; and, lastly, when the moment of death “arrives, he permits himself to be quietly bound, “and resigns his throat to the knife, while he firmly “hopes he is only thrown down to be shorn. So “we become, in the course of time, accustomed to “the bed of sickness; we have recovered so often, “that we have no apprehension of danger, till at last “death comes suddenly upon us, and throws his “noose round our necks, and we are in an instant “throttled.” It is said this conversation occurred only about forty days before the King's death.