UNIVERSITY OF I 
 CALIFORNIA^/ 
 
y 
 
 . x, 
 
 
 
IBERIA WON. 
 
LONDON: 
 
 WILLIAM STEVENS, PRINTER, BELL YARD, 
 TEMPLE BAR. 
 
IBERIA WON; 
 
 DESCRIPTIVE OF 
 
 THE PENINSULAR WAR 
 
 WITH IMPRESSIONS FROM RECENT VISITS TO 
 
 THE BATTLE-GROUNDS, 
 
 0jpt0u ?I)tst0rtcaI atrtr I-lIustrnttiic Rotes'. 
 
 BY T. M. HUGHES, 
 
 Author of "An Overland Journey to Lisbon," " Revelations of Spain,' 
 "The Ocean Flower," &c. 
 
 LONDON : 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 
 
 MDCCCXLVII. 
 
LOAN STACK 
 
H 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE following work is the result of six years' 
 residence in the Peninsula, devoted to literary 
 pursuits. It contains the fruits (be they mature 
 or otherwise) of many excursions through Spain 
 and Portugal, of considerable opportunities of 
 observation, and much familiarity with localities 
 and people, as well as of meditative habits in an 
 isolated life, which during the last three years 
 especially has been compelled by severe sick- 
 ness. Love and admiration of the British Islands, 
 whose climate would be fatal to me, except during 
 two or three summer months, have been fostered 
 by constrained absence ; and my attention having 
 been strongly turned to the great Peninsular 
 struggle, I have consulted every accessible work, 
 and every surviving authority within my reach, 
 that could illustrate a theme with which my mind 
 has been filled for years. While I have endea- 
 
 823 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 voured to sustain the glory of England, I have 
 striven to award a meed of truthful but generous 
 justice to her Allies, and have not thought it 
 requisite to depreciate the well-earned fame of 
 France. Yet, even while celebrating the most 
 splendid military achievements, it has been my 
 aim to inculcate a horror of the bloody arbitra- 
 ment of War. 
 
 Determined to perfect the work, so far as in me 
 lay, I last year traversed the whole Peninsula from 
 East to West, at the constant risk of a very 
 precarious life (which might thus, perhaps, be- 
 come not utterly valueless), and acquired the 
 advantages to be derived to my labours from visit- 
 ing the following battle-grounds : Bayonne and 
 the Adour, the Nive, St. Pierre, the Nivelle, the 
 Bidasoa, San Marcial, Vera, Sauroren, San Sebas- 
 tian, Vitoria, Talavera, Almaraz, Albuera, and 
 Badajoz, having previously visited most of the 
 battle-fields in Portugal and in Northern and 
 Southern Spain. 
 
 The task which I have undertaken, and accom- 
 plished according to my means, was an ambitious 
 one, yet honourable. I scarcely dare to hope for 
 success. I feel the full force of the immortal 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 Scott's address to the illustrious Wellington, in 
 the Introduction to his Vision of Don Roderick : 
 
 But we weak minstrels of a laggard day, 
 Skilled but to imitate an elder page, 
 Timid and raptureless, can we repay 
 The debt thou claim'st in this exhausted age ? 
 Thou giv'st our lyres a theme, that might engage 
 Those that could send thy name o'er sea and land, 
 While sea and land shall last ; for Homer's rage 
 A theme ; a theme for Milton's mighty hand 
 How much unmeet for us, a faint degenerate band ! 
 
 But, while I regard with befitting humility the 
 result of this labour of love, I trust that the 
 spirit in which I have conceived and written has 
 at least been pure and irreproachable. 
 
 It is with feelings of the utmost satisfaction and 
 pride that I notice, contemporaneously with the 
 appearance of this work, the concession of a 
 medal to our Peninsular veterans by the high- 
 minded Sovereign of England, whose propitious 
 name and reign are identified with victory : 
 
 'AAAa yap a /j.eyaXdvvtJ.os \.0e Nf/ca. 
 
 Soph. Antig. 148. 
 
 VICTORIA came with mighty name and glory. 
 
 With equal pain have I witnessed, having tra- 
 versed Spain at. the period, the recent success 
 of French intrigue and the spectacle of renewed 
 
 
 U^n^A />-n 
 
VI PREFACE, 
 
 subserviency. The wedding-ring may replace the 
 sword, but the instrument, because less bloody, 
 is not less fatal to Liberty; and the words of 
 Byron, at the close of the first Canto of Childe 
 Harold, become invested with prophetic and 
 appalling truthfulness : 
 
 Not all the blood at Talavera shed, 
 Not all the marvels of Barosa'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 ! 
 
 Lisbon, 1st March, 1847. 
 
 scjlfr S 
 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 OF all the great achievements which make up the sum 
 of British glory, the Peninsular War and its results form 
 one of the grandest, brightest, and most unimpeachable. 
 These gigantic efforts were made in the holy cause of 
 Freedom ; they were disinterested in a high and unparalleled 
 degree ; their success was uniform, brilliant, and startling ; 
 and their guerdon was the liberation and advancement of 
 mankind. 
 
 For six years England had constantly employed in the 
 Spanish Peninsula from thirty to seventy thousand of her 
 troops, who besides sustaining combats innumerable, took 
 four great fortresses, attacked or defended in ten important 
 sieges, and were decisively victorious in nineteen pitched 
 battles, killing, wounding, or making prisoners, two hundred 
 thousand of the enemy. She liberally subsidized Spain 
 and Portugal, and maintained the troops of both countries, 
 regular and irregular, with supplies of ammunition, clothing, 
 and arms, while upon her own military operations she 
 expended upwards of one hundred millions sterling. Twice 
 she expelled the French from Portugal, and finally drove 
 them from Spain besides, surmounting and winning step 
 by step the terrific bulwark of the Pyrenees. With her 
 naval squadrons she repeatedly harassed the Invader by 
 well -combined descents upon the coasts, and rescued or 
 preserved Lisbon and Cadiz, Alicante and Carthagena. 
 

 2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Her land forces tracked the enemy from Vimieiro to Busaco, 
 from Busaco to Navarre, over some of the most frightfully 
 broken ground in Europe, signally defeating them wherever 
 they came in collision, and sweeping them at times like 
 a wreck before the ocean -wave ; and forty thousand of her 
 children fell in the Peninsula to attest her devotion to the 
 cause of Freedom. 
 
 In this most memorable liberation of Spain from the 
 French invader, it is the glory of England to have realized 
 with singular exactness the splendid encomium of Livy : 
 "Esse aliquam in terris gentem quee sua impensa, suo 
 labore ac periculo, bella gerat pro libertate aliorum. Nee 
 hoc finitimis, aut propinquae vicinitatis hominibus, aut terris 
 continenti junctis praestet. Maria trajiciat : ne quod toto 
 orbe terrarum injustum imperium sit, et ubique jus, fas, lex, 
 potentissima sint." Hist. lib. xxxiii. 
 
 The pre-eminent importance of the War of Independence 
 in Spain, and of the part which England took in that 
 struggle, has been acknowledged by rival French writers, 
 whose love of historic truth was too strong for the counter- 
 vailing influences of prejudice, passion, and professional 
 jealousy. M. Thiers, in his Histoire du Consulat et de 
 r Empire, speaks of it as " that long and terrible struggle, 
 that great Peninsular war, which lasted more than six 
 years, which exhausted more treasure and drained off a 
 greater tide of human blood than the murderous campaign 
 of Russia, and in which all the most renowned generals and 
 marshals of France were severally defeated, to the surprise 
 of Napoleon, and to the astonishment of the world, by an 
 English general, newly returned from India, whose name 
 was as yet almost a stranger to every mouth." 
 
 " Elle etait a juste titre designee comme la cause pre- 
 miere et principale de la chute de Napoleon," is the remark 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 of General Foy, Histoire de la Guerre de la Peninsule. 
 Avant-propos. And in one of his private letters he says, 
 " Moscow brought Alexander, Spain brought Wellington, 
 into the walls of our sacred city ! " 
 
 I am therefore sure of the intrinsic interest of my 
 subject, and am tremulous only about its treatment. Of 
 this much I at least am certain that no one will exclaim, 
 as Horace did 2,000 years ago : 
 
 " Quis ferae 
 
 Bellum curet Iberiae ?" 
 
 or be indifferent to the exploits of Englishmen in a 
 country, with whose people the same Horace coupled a 
 most flattering epithet " peritus Iber" The splendour 
 and the decadence, the glory and misfortunes, the ancient 
 grandeur and the existing distresses of Spain, the great 
 historic parts which we have played either in unison or 
 in rivalry, above all, the terrible struggle which we main- 
 tained together against a Power with which it was at f.rst 
 despair to cope, and yet brought to a triumphant issue, 
 make it impossible that any record of that struggle can be 
 received with indifference ; and the customary fate of 
 rashness and incompetency is the only one that I have to 
 apprehend. 
 
 That these great and glorious exploits should not have 
 hitherto formed the subject of any extended poem may at 
 first appear surprising. But the reason is obvious the 
 time had not yet arrived. The glare of contemporary 
 fame is unfavourable to poetic celebration, except in the 
 form of Pindar's Olympionics, in dithyrarnbic odes imbued 
 with the intoxication of victory, or otherwise in such short 
 reflective sonnets as embodied a Wordsworth's calm and 
 B 2 
 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 philosophic spirit. The mists of time must be interposed 
 before the hero rises to the Demigod, an entirely new gener- 
 ation must have succeeded, and the poet must himself 
 belong to that generation. The halo of Imagination must 
 invest what was before Reality, the subject must have at- 
 tained the dignity of the myth, or heroic legend, and Ideal 
 Art must be unencumbered by the pressure of the Actual. 
 That time appears to have arrived. Forty years have 
 elapsed since the commencement of this mighty struggle ; 
 those of our Peninsular heroes whom the shock of battle 
 spared, have nearly all been gathered to their fathers, and 
 those who remain are like late surviving Nestors whose 
 heads are crowned with the snowy tonsure of Time. 
 
 Into the construction of this poem it is unfit that I should 
 enter further than to state, that the action, which is in 
 some degree formed on the purest ancient model, com- 
 prises a period of about two months, commencing a month 
 before and ending a month after the taking of San Sebas- 
 tian by storm. The besieged city forms the central point, 
 and the events there, with superadded imaginative incidents, 
 are combined with the fighting round San Sebastian, of 
 which the object was on one side to relieve, and on the 
 other to prevent the relief of that fortress. These are what 
 are usually known by the name of the Battles of the 
 Pyrenees, and commenced with the first battle of Sauroren, 
 which was fought on the 28th July, 1813 ; the storming of 
 San Sebastian occurred on the 3 1 st of August ; and the ac- 
 tion of the poem concludes with the passage of the Bidassoa, 
 and the advance of the Allied Army to the Greater Rhune, 
 by which the Spanish soil was freed from the presence of 
 the Invader events which occurred on the 7th and 8th of 
 October. The second siege of San Sebastian commenced 
 
s> 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 contemporaneously with the first battle of Sauroren, on the 
 28th July.* The actual time therefore employed in the 
 action is precisely two months and twelve days. The 
 battles of the Pyrenees introduced are essentially interwoven 
 with the main subject, which is the capture of the great 
 fortress of San Sebastian, the principal event of the latter 
 part of the War while it was confined to the Spanish soil. 
 All the characters are grouped by the story round the 
 central figure of the besieged city, the incidents of the 
 peripeteia or plot are interwoven with that event and with 
 each other, and if it be not presumption to use such 
 a word the Epos is complete. The critics, I have no 
 doubt, will find abundant faults ; and the rest I commit to 
 their tender mercies. 
 
 Though the time, as essential to such compositions, is 
 in comparison with the duration of the War extremely 
 limited, all its leading incidents are introduced in the 
 permitted shapes of narrative, episode, allusion, and 
 apostrophe. The historical part of the work invites the 
 closest examination, as well as the local colouring, to which 
 a six years' constant residence in the Peninsula has enabled 
 me, I trust, to impart some truth and vivacity. I have 
 lived in the midst of revolts, revolutions, and military 
 movements ; my experience almost equals that of an actual 
 campaigner; and I have witnessed even portions of three 
 sieges those of Seville and Barcelona in 1843, and that 
 of Almeida in Portugal in 1844. Copious historical and 
 
 * Napier begins his account thus: " RENEWED SIEGE OF SAN 
 SEBASTIAN. Villatte's demonstration against Longa on the 28th of 
 July had caused the ships laden with the battering-trains to put to 
 sea, but on the 5th of August the guns were re-landed and the 
 works against the fortress resumed," &c. Hist. War in the Penins 
 book xxii. chap. 1. 
 
 &yrs 
 
 *~ 
 
C INTRODUCTION. 
 
 explanatory notes are annexed to each canto, and the de- 
 scription of the battle grounds is made accurate by personal 
 observation of many of them, which I have embodied in 
 the notes. The theatre of that portion of the War which 
 enters into the action of the poem itself presents very 
 felicitous subjects for description, the ground being the 
 gigantic Pyrenees, and the combats there sustained being 
 more like those of Titans than of men. In addition to 
 much oral testimony, the authorities I have consulted are 
 very numerous, and as fidelity has been my constant aim 
 their language will be found frequently cited in the notes. 
 The principal of these are Napier's History of the War 
 in the Peninsula, Southey's History of the Peninsular 
 War, Foy's Histoire de la Guerre de la Pcninsule, Gur- 
 wood's Despatches of the Duke of Wellington, Jones's 
 Journals of the Sieges in Spain, Belmas's Journals of 
 Sieges, compiled from official documents by order of the 
 French government, Captain Cooke's Memoirs, Captain 
 Pringle's Ditto, Captain Batty' s Campaign of the left 
 Wing of the Allied Army in the Western Pyrenees, Gleig's 
 Subaltern, Annals of the Peninsular War, De la Pene's 
 Campagnes de 1813 et 1814, and Pellet's Mcmoires des 
 Campagnes des Py rimes. 
 
 A difficulty inseparable from this subject is its great 
 historical and political interest, which although in one 
 respect an advantage in another is a considerable draw- 
 back. With events so well known and comparatively so 
 recent it is impossible to take liberties ; invention is res- 
 trained, and the imagination is confined within limits more 
 strict than the poetical faculty might desire for its opera- 
 tions. If this objection has been felt with regard to 
 Tasso's Gerusalemme, the personages of which were French 
 and Italian counts and princes familiar to the reader of 
 

 INTRODUCTION. / 
 
 general history, and whose acts and characters were well 
 known though they lived four centuries before he wrote, it 
 is clearly far more applicable in the present instance. The 
 answer at once is that an entirely different treatment must 
 be resorted to, that celestial machinery, witchcraft, and all 
 analogous means must be excluded, and that actual truth 
 must be made the basis of the whole composition. To , 
 truth I have accordingly adhered, and invite the strictest 
 historical criticism, consistent with poetical diction and 
 imagery, of my account of these campaigns. The events 
 were fortunately of that brilliant description, and their 
 theatre, the Pyrenees, so essentially romantic, that the true 
 and the marvellous are here one and the same. Historical 
 accuracy is here an element of beauty ; and my minor plot 
 is alone invented, yet is meant to be strictly probable. 
 
 Nearly the entire of our modern military system dates 
 from the commencement of the Peninsular War. The 
 cumbrous old system which fought a whole campaign for 
 a comfortable place for winter quarters (a great aim with 
 Turenne) was broken up rapidly by the vigour of Napo- 
 leon, and our first debut under the Duke of York had 
 taught us that we must change our plan. In 1808, the 
 very year of our first victories in the Peninsula (Rori9a and 
 Vimieiro) the use of hair-powder was for the first time dis- 
 continued in the British army. Rifle corps were then first 
 formed in the first instance as rather a hopeless expe- 
 riment, our soldiers having been deemed too slow and 
 heavy for this practice ; but, as the result proved, with 
 perfect success. From the Polish lancers whom we first 
 saw at Albuera we borrowed the idea of our corps of 
 lancers, as we afterwards took from the French cuirassiers 
 the modern equipment of our lifeguards. The brilliant 
 appearance of our light dragoons astonished the French 
 

 8 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 on their first appearance in the Peninsula. " Nos soldats, 
 frappes de 1' elegance de 1' habit des dragons legers, de leurs 
 casques brillants, de la tournure svelte des hommes et 
 des chevaux, leur avaient donne le iiom de lindors." Foy, 
 Hist. Guerre Penins. liv. 2. For this rather theatrical 
 display we substituted with better taste in 1813 an uniform 
 similar to that worn by the German light cavalry. The 
 Shrapnell shell, or spherical case shot, (the invention of 
 an English Colonel of that name) was used for the first 
 time during the Peninsular War with great effect. 
 
 Amongst the many great services performed by the 
 Peninsular War was raising the character of the British 
 soldier from a very low to a very high standard in the 
 national estimation. The plays of Wycherley, Congreve, 
 Vanbrugh, and Mrs. Centlivre, the tales of Fielding, 
 Smollett, and Defoe, and the graver essays of Dr. Johnson, 
 sufficiently demonstrate that in the time of those writers 
 military men were held in the lowest esteem. The con- 
 querors of Blenheim and of the Heights of Abraham were 
 currently regarded as debauchees, cutthroats, and dishonest 
 adventurers, and where a more gentlemanly exterior was 
 exhibited, it was commonly united to the silliest foppery. 
 Such from the Restoration to the end of the last century 
 was the common character even of the officers of our army, 
 and the ruffianly brutality of Ensign Northerton towards 
 Tom Jones was perfectly characteristic in an age when 
 undoubtedly it was too true that pimping too often 
 obtained commissions, and it was an accurate general 
 description to say of any chance-met couple of officers that 
 " one had been bred under an attorney, and the other was 
 son to the wife of a nobleman's butler." (History of a 
 Foundling, book vii. c. 12). Though there were un- 
 doubtedly many officers then of a far superior class, still 
 
 
 

 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 the high tone of chivalrous honour in our army, and the 
 general refinement and accomplishment of character, belong 
 to the present century. It is the great praise of the 
 British private soldier that his stubborn will and indomi- 
 table energy, his cheerful discipline and unflinching valour, 
 carry him through the most brilliant exploits to a success 
 almost miraculously uniform, without any of those tangible 
 hopes of promotion which inspire the continental soldier. 
 Such noble and manful discharge of duty appears to merit 
 some more adequate reward than the possible working of 
 a miracle which may raise him from the ranks. 
 
 Wellington, in his admirable Despatches, says of the 
 army with which he won these Pyrenean victories : " I 
 think I could do any thing with them." The resemblance 
 of many portions of these remarkable compositions to 
 those of Ceesar has been more than once pointed out ; 
 but the striking coincidence in the present instance has 
 never, I believe, before been noticed : " Non animadverte- 
 batis," says Ceesar, likewise speaking of the exploits of 
 his Peninsular veterans, " decem habere legiones populum 
 Romanum, quse non soltim vobis obsistere, sed etiam 
 coelum diruere possent." De Bello Hispanico, ult. 
 Even the number of veterans under the command of the 
 ancient and the modern General was nearly the same. 
 
 Indomitable energy and hearty courage are an old strain 
 in the English blood. They are thus attested by Crom- 
 well : " Indeed we never find our men so cheerful as when 
 there is work to do." Carlyle, Letters and Speeches of 
 Oliver Cromwell, Supplement. That no specific deco- 
 ration has yet been accorded to our Peninsular veterans 
 appears a most amazing oversight. 
 
 The courage displayed in our Peninsular sieges was of 
 the highest order. There can be no question that, since 
 
 B3 
 
 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the commencement of the world, no military daring, no 
 dauntless valour, has been witnessed, Greek or Roman, 
 Saracenic or Chivalrous, to exceed perhaps none to equal, 
 that of our storming parties at Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, 
 and San Sebastian. But it is very doubtful whether 
 human life was not unnecessarily squandered, and whether 
 the fire of the besieged should not have been silenced, and 
 their defences in the first instance destroyed. This opinion 
 seems now to be generally maintained both by engineer 
 officers and by experienced officers of the army. The dictum 
 of the great master of the art of fortification is in one respect 
 vindicated, though in another it has been broken down by 
 British heroism: "La precipitation dans les sieges ne hate 
 point la prise des places, la retarde souvent, et ensanglante 
 toujours la scene." Vauban, Maximes. General Foy, who 
 sometimes emancipates himself from his prejudices against 
 England, and is often candid, while he praises the courage 
 of our men, says that it was needlessly expended, and that 
 the taking of fortified places by the rules of art is reduced 
 to a mathematical problem. But the bravery of our troops 
 is still unquestionable. " On eut dit que les ingenieurs 
 etaient la seulement pour construire les places d'armes 
 desquelles s'elanceraient les troupes destinees a 1'assaut ou 
 a T escalade ; et encore eut-on pu a la rigueur, avec des 
 soldats si determines, se passer de leur ministere." Foy, 
 Hist. Guerre Pt-nins. liv. ii. I must transcribe his testimony 
 as to the conduct of our officers : "L'officier anglais con- 
 duisait les troupes au feu sans effort, et avec une bravoure 
 admirable. * * La gloire de 1'armee britannique lui vient 
 avant tout de son excellente discipline et de la bravoure calme 
 ot franche de la nation." But Foy adds a stigma which 
 these sieges affixed to our army, and these sieges alone in 
 all our Peninsular campaigns, and the impartiality which 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 1 
 
 I am determined to preserve, and from which in some years 
 to come I am convinced not the slightest departure will 
 be tolerated, requires that it be rigorously unveiled for the 
 reprobation of a more enlightened age : " Une fois sortis 
 de la discipline, les soldats anglais se livrent a des exces 
 qui etonneraient les Cosaques ; ils s'enivrent des qu'ils le 
 peuvent, et leur ivresse est froide, apathique, aneantis- 
 sante." Humanity shudders at the brutalities perpetrated 
 by our soldiers at Badajoz and San Sebastian. 
 
 It was not without much reason that the general opinion 
 throughout Europe attributed the extraordinary successes 
 of the revolutionary armies of France to the admirable 
 arrangement of the light infantry service. Napoleon may 
 be said to have created the corps ofvoltigeurs and tirailleurs, 
 upon which model were subsequently formed the Carabi- 
 neers and Rifles of the British service, and the Cac,adores 
 of Spain and Portugal. The Prussian General Bulow in 
 1795, stated his opinion that "1'emploi de I'mfanterie legere 
 est le dernier perfectionnement de la guerre, et qu' a la 
 rigueur on pourrait desormais se passer d' infante rie de ligne 
 dans les armees !" Esprit du Systeme de Guerre moderne, 
 par un ancien officier prussien. We may laugh at the 
 extravagant absurdity of the latter part of this statement, 
 but it shows the effect which Napoleon's new system had 
 produced. An opinion nearly similar prevailed about the 
 same time in England. " The continent has been subdued 
 by the French tirailleurs, and battles are sought to be won 
 by killing one after another the officers of the enemy's 
 army." Letter to a General-Officer on the Establishment of 
 Hifle Corps in the British Army. By Col. Robinson. These 
 rifle corps were established, and became eminently success- 
 ful, being detached in companies to the different infantry 
 brigades. The coolness, however, of our ordinary infantry 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 skirmishers in the Peninsula rendered an extensive intro- 
 duction of rifle corps unnecessary. 
 
 The rifle, as used in modern warfare, is the most terrible 
 because most treacherous of weapons. It would have fallen 
 especially under the ban of the Bayards and Montlucs of 
 the sixteenth century, who chivalrously deprecated the use 
 even of the common firelock, and formed vows worthy of Don 
 Quixote, " pour qu'on abandonnat 1'usage de ces armes 
 traitresses au moyen desquelles un lache, tapi derriere un 
 buisson, donne la mort au brave quil n'aurait pas regarde 
 en face !" 
 
 Colonel IL A. Dillon says that for what the French call 
 le moral (Tune armeehe can find no equivalent in the English 
 language, and must explain his thought by paraphrase. 
 He defines this moral to be the liveliest courage produced 
 by the purest patriotism. Commentary on the Military 
 Establishments and Defences of the British Empire, vol. i. 
 This moral the French lost by their repeated defeats in the 
 Peninsula, and by the conviction forced on them that even 
 the Pyrenees were no longer a barrier. Napoleon placed in 
 le moral three fourths of the power of an army. Celerity 
 of movement was the principal secret of the early French 
 successes, and of this the rapid marching of the French 
 soldier and his wonderful power of sustaining fatigue were 
 the main elements. The French soldier is small of stature, 
 as General Foy himself confesses, but he marches quick 
 and long, and this the General in great part attributes to 
 the French eating much more bread than any other Eui opean 
 troops : " Les soldats qui mangent le plus de pain et le 
 moins de viande sont en general plus musculeux, et marchent 
 plus vite et plus long temps que les autres. * * Le Francois 
 a besoin en campagne de deux livres de pain par jour." 
 Foy, Hist. Guerre Ptnins. liv. i. 
 

 INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 The astonishing developement which Napoleon gave to 
 the infantry service has been dwelt on by more than one 
 writer. " L'infanterie franchise, cette nation des camps," 
 says De Barante, Des Communes et de VAristocratie. Na- 
 poleon gave to this arm a power and vigour to which it was 
 before a stranger. " Napoleon augmenta le bataillon d'in- 
 fanterie d'une autre compagnie d'elite, les voltigeurs. Ce 
 fut une idee heureuse que de rehausser dans 1'estime pub- 
 lique les hommes de petite taille, qui en general sent 
 les plus intelligens et les plus alertes." (Foy, Hist. 
 Guerre Penins ) The consummation of the Emperor's 
 gigantic views was found in the Imperial Guard. " La 
 garde imperiale representait la gloire de 1'armee et la 
 majeste de 1' empire. On choisissait les officiers et les soldats 
 parmi ceux que les braves avaient signales comme les plus 
 braves: tous etaient converts de cicatrices." (Foy, Hist. 
 Guerre Penins. liv. i.) Napoleon after the battle of Ma- 
 rengo called them his " granite column." At the height 
 of his power his Imperial Guard consisted of 68 battalions, 
 31 squadrons, and 80 pieces of artillery in itself a powerful 
 army. Never will the exclamation of these devoted men on 
 
 the field of Waterloo be forgotten : " La garde meurt et ne 
 
 /- i \ \ "***<. v^ 
 
 se rend pas /" 
 
 The peculiar constitution of the French grenadier corps 
 is likewise to be remarked. These bodies were the com- 
 bined excerpts of all the best men from every regiment. 
 "L'eclat et la preeminence des grenadiers Francois * * 1'usage 
 dereunir tous ceux d'une ou de plusieurs brigades pour tenter 
 des actions de vigueur." (Foy, Hist. Guerre Penins., liv. ii.) 
 To these we never opposed more than our average regi- 
 mental forces, and their picked men were for the most part 
 overcome by our rank and file. What this rank and file 
 was composed of let the following passage attest. " Les 
 Anglais n'escaladent pas la montagne et n'effleurent pas la 
 
 /* ^^ - 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 plaine, lestes. et rapides comme les Fran^ais ; mais ils sont 
 plus silencieux, plus calmes, plus obeissants ; pour ce 
 motif leurs feux sont plus assures et plus meurtriers." (Fov, 
 Ilist. Guerre Penins., liv. ii.) Such is the brilliant tes- 
 timony to the merits of the British soldier by one of 
 Napoleon's own Generals. Our footmen are still the 
 sturdy yeomen who accomplished such marvels at Crecy. 
 If in a state little removed from brute ignorance they have 
 k^, done such wonders, what may be expected from them in 
 the not far distant day, when they shall become elevated 
 by education to a more fitting standard? Splendid as our 
 horses are, and our dragoons both heavy and light, the 
 strength of our army will be always in its powerful infantry, 
 in their steady fire, indomitable endurance, and incom- 
 parable use of the bayonet. These are the robur peditum, 
 like the triarii of the Roman legions, who were chosen 
 from the strongest men, and ever fought on foot. It was 
 remarked that in moments of peril they set their limbs so 
 strongly, that their knees were somewhat bowed (precisely 
 like our modern pugilists), as if they would rather die than 
 remove from their places ; and it passed into a proverb, when 
 a thing came to extremity : " ad triarios res venit" 
 
 The use of tents, like many another classic incumbrance, 
 has been swept away from campaigning by our modern 
 tactics, which originated at the commencement of the 
 Peninsular War, and, arrived at the bivouac, the " lodging 
 is on the cold ground" and sub Jove frigido. " L' usage 
 des tentes preservait les troupes des maladies pernicieuses. 
 Tout cela est vrai, et cependant on ne reviendra ni aux 
 petites armees, ni aux sieges de convention ni aux maisons 
 de toile." (Foy, Hist. Guerre Penins. liv. i.) The com- 
 mander who makes a campaign with tents is fettered with 
 embarrassments as to means of transport, which must 
 always place him in a state of inferiority to an adversary 
 
' 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 not thus encumbered. This is one of the great changes 
 wrought by the wonderful genius of Napoleon, which even 
 amidst the new hardships which he imposed, secured 
 almost the adoration of his soldiers. " Us fremissent 
 encore d'alegresse en exprimant le transport dont on fut 
 saisi, quand 1'empereur, qu'on croyait bien loin, apparut 
 tout-a-coup devant le front des grenadiers, monte sur son 
 cheval blanc et suivi de son mamelouck." (Foy, Hist. 
 Guerre Penins. liv. ii.) At the close of the War, the per- 
 son of Wellington commanded almost equal admiration. 
 
 1 am a great admirer of General Napier, whom I regard 
 as the counterpart of Thucydides, the soldier-historian of 
 Athens, and to whom may be not infelicitously applied the 
 character assigned to Xenophon (another Athenian narrator 
 of military exploits in which he himself participated) by 
 our earliest Latin lexicographer, Thomas Thomas, the con- 
 temporary of Shakspeare : " Xenophon was a noble and 
 wyse captaine, and of a delectable style in wrytynge." 
 Napier's style is enchanting and stirs like the sound of a 
 trumpet. My obligations to him are unbounded. But 
 Heaven forbid that his enthusiasm for War should become 
 general, for it is of a truly rabid chaiacter : "War is 
 the condition of this world. From man to the smallest 
 insect all are at strife !" (Hist. War in the Penins., book 
 xxiv. chap. 6.) This is a mere reproduction of Hobbes : 
 " The state of nature is a state of war." I trust that 
 peace will ere long be the enduring condition of this world ; 
 and there are happily indications of that approaching con- 
 summation. If I sing the glories of the Peninsular War, 
 it is because it was of a defensive character and we struck 
 for Freedom. We may surely now repose on our laurels 
 (as it is phrased), and never hereafter engage in a war 
 which shall not be in the strictest sense inevitable. 
 
 I am happy to record upon this subject the enlightened 
 
 * 
 
 /?* 
 

 16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 sentiments of a French General : " L'esprit de liberte 
 tuera 1' esprit militaire. II ne sera plus permis anx princes 
 defaire entr'egorger les peuples pour des interets de dynastic, 
 ou pour des lubies d' ambition. Les gouvernants, quels que 
 soient leur titre et 1'origine de leur pouvoir, ne pourront 
 subsister qu'eii s'effa^ant personnellement devant la 
 volonte generale. Les nations, comparant les desastres de la 
 bataille au mince profit de la victoire, ne pousseront plus le 
 cri de guerre, hormis dans les circonstances tres rares oh il 
 s'agira de vivre libre ou mourir." (Foy, Hist. Guerre 
 Penins. liv. i.) Elsewhere he makes this acute criticism on 
 the audacious designs of Napoleon. " Le despotisme avait 
 ete organise pour faire la guerre ; on continua la guerre 
 pour conserver le despotisme. Le sort en etait jete ; la 
 France devait conquerir 1' Europe, ou T Europe subjuguer 
 la France. * * La nature a marque un terme au-dela 
 duquel les enterprises folles ne peuvent pas tre conduites 
 avec sagesse. Ce terme Tempereur 1'atteignit en Espagne, 
 et le depassa en Russie. S'il eut echappe alors a sa 
 ruine, son inflexible outrecuidance (presumption) lui eut 
 fait trouver ailleurs Baylen et Moscou." Such is the im- 
 partial testimony of one of his own generals. 
 
 The French "playing at soldiers" is an old vice, older than 
 the days of Sir Thomas More, who thus pleasantly hits it off : 
 " In France there is yet a more pestiferous sort of people, 
 for the whole country is full of soldiers, that are still kept 
 up in time of peace, if such a state of a nation can be 
 called a peace : and these are kept in pay upon the same 
 account, it being a maxim of those pretended statesmen, 
 that it is necessary for the public safety, to have a good 
 body of veteran soldiers ever in readiness. But France has 
 learned to its cost, how dangerous it is to feed such beasts." 
 Louis XIV. kept up a standing army of 440,000 men, and 
 Napoleon had frequently more. 
 
7 r 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 The Gauls in modern times seem to have very much 
 changed their nature, for so far from invading other 
 countries, their reputation amongst the ancients was for 
 remaining to fight at home, according to the obvious 
 interpretation of a line in Pindar : 
 
 fv$ondx as T ' &An-p. Olymp. xii. 
 
 " domi pugnans ceu Gallus." To be sure, it is just 
 possible that the learned Theban may have meant that 
 humble domestic fowl, a cock. Erasmus reads " domi 
 abditus." There can be no doubt that a cock was meant, 
 and unquestionably it is a bellicose bird. The passage 
 from Pindar might be fairly rendered by the Latin adage : 
 " Gallus in suo sterquilinio," which it is needless to turn 
 into the vernacular. There are symptoms of the French 
 reforming this national vice, and I therefore shall not 
 dwell upon a somewhat disagreeable subject. 
 
 I am happy to be the first to record the true orthography 
 of one of our two first and not least important battles in the 
 Peninsula, Roriqa and Vimieiro. They used to be invariably 
 written Roleia and " Vimeira." Napier has considerably 
 improved upon this, making the latter "Vimiero." But 
 still he is wrong. The correct word is " Vimieiro." Even 
 had I made no other discovery, my four years' residence in 
 Portugal would not have been useless. True, it may be 
 said that the General has only "knocked an t out of it" in 
 military fashion. But, though the error be confined to a 
 single letter, it would be only the change of a letter to call 
 Waterloo "Waterlog," and who could excuse such a 
 travesty of our glorious victory ? These mistakes in the 
 orthography of the names of Peninsular localities are 
 common to all English writers, and excellent a scholar 
 as Southey was, they disfigure his History as well as that 
 of Napier. I find the names of these two battles misde-"~ 
 scribed as " Roleia " and "Vimieira" in the memoir by 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Sir B. D' Urban lately reproduced at the elevation of Sir 
 H. Hardiuge to the Peerage should I not rather say the 
 elevation of the Peerage by the accession to it of that 
 gallant and chivalrous Peninsular veteran ? 
 
 The French, too, write the names of these battles 
 as erroneously. They call them uniformly " Rolic^a " and 
 "Vimeiro," vide "Histoire dela Guerre de la Peninsule, par 
 le General Foy" "Memoires par Pellot, Campagnes par De 
 la Pene," and " Memoires de M. la Duchesse tf Abr antes " 
 passim. Napier in the twenty-fourth book of his History 
 takes leave of the comparative approach to accuracy in his 
 earlier books, and speaks of these battles every where as 
 " Roli9a " and " Vimiera." Specks in the sun ! 
 
 In my choice of a metre I have been led by the fol- 
 lowing considerations. The beauty and completeness of 
 the stanza of Spenser appear now to be generally acknow- 
 ledged. But it certainly presents great difficulties in a 
 language so unvocal compared with those of Southern 
 Europe, and so little abounding in rhymes as the English. 
 It is more difficult in a narrative and consecutive poem 
 than in one of a descriptive and reflective character, like 
 Childe Harold, where the topics and the order in which 
 they shall be discussed are both at the discretion of the 
 poet. Yet the terrible exigencies of four recurring rhymes 
 in each stanza have led even such a master as Byron into 
 not a few puzzling dilemmas, as in his description of Cintra 
 (Childe Harold, i. 19), where he has completed a stanza, in 
 which "steep," "weep," and "deep" had already done 
 service, with " torrents leap," although the faintest trickle 
 of a torrent was never seen in that locality ! As he pro- 
 ceeded in his task, he attained to a more perfect mastery 
 of his materials; and, I think, the fourth canto unsur- 
 passed in English poetry. It may be asked why I hoped 
 to succeed in what Byron found so difficult ? My answer is 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 that I do not think the difficulty insuperable, as Byron has 
 proved it not to be in the latter and infinitely finer part of 
 his poem, that none but a Milton could elevate blank verse 
 to the sublimity as well as harmony of the Paradise Lost, 
 that rhyme, and especially such an elegant form of rhymed 
 verse as the stanza of Childe Harold, possesses a popular 
 and inalienable charm, that success (if achieved at all) rises 
 with the magnitude of the difficulties encountered, and 
 that Spenser himself, Thomson's Castle of Indolence, 
 his other imitators, Shenstone's Schoolmistress, Beattie's 
 Minstrel and West's Education, Campbell's Gertrude of 
 Wyoming, occasional short pieces by Wordsworth, Wiffin's 
 Translation of Tasso, Scott's introductions to very many 
 cantos of his several poems (in these two latter cases I 
 speak merely of mechanical execution), Shelley's Revolt of 
 Islam and Adonais, Kirke White's Hermit of the Pacifc 
 andChristiad, Mrs. Norton's Child of the Islands, and a few 
 (too few) verses of Tennyson and Mimes abundantly prove the 
 capability of the stanza. The Italian ottava rima, although 
 sanctified by the use of Tasso and Ariosto, adopted almost 
 universally in the heroic poetry of one Peninsula, and most 
 successfully introduced by Camoens into the only epic 
 poetry of the other, appears unadapted for any but burlesque 
 or satirical poetry in the English language, the s.erious pas- 
 sages of Don Juan deriving all their beauty from being 
 interspersed with lighter, and the excellence and power of 
 Fairfax's Tasso being marred by the effect of the metre. 
 The English heroic couplet becomes clearly, I think, mono- 
 tonous in a long poem a doom from which not all the 
 genius of Dry den and Pope could rescue it. And if in his 
 Corsair, Lara, and The Island, Byron proved, in the words 
 of Jeffrey, that " the oldest and most respectable measure 
 that is known amongst us is as flexible as any other," and 
 elicited from Sir E. Brydges a just tribute to his " unbroken 
 

 
 
 
 20 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 stream of native eloquence," it is precisely because " the 
 narrative (as he says) is rapid," and because the hazardous 
 experiment is not tried of continuing rhymed distiches 
 through a long poem. The Italian ottava rima has been 
 observed to derive great strength from its majestic close, 
 which is invariably in a doubly rhymed couplet, and I have 
 occasionally introduced double rhymes in this and other 
 parts of the stanza to relieve the tendency to monotony. 
 The most distinguished cultivator of Southern literature 
 that England has ever produced, Lord Holland, in his 
 translations from Lope de Vega, Luis de Gonzaga, &c., 
 and from Ariosto, was very successful in this imitation. 
 The hypercatalectic syllable occurs in every line of Tasso's 
 Gerusalemme t and in every line of Camoens' Lusiadas, and 
 the Italians and Portuguese therefore call the verse " hen- 
 decasyllabic." A poem of any length constructed on this 
 principle in English would degenerate into pure burlesque ; 
 but Byron and others have proved that it may be advan- 
 tageously introduced as a pleasing variety. 
 
