Opeu'd and gave the entrance. Then she turn'd To Thalaba and said, «Go, in the name of God! In hope and agony. For thy sake and for ours!» Four living pinions, headless, bodyless, Sprung from one stem that branch'd below In four down-arching limbs, And clench'd the car-rings endlong and athwart With claws of griffin grasp. 3 XIV. For there, upon the brink, A man, a living man, tormented lay, Forgetful of bis call. In shuddering piry, Thalaba exclaim'd, « Servant of God, can I not succour thee ?» He groan'd, and answered, « Son of Man, I sinn'd, and am tormented; I endure In patience and in liope. The hour that shall destroy the Race of Hell, That hour shall set me free.» XI. And passions now put off, There was a light within, Through travelling rain and mist Shines on the evening hills. Or if the sun-beams, day by day, In those portentous vaults ; Cast its dark outline there; Spread over all its equal yellowness. He felt no stirring as he past Adown the long descent; He heard not his own footsteps on the rock, That through the thick stagnation sent no sound. How sweet it were, he thought, To feel the flowing wind ! With what a chirst of joy 5 XV. « Is it not come ?» quoth Thalaba, « Yea! by this omen!»—and with fearless hand He grasp'd the burning fetters, « in the name Of God!»—and from the rock For they had kindled in their fall But vainly he explor'd The deep abyss of fame, That sunk beyond the plunge of mortal eye, Now all ablaze, as if infernal fires Illum'd the world beneath. The name grew pale and dim, And all again is dark, Save where the yellow air 8 XIT. The long, long, way is safe. No lurking enemy? And warily survey'd The path that lay before. The long, long way is safe ; The same dead atmosphere, (c XUT. Ends on a precipice; Por, in the pit profound, Repelld the hostile gleam; Floated, and mingled not. Above the depth, four over-awning wings, Unplum'd, and huge and strong, Bore up a little car; XVI. Meantime, the freed Othatha claspt his knees, And cried, « Deliverer !» struggling then With joyful hope, « and where is she,» he cried, « Whose promis'd coming for so many a year-> « Go!» answered Thalaba, « And in thy triumph,» he replied, « There thou wilt join us ?»— The Deliverer's eye Glanced on the abyss, way else was none The depth was unascendable. « Await not me,» he cried, My path hath been appointed ! go-embark ! Return to life,-- live happy !» OTHATHA. But thy name, That through the nations we may blazon it, That we may bless thee ! THALABA. Sprung and smote the stony doors, And bade them, in the name of God, give way! XVII. And leapt into the car. He neither breathes nor sees; Inflates the wings above. Associate to destroy ? A fiend as false as fair? Inflates the wings above, Repel the rushing wind. XXI. The dying Fiend, beneath him, at that name Tossed in worse agony, The Teraph and the Fire, Mohareb for the strife. Smites his rais'd arm, and rushes by ; Hodeirah's holy Sword. XVII. Float dizzy on his sight; he gazes for the way. There was a distant light that led his search ; The torch a broader blaze, The unprun'd taper flares a longer same, But this was fierce, as is the noon-tide sun, So, in the glory of its rays intense, It quiver'd with green glow. Beyond was all unseen, No eye could penetrate XXII. Then Khawla met the youth, Clasps him, and calls Mobarel now to aim The effectual vengeance. O fool! fool I he sees His Father's Sword, and who shali bar his way? Who stand against the fury of that arm That spurns her to the earth ? She rises balf, she twists around his knees, A moment—and hie vainly strives To shake her from her hold; He stamps his crushing heel, Springs forward to the Sword, XXII. up his robe, and gathered round his head; Hovered the irradiate wreath. XIX. Il veil'd no friendly form, thought Thalaba; And wisely did he deem, For, at the threshold of the rocky door, Hugest and fiercest of his kind accurst, Fit warden of the sorcery gate, A rebel A freet lay." He scented the approach of human food, And hungry hope kindled his eye of fire. Raising his hand to save the dazzled sense, Onward held Thalaba, Till the due distance gain'd, The arrow in its rest. Full on the painful light, He fix'd his aching eye, and loos'd the bow. XXIV. Upon his Father's Sword, The Living Image in the inner cave Through all its thundering vaults; The alarum shock was felt; Compellid by Hell and Heaven; By Hell compell’d to keep Their baptism-covenant, And, with the union of their strength, Oppose the common danger; forced by Heaven To share the common doom. XX. An anguish-yell ensued; And