Page:Arabian Nights Entertainments (1728)-Vol. 4.djvu/93

my Houſe is always well provided. I make you a Preſent of what is in it; nay, beſides I’ll order you as much Wine as you have Occaſion for, for I have exceilent Wine in my Cellar. Only you muſt diſpatch the ſhaving of me preſently; and, pray do not mind it, whereas my Father made you Preſents to incourage you to ſpeak, I give you mine to make you hold your Peace.

He was not ſatisfied with the Promiſe I made him; God reward you, Sir, ſaid he, for your Kindnels; but pray ſhew me theſe Provitions now, that I may ſee if there will be enough to entertain my Friends. I would have them ſatisfied with the good Fare I make them. I have, ſaid I, a Lamb, ſix Capons, a Dozen of Pullets, and enough to make Four Services of. I ordered a Slave to bring all before him, with Four great Pitchers of Wine. ’Tis very well, ſaid the Barber, but we ſhall want Fruit and Sauce for the Meat. That I ordered likewiſe; but then he gave over ſhaving, to look over every Thing, one after another; and this Survey laſted almoſt half an Hour. I raged and ſtorm’d, and went mad; but it ſignified nothing, the Coxcomb never troubled himſelf. However, he took up the Razor again, and ſhaved me for ſome Moments; then ſtopping all on a ſudden; I could not have believed, Sir, that you would have been ſo liberal; I begin to perceive that your deceaſed Father lives again in you. Moſt certainly, I do not deſerve the Favours with which you have loaded me; and I aſſure you I ſnall have ’em in perpetual Remembrance; for, Sir, to let you know it, I have nothing but what comes from the Generoſity of honeſt Gentlemen, ſuch as you; in which point I am like to Zantout that rubs the People in bathing, to Sali that cries boil’d Peas in the Streets, to Salout that ſells Beans, to Akerſcha that ſells Greens, to Aboumekarez that ſprinkles the Streets to lay the Duſt, and to Caſſem the Califf’s Life-guard-man. Of all theſe Perſons, not one is apt to be melancholy; they are neither peeviſh nor quarrelſome, they’re more contented with their Lot than the Califf in the midſt of his whole Court; they are always gay, ready to dance and to ſing, and have each of them their peculiar Song and Dance, with which they divert the City of Bagdad; but what I eſteem moſt in them is, that they are no great Talkers no more than your Slave, that has now the Honour to ſpeak to you. Here, Sir, that’s the Song