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Soon shall my fate that wish fulfil :
And I shall sleep without the dream
Of what I was, and would be still,
Dark as to thee my deeds may seem :
My memory now is but the tomb

Of joys long dead; my hope, their doom :
Though better to have died with those
Than bear a life of lingering woes.
My spirit shrunk not to sustain
The searching throes of ceaseless pain;
Nor sought the self-accorded grave
Of ancient fool and modern knave:
Yet death I have not fear'd to meet;
And in the field it had been sweet,
Had danger woo'd me on to move
The slave of glory, not of love.

I've braved it-not for honour's boast;
I smile at laurels won or lost;
To such let others carve their way,
For high renown, or hireling pay:
But place again before my eyes
Aught that I deem a worthy prize-
The maid I love, the man I hate-
And I will hunt the steps of fate,
To save or slay, as these require,
Through rending steel and rolling fire:
Nor need'st thou doubt this speech from one
Who would but do-what he hath done.
Death is but what the haughty brave,
The weak must bear, the wretch must crave;
Then let life go to Him who gave ;
I have not quail'd to danger's brow
When high and happy-need I now?

'I loved her, Friar! nay, adored

But these are words that all can use-
I proved it more in deed than word;
There's blood upon that dinted sword,
A stain its steel can never lose :
'Twas shed for her, who died for me,
It warm'd the heart of one abhorr'd:
Nay, start not-no-nor bend thy knee,
Nor 'midst my sins such act record:
Thou wilt absolve me from the deed,
For he was hostile to thy creed!
The very name of Nazarene
Was wormwood to his Paynim spleen.
Ungrateful fool! since but for brands
Well wielded in some hardy hands,
And wounds by Galileans given,
The surest pass to Turkish heaven,
For him his Houris still night wait
Impatient at the Prophet's gate.
I loved her-love will find its way

She died-I dare not tell thee how :
But look-'tis written on my brow!
There read of Cain the curse and crime,
In characters unworn by time:
Still, ere thou dost condemn me, pause;
Not mine the act, though I the cause.
Yet did he but what I had done
Had she been false to more than one.
Faithless to him, he gave the blow;
But true to me, I laid him low:
Howe'er deserved her doom might be,
Her treachery was truth to me;
To me she gave her heart, that all
Which tyranny can ne'er enthrall;
And I, alas! too late to save!
Yet all I then could give, I gave,
'Twas some relief, our foe a grave.
His death sits lightly; but her fate
Has made me-what thou well may'st hate.
His doom was seal'd-he knew it well,
Warn'd by the voice of stern Taheer
Deep in whose darkly boding ear*
The death-shot peal'd of murder near

As filed the troop to where they fell!
He died too in the battle broil,

A time that heeds nor pain nor toil;

As you

This superstition of a second-hearing (for I never met own observation. On my third journey to Cape Colonna, early with downright second-sight in the East) fell once under my in 1811, as we passed through the defile that leads from the hamlet between Keratia and Colonna, I observed Dervish Tahiri riding rather out of the path, and leaning his head upon his hand, as if in pain. I rode up and inquired. We are in peril,' he answered. What peril? we are not now in Albania, nor in the passes to Ephesus, Messalunghi, or Lepanto; there are plenty of us, well armed, and the Choriates have not courage to be thieves.' 'True, Affendi, but nevertheless the shot is ringing in my ears.' The shot! not a tophaike has been fired this morning. I hear it, notwithstanding-Bom -Bom-as plainly as I hear your voice. Psha!' please. Affendi; if it is written, so will it be.' I left this quickeared predestinarian, and rode up to Basili, his Christian compatriot, whose ears, though not at all prophetic, by no means relished the intelligence. We all arrived at Colonna, remained some hours, and returned leisurely, saying a variety of brilliant things, in more languages than spoiled the building of Babel, upon the mistaken seer. Romaic, Arnaut, Turkish, Italian, and English were all exercised, in various conceits, upon the unfortunate Mussulman. While we were contemplating the beautiful prospect, Dervish was occupied about the columns. I thought he was deranged into an antiquarian, and asked him if he had become a Palaocastro' man? 'No,' said he, but these pillars will be useful in making a stand;' and added other ren.arks, which at least evinced his own be lief in his troublesome faculty of fore-hearing. On our return to Athens we heard from Leone (a prisoner set ashore some days after) of the intended attack of the Mainotes, mentioned, with the cause of its not taking place, in the notes to Childe Harold, Canto 11. I was at some pains to question the man, and he described the dresses, arms, and marks of the horses of our party so accurately that, with other circumstances, we could not doubt of his being in villanous company,' and ourselves in a bad neighbourhood. Dervish became a soothsayer for life, and I dare say he is now hearing more musketry than ever will be fired, to the great refreshment of the Arnauts of Berat, and his native mountains. I shall mention one trait more of this singular race. In March 1811, a remarkably stout

