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Singular Viciffitudes in the Life of Noor-Jehan.

he would have faid, but grief stopped farther utterance.

Placing, therefore, his wife upon his faithful horfe, who, with hunger, flood tottering befide him, and foothing her with promifing to be himself the bearer of their hapless infant, he once more effayed the pathlefs waftes of fand by which they were furrounded. Scarce had they gone a mile before maternal tendernefs awaked a fpark of life in the almoft-expiring mother. Falteringly fhe called for her daughter: he begged to fee her child -to have it put into her arms, that, after a last embrace, the might quietly refign her life to him who gave it.

Almoft exhaufted from the ftruggles which had paft, this fond requeft was as a dagger to the foul of Hajà-Ayafs. His wonted tenderness poured in torrents round his heart: his purpofes began to fail him: he burst into lamentation, and, while confeffing the refolution he had made, he haftily, and in trembling agitation, returned to the fimiling victim he had deferted. Never did a prodigal's return fo exultingly rejoice a father, as did the repoffeffion of this little innocent. He greedily fnatched it to his breast, and flying with it to its mother, was fo en tranced by the most exquifite of pure delights, that he had nearly overlooked a caravan which fuddenly appeared, and moved to the very fpot where the emaciated mother and child lay, wretched objects of compaffion.

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which, tho' trifling in its emoluments, was ftill fufficient to fupport him and his family, and in fome degree to bring him into notice. The active difpofition, undiffipated in its pursuits, feldom fails of accomplishing its ends. Haja-Ayafs was not long in verifying this. He quickly advanced from one ftation to another, every day growing higher in his mafter's favour, till he arofe to the pinnacle of Afiatic power, the office of Grand Treafurer of the empire. During this time his family increafed; but the little Rofetree of the defert bloffomed with peculiar luftre: her beauty improved as her years advanced towards maturity: her mental qualifications kept pace with her external perfections; and he had barely attained her fixteenth year, when he was acknowledged to be the most lovely, as well as the moft accomplished, female of the Eaft. Mufic and poetry were her favourite amusements: painting also claimed a confiderable fhare of her attention; nor were the lefs-alluring studies of politics, hiftory, and government, neglected at her intervals of leifure.

Thus formed, and thus accomplished, and with a foul expanded to an high degree of ambitious refolution, this formidable fair one determined on the conquest of Iehangire, the heir-apparent of the empire. Unluckily for her plan, her father had already promised her in marriage to a nobleman of great diftinction one whofe exploits had réfounded thro the kingdom, and who was at this time a favourite of the Emperor. Mutual inclination can never be confidered in Mohammedan alliances; for the parties knowing each other only by report, are neceffarily conftrained to yield an implicit obedience to the orders of their pa rents. This being the cafe, the heroine of our tale was under the cruel neceffity of complying with her father's wishes. The day was fixed, and the marriage folemnized, with rejoicings fuitable to the wealth and confequence of the fa

Aroufed from his delirium, Haja-Ay afs, approaching towards the chieftain of the tribe, in a few words informed him of the diftreffes he had endured; and then pointing to what was neareft, and deareft to his heart, he looked, and fighed a prayer, which, being interpreted, was, "Feed them, or they perifh." Happily for our wanderers, the clan they fell in with was commanded by a humane and tender-minded being; and one too, who was journeying to the place where all their profpects centered. By the unremitted care of this their heaven-pre-milies. fented friend, they at laft perfectly recovered; and, by eafy flages, in a fhort time afterwards fafely arrived at Lahore, at that time the refidence of the Emperor of Hindoftan.

The intimacy whieh Haja-Ayafs had with fome of the principal Tartars in the Emperor's fervice, foon procured him the honour of an introduction to their foveeign, and afterwards to an employ, VOL. VI. No 35.

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Previous to this, however, the contrived a method of throwing herfelf, as if by accident, into the prefence of the young and amorous fehangire. The fcheme was executed with dexterity; and at the very moment that the young Prince, entertained by her father, was liftening with profound attention to the overflowing tenderness of a parent, who gloried in the poffeffion of fuch a daugh

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ter. The praifes Haja-Ayafs beftowed upon her, awakened every impetuous defire of youth. At every word the maddening particles of love accumula ted. In fhort, the citadel of his heart was undermined, and nothing but the fre of the moft brilliant eye in nature was wahting to level him a flave for

ever.

