The mind, the Music breathing from her face,* Her graceful arms in meekness bending VII. "Zuleika! child of gentleness! His years need scarce a thought employ: *This expression has met with objections. I will not refer to "Him who hath not Music in his soul," but merely request the reader to recollect, for ten seconds, the features of the woman whom he believes to be the most beautiful; and if he then does not comprehend fully what is feebly expressed in the above line, I shall be sorry for us both. For an eloquent 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 connexion still stronger with the original than the copy? with the colouring of Nature than of Art? After all, this is rather to be felt than described; still, I think there are some who will understand it, at least they would have done had they beheld the countenance whose speaking harmony suggested the idea; for this passage is not drawn from imagination but memory, that mirror which Affliction dashes to the earth, and looking down upon the fragments, only beholds the reflection multiplied! ↑ Carasman Oglou, or Kara Osman Oglou, is the principal landholder 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. And teach the messenger what fate VIII. In silence bow'd the virgin's head; Whate'er it was the sire forgot; Thrice clapp'd his hands, and call'd his steed,† Watch well the Haram's massy doors. IX. His head was leant upon his hand, His eye look'd o'er the dark blue water Mix in the game of mimic slaughter, * 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 Bagdad, 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. "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 wealthier orders. § "Maugrabee," Moorish mercenaries. "Delis," bravoes who form the forlorn-hope of the cavalry, and always begin the action. Careering cleave the folded felt * X. No word from Selim's bosom broke; The Persian Atar-gúl's perfume,+ And sprinkled all its odours o'er The pictured roof and marble floor :§ The drops, that through his glittering vest As if that breast were marble too. The fairest flowers of Eastern land- The childish thought was hardly breathed Her fairy form at Selim's feet: * 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-gúl," ottar of roses. The Persian is the finest. § The ceiling and wainscots, or rather walls, of the Mussulman apartments are generally painted, in great houses, with one eternal and highly-coloured view of Constantinople, wherein the principal feature is a noble contempt of perspective; below, arms, scimitars, &c., are in general fancifully and not inelegantly disposed. "This rose to calm my brother's cares XI. "What! not receive my foolish flower? On me can thus thy forehead lower? And know'st thou not who loves thee best? Say, is it me thou hat'st or fearest? Come, lay thy head upon my breast, Since words of mine, and songs must fail I knew our sire at times was stern, Ah! deem I right? the Pacha's plan- When flies that shaft, and fly it must, XII. He lived-he breathed-he moved—he felt; It has been much doubted whether the notes of this "Lover of the rose" are sad or merry; and Mr Fox's 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. |