KNOW ye the land where the cypress and myrtle Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime? Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle, Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime! Know ye the land of the cedar and vine, Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine: Where the light wings of Zephyr, oppress'd with perfume, Wax faint o'er the gardens of Gúl* in her bloom; In color though varied, in beauty may vie, 'Tis the clime of the East; 't is the land of the Sun Can he smile on such deeds as his children have done? † Oh! wild as the accents of lovers' farewell Are the hearts which they bear, and the tales which they tell. II. Begirt with many a gallant slave, To guide his steps, or guard his rest, *"Gul," the rose. Byron Old Giaffir sate in his Divan: Deep thought was in his aged eye; And though the face of Mussulman Not oft betrays to standers by The mind within well skill'd to hide All but unconquerable pride, His pensive cheek and pondering brow Did more than he was wont avow. III. "Let the chamber be clear'd."-The train dis appear'd "Now call me the chief of the Haram guard.” With Giaffir is none but his only son, And the Nubian awaiting the sire's award. "Haroun-when all the crowd that wait Are pass'd beyond the outer gate (Woe to the head whose eye beheld My child Zuleika's face unveil'd!), Hence, lead my daughter from her tower; Her fate is fix'd this very hour: Yet not to her repeat my thought By me alone be duty taught!" "Pacha! to hear is to obey." No more must slave to despot say- First lowly rendering reverence meet; "Father! for fear that thou shouldst chide Know-for the fault, if fault there be, "Souls made of fire, and children of the Sun, With whom revenge is virtue."-YOUNG's Revenge. "Son of a slave "-the Pacha said- Thou, when thine arm should bend the bow, Nor strike one stroke for life and death He read how much his wrath had done; "Come hither, boy-what, no reply? That eye return'd him glance for glance, And proudly to his sire's was raised, Till Giaffir's quail'd and shrunk askanceAnd why-he felt, but durst not tell. "Much I misdoubt this wayward boy Will one day work me more annoy: I never loved him from his birth, And-but his arm is little worth, And scarcely in the chase could cope With timid fawn or antelope, Far less would venture into strife Where man contends for fame and lifeI would not trust that look or tone: No-nor the blood so near my own. That blood-he hath not heard-no moreI'll watch him closer than before. He is an Arab ‡ to my sight, Or Christian crouching in the fightBut hark!-I hear Zuleika's voice; Like Houris' hymn it meets mine ear: Oh! more than ev'n her mother dear, Such to my longing sight art thou; VI. Fair as the first that fell of womankind, When on that dread yet lovely serpent smiling, Whose image then was stamped upon her mindBut once beguiled-and ever more beguiling; Dazzling, as that, oh! too transcendent vision To Sorrow's phantom-peopled slumber given, When heart meets heart again in dreams Elysian, And paints the lost on Earth revived in Heaven; Who hath not proved how feebly words essay? * Mejnoun and Leila, the Romeo and Juliet of the East. the reader to recollect, for ten seconds, the features of the Sadi, the moral poet of Persia. woman whom he believes to be the most beautiful; and, if ✦ Turkish drum, which sounds at sunrise, noon, and twi- he then does not comprehend fully what is feebly expressed light. The Turks abhor the Arabs (who return the compliment a hundred-fold) even more than they hate the Christians. 8 These twelve fine lines were added in the course of printing. This expression has met with objections. I will not refer to "Him who hath not Music in his soul," but merely request in the above line, I shall be sorry for us both. For an ele quent passage in the latest work of the first female writer of this, perhaps of any age, on the analogy (and the immediate comparison excited by that analogy) between "painting and music," see vol. iii., cap. 10, DE L'ALLEMAGNE. And is not this connection still stronger with the original than the copy? with the coloring of Nature than of Art? After all, this is The heart whose softness harmonized the whole, Her graceful arms in meekness bending VII. "Zuleika! child of gentleness! His years need scarce a thought employ: VIII. In silence bow'd the virgin's head; X. No word from Selim's bosom broke; "Chibouque," the Turkish pipe, of which the amber mouth-piece, and sometimes the ball which contains the leaf, is adorned with precious stones, if in possession of the wealth rather to be felt than described; still I think there are some * Carasman Oglou, or Kara Osman Oglu, is the principal landowner in Turkey; he governs Magnesia: those who, by a kind of feudal tenure, possess land on condition of service, are called Timariots: they serve as Spahis, according to the extent of territory, and bring a certain number into the field, generally cavalry. + When a Pacha is sufficiently strong to resist, the single messenger, who is always the first bearer of the order for his death, is strangled instead, and sometimes five or six, one after the other, on the same errand, by command of the refractory patient: if, on the contrary, he is weak or loyal, he bows, kisses the Sultan's respectable signature, and is bowstrung with great complacency. In 1810, several of these presents were exhibited in the niche of the Seraglio gate; among others, the head of the Pacha of Bagdat, a brave young man, cut off by treachery, after a desperate resistance. * Clapping of the hands calls the servants. The Turks hate a superfluous expenditure of voice, and they have no bells. "Maugrabee," Moorish mercenaries. ¶ "Delis," bravos who form the forlorn hope of the cavalry, and always begin the action. **A twisted fold of felt is used for scimitar