garment (the Toga I take it to be) of the Romans was of this kind; for if the drapery of their statues is to instruct us, this is actually no other than what the Arabs appear in, when they are folded up in their Hykes. Instead of the fibula, they join together, with thread or a wooden bodkin, the two upper corners of this garment, which being first placed over one of their shoulders, they fold the rest of it afterwards round their bodies. - Shaw. The employment of the women is to prepare their wool, spin, and weave in looms hung lengthways in their tents. Those looms are formed by a list of an ell and a half long, to which the threads of the warp are fixed at one end, and at the other on a roller of equal length; the weight of which, being suspended, keeps them stretched. The threads of the warp are so hung as to be readily intersected. Instead of shuttles, the women pass the thread of the woof through the warp with their fingers, and with an iron comb, having a handle, press the woof to give a body to their cloth. Each piece, of about five ells long, and an ell and a half wide, is called a haick; it receives neither dressing, milling, nor dyeing, but is immediately fit for use. It is the constant dress of the Moors of the country, is without seam, and incapable of varying, according to the caprices of fashion: when dirty, it is washed. The Moor is wrapped up in it day and night; and this haick is the living model of the drapery of the ancients. - Chenier. If thou at all take thy neighbor's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the Sun goeth down. For that is his covering only; it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? - Exodus, xxii. 26, 27. Consuming still in flames, and still renew'd. — 15, p. 258. Fear the fire, whose fuel is men and stones prepared for the unbelievers. Koran, Chap. 2. Verily, those who disbelieve our signs, we will surely cast to be broiled in hell-fire; so often as their skins shall be well burned, we will give them other skins in exchange, that they may take the sharper torment. - Koran, Chap. 4. Their waving wings his sun-shield. - 15, p. 258. The Arabians attribute to Solomon a perpetual enmity and warfare against wicked Genii and Giants; on the subject of his wonder-working Ring, their tales are innumerable. They have even invented a whole race of Pre-Adamite Solomons, who, according to them, governed the world successively, to the number of 40, or, as others affirm, as many as 72. All these made the evil Genii their unwilling drudges. - D'Herbelot. Anchieta was going in a canoe to the mouth of the river Aldea, a delightful spot, surrounded with mango-trees, and usually abounding with birds called goarazes, that breed there. These birds are about the size of a hen, their color a rich purple inclining to red. They are white when hatched, and soon become black; but as they grow larger, lose that color, and take this rich and beautiful purple. Our navigators had reached the place, but when they should have enjoyed the fine prospect which delights all who pass it, the sun was excessively hot; and this eye-pleasure was purchased dearly, when the whole body was in a profuse perspiration, and the rowers were in a fever. Their distress called upon Joseph, and the remedy was no new one to him. He saw three or four of these birds perched upon a mango, and calling to them in the Brazilian language, which the rowers understood, said, Go you, call your companions, and come to shade these hot servants of the Lord. The birds stretched out their necks as if in obedience, and away they went to seek for others, and in a short time they came flying in the shape of an elegant cloud, and they shadowed the canoe a good league out to sea, till the fresh sea-breeze sprung up. Then he told them they might go about their business; and they separated with a clamor of rude, but joyful sounds, which were only understood by the Author of Nature, who created them. This was a greater miracle than that of the cloud with which God defended his chosen people in the wilderness from the heat of the sun, inasmuch as it was a more elegant and fanciful parasol. Acho que foy maior portento este que o da nuvem, com que Deos defendeo no deserto a seu Povo mimoso do calor do sol, tanto quanto mais tem de gracioso et aprasivel este chapeo de sol, que aquelle. This was one of Anchieta's common miracles. Jacob Biderman has an epigram upon the subject, quoted in the Jesuit's Life. Hesperii peterent cum barbara littora mystæ, Ille suum extincto, Phabi quia lampadis æstu Et procul inde diem, et lucem pepulere diei, Vida do Veneravel Padre Joseph de Anchieta, da Companhia de Jesu, Taumaturgo do Novo Mundo, na Provincia do Brasil. composta pello P. Simam de Vasconcellos, da mesma Companhia. Lisboa. 1672. The Jesuits probably stole this miracle from the Arabian story of Solomon; not that they are by any means deficient in invention; but they cannot be suspected of ignorance. In that rare book, the Margarita Philosophica Basiliæ, 1535, is an account of a parasol more convenient, though not in so elegant a taste, as that of the wonder-working Anchieta. There is said to be a nation of one-legged men; and one of these unipeds is represented in a print, lying on his back, under the shade of his own great foot. The most curious account of Solomon's wisdom is in Du Bartas. Hee knowes Whether the Heaven's sweet-sweating kisse appear Or be some fishes pleasant excrement; Sylvester's Du Bartas. He rode the wind, &c.