Impatient of a scene, whose luxuries stole,
Spite of himself, too deep into his soul,

And where, midst all that the young heart loves most,
Flowers, music, smiles, to yield was to be lost,
The youth had started up, and turn'd away
From the light nymphs, and their luxurious lay,
To muse upon the pictures that hung round,*-
Bright images, that spoke without a sound,
And views, like vistas into fairy ground.
But here again new spells came o'er his sense:
All that the pencil's mute omnipotence

Could call up into life, of soft and fair,

Of fond and passionate, was glowing there;
Nor yet too warm, but touch'd with that fine art
Which paints of pleasure but the purer part;

Which knows ev'n Beauty when half-veiled is best,-
Like her own radiant planet of the west,

Whose orb when half retir'd looks loveliest.t

There hung the history of the Genii-King,
Trac'd through each gay, voluptuous wandering
With her from SABA's bowers, in whose bright eyes
He read that to be blest is to be wise; t-

* It has been generally supposed that the Mahometans prohibit all pictures of animals; but Toderini shows that, though the practice is forbidden by the Koran, they are not more averse to painted figures and images than other people. From Mr. Murphy's work, too, we find that the Arabs of Spain had no objection to the introduction of figures into painting.

†This is not quite astronomically true. "Dr. Hadley (says Keil) has shown that Venus is brightest when she is about forty degrees removed from the sun; and that then but only a fourth part of her lucid disk is to be seen from the earth."

For the loves of King Solomon (who was supposed to preside over the whole

Here fond ZULEIKA* woos with open arms

The Hebrew boy, who flies from her young charms,
Yet, flying, turns to gaze, and half undone,
Wishes that Heav'n and she could both be won;
And here MOHAMMED, born for love and guile,
Forgets the Koran in his MARY's smile;

Then beckons some kind angel from above
With a new text to consecrate their love.†

With rapid step, yet pleas'd and lingering eye,
Did the youth pass these pictur'd stories by,
And hasten'd to a casement, where the light
Of the calm moon came in, and freshly bright

race of Genii) with Balkis, the Queen of Sheba or Saba, see D'Herbelot, and the Notes on the Koran, chap. 2.

"In the palace which Solomon ordered to be built against the arrival of the Queen of Saba, the floor or pavement was of transparent glass, laid over running water, in which fish were swimming." This led the Queen into a very natural mistake, which the Koran has not thought beneath its dignity to commemorate. "It was said unto her, Enter the palace.' And when she saw it she imagined it to be a great water; and she discovered her legs, by lifting up her robe to pass through it. Whereupon Solomon said to her, Verily, this is the place evenly floored with glass.'"- Chap 27.

* The wife of Potiphar, thus named by the Orientals.

"The passion which this frail beauty of antiquity conceived for her young Hebrew slave, has given rise to a much esteemed poem in the Persian language, entitled Yusef vau Zelikha, by Noureddin Jami ; the manuscript copy of which, in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, is supposed to be the finest in the whole world." -Note upon Nott's Translation of Hafez.

+ The particulars of Mahomet's amour with Mary, the Coptic girl, in justification of which he added a new chapter to the Koran, may be found in Gagnier's Notes upon Abulfeda, p. 151.

The fields without were seen, sleeping as still
As if no life remain'd in breeze or rill.

Here paus'd he while the music, now less near,
Breath'd with a holier language on his ear,

As though the distance, and that heavenly ray
Through which the sounds came floating, took away
All that had been too earthly in the lay.

Oh! could he listen to such sounds unmov'd,
And by that light — nor dream of her he lov'd?
Dream on, unconscious boy! while yet thou may'st;
'Tis the last bliss thy soul shall ever taste.
Clasp yet awhile her image to thy heart,
Ere all the light, that made it dear, depart.

Think of her smiles as when thou saw'st them last,
Clear, beautiful, by nought of earth o'ercast;
Recall her tears, to thee at parting given,
Pure as they weep, if angels weep, in Heaven.
Think, in her own still bower she waits thee now,
With the same glow of heart and bloom of brow,
Yet shrin'd in solitude - thine all, thine only,
Like the one star above thee, bright and lonely.
Oh! that a dream so sweet, so long enjoyed,
Should be so sadly, cruelly destroyed!

The song is hush'd, the laughing nymphs are flown,

And he is left, musing of bliss, alone;

Alone? no, not alone — that heavy sigh,

That sob of grief, which broke from some one nighWhose could it be?

- alas! is misery found

Here, even here, on this enchanted ground?

He turns, and sees a female form, close veil'd,
Leaning, as if both heart and strength had fail'd,
Against a pillar near; - not glittering o'er
With gems and wreaths, such as the others wore,
But in that deep-blue, melancholy dress,*

BOKHARA's maidens wear in mindfulness

Of friends or kindred, dead or far

away; And such as ZELICA had on that day

He left her
He took away

when, with heart too full to speak,

her last warm tears upon his cheek.

more

A strange emotion stirs within him Than mere compassion ever wak'd before; Unconsciously he opes his arms, while she Springs forward, as with life's last energy, But, swooning in that one convulsive bound, Sinks, ere she reach his arms, upon the ground; Her veil falls off-her faint hands clasp his knees 'Tis she herself 'tis ZELICA he sees!

Could in that wreck of beauty's shrine discover
The once ador'd divinity—ev'n he

Stood for some moments mute, and doubtingly
Put back the ringlets from her brow and gaz'd
Upon those lids, where once such lustre blaz'd,
Ere he could think she was indeed his own,
Own darling maid, whom he so long had known
In joy and sorrow, beautiful in both;
Who, ev'n when grief was heaviest - when loth

*"Deep blue is their mourning colour."-HANWAY.

He left her for the wars - in that worst hour
Sat in her sorrow like the sweet night-flower,*
When darkness brings its weeping glories out,
And spreads its sighs like frankincense about.

one moment show

"Look up, my ZELICA "Those gentle eyes to me, that I may know

"But there, at least, shines as it ever shone. "Come, look upon thy Azıм—one dear glance, "Like those of old, were heav'n! whatever chance "Hath brought thee here, oh, 'twas a blessed one! "There my lov'd lips-they move-that kiss hath run "Like the first shoot of life through every vein, "And now I clasp her, mine, all mine again.

"Oh the delight now, in this very hour,

-

"When had the whole rich world been in my power,

"I should have singled out thee, only thee,

"From the whole world's collected treasury
"To have thee here to hang thus fondly o'er
"My own, best, purest ZELICA once more!"

It was indeed the touch of those fond lips Upon her eyes that chas'd their short eclipse. And, gradual as the snow, at Heaven's breath, Melts off and shows the azure flowers beneath, Her lids unclos'd, and the bright eyes were seen Gazing on his not, as they late had been,

Quick, restless, wild, but mournfully serene;

* The sorrowful nyctanthes, which begins to spread its rich odour after sunset.