Song and Sentiment Lyrical Author:John Cotton General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1891 Original Publisher: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books... more ».com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: $tgnef=rmg of §oComott. HESE tales are by the Rabbins told Of Solomon, and his ring, A jewel with such powers endowed It could foreknowledge bring; When pressed against the wearer's brow It so inspired his thought, That of all secrets he could learn And win whate'er he sought. Set in the ring a shining stone Was with strange symbols chased, And round it serpent forms of gold Were deftly interlaced; This was the gem that Sakhar once, -- The crafty devil -- gained, When, by its charms, for forty days He in Jerusalem reigned. It happened thus : King Solomon, Whene'er to bathe inclined, The precious ring to Aminya, His favourite wife, consigned ; And Sakhar, who with constant craft To work men ill aspires, Discovering this, conceived a trick To compass his desires. As though from his ablutions come -- Apparelled like the King -- He sought the harem and, disguised, One night obtained the ring; Then, holding court upon the throne In furtherance of his scheme, Repelled the ousted King's complaint As some mad dotard's dream. The viziers, blinded by his wiles, Believed him their true lord, Nor recked that he could be the fiend -- Base Sakhar -- the abhorred ! But God ! be his great wonders told ! So ruled that, when he yearned To do men mischief, all his plots Were into blessings turned. Whereon, his evil efforts foiled, He -- angrily -- one day Drew off the gem, with curses dire, And threw it far away; But, by that providential chance Which sometimes favours men, The legend says that Sol...« less