scenery, productions, or modes of life of any of those countries lying most within my reach. We know that D'Anville, though never in his life out of Paris, was able to correct a number of errors in a plan of the Troad taken by De Choiseul, on the spot; and, for my own very different, as well as far inferior, purposes, the knowledge I had thus acquired of distant localities, seen only by me in day-dreams, was no less ready and useful. An ample reward for all this painstaking has been found in such welcome tributes as I have just cited; nor can I deny myself the gratification of citing a few more of the same description. From another distinguished authority on Eastern subjects, the late Sir John Malcolm, I had myself the pleasure of hearing a similar opinion publicly expressed;—that eminent person having remarked, in a speech spoken by him at a Literary Fund Dinner, that together with those qualities of the poet which he much too partially assigned to me was combined also "the truth of the historian." Sir William Ouseley, another high authority, in giving his testimony to the same effect, thus notices an exception to the general accuracy for which he gives me credit:-" Dazzled by the beauties of this composition*, few readers can perceive, and none surely can regret, that the poet, in his magnificent catastrophe, has forgotten, or boldly and most happily violated, the precept of Zoroaster, above noticed, which held it impious to consume any portion of a human body by fire, especially by that which glowed upon their altars." Having long lost, I fear, most of my Eastern learning, I can only cite, in defence of my catastrophe, an old Oriental tradition, which relates that Nimrod, when Abraham refused, at his command, to worship the fire, ordered him to be thrown into the midst of the flames.† A precedent so ancient for this sort of use of the worshipped element, appears, for all purposes at least of poetry, to be fully sufficient. In addition to these agreeable testimonies, I have also heard, and, need hardly add, with some pride and pleasure, that parts of this work The Fire-worshippers. + Tradunt autem Hebræi hanc fabulam quod Abraham in ignem have been rendered into Persian, and have "I'm told, dear Moore, your lays are sung, That some knowledge of the work may have really reached that region, appears not improbable from a passage in the Travels of Mr. Frazer, who says, that "being delayed for some time at a town on the shores of the Caspian, he was lucky enough to be able to amuse himself with a copy of Lalla Rookh, which a Persian had lent him." Of the description of Balbec, in "Paradise and the Peri," Mr. Carne, in his Letters from the East, thus speaks: "The description in Lalla Rookh of the plain and its ruins is exquisitely faithful. The minaret is on the declivity near at hand, and there wanted only the muezzin's cry to break the silence." I shall now tax my readers' patience with but one more of these generous vouchers. Whatever of vanity there may be in citing such tributes, they show, at least, of what great value, even in poetry, is that prosaic quality, industry; since, as the reader of the foregoing pages is now fully apprised, it was in a slow and laborious collection of small facts, that the first foundations of this fanciful Romance were laid. The friendly testimony I have just referred to, appeared, some years since, in the form in which I now give it, and, if I recollect right, in the Athenæum : — "I embrace this opportunity of bearing my individual testimony (if it be of any value) to the extraordinary accuracy of Mr. Moore, in his topographical, antiquarian, and characteristic details, whether of costume, manners, or less-changing monuments, both in his Lalla Rookh and in the Epicurean. It has been my fortune to read his Atlantic, Bermudean, and American Odes and Epistles, in the countries missus sit quia ignem adorare noluit.-ST. HIERON. in Quæst, în Genesim. and among the people to which and to whom they related; I enjoyed also the exquisite delight of reading his Lalla Rookh, in Persia itself; and I have perused the Epicurean, while all my recollections of Egypt and its still existing wonders are as fresh as when I quitted the banks of the Nile for Arabia:-I owe it, therefore, as a debt of gratitude (though the payment is most inadequate), for the great 1 pleasure I have derived from his productions, to bear my humble testimony to their local fidelity. "J. S. B." Among the incidents connected with this work, I must not omit to notice the splendid Divertissement, founded upon it, which was acted at the Château Royal of Berlin, during the visit of the Grand Duke Nicholas to that capital, in the year 1822. The different stories composing the work were represented in Tableaux Vivans and songs; and among the crowd of royal and noble personages engaged in the performances, I shall mention those only who represented the principal characters, and whom I find thus enumerated in the published account of the Divertissement.