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emperor's mind was unbounded. Jehandar-shah, who owed the deepest obligations to the vezir, commanded his attendance, and in a mild tone of voice recommended Khoshal-khan's affair to him, adding, that the strange kind of fees he had demanded was doubtless by way of joke. "No joke at all," answered the minister, in a serious tone. "There is no pleasantry in the matter, please your majesty, I was in earnest: for, as the nobility, your servants, are from father to son in the habit of serving the crown in vice-royalties, governments, and such other employments, so has it been the custom of your imperial ancestors to amuse themselves with dancers and singers, whose merits it was usual to reward by pensions and bounties; but as soon as these last shall aspire to military dignities and governments, and shall commence to take possession of them, there will remain no other alternative for your nobility, but that of betaking themselves to the profession just forsaken by the dancers and singers: for they must after all live as well as these. When, therefore, I asked from this gentleman so many thousand guitars, with as many timbrels, it was with a view to distribute them to your majesty's dispossessed governors and generals, who certainly have a right to earn their bread as well as others." This answer caused the emperor to hang his head, but he