"The last of joy's last relics here below,

"The one sweet drop, in all this waste of woe, My heart has treasur'd from affection's spring, "To soothe and cool its deadly withering! "But thou-yes, thou must go - for ever go; "This place is not for thee-for thee! oh no: "Did I but tell thee half, thy tortur'd brain "Would burn like mine, and mine go wild again! "Enough, that Guilt reigns here that hearts, "Now tainted, chill'd, and broken, are his food.Enough, that we are parted-that there rolls "A flood of headlong fate between our souls, "Whose darkness severs me as wide from thee "As hell from heav'n, to all eternity!"

once good,

"With thee! oh bliss! ""Tis worth whole years of torment to hear this. "What! take the lost one with thee?-let her rove "By thy dear side, as in those days of love, "When we were both so happy, both so pure"Too heav'nly dream! if there's on earth a cure "For the sunk heart, 'tis this day after day "To be the blest companion of thy way; "To hear thy angel eloquence"Those virtuous eyes for ever turn'd on me; "And, in their light re-chasten'd silently, "Like the stain'd web that whitens in the sun, "Grow pure by being purely shone upon! "And thou wilt pray for me-I know thou wilt"At the dim vesper hour, when thoughts of guilt "Come heaviest o'er the heart, thou'lt lift thine

eyes,

to see

66

And moonlight fields were seen, calm as before ""Tis he, and I am his-all, all is o'er "Go-fly this instant, or thou'rt ruin'd too'My oath, my oath, oh God! 'tis all too true, "True as the worm in this cold heart it is "I am MOKANNA'S bride-his, AZIM, his "The Dead stood round us, while I spoke that vow "Their blue lips echo'd it—I hear them now! Their eyes glar'd on me, while I pledged that bowl "'Twas burning blood — I feel it in my soul! And the Veil'd Bridegroom-hist! I've seen to

66

66

night

"What angels know not of - so foul a sight, "So horrible -oh! never may'st thou see "What there lies hid from all but hell and me! "But I must hence - off, off-I am not thine, "Nor Heav'n's, nor Love's, nor aught that is divine

"Hold me not-ha! think'st thou the fiends that sever

"Hearts, cannot sunder hands?—thus, then-for ever!"

With all that strength which madness lends the weak,

She flung away his arm; and, with a shriek, Whose sound, though he should linger out more years

Than wretch e'er told, can never leave his ears-
Flew up through that long avenue of light,
Fleetly as some dark ominous bird of night,
Across the sun, and soon was out of sight!

LALLA ROOKH could think of nothing all day but the misery of these two young lovers. Her gaiety was gone, and she looked pensively even upon FADLADEEN. She felt, too, without knowing why, a sort of uneasy pleasure in imagining that Azim must have been just such a youth as FERAMORZ; just as worthy to enjoy all the blessings, without any of the pangs, of that illusive passion, which too often, like the sunny apples of Istkahar, is all sweetness on one side, and all bitterness on the other.

As they passed along a sequestered river after sunset, they saw a young Hindoo girl upon the

"In the territory of Istkahar there is a kind of apple, half of which is sweet and half sour."-Ebn Haukal.

bank', whose employment seemed to them so strange, that they stopped their palankeens to observe her. She had lighted a small lamp, filled with oil of cocoa, and placing it in an earthen tish, adorned with a wreath of flowers, had comLatted it with a trembling hand to the stream; and was now anxiously watching its progress down the current, heedless of the gay cavalcade which had drawn up beside her. LALLA ROOKH was all curiosity; when one of her attendants, who had lived upon the banks of the Ganges, (abere this ceremony is so frequent, that often, in the dusk of the evening, the river is seen glittering all over with lights, like the Oton-Tala, or Sea of Stars,) informed the Princess that it was the aal way, in which the friends of those who had ge on dangerous voyages offered up vows for their safe return. If the lamp sank immediately, the omen was disastrous; but if it went shining down the stream, and continued to burn till entirely out of sight, the return of the beloved object was considered as certain.

