7. Let others rapt in pleasure seem, 8. Through many a clime 'tis mine to go, Whate'er betides, I've known the worst. 9. What is that worst! Nay do not ask In pity from the search forbear; Smile on, nor venture to unmask Man's heart, and view the Hell that's there, LXXXV. Adieu, fair Cadiz ! yea, a long adieu! Who may forget how well thy walls have stood? Here all were noble, save Nobility; None hugg'd a Conqueror's chain, save fallen Chivalry! Such be the sons of Spain, and strange her fate! A Kingless people for a nerveless state, Her vassals combat when their chieftains flee, True to the veriest slaves of Treachery; Fond of a land which taught them naught but life, Pride points the path that leads to Liberty; Back to the struggle, baffled in the strife, War, war is still the cry," War even to the knife !"'(18) LXXXVII. Ye, who would more of Spain and Spaniards know, Flows there a tear of pity for the dead? Let their bleach'd bones, and blood's unbleaching stain Nor yet alas! the dreadful work is done, Strange retribution now! Columbia's ease Not all the blood at Talavera shed, Not all the marvels of Barossa's fight, Not Albuera lavish of the dead, Have won for Spain her well asserted right. When shall her Olive-Branch be free from blight? CI. And thou, my friend!(19) since unavailing woe Oh, known, the earliest, and esteem'd the most! CIII. Here is one fytte of Harold's pilgrimage; Ye who of him may further seek to know, Shall find some tidings in a future page, If he that rhymeth now may scribble moe, Is this too much! stern Critic! say not so; Patience! and ye shall hear what he beheld In other lands, where he was doom'd to go; Lands that contain the monument of Eld, [quell'd. Ere Greece and Grecian art by barbarous hands were END OF CANTO I. NOTES TO CANTO Í. 1. The little village of Castri stands partly on the site of Delphi. Along the path of the mountain, from Chrysso, are the remains of sepulchres hewn in and from the rock; "One," said the guide, "of a king who broke his neck hunting." His Majesty had certainly chosen the fittest spot for such an achievement. 2. The convent of " Our Lady of Punishment," Nossa Senora de Pena, on the summit of the rock. Below at some distance, is the Cork Convent, where St. Honorius dug his den, over which is his epitaph. From the hills the sea adds to the beauty of the view. 3. It is a well known fact, that in the year 1809, the assassinations in the streets of Lisbon and its vicinity were not confined by the Portuguese to their countrymen; but that Englishmen were daily butchered; and so far from redress being obtained, we are requested not to interfere if we perceived any compatriot defending himself against his allies. I was once stopped in the way to the theatre at eight o'clock in the evening, when the streets were not more empty than they generally are at that hour, opposite to an open shop, and in a carriage with a friend; had we not fortunately been armed, I have not the least doubt that we should have adorned a tale instead of telling one. The crime of assassination is not confined to Portugal in Sicily and Malta we are knocked on the head at a handsome average nightly, and not a Sicilian or Maltese is ever punished! 4. The convention of Cintra was signed in the palace of the Marchese Marialva. 5. The extent of Mafra is prodigious; it contains a palace, convent, and most superb church. 6. As I found the Portuguese, so I have characterized them. That they are since improved, at least in courage, is evident. 7. 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 D some centuries, completed their struggle by the conquest of Grenada. 8. "Viva el Rey Fernando!"-Long live King Ferdinand is the chorus of most of the Spanish Patriotic ongs. 9. The red cockade with" Fernando Septimo" in the centre. 10. 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. 11. 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. 12. Sigilla in mento impressa Amoris digitulo Vestigio demonstrant Mollitudinum. AUL. GEL. 13. These stanzas were written in Castri (Delphos,) at the foot of Parnassus now called Liakura. 14. Seville was the HISPALIS of the Romans. 15. This was written at Thebes, and consequently in the best situation for asking and answering such a ques tion, not as the birth-place of Pindar, but as the capital of Boeotia, where the first riddle was propounded and solved. 16. "Medio de fonte leporum "Surgit amari aliquid quod in ipsis floribus angat.” Luc. 17. Alluding to the conduct and death of Solano, the governor of Cadiz. 18. "War to the knife." Palafox's answer to the French General at the siege of Saragoza. 19. The honourable 1* 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. END OF NOTES TO CANTO I |