PARADISE AND THE PERI.

ONE morn a Peri, at the gate
Of Eden stood, disconsolate;
And as she listened to the Springs
Of Life within, like music flowing,
And caught the light upon her wings
Through the half-open portal glowing,
She wept to think her recreant race
Should e'er have lost that glorious place!

"How happy," exclaimed this child of air, "Are the holy Spirits who wander there,

"Mid flowers that never shall fade or fall! "Though mine are the gardens of earth and sea, "And the stars themselves have flowers for me,

"One blossom of Heaven outblooms them all!

"Though sunny the Lake of cool CASHMERE, "With its plane-tree Isle reflected clear,1

"And sweetly the founts of that Valley fall; "Though bright are the waters of SING-SU-HAY, "And the golden floods that thitherward stray,2 "Yet-O, 'tis only the Bless'd can say

"How the waters of Heaven outshine them all!

1 "Numerous small islands emerge from the Lake of Cashmere. One is called Char Chenaur, from the plane-trees upon it."— Foster.

"The Altan Kol or Golden River of Tibet, which runs into the Lakes

"Go, wing thy flight from star to star, "From world to luminous world, as far

"As the universe spreads its flaming wall "Take all the pleasures of all the spheres, "And multiply each through endless years, "One minute of Heaven is worth them all!'

The glorious Angel, who was keeping
The gates of Light, beheld her weeping;
And, as he nearer drew and listened
To her sad song, a tear-drop glistened
Within his eyelids, like the spray

From Eden's fountain, when it lies
On the blue flower, which-Bramins say -
Blooms nowhere but in Paradise.1

"Nymph of a fair but erring line!"
Gently he said "One hope is thine.
""Tis written in the Book of Fate,
"The Peri yet may be forgiven
"Who brings to this Eternal Gate

"The Gift that is most dear to Heaven!

"Go, seek it, and redeem thy sin

""Tis sweet to let the Pardoned in."

Rapidly as comets run

To the' embraces of the Sun,

of Sing-su-hay, has abundance of gold in its sands, which employs the in. habitants all the summer in gathering it."- Description of Tibet in Pink

erton.

"The Brahmins of this province insist that the blue campac flowers only in Paradise." Sir W. Jones. It appears, however, from a curious letter of the Sultan of Menangcabow, given by Marsden, that one place on earth may lay claim to the possession of it. "This is the Sultan, who keeps the flower champaka that is blue, and to be found in no other country but his, being yellow elsewhere" — Marsden's Sumatra.

Fleeter than the starry brands
Flung at night from angel hands 1
At those dark and daring sprites

Who would climb the' empyreal heights.
Down the blue vault the PERI flies,
And, lighted earthward by a glance
That just then broke from morning's eyes,
Hung hovering o'er our world's expanse.

"I know

But whither shall the Spirit go
To find this gift for Heaven?
"The wealth," she cries, "of every urn,
"In which unnumbered rubies burn,
"Beneath the pillars of CHILMINAR ; 2
"I know where the Isles of Perfume are,3
"Many a fathom down in the sea,
"To the south of sun-bright ARABY; *
"I know, too, where the Genii hid
"The jewelled cup of their King JAMSHID,5
"With Life's elixir sparkling high.

"But gifts like these are not for the sky:
"Where was there ever a gem that shone
"Like the steps of ALLA's wonderful Throne?

"The Mahometans suppose that falling stars are the firebrands wherewith the good angels drive away the bad, when they approach too near the empyrean or verge of the heavens." Fryer.

2 The Forty Pillars; so the Persians call the ruins of Persepolis. It is imagined by them that this palace and the edifices at Balbec were built by Genii, for the purpose of hiding in their subterraneous caverns immense treasures, which still remain there. D'Herbelot, Volney.

3 Diodorus mentions the Isle of Panchaia, to the south of Arabia Felix, where there was a temple of Jupiter. This island, or rather cluster of isles, has disappeared, "sunk (says Grandpré) in the abyss made by the fire be neath their foundations." Voyage to the Indian Ocean.

4 The Isles of Panchaia.

"The cup of Jamshid, discovered, they say, when digging for the foun dations of Persepolis." — Richardson.

"And the Drops of Life-O! what would they be "In the boundless Deep of Eternity?"

While thus she mused, her pinions fanned
The air of that sweet Indian land,
Whose air is balm; whose ocean spreads
O'er coral rocks, and amber beds;1
Whose mountains, pregnant by the beam
Of the warm sun, with diamonds teem;
Whose rivulets are like rich brides,
Lovely, with gold beneath their tides;
Whose sandal groves and bowers of spice
Might be a Peri's Paradise!

But crimson now her rivers ran

With human blood-the smell of death
Came reeking from those spicy bowers,
And man, the sacrifice of man,

Mingled his taint with every breath
Upwafted from the innocent flowers.
Land of the Sun! what foot invades
Thy Pagods and thy pillared shades2_
Thy cavern shrines, and Idol stones,

Thy Monarchs and their thousand Thrones?

3

1 "It is not like the Sea of India, whose bottom is rich with pearls and ambergris, whose mountains of the coast are stored with gold and precious stones, whose gulfs breed creatures that yield ivory, and among the plants of whose shores are ebony, red wood, and the wood of Hairzan, aloes, camphor, cloves, sandal-wood, and all other spices and aromatics; where parrots and peacocks are birds of the forest, and musk and civet are collected upon the lands.". Travels of Two Mohammedans.

2

in the ground

The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow
About the mother-tree, a pillared shade,

High over-arched, and echoing walks between. - MILTON.

For a particular description and plate of the Banyan-tree, see Cordiner's Ceylon.

"With this immense treasure Mamood returned to Ghizni, and in the

"Tis He of GAZNA1- fierce in wrath
He comes, and INDIA's diadems
Lie scattered in his ruinous path.

His bloodhounds he adorns with gems,
Torn from the violated necks

Of many a young and loved Sultana;2
Maidens, within their pure Zenana,
Priests in the very fane he slaughters,
And chokes up with the glittering wrecks
Of golden shrines the sacred waters!

Downward the PERI turns her gaze,
And, through the war-field's bloody haze
Beholds a youthful warrior stand,
Alone beside his native river,-
The red blade broken in his hand,
And the last arrow in his quiver.
"Live," said the Conqueror, "live to share
"The trophies and the crowns I bear!"
Silent that youthful warrior stood -
Silent he pointed to the flood

All crimson with his country's blood,
Then sent his last remaining dart,
For answer, to the' Invader's heart.

False flew the shaft, though pointed well;
The Tyrant lived, the Hero fell!—

year 400 prepared a magnificent festival, where he displayed to the people his wealth in golden thrones and in other ornaments, in a great plain with out the city of Ghizni."- Ferishta.

1 "Mahmood of Gazna, or Ghizni, who conquered India in the beginning of the 11th century.". See his History in Dow and Sir J. Malcolm.

2 "It is reported that the hunting equipage of the Sultan Mahmood was 30 magnificent, that he kept 400 greyhounds and bloodhounds, each of which wrre a collar set with jewels, and a covering edged with gold and pearls" Universal History, vol. iii.