LALLA ROOKH, as they moved on, more than ence looked back, to observe how the young Hindoo's lamp proceeded; and, while she saw with pleasure that it was still unextinguished, she ad not help fearing that all the hopes of this life were no better than that feeble light upon the river. The remainder of the journey was passed in silence. She now, for the first time, felt that shade of melancholy, which comes over the youthfal maiden's heart, as sweet and transient as her wn breath upon a mirror; nor was it till she heard the lute of FERAMORZ, touched lightly at the door of her pavilion, that she waked from the reverie in which she had been wandering. In. stantly her eyes were lighted up with pleasure; and, after a few unheard remarks from FADLADEEN

For an account of this ceremony, see Grandpre's Voyage in the Indian Ocean.

"The place where the Whango, a river of Thibet, rises, and where there are more than a hundred springs, which sparkle like whence it is called Hotun-nor, that is, the Sea of Stars."Innription of Thbet of Pinkerton.

1 The Lescar or Imperial Camp is divided, like a regular town, to squares, alleys, and streets, and from a rising ground furnishes e of the most agreeable prospects in the world. Starting up in a bours in an uninhabited plain, it raises the idea of a city built enchantment. Even those who leave their houses in cities to w the prince in his progress are frequently so charmed with the Lewar, when situated in a beautiful and convenient place, that they cannot prevail with themselves to remove. To prevent this venience to the court, the Emperor, after sufficient time is lowed to the tradesmen to follow, orders them to be burnt out of their tents." - Dr's Hindostan.

Cel Wilks gives a lively picture of an Eastern encampment: -"His carp, like that of most Indian armies, exhibited a motley sectia of covers from the scorching sun and dews of the night, erated according to the taste or means of each individual, by

te laclosures of coloured calico surrounding superb suites of tes by razred clothes or blankets stretched over sticks or branches; -leaves hastily spread over similar supports; handsome tents

nd canopies; horses, oxen, elephants, and camels; all ined without any exterior mark of order or design, except the

upon the indecorum of a poet seating himself in presence of a Princess, everything was arranged as on the preceding evening, and all listened with eagerness, while the story was thus continued :—

4

WHOSE are the gilded tents that crowd the way,
Where all was waste and silent yesterday?
This City of War which, in a few short hours,
Hath sprung up here', as if the magic powers
Of Him who, in the twinkling of a star,
Built the high pillar'd halls of CHILMINAR,
Had conjur'd up, far as the eye can see,
This world of tents, and domes, and sun-bright
Princely pavilions, screen'd by many a fold
Of crimson cloth, and topp'd with balls of gold:-
Steeds, with their housings of rich silver spun,
Their chains and poitrels glitt'ring in the sun;
And camels, tufted o'er with Yemen's shells,"
Shaking in every breeze their light-ton'd bells!

armoury:

But yester-eve, so motionless around, So mute was this wide plain, that not a sound But the far torrent, or the locust bird Hunting among the thickets, could be heard ;Yet hark! what discords now, of ev'ry kind, Shouts, laughs, and screams are revelling in the wind;

7

The neigh of cavalry;-the tinkling throngs
Of laden camels and their drivers' songs ;".
Ringing of arms, and flapping in the breeze
Of streamers from ten thousand canopies;-
War-music, bursting out from time to time,
With gong and tymbalon's tremendous chime;
Or, in the pause, when harsher sounds are mute,
The mellow breathings of some horn or flute,
That far off, broken by the eagle note
Of the' Abyssinian trumpet, swell and float.

flags of the chiefs, which usually mark the centres of a congeries of these masses; the only regular part of the encampment being the streets of shops, each of which is constructed nearly in the manner of a booth at an English fair."- Historical Sketches of the South of India.

