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 revolveď that measured sand;

Such sounds as when, for sylvan dance pre

pared,

Gay Xeres summons forth her vintage band; When for the light bolero ready stand

The mozo blithe, with gay muchacha met,1 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 relax'd his ardent look, And at a lady's feet, like lion tame,

Lay stretch'd, full loath 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 vale and hill,

And rung from village-green the merry seguidille.2

The bolero is a very light and active dance, much practised by the Spaniards, in which castanets are always used. Mozo and muchacha are equivalent to our phrase of lad and lass.

2 ["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 gaiety."— Quarterly Review.]

XXXV.

Grey Royalty, grown impotent of toil,1
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,

"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 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 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 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 'Valour had relaxed his ardent look,' and that 'Bigotry' was 'softened,' we are reasonably prepared for what follows."-Monthly Review.]

From court intrigue, from bickering faction

far;

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,1
A while, 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 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,

1 [See 1 Kings, chap. xviii. v. 41-45.]

Until he won the passes of the land;

Then burst were honour's oath, and friendship's ties !

He 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 ob-

scure,

That poisons the glad husband-field with dearth,