|
[page 37:]
|
|
|
1.
<>
| I have sent for thee holy friar. |
Of the history of Tamerlane little is known; and
with
that little, I have taken the full liberty of a poet. — That he was
descended
from the family of Zinghis Khan is more than probable — but he is
vulgarly
supposed to have been the son of a shepherd, and to have raised himself
to the throne by his own address. He died in the year 1405, in the time
of Pope Innocent VII.
How I shall account for giving him "a
friar," as
a death-bed confessor — I cannot exactly determine. He wanted some one
to listen to his tale — and why not a friar? It does not pass the
bounds
of possibility — quite sufficient for my purpose — and I have at least
good authority on my side for such innovations.
2.
| The mists of the Taglay have
shed, &c. |
The mountains of Belur Taglay are a
branch of the
Immaus, in the southern part of Independent Tartary. — They are
celebrated
for the singular wildness, and beauty of their vallies.
3.
|
No purer thought
Dwelt in a seraph's breast than thine.
|
I must beg the reader's pardon for
making Tamerlane,
[page 38:] a Tartar of the fourteenth century, speak
in the same language as a
Boston
gentleman of the nineteenth; but of the Tartar mythology we have little
information.
4.
| Which blazes upon Edis' shrine. |
A deity presiding over virtuous love,
upon whose
imaginary altar, a sacred fire was continually blazing.
5.
|
————— who hardly will conceive
That any should become "great," born
Born in their own sphere. |
Although Tamerlane speaks this, it is
not the less
true. It is a matter of the greatest difficulty to make the generality
of mankind believe that one, with whom they are upon terms of intimacy,
shall be called, in the world, a "great man." The reason is evident.
There
are few great men. Their actions are consequently viewed by the mass of
the people thro' the medium of distance. — The prominent parts of their
character are alone noted; and those properties, which are minute and
common
to every one, not being observed, seem to have no connection with a
great
character.
Who ever read the private memorials,
correspondence,
&c. which have become so common in our time, without wondering that
"great men" should act and thnik [[think]] "so abominably?"
[page 39:]
6.
<>
| Her own Alexis who should plight,
&c. |
That Tamerlane acquir'd his renown under a feigned
name
is not entirely a fiction.
7.
| Look 'round thee now on Samarcand. |
I believe it was after the battle of Angoria that
Tamerlane
made Samarcand his residence. It became for a time the seat of learning
and the arts.
8.
<>
| And who her sov'reign? Timur, &c. |
He was called Timur Bek as well as Tamerlane.
9.
| The Zinghis' yet re-echoing fame. |
The conquests of Tamerlane far exceeded those of
Zinghis
Khan. He boasted to have two thirds of the world at his command.
10.
|
The sound of the coming darkness (known
To those whose spirits hark'n.) |
<>
I have often fancied that I could distinctly hear
the
sound of the darkness, as it steals over the horizon — a foolish fancy
perhaps, but not more unintelligible than to see music —
<>
| "The mind the music breathing from
her face." |
[page 40:]<>
11.
<>
| Let life then, as the day-flow'r,
fall. |
There is a flow'r, (I have never known its botanic
name,)
vulgarly called the day flower. It blooms beautifully in the day-light,
but withers towards evening, and by night its leaves appear totally
shrivelled
and dead. I have forgotten, however, to mention in the text, that it
lives
again in the morning. If it will not flourish in Tartary, I must be
forgiven
for carrying it thither. |
|
|
|
|
|