The Amours of Zeokinizul, King of the Kofirans | Page 5

proposed that the Lady of the Bassa of Ourtavan
should take care of the King, and taste of every kind of Food which was
brought to his Table. And soon after they were not wanting to alarm the
People with Reports, that his Victuals had been several Times poisoned.
The great Men of the Kingdom, whose Abilities the Regent never
consulted, as being himself equal to all the Difficulties of Government,
enter'd into a League against him, under Pretence of Concern for
Zeokinizul, whose Life they declar'd was in Danger. But the Kam of
Anserol, who was too vigilant to be surprized, soon discovered the Plot,
and having secur'd the Leaders, he quench'd the Rebellion in the Blood
of its Contrivers.
He did not give himself the Trouble of verbally refuting the Calumnies,
and Invectives, with which he was daily loaded, but took Care to
disprove them by his Conduct. The publick Finances had been quite
exhausted, during the last Years of the great Zokitarezoul, and he took
upon himself to restore them. It is true, that his Scheme ruined some
Families; but besides that their Number was but small, and their Ruin
rather owing to their inconsiderate Greediness, such a desperate
Distemper could not have been well removed by a softer Remedy.
No sooner was Zeokinizul of Age, but the Kam delivered up to him the
Government of the Kingdom, which by his Care and Munificence, was
the Abode of the polite Arts, of which he had declared himself the
Protector. Nay more, he induced the young King to chuse himself a
Consort; and thus he refuted the base Views which his Enemies had
fathered on him.
Scarce was this important Affair finished, when the Kam of Anserol, as
if this World could afford no Addition to his Glory, died suddenly, as
he had always desired. His Enemies laid hold of this Circumstance, to
revile him, even in his Grave. They spread a Report, that his Intention
was to poison the King, by a Liquor which he was to drink along with
him, but that by a fortunate Mistake of the Cups, he had fallen the

Victim of his own Contrivance. The young King could not hear such
atrocious Insults without Horror. He threatened the severest
Punishments to any one who should dare to blacken the Character of
this great Prince, and he himself never mentioned his Name but with
Words of the highest Esteem, and the warmest Acknowledgment.
The joyful Kofirans promised themselves, from the hopeful
Inclinations of Zeokinizul, a Reign no less happy than the preceding;
but by a Fatality, not uncommon amongst them, the young Monarch
was so fond of an old Mollak, formerly his Tutor, of a very insinuating
but hypocritical Humility, that he entirely remitted to him the whole
Management of his Kingdom. This old Wretch, whose predominate
Passion was Avarice, loaded the People with Taxes. And as a War
would not allow him to embezzle at will the public Treasures, he never
would enter into one unless utterly impossible to be avoided. And then,
with so much Niggardliness, and so little Conduct, that he became the
Scorn both of the Generals and the Officers of State. Happy if he could
have saved those vast Sums, or have expended them in a manner
suitable to the Honour of the Prince, and the unbounded Zeal of his
Subjects. But they were all in a short Time squandered away, among
Foreigners, who made him their constant Dupe. Indeed, the best
Schemes miscarried thro' his Sordidness, and yet with all these Faults,
he maintain'd his Ascendency over the Prince, so that no Courtier dared
utter any Complaint against him.
Zeokinizul, whose whole Life was devoted to his Consort and his
Hunting, of both which he was equally fond, had only the Title and
Pomp of a King, for the Mollak Jeflur had engrossed all the Authority,
by which Means he aggrandized his Family, promoted and enriched his
Creatures, and supplied the enormous Profusion of his Mistress the
Princess of Ginarkan, Spouse to a Prince of the Blood of Vosaïe.
His selfish Love of Peace, could not, however, hinder his being
involved in an unavoidable War.
Sicidem, grand Kam of Katenos, among the Provinces of the Neitilanes,
dying without Issue, the Emperor of the Maregins laid Claim to his
Succession. This Prince was already too powerful for the King of the

Kofirans not to oppose this Addition to his Greatness. And thus this
ecclesiastical Statesman Jeflur, was brought under a Necessity of
employing his Master's Troops, in order to deprive him of so rich an
Inheritance. About this Time also, the Throne of Goplone, of which his
Father-in-Law had been dispossess'd, became vacant, and Zeokinizul's
Honour required, that he should lay hold of this Opportunity to restore
him. After a