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let not all the time of your youth be devoted to its acquisition; for languages are only the avenues which lead to the temple of learning.

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"Meditate, O my son, on the laws both human and divine; all of them are contained in the blessed Koran. Then let philosophy be your study, and nourish your mind with the wisdom of the best authors. A bird without wings cannot soar aloft; pearls are not found at the surface of the waters, but in the depths of the ocean: the diver has to seek them in the midst of a thousand dangers. Cultivate the poetry of the Arabs; it is not less beautiful than that of the Persians; it is even endowed with more of that divine enthusiasm, which seizes on the soul, inflames the imagination, and carries away the heart. In its impetuous state, their fancy paints every object in nature forcibly, yet correctly, while their numbers glow with all the warmth of the climate they inhabit.

"Remember, O my son, that Arabic and Persian are the languages of rhyme, the two wings on which the poet is to launch into the heavens. Remember the end of the art is to

render men more virtuous; the garden of poetry is dry and arid, unless moistened by the rain of philosophy. And after poetry, let music have its empire over your soul; abandon your delighted ear to all its impressions; let the sweet sounds transport you above the earth; exult in your exaltation! Music, like poetry, paints objects on the mind, expresses the various passions; now touches a chord of self-subduing tenderness---now tears a string, which makes the air tremble with its vibration, and stirs up the warrior in our bosoms! In such moments, who would dare to say, the heart is not in intelligence with the ear?' "

The feeling with which the barber spoke these words, and the vehement gestures which accompanied them, convinced our hero that the shaver of heads was the disciple of a son of Shemseddin. He rejoiced in the discovery, for he had greater need of Hassan's faith than of his physic. He had confidence to repose in him; and he well knew, that in his country at least, the cultivators of literature are the most trust-worthy men in the community;—Sufi's, if

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drinkers of wine, and singers of love songs; yet men, who wear not falsehood on their hearts, and friendship on their lips;—a class of men who are never to be found in the circles of the great, whose members are only furnished by the middle ranks.

"Ah, my friend!" exclaimed Mourad, in a tone of great humility, "the words of your mouth are floods of milk and honey, full of the sweetness of Hadramut. Mine, O Hassan ! have but a faint flavour of the exquisite water of Rocnabad, whose gelid stream sparkles with inspiration, and to which Hafiz owes immortality. The masters you spoke of have not been my preceptors; I have devoted little time to the study of the sciences of which you are a master.— (Hassan stroked his beard.)—Neither poetry nor music am I versed in; though I may have wept a little over the gazals of Ferdousi, incomparable odes!—and melted over the melodious notes of Gulam, to whom the angel Israfil taught the magic of sweet music. Neither am I skilled like a Ulima, in the jurisprudence of Shafiei; but I have had much occasion lat

terly to turn over the dry pages of Makatanni, on the law of inheritance; and I have hopes that you may enlighten my understanding on the subject, and throw a gleam or two of sunshine on the object of my research."

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CHAPTER VII.

A sick man is an advantage to physicians.

VISHNUSARMAN.

"Were you acquainted," said Mourad, taking hold of the barber's tunic in a familiar manner, as he addressed him—" with Achmet Effendi, the comptroller of the customs?"

"I was personally acquainted," replied Hassan," with every hair in his beard; I trimmed it a thousand times."

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"He was a good man," continued our hero, was he not ?"

"He did not pay over well," answered the

barber.

"But he had the reputation of being a rich man, a man of understanding, had he not ?" asked Mourad.

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