"I was going to tell your highness," said Bianca, "if you would permit

me. So as I was rubbing the ring--I am sure I had not gone up three

steps, but I heard the rattling of armour; for all the world such a

clatter, as Diego says he heard when the giant turned him about in the

gallery-chamber."

"What does she mean, my lord?" said the marquis: "is your castle haunted

by giants and goblins?"

"Lord, what, has not your greatness heard the story of the giant in the

gallery-chamber?" cried Bianca. "I marvel his highness has not told

you--mayhap you do not know there is a prophecy----"

"This trifling is intolerable," interrupted Manfred. "Let us dismiss

this silly wench, my lord; we have more important affairs to discuss."

"By your favour," said Frederic, "these are no trifles. The enormous

sabre I was directed to in the wood, yon casque, its fellow--are these

visions of this poor maiden's brain?"

"So Jaquez thinks, may it please your greatness," said Bianca. "He says

this moon will not be out without our seeing some strange revolution.

For my part, I should not be surprised if it was to happen to-morrow;

for, as I was saying, when I heard the clattering of armour, I was all

in a cold sweat: I looked up, and, if your greatness will believe me, I

saw upon the uppermost banister of the great stairs a hand in armour, as

big, as big--I thought I should have swooned--I never stopped until I

came hither. Would I were well out of this castle! My Lady Matilda told

me but yester-morning that her highness Hippolita knows something."

"Thou art an insolent!" cried Manfred. "Lord Marquis, it much misgives

me that this scene is concerted to affront me. Are my own domestics

suborned to spread tales injurious to my honour? Pursue your claim by

manly daring; or let us bury our feuds, as was proposed, by the

intermarriage of our children. But trust me, it ill becomes a prince of

your bearing to practise on mercenary wenches."

"I scorn your imputation," said Frederic: "until this hour I never set

eyes on this damsel. I have given her no jewel! My lord, my lord, your

conscience, your guilt accuses you, and would throw the suspicion on me;

but keep your daughter, and think no more of Isabella. The judgments

already fallen on your house forbid me matching into it."

Manfred, alarmed at the resolute tone in which Frederic delivered these

words, endeavoured to pacify him. Dismissing Bianca, he made such

submissions to the marquis, and threw in such artful encomiums on

Matilda, that Frederic was once more staggered. However, as his passion

was of so recent a date, it could not at once surmount the scruples he

had conceived. He had gathered enough from Bianca's discourse to

persuade him that Heaven declared itself against Manfred. The proposed

marriages, too, removed his claim to a distance; and the principality of

Otranto was a stronger temptation than the contingent reversion of it

with Matilda. Still he would not absolutely recede from his engagements;

but purposing to gain time, he demanded of Manfred if it was true in

fact that Hippolita consented to the divorce. The prince, transported to

find no other obstacle, and depending on his influence over his wife,

assured the marquis it was so, and that he might satisfy himself of the

truth from her own mouth.

As they were thus discoursing, word was brought that the banquet was

prepared. Manfred conducted Frederic to the great hall, where they were

received by Hippolita and the young princesses. Manfred placed the

marquis next to Matilda, and seated himself between his wife and

Isabella. Hippolita comported herself with an easy gravity; but the

young ladies were silent and melancholy. Manfred, who was determined to

pursue his point with the marquis in the remainder of the evening,

pushed on the feast until it waxed late; affecting unrestrained gaiety,

and plying Frederic with repeated goblets of wine. The latter, more upon

his guard than Manfred wished, declined his frequent challenges, on

pretence of his late loss of blood; while the prince, to raise his own

disordered spirits, and to counterfeit unconcern, indulged himself in

plentiful draughts, though not to the intoxication of his senses.

The evening being far advanced, the banquet concluded. Manfred would

have withdrawn with Frederic; but the latter, pleading weakness and want

of repose, retired to his chamber, gallantly telling the prince, that

his daughter should amuse his highness until himself could attend him.

Manfred accepted the party, and, to the no small grief of Isabella,

accompanied her to her apartment. Matilda waited on her mother, to enjoy

the freshness of the evening on the ramparts of the castle.

Soon as the company were dispersed their several ways, Frederic,

quitting his chamber, inquired if Hippolita was alone, and was told by

one of her attendants, who had not noticed her going forth, that at that

hour she generally withdrew to her oratory, where he probably would find

her. The marquis, during the repast, had beheld Matilda with increase of

passion. He now wished to find Hippolita in the disposition her lord had

promised. The portents that had alarmed him were forgotten in his

desires. Stealing softly and unobserved to the apartment of Hippolita,

he entered it with a resolution to encourage her acquiescence to the

divorce, having perceived that Manfred was resolved to make the

possession of Isabella an unalterable condition, before he would grant

Matilda to his wishes.

The marquis was not surprised at the silence that reigned in the

princess's apartment. Concluding her, as he had been advertised, in her

oratory, he passed on. The door was ajar; the evening gloomy and

overcast. Pushing open the door gently, he saw a person kneeling before

the altar. As he approached nearer, it seemed not a woman, but one in a

long woollen weed, whose back was towards him. The person seemed

absorbed in prayer. The marquis was about to return, when the figure,

rising, stood some moments fixed in meditation, without regarding him.

The marquis, expecting the holy person to come forth, and meaning to

excuse his uncivil interruption, said:

"Reverend father, I sought the Lady Hippolita."

"Hippolita!" replied a hollow voice; "camest thou to this castle to seek

Hippolita?" And then the figure, turning slowly round, discovered to

Frederic the fleshless jaws and empty sockets of a skeleton, wrapt in a

hermit's cowl.

"Angels of peace protect me!" cried Frederic, recoiling.

"Deserve their protection," said the spectre.

Frederic, falling on his knees, adjured the phantom to take pity on him.

"Dost thou not remember me?" said the apparition. "Remember the wood of

Joppa!"

"Art thou that holy hermit?" cried Frederic, trembling; "can I do aught

for thy eternal peace?"

"Wast thou delivered from bondage," said the spectre, "to pursue carnal

delights? Hast thou forgotten the buried sabre, and the behest of Heaven

engraven on it?"

"I have not, I have not," said Frederic; "but say, blest spirit, what is

thy errand to me? what remains to be done?"

"To forget Matilda," said the apparition, and vanished.

Frederick's blood froze in his veins. For some minutes he remained

motionless. Then falling prostrate on his face before the altar, he

besought the intercession of every saint for pardon. A flood of tears

succeeded to this transport; and the image of the beauteous Matilda

rushing, in spite of him, on his thoughts, he lay on the ground in a

conflict of penitence and passion. Ere he could recover from this agony

of his spirits, the Princess Hippolita, with a taper in her hand,

entered the oratory alone. Seeing a man without motion on the floor, she

gave a shriek, concluding him dead. Her fright brought Frederic to

himself. Rising suddenly, his face bedewed with tears, he would have

rushed from her presence; but Hippolita, stopping him, conjured him, in

the most plaintive accents, to explain the cause of his disorder, and by

what strange chance she had found him there in that posture.

"Ah, virtuous princess!" said the marquis, penetrated with grief, and

stopped.

"For the love of Heaven, my lord," said Hippolita, "disclose the cause

of this transport! What mean these doleful sounds, this alarming

exclamation on my name? What woes has Heaven still in store for the

wretched Hippolita?--yet silent! By every pitying angel I adjure thee,

noble prince," continued she, falling at his feet, "to disclose the

purport of what lies at thy heart. I see thou feelest for me; thou

feelest the sharp pangs that thou inflictest. Speak, for pity! Does

aught thou knowest concern my child!"

"I cannot speak," cried Frederic, bursting from her. "Oh, Matilda!"

Quitting the princess thus abruptly, he hastened to his own apartment.

At the door of it he was accosted by Manfred, who, flushed by wine and

love, had come to seek him, and to propose to waste some hours of the

night in music and revelling. Frederic, offended at an invitation so

dissonant from the mood of his soul, pushed him rudely aside, and,

entering his chamber, flung the door intemperately against Manfred, and

bolted it inwards. The haughty prince, enraged at this unaccountable

behaviour, withdrew in a frame of mind capable of the most fatal

excesses. As he crossed the court, he was met by the domestic whom he

planted at the convent as a spy on Jerome and Theodore. This man, almost

breathless with the haste he had made, informed his lord, that Theodore

and some lady from the castle were at that instant in private conference

at the tomb of Alfonso, in St. Nicholas's church. He had dogged Theodore

thither; but the gloominess of the night had prevented his discovering

who the woman was.

Manfred, whose spirits were inflamed, and whom Isabella had driven from

her on his urging his passion with too little reserve, did not doubt but

the inquietude she had expressed had been occasioned by her impatience

to meet Theodore. Provoked by this conjecture, and enraged at her

father, he hastened secretly to the great church. Gliding softly between

the aisles, and guided by an imperfect gleam of moonshine that shone

faintly through the illuminated windows, he stole towards the tomb of

Alfonso, to which he was directed by indistinct whispers of the person

she sought. The first sounds he could distinguish were:

"Does it, alas! depend on me? Manfred will never permit our union."

"No, this shall prevent it!" cried the tyrant, drawing his dagger, and

plunging it over her shoulder into the bosom of the person that spoke.

"Ah me, I am slain!" cried Matilda, sinking: "good Heaven, receive my

soul!"

"Savage, inhuman monster, what hast thou done?" cried Theodore, rushing

on him and wrenching his dagger from him.

"Stop, stop thy impious hand!" cried Matilda: "it is my father!"

Manfred, waking as from a trance, beat his breast, twisted his hands in

his locks, and endeavoured to recover his dagger from Theodore to

dispatch himself. Theodore, scarce less distracted, and only mastering

the transports of his grief to assist Matilda, had now by his cries

drawn some of the monks to his aid. While part of them endeavoured, in

concert with the afflicted Theodore, to stop the blood of the dying

princess, the rest prevented Manfred from laying violent hands on

himself.

Matilda, resigning herself patiently to her fate, acknowledged, with

looks of grateful love, the zeal of Theodore. Yet oft, as her faintness

would permit her speech its way, she begged the assistants to comfort

her father.

Jerome, by this time, had learnt the fatal news, and reached the church.

His looks seemed to reproach Theodore; but turning to Manfred, he said,

"Now, tyrant, behold the completion of woe fulfilled on thy impious and

devoted head! The blood of Alfonso cried to Heaven for vengeance; and

Heaven has permitted its altar to be polluted by assassination, that

thou mightest shed thy own blood at the foot of that prince's

sepulchre!"

"Cruel man," cried Matilda, "to aggravate the woes of a parent! may

Heaven bless my father, and forgive him as I do! My lord, my gracious

sire, dost thou forgive thy child? Indeed I came not hither to meet

Theodore. I found him praying at this tomb, whither my mother sent me to

intercede for thee, for her--dearest father, bless your child, and say

you forgive her."

"Forgive thee, murderous monster," cried Manfred, "can assassins

forgive? I took thee for Isabella; but Heaven directed my bloody hand to

the heart of my child--oh, Matilda, I cannot utter it: canst thou

forgive the blindness of my rage?"

"I can, I do, and may Heaven confirm it," said Matilda; "but while I

have life to ask it--oh, my mother, what will she feel! will you comfort

her, my lord, will you not put her away? indeed she loves you--oh, I am

faint; bear me to the castle--can I live to have her close my eyes?"

Theodore and the monks besought her earnestly to suffer herself to be

borne into the convent; but her instances were so pressing to be carried

to the castle, that, placing her on a litter, they conveyed her thither

as she requested. Theodore, supporting her head with his arm, and

hanging over her in an agony of despairing love, still endeavoured to

inspire her with hopes of life. Jerome on the other side comforted her

with discourses of heaven; and holding a crucifix before her, which she

bathed with innocent tears, prepared her for her passage to immortality.