Through paths where wolves would fear to and active Arnaut came (I believe the fiftieth on the same

prey;

And if he dares enough, 'twere hard
If passion met not some reward—
No matter how, or where, or why,
I did not vainly seek, nor sigh:
Yet sometimes, with remorse, in vain
I wish she had not loved again.

errand) to offer himself as an attendant, which was declined. Well, Affendi,' quoth he, may you live-you would have found me useful. I shall leave the town for the hills to-morrow; in the winter I return; perhaps you will then receive me. Dervish, who was present, remarked as a thing of course, and of no consequence, In the mean time he will join the Klephtes' (robbers), which was true to the letter. If not cut off, they come down in the winter, and pass it unmolested in some town, where they are often as well known as their exploits.

One cry to Mahomet for aid,
One prayer to Alla all he made :
He knew and cross'd me in the fray-
I gazed upon him where he lay,
And watch'd his spirit ebb away:
Though pierced like pard by hunters' steel
He felt not half that now I feel.

I search'd, but vainly search'd, to find
The workings of the wounded mind;
Each feature of that sullen corse
Betray'd his rage, but no remorse.
Oh, what had Vengeance given to trace
Despair upon his dying face!
The late repentance of that hour,
When Penitence hath lost her power
To tear one terror from the grave,
And will not soothe, and cannot save.

'The cold in clime are cold in blood, Their love can scarce deserve the name; But mine was like the lava flood,

That boils in Etna's breast of flame. I cannot prate in puling strain Of ladye-love, and beauty's chain: If changing cheek, and scorching vein, Lips taught to writhe, but not complain, If bursting heart, and madd'ning brain, And daring deed, and vengeful steel, And all that I have felt and feel, Betoken love-that love was mine, And shown by many a bitter sign. 'Tis true, could not whine nor sigh,

I knew but to obtain or die.

I die-but first, I have possess'd,

And come what may, I have been bless'd.
Shall I the doom I sought upbraid?
No-reft of all, yet undismay'd,
But for the thought of Leila slain,
Give me the pleasure with the pain,
So would I live and love again.
I grieve-but not, my holy guide!
For him who dies, but her who died:
She sleeps beneath the wandering wave-
Ah! had she but an earthly grave,
This breaking heart and throbbing head
Should seek and share her narrow bed.
She was a form of life and light,
That, seen, became a part of sight,
And rose, where'er I turn'd mine eye,
The Morning-star of Memory!

'Yes, Love indeed is light from heaven; A spark of that immortal fire With angels shared, by Alla given

To lift from earth our low desire. Devotion wafts the mind above, But Heaven itself descends in love; A feeling from the Godhead caught, To wean from self each sordid thought; A Ray of Him who form'd the whole; A Glory circling round the soul ! I grant my love imperfect, all That mortals by the name miscall;

Then deem it evil, what thou wilt;
But say, oh say, hers was not guilt!
She was my life's unerring light: [night?
That quench'd, what beam shall break my
Oh! would it shone to lead me still,
Although to death or deadliest ill!
Why marvel ye, if they who lose

This present joy, this future hope,
No more with sorrow meekly cope;
In frenzy then their fate accuse;
In madness do those fearful deeds

That seem to add but guilt to woe?
Alas! the breast that inly bleeds

Hath nought to dread from outward blow: Who falls from all he knows of bliss, Cares little into what abyss. Fierce as the gloomy vulture's now

