Fable IV. History of Alibeg the Persian

SHAH Abbas, King of Periia, being once upont progreis, rode off from his court, in order to pa& through the country incognito, and to see the. people in all their native liberty: he took only one of his courtiers with him. I am quite a Granger, said the King to l)i m, to the real manners of men; whatever approacheth us is difguifcd; it i^ art, and not simple nature, which flicws iifcif to us. I mean to fludy the country life, and to see tiiat fpecics of men, which is fo much despised^ aliho' they be the true support of all human society. I am weary of seeing courtiers, who watch my every motion, to take advantage of me by flattery; I must go and see hu(bandmen and fhephcrds, who know me not. he pa/Tcd, with his confident, thro' the midst of fcvcral villages, where the peasants were a dancing; and was ravifhcd to find, far from courts, calm and uncxpcnfive pleasures. he made a meal in a cottage; 4nd, as he was very hungry after walking more thaa

linary, the homely cheer he met with, seemed to I more pleasant than all the exquisite meats of his le. in paifiog through a flowery meadow, which dered a crystal flreara, he spied a youthful shepherd ^ng upon the pipe, in the (hade of a lofty elm, his;p feeding pleasantly by. he makes up, and exales him; he finds his phyfiogoomy agreeable, his simple and ingenuous, but noble and graceful; the s wherewith the swain was clothed, did not at all linifh the lustre of his beauty, the kmg thought at: that this was some person of illuflrious birth in ^ise; but he was informed by the youth, that his ler and mother were in a neighbouring village, and t his name was Alibeg. the more the King quedionhim, the more he admired his solidity and under-ading. his eyes were quick, but had nothing fiery wild; his voice was sweet, engaging, and affedting; countenance had nothing coarse, but it was not a t and effeminate beauty, the shepherd, about six-o, had no notion of his being such as he appeared others; he imagined that he thought, that he spoke, Lt he was made like the other swains of his village; r, without education, he had learned all that rea-i teaches those who give ear to her, the King, af- • some familiar conversation, was charmed with him; learned from him every thing about the flatc of the Dple, which Kings never hear from the croud of tterers that surround them; he would now and then finite it the tsativt fimjrficity of the lad, who WM pO< fe^ free in his aofwert: it wai no fiiiall fiOfelty t§ the King to hear aoy ttlk fo nataraliy: he muse t sign to hit ittendant not to discover that he was ikt King; for he feared left Aiibeg ihoold lose, in a ttO* menty all his freedom and grace* did he come to kno# before whom he spoke. I see plainly* said the PrinOft to the courtier* that nature it no less beaatiful in the lowed, than in the highest conditions. ncTer did King*! child appear better bom, than thh boy who keepi Iheep; too happy should I think myself to ha^e a (oi as handsome, as feniible, and a9 amiable; he seems to toe fit for any thing, and, if care is taken to inftmd him, this will farely one day be a great masi. I am re* solved to hare him educated under my own eye. the King carried off Aiibeg, who was not a little furprifed to understand to whom he had made himself agree* able, he was taught to read, to write, to sing, and af* terwards masters were given him for the arts and sci* tnces which adem the mind, at first, he was a littlt dazzled with the splendor of the court; and his great change of fortune made some small change on hit heart; his youth, and ihare of favour joined toother* somewhat altered his wifclom and moderation; in* (lead of his crook, pipe, and shepherd's humble gar* meot, he put on a purple robe, embroidered with gold* and a turban, covered with precious flones; his beauty •dipiiMi all that the court could boast of as most agree*

ALIBBOTNBPBfttlAN. |t abk I be rendered btm^capiUe of die »oft feri^qt* affiMrSy Md merited dK eoofidenoe of his 9tfter» wh» knQWH^ Alibeg'9 exqoifite ufle m whatever bekaf* ed to the mftgDificeoce of a palace, bestowed on bkn at kpgdi a charge "fcrj considerable in Ferfia* which ia that of ke^g ali the Prioce's jevda aid raluaUt fttroitiire.

Dminf the whole life of the great Sliah Abhaf» Alibeg cDQttnned to grow io faroor* aa he advanced to riper Tcers, he at length remembred hta ancleai coadittoo, and often woold he regret \u O glofioua dajs 1 would he hy to his^tf^ iaoQceot dajs, daya wherein i tailed piiro, and umodangeredjoys; days* Gnce which I hase see&noee lb pkafant; stall I never see 70U agaift? he, who deprived aoe of yoo, hj giv« iag mt fo great ikb&s^ hath robbed me of my all. he wo«M needs go and re-visit hi) vtll^e.. he was kB&^ hiy afioSftd ie all th^ ptacea where he had formerly daneedt ittng, and. hfewn the pipe with hia coopaai^ ona: he n^ade (boae ietileneat upon all hts relattona and friends; hut he recon»iended it to them^ as \hes vahied their happinefa» never to ^uit the raral hfe« noc oaqfiole theiBafelvcs tO) the miafertjunes of a court.