Manfred, plunged in the deepest affliction, followed the litter in

despair.

Ere they reached the castle, Hippolita, informed of the dreadful

catastrophe, had flown to meet her murdered child; but when she saw the

afflicted procession, the mightiness of her grief deprived her of her

senses, and she fell lifeless to the earth in a swoon. Isabella and

Frederic, who attended her, were overwhelmed in almost equal sorrow.

Matilda alone seemed insensible to her own situation: every thought was

lost in tenderness for her mother. Ordering the litter to stop, as soon

as Hippolita was brought to herself, she asked for her father. He

approached, unable to speak. Matilda, seizing his hand and her mother's,

locked them in her own, and then clasped them to her heart. Manfred

could not support this act of pathetic piety. He dashed himself on the

ground, and cursed the day he was born. Isabella, apprehensive that

these struggles of passion were more than Matilda could support, took

upon herself to order Manfred to be borne to his apartment, while she

caused Matilda to be conveyed to the nearest chamber. Hippolita, scarce

more alive than her daughter, was regardless of everything but her; but

when the tender Isabella's care would have likewise removed her, while

the surgeons examined Matilda's wound, she cried:

"Remove me! never! never! never! I lived but in her, and will expire

with her." Matilda raised her eyes at her mother's voice, but closed

them again without speaking. Her sinking pulse and the damp coldness of

her hand soon dispelled all hopes of recovery. Theodore followed the

surgeons into the outer chamber, and heard them pronounce the fatal

sentence with a transport equal to frenzy.

"Since she cannot live mine," cried he, "at least she shall be mine in

death! Father! Jerome! will you not join our hands?" cried he to the

friar, who with the marquis had accompanied the surgeons.

"What means thy distracted rashness?" said Jerome; "is this an hour for

marriage?"

"It is, it is," cried Theodore: "alas! there is no other!"

"Young man, thou art too unadvised," said Frederic: "dost thou think we

are to listen to thy fond transports in this hour of fate? what

pretensions hast thou to the princess?"

"Those of a prince," said Theodore, "of the sovereign of Otranto. This

reverend man, my father, has informed me who I am."

"Thou ravest," said the marquis: "there is no prince of Otranto but

myself, now Manfred, by murder, by sacrilegious murder, has forfeited

all pretensions."

"My lord," said Jerome, assuming an air of command, "he tells you true.

It was not my purpose the secret should have been divulged so soon; but

fate presses onward to its work. What his hot-headed passion has

revealed, my tongue confirms. Know, prince, that when Alfonso set sail

for the Holy Land----"

"Is this a season for explanations?" cried Theodore. "Father, come and

unite me to the princess; she shall be mine--in every other thing I will

dutifully obey you. My life; my adored Matilda!" continued Theodore,

rushing back into the inner chamber, "will you not be mine? will you not

bless your----" Isabella made signs to him to be silent, apprehending

the princess was near her end. "What, is she dead?" cried Theodore; "is

it possible?" The violence of his exclamations brought Matilda to

herself. Lifting up her eyes, she looked around for her mother.

"Life of my soul! I am here," cried Hippolita; "think not I will quit

thee!"

"Oh, you are too good," said Matilda; "but weep not for me, my mother! I

am going where sorrow never dwells;--Isabella, thou hast loved me: wo't

thou not supply my fondness to this dear, dear woman?--Indeed I am

faint!"

"Oh, my child, my child!" said Hippolita, in a flood of tears, "can I

not withhold thee a moment?"

"It will not be," said Matilda: "commend me to Heaven--where is my

father? Forgive him, dearest mother--forgive him my death; it was an

error. Oh, I had forgotten, dearest mother, I vowed never to see

Theodore more--perhaps that has drawn down this calamity, but it was not

intentional--can you pardon me?"

"Oh, wound not my agonizing soul," said Hippolita; "thou never couldst

offend me. Alas! she faints! help! help!"

"I would say something more," said Matilda, struggling, "but it wonnot

be--Isabella--Theodore--for my sake--oh!" She expired. Isabella and her

women tore Hippolita from the corse; but Theodore threatened destruction

to all who attempted to remove him from it. He printed a thousand

kisses on her clay-cold hands, and uttered every expression that

despairing love could dictate.

Isabella, in the meantime, was accompanying the afflicted Hippolita to

her apartment; but in the middle of the court they were met by Manfred,

who, distracted with his own thoughts, and anxious once more to behold

his daughter, was advancing towards the chamber where she lay. As the

moon was now at its height, he read in the countenances of this unhappy

company the event he dreaded.

"What! is she dead?" cried he in wild confusion: a clap of thunder at

that instant shook the castle to its foundations; the earth rocked, and

the clank of more than mortal armour was heard behind. Frederic and

Jerome thought the last day was at hand. The latter, forcing Theodore

along with them, rushed into the court. The moment Theodore appeared,

the walls of the castle behind Manfred were thrown down with a mighty

force, and the form of Alfonso, dilated to an immense magnitude,

appeared in the centre of the ruins.

"Behold in Theodore the true heir of Alfonso!" said the vision; and

having pronounced those words, accompanied by a clap of thunder, it

ascended solemnly towards heaven, where the clouds parting asunder, the

form of St. Nicholas was seen, and receiving Alfonso's shade, they were

soon wrapt from mortal eyes in a blaze of glory.

The beholders fell prostrate on their faces, acknowledging the divine

will. The first that broke silence was Hippolita.

"My lord," said she to the desponding Manfred, "behold the vanity of

human greatness! Conrad is gone! Matilda is no more! in Theodore we view

the true Prince of Otranto. By what miracle he is so, I know

not--suffice it to us, our doom is pronounced! Shall we not--can we

but--dedicate the few deplorable hours we have to live, in deprecating

the further wrath of Heaven? Heaven ejects us: whither can we fly, but

to yon holy cells that yet offer us a retreat?"

"Thou guiltless but unhappy woman! unhappy by my crimes!" replied

Manfred, "my heart at last is open to thy devout admonitions. Oh,

could--but it cannot be--ye are lost in wonder,--let me at last do

justice on myself! To heap shame on my own head is all the satisfaction

I have left to offer to offended Heaven. My story has drawn down these

judgments: let my confession atone--but ah! what can atone for

usurpation and a murdered child; a child murdered in a consecrated

place? List, sirs, and may this bloody record be a warning to future

tyrants!

"Alfonso, ye all know, died in the Holy Land--ye would interrupt me--ye

would say he came not fairly to his end--it is most true--why else this

bitter cup which Manfred must drink to the dregs? Ricardo, my

grandfather, was his chamberlain--I would draw a veil over my ancestor's

crimes, but it is in vain! Alfonso died by poison. A fictitious will

declared Ricardo his heir. His crimes pursued him. Yet he lost no

Conrad, no Matilda! I pay the price of usurpation for all. A storm

overtook him. Haunted by his guilt, he vowed to St. Nicholas to found a

church and two convents, if he lived to reach Otranto. The sacrifice was

accepted: the saint appeared to him in a dream, and promised that

Ricardo's posterity should reign in Otranto, until the rightful owner

should be grown too large to inhabit the castle, and as long as

issue-male from Ricardo's loins should remain to enjoy it. Alas! alas!

nor male nor female, except myself, remains of all his wretched race!--I

have done--the woes of these three days speak the rest. How this young

man can be Alfonso's heir, I know not--yet I do not doubt it. His are

these dominions: I resign them--yet I knew not Alfonso had an heir--I

question not the will of Heaven--poverty and prayer must fill up the

woeful space, until Manfred shall be summoned to Ricardo."

"What remains is my part to declare," said Jerome. "When Alfonso set

sail for the Holy Land, he was driven by a storm to the coast of Sicily.

The other vessel, which bore Ricardo and his train, as your _lordship_

must have heard, was separated from him."

"It is most true," said Manfred; "and the title you give me is more than

an outcast can claim--well! be it so--proceed."

Jerome blushed, and continued.

"For three months Lord Alfonso was wind-bound in Sicily. There he became

enamoured of a fair virgin, named Victoria. He was too pious to tempt

her to forbidden pleasures. They were married. Yet deeming this amour

incongruous with the holy vow of arms by which he was bound, he

determined to conceal their nuptials, until his return from the crusado,

when he purposed to seek and acknowledge her for his lawful wife. He

left her pregnant. During his absence she was delivered of a daughter;

but scarce had she felt a mother's pangs, ere she heard the fatal rumour

of her lord's death, and the succession of Ricardo. What could a

friendless, helpless woman do? would her testimony avail?--yet, my lord,

I have an authentic writing----"

"It needs not," said Manfred; "the horrors of these days, the vision we

have but now seen, all corroborate thy evidence beyond a thousand

parchments. Matilda's death and my expulsion----"

"Be composed, my lord," said Hippolita; "this holy man did not mean to

recall your griefs."

Jerome proceeded.

"I shall not dwell on what is needless. The daughter of which Victoria

was delivered was, at her maturity, bestowed in marriage on me. Victoria

died; and the secret remained locked in my breast. Theodore's narrative

has told the rest."

The friar ceased. The disconsolate company retired to the remaining part

of the castle. In the morning, Manfred signed his abdication of the

principality, with the approbation of Hippolita, and each took on them

the habit of religion in the neighbouring convents. Frederic offered his

daughter to the new prince, which Hippolita's tenderness for Isabella

concurred to promote. But Theodore's grief was too fresh to admit the

thought of another love; and it was not until after frequent discourses

with Isabella of his dear Matilda, that he was persuaded he could know

no happiness, but in the society of one with whom he could for ever

indulge the melancholy that had taken possession of his soul.

VATHEK:

AN ARABIAN TALE

BY

WILLIAM BECKFORD

WILLIAM BECKFORD

William Beckford was born at Fonthill on 29 September, 1759. He was

educated by a private tutor and grew up with many of the qualities of

his own caliph Vathek. He received musical instruction under Mozart.

Chatham pronounced him "all fire and air," and warned him against

reading _The Arabian Nights_. At seventeen he wrote an elaborate

mystification, _Memoirs of Extraordinary Painters_, a satire on the

biographies in the _Vies des Peintres Flamands_. His mother disliking

English universities, he went to complete his education at Geneva, where

he remained for a year and a half. From 1780-2 he travelled in the Low

Countries and Italy. An account of these travels was published

anonymously in 1783 as _Dreams, Waking Thoughts, and Incidents, in a

series of letters from various parts of Europe_. The work was almost

immediately destroyed with the exception of six copies. At one time a

legend existed that he wrote _Vathek_ in three days and two nights at a

single sitting! This feat has since been disproved by the publication of

the author's own correspondence. At any rate, the book was written

between 1781-2 in French, and the English version, made by the Rev.

Henley, was published surreptitiously by that gentleman as a translation

from the Arabic in 1784. In protest, Beckford published the original,

long before he had intended, at Paris and Lausanne, in 1787. In 1783 he

had married Lady Margaret Gordon, the daughter of the Earl of Aboyne,

and lived with her in Switzerland until her death three years later. He

had two daughters by her. In 1787 he visited Portugal, and his

Portuguese letters are the most valuable he ever wrote. At Lausanne he

bought Gibbon's library and shut himself up to read it. He was elected

M.P. for Wells (1784-90) and Hindon (1790-4), to which seat he was

re-elected in 1806. But during this time he had become more and more

absorbed in collecting. He wrote two burlesques on the sentimental

novels of his time, _The Elegant Enthusiast_ (1796) and _Azemia_ (1797).

