recovered, and whose very praises were like the honey extracted from the bitter flowers of the aloe. The chief personages of the story were, if he rightly understood them, an ill-favoured gentleman, with a veil over his face; a young lady, whose reason went and came, according as it suited the poet's convenience to be sensible or otherwise; and a youth in one of those hideous Bucharian bonnets, who took the aforesaid gentleman in a veil for a Divinity. "From such materials," said he, "what can be expected?-after rivalling each other in long speeches and absurdities, through some thousands of lines as indigestible as the filberts of Berdaa, our friend in the veil jumps into a tub of aquafortis; the young lady dies in a set speech, whose only recommendation is that it is her last; and the lover lives on to a good old age, for the laudable purpose of seeing her ghost, which he at fast happily accomplishes, and expires. This, you will allow, is a fair summary of the story; and if Nasser, the Arabian merchant, told no better, our Holy Prophet (to whom be all honour and glory!) had no need to be jealous of his abilities for story-telling."* With respect to the style, it was worthy of the matter; -it had not even those politic contrivances of structure, which make up for the commonness of the thoughts by the peculiarity of the manner, nor that stately poetical phraseology by which sentiments mean in themselves, like the blacksmith'st apron converted into a banner, are so easily gut and embroidered into consequence. Then, as to the versification, it was, to say no worse of it, execrable: it had neither the copious flow of Ferdosi, the sweetness of Hafez, nor the sententious march of Sadi; but appeared to him, in the uneasy heaviness of its movements, to have been modelled upon the gait of a very tired dromedary. The licenses, too, in which it indulg. ed, were unpardonable ;—for instance this line, and the poem abounded with such ; Like the faint, exquisite music of a dream. "What critic that can count," said FADLADEEN, "and has his full complement of fingers to count withal, would tolerate for an instant such syllabic superfluities ?"He here looked round, and discovered that most of his audience were asleep; while the glimmering lamps seemed inclined to follow their example. It became necessa. ry, therefore, however painful to himself, to put an end to his valuable animadversions for the present, and he accordingly concluded, with an air of dignified candour, thus:- Notwithstanding the observations which I have thought it my duty to make, it is by no means my wish to discourage the young man :-so far from it, indeed, that if he will but totally alter his style of writing and thinking, I have very little doubt that I shall be vastly pleased with him.” Some days elapsed, after this harangue of the Great Chamberlain, before LALLA ROOKн could venture to ask for another story. The youth was still a welcome guest in the pavilion-to one heart, perhaps, too dangerously welcome;-but all mention of poetry was, as if by common consent, avoided. Though none of the party had much respect for FADLADEEN, yet his censures, thus magisterially delivered, evidently made an impression on them all. The Poet, himself, to whom criticism was quite a new operation, being wholly unknown in that Paradise of the Indies, Cashmere,) felt the shock as it is generally felt at first, till use has made it more tolerable to the patient; the Ladies began to suspect that they ought not to be pleased, and seemed to conclude that there must have been much good sense in what FADLA. DEEN said, from its having set them all so soundly to sleep; while the self-complacent Chamberlain was left to triumph in the idea of having, for the hundred and fiftieth time in his life, extinguished a Poet. LALLA ROOKн alone-and Love knew why-persisted in being delighted with all she had heard, and in resolving to hear "La lecture de ces Fables plaisoit si fort aux Arabes, que, quand Mahomet les entretenoit de l'Histoire de l'Ancien Testament, ils les méprisoient, lui disant que celles que Nasser leur racontoient étoient beaucoup plus belles. Cette préférence attira à Nasser la malédiction de Malonet et de tous ses disciples "--D'Herbelot. The blacksmith Gao, who successfully resisted the tyrant Zohak, and whose apr. became the Royal Standard of Persia. more as speedily as possible. Her manner, however, of first returning to the subject was unlucky. It was while they rested during the heat of noon near a fountain, on which some hand had rudely traced those well-known words from the Garden of Sadi,-" Many, like me, have || view:d this fountain, but they are gone, and their eyes are closed forever!"