To thee, old man, my deeds appear:
I read abhorrence on thy brow,

And this too was I born to bear!
'Tis true, that, like that bird of prey,
With havoc have I mark'd my way:
But this was taught me by the dove,
To die-and know no second love.
This lesson yet hath man to learn,
Taught by the thing he dares to spurn:
The bird that sings within the brake,
The swan that swims upon the lake,
One mate, and one alone, will take.
And let the fool still prone to range,
And sneer on all who cannot change,
Partake his jest with boasting boys;
I envy not his varied joys,
But deem such feeble, heartless man,
Less than yon solitary swan;
Far, far beneath the shallow maid
He left believing and betray'd.
Such shame at least was never mine-
Leila! each thought was only thine!
My good, my guilt, my weal, my woe,
My hope on high-my all below.
Earth holds no other like to thee,
Or, if it doth, in vain for me:
For worlds I dare not view the dame
Resembling thee, yet not the same.
The very crimes that mar my youth,
This bed of death-attest my truth!
'Tis all too late-thou wert, thou art
The cherish'd madness of my heart!

'And she was lost-and yet I breathed.
But not the breath of human life;
A serpent round my heart was wreathed,
And stung my every thought to strife.
Alike all time, abhorr'd all place,
Shuddering, I shrank from Nature's face,
Where every hue that charm'd before,
The blackness of my bosom wore.
The rest thou dost already know,
And all my sins, and half my woe.
But talk no more of penitence;
Thou seest I soon shall part from hence
And if thy holy tale were true,
The deed that's done, canst thou undo?

Think me not thankless-but this grief Looks not to priesthood for relief.* My soul's estate in secret guess : But wouldst thou pity more, say less. When thou canst bid my Leila live, Then will I sue thee to forgive; Then plead my cause in that high place Where purchased masses proffer grace. Go, when the hunter's hand hath wrung From forest-cave her shrieking young, And calm the lonely lioness: But soothe not-mock not my distress!

In earlier days, and calmer hours,
When heart with heart delights to blend,
Where bloom my native valley's bowers,

I had-ah! have I now?-a friend!
To him this pledge I charge thee send,
Memorial of a youthful vow:

would remind him of my end; Though souls absorb'd like mine allow Brief thought to distant friendship's claim, Yet dear to him my blighted name. 'Tis strange-he prophesied my doom,

And I have smiled-I then could smileWhen Prudence would his voice assume, And warn-I reck'd not what-the while: But now remembrance whispers o'er Those accents scarcely mark'd before. Say-that his bodings came to pass,

And he will start to hear their truth,
And wish his words had not been sooth:
Tell him, unheeding as I was,
Through many a busy bitter scene
Of all our golden youth had been,
In pain, my faltering tongue had tried
To bless his memory ere I died;

But Heaven in wrath would turn away,
If Guilt should for the guiltless pray.
I do not ask him not to blame,
Too gentle he to wound my name;
And what have I to do with fame?
I do not ask him not to mourn,

Such cold request might sound like scorn;
And what than friendship's manly tear
May better grace a brother's bier?
But bear this ring, his own of old,
And tell him-what thou dost behold!
The wither'd frame, the ruin'd mind,
The wrack by passion left behind,
A shrivell'd scroll, a scatter'd leaf
Sear'd by the autumn blast of grief!

'Tell me no more of fancy's gleam; No, father, no, 'twas not a dream: Alas! the dreamer first must sleep, I only watch'd, and wish'd to weep,

The monk's sermon is omitted. It seems to have had so arte effect upon the patient, that it could have no hopes from le reader. It may be sufficient to say, that it was of a cusmary length (as may be perceived from the interruptions sad teasiness of the patient), and was delivered in the usual hame of all orthodox preachers.

