To amuse themselves till the hour of the ball, Selim, Mangogul, and the favorite set about telling news. “Does madam know,” says Selim to the favorite, “that poor Codindo is dead?”
“This is the first word I heard of it, but what did he the of?” says the favorite.
“Alas, madam,” answered Selim, “he fell a victim to attraction. He filled his head with this system in his youth, and it turn’d his brain in his old days.”
“How so?” says the favorite.
“He had found,” continued Selim, “by the methods of Halley and Circino, two celebrated astronomers of Monoémugi, that a certain comet, which made so much noise towards the end of Kanaglou’s reign, was to return the day before yesterday; and fearing lest it might double its steps, and he should not have the happiness of being the first to see it; he resolved to spend the night in his observatory, and yesterday morning at nine o’clock he had still his eye clung to the telescope.
“His son apprehending the consequences of so long a sitting, went to him at eight, pull’d him by the sleeve, and called him several times: Father, Father. Not a word of answer. Father, Father, repeated the young Codindo.
“ ‘It is just going to appear,’ replied Codindo: ‘it will appear; zounds! I shall see it.’
“ ‘But you do not consider, dear father, that there is a dismal fog—’
“ ‘I must see it, I will see it, I tell thee.’
“The young man, convinced by these answers, that the fog had got into his father’s head, called out for help. The family ran to him, and sent for Farfadi; and I was with him (for he is my physician) when Codindo’s servant came.—‘Quick, quick, Sir, make haste, old Codindo, my master—’
“ ‘Well, what is the matter, Champagne? What has befallen your master?’
“ ‘Sir, he is run mad.’
“ ‘Thy master is run mad—’
“ ‘Oh! yes, Sir. He cries out that he must see beasts, that he will see beasts; that they will come. The apothecary is with him already, and they wait for you. Come quickly.’
“ ‘Maniacal,’ says Farfadi, putting on his gown, and hunting for his square-cap; ‘Maniacal, a terrible maniacal fit.’ Then turning to the servant, he ask’d: ‘Does not thy master see butterflies? Does he not pick the ends of his coverlid?’
“ ‘Oh! no, Sir,’ replied Champagne. ‘The poor man is on the top of his observatory, where his wife, daughters and son have much ado to hold him. Come quickly, you will find your square-cap tomorrow.’
“Codindo’s disease seemed to me to be of an odd kind: I took Farfadi in my coach, and we drove to the observatory. At the bottom of the stairs we heard Codindo crying out in a furious tone: ‘I must see the comet, I will see it: withdraw ye rascals and jades.’
“In all probability his family, finding that they could not prevail on him to go down to his bedchamber, had ordered his bed up to him: for we found him lying in bed at the top of his observatory. An apothecary of the neighbourhood, and the Bramin of the parish had been called before we arrived. The latter was trumpeting into his ear: ‘Brother, dear brother, your salvation is at stake: you cannot with a safe conscience expect a comet at this hour of the day: you damn yourself.’
“ ‘That is my business,’ said Codindo.
“ ‘What answer will you give to Brama, before whom you are going to appear?’ replied the Bramin.
“ ‘Mr. Rector,’ says Codindo, without stirring his eye from the telescope, ‘my answer shall be, that it is your trade to exhort me for my money, and the apothecary’s there, to extol his warm water to me; that the physician does his duty of feeling my pulse, and learning nothing from it; and I my own, of waiting for the comet.’
“In vain did they teize him, they drew nothing more from him: he continued to observe with heroic courage; and he died on the leads, his left hand on his eye of that side, his right laid on the tube of the telescope, and his right eye applied close to the eyeglass; between his son, who cried that he made a false calculation; his apothecary, who proposed him a clyster, his physician, who with a toss of his head pronounced, that there was nothing more to be done; and his priest, who said to him: ‘Brother, make an act of contrition, and recommend yourself to Brama.’ ”
“That is,” says Mangogul, “what they call dying in the bed of honour.”
“Let us leave poor Codindo,” added the favorite, “to rest in peace, and pass to some more agreeable subject.” Then addressing herself to Selim, “my lord,” says she, “as you are so gallant at this time of life, have so much wit, talents, and so good a mien, and lived in a court devoted to pleasures; it is no wonder if the Toys have formerly celebrated your fame. But yet I suspect that they have not told all they knew of you. I do not require this supplement: you may have good reasons for refusing it. But after all the adventures, with which this gentry have honoured you, you ought to know womankind: and this is one of those things of no consequence, which you may safely own.”
“This compliment, madam,” replied Selim, “would have flattered my self-love at the age of twenty: but I have gained some experience, and one of my first reflections is, that the more one practises this business, the less knowledge he obtains. I, to know women! that I have studied them much, may be allowed.”
“Well, what do you think of them?” said the favorite. “Madam,” answered Selim, “whatsoever their Toys might have published concerning them, I esteem the whole sex as most respectable.”
“Indeed, my friend,” says the Sultan, “you deserve to be
