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But what are cups, without the aid

The voice or lute was most divine, Of song to speed them as they flow?

So wond'rously they went together : And see-a lovely Georgian maid,

With all the bloom, the freshen'd glow Of her own country maidens' looks,

There's a bliss beyond all that the minstrel has told,

a When warm they rise from Teflis' brooks ;' When two, that are link'd in one heavenly tie, And with an eye, whose restless ray,

With heart never changing and brow never cold, Full, floating, dark-oh he, who knows

Love on through all ills, and love on till they die! His heart is weak, of heav'n should pray,

One hour of a passion so sacred is worth To guard him from such eyes as those !

Whole ages of heartless and wandering bliss ; With a voluptuous wildness flings

And oh! if there be an Elysium on earth, Her snowy hand across the strings

It is this, it is this. Of a syrinda, and thus sings :

'Twas not the air, 'twas not the words, Come hither, come hither—by night and by day,

But that deep magic in the chords We linger in pleasures that never are gone;

And in the lips, that
Like the waves of the summer, as one dies away

gave
such

power

As music knew not till that hour. Another as sweet and as shining comes on.

At once a hundred voices said, And the love that is o'er, in expiring gives birth

“ It is the mask'd Arabian maid !". To a new one as warm, as unequall'd in bliss ;

While SELIM, who had felt the strain
And oh ! if there be an Elysium on earth,

Deepest of any, and had lain
It is this, it is this.

Some minutes wrapt, as in a trance,
Here maidens are sighing, and fragrant their sigh After the fairy sounds were o'er,

As the flower of the Amra just op'd by a bee ;3 Too inly touch'd for utterance,
And precious their tears as that rain from the sky, Now motion'd with his hand for more :-

Which turns into pearls as it falls in the sea.
Oh! think what the kiss and the smile must be worth,

When the sigh and the tear are so perfect in bliss; Fly to the desert, fly with me,
And own, if there be an Elysium on earth,

Our Arab tents are rude for thee;
It is this, it is this.

But oh! the choice what heart can doubt

Of tents with love, or thrones without ?
Here sparkles the nectar, that hallow'd by love,
Could draw down those angels of old from their Our rocks are rough, but smiling there
sphere,

Th' acacia waves her yellow hair,
Who for wine of this earth left the fountains above, Lonely and sweet, nor lov’d the less
And forgot heaven's stars for the eyes we have For flowering in a wilderness.
here.

Our sands are bare, but down their slope
And, bless'd with the odour our goblets give forth,

The silvery-footed antelope What Spirit the sweets of his Eden would miss ?

As gracefully and gaily springs
For oh! if there be an Elysium on earth,

As o'er the marble courts of kings.
It is this, it is this.

Then come—thy Arab maid will be
The Georgian's song was scarcely mute,

The lov'd and lone acacia-tree, When the same measure, sound for sound,

The antelope, whose feet shall bless Was caught up by another lute,

With their light sound thy loneliness. And so divinely breath'd around,

Oh! there are looks and tones that dart That all stood hush'd and wondering,

An instant sunshine through the heart,And turn'd and look'd into the air,

As if the soul that minute caught
As if they thought to see the wing

Some treasure it through life had sought;
Of Israfil, the Angel, there ;-
So powerfully on every soul

As if the very lips and eyes
That new, enchanted measure stole.

Predestin'd to have all our sighs, While now a voice, sweet as the note

And never be forgot again, Of the charm'd lute, was heard to float

Sparkled and spoke before us then! Along its chords, and so entwine

So came thy every glance and tone, Its sound with theirs, that none knew whether

When first on me they breath'd and shone ; 1 Teflis is celebrated for its natural warm baths. See

New, as if brought from other spheres, Ebn Haukal.

Yet welcome as if lov'd for years ! 2 “ The Indian Syrinda or guitar."-Symes. 3 “Delightful are the flowers of the Amra-trees on the

Then fly with me,-if thou hast known mountain tops, while the murmuring bees pursue their vo- No other flame, nor falsely thrown luptuong toil." --Song of Jayadeva. 4 "The Nisan, or drops of spring rain, which they believe

A gem away, that thou hadst sworn to produce pearls if they fall into shells." - Richardson.

