seemed endless. The bleeding shade of his son incessantly
appeared before him, banishing the peace and slumber to which it had
been sacrificed. Shrouded in the garb of mourning, the monarch of Persia
dismissed all pleasure from his court; and, during the rest of his life,
could not be known by his attire from the meanest of his subjects.

One day he sent for Bebut, who found him standing on the steps of his
throne, entirely clothed in scarlet, the red turban of twelve folds
around his head,--in short, in the garb assumed by the kings of Persia
when preparing to pronounce the decree of death. Bebut shuddered. "It is
written," said the Sehah, "that what the king wills cannot be wrong.
Give me to-day the same proof of thy obedience which thou didst once
before. Bebut, thou hast a son--bring me his head!" Bebut attempted to
speak. "Bebut, Etimadoulet, Khan of Schamachia--is, then, thy ambition
satiated, that thou hesitatest to satisfy my commands? Obey! Thy life
depends on it!"

Bebut returned with the head of his only child. "Well," said the father
of Mirza, with a horrid smile, "How dost feel?"--"Let these tears tell
you how," answered the unhappy Khan: "I have killed with my own hand the
being I loved best on earth. You can ask nothing beyond. This day, for
the first time, I have cursed ambition, which could subject me to a
necessity like this."--"Go," said the monarch; "You can now judge what
you have made me suffer, in murdering my son. Ambition has rendered us
the two most wretched beings in the empire. But, be it your comfort,
that your ambition can soar no higher; for this last deed has brought
you on a level with your sovereign."[7]

Abbas received from his subjects and posterity the surname of THE GREAT.
Bebut the Ambitious was presently known only by the title of Bebut THE
INFAMOUS. It is said, he was a short time after stabbed by the son of
the unfortunate jeweller, whom he had so unjustly condemned to death
when divan-beghi. Thus were the words of the poet Ferdusi verified. His
first fault was the cause of all the others, and their common
punishment.--_Oriental Herald_.

[4] _Zekath_ is the Persian name for the tithe of alms which the
Koran enjoins to be distributed among the poor.

[5] _Schah-nameh_ signifies the royal book. It was composed by
order of Mahmoud the Gaznevide, and contains 60,000 distichs,
the history of the ancient sovereigns of Persia.

[6] That is to say, the _C