He looks impatient for the promis'd spears

Of the wild Hordes and TARTAR mountaineers;

They come not-while his fierce beleaguerers pour Engines of havoc in, unknown before,

And horrible as new ;-javelins, that fly

Enwreath'd with smoky flames through the dark sky,
And red-hot globes that, opening as they mount,
Discharge, as from a kindled Naptha fount,
Showers of consuming fire o'er all below;
Looking, as through th' illumin'd night they go,
Like those wild birds' that by the Magians oft,
At festivals of fire, were sent aloft

Into the air, with blazing faggots tied

To their huge wings, scattering combustion wide!

The Greek fire, which was occasionally lent by the Emperors to their allies. "It was," says Gibbon, " either launched in red-hot balls of stone and iron, or darted in arrows and javelins, twisted round with flax and tow, which had deeply imbibed the inflammable oil."

9" At the great festival of fire, called the Sheb Sezé, they used to set fire to large bunches of dry combustibles, fastened round wild beasts and birds, which being then let loose, the air and earth appeared one great illumination; and as these terrified creatures naturally fled to the wood for shelter, it is easy to conceive the conflagrations they produced." — Richardson's Dissertation.

All night, the groans of wretches who expire,
In agony, beneath these darts of fire,

Its shrines and domes and streets of sycamore;
Its lone bazars, with their bright cloths of gold,
Since the last peaceful pageant left unroll'd; -
Its beauteous marble baths, whose idle jets
Now gush with blood; and its tall minarets,
That late have stood up in the evening glare
Of the red sun, unhallow'd by a prayer; -
O'er each, in turn, the dreadful flame-bolts fall,
And death and conflagration throughout all
The desolate city hold high festival !

}

MOKANNA Sees the world is his no more; · One sting at parting, and his grasp is o'er. "What! drooping now?"-thus, with unblushing cheek, He hails the few, who yet can hear him speak, Of all those famish'd slaves, around him lying,

And by the light of blazing temples dying;—

"What! drooping now? - now, when at length we

press

"Home o'er the very threshold of success;

"When ALLA from our ranks hath thinn'd away
"Those grosser branches, that kept out his ray
"Of favour from us, and we stand at length
"Heirs of his light and children of his strength,
"The chosen few, who shall survive the fall
"Of Kings and Thrones, triumphant over all!
"Have you then lost, weak murmurers as you are,
“All faith in him, who was your Light, your Star?
"Have you forgot the eye of glory, hid
"Beneath this Veil, the flashing of whose lid

"Could, like a sun-stroke of the desert, wither
"Millions of such as yonder Chief brings hither?
"Long have its lightnings slept - too long - but now

"All earth shall feel th' unveiling of this brow!

66

To-night —yes, sainted men! this very night, "I bid you all to a fair festal rite,

"Where, having deep refresh'd each weary limb

"With viands, such as feast Heav'n's cherubim,
"And kindled up your souls, now sunk and dim,
"With that pure wine the Dark-ey'd Maids above

Keep, seal'd with precious musk, for those they love,'—

1 " The righteous shall be given to drink of pure wine, sealed; the seal whereof shall be musk.”. Koran, chap. lxxxiii.

"I will myself uncurtain in your sight

"The wonders of this brow's ineffable light;
"Then lead you forth, and with a wink disperse
"Yon myriads, howling through the universe !"

Eager they listen-while each accent darts
New life into their chill'd and hope-sick hearts;-
Such treacherous life as the cool draught supplies
To him upon the stake, who drinks and dies!
Wildly they point their lances to the light
Of the fast sinking sun, and shout "to-night!"-
"To-night," their Chief re-echoes, in a voice
Of fiend-like mockery that bids hell rejoice!
Deluded victims never hath this earth

Seen mourning half so mournful as their mirth!
Here, to the few, whose iron frames had stood
This racking waste of famine and of blood,
Faint, dying wretches clung, from whom the shout
Of triumph like a maniac's laugh broke out; —
There, others, lighted by the smouldering fire,
Danc'd, like wan ghosts about a funeral pyre,
Among the dead and dying, strew'd around ;--
While some pale wretch look'd on, and from his wound

Plucking the fiery dart by which he bled,
In ghastly transport wav'd it o'er his head!

'Twas more than midnight now

fearful a

pause

Had follow'd the long shouts, the wild applause,
That lately from those Royal Gardens urst,
Where the Veil'd demon held his feast accurst,
When ZELICA - alas, poor ruin'd heart,

In every horror doom'd to bear its part! —
Was bidden to the banquet by a slave,
Who, while his quivering lip the summons gave,
Grew black, as though the shadows of the grave
Compass'd him round, and, ere he could repeat
His message through, fell lifeless at her feet!

Shuddering she went a soul-felt pang of fear, that her own dark doom was near,

A presage,

Rous'd every feeling, and brought Reason back
Once more, to writhe her last upon the rack.

All round seem'd tranquil - ev'n the foe had ceas'd,
As if aware of that demoniac feast,

His fiery bolts; and though the heavens look'd red, 'Twas but some distant conflagration's spread.

But hark! she stops she listens dreadful tone!

"Tis her Tormentor's laugh- and now, a groan