"Where now to Love and now to ALLA given, "Half mistress and half saint, thou hang'st as even "As doth MEDINA's tomb, 'twixt hell and heaven! "Thou 'lt fly! - as easily may reptiles run, "The gaunt snake once hath fixed his eyes upon; "As easily, when caught, the prey may be

"Plucked from his loving folds, as thou from me.

66

'No, no, 'tis fixed — let good or ill betide,

"Thou 'rt mine till death, till death MoKANNA'S

bride!

"Hast thou forgot thy oath?"

At this dread word,

The Maid, whose spirit his rude taunts had stirred Through all its depths, and roused an anger there, That burst and lightened even through her despair — Shrunk back, as if a blight were in the breath

That spoke that word, and staggered pale as death.

"Yes, my sworn bride, let others seek in bowers "Their bridal place the charnel vault was ours! "Instead of scents and balms, for thee and me "Rose the rich steams of sweet mortality;

"Gay, flickering death-lights shone while we were wed,

"And, for our guests, a row of goodly Dead, "(Immortal spirits in their time, no doubt,)

"From reeking shrouds upon the rite looked out! "That oath thou heard'st more lips than thine re

peat

"That cup-thou shudd❜rest, Lady,

was it sweet?

"That cup we pledged, the charnel's choicest wine,

"Bound thee by chains that, whether blest or curst "No matter now, not hell itself shall burst! "Hence, woman, to the Harem, and look gay,

"Look wild, look anything but sad; yet stay"One moment more from what this night hath passed,

"I see thou know'st me, know'st me well at last. "Ha! ha! and so, fond thing, thou thought'st all

true,

"And that I love mankind?

I do, I do"As victims, love them; as the sea-dog doats "Upon the small, sweet fry that round him floats; "Or, as the Nile-bird loves the slime that gives "That rank and venomous food on which she lives! 57

“And, now thou seest my soul's angelic hue, ""T is time these features were uncurtained too; "This brow, whose light — oh, rare celestial light! "Hath been reserved to bless thy favored sight; "These dazzling eyes, before whose shrouded might "Thou 'st seen immortal Man kneel down and

quake

"Would that they were heaven's lightnings for his sake!

"But turn and look - then wonder, if thou wilt, “That I should hate, should take revenge, by guilt, "Upon the hand, whose mischief or whose mirth

"Sent me thus maimed and monstrous upon earth; "And on that race who, though more vile they be "Than mowing apes, are demi-gods to me! "Here-judge if hell, with all its power to damn, "Can add one curse to the foul thing I am!".

On their arrival, next night, at the place of encampment, they were surprised and delighted to find the groves all around illuminated; some artists of Yamtcheou 58 having been sent on previously for the purpose. On each side of the green alley, which led to the Royal Pavilion, artificial sceneries of bamboo-work 59 were erected, representing arches, minarets, and towers, from which hung thousands of silken lanterns, painted by the most delicate pencils of Canton. Nothing could be more beautiful than the leaves of the mango-trees and acacias, shining in the light of the bamboo-scenery, which shed a lustre round as soft as that of the nights of Peristan.

LALLA ROOKн, however, who was too much occupied by the sad story of ZELICA and her lover to give a thought to anything else, except, perhaps, him who related it, hurried on through this scene of splendor to her pavilion, greatly to the mortification of the poor artists of Yamtcheou, and was followed with equal rapidity by the Great Chamberlain, cursing, as he went, that ancient Mandarin, whose parental anxiety in lighting up the shores of the lake, where his beloved daughter had wandered

and been lost, was the origin of these fantastic Chinese illuminations.60

Without a moment's delay, young FERAMORZ was introduced, and FADLADEEN, who could never make up his mind as to the merits of a poet, till he knew the religious sect to which he belonged, was about to ask him whether he was a Shia or a Sooni, when LALLA ROOKH impatiently clapped her hands for silence, and the youth, being seated upon the musnud near her, proceeded :—