From the wild covert where he lay,

Long battles with the o'erwhelming tide,
So fought he back with fierce delay,
And kept both foes and fate at bay.
But whither now? their track is lost,

Their prey escap'd-guide, torches gone-
By torrent-beds and labyrinths crost,

The scatter'd crowd rush blindly on-
"Curse on those tardy lights that wind,"
They panting cry, "so far behind-
Oh for a bloodhound's precious scent,
To track the way the Gheber went!"
Vain wish-confusedly along

They rush, more desperate as more wrong:
Till, wilder'd by the far-off lights,
Yet glittering up those gloomy heights,
Their footing, maz'd and lost, they miss,
And down the darkling precipice
Are dash'd into the deep abyss:
Or midway hang, impal'd on rocks,
A banquet, yet alive, for flocks
Of ravening vultures-while the dell
Re-echoes with each horrid yell.

Those sounds-the last, to vengeance dear,
That e'er shall ring in HAFED's ear,-
Now reach him, as aloft, alone,
Upon the steep way breathless thrown,
He lay beside his reeking blade,

Resign'd, as if life's task were o'er,
Its last blood-offering amply paid,

And IRAN's self could claim no more.
One only thought, one lingering beam
Now broke across his dizzy dream
Of pain and weariness-'twas she

His heart's pure planet, shining yet
Above the waste of memory,

When all life's other lights were set.
And never to his mind before
Her image such enchantment wore.
It seem'd as if each thought that stain'd,
Each fear that chill'd their loves was past,
And not one cloud of earth remain'd

Between him and her glory cast;-
As if to charms, before so bright,
New grace from other worlds was given,
And his soul saw her by the light

Now breaking o'er itself from heaven!
A voice spoke near him-'twas the tone
Of a lov'd friend, the only one
Of all his warriors left with life
From that short night's tremendous strife.-
"And must we then, my Chief, die here?—
Foes round us, and the Shrine so near?"
These words have rous'd the last remains
Of life within him-" what! not yet
Beyond the reach of Moslem chains ?"—

The thought could make e'en Death forget
His icy bondage-with a bound

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
E'en feebler, heavier than his own,
And faintly up the pathway leads,
Death gaining on each step he treads.

Speed them, thou God, who heard'st their vow'
They mount-they bleed-oh save them now-
The crags are red they've clamber'd o'er,
The rock-weeds dripping with their gore-
Thy blade too, HAFED, false at length,
Now breaks beneath thy tottering strength-
Haste, haste-the voices of the foe
Come near and nearer from below-
One effort more-thank Heav'n! 'tis past,
They've gain'd the topmost steep at last.
And now they touch the temple's walls,

Now HAFED sees the Fire divine-
When, lo!-his weak, worn comrade falls
Dead on the threshold of the Shrine.
"Alas, brave soul, too quickly fled!
And must I leave thee withering here,
The sport of every ruffian's tread,

The mark for every coward's spear?
No, by yon altar's sacred beams!"
He cries, and with a strength that seems
Not of this world, uplifts the frame
Of the fall'n Chief, and tow'rds the flame
Bears him along;-with death-damp hand
The corpse upon the pyre he lays,
Then lights the consecrated brand,

And fires the pile, whose sudden blaze,
Like lightning bursts o'er OMAN's Sea.-
"Now, Freedom's God! I come to Thee,"
The youth exclaims, and with a smile
Of triumph vaulting on the pile,
In that last effort, ere the fires
Have harm'd one glorious limb, expires!

What shriek was that on OMAN's tide?

It came from yonder drifting bark,
That just has caught upon her side

The death-light-and again is dark.
It is the boat-ah, why delay'd?-
That bears the wretched Moslem maid
Confided to the watchful care

Of a small veteran band, with whom
Their generous Chieftain would not share
The secret of his final doom;
But hop'd when HINDA, safe and free,
Was render'd to her father's eyes,
Their pardon, full and prompt, would be
The ransom of so dear a prize.
Unconscious, thus, of HAFED's fate,
And proud to guard their beauteous freight,
Scarce had they clear'd the surfy waves
That foam around those frightful caves,
When the curst war-whoops, known so well,
Come echoing from the distant dell-
Sudden each oar, upheld and still,

Hung dripping o'er the vessel's side
And, driving at the current's will,
They rock'd along the whispering tide,
While every eye, in mute dismay,

Was tow'rd that fatal mountain turn'd,
Where the dim altar's quivering ray
As yet all lone and tranquil burn'd

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
them outgrew this standard of shape, they were reducel by
abstinence till they came within its bounds.
1 The Attock.

