in a slow and laborious collection of small facts that the first foundations of this fanciful romance were laid.

The friendly testimony I have just referred to appeared, some years since, in the form in which I now give it, and, if I recollect right, in the "Athenæum ":

"I embrace this opportunity of bearing my individual testimony (if it be of any value) to the extraordinary accuracy of Mr. Moore, in his topographical, antiquarian, and characteristic details, whether of costume, manners, or less changing monuments, both in his Lalla Rookh' and in the 'Epicurean.' It has been my fortune to read his Atlantic, Bermudean, and American Odes and Epistles in the countries and among the people to which and to whom they related; I enjoyed also the exquisite delight of reading his 'Lalla Rookh' in Persia itself; and I have perused the Epicurean,' while all my recollections of Egypt and its still existing wonders are as fresh as when I quitted the banks of the Nile for Arabia; I owe it, therefore, as a debt of gratitude (though the payment is most inadequate) for the great pleasure I have derived from his productions, to bear my humble testimony to their local fidelity.

"J. S. B."

Among the incidents connected with this work, I must not omit to notice the splendid divertisse

ment, founded upon it, which was acted at the Château Royal of Berlin, during the visit of the Grand Duke Nicholas to that capital, in the year 1822. The different stories composing the work were rep、 resented in tableaux vivans and songs; and among the crowd of royal and noble personages engaged in the performances, I shall mention those only who represented the principal characters, and whom I find thus enumerated in the published account of the divertissement: *

Besides these and other leading personages, there were also brought into action, under the various denominations of Seigneurs et Dames de Bucharie, Dames de Cachemire, Seigneurs et Dames dansans à la Fête des Roses, etc., nearly one hundred and fifty persons.

Of the manner and style in which the tableaux of the different stories are described in the work from which I cite, the following account of the per

* Lalla Roûkh Divertissement, mêlé de Chants et de Danses, Berlin, 1822. The work contains a series of colored engravings, representing groups, processions, etc., in different Oriental costumes.

formance of "Paradise and the Peri" will afford

some specimen:

portes brillantes Dans le premier

“La décoration représentoit les du Paradis, entourées de nuages. tableau on voyoit la Péri, triste et désolée, couchée sur le seuil des portes fermées, et l'Ange de lumière qui lui addresse des consolations et des conseils. Le second représente le moment où la Péri, dans l'espoir que ce don lui ouvrira l'entrée du Paradis, recueille la dernière goutte de sang que vient de verser le jeune guerrier Indien.

"La Péri et l'Ange de lumière répondoient pleinement à l'image et à l'idée qu'on est tenté de se faire de ces deux individus, et l'impression qu'a faite généralement la suite des tableaux de cet épisode délicat et intéressant est loin de s'effacer de notre souvenir."

In this grand fête, it appears, originated the translation of "Lalla Rookh " into German verse,* by the Baron de la Motte Fouqué; and the circumstances which led him to undertake the task are described by himself in a Dedicatory Poem to the Empress of Russia, which he has prefixed to his translation. As soon as the performance, he tells us, had ended, Lalla Rookh (the Empress herself) exclaimed, with a sigh, "Is it, then, all over? are we now at the close of all that has given us so much delight? and

* Since this was written, another translation of Lalla Rookh into German verse has been made by Theodor Oelckers (Leipzig, Tauchnitz, Jun.), which has already passed through three editions.

lives there no poet who will impart to others, and to future times, some notion of the happiness we have enjoyed this evening?" On hearing this appeal, a Knight of Cashmere (who is no other than the poetical Baron himself) comes forward and promises to attempt to present to the world "the poem itself in the measure of the original;" - whereupon Lalla Rookh, it is added, approvingly smiled.

In the eleventh year of the reign of Aurungzebe, Abdalla, King of the Lesser Bucharia, a lineal descendant from the Great Zingis, having abdicated the throne in favor of his son, set out on a pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Prophet; and, passing into India through the delightful valley of Cashmere, rested for a short time at Delhi on his way. He was entertained by Aurungzebe in a style of magnificent hospitality, worthy alike of the visitor and the host, and was afterwards escorted with the same splendor to Surat, where he embarked for Arabia.1 During the stay of the Royal Pilgrim at Delhi, a marriage was agreed upon between the Prince, his son, and the youngest daughter of the Emperor, LALLA ROOKH,2-a princess described by the poets of her time as more beautiful than Leila, Shirine,* Dewilde, or any of those heroines whose names and loves embellish the songs of Persia and Hindostan. It was intended that the nuptials should be celebrated at Cashmere; where the young King, as soon as the cares of empire would permit, was to

8