But oh his joy! when, round O'er that flame within us. Every drop we sprinkle O'er the brow of Care Smooths away a wrinkle. DEAR HARP OF MY COUNTRY. DEAR Harp of my country! in darkness I found thee, The cold chain of silence had hung o'er thee long, When proudly, my own Island Harp! I unbound thee, And gave all thy chords to light, freedom, and song! The warm lay of love and the light note of gladness Have waken'd thy fondest, thy liveliest thrill; Have throbb'd at our lay, 'tis thy glory alone; NOTES. p. 4. LALLA ROOKH. Those insignia of the Emperor's favour. "One mark of honour or knighthood bestowed by the Emperor is the permission to wear a small kettle-drum at the bows of their saddles, which at first was invented for the training of hawks, and is worn in the field by all sportsmen for that end."-Fryer's Travels. "Those on whom the King has conferred the privilege must wear an ornament of jewels on the right side of the turban, surmounted by a high plume of the feathers of a kind of egret."-Elphinstone's Account of Caubul. p. 4. Khedar Khan, &c. "Khedar Khan, the Khakan, or King of Turquestan, beyond the Gihon (at the end of the eleventh century), whenever he appeared abroad was preceded by seven hundred horsemen with silver battle-axes, and was followed by an equal number bearing maces of gold."-Richardson's Dissertation prefixed to his Dictionary. p. 4. The gilt pine-apples. "The kubdeh, a large golden knob, generally in the shape of a pineapple, on the top of the canopy over the litter or palanquin."-Scott's notes on the Bahardanush. p. 4. The rose-coloured veils of the Princess's litter. In the poem of Zohair, in the Moallakat, there is the following lively description of "a company of maidens seated on camels:" "They are mounted in carriages covered with costly awnings, and with rose-coloured veils, the linings of which have the hue of crimson Andemwood. "When they ascend from the bosom of the vale, they sit forward on the saddle-cloths with every mark of a voluptuous gaiety. "Now, when they have reached the brink of yon blue gushing rivulet, they fix the poles of their tents like the Arabs with a settled mansion." p. 4. Religion, of which Aurungzebe was a munificent protector. This hyprocritical Emperor would have made a worthy associate of certain Holy Leagues.-"He held the cloak of religion," says Dow, "between his actions and the vulgar; and impiously thanked the Divinity for a success which he owed to his own wickedness. When he was mur dering and persecuting his brothers and their families, he was building a magnificent mosque at Delhi, as an offering to God for his assistance to him in the civil wars. He acted as high-priest at the consecration of this temple: and made a practice of attending divine service there, in the humble dress of a Fakeer. But when he lifted one hand to the Divinity, he, with the other, signed warrants for the assassination of his relations." -History of Hindostan, vol. iii. p. 335. See also the curious letter of Aurungzebe given in the Oriental Collections, vol. i. p. 320. p. 5. The diamond eyes of the idol, &c. "The idol at Jaghernat has two fine diamonds for eyes. No goldsmith is suffered to enter the Pagoda; one having stole one of these eyes, being locked up all night with the idol."-Tavernier. "In the neighbourhood is Notte Gill, or the Lake of Pearl, which receives this name from its pellucid water."-Pennant's Hindoostan. p. 5. Described by one from the Isles of the West, &c. Sir Thomas Roe, ambassador from James I. to Jehanguire. p. 5. Loves of Wamak and Ezra. "The romance Wemakweazra, written in Persian verse, which contains the loves of Wamak and Ezra, two celebrated lovers who lived before the time of Mahomet."-Note on the Oriental Tales. p. 5. Of the fair-haired Zal, and his mistress Rodahver. There is much beauty in the passage which describes the slaves of Rodahver, sitting on the bank of the river and throwing flowers into the stream, in order to draw the attention of the young hero who is encamped on the opposite side (vide Champion's Translation of the Shah Naméh of Ferdousi). p. 5. The combat of Rustam with the terrible white Dæmon. Rustam is the Hercules of the Persians. For the particulars of his victory over the Sepeed Deeve, or White Demon, see Oriental Collections, vol. ii. p. 45. Near the city of Shirauz is an immense quadrangular monument, in commemoration of this combat, called the "Kelaat-i-Deev Sepeed," or Castle of the White Giant, which Father Angelo, in his Gazophylacium Persicum, p. 127, declares to have been the most memorable monument of antiquity which he had seen in Persia (vide Ouseley's Persian Miscellanies). p. 5. Their golden anklets. "The women of the idol, or dancing girls of the Pagoda, have little golden bells fastened to their feet, the soft harmonious tinkling of which vibrates in unison with the exquisite melody of their voices."-Maurice's Indian Antiquities. The Arabian princesses wear golden rings on their fingers, to which little bells are suspended, as well as in the flowing tresses of their hair, that their superior rank may be known" (vide Calmet's Dictionary, art. Bells.) p. 5. That delicious opium, &c. "Abou-Tige, ville de la Thebaïde, ou il croit beaucoup de pavot noir, dont se fait le meilleur opium."—D'Herbelot. p. 6. That idol of women, Crishna. "He and the three Ramas are described as youths of perfect beauty; and the Princesses of Hindustan were all passionately in love with Crishna, who continues to this hour the darling god of the Indian women."