 The Alexandrine at the close of each stanza of Spenser 
 produces an equivalent, and perhaps even a more majestic 
 effect. It has been objected to this Alexandrine that it 
 gives a drawling tone to a long narrative poem ; but I do 
 not think with justice, since very much depends on the 
 mode in which the line is constructed. Pope's celebrated 
 "needless Alexandrine" has created a prejudice against 
 this metre, which I admit to be just where it is interspersed 
 with heroic verse, since, as Johnson correctly observes, it 
 disappoints the ear. But in the stanza of Spenser it is 
 expected. How easily the form and character of a verse 
 may be changed by transposing a word or two will appear 
 from Pope's famous imitative Alexandrine : 
 
 Which like a wounded snake drags its slow length along." 
 
INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 Alter two monosyllables, and it goes quite trippingly from 
 the tongue : 
 
 " And like a wounded snake it drags its length along." 
 
 There is no essential alteration. The adjective "slow" 
 omitted is an incorrect epithet applied to "length," since 
 the quickest objects in nature, a racehorse or a greyhound, 
 appear very long when upon full stretch, and in most rapid 
 movement. The trick of the line is in the simple use of 
 spondees in the place of iambuses, "which like," "drags 
 its," " slow length." How short and compact an Alexan- 
 drine may be, may be seen in Horace's Epodes passim. 
 Take the first line of the celebrated second ode, the " longe 
 p\dcherrima" by the consent of all critics : 
 
 " Beatus ille qui procul negotiis." 
 
 This is a perfect Alexandrine, and though consisting of 
 twelve syllables, does not appear longer than one of Scott's 
 shortest octosyllabic lines in the Lady of the Lake : 
 
 " Thy threats, thy mercy I defy." 
 
 The reason is because it is a pure Iambic line, and there- 
 fore very vocal ; since, if it contained many consonants, as 
 nearly every English line does, they must make most of the 
 previous vowels long by position ; and, though accent 
 generally determines the quantity in English, literal quan- 
 tity enters more into the construction of English verse 
 than is commonly supposed. 
 
 I may here observe that the stanza commonly called 
 " Spenserian" is by no means so purely an original inven- 
 tion of that most imaginative poet as is usually represented. 
 The Alexandrine at the close is the only part that is original. 
 I find the germ of Spenser's stanza very palpably in the 
 old ballet-staves and in the works of two poets who lived 
 fully a century before him, Skelton who styled himself 
 
22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Poet Laureate to Henry VII. and Stephen Hawes who was 
 Gentleman of the Bedchamber to the same monarch. The 
 following stanza is from Skelton's "Elegy on the death of 
 Henry Percy, fourth Earl of Northumberland :" it is the 
 ballet-stave of seven, in which was written an enormous 
 quantity of early, but now forgotten, English poetry, and 
 in which Spenser has written his " Ruins of Time," and 
 Shakspeare his " Rape of Lucrece." 
 
 cruell Mars, thou dedly god of war ! 
 dolorous Teusday, dedicate to thy name, 
 
 "When thou shoke thy sworde so noble a man to mar ! 
 O grounde ungracious, unhappy he thy fame, 
 Which wert endyed with rede Mode of the same ! 
 
 Most nohle earl ! fowle mysuryd grounde 
 
 Whereon he gat his fynal dedely wounde ! 
 
 Down to the end of the fifth line this is precisely the stanza 
 of Spenser. With the addition of two lines, one rhyming 
 with the last, and the other with the fifth, and of two syl- 
 lables to the closing line, it is literally that stanza. But in 
 fact the latter addition was often made by both Skelton 
 and Hawes, though irregularly, metrical cadence being then 
 imperfectly understood, and both poets being of the " tum- 
 bling" school. This poem was probably composed in the 
 year 1490. Skelton died in 1529, and an edition of his 
 poems in black letter appeared in 1568. I take the stanza 
 which follows from a poem of Hawes' s called "The His- 
 tory of Graunde Amoure and la Belle Pucel," written in 
 1505 and published in quarto in 1555 : 
 
 Till that I came unto a ryall gate, 
 
 W T here I saw stondynge the goodly portresse, 
 
 Whyche asked me from whence I came a-late ; 
 To whom I gan in every thynge expresse 
 All myne adventure, chaunce, and busynesse, 
 
 And eke my name ; I told her every dell ; 
 
 Whan she herde this she lyked me right well. 
 
 The construction of this stanza is the same as ?f the for- 
 
 

 INTRODUCTION. 23 
 
 mer, but the versification is rather rougher. It, like the 
 other, is very near the Spenserian stanza. But it is not the 
 Spenserian stanza. Friar Bacon and Leonardo da Vinci 
 were very near the discovery of steam, but they did not 
 discover steam, or at all events they did not apply it. The 
 stanzas cited, however, contain the great distinguishing 
 peculiarity of the stanza of Spenser, which is the redupli- 
 cation of the rhyme, that closes the second and fourth 
 lines, in the fifth the doubling of the stanza within itself, 
 and turning upon this most musical pivot. A.nd this 
 beauty, like so many other great discoveries, I believe to 
 be probably the result of accident. Add another line to 
 each of the foregoing stanzas, make it rhyme with the first 
 and third, and interpose it between the fourth and fifth 
 lines, and you have the exact ottava rima of the Italians. 
 This ballet- stave is the clear germ of the Spenserian stanza, 
 which with a few perfectionnemens is precisely as it stands. 
 It may be traced more directly to the ballet-stave of eight, 
 but either will suit equally well for illustration. 
 
 To make this quite intelligible to every reader, Hawes's 
 stanza becomes the exact ottava rima of the Italians, which 
 Surrey brought into England, and in which Spenser wrote 
 two of his poems, the rhyme of Fairfax's Tasso, of Frere's 
 Whi&tlecrtftt and Byron's Don Juan, by the insertion of the 
 single line which I have added here in italics : 
 
 Till that I came unto a royal gate, 
 
 Where I saw standing the goodly portresse, 
 
 Who asked me from whence I came of late ; 
 To whom I 'gan in every thing express 
 
 The various hazards of my chequered fate, 
 All mine adventure, chaunce, and busynesse, 
 
 And eke my name ; I told her every dell :* 
 
 When she heard this she liked me right well. 
 
 * Part. This purely Saxon word (modern German, theil) is now 
 written by us deal. " A great deal " means " a great part." 
 
24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The stanza becomes purely Spenserian by the addition of 
 the two lines and one word which I here insert in italics : 
 
 Till that I came unto a royal gate, 
 
 Where I saw standing the goodly portresse, 
 
 "Who asked me from whence I came of late ; 
 To whom I 'gan in every thing express 
 All mine adventure, chaunce, and busynesse, 
 
 With every accident that me befel 
 
 Throughout my chequered life I could no less 
 
 And eke my name ; I told her every dell : 
 When she this story heard she liked me right well. 
 
 The ballet-stave of seven is one of the many varieties of 
 Chaucer, who has written in this measure four of his 
 " Canterbury Tales," and composed a very long poem in it, 
 Troylus, of which the following stanza is a specimen (lib. 
 ii. 1030.) 
 
 " For though that the best harper upon live 
 Would on the beste sounid jolly harpe 
 That evir was, with all his fingers five 
 Touch aie o string, or aie o warble harpe, 
 Were his nailes poincted nevir so sharpe, 
 It shoulde makin every wight to dull 
 To heare is glee, and of his strokes full. 
 
 This, like the other, becomes the perfect ottava rima by 
 the addition of a single line, which I have likewise marked 
 in italics : 
 
 For though that the best harper upon live 
 
 Would on the beste sounid jolly harpe 
 
 That evir was, with all his fingers five 
 
 Touch aie o string, or aie o warble harpe, 
 
 And with Glaskyrion the Briton strive, 
 
 Were his nailes poincted nevir so sharpe, 
 
 It shoulde makin every wight to dull 
 
 To heare his glee, and of his strokes full. 
 
 The addition refers to a celebrated ancient Welsh harper 
 mentioned with honour by Chaucer himself in his Boke oj 
 Fame. I shall not further meddle by patchwork with the 
 illustrious Father of English Poetry. But, as in the for- 
 
IBERIA WON. 25 
 
 mer case, by the addition of two lines and one word I could 
 at once convert his stanza into that of Spenser. The ottava 
 rima was not then invented, nor for many years after 
 Chaucer wrote, not having made its appearance until the 
 days of Boiardo and Berni, nor been brought to perfection 
 until the lyre was held by the master hands of Ariosto and 
 Tasso. The secret of the great resemblance of this stanza 
 as employed by Chaucer to that subsequently invented by 
 his Italian successors is, that both delved in the same mine 
 and wrought upon the same material the Sicilian sonnet, 
 first introduced and naturalized in Europe by Chaucer's 
 great contemporary, Petrarch. So perfect was this in- 
 strument, the sonnet, at its discovery, that the fine taste 
 of Petrarch adhered to it throughout life with marvellous 
 tenacity, and at this day Wordsworth has without change 
 written nearly half his poetry in it. I believe Chaucer, 
 who either copied or adapted many of his modes of versi- 
 fication from Petrarch, to have moulded his ballet-staves 
 both of seven and eight, by squaring them with the first 
 half of the Sicilian or Petrarcan sonnet, with which they 
 are nearly identical. The Italian successors of Petrarch 
 in the same way took the first half of the sonnet, trans- 
 posing the first and second lines, and inserting another line 
 between the fourth and fifth lines. Thus simply is derived 
 the far-famed ottava rima. 
 
 In real fact and truth, Chaucer has had nearly as 
 much share in the formation of what is known as the 
 stanza of Spenser as Spenser himself. That stanza is 
 purely the ballet-stave of eight with three close rhymes 
 with the simple addition by Spenser of an Alexandrine 
 at the close, rhyming with the last verse of the ballet- 
 stave. There are some who trace these ballet-staves to 
 the Latin rhymed church iambics, and the germ of the 
 
 c 
 
26 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ballet-stave of eight has been sought in a Latin hymn 
 written by the German monk, Ernfrid, in the ninth 
 century ; but they are to be traced more probably (at least 
 in their more perfect shape) to the Romance poetry of the 
 Proven9als. The first instance I meet with of the use 
 of the ballet-stave of eight in English verse is in the elegy 
 on the death of our first Edward, written from internal 
 evidence shortly after that period. The rhymes and their 
 arrangement are precisely as in the stanza of Spenser, but 
 the verse is octosyllabic : 
 
 Alle that beoth of huerte trewe 
 
 A stounde herkneth to my song 
 Of duel that deth hath diht us newe 
 
 That maketh me syke and sorrow among. &c. 
 
 Chaucer was the first who wrote this stanza in the heroic 
 line of ten syllables, and his contribution to the stanza is 
 therefore quite as important as Spenser's addition of the 
 closing Alexandrine. In this stanza Chaucer has written 
 the whole of the Monk's Tale, and how entirely it is the 
 stanza of Childe Harold, with the exception of the Alex- 
 andrine at the end, may be seen from the following 
 example : 
 
 His wif his lordes, and his concubines 
 Ay dronken, while her appetitis last, 
 Out of thise noble vessels sondry wines ; 
 And on a wall this King his eyen cast, 
 And saw an hand armies that wrote ful fast, 
 For fere of whiche he quoke, and siked sore. 
 This hand that Balthasar so sore aghast, 
 Wrote Mane tecJiel phares and no more. 
 
 The Fairy Queen stanza must be regarded as a felicitous 
 discovery rather than invention, and even the merit of the 
 addition becomes diminished by the consideration that 
 
INTRODUCTION. 27 
 
 Alexandrine Terse had become a great favourite amongst 
 his contemporary poets before he used it. It was the 
 favourite metre of a Howard and a Sidney at the com- 
 mencement of the era of Elizabeth, and is frequently met 
 in our alliterative poems, both early English and Anglo- 
 Saxon. Yet Dr. Johnson has most erroneously represented 
 Spenser as the inventor of the Alexandrine! But so 
 fortunate was Spenser's completion of the stanza, that all 
 the attempts of Phineas Fletcher, Giles Fletcher, Prior, 
 and even Milton, to improve on it were unavailing, and 
 it may now be regarded as one of the special glories of 
 England. 
 
 The stanza of Spenser, as used by that poet, was by no 
 means the perfect musical stave that it is at present, 
 so exquisitely attuned with the dominant quadruple rhyme 
 for its key-note. Thomson appears to me to have brought 
 it very nearly to perfection his sole drawback being a 
 too frequent indulgence in imperfect rhymes. In Byron's 
 fourth canto of Childe Harold I conceive it to be brought 
 to perfection. Spenser indulges constantly in imperfect 
 rhymes, and though sometimes musical as well as often 
 charmingly fanciful and suggestive, he was by no means 
 such a master of language and rhythm as Shakspeare, whose 
 influence, followed up by the examples of Milton, Dryden, 
 and Pope, is felt in the excellence of the poetical diction 
 of the poets of this century. Though Spenser in some degree 
 discovered the stanza which bears his name, he did not com- 
 plete the discovery, for his Alexandrine is commonly deficient 
 in the csesural pause, which is absolutely essential to the 
 satisfaction of the ear and to the majestic close of the 
 stanza, and now almost as much de rigueur as it is in the 
 French Alexandrine, which is the common heroic measure 
 of our neighbours. The Alexandrine in every second 
 
 c2 
 
2$ INTRODUCTION. 
 
 stanza of Spenser is without it, and the effect is very bad, 
 as may be seen from the following examples : 
 
 " So shall wrath, jealousy, grief, love, die and decay.'* 
 
 " You shame-faced are but Shame-facedness itself is she." 
 
 " Save an old nymph, hight Panope, to keep it clean." 
 
 " Of turtle doves, she sitting in an ivory chaire." 
 
 " And so had left them languishing 'twixt hope and feare." 
 
 " Excludes from faire hope withouten further triall." 
 
 " All mindless of the golden fleece which made them strive." 
 
 " The other back retired, and contrary trode." 
 
 " With which it blessed concord hath together tied." 
 
 " Did waite about it, gaping griesly, all begor r d." 
 
 " Yet spake she seldome, but thought more the less she said." 
 
 " But of her love to lavish, little have she thank." 
 
 " And unto better fortune doth herself prepare." 
 
 " Fails of her souse, and passing by doth hurt no more." 
 
 " Forgetful of his safety hath his right way lost." 
 
 " But with entire affection, and appearance plaine." 
 
 " Great liking unto many, but true love to few." 
 
 " Into most deadly danger and distressed plight." 
 
 " Whilst loving thou mayst loved be with equal crime/' 
 
 " They have him taken captive, tho' it grieve him sore." 
 
 " So kept she them in order, and herself in hand." 
 
 " 'Mongst which crept the little angels through the glittering gleames." 
 
 " And thereout sucking venom to her parts intire." 
 
 " Ease after war, death after life, does greatly please." 
 
 Admitting the richness and fertility of Spenser's fancy, 
 I cannot find that he has depth, originality, or brilliancy 
 of thought to compensate for a roughness, which is 
 amazing by the side of Shakspeare's exquisite versifica- 
 tion, or to justify the high opinion expressed by Words- 
 worth. Compare Spenser's Description of Lucifer's Palace, 
 commencing 
 
 " A stately palace Tmilt of squared brick, 
 
 " Which cunningly was without mortar laid " 
 
 with Milton's Pandemonium ! 
 
 Superadded to Spenser's roughness, which the antique 
 

 INTRODUCTION. 29 
 
 style affected by him in some degree palliates, are very 
 frequent imperfect rhymes and slovenly repetitions of the 
 same identical metrical sounds, as plain, plane, and com- 
 plain, see and sea, rhyming in the same stanza liberties 
 which now are utterly inadmissible. It is very true 
 that the recurrence of four lines which rhyme together 
 and of three lines which likewise rhyme with each other in 
 each stanza makes the Spenserian stanza in a long poem 
 extraordinarily difficult, without an occasional manifesta- 
 tion of these defects ; but the exigencies of modern criti- 
 cism, I think justly, require that the difficulty be overcome. 
 And a portion, doubtless, of the superiority of modern 
 English to modern French and Italian poetry arises from 
 explosion of imperfect rhymes. If the poets of these 
 days are degenerate in grasp of thought, they are at least 
 superior to their predecessors and to their continental 
 contemporaries in the mechanism of their art. 
 
 Having said thus much of the stanza which I have 
 chosen, I shall add that, rejecting classical conformity 
 in all those matters wherein I conceive the advanced spirit 
 of the age to demand modern treatment, I have availed 
 myself largely of classical allusion, and to a certain extent 
 of classical imagery, to impart interest to a subject which 
 might otherwise smell too much of "villanous saltpetre," 
 and have in some cases adhered more closely to true 
 classical nomenclature than has hitherto been the custom. 
 I regard it as one of the advantages of the acuteness of 
 modern scholarship to have cleared away much rubbish 
 and removed many an excrescence. But the Grecian may 
 unhappily descend into the Grseculist, and by adopting 
 too much spoil every thing. Thus I conceive no good 
 effect to be produced by writing the name Pisistratus in 
 a serious work " Peisistratus," and I would not imitate in 
 

 30 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 modern poetry Homer's not at all ignobly meant comparison 
 of Aias (Ajax) to an ass any more than I would adopt the 
 word hog as applied to Achilles : oy &g elirw " he thus 
 speaking " " Hog thus speaking " would be rather offen- 
 sive to English ears. Neither would I write " Klutaimnes- 
 tra " for Clytemnestra, " Loukas" for Luke, " Dabid" for 
 David, or "Eua" for our first mother. In matters of taste, 
 like these, above all things we must observe the modus in 
 rebus. Quintilian, a master in all that relates to elegance 
 of speech, explains very well that such things must be re- 
 gulated by feeling. Speaking of the beauty of one of the 
 smallest of particles in a passage of Cicero, he says : " Cur 
 hosce potius quam hos ? Rationem fortasse non reddam ; 
 sentiam esse melius," Instit. ix. 4. "Aias" I would at 
 once reclaim from the vulgar tyranny of " Ajax," which, as 
 we pronounce it, scarcely differs from ajakes. This pronun- 
 ciation, be it observed, is purely British and German, for 
 it is nearly certain that the Latins pronounced the word 
 which they spelt Ajax quite like the Greek Aias, Ajax 
 being pronounced Aias in nearly all the languages of 
 Southern Europe at this day . In this poem, accordingly, 
 I spell the name " Aias." In the same way I restore the 
 ancient and true spelling of the name " Leonides." (Herod. 
 lib. vii. passim. Thucyd. i, 132.) Achilles I would retain 
 because more musical than " Achilleus ; " but I would 
 expunge the word " Hectoring " from our language, as 
 originating in disgraceful ignorance, because so far from 
 being a bully, Hector was a hero of the noblest and most 
 amiable character, and is so described by Homer. Helen 
 thus apostrophizes his dead body : 
 
 iro\v <j>l\ra.T 
 'AAA.' oft-rrw fffv &KOvffa Katthv CTTOS, ovS 1 tt<ri>(t>r)\ov' 
 'AAA' ftris ^e /col &\\os eVi peydpoKrii' eviirrot, 
 

 
 INTRODUCTION. 31 
 
 * (rv rJi/y fireefffft irapai(pa/j.cvos /carepu/ces, 
 T* iryavoQpoo'vvri , /cal ffois ay avals ftreea'a'i. 
 
 I. xxiv. 762. 
 
 " Hector, to my soul far dearest of all my brothers- 
 in-law ! Never from you have I heard a bad or contu- 
 melious word ; but if any other in all the household 
 reproached me, you with admonishing voice restrained 
 him with your bland humanity and gentle words." Yet 
 with gross and disgusting ignorance this high-souled hero 
 is thus slaughtered in all our dictionaries : 
 
 " HECTOR a bully, a blustering, turbulent, noisy 
 fellow ! !" 
 
 I have adopted the Homeric names in preference to 
 the common Latin forms, as Aphrodite instead of Venus, 
 Atrides for Menelaiis (where so substituted in the original) 
 for the same reasons which have influenced Archdeacon 
 Williams in the spirited prose translations which accom- 
 pany his learned Essay, " Homerus" Mr. Guest of Caius 
 College, Cambridge, in the specimen of translation of the 
 first book of Homer into hexameters which is introduced 
 into his ingenious History of English Rhythms, the 
 Translator of Homer in the late numbers of Blackwood's 
 Magazine, and the learned Voss in his hexametrical Ger- 
 man version. I have chosen the name Paris, however, 
 in place of Alexander, for the sake of clearness and appro- 
 priateness in the allusion, and to avoid confusion with the 
 better-known hero of that name. I do not know that it 
 is necessary to extend my poetical confessions on this 
 subject further. But I shall just add that in pronuncia- 
 tion I have adhered to classical quantity, wherever it could 
 be done without a sacrifice of beauty, but have unhesi- 
 tatingly departed from it in such cases as that of the word 
 " Hyperion," in which Shakspeare has fixed the accent 
 
 
 
32 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 on the antepenultimate, with so fine an effect in the way 
 of improvement on the (to merely English ears) intolerable 
 " Hyperion " which is of classical rigueur, as to have 
 induced the otherwise uncompromising Cooke, translator of 
 Hesiod, to follow his too sweetly sinning example. I hope 
 I shall not be exorcised for thus erring with Shakspeare. 
 
 The best image that I can offer of the Graeculist carver 
 of cherry-stones is such a realization of Buridan's ass sus- 
 pended between two rival and opposite bundles of hay, as 
 might be presented by a bad concocter of College exercises, 
 puzzled in an address to Prometheus to choose between the 
 heptasyllabic form " lapetionides" and the tetrasyllable 
 " Japetides," to commence his puling hexameter ! 
 
 The earliest military expedition into Spain, of which 
 there is mention amongst ancient poets or doubt amongst 
 historians, is that of Hercules, amongst whose twelve 
 labours is recorded his victory over Geryon and obtaining 
 possession of his crown. Geryon, the son of Crysaor, was 
 King of the Balearic Isles, and hence by poetical fiction he 
 was endowed with three bodies, and is commonly called 
 tricorpor, triplex, or tergeminus, and sometimes Pastor 
 Iberus. Virgil describes Hercules proceeding to the 
 conquest of Cacus from that of Geryon thus : 
 
 Nam maximus ultor, 
 
 Tergemini nece Geryonis spoliisque superbus, 
 Alcides aderat, taurosque hue victor agebat 
 Ingentes : vallemque boves amnemque tenebant. 
 
 Mn. viii. 201. 
 
 Of these Cacus stole four of the finest, and though he 
 ingeniously dragged them by the tails, was the cause of 
 his own destruction. And that was not the first time 
 that meddling with Spanish affairs was fatal to a foreign 
 robber ! Horace likewise alludes to this expedition of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 33 
 
 Hercules, in compliment to Augustus (Carm. iii. 14), 
 where he compares the victorious return of the Roman 
 from Iberia to that of Hercules " Herculis ritu." The 
 first authenticated occupation of the country was by the 
 Pho3nicians, who colonized it extensively, but according to 
 their usual practice endeavoured long to keep their disco- 
 very secret. The name of the country "Span" in the 
 Phoenician signifies " a mystery." The rivalry between 
 Rome and Carthage brought the Romans subsequently 
 to the Peninsula, and Spain since that period has played a 
 great part in the history of the world. 
 
 The warlike character of the ancient Spaniards is attested 
 by a variety of circumstances ; by the terrific struggle 
 which they maintained against the overwhelming power of 
 Rome, by their determined and unflinching resistance to 
 Hannibal as well as Scipio, by such desperately sustained 
 sieges as those of Saguntum and Numantia, by the compli- 
 mentary allusions to their valour with which the Latin 
 poets abound, and not least by the reputation of their ancient 
 armour, which was in the highest esteem at Rome in the 
 days of Julius and Augustus Caesar. Thus, when Horace 
 addresses Iccius on his change of the study of Philosophy 
 for a military life, he twits him with having promised 
 better things than to exchange his splendid library for 
 Iberian cuirasses : 
 
 Cum tu coemptos undique nobiles 
 Libros Panaeti, Socraticam et domum 
 Mutare loricis Iberis, 
 Pollicitus meliora , tendis ? 
 
 Carm. i. 29. 
 
 The metallurgic fame of Spain covers a period of 
 nearly two score centuries. It is attested by Hudibras 
 and Horace, by Le Sage and Pliny : t( Iron ores are 
 
 c 3 
 
34 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 almost everywhere found . . . there is a variety of different 
 species . . . and great difference in the forges. But the 
 greatest difference of all is the water, into which it is 
 plunged when red-hot. This glory of her iron has en- 
 nobled certain places, as Bilbilis in Spain," lib. xxxiv. cap. 
 14. Pliny here alludes to the town now known as Bilbao, 
 which retained its reputation for sword- blades, like Toledo, 
 down to a recent period. He speaks of it as a city in Tar- 
 racon or Caritabria, corresponding with the Basque Provinces 
 of which Bilbao is one of the chief towns. How strange 
 that, after the lapse of seventeen centuries, representatives 
 from this very Bilbao should have accompanied the Asturian 
 Deputies to England to solicit a subsidy of arms from the 
 descendants of those who were such utter barbarians, when 
 the cuirasses of Cantabria were eagerly sought after by the 
 nobles of Imperial Rome ! 
 
 The Greeks called Italy "Hesperia," because it was 
 situated to the west of them, and the Romans called Spain 
 " Hesperia" equally, because it was to the west of Italy. 
 But the Latin poets, imitating the Greeks, very frequently 
 call Italy " Hesperia" also. Thus Virgil : 
 
 Est locus, Hesperiam Graii cognomine dicunt. 
 
 i. 534. 
 
 Macrobius prefers deriving the origin of the name, as applied 
 to Italy, from its western situation, to the fact of its being 
 chosen by Hesperus for his residence, when he was expelled 
 by his brother Atlas : " Italy is called Hesperia, because 
 it lies to the west." (Macrob. Saturn, lib. i. cap. 3.) 
 
 Horace, when he applies the name to Spain, distinguishes 
 the latter country by the addition of the word " ultima," 
 thus : 
 
 Qui nunc Hesperia sospes ab ultima 
 Caris multa sodalibus, &c. Carm. i. 36. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 35 
 
 Strabo, lib. i. seems to derive the name from situation, 
 where he describes the Spaniards as the most western 
 nation, " paXiara tmrfpiot." And both he and Pliny state 
 that Hispania was likewise called Iberia, either from a king 
 of that name or from the river Iberus (Ebro). 
 
 Iberia, though the name by which, after Hispania, 
 Spain was most commonly known to the Latins was, by a 
 confusion not very complimentary to their geographical 
 accuracy, likewise the name of a region in Asia Minor. 
 It was a tract in Pontus separated from Colchis by the 
 Moschic mountains, and corresponds with the modern 
 Georgia : 
 
 Herbasque, quas lolcos atque Iberia 
 Mittit venenorum ferax. Horat. Epod. 5. 
 
 The names " Hesperia " and " Iberia " are found together 
 in the same stanza of Camoens as applied to the Peninsula, 
 yet with some vague attempt to confine the latter name to 
 the Spanish portion exclusively : 
 
 " Nome em annas ditoso, em noss' Hesperia, 
 ***** 
 
 Senao quizera ir ver a terra Iberia." 
 
 Lus. iv. 54. 
 
 Both names are properly applicable to the entire Peninsula, 
 including Spain and Portugal, the second epithet, modified 
 by the prefix Celto into " Celtiberia," being the ancient 
 name of Aragon and Catalonia, and Iliberia that of 
 Granada. The name Iberia as applied to Spain is found 
 in Virgil, Mn. ix. 582 : 
 
 Pictus acu chlamydem, et ferrugine clarus Ibera, 
 
 and under this name the country is described elaborately by 
 Avienus (P. C. 380). 
 
 Quamque suis opibus cumulavit Iberia dives, &c. 
 

 
 36 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Ausonius (also P. C. 380) makes use of both the names 
 " Hispania" and " Iberia :" 
 
 His Hispanus ager tellus ubi dives Iberum. 
 
 Juvenal (P. C. 120) uses the name "Hispania" as the. 
 distinctive appellation of the country, which became better 
 and more perilously known in his time than in the days 
 of Horace and Virgil : ^ 
 
 Horrida vitanda est Hispania. 
 
 Sat. viii. 116. 
 
 There is classical authority for a happy variety of names 
 in describing Spain "Hesperia," "Iberia," "Hispania:" 
 
 Turn sibi Callaico Brutus cognomen in hoste 
 Fecit, et Hispanam sanguine tinxit humum. 
 
 Ov. Fast. vi. 461. 
 
 Herculis ritu, mod5 dictus, 6 plebs, 
 Morte venalem petiisse laurum 
 Ca3sar, Hispana repetit Penates 
 Victor ab ora 
 
 Horat. Carm. iii. 14. 
 
 Spain was anciently divided into Hispania Ulterior and 
 Citerior. The former comprehended Bsetica, the present 
 Andalucia, and Lusitania nearly corresponding to what is 
 now called Portugal. Hispania Citerior comprised all the 
 rest of the Peninsula, The name "Hesperia" was more 
 commonly applied by the ancient poets to the Italian 
 Peninsula than to the Spanish. Thus Virgil (in addition 
 to the passage above cited) : 
 
 Et ssepe Hesperiam, saepe Itala regna vocare. * * 
 Sed quis ad Hesperise ventures littora Teucros 
 Crederet ? Mn. iii. 185. 
 
 The preponderance of authority is clearly in favour of 
 designating Spain as "Iberia" or "Hispania," and gene- 
 rally confining "Hesperia" to Italy. Ovid has a very 
 
INTRODUCTION. 37 
 
 charming nymph named Hesperie, no connection, however, 
 of the Hesperides, of whom the most famous was that 
 Arethusa whose fountain-streamlet is so celebrated, and 
 whose enchanting name has been tastefully introduced into 
 the nomenclature of the British Navy, Ovid's Hesperie, 
 the daughter of Cebrenis, was loved and persecuted by the 
 Trojan hero ^Esacos, whose discovery of her is thus exqui- 
 sitely described : 
 
 Aspicit Hesperien patria Cebrenida ripa, 
 Injectos humeris siccantem sole capillos. 
 Visa fugit Nymphe ! Ov. Met. xi. 769. 
 
 A very amusing and somewhat malicious mistake was 
 recently witnessed at one of our English Universities. A 
 prize was offered for a composition on " Hesperice mala 
 luctuoste." Spain was manifestly intended. But the wags 
 spreading all manner of doubts and difficulties, the "Dons" 
 were obliged to come out with a public notice, intimating 
 that " the gentlemen had better confine themselves to the 
 Spanish Peninsula !" 
 
 Cantabria, which is the scene of this poem, was likewise 
 the scene of some of Augustus's victories. His policy 
 seems to have been here as successful as his generalship. 
 " Domuit autem, partim ductu, partim auspiciis suis Can- 
 tabriam." (Sueton. cap. 20.) But the Cantabrians, then as 
 now unformed for subjugation, rebelled again the moment 
 Augustus returned to Rome. Augustus, however, paid 
 them a second visit, and appears to have quieted them in 
 Roman fashion, this being the last of his warlike exploits : 
 " Hie finis Augusto bellicorum certaminum fuit : idem 
 rebellandi finis Hispanise." (Luc. Flor. lib. iv. c. 12.) 
 
 It was the proud distinction of the Cantabrian in the 
 ancient world to be indomitable, a character very signifi- 
 cantly assigned to him in Horace's well known line : 
 
38 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Cantabrum indoctum juga ferre nostra. 
 
 Carm. ii. 6. 
 
 In a later ode Horace commemorates the subjugation of 
 the Cantabrians, but it was only momentary, and the diffi- 
 culty with which it was effected is acknowledged by the 
 poet himself : 
 
 Servit HispanaB vetus hostis orae 
 Cantaber, sera domitus catena. 
 
 These are splendid tributes to the valour which resisted 
 the then irresistible Roman power. The Cantabrian 
 strength was broken, and they were temporarily subjected 
 by Agrippa (Sueton. Octav. c. 20), but it was only to rise 
 again the moment they had recovered their shattered 
 forces. 
 
 Cantabria corresponded (as already observed) with the 
 modern Basque Provinces, and gave with the neighbour- 
 ing Asturia more trouble to the Romans than all the rest 
 of Spain, the mountainous character of the country aiding 
 them in that resistance to which they were prompted 
 by the hardy mountaineer's character, and by his inherent 
 love of 
 
 The mountain-nymph, sweet Liberty ! 
 
 "Two most powerful nations (says Florus, lib. iv. cap. 12), 
 the Cantabri and the Astures, were still free from the 
 Imperial sway. The determination of the Cantabrians was 
 pejor (so the proud Roman calls it) and loftier, and more 
 pertinacious in rebellion, for not content with defending 
 their own liberty, they sought even to control their neigh- 
 bours, . . Beaten at last, they retired to the lofty mountain 
 Vinnius, to which they deemed that the Ocean would 
 ascend before the Roman arms. ... But he in person 
 drew them from these mountains, and reduced them beneath 
 
INTRODUCTION. 39 
 
 the crown by right of war." Flonis is here describing the 
 last expedition against the Cantabrians in the reign of Au- 
 gustus, of which Agrippa was commander. Suetonius 
 gives the same narrative in substance in Octav. cap. xx., 
 and Strabo, lib. iii. Silius Italicus pays even a still 
 greater tribute to the indomitable spirit of the Cantabrians : 
 
 Cantaber ante omnes hyemisque, sestusque, famisque 
 Invictus. 
 
 Horace in that variety of refined flattery, with whose 
 incense he knew how to intoxicate Augustus, returns fre- 
 quently to his Cantabrian wars, and while his object is to 
 praise the Roman pays unceasing tributes to Spanish 
 valour. Thus : 
 
 Te Cantaber non ante domabilis 
 Miratur, 6 tutela praesens 
 
 Italiae dominaeque Roma3 ! Carm. iv. 14. 
 
 Again, commemorating the triumph of Agrippa under Au- 
 gustus, in the year U. C. 733 : 
 
 Cantaber Agrippa?, Claudi virtute Neronis 
 Armenius cecidit. Epist. i. 12. 
 
 Agrippa was not the only one of Augustus's generals, who 
 was despatched to the conquest of Cantabria, and with 
 dubious success. Lucius ^Emilius had before failed in the 
 attempt. 
 
 It is curious enough that the Britons, the Gauls, and the 
 Spaniards are alluded to by name, and in the exact order 
 of their greatness, in three successive lines of an ode of 
 Horace : 
 
 Te belluosus qui remotis 
 
 Obstrepit Oceanus Britannia, 
 Te non paventis funera Galliae, 
 Durseque tellus audit Iberiae. 
 
 Carm. iv. 14. 
 
40 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Singular approximation of nations whose struggles in the 
 Peninsular War were to make so famous near twenty cen- 
 turies later ! 
 
 In the Peninsula I do not expect much appreciation, 
 where even amongst those who palaver English, English 
 poetry is not at all understood, and where once a litterateur, 
 expressing his sham admiration of Shakspeare, spoke to me 
 of " Macabets as one progidy of a tradegy!" I am not 
 prepared to sacrifice to an ambition which nothing but 
 undue praise could conciliate, and I shall be satisfied with 
 the approval of my own countrymen, if I can only have the 
 good fortune to secure it. 
 
 Corunna, September, 1846. 
 
IBERIA WON 
 
 IN TWELVE CANTOS. 
 
IBERIA WON. 
 
 Canto 3L 
 i. 
 
 ON San Sebastian's towering castle wall, 
 What fiery meteor crowns the brow of night ? 
 Its gathering splendour glows majestical 
 'Gainst darkling skies a diadem of light I 
 It grows amain upon the dazzled sight, 
 While to their posts the amazed Jbesiegers run ; 
 The eternal stars an instant beam less bright, 
 As startled by another burning sun, 
 Which now distincter bears the name " Napoleon !" 
 
 ii. 
 
 For Gaul's imperial master shines that flame, 
 And quivering flouts the Angliberian host ; 
 Effulgent skies enthrone his mighty name 
 His fortress stands impregnable, the boast ! 
 This, this his birthday, this the fearless post 
 Where England's strength shall fail again, again, 
 For warriors fresh have poured along the coast ; 
 And though the siege hath cost a thousand men, 
 No hostile foot shall dare profane that lion's den ! 
 
44 IBERIA WON. [CANTO i. 
 
 in. 
 
 Great Arthur smiled, and calm the work went on ; 
 Bartolomeo's heights were strengthened well, 
 The trenches deepened ere the night was gone ; 
 Antigua's rocks with thunder bristling tell 
 The bold besieged how other bosoms swell 
 With warlike pride that pants for battle's hour ; 
 And comes the ponderous train of cannon fell 
 To try the strength of bastion, scarp, and tower, 
 And bid the boastful Gaul beware Britannia's power! 
 
 IV. 
 
 Say, is, not death then terrible enough, 
 Ye Captains fierce, but ye must point his dart ? 
 Is man not made of perishable stuff, 
 But ye must wing new shafts to pierce his heart ? 
 Say, is not famine, pestilence, the smart 
 Of dire disease and suffering, toil and wo 
 Enough, but Nature's pangs must be by Art 
 Deep multiplied till tears like Ocean flow, 
 And shattering death-bolts fly, lest Death arrive too slow ? 
 
 v. 
 
 Genius of Liberty, inspire my song ! 
 For thou alone canst consecrate the strife, 
 That bids surcease the despot sway of Wrong, 
 And Man prefer thy dignity to Life 
 Without thee, War proclaiming " to the knife " 
 'Gainst Tyrants. May the strain I feebly raise, 
 Like the Caystrian bird's with death-notes rife, 
 Tune every human organ to thy praise, 
 And curb War's eagles, save to blast Oppression's gaze ! 
 
CANTO I.] IBERIA WON. 45 
 
 VI. 
 
