from the reverie in which she had been wandering. Instantly her eyes were lighted up with pleasure, and, after a few unheard remarks from FADLADEEN upon the indecorum of a poet seating himself in presence of a Princess, every thing was arranged as on the preceding evening, and all listened with eagerness, while the story was thus continued:

WHOSE are the gilded tents that crowd the way,
Where all was waste and silent yesterday?

This City of War which, in a few short hours,
Hath sprung up here, as if the magic powers
Of Him who, in the twinkling of a star,
Built the high pillar'd halls of CHILMINAR, '
Had conjur'd up, far as the eye can see,

This world of tents and domes and sun-bright armory!-
Princely pavilions, screen'd by many a fold

Of crimson cloth, and topp'd with balls of gold;-
Steeds, with their housings of rich silver spun,
Their chains and poitrels glittering in the sun;
And camels, tufted o'er with Yemen's shells,
Shaking in every breeze their light-ton'd bells!

But yester-eve, so motionless around,

So mute was this wide plain, that not a sound

'The edifices of Chilminar and Balbec are supposed to have been built by the Genii, acting under the orders of Jan ben Jan, who governed the world long before the time of Adam.

But the far torrent, or the locust-bird

2

Hunting among the thickets, could be heard;

Yet hark! what discords now, of every kind,

Shouts, laughs, and screams are revelling in the wind!
The neigh of cavalry;-the tinkling throngs

Of laden camels and their drivers' songs;—
Ringing of arms, and flapping in the breeze
Of streamers from ten thousand canopies;
War-music, bursting out from time to time
With gong and tymbalon's tremendous chime; -
Or, in the pause, when harsher sounds are mute,
The mellow breathings of some horn or flute,
That far off, broken by the eagle note

Of the' Abyssinian trumpet, swell and float!

ye

Who leads this mighty army? - ask
And mark ye not those banners of dark hue,

"who?"

2 A native of Khorassan, and allured southward by means of the water of a fountain between Shiraz and Ispahan, called the Fountain of Birds, of which it is so fond that it will follow wherever that water is carried.

3 "This trumpet is often called in Abyssinia, nesser cano, which signifies the Note of the Eagle. Note of Bruce's editor.

The Night and Shadow, over yonder tent?→
It is the CALIPH's glorious armament.

Rous'd in his Palace by the dread alarms,
That hourly came, of the false Prophet's arms,
And of his host of infidels, who hurl'd

Defiance fierce at Islam' and the world;

Though worn with Grecian warfare, and behind
The veils of his bright Palace calm reclin'd,
Yet brook'd he not such blasphemy should stain,
Thus unreveng'd, the evening of his reign,
But, having sworn upon the Holy Grave"
To conquer or to perish, once more gave
His shadowy banners proudly to the breeze,
And with an army, nurs'd in victories,

Here stands to crush the rebels that o'er-run
His blest and beauteous Province of the Sun.

4 The two black standards borne before the Caliphs of the House of Abbas, were called, allegorically, The Night and The Shadowv. Gibbon.

5 The Mahometan Religion.

6"The Persians swear by the Tomb of Shah Besade, who is buried at Casbin; and when one desires another to asseverate a matter, he will ask him, if he dare swear by the Holy Grave."— Struy.

Ne'er did the march of MAHADI display
Such pomp before; — not ev'n when on his way
TO MECCA'S Temple, when both land and sea
Were spoil'd to feed the Pilgrim's luxury;'
When round him, mid the burning sands, he saw
Fruits of the North in icy freshness thaw,
And cool'd his thirsty lip, beneath the glow
Of MECCA'S sun, with urns of Persian snow:"
Nor e'er did armament more grand than that
Pour from the kingdoms of the Caliphat.
First, in the van, the People of the Rock,
On their light mountain steeds, of royal stock;
Then, Chieftains of DAMASCUs, proud to see
The flashing of their swords' rich marquetry;
Men, from the regions near the VOLGA's mouth,
Mix'd with the rude, black archers of the South;

8

I

9.

6 Mahadi, in a single pilgrimage to Mecca, expended six millions of dinars of gold.

7 Nivem Meccam apportavit, rem ibi aut nunquam aut raro visam. - Abulfeda.

8 The inhabitants of Hejaz or Arabia Petræa, called by an Eastern writer" The People of the Rock.” — Ebn Haukal.

9" Those horses, called by the Arabians Kochlani, of whom a written genealogy has been kept for 2000 years. They are said to derive their origin from King Solomon's steeds." Niebuhr.

I "Many of the figures on the blades of their swords are wrought in gold or silver, or in marquetry with small gems."- Asiat. Misc. v.i.