s passed on in total idleness; and, as I had no
inclination to pursue the profession of physic, which many before me had
done on quite as slender a foundation as the one I had acquired, I
cared little for those pursuits which engaged Mirza Ahmak. I should very
probably have left him instantly, if a circumstance had not occurred,
arising from the very state of unprofitableness in which I lived, which
detained me in his house. The feelings to which it gave rise so entirely
absorbed every other consideration, that I became their slave; and so
violent were the emotions which they created, that I verily believe that
Majnoun, in the height of his frenzy, could not have been madder than I.
After this, it is needless to mention that I was in love.

The spring had passed over, and the first heats of summer, which now
began to make themselves felt, had driven most of the inhabitants of the
city to spread their beds and sleep on the house-tops. As I did not like
to pass my night in company of the servants, the carpet-spreaders and
the cook, who generally herded together in a room below, I extended my
bed in a corner of the terrace, which overlooked the inner court of the
doctor's house, in which were situated the apartments of the women. This
court was a square, into which the windows of the different chambers
looked, and was planted in the centre with rose-bushes, jessamines, and
poplar-trees. A square wooden platform was erected in the middle, upon
which mattresses were spread, where the inhabitants reposed during the
great heats. I had seen several women seated in different parts of the
court, but had never been particularly struck by the appearance of
any one of them; and indeed had I been so, perhaps I should never have
thought of looking at them again; for as soon as I was discovered,
shouts of abuse were levelled at me, and I was called by every odious
name that they could devise.

One night, however, soon after the sun had set, as I was preparing my
bed, I perchance looked over a part of the wall that was a little broken
down, and on a slip of terrace that was close under it I discovered a
female, who was employed in assorting and spreading out tobacco-leaves.
Her blue veil was negligently thrown over her head, and as she stooped,
the two long tresses which flowed from her forehead hung down in so
tantalizing a manner as nearly to screen all her face, but still left so
much of it visible, that it created an intense desire