Yet could you not possess the beauteous prize,
For while we linger here, behold she flies!
But if the passion you profess is true,
Then let us first Angelica pursue:

145

This wisdom bids---be first secur'd the fair,
And let the sword our title then declare;
Else what can all our fond contention gain,
But fruitless toil and unavailing pain?

150

Ferrau with pleasure heard the Christian knight,

Then both agreed t' adjourn the bloody fight;

And now so firmly were they bound to peace,
So far did rage and rival hatred cease,

That, in no wise, the Pagan prince would view
Brave Amon's son on foot his way pursue,
But courteous bade him mount the steed behind,
Then took the track Angelica to find.

155

O noble minds, by knights of old possess❜d ! Two faiths they knew, one love their hearts profess'd;

160

And still their limbs the smarting anguish feel,

Of strokes inflicted by the hostile steel.
Through winding paths, and lonely woods they go,
Yet no suspicion their brave bosoms know.

165

At length the horse, with double spurring, drew
To where two several ways appear'd in view;
When, doubtful which to take, one gentle knight
For fortune took the left, and one the right.
Long through the devious wilds the Spaniard pass'd, 170
And to the river's banks return'd at last:

The place again thé wandering warrior view'd,
Where late he dropp'd his casque amidst the flood;

Ver. 162. -- the smarting anguish feel,] See note to Book xii

ver. 312.

Since all his hopes to find his love were vain,
Once more he sought his helmet to regain.

A tall young poplar on the banks arose ;

From this a branch he hew'd, and lopt the boughs:
A stake thus fashion'd with industrious art,
He rak'd the river round in every part:

175

180

185

When, rising from the troubled brook was seen
A youth with features pale and ghastly mien :
Above the circling stream he rais'd his breast;
His head alone was bare, all arm'd the rest:
His better hand the fatal helmet bore,
The helmet that in vain was sought before:
Full on Ferrau he turn'd with threatening look,
And thus the ghost th' astonish'd knight bespoke.
Wretch does this helm perplex thy faithless mind,
A helm thou should'st have long ere this resign'd?
Remember fair Angelica, and view

In me her brother, whom thy weapon slew.
Didst thou not vow, with all my arms, to hide
My casque ere long beneath the whelming tide?
Though basely thou hast fail'd thy plighted word,
See juster fortune has my own restor❜d :
Then murmur not-or if thou still must grieve,
Lament that e'er thy falsehood could deceive.
But if thou seek'st another helm to gain,
Seek one that may no more thy honour stain:

190

195

Seek one perchance of stronger temper'd charms;
Such has Orlando, such Rinaldo arms:
Mambrino, this; Almontes, that possess'd;
By one of these thy brows be nobler press'd:

200

Ver. 202. Mambrino, this; Almontes, that possess'd;] I do not find these actions recorded in Boyardo, but like many others mentioned

But what I claim by sacred faith for mine,
Forbear to seek, and willingly resign.

The Saracen beheld, with wild affright,

The strange appearance of the phantom-knight;
Up rose his hair, like bristles, on his head,
His utterance failed him, and his colour fled.

205

in the work, Ariosto alludes to them as well-known incidents in the romance writers. In an old romance, in ottava rima, intituled Innamoramento di Rinaldo, apparently much prior to Ariosto, is a long account of a Pagan king, named Mambrino, who comes against Charlemain and the Christians with a vast army. He is at last killed by Rinaldo, but no particular mention is made of his helmet. This helmit of Mambrino, said by Ariosto to be won by Rinaldo, is the same which the reader must recollect to have seen so frequently mentioned in Don Quixote, and for which the knight of la Mancha took possession of a barber's bason. See Jarvis's Don Quixote, Vol. I. B. iii. C. vij.

With respect to the death of Almontes, the following account is given in the romance poem of Aspramonte.

