The jackal's cry-the distant moan
Of the hyena, fierce and lone —
And that eternal saddening sound

Of torrents in the glen beneath,
As 't were the ever-dark Profound
That rolls beneath the Bridge of Death!
All, all is fearful-ev'n to see,

To gaze on those terrific things

She now but blindly hears, would be
Relief to her imaginings;

Since never yet was shape so dread,

But Fancy, thus in darkness thrown, And by such sounds of horror fed,

Could frame more dreadful of her own.

But does she dream? has Fear again
Perplex'd the workings of her brain,
Or did a voice, all music, then

Come from the gloom, low whispering near"Tremble not, love, thy Gheber 's here?" She does not dream-all sense, all ear,

She drinks the words, "Thy Gheber's here." 'Twas his own voice- she could not err

Throughout the breathing world's extent There was but one such voice for her, So kind, so soft, so eloquent!

Oh, sooner shall the rose of May

Mistake her own sweet nightingale,
And to some meaner minstrel's lay
Open her bosom's glowing veil, 283
Than Love shall ever doubt a tone,
A breath of the beloved one?

Though blest, 'mid all her ills, to think
She has that one beloved near,
Whose smile, though met on ruin's brink,
Hath power to make ev'n ruin dear,-
Yet soon this gleam of rapture, crost
By fears for him is chill'd and lost.

How shall the ruthless HAFED brook
That one of Gheber blood should look,
With aught but curses in his eye,
On her a maid of ARABY-
A Moslem maid- the child of him,
Whose bloody banner's dire success
Hath left their altars cold and dim,

And their fair land a wilderness !
And, worse than all, that night of blood
Which comes so fast-Oh! who shall stay
The sword, that once hath tasted food
Of Persian hearts, or turn its way?
What arm shall then the victim cover,
Or from her father shield her lover?

"Save him, my God!" she inly cries-
"Save him this night and if thine eyes
"Have ever welcom'd with delight
"The sinner's tears, the sacrifice

"Of sinners' hearts-guard him this night, "And here, before thy throne, I swear "From my heart's inmost core to tear

"Love, hope, remembrance, though they be "Link'd with each quivering life-string there, "And give it bleeding all to Thee! "Let him but live, the burning tear, "The sighs so sinful, yet so dear,

"Which have been all too much his own,

"Shall from this hour be Heaven's alone.
"Youth pass'd in penitence, and age
"In long and painful pilgrimage,
"Shall leave no traces of the flame

"That wastes me now-nor shall his name

"Ere bless my lips, but when I pray "For his dear spirit, that away

"Casting from its angelic ray

"The' eclipse of earth, he, too, may shine "Redeem'd, all glorious and all Thine!

"Think-think what victory to win "One radiant soul like his from sin,"One wandering star of virtue back "To its own native, heaven-ward track! "Let him but live, and both are Thine, "Together thine-for, blest or crost, "Living or dead, his doom is mine, "And, if he perish, both are lost!"

THE next evening LALLA ROOKн was entreated by her Ladies to continue the relation of her wonderful dream; but the fearful interest that hung round the fate of HINDA and her lover had completely removed every trace of it from her mind ;-much to the disappointment of a fair seer or two in her train, who prided themselves on their skill in interpreting visions, and who had already remarked, as an unlucky omen, that the Princess, on the very morning after the dream, had worn a silk dyed with the blossoms of the sorrowful tree, Nilica. 284

FADLADEEN, whose indignation had more than once broken out during the recital of some parts of this heterodox poem, seemed at length to have made up his mind to the infliction; and took his seat this evening with all the patience of a martyr, while the Poet resumed his profane and seditious story as follows.

To tearless eyes and hearts at ease
The leafy shores and sun-bright seas,
That lay beneath that mountain's height,
Had been a fair enchanting sight.
"Twas one of those ambrosial eves
A day of storm so often leaves
At its calm setting- when the West
Opens her golden bowers of rest,
And a moist radiance from the skies
Shoots trembling down, as from the eyes
Of some meek penitent, whose last,
Bright hours atone for dark ones past,
And whose sweet tears, o'er wrong forgiven,
Shine, as they fall, with light from heaven !

"Twas stillness all the winds that late

Had rush'd through KERMAN's almond groves, And shaken from her bowers of date

That cooling feast the traveller loves, 285 Now lull'd to languor, scarcely curl

The Green Sea wave, whose waters gleam
Limpid, as if her mines of pearl

Were melted all to form the stream:
And her fair islets, small and bright,
With their green shores reflected there,
Look like those PERI isles of light,
That hang by spell-work in the air.

But vainly did those glories burst
On HINDA's dazzled eyes, when first
The bandage from her brow was taken,
And, pale and aw'd as those who waken
In their dark tombs when, scowling near,
The Searchers of the Grave 286 appear,