sure, no human voice had scope or power For that prodigious shriek, Dim grew the dying light, Now visible beyond. XIV. Treads the Domdaniel floor! To crush the single foe; And calm in terror he belield The approach of the Destroyer. He wields his Father's Sword, The vengeance of awaken'd Deity! But chief on Thalaba Moharcb prest. The language of the inspired Witch Announced one fatal blow for both, And, desperate of self-safety, yet he hop'd To serve the cause of Eblis, and uphold His empire, true in death. XXIX. Of all that brotherhood The one that had no hope. « On me, on me," the childless Sorcerer cried, « Let fall the weapon! I am he who stole Upon the midnight of thy Father's tent; This is the hand that pierced Hodeiral's heart, That felt thy brethren's and thy sister's blood Gush round the dagger-lilt. Let fall on me The fated sword! the vengeance-lour is come! Destroyer, do thy work!» XXVI. The sorcerer throng recede, What shall the helmet or the shield avail To meet the Arabian's sword, .. He lifts his seymctar, Hangs from his palsied hand! But they feel the sword of Hodeirah, And fall all fearfully Around the Giant Idol's feet, Seekiog salvation from the Power they serv'd. XXX. Nor wile, nor weapon, had the desperate wretch: He spread his bosom to the stroke. « Old man, I strike thee not!» said Thalaba; « The evil thou hast done to me and mine Brought its own bitter punishment, Upon the goodness of offeoded God! Of heaven shall kindle in the penitent The Mercy-Gates unfold.» XSXI. The astonishi'd man stood gazing as lie spake, At length his heart was soften'd, and the tears Gush'd, and he sobb'd aloud. Then suddenly was heard The all-beholding Prophet's divine voice, « Thou hast done well, my Servant! Ask and receive thy reward !» XXVII. Of Eblis it was made; As when among the sons of God A coronel of meteor flames, Self-pois'd in air before him, On its diurnal axis, like the World The work of Demon art. Crush'd all their habitants. Up-bore the ocean-weight, Sole prop and pillar he. XXXII. A deep and awful joy Seem'd to distend the heart of Thalaba; With arms in reverence crost upon his breast, Upseeking eyes suffused with transport-tears, He answered to the Voice, « Prophet of God, Holy, and good, anıl bountiful! One only earthly wish have I, to work Thy will, and thy protection grants me that. Look on this Sorcerer! heavy are his crimes, But infinite is mercy! if thy servant Have now found favour in the sight of God, Let him be touched with penitence, and save His soul from utter death,» XXVII. Clung to the Idol's knees; XXXIII. « The groans of penitence,» replied tlie Voice, « Never arise unheard! col. 1. Note 4, page go, And rested like a dome. But, for thyself, prefer the prayer; La mer n'est plus qu'un cercle aux yeux des Matelots, Le Nouveau Monde, par M. Le Suire. Note 5, page 90, col. 2. Here studding azure tablatures. Thou knowest the secret wishes of my heart! The magnificent Mosque at Tauris is faced with varDo with me as thou wilt! thy will is best.» nished bricks, of various colours, like most fine build ings in Persia, says Tavernier. One of its domes is XXXV. covered with white flower-work upon a green ground; There issued forth no Voice to answer him; the other has a black ground, spotted with white stars. But, lo! Hodeirah's Spirit comes to see Gilding is also common upon oriental buildings. At His vengeance, and beside him, a pure form Boghar in Bactria our old traveller Jenkinson' saw Of roseale light, his Angel mother hung. « many houses, temples, and monuments of stone, « My child, my dear, my glorious... blessed.. Child, sumptuously builded and gilt.» My promise is perform'd..fulfil thy work!» lu l'egu « they consume about their Varely or idol houses great store of leafe-gold, for that they overlay XXXVI. all the tops of the houses with gold, and some of them Thalaba knew that his death hour was come, are covered with gold from the top to the foote; in coAnd on he leapt, and springing up, vering whereof there is a great store of gold spent, for Into the Idol's heart that every ten years they new overlay them with gold, Hilt deep he drove the Sword. from the top to the foole, so that with tbis vanitie they The Ocean-Vault fell in, and all were crush'd. spend great aboundance of golde. For every ten years In the same moment, at the gate the rain doth consume the gold from these houses.) Of Paradise, Oneiza's Houri form Cæsar Frederick, in Hakluyt. A waste of ornament and labour characterises all the works of the Orientalists. I have seen illuminated Persian manuscripts that