rst, whilst I may refresh myself in
the valley of melons and cucumbers! Accursed be the Giaour, with his
portal of ebony! he hath made me dance attendance too long already.
Besides, who shall prescribe laws to me? I forsooth must not enter any
one's habitation! Be it so; but what one can I enter that is not my
own?"

Bababalouk, who lost not a syllable of this soliloquy, applauded it with
all his heart, and the ladies for the first time agreed with him in
opinion.

The dwarfs were entertained, caressed, and seated with great ceremony on
little cushions of satin. The symmetry of their persons was the subject
of criticism; not an inch of them was suffered to pass unexamined;
knick-knacks and dainties were offered in profusion, but all were
declined with respectful gravity. They clambered up the sides of the
Caliph's seat, and, placing themselves each on one of his shoulders,
began to whisper prayers in his ears; their tongues quivered like the
leaves of a poplar, and the patience of Vathek was almost exhausted, when
the acclamations of the troops announced the approach of Fakreddin, who
was come with a hundred old grey-beards and as many Korans and
dromedaries; they instantly set about their ablutions, and began to
repeat the Bismillah; Vathek, to get rid of these officious monitors,
followed their example, for his hands were burning.

The good Emir, who was punctiliously religious, and likewise a great
dealer in compliments, made an harangue five times more prolix and
insipid than his harbingers had already delivered. The Caliph, unable
any longer to refrain, exclaimed--

"For the love of Mahomet, my dear Fakreddin, have done! let us proceed to
your valley, and enjoy the fruits that Heaven hath vouchsafed you."

The hint of proceeding put all into motion; the venerable attendants of
the Emir set forward somewhat slowly, but Vathek, having ordered his
little pages in private to goad on the dromedaries, loud fits of laughter
broke forth from the cages, for the unwieldy curvetting of these poor
beasts, and the ridiculous distress of their superannuated riders,
afforded the ladies no small entertainment.

They descended, however, unhurt into the valley, by the large steps which
the Emir had cut in the rock; and already the murmuring of streams and
the rustling of leaves began to catch their attention. The cavalcade
soon entered a path which was skirted by flowering shrubs, and extended
to a vast wood of palm-tr