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improved. I am enabled to look back with pleaſure, and forward with hope; and I ſhall now rejoice ſtill to be the ſhadow of thy power at Tauris, and to keep thoſe honours which I ſo lately wiſhed to reſign."—The King, who had liſtened to Mirza with a mixture of ſurprize and curioſity, immediately gave the letter to Coſrou, and commanded that it ſhould be read. The eyes of the court were at once turned on the hoary ſage, whoſe countenance was ſuffuſed with an honeſt bluſh; and it was not without ſome heſitation that he read theſe words.

"To Mirza, whom the wiſdom of Abbas, our mighty lord has honoured with dominion, be everlaſting health! When I heard thy purpoſe to withdraw the bleſſings of thy government from the thouſands of Tauris, my heart was wounded with the arrow of affliction, and my eyes became dim with ſorrow. But who ſhall ſpeak before the king, when he is troubled? And who ſhall boaſt of knowledge, when he is distreſſed by doubt? To thee I will relate the events of my youth, which thou haſt renewed before me; and thoſe truths which they