Every thing young, every thing fair Thou loveliest, dearest of them all, Whose light, among so many lights, Thou wert not there-so SELIM thought, And every thing seem'd drear without thee; But ah! thou wert, thou wert- and brought Thy charm of song all fresh about thee. Mingling unnotic'd with a band Of lutanists from many a land, And veil❜d by such a mask as shades The features of young Arab maids, 8 are so variegated, that they may be called flying flowers; and indeed they are always produced in the finest flower-gardens.”— Dunn. 8 "The Arabian women wear black masks with little clasps, prettily ordered."- Carreri. Niebuhr mentions their showing but one eye in conversation. She rov'd, with beating heart, around, And waited, trembling, for the minute, The board was spread with fruits and wine, 2 In all its thousand gardens bears. Plantains, the golden and the green, MALAYA's nectar'd mangusteen ; 3 9 "The golden grapes of Casbin."-Description of Persia. "The fruits exported from Caubul are apples, pears, pome granates, &c.”— Elphinstone. 2 "We sat down under a tree, listened to the birds, and talked with the son of our Mehmaundar about our country and Caubul, of which he gave an enchanting account: that city and its 100,000 gardens, &c." Id. The Mangusteen, the most delicate fruit in the world; the pride of the Malay Islands."— Marsden. Prunes of BOKARA, and sweet nuts From the far groves of SAMARCAND, And BASRA dates, and apricots, 4 Seed of the Sun, from IRAN's land; In baskets of pure santal-wood, And urns of porcelain from that isle "A delicious kind of apricot, called by the Persians tokm-ekshems, signifying sun's seed."-Descript. of Persia. 5 "Sweetmeats in a crystal cup, consisting of rose-leaves in conserve, with lemon or Visna cherry, orange flowers, &c.” — Russell. 6" Antelopes cropping the fresh berries of Erac." The Moallakat, Poem of Tarafa. 7 Mauri-ga-Sima, an island near Formosa, supposed to have been sunk in the sea for the crimes of its inhabitants. The vessels which the fishermen and divers bring up from it are sold at an immense price in China and Japan. - v. Kempfer. Wines too, of every clime and hue, And amply SELIM quaffs of each, And seems resolv'd the floods shall reach His inward heart, shedding around A genial deluge, as they run, That soon shall leave no spot undrown'd, 8 Persian Tales. 9 The white wine of Kishma, "The King of Zeilan is said to have the very finest ruby that was ever seen. Kublai-Khan sent and offered the value of a city for it, but the King answered he would not give it for the treasure of the world."- Marco Polo. He little knew how well the boy Can float upon a goblet's streams, Lighting them with his smile of joy ; As bards have seen him, in their dreams, Down the blue GANGES laughing glide Upon a rosy lotus wreath, 2 2 Catching new lustre from the tide That with his image shone beneath. But what are cups, without the aid And see a lovely Georgian maid, With all the bloom, the freshen❜d glow Of her own country maidens' looks, When warm they rise from TEFLIS' brooks; Full, floating, dark — oh he, who knows His heart is weak, of heav'n should pray To guard him from such eyes as those !— 3 2 The Indians feign that Cupid was first seen floating down the Ganges on the Nymphæa Nelumbo. v. Pennant. 3 Teflis is celebrated for its natural warm baths. -v. Ebn Haukel. |