Silent and calm the river roll'd along, And at the verge arrived Of that fair garden, o'er a rocky bed, Toward the mountain-base, Still full and silent, held its even way. But farther as they went, its deepening sound Louder and louder in the distance rose, As if it forced its stream Struggling through crags along a narrow pass. And lo! where raving o'er a hollow course The ever-flowing flood Foams in a thousand whirlpools! There, adown Plunge the whole waters; so precipitous, That their earth-shaking roar came deaden'd up 14. Loud sung the Lark; the awaken'd Maid Beheld him twinkling in the morning light, And wish'd for wings and liberty like his. The flush of fear inflamed her cheek; But Thalaba was calm of soul, Collected for the work. 15. Beside the river-brink Grew a young poplar, whose unsteady leaves His meditating eye. Then to Oneiza turn'd the youth, The quiver arrow-stored. "Me other weapon suits," said he; "Bear thou the Bow: dear Maid, The days return upon me, when these shafts, True to thy guidance from the lofty palm With double grasp, hand below hand, he clinch'd, With that the Arabian youth and maid Toward the centre of the garden went. It chanced that Aloadin had convoked The garden-habitants, And with the assembled throng Oneiza mingled, and the Appointed Youth. Unmark'd they mingled; or if one With busier finger to his neighbor notes The quiver'd Maid, "Haply," he says, "Some daughter of the Homerites, Or one who yet remembers with delight Her native tents of Himiar." "Nay!" rejoins His comrade, "a love-pageant! for the man Mimics with that fierce eye and knotty club "Children of Earth," he said, "Whom I have guided here Who is there here that by a deed The eternal joys of actual Paradise?" 21. "I!" Thalaba exclaim'd; And springing forward, on the Sorcerer's head He dash'd his knotty club. 22. Aloadin fell not, though his skull His miserable life imprison'd still "Obedient to our Lord's command," said he, "We past toward the mountains, and began The ascending strait; when suddenly Earth shook, And darkness, like the midnight, fell around, And fire and thunder came from Heaven, As though the Retribution-day were come. After the terror ceased, and when, with hearts Somewhat assured, again we ventured on, This youth and woman met us on the way. They told us, that from Aloadin's hold They came, on whom the judgment stroke hath fallen, He, and his sinful Paradise, at once Destroy'd by them, the agents they of Heaven. Therefore I brought them hither, to repeat The tale before thy presence; that as search Shall prove it false or faithful, to their merit Thou mayst reward them." "Be it done to us," Thalaba answer'd, "as the truth shall prove!" 26. The Sultan, while he spake, Fix'd on him the proud eye of sovereignty; Next to ourself!' Hark! while he speaks, the cry, Breathless and panting to the tent The wrath of God hath smitten him!" 27. Joy at the welcome tale Shone in the Sultan's cheek; "Array the Arabian in the robe Of honor," he exclaim'd, "And place a chain of gold around his neck, 28. Then in the purple robe They vested Thalaba, And hung around his neck the golden chain, And bound his forehead with the diadem, And on the royal steed They led him through the camp, 29. When, from the pomp of triumph, And presence of the King, Thalaba sought the tent allotted him, Thoughtful the Arabian Maid beheld His animated eye, His cheek inflamed with pride. "The King hath done according to his word, And made me in the land Next to himself be named!. But why that serious, melancholy smile? Oneiza, when I heard the voice that gave me Honor, and wealth, and fame, the instant thought Arose to fill my joy, that thou wouldst hear The tidings, and be happy." The morning found us!-safety, honor, wealth, ONEIZA. REMEMBER, DESTINY HATH MARK'D THEE FROM MANKIND! THALABA. Perhaps when Aloadin was destroy'd The mission ceased; and therefore Providence With its rewards and blessings strews my path Thus for the accomplish'd service. ONEIZA. Thalaba! THALABA. Or if haply not, yet whither should I go? Is it not prudent to abide in peace Till I am summon'd? ONEIZA. Take me to the Deserts! ONEIZA. Thalaba! Thalaba! 30. With song, with music, and with dance, A hundred slaves behind them bear And multitudes with loud acclaim Shout blessings on the Bride. And now they reach the palace pile, The palace home of Thalaba, And now the marriage feast is spread, And from the finish'd banquet now The wedding guests are gone. 31. Who comes from the bridal chamber?It is Azrael, the Angel of Death. - The will of Heaven is plain: by wondrous ways NOTES TO BOOK VII. Within its door; the lizard's track is left, &c.