Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 449 | Page 6

his
elocution, I must say that it seems to me somewhat inarticulate.' The
patriarch was puzzled again, and again he bowed, lower than before.
The Jew chuckled, and whispered something in the sultan's ear. But
Titus was not disconcerted. Falling again on his knees, he exclaimed:
'Pardon me, your sublime highness, we consider him a remarkably
good reader, an animal of excellent parts, and a pupil who does us great
credit. It is true, as your sublime highness's discrimination has observed,
that his enunciation, even to those who know the language, may have
some appearance of indistinctness, because he is defective in the
vowel-points; but we cannot help it, for all our books are unpointed. In
this, which, indeed, we consider a matter of little importance, we do not
pretend to compete with the Jews, who teach theirs from pointed books.
If your sublime highness ever heard a bear read more articulately than
this one, it must have been one of theirs; and if you would have your
own perfected in that particular, you must put it into their hands.' The
sultan stared at the deacon; and the Jew eyed him over the sultan's
shoulder with fierce alarm. But the hands of Titus were folded on his
breast, and his head was bowed down on his hands.
'Well,' said the sultan to the patriarch, after a pause, during which it was
obvious that some things were passing through his mind, of which he
said nothing, 'I thank you for the pains you have taken; and although I
cannot say that I quite understand the matter now, yet if I had known
six weeks ago as much as I do at present, I would not have troubled you.
If you are ever in want of any help or protection, remember, as I shall,
that you have obliged me.'
The patriarch bowed. The sultan rose and retired, resolved that his first
business should be to come to a full explanation with his doctor; and
accordingly, a summons for the Israelite was instantly issued. Very
long it seemed to the sultan--although, in fact, it was only half an
hour--before the vizier came to report, that the doctor was nowhere to
be found.
'Well,' said the sultan, 'I do not much wonder at that. I always thought

him a wise man, and he is certainly no fool to get out of the way now.
But, at the same time, let strict search be made; and also bring me the
chief rabbi.'
In the confusion occasioned by the breaking up of the company, the
tutor and his pupil--the latter of whom had naturally dropped into the
less ostentatious posture of a quadruped--were forgotten, or at least
overlooked, by the crowd of courtiers, who rushed to congratulate Mar
Yusef, or laid their heads together, to whisper their surprise or their
suspicions. Titus, therefore, having briefly given directions to Timothy
to take care that the book was removed, and to see the patriarch home,
and make an excuse for his staying behind, slipped with his amiable
charge through a side-door into the garden, where he seated himself on
a bench, while his companion stood opposite to him on his hind legs,
looking wistfully, he almost thought reproachfully, in his face. In truth,
Titus was conscious that he had tried the temper of his pupil, and was
afraid to let him loose before company, or, indeed, to let him go into
company at all, until he should have brought him into good-humour.
He had provided himself with ample means of doing this; and having
produced more than one honey-cake, and several other good things, and
laid them on the bench beside him, he did not hesitate to unmuzzle his
friend, and a merry meal they made together.
If the master was rendered happy by the issue of an experiment which
had been matter of such great and long anxiety, the pupil was also
raised to a state of the highest possible good-humour, by being at once
relieved from restraint and hunger. He looked cheerily about him;
seemed as if for the first time he recognised his old haunts; gamboled
through the now deserted hall and passages; and, before he had been
missed by anybody, found his way, by a short cut, to his own rug in the
sultan's apartment.
For a moment, indeed, while occupied in anticipating the explanation
which he had resolved to extort from his doctor, the sultan, like his
courtiers, had forgotten his favourite; but now the meeting was most
cordial on both sides. The sultan seemed determined to make up for his
neglect; and the favourite to shew, that neither scholarship, nor the

discipline requisite for obtaining it, had diminished his social affections
or companionable qualities.
At length the rabbi arrived. He had, indeed, been a