banian proudly treads the ground;
Half-whispering there the Greek is heard to prate;
Hark! from the Mosque the nightly solemn sound,
The Muezzin's call doth shake the minaret,
"There is no god but God!--to prayer--lo! God is great!"

LX.

Just at this season Ramazani's fast[158]
Through the long day its penance did maintain:
But when the lingering twilight hour was past,
Revel and feast assumed the rule again:
Now all was bustle, and the menial train
Prepared and spread the plenteous board within;
The vacant Gallery now seemed made in vain,
But from the chambers came the mingling din,
As page and slave anon were passing out and in.[159]

LXI.

Here woman's voice is never heard: apart,
And scarce permitted, guarded, veiled, to move,[fg]
She yields to one her person and her heart,
Tamed to her cage, nor feels a wish to rove:
For, not unhappy in her Master's love,[fh]
And joyful in a mother's gentlest cares,
Blest cares! all other feelings far above!
Herself more sweetly rears the babe she bears
Who never quits the breast--no meaner passion shares.

LXII.

In marble-paved pavilion, where a spring
Of living water from the centre rose,
Whose bubbling did a genial freshness fling,
And soft voluptuous couches breathed repose,
ALI reclined, a man of war and woes:[160]
Yet in his lineaments ye cannot trace,
While Gentleness her milder radiance throws[161]
Along that aged venerable face,
The deeds that lurk beneath, and stain him with disgrace.

LXIII.

It is not that yon hoary lengthening beard
Ill suits the passions which belong to Youth;[fi]
Love conquers Age--so Hafiz hath averr'd,
So sings the Teian, and he sings in sooth[162]--
But crimes that scorn the tender voice of ruth,[fj][163]
Beseeming all men ill, but most the man
In years, have marked him with a tiger's tooth;
Blood follows blood, and, through their mortal span,
In bloodier acts conclude those who with blood began.[fk][164]

LXIV.

'Mid many things most new to ear and eye[fl]
The Pilgrim rested here his weary feet,
And gazed around on Moslem luxury,
Till quic