Then ran a buzzing murmur through the company, which disconcerted him for a moment: but he recovered himself, and alleged that such experiments were not easy to be made before so great a number of people: and he was right.

Mangogul got up in wrath, went away, and in the twinkling of an eye was in the favorite Sultana’s apartment. “Well, prince,” said she upon seeing him, “who has won the day, you or Orcotomus? For his Toys have performed wonders to be sure.” The Sultan took some turns about the room without a word of answer. “But,” resumed the favorite, “your highness seems dissatisfied.”

“Oh! madam, the impudence of that Orcotomus is not to be match’d. Pray, do not so much as mention him from this moment⁠—What will you say, O future generations, when you shall be informed, that the great Mangogul allowed a hundred thousand crowns in yearly pensions to such fellows; while gallant officers, who with their blood had watered the laurels that surround his brow, were reduced to twenty pound a year?⁠—By Jove, the thought distracts me: I shall be out of humor this month to come.”