The Hebrew scriptures record a sacrifice similar to this in that of Jephtha's daughter. The persuasive voice of Orpheus. Orpheus was a fabulous musician. It was pretended that the music of his voice and his lyre was so enchanting that rocks were animated, and rivers ceased to flow, at the sound. Compel me not what is beneath to view. The pagan notion of death, as has been before observed, was that of descent, of darkness, and of doubt. It is the most welcome truth of Christianity, that it brings life and immortality to light; and since the establishment of Christianity, the idea of the state after death includes that of purer elements than those of earth, and of powers to expatiate more extensively amidst the wonders of the universe. Queen of Chalcis and of Aulis. Diana was the guardian goddess of these adverse, that is, opposite cities-the former on the coast of Eubœa, and the latter on that of • Greece. SOUTHEY. Robert Southey is among the most distinguished of living authors, in the various departments of Poetry, History, and Biography. His poetic talent has been chiefly displayed in the Epic.-Thalaba, Madoc, the Curse of Kehama, and Roderick, the Last of the Goths, are his principal poems. The last mentioned of these is the greatest favourite of the public, and deserves to be so. The poem of Roderick, &c. is founded, as the name imports, upon the history of the last Gothic King of Spain, Upon the dismemberment of the Roman Empire, Hispania, the modern Spain, was taken by those northern barbarians called Goths. The Goths established a regal government, which subsisted from A. D. 411 to A. D. 712. Roderick, the Last of the Goths, had a private quarrel with a distinguished nobleman of his court, and the latter, indignant against the king, conspired with the Moors, a nation of the opposite shores of Africa, to dethrone Roderick and surrender the sovereignity to the Moors. The authenticity of this statement of the origin of the Moorish conquest of Spain is disputed-but it is the tradition of the Moors and Spaniards, and upon the assumed fact, Mr. Southey has founded his poem. Many of Roderick's subjects remained faithful to him, but multitudes rebelled, and after a battle with the Moors and the rebels, Roderick is said to have disappeared, and never to have been found again, A. D. 712. The most faithful adherent of Roderick was Pelayo, a prince of his blood, who became the founder of a new kingdom, that of Asturia. The following account of Pelayo, is taken from a French, Abrégé de l'Histoire d' Espagn. "Pelayo seeking liberty, and preferring a desert to a state of bondage, led a few faithful followers to a sequestered spot enclosed by rocks in the interior of Asturia. Being a man of talent and integrity, he acquired an absolute ascendancy over his friends, and they appointed him their king. His subjects were few, and his territory barren rocks; but the men were faithful and coura geous. Their asylum was discovered and invaded bythe Moors, but the refugees defended themselves; and from this commencement originated the kingdom of Asturia, long one of the most powerful in Spain. Pelayo died in A. D. 737." It may here be remarked that under the Moors, Spain was divided into several sovereignties. Kings of Asturia, of Oviedo, of Arragon, of Castile and Leon, are numbered among the Princes of Spain. From the extinction of the Gothic kingdom to the accession of Philip II. A. D. 1555, these separate principalities subsisted, but all Spain acknowledged Philip, and received the laws of Madrid. Mr. Southey supposes that immediately after his defeat Roderick sought a profound solitude, and in this situation he describes him. Roderick was accompanied in his concealment by Romano, an old man, who died and left the unhappy king alone.-Roderick had been guilty of a crime, and his self-reproach aggravated his affliction. RODERICK IN SOLITUDE. The fourth week of their painful pilgrimage O'erhung the glittering beach; there on the top And a rude cross, and at its foot a grave, Bearing no name nor other monument. Where better could they rest than here, where faith Had blest the spot, and brought good angels down, Where better could the wanderers rest than here? To sing his requiem, and with prayer and psalm He lay on the bare earth, which long had been Two graves are here, And Roderick transverse at their feet began Of prayer, save only when he search'd the woods His wretched body at its passing hour, They saw his coming; and their whirring wings Had lost its rank, and the prerogative For his lost crown And sceptre never had he felt a thought Had then almighty vengeance thus reveal'd Oh for a voice Of comfort, for a ray of hope from heaven! |