In short, all rare and beauteous things, that fly
Through the pure element, here calmly lie
Sleeping in light, like the green birds that dwell
In EDEN's radiant fields of asphodel!

So on, through scenes past all imagining,
More like the luxuries of that impious King,t
Whom Death's dark Angel, with his lightning torch.
Struck down and blasted even in Pleasure's porch,

Than the pure dwelling of a Prophet sent,

Arm'd with Heav'n's sword, for man's enfranchisement -
Young AZIM wander'd, looking sternly round,
His simple garb and war-boots' clanking sound
But ill according with the pomp and grace

And silent lull of that voluptuous place.

"Is this, then," thought the youth, "is this the way "To free man's spirit from the deadening sway "Of worldly sloth,-to teach him while he lives, "To know no bliss but that which virtue gives, "And when he dies, to leave his lofty name "A light, a landmark on the cliffs of fame? “It was not so, Land of the generous thought "And daring deed, thy god-like sages taught; "It was not thus, in bowers of wanton ease,

* "The spirits of the martyrs will be lodged in the crops of green birds." GIBBON, Vol. ix. p. 421.

† Shedad, who made the delicious gardens of Irim, in imitation of Paradise, and was destroyed by lightning the first time he attempted to enter them.

"Oh! not beneath the' enfeebling, withering glow

"Of such dull luxury did those myrtles grow,

"With which she wreath'd her sword, when she would

dare

"Immortal deeds; but in the bracing air

"Of toil,― of temperance,- of that high, rare, "Ethereal virtue, which alone can breathe

66

'Life, health, and lustre into Freedom's wreath.

Who, that surveys this span of earth we press,—
"This speck of life in time's great wilderness,
"This narrow isthmus 'twixt two boundless seas,
"The past, the future, two eternities!

"Would sully the bright spot, or leave it bare,
"When he might build him a bright temple there,
"A name, that long shall hallow all its space,
"And be each purer soul's high resting-place.
- it cannot be, that one, whom God

"But no-
"Has sent to break the wizard Falsehood's rod,—

"A Prophet of the Truth, whose mission draws

"Its rights from Heaven, should thus profane its cause "With the world's vulgar pomps; no, no, I see"He thinks me weak-this glare of luxury "Is but to tempt, to try the eaglet gaze

"Of my young soul-shine on, 't will stand the blaze!"

So thought the youth: — but, ev'n while he defied This witching scene, he felt its witchery glide Through ev'ry sense. The perfume breathing round, Like a pervading spirit; - the still sound

Of falling waters, lulling as the song

Of Indian bees at sunset, when they throng

Around the fragrant Nilica, and deep

In its blue blossoms hum themselves to sleep;*
And music, too-dear music! that can touch
Beyond all else the soul that loves it much-
Now heard far off, so far as but to seem
Like the faint, exquisite music of a dream;
All was too much for him, too full of bliss,
The heart could nothing feel that felt not this;
Soften'd he sunk upon a couch, and gave
His soul up to sweet thoughts, like wave on wave
Succeeding in smooth seas, when storms are laid;
He thought of ZELICA, his own dear maid,
And of the time when, full of blissful sighs,
They sat and look'd into each other's eyes,
Silent and happy - as if God had given
Nought else worth looking at on this side heaven.

66

Oh, my lov'd mistress, thou, whose spirit still "Is with me, round me, wander where I will"It is for thee, for thee alone I seek

"The paths of glory; to light up thy cheek "With warm approval · in that gentle look,

To read my praise, as in an angel's book, "And think all toils rewarded, when from thee "I gain a smile worth immortality!

"How shall I bear the moment, when restored "To that young heart where I alone am Lord,

SIR

*"My Pandits assure me that the plant before us (the Nilica) is their Sephalica, thus named because the bees are supposed to sleep on its blossom.” W. JONES.

"Though of such bliss unworthy, since the best "Alone deserve to be the happiest:

"When from those lips, unbreathed upon for years, "I shall again kiss off the soul-felt tears,

"And find those tears warm as when last they started, "Those sacred kisses pure as when we parted. "O my own life!-why should a single day, "A moment keep me from those arms away?"

While thus he thinks, still nearer on the breeze
Come those delicious, dream-like harmonies,
Each note of which but adds new, downy links
To the soft chain in which his spirit sinks.
He turns him tow'rd the sound, and far away
Through a long vista, sparkling with the play

Of countless lamps, like the rich track which Day
Leaves on the waters, when he sinks from us,
So long the path, its light so tremulous;-
He sees a group of female forms advance,
Some chain'd together in the mazy dance
By fetters, forg'd in the green sunny bowers,
As they were captives to the King of Flowers;*
And some disporting round, unlink'd and free,
Who seemed to mock their sisters' slavery;

And round and round them still, in wheeling flight

Went, like gay moths about a lamp at night;

While others wak'd, as gracefully along

Their feet kept time, the

very

soul of song

"They deferred it till the King of Flowers should ascend his throne of enammelled foliage.". "The Bahardanush,

From psaltery, pipe, and lutes of heavenly thrill, Or their own youthful voices, heavenlier still. before his eye,

And now they come, now pass

Forms such as Nature moulds, when she would vie

With Fancy's pencil, and give birth to things

Lovely beyond its fairest picturings.

Awhile they dance before him, then divide,

Breaking, like rosy clouds at even-tide

Around the rich pavilion of the sun,-
Till silently dispersing, one by one,

Through many a path, that from the chamber leads
To gardens, terraces, and moonlight meads,
Their distant laughter comes upon the wind,
And but one trembling nymph remains behind, -
Beck'ning them back in vain, for they are gone,
And she is left in all that light alone;
No veil to curtain o'er her beauteous brow,
In its young bashfulness more beauteous now;
But a light golden chain-work round her hair,*
Such as the maids of YEZDt and SHIRAS wear,
From which, on either side, gracefully hung
A golden amulet, in the' Arab tongue,

*"One of the head dresses of the Persian women is composed of a light golden chain-work, set with small pearls, with a thin gold plate, pendant, about the bigness of a crown-piece, on which is impressed an Arabían prayer, and which hangs upon the cheek below the ear."- HANWAY'S Travels.

"Certainly the women of Yezd are the handsomest women in Persia. The proverb is, that to live happy a man must have a wife of Yezd, eat the bread of Yezdecas, and drink the wine of Shiraz."-TAVERNIER.