.2793- the Indian cottage, a tale. ATE 
a to the little is the neighbourhood of the great. The 
great are like the fire, which scorches even those who throw incense 
- into it, if they approach too near it. I withed to make off; but all 
the entrances of the square were fhut. It had been impofsible for 
nie to get out of i it, if ithad not been, that, by the providence of ‘God, 
the place where I was happened to be hard by the seraglio. As the 
veunuchs were carrying off the’ ladies on elephants, they facilitated 
-my escape; for'if the guards every where by the lafhies of their 
whips obliged people to come to the relief of the castle, the elephants 
-by the blows of their trunks, forced them to get out of their way- 
Thus, one while pursued by the one, and as oft pufhed back by the 
other, I got out of this terrible chaos; and by the bright fhining light 
ofthe conflagration, I gained the other extremety of the suburbs, 
where, in some wretched ‘hovels, far from the great, the inhabitants 
in peaceful repose, rested from all their toil. There I began to re- 
cover my breath I said to myself, “* Well then I have seen a city! 
T have seen the residence of the sovereign of the nations. Ah! how 
few sovereigns are not themselves slaves! ,Even in the time of repose 
they are the slaves of voluptuousnefs, ambition, superstition, and ava- 
‘rice: even when asleep, they have reason to be afraid ofa crowd of 
wretches and rogues with which they are encompalsed ; robbers, beg- 
@ars, coustisans,-incendiaries, and even ‘their soldiers, their nobles, and 
their priests. What must acity be then during the day ? The evils to 
which man is subjected, increase with his enjoyments. How much 
3s the emperor to be pitied then in whom they are all united! He has 
season to dread civil and foreign wars ; and even the mcans of his de- 
fence, and of his consolation, his generals, his guards, his mollahs, 
his wives, and his children. Tie ditches and ramparts of his fortréfs 
cannot defend him from the phantoms of superstition; nor can his 
elephants with all their trappings, keep at a distance, or drive away 
cares. For my partI fear nothing of thaf sort; no tyrant has any 
power over my body, or over my mind. I can serve God according ° 
to my conscience, and I have nothing to dread from any man, if I tor- 
ment not myself: in truth a paria is lefs miserable than an emperor. 
While I was speaking these words the tears rufhed into my eyes, and 
falling on my knees I thanked heaven, which in order to instruct me 
to bear misfortunes, had fhewn me distrefs more intolerable than my 
wn. i 
Ta be continued, 