— 15, p. 258. "And we made the wind* subject unto Solomon; it blew in the morning for a month, and in the evening for a month. And we made a fountain of molten brass to flow for him. And some of the Genii were obliged to work in his presence, by the will of his Lord; and whoever of them turned aside from our command, we will cause him to taste the pain of They say that 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 on, 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, wheresoever 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. † A fountain of molten brass. This fountain, they say, was in Yeman, and flowed three days in a month. hell-fire.* They made for him whatever he pleased, of palaces and statues,† and large dishes like fish-ponds,‡ and caldrons standing firm on their trevets. And we said, Work righteousness, O family of David, with thanksgiving: for few of my servants are thankful. And when we had decreed that Solomon should die, nothing discovered his death unto them, except the creeping thing of the earth, which gnawed his staff. And when his body fell down, the Genii plainly perceived, that if they had known that which is secret, they had not continued in a vile punishment."- Koran, Chap. 34. Oh for the Plover's pleasant cry. -21, p. 259. In places where there was water, we found a beautiful variety of the plover.-Niebuhr. Oh for the Camel-driver's song.-21, p. 259. The camels of the hot countries are not fastened one to the tail of the other, as in cold climates, but suffered to go at their will, like herds of cows. The camel-driver follows singing, and from time to time, giving a sudden whistle. The louder he sings and whistles, the faster the camels go; and they stop as soon as he ceases to sing. The camel-drivers, to relieve each other, sing alternately; and when they wish their beasts to browse for half an hour on what they can find, they amuse themselves by smoking a pipe; after which, beginning again to sing, the camels immediately proceed. — Tavernier. Even frantic Famine loathed.—24, p. 259. At four in the afternoon, we had an unexpected entertainment, which filled our hearts with a very short-lived joy. The whole plain before us seemed thick covered with green grass and yellow daisies. We advanced to the place with as much speed as our lame condition would suffer us; but how terrible was our disappointment, when we found the whole of that verdure to consist in senna and coloquintida, the most nauseous of plants, and the most incapable of being substituted as food for man or beast! - Bruce. Then from his girdle Thalaba took the knife. -26, p. 260. The girdles of these people are usually of worsted, very artfully woven into a variety of figures, and made to wrap We will cause him to taste the pain of hell-fire; or, as some expound the words, we caused him to taste the pain of burning; by which they understand the correction the disobedient Genii received at the hands of the Angel set over them, who whipped them with a whip of fire. † Statues. Some suppose these were images of the Angels and Prophets, and that the making of them was not forbidden, or else that they were not such images as were forbidden by the law. Some say these Spirits made him two lions, which were placed at the foot of his throne, and two eagles, which were set above it; and that when he mounted it, the lions stretched out their paws, and when he sat down, the eagles shaded him with their wings. On the road we passed the skeleton of a camel, which now and then happens in the desert. These are poor creatures that have perished with fatigue; for those which are killed for the sustenance of the Arabs, are carried away, bones and all together. Of the hides are made the soles of the slippers which are worn in Egypt, without any dressing but what the sun can give them. The circumstances of this animal's death, when his strength fails him on the road, have some. thing in them affecting to humanity. Such are his patience and perseverance, that he pursues his journey without flagging, as long as he has power to support its weight; and such are his fortitude and spirit, that he will never give out, until nature sinks beneath the complicated ills which press upon him. Then, and then only, will he resign his burden and body to the ground. Nor stripes, nor caresses, nor food, nor rest, will make him rise again! His vigor is exhausted, and life ebbs out apace. This the Arabs are very sensible of, and kindly plunge a sword into the breast of the dying beast, to shorten his pangs. Even the Arab feels remorse when he commits this deed; his hardened heart is moved at the loss of a faithful servant.