The History of the Caliph Vathek
Author: William Beckford
INTRODUCTION
William Beckford, born in 1759, the year before the accession of King
George the Third, was the son of an Alderman who became twice Lord Mayor
of London. His family, originally of Gloucestershire, had thriven by the
plantations in Jamaica; and his father, sent to school in England, and
forming a school friendship at Westminster with Lord Mansfield, began the
world in this country as a merchant, with inheritance of an enormous West
India fortune. William Beckford the elder became Magistrate, Member of
Parliament, Alderman. Four years before the birth of William Beckford
the younger he became one of the Sheriffs of London, and three years
after his son’s birth he was Lord Mayor. As Mayor he gave very sumptuous
dinners that made epochs in the lives of feeding men. His son’s famous
“History of the Caliph Vathek” looks as if it had been planned for an
Alderman’s dream after a very heavy dinner at the Mansion House. There
is devotion in it to the senses, emphasis on heavy dining. Vathek piqued
himself on being the greatest eater alive; but when the Indian dined with
him, though the tables were thirty times covered, there was still want of
more food for the voracious guest. There is thirst: for at one part of
the dream, when Vathek’s mother, his wives, and some eunuchs “assiduously
employed themselves in filling bowls of rock crystal, and emulously
presented them to him, it frequently happened that his avidity exceeded
their zeal, insomuch that he would prostrate himself upon the ground to
lap up the water, of which he could never have enough.” And the
nightmare incidents of the Arabian tale all culminate in a most terrible
heartburn. Could the conception of Vathek have first come to the son
after a City dinner?
Though a magnificent host, the elder Beckford was no glutton. In the
year of his first Mayoralty, 1763, Beckford, stood by the side of
Alderman Wilkes, attacked for his No. 45 of _The North Briton_. As
champion of the popular cause, when he had been again elected to the
Mayoralty, Beckford, on the 23rd of May, 1770, went up to King George the
Third at the head of the Aldermen and Livery with an address which the
king snubbed with a short answer. Beckford asked leave to reply, and
before His Majesty recovered breath from his astonishment, proceeded to
reply in words that remain graven in gold upon his monument in Guildhall.
Young Beckford, the author of “Vathek,” was then a boy not quite eleven
years old, an only son; and he was left three years afterwards, by his
father’s death, heir to an income of a hundred thousand a year, with a
million of cash in hand.
During his minority young Beckford’s mother, who was a granddaughter of
the sixth Earl of Abercorn, placed him under a private tutor. He was
taught music by Mozart; and the Earl of Chatham, who had been his
father’s friend, thought him so fanciful a boy—“all air and fire”—that he
advised his mother to keep the Arabian Nights out of his way. Happily
she could not, for Vathek adds the thousand and second to the thousand
and one tales, with the difference that it joins to wild inventions in
the spirit of the East touches of playful extravagance that could come
only from an English humourist who sometimes laughed at his own tale, and
did not mind turning its comic side to the reader. The younger William
Beckford had been born at his father’s seat in Wiltshire, Fonthill Abbey;
and at seventeen amused himself with a caricature “History of
Extraordinary Painters,” encouraging the house-keeper of Fonthill to show
the pictures to visitors as works of Og of Basan and other worthies in
her usual edifying manner.
Young Beckford’s education was continued for a year and a half at Geneva.
He then travelled in Italy and the Low Countries, and it was at this time
that he amused himself by writing, at the age of about twenty-two,
“Vathek” in French, at a single sitting; but he gave his mind to it and
the sitting lasted three days and two nights. An English version of it
was made by a stranger, and published without permission in 1784.
Beckford himself published his tale at Paris and Lausanne in 1787, one
year after the death of a wife to whom he had been three years married,
and who left him with two daughters.
Beckford went to Portugal and Spain; returned to France, and was present
at the storming of the Bastille. He was often abroad; he bought Gibbon’s
library at Lausanne, and shut himself up with it for a time, having a
notion of reading it through. He was occasionally in Parliament, but did
not care for that kind of amusement. He wrote pieces of less enduring
interest than “Vathek,” including two burlesques upon the sentimental
novel of his time. In 1796 he settled down at Fonthill, and began to
spend there abundantly on building and rebuilding. Perhaps he thought of
Vathek’s tower when he employed workmen day and night to build a tower
for himself three hundred feet high, and set them to begin it again when
it fell down. He is said to have spent upon Fonthill a quarter of a
million, living there in much seclusion during the last twenty years of
his life. He died in 1844.
The happy thought of this William Beckford’s life was “Vathek.” It is a
story that paints neither man nor outward nature as they are, but
reproduces with happy vivacity the luxuriant imagery and wild incidents
of an Arabian tale. There is a ghost of a moral in the story of a
sensual Caliph going to the bad, as represented by his final introduction
to the Halls of Eblis. But the enjoyment given by the book reflects the
real enjoyment that the author had in writing it—enjoyment great enough
to cause it to be written at a heat, in one long sitting, without
flagging power. Young and lively, he delivered himself up to a free run
of fancy, revelled in the piled-up enormities of the Wicked Mother, who
had not brought up Vathek properly, and certainly wrote some parts of his
nightmare tale as merrily as if he were designing matter for a pantomime.