But he had already settled down at Fonthill and was giving himself up to

all kinds of artistic and architectural extravagances. With his enormous

wealth he was able to rebuild the old family mansion on a grand scale,

pull it down and rebuild it again yet more sumptuously on a different

site. But unfortunately a tower, three hundred feet high, he had erected

fell from the very haste of its construction. It was succeeded by

another which, later, also fell down. Beckford now shut himself up in

his palace with a physician, a majordomo, and a French abbé, and in this

seclusion he spent twenty years, still collecting books and works of

art. His expenditure for sixteen years is stated by himself to be

upwards of a quarter of a million. In 1822 he was forced to dispose of

Fonthill and the greater part of the contents, the sale of which lasted

thirty-seven days. When the public were admitted, Hazlitt described

Fonthill as "a desert of magnificence, a glittering waste of laborious

idleness, a cathedral turned into a toyshop...." After the sale Beckford

removed to Bath where he created a miniature Fonthill. He died there on

2 May, 1844, his face showing scarcely a trace of age.

Bibliography: _Memoirs of Extraordinary Painters_, 1780. _Dreams, Waking

Thoughts, and Incidents, in a series of letters from various parts of

Europe_, 1783. _Vathek_ (Henley's translation), 1784. _Vathek_ (in

Beckford's French), 1787. _Letters from Italy, with Sketches of Spain

and Portugal_, 1835. See also memoirs by Cyrus Redding and Lockhart's

review of Beckford's letters in Vol. II of the _Quarterly Review_.

VATHEK

Vathek, ninth caliph of the race of the Abassides, was the son of

Motassem, and the grandson of Haroun al Raschid. From an early accession

to the throne, and the talents he possessed to adorn it, his subjects

were induced to expect that his reign would be long and happy. His

figure was pleasing and majestic: but when he was angry, one of his eyes

became so terrible, that no person could bear to behold it; and the

wretch upon whom it was fixed instantly fell backward, and sometimes

expired. For fear, however, of depopulating his dominions and making his

palace desolate, he but rarely gave way to his anger.

Being much addicted to women and the pleasures of the table, he sought

by his affability to procure agreeable companions; and he succeeded the

better as his generosity was unbounded and his indulgences unrestrained:

for he did not think, with the Caliph Omar Ben Abdalaziz, that it was

necessary to make a hell of this world to enjoy paradise in the next.

He surpassed in magnificence all his predecessors. The palace of

Alkoremi, which his father, Motassem, had erected on the hill of Pied

Horses, and which commanded the whole city of Samarah, was, in his idea,

far too scanty: he added, therefore, five wings, or rather other

palaces, which he destined for the particular gratification of each of

the senses.

In the first of these were tables continually covered with the most

exquisite dainties; which were supplied both by night and by day,

according to their constant consumption; whilst the most delicious wines

and the choicest cordials flowed forth from a hundred fountains that

were never exhausted. This palace was called _The Eternal or Unsatiating

Banquet_.

The second was styled _The Temple of Melody, or the Nectar of the Soul_.

It was inhabited by the most skilful musicians and admired poets of the

time; who not only displayed their talents within, but dispersing in

bands without, caused every surrounding scene to reverberate their

songs, which were continually varied in the most delightful succession.

The palace named _The Delight of the Eyes, or the Support of Memory_,

was one entire enchantment. Rarities, collected from every corner of the

earth, were there found in such profusion as to dazzle and confound, but

for the order in which they were arranged. One gallery exhibited the

pictures of the celebrated Mani, and statues that seemed to be alive.

Here a well-managed perspective attracted the sight; there the magic of

optics agreeably deceived it: whilst the naturalist, on his part,

exhibited in their several classes the various gifts that Heaven had

bestowed on our globe. In a word, Vathek omitted nothing in this palace

that might gratify the curiosity of those who resorted to it, although

he was not able to satisfy his own; for, of all men, he was the most

curious.

_The Palace of Perfumes_, which was termed likewise _The Incentive to

Pleasure_, consisted of various halls, where the different perfumes

which the earth produces were kept perpetually burning in censers of

gold. Flambeaux and aromatic lamps were here lighted in open day. But

the too powerful effects of this agreeable delirium might be alleviated

by descending into an immense garden, where an assemblage of every

fragrant flower diffused through the air the purest odours.

The fifth palace, denominated _The Retreat of Mirth, or the Dangerous_,

was frequented by troops of young females, beautiful as the Houris, and

not less seducing; who never failed to receive, with caresses, all whom

the caliph allowed to approach them and enjoy a few hours of their

company.

Notwithstanding the sensuality in which Vathek indulged, he experienced

no abatement in the love of his people, who thought that a sovereign

giving himself up to pleasure was as able to govern as one who declared

himself an enemy to it. But the unquiet and impetuous disposition of the

caliph would not allow him to rest there. He had studied so much for his

amusement in the lifetime of his father, as to acquire a great deal of

knowledge, though not a sufficiency to satisfy himself; for he wished to

know everything; even sciences that did not exist. He was fond of

engaging in disputes with the learned, but did not allow them to push

their opposition with warmth. He stopped with presents the mouths of

those whose mouths could be stopped; whilst others, whom his liberality

was unable to subdue, he sent to prison to cool their blood, a remedy

that often succeeded.

Vathek discovered also a predilection for theological controversy; but

it was not with the orthodox that he usually held. By this means he

induced the zealots to oppose him, and then persecuted them in return;

for he resolved, at any rate, to have reason on his side.

The great prophet, Mahomet, whose vicars the caliphs are, beheld with

indignation from his abode in the seventh heaven the irreligious conduct

of such a vicegerent. "Let us leave him to himself," said he to the

Genii, who are always ready to receive his commands: "let us see to what

lengths his folly and impiety will carry him: if he run into excess, we

shall know how to chastise him. Assist him, therefore, to complete the

tower which, in imitation of Nimrod, he hath begun; not, like that great

warrior, to escape being drowned, but from the insolent curiosity of

penetrating the secrets of heaven:--he will not divine the fate that

awaits him."

The Genii obeyed; and, when the workmen had raised their structure a

cubit in the daytime, two cubits more were added in the night. The

expedition with which the fabric arose was not a little flattering to

the vanity of Vathek: he fancied that even insensible matter showed a

forwardness to subserve his designs; not considering that the successes

of the foolish and wicked form the first rod of their chastisement.

His pride arrived at its height when, having ascended, for the first

time, the fifteen hundred stairs of his tower, he cast his eyes below,

and beheld men not larger than pismires; mountains, than shells; and

cities, than bee-hives. The idea which such an elevation inspired of his

own grandeur completely bewildered him: he was almost ready to adore

himself; till, lifting his eyes upward, he saw the stars as high above

him as they appeared when he stood on the surface of the earth.

He consoled himself, however, for this intruding and unwelcome

perception of his littleness, with the thought of being great in the

eyes of others; and flattered himself that the light of his mind would

extend beyond the reach of his sight, and extort from the stars the

decrees of his destiny.

With this view, the inquisitive prince passed most of his nights on the

summit of his tower, till becoming an adept in the mysteries of

astrology, he imagined that the planets had disclosed to him the most

marvellous adventures, which were to be accomplished by an extraordinary

personage, from a country altogether unknown. Prompted by motives of

curiosity, he had always been courteous to strangers; but, from this

instant, he redoubled his attention, and ordered it to be announced, by

sound of trumpet, through all the streets of Samarah, that no one of

his subjects, on peril of his displeasure, should either lodge or detain

a traveller, but forthwith bring him to the palace.

Not long after this proclamation, arrived in his metropolis a man so

abominably hideous, that the very guards who arrested him were forced to

shut their eyes as they led him along: the caliph himself appeared

startled at so horrible a visage; but joy succeeded to this emotion of

terror, when the stranger displayed to his view such rarities as he had

never before seen, and of which he had no conception.

In reality, nothing was ever so extraordinary as the merchandise this

stranger produced; most of his curiosities, which were not less

admirable for their workmanship than splendour, had, besides, their

several virtues described on a parchment fastened to each. There were

slippers, which, by spontaneous springs, enabled the feet to walk;

knives, that cut without motion of the hand; sabres, that dealt the blow

at the person they were wished to strike; and the whole enriched with

gems that were hitherto unknown.

The sabres especially, the blades of which emitted a dazzling radiance,

fixed, more than all the rest, the caliph's attention; who promised

himself to decipher, at his leisure, the uncouth characters engraven on

their sides. Without, therefore, demanding their price, he ordered all

the coined gold to be brought from his treasury, and commanded the

merchant to take what he pleased. The stranger obeyed, took little, and

remained silent.

Vathek, imagining that the merchant's taciturnity was occasioned by the

awe which his presence inspired, encouraged him to advance, and asked

him, with an air of condescension, who he was? whence he came? and where

he obtained such beautiful commodities? The man, or rather monster,

instead of making a reply, thrice rubbed his forehead, which, as well as

his body, was blacker than ebony; four times clapped his paunch, the

projection of which was enormous; opened wide his huge eyes, which

glowed like firebrands; began to laugh with a hideous noise, and

discovered his long amber-coloured teeth, bestreaked with green.

The caliph, though a little startled, renewed his inquiries, but without

being able to procure a reply. At which, beginning to be ruffled, he

exclaimed, "Knowest thou, wretch, who I am, and at whom thou art aiming

thy gibes?"--Then, addressing his guards, "Have ye heard him speak?--is

he dumb?"--"He hath spoken," they replied, "but to no purpose."--"Let

him speak then again," said Vathek, "and tell me who he is, from whence

he came, and where he procured these singular curiosities; or I swear,

by the ass of Balaam, that I will make him rue his pertinacity."

This menace was accompanied by one of the caliph's angry and perilous

glances, which the stranger sustained without the slightest emotion;

although his eyes were fixed on the terrible eye of the prince.

No words can describe the amazement of the courtiers, when they beheld

this rude merchant withstand the encounter unshocked. They all fell

prostrate with their faces on the ground, to avoid the risk of their

lives; and would have continued in the same abject posture, had not the

caliph exclaimed, in a furious tone, "Up, cowards! seize the miscreant!

see that he be committed to prison, and guarded by the best of my

soldiers! Let him, however, retain the money I gave him; it is not my

intent to take from him his property; I only want him to speak."

No sooner had he uttered these words, than the stranger was surrounded,

pinioned, and bound with strong fetters, and hurried away to the prison

of the great tower, which was encompassed by seven empalements of iron

bars, and armed with spikes in every direction, longer and sharper than

spits. The caliph, nevertheless, remained in the most violent agitation.

He sat down indeed to eat; but, of the three hundred dishes that were

daily placed before him, he could taste of no more than thirty-two.

A diet to which he had been so little accustomed was sufficient of

itself to prevent him from sleeping; what then must be its effect when

joined to the anxiety that preyed upon his spirits? At the first glimpse

of dawn he hastened to the prison, again to importune this intractable

stranger; but the rage of Vathek exceeded all bounds on finding the

prison empty, the grates burst asunder, and his guards lying lifeless

around him. In the paroxysm of his passion he fell furiously on the poor

carcasses, and kicked them till evening without intermission. His

courtiers and viziers exerted their efforts to soothe his extravagance;

but, finding every expedient ineffectual, they all united in one

vociferation, "The caliph is gone mad! the caliph is out of his senses!"

This outcry, which soon resounded through the streets of Samarah, at

length reached the ears of Carathis, his mother, who flew in the utmost

consternation to try her ascendency on the mind of her son. Her tears

and caresses called off his attention; and he was prevailed upon, by her

entreaties, to be brought back to the palace.

Carathis, apprehensive of leaving Vathek to himself, had him put to bed;

and, seating herself by him, endeavoured by her conversation to appease

and compose him. Nor could any one have attempted it with better

success; for the caliph not only loved her as a mother, but respected

her as a person of superior genius. It was she who had induced him,

being a Greek herself, to adopt the sciences and systems of her country,

which all good Mussulmans hold in such thorough abhorrence.