must each have been the toil of many years, every page painted, not with representaNOTES. tions of life and manners, but usually like the curves and lines of a lurkey carpet, conveying no idea what ever, as absurd to the eye as nonsense-verses to the car. BOOK I. The little of their literature that has reached us is equally worthless. Our barbarian scholars have called ferNote 1, page 89, col. 2. dusi the Oriental Homer. We have a specimen of his Like the round ocean, girdled with the sky. poem; the translation is said to be bad, and certainly Henry More had a similar picture in his mind when must be unfaithful, for it is in rhyme; but the vilest he wrote of copy of a picture at least represents the subject and the composition. To make this Iliad of the East, as they Vast plains with lowly cottages forlorn, Rounded about with the low-wavering sky. have sacrilegiously styled it, a good poem, would be realizing the dreams of alchemy, and transmuung Note 2, page 89, col. 2. lead into gold. The Arabian Tales certainly abound with genius; It may be worti mentioning, that, according to Pietro they have lost their metaphorical rubbisli in passing della Valle, this is the name of which the Latins have through the filter of a rench translation. made Zenobia, Note 6, page go, col. 2. Sennamar built at llirah, etc. The Arabians call this palace one of the wonders of The Lord gave, and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the world. It was built for Nôman-al-Aouar, one of the name of the Lord.—Job i, 21. those Arabian Kings who reigned at Hirah. A single I have placed a scripture phrase in the mouth of a stone fastened the whole structure; the colour of the Mahommcdan; but it is a saying of Job, and there can walls varied frequently in a day. Nòman richly rebe no impropriety in making a modern Arab speak like warded the architect Sennamar; but recollecting after an ancient one. "Resiynation is particularly inculcated wards that he might build palaces equal, or superior ia by Mahommed, and of all his precepts it is that which beauty, for his rival kings, ordered that he should be bis followers have best observed: it is even the vice of thrown from the highest tower of the edifice.---D'Herthe East. It had been easy to have made Zeinab speak belot. from the Koran, if the tame language of the Koran could An African colony had been settled in the north of be remembered by the few who have toiled through its Ireland long before the arrival of the Neimledians. dull tautology. I thought it better to express a feeling It is recorded, that Neimheidh had employed four of of religion in that language with which our religious ideas are connected. Blaklayt. Saw Zeinab in ber bliss. their artisans to erect for him iwo sumptuous palaces, reigned in the province of Hegiaz. They explained to which were so bighly finished, that, jealous lest they him the occasion of their journey, and demanded leave might construct others on the same, or perhaps a to proceed and perform their devotions at the Red grander plan, he had them privately made away with, Hillock, that they might procure rain. the day after they had completed their work.-O'Hal- Mortadh, who was the wisest of this company, and loran's History of Ireland. who had been converted by the Prophet floud, often remonstrated with his associates, that it was useless to Note 7, page 91, col. 1. take this journey for the purpose of praying at this The paradise of Irem, etc. chosen spot, unless they had previously adopted the The tribe of Ad were descended from Ad, the son of truths which the Prophet preached, and seriously reAus or Uz, the son of Irem, the son of Shem, the son of pented of their unbelief. For how, said he, can you Noah, who, after the confusion of toogues, settled in hope that God will shed upon us the abundant showers Al-Abküf, or the winding sauds in the province of Ba of his mercy, if we refuse to hear the voice of him dramaut, where his posterity greatly multiplied. Their whom he hath sent to instruct us? first King was Shedad, the son of Ad, of whom the east- Kail, who was one of the most obstinate in error, and ern writers deliver many fabulous things, particularly consequently of the Prophet's worst enemies, liearing that he finished the inaguificent city his father had be the discourses of his colleague, requested King Moawigun; wherein he built a fine palace, adorned with deli- yah to detain Mortadb prisoner, whilst he and the recious gardens, lo embellish which he spared neither mainder of his companions proceeded to make their cost nor