Whoever, in reading “Vathek,” takes it altogether seriously, does not
read it as it was written. We must have an eye for the vein of
caricature that now and then comes to the surface, and invites a laugh
without disturbing the sense of Eastern extravagance bent seriously upon
the elaboration of a tale crowded with incident and action. Taken
altogether seriously, the book has faults of construction. But the
faults turn into beauties when we catch the twinkle in the writer’s eye.
H. M.
THE HISTORY OF THE CALIPH VATHEK
Vathek, ninth Caliph of the race of the Abassides, was the son of
Motassem, and the grandson of Haroun Al Raschid. From an early accession
to the throne, and the talents he possessed to adorn it, his subjects
were induced to expect that his reign would be long and happy. His
figure was pleasing and majestic; but when he was angry one of his eyes
became so terrible that no person could bear to behold it, and the wretch
upon whom it was fixed instantly fell backward, and sometimes expired.
For fear, however, of depopulating his dominions and making his palace
desolate he but rarely gave way to his anger.
Being much addicted to women and the pleasures of the table, he sought by
his affability to procure agreeable companions; and he succeeded the
better as his generosity was unbounded, and his indulgences unrestrained,
for he was by no means scrupulous, nor did he think with the Caliph Omar
Ben Abdalaziz that it was necessary to make a hell of this world to enjoy
Paradise in the next.
He surpassed in magnificence all his predecessors. The palace of
Alkoremmi, which his father Motassem had erected on the hill of Pied
Horses, and which commanded the whole city of Samarah, was in his idea
far too scanty; he added therefore five wings, or rather other palaces,
which he destined for the particular gratification of each of his senses.
In the first of these were tables continually covered with the most
exquisite dainties, which were supplied both by night and by day,
according to their constant consumption, whilst the most delicious wines
and the choicest cordials flowed forth from a hundred fountains that were
never exhausted. This palace was called “The Eternal or Unsatiating
Banquet.”
The second was styled “The Temple of Melody, or the Nectar of the Soul.”
It was inhabited by the most skilful musicians and admired poets of the
time, who not only displayed their talents within, but, dispersing in
bands without, caused every surrounding scene to reverberate their songs,
which were continually varied in the most delightful succession.
The palace named “The Delight of the Eyes, or the Support of Memory,” was
one entire enchantment. Rarities collected from every corner of the
earth were there found in such profusion as to dazzle and confound, but
for the order in which they were arranged. One gallery exhibited the
pictures of the celebrated Mani, and statues that seemed to be alive.
Here a well-managed perspective attracted the sight; there the magic of
optics agreeably deceived it; whilst the naturalist on his part
exhibited, in their several classes, the various gifts that Heaven had
bestowed on our globe. In a word, Vathek omitted nothing in this palace
that might gratify the curiosity of those who resorted to it, although he
was not able to satisfy his own, for he was of all men the most curious.
“The Palace of Perfumes,” which was termed likewise “The Incentive to
Pleasure,” consisted of various halls, where the different perfumes which
the earth produces were kept perpetually burning in censers of gold.
Flambeaux and aromatic lamps were here lighted in open day. But the too
powerful effects of this agreeable delirium might be avoided by
descending into an immense garden, where an assemblage of every fragrant
flower diffused through the air the purest odours.
The fifth palace, denominated “The Retreat of Joy, or the Dangerous,” was
frequented by troops of young females beautiful as the houris, and not
less seducing, who never failed to receive with caresses all whom the
Caliph allowed to approach them; for he was by no means disposed to be
jealous, as his own women were secluded within the palace he inhabited
himself.
Notwithstanding the sensuality in which Vathek indulged, he experienced
no abatement in the love of his people, who thought that a sovereign
immersed in pleasure was not less tolerable to his subjects than one that
employed himself in creating them foes. But the unquiet and impetuous
disposition of the Caliph would not allow him to rest there; he had
studied so much for his amusement in the life-time of his father as to
acquire a great deal of knowledge, though not a sufficiency to satisfy
himself; for he wished to know everything, even sciences that did not
exist. He was fond of engaging in disputes with the learned, but liked
them not to push their opposition with warmth; he stopped the mouths of
those with presents whose mouths could be stopped, whilst others, whom
his liberality was unable to subdue, he sent to prison to cool their
blood: a remedy that often succeeded.
Vathek discovered also a predilection for theological controversy, but it
was not with the orthodox that he usually held. By this means he induced
the zealots to oppose him, and then persecuted them in return; for he
resolved at any rate to have reason on his side.
