Part 15
They had now begun to ascend those barren mountains, which separate Cashmere from the rest of India; and, as the heats were intolerable, and the time of their encampments limited to the few hours necessary for refreshment and repose, there was an end to all their delightful evenings, and LALLA ROOKH saw no more of FERAMORZ. She now felt that her short dream of happiness was over, and that she had nothing but the recollection of its few blissful hours, like the one draught of sweet water that serves the camel across the wilderness, to be her heart’s refreshment during the dreary waste of life that was before her. The blight that had fallen upon her spirits soon found its way to her cheek, and her ladies saw with regret—though not without some suspicion of the cause—that the beauty of their mistress, of which they were almost as proud as of their own, was fast vanishing away at the very moment of all when she had most need of it. What must the King of Bucharia feel, when, instead of the lively and beautiful LALLA ROOKH, whom the poets of Delhi had described as more perfect than the divinest images in the house of Azor,[380] he should receive a pale and inanimate victim, upon whose cheek neither health nor pleasure bloomed, and from whose eyes Love had fled,—to hide himself in her heart?
If anything could have charmed away the melancholy of her spirits, it would have been the fresh airs and enchanting scenery of that Valley, which the Persians so justly call the Unequalled.[381] But neither the coolness of its atmosphere, so luxurious after toiling up those bare and burning mountains,—neither the splendour of the minarets and pagodas, that shone out from the depth of its woods, nor the grottos, hermitages, and miraculous fountains,[382] which make every spot of that region holy ground,—neither the countless waterfalls, that rush into the Valley from all those high and romantic mountains that encircle it, nor the fair city on the Lake, whose houses, roofed with flowers,[383] appeared at a distance like one vast and variegated parterre;—not all these wonders and glories of the most lovely country under the sun could steal her heart for a minute from those sad thoughts, which but darkened, and grew bitterer every step she advanced.
The gay pomps and processions that met her upon her entrance into the Valley, and the magnificence with which the roads all along were decorated, did honour to the taste and gallantry of the young King. It was night when they approached the city, and, for the last two miles, they had passed under arches, thrown from hedge to hedge, festooned with only those rarest roses from which the Attar Gul, more precious than gold, is distilled, and illuminated in rich and fanciful forms with lanterns of the triple-coloured tortoise-shell of Pegu.[384] Sometimes, from a dark wood by the side of the road, a display of fire-works would break out, so sudden and so brilliant, that a Brahmin might fancy he beheld that grove, in whose purple shade the God of Battles was born, bursting into a flame at the moment of his birth;—while, at other times, a quick and playful irradiation continued to brighten all the fields and gardens by which they passed, forming a line of dancing lights along the horizon; like the meteors of the north as they are seen by those hunters,[385] who pursue the white and blue foxes on the confines of the Icy Sea.
These arches and fire-works delighted the Ladies of the Princess exceedingly; and, with their usual good logic, they deduced from his taste for illuminations, that the King of Bucharia would make the most exemplary husband imaginable. Nor, indeed, could LALLA ROOKH herself help feeling the kindness and splendour with which the young bridegroom welcomed her;—but she also felt how painful is the gratitude, which kindness from those we cannot love excites; and that their best blandishments come over the heart with all that chilling and deadly sweetness, which we can fancy in the cold, odoriferous wind[386] that is to blow over this earth in the last days.
The marriage was fixed for the morning after her arrival, when she was, for the first time, to be presented to the monarch in that Imperial Palace beyond the lake, called the Shalimar. Though never before had a night of more wakeful and anxious thought been passed in the Happy Valley, yet, when she rose in the morning, and her Ladies came around her, to assist in the adjustment of the bridal ornaments, they thought they had never seen her look half so beautiful. What she had lost of the bloom and radiancy of her charms was more than made up by that intellectual expression, that soul beaming forth from the eyes, which is worth all the rest of loveliness. When they had tinged her fingers with the Henna leaf, and placed upon her brow a small coronet of jewels, of the shape worn by the ancient Queens of Bucharia, they flung over her head the rose-coloured bridal veil, and she proceeded to the barge that was to convey her across the lake;—first kissing, with a mournful look, the little amulet of cornelian, which her father at parting had hung about her neck.
