WHO has not heard of the Vale of Cashmere, но With its roses the brightest that earth ever gave,1 Its temples, and grottos, and fountains as clear As the love-lighted eyes that hang over their wave? Oh! to see it at sunset, when warm o'er the Lake Its splendour at parting a summer eve throws, Like a bride, full of blushes, when ling'ring to take A last look of her mirror at night ere she goes! When the shrines through the foliage are gleaming half shown, And each hallows the hour by some rites of its own. Here the Magian his urn full of perfume is swinging, "The rose of Kashmire for its brilliancy and delicacy of odour has long been proverbial in the East.”— Forster. And here, at the altar, a zone of sweet bells Round the waist of some fair Indian dancer is ringing. Or to see it by moonlight, when mellowly shines The light o'er its palaces, gardens and shrines; When the water-falls gleam like a quick fall of stars, And the nightingale's hymn from the Isle of Chenars Is broken by laughs and light echoes of feet From the cool, shining walks where the young people meet. Or at morn, when the magic of daylight awakes And Day, with his banner of radiance unfurl'd, 2" Tied round her waist the zone of bells, that sounded with ravishing melody."-Song of Jayadeva. 3" The little isles in the Lake of Cachemire are set with arbours and large-leaved aspen-trees, slender and tall.”— Bernier. Shines in through the mountainous portal that opes, Sublime, from that Valley of bliss to the world! But never yet, by night or day, With quicker spread each heart uncloses, The Valley holds its Feast of Roses, That joyous time, when pleasures pour Profusely round, and in their shower Hearts open, like the Season's Rose,— The Flowret of a hundred leaves, Expanding while the dew-fall flows, And every leaf its balm receives! 6 4 "The Tuckt Suliman, the name bestowed by the Mahometans on this hill, forms one side of a grand portal to the Lake." -- Forster. 5 "The Feast of Roses continues the whole time of their remaining in bloom." v. Pietro de la Valle. 6" Gul sad berk, the Rose of a hundred leaves. I believe a particular species."— Ouseley. "Twas when the hour of evening came Upon the Lake, serene and cool, When Day had hid his sultry flame Behind the palms of BARAMOULE.' When maids began to lift their heads, Refresh'd, from their embroider'd beds, Where they had slept the sun away, And wak'd to moonlight and to play. All were abroad the busiest hive 8 On BELA's hills is less alive When saffron beds are full in flower, Than look'd the Valley in that hour. And fields and pathways, far and near, That you could see, in wandering round, 7 Bernier. 8 A place mentioned in the Toozek Jehangeery, or Memoirs of Jehanguire, where there is an account of the beds of saffron flowers about Cashmere. Yet did the maids and matrons leave Their veils at home, that brilliant eve; And cheeks, that would not dare shine out That never did the summer bring So a Feast of Roses yet; The moon had never shed a light So clear as that which bless'd them there; The roses ne'er shone half so bright, Nor they themselves look'd half so fair. And what a wilderness of flowers! It seem'd as though from all the bowers As if a shower of fairy wreaths Had fall'n upon it from the sky! Of tabors and of dancing feet; |