"Stay, then, gentle Warrior, stay, "Then shall she you most approve O do not hold it for a crime And meet rebuke, He lacked the heart or time! XXXIII. Downward De Vaux through darksome ways Till issue from their wildered maze, Foul vapours rise and mine-fires glare, They showed, but showed not how to shun. Nay, soothful bards have said, When, joyful sound! at distance near Seemed thus to chide his lagging way: XXXIV. "Son of Honour, theme of story, "He, that would her heights ascend, "Lag not now, though rough the way. It ceased. Advancing on the sound, Nor climbed he far its steepy round And next a welcome glimpse was given. A lofty hall with trophies dressed, XXXV. Of Europe seemed the damsels all; The next a maid of Spain, These Maidens bore a royal robe, The fourth, a space behind them stood, Of minstrel ecstasy. Of merry England she, in dress, A crown did that fourth Maiden hold, XXXVI. At once to brave De Vanx knelt down O'er many a region wide and fair, In plate and mail, than, robed in pride, So passed he on, when that fourth Maid SONG OF THE FOURTH MAIDEN. "Quake to your foundation deep, Spread by Pleasure, Wealth, and Pride. "Quake to your foundations deep, XXXVII. Thus while she sung, the venturous Knight That bower, the gazer to bewitch, As e'er was seen with eye; Was limned in proper dye. Between the earth and sky. For, as she slept, she smiled. It seemed that the repentant Seer XXXVIII. That form of maiden loveliness, "Twixt childhood and 'twixt youth, Folds his arms and clasps his hands, Long-enduring-spell; XXXIX. Gently, lo! the Warrior kneels, Lightning flashes, rolls the thunder; Burst the Castle walls asunder! Fierce and frequent were the shocks, Melt the magic halls away,-But beneath their mystic rocks, In the arms of bold De Vaux, Safe the Princess lay! Safe and free from magic power, Opening to the day; And round the Champion's brows were bound The crown that Druidess had wound, Of the green laurel-bay. And this was what remained of all The Garland and the Dame :- CONCLUSION. I. MY LUCY, when the maid is won, That to the dregs his tale should run, When tale or play is o'er; The honours that they bore. Öf the Valley of Saint John: But never man since brave De Vaux 'Tis now a vain illusive show, II. But see, my love, where far below Our menials eye our steepy way, On this gigantic hill. So think the vulgar-Life and time And O! beside these simple knaves, To such coarse joys as these; The greenwood, and the wold; By ancient bards is told, Bringing, perchance, like my poor tale, Nor love them less, that o'er the hill The evening breeze, as now, comes chill;- And, fearless of the slippery way, NOTES. INTRODUCTION. Like Collins, thread the maze of Fairy land. --INT., St. VII, p. 244. Collins, according to Johnson, "by indulging some peculiar habits of thought, was eminently delighted with those flights of imagination which pass the bounds of nature, and to which the mind is reconciled only by passive acquiescence in popular traditions. He loved fairies, genii, giants, and monsters; he delighted to rove through the meanders of enchantment, to gaze On the magnificence of golden palaces, to repose by the waterfalls of Elysian gardens." CANTO FIRST. The Baron of Triermain.-St. 1, p. 244. Triermain was a fief of the Barony of Gillsland, in Cumberland; it was possessed by a Saxon family at the time of the Conquest, but, after the death of Gilmore, Lord of Tryermaine and Torerossock, Hubert Vaux gave Tryermaine and Torerossock to his second son, Ranulph Vaux; which Ranulph afterwards became heir to his elder brother Robert, the founder of Lanercost, who died without issue. Ranulph, being Lord of all Gilsland, gave Gilsmore's lands to his younger son, named Roland, and let the Barony descend to his eldest son Robert, son of Ranulph. Roland had issue Alexander, and he Ranulph, after whom succeeded Robert, and they were named Rolands successively, that were lords thereof, until the reign of Edward the Fourth. That house gave for arms, Vert, a bend dexter. chequy, or and gules"- BURN'S Antiquities of Westmoreland and Cumberland He pass'd red Penrith's Table Round. -St. vi, p. 245. A circular intrenchment, about half a mile from Penrith, is thus popularly termed. The circle within the ditch is about one hundred and sixty paces in circumference, with openings, or approaches, directly opposite to each other. As the ditch is on the inner side, it could not be intended for the purpose of defence, and it has reasonably been conjectured, that the enclosure was designed for the solemn exercise of feats of chivalry, and the embankment around for the convenience of the spectators. Mayburgh's mound.