The Vision of Don Roderick. Quid dignum memorare tuis, Hispania, terris, -CLAUDIAN. PREFACE. THE following Poem is founded upon a Spanish Tradition, particularly detailed in the Notes; but bearing, in general, that Don Roderick, the last Gothic King of Spain, when the Invasion of the Moors was impending, had the temerity to descend into an ancient vault, near Toledo, the opening of which had been denounced as fatal to the Spanish Monarchy. The legend adds, that his rash curiosity was mortified by an emblematical representation of those Saracens who, in the year 714, defeated him in battle, and reduced Spain under their dominion. I have presumed to prolong the Vision of the Revolutions of Spain down to the present eventful crisis of the Peninsula ; and to divide it, by a supposed change of scene, into THREE PERIODS. The FIRST of these represents the Invasion of the Moors, the Defeat and Death of Roderick, and closes with the peaceful occupation of the country by the Victors. The SECOND PERIOD embraces the state of the Peninsula, when the conquests of the Spaniards and Portuguese in the East and West Indies had raised to the highest pitch the renown of their arms; sullied, however, by superstition and cruelty. An allusion to the inhumanities of the Inquisition terminates this picture. The LAST PART of the Poem opens with the state of Spain previous to the unparalleled treachery of BUONAPARTE; gives a sketch of the usurpation attempted upon that unsus 1 The Vision of Don Roderick appeared in 4to, in July 15, 1811; and in the course of the same year was also inserted in the second volume of the Edinburgh Annual Register-which work was the property of Sir Walter Scott's then publishers, Messrs. John Ballantyne and Co. picious and friendly kingdom, and terminates with the arrival of the British succours. It may bc farther proper to mention, that the object of the Poem is les to commemorate or detail particular incidents, than to exhibit a general and impressive picture of the several periods brought upon the stage. I am too sensible of the respect due to the Public, especially by one who has already experienced more than ordinary indulgence, to offer any apology for the inferiority of the poetry to the subject it is chiefly designed to commemorate. Yet I think it proper to mention, that while I was hastily executing a work, written for a temporary purpose, and on passing events, the task was most cruelly interrupted by the successive deaths of LORD PRESIDENT BLAIR,2 and LORD VISCOUNT MELVILLE. In those distinguished characters, I had not only to regret persons whose lives were most important to Scotland, but also whose notice and patronage honoured my entrance upon active life; and, I may add, with melancholy pride, who permitted my more advanced age to claim no common share in their friendship. Under such interruptions, the following verses, which my best and happiest efforts must have left far unworthy of their theme, have, 1 am myself sensible, an appearance of negligence and incoherence, which, in other circumstances, I might have been able to remove.3 EDINBURGH, June 24, 1811. 1811, Scott says "I have this moment got your kind letter, just as I was packing up Don Roderick for you. This pa triotic puppet-show has been finished under wretched auspices; pour Lord Melville's death so quickly succeeling that of President Blair, one of the best and wisest judges that ever The Right Hon. Robert Blair of Avontoun, President of the distributed justice, broke my spirit sadly. My official situaCourt of Session, was the son of the Rev. Robert Blair, author tion placed me in daily contact with the President, and his of "The Grave." After long filling the office of Solicitor-Gene-ability and candour were the source of my daily admiration. ral in Scotland with high distinction, he was elevated to the Presidency in 1808. He died very suddenly on the 20th May 1811, in the 70th year of his age; and his intimate friend, Henry Dundas, first Viscount Melville, having gone into Edinburgh on purpose to attend his remains to the grave, was taken ill not less suddenly, and died there the very hour that the funeral took place, on the 28th of the same month. In a letter to J. B. S. Morritt, Esq., Edinburgh, July 1, As for poor dear Lord Melville, 'tis vain to name him whom we mourn in vain. Almost the last time I saw him, he was talking of you in the highest terms of regard, and expressing great hopes of again seeing you at Dunura this summer, where I proposed to attend you. Hei mihi quid hei mihi? humana perpessi sumus. His loss will be long and severely felt here, and Envy is already paying her cold tribute of applause to the worth which she maligned while it walked upon earth. The Vision of Don Roderick. To JOHN WHITMORE, Esq. AND TO THE COMMITTEE OF SUBSCRIBERS FOR RELIEF OF THE PORTUGUESE SUFFERERS IN WHICH HE PRESIDES, THIS POEM, (THE VISION OF DON RODERICK,, COMPOSED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE FUND UNDER THEIR MANAGEMENT. friend the Earl of Dalkeith (afterwards Duke of Buccleuch) writes thus on the occasion:- Those with ampler fortunes and thicker heads may easily give one hundred guineas to a subscription, but the man is really to be envied who can draw that sum from his own brains, and apply the produce so bene 2 MS.