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surface and as green as an emerald.
it lay a number of pearls, each larger
than an orange, for the purpose of play-
ing a game more elegant than mandeli.
Motasser invited Gazelle to play one
round with him, and she lifted one of
the pearls with her delicate hand, and
began the amusement. Motasser pre-
sently found, that although ignorant of the
rules of the game, she yet directed her
pearl with more dexterity than he could:
and, dissatisfied with his ill luck, he led
her from the table to an alcove, where,
after being seated, and conversing for
some time, he requested her to tell him
a story.

He then informed Hossain that he considered his destiny crossed the fortunes of the native, and proceeded to ask him several questions concerning adventures in the previous part of his life, all which were truly answered by Hossain, and that respectable governor of the prince then retired.

Scarcely had he quitted the house of the astrologer when Barrah solicited admission, and was conducted by Gules into the presence of Astrolab. The sage put to her the same questions that Hossain had answered, and to his amazement, her answers were precisely in the same words; and he was a good deal surprised, on looking at Barrah, to see that she bore a very strong resemblance to Hossain, a circumstance he had not before noticed. He then dismissed her courteously, and allowing a few minutes for her to be clear of the portal, he put on his richest pelisse, and hurried to the palace, where he came up at the great gate with Hossain.

"I beseech you," said Astrolab, as he approached him" to protect your young charge from the fascinations of a beautiful village maiden called Gazelle."

Gazelle was exceedingly simple in all her ideas; but she spoke with such a pretty innocence, that her conversation was more engaging to the prince than if it had been wittier and wiser. She told him a tale of a certain giant among the ridges of Caucasus, whose eyes were like the sun and the moon, and did not see well with one of them; and to convince Motasser of this fact, she said he was hundreds of feet high. Giants, you know, are bigger than men, otherwise they would not be giants; and then she told him another tale of a still more gigantic race, until Motasser began to yawn, and said, he would rather she told him of something else; but she replied with a smile, that she had just one more story about a giant, a very little one, not more than fifty feet high: and "Because," replied Astrolab, "great Motasser listened to it, and was much things are in his destiny, and that maidpleased at the time with what she re-en's horoscope contains so many simililated; but afterwards, when it was no tudes to his, that she may become the longer garnished with her smiles and dæmon of his fate, mingling his fortunes simplicity, he thought it a very silly with hers." tale.

While the prince was thus drinking the sherbet of love with the incomparable maiden, the aged Barrah, by some unknown entrance, made her appearance beside them, and without saying a word, wafted as it were away on the wind the lovely Gazelle, and left the prince alone, surprised at their sudden vanishing.

In the meantime Hossain, as summoned by Gules, went to the house of Astrolab, who received him with an air of great solemnity.

"I have," said the astrologer, "sent for you to inquire into some circumstances connected with your own history; for I find a strange influence operating in the horoscope of your young friend, and without knowing from what princi. ple that influence descends, which in a great measure crosses the lord of the ascendant, there may be great fallacy in my calculations as to coming events."

"What do you mean?" cried Hossain, startled at the intimation, not knowing that the astrologer had ever seen or heard of the mysterious beauty, for whom he himself had been so long bargaining with her grandmother.

Hossain being a faithful subject of the Caliph, and devoted to Prince Motasser, was much moved at hearing this, and instantly quitted Astrolab, and went in search of the Prince in the gardens, that he might admonish him to avoid that same Gazelle, whom so short a time before he had so earnestly recommended to his affections. Just as Barrah had withdrawn Gazelle from the side of the Prince, Hossain joined them, and after some cursory conversation, consisting more of words than of wisdom, he delivered his admonishment, to which Motasser listened with the reverence due to the counselling of an elder.

From that time the worthy Hossain endeavoured to interest the attention of Motasser in a succession of manly amusements and studies, in order to raise his mind, and to fit him for the regal trust, to which, in time, by the death of his father, he would naturally succeed. But

Motasser was of a soft and sensitive character, and though he spoke not of Gazelle, yet he remembered her constantly with sentiments of the warmest tenderness; for twelve months he expressed no wish to see her, and Hossain deemed that she was forgotten.

At last the night arrived which Astrolab had appointed for the delivery of the horoscopes. Both Hossain and Motasser remembered it well; but, as neither spoke of it, they each concluded that the other had forgotten it, and severally determined to visit the astrologer alone. Hossain went first; and on entering the house, he was directed by Gules to walk to the end of a long passage, which she pointed out, then to open a door, and to draw aside a curtain, and he would find the astrologer waiting to receive him. He accordingly went forward as directed, opened the door, drew aside the curtain, and stepped in, but was surprised to find himself in darkness, while at the same moment he felt the floor sinking down with great rapidity; presently he found himself in a vast chamber, awfully illuminated with stars, and five stupendous figures crowned with stars on the one side of the room, and on the other side five ghastly forms, with gory hands, and white garments stained with blood. Between them sat the astrologer on a lofty seat, and before him on a table lay the volumes and instruments of his art. But before Hossain had time to examine the awful ornaments of that solemn chamber, Motasser was admitted by the same machine in which he had been lowered down into the mysterious abyss. They looked with astonishment at each other, and almost in the same moment Gazelle and Barrah came forward, as if they had been previously in the apartment concealed by the gloom.