The edifices of Chilminar and Balbec are supposed to have been built by the Genii, acting under the orders of Jan ben Jan, who governed the world long before the time of Adam.

3 "A superb camel, ornamented with strings and tufts of small shells."-Ali Bey.

A native of Khorassan, and allured southward by means of the water of a fountain between Shirz and Ispahan, called the Fountain of Birds, of which it is so fond that it will follow wherever that water is carried.

7" Some of the camels have bells about their necks, and some about their legs, like those which our carriers put about their forehorses' necks, which together with the servants (who belong to the camels, and travel on foot,) singing all night, make a pleasant noise, and the journey passes away delightfully."- Pitt's Account of the Mahometans.

"The camel-driver follows the camel singing, and sometimes playing upon his pipe; the louder he sings and pipes, the faster the camels go. Nay, they will stand still when he gives over his music." -Tavernier.

8" This trumpet is often called, in Abyssinia, nesser cano, which signifies the Note of the Eagle."-Note of Bruce's Editor.

Who leads this mighty army?-ask ye "who?" And mark ye not those banners of dark hue, The Night and Shadow', over yonder tent? It is the CALIPH's glorious armament. Rous'd in his Palace by the dread alarms, That hourly came, of the false Prophet's arms, And of his host of infidels, who hurl'd Defiance fierce at Islam2 and the world,Though worn with Grecian warfare, and behind The veils of his bright Palace calm reclin'd, Yet brook'd he not such blasphemy should stain, Thus unreveng'd, the evening of his reign; But, having sworn upon the Holy Grave" To conquer or to perish, once more gave His shadowy banners proudly to the breeze, And with an army, nurs'd in victories, Here stands to crush the rebels that o'er-run His blest and beauteous Province of the Sun.

Ne'er did the march of MAHADI display Such pomp before; -not ev'n when on his way TO MECCA'S Temple, when both land and sea Were spoil'd to feed the Pilgrim's luxury;' When round him, mid the burning sands, he

saw

5

Fruits of the North in icy freshness thaw,
And cool'd his thirsty lip, beneath the glow
Of MECCA's sun, with urns of Persian snow:-
Nor e'er did armament more grand than that
Pour from the kingdoms of the Caliphat.
First, in the van, the people of the Rock,"
On their light mountain steeds, of royal stock:"
Then, chieftains of DAMASCUS, proud to see
The flashing of their swords' rich marquetry; —
Men, from the regions near the VOLGA's mouth,
Mix'd with the rude, black archers of the
South;

And Indian lancers, in white-turban'd ranks,
From the far SINDE, or ATTOCK's sacred banks,
With dusky legions from the Land of Myrrh,"
And many a mace-arm'd Moor and Mid-sea
islander.

1 The two black standards borne before the Caliphs of the House of Abbas were called, allegorically, The Night and The Shadow.See Gibbon.

2 The Mahometan religion.

3" The Persians swear by the Tomb of Shah Besade, who'is buried at Casbin; and when one desires another to asseverate a matter, he will ask him, if he dare swear by the Holy Grave."-Struy.

4 Mahadi, in a single pilgrimage to Mecca, expended six millions of dinars of gold.

5 Nivem Meccam apportavit, rem ibi aut nunquam aut raro visam. -Abulfeda.

6 The inhabitants of Hejaz or Arabia Petræa, called by an Eastern writer." The People of the Rock."— Ebn Haukal.

7 Those horses, called by the Arabians Kochlani, of whom a written genealogy has been kept for 2000 years. They are said to derive their origin from King Solomon's steeds." — Niebuhr.

8" Many of the figures on the blades of their swords are wrought in gold or silver, or in marquetry with small gems."-dsiat. Misc. v. i.

