do?'-'To eat a wing of this fowl,' said the Egyptian, 'as part of my supper!'-'Consider what you are doing,' said the Indian: 'it is possible that the soul of the deceased may have passed into the body of that fowl; and you would not, surely, expose yourself to the danger of eating your aunt! The dressing of fowls, is a manifest outrage on nature.'-'What do you mean by your nature and your fowls?' replied the choleric Egyptian; 'we worship oxen, and yet eat heartily of beef.'-'Worship oxen ! is it possible?" cried the Indian. 'There is nothing so possible,' returned the other: 'it is an hundred and thirty-five thousand years since we first did so, and nobody amongst us has ever yet found fault with it.'-' A hundred and thirty-five thousand years!' said the Indian: 'this account must certainly be exaggerated; it is but fourscore thousand since India was first inhabited, and we are certainly more ancient than you. Brama prohibited our eating cows, before you put them on your altars or your spits.'-' Your Brama is a pleasant sort of an animal, to be compared to our Apis,' said the Egyptian. 'What mighty matter has your Brama ever done?'-'Why,' replied the Braman, 'it is he who first taught mankind to read and write, and to him the whole earth is indebted for the noble game of chess.'-' You deceive yourself, sir,' said a Chaldean who stood near him; 'we owe these great benefits to the fish Oannes; and it is just that we should pay our homage only to him. All the world will tell you that he is a divine being; that he had a golden tail, with the head of a most beautiful man; and that, three hours every day, he left the water to preach upon land. Every body knows that he had many children, who were all powerful kings. I have his picture at home, to which, as in duty bound, I pray every evening before I retire to rest, and every morning when I arise. No doubt, people may eat as much beef as they please; but it is surely a very great impiety to have fish served up at table. Besides, you are both of an origin too ignoble, and too recent, to dispute with me about any thing: the nation of the Egyptians reckon only one hundred and thirty-five thousand years, and the Indians boast but of fourscore thousand, while we have almanacs of four thouand centuries. Believe what I tell you, renounce your follies, and I will give to each of you a beautiful picture of our Oannes.'

The Chinese, or man of Cathay, joining in the discourse, said-' I greatly respect the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, the Greeks, the Celtics, Brama, Apis, and the beautiful Oannes; but it is possible that Li, or Tien*, as he is commonly called, is superior to all the bulls and fishes in the universe. I will say nothing of my country; though it is as large as the land of Egypt, Chaldea, and the Indies, together. I shall not dispute about antiquity, because it is sufficient we are happy; but, if it were necessary to speak of almanacs, I should say, that all Asia prefers ours, and that we had very correct ones before arithmetic was known in Chaldea.'

'Ignorant mortals!' cried the Greek, 'have ye not yet been informed, that Chaos is the father of all, and that form and matter have put the world in its present state?" He spoke thus for a long time; but

The Chinese term, Li, signifies natural light, or reason; and Tien, signifies the heavens, or the Supreme Being.

was at length interrupted by the Celtic, who having drank pretty freely during the whole time of this debate, imagined himself more learned than all the others; and cried out, with a great oath, that there were none but Teutath, and the misletoe of the oak, that were worth the trouble they were giving themselves; that, for his part, he had always misletoe in his pocket; that the Scythians, his ancestors, were the only men of worth that had ever appeared in the world; and although they had, it was true, sometimes eaten their countrymen, yet that was no reason why they ought not to have a great respect for his nation: in short, he declared, that if any one spoke evil of Teutath, he would soon teach him how to behave himself. The quarrel then grew warm, and Setoc began to fear the table would be presently stained with blood. Zadig, who had kept silence during the whole dispute, at last arose. He first addressed himself to the Celtic, as being the most furious; and, telling him he had reason on his side, begged to have some of his misletoe. He expatiated on the eloquence of the Grecian; and softened, in the most artful manner, all the contending parties. He said, indeed, but little to the man of Cathay, because he had been by far the most reasonable. At length he addressed them, in general terms, to this effect. 'My dear friends, you have been all this while contesting about an important topic, in which it is evident you are all unanimously agreed !' At this word, they all cried out together. 'Is it not true,' said he to the Celtic 'that you do not adore this misletoe, but him that made the misletoe and the oak?'-'Certainly, ra pued the Celtic. 'And you, the Egyptian, probably revere, in a certain ox, him who has given us all horned cattle?'-'Yes,' said the Egyptian. 'The fish Oannes, continued he, 'ought to yield to him who made both the sea and the fishes.'-' Agreed,' said the Chaldean. 'The Indian and Cathaian,' added he, 'acknowledge like all the rest, a first principle. I have not, it is true, perfectly understood the admirable things which have been delivered by the Greek; but I am fully persuaded he also will acknowledge a Superior Being, on whom form and matter entirely depend." The Greek, whose wisdom they all admired, confessed that Zadig had exactly penetrated his thoughts. You are then all of one mind,' replied Zadig; 'and there is no room for dispute.' They then all embraced him; and Setoc, after having sold his commodities at a very high price, returned home with Zadig. On their arrival at Oreb, they presently found that a prosecution had been carried on against Zadig in his absence, and that he was condemned to be burnt before a slow fire.

CHAPTER XII.

THE RENDEZVOUS.

WHILE Zadig attended his friend Setoc to Balzora, the priests of the stars determined to punish him. As all the costly jewels, and other valuable ornaments, of every young widow whom they sent to the funeral pile, became their property, it is not greatly to be wondered at, that they should be inclined to burn so great an enemy to their interests. They accordingly accused him of having erroneous sentiments with res

pect to the heavenly host: they made oath he had been heard to say the stars did not set in the sea. This frightful blasphemy made the judges tremble; they were ready to tear their vestments when they heard these impious words; and would doubtless have done it, if Zadig had had sufficient to pay them for new ones: but, in the excess of their grief, they were willing to content themselves with condemning him to be roasted alive before a slow fire. Setoc, reduced to despair, employed all his interest to save his friend; he was, however, soon obliged to be silent. The young widow Almona, who had conceived a great fondness for life, for which she was indebted to Zadig, resolved, if possible, to draw him from the funeral pile, which he had convinced her was greatly abused. She revolved her design in secret, without speaking to any one. Zadig was to be executed the next day, and she had only the night in which she could save him. Let us now behold the method pursued by this discreet and benevolent widow.

She made use of the most costly perfumes, and heightened the power of her charms by the richest and gayest apparel: she then went to demand a secret audience of the chief priest of the stars. On being admitted into his august and venerable presence, she addressed herself to him in these terms-Eldest son of the Great Bear, brother to the Bull, cousin to the Great Dog,' [these were the titles of the pontiff] 'I come to acquaint you with my scruples. My conscience tells me I have committed an enormous crime, in not burning myself on the funeral pile of my dear husband. What, in fact, had I worth sparing? Perishable flesh only, already wrinkled and dried up."