Should ever in thy heart be worn. 5 For an account of the share which wine had in the fall of the angels--see Mariti.

Come, if the love thou hast for me 6 The Angel of Music, see note, p. 72.

Is pure and fresh as mine for thee

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Fresh as the fountain under ground

aviary without its song. In addition to this, he chose When first 'tis by the lapwing found.'

his subjects badly, and was always most inspired by the But if for me thou dost forsake

worst parts of them. The charms of paganism, the

merits of rebellion,—these were the themes honoured Some other maid, and rudely break

with his particular enthusiasm; and, in the poem just Her worshipp'd image from its base,

recited, one of his most palatable passages was in To give to me the ruin'd place;

praise of that beverage of the unfaithful, wine ; "beThen fare thee well—I'd rather make

ing, perhaps," said he, relaxing into a smile, as conMy bower upon some icy lake

scious of his own character in the Haram on this When thawing suns begin to shine,

point, “ one of those bards, whose fancy owes all its Than trust to love so false as thine!

illumination to the grape, like that painted porcelain,

so curious and so rare, whose images are only visible

when liquor is poured into it.” Upon the whole, it There was a pathos in this lay,

was his opinion, from the specimens which they had

heard, and which, he begged to say, were the most That, e'en without enchantment's art, Would instantly have found its way

tiresome part of the journey, that-whatever other

merits this well dressed young gentleman might posDeep into Selim's burning heart; But breathing, as it did, a tone

sess—poetry was by no means his proper avocation:

" and indeed,” concluded the critic, “from his fondTo earthly lutes and lips unknown,

ness for flowers and for birds, I would venture to With every chord fresh from the touch

suggest that a florist or a bird-catcher is a much more Of Music's Spirit,-'twas too much!

suitable calling for him than a poet." Starting, he dash'd away the cup,Which, all the time of this sweet air,

They had now begun to ascend those barren His hand had held, untasted, up,

mountains, which separate Cashmere from the rest As if 'twere held by magic there,

of India; and, as the heats were intolerable, and the And naming her, so long unnam'd,

time of their encampments limited to the few hours “Oh NOURMAHAL! oh NOURMAHAL!

necessary for refreshment and repose, there was an

end to all their delightful evenings, and Lalla ROOKH Had'st thou but sung this witching strain,

saw no more of FERAMORZ. She now felt that her I could forget-forgive thee all,

short dream of happiness was over, and that she had And never leave those eyes again."

nothing but the recollection of its few blissful hours, The mask is off-the charm is wrought

like the one draught of sweet water that serves the And SELIM to his heart has caught,

camel across the wilderness, to be her heart's reIn blushes, more than ever bright,

freshment during the dreary waste of life that was His NOURMAHAL, his Haram's Light!

before her. The blight that had fallen upon her And well do vanish'd frowns enhance

spirits soon found its way to her cheek, and her ladies The charm of every brighten'd glance;

saw with regret—though not without some suspicion And dearer seems each dawning smile

of the cause—that the beauty of their mistress, of For having lost its light awhile ;

which they were almost as proud as of their own, And, happier now for all her sighs,

was fast vanishing away at the very moment of all As on his arm her head reposes,

when she had most need of it. What must the King She whispers him, with laughing eyes,

of Bucharia feel, when, instead of the lively and “Remember, love, the Feast of Roses !"

beautiful Lalla Rooks, whom the poets of Delhi had described as more perfect than the divinest

images in the House of Azor, he should receive a pale FADLADEEN, at the conclusion of this light rhap- and inanimate victim, upon whose cheek neither sody, took occasion to sum up his opinion of the health nor pleasure bloomed, and from whose eyes young Cashmerian's poetry,—of which, he trusted, Love had fled,—to hide himself in her heart ! they had that evening heard the last. Having recapi

If any thing could have charmed away the melantulated the epithets, “ frivolous"_“inharmonious”.