Judicial astrology was one of those sciences in which Carathis was a

perfect adept. She began, therefore, with reminding her son of the

promise which the stars had made him; and intimated an intention of

consulting them again. "Alas!" said the caliph as soon as he could

speak, "what a fool I have been! not for having bestowed forty thousand

kicks on my guards, who so tamely submitted to death; but for never

considering that this extraordinary man was the same that the planets

had foretold; whom, instead of ill-treating, I should have conciliated

by all the arts of persuasion."

"The past," said Carathis, "cannot be recalled; but it behoves us to

think of the future: perhaps you may again see the object you so much

regret: it is possible the inscriptions on the sabres will afford

information. Eat, therefore, and take thy repose, my dear son. We will

consider, to-morrow, in what manner to act."

Vathek yielded to her counsel as well as he could, and arose in the

morning with a mind more at ease. The sabres he commanded to be

instantly brought; and, poring upon them, through a coloured glass, that

their glittering might not dazzle, he set himself in earnest to decipher

the inscriptions; but his reiterated attempts were all of them nugatory:

in vain did he beat his head, and bite his nails; not a letter of the

whole was he able to ascertain. So unlucky a disappointment would have

undone him again, had not Carathis, by good fortune, entered the

apartment.

"Have patience, my son!" said she: "you certainly are possessed of

every important science; but the knowledge of languages is a trifle at

best, and the accomplishment of none but a pedant. Issue a proclamation,

that you will confer such rewards as become your greatness upon any one

that shall interpret what you do not understand, and what is beneath you

to learn; you will soon find your curiosity gratified."

"That may be," said the caliph; "but, in the meantime, I shall be

horribly disgusted by a crowd of smatterers, who will come to the trial

as much for the pleasure of retailing their jargon as from the hope of

gaining the reward. To avoid this evil, it will be proper to add, that I

will put every candidate to death, who shall fail to give satisfaction;

for, thank Heaven! I have skill enough to distinguish, whether one

translates or invents."

"Of that I have no doubt," replied Carathis; "but to put the ignorant to

death is somewhat severe, and may be productive of dangerous effects.

Content yourself with commanding their beards to be burnt: beards in a

state are not quite so essential as men."

The caliph submitted to the reasons of his mother; and, sending for

Morakanabad, his prime vizier, said, "Let the common criers proclaim,

not only in Samarah, but throughout every city in my empire, that

whosoever will repair hither and decipher certain characters which

appear to be inexplicable, shall experience that liberality for which I

am renowned; but that all who fail upon trial shall have their beards

burnt off to the last hair. Let them add, also, that I will bestow fifty

beautiful slaves, and as many jars of apricots from the Isle of Kirmith,

upon any man that shall bring me intelligence of the stranger."

The subjects of the caliph, like their sovereign, being great admirers

of women and apricots from Kirmith, felt their mouths water at these

promises, but were totally unable to gratify their hankering; for no one

knew what had become of the stranger.

As to the caliph's other requisition, the result was different. The

learned, the half-learned, and those who were neither, but fancied

themselves equal to both, came boldly to hazard their beards, and all

shamefully lost them. The exaction of these forfeitures, which found

sufficient employment for the eunuchs, gave them such a smell of singed

hair as greatly to disgust the ladies of the seraglio, and to make it

necessary that this new occupation of their guardians should be

transferred to other hands.

At length, however, an old man presented himself, whose beard was a

cubit and a half longer than any that had appeared before him. The

officers of the palace whispered to each other, as they ushered him in,

"What a pity, oh! what a great pity that such a beard should be burnt!"

Even the caliph, when he saw it, concurred with them in opinion; but his

concern was entirely needless. This venerable personage read the

characters with facility, and explained them verbatim as follows: "We

were made where everything is well made: we are the least of the wonders

of a place where all is wonderful, and deserving the sight of the first

potentate on earth."

"You translate admirably!" cried Vathek; "I know to what these

marvellous characters allude. Let him receive as many robes of honour

and thousands of sequins of gold as he hath spoken words. I am in some

measure relieved from the perplexity that embarrassed me!" Vathek

invited the old man to dine, and even to remain some days in the palace.

Unluckily for him, he accepted the offer; for the caliph, having ordered

him next morning to be called, said: "Read again to me what you have

read already; I cannot hear too often the promise that is made me--the

completion of which I languish to obtain." The old man forthwith put on

his green spectacles, but they instantly dropped from his nose, on

perceiving that the characters he had read the day preceding had given

place to others of different import. "What ails you?" asked the caliph;

"and why these symptoms of wonder?"--"Sovereign of the world!" replied

the old man, "these sabres hold another language to-day from that they

yesterday held."--"How say you?" returned Vathek:--"but it matters not;

tell me, if you can, what they mean."--"It is this, my lord," rejoined

the old man: "'Woe to the rash mortal who seeks to know that of which he

should remain ignorant; and to undertake that which surpasseth his

power!'"--"And woe to thee!" cried the caliph, in a burst of

indignation: "to-day thou art void of understanding: begone from my

presence, they shall burn but the half of thy beard, because thou wert

yesterday fortunate in guessing:--my gifts I never resume." The old man,

wise enough to perceive he had luckily escaped, considering the folly of

disclosing so disgusting a truth, immediately withdrew and appeared not

again.

But it was not long before Vathek discovered abundant reason to regret

his precipitation; for, though he could not decipher the characters

himself, yet, by constantly poring upon them, he plainly perceived that

they every day changed; and, unfortunately, no other candidate offered

to explain them. This perplexing occupation inflamed his blood, dazzled

his sight, and brought on such a giddiness and debility that he could

hardly support himself. He failed not, however, though in so reduced a

condition, to be often carried to his tower, as he flattered himself

that he might there read in the stars, which he went to consult,

something more congruous to his wishes: but in this his hopes were

deluded; for his eyes, dimmed by the vapours of his head, began to

subserve his curiosity so ill, that he beheld nothing but a thick, dun

cloud, which he took for the most direful of omens.

Agitated with so much anxiety, Vathek entirely lost all firmness; a

fever seized him, and his appetite failed. Instead of being one of the

greatest eaters, he became as distinguished for drinking. So insatiable

was the thirst which tormented him, that his mouth, like a funnel, was

always open to receive the various liquors that might be poured into it,

and especially cold water, which calmed him more than any other.

This unhappy prince, being thus incapacitated for the enjoyment of any

pleasure, commanded the palaces of the five senses to be shut up;

forbore to appear in public, either to display his magnificence or

administer justice, and retired to the inmost apartment of his harem. As

he had ever been an excellent husband, his wives, overwhelmed with grief

at his deplorable situation, incessantly supplied him with prayers for

his health, and water for his thirst.

In the mean time the Princess Carathis, whose affliction no words can

describe, instead of confining herself to sobbing and tears, was

closeted daily with the vizier Morakanabad, to find out some cure, or

mitigation, of the caliph's disease. Under the persuasion that it was

caused by enchantment, they turned over together, leaf by leaf, all the

books of magic that might point out a remedy; and caused the horrible

stranger, whom they accused as the enchanter, to be everywhere sought

for with the strictest diligence.

At the distance of a few miles from Samarah stood a high mountain, whose

sides were swarded with wild thyme and basil, and its summit overspread

with so delightful a plain, that it might have been taken for the

paradise destined for the faithful. Upon it grew a hundred thickets of

eglantine and other fragrant shrubs; a hundred arbours of roses,

entwined with jessamine and honeysuckle; as many clumps of orange trees,

cedar, and citron; whose branches, interwoven with the palm, the

pomegranate, and the vine, presented every luxury that could regale the

eye or the taste. The ground was strewed with violets, harebells, and

pansies; in the midst of which numerous tufts of jonquils, hyacinths,

and carnations perfumed the air. Four fountains, not less clear than

deep, and so abundant as to slake the thirst of ten armies, seemed

purposely placed here to make the scene more resemble the garden of Eden

watered by four sacred rivers. Here, the nightingale sang the birth of

the rose, her well-beloved, and, at the same time, lamented its

short-lived beauty: whilst the dove deplored the loss of more

substantial pleasures; and the wakeful lark hailed the rising light that

reanimates the whole creation. Here, more than anywhere, the mingled

melodies of birds expressed the various passions which inspired them;

and the exquisite fruits which they pecked at pleasure seemed to have

given them a double energy.

To this mountain Vathek was sometimes brought, for the sake of breathing

a purer air; and, especially, to drink at will of the four fountains.

His attendants were his mother, his wives, and some eunuchs, who

assiduously employed themselves in filling capacious bowls of rock

crystal, and emulously presenting them to him. But it frequently

happened that his avidity exceeded their zeal, insomuch that he would

prostrate himself upon the ground to lap the water, of which he could

never have enough.

One day, when this unhappy prince had been long lying in so debasing a

posture, a voice, hoarse but strong, thus addressed him: "Why dost thou

assimilate thyself to a dog, O caliph, proud as thou art of thy dignity

and power?" At this apostrophe, he raised up his head, and beheld the

stranger that had caused him so much affliction. Inflamed with anger at

the sight, he exclaimed, "Accursed Giaour! what comest thou hither to

do?--is it not enough to have transformed a prince remarkable for his

agility into a water budget? Perceivest thou not, that I may perish by

drinking to excess, as well as by thirst?"

"Drink, then, this draught," said the stranger, as he presented to him a

phial of a red and yellow mixture: "and, to satiate the thirst of thy

soul as well as of thy body, know that I am an Indian, but from a region

of India which is wholly unknown."

The caliph, delighted to see his desires accomplished in part, and

flattering himself with the hope of obtaining their entire fulfilment,

without a moment's hesitation swallowed the potion, and instantaneously

found his health restored, his thirst appeased, and his limbs as agile

as ever. In the transports of his joy, Vathek leaped upon the neck of

the frightful Indian, and kissed his horrid mouth and hollow cheeks, as

though they had been the coral lips and the lilies and roses of his most

beautiful wives.

Nor would these transports have ceased had not the eloquence of Carathis

repressed them. Having prevailed upon him to return to Samarah, she

caused a herald to proclaim as loudly as possible: "The wonderful

stranger hath appeared again; he hath healed the caliph; he hath spoken!

he hath spoken!"

Forthwith, all the inhabitants of this vast city quitted their

habitations, and ran together in crowds to see the procession of Vathek

and the Indian, whom they now blessed as much as they had before

execrated, incessantly shouting, "He hath healed our sovereign; he hath

spoken! he hath spoken!" Nor were these words forgotten in the public

festivals which were celebrated the same evening, to testify the general

joy; for the poets applied them as a chorus to all the songs they

composed on this interesting subject.

The caliph, in the meanwhile, caused the palaces of the senses to be

again set open; and, as he found himself naturally prompted to visit

that of taste in preference to the rest, immediately ordered a splendid

entertainment, to which his great officers and favourite courtiers were

all invited. The Indian, who was placed near the prince, seemed to think

that, as a proper acknowledgment of so distinguished a privilege, he

could neither eat, drink, nor talk too much. The various dainties were

no sooner served up than they vanished, to the great mortification of

Vathek, who piqued himself on being the greatest eater alive, and at

this time in particular was blessed with an excellent appetite.

The rest of the company looked round at each other in amazement; but the

Indian, without appearing to observe it, quaffed large bumpers to the

health of each of them; sung in a style altogether extravagant; related

stories, at which he laughed immoderately, and poured forth

extemporaneous verses, which would not have been thought bad, but for

the strange grimaces with which they were uttered. In a word, his

loquacity was equal to that of a hundred astrologers; he ate as much as

a hundred porters, and caroused in proportion.

