told that their tones were correspondent to their splendour. Mafra is termed the Escurial of Portugal. Note 6, page 27, stanza xxxIII. Well doth the Spanish hind the difference know As I found the Portuguese, so I have characterized them. That they are since improved, at least in courage, is evident. Note 7, page 28, stanza xxxv. Where is that standard which Pelagio bore, That dyed thy mountain-streams with gothic gore? Count Julian's daughter, the Helen of Spain. Pelagius preserved his independence in the fastnesses of the Asturias, and the descendants of his followers, after some centuries, completed their struggle by the conquest of Grenada. Note 8, page 32, stanza XLVIII. No! as he speeds, he chants; «Viva el Rey!» Viva el Rey Fernando!»-Long live King Ferdinand! is the chorus of most of the Spanish patriotic songs: they are chiefly in dispraise of the old king Charles, the Queen, and the Prince of Peace. I have heard many of them; some of the airs are beautiful. Godoy, the Principe de la Paz, was born at Badajoz, on the frontiers of Portugal, and was originally in the ranks of the Spanish Guards, till his person attracted the queen's eyes, and raised him to the dukedom of Alcudia, etc. etc. It is to this man that the Spaniards universally impute the ruin of their country. Note 9, page 33, stanza L. Bears in his cap the badge of crimson hue, Which tells you whom to shun and whom to greet, clc. The red cockade with « Fernando Septimo» in the centre. Note 10, page 33, stanza LI. The ball-piled pyramid, the ever-blazing match, etc. All who have seen a battery will recollect the pyramidal form in which shot and shells are piled. The Sierra Morena was fortified in every defile through which I passed in my way to Seville. Note 11, page 35, stanza LVI. Foil'd by a woman's hand, before a batter'd wall? Such were the exploits of the Maid of Saragoza. When the author was at Seville she walked daily on the Prado, decorated with medals and orders, by command of the Junta. Note 12, page 35, sanza LVIII. The seal love's dimpling finger hath impress'd Denotes how soft that chin which bears his touch: etc. Sigilla in mento impressa Amoris digitulo Vestigio demonstrant mollitudinem. Note 13, page 36, stanza LX. Oh, thou Parnassus! etc. AUL. GEL. These stanzas were written in Castri (Delphos), at the foot of Parnassus, now called Axopa-Liakura. Note 14, page 38, stanza LXV. Fair is proud Seville; let her country boast Her strength, her wealth, her site of ancient days; etc. Seville was the Hispalis of the Romans. Note 15, page 39, stanza LXX. Ask ye, Baotian shades! the reason why? This was written at Thebes, and consequently in the best situation for asking and answering such a question; not as the birth-place of Pindar, but as the capital of Boeotia, where the first riddle was propounded and solved. Note 16, page 43, stanza LXXXII. Some bitter o'er the flowers its bubbling venom flings. Medio de fonte leporum Surgit amari aliquid quod in ipsis floribus angat. » Luc. Note 17, page 46, stanza LXXXV. A traitor only fell beneath the feud: etc. Alluding to the conduct and death of Solano, the governor of Cadiz. Note 18, page 47, stanza LXXXVI. War to the knife." the siege of Saragoza. "War even to the knife!» Palafox's anwer to the French general at Note 19, page 48, stanza xci. And thou, my friend! etc. The Honourable I*. W**. of the Guards, who died of a fever at Coimbra. I had known him ten years, the better half of his life, and the happiest part of mine. To me the In the short space of one month I have lost her who gave me being, and most of those who had made that being tolerable. lines of Young are no fiction: «Insatiate archer! could not one suffice? Thy shaft flew thrice, and thrice my peace was slain, I should have ventured a verse to the memory of the late Charles Skinner Matthews, Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge, were he not too much above all praise of mine. His powers of mind, shown in the attainment of greater honours, against the ablest candidates, than those of any graduate on record at Cambridge, have sufficiently established his fame on the spot where it was acquired, while his softer qualities live in the recollection of friends who loved him too well to envy his superiority. CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE. CANTO II. I. COME, blue-eyed maid of heaven!--but thou, alas! Of men who never felt the sacred glow That thoughts of thee and thine on polish'd breasts bestow. II. Ancient of days! august Athena! where, Where are thy men of might? thy grand in soul? Gone glimmering through the dream of things that were: First in the race that led to glory's goal, They won, and pass'd away—is this the whole? A schoolboy's tale, the wonder of an hour! The warrior's weapon and the sophist's stole Are sought in vain, and o'er each mouldering tower, Dim with the mist of years, gray flits the shade of power. |