- Eyles Irwin. In the Monthly Magazine for January, 1800, is a letter from Professor Heering recommending the introduction of these animals at the Cape; but the camel is made only for level countries. "The animal is very ill qualified to travel upon the snow or wet ground: the breadth in which they carry their legs, when they slip, often occasions their splitting themselves; so that when they fall with great burdens, they seldom rise again.”—Jonas Hanway. The African Arabs say, if one should put the question, Which is best for you, O Camel, to go up hill or down? he will make answer, God's curse light on 'em both, wheresoever they are to be met with. Morgan's Hist. of Algiers. No creature seems so peculiarly fitted to the climate in which it exists. We cannot doubt the nature of the one has been adapted to that of the other by some disposing intelligence. Designing the camel to dwell in a country where he can find little nourishment, nature has been sparing of her materials in the whole of his formation. She has not bestowed upon him the plump fleshiness of the ox, horse, or elephant; but limiting herself to what is strictly necessary, she has given him a small head without cars, at the end of a long neck without flesh. She has taken from his legs and thighs every muscle not immediately requisite for motion; and, in short, has bestowed on his withered body only the vessels and tendons necessary to connect his frame together. ↑ Dishes like fish ponds; being so monstrously large, that a thousand She has furnished him with a strong jaw, that he may grind men might eat out of each of them at once. § And caldrona standing firm on their trevets. These caldrons, they say, were cut out of the mountains of Yeman, and were so vastly big, that they could not be moved; and people went up to them by steps. Nothing discovered his death but the creeping thing of the earth which gnawed his staff. The commentators, to explain this passage, tell us, that David, having laid the foundations of the temple of Jerusalem, which was to be in lieu of the tabernacle of Moses, when he died, left it to be finished by his son Solomon, who employed the Genii in the work: that Solomon, before the edifice was completed, perceiving his end drew nigh, begged of God that his death might be concealed from the Genii, till they had entirely finished it; that God therefore so ordered it, that Solomon died as he stood at his prayers, leaning on his staff, which sup. ported the body in that posture a full year; and the Genii, supposing him to be alive, continued their work during that term; at the expiration whereof, the temple being perfectly completed, a worm, which had gotten into the staff, ate it through, and the corpse fell to the ground, and discovered the king's death. Possibly this fable of the temple being built by Genii, and not by men, might take its rise from what is mentioned in Scripture, that the house was built of stone, made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer nor axe, nor tool of iron heard in the house while it was building. the hardest aliments; but lest he should consume too much, she has contracted his stomach, and obliged him to chew the cud. She has lined his foot with a lump of flesh, which, sliding in the mud, and being no way adapted for climbing, fits him only for a dry, level, and sandy soil, like that of Arabia. She has evidently destined him likewise to slavery by refusing him every sort of defence against his enemies. Destitute of the horns of the bull, the hoofs of the horse, the tooth of the elephant, and the swiftness of the stag, how can the camel resist or avoid the attacks of the lion, the tiger, or even the wolf? To preserve the species, therefore, nature has concealed him in the depths of the vast deserts, where the want of vegetables can attract no game, and whence the want of game repels every voracious animal. Tyranny must have expelled man from the habitable parts of the earth, before the camel could have lost his liberty. Become domestic, he has rendered habit-ble the most barren soil the world contains. He alone supplies all his master's wants. The milk of the camel nourishes the seemed to vanish from my recollection. Nature, however, at length, resumed its functions; and on recovering my senses, I found myself stretched upon the sand, with the bridle still in my hand, and the sun just sinking behind the trees. I now family of the Arab, under the various forms of curds, cheese, and butter; and they often feed upon his flesh. Slippers and harness are made of his skin, and tents and clothing of his hair. Heavy burdens are transported by his means, and when the earth denies forage to the horse, so valuable to the Bed-summoned all my resolution, and determined to make another ouin, the she-camel supplies that deficiency by her milk, at no other cost, for so many advantages, than a few stalks of brambles or wormwood, and pounded date kernels. So great is the importance of the camel to the desert, that were it deprived of that useful animal, it must infallibly lose every inhabitant. Volney. Of distant waters, &c.