But there is a certain happiness apparently attendant upon this species of infatuation; what is lost in public opinion being invariably gained in self-sufficiency; while every little ironical compliment is construed into superlative eulogium. The present Nabob Vizier of Oude, _Saadut Ali_, many years ago, when compelled to reside at the Presidency, under serveillance of the Bengal government, in consequence of the jealousy entertained by his brother, the late _Asoph ul Dowlah_, affected to enter upon this kind of apostacy. I believe, every one saw through the veil, though he hunted with fox-hounds in our style, and assimilated in many other points; but the essentials were carefully preserved from metamorphosis. Many characters, such as I have described, could be quoted, but the most particularly appropriate to my subject is that of _Mirza Abu Taleb Khan_, who embarked in the same ship with me, for the purpose of proceeding from Bengal to England, where he was at first received as a general and prince; merely owing to an empty title conferred on him at the Nabob Vizier’s court, about as important as that of a Windsor Knight. This hero did not, it is true, adopt our costume altogether, though he became a kind of ‘half and half, like the sea-calf at Sir Ashton’s;’ but he had the impudence to assert, that his paltry lodgings in _Gresse-Street_, (above all places under the sun,) were graced by the nocturnal visits of several Peeresses of the most exalted character; many of whose names he most scandalously, and ungratefully, disclosed! I say, ungratefully, because it was impossible for me to believe that ladies of such character could have stooped to such conduct; although, in consequence of suitable introductions, they had received him at their houses in that hospitable manner ever adopted in favor of respectable foreigners. The _Mirza_, very probably, may have been imposed upon by some low women, who made him the Falstaff of their drama; and, by assuming the titles of our nobility, flattered his vanity to an extreme! Yet, supposing this to have been the fact, how are we to find an apology for that open boast he made of the supposed intimacy! But vanity was his motto; he studied singularity in many instances; he studied also celebrity; and would willingly have impressed us with an opinion, that, from _Hafiz_ down to the _Plenipo’_, his abilities were triumphant. Let us compare him with the former, whose poetry charmed his countrymen! ODE BY HAFIZ. Sweet maid, if thou wouldst charm my sight, And bid these arms thy neck infold; That rosy cheek, that lily hand Would give thy poet more delight Than all Boҫara’s vaunted gold, Than all the gems of Samarcand.