* JComte Haack (Maréchal S. A. I. Le Grand Duc. bleaux of the different stories are described in the work from which I cite, the following account of the performance of Paradise and the Peri will afford some specimen: "La décoration répresentoit les portes brillantes du Paradis, entourées de nuages. Dans le premier tableau on voyoit la Péri, triste et desolée, couchée sur le seuil des portes fermées, et l'Ange de lumière qui lui addresse des consolations et des conseils. Le second représente le moment, où la Peri, dans l'espoir que ce don lui ouvrira l'entrée de Paradis recueille la dernière goutte de sang que vient de verser le jeune guerrier Indien. pleinement à l'image et à l'idée qu'on est tenté de se faire de ces deux individus, et l'impression qu'a faite généralement la suite des tableaux de cet épisode délicat et intéressant est loin de s'effacer de notre souvenir." "La Péri et l'Ange de lumière répondoient In this grand Fête, it appears, originated the translation of Lalla Rookh into German verse, by the Baron de la Motte Fouqué; and the circumstances which led him to undertake the task, are described by himself, in a Dedicatory Poem to the Empress of Russia, which he has prefixed to his translation. As soon as the performance, he tell us, had ended, Lalla Rookh (the Empress herself) exclaimed, with a sigh, "Is it, then, all over? are we now at the close of all that has given us so much deS. 4. R. La Princesse Louise light? and lives there no poet who will impart to others, and to future times, some notion of the happiness we have enjoyed this evening?" On hearing this appeal, a Knight of Cachmere (who is no other than the poetical Baron himself) comes forward and promises to attempt to present to the world "the Poem itself in the measure of the original: "- whereupon Lalla 1S. A. R. Le Duc de Cum- Radzivill." Besides these and other leading personages, there were also brought into action, under the various denominations of Seigneurs et Dames de Bucharie, Dames de Cachemire, Seigneurs et Dames dansans à la Fête des Roses, &c. nearly 150 persons. Of the manner and style in which the Ta- Rookh, it is added, approvingly smiled. • Lalla Rookh, Divertissement mêlé de Chants et de Danses, Berlin, 12. The work contains a series of coloured engravings, representing groups, processions, &c., in different Oriental cos tumes. LALLA ROOKH. IN the eleventh year of the reign of Aurungzebe, Abdalla, King of the Lesser Bucharia, a lineal descendant from the Great Zingis, having abdicated the throne in favour of his son, set out on a pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Prophet; and, passing into India through the delightful valley of Cashmere, rested for a short time at Delhi on his way. He was entertained by Aurungzebe in a style of magnificent hospitality, worthy alike of the visiter and the host, and was afterwards escorted with the same splendour to Surat, where he embarked for Arabia. During the stay of the Royal Pilgrim at Delhi, a marriage was agreed upon between the Prince, his son, and the youngest daughter of the Emperor, LALLA ROOKH2; —а Princess described by the poets of her time as more beautiful than Leila, Shirine', Dewildé3, or any of those heroines whose names and loves embellish the songs of Persia and Hindostan. It was intended that the nuptials should be celebrated at Cashmere; where the young King, as soon as the cares of empire would permit, was to meet, for the first time, his lovely bride, and, after a few months' repose in that enchanting valley, conduct her over the snowy hills into Bucharia. Delhi was as splendid as sunshine and pageantry could make it. The bazaars and baths were all covered with the richest tapestry; hundreds of gilded barges upon the Jumna floated with their banners shining in the water; while through the streets groups of beautiful children went strewing the most delicious flowers around, as in that Persian festival called the Scattering of the Roses"; till every part of the city was as fragrant as if a caravan of musk from Khoten had passed through it. The Princess, having taken leave of her kind father, who at parting hung a cornelian of Yemen round her neck, on which was inscribed a verse from the Koran, and having sent