On each
side of the green alley, which led to the Royal Pavilion, artificial
sceneries of bamboo-work were erected, representing arches, minarets,
towers, from which hung thousands of silken lanterns painted by the most
delicate pencils of Canton.--Nothing could be more beautiful than the
leaves of the mango-trees and acacias shining in the light of the
bamboo-scenery which shed a lustre round as soft as that of the nights of
Peristan.
LALLA ROOKH, however, who was too much occupied by the sad story of ZELICA
and her lover to give a thought to anything else, except perhaps him who
related it, hurried on through this scene of splendor to her
pavilion,--greatly to the mortification of the poor artists of
Yamtcheou,--and was followed with equal rapidity by the Great Chamberlain,
cursing, as he went, that ancient Mandarin, whose parental anxiety in
lighting up the shores of the lake, where his beloved daughter had
wandered and been lost, was the origin of these fantastic Chinese
illuminations.[54]
Without a moment's delay, young FERAMORZ was introduced, and FADLADEEN,
who could never make up his mind as to the merits of a poet till he knew
the religious sect to which he belonged, was about to ask him whether he
was a Shia or a Sooni when LALLA KOOKH impatiently clapped her hands for
silence, and the youth being seated upon the musnud near her proceeded:--
Prepare thy soul, young AZIM!--thou hast braved
The bands of GREECE, still mighty tho' enslaved;
Hast faced her phalanx armed with all its fame,--
Her Macedonian pikes and globes of fame,
All this hast fronted with firm heart and brow,
But a more perilous trial waits thee now,--
Woman's bright eyes, a dazzling host of eyes
From every land where woman smiles or sighs;
Of every hue, as Love may chance to raise
His black or azure banner in their blaze;
And each sweet mode of warfare, from the flash
That lightens boldly thro' the shadowy lash,
To the sly, stealing splendors almost hid
Like swords half-sheathed beneath the downcast lid;--
Such, AZIM, is the lovely, luminous host
Now led against thee; and let conquerors boast
Their fields of fame, he who in virtue arms
A young, warm spirit against beauty's charms,
Who feels her brightness, yet defies her thrall,
Is the best, bravest conqueror of them all.
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