Above the first dead pressure of its woes, Such was the mood in which that mission found Which the Veil'd Prophet destined for the skies :— "of some All fire at once the madd'ning zeal she canght ;— Whose image lives, though Reason's self be wreck'd, Alas, poor ZELICA! it needed all The fantasy, which held thy mind in thrall, A sainted colony for Eden's shades; Or dream that he,-of whose unholy flame With souls like thine, which he hath ruin'd here! Which would have saved thee from the tempter's art, More subtle chains than hell itself e'er twined. "Twas from a brilliant banquet, where the sound Of poesy and music breathed around, Together picturing to her mind and ear The glories of that heav'n, her destined sphere, Where all was pure, where every stain that lay Upon the spirit's light should pass away, And, realizing more than youthful love E'er wish'd or dream'd, she should for ever rove Through fields of fragrance by her Azim's side, His own bless'd, purified, eternal bride!"Twas from a scene, a witching trance like this, He hurried her away, yet breathing bliss, The nightingale, To the dim charnel-house ;-through all its steams In joy or sorrow from his side to sever. She swore, and the wide charnel echoed, "Never, never From that dread hour, entirely, wildly giv'n Across th' uncalm, but beauteous firmament. Now shadow'd with the shames of earth-now cross'd And such was now young ZELICA-so changed From her who, some years since, delighted ranged The almond groves that shade BOKHARA's tide, All life and bliss, with, Azim by her side! So alter'd was she now, this festal day, When, 'mid the proud Divan's dazzling array, The vision of that Youth whom she had loved, Had wept as dead, before her breathed and moved,... When--bright, she though, as if from Eden's track But half-way trodden, he had wander'd back Again to earth, glist'ning with Eden's lightHer beauteous AZIM shone before her sight. O Reason! who shall say what spells renew, When least we look for it, thy broken clew! Through what small vistas o'er the darken'd brain Thy intellectual day-beam bursts again; And how, like forts, to which beleaguerers win Unhoped-for entrance through some friend within, One clear idea, waken'd in the breast By mem'ry's magic, lets in all the rest. Would it were thus, unhappy girl, with thee! But though light came, it came but partially; Enough to show the maze, in which thy sense Wander'd about-but not to guide it thence; Enough to glimmer o'er the yawning wave, But not to point the harbour which might save. Hours of delight and peace, long left behind, With that dear form came rushing o'er he mind; But oh! to think how deep her soul had gone In shame and falsehood since those moments shone; And, then, her oath-there madness lay again, And, shudd'ring, back she sunk into her chain Of mental darkness, as if blest to flee Sad and subdued, for the first time her frame By the stream's side, where still at close of day Of late none found such favour in his sight As ev'n across the desp'rate wanderings The thought, still haunting her, of that bright brow, Through flame and smoke, most welcome to the skies- These were the wild'ring dreams, whose curst deceit Wan and dejected, through the ev'ning dusk, O mark how slow her step, how alter'd now From the quick, ardent Priestess, whose light bound Upon his couch the Veil'd MOKANNA lay, * The cities of Com (or Koom) and Cashan are full of mosques, mauoleme, and sepulchres of the descendants of Ali, the Saints of Persia. Chardis. Upon his mystic Veil's white glitt'ring flow. At length, with fiendish laugh, like that which broke From EBLIS at the Fall of Man, he spoke "Yes, ye vile race, for hell's amusement given, "Too mean for earth, yet claiming kin with heav'n • "God's images, forsooth! such gods as he "Whom INDIA serves, the monkey deity ;"Ye creatures of a breath, proud things of clay, "To whom if LUCIFER, as grandams say, "Refused, though at the forfeit of heaven's light, "To bend in worship, LUCIFER was right!§ "Soon shall I plant this foot upon the neck "Of your foul race, and without fear or check, Luxuriating in hate, avenge my shame, My deep-felt, long-nursed loathing of man. same! "Soon at the head of myriads, blind and fierce "As hooded falcons, through the universe "I'll sweep my dark'ning, desolating way, "Weak man my instrument, curst man my prey! Your preaching zealots, too inspired to seek "One grace of meaning for the things they speak; Your martyrs, ready to shed out their blood, 66 66 For truths too heav'nly to be understood; "And your State Priests, sole venders of the lore, That works salvation ;-as, on Ava's shore, "Where none but priests are privileged to trade "In that best marble of which Gods are made;¶ "They shall have mysteries-ay, precious stuff, "For knaves to thrive by-mysterics enough; An island in the Persian Gulf, celebrated for its white wine. †The miraculous well at Mecca; so called, says Sale, from the mur muring of i's waters. The god Hannaman,-" Apes are in many parts of India highly ven erated, out of respect to the god Hannaman, a deity partaking of the form of that race."