1871.] 
The reign of Mu’izt-uddm. 
187 
tune smiled on parasites and courtiers; prosperity went out to 
welcome the jester and buffoon; pipers and courtezans saw the 
star of love rise into the mansion of eminence, and the moon, pro¬ 
pitious to the queens of beauty, assumed the ascendant in their 
horoscope. So the emperor Mu’izz-uddm and the nobles of his 
realm and empire, and the children of the peers and princes of his 
time, and the gay, the rich, the sensualists and the epicures who 
lived under his rule, one and all gave themselves up to gluttony 
and idleness and pleasure and merriment, and the hearts of high 
and low alike were engaged in wine and love and song and car¬ 
nival. “ The ideas of the people adapt themselves to the faith of 
their kings.” Noble and old and young, learned and ignorant* 
philosopher and fool, Hindu and M/usalman, emerged from the 
cities of the provinces. Business and places of business assumed 
a new aspect to the world. All the people threw wide the windows 
of their pleasure-house. The Emperor Mu’izz-uddin ceased to 
reside in the city. Leaving the metropolis of the Bed Fort for 
Kilok’hari, there, on the bank of a stream, he built a peerless 
palace, and laid out a park of surpassing magnificence, and with 
his princes and chiefs and nobles and intimates and servants of 
the court, went thither and abode. All the princes and chiefs and 
gentlemen and men of science and officials reared booths near the 
palace; and afterwards finding that the Emperor was inclined to 
remain permanently at fulok’hari, they erected palaces and villas 
each in his own quarter. Likewise the heads of every guild went 
from the city to Kilok’harf and resided ; and Kflok’hari became 
populous and prosperous. The rumour of the employments of 
the Emperor, and his courtiers, high and low, and their favourite 
pursuits and their gaiety and mirth spread and reached all the 
quarters of the kingdom: and from all the quarters of the 
cities and of the empire, minstrels and rhetors, and beauties, 
and singers and wits and buffoons and mimics came to court. The 
place teemed with life, and licentiousness was the order of the 
day. The mosques were deserted by their worshippers and the 
taverns were thronged. No one cared to stay in the cloisters, 
but distilleries became places of note. The price of wine rose 
tenfold. The people were plunged in pleasure and gaiety and 