-2, p. 281. The dust which overspreads these beds of sand is so fine, that the lightest animal, the smallest insect, leaves there, as on snow, the vestiges of its track. The varieties of these impressions produce a pleasing effect, in spots where the saddened soul expects to meet with nothing but symptoms of the proscriptions of nature. It is impossible to see any thing more beautiful than the traces of the passage of a species of very small lizards, extremely common in these deserts. The extremity of their tail forms regular sinuosities, in the middle of two rows of delineations, also regularly imprinted by their four feet, with their five slender toes. These traces are multiplied and interwoven near the subterranean retreats of these little animals, and present a singular assemblage, which is not void of beauty. - Sonnini. These lines are feebly adapted from a passage in Burnet's Theory of the Earth. Hæc autem dicta vellem de genuinis et majoribus terræ montibus; non gratos Bacchi colles hic intelligimus, aut amanos illos monticulos, qui viridi herba et vicino fonte et arboribus, vim æstivi solis repellunt: hisce non deest sua qualiscunque elegantia et jucunditas. Sed longe aliud hic respicimus, nempe longæva illa tristia et squalentia corpora, telluris pondera, quæ duro capite rigent inter nubes, infixisque in terram saxeis pedibus, ab innumeris seculis steterunt immobilia, atque nudo pectore pertulerunt tot annorum ardentes soles, fulmina et procellas. Hi sunt primævi et immortales illi montes, qui non aliunde, quam ex fracta mundi compage ortum suum ducere potuerunt, nec nisi cum eadem perituri sunt. The whole chapter de montibus is written with the eloquence of a poet. Indeed, Gibbon bestowed no exaggerated praise on Burnet in saying, that he had " blended Scripture, history, and tradition, into one magnificent system, with a sublimity of imagination scarcely inferior to Milton himself." This work should be read in Latin; the author's own translation is miserably inferior. He lived in the worst age of English prose. Zaccoum's fruit accurs'd. — 16, p. 283. The Zaccoum is a tree which issueth from the bottom of Hell; the fruit thereof resembleth the heads of devils; and the damned shall eat of the same, and shall fill their bellies therewith; and there shall be given them thereon a mixture of boiling water to drink; afterwards shall they return to Hell. Koran, chap. 37. This hellish Zaccoum has its name from a thorny tree in Tehama, which bears fruit like an almond, but extremely bitter; therefore the same name is given to the infernal tree. -Sale. Some daughter of the Homerites.-17, p. 283. When the sister of the famous Derar was made prisoner before Damascus with many other Arabian women, she excited them to mutiny, they seized the poles of the tents, and attacked their captors. This bold resolution, says Marigny, was not inspired by impotent anger. Most of these women had military inclinations already; particularly those who were of the tribe of Himiar, or of the Homerites, where they are early exercised in riding the horse, and in using the bow, the lance, and the javelin. The revolt was successful, for, during the engagement, Derar came up to their assistance. Marigny. The Paradise of Sin.—22, p. 284. In the N. E. parts of Persia there was an old man named Aloadin, a Mahumetan, which had inclosed a goodly valley, situate between two hilles, and furnished it with all variety which nature and art could yield; as fruits, pictures, rills of milk, wine, honey, water, pallaces and beautiful damosells, richly attired, and called it Paradise. To this was no passage but by an impregnable castle; and daily preaching the pleasures of this Paradise to the youth which he kept in his court, sometimes he would minister a sleepy drinke to some of them, and then conveigh them thither, where, being entertained with these pleasures four or five days, they supposed themselves rapt into Paradise, and then being again cast into a trance by the said drink, he caused them to be carried forth, and then would examine them of what they had seene, and by this delusion would make them resolute for any enterprise which he should appoint them; as to murther any prince his enemy, for they feared not death in hope of their Mahumetical Paradise. But Haslor or Ulan, after three years' siege, destroyed him, and this his fool's Paradise. - Purchas. In another place, Purchas tells the same tale, but calls the impostor Aladenles, and says that Selim the Ottoman Emperor destroyed his Paradise. The story is told by many writers, but with such difference of time and place, as wholly to invalidate its truth, even were the circumstances more probable. Travelling on further towards the south, I arrived at a certaine countroy called Melistorte, which is a very pleasant and fertile place. And in this countrey there was a certaine aged man called Senex de Monte, who, round about two mountaines, had built a wall to enclose the sayd mountaines. Within this wall there were the fairest and most chrystall fountaines in the whole world; and about the sayd fountaines there were most beautiful virgins in great number, and goodly horses also; and, in a word, every thing that could be devised for bodily solace and delight, and therefore the inhabitants of the countrey call the same place by the name of