But thou-unfoughten wilt thou yield to Fate, Behold, where, named by some prophetic seer, Flows Honour's Fountain' as fore-doom'd the stain From thy dishonour'd name and arms to clear— Fall'n Child of Fortune, turn, redeem her favour here IX. Yet, ere thou turn'st, collect each distant aid; Go, baffled boaster! teach thy haughty mood Deceived his hopes, and frustrated thine own; And if he chafe, be his own fortune tried- XII. But ye, the heroes of that well-fought day, Or bind on every brow the laurels won? XIII. Yes! hard the task, when Britons wield the sword, To give each chief and every field its fame; Hark! Albuera thunders BERESFORD, And red Barrosa shouts for dauntless GAME! O for a verse of tumult and of flame, Bold as the bursting of their cannon-sound, To bid the world re-echo to their fame! For never, upon gory battle-ground, With conquest's well-bought wreath were braver victors crown'd! XIV. O who shall grudge him Albuera's bays, Who brought a race regenerate to the field, Roused them to emulate their fathers' praise, Temper'd their headlong rage, their courage steeld, 18 And raised fair Lusitania's fallen shield, And gave new edge to Lusitania's sword, And taught her sons forgotten arms to wield— Shiver'd my harp, and burst its every chord, If it forget thy worth, victorious BERESFORD! XV. Not on that bloody field of battle won, Though Gaul's proud legions roll'd like mist away, Was half his self-devoted valour shown, He gaged but life on that illustrious day; He braved the shafts of censure and of shame, And weary out his arm-thou canst not quell his soul. And, dearer far than life, he pledged a soldier's fime X. O vainly gleams with steel Agueda's shore, With frantic charge and tenfold odds, in vain! (17) And, at the bloody spear-point headlong driven, Thy despot's giant guards fled like the rack of heaven. The literal translation of Fuentes d'Honoro. XVI. Nor be his praise o'erpast who strove to hide XVII. O hero of a race renown'd of old, Whose war-cry oft has waked the battle-swell, (20) Since first distinguish'd in the onset bold, Wild sounding when the Roman rampart fell! By Wallace' side it rung the southron's knell, Alderue, Kilsythe, and Tibber own'd its fame, Tummeli's rude pass can of its terrors tell; But ne'er from prouder field arose the name, Than when wild Ronda learn'd the conquering shout of GRAME! XVIII. But all too long, through seas unknown and dark, (With Spenser's parable I close my tale) By shoal and rock hath steer'd my venturous bark, And now I gladly furl my weary sail, And, as the prow light touches on the strand, 1 strike my red-cross flag, and bind my skiff to land. NOTES. Note 1. Introduction. Stanza iv. And Cattraeth's glens with voice of triumph rung, And mystic Merlin harp'd and gray-hair'd Llywarch sung. THIS locality may startle those readers who do not recollect, that much of the ancient poetry, preserved in Wales, refers less to the history of the principality to which that name is now limited, than to events which happened in the north-west of England and south-west of Scotland, where the Britons for a long time made a stand against the Saxons. The battle of Cattraeth, lamented by the celebrated Aneurin, is supposed by the learned Dr Leyden to have been fought on the skirts of Ettrick forest. It is known to the English reader by the paraphrase of Gray, beginning, Had I but the torrent's might, With headlong rage and wild affright, etc. But it is not so generally known that the champions, mourned in this beautiful dirge, were the British inhabitants of Edinburgh, who were cut off by the Saxons of Deiria, or Northumberland, about the latter part of the sixth century.-TURNER'S History of the Anglo-Saxons, edition 1799, vol. i, p. 222.- -Llywarch, the celebrated bard and monarch, was Prince of Argwood, in Cumberland; and his youthful exploits were performed upon the Border, although in his age he was driven into Powys by the successes of the Anglo-Saxons. As for Merlin Wylit, or the Savage, his name of Caledonia, and his retreat into the Caledonian wood, appropriate him to Scotland. Fordun dedicates the thirty-first chapter of the third book of his Scotochronicon, to a narration of the death of this celebrated bard and prophet near Drummelzier, a village upon Tweed, which is supposed to have derived its name (quasi Tumulus Merlini) from The particular spot in which he is buried is still shown, and appears, from the following quotation,to have partaken of his prophetic qualities:-<<There is one thing