These aotaiortujies h^ e^eri/eneed after the deatb of hist good master Shah Abbaa^ who waa facceeded \Bis hia soB Shahi Sephi^ somo oourtiera^ fail of eavy and artifice, found means to prepoflefa him agaiaft Alibeg,. bo hath ahiifo4- bii> tiieya the bto Kingfa coofidfince^s;

^g HI8T0RYOF lie hath amafled immeDfe treasures, and imb many things of the highest value, which were mitted to his charge. Shah Sephi was at once ] and a prince; this was more than sufficient to him credulous, indolent, and inconGderate; li the vanity to pretend to reform what his fath< done, and to judge better than he. in order to! pretext to dispossess Alibeg of his office, he c him, by the advice of his envious courtiers, to htm a scimitar, set with diamonds of an immec lue, which the King, his grand-father, had w« wear in battle. Shah Abbas had formerly caufi those fine diamonds to be taken off from that tar; and Alibeg, proved, by unexceptionable witi that the thing had been done by the late King's < before the office had been given him. when A] enemies saw that they could no longer avail them of this pretence to destroy him, they advised Sephi to command him to make out, within the of fifteen days, an exadl inventory of all the pr( moveables with which he was entrusted. at the e fifteen days he desired to see all the things hii Alibeg opened all the doors to him, and fhewec every thing he had in his custody; nothing was ^ ihg, all was neat, properly disposed, and pref with the greatest care.* the King, aftoniflied tc every where fo much order and exadlnefs, had a received Alibeg again into favour, when he spi<

ALIUBG THE PERSIAN. J^

«t flie dnd of a great gallery, full of very costly furniture, an iron door, which had three great locks, it is there, wbifpered the jealous courtier^, Alibeg has hid all the predbus things he has robbed you of. immediately the King in rage, cried out, I want to see ^hat is within that door; what have you put there? shew me Indantly. at these words Alibeg threw himself on his Icnees, conjuring him in the name of God, not to take from him what he held mod precious upon earth, it is oot just, said he, that I should lose, in a moment, my only remnant, my sole refuge, after having toilpd Co many years in the service of the King, your father: take from me, if you please, all the rest, but leave me only this, the King made not the smallest doubt but this was some ill-got treasure, which Alibeg had amas-ied, he afliimed therefore an higher tone, and insisted ablblutely that the door should be opened, at lad Alibeg, who had the keys, opened it himself. nothing was there found in that repository but the crook, the pipe, and shepherd's garment, which Alibeg had formerly worn, and which he oft re-visited with joy, for fear of forgetting his primitive condition, behold, said he, O great King, the precious remnants of my ancient happiness; neither fortune, nor your power, hath been able to take them from me; behold my treasure which I keep to enrich myself, when you shall have made aie. poor; take back all the red, but leave me these 4ear pledges of my fird edate i these are true pos*

94 if I s T o |L r op^ &e.

fefEonSy which will ne?er fgil me; thde tie die sim* plcy innocent p6iIeifions» ever comfortabk to foch u can be content with the neceflkry, and torinent not themselves about the fuperfloons; these are the poficfr ^ons whereof liberty and fafetj-are the fruits; the& are the pofTeiEons which never have given me one iaOf inent*s uneaiiners; O dear instruments of a fimj^ and happy life! I love nought but you; with you I wiih tQ live and die; why should other deceitfal goods have come to beguile me, and. to disturb the repbfe of my life? I restore to you, great King, all thole ricb» which accrue to me from your hberality; I keep only what I had, when the King your father came, by his favours, to make me unhappy.

The King hearing these words, and perceiving the innocence of Alibeg, was filled with indignation ar gaind the courtiers, who had aimed at his deftrudtir on, and baoifhed them for ever from his presence. Alibeg became his principal officer, and was intruded with the mod secret affairs, but daily did he re-visit his crook, his pipe, and ancient raiment, which he held always ready in his treasure, in order to re-afTume them, whenever inconstant fortune should interrupt his favour, he died in an extreme old age, without having ever desired either to punish his enemies, or to amass an edate; and leaving his relations only wher^ withal to live in the flation of shepherds, which he thought always the f^eil and happlefi^ o f

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