This generous advice did not produce any effect. So that none of the Lords of the Court, who saw the Emperor’s levity of temper and his infatuation for his unworthy favourites, thought it expedient to declare themselves, or to take the lead in an affair in which himself seemed quite passive. And what is singular, whilst Djehi-sing’s advice lay unminded, no firm resolution was taken to come at least to some sincere accommodation. The sober advices of so many Grandees zealous for the honour of the Crown, were disregarded; and the Emperor approving nothing but what was suggested by his own mind, or by his thoughtless favourites, spread the discouragement everywhere, and was ruining his own affairs. No wonder then if at last he saw what came to pass. For numbers of Grandees, equally wise and brave, on beholding such a deplorable state of things, were broiling on the fire of impatience and indignation; and they groaned at having their hands tied up, and at finding themselves condemned to inaction. Nay, some that had heretofore been put under the Vezir’s com­mand, now quitted his party of their own motion, on discovering to what lengths his ambition and arrogance might proceed; and matters might have taken another turn, when the Vezir, aware of his danger, and obliged to hasten a crisis, sent the following message to the Emperor:—“Should your Majesty vouchsafe to The Vezir’s artful message to the Emperor. dismiss Djehi-sing, that known enemy of our family, from your court, and to send him back to his own country, and should you condescend to add to that favour the two others of bestowing on our friends the two offices of Grandmaster of the Artillery, and of Superintendent of the two Halls of Audience,* with full leave to us to take our own precautions in the Imperial castle, we, the two brothers, your faithful servants, being hence­forward free from our apprehension, would attend your Majesty’s person, as we did heretofore.” The Emperor, without betraying his real sentiments at such a message, answered calmly: “That in fact, those two offices were in the Vezir’s pos­session, or in that of his friends; and that nothing had been withheld from them but the execution of the laborious part, which, of course, devolved on Yticad-qhan, as Deputy to the Vezir; but that, at any rate, his Deputyship would cease of itself on the New Year’s Day. That as to Djehi-sing, that Prince had already received, so early as the 3rd of Reby, an order to repair forthwith to his own country, and had quitted the court accordingly.”

So moderate an answer served only to embolden the two brothers, the more so as it became glaring every day, that Feroh-syur had not a grain of courage in his constitution; and although he detested the Sëids, and wished their destruction, and he was eternally exhorted by the boldest of his servants to put himself at their head and to fall at once upon those rebels, nevertheless, such was his pusillanimity, that he did not dare to put himself upon his defence, and still less to sally forth and attack his enemies. Against his own conviction and inclination he sent the consent requested by the Vezir, and on the 5th of the 2nd Rebi, that Minister repaired to the castle in the middle of a crowd of persons of distinction, devoted to his interest, amongst which Adjet-sing was the foremost. He dismissed the Emperor’s troops and officers from all their posts and offices, and placed his own in their stead; so that of all that multitude of men of distinction, who attended The Vezir in possession of the Imperial citadel and palace. daily on the Emperor’s person, there remained no one but Yticad-khan, his favourite, Imtiaz-qhan, the Comptroller of the household, and Zaafer-qhan, the introductor, with a few others of which the Vezir used to make no account at all, together with a few menial servants and eunuchs. A few hours after, the Viceroy surrounded by a pomp truly Imperial, put himself at the head of his troops, marched through the city in battle array, and having taken pos­session of the gates and ramparts about which his troops spread so as to fill several streets, he continued his march to the castle, where having alighted he paid a very short visit to the Emperor. It was remarked that very few words were exchanged between them; and although the Emperor presented him with a quantity of elephants, horses and jewels, he vouchsafed his acceptance only for a few, excused himself as to the rest, and, on his depar­ture, made so careless a bow that it gave general offence. Even such a scene did not rouse Feroh-syur. He continued motion­less, and passively saw himself divested of his dignity and patri­mony in the middle of his palace. Two days after, the Vezir returned to the castle, dismissed the few persons that remained attached to the Emperor, placed his own creatures everywhere, and giving the charge of the gates to a trusty friend of his, he sent for the keys of the private stairs, the dormitory, and of all the Courts of Justice. As soon as the Viceroy was informed that all was quiet within the citadel, he set out in as much state and pomp as before, and taking his march along several streets which had been filling these two whole days with his troops, he repaired to his own palace, called Shahistah-qhan’s Bara­dery,* which was close to the citadel. What is singular, he had with him the pretended son of Prince Ecber, but mounted upon an elephant in such a manner that his face could not be distinguished. The next morning the Vezir went to the castle, and after having again requested the offices he had once mentioned, he went on enumerating the many grievances which he, as well as his brother, had been suffering these many years. And history has conserved his very words. It was in these terms:— “In return for the important services we have rendered you in your times of impotence and distress; in return for the blood we have shed in your service, as we had already done in that of your father and grandfather, such faithful servants as we have met with nothing but mistrust, suspicions, and a variety of schemes against our lives and honour. For proof of which assertion we want no more than this letter which you wrote to that savage of Da8d-qhan-peni, to exhort him to arm himself for the destruction of so meritorious and so innocent a servant as my brother. Nor do we need any other vouchers than these repeated and pressing orders which you were continually sending to all the great men of Decan, for the purpose of exciting them to our ruin and destruction. Now, there remains but one expe­dient capable of quieting the minds of us, your faithful ser­vants; and that is to put us in possession of the two offices which we have already requested, instead of leaving them still in the hands of strangers, who make it a point to mislead your mind. For unless we obtain those two favours, it will be unsafe for us to come as subjects to the castle; and as servants, impossible to serve our master with any peace of mind.”

To this speech the Emperor, as uncautious and as thought­less as ever, answered only by promising that shortly he would comply with all their requests, although he saw full enough that Altercation between the Emperor and the Vezir. matters had come to such a crisis, that he had no other party left but that of acknowledging the Sëids for his masters. The con­versation, meanwhile, being protracted to an unexpected length, degenerated into an altercation, in which high words and harsh expressions were exchanged. The Emperor, unable to contain himself, called both the Vezir and Yticad-qhan names, and made use of unbecoming language; and the latter foolishly endeavouring to pacify them, the Vezir stopped him short, by giving him the most opprobrious abuse, and commanding his being taken out of the castle immediately. Yticad-qhan, thunderstruck by so unexpected a command, lost all presence of mind, and hardly able to distinguish his feet from his head, he thought it high time to save his life. He retreated, and meeting his Mushreff or head-accomp­tant’s paleky, he got into it, and fled as fast as his chairmen could fly. That very moment every part of the city was in an uproar; and this uproar which was occasioned by multitudes of people running to and fro through every street and every lane, gave the Emperor an insight into his real situation. He submitted to his fate, and retired into the sanctuary or women’s apartment, where he took up his abode, unmindful all the while of the sentence of the word of God: Death shall find ye out, be ye shut up even in iron towers—a dreadful sentence which then did not occur to his mind.

Amidst all this uproar and this sudden reverse of fortune, all enlightening Sol, putting dust upon his head, had descended like The Emperor gives up the Empire. Foroh-syur’s star below the horizon, and frightful night in her sable veil sliding gradually down from the battlements of heaven, had covered every thing with darkness and horror. Shut were the gates of the citadel, those once doors of security and peace of mind; shut were they, and barred for ever! The Vezir with Adjet-sing slept that night within the castle, whilst the Emperor’s zealous servants were obliged to take their abodes without.

“Every one, confounded, remained motionless, anxious to see,

What further scenes would bring forth the pregnant womb of time.”