Thou never couldst have borne it - Death had come

At once, and taken thy wrung spirit home.
But 'twas not so —a torpor, a suspense

Of thought, almost of life, came o'er th' intense
And passionate struggles of that fearful night,
When her last hope of peace and heav'n took flight:
And though, at times, a gleam of frenzy broke, —
As through some dull volcano's veil of smoke
Ominous flashings now and then will start,
Which show the fire's still busy at its heart;
Yet was she mostly wrapp'd in sullen gloom, —
Not such as AZIM's, brooding o'er its doom,
And calm without, as is the brow of death,
While busy worms are gnawing underneath!
But in a blank and pulseless torpor, free
From thought or pain, a seal'd up apathy,
Which left her oft, with scarce one living thrill,
The cold, pale victim of her torturer's will.

Again, as in MEROU, he had her deck'd Gorgeously out, the Priestess of the sect; And led her glittering forth before the eyes Of his rude train, as to a sacrifice;

Pallid as she, the young, devoted Bride

Of the fierce NILE, when, deck'd in all the pride
Of nuptial pomp, she sinks into his tide! 7

And while the wretched maid hung down her head,
And stood, as one just risen from the dead,
Amid that gazing crowd, the fiend would tell
His credulous slaves it was some charm or spell
Possess'd her now, and from that darken'd trance
Should dawn ere long their Faith's deliverance.
Or if, at times, goaded by guilty shame,

Her soul was rous'd, and words of wildness came,
Instant the bold blasphemer would translate
Her ravings into oracles of fate,

Would hail heav'n's signals in her flashing eyes,
And call her shrieks the language of the skies!

But vain at length his arts-despair is seen Gathering around; and famine comes to glean All that the sword had left unreap'd :— in vain At morn and eve across the northern plain

}

7 "A custom still subsisting at this day, seems to me to prove that the Egyptians formerly sacrificed a young virgin to the God of the Nile; for they now make a statue of earth in shape of a girl, to which they give the name of the Betrothed Bride, and throw it into the river."- Savary.

He looks impatient for the promis'd spears

Of the wild Hordes and TARTAR mountaineers;

They come not- while his fierce beleaguerers pour
Engines of havoc in, unknown before,

And horrible as new *; —javelins, that fly

Enwreath'd with smoky flames through the dark sky,
And red-hot globes that, opening as they mount,
Discharge, as from a kindled Naptha fount,
Showers of consuming fire o'er all below;

Looking, as through th' illumin'd night they go,
Like those wild birds' that by the Magians oft,
At festivals of fire, were sent aloft

Into the air, with blazing faggots tied

To their huge wings, scattering combustion wide!

8 The Greek fire, which was occasionally lent by the Emperors to their allies. “It was," says Gibbon, “ either launched in red-hot balls of stone and iron, or darted in arrows and javelins, twisted round with flax and tow, which had deeply imbibed the inflammable oil."

9" At the great festival of fire, called the Sheb Sezé, they used to set fire to large bunches of dry combustibles, fastened round wild beasts and birds, which being then let loose, the air and earth appeared one great illumination; and as these terrified creatures naturally fled to the wood for shelter, it is easy to conceive the conflagrations they produced.” — Richardson's Dissertation.

All night, the groans of wretches who expire,
In agony, beneath these darts of fire,

Ring through the city — while, descending o'er
Its shrines and domes and streets of sycamore;
Its lone bazars, with their bright cloths of gold,
Since the last peaceful pageant left unroll'd; -
Its beauteous marble baths, whose idle jets
Now gush with blood; - and its tall minarets,
That late have stood up in the evening glare
Of the red sun, unhallow'd by a prayer; -
O'er each, in turn, the dreadful flame-bolts fall,
And death and conflagration throughout all
The desolate city hold high festival !

}

MOKANNA sees the world is his no more; One sting at parting, and his grasp is o'er. "What! drooping now?"—thus, with unblushing cheek, He hails the few, who yet can hear him speak, Of all those famish'd slaves, around him lying,

And by the light of blazing temples dying; — "What! drooping now? - now, when at length we

press

"Home o'er the very threshold of success;

"When ALLA from our ranks hath thinn'd away "Those grosser branches, that kept out his

"Of favour from us, and we stand at length

ray

"Heirs of his light and children of his strength,
"The chosen few, who shall survive the fall
"Of Kings and Thrones, triumphant over all!
"Have you then lost, weak murmurers as you are,
"All faith in him, who was your Light, your Star?
"Have you forgot the eye of glory, hid
"Beneath this Veil, the flashing of whose lid
"Could, like a sun-stroke of the desert, wither

"Millions of such as yonder Chief brings hither?

"Long have its lightnings slept - too long but now "All earth shall feel th' unveiling of this brow!

"To-night

-yes, sainted men! this very night,

"I bid you all to a fair festal rite,

"Where, having deep refresh'd each weary limb "With viands, such as feast Heav'n's cherubim,

"And kindled up your souls, now sunk and dim, "With that pure wine the Dark-ey'd Maids above

}

Keep, seal'd with precious musk, for those they love,'→

"The righteous shall be given to drink of pure wine, sealed; the seal whereof shall be musk.". Koran, chap. lxxxiii.