Love’s Services.

Joseph, being thus brought into the dwelling of Potiphar as his slave, and into intimate daily intercourse with Zulaikha, it is only natural that, with her previous feelings towards him, she should bestow upon him every care and attention. A passage in the Koran, indeed, which the story in the main incidents pretty strictly follows, intimates that Potiphar himself enjoined this upon her.—* It is equally natural that, under such circumstances, her passion should increase; for, as the Poet says,—

When the love-sick fixeth his heart on the beloved,

Nevermore can his condition be one of rest.

If he holdeth not in his hand the ready money of her presence,

He will caress the fancy which is imaged in his bosom;

But the heart’s-blood will still trickle from his heart,

Till the fancied image appeareth before the eye.

When the tearful eye hath obtained this portion,

Then followeth the thought of kisses and embraces;

And if the kiss and the embrace be also granted,

Then is entwined with the grant the dread of separation.

In love there is no such thing as felicity;

In love no such thing as the satisfaction of life!

Its beginnings have their source in a bitter fountain,

Its ending is self-inflicted death.