Above the first dead pressure of its woes,
Though health and bloom return'd, the delicate chain
Of thought, once tangled, ever clear'd again.
Warm, lively, soft as in youth's happiest day,
The mind was still all there, but turn'd astray ;-
A wand'ring bark, upon whose pathway shone
All stars of heaven, except the guiding one!
Again she smiled, nay, much and brightly smiled,
But 'twas a lustre, strange, unreal, wild;
And when she sung to her lute's touching strain,
'Twas like the notes, half-ecstasy, half pain,
The bulbul utters, ere her soul depart,
When, vanquish'd by some minstrel's pow'rful art,
She dies upon the lute whose sweetness broke her heart.

Such was the mood in which that mission found
Young ZELICA,-that mission, which around
The Eastern world, in every region blest
With woman's smile, sought out its loveliest,
To grace that galaxy of lips and eyes

Which the Veil'd Prophet destined for the skies :—
And such quick welcome as a spark receives
Dropp'd on a bed of Autumn's wither'd leaves,
Did every tale of these enthusiasts find
In the wild maiden's sorrow-blighted mind.

"of some

All fire at once the madd'ning zeal she canght ;—
Elect of Paradise! blest, rapturous thought!
Predestined bride, in heaven's eternal dome,
Of some brave youth-ha! durst they say
No of the one, one only object traced
In her heart's core too deep to be effaced;
The one whose mem'ry, fresh as life, is twined
With every broken link of her lost mind;

Whose image lives, though Reason's self be wreck'd,
Safe 'mid the ruins of her intellect !

Alas, poor ZELICA! it needed all

The fantasy, which held thy mind in thrall,
To see in that gay Harem's glowing maids

A sainted colony for Eden's shades;

Or dream that he,-of whose unholy flame
Thou wert too soon the victim,-shining came
From Paradise, to people its purc sphere

With souls like thine, which he hath ruin'd here!
No-had not reason's light totally set,
And left thee dark, thou hadst an amulet
In the loved image, graven on thy heart,

Which would have saved thee from the tempter's art,
And kept alive, in all its bloom of breath,
That purity, whose fading is love's death!—
But lost, inflamed,--a restless zeal took place
Of the mild virgin's still and feminine grace;
First of the Prophet's favourites, proudly first
In zeal and charms,-too well th' Impostor nursed
Her soul's delirium, in whose active flame,
Thus lighting up a young, luxuriant frame,
He saw more potent sorceries to bind
To his dark yoke the spirits of mankind,

More subtle chains than hell itself e'er twined.
No art was spared, no witch'ry ;-all the skill
His demons taught him was employ'd to fill
Her mind with gloom and ecstasy by turns-
That gloom, through which Phrensy but fiercer burns;
That ecstasy, which from the depth of sadness
Glares like the maniac's moon, whose light is madness!

"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
Of damp and death, led nly by those gleams
Which foul Corruption lights, as with design
To show the gay and proud she too can shine-
Ana, passing on through upright ranks of Dead,
Which to the maiden, doubly crazed by dread,
Seem'd, through the bluish death-light round them cast
To move their lips in mutt'rings as she pass'd-
There, in that awful place, when each bad quaff'd
And pledged in silence such a fearful draught,
Such-oh! the look and taste of that dread bowl
Will haunt her till she dies-he bound her soul
By a dark oath, in hell's own language framed,
Never, while earth his mystic presence claim'd,
While the blue arch of day hung o'er them both,
Never, by that all-imprecating oath,

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
To him and-she believed, lost maid !-to heav'n;
Her brain, her heart, her passions all inflamed,
How proud she stood, when in full Harem named
The Priestess of the Faith!-how flash'd her eyes
With light, alas, that was not of the skies,
When round, in trances, only less than hers,
She saw the Harem kneel, her prostrate worshippers.
Well might MOKANNA think that form alone
Had spells enough to make the world his own :--
Light, lovely limbs, to which the spirit's play
Gave motion, airy as the dancing spray,
When from its stem the small bird wings away:
Lips in whose rosy labyrinth, when she smiled,
The soul was lost; and blushes, swift and wild
As are the momentary meteors sent

Across th' uncalm, but beauteous firmament.
And then her look-oh! where's the heart so wise
Could unbewilder'd meet those matchless eyes?
Quick, restless, strange, but exquisite withal,
Like those of angels, just before their fall;

Now shadow'd with the shames of earth-now cross'd
By glimpses of the Heav'n her heart had lost;
In ev'ry glance there broke, without control,
The dashes of a bright, but troubled soul,
Where sensibility still wildly play'd,
Like lightning, round the ruins it had made!

