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alas! the connexion must, of necessity, be dissolved." Ali promised a faithful observance of her requests, and proposed others on his part: First, that if he had been ever wanting in his attention to her, she would forgive him. Secondly, that when she beheld her father, she would present the salutation of one who continued to feel and deplore his loss. Thirdly, that she would not, for any part of his conduct towards her, complain of him to the prophet. Fatima, answered, "God is my witness, that during the time we have lived together, I have not experienced from you a word or a deed that can be. complained of: on the contrary, your conduct toward me has been full of manliness, liberality, and kindness, engaging words, and laudable actions."

While they were engaged in this affecting discourse, a noise of lamentation and complaint suddenly assailed them, from without; and in a voice interrupted by sobs, admittance was soon after solicited by Hussen and Hossain, that they might take a last farewell of their parent. Ali opened the door, and taking them affectionately in his arms, asked by what means they had discovered their mother's approaching end. They replied, "On arriving at the mausoleum of our grandfather, we heard a voice, saying, 'Behold! the orphans of Fatima are arrived;' which was followed by another saying, 'Behold! the intercessors of the day of judgment are arrived.' and then a third, which resembled the voice of the prophet; saying, Lo! the darlings of my heart are here.'. When we entered the mausoleum, and had performed our devotions, we heard a voice proceed from the tomb, saying, Return my children, that you may behold your mother, to meet whom, I am come here for the last time!'" With this they rushed on, and beheld Fatima, with her head reclined on the pillow; they fell at her feet, beseeching her to open her eyes, and bless her orphans with a last look. Fatima aroused, took them to her bosom, saying, "O! my beloved sons! God knows what is to happen to you, after I am gone; and to what ex

:

tent the tyranny of your enemies will be exercised against you!" She then called for her daughters, and delivered them to Hussen and Hossain; earnestly and repeatedly recommending them all to the protection of Ali. When her husband aud children had left her, Fatima desired Asmah to prepare water for her ablutions, which she went through with a minute attention to the precepts and ceremonies of her religion, in a manner that is seldom done; after which she directed her couch to be spread, and threw herself on it: she then spoke to her servant of a certain unction made from the camphor of Paradise, and given to her father by the angel Gabriel, for the purpose of his body being anointed with it after his decease, which he had divided into three parts; one part for himself, one for Ali, and one for her the latter she desired might be brought when it was produced, she bade Asmah apply it, after her death, to the use for which it was designed. She now desired to be left alone, as she wished to commune with her God. Asmah has related, that about half an hour after she had quitted her mistress, she heard her weeping aloud, which indued her to go in, when she observed Fatima engaged in the most pious and fervent devotions; invoking the Almighty, by the honour of her father, and his desire again to behold her; by the misery which preyed on the heart of Ali at the prospect of her dissolution, by the grief of her sons, and distraction of her daughters, to have mercy on her father's diciples, and to pardon the sins of the ungodly. At this Asmah, could not suppress her sobs, which attracting the notice of Fatima, she demanded if she had not desired to be left alone, and be called to in a short time; that if no answer was returned, it might be known that she had departed to the bosom of her father. On this, Asmah again retired, and soon after calling, no answer was returned; when entering the apartment, and drawing the veil from her mistress's face, she saw that she was no more. From God we are, and to God we must return.

POETRY.

ADDRESS OF WINTER TO TIMOUR. Versified from Sir John Malcolm's History of Persia.

BY MISS POrden.

[Timour or Tamerlane, the conqueror of Russia, of Hindostan, of Persia, Egypt, Syria, and Turkey, unsated with conquest, assembled at the age of seventy-one, an immense army to invade China. This empire had formerly been snbject to Chenghis, from whom Timour loved to trace his descent, and he said then he felt it a duty to re-establish the Tartar power, and expel idolatry from a country which had formed part of the dominions of his great ancestor. He commenced his march in the depth of winter, and passed the Iartes on the ice. But illness stopped him at Otra, and his forces were soon deprived of their leader. "Timour's Institutes," composed under his own direction, give a flattering picture of his achievements; but his life has been written with all the virulence of hatred by an Arabian author, Ahmed-ben-Arabshah, from whom a striking passage is quoted in Sir John Malcolm's History of Persia, which is here attempted to be versined. It is difficult to read without a more modern application.]