-Pennant's Hindoostun. See a curious account, in Stephen's Persia, of a solemn embassy from some part of the Indies to Gon, when the Portuguese were there, offer ing vast treasures for the recovery of a monkey's tooth, which they held in great veneration, nad which had been taken away upon the conquest of the kingdom of Jatanapatan. This resolution of Eblis not to acknowledge the new creature, man was, according to Mahometan tradition, thus adopted :-" The earth (which God had selected for the materials of his work) was carried into Arabia to a plate between Mecca and Tayef, where, being first kneaded by the angels, it was afterwards fashioned by God himself into a human form, and left to day or the space of forty days, or, as others say, as many years; the angels, in the meantime, often visiting it, and Eblis (then ons of the angels dearest to God's presence, afterwards the devil) among the rest: but he, not contented with looking at it, kicked it with his foot till it rung, and knowing God designed that creature to be his superior, took a secret resolution never to acknowledge him as such."Sale, on the Koran. A kind of lantern formerly used by robbers, called the Hand of Glo ry, the candle for which was made of the fat of a dead malefactor. This, however, was rather a western than an eastern superstition. The material of which images of Gaudia (the Birman Deity) are made, is held sacred. Birmans may not purchase the marble in mass but are suffered, and indeed encouraged, to buy figures of the Deity rea dy made."-Syme's Ava, vol. ii. p. 376 "Dark, tangled doctrines, dark as fraud can weave, "Which simple votaries shall on trust receive, "While craftier feign belief, till they believe. "A Heav'n too ye must have, ye lords of dust,— "A splendid Paradise, pure souls, ye must: That Prophet ill sustains his holy call, "Who finds not heav'ns to suit the tastes of all; "Houris for boys, omniscience for sages, "And wings and glories for all ranks and ages. "Vain things!—as lust or vanity inspires, "The heav'n of each is but what each desires, "And, soul or sense, whate'er the object be, "Man would be man to all eternity! So let him-EBLIS!-grant this crowning curse, "But keep him what he is, no Hell were worse." "Oh my lost soul!" exclaim'd the shudd'ring maid, Whose ears had drunk like poison all he said :— MOKANNA started-not abash'd, afraid, He knew no more of fear than one who dwells But, in those dismal words that reach'd his ear, How dull were power, how joyless victory! Though borne by angels, if that smile of thine * Bless'd not my banner, 'twere but half divine. But-why so mournful, child? those eyes that shone All life last night-what!-is their glory gone? Come, come-this morn's fatigue hath made them pale, "They want rekindling-suns themselves would fail 'Did not their comets bring, as I to thee, 'From light's own fount supplies of brilliancy. 'Thou seest this cup-no juice of earth is here, 'But the pure waters of that upper sphere, Whose rills o'er ruby beds and topaz flow, Catching the gem's bright colour as they go. Nightly my Genii come and fill these urnsNay, drink-in ev'ry drop life's essence burns; "Twill make that soul all fire, those eyes all lightCome, come, I want thy loveliest smiles to-night: There is a youth-why start?-thou saw'st him then; "Look'd he not nobly? such the godlike men Thou'lt have to woo thee in the bow'rs above;"Though he, I fear, hath thoughts too stern for love, "Too ruled by that cold enemy of bliss "The world calls virtue-we must conquer this; Nay, shrink not, pretty sage! 'tis not for thee "To scan the mazes of Heav'n's mystery: "The steel must pass through fire, ere it can yied "Fit instruments for mighty hands to wield. This very night I mean to try the art "Of powerful beauty on that warrior's heart. "All that my Harem boasts of bloom and wit, "Of skill and charms, most rare and exquisite, "Shall tempt the boy ;-young MIRZALA's blue eyes, "Whose sleepy lid like snow on violets lies; "AROUYA'S cheeks, warm as a spring-day sun, "And lips that, like the seal of SOLOMON, "Have magic in their pressure; ZEBA's lute, "And LILLA's dancing feet, that gleam and shoot Rapid and white as sea-birds o'er the deep 66 "All shall combine their witching powers to steep 'My convert's spirit in that soft'ning trance, From which to heav'n is but the next advance;That glowing, yielding fusion of the breast, "On which Religion stamps her image best. 'But hear me, Priestess!