Fresh as the fountain under ground
When first 'tis by the lapwing found.'
But if for me thou dost forsake
Some other maid, and rudely break
Her worshipp'd image from its base,
To give to me the ruin'd place ;-
Then fare thee well-I'd rather make
My bower upon some icy lake
When thawing suns begin to shine,
Than trust to love so false as thine!

There was a pathos in this lay,

That, e'en without enchantment's art,
Would instantly have found its way

Deep into SELIM's burning heart;
But breathing, as it did, a tone
To earthly lutes and lips unknown,
With every chord fresh from the touch
Of Music's Spirit,-'twas too much!
Starting, he dash'd away the cup,-
Which, all the time of this sweet air,
His hand had held, untasted, up,

As if 'twere held by magic there,-
And naming her, so long unnam'd,
"Oh NOURMAHAL! oh NOURMAHAL!
Had'st thou but sung this witching strain,
I could forget-forgive thee all,

And never leave those eyes again."

The mask is off-the charm is wrought-
And SELIM to his heart has caught,
In blushes, more than ever bright,
His NOURMAHAL, his Haram's Light!
And well do vanish'd frowns enhance
The charm of every brighten'd glance;
And dearer seems each dawning smile
For having lost its light awhile;
And, happier now for all her sighs,

As on his arm her head reposes,
She whispers him, with laughing eyes,
"Remember, love, the Feast of Roses!"

66

aviary without its song. In addition to this, he chose his subjects badly, and was always most inspired by the worst parts of them. The charms of paganism, the merits of rebellion,these were the themes honoured with his particular enthusiasm; and, in the poem just recited, one of his most palatable passages was in praise of that beverage of the unfaithful, wine; "being, perhaps," said he, relaxing into a smile, as conscious of his own character in the Haram on this point, one of those bards, whose fancy owes all its illumination to the grape, like that painted porcelain, so curious and so rare, whose images are only visible when liquor is poured into it." Upon the whole, it was his opinion, from the specimens which they had heard, and which, he begged to say, were the most tiresome part of the journey, that-whatever other merits this well dressed young gentleman might possess-poetry was by no means his proper avocation : "and indeed," concluded the critic, "from his fondness for flowers and for birds, I would venture to suggest that a florist or a bird-catcher is a much more suitable calling for him than a poet."

They had now begun to ascend those barren mountains, which separate Cashmere from the rest of India; and, as the heats were intolerable, and the time of their encampments limited to the few hours necessary for refreshment and repose, there was an end to all their delightful evenings, and LALLA ROOKH saw no more of FERAMORZ. She now felt that her short dream of happiness was over, and that she had nothing but the recollection of its few blissful hours, like the one draught of sweet water that serves the camel across the wilderness, to be her heart's refreshment during the dreary waste of life that was before her. The blight that had fallen upon her spirits soon found its way to her check, and her ladies saw with regret-though not without some suspicion of the cause-that the beauty of their mistress, of which they were almost as proud as of their own, was fast vanishing away at the very moment of all when she had most need of it. What must the King of Bucharia feel, when, instead of the lively and beautiful LALLA ROOKн, whom the poets of Delhi had described as more perfect than the divinest images in the House of Azor, he should receive a pale and inanimate victim, upon whose cheek neither health nor pleasure bloomed, and from whose eyes Love had fled,-to hide himself in her heart!

FADLADEEN, at the conclusion of this light rhapBody, took occasion to sum up his opinion of the young Cashmerian's poetry,-of which, he trusted, they had that evening heard the last. Having recapiIf any thing could have charmed away the melantulated the epithets, "frivolous"-"inharmonious"choly of her spirits, it would have been the fresh airs "nonsensical," he proceeded to say that, viewing it and enchanting scenery of that Valley, which the in the most favourable light, it resembled one of those Persians so justly called the Unequalled.' But neiMaldivian boats, to which the Princess had alluded ther the coolness of its atmosphere, so luxurious after in the relation of her dream,2-a slight, gilded thing, toiling up those bare and burning mountains-neither sent adrift without rudder or ballast, and with nothing the splendour of the minarets and pagodas, that shone but vapid sweets and faded flowers on board. The out from the depth of its woods, nor the grottos, herprofusion, indeed, of flowers and birds, which this poet had ready on all occasions,-not to mention dews, gems, etc.—was a most oppressive kind of opulence to his hearers; and had the unlucky effect of giving to his style all the glitter of the flower-garden witnout its method, and all the flutter of the

mitages, and miraculous fountains, which make every spot of that region holy ground;-neither the countless water-falls, that rush into the Valley from all those high and romantic mountains that encircle it, nor the fair city on the Lake, whose houses, roofed with flowers, appeared at a distance like one vast and variegated parterre;-not all these wonders and glories of the most lovely country under the sun could steal

