caliph, laughing, "you know how to choose the best." "O," replied
Abou Hassan, while the caliph was drinking his glass, "one need
only look in your face to be assured that you have seen the
world, and know what good living is. If," added he in Arabic
verse, "my house could think and express its joy, how happy would
it be to possess you, and, bowing before you, would exclaim, ‘How
overjoyed am I to see myself honoured with the company of so
accomplished and polite a personage, and for meeting with a man
of your merit.'"

The caliph, naturally fond of merriment, was highly diverted with
these sallies of Abou Hassan, and artfully promoted drinking,
often asking for wine, thinking that when it began to operate, he
might from his talkativeness satisfy his curiosity. He asked him
his name, his business, and how he spent his life. "My name,
sir," replied he, "is Abou Hassan. I lost my father, who was a
merchant of Bagdad, and though not the richest, yet lived very
comfortably. When he died, he left me money enough to live free
from business; but as he always kept a very strict hand over me,
I was willing, when he was gone, to make up for the time I
thought I had lost. Notwithstanding this," continued Abou Hassan,
"I was more prudent than most young people who give themselves up
to debauchery, without any thought, pursue it till they reduce
themselves to the utmost poverty, and are forced to do penance
during the rest of their lives. To avoid this misfortune, I
divided what I had left me into two parts, landed estate and
ready money. I destined the ready money to supply the expenses of
entertaining my acquaintance. I meditated, and took a fixed
resolution not to touch my rents. I associated with young people
of my own age, and with my ready money, which I spent profusely,