-that she took occasion, from the melancholy beauty of this passage, to dwell upon the charms of poetry in general. "It is true," she said, "few poets can imitate that sublime bird, which flies always in the air, and never touches the earth :*-it is only once in many ages a Genius appears, whose words, like those on the Written Mountain, last forever:t-but still there are some as delightful, perhaps, though not so wonderful, who, if not stars over our head, are at least flowers along our path, and whose sweetness of the moment we ought gratefully to inhale, without calling upon them for a brightness and a durability beyond their nature. In short," continued she, blushing, as if conscious of being caught in an oration, "it is quite cruel that a poet cannot wander through his regions of enchantment, without having a critic forever, like the Old Man of the Sea, upon his back!" FADLADEEN, it was plain, took this last luckless allusion to himself, and would treasure in in his mind as a whetstone for his next criticism. A suaden silence ensued; and the Princess, glancing a look at FERAMORZ, saw plainly she must wait for a more cour. ageous moment. But the glories of Nature, and her wild, fragrant airs playing freshly over the current of youthful spirits, will soon heal even deeper wounds than the dull Fadladeens of this world can inflict. In an evening or two after, they came to the small Valley of Gardens, which had been planted by order of the Emperor for his favourite sister Rochinara, during their progress to Cashmere, some years before; and never was there a more spark. ling assemblage of sweets, since the Gulzar-e-Irem, or Rose-Bower of Irem. Every precious flower was there secrated; from the dark hyacinth, to which Hafez com. to be found that poetry, or love, or religion, has ever con. pares his mistress's hair, to the Cúmalatá, by whose rosy blossoms the heaven of Indra is scented. As they sat in the cool fragrance of this delicious spot, and LALLA ROOKн remarked that she could fancy it the abode of tha Flower-loving Nymph whom they worship in the temples of Kathay, or of one of those Peris, those beautiful creatures of the air, who live upon perfumes, and to whom dise they have lost, the young Poet, in whose eyes she a place like this might make some amends for the Paraappeared, while she spoke, to be one of the bright spiritual creatures she was describing, said hesitatingly that he remembered a Story of a Peri, which, if the Princess had no objection, he would venture to relate. "It is," said he, with an appealing look to FADLADEEN, “in a *The Huma, a bird peculiar to the East. It is supposed to fly constantly in the air, and never touch the ground: it is looked upon us a bird of happy omen; and that every head it overshades will in time wear a crown."-Richardson. In the terms of alliance made by Fuzzel Oola Khan with Hyder in 1760, one of the stipulations was, "that he should have the distinction of two bonorary attendants standing behind him, holding fans composed of the feathers of the humma, according to the practice of his family."Wilks's South of India. He adds in a note:-"The Humma is a fabulous bird. The head over which its shadow once passes will assuredly be circled with a crown. The splendid little bird suspended over the throne of Tippo Sultaun, found at Seringapatam in 1799, was intended to represent this poetical fancy." figures, &c. on those rocks, which have from thence acquired the nave To the pilgrims to Mount Sinai we must attribute the inscriptions, of the Written Mountain."-Volney, M. Gebelin and others have been at much pains to attach some mysterious and important meaning to these inscriptions; but Niebuhr, as well as Volney, thinks that they must have been executed at idle hours by the travellers to Mount Sinai, who were satisfied with cutting the unpolished rock with any pointed instrument; adding to their names and the date of their journeys some rude figures, which bespeak the hand of a people but little skilled in the arts."-Niebuhr. The Story of Sinbad. Bee Nott's Hafez, Ode v. The Camalata (called by Linnæus, Ipoman) is the most beautifu of its order, both in the co.our and form of its leaves and flowers; its elegant blossoms are celestial rosy red. Love's proper hue, and have justly procured it the name of Camalatá, or Love's Creeper. -Sir W. Jones. "Camalatá may also mean a mythological plant, by which all desires are granted to such as inhabit the heaven of Indra; and if ever flower was worthy of Paradise, it is our charming Ipomæa."-1b. According to Father Premare, in his tract on Chinese Mythology the Mother of Fo-hi was the daughter of heaven, surnamed Flower-kv ing; and as the nymph was walking alone on the bank of a river, sne found herself encircled by a rainbow, after which she became pregnant, and, at the end of twelve years, was delivered of a son radiant as her self."