 On Mont' Orgullo Mota's fortress-crown 
 Seems like defiant Pride from high to smile, 
 Poised on her lofty cone, while far adown 
 Blue Ocean bathes her feet and guards the while ; 
 And southward Santa Clara's rocky isle 
 Stands like a Cyclop to defend the wall. 
 War's stern munitions heaped in many a pile 
 The ramparts strew, prepared the foe to gall- 
 Yet deeply now 'tis sworn, shall San Sebastian fall ! 
 
 VII. 
 
 The Chofre hills with giant carronades 
 Are horror-crested. Far on either side 
 Swift Urumea, while the twilight fades, 
 Are armed the enormous batteries deep and wide. 
 And opens now like thunder to deride 
 Yon beacon light the loud artillery's roar, 
 With fire and smoke that seem to Hell allied, 
 Makes wall and castle reel and tremble sore, 
 And shakes the affrighted wave that foams along the shore! 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Dire straits of War ! The crystal stream of Life 
 Is now cut off from San Sebastian's ground ; 
 Where water flowed, an aliment of strife 
 The withering Genius of Destruction found. 
 Oh, fatal skill ! Sulphureous heaps abound 
 Within the tube that from Ernani's hills 
 Brought Life, yet soon will scatter Death around. 
 Though lymph, Pyrene, all thy crags distil, 
 For San Sebastian vain is every mountain rill. 
 
46 IBERIA WON. [CANTO i. 
 
 IX. 
 
 But, hark the voice of cannon from within ! 
 'Tis raised in joy, a Royal salvo peals. 
 What new discovery marks that potent din, 
 Which speaks in thunder that the assailant feels 
 Bolts with each flash ? For joy the Norman kneels. 
 Where Mota's rock above the wave doth frown, 
 A living fount its bubbling stream reveals, 
 More prized than diamonds on Regal crown. 
 The stream is hoarded well its flow supplies the town. 
 
 x. 
 
 A moment pause the batteries now, while flag 
 Of truce and summons of surrender due 
 Approach the wall, nor long before it lag, 
 For soon in Rey a noble foeman knew 
 The English arms as he in England too. 
 No paltering there ! Redoubled every post ; 
 More resolute his wing'd defiance flew, 
 In fiery tempest 'gainst the leaguering host ; 
 And scorning even to read the summons was his boast. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Well answered ! Where the river widest swells 
 'Neath rapid Ocean's amorous embrace, 
 And on the Sierra swung the Convent bells 
 For matin-lauds and vesper-song of grace, 
 The howitzer ascends that holy place, 
 And from the belfry vomits forth its fire ; 
 From cloisters dim whose cowls the shakos chase 
 The stabled charger bids the monk retire, 
 And tell his beads apart till pass War's tempest dire. 
 
CANTO I.] IBERIA WON. 47 
 
 XII. 
 
 Now Mont' Orgullo vaunting Pride doth shew 
 Less proudly throned, for climb Olia's side 
 The straining oxen, dragging upward slow, 
 With starting eye-ball and hoof opening wide, 
 Cannon and mortar o'er the foaming tide 
 Terrific hung. And Man the work completes, 
 Where fail the labouring beasts, till e'en Mount Pride 
 O'ercrested now from far defiance meets ; 
 And from the Mirador who gazeth slaughter greets ! 
 
 XIII. 
 
 The booming salvo hurls its ceaseless shower, 
 Saint John's huge bastion slowly crumbling falls, 
 Destruction seizes many a stately tower, 
 And totter to their base Tirynthian walls 
 Beneath the fury of resistless balls, 
 From circling orchards heaved by Britain's sons ; 
 And snake-like trench advancing swift appals 
 The garrison, as o'er the isthmus runs 
 The deadly sapper's stroke that like an earthquake stuns. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 And sally forth the warlike sons of France, 
 
 As prisoned lions vainly lash the bar, 
 
 To foil the miner in his bold advance, 
 
 And rages on the isthmus fiercest war ; 
 
 Full many a shrapnell shell doth strew afar 
 
 Its withering shower of lead in thickest hail. 
 
 But what can like the British bayonet mar 
 
 Thy prowess, France ? Before 't the sally ers quail, 
 
 And fly like scattered hawks flung headlong on the gale. 
 c 1 2i 
 
 
48 IBERIA WON. [CANTO i, 
 
 XV. 
 
 With glancing steel upon the trenches' edge 
 Confronted Cameron the advancing host ; 
 And swift retired before that gleaming wedge 
 The light-limbed chasseur, battling Gallia's boast. 
 And, rough fascine and earth-piled gabion most 
 The ground demanding, rose the isthmus o'er 
 Banquette and parapet, the foremost post 
 Of war for those who sap and mine explore, 
 And lithe artilleryman and lynx-eyed cac,adore. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 And now the isthmus boasts its battery too ; 
 At shortest range 'tis thundering 'gainst the wall. 
 Saint John protect thy bastion, or 'twill rue ; 
 Sebastian, guard thy castle, or 'twill fall ! 
 And lo, where shells ascending vertical, 
 Like iron disc by surest player cast, 
 Unerring light the townsmen to appal, 
 And, scattering hundred deaths, with ruin blast 
 The region doomed where'er that tempest dire hath past. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 See many a bark that swan-like floats the tide 
 Steal rapid round the fair Cantabrian shore. 
 Daughters of luxury, your frail heads hide ! 
 'Tis women's arms that ply the lusty oar 
 That hostile castle's bristling wall before. 
 A patriot impulse bids them proudly dare 
 (Was never seen the like !) the batteries' roar, 
 Their fruits and wine with the besiegers share, 
 And bless the arms upraised to guard Iberia fair ! 
 
CANTO I.] IRERIA WON. 49 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Isaro's sunlit isle her dark-eyed maids 
 Sends laden with the grape's delicious bloom ; 
 Guernica from its close embowering shades 
 Sends clustered muscatel whose globes illume 
 Bright tints of amber. Ondarroa's gloom 
 Of arched boughs gives golden apples forth, 
 Fair as on Hesperus' dragon drew the doom ; 
 Ripe Ceres' gifts of Deba prove the worth ; 
 And bland Zumaya opes her garden of the north. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Brown nuts and almonds from Cestona's groves, 
 Soft melons come from Castro's silvery streams ; 
 The small black olive that the mountain loves 
 From Orrio's hills 'mid peach and nectarine gleams. 
 Palencia sends her wine which most esteems 
 The midnight watcher on the tented field, 
 With blissful thoughts to stimulate his dreams 
 When, the watch ended, soon his eyes are sealed 
 By Heaven's physician, sleep, and all his sorrows healed. 
 
 xx. 
 
 Bermeo's vines of green most tender send 
 Black clusters soft with purple bloom bespread ; 
 And where her gnarled and twisted fig-trees bend 
 'Neath load of luscious fruit their dark green head, 
 The gathered treasure for a feast is shed. 
 The quince sweet-flavoured, and the juicy gourd, 
 The beautiful love-apple coral-red, 
 And curd-white cheese (an Arcady restored) 
 For Valour's sons they bring to spread the ambrosial board. 
 
50 IBERIA WON. [CANTO i, 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Bright-eyed Biscayan maids, as shapely tall 
 As Atlas' daughter in her sun-lit isle 
 Led in the dance through flowery vale and knoll, 
 Mother of streams while Tethys fair the while 
 The chorus blest with an approving smile. 
 The lively movements of the Vascon race, 
 The Tartar glance, the ringing laugh where guile 
 Ne'er enters, brown yet blooming .charms of face, 
 And teeth of dazzling lustre lend uncommon grace. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Their hair dark shining shamed the raven's wing, 
 In tresses long their shoulders floating down, 
 With ribands gay confined or silken string, 
 Or slight embroidered veil the head to crown. 
 Of gold and pearl some covet the renown, 
 Pendent from prettiest ears ; with coral some 
 Their necks encircle. Camisoles each gown 
 Surmount, gallooned with silk or silver from 
 Shoulder to waist so fair that Envy's self is dumb. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 'Twas thus the Basque barqueras, happiest race, 
 Like their Cantabrian mothers rowed along ; 
 A nymph-republic from whose dwelling-place 
 Both man and dame excludes the Nereid throng, 
 True to their Ocean-sire, as Dian strong. 
 Two row each bark, and one Dorina steers 
 'Neath fluttering banderoles, and oft with song 
 They tune their oars, or dance with merry cheers 
 Zorcicos, while Basque drum and timbrel greet the ears. 
 
CANTO I.] IBERIA WON. 51 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 And oft, through summertide, some sheltered cove 
 On fair Biscaya's coast these Nereids sought 
 To cool their lovely limbs, while far above 
 A sister-sentinel their safety wrought, 
 With eyes whose jealousy was still uncaught. 
 And through the crystal waters joyously 
 Spinning, like ivory, charms surpassing thought, 
 They plunged and sported, laughing wild with glee, 
 And swam with matchless skill their element the sea. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 And, robed again, full oft the Nymphs advanced 
 'Neath dewy eve in beauteous double file, 
 And boundingly the gay Zorcico danced, 
 With shouldered oars and frolic feet, the while 
 Basque drum and tamborine and Ocean's smile 
 Make mirthful holiday. Now high they leap, 
 With mazy figure now the sense beguile, 
 Now cross their clattering blades as in the deep, 
 And laugh, dance, sing methinks, 'tis better thus than 
 weep. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Nor vigilance secures that lovely coast, 
 Nor danger's tremulous excitements flee, 
 For Gaul her cruisers and her armed host 
 From fair Santona pours along the sea ; 
 And even Columbian rovers, far too free 
 To curb the lust of plunder, hovering there 
 Indifferent whether Spain's or England's be 
 The rifled flag like vultures foul prepare 
 On battle's skirt to fall, and aidless stragglers tear. 
 
 D2 
 
52 IBERIA WON. [CANTO i. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 For years had past since great Britannia's hand 
 Made Earth and Ocean feel her trident stroke ; 
 And Trafalgar and San Vicente, fanned 
 By Victory's wing, no present terrors woke ; 
 Nor o'er the Deep her voice in thunder spoke, 
 Since feeble councils numbed at home the arms, 
 Which even thus paralysed Gaul's legions broke ; 
 And but that patriot zeal the virgin warms, 
 Had Famine crushed our men more dire than War's 
 alarms. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Yet nought could baffle England's Chieftain-shield, 
 Who drove the Invader to Pyrene's foot, 
 With thunder-shock on many a battle-field, 
 While Spain with aidful arm the foeman smote. 
 Oh, glorious rivalship ! where late each throat 
 Was hostile grasped, now rank with rank contending, 
 Now side by side, the Armada's strife forgot, 
 Gibraltar's griefs, Saint Vincent's memory rending 
 Against the general foe in War's proud union blending. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Heroic brotherhood ! Mark o'er all her soil 
 Where Spain's Partidas like Cadmean seed 
 Spring armed and terrible to make War's toil 
 Ubiquitous, the foe unceasing bleed ; 
 Till, like bull gored and vanquished, he recede, 
 While Mina and the Empecinado hang 
 Upon his flanks, and give the Invader's meed 
 In death from every crag where Tell-like sprang 
 The Guerrillero forth, whose loud trabuco rang. 
 
CANTO I.] IBERIA WON. S3 
 
 XXX. 
 
 The carcase of a rotten State may fall 
 Corrupt asunder, life-blood e'en diseased ; 
 Head, body, members vile contagion's thrall, 
 By gore-stained hands Religion's emblems seized 
 But Nations ne'er yet died when Tyrants pleased ! 
 Yea, lives for aye the spirit and the soul 
 Invincible, howe'er by despots teased ; 
 And let Injustice sting, Invasion roll, 
 The sudden counter-shock will shake the distant Pole ! 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 And quakes the stern invading Tyrant now, 
 Whose legions to the frontier back are driven ; 
 For even Pyrene's rocky margins bow 
 Before the giant march, with fetters riven, 
 Of Freedom's phalanx marshalled on by Heaven! 
 Rey, on thine arm an Empire's fate depends. 
 To San Sebastian haply now is given 
 The fortress key their swelling strength that bends. 
 France jealous eyes thee ! Rey his post full well defends. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 From Guetaria see where vulture-eyed 
 That scowling band of Franks perforce retires, 
 And turns their chief in demon triumph joyed 
 To mark the scene where, Gaul, thy pride expires. 
 Sudden explode terrific blasting fires, 
 And swift the fortress-ruins blot the skies 
 With matrons, virgins, babes, and aged sires, 
 Rent by the train the ruffian, as he flies, 
 Hath left alight to fierce Revenge a sacrifice. 
 
54 
 
 IBERIA WON. 
 
 [CANTO 
 
 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Shudder, thou worm that point* st thy petty sting ; 
 A breath may quench both thee and all thy line ! 
 Fly, passion, hate, 'neath Mercy's sheltering wing 
 Hath not the Lord declared : " Revenge is mine ?" 
 Reptile, dost Him defy ? Not thus will shine 
 Thy courage when, at dissolution's hour, 
 The more thou scornest now the more thou' It whine, 
 And feel no weed that deems itself a flower 
 So mean as man who dares to brave the Almighty's power! 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 From Haya's crest of rough and broken crag 
 A darkling thunder-storm came grandly down. 
 From peak to peak, while gathering rain-drops lag, 
 The fiery demon leaps, from chasm to crown 
 Terrific dance ! then hides *neath blackest frown, 
 Whose pall o'erspreads the sky ; low growls at times, 
 Then volleying roars while floods the welkin drown. 
 Andaye took up the song of mountain-climes, 
 And Jaizquibel gave back the sound with thunder-chimes! 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 San Marcial echoes it with savage pride, 
 The Grand Monarque rebellows it with zeal. 
 Then, when the monsters huge had shook each side 
 With giant laughter, of which every peal 
 Is thunder that can make the despot feel, 
 And waked Pyrene o'er his widest span, 
 While peak to peak replied, and torrents reel 
 With that rejoicing music, as it ran, 
 That spake their savage strength in terror's tones to man, 
 
CANTO I.] IBERIA WON. 55 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 Dark muffled thus they slept. Yet even in dreams, 
 Such dreams as mountain-spirits give to birth, 
 The thunderous memory lives. Low muttering seems 
 To sullen tell how baleful was that mirth, 
 Whose very faintest echo shook the earth, 
 Gigantic ! Downward gathering comes the storm 
 O'er Haya's flank and Oyarzuno's girth 
 By crag and deep ravine, till lightning warm 
 With wind and rain it falls o'er Urumea's form. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 And 'mid the thickest of the storm behold 
 Where scud Cantabria's daughters through the tide, 
 The death-rain from the rampart fronting bold, 
 And bear to Britain's sons, Hesperia's pride, 
 The tribute of support for arms allied. 
 Now brighter beams each eye, and heroes wear 
 Unwonted blushes warrior cheeks to hide, 
 And feel thrice-nerved their arms by Beauty rare, 
 Their spirits bounding high : on Valour smiles the fair ! 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 Amongst these maids the beauteous Blanca stood, 
 Pride of the ocean-beat Biscayan coast ; 
 A laughing damsel gay yet angel-good, 
 Light-haired, blue-eyed, in Spain no vulgar boast, 
 Where black-eyed maidens are a countless host. 
 With mirth so radiant was her spirit free, 
 That all she gladdened melting roughest frost : 
 Like her none danced Bolera or Ole, 
 And none could featly touch the light guitar as she. 
 
56 IBERIA WON. [CANTO t. 
 
 xxxix. 
 
 Her auburn hair in clustering curls around 
 Her sunny face now shrouded, now revealed 
 Its beauties, waving with each fairy bound ; 
 Her peachy cheek now glancing, now concealed. 
 Her eye the wound it gave next instant healed, 
 So bright yet soft, so keen yet melting tender. 
 A sweetness inexpressible made yield 
 All hearts : ripe lips, and teeth of pearly splendour, 
 Made Nature's task in vain another charm to lend her. 
 
 XL. 
 
 No coif encircling bound her beauteous head, 
 No silken net her tresses rich confined, 
 To mar the lustre which her glances shed ; 
 But ribands plain its wild luxuriance bind. 
 She wore no jewels : streamed upon the wind 
 A gauzy veil, with flowers of golden sheen 
 Embroidered, floating gracefully behind, 
 Her only ornament yet form and mien 
 Proclaimed her thus attired 'mongst hundred maids the 
 queen. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 Her xaquetilla, to the shape most lithe, 
 Was of cerulean velvet, room supplying 
 For her full bosom's play, when free and blithe 
 She plied the oar, yet to her form close lying, 
 Which no compression needed, art defying. 
 Two billows heaved within, as on the tide 
 She mastered, with its foam in whiteness vying ; 
 And from her ears to every turn of pride 
 Two tiniest silver bells with tinklings sweet replied. 
 
CANTO I.] IBERIA WON. 57 
 
 XLII. 
 
 So fair the maid in infancy had been, 
 That San Sebastian chose her then to bear 
 A cherub's wings amid the festal scene 
 Her warrior-patron's day that honours there. 
 And with her foster-sister not less fair, 
 The noble Isidora, hand in hand, 
 Oft walked she thus in childhood beauteous pair ! 
 Though tender still their loves apart they stand, 
 For San Sebastian's siege the approach of Blanca banned. 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 She was the leader of the virgin group, 
 The Delia of that race of shallops gay ; 
 And vigorous-handed to the oar could stoop, 
 When gales tempestuous tost the stormy Bay. 
 For high the spirit of that lightsome fay, 
 And bold as Manuela's self, the Maid 
 Of Zaragoza, she could guide the fray, 
 The French marauders menaced undismayed, 
 And oft her wild guitar thus prompted to the raid : 
 
 QLfy J^panfef) ^omj of 
 
 1. 
 Let the brave, let the brave fill the battered 
 
 War-chalice, fair Freedom, to thee ; 
 On the slave, on the slave be it shattered, 
 
 Unless the slave pant to be free ! 
 In glory, in glory we'll perish, 
 
 Ere tyrants shall wither our plains. 
 This nectar, this nectar shall cherish 
 
 No dastard who spurns not his chains ! 
 
 D3 
 
58 IBERIA WON. [CANTO i. 
 
 Let the brave, let the hrave fill the battered 
 
 War-chalice, fair Freedom, to thee ; 
 On the slave, on the slave be it shattered, 
 Unless the slave pant to be free ! 
 Libertad, libertad sacrosanta ! 
 
 Were death in the depths of the flask, 
 Libertad, libertad mi encanta, 
 
 We'll drain it to " Free be the Basque !" 
 
 2. 
 For our homes, for our homes and our altars, 
 
 For our wives and our children we fight ; 
 We but scoff at their dungeons and halters, 
 
 As bursts Freedom's sun into light ! 
 While our rights, while our rights we are seeking, 
 
 Great Power ! 'tis thy will we maintain ; 
 Though our swords, though our swords may be reeking 
 
 With blood, 'tis in rending the chain ! 
 Let the brave, let the brave fill the battered 
 
 War-chalice, fair Freedom, to thee ; 
 On the slave, on the slave be it shattered, 
 Unless the slave pant to be free ! 
 Libertad, libertad sacrosanta ! 
 
 Were death in the goblet we drain, 
 Libertad los tiranos espanta, 
 
 We'll pledge to the freedom of Spain ! 
 
59 
 
 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 
 TO CANTO I. 
 
 IN August, 1813, as the preparations for the renewed siege of San 
 Sebastian were advancing, the besieged demonstrated their confi- 
 dence by celebrating the Emperor's birthday with a splendid illumi- 
 nation. The castle, upon whose crest it was exhibited, is seen 
 from a great distance ; and the besiegers could plainly read the 
 letters of fire in which the name of Napoleon was written 
 high in air. 
 
 The incidents of the siege I have derived chiefly from Napier's 
 History of the War in the Peninsula, book xxii. chapters 1 and 2, 
 and from Jones's Journals of Peninsular Sieges. The topography 
 of San Sebastian will be found sufficiently illustrated in either of 
 those works. 
 
 The small castle of La Mota is most picturesquely situated like a 
 crown on the conical hill of Monte Orgullo, which rising imme- 
 diately behind the town westward, is nearly four hundred feet 
 high, and washed by the sea. " The Hill has a broad base of 400 
 by 600 feet, and is crowned by fort La Mota." Jones, Journal of 
 Peninsular Sieges, vol. ii. 
 
 General Jones's description of cutting off the aqueduct, and 
 converting it into a globe of compression, is thus prosaic but 
 practical and deadly : " The parallel crost a drain level with the 
 ground, 4 feet high, and 3 feet wide, through which ran a pipe to 
 convey water into the town. Lieut. Reid ventured to explore it, and 
 at the end of 230 yards, he found it closed by a door in the coun- 
 terscarp, opposite to the face of the right demi-bastion of the 
 horn work : as the ditch was narrow, it was thought that by forming 
 a mine, the explosion would throw earth sufficient against the 
 escarpe, only 24 feet high, to form a road over it : eight feet at the 
 
60 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 end of the aqueduct was therefore stopped with filled sand bags, 
 and 30 barrels of powder of 90 Ib. each, lodged against it, and a 
 saucisson led to the mouth of the drain." Journals of the Sieges 
 undertaken by the Allies in Spain, Supplementary Chapter. The 
 aqueduct had been cut off at the commencement of the siege by 
 the Spanish general, Mendizabal. " It was formed into a globe of 
 compression designed to blow, as through a tube, so much rubbish 
 over the counterscarp as might fill the narrow ditch." Napier, Hist. 
 book xxi. c. 3. This plan was subsequently realized, and with 
 complete success, " creating" says Jones " much astonishment in 
 the enemy," at the period of the first assault, which took place on 
 the 25th July, five weeks before the second and memorable 
 storming. I have transferred the incident to the latter part of 
 the siege. 
 
 The incident of the discovery of the spring upon Monte Orgullo 
 after the cutting off of the aqueduct, but for which fortunate acci- 
 dent the town would have been probably forced to surrender much 
 sooner, was communicated to me by an officer who was present at 
 the siege. It was found about half way up the cliff where it over- 
 hangs the ocean, and surrounded by masonry is carefully preserved 
 to the' present day. The water is excellent, and the flow abundant. 
 There were not wanting French partisans at the time, especially 
 amongst the elderly female residents in San Sebastian, who be- 
 lieved the discovery of this spring to be miraculous ! 
 
 When Marshal Berwick attacked San Sebastian in 1719, he 
 threw up batteries on the same Chofre hills where the Allies now 
 planted theirs. He then pushed his approaches along the isthmus, 
 and established himself on the covered-way of the land front. As 
 soon as the breach was practicable, the governor capitulated. But 
 the present governor, Key, was made of different stuff. Capitula- 
 tion was the last thing that he thought of, and Napoleon's instruc- 
 tions to the defenders of besieged towns were never more terribly 
 fulfilled than by this very gallant man. " Napoleon's ordinance," 
 says Napier, " which forbade the surrender of a fortress without 
 having stood at least one assault, has been strongly censured by 
 
NOTES TO CANTO I. 61 
 
 English writers upon slender grounds. The obstinate defences 
 made by French governors in the Peninsula were the results. 
 * * It may be reasonably supposed that, as the achievements of 
 Napoleon's soldiers far exceeded the exploits of Louis (XIV.) 's 
 cringing courtiers, they possessed greater military virtues." Hist. 
 book xxii. c. 1. 
 
 The attack was in a great degree carried on from the midst of 
 "circling orchards." From the ground taken up by the besiegers 
 to Ernani, the whole country is covered with orchards. 
 
 For the costume and other particulars of the Basque barqueras, 
 or boat-girls of the Bidassoa and Urumea^ the .reader-is referred to 
 the tours of Madam 2 D'Aulnoy and M. de Bourgoing. The xaqvfr^ 
 tilla is a " little jacket " or spencer. 
 
 As reference is made to the Guerrillas in this canto, the follow- 
 ing brief sketch of the leaders may be acceptable : 
 
 Mina was a man of powerful frame and noble aspect a fine 
 specimen of Nature's nobility. He was rather tall, of portly size, 
 with fine chest and shoulders, and gigantic arms. His features 
 were more English than Spanish in their aspect, being by no means 
 dark, and their expression powerful, dignified, and heroic. There 
 is a fine portrait of him in Somerset House, London. Like almost 
 all the Guerrilleros, however, he was cruel. The French, whom 
 they cut off by their most harassing mode of warfare, were merci- 
 lessly slaughtered. Mina, who was of the common class of peasant- 
 farmers, began with a band of about twenty men whom he formed 
 from amongst his neighbours, appointing a sergeant and corporal. 
 Repeated successes and the character of the chief swelled this band 
 to 300 in number. Mina then appointed a lieutenant. The latter 
 plotted against his commander, and Mina shot him dead with a 
 pistol, after taxing him with his treason, in presence of his men. 
 The rough Spanish mountaineers liked his daring and resolute 
 character, his band swelled to a thousand, and his new lieu- 
 tenant again conspired to oust his leader. Mina had this man 
 drowned in a well. He was subsequently left unmolested in his 
 command, until his powerful genius organized and led an army. 
 
 I 
 

 62 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 At his death, which occurred about ten years since in Barcelona, he 
 was a Field Marshal, a Grande of Spain, and Vice-Roy of Navarre. 
 His widow became Aya or Governess to the present Queen of 
 Spain, Isabel, and held that post till the expulsion of Espartero. 
 Mina had a brother, Xavier Mina, who entered the regular army at 
 an early period of life, and likewise rose to the rank of Field 
 Marshal. He was treacherously shot in Mexico by Morillo. 
 
 The Empecinado was in person a still finer man than Mina, but 
 of a much less pleasing aspect. His face was stamped with savage 
 resolution and ferocity. His appearance was strictly Spanish, his 
 complexion being much darker than that of Mina. Both were 
 black-haired, but the Empecinado's was of a raven intensity of jet. 
 He was one of the strongest men in Europe, tall and square-built 
 a Hercules to the eye as well as in reality. Some nearly incred- 
 ible feats are recorded of his prodigious strength. The last of all 
 was the most worthy of note, and recals the main incident of our 
 fine old English ballad of " Adam Bell, Clym o' the Clough, and 
 William of Cloudeslie." During the fatal year of the Duke of 
 Angouleme's invasion, 1823, when so many Constitutionalists fell 
 victims to Ferdinand's gloomy ferocity, and Riego was villainously 
 butchered at Madrid, the Empecinado was seized by the myrmidons 
 of Absolutism at a village about twenty miles distant, caged and 
 tortured for three days, and at the end of that time led out for 
 execution. At the foot of the furca or gallows-tree, with one 
 effort he burst the thick cord with which his arms were bound, 
 and seized a gun from one of the soldiers near him. Had he not 
 been instantly slain, there is little doubt that with the butt-end he 
 would have slaughtered a hecatomb of the satellites of power. 
 But the whole file poured their fire into him at once, and he was 
 hung notwithstanding, though the rope was adjusted on a corpse ! 
 The Curate Merino was distinguished for bush-fighting, and a rather 
 treacherous and Parthian mode of assault, and his aspect correspon- 
 ded with his character. His influence over his comrades was 
 secured by promises of eternal happiness. 
 
 Blanca's figuring in childhood in the character of an angel is 
 
NOTES TO CANTO I. 63 
 
 thus accounted for. The feast of San Sebastian is every year a 
 great event in that ancient town. The celebration is in many 
 respects interesting, including a procession in which female children 
 chosen for their beauty take a very prominent part, bearing baskets 
 of flowers, arrows typical of the martyr's fate, and other interesting 
 emblems. Their dresses are of the richest description a little gaudy, 
 to be sure, but beneath the brilliant sky of Spain this is, perhaps, 
 excusable. They represent angels, and are provided with crowns 
 set with mock diamonds, rubies, and topazes of the largest size, 
 and with gauze wings bound round with gold or silver tissue. 
 Short skirts of the ballet class, satin shoes, and white silk stockings, 
 complete an array of splendour which excites, as may well be 
 believed, terrific admiration in their mammas and envy in all the 
 rest of the town. A chorus from time immemorial is sung to 
 celebrate their progress, of which the burthen is : 
 
 Vivan las nifias 
 De San Sebastian ! 
 
 HI. ' " Bartolomeo's heights"" Antigua's rocks." 
 
 Convents in the vicinity of San Sebastian, which were seized by the 
 besiegers and fortified. 
 
 " And comes the battering train of cannon fell." 
 Ma il Capitan, ch'espugnar mai le mura 
 Non crede senza i bellici stromenti. 
 
 Tasso, Ger. Lib. iii. 71. 
 
 v. " War proclaiming ' to the knife' 'Gainst Tyrants ! " 
 "Guerra al Cuchillo !" the celebrated proclamation of Palafox at 
 the Siege of Zaragoza. 
 
 " Like the Caystrian bird." 
 
 Quae Asia circum 
 
 Dulcibus in stagnis rimantur prata Caystri. 
 
 Virg. Georg. i. 382. 
 

 64 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 " With death-notes rife." 
 Ut olim 
 
 Carmina jam moriens canit exequialia cygnus. 
 Tabuit ; inque leves paulatim evanuit auras ! 
 
 Ovid. Met. xiv. 430. 
 
 These lines are dictated by the same feeling, which prompted 
 Cervantes's last poetical address (in anticipation of death) to the 
 great Conde de Lemos : 
 
 Puesto ya el pie en el estribo, 
 Con las ansias de la muerte, 
 Gran Sefior, esta te escribo. 
 
 x. " Soon in Key a noble foeman knew:" 
 
 The French Governor of San Sebastian. 
 xi. " 'Neath rapid Ocean's amorous embrace." 
 
 Labitur ripa, Jove non probante, 
 
 Uxorius amnis. 
 
 Horat. Carm. i. 2. 
 
 " And on the Sierra swung the Convent bells." 
 
 San Bartolomeb, 
 \ 
 " The stabled charger bids the monk retire." 
 
 Sir Thomas More commemorates the housing of cattle in churches. 
 " They stop the course of agriculture, reserving only the churches, 
 that they may lodge their sheep in them." ( Utopia, book i.) Bayle 
 has a similar story in his Dictionary of an abbot who converted his 
 church into a stable, an example which was speedily followed by 
 revolutionary France. During the French invasion of Portugal the 
 cavalry were frequently quartered in churches, and during the 
 Miguelite war in that country I have been assured that the same 
 thing was witnessed more than once, and I know of a Constitu- 
 tionalist, at present a dignified, clergyman, who upon its being found 
 that the priest was absent upon some Saint's festival, stept forward 
 himself and said mass for the assembled soldiers, booted and spurred 
 
LA- V^t* 
 
 NOTES TO CANTO I. 65 
 
 as he was and in dragoon regimentals ! I have often seen this pious 
 gentleman in Lisbon, whom the populace declare to have taken from 
 an image of the Virgin the ring which he now sports up'on his 
 finger ! 
 
 xi. " Olia's side." 
 
 The batteries of Monte Olia commanded the Castle at a distance 
 of 1,600 yards, from the north side of the Urumea, Olia and 
 -Orgullo buttressing the entrance of the river magnificently on 
 either side, and standing apart like giant ramparts. 
 
 "The Mirador." 
 
 A battery on the eastern side of Monte Orgullo. The 
 name signifies " a look out," the use to which it was formerly 
 applied. It reminded me very much of the Signal- House at 
 Gibraltar, only that I missed those sapphire and chrysolite tints 
 of the Mediterranean, which struck me so much when I saw the 
 moon rise from that elevated ground under the auspices of the 
 stalwart Sergeant MacDonald. 
 
 xni. " And totter to their base Tirynthian walls." 
 
 TipvvOd re Tfixi6f<r<rav. Horn. II. ii. 559. 
 
 Tiryns is the first walled city upon record. Its walls were 
 supposed to have been erected by the Cyclops, and the stones of 
 which they were composed were of such prodigious size, that the 
 least of them could not be moved by a pair of oxen. (Pausanias, lib. 
 ii.) The ruins subsist to the present day, and the traces are still 
 gigantic. Pindar mentions Tiryns in his Olympionics, Nemeonics, 
 and Isthmionics. These shattered remains present the earliest 
 specimen of the Cyclopean architecture. 
 
 " The deadly sappers' stroke that like an earthquake stuns." 
 
 This was the first time that sappers were employed by us in the 
 Peninsular sieges, or that a corps of sappers formed any regular 
 
66 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 portion of the British army. It was likewise the first time that 
 Shrapnell shells were used. 
 
 xiv. " But what can like the British bayonet mar 
 
 Thy prowess, France ?" 
 
 The bayonet, originally a French invention (deriving, as is well 
 known, its name from the town of Bayonne), became ultimately the 
 very instrument of French defeat for by the universal testimony 
 of military men, when wielded by British hands, the French have 
 invariably fled before it : 
 
 Neque enim lex aequior ulla, 
 Quam necis artifices arte perire sua. 
 
 Ovid, de Arte Amandi. 
 
 But it would be as grossly unjust as ungenerous to dispute the ar- 
 dour and frequent brilliancy of French courage. Upon this subject 
 the discriminating testimony of Napier is as follows : " Place an at- 
 tainable object of war before the French soldier and he will make 
 supernatural efforts to gain it, but failing he becomes proportionally 
 discouraged. Let some new chance be opened, some fresh stimulus 
 applied to his ardent, sensitive temper, and he will rush forward 
 again with unbounded energy : the fear of death never checks him, 
 he will attempt any thing. But the unrelenting vigour of the 
 British infantry in resistance wears his fury out." Hist. War in 
 the Penins. book xxiv. chap. 6. 
 
 xv. " With glancing steel upon the trenches' edge." 
 
 Wie glanzt im sonnenstrahl 
 So brautlich hell der stahl 
 
 Hurrah ! 
 Korner, Schwertlied. 
 
 How glances bride -like bright 
 The steel which sunbeams strike, 
 
 Hurrah ! 
 
NOTES TO CANTO I. 67 
 
 xvii. " See many a bark that swan-like floats the tide." 
 
 Eis mil nadantes aves pelo argento 
 Da furiosa Thetis inquieta. 
 
 Camoens, Lus. iv. 49. 
 
 " Was never seen the like !" 
 
 " It was probably the first time that an important siege was main- 
 tained by women's exertions ; the stores of the besiegers were 
 landed from boats rowed by Spanish girls !" Napier. 
 
 xix. " The small black olive that the mountain loves." 
 
 Lecta de pinguissimis 
 
 Oliva ramis arborum. Hor. Epod. ii. 
 
 xxi. As Atlas' daughter in her sunlit isle." 
 
 Calypso. 
 
 "ATAOJ/TOS Bvydrrip oXofypovos, 2<rre 6a\d<ro"ns. K. r. A. 
 
 Horn. Od. i. 52. 
 
 xxni. " Both man and dame excludes the Nereid throng." 
 - - T&J/ evyevrj 
 
 Eurip. Iph. in Taur. 273. 
 " The illustrious band of the fifty Nereids." 
 xxiv. " And swam with matchless skill their element the sea." 
 
 Nadan en su cristal ninfas bizarras, 
 Compitiendo con el candidos pechos. 
 
 Lope de Vega, Sonetos. 
 
 xxvu. " Britannia's hand 
 
 Made Earth and Ocean feel her trident stroke." 
 Vide Virg. Geor. i. 13. 
 
 " Feeble councils numbed at home the arms 
 Which even thus paralyzed Gaul's legions broke." 
 
 Under the administration of Lord Melville, the Navy of England 
 
68 NOTES TO CANTO I. 
 
 for the first time sustained disasters in battle, and ships containing 
 stores and money for the Peninsular army were suffered to be taken 
 on the passage by French and American cruisers ; while the 
 despicable absurdity was witnessed of two successive investments 
 and assaults of San Sebastian without the co-operation of a fleet. 
 
 xxvm. " Oh, glorious rivalship ! " &c. 
 
 Vide Wordsworth's " Convention of Cintra." 
 
 " Gibraltar's griefs St. Vincent's memory rending." 
 
 The memorable siege, in which the Spaniards were finally de- 
 feated on the 13th September, 1782. The battle of St. Vincent, 
 in which Jervis destroyed the Spanish fleet, 14th February, 1797. 
 
 xxix. " Spam's Partidas." 
 
 Partidas was the generic name of the partisan bands, who main- 
 tained the indomitable Guerrilla warfare against the French, and of 
 whom there were not less than 50,000 at one period in Spain. A 
 favourite weapon of these legitimate successors of the Almugavars, 
 or ancient mountaineer troops of Spain, was the trabuco, or blun- 
 derbuss. The two most famous Partida chiefs were those whose 
 names are recorded in the text. The Mina alluded to is Espoz y 
 Mina, the Scanderbeg of Spain, uncle to the Student of the same 
 name. 
 
 xxx. " But Nations ne'er yet died when Tyrants pleased ! " 
 
 The strongest proof of the inherent vitality of a Nation is that 
 Spain survived the villanies of Godoy. 
 
 xxxin. Reptile, dost Him defy ? " 
 
 Wer empfinden 
 Und sich unterwinden 
 Zu sagen : ich glaub' ihn nicht ? 
 Der Allumfasser ! 
 Der Allerhalter ! Goethe, Faust. 
 
 " Who can feel, and dare to say : 'I believe in Him not ?' the 
 All-encompasser, the All-sustainer ! " 
 
(V 
 
 
 IBERIA WON. 
 
 Canto 3BE. 
 i. 
 
 How terrible the inarch of blood-stained War ! 
 Though rank on rank his fiery breath lay low, 
 Still patriots crowd, and many a needless scar 
 And daring profitless derides the foe. 
 Oh, human passion ! Is 't but human wo 
 Thou deign' st for food, for drink the crimson tide? 
 Incarnadined Ambition ! Here bestow 
 A glance upon thy fruits, and learn to chide 
 Thy self-idolatry, thy more than fiendish pride ! 
 
 u. 
 
 Dauntless defenders! On Numantia's wall, 
 Or J mid self-fired Sagunthus' leaguered towers, 
 Defying Hannibal whose eyes appal 
 The flames of sacrifice ; or 'gainst the powers 
 Of Tarik fierce arrayed in darker hours 
 From rough Asturian mountains hurling down 
 Huge rocks whose maw the Moorish host devours, 
 While great Pelayo's form with deadly frown 
 Up Covadonga's vale comes trampling fell Mahoun ! 
 
 D 11 
 
70 IBERIA WON. [CANTO n. 
 
 in. 
 
