not forgetting the combat of Rustam with the terrible White Demon.1 At other times she was amused by those graceful dancing-girls of Delhi, who had been. permitted by the Bramins of the Great Pagoda to attend her, much to the horror of the good Mussulman FADLADEEN, who could see nothing graceful or agreeable in idolaters, and to whom the very tinkling of their golden anklets 2 was an abomination.

But these and many other diversions were repeated till they lost all their charm, and the nights and noondays 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 FADLADEEN elevated his critical eyebrows, and, hav ing refreshed his faculties with a dose of that delicious opium 3 which is distilled from the black poppy

1 Rustam is the Hercules of the Persians. For the particulars of his vic tory over the Sepeed Deeve, or White Demon, see Oriental Collections vol. ii. p. 45.-Near the city of Shirauz is an immense quadrangular mon ument, in commemoration of this combat, 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 Miscel lanies.

2 "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 them selves receive in passing the homage due to them.”. See Calmet's Dic. tionary, art. Bells.

3 Abou-Tige, ville de la Thebarde, où il croit beaucoup de pavot noir, dont se fait le meilleur opium.” — D'Herbelot.

of the Thebais, gave orders for the minstrel to be forthwith introduced into the presence.

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 favorable 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 ROOKн's own age, and graceful as that idol of women, Crishna,1-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 negligence ; - nor did the exquisite embroidery of his sandals escape the observation of these fair critics; who, however they might give way to FADLADEEN upon the unimportant topics of religion and government, had the spirit of martyrs in every thing relating to such momentous matters as jewels and embroidery.

2

For the purpose of relieving the pauses of recitation by music, the young Cashmerian held in his hand a

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 the darling God of the Indian women.". - Sir W. Jones, on the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India.

2 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.

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 year of the Hegira 163, created such alarm throughout the Eastern Empire, made an obeisance to the Princess, and thus began:

1 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, sce D'Herbelot.

THE

VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN.'

IN that delightful Province of the Sun,
The first of Persian lands he shines upon,
Where all the loveliest children of his beam,
Flowerets and fruits, blush over every stream,2
And, fairest of all streams, the MURGA roves
Among MEROU's 3 bright palaces and groves ;-
There on that throne, to which the blind belief
Of millions raised him, sat the Prophet-Chief,
The Great MOKANNA. O'er his features hung
The Veil, the Silver Veil, which he had flung
In mercy there, to hide from mortal sight
His dazzling brow, till man could bear its light.
For, far less luminous, his votaries said,

Were ev'n the gleams, miraculously shed

4

O'er Moussa's1 cheek,5 when down the Mount he trod, All glowing from the presence of his God!

On either side, with ready hearts and hands, His chosen guard of bold Believers stands;

Khorassan signifies, in the old Persian language, Province or Region of the Sun. Sir W. Jones.

2 "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.

3 One of the royal cities of Khorassan.

4 Moses.

"Ses disciples assuroient qu'il se couvroit le visage, pour ne pas

Young fire-eyed disputants, who deem their swords,
On points of faith, more eloquent than words;

And such their zeal, there's not a youth with brand
Uplifted there, but, at the Chief's command,
Would make his own devoted heart its sheath,
And bless the lips that doomed so dear a death!
In hatred to the Caliph's hue of night,1

Their vesture, helms and all, is snowy white;
Their weapons various - some equipped, for speed,
With javelins of the light Kathaian reed; 2
Or bows of buffalo horn and shining quivers
Fill'd with the stems 3 that bloom on IRAN's rivers; 4
While some, for war's more terrible attacks,
Wield the huge mace and ponderous battle-axe;
And as they wave aloft in morning's beam
The milk-white plumage of their helms, they seem
Like a chenar-tree grove 5 when winter throws
O'er all its tufted heads his feathering snows.

Between the porphyry pillars, that uphold The rich moresque-work of the roof of gold,

éblouir ceux qui l'approchoient par l'éclat de son visage comme Moyse." D'Herbelot.

1 Black was the color adopted by the Caliphs of the House of Abbas, in their garments, turbans, and standards. —"Il faut remarquer ici touchant les habits blancs des disciples de Hakem, que la couleur des habits, des cöeffures et des étendarts des Khalifes Abassides étant la noire, ce chef de Rebelles ne pouvoit pas choisir une qui lui fût plus opposée."-D'Herbelot. 2 "Our dark javelins, exquisitely wrought of Khathaian reeds, slender and delicate."- Poem of Amru.

3 Pichula, used anciently for arrows by the Persians.

4 The Persians call this plant Gaz. The celebrated shaft of Isfendiar, one of their ancient heroes, was made of it. "Nothing can be more beau tiful than the appearance of this plant in flower during the rains on the banks of rivers, where it is usually interwoven with a lovely twining asclepias.". Sir W. Jones, Botanical Observations on Select Indian

Plants.

5 The Oriental plane. "The chenar is a delightful tree; its bole is of a fine white and smooth bark; and its foliage, which grows in a tuft et the summit, is of a bright green."

11

Morier's Travels.