-Sir W. Jones, on the gods of Greece, Italy, and India. p. 7. The veiled Prophet of Korassan. For the real history of this Imposter, whose original name was Hakem hen Haschem, and who was called Mocanna from the veil of silver gauze (or, as others say, golden) which he always wore (vide D'Herbelot). P. 7. Flow'rets and fruits blush over every stream. "The fruits of Meru are finer than those of any other place; and one cannot see in any other city such palaces, with groves, and streams, and gardens."-Ebn Haukal's Geography. p. 7. For far less luminous, &c. "Ses disciples assuroient qu'il se couvroit le visage, pour ne pas éblouir ceux qui l'approchoit par l'éclat de son visage comme Moyse."—D'Her belot. p. 7. In hatred to the Caliph's hue of night. "Il faut remarquer ici touchant les habits blancs des disciples de Hakem, que la couleur des habits, des cöeffures et des étendarts des Khalifes Abassides etant la noire, ce chef de Rebelles ne pouvoit pas choisir une, qui lui fût plus opposée."D'Herbelot. p. 7. Javelins of the light Khathaian reed. "Our dark javelins, exquisitely wrought of Khathaian reeds, slender and delicate."-Poem of Amru. p. 7. Filled with the stems that bloom on Iran's rivers. The Persians call this plant Gaz. The celebrated shaft of Isfendiar, one of their ancient heroes, was made of it."Nothing can be more beautiful than the appearance of this plant in flower during the rains on the banks of rivers, where it is usually interwoven with a lovely twining asclepias." -Sir W. Jones, Botanical Observations. p. 8. Like a chenar-trec grove. The oriental plane. "The chenar is a delightful tree; its bole is of a fine white and smooth bark; and its foliage, which grows in a tuft at the summit, is of a bright green."-Morier's Travels. p. 8. Like tulip-beds, &c. "The name of tulip is said to be of Turkish extraction, and given to the flower on account of its resembling a turban."---Beckmann's History of Inventions. p. 8. And fur-bound bonnet of Bucharian shape. "The inhabitants of Bucharia wear a round cloth bonnet, shaped much after the Polish fashion, having a large fur border. They tie their kaftans about the middle with a girdle of a kind of silk crape, several times round the body."-Independent Tartary, in Pinkerton's Col. p. 10. The flying Throne of star-taught Soliman. This wonderful throne was called the "Star of the Genii." When Solomon travelled, the eastern writers say, "he had a carpet of green silk on which his throne was placed, being of a prodigious length and breadth, and sufficient for all his forces to stand upon, the men placing themselves on his right hand and the spirits on his left; and that when all were in order, the wind, at his command, took up the carpet, and transported it with all that were upon it, wherever he pleased; the army of birds at the same time flying over their heads, and forming a kind of canopy to shade them from the sun."-Sale's Koran, vol. ii. p. 214, note. p. 10. Through many a prophet's breast. This is according to D'Herbelot's account of the doctrines of Mokanna: -"Sa doctrine étoit que Dieu avoit pris une forme et figure humaine depuis qu'il eut commandé aux Anges d'adorer Adam, le premier des hommes. Qu'après la mort d'Adam, Dieu étoit apparu sous la figure de plusieurs Prophetes, et autres grands hommes qu'il avoit choisis, jusqu' à ce qu'il prît celle d'Abu Moslem, Prince de Khorassan, lequel professoit l'erreur de la Tenassukhiah ou Metempschychose; et qu' après la mort de ce Prince, la Divinité étoit passée, et descendue en sa personne." p. 18. Whom India serves, the monkey Deity. "Apes are in many parts of India highly venerated, out of respect to the god Hannaman, a deity partaking of the form of that race."-Pennant's Hindoostan. See a curious account in Stephen's Persia of a solemn embassy from some part of the Indics to Goa, when the Portuguese were there, offering vast treasures for the recovery of a monkey's tooth, which they held in great veneration, and which had been taken away upon the conquest of the kingdom of Jafanapatan. p. 18. To whom if Lucifer, as grandams say, Refus'd, though at the forfeit of heaven's light, To bend in worship, Lucifer was right. This resolution of Eblis not to acknowledge the new creature man, was, according to Mohammedan tradition, thus adopted:-"The earth (which God had selected for the materials of his work) was carried into Arabia, to a place 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 dry for the space of forty days, or, as others say, as many years; the angels, in the meantime often visiting it, and Eblis (then one of the angels nearest 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. p. 19. In that best marble of which gods are made. The material of which images of Guadma (the Birman Deity) is made, is held sacred. "Birmans may not purchase the marble in mass, but are suffered, and indeed encouraged, to buy figures of the Deity ready made." -Syme's Ava, vol. ii. p. 376. p. 23. Within the crocodile's stretch'd jaws to come. 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 faite en 1714). p. 24. Some artists of Yamtcheou having been sent on previously. "The Feast of Lanterns is celebrated at Yamtcheou with more magnificence than anywhere else."-The present State of China, p. 156. p. 25. The origin of these fantastic Chinese illuminations. "The vulgar ascribe it to an accident that happened in the family of a famous mandarin, whose daughter walking one evening upon the shore of a lake, fell in and was drowned; this afflicted father, with his family, run 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 commenced into a custom."-Present State of China. p. 26. The Kohol's jetty dye. "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 ball 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 practice 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. |