Almontes, son of Agolant, and brother to Troyano, having embarked from Africa to revenge the death of Garnieri king of Carthage, his grandfather, killed by Milo, father of Orlando, had performed many great actions and slain Milo. He one day came to a fountain called Sylvestra, which was said to be made by St. Silvester, and that by tasting these waters Constantine was converted. Almontes here fell asleep, and was soon after surprised by Charle main. These two warriors then engaged in a dreadful combat, and Charlemain was very near being defeated, when Orlando, seeking Almontes, in order to revenge the death of his father, was met by a hermit, who incited him to go to the assistance of Charlemain. Orlando, having lost his sword, took an enormous mace or club from a dead Turk, and soon reached the fountain, where he attacked Almontes, who had just overpowered the emperor. Orlando, after an obstinate battle, killed Almontes, who, before his death, recollected the prophecy of his sister Galicella, that he should die by a fountain. Orlando then took possession of the armour of Almontes, which was inchanted, and of his horn, together with his horse Brigliadoro, and his sword Durindana, both so celebrated in Ariosto. See Aspramonte, Cant. xix.

But when he heard Argalia, whom he slew,
(Argalia was the name the warrior knew)
Reproach his tainted faith and breach of fame,
His haughty bosom glow'd with rage and shame.
Then by Lanfusa's life, a sacred vow

He made, to wear no head-piece o'er his brow,
But that which in fam'd Aspramont of yore,
From fierce Almontes' head Orlando tore.
And to this oath a due regard he paid,
And kept it better than the first he made.

210

215

Thence with sad steps in pensive mood he went,

220

And long remain'd in sullen discontent.

Now here, now there he seeks the Christian knight,
And in his panting bosom hopes the fight.

Rinaldo, who a different path had try'd,
As fortune led, full soon before him spy'd
His gallant courser bounding o'er the plain-
Stay, my Bayardo, stay-thy flight restrain :
Much has thy want to-day perplex'd thy lord-
The steed regardless of his master's word,

225

Ver. 210.---Argalia,--] For an account of the death of Argalia, sce General View of Boyardo's Story.

'Ver. 214.--Lanfusa's life, a sacred vow--] Lanfusa was the mother of Ferrau. Such kind of vows were common with the knights in romance: thus Don Quixote,' in imitation of these, swears he will not rest till he has won a helmet by conquest. Don Quix. Part i, B. ii. C. ii.

Ver. 223-hopes the fight.] We hear no more of Ferrau till the xiith book, ver. 169, where he is introduced as one of the knights confined in the enchanted palace of Atlantes,

Through the thick forest fled with speed renew'd,
While, fir'd with added rage, the knight pursu'd.

Now turn we to Angelica, who speeds
O'er savage wilds, and unfrequented meads;
Nor thinks herself secure, but swiftly scuds
Through the deep mazes of surrounding woods;

230

235

Ver. 232.-Angelica, who speeds] Tasso seems to have had a reference to this, and the former passage, ver. 95, in describing the flight of Erminia.

Mean while Erminia's rapid courser stray'd

Through the thick covert of the woodland shade;
Her trembling hand the rein no longer guides,
And through her veins a chilling terror glides.

Jerus. Del. B. vii, ver. 1.

Still flies the damsel to her fears resign'd,
Nor dares to cast a transient look behind:
All night she fled, and all th' ensuing day, &c.

Ver. 13.

But our countryman Spenser more immediately follows Ariosto, in his account of Florimel, on a like occasion, in his Fairy Queen.

Like as an hind forth singled from the herd,
That hath escaped from a ravenous beast,
Yet flies away, of her own feet affeard,
And every leaf, that shaketh with the least
Murmur of wind, her terror hath encreast:
So fled fair Florimel from her vain fear,
Long after she from peril was releast:

Each shade she saw, and each noise she did hear,
Did seem to be the same, which she escap'd whyleare.

All that same evening she in flying spent,
And all that night her course continued;
Ne did she let dull sleep once to relent,
Nor weariness to slack her haste, but fled
Ever alike, as if her former dread
Were hard behind, her ready to arrest:
And her white palfrey having conquered
The maist'ring reins out of her weary wrist,
Perforce her carried wherever he thought best.

B. iii. C. vii.