Which as the enemy vindictive fled, O'er all her frame with quick contagion spread. She, wondering at events so passing strange, And fill'd with hope and fear,

And joy to see the Tyrant disappear, And glad expectance of her Glendoveer, Perceived not in herself the hideous change. His burning pain, she thought, had forced the groan Her father breathed; his agonies alone Were present to her mind; she clasp'd his knees, Wept for his Curse, and did not feel her own.

2.

Nor when she saw her plague, did her good heart,
True to itself, even for a moment fail.
Ha, Rajah! with disdainful smile she cries,
Mighty and wise and wicked as thou art,
Still thy blind vengeance acts a friendly part.
Shall I not thank thee for this scurf and scale
Of dire deformity, whose loathsomeness,
Surer than panoply of strongest mail,
Arms me against all foes? Oh, better so,
Better such foul disgrace,

Than that this innocent face
Should tempt thy wooing! That I need not dread;
Nor ever impious foe

Will offer outrage now, nor farther woe Will beauty draw on my unhappy head, Safe through the unholy world may Kailyal go.

3.

Her face in virtuous pride

Was lifted to the skies,

As him and his poor vengeance she defied;
But earthward, when she ceased, she turn'd her eyes,
As if she thought to hide

The tear which in her own despite would rise.
Did then the thought of her own Glendoveer
Call forth that natural tear?

Was it a woman's fear,

A thought of earthly love which troubled her? Like yon thin cloud amid the moonlight sky That flits before the wind

And leaves no trace behind, The womanly pang pass'd over Kailyal's mind. This is a loathsome sight to human eye, Half-shrinking at herself the Maiden thought; Will it be so to him? Oh surely not! The immortal Powers, who see Through the poor wrappings of mortality, Behold the soul, the beautiful soul, within, Exempt from age and wasting maladies, And undeform'd, while pure and free from sin. This is a loathsome sight to human eyes, But not to eyes divine,

Ereenia, Son of Heaven, oh not to thine!

"The seas which surround these earths are, 1. of saltwater, inclosing our inmost earth; 2. of fresh-water; 3. of tyre, curdled milk; 4. of ghee, clarified butter; 5. of cauloo, a liquor drawn from the pullum tree; 6. of liquid sugar; 7. of milk. The whole system is inclosed in one broad circumference of pure gold, beyond which reigns impenetrable darkness."- – Kindersley.

I know not whether the following fable was invented to account for the saltness of our sea:

4.

The wrongful thought of fear, the womanly pain Had pass'd away, her heart was calm again. She raised her head, expecting now to see The Glendoveer appear,

Where hath he fled, quoth she,

That he should tarry now? Oh! had she known Whither the adventurous son of Heaven was flown, Strong as her spirit was, it had not borne The appalling thought, nor dared to hope for his return.

5.

For he in search of Seeva's throne was gone,
To tell his tale of wrong;

In search of Seeva's own abode
The Glendoveer began his heavenly road.
O wild emprize! above the farthest skies
He hoped to rise !

Him who is throned beyond the reach of thought,
The Alone, the Inaccessible, he sought.
O wild emprize! for when in days of yore,
For proud pre-eminence of power,
Brama and Veeshnoo, wild with rage contended,
And Seeva in his might,
Their dread contention ended;
Before their sight

In form a fiery column did he tower,
Whose head above the highest height extended,
Whose base below the deepest depth descended.
Downward, its depth to sound
Veeshnoo a thousand years explored
The fathomless profound,

And yet no base he found:
Upward, to reach its head,

Ten myriad years the aspiring Brama soar'd,
And still, as up he fled,

Above him still the Immeasurable spread.
The rivals own'd their Lord,

And trembled and adored.

How shall the Glendoveer attain

What Brama and what Veeshnoo sought in vain ?

6.

