That I might by a public death
Breathe shamefully out my latest breath.

66

8.

King Alboazar, this I would do,

If you were I, and I were you;

That no one should say you were meanly fed,
I would give you a roasted capon first,
And a good ring loaf of wheaten bread,
And a skinful of wine to quench your thirst;
And after that I would grant you the thing
Which you came to me petitioning.
Now this, O King, is what I crave,
That I my sinful soul may save:
Let me be led to your bull-ring,
And call your sons and daughters all,
And assemble the people both great and small,
And let me be set upon a stone,

That by all the multitude I may be known,
And bid me then this horn to blow,
And I will blow a blast so strong,

And wind the horn so loud and long

That the breath in my body at last shall be gone,
And I shall drop dead in sight of the throng.
Thus your revenge, O King, will be brave,
Granting the boon which I come to crave,
And the people a holyday sight will have,
And I my precious soul shall save;
For this is the penance my Confessor gave.
King Alboazar, this I would do,
If you were I, and I were you.”

9.

"This man repents his sin, be sure !"
To Queen Aldonza said the Moor;
"He hath stolen my sister away from me,
I have taken from him his wife;

Shame then would it be when he comes to me,
And I his true repentance see,

If I for vengeance should take his life."

10.

"O Alboazar!" then quoth she, "Weak of heart as weak can be! Full of revenge and wiles is he. Look at those eyes beneath that brow, I know Ramiro better than thou! Kill him, for thou hast him now, He must die, be sure, or thou. Hast thou not heard the history How, to the throne that he might rise, He pluck'd out his brother Ordoño's eyes? And dost not remember his prowess in fight, How often he met thee and put thee to flight, And plunder'd thy country for many a day; And how many Moors he has slain in the strife, And how many more carried captives away y? How he came to show friendship.. and thou didst believe him?

How he ravish'd thy sister, . . and wouldst thou for

give him?

And hast thou forgotten that I am his wife,

And that now by thy side I lie like a bride,

The worst shame that can ever a Christian betide?

And cruel it were when you see his despair, If vainly you thought in compassion to spare, And refused him the boon he comes hither to crave; For no other way his poor soul can he save, Than by doing the penance his Confessor gave."

11.

As Queen Aldonza thus replies,
The Moor upon her fixed his eyes,
And he said in his heart, unhappy is he
Who putteth his trust in a woman!
Thou art King Ramiro's wedded wife,
And thus wouldst thou take away his life!
What cause have I to confide in thee?
I will put this woman away from me.
These were the thoughts that pass'd in his breast,
But he call'd to mind Ramiro's might;

And he fear'd to meet him hereafter in fight,
And he granted the King's request.

12.

So he gave him a roasted capon first, And a skinful of wine to quench his thirst; And he call'd for his sons and daughters all, And assembled the people both great and small; And to the bull-ring he led the king;

And he set him there upon a stone,

That by all the multitude he might be known, And he bade him blow through his horn a blast, As long as his breath and his life should last.

13.

Oh then his horn Ramiro wound:
The walls rebound the pealing sound,
That far and wide rings echoing round;
Louder and louder Ramiro blows,

And farther the blast and farther goes;
Till it reaches the gallies where they lie close
Under the alders, by St. Joam da Foz.
It roused his knights from their repose,
And they and their merry men arose.
Away to Gaya they speed them straight;
Like a torrent they burst through the city gate;
And they rush among the Moorish throng,
And slaughter their infidel foes.

14.

Then his good sword Ramiro drew,
Upon the Moorish King he flew,

And he gave him one blow, for there needed not two;
They killed his sons and his daughters too;
Every Moorish soul they slew;

Not one escaped of the infidel crew; Neither old nor young, nor babe nor mother; And they left not one stone upon another.

15.

They carried the wicked Queen aboard,
And they took counsel what to do to her;
They tied a millstone round her neck,
And overboard in the sea they threw her.
But a heavier weight than that millstone lay
On Ramiro's soul at his dying day.

Bristol, 1802.

THE INCHCAPE ROCK.

An old writer mentions a curious tradition which may be worth quoting. "By east the Isle of May," says he, "twelve miles from all land in the German seas, lyes a great hidden rock, called Inchcape, very dangerous for navigators, because it is overflowed everie tide. It is reported in old times, upon the saide rock there was a bell, fixed upon a tree or timber, which rang continually, being moved by the sea, giving notice to the saylers of the danger. This bell or clocke was put there and maintained by the Abbot of Aberbrothok, and being taken down by a sea pirate, a yeare therafter he perished upon the same rocke, with ship and goodes, in the righteous judgement of God.”. STODDART'S Remarks on Scotland.

No stir in the air, no stir in the sea,
The ship was still as she could be,
Her sails from heaven received no motion,
Her keel was steady in the ocean.

Without either sign or sound of their shock
The waves flow'd over the Inchcape Rock;
So little they rose, so little they fell,
They did not move the Inchcape Bell.