Part 8 (2/2)

I ioh the crowd, made my way into the rooreat joy, congratulated hinize me, and even when I had explained who I was, he could scarcely believe that one so tried ruffian whom he had known before

The apartment was filled with all sorts of people, so the latter, and those who paid him the finest compliments, was Mirza Fuzul, the man who had been nominated to succeed hi, ?Your place has been e as he rereat bustle was heard, the doors were opened, and an officer fro was announced, who commanded the poet forthwith to repair to the presence, which he did in the very clothes, boots, dust and all, in which he had travelled

The party then broke up, and I left the house in the deter out of the yard, I met the nazir, hom I had had a conversation as before related He did not appear tothe happy ones ?In the name of Allah,? said I, ?you see that my words have proved true: the Khan is alive!?

?True enough,? answered he, with a sigh; ?he is alive; and reat!? and thentwo or three more similar exclamations, he left me, apparently full of care andabout, and building castles in the air I walked through the bazaars, went to thethe idlers, who are always to be found in great nuate of the royal palace Here, the news of the day was the poet?s return, and the reception which he had met with fro of his arrival had ordained that it could not be; that he was dead, andwas happy at the intelligence, and had ordered ten toiven to the bearer of it The truth, however, was this; the king had been disappointed at the poet?s resurrection, because it destroyed the arrangements he had made with respect to his house and effects, and he was not disposed to give hiood reception; but Asker ell knew his majesty?s passion for poetry, and particularly of that kind which sings the royal praises, had long since foreseen the event, and had provided himself with an i an exile a the Turcomans

This he repeated at the proper ?s favour, which was running full against hie In short, he had his nificent dress, and was reinstated in his situation and his possessions

I lost no tiin attending his levee Finding that he was favourably inclined towards me, I ive me a place in his household, or to recommend me as a servant to one of his acquaintance I had found out that the nazir?s despondency at hisdetected in certain frauds which he had coht eventually succeed to his situation, I expressed the greatest zeal for the poet?s interest, and disclosed all that I knew concerning the delinquency of his servant

However, I did not succeed; for whether he had a clearer insight into characters than I gave hied to prove his innocence, and make me suspected, I know not; but the fact was, that he kept his place, and I continued to be an attendant at the levees

At length, oneAsker called me to him, and said, ?Hajji, my friend, you kno thankful I have always expressed ether in the hands of the Turcoratitude I have reco?s _Hakim Bashi+_, or chief physician, who is in want of a servant; and I ive him satisfaction, he will teach you his art, and put you in the way ofyour fortune You have only to present yourself before hi that you con you an employment?

I had no turn for the practice of physic, and recollecting the story which had been related to me by the dervish, I held the profession in contempt: but my case was desperate; I had spentleft ly, the nextI proceeded to his house, which was situated in the neighbourhood of the palace; and as I entered a dull, neglected court-yard, I there found several sick persons, soainst the wall, others supported by their friends, and others again with bottles in their hands, waiting the moment when the physician should leave the women?s apartments to transact business in public

I proceeded to an open here those ere not privileged to enter the room stood, and there I took my station until I should be called in Within the room were several persons who came to pay their court to the doctor (for every man who is an officer of the court has his levee), and fro them, I learnt how necessary it was, in order to advance in life, toor the cat, if they came in my way, of him who can have access to the ear of men in power I one, and was calculating how long it would takeand flattery to be entitled to the same sorts of attention myself, when I perceived, by the bows of those near me, that the doctor had seated himself at the , and that the business of the day had commenced

The Hakih cheek bones, and a scanty beard He had a considerable bend in his back, and his usual attitude, when seated, was that of a projecting chin, his head reclining back between his shoulders, and his hands resting on his girdle, whilst his elbows forles on each side of his body

He ave little hu but the subject before him When he heard the account of the ailments of those who had come to consult him, and had said a feords to his little circle of parasites, he looked at me, and after I had told him that I was the person of whom the poet had spoken, he fixed his little sharp eyes upon me for a second or two, and then desired me to wait, for that he wished to speak to ot up, and went out of the room, and I was called upon to attend him in a small separate court, closely walled on all sides, except on the one where was situated the _khelwet_, or private room, in which the doctor was seated

CHAPTER XIX

Hajji Baba gets into the service of the king?s physician--Of the manner he was first employed by him