Ne'er did such thought of lofty daring enter
Celestial Spirit's mind. O wild adventure
That throne to find, for he must leave behind
This World, that in the centre,

Within its salt-sea girdle, lies confined;
Yea the Seven Earths that, each with its own ocean,
Ring, clasping ring, compose the mighty round.
What power of motion,

In less than endless years shall bear him there, Along the limitless extent,

To the utmost bound of the remotest spheres ? What strength of wing

Agastya is recorded to have been very low in stature; and one day, previously to the rectifying the too oblique posture of the earth, walking with Veeshnu on the shore of the ocean, the insolent Deep asked the god, who that dwarf was strutting by his side? Veeshnu replied, it was the patriarch Agastya going to restore the earth to its true balance. The sea, in utter contempt of his pigmy form, dashed him with his spray as he | passed along; on which the sage, greatly incensed at the designed affront, scooped up some of the water in the hollow of

Suffice to pierce the Golden Firmament

That closes all within?

Yet he hath pass'd the measureless extent

And pierced the Golden Firmament;

From whose four sides the bordering gems unite Their harmonising rays,

In one mid fount of many-colour'd light. The stream of splendour, flashing as it flows,

Vanish before that energy sublime.

Nor doth eternal Night

And outer Darkness check his resolute flight; By strong desire through all he makes his way, Till Seeva's Seat appears, . . behold Mount Calasay! 1

7.

Behold the Silver Mountain! round about
Seven ladders stand, so high, the aching eye,
Seeking their tops in vain amid the sky,

Might deem they led from earth to highest Heaven.
Ages would pass away,
And worlds with age decay,

Ere one whose patient feet from ring to ring
Must win their upward way,

Could reach the summit of Mount Calasay.
But that strong power that nerved his wing,
That all-surmounting will,

Intensity of faith and holiest love,
Sustain'd Ereenia still,

And he hath gain'd the plain, the sanctuary above.

8.

Lo, there the Silver Bell,

That, self-sustain'd, hangs buoyant in the air!
Lo! the broad Table there, too bright
For mortal sight,

his hand, and drank it off: he again and again repeated the draught, nor desisted till he had drained the bed of the ocean of the entire volume of its waters. Alarmed at this effect of his holy indignation, and dreading an universal drought, the Devetas made intercession with Agastya to relent from his anger, and again restore an element so necessary to the existence of nature, both animate and inanimate. Agastya, pacified, granted their request, and discharged the imbibed fluid in a way becoming the histories of a gross physical people to relate, but by no means proper for this page; a way, how ever, that evinced his sovereign power, while it marked his ineffable contempt for the vain fury of an element, contending with a being armed with the delegated power of the Creator of all things. After this miracle, the earth being, by the same power, restored to its just balance, Agastya and Veeshnu separated; when the latter, to prevent any similar accident occurring, commanded the great serpent (that is, of the sphere) to wind its enormous folds round the seven continents, of which, according to Sanscreet geography, the earth consists, and appointed, as perpetual guardians, to watch over and protect it, the eight powerful genii, so renowned in the Hindoo system of mythology, as presiding over the eight points of the world." Maurice.

"The Pauranics (said Ramachandra to Sir William Jones) will tell you that our earth is a plane figure studded with eight mountains, and surrounded by seven seas of milk, nectar, and other fluids; that the part which we inhabit is one of seven islands, to which eleven smaller isles are subordinate; that a god, riding on a huge elephant, guards each of the eight regions; and that a mountain of gold rises and gleams in the centre. -Asiatic Researches.

"Eight original mountains and seven seas, BRAHMA, INDRA, the SUN, and RUDRA, these are permanent; not thou, not I, not this, or that people. Wherefore then should anxiety be raised in our minds ?"- Asiatic Researches.

Where is the Sage whose wisdom can declare The hidden things of that mysterious flower, That flower which serves all mysteries to bear? The sacred Triangle is there,

Holding the Emblem which no tongue may tell; Is this the Heaven of Heavens, where Seeva's self doth dwell?

9.

Here first the Glendoveer

Felt his wing flag, and paused upon his flight.
Was it that fear came over him, when here
He saw the imagined throne appear?
Not so, for his immortal sight
Endured the Table's light;

Distinctly he beheld all things around, And doubt and wonder rose within his mind That this was all he found.