 Or 'mid the echoing heights that girdle round 
 Fair Roncesvalles taming haughty France, 
 When Roland's horn with its tremendous sound 
 No response woke from aidful troop's advance, 
 And Paladin and Peer Bernardo's lance 
 Beneath Pyrene slaughtered ; or more late 
 At mightiest Zaragoza, where askance 
 Flew Gaul's derided death-holts winged by hate, 
 Unyielding still as here by San Sebastian's gate. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Not many moons before, Gaul's soldiery 
 Through fair Cantabria's coast licentious strayed, 
 Brought rapine to the homesteads of the free, 
 And deathless grief to many a beauteous maid ; 
 And wo unutterable cast its shade 
 Along Biscaya's lovely sunlit shore. 
 Weak natures drooped their foreheads, sore afraid, 
 But Blanca proudly lifted hers the more, 
 Anddeath to him whose hand might ruffian-dare she swore ! 
 
 v. 
 
 Not long the chance removed, not long the arm 
 
 Of withering conquest left the test untried ; 
 
 To sabred villains an unrifled charm 
 
 Were like a stigma to inhuman pride. 
 
 A gentle sister clung to Blanca' s side 
 
 One sweet May eve when fills the clustering vine ; 
 
 And 'neath the trellised porch embowering wide, 
 
 As forth their footsteps strayed from Home's sweet 
 
 shrine, 
 Two bearded French hussars forbade them pass its line. 
 
CANTO II.] IBERIA WON. 71 
 
 VI. 
 
 " What ! buxom damsels not discerned before. 
 "Where hid my Venus?" Blanca cried: "Forbear!" 
 " How now ? By Heaven, this coyness fires me more ; 
 " No dame of Normandy more beauteous fair, 
 " No Bretonne maiden binds more golden hair." 
 " Black," quoth his comrade "is of Beauty's flower 
 " For me the hue so, lovingly we'll share. 
 " Come, be a soldier's bride for half an hour." 
 He grinned both troopers laughed the maids were in 
 their power ! 
 
 VII. 
 
 This Blanca saw, nor seemed she to resist, 
 E'en smote not when the dastard seized her waist, 
 Resented nought when one her sister kist, 
 Nor frowned when his compeer herself embraced. 
 Thus lulled each fear, each dark suspicion chased, 
 They called for wine, the lawless soldier's bane. 
 O'erjoyed was Blanca, yet with eager haste 
 As poured she cup on cup which swift they drain, 
 Betrayed no joy, though fast it mounted to each brain. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Fired with the generous vintage, which gave all 
 The ruffian forth, as gives it forth the balm 
 Of nobler natures, the hussars appal 
 The maidens' breasts with many a sinking qualm. 
 Hell gleams from forth their eyes ; and burns each palm ; 
 Distended wide their satyr nostrils scare ! 
 Ye maids of England, blissful in your calm 
 Security, oh, long from you be far 
 Invasion's horrors dire, the fiendishness of War ! 
 
72 IBERIA WON. [CANTO n, 
 
 IX, 
 
 One villain seized the gentle Ana's arm, 
 And dragged her to the bowering vineyard near ; 
 With cruel irony, " lest aught of harm," 
 He said, " should chance to reach your sister dear, 
 "I'll take my carbine with me," for with fear 
 He marked the flashing wrath in Blanca's eye ; 
 Then o'er his shoulder with this parting jeer 
 He sought to rouse his comrade : " Jules, good b'ye; 
 " The dove you think you've caught may like a falcon 
 
 x. 
 
 But Jules still cried: "More wine!" And Blanca poured 
 Like Hebe for this flagrant Hercules, 
 While ever and anon she eyed his sword ; 
 But happier fate while drains he to the lees 
 Another cup, he drops his head and frees 
 His carbine with the movement. Swift as thought, 
 She lifts the weapon to the vineyard flees ; 
 The deadly tube she to a level brought, 
 When Ana's struggling arm a friendly vine-branch caught. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Unskilled her aim but stainless purity 
 Gave loftiest courage, nerving eye and hand. 
 She breathed a prayer an instant gazed on high 
 " Oh, Virgin Queen, mi madre, guardian stand ! " 
 Next instant she discharged the flaming brand. 
 Within the throb of Ana's beauteous breast 
 Flew the fleet bullet. Heaven its progress banned ; 
 And through the ravisher's hot heart it prest, 
 His fell design extinct in death's eternal rest ! 
 
CANTO II.] IBERIA WON. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Up starts the drunkard sobered by the sound, 
 And runs with hasty sabre to the scene ; 
 But Blanca dropt the carbine to the ground, 
 Which like Camilla's battleaxe, I ween, 
 The virgin bore ; and like that Yolscian queen, 
 When fiery swift her footsteps past the steed 
 Of Aunus' son, she bounded o'er the green ; 
 And, Ana's hand in her's, with matchless speed, 
 Reached the far shore, where swift her floating bark she 
 freed. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Maddened with rage quick followed the hussar, 
 But soon his footsteps checked the foaming tide. 
 Gnashed were his teeth while shot the bark afar, 
 And rung the maidens' laughter clear and wide ; 
 For greater not Penthesilea's pride, 
 Girt by her crescent-shielded Amazons 
 In war's array, whom Dian dared not chide ! 
 Full soon the joyous news like lightning runs, 
 And wins undying fame 'mongst wild Cantabria's sons. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 And ever after Blanca bore the name 
 " La Espingarda," which her daring told, 
 And gave the carbine she discharged to fame, 
 When Innocence was made by Virtue bold. 
 Oh, selfish were the breast, methinks, and cold, 
 That would not look with eye of favour there : 
 Such was the maid who led that Nereid fold, 
 Whose loud guitar, in scorn a chain to wear, 
 Called her compatriot men to guard Iberia fair. 
 E 
 
74 
 
 IBERIA WON. 
 
 [CANTO n. 
 
 xv. 
 
 Thus oft between Isaro's isle and San 
 Sebastian Blanca past with fancy free, 
 Till through her veins Love's soft infection ran, 
 And tamed her spirit of wild gaiety. 
 A gallant youth and fond did Blanca see 
 'Mongst Albion's sons who lay the town before. 
 Of all the host was braver none than he, 
 And Blanca trembled to her bosom's core 
 Beneath his eagle-glance, when love he whispered o'er. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Full many a sweet, nor yet delusive tale 
 He told the maid of mingling heart and hand, 
 And home and household gods in sweetest vale 
 Amid the glories of his Motherland, 
 Of joys that glistened 'neath Hope's faery wand, 
 And life's long course by Gnidian torches lighted, 
 Of foreheads pure by milder zephyrs fanned, 
 And England's happier clime by war unblighted. 
 His passion soon declared, their mutual vows we re plighted. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Hast thou not seen a clear and sparkling rill, 
 Upon whose ripplings joyous sunbeams quiver, 
 Flow swift, yet tranquil, from its native hill 
 Straight to the bosom of some mighty river, 
 Its separate existence lost for ever, 
 Its name, its nature, sunk in the devotion 
 Of that great confluence ? Calm as to the Giver, 
 Her life she gave, nor struggle nor commotion 
 Showed where that streamlet flowed, for ever mixed with 
 Ocean. 
 
CANTO II.] IBERIA WON. 75 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Morton the youth was named majestic tall, 
 For strength and symmetry his shape combined ; 
 Gentle as valiant, generous, loved by all ; 
 A soldier frank, pellucid was his mind, 
 His judgment sound, his bearing ever kind ; 
 To her 'twas tenderest love that hourly grew. 
 The pride that scorns unequal lots to bind 
 In wedlock deeply he contemned, nor knew 
 A thought that was not all to humbler Blanca true. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 And Morton from the maiden learnt how soon 
 Might Santa Clara's rocky isle be won, 
 Where batteries planted ere another moon 
 The siege must end, and Mota's fortress stun 
 With many a thunder- voiced o'erpowering gun ; 
 And Blanca promised to the shore to guide. 
 Swift Morton warm with warlike zeal doth run, 
 His plans unfolding to his Chief with pride, 
 And valiant Graham doth give to Morton margin wide. 
 
 xx. 
 
 Soon were his comrades chos'n, and Nial first, 
 His bosom-friend, companion oft in arms ; 
 Both of the Light Brigades, and both athirst 
 For Glory ! Nial led 'mid War's alarms 
 A file of Rifles. Danger still had charms 
 For him transcendent; young, as woman fair, 
 Slight-formed yet lion-brave his vigour warms 
 The veteran. Clothed his cheek with beauty rare, 
 Yet none in all the host so actively would dare. 
 E 2 
 
76 IBERIA WON. [CANTO ir. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 The Spaniards oft declared he was a girl 
 In male attire, till they beheld his deeds. 
 The oldest soldiers watched his looks in per'l, 
 Obeyed his slightest sign, and where he leads 
 Follow in battle though the column bleeds. 
 Yet Nial hath not reached his twentieth year ! 
 Noble and proud is every thought he feeds. 
 Such was the youth, who Morton counselling clear, 
 His plans to take the Isle arranged the trenches near. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 And as they spoke the batteries raised their voice, 
 From crowned La Mota raining shot and shell, 
 Drove through the ranks, and made the Gaul rejoice 
 With many a horrid gap that, ah, could well 
 Its tale of dire disaster silent tell ! 
 For fragments strewn of gunner and his art 
 Lay quivering round while fierce the foemen yell. 
 Dismounted gun, and shattered carriage, chart, 
 Line, linstock, bullet, corse, were tossed in every part. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 " Key's petulant to-day," quoth Nial. Straight 
 A huge artillery waggon by their side, 
 That fed our batteries, six strong horses' freight, 
 Struck by a shell, up-bounding scattered wide 
 War's provender. The missile dumb doth bide 
 A minute's pause of horrible suspense, 
 That hushed each heart, and paled the cheek of Pride ! 
 Then with explosion terrible, immense, 
 Its dire contents around were showered in ruin dense. 
 
CANTO II.] IBERIA WON. 77 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 The riders instant died three gunners more 
 Were gravely wounded. Mad with pain and fright, 
 The horses started off at gallop o'er 
 The plain, while blazed the waggon with that bright 
 Combustion. One steed wounded fell outright ; 
 And frantic with the fiery mass each bound 
 Whirled through the air the wheels themselves alight 
 They dragged both horse and waggon o'er the ground, 
 Till all was shattered 'mongst Ernani's orchards found. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Swift to the Island !" both the friends exclaim ; 
 And as night fell their boats from cove concealed 
 Beneath Antigua's convent seaward came ; 
 Full soon with muffled oars that nought revealed, 
 They lay 'neath Santa Clara's rocky field ; 
 And Blanca in the crag disclosed a cleft, 
 Where straight they land. But loud the sent'nel pealed 
 The alarum gun, its post the picquet left, 
 And flew like burghers bold to guard from midnight theft. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 But soon, o'erpowered by numbers, their array 
 Was beaten back resistance now was vain. 
 Submissively their arms were lowered away, 
 And o'er their sorrowing breasts a captive chain 
 Is gently flung : " Our battery soon shall reign 
 "Triumphant here," quoth Morton, "thanks to thee, 
 *' Sweet maiden," Blanca smiled, and cried, " For 
 
 Spain !" 
 
 Then to her bark once more she bounded free, 
 And with her Nereids young thus sang and smote the sea : 
 

 78 
 
 IBERIA WON. 
 
 [CANTO n. 
 
 I. 
 Lean to your oars ; 
 
 Pull along cheerily ; 
 Ne'er let the shores 
 
 Drag along drearily. 
 Courts are but slavery, 
 
 Grandeur is smoke ; 
 Our's the true bravery ; 
 
 Bend to the stroke ! 
 
 2. 
 See where the tide 
 
 Sparkles phosphorical ; 
 Learning is pride, 
 
 Science an oracle ! 
 While through the water we 
 
 Dash with our stems, 
 Royally scatter we 
 
 Myriads of gems. 
 
 3. 
 
 Stoop with good will ; 
 
 Joyous our motion is. 
 Breast with air fill ; 
 
 Sapphire-like Ocean is ! 
 Laugh at each lazy man, 
 
 Keep the stroke so ; 
 Poor lackadaisy man 
 
 Never could row I 
 
CANTO H.] IBERIA WON. 79 
 
 4. 
 
 Where is the joy 
 
 Like the oar feathering ? 
 Where's the alloy 
 
 Tempests in weathering ? 
 Lash the spray, scattering 
 
 Many a beam ; 
 While our oars clattering 
 
 Flash through the stream ! 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Upon thy buckler, Gaul, terrific rang 
 Yittoria's powerful stroke, and reeling back 
 Thy phantom-King to tall Pyrene sprang ; 
 Thy shattered Army, sorrowing deep for lack 
 Of conquest or of guiding, fell to wrack, 
 By the great arm of Arthur paralyzed, 
 Till rapid Soult, when loured the sky most black, 
 From Dresden rushed and chaos methodized : 
 No Marshal-Chief, be sure, Napoleon higher prized. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Yet wise by experience, taught a cautious dread, 
 And rocking still from England* s vigorous blows, 
 A hissing serpent's more than lion's head 
 That earth-struck host presented when it rose, 
 And watched the hour to spring upon its foes. 
 First San Sebastian to relieve its aim, 
 Next to redeem lost glory and oppose 
 Our strong advance, upon Pyrene tame 
 The pride that dares its crags, and France preserve from 
 shame. 
 
80 IBERIA WON. [CANTO ir. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 See where the couchant giant bristling lies, 
 Pyrene with his mountain sides and hair 
 Of forests dense. His crest doth pierce the skies, 
 His limbs are precipices poised in air, 
 His rugged spine full many a peak doth bear ; 
 His ribs, huge ridges, part on either hand, 
 His mouths are deep ravines where torrents tear 
 Through rocks a course to Man that seemeth banned. 
 Yet there our heroes march, their brows by Victory fanned. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 At Zabaldica now with gathering ire 
 The rival armies stand on fearful steeps, 
 Where rocks on rocks are piled like bastions direy 
 And savage Solitude sublimely sleeps, 
 And CristovaFs and Lanz's torrent leaps ^ 
 
 Adown the valley where Sauroren smiles. 
 The pass to San Sebastian England keeps. 
 There Morton brave and Nial lead their files ; 
 And hardy veterans climb those cloudy mountain piles. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 What clattering steed doth gallop fleet as air 
 Through the Lanz valley, making earth to shake 
 'Neath his hoofs' thunder? With that horseman dare 
 None ride save one, the noblest, for his sake 
 Light valuing life or limb. Thought-swift they make 
 Sauroren. O'er the mountain crest they see 
 Clausel's brigades from Zabaldica take 
 The glen. Leaps from his borse that rider free 
 
 * 
 
 To the bridge-parapet, and writes full rapidly. 
 
CANTO II.] IBERIA WON. 81 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 It is great Arthur, who the varying chance 
 Of mountain- warfare spirit-like doth seize. 
 Cole eagle-eyed and gallant Picton France 
 Would fain cut off ; but now our Chief with ease 
 Averts the danger. Rapid as the breeze, 
 Somerset's charger gallops carrying far 
 His fresh instructions. Dashes through the trees 
 The French light horse in vain his course they mar, 
 And Arthur tranquil rides, the ascent to him no bar. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 The Lusitan battalions first descried 
 The advancing Chief, and raised a shout of joy. 
 Uneasy they while distant he doth ride ; 
 Their treasure-trove, their gold without alloy ! 
 The British legions swift caught up the cry, 
 Which swelled along the line till stern it rose 
 To Battle's shout appalling fierce the sky 
 The shout that tells the breast to Victory goes, 
 The shout that ne'erwas heard unmoved by Britain's foes ! 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 An instant stopt great Arthur on the brow 
 
 Of that steep mountain. Both the Armies saw 
 
 The Hero at that moment. Soult was now 
 
 So near, each rival Chief could plainly draw 
 
 The lineaments of each that strike with awe 
 
 Their several hosts : " Now strong," thought Arthur, 
 
 "is he, 
 
 " But cautious. Of that shout he will, some flaw 
 " Suspecting, much inquire ; and thus will free 
 " My scattered host, till all combined resistless be." 
 
 E3 
 
82 IBERIA WON. [CANTO n. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 And Soult, indeed, the battle's shock withheld, 
 Till rose next morning's sun. But forth he pushed 
 His skirmishers whose fire was keen repelled, 
 Yet not till night was o'er the mountain hushed. 
 For rode the Marshal where Lanz' torrent gushed, 
 Our whole position cautiously surveying : 
 By deep defile to far Villalba rushed 
 The infant Arga, all around displaying 
 Our troops on every height, for battle fast arraying. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 Upon a rugged mountain's craggy crest, 
 A shrine of spotless Mary clustered round 
 The Lusitan battalion. Soult possest 
 With thought of weakness there, where cannon frowned 
 At Zabaldica, raised Destruction's sound ; 
 But vain its poise 'gainst that enormous height, 
 His shot from lower crags doth back rebound. 
 Powerless his ordnance for Titanian fight, 
 'Tis Nature's storm-artillery ushers in the Night ! 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 Dumb be your voices while the thunder-chime 
 Peals from Pyrene's turrets, echoing far. 
 While roar the elements with rage sublime, 
 Hushed be your strife, Pygmaean men of war ! 
 See, see, ye tremble at the lightning-scar. 
 Your brands are sheath' d ye feel as feathers, dust. 
 Away ! nor God's designs profanely mar, 
 Wreaking on brother-forms your gory lust. 
 In vain ! France tempts her doom, and England holds 
 her trust ! 
 
CANTO II.] IBERIA WON. 8$ 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 Next morn the absent corps our army join. 
 Joy to our Chieftain for his guidance true ! 
 Sir Pack's not yet hath come but Marcaloin 
 Shakes with its onward tramp though from the view 
 Of hawk-eyed Soult 'tis hid. To battle flew 
 His host, assailing Cole in front and rear. 
 Clausel from the Lanz valley poureth too 
 His skirmishers the mountain-side they clear ; 
 Cole's left is rapid turned defeat we now may fear. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 But sudden rises o'er the mountain's crest 
 What is't ? An army new of warriors dread 
 Pack's corps, whose swift approach by Soult unguest 
 Great Arthur's eagle-eye to battle led, 
 In place and time where best our ranks are fed. 
 Instant their clattering fire is hostile blended. 
 Cole smites the foeman's right, whose left too bled 
 From Lusia's arms ; their front, by Pack offended, 
 With violent shock the vale in headlong flight descended. 
 
 XL. 
 
 The Gaul who had strove to compass round our left 
 Himself is now encompassed in that dire 
 Extremity of daring not bereft, 
 But facing all around in conflict's ire 
 His fierce assailants scattering with his fire 
 Full many a corse, where Frenchmen thicker fell. 
 But climbs Clausel' s reserve the mountain higher, 
 Up craggy steep where doth the Virgin dwell. 
 Stern was the fight, and Gaul had battled ne'er so well. 
 
84 IBERIA WON. [CANTO 11. 
 
 XLT. 
 
 See from Sauroren in the vale beneath 
 Where darts that column to the mountain-shrine, 
 Nor fires a shot, but silent o'er the heath 
 Strains to the rugged summit, while their line 
 Is swept by fiery tempest. Bright doth shine 
 French valour there. Though ranks be swept away, 
 Unchecked their ardour. For the crest they pine, 
 And win it. Lusia's rifles swell the fray, 
 And France upon this point an instant gains the day. 
 
 XL1I. 
 
 But Ross his bold brigade of Britain's sons 
 Hath close at hand j and Nial, Morton there 
 With martial ardour each impetuous runs, 
 Heading their veterans in the fray to share. 
 With lusty shouts against the French they bear, 
 And strongly charge and down the mountain dash. 
 Yet undismayed again the foemen dare 
 The dire ascent again their firelocks flash. 
 Again o'erturned they fall, and vain their valour rash, 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 Through sulphurous shroud new skirmishers ascend, 
 And mount the crest new columns of attack ; 
 Ev'n gallant Ross an instant forced to bend 
 Before that fiery crowd recedeth back, 
 But to return next instant with no lack 
 Of desperate courage. Up the crest once more 
 Our heroes charge, nor Gallic fire doth slack. 
 Charge upon charge succeeding o'er and o'er, 
 Each gains and yields by turns the sod is dyed with gore. 
 
CANTO II.] IBERIA WON. 85 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 But Britain must the foemen hold at bay, 
 Whom Crecj, Poictiers, Azincour beheld, 
 Whom Blenheim, Ramilies, and Malplaquet, 
 And Oudenarde saw by Britain's yeomen felled 
 The foe on every field in Spain she quelled ! 
 Brief, potent words did Nial, Morton then, 
 While proud effusion from their bosoms welled, 
 Address with voice inspiring to their men, 
 And lead with flashing swords the charge again, again ! 
 
 XLV. 
 
 Oh, solid Infantry ! oh granite breasts ! 
 Like Rome's Triarians there they stand or fall. 
 Each flashing death-tube not an instant rests, 
 Save where the bayonet-flash may more appal. 
 By France outnumbered, yet till slaughtered all 
 The ground they'd hold. Their wounded and their dead 
 Are laid in one terrific line, a wall 
 Of dauntless valour : by Leucadia's head, 
 So stood Leonides with Persia's life-blood red ! 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 A rampart of the brave of dead and dying ! 
 Thy column, Gaul, advances to the line, 
 And halts where stern that gory bulwark's lying, 
 While Britain's heroes all their fire combine. 
 Nor 'mid tremendous showers of death repine 
 Their wounded comrades smote, since death may bring 
 The foeman under. Gaul, as drunk with wine, 
 Reels from excess of slaughter. Forward spring 
 Our bayonets to the charge. The foe is on the wing ! 
 
 E7 
 
86 IBERIA WON. [CANTO n. 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 Then rose the shout that told of England's power 
 Triumphant on that new Thermopylae, 
 And gallant hands were clasped in glory's hour, 
 And beamed Hesperia's eye more bright to see 
 That now in spite of Hell she will be free ! 
 And Nial, Morton folded heart to heart : 
 " Joy ! joy ! This day shall long remembered be, 
 " For France hath vainly tried her utmost art." 
 And tears of joy were seen from many an eye to start. 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 Oh glow of Victory ! oh, thrilling pride 
 Of triumph in the strife of mind or hand ! 
 More dear to mortal breasts than all beside, 
 In mart or senate as in warlike band, 
 In court or cell where'er by conquest fanned 
 The swelling temples wear thy plume, Success ! 
 How pure thy throb when Freedom lights a land, 
 When pen, tongue, sword a cause sublime confess, 
 Well worthy to aspire, befitting Heaven to bless ! 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 Lo, where the giant form of Liberty 
 Arises grand yet shadowy dim o'er Spain. 
 With smiles her champion, Arthur, she doth see, 
 And frowns terrific with august disdain 
 Upon the Invaders, trampling on the chain ! 
 A fiery sword that as a comet blazed 
 On high she brandished, like the angel-train 
 O'er Paradise. The tyrant-host amazed 
 Saw their expulsion doomed, and trembled as they gazed. 
 
87 
 
 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 
 TO CANTO II. 
 
 For the incidents from ancient Spanish history with which this 
 Canto opens, the reader is referred to Livy (lib. xxi. et Epit.) or to 
 Ferguson's Roman Republic, where a full account will be found of 
 the ever-memorable Sieges of Saguntum and Numantia. The ruins 
 of Saguntum (Liv. loc. cit.) or Sagunthus (Sil. Ital. lib. i.) are still 
 visible on the sea coast, a little to the north of Valencia. The 
 site of Numantia, having a much more central position, a few 
 miles north of Soria, capital of the small province of that name 
 in the eastern part of Old Castile, is more conjectural than that 
 of Sagunthus. The name of Numantia is erroneously spelled 
 "Numantium" in Mr. Lockhart's Ancient Spanish Ballads, a 
 work of extraordinary merit, notwithstanding a few inaccuracies. 
 The particulars of the siege of Numantia are to be found in the 
 57th Epitome of Livy's lost books. The Moorish invasion 
 under Tarik, the fall of Roderick, and the struggles of Pelayo, 
 are described or alluded to by Byron, Scott, and Southey. The 
 scene in the Vale of Covadonga is one of the finest passages in 
 the latter's poem of Roderick, where huge masses of rock are 
 hurled down on the advancing Moorish host at the signal of the 
 following words pronounced by the heroine : 
 
 " IN THE NAME 
 
 OF GOD ! FOR SPAIN AND VENGEANCE !" 
 
 Southey, Roderick, book xxiii. 
 
 The fight at Roncesvalles is the most memorable in the entire 
 range of Romantic History, and has been alluded to, amongst other 
 poets, by Pulci, Ariosto, Milton, Scott, and Lockhart. The siege 
 of Zaragoza will be found described in detail in a succeeding canto. 
 
88 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 The ferocity displayed by the Moors in their invasion appears to 
 have been not at all exaggerated by the Spanish chroniclers, and 
 it is curious that this fierceness of aspect should have been noticed 
 many centuries before by Horace : 
 
 Acer et Mauri peditis cruentum 
 
 Vultus in hostem. 
 
 Carm. i. 2. 
 
 The modern representations of Abd-el-Kader's warriors by French 
 artists square with the ancient notions of the Moorish ferocity of 
 aspect. I myself have seen at Tangier and Gibraltar for the most 
 part fine-looking men, but certainly with a tinge of ferocity, and 
 here and therewith an expression worthy the "truculentus Mauro- 
 rum vultus." The introduction of Mohammedanism seems to have 
 altered nothing in this respect, for in the days of Julius Caesar, as 
 Horace here attests, the same physiognomy was apparent ; and 
 Suetonius, speaking of the war between Caesar and Juba, king of 
 Mauritania, represents even the Roman legions as affrighted: " Fama 
 hostilium copiarum perterritos . . . expectatio adventus Jubae terri- 
 bilis." cap. 66. 
 
 The part which I assign to the Basque boat-girls, and the strain 
 of sentiment which pervades their oar- song, although not con- 
 sonant with a peaceful state of cultivated society, is quite character- 
 istic of Spain during the Peninsular War. The creed of Hippolytus 
 was not very favourable to those literate pretensions which Moliere 
 has so pleasantly satirized in his " Precieuaes Ridicules" and the 
 Basque barqueras would be quite to his taste. The persecuted of 
 Phaedra, whose uncompromising chastity caused his neck to be 
 broken, said: 2o0V 5e'jiu<ra>, "I hate a learned woman ;" and 
 Blanca and her sisters of the oar appear to have extended that 
 hatred to both sexes. 
 
 Gen. Jones's record of the seizure of the island of Santa Clara in 
 the mouth of the harbour is as follows : " A party of 200 men 
 was landed this night on the high rocky island of Sta. Clara, and 
 made prisoners of the enemy's guard on it, of an officer and twenty- 
 four men." Journals, <^c., Supp. Chapt. Napier makes the military 
 
NOTES TO CANTO II. 89 
 
 party to consist of only 100 men such difficulties does one meet 
 in ascertaining the minute parts of even recent history. But pro- 
 bably Gen. Jones may have estimated that the seamen amounted to 
 another hundred. "A heavy fire was opened on them," says Napier, 
 " and the troops landed with some difficulty, but the island was 
 then easily taken, and a lodgment made with the loss of only 
 twenty-eight men and officers." Hist, book xxii. c. i. The his- 
 torical fact of the supplies having been conveyed to the besiegers 
 at San Sebastian by boat-girls gives warrant to the supposition that 
 they may have assisted in the capture of the Island. 
 
 This Canto describes the principal warlike operations between 
 the battle of Vittoria and the first battle of Sauroren, with a de- 
 scription of the first part of which it terminates. The incidents 
 will be found in Napier's History, book xxi. chap. 5. 
 
 The concluding incident is from the combat of Maya, which 
 took place in the same neighbourhood a few days previously, and 
 is thus described by Captain Norton, of the 34th regiment. " The 
 ninety-second met the advancing French column first with its right 
 wing drawn up in line, and after a most destructive fire and heavy 
 loss on both sides, the remnant of the right wing retired, leaving a 
 line of killed and wounded that appeared to have no interval. The 
 French column advanced up to this line and then halted, the killed 
 and wounded of the ninety-second forming a sort of rampart ; the 
 left wing then opened its fire on the column, and as I was but a 
 little to the right of the ninety-second, I could not help reflecting 
 painfully how many of the wounded of their right wing must have 
 unavoidably suffered from the fire of their comrades." This fright- 
 ful butchery appears to excite the enthusiasm of some of its military 
 historians. " So dreadful was the slaughter," says Napier, " that 
 it is said the advancing enemy was actually stopped by the heaped 
 mass of dead and dying ; and then the left \\ing of that noble 
 regiment coming down from the higher ground smote wounded 
 friends and exulting foes alike, as mingled together they stood or 
 crawled before its fire. * * The stern valour of the ninety- 
 
90 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 second, principally composed of Irishmen, would have graced 
 Thermopylae." Hist. War. Penins. book xxi. chap. 5. 
 
 in. " When Roland's horn with its tremendous sound." 
 
 La dove il corno sona tanto forte 
 Dopo la dolorosa rotta. Pulci. 
 
 vin. " Fired with the generous vintage, which gave all 
 
 " The ruffian forth," &c. 
 
 KP&TKTTOV fjiev rtjs aKfJLTJs T<av xaipwv Tvy\dvftv' eireiS^ Se 5icr- 
 K - T > * Isoc. ad Nicocl. 
 
 o 
 
 " It is most excellent to enjoy moderately the height of felicity ; 
 but this men find most difficult to learn." 
 
 x. " Like Hebe for this flagrant Hercules." 
 
 TepTrerai Iv 6a\ir)s, KOL %x fl Ka\\iff(pvpov a H{}r]v, 
 UaiSa Albs fj.eyd\oio Kul "HpTjs xputroTreSf Aou. 
 
 Horn. Od. xi. 602. 
 
 " Flagrans amor Herculis Heben." Propert I. 13. 23. 
 li 
 
 xii. " Which like Camilla's battle-axe, I ween." 
 
 " Rapit indefessa bipennem." Virg. Mn. xi. 651. 
 
 " When fiery swift her footsteps past the steed." 
 - " Pernicibus ignea plantis, 
 Transit equum cursu." Ib. 718. 
 
 xin. " Girt by her crescent-shielded Amazons." 
 
 " Fosminea exsultant lunatis agmina peltis." Virg. JEn. xi. 663. 
 xvii. " Hast thou not seen a clear and sparkling rill, &c." 
 
 Qualis in aerii pellucens vertice mentis 
 
 Rivus, muscoso prosilit e lapide ; 
 Qui cum de prona praeceps est valle volutus, 
 
 Per medium densi transit iter populi. 
 
 Catul. Lxvi. 
 
NOTES TO CANTO II. 91 
 
 A soldier frank, pellucid was his mind." 
 
 X", tv Tpoia r', e'Aeuflepoi/ fttffiv 
 , "ApTj, rb /COT' ju.e, KOfffA^ffO) 8opl. 
 
 Eurip. Iphig. in AuL 930. 
 
 " Achil. Both here and in Troy, displaying a frank mind, as 
 far as in me lies, I will illustrate Mars in battle." 
 
 xx. " Nial led 'mid War's alarms 
 
 A file of Rifles." 
 
 Saevam 
 
 Militiam puer, et Cantabrica bella tulisti 
 Sub Duce. Horat. Epist. i. 18. 
 
 xxi. " The Spaniards oft declared he was a girl." 
 
 Era Medoro un mozo de veinte anos, 
 Ensortijado el pelo, y rubio el bozo, 
 De mediana estatura, y de ojos graves, 
 Graves mirados, y en inirar suaves. 
 
 Lope de Vega, Angelica, iii. 
 
 xxvn. " Till rapid Soult," &c. 
 
 Rapidity of conception and execution were marked features in 
 Marshal Soult's military character. The decree by which Napoleon 
 appointed him his Lieutenant in Spain was issued at Dresden on 
 the 1st July, 1813, ten days after the battle of Vittoria. On the 
 eleventh day he was in the midst of the army in Spain ! " The 
 12th, Soult, travelling with surprising expedition, assumed the 
 command of the armies of the 'north,' the 'centre,' and ,tbe 
 ' south,' now reorganized in one body called ' the Army of Spain.' 
 And he had secret orders to put Joseph forcibly aside if necessary, 
 but that monarch voluntarily retired from the army." Napier, 
 Hist. War in the Penins. book xxi. chap. 4. " Marshal Soult 
 was one of the few men whose indefatigable energy rendered them 
 
92 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 worthy lieutenants of the emperor ; and with singular zeal, vigour, 
 and ability he now served." Ibid. " Such was Soult's activity 
 that on the 16th all the combinations for a gigantic offensive 
 movement were digested." Ibid. 
 
 xxix. " His rugged spine full many a peak doth bear, 
 
 " His ribs, huge ridges, part on either hand." 
 
 This is the actual formation of the Pyrenees. A great spinal 
 ridge runs diagonally across this entire mountain tract, trending 
 westward. From this spine sierras shoot forth on both sides, and 
 the communications between the valleys formed by these ridges 
 pass over breaks in the sierras, called puertos by the Spaniards, 
 and cola by the French. 
 
 xxxi. " What clattering steed doth gallop fleet as ah-." 
 
 On the 27th July, Wellington, having been unable to learn any 
 thing of the movements of Picton and Cole, who had been left in 
 the valley of Zubiri and on the adjoining heights of Linzoain, on the 
 evening preceding, and dreading lest Soult's combinations should 
 cut them off, quitted Sir Rowland Hill's quarters in the Bastan at 
 a very early hour in the morning (these early matutinal movements 
 have been always characteristic of his Grace) and descending the 
 valley of Lanz, reached Ostiz, a few miles from Sauroren, where 
 he met General Long with his brigade of light cavalry, who in- 
 formed him that Picton and Cole had abandoned the heights of 
 Linzoain, and were moving on Huarte, " He left his quarter-mas- 
 ter-general with instructions to stop all the troops coming down 
 the valley of Lanz until the state of affairs at Huarte should be 
 ascertained. Then at racing speed he made for Sauroren. As he 
 entered that village he saw Clauzel's divisions moving from Zabal- 
 dica along the crest of the mountain, and it was clear that the 
 allied troops in the valley of Lanz were intercepted, wherefore 
 pulling up his horse, he wrote on the parapet of the bridge of 
 Sauroren fresh instructions to turn every thing from that valley to 
 
NOTES TO CANTO II. 93 
 
 the right, by a road which led through Lizasso and Marcalain 
 behind the hills to the village of Oricain, that is to say in rear of 
 the position now occupied by Cole. Lord Fitzroy Somerset, the only 
 staff officer who had kept up with him, galloped with these orders 
 out of Sauroren by one road, the French light cavalry dashed in 
 by another, and the English general rode alone up the mountain to 
 reach his troops," &c. Napier, Hist, book xxi. c. 5. 
 
 " Thought-swift they make 
 " Sauroren." 
 
 I trust this Teutonisin will be pardoned, believing these forms 
 of expression to be more suited to the genius of our language 
 than has been hitherto supposed, and likely to be more generally 
 introduced into poetical diction. 
 
 xxxii. " Cole eagle-eyed and gallant Picton."; 
 
 The gallantry of Picton and the keen observation of Cole were 
 eminent characteristics of those two generals respectively. The 
 danger which they ran in this instance was very imminent. Picton 
 "directed Cole to occupy some heights between Oricain and 
 Arietta. But that general having with a surer eye, &c." Napier, 
 Hist, book xxi. c. 5. Wellington's rapid riding on this occasion 
 defeated a very able combination of Soult's. The Duke was 
 always an expert and eager horseman, and it was not for nothing 
 that he kept his pack of fox-hounds in the Peninsula. 
 
 xxxni. " The advancing Chief * * 
 
 Their treasure-trove, their gold without alloy !" 
 
 Longas, 6 utinam, dux bone, ferias 
 Praestes Hesperiae ! 
 
 Horat. Carm. iv. 5. 
 
 " The shout that ne'er was heard unmoved by Britain's foes." 
 
 " That stern and appalling shout which the British soldier is 
 wont to give upon the edge of battle, and which no enemy ever 
 heard unmoved." Napier, Hist, book xxi. c. 5. 
 
94 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 xxxiv. " Soult was now so near, &c." 
 
 " Lord Wellington suddenly stopped in a conspicuous place, he 
 desired that both armies should know he was there, and a double 
 spy who was present pointed out Soult, then so near that his 
 features could be plainly distinguished. The English general, it is 
 said, fixed his eyes attentively upon this formidable man, and, 
 speaking as if to himself, said : ' Yonder is a great commander, 
 but he is a cautious one and will delay his attack to ascertain the 
 cause of these cheers ; that will give time for the sixth division to 
 arrive and I shall beat him.' And certain it is that the French 
 general made no serious attack that day." Napier, ibid. 
 
 xxxvi. " But vain its poise 'gainst that enormous height." 
 
 " Some guns were pushed in front of Zabaldica, but the eleva- 
 tion required to send the shot upward rendered their fire ineffec- 
 tual." Napier, ibid. 
 
 " 'Tis Nature's storm-artillery ushers in the night." 
 
 " A terrible storm, the usual precursor of English battles in the 
 Peninsula, brought on premature darkness and terminated the 
 dispute." Napier, ibid. 
 
 xxxvii. " Dumb be your voices, while the thunder-chime, &c." 
 
 Bedecke deinen himmel, Zeus, 
 Mit wolkendunst, und iibe ! 
 
 Goethe (Prometheus}. 
 
 11 Curtain thy heavens, Zeus, with clouds and mist, and exercise 
 thy arm !" 
 
 " While roar the elements with rage sublime," &c. 
 
 Ne quivi an cor dell' orride procelle 
 
 Ponno appieno schivar la forza e 1'ira ; 
 
 Ma sono estinte or queste faci or quelle, 
 
 E per tutto entra 1'acque, e'l vento spira * * 
 

 NOTES TO CANTO II. 95 
 
 La pioggia ai gridi, ai venti, al tuon s'accorda 
 D'orribile armonia, che'l mondo assorda. 
 
 Tasso. Gerus. Lib. vii. 122. 
 
 " Ye feel as feathers, dust." 
 
 La materia humana 
 
 Viento, humo, polvo, y esperanza vana ! 
 
 Lope de Vega, Sonetos. 
 
 xxxix. " Pack's corps, whose swift approach by Soult unguest." 
 
 General Pack was in command of the sixth division till this 
 battle, when he was wounded, and the command passed to general 
 Pakenham. 
 
 XL. " Stern was the fight, and Gaul had battled ne'er so well." 
 
 Throughout the entire Peninsular campaigns, the French never 
 fought with such desperate valour as on this and the few preceding 
 and following days. In Soult they had the utmost confidence ; 
 they saw that a crisis had arrived, and trembled for France. " The 
 fight raged close and desperate on the crest of the position, charge 
 succeeded charge, and each side yielded and recovered by turns ; 
 yet this astounding effort of French valour was of little avail." 
 Napier, ibid. 
 
