Which she w the fire's still busy at its heart;
Yet was she mostly wrapp'd in solemn gloom,-
Not such as Azim's, brooding o'er its doom,
And calm without, as is the brow of death,
While busy worms are gnawing underneath-
But in a blank and pulseless torpor, free
From thought or pain, a seal'd-up apathy,
Which left her oft, with scarce one living thril}
The cold, pale victim of her tort'rer's will.

Again, as in MEROU, he had her deck'd
Gorgeously out, the Priestess of the sect;
And led her glitt'ring forth before the eyes
Of his rude train, as to a sacrifice,--
Pallid as she, the young, devoted Bride

Of the fierce NILE, when deck'd in all the pride
Of nuptial pomp, she sinks into his tide.*

And while the wretched maid hung down her head,
And stood, as one just risen from the dead,
Amid that gazing crowd, the fiend would tell
His credulous slaves it was some charm or spell
Possess'd her now,-and from that darken'd trance
Should dawn ere long their Faith's deliverance.
Or if, at times, goaded by guilty shame,

Her soul was roused, and words of wildness came,
Instant the bold blasphemer would translate
Her ravings into oracles of fate,

Would hail Heav'n's signals in her flashing eyes,
And call her shrieks the language of the skies!

But vain at length his arts-despair is seen
Gath'ring around; and famine comes to glean
All that the sword had left unreap'd:-in vain
At morn and eve across the northern plain
He looks impatient for the promised spears
Of the wild hordes and TARTAR mountaineers;
They come not-while his fierce beleaguerers pour
Engines of havoc in, unknown before,t
And horrible as new ;-javelins, that fly

Enwreath'd with smoky flames through the dark sky,
And red-hot globes, that, opening as they mount,
Discharge, as from a kindled Naphtha fount,§
Showers of consuming fire o'er all below;
Looking, as through th' illumined night they go,
Like those wild birds that by the Magians oft,

A custom still subsisting at this day, seems to me to prove that he Egyptians formerly sacrificed a young virgin to the God of the Nile; for they now make a statue of earth in shape of a girl, to which they give the name of the Betrothed Bride, and throw it into the river."-Savary. That they knew the secret of the Greek fire among the Mussulmans early in the eleventh century, appears from Doo's Account of Mamood 1. When he arrived at Moulan, tinding that the country of the Jits was defended by great rivers, he ordered fifteen hundred boats to be built, each of which he armed with six iron spikes, projecting from their prows and sides, to prevent their being boarded by the enemy, who were very expert in that kind of war. When he had launched this Jeet, he ordered twenty archers into each boat, and five others with ire balls, to burn the craft of the Jits, and naphtha to set the whole iver on fire."!

The agnee aster, too, in Indian poems the Instrument of Fire, whose ame cannot be extinguished, is supposed to signify the Greek Fire. See Wicks's South of India, vol. 1. p. 471.-And in the curious Javan

poem, the Brata Yudha, given by Sir Stamford Raffles in his History of Java, we find,"He aimed at the heart of Soeta with the sharp-pointed Weapon of Fire."

The mention of gunpowder as in use among the Arabians, long before its supposed discovery in Europe, is introduced by Ebn Fadhl, the Egyptian geographer, who lived in the thirteenth century, "Bodies," he says, "in the form of scorpions, bound round ar filled with nitrous powder, glide along, making a gentle noise; the exploding, they Pghten, as it were, and burn. But there are others wi, ch, cast into the ar, stretch along like a cloud, roaring horribly, as thunder roars, and on ali sides vomiting out flames, burst, burn, and reduce to cinders whatever comes in their way." The historian Ben Abdalla, in speaking of the sieges of Abulualid in the year of the Hegira 712, says, A fiery globe, by means of combustible matter, with a mighty noise suddenly emitted, strikes with the force of lightning, and shakes the citadel. See the extracts from Casini's Biblioth. Arab. Hispan, in the Appendix to Berington's Literary History of the Middle Ages. The Greek fire, which was occasionally lent by the emperors to their allies. "It was.

says Gibbon, "either launched in red-hot balls of stone and iron, or durted in arrows and javelins, twisted round with flax and tow, which had deeply imbibed the inflammable oil."

