-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.* 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 ROOKH impatiently clapped her hands for silence, and the youth, being seated upon the musnud near her, proceeded. * "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, 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 commenced into The present State of China. a custom. PREPARE thy soul, young AZIM! -thou hast braved The bands of GREECE, still mighty though enslaved; Like swords half-sheath'd, beneath the downcast lid;- Now led against thee; and, let conquerors boast A young, warm spirit against beauty's charms, Now, through the Haram 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: To give that long, dark languish to the eye,‡ All is in motion; rings and plumes and pearls To gather fresh, cool chaplets for their heads; * "Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes. Song. "They tinged the ends of her fingers scarlet with Henna, so that they resembled branches of coral.”. Story of Prince Futtun in Bahar danush. "The women blacken the inside of their eyelids with a powder named the black Kohol." RUSSEL. "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. Which brings to mind her childhood's innocent day, 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. * The appearance of the blossoms of the gold-coloured Campac on the black hair of the Indian women has supplied the Sanscrit 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 person approaches it, seeming as if it saluted those who retire under its shade." NIEBUHR. Here, the way leads, o'er tesselated floors The bowers of TIBET*, send forth odorous light, Bursts on his sight, boundless and bright as noon; Here too he traces the kind visitings "Cloves are a principal ingredient in the composition of the perfumed rods, which men of rank keep constantly burning in their presence." TURNER'S Tibet. |