As if conscious of a trefpafs of the moft unpardonable nature, fe no fooner found herself in the fame apartment with Jehangire, than he appeared rivetted, as it were, in motionlefs confufion:her tongue faltered :-he attempted to return, but could not:-he looked for pity and forgivenefs from her father; and at laft funk into his arms with a face fuffufed in bafhfulness and tears. Thus affaulted by furprife, how was the already enraptured lehangire to defend or fhelter himself from the attack? The beauty of her perfon, and the embellishments of her mind, he had recently been informed of; but words had been inadequate-no defcription could equal the tranfcendency of her charms. Fluttering, therefore, in agonics of expiring freedom, the young Prince respectfully approached the fofa where fhe lay reclined on her father's bofom, and, after having apologized for the pain which he had innocently been the caufe of, he faid, "He would hope "that fo much perfection would not re"fufe to utter his forgivenefs. That his "crime, in being accidentally in her pre"fence, was truly of a venial nature; "but if it was not, that it carried the "feverity of its punifhment in itfelf." With this, and with a downcaft look, he retired, and haftily returned to his palace.

But fumptuous glare has little foothing in it to a wounded mind. Iehangire, however, conscious of his own fuperio rity and power, was yet diftracted. He knew the engagements which Haja-Ayafs, had entered into with refpect to his daughter: he knew the inficxible nicety of his honour: nor was he unacquainted with the high reputation of the man deftined to be the husband of this paragon of the Eaft. Several days and nights he continued in the most excruciating torment. No ftratagem, however wild, that unbridled paffion could devife for breaking off the match, but occurred to his imagination. At one time he would throw himself at Akbar his father's feet, and implore his interference; at another he would procure the banifhment of his rival; but all was ineffectual. While he

plotted, the nuptials were celebrated; and he then, in a paroxyfin of rage, de fcended to the unworthy refolution of perfecuting a man who was chargeable with no other crime than that (inexpi able indeed to fome minds) of being more fortunate than himself.

The intrigues of an Eafiern court are more quickly productive of confequences than thofe of any other court whatever. The hufband of our heroine, greatly refpected and beloved, foon came to the Knowledge of the steps that were taking against him. Wherefore, confcicus of incapacity, when no lets than royal ma chinations were to be circumvented, he fuddenly, and with the utmost privacy, taking his wife along with him, fled to an afylum, which he knew would fecure him from the perfecution of his enemies. At this place Shere-Cawn (for fuch was his name) continued till the death of Akbar: nor would he then have quitted his retirement, had he not been earneftly folicited to return to Lahore by Iehangire himfelf, now Emperor, and by HajaAyafs, who ftill kept poffeffion of the office of High Treafurer.

The return of Shere to the royal prefence was followed by rejoicings, and by the warmeft demonftration of attachment in Iehangire. Nothing was too honourable for a man whom he had premeditately injured. He felt that he had acted unbe coming the dignity of a prince, and therefore refolved to make as public and as complete a retribution as the nature of his fituation would admit. In this manner matters rolled in a channel of harmony and good will. Shere every day enjoyed new happiness in his family; and lehangire felt himfelf exalted in the victory he had gained over a paffion which had fubdued him in the beginning. But this monarch's nature was intemperate, fickle, and irrefolute. The whole tenor of his actions pointed to a levity, which it was impoffible to reconcile with reafon. His virtues, indeed, were many and splendid, and worthy of a fovereign: but the oppofite fhades in his character were fatally predominant. They blurred the portrait, which would otherwife have been fair, and tinged it with indelible deformity.

Thus, at the very inftant that he fhowered his royal favours on the head of Shere, a horrid jealoufy was engendering in his mind, fraught with injury and blood. Poffibly he perceived it not. His after-conduct admits the intervention of a doubt. However that may be, the friends of death were not long unappealed to.

They

Singular Viciffitudes in the Life of Noor-Jehan.