9 Azab or Saba.

10" The chiefs of the Uzbek Tartars wear a plume of white

Nor less in number, though more new and rude In warfare's school, was the vast multitude That, fir'd by zeal, or by oppression wrong'd, Round the white standard of the' impostor throng'd Beside his thousands of Believers — blind, Burning and headlong as the Samiel wind Many who felt, and more who fear'd to feel The bloody Islamite's converting steel, Flock'd to his banner; -Chiefs of the' UZBEK race, Waving their heron crests with martial grace;1o TURKOMANS, Countless as their flocks, led forth From the' aromatic pastures of the North; Wild warriors of the turquoise hills", -and those Who dwell beyond the everlasting snows Of HINDOO KOSH 12, in stormy freedom bred, Their fort the rock, their camp the torrent's bed. But none, of all who own'd the Chief's command, Rush'd to that battle-field with bolder hand, Or sterner hate, than IRAN's outlaw'd men. Her Worshippers of Fire — all panting then For vengeance on the' accursed Saracen ; Vengeance at last for their dear country spurn'd, Her throne usurp'd, and her bright shrines o'erturn'd.

From YEZD's" eternal Mansion of the Fire,
Where aged saints in dreams of Heav'n expire:
From BADKU, and those fountains of blue flame
That burn into the CASPIAN 15, fierce they came,
Careless for what or whom the blow was sped,
So vengeance triumph'd, and their tyrants bled.
Such was the wild and miscellaneous host,
That high in air their motley banners tost
Around the Prophet-Chief- all eyes still bent
Upon that glittering Veil, where'er it went,
That rainbow of the field, whose showers were
That beacon through the battle's stormy flood,

heron's feathers in their turbans."-Account of Independent Tartary.

11 In the mountains of Nishapour and Tous (in Khorassan) they find turquoises. — Ebn Haukal.

12 For a description of these stupendous ranges of mountains, see Elphinstone's Caubul.

13 The Ghebers or Guebres, those original natives of Persia who adhered to their ancient faith, the religion of Zoroaster, and who, after the conquest of their country by the Arabs, were either persecuted at home, or forced to become wanderers abroad.

14" Yezd, the chief residence of those ancient natives, who wor ship the Sun and the Fire, which latter they have carefully kept lighted, without being once extinguished for a moment, about 3000 years, on a mountain near Yezd, called Ater Quedah, signitying the House or Mansion of the Fire. He is reckoned very unfortunate who dies off that mountain."— Stephen's Persia.

13"When the weather is hazy, the springs of Naphtha (on an island near Baku) boil up the higher, and the Naphtha often takes fire on the surface of the earth, and runs in a flame into the sea to a distance almost incredible."-Hanway on the Everlasting Fire at Baku.

By which the prostrate Caravan is aw'd,' In the red Desert, when the wind's abroad. * On, Swords of God!" the panting CALIPH calls, Thrones for the living-Heav'n for him who falls!"

* On, brave avengers, on," MOKANNA cries,

-

* And EELIS blast the recreant slave that flies!"
Now comes the brunt, the crisis of the day
They clash-they strive the CALIPH's troops
give way!

MOKANNA's self plucks the black Banner down,
And now the Orient World's Imperial crown
Is just within his grasp - when, hark, that shout!
Some hand hath check'd the flying Moslem's rout;
And now they turn, they rally - at their head
A warrior, (like those angel youths who led,
In glorious panoply of Heav'n's own mail,
The Champions of the Faith through BEDER'S
vale,):

Bell as if gifted with ten thousand lives,
Turns on the fierce pursuers' blades, and drives
At once the multitudinous torrent back –
While hope and courage kindle in his track;
And, at each step, his bloody falchion makes
Terrible vistas through which vict'ry breaks!
In vain MOKANNA, midst the general flight,
Stands, like the red moon, on some stormy night,
Among the fugitive clouds that, hurrying by,
Leave only her unshaken in the sky -
In vain he yells his desperate curses out,
Deals death promiscuously to all about,

To foes that charge and coward friends that fly,
And seems of all the Great Arch-enemy.
The panic spreads -“A miracle!" throughout
The Moslem ranks, "a miracle!" they shout,
All gazing on that youth, whose coming seems
A light, a glory, such as breaks in dreams;
And ev'ry sword, true as o'er billows dim
The neodle tracks the load-star, following him!