But could not, for my burning brow Throbb'd to the very brain as now : I wish'd but for a single tear,

As something welcome, new, and dear:
I wish'd it then, I wish it still ;
Despair is stronger than my will.
Waste not thine orison, despair
Is mightier than thy pious prayer:
I would not, if I might, be blest;
I want no paradise, but rest.
'Twas then, I tell thee, father! then
I saw her; yes, she lived again ;
And shining in her white symar,
As through yon pale grey cloud the star
Which now I gaze on, as on her,
Who look'd, and looks far lovelier;
Dimly I view its trembling spark;
To-morrow's night shall be more dark;
And I, before its rays appear,
That lifeless thing the living fear.
I wander, father! for my soul
Is fleeting towards the final goal.
I saw her, friar! and I rose
Forgetful of our former woes;
And rushing from my couch, I dart,
And clasp her to my desperate heart;
I clasp-what is it that I clasp?
No breathing form within my grasp,
No heart that beats reply to nine-
Yet, Leila! yet the form is thine!
And art thou, dearest, changed so much,
As meet my eye, yet mock my touch?
Ah! were thy beauties e'er so cold,
I care not; so iny arms enfold
The all they ever wish'd to hold.
Alas! around a shadow prest,
They shrink upon my lonely breast;
Yet still 'tis there! In silence stands,
And beckons with beseeching hands!
With braided hair, and bright-black eye-
I knew 'twas false-she could not die!
But he is dead! within the dell

I saw him buried where he fell;
He comes not, for he cannot break
From earth; why then art thou awake?
They told me wild waves roll'd above
The face I view, the form I love!
They told me-'twas a hideous tale! —
I'd tell it, but my tongue would fail :
If true, and from thine ocean-cave
Thou com'st to claim a calmer grave,
Oh, pass thy dewy fingers o'er
This brow, that then will burn no more;
Or place them on my hopeless heart:
But, shape or shade! whate'er thou art,
In mercy ne'er again depart!
Or farther with thee bear my soul
Than winds can waft or waters roll!

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I breathe the sorrows I bewail,

And thank thee for the generous tear
This glazing eye could never shed.
Then lay me with the humblest dead;
And, save the cross above my head,
Be neither name nor emblem spread,
By prying stranger to be read,
Or stay the passing pilgrim's tread.'

He pass'd-nor of his name and race
Hath left a token or a trace,
Save what the father must not say
Who shrived him on his dying day:
This broken tale was all he knew
Of her he loved, or him he slew.*

*The circumstance to which the above story relates, was not very uncommon in Turkey. A few years ago, the wife of Muchtar Pacha complained to his father of his son's supposed infidelity: he asked with whom, and she had the barbarity to

give in a list of the twelve handson.est women in Yanna
They were seized, fastened up in sacks, and drowned in the
lake the same night! One of the guards who was present in
formed me, that not one of the victims uttered a cry, or showed
a symptom of terror, at so sudden a wrench from all we know,
from all we love.' The fate of Phrosine, the fairest of this
sacrifice, is the subject of many a Romaic and Arazut diny.
The story in the text is one told of a young Venetian y
years ago, and now nearly forgotten. I heard it by accident
recited by one of the coffee-house story-tellers who abeund in
the Levant, and sing or recite their narratives. The additions
and interpolations by the translator will be easily distingushed
from the rest, by the want of Eastern imagery; and I regret
that my memory has retained so few fragments of the orig
For the contents of some of the notes, I am indebted partly so
D'Herbelot, and partly to that most Eastern, and, as Mr
Weber justly entitles it, sublime tale,' the Caliph Vather. I
do not know from what source the author of that singut
volume may have drawn his materials: some of his incidents
are to be found in the Bibliothèque Orientale; but for the Of
rectness of costume, beauty of description, and power of
imagination, it far surpasses all European imitations; ad
bears such marks of originality, that those who have visited
the East will find some difficulty in believing it to be more th
a translation. As an Eastern tale, even Rasselas must bey
before it; his Happy Valley' will not bear a comparison wi
the Hall of Eblis.'

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KNOW ye the land where the cypress and myrtle
Are emblems of deeds that are done in their
clime?
[turtle,
Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the
Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime !
Know ye the land of the cedar and vine,
Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever
shine;
[perfume,
Where the light wings of Zephyr, oppress'd with
Wax faint o'er the gardens of Gúl in her bloom;*
Where the citron and olive are fairest of fruit,
And the voice of the nightingale never is mute:

• 'Gul,' the rose.

BYRON.