KEEN blew the sleety gale, the scene was drear, [appear, One sheet of white the hills and plains Vast blocks of ice obstruct the rapid floods, And hills of snow conceal the sable woods, Nor bird, nor beast, nor living thing was [age green; Nor flower, nor fruit, nor blade of herbAll Nature knew the appointed time of rest, [breast. And sheltered, slept in earth's maternal Man's heart alone no change of season knows,

seen,

waste.

And proud ambition stoops not to repose!
The tyrant's troops, regardless of the blast,
Blacken with countless hordes the silvery
rode,
High on his Tartar steed the conqueror
And led his myriads o'er the frozen flood;
When lo! amid a realm of subject snows,
In awful pride, gigantic Winter rose,
His hand with arrows filled, was lifted

high,

A ghastly gleam was in his frozen eye; Like some vast mountain his stupendous form,

His voice the howling of the Alpine storm. It lacked the melody of giving breath, And chill'd the spirit as the voice of Death.

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In this bosom should there waken
Not a feeling but thine own.
What are all fantastic notions,

In a world unfeeling bred;
Deadening all the heart's emotions
By the dulness of the head?
What are learning's vaunted pages,
Wearying tales and dreams at best;
What the wisdom of the sages,

Who forbid us to be blest? Worldly toil and vain repining,

Pride, ambition, henceforth cease; Form and folly hence resigning,

All my future thoughts be peace! Peace, that dwells in love's embraces, Joy that sports in Roshun's arms, In those accents, in those graces, Dearer far than prouder charms!

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Retreating from thy native shores,
Hark how indignant ocean roars;
Awhile his eddying billows boil,
Then furious on the stream recoil;
His rapid wave in marshalled ranks,
Dash wildly up the widening banks,
A waving line, from side to side,
Impetuous drive the surging tide:
As when amidst the battle speeds
The thundering charge of foaming steeds*.
The torrent rests-and once again,
Thy peaceful billows seek the main,

*In the first pages of Rokeby, there is a similar, though inferior description of the Orinoco.Scott's lines are→→

"But I resume. The battle's rage

"Was like the strife which current's wage,

And, as they pass, I seem, in thee,
The scenes that they have viewed, to see.
Again, along thy borders rise

The lofty shoots of other skies;
And foreign power, and foreign fame,
Eclipse the ancient native name.
Yet Gunga, though their fame efface
The glories of thy earlier race,
Their later honours shall entwine
With honours from creation thine ;
The wealthy bark of trade explores,
Undreading wrong, thy fertile shores;
The freedom that from Justice springs,
Expands over thee her fostering wings;
The arms and hearts that tyrants bend,
Protect thy coasts and peace defend;
Science assists thy genial clime,
And Learning wrests thy spoils from Time;
Nor dread that bigot wrath again,
Thy stream with kindred blood shall stain;
Nor fear the faith that seeks to know
A God in all his works below;
That in thy stream, a God can see,
And feel and worship Him in thee.
Or read the tale of time and fate
They faithfully, though dim, relate.
Where are the days when native pride
And power adorned thy smiling tide;
When Hindu fame and minstrel lore,
Resounded on thy sacred shore;
When deities thy borders trod,
And priests and nations hailed the god?"
Thy waves roll on; but not a trace
Of these is pictured on thy face;
Harsher than time-in whom we find
The fabling wrecks of truth behind.
Where now upon thy lonely brink,
The blood-stained tiger stops to drink
Where hungry vultures shrilly cry
For horrid feasts thy waves supply;
With gorgeous pomp insulting rose
The trophies of thy country's foes;
Dark on the shore the castle frowned,
The bigot mosque thy borders crowned.
And Moslem faith and Moslem power,
With iron sceptre swayed the hour.