Howbeit he lifted up his voice and spake. There is oppression in the World below; Earth groans beneath the yoke; yea, in her woe, She asks if the Avenger's eye is blind? Awake, O Lord, awake!

Too long thy vengeance sleepeth. Holiest One! Put thou thy terrors on for mercy's sake, And strike the blow, in justice to mankind!

1 "The residence of Ixora is upon the silver mount Calaja, to the south of the famous mountain Mahameru, being a most delicious place, planted with all sorts of trees, that bear fruit all the year round. The roses and other flowers send forth a most odoriferous scent; and the pond at the foot of the mount is inclosed with pleasant walks of trees, that afford an agreeable shade, whilst the peacocks and divers other birds entertain the ear with their harmonious noise, as the beautiful women do the eyes. The circumjacent woods are inhabited by a certain people called Munis, or Rixis, who, avoiding the conversation of others, spend their time in offering daily sacrifices to their god.

It is observable that, though these pagans are generally black themselves, they do represent these Rizis to be of a fair complexion, with long white beards, and long garments hanging crossways, from about the neck down over the breast. They are in such high esteem among them, they believe that whom they bless are blessed, and whom they curse are cursed.

"Within the mountain lives another generation, called Jexaquinnera and Quendra, who are free from all trouble, spend their days in continual contemplation, praises, and prayers to God. Round about the mountain stand seven ladders, by which you ascend to a spacious plain, in the middle whereof is a bell of silver, and a square table, surrounded with nine precious stones, of divers colours. Upon this table lies a silver rose, called Tamora Pua, which contains two women as bright and fair as a pearl: one is called Brigasiri, i. e. the Lady of the Mouth; the other Tarasiri, i. e. the Lady of the Tongue, because they praise God with the mouth and tongue. In the centre of this rose is the triangle of Quivelinga, which they say is the permanent residence of God."— Baldæus.

10.

So as he pray'd, intenser faith he felt,
His spirit seem'd to melt

With ardent yearnings of increasing love;
Upward he turn'd his eyes

As if there should be something yet above;
Let me not, Seeva, seek in vain! he cries;
Thou art not here,. . for how should these contain

thee?

Thou art not here, . . for how should I sustain thee?
But thou, where'er thou art,
Canst hear the voice of prayer,
Canst read the righteous heart.
Thy dwelling who can tell,

Or who, O Lord, hath seen thy secret throne?
But thou art not alone,

Not unapproachable !
O all-containing Mind,

Thou who art every where, 1

Whom all who seek shall find,

Hear me, O Seeva! hear the suppliant's prayer!

11.

So saying, up he sprung,

And struck the Bell, which self-suspended hung

Before the mystic Rose.

From side to side the silver tongue Melodious swung, and far and wide Soul-thrilling tones of heavenly music rung. Abash'd, confounded,

It left the Glendoveer; . . . yea all astounded In overpowering fear and deep dismay; For when that Bell had sounded, The Rose, with all the mysteries it surrounded, The Bell, the Table, and Mount Calasay, The holy Hill itself, with all thereon, Even as a morning dream before the day Dissolves away, they faded and were gone.

12. Where shall he rest his wing, where turn for flight, For all around is Light,

1 "Even I was even at first, not any other thing; that which exists, unperceived, supreme; afterwards I am that which is; and he who must remain, am I.

"Except the First Cause, whatever may appear, and may not appear, in the mind, know that to be the mind's Mayá, or delusion, as light, as darkness.

"As the great elements are in various beings entering, yet not entering, (that is, pervading, not destroying,) thus am I in them, yet not in them.

"Even thus far may inquiry be made by him who seeks to know the principle of mind in union and separation, which must be everywhere, always." - Asiatic Researches, Sir W. Jones, from the Bhagavat.

