Flung at night from angel hands *
At those dark and daring sprites

Who would climb the' empyreal heights,
Down the blue vault the PERI flies,
And lighted earthward by a glance
That just then broke from morning's eyes,
Hung hovering o'er our worlds expanse.

But whither shall the Spirit go

"I know

To find this gift for Heav'n? -
"The wealth," she cries, "of every urn,
"In which unnumber'd rubies burn,
"Beneath the pillars of CHILMINAR; †

"I know where the Isles of Perfume are

66

'Many a fathom down in the sea,

"To the south of sun-bright ARABY; ‡

* "The Mahometans suppose that falling stars are the firebrands wherewith the good angels drive away the bad, when they approach too near the empyrean or verge of the heavens."— FRYER,

The Forty Pillars; so the Persians call the ruins of Persepolis. It is imagined by them that this palace and the edifices at Balbec were built by Genii, for the purpose of hiding in their subterraneous caverns immense treasures, which still remain there. See D'Herbelot and Volney.

The Isles of Panchaia. Diodorus mentions the Isle of Panchaia, to the south of Arabia Felix, where there was a temple of Jupiter. This island, or rather cluster of isles, has disappeared, "sunk (says Grandpré) in the abyss made by the fire beneath their foundations." - Voyage to the Indian Ocean.

"I know, too, where the Genii hid

"The jewell'd cup of their King Jamshid, *
"With Life's elixir sparkling high –

"But gifts like these are not for the sky.
"Where was there ever a gem that shone
"Like the steps of ALLA's wonderful Throne?
"And the Drops of Life oh! what would they be
"In the boundless Deep of Eternity?"

While thus she mus'd, her pinions fann'd

The air of that sweet Indian land,
Whose air is balm; whose ocean spreads
O'er coral rocks, and amber beds; t
Whose mountains, pregnant by the beam
Of the warm sun, with diamonds teem:
Whose rivulets are like rich brides,
Lovely, with gold beneath their tides;
Whose sandal groves and bowers of spice
Might be a Peri's Paradise!

But crimson now her rivers ran

With human blood the smell of death

"The cup of Jamshid, discovered, they say, when digging for the foundations of Persepolis."-RICHARDSON.

"It is not like the Sea of India, whose bottom is rich with pearls and ambergris, whose mountains of the coast are stored with gold and precious stones, whose gulfs breed creatures that yield ivory, and among the plants of whose shores are ebony, red wood, and the wood of Hairzan, aloes, camphor, cloves, sandal-wood, and all other spices and aromatics; where parrots and peacocks are birds of the forest, and musk and civet are collected upon the lands,”— Travcls of two Mohammedans.

Came reeking from those spicy bowers,
And man, the sacrifice of man,

Mingled his taint with every breath
Upwafted from the innocent flowers.
Land of the Sun! what foot invades
Thy Pagods and thy pillar'd shades * —
Thy cavern shrines, and Idol stones,
Thy Monarchs and their thousand Thrones? †
'Tis He of GAZNA - fierce in wrath

He comes, and INDIA's diadems

Lie scatter'd in his ruinous path.

His bloodhounds he adorns with gems,

Torn from the violated necks

Of many a young and lov'd Sultana; §
Maidens, within their pure Zenana,

" in the ground

The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow
About the mother-tree, a pillar'd shade,

High over-arch'd, and echoing walks between."

MILTON.

For a particular description aud plate of the Banyan-tree, see Cordiner's Ceylon.

+"With this immense treasure Mamood returned to Ghizni, and in the year 400 prepared a magnificent festival, where he displayed to the people his wealth in golden thrones and in other ornaments, in a great plain without the city of Ghizni." -FERISHTA.

Mahmood of Gazna or Ghizna, who conquered India in the beginning of the 11th century. See his History in Dow and Sir J. Malcomb.

"It is reported that the hunting equipage of the Sultan Mahmood was so magnificent, that he kept 400 greyhounds and bloodhounds, each of which wore a collar set with jewels, and a covering edged with gold and pearls.” — Universal History, vol. iii.

Priests in the very fane he slaughters, And choaks up with the glittering wrecks Of golden shrines the sacred waters!

Downward the PERI turns her gaze,
And, through the war-field's bloody haze
Beholds a youthful warrior stand,

Alone beside his native river, -
The red blade broken in his hand,
And the last arrow in his quiver.
"Live," said the Conqueror, "live to share
"The trophies and the crowns I bear!"

Silent that youthful warrior stood

Silent he pointed to the flood

All crimson with his country's blood,
Then sent his last remaining dart,
For answer, to the' Invader's heart.

False flew the shaft, though pointed well;
The Tyrant liv'd, the Hero fell!-

Yet mark'd the PERI where he lay,

And, when the rush of war was past, Swiftly descending on a ray

Of morning light, she caught the lastLast glorious drop his heart had shed, Before its free-born spirit fled!

"Be this," she cried, as she wing'd her flight,

"My welcome gift at the Gates of Light.

66

Though foul are the drops that oft distil

"On the field of warfare, blood like this,
"For Liberty shed, so holy is *

"It would not stain the purest rill,

"That sparkles among the Bowers of Bliss!
"Oh, if there be, on this earthly sphere,
"A boon, an offering Heaven holds dear,

""Tis the last libation Liberty draws

"From the heart that bleeds and breaks in her cause!"

"Sweet," said the Angel, as she gave

The gift into his radiant hand,

"Sweet is our welcome of the Brave

"Who die thus for their native Land.
"But see- alas! the crystal bar
"Of Eden moves not- - holier far
"Than ev'n this drop the boon must be,
66 That opes the Gates of Heav'n for thee!"

Her first fond hope of Eden blighted,

Now among AFRIC's lunar Mountains, †

* Objections may be made to my use of the word Liberty in this, and more especially in the story that follows it, as totally inapplicable to any state of things that has ever existed in the East; but though I cannot, of course, mean to employ it in that enlarged and noble sense which is so well understood at the present day, and I grieve to say, so little acted upon, yet it is no disparagement to the word to apply it to that national independence, that freedom from the interference and dictation of foreigners, without which, indeed no liberty of any kind can exist; and for which both Hindoos and Persians fought against their Mussulman invaders with, in many cases, a bravery that deserved much better success. "The Mountains of the Moon, or the Montes Lunæ of antiquity, at the foot of which the Nile is supposed to arise.". BRUCE.