-though each nymph of these "Hath some peculiar, practised power to please, "Some glance or step which, at the mirror tried, "First charms herself, then all the world beside; "There still wants one, to make the vict'ry sure, "One who in every look joins every lure: 66 66 "Through whom all beauty's beams concentred pass, Dazzling and warm, as through love's burning glass; "Whose gentle lips persuade without a word, "Whose words, ev'n when unmeaning, are adored. "Like inarticulate breathings from a shrine, "Which our faith takes for granted are divine. "Such is the nymph we want, all warmth and light, "To crown the rich temptations of to-night; "Such the refined enchantress that must be "This hero's vanquisher,—and thou art she " With her hands clasp'd, her lips apart and pale, The maid had stood, gazing upon the Veil From which these words, like south winds through a fence Of Kerzrah flow'rs, came fill'd with pestilence ;* of frowns from her, of virtuous frowns, were fled, At first, though mute she listen'd, like a dream "Oh not for worlds!" she cried-" Great God! to whon. "Beware, young raving thing;--in time beware, "Nor utter what I cannot, must not bear, "Ev'n from thy lips. Go-try thy lute, thy voice, "The boy must feel their magic ;--I rejoice "To see those fires, no matter whence they rise, "Once more illuming my fair Priestess' eyes; "And should the youth, whom soon those eyes shall warm, "Indeed resemble thy dead lover's form, "So much the happier wilt thou find thy doom, "As one warm lover, full of life and bloom, "Excels ten thousand cold ones in the tomb. 66 Nay, nay, no frowning, sweet!-those eyes were made "For love, not anger-I must be obey'd." "Obey'd!-'tis well-yes, I deserve it all"On me, on me Heav'n's vengeance cannot fall "Too heavily-but Azım, brave and true "And beautiful-must he be ruin'd too? "Must he too, glorious as he is, be driven "A renegade like me from Love and Heaven? "Like me?-weak wretch, I wrong him—not like me, "No-he's all truth and strength and purity! "Fill up your madd'ning heli-cup to the brim, "Its witch'ry, fiends, will have no charm for him. "Let loose your glowing wantons from their bow'rs, "He loves, he loves, and can defy their powers! "Wretch as I am, in his heart still I reign "Pure as when first we met, without a stain! "Though ruin'd-lost-my mem'ry, like a charm "Left by the dead, still keeps his soul from harm. "Oh! never let him know how deep the brow "He kiss'd at parting is dishonour'd now; "Ne'er tell him how debased, how sunk is she, "Whom once he loved-once!--still loves dotingly. "It is commonly said in Persia, that if a man breathe in the hot sonth wind, which in June or July passes over that flower, (the Koe reh,) it will kill him."-Thevenot "Do, do-in vain--he'll not believe my shame-"He thinks me true, that naught beneath God's sky "Could tempt or change me, and-so once thought I. "But this is past-though worse than death my lot, "Than hell-'tis nothing while he knows it not. "Far off to some benighted land I'll fly, "Where sunbeam ne'er shall enter till I die; "Where none will ask the lost one whence she came, "But I may fade and fall without a name. "And thou-curst man or fiend, whate'er thou art, Who found'st this burning plague-spot in my heart, And spread'st it-oh, so quick-through soul and frame, With more than demon's art, till I became "A loathsome thing, all pestilence, all flame !— "If when I'm gone "Hold, fearless maniac, hold, "Nor tempt my rage-by Heaven, not half so bold "The puny bird, that dares with teasing hum "Within the crocodile's stretch'd jaws to come ;* "And so thou❜lt fly, forsooth ?-what!-give up all Thy chaste dominion in the Harem Hall, "Where now to Love and now to ALLA given, "Half mistress and half saint, thou hang'st as even "As doth MEDINA's tomb, 'twixt hell and heaven! "Thou'lt fly?-as easily may reptiles run, "The gaunt snake once hath fix'd his eyes upon; 'As easily, when caught, the prey may be 'Pluck'd from his loving folds, as thou from me. "No, no, 'tis fix'd-let good or ill betide, "Thou'rt mine till death, till death MOKANNA's bride! "Hast thou forgot thy oath ?" At this dread word, "Yes, my sworn bride, let others seek in bow'rs "Their bridal place-the charnel vault was ours! Instead of scents and balms, for thee and me "Rose the rich steams of sweet mortality; 66 Gay, flick'ring death-lights shone while we were wed, "And, for our guests, a row of goodly Dead, "(Immortal spirits in their time, no doubt.) "From reeking shrouds upon the rite look'd out! "That oath thou heard'st more lips than thine repeatThat cup-thou shudd'rest, Lady-was it sweet? "That cup we pledged, the charnel's choicest wine, "Hath bound thee-ay-body and soul all mine; "Bound thee by chains that, whether blest or curst, "No matter now, not hell itself shall burst! "Hence, woman, to the Harem, and look gay, "Look wild, look-any thing but sad; yet stayOne moment more-from what this night hath pass'd, "I see thou know'st me, know'st me well at last. "Ha! ha! and so, fond thing, thou thought'st all true, "And that I love mankind?