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7.

Let others rapt in pleasure seem,
And taste of all that I forsake;
Oh! may they still of transport dream,
And ne'er, at least like me, awake!

8.

Through many a clime 'tis mine to go,
With many a retrospection curst;
And all my solace is to know,

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?
When all were changing thou alone wert true,
First to be free and last to be subdued;
And if amidst a scene, a shock so rude,
Some native blood was seen thy streets to dye;
A traitor only fell beneath the feud; (17)

Here all were noble, save Nobility;

None hugg'd a Conqueror's chain, save fallen Chivalry!
LXXXVI.

Such be the sons of Spain, and strange her fate!
They fight for freedom who were never free;

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,
Go, read whate'er is writ of bloodiest strife:
Whate'er keen Vengeance urg'd on foreign foe
Can act; is acting, there against man's life:
From flashing scimitar to secret knife,
War mouldeth there each weapon to his need-
So may he guard the sister and the wife,
So may he make each curst oppressor bleed,
So may such foes deserve the most remorseless deed!
LXXXVIII.

Flows there a tear of pity for the dead?
Look o'er the ravage of the reeking plain;
Look on the hands with female slaughter red;
Then to the dogs resign the unburied slain,
Then to the vulture let each corse remain;
Albeit unworthy of the prey-birds maw,

Let their bleach'd bones, and blood's unbleaching stain
Long mark the battle-field with hideous awe;
Thus only may our sons conceive the scenes we saw !
LXXXIX.

Nor yet alas! the dreadful work is done,
Fresh legions pour adown the Pyrenees;
It deepens still, the work is scarce begun,
Nor mortal eye the distant end foresees.
Fall'n nations gaze on Spain; if freed, she frees
More than her fell Pizarros once enchain'd;

Strange retribution now! Columbia's ease
Repairs the wrongs that Quito's sons sustain'd,
While o'er the parent clime prowls murder unrestrain❜d.
XC.

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?
When shall she breathe her from the blushing toil?
How many a doubtful day shall sink in night,
Ere the Frank robber turn him from his spoil,
And freedom's stranger tree grow native of the soil!

CI.

And thou, my friend!(19) since unavailing woe
Bursts from my heart, and mingles with the strain—
Had the sword laid thee with the mighty low,
Pride might forbid even Friendship to complain;
But thus unlaurel'd to descend in vain,
By all forgotten, save the lonely breast,
And mix unbleeding with the boasted slain,
While Glory crowns so many a meaner crest!
What hadst thou done to sink so peacefully to rest?
CII.

Oh, known, the earliest, and esteem'd the most!
Dear to a heart where nought was left so dear!
Though to my hopeless day for ever lost,
In dreams deny me not to see thee here!
And Morn in secret shall renew the tear
Of Consciousness awaking to her woes,
And Fancy hover o'er thy bloodless bier,
Till my frail frame return to whence it rose,
And mourn'd and mourner lie united in repose.

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

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