-Asiat. Res. "Beneath the pillars of CHILMINAR ;* highter and humbler strain than the other :" then, striking a few careless but melancholy chords on his kitar, he thus began: PARADISE AND THE PERI ONE morn a Peri at the gate Of Life within, like music flowing, Through the half-open portal glowing, She wept to think her recreant race Should e'er have lost that glorious place! "How happy," exclaim'd this child of air, "Are the holy Spirits who wander there, "Mid flowers that never shall fade or fall; "Though mine are the gardens of earth and sea "And the stars themselves have flowers for me, "One blossom of Heaven out-blooms them all "And sweetly the founts of that Valley fall; Though bright are the waters of SING-SU-HAY, "And the golden floods that thitherward stray,t "Yet-oh, 'tis only the Blest can say "How the waters of Heaven outshine them all! "Go, wing thy flight from star to star, From world to luminous world, as far The glorious Angel, who was keeping From Eden's fountain, when it lies "Nymph of a fair but erring line!" "The Gift that is most dear to Heav'n! Rapidly as comets run To th' embraces of the Sun ;- And, lighted earthward by a glance Numerous small islands emerge from the Lake of Cashmere. One is called Char Chenaur, from the plane trees upon it."-Foster. The Altan Kol or Golden River of Tibet, which runs into the Lakes of Sing su hay, has abundance of go'd in its sands, which employs the inhabitants all the summer in gathering it."-Description of Tibet in Pinkerton, "The Brahmins of this province insist that the blue campac flowers only in Paradise."--Sir W. Jones. It appears, however, from a curious letter of the Sultan of Menangcabow, given by Marsden, that one place on earth may lay claim to the possession of it. This is the Sultan, who keeps the flower champaka that is blue, and to be found in no other country but his, being yellow elsewhere."-Marsden's Sumatra. The Mahometans suppose that falling stars are the firebrands wherewith the good angels drive away the bad, when they approach too bear the empy-ean or verge of the heavens "-Fryer. 66 While thus she mused, her pinions fann'd But crimson now her rivers ran With human blood-the smell of death Came recking from those spicy bowers, And man, the sacrifice of man, Mingled his taint with every breath Land of the Sun! what foot invades He comes, and INDIA's diadems His bloodhounds he adorns with gems, Of many a young and loved Sultana ;†! Alone beside his native river,- All crimson with his country's blood, *The Forty Pillars; so the Persians call the ruins of Persepai It is imagined by them that this palace and the edifices at Balbec ere buil by Genii, for the purpose of hiding in their subterraneous caverns in mense treasures, which still remain there.-D'Herbelot, Volney, ↑ Diodorus mentions the Isle of Panchaia, to the south of Arabia Fe lix, where there was a temple of Jupiter. This island, or rather cluster of isles, has disappeared, sunk (says Grandpre) in the abyss made by the Sre beneath their foundations."-Voyage to the Indian Oceau. The Isles of Panchaia. "The cup of Jamshid, discovered, they say, when digging for the foundations of Persepolis."-Richardson. "It is not like the Sea of India, whose bottom is rich with pearls and ambergris, whose mountains of the coast are stored with gold and precious stones, whose gulfs breed creatures that yield ivory, and among the plants of whose shores are ebony, red wood, and the wood of Hair zan, aloes, camphor, cloves, sandal-wood, and all other spices and aro matics; where parrots and peacocks are birds of the forest, and musk and civet are collected upon the lands."--Travels of two Mohamme dans. For a particular description and plate of the Banyan-tree, see Com diner's Ceylon. *** With this immense treasure Mamood returned to Ghizni, and in the year 400 prepared a magnificent festival, where he displayed to the people his wealth in golden thrones and in other ornaments, in a great plain without the city of Ghizni."-Ferishta. tt Mahmood of Gazua, or Ghizni, who conquered India in the begin ning of the 11th century."--See his History in Dow and Sir J. Malect, "It is reported that the hunting equipage of the Sultan Mahmood was so magnificent, that he kept 400 greyhounds and bloodhounds, race of which wore a collar set with jewels, ard a covering edged with gold ¦l and pearls.”—Universal History vol. ii. "Sweet," said the Angel, as she gave "Who die thus for their native Land."But see-alas!