As soon as I appeared, the doctor invited me into the room, and requested me to be seated; which I did with all the humility which is the etiquette for an inferior to shoards his superior for so great an honour He informed me that the poet had spoken very favourably of me, and had said that I was a person to be depended upon, particularly on account of reat deal of life; that I was fertile in expedients; and that if any business in which circumspection and secrecy were necessary was intrusted to me, I should conduct it with all the ability required I bowed repeatedly as he spoke, and kept my hands respectfully before me, covered with the border of my sleeve, whilst I took care that my feet were also completely hid He then continued, and said,--?I have occasion for a person of your description precisely at this reat confidence in the recommendation of ood offices; and if you succeed according to my expectations, you may rest assured that it will be well for you, and that I shall not re me to approach nearer to him, and in a low and confidential tone of voice, he said, looking over his shoulders as if afraid of being overheard,--?Hajji, you must know that an ambassador from the Franks is lately arrived at this court, in whose suite there is a doctor This infidel has already acquired considerable reputation here He treats his patients in a manner quite new to us, and has arrived with a chest full of medicines, of which we do not even know the nas of which we have never yet heard in Persia He makes no distinction between hot and cold diseases, and hot and cold reivesmedicine; stabs the belly with a sharp instrument for wind in the stomach;[34] and, what is worse than all, pretends to do aith the s into our nature a certain extract of cow, a discovery which one of their philosophers has lately made Now this will never do, Hajji

The smallpox has always been a comfortable source of revenue to me; I cannot afford to lose it, because an infidel chooses to come here and treat us like cattle We cannot allow him to take the bread out of our mouths But the reason why I particularly want your help proceeds frorand vizier was taken ill, two days ago, of a strange uneasiness, after having eaten more than his usual quantity of raw lettuce and cucuar This came to the Frank a of the lettuce, and he iht be perrand vizier and the aood terent that soht be conceded to him, which the vizier, out of consideration for the interests of Persia, was obliged to deny; and, therefore, thinking that thisthe infidel, and of coreed to accept of the doctor?s services Had I been apprised of the circued to put a stop to the proceeding; but the doctor did not lose an instant in ad his medicine, which, I hear, only consisted of one little white and tasteless pill From all accounts, and as ill luck would have it, the effect it has produced is sorand vizier has received such relief that he can talk of nothing else; he says, ?that he felt the pill drawing the daers?; and that now he has discovered in hihs at his old age, and even talks ofup the complement of wives permitted to him by our blessed Prophet But the mischief has not stopped here; the fahout the court; and the first thing which the king talked of at the _sela, was of its rand vizier to repeat to him all that he had before said upon the subject; and as he talked of the wonders that it had produced upon his person, a general hout the assembly His majesty then turned to reat effects should proceed fro as low as I could to hidethe earth--?I as, I have not yet seen the drug which the infidel doctor has given to your rand vizier; but as soon as I have, I will inform your majesty of what it consists

In the meanwhile, your humble slave beseeches the Centre of the Universe to recollect that the principal agent, on this occasion, must be an evil spirit, an enemy to the true faith, since he is an instrument in the hands of an infidel; of one who calls our holy Prophet a cheat, and who disowns the all-powerful decrees of predestination?

?Having said this, in order to shake his growing reputation, I retired in deep cogitation how I et at the secrets of the infidel, and particularly inquire into the nature of his prescription, which has performed such miracles; and you are come most opportunely to my assistance You must immediately become acquainted with him; and I shall leave it to your address to pick his brain and wore out of him; but as I wish to procure a specirand vizier, being obliged to give an account of it to-in your services toyourself as sick to the full as his highness the vizier You ive you a duplicate of the celebrated pill, which you will deliver over to ht at this extraordinary proposal, ?how shall I present myself before a man whom I do not know?

besides, such marvellous stories are related of the Europeans, that I should be puzzled in what ive me some instructions how to act?

?Their manners and customs are totally different to ours, that is true,?

replied Mirza Ahmak, ?and you may for their heads, and letting their beards grow, as we do, they do the very contrary, for not a vestige of hair is to be seen on their chins, and their hair is as thick on their heads as if they had made a vow never to cut it off: then they sit on little platforround; they take up their food with claws ers; they are alalking about, we keep seated; they wear tight clothes, we loose ones; they write froht to left; they never pray, we five tiht be related of them; but most certain it is, that they are theto be unclean; they eat all sorts of ani to a tortoise, without the least scruple, and that without first cutting their throats; they will dissect a dead body, without requiring any purification after it, and perform all the brute functions of their nature, without ever thinking it necessary to go to the hot bath, or even rubbing themselves with sand after them?