"I am the creation and the dissolution of the whole universe. There is not any thing greater than I, and all things hang on me, even as precious gems upon a string. I am moisture in the water, light in the sun and moon, invocation in the Veds, sound in the firmament, human nature in mankind, sweet-smelling savour in the earth, glory in the source of light in all things I am life; and I am zeal in the zealous; and know, O Arjoon! that I am the eternal seed of all nature. I am the understanding of the wise, the glory of the proud, the strength of the strong, free from lust and anger; and in animals I am desire, regulated by moral fitness."Kreeshna, in the Bhagavat Geeta.

Primal, essential, all-pervading Light! Heart cannot think, nor tongue declare, Nor eyes of Angel bear That Glory unimaginably bright; 2 The Sun himself had seem'd A speck of darkness there, s Amid that Light of Light!

13.

Down fell the Glendoveer,

Down through all regions, to our mundane sphere He fell; but in his ear

A Voice, which from within him came, was heard,
The indubitable word

Of Him to whom all secret things are known:
Go, ye who suffer, go to Yamen's throne.
He hath the remedy for every woe;
He setteth right whate'er is wrong below.

XX.

THE EMBARKATION.

1.

Dows from the Heaven of Heavens Ereenia fell Precipitate, yet imperceptible

His fall, nor had he cause nor thought of fear;
And when he came within this mundane sphere,
And felt that Earth was near,

The Glendoveer his azure wings expanded,
And, sloping down the sky

Toward the spot from whence he sprung on high,
There on the shore he landed.

2.

Kailyal advanced to meet him, Not moving now as she was wont to greet him, Joy in her eye and in her eager pace ; With a calm smile of melancholy pride She met him now, and turning half aside, Her warning hand repell'd the dear embrace.

2 "Being now in the splendorous lustre of the divine bliss and glory, I there saw in spirit the choir of the holy angels, the choir of the prophets and apostles, who, with heavenly tongues and music, sing and play around the throne of God; yet not in just such corporeal forms or shapes as are those we now bear and walk about in; no, but in shapes all spiritual; the holy angels in the shape of a multitude of flames of fire, the souls of believers in the shape of a multitude of glittering or luminous sparkles, God's throne, in the shape or under | the appearance of a great splendour."- Hans Engelbrecht.

Something analogous to this unendurable presence of Seeva is found amid the nonsense of Joanna Southcott. Apollyon is there made to say of the Lord, Thou knowest it is written, he is a consuming fire, and who can dwell in everlasting burnings? who could abide in devouring flames? Our backs are not brass, nor our sinews iron, to dwell with God in heaven." - Dispute between the Woman and the Powers of Darkness.

3" There the sun shines not, nor the moon and stars: these lightnings flash not in that place: how should even fire blaze there? God irradiates all this bright substance, and by its effulgence the universe is eniightened."- From the Yajurveda. Asiatic Researches.

"Hæc ait, et sese radiorum nocte suorum
Claudit inaccessum."- Carrara.

3.

Strange things, Ereenia, have befallen us here, The Virgin said; the Almighty Man hath read The lines which, traced by Nature on my brain, There to the gifted eye

Make all my fortunes plain, Mapping the mazes of futurity. He sued for peace, for it is written there That I with him the Amreeta cup must share; Wherefore he bade me come, and by his side Sit on the Swerga throne, his equal bride. I need not tell thee what reply was given; My heart, the sure interpreter of Heaven, His impious words belied.

Thou seest his poor revenge! So having said, One look she glanced upon her leprous stain Indignantly, and shook

Her head in calm disdain.

4.

O Maid of soul divine!

O more than ever dear,

And more than ever mine,
Replied the Glendoveer;

He hath not read, be sure, the mystic ways
Of Fate; almighty as he is, that maze
Hath mock'd his fallible sight.

Said he the Amreeta-cup? So far aright The Evil One may see; for Fate displays Her hidden things in part, and part conceals, Baffling the wicked eye

Alike with what she hides, and what reveals,
When with unholy purpose it would pry
Into the secrets of futurity.