See Hanway's Account of the Springs of Naphtha at Baku (which is called by Lieutenant Pottinger Joala Mookee, or, the Flaming Mouth) taking fire and running into the sea. Dr. Cooke, in his Journal, mentions some wells in Circassia, strongly impregnated with this in Bammable oil, from which issues boiling water. Though the weathcer," he adds," was now very cold, the warmth of these wells of hot water produced near them the verdure and flowers of spring." Major Scott Waring say that naphtha is used by the Persians, as we are told it was in hell, for lamps.

At festivals of fire, were sent aloft
Into the air, with blazing fagots tied

To their huge wings, scatt'ring combustion wide.
All night the groans of wretches who expire,
In agony, beneath these darts of fire,

Ring through the city-while, descending o'er
Its shrines and domes and streets of sycamore,-
Its lone bazars, with their bright cloths of gold,
Since the last peaceful pageant left unroll'd,-
Its beauteous marble baths, whose idle jets
Now gush with blood,-and its tall minarets,
That late have stood up in the evening glare
Of the red sun, unhallow'd by a prayer;
O'er each, in turn, the dreadful flame-bolts fall,
And death and conflagration throughout all
The desolate city hold high festival!

MOKANNA Sees the world is his no more ;One sting at parting, and his grasp is o'er. "What!-drooping now ?"—thus, with unblushing cheek He hails the few, who yet can hear him speak, Of all those famish'd slaves around him lying, And by the light of blazing temples dying ;What!-drooping now ?-now, when at length we press "Home o'er the very threshold of success; "When ALLA from our ranks hath thinn'd away "Those grosser branches, that kept out his ray "Of favour from us, and we stand at length "Heirs of his light and children of his strength, "The chosen few, who shall survive the fall "Of Kings and Thrones, triumphant over all! "Have you then lost, weak murm'rers as you are, "All faith in him, who was your Light, your Star? "Have you forgot the eye of glory, hid "Beneath this Veil, the flashing of whose lid

66 Could, like a sun-stroke of the desert, wither
"Millions of such as yonder Chief brings hither?

Long have its lightnings slept-too long-but now "All earth shall feel th' unveiling of this brow! To-night-yes, sainted men! this very night "I bid you all to a fair festal rite,

66

Seen mourning half so mournful as their mirth.
Here, to the ew, whose iron frames had stood
This racking waste of famine and of blood,
Faint, dying wretches clung, from whom the shout
Of triumph like a maniac's laugh broke out:
There, others, lighted by the smould'ring fire,
Danced, like wan ghosts about a funeral pyre,
Among the dead and dying, strew'd around ;-
While some pale wretch look'd on, and from his wound
Plucking the fiery dart by which he bled.

In ghastly transport waved it o'er his head!

"Twas more than midnight now-a fearful pause Had follow'd the long shouts, the wild applause, That lately from those Royal Gardens burst, Where the Veil'd demon held his feast accurst,

and birds, which being then let loose, the air and earth appeared one great illumination; and as these terrified creatures naturally fled to the woods for shelter, it is easy to conceive the couflagrations they pro duced."--Richardson's Dissertation.

The righteous shall be given to drink of pure wine, sealed: the seal whereof shall be musk."-Koran, chap. lxxxiii.

When Zelica-alas, poor ruin'd heart,
In ev'ry horror doom'd to bear its part!—
W oidden to the banquet by a slave,
Who, while his quiv'ring lip the summons gave,
Grew black, as though the shadows of the grave
Compass'd him round, and, ere he could repeat
His message through, fell lifeless at her feet!
Shuddering she went-a soul-felt pang of fear,
A presage that her own dark doom was near,
Roused ev'ry feeling, and brought Reason back
Once more to writhe her last upon the rack.
All round seem'd tranquil—ev'n the foe had ceased!,
As if aware of that demoniac feast,

His fiery balts, and though the heav'ns look'd red,
"Twas but some distant conflagration's spread.
But hark-she stops-she listens-dreadful tone!
"Tis her Tormentor's laugh-and now, a groan,
A long death-groan comes with it :-can this be
The place of mirth, the bower of revelry?
She enters-Holy ALLA, what a sight
Was there before her! By the glimm❜ring light
Of the pale dawn, mix'd with the flare of brands
That round lay burning, dropp'd from lifeless hands,
She saw the board in splendid mockery spread,
Rich censers breathing-garlands overhead-
The urns, the cups, from which they late had quaff'd,
All gold and gems, but-what had been the draught?
Oh! who need ask, that saw those livid guests,

