the patriarchal privileges of Abraham our father, and of Solomon,
the wisest of mankind, having given us here a succession of
beauty at our pleasure, and beyond the grave the black-eyed
houris of Paradise."

"Now, by His name that I most reverence in heaven," said the
Christian, "and by hers whom I most worship on earth, thou art
but a blinded and a bewildered infidel!-- That diamond signet
which thou wearest on thy finger, thou holdest it, doubtless, as
of inestimable value?"

"Balsora and Bagdad cannot show the like," replied the Saracen;
"but what avails it to our purpose?"

"Much," replied the Frank, "as thou shalt thyself confess. Take
my war-axe and dash the stone into twenty shivers: would each
fragment be as valuable as the original gem, or would they, all
collected, bear the tenth part of its estimation?"

"That is a child's question," answered the Saracen; "the
fragments of such a stone would not equal the entire jewel in the
degree of hundreds to one."

"Saracen," replied the Christian warrior, "the love which a true
knight binds on one only, fair and faithful, is the gem entire;
the affection thou flingest among thy enslaved wives and half-wedded slaves is worthless, comparatively,
as the sparkling
shivers of the broken diamond."

"Now, by the Holy Caaba," said the Emir, "thou art a madman who