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
From light, whose every glimpse was agony !
Yet, one relief this glance of former years
Brought, mingled with its pain,-tears, floods of tears,
Long frozen at her heart, but now like rills
Let loose in spring-time from the snowy hills,
And gushing warm, after a sleep of frost,
Through valleys where their flow had long been lost.

Sad and subdued, for the first time her frame
Trembled with horror, when the summons came
(A summons proud and rare, which all but she,
And she, till now, had heard with ecstasy)
To meet MOKANNA at his place of prayer,
A garden oratory, cool and fair,

By the stream's side, where still at close of day
The Prophet of the Veil retired to pray;
Sometimes alone-but, oft'ner far, with one,
One chosen nymph to share his orison.

Of late none found such favour in his sight
As the young Priestess; and though, since that night
When the death-caverns echoed every tone
Of the dire oath that made her all his own,
Th' Impostor, sure of his infatuate prize,
Had, more than once, thrown off his soul's disguise,
And utter'd such unheav'nly, monstrous things,

As ev'n across the desp'rate wanderings
Of a weak intellect, whose lamp was out,
Threw startling shadows of dismay and doubt;—
Yet zeal, ambition, her tremendous vow,

The thought, still haunting her, of that bright brow,
Whose blaze, as yet from mortal eye conceal'd,
Would soon, proud triumph! be to her reveal'd,
To her alone;-and then the hope, most dear,
Most wild of all, that her transgression here
Was but a passage through earth's grosser fire,
From which the spirit would at last aspire,
Ev'n purer than before,-as perfumes rise

Through flame and smoke, most welcome to the skies-
Ani that when AzIM's fond, divine embrace
Should circle her in heav'n, no dark'ning trace
Would on that bosom he once loved remain,
But all be bright, be pure, be his again!—

These were the wild'ring dreams, whose curst deceit
Had chain'd her soul beneath the tempter's feet,
And made her think ev'n damning falsehood sweet.
But now that Shape, which had appall'd her view,
That Semblance-oh how terrible, if true!
Which came across her phrensy's full career
With shock of consciousness, cold, deep, sèvere,
As when, in northern seas, at midnight dark,
An isle of ice encounters some swift bark,
And, startling all its wretches from their sleep,
By one cold impulse hurls them to the deep ;-
So came that shock not phrensy's self could bear,
And waking up each long-lull'd image there,
But check'd her headlong soul, to sink it in despair!

Wan and dejected, through the ev'ning dusk,
She now went slowly to that small kiosk,
Where, pondering alone his impious schemes,
MOKANNA waited her-too wrapp'd in dreams
Of the fair-rip'ning future's rich success,
To heed the sorrow, pale and spiritless,
That sat upon his victim's downcast brow,

O mark how slow her step, how alter'd now

From the quick, ardent Priestess, whose light bound
Caine like a spirit's o'er th' unechoing ground,--
From that wild ZELICA, whose every glance
Was thrilling fire, whose ev'ry thought a trance!

Upon his couch the Veil'd MOKANNA lay,
While lamps around-not such as lend their ray,
Glimm ring and cold, to those who nightly pray
In holy Koom, or MECCA's dim arcades,
But brilliant, soft, such lights as lovely maids
Look loveliest in, shed their luxurious glow

*

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.
Beside him, 'stead of beads and books of pray'r,
Which the world fondly thought he mused on there,
Stood Vases, fill'd with KISHMEE'S golden wine,
And the red weepings of the SHIRAZ Vine;
Of which his curtain'd lips full many a draught
Took zealously, as if each drop they quaff'd,
Like ZEMZEM's Spring of Holiness,† had pow'r
To freshen the soul's virtues into flow'r!
And still he drank and ponder'd-nor could see
Th' approaching maid, so deep his revery;

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,

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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
Beneath the tropics knows of icicles!