The pageant of a fleeting dream,

They vanish from thy stately stream;
Thy waves upon their reliques break,
And vengeance for oppression take,
And with exulting triumph sweep
The hated fragments to the deep!

"Where Orinoco, in his pride,
"Rolls to the main no tribute tide,'
"But 'gainst broad ocean urges far
"A rival sea of roaring war;

"Even thus, upon the bloody field, "The eddying tides of conflict wheeled "Ambiguous."

REVIEW OF BOOKS.

The History of Bengal, from the his fingers extended considerably below his

first Mohammedan Invasion, &c. &c.

(Concluded from page 462.) THE Hindoo princes of the Punjab, who, A. H. 435 (A. D. 1043.) rose against the power of Sultan Modood, recovered possession of all the places to the east of the Indus, excepting the city of Lahore. The princes of the Ghiznean dynasty, from the date of the eruption of Nasir Addeen, uniformly assumed to themselves the title of Emperors of India. In the year 522 (A.D.1159,) Khuseroo I.abandoned the city of Ghizne, and the western provinces, to the power of his enemies, and made Lahore the capital of his dominions. In the year 587, the assassination of Kusseroo II. put an end to the Ghiznean dynasty, and transferred the sceptre to the rival house of Ghor. Mohammed Ghory frequently invaded Hindoostan; and during his reign his viceroy Cuttub Addeen Abiek captured the city of Dehli. During the reign of the same Cuttub, who succeeded, in 602 (A. D. 1206) to the throne of Lahore, the Mohammedan arms were carried into Bengal. Of the personal history of Mohammed Bukhtyar, the conqueror of that kingdom, Professor S. presents us with the following entertaining account:

The first chief who exalted the banners of Mohammed in the fertile fields of Bengal, was Mohammed Bukhtyar Khulijy. This person was an inhabitant of Ghor, a city in the district of Gurmseir, on the northern boundary of Afghanistan, aud of the tribe of Khulijy.* Nature had not been favourable to Bukhtyar in his formation: he was ill-favoured, and of a mean appearance; and, amongst other deformities of his person, it is stated, that when he stood upright the ends of

Throughout Dow's History of Hindoostan this name is softened into Cheligi, which renders it unintelligible to a native of the East.

Asiatic Journ.-No. VI.

knees. When arrived at the age of manhood, he repaired to Ghisne, and offered himself as a volunteer to the officers of

Mohammed Ghory; but they, disgusted with his appearance, refused to enrol

him amongst their levies. Disappointed in his hopes, he proceeded to Delhi, and on his arrival in that city made a tender of his services to the officers of Cuttub Addeen the Viceroy; but the inspector of recruits again rejected him. Finding it impossible to obtain employment in the imperial service, he enlisted as a cavalier with Oughul Beg, one of the provincial governors in this situation, his activity, courage, and abilities soon recommended

him to the notice of his superiors, and he

quickly obtained promotion.

When Mohammed Bukhtyar had ac

quired some celebrity in his new situation, he invited several parties of his own tribe, who were in want of employment,

to accept him as their commander, and had the good fortune shortly after to be admitted, with his regiment, into the service of the Viceroy. Having signalized himself on many arduous occasions, he was at length (about the year 696) appointed to the command of an army destined to the conquest of Behar. ·

In this undertaking he was again successful; for after ravaging and plundering all the country, and sacking the capital,* he returned at the end of two years, loaded with plunder; the whole of which he laid at the feet of the viceroy, who was so much pleased with his conduct, that he conferred on him such honours as excited the envy of all his cotemporaries.

