CHAPTER XIV.

How many a fool has prospered in the world—how many a philosopher has died of disappointment!

The Lamja.

The loss of self-esteem makes the profligate a bankrupt in principle. Mourad was now living in abject dependance on the woman he loathed— the last degree of degradation a man can submit to. Reflection became intolerable, and the society of his dissolute companions more than ever necessary to his existence. He was more intimately acquainted with Zadig than any of the others he was a more refined debauchee, and was not destitute of all the good qualities to which his companions were strangers. He had often promised Mourad to recount his history to him, and one evening that his friend was

:

more than usually dejected, he thought the narrative he had promised might tend to divert his melancholy.

"From the beginning of the world," said Zadig, "children have been born and become men, have flourished to a certain age and then declined, and after a few years dotage, have died and been buried. This was precisely the history of my father. I am not acquainted with a single circumstance connected with his life worthy of relating, except that of his leaving me his blessing to begin the world with. It was a poor fitting out for a man embarking in life, and one, too, more remarkable for his indolence than his industry; but it was better than a fortune to me. I was successful in whatever I attempted; while my neighbours ran about the bazaars, and bustled through the streets to gain their bread, I took the world easy, walked leisurely through life, never suffered myself to be put out of the way by any untoward prospect, and yet my daily bread seemed to fall into my mouth without any exertion on my part. I verily believe it came from heaven. While the

While the poor wretches round

me were toiling from morning till night for a miserable subsistence, I enjoyed my repose; and when I was weary of it, I turned my hand to business, and every thing I did prospered.

"My repugnance to bodily exertion induced me to make choice of various sedentary employments. I set out in life as a tailor. My master died before I was six months in his service, and as he had the reputation of dying poor, the servants and journeymen quitted the house, and even his wife did not think it worth while to make a lamentation over his remains. I sat on the shop-board, giving my fingers a holiday, and enjoying the silence that prevailed around me, interrupted only by the noise of the rats and mice beneath the boards I sat on. I thought I occasionally heard a sound like the jingling of money, as the rats ran backwards and forwards. I raised the planks, and to my great astonishment and delight, I found the treasure of the tailor deposited between the rafters. I lost no time in taking out the money, and replacing the boards; and as I did so, could not help thinking how fortunate it was that I was not a man of activity, who, on the death of one

master, would not have lost a moment in seeking employment with another.

"I had often envied the school-masters I had seen seated in the stalls of the bazaars, rocking their bodies all day long without moving from their places, except to flog the shrieking urchins around them.

"I set up a school—the brats told me I was mad. Who,' said they, will send their children to a stranger whom they know nothing about? How do you mean to get scholars ? Have you any plan to make yourself known?' 'None in the world,' said I. God knows me,

and that is quite sufficient.

I mean to sit in

my stall till it is filled with scholars, and Inshallah! that will happen before a fortnight.'

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My expectations were realized. In a little time I had more scholars than I could teach, I was obliged to divide the system of education into two branches—the teaching and the flogging departments. I reserved the former for myself: I hired a porter for the other. Every thing went on well with me till the house unluckily tumbled about my ears, and I was buried in the ruins. It was the most fortunate acci

dent of my life. Before the awful crash, the wall had been seen giving way for several minutes, before it actually came down. My neighbours ran with terror in their looks to inform me of my danger: my urchins took to their heels, delighted beyond measure at the prospect of a holiday, while I sat deliberating on the urgency of the danger, preparing to make up my mind to walk out of the house; but before my resolution was formed, down came the roof about my ears, and for the first time in my life

I felt somewhat disconcerted. A beam had luckily fallen transversely across the stall, and beneath this I lay without sustaining any injury. I heard the groans of a person near me. Who, in the name of Allah,' said I, groans so piteously?'

"Oh!' replied the person who was addressed, for the sake of the nine wives of the prophet, help me to get out of these ruins. I am the rich widow who lives on the first-floor. I will give you half my fortune, if you only enable me to rise from the dust that is smothering me.'

"Ah! my good woman,' said I, though