XXI. *By Heaven, the Moors prevail! the Christians yield!

Their coward leader gives for flight the sign! The sceptred craven mounts to quit the fieldIs not yon steed Orelia?—Yes, 'tis mine!' But never was she turn'd from battle-line:

Lo! where the recreant spurs o'er stock and stone!

Curses pursue the slave, and wrath divine! Rivers ingulph him!"-" Hush," in shuddering tone, [form's thine own." The Prelate said;-"rash Prince, yon vision'd

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 :2 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 cimeters mete out the land,

And for the bondsmen base the freeborn natives prand.

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

Echo'd, for holy hymn and organ-tone, [moan. The Santon's frantic dance, the Fakir's gibbering

XXIV.

How fares Don Roderick-E'en as one who spies [woof,

Flames dart their glare o'er midnight's sable And hears around his children's piercing cries,

Hatred, and madness, and despair, and fear,
Horror, and wounds, and agony, and death,
The cries, the blasphemies, the shrieks and groans,
And prayers, which mingled in the din of arms,
In one wild uproar of terrific sounds."

SOUTHEY'S Roderick, vol. ii. p. 171.

1 See Appendix, Note H.

-"Upon the banks

Of Sella was Orelia found, his legs

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 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 chief[lief! Desperate of earthly aid, despairing Heaven's re

XXV.

That scythe-arm'd Giant turn'd 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, Bazaars 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.

So pass'd that pageant. Ere another came,* The visionary scene was wrapp'd in smoke, Whose sulph'rous wreaths were cross'd by sheets of flame;

With every flash a bolt explosive broke, Till Roderick deem'd the fiends had burst their yoke, [falone! And waved 'gainst heaven the infernal gonFor 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 those of Spain for many an age;

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

4 "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 contemporary poets."-Monthly Review

This clad in sackcloth, that in armor bright, And that was VALOR named, this BIGOTRY was hight.'

XXVIII.

VALOR was harness'd like a chief of old, [gest;
Arm'd at all points, and prompt for knightly
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. [gage;
Fierce he stepp'd forward and flung down his
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.

Haughty 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 barefoot monk more proud than And as the ivy climbs the tallest tree, [he: So round the loftiest soul his toils he wound, And with his spells subdued the fierce and free, Till ermined Age and Youth in arms renown'd, Honoring his scourge and hair-cloth, meekly kiss'd the ground.

XXX.

And thus it chanced that VALOR, peerless knight, Who ne'er to King or Kaiser veil'd his crest, Victorious still in bull-feast or in fight,

Since first his limbs with mail he 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, [along, And wrought fell deeds the troubled world 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,

1 "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.

2" Armed at all points, exactly cap-a-pee."-Hamlet. See Appendix, Note I.

4"The third scene, a peaceful state of indolence and obscurity, where, though the court was degenerate, the peasant was merry and contented, is introduced with exquisite lightness and gayety."-Quarterly Review.

"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 Superstition we do not think so happily represented, by a long and labored description of two allegorical personages called Bigotry and Valor. 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 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 subject of seven or eight. His representation of the recent state of Spain, we think, displays

XXXV.

Gray royalty, grown impotent of toil,'

Let the grave sceptre slip his lazy hold; And, careless, saw his rule become the spoil Of a loose Female and her minion bold. But peace was on the cottage and the fold, [far; From court intrigue, from bickering faction Beneath the chestnut-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,'

A while, perchance, bedeck'd with colors 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 cloud,

Then sheeted rain burst down, and whirlwinds howl'd aloud :

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 honor's specious guise,
Until he won the passes of the land;

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

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 honor deck'd his name ;

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.

1 "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 Valor had relaxed his ardent look,' and that Bigotry' was 'softened,' we

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 im-
pure."

XL.

Before that Leader strode a shadowy Form; Her limbs like mist, her torch like meteor show'd, [storm, With which she beckon'd him through fight and And all he crush'd that cross'd his desperate road, [trode. Nor thought, nor fear'd, nor look'd on what he Realms could not glut his pride, blood could not slake,

So oft as e'er she shook her torch abroadIt was AMBITION bade her 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 staid her hand for conquer'd foeman's moan; 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

To war beneath the youth of Macedon:

No seemly veil her modern minion ask'd, He saw her hideous face, and loved the fiend unmask'd.

XLII.

That Prelate mark'd his march-On banners blazed

With battles won in many a distant land,

are reasonably prepared for what follows."-Monthly Re

view.

2 See I. Kings, chap. xviii. v. 41-45.

"We are as ready as any of our countrymen can be, to designate Bonaparte's invasion of Spain by its proper epithets; but we must decline to join in the author's declamation against the low birth of the invader; and we cannot help reminding Mr. Scott that such a topic of censure is unworthy of him, both as a poet and as a Briton."-Monthly Review.

"The picture of Bonaparte, considering the difficulty of all contemporary delineations, is not ill executed."—Edinburgh Review.

wheel,

That the poor Puppet might perform his part, And be a sceptred slave, at his stern beck to start.

XLIV.

But on the Natives of that Land misused,

Not long the silence of amazement hung, Nor brook'd they long their friendly faith abused; For, with a common shriek, the general tongue Exclaim'd, "To arms !"-and fast to arms they

sprung.

And VALOR Woke, that Genius of the Land! Pleasure, and ease, and sloth, aside he flung, As burst th' awakening Nazarite his band, When 'gainst his treacherous foes he clench'd his dreadful hand.

XLV.

That Mimic Monarch now cast anxious eye
Upon the Satraps that begirt him round,
Now doff'd his royal robe in act to fly,

And from his brow the diadem unbound.
So oft, so near, the Patriot bugle wound,
From Tarick's walls to Bilboa's mountains
blown,

These martial satellites hard labor found,

To guard a while his substituted throneLight recking of his cause, but battling for their own.

XLVI.

From Alpuhara's peak that bugle rung,

And it was echo'd from Corunna's wall; Stately Seville responsive war-shot flung,

1 "We are not altogether pleased with the lines which follow the description of Bonaparte's birth and country. In historical truth, we believe, his family was not plebeian; and, setting aside the old saying of genus et proavos,' the poet is here evidently becoming a chorus to his own scene, and explaining a fact which could by no means be inferred from the

Freedom's blow.

XLVIII.

Proudly they march-but, O! they march not forth

By one hot field to crown a brief campaign, As when their Eagles, sweeping through the North,

Destroy'd at every stoop an ancient reign! Far other fate had Heaven decreed for Spain;

In vain the steel, in vain the torch was plied, New Patriot armies started from the slain,

High blazed the war, and long, and far, and wide,'

And oft the God of Battles blest the righteous side.

XLIX.

Nor unatoned, where Freedom's foes prevail, Remain'd their savage waste. With blade and brand,

By day the Invaders ravaged hill and dale,

But, with the darkness, the Guerilla band Came like night's tempest, and avenged the land, And claim'd for blood the retribution due, Probed the hard heart, and lopp'd the murd'rous hand;

And Dawn, when o'er the scene her beans she threw, [knew. Midst ruins they had made, the spoilers' corpses

L.

What minstrel verse may sing, or tongue may

tell,

Amid the vision'd strife from sea to sea,

pageant that passes before the eyes of the King and Prelate. The Archbishop's observation on his appearance is free, however, from every objection of this kind.”—Quarterly Review. 2 See Appendix, Note K.

See Book of Judges, Chap. xv. 9-16.

4 See Appendix, Note L.