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

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.
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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 to see that she both loves and respects Prince Leopold, whose conduct, indeed, and character, seem justly to deserve those feelings. From the report of the gentlemen of his household, he is considerate, benevolent, and just, and of very amiable manners. My own observation leads me to think, that, in his behaviour to her, he is affectionate and attentive, rational and discreet; and, in the exercise of that judgment which is sometimes brought in opposition to some little thoughtlessness, he is so cheerful and slily humorous, that it is