"Twas when the hour of evening came Upon the Lake, serene and cool, When Day had hid his sultry flame Behind the palms of BARAMOULE.' When maids began to lift their heads, Refresh'd, from their embroider'd beds, Where they had slept the sun away, And wak'd to moonlight and to play. All were abroad · the busiest hive 8 On BELA's hills is less alive When saffron beds are full in flower, Than look'd the Valley in that hour. And fields and pathways, far and near, That you could see, in wandering round, 7 Bernier. 8 A place mentioned in the Toozek Jehangeery, or Memoirs of Jehanguire, where there is an account of the beds of saffron flowers about Cashmere. Yet did the maids and matrons leave Their veils at home, that brilliant eve; And cheeks, that would not dare shine out And all exclaim'd to all they met So gay a Feast of Roses yet; The moon had never shed a light So clear as that which bless'd them there; The roses ne'er shone half so bright, Nor they themselves look'd half so fair. And what a wilderness of flowers! It seem'd as though from all the bowers As if a shower of fairy wreaths And then the sounds of joy, the beat Of tabors and of dancing feet; - The minaret-cryer's chaunt of glee Sung from his lighted gallery,' And answer'd by a ziraleet From neighbouring Haram, wild and sweet; The merry laughter, echoing From gardens, where the silken swing Wafts some delighted girl above The top leaves of the orange grove; And the sounds from the Lake, the low whisp'ring in boats, As they shoot through the moonlight; — the dipping of oars, And the wild, airy warbling that every where floats, Through the groves, round the islands, as if all the shores 9 "It is the custom among the women to employ the Maazeen to chaunt from the gallery of the nearest minaret, which on that occasion is illuminated, and the women assembled at the house respond at intervals with a ziraleet or joyous chorus.". Russell. "At the keeping of the Feast of Roses we beheld an infinite number of tents pitched, with such a crowd of men, women, boys and girls, with music, dances," &c. &c.- Herbert. Like those of KATHAY utter'd music, and gave Oh! best of delights as it every where is To be near the lov'd One, - what a rapture is his, Who in moonlight and music thus sweetly may glide O'er the Lake of CASHMERE, with that One by his side! If Woman can make the worst wilderness dear, Think, think what a Heav'n she must make of CASHMERE! So felt the magnificent Son of Acbar, 3 When from power and pomp and the trophies of war With the Light of the Haram, his young NOURMAHAL. 2 "An old commentator of the Chou-King says,, the ancients having remarked that a current of water made some of the stones near its banks send forth a sound, they detached some of them, and being charmed with the delightful sound they emitted, constructed King or musical instruments of them."- Grosier. 3 Jehanguire was the son of the Great Acbar. He saw, in the wreaths she would playfully snatch From the hedges, a glory his crown could not match, And preferr❜d in his heart the least ringlet that curl'd Down her exquisite neck to the throne of the world! There's a beauty, for ever unchangingly bright, Like the long, sunny lapse of a summer day's light, |