LALLA ROOKH.--The most acceptable offering to fame, and the most
successful pecuniary venture, was his _Lalla Rookh_. The East was becoming
known to the English; and the fancy of the poet could convert the glimpses
of oriental things into charming pictures. Long possessed with the purpose
to write an Eastern story in verse, Moore set to work with laudable
industry to read books of travels and history, in order to form a strong
and sensible basis for his poetical superstructure. The work is a
collection of beautiful poems, in a delicate setting of beautiful prose.
The princess Lalla Rookh journeys, with great pomp, to become the bride of
the youthful king of Bokkara, and finds among her attendants a handsome
young poet, who beguiles the journey by singing to her these tales in
verse. The dangers of the process became manifest--the king of Bokkara is
forgotten, and the heart of the unfortunate princess is won by the beauty
and the minstrelsy of the youthful poet. What is her relief and her joy to
find on her arrival the unknown poet seated upon the throne as the king,
who had won her heart as an humble bard!
This beautiful and popular work was published in 1817; and for it Moore
received from his publishers, the Longmans, L3000.
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