"Then Roderick knelt

Before the holy man, and strove to speak:
'Thou seest,' he cried,- thou seest'-but memory
And suffocating thoughts represt the word,
And shudderings, like an ague fit, from head
To foot convulsed him: till at length, subduing
His nature to the effort, he exclaim'd,
Spreading his hands, and lifting up his face,
As if resolved in penitence to bear

A human eye upon his shame- Thou seest
Roderick the Goth! That name should have sufficed

To tell the whole abhorred history:

He not the less pursued,-the ravisher,

The cause of all this ruin!'-Having said,

In the same posture motionless he knelt,

Arms straiten'd down, and bands outspread, and eyes

Raised to the Monk, like one who from his voice
Expected life or death."-

Mr. Southey, in a note to these lines, says, "The Vision of Don Roderick supplies a singular contrast to the picture which is represented in this passage. I have great pleasure in quoting the stanzas (v. and vi.); if the contrast had been intentional, it could not have been more complete."

1 The predecessor of Roderick upon the Spanish throne, and slain by his connivance, as is affirmed by Rodriguez of Toledo, the father of Spanish history.

2 MS." He spare to smite the shepherd, lest the sheep be lost."

3 MS." And guide me, prelate, to that secret room."

4 See Appendix, Note F.

5 MS." Or pause the omen of thy fate to weigh! Bethink, that brazen portal would afford."

wonder.

XVII.

of Spain !

XXI.

For they might spy, beyond that mighty breach, Realms as of Spain in vision'd prospect laid, Castles and towers, in due proportion each, As by some skilful artist's hand portray'd: Here, crossed by many a wild Sierra's shade, And boundless plains that tire the traveller's eye; There, rich with vineyard and with olive glade, Or deep-embrown'd by forests huge and high, Or wash'd by mighty streams, that slowly murmur'd by.

XVIII.

And here, as erst upon the antique stage, Pass'd forth the band of masquers trimly led, In various forms, and various equipage,

While fitting strains the hearer's fancy fed; So, to sad Roderick's eye in order spread,

Successive pageants fill'd that mystic scene, Showing the fate of battles ere they bled,

And issue of events that had not been;

"By Heaven, the Moors prevail ! the Christians yield!
Their coward leader gives for flight the sign!
The sceptred craven mounts to quit the field—
Is not yon steed Orelio ?—Yes, 'tis mine!
But never was she turn'd from battle-line:

Lo! where the recreant spurs o'erstock and stone! Curses pursue the slave, and wrath divine! [tone, Rivers ingulph him!"-" Hush," in shuddering The Prelate said ;—“ rash Prince, yon vision'd form's thine own."

XXII.

Just then, a torrent cross'd the flier's course;
The dangerous ford the Kingly Likeness tried;
But the deep eddies whelm'd both man and horse,
Swept like benighted peasant down the tide ; 5
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,

brand.

And flanks incarnadined, his poitrel smear'd
With froth and foam and gore, his silver mane
Sprinkled with blood, which hung on every hair,
Aspersed like dew-drops; trembling there he stood,
From the toil of battle, and at times sent forth
His tremulous voice, far-echoing, loud, and shrill,
A frequent, anxious cry, with which he seem'd
To call the master whom he loved so well,
And who had thus again forsaken him.
Siverian's helm and cuirass on the grass
Lay near; and Julian's sword, its hilt and chain
Clotted with blood; but where was he whose hand
Had wielded it so well that glorious day?"

SOUTHEY'S Roderick.

1 "The manner in which the pageant disappears is very beautiful."-Quarterly Review.

2 "We come now to the Second Period of the Vision; and we cannot avoid noticing with much commendation the dexterity and graceful ease with which the first two scenes are connected. Without abruptness, or tedious apology for transition, they melt into each other with very harmonious effect; and we strongly recommend this example of skill, perhaps, exhibited without any effort, to the imitation of contempo rary poets."-Monthly Review.

3" These allegorical personages, which are thus described, are sketched in the true spirit of Spenser; but we are not sure that we altogether approve of the association of such imaginary beings with the real events that pass over the stage: and these, as well as the form of ambition which precedes the path of Bonaparte, have somewhat the air of the immortals of the Luxemburg gallery, whose naked limbs and tridents, thunderbolts and caducei, are so singularly contrasted with the ruffs and whiskers, the queens, archbishops, and cardinals of France and Navarre."-Quarterly Review.

• "Armed at all points, exactly cap-a-pee.”—Hamlet.

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 specious guise, Until he won the passes of the land;

Then burst were honour's oath, and friendship's ties! [his prize.

XXXIV.

And well such strains the opening scene became ; For VALOUR had relax'd his ardent look,

And at a lady's feet, like lion tame,

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

Patter'd a task of little good or ill: But the blithe peasant plied his pruning-hook, Whistled the muleteer o'er vale and hill, And rung from village-green the merry seguidille.

I See Appendix, Note I.

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.

tempted on this occasion to extend a mere metaphor into an allegory; and to prolong a figure which might have given great grace and spirit to a single stanza, into the heavy sub

"The three grand and comprehensive pictures in which Mr. Scott has delineated the state of Spain, during the three periods to which we have alluded, are conceived with much genius, and executed with very considerable, though unequal felicity. That of the Moorish dominion is drawn, we think, with the greatest spirit. The reign of Chivalry and Supersti tion we do not think so happily represented, by a long and laboured description of two allegorical personages called Bigotry and Valour. Nor is it very easy to conceive how Don Roderick was to learn the fortunes of his country, merely by inspecting the physiognomy and furnishing of these two figurantes. The truth seems to be, that Mr. Scott has been

of Spain, we think, displays the talent and address of the author to the greatest advantage; for the subject was by no means inspiring; nor was it easy, we should imagine, to make the picture of decay and inglorious indolence so engaging."— Edinburgh Review, which then quotes stanzas xxxiv, and xxxv. 3" The opening of the third period of the Vision is, perhaps necessarily, more abrupt than that of the second. No circumstance, equally marked with the alteration in the whole system of ancient warfare, could be introduced in this compartment of the poem; yet, when we have been told that Valour had relaxed his ardent look,' and that 'Bigotry' was 'softened,' we are reasonably prepared for what follows."-Monthly Review. 4 See I. Kings, chap. xviii. v. 41-45.