 XLI. " Lusia's rifles swell the fray." 
 
 General Ross's brigade of the fourth division was posted on 
 this strongly contested height, having a Portuguese battalion 
 (the seventh ca9adores, tenth regiment) in his front, with its flank 
 resting on the chapel. " The seventh cacadores shrunk abashed, 
 and that part of the position was won." Napier, ibid. The 
 inequality with which the Portuguese fought was remarkable 
 throughout the Peninsular War. They fought well, or gave way, 
 in great measure according to the impulse of the movement. Here 
 they gave way, then inspired by the example of Ross's brigade 
 renewed the combat, but again gave way. " Soon, however, they 
 
96 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 rallied upon General Ross's brigade * * and the tenth Portu- 
 guese regiment fighting on the right of Ross's brigade yielded to 
 their fury." Napier, ibid. Sometimes they fought extremely well. 
 
 XLIII. " Ev'n gallant Ross." 
 
 This epithet was well deserved by general Ross, and is assigned 
 to him by Napier. "That gallant officer." Book xxi. c. 5. I am 
 proud to record the exploits of my countryman, whose name and 
 achievements are endeared to me by early recollections. A lofty 
 column is erected in his honour at the beautiful village of Rosstre- 
 vor, within seven miles of which, at Newry, my early years from 
 infancy to the period of my going to College were passed. All my 
 summers were spent in and near Rosstrevor, one of the most 
 charming sea-bathing spots in the British dominions. The noble 
 Bay of Carlingford stretches before it, girt by an amphitheatre of 
 lofty hills, and Killowen Point, the Wood-house, Greencastle, the 
 light-house, and Grenore, with the ancient and picturesque town 
 of Carlingford, the stupendous mountain overhanging it, and the 
 bleak tract extending along to Omeath, contrasted with the sunny 
 and wooded slopes beyond, have left impressions indelible even 
 during much travel in foreign lands. I rejoice to perceive that a 
 railway is about to open up this magnificent region, and trust that 
 this new means of intercourse will be eminently beneficial to the 
 warm-hearted inhabitants of all the surrounding district. 
 
 " But to return next instant with no lack 
 Of desperate courage." 
 
 , oi>8' 
 
 Eurip. Iphig. in Taur. 104. 
 " For to fly is not tolerable, neither has it been our custom !" 
 
 " Each gains and yields by turns the sod is dyed with gore." 
 
 This action between Ross's brigade and Clauzel's second division 
 was one of the most terrific during the war. "The fight," says 
 
NOTES TO CANTO II. 97 
 
 Napier " raged close and desperate on the crest of the position, 
 charge succeeded charge, and each side yielded and recovered by 
 turns." 
 
 XLV. " So stood Leonides, with Persia's life-blood red." 
 
 8' 
 
 KiOaipuvos n&xa.v : 
 
 Find. Pyth. i. 
 
 " In Sparta I will sing the fight before Cithaeron, where the 
 Median bowmen fell." For the details of the battle, and of the 
 Trachinian treason, see Herodotus, lib. 7. Pindar does not name 
 Thermopylae, but Cithaeron being in its immediate neighbourhood 
 would make the allusion at once intelligible. Pindar with instinc- 
 tive good taste prefers the name " Cithaeron" to that of " Thermo- 
 pylae," the latter name, though to us so magnificent, sounding 
 somewhat vulgar to Greek ears, as indicating the 0e/>/i \ovrpa, or 
 hot -baths from which it was derived. 
 
 XLVII. " That now in spite of Hell she will be free." 
 
 Siasi 1'inferno e siasi il mondo armato. 
 
 Tasso, Gertu. Lib. xiii. 73. 
 
IBERIA WON. 
 
 Canto BEL 
 i. 
 
 BUT France though vanquished oft doth oft renew 
 The assault which British arms alone can quell. 
 Her columns fresh the wrested prize pursue, 
 And at the Sierra's foot their numbers swell. 
 Exhausted War's munitions now, so well 
 Have England's sons with fire the foeman plied, 
 And anxious eyes upon their leaders dwell : 
 " See, see, brave hearts," young Morton stoutly cried, 
 " While rocks like these abound, we'll guard the moun- 
 tain's side!" 
 
 ii. 
 
 And at the word he loosed with might and main 
 Such stone immense as feigned ^Bolides 
 In Orcus tortured flung. Down to the plain 
 It rolleth bounding with gigantic ease, 
 The mountain shaking, crashing through the trees, 
 Dislodging many a smaller granite mass. 
 Appalled its dire approach the foeman sees. 
 On, on it rolls, still thundering o'er the grass, 
 Till in the vale it rests, nor dares the Gaul to pass. 
 r2 
 
100 IBERIA WON. [CANTO in. 
 
 in. 
 
 And on the foremost crest our men have now 
 Full many a rock's Aiantine volume rolled ; 
 Prepared to hurl them from the mountain-brow, 
 Their powerful hands this rude artillery hold, 
 Should thirst of vengeance make the assailants hold. 
 But men who Death had hraved in every form 
 Of War's destruction known to them of old, 
 Before this unfamiliar mountain-storm 
 Have quailed, and our's the height all strewn with corses 
 warm. 
 
 IV. 
 
 O'er Zahaldica and the torrent Lanz 
 Frowned a steep hill, where Spain her sons had placed 
 Beneath Murillo. There the host of France 
 Its efforts now concentring urged with haste, 
 And tirailleur and voltigeur embraced 
 The peak around, while marched Clausel and Reille 
 Their columns dense along the mountain-waste. 
 They charged Pravia stood the shock awhile, 
 But numbers soon o'erpower Hesperia's broken file. 
 
 v. 
 
 In silence stern a British column waits, 
 Till on the summit France a footing get ; 
 Then rose the charging cry whose peal elates 
 The Island-warrior's breast. "With bayonets set, 
 They rushed upon the advancing crowd, and wet 
 Was every sod with blood. The broken mass 
 Was down the mountain hurled, as from the net 
 The fisher casts his prey. Impetuous pass 
 Tempestuous bullets showered, and shiver them like glass. 
 
CANTO III.] IBERIA WON, 101 
 
 VI. 
 
 But France not yet retires, for on this day 
 Pyrene's fate and her's will be decided. 
 Though, man 'gainst man, their courage melts away, 
 The charge by Gaulish chiefs again is guided 
 Again the powers of Fate and Death derided ! 
 Thrice the assault's renewed, and thrice each chief 
 His wearied men doth onward drag to bide it. 
 In vain ! The British shock makes contest brief. 
 Faint, spiritless, abashed, the foemen seek relief. 
 
 VII. 
 
 And Gaul, her infantry thus forced to yield, 
 Now tries the onset of her dashing horse ; 
 And charging through the valley shakes the field 
 With thunderous gallop, trampling fallen horse 
 And writhing wounded men without remorse. 
 Our bold hussars beside the river's edge 
 Witti flaming carbines they would backward force ; 
 Their chargers' strength they wield like potent wedge, 
 And strive to urge our men adown the rocky ledge. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Our fiery squadrons standing in reserve 
 Now join the melee, flashing fast around 
 Pistol and carbine then with powerful nerve 
 They bathe their swords in blood at every bound, 
 While 'neath the shock terrific quakes the ground. 
 See, where yon huge heart-pierced rider falls ; 
 His horse affrighted at the clattering sound 
 Drags him by th' foot which still the stirrup thralls, 
 Till Death arrests them both 'mid storm of flying balls. 
 
102 IBERIA WON. [CANTO in. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Oh, generous, strong, and fleet are England's steeds, 
 And mettled high their riders even as they ! 
 Though with the cavalier the horse too bleeds, 
 Yet horse and cavalier have won the day. 
 Two Gaulish chiefs have perished in the fray. 
 To the streamlet edge the foe is backward driven ; 
 With spur deep-plunged he leaps the stream away ! 
 But many a jaded horse his life hath given 
 Headlong adown the bank, where rider too is riven. 
 
 x. 
 
 On every side now Britain's foes repelled 
 Feel that to stand before her might is vain ; 
 Our strong position is securely held 
 Lords of the mountain, masters of the plain 
 From Vascongada's frontier to the main. 
 Our batteries planted on the bloody hill 
 Before the Virgin's shrine their death-shot rain 
 From far Illurdos to Elcano's rill, 
 From towering Cristoval to Oricain at will. 
 
 XI. 
 
 But D'Erlon hath concentred all his force, 
 And seeks, by steep Buenza, Hill to crush. 
 O'erpowering numbers urge their onward course, 
 And Hill retires but not till he doth hush 
 The fire of D' Armagnac with torrent rush. 
 By Lecumberri Soult essays a path 
 To San Sebastian through our line to push. 
 But eye more keenly sure great Arthur hath, 
 And breaks the foe's design with counter-stroke of wrath. 
 
CANTO III.] IBERIA WON. 103 
 
 XII. 
 
 With rapid steps Zubiri Picton gains ; 
 His skirmishers molest Foy's shattered flank. 
 From Zabaldica's crest Foy sees the plains 
 Strewn with the flower of many a fallen rank. 
 But powerless he for aid the bayonet drank 
 Upon the hill the life-blood of his corps, 
 Where before Cole's assault his veterans sank, 
 While gallant Inglis down the mountain o'er 
 Clauseland Conroux falls with shock that frights them sore. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 And headlong from the Sierra Byng, too, comes 
 To where Maucune the smiling village keeps. 
 Our cannon from the height the ear benumbs ; 
 The bullets crash where that Arcadia sleeps, 
 And many a peasant for his Lares weeps. 
 Along the valley booms the thunderous sound ; 
 And quivering child and pallid virgin creeps 
 For shelter to the mountain-caves around, 
 While swells the demon-strife, and death-shot ploughs 
 the ground. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Sauroren bridge where late great Arthur wrote 
 His rapid mandate o'er the torrent's fall, 
 The deep Lanz valley by the thunder smote, 
 The hills above, the blooming village all 
 Are covered o'er with dense, sulphureous pall ; 
 And musketry its sharp and rattling peal 
 Incessant echoes 'gainst the mountain-wall. 
 While fills the glen tumultuous shot and steel, 
 The volumed smoke can scarce the form of death reveal. 
 
104 IBERIA WON. [CANTO in. 
 
 xv. 
 
 Sauroren's won ! The Gallic host is broken, 
 And thousand prisoners own our conquering hand ; 
 Disarmed and guarded well in Victory's token, 
 But nobly used as fits a generous land. 
 Gaul's columns fly in many a scattered band 
 To Urtiaga's pass and Ostiz' steep, 
 By Lusia's sons pursued with flaming brand. 
 But, ah, Sauroren's maids and matrons weep, 
 For from the Virgin's shrine did many a death-bolt 
 leap! 
 
 XVI, 
 
 As mariners who on a stormy sea 
 The magnet lose that guides them o'er the wave ; 
 As warriors marshalled oft to victory, 
 Who lose the sacred banner of the brave : 
 So with their tears these mountain-children lave 
 Lanz' trodden glen ; for, ah, the diadem 
 That girds the Virgin's brow no more shall save. 
 Death rained on Lanz beneath each sparkling gem. 
 A Madre de Dolor is Mary now to them ! 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Night falls around in dark and dense defile 
 Nial and Morton with their gallant host, 
 Where even by daylight rarest sunbeams smile, 
 In Leron's frightful wilderness are lost. 
 By frowning precipice, through crags high-tost 
 By earthquakes old through forests grimly black, 
 
 [ Like ghosts they wandered, crost and then re-crost, 
 Nor pathway saw to forward move or back, 
 
 Nor means of exit found, nor even a desert-track. 
 
CANTO III.] IBERIA WON. 105 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 " Cheer up, my friends," said Nial ; "whom the foe 
 " Hath ne'er made flinch the forest shall not quell. 
 " Full many a pine-branch waves at hand to show 
 " The way no torch so fitly or so well." 
 Then many a pine-branch torn, with resinous smell 
 Told of its fiery aliment the flash 
 Of muskets gave them kindling. Through the dell, 
 Waving on high these flaming brands they dash, 
 And to their comrades shout who tempt the forest rash. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Thus on they moved through thicket, glen, and brake, 
 By precipice, and crag, and torrent brink, 
 And yawning chasm that made the boldest quake, 
 Till without end the dark ravine they think ; 
 And wildered many a foot by flaming link, 
 That guided few save them the links who bore : 
 Benighted thus till with fatigue they sink, 
 Steep crag and glen profound they wandered o'er, 
 Their beacon fires alight but none can find a shore. 
 
 xx. 
 
 And pealed their shouts incessant through the gloom, 
 With clamour wounding the dull ear of Night, 
 Till as in churchyards peopled grows each tomb 
 To midnight wanderers, rose their souls to fright 
 Infernal Phantoms ! On each towering height 
 Seemed demons sprung with torches from their den, 
 Their footsteps to mislead with Hellish light ; 
 Till Morning rose, and showed the mount and glen 
 All strewn with faces wan and worn and wearied men. 
 F 3 
 
106 IBERIA WON. [CANTO in. 
 
 XXI, 
 
 But daylight woke their hearts to hope and joy ; 
 Refreshment needful cheered their bivouac. 
 The column they rejoined without annoy : 
 And there of gladness was, I ween, no lack, 
 Where soldiers hailed their former comrades back. 
 Now Soult by perils prest hath outlet none, 
 Save by Maria's pass with omens black ; 
 And swiftly, near Lizasso, Hill hath won 
 Upon his rear, unchecked by Leo's burning sun. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 His cannon opened loud with bellowing sound, 
 And 'neath its deadly roar the French ascend ; 
 Till near the summit of the pass they found 
 A wood that stretched its branches to befriend. 
 Yet see, they turn, and skirmishers defend 
 The steep, but Stewart leads the stern assault. 
 Soon broke their files, their menace soon doth end. 
 Headlong they fly, and dareth none to halt 
 But thickest mist doth fall and leave our men at fault. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Thus Menelaiis, while his brazen spear 
 Thirsting for Paris' blood is brandished bigh, 
 No longer sees the slender youth appear, 
 But riseth cloud to thwart his vengeance nigh, 
 Which Aphrodite gliding from the sky 
 (So sings Meeonia's bard) doth interpose ; 
 And even while glares Atrides' conquering eye, 
 And to his men the adulterer's helm he throws, 
 The mist o'erspreads his form and shields from deathful 
 blows. 
 
CANTO III.] IBERIA WON. 107 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 But o'er the heights that gird the fearful pass 
 Our troops are gathered soon, and France doth quake, 
 For now the terrible defile in mass 
 Her legions enter. Many a brow doth ache. 
 Our warriors' death-shots direful havoc make. 
 They quail they fly confused disorder reigns. 
 Rank upon rank doth every instant break, 
 Nor Soult's commanding voice the rout restrains. 
 They pass, but many a captive leave to mourn his chains. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 To Yanzi now ! where narrower still the cleft 
 Which France must pass. By Zubieta came 
 Our Light Division, ne'er of hope bereft 
 To reach the ground ere Gaul can thwart the aim 
 That there full terrible her pride shall tame. 
 Our warriors through Elgoriaga glide, 
 Fatigue exhausting many a wearied frame, 
 And toil they faintly up the mountain-side ; 
 But Morton urged their zeal, and Nial touched their pride. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Light-hearted chieftain-boys ! No knapsacks they, 
 No firelock's weight, no full cartouches bore. 
 The promptings of their valour they obey ; 
 And Leo's sun in vain o'er them doth pour 
 His maddening rays for courage warms them more ! 
 But clambering Santa Cruz's torrid steep, 
 Full many a soldier fell convulsed, while gore 
 And froth commixed their parched mouths o'erleap, 
 And respite found from toil in Death's eternal sleep ! 
 
108 IBERIA WON. [CANTO HI. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 And leaned their comrades on their firelocks then, 
 Whose spirits stern had ne'er before been quelled ; 
 And muttered, "What could more be asked of men ?" 
 And for an instant's time almost rebelled. 
 But rose a tear to Morton's eye, and held 
 His forehead Nial aching at the sight 
 Of warriors whom fatigue like death-shot felled. 
 When saw the men their leaders felt aright, 
 A hearty cheer they gave, and scaled the fearful height. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 A precipice beneath o'erhung the bridge 
 Of Yanzi. Hurrying past the French were seen 
 Along the dread defile. Upon the ridge 
 His men by Morton ranged their firelocks keen 
 Discharged. 'Mongst clustering shrubs his rifles green 
 Did Nial gather lower down the steep. 
 Oh, dire the calls of duty oft had been, 
 But direst this ! The chieftains almost weep ; 
 The men avert their heads, Death's harvest while they reap. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 For pistol-shot might reach the hastening throng, 
 Who through the horrid chasm defenceless crowd. 
 The wounded men on branches borne along 
 Were flung to earth in vain their voices loud 
 Implored for aid, all trampled in the shroud 
 That wrapt them blood-besmeared. Confusion dire 
 Possest the ranks. The bravest horsemen cowed 
 Charged up the pass to escape the avenger's ire ; 
 The footman 'gainst the hussar was forced to turn his fire. 
 
CANTO III.] IBERIA WON. 109 
 
 XXX. 
 
 And many a stalwart cavalier and horse 
 Was headlong flung in Echallara's stream, 
 And many an ailing man was soon a corse ; 
 From many a mnsket fires defensive teem, 
 Held skyward but in vain their flashes gleam, 
 For terrible our vantage. Some too rushed 
 In veteran might o'er Yanzi's bridge, and deem 
 Our flank to gall, but soon their fire was hushed. 
 The wounded quarter sued 'twas given by conquerors 
 flushed. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 And prisoners fell by thousands in our hands, 
 And all the convoy, treasure, spoil was our's. 
 At Echallar and Ivantelly stands 
 The foe once more, and tempts the leaguering powers ; 
 But daring Barnes upon the mountain towers 
 With lion-heart, and smites the clustering foe. 
 Though five to one their number 'gainst us lours, 
 In vain the armed throng withstands the blow. 
 The fortress-crag is won the French are hurled below. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 On Ivantelly' s giant peak they fling 
 Their last defiance soon their hope doth melt, 
 Like hoar upon a sunny morn in Spring, 
 For there our light brigades their way have felt 
 Through mist thick gathering, as erewhile it dwelt 
 Upon Lizasso's brow, but not to arrest 
 Again our footsteps. Many a blow they dealt, 
 Though viewless fatal. Through the clouds they guest 
 The foeman's shadowy form, and scaled the mountain's 
 breast. 
 
110 IBERIA WON. [CANTO in. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Through misty veil that crowns the topmost crags 
 Doth Nial with his rifles plunge amain ; 
 Nor Morton with his light battalion lags. 
 Gaul's chosen grenadiers Clausel with pain 
 Sees from the mist emerging to the plain. 
 Sharp rings the rifle ; with sonorous roll 
 The musketry less keen replies in vain ! 
 Disordered France retires, and rends the pole 
 Our shout victorious raised the peak is Glory's 
 goal ! 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 Pyrene's won! Upon the tallest crest 
 Did Nial, Morton mark with fond embrace 
 The crowning victory. "Why together rest 
 Their eyes, the mist now melted, on that place 
 Beneath? Ye Powers ! It is great Arthur's face. 
 The flying French have eyed him too where o'er 
 His mountain charts, and plans of war the base, 
 With escort small intently he doth pore, 
 And none suspects the prize the foemen swift explore. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 Rushed Nial, Morton madly down the steep 
 In generous rivalry who first should reach 
 To avert the peril. Roelike was each leap 
 From crag to crag they are come the danger teach, 
 Which Arthur learns with gracious smile to each. 
 Swift to his charger strong the Chieftain springs : 
 The Frenchmen's bullets whistle vain as Speech 
 Where Action's wanting. See, his steed hath wings; 
 And safe is he whose fate had sealed the doom of 
 Kings ! 
 
CANTO III.] IBERIA WON. Ill 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 Strove Arthur long to learn which youth he owed 
 For safety and deliverance gratitude ; 
 But Nial said 'twas Morton forward strode 
 The first, and Morton urged that Nial viewed 
 The peril soonest Friendship's generous feud! 
 Where each desired that each the prize should hoard ; 
 And eyes that witnessed it were tear-bedewed. 
 Great Arthur gave each noble youth a sword, 
 That bore his mighty name magnificent reward ! 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 But thirsteth Pride for San Sebastian's towers, 
 
 For foiled one effort to surmount her wall ; 
 
 And Death that sweeps each host had swept down our's 
 
 A moon before in numbers to appal. 
 
 Tis Honour's voice, then, bids each bastion fall ; 
 
 Such man's decree ! The galleries swift advance. 
 
 A triple mine upheaves the firm sea-wall 
 
 With fierce sulphureous shock. Rocks heavenward 
 
 dance 
 To ope our troops a path against the sons of France. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 And pant for glory 'midst their brave compeers 
 Nial and Morton keen as curbed steed. 
 Though soft their souls in love to melt in tears, 
 In war they could unmoved see hundreds bleed. 
 Of passionate fervour was their patriot creed, 
 And next to Heaven they loved their native land. 
 With Blanca there to fly, when Spain was freed, 
 Before the frowning wall young Morton planned, 
 And murmur thus his lips while waits his eager band : 
 
112 IBERIA WON. [CANTO HI, 
 
 CJe <&lorj) of Mante. 
 
 1. 
 Forbid the linnet from its nest, 
 
 And crush its homeward aspirations 
 As vain to chide the heaving breast, 
 
 And woo repose in foreign nations ! 
 No, England, no ! beyond the foam, 
 
 Around thy beauteous shore that circles, 
 I would not fix my lasting home 
 
 For every gem that brightest sparkles ! 
 
 2. 
 
 More cloudless bend Italian skies ; 
 
 Burgundian fruits more richly cluster ; 
 Iberia's slopes more gently rise, 
 
 And shine her stars with purer lustre. 
 O'er Adria's coast, o'er fair Stamboul, 
 
 O'er soft Mseonia show'rs more splendour. 
 Out, sunk 'neath Slavery's abject rule ! 
 
 'Tis thou art Freedom's grand defender ! 
 
 3. 
 
 Far sunnier Isles the South make glad, 
 
 From Palma's gulf to the iEgean ; 
 Idalia rose and myrtle clad, 
 
 Sicilian shores, and bowers Dictsean ; 
 The Cyclades that shine to snare, 
 
 From Lemnos old to Rhodes romantic ; 
 And far Funchal, whose balmy air 
 
 Swells earth's best vine 'mid the Atlantic. 
 
CANTO III.] IBERIA WON. 113 
 
 4. 
 
 But, oh loved land ! what magic lifts 
 
 Thee high above all rival glory, 
 Fills up the void of Nature's gifts, 
 
 And makes thy deeds the pride of story ? 
 What charm endues thy talisman, 
 
 Thou chrysolite amid the waters, 
 And deifies the power of man ? 
 
 The genius of thy sons and daughters I 
 
 5. 
 
 The vigorous thought, the spirit firm, 
 
 The pride of truth, the deep devotion, 
 The labouring head and stalwart arm, 
 
 That crown thee Queen of Earth and Ocean ! 
 That clothe with grain thy rugged steeps, 
 
 Thy factory piles make teem prolific, 
 And man the fleet each sea that sweeps 
 
 To make its trembling shores pacific. 
 
 - 
 6. 
 
 Illustrious land ! Yet more than this, 
 
 Thou harbourest all life's solid graces 
 No fiends that murder with a kiss 
 
 No treacherous breasts 'neath smiling faces ! 
 Oh ! still be thine the bold, the true, 
 
 The honest, manly, independent ; 
 In mind, in heart, in sinew, too, 
 
 O'er every other land transcendent ! 
 
114 IBERIA WON. [CANTO in. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 Nor slow was Rey the city to defend, 
 Exhausting all the arts that War supplies. 
 A yawning chasm within the breach doth end ; 
 Loopholed with fire a counterwall defies 
 Approach ; where'er the rampart broken lies, 
 A traverse cuts it off the streets are trenched ; 
 Mines trebly charged prepare to blot the skies 
 With shattered limb, and head from shoulder wrenched, 
 Of him who dares the assault, yet not a cheek is blenched ! 
 
 XL. 
 
 And strongest whetstone of fierce Valour's edge 
 Thy name, Napoleon ! For thee would dare 
 Thy Guard to leap adown Destruction's ledge, 
 For thee would scoff in mockery of Despair ! 
 Genius and energy thou well couldst share 
 With all thy Chiefs, and courage give thy men, 
 That scorned to yield with life their lion-lair. 
 A barbarous strife thou didst require what then ? 
 The last Barbarian thou that rushed from Scythian den! 
 
 XLI. 
 
 Meteor of Conquest ! terribly endowed 
 With every faculty to bless or mar, 
 With voice to speak to Man like trumpet loud, 
 And eagle-eye with ken for peace or war 
 Omnipotent, save when Heaven dealt the scar ! 
 Thy course for bale that might have been for bliss, 
 Thy darling Victory streamed a crimson star. 
 Around thy laurelled forehead serpents hiss ; 
 And closed thy glory's dawn, Destroyer, choice like this! 
 
CANTO III.] IBERIA WON. 115 
 
 XLII. 
 
 Trampler on Human Liberty ! Thy plan 
 Embraced no welfare save thine own ; thy aim 
 A pyramid each stone a sword-hewn man, 
 Rivers of blood o'er Earth to write thy name. 
 Gigantic was thy crime as great thy shame ! 
 Even now with gory talon to the North 
 Thou fliest, the elements but canst not tame ; 
 And there, to teach the peaceful victor's worth, 
 Men rigid as their frosts have sent thee howling forth ! 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 Scourge of the Nations ! thy appointed time 
 Is near its close exhausted is thy quiver. 
 Vain is thy complex thought, thy grasp sublime ; 
 Nor whirlwind, plague, nor tyrant lasts for ever ! 
 Couldst thou not from the ground one blade dissever 
 Of joyous herbage, save with butchering steel, 
 Nor give one glory to the Eternal Giver ? 
 Couldst thou but wound that mightst so nobly heal ? 
 I see thy end begin for Man thou didst not feel ! 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 And yet France loved thee loved thy daring flight, 
 Thy mighty genius thy creative power ; 
 The soldier's idol and the hind's delight 
 For 'twas the people made thee like a tower 
 That topt all Nations ! In thy happier hour 
 A glorious code thou gav'st. Thy sway was just 
 To France thy monuments a deathless dower. 
 No luxury turned thy energies to rust. 
 A Conqueror why become ? why serve Ambition's lust ? 
 
116 IBERIA WON. [CANTO in. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 What are thy mightiest triumphs ? Pages torn 
 From bloodiest records. What thy phalanx armed ? 
 Assassins. Thy parade of Conquest ? Shorn 
 Of glare deceptive, plunder. Earth alarmed 
 Saw the career, that dazzled it and charmed, 
 Sunk in fell Tyranny. Thy potent rays, 
 Melting all fetters, might have millions warmed 
 With Freedom. Thou didst forge, to fiends' amaze, 
 New shackles for thy kind. Let Hell eclipse thy blaze ! 
 
117 
 
 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 
 TO CANTO III. 
 
 This Canto describes the battles of Sauroren on the Pyrenees, 
 with the leading incidents in the minor combats of Buenza, Doiia 
 Maria, Echallar and Ivantelly which followed. The first battle 
 of Sauroren took place on the 28th July, 1813, the fourth anni- 
 versary of the battle of Talavera, and was remarkable for the 
 extraordinary valour displayed by the French under Soult, which, 
 having obtained a slight success at Buenza, they repeated with 
 almost frantic efforts at Echallar and Ivantelly on the 2nd August, 
 their principal object being to relieve San Sebastian. But in vain. 
 Lord Wellington described the first of these actions as " bludgeon 
 work." The loss on both sides was very considerable ; but it was 
 here demonstrated by our soldiers, in the words of Napier " that 
 their opponents however strongly posted could not stand before 
 them." The actions will be found detailed in his History, book xxi. 
 chap. 5. 
 
 The incident of the defence of the mountain top by flinging 
 down rocks, is taken from the previous combat, where it occurred 
 as described by Napier in the following words : " The British, 
 shrunk in numbers, also wanted ammunition, and a part of the 
 eighty-second under Major Fitzgerald was forced to roll down 
 stones to defend the rocks on which they were posted." (Hist, ibid.) 
 The allusions to Sisyphus and to Ajax will I trust be excused. It 
 is difficult to exaggerate such incidents. There was surely some- 
 thing Titanic in the character of this Pyrenean warfare. 
 
 The Spanish regiment which gave way towards the end of the 
 battle (the poor soldiers were starved by their miserable commis- 
 sariat) was that of El Pravia, which was stationed on the left of 
 
118 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 the fortieth, and the latter regiment justly styled by Napier the 
 " invincible " victoriously concluded the combat. " Four times 
 this assault was renewed, and the French officers were seen to pull 
 up their tired men by the belts, so fierce and resolute they were to 
 win. It was, however the labour of Sisyphus." (Napier, ibid.) The 
 cavalry engagement was maintained by our tenth and eighteenth 
 hussars. I occasionally detach my heroes, Nial and Morton, to 
 other infantry corps for poetic effect. 
 
 The terrible scene at the bridge of Yanzi is described by Captain 
 Cooke in his Memoirs as follows : " We overlooked the enemy 
 at stone's throw, and from the summit of a tremendous precipice. 
 The river separated us, but the French were wedged in a narrow 
 road with inaccessible rocks on one side and the river on the other. 
 Confusion impossible to describe followed, the wounded were 
 thrown down in the rush and trampled upon, the cavalry drew 
 their swords and endeavoured to charge up the pass of Echallar, 
 but the infantry beat them back ; and several, horses and all, were 
 precipitated into the river ; some fired vertically at us, the wounded 
 called out for quarter, while others pointed to them supported as 
 they were on branches of trees, on which were suspended great 
 coats clotted with gore, and blood-stained sheets taken from 
 different habitations to aid the sufferers." 
 
 The incident of extricating Wellington by the agency of Nial 
 and Morton from his imminent peril of falling into the hands of 
 the French is taken from the following passage at the end of 
 Napier's description of the combat of Ivantelly : " Lord Wellington 
 narrowly escaped the enemy's hands. He had carried with him 
 towards Echallar half a company of the forty-third as an escort, 
 and placed a sergeant named Blood with a party to watch in front 
 while he examined his maps. The French who were close at hand 
 sent a detachment to cut the party off ; and such was the nature 
 of the ground that their troops, rushing on at speed, would infallibly 
 have fallen unawares upon Lord Wellington, if Blood, a young 
 intelligent man, seeing the danger, had not with surprising activity, 
 leaping rather than running down the precipitous rocks he was 
 
NOTES TO CANTO III. 119 
 
 posted on, given the general notice, and as it was the French arrived 
 in time to send a volley of shot after him as he galloped away." 
 (Hist, book xxi. c. 5.) 
 
 The prodigies accomplished by our Peninsular veterans, of which 
 this and the preceding Canto fall short in the narration, need 
 little attestation. But here is the testimony of one of Napoleon's 
 Generals: " Bien que leurs corps soient robustes, leurs ames 
 energiques, et leurs esprits industrieux," &c. (Foy, Hist. Guerre. 
 Penins. liv. ii.) " Le Prince-Noir et Talbot etaient nes dans Albion. 
 Marlborough et ses douze mille soldats n'avaient pas etc les moins 
 redoutables ennemis de Louis XIV. * * Nos soldats revenus 
 d'Egypte disaient a leurs camarades la valeur indomptee des 
 Anglais. II n'etait pas besoin d'une reflexion profonde pour 
 deviner que 1'ambition, la capacite", et le courage sont bons a autre 
 chose qu'a etre embarques sur des vaisseaux." (Ibid.) " Leur 
 humeur inquiete et voyageuse les rend propres a" la vie errante des 
 guerriers, et ils possedent une qualite, la plus precieuse de toutes 
 sur les champs de bataille, le calme dans la colere. * * Telle est 
 la puissance Anglaise. C'est Bonaparte en action, mais Bonaparte 
 toujours jeune et toujours vigoureux, Bonaparte perseverant dans sa 
 passion, Bonaparte immortel." (Ibid.) " Le soldat Anglais .... 
 son corps est robuste. Son ame est vigoureuse, parceque son pere 
 lui a dit et ses chefs lui repetent sans cesse que les enfants de la 
 vieille Angleterre, abreuve's de porter et rassasies de boeuf roti, 
 valent chacun pour le moins trois individus de ces races pygmees 
 qui vegetent sur le continent d'Europe. * * II marche en avant. 
 Dans 1'action, il ne regarde pas a droite ni a gauche." (Ibid.) 
 
 The brilliancy of our cavalry service is equally acknowledged, 
 though French military writers strive sometimes to mock it, 
 very ineffectually, as in the following example ; " Dans la retraite 
 de la Corogne, les corps de cavalerie faisaient halte ; le chef com- 
 mandait : Pied a terre ; prenez vos pistolets ; et a un troisieme 
 commandement, chaque cavalier brulait la cervelle a son cheval en 
 un temps et deux mouvements." (Foy, Hist. Guerre. Penins. 
 liv. ii.) 
 
120 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 In illustration of the character of Napoleon, of which I have 
 attempted some analysis in this Canto, I have drawn together a 
 few striking passages from the most eminent military writers of 
 England and France, Napier and Foy : 
 
 " That greatest of all masters of the art of war." (Napier, Hist. 
 War in the Penins. book xxiv. chap. 6.) " In following up a 
 victory the English general fell short of the French emperor. The 
 battle of Wellington was the stroke of a battering ram, down went 
 the wall in ruins. The battle of Napoleon was the swell and dash 
 of a mighty wave, before which the barrier yielded and the roaring 
 flood poured onwards covering all." (Ibid.) " That successful 
 improvisation in which Napoleon seems to have surpassed all 
 mankind." (Ibid.) 
 
 " Vaincre et trouver des instruments de victoire etait le travail 
 de sa vie." {Foy, Hist. Guerre. Pe'nins. liv. i. Caractere de 
 Napoleon.) 
 
 " Jamais esprit plus profondement meditatif ne fut plus fecond 
 en illuminations rapides et soudaines." (Ibid.) 
 
 "Toujours pret a combattre,habituellement il choisissaitl'occasion 
 et le terrain. II a donne quarante batailles pour huit ou dix qu'il a 
 re9ues." (Ibid.) 
 
 " Napoleon's system of war was admirably adapted to draw 
 forth and augment the military excellence and to strengthen the 
 weakness of the national character. His discipline, severe but 
 appealing to the feelings of hope and honour, wrought the quick 
 temperament of the French soldiers to patience under hardship, 
 and strong endurance under fire. * * He thus made his troops, 
 not invincible indeed, nature had put a bar to that in the charac- 
 ter of the British soldier, but so terrible and sure in war that the 
 number and greatness of their exploits surpassed those of all other 
 nations." (Napier, Hist. War in the Penins. book xxiv. chap. 6.) 
 
 " Ce n'est pas avec les regies de Montecuculli et de Turenne 
 manoeuvrant sur la Renchen qu'il faut juger de telles entreprises. 
 Les uns guerroyaient pour avoir tel ou tel quartier d'hiver ; 1'autre, 
 pour conquerir le monde. II lui fallait souvent non pas seulement 
 
NOTES TO CANTO III. 121 
 
 gagner une bataille, mats la gagner de telle fa9on qu'elle epouvantat 
 1'Eiirope et amenat des resultats gigantesques. Ainsi les vues 
 politiques intervenaient sans cesse dans le genie strategique. * * 
 Quelque habile qu'on soit, il y a presque toujours dans ce jeu 
 terrible des risques proportionnes a la grandeur des profits. Le 
 succes est devenu plus chanceux. Les armees etaient plus nom- 
 breuses. Ses ennemis, a son exemple, ont eu aussi des masses. * * 
 La machine n'etait plus maniable ; il a ete ecrase." (Foy, liv. i.) 
 
 Napoleon's was a game of double or quits played with the 
 hardihood of a determined gambler. The value of the stakes became 
 multiplied with alarming rapidity, as in the arithmetical problem 
 of the horse-shoe-nails. All the military population and resources 
 of the empire became involved in the chances of the die, and he 
 lost the last throw. 
 
 General Foy narrates the following anecdote. He was probably 
 himself the interlocutor : " Dans la campagne de France, aux pre- 
 miers mois de 1814, Napoleon parlait a Troyes en Champagne, 
 avec un de ses generaux, de 1'etat des choses. ' Les ennemis, disait 
 celui-ci, sont trop nombreux; il faut que la France se leve* 
 ' Eh ! comment voulez-vous que la France se leve, interrompit 
 avec vivacite Napoleon ; il n'y a pas de noblesse, et fai tut: la 
 liberteT' 
 
 Of the love which the French people bore to Napoleon, let his 
 march to Cannes be a witness, where the inhabitants, as he passed, 
 surrounded him in hundreds of thousands with unmistakeable de- 
 monstrations of blind enthusiasm and delight. Not even the ter- 
 rible conscription could rase his impression from their hearts. 
 The general equity of his internal administration, the exact system 
 of his public accounts, the effectual discharge of duty which 
 he required of the state servants, the abolition of idle privileged 
 classes, and the cessation of fraud in the management of the revenue 
 or its punishment when detected, caused the people to love him as 
 they everywhere love justice. Napoleon, with all his other splen^ 
 did faculties, was a skilful financier ; he was opposed to public loans, 
 and left no debt. He had no private views, and his active energies 
 G 
 
122 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 were unimpaired in his vassals' service. The utility of his public 
 works was commensurate with their grandeur, providing at once 
 employment for the poor and embellishment for the country. His 
 Code was a monument of legislative wisdom, and his Cadastre an 
 invaluable equalizer and register of taxation and the liabilities of 
 property. But withal he was a detestable tyrant. 
 
 ii. " Such stone immense as feigned bolides 
 
 In Orcus tortured flung." 
 
 The epithet " feigned " is imitated from Milton's treatment of 
 similar subjects. But Milton was not at all uniform in his treatment ; 
 and therefore having paid this tribute to the truth of Christianity 
 and entered by this word my protest against the fables of Poly- 
 theism, I do not think it necessary, any more than Milton did, to 
 be perpetually marring poetical effects by intimating that com- 
 parisons are derived from fictitious subjects. Thus in the finest 
 book of Paradise Lost, the second, all the Greek and Roman fables 
 are introduced with excellent effect, and without any intimation 
 that they are apocryphal. Thus 
 
 Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate, &c. 
 
 P.L.u.b77. 
 
 Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards 
 
 The ford. Ib. ii. 611. 
 
 - The water flies 
 
 All taste of living wight, as once it fled 
 The lip of Tantalus. Ib. ii. 612. 
 
 A cry of Hell-hounds never-ceasing barked 
 
 With wide Cerberean mouths. Ib. ii. 654. 
 
