Page:Arabian Nights Entertainments (1728)-Vol. 2.djvu/51

$table, with the richeſt Harneſs, and a Robe of the moſt ſumptuous Brocard to put upon that Perſon who wrote thoſe ſix Hands, and bring him hither to me. At this Command the Officers could not forbear laughing; the Sultan grew angry at their Boldneſs, and were ready to puniſh them till they told him, Sir, we humbly beg your Majeſty’s Pardon, theſe Hands are not writ by a Man, but by an Ape. What do you ſay, ſays the Sultan? Thoſe admirable Characters, are they not writ by the Hand of a Man? No, Sir, replied the Officers, we do aſſure your Majeſty, that it was an Ape, who wrote them in our Preſence. The Sultan was too much ſurpriz’d at this Account, not to deſire a fight of me, and therefore ſays, Do what I commanded you, and bring me ſpeedily that wonderful Ape.

The Officers returned to the Veſſel, and ſhew’d the Captain their, Order, who anſwer’d, the Sultan’s Commands muſt be obey’d. Whereupon they cloath’d me with that rich Brocard-Robe, and carried me a-ſhore, where they ſet me on Horſeback whilſt the Sultan waited for me at the Palace with a great Number of Courtiers, whom he gather’d together to do me the more Honour.

The Cavalcade being begun, the Harbour, the Streets, the publick Places, Windows, Terraſes, Palaces and Houſes were all fil’d with an infinite Number of People of all ſorts, who were curious to come from all Parts of the City to ſee me: For the Rumour was ſpread in a Moment, that the Sultan had choſen an Ape to his Grand-Viſier; and after having ſerved for a Spectacle to the People, who could not forbear to expreſs their Surprize by redoubling their Shouts and Cries, I arrived at the Palace of the Sultan.

I found the Prince ſat on his Throne in the midſt of the Grandees; I made my Bow three times very low, and at laſt I kneel’d and kiſs’d the Ground before him, and afterwards ſat down in my Seat in the Poſture of an Ape. The whole Aſſembly admired me, and could not comprehend how it was poſſible that an Ape ſhould underſtand ſo well to give the Sultan his due Reſpect; and he himſelf was more aſtoniſh’d than any Man. In ſhort, the Ceremony of the Audience would have been compleat, could I have added a Speech to my Behaviour but Apes do never ſpeak, and the Advantage I had of having been a Man did not allow me that Privileg.