From the wild covert where he lay, Long battles with the o'erwhelming tide, Their prey escap'd-guide, torches gone- The scatter'd crowd rush blindly on- They rush, more desperate as more wrong: Those sounds-the last, to vengeance dear, Resign'd, as if life's task were o'er, And IRAN's self could claim no more. His heart's pure planet, shining yet When all life's other lights were set. Between him and her glory cast;- Now breaking o'er itself from heaven! The thought could make e'en Death forget He springs, all bleeding, from the ground, sorts of wild beasts are wont to harbour themselves, whose being washed out of the covert by the overflowings of the river, gave occasion to that allusion of Jeremiah, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan."-Maundrell's Aleppo. And grasps his comrade's arm, now grown Speed them, thou God, who heard'st their vow' Now HAFED sees the Fire divine- The mark for every coward's spear? And fires the pile, whose sudden blaze, What shriek was that on OMAN's tide? It came from yonder drifting bark, The death-light-and again is dark. Of a small veteran band, with whom Hung dripping o'er the vessel's side Was tow'rd that fatal mountain turn'd, Oh! 'tis not, HINDA, in the power Of Fancy's most terrific touch, To paint thy pangs in that dread hourThy silent agony-'twas such As those who feel could paint too well, But none e'er felt and liv'd to tell! "Twas not alone the dreary state Of a lorn spirit, crush'd by fate, When, though no more remains to dread, The panic chill will not depart ;- A calm stagnation, that were bliss And ask no happier joy than seeing And the fresh, buoyant sense of Being That bounds in youth's yet careless breastItself a star, not borrowing light, But in its own glad essence bright. How different now!-but, hark, again The yell of havoc rings-brave men! In vain, with beating hearts, ye stand On the bark's edge-in vain each hand Half draws the falchion from its sheath; All's o'er-in rust your blades may lie: He, at whose word they've scatter'd death, E'en now, this night, himself must die! Well may ye look to yon dim tower, And ask, and wondering guess what means The battle-cry at this dead hour Ah! she could tell you-she, who leans Lies bleeding in that murderous strife. Its melancholy radiance sent; Tall, shadowy, like a Spirit of Fire Shrin'd in its own grand element ! And IRAN's hopes and hers are o'er ! Farewell-farewell to thee, ARABY's daughter! How light was thy heart 'till Love's witchery came, Like the wind of the south' o'er a summer lute blowing, And hush'd all its music and wither'd its frame! But long, upon ARABY'S green sunny highlands, Shall maids and their lovers remember the doom Of her, who lies sleeping among the Pearl Islands, With nought but the sea-star2 to light up her tomb. And still, when the merry date-season is burning, And calls to the palm-groves the young and the old,' The happiest there, from their pastime returning, At sunset, will weep when thy story is told. The young village maid, when with flowers she dresses Her dark flowing hair for some festival day, Will think of thy fate till, neglecting her tresses, She mournfully turns from the mirror away. Nor shall IRAN, belov'd of her Hero! forget thee,Though tyrants watch over her tears as they start, Close, close by the side of that Hero she'll set thee, Embalm'd in the innermost shrine of her heart. Farewell-be it ours to embellish thy pillow With every thing beauteous that grows in the deep; Each flower of the rock and each gem of the billow Shall sweeten thy bed and illumine thy sleep. Around thee shall glisten the loveliest amber That ever the sorrowing sea-bird has wept ;4 With many a shell, in whose hollow-wreath'd chamber We, Peris of Ocean, by moonlight have slept. We'll dive where the gardens of coral lie darkling, And plant all the rosiest stems at thy head; 1 "This wind (the Samoor) so softens the strings of lutes, that they can never be tuned while it lasts."-Stephen's Persia. 2 "One of the greatest curiosities found in the Persian Gulf is a fish which the English call Star-fish. It is circular, and at night very luminous, resembling the full moon surrounded by rays." "-Mirza Abu Taleb. 3 For a description of the merriment of the date-time, of their work, their dances, and their return home from the palm-groves at the end of autumn with the fruits, see Kempfer, Amanitat, Erot. 4 Some naturalists have imagined that amber is a concretion of the tears of birds.