The caliph, notwithstanding the table had been thirty-two times covered,

found himself incommoded by the voraciousness of his guest, who was now

considerably declined in the prince's esteem. Vathek, however, being

unwilling to betray the chagrin he could hardly disguise, said in a

whisper to Bababalouk, the chief of his eunuchs: "You see how enormous

his performances are in every way; what would be the consequence should

he get at my wives!--Go! redouble your vigilance, and be sure look well

to my Circassians, who would be more to his taste than all of the rest."

The bird of the morning had thrice renewed his song, when the hour of

the divan was announced. Vathek, in gratitude to his subjects having

promised to attend, immediately arose from table and repaired thither,

leaning upon his vizier, who could scarce support him; so disordered was

the poor prince by the wine he had drunk, and still more by the

extravagant vagaries of his boisterous guest.

The viziers, the officers of the crown and of the law, arranged

themselves in a semicircle about their sovereign, and preserved a

respectful silence; whilst the Indian, who looked as cool as if he had

been fasting, sat down without ceremony on one of the steps of the

throne, laughing in his sleeve at the indignation with which his

temerity had filled the spectators.

The caliph, however, whose ideas were confused, and whose head was

embarrassed, went on administering justice at haphazard; till at length

the prime vizier, perceiving his situation, hit upon a sudden expedient

to interrupt the audience and rescue the honour of his master, to whom

he said in a whisper, "My lord, the Princess Carathis, who hath passed

the night in consulting the planets, informs you that they portend you

evil, and the danger is urgent. Beware lest this stranger, whom you have

so lavishly recompensed for his magical gewgaws, should make some

attempt on your life: his liquor, which at first had the appearance of

effecting your cure, may be no more than a poison, the operation of

which will be sudden. Slight not this surmise; ask him, at least, of

what it was compounded, whence he procured it; and mention the sabres

which you seem to have forgotten."

Vathek, to whom the insolent airs of the stranger became every moment

less supportable, intimated to his vizier, by a wink of acquiescence,

that he would adopt his advice; and, at once turning towards the Indian,

said, "Get up, and declare in full divan of what drugs was compounded

the liquor you enjoined me to take, for it is suspected to be poison:

give also that explanation I have so earnestly desired concerning the

sabres you sold me, and thus show your gratitude for the favours heaped

on you."

Having pronounced these words in as moderate a tone as he well could,

he waited in silent expectation for an answer. But the Indian, still

keeping his seat, began to renew his loud shouts of laughter, and

exhibit the same horrid grimaces he had shown them before, without

vouchsafing a word in reply. Vathek, no longer able to brook such

insolence, immediately kicked him from the steps; instantly descending,

repeated his blow; and persisted, with such assiduity, as incited all

who were present to follow his example. Every foot was up and aimed at

the Indian, and no sooner had any one given him a kick, than he felt

himself constrained to reiterate the stroke.

The stranger afforded them no small entertainment; for, being both short

and plump, he collected himself into a ball, and rolled on all sides at

the blows of his assailants, who pressed after him, wherever he turned,

with an eagerness beyond conception, whilst their numbers were every

moment increasing. The ball, indeed, in passing from one apartment to

another, drew every person after it that came in its way; insomuch that

the whole palace was thrown into confusion, and resounded with a

tremendous clamour. The women of the harem, amazed at the uproar, flew

to their blinds to discover the cause; but no sooner did they catch a

glimpse of the ball than, feeling themselves unable to refrain, they

broke from the clutches of their eunuchs, who, to stop their flight,

pinched them till they bled; but in vain: whilst themselves, though

trembling with terror at the escape of their charge, were as incapable

of resisting the attraction.

After having traversed the halls, galleries, chambers, kitchens,

gardens, and stables of the palace, the Indian at last took his course

through the courts; whilst the caliph, pursuing him closer than the

rest, bestowed as many kicks as he possibly could; yet not without

receiving now and then a few which his competitors, in their eagerness,

designed for the ball.

Carathis, Morakanabad, and two or three old viziers, whose wisdom had

hitherto withstood the attraction, wishing to prevent Vathek from

exposing himself in the presence of his subjects, fell down in his way

to impede the pursuit: but he, regardless of their obstruction, leaped

over their heads, and went on as before. They then ordered the muezzins

to call the people to prayers; both for the sake of getting them out of

the way, and of endeavouring, by their petitions, to avert the calamity:

but neither of these expedients was a whit more successful. The sight of

this fatal ball was alone sufficient to draw after it every beholder.

The muezzins themselves, though they saw it but at a distance, hastened

down from their minarets, and mixed with the crowd; which continued to

increase in so surprising a manner that scarce an inhabitant was left in

Samarah except the aged; the sick, confined to their beds; and infants

at the breast, whose nurses could run more nimbly without them. Even

Carathis, Morakanabad, and the rest, were all become of the party. The

shrill screams of the females, who had broken from their apartments and

were unable to extricate themselves from the pressure of the crowd,

together with those of the eunuchs jostling after them, and terrified

lest their charge should escape from their sight; the execrations of

husbands, urging forward and menacing each other; kicks given and

received; stumblings and overthrows at every step; in a word, the

confusion that universally prevailed, rendered Samarah like a city taken

by storm, and devoted to absolute plunder. At last, the cursed Indian,

who still preserved his rotundity of figure, after passing through all

the streets and public places, and leaving them empty, rolled onwards to

the plain of Catoul, and entered the valley at the foot of the mountain

of the four fountains.

As a continual fall of water had excavated an immense gulf in the

valley, whose opposite side was closed in by a steep acclivity, the

caliph and his attendants were apprehensive lest the ball should bound

into the chasm, and, to prevent it, redoubled their efforts, but in

vain. The Indian persevered in his onward direction; and, as had been

apprehended, glancing from the precipice with the rapidity of lightning,

was lost in the gulf below.

Vathek would have followed the perfidious Giaour, had not an invisible

agency arrested his progress. The multitude that pressed after him were

at once checked in the same manner, and a calm instantaneously ensued.

They all gazed at each other with an air of astonishment; and

notwithstanding that the loss of veils and turbans, together with torn

habits, and dust blended with sweat, presented a most laughable

spectacle, yet there was not one smile to be seen. On the contrary, all

with looks of confusion and sadness returned in silence to Samarah, and

retired to their inmost apartments, without ever reflecting, that they

had been impelled by an invisible power into the extravagance for which

they reproached themselves; for it is but just that men, who so often

arrogate to their own merit the good of which they are but instruments,

should also attribute to themselves absurdities which they could not

prevent.

The caliph was the only person who refused to leave the valley. He

commanded his tents to be pitched there, and stationed himself on the

very edge of the precipice, in spite of the representations of Carathis

and Morakanabad, who pointed out the hazard of its brink giving way, and

the vicinity to the magician that had so cruelly tormented him. Vathek

derided all their remonstrances; and having ordered a thousand flambeaux

to be lighted, and directed his attendants to proceed in lighting more,

lay down on the slippery margin, and attempted, by the help of this

artificial splendour, to look through that gloom, which all the fires of

the empyrean had been insufficient to pervade. One while he fancied to

himself voices arising from the depth of the gulf; at another, he seemed

to distinguish the accents of the Indian; but all was no more than the

hollow murmur of waters, and the din of the cataracts that rushed from

steep to steep down the sides of the mountain.

Having passed the night in this cruel perturbation, the caliph at

daybreak retired to his tent; where, without taking the least

sustenance, he continued to doze till the dusk of evening began again to

come on. He then resumed his vigils as before, and persevered in

observing them for many nights together. At length, fatigued with so

fruitless an employment, he sought relief from change. To this end, he

sometimes paced with hasty strides across the plain; and as he wildly

gazed at the stars, reproached them with having deceived him; but, lo!

on a sudden, the clear blue sky appeared streaked over with streams of

blood, which reached from the valley even to the city of Samarah. As

this awful phenomenon seemed to touch his tower, Vathek at first thought

of repairing thither to view it more distinctly; but, feeling himself

unable to advance, and being overcome with apprehension, he muffled up

his face in the folds of his robe.

Terrifying as these prodigies were, this impression upon him was no more

than momentary, and served only to stimulate his love of the marvellous.

Instead, therefore, of returning to his palace, he persisted in the

resolution of abiding where the Indian had vanished from his view. One

night, however, while he was walking as usual on the plain, the moon and

stars were eclipsed at once, and a total darkness ensued. The earth

trembled beneath him, and a voice came forth, the voice of the Giaour,

who, in accents more sonorous than thunder, thus addressed him:

"Wouldest thou devote thyself to me? adore the terrestrial influences,

and abjure Mahomet? On these conditions I will bring thee to the Palace

of Subterranean Fire. There shalt thou behold, in immense depositories,

the treasures which the stars have promised thee; and which will be

conferred by those Intelligences whom thou shalt thus render propitious.

It was from thence I brought my sabres, and it is there that Soliman Ben

Daoud reposes, surrounded by the talismans that control the world."

The astonished caliph trembled as he answered, yet he answered in a

style that showed him to be no novice in preternatural adventures:

"Where art thou? be present to my eyes; dissipate the gloom that

perplexes me, and of which I deem thee the cause. After the many

flambeaux I have burnt to discover thee, thou mayest at least grant a

glimpse of thy horrible visage."--"Abjure then Mahomet!" replied the

Indian, "and promise me full proofs of thy sincerity: otherwise, thou

shalt never behold me again."

The unhappy caliph, instigated by insatiable curiosity, lavished his

promises in the utmost profusion. The sky immediately brightened; and,

by the light of the planets which seemed almost to blaze, Vathek beheld

the earth open; and, at the extremity of a vast black chasm, a portal of

ebony, before which stood the Indian, holding in his hand a golden key

which he sounded against the lock.

"How," cried Vathek, "can I descend to thee? Come, take me, and

instantly open the portal."--"Not so fast," replied the Indian,

"impatient caliph! Know that I am parched with thirst, and cannot open

this door, till my thirst be thoroughly appeased; I require the blood of

fifty children. Take them from among the most beautiful sons of thy

viziers and great men; or neither can my thirst nor thy curiosity be

satisfied. Return to Samarah; procure for me this necessary libation;

come back hither; throw it thyself into this chasm, and then shalt thou

see!"

Having thus spoken, the Indian turned his back on the caliph, who,

incited by the suggestions of demons, resolved on the direful sacrifice.

He now pretended to have regained his tranquillity, and set out for

Samarah amidst the acclamations of a people who still loved him, and

forbore not to rejoice when they believed him to have recovered his

reason. So successfully did he conceal the emotion of his heart, that

even Carathis and Morakanabad were equally deceived with the rest.

Nothing was heard of but festivals and rejoicings. The fatal ball, which

no tongue had hitherto ventured to mention, was brought on the tapis. A

general laugh went round, though many, still smarting under the hands of

the surgeon from the hurts received in that memorable adventure, had no

great reason for mirth.

The prevalence of this gay humour was not a little grateful to Vathek,

who perceived how much it conduced to his project. He put on the

appearance of affability to every one; but especially to his viziers and

the grandees of his court, whom he failed not to regale with a sumptuous

banquet; during which he insensibly directed the conversation to the

children of his guests. Having asked, with a good-natured air, which of

them were blessed with the handsomest boys, every father at once

asserted the pretensions of his own; and the contest imperceptibly grew

so warm, that nothing could have withholden them from coming to blows

but their profound reverence for the person of the caliph. Under the

pretence, therefore, of reconciling the disputants, Vathek took upon him

to decide; and, with this view, commanded the boys to be brought.