The great prophet Mahomet, whose vicars the caliphs are, beheld with
indignation from his abode in the seventh heaven the irreligious conduct
of such a vicegerent. “Let us leave him to himself,” said he to the
genii, who are always ready to receive his commands; “let us see to what
lengths his folly and impiety will carry him; if he run into excess we
shall know how to chastise him. Assist him, therefore, to complete the
tower which, in imitation of Nimrod, he hath begun, not, like that great
warrior, to escape being drowned, but from the insolent curiosity of
penetrating the secrets of Heaven; he will not divine the fate that
awaits him.”
The genii obeyed, and when the workmen had raised their structure a cubit
in the day-time, two cubits more were added in the night. The expedition
with which the fabric arose was not a little flattering to the vanity of
Vathek. He fancied that even insensible matter showed a forwardness to
subserve his designs, not considering that the successes of the foolish
and wicked form the first rod of their chastisement.
His pride arrived at its height when, having ascended for the first time
the eleven thousand stairs of his tower, he cast his eyes below, and
beheld men not larger than pismires, mountains than shells, and cities
than bee-hives. The idea which such an elevation inspired of his own
grandeur completely bewildered him; he was almost ready to adore himself,
till, lifting his eyes upward, he saw the stars as high above him as they
appeared when he stood on the surface of the earth. He consoled himself,
however, for this transient perception of his littleness with the thought
of being great in the eyes of others, and flattered himself that the
light of his mind would extend beyond the reach of his sight, and
transfer to the stars the decrees of his destiny.
With this view the inquisitive prince passed most of his nights on the
summit of his tower, till he became an adept in the mysteries of
astrology, and imagined that the planets had disclosed to him the most
marvellous adventures, which were to be accomplished by an extraordinary
personage from a country altogether unknown. Prompted by motives of
curiosity, he had always been courteous to strangers, but from this
instant he redoubled his attention, and ordered it to be announced by
sound of trumpet, through all the streets of Samarah, that no one of his
subjects, on peril of displeasure, should either lodge or detain a
traveller, but forthwith bring him to the palace.
Not long after this proclamation there arrived in his metropolis a man so
hideous that the very guards who arrested him were forced to shut their
eyes as they led him along. The Caliph himself appeared startled at so
horrible a visage, but joy succeeded to this emotion of terror when the
stranger displayed to his view such rarities as he had never before seen,
and of which he had no conception.
In reality, nothing was ever so extraordinary as the merchandise this
stranger produced; most of his curiosities, which were not less admirable
for their workmanship than splendour, had, besides, their several virtues
described on a parchment fastened to each. There were slippers which
enabled the feet to walk; knives that cut without the motion of a hand;
sabres which dealt the blow at the person they were wished to strike; and
the whole enriched with gems that were hitherto unknown.
The sabres, whose blades emitted a dazzling radiance, fixed more than all
the Caliph’s attention, who promised himself to decipher at his leisure
the uncouth characters engraven on their sides. Without, therefore,
demanding their price, he ordered all the coined gold to be brought from
his treasury, and commanded the merchant to take what he pleased; the
stranger complied with modesty and silence.
Vathek, imagining that the merchant’s taciturnity was occasioned by the
awe which his presence inspired, encouraged him to advance, and asked
him, with an air of condescension, “Who he was? whence he came? and where
he obtained such beautiful commodities?” The man, or rather monster,
instead of making a reply, thrice rubbed his forehead, which, as well as
his body, was blacker than ebony, four times clapped his paunch, the
projection of which was enormous, opened wide his huge eyes, which glowed
like firebrands, began to laugh with a hideous noise, and discovered his
long amber-coloured teeth bestreaked with green.
The Caliph, though a little startled, renewed his inquiries, but without
being able to procure a reply; at which, beginning to be ruffled, he
exclaimed: “Knowest thou, varlet, who I am? and at whom thou art aiming
thy gibes?” Then, addressing his guards, “Have ye heard him speak? is he
dumb?”
“He hath spoken,” they replied, “though but little.”
“Let him speak again, then,” said Vathek, “and tell me who he is, from
whence he came, and where he procured these singular curiosities, or I
swear by the ass of Balaam that I will make him rue his pertinacity.”
The menace was accompanied by the Caliph with one of his angry and
perilous glances, which the stranger sustained without the slightest
emotion, although his eyes were fixed on the terrible eye of the prince.
No words can describe the amazement of the courtiers when they beheld
this rude merchant withstand the encounter unshocked. They all fell
prostrate with their faces on the ground to avoid the risk of their
lives, and continued in the same abject posture till the Caliph exclaimed
in a furious tone, “Up, cowards! seize the miscreant! see that he be
committed to prison and guarded by the best of my soldiers! Let him,
however, retain the money I gave him; it is not my intent to take from
him his property; I only want him to speak.”
No sooner had he uttered these words than the stranger was surrounded,
pinioned with strong fetters, and hurried away to the prison of the great
tower, which was encompassed by seven empalements of iron bars, and armed
with spikes in every direction longer and sharper than spits.
