Young fire-eyed disputants, who deem their swords, And such their zeal, there's not a youth with brand Their vesture, helms and all, is snowy white; Their weapons various — some equipped, for speed, With javelins of the light Kathaian reed; 2 Or bows of buffalo horn and shining quivers 3 Fill'd with the stems that bloom on IRAN's rivers; Between the porphyry pillars, that uphold The rich moresque-work of the roof of gold, éblouir ceux qui l'approchoient par l'éclat de son visage comme Moyse." D'Herbelot. 1 Black was the color 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 coeffures et des étendarts des Khalifes Abassides étant la noire, ce chef de Rebelles ne pouvoit pas choisir une qui lui fût plus opposée."-D'Herbelot. 2 "Our dark javelins, exquisitely wrought of Khathaian reeds, slender and delicate." Poem of Amru. 3 Pichula, used anciently for arrows by the Persians. 4 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. - 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. Aloft the Haram's curtained galleries rise, But why this pageant now? this armed array ? What triumph crowds the rich Divan to-day With turbaned heads, of every hue and race, Bowing before that veiled and awful face, The burning fountains of Brahma near Chittogong, esteemed as holy.Turner. ? China. Like tulip-beds,1 of different shape and dyes, Not such the pageant now, though not less proud; Yon warrior youth, advancing from the crowd, With silver bow, with belt of broidered crape, And fur-bound bonnet of Bucharian shape,2 So fiercely beautiful in form and eye, Like war's wild planet in a summer sky; That youth to-day, ―a proselyte, worth hordes Of cooler spirits and less practised swords, Is come to join, all bravery and belief, The creed and standard of the heaven-sent Chief. Though few his years, the West already knows Young Azim's fame ;- beyond the' Olympian snows Ere manhood darkened o'er his downy cheek, O'erwhelmed in fight and captive to the Greek,3 He lingered there, till peace dissolved his chains; — O, who could, even in bondage, tread the plains Of glorious GREECE, nor feel his spirit rise Kindling within him? who, with heart and eyes, 1 "The name of tulip is said to be of Turkish extraction, and given to the flower on account of its resembling a turban." - Beckmann's History of Inventions. 2 "The inhabitants of Bucharia wear a round cloth bonnet, shaped much after the Polish fashion, having a large fur border. They tie their kaftans about the middle with a girdle of a kind of silk crape, several times round the body." Account of Independent Tartary, in Pinkerton's Collection. 3 In the war of the Caliph Mahadi against the Empress Irene, for an ac count of which vide Gibbon, vol. x. Could walk where Liberty had been, nor see Nor feel those god-like breathings in the air, False views, like that horizon's fair deceit, Where earth and heaven but seem, alas, to meet! Believes the form, to which he bends his knee, Low as young Azıм knelt, that motley crowd Of all earth's nations sunk the knee and bowed, With shouts of "ALLA!" echoing long and loud; While high in air, above the Prophet's head, Hundreds of banners, to the sunbeam spread, Waved, like the wings of the white birds that fan The flying throne of star-taught SOLIMAN.1 Then thus he spoke: "Stranger, though new the frame "Thy soul inhabits now, I've tracked its flame "For many an age,2 in every chance and change "Of that existence, through whose varied range, "As through a torch-race, where, from hand to hand, "The flying youths transmit their shining brand, — "From frame to frame the unextinguished soul Rapidly passes, till it reach the goal! 66 "Nor think 'tis only the gross Spirits, warmed "With duskier fire and for earth's medium formed, "That run this course; Beings, the most divine, "Thus deign through dark mortality to shine. "Such was the Essence that in ADAM dwelt, "To which all Heaven, except the Proud One, knelt: 3 "Such the refined Intelligence that glowed "In MOUSSA's 4 frame, -and, thence descending, flowed 1 This wonderful Throne was called The Star of the Genii. For a full description of it, see the Fragment, translated by Captain Franklin, from a Persian MS. entitled "The History of Jerusalem," Oriental Collections, vol. i. p. 235.-When Soliman travelled, the eastern writers say, "He had a carpet of green silk on which his throne was placed, being of a prodigious length and breadth, and sufficient for all his forces to stand upon, the men placing themselves on his right hand, and the spirits on his left; and that when all were in order, the wind, at his command, took up the carpet, and transported it, with all that were upon it, wherever he pleased; the army of birds at the same time flying over their heads, and forming a kind of canopy to shade them from the sun." Sale's Koran, vol. ii. p. 214, note. 2 The transmigration of souls was one of his doctrines. - Vide D'Her belot. 3 "And when we said unto the angels, Worship Adam, they all wor shipped him except Eblis, (Lucifer,) who refused.". The Koran, chap. ii 4 Moses. |