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stood up to make request for his life, to Esther the queen, for 

 he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king. 

 Then the king returned out of the palace-garden, into the place 

 of the banquet of wine; and Hainan was fallen upon the bed 

 whereon Esther was; then said the king, will he force the queen 

 also before me in the house ? As the word went out of the king's 

 mouth, they covered Hainan's face. And Harbonah, one of the 

 chamberlains, said before the king, behold also the gallows fifty 

 cubits high, which Hainan had made for Mordecai ; then the 

 king said, hang him thereon : so they hanged Hainan on the gallows 

 that he had prepared for Mordecai : then was the king's wrath 

 pacified." 



What a scene of tyranny, caprice, and injustice does this story 

 present ! it is too true a picture of what still passes in an Asiatic 

 palace. Here also we see an exact description of the mode of 

 conferring honour on the favourite of a sovereign; a princely 

 dress, a horse, and a ring; these are now the usual presents to 

 foreign ambassadors; such as I have seen exchanged between the 

 Mahralta peshwa, and the nabob of Cambay: and presented to 

 an English chief, or the commander of a British army. The 

 taking off the signet from the royal finger, and affixing it to the 

 decree ; dispatching the halcarras, or posts, to the provinces, and 

 several other preceding circumstances, are still constantly practised 

 in an oriental durbar. 



These frequent quotations from scripture, to illustrate the 

 manners and customs of Hindostan, will I trust be excused. Gib- 

 bon the historian, although no friend to Christianity, has candidly 

 acknowledged, that " if the sacred writings be considered but as 



