proceeded; and, while she saw with pleasure that it was still unextinguished, she could not help fearing that all the hopes of this life were no better than that feeble The remainder of the journey light upon the river. was passed in silence. that shade of melancholy, which comes over the youthful maiden's heart, as sweet and transient as her own breath upon a mirror; nor was it till she heard the lute of FERAMORZ, touched lightly at the door of her pavilion, that she waked from the reverie in which she had been wandering Instantly her eyes were lighted up with pleasure; and after a few unheard remarks from FADLADEEN, upon the indecorum of a poet seating himself in presence of a Princess, every thing was arranged as on the preceding evening, and all listened with eagerness, while the story was thus continued: She now, for the first time, felt WHOSE are the gilded tents that crowd the way, This City of War, which, in a few short hours, "The Lescar or Imperial Camp is divided, like a regular town, into squares, alleys, and streets, and from a rising ground furnishes one of the most agreeable prospects in the world. Starting up in a few hours in an uninhabited plain, it raises the idea of a city built by enchantment. Even those who leave their houses in cities to follow the prince in his progress are frequently so charmed by the Lescar, when situated in a beautiful and convenient place, that they cannot prevail with themselves to remove. To prevent this inconvenience to the court, the Emperor, after sufficient time is allowed to the tradesmen to follow, orders them to be burnt out of their tents."-Dow's Hindostan. Colonel Wilks gives a lively picture of an Eastern encampment: -"His camp, like that of most Indian armies, exhibited a motley collection of covers from the scorching sun and dews of the night, variegated according to the taste or means of each individual, by extensive inclosures of coloured calico surrounding superb suites of tents; by ragged cloths or blankets stretched over sticks or branches; palm leaves hastily spread over similar supports; handsome tents and splendid canopies; horses, oxen, elephants, and camels; all intermixed without any exterior mark of order or design, except the flags of the chiefs, which usually mark the centres of a congeries of these masses; the only regular part of the encampment being the streets of shops, each of which is constructed Of Him who, in the twinkling of a star, Had conjur'd up, far as the eye can see, This world of tents, and domes, and sun-bright armory :— Of crimson cloth, and topp'd with balls of gold :- But yester-eve, so motionless around, So mute was this wide plain, that not a sound Hunting among the thickets, could be heard ; nearly in the manner of a booth at an English fair."—Historical Sketches of the South of India. *The edifices of Chilminar and Balbec are supposed to have been built by the Genii, acting under the orders of Jan ben Jan, who governed the world long before the time of Adam. "A superb camel, ornamented with strings and tufts of small shells."-Ali Bey. A native of Khorassan, and allured southward by means of the water of a fountain between Shiraz and Ispahan, called the BLIO Yet hark! what discords now, of every kind, Shouts, laughs, and screams are revelling in the wind; The neigh of cavalry;-the tinkling throngs Of laden camels and their drivers' songs;*- Of the' Abyssinian trumpet †, swell and float. Fountain of Birds, of which it is so fond that it will follow whereever that water is carried. "Some of the camels have bells about their necks, and some about their legs, like those which our carriers put about their forehorses' necks, which together with the servants (who belong to the camels, and travel on foot), singing all night, make a pleasant noise, and the journey passes away delightfully."-Pitt's Account of the Mahometans. "The camel-driver follows the camels singing, and sometimes playing upon his pipe; the louder he sings and pipes, the faster the camels go. Nay, they will stand still when he gives over his music."-Tavernier. "This trumpet is often called, in Abyssinia, nesser cano, which signifies the Note of the Eagle."-Note of Bruce's Editor. Who leads this mighty army?—ask ye "who?" And mark ye not those banners of dark hue, The Night and Shadow*, over yonder tent?— It is the CALIPH's glorious armament. Rous'd in his Palace by the dread alarms, That hourly came, of the false Prophet's arms, Defiance fierce at Islam † and the world, Though worn with Grecian warfare, and behind To conquer or to perish, once more gave His shadowy banners proudly to the breeze, And with an army, nurs'd in victories, *The two black standards borne before the Caliphs of the House of Abbas were called, allegorically, The Night and The Shadow. See Gibbon. †The Mahometan religion. "The Persians swear by the Tomb of Shah Besade, who is buried at Casbin; and when one desires another to asseverate a matter, he will ask him, if he dare swear by the Holy Grave.”Struy. |