Edmund Ollier
Published: 2013-09
Total Pages: 28
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1867 edition. Excerpt: ... THE CITY OF EARTHLY EDEN.* QHEDDAD the Mighty, the great of limb, Had the kings of the whole earth under him: They held their thrones at his pleasure, and all Came and went at his beck and call. His heart swell'd within him, and, mad with power, To his vassels he said, in an evil hour: * The story here related is an Arabian legend, which Mr. Lane has eloquently rendered in the Notes to his translation of "The Thousand and One Nights." The site of the marvellous city is supposed to be in the deserts of Aden, at the extreme south of the Arabian peninsula. Occasionally, as tradition affirms, a wanderer in the desert comes accidentally upon the gorgeous mass of palaces and pavilions, and finds them vacant. The reader will observe that the story has a similarity to that of Zobeide in "The Arabian Nights." The existence of the deserted, but magnificent, city of Petra, in the midst of a rocky wilderness, may have led to the invention of this fable. "I have read in the ancient histories' Of the gardens and cities of Paradise, Whereto the spirit of man is bidden When, passing the Gate of Death, now hidden, It walks in the countries far away.-- Let those who please await that day: The will of the crowd availeth not To expedite their promis'd lot; But mine is stern and strong as Fate, And I on the earth will emulate The pomp of that celestial state; Till, like a planet vast and bright, That dazzles the day and kills the night, And waneth never nor taketh flight, In the heavens shall hang the golden light Of the City of Earthly Eden. "Depart, then, to the mines that lie In the caves of the mountains far and nigh, And out of the heat and the swarthy glooms Of Nature's subterranean rooms Bring heavy lumps of burning gold, And bars of silver, white and...