With their swoll'n heads sunk black'ning on their breasts,
Or looking pale to Heav'n with glassy glare,
As if they sought but saw no mercy there;
As if they felt, though poison rack'd them through,
Remorse the deadlier torment of the two!
While some, the bravest, hardiest in the train
Of their false Chief, who on the battle-plain
Would have met death with transport by his side,
Hee mute and helpless gasp'd ;—-but, as they died,
Look'd horrible vengeance with their eyes' last strain,
And clinch'd the slack'ning hand at him in vain

Dreadful it was to see the ghastly stare,
The stony look of horror and despair,
Which some of these expiring victims cast
Upon their souls' tormentor to the last ;-

Upon that mocking Fiend, whose veil, now raised,
Show'd them, as in death's agony they gazed,

Not the long promised light, the brow, whose beaming
Was to come forth, all conquering, all redeeming,
But features horribler than Hell e'er traced
On its own brood ;-no Demon of the Waste,*
No church-yard Ghole, caught lingering in the light
Of the blest sun, e'er blasted human sight
With lineaments so foul, so fierce as those
Th' Impostor now, in grinning mock'ry, shows:-
"There, ye wise Saints, behold your Light, your Star-
"Ye would be dupes and victims, and ye are.
"Is it enough? or must L, while a thrill

Lives in your sapient bosoms, cheat you still? "Swear that the burning death ye feel within

64

Is but the tranee with which Heaven's joys begin;

“That this foul visage, foul as e'er disgraced

Ev'n monstrous man, is--after God's own taste; And that-but see!--ere I have half-way said "My greetings through, th' uncourteous souls are fled. Farewell, sweet spirits! not in vain ye die, "If EELIS loves you half so well as L"Ha, my young bride !-'tis well-take thou thy ses; "Nay come-no shuddering-didst thou never meet "The Dead before ?-they graced our wedding, sweet; And these, my guests to-night, have brimm'd so true "Their parting cups, that thou shalt pledge one too. "But-how is this ?-all empty ?—all drunk up? "Hot lips have been before thee in the cup, "Young bride-yet stay-one precious drop remains, "Enough to warm a gentle Priestess' veins ;

Here, drink-and should thy lover's conquering arms

"The Afghauns believe each of the numerous solitudes and deserts of their country to be inhabited by a lonely demon, whom they call the Gholee Berabau, or Spirit of the Waste. They often illustrate the and soes of any s questered tribe, by saying, they are as wild as the Denon of the Waste.”—Elphinstone's Coabul.

"Speed hither, ere thy lip lose all its charms, "Give him but half this venom in thy kiss, "And I'll forgive my haughty rival's bliss!

6

"For me--I too must die-but not like these "Vile, rankling things, to fester in the breeze; "To have this brow in ruffian triumph shown, "With all death's grimness added to its own, "And rot to dust beneath the taunting eyes "Of slaves, exclaiming, There his Godship lies!' "No-cursed race-since first my soul drew breath, "They've been my dupes, and shall be even in death "Thou seest yon cistern in the shade-'tis fill'd "With burning drugs, for this last hour distill'd:-* "There will I plunge me in that liquid flame"Fit bath to lave a dying Prophet's frame!— "There perish, all-ere pulse of thine shall fail-"Nor leave one limb to tell mankind the tale. "So shall my votaries, wheresoe'er they rave, "Proclaim that Heav'n took back the Saint it gave ;"That I've but vanish'd from this earth awhile, "To come again, with bright, unshrouded smile! "So shall they build me altars in their zeal, "Where knaves shall minister, and fools shall kneel; "Where Faith may mutter o'er her mystic spell, "Written in blood-and Bigotry may swell "The sail he spreads for Heav'n with blasts from hell "So shall my banner, through long ages, be "The rallying sign of fraud and anarchy ;

66

Kings yet unborn shall rue MOKANNA's name, "And, though I die, my spirit, still the same, "Shall walk abroad in all the stormy strife, "And guilt, and blood, that were its bliss in life. "But, hark! their batt'ring engine shakes the wall—

66

Why, let it shake-thus I can brave them all. "No trace of me shall greet them, when they come, "And I can trust thy faith, for-thou'lt be dumb. "Now mark how readily a wretch like me, "In one bold plunge commences Deity!"

