been permitted by the Brahmins 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 was an abomination.1

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 having refreshed his faculties with a dose of that delicious

1 Their golden anklets. — “ '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 and 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. – Calmet's Dictionary, art. Bells.

opium 1 which is distilled from the black poppy of the Thebias, 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 Rookh's own age, and graceful as that idol of women, Crishna,— 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 3 supply. Here and there,

1 That delicious opium, etc. — “Abou-Tige, ville de la Thebaïde, où il croit beaucoup de pavot noir, dont se fait le meilleur opium." - D'Herbelot.

2 The Indian Apollo. That idol of women, Crishna. – “He and the three Rámas are described as youths of perfect beauty; and the Princesses of Hindustan were all passionately in love with Crishna, who continues to this hour the darling god of the Indian women.” — Sir W. Jones, on the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India.

3 The shawl-goats of Tibet. - 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.

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 everything relating to such momentous matters as jewels and embroidery.

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 1 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 The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan. — 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, vide D'Herbelot,

THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN.1

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 e'en the gleams, miraculously shed
O'er Moussa's 5 cheek, when down the Mount he

trod,
All glowing from the presence of his God!

1 Khorassan signifies, in the old Persian language, Province, or region of the sun. — Sir W. Jones.

2 Flowerets and fruits blush over every stream.-" 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 For far less luminous, etc. — “Ses disciples assuroient qu'il se couvroit le visage, pour ne pas éblouir ceux qui l'approchoit par l'éclat de son visage, comme Moyse." — D'Herbelot.

On either side, with ready hearts and hands, His chosen guard of bold believers stands; 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 doom'd so dear a death! In hatred to the caliph's hue of night, Their vesture, helms and all, is snowy white; Their weapons various - some, equipp'd 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 ;

1 Black was the color adopted by the caliphs of the House of Abbas in their garments, turbans, and standards.

In hatred to the caliph's hue of night. — “Il faut remarquer ici touchant les habits blancs des disciples de Hakem, que la couleur des habits, des coiffures, et des étendards des Khalifes Abassides étant la noire, ce chef de rebelles ne pouvoit pas choisir une qui lui fût plus opposée." — D'Herbelot.

2 Javelins of the light k'athaian reed. - "Our dark javelins, exquisitely wrought of Kathaian reeds, slender and delicate.” – Poems of Amru.

3 Pichula, used anciently for arrows by the Persians.

Filled with the stems that bloom on Iran's rivers. — The Persians call this plant Gaz. The celebrated shaft of Isfendiar, one of their ancient heroes, was made of it. — “Nothing can be more beautiful than the appearance of this plant in flower during the rains on the banks of the rivers, where it is usually interwoven with a lovely twining asclepias." — Sir W. Jones, Botanical Observations,