articles. But while the pious Abdûlla indulged in this dream he always resolved that the Imâm Mehdee should receive a fifth of whatever wealth he obtained.

"After some weeks' hard labor at the well, water was found. The reis was in good humor, and the boon of a holiday was granted. Abdulla departed before daylight, that no one might see the bag which he carried; when close to Meshed, he concealed it near the root of a tree, having first taken out two handfuls of the pretty stones, to try what kind of a market he could make of them. He went to a shop where he had seen some like them. He asked the man, pointing to those in the shop, if he would buy any such articles? Certainly,' said the jeweler, for such he was; have you one to sell?' 'One!' said Abdûlla, I have plenty.' Plenty!' repeated the man. 'Yes: a bag-full.' Common pebbles, I suppose; can you show me any? Look here!' said Abdûlla, taking out a handful, which so surprised the jeweler that it was some time before he could speak. Will you remain here, honest man,' said he, ‘for a moment,' trembling as he spoke, and I will return instantly.' So saying, he left the shop, but reappeared in a few minutes with the chief magistrate and some of his attendants. There is the man,' said he; I am innocent of all dealings with him: he has found the long-lost treasure of Khoosroo: his pockets are filled with diamonds, rubies, and pearls, in price and luster far beyond any existing; and he says he has a bag-full.'

6

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The magistrate ordered Abdulla to be searched, and the jewels which had been described were found. He was then desired to show where he had deposited the bag, which he did; all were carefully sealed, and carried with Abdûlla to the governor, by whom he was strictly examined. He told his whole history from first to last: the receiving of ten piastres; his charity at the shrine of the Imâm; his intended purchases; the conduct of the mercer, the horse-dealer, the cutler, the slippermaker; the promises of the mendicant; the disappointment and anger of his wife; the cruelty of the reis; the digging of the well; the discovery of the pretty stones; the plan formed for disposing of them, with the reserve for further charity: all this was narrated with a clearness and simplicity that stamped its truth, which was confirmed by the testimony of his wife and children, who were brought to Meshed. But notwithstanding this, Abdulla, his family, and the treasures he had found, were a few days afterwards dispatched for Isfahan, under a guard

of five hundred horsemen. Express couriers were sent before to advise the ministers of the great Abbas of the discovery which had been made, and of all that had been done.

เ

"During these proceedings at Meshed, extraordinary events occurred at Isfahan. Shah Abbas the Great saw one night in a dream the holy Imâm Mehdee, clothed in green robes. The saint, after looking steadfastly at the monarch, exclaimed, Abbas, protect and favor my friend!' The king was much troubled at this dream, and desired his astrologers and wise men to expound it: but they could not. On the two following nights the same vision appeared, and the same words were pronounced. The monarch lost all temper, and threatened the chief astrologer and others with death unless they relieved the anxiety of his mind before the evening of the same day. While preparations were making for their execution, the couriers from the governor of Meshed arrived, and the vizier, after perusing the letters, hastened to the king. Let the mind of the refuge of the world be at repose,' he said: 'for the dream of our monarch is explained. The peasant Abdûlla of Khorassan, who, though ignorant and poor, is pious and charitable, and who has become the chosen instrument of Providence for discovering the treasures of Khoosroo, is the revealed friend of the holy Imâm Mehdee, who has commanded that this good and humble man be honored by the protection and favor of the king of kings.'

"Shah Abbas listened to the particulars which were written from Meshed with delight; his mind was quite relieved, and he ordered all his nobles and his army to accompany him a day's march from Isfahan to meet the friend of the holy Imâm. When the approach of the party was announced, the king walked from his tent a short distance to meet them. First came one hundred horsemen; next Abdulla, with his arms bound, sitting on a camel; after him, on another, his wife Zeebâ, and followed by their children, Yusuph and Fatima, riding together on a third. Behind the prisoners was the treasure. A hundred horsemen guarded each flank, and two hundred covered the rear. Shah Abbas made the camels which carried Abdûlla and his family kneel close to him, and aided, with his royal hands, to untie the cords by which the good man was bound, while others released his wife and children. A suit of the king's own robes were directed to be put upon Abdulla, and the monarch led him to a seat close to his throne: but before he would consent to be seated, he thus addressed his majesty:

"O King of the Universe, I am a poor man, but I was contented with my lot, and happy in my family, till I first knew wealth. From that day my life has been a series of misfortunes: folly and ambition have made me entertain wishes out of my sphere, and I have brought disappointment and misfortune on those I love best; but now that my death is near, and it pleases your majesty to amuse yourself with a mock-honor to your slave, he is satisfied, if your royal clemency will only spare the lives of that kind woman and these dear children. Let them be restored to the peace and innocence of their native valley, and deal with me according to your royal pleasure.'