1 Kachmire be Nazeer.-Forster

her heart for a minute from those sad thoughts, which | not feel with transport. To LALLA ROOKн alone it but darkened and grew bitterer every step she advanced. was a melancholy pageant; nor could she have ever The gay pomps and processions that met her upon borne to look upon the scene, were it not for a hope her entrance into the Valley, and the magnificence that, among the crowds around, she might once more with which the roads all along were decorated, did perhaps catch a glimpse of FERAMORZ. So much honour to the taste and gallantry of the young King. was her imagination haunted by this thought, that It was night when they approached the city, and, for there was scarcely an islet or boat she passed, at the last two miles, they had passed under arches, which her heart did not flutter with a momentary thrown from hedge to hedge, festooned with only fancy that he was there. Happy, in her eyes, the those rarest roses from which the Attar Gul, more humblest slave upon whom the light of his dear looks precious than gold, is distilled, and illuminated in fell.-In the barge immediately after the Princess was rich and fanciful forms with lanterns of the triple- FADLADEEN, with his silken curtains thrown widely coloured tortoise-shell of Pegu. Sometimes, from a apart, that all might have the benefit of his august predark wood by the side of the road, a display of fire-sence, and with his head full of the speech he was works would break out, so sudden and so brilliant, to deliver to the King, "concerning FERAMORZ, and that a Bramin might think he saw that grove, in whose literature, and the Chabuk, as connected therewith." purple shade the God of Battles was born, bursting into a flame at the moment of his birth.-While, at other times, a quick and playful irradiation continued to brighten all the fields and gardens by which they passed, forming a line of dancing lights along the horizon; like the meteors of the north as they are seen by those hunters, who pursue the white and blue foxes on the confines of the Icy Sea.

These arches and fire-works delighted the ladies of the Princess exceedingly; and, with their usual good logic, they deduced from his taste for illuminations, that the King of Bucharia would make the most exemplary husband imaginable. Nor, indeed, could LALLA ROOKH herself help feeling the kindness and splendour with which the young bridegroom welcomed her ;-but she also felt how painful is the gratitude, which kindness from those we cannot love excites; and that their best blandishments come over the heart with all that chilling and deadly sweetness, which we can fancy in the cold, odoriferous wind that is to blow over the earth in the last days.

They had now entered the canal which leads from the Lake to the splendid domes and saloons of the Shalimar, and glided on through gardens ascending from each bank, full of flowering shrubs that made the air all perfume; while from the middle of the canal rose jets of water, smooth and unbroken, to such a dazzling height, that they stood like pillars of diamond in the sunshine. After sailing under the arches of various saloons, they at length arrived at the last and most magnificent, where the monarch awaited the coming of his bride; and such was the agitation of her heart and frame, that it was with difficulty she walked up the marble steps, which were covered with cloth of gold for her ascent from the barge. At the end of the hall stood two thrones, as precious as the Cerulean Throne of Koolburga, on one of which sat ALIRIS, the youthful King of Bucharia, and on the other was, in a few minutes, to be placed the most beautiful Princess in the world.Immediately upon the entrance of LALLA ROOKH into the saloon, the monarch descended from his The marriage was fixed for the morning after her throne to meet her; but scarcely had he time to take arrival, when she was, for the first time, to be pre- her hand in his, when she screamed with surprise and sented to the monarch in that Imperial Palace be- fainted at his feet. It was FERAMORZ himself that yond the lake, called the Shalimar. Though a night stood before her!-FERAMORZ was, himself, the of more wakeful and anxious thought had never Sovereign of Bucharia, who in this disguise had acbeen passed in the Happy Valley before, yet, when companied his young bride from Delhi, and, having she rose in the morning, and her ladies came round won her love as an humble minstrel, now amply deher, to assist in the adjustment of the bridal orna-served to enjoy it as a King. ments, they thought they had never seen her look The consternation of FADLADEEN at this discovery half so beautiful. What she had lost of the bloom was, for the moment, almost pitiable. But change and radiancy of her charms was more than made up of opinion is a resource too convenient in courts for by that intellectual expression, that soul in the eyes this experienced courtier not to have learned to avail which is worth all the rest of loveliness. When they himself of it. His criticisms were all, of course, had tinged her fingers with the Henna leaf, and placed recanted instantly; he was seized with an admiration upon her brow a small coronet of jewels, of the shape of the King's verses, as unbounded, as, he begged worn by the ancient Queens of Bucharia, they flung him to believe, it was disinterested; and the followover her head the rose-coloured bridal veil, and she ing week saw him in possession of an additional proceeded to the barge that was to convey her across place, swearing by all the Saints of Islam that never the lake-first kissing, with a mournful look, the had there existed so great a poet as the Monarch, ALIlittle amulet of cornelian which her father had hung RIS, and ready to prescribe his favourite regimen of about her neck at parting. the Chabuk for every man, woman, and child that dared to think otherwise.

