O'er his lost throne-then pass'd the JIHON'S flood,125
And gathering all, whose madness of belief

Still saw a Saviour in their down-fall'n Chief,
Rais'd the white banner within NEKSHEB'S gates,126
And there, untam'd, the' approaching conqu'ror waits.

Of all his Haram, all that busy hive,
With music and with sweets sparkling alive,

He took but one, the partner of his flight,
One-not for love-not for her beauty's light-
No, ZELICA stood withering midst the gay,
Wan as the blossom that fell yesterday
From the Alma tree and dies, while overhead
To-day's young flower is springing in its stead. 12
Oh, not for love-the deepest Damn'd must be
Touch'd with Heaven's glory, ere such fiends as he
Can feel one glimpse of Love's divinity.

But no, she is his victim; there lie all

127

Her charms for him-charms that can never pall,

As long as hell within his heart can stir,
Or one faint trace of Heaven is left in her.

To work an angel's ruin,-to behold

As white a page as Virtue e'er unroll'd

Blacken, beneath his touch, into a scroll

Of damning sins, seal'd with a burning soul

This is his triumph; this the joy accurst,

That ranks him among demons all but first:
This gives the victim, that before him lies
Blighted and lost, a glory in his eyes,

A light like that with which hell-fire illumes
The ghastly, writhing wretch whom it consumes!

But other tasks now wait him-tasks that need
All the deep daringness of thought and deed
With which the Dives 128 have gifted him-for mark,
Over yon plains, which night had else made dark,
Those lanterns, countless as the winged lights
That spangle INDIA's fields on showery nights, 129.
Far as their formidable gleams they shed,
The mighty tents of the beleaguerer spread,
Glimmering along the' horizon's dusky line,
And thence in nearer circles, till they shine
Among the founts and groves, o'er which the town
In all its arm'd magnificence looks down.
Yet, fearless, from his lofty battlements
MOKANNA views that multitude of tents;

Nay, smiles to think that, though entoil'd, beset,
Not less than myriads dare to front him yet ;—
That friendless, throneless, he thus stands at bay,
Even thus a match for myriads such as they.

"Oh, for a sweep of that dark Angel's wing,
"Who brush'd the thousands of the' Assyrian King 130

"To darkness in a moment, that I might

66

66

People Hell's chambers with yon host to-night!

But, come what may, let who will grasp the throne,

Caliph or Prophet, Man alike shall groan

"Let who will torture him, Priest-Caliph-King

"Alike this loathsome world of his shall ring

"With victims' shrieks, and howlings of the slave,

"Sounds, that shall glad me even within my grave!' Thus, to himself-but to the scanty train

Still left around him, a far different strain :

"Glorious Defenders of the sacred Crown

"I bear from Heaven, whose light nor blood shall drown,

"Nor shadow of earth eclipse;-before whose gems

The paly pomp of this world's diadems,

"The crown of GERASHID, the pillar'd throne

"Of PARVIZ,131 and the heron crest that shone,132 Magnificent, o'er ALI's beauteous eyes,' 133

66

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Fade like the stars when morn is in the skies:

Warriors, rejoice-the port to which we've pass'd

'O'er Destiny's dark wave, beams out at last!

Victory's our own-'tis written in that Book

Upon whose leaves none but the angels look, "That ISLAM'S sceptre shall beneath the power "Of her great foe fall broken in that hour, "When the moon's mighty orb, before all eyes,

"From NEKSHEB's Holy Well portentously shall rise!

They turn'd, and, as he spoke,

A sudden splendour all around them broke,
And they beheld an orb, ample and bright,
Rise from the Holy Well,134 and cast its light
Round the rich city and the plain for miles, 135.

Flinging such radiance o'er the gilded tiles
Of many a dome and fair-roof'd minaret

As autumn suns shed round them when they set.
Instant from all who saw the' illusive sign
A murmur broke-" Miraculous! divine!"

The Gheber bow'd, thinking his idol star
Had wak'd, and burst impatient through the bar
Of midnight, to inflame him to the war;
While he of MOUSSA's creed saw, in that ray,
The glorious Light which, in his freedom's day,
Had rested on the Ark,136 and now again
Shone out to bless the breaking of his chain.

"To victory!" is at once the cry of all-
Nor stands MOKANNA loitering at that call;
But instant the huge gates are flung aside,
And forth, like a diminutive mountain-tide
Into the boundless sea, they speed their course.
Right on into the MOSLEM's mighty force.

The watchmen of the camp,-who, in their rounds,
Had paus'd, and even forgot the punctual sounds

Of the small drum with which they count the night,137

To gaze upon that supernatural light,—

Now sink beneath an unexpected arm,

And in a death-groan give their last alarm.

"On for the lamps, that light yon lofty screen,'

138