remarkable here, which is, that the burn, the event. called Pausayl, runs by the east side of this church-yard into the Tweed; at the side of which burn, a little below the church-yard, the famous prophet Merlin is said to be buried. The particular place of his grave, at the root of a thorn-tree, was shown me many years ago, by the old and reverend minister of the place, Mr Richard Brown; and here was the old prophecy fulfilled, delivered in Scots rhyme, to this purpose: When Tweed and Pausay! join at Merlin's grave, Scotland and England shall one monarch have. «For the same day that our King James the Sixth was crowned King of England, the river Tweed, by an extraordinary flood, so far overflowed its banks, that it met and joined with Pausay at the said grave, which was never before observed to fall out.»-PENNYCUICK'S Description of Tweeddale, Edinb. 1715, 4. p. 26. Note 2. Introduction. Stanza viii. where the lingering fays renew their ring By milk-maid seen beneath the hawthorn hoar, Or round the marge of Minchmore's haunted spring. A belief in the existence and nocturnal revels of the fairies still lingers among the vulgar in Selkirkshire. A copious fountain upon the ridge of Minchmore, called the Cheesewell, is supposed to be sacred to these fanci ful spirits, and it was customary to propitiate them by throwing in something upon passing it. A pin was the usual oblation, and the ceremony is still sometimes practised, though rather in jest than earnest. Note 3. Introduction. Stanza ix. verse spontaneous. The flexibility of the Italian and Spanish languages, and perhaps the liveliness of their genius, renders these countries distinguished for the talent of improvvisation, which is found even among the lowest of the people. It is mentioned by Baretti and other travellers. Note 4. Introduction. Stanza ix. Over a name sacred for ages to heroic verse, a poet may be allowed to exercise some power. I have used the freedom, here and elsewhere, to alter the orthography of the name of my gallant countryman, in order to apprise the southern reader of its legitimate sound;— Graham being, on the other side of the Tweed, usually pronounced as a dissyllable. Note 5. Stanza iv. For fair Florinda's plunder'd charms to pay. Almost all the Spanish historians, as well as the voice of tradition, ascribe the invasion of the Moors to the forcible violation committed by Roderick upon Florinda, called by the Moors Caba or Cava. She was the daughter of Count Julian, one of the Gothic monarch's principal lieutenants, who, when the crime was perpetrated, was engaged in the defence of Ceuta against the Moors. In his indignation at the ingratitude of his sovereign, and the dishonour of his daughter, Count Julian forgot the duties of a christian and a patriot, and, forming an alliance with Musa, then the caliph's lieutenant in Africa, he countenanced the invasion of Spain by a body of Saracens and Africans, commanded by the celebrated Tarik; the issue of which was the defeat and death of Roderick, and the occupation of almost the whole peninsula by the Moors. Voltaire, in his General History, expresses his doubts of this popu lar story, and Gibbon gives him some countenance. magnificent structure, though much dilapidated by ' But the universal tradition is quite sufficient for the time, which consumes all four estadoes (i. e. four purposes of poetry. The Spaniards, in detestation of times a man's height) below it, there was a cave with a Florinda's memory, are said, by Cervantes, never to be very narrow entrance, and a gate cut out of the sound stow that name upon any human female, reserving it rock, lined with a strong covering of iron, and fastened ! for their dogs. Nor is the tradition less inveterate with many locks; above the gate some Greek letters are among the Moors, since the same author mentions a engraved, which, although abbreviated, and of doubtful promontory on the coast of Barbary, called « The Cape meaning, were thus interpreted according to the expeof Caba Rumia, which, in our tongue, is the Cape of sition of learned men :- The king who opens this case, the Wicked Christian woman; and it is a tradition and can discover the wonders, will discover both goo!, among the Moors, that Caba, the daughter of Count and evil things.'