choly of her spirits, it would have been the fresh airs “ nonsensical,” he proceeded to say that, viewing it and enchanting scenery of that Valley, which the in the most favourable light, it resembled one of those Persians so justly called the Unequalled. But nei. Maldivian boats, to which the Princess had alluded ther the coolness of its atmosphere, so luxurious after in the relation of her dream, 2-a slight, gilded thing, toiling up those bare and burning mountains-neither sent adrift without rudder or ballast, and with nothing the splendour of the minarets and pagodas, that shone but vapid sweets and faded flowers on board. The out from the depth of its woods, nor the grottos, herprofusion, indeed, of flowers and birds, which this mitages, and miraculous fountains, which make every poet had ready on all occasions,—not to mention spot of that region holy ground ;-neither the countdews, gems, etc.-was a most oppressive kind of less water-falls, that rush into the Valley from all those opulence to his hearers; and had the unlucky effect high and romantic mountains that encircle it, nor the of giving to his style all the glitter of the flower-gar-fair city on the Lake, whose houses, roofed with den without its method, and all the flutter of the flowers, appeared at a distance like one vast and varie

gated parterre ;—not all these wonders and glories 1 The Hudhud or Lapwing, is supposed to have the power of the most lovely country under the sun could steal of discovering water under ground. 2 See page 65.

1 Kachmire be Nazeer.- Forster

2

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her heart for a minute from those sad thoughts, which not feel with transport. To LALLA Rookh alone it but darkened and grew bitterer every step she advanced. was a melancholy pageant; nor could she have ever

The gay pomps and processions that met her upon borne to look upon the scene, were it not for a hope her entrance into the Valley, and the magnificence that, among the crowds around, she might once more with which the roads all along were decorated, did perhaps catch a glimpse of FERAMORZ. So much honour to the taste and gallantry of the young King. was her imagination haunted by this thought, that It was night when they approached the city, and, for there was scarcely an islet or boat she passed, at the last two miles, they had passed under arches, which her heart did not flutter with a momentary thrown from hedge to hedge, festooned with only fancy that he was there. Happy, in her eyes, the those rarest roses from which the Attar Gul, more humblest slave upon whom the light of his dear looks precious than gold, is distilled, and illuminated in fell.-In the barge immediately after the Princess was rich and fanciful forms with lanterns of the triple- FADLADEEN, with his silken curtains thrown widely coloured tortoise-shell of Pegu. Sometimes, from a apart, that all might have the benefit of his august predark wood by the side of the road, a display of fire- sence, and with his head full of the speech he was works would break out, so sudden and so brilliant, to deliver to the King, “concerning FERAMORZ, and that a Bramin might think he saw that grove, in whose literature, and the Chabuk, as connected therewith.” purple shade the God of Battles was born, bursting They had now entered the canal which leads from into a flame at the moment of his birth.—While, at the Lake to the splendid domes and saloons of the other times, a quick and playful irradiation continued Shalimar, and glided on through gardens ascending to brighten all the fields and gardens by which they from each bank, full of flowering shrubs that made passed, forming a line of dancing lights along the the air all perfume ; while from the middle of the horizon; like the meteors of the north as they are canal rose jets of water, smooth and unbroken, to seen by those hunters, who pursue the white and blue such a dazzling height, that they stood like pillars of foxes on the confines of the Icy Sea.

diamond in the sunshine. After sailing under the These arches and fire-works delighted the ladies arches of various saloons, they at length arrived at of the Princess exceedingly; and, with their usual the last and most magnificent, where the monarch good logic, they deduced from his taste for illumina-awaited the coming of his bride; and such was the tions, that the King of Bucharia would make the most agitation of her heart and frame, that it was with difexemplary husband imaginable. Nor, indeed, could ficulty she walked up the marble steps, which were LALLA Rookh herself help feeling the kindness and covered with cloth of gold for her'ascent from the splendour with which the young bridegroom welcom- barge. At the end of the hall stood two thrones, as ed her;—but she also felt how painful is the gratitude, precious as the Cerulean Throne of Koolburga, on which kindness from those we cannot love excites; one of which sat ALIRIS, the youthful King of Buand that their best blandishments come over the heart charia, and on the other was, in a few minutes, to be with all that chilling and deadly sweetness, which we placed the most beautiful Princess in the world.can fancy in the cold, odoriferous wind that is to blow Immediately upon the entrance of LALLA ROOKI over the earth in the last days.

