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, see 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 ev'n the gleams, miraculously shed
O'er Moussa's 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;

1 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

4

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;
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 coeffures et des étendarts des Khalifes Abassides étant la noire, ce chef de Rebelles ne pouvoit pas choisir une qui lui fut 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 beautiful 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 t the summit, is a height crocï." Morier's Travels.

Aloft the Haram's curtained galleries rise,
Where through the silken net-work, glancing eyes,
From time to time, like sudden gleams that glow
Through autumn clouds, shine o'er the pomp below. —
What impious tongue, ye blushing saints, would dare
To hint that aught but Heaven hath placed you there?
Or that the loves of this light world could bind,
In their gross chain, your Prophet's soaring mind?
No wrongful thought!-commissioned from above
To people Eden's bowers with shapes of love,
(Creatures so bright, that the same lips and eyes
They wear on earth will serve in Paradise,)
There to recline among Heaven's native maids,
And crown the' Elect with bliss that never fades
Well hath the Prophet-Chief his bidding done;
And every beauteous race beneath the sun,
From those who kneel at BRAHMA's burning founts,1
To the fresh nymphs bounding o'er YEMEN's mounts;
From PERSIA's eyes of full and fawn-like ray,
To the small, half-shut glances of KATHAY;2
And GEORGIA's bloom, and AZAB's darker smiles,
And the gold ringlets of the Western Isles;
All, all are there; - each Land its flower hath given,
To form that fair young Nursery for Heaven!

But why this pageant now? this armed array ? What triumph crowds the rich Divan to-day With turbaned heads, of every hue and race, Bowing before that veiled and awful face,

1 The burning fountains of Brahma near Chittogong, esteemed as holy.— Turner.

2 China.

Like tulip-beds,' of different shape and dyes,
Bending beneath the' invisible West-wind's sighs!
What new-made mystery now, for Faith to sign,
And blood to seal, as genuine and divine,
What dazzling mimicry of God's own power
Hath the bold Prophet planned to grace this hour?

Not such the pageant now, though not less proud; Yon warrior youth, advancing from the crowd, With silver bow, with belt of broidered crape, And fur-bound bonnet of Bucharian shape,2 So fiercely beautiful in form and eye, Like war's wild planet in a summer sky; That youth to-day, -a proselyte, worth hordes Of cooler spirits and less practised swords, Is come to join, all bravery and belief,

The creed and standard of the heaven-sent Chief.

Though few his years, the West already knows Young AZIM's fame ;-beyond the' Olympian snows Ere manhood darkened o'er his downy cheek, O'erwhelmed in fight and captive to the Greek,3 He lingered there, till peace dissolved his chains ; — O, who could, even in bondage, tread the plains Of glorious GREECE, nor feel his spirit rise Kindling within him? who, with heart and eyes,

1 "The name of tulip is said to be of Turkish extraction, and given to the flower on account of its resembling a turban."— Beckmann's History of Inventions.

2 "The inhabitants of Bucharia wear a round cloth bonnet, shaped much after the Polish fashion, having a large fur border. They tie their kaftans about the middle with a girdle of a kind of silk crape, several times round the body." -Account of Independent Tartary, in Pinkerton's Collection.

3 In the war of the Caliph Mahadi against the Empress Irene, for an ac count of which vide Gibbon, vol. x.