with one of them, the prince of Hircania came to Babylon; and, laying waste all before him, my poor house, among the rest, was first plundered of every thing valuable, and afterwards reduced to ashes.

'Having thus lost my money, my wife, and my house, I retired to the place where you now see me. I have endeavoured to procure my subsistence by fishing; but the fish, as well as all mankind, desert me. I scarce catch one in a day. I am ready to die with hunger; and had it not been for your kind interposition, I should ere now have perished in the river.'

The fisherman did not make this long recital all at once; for Zadig, moved and transported, every moment repeated-'What! do you not know what is become of the queen?'-' No, my lord,' replied the fisherman; 'but this I know, to my grief, that neither the queen nor Zadig have paid me for my creamcheeses: that my wife is taken from me; and that I am driven to the very brink of despair.'-' I flatter myself,' said Zadig, 'that you will not lose all your money. I have heard much talk of this Zadig; they say he is an honest man; and if he return to Babylon, as it is to be hoped he will, no doubt but he will give you even more than he owes. But as for your wife, who does not appear to me over honest, I advise you not to seek after her. Take my advice, and make the best of your way to Babylon: I shall be there before you, because I shall ride, and you will go on foot. Address yourself to the illustrious Cador, tell him you have seen his friend, and wait for me at his house. Go, follow my directions, and perhaps you may not always be unhappy.

O puissant Orosmades!' continued Zadig, 'thou makest use of me to bestow comfort on this man, whom thou hast ordained to give me comfort." In speaking thus, he gave to the fisherman half the money he had brought from Arabia; and the fisherman, transported with joy, and filled with amazement, kissed the feet of the friend of Cador, ana cried out You are certainly an angel sent to save me!'

Zadig, however, still continued to make fresh enquiries, not without tears. 'What, my lord,' cried the fisherman, are you then so unhappy, who have loaded me with benefits?'-' I am an hundred times more unhappy than you, replied Zadig. 'But how is it possible,' said he, 'that the person who gives should have more cause for complaint than he who receives?'

'It is because your greatest misfortunes,' returned Zadig, arose from your necessity, and mine from the heart.'-' Has Orcan, then, taken your wife?" said the fisherman. This last interrogation recalled to Zadig the remembrance of all his adventures: he repeated the train of his misfortunes, beginning with the queen's dog, and ending with his arrival at the castle of the robber Arbogad. 'Ah!' said he to the fisherman, Orcan deserves to be severely punished; but it is commonly such men as him who are the favourites of Fortune. However, go to my friend Cador's immediately, and there wait for me.' They then separated: the fisherman walked, thanking Destiny; and Zadig rode, constantly accusing the decrees of Fate.

CHAPTER XV.

THE BASILISK.

ZADIG being arrived in a very beautiful meadow, pa ceived several young Syrian females looking in the grass with great application. He took the liberty to approach one of them, and asked if he might have the honour to assist them in their search. 'Take care what you do,' replied the fair Assyrian; 'what we are searching for, can only be touched by a female.'That is somewhat strange!' said Zadig: 'may I beg to be informed what this curiosity is, that the ladies only are allowed to touch?'-' It is a basilisk,' replied she. A basilisk, fair one! For what reason, pray, do you seek for a basilisk?'-' It is,' said she, for our lord and master Ogul, whose castle you see on the banks of that river at the end of the meadow: we are all his most humble slaves. The lord Ogul is sick; and his physician has ordered him to eat a basilisk stewed in rose water. As this is a very scarce animal, and will suffer nothing to approach it but one of our sex, the lord Ogul has promised to choose for his well beloved wife, her who first brings him a basilisk. Do not, therefore, longer detain me from the search, since you see what I shall lose, if I am circumvented by my companions.'

Zadig then withdrew, and left the Syrian ladies in search of their imaginary booty, in order to pursue his intended journey. But when he came to the banks of a rivulet, at the remotest part of the meadow, he perceived another female lying on the grass, who was not employed in seeking for any thing. Her

stature seemed majestic, but her face was covered with a veil. She was leaning towards the brook, and profound sighs issued from her mouth. She held in her hand a small wand, with which she traced characters on a fine sand, that lay between the turf and the brook. Zadig had the curiosity to draw near, in order to discover what this lady was writing. He approached her; he saw the letter Z; then an A; he was astonished; then appeared a D; he started. Never was surprise equal to his, when he saw the two last letters of his name. He stood for some time immoveable: at last breaking silence, with a faltering voice-O generous lady!' cried he, 'forgive a stranger, an unfortunate man, who presumes to ask, by what astonishing adventure he finds here the name of Zadig, traced out by so lovely a hand?" At this voice, and at these words, the lady arose; and with a trembling hand pulled up her veil, looked at Zadig, cast forth a cry of tenderness, surprise, and, joy; and sinking under the various emotions which at the same instant agitated her soul, fell senseless into his arms. It was Astarte herself; it was the queen of Babylon; it was she whom Zadig adored, and had reproached himself for adoring; it was she whom he had so deeply lamented, and for whose fate he had been under such dreadful apprehensions! He was for a moment deprived of the use of his senses; while his eyes were fixed on the lovely Astarte, who now began to revive, and gazed on him with looks of the sweetest confusion and tenderness. O ye immortal powers!' cried he, 'who preside over the destiny of feeble mortals; have ye indeed restored Astarte to me! How strange the time, the place, the state, in which I see her! He then threw himself on his knees before her, and laid his forehead amidst the dust of her feet; but the queen raised him up, and made him sit near her on the bank of the rivulet. She often wiped away the tears from her eyes, which as often were renewed by her grief; and more than twenty times resumed her discourse, which was so frequently interrupted by her sighs. She enquired by what accident they were brought together, and suddenly prevented his answer by new questions. She put a stop to the recital of her own misfortunes, and would know those of Zadig. In short, both having a little appeased the tumult of their souls, Zadig related in a few words the motives that had brought him thither. But tell me, O unhappy, but ever worthy queen!' cried he, 'by what means is it that I find you in this solitary place, clothed in this servile manner, and accompanied by other female slaves, who are in search of a basilisk; which I find is, by the order of a physician, to be stewed in rose-water, as a specific for his dying patient?'

'While they are busied in the fruitless search,' said the lovely Astarte, 'I will acquaint you with what I have suffered since last I saw you; for which heaven has indeed sufficiently recompensed me, by permitting me to see you again.

'You know the king my husband was displeased at your being the most amiable of all mankind, and that for this reason, he took the resolution to have you strangled, and to poison me. You know, likewise, how heaven permitted my little mute to inform me of the order given by his sublime majesty.

• Scarce had the faithful Cador obliged you to com