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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MAY, 1907.
over all wth ye Carridges. The Kinge plact himself On a Hill wheere seats weere mad for yt purposs, And his Ladyes wthin a Roome wheere they might see. The King caime after nearer & demanded what should be don with them, if A marke was to be set to shote at. I 8a, bringe men or sheepe, & ye Execution would show how to reveng himselfe On his enemis. Sheepe weere brought, And one of ye Shells fitted y way we call hen & Chickens, woh shell does ye greatest Execution & made the kinge Amazed seinge it flie, & sd, it flies in the aire; it will doe noe Execution.
I returned answer by yo Ld that brought yt word from ye Kinge, you shall psently se wit Execution it will doe. It flew at yo hight 244 Minutes & fell amonge y sheepe & kild 250 besides wt lamd. Immediatly yo King sent me a horss & rich furniture (the same horse & furniture was that day led before him), & said, Bircala [baraku'llah], Well don.
The other shell fell amonge An other flock 230 paces of. The height it assended was 43 Minuts & fell & kild 132 sheepe. The kinge was verry Joyfull of this, for the Mortars his Grandfather had taken from yo turks, he driveing them out of Pertia, 30
He cald me to him & bid me sit downe. I begd his pdon, being hote, weary & black, & desired leaue to refresh my selfe. I tooke leaue, yo ff [French] & Dutch accompaning me to y English howse. He Sent for me againe & I had the honor to eate & drinke wth him & weere verry merry wh Musique & Danceing weomen (one of these weomen toss vp 7: 8: or 12 balls & keepe them all in play aboue ground), & had wtt elce desireable. The Kinge desired me Serve him. I sd I could not, my King had Comanded me home. Sd he, yor kinge is my Brother & what service you doe me, he wilbe well pleased wth it. He vrged it noe more, but sd, lets be merry, & drank 3 small Gobletts One after an other, standing vp to ye King of England his Brother. I was to pledg out of a Golden ladell31 qt [containing] a pinte &, and was to drinke 3 of them, woh I did, & all ye xpians theire, Abondance of Lds & other Courteers by; & his weomen see vs, but we not them, from aboue. The Kinge danct amonge vs & some of y Danceing weomen.33 Ye King would set his hands a side & laugh heartily, saying, spare me not, when tugg was or Cushings flyinge, I am at this tyme as one of you; oure wyne mad vs equall. But none of his Los drank a drop. This was in Supper tyme, dishes standing & tost downe. But they & the Carpetts then spred weere taken away & fresh Carpetts brought. After yt, he Commanded one of his ffrench sarvants to play on yo violin, And drinke in that tyme was plentifull wth yo ffranks; ye Kinge did not drinke as we weere obliged as to ye Quantity.33 Verry merry we weere, & ye King verry pleasant & iocouse. This french man yt plaid comes vp to ye Kinge 3 seuall tymes & tells him such a Nobleman was fitt to be his Gen". The king bid him sit downe, Sayeinge, I know how to make Geñnalls. This french man, Drunke, vrged it againe; Soe ye Kinge Commanded him be ript vp & given to ye Doggs, wch is yo Death for offend in that Contrey, & others out of Christendome. But ye King gaue some privat notis yt be should Only be carried into an other Roome & stript, & soe stood naked for 3 howers, woh tyme we past in Merth, & mist not ye french man. The Kinge, seing vs farr enough in Drinke & Nodinge, caime and shoke me by ye Shoulder, & S4, rise vp, its tyme to goe home. Wheeres yor Brother, & brought me his Clothes, & sd, carrie them to him. This was about 2 Clock in ye Morninge.
30 Sulaiman's grandfather was Shah Safi, 1029-1642. He did not drive the Turks out of Persia. On the contrary, Murad IV. recaptured Bagdad from the Persians, and its possession was confirmed to the Turks by a peace made between the two nations in 1639.
31 See Tavernier, Persian Travels, Book IV. oh. XVII. p. 181, for a description of the Golden ladle in which he pledged Shah Abbas.
32 For the way in which Sulaiman gave himself up to drinking and dissipation, see Chardin, The Coronation of Solyman III., pp. 77, 78, 87, 88, 128, 129, ed. 1691.
53 Chardin, writing of events in 1668, says, "the young Prince had forborn wine all the last year, by reason of an Inflammation in his Throat occasion'd by his hard drinking."- The Coronation of Bolyman III. p. 130, ed. 1691.