He sprung and sunk, as the last words were said-
Quick closed the burning waters o'er his head.
And ZELICA was left-within the ring

Of those wide walls the only living thing;
The only wretched one, still cursed with breath,
In all that frightful wilderness of death!
More like some bloodless ghost-such as, they tell,
In the Lone Cities of the Silent dwell,
And there, unseen of all but ALLA, sit
Each by its own pale carcass, watching it

But morn is up, and a fresh warfare stirs
Throughout the camp of the beleaguerers.
Their globes of fire (the dread artill❜ry lent
By GREECE to conquering MAHADI) are spent ;
And now the scorpion's shaft, the quarry sent
From high balistas, and the shielded throng
Of soldiers swinging the huge ram along,
All speak th' impatient Islamite's intent
To try, at length, if tower and battlement
And bastioned wall be not less hard to win,
Less tough to break down than the hearts within.
First in impatience and in toil is he,
The burning Azıм-oh! could he but see
Th' Impostor once alive within his grasp,
Not the gaunt lion's hug, nor boa's clasp,
Could match that gripe of vengeance, or keep pace
With the fell heartiness of Hate's embrace!

Loud rings the pond'rous ram against the walls, Now shake the ramparts, now a buttress falls, But still no breach-" Once more, one mighty swing "Of all your beams, together thundering !"

"Il donna du poison dans le vin à tous ses gens, et se jeta lui-même ensuite dans une cuve pleine de drogues brûlantes et consumantes, afin qu'il ne restât rien de tous les membres de son corps, et que ceux qui restoient de sa secte puissen croire qu'il étoit monté au ciel, ce qui no mangun pas d'arriver."--D'Herbelot.

They have all a great reverence for burial grounds, which they sometimes call by the poctical name of Cities of the Silent, and which ther people with the ghosts of the departed, who sit each at the head of his own grave visible to mortal eye: ་.. - Elphinstone.

There the wall shakes-the shouting troops exult,
"Quick, quick discharge your weightiest catapult
Right on that spot, and NEKSHEB is our own!"
"l'is done-the battlements come crashing down,
And the huge wall, by that stroke riven in two,
Yawning, like some old crater, rent anew,
Shows the dim, desolate city smoking through.
But strange! no signs of life-naught living seen
Above, below-what can this stillness mean?
A minute's pause suspends all hearts and eyes-
"In through the breach," impetuous AZIM cries;
But the cool CALIPH, fearful of some wile

In this blank stillness, checks the troops awhile,—
Just then, a figure, with slow step, advanced
Forth from the ruin'd walls, and, as there glanced
A sunbeam over it, all eyes could see

The well-known Silver Veil !" "Tis He, 'tis He, "MOKANNA, and alone!" they shout around;

Young Azim from his steed springs to the ground-
Mine, Holy Caliph! mine," he cries, "the task
"To crush yon daring wretch-'tis all I ask."
Eager he darts to meet the demon foe,
Who still across wide heaps of ruin slow
And falteringly comes, till they are near;
Then, with a bound, rushes on Azim's spear,
And, casting off the Veil in falling, shows-
Oh-tis his ZELICA's life-blood that flows!

"I meant not, AZIM," soothingly she said, As on his trembling arm she lean'd her head, And, looking in his face, saw anguish there Beyond all wounds the quiv'ring flesh can bear"I meant not thou shouldst have the pain of this:"Though death, with thee thus tasted, is a bliss "Thou wouldst not rob me of, didst thou but know, "How oft I've pray'd to God I might die so! "But the Fiend's venom was too scant and slow ;"To linger on were madd'ning—and I thought "If once that Veil--nay, look not on it-caught "The eyes of your fierce soldiery, I should be "Strack by a thousand death-darts instantly. "But this is sweeter-oh! believe me, yes"I would not change this sad, but dear caress, "This death within thy arms I would not give "For the most smiling life the happiest live!

66

All, that stood dark and drear before the eye "Of my stray'd soul, is passing swiftly by; "A light comes o'er me from those looks of love, "Like the first dawn of mercy from above; "And if thy lips but tell me I'm forgiv'n, 66 Angels will echo the bless'd words in Heav'n! "But live, my Azım;-oh! to call thee mine "Thus once again! my Azim-dream divine! "Live, if thou ever lov'dst me, if to meet "Thy ZELICA hereafter would be sweet, "Oh, live to pray for her-to bend the knee

66

66

Morning and night before that Deity,

To whom pure lips and hearts without a stain, "As thine are, Azim, never breathed in vain,— "And pray that he may pardon her,—may take Compassion on her soul for thy dear sake,

66

"And, naught rememb'ring but her love to thee, "Make her all thine, all His, eternally! "Go to those happy fields where first we twined “Our youthful hearts together-every wind "That meets thee there, fresh from the well-known flow'rs, 'Will bring the sweetness of those innocent hours "Back to my soul, and thou mayst feel again "For thy poor ZELICA as thou didst then. "So shall thy orisons, like dew that flies "To Heav'n upon the morning's sunshine, rise "With all love's earliest ardour to the skies! "And should they-but, alas, my senses fail"Oh for one minute !-should thy prayers prevail"If pardon'd souls may, from that World of Bliss, "Reveal their joy to those they love in this"I'll come to thee-in some sweet dream-and tell— "Oh Heav'n-I die-dear love! farewell, farewell!"

