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FRANK.) LESLIF’S
NEW YORK JOURNAL. 237
by your great ancestor, the invincible Babar, at
Agra, is the most valuable thing on earth. Let that,
O Empress, be the sacrifice for the life of the ‘Or-
nament of the World, the King of Kings!” |
‘* Not so!” answered the empress solemnly ; “no
stone, of whatever value it might be—no, not even
all the precious stones and jewels of the earth—can
be put in competition with his life! Iam resolved !
my life for my lord’s! had I a thousand I would
sacrifice them in return for the unbounded love he
has given me.”
Summoning the Prince Dara, who wasa great fa-
vorite with her, also the great officers of state, to
the zenana, she appeared before them attired in her
. .imperial robes, and wearing a crown of gold, inlaid
with sparkling gems. .
The couch of the dying emperor had been re-
moved to the centre of the room, and. the empress,
after declaring, in a loud but musical tone of voice,
that her sacrifice was free and voluntary, walked
three times round it, and while doing so, fervently
prayed heaven to take her. life in exchange for the
emperor’s.. Afler she had performed this solemnity
she retired behind a screen, and continfied praying
aloud, so that all in the chamber could plainly hear
her. After some time she was heard to exclaim :—
“It is accepted—it is borne away—it is. borne
away !"” .
‘While these exclamations were ringing through
the chamber, to the great terror of all present, the
emperor opened his great’black eyes, and murmured :
“Oh, my beloved, paradise without thee is a
dreary blank! My love, my light of lights, my
beautiful, come—Shah Jehan calls!” -
The sound of his voice brought back to the heart
of the empress all her womanly feelings, and witha
sob of joy she rushed to the couch, and kissed his
hands, his cheeks, his mouth, his eyes, his forehead,
the very pillow on which his head reclined
The Prince Dara, after assuring bimself that his
. father still lived, and was likely to live, ordered the
- chamber to be cleared, and went forth himself to
command prayers to be said in all the mosques in
Delhi, and throughout the empire.
The physician, who had really wrought this won-
* derful cure, meanwhile lay in his dungeon, unheeded
and neglected.’ No, not quite neglected—for on the
morning of the second day of his imprisonment, the
dungeon door creaked on its hinges, and when it
closed again, Boughton could hear the light breath-
ing of some one who had been admitted.
“ Another miserable wretch!’ he thought ; and
at the same instant the idea flashed across his mind
that his executioner had arrived.. At this surmise
he fairly groaned. To die a violent death at thirty,
and in the hideous darkness of a dungeon, was too
much for even the stoical philosophy of an English-
man in difliculties. We say he groaned, and then,
convinced that he was to be put to death like a
beast, he resolved to die after the fashion of a brave
one when driven into a corner. Drawing a long
hunting-knife, which he wore in his belt, he pre-
' pared to spring upon his assailant the moment he ap-
proached. The breathing every instant became
ouder; some garnients rustled, and even {n that
moment of terrible excitement, he detected a rich
' perfume in his cell, and concluded that the assassin
was 2 noble—perhaps the Prince Dara himself.
Nearer and nearer the object came, and just as he
was preparing to take the fatal spring, he heard his
own name pronounced by a musical and well-known
voice; the next moment the knife was dashed tu the
ground, and he was clasping the sobbing Baba to his
heart. She had neither forgotten nor neglected
him. Inspired by love, she had bribed the guards—
not a difficult matter in an Asiatic palace—and pre-
vailed upon them to allow her to visit the prisoner.
“ Baba—dear Baba!” exclaimed the delighted
Boughton, as, in despite of his boasted manhood, hot
scalding tears, rushed to his eyes ; and he added to
‘himself, “may heaven fail to forgive me if I ever
wrong a woman with an evil thought or a suspicion
again !”
“Baba could not speak—-her emotion was too deep
for utterance, but she had sufficient presence of
mind to place a stone bottle of the emperor’s wine
to his lips, and a rich pasty in his hands.
