PREPARE thy soul, young AzIM!— thou hast brav'd
The bands of GREECE, still mighty though enslav'd;
Hast fac'd her phalanx, arm'd with all its fame,
Her Macedonian pikes and globes of flame;

All this hast fronted, with firm heart and brow,
But a more perilous trial waits thee now,-
Woman's bright eyes, a dazzling host of eyes
From every land where woman smiles or sighs;
Of every hue, as Love may chance to raise
His black or azure banner in their blaze;
And each sweet mode of warfare, from the flash

That lightens boldly through the shadowy lash,

To the sly, stealing splendours, almost hid,

Like swords half-sheath'd, beneath the downcast lid:

Such, AZIM, is the lovely, luminous host

Now led against thee; and, let conquerors boast

Their fields of fame, he who in virtue arms

A young, warm spirit against beauty's charms,

Who feels her brightness, yet defies her thrall,
Is the best, bravest conqueror of them all.

Now, through the Haram chambers, moving lights
And busy shapes proclaim the toilet's rites ;—
From room to room the ready handmaids hie,
Some skill'd to wreath the turban tastefully,
Or hang the veil, in negligence of shade,
O'er the warm blushes of the youthful maid,
Who, if between the folds but one eye shone,
Like SEBA's Queen could vanquish with that one:
While some bring leaves of Henna, to imbue
The fingers' ends with a bright roseate hue, f
So bright, that in the mirror's depth they seem
Like tips of coral branches in the stream:
And others mix the Kohol's jetty dye,

To give that long, dark languish to the eye,‡

✦ “Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes.” — Sol. Song.

"They tinged the ends of her fingers scarlet with Henna, so that they resembled branches of coral."-Story of Prince Futtun in Bahardanush.

"The women blacken the inside of their eyelids with a powder named the black Kohol."-Russel.

"None

Which makes the maids, whom kings are proud to cull
From fair Circassia's vales, so beautiful.

All is in motion; rings and plumes and pearls
Are shining every where:- some younger girls
Are gone by moonlight to the garden-beds,

To gather fresh, cool chaplets for their heads;—
Gay creatures! sweet, though mournful, 'tis to see
How each prefers a garland from that tree

Which brings to mind her childhood's innocent day,
And the dear fields and friendships far away.
The maid of INDIA, blest again to hold

In her full lap the Champac's leaves of gold,*

"None of these ladies," says Shaw, "take themselves to be completely dressed, till they have tinged the hair and edges of their eyelids with the powder of lead ore. Now, as this operation is performed by dipping first into the powder a small wooden bodkin of the thickness of a quill, and then drawing it afterwards through the eyelids over the ball of the eye, we shall have a lively image of what the Prophet (Jer. iv. 30.) may be supposed to mean by rending the eyes with painting. This practice is no doubt of great antiquity; for besides the instance already taken notice of, we find that where Jezebel is said (2 Kings, ix. 30.) to have painted her face, the original words are, she adjusted her eyes with the powder of lead ore."-Shaw's Travels.

* "The appearance of the blossoms of the gold-coloured Campac

Thinks of the time when, by the GANGES' flood,
Her little playmates scatter'd many a bud
Upon her long black hair, with glossy gleam
Just dripping from the consecrated stream;
While the young Arab, haunted by the smell
Of her own mountain flowers, as by a spell,—
The sweet Elcaya*, and that courteous tree
Which bows to all who seek its canopy,†
Sees, call'd up round her by these magic scents,
The well, the camels, and her father's tents;
Sighs for the home she left with little pain,
And wishes even its sorrows back again!

Meanwhile, through vast illuminated halls, Silent and bright, where nothing but the falls

on the black hair of the Indian women has supplied the Sanscrit Poets with many elegant allusions."- See Asiatic Researches, vol. iv.

* A tree famous for its perfume, and common on the hills of Yemen.- Niebuhr.

Of the genus mimosa, "which droops its branches whenever any person approaches it, seeming as if it saluted those who retire under its shade."—Ibid.

Of fragrant waters, gushing with cool sound
From many a jasper fount, is heard around,
Young AZIM roams bewilder'd,-nor can guess
What means this maze of light and loneliness.
Here, the way leads, o'er tessellated floors
Or mats of CAIRO, through long corridors,
Where, rang'd in cassolets and silver urns,
Sweet wood of aloe or of sandal burns;
And spicy rods, such as illume at night
The bowers of TIBET*, send forth odorous light,

Like Peris' wands, when pointing out the road
For some pure Spirit to its blest abode:-

And here, at once, the glittering saloon

Bursts on his sight, boundless and bright as noon;
Where, in the midst, reflecting back the rays
In broken rainbows, a fresh fountain plays
High as the' enamell'd cupola, which towers
All rich with Arabesques of gold and flowers:
And the mosaic floor beneath shines through
The sprinkling of that fountain's silv'ry dew,

* "Cloves are a principal ingredient in the composition of the perfumed rods, which men of rank keep constantly burning in their presence."-Turner's Tibet.