The Caliph, nevertheless, remained in the most violent agitation; he sat
down indeed to eat, but of the three hundred covers that were daily
placed before him could taste of no more than thirty-two. A diet to
which he had been so little accustomed was sufficient of itself to
prevent him from sleeping; what then must be its effect when joined to
the anxiety that preyed upon his spirits? At the first glimpse of dawn
he hastened to the prison, again to importune this intractable stranger;
but the rage of Vathek exceeded all bounds on finding the prison empty,
the gates burst asunder, and his guards lying lifeless around him. In
the paroxysm of his passion he fell furiously on the poor carcases, and
kicked them till evening without intermission. His courtiers and vizirs
exerted their efforts to soothe his extravagance, but finding every
expedient ineffectual, they all united in one vociferation: "The Caliph
is gone mad! the Caliph is out of his senses!"
This outcry, which soon resounded through the streets of Samarah, at
length reaching the ears of Carathis, his mother, she flew in the utmost
consternation to try her ascendency on the mind of her son.
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