Page:Arabian Nights Entertainments (1728)-Vol. 3.djvu/72

In that laſt and precious Moment he forgot not his Son Bedreddin, but call’d for him, and ſaid, “My Son, you ſee this World is tranſitory, there is nothing durable but that which I ſhall ſpeedily go to. You muſt therefore from henceforth begin to fit your ſelf tor this Change, as I have done; you muſt prepare for it without murmuring, and fo as to haye no Trouble of Conſcience for not acting the part of a real honeſt Man. As dor your Religion, you are ſufficiently inſtruted in it, by what you have learnt from your Tutors, and your own Study; and as to what belongs to an honeſt Man, I ſhall give you ſome Inſtructions, which I hope you will make good uſe of. As it is a neceſſary thing to know one’s ſelf, and that you cannot come to that Knowledge, without you firſt underſtand who I am, I ſhall now tell it you,

“I am (ſays he) a Native of Egypt, my Father, your Grandfather, was firſt Miniſter to the Sultan of that Kingdom. I my ſelf had the Honour to be Vizier to that ſame Sultan, and fo has my Brother your Uncle, who I ſuppoſe is yet alive; his Name is Schemſeddin Mohammed. I was oblig’d to leave him, and come into this Country, where I have raiſed my ſelf to the high Dignity I now enjoy. But you will underſtand all theſe Matters more fully by a Manuſcript that I ſhall give you.”

At the ſame time, Noureddin Ali pulled out his Pocket-Book which he had writ with his own Hand, and carried always about him, and giving it Bedreddin Haſſan, “Take it (ſaid he) and read it at your leiſure; you will find among other Things, the Day of my Marriage, and that of your Birth; theſe are ſuch Circumſtances, as perhaps you may hereafter have occaſion to know, therefore you mult keep it very carefully.”

Bedreddin Haſſan being moſt afflicted to ſee his Father in that Condition, and ſenfibly touch’d with this Diſcourſe, cou’d not but weep when he receiv’d the Pocker-Book, and promis’d at the ſame time never to part with it.

That very Moment Noureddin Ali fainted, ſo that it was thought he would have expir’d; but he came to himſelf again, and utter’d theſe Words,