Not thus was Hassan wont to fly
When Leila dwelt in his Serai.
Doth Leila there no longer dwell?
That tale can only Hassan tell :
Strange rumours in our city say
Upon that eve she fled away
When Rhamazan's last sun was set, 18
And flashing from each minaret
Millions of lamps proclaimed the feast
Of Bairam through the boundless East.
"Twas then she went as to the bath,
Which Hassan vainly searched in wrath ;
For she was flown her master's rage
In likeness of a Georgian page,
And far beyond the Moslem's power
Had wronged him with the faithless Giaour.
Somewhat of this had Hassan deemed;
But still so fond, so fair she seemed,
Too well he trusted to the slave
Whose treachery deserved a grave:
And on that eve had gone to mosque,
And thence to feast in his kiosk.
Such is the tale his Nubians tell,
Who did not watch their charge too well;
But others say, that on that night,

By pale Phingari's 19 trembling light,
The Giaour upon his jet black steed
Was seen, but seen alone to speed
With bloody spur along the shore,
Nor maid nor page behind him bore.

*

Her eye's dark charm 'twere vain to tell, But gaze on that of the Gazelle,

It will assist thy fancy well;
As large, as languishingly dark,
But soul beamed forth in every spark
That darted from beneath the lid,
Bright as the jewel of Giamschid.20
Yea, Soul, and should our prophet say
That form was nought but breathing clay,
By Alla! I would answer nay;
Though on Al-Sirat's 21 arch I stood,
Which totters o'er the fiery flood,

With paradise within my view,
And all his Houris beckoning through.
Oh!who young Leila's glance could read
And keep that portion of his creed 22
Which saith that woman is but dust,
A soulless toy for tyrant's lust?

On her might Muftis gaze,

and own

That through her eye the Immortal shone;
On her fair cheeks unfading hue

The young pomegranate's 23 blossoms strew
Their bloom in blushes ever new ;
Her hair in hyacinthine 24 flow,
When left to roll its folds below,
As midst her handmaids in the hall
She stood superior to them all,
Hath swept the marble where her feet
Gleamed whiter than the mountain sleet
Ere from the cloud that gave it birth
It fell, and caught one stain of earth.
The cygnet nobly walks the wafer;
So moved on earth Circassia's daughter,
The loveliest bird of Franguestan! $5
As rears her crest the ruffled swan,

And spurns the wave with wings of pride, When pass the steps of stranger man

Along the banks that bound her tide; Thus rose fair Leila's whiter neck :

Thus armed with beauty would she check
Intrusion's glance, till folly's gaze
Shrunk from the charms it meant to praise.
Thus high and graceful was her gait;
Her heart as tender to her mate;
Her mate-stern Hassan, who was he?
Alas! that name was not for thee!

*

Stern Hassan hath a journey ta'en
With twenty vassals in his train.
Each armed, as best becomes a man,
With arquebuss and ataghan;
The chief before, as decked for war,
Bears in his belt the scimitar

Stained with the best of Arnaut blood,
When in the pass the rebels stood,
And few returned to tell the tale
Of what befell in Parne's vale.
The pistols which his girdle bore

Were those that once a pasha wore,

Which still, though gemmed and bossed with gold,

Even robbers tremble to behold.

"Tis said he goes to woo a bride

More true than her who left his side;
The faithless slave that broke her bower,

And, worse than faithless, for a Giaour!

*

The sun's last rays are on the hill, And sparkle in the fountain rill,

Whose welcome waters, cool and clear,
Draw blessings from the mountaineer :
Here may the loitering merchant Greek
Find that repose 'twere vain to seek
In cities lodged too near his lord,
And trembling for his secret hoard-
Here he rest where none can see,
may

In crowds a slave, in deserts free;
And with forbidden wine may stain
The bowl a Moslem must not drain.

The foremost Tartar's in the gap,
Conspicuous by his yellow cap;
The rest in lengthening line the while
Wind slowly through the long defile :
Above, the mountain rears a peak,
Where vultures whet the thirsty beak,
And theirs may be a feast to-night,
Shall tempt them down ere morrow's light;
Beneath, a river's wintry stream

Has shrunk before the summer beam,
And left a channel bleak and bare,
Save shrubs that spring to perish there :
Each side the midway path there lay
Small broken crags of granite gray,
By time, or mountain lightning, riven
From summits clad in mists of heaven;
For where is he that hath beheld
The peak of Liakura unveiled?

*

They reach the grove of pine at last :
Bismillah! 26 now the peril's past;

«For yonder view the opening plain,
« And there we'll prick our steeds amain:
The Chiaus spake, and as he said,

A bullet whistled o'er his head;
The foremost Tartar bites the ground!
Scarce had they time to check the rein,
Swift from their steeds the riders bound;
But three shall never mount again :
Unseen the foes that gave the wound,
The dying ask revenge in vain.
With steel unsheathed, and carbine bent,
Some o'er their courser's harness leant,
Half sheltered by the steed;

Some fly behind the nearest rock,
And there await the coming shock,
Nor tamely stand to bleed

Beneath the shaft of foes unseen,
Who dare not quit their craggy screen.
Stern Hassan only from his horse
Disdains to light, and keeps his course,
Till fiery flashes in the van

Proclaim too sure the robber-clan
Have well secured the only way
Could now avail the promised prey;
Then curled his very beard 7 with ire,
And glared his eye with fiercer fire:

Though far and near the bullets hiss,

« I've scaped a bloodier hour than this. »
And now the foe their covert quit,
And call his vassals to submit ;

But Hassan's frown and furious word
Are dreaded more than hostile sword,
Nor of his little band a man
Resigned carbine or ataghan,