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,
those marble basins, the small shining fishes of which
she was so fond,'-the youth, in order to delay the
moment of separation, proposed to recite a short story,
or rather rhapsody, of which this adored Sultana was
the heroine. It related, he said, to the reconcilement
of a sort of lovers' quarrel, which took place between
her and the Emperor during a Feast of Roses at Cash-
mere; and would remind the Princess of that differ-
ence between Haroun-al-Raschid and his fair mistress
Marida, which was so happily made up by the soft
strains of the musician, Moussali. As the story was
chiefly to be told in song, and FERAMORZ had un-
luckily forgotten his own lute in the valley, he bor-
rowed the vina of LALLA ROOKH's little Persian
slave, and thus began: :-

In dew of spring or summer's ray,
Did the sweet Valley shine so gay
As now it shines-all love and light,
Visions by day and feasts by night!
A happier smile illumes each brow,
With quicker spread each heart uncloses,
And all is ecstasy,-for now

THE LIGHT OF THE HARAM.

half shown,

The Valley holds its Feast of Roses.'
That joyous time, when pleasures pour
Profusely round, and in their shower
Hearts open, like the Season's Rose,-
The flowret of a hundred leaves,2
Expanding while the dew-fall flows,
And every leaf its balm receives!
'Twas when the hour of evening came

Upon the Lake, serene and cool,
When Day had hid his sultry flame

Behind the palms of BARAMOULE.'
When maids began to lift their heads,
Refresh'd, from their embroider'd beds,
Where they had slept the sun away,
And wak'd to moonlight and to play.
All were abroad-the busiest hive
On BELA's hills is less alive
When saffron beds are full in flower,
Than look'd the Valley at that hour.
A thousand restless torches play'd

WHO has not heard of the Vale of CASHMERE,
With its roses, the brightest that earth ever gave,
Its temples and grottos, and fountains as clear
As the love-lighted eyes that hang over their wave?
Oh! to see it at sunset,-when warm o'er the Lake
Its splendour at parting a summer eve throws,
Like a bride full of blushes, when lingering to take
A last look of her mirror at night ere she goes!-Through every grove and island shade;
When the shrines through the foliage are gleaming A thousand sparkling lamps were set
On every dome and minaret;
And fields and pathways, far and near,
Were lighted by a blaze so clear,
That you could see, in wandering round,
The smallest rose-leaf on the ground.
Yet did the maids and matrons leave
Their veils at home, that brilliant eve;
And there were glancing eyes about,
And cheeks, that would not dare shine out
In open day, but thought they might
Look lovely then, because 'twas night!
And all were free, and wandering,

And each hallows the hour by some rites of its own.
Here the music of pray'r from a minaret swells,
Here the magian his urn full of perfume is swinging,
And here, at the altar, a zone of sweet bells

Round the waist of some fair Indian dancer is
ringing.3

Or to see it by moonlight,-when mellowly shines
The light o'er its palaces, gardens and shrines;
When the water-falls gleam like a quick fall of stars,
And the nightingale's hymn from the Isle of Chenars
Is broken by laughs and light echoes of feet
From the cool, shining walks where the young peo-
ple meet :-

Or at morn, when the magic of daylight awakes
A new wonder each minute, as slowly it breaks,
Hills, cupolas, fountains, call'd forth every one
Out of darkness, as they were just born of the Sun.
When the Spirit of Fragrance is up with the day,
From his Haram of night-flowers stealing away;
And the wind, full of wantonness, woos, like a lover,
The young aspen-trees till they tremble all over.
"When the East is as warm as the light of first hopes,
And Day, with his banner of radiance unfurl'd,
Shines in through the mountainous' portal that opes,
Sublime, from that valley of bliss to the world!

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
That never did the summer bring

So gay a Feast of Roses yet ;-
The moon had never shed a light

So clear as that which bless'd them there;
The roses ne'er shone half so bright,

Nor they themselves look'd half so fair
And what a wilderness of flowers!
It seem'd as though from all the bowers
And fairest fields of all the year,
The mingled spoil were scatter'd here.
The Lake, too, like a garden breathes,
With the rich buds that o'er it lie,-
As if a shower of fairy wreaths
Had fall'n upon it from the sky!

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
Of tabors and of dancing feet;-

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

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