—the crystal bar "Of Eden moves not--holier far "Than even this drop the boon must be, "That opes the gates of Heaven for thee!" Her first fond hope of Eden blighted, Now among AFRIC's lunar Mountains,t Far to the South, the PERI lighted; And sleek'd her plumage at the fountains Her grots, and sepulchres of Kings,§ To watch the moonlight on the wings Who could have thought, that saw this night Like youthful maids, when sleep descending Bathing their beauties in the lake, That they may rise more fresh and bright, *Objections may be made to my use of the word Liberty in this, and more especially in the story that follows it, as totally inapplicable to any state of things that has ever existed in the East; but though I cannot, of course, mean to employ it in that enlarged and nobls seuse which is so well understood at the present day, and, I grieve to say, so little acted upon, yet it is no disparagement to the word to apply it to that national wak pendence, that freedom from the interference and dictation of foregaers, without which, indeed, no liberty of any kind can exist ; and for which both Hindoos and Persians fought against their Mussulman Fvaders with, in many cases, a bravery that deserved much better •access. The Mountains of the Moon, or the Montes Lunæ of antiquity, at the foot of which the Nile is supposed to arise."-Bruce. "Sometimes called," says Jackson, Jibbel Kumrie, or the white ur lunar-coloured mountains; so a white horse is called by the Arabians Amon-coloured hor"," The Nile, which he Abyssinians know by the names of Abey and Alaway, or the Giant." Asiat. Research, vol. 1. p. 387. "See Perry's View of the Levant for an account of the sepulchres in per Thebes, and the numberless grots, covered all over with hieroypours in the mountains of Upper Egypt. The orchards of Rosetta are filled with turtle-doves."-Sonnini. 1 Savary inentions the pelicans upon Lake Maris. **The supero date-tree, whose head languidly rec'ines, like that of ■ handsome woman overcome with sleep."-Dafard el Hadad. When their beloved Sun's awake ;-Those ruin'd shrines and towers that seem The relics of a splendid dream; Amid whose fairy loneliness Naught but the lapwing's cry is heard, And glitt'ring like an Idol bird! Who could have thought, that there, even there, The Demon of the Plague hath cast Is rankling in the pest-house now, And ne'er will feel that sun again. : Amid the darkness of the streets! "But the trail of the Serpent is over them all!" She wept the air grew pure and clear Such kindly Spirits weep for man! Just then beneath some orange trees, Had thither stol'n to die alone. Drew after him the hearts of many; Which shines so cool before his eyes. "That beautiful bird, with plumage of the finest shining blue, with purple beak and legs, the natural and living ornament of the temples and palaces of the Greeks and Romans, which, from the stateliness of its port, as well as the brilliancy of its colours, has obtained the title of Sultana."-Sonnini. † Jackson, speaking of the plague that occurred in West Barbary, when he was there, says, "The birds of the air fled away from the abodes of men. The hyanas, on the contrary, visited the cemeteries,' &c. 1 "Gondar was full of byænas from the time it turned dark, till the dawn of day, seeking the different pieces of slaughtered carcasses, which this cruel and unclean people expose in the streets without burial, and who firmly believe that these animals are Falashta from the neigh bouring mountains, transformed by magic, and come down to eat bu man flesh in the dark in safety."-Bruce. $ Ibid. Deserted youth! one thought alone But see who yonder comes by stealth,* His livid cheek to hers she presses, In the cool lake her loosen'd tresses. Ah! once, how little did he think An hour would come, when he should shrink With horror from that dear embrace, Those gentle arms, that were to him Of Eden's infant cherubim ! "The blessed air, that's breathed by thee, "And, whether on its wings it bear 66 Healing or death, 'tis sweet to me! "There-drink my tears, while yet they fall"Would that my bosom's blood were balm, "And, well thou know'st, I'd shed it all, "To give thy brow one minute's calm. "Nay, turn not from me that dear face"Am I not thine-thy own loved bride"The one, the chosen one, whose place, "In life or death, is by thy side? "Think'st thou that she, whose only light, "In this dim world, from thee hath shone, "Could bear the long, the cheerless night, 66 That must be hers when thou art gone? "That I can live, and let thee go, "Who art my life itself?