It was not long before a troop of these poor children made their

appearance, all equipped by their fond mothers with such ornaments as

might give the greatest relief to their beauty, or most advantageously

display the graces of their age. But, whilst this brilliant assemblage

attracted the eyes and hearts of every one besides, the caliph

scrutinized each, in his turn, with a malignant avidity that passed for

attention, and selected from their number the fifty whom he judged the

Giaour would prefer.

With an equal show of kindness as before, he proposed to celebrate a

festival on the plain, for the entertainment of his young favourites,

who, he said, ought to rejoice still more than all at the restoration of

his health, on account of the favours he intended for them.

The caliph's proposal was received with the greatest delight, and soon

published through Samarah. Litters, camels, and horses were prepared.

Women and children, old men and young, every one placed himself as he

chose. The cavalcade set forward, attended by all the confectioners in

the city and its precincts; the populace, following on foot, composed an

amazing crowd, and occasioned no little noise. All was joy; nor did any

one call to mind what most of them had suffered when they lately

travelled the road they were now passing so gaily.

The evening was serene, the air refreshing, the sky clear, and the

flowers exhaled their fragrance. The beams of the declining sun, whose

mild splendour reposed on the summit of the mountain, shed a glow of

ruddy light over its green declivity, and the white flocks sporting upon

it. No sounds were heard, save the murmurs of the four fountains, and

the reeds and voices of shepherds, calling to each other from different

eminences.

The lovely innocents, destined for the sacrifice, added not a little to

the hilarity of the scene. They approached the plain full of

sportiveness, some coursing butterflies, others culling flowers, or

picking up the shining little pebbles that attracted their notice. At

intervals they nimbly started from each other for the sake of being

caught again and mutually imparting a thousand caresses.

The dreadful chasm, at whose bottom the portal of ebony was placed,

began to appear at a distance. It looked like a black streak that

divided the plain. Morakanabad and his companions took it for some work

which the caliph had ordered. Unhappy men! little did they surmise for

what it was destined. Vathek, unwilling that they should examine it too

nearly, stopped the procession, and ordered a spacious circle to be

formed on this side, at some distance from the accursed chasm. The

body-guard of eunuchs was detached, to measure out the lists intended

for the games, and prepare the rings for the arrows of the young

archers. The fifty competitors were soon stripped, and presented to the

admiration of the spectators the suppleness and grace of their delicate

limbs. Their eyes sparkled with a joy, which those of their fond parents

reflected. Every one offered wishes for the little candidate nearest his

heart, and doubted not of his being victorious. A breathless suspense

awaited the contests of these amiable and innocent victims.

The caliph, availing himself of the first moment to retire from the

crowd, advanced towards the chasm; and there heard, yet not without

shuddering, the voice of the Indian; who, gnashing his teeth, eagerly

demanded, "Where are they?--where are they?--perceivest thou not how my

mouth waters?"--"Relentless Giaour!" answerd Vathek, with emotion; "can

nothing content thee but the massacre of these lovely victims? Ah! wert

thou to behold their beauty, it must certainly move thy

compassion."--"Perdition on thy compassion, babbler!" cried the Indian:

"give them me; instantly give them, or my portal shall be closed against

thee for ever!"--"Not so loudly," replied the caliph, blushing.--"I

understand thee," returned the Giaour with the grin of an ogre; "thou

wantest no presence of mind: I will for a moment forbear."

During this exquisite dialogue, the games went forward with all

alacrity, and at length concluded, just as the twilight began to

overcast the mountains. Vathek, who was still standing on the edge of

the chasm, called out, with all his might, "Let my fifty little

favourites approach me, separately; and let them come in the order of

their success. To the first, I will give my diamond bracelet; to the

second, my collar of emeralds; to the third, my aigret of rubies; to the

fourth, my girdle of topazes; and to the rest, each a part of my dress,

even down to my slippers."

This declaration was received with reiterated acclamations; and all

extolled the liberality of a prince who would thus strip himself for the

amusement of his subjects and the encouragement of the rising

generation. The caliph in the meanwhile, undressed himself by degrees,

and, raising his arm as high as he was able, made each of the prizes

glitter in the air; but whilst he delivered it with one hand to the

child who sprung forward to receive it, he with the other pushed the

poor innocent into the gulf, where the Giaour, with a sullen muttering,

incessantly repeated, "More! more!"

This dreadful device was executed with so much dexterity, that the boy

who was approaching him remained unconscious of the fate of his

forerunner; and, as to the spectators, the shades of evening, together

with their distance, precluded them from perceiving any object

distinctly. Vathek, having in this manner thrown in the last of the

fifty, and, expecting that the Giaour, on receiving him, would have

presented the key, already fancied himself as great as Soliman, and

consequently above being amenable for what he had done; when, to his

utter amazement, the chasm closed, and the ground became as entire as

the rest of the plain.

No language could express his rage and despair. He execrated the perfidy

of the Indian; loaded him with the most infamous invectives; and stamped

with his foot, as resolving to be heard. He persisted in this till his

strength failed him, and then fell on the earth like one void of sense.

His viziers and grandees, who were nearer than the rest, supposed him at

first to be sitting on the grass, at play with their amiable children;

but at length, prompted by doubt, they advanced towards the spot, and

found the caliph alone, who wildly demanded what they wanted? "Our

children! our children!" cried they. "It is assuredly pleasant," said

he, "to make me accountable for accidents. Your children, while at

play, fell from the precipice, and I should have experienced their fate,

had I not suddenly started back."

At these words, the fathers of the fifty boys cried out aloud; the

mothers repeated their exclamations an octave higher; whilst the rest,

without knowing the cause, soon drowned the voices of both with still

louder lamentations of their own. "Our caliph," said they, and the

report soon circulated, "our caliph has played us this trick, to gratify

his accursed Giaour. Let us punish him for perfidy! let us avenge

ourselves! let us avenge the blood of the innocent! let us throw this

cruel prince into the gulf that is near, and let his name be mentioned

no more!"

At this rumour and these menaces, Carathis, full of consternation,

hastened to Morakanabad, and said: "Vizier, you have lost two beautiful

boys, and must necessarily be the most afflicted of fathers; but you are

virtuous, save your master."--"I will brave every hazard," replied the

vizier, "to rescue him from his present danger, but afterwards will

abandon him to his fate. Bababalouk," continued he, "put yourself at the

head of your eunuchs: disperse the mob, and, if possible, bring back

this unhappy prince to his palace." Bababalouk and his fraternity,

felicitating each other in a low voice on their having been spared the

cares as well as the honour of paternity, obeyed the mandate of the

vizier; who, seconding their exertions to the utmost of his power, at

length accomplished his generous enterprise; and retired, as he

resolved, to lament at his leisure.

No sooner had the caliph re-entered his palace than Carathis commanded

the doors to be fastened; but perceiving the tumult to be still violent,

and hearing the imprecations which resounded from all quarters, she said

to her son, "Whether the populace be right or wrong, it behoves you to

provide for your safety; let us retire to your own apartment, and from

thence through the subterranean passage, known only to ourselves, into

your tower: there, with the assistance of the mutes who never leave it,

we may be able to make a powerful resistance. Bababalouk, supposing us

to be still in the palace, will guard its avenues for his own sake; and

we shall soon find, without the counsels of that blubberer Morakanabad,

what expedient may be the best to adopt."

Vathek, without making the least reply, acquiesced in his mother's

proposal, and repeated as he went, "Nefarious Giaour! where art thou?

hast thou not yet devoured those poor children? where are thy sabres?

thy golden key? thy talismans?" Carathis, who guessed from these

interrogations a part of the truth, had no difficulty to apprehend in

getting at the whole as soon as he should be a little composed in his

tower. This princess was so far from being influenced by scruples, that

she was as wicked as woman could be, which is not saying a little; for

the sex pique themselves on their superiority in every competition. The

recital of the caliph, therefore, occasioned neither terror nor surprise

to his mother: she felt no emotion but from the promises of the Giaour,

and said to her son, "This Giaour, it must be confessed, is somewhat

sanguinary in his taste; but the terrestrial powers are always terrible;

nevertheless, what the one hath promised, and the others can confer,

will prove a sufficient indemnification. No crimes should be thought too

dear for such a reward: forbear, then, to revile the Indian; you have

not fulfilled the conditions to which his services are annexed: for

instance, is not a sacrifice to the subterranean Genii required? and

should we not be prepared to offer it as soon as the tumult is subsided?

This charge I will take on myself, and have no doubt of succeeding, by

means of your treasures, which, as there are now so many others in

store, may without fear be exhausted." Accordingly, the princess, who

possessed the most consummate skill in the art of persuasion, went

immediately back through the subterranean passage; and, presenting

herself to the populace from a window of the palace, began to harangue

them with all the address of which she was mistress; whilst Bababalouk

showered money from both hands amongst the crowd, who by these united

means were soon appeased. Every person retired to his home, and Carathis

returned to the tower.

Prayer at break of day was announced, when Carathis and Vathek ascended

the steps which led to the summit of the tower, where they remained for

some time, though the weather was lowering and wet. This impending gloom

corresponded with their malignant dispositions; but when the sun began

to break through the clouds, they ordered a pavilion to be raised, as a

screen against the intrusion of his beams. The caliph, overcome with

fatigue, sought refreshment from repose, at the same time hoping that

significant dreams might attend on his slumbers; whilst the

indefatigable Carathis, followed by a party of her mutes, descended to

prepare whatever she judged proper for the oblation of the approaching

night.

By secret stairs, contrived within the thickness of the wall, and known

only to herself and her son, she first repaired to the mysterious

recesses in which were deposited the mummies that had been wrested from

the catacombs of the ancient Pharaohs. Of these she ordered several to

be taken. From thence she resorted to a gallery where, under the guard

of fifty female negroes, mute, and blind of the right eye, were

preserved the oil of the most venomous serpents, rhinoceros' horns, and

woods of a subtile and penetrating odour procured from the interior of

the Indies, together with a thousand other horrible rarities. This

collection had been formed for a purpose like the present, by Carathis

herself, from a presentiment that she might one day enjoy some

intercourse with the infernal powers, to whom she had ever been

passionately attached, and to whose taste she was no stranger.

To familiarize herself the better with the horrors in view, the princess

remained in the company of her negresses, who squinted in the most

amiable manner from the only eye they had, and leered, with exquisite

delight, at the skulls and skeletons which Carathis had drawn forth from

her cabinets; all of them making the most frightful contortions, and

uttering such shrill chatterings, that the princess, stunned by them and

suffocated by the potency of the exhalations, was forced to quit the

gallery, after stripping it of a part of its abominable treasures.

Whilst she was thus occupied, the caliph, who, instead of the visions he

expected, had acquired in these unsubstantial regions a voracious

appetite, was greatly provoked at the mutes. For having totally

forgotten their deafness, he had impatiently asked them for food; and

seeing them regardless of his demand, he began to cuff, pinch, and bite

them, till Carathis arrived to terminate a scene so indecent, to the

great content of these miserable creatures. "Son! what means all this?"

said she, panting for breath. "I thought I heard as I came up the

shrieks of a thousand bats, torn from their crannies in the recesses of

a cavern; and it was the outcry only of these poor mutes, whom you were

so unmercifully abusing. In truth, you but ill deserve the admirable

provision I have brought you."--"Give it me instantly," exclaimed the

caliph; "I am perishing for hunger!"--"As to that," answered she, "you

must have an excellent stomach if it can digest what I have

brought."--"Be quick," replied the caliph;--"but, oh heavens! what

horrors! what do you intend?"--"Come, come," returned Carathis, "be not

so squeamish; but help me to arrange everything properly; and you shall

see that what you reject with such symptoms of disgust will soon

complete your felicity. Let us get ready the pile for the sacrifice of

to-night; and think not of eating till that is performed: know you not,

that all solemn rites ought to be preceded by a rigorous abstinence?"