labour, proposing thereby to create in his sub- prayers upon the Billock. Moàwiyalı consented, and, jects a superstitious veneration of himself as a God. This detaining Mortadh captive, permitted the others to purgarden or paradise was called the Garden of Irem, and is sue their journey, and accomplish their vow. mentioned in the Koran, and often alluded to by the Kail, now the sole chief of the deputation, having arOriental writers. The city, they tell us, is still standing rived at the place, prayed thus, Lord, give to the people in the deserts of Aden, being preserved by Providence of Ad such rains as it shall please thee. ånd he had as a monument of divine justice, though it be invisible, scarcely finished when there appeared three clouds in unless very rarely, when God permits it to be seen: a the sky, one white, one red, the third black. At the same favour one Colabah pretended to have received in the time these words were heard to proceed from Heaven, reign of the Khalif Moawiyah, who sending for him to Chuse which of the three thou wilt. Kail chose the know the truth of the matter, Colabah related his whole black, which lie imagined the fullest, and most abundadventure: that, as lie was seeking a camel he had lost, ant in water, of which they were in extreme want. he found himself on a sudden at the gates of this city, After having chosen, he immediately quitted the place, and entering it, saw not one inhabitant; at which be- and took the road 10 liis own country, congratulating ing terrified, he stayed no longer than to take with him himself on the happy success of his pilgrimage. some fine stones, which he showed the Khalif.-Sale. As soon as Kail arrived in the valley of Magaith, a The descendants of Ad in process of time falling from part of the territory of the Adites, le informed his the worship of the true God into idolatry, God sent the countrymen of the favourable answer lie had received, prophet Houd (who is generally agreed to be Heber) 10 and of the cloud which was soon to water all their lands. preach the unity of his essence, and reclaim them. The senseless people all came out of their houses to reHoud preached for many years to this people without ceive it; but this cloud, which was big with the divine effect, till God at last was weary of waiting for their vengeance, produced only a wind, most cold and most repentance. The first punishment which he inflicted violent, which the Arabs call Sarsar; it continued to was a famine of three years' continuance, during all blow for seven days and seven nights and exterminated which time the heavens were closed upon them. This, all the unbelievers of the country, leaving only the with the evils which it caused, destroyed a great part Prophet loud alive, and those who had heard him and of this people, who were then the richest and most turned to the faith.-D'Herbelot. powerful of all in Arabia. Note 8, page 91, col. 1. The Adites seeing themselves reduced to this extre O'er all the winding sands. mity, and receiving no succour from their false gods, resolved to make a pilgrimage to a place in the pro Al Ahkaf signifies the Winding Sands. vince of Hegiaz, where at present Mecca is situated. Note 9, page 91, col. 2. There was then a hillock of red sand there, around Detects the ebony which a great concourse of different people might al I have heard from a certain Cyprian botanist, that the as the unfaithful, believed that by visiting this spot it is never seen exposed to the sun : that its roots are in ways be seen; and all these nations, the faithful as well Ebony does not produce either leaves or fruit, and that with devotion, they should obtain from God whatever deed under the earth, which the Æthiopians dig out, they petitioned for, respecting the wants and necessities and that there are men among them skilled in finding of life. 'The Adites having then resolved to undertake this the place of its concealment.—Pausanias, translateillon religious journey, chose seventy men, at whose head Taylor. they appointed Mortadh and Kail, the two most consi Note 10, page 92, col. 1. derable personages of the country, to perform this duty We to our Idols still applied for aid. in the name of the whole nation, and by this means The Adites worshipped four Idols, Sakiah the disprocure rain from Ilcaven, without which their coun- penser of rain, llafedala the protector of travellers, The deputies departed, and were Razekah the giver of food, and Salemah the preserver hospitably received by Moawiyalı, wlio at that time in sickness.- D'Herbelot. a try must be ruined. |