Astrolab bent from his elevated seat, and lifting two rolls containing the horoscopes of the Prince and Gazelle, delivered them respectively into the hands of Barrah and Hossain. In the same moment the room was instantly darkened, a sound louder than thunder rolled around them, the whole house was shaken as with an earthquake; Astrolab, in great alarm, cried aloud for lights, and Gules immediately entered with a lamp in her hand; but instead of the mystical chamber, Hossain and Motasser found themselves with Astrolab in a plain household room, every sign and trace of the mystery having disappeared; the astrologer, however, was pale and agitated,

and the sweat of terror stood in large drops on his brow.

Hossain, a wary and sagacious man, discerned that there was craft in the mystery which had been performed, and stood comparatively calm. He then began to unfold the roll of horoscope, but the astrologer stopped him.

"Read it first alone," said Astrolab, "and when you have done so, then consider if it be fit to be divulged."

Motasser in the meanwhile was a good deal shaken; but as soon as the visionary spectacle he had witnessed was fairly gone, he thought only of the lovely Gazelle, and the ripened charms of her beauty.

Having bestowed a reward on Astrolab, Hossain and Motasser returned to the palace, where they separated, and went to their respective chambers for the night. But Hossain could not retire to his couch until he had examined the horoscope. Better it would have been for him had he never looked at it, the occult intelligence which it revealed, made his cheek wan as ashes, and filled his mind with indescribable apprehensions.

He took the roll, and held it over the lamp until it was consumed.

Next morning, after a troubled and sleepless night, Hossain arose to walk in the gardens, in the hope that the cool morning air would refresh him. On descending into the hall which opened into the gardens and overlooked the Tigris, he was saluted by three of the Lords who constantly night and day attended in the antechamber of the Caliph, bearing the command of Mollawakkel to himself, engraved on a tablet of ivory, and sealed with the imperial signet, appointing him, as the warrant expressed, on account of his prudence, to be Governor of Bagdad, and a member of the Caliph's council of ten,-one of whom had died in the course of the preceding night, at the very crisis of the time, as Hossain afterwards ascertained, when Astrolab delivered into his hands the fatal document.

Hossain had never taken any part either with the factions of the palace, or in the measures of the government. He only knew that the Caliph was not beloved by his people, that he connived at partiality in the administration of justice, and confiscated the treasures which he permitted his magistrates and governors corruptly to exact-punishing no misrule but that which interfered with the scope of his own tyranny. Hossain sighed as

he received the honours which he could not refuse, and retiring back to his chamber, wept in secret, over his recollection of the dreadful omens exhibited in the horoscope of Motasser.

But no passion of the human mind is long in its paroxsyms. Hossain, relieved by his tears, left his chamber again, to look after his daily business, and descended down into the Court of the Elephant, so called, from a gigantic elephant which adorned the centre. It was made of jet, and stood upon an agate pedestal more than fifty cubits high. As he was passing round the corner of the pedestal, he suddenly met Barrah, and was amazed to see great improvement in her appear ance. Her two ugly teeth were gone -her mouth was become like a motherly old woman's and the bloom of her ugliness was faded. He made her a courteous salaam as he passed, and walking along, he reflected on the intelligence of her countenance, and thought that he would like to have some conversation with her on other topics than respecting Gazelle; so he turned back and asked her, without alluding to her grand-daughter, if she would take a walk with him into the gardens. To this she readily consented, and they went to the garden of the seven fountains together.

In the meantime Prince Motasser, full of his passion for the beautiful Gazelle, had sent in quest of her; for the admonishment of Hossain to renounce her, had only served to quicken his desires. But, still anxious to preserve the good opinion of Hossain, when she was found, he directed a suite of chambers in the palace to be prepared for her reception, and kept her there in secret for a long time; none but her attendants and his own, who were all faithful to their trust, knew of this arrangement.

The topics which had constituted the conversation of Hossain and Barrah were known only to themselves, but it was observed from that time, that Hossain appeared an altered man. If the countenance of Barrah was changed into comeliness, the calm and mild expression of Hossain's grew severe and somewhat morose. The people ascribed this alteration to pride and the effect of his new dignities, but some who knew better, said that he had turned a magos, and was learning magic from the sorceress Barrah, with whom it was known he had many hidden conferences.

