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And now dismount. And hark ye, there,
Sir Priest, my chaplain Christopher,
(See how the honest body dries
The tears of claret in his eyes!)—
Come and betroth these friends of mine,
Till at the good Earl's chapel shrine
Thy holy magic make them one:
The King and Queen will see it done.
But first a royal health to all

The friends we leave in this fair hall;
And may all knights' and ladies' horses
Take, like the palfrey, vigorous courses!"

With princely laughter rose the King,
Rose all, the laughter echoing,

Rose the proud wassail, rose the shout
By the trumpets long stretch'd out;
You would have thought that roof and all
Rose in that heart-lifted hall.

On their knees are two alone;

The palfrey and the barb have gone :
And then arose those two beside,

And the music from its pride
Falls into a beauteous prayer,
Like an angel quitting air;
And the King and his soft Queen
Smile upon those two serene,
Whom the priest, accosting bland,
Puts, full willing, hand in hand.
Ah scarcely even King and Queen
Did they then perceive, I ween,
Nor well to after-memory call,
How they went from out that hall.

What more? Sir Guy, and then Sir Grey,
Died each upon a fine spring day ;
And, in their hatred of things small,
Left him, now wanting nothing, all:

(All which, at least, that mighty claw
Permitted them, yclept the law).
The daughter wept, and wept the more
To think her tears would soon be o'er;
Sir William neither wept nor smil'd,
But grac'd the father for the child,
And sent, to join the funeral shows,
Bearing scutcheons, bearing woes,
The palfrey; and full well he goes ;
Oh! merrily well the palfrey goes;
Grief, great as any there, he knows,
Yet merrily ever the palfrey goes.

MAHMOUD.*

TO RICHARD HENRY HORNE.

HORNE, hear a theme that should have had its dues
From thine own passionate and thoughtful Muse.

THERE came a man, making his hasty moan、
Before the Sultan Mahmoud on his throne,
And crying out" My sorrow is my right,
And I will see the Sultan, and to-night."
"Sorrow," said Mahmoud, " is a reverend thing:
I recognise its right, as king with king;
Speak on." "A fiend has got into my house,”
Exclaim'd the staring man," and tortures us:
One of thine officers;-he comes, the abhorr'd,
And takes possession of my house, my board,
My bed :-I have two daughters and a wife, [life."
And the wild villain comes, and makes me mad with

*This is Mahmoud the Gaznevide, whose history has been told by Gibbon.

"Is he there now ?" said Mahmoud.-" No ;-he The house when I did, of my wits bereft; [left And laugh'd me down the street, because I vow'd I'd bring the prince himself to lay him in his shroud. I'm mad with want-I 'm mad with misery, And oh thou Sultan Mahmoud, God cries out for thee!".

The Sultan comforted the man, and said, "Go home, and I will send thee wine and bread," (For he was poor) " and other comforts. Go; And, should the wretch return, let Sultan Mahmoud [know." In three days' time, with haggard eyes and beard, And shaken voice, the suitor re-appear'd, And said, "He's come."-Mahmoud said not a word, But rose and took four slaves, each with a sword, And went with the vex'd man. They reach the And hear a voice, and see a woman's face, [place, That to the window flutter'd in affright:

"Go in," said Mahmoud, "and put out the light; But tell the females first to leave the room; And when the drunkard follows them, we come."

The man went in. There was a cry, and hark! A table falls, the window is struck dark : Forth rush the breathless women; and behind With curses comes the fiend in desperate mind. In vain the sabres soon cut short the strife, And chop the shrieking wretch, and drink his bloody life.

"Now light the light," the Sultan cried aloud. 'Twas done; he took it in his hand, and bow'd Over the corpse, and look'd upon the face; Then turn'd, and knelt, and to the throne of grace Put up a prayer, and from his lips there crept Some gentle words of pleasure, and he wept.

In reverent silence the beholders wait, Then bring him at his call both wine and meat; And when he had refresh'd his noble heart, He bade his host be blest, and rose up to depart.

The man amaz'd, all mildness now, and tears, Fell at the Sultan's feet with many prayers, And begg'd him to vouchsafe to tell his slave The reason first of that command he gave About the light; then, when he saw the face, Why he knelt down; and, lastly, how it was That fare so poor as his detain'd him in the place.

The Sultan said, with a benignant eye, "Since first I saw thee come, and heard thy cry, I could not rid me of a dread, that one

By whom such daring villanies were done,
Must be some lord of mine,-aye, e'en, perhaps,

a son.

Whoe'er he was, I knew my task, but fear'd
A father's heart, in case the worst appear'd:
For this I had the light put out; but when
I saw the face, and found a stranger slain,
I knelt and thank'd the sovereign Arbiter,
Whose work I had perform'd through pain and fear;
And then I rose and was refresh'd with food,
The first time since thy voice had marr'd my soli-
tude."

E

ABOU BEN ADHEM AND THE ANGEL.

ABOU BEN ADHEM (may his tribe increase) Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace, And saw, within the moonlight in his room, Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom, An angel writing in a book of gold:Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold, And to the presence in the room he said, "What writest thou?"-The vision rais'd its head, And with a look made of all sweet accord, Answer'd, "The names of those who love the Lord." "And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so," Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low, But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee then, "Write me as one that loves his fellow men."

The angel wrote, and vanish'd. The next night It came again with a great wakening light, And show'd the names whom love of God had bless'd, And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.*

* "On rapporte de lui (Abou-Ishak-Ben-Adhem), qu'il vit en songe un ange qui écrivoit, et que lui ayant demandé ce qu'il faisoit, cet ange lui répondit: "J'écris le nom de ceux qui aiment sincèrement Dieu, tels que sont Malek-Ben-Dinar, Thaber-al-Benani, Aioud-al-Sakhtiani, &c." Alors il dit à l'ange, "Ne suis-je point parmi ces gens-là?"-"Non," lui répondit l'ange. "Hé bien," répliqua-t-il, "écrivez-moi, je vous prie, pour l'amour, d'eux, en qualité d'ami de ceux qui aiment Dieu." L'on ajoute, que le même ange lui révéla bientôt après, qu'il avoit reçu ordre de Dieu de le mettre à la tête de tous les autres."

D'Herbelot-Bibliothèque Orientale, (1781). Tom. i. p. 161. in voc. Adhem.

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