brotherhood to provide husbands for thy wives,
I undoubtedly would have put them to the torture, could I but have
allowed them the time; being, however, in a hurry, I only hung him after
having caught him in a snare with thy wives, whilst them I buried alive
by the help of my negresses, who thus spent their last moments greatly to
their satisfaction. With respect to Dilara, who ever stood high in my
favour, she hath evinced the greatness of her mind by fixing herself near
in the service of one of the Magi, and I think will soon be our own."

Vathek, too much cast down to express the indignation excited by such a
discourse, ordered the Afrit to remove Carathis from his presence, and
continued immersed in thought, which his companion durst not disturb.

Carathis, however, eagerly entered the dome of Soliman, and, without
regarding in the least the groans of the Prophet, undauntedly removed the
covers of the vases, and violently seized on the talismans; then, with a
voice more loud than had hitherto been heard within these mansions, she
compelled the Dives to disclose to her the most secret treasures, the
most profound stores, which the Afrit himself had not seen; she passed by
rapid descents, known only to Eblis and his most favoured potentates, and
thus penetrated the very entrails of the earth, where breathes the
Sansar, or icy wind of death; nothing appalled her dauntless soul; she
perceived, however, in all the inmates who bore their hands on their
hearts a little singularity, not much to her taste. As she was emerging
from one of the abysses, Eblis stood forth to her view; but,
notwithstanding he displayed the full effulgence of his infernal majesty,
she preserved her countenance unaltered, and even paid her compliments
with considerable firmness.

This superb monarch thus answered: "Princess, whose knowledge and whose
crimes have merited a conspicuous rank in my empire, thou dost well to
employ the leisure that remains; for the flames and torments, which are
ready to seize on thy heart, will not fail to provide thee with full
employment." He said this, and was lost in the curtains of his
tabernacle.

Carathis paused for a moment with surprise; but, resolved to follow the
advice of Eblis, she assembled all the choirs of Genii, and all the
Dives, to pay her homage; thus marched she in triumph through a vapour of
perfumes, amidst the acclamations of all the malignant spirits, with most
of whom she had formed a pr