red that the sound was much improved. When he got home
he fastened the staff to another piece of wood, which was hollow, and by
the addition of a bow, strung with part of his own beard, converted it
to a complete instrument. In succeeding ages the science received
considerable improvements. After the addition of a bridge, purer notes
were extracted; and the different students, pursuing the bent of their
inclinations, constructed instruments of various forms, according to
their individual fancies; and to this whimsical accident we are indebted
for the tuneful ney and the heart-exhilarating rabab, and, in short, all
the other instruments of wind and strings.

Having thus discoursed upon the discovery of music, the Parrot proceeds
to detail

_The Seven Requisites of a Perfect Woman._

1 She ought not to be always merry.

2 She ought not to be always sad.

3 She ought not to be always talking.

4 She ought not to be always thinking.

5 She ought not to be constantly dressing.

6 She ought not to be always unadorned.

7 She is a perfect woman who, at all times, possesses
herself; can be cheerful without levity, grave
without austerity; knows when to elevate the tongue
of persuasion, and when to impress her lips with the
signet of silence; never converts trifling ceremonies
into intolerable burdens; always dresses becoming to
her rank and age; is modest without prudery, religious
without an alloy of superstition; can hear the one sex
praised without envy, and converse with the other
without permitting the torch of inconstancy to kindle
the unhallowed fire in her breast; considers her husband
as the most accomplished of mortals, and thinks
all the sons of Adam besides unworthy of a transient
glance from the corner of her half-shut eyes.

Such are the requisites of a perfect woman, and how thankful we should
be that we have so many in this highly-favoured land who possess them
all! These maxims are assuredly of Indian origin--no Persian could ever
have conceived such virtues as being attainable by women.

V

THE PRINCESS OF ROME AND HER SON--THE KING AND HIS SEVEN VAZIRS.

The story told by the Parrot on the 50th Night is very singular, and
presents, no doubt, a faithful picture of Oriental manners and customs.
In the original text it is entitled

_Story of the Daughter of