The Caliph, nevertheless, remained in the most violent agitation; he sat
down indeed to eat, but of the three hundred covers that were daily
placed before him could taste of no more than thirty-two. A diet to
which he had been so little accustomed was sufficient of itself to
prevent him from sleeping; what then must be its effect when joined to
the anxiety that preyed upon his spirits? At the first glimpse of dawn
he hastened to the prison, again to importune this intractable stranger;
but the rage of Vathek exceeded all bounds on finding the prison empty,
the gates burst asunder, and his guards lying lifeless around him. In
the paroxysm of his passion he fell furiously on the poor carcases, and
kicked them till evening without intermission. His courtiers and vizirs
exerted their efforts to soothe his extravagance, but finding every
expedient ineffectual, they all united in one vociferation: “The Caliph
is gone mad! the Caliph is out of his senses!”
This outcry, which soon resounded through the streets of Samarah, at
length reaching the ears of Carathis, his mother, she flew in the utmost
consternation to try her ascendency on the mind of her son. Her tears
and caresses called off his attention, and he was prevailed upon by her
entreaties to be brought back to the palace.
Carathis, apprehensive of leaving Vathek to himself, caused him to be put
to bed, and seating herself by him, endeavoured by her conversation to
heal and compose him. Nor could any one have attempted it with better
success, for the Caliph not only loved her as a mother, but respected her
as a person of superior genius; it was she who had induced him, being a
Greek herself, to adopt all the sciences and systems of her country,
which good Mussulmans hold in such thorough abhorrence. Judicial
astrology was one of those systems in which Carathis was a perfect adept;
she began, therefore, with reminding her son of the promise which the
stars had made him, and intimated an intention of consulting them again.
“Alas!” sighed the Caliph, as soon as he could speak, “what a fool have I
been! not for the kicks bestowed on my guards who so tamely submitted to
death, but for never considering that this extraordinary man was the same
the planets had foretold, whom, instead of ill-treating, I should have
conciliated by all the arts of persuasion.”
“The past,” said Carathis, “cannot be recalled, but it behoves us to
think of the future; perhaps you may again see the object you so much
regret; it is possible the inscriptions on the sabres will afford
information. Eat, therefore, and take thy repose, my dear son; we will
consider to-morrow in what manner to act.”
Vathek yielded to her counsel as well as he could, and arose in the
morning with a mind more at ease. The sabres he commanded to be
instantly brought, and poring upon them through a green glass, that their
glittering might not dazzle, he set himself in earnest to decipher the
inscriptions; but his reiterated attempts were all of them nugatory; in
vain did he beat his head and bite his nails, not a letter of the whole
was he able to ascertain. So unlucky a disappointment would have undone
him again had not Carathis by good fortune entered the apartment.
“Have patience, son!” said she; “you certainly are possessed of every
important science, but the knowledge of languages is a trifle at best,
and the accomplishment of none but a pedant. Issue forth a proclamation
that you will confer such rewards as become your greatness upon any one
that shall interpret what you do not understand, and what it is beneath
you to learn; you will soon find your curiosity gratified.”
“That may be,” said the Caliph; “but in the meantime I shall be horribly
disgusted by a crowd of smatterers, who will come to the trial as much
for the pleasure of retailing their jargon as from the hope of gaining
the reward. To avoid this evil it will be proper to add that I will put
every candidate to death who shall fail to give satisfaction; for, thank
Heaven! I have skill enough to distinguish between one that translates
and one that invents.”
“Of that I have no doubt,” replied Carathis; “but to put the ignorant to
death is somewhat severe, and may be productive of dangerous effects;
content yourself with commanding their beards to be burnt—beards in a
state are not quite so essential as men.”
The Caliph submitted to the reasons of his mother, and sending for
Morakanabad, his prime vizir, said: “Let the common criers proclaim, not
only in Samarah, but throughout every city in my empire, that whosoever
will repair hither, and decipher certain characters which appear to be
inexplicable, shall experience the liberality for which I am renowned;
but that all who fail upon trial shall have their beards burnt off to the
last hair. Let them add also that I will bestow fifty beautiful slaves,
and as many jars of apricots from the Isle of Kirmith, upon any man that
shall bring me intelligence of the stranger.”
The subjects of the Caliph, like their Sovereign, being great admirers of
women and apricots from Kirmith, felt their mouths water at these
promises, but were totally unable to gratify their hankering, for no one
knew which way the stranger had gone.
As to the Caliph’s other requisition, the result was different. The
learned, the half-learned, and those who were neither, but fancied
themselves equal to both, came boldly to hazard their beards, and all
shamefully lost them.
The exaction of these forfeitures, which found sufficient employment for
the eunuchs, gave them such a smell of singed hair as greatly to disgust
the ladies of the seraglio, and make it necessary that this new
occupation of their guardians should be transferred into other hands.
