But, having sworn upon the Holy Grave
Το conquer or to perish, once more gave
His shadowy banners proudly to the breeze,
And with an army nursed in victories,

Here stands to crush the rebels that o'errun
His blest and beauteous Province of the Sun.

b

Ne'er did the march of MAHADI display
Such pomp before;-not ev'n when on his way
TO MECCA'S Temple, when both land and sea
Were spoiled to feed the Pilgrim's luxury ;'
When round him, mid the burning sands, he saw
Fruits of the North in icy freshness thaw,
And cooled his thirsty lip, beneath the glow
Of MECCA'S sun, with urns of Persian snow:-
Nor e'er did armament more grand than that
Pour from the kingdoms of the Caliphat.
First, in the van, the People of the Rock,a

On their light mountain steeds, of royal stock;

a «The Persians swear by the Tomb of Shah Besade, who is buried at Casbin; and when one desires another to asseverate a matter, he will ask him if he dare swear by the Holy Grave."-Struy.

↳ Mahadi, in a single pilgrimage to Mecca, expended six millions of dinars of gold.

c Nivem Meccam apportavit, rem ibi aut nunquam aut raro visam.-Abulfeda. d The inhabitants of Hejaz or Arabia Petræa, called by an Eastern writer "The People of the Rock."-Ebn Haukal.

e «Those horses, called by the Arabians Kochlani, of whom a written genealogy has been kept for two thousand years. They are said to derive their origin from King Solomon's steeds."-Niebuhr.

Then, chieftains of DAMASCUS, proud to see
The flashing of their swords' rich marquetry ;*
Men from the regions near the VOLGA's mouth,
Mixed with the rude, black archers of the South;
And Indian lancers, in white-turbaned ranks,
From the far SINDE, or ATTOCK's sacred banks,
With dusky legions from the Land of Myrrh,"
And many a mace-armed Moor, and Mid-sea islander.

Nor less in number, though more new and rude
In warfare's school, was the vast multitude
That, fired by zeal, or by oppression wronged,
Round the white standard of th' Impostor thronged,
Beside his thousands of Believers-blind,

Burning and headlong as the Samiel wind-
Many who felt, and more who feared to feel
The bloody Islamite's converting steel,
Flocked to his banner;-Chiefs of th' UZBEK race,
Waving their heron crests with martial grace;"

TURKOMANS, Countless as their flocks, led forth
From th' aromatic pastures of the North;

c

a "Many of the figures on the blades of their swords are wrought in gold or silver, or in marquetry with small gems."-Asiat. Misc. v. i.

b Azab or Saba.

"The chiefs of the Uzbek Tartars wear a plume of white heron's feathers in their turbans."-Account of Independent Tartary.

Wild warriors of the turquoise hills,a—and those
Who dwell beyond the everlasting snows

Of HINDOO KOSH," in stormy freedom bred,
Their fort the rock, their camp the torrent's bed.
But none, of all who owned the Chief's command,
Rushed to that battle-field with bolder hand,
Or sterner hate, than IRAN's outlawed men,
Her Worshippers of Fire-all panting then
For vengeance on th' accursed Saracen ;

Vengeance at last for their dear country spurned

Her throne usurped, and her bright shrines o'erturned.

From YEZD's eternal Mansion of the Fire,

Where aged saints in dreams of heaven expire;
From BADKU, and those fountains of blue flame

That burn into the CASPIAN, fierce they came,

a In the mountains of Nishapour and Tous (in Khorassan) they find turquoises.-Ebn Haukal.

b For a description of these stupendous ranges of mountains, see Elphinstone's Caubul.

c The Ghebers or Guebres, those original natives of Persia, who adhered to their ancient faith, the religion of Zoroaster, and who, after the conquest of their country by the Arabs, were either persecuted at home, or forced to become wanderers abroad.

d❝ Yezd, the chief residence of those ancient natives, who worship the Sun and the Fire, which latter they have carefully kept lighted, without being once extinguished for a moment, about three thousand years, on a mountain near Yezd, called Ater Quedah, signifying the House or Mansion of the Fire. He is reckoned very unfortunate who dies off that mountain,"-Stephen's Persia.

e «When the weather is hazy, the springs of naphtha (on an island near Baku) boil up the higher, and the naphtha often takes fire on the surface of the earth, and runs in a flame into the sea to a distance almost incredible."-Hanway on the Everlasting Fire at Baku.

Careless for what or whom the blow was sped,
So vengeance triumphed, and their tyrants bled.

Such was the wild and miscellaneous host,
That high in air their motley banners tossed
Around the Prophet-Chief-all eyes still bent
Upon that glittering Veil, where'er it went,
That beacon through the battle's stormy flood,
That rainbow of the field, whose showers were blood!

Twice hath the sun upon their conflict set,. And risen again, and found them grappling yet; While streams of carnage, in his noontide blaze, Smoke up to heaven-hot as that crimson haze,. By which the prostrate Caravan is awed,a

In the red Desert, when the wind's abroad.

"On, Swords of God!" the panting CALIPH calls,
"Thrones for the living-heaven for him who falls!"-

"On, brave avengers, on," MOKANna cries,

"And EBLIS blast the recreant slave that flies!"

Now comes the brunt, the crisis of the day

They clash-they strive-the CALIPH's troops give way!

a Savary says of the south wind, which blows in Egypt from February to May, "Sometimes it appears only in the shape of an impetuous whirlwind, which passes rapidly, and is fatal to the traveller, surprised in the middle of the deserts. Torrents of burning sand roll before it, the firmament is enveloped in a thick veil, and the sun appears of the colour of blood. Sometimes whole caravans are buried in it."

MOKANNA's self plucks the black Banner down,
And now the Orient World's Imperial crown
Is just within his grasp-when, hark, that shout!
Some hand hath checked the flying Moslem's rout;
And now they turn, they rally-at their head
A warrior, (like those angel youths who led,

In glorious panoply of Heaven's own mail,

The Champions of the Faith through BEDER'S vale,“)
Bold as if gifted with ten thousand lives,

Turns on the fierce pursuers' blades, and drives

At once the multitudinous torrent back

While hope and courage kindle in his track;
And, at each step, his bloody falchion makes
Terrible vistas through which victory breaks!
In vain MOKANNA, midst the general flight,
Stands, like the red moon, on some stormy night,
Among the fugitive clouds, that, hurrying by,
Leave only her unshaken in the sky—

In vain he yells his desperate curses out,
Deals death promiscuously to all about,

To foes that charge and coward friends that fly,
And seems to all the Great Arch-enemy.
The panic spreads-❝ A miracle!" throughout
The Moslem ranks, "a miracle!" they shout,

a In the great victory gained by Mahomed at Beder, he was assisted, say the Mussulmans, by three thousand angels, led by Gabriel, mounted on his horse Hiazum.-See The Koran and its Commentators.