And answer'd by a ziraleet From neighbouring Haram, wild and sweet;— The merry laughter, echoing From gardens, where the silken swing* Flinging, unaw'd by slave or mother, Handfuls of roses at each other.— Then, the sounds from the Lake, -the low whispering in boats, As they shoot through the moonlight ;-the dipping of oars, bled at the house respond at intervals with a ziraleet or joyous chorus." Russell. * "The swing is a favourite pastime in the East, as promoting a circulation of air, extremely refreshing in those sultry climates.” – Richardson. "The swings are adorned with festoons. This pastime is accompanied with music of voices and of instruments, hired by the masters of the swings." Thevenot. "At the keeping of the Feast of Roses we beheld an infinite number of tents pitched, with such a crowd of men, women, boys, and girls, with music, dances," &c. &c. - · Her bert. And the wild, airy warbling that every where floats, Through the groves, round the islands, as if all the shores, * Like those of KATHAY, utter'd music, and gave Oh! best of delights as it every where is To be near the lov'd One,—what a rapture is his Who in moonlight and music thus sweetly may glide O'er the Lake of CASHMERE, with that One by his side! *"An old commentator of the Chou-King says, the ancients having remarked that a current of water made some of the stones near its banks send forth a sound, they detached some of them, and being charmed with the delightful sound they emitted, constructed King or musical instruments of them." Grosier. This miraculous quality has been attributed also to the shore of Attica. "Hujus littus, ait Capella, concentum musicum illisis terræ undis reddere, quod propter tantam eruditionis vim puto dictum."-Ludov. Vives in Augustin de Civitat. Dei, lib. xviii. c. 8. If woman can make the worst wilderness dear, Think, think what a Heav'n she must make of CASHMERE! So felt the magnificent Son of ACBAR*, war When from power and pomp and the trophies of MAHAL. When free and uncrown'd as the Conqueror rov'd By the banks of that Lake, with his only belov'd, He saw, in the wreaths she would playfully snatch From the hedges, a glory his crown could not match, And preferr'd in his heart the least ringlet that curl'd Down her exquisite neck to the throne of the world. There's a beauty, for ever unchangingly bright, Like the long, sunny lapse of a summer-day's light, Shining on, shining on, by no shadow made tender, Till Love falls asleep in its sameness of splendour. * Jehanguire was the son of the Great Acbar. This was not the beauty-oh, nothing like this, That to young NOURMAHAL gave such magic of bliss! But that loveliness, ever in motion, which plays When pensive, it seem'd as if that very grace, New beauty, like flowers that are sweetest when shaken. If tenderness touch'd her, the dark of her eye From the depth of whose shadow, like holy revealings spring; Illum'd by a wit that would fascinate sages, soul; And where it most sparkled no glance could discover, And though bright was his Haram,-a living parterre Of the flow'rs of this planet-though treasures were there, For which SOLIMAN's self might have giv'n all the store That the navy from OPHIR e'er wing'd to his shore, * In the wars of the Dives with the Peris, whenever the former took the latter prisoners, "they shut them up in iron cages, and hung them on the highest trees. Here they were visited by their companions, who brought them the choicest odours." Richardson. In the Malay language the same word signifies women and flowers. |