into the saloon, the monarch descended from his The marriage was fixed for the morning after her throne to meet her; but scarcely had he time to take arrival, when she was, for the first time, to be pre- her hand in his, when she screamed with surprise and sented to the monarch in that Imperial Palace be- fainted at his feet. It was FERAMORZ himself that yond the lake, called the Shalimar. Though a night stood before her!—FERAMORZ was, himself, the of more wakeful and anxious thought had never Sovereign of Bucharia, who in this disguise had acbeen passed in the Happy Valley before, yet, when companied his young bride from Delhi, and, having she rose in the morning, and her ladies came round won her love as an humble minstrel, now amply deher, to assist in the adjustment of the bridal orna- served to enjoy it as a King. ments, they thought they had never seen her look The consternation of FADLADEEN at this discovery half so beautiful. What she had lost of the bloom was, for the moment, almost pitiable. But change and radiancy of her charms was more than made up of opinion is a resource too convenient in courts for by that intellectual expression, that soul in the eyes this experienced courtier not to have learned to avail which is worth all the rest of loveliness. When they himself of it. His criticisms were all, of course, had tinged her fingers with the Henna leaf, and placed recanted instantly; he was seized with an admiration upon her brow a small coronet of jewels, of the shape of the King's verses, as unbounded, as, he begged worn by the ancient Queens of Bucharia, they flung him to believe, it was disinterested; and the followover her head the rose-coloured bridal veil, and she ing week saw him in possession of an additional proceeded to the barge that was to convey her across place, swearing by all the Saints of Islam that never the lake ;—first kissing, with a mournful look, the had there existed so great a poet as the Monarch, ALIlittle amulet of cornelian which her father had hung Ris, and ready to prescribe his favourite regimen of about her neck at parting.

the Chabuk for every man, woman, and child that The morning was as fair as the maid upon whose dared to think otherwise. nuptials it rose, and the shining lake, all covered with Of the happiness of the King and Queen of Buchaboats, the minstrels playing upon the shores of the ria, after such a beginning, there can be but little islands, and the crowded summer-houses on the green doubt; and, among the lesser symptoms, it is recorded hills around, with shawls and banners waving from of Lalla Rookh, that, to the day of her death, in their roofs, presented such a picture of animated re- memory of their delightful journey, she never called joicing, as only she, who was the object of it all, did the King by any other name than FERAMORZ

NOTES.

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Page 27.
is the following lively description of “

company of THESE particulars of the visit of the King of Bu- maidens seated on camels." charia to Aurungzebe are found in Dow's History of They are mounted in carriages covered with Hindostan vol. iii. p. 392.

costly awnings, and with rose-coloured veils, the

linings of which have the hue of crimson AndemPage 27, line 16.

wood. Leila. The Mistress of Mejnoun, upon whose story so

“When they ascend from the bosom of the vale,

they sit forward on the saddle-cloths, with every many romances, in all the languages of the East, are

mark of a voluptuous gaiety. founded.

“Now, when they have reached the brink of you Page 27, line 16.

blue gushing rivulet, they fix the poles of their tents Shirine.

like the Arab with a settled mansion." For the loves of this celebrated beauty with Khosrou and with Ferhad, see D'Herbelot, Gibbon, Ori

Page 27, line 60. ental Collections, etc.

A young female slave sat fanning her, etc.
Page 27, line 16.

See Bernier's description of the attendants on Rau-
Dewilde.

chanara-Begum in her progress to Cashmere. “The history of the loves of Dewilde and Chizer, the son of the Emperor Alla, is written in an elegant

Page 28, line 13. poem, by the noble Chusero."-Ferishta.