The morning was as fresh and fair as the maid on whose nuptials it rose, and the shining lake, all covered with boats, the minstrels playing upon the shores of the islands, and the crowded summer-houses on the green hills around, with shawls and banners waving from their roofs, presented such a picture of animated rejoicing, as only she, who was the object of it all, did not feel with transport. To LALLA ROOKH alone it was a melancholy pageant; nor could she have even borne to look upon the scene, were it not for a hope that, among the crowds around, she might once more perhaps catch a glimpse of FERAMORZ. So much was her imagination haunted by this thought, that there was scarcely an islet or boat she passed on the way, at which her heart did not flutter with the momentary fancy that he was there. Happy, in her eyes, the humblest slave upon whom the light of his dear looks fell!—In the barge immediately after the Princess sat FADLADEEN, with his silken curtains thrown widely apart, that all might have the benefit of his august presence, and with his head full of the speech he was to deliver to the King, “concerning FERAMORZ, and literature, and the Chabuk, as connected therewith.”
They now had entered the canal which leads from the Lake to the splendid domes and saloons of the Shalimar, and went gliding on through the gardens that ascended from each bank, full of flowering shrubs that made the air all perfume; while from the middle of the canal rose jets of water, smooth and unbroken, to such a dazzling height, that they stood like tall pillars of diamond in the sunshine. After sailing under the arches of various saloons, they at length arrived at the last and most magnificent, where the monarch awaited the coming of his bride; and such was the agitation of her heart and frame, that it was with difficulty she could walk up the marble steps, which were covered with cloth of gold for her ascent from the barge. At the end of the hall stood two thrones, as precious as the Cerulean Throne of Coolburga,[387] on one of which sat ALIRIS, the youthful King of Bucharia, and on the other was, in a few minutes, to be placed the most beautiful Princess in the world. Immediately upon the entrance of LALLA ROOKH into the saloon, the monarch descended from his throne to meet her; but scarcely had he time to take her hand in his, when she screamed with surprise, and fainted at his feet. It was FERAMORZ himself that stood before her!—FERAMORZ was, himself, the Sovereign of Bucharia, who in this disguise had accompanied his young bride from Delhi, and, having won her love as an humble minstrel, now amply deserved to enjoy it as a King.
The consternation of FADLADEEN at this discovery was, for the moment, almost pitiable. But change of opinion is a resource too convenient in courts for this experienced courtier not to have learned to avail himself of it. His criticisms were all, of course, recanted instantly: he was seized with an admiration of the King’s verses, as unbounded as, he begged him to believe, it was disinterested; and the following week saw him in possession of an additional place, swearing by all the Saints of Islam that never had there existed so great a poet as the Monarch ALIRIS, and, moreover, ready to prescribe his favourite regimen of the Chabuk for every man, woman, and child that dared to think otherwise.
Of the happiness of the King and Queen of Bucharia, after such a beginning, there can be but little doubt; and, among the lesser symptoms, it is recorded of LALLA ROOKH, that, to the day of her death, in memory of their delightful journey, she never called the King by any other name than FERAMORZ.
NOTES.
NOTES.
Footnote 1:
p. 2.—_He embarked for Arabia._—These particulars of the visit of the King of Bucharia to Aurungzebe are found in _Dow’s History of Hindostan_, vol. iii. p. 392.
Footnote 2:
p. 2.—LALLA ROOKH.—Tulip cheek.
Footnote 3:
p. 2.—_Leila._—The mistress of Mejnoun, upon whose story so many Romances in all the languages of the East are founded.
Footnote 4:
p. 2.—_Shirine._—For the loves of this celebrated beauty with Khosrou and with Ferhad, see _D’Herbelot_, _Gibbon_, _Oriental Collections_, &c.
Footnote 5:
p. 2.—_Dewildé._—“The history of the loves of Dewildé and Chizer, the son of the Emperor Alla, is written in an elegant poem, by the noble Chusero.”—_Ferishta._
Footnote 6:
p. 2.—_Scattering of the Roses._—Gul Reazee.
Footnote 7:
p. 3.—_Emperor’s favour._—“One mark of honour or knighthood bestowed by the Emperor is the permission to wear a small kettledrum at the bows of their saddles, which at first was invented for the training of hawks, and to call them to the lure, and is worn in the field by all sportsmen to that end.”—_Fryer_’s Travels.
“Those on whom the King has conferred the privilege must wear an ornament of jewels on the right side of the turban, surmounted by a high plume of the feathers of a kind of egret. This bird is found only in Cashmere, and the feathers are carefully collected for the King, who bestows them on his nobles.”—_Elphinstone_’s Account of Caubul.
