who, in the year of the Hegira 163, created such alarm throughout the Eastern Empire, made an obeisance to the Princess, and thus began:

Hakem ben Haschem, and who was called Mocanna from the veil of silver gauze (or, as others say, golden) which he always wore, see D'Herbelot.

THE

VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN.*

IN that delightful Province of the Sun,
The first of Persian lands he shines upon,
Where all the loveliest children of his beam,
Flow'rets and fruits, blush over ev'ry stream,†
And, fairest of all streams, the MURGA roves
Among MEROU's bright palaces and groves;—

* Khorassan signifies, in the old Persian language, Province or Region of the Sun. - Sir W. Jones.

"The fruits of Meru are finer than those of any other place; and one cannot see in any other city such palaces with groves, and streams, and gardens."- Ebn Haukal's Geography.

One of the royal cities of Khorassan.

There on that throne, to which the blind belief
Of millions rais'd him, sat the Prophet-Chief,
The Great MOKANNA. O'er his features hung
The Veil, the Silver Veil, which he had flung
In mercy there, to hide from mortal sight
His dazzling brow, till man could bear its light.

For, far less luminous, his votaries said,

Were ev'n the gleams, miraculously shed

O'er MOUSSA's cheek †, when down the Mount he trod,

All glowing from the presence of his God!

On either side, with ready hearts and hands,

His chosen guard of bold Believers stands;
Young fire-eyed disputants, who deem their swords,
On points of faith, more eloquent than words;
And such their zeal, there's not a youth with brand
Uplifted there, but, at the Chief's command,
Would make his own devoted heart its sheath,
And bless the lips that doom'd so dear a death!

* Moses.

"Ses disciples assuroient qu'il se couvroit le visage, pour ne pas éblouir ceux qui l'approchoient par l'éclat de son visage comme Moyse."-D'Herbelot.

In hatred to the Caliph's hue of night,

Their vesture, helms and all, is snowy white;

Their weapons various - some equipp'd, for speed,

With javelins of the light Kathaian reed; †

Or bows of buffalo horn and shining quivers

Fill'd with the stems that bloom on IRAN's rivers; § While some, for war's more terrible attacks,

Wield the huge mace and ponderous battle-axe;

And as they wave aloft in morning's beam

The milk-white plumage of their helms, they seem

* Black was the colour adopted by the Caliphs of the House of Abbas, in their garments, turbans, and standards. "Il faut remarquer ici touchant les habits blancs des disciples de Hakem, que la couleur des habits, des coëffures et des étendarts des Khalifes Abassides étant la noire, ce chef de Rebelles ne pouvoit pas choisir une qui lui fut plus opposée."-D'Herbelot.

† “Our dark javelins, exquisitely wrought of Khathaian reeds, slender and delicate." - Poem of Amru.

Pichula, used anciently for arrows by the Persians.

§ The Persians call this plant Gaz. The celebrated shaft of Isfendiar, one of their ancient heroes, was made of it.—“ Nothing can be more beautiful than the appearance of this plant in flower during the rains on the banks of rivers, where it is usually interwoven with a lovely twining asclepias."-Sir W. Jones, Botanical Observations on Select Indian Plants.

Like a chenar-tree grove *, when winter throws
O'er all its tufted heads his feathering snows.

Between the porphyry pillars, that uphold The rich moresque-work of the roof of gold, Aloft the Haram's curtain'd galleries rise, Where, through the silken network, glancing eyes, From time to time, like sudden gleams that glow Through autumn clouds, shine o'er the pomp below.— What impious tongue, ye blushing saints, would dare To hint that aught but Heaven hath plac'd you there? Or that the loves of this light world could bind, In their gross chain, your Prophet's soaring mind? No-wrongful thought!-commission'd from above To people Eden's bowers with shapes of love, (Creatures so bright, that the same lips and They wear on earth will serve in Paradise,) There to recline among Heaven's native maids, And crown the' Elect with bliss that never fades

eyes

*The oriental plane. "The chenar is a delightful tree; its bole is of a fine white and smooth bark; and its foliage, which grows in a tuft at the summit, is of a bright green."— Morier's Travels.

C