a considerable present to the Fakirs, who kept up the Perpetual Lamp in her sister's tomb, meekly ascended the palankeen prepared for her; and, while Aurungzebe stood to take a last look from his balcony, the procession moved slowly on the road to Lahore. Seldom had the Eastern world seen a cavalcade so superb. From the gardens in the suburbs to the Imperial palace, it was one unbroken line of splendour. The gallant appearance of the Rajahs and Mogul lords, distinguished by those insignia of the Emperor's favour, the feathers of the egret of Cashmere in their turbans, and the small silverrimm'd kettledrums at the bows of their saddles ; -the costly armour of their cavaliers, who vied, on this occasion, with the guards of the great Keder The day of LALLA ROOKH's departure from Khan, in the brightness of their silver battle-axes 1 These particulars of the visit of the King of Bucharia to Aurungzebe are found in Dow's History of Hindostan, vol. iii. p. 392. 2 Tulip cheek. The mistress of Mejnoun, upon whose story so many Romances in all the languages of the East are founded. 4 For the loves of this celebrated beauty with Khosrou and with Ferhad, see D'Herbelot, Gibbon, Oriental Collections, &c. 5"The history of the loves of Dewildé and Chizer, the son of the Emperor Alla, is written in an elegant poem, by the noble Chutero."-Ferishta. 6 Gul Reazee. 7 "One mark of honour or knighthood bestowed by the Emperor is the permission to wear a small kettledrum at the bows of their saddles, which at first was invented for the training of hawks, and to call them to the lure, and is worn in the field by all sportsmen to that end."-Fryer's Travels. "Those on whom the King has conferred the privilege must wear an ornament of jewels on the right side of the turban, surmounted by a high plume of the feathers of a kind of egret. This bird is found only in Cashmere, and the feathers are carefully collected for the King, who bestows them on his nobles."—Elphinstone's Account of Caubul. "Khedar Khan, the Khakan, or King of Turquestan, beyond the Gihon (at the end of the eleventh century), whenever he appeared abroad was preceded by seven hundred horsemen with silver and the massiness of their maces of gold;-the glit- During the first days of their journey, LALLA tering of the gilt pine-apples' on the tops of the RoоKH, who had passed all her life within the palankeens; the embroidered trappings of the shadow of the Royal Gardens of Delhi, found elephants, bearing on their backs small turrets, in | enough in the beauty of the scenery through which the shape of little antique temples, within which they passed to interest her mind, and delight her the Ladies of LALLA ROOKH lay as it were en- imagination; and when at evening, or in the heat shrined; the rose-coloured veils of the Princess's of the day, they turned off from the high road to own sumptuous litter, at the front of which a fair those retired and romantic places which had been young female slave sat fanning her through the selected for her encampments,-sometimes on the curtains, with feathers of the Argus pheasant's banks of a small rivulet, as clear as the waters of wing-and the lovely troop of Tartarian and the Lake of Pearl'; sometimes under the sacred Cashmerian maids of honour, whom the young shade of a Banyan tree, from which the view King had sent to accompany his bride, and who opened upon a glade covered with antelopes; and rode on each side of the litter, upon small Arabian often in those hidden, embowered spots, described horses; all was brilliant, tasteful, and magnifi- by one from the Isles of the West, as "places of cent, and pleased even the critical and fastidious melancholy, delight, and safety, where all the FADLADEEN, Great Nazir or Chamberlain of the company around was wild peacocks and turtleHaram, who was borne in his palankeen imme- doves;' - she felt a charm in these scenes, so Lately after the Princess, and considered himself lovely and so new to her, which, for a time, made not the least important personage of the pageant. her indifferent to every other amusement. LALLA ROOKH was young, and the young love FADLADEEN was a judge of everything,- from variety; nor could the conversation of her Ladies the pencilling of a Circassian's eyelids to the deep- and the Great Chamberlain, FADLADEEN, (the only est questions of science and literature; from the persons, of course, admitted to her pavilion,) mixture of a conserve of rose-leaves to the com- sufficiently enliven those many vacant hours, which position of an epic poem: and such influence had were devoted neither to the pillow nor the palanhis