-Many kings desired to know th Julian, who was the cause of the loss of Spain, lies bu-mystery of this tower, and sought to find out the mas ried there, and they think it ominous to be forced into that bay; for they never go in otherwise than by necessity.» Note 6. Stanza x. And guide me, priest, to that mysterious room, ner with much care: but when they opened the gate such a tremendous noise arose in the cave, that it appeared as if the earth was bursting; many of those pr sent sickened with fear, and others lost their lives. order to prevent such great perils (as they supposed a dangerous enchantment was contained within), they w His nation's future fate a Spanish king shall see. cured the gate with new locks, concluding, that thoug The transition of an incident from history to tradi- a king was destined to open it, the fated time was LX tion, and from tradition to fable and romance, becom- yet arrived. At last King Don Rodrigo, led on by ba ing more marvellous at each step from its original sim-evil fortune and unlucky destiny, opened the tower plicity, is not ill exemplified in the account of the and some bold attendants whom he had brought w << Fated Chamber» of Don Roderick, as given by his him entered, although agitated with fear. Having pre namesake, the historian of Toledo, contrasted with sub-ceeded a good way, they fled back to the entrance, far-1 sequent and more romantic accounts of the same sub-rified with a frightful vision which they had bebek. terranean discovery. I give the Archbishop of Toledo's tale in the words of Nonius, who seems to intimate (though very modestly), that the fatale palatium, of which so much had been said, was only the ruins of a Roman amphitheatre. The king was greatly moved, and ordered many torches | so contrived that the tempest in the cave could not extinguish them, to be lighted. Then the king entered. not without fear, before all the others. They discovered by degrees, a splendid hall, apparently built in a very <«< Extra muros, septentrionem versus, vestigia magni sumptuous manner; in the middle stood a bronze sta olim theatri sparsa visuntur. Auctor est Rodericus tue of very ferocious appearance, which held a batte Toletanus Archiepiscopus ante Arabum in Hispanias ir-axe in its hands. With this he struck the floor violen ruptionem, hic fatale palatium fuisse; quod invicti|ly, giving it such heavy blows, that the noise in the rave vectes, æterna ferri robora claudebant, ne reseratum was occasioned by the motion of the air. The king Hispaniæ excidium adferret; quod in fatis non vulgus greatly affrighted and astonished, began to conjure solum, sed et prudentissimi quique credebant. Sed terrible vision, promising that he would return without Roderici ultimi Gothorum Regis animum infelix curio- doing any injury in the cave, after he had obtaine sitas subiit, sciendi quid sub tot vetitis claustris obser-sight of what was contained in it. The statue ceased varetur; ingentes ibi superiorum regum opes et arca-strike the floor, and the king, with his followers, som nos thesauros servari ratus. Seras et pessulos perfringi curat, invitis omnibus, nihil præter arculam repertam, et in ea linteum, quo explicato novæ et insolentes hominum facies habitusque apparuere, cum inscriptione Latina, Hispania excidium ab illa gente imminere; vultus habitusque Maurorum erant. Quamobrem ex Africa tantam cladem instare regi cæterisque persuasum, nec falso ut Hispania anuales etiamnum queruntur.»- Hispania Ludovic. Nonii, cap. lix. what assured, and recovering their courage, proceed into the hall; and on the left of the statue they fours this inscription on the wall; Unfortunate king, thra hast entered here in evil hour. On the right side ↑ the wall these words were inscribed, 'by strange matus thou shalt be dispossessed, and thy subjects foully d graded. On the shoulders of the statue other wer were written, which said, 'I call upon the Arabs.' And upon his breast was written. I do my office. At the en trance of the hall there was placed a round bowl, ferm which a great noise, like the fall of waters, proceeded They found no other thing in the hall; and when the kir But about the term of the expulsion of the Moors from Grenada, we find, in the « Historia Verdadera del Rey Don Rodrigo,» a (pretended) translation from the Arabic of the sage Alcayde Albucacim Tarif Abenta-sorrowful and greatly affected, had scarcely turned al rique, a legend which puts to shame the modesty of the historian Roderick, with his chest and prophetic picture. The custom of ascribing a pretended Moorish original to these legendary histories is ridiculed by Cervantes, who affects to translate the history of the Knight of the Woful Figure, from the Arabic of the sage Cid Hamet Benengeli. As I have been