At length, however, an old man presented himself whose beard was a cubit
and a half longer than any that had appeared before him. The officers of
the palace whispered to each other, as they ushered him in, “What a pity
such a beard should be burnt!” Even the Caliph, when he saw it,
concurred with them in opinion, but his concern was entirely needless.
This venerable personage read the characters with facility, and explained
them verbatim as follows: “We were made where everything good is made; we
are the least of the wonders of a place where all is wonderful, and
deserving the sight of the first potentate on earth.”
“You translate admirably!” cried Vathek; “I know to what these marvellous
characters allude. Let him receive as many robes of honour and thousands
of sequins of gold as he hath spoken words. I am in some measure
relieved from the perplexity that embarrassed me!”
Vathek invited the old main to dine, and even to remain some days in the
palace. Unluckily for him, he accepted the offer; for the Caliph, having
ordered him next morning to be called, said: “Read again to me what you
have read already; I cannot hear too often the promise that is made me,
the completion of which I languish to obtain.”
The old man forthwith put on his green spectacles, but they instantly
dropped from his nose on perceiving that the characters he had read the
day preceding had given place to others of different import.
“What ails you?” asked the Caliph; “and why these symptoms of wonder?”
“Sovereign of the world,” replied the old man, “these sabres hold another
language to-day from that they yesterday held.”
“How say you?” returned Vathek; “but it matters not! tell me, if you can,
what they mean.”
“It is this, my lord,” rejoined the old man: “Woe to the rash mortal who
seeks to know that of which he should remain ignorant, and to undertake
that which surpasseth his power!”
“And woe to thee!” cried the Caliph, in a burst of indignation; “to-day
thou art void of understanding. Begone from my presence; they shall burn
but the half of thy beard, because, thou wert yesterday fortunate in
guessing; my gifts I never resume.”
The old man, wise enough to perceive he had luckily escaped, considering
the folly of disclosing so disgusting a truth, immediately withdrew, and
appeared not again.
But it was not long before Vathek discovered abundant reason to regret
his precipitation; for though he could not decipher the characters
himself, yet by constantly poring upon them he plainly perceived that
they every day changed, and unfortunately no other candidate offered to
explain them. This perplexing occupation inflamed his blood, dazzled his
sight, and brought on a giddiness and debility that he could not support.
He failed not, however, though in so reduced a condition, to be often
carried to his tower, as he flattered himself that he might there read in
the stars which he went to consult something more congenial to his
wishes: but in this his hopes were deluded, for his eyes, dimmed by the
vapours of his head, began to subserve his curiosity so ill, that he
beheld nothing but a thick dun cloud, which he took for the most direful
of omens.
Agitated with so much anxiety, Vathek entirely lost all firmness; a fever
seized him, and his appetite failed. Instead of being one of the
greatest eaters, he became as distinguished for drinking. So insatiable
was the thirst which tormented him that his mouth, like a funnel, was
always open to receive the various liquors that might be poured into it,
and especially cold water, which calmed him more than every other.
This unhappy prince being thus incapacitated for the enjoyment of any
pleasure, commanded the palaces of the five senses to be shut up, forbore
to appear in public, either to display his magnificence or administer
justice, and retired to the inmost apartment of his harem. As he had
ever been an indulgent husband, his wives, overwhelmed with grief at his
deplorable situation, incessantly offered their prayers for his health,
and unremittingly supplied him with water.
In the meantime the Princess Carathis, whose affliction no words can
describe, instead of restraining herself to sobbing and tears, was
closeted daily with the Vizir Morakanabad, to find out some cure or
mitigation of the Caliph’s disease. Under the persuasion that it was
caused by enchantment, they turned over together, leaf by leaf, all the
books of magic that might point out a remedy, and caused the horrible
stranger, whom they accused as the enchanter, to be everywhere sought for
with the strictest diligence.
At the distance of a few miles from Samarah stood a high mountain, whose
sides were swarded with wild thyme and basil, and its summit overspread
with so delightful a plain, that it might be taken for the paradise
destined for the faithful. Upon it grew a hundred thickets of eglantine
and other fragrant shrubs, a hundred arbours of roses, jessamine, and
honeysuckle, as many clumps of orange trees, cedar, and citron, whose
branches, interwoven with the palm, the pomegranate, and the vine,
presented every luxury that could regale the eye or the taste. The
ground was strewed with violets, hare-bells, and pansies, in the midst of
which sprang forth tufts of jonquils, hyacinths, and carnations, with
every other perfume that impregnates the air. Four fountains, not less
clear than deep, and so abundant as to slake the thirst of ten armies,
seemed profusely placed here to make the scene more resemble the garden
of Eden, which was watered by the four sacred rivers. Here the
nightingale sang the birth of the rose, her well-beloved, and at the same
time lamented its short-lived beauty; whilst the turtle deplored the loss
of more substantial pleasures, and the wakeful lark hailed the rising
light that re-animates the whole creation. Here more than anywhere the
mingled melodies of birds expressed the various passions they inspired,
as if the exquisite fruits which they pecked at pleasure had given them a
double energy.