Religion, of which Aurungzebe was a munificeut protector.

This hypocritical Emperor would have made a Page 27, line 47.

worthy associate of certain Holy Leagues.—" He Those insignia of the Emperor's favour, etc. held the cloak of religion (says Dow) between his. “One mark of honour or knighthood bestowed by actions and the vulgar; and impiously thanked the the Emperor, is the permission to wear a small kettle - Divinity for a success which he owed to his own drum, at the bows of their saddles, which at first was wickedness. When he was murdering and perseinvented for the training of hawks, and to call them to cuting his brothers and their families, he was building the lure, and is worn in the field by all sportsmen to a magnificent mosque at Delhi, as an offering to God that end."-Fryer's Travels.

for his assistance to him in the civil wars. He acted “Those on whom the King has conferred the pri- as high-priest at the consecration of this temple, and vilege must wear an ornament of jewels on the right made a practice of attending divine service there, in side of the turban, surmounted by a high plume of the humble dress of a Fakeer. But when he lifted the feathers of a kind of egret. This bird is found one hand to the Divinity, he, with the other, signed only in Cashmere, and the feathers are carefully col- warrants for the assassination of his relations.”lected for the King, who bestows them on his nobles." History of Hindostan, vol. iii. p. 235. See also the -Elphinstone's Account of Caubul.

curious letter of Aurungzebe, given in the Oriental

Collections, vol. i. p. 320.
Page 27, line 52.
Khedar Khan, etc.

Page 28, line 15. « Khedar Khan, the Khakan, or King of Turques

The diamond eyes of the idol, etc. tan beyond the Gihon (at the end of the eleventh cen- “The Idol at Jaghernaut has two fine diamonds tury,) whenever he appeared abroad was preceded by for eyes. No goldsmith is suffered to enter the seven hundred horsemen with silver battle-axes, and Pagoda, one having stole one of these eyes, being was followed by an equal number bearing maces of locked up all night with the Idol.”—Tavernier. gold. He was a great patron of poetry, and it was he who used to preside at public exercises of genius,

Page 28, line 19. with four basins of gold and silver by him to distri

Gardens of Shalimar. bute among the poets who excelled."-Richardson's See a description of these royal Gardens in “An Dissertation prefixed to his Dictionary.

Account of the present State of Delhi, by Lieut.

W. Franklin."-Asiat. Research. vol. iv. p. 417.
Page 27, line 54.
The gilt pine-apple, etc.

Page 28, line 26. " The kubdeh, a large golden knob, generally in

Lake of Pearl. the shape of a pine-apple, on the top of the canopy "In the neighbourhood is Notte Gill, or the Lake over the litter or palanquin."-Scott's notes on the of Pearl, which receives this name from its pellucid Bahardanush.

water.”—Pennant's Hindostan. Page 27, line 59.

“ Nasir Jung, encamped in the vicinity of the Lake The rose-coloured veils of the Princess's litter, of Tonoor, amused himself with sailing on that clear In the poem of Zohair, in the Moallakat, there and beautiful water, and gave it the fanciful name of

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Motee Talab, the Lake of Pearls, which it still re

Page 28, line 86. tains."—Wilke's South of India.

The shawl-goat of Tibet.

See Turner's Embassy for a description of this Page 28, line 30.

animal, “ the most beautiful among the whole tribe Described by one from the Isles of the West, etc. Sir Thomas Roe, Ambassador from James I. to carried to Cashmere) is found next the skin.

of goats.” The materials for the shawls (which is Jehanguire. Page 28, line 45.

Page 28, line 107.
Loves of Wamak and Ezra.

The veiled Prophet of Khorassan. “The romance Wemakweazra, written in Persian

For the real history of this Impostor, whose ori. verse, which contains the loves of Wamak and Ezra, ginal name was Haken ben Haschem, and who was two celebrated lovers who lived before the time of called Mokanna from the veil of silver gauze (or, as Mahomet.”—Notes on the Oriental Tales.

others say, golden) which he always wore, see D'

Herbelot. Page 28, line 45. of the fair-haired Zal, and his mistress Rodahver.