—I do, I do "As victims, love them; as the sea-dog dotes 46 Upon the small, sweet fry that round him floats; "Or, as the Nile-bird loves the slime that gives "That rank and venomous food on which she lives !—t "And, now thou scest my soul's angelic hue, ""Tis time these features were uncurtain'd too ;"This brow, whose light-oh rare celestial light! "Hath been reserved to bless thy favour'd sight; "These dazzling eyes, before whose shrouded might "Thou'st seen immortal Man kneel down and quake"Would that they were heaven's lightnings for his sake! The humming-bird is said to run this risk for the purpose of picking the crocodile's teeth. The same circumstance is related of the lapwing, as a fact to which he was witness, by Paul Lucas, Voyage fait en 1714. The ancient story concerning the Trochilus, or humming-bird, entering wah impunity into the mouth of the crocodile, is firmly believed at Javn.-Barrow's Cochin China. Cireum easilem ripas (Nili, viz.) ales est Ibis. Ea serpentium popuiziar ova, gratissimamque ex his escam nidis suis refert.-Solinus." On their arrival, next night, at the place of encampment, they were surprised and delighted to find the groves all around illuminated; some artists of Yamtcheou* having been sent on previously for the purpose. On each side of the green alley which led to the Royal Pavilion, artificial sceneries of bamboo-workt were erected, representing arches, minarets, and towers, from which hung thousands of silken lanterns, painted by the most delicate pencils of Canton. Nothing could be more beautiful than the leaves of the mango-trees and acacias, shining in the light of the bamboo scenery, which shed a lustre round as soft as that of the nights of Peristan. LALLA ROOKH, however, who was too much occupied by the sad story of ZELICA and her lover to give a thought to any thing else, except, perhaps, him who related it, hurried on through this scene of splendour to her pavilion, -greatly to the mortification of the poor artists of Yamtcheou, and was followed with equal rapidity by the Great Chamberlain, cursing, as he went, that ancient Mandarin, whose parental anxiety in lighting up the shores of the lake, where his beloved daughter had wandered and been lost, was the origin of these fantastic Chinese illuminations.t Without a moment's delay, young FERAMORZ was introduced, and FADLADEEN, who could never make up his mind as to the merits of a poet till he knew the religious sect to which he belonged, was about to ask him whether he was a Shia or a Sooni, when LALLA ROоки impa tiently clapped her hands for silence, and the youth, being seated upon the musnud near her, proceeded : PREPARE thy soul, young AzIM!-thou hast braved The bands of GREECE, still mighty though enslaved; Hast faced her phalanx, arm'd with all its fame, Her Macedonian pikes and globes of flame; All this hast fronted, with firm heart and brow; But a more perilous trial waits thee now,Woman's bright eyes, a dazzling host of eyes From every land where woman smiles or sighs; Of every hue, as Love may chance to raise His black or azure banner in their blaze; And each sweet mode of warfare, from the flash That lightens boldly through the shadowy lash, To the sly, stealing splendours, almost hid, Like swords half-sheathed, beneath the downcast lid; Such, AZIM, is the lovely, luminous host Now led against thee; and let conqu'rors boast *"The feast of Lanterns is celebrated at Yamtcheou with more mag nificence than anywhere else: and the report goes, that the illuminations there are so splendid, that an Emperor once, not daring openly to leave his Court to go thither, committed himself, with the Queen and several Princesses of his family, into the hands of a magician, who promised to transport them thither in a trice. He made them m the night to ascend magnificent thrones that were borne up by swans, which in a moment arrived at Yamtcheou. The Emperor saw at his leisure all the solemnity, being carried upon a cloud that hovered over the city and descended by degrees; and came back again with the same speed and equipage, no body at Court perceiving his absence."-The Present State of China, p. 156. † See a description of the nuptials of Vizier Alee in the Asiatic nual Register of 1804. The vulgar ascribe it to an accident that happened in the fainny of a famous Mandarin, whose daughter, walking one evening upon the shore of a lake, fell in and was drowned: this afflicted father, with l family, ran thither, and, the better to find her, he caused a great company of lanterns to be lighted. All the inhabitants of the place thronged after him with torches. The year ensuing they made fires upon the shores the same day; they continued the ceremony every year, every one lighted his lantern, and by degrees it commence a custom."