I then stood silent, and having kissed the ground before the emperor, he praised me highly, and gave me several pieces of gold. The emperor then addressing Emírgúneh, said: “The first verses sung by Evliyá were composed by myself, on the death of my favourite companion Músá, whom I had sent on a message to Rajab Páshá, when he was assaulted by the rebels, who threw his murdered body into the At-maidán. O! Emírgúneh, hadst thou but known what an amiable and intelligent youth that was! I have hitherto found no servant like him; and that innocent boy died a martyr!” “My emperor,” replied Emírgúneh, “have you not opened the life-veins of those who shed his innocent blood?” “Yes,” said the Sultán, “it is to avenge the murder of my favourite, and the violent death of my brother Othmán, that I have made the heads of 307,000 rebels to roll in the dust.” “May God prosper all your undertakings,” replied Emírgúneh; “the 307,000 heads did not indeed belong to men, but to so many rebels, who sprung from the ground like mushrooms. Your armies however, in avenging the blood of their companions, did so sufficiently in taking the fortress of Eriván out of my hands, and cutting up the root and branch of the Persian army.” The Sultán, pleased with this reply, called for wine and drank a glass. In the evening he ordered me to read a tenth of the Korán; I commenced where I had left off on the holy night of Kadr at Ayá Sofiá, that is, at the Súra Aa’ráf, and read two hundred and four verses, divided into two _mákam_, twenty-four _sha’ba_, and forty-eight _tarkíb_. I then repeated the names of the Sultáns Ahmed, Othmán, and all their illustrious ancestors, to whom I transferred any merit I might have from this reading of the Korán, and concluded with the Fatihat (first chapter of the Korán). The Sultán then presented me with a fish-bone belt set with jewels, which he had in his hand; and asked Emírgúneh whether they read the Korán so well in Persia. Emírgúneh replied that the Persians cared little to conform their actions to the Korán, and much less to read it properly. “It is only to the piety of your majesty, that we are indebted for such reading, which reminds us of the assemblies of Husain Bhikará.” At this moment the Mu’azzins began to call to prayers at the head of the staircase, which looks toward the court-yard of the palace. The emperor ordered me to assist them; I flew like a peacock to the top of the staircase, and began to exclaim, “_Hai a’la’-as-saláh!_ _i.e._ Ho! to good works!” Before the commencement of prayers, I was observed by my good master Evliyá Efendí, the imperial Imám, who meeting the emperor in the oratory, outside of the imperial mosque, close to the Khás-oda, thus addressed him: “My gracious emperor, this boy, the darling of my heart, has not attended my lectures since the sacred night of Kadr, when you took him to the Harem. He has already learnt by heart the whole of the Korán,