1827.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



537 



appointment he threatens destruction to the 

 astrologers ; and they, to save themselves, 

 agree to criminate their patrons. The 

 patrons, however, foreseeing the danger, 

 compromise their quarrel, and prove too 

 much lor the astrologers, one of whom gets 

 a hundred stripes on the soles of his feet, and 

 dies of Jiis wounds, and the other has the 

 good fortune to escape with impunity. But 

 all this, though amusingly told, is not essen- 

 tial to the machinery of the tales. The lady 

 perseveres in refusing to listen to the Nu- 

 wab's proposals. He is exceedingly out of 

 temper, and plagues the minister to death, 

 who now repents of ever having introduced 

 this whimsical stranger to him. Presently 

 appears in the scene a suspicious Persian, and 

 circumstances lead the minister to conclude 

 he is some way or other connected with the 

 lady she is known to be a . Persian, though 

 nothing more is known of her. Forthwith 

 he resolves to see this Persian privately, in 

 the hope of discovering, through him, some 

 means of getting rid of her. With difficulty 

 he finds out that he is lodging in the out- 

 skirts of the town with the old Hindoo astro- 

 loger, and in the evening he proceeds in the 

 disguise of a Persian to get an interview with 

 him. Now, it so happens, that this same 

 Persian had beaten the minister's barber ; 

 and at this very time the barber, with some 

 of his friends, had assembled for the purpose 

 . of taking revenge upon him. The party see 

 jhe minister advancing, and mistake him for 

 the Persian. They contrive to throw a fish- 

 erman's net over him, and thus whip him up 

 to the bough of a tree ; and while he is thus 

 suspended, they set to and give his posteriors 

 a hearty scourging, that lays him up for 

 months. A scene of some humour follows, 

 while he consults the surgeons, and attempts 

 to divert the Nuwab's inquiries about his 

 wounds. In ( the meanwhile the Persian dis- 

 appears ; the lady's resolutions are still inflexi- 

 ble, and the Nuvyab more enamoured than 

 ver. The year is nearly concluding, when 

 the lady desires to visit some particular gar- 

 dens ; but stipulates that no male shall be 

 permitted to look at her on the journey. All 

 .are consequently commanded to shut them- 

 selves up in their houses ; but just as she 

 reaches the gardens, some ten or a dozen 

 male folks rush towards her, and actually 

 stare her in the face. Into a furious passion 

 breaks the lady on her return to the palace. 

 What is the matter? asks the Nuwab. 

 Enough is the matter, says the lady. Your 

 .orders have been trampled on ; and men 

 have gazed on me. By the prophet, I would 

 rather wed a foot-soldier, than a prince with- 

 out power. My answer must be deferred 

 another year. Now, in his turn, bursts the 

 Nuwab into a still greater fury, and bellow- 

 .ing like a bull, he closes the gates of the 

 town, orders the names of every man to be 

 taken down, and promises to hang all that 

 are absent as soon as they are caught. About 

 a hundred are seized, and ordered for instant 

 execution. The lady, a little mollified by 

 M.M. New Series. Vol.. III. No. 17. 



these effects of her vagaries, proposes that, 

 instead of hanging these hundred wretches, 

 the heads of each profession, and principal 

 trade, should be compelled to relate some 

 entertaining tale, and that, if one must die, 

 the relator of the worst tale should suffer. 

 The Nuwab consents ; the parties are assem- 

 bled, and eight or ten tales are told filling 

 up the greater part of the volumes. The 

 series is interrupted by the approach of a 

 grand festival. During the festivities ap- 

 pears again the Persian. The Nuwab 

 orders him to be seized, but he escapes. 

 A few days after, a noble Persian demands 

 an audience. He proves to be the very man. 

 He delivers a firman from Nadir Shah, for 

 the Nuwab to deliver up the lady. Great 

 perplexity follows ; but eventually all is 

 cleared up. The lady, a Persian princess, 

 had two cousins ; to the younger of whom 

 she was betrothed ; the elder was his bro- 

 ther's rival. Maddened by jealousy, he had 

 the lady privately carried away, and his 

 brother murdered. The Arab captain, who 

 carried away the lady, deceived his employer, 

 and sold her at Surat. The mysterious Per- 

 sian proves to be the murderer himself; he 

 had discovered the lady's residence with the 

 Nuwab, and procured the Emperor's firman 

 to have her delivered up to him. Fortu- 

 nately the Nuwab discovers that the Persian 

 was the murderer of his brother, sends him in 

 chains to the Emperor, and excuses the ap- 

 parent disregard of the firman. The lady's 

 sorrow, for the death of her lover, by degrees 

 wears away, and, at last, she consents to 

 Wess the Nawab. 



The tales themselves to speak of them 

 collectively we have no space to speak of 

 them separately are of a lively,eventful cha- 

 racter ; exceedingly well told ; and what is 

 the writer's main purpose well calculated to 

 convey a good deal of information, in a very 

 agrer'ble way, of the manners and habits of 

 the people of Hindostau. 



If the writer's statement is to be taken 

 seriously, the tales are entirely of native 

 manufacture. He speaks of himself, as 

 having been formerly appointed to an out- 

 station, far removed from the Presidency, 

 and where an intimate knowledge of the 

 Persian and Hindostan languages was indis- 

 pensable. To further the attainment of this 

 knowledge, and to blend amusement with 

 instruction, he invited the natives of his 

 establishment, to relate to him entertaining 

 tales. These his moonshee wrote down on 

 the spot, and then, himself, with the moon- 

 shee's assistance, translated them. At first, 

 great reluctance was shewn ; but money 

 soon brought story-tellers in abundance. 

 From these tales, thus collected in great 

 numbers, the author professes to have select- 

 ed the contents of these volumes rejecting 

 such as regarded birds and beasts, giants and 

 magicians, extremely childish or absurd, 

 and such again as were full of tricks, and 

 treacheries, and intrigues immoral and in- 

 delicate neither instructive nor amusing. 

 3 Z 



