“ ‘Dear Acaris,’ cried she, ‘how happy am I in those moments, which I snatch from everything that employs me, to deliver myself up to thee. After those which I pass in thy arms, these are the sweetest of my life.—Nothing disturbs me; around me all is silence: my curtains not quite closed, let in but just as much day as is necessary for moving me to tenderness, and gazing on thee. I command my imagination: it calls thee forth, and immediately I see thee. Dear Acaris, how beautiful thou appear’st to me!—Yes, those are thy eyes, thy smile, thy mouth. Hide not that growing bosom from me—Let me kiss it—I have not sufficiently gazed on it.—Let me kiss it again. Ah! let me die on it—What fury seizes me?—Acaris, dear Acaris, where art thou?—Come then, dear Acaris. Ah! dear and tender friend, I swear to thee, that unknown sentiments have taken possession of my soul. It is filled with them, it is astonished at them, it is not able to contain them.—Flow, delightful tears, flow, and ease the ardor which devours me.—No, dear Acaris, no; that Alizali, whom thou prefer’st to me, will not love thee as I do—But I hear a noise—Ah! ’tis Acaris without doubt—Come, dear female friend, come—’
“Fricamona was not deceived,” continued Mangogul; “for it was Acaris herself. I left them to entertain each other; and firmly persuaded that Fricamona’s Toy would persevere in its discretion, I hurried to let you know that I have lost my wager.”
“But,” replied the Sultana, “I am quite in the dark with regard to this Fricamona. Either she must be mad, or she is cruelly afflicted with vapors. No, prince, no, I have more conscience than you may imagine. I have nothing to object to this experiment: but yet I perceive somewhat in it, that hinders me from reaping any advantage by it: and I am resolved to reap none. If ever I accept your castle and porcelains, it must be upon a better title.”
“Madam,” answered Mangogul, “I do not comprehend you. You are inconceivably difficult. Sure you have not well examined the little Sapajou.”
“Prince, I have thoroughly viewed it,” replied Mirzoza. “I know it is a charming thing. But I suspect that this Fricamona is not the person I seek. If you desire that I should enjoy it one day or other, apply elsewhere.”
“Faith, madam,” says Mangogul after mature consideration, “I see none but Mirolo’s mistress that can make you win the wager.”
“Ah! prince, you dream,” answered the favorite. “I am not acquainted with your Mirolo; but whosoever he be, since he has a mistress, he does not keep her for nothing.”
“Very true,” says Mangogul; “and yet I would lay another wager, that Callipiga’s Toy knows nothing at all.”
“Pray be consistent with yourself,” continued the favorite. “Of two things one must happen, either that Callipiga’s Toy—But I was embarking in a ridiculous argument—Prince, do whatever you think proper: consult Callipiga’s Toy; if it keep silence, so much the worse for Mirolo, and the better for me.”
Mangogul departed, and found himself in an instant close to the jonquil Sofa, embroidered with silver, on which Callipiga was reposing. Scarcely had he turned his ring on her, but he heard an obscure voice, which mutter’d out the following discourse. “What do you ask me? I do not comprehend your questions. I am not as much as thought of: and yet I fancy I am as good as another. Mirolo, it is true, often passes by my door, but—”
There is a considerable deficiency in this place. The Republic of Letters would certainty have great obligations to the person, who would restore the discourse of Callipiga’s Toy, of which we have only the two last lines remaining. We invite the learned to study them, and consider whether this deficiency be not a voluntary omission of the author, dissatisfied with what he had said, and who yet found nothing better to say.
“It is said that my rival has altars beyond the Alps. Alas! were it not for Mirolo, the whole universe would erect some to me.”
Mangogul returned immediately to the seraglio, and repeated to the favorite the complaint of Callipiga’s Toy, word for word: for he had a wonderful memory. “Every circumstance of this story, madam,” said he, “concurs to make you win: I give up the whole wager; and you will thank Callipiga when you shall think proper.”
“Sir,” answered Mirzoza seriously, “ ’tis to the most confirmed virtue that I am resolved to be obliged for the wager, and not—”
“But, madam,” replied the Sultan, “I know of none better confirmed than that which has seen the enemy so near.”
“And for my part, prince,” replied the favorite, “I understand my own meaning well: and here come Selim and Bloculocus, who shall be our judges.”
Selim and Bloculocus entered: Mangogul stated the case to them, and they both gave judgment in Mirzoza’s favor.
XXXIX
Dreams
“My lord,” said the favorite to Bloculocus, “you must render me another piece of service. Last night a crowd of extravagant fancies disturbed my head. It was a dream of a very odd kind: and I have been assured that you are the most able person of Congo in decyphering dreams. Then give me quickly the interpretation of this;” and withal she related her own.
“Madam,” answered Bloculocus, “I am but a middling Oneirocritic—”
“Pray spare these terms of art,” cried the favorite: “drop your learning, and talk reason to me.”
“Madam, you shall be obeyed. I have some singular notions relating to dreams: and to this alone perhaps I am indebted for the honour of conversing with you, and for the epithet of Saturnine. I will explain them to you with all the perspicuity I am capable of.
“You are not ignorant, madam,” continued he, “of what the bulk of philosophers, with
