But the deep eddies whelm'd both man and horse,
Swept like benighted peasant down the tide;
And the proud Moslemah spread far and wide,
As numerous as their native locust band;
Berber and Ismael's sons the spoils divide,
With naked scimitars mete out the land,

And for their bondsmen base the freeborn natives brand.

XXIII

Then rose the grated Harem, to enclose

The loveliest maidens of the Christian line;
Then, menials to their misbelieving foes,
Castile's young nobles held forbidden, wine;
Then, too, the holy Cross, salvation's sign,
By impious hands was from the altar thrown,
And the deep aisles of the polluted shrine
Echoed, for holy hymn and organ tone,

The Santon's frantic dance, the Fakir's gibbering moan.

XXIV.

How fares Don Roderick?-E'en as one who spies
Flames dart their glare o'er midnight's sable woof,
And hears around his children's piercing cries,
And sees the pale assistants stand aloof;
While cruel Conscience brings him bitter proof,
His folly, or his crime, have caused his grief;
And, while above him nods the crumbling roof,

He curses earth and heaven-himself in chier-
Desperate of earthly aid, despairing Heaven's relief!

XXV.

That scythe-armed Giant turned his fatal glass, And twilight on the landscape closed her wings, Far to Asturian hills the war-sounds pass,

And in their stead rebeck or timbrel rings; And to the sound the bell-deck'd dancer springs, Bazars resound as when their marts are met, In tourney light the Moor his jerrid flings,

And on the land as evening seem'd to set,
The Imaum's chant was heard from mosque or minaret.
XXVI

Eo pass'd that pageant. Ere another came,
The visionary scene was wrapp'd in smoke,

Whose sulch'rous wreaths were cross'd by sheet of flame; With every flash a bolt explosive broke,

Till Roderick deem'd the fiends had burst their yoke, And waved 'gainst heaven the infernal gonfalone! For War a new and dreadful language spoke,

Never by ancient warrior heard or known:

Lightning and smoke her breath, and thunder was her tone.
XXVII.

From the dim landscape roll the clouds away-
The Christians have regain'd their heritage:
Before the Cross has waned the Crescent's ray,
And many a monastery decks the stage,
And lofty church, and low-brow'd hermitage.
The land obeys a Hermit and a Knight,÷
The Genii these of Spain for many an age;

This clad in sackcloth, that in armour bright,
And that was VALOUR named, this BIGOTRY was hight.
XXVIII

Valour was harness'd like a Chief of old,

Arm'd at all points, and prompt for knightly gest;
His sword was temper'd in the Ebro cold,
Morena's eagle-plume adorn'd his crest,

The spoils of Afric's lion bound his breast.

Fierce he stepp'd forward and flung down his gage, As if of mortal kind to brave the best.

Him follow'd his Companion, dark and sage,
As he, my Master, sung the dangerous Archimage.
XXIX.

Iaughty of heart and brow the Warrior came,
In look and language proud as proud might be,
Vaunting his lordship, lineage, fights and fame,
Yet was that bare-foot Monk more proud than he.
And as the ivy climbs the tallest tree,

So found the loftiest soul his toils he wound,

And with his spells subdued the fierce and free,
Till ermined Age, and Youth in arms rehown'd,

Honouring his scourge and hair-cloth, meekly kiss'd the ground.

And thus it chanced that VALOUR, peerless Knight,
Who ne'er to King or Kaisar veil'd his crest,

Victorious still in bull-feast, or in fight,
Since first his limbs with mail hê did invest,
Stoop'd ever to that Anchoret's behest;

Nor reason'd of the right nor of the wrong,
But at his bidding laid the lance in rest,

And wrought fell deeds the troubled world along For he was fierce as brave, and pitiless as strong.

XXXI

Oft his proud galleys sought some new found world,” ·
That latest sees the sun, or first the morn;
Still at that Wizard's feet their spoils he hurl'd,
Ingots of ore from rich Potosi borne,

Crowns by Caciques, aigrettes by Omrahs worn,
Wrought of rare gems, but broken, rent, and foul;
Idols of gold from heathen temples torn,

Bedabbled all with blood.-With grisly scowl

The Hermit mark'd the stains, and smiled beneath his cowl

XXXII

Then did he bless the offering, and bade make
Tribute to heaven of gratitude and praise;

And at his word the choral hymns awake,

And many a hand the silver censer sways.