To this mountain Vathek was sometimes brought for the sake of breathing a
purer air, and especially to drink at will of the four fountains, which
were reputed in the highest degree salubrious and sacred to himself. His
attendants were his mother, his wives, and some eunuchs, who assiduously
employed themselves in filling capacious bowls of rock crystal, and
emulously presenting them to him; but it frequently happened that his
avidity exceeded their zeal, insomuch that he would prostrate himself
upon the ground to lap up the water, of which he could never have enough.
One day, when this unhappy prince had been long lying in so debasing a
posture, a voice, hoarse but strong, thus addressed him: “Why assumest
thou the function of a dog, O Caliph, so proud of thy dignity and power?”
At this apostrophe he raised his head, and beheld the stranger that had
caused him so much affliction. Inflamed with anger at the sight, he
exclaimed—
“Accursed Giaour! what comest thou hither to do? Is it not enough to
have transformed a prince remarkable for his agility into one of those
leather barrels which the Bedouin Arabs carry on their camels when they
traverse the deserts? Perceivest thou not that I may perish by drinking
to excess no less than by a total abstinence?”
“Drink then this draught,” said the stranger, as he presented to him a
phial of a red and yellow mixture; “and, to satiate the thirst of thy
soul as well as of thy body, know that I am an Indian, but from a region
of India which is wholly unknown.”
The Caliph delighted to see his desires accomplished in part, and
flattering himself with the hope of obtaining their entire fulfilment,
without a moment’s hesitation swallowed the potion, and instantaneously
found his health restored, his thirst appeased, and his limbs as agile as
ever.
In the transports of his joy Vathek leaped upon the neck of the frightful
Indian, and kissed his horrid mouth and hollow cheeks as though they had
been the coral lips and the lilies and roses of his most beautiful wives;
whilst they, less terrified than jealous at the sight, dropped their
veils to hide the blush of mortification that suffused their foreheads.
Nor would the scene have closed here, had not Carathis, with all the art
of insinuation, a little repressed the raptures of her son. Having
prevailed upon him to return to Samarah, she caused a herald to precede
him, whom she commanded to proclaim as loudly as possible: “The wonderful
stranger hath appeared again; he hath healed the Caliph; he hath spoken!
he hath spoken!”
Forthwith all the inhabitants of this vast city quitted their
habitations, and ran together in crowds to see the procession of Vathek
and the Indian, whom they now blessed as much as they had before
execrated, incessantly shouting: “He hath healed our sovereign; he hath
spoken! he hath spoken!” Nor were these words forgotten in the public
festivals which were celebrated the same evening, to testify the general
joy; for the poets applied them as a chorus to all the songs they
composed.
The Caliph in the meanwhile caused the palaces of the senses to be again
set open; and, as he found himself prompted to visit that of taste in
preference to the rest, immediately ordered a splendid entertainment, to
which his great officers and favourite courtiers were all invited. The
Indian, who was placed near the prince, seemed to think that as a proper
acknowledgment of so distinguished a privilege he could neither eat,
drink, nor talk too much. The various dainties were no sooner served up
than they vanished, to the great mortification of Vathek, who piqued
himself on being the greatest eater alive, and at this time in particular
had an excellent appetite.
The rest of the company looked round at each other in amazement; but the
Indian, without appearing to observe it, quaffed large bumpers to the
health of each of them, sung in a style altogether extravagant, related
stories at which he laughed immoderately, and poured forth extemporaneous
verses, which would not have been thought bad but for the strange
grimaces with which they were uttered. In a word, his loquacity was
equal to that of a hundred astrologers; he ate as much as a hundred
porters, and caroused in proportion.
The Caliph, notwithstanding the table had been thirty times covered,
found himself incommoded by the voraciousness of his guest, who was now
considerably declined in the prince’s esteem. Vathek, however, being
unwilling to betray the chagrin he could hardly disguise, said in a
whisper to Bababalouk, the chief of his eunuchs: “You see how enormous
his performances in every way are; what would be the consequence should
he get at my wives? Go! redouble your vigilance, and be sure look well
to my Circassians, who would be more to his taste than all of the rest.”
The bird of the morning had thrice renewed his song when the hour of the
Divan sounded. Vathek, in gratitude to his subjects, having promised to
attend, immediately rose from table and repaired thither, leaning upon
his vizir, who could scarcely support him, so disordered was the poor
prince by the wine he had drunk, and still more by the extravagant
vagaries of his boisterous guest.
The vizirs, the officers of the crown and of the law, arranged themselves
in a semicircle about their sovereign, and preserved a respectful
silence, whilst the Indian, who looked as cool as if come from a fast,
sat down without ceremony on the step of the throne, laughing in his
sleeve at the indignation with which his temerity had filled the
spectators.
