Like a chenar-tree grove *when winter throws Between the porphyry pillars, that uphold The rich moresque-work of the roof of gold, Aloft the Haram's curtain'd galleries rise, Where through the silken net-work, glancing eyes, From time to time, like sudden gleams that glow Through autumn clouds, shine o'er the pomp below. What impious tongue, ye blushing saints, would dare To hint that aught but Heav'n hath placed you there? Or that the loves of this light world could bind, In their gross chain, your Prophet's soaring mind? No-wrongful thought! commission'd from above To people Eden's bowers with shapes of love, (Creatures so bright, that the same lips and eyes They wear on earth will serve in Paradise,) There to recline among Heav'n's native maids, And crown the' Elect with bliss that never fades Well hath the Prophet-Chief his bidding done; And every beauteous race beneath the sun, From those who kneel at BRAHMA's burning founts, † To the fresh nymphs bounding o'er YEMEN's mounts; From PERSIA's eyes of full and fawn-like ray, To the small, half-shut glances of KATHAY; * The oriental plane. "The chenar is a delightful tree; its boie 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. †The burning fountains of Brahma near Chittogong, esteemed as holy. Turner. + China. And GEORGIA's bloom, and AZAB's darker smiles, All, all are there; each Land its flower hath given, To form that fair young Nursery for Heaven! But why this pageant now? this arm'd array? Not such the pageant now, though not less proud; Yon warrior youth, advancing from the crowd, With silver bow, with belt of broider'd crape, And fur-bound bonnet of Bucharian shape, † So fiercely beautiful in form and eye, Like war's wild planet in a summer sky; That youth to-day, a proselyte, worth hordes Of cooler spirits and less practis'd swords, - # "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. t "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.". Account of Independent Tartary, in Pinkerton's Collection. Is come to join, all bravery and belief, The creed and standard of the heav'n-sent Chief. Though few his years, the West already knows Nor feel those god-like breathings in the air, False views, like that horizon's fair deceit, Where earth and heav'n but seem, alas, to meet!. * In the war of the Caliph Mahadi against the Empress Irene, for an account of which see Gibbon, vol. x. That fought beneath that banner's sacred text In virtue's cause ;-never was soul inspir'd With livelier trust in what it most desir'd, Than his, the' enthusiast there, who kneeling, pale Low as young Azıм knelt, that motley crowd 66 66 Stranger, though new the frame Thy soul inhabits now, I've track'd its flame *This wonderful Throne was called The Star of the Genii. For a full description of it, see the Fragment, translated by Captain Franklin, from a Persian MS. entitled "The History of Jerusalem," Oriental Collections, vol. i. p. 235. When Soliman 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. "For many an age*, in every chance and change "Nor think 'tis only the gross Spirits, warm'd "With duskier fire and for earth's medium form'd, "That run this course ;-Beings, the most divine, "Thus deign through dark mortality to shine. "Such was the Essence that in ADAM dwelt, "To which all Heav'n, except the Proud One, knelt:† "Such the refin'd Intelligence that glow'd "In Moussa's frame,-and, thence descending, flow'd Through many a Prophet's breast §;-in Issa || shone, "And in MOHAMMED burn'd; till, hastening on, * The transmigration of souls was one of his doctrines. D'Herbelot. ↑ "And when we said unto the angels, Worship Adam, they all worshipped him except Eblis (Lucifer), who refused.” – The Koran, chap. ii. + Moses. § 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 Prophètes, et autres grands hommes qu'il avoit choisis, jusqu'à ce qu'il prit celle d'Abu Moslem, Prince de Khorassan, lequel professoit l'erreur de la Tenassukhiah ou Metempschychose; et qu'aprés la mort de ce Prince, la Divinité étoit passée, et descendue en sa personne." Jesus. C |