lightly as young roes over the aromatic plains of Tibet; while FADLADEEN, in addi. tion to the spiritual comfort derived by him from a pilgrimage to the tomb of the saint from whom the valley is named, had also opportunities of indulging, in a small way, his taste for victims, by putting to death some hundreds of those unfortunate little lizaras, which all pious Mussulmans make it a point to kill-taking for granted, that the manner in which the creature hangs its head is meant as a mimicry of the attitude in which the Faithful say their prayers. About two miles from Hussun Abdaul were those Royal Gardens, which had grown beautiful under the care of so many lovely eyes, and were beautiful still, though those eyes could see them no longer. This place, with its flowers and its holy silence, interrupted only by the dipping of the wings of birds in its marble basins filled with the pure water of those hills, was to LALLA ROOKH all that her heart could fancy of fragrance, coolness, and atmost heavenly tranquillity. As the Prophet said of Damascus, "it was too delicious; "—and here, in listening to the sweet voice of FERAMORz, or reading in his eyes what yet he never dared to tell her, the most exquisite moments of her whole life were passed. One evening, when they had been talking of the Sultana Nourmahal, the Light of the Haram, who had so often wandered among those flowers, and fed with her own hands, in those marble basins, the small shining fishes of which she was so fond, the youth, in order to delay the moment of separation, proposed to recite a short story, or rather rhapsody, of which this adored Sultana was the heroine. It related, he said, to the reconcilement of a sort of lovers' quarrel which took place between her and the Emperor during Feast of Roses at Cashmere; and would remind the Princess of that difference between Haroun al-Raschid and his fair mistress Marida which was so happily made up by the soft strains of the musician, Moussali. As the story was chiefly to be told in song, and FERAMORZ had unluckily forgotten his own lute in the valley. he borrowed the vina of LALLA ROOKH's little Persian slave and thus began: WHO has not heard of the Vale of CASHMERE, As the love-lighted eyes that hang over their wave? Here the music of pray'r from a minaret swells, Here the Magian his urn, full of perfume, is swinging, 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 From the cool, shining walks where the young people meeů But never yet, by night or day, With quicker spread each heart uncloses, The Valley holds its Feast of Roses; The Flow'ret of a hundred leaves, And every leaf its balm receives. "Twas when the hour of evening came Behind the palms of BARAMOULE, All were abroad-the busiest hive And fields and pathways, far and near, And all exclaim'd to all they met, So guy 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 flow'rs! As if a shower of fairy wreaths Had fall'n upon it from the sky!· And then the sounds of joy,-the beat Of tabors and of dancing feet, The minaret-crier's chaunt of glee Sung from his lighted gallery," And answer'd by a ziraleet From neighbouring Haram, wild and sweet; The merry laughter, echoing From gardens, where the silken swing Wafts some delighted girl above Then, the sounds from the Lake,-the low whisp'ring in boats, Through the groves, round the islands, as if all the shores, Like those of KATHAY, utter'd music, and gave An answer in song to the kiss of each wave. But the gentlest of all are those sounds, full of feeling, |