--Present State of China. Their fields of fame; he who in virtue arms Now, through the Harem chambers, moving lights And busy shapes proclaim the toilet's rites ;From room to room the ready handmaids hie, Some skill'd to wreath the turban tastefully, Or hang the veil in negligence of shade, O'er the warm blushes of the youthful maid, Who, if between the folds but one eye shone, Like SEBA's Queen, could vanquish with that one:* While some bring leaves of Henna, to imbue The fingers' ends with a bright roseate hue,† So bright, that in the mirror's depth they seem Like tips of coral branches in the stream; And others mix the Kohol's jetty dye, To give that long, dark languish to the eye,+ Which makes the maids, whom kings are proud to cull All is in motion; rings, and plumes, and pearls, Meanwhile, through vast illuminated halls, The bow'rs of TIBET,** send forth odorous light "None of these ladies," says Shaw, "take themselves to be completely dressed till they have tinged the hair and edges of their eyelids with the powder of lead-ore. Now, as this operation is performed by dipping first into the powder a small wooden bodkin of the thickness of a quill, and then drawing it afterwards through the eyelids over the buil of the eye, we shall have a lively image of what the Prophet (Jer. iv. 30) may be supposed to mean by rending the eyes with painting. This prac tice is no doubt of great antiquity; for besides the instance already taken notice of, we find that where Jezebel is said (2 Kings ix. 30) to have painted her face, the original words are she adjusted her eyes with the powder of lead ore.”—Shaw's Travels. The appearance of the blossoms of the gold-coloured Champac on the black hair of the Indian women has supplied the Sauscrit poets with many elegant allusions."-See Asiatic Researches, vol. iv. A tree famous for its perfume, and common on the hills of Yemen. -Niebuhr. Of the genus mimosa, "which droops its branches whenever any Derson approaches it, seeming as if it saluted those who retire under its Blade."ad. **Cloves are a principal ingredient in the composition of the pe:fumed rods, which men of rank keep constantly burning in their preBence, ‚"-Turner's Tibet. In broken rainbows, a fresh fountain plays Here too he traces the kind visitings Of woman's love in those fair, living things Of land and wave, whose fate-in bondage thrown For their weak loveliness-is like her own! On one side gleaming with a sudden grace Through water, brilliant as the crystal vase In which it undulates, small fishes shine, Like golden ingots from a fairy mine;While, on the other, latticed lightly in With odoriferous woods of COMORIN,* Each brilliant bird that wings the air is seen;Gay, sparkling loories, such as gleam between The crimson blossoms of the coral treet In the warm isles of India's sunny sea: Mecca's blue sacred pigeon,‡ and the thrush Of Hindostan, whose holy warblings gush, At evening, from the tall pagoda's top ;Those golden birds that, in the spice-time, drop About the gardens, drunk with that sweet foodl Whose scent hath lured them o'er the summer flood; And those that under Araby's soft sun Build their high nests of budding cinnamon ;* In short, all rare and beauteous things, that fly Through the pure element, here calmly lie Sleeping in light, like the green birds†† that dwell In Eden's radiant fields of asphodel! ** So on, through scenes past all imagining, Arm'd with Heaven's sword, for man's enfranchisement- "Is this, then," thought the youth, "is this the way "To free man's spirit from the dead'ning sway "Of worldly sloth,-to teach him while he lives, "To know no bliss but that which virtue gives, "And when he dies, to leave his lofty name * "C'est d'où vient le bois d'aloës, que les Arabes appellent Oud Co mari, et celui du sandal, qui s'y trouve en grande quantité."—D'Her belot. Thousands of variegated loories visit the coral-trees."- Barrow, "In Mecca there are quantities of blue pigeons, which none wol affright or abuse, much less kill."-Pitt's Account of the Mahometans. $ The Pagoda Thrush is esteemed among the first choristers of In dia. It sits perched on the sacred pagodas, and from thence delivers ita melodious song."-Pennant's Hirdostan. Tavernier adds, the while the Birds of Paradise lie in this intoxi cated state, the emmets come and eat off their legs; and that hence it is they are said to have no feet. Birds of Paradise, which, at the nutmeg season, come in flights from the southern isles to India; and the strength of the nutmeg," says Tavernier, "so intoxicates them that they fall dead drunk to the earth." ****That bird which liveth in Arabia, and buildeth its nest with cinnə mon."-Brown's Vulgar Errors. "The spirits of the martyrs will be lodged in the crops of groen birds."-Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 21. Shedad, who made th delicious gardens of Irim, in imitation of Paradise, and was destroyed lightning the first time be attempted enter them. |