The caliph, not daring to object, abandoned himself to grief and the

wind that ravaged his entrails, whilst his mother went forward with the

requisite operations. Phials of serpents' oil, mummies, and bones, were

soon set in order on the balustrade of the tower. The pile began to

rise, and in three hours was twenty cubits high. At length darkness

approached, and Carathis, having stripped herself to her inmost garment,

clapped her hands in an impulse of ecstasy; the mutes followed her

example; but Vathek, extenuated with hunger and impatience, was unable

to support himself, and fell down in a swoon. The sparks had already

kindled the dry wood; the venomous oil burst into a thousand blue

flames; the mummies, dissolving, emitted a thick dun vapour; and the

rhinoceros' horns, beginning to consume, all together diffused such a

stench, that the caliph, recovering, started from his trance, and gazed

wildly on the scene in full blaze around him. The oil gushed forth in a

plenitude of streams; and the negresses, who supplied it without

intermission, united their cries to those of the princess. At last the

fire became so violent, and the flames reflected from the polished

marble so dazzling, that the caliph, unable to withstand the heat and

the blaze, effected his escape, and took shelter under the imperial

standard.

In the meantime, the inhabitants of Samarah, scared at the light which

shone over the city, arose in haste, ascended their roofs, beheld the

tower on fire, and hurried, half naked, to the square. Their love for

their sovereign immediately awoke; and, apprehending him in danger of

perishing in his tower, their whole thoughts were occupied with the

means of his safety. Morakanabad flew from his retirement, wiped away

his tears, and cried out for water like the rest. Bababalouk, whose

olfactory nerves were more familiarized to magical odours, readily

conjecturing that Carathis was engaged in her favourite amusements,

strenuously exhorted them not to be alarmed. Him, however, they treated

as an old poltroon, and styled him a rascally traitor. The camels and

dromedaries were advancing with water; but no one knew by which way to

enter the tower. Whilst the populace was obstinate in forcing the doors,

a violent north-east wind drove an immense volume of flame against them.

At first they recoiled, but soon came back with redoubled zeal. At the

same time, the stench of the horns and mummies increasing, most of the

crowd fell backwards in a state of suffocation. Those that kept their

feet mutually wondered at the cause of the smell, and admonished each

other to retire. Morakanabad, more sick than the rest, remained in a

piteous condition. Holding his nose with one hand, every one persisted

in his efforts with the other to burst open the doors and obtain

admission. A hundred and forty of the strongest and most resolute at

length accomplished their purpose. Having gained the staircase, by their

violent exertions, they attained a great height in a quarter of an hour.

Carathis, alarmed at the signs of her mutes, advanced to the staircase,

went down a few steps, and heard several voices calling out from below,

"You shall in a moment have water!" Being rather alert, considering her

age, she presently regained the top of the tower, and bade her son

suspend the sacrifice for some minutes; adding, "We shall soon be

enabled to render it more grateful. Certain dolts of your subjects,

imagining, no doubt, that we were on fire, have been rash enough to

break through those doors which had hitherto remained inviolate, for the

sake of bringing up water. They are very kind, you must allow, so soon

to forget the wrongs you have done them; but that is of little moment.

Let us offer them to the Giaour; let them come up; our mutes, who

neither want strength nor experience, will soon dispatch them, exhausted

as they are with fatigue."--"Be it so," answered the caliph, "provided

we finish, and I dine." In fact, these good people, out of breath from

ascending fifteen hundred stairs in such haste, and chagrined at having

spilt by the way the water they had taken, were no sooner arrived at the

top, than the blaze of the flames and the fumes of the mummies at once

overpowered their senses. It was a pity! for they beheld not the

agreeable smile with which the mutes and negresses adjusted the cord to

their necks: these amiable personages rejoiced, however, no less at the

scene. Never before had the ceremony of strangling been performed with

so much facility. They all fell, without the least resistance or

struggle: so that Vathek, in the space of a few moments, found himself

surrounded by the dead bodies of the most faithful of his subjects; all

which were thrown on the top of the pile. Carathis, whose presence of

mind never forsook her, perceiving that she had carcasses sufficient to

complete her oblation, commanded the chains to be stretched across the

staircase, and the iron doors barricadoed, that no more might come up.

No sooner were these orders obeyed, than the tower shook; the dead

bodies vanished in the flames, which at once changed from a swarthy

crimson to a bright rose colour; an ambient vapour emitted the most

exquisite fragrance; the marble columns rang with harmonious sounds, and

the liquefied horns diffused a delicious perfume. Carathis, in

transports, anticipated the success of her enterprise; whilst her mutes

and negresses, to whom these sweets had given the colic, retired

grumbling to their cells.

Scarcely were they gone, when, instead of the pile, horns, mummies, and

ashes, the caliph both saw and felt, with a degree of pleasure which he

could not express, a table covered with the most magnificent repast:

flagons of wine and vases of exquisite sherbet reposing on snow. He

availed himself, without scruple, of such an entertainment; and had

already laid hands on a lamb stuffed with pistachios, whilst Carathis

was privately drawing from a filigree urn a parchment that seemed to be

endless, and which had escaped the notice of her son. Totally occupied

in gratifying an importunate appetite, he left her to peruse it without

interruption; which having finished, she said to him, in an

authoritative tone, "Put an end to your gluttony, and hear the splendid

promises with which you are favoured!" She then read as follows:

"Vathek, my well-beloved, thou hast surpassed my hopes: my nostrils have

been regaled by the savour of thy mummies, thy horns, and, still more,

by the lives devoted on the pile. At the full of the moon, cause the

bands of thy musicians, and thy timbals, to be heard; depart from thy

palace, surrounded by all the pageants of majesty--thy most faithful

slaves, thy best beloved wives, thy most magnificent litters, thy

richest loaden camels--and set forward on thy way to Istakhar. There I

await thy coming: that is the region of wonders: there shalt thou

receive the diadem of Gian Ben Gian, the talismans of Soliman, and the

treasures of the pre-Adamite sultans: there shalt thou be solaced with

all kinds of delight.--But beware how thou enterest any dwelling on thy

route; or thou shalt feel the effects of my anger."

The caliph, notwithstanding his habitual luxury, had never before dined

with so much satisfaction. He gave full scope to the joy of these golden

tidings, and betook himself to drinking anew. Carathis, whose antipathy

to wine was by no means insuperable, failed not to pledge him at every

bumper he ironically quaffed to the health of Mahomet. This infernal

liquor completed their impious temerity, and prompted them to utter a

profusion of blasphemies. They gave a loose to their wit, at the expense

of the ass of Balaam, the dog of the seven sleepers, and the other

animals admitted into the paradise of Mahomet. In this sprightly humour,

they descended the fifteen hundred stairs, diverting themselves, as they

went, at the anxious faces they saw on the square, through the barbacans

and loopholes of the tower; and at length arrived at the royal

apartments, by the subterranean passage. Bababalouk was parading to and

fro, and issuing his mandates with great pomp to the eunuchs, who were

snuffing the lights and painting the eyes of the Circassians. No sooner

did he catch sight of the caliph and his mother, than he exclaimed,

"Hah! you have then, I perceive, escaped from the flames; I was not,

however, altogether out of doubt."--"Of what moment is it to us what you

thought or think?" cried Carathis: "go, speed, tell Morakanabad that we

immediately want him; and take care not to stop by the way to make your

insipid reflections."

Morakanabad delayed not to obey the summons, and was received by Vathek

and his mother with great solemnity. They told him, with an air of

composure and commiseration, that the fire at the top of the tower was

extinguished; but that it had cost the lives of the brave people who

sought to assist them.

"Still more misfortunes!" cried Morakanabad, with a sigh. "Ah, commander

of the faithful, our holy Prophet is certainly irritated against us! it

behoves you to appease him." "We will appease him hereafter," replied

the caliph, with a smile that augured nothing of good. "You will have

leisure sufficient for your supplications during my absence, for this

country is the bane of my health. I am disgusted with the mountain of

the four fountains, and am resolved to go and drink of the stream of

Rocnabad. I long to refresh myself in the delightful valleys which it

waters. Do you, with the advice of my mother, govern my dominions, and

take care to supply whatever her experiments may demand; for you well

know that our tower abounds in materials for the advancement of

science."

The tower but ill suited Morakanabad's taste. Immense treasures had been

lavished upon it; and nothing had he ever seen carried thither but

female negroes, mutes, and abominable drugs. Nor did he know well what

to think of Carathis, who, like a chameleon, could assume all possible

colours. Her cursed eloquence had often driven the poor Mussulman to

his last shifts. He considered, however, that if she possessed but few

good qualities, her son had still fewer; and that the alternative, on

the whole, would be in her favour. Consoled, therefore, with this

reflection, he went, in good spirits, to soothe the populace, and make

the proper arrangements for his master's journey.

Vathek, to conciliate the spirits of the subterranean palace, resolved

that his expedition should be uncommonly splendid. With this view he

confiscated, on all sides, the property of his subjects; whilst his

worthy mother stripped the seraglios she visited of the gems they

contained. She collected all the sempstresses and embroiderers of

Samarah and other cities, to the distance of sixty leagues, to prepare

pavilions, palanquins, sofas, canopies, and litters for the train of the

monarch. There was not left, in Masulipatan, a single piece of chintz;

and so much muslin had been brought up to dress out Bababalouk and the

other black eunuchs, that there remained not an ell of it in the whole

Irak of Babylon.

During these preparations, Carathis, who never lost sight of her great

object, which was to obtain favour with the powers of darkness, made

select parties of the fairest and most delicate ladies of the city; but

in the midst of their gaiety, she contrived to introduce vipers amongst

them, and to break pots of scorpions under the table. They all bit to a

wonder; and Carathis would have left her friends to die, were it not

that, to fill up the time, she now and then amused herself in curing

their wounds, with an excellent anodyne of her own invention; for this

good princess abhorred being indolent.

Vathek, who was not altogether so active as his mother, devoted his time

to the sole gratification of his senses, in the palaces which were

severally dedicated to them. He disgusted himself no more with the

divan, or the mosque. One half of Samarah followed his example, whilst

the other lamented the progress of corruption.

In the midst of these transactions, the embassy returned, which had been

sent, in pious times, to Mecca. It consisted of the most reverend

mullahs, who had fulfilled their commission and brought back one of

those precious besoms which are used to sweep the sacred Caaba; a

present truly worthy of the greatest potentate on earth!

The caliph happened at this instant to be engaged in an apartment by no

means adapted to the reception of embassies. He heard the voice of

Bababalouk, calling out from between the door and the tapestry that

hung before it, "Here are the excellent Edris al Shafei, and the

seraphic Al Mouhateddin, who have brought the besom from Mecca, and,

with tears of joy, entreat they may present it to your majesty in

person."--"Let them bring the besom hither; it may be of use," said

Vathek.--"How!" answered Bababalouk, half aloud and amazed.--"Obey,"

replied the caliph, "for it is my sovereign will; go instantly, vanish!

for here will I receive the good folk who have thus filled thee with

joy."

The eunuch departed muttering, and bade the venerable train attend him.

A sacred rapture was diffused amongst these reverend old men. Though

fatigued with the length of their expedition, they followed Bababalouk

with an alertness almost miraculous, and felt themselves highly

flattered, as they swept along the stately porticoes, that the caliph

would not receive them like ambassadors in ordinary in his hall of

audience. Soon reaching the interior of the harem (where, through blinds

of Persian, they perceived large soft eyes, dark and blue, that came and

went like lightning), penetrated with respect and wonder, and full of

their celestial mission, they advanced in procession towards the small

corridors that appeared to terminate in nothing, but, nevertheless, led

to the cell where the caliph expected their coming.

