In two days' time, with haggard eyes and beard, And shaken voice, the suitor reappeared,

And said, "He's come."-Mahmoud said not a

word,

But rose and took four slaves, each with a sword, And went with the vexed man. They reach the place,

And hear a voice, and see a female face,
That to the window fluttered in affright.
"Go in," said Mahmoud, "and put out the light;
But tell the females first to leave the room;
And when the drunkard follows them, we come."

The man went in. There was a cry, and hark!
A table falls, the window is struck dark;
Forth rush the breathless women; and behind
With curses comes the fiend in desperate mind.
In vain the sabres soon cut short the strife,

:

And chop the shrieking wretch, and drink his bloody life.

"Now light the light," the Sultan cried aloud. 'Twas done, he took it in his hand, and bowed Over the corpse, and looked upon the face; Then turned and knelt beside it in the place, And said a prayer, and from his lips there crept Some gentle words of pleasure, and he wept. In reverent silence the spectators wait, Then bring him at his call both wine and meat; And when he had refreshed his noble heart, He bade his host be blest, and rose up to depart.

and tears,

The man amazed, all mildness now,
Fell at the Sultan's feet, with many prayers,

And begged him to vouchsafe to tell his slave,
The reason first of that command he gave
About the light; then when he saw the face,
Why he knelt down; and lastly, how it was,
That fare so poor as his detained him in the place.

า

The Sultan said, with much humanity, "Since first I saw thee come, and heard thy cry, I could not rid me of a dread, that one By whom such daring villanies were done, Must be some lord of mine, perhaps a lawless son. Whoe'er he was, I knew my task, but feared A father's heart, in case the worst appeared. For this I had the light put out; but when I saw the face, and found a stranger slain, I knelt and thanked the sovereign arbiter, Whose work I had performed through pain and fear; And then I rose, and was refreshed with food, The first time since thou cam'st, and marr'dst my solitude."

THE GLOVE AND THE LIONS.1

["New Monthly Magazine," May, 1836. "Works," 1844, 1857, 1860. "Rimini," &c., 1844. Kent, 1889.]

K

ING FRANCIS was a hearty king, and loved a royal sport,

And one day as his lions fought, sat looking on the court;

The nobles filled the benches, with the ladies by

their side,

1 See the story in St. Felix's "History of Paris," who quoted it from Brantome.

And 'mongst them sat the Count de Lorge, with one for whom he sighed :

And truly 'twas a gallant thing to see that crowning

show,

Valour and love, and a king above, and the royal beasts below.

Ramped and roared the lions, with horrid laughing

jaws;

They bit, they glared, gave blows like bears, a wind went with their paws;

With wallowing might and stifled roar they rolled on one another,

Till all the pit with sand and mane, was in a thunderous smother;

The bloody foam above the bars came whizzing through the air;

Said Francis then, "Faith, gentlemen, we're

better here than there."

De Lorge's love o'erheard the King, a beauteous lively dame,

With smiling lips and sharp bright eyes, which always seemed the same;

She thought, the Count my lover is brave as brave can be ;

He surely would do wondrous things to show his love of me;

King, ladies, lovers, all look on; the occasion is

divine;

I'll drop my glove, to prove his love; great glory will be mine.

She dropped her glove, to prove his love, then looked at him and smiled;

He bowed, and in a moment leaped among the lions wild :

The leap was quick, return was quick, he has regained his place,

Then threw the glove, but not with love, right in the lady's face.

"By Heav'n!" said Francis, "rightly done!" and he rose from where he sat :

"No love," quoth he, "but vanity, sets love a task like that."

ABOU BEN ADHEM.1

["Rimini," &c., 1844. "Works," 1844, 1857, 1860. "Favourite Poems," 1877. Kent, 1889. "Canterbury Poets," 1889.]

BOU BEN ADHEM (may his tribe increase !)

A

Awoke one night from a deep dream of
peace,

And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,

1 "On rapporte de lui (Abou-Ishak-Ben-Adhem), qu'il vit en songe un ange qui écrivoit, et que lui ayant demandé ce qu'il faisoit, cet ange lui répondit: 'J'écris le nom de ceux qui aiment sincèrement Dieu, tels que sont Malek-BenDinar, Thaber-al-Benani, Aioud-al-Sakhtiani, &c.' Alors il dit à l'ange, 'Ne suis-je point parmi ces gens-là?'-' Non,' lui répondit l'ange. Hé bien,' répliqua-t-il, 'écrivez-moi, je vous prie, pour l'amour d'eux, en qualité d'ami de ceux qui aiment Dieu.' L'on ajoute, que le même ange lui révéla

An angel writing in a book of gold :-
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?"-The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,

Answered, "The names of those who love the
Lord."

"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so," Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,

But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow-men."

The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night It came again with a great wakening light,

And showed the names whom love of God had

blessed,

And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

THE FANCY CONCERT.

["Ainsworth's Magazine," vol. vii., 1845.

"A Gallery of

"Poetical Works," Boston, 1857.]

Illustrious Characters," by late Daniel Maclise, R.A., 1873.

HEY talked of their concerts, and

singers, and scores,

And pitied the fever that kept me indoors; ⚫

And I smiled in my thought, and said, "O ye sweet fancies,

bientôt après, qu'il avoit reçu ordre de Dieu de le mettre à la tête de tous les autres."-D'HERBELOT, Bibliothèque Orientale (1781). Tom. i. p. 161, in voc. Adhem.