The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction | Page 6

sugar-cane has
ever yielded.
IV.
The humid clouds of spring float over the enamelled meads, And, like
my eyes, dissolve in tears. My fancy seeks thee in all places; and the
beauties Of Nature retrace, at every moment, Thy enchanting image.
But thou, O cruel fair one! Thou endeavourest to efface from thy
memory The recollection of my ardent love--my tender constancy.
Thy charms eclipse the growing tulip-- Thy graceful stature puts to
shame the lofty cyprus. Let every nymph, although equal in beauty to
Shireen,[10] Pay homage to thy superiority; and let all men Become
like Ferhad[11] of the mountain, Distracted on beholding thy
loveliness.
How could the star of day have shone amidst the heavens, If the moon
of thy countenance had not concealed Its splendour beneath the cloud

of a veil? Oh! banish me not from thy sight; Command me--it will be
charitable-- Command me to die. How long wilt thou reject the
amorous solicitations Of thy Khacan? Wilt thou drive him to madness
By thy unrelenting cruelty? The doomed To endless tears and
lamentations.
[5] A person, called the Mawezn, summons the people to prayers from
the tower, at certain stated times, by ringing bells.
[6] Toos, the son of Nouder, makes a conspicuous figure among the
princes and warriors, celebrated by Ferdoosi in his book of Kings.
[7] Caus supposed to have been Darius the Mede by some historians.
[8] This poetical surname Khacan, adopted by Fath Ali Shah, signifies
emperor or king.
[9] The prophet Khezr (whom some mistake for Elias) is said to have
discovered and tasted the "waters of immortality," and consequently to
be exempt from death.
[10] Shireen, the favourite of Khosroo, is no less celebrated for her
beauty than for the passion with which she inspired Ferhad.
[11] Of this unfortunate lover Ferhad, the romantic story has been told
by several distinguished writers. The mountain to which our royal poet
alludes is the Kooh Bisetoon (in the province of Curdistan), where are
still visible many figures sculptured in the rock, which, by the
romances of Persia, are ascribed to the statuary Ferhad. Among these
sculptures, travellers have noticed the representation of a
female--according to local tradition, the fair Shireen, mistress to King
Khosroo, and the fascinating object of Ferhad's love. As a recompense
for clearing a passage over the mountain of Bisetoon, by removing
immense rocks, which obstructed the path (a task of such labour as far
exceeded the power of common mortals, by Ferhad, however, executed
with ease), the monarch had promised to bestow Shireen on the
enamoured statuary. But a false report of the fair one's death having
been communicated to Ferhad in a sudden manner, he immediately
destroyed himself; and the scene of this catastrophe is still shown
among the recesses of Mount Bisetoon.
* * * * *

ANECDOTE GALLERY.

THE LATE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.
(_From the Life and Correspondence of Sir Thomas Lawrence._)
"In 1817, Sir Thomas Lawrence was commissioned to paint the portrait
of the princess a second time, and he staid at Claremont during nine
days. He one morning filled up a few vacant hours in writing to his
friend, and his description of the habits of the newly-married and
juvenile offsprings and heirs of royalty, forms a calm, unostentatious,
and delightful picture of domestic life. How ill such pleasures would
have been exchanged for the public splendour and costly amusements
by which they were tempted. It is a source of infinite gratification to lay
before the country such a testimony to the disposition and virtues of
one, in whom centered so much of the public hope and love."
"_Extracts from Letters of Sir Thomas Lawrence._"
"I am now returned from Claremont, my visit to which was agreeable
to me in every respect; both in what regarded myself, my reception, and
the complete success of my professional labours, and in the satisfaction
of seeing the perfect harmony in which this young couple now live, and
of observing the good qualities which promise to make it lasting."
"The princess is, as you know, wanting in elegance of deportment, but
has nothing of the hoyden or of that boisterous hilarity which has been
ascribed to her: her manner is exceedingly frank and simple, but not
rudely abrupt nor coarse; and I have, in this little residence of nine days,
witnessed undeniable evidence of an honest, just, English nature, that
reminded me, from its immediate decision between the right and wrong
of a subject, and the downrightness of the feeling that governed it, of
the good king, her grandfather. If she does nothing gracefully, she does
everything kindly."
"She already possesses a great deal of that knowledge of the past
history of this country, that ought to form a part of her peculiar
education."
"It is exceedingly gratifying