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The Gheber bow'd, thinking his idol Star
Had wak'd, and burst impatient through the bar
Of midnight, to inflame him to the war!

While he of MOUSSA's creed saw, in that ray,
The glorious Light which, in his freedom's day,
Had rested on the Ark, and now again

Shone out to bless the breaking of his chain!

"To victory!" is at once the cry of all
Nor stands MOKANNA loitering at that call;
But instant the huge gates are flung aside,
And forth, like a diminutive mountain-tide
Into the boundless sea, they speed their course
Right on into the MOSLEM's mighty force.

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The watchmen of the camp, who, in their rounds,
Had paus'd and ev'n forgot the punctual sounds

Of the small drum with which they count the night,
gaze upon that supernatural light, -

To

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4 The Shechinah, called Sakînat in the Koran. - -v. Sale's Note, chap. ii.

5 The parts of the night are made known as well by instruments of music, as by the rounds of the watchmen with cries and small drums. - -v. Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. i. p. 119.

Now sink beneath an unexpected arm,

And in a death-groan give their last alarm.
"On for the lamps, that light yon lofty screen,

6

"Nor blunt your blades with massacre so mean; "There rests the CALIPH-speed speed one lucky lance "May now achieve mankind's deliverance !" Desperate the die— such as they only cast, Who venture for a world, and stake their last.

But Fate's no longer with him- blade for blade Springs up to meet them through the glimmering shade, And, as the clash is heard, new legions soon

Pour to the spot, like bees of KAUZEROON 7

To the shrill timbrel's summons, — till, at length,
The mighty camp swarms out in all its strength,
And back to NEKSHEB's gates, covering the plain
With random slaughter, drives the adventurous train;
Among the last of whom, the Silver Veil

Is seen glittering at times, like the white sail

6 The Serrapurda, high screens of red cloth, stiffened with cane, used to inclose a considerable space round the royal tents. on the Bahardanush.

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Notes

7 "From the groves of orange trees at Kauzeroon the bees cull

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Of some toss'd vessel, on a stormy night,

Catching the tempest's momentary light!

And hath not this brought the proud spirit low? Nor dash'd his brow, nor check'd his daring? No. Though half the wretches, whom at night he led To thrones and victory, lie disgrac'd and dead, Yet morning hears him, with unshrinking crest, Still vaunt of thrones, and victory to the rest; And they believe him!-oh, the lover may Distrust that look which steals his soul away;

The babe may cease to think that it can play
With heaven's rainbow; - alchymists may doubt
The shining gold their crucible gives out,
But Faith, fanatic Faith, once wedded fast
To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last.

And well th' Impostor knew all lures and arts,
That LUCIFER e'er taught to tangle hearts;
Nor, mid these last, bold workings of his plot
Against men's souls, is ZELICA forgot.
Ill-fated ZELICA! had reason been

Awake, through half the horrors thou hast seen,

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Thou never couldst have borne it- Death had come

At once, and taken thy wrung spirit home.
But 'twas not so a torpor, a suspense

Of thought, almost of life, came o'er th' intense
And passionate struggles of that fearful night,
When her last hope of peace and heav'n took flight:
And though, at times, a gleam of frenzy broke,—
As through some dull volcano's veil of smoke
Ominous flashings now and then will start,
Which show the fire's still busy at its heart;
Yet was she mostly wrapp'd in sullen gloom,
Not such as AzIM's, brooding o'er its doom,
And calm without, as is the brow of death,
While busy worms are gnawing underneath!
But in a blank and pulseless torpor, free
From thought or pain, a seal'd up apathy,
Which left her oft, with scarce one living thrill,
The cold, pale victim of her torturer's will.

Again, as in MEROU, he had her deck'd Gorgeously out, the Priestess of the sect; And led her glittering forth before the eyes Of his rude train, as to a sacrifice;

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Pallid as she, the young, devoted Bride

Of the fierce NILE, when, deck'd in all the pride
Of nuptial pomp, she sinks into his tide! 7

And while the wretched maid hung down her head,
And stood, as one just risen from the dead,
Amid that gazing crowd, the fiend would tell
His credulous slaves it was some charm or spell

Possess'd her now, and from that darken'd trance
Should dawn ere long their Faith's deliverance.
Or if, at times, goaded by guilty shame,

Her soul was rous'd, and words of wildness came,
Instant the bold blasphemer would translate
Her ravings into oracles of fate,

Would hail heavn's signals in her flashing eyes,
And call her shrieks the language of the skies!

But vain at length his arts-despair is seen Gathering around; and famine comes to glean All that the sword had left unreap'd: - in vain At morn and eve across the northern plain

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7" A custom still subsisting at this day, seems to me to prove that the Egyptians formerly sacrificed a young virgin to the God of the Nile; for they now make a statue of earth in shape of a girl, to which they give the name of the Betrothed Bride, and throw it into the river."

Savary.

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