 " It rolleth bounding with gigantic ease." 
 Kai /*V ^'ufvfyov elffeTtiov, Kparep &\ye' 
 
 T Hrot 6 i*\v, <TKi]pnrr6^vos x f p ff ^ Te irofflv re. K. r. A. 
 
 Horn. Od. xi. 592. 
 
NOTES TO CANTO III. 123 
 
 The fine dactylic verse which follows, and which Dionysius of 
 Halicarnassus so highly commends, is wonderfully descriptive of 
 the hounding of a huge stone down a mountain : 
 
 A.VTIS 7T6iTa ITfSovSe KV\iv8TO \UttS avaififys. 
 
 Horn. Od. xi. 592. 
 
 Notwithstanding the numerous and highly celebrated attempts 
 of Pope and Dry den at onomatopoeiac effects in English iambic 
 lines, I think Thomson has surpassed them both in the following 
 line from what Byron justly pronounces one of the very finest 
 poems in the English language : 
 
 " Down thunders back the stone with mighty sweep !" 
 
 Castle of Indolence, cant. i. 
 
 in. " Full many a rock's Aiantine volume rolled." 
 
 Afvrepos adr' Afas iro\v (Mfi^ova Xaav aelpas. 
 
 Horn. //. vii. 268. 
 
 " Their powerful hands this rude artillery hold." 
 Others with vast Typhcean rage more fell 
 Rend up both rocks and hills. Milt. Par. Lost. ii. 539. 
 
 Typhceus was one of the Titans who warred against Heaven. 
 
 vn. " And charging through the valley shakes the field 
 " With thunderous gallop." 
 
 Debaixo dos pes duros dos ardentes 
 Cavallos treme a terra, as valles soam. 
 
 Camoens, Lus. iv. 31. 
 
 vin. " Our fiery squadrons. * * 
 
 They bathe their swords in blood at every bound." 
 "Wolauf, ihr kecken streiter ! 
 Wolauf, ihr deutschen reiter ! 
 Wird euch das herz nicht warm ? 
 Nehmt's liebchen in den arm 
 
 Hurrah ! 
 
 Korner, Schwertlied. 
 G2 
 
124 HISTORICAL ANB ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 Well up, ye fearless fighters ! 
 
 Well-up T ye Saxon riders t 
 Oh, grows not each heart warm, 
 The loved one on hia arm ? 
 
 Hurrah ! 
 
 ix. " Oh, generous, strong, and fleet are England's steeds. 
 
 v{j.vov 6p0<t>(ras t 
 
 Ivirwv &WTOV. Find. Olymp. iiu 
 
 " I will hymn the praise of the flower of foot-weariless horses." 
 
 xx, " On each towering height 
 
 Seemed demons sprung with torches from their den." 
 
 Auf den mondschein folgen triiber, 
 
 Damrn'rung schatten ; wiistenthiere jagen aufgeschreckt voriiber. 
 Schnaubend baumen sich die pferde ; unser fiihrer greift zur 
 
 fahne ; 
 
 Sie entsinkt ihm, und er murmelt : " Herr, die Geisterkaravane !" 
 
 Freiliyrath. 
 
 " After the moonshine follow t!:e dark twilight-shades ; the wild 
 animals fly past affrighted, the horses rear up snorting ; our leader 
 clutches at the standard it sinks from him, and he murmurs : 
 * Lord, the ghostly-caravan I ' " 
 
 xxi. " Refreshment needful cheered their bivouac." 
 
 Poiche de' cibi il natural amore 
 Fu in lor ripresso e 1'importuna sete. 
 
 Tasso, Gerus. Lib. xi. 17. 
 
 xxn. " But thickest mist doth fall, and leave our men at fault." 
 
 (Combat of Dona Maria.) " A thick fog prevented further pursuit, 
 and the loss of the French in the action is unknown." 
 
 Napier, Hist, book xxi. c. 5. 
 
NOTES TO CANTO III. 125 
 
 xxni. " Thus M^nelatis, while his brazen spear, &e." 
 
 I V T^V 8' ctfp? ' A.<t>po5tni 
 'Pfla ;uaA.', Sore 6*6? e/ceUu^e 5* &p' %ipi j 
 
 Horn. //. iii. 379. 
 
 I trust it will not be deemed irreverent to observe, by way of 
 anticipative answer to any critic who in his wisdom may condemn 
 this Homeric allusion, that, as the Deus ex machind is not mine, 
 I do not stand sponsor for Venus, and that the notion of a French- 
 man in a fog quite naturally suggested Paris. 
 
 XXVL " Chambering Santa Cruz's torrid steep." 
 
 Gravis exustos aestus hiukat agros. 
 
 Catul. Ixvi. 
 
 xxxvi. -- " Friendship's generous fend 1 
 
 " Where each desired that each the prize should hoard," 
 
 "SI ATJ/U,' &pitrTov, us air' evyevovs TWOS 
 
 'Plt)S VftyVKltS, TOIS <(>1\OIS T' OpQ&S <pl\OS. 
 
 Eurip. Iph. in Taur. 609. 
 
 " Oh, excellent mind, from some noble root thou art sprung, for 
 thou art truly a friend to thy friend 1" 
 
 " Great Arthur gave each noble youth a sword." 
 
 The Duke of Wellington presented his sword to Sir Henry (now 
 Lord) Hardinge after the Battle of Waterloo. 
 
 xxxvin. " And next to Heaven he loved his native land. 
 
 " With Blanca there to fly when Spain was free," &c. 
 
 Mas el amor de la mujer y de la patria, pues como dicen : de d(* 
 eres, hombre ? tiraron por mi. Mendoza, Lazarillo de Tonnes. 
 
 XLI. " Thy course for bale that might have been for bliss." 
 
 Then were I brought from bale to blisse, 
 
 No leiiger wold I lye. Romance of " Sir Cauline." 
 
126 NOTES TO CANTO III. 
 
 For now this day thou art my bale. 
 
 Romance of " Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne." 
 
 Jhesue Christ our balys bete 
 And to the blys us brynge ! 
 
 The original " Chevy Chase." 
 
 The origin of the words " bliss " and " bless " is identical. 
 
 XLIII. " Scourge of the nations ! thy appointed time 
 
 " Is near its close exhausted is thy quiver." 
 
 The certainty of the doom that awaits unjust violence is finely 
 expressed by Pindar : 
 
 B/a Se Kal fj.yd\avxov 
 
 vos oi> p-'iv favj-e 
 
 ou5e IJLO.V f3a(ri\ 
 
 AtuciOev 5 e Kepavvqj, 
 
 T<f|ot<r/ T a.Tr6\\wvos. Pyth. viii. 
 
 " But Violence mineth the proud in time. Cilician Typhos 
 with his hundred heads escaped not its effects, nor the King of the 
 Giants himself. They were slain by the thunder (of Jove) and 
 the shafts of Apollo ! " The " King of the Giants " is Porphyrio, 
 who carried off the herd of Hercules, and appears to have originated 
 the plan to scale Olympus. Typhos is better known by the names 
 Typhon and Typhoeus. Pindar is perpetually alluding to the 
 combats of the Titans, and they impart a matchless sublimity to 
 his poetry, which in this quality surpasses Homer. 
 
IBERIA WON. 
 
 Canto 
 
 i. 
 
 THERE is one earthly Love, and one alone, 
 Which free from penalty all, all may share ; 
 A passion pure, sublime, of loftiest tone, 
 In whose proud service Man may blameless dare 
 All that the heart inspires which scorns to wear 
 A chain 'tis Love of Country ! This the power 
 That levels all distinctions 'midst despair 
 Upraising prostrate nations to a tower, 
 The flame that kindles men to Gods in peril's hour! 
 
 ii. 
 
 Who's noble ? He that bears a scutcheon ? He 
 Whose lineage can be traced to mailed Knights, 
 That with the Bastard came from Normandy ? 
 He that in lacqueys and in hounds delights ? 
 Whose fathers jousted in Plantagenet fights ? 
 Have not all battled with the roaring Flood ? 
 Noble is he who honours, Man, thy rights, 
 Sustains thy dignity, is truthful, good ; 
 Kings have I known more base than bondsman e'er hath 
 stood ! 
 
128 IBERIA WON. [CANTO iv. 
 
 in. 
 
 Hath not the humblest hands, eyes, feeling, thought 
 Like your's, strength, weakness, tears and laughter's 
 
 dower ? 
 
 The bruted serf hath Poland's serfdom wrought ; 
 For when to strike for Freedom comes the hour, 
 He strikes his lords ! At home let Tyrants cower 
 In field, or factory, mountain, mine, or glen. 
 Where'er the weak are crushed by ruffian power, 
 Where'er the poor are slighted, where the pen 
 Can reach Oppression, there shall pierce the rights of Men ! 
 
 IV. 
 
 And Labour shall have Justice. Peasant arms, 
 The implements of peace or war that wield, 
 Shall not, of Fame defrauded and its charms, 
 Of Right be too defrauded and the shield 
 Of Liberty ! In ploughed or battle field, 
 His hire shall be the guerdon, not the mite 
 Flung by proud scorn ! His wrongs shall yet be healed. 
 Who Badajoz, Ciudad, Sebastian's height 
 Could scale shall have his share of glory and of right ! 
 
 v. 
 
 What were thy mural crowns, bellipotent Rome, 
 Thy gold-beat turrets for the daring head, 
 Thy vallar circlets given for mounted dome 
 And rampart, wreaths obsidional that shed 
 Their grass-green light than gold more coveted I 
 What thy triumphal bays for glory's brow, 
 Thy oval myrtle where no Roman bled, 
 Thy civic garland of the oaken bough ? 
 Their sound one City filled the World beholds us now I 
 
CANTO IV. J IBERIA WON. 129 
 
 VI. 
 
 Not Spain, not Spain doth tamely bear the yoke, 
 Her sturdy peasants the Guerrillas swell, 
 And, see, where gather 'neath Guernica's oak 
 Her passionate sons to list the tuneful shell 
 Which 'neath its shade a maiden strikes so well. 
 One hand alone the loud guitarra wakes 
 So potently : 'tis Blanca gives the spell ! 
 Through every pause the Basque pandero breaks, 
 And Blanca thus i' th'crowdeach nerve and fibreshakes: 
 
 VII. 
 
 " Biscayan bondsmen ! for 'tis bonds ye wear, 
 While stalks the proud invader o'er your soil ; 
 Methinks, 'tis said Cantabrian blood ye share, 
 Methinks, 'tis said that vain was Roman toil 
 To bend your stubborn hearts within its coil ! 
 But this, forsooth, was thousand years ago. 
 Were your's Cantabrian blood, 'twould surely boil, 
 To see Cantabria's glory laid so low. 
 Why yes, the Frenchman, sure, excels the Roman foe ! 
 
 VIII. 
 
 " Biscayan bondsmen ! patience is your cure 
 For all their slights and scoffs by Heaven's behest. 
 Lives there a bustard on your hills to endure 
 A foreign vulture in its cuckoo nest ? 
 Perchance your nests are warmer ye know best ! 
 Not bustards dwell upon each mountain peak, 
 But royal eagles none may dare molest, 
 For piercing are their talons, sharp their beak 
 'Tis Biscay's men alone are pliable and meek ! 
 
 G3 
 
130 IBERTA WON. [CANTO IV. 
 
 IX. 
 
 "'Tis said and sung but History doubtless lies 
 That great Fernando here and Isabel, 
 Beneath this aged oak, these mountain skies, 
 Swore to maintain Biscaya's rights full well. 
 'Tis said that those who lived where now ye dwell 
 I did not say your fathers with their swords 
 Won and preserved their fueros from the fell 
 Assaults of native tyrants idle words ! 
 Ye know the fueros melt i' th' breath of foreign lords. 
 
 x. 
 
 "'Tis said Biscaya's lawgivers of old 
 Beneath this venerable Druid shade, 
 Ancestral lord, and priest, and peasant bold, 
 Met in due time and firmest fueros made. 
 'Tis said but chronicling' s a lying trade 
 That hearts of oak beneath this oak did meet 
 To guard the old Basque freedom. Undecayed 
 The oak is still, and hark what voices sweet, 
 As from Dodona's, bid the Basque his deeds repeat ! 
 
 XI. 
 
 " 'Tis said this Spanish soil once men did rear, 
 Whom Rome and Carthage trembled to oppose. 
 Sagunthus, and Numance, and Bilbil here 
 Terrific bulwarks in their pathway rose, 
 Ere yielding crushed by self-destroying blows ! 
 'Tis said Viriatus the Guerrilla storm 
 Poured from the mountains first 'gainst Roman foes, 
 And Sylla and Pompey smote Sertorius warm, 
 Till treachery triumphed. Gaul's complacent slaves ye 
 form ! 
 
CANTO IV.] IBERIA WON. 131 
 
 XII. 
 
 "'Tis said Bernardo with resistless lance 
 At Roncesvalles Roland's prowess crushed, 
 When Carlomain for this same haughty France 
 Claimed Leon's crown, and down Pyrene rushed. 
 There Roland's blood with many a Peer's, too, gushed ! 
 'Tis said that more than this e'en Spaniards did, 
 When bold Ruy Diaz on Bavieca, flushed 
 With victory, led the Oca hills amid 
 Five Moorish Kings who long paid tribute to the Cid ! 
 
 XIII. 
 
 " I see the warrior-boy on gallant steed 
 Spur to the battle proudly o'er the plain, 
 His eye resolved to make the Moslem bleed, 
 His bounding bosom scorns to wear a chain ! 
 His lance in rest, his armour without stain, 
 He panteth for the melee hand to hand ; 
 Enough his guerdon that he strikes for Spain. 
 Wo to the hostile ranks that dare to stand 
 Before that fiery Chiefs dread lance and lightning brand! 
 
 XIV. 
 
 " Such Spaniards were in days long past away 
 Who drove the Invader forth, nor asked for aid. 
 I need not speak what Spaniards are to-day. 
 Oh, let not Britons thus the Basque o'ershade. 
 At least be drawn Bilbao's trusty blade !" 
 Flushed many a cheek, " Las armas /" was the cry. 
 With hasty-buckled swords the high-souled maid, 
 And firelocks true, soon saw them gathering nigh, 
 And 'neath the sacred oak flashed many a warlike eye : 
 
132 IBERIA WON. [CANTO iv. 
 
 Cfje 
 
 " These be my countrymen (she said) ; 
 Spain, thy spirit is not dead ! 
 When the kite shall grasp the thunder, 
 France shall bring thy spirit under ; 
 When upheaved is Roncesvalles, 
 France shall hold Alphonso's palace. 
 When forgotten is Pavia, 
 
 "When unwrit her annals all, 
 Then shall Spain consent to be a 
 Province for the Gaul ! 
 Hoist the standard 
 
 Of Hesperia ; 
 Ne'er hath pandered 
 
 Celtiberia ! 
 Greatly dare, 
 Till free as air ; 
 Firm as rock, 
 Withstand the shock ! 
 Now when babes untimely perish, 
 
 Like old Basques strew pure white roses ; 
 Freedom's flame now, now ye cherish 
 'Tis no infant slave reposes ! 
 The pride of arms, 
 And Freedom's charms, 
 Have spurred each soul 
 For Glory's goal ; 
 My countrymen, to-day ye make your sister proud. 
 
CANTO IV.] IBERIA WON. 133 
 
 The Invader may come ; 
 Hark, hark to his drum, 
 And the hoofs of his chargers clattering loud ! 
 See, see where the dust, 
 Like a storm-gathered gust, 
 Rolls over the plain, 
 As he gallops amain ; 
 
 Now stand, brothers brave, and be true to your trust ! 
 When upheaved is Roncesvalles, 
 
 When the kite shall grasp the thunder, 
 France shall hold Alphonso's palace, 
 France shall bring thy spirit under ! 
 When dishonours Vascongada 
 Fernan's triumph at Granada, 
 When forgotten is Pavia, 
 
 When unwrit her annals all, 
 Then shall Spain consent to be a 
 Province for the Gaul ! 
 
 xv. 
 
 On came the French light horse a forage troop 
 And dashed impetuous to the ancient square, 
 Deeming to spoil the town with vulture swoop, 
 But Blanca's voice had been before them there ! 
 Beneath the oak the patriot phalanx fair 
 With volley close receives the deadly shock. 
 Though trodden down, none yields him to despair, 
 But light-armed footmen horse and rider mock. 
 France oft the charge renews ; Biscaya stands-*-a 
 rock ! 
 
134 IBERIA WON. [CANTO iv. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Fiercest amongst the hussars rode Jules, whose friend 
 Blanca erewhile had with his carbine smote ; 
 He spied her 'neath the oak, and burnt to end 
 The maid who foiled him in her lightsome boat. 
 But by her side there stands a youth of note 
 Don Carlos named her father too is nigh. 
 Stout they received him Carlos at his throat 
 Sprang with good sword ; and fiery sparkles fly 
 From blades with master-hand they both wield manfully. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 But Blanca' s sire with dexterous weapon cut 
 The Frenchman's rein, and pricked his foaming steed. 
 Unchecked, the charger instant wheeled about, 
 And from the battle fled at utmost speed, 
 The bridle Jules deserting in his need. 
 Shouted the enraged hussar, and spurred, and cursed, 
 But faster flew the horse from guidance freed. 
 The troop soon followed of the fray the worst 
 Was theirs and from the Basques the cheer of victory 
 burst. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 No tongue may tell the transport of delight, 
 That hailed this triumph of their patriot arms. 
 A troop from fair Guernica marched ere night 
 For San Sebastian, amid War's alarms 
 To prove the spirit which the Vascon warms. 
 And Blanca and her blithe barqueras rowed 
 Once more to aid the siege with Hebe charms, 
 While Carlos to whose arm she safety owed 
 Her shallop bore to San Sebastian, his abode : 
 
CANTO IV.] IBERIA WON. 135 
 
 XIX. 
 
 " Now thus," she said, " to Isidora speak, 
 Though noblest maid, my foster-sister dear 
 Tell her my tongue to express my love is weak, 
 And this memorial wet with many a tear. 
 For dire to think how oft I am so near, 
 But she within and I without the wall 
 Beleaguered ; you, Don Carlos, need not fear 
 To enter seaward, but the haughty Gaul 
 'Gainst Basque barquera soon would hurl the vengeful 
 ball." 
 
 xx. 
 
 Then from her beauteous breast the maid drew forth 
 A silken banneret of pigmy size, 
 Yet truly figuring thence was all its worth 
 The standard proud of Spain, whose castles rise 
 With lions rampant to the gazer's eyes. 
 And in the centre, broidered all blood-red 
 Showed the French eagle arrow-pierced he lies, 
 Gasping in death, the plumes rent from his head : 
 " Give this to Isidor," at parting, "this," she said. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Dark was the night the horizon pitchy black, 
 As Carlos with the pass-word reached the town, 
 And joyous strolled, while War's dread fire was slack, 
 With lovely Isidor the rampart down. 
 More deep 'neath starry pall ne'er fell Night's frown, 
 Nor sank repose on Nature and on man. 
 But hark the rattling musketry, see crown 
 Each sharp discharge its flash ere death brief span. 
 Homeward, poor maiden lorn, sweet Isidora ran ! 
 
136 IBERIA WON. [CANTO iv. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 'Twas gallant Rev, who made a night-sortie 
 Last effort tried ere come the dire assault. 
 Our piquets on the Isthmus slaughtered see, 
 Ta'en by surprise or ere they can cry Halt ! 
 Loud rose the Frenchmen's En avant ! At fault, 
 Our sentries for a time unaided bleed, 
 The deadly death-tubes rending the black vault ; 
 But soon a furious contest raged indeed 
 Our startled piquets rush, their firelocks flash with speed. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Yet onward the French column densely moved, 
 Our careful hewn intrenchments filling fast. 
 Down went banquette and parapet ; and proved 
 Fascine and gabion feeble in the blast. 
 Soon, as o'er level ground, the trench they passed 
 While fierce artillery from the rampart roared. 
 Incessant flashes momentary cast 
 Made tenfold darkness when their stream was poured, 
 And shells in beauteous curves of light through sether 
 soared. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 But saw great Arthur from the Chofre hills, 
 And while Graham hurled against the rampart's height 
 A fierce reply which all the welkin fills, 
 Sent our bold columns rapid to the fight. 
 Morton with joy, and Nial with delight, 
 The summons heard, and dashing with their men 
 Plunged through the fitful blazing gloom of night. 
 Hot was the fire of skirmishers, which then 
 Maintained on either side bewildered Lyncean ken. 
 
CANTO IV.] IBERIA WON. 137 
 
 . XXV. 
 
 For soon so mixed amid the pitchy gloom 
 Were friend and foe, save when the cannon flashed 
 To send grim death rimbombing from its womb, 
 That friend smote friend, and indiscriminate dashed 
 They on, by that dread peril unabashed. 
 Hundreds were in the trenches headlong flung, 
 And bayonets high o'er head and under clashed. 
 So desperate to their ground the assailants clung, 
 It seemed as Victory long i' th' balance doubtful hung. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 And, lo, where 'mid the caniage dire and wide, 
 Rise rapid fireballs from the citadel, 
 Whose lurid glare is, sure, to Hell allied, 
 With strong blue light the darkness to dispel ; 
 And some on the fascines around them fell, 
 Which fiercely burnt, diffusing terror new 
 For but an instant. Each his foe can tell, 
 And musketry now blazes full in view, 
 Till heaps of corses soon both mound and trenches strew. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 By that dread blaze upon the topmost height 
 A young French chieftain coped with Morton's sword; 
 Their clashing blades upon the brow of night 
 Threw clustering sparkles swift as Brontes poured 
 'Gainst Steropes whilst ^Etna's forges roared ; 
 And round and round they leapt to every stroke, 
 And with good will each point of fence explored. 
 But Morton's firmer hand his guard soon broke ; 
 The Gaulish chief disarmed the word "Surrender" 
 spoke. 
 
138 IBERIA WON. [CANTO iv. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 And Nial coped with yet a hardier chief, 
 Whose practised valour and whose sinewy arm 
 Gave little hope, I ween, of victory brief, 
 Yet joy inspired to Nial, not alarm. 
 Terrific was their sword play, like the charm 
 Of deadly basilisk to lure the eye ; 
 And many a pass was parried without harm, 
 And many a sweep and many a thrust put by, 
 Till Nial's foe at last i' th' trench doth silent lie. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 The Gaulish column while the deed dismayed, 
 New daring to the British line it gave. 
 Their rattling musketry more vigorous played, 
 And clouds of smoke arose with curling wave 
 O'erarching all the arena of the brave. 
 Nor yet the fireballs ceased to light the war, 
 Nor yet the grape to fall where none could save 
 Or life or limb, nor yet to roar from far 
 The cannon dire and bombs that burst through every bar. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 And 'mid this jar confused of noises dire, 
 And shouts of living soldiers fierce and fell, 
 The piercing shrieks of wounded men rose higher 
 Through groans of dying strewn by shot and shell ; 
 And of the fire balls from the citadel 
 Some lit amongst the helpless wounded, bringing 
 New pangs where agony too much doth dwell. 
 See crawling through the blaze, or nervous springing, 
 The maimed from where blue fire its lurid glare is flinging! 
 
CANTO IV.] IBERIA WON. 139 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 But faint before the valour of our men 
 Grew Gaulish daring, though they bravely fought ; 
 And when they showed irresolute, 'twas then 
 Our Britons to the charge the bayonet brought. 
 With shout appalling in their souls they wrought 
 Such fear as aided well our glancing steel 
 And firm advance. In flight they safety sought, 
 Yet less in terror's coil, than vain to feel 
 The assault that hath prepared with Britain's sons to deal. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 Now free once more our deep intrenchments stood, 
 Save of the heaps of slain and battle's track, 
 And many a broken blade and pool of blood, 
 Which by to-morrow's dawn shall find no lack 
 Of zeal to clear, and bring to smoothness back. 
 The dead shall find a soldier's simple grave, 
 The wounded healing care though pain should rack, 
 With Fame's requital ; and where past the wave 
 Of War, each trench renewed again shall shield the brave. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Within the town the lovely Isidor 
 Shuddered with fear at every cannon's boom. 
 As fell upon her ear the horrid roar, 
 She deemed it sounded like the crack of doom, 
 And on her knees within her furthest room 
 Before an image of the Virgin prayed 
 That Heaven might turn their hearts, and Pity's womb 
 Bring forth Pacification sore afraid 
 To see man slaughter man in God's own image made. 
 
140 IBERIA WON. [CANTO iv. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 But Blanca in the sound and sight rejoiced, 
 Which ever told of liberty to Spain, 
 And soon she hoped to see the standard hoist 
 Sublime on San Sebastian's towers again 
 The rampant lions spurning Gallic chain ! 
 And as the shells arose, the fireballs flew, 
 She rowed along the bosom of the main 
 Beneath the wall, as danger she would woo, 
 Yet shuddered too at times for Morton there she knew. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 Oh, marvellous variety of minds ! 
 Oh, Nature's handiwork of subtile shades ! 
 From the same breast the stream to life that binds 
 In foster-sisterhood drew both these maids. 
 Yet one with gentlest bosom shrinks and fades 
 Before the peril which doth rouse the other ; 
 One sickens, one rejoys at clashing blades. 
 Ah, Blanca, Blanca, learn that joy to smother, 
 For steel doth smite e'en now who loves thee like a mother! 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 Still darkness palled the earth, when round the home 
 Of Blanca' s father, near Zumaya's green, 
 The French hussars who fled Guernica from, 
 Arrayed in treacherous descent were seen ; 
 For Jules thus thought to wreak his vengeful spleen 
 At once upon the maiden and her sire. 
 His comrades called him Jules UEnfer I ween, 
 Befitting name. More daring or more dire 
 In the French host was none, or rife with demon fire. 
 
CANTO IV.] IBERIA WON. 141 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 The vine-clad porch, where Jules erewhile had seized 
 Fair Blanca while his comrade Ana prest, 
 Was entered soon the stubborn door, well pleased, 
 They battered with their carbines piecemeal blest 
 Effects of War, that turns the human breast 
 To tiger fierceness ! Pablo leapt from bed, 
 Where soon disturbed his lonely widowed rest. 
 The hussars rushed in by pale light faintly shed 
 From dim night-taper, when thus Jules ferocious said : 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 " Where be thy daughters yield them to our arms, 
 " This instant yield them buxom maids be they ; 
 "Buxom and fierce the soldier's spiciest charms 
 " In woman. ISEspingarda fires, I say, 
 " With aim that like a tirailleur's can slay. 
 "'Twas with my carbine she my comrade smote. 
 " Now will I rifle her she'll now obey 
 " My wishes, while I grasp her soft, white throat. 
 " Dame ! a French bastard soon her tapering waist shall 
 bloat !" 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 Terrific Pablo's triumph as he cried : 
 " No, ruffians, no ; thank Heaven, they are not your's, 
 " My daughters ! 'Tis God's hand, to crush your pride, 
 " To San Sebastian hath removed the lures 
 " That brought ye hither, worse than Godless Moors!" 
 " Ha, say you so ?" quoth Jules, "pardieu, 'tis he, 
 " The same who 'neath the oak, 'mongst Vascon boors, 
 " My bridle cut and made my steed to flee. 
 " Dog ! with those eyes to do the like no more thou'ltsee!" 
 
142 IBERIA WON. [CANTO iv. 
 
 XL. 
 
 Then on the hed he prest the old man down ; 
 With sinewy knee upon his breast he lies, 
 His struggles stifling with terrific frown, 
 And with his sword-point blinded both his eyes ! 
 Dire were the wounds he made, and crimson flies 
 The warm blood forth, yet save some groans of pain, 
 Which spoke poor Pablo's natural agonies, 
 Nor shriek nor cry drew forth this deed of Cain, 
 For Blanca's sire no weak faintheartedness could stain ! 
 
 XLI. 
 
 Then bound the villain both his hands and feet, 
 And while its master helpless nought did say, 
 Ransacked the house for all of wine or meat, 
 Or forage that within its precincts lay, 
 And thus caroused till near the break of day, 
 When all with wine o'ercome the troopers flung 
 Their lengths upon the floor at dawning grey, 
 As weary Bacchants with whose orgies rung 
 Ismenian heights at morn reposed with lolling tongue. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 Long Pablo heard their movements with disgust, 
 Till silence broke but by repletion's snore 
 Convinced the sightless man that Heaven is just, 
 And with excitement fierce his bonds he tore. 
 Trembling with rage, he stood upon the floor 
 An instant, then drew forth a dagger keen, 
 And groped his blind way through the chamber- 
 door. 
 
 From sleeping form to form he passed, I ween 
 With preternatural touch as true as each were seen ! 
 
CANTO IV.] IBERIA WON. 143 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 Jules he hath found ! A scar upon his face 
 The trooper gives to his revenge at last. 
 With gentlest finger he the seam doth trace 
 Along his cheek, till doubt to surety past. 
 A ghastly smile then Pablo's features cast, 
 All grim and gory 'neath his butchered eyes ! 
 His finger's point to where the heart beat fast 
 Unerring moved supine the monster lies 
 Beneath blind Pablo's blade heart-pierced he instant dies! 
 
144 
 
 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 
 TO CANTO IV. 
 
 THE gathering under the oak of Guernica, the onset of the 
 French light horse, and the resistance of the peasantry, described 
 in this Canto, are incidents which, although imagined, are charac- 
 teristic of this heroic struggle at various periods. The part here 
 played by Blanca was not uncommon during the Peninsular War, 
 enthusiast emissaries having made their appearance in various 
 quarters, preaching the crusade against the French. They literally 
 preached, or harangued the people in public places. I met an 
 Englishman in the Peninsula who had figured in that capacity. 
 Women, too, undertook the same service, which amongst an ex- 
 citable Southern people was found to be most potential. The 
 appearance of the fair sex in this character was chiefly after the 
 siege of Zaragoza, when the renown won by Manuela Sanchez 
 caused heroines to spring up in several places, who wore for the 
 most part a half-military attire. Blanca's use of the guitar is 
 strictly in character, for the talent of the improvvisatore is pretty 
 general in Spain, the language readily adapting itself to extempo- 
 raneous recitation in verse, and the ardent temperament of the 
 nation favouring a rapid exercise of the imagination. The Basque 
 drum or pandero, and the gaita or bagpipe, belong to this district. 
 The Oak of Guernica, beneath which I make Blanca rhapsodize, 
 was one of the most venerable natural monuments in Spain. Here 
 the Biscayan legislators, hidalgos and peasants, periodically assem- 
 bled, and here Ferdinand and Isabella in 1476 swore to maintain 
 the fueros, or ancient rights and privileges of the people. Words- 
 worth has a sonnet on the subject ; but unhappily his " tree of 
 holier power" was cut down by the French. An oak sapling was, 
 however, planted under the protection of the English army to 
 replace it. 
 
 The idea of the night-sortie in this canto is taken from the 
 
NOTES TO CANTO IV. 145 
 
 following passage in Napier : " In the night of the 27th, about 
 3 o'clock, the French sallied against the new battery on the 
 isthmus ; but as Col. Cameron of the ninth regiment met them 
 on the very edge of the trenches with the bayonet, the attempt 
 failed, yet it delayed the arming of the battery." (Hist. War in the 
 Penins. xxii. 1.) I have made honourable mention of Cameron's 
 achievement in my first canto, but without specifying that the 
 sortie took place by night. The attack in the real incident was 
 so speedily repelled that it afforded no room for poetical descrip- 
 tion. I have therefore worked up separately here the idea of a 
 sortie with the numerous picturesque additions incident to its 
 occurrence by night, and have taken some of these incidents from 
 the sortie which took place from Bayonne, then invested by Sir 
 John Hope, on the night of the 13th April 1814 three days after 
 the Battle of Toulouse being therefore the last event of the 
 Peninsular War, in which Sir John Hope was made prisoner, and 
 great loss of life occurred owing to the French governor's incre- 
 dulity as to the abdication of Napoleon. It is described in Na- 
 pier's last chapter but one, and still more minutely in Capt. 
 Batty's Campaign of the Left Wing of the Allied Army, &c. 
 Though Sir Thomas Graham was intrusted with the conduct of 
 the siege of San Sebastian, and though at the \ eriod of the assault 
 Wellington was engaged with the allies, as desciibed in a succeeding 
 canto, at some distance from the town, I am warranted in making him 
 superintend the defence of this sortie, he having visited the works 
 frequently during their progress, and having actually visited them 
 on the day (the 28th August) on which this sortie took place. 
 The present is almost the only instance throughout the poem, 
 where there is exaggeration of the actual amount of fighting and 
 its consequences. 
 
 The French in desolating the fields of Spain, and sweeping off 
 then* sheep and cattle by thousands, professed that they did it for 
 the people's good, treating them, doubtless, as Sir Thomas More 
 makes the Utopians treat their useless members in his Happy Re- 
 public : " Wrought on by these persuasions, they do either starve 
 H 
 
146 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 themselves of their own accord, or they take opium, and so they 
 die without pain." (Utopia, book ii.) According to Hobbes's 
 philosophy, this could be doing them no injury, " for he who con- 
 sents to any thing, cannot consider himself injured." (De Give. 
 I. i. c. iii.) This voluntarily inflicted suicide Bishop Burnet in 
 his preface more justly characterises as " a rough and fierce philo- 
 sophy." Still fiercer was the " philosophy" of Republican France. 
 
 v. " What were thy mural crowns, bellipotent Rome ?" 
 
 The corona muralis was a crown of gold, bearing some resem- 
 blance to an ancient wall with turrets, given to him who first 
 scaled the walls of a city in an assault. The corona castrensis sive 
 vallaris was a crown given to the soldier who first mounted a 
 rampart, or invaded the enemy's camp. The corona obsidionalis 
 (Livy) was a crown composed of the grass which grew in a be- 
 sieged place, and presented to the general who raised a siege. 
 This was deemed one of the highest military honours. Thomasius 
 says that it was likewise given " to a captain that razed a fort." 
 The corona triumphalis, originally of laurel and in after ages of 
 gold, was worn by those generals who had received the honour of 
 a triumph. On its being sent to the general, it insured him the 
 triumph on his return, and he immediately obtained the title im- 
 perator, which he retained till his triumphal entry. The corona 
 ovalis sive myrtea (Aulus Gellius) was given to a general for a 
 victory without slaughter of men. The corona civica, the highest 
 of all these rewards, was composed of oaken boughs, and given to 
 him who had saved the life of a Roman citizen. 
 
 vi. " Not Spain, not Spain doth tamely bear the yoke." 
 
 Levanta, Espana ! tu famosa diestra 
 
 Desde el Frances Pirene al Moro Atlante, 
 
 Y al ronco son de trompas belicosas, 
 
 Haz embuelta en durisimo diamante 
 
 De tus valientes hijos feroz muestra, 
 
 Debaxo de tus stfias vitoriosas. Luis de Gongora. 
 
NOTES TO CANTO IV. 147 
 
 xi. " Sagunthus and Numance and Bilbil here." 
 
 The cities of Saguntum and Numantia have been heretofore 
 specified. Bilbilis is the modern Bilbao, capital of the province 
 of Biscay. For a sketch of the ancient heroism of Cantabria, cor- 
 responding with the modern Vascongadas or Basque Provinces, 
 see the Introduction. For an account of the exploits of Viriatus 
 and Sertorius see Livy and Ferguson's Roman Republic. 
 
 " Now when babes untimely perish 
 
 " Like old Basques strew pure white roses." 
 
 This ancient custom has been made by Wordsworth the subject 
 of two sonnets, in the second of which occur the following fine 
 lines : 
 
 A garland fashioned of the pure white rose 
 Becomes not one whose father is a slave ! 
 
 xvin. " A troop from fair Guernica marched ere night." 
 
 Tambem movem da guerra as negras furias 
 
 A gente Biscainha, que carece 
 
 De polidas razoens, e que as injurias 
 
 Muito mal dos estranhos compadece. 
 
 A terra de Guipuscoa, e das Asturias, c. 
 
 Cam6ens, Lux. iv. 11. 
 
 xxiv. " Sent our bold columns rapid to the fight. 
 
 Morton with joy, and Nial with delight 
 The summons heard." 
 
 'Ev ykp X P^ TeAos TroAe^ov, titfoav 5' tvl f$ov\rj' 
 TOJ, otirt xp^ p-iiQov bfy4\\eiv, dAAa ^dx^^Oai. 
 
 Horn. //. xvi. 630. 
 
 " For the end of war is in hands, but of words in council ; 
 wherefore, let us not multiply words, but fight ! " The dog win) 
 barks loudest is least inclined to bite, or, as the German proverb 
 has it : " Die grossen marterhausen sind nicht die besten krieg- 
 sleut." I may add here Suidas's excellent derivation of "Ap-^s, the 
 H 2 
 
148 NOTES TO CANTO IT. 
 
 Greek name of Mars from o, non, and freeiy, dicere, because in war 
 not words but blows are needed. 
 
 xxv. " Save when the cannon flashed 
 
 " To send grim death rimbombing from its womb." 
 
 The word rimbombar, signifying " to resound terrifically," es- 
 pecially as applied to thunder and discharges of artillery, is a very 
 forcible specimen of onomatopoeia, and is common to the Spanish, 
 Italian, and Portuguese ; I have therefore ventured to adopt it 
 into the English language. Tasso uses the word with fine effect 
 in one of his most celebrated passages : 
 
 Treman le spaziose atre caverne, 
 
 E 1' aer cieco a quel romor rimbomba. 
 
 Ger. Lib. iv. 3. 
 
 xxvu. " Threw clustering sparkles swift as Brontes poured 
 " 'Gainst Steropes whilst ^Etna's forges roared." 
 
 Antra ^Etnaea tonant, validique incudibus ictus. . . . 
 Ferrum exercebant vasto Cyclopes in antro, 
 Brontesque, Steropesque, et nudus membra Pyracmon. 
 
 Virg. JEn. viii. 419. 
 
 Virgil's treatment of his subject, the forging of the armour of 
 ^Eneas, presents a curious contrast to Homer's treatment of the 
 forging of the armour of Achilles. Vulcan is the agent in both 
 cases, but in the simple patriarchal era of Homer he is made to 
 do it all himself, with the assistance only of " twenty pairs of 
 bellows :" 
 
 &v<rcu 8' eV ^odfoiffiv fiKO(ri iracrai t<bvffa>v. 
 
 The more refined contemporary of Augustus makes the Cyclops 
 perform the porters' work, and Vulcan merely look on. 
 
 xxxiv. " The rampant lions spurning Gallic chain !" 
 
 " Publica " respondit, " cura est pro moenibus istis " 
 Juppiter : et poenas Gallia victa dabit. 
 
 Ovid. Fast. vi. 377. 
 
