LETTER CLIV.

Old devoted servant, notwithstanding that you have been favoured by me for a long time and have served me and that I have a great opinion of your knowledge about rules and about human virtues, you pocket the insults of the government officials and do not remember the (following) words of Sa’adi*: (couplet) “Both you and I are servants of the same master; both of us are servants in the court of the king (consequently one officer should not pocket another’s insult)”. It is very strange. Sa’ad Alláh Khán* used to say, “The (Persian) letters ‘alif’ and ‘nūn’ in the word ‘divân’ (secretary or minister) resemble the pen and the inkstand (respectively) (i.e., the last letters ‘alif’ | and ‘nūn’ <Arabic> of the word ‘diván’ shew that the ‘diván’ has got a pen and an inkstand before him as the signs of his post)”. (But) the ‘diván’ who has not got angelic qualities is either a demon with pen and inkstand before him or a brute or a picture devoid of intelligence.* Henceforth you should be careful. And with your confidence you should regard the servants of the royal court your equals; and you should not leave observance unobserved (i.e., you should possess the discriminative power).