indebted to the Historia Verdadera for some of the imagery employed in the text, the following literal translation from the work itself may gratify the inquisitive reader :— << One mile on the east side of the city of Toledo, among some rocks, was situated an ancient tower, of a to leave the cavern, the statue again commenced its a customed blows upon the floor. After they had m tually promised to conceal what they had seen, the 1 again closed the tower, and blocked up the gate of the cavern with earth, that no memory might remain in ta world of such a portentous and evil-boding prov The ensuing midnight they heard great cries and da mour from the cave, resounding like the noise of a battle, and the ground shaking with a tremendous rar the whole edifice of the old tower fell to the gronsi by which they were greatly affrighted, the vision which they had beheld appearing to them as a dream. « The king, having left the tower, ordered wise men to explain what the inscriptions signified; and having consulted upon and studied their meaning, they declared that the statue of bronze, with the motion which it made with its battle-axe, signified Time; and that its office, alluded to in the inscription on his breast, was, that he never rests a single moment. The words on the shoulders, I call upon the Arabs,' they expounded that in time Spain would be conquered by the Arabs. The words upon the left wall signified the destruction of King Rodrigo; those on the right, the dreadful calamities which were to fall upon the Spaniards and Goths, and that the unfortunate king would be dispossessed of all his states. over to the infidels. He joined Count Julian, with whom was a great number of Goths, and both together fell upon the flank of our army. Our men, terrified with that unparalleled treachery, and tired with fighting, could no longer sustain that charge, but were easily put to flight. The king performed the part not only of a wise general but of a resolute soldier, relieving the weakest, bringing on fresh men in place of those that were tired, and stopping those that turned their backs. At length, seeing no hope left, he alighted out of his chariot for fear of being taken, and, mounting on a horse, called Orelia, he withdrew out of the battle. The Goths, who still stood, missing him, were most part put Finally, the letters on the portal into the sword, the rest betook themselves to flight. The dicated, that good would betide to the conquerors, and camp was immediately entered, and the baggage taken. evil to the conquered, of which experience proved the What number was killed is not known: I suppose they truth. -Historia Verdadera del Rey Don Rodrigo. were so many it was hard to count them; for this sinQuinta edicion. Madrid, 1654, 4. p. gle battle robbed Spain of all its glory, and in it perished the renowned name of the Goths. The king's horse, upper garment, and buskins, covered with pearls and precious stones, were found on the bank of The Tecbir (derived from the words Alla acbar, God the river Guadelite, and their being no news of him afis most mighty,) was the original war-cry of the Sara-terwards, it was supposed he was drowned passing the ceas. It is celebrated by Hughes in the «Siege of Da-river.»-MARIANA'S History of Spain, book vi. chap. 9. mascus » Note 7. Stanza xix. 23. The Tecbir war-cry, and the Lelies' yell. We heard the Tecbir; so these Arabs call The Lelie, well-known to the christians during the crusades, is the shout of Alla illa Alla, the Mahommedan confession of faith. It is twice used in poetry by my friend Mr W. Stuart Rose, in the Romance of Partenopex, and in the Crusade of St Lewis. Note 8. Stanza xxi. By Heaven, the Moors prevail!-the christians yield! Count Julian, the father of the injured Florinda, with the connivance and assistance of Oppas, Archbishop of Toledo, invited, in 713, the Saracens into Spain. A considerable army arrived under the command of Tarik, or Tarif, who bequeathed the well-known name of Gibraltar (Gibel al Tarik, or the mountain of Tarik) to the place of his landing. He was joined by Count Julian, ravaged Andalusia, and took Seville. In 714 they returned with a still greater force, and Roderick marched into Andalusia at the head of a great army to give them battle. The field was chosen near Xeres, and Mariana gives the following account of the action: Orelia, the courser of Don Roderick, mentioned in the text, and in the above quotation, was celebrated for her speed and form. She is mentioned repeatedly in Spanish romance, and also by Cervantes. Note 9. Stanza xxxiii. When for the light bolero ready stand The Mozo blithe, with gay Muchacha met. 