—27, p. 260. Where any parts of these deserts is sandy and level, the horizon is as fit for astronomical observations as the sea, and appears, at a small distance, to be no less a collection of water. It was likewise equally surprising to observe, in what an extraordinary manner every object appeared to be magnified within it; insomuch that a shrub seemed as big as a tree, and a flock of Achbobbas might be mistaken for a caravan of camels. This seeming collection of water always advances about a quarter of a mile before us, whilst the intermediate space appears to be in one continued glow, occasioned by the quivering, undulating motion of that quick succession of vapors and exhalations, which are extracted by the powerful influence of the sun. Shaw. In the Bahar Danush is a metaphor drawn from this optical deception. "It is the ancient custom of fortune, and time has long established the habit, that she at first bewilders the thirsty travellers in the path of desire, by the misty vapors of disappointment; but when their distress and misery has reached extremity, suddenly relieving them from the dark windings of confusion and error, she conducts them to the fountains of enjoyment." "The burning heat of the sun was reflected with double violence from the hot sand, and the distant ridges of the hills, seen through the ascending vapors, seemed to wave and fluctuate like the unsettled sea."— Mungo Park. "I shake the lash over my camel, and she quickens her pace, while the sultry vapor rolls in waves over the burning cliffs." Moallakat. Poem of Tarafa. His tongue was dry and rough. — 28, p. 260. effort to prolong my existence. And as the evening was somewhat cool, I resolved to travel as far as my limbs would carry me, in hopes of reaching (my only resource) a wateringplace. With this view I put the bridle on my horse, and driving him before me, went slowly along for about an hour, when I perceived some lightning from the north-east - a most delightful sight, for it promised rain. The darkness and lightning increased very rapidly; and in less than an hour I heard the wind roaring among the bushes. I had already opened my mouth to receive the refreshing drops which I expected, but I was instantly covered with a cloud of sand, driven with such force by the wind, as to give a very disagreeable sensation to my face and arms, and I was obliged to mount my horse and stop under a bush to prevent being suffocated. The sand continued to fly in amazing quantities, for near an hour, after which I again set forward, and travelled with difficulty until ten o'clock. About this time, I was agreeably surprised by some very vivid flashes of lightning, followed by a few heavy drops of rain. In a little time, the sand ceased to fly, and I alighted, and spread out all my clean clothes to collect the rain, which at length I saw would certainly fall. - For more than an hour it rained plentifully, and I quenched my thirst by wringing and sucking my clothes."— Park's Travels in the Interior of Africa. Could they have back'd the Dromedary, &c.—30, p. 260. All the time I was in Barbary, I could never get sight of above three or four Dromedaries. These the Arabs call Me hera; the singular is Mcheri. They are of several sorts and degrees of value, some worth many common Camels, others scarce worth two or three. To look on, they seem little different from the rest of that species, only I think the excrescence on a Dromedary's back is somewhat less than that of a Camel. What is reported of their sleeping, or rather seeming scarce alive, for some time after coming into this world, is no fable. The longer they lie so, the more excellent they prove in their kind, and consequently of higher price and esteem. None lie in that trance more than ten days and nights. Those that do are pretty rare, and are called Aashari, Perhaps no traveller but Mr. Park ever survived to relate from Aashara, which signifies ten, in Arabic. I saw one such, similar sufferings. "I pushed on as fast as possible, in hopes of reaching some watering-place in the course of the night. My thirst was, by this time, become insufferable; my mouth was parched and inflamed; a sudden dimness would frequently come over my eyes, with other symptoms of fainting; and my horse being very much fatigued, I began seriously to apprehend that I should perish of thirst. To relieve the burning pain in my mouth and throat, I chewed the leaves of different shrubs, but found them all bitter, and of no service to me. "A little before sunset, having reached the top of a gentle rising, I climbed a high tree, from the topmost branches of which I cast a melancholy look over the barren wilderness, but without discovering the most distant trace of a human dwelling. The same dismal uniformity of shrubs and sand every where presented itself, and the horizon was as level and uninterrupted as that of the sea. "Descending from the tree, I found my horse devouring the stubble and brushwood with great avidity; and as I was now too faint to attempt walking, and my horse too much fatigued to carry me, I thought it but an act of humanity, and perhaps the last I should ever have it in my power to perform, to take off his bridle, and let him shift for himself; in doing which I was suddenly affected with sickness and giddiness, and falling upon the sand, felt as if the hour of death was fast approaching. Here then, thought I, after a short, but ineffectual struggle, terminate all my hopes of being