e; but she
was disappointed in her expectations.

The prince of Persia, without the least exaggeration, gave so
advantageous an account of the extent of the kingdom of Persia,
its magnificence and riches, its military force, its commerce by
sea and land with the most remote parts of the world, some of
which were unknown even to him; the vast number of large cities
it contained, almost as populous as that which the emperor had
chosen for his residence, where he had palaces furnished ready to
receive him at all seasons of the year; so that he had his choice
always to enjoy a perpetual spring; that before he had concluded,
the princess found the kingdom of Bengal to be very much inferior
to that of Persia in a great many respects. When he had finished
his relation, he begged of her to entertain him with a
description of Bengal.

The princess after much entreaty gave prince Firoze Shaw that
satisfaction; but by lessening a great many advantages the
kingdom of Bengal was well known to have over that of Persia, she
betrayed the disposition she felt to accompany him, so that he
believed she would consent at the first proposition he should
make; but he thought it would not be proper to make it till he
had shewed her so much deference as to stay with her long enough
to make the blame fall on herself, in case she wished to detain
him from returning to his father.

Two whole months the prince of Persia abandoned himself entirely
to the will of the princess of Bengal, yielding to all the
amusements she contrived for him, for she neglected nothing to
divert him, as if she thought he had nothing else to do but to
pass his whole life with her in this manner. But he now declared
seriously he could not stay longer, and begged of her to give him
leave to return to his father; repeating again the promise he had
made her to come back soon in a style worthy of her and himself,
and to demand her in marriage of the Rajah of Bengal.

"And, princess," observed the prince of Persia, "that you may not
suspect the truth of what I say; and that by my asking this
permission you may not rank me among those false lovers who
forget the object of their affection as soon as absent from them;
to shew that my passion is real, and not feigned, and that life
cannot be pleasant to me when absent from so lovely a princess,
whose love to me I cannot doubt is mutual; I would presume, were
I not afraid you would be offended at my request, to ask the
favou