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. Note 10. Stanza xliii. While trumpets rang, and heralds cried Castile.. The heralds at the coronation of a spanish monarch proclaim his name three times, and repeat three times the word Castilla, Castilla, Castilla; which, with all other ceremonies, was carefully copied in the mock inauguration of Joseph Bonaparte. Note 11. Stanza xlviii. High blazed the war, and long, and far, and wide. Those who were disposed to believe that mere virtue and energy are able of themselves to work forth the salvation of an oppressed people, surprised in a moment of confidence, deprived of their officers, armies, and fortresses, who had every means of resistance to seek in the very moment when they were to be made use of, and whom the numerous treasons among the higher orders deprived of confidence in their natural leaders,-those who entertained this enthusiastic but delusive opinion, may be pardoned for expressing their Both armies being drawn up, the king, according to the custom of the Gothic kings when they went to battle, appeared in an ivory chariot, clothed in cloth of gold, encouraging his men; Tarif, on the other side, did the same. The armies, thus prepared, waited only for the signal to fall on; the Goths gave the charge, their drums and trumpets sounding, and the Moors re-disappointment at the protracted warfare in the peninceived it with the noise of kettle-drums. Such were the shouts and cries on both sides, that the mountains and vallies seemed to meet. First they began with slings, darts, javelins, and lances, then came to the swords; a long time the battle was dubious; but the Moors seemed to have the worst, till D. Oppas, the Archbishop, having to that time concealed his treachery, in the heat of the fight, with a great body of his followers, went sula. There are, however, another class of persons, who, having themselves the highest dread or veneration, or something allied to both, for the power of the modern Attila, will nevertheless give the heroical Spaniards little or no credit for the long, stubborn, and unsubdued resistance of three years to a power before whom their former well-prepared, well-armed, and numerous adversaries fell in the course of as many months. While these gentlemen plead for deference to Bona- horrors that attend invasion, and which the Providence parte, and crave Respect for his great place-and bid the Devil of God, the valour of our navy, and perhaps the very ↑ efforts of these Spaniards, have hitherto diverted from us, it may be modestly questioned whether we ougla to be too forward to estimate and condemn the fering of temporary stupefaction which they create; lest, in so doing, we should resemble the worthy clergyman, who, while he had himself never snuffed a candle with his fingers, was disposed severely to criticise the educt of a martyr who winced a little among his flames. Note 12. Stanza li. They won not Zaragoza, but her children's bloody tomb. The interesting account of Mr Vaughan has made most readers acquainted with the first siege of Lari voted city is detailed with great eloquence and precision in the Edinburgh Annual Register» for 1809-1 work in which the affairs of Spain have been treated of with attention corresponding to their deep interest, and to the peculiar sources of information open to the s torian. The following are a few brief extracts from this splendid historical narrative: « A breach was soon made in the mud walls, and then, as in the former siege, the war was carried on the streets and houses; but the French had been taught, by experience, that in this species of warfare the Zaragozans derived a superiority from the feeling and principle which inspired them, and the cause fr which they fought. The only means of conquerst Zaragoza was to destroy it house by house, and street by street, and upon this system of destruction try proceeded. Three companies of miners and eight ca panies of sappers carried on this subterraneous war the Spaniards, it is said, attempted to oppose them counter-mines: these were operations to which ne were wholly unused, and, according to the Freak it may not be altogether unreasonable to claim some modification of censure upon those who have been long and to a great extent successfully resisting this great enemy of mankind. That the energy of Spain has not uniformly been directed by conduct