Usbek to the Chief Eunuch at the Seraglio of Ispahan.
RECEIVE, by virtue of this letter, an unlimited power over the whole seraglio: command with as much authority as I do myself: let fear and terror accompany you every where; visit every apartment with correction and punishment; let consternation seize upon all; let all shed tears in thy presence: question all that belong to the seraglio: begin with the slaves; do not spare even my love: let all be subject to your awful tribunal: discover the most hidden secrets; purify the infamous place, and make banished virtue return once more to it. For, from this moment, I will place the smallest faults committed there to your account. I suspect that Zelis is the person to whom the letter you intercepted was addressed: pry into that affair with the eyes of a lynx.