IX. O harden'd offspring of an iron race! What of thy crimes, Don Roderick, shall I say? What alms, or prayers, or penance can efface Murder's dark spot, wash treason's stain away! For the foul ravisher how shall I pray, Who, scarce repentant, makes his crime his boast? Bow hope Almighty vengeance shall delay, le Unless, in mercy to yon christian host, Lo, Destiny and Time! to whom by Heaven spare the shepherd, lest the guiltless sheep be The guidance of the earth is for a season given.»— lost ?» X. Then kindled the dark tyrant in his mood, And to his brow return'd its dauntless gloom; And welcome then,» he cried, « be blood for blood, For treason treachery, for dishonour doom! fet will I know whence come they, or by whom. Show, for thou canst-give forth the fated key, ind guide me, priest, to that mysterious room, Where, if aught true in old tradition be, XVI. E'en while they read, the sand-glass wastes away; That right-hand giant gan his club upsway, At once descended with the force of thunder, And hurling down at once, in crumbled heap, The marble boundary was rent asunder, lis nation's future fate a Spanish king shall see.»- -(6) And gave to Roderick's view new sights of fear and XI. -fated prince! recal the desperate word, Or pause ere yet the omen thou obey! ethink yon spell-bound portal would afford Never to former monarch entrance-way; for shall it ever ope, old records say, Save to a king, the last of all his line, That time his empire totters to decay, And treason digs, beneath, her fatal mine, ind, high above, impends avenging wrath divine.» XII. Prelate! a monarch's fate brooks no delay; Lead on!-the ponderous key the old man took, ad held the winking lamp, and led the way, By winding stair, dark aisle, and secret nook, ben on an ancient gate-way bent his look; And, as the key the desperate king essay'd, G-mutter'd thunders the cathedral shook, And twice he stopp'd, and twice new effort made, wonder. XVII. For they might spy, beyond that mighty breach, Or deep-embrown'd by forests huge and high, Or wash'd by mighty streams, that slowly murmur'd by. XVIII. And here, as erst upon the antique stage the huge bolts roll'd back, and the loud hinges And ever and anon strange sounds were heard between. bray'd. XIII. sag, large, and lofty, was that vaulted hall; Roof, walls, and floor, were all of marble stone, Through the sad bounds, but whence they could not spy; or window to the upper air was none; Yet by that light, Don Roderick could descry fonders that ne'er till then were seen by mortal eye. XIV. rim sentinels, against the upper wall, Of molten bronze, two statues held their place; lassive their naked limbs, their stature tall, Their frowning foreheads golden circles grace. kulded they seem'd for kings of giant race, That lived and sinn'd before the avenging flood; fis grasp'd a scythe, that rested on a mace; This spreads his wings for flight, that pondering stood, Each stubborn seem'd and stern, immutable of mood. XIX. First shrill'd an unrepeated female shriek!— It seem'd as if Don Roderick knew the call, The Tecbir war-cry, and the Lelies' yell, (7) Needs not to Roderick their dread import tell « The Moor," he cried, << the Moor!-ring out the tocsin bell! XX. They come they come! I see the groaning lands The shadowy hosts are closing on the plain- XXI. By Heaven, the Moors prevail! the christians yield! Their coward leader gives for flight the sign! The scepter'd craven mounts to quit the field— Is not yon steed Orelia?—Yes, 't is mine! (8) 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, The prelate said; «rash prince, yon visiou'd form's thine own.»— XXII. Just then, a torrent cross'd the flyer's course; The dangerous ford the kingly likeness tried; Berber and Ismael's sons the spoils divide, XXVII. From the dim landscape roll the clouds away— This clad in sackcloth, that in armour bright, And that was Valour named, this Bigotry was hight. XXVIII. Valour was harness'd like a chief of old, Arm'd at all points, and prompt for knightly gest; 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. Fierce he stepp'd forward, and flung down his gage, As if of mortal kind to brave the best. And for their bondsmen base the free-born natives As he, my master, sung, the dangerous Archimage. brand. XXIII. Then rose the grated harem, to inclose '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 XXIX. Haughty of heart and brow the warrior came, 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, The santon's frantic dance, the fakir's gibbering moan. Ilonouring his scourge and hair-cloth, meekly kiss d XXIV. How fares Don Roderick ?