The morning was as fair as the maid upon whose nuptials it rose, and the shining lake, all covered with Of the happiness of the King and Queen of Buchaboats, the minstrels playing upon the shores of the ria, after such a beginning, there can be but little islands, and the crowded summer-houses on the green doubt; and, among the lesser symptoms, it is recorded hills around, with shawls and banners waving from of LALLA ROOKн, that, to the day of her death, in their roofs, presented such a picture of animated re-memory of their delightful journey, she never called joicing, as only she, who was the object of it all, did the King by any other name than FERAMORZ

NOTES.

"Ses disciples assuraient qu'il se couvrait le visage, pour ne pas éblouir ceux qui l'approchaient par l'éclat de son visage comme Moyse."-D' Herbelot.

Page 29, line 7.

In hatred to the Caliph's hue of night.

particulars of his Victory over the Sepeed Deeve, or White Demon, see Oriental Collections, vol. ii. p. 45.— Near the city of Shirauz is an immense quadrangular monument in commemoration of this combat, called the Kelaat-i-Deev Sepeed, or Castle of the White "Il faut remarquer ici touchant les habits blancs Giant, which Father Angelo, in his Gazophylacium des disciples de Hakem, que la couleur des habits, Persicum, p. 127, declares to have been the most des coiffures et des étendards des Khalifes Abassides memorable monument of antiquity which he had étant la noire, ce chef de rebelles ne pouvait pas en seen in Persia.-See Ouseley's Persian Miscellanies. choisir une qui lui fut plus opposée."—D' Herbelot.

Page 28, line 53.

Their golden anklets.

"The women of the Idol, or dancing girls of the Pagoda, have little golden bells fastened to their feet, the soft harmonious tinkling of which vibrates in unison with the exquisite melody of their voices."Maurice's Indian Antiquities.

Page 29, line 10.

Javelins of the light Kathaian reed. "Our dark javelins, exquisitely wrought of Katha. ian reeds, slender and delicate."-Poem of Amru.

Page 29, line 12.

Filled with the stems that bloom on Iran's rivers. "The Arabian courtezans, like the Indian women, The Persians call this plant Gaz. The celebrated have little golden bells fastened round their legs, shaft of Isfendiar, one of their ancient heroes, was neck and elbows, to the sound of which they dance made of it.-"Nothing can be more beautiful than before the King. The Arabian princesses wear the appearance of this plant in flower during the golden rings on their fingers, to which little bells rains on the banks of the rivers, where it is usually are suspended, as in the flowing tresses of their interwoven with a lovely twining asclepias."-Sir hair, that their superior rank may be known, and W. Jones, Botanical Observations on select Indian they themselves receive, in passing, the homage due to them."-See Calmet's Dictionary, art. Bells.

Plants.

Page 29, line 17.

Like a chenar-tree grove.

The oriental plane. "The chenar is a delightful tree; its bole is of a fine white and smooth bark; and its foliage, which grows in a tuft at the summit, is of a bright green."-Morier's Travels.

Page 29, line 47

With turban'd heads, of every hue and race,
Bowing before that veil'd and awful face,

Like tulip beds

That idol of women, Crishna. "He and the three Ramas are described as youths of perfect beauty; and the Princesses of Hindostan were all passionately in love with Crishna, who con- "The name of Tulip is said to be of Turkish extinues to this hour the darling god of the Indian traction, and given to the flower on account of its women."-Sir W. Jones on the Gods of Greece, Italy, resembling a turban."-Beckman's History of Inven and India

tions.

Page 29, line 57.

With belt of broider'd crape,

And fur-bound bonnet of Bucharian shape.

[tradition, thus adopted :-"The earth (which God had selected for the materials of his work) was carried into Arabia, to a place between Mecca and Tayef, "The inhabitants of Bucharia wear a round cloth where, being first kneaded by the Angels, it was bonnet, shaped much after the Polish fashion, having afterwards fashioned by God himself into a human a large fur border. They tie their kaftans about the form, and left to dry for the space of forty days, or, middle with a girdle of a kind of silk crape, several as others say, as many years; the angels, in the mean times round the body."-Account of Independent time, often visiting it, and Eblis (then one of the Tartary, in Pinkerton's Collection. angels nearest to God's presence, afterwards the devil) among the rest; but he, not contented with looking at it, kicked it with his foot till it rung; and knowing God designed that creature to be his superior, took a secret resolution never to acknowledge him as such."-Sale on the Koran.