They were roufed from their dark retreats, and, in various windings, were turned loofe on the devoted Shere. Cpenly, or covertly, Shere faw hinfelf threatened with an ignominious fall. He was no ftranger to the caufe, nor did he conceive it poffible to avoid the ftorm which was impending. As a man, therefore, he re folved to meet his fate with refignation: and as he had lived with glory, fo to conduct himself in the laft act of his exiftence as not to tarnish it with difreputation: nor was it long before the opportunity prefented itfelf.

Having procured the Emperor's permiffion, Shere began a journey towards the frontiers of a province, of which he had fome time been the governor; but he had not proceeded far, when he found himfelf attacked by a confiderable body of armed ruffians. The die was now thrown: he faced, however, his antagonifts, who were masked, and fought them bravely. The fuperiority of numbers at laft overcame him: wherefore, turning himself towards Mecca,and throwing fome duft over his head, (not having water for that last and most folemn act,) he unconcernedly called upon them to be expeditious in their bloody purpose.

The folicitation was obeyed: they pierced him with a multitude of wounds; and he thus, uncomplaining, funk the martyr of a monarch's paflion.

No fooner had the news of the death of Shere reached Lahore, than his widow was ordered to be conveyed to Dehli. There the arrived, and, with unaffected grief, bewailed the lofs of one, who had ever behaved to her with tenderness, and whofe unhappy fate fhe could not but look upon as occasioned by the fatal influence of her own charms, too unwarily expofed. The Emprefs Dowager, and mother of lehangire, received her with kindness and affection. She affuaged the melancholy which preyed upon her: the feldom left her to herfelf the varied the amufements with which fhe entertained her; and thus, by degrees, reconciled her to her fituation.

How far the refpect that was juftly due to this good old princess affected the conduct of Jehangire, who now himfelf refided at Dehli, the writers of his life pretend not to determine. Certain it is, he refrained from feeing the object of his paffion for a confiderable time after the was in his power. Remorfe, indeed, or inftability of temper, might have occafioned this forbearance. "Whatfoever

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was, the effect was the fame. She continued undisturbed; and he was applauded for his resolution.

But when, contrary to his usual.munificence, he was obferved to ftint her in the ftipend which was given her from the royal treafury; from an ample allowance to reduce her almoft to bread and water; and from the conveniences of an elegant palace to drive her to the wretched shelter of an unfurnished, miferable apartment, the opinion of the world began to alter. Though under an arbitrary government, they could not refrain from loudly cenfuring fuch extraordinary feverity. Her own merit, fame allowed to be fufficient to entitle her to gentle treatment and humanity. Her father, too, was, before their eyes, grown grey in the fervice of the family of the very prince by whom the was oppreffed; and the remembrance of her husband was not eafily to be obliterated from their minds. But ineffectual are the ftrictures of the fubject, when oppofed to the abfolute authority of the fovereign. Iehangire perfevered in unmanly perfecutions: he even refined on the rigours of tyranny and oppreffion.

Reduced at length to the feverity of want, and finding there was no likelihood of an end to the injuries with which the was fo unjufily loaded, fhe faw it was neceffary to attempt fomething which fhould furnifh her with what the food in need of fuftenance and cloathing. Embroidery, therefore, in her happier days, the amufement of her idle hours, but now the only fupport fhe had to look to, became her conftant occupation. The fale of the first piece of filk which she could finish, enabled her to purchase materials for a larger work. This she in like manner completed and difpofed of; and thus, from the labour of her hands, finding fome alleviation to her mifery, she began with a greater degree of calmness to bear the rigours of her confinement, and even in fome manner to refume her wonted fpirit and vivacity.

Four years did this fallen meteor work and fupport herself by her own industry. Her wealth even increafed to a degree of affluence; infomuch, that she was enabled to adorn the apartment which was allotted to her, and to drefs her attendants with a decency, which in fome degree recalled to her her former fplendor. Awakened at length by the continual praises which were beftowed upon his captive, both by his

mother and fuch others of the haram as were witnesses of her conduct, Jehangire U u 2

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determined upon paying her a private and unexpected vifit. To this end, he repaired to the feraglio at an hour when he was certain to be unobferved; and thence pailing along, whilst his eunuchs ftared

at him in mute aftonishment, he came to the folitary room which confined this object of admiration. There he found her. (To be concluded in our next、)

Ο

POETRY.

