The foremost of the band is seen The burthen ye so gently bear Seems one that claims your utmost care, Sullen it plunged, and slowly sank, That gemm'd the tide, then mock'd the sight; Which, trembling in their coral caves, As rising on its purple wing Woe waits the insect and the maid, ! I * Green is the privileged colour of the Prophet's numerous pretended descendants: with them, as here, faith (the family inheritance) is supposed to supersede the necessity of good works; they are the worst of very indifferent brood. a For every touch that woo'd its stay The Mind, that broods o'er guilty woes, * Alluding to the dubious suicide of the scorpion, so placed for experiment by gentle philosophers. Some maintain that the position of the sting, when turned + Salam aleikoum! aleikoum salam Peace be towards the head, is merely a convulsive movement; with you; be with you peace-the salutation reserved but others have actually brought in the verdict Felo for the faithful:-to a Christian, Urlarula - A good de se. The scorpions are surely interested in a speedy journey;' or 'Saban hiresem, saban serula Good decision of the question; as, if once fairly established inorn, good even and sometimes, May your end be as insect Catos, they will probably be allowed to live happy. are the usual salutes. as long as they think proper, without martyred being mar The blue-winged butterfly of Kashmeer, the most for the sake of a hypothesis, rare and beautiful of the species. †The cannon at sunset close the Rhamazan, bns And far beyond the Moslem's powered I Who did not watch their charge too well; Phingari, the moon.jp of garde + The celebrated fabulous ruby of Sultan Giamschid, the embellisher of Istakhar; from its splendour, named Schebgerag, The Torch of Night, also The Cup of the Sun, etc. Al-Sirat, the bridge of breadth less than the thread of a famished spider, over which the Mussulmans must skate into Paradise, to which it is the only entrance: but this is not the worst, the river beneath being hell itself, into which, as may be expected, the unskilful and tender of foot contrive to tumble with a facilis descensus Averni, not very pleasing in prospect to the next passenger. There is a shorter cut downwards to the Jews and Christians. A A vulgar error; the Koran allots at least a third of Paradise to well-behaved women; but by far the greater number of Mussulmans interpret the text their own way, and exclude their moieties from heaven. Being enemies to Platonics, they cannot discern any fitness of things' in the souls of the other sex, conceiving them to be superseded by the Houris. An oriental simile, which may perhaps, though fairly stolen, be deemed plus Arabe qu'en Arabie. Hyacinthine, in Arabic Sunbul;' as common a thought in the Eastern peets as it was among the Greeks. A As midst her handmaids in the hall Along the banks that bound her tide; Stern Hassan hath a journey ta'en With twenty vassals in his train, Each arm'd, as best becomes a man, With arquebuss and ataghan; The chief before, as deck'd for war, Bears in his belt the scimitar Stain'd with the best of Arnaut blood, When in the pass the rebels stood, And few returned to tell the tale Of what befel in Parne's vale. The pistols which his girdle bore. Were those that once a pacha wore, A And theirs may be a feast to-night, Shall tempt them down ere morrow's light, They reach the grove of pine at last : ⚫ Bismillah ! now the peril's past; For yonder view the opening plain, And there we'll prick our steeds amain :* The Chiaus spake, and as he said, A bullet whistled o'er his head; Jurf The foremost Tartar bites the ground! Scarce had they time to check the rein, Swift from their steeds the riders bound; But three shall never mount again : Unseen the foes that gave the wound, The dying ask revenge in vain. With steel unsheath'd, and carbine bent, Some o'er their courser's harness leant, Half shelter'd by the steed; Some fly behind the nearest rock, Nor tamely stand to bleed i Bismillah-In the name of God;' the commencement of all the chapters of the Koran but one, and of prayer and thanksgiving. I know him by the evil eye and jet bas y buft The bickering sabres' shivering jar, And pealing wide or ringing near Its echoes on the throbbing ear, The death-shot hissing from afar ; I More suited to the shepherd's tale: Though few the numbers-theirs the strife, That neither spares nor speaks for life! Ah! fondly youthful hearts can press, To seize and share the dear caress; But Love itself could never pant For all that beauty sighs to grant, With half the fervour Hate bestows Upon the last embrace of foes, When grappling in the fight they fold Those arms that ne'er shall lose their hold: Friends meet to part; Love laughs at faith; True foes, once inet, are joined till death! A phenomenon not uncommon with an angry affected." Mussulmian. Amaun,' quarter, pardon. The flowered shawls generally worn by persons of rank. 1 'Yes, Leila sleeps beneath the wave, But his shall be a redder grave; Her spirit pointed well the steel Which taught that felon heart to feel. He call'd the Prophet, but his power Was vain against the vengeful Giaour: He call'd