I clasp—what is it that I clasp?

No breathing form within my grasp,
No heart that beats reply to mine,
Yet, Leila! yet the form is thine!

And art thou, dearest, changed so much,
As meet my eye, yet mock my touch?
Ah! were thy beauties e'er so cold,
I care not; so my arms enfold
The all they ever wish'd to hold.
Alas! around a shadow prest,
They shrink upon my lonely breast;
Yet still 't is there! in silence stands,
And beckons with beseeching hands!
With braided hair, and bright-black eye-
I knew 't was false-she could not die!
But he is dead! within the dell

I saw him buried where he fell;
He comes not, for he cannot break
From earth; why then art thou awake?
They told me wild waves roll'd above
The face I'view, the form I love;
They told me-'t was a hideous tale!
I'd tell it, but my tongue would fail :
If true, and from thine ocean-cave
Thou com'st to claim a calmer grave,
Oh! pass thy dewy fingers o'er

This brow that then will burn no more;
Or place them on my hopeless heart:
But, shape or shade! whate'er thou art,
In mercy ne'er again depart!

<< Such is my name, and such my tale. Confessor to thy secret ear

I breathe the sorrows I bewail,

And thank thee for the generous tear This glazing eye could never shed. Then lay me with the humblest dead, And, save the cross above my head, Be neither name nor emblem spread, By prying stranger to be read, Or stay the passing pilgrim's tread.>>

He pass'd-nor of his name and race
Hath left a token or a trace,
Save what the father must not say
Who shrived him on his dying day:
This broken tale was all we knew
Of her he loved, or him he slew.43

That tomb which, gleaming o'er the cliff.

A tomb above the rocks on the promontory, by some supposed the sepulchre of Themistocles.

Note 2. Page 7, line 22.

Sultana of the Nightingale.

The attachment of the nightingale to the rose is a wellknown Persian fable. If I mistake not, the «< Bulbul of a thousand tales >> is one of his appellations.

Note 3. Page 8, line 18.

Till the gay mariner's guitar.

The guitar is the constant amusement of the Greek sailor by night: with a steady fair wind, and during a calm, it is accompanied always by the voice, and often by dancing.

Note 4. Page 9, line 28.

Where cold obstruction's apathy.

«Ay, but to die and go we know not where,

To lie in cold obstruction.»

Measure for Measure, Act III. 130. Sc. 2.

Note 5. Page 10, line 6.

The first, last look by death reveal'd.

I trust that few of my readers have ever had an oppornity of witnessing what is here attempted in descrip

tion, but those who have will probably retain a painf remembrance of that singular beauty which pervade with few exceptions, the features of the dead, a fe hours, and but for a few hours, after « the spirit is no there.» It is to be remarked in cases of violent deat by gun-shot wounds, the expression is always that languor, whatever the natural energy of the sufferer character; but in death from a stab the countenance pr serves its traits of feeling or ferocity, and the mind i bias, to the last.

Note 6. Page 12, line 8.

Slaves-nay, the bondsmen of a slave.

Athens is the property of the Kislar Aga (the slave c the seraglio and guardian of the women), who appoint the Waywode. A pander and eunuch-these are no polite, yet true appellations-now governs the governo of Athens!

Infidel.

Note 7. Page 13, line 17.
'Tis calmer than thy heart, young Giaour.

Note 8. Page 14, line 22.

In echoes of the far tophaike.

«Tophaike,» musquet.-The Bairam is announce by the cannon at sunset; the illumination of the Mosques and the firing of all kinds of small arms, loaded with ball, proclaim it during the night.

Note

9. Page 15, line 16.

Swift as the hurl'd on high jerreed.

Jerreed, or Djerrid, a blunted Turkish javelin, which

Ciaour.

n is announce

is darted from horseback with great force and precision. It is a favourite exercise of the Mussulmans; but I know not if it can be called a manly one, s since the most expert in the art are the Black Eunuchs of ConstantinopleI think, next to these, a Mamlouk at Smyrna was the most skilful that came within my observation.

Note 10. Page 16, line 16.

He came, he went, like the Simoom.

The blast of the desert, fatal to every thing living, and often alluded to in eastern poetry.

Note 11. Page 18, line 16.

To bless the sacred a bread and salt."

To partake of food, to break bread and salt with your host, insures the safety of the guest; even though an enemy, from that moment is sacred.

his

person

Note 12. Page 18, line 24.

Since his turban was cleft by the infidel's sabre.

I need hardly observe, that Charity and Hospitality are the first duties enjoined by Mahomet; and, to say truth, very generally practised by his disciples. The first praise that can be bestowed on a chief is a panegyric on

of the Mosques his bounty; the next, on his valour.

ns, loaded wit

Note 13. Page 18, line 28.

And silver-sheathed ataghan.

The ataghan, a long dagger worn with pistols in the belt, in a metal scabbard, generally of silver; and, among the wealthier, gilt, or of gold.