LETTER CLIII. Usbek to Solin, at the Seraglio of Ispahan.

I PUT the sword into your hand, I entrust you with what is of all things most dear to me, that is my revenge. Enter upon this employment, but enter upon it without either compassion or feeling. I have wrote to my wives to obey you implicitly; in the confusion which so many crimes have made them obnoxious to, they will not be able to stand even your looks. To you I must be indebted for my happiness and ease. Restore me my seraglio in the condition I left it. Begin by purifying it; destroy the guilty, and make those who propose to become so, tremble. What

may you not expect from your master in recompence for such signal services! It will be in your own power to rise above your condition, and all the rewards you could ever have wished for.

Paris, the 4th of the moon Chahban,
1719.