Right tow'rds MoKANNA now he cleaves his path, Inpatient cleaves, as though the bolt of wrath

bears from Heav'n withheld its awful burst From weaker heads, and souls but half way curst, To break o'er Him, the mightiest and the worst! But vain his speed-though, in that hour of blood, Had all God's seraphs round MOKANNA stood, With swords of fire, ready like fate to fall, MOKANNA'S Soul would have defied them all; Yet now, the rush of fugitives, too strong For human force, hurries ev'n him along:

Smary says of the south wind, which blows in Egypt from February to May, "Sometimes it appears only in the shape of an Tetanus whirlwind, which passes rapidly, and is fatal to the feber, surpri ed in the middle of the deserts. Torrents of burn

1 before it, the firmament is enveloped in a thick veil, Baltie van appears of the colour of blood. Sometimes whole ca2017 buried in it."

In the great victory gained by Mahomed at Beder, he was asad, my the Musulmans, by three thousand angels, led by Ga

In vain he struggles 'mid the wedg'd array
Of flying thousands- he is borne away;
And the sole joy his baffled spirit knows,
In this forc'd flight, is-murd'ring as he goes!
As a grim tiger, whom the torrent's might
Surprises in some parch'd ravine at night,
Turns, ev'n in drowning, on the wretched flocks,
Swept with him in that snow-flood from the rocks,
And, to the last, devouring on his way,
Bloodies the stream he hath not power to stay.

"Alla illa Alla!"-the glad shout renew-
"Allah Akbar!"-the Caliph's in MEROu.
Hang out your gilded tapestry in the streets,
And light your shrines and chaunt your ziraleets.*
The Swords of God have triumph'd-on his throne
Your Caliph sits, and the veil'd Chief hath flown.
Who does not envy that young warrior now,
To whom the Lord of Islam bends his brow,
In all the graceful gratitude of power,
For his throne's safety in that perilous hour?
Who doth not wonder, when, amidst the' acclaim
Of thousands, heralding to heaven his name-
'Mid all those holier harmonies of fame,
Which sound along the path of virtuous souls,
Like music round a planet as it rolls,-
He turns away-coldly, as if some gloom
Hung o'er his heart no triumphs can illume;
Some sightless grief, upon whose blasted gaze
Though glory's light may play, in vain it plays.
Yes, wretched AZIM! thine is such a grief,
Beyond all hope, all terror, all relief;

A dark, cold calm, which nothing now can break,
Or warm or brighten,-like that Syrian Lake,
Upon whose surface morn and summer shed
Their smiles in vain, for all beneath is dead!-
Hearts there have been, o'er which this weight of woe
Came by long use of suff'ring, tame and slow;
But thine, lost youth! was sudden-over thee
It broke at once, when all seem'd ecstasy;
When Hope look'd up, and saw the gloomy Past
Melt into splendour, and Bliss dawn at last-
"Twas then, ev'n then, o'er joys so freshly blown,
This mortal blight of misery came down;
Ev'n then, the full, warm gushings of thy heart
Were check'd-like fount-drops, frozen as they

start

And there, like them, cold, sunless relics hang,
Each fix'd and chill'd into a lasting pang.

One sole desire, one passion now remains
To keep life's fever still within his veins,

briel, mounted on his horse Hiazum.-See The Koran and its Com

mentators.