Footnote 8:
p. 3.—_Keder Khan._—“Khedar Khan, the Khakan, or King of Turquestan beyond the Gihon (at the end of the eleventh century), whenever he appeared abroad, was preceded by seven hundred horsemen with silver battle-axes, and was followed by an equal number bearing maces of gold. He was a great patron of poetry, and it was he who used to preside at public exercises of genius, with four basins of gold and silver by him to distribute among the poets who excelled.”—_Richardson_’s Dissertation prefixed to his Dictionary.
Footnote 9:
p. 3.—_Gilt pine-apples._—“The kubdeh, a large golden knob, generally in the shape of a pine-apple, on the top of the canopy over the litter or palanquin.”—_Scott_’s Notes on the Bahardanush.
Footnote 10:
p. 4.—_Sumptuous litter._—In the Poem of Zohair, in the Moallakat, there is the following lively description of “a company of maidens seated on camels.”
“They are mounted in carriages covered with costly awnings, and with rose-coloured veils, the linings of which have the hue of crimson Andem-wood.
“When they ascend from the bosom of the vale, they sit forward on the saddle-cloth, with every mark of a voluptuous gaiety.
“Now, when they have reached the brink of yon blue-gushing rivulet, they fix the poles of their tents like the Arab with a settled mansion.”
Footnote 11:
p. 4.—_Argus pheasant’s wing._—See _Bernier_’s description of the attendants on Raucha-nara-Begum, in her progress to Cashmere.
Footnote 12:
p. 4.—_Munificent protector._—This hypocritical Emperor would have made a worthy associate of certain Holy Leagues.—“He held the cloak of religion (says Dow) between his actions and the vulgar; and impiously thanked the Divinity for a success which he owed to his own wickedness. When he was murdering and persecuting his brothers and their families, he was building a magnificent mosque at Delhi, as an offering to God for his assistance to him in the civil wars. He acted as high priest at the consecration of this temple; and made a practice of attending divine service there, in the humble dress of a Fakeer. But when he lifted one hand to the Divinity, he, with the other, signed warrants for the assassination of his relations.”—_History of Hindostan_, vol. iii. p. 335. See also the curious letter of Aurungzebe, given in the _Oriental Collections_, vol. i. p. 320.
Footnote 13:
p. 4.—_The idol of Jaghernaut._—“The idol at Jaghernat has two fine diamonds for eyes. No goldsmith is suffered to enter the Pagoda, one having stole one of these eyes, being locked up all night with the Idol.”—_Tavernier._
Footnote 14:
p. 5.—_Royal Gardens of Delhi._—See a description of these Royal Gardens in “An Account of the present State of Delhi, by Lieut. W. Franklin.”—_Asiat. Research._ vol. iv. p. 417.
Footnote 15:
p. 5.—_Lake of Pearl._—“In the neighbourhood is Notte Gill, or the Lake of Pearl, which receives this name from its pellucid water.” _Pennant_’s Hindoostan.
“Nasir Jung encamped in the vicinity of the Lake of Tonoor, amused himself with sailing on that clear and beautiful water, and gave it the fanciful name of Motee Talah, ‘the Lake of Pearls,’ which it still retains.”—_Wilks_’s South of India.
Footnote 16:
p. 5.—_Isles of the West._—Sir Thomas Roe, Ambassador from James I. to Jehan-Guire.
Footnote 17:
p. 6.—_Ezra._—“The romance Wemakweazra, written in Persian verse, which contains the loves of Wamak and Ezra, two celebrated lovers who lived before the time of Mahomet.”—_Note on the Oriental Tales._
Footnote 18:
p. 6.—_Rodahver._—Their amour is recounted in the Shah-Namêh of Ferdousi; and there is much beauty in the passage which describes the slaves of Rodahver sitting on the bank of the river and throwing flowers into the stream, in order to draw the attention of the young Hero who is encamped on the opposite side.—See _Champion_’s translation.
Footnote 19:
p. 6.—_White Demon._—Rustam is the Hercules of the Persians. For the particulars of his victory over the Sepeed Deeve, or White Demon, see _Oriental Collections_, vol. ii. p. 45.—“Near the city of Shirauz is an immense quadrangular monument, in commemoration of this combat, called the Kelaat-i-Deev Sepeed, or castle of the White Giant, which Father Angelo, in his Gazophilacium Persicum, p. 127, declares to have been the most memorable monument of antiquity which he had seen in Persia.”—See _Ouseley_’s Persian Miscellanies.
