brightness of their silver battle-axes and the massiness of their maces of gold; - the glittering of the gilt pineapples* on the tops of the palankeens; the embroidered trappings of the elephants, bearing on their backs small turrets, in the shape of little antique temples, within which the Ladies of LALLA ROOKH lay as it were enshrined; the rose-coloured veils of the Princess's own sumptuous litter, at the front of which a fair young female slave sat fanning her through the curtains, with feathers of the Argus pheasant's wing;-and the lovely troop of Tartarian and Cashmerian maids of honour, whom the young King had sent to accompany his bride, and who rode on each side of the litter, upon small Arabian horses; — all was brilliant, tasteful, and magnificent, and pleased even the critical and fastidious FADLADEEN, Great Nazir or Chamberlain of the Haram, who was borne in his palankeen immediately after the Princess, and considered himself not the least important personage of the pageant.

"The kubdeh, a large golden knob, generally in the shape of a pine-apple, on the top of the canopy over a litter or palanquin."- SCOTT's Notes on the Bahardanush.

† In the Poem of Zohair, in the Moallakat, there is the following lively description of "a company of maidens seated on camels."

'They are mounted in carriages covered with costly awnings, and with rose coloured veils, the linings of which have the hue of crimson Andem-wood. "When they ascend from the bosom of the vale, they sit forward on the saddle-cloth, with every mark of voluptuous gaiety.

"Now, when they have reached the brink of yon blue-gushing rivulet, they fix the poles of their tents like the Arab with a settled mansion."

See Bernier's description of the attendants on Rauchanara-Begum, in her progress to Cashmere.

FADLADEEN was a judge of every thing, from the pencilling of a Circassian's eyelids to the deepest questions of science and literature; from the mixture of a conserve of rose-leaves to the composition of an epic poem; and such influence had his opinion upon the various tastes of the day, that all the cooks and poets of Delhi stood in awe of him. His political conduct and opinions were founded that line of Sadi, "Should the Prince at noon-day say, It is night, declare that you behold the moon and stars." And his zeal for religion, of which Aurungzebe was a munificent protector*, was about as disinterested as that of the goldsmith who fell in love with the diamond eyes of the idol of Jaghernaut. ↑

upon

During the first days of their journey, LALLA ROOKн, who had passed all her life within the shadow of the

*This hypocritical Emperor would have made a worthy associate of certain Holy Leagues.-"He held the cloak of religion (says Dow) between his actions and the vulgar; and impiously thanked the Divinity for a success which he owed to his own wickedness. When he was murdering and persecuting his brothers and their families, he was building a magnificent mosque at Delhi, as an offering to God for his assistance to him in the civil wars. He acted as high priest at the consecration of this temple; and made a practice of attending divine service there, in the humble dress of a Fakeer. But when he lifted one hand to the Divinity, he, with the other, signed warrants for the assassination of his rela tions." - History of Hindostan, vol. iii. p. 335. See also the curious letter of Aurungzebe, given in the Oriental Collections, vol. i. p. 320.

"The idol at Jaghernaut has two fine diamonds for eyes. No goldsmith is suffered to enter the Pagoda, cne having stole one of these eyes, being locked up all night with the Idol."- TAVERNIER.

Royal Gardens of Delhi*, found enough, in the beauty of the scenery through which they passed to interest her mind, and delight her imagination; and when at evening, or in the heat of the day, they turned off from the high road to those retired and romantic places which had been selected for her encampments, - sometimes on the banks of a small rivulet, as clear as the waters of the Lake of Pearl; sometimes under the sacred shade of a Banyan tree, from which the view opened upon a glade covered with antelopes; and often in those hidden, embowered spots, described by one from the Isles of the West, as "places of melancholy, delight, and safety, where all the company around was wild peacocks and turtle-doves;" she felt a charm in these scenes, so lovely and so new to her, which, for a time, made her indifferent to every other amusement. But LALLA ROокн was young, and the young love variety; nor could the conversation of her Ladies and the Great Chamberlain, FADLADEEN, (the only persons, of course, admitted to her pavilion,) sufficiently enliven those many vacant hours, which were

* See a description of these royal Gardens in "An Account of the present State of Delhi, by Lieut. W. Franklin," Asiat. Research. vol. iv. p. 417.

"In the neighbourhood is Notte Gill, or the Lake of Pearl, which receives this name from its pellucid water." - PENNANT's Hindostan.

"Nasir Jung encamped in the vacinity of the Lake of Tunoor, amused himself with sailing on that clear and beautiful water, and gave it the fanciful name of Motee Talah, the Lake of Pearls,' which it still retains.” - WILKS's South of India,

Sir Thomas Roe, Ambassador from James I. to Jehanguire.

devoted neither to the pillow nor the palankeen. There was a little Persian slave who sung sweetly to the Vina, and who, now and then, lulled the Princess to sleep with the ancient ditties of her country, about the loves of Wamak and Ezra*, the fair-haired Zal and his mistress Rodahvert; not forgetting the combat of Rustam with the terrible White Demon. At other times she was amused by those graceful dancing-girls of Delhi, who had been permitted by the Bramins of the Great Pagoda to attend her, much to he 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.

*"The romance Wemakweazra, written in Persian verse, which contains the loves of Wamak and Ezra, two celebrated lovers who lived before the time of Mahomet.". Note on the Oriental Tales.

†Their amour is recounted in the Shah- Namêh of Ferdousi; and there is much beauty in the passage which describes the slaves of Rodahver sitting on the bank of the river and throwing flowers into the stream, in order to draw the attention of the young Hero who is encamped on the opposite side. See Champion's translation.

Rustam is the Hercules of the Persians. For the particulars of his victory over the Sepeed Deeve, or White Demon, see Oriental Collections, vol. ii. p. 45 -"Near the city of Shirauz is an immense quadrangular monument, in com memoration of this combat, called the Kelaat-i-Deev Sepeed, or castle of the White Giant, which Father Angelo, in his Gazophilacium Persicum, p. 127., de clares to have been the most memorable monument of antiquity which he had seen in Persia." OUSELFY's Persian Miscellanies.

"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

But these and many other diversions were repeated till they lost all their charm, and the nights and noon-days 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 recitlals. At the mention of a poet, FADLADEEN elevated his critical eyebrows, and, having refreshed his faculties with a dose of that delicious opium* which is distilled from the black poppy of the Thebais, 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 favourable 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 ROOKн's Own

fastened round their legs, 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.

*"Abou-Tige, ville de la Thebaïde, où il croit beaucoup de pavot noir, dont se fait le meilleur opium." - D'HERBELOT.