on Allah, but the word Arose unheeded or unheard.mbient 19 Thou Paynim fool! could Leila's prayer Be pass'd, and thine accorded there? I watch'd my time, I leagued with these, The traitor in his turn to seize; My wrath is wreak'd, the deed is done, And now I go-but go alone.' The browsing camels' pells are tinkling, She saw the planets faintly twinkling: 'Why comes he not? his steeds are fleet, Is his heart more cold, or his barb less swift? The Tartar lighted at the gate, A turban carved in coarsest stone, A pillar with rank weeds o'ergrown, A Whereon can now be scarcely read The Koran verse that mourns the dead, Point out the spot where Hassan fell A victim in that lonely dell. There sleeps as true an Osmanlie As e'er at Mecca bent the kneebad Fate As ever scorn'd forbidden wine, Or pray'd with face towards the shrine, At solemn sound of Allah Hut On him shall glance for ever bright; They come their kerchiefs green they wave,‡ And welcome with a kiss the brave Who falls in battle 'gainst a Giaour Is worthiest an immortal bower, A The turban, pillar, and inscriptive verse, decorate the tombs of the Osmanlies, whether in the cemetery or the wilderness. In the mountains you frequently pass similar mementos; and on inquiry you are informed that they record some victim of rebellion, plunder, or revenge. Allah Hu!' the concluding words of the Muezzin's call to prayer from the highest gallery on the exterior of the minaret. On a still evening, when the Muezzin has a fine voice, which is frequently the case, the effect is solemn and beautiful beyond all the bells in Christendom. 1 The following is part of a battle-song of the Turks: I see-I see a dark-eyed girl of Paradise, and she waves a handkerchief, a kerchief of green; and cries aloud, "Come, kiss me, for I love thee." Monkir and Nekir are the inquisitors of the dead, before whom the corpse undergoes a slight novitiate and preparatory training for damnation. If the answers are none of the clearest, he is hauled up with a scythe and thumped down with a red-hot mace till properly seasoned, with a variety of subsidiary proba. tions. The office of these angels is no sinecure: there are but two, and the number of orthodox deceased being in a small proportion to the remainder, their hands are always full. Consult Sale's Koran. Eblis, the Oriental Prince of Darkness. The Vampire superstition is still general in the Levant. Honest Tournefort tells a long story, which Mr. Southey, in his notes on Thalaba, quotes, about these Vroucolochas,' as he calls them. The Romaic The calpac is the solid cap or centre part of the term is, Vardoulacha.' I recollect a whole family head-dress; the shawl is wound round it, and forms being terrified by the scream of a child, which they imagined must proceed from such a visitation. The the turban. Then ghastly haunt thy native place, A Of which in life a lock when shorn Wet with thine own best blood shall drip* 'How name ye yon lone Caloyer? His features I have scann'd before In mine own land: 'tis many a year, Since, dashing by the lonely shore, I saw him urge as fleet a steed As ever served a horseman's need. But once I saw that face, yet then It was so marked with inward pain, I could not pass it by again; It breathes the same dark spirit now, As death were stamp'd upon his brow." "Tis twice three years at summer tide of Since first among our freres he came; And here it soothes him to abide. For some dark deed he will not name, ede hBut never at our vesper prayer, ko Nori e'er before confession chair, Kneels he, nor recks he when arise Incense or anthem to the skies, But broods within his cell alone, His faith and race alike unknown. The sea from Paynim land he crost, nungand sro to avrob odi wa ana Dark and unearthly is the scowlany T That glares beneath his dusky cowl: The flash of that dilating eyed River Reveals too much of times gone by; se Though varying, indistinct its hue, Oft will his glance the gazer rue, swit For in it lurks that nameless spell, Which speaks, itself unspeakable,na 10% A spirit yet unquell'd and high, That claims and keeps ascendancy; And like the bird whose pinions quake, But cannot fly the gazing snake, om do Will others quail beneath his look, Nor 'scape the glance they scarce can brook, From him the half-affrighted friar When met alone would fain retire, bu As if that high and bitter smile Transferr'd to others fear and guile Not oft to smile descendeth hewit And when he doth, 'tis sad to see That he but mocks at Misery.no How that pale lip will curl and quiver !! Then fix once more as if for ever; we aff As if his sorrow or disdain #gim eigi will Forbade him e'er to smile again,dung all Well were it so-such ghastly mirth, From joyaunce ne'er derived its birth, But sadder still it were to trace to isgr What once were feelings in that face; Time hath not yet the features fix'd,p. But brighter traits with evil mix'de And there are hues not always faded, Which speak a mind not all degraded,aft Even by the crimes through which it waded, The common crowd but see the gloom Of wayward deeds, and fitting doom The close observer can espy ei A noble soul, and lineage high: |