* Mr. Wilford states, in the 9th volume of the Asiatic Researches, that the kings of Behar, or Magadha, were for many ages the sovereigns or lords-paramount of India. If such was the case, their descendants must have degenerated exceedingly; for at the period of the Mohammedan invasion, the Rajah, instead of heading his army in defence of his country and religion, shamefully absconded, leaving his capital, then a celebrated seat of Hindoo learning (whence its name of Behar), so destitute, that it was taken by a detachment of two hundred men, who put a number of the unopposing Brahmins to the sword; and plundered all the inhabitants,

VOL. I.

4 C

re-appointed governor of Behar, with orders to extend his conquests over all the neighbouring territories.

The mode which the courtiers devised to get rid of an envied favourite would be incredible in a civilized nation: but, as the circumstance occurred in an assemblage of illiterate soldiers, who considered courage as the chief virtue, we cannot refuse to give credit to the following extraordinary anecdote, which is corrobo

The remainder of the year 599 was occupied by Bukhtyar Khulity in firmly establishing his authority over the province of Behar, and

rated by several historians. On a public making such inquiries into the

occasion, when the whole court of the viceroy were assembled, some of the nobles took an opportunity of introducing the subject of the late conquest of Behar, and of extolling the feats of bravery performed by the General: they added, that such was their high opinion of his courage, they were sure he would, singlehanded, contend with and overcome a fierce elephant: this being contradicted by some other person in the secret, the question was at length submitted to the viceroy, and by him proposed to Mohammed Bukhtyar, who, dreading the imputation of cowardice more than death, foolishly agreed to try the contest.

One of those elephants which are kept for fighting by the princes of the East, and which was then in a state of intoxication, was shortly introduced into the area in front of the palace; and Mohammed, without making any other preparation than merely throwing off his coat and girding up his loins, advanced with a battle-axe in his hand.

The elephant, which had been accustomed to contend in that place, either with one of its own species or some more ferocious animal, took little notice of its puny foe, till, urged on by its driver, it made a charge at Bukhtyar, who dexterously avoided, and, at the same moment, struck the elephant with his battleaxe with such force on the trunk, that the animal screamed out and ran off. Shouts of wonder and acclamation resounded through the palace, and the viceroy not only presented the General with a large sum of money himself, but ordered all the nobles to present him with an offering of congratulation. The sum collected on this occasion was of consideraable value; but the General, scorning to be thus enriched, added a sum of his own, and made a donation of the whole to the inferior servants of the court.

Shortly after this transaction, Mohammed was, in the year of the Hejira 599,

state of Bengal as might facilitate the conquest of that country. The circumstances attending this latter event are thus related by our author:

Bengal was at that period ruled by a Hindoo prince named Luchmunyah, who resided at Nuddeah, still a celebrated seat of Hindoo learning, and whose history has been thus succinctly narrated by nearly a contemporary historian.*

On the death of Luchmun the father of Luchmunyah, this prince was still unborn; but as his mother, who was of the royal family of the sovereigns of India, was far advanced in her pregnancy, the nobles seated her on the throne, and made their obeisance. When the princess felt the pains of labour approaching, she assembled the astrologers and Brahmans, and consulted them on the probable destiny of her child.

The astrologers, having attentively considered the position of the heavens, declared that if the child should be born before a particular hour, his destiny would be replete with misery; but if after the time specified, he should enjoy a very long reign.

The intrepid lady immediately gave positive orders to her attendants, that, without paying any attention to her feelings, or regard to her safety, they should postpone her delivery. The measures they adopted were rude and cruel; and although their measures were attended with success, it was at the expense of the life of the mother.†

* Abu Omar Manhajaddeen Giorjany, whose history, the Tabkat Nassary, was published in the year of the Hejira 658, corresponding with A.D. 1260, only fifty-eight years after the conquest of Bengal. The author had conversed with many persons who had assisted in the conquest of that country; and he himself passed several months at the capital of Bengal.

+ This circumstance will not be thought improbable by those who are acquainted with the little value the Hindoos set on the life of a woman,

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