equal to its vigour, has been too obvious; that her armies, under their complicated disadvantages, have shared the fate of such as were defeated after taking the field with every pos. sible advantage of arms and discipline, is surely not to be wondered at. But that a nation, under the circumstances of repeated discomfiture, internal treason, and the mismanagement incident to a temporary and hasti-goza. The last and fatal siege of that gallant and dely-adopted government, should have wasted, by its stubborn, uniform, and prolonged resistance, myriads after myriads of those soldiers who had overrun the world-that some of its provinces should, like Galicia, after being abandoned by their allies, and overrun by their enemies, have recovered their freedom by their own unassisted exertions: that others, like Catalonia, undismayed by the treason which betrayed some fortresses, and the force which subdued others, should not only have continued their resistance, but have attained over their victorious enemy a superiority, which is even now enabling them to besiege and retake the places of strength which had been wrested from them, —is a tale hitherto untold in the revolutionary war. To say that such a people cannot be subdued, would be presumption similar to that of those who protested that Spain could not defend herself for a year, or Portugal for a month; but that a resistance which has been continued for so long a space, when the usurper, except during the short-lived Austrian campaign, had no other enemies on the Continent, should be now less successful, when repeated defeats have broken the re-statement, their miners were every day discovered and putation of the French armies, and when they are likely (it would seem almost in desperation) to seek occupation elsewhere, is a prophecy as improbable as ungracious. And while we are in the humour of severely censuring our allies, gallant and devoted as they have shown themselves in the cause of national liberty, because they may not instantly adopt those measures which we in our wisdom may deem essential to success, it might be well, if we endeavoured first to resolve the previous questions,-1st, Whether we do not at this moment know much less of the Spanish armies than of those of Portugal, which were so promptly condemned as totally inadequate to assist in the preservation of their country? 2d, Whether, independently of any right we have to offer more than advice and assistance to our independent allies, we can expect that they should renounce entirely the national pride, which is inseparable from patriotism, and at once condescend not only to be saved by our assistance, but to be saved in our own way? 3d, Whether, if it be an object (as undoubtedly it is a main one), that the Spa-hour their sleep was broken by the tremendous et * nish troops should be trained under British discipline, to the flexibility of movement, and power of rapid concert and combination, which is essential to modern war, such a consummation is likely to be produced by abusing them in newspapers and periodical publications? Lastly, Since the undoubted authority of British officers makes us now acquainted with part of the suffocated. Meantime the bombardment was in santly kept up. Within the last forty-eight bar said Palafox, in a letter to his friend General Do 6000 shells have been thrown in. Two-thirds of the town are in ruins; but we shall perish under the rem of the remaining third rather than surrender." Ind course of the siege above 17,000 bombs were thrown the town; the stock of powder with which Zarag had been stored was exhausted; they had none at 24 but what they manufactured day by day; and no other cannon-balls than those which were shot into the town, and which they collected and fired back upon the enemy.»——— In the midst of these horrors and privations, the pestilence broke out in Zaragoza. To various causs, enumerated by the annalist, he adds, « scantiness food, crowded quarters, unusual exertion of bo anxiety of mind, and the impossibility of recru5* | their exhausted strength by needful rest in a city wh was almost incessantly bombarded, and where ene! sion of mines. There was now no respite, either by dir or night, for this devoted city; even the natural or of light and darkness was destroyed in Zaragoza, be day it was involved in a red sulphureous atmosphere of smoke, which hid the face of heaven; by night the so of cannons and mortars, and the flames of burning houses, kept it in a state of terrific illumination. |