Where the tints of the earth, and the hues of te
sky,

In colour though varied, in beauty may vie
And the purple of ocean is deepest in dye
Where the virgins are soft as the roses **
twine,

And all, save the spirit of man, is divine?
'Tis the clime of the East; 'tis the land of
Sun-

Can he smile on such deeds as his children!
done?*

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Oh! wild as the accents of lovers' farewell, Are the hearts which they bear, and the tales which they tell.

II.

Begirt with many a gallant slave,
Apparell'd as becomes the brave,
Awaiting each his lord's behest,
To guide his steps, or guard his rest,
Old Giaffir sate in his divan:

Deep thought was in his aged eye;
And though the face of Mussulman
Not oft betrays to standers by
The mind within, well skill'd to hide
All but unconquerable pride,

His pensive cheek and pondering brow Did more than he was wont avow.

III.

'Let the chamber be clear'd.'-The train disappear'd

'Now call me the chief of the Haram guard.' With Giaffir is none but his only son,

And the Nubian awaiting the sire's award.
'Haroun when all the crowd that wait
Are pass'd beyond the outer gate,
(Woe to the head whose eye beheld
My child Zuleika's face unveil'd!)
Hence, lead my daughter from her tower;
Her fate is fix'd this very hour:
Yet not to her repeat my thought;
By me alone be duty taught!'

'Pacha! to hear is to obey.'

No more must slave to despot say-
Then to the tower had ta'en his way.
But here young Selim silence brake,

First lowly rendering reverence meet;
And downcast look'd, and gently spake,
Still standing at the Pacha's feet:
For son of Moslem must expire,
Ere dare to sit before his sire!

'Father! for fear that thou shouldst chide
My sister, or her sable guide,
Know-for the fault, if fault there be,
Was mine, then fall thy frowns on me-
So lovelily the morning shone,

That-let the old and weary sleep-
I could not; and to view alone

The fairest scenes of land and deep, 、
With none to listen and reply

To thoughts with which my heart beat high,
Were irksome; for whate'er my mood,
In sooth I love not solitude:

I on Zuleika's slumber broke,

And, as thou knowest that for me Soon turns the Haram's grating key, Before the guardian slaves awoke, We to the cypress groves had flown, And made earth, main, and heaven our own! There linger'd we, beguiled too long With Mejnoun's tale, or Sadi's song;

Moun and Leila, the Romeo and Juliet of the East. the moral poet of Persia.

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Vain were a father's hope to see

Aught that beseems a man in thee.

Thou, when thine arm should bend the bow,
And hurl the dart, and curb the steed,
Thou, Greek in soul if not in creed,
Must pore where babbling waters flow,
And watch unfolding roses blow.
Would that yon orb, whose matin glow
Thy listless eyes so much admire,
Would lend thee something of his fire!
Thou, who wouldst see this battlement
By Christian cannon piecemeal rent;
Nay, tamely view old Stamboul's wall
Before the dogs of Moscow fall,

Nor strike one stroke for life and death
Against the curs of Nazareth!

Go-let thy less than woman's hand
Assume the distaff-not the brand.
But Haroun ! to my daughter speed!
And hark-of thine own head take heed-
If thus Zuleika oft takes wing-
Thou seest yon bow-it hath a string!'

V.

No sound from Selim's lips was heard,
At least that met old Giaffir's ear;
But every frown and every word
Pierced keener than a Christian's sword.
'Son of a slave ! '-reproach'd with fear!
Those gibes had cost another dear.
'Son of a slave !-and who my sire?'
Thus held his thoughts their dark career;
And glances ev'n of more than ire

Flash forth, then faintly disappear
Old Giaffir gazed upon his son,

And started; for within his eye
He read how much his wrath had done;
He saw rebellion there begun :

'Come hither, boy-what! no reply?
I mark thee-and I know thee too;
But there be deeds thou dar'st not do:
But if thy beard had manlier length,
And if thy hand had skill and strength,
I'd joy to see thee break a lance,
Albeit against my own perchance.'

As sneeringly these accents fell,
On Selim's eye he fiercely gazed;

That eye return'd him glance for glance,
And proudly to his sire's was raised,

Tambour,' Turkish drum, which sounds at sunrise, noon and twilight.

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