opinion upon the various tastes of the day, keen. There was a little Persian slave who sung that all the cooks and poets of Delhi stood in awe sweetly to the Vina, and who, now and then, lulled of him. His political conduct and opinions were the Princess to sleep with the ancient ditties of Sanded upon that line of Sadi,- -"Should the her country, about the loves of Wamak and Ezra', Prince at noon-day say, It is night, declare that the fair-haired Zal and his mistress Rodahver 10; you behold the moon and stars." And his zeal not forgetting the combat of Rustam with the terfor religion, of which Aurungzebe was a munifi- rible White Demon." At other times she was ent protector', was about as disinterested as that amused by those graceful dancing-girls of Delhi, of the goldsmith who fell in love with the diamond who had been permitted by the Bramins of the eyes of the idol of Jaghernaut.3 Great Pagoda to attend her, much to the horror of betle-axes, and was followed by an equal number bearing maces feld. He was a great patron of poetry, and it was he who used to preside at public exercises of genius, with four basins of gold ver by him to distribute among the poets who excelled."Briardson's Dissertation prefixed to his Dictionary. "The kubieh, a large golden knob, generally in the shape of a e-apple, on the top of the canopy over the litter or palanquin."3's Notes on the Bahardanush. In the Poem of Zohair, in the Moallakat, there is the following eir description of a company of maidens seated on camels." They are mounted in carriages covered with costly awnings, nd with rose-coloured veils, the linings of which have the hue of CG Andem-wood. "When they ascend from the bosom of the vale, they sit forward the enddle-cloth, with every mark of a voluptuous gaiety. "Now, when they have reached the brink of yon blue-gushing fret, they fix the poles of their tents like the Arab with a settled Exce a." See Pernier's description of the attendants on RauchanaraBegum, in her progress to Cashmere. This hypocritical Emperor would have made a worthy associate of certain Holy Leagues." He held the cloak of religion (says Dew between his actions and the vulgar; and impiously thanked the Divinity for a success which he owed to his own wickedness. Wen he was murdering and persecuting his brothers and their fanes, he was building a magnificent mosque at Delhi, as an king to God for his assistance to him in the civil wars. He ated as high priest at the consecration of this temple; and made A practice of attending divine service there, in the humble dress of Fakeer. But when he lifted one hand to the Divinity, he, with But the other, signed warrants for the assassination of his relations.". History of Hindostan, vol. iii. p. 335. See also the curious letter of Aurungzebe, given in the Oriental Collections, vol. i. p. 320. 5 The idol at Jaghernat has two fine diamonds for eyes. No goldsmith is suffered to enter the Pagoda, one having stole one of these eyes, being locked up all night with the idol."-Tavernier. 6 See a description of these royal Gardens in "An Account of the present state of Delhi, by Lieut. W. Franklin."-Asiat. Research. vol. iv. p. 417. 7" In the neighbourhood is Notte Gill, or the Lake of Pearl, which receives this name from its pellucid water."-Pennant's Hindostan. "Nasir Jung encamped in the vicinity of the Lake of Tonoor, amused himself with sailing on that clear and beautiful water, and gave it the fanciful name of Motee Talah, the Lake of Pearls,' which it still retains." Wilks's South of India. 8 Sir Thomas Roe, Ambassador from James I. to Jehanguire. 9"The romance Wemak weazra, written in Persian verse, which contains the loves of Wamak and Ezra, two celebrated lovers who lived before the time of Mahomet."-Note on the Oriental Tales. 10 Their amour is recounted in the Shah-Namêh of Ferdousi; and there is much beauty in the passage which describes the slaves of Rodahver sitting on the bank of the river and throwing flowers into the stream, in order to draw the attention of the young Hero who is encamped on the opposite side. See Champion's translation. 11 Rustam is the Hercules of the Persians. For the particulars of his victory over the Sepeed Deeve, or White Demon, see Oriental Collections, vol. ii. p. 45.