Fix their last fading life-beams there. ""Tis he!" the shuddering maid exclaims, - Farewell farewell to thee, ARABY's daughter! - (Thus warbled a PERI beneath the dark sea,) No pearl ever lay, under OMAN's green water, More pure in its shell than thy spirit in thee. Oh! fair as the sea-flower close to thee growing, How light was thy heart till Love's witchery came, Like the wind of the south 296 o'er a summer lute blowing, And hush'd all its music, and wither'd its frame ! But long, upon ARABY's green sunny highlands, And still, when the merry date-season is burning, 298 The young village-maid, when with flowers she dresses Nor shall IRAN, belov'd of her Hero! forget thee Though tyrants watch over her tears as they start. Close, close by the side of that Hero she'll set thee, Embalm'd in the innermost shrine of her heart. Farewell be it ours to embellish thy pillow With everything beauteous that grows in the deep; Each flower of the rock and each gem of the billow Shall sweeten thy bed and illumine thy sleep. Around thee shall glisten the loveliest amber 299 That ever the sorrowing sea-bird has wept; With many a shell, in whose hollow-wreath'd chamber We, Peris of Ocean, by moonlight have slept. We'll dive where the gardens of coral lie darkling, We'll seek where the sands of the Caspian 300 are sparkling, And gather their gold to strew over thy bed. Farewell farewell — until Pity's sweet fountain Is lost in the hearts of the fair and the brave, They'll weep for the Chieftain who died on that mountain, They'll weep for the Maiden who sleeps in this wave. THE singular placidity with which FADLADEEN had listened, during the latter part of this obnoxious story, surprised the Princess and FERAMORZ exceedingly; and even inclined towards him the hearts of these unsuspicious young persons, who little knew the source of a complacency so marvellous. The truth was, he had been organizing, for the last few days, a most notable plan of persecution against the Poet, in consequence of some passages that had fallen from him on the second evening of recital, which appeared to this worthy Chamberlain to contain language and principles, for which nothing short of the summary criticism of the Chabuk 301 would be advisable. It was his intention, therefore, immediately on their arrival at Cashmere, to give information to the King of Bucharia of the very dangerous sentiments of his minstrel; and if, unfortu nately, that monarch did not act with suitable vigor on the occasion, (that is, if he did not give the Chabuk to FERAMORZ, and a place to FADLADEEN,) there would be an end, he feared, of all legitimate government in Bucharia. He could not help, however, auguring better both for himself and the cause of potentates in general; and it was the pleasure arising from these mingled anticipations that diffused such unusual satisfaction through his features, and made his eyes shine out, like poppies of the desert, over the wide and lifeless wilderness of that countenance. Having decided upon the Poet's chastisement in this manner, he thought it but humanity to spare him the minor tortures of criticism. Accordingly, when they assembled the following evening in the pavilion, and LALLA ROOKH was expecting to see all the beauties of Forms, 302 and Grand Nazir, or Chamberlain of the Haram. Cert They were now not far from that Forbidden River, 303 beyond which no pure Hindoo can pass; and were reposing for a time in the rich valley of Hussun Abdaul, which had always been a favorite resting-place of the Emperors in their annual migrations to Cashmere. Here often had the Light of the Faith, Jehan-Guire, been known to wander with his beloved and beautiful Nourmahal; and here would LALLA ROOKH have been happy to remain forever, giving up the throne of Bucharia and the world for FERAMORZ and love in this sweet, lonely valley. But the time was now fast approaching when she must see him no longer, or, what was still worse, behold him with eyes whose every look belonged to another; and there was a melancholy preciousness in these last moments, which made her heart cling to them as it would to life. During the latter part of the journey, indeed, she had sunk into a deep sadness, from which nothing but the presence of the young minstrel could awake her. Like those lamps in tombs, which only light up when the air is admitted, it was only at his approach that her eyes became smiling and animated. But here, in this dear valley, every moment appeared an age of pleasure; she saw him all day, and was, therefore, all day happy, -resembling, she often thought, that people of Zinge, who attribute the unfading cheerfulness they enjoy to one genial star that rises nightly over their heads. 304 The whole party, indeed, seemed in their liveliest mood during the few days they passed in this delightful solitude. The young attendants of the Princess, who were here allowed a much freer range than they could safely be indulged with in a less sequestered place, ran wild among the gardens and bounded through the meadows, lightly as young roes over the aromatic plains of Tibet. While FADLADEEN, in addition to the spiritual comfort derived by him from a pilgrimage to the tomb of the Saint from whom the valley is named, had also opportunities of indulging, in a small way, his taste for victims, by putting to death some hundreds of those unfortunate little lizards 305 which all pious Mussulmans make it a point to kill; — taking for granted, that the manner in which the creature hangs its head is meant as a mimicry of the attitude in which the Faithful say their prayers. About two miles from Hussun Abdaul were those Royal Gardens 806 which had grown beautiful under the care of so many lovely eyes, and were beautiful still, though those eyes could see them no longer. This place, with its flowers and its holy silence, interrupted only by the dipping of the wings of birds in its marble basins. filled with the pure water of those hills, was to LALLA ROOKн all that her heart could fancy of fragrance, coolness, and almost heavenly tranquillity. As the Prophet |