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The frantic earl by fortune thither came,
When Rodomont, beside the rapid stream,
Urg'd on the task: as yet unfinish'd stood
The tower and tomb, and scarcely o'er the flood
The bridge complete, when thither came the knight
Of wits distraught, what time in corselet bright
The Pagan watch'd to guard the tomb and tower,
And all his armour, save his helmet, wore.

Meanwhile Orlando, as his frenzy led,

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At once o'erleapt the bar with fearless tread:
Him Rodomont, who stood on foot, espy'd
And thus from far--Forbear thy steps (he cry'd).

This bridge, thou slave! was ne'er design'd for thee,
But noble knights and lords of high degree..
Orlando, stranger now to reason's force,
Turn'd a deaf ear, and onward held his course.
I must chastise this fool (the Pagan cries)
And as he speaks, with rapid feet he flies
To plunge him in the stream, nor thinks to try
A fall with one that could his strength defy.
And now it chanc'd a fair and gentle dame,
T' attempt the passage near the river came;
Her lovely form in courtly weeds array'd,
And all her mien a noble race display'd.
Lo! this was she (if still your mind retain
The tale I told) who long had sought in vain

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300:

Ver. 301.if still your mind retain

The tale I told---] Flordelis is here again introduced, who last made her appearance in the xxivth book, ver. 535. and was present at the single combat between Mandricardo and Zerbino; after which she continued her search of Brandimart till she came to this bridge.

The steps of Brandimart, and far explor'd

Each part but that which now detain’d her lord.

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Fair Flordelis, arriving near the flood,

Beheld where on the bridge the Pagan stood,
Clos'd with Orlando, while each nerve he ply'd
To hurl the madman headlong in the tide.
The virtuous dame, when, with a nearer view,
She mark'd his features, well Orlando knew;
And fill'd with grief, at such dire sight amaz'd,
On him thus naked and forlorn she gaz'd.

Awhile she staid t' await the conflict's end,
Where two such foes in matchless strength contend.
They press, they gripe, their utmost nerve they show,
Each strives the other from the bridge to throw,
And, muttering to himself, the Pagan cries,

What to this fool such unlook'd force supplies?

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Now here, now there he struggles, shifts, and turns, With shame he reddens, and with wrath he burns: 320 With either hand he seeks, in vain, to take

Some firmer hold, that best the earl may shake;

And oft between his legs the furious knight

The left foot now inserts, and now the right.

Orlando Rodomont entwines around,

Like the fierce bear that struggles from the ground
T'uproot the tree from which he fell, and deals
His senseless rage on that which nothing feels.
Hapless Orlando, with his wits destroy'd,
Nor slight, nor art, but strength alone employ'd;
(Such wondrous strength the world from end to end
No living chief to equal him could send!)
Himself now backward from the bridge he threw,
And with him, close embrac'd, the Pagan drew.

G &

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Both sink together to the depth profound,

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Leap the dashi'd waves, and loud the shores resound!

The water soon divides their struggling limbs;
Orlando, naked, disincumber'd swims:

Amid the stream he plies, as with an oar,

His strong knit joints, and safely gains the shore:
Then o'er the plain he speeds his course, nor stays
To mark how far he merits blame or praise.
The Pagan, whom his ponderous arms surround,
More slowly gains, at length, the distant ground.
Meanwhile securely o'er the bridge and tide
The dame had past, and round on every side
Explor'd the tomb, if there her anxious eye

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Might any spoils of Brandimart espy.

Yet while nor arms, nor mantle there she view'd

Of him she lov’d---fond hopes she still renew'd
To meet her lord---but let us turn to find

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The wretched earl, who fled with senseless mind,
And left the bridge, the stream, and tower behind.
Wild were the thought t' attempt in tuneful verse,
The madness of Orlando to rehearse:
Such various feats--their number would excel,
What leisure could describe, or tongue could tell :
A few I chuse that best befit my song;
A few that to my story best belong :

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Ver. 351.............but let us turn to find

ver. 429.

The wretched carl---] He returns to Flordelis, book xxxi.

Ver. 353..............and tower behind.] He returns to Rodomont, book xxxi. ver. 461.

Ver. 354. Wild were the thought.] Concerning the extravagant feats of Orlando in his madness, the reader is referred to the note on book xxiv. ver. 3.

Nor will I fail the wonder to recite

Wrought near Tolosa on Pyrene's height.

O'er many a tract of land the earl had past,
And reach'd the range of craggy hills at last,
That sever France from Spain, whose lofty head
Receives the beams by evening Phœbus shed.
Here, while he pac'd along a narrow way,,
That o'er a deep tremendous valley, lay,
Two village lads he met, who drove before
A laden ass that wintry fuel bore.

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These, when they view'd the hapless champion lost 370
To every sense, as in their path he crost,

Aloud they call'd, and, threatening, bade him leave
The middle track, and free the passage give.
Orlando to their threats no word return'd,
But with his foot, beneath the belly, spurn'd

The wretched beast, with strength beyond compare,
And rais'd from earth dismiss'd to soar in air;
Thence on the summit of a hill he fell,
That rear'd its head a mile beyond the dell.
The youths he next assail'd: one less discreet
Than happy, chanc'd a strange escape to meet:
For, struck with terror, from the hanging steep.
Twice thirty feet he took a ventrous leap:
A thorny bush against the cliff's rough side
That in the mid-way grew, its aid supply'd
To break his fall; and now, unhurt, he stood,
Save that his face the bramble's greeting show'd,
That raz'd the skin, and drew the purple blood.
His fellow seiz'd a jutting crag, and sprung
To scale the rock, but while aloft he clung,

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The madman, on his swift destruction bent,
Grasp'd either leg, these at his arms extent
He strain'd asunder, till, with dreadful force,
Ile tore in bloody halves the panting corse.
Thus, for his bird, the falconer oft prepares
The living meal, when limb from limb he tears
The fowl or heron, destin'd for his food,
With entrails warm and flesh distilling blood.
Thrice happy he that in the vale beneath
Surviv'd a fall, that threaten'd instant death.
This wondrous chance he made to others known,
Which Turpin to our age delivers down.

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Such deeds, and many far transcending thought,
The madman, as he pass'd the mountain, wrought,
Till wandering far, descending to the plain,
He reach'd at length the southern bounds of Spain,
And bent his course along the sea, that laves

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Fair Teracona's strand with briny waves.

There, with strange schemes his brain distemper'd fill'd,
He meant a dwelling on the beach to build,
A shelter from the sun; and, cover'd o'er
With parching sand, upon the burning shore
Conceal'd he lay, when lo! the princely dame
Of rich Cathay with her Medoro came.
These late espous'd, by fortune thither brought
From the steep height the Spanish borders sought.
Th' unthinking damsel near Orlando drew,
Who, save his head, lay buried deep from view.
The squalid look her frantic lover wore,
No memory wak'd of him she knew before :
For since the time his frenzy had begun,
He wander'd, naked, in the shade or sun:

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