But with the incense-breath these censers raise,

Mix steams from corpses smouldering in the fire;

The groans of prison'd victims mar the lays,

And shrieks of agony confound the quire,

While, 'mid the mingled sounds, the darken'd scenes expire.

XXXIII.

Preluding light, were strains of music heard,
As once again revolved that-measured sand;
Such sounds as when, for sylvan dance prepared,
Gay Xeres summons forth her vintage band;
When for the light Bolero ready stand

The Mozo blithe, with gay Muchacha met,
He conscious of his broider'd cap and band,
She of her netted locks and light corsette.

Each tiptoe perch'd to spring, and shake the castanet.

XXXIV.

And well such strains the opening scene became;
For VALOUR had relaxed his ardent look,
And at a lady's feet, like lion tame,

Lay stretch'd, full loth the weight of arms to brook; And soften'd BIGOTRY, upon his book,

Patter'd a task of little good or ill:

But the blithe peasant plied his pruning-hook,
Whistled the muleteer o'er yale and hill,
And rung from village-green the merry Seguidille..

XXXV.

Grey Royalty, grown impotent of toil,
Let the grave sceptre slip his lazy hold,
And careless saw his rule become the spoil
Of a losse Female and her Minion bold;
But peace was on the cottage and the fold,
From court intrigue, from bickering faction far;
Beneath the chesnut tree Love's tale was told,

And to the tinkling of the light guitar,

Sweet stoop'd the western sun, sweet rose the evening star

XXXVI

As that sea-cloud, in size like human hand,
When first from Carmel by the Tishbite seen,
Came slowly overshadowing Israel's land,

Awhile, perchance, bedeck'd with colours sheen,
While yet the sunbeams on its skirts had been,
Limning with purple and with gold its shroud,
Till darker folds obscured the blue serene,

And blotted heaven with one broad sable cloudThen sheeted rain burst down, and whirlwinds howl'd alouds

XXXVII.

Even so upon that peaceful scene was pour'd,

Like gathering clouds, full many a foreign band. And HE, their Leader, wore in sheath his sword And offer'd peaceful front and open hand; Veiling the perjured treachery he plann'd,

By friendship's zeal and honour's spacious guise, Until he won the passes of the land;

Then, burst were honour's oath, and friendship's ties! Пle clutch'd his vulture-grasp, and call'd fair Spain his prize.

XXXVIII.

An Iron Crown his anxious forehead bore;
And well such diadem his heart became,
Who ne'er his purpose for remorse gave o'er,
Or check'd his course for piety or shame;
Who, train'd a soldier, deem'd a soldier's fame
Might flourish in the wreath of battles won,
Though neither truth nor honour deck'd his name;
Who, placed by fortune on a Monarch's throne,
Reck'd not of Monarch's faith, or Mercy's kingly tone.

XXXIX

From a rude isle his ruder lineage came:
The spark, that, from a suburb hovel's hearth
Ascending, wraps some capital in flame,

Hath not a meaner or more sordid birth.
And for the soul that bade him waste the earth-
The sable land-flood from some swamp obscure,
That poisons the glad husband-field with dearth,
And by destruction bids its fame endure,

Hath not a source more sullen, stagnant, and impure.

XL.

Before that Leader strode a shadowy Form:

Her limbs like mist, her torch like meteor show'd, With which she beckon'd him through fight aud storm, And all he crush'd that cross'd his desperate road, Nor thought, nor fear'd, nor look'd on what he trodes Realms could not glut his pride, blood could not slake, So oft as e'er she shook her torch abroad—

It was Ambition bade his terrors wake,
Nor deign'd she, as of yore, a milder form to take.

XLI.

No longer now she spurn'd at mean revenge.
Or stay'd her hand for conquer'd foeman's toan,
As when, the fates of aged Rome to change,
By Cæsar's side she cross❜d the Rubicon:
Nor joy'd she to bestow the spoils she won,

As when the banded powers of Greece were task'd