The Caliph, however, whose ideas were confused and his head embarrassed,
went on administering justice at haphazard, till at length the prime
vizir, perceiving his situation, hit upon a sudden expedient to interrupt
the audience and rescue the honour of his master, to whom he said in a
whisper: “My Lord, the Princess Carathis, who hath passed the night in
consulting the planets, informs you that they portend you evil, and the
danger is urgent. Beware lest this stranger, whom you have so lavishly
recompensed for his magical gewgaws, should make some attempt on your
life; his liquor, which at first had the appearance of effecting your
cure, may be no more than a poison of a sudden operation. Slight not
this surmise; ask him at least of what it was compounded, whence he
procured it, and mention the sabres which you seem to have forgotten.”
Vathek, to whom the insolent airs of the stranger became every moment
less supportable, intimated to his vizir by a wink of acquiescence that
he would adopt his advice, and at once turning towards the Indian, said:
“Get up and declare in full Divan of what drugs the liquor was compounded
you enjoined me to take, for it is suspected to be poison; add also the
explanation I have so earnestly desired concerning the sabres you sold
me, and thus show your gratitude for the favours heaped on you.”
Having pronounced these words in as moderate a tone as a caliph well
could, he waited in silent expectation for an answer. But the Indian,
still keeping his seat, began to renew his loud shouts of laughter, and
exhibit the same horrid grimaces he had shown them before, without
vouchsafing a word in reply. Vathek, no longer able to brook such
insolence, immediately kicked him from the steps; instantly descending,
repeated his blow, and persisted with such assiduity as incited all who
were present to follow his example. Every foot was aimed at the Indian,
and no sooner had any one given him a kick than he felt himself
constrained to reiterate the stroke.
The stranger afforded them no small entertainment; for, being both short
and plump, he collected himself into a ball, and rolled round on all
sides at the blows of his assailants, who pressed after him wherever he
turned with an eagerness beyond conception, whilst their numbers were
every moment increasing. The ball, indeed, in passing from one apartment
to another, drew every person after it that came in its way, insomuch
that the whole palace was thrown into confusion, and resounded with a
tremendous clamour. The women of the harem, amazed at the uproar, flew
to their blinds to discover the cause; but no sooner did they catch a
glimpse of the ball, than feeling themselves unable to refrain, they
broke from the clutches of their eunuchs, who to stop their flight
pinched them till they bled, but in vain; whilst themselves, though
trembling with terror at the escape of their charge, were as incapable of
resisting the attraction.
The Indian, after having traversed the halls, galleries, chambers,
kitchens, gardens, and stables of the palace, at last took his course
through the courts; whilst the Caliph, pursuing him closer than the rest,
bestowed as many kicks as he possibly could, yet not without receiving
now and then one, which his competitors in their eagerness designed for
the ball.
Carathis, Morakanabad, and two or three old vizirs, whose wisdom had
hitherto withstood the attraction, wishing to prevent Vathek from
exposing himself in the presence of his subjects, fell down in his way to
impede the pursuit; but he, regardless of their obstruction, leaped over
their heads, and went on as before. They then ordered the Muezzins to
call the people to prayers, both for the sake of getting them out of the
way and of endeavouring by their petitions to avert the calamity; but
neither of these expedients was a whit more successful: the sight of this
fatal ball was alone sufficient to draw after it every beholder. The
Muezzins themselves, though they saw it but at a distance, hastened down
from their minarets and mixed with the crowd, which continued to increase
in so surprising a manner, that scarce an inhabitant was left in Samarah,
except the aged, the sick confined to their beds, and infants at the
breast, whose nurses could run more nimbly without them. Even Carathis,
Morakanabad, and the rest were all become of the party.
The shrill screams of the females, who had broken from their apartments,
and were unable to extricate themselves from the pressure of the crowd,
together with those of the eunuchs jostling after them, terrified lest
their charge should escape from their sight, increased by the execrations
of husbands urging forward and menacing both, kicks given and received,
stumblings and overthrows at every step; in a word, the confusion that
universally prevailed rendered Samarah like a city taken by storm and
devoted to absolute plunder.
At last the cursed Indian, who still preserved his rotundity of figure,
after passing through all the streets and public places, and leaving them
empty, rolled onwards to the plain of Catoul, and traversed the valley at
the foot of the mountain of the Four Fountains.
As a continual fall of water had excavated an immense gulf in the valley,
whose opposite side was closed in by a steep acclivity, the Caliph and
his attendants were apprehensive lest the ball should bound into the
chasm, and, to prevent it, redoubled their efforts, but in vain. The
Indian persevered in his onward direction, and, as had been apprehended,
glancing from the precipice with the rapidity of lightning, was lost in
the gulf below.
Vathek would have followed the perfidious Giaour, had not an invisible
agency arrested his progress. The multitude that pressed after him were
at once checked in the same manner, and a calm instantaneously ensued.