Page 29, line 108.

Page 33, line 44.

Way'd, like the wings of the white birds that fan The flying Throne of star-taught Soliman. This wonderful Throne was called, The Star of the Genii. For a full description of it, see the Fragment, translated by captain Franklin, from a Persian MS. entitled "The History of Jerusalem:" Oriental Where none but priests are privileged to trade Collections, vol. i. p. 235.-When Solomon travelled, In that best marble of which Gods are made. the eastern writers say, "he had a carpet of green The material of which images of Gaudma (the silk on which his throne was placed, being of a pro- Birman Deity) is made, is held sacred. "Birmans digious length and breadth, and sufficient for all his may not purchase the marble in mass but are sufferforces to stand upon, the men placing themselves on ed, and indeed encouraged, to buy figures of the Deity his right hand, and the spirits on his left; and that, already made."-Symes's Ava, vol. ii. p. 376. when all were in order, the wind, at his command, took up the carpet, and transported it, with all that were upon it, wherever he pleased; the army of birds at the same time flying over their heads, and forming a kind of canopy to shade them from the sun."-Sale's Koran, vol. ii. p. 214. note.

Page 30, line 7.

Page 34, line 93.

The puny bird that dares, with teazing hum,

Within the crocodile's stretch'd jaws to come. The humming-bird is said to run this risk for the purpose of picking the crocodile's teeth. The same circumstance is related of the Lapwing, as a fact, to which he was witness, by Paul Lucas,-Voyage fait en 1714.

And thence descending flow'd Through many a Prophet's breast. This is according to D'Herbelot's account of the Some artists of Yamtcheou having been sent on previously. Page 35, line 38. doctrines of Mokanna :-"Sa doctrine était que Dieu: avait pris une forme et figure humaine depuis qu'il eut cheou with more magnificence than any where else: "The Feast of Lanterns is celebrated at Yamptcommande aux Anges d'adorer Adam, le premier des and the report goes, that the illuminations there are hommes. Qu'apres la mort d'Adam, Dieu était ap- so splendid, that an Emperor once, not daring openly paru sous la figure de plusieurs Prophetes et autres to leave his Court to go thither, committed himself grands hommes qu'il avait choisis, jusqu'a ce qu'il prit celle d'Abu Moslem, Prince de Khorassan, lequel professait l'erreur de la Tenassukhiah ou Métempsychose; et qu'apres la mort de ce Prince, la Divinité etait passée, et descendue en sa personne."

46

Page 33, line 5.

Such Gods as he,

Whom India serves, the monkey Deity.

'Apes are in many parts of India highly venerated, out of respect to the God Hannaman, a deity partaking of the form of that race."-Pennant's Hindoostan.

with the Queen and several Princesses of his family into the hands of a magician, who promised to transport them thither in a thrice. He made them in the night to ascend magnificent thrones that were borne up by swans, which in a moment arrived at Yamtcheou. The Emperor saw at his leisure all the solemnity, being carried upon a cloud that hovered over the city, and descended by degrees; and came back again with the same speed and equipage, nobody at court perceiving his absence."-The present State of China, p. 156.

Page 35, line 41.

See a curious account in Stephen's Persia of a
solemn embassy from some part of the Indies to Goa,
when the Portuguese were there, offering vast trea- the Asiatic Annual Register of 1804.
sures for the recovery of a monkey's tooth, which
they held in great veneration, and which had been
taken away upon the conquest of the kingdom of
Jafanapatan.

Artificial sceneries of bamboo-work.
See a description of the nuptials of Vizier Alee in

Page 33, line 7.

-Proud things of clay,

To whom if Lucifer, as grandams say,
Refus'd, though at the forfeit of Heaven's light,
To bend in worship, Lucifer was right.
This resolution of Eblis not to acknowledge the
new creature, man, was, according to Mahometan

Page 35, line 59.

The origin of these fantastic Chinese illuminations. "The vulgar ascribe it to an accident that happened in the family of a famous mandarin, whose daughter walking one evening upon the shore of a lake, fell in and was drowned; this afflicted father, with his family, ran thither, and, the better to find her, he caused a great company of lanterns to be lighted. All the inhabitants of the place thronged after him. with torches. The year ensuing they made fires up n