-"Who sung the changes of the Phrygian jar." 8 MS.-"Claiming thine ear 'twixt each loud trumpetchange." 1 "The letters of Scott to all his friends have sufficiently "The poem was published, in 4to, in July; and the immeshown the unflagging interest with which, among all his per-diate proceeds were forwarded to the board in London. His sonal labours and anxieties, he watched the progress of the great contest in the Peninsula. It was so earnest, that he never on any journey, not even in his very frequent passages between Edinburgh and Ashestiel, omitted to take with him the largest and best map he had been able to procure of the seat of war; upon this he was perpetually poring, tracing the |ficially and to so exalted a purpose.""-Life of Scott, vol. iii. marches and counter-marches of the French and English by | pp. 312, Sib. means of black and white pins; and not seldom did Mrs. Scott complain of this constant occupation of his attention and her carriage. In the beginning of 1811, a committee was formed in London to collect subscriptions for the relief of the Portuguese, who had seen their lands wasted, their vines torn up, and their houses burnt in the course of Massena's last unfortunate campaign; and Scott, on reading the advertisement, immediately addressed Mr. Whitmore, the chairman, begging that the committee would allow him to contribute to their fund the profits, to whatever they might amount, of a poem which he proposed to write upon a subject connected with the localities of the patriotic struggle. His offer was of course accepted; and THE VISION OF DON RODERICK was begun as soon as the Spring vacation enabled him to retire to Ashestiel. 4" The too monotonous close of the stanza is sometimes diversified by the adoption of fourteen-foot verse,-a license in poetry which, since Dryden, has (we believe) been altogether abandoned, but which is nevertheless very deserving of revival, so long as it is only rarely and judiciously used. The very first stanza in this poem affords an instance of it; and, introduced thus in the very front of the battle, we cannot help considering it as a fault, especially clogged as it is with the association of a defective rhyme-change, revenge.”— Critical Review, Aug. 1811. Since our grey cliffs the din of conflict knew, Or, pealing through our vales, victorious bugles blow. VIII. "Decay'd our old traditionary lore, Save where the lingering fays renew their ring, By milk-maid seen beneath the hawthorn hoar, Or round the marge of Minchmore's haunted spring:5 Save where their legends grey-hair'd shepherds sing That now scarce win a listening ear but thine, Of feuds obscure, and Border ravaging, And rugged deeds recount in rugged line, Of moonlight foray made on Teviot, Tweed, or Tyne. IX. "No! search romantic lands, where the near Sun Gives with unstinted boon ethereal flame, Where the rude villager, his labour done, In verse spontaneous chants some favour'd name, Whether Olalia's charms his tribute claim, Her eye of diamond, and her locks of jet; Or whether, kindling at the deeds of Græme,7 He sing, to wild Morisco measure set, Old Albin's red claymore, green Erin's bayonet! Where wonders wild of Arabesque combine Who, for the cap of steel and iron mace, Go, seek such theme!"-The Mountain Spirit Where ivory quivers ring in the broad falchion's place.3 8 MS.-"The haughty monarch's heart could evil brook." 9 The Quarterly Reviewer says,-" The moonlight scenery of the campand burial-ground is evidently by the same power ful hand which sketched the Abbey of Melrose; and in the picture of Roderick's confession, there are traits of even a higher cast of sublimity and pathos." 2 The Monthly Review, for 1811, in quoting this stanza, says -"Scarcely any poet, of any age or country, has excelled Mr. Scott in bringing before our sight the very scene which he is describing-in giving a reality of existence to every object The Edinburgh Reviewer introduces his quotations of the L on which he dwells; and it is on such occasions, especially │ii., v., and vi. stunzas thus," The poem is substantially disuited as they seem to the habits of his mind, that his style | vided into two compartments;-the one representing the faitself catches a character of harmony, which is far from being universally its own. How vivid, yet how soft, is this picture!" 8 MS.-"For, stretch'd beside the river's margin damp, Their proud pavilions hide the meadow green." • MS.-" Bore javelins slight," &c. The Critical Reviewer, having quoted stanzas 1. II. and iii. says "To the specimens with which his former works abound, bulous or prodigious acts of Don Roderick's own time,—and the other the recent occurrences which have since signalized the same quarter of the world. Mr. Scott, we think, is most at home in the first of these fields; and we think, upon the whole, has most success in it. The opening affords a fine spe cimen of his unrivalled powers of description." The reader may be gratified with having the following lines, from Mr. Southey's Roderick, inserted here: |