practice by the Turks, and few but Mussulman arms can cut through it at a single stroke: sometimes a tough turban is used for the same purpose. The jerreed is a game of blunt javelins, animated and graceful. ++"Ollahs," Alla il Allah, the "Leilies," as the Spanish poets call them, the sound is Ollah; a cry of which the Turks, for a silent people, are somewhat profuse, particularly during the jerreed, or in the chase, but mostly in battle. Their animation in the field, and gravity in the chamber, with their pipes and comboloios, form an amusing contrast. "Atar-gul," ottar of roses. The Persian is the finest. $8 The ceilings and wainscots, or rather walls, of the Mussulman apartments are generally painted, in great houses, with one eternal and highly colored view of Constantinople, wherein the principal feature is a noble contempt of per spective; below, arms, scimitars, &c., are in general fancifully and not inelegantly disposed. As if that breast were marble too. 66 What, sullen yet? it must not beOh! gentle Selim, this from thee!" She saw in curious order set The fairest flowers of eastern land "He loved them once; may touch them yet, If offer'd by Zuleika's hand." The childish thought was hardly breathed It says to-night he will prolong XI. "What! not receive my foolish flower? And know'st thou not who loves thee best? Since words of mine, and songs must fail, I knew our sire at times was stern, Ah! deem I right? the Pacha's plan- Where were thy friend-and who my guide? When flies that shaft, and fly it must, That parts all else, shall doom for ever Our hearts to undivided dust!" XII. He lived-he breathed-he moved-he felt; He raised the maid from where she knelt; His trance was gone-his keen eye shone With thoughts that long in darkness dwelt; With thoughts that burn-in rays that melt. As the stream late conceal'd By the fringe of its willows, When it rushes reveal'd In the light of its billows; As the bolt bursts on high From the black cloud that bound it, Flash'd the soul of that eye Through the long lashes round it. It has been much doubted whether the notes of this "Lover of the rose" are sad or merry; and Mr. Fox' remarks on the subject have provoked some learned controversy as to the opinions of the ancients on the subject. I dare not venture a conjecture on the point, though a little inclined to the " errare mallem," &c., if Mr. Fox was mistaken. "Azrael," the angel of death. A war-horse at the trumpet's sound, That vow hath saved more heads than one; I know the wretch who dares demand A viler race let Israel show; I've arms, and friends, and vengeance near." XIII. "Think not thou art what thou appearest ! What fever in thy veins is flushing? At least I feel my cheek, too, blushing. To soothe thy sickness, watch thy health, Partake, but never waste thy wealth, Or stand with smiles unmurmuring by, And lighten half thy poverty: Do all but close thy dying eye, For that I could not live to try; The treasures of the Pre-Adamite Sultans. See D'Herbelot, article Istakar. § "Musselim," a governor, the next in rank after a Pacha; a Waywode is the third; and then comes the Agas. "Egripo," the Negropont. According to the proverb, the Turks of Egripo, the Jews of Salonica, and the Greeks of Athens, are the worst of their respective races. To these alone my thoughts aspire: Yet what thou mean'st by arms' and 'friends,' I meant that Giaffir should have heard His wrath would not revoke my word: Can this fond wish seem strange in me, To be what I have ever been? These cherish'd thoughts, with life begun, What change is wrought to make me shun And such it feels while lurking here; Nor leave me thus to thoughts of fear. XIV. Zuleika-to thy tower's retreat There's fearful news from Danube's banks, For which the Giaour may give him thanks! But, mark me, when the twilight drum Then softly from the Haram creep Which some have felt, and more may feel. *"Tchocadar," one of the attendants who precedes a man of authority. * The wrangling about this epithet, “the broad Hellespont" or the "boundless Hellespont," whether it means one or the other, or what it means at all, has been beyond all possibility of detail. I have even heard it disputed on the spot; and not foreseeing a speedy conclusion to the controversy, amused Then shalt thou learn of Selim more "Fear thee, my Selim! ne'er till now CANTO THE SECOND. I. THE winds are high on Helle's wave, As on that night of stormy water When Love, who sent, forgot to save The young, the beautiful, the brave, The lonely hope of Sestos' daughter. Oh! when alone along the sky Her turret-torch was blazing high, Though rising gale, and breaking foam, And shrieking sea-birds warn'd him home; And clouds aloft and tides below, With signs and sounds, forbade to go, He could not see, he would not hear, Or sound or sign foreboding fear; His eye but saw that light of love, The only star it hail'd above; His ear but rang with Hero's song, "Ye waves, divide not lovers long!" That tale is old, but love anew May nerve young hearts to prove as true. II. The winds are high, and Helle's tide The tombs, sole relics of his reign, III. Oh! yet-for there my steps have been; These feet have press'd the sacred shore, These limbs that buoyant wave hath borneMinstrel! with thee to muse, to mourn, To trace again those fields of yore, Contains no fabled hero's ashes, Thine own 66 broad Hellespont "+ still dashes, myself with swimming across it in the mean time; and probably may again, before the point is settled. Indeed, the question as to the truth of "the tale of Troy divine" still continues much of it resting upon the talismanic word ameipos: probably Homer had the same notion of distance that a coquette has of time; and when he talks of boundless, means half a mile; as the latter, by a like figure, when she says eternal attachment, simply specifies three weeks. |