At last it came to pass, that one day as Hossain sat in his capacity of Governor of Bagdad, on the steps of the

great mosque of Almanzor, hearing complaints and administering justice, certain strangers from different parts of the empire came to Bagdad with petitions against the extortions in the provinces,-the effect of the connivance of the Caliph Mollawakkel, at the misrule of the magistrates and governors.

On hearing this, Hossain suspended his business, and went to certain members of the council of ten, and represented to them the discontents that were fermenting throughout the empire, and said to them, that a stop must be put to the complaints of the people. He then went to Barrah, and consulted also with her respecting the same; and she told him that unless Mollawakkel were put to death, and Motasser placed upon the throne, there would be no end to the public discontent.

Now Hossain owed many obligations to the Caliph, and reverenced him with feelings of gratitude. He rejected at that time the advice of the demon of his fate, and returned to see what impression the news had made on those members of the council of ten with whom he had previously communicated. It happened that they were four in number, and he found them alone, in their respective houses, and, strange to say, every one was of the same opinion as Barrah ; namely, that Mollawakkel should be put to death, and Motasser exalted to the throne.

From these traitors, he went to the other five of the council, told them severally the news, and asked their advice; but they were, no less than their compeers, unanimous, though of a different opinion. Hossain was, in consequence, much disturbed, and returned to explain his perplexities to the mysterious old wo

man.

When she heard what had passed, she declared to him that the five councillors who adhered so faithfully to the Caliph, must also be put to death, and that Motasser must be made to head the conspiracy against Mollawakkel, in order that he might not, after the deed was done, punish those whom public necessity obliged to imbrue their hands in his father's blood.

Hossain was greatly affected by this advice. His heart revolted at the idea of seducing the prince, whom he had bred up in every virtue, to commit parricide, even though he knew, that by placing him on the throne, he would himself, by the softness of Motasser's character, become in fact the sovereign. But the incitements and the reasonings

of Barrah at last prevailed, and he left her with the intention of proceeding to break the business to the Prince.

As Hossain approached the Prince's chamber, he heard light talking and laughter within, and on entering, was not a little surprised at beholding Gazelle with the Prince. He had, for some time before, often wondered what had become of Gazelle, but the hand of fate was upon him, and restrained him from inquiring. Discerning, however, what was the state of matters between her and the Prince, he said nothing, but making an apology for disturbing their dalliance, returned to Barrah and told her what he had discovered; upon which the remorseless crone advised him to work through the medium of Gazelle, to bring the Prince to his purpose. With this again the mercifulness of his nature was dissatisfied: for he thought with pity of the beauty and innocence of Gazelle, and shuddered at the idea of staining such purity with guilt. Barrah, however, convinced him, that without placing Motasser on the throne, the evils which afflicted the empire could not be removed, and she undertook herself to speak with Gazelle on the subject. This lessened the horror in the mind of Hossain, and he consented at once that she should do

So.

Accordingly, that same night, she had a secret conversation with Gazelle, the nature of which was only by the result, which came to pass in this manner : When Mottaser went to pass the night in the chamber of Gazelle, he found her pale and dejected, and begging to know her grief, she related to him the prevalent injustice which withered the strength of the empire. She described the miseries of the poor, and the terrors of the rich, and represented the danger in which he himself stood, if the wrongs of the people were not redressed. This infected his mind, naturally compassionate-he deplored the sufferings of the people, and, soft and apprehensive, he dreaded their exasperation, insomuch that in the morning, when Hossain came to him again to speak of the dangers of the empire, he found Motasser already more than half converted to his purpose: and that same evening the four councillors who were of Hossain's party, met Motasser and him, and it was determined that in the course of the same night Mollawakkel should be strangled. The better to complete this design, it was agreed before they separated, that to prevent Motasser from yielding to qualms of filial contrition, he should remain with Gazelle and Barrah, denied to all visitors, until

the hour arrived that was fixed for his father's doom.

When Motasser was thus consigned to the custody of his own and Hossain's evil genius, it was arranged among themselves by the five conspirators, that they should each assassinate one of the other five who were opposed to their machinations. Accordingly, they severally sent a special messenger inviting them to come to their respective houses with all speed; and the summons being punctually obeyed, the unfortunate faithful adherents of the Caliph were all dead before the hour of his fate arrived.

At the time appointed, the conspirators assembled in the palace, and with Motasser, whom they had taken from the chamber of Gazelle, at their head, they proceeded to the hall of the guard, through which it was necessary to pass to the entrance of the chamber where Mollawakkel slept.

The guards, seeing so many of the wisest councillors with the prince, never imagined that any harm was intended to the Caliph; and thus it took place, that, upon the order of Motasser, they quietly retired from the hall, and went into the garden.