But, in those dismal words that reach'd his ear,
"Oh my lost soul!" there was a sound so drear,
So like that voice, among the sinful dead,
In which the legend o'er Hell's Gate is read,
That, new as 'twas from her, whom naught could dim
Or sink till now, it startled even him.

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

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"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:

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"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 ;*
So boldly utter'd, too! as if all dread

of frowns from her, of virtuous frowns, were fled,
And the wretch felt assured that, once plunged in,
Her woman's soul would know no pause in sin!

At first, though mute she listen'd, like a dream
Seem'd all he said: nor could her mind, whose beam
As yet was weak, penetrate half his scheme.
But when, at length, he utter'd, "Thou art she!"
All flash'd at once, and shrieking piteously,

"Oh not for worlds!" she cried-" Great God! to whon.
"I once knelt innocent, is this my doom?
"Are all my dreams, my hopes of heav'nly bliss,
"My purity, my pride, then come to this,—
"To live, the wanton of a fiend! to be
"The pander of his guilt-oh infamy!
"And sunk, myself, as low as hell can steep
"In its hot flood, drag others down as deep!
"Others-ha! yes-that youth who came to-day-
"Not him I loved-not him-oh! do but say,
"But swear to me this moment 'tis not he,
"And I will serve, dark fiend, will worship even thee!"

"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,
The Maid, whose spirit his rude taunts had stirr'd
Through all its depths, and roused an anger there,
That burst and lighten'd even through her despair-
Shrunk back, as if a blight were in the breath
That spoke that word, and stagger'd pale as death.

"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
A young, warm spirit against beauty's charms,
Who feels her brightness, yet defies her thrall,
Is the best, bravest conqu'ror of them all.

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
From fair Circassia's vales, so beautiful.

All is in motion; rings, and plumes, and pearls,
Are shining ev'rywhere :-some younger girls
Are gone by moonlight to the garden-beds,
To gather fresh, cool chaplets for their heads;-
Gay creatures! sweet, though mournful, 'tis to see
How each prefers a garland from that tree
Which brings to mind her childhood's innocent day,
And the dear fields and friendships far away.
The maid of INDIA, blest again to hold
In her full lap the Champac's leaves of gold,§
Thinks of the time when, by the GANGES' flood,
Her little playmates scatter'd many a bud
Upon her long, black hair, with glossy gleam
Just dripping from the consecrated stream;
While the young Arab, haunted by the smell
Of her own mountain flow'rs, as by a spell,—
The sweet Elcaya,|| and that courteous tree
Which bows to all who seek its canopy,T
Sces, call'd up round her by these magic scents,
The well, the camels, and her father's tents;
Sighs for the home she left with little pain,
And wishes ev'n its sorrows back again!

Meanwhile, through vast illuminated halls,
Silent and bright, where nothing but the falls
Of fragrant waters, gushing with cool sound
From many a jasper fount, is heard around,
Young Azim roams bewilder'd,-nor can guess
What means this maze of light and loneliness.
Here, the way leads, o'er tesselated floors
Or mats of CAIRO, through long corridors,
Where, ranged in cassolets and silver urns,
Sweet wood of aloe or of sandal burns;
And spicy rods, such as illume at night

The bow'rs of TIBET,** send forth odorous light
Like Peris' wands, when pointing out the road
For some pure Spirit to its blest abode :-
And here, at once, the glittering saloon
Bursts on his sight, boundless and bright as noon;
Where, in the midst, reflecting back the rays

"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
High as th' enamell'd cupola, which tow'rs
All rich with Arabesques of gold and flow'rs:
And the mosaic floor beneath shines through
The sprinkling of that fountain's silv'ry dew,
Like the wet, glist'ning shells, of ev'ry dye,
That on the margin of the Red Sea lie.

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,
More like the luxuries of that impious King,tt
Whom Death's dark Angel, with his lightning torch,
Struck down and blasted ev'n in Pleasure's porch,
Than the pure dwelling of a Prophet sent,

Arm'd with Heaven's sword, for man's enfranchisement-
Young AZIM wander'd, looking sternly round,
His simple garb and war-boots' clanking sound
But ill according with the pomp and grace
And silent lull of that voluptuous place.

"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.