LETTER CL. Usbek to Narsit, at the Seraglio of Ispahan.

WRETCH that thou art! thou hast in thy hands letters which contain orders that require to be carried into execution with the utmost speed; the least delay may reduce me to despair, and you remain inactive under a frivolous pretext! Terrible things happen in the seraglio: perhaps one half of my slaves deserve death. I send you herewith the letter which the chief

of the eunuchs wrote to me upon that subject, just before he died. If you had opened the packet which is directed to him, you would have found bloody orders in it. Read therefore those orders, and execute them punctually, or thou shalt perish.

From * * *, the 25th of the moon Chalval,
1718.