So may it be permitted him to see
Dimly the inscrutable decree;
For to the World below,

Where Yamen guards the Amreeta, we must go;
Thus Seeva hath express'd his will, even he
The Holiest hath ordain'd it; there, he saith,
All wrongs shall be redrest

By Yamen, by the righteous Power of Death.

5.

Forthwith the Father and the fated Maid,
And that heroic Spirit, who for them
Such flight had late essay'd,
The will of Heaven obey'd.

They went their way along the road
That leads to Yamen's dread abode.

6.

Many a day hath pass'd away Since they began their arduous way,

Their way of toil and pain; And now their weary feet attain The Earth's remotest bound, Where outer Ocean girds it round. But not like other Oceans this; Rather it seem'd a drear abyss, Upon whose brink they stood. Oh! scene of fear! the travellers hear The raging of the flood; They hear how fearfully it roars, But clouds of darker shade than night For ever hovering round those shores, Hide all things from their sight;

The Sun upon that darkness pours
His unavailing light,

Nor ever Moon nor Stars display,

Through the thick shade, one guiding ray To show the perils of the way.

7.

There in a creek a vessel lay, Just on the confines of the day, It rode at anchor in its bay, These venturous pilgrims to convey Across that outer Sea. Strange vessel sure it seem'd to be, And all unfit for such wild sea! For through its yawning side the wave Was oozing in; the mast was frail, And old and torn its only sail. How may that crazy vessel brave The billows that in wild commotion For ever roar and rave ? How hope to cross the dreadful Ocean O'er which eternal shadows dwell, Whose secrets none return to tell!

8.

Well might the travellers fear to enter!
But summon'd once on that adventure,
For them was no retreat.
Nor boots it with reluctant feet
To linger on the strand;
Aboard! aboard!

An aweful voice, that left no choice,
Sent forth its stern command,
Aboard aboard!

The travellers hear that voice in fear, And breathe to Heaven an inward prayer, And take their seats in silence there.

9.

Self-hoisted then, behold the sail Expands itself before the gale; Hands which they cannot sce, let slip The cable of that fated ship; The land breeze sends her on her way, And lo! they leave the living light of day!

XXI.

THE WORLD'S END.

1.

SWIFT as an arrow in its flight

The Ship shot through the incumbent night; And they have left behind

The raging billows and the roaring wind, The storm, the darkness, and all mortal fears; And lo! another light

To guide their way appears,
The light of other spheres.

2.

That instant from Ladurlad's heart and brain The Curse was gone; he feels again Fresh as in youth's fair morning, and the Maid Hath lost her leprous stain.

The Tyrant then hath no dominion here,
Starting she cried; O happy, happy hour!

We are beyond his power!

Then raising to the Glendoveer, With heavenly beauty bright, her angel face, Turn'd not reluctant now, and met his dear embrace.

3.

Swift glides the Ship with gentle motion

Across that calm and quiet ocean;
That glassy sea which seem'd to be

The mirror of tranquillity.
Their pleasant passage soon was o'er,
The Ship hath reach'd its destined shore;
A level belt of ice which bound,
As with an adamantine mound,
The waters of the sleeping Ocean round.
Strange forms were on the strand

Of earth-born spirits slain before their time;
Who wandering over sea and sky and land,
Had so fulfill'd their term; and now were met
Upon this icy belt, a motley band,
Waiting their summons at the appointed hour,
When each before the Judgement-seat must stand,
And hear his doom from Baly's righteous power.

4.

Foul with habitual crimes, a hideous crew Were there, the race of rapine and of blood. Now having overpass'd the mortal flood, Their own deformity they knew, And knew the meed that to their deeds was due. Therefore in fear and agony they stood, Expecting when the Evil Messenger Among them should appear. But with their fear A hope was mingled now;

O'er the dark shade of guilt a deeper hue It threw, and gave a fiercer character To the wild eye and lip and sinful brow. They hoped that soon Kehama would subdue The inexorable God and seize his throne, Reduce the infernal World to his command, And with his irresistible right hand, Redeem them from the vaults of Padalon.

