Those lanterns, countless as the winged lights Yet, fearless, from his lofty battlements 'Oh, for a sweep of that dark Angel's wing, "Who brush'd the thousands of the' Assyrian King † "To darkness in a moment, that I might "People Hell's chambers with yon host to-night! "But, come what may, let who will grasp the throne, Caliph or Prophet, Man alike shall groan; "Let who will torture him, Priest Caliph King- Still left around him, a far different strain: * Carreri mentions the fire-flies in India during the rainy season. See his Travels. + Sennacherib, called by the Orientals King of Moussal. D'Herbelot "Glorious Defenders of the sacred Crown "I bear from Heav'n whose light nor blood shall drown "Nor shadow of earth eclipse; before whose gems "The paly pomp of this world's diadems, "The crown of GERASHID, the pillar'd throne "Fade like the stars when morn is in the skies: - "Warriors, rejoice the port to which we've pass'd "O'er Destiny's dark wave, beams out at last! 66 'Victory's our own - 't is written in that Book Upon whose leaves none but the angels look, "That ISLAM's Sceptre shall beneath the power Of her great foe fall broken in that hour, "When the moon's mighty orb, before all eyes, "From NEKSHEB's Holy Well portentously shall rise! "Now turn and see!" They turn'd, and, as he spoke, A sudden splendour all around them broke, * Chosroes, For the description of his Throne or Palace, see Gibbon and D'Herbelot. There were said to be under this Throne or Palace of Khosrou Parvis a hundred vaults filled with "treasures so immense that some Mahometan writers tell us, their Prophet, to encourage his disciples, carried them to a rock, which at his command opened, and gave them a prospect through it of the treasures of Khosrou." Universal History. t "The crown of Gerashid is cloudy and tarnished before the heron tuft of thy turban." — From one of the elegies or songs in praise of Ali, written in characters of gold round the gallery of Abbas's tomb. See Chardin. "The beauty of Ali's eyes was so remarkable, that whenever the Persians would describe any thing as very lovely, they say it is Ayn Hali, or the Eyes of Ali."-CHARDIN. And they beheld an orb, ample and bright, As autumn suns shed round them when they set. "To victory!" is at once the cry of allNor stands MOKANNA loitering at that call. But instant the huge gates are flung aside, And forth, like a diminutive mountain-tide * We are not told more of this trick of the Impostor, than that it was "une machine, qu'il disoit être la Lune." According to Richardson, the miracle is perpetuated in Nekscheb. -"Nakshab, the name of a city in Transoxiana, where they say there is a well, in which the appearance of the moon is to be seen night and day." "Il amusa pendant deux inois le peuple de la ville de Nekhscheb, en faisant sortir toutes les nuits du fond d'un puits un corps lumineux semblable à la Lune, qui portoit sa lumière jusqu'à la distance de plusieurs milles." — D'HERBELOT. Hence he was called Sazendéhmah, or the Moon maker. The Shecinab, called Sakînat in the Koran. See Sale's Note, chap. ii. Into the boundless sea, they speed their course The watchmen of the camp, who, in their rounds, Now sink beneath an unexpected arm, And in a death groan give their last alarm. "On for the lamps, that light yon lofty screen, † "Nor blunt your blades with massacre so mean; "There rests the CALIPH 66 May now achieve mankind's deliverance." Desperate the die—such as they only cast, Pour to the spot, like bees of KAUZEROON ‡ To the shrill timbrel's summons, - till, at length, The mighty camp swarms out in all its strength, * The parts of the night are made known as well by instruments of music, as by the rounds of the watchmen with cries and small drums. See Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. i. p. 119. †The Serrapurda, high screens of red cloth, stiffened with cane, used to enclose a considerable space round the royal tents. Notes on the Bahardanush. The tents of Princes were generally illuminated. Norden tells us that the tent of the Bey of Girge was distinguished from the other tents by forty lanterns being suspended before it. See Harmer's Observations on Job. "From the groves of orange trees at Kauzeroon the bees cull a celebrated honey." -MORIER's Travels. And back to NEKSHEB's gates, covering the plain Is seen glittering at times, like the white sail And hath not this brought the proud spirit low? The babe may cease to think that it can play And well the' Impostor knew all lures and arts, Ill-fated ZELICA! had reason been Awake through half the horrors thou hast seen, Thou never could'st have borne it-Death had come At once, and taken thy wrung spirit home. But 't was not so a torpor, a suspense Of thought, almost of life, came o'er the intense |