-Near the city of Shirauz is an immense quadrangular monument, in commemoration of this combat, the good Mussulman FADLADEEN, who could see nothing graceful or agreeable in idolaters, and to whom the very tinkling of their golden anklets' was an abomination. ligence;- For the purpose of relieving the pauses of recitation by music, the young Cashmerian held in his hand a kitar;—such as, in old times, the Arab maids of the West used to listen to by moonlight in the gardens of the Alhambra - and, having premised, with much humility, that the story he was about to relate was founded on the adventures of that Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, who, in the But these and many other diversions were repeated till they lost all their charm, and the nights and noon-days were beginning to move heavily, when, at length, it was recollected that, among the attendants sent by the bridegroom, was a young poet of Cashmere, much celebrated throughout the Valley for his manner of reciting the stories of the East, on whom his Royal Master had conferred the privilege of being admitted to the pavilion of the Princess, that he might help to beguile the tediousness of the journey by some of his most agreeable recitals. At the mention of a poet, FAD-year of the Hegira 163, created such alarm throughLADEEN elevated his critical eyebrows, and, having out the Eastern Empire, made an obeisance to the refreshed his faculties with a dose of that delicious Princess, and thus began opium 2 which is distilled from the black poppy of the Thebais, gave orders for the minstrel to be forthwith introduced into the presence. THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN." The Princess, who had once in her life seen a poet from behind the screens of gauze in her Father's hall, and had conceived from that specimen no very favourable ideas of the Caste, expected but little in this new exhibition to interest her;she felt inclined, however, to alter her opinion on the very first appearance of FERAMORZ. He was a youth about LALLA ROOKH's own age, and graceful as that idol of women, Chrishna 3, such as he appears to their young imaginations, heroic, beautiful, breathing music from his very eyes, and exalting the religion of his worshippers into love. His dress was simple, yet not without some marks of costliness; and the Ladies of the Princess were not long in discovering that the cloth, which encircled his high Tartarian cap, was of the most delicate kind that the shawl-goats of Tibet supply. Here and there, too, over his vest, which was confined by a flowered girdle of Kashan, hung strings of fine pearl, disposed with an air of studied neg- All glowing from the presence of his God! called the Kelaat-i-Deev Sepeed, or Castle of the White Giant, which Father Angelo, in his Gazophilacium Persicum, p. 127., declares to have been the most memorable monument of antiquity which he had seen in Persia.-See Ouseley's Persian Miscellanics. "The women of the idol, or dancing girls of the Pagoda, have little golden bells, fastened to their feet, the soft harmonious tinkling of which vibrates in unison with the exquisite melody of their voices."-Maurice's Indian Antiquities. "The Arabian courtesans, like the Indian women, have little golden bells fastened round their legs, neck, and elbows, to the sound of which they dance before the King. The Arabian princesses wear golden rings on their fingers, to which little bells are suspended, as well as in the flowing tresses of their hair, that their superior rank may be known, and they themselves receive in passing the homage due to them."-See Calmet's Dictionary, art. Bells. 2 Abou-Tige, ville de la Thebaïde, où il croît beaucoup de pavot noir, dont se fait le meilleur opium."-D'Herbelot. 3 The Indian Apollo" He and the three Rámas are described as youths of perfect beauty; and the princesses of Hindustan were all passionately in love with Chrishna, who continues to this hour IN that delightful Province of the Sun, the darling God of the Indian women."-Sir W. Jones, on the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India. 4 See Turner's Embassy for a description of this animal," the most beautiful among the whole tribe of goats." The material for the shawls (which is carried to Cashmere) is found next the skin. 5 For the real history of this Impostor, whose original name was Hakem ben Haschem, and who was called Mocanna from the veil of silver gauze (or, as others say, golden) which he always wore, see D'Herbelot. 6 Khorassan signifies, in the old Persian language, Province or Region of the Sun.-Sir W. Jones. 7 The fruits of Meru are finer than those of any other place; and one cannot see in any other city such palaces with groves, and streams, and gardens."-Ebn Haukal's Geography. 8 One of the royal cities of Khorassan. 9 Moses. 10 Ses disciples assuroient qu'il se couvroit le visage, pour ne pas éblouir ceux qui l'approchoient par l'éclat de son visage comme Moyse."-D'Herbelot. |