Footnote 20:
p. 6.—_Golden anklets._—“The women of the Idol, or dancing girls of the Pagoda, have little golden bells, fastened to their feet, the soft harmonious tinkling of which vibrates in unison with the exquisite melody of their voices.”—_Maurice_’s Indian Antiquities.
“The Arabian courtesans, like the Indian women, have little golden bells fastened round their legs, neck and elbows, to the sound of which they dance before the King. The Arabian princesses wear golden rings on their fingers, to which little bells are suspended, as well as in the flowing tresses of their hair, that their superior rank may be known, and they themselves receive in passing the homage due to them.”—See _Calmet_’s Dictionary, art. Bells.
Footnote 21:
p. 6.—_Delicious opium._—“Abou-Tige, ville de la Thebaïde, où il croît beaucoup de pavot noir, dont se fait le meilleur opium.”—_D’Herbelot._
Footnote 22:
p. 7.—_Crishna._—The Indian Apollo.—“He and the three Rámas are described as youths of perfect beauty; and the princesses of Hindustán were all passionately in love with Chrishna, who continues to this hour the darling God of the Indian women.”—_Sir W. Jones_, on the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India.
Footnote 23:
p. 7.—_Shawl-goats of Tibet._—See _Turner_’s Embassy for a description of this animal, “the most beautiful among the whole tribe of goats.” The material for the shawls (which is carried to Cashmere) is found next the skin.
Footnote 24:
p. 8.—_Veiled Prophet of Khorassan._—For the real history of this Impostor, whose original name was Hakem ben Haschem, and who was called Mocanna from the veil of silver gauze (or, as others say, golden) which he always wore, see _D’Herbelot_.
Footnote 25:
p. 9.—_Khorassan._—Khorassan signifies, in the old Persian language, Province or Region of the Sun.—_Sir W. Jones._
Footnote 26:
p. 11.—_Flow’rets and fruits, blush over ev’ry stream._
“The fruits of Meru are finer than those of any other place; and one cannot see in any other city such palaces with groves, and streams, and gardens.”—_Ebn Haukal_’s Geography.
Footnote 27:
p. 12.—_Among_ MEROU’S _bright palaces and groves._
One of the royal cities of Khorassan.
Footnote 28:
p. 12.—MOUSSA’S.—Moses.
Footnote 29:
p. 12.—_O’er_ MOUSSA’S _cheek, when down the Mount he trod._
“Ses disciples assuroient qu’il se couvroit le visage, pour ne pas éblouir ceux qui l’approchoient par l’éclat de son visage comme Moyse.”—_D’Herbelot._
Footnote 30:
p. 12.—_In hatred to the Caliph’s hue of night._
Black was the colour adopted by the Caliphs of the House of Abbas, in their garments, turbans, and standards.—“Il faut remarquer ici touchant les habits blancs des disciples de Hakem, que la couleur des habits, des coëffures et des étendards des Khalifes Abassides étant la noire, ce chef de Rebelles ne pouvoit pas choisir une qui lui fut plus opposée.”—_D’Herbelot._
Footnote 31:
p. 12.—_With javelins of the light Kathaian reed._
“Our dark javelins, exquisitely wrought of Khathaian reeds, slender and delicate.”—_Poem of Amru._
Footnote 32:
p. 13.—_Fill’d with the stems._
Pichula, used anciently for arrows by the Persians.
Footnote 33:
p. 13.—_That bloom on_ IRAN’S _rivers._
The Persians call this plant Gaz. The celebrated shaft of Isfendiar, one of their ancient heroes, was made of it.—“Nothing can be more beautiful than the appearance of this plant in flower during the rains on the banks of rivers, where it is usually interwoven with a lovely twining asclepias.”—_Sir W. Jones_, Botanical Observations on Select Indian Plants.
Footnote 34:
p. 13.—_Like a chenar-tree grove, when winter throws._
The oriental plane. “The chenar is a delightful tree; its bole is of a fine white and smooth bark; and its foliage, which grows in a tuft at the summit, is of a bright green.”—_Morier_’s Travels.
Footnote 35:
p. 14.—_From those who kneel at_ BRAHMA’S _burning founts._
The burning fountains of Brahma near Chittogong, esteemed as holy.—_Turner._
Footnote 36:
p. 14.—_To the small, half-shut glances of_ KATHAY.—China.