-No, no"When the stem dies, the leaf that grew "Out of its heart must perish too! Then turn to me, my own love, turn, "Before, like thee, I fade and burn; 66 Cling to these yet cool lips, and share "The last pure life that lingers there!" She fails she sinks-as dies the lamp In charnel airs, or cavern-damp, So quickly do his baleful sighs Quench all the sweet light of her eyes. One struggle-and his pain is pastHer lover is no longer living! One kiss the maiden gives, one last, Long kiss, which she expires in giving! "Sleep," said the PERI, as softly she stole The farewell sigh of that vanishing soul, As true as e'er warm'd a woman's breast"Sleep on, in visions of odour rest, "In balmier airs than ever yet stirr'd "Th' enchanted pile of that lonely bird, "Who sings at the last his own death-lay,t "And in music and perfume dies away! This circumstance has been often introduced into poetry;-by Vincentius Fabricius, by Darwin, and lately, with very powerful effect, by Mr. Wilson. In the East, they suppose the Phoenix to have fifty orifices in his bill, which are continued to his tail; and that, after living one thousand veais, he builds himself a funeral pile, sings a melodious air of different Thus saying, from her lips she spread Unearthly breathings through the place, Watch o'er them till their souls would waken But morn is blushing in the sky; That lie around that lucid lake, But, ah! even PERIS' hopes are vain- Th' immortal barrier closed-"Not yet," He shut from her that glimpse of glory"True was the maiden, and her story, "Written in light o'er ALLA's head, 66 By seraph eyes shall long be read. "But, PERI, see-the crystal bar "Of Eden moves not-holier far "Than ev'n this sigh the boon must be "That opes the Gates of Heav'n for thee" Now, upon SYRIA's land of rosest Whose head in wintry grandeur tow'rs, To one, who look'd from upper air Th' unclouded skies of PERISTAN. harmonies through his fifty organ-pipes, flaps his wings with a velocity which sets fire to the wood, and consumes himself."-Richardsen. "On the shores of a quadrangular lake stand a thousand goblets, made of stars, out of which souls predestined to enjoy felicity drink the crystal wave." ."-From Châteaubriand's Description of the Mahometas Paradise, in his Beauties of Christianity. Richardson thinks that Syria had its name from Suri, a beautiful and delicate species of rose, for which that country has been always famou hence, Suristan, the Land of Roses. "The number of lizards I saw one day in the great court of the Temple of the Sun at Balbec amounted to many thousands; the groun the walls, and stones of the ruined buildings, were covered with them." -Bruce. "The Syrinx or Pan's pipe is sti. a pastoral instrument in Syria -Russel. Of the wild bees of PALESTINE,* Banqueting through the flow'ry vales; And, JORDAN, those sweet banks of thine, And woods, so full of nightingales.t But naught can charm the luckless PER Had raised to count his ages by! Beneath those Chambers of the Sun, With the great name of SOLOMON, Cheer'd by this hope she bends her thither That flutter'd round the jasmine stems, Impatient fling him down to drink. Like thunder clouds, of gloom and fire; Met that unclouded, joyous gaze, Is rising sweetly on the air, From SYRIA's thousand minarets. The boy has started from the bed Kneels with his forehead to the south, From Purity's own cherub mouth, Oh! 'twas a sight-that Heav'n-that child- For glories lost and peace gone by! And how felt he, the wretched Man Heart-humbled tones-" thou blessed child! And hope, and feeling, which had slept Is felt the first, the only sense Of guiltless joy that guilt can know "There's a drop," said the PERI," that dow. fm the moon "Falls through the withering airs of Junc 66 Upon EGYPT's land,t of so healing a pow'r "So balmy a virtue, that ev'n in the hour "That drop descends, contagion dies, "And health reanimates earth and skies '— "Oh, is it not thus, thou man of sin, "The precious tears of repentance fali? 66 Though foul thy fiery plagues within, And hymns of joy proclaim through He s'a "Twas when the golden orb had set, "Joy, joy forever! my task is done- *"Such Turks as at the common hours of prayer are on the road, o so employed as not to find convenience to attend the mosques, are still obliged to execute that duty; nor are they ever known to fail, whatever business they are then about, but pray immediately when the hour alarms them, whatever they are about, in that very place they chance to stand on; insomuch that when a janissary, whom you have to guard you up and down the city, hears the notice which is giver, him from the steeples, he will turn about, stand still, and beckon with his hand, to tell his charge he must have patience for awhile; when, taking out his handkerchief, he spreads it on the ground, sits cross legged thereupon, and says his prayers, though in the open market, which, having ended, he leaps briskly up, salutes the person whom he undertook to convey, and renews his journey with the mild expression of Ghell gohnnum ghali, or, Come, denr, follow me."-Aaron Hill's Travels. The Nocta, or Miraculous Drop, which falls in Egypt | recisely on St. John's day, in June, and is supposed to have the eile of stopping the plague. |