WHEN the publishers of scandal on women, and the exposers of female dishonour, had exercised the steed of nar­ration on the course of prolixity; the well-wishers of the state and friends to the empire, who had the pages of their hearts impressed with the characters of loyalty, and the tablets of their foreheads graced by the prostrations of fidelity; supposing that the arrow of con­trivance might have reached the target of completion; went into the presence of Jehaundar Sultaun, to examine his state of mind: Anew they expanded the portals of advice, and shedding the valuable jems of remonstrance on his lap, said:

“O high born prince, notwithstand­ing some particulars of the evil nature and innate crookedness of women have been explained to thy enlightened mind; how lamentable is it, that a sovereign of sublime knowledge, of perfect wisdom, and profound under­standing, such as thou art,—(the fame of whose glory has gone from one extremity of the globe to the other, and from the dread of whose world-subduing sabre the sovereigns of the earth tremble like the reed)—becom­ing distressed by love for woman, from whose nature nothing can be expected but treachery and deceit, should be stigmatized throughout the habitable regions, for low genius, sensibility of mind, and weakness of intellect!”

The prince, as he was intoxicated by the prudence-consuming wine of love, and overcome by the fumes of the world-inflaming beauty, gave no attention to the admonitions of the wise, nor admitted, as of any weight on the scales of his mind, the clear jems of advice, or the princely pearls of remonstrance. On the tablet of his mind the flourishes of caution made no impression, and the aspirations of the charmers* had no effect; but remonstrance and reproof rather proved the cause of increase to his love, and addition to his passion.

Remediless, the counsellors and advisers, having drawn the stroke of confessed inability over the pages of their subject, withdrew their hands from endeavour. The state of affairs, through the attendants at the feet of the throne of royalty, and the informed of the secrets of empire, reached the audience of the king; when the most skilful physicians being appointed, strove all in their power to ease the sorrows of the prince’s mind, according to the rules of science and medical art. Their attempts, however, met no success, nor was any advantage obtained. True it is, that in every heart where the heaven-exalted sovereign of love hath taken up his abode, and, waving the sky-measuring standards of passion, hath sounded the drum of mad­ness through the four regions of ele­mental composition, wisdom has no predominance. From the presence of the guardian of prudence what can ensue, but that he should fall into the deluge of insult, and be discomfited before the champions and world-destroying forces of the field of calamity? Surely, love is a stormy ocean, and wisdom only as the resistance of chaff. Love is a world-destroying tempest, and wisdom the faint glimmering of a lamp. The wound, which from the envenomed spear of madness has become a gangrene, cannot obtain healing from the salve-spread lint of skill; nor can the shrub which, cherished by the fountain of love in the heart, hath put forth the blossom of madness, be blighted by the autumnal chill of prudence.

When the king heard this relation from the wise men of his court, the capital of his heart became a prey to the forces of despondency and anguish; and the stores of his mind were scorched by the life-destroying lightning of sorrow. Having summoned all the learned atten­dant on the throne of empire to a select conference, he formed the assembly of consultation, and asked a remedy for the prince’s disorder? All agreed, that to attempt his recovery by advice or remonstrance, was like beating cold iron, or measuring air with the hand; because, the affair having passed beyond the power of controul, and the arrow of divine will being shot from the bow of decree, it was impossible to struggle with destiny, or oppose Providence. True it is, that no hero has a shield against the arrow of fate. It was therefore now adviseable for his majesty, that he should plan how the prince might gather the rose-bud of his desires in the garden of enjoyment, and how the shrub of his wishes might put forth the blossoms of completion in the grove of attainment; in short, that the father of Bherawir Banou might con­sent to a union, and grant an alliance between the rose-tree of the garden of beauty and the cypress of the margin of the river of royalty.

When the well-wishers of the throne could point out no other remedy for the healing of the prince’s heart, than the enjoyment of Bherawir Banou, the king, having deeply reflected on the affair, enquired of his wise and faithful viziers the means of accomplishing such a dif­ficult business. They, after attaining the happiness of kissing the steps of the imperial throne, according to the custom of the swimmers in the sea of ceremonials, thus represented.

“It appears accordant with wisdom, and agreeable to policy, that a prudent ambassador shall hasten to the presence of the father of the concealed within the skreens of purity and honour, with presents worthy of this ever-glorious state. Let him also carry letters expressive of regard, and solicitous of connection. From his own policy-directing understanding, which is the lamp to the path of attainment, and from the reflections of his pro­found judgment, let him, agreeably to the circumstances of time and the mode of his reception, introduce remarks intimating the object of desire with eloquence and grace, so that any­how the pearl of desire may be strung on the thread of enjoyment, and he may get the clue of attainment into his hands.”

The king, thinking the wise opinion of his faithful ministers most approve­able, commanded his Mercury-penned secretary and light-displaying amanuensis, that he should in elegant language and graceful stile draw upon the thread of narration the precious gems of rhetoric, and the costly pearls of expression of his wishes: and that he should give free rein to the zephyr-fleeted steed of the pen in the plain of oratory and elegant composi­tion. The magic-composing scribe, according to the orders of the fortunate king, having with the adornment of his fancy given new force to the night-hued tresses of expression, introduced his beauty on the perfumed expanse of the page, and thus made melodious the eloquent nightingale of his pen on the jasmine shrub of delivery.