IBERIA WON. 
 
 <anto V. 
 
 OH human hearts, that nurture fond designs, 
 While shattering Fate his iron moulds doth fill ! 
 Oh, loving breasts unwarned by direst signs, 
 The present joy-burst blindly hugging still ! 
 Impregnable redoubt of Human Will ! 
 Less strong than thine is San Sebastian's wall. 
 The ruin-clinging ivy Time can kill, 
 But not avert thy worship from its thrall, 
 Till comes the destined hour, and instant bids thee fall ! 
 
 n. 
 
 In summer skies I saw serenely bright 
 Creation smile o'er pastoral cottage fair. 
 Effulgent glory dwelt in loveliest light 
 On copse and garden, hedge and homestead there. 
 It seemed as exiled from that spot was Care ! 
 Sudden a cloud o'ergathering, fringed with red, 
 Burst in black thunder bellowing through the air. 
 A hissing bolt its flame terrific sped ; 
 The cottage ruined lay its peaceful inmates dead! 
 
150 IBERIA WON. [CANTO v. 
 
 in. 
 
 Not fairer Hella on the ^Egean flood 
 With her young brother sate the golden fleece, 
 Than Blanca steered her bark when Morton stood 
 Within its round, 'mid war discovering peace, 
 And from his eyes drank love-light without cease ; 
 Nor with more grief was Athamantis torn, 
 When sank her lovely form 'twixt sunny Greece 
 And blue Propontis, than made Blanca mourn, 
 When Morton owned his gage to join the Hope Forlorn. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Ah, do not go ! Mi Dios, thou wilt not go ! 
 " Guillermo, thou wouldst kill thy Blanca. Death 
 " Is there nigh certain.'' William smiled : "Why no, 
 " Not certain quite. Sweet Blanca, I'll have breath 
 "To kiss thee on my return. Why sorroweth 
 " My love so soon, that was so brave ere while ?" 
 " I care not for myself but thee, for saith 
 " The general voice, tis fatal." " See, I smile" 
 " Oh God, if aught befal thee, Death may light his pile." 
 
 v. 
 
 A trumpet sounded. "'Tis the summons hark," 
 Quoth William. Blanca straight grew lily-pale. 
 He kist her thrice, then leapt from out the bark. 
 "Fear not," he said. "To-morrow without fail 
 " We meet," then flew with heart unused to quail. 
 But Blanca motionless remained behind, 
 Like calmed Feluca which the dying gale 
 Hath quite forsook. Oh, Love had tamed her mind, 
 And pride and patriot thoughts for him were idle wind ! 
 
ANTO V.] IBERIA WON. 151 
 
 VI. 
 
 Now battle's roar which she had learnt to love, 
 Or strove to love for liberty to Spain, 
 Fell on her ear with horror, as the dove 
 By cry of falcon is transfixed with pain ; 
 And still she numbered William 'mongst the slain, 
 And every cannon with terrific boom 
 That maid so bold before made shake amain, 
 As were his breast the target. Rolled the drum ; 
 "We meet to-morrow." Ah, that morrow ne'er may come! 
 
 VII. 
 
 Dire was the chill that fell on Blanca's soul, 
 And oft she sighed for Isidora's ear, 
 To pour her woes and hear those lips console 
 Her foster-sister more than sister dear ! 
 But Isidora's lot was e'en more drear, 
 For none might dare from San Sebastian pass ; 
 And shivering from each cannon's shock with fear, 
 She longed by Blanca's side 'twas vain, alas ! 
 To pluck the summer-flowers, and brush the dewy grass, 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Dark fell the night like thickest, deadliest pall 
 On Blanca's bosom fluttering nigh to swoon ; 
 But while she drained her bitterest cup of gall, 
 O'er fair Biscay a' s bay arose the Moon 
 In wondrous beauty, and dispelled full soon 
 Her gloom by enchantment. So serenely bright, 
 It seemed as 'twere from Heaven a special boon, 
 And Blanche with tears invoked the Virgin's might, 
 And deemed she saw her form within that orb of light ! 
 
152 IBERIA WON. [CANTO v. 
 
 ix. . 
 
 A cherry-coloured riband from her head,, 
 Which used to bind and float beneath her hair, 
 With trembling hand she loosed, and o'er it spread 
 A golden curl of William's, tied it there 
 In fashion of a cross, and with this prayer 
 Consigned it to her bosom : " Empress-Queen 
 " Of Heaven, Immaculate Virgin ! Spare, oh, spare 
 " His life. Mi Madre, on Isaro's green 
 " Thy shrine shall have a crown as fair as e'er was seen/* 
 
 x. 
 
 At length the foeman's guns are nearly mute, 
 The hour doth eome for the terrific shock. 
 Where thou hast sown, Britannia, pluck the fruit ; 
 Sebastian hoary, tremble on thy rock t 
 With false assault the gallant Rey to mock, 
 And haply make the veteran spring his mines 
 (Oh, perilous emprize, where Death will lock 
 With icy arms the form that fairest shines) 
 Leap forth a dauntless score of warriors from the lines. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Oh England ! great thy glory, great the love 
 Thy children bear thee, when to certain death, 
 Or death nigh certain, dauntlessly they move, 
 Condensed in shouts for thee their parting breath ! 
 'Tis not one Curce or Ion gloryeth 
 Thy history to record, one Mutius fierce, 
 One Regulus self-devoted. Hundreds hath 
 Each fleet and army, prompt for thee to pierce 
 Their panting breasts, and choose for bridal bed a hearse ! 
 
CANTO V.] IBERIA WON. 153 
 
 XII. 
 
 Young Nial forward flies with impulse dire 
 
 Of these heroic warriors he the head ; 
 
 They gain the breach they mount they shout they 
 
 fire, 
 
 Their shouts are drowned in showers of answering lead; 
 But still unsprung the mines, nor terror fed 
 A valour calm as sleeps the Ocean near. 
 Vain is the assault, and stretched full soon lie dead 
 All who so late upraised that gallant cheer 
 All save their leader bold who stalks the trenches near. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 The hour is come ! Breaks heavily the morn 
 From densest misty shroud. Great Arthur calls 
 For nigh a thousand hearts that danger scorn 
 To rush like Ocean-surge against the walls, 
 And swarm where thickest fly the deadly balls : 
 " Men who can show what 'tis to mount a breach." 
 That voice inspires with valour where it falls ; 
 A thousand men leap forward heroes each 
 With arms to pluck the prize where Romans dare not reach! 
 
 XIV. 
 
 And winnowed must be Valour's chosen grain, 
 Where headlong to a shroud or victory borne, 
 All brave alike the peril proud disdain, 
 Yet culled the chosen for a Hope Forlorn ! 
 Mark the doomed band whose plumes seem loftier worn, 
 Whose cheeks more red for courted wounds and death. 
 Oh, many a mother's breast shall soon be torn, 
 And widowed spouse and sister gasp for breath, 
 Nigh perishing for them whose requiem Glory saith ! 
 H 3 
 
154 IBERIA WON, [CANTO v. 
 
 xv. 
 
 Hark to the muffled tread, where stealing slow 
 Adown the trenches musters their array, 
 While rank on rank in many a bristling row 
 Is gathering stern as dimly grows the day, 
 Nor from yon level sun a beam can stray ! 
 The army's hum, the awakening city's din, 
 The dusky masses gilded by no ray, 
 But dim with curling vapours, ere begin 
 The cannon's roar, make each more doubtful who shall win. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 A moment now the bravest pause in awe, 
 'Twixt life and death. Next moment direful clash ! 
 Opens in thunder every dragon-maw 
 Of fierce artillery with its lightning-flash. 
 As cleaves Heaven's thunderbolt the mountain ash, 
 So hurled in ruins is the battlement. 
 While Furies with that scourge its granite lash, 
 Not adamant, I ween, were long unbent, 
 And wider grows the breach and easier of ascent. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Within the trenches many an eager eye 
 With fevered gaze doth watch the sinking tide, 
 Whose ebb will give to conquer or to die 
 Oh, cruel use of Man's unerring guide, 
 Which Nature's hand hath stretched so fair and wide, 
 The throbbing pulse of Ocean ! Father Time 
 Seems heavily on leaden wing to ride, 
 And hours seem days, and hour-like minutes climb 
 I' the anxious nervous pause of that suspense sublime. 
 
CANTO V.] IBERIA WON. 155 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 And words are few and brief. It seemeth waste 
 Of breath in idle converse to dilate, 
 When hundreds momently to Judgment haste ; 
 And sight usurps all functions ! Mouths of Fate 
 Prophetic line the wall, where batteries wait 
 The onset, slowly turned the breach to flank, 
 And bayonets bristle 'neath the parapet, 
 For them prepared ! The heart's of interest blank, 
 That hath not waited thus in Battle's foremost rank. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 The hour is come ! The signal, " On, men, on !" 
 Sends from the trenches hundreds tow'rds the town. 
 Like greyhounds straining on the slips, they are gone, 
 While grape and shell in showers come pouring down, 
 To where the grisly bastion-breach doth frown. 
 Away, away, o'er slippery tidal shore, 
 O'er seaweed dank and shell-incrusted stone. 
 None stoops to pick, though strewn the seabeach o'er, 
 Save those whom other shells make stoop to rise no more! 
 
 xx. 
 
 Loud, louder still the batteries poured their fire, 
 And softer rippled wavelets o'er the strand. 
 'Twixt Man and Nature, oh, what contrast dire ! 
 The clattering death-tubes scarce a zephyr fanned. 
 Is Ocean awed to silence by the land, 
 Or is't amazed at human hate and rage? 
 The eye ferocious, and the red right hand 
 That writes its name renowned in History's page ? 
 Nature, I ween, is shocked, and beasts themselves more 
 sage! 
 
156 IBERIA WON. [CANTO v. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Ah better far on Albion's soil to tread 
 The verdurous meadow or the breezy hill, 
 For peaceful toil or sportful wandering spread, 
 In pastoral loveliness unrivalled still ; 
 Where blend sweet lane and slope with murmuring rill, 
 Hedgerow, and vocal grove, and village green, 
 And gardens fair and homesteads bright which fill 
 True household gods and beauty, there, I ween, 
 Alone 'neath tempering clouds in full perfection seen. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Ah, better 'twere beneath this radiant sky, 
 This sparkling sunlight shimmering o'er the plain, 
 To give to tender thoughts the melting eye, 
 And yield the heart to Love's delicious pain. 
 The genius bland, the balmy air of Spain, 
 More fit the lute than dire artillery's roar. 
 Ah, better far to sing such sweet refrain 
 Some dark-eyed Andaluzan's bower before, 
 As thus might ease the shaft that quivers in the core : 
 
 Ha J?ebtUana. 
 
 1. 
 My Enriqueta's eyelids 
 
 Are as soft as dews that fall 
 From the moonlit jasper fountain 
 
 In Alhambra's silent hall. 
 No star that, through its casement, 
 At the midnight hour you spy, 
 Hath the light, 
 Streaming bright, 
 Of my Enriqueta's eye ! 
 
CANTO V.J IBERIA WON. 157 
 
 2. 
 
 It hath the Southern darkness, 
 
 And the Southern depth as well ; 
 Touches, too, of Moorish wildness 
 
 In its rapid glances dwell. 
 'Tis broad-cut like an almond, 
 . With a long and silken lash ; 
 When her mind 
 Is to be kind, 
 How she veils its lightning flash ! 
 
 3. 
 Her step is light and buoyant, 
 
 As if borne upon the air ; 
 Short and danceful are her movements, 
 
 Like a pheasant's young and fair. 
 Stately-paced piafadora y * 
 Waving gently to and fro, 
 Do I hear 
 No music near, 
 While so gracefully you go ? 
 
 4. 
 Her head she carries finely, 
 
 And her bearing's wondrous proud, 
 And her voice, like silver lute strings, 
 Thrills the heart but never loud ! 
 'Tis a voice the brain to wilder ; 
 Oh, I glory to be near, 
 As she strolls, 
 Witching souls, 
 By the blue Guadalquivir ! 
 
 * Ambling like an Andalucian barb. 
 
158 IBERIA WON. [CANTO v. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 The hour is come ! The stream of valour doomed 
 Pours through the openings of the huge seawall. 
 Death reaps even now his harvest. Deep entombed 
 I' the earth full twoscore men like raindrops fall, 
 By premature mine that else had swallowed all ! 
 Unchecked the rush of that tremendous crowd, 
 And far beyond the Hope Forlorn appal 
 The bristling ramparts, as with daring proud 
 They fly to the horrid breach, tho' Hell should yawn, 
 uncowed ! 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Who leads the van ? Green Erin's son, Mac lar, 
 Fleet as the roebuck on his native hills ; 
 Dauntless as Brian's sword, through showering fire, 
 He boundeth o'er the seabeach rocks and rills, 
 Impetuous. How his manly figure fills 
 The eyes of thousands ! How his dancing plume 
 Of streaming snow enchains his followers' wills, 
 Doubling their speed, while copes i' the frontwith doom 
 That gallant form that seems defiant of the tomb ! 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Alcides' arm -the eye that Python slew, 
 The limbs and shoulder of the Delian God ! 
 Now 'neath the breach that form triumphant view, 
 Now see it stretched supine upon the sod ! 
 Ay, instant struck, as strikes Heaven's fire the rod 
 That points from loftiest pinnacle. No dirge 
 Shall wail that fall, no cypress o'er it nod. 
 'Tis War's repast! Their course the stormers urge, 
 And o'er the Hero's corse go sweeping like a surge ! 
 
CANTO V.] IBERIA WON. 159 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 And Morton now, and Nial by his side, 
 In peril's front the impetuous stormers lead ; 
 Nor less their beauty nor their valour's pride 
 Than his whose doom was first that day to bleed. 
 In generous rivalry, like mettled steed, 
 They strain to win the breach, their grisly goal. 
 Their flashing swords, athirst for Glory's meed, 
 Their tossing plumes, the advancing crowd controul, 
 And daring like to their' s inspires each warrior soul. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 On, on they rush, their line with dead bestrewing, 
 While Mont 'Orgullo and Santelmo pour 
 Both shot and shell, the living brave renewing 
 The venturous rank where heroes fall before. 
 Up, up the breach they climb, swift mounting o'er 
 Bastion and parapet in fragments hurled 
 Titanic ruins strewn along the shore 
 While nearer now the culverin smoke is curled, 
 And deadly grapeshot paves the path to a new world. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 From every quarter sweeps an iron shower 
 Cannon and musketry in front and rear 
 From nearest horn and distant fort and tower, 
 From rampart, bastion, curtain, cavalier. 
 Up, up the breach they climb and laugh at fear ! 
 The summit's gained it seems the verge of Hell 
 A gulf impassable ! Live thunder near 
 Leaps forth from guns whose momentary knell 
 Rings for the brave who fall where late they stood so well. 
 
160 IBERIA WON. [CANTO v. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Still swarms the fiery brink. Who now will dare 
 Leap the dire chasm who like Empedocles 
 Will plunge into the JEtna flaming there, 
 And be esteemed a God ? Who to appease 
 Hesperia's manes, like the youth who sees 
 The barathrum profound i' the Forum yawn, 
 Spurs his strong courser, is engulfed, and frees 
 Great Rome who now, by patriot impulse drawn, 
 Will sound that fell abyss, and haste fair Freedom's dawn? 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Oh frightful precipice ! Full many an eye 
 Glares on its horrid depth and back recoils. 
 Madly to plunge were hopelessly to die, 
 Or torn and shattered fall into the toils. 
 Even lingering here is death ! As rankest soils 
 Are strown with richest growths, the valiant strew 
 That gory Scylla's crest. Charybdis boils 
 With vortex under. What may heroes do ? 
 Advance? In vain. Recede? No, Britons' hearts be true! 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Up climbs a multitude of strenuous men, 
 Who thick as forest-leaves autumnal fall, 
 So keen for entrance to the lion's den, 
 Not death at every footstep can appal ! 
 Sore doth that storm of fire their valour gall, 
 And slowly with reluctant pride they sink, 
 Till stubborn planted on the lower wall 
 They stand beneath the fiery torrent's brink, 
 While ever and anon their chain doth lose a link. 
 
CANTO V.J IBERIA WON. 161 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 Thrice to the deadly summit of the breach 
 Did Morton rush, and thrice was backward borne, 
 Like mariner that, dashed on stormy beach, 
 Swayed by the surge against the cliffs is torn. 
 But nought could drown unconquerable scorn 
 Of death in that young hero. Up once more 
 He rushed to the crest, and fell. Young Blanca, mourn ! 
 Thy lover's heart is pierced, he totters o'er, 
 And falls 'mid heaps of slain his dirge the artillery's 
 roar : 
 
 Cije 
 
 1. 
 As a torrent that bounds 
 
 From its mountainous dwelling 
 Obstruction but chafes 
 
 Into foamier swelling ; 
 As snorts the wild bull 
 
 Whom the banderils pierce, 
 So the death-scattered breach 
 
 Makes the phalanx more fierce ! 
 
 2. 
 
 Each shower that is cast 
 
 From the foemen's fell cannon 
 But makes the assault 
 
 To lift prouder its pennon. 
 Each shaft from the walls 
 
 Gives to Valour new wings ; 
 O'er each hero that falls 
 
 See, a new hero springs ! 
 
162 IBERIA WON. [CANTO v. 
 
 3. 
 
 There is that to be done 
 
 At which nations shall wonder ; 
 The scarp shall be our's, 
 
 Although tenfold its thunder ; 
 In spite of wide Earth, 
 
 And in spite of deep Hell. 
 Where a Briton resolved, 
 
 Could a Gaul ever quell ? 
 
 4. 
 
 Come, cannon and musquet, 
 
 Rain grapeshot and mortar ! 
 We laugh at the rattling, 
 
 We ask for no quarter. 
 By the breach shall we climb 
 
 To yon turret-clad town, 
 And the tricolor tear 
 
 From the cavalier down ! 
 
 5. 
 
 On the death-dealing fort 
 
 Shall we plant our proud standard. 
 Was red-coat e'er seen, 
 
 Who to cowardice pandered ? 
 Each traverse we'll cross 
 
 With invincible steel. 
 Then swift to your knees, 
 
 Or the bayonet feel ! 
 
CANTO V.] IBERIA WON. 163 
 
 6. 
 See, see the breach strewn 
 
 With our corses all gory. 
 J Tis but the first crop 
 
 In the harvest of glory ! 
 Sebastian is our's, 
 
 Though it rain shot and shell. 
 Where a Briton resolved, 
 
 Could a Gaul ever quell ? 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 What stream is poured afresh? new Volunteers J 
 They come, impetuous as the Pampas steed, 
 Dash o'er the strand and trample craven fears, 
 Fly up the breach where thick-strewn heroes bleed. 
 They reach the crest. In vain ! Snapt like a reed 
 Is many an oak of war. The valorous surge 
 Is spent in its vain fury, like seaweed 
 Each quivering corse depositing. Yet urge 
 The living on, though fire their ranks incessant scourge. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 Thus swarm i' the summer ray o'er parched ground 
 Unnumbered emmets toiling onward straight. 
 Vain is the wrath that slays and strews around ; 
 Unslack'd their zeal, uncheck'd their war with fate. 
 New myriads crowd each instant, even while wait 
 Unpitying feet to tread them into dust, 
 Indomitable. To small thus likened great, 
 Men swarm to the breach, and glut the gory lust 
 Of sternest foe, yet stand, true to their country's trust. 
 
164 IBERIA WON. [CANTO v. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 And all must all be slaughtered ? Lord of Hosts ! 
 Must this great valour be a Holocaust? 
 Must men like oxen perish at their posts, 
 And all the guerdon of their daring lost ? 
 Still do they mount and slow receding, crost 
 Their dream of triumph, totter, sink, and fall. 
 Even won the prize, how terrible the cost ! 
 The victory-flag to thousands were a pall. 
 Oh Lord of Hosts, arise, or butchery smites them all ! 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 With blood-red arms see Carnage, screaming hag, 
 Gloat o'er each gash that lets the life away, 
 Plash through the crimson stream, and curse if lag 
 The shower of death-bolts darkening bright mid-day. 
 See sopt her hands in gore, see 'mid the fray 
 Where burst her eyes from forth her grisly head, 
 In rapture that such numbers slaughtered lay : 
 While reek her tangled tresses, see her fed 
 On dying groans, astride like Nightmare on the dead ! 
 
165 
 
 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 
 TO CANTO V. 
 
 IN the account of the Storming of San Sebastian, which occupies 
 this and part of the next Canto, I follow chiefly Napier's History, 
 book xxii. chap. 2. The part which I assign to Nial in leading the 
 false assault on the night of the 29th of August was in reality un- 
 dertaken and bravely executed by Lieutenant Me Adam of the 9th 
 regiment. As stated in my text, the leader was the only one of 
 the entire party that returned alive ! The storming took place on 
 the morning of the 31st August, 1813. The leader, Lieutenant 
 Maguire of the 4th regiment (whose name I have restored to its 
 antique Celto-Irish form, " Mac lar ") was struck down precisely 
 as described in my text. (See Napier.) The following account 
 is from Gleig's Subaltern : 
 
 " The forlorn hope took its station at the mouth of the most 
 advanced trench about half-past ten o'clock. The tide, which had 
 long turned, was now fast ebbing, and these gallant fellows beheld 
 its departure with a degree of feverish anxiety such as he only can 
 imagine who has stood in a similar situation. This was the first 
 time that a town was stormed by daylight since the commence- 
 ment of the war, and the storming party were enabled distinctly 
 to perceive the preparations which were making for their recep- 
 tion : there was, therefore, something not only interesting but 
 novel in beholding the muzzles of the enemy's cannon from the 
 castle and other batteries turned in such a direction as to flank 
 the breaches, whilst the glancing of bayonets and the occasional 
 rise of caps and feathers gave notice of the line of infantry which 
 was forming underneath the parapet. There an officer from time 
 to time could be distinguished leaning his telescope over the top 
 of the rampart or through the opening of an embrasure, and prying 
 
166 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 with deep attention into our arrangements. Nor were our own 
 officers, particularly those of the engineers, idle. With the greatest 
 coolness they exposed themselves to a dropping fire of musketry, 
 which the enemy at intervals kept up, whilst they examined and 
 re-examined the state of the breaches. It would be difficult to 
 convey to the mind of an ordinary reader anything like a correct 
 notion of the state of feeling which takes possession of a man 
 waiting for the commencement of a battle. In the first place, 
 time appears to move upon leaden wings, every minute seems an 
 hour, and every hour a day. Then there is a strange commingling 
 of levity and seriousness within him, a levity which prompts him to 
 laugh he scarce knows why, and a seriousness which urges him ever 
 and anon to lift up a mental prayer to the Throne of Grace. On 
 such occasions little or no conversation passes. The privates gene- 
 rally lean upon their firelocks, and the officers upon their swords, 
 and few words except monosyllables, at least in answer to questions 
 put, are wasted. On these occasions, too, the faces of the bravest 
 often change colour, and the limbs of the most resolute tremble, 
 not with fear but with anxiety, whilst watches are consulted till 
 the individuals who consult them grow absolutely weary of the 
 employment. On the whole, it is a situation of higher excitement 
 and darker and deeper agitation than any other in human life, nor 
 can he be said to have felt all which man is capable of feeling who 
 has not filled it. 
 
 " Noon had barely passed, when the low state of the tide giving 
 evidence that the river might be forded, the word was given to 
 advance. Silent as the grave the column moved forward. In one 
 instant the leading files had cleared the trenches, and the others 
 poured on in quick succession after them, when the work of death 
 began. The enemy, having reserved their fire till the head of the 
 column had gained the middle of the stream, then opened with the 
 most deadly effect. Grape, canister, musketry, shells, grenades, 
 and every species of missile, were hurled from the ramparts, 
 beneath which our gallant fellows dropped like corn before the 
 reaper ; in so much, that in the space of two minutes the river 
 
NOTES TO CANTO V. 167 
 
 was literally choked up with the bodies of the killed and wounded, 
 over whom, without discrimination, the advancing division pressed 
 on. The opposite bank was soon gained, and the short space 
 between the landing-place and the foot of the breach rapidly 
 cleared without a single shot having been returned by the as- 
 sailants. But here the most alarming prospect awaited them. 
 Instead of a wide and tolerably level chasm, the breach presented 
 the appearance only of an ill-built wall thrown considerably from 
 its perpendicular, to ascend which, even though unopposed, would 
 be no easy task. It was, however, too late to pause ; besides, the 
 men's blood was hot and their courage on fire, so they pressed on, 
 clambering up as they best could, and effectually hindering one 
 another from falling, each by the eagerness of the rear ranks to 
 follow those in front. Shouts and groans were now mingled with 
 the roar of cannon and the rattle of musketry : our front ranks 
 likewise had an opportunity of occasionally firing with effect, and 
 the slaughter on both sides was dreadful. At length the head of 
 the column forced its way to the summit of the breach, where it 
 was met in the most gallant style by the bayonets of the garrison. 
 When I say the summit of the breach, I mean not to assert that 
 our soldiers stood upon a level with their enemies, for this was 
 not the case. There was a high step, perhaps two or three feet 
 in length, which the assailants must surmount before they could 
 gain the same ground with the defenders, and a very considerable 
 period elapsed ere that step was surmounted. Here bayonet met 
 bayonet, and sabre met sabre, in close and desperate strife, without 
 the one party being able to advance or the other succeeding in 
 driving them back." 
 
 r. " While shattering Fate his iron moulds doth fill !" 
 
 'AAA' a yuoiptS/a ris Hvvcuris 
 
 Otfr' &v viv op/Spas, OUT' "Ap/js, 
 
 Ou irvpyos, oi>x a\'iKTviroi 
 
 Ke\aival i/aes encpvyoiev. Soph. Antig. 951. 
 
168 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 "Crushing is the power of Fate! which neither the elements, 
 nor Mars, nor a tower, nor the black wave-roaring ships can flee." 
 
 ii. " Nor fairer Hella on the ^Egean flood." 
 
 Utque fugam rapiant, aries nitidissimus auro 
 Traditur : ille vehit per freta longa duos. 
 
 Dicitur infirma cornu tenuisse sinistra 
 Femina, cum de se nomina fecit aquae. 
 
 Pene simul periit, dum vult succurrere lapsae 
 
 Frater. Ovid, Fast, iii. 867. 
 
 See also Pindar's Fourth Pythionic. 
 
 " Nor with more grief was Athamantis torn." 
 Et frustra pecudem quaeres Athamantidos Helles. 
 
 Ovid. Fast. iv. 903. 
 
 vii. " But Isidora's lot was e'en more drear, 
 
 For none might dare from San Sebastian pass." 
 
 La verde primavera 
 De mis floridos afios 
 Pase cautiva en tus prisiones, 
 Y en la cadena fiera. 
 
 Lope de Vega, Arcadia. 
 
 " To pluck the summer flowers, and brush the dewy grass." 
 
 " In those vernal seasons of the year, when the air is calm and 
 pleasant, it were an injury and sullenness against Nature not to 
 go out and see her riches, and partake in her rejoicing with Heaven 
 and Earth." Milton, Tractate on Education, 22. 
 
 viii. " Invoked the Virgin's might, 
 
 " And deemed she saw her form within that orb of light." 
 
NOTES TO CANTO V. 169 
 
 The nightly hunter, lifting a bright eye 
 
 Up towards the crescent moon, with grateful heart 
 
 Called on the lovely wanderer who bestowed 
 
 That timely light to share his joyous sport ; 
 
 And hence, a beaming goddess with her nymphs 
 
 Across the lawn, and thro' the darksome grove, 
 
 Not unaccompanied with tuneful notes^ 
 
 By echo multiplied from rock or cave, 
 
 Swept in the storm of chase ; as moon and stars 
 
 Glance rapidly along the clouded Heaven 
 
 When winds are blowing strong. 
 
 Wordsworth, The Excursion. 
 
 ix. - " ' Empress-Queen 
 
 Of Heaven, Immaculate Virgin J ' " 
 
 For these epithets see the Horas Castellanas. 
 
 xin. - -" Great Arthur calls 
 
 For nigh a thousand hearts that danger scorn 
 To rush like Ocean-surge against the walls." 
 
 Disse ai duel il gran Duce : " Al nuovo albore 
 " Tutti all' assalto voi pronti sarete." 
 
 Tasso, Gerus. Lib. xi. 17. 
 
 xix. " To where the grisly bastion-breach doth frown." 
 
 Horn. Od. xi. 633. 
 
 " Alcides' arm the eye that Python slew, 
 The limbs and shoulder of the Delian God 1 " 
 
 Nee quod laudamus formam, tarn turpe putaris; 
 Laudamus magnas hac quoque parte Deas. 
 
 Ovid. Fast. vi. 807. 
 
 I 
 
170 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 xxvi. " And Morton now, and Nial by his side, 
 
 In peril's front the impetuous stormers lead," &c. 
 
 QevySyraiv avv vr)va\ <t>l\T)v & irarpiSa ya?av' 
 Nwi" 5' e'ycb ~26eve\6s re /iaxrjtnfytefl', <<r<fae reV/icup 
 'l\iov e#pw/i>. Horn. II. ix. 47. 
 
 " Let them fly with their ships, to their dear native country ; 
 but we Sthenelus and I will fight till we find the end of 
 Ilion !" Caesar addresses his soldiers in language very nearly 
 similar : " Quod si praeterea nemo sequatur, tamen se cum sola 
 decima legione iturum, de qua non dubitaret." De Bella Gallico, 
 lib. i. . 40. 
 
 xxxi. " Not death at every footstep can appal." 
 
 Per damna, per caedes, ab ipso 
 
 Ducit opes animumque ferro. 
 Non ... 
 
 Monstrumve summisere Colchi 
 Majus, Echioniaeve Thebae. 
 
 Horat. Carm. iv. 4. 
 
 xxxn. " Like mariner that dashed on stormy beach," &c. 
 
 Naufragum ut ejectum spumantibus aequoris undis. 
 
 Catul. Ixvi. 
 
 " As snorts the wild bull 
 
 " Whom the banderils pierce." 
 
 E qual tauro ferito il suo dolore 
 Verso mugghiando e suspirando fuore. 
 
 Tasso, Ger. Lib.iv. 1. 
 
 xxxiv. " Thus swarm i' the summer ray o'er parched ground 
 Unnumbered emmets toiling onward straight." 
 
 This image will not be condemned as vulgar by those who are 
 
NOTES TO CANTO V. 171 
 
 familiar with Homer ; and it is further justified by the use of one 
 of our most elegant poets, Thomson, who commences his Castle of 
 Indolence thus : 
 
 mortal man, who livest here by toil, 
 Do not complain of this thy hard estate ; 
 That like an emmet thou must ever moil, 
 Is a sad sentence of an ancient date. 
 
 xxxvi. " With blood-red arms see Carnage, screaming hag." 
 
 Todo es muerte y horror : vense hacinados 
 En torno suyo cuerpos espirantes, 
 Cadaveres y miembros destroncados. 
 Campo-redondo. 
 
 Las Armas de Aragon en Oriente. 
 
 i 2 
 
IBERIA WON. 
 
 ODanto 
 
 i. 
 
 UPON the Chofre stood the dauntless Graham, 
 And marked the slaughter with determined eye, 
 Sad yet unshrinking poured then forth of flam . 
 A torrent hissing red athwart the sky. 
 Close o'er the stormers' heads the missiles fly, 
 The stone-ribbed curtain into fragments hurled 
 Full fifty cannon streaming death on high. 
 Unmoved they stand no flag of fear unfurled 
 A scene unmatched before since dawning of the world ! 
 
 n. 
 
 Even as at Niagara's thundering fall, 
 Where leaps the torrent with gigantic stride, 
 Beneath the watery volume Cyclop wall 
 Of rocks huge-piled spans the river wide, 
 Where dares the venturous voyager abide, 
 And while his ears terrific clamour stuns, 
 Flies free o'erhead the cataract's foaming tide, 
 And scarce crystalline globule o'er him runs : 
 Thus stand 'neath Death o'erarched Britannia's daunt- 
 less sons ! 
 
174 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vi. 
 
 in. 
 
 " Retire !" was first the cry. " A traitorous foe ! 
 " Our batteries' fire is 'gainst the stormers turned ;" 
 And struck a straggling shot the ranks below ; 
 But Nial and his men the counsel spurned. 
 To win, whate'er the cost, their bosoms burned ; 
 And 'mid the fiercest of the cannonade, 
 While San Sebastian for his bulwarks mourned, 
 Within the rampart solid ground they made 
 First step in victory's march, whose laurels ne'er will fade. 
 
 IV. 
 
 What were thy triumphs, Greece, on Elis' plain, 
 Olympian dust Alpheus' margin strewing, 
 The Agora's grand inspiring shouts, the train 
 Of statues for the Altis sculptors hewing, 
 Fame-thirst the prince' and peasant's soul imbuing ? 
 Unreal glories to the trampled fear, 
 Which England with her million eyes is viewing. 
 First Erin's sons to encounter peril here. 
 No rebel wisdom yet impairs that lusty cheer ! 
 
 Cricorpor ^ergon. 
 
 1. 
 
 Mark where Valour's triple crown, 
 Marring every despot's frown, 
 Gives to evergreen renown 
 
 Britain's dauntless sons. 
 Albion, Erin, Scotia join 
 Strength of shoulder, heart, and loin, 
 Men as sterling as their coin, 
 
 Faithful as their guns ! 
 
CANTO VI.] IBERIA WON. 175 
 
 2. 
 
 Albion firm as Erin brave, 
 Scotia strong as angry wave. 
 Who could such a land enslave ? 
 
 Who her spirit quell ? 
 Albion sturdy, Scotia grim, 
 Erin dashing o'er the brim 
 True till death, though for a whim 
 
 Wordy Knaves rebel ! 
 
 3. 
 
 Albion steady, Erin bold, 
 Scotia gallant as of old ; 
 Britain's men are Britain's gold, 
 
 Hardy sons of toil. 
 Albion dauntless, Scotia true, 
 Erin fervid loyal, too, 
 Spite of Spleen's seditious crew 
 
 Banded o'er her soil. 
 
 4. 
 
 Glorious Nations, three in one, 
 Long be warmed by Victory's sun, 
 Ne'er by factious hate undone, 
 
 Ne'er the bond untied. 
 Ne'er be shorn of either gem 
 Britain's noble diadem. 
 Shamrock, rose, and thistle's stem 
 
 Ne'er let men divide ! 
 
176 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vi. 
 
 v. 
 
 Nor one the breach nor one the fierce assault ; 
 Three several columns mount the broken wall ; 
 'Mid deadliest havoc each is forced to halt, 
 And rush the living where their brothers fall, 
 Strewn on the crest of that Pyracmon tall ; 
 While heaps of slain a slippery footing yield 
 To men whose hearts not this e'en can appal. 
 Still brandish the besieged their fiery shield, 
 Till thicker strew the dead than live possess the field ! 
 
 VI. 
 
 Nor yet Graham's thunder ceases. Volleying rolls 
 The red artillery, on each lightning-flash 
 Dismay is borne to the defenders' souls, 
 Destruction's bolts against the ramparts dash, 
 And ruin strews the battlements. As lash 
 The stormy billows AchilFs rock-bound shore 
 With all the Atlantic's force, thus many a gash 
 That fiery torrent opes the bulwarks o'er, 
 And still at verge of death they madly strain the more ! 
 
 VII. 
 
 And they are mad, or more than madness seems 
 Thy glow, enthusiast Courage ! Many a boy 
 Sees Valour's guerdon shine with starry beams, 
 And Danger, made a mockery, seems a joy ! 
 Yet swiftly hostile fires their ranks destroy, 
 Nor yet to San Sebastian entrance gained. 
 Already grief their glory 'gins to alloy, 
 Lest 'neath that wall their glittering arms be stained. 
 Ere comes defeat be, Graham, thy death-fire two-fold 
 rained ! 
 
CANTO VI.] IBERIA WON. 177 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Resistance chafes their spirits, stirs their blood. 
 Excitement fires their minds beyond controul ; 
 Till lightning runs through all the arterial flood, 
 And lion-daring grows the warrior-soul. 
 Full many a gentle bosom 'neath that roll 
 Of musketry and cannon feels transformed 
 Spurred like a race-horse bounding to the goal, 
 Till death's a sport to venturers conflict-warmed, 
 And not by men but fiends seems San Sebastian stormed. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Oh, sleepless eyes and aching foreheads tell 
 In homes far distant how those lives are prized, 
 Which now are diced away, though loved so well 
 On Glory's shadowy altar sacrificed ! 
 The heart-wrung sob at parting undisguised, 
 The silent hall and the deserted bower, 
 The tender charge of Beauty idolized, 
 And curled babes, forgot in this wild hour, 
 To Gorgons grim consigned is Manhood's chosen flower ! 
 
 x. 
 
 What terrible explosion rends the sky ? 
 What fierce combustion wraps in flame the air ? 
 Traverse and curtain tall to ruin fly, 
 And sulphurous fires the bastioned bulwarks tear 
 Like rags asunder ! Cries of deep despair 
 Burst from the pale defenders ; grenadiers, 
 Unmoved as rocks till then, in hundreds share 
 The ramparts' doom which form their blackened biers ; 
 And rush the stormers in with lustiest British cheers. 
 i3 
 
178 IBERTA WON. [CANTO VI. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Of volumed smoke at length the eddying wave 
 Falls o'er the battlement and clears the ground. 
 Still would the sons of France the fortress save, 
 Amazed amid the ruin spread around ; 
 But onward to their breasts the assailants bound, 
 And momently the baffled foemen scare. 
 They rally I ween none there hath quarter found ; 
 They stand and desperate valour all doth dare. 
 In vain the stormers rush like lightning to their lair. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Red as the slaughter which their hands achieved, 
 The British garb doth smite the foe with awe ; 
 And as our sturdy bowmen Cregy grieved 
 O'er Gaul's full-mailed Knights triumphant saw, 
 So the strong bayonet deals resistless law ; 
 And fly before that conflict hand to hand 
 Of bone and muscle, ere a breath they draw, 
 The sons of France, a wrongful Tyrant's band, 
 Who fight not heaven-inspired for Freedom in the land. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Unconquered yeomen, England's strength and pride ! 
 Who ne'er have yet been wanting at her call 
 Against the world to stand, or dashing ride 
 'Gainst odds that all but Britons would appal ! 
 For where, brave hearts, doth rise your serried wall 
 Of adamant, in vain the thunder-scar. 
 Upon that conquering ground ye stand or fall. 
 Oh, strenuous arms alike for toil and war, 
 May ne'er be seen the day when Wrong your might shall 
 mar ! 
 