useful in my day and generation; here must the short span of my life come to an end. I cast (as I believed) a last look on the surrounding scene, and whilst I reflected on the awful change that was about to take place, this world, with its enjoyments, perfectly white all over, belonging to Lella Oumane, Princess of that noble Arab Neja, named Heyl ben Ali, I spoke of, and upon which she put a very great value, never sending it abroad but upon some extraordinary occasion, when the greatest expedition was required; having others, inferior in swiftness, for more ordinary messages. They say that one of these Aasharies will, in one night, and through a level country, traverse as much ground as any single horse can perform in ten, which is no exaggeration of the matter, since many have affirmed to me, that it makes nothing of holding its rapid pace, which is a most violent hard trot, for four-and-twenty hours upon a stretch, without showing the least sign of weariness, or inclination to bait, and that having then swallowed a ball or two of a sort of paste, made up of barley-meal, and may be a little powder of dates among it, with a bowl of water, or Camel's milk, if to be had, and which the courier seldom forgets to be provided with, in skins, as well for the sustenance of himself as of his Pegasus, the indefatigable animal will seem as fresh as at first setting out, and ready to continue running at the same scarce credible rate, for as many hours longer, and so on from one extremity of the African Deserts to the other, provided its rider could hold out without sleep or other refreshment. This has been averred to me, by, I believe, more than a thousand Arabs and Moors, all agreeing in every particular. I happened to be, once in particular, at the tent of that Princess, with Ali ben Mahamoud, the Bey, or Vice-Roy of the Algerine Eastern Province, when he went thither to celebrate his nuptials with Ambarca, her only daughter, if I mistake not. Among other entertainments she gave her guests, the favorite white Dromedary was brought forth, ready saddled and bridled. I say bridled, because the thong, which the wind being very strong at north. Eleven of them ranged alongside of us, about the distance of three miles. The greatest diameter of the largest appeared to me, at that distance, as if it would measure ten feet. They retired from us with a wind at S. E., leaving an impression upon my mind to which I can give no name; though surely one ingredient in it was fear, with a considerable deal of wonder and astonish the fastest-sailing ship, could be of no use to carry us out of this danger; and the full persuasion of this rivetted me as if to the spot where I stood. On the 15th, the same appearance of moving pillars of sand presented themselves to us, only they seemed to be more in number, and less in size. They came several times in a direction close upon us; that is, I believe, within less than two miles. They began immediately after sunrise, like a thick wood, and almost darkened the sun. His rays shining through them for near an hour, gave them an appearance of pillars of fire. Our people now became desperate; the Greeks shrieked out, and said it was the day of judgment. Ismael pronounced it to be hell, and the Tucorories that the world was on fire.Bruce. serves instead of a bridle, was put through the hole purposely made in the gristle of the creature's nose. The Arab appointed to mount, was straitly laced, from the very loins quite to his throat, in a strong leathern jacket, they never riding these animals any otherwise accoutred; so impetuously violent are the concussions the rider undergoes, during that rapid motion, that were he to be loose, I much question whether a few hours such unintermitting agitation would not endangerment. It was in vain to think of flying; the swiftest horse, or the bursting of some of his entrails; and this the Arabs scruple not to acknowledge. We were to be diverted with seeing this fine Aashari run against some of the swiftest barbs in the whole Neja, which is famed for having good ones, of the true Libyan breed, shaped like greyhounds, and which will sometimes run down an ostrich; which few of the very best can pretend to do, especially upon a hard ground, perfectly lovel. We all started like racers, and for the first spirt, most of the best mounted among us kept up pretty well, but our grass-fed horses soon flagged: several of the Libyan and Numidian runners held pace till we, who still followed upon a good round hand-gallop, could no longer discern them, and then gave out; as we were told after their return. When the Dromedary had been out of our sight about an half an hour, we again espied it flying towards us with an amazing velocity, and in a very few moments was among us, and seemingly nothing concerned; while the horses and mares were all in a foam, and scarce able to breathe, as was, likewise, a fleet, tall greyhound bitch, of the young Princes, who had followed and kept pace the whole time, and was no sooner got back to us, but lay down panting as if ready to expire. I cannot tell how many miles we went, but we were near three hours in coming leisurely back to the tents, yet