THE TOMB OF HUMAIOON, DELHI.
The Emperor Humaioon* was the founder of the Mogul dynasty, the father of Akbar, and grandsire of "the magnificent son of Akbar Jehanghire," so well known as the kingly lover of Nourmahal, in "The Feast of Roses." In his early life he was much given to a solitude engrossed by the study of astrology. The rebellion of his brother called his attention from the heavens to the earth: he endured many vicissitudes of fortune, and was at one time an exile in Persia; he, however, triumphed at last, reascended his throne, where he was remarkable for all those finer qualities of mildness and humanity which generally belong to a more advanced period of civilization.
E stood alone upon a hill,
Where he had built a tower,
That he might watch in solitude
How worked the midnight hour;
The blue sky spread above his head,
As if indeed it were
Another world to that sad earth,
Man’s heritage of care.
As yet the moon was in her youth,
Her hour of strength untried,
One white cloud round her, like the veil
That hides an earthly bride.
From drooping leaves, and bending flowers,
Exhaled the midnight dews!†
Like love that from its inmost thoughts
Its own sweet life renews
Like floating islands on the air,
The palm-tree’s feathery crest
Rose high and lone; there was no wind
To stir its shadowy rest.
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