gion of his worshippers into love. His dress was simple, yet not without some marks of costliness; and the Ladies of the Princess were not long in discovering that the cloth, which encircled his high Tartarian cap, was of the most delicate kind that the shawl-goats of Tibet supply.* Here and there, too, over his vest, which was confined by a flowered girdle of Kashan, hung strings of fine pearl, disposed with an air of studied negligence;-nor did the exquisite embroidery of his sandals escape the observation of these fair critics; who, however they might give way to FADLADEEN upon the unimportant topics of religion and government, had the spirit of martyrs in every thing relating to such momentous matters as jewels and embroidery.

For the purpose of relieving the pauses of

* See Turner's Embassy for a description of this animal, "the most beautiful among the whole tribe of goats." The material for the shawls (which is carried to Cashmere) is found next the skin.

recitation by music, the young Cashmerian held in his hand a kitar;—such as, in old times, the Arab maids of the West used to listen to by moonlight in the gardens of the Alhambraand, having premised, with much humility, that the story he was about to relate was founded on the adventures of that Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, who, in the year of the Hegira 163, created such alarm throughout the Eastern Empire, made an obeisance to the Princess, and thus began:

*For the real history of this Impostor, whose original name was Hakem ben Haschem, and who was called Mocanna from the veil of silver gauze (or, as others say, golden) which he always wore, see D'Herbelot.

THE

VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. *

IN that delightful Province of the Sun,
The first of Persian lands he shines upon,
Where all the loveliest children of his beam,
Flow'rets and fruits, blush over every stream †,
And, fairest of all streams, the MURGA roves
Among MEROU's bright palaces and groves;
There on that throne, to which the blind belief
Of millions rais'd him, sat the Prophet-Chief,
The Great MOKANNA. O'er his features hung
The Veil, the Silver Veil, which he had flung

* Khorassan signifies, in the old Persian language, Province or Region of the Sun. Sir W. Jones.

"The fruits of Meru are finer than those of any other place; and one cannot see in any other city such palaces with groves, and streams, and gardens." - Ebn Haukal's Geography.

One of the royal cities of Khorassan.

In mercy there, to hide from mortal sight

His dazzling brow, till man could bear its light.

For, far less luminous, his votaries said,

Were ev'n the gleams, miraculously shed

O'er Moussa's* cheek†, when down the Mount he trod,

All glowing from the presence of his God!

On either side, with ready hearts and hands, His chosen guard of bold Believers stands; Young fire-eyed disputants, who deem their swords, On points of faith, more eloquent than words; And such their zeal, there's not a youth with brand Uplifted there, but, at the Chief's command, Would make his own devoted heart its sheath, And bless the lips that doom'd so dear a death! In hatred to the Caliph's hue of night‡,

Their vesture, helms and all, is

* Moses.

+

"Ses disciples assuroient qu'il se couvroit le visage, pour ne pas éblouir ceux qui l'approchoient par l'éclat de son visage comme Moyse." — D'Herbelot.

Black was the colour adopted by the Caliphs of the House -"Il of Abbas, in their garments, turbans, and standards. faut remarquer ici touchant les habits blancs des disciples de Hakem, que la couleur des habits, des cöeffures et des éten

Their weapons various

some equipp'd, for speed,

With javelins of the light Kathaian reed* ;

Or bows of buffalo horn and shining quivers

Fill'd with the stems + that bloom on IRAN's rivers‡;

While some, for war's more terrible attacks,

Wield the huge mace and ponderous battle-axe;

And as they wave aloft in morning's beam
The milk-white plumage of their helms, they seem
Like a chenar-tree grove§ when winter throws
O'er all its tufted heads his feathering snows.

Between the porphyry pillars, that uphold The rich moresque-work of the roof of gold,

darts des Khalifes Abassides étant la noire, ce chef de Rebelles ne pouvoit pas choisir une qui lui fût plus opposée.” D'Herbelot.

* "Our dark javelins, exquisitely wrought of Khathaian reeds, slender and delicate.". Poem of Amru.

66

+ Pichula, used anciently for arrows by the Persians.

The Persians call this plant Gaz. The celebrated shaft of Isfendiar, one of their ancient heroes, was made of it. Nothing can be more beautiful than the appearance of this plant in flower during the rains on the banks of rivers, where it is usually interwoven with a lovely twining asclepias." Sir W. Jones, Botanical Observations on Select Indian Plants. "The chenar is a delightful tree;

The oriental plane.

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.