made no stop in the way. The young Prince Hamet ben al Guydom ben Sakhari, and his younger brother Messoud, told their new brother-in law, that they defied all the potentates of Africa to show him such an Aashari; and the Arab who rode it, challenged the Bey to lay bis lady a wager of 1000 ducats, that he did not bring him an answer to a letter from the Prince of Wargala, in less than four days, though Leo Africanus, Marmol, and several others, assure us, that it is no less than forty Spanish leagues, of four miles each, south of Tuggart, to which place, upon another occasion, as I shall observe, we made six tedious days march from the neighborhood of Biscara, north of which we were then, at least thirty hours riding, if I remember rightly. However, the Bey, who was a native of Biscara, and consequently well acquainted with the Sahara, durst not take him up. By all circumstances, and the description given us, besides what I know of the matter myself, it could not be much less than 400 miles, and as many back again, the fellow offered to ride, in so short a time; nay, many other Arabs boldly proffered to venture all they were worth in the world, that he would per form it with all the ease imaginable. - Morgan's History of Algiers. Chenier says, "The Dromedary can travel 60 leagues in a day; his motion is so rapid, that the rider is obliged to be girthed to the saddle, and to have a handkerchief before his mouth, to break the current of the wind." These accounts are probably much exaggerated. "The royal couriers in Persia wear a white sash girded from the shoulders to their waist many times round their bodies, by which means they are enabled to ride for many days without great fatigue."- Hanway. The dreadful sand-spouts moved. -31, p. 260. We were here at once surprised and terrified by a sight surely the most magnificent in the world. In that vast expanse of desert, from W. and to N. W. of us, we saw a number of prodigious pillars of sand at different distances, at times moving with great celerity, at others stalking with a majestic slowness; at intervals we thought they were coming in a very few moments to overwhelm us, and small quantities of sand did actually, more than once, reach us. Again they would retreat so as to be almost out of sight, their tops reaching to the very clouds. There the tops often separated from the bodies, and these, once disjointed, dispersed in the air, and did not appear more. Sometimes they were broken near the middle, as if struck with a large cannon-shot. About noon, they began to advance with considerable swiftness upon us, THE FIFTH BOOK. Thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle; thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me. 1. Psalm xviii. 39. WHEN Thalaba from adoration rose, He lifted up his fever'd face to heaven, And felt the coolness permeate every limb, 2. A loud, quick panting! Thalaba looks up; An indolent and languid eye The passing Tiger turn'd; His dry tongue lolling low, And the short panting of his breath Saw joyful from afar 3. A desert Pelican had built her nest Fill'd the swollen membrane from their plumeless throat Pendent, and bills yet soft; Plied in unpractised stroke The oars of their broad feet. They, as the spotted prowler of the wild Laps the cool wave, around their mother crowd, And nestle underneath her outspread wings. The spotted prowler of the wild Lapp'd the cool wave, and satiate, from the nest, Guiltless of blood, withdrew. 4. The mother-bird had moved not, But, cowering o'er her nestlings, Sate confident and fearless, And watch'd the wonted guest. But, when the human visitant approach'd, The alarmed Pelican, Retiring from that hostile shape, Gathers her young, and menaces with wings, And forward thrusts her threatening neck, Its feathers ruffling in her wrath, Bold with maternal fear. Thalaba drank, and in the water-skin Hoarded the precious element. Not all he took, but in the large nest left Store that sufficed for life; And journeying onward, blest the Carrier Bird, And blest, in thankfulness, Their common Father, provident for all. Once from her lofty walls the Charioteer Look'd down on swarming myriads; once she flung Her arches o'er Euphrates' conquer'd tide, And through her brazen portals when she pour'd Her armies forth, the distant nations look'd As men who watch the thunder-cloud in fear, Lest it should burst above them. She was fallen, The Queen of cities, Babylon, was fallen! Low lay her bulwarks; the black Scorpion bask'd In the palace courts; within the sanctuary The She-Wolf hid her whelps. Is yonder huge and shapeless heap, what once Hath been the aërial Gardens, height on height Rising like Media's mountains crown'd with wood, Work of imperial dotage? Where the fame Of Belus? Where the Golden Image now, Which, at the sound of dulcimer and lute, Cornet and sacbut, harp and psaltery, The Assyrian slaves adored? A labyrinth of ruins, Babylon Spreads o'er the blasted plain : The wandering Arab never sets his tent Within her walls; the Shepherd eyes afar Her evil towers, and devious drives his flock. Alone unchanged, a free and bridgeless tide, Euphrates rolls along, Eternal Nature's work. |