"On uttering these words, Abdulla, overcome by his feelings, burst into tears. Abbas was himself greatly moved. 'Good and pious man,' he said, 'I intend to honor, not to slay thee. Thy humble and sincere prayers, and thy charitable of ferings at the shrine of the holy Mehdee, have been approved and accepted. He has commanded me to protect and favor thee. Thou shalt stay a few days at my capital, to recover from thy fatigues, and return as governor of that province from which thou hast come a prisoner. A wise minister, versed in the forms of office, shall attend thee; but in thy piety and honesty of character I shall find the best qualities for him who is destined to rule over others. Thy good wife Zeebâ has already received the silk vest she so anxiously expected; and it shall be my charge,' continued the gracious monarch, with a smile, 'to see Yusuph provided with a horse and sword, and that little Fatima shall have her handkerchief and golden slippers.'

"The manner as well as the expressions of the king dispelled all Abdûlla's fears, and filled his heart with boundless gratitude. He was soon after nominated governor of Khorassan, and became famous over the country for his humanity and justice. He repaired, beautified, and richly endowed the shrine of the holy Imâm, to whose guardian care he ever ascribed his advancement. Yûsuph became a favorite of Abbas, and was distinguished by his skill in horsemanship, and by his gallantry. Fatima was married to one of the principal nobles, and the good Zeebâ had the satisfaction through life of being sole mistress in her family, and having no rival in the affection of her husband, who continued to cherish, in his exalted situation, those ties and feelings which had formed his happiness in humble life."

Such is the story of Abdulla of Khorassan, as given by my friend Derveesh Seffer.

7671

WILLIAM HURRELL MALLOCK.

WILLIAM HURRELL MALLOCK, an English essayist and poet, born in Devonshire in 1849. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where in 1871 he gained the Newdigate Prize by a poem on "The Isthmus of Suez." He has published "Every Man His Own Poet" (1872); "The New Republic" (1877), parts of which had appeared in Belgravia; "The New Paul and Virginia" (1878); "Is Life Worth Living?" (1879), printed in parts in the Contemporary Review and the Nineteenth Century; "Poems" (1880); "A Romance of the Nineteenth Century" and "Poems" (1881); "Social Equality, a Study in a Missing Science" (1882), mostly from the Contemporary Review and the Nineteenth Century; "Property and Progress" (1884), from the Quarterly Review; "Atheism and the Value of Life, or Five Studies in Contemporary Literature " (1885); a novel, "The Old Order Changes" (1886); “A Human Document" (1892); "In an Enchanted Island" (1889); "Labor and the Popular Welfare" (1893); "Verses" (1893); "Studies of Contemporary Superstition" (1895); "The Heart of Life" (1895); "Classes and Masses" (1896); "Aristocracy and Evolution " (1898).

AN EVENING'S TABLE-TALK AT THE VILLA.

(From "The New Republic.")

No proposal could have been happier than Lady Grace's, of the garden banquet in the pavilion. It seemed to the guests, when they were all assembled there, that the lovely summer's day was going to close with a scene from fairy-land. The table itself, with its flowers and glowing fruit, and its many-colored Venetian glass, shone and gleamed and sparkled in the evening light, that was turning outside to a cool mellow amber; and above, from the roof, in which the dusk was already darkness, hung china lamps in the shape of green and purple grape clusters, looking like luminous fruit stolen from Aladdin's garden. The pavilion, open on all sides, was supported on marble pillars that were almost hidden in red and white roses. Behind, the eye rested on great tree trunks and glades of rich foliage; and

before, it would pass over turf and flowers, till it reached the sea beyond, on which in another hour the faint silver of the moonlight would begin to tremble.

There was something in the whole scene that was at once calming and exhilarating; and nearly all present seemed to feel in some measure this double effect of it. Dr. Jenkinson had been quite restored by an afternoon's nap; and his face was now all a-twinkle with a fresh benignity, that had, however, like an early spring morning, just a faint suspicion of frost in it. Mr. Storks even was less severe than usual; and as he raised his champagne to his lips, he would at times look very nearly conversational.

"My dear Laurence," exclaimed Mr. Herbert, "it really seems as if your visions of the afternoon had come true, and that we actually were in your New Republic already. I can only say that if it is at all like this, it will be an entirely charming place too charming, perhaps. But now remember this: you have but half got through the business to which you first addressed yourselves, that of forming a picture of a perfect aristocracy, an aristocracy in the true and genuine sense of the word. You are all to have culture, or taste. Very good: you have talked a great deal about that, and you have seen what you mean by it; and you have recognized, above all, that it includes a discrimination between right and wrong. But now you, with all this taste and culture, you gifted men and women of the nineteenth century, - what sort of things does your taste teach you to reach out towards? In what actions and aims, in what affections and emotions, would you place your happiness? That is what I want to hear, - the practical manifestations of this culture.”

"Ah," said Mr. Rose, "I have at this moment a series of essays in the press, which would go far towards answering these questions of yours. They do indeed deal with just this: the effect of the choicer culture of this century on the soul of man; the ways in which it endows him with new perceptions; how it has made him, in fact, a being altogether more highly organized. All I regret is that these choicer souls, these Xapíevres, are as yet like flowers that have not found a climate in which they can thrive properly. That mental climate will doubtless come with time. What we have been trying to do this afternoon is, I imagine, nothing more than to anticipate it in imagination."

"Well," said Mr. Herbert, with a little the tone of an Inquis