"The puny bird, that dares with teasing hum 66 all Thy chaste dominion in the Haram Hall, "Where now to Love and now to ALLA given, "Half mistress and half saint, thou hang'st as even "As doth MEDINA's tomb, 'twixt hell and heaven! "Thou 'lt fly? as easily may reptiles run, "The gaunt snake once hath fiz'd his eyes upon; "As easily, when caught, the prey may be "Pluck'd from his loving folds, as thou from me. 66 'No, no, 't is fix'd-let good or ill betide, "Thou'rt mine till death, till death, MOKANNA's bride! "Hast thou forgot thy oath?". At this dread word, The Maid, whose spirit his rude taunts had stirr'd 66 "Yes, my sworn bride, let others see in bowers "Their bridal, place the charnel vault was ours! The humming-bird is said to run this risk for the purpose of picking the crocodiles teeth. The same cicumstance is related of the lapwing, as a fact to which he was witness, by Paul Lucas, Voyagefait en 1714. "The ancient story concerning the Trochilus, or humming-bird, entering with impunity into the mouth of the crocodile, is firmly believed at Java.”— BARRow's Cochin-China, "Instead of scents and balms, for thee and me "Rose the rich steams of sweet mortality; 66 Gay, flickering death-lights shone while we were wed, "And, for our guests, a row of goodly Dead, 66 (Immortal spirits in their time, no doubt,) "From reeking shrouds upon the rite look'd out! "That oath thou heard'st more lips than thine repeat thou shudderest, Lady "That cupwas it sweet? "That cup we pleg'd, the charnel's choicest wine, ay-body and soul all mine; "Hath bound thee "Bound thee by chains that, whether blest or curst "No matter now, not hell itself shall burst! Hence, woman, to the Haram, and look gay, "Look wild, look-any thing but sad; yet stay "One moment more - from what this night hath pass'd, "I see thou know'st me, know'st me well at last. "Ha! ha! and so, fond thing, thou thought'st all true, "And that I love mankind? I do, I do ,, As victims, love them; as the sea-dog doats “Upon the small, sweet fry that round him floats; "Or, as the Nile-bird loves the slime that gives "That rank and venomous food on which she lives? *. "And, now thou seest my soul's angelic hue, "T'is time these features were uncurtain'd too; "This brow, whose light oh rare celestial light: "Hath been reserv'd to bless thy favour'd sight; "These dazzling eyes, before whose shrouded might * "Circum easdem ripas (Nili, viz.) ales est Ibis. Ea serpentium populatur ova: gratissimamque ex his escam nidis suis refert.”— SOLINUS. "Thou'st seen immortal Man kneel down and quake – "Would that they were heaven's lightnings for his sake! "But turn and look then wonder, if thou wilt, "That I should hate, should take revenge, by guilt, "Upon the hand, whose mischief or whose mirth "Sent me thus maim'd and monstrous upon earth; "And on that race who, though more vile they be "Than mowing apes, are demi-gods to me! "Here—judge if hell, with all its power to damn, "Can add one curse to the foul thing I am!". He rais'd his veil- the Maid turn'd slowly round, Look'd at him — shriek'd — and sunk upon the ground! 3* On their arrival, next night, at the place of encampment, they were surprised and delighted to find the groves all around illuminated; some artists of Yamtcheou* having been sent on previously for the purpose. On each side of the green alley, which led to the Royal Pavilion, artificial sceneries of bamboo-workt were erected, representing arches, minarets, and towers, from which hung thousands of silken lanterns, painted by the most delicate pencils of Canton. Nothing could be more beautiful than the leaves of the mango-trees and acacias, shining in the light of the bamboo-scenery, which shed a lustre round as soft as that of the nights of Peristan. LALLA ROOKH, however, who was too much occupied by the sad story of ZELICA and her lover, to give a thought to any thing else, except, perhaps, him who related it, hurried on through this scene of splendour to her pavilion, * "The feast of Lanterns is celebrated at Yamtcheou with more magnificence than any where else: and the report goes, that the illuminations there are so splendid, that an Emperor once, not daring openly to leave his Court to go thither, committed himself with the Queen and several Princesses of his family into the hands of a magician, who promised to transport them thither in a trice. He made them in the night to ascend magnificent thrones that were borne up by swans, which in a moment arrived at Yamtcheou. The Emperor saw at his leisure all the solemnity, being carried upon a cloud that hovered over the city and descended by degrees; and came back again with the same speed and equipage, nobody at court perceiving his absence." The present State of China, p. 156. See a description of the nuptials of Vizier Alee in the Asiatic Annual Register of 1804. -greatly to the mortification of the poor artists of Yamtcheou, and was followed with equal rapidity by the Great Chamberlain, cursing, as he went, that ancient Mandarin, whose parental anxiety in lighting up the shores of the lake, where his beloved daughter had wandered and been lost, was the origin of these fantastic Chinese illuminations. * Without a moment's delay, young FERAMORZ was introduced, and FADLADEEN, who could never make up his mind as to the merits of a poet, till he knew the religious sect to which he belonged, was about to ask him whether he was a Shia or a Sooni, when LALLA ROOKн impatiently clapped her hands for silence, and the youth, being seated upon the musnud near her, proceeded. * "The vulgar ascribe it to an accident that happened in the family of a famous mandarin, whose daughter walking one evening upon the shore of a lake, fell in and was drowned; this afflicted father, with his family, ran thither, and, the better to find her, he caused a great company of lanterns to be lighted. An the inhabitants of the place thronged after him with torches. The year ensuing they made fires upon the shores the same day; they continued the ceremony every year, every one lighted his lantern, and by degrees it commenced into a custom." The present State of China. |