-See Trevoux, Chambers We'll seek where the sands of the Caspian' are ver,' beyond which no pure Hindoo can pass; and sparkling, And gather their gold to strew over thy bed. Farewell-farewell-until Pity's sweet fountain Is lost in the hearts of the fair and the brave, They'll weep for the Chieftain who died on that mountain, were reposing for a time in the rich valley of Hussun Abdaul, which had always been a favourite restingplace of the emperors in their annual migrations to Cashmere. Here often had the Light of the Faith, Jehanguire, wandered with his beloved and beautiful Nourmahal, and here would LALLA ROOKи have been happy to remain for ever, giving up the throne They'll weep for the Maiden who sleeps in this wave. of Bucharia and the world, for FERAMORZ and love in this sweet lonely valley. The time was now fast approaching when she must see him no longer-or THE singular placidity with which FADLADEEN see him with eyes whose every look belonged to had listened, during the latter part of this obnoxious another; and there was a melancholy preciousness in story, surprised the Princess and FERAMORZ exceed these last moments, which made her heart cling to ingly; and even inclined towards him the hearts of them as it would to life. During the latter part of these unsuspicious young persons, who little knew the journey, indeed, she had sunk into a deep sadness, the source of a complacency so marvellous. The from which nothing but the presence of the young truth was, he had been organizing, for the last few minstrel could awake her. Like those lamps in days, a most notable plan of persecution against the tombs, which only light up when the air is admitted, poet, in consequence of some passages that had fal- it was only at his approach that her eyes became len from him on the second evening of recital, which smiling and animated. But here, in this dear valley, appeared to this worthy Chamberlain to contain lan- every moment was an age of pleasure; she saw him guage and principles, for which nothing short of the all day, and was, therefore, all day happy-resemsummary criticism of the Chabuk2 would be advisa-bling, she often thought, that people of Zinge, who ble. It was his intention, therefore, immediately on attribute the unfading cheerfulness they enjoy to one their arrival at Cashmere, to give information to the genial star that rises nightly over their heads. king of Bucharia of the very dangerous sentiments The whole party, indeed, seemed in their liveliest of his minstrel; and if, unfortunately, that monarch mood during the few days they passed in this delightdid not act with suitable vigour on the occasion, (that ful solitude. The young attendants of the Princess, is, if he did not give the Chabuk to FERAMORZ, and who were here allowed a freer range than they could a place to FADLADEEN,) there would be an end, he safely be indulged with in a less sequestered place, feared, of all legitimate government in Bucharia. He ran wild among the gardens, and bounded through could not help, however, auguring better both for the meadows, lightly as young roes over the aromatic himself and the cause of potentates in general; and plains of Tibet. While FADLADEEN, beside the spiit was the pleasure arising from these mingled antici- ritual comfort he derived from a pilgrimage to the pations that diffused such unusual satisfaction through tomb of the Saint from whom the valley is named, his features, and made his eyes shine out, like poppies had opportunities of gratifying, in a small way, his of the desert, over the wide and lifeless wilderness taste for victims, by putting to death some hundreds of that countenance. of those unfortunate little lizards, which all pious Having decided upon the Poet's chastisement in Mussulmans make it a point to kill;-taking for this manner, he thought it but humanity to spare him granted, that the manner in which the creature hangs the minor tortures of criticism. Accordingly, when its head is meant as a mimicry of the attitude in they assembled next evening in the pavilion, and which the Faithful say their prayers! LALLA ROOKH expected to see all the beauties of her About two miles from Hussun Abdaul were those bard melt away, one by one, in the acidity of criti- Royal Gardens, which had grown beautiful under the cism, like pearls in the cup of the Egyptian Queen-care of so many lovely eyes, and were beautiful still, he agreeably disappointed her by merely saying, with though those eyes could see them no longer. This an ironical smile, that the merits of such a poem de- place, with its flowers and its holy silence, interrupted served to be tried at a much higher tribunal; and then only by the dipping of the wings of birds in its marsuddenly passing off into a panegyric upon all Mus- ble basins filled with the pure water of those hills, sulman sovereigns, more particularly his august and was to LALLA ROOKн all that her heart could fancy imperial master, Aurungzebe-the wisest and best of of fragrance, coolness, and almost heavenly tran-⚫ the descendants of Timur-who, among other great quillity. As the Prophet said of Damascus, "it was things he had done for mankind, had given to him, too delicious;"—and here, in listening to the sweet FADLADEEN, the very profitable posts of Betel-car- voice of FERAMORZ, or reading in his eyes what yet rier and Taster of Sherbets to the Emperor, Chief Holder of the Girdle of Beautiful Forms,3 and Grand Nazir, or Chamberlain of the Haram. They were now not far from that forbidden ri 1"The bay of Kieselarke, which is otherwise called the Golden Bay, the sand whereof shines as fire."