1 "I heard a voice crying out under my window; I looked out, and saw a poor young girl lamenting the unhappy case of her sister. On asking what was the matter, the reply was, Boot Laggecosa, a demon has seized her. These unhappy people say Boot Laggeeosa, if a child newly born will not suck; and they expose it to death in a basket, hung on the branch of a tree. One day, as Mr. Thomas and I were riding out, we saw a basket hung in a tree, in which an infant had been exposed, the skull of which remained, the rest having been devoured by ants."- Periodical Accounts of the Baptist Missionaries.

2 The Chatookee. They say it never drinks at the streams below, but, opening its bill when it rains, it catches the drops as they fall from the clouds."-Periodical Accounts of the Baptist Missionaries, vol. ii. p. 309.

3 "There is a bird that falls down out of the air dead, and is found sometimes in the Molucca Islands, that has no feet at all. The bigness of her body and bill, as likewise the form of them, is much the same as a swallow's; but the spreading out of her wings and tail has no less compass than an eagle's. She lives and breeds in the air, comes not near the earth but

• The inscription runs thus : Ειμι εκείνος ιχθυς ταύτῃ λίμνη παντοπρώτος επιτεθείς δια του κοσμητου Φεδερίκου Β' τας χειρας εν τη ε. ημερα του Οκτω

5.

Apart from these a milder company,
The victims of offences not their own,

Look'd when the appointed Messenger should come;
Gather'd together some, and some alone
Brooding in silence on their future doom.
Widows whom, to their husbands' funeral fire,
Force or strong error led, to share the pyre,
As to their everlasting marriage-bed :
And babes, by sin unstain'd,
Whom erring parents vow'd
To Ganges, and the holy stream profaned
With that strange sacrifice, rite unordain'd
By Law, by sacred Nature unallow'd:
Others more hapless in their destiny,
Scarce having first inhaled their vital breath,
Whose cradles from some tree
Unnatural hands suspended,1

Then left, till gentle Death,

Coming like Sleep, their feeble moanings ended; Or for his prey the ravenous Kite descended; Or marching like an army from their caves, The Pismires blacken'd o'er, then bleach'd and bare Left their unharden'd bones to fall asunder there.

6.

Innocent Souls! thus set so early free
From sin and sorrow and mortality,
Their spotless spirits all-creating Love
Received into its universal breast.
Yon blue serene above

Was their domain; clouds pillow'd them to rest;
The Elements on them like nurses tended,
And with their growth ethereal substance blended.
Less pure than these is that strange Indian bird,
Who never dips in earthly streams her bill,
But, when the sound of coming showers is heard,
Looks up, and from the clouds receives her fill.
Less pure the footless fowl of Heaven 3, that never
Rest upon earth, but on the wing for ever
Hovering o'er flowers, their fragrant food inhale,
Drink the descending dew upon its way,
And sleep aloft while floating on the gale.

for her burial, for the largeness and lightness of her wings and tail sustain her without lassitude. And the laying of her eggs, and breeding of her young, is upon the back of the male, which is made hollow, as also the breast of the female, for the more easy incubation. Also two strings, like two shoemaker's ends, come from the hinder parts of the male, wherewith it is conceived that he is fastened closer to the female, while she hatches her eggs on the hollow of his back. The dew of heaven is appointed her for food, her region being too far removed from the approach of flies and such like insects.

"This is the entire story and philosophy of this miraculous bird in Cardan, who professes himself to have seen it no less than thrice, and to have described it accordingly. The contrivances whereof, if the matter were certainly true, are as evident arguments of a Divine Providence, as that copperring, with the Greek* inscription upon it, was an undeniable monument of the artifice and finger of man.

"But that the reproach of over-much credulity may not lie upon Cardan alone, Scaliger, who lay at catch with him to take him tripping wherever he could, cavils not with any

Spiov, aox'. This pike was taken about Hailprun, the imperial city of Suevia, in the year 1197.-Gesner.