-E'en as one who spies He curses earth and heaven-himself in chiefDesperate of earthly aid, despairing Heaven's relief! 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; In tourney light the Moor his jerrid flings, the ground. And thus it chanced that Valour, peerless knight, 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, And wrought fell deeds the troubled world slong. For he was fierce as brave, and pitiless as strong. XXXI. Oft his proud galleys sought some new-found world The imaum's chaunt was heard from mosque or mi- The hermit mark'd the stains, and smiled beneath an Whose sulph'rous wreaths were cross'd by sheets of And at his word the choral hymns awake, flame; With every flash a bolt explosive broke, Till Roderick deem'd the fiends had burst their yoke, tone. 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 soep expire. XXXIII. Preluding light, were strains of music heard, As once again revolved that measured sand, The Mozo blithe, with gay Muchacha met, (9) Each tiptoe perch'd to spring, and shake the castanet. And well such strains the opening scene became ; Lay stretch'd, full loth 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, And rung from village-green the merry seguidille. 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, From court intrigue, from bickering faction far; Beneath the chesnut-tree Love's tale was told, XXXIX. From a rude isle his ruder lineage came: Hath not a meaner or more sordid birth. And for the soul that bade him waste the earthThe 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 impure. XL. Before that leader strode a shadowy form: Her limbs like mist, her torch like meteor show'd, With which she beckon'd him through fight and storm, And all he crush'd that cross'd his desperate road, Nor thought, nor fear'd, nor look'd on what he trode; Realms could not glut his pride, blood could not slake, So oft as e'er she shook her torch abroad- No longer now she spurn'd at mean revenge, Or staid her hand for conquer'd foeman's moan, 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, Sweet stoop'd the western sun, sweet rose the evening He saw her hideous face, and loved the fiend unmask'd. star. XXXVI. As that sea-cloud, in size like human hand And blotted heaven with one broad sable cloudThen sheeted rain burst down, and whirlwinds howl'd aloud: XXXVII. Een 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 honour's specious guise, Until he won the passes of the land; XLII. That prelate mark'd his march-On banners blazed On eagle-standards and on arms he gazed; And hopest thou then,» he said, «thy power shall stand? O thou hast builded on the shifting sand, The ruthless leader beckon'd from his train, A wan fraternal shade, and bade him kneel, Not that he loved him-No!-in no man's weal, Then, burst were honour's oath, and friendship's Yet round that throne he bade his warriors wheel, ties! That the poor puppet might perform his part, He clutch'd his vulture-grasp, and call'd fair Spain his And be a sceptred slave, at his stern beck to start. prize. XXXVIII. An iron crown his anxious forehead bore; XLIV. XLV. That mimic monarch now cast anxious eye And from his brow the diadem unbound. From Tarik's walls to Bilboa's mountains blown, These martial satellites hard labour found, To guard awhile 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-shout flung, Grenada caught it in her Moorish hall; Galicia bade her children fight or fall, Wild Biscay shook his mountain-coronet, Valencia roused her at the battle-call, And foremost still where Valour's sons are met, Fast started to his gun each fiery Miquelet. XLVII. But unappall'd, and burning for the fight, And train'd alike to vanquish or endure. Save hearts for freedom's cause, and hands for freedom's blow. XLVIII. Proudly they march-but O! they march not forth, High blazed the war, and long, and far, and wide,(11)| And oft the God of Battles blest the righteous side. XLIX. Nor unatoned, where Freedom's foes prevail, L. What minstrel verse may sing, or tongue may tell, Show'd every form of fight by field and flood; The waters choak'd with slain, the earth bedrench'd with blood! LI. Then Zaragoza-blighted be the tongue That names thy name without the honour due! For never hath the harp of minstrel rung, Of faith so felly proved, so firmly true! Mine, sap, and bomb, thy shatter'd ruins knew, Each art of war's extremity had room, Twice from thy half-sack'd streets the foe withdrew, And when at length stern Fate decreed thy doom, They won not Zaragoza, but her children's bloody tomb. (12) LII. Yet raise thy head, sad city! Though in chains, Enthrall'd thou canst not be! Arise and claim Reverence from every heart where Freedom reigns, For what thou worshippest!