8 The Tecbir, or cry of the Arabs. "Alla Acbar!" says Ockley, means, "God is most mighty."

4 The Ziraleet is a kind of chorus, which the women of the East sing upon joyful occasions.- Russel.

5 The Dead Sea, which contains neither animal nor vegetable life.

cast

O'er him and all he lov'd that ruinous blast.
For this, when rumours reach'd him in his flight
Far, far away, after that fatal night,-
Rumours of armies, thronging to the' attack
Of the Veil'd Chief,- for this he wing'd him back,
Fleet as the vulture speeds to flags unfurl'd,
And, when all hope seem'd desp'rate, wildly hurl'd
Himself into the scale, and sav'd a world.
For this he still lives on, careless of all
The wreaths that Glory on his path lets fall;
For this alone exists-like lightning-fire,
To speed one bolt of vengeance, and expire!

But safe as yet that Spirit of Evil lives;
With a small band of desp'rate fugitives,
The last sole stubborn fragment, left unriv'n,
Of the proud host that late stood fronting Heav'n,
He gain'd MEROU-breath'd a short curse of
blood

O'er his lost throne-then pass'd the JIHON's flood,'
And gath'ring all, whose madness of belief
Still saw a Saviour in their down-fall'n Chief,
Rais'd the white banner within NEKSHEB's gates,
And there, untam'd, the' approaching conq'ror
waits.

-

Of all his Haram, all that busy hive With music and with sweets sparkling alive, He took but one, the partner of his flight, One - not for love-not for her beauty's lightNo, ZELICA Stood with'ring 'midst the gay, Wan as the blossom that fell yesterday From the' Alma tree and dies, while overhead To-day's young flow'r is springing in its stead."3 Oh, not for love-the deepest Damn'd must be Touch'd with Heaven's glory, ere such fiends as he Can feel one glimpse of Love's divinity. But no, she is his victim;-there lie all

Blighted and lost, a glory in his eyes,

A light like that with which hell-fire illumes
The ghastly, writhing wretch whom it consumes!

But other tasks now wait him-tasks that need
All the deep daringness of thought and deed
With which the Dives have gifted him—for
mark,

Over yon plains, which night had else made dark,
Those lanterus, countless as the winged lights
That spangle INDIA'S fields on show'ry nights,-
Far as their formidable gleams they shed,
The mighty tents of the beleaguerer spread,
Glimm'ring along the' horizon's dusky line,
And thence in nearer circles, till they shine
Among the founts and groves, o'er which the town
In all its arm'd magnificence looks down.
Yet, fearless, from his lofty battlements
MOKANNA views that multitude of tents;
Nay, smiles to think that, though entoil'd, beset,
Not less than myriads dare to front him yet;
That friendless, throneless, he thus stands at
bay,

་

Or one faint trace of Heaven is left in her.
To work an angel's ruin,- to behold
As white a page as Virtue e'er unroll'd
Blacken, beneath his touch, into a scroll
Of damning sins, seal'd with a burning soul-
This is his triumph; this the joy accurst,
That ranks him among demons all but first :

1 The ancient Oxus.

2 A city of Transoxiana.

"You never can cast your eyes on this tree, but you meet there either blossoms or fruit; and as the blossom drops underneath on the ground (which is frequently covered with these purple-coloured flowers) others come forth in their stead," &c. &c.Nicuhoff.

4 The Demons of the Persian mythology.

5 Carreri mentions the fire-flies in India during the rainy season. -See his Travels.

6 Sennacherib, called by the Orientals King of Moussal. D'Herbelot.

"Glorious Defenders of the sacred Crown

7 Chosroes. For the description of his Throne or Palace, see Gibbon and D'Herbelot.

There were said to be under this Throne or Palace of Khosrou Parviz a hundred vaults filled with "treasures so immense that some Mahometan writers tell us, their Prophet, to encourage his disciples, carried them to a rock, which at his command opened, and gave them a prospect through it of the treasures of Khosrou." -Universal History.

8" The crown of Gerashid is cloudy and tarnished before the heron tuft of thy turban." From one of the elegies or songs in praise of Ali, written in characters of gold round the gallery of Abbas's tomb.- See Charlin.