Paradise. The sayd olde Senex, when he saw any proper and valiant young man, he would admit him into his paradise. Moreover by certaine conducts, he makes wine and milk to flow abundantly. This Senex, when he hath a minde to revenge himselfe, or to slay any king or baron, commandeth him that is governor of the sayd Paradise to bring thereunto some of the acquaintance of the sayd king or baron, permitting him a while to take his pleasure therein, and then to give him a certeine potion, being of force to cast him into such a slumber as should make him quite void of all sense, and so being in a profounde sleepe, to convey him out of his paradise; who being awaked, and seeing himselfe thrust out of the paradise, would become so sorrowfull, that he could not in the world devise what to do, or whither to turne him. Then would he go unto the forsaide old man, beseeching him that he might be admitted againe into his paradise; who saith unto him, you cannot be admitted thither, unlesse you will slay such or such a man for my sake, and if you will give the attempt onely, whether you kill him or no, I will place you againe in paradise, that there you may remaine alwayes. Then would the party, without faile, put the same in execution, indeavoring to murther all those against whom the sayd olde man had conceived any hatred. And therefore all the kings of the East stood in awe of the sayd olde man, and gave unto him great tribute. And when the Tartars had subdued a great part of the world, they came unto the sayd olde man, and tooke from him the custody of his paradise; who, being incensed thereat, sent abroad divers desperate and resolute persons out of his forenamed paradise, and caused many of the Tartarian nobles to be slain. The Tartars, seeing this, went and besieged the city wherein the sayd olde man was, tooke him, and put him to a most cruell and ignominious death. Odoricus. The most particular account is given by that undaunted liar, Sir John Maundeville. "Beside the Yle of Pentexoire, that is, the Lond of Prestre John, is a gret Yle, long and brode, that men clepen Milsterak; and it is in the Lordschipe of Prestre John. In that Yle is gret plentee of godes. There was dwellinge somety me a ryche man; and it is not long sithen, and men clept him Gatholonabes; and he was full of cauteles, and of sotylle disceytes; and had a fulle fair castelle, and a strong, in a mountayne, so strong and so noble, that no man cowde devise a fairere, ne a strengere. And he had let muren all the mountayne aboute with a stronge walle and a fair. And withinne the walles he had the fairest gardyn that ony man might behold; and therein were trees berynge all manner of frutes that ony man cowde devyse, and therein were also alle maner vertuous herbes of gode smelle, and all other herbes also that beren fair floures, and he had also in that gardyn many fairo welles, and beside the welles he had lete make faire halles and faire chambres, depeynted alle with gold and azure. And there weren in that place many dyverse thinges, and many dyverse stories; and of bestes and of bryddes that songen fulle delectabely, and moveden be craft that it semede that thei weren quyke. And he had also in his gardyn all maner of fowles and of bestes, that ony man might thinke on, for to have pley or desport to beholde hem. And he had also in that place, the faireste damyscles that mighte ben founde under the age of 15 zere, and the fairest zonge striplynges that men myghte gete of that same age; and all thei weren clothed in clothes of gold fully rychely, and he seyde that tho weren angeles. And he had also let make three welles faire and noble and all envyround with ston of jaspre, of cristalle, dyapred with gold, and sett with precious stones, and grete orient perles. And he had made a conduyt under erthe, so that the three welles, at his list, on scholde renne milk, another wyn, and another hony, and that place he clept paradys. And whan that ony gode knyght, that was hardy and noble, came to see this Rialtee, he would lede him into his paradys, and schewen him theise wondirfulle thinges to his desport, and the marveyllous and delicious song of dyverse bryddes, and the faire damyseles and the faire welles of mylk, wyn, and honey plenteyous rennynge. And he woulde let make dyverse instruments of musick to sownen in an high tour, so merily, that it was joye for to here, and no man scholde see the craft thereof; and tho, he sayde, weren Aungeles of God, and that place was paradys, that God had behyghte to his friendes, saying, Dabo robis terram fluentem lacte et melle. And thanne wolde be maken hem to drynken of certeyn drynk, whereof anon thei sholden be dronken, and thanne wolde hem thinken gretter delyt than thei hadden before. And then wolde he seye to hem, that zif thei wolde dyen for him and for his love, that after hire dethe thei scholde come to his paradys, and thei scholde ben of the age of the damyseles, and thei scholde pleyen with hem and zit ben maydenes. And after |