-thy sainted dame, She of the column, honour'd be her name, By all, whate'er their creed, who honour love! And like the sacred reliques of the flame, That gave some martyr to the bless'd above, To every loyal heart may thy sad embers prove! LIII. Nor thine alone such wreck. Gerona fair! Faithful to death thy heroes should be sung, Manning the towers while o'er their heads the air Swart as the smoke from raging furnace hung; Now thicker dark'ning where the mine was sprung, Now briefly lighten'd by the cannon's flare, Now arch'd with fire-sparks as the bomb was flung, And redd'ning now with conflagration's glare, While by the fatal light the foes for storm prepare. LIV. While all around was danger, strife, and fear, While the earth shook, and darken'd was the sky, And wide destruction stunn'd the listening ear, Appall'd the heart, and stupified the eye,— Afar was heard that thrice-repeated cry, In which old Albion's heart and tongue unite, Whene'er her soul is up, and pulse beats high, Whether it hail the wine-cup or the fight, And bid each arm be strong, or bid each heart be light. LV. Don Roderick turn'd him as the shout grew loud- And flash'd the sun on bayonet, brand, and spear, And the wild beach return'd the seaman's jovial cher LVI. It was a dread, yet spirit-stirring sight! The billows foam'd beneath a thousand oars, Fast as they land the red-cross ranks unite, Legions on legions brightening all the shores. Then banners rise, and cannon-signal roars, Then peals the warlike thunder of the drum, Thrills the loud fife, the trumpet-flourish pours, And patriot hopes awake, and doubts are dumb, For, bold in Freedom's cause, the bands of Oc come! LVII. A various host they came-whose ranks display And meditates his aim the marksman light; • Nor the fleet ordnance whirl'd by rapid steed, A various host-from kindred realms they came, And with their deeds of valour deck her crowu. And the blunt speech that bursts without a pause, And freeborn thoughts, which league the soldier with the laws. LIX. And Oh! loved warriors of the minstrel's land! Yonder your bonnets nod, your tartans wave! The rugged form may mark the mountain band, And harsher features, and a mien more grave; But ne'er in battle-field throbb'd heart so brave As that which beats beneath the Scottish plaid, And when the pibroch bids the battle rave, And level for the charge your arms are laid, Where lives the desperate foe that for such onset staid ! LX. Hark! from you stately ranks what laughter rings, And be, yon chieftain-strike the proudest tone LXI. Now on the scene Vimeira should be shown, And see Busaco's crest with lightning blaze:- « WHO shall command Estrella's mountain tide Let him stand forth and bar mine eagles' way, « Else ne'er to stoop, till high on Lisbon's towers To marshal, duke, and peer, Gaul's leader spoke. And smiled like Eden in her summer dress;Behind their wasteful march a reeking wilderness. (14) III. And shall the boastful chief maintain his word, Though Heaven hath heard the wailings of the land, Though Lusitania whet her vengeful sword, Though Britons arm, and Wellington command! An adamantine barrier to his force! Around the warrior's crest, and o'er the warrior's Bears off its broken waves, and seeks a devious course. tomb? LXII. Or may I give adventurous Fancy scope, Of Spain's invaders from her confines hurl'd, And Fame, with clarion blast and wings unfurl'd, To freedom and revenge awakes an injured world! IV. Yet not because Alcoba's mountain hawk, Hath on his best and bravest made her food, In numbers confident, yon chief shall baulk His lord's imperial thirst for spoil and blood; For full in view the promised conquest stood, And Lisbon's matrons, from their walls, might sum The myriads that had half the world subdued, And hear the distant thunders of the drum, That bids the bands of France to storm and havoc come. |