‘Oh! stay your prayer!’ said the wife of the Durweish; ’this must not be; for if we all die at once, who will perform the funeral rites, and deposit our bodies in the earth?’ The Durweish smiled at his wife’s objection, and answered, ’This is of no consequence to us, dear wife:  the body may be likened to a garment that is thrown off when old; the soul having worn its earthly covering for a season, at the appointed time shakes off the perishable piece of corruption, to enter into a purer state of existence.  It matters not if the body have a burial or not; the soul takes no cognizance of the clay it has quitted.  Yet, if it be a matter of great consideration with you, be assured that many pious men and Durweish, whose respect we have enjoyed in life, will not fail to give decent interment to the remains of those they have loved and respected.’

This for a moment baffled the wife in her argument; but presently she persuasively urged that her daughters were all young, that they had as yet seen but little of this world, and therefore it would be cruel to take them away so soon; they must desire to see more of this life ere they entered on another state of existence.  ‘Oh, my wife,’ said the Durweish, ’you reason badly; this life hath no joys to be compared with those which the righteous man’s hopes lead him to expect in the world beyond the grave.  I will assuredly make my promised prayer, if I find a semblance of remaining grief upon separating from me at the appointed time, for our removal to perfect happiness.’

‘No, no!’ was cried by all the assembled family; ’do let us remain a little longer here, we are not in a hurry to quit this world.’—­’Well, well, be satisfied then,’ responded the Durweish, ’if such is your desire; and hereafter let me not hear a sigh or a murmur from one of you, for my appointed time is drawing to a close; if you will not accompany me, let me, at least, depart in peace.’

The people who relate this (and I have heard the anecdote from many) add, that the Durweish Shah Sherif ood deen Mah-mood died at the close of the third week, and on the day and hour he had predicted.

A grandson of this Durweish I have been writing about is still living in India, remarkable for a very retentive memory and propriety of life.  I have not met with this gentleman during my residence in India, but have often heard his name mentioned with respect by Meer Hadjee Shaah who knew him well.  He says that this Syaad, when but a boy, learned the whole Khoraun by heart[6] in the short space of forty days; he adds, that this person is exemplary in his life, and in his habits and manners humble; that he is truly a servant of God; rejects the mystic tenets of Soofieism; possesses an enlightened mind, and is a Moollah or Doctor of the Mussulmaun law.  I have heard many singular anecdotes of his life, proving his disregard for riches, honours, and the vain pursuits of the worldly-minded.  If I recollect right, he once