-St. VII, p. 245. Higher up the river Eamont than Arthur's Round Table, is a prodigious enclosure of great antiquity, formed by a collection of stones upon the top of a gently sloping hill, called Mayburgh. In the plain which it encloses there stands erect an unhewa stone of twelve feet in height. Two similar masses are said to have been destroyed during the memory of man. The whole appears to be a monument of Druidical times. CANTO SECOND. The Monarch. breathless and amazed, "We now gained a view of the Vale of St. John's, a very narrow dell, hemmed in by mountains, through which a small brook makes many meanderings, washing little enclosures of grassground, which stretch up the rising of the hills. In the widest part of the dale you are struck with the appearance of an ancient ruined castle, which seems to stand upon the summit of a little mount, the mountings around forming an amphitheatre, This massive bulwark shows a front of various towers, and makes an awful, rude, and Gothic appearance, with its lofty turrets and ragged battlements; we traced the galleries, the bending arches, the buttresses. The greatest antiquity stands characterised in its architec ture; the inhabitants near it assert it is an antediluvian structure. The traveller's curiosity is roused, and he prepares to make a nearer approach, when that curiosity is put upon the rack, by his being assured, that, if he advances, certain genii who govern the place, by virtue of their supernatural art and necromancy, will strip it of all its beauties, and by enchantment, transform the magic walls. The vale seems adapted for the habitation of such beings; its gloomy recesses and retirements look like haunts of evil spirits. There was no delusion in the report; we were soon convinced of its truth: for this piece of antiquity, so venerable and noble in its aspect, as we drew near, changed its figure. and proved no other than a shaken massive pile of rocks, which stand in the midst of this little vale, disunite from the adjoining mountains, and have so much the real form and resemblance of a castle, that they bear the name of the Castle Rocks of St. John."-HUTCHINSON'S Excursion to the Lakes. The flower of Chivalry There Galaad sate with manly grave, And love-lorn Tristrem there. -St. XII, p. 249. The characters named in the stanza are all of them more or less distinguished in the romances which treat of King Arthur and his Round Table, and their names are strung together according to the established custom of minstreis upon such occasions. Lancelot, that ever more Look'd stolen-wise on the Queen -St. x, p. 249. Upon this delicate subject hear Richard Robinson, citizen of London:-"But as it is a thing sufficiently apparent that she (Guenever, wife of King Arthur,) was beautiful, so it is a thing But yet the truth of the historie pluckes me br doubted whether she was chaste, yea or no. the eare, and willeth not onely, but commandeth me to declare what the ancients have deemed of her."--Assertion of King Arthure. Imprinted by John Wolfe, London, 1582. THE VISION OF DON RODERICK. A POEM. "Quid dignum memorare tuis, Hispania, terris, Vox humana valet!"-CLAUDIAN. TO JOHN WHITMORE, ESQ., AND TO THE COMMITTEE OF SUBSCRIBERS FOR RELIEF OF THE PORTUGUESE SUFFERERS, IN WHICH HE PRESIDES, THIS POEM, COMPOSED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE FUND UNDER THEIR MANAGEMENT, IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY WALTER SCOTT. PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION, 1811. 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 unsuspicious and friendly kingdom, and terminates with the arrival of the British succours. It may be further proper to mention, that the object of the Poem is less 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, 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, I am myself sensible, an appearance of negligence and incoherence, which, in other circumstances, I might have been able to remove. EDINBURGH, June 24, 1811. |