"What! is the commander of the faithful sick?" said Edris al Shafei in a

low voice to his companion.--"I rather think he is in his oratory,"

answered Al Mouhateddin. Vathek, who heard the dialogue, cried out,

"What imports it you, how I am employed? approach without delay." They

advanced, whilst the caliph, without showing himself, put forth his hand

from behind the tapestry that hung before the door, and demanded of them

the besom. Having prostrated themselves as well as the corridor would

permit, and even in a tolerable semicircle, the venerable Al Shafei,

drawing forth the besom from the embroidered and perfumed scarves in

which it had been enveloped and secured from the profane gaze of vulgar

eyes, arose from his associates, and advanced, with an air of the most

awful solemnity, towards the supposed oratory; but with what

astonishment! with what horror was he seized! Vathek, bursting out into

a villainous laugh, snatched the besom from his trembling hand, and,

fixing upon some cobwebs, that hung from the ceiling, gravely brushed

them away till not a single one remained. The old men, overpowered with

amazement, were unable to lift their beards from the ground; for, as

Vathek had carelessly left the tapestry between them half drawn, they

were witnesses of the whole transaction. Their tears bedewed the marble.

Al Mouhateddin swooned through mortification and fatigue, whilst the

caliph, throwing himself backward on his seat, shouted and clapped his

hands without mercy. At last, addressing himself to Bababalouk, "My dear

black," said he, "go, regale these pious poor souls with my good wine

from Schiraz, since they can boast of having seen more of my palace than

any one besides." Having said this, he threw the besom in their face,

and went to enjoy the laugh with Carathis. Bababalouk did all in his

power to console the ambassadors; but the two most infirm expired on the

spot: the rest were carried to their beds, from whence, being

heart-broken with sorrow and shame, they never arose.

The succeeding night, Vathek, attended by his mother, ascended the tower

to see if everything were ready for his journey; for he had great faith

in the influence of the stars. The planets appeared in their most

favourable aspects. The caliph, to enjoy so flattering a sight, supped

gaily on the roof; and fancied that he heard, during his repast, loud

shouts of laughter resound through the sky, in a manner that inspired

the fullest assurance.

All was in motion at the palace; lights were kept burning through the

whole of the night: the sound of implements, and of artisans finishing

their work; the voices of women, and their guardians, who sung at their

embroidery; all conspired to interrupt the stillness of nature, and

infinitely delighted the heart of Vathek, who imagined himself going in

triumph to sit upon the throne of Soliman. The people were not less

satisfied than himself: all assisted to accelerate the moment which

should rescue them from the wayward caprices of so extravagant a master.

The day preceding the departure of this infatuated prince was employed

by Carathis in repeating to him the decrees of the mysterious parchment,

which she had thoroughly gotten by heart; and in recommending him not to

enter the habitation of any one by the way:--"For well thou knowest,"

added she, "how liquorish thy taste is after good dishes and young

damsels: let me, therefore, enjoin thee to be content with thy old

cooks, who are the best in the world; and not to forget that, in thy

ambulatory seraglio, there are at least three dozen of pretty faces

which Bababalouk has not yet unveiled. I myself have a great desire to

watch over thy conduct, and visit the subterranean palace, which, no

doubt, contains whatever can interest persons like us. There is nothing

so pleasing as retiring to caverns: my taste for dead bodies, and

everything like mummy, is decided; and, I am confident, thou wilt see

the most exquisite of their kind. Forget me not then, but the moment

thou art in possession of the talismans which are to open the way to the

mineral kingdoms and the centre of the earth itself, fail not to

dispatch some trusty genius to take me and my cabinet; for the oil of

the serpents I have pinched to death will be a pretty present to the

Giaour, who cannot but be charmed with such dainties."

Scarcely had Carathis ended this edifying discourse, when the sun,

setting behind the mountain of the four fountains, gave place to the

rising moon. This planet, being that evening at full, appeared of

unusual beauty and magnitude in the eyes of the women, the eunuchs, and

the pages, who were all impatient to set forward. The city re-echoed

with shouts of joy and flourishing of trumpets. Nothing was visible but

plumes nodding on pavilions, and aigrets shining in the mild lustre of

the moon. The spacious square resembled an immense parterre variegated

with the most stately tulips of the East.

Arrayed in the robes which were only worn at the most distinguished

ceremonials, and supported by his vizier and Bababalouk, the caliph

descended the great staircase of the tower in the sight of all his

people. He could not forbear pausing, at intervals, to admire the superb

appearance which everywhere courted his view; whilst the whole

multitude, even to the camels with their sumptuous burdens, knelt down

before him. For some time a general stillness prevailed, which nothing

happened to disturb but the shrill screams of some eunuchs in the rear.

These vigilant guards, having remarked certain cages of the ladies

swagging somewhat awry, and discovered that a few adventurous gallants

had contrived to get in, soon dislodged the enraptured culprits, and

consigned them, with good commendations, to the surgeons of the serail.

The majesty of so magnificent a spectacle was not, however, violated by

incidents like these. Vathek, meanwhile, saluted the moon with an

idolatrous air, that neither pleased Morakanabad, nor the doctors of the

law, any more than the viziers and grandees of his court, who were all

assembled to enjoy the last view of their sovereign.

At length, the clarions and trumpets from the top of the tower announced

the prelude of departure. Though the instruments were in unison with

each other, yet a singular dissonance was blended with their sounds.

This proceeded from Carathis, who was singing her direful orisons to the

Giaour, whilst the negresses and mutes supplied thorough-bass, without

articulating a word. The good Mussulmans fancied that they heard the

sullen hum of those nocturnal insects which presage evil, and importuned

Vathek to beware how he ventured his sacred person.

On a given signal, the great standard of the Califat was displayed:

twenty thousand lances shone around it; and the caliph, treading royally

on the cloth of gold which had been spread for his feet, ascended his

litter amidst the general acclamations of his subjects.

The expedition commenced with the utmost order, and so entire a silence,

that even the locusts were heard from the thickets on the plain of

Catoul. Gaiety and good humour prevailing, they made full six leagues

before the dawn; and the morning star was still glittering in the

firmament, when the whole of this numerous train had halted on the banks

of the Tigris, where they encamped to repose for the rest of the day.

The three days that followed were spent in the same manner; but on the

fourth the heavens looked angry: lightnings broke forth in frequent

flashes; re-echoing peals of thunder succeeded; and the trembling

Circassians clung with all their might to their ugly guardians. The

caliph himself was greatly inclined to take shelter in the large town of

Ghulchissar, the governor of which came forth to meet him, and tendered

every kind of refreshment the place could supply. But, having examined

his tablets, he suffered the rain to soak him almost to the bone,

notwithstanding the importunity of his first favourites. Though he began

to regret the palace of the senses, yet he lost not sight of his

enterprise, and his sanguine expectation confirmed his resolution. His

geographers were ordered to attend him; but the weather proved so

terrible that these poor people exhibited a lamentable appearance: and

their maps of the different countries, spoiled by the rain, were in a

still worse plight than themselves. As no long journey had been

undertaken since the time of Haroun al Raschid, every one was ignorant

which way to turn; and Vathek, though well versed in the course of the

heavens, no longer knew his situation on earth. He thundered even louder

than the elements; and muttered forth certain hints of the bow-string,

which were not very soothing to literary ears. Disgusted at the

toilsome weariness of the way, he determined to cross over the craggy

heights and follow the guidance of a peasant, who undertook to bring him

in four days to Rocnabad. Remonstrances were all to no purpose: his

resolution was fixed.

The females and eunuchs uttered shrill wailings at the sight of the

precipices below them, and the dreary prospects that opened in the vast

gorges of the mountains. Before they could reach the ascent of the

steepest rock, night overtook them, and a boisterous tempest arose,

which, having rent the awnings of the palanquins and cages, exposed to

the raw gusts the poor ladies within, who had never before felt so

piercing a cold. The dark clouds that overcast the face of the sky

deepened the horrors of this disastrous night, insomuch that nothing

could be heard distinctly but the mewling of pages and lamentations of

sultanas.

To increase the general misfortune, the frightful uproar of wild beasts

resounded at a distance; and there were soon perceived in the forest

they were skirting the glaring of eyes, which could belong only to

devils or tigers. The pioneers, who, as well as they could, had marked

out a track, and a part of the advanced guard, were devoured before they

had been in the least apprised of their danger. The confusion that

prevailed was extreme. Wolves, tigers, and other carnivorous animals,

invited by the howling of their companions, flocked together from every

quarter. The crashing of bones was heard on all sides, and a fearful

rush of wings overhead; for now vultures also began to be of the party.

The terror at length reached the main body of the troops which

surrounded the monarch and his harem at the distance of two leagues from

the scene. Vathek (voluptuously reposed in his capacious litter upon

cushions of silk, with two little pages beside him of complexions more

fair than the enamel of Franguestan, who were occupied in keeping off

flies) was soundly asleep, and contemplating in his dreams the treasures

of Soliman. The shrieks, however, of his wives awoke him with a start;

and, instead of the Giaour with his key of gold, he beheld Bababalouk

full of consternation. "Sire," exclaimed this good servant of the most

potent of monarchs, "misfortune is arrived at its height; wild beasts,

who entertain no more reverence for your sacred person than for a dead

ass, have beset your camels and their drivers; thirty of the most richly

laden are already become their prey, as well as your confectioners, your

cooks, and purveyors; and unless our holy Prophet should protect us, we

shall have all eaten our last meal." At the mention of eating, the

caliph lost all patience. He began to bellow, and even beat himself (for

there was no seeing in the dark). The rumour every instant increased;

and Bababalouk, finding no good could be done with his master, stopped

both his ears against the hurlyburly of the harem, and called out aloud,

"Come, ladies and brothers! all hands to work: strike light in a moment!

never shall it be said, that the commander of the faithful served to

regale these infidel brutes." Though there wanted not, in this bevy of

beauties, a sufficient number of capricious and wayward, yet, on the

present occasion, they were all compliance. Fires were visible, in a

twinkling, in all their cages. Ten thousand torches were lighted at

once. The caliph himself seized a large one of wax; every person

followed his example; and by kindling ropes' ends, dipped in oil and

fastened on poles, an amazing blaze was spread. The rocks were covered

with the splendour of sunshine. The trails of sparks, wafted by the

wind, communicated to the dry fern, of which there was plenty. Serpents

were observed to crawl forth from their retreats, with amazement and

hissings; whilst the horses snorted, stamped the ground, tossed their

noses in the air, and plunged about without mercy.

One of the forests of cedar that bordered their way took fire; and the

branches that overhung the path, extending their flames to the muslins

and chintzes which covered the cages of the ladies, obliged them to jump

out, at the peril of their necks. Vathek, who vented on the occasion a

thousand blasphemies, was himself compelled to touch, with his sacred

feet, the naked earth.

Never had such an incident happened before. Full of mortification,

shame, and despondence, and not knowing how to walk, the ladies fell

into the dirt. "Must I go on foot?" said one. "Must I wet my feet?"

cried another. "Must I soil my dress?" asked a third. "Execrable

Bababalouk!" exclaimed all. "Outcast of hell! what hast thou to do with

torches? Better were it to be eaten by tigers, than to fall into our

present condition! we are for ever undone! Not a porter is there in the

army, nor a currier of camels, but hath seen some part of our bodies;

and, what is worse, our very faces!" On saying this the most bashful

amongst them hid their foreheads on the ground, whilst such as had more

boldness flew at Bababalouk; but he, well apprised of their humour, and

not wanting in shrewdness, betook himself to his heels along with his

comrades, all dropping their torches and striking their timbals.