As soon as they quitted the hall, four of the councillors entered the chamber where Mollawakkel lay asleep. Hossain stayed in the hall of the guards with Motasser; and when a sound was heard of confusion in the Caliph's chamber, with stifled shrieks and groans, Hossain threw a shawl over the head and face of Motasser, and prevented him from alarming the guards who were without; for the dreadful sounds of the tragedy which was acting at his father's couch, recalled all his natural affection, and roused him with an energy he had never displayed before. But the deed was done

-the four traitors had strangled the monarch; and they now came forth, with cries of horror, that they had found him dead of a fit, and they hailed Motasser as the Caliph. The guards came rush. ing in, and beholding the horror of the Prince and the councillors, ascribed it to grief, so that the guilt of the parricide was not suspected.

Next morning, the ceremony of installing the young Caliph on the throne was performed, with all the customary magnificence, in the great golden hall of the palace. The nobles and great officers of state stood on the right and the left of the throne. The eunuchs, the slaves, and the guards, in gorgeous array, occupied the two sides of the hall, and a space was left, like an avenue in the

middle, to admit those who had special homages to perform at the foot of the throne.

The incense of the worship, of which Motasser was the object, inflated his heart. He looked around with complacency on the splendid and reverential multitude, and the dreadful scene of the preceding night was forgotten in the pomp and pride of the moment. Hossain at this time, who had to do special reverence as the Governor of Bagdad, entered the hall. Being an old man, his steps were infirm, and perhaps, too, he was shaken by the remembrance of what he had done, for, in ascending towards the throne, he walked totteringly and slow. When he was about to kneel, Motasser happened to cast his eyes on the pictures which adorned the walls, and beheld in one of them the murder of a Persian king by one of his own sons. It was a life-like limning, and the sight of it smöte the soul of Motasser with instantaneous torment. He shrieked with such horror, that Hossain fell dead at his feet, and he rushed towards the picture, confessing his crime, and acknowledging himself worthy of perdition. The astonished multitude, in the dread of some horrible tumult, fled in confusion; the hall was left to the despairing Caliph and the dead body of Hossain. Three days and three nights Motasser sat contemplating the picture, and giving vent to wild cries and the most woful lamentations. On the fourth morning he was found dead; and though search was made for Gazelle and Barrah, they were never discovered.

When Astrolab was consulted concerning them, and the prodigy which had taken place, he could only say that it had been ordained from the beginning of things; and the decree of fate, promulgating the time when it should come to pass, was inscribed with stars on the firmament.

Such is the story which is ascribed to the Camed Astrolab, the famous soothsayer of Bagdad, and which is written in choice Arabic, in the seventh volume of the Thousand and One Tales of Constantinople, collected agreeably to a firman of the late Sultan Selim.

Blackwood's Mag.

MISCELLANIES.

RATHER HARD!

IN South Africa, a slave who makes a complaint against his master is himself imprisoned till the owner finds it convenient to answer the complaint.

VARIATION OF THE ROMAN LANGUAGE.

POLYBIUS tells us, that the Roman language has been so perpetually changing, and so completely changed, that a treaty made about the middle of the third century of Rome, was unintelligible at the beginning of the ninth: and the language of the Twelve Tables, promulgated in the beginning of the fourth century, had not only become obsolete at the commencement of the eighth, but Cicero at that time cites old commentators as being able to offer conjectures only on the meaning of a law.

A SPECIMEN OF THE SUBLIME.

Written on the window of an Inn at the head of Windermere Lake.

I never eats no meat, nor drinks no beer, But sits and ruminates on Windermere.

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REQUESTING a lady who is the bearer of a squint, to oblige you for a moment by looking at you, in order to catch a peculiar expression, when she, half surprised half angry, wondering at your stupidity, exclaims, "Why indeed, sir, I have been looking at you this half hour." Hearing a person say, "Well, to be sure, if it wasn't for the face, I should think that was meant for Miss E."-it being intended for that identical person. Paint-· ing an old gentleman, who for the first hour grins and chuckles you out of all patience, and then, by way of making amends, falls asleep the second.

INGENIOUS DEVICE.

Ar a camp-meeting in America, a number of females continued standing on the benches, notwithstanding frequent hints from the ministers to sit down. A reverend old gentleman, noted for his good humour, arose and said—“I think if those ladies standing on the benches knew that they had holes in their stockings, they would sit down." This address had the desired effect-there was an immediate sinking into seats. young minister standing behind him, and blushing to the temples, said, “O, brother, how could you say that?" "Say that," replied the old gentleman, "it is a fact-if they had n't holes in their stockings, I'd like to know how they could get them on.

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