Time fleeted-years on years had pass'd away, Ard few of those who on that mournfui day,

Had stood, with pity in their eyes, to see
The maiden's death, and the youth's agony,
Were living still-when, by a rustic grave,
Beside the swift Amoo's transparent wave,
An aged man, who had grown aged there
By that lone grave, morning and night in prayer,
For the last time knelt down-and, though the shade
Of death hung dark'ning over him, there play'd
A gleam of rapture on his eye and cheek,
That brighten'd even Death-like the last streak
Of intense glory on th' horizon's brim,
When night o'er all the rest hangs chill and dim.
His soul had seen a Vision, while he slept;
She, for whose spirit he had pray'd and wept
So many years, had come to him, all dress'd
In angel smiles, and told him she was bless'd!
For this the old man breathed his thanks, and died
And there, upon the banks of that loved tide,
He and his ZELICA sleep side by side.

THE story of the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan being ended, they were now doomed to hear FADLADEEN's criti cisms upon it. A series of disappointments and accidents had occurred to this learned Chamberlain during the journey. In the first place, those couriers stationed, as in the reign of Shah Jehan, between Delhi and the Western coast of India, to secure a constant supply of man. goes for the Royal Table, had, by some cruel irregularity, failed in their duty; and to eat any mangoes but those of Mazagong was, of course, impossible. In the next place, the elephant, laden with his fine antique porcelain,† had, in an unusual fit of liveliness, shattered the whole set to pieces :—an irreparable loss, as many of the vessels were so exquisitely old, as to have been used under the Emperors Yan and Chun, who reigned many ages before the dynasty of Tang. His Koran, too, supposed to be the identical copy between the leaves of which Mahomet's favourite pigeon used to nestle, had been mislaid by his Koran-bearer three whole days; not without much spir. itual alarm to FADLADEEN, who, though professing to hold with other loyal and orthodox Mussulmans, that salvation could only be found in the Koran, was strongly sus pected of believing in his heart, that it could only be found in his own particular copy of it. When to all these grievances is added the obstinacy of the cooks, in putting the pepper of Canara into his dishes instead of the cinnamon of Serendib, we may easily suppose that he came to the task of criticism with, at least, a sufficient degree of irritability for the purpose.

“In order,” said he, importantly swinging about his chaplet of pearls, "to convey with clearness my opinion of the story this young man has related, it is necessary to take a review of all the stories that have ever-"My good FADLADEEN!" exclaimed the Princess, interrupting him, "we really do not deserve that you should give yourself so much trouble. Your opinion of the poem we have just heard, will, I have no doubt, be abundantly edifying, without any further waste of your valuable erudition." "If that be all," replied the critic,--evidently mortified at not being allowed to show how much he knew about every thing, but the subject immediately before him,-" if that be all that is required, the matter is easily dispatched." He then proceeded to analyze the poem in that strain, (so well known to the unfortunate bards of Delhi,) whose censures were an infliction from which few

"The celebrity of Mazagong is owing to its mangoes, which are certainly the best fruit I ever tasted. The parent-tree, from which a those of this species have been grafted, is honoured during the fruit-season by a guard of sepoys; and, in the reign of Shah Jehan, couriers were stationed between Delhi and the Mahratta coast, to secure an abundant and fresh supply of mangoes for the royal table.”—Mrs. Graham's Jour nal of a Residence in India.

This old porcelain is found in digging, and “if it is esteemed, it ia not because it has acquired any new degree of beauty in the earth, but because it has retained its ancient beauty; and this alone is of great im portance in China, where they give large sums for the smallest vessels which were used under the Emperors Yan and Chan, who reigned many ages before the dynasty of Tang, at which time porcelain began to be used by the Emperors," (about the year 442.) — Dunn's Collection of Curious Observations, &c. a bad translation of some parts of the Lat tres Edifiantes et Curieuses of the Missionary Jesuits.