-Struy. 2 "The application of whips or rods.”—Dubois. 3 Kempfer mentions such an officer among the attendants of the King of Persia, and calls him, "formæ corporis estimator." His business was, at stated periods, to measure the ladies of the Haram by a sort of regulation girdle, whose he never dared to tell her, the most exquisite moments of her whole life were passed. One evening, when they had been talking of the Sultana Nourmahalthe Light of the Haram,' who had so often wandered limits it was not thought graceful to exceed. If any of 2 The star Soheil, or Canopus. 3 Nourmahal signifies Light of the Haram. She was afterwards called Nourjehan, or the Light of the World. among these flowers, and fed with her own hands, in | But never yet, by night or day, In dew of spring or summer's ray, THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM. half shown, The Valley holds its Feast of Roses.' Upon the Lake, serene and cool, Behind the palms of BARAMOULE.' WHO has not heard of the Vale of CASHMERE, And each hallows the hour by some rites of its own. Round the waist of some fair Indian dancer is Or to see it by moonlight,-when mellowly shines Or at morn, when the magic of daylight awakes 1 See note, p. 65. 2 "The rose of Kashmire, for its brilliancy and delicacy of colour has long been proverbial in the East."—Forster. 3 "Tied round her waist the zone of bells, that sounded with ravishing melody."-Song of Jayadeva. And all exclaim'd to all they met So gay a Feast of Roses yet ;- So clear as that which bless'd them there; Nor they themselves look'd half so fair 4 "The little isles in the Lake of Cachemire are set with arbours and large-leaved aspen-trees, slender and tall."-a Bernier. 5 "The Tuckt Suliman, the name bestowed by the Mahometans on this hill, forms one side of a grand portal to the Lake."-Forster. And then the sounds of joy-the beat 1 "The Feast of Roses continues the whole time of their remaining in bloom."-See Pietro de la Valle. 2" Gul sad berk, the Rose of a hundred leaves. I believe particular species."-Ouseley. 3 Bernier. 4 A place mentioned in the Toozek Jehangeery, or Memoirs of Jehanguire, where there is an account of the beds of saffron flowers about Cashmere Like those of KATHAY utter'd music, and gave MERE! So felt the magnificent Son of ACBAR,4 There's a beauty, for ever unchangingly bright, 1 "It is the custom among the women to employ the Maazeen to chaunt from the gallery of the nearest minaret, which on that occasion is illuminated, and the women assembled at the house respond at intervals with a ziraleet or joyous chorus."-Russell. 2" At the keeping of the Feast of Roses we beheld an infinite number of tents pitched, with such a crowd of men, women, boys and girls, with music, dances," etc. etc.Herbert. 3 "An old commentator of the Chou-King says, the ancients having remarked that a current of water made some of the stones near its banks send forth a sound, they detached some of them, and being charmed with the delightful sound they emitted, constructed King or musical instruments of them."-Grosier. 4 Jehanguire was the son of the Great Acbar. Now here, and now there, giving warmth as it flies From the lips to the cheeks, from the cheek to the eyes, Now melting in mist and now breaking in gleams, If tenderness touch'd her, the dark of her eye For which SOLIMAN's self might have given all the store That the navy from OPHIR e'er wing'd to his shore, But where is she now, this night of joy, That one might think, who came by chance In fairy-land, whose streets and towers Alas-how light a cause may move That stood the storm, when waves were rough, Like ships that have gone down at sca, 1"In the wars of the Dives with the Peris, whenever the former took the latter prisoners, they shut them up in iron cages, and hung them on the highest trees. Here they were visited by their companions, who brought them the choicest odours."-Richardson. 2 In the Malay language the same word signifies women and flowers. 3 The capital of Shadukiam. See note, p. 54 |