But, hapless one! I cannot ride; there's something in a horse
That I can always honor, but I never could endorse;
To speak still more commercially, in riding I am quite
Averse to running long, and apt to be paid off at sight:
In legal phrase, for every class to understand me still,
I never was in stirrups yet a tenant but at will;
Or, if you please, in artist terms, I never went a-straddle
On any horse without a want of keeping' in the saddle.
In short," and here I blushed, abashed, and held my head

full low,

"I'm one of those whose infant ears have heard the chimes of Bow!"

The lady smiled, as houris smile, adown from Turkish skies, And beams of cruel kindness shone within her hazel eyes; "Stranger," she said, "or rather say, my nearest, dearest friend,

There's something in your eyes, your air, and that high instep's bend,

-

That tells me you 're of Arab race, whatever spot of earth, Cheapside, or Bow, or Stepney, had the honor of your birth, The East it is your country! Like an infant changed at

nurse

By fairies, you have undergone a nurtureship perverse; But this these desert sands—these palms, and cedars

waving wild,

All, all, adopt thee as their own-an oriental child; —
The cloud may hide the sun a while, but soon or late, no doubt,
The spirit of your ancestry will burst and sparkle out!
I read the starry characters-and, lo! 'tis written there,
Thou wert foredoomed of sons of men to ride upon this Mare,
A Mare till now was never backed by one of mortal mould;
Hark! how she neighs, as if for thee she knew that she was
foaled!"

And truly - I devoutly wished a blast of the simoom
Had stifled her!-the mare herself appeared to mock my

doom;

With many a bound she capered round and round me like a

dance;

I feared indeed some wild caress would end the fearful prance,
And felt myself, and saw myself the fantasy was horrid !
Like old Redgauntlet, with a shoe imprinted on my forehead!
On bended knees, with bowing head, and hands upraised in
prayer,

I begged the turbaned Sultaness the issue to forbear;
I painted weeping orphan babes, around a widowed wife,
And drew my death as vividly as others draw from life;

Behold," I said, "a simple man, for such high feats unfit,
Who never yet has learned to know the crupper from the bit,
Whereas the boldest horsemanship, and first equestrian skill,
Would well be tasked to bend so wild a creature to the will."
Alas! alas! 't was all in vain, to supplicate and kneel,
The quadruped could not have been more cold to my appeal!
"Fear nothing," said the smiling Fate, "when human help
is vain,

Spirits shall by thy stirrups fly, and fairies guide the rein;
Just glance at yonder animal, her perfect shape remark,
And in thy breast at once shall glow the oriental spark!
As for thy spouse and tender babes, no Arab roams the wild
But for a Mare of such descent would barter wife and child."

'Nay, then," cried I-(Heaven shrive the lie!) "to tell the secret truth,

"T was my unhappy fortune once to over-ride a youth!
A playful child, so full of life! a little fair-haired boy,
His sister's pet, his father's hope, his mother's darling joy!
Ah me! the frantic shriek she gave! I hear it ringing now!
That hour, upon the bloody spot, I made a holy vow;

A solemn compact, deeply sworn, to witness my remorse, That never more these limbs of mine should mount on living horse!'

Good Heaven! to see the angry glance that flashed upon

me now!

A chill ran all my marrow through the drops were on my

brow!

I knew my doom, and stole a glance at that accursed Mare, And there she stood, with nostrils wide, that snuffed the

sultry air.

How lion-like she lashed her flanks with her abundant tail; While on her neck the stormy mane kept tossing to the gale! How fearfully she rolled her eyes between the earth and sky, As if in wild uncertainty to gallop or to fly!

While with her hoof she scooped the sand as if before she gave
My plunge into eternity she meant to dig my grave!

And I, that ne'er could calmly bear a horse's ears at play -
Or hear without a yard of jump his shrill and sudden neigh
Whose foot within a stable-door had never stood an inch
Whose hand to pat a living steed would feel an awful flinch,
I, that had never thrown a leg across a pony small,
To scour the pathless desert on the tallest of the tall'
For, O! it is no fable, but at every look I cast,

Her restless legs seemed twice as long as when I saw them last!

In agony I shook and yet, although congealed by fears,
My blood was boiling fast, to judge from noises in my ears;
I gasped as if in vacuo, and, thrilling with despair,
Some secret demon seemed to pass his fingers through my hair.
I could not stir-I could not speak - I could not even see
A sudden mist rose up between that awful Mare and me,—
I tried to pray, but found no words, though ready ripe to weep
No tear would flow, o'er every sense a swoon began to creep

When, lo! to bring my horrid fate at once unto the brunt, Two Arabs seized me from behind, two others in the front, And ere a muscle could be strung to try the strife forlorn I found myself, Mazeppa-like, upon the Desert-Born!

Terrific was the neigh she gave, the monent that my weight Was felt upon her back, as if exulting in her freight; Whilst dolefully I heard a voice that set each nerve ajar,"Off with the bridle - quick! - and leave his guidance to his star!"

"Allah! il Allah!" rose the shout, and starting with a bound, The dreadful Creature cleared at once a dozen yards of

ground;

And grasping at her mane with both my cold convulsive hands,

Away we flew away! away! across the shifting sands! My eyes were closed in utter dread of such a fearful race, But yet by certain signs I knew we went no earthly pace, For turn whichever way we might, the wind with equal force Rushed like a torrid hurricane still adverse to our course One moment close at hand I heard the roaring Syrian Sea, The next it only murmured like the humming of a bee! And when I dared at last to glance across the wild immense, O, ne'er shall I forget the whirl that met the dizzy sense! What seemed a little sprig of fern, ere lips could reckon

twain,

A palm of forty cubits high, we passed it on the plain ! What tongue could tell,— what pencil paint, what pen

describe the ride?

Now off- now on

now up

from side to side!

I tried to speak, but had no voice, to soothe her with its tone; My scanty breath was jolted out with many a sudden groan,

My joints were racked - my back was strained, so firmly I had clung

My nostrils gushed, and thrice my teeth had bitten through my tongue

When, lo!-farewell all hope of life!—she turned and faced the rocks,

None but a flying horse could clear those monstrous granite

blocks!

So thought I, but I little knew the desert pride and fire, Derived from a most deer-like dam, and lion-hearted sire; Little I guessed the energy of muscle, blood and bone; Bound after bound, with eager springs, she cleared each massive stone ;

Nine mortal leaps were passed before a huge gray rock at length

Stood planted there as if to dare her utmost pitch of strength; My time was come! that granite heap my monument of

death!

She paused, she snorted loud and long, and drew a fuller

breath;

Nine strides, and then a louder beat that warned me of her

spring,

I felt her rising in the air like eagle on the wing

But, O! the crash!--the hideous shock!-the million sparks

around!

Her hindmost hoofs had struck the crest of that prodigious

mound!

Wild shricked the headlong Desert-Born - or else 't was demons' mirth,

One second more, and Man and Mare rolled breathless on the earth!

How long it was I cannot tell ere I revived to sense
And then but to endure the pangs of agony intense :