- ‘The traveller after satisfying bis’ hunger and
quenching his thirst—inquired the news ; and was
rather astonished when Baba told him that the em-
percr’s recovery had been caused by the sacrifice of
the empress. It is reported that he swore terribly ;
but while he was cross-examining Baba on the de-
licate subject of Prince Dara’s attentions, the, door
of his cell was once more opened, and he.was in-
formed that an order had arrived frum the empress
to set him free, _ -
* Heaven bless her!” thought the traveller; “she
at least has more wisdom than to believe in the effi-| A New Zearanp Lecenp.—One of the-native
cacy of her mummery !”” legends we shall quote, for the sake of its simpli-
Hastily snatching a kiss from the lips of Baba, | city, as well as for its resemblance to stories which
while under cover of the darkness—for the guard | may be found in the romantic literature of the East
had told her she must vanish like a flash of light- | and of the North, as wellas among the tribes of the
ning—he bade her an affectionate adieu, after | Southern isles.. In the days when beings superior
obtaining from her a promise to meet him again ; he | to our mortal race inhabited this earth, there were
was then conducted to the gate of Sultan Khosroo, | three brothers, of whom the two elder persecuted
and dismissed with a friendly hint that he had better |the youngest. The youngest, like Cinderella —
leave Delhi at once.
his sister in fable—was protected by Fortune,
Shere received him warmly—almost kindly—and | Some way off from the habitation of the three Maui
Boughton, wha was naturally frank and honorable,
confided to him the secret of his attachment for
Baba. The old man was more astounded than dis-
pleased ; but as he revolved in his mind the insidious
lived an old woman called Hine. She had the re-
putation of being a very terrible person, and no
one ventured to meddle with her property. Little
; Maui, however, determined to go and visit her
designs of the heir-apparent, and was himself by no | country to see whether he could find any thing good
means a strict follower of Islam, he did not view
the disclosure with that indignation it would have
excited in a rigidly orthodox Musulman.
“The Emperor Jehanghire, my never-to-be-for-
gotten and illustrious patron,’? he muttered, “ was
more of a Deist than anything else! He saw good
in the followers of Brahma, and Zoroaster, and
Christ—and why should I not see good in this hand-
some Nazarene? Besides. his people take only one
wife, and his star, next to that of Aurungzebe, is the
brightest in the horoscope !””
The next day Boughton was summoned to court
to administer to Jehanara, the favorite daughter of
the emperor, whom grief for her father’s illness had
thrown on a bed of sickness.
A week’s assiduous attention served to restore her
to her wonted health, and the physician, whose fame,
despite the wonderful sacrifice of the empress, began
to be noised abroad, was honored by an audience
with the emperor and empress. Shah Jehan was
a magnificent monarch ; but Boughton, when offered
some most costly presents, only asked for the privi-
lege of carrying on a free trade in his majesty’s do-
minions. The emperor, amazed at the modesty of
the request, complied with it cheerfully, but insisted
on his accepting what had been offered him.
“ And thus,” observed the Brahmin, as he drew
towards. the conclusion of his narrative, ‘* com-
menced that tremendous power which you British
now wieldin India. The emperor recommended the
English physician specially to the favor of the Nabob
of Bengal, in whose service his professional abilities
enabled him greatly to, distinguish himself; and
Boughton, who must have been a patriotic, self-
denying man, obtained an extension of the privilege
given to him personally by Shah Jehan, to all his
nation. On the payment of 3000 rupees, a license
was given for an unlimited trade, without payment
of customs, and a factory allowed to be established
at Hooghly, by the Company’s servants at Surat.
“And what of Baba?” inquired the’ traveller,
whom the story had interested.
“She married the man of medicine—turned Chris-
tian, I believe, and became a happy wife, and the
mother of a numerous family. Her descendants are
now among the most opulent of the merchant princes
of Calcutta.”
‘And the empress 2”
“Sickened and died. As the emperor began to
recaver, in proportion her health and strength
visibly decayed. The emperor, distracted, removed
her during the sultry summer months, to the cool
and beautiful valleys of Cashmere—but all in vain.
