THE FIRST BORN. 
idolatry and embrace the religion professed by her 
gentle tyrant. 
When this was made known to the youthful Moham- 
medan, he received the communication with joy, and 
the lovely Brahminee shortly after became one of the 
faithful. Her life henceforth passed in that changeless 
routine of pleasure peculiar to the harem,, being a sort 
of splendid bondage, in which every luxury save the 
natural blessing of liberty was presented before her ; 
but the negative happiness now within her grasp was 
always dashed with the bitterness of privation, and 
the hue of sadness therefore occasionally overspread 
her cheek. This being perceived by the Moham- 
medan, the moment he ascertained the cause, his 
new favourite was allowed to quit the harem, and to 
have a freedom of choice in her movements as to how 
and where she would spend her time : she was in fact 
released from all personal restraint, and this generous 
confidence attached her still more strongly to the man 
who was so tenderly indulgent to her wishes. At 
length she became a mother, and her maternal cares 
soon relieved the tedium of a life which had little in 
it to render its possession a boon ; being a mere daily 
flux of unrelieved time, in which there was nothing 
save the absence of pain to enhance the possession of 
unvarying and monotonous pleasure. 
The infant engrossed all her care. Her heart 
yearned towards it with a fondness especially felt by 
Hindoo mothers, who look upon their children, even 
under the sorest bereavements of poverty, as the 
greatest of mortal blessings. It seemed daily to 
become an object of more tender attachment, and, 
Q 
