Never in the time of any Emperor had such absolute power been given (P. 206) into the hand of any Çadr.

About this time the Emperor appointed me as an Imám, and directed me also to undertake the office of marking the imperial horses with the brand. He gave me no very considerable travelling-expenses and ordered me from the first to act as mançabdár com­manding twenty in bringing horses to the brand. Shaikh Abu-l-Fazl was treated in the same way, so that we were, as Shablí said with respect to Junaid,* (God bless their spirits!) “both baked in one kiln.” Yet he, at once making a successful beginning, worked so strcnuously at the dágh-u-maḥallí business, that he managed by his intelligence and time-serving qualities to raise himself to a mançab of two thousand, and the dignity of Wazír. While I, from my inexperience and simplicity, could not manage to continue in the service; and this piece of satirical poetry, which one of the Sayyids of Ánjú composed in reference to his own circumstances, came to my mind:—

“Thou hast made me a courtier and commander of twenty,
Let not my mother know of my nothingness.”

I reflected that there were still hopes of securing contentment (that best of possessions!) by means of a madad-i-ma'ásh, which would cnable me to retire from the world, and apply myself to study and devotion, while free from the cares of the world:—

“Seek not worldly pomp, let go transitory happiness,
The pomp of Religion is enough, and the happiness of Islám for thee;”