Page 28, line 111. Their amour is recounted in the Shah-Nameh of

Flowerets and fruits blush over every stream. Ferdousi ; and there is much beauty in the passage

** The fruits of Meru are finer than those of any which describes the slaves of Rodahver, sitting on other place; and one cannot see in any other city the bank of the river, and throwing flowers into the such palaces, with groves, and streams, and gardens." stream, in order to draw the attention of the young Ein Haukal's Geography. Hero, who is encamped on the posite side. See

Page 28, line 120.
Champion's Translation.

For, far less luminous, his votaries said,
Page 28, line 46.

Were e'en the gleams, miraculously shed

O'er Moussa's cheek. 7'he combat of Rustam with the terrible white Demon.

“ Ses disciples assuraient qu'il se couvrait le visRustam is the Hercules of the Persians. For the particulars of his Victory over the Sepeed Deeve, or l'éclat de son visage comme Moyse.”—D' Herbelot.

age, pour ne pas éblouir ceux qui l'approchaient par White Demon, see Oriental Collections, vol. ii. p. 45.Near the city of Shirauz is an immense quadrangular

Page 29, line 7. monument in commemoration of this combat, called

In hatred to the Caliph's hue of night. the Kelaat-i-Deev Sepeed, or Castle of the White

“Il faut remarquer ici touchant les habits blancs Giant, which Father Angelo, in his Gazophylacium des disciples de Hakem, que la couleur des habits, Persicum, p. 127, declares to have been the most des coiffures et des étendards des Khalifes Abassides memorable monument of antiquity which he had étant la noire, ce chef de rebelles ne pouvait pas en seen in Persia.–See Ouseley's Persian Miscellanies. choisir une qui lui fut plus opposée.”—D' Herbelot. Page 28, line 53.

Page 29, line 10.
Their golden anklets.

Javelins of the light Kathaian reed. “ The women of the Idol, or dancing girls of the “Our dark javelins, exquisitely wrought of Katha. Pagoda, have little golden bells fastened to their feet,lian reeds, slender and delicate.”—Poem of Amru. the soft harmonious tinkling of which vibrates in unison with the exquisite melody of their voices.”

Page 29, line 12 Maurice's Indian Antiquities.

Filled with the stems that bloom on Iran's rivers. The Arabian courtezans, like the Indian women, The Persians call this plant Gaz. The celebrated have little golden bells fastened round their legs, shaft of Isfendiar, one of their ancient heroes, was neck and elbows, to the sound of which they dance made of it.—"Nothing can be more beautiful than before the King. The Arabian princesses wear the appearance of this plant in flower during the golden rings on their fingers, to which little bells rains on the banks of the rivers, where it is usually are suspended, as in the flowing tresses of their interwoven with a lovely twining asclepias."-Sir hair, that their superior rank may be known, and W. Jones, Botanical Observations on select Indian they themselves receive, in passing, the homage due Plants. to them."-See Calmets Dictionary, art. Bells.

Page 29, line 17.

Like a chenar-tree grove.
Page 28, line 68.
That delicious opium, etc.

The oriental plane. “The chenar is a delightful “ Abou-Tige, ville de la Thebaide, ou il croit beau tree ; its bole is of a fine white and smooth bark; 'coup de pavots noir, dont se fait le milleur opium.”

and its foliage, which grows in a tuft at the summit, D' Herbelot.

is of a bright green.”—Morier's Travels.
Page 28, line 78.

Page 29, line 47
That idol of women, Crishna.

With turban'd heads, of every hue and race, “He and the three Ramas are described as youths Bowing before that veil'd and awful face, of perfect beauty; and the Princesses of Windostan Like tulip bedswere all passionately in love with Crishna, who con- “The name of Tulip is said to be of Turkish er. tinues to this hour the darling god of the Indian traction, and given to the flower on account of its women.”—Sir W. Jones on the Gods of Greece, Italy, resembling a turban."-Beckman's History of Inuma and India

tions.

66

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