His
armies were formidable, his victories splendid, and his treasury
inexhaustible. He enjoyed, moreover, what was ten thousand times more
solid and more valuable than riches--the love and veneration of his
subjects; and he had a beautiful young wife, in whose endearing
tenderness alone he could find happiness--if happiness could be found on
earth. All these advantages entitled Ibrahim to the appellation of the
Solomon of his age; and yet Ibrahim was not happy. A son was wanting to
crown his felicity. In vain did a heart formed for all the charities of
the wedded state, endeavour to supply the refusal of nature, by the
adoption of a son; in vain did gratitude endeavour to deceive his heart,
by caresses which any other would have thought to be the natural
effusions of filial sensibility, of filial piety and affection; that
heart incessantly perceived a solitude within itself. Even the
consolatory visions of hope began to grow less frequent, when heaven at
last heard his prayers, Alas! in the very instant that Fortune gratifies
our fondest wishes, she often betrays us; and her smiles are a thousand
times more fatal than her frowns.
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