They all gazed at each other with an air of astonishment; and,
notwithstanding that the loss of veils and turbans, together with torn
habits and dust blended with sweat, presented a most laughable spectacle,
there was not one smile to be seen; on the contrary, all, with looks of
confusion and sadness, returned in silence to Samarah, and retired to
their inmost apartments, without ever reflecting that they had been
impelled by an invisible power into the extravagance for which they
reproached themselves; for it is but just that men, who so often arrogate
to their own merit the good of which they are but instruments, should
attribute to themselves the absurdities which they could not prevent.
The Caliph was the only person that refused to leave the valley. He
commanded his tents to be pitched there, and stationed himself on the
very edge of the precipice, in spite of the representations of Carathis
and Morakanabad, who pointed out the hazard of its brink giving way, and
the vicinity to the magician that had so severely tormented him. Vathek
derided all their remonstrances, and, having ordered a thousand flambeaux
to be lighted, and directed his attendants to proceed in lighting more,
lay down on the slippery margin, and attempted, by help of this
artificial splendour, to look through that gloom which all the fires of
the empyrean had been insufficient to pervade. One while he fancied to
himself voices arising from the depth of the gulf; at another he seemed
to distinguish the accents of the Indian, but all was no more than the
hollow murmur of waters, and the din of the cataracts that rushed from
steep to steep down the sides of the mountain.
Having passed the night in this cruel perturbation, the Caliph at
daybreak retired to his tent, where, without taking the least sustenance,
he continued to doze till the dusk of evening began again to come on. He
then resumed his vigils as before, and persevered in observing them for
many nights together. At length, fatigued with so successless an
employment, he sought relief from change. To this end he sometimes paced
with hasty strides across the plain, and, as he wildly gazed at the
stars, reproached them with having deceived him; but, lo! on a sudden the
clear blue sky appeared streaked over with streams of blood, which
reached from the valley even to the city of Samarah. As this awful
phenomenon seemed to touch his tower, Vathek at first thought of
re-pairing thither to view it more distinctly, but feeling himself unable
to advance, and being overcome with apprehension, he muffled up his face
in his robe.
Terrifying as these prodigies were, this impression upon him was no more
than momentary, and served only to stimulate his love of the marvellous.
Instead, therefore, of returning to his palace, he persisted in the
resolution of abiding where the Indian vanished from his view. One
night, however, while he was walking as usual on the plain, the moon and
the stars at once were eclipsed, and a total darkness ensued; the earth
trembled beneath him, and a voice came forth, the voice of the Giaour,
who, in accents more sonorous than thunder, thus addressed him: “Wouldest
thou devote thyself to me? Adore then the terrestrial influences, and
abjure Mahomet. On these conditions I will bring thee to the palace of
subterranean fire; there shalt thou behold in immense depositories the
treasures which the stars have promised thee, and which will be conferred
by those Intelligences whom thou shalt thus render propitious. It was
from thence I brought my sabres, and it is there that Soliman Ben Daoud
reposes, surrounded by the talismans that control the world.”
The astonished Caliph trembled as he answered, yet in a style that showed
him to be no novice in preternatural adventures: “Where art thou? be
present to my eyes; dissipate the gloom that perplexes me, and of which I
deem thee the cause; after the many flambeaux I have burnt to discover
thee, thou mayst at least grant a glimpse of thy horrible visage.”
“Abjure, then, Mahomet,” replied the Indian, “and promise me full proofs
of thy sincerity, otherwise thou shalt never behold me again.”
The unhappy Caliph, instigated by insatiable curiosity, lavished his
promises in the utmost profusion. The sky immediately brightened; and by
the light of the planets, which seemed almost to blaze, Vathek beheld the
earth open, and at the extremity of a vast black chasm, a portal of
ebony, before which stood the Indian, still blacker, holding in his hand
a golden key that caused the lock to resound.
“How,” cried Vathek, “can I descend to thee without the certainty of
breaking my neck? come, take me, and instantly open the portal.”
“Not so fast,” replied the Indian, “impatient Caliph! Know that I am
parched with thirst, and cannot open this door till my thirst be
thoroughly appeased. I require the blood of fifty of the most beautiful
sons of thy vizirs and great men, or neither can my thirst nor thy
curiosity be satisfied. Return to Samarah, procure for me this necessary
libation, come back hither, throw it thyself into this chasm, and then
shalt thou see!”
Having thus spoken, the Indian turned his back on the Caliph, who,
incited by the suggestion of demons, resolved on the direful sacrifice.
He now pretended to have regained his tranquillity, and set out for
Samarah amidst the acclamations of a people who still loved him, and
forbore not to rejoice when they believed him to have recovered his
reason. So successfully did he conceal the emotion of his heart, that
even Carathis and Morakanabad were equally deceived with the rest.
Nothing was heard of but festivals and rejoicings; the ball, which no
tongue had hitherto ventured to mention, was again brought on the tapis;
a general laugh went round, though many, still smarting under the hands
of the surgeon from the hurts received in that memorable adventure, had no great reason for mirth |
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