ATOMBOKA and OMAZA.

An African Story.

'ER the black fwamp the rifing fun difplay'd

His fi'ry orb, red gleaming through the mist. From the low hut of twisted canes, which, roof'd

With mangrove-branches, and the broadleav'd palm,

Shielded the warrior from the nightly dew, Tail Atomboka rofe: the peerless Chief, High tow'ring in his might, with manly step Strodeo'er the plain. Strait asthe lofty palms, That lift their heads on Zamor's fun-gilt hills, The youth appear'd: his arm with matchlefs force

Drew the strong bow, and wing'd the miffile dart

Unerring; heav'd the pond'rous axe in war, And hurl'd its flashing terrors on the foe. Fleet up the hill he ran the haughty bird, The beam-nurs'd daughter of the torrid fun, Who, light, o'er fandy defart fpeeds her way, Scarce rivall'd Atomboka's fwiftnefs. He, Chief of an hundred hills, now rais'd the cry Of war, tremendous! from furrounding

caves

That cry re-echo'd, and the warrior-train Rufh'd forth each on his rude-carv'd ebon fhield

Struck his broad hatchet. Wild the tumult rofe,

With intermingledihouts and clatt'ring arms; Till courage,rous'd to madnefs,loudly claim'd The fight: fierce expectation ftrain'd each

nerve,

And valour blaz'd in ev'ry flashing eye.

Dear to the Chief, Omaza of the rock, The dark-brow'd beauty often prais'dinfong, A feather'd helmet on his forehead bound, And bore his dart-fill'd quiver to the war; Herfelf well kill'd to throw the certain lance, Or whirl,with dext'rous arm, the loaded fling: Around her jetty neck a well-ftrung row Of teeth, the trophies of victorious fight, Torn from the jaw of many a conquer`d foe, Difplay'd her pow'r. Firm was her dauntlefs look,

And proud she stalk'd by Atomboka's fide.

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The poifon'd fhaft she tore; a plumed helm Adorn'd Alganor's brow; Arwal drew near To feize the spoil: proud Fatima arose, And with the barbed inftrument of death, Transfix'dhim,ftooping o'er her lover's corfe: Then, loud exulting, cry'd, “Behold, my friends,

"The grateful”—here the paus'd; her falt'ring tongue

Deny'd its office; thro' each fhiv'ring vein The fubtle venom fpread.-She reel'd, fhe fell;

Th' unfinish'd fentence quiver'd on her lips, And her great spirit fled without a figh.

But where the cries of battle loudeft rofe, The gallant Chieftain, Atomboka, fought, And stern Omaza drench'd her arms in blood.

Their friends were flain; a mighty host of foes

Bent all their force against the warlike pair. With matchless strength they brav'd furrounding deaths,

And wing'd a thousand spirits to the shades Of dark oblivion; till at length, o'erpower'd By numbers, on the fanguine field they fell, Breathlefs and faint. The proud infulting

foe

Shouted triumphant: round their wounded limbs

A pond'rous chain they twin'd, and on a car

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of interwoven canes, befet with thorns, Inpomp barbaric,dragg'd them o'er the plain. They heav'd no figh; with patient fcorn they brav'd

Infult and pain; the inftruments of death
Pleas'd their glad fight; and on the tort'ring
fire

They fmil'd ferene, and hail'd its rifing blaze.
From a tall reck, a warrior-youth descry'd
A gallant fhip that, bounding o'er the waves,
Spread her white wings, and hafted to the

fhore.

He gave the well-known fign.-On ev'ry fide

Calm filence fpread: exulting clamourceas'd Av'rice prevail'd: down to the fandy beach They led their patient captives: foon the ship

Arriv'd, and paid their price.-Two changing moons,

O'er the wide earth, had spread their filver light,

E'er, from furrounding hills, the wretched train

To flav'ry doom'd were brought.—In filent

woe

Full many an hour proud Atomboka spent ; While fad Omaza, with heart-rending groans, Indulg'd the keener transports of despair.

The veffel spread her fails.-The distant

fhore

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