Footnote 37:
p. 15.—_Like tulip-beds, of different shape and dyes._
“The name of tulip is said to be of Turkish extraction, and given to the flower on account of its resembling a turban.”—_Beckmann_’s History of Inventions.
Footnote 38:
p. 15.—_And fur-bound bonnet of Bucharian shape._
“The inhabitants of Bucharia wear a round cloth bonnet, shaped much after the Polish fashion, having a large fur border. They tie their kaftans about the middle with a girdle of a kind of silk crape, several times round the body.”—_Account of Independent Tartary, in Pinkerton’s Collection._
Footnote 39:
p. 15.—_O’erwhelm’d in fight and captive to the Greek._
In the war of the Caliph Mahadi against the Empress Irene, for an account of which vide _Gibbon_, vol. x.
Footnote 40:
p. 18.—_The flying throne of star-taught_ SOLIMAN.
This wonderful Throne was called The Star of the Genii. For a full description of it, see the Fragment, translated by Captain Franklin, from a Persian MS. entitled “The History of Jerusalem,” _Oriental Collections_, vol. i. p. 235.—When Soliman travelled, the eastern writers say, “He had a carpet of green silk on which his throne was placed, being of a prodigious length and breadth, and sufficient for all his forces to stand upon, the men placing themselves on his right hand, and the spirits on his left; and that when all were in order, the wind, at his command, took up the carpet, and transported it, with all that were upon it, wherever he pleased; the army of birds at the same time flying over their heads, and forming a kind of canopy to shade them from the sun.”—_Sale_’s Koran, vol ii. p. 214, note.
Footnote 41:
p. 18.—_For many an age, in every chance and change._
The transmigration of souls was one of his doctrines.—Vide _D’Herbelot_.
Footnote 42:
p. 18.—_To which all Heaven, except the Proud One, knelt._
“And when we said unto the angels, Worship Adam, they all worshipped except Eblis (Lucifer), who refused.”—_The Koran_, chap. ii.
Footnote 43:
p. 18.—_In_ MOUSSA’S _frame—and, thence descending, flow’d._—Moses.
Footnote 44:
p. 18.—_Through many a Prophet’s breast._
This is according to D’Herbelot’s account of the doctrines of Mokanna:—“Sa doctrine étoit, que Dieu avoit pris une forme et figure humaine, depuis qu’il eut commandé aux Anges d’adorer Adam, le premier des hommes. Qu’après la mort d’Adam, Dieu étoit apparu sous la figure de plusieurs Prophètes, et autres grands hommes qu’il avoit choisis, jusqu’à ce qu’il prit celle d’Abu Moslem, Prince de Khorassan, lequel professoit l’erreur de la Tenassukhiah ou Metempschychose; et qu’après la mort de ce Prince, la Divinité étoit passée, et descendue en sa personne.”
Footnote 45:
p. 18.—_In_ ISSA _shone._—Jesus.
Footnote 46:
p. 22.—_Born by that ancient flood, which from its spring._
The Amoo, which rises in the Belur Tag, or Dark Mountains, and running nearly from east to west, splits into two branches; one of which falls into the Caspian sea, and the other into Aral Nahr, or the Lake of Eagles.
Footnote 47:
p. 24.—_The bulbul utters, ere her soul depart._—The nightingale.
Footnote 48:
p. 34.—_In holy_ KOOM, _or_ MECCA’S _dim arcades._
The cities of Com (or Koom) and Cashan are full of mosques, mausoleums, and sepulchres of the descendants of Ali, the Saints of Persia.—_Chardin._
Footnote 49:
p. 34.—_Stood vases, fill’d with_ KISHMEE’S _golden wine._
An island in the Persian Gulf, celebrated for its white wine.
Footnote 50:
p. 34.—_Like_ ZEMZEM’S _Spring of Holiness, had power._
The miraculous well at Mecca; so called, says Sale, from the murmuring of its waters.
Footnote 51:
p. 35.—_Whom_ INDIA _serves, the monkey deity._
The God Hannaman.—“Apes are in many parts of India highly venerated, out of respect to the God Hannaman, a deity partaking of the form of that race.”—_Pennant_’s Hindoostan.
See a curious account, in _Stephen_’s _Persia_, of a solemn embassy from some part of the Indies to Goa, when the Portuguese were there, offering vast treasures for the recovery of a monkey’s tooth, which they held in great veneration, and which had been taken away upon the conquest of the kingdom of Jafanapatan.
Footnote 52:
p. 35.—_To bend in worship_, LUCIFER _was right._