In the ensuing winter she breathed her last, in his
arms, at Agra—the sacrifice was completed. Shah
Jehan, after her death, became an altered man. In-
stead of having only one wife, he adopted the custom
of the East in this respect to its fullest extent. He
became extravagant, undertook expensive wars, and
finally so alienated the affections of his subjects, that
he was easily dethroned and imprisoned by his own
son, Aurungzebe, who subsequently proved himself
to be a man of the most consummate talent. . Shah
Jehan had abandoned the ancient Patan Palace,
which you now behold in ruins before you; but
after the loss of his umbrella, he petitioned his son
that he might reside in it during his remaining years,
in order that he might chasten himself by constant
familiarity with every object that would remind him
of his beloved empress, and her unexampled sacrifice
to conjugal affection. His request was complied
with, and his body is believed to be reposing under
the centre of that great white dome which you see
crowning the hill in the rear of Feroze Shah's once
gorgeous palace. Most certain it is that he was not
buried at Agra, where he interred his wife, and built
for her a tomb which, to this day, is one of the most
beautiful pieces of architecture in the world.
Women are like old-fashioned houses, with many
doors and few windows. It is easier to gain en-
trance ito their hearts than to see through them.
‘there.
So coming near the place where Hine lived,
he seated himself on a hill overlooking her garden,
and began to play a tuneon his flute. As soon as
Hline heard the sound of the flute, she sent out
some of her slaves to watch and see who was com-
ing. But before they went, she gave them this in-
junction, “If the man comes down the hill walk~-
ing upright on his legs, catch him, for he isa thief;
but if he comes walking on his hands and fect,
having his belly and face downwards, then know
he is an Atuwa, and be sure not to meddle with him.”
Little Maui heard all she said, and, of course, came
down the hill on his hands and feet, and as the
slaves never meddled with him, supposing him to
be an Aéua, he crept into the old lady's Aumara
store, and after eating as much as he could, carried
off a basketful... The next day his brothers sat
together, eating their morning meal, and every now
and then threw a bit to little’ Maui, who sat as
usual by himself at a distance from them. Instead
of picking up these morsels, however, he. pulled
out from under his cloak a kumara, and ate it. At
last the elder Maui, seeing all the scraps thrown to
his brother still lying untouched, asked little Maui
what. he was eating. «* Excellent food, let me tell
you,” said little Maui, throwing a handful towards
his two brothers. ‘The elder Maui was much
pleased with the taste and size of the humara, and
wished to know where some more of them were
to be obtained. Little Maui‘then told how he
had stolen the kumare trom the sture of Hine, But
instead of repeating correctly the command which
the old woman had given her slaves when she sent
them to watch in the garden, he made her say, “If
the man comes down the hill on his hands and legs
catch him, for he is a thief; but if he comes walk-
ing upright on his legs leave him alone, for he is an
Atua.”” Maui-mua was so much pleased with the
adyenture of his younger brother, that he resolyed
to set off the same evening, and steal some kumara
in the same way. So when it began to grow dusk
he started, little Maui calling to him as he was
going, and bidding him be sure remember correctly
the command given to her slaves by Hine. Of
course, when this cruel brother began to play his
flute the old woman saw him, and as he knew not
how to deceive her, she squeezed him to death.
A Lecenpary Suttan,—tThe people of the Cau-
casus are said to haye a legend that some day a
Sultan “will arise in the West, and finally deliver
them from the hands of the Muscovite Padishah,
Tur Winpow-TAxX —THE GREATEST ABSORBENT
or Licnt.—Since government is so particular in
charging for light, we wonder it has never thought
of putting a tax upon spectacles, eye-glasses, and
opera-glasses, which are all media for conveying
light to the eye, just as much as a pane of glass.
The same with the windows in carriages, omnibuses,
orbathing machines. Why should they not pay the
same monstrous duty as the windows in a house?
These are shameful inequalities, which betray a par-
tiality which should exist in no tax, particuliarly in
one which should be framed with the strictest eye
to accuracy, as the larger the frame the larger the
payment for it. It is strange that government should
institute itself the great purveyor of light, in oppo- _
sition to the sun; with this difference, however,
that government charges for every pane of light, it
lays on, and cuts it off pretty quickly if it is not
paid up exactly to the quarter, and thesun gives its
light for nothing. Of all monopolies, the monopoly
of light is the most cruel, and is a measure only
worthy of the dark ages. To carry out the cruelty
consistently, every man who has two eyes should be
taxed for light doubly, men with only one eye should
be let off with one payment, and none should be
exempt from the tax but blind persons.—Punch.
Vinrrvez is not a mushroom, that springeth up of
itself in a night, when we are asleep and regard it
not ; but a delicate plant that groweth slowly and
tenderly, needing much pains to cultivate it, much
care to guard it, and much time to mature it.