XXI.

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 ingulf him!"--". -"Hush," in shudder ing tone,

The Prelate said; "rash Prince, yon vision'd form's thine own.'

XXII.

Just then, a torrent cross'd the flier's course; The dangerous ford the Kingly Likeness tried;

But the deep eddies whelm'd both man and horse.

Swept like benighted peasant down the tide;

And the proud Moslemah spread far and wide,

As numerous as their native locust band; Berber and Ismael's sons the spoils divide, With naked scimitars mete out the land, And for the bondsmen base the freeborn natives brand.

XXIII.

Then rose the grated Harem, to enclose 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 Echo'd, for holy hymn and organ-tone, The Santon's frantic dance, the Fakir's gibbering moan.

Their coward leader gives for flight the sign!

The sceptred craven mounts to quit the

field

Is not yon steed Orelia ?—Yes, 'tis mine!?

1 The Techir (derived from the words Alla acbar, God is ruost mighty) was the original war-cry of the Saracens. It is celebrated by Hughes in the Siege of Damascus "We heard the Tecbir; so these Arabs call

Their shout of onset, when, with loud appeal, They challenge Heaven, as if demanding conquest." The Lelie, well known to the Christians during the crusades, is the shout of Alla illa Alla, the Mahomed in confession of faith. It is twice used in poetry by my friend Mr. W. Stewart Rose, in the Romance of Partenopex, and in the Crusade of St. Lewis.

2 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 (bel al Tarik, or the mountain of Tarik) to the place of bis landing. He was joined by Count Julian, ravaged Andalusia, and took Seville. In 714, they returned with a still greater force, and Roderick inarched into Andalusia at the head of a great army, to give them battle. The 1ld was chosen near Xeres, and Mariana gives the followug account of the action;—

Both armies being drawn up, the King, according to

and trumpets sounding, and the Moors received it with the noise of kettle-drums. Such were the shouts and cries

on both sides, that the mountains and valleys seemned to meet. First, they began with slings, darts, javelius, 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 over to the infidels. He jetted 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 hopes 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 to the sword, the rest betook themselves to light. The camp was immediately entered, and the baggage taken. What number was killed is not known: 1 suppose they were Bo many it was hard to count them; for this single battle robbed Spain of all its glory, and in it perished the renowned name of the Gotha. The King's horse, upper garment, and buskins, covered with pearls and previons stones, were found on the bank of the river Guadelite, and there being no news of him afterwards, it was sup posed he was drowned passing the river."-MARIANA'S History of Spain, book vi. chap. 9.

Orelia, the courser of Don Roderick, mentioned in the text, and in the above quotation, was celebrated for ber speed and form. She is inentioned repeatedly in Spanish, romance, and also by Cervantes,

XXXII.

Then did he bless the offering, and bade make

While yet the sunbeams on its skirts had been,

Limning with purple and with gold its shroud, Till darker folds obscured the blue serene, And blotted heaven with one broad sable cloud,

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 scenes expire.

XXXIII.

Preluding light, were strains of music heard, As once again revolved that measured sand;

Such sounds as when, for silvan dance prepared,

Gay Xeres summons forth her vintage band;

When for the light bolero ready stand

howl d aloud :

XXXVII.

Even 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; Then burst were honour's oath, and friendship's ties !

She of her netted locks and light corsette, Each tiptoe perch'd to spring, and shake the

castanet.

XXXIV.

And well such strains the opening scene became ;

For VALOUR had relax'd his ardent look, And at a lady's feet, like lion tame,

Lay stretch'd, full loath 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,

Whistled the muleteer o'er vale and hill, And rung from village-green the merry seguidille.

XXXV.

Grey 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 chestnut-tree Love's tale was told,

And to the tinkling of the light guitar, Sweet stoop'd the western sun, sweet rose the evening star.

XXXVI.

As that sea-cloud, in size like human hand, When first from Carmel by the Tishbite

seen,

Came slowly overshadowing Israel's land, A while, perchance, bedeck'd with colours sheen,

1 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.