THE

ESCAPE OF COUNT FERNAN GONSALEZ.

THE story of Fernan Gonsalez is detailed in the Chronica Antiqua de Espana, with so many romantic circumstances, that certain modern critics have been inclined to consider it as entirely fabulous. Of the main facts recorded, there seems, however, to be no good reason to doubt; and it is quite certain, that, from the earliest times, the name of Fernan Gonsalez has been held in the highest honour by the Spaniards themselves, of every degree. He lived at the beginning of the 10th century. It was under his rule, according to the chronicles, that Castille first became an independent Christian state, and it was by his exertions that the first foundations were laid of that system of warfare, by which the Moorish power in Spain was at last overthrown.

He was so fortunate as to have a wife as heroic as himself, and both in the chronicles, and in the ballads, abundant justice is done to her merits.

She twice rescued Fernan Gonsalez from confinement, at the risk of her own life. He had asked her hand in marriage of her father, Garcias, King of Navarre, and had proceeded so far on his way to that prince's court, when he was seized and cast into a dungeon, in consequence of the machinations of his enemy,

the Queen of Leon, sister to the King of Navarre. Sancha, the young princess, whose alliance he had solicited, being informed of the cause of his journey, and of the sufferings to which it had exposed him, determined, at all hazards, to effect his liberation; and having done so by bribing his jailer, she accompanied his flight to Castille.

Many years after, he fell into an ambush prepared for him by the same implacable enemy, and was again a fast prisoner in Leon. His Countess feigning a pilgrimage to St James of Compostello, obtained leave, in the first place, to pass through the hostile territory, and afterwards, in the course of her progress, permission to pass one night in the castle where her husband was confined. She exchanged clothes with him; and he was so fortunate as to pass in his disguise through the guards who attended on him-his courageous wife remaining in his place-exactly in the same manner in which the Countess of Nithsdale effected the escape of her lord from the Tower of London, on the 23d of February, 1715. There is, as might be supposed, a whole body of old ballads, concerning the adventures of Fernan Gonsalez. I shall, as a specimen, translate one of the shortest of these,—that in which the first of his romantic escapes is described.

THE

ESCAPE OF COUNT FERNAN GONSALEZ.

THEY have carried afar into Navarre the great Count of Castille,
And they have bound him sorely, they have bound him hand and heel;
The tidings up the mountains go, and down among the valleys,
"To the rescue! to the rescue, ho! they have ta'en Fernan Gonsalez.”-

A noble knight of Normandy was riding through Navarre,

For Christ his hope he came to cope with the Moorish scymitar;

To the Alcayde of the Tower, in secret thus said he,
"These bezaunts fair with thee I'll share, so I this lord

The Alcayde was full joyful, he took the gold full soon,
And he brought him to the dungeon, ere the rising of the moon;
He let him out at morning, at the grey light of the prime,
But many words between these lords had pass'd within that time.

The Norman knight rides swiftly, for he hath made him bowne
To a king that is full joyous, and to a feastful town;
For there is joy and feasting, because that lord is ta’en,—
King Garci in his dungeon holds the doughtiest lord in Spain.

The Norman feasts among the guests, but at the evening tide
He speaks to Garci's daughter, within her bower aside;
"Now God forgive us, lady, and God his mother dear,
For on a day of sorrow we have been blithe of cheer.

"The Moors may well be joyful, but great should be our grief,
For Spain has lost her guardian, when Castille has lost her chief;
The Moorish host is pouring like a river o'er the land,
Curse on the Christian fetters that bind Gonsalez' hand!

"Gonsalez loves thee, lady, he loved thee long ago,

But little is the kindness that for his love you show;

The curse that lies on Caba's* head, it may be shared by thee-
Arise, let love with love be paid, and set Gonsalez free.”—

The lady answered little, but at the mirk of night,

When all her maids are sleeping, she hath risen and ta'en her flight;
She hath tempted the Alcaydé with her jewels and her gold,

And unto her his prisoner that jailer false hath sold.

• Caba, or Cava, the unfortunate daughter of Count Julian. No child in Spain was ever christened by that ominous name after the downfall of the Gothic kingdom.

She took Gonsalez by the hand at the dawning of the day,

She said, "Upon the heath you stand, before you lies your way;

But if I to my father go, alas! what must I do?

My father will be angry-I fain would go with you.”—

He hath kissed the Infanta, he hath kiss'd her, brow and cheek,

And lovingly together the forest path they seek;

Till in the greenwood hunting they met a lordly priest,

With his bugle at his girdle, and his hawk upon his wrist.

"Now stop! now stop!" the priest he said, (he knew them both right well,)

"Now stop, and pay your ransom, or I your flight will tell ;

Now stop, thou fair Infanta, for if my words you scorn,

I'll give warning to the foresters with the blowing of my horn."

The base priest's word Gonsalez heard, " Now, by the rood!" quoth he,

"A hundred deaths I'll suffer, or ere this thing shall be.". But in his ear she whisper'd, she whisper'd soft and slow, And to the priest she beckon'd within the wood to go.

It was ill with Count Gonsalez, the fetters press'd his knees,
Yet as he could he follow'd within the shady trees—
"For help, for help, Gonsalez !—for help," he hears her cry,
"God aiding, fast I'll hold thee, until my lord come nigh."