r thy dower. I would gladly see a crown upon that
imperial brow. It well deserves one.'

The prophetess turned her dark eyes full upon Alroy. What passed in her
mind was neither evident nor expressed. She gazed intently upon the calm
and inscrutable countenance of the conqueror, then flung away his hand,
and rushed out of the pavilion.

CHAPTER VIII.

_Bagdad and the Princess_

THE waving of banners, the flourish of trumpets, the neighing of steeds,
and the glitter of spears! On the distant horizon they gleam like the
morning, when the gloom of the night shivers bright into day. Hark!
the tramp of the foemen, like the tide of the ocean, flows onward and
onward, and conquers the shore. From the brow of the mountain, like the
rush of a river, the column defiling melts into the plain.

Warriors of Judah! holy men that battle for the Lord! The land wherein
your fathers wept, and touched their plaintive psalteries; the haughty
city where your sires bewailed their cold and distant hearths; your
steeds are prancing on its plain, and you shall fill its palaces.
Warriors of Judah! holy men that battle for the Lord!

March, onward march, ye valiant tribes, the hour has come, the hour has
come! All the promises of ages, all the signs of sacred sages, meet in
this ravishing hour. Where is now the oppressor's chariot, where your
tyrant's purple robe? The horse and the rider are both overthrown, the
horse and the rider are both overthrown!

Rise, Rachel, from thy wilderness, arise, and weep no more. No more thy
lonely palm-tree's shade need shroud thy secret sorrowing. The Lord
hath heard the widow's sigh, the Lord hath stilled the widow's tear. Be
comforted, be comforted, thy children live again!

Yes! yes! upon the bounding plain fleet Asriel glances like a star, and
stout Scherirah shakes his spear by stern Jabaster's scimitar. And He is
there, the chosen one, hymned by prophetic harps, whose life is like the
morning dew on Zion's holy hill: the chosen one, the chosen one, that
leads his race to victory; warriors of Judah! holy men that battle for
the Lord!

They come, they come, they come!

The ramparts of the city were crowded with the inhabitants, the river
sparkled with ten thousand boats, the bazaars were shut, the streets
lined with the populace, and the terrace of every house covered with
spectators. In the morning, Ithamar had entered with his division and
garrisoned the city. And now the vanguard of