CANTO VI.] IBERIA WON. 1/9 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Oh, Rank and Dignity ! I saw too flies 
 Spawned in the self-same chamber, sporting gay. 
 With equal force, on equal wing, they rise 
 Through the short sunshine of a summer day. 
 Yet one the other buzzed to keep away, 
 And flouted oft intensest scorn revealing, 
 As telling him below the Knave should stay, 
 Too far beneath him born for kindly feeling 
 One hatched upon the floor, the other on the ceiling ! 
 
 xv. 
 
 Five deadly hours that conflict fell endured ; 
 But onward now the tide of Valour flowing, 
 Chafed by the long restraint all foaming poured, 
 The seeds of Death with every wavelet sowing, 
 And, ah, on Mercy scarce a thought bestowing ! 
 As destrier strong whose mouth with curbing bleeds, 
 When loosed the rein, doth plunge with eye-ball 
 
 glowing, 
 
 Mad snort, and trampling hoof which Fury speeds, 
 So dash the stormers in like spurred and panting steeds. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 A standard floats upon the cavalier. 
 It is the far-renowned tricolor, 
 
 Whose folds more proudly ne'er have waved than here, 
 Though many a victor field they've fluttered o'er. 
 Up Nial springs with hand still dripping gore, 
 And stoutly tears that tyrant-standard down. 
 Three loud huzzas resound from sky to shore 
 Floats in its stead the flag of Leon's crown. 
 'Tis ours! And Spain once more is mistress of her town. 
 
180 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vi. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Thus strove Peleides with the King of Men 
 For fair Briseis many a stubborn hour, 
 And hung War's chances on the wistful ken 
 Of her 'mongst all Lyrnessian spoil the flower, 
 Whose charms drew eyes from Ilion's loftiest tower. 
 Thus to Achilles' arms the maid restored 
 Was stript o' the robes that swept Atrides' bower, 
 And decked anew in livery of her lord, 
 To show no tyrant folds should float o'er his adored. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 And well too fought thy warriors, Lusitain, 
 Who, led by Britons, clomb the further breach, 
 Resolved to strike a vigorous blow for Spain, 
 And, how their iron fathers strove, to teach : 
 Afonso, Aviz, Nun' Alvares heroes each 
 Castro and Albuquerque not quite forgot 
 By their descendants, dauntless here who reach 
 And pluck the wreath to wear might be their lot, 
 If were not all their fire as fitful even as hot. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Not thy Fidalgos, withered boughs, I ween, 
 Nor yet thy Royalty as much despised, 
 Who fled like hinds when danger crost the scene, 
 Their cumbrous rank like Manhood ne'er disguised, 
 Their scutcheoned pomp like carrion fitly prized ! 
 Henceforth shall men for an opprobrium know 
 The names by chroniclers most idolized, 
 And choose strong blood Plebeian's healthier flow, 
 That scaled Sebastian's towers while nobles quaked 
 below. 
 
CANTO VI.] IBERIA WON. 181 
 
 XX. 
 
 And Spain her Guerrilleros Dorian race 
 Sent to the conflict with unconquered hearts, 
 And eyes that Tyranny could ne'er abase, 
 Unerringly to guide their fiery darts, 
 Where Vengeance winged with every shot departs. 
 And hasting to the War, whose sacred cry 
 Was "Death to the Invader!", warm while starts 
 The big round tear from fair Pastora's eye, 
 The peasant-soldier thus with Heaven made an ally : 
 
 f)e &u*rrillero to J)fe fHtetre$3. 
 
 1. 
 
 While spin the amber beads 
 
 Beneath thy rosy finger, 
 And nought thy spirit heeds 
 
 Save thoughts that Heav'nward linger ; 
 At Isidore's shrine, 
 
 Upon the floor of marble, 
 While move thy lips divine, 
 
 For me an Ave warble ! 
 
 2. 
 
 And while, the Virgin's Hours 
 
 In softest tones reciting, 
 You bend the Heav'nly Powers, 
 
 Their blessed aid inviting ; 
 Breathe then for me a prayer, 
 
 That, moved amidst her splendour, 
 Our Lady of Vejer 
 
 May crown my wishes tender. 
 
182 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vi. 
 
 3. 
 
 If spirits pure as thine 
 
 Weave idly their petition, 
 What talisman for mine, 
 
 To shield it from perdition ? 
 Oh, Mary, thou alone 
 
 Canst ope the path before me, 
 Canst give my heart a tone, 
 
 Canst shed a blessing o'er me ! 
 
 4. 
 
 The Seraph forms are fair, 
 
 In Heav'nly chorus swelling, 
 But thine as well in prayer 
 
 Becomes its earthly dwelling. 
 Thou look'st a clouded Moon, 
 
 When veiled for solemn duty ; 
 If thou'rt refused a boon, 
 
 Why give thee so much beauty ? 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Oh glorious race, indomitably fierce ! 
 Earth's peasant-lords, triumphant o'er each shock ; 
 No, not more vain Antaeus' self to pierce, 
 For sprung, too, from thy soil new strength to mock 
 Thy foes, like Afric's giant whom enlock 
 The arms of Hercules ; or liker him, 
 The Achaian marsh heaved upward like a rock, 
 Whose hissing heads struck off, still heads more grim 
 Rose terrible to tear the Invader limb from limb ! 
 
CANTO VI.] IBERIA WON. 183 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Five deadly hours that conflict fell did last, 
 And o'er the scarp now streams the flood of War ; 
 But many a barricade must still be past, 
 Where dauntless Rey disputes 'gainst Victory's star, 
 With feeble garrison that yields each bar, 
 O'erpowered by numbers though they battled well. 
 And, vanquished soon by Fate, entrenched they are 
 In Mont' Orgullo, where both shot and shell 
 Pours on the brave resolved their lives to dearly sell. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Now Slaughter stalks triumphantly alone, 
 And silent is the fierce artillery's roar ; 
 But shriek and shout and yell, cry, curse, and groan, 
 Make music dire to rend the bosom's core, 
 And louder than Man's thunder rolled before 
 Comes Heaven's artillery from the mountains down, 
 Dark, stormy, terrible : leap lightnings o'er 
 The murky cope to mark the Almighty's frown 
 For deeds of carnage done in that devoted town. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 What careth Man red-handed for His wrath ? 
 What bellowing beast so terrible as he, 
 When boundless passions master him ? His path 
 Is more destructive than the stormy sea. 
 His nostril is a furnace. Ominously 
 Doth glare his bloodshot eye. Nor Beauty saves 
 The virgin, nor grey hairs and tottering knee 
 The reverend sire. Lust, rapine, murder waves 
 A pirate flag o'er all, and hearths are turned to graves ! 
 
184 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vi. 
 
 xxv. 
 
 Oh, meek-eyed Pity ! Tenderness of Soul ! 
 Oh, sacred source of sympathetic tears ! 
 Say, hast thou fled the Earth, whose tottering pole 
 Can ill sustain its weight of grief and fears ? 
 Is dried your fountain, choked by crimson biers ? 
 Oh, human anguish ! Yet, by man's accord, 
 The day shall come, when he who as in years 
 Gone by shall dare produce thee King or Lord 
 A Pariah-brand shall wear, than Demons more abhorred ! 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Still havoc, plunder reigns. Where is thy sword, 
 Sebastian, Warrior- Saint, that now should wheel 
 Like the Archangel's, Eden who restored 
 To Solitude ? Dost thou less horror feel 
 That thine own City 'neath the shock should reel 
 Of ruffian violence ? Praetorian brave, 
 The Imperial Boar withstanding in thy zeal, 
 Thou whom nor Roman shafts subdued nor glaive, 
 Thy consecrated town arise, great Saint, and save ! 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Oh, arrow-pierced for Christ ! whose mighty ban 
 Against the arrowy shower of pestilence 
 In aid Divine is still invoked by Man, 
 And potent still, this plague send howling hence. 
 By that great voice, whose eloquence intense, 
 When Marcus trembled, made him firm to win 
 The Martyr-crown, and Christian turned the dense 
 Blood- thirsting crowd guard, judges all within 
 Its mighty compass, rise, and stay the steps of sin ! 
 
CANTO VI.] IBERIA WON. 185 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Nazrene Apollo, beautiful as bold, 
 Whose worship whirls the enthusiast Southern maid 
 To passion oft and madness, to behold 
 Thee limned so blooming fair give, give thine aid ! 
 Oh, by Irene's love who undismayed 
 Unbound thee, pouring balm into each wound 
 The archers left against the pillar laid 
 When dead they thought thee who had only swooned ; 
 By her who healed thee, raise that voice to mercy tuned ! 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 By that majestic Faith, whose dauntless power 
 Confronted Ceesar at his palace gate, 
 When to the Capitol in glory's hour 
 The Tyrant proud ascended, lording fate ; 
 And dared reproach him with his cruel hate 
 For God's elect ; and by the Martyr-crown 
 Thy zeal soon won, oh leave not desolate 
 The walls that bear thy name. Forbear to frown. 
 The patron gives no sign. Alas, devoted town ! 
 
 XXX. 
 
 High on the greater breach where hours before 
 Had swept the wave of battle, 'neath the black 
 And murky cope, which flashed red lightnings o'er, 
 A maiden stood alone in murder's track, 
 A white-robed angel seemed 'mid general wrack, 
 And to and fro amid the heaps of slain, 
 And round and round and forward then and back, 
 Peered in each pallid face War's iron rain 
 Had shattered there, and passed like Judgment in Death's 
 train. 
 
186 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vi. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 'Twas Blanca ! she had heard too soon, too soon 
 Of William's fall, and sought his corse, I ween. 
 As girt with thunder-clouds the silver Moon, 
 So shone the maiden in that direful scene. 
 But, ah, her cheek had lost its rosy sheen, 
 Glared wild her eye, her tresses loosely fell. 
 With frantic haste and Pythonissa's mien, 
 She tears away the corses where they dwell 
 In gory heaps that prove they stood the tempest well. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 She halts she starts on Morton's corse she lights. 
 Too true the mournful tidings ! One shrill cry 
 She falls upon his breast, more dull than Night's, 
 His cold lips kisses in her agony, 
 And clasps again again till no reply 
 Convinces even her fond heart the source 
 Of Life is frozen then, without a sigh, 
 Takes from his hand the sword, nor feels remorse, 
 Her heart transpierces, falls, and dies upon his corse. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Oh noblest maiden, though of low estate, 
 With every proud and generous impulse rife ; 
 Born to demonstrate to the meanly great, 
 How vain the pageant of a worthless life ! 
 Sprung from thy heart like wild-flowers all that wife 
 Could bring of purity to Kingliest throne, 
 With highest attributes to soothe the strife 
 Of human passion, for the fall atone, 
 And show our angel-part preserved in thee alone ! 
 
CANTO VI.] IBERIA WON. 187 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 Yet noble as thou wert, thy hand was armed 
 'Gainst thine own life. 'Neath that terrific shock 
 Thy great heart broke ! The eye that Morton charmed 
 Burst with its grief-flood like the Prophet's rock. 
 Cold, callous wordlings, do not Blanca mock. 
 Her fault was generous that she loved too much. 
 Not long did Anguish at her bosom knock. 
 Like Indian brides when Death their lords doth clutch, 
 She died in the same hour. Grief killed her with a touch ! 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 Cantabrian maidens, sisters of the oar, 
 Mourn, mourn for her your Cynosure and pride. 
 Her star-like eye shall guide your chase no more, 
 Your glory fled from earth when Blanca died ! 
 In vain your barks shall o'er the billows ride ; 
 Her beauty gave the sunshine most ye miss. 
 So graceful ne'er again your fleet shall glide ; 
 Nor waves your prows so joyously shall kiss. 
 For Nereus ne'er surveyed a daughter fair as this ! 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 Mourn, San Sebastian, for the beauty blighted 
 Of her your angel-child in by-gone years. 
 Your eyes no more shall by her charms delighted 
 Recal celestial dreams to chase your fears. 
 And, Isidora too, be shed thy tears, 
 Or hoarded for thyself whom danger girds. 
 Thy foster-sister memory now endears 
 Alone, with thought of gentle deeds and words. 
 For ye were severed long, poor caged and sundered birds ! 
 
188 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vi. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 And, England, mourn for him the youthful Chief, 
 Whose noble promise Death hath there struck down, 
 Survived by Blanca for a moment brief, 
 And followed soon beneath the rampart's frown. 
 Oh, perished there young Love and young Renown, 
 And budding Glory in the path of arms. 
 Mourn for the brave who fell before the town, 
 Nor least for Morton, first 'mid War's alarms 
 To prove the patriot glow the Briton's heart that warms. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 Still roars the thunder-storm Day wears the gloom 
 Of Night's black canopy, and wears it well. 
 That pall o'erspreads more horrors than the tomb ; 
 Beneath its folds are done the deeds of Hell ! 
 And chiefs who seek the demon strife to quell 
 Are slaughtered by their men. Drunk volunteers, 
 Mad soldiers, vile camp-followers, knaves who swell 
 The array of War, and know nor shame nor fears, 
 A plundering pathway hew thro' havoc, blood, and tears. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 Still roars the volleying thunder. Dost not feel 
 Appalled, thou villain, by that lightning-flash, 
 Nor dream when brandishing thy dripping steel, 
 That crimes like thine the Eternal arm will lash ? 
 Doth not that thunder-clap thine eye abash ? 
 For not more fell was Attila than thou ; 
 Not Alaric's self, whose Visigothic clash 
 Made Spain and Rome, beneath Honorius, bow, 
 Led monsters to the assault of much more shameless brow. 
 
CANTO VI.] IBERIA WON. 189 
 
 XL. 
 
 Such are War's lessons such the hideous brood 
 Spawned by the Passions in the hour of strife ; 
 Such the dire Madness fed by scent of blood, 
 Where plunder tempts and sullying gold is rife, 
 Wine fires each appetite and whets the knife ; 
 Dissolved the bands of Discipline, the mould 
 Of duty broke, restored barbarian life ; 
 Honour and Valour both to Rapine sold. 
 Look here, Ambition, here : thy handiwork behold ! 
 
190 
 
 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 
 TO CANTO VI. 
 
 THE incidents of the first part of this Canto are derived in common 
 from Napier, Jones, and Gleig. The tearing down of the Tricolor, 
 which I have assigned to Nial, must be historically attributed to 
 the real performer of this bold exploit. 
 
 " The French colours on the cavalier were torn away by Lieute- 
 nant Gethin of the eleventh regiment." Napier, Hist, book xxii. 
 chap. 2. 
 
 The magnificent achievement of maintaining for a considerable 
 period a fire from our whole artillery, against the curtain wall, over 
 the heads of the storming party, is thus coldly, but (on the whole) 
 accurately, described by General Jones: "From the superior 
 height of the curtain, the artillery in the batteries on the right of 
 the Urumea, were able to keep up a fire on that part during the 
 assault, without injury to the troops at the foot of the breach, and 
 being extremely well served, it occasioned a severe loss to the 
 enemy, and probably caused the explosion which led to the final 
 success of the assault." The General's coldness is owing to the 
 departure from the rules of art, and to the contempt of the maxims 
 of " Marshal Vauban, who had served and directed at fifty sieges," 
 as he triumphantly describes him. Vauban's maxim was certainly 
 not British : "At a siege never attempt any thing by open force, 
 which can be obtained by labour and art." Gen. Jones is incor- 
 rect in stating that the fire on the curtain was " without injury to 
 the troops." Napier says : " A sergeant of the ninth regiment was 
 killed by the batteries close to his commanding oflicer, and it is 
 probable that other casualties also had place." Hist, book xxii. 
 chap. 2. 
 
 The impassable chasm beyond the breach is thus described by 
 
CANTO VI.] NOTES TO CANTO VI. 191 
 
 Jones : " At the back of the whole of the rest of the breach was a 
 perpendicular wall, from fifteen to twenty-five feet in depth." 
 (Journals of Sieges, Sup. Chap.) He thus describes the advance of 
 the Portuguese column : "Five hundred Portuguese, in two detach- 
 ments, forded the river Urumea near its mouth, in a very hand- 
 some style, under a heavy fire of grape and musketry." (Jones, 
 Journals of Sieges, Sup. Chap.) This does not quite do justice to 
 the gallantry of the party. "When the soldiers reached the middle 
 of the stream," says Napier, " a heavy gun struck on the head of 
 the column with a shower of grape ; the havoc was fearful, but 
 the survivors closed and moved on. A second discharge from the 
 same piece tore the ranks from front to rear, still the regiment 
 moved on." Hist, book xxii. c. 2. 
 
 The following account is from Gleig's Subaltern ; 
 " Things had continued in this state for nearly a quarter of an 
 hour, when Major Snodgrass, at the head of the thirteenth Portu- 
 guese regiment, dashed across the river by his own ford, and as- 
 saulted the lesser breach. This attack was made in the most cool 
 and determined manner, but here, too, the obstacles were almost 
 insurmountable ; nor is it probable that the place would have been 
 carried at all but for a measure adopted by General Graham, such 
 as has never perhaps been adopted before. Perceiving that mat- 
 ters were almost desperate, he had recourse to a desperate remedy, 
 and ordered our own artillery to fire upon the breach. Nothing 
 could be more exact or beautiful than this practice. Though our 
 men stood only about two feet below the breach, scarcely a single 
 ball from the guns of our batteries struck amongst them, whilst 
 all told with fearful exactness among the enemy. The fire had 
 been kept up only a few minutes, when all at once an explosion 
 took place such as drowned every other noise, and apparently con- 
 founded, for an instant, the combatants on both sides. A shell 
 from one of our mortars had exploded near the train which com- 
 municated with a quantity of gunpowder placed under the breach. 
 This mine the French had intended to spring as soon as our troops 
 should have made good their footing or established themselves on 
 
192 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 the summit, but the fortunate accident just mentioned anticipated 
 them. It exploded whilst 300 grenadiers, the elite of the garrison, 
 stood over it ; and instead of sweeping the storming party jnto 
 eternity, it only cleared a way for their advance. It was a spec- 
 tacle as appalling and grand as the imagination can conceive, the 
 sight of that explosion. The noise was more awful than any which 
 I have ever heard before or since, whilst a bright flash, instantly 
 succeeded by a smoke so dense as to obscure all vision, produced 
 an effect upon those who witnessed it such as no powers of lan- 
 guage are adequate to describe. Such, indeed, was the effect of 
 the whole occurrence, that for perhaps half a minute after not a 
 shot was fired on either side. Both parties stood still to gaze upon 
 the havoc which had been produced ! insomuch, that a whisper 
 might have caught your ear for a distance of several yards. The 
 state of stupefaction into which they were at first thrown did not, 
 however, last long with the British troops. As the smoke and 
 dust of the ruins cleared away, they beheld before them a space 
 empty of defenders, and they instantly rushed forward to occupy 
 it. Uttering an appalling shout, the troops sprang over th e 
 dilapidated parapet, and the rampart was their own. Now then 
 began all those maddening scenes which are witnessed only in a 
 storm, of flight and slaughter, and parties rallying only to be 
 broken and dispersed, till finally, having cleared the works to the 
 right and left, the soldiers poured down into the town." 
 
 It is nearly incredible, and certainly not very creditable, that 
 General Jones in his detailed account of the siege and storming of 
 San Sebastian, says not one word of the horrible excesses which 
 our soldiers there committed. Some men's notions of history do 
 not differ very widely from the concoction of a political pamphlet. 
 Napier's history abounds with frank admission and reprobation of 
 these horrors. I find a distinct allusion to them almost at its 
 very commencement : " No wild horde of Tartars ever fell with more 
 license upon their rich effeminate neighbours, than did the English 
 troops upon the Spanish towns taken by storm." Hist. War 
 Penins. i. 5. 
 
NOTES TO CANTO VI. 193 
 
 The part which the Portuguese took in this assault was suffi- 
 ciently creditable to make quite unnecessary the boasting spirit 
 which disfigures their national literature. It abounds in the great 
 work of their greatest poet. Thus, for instance : 
 
 Que os muitos por ser poucos nao temamos ; 
 O que despois mil vezes amostramos. 
 
 Camoens, Lus. viii. 36. 
 
 " We don't fear many because we are few, which we have shown 
 a thousand times ! " And in the previous stanza he relates that 
 " seventeen Lusitanians, being attacked by 400 Castilians (desasete 
 Lusitanos subidos dequatro centos Castelhanos), not only defended 
 themselves, but offended their adversaries ! ! " 
 
 Que nao s<5 se defendem, mas offendem! 
 
 This ridiculous boasting and inane swagger, which was a vice in 
 the Portuguese blood in the days of Camoens, exists unchanged to 
 the present hour, and has been disgustingly manifested in a piece 
 called " Magrigo" lately selected for the opening of the National 
 Theatre at Lisbon, in which Spaniards and Englishmen are alike 
 insulted. "We are not accustomed to count numbers!" was a 
 sentiment vehemently applauded in this piece. Let the Portu- 
 guese not deceive themselves by an imagined resemblance to their 
 forefathers ; and if their historical recollections are glorious, let 
 them endeavour practically to revive them. They should remem- 
 ber that it is little more than a century since their entire army 
 ran away from the Spaniards and French at Almanza, and left 
 their English, Dutch, and German auxiliaries in the lurch. 
 
 i. " Upon the Chofre stood the dauntless Graham, 
 
 And marked the slaughter with determined eye." 
 
 Mas luego que los fija en el cercano 
 Altisimo torreon, bramando en ira 
 Jura rendir el enemigo muro 
 En general asalto y choque duro. 
 Campo-redondo, Las Armas de Aragon en Oriente. 
 K 
 
194 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 " Full fifty cannon streaming death on high." 
 
 - Le macchine . . . 
 A cui non abbia la citta riparo. 
 
 Tasso, Ger. Lib. iii. 74. 
 
 iv. " What were thy triumphs, Greece, on EhV plain ?" 
 
 Sunt quibus Elaese concurrit palma quadrigae. 
 
 Propert. 1. iii. Eleg. 9. 
 
 rtav TrApevffov apfidruv 
 
 es 7 A.\iv, Kpdrei 8e ireXaffov. Find. Olymp. i. 
 
 " Carry me on swiftest chariots to Elis, and bear me to Vic- 
 tory ! " 
 
 " Olympian dust Alpheus' margin strewing." 
 
 jurj/feS' a\lov 
 
 &\\o 
 
 4v afAfpa (paeivbv 
 
 aywva 
 
 Find. Olymp. i. 
 
 " Deem no shining star greater than the Sun, nor contest more 
 excellent than the Olympian games." 
 
 " Thy statues for the Altis sculptors hewing." 
 
 AlOS &\Kl/J.OS 
 
 vlbs, araOfjiaTO {ddeois &\<ros 
 irarpl (Aty'iyra)' Trepl Se 7ra|os, 
 "A\nv fjLfV 07' eV itadapcj; 
 
 Find. Olymp. x. 
 
 " The stalwart son of Jove measured out a grove divine to the 
 mightiest Father, and hedged it round, and the Altis he set apart 
 in that sacred place." Pindar thus attributes the foundation of 
 the Olympic games to Hercules, who was more popular than 
 
NOTES TO CANTO VI. 195 
 
 Jupiter himself amongst his Heraclidan audience ; and a few lines 
 before he alludes to his conquest of Elis, on whose plain these 
 games were subsequently celebrated, " pvxou an/jicvov "A\iSos ;" 
 Hercules having led thither an army from Tiryns, the first walled 
 city upon record. The sacred grove to which Pindar above refers 
 contained the temple of Olympian Jove, and the statues erected to 
 the conquerors in the games. The TpifroXvfjuriovTKcu, or those who 
 had been thrice victorious, had their eiirrfyes in marble thus set, 
 and copied exactly from their members, which were thus in some 
 degree deified. (Plin. lib. 34, cap. 3.) And Aristotle, in his Ethics, 
 lib. 7, c. 6, says that the Olympian conquerors were called 
 irovs " KO.T' eoxV> as if they alone were worthy of the name ! 
 
 x. " And sulphurous fires the bastioned bulwarks tear 
 
 " Like rags asunder !" 
 
 Kal 
 
 UevKdevB' "H^oterroj/ f\etv. 
 
 Toios afj.(p\ V>T' frdOT) 
 
 Ildrayos "Apeos. Soph. Antig. 122. 
 
 " And pitchy Vulcan seized our loftiest towers ; dire was the din 
 of Mars that rose from behind." 
 
 " And rush the stormers in with lustiest British cheers." 
 
 " In the Peninsula, the sudden deafening shout, rolling over a 
 field of battle, more full and terrible than that of any other nation, 
 and followed by the strong unwavering charge, often startled and 
 appalled a French column, before whose fierce and vehement as- 
 sault any other troops would have given way." Napier, Hist. War 
 in the Penins. book xxiv. c. 6. 
 
 xiv. " Oh, Rank and Dignity ! I saw two flies." 
 
 " They wonder how any man should be so much taken with the 
 glaring, doubtful lustre of a jewel or stone, that can look up to a 
 star, or to the sun itself; or how any should value himself because 
 K 2 
 
196 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 his cloth is made of a finer thread; for, how fine soever that thread 
 may be, it was once no better than the fleece of a sheep, and 
 that sheep was a sheep still for all its wearing it. They wonder 
 much to hear that gold, which in itself is so useless a thing, should 
 be every where so much esteemed that even man, for whom it was 
 made, and by whom it has its value, should yet be thought of less 
 value than it is ; so that a man of lead, who has no more sense 
 than a log of wood, and is as bad as he is foolish, should have 
 many wise and good men serving him, only because he has a great 
 heap of that metal ; and if it should so happen that by some acci- 
 dent, or trick of law, which does sometimes produce as great 
 changes as chance itself, all this wealth should pass from the mas- 
 ter to the meanest varlet of his whole family, he himself would 
 very soon become one of his servants, as if he were a thing that 
 belonged to his wealth, and so were bound to follow its fortune. 
 But they do much more admire and detest their folly who, when 
 they see a rich man, though they neither owe him anything, nor 
 are in any sort obnoxious to him, yet merely because he is rich, 
 they give him little less than divine honours ; even though they 
 know him to be so covetous and base-minded that, notwithstanding 
 all his wealth, he will not part with one farthing of it to them as 
 long as he lives." Sir Thomas More, Utopia, book ii. Bishop 
 Burnet's Translation. 
 
 xvn. " Thus to Achilles' arms the maid restored." 
 
 Untouched " quoad Agamemnona." The epithet of Homer is 
 airpoTifJiao'TOS. II. xix. 
 
 xvin. "Afonso, Aviz, Nun' Alvares, &c." 
 
 The exploits of all these worthies will be found recorded in my 
 "Ocean Flower." 
 
 xix. " Not thy Fidalgos withered boughs, I ween." 
 
 Mina never would suffer an Hidalgo to join his band himself a 
 peasant by birth, and thoroughly despising the " higher orders." 
 
NOTES TO CANTO VI. 197 
 
 From this general censure of the Fidalgo class, the Conde de 
 Amarante, the Marquis de Saldanha, the present Conde de Villareal 
 and Duke of Terceira, who served with distinction in the Penin- 
 sular War, are exceptions. The defence of the bridge of Amarante, 
 from which the first-named Conde received his title, was a most 
 brilliant exploit. 
 
 xxi. " No, not more vain Antaeus' self to pierce." 
 
 See Pindar's first Nemeonic, and Lucan, lib. iv. 
 " Whose hissing heads struck off, still heads more grim, &c." 
 
 Non Hydra secto corpore firmior 
 Vinci dolentem crevit in Herculem. 
 
 Horat. Carm. iv. 4. 
 
 xxv. " Oh, sacred source of sympathetic tears ! " 
 
 The " SaKpvwv iniyai," the "sacri fontes lachrymarum," which 
 even amongst enlightened Heathens seem to have been more re- 
 garded than by many modern Christians. 
 
 xxvi. " The Imperial Boar." 
 
 Diocletian. 
 
 xxix. " By that majestic Faith, &c." 
 
 Such is the force of the Saint's name, ^fpcurrbs. 
 xxxn. " Her heart transpierces, falls, and dies upon his corse." 
 
 Ka\bv fJLol rovro iroiova"r) Qavtiv. 
 $i\ij per* avrov Keuro/ucu, <J>iA.ov /iera. 
 
 Soph. Antig. 72. 
 
 " It will be my glory thus to die. Loving I will lie by the side 
 of my beloved ! " 
 
198 NOTES TO CANTO VI. 
 
 XL. " Dissolved the bands of discipline, the mould 
 
 " Of duty broke, restored barbarian life." 
 
 ffTpdrevn', Hvapxov, Ka.ir\ rots Ka/coTs 0pa<ri, 
 
 Eurip. Jphig. in Aul. 914. 
 
 "An army come in ships, anarchical, and ferocious for evil 
 deeds, but useful when it pleases." A very close description of 
 our San Sebastian heroes written more than two thousand years 
 since ! I stood in September last upon the Chofre hills, on the 
 very spot whence Graham directed the fearful cannonade, and sub- 
 sequently beneath the branch where our gallant fellows entered, 
 and in the recollection of their bravery could readily forget the 
 tales of horror which I heard from Spaniards, who retain a more 
 vivid memory of misdeeds, than of the most magnificent services. 
 
 I saw with little admiration the mediocre picture of San Sebas- 
 tian over the high altar in the cathedral, and when I subsequently 
 beheld the glorious picture of the same saint by Guido in the 
 museum at Madrid, I sincerely regretted that the latter is not sub- 
 stituted for the former a measure which would be well worthy an 
 enlightened government. 
 
IBERIA WON. 
 
 ODanto 
 
 i. 
 
 CLOSE by the wall the grave Salustian held 
 'Mongst noblest citizens his fair abode ; 
 And while its dirge the cannon hourly knelled, 
 And red-limbed Slaughter through the city strode, 
 And Havoc on the thunder-tempest rode, 
 One only care Salustian' s bosom knew, 
 One sole solicitude his mind could load 
 To shield his lovely daughters from the view 
 Of demons shaped like men who Ismail's scenes renew ! 
 
 ii. 
 
 Fair as the Morn and blooming as the rose, 
 Graceful as lily waves its slender stem, 
 Sweet as the breeze that o'er the violet blows, 
 Pure as the light of Sheba's diadem ! 
 Soft was her eye, yet sparkled as a gem, 
 Large, black, and lustrous. Gentle, loved by all 
 The poor devoted kist her garment's hem ; 
 The rich admired, nor Envy's shafts could fall 
 On one so angel-good, of form majestical. 
 
200 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vn. 
 
 in. 
 
 As shines the Moon so Isidora shone 
 5 Mid circling maze of many a bright compeer; 
 Or like the Star that heralds in the dawn, 
 Dimming the lustre of each splendour near. 
 Her glance could like Heaven's dewiest sunbeam cheer, 
 Her smile was music and her step a song, 
 Her voice as Ariel's flute was soft and clear. 
 A glory streamed around her, giant-strong, 
 As robed in Beauty's pride she queenly walked along. 
 
 IV. 
 
 A sister by her side as graceful grew 
 In opening Woman's sweetness. Isabel 
 Seemed as a rosebud gathering ere it blew 
 All forms of Beauty that divinely fell 
 From full-blown flower that on the spray so well 
 Beside her bloomed. 'Neath Isidora' s pure 
 Example as a mother's she doth dwell. 
 Her step was faery light, her laugh would lure 
 The coldest heart, her eye more dark with glances Moor. 
 
 v. 
 
 And Isidora loved a noble youth, 
 Worthy of her I ween that few be they ; 
 And honour, valour, virtue, manhood, truth, 
 Combined in Carlos noble every way. 
 No step more free than his none sang the lay 
 Of Vascongada bold with richer voice. 
 His, his the sword that, flashing midst the fray, 
 Had Blanca saved, whose foster-sister's choice 
 Gladdened her sire and made the general heart rejoice. 
 
CANTO VII.] IBERIA WON. 201 
 
 VI. 
 
 Oh Love, oh wedded Love, of life the balm, 
 Deep-anchored safety, haven sure of bliss. 
 No passion-storms disturb thy blessed calm, 
 No perfect joy hath Earth to show but this ! 
 Thine for true hearts the chaste yet rapturous kiss, 
 Thine deathless sympathy through Life's brief span, 
 Through cloud and sunshine thine, when serpents hiss, 
 The dove' s pure breast. Self mars e'en Friendship's plan; 
 And thou the sole true friend and confident of Man ! 
 
 VII. 
 
 Yet long in secret nourished was the flame, 
 Ere either had declared it ere 'twas known, 
 Save by themselves, to aught that bore their name. 
 The rapturous joy more rapture gave alone. 
 From eye to eye had Love in glances flown, 
 In whispered cadence dew delicious shed. 
 A stolen pressure of the hand, a tone 
 Unheard save by one ear, a language dead 
 To all save lovers strains like this their passion fed : 
 
 of tfje 23alcom>. 
 
 1. 
 Upraise thy dark mantilla's edge, 
 
 And shrink not like a fawn away ; 
 But near the balconcillo's ledge 
 
 Move for Sant 'Anna's love, I pray ; 
 And bend, oh, bend those glorious eyes 
 
 Upon thy slave once more, once more ; 
 For streams no star from yon blue skies 
 I would as soon adore ! 
 
 K3 
 
202 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vn. 
 
 2. 
 
 Encantadora ! All is hushed ; 
 
 In deep repose our kinsmen sleep ; 
 Tears from these streaming lids have gushed, 
 
 In rapture that your tryst you keep. 
 Ah ! must I never throb more nigh 
 
 Than at our casements' sundered height, 
 Nor steal this distant glimpse of joy 
 But in the depth of night ! 
 
 3. 
 
 Pordiez ! I would I were a bird, 
 To glide on air beside thy charms, 
 
 To press thy lip at every word, 
 To fold thee in my longing arms ! 
 
 Oh, yes, by yon star-spangled, soft, 
 Unutterable depth of blue, 
 
 I swear, as I have murmured oft, 
 To live and die for you ! 
 
 4. 
 
 Within thy balcon's dusky sphere 
 Thou gleamest like an orient pearl ; 
 
 At times I doubt what form is near, 
 An angel or my angel girl ! 
 
 Put coyly forth thy beauteous head, 
 Lest stars grow dim, and Dian pale ; 
 
 Nor let thy voice its music shed ; 
 
 To wake they could not fail ! 
 
CANTO VII.] IBERIA WON. 203 
 
 5. 
 
 Upraise thy dark mantilla's edge, 
 
 And shrink not like a fawn away ; 
 But near the balconcillo's ledge 
 
 Move for Sant 'Anna's love, I pray. 
 And bend, oh bend, those glorious eyes 
 
 Upon thy slave once more, once more ; 
 For streams no star from yon blue skies 
 I would as soon adore ! 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Yet sighs one more for Isidora's charms ; 
 Love's treasure seldom without Envy shines. 
 And even when Carlos clasps her in his arms 
 In visioned bliss, another secret pines. 
 Fate scowling terrible his bulwark mines, 
 And comes the blow from evilest-omened hand. 
 Nor Carlos nor his rival yet divines 
 Their mutual secret. Blindfold thus they stand, 
 Till Hate in anguishedhour whirls high his flaming brand. 
 
 IX. 
 
 'Twas starry midnight lone, when Carlos soft 
 'Neath Isidora's open lattice stole, 
 And gently touching his guitar, as oft, 
 In strains melodious poured his melting soul. 
 Even when his deepest cadenced transports roll, 
 An iron hand his shoulder seized another 
 Held high the gleaming dagger, to its goal 
 Next instant plunged it. Blood the voice doth smother 
 Of Carlos he looks up and sees, oh God, a brother ! 
 
204 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vn. 
 
 x. 
 
 5 Twas Jealousy the scourge of Southern breasts 
 Made an unconscious Cain for deep and true 
 Fraternal love their bosoms both invests, 
 And maniac-like the assassin instant grew, 
 And tore his hair and raved then gibbering flew, 
 Like Clytemnestra's son by Furies driven. 
 Long Carlos crimson lay and dead to view ; 
 With morning's breath a glimpse of life was given, 
 And faint his cry was raised for bounteous aid to Heaven. 
 
 XI. 
 
 What cry too faint to reach the ear of love? 
 Through Isidora's casement pierced his moan, 
 When Morn's first beam Pyrene rose above, 
 And roused her faithful heart with plaintive tone. 
 Another cry to the casement she hath flown. 
 Oh, sight of agony her lover lies 
 Blood-boltered at her feet ! With groan on groan 
 His breast Apollo-like doth heave and rise, 
 And ghastly pale his cheek, and glaring white his eyes. 
 
 XII. 
 
 With one wild shriek of agony she fell 
 Upon the floor the casement-ledge beside ; 
 And swooned so deep, that but for Isabel 
 Close within earshot, aidless she had died. 
 But reached that voice, so piteously it cried, 
 Salustian's inmost soul, and called him forth 
 With Aya, handmaids, servitors, who tried 
 Full many a remedy in vain : " Wo worth 
 " The day that gave, my child, this frantic terror birth!" 
 
CANTO VII.] IBERIA WON. 205 
 
 XIII. 
 
 She oped her eyes, and shuddered slightly gave 
 A feeble cry and uttered Carlos' name ; 
 Then toward the window glanced, as if to crave 
 Assistance sad yet sweet her breathing came 
 Then sobs and tears then sparkling dewy flame, 
 Her eyes such passion showed as angels feel. 
 "Carlos the window!" she doth now exclaim. 
 Both eye and tongue love's mystery reveal 
 And Carlos soon they find through her, too, past the steel ! 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Long Carlos fluttering lay 'twixt life and death, 
 But what could Isidora's balm exclude, 
 Her dewy fingers' pressure, violet breath, 
 Her tender care, and sweet solicitude ? 
 And day by day his growing cure she viewed 
 Spring 'neath her hand like rarest, frailest flower, 
 Till the fresh hues of health again exude 
 Through every pore, and young love's blooming dower 
 Glows o'er his rounded cheek, like rose for Beauty's bower. 
 
 xv. 
 
 And where is he the Fratricide ? Within 
 A gloomy convent cloistered, gowned, and shorn, 
 He strives to curb his passion, shrive his sin 
 Against all world-communion deeply sworn. 
 Yet Isidora's image oft is borne 
 Through twilight of the cell before his eye, 
 Maddening his heart untamed, despairing, lorn ; 
 And though the day of Carlos' bridal's nigh, 
 In hopeless passion's thrall that monk will changeless die. 
 
206 IBERIA WON. [CANTO VH. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Now, had they not been brothers of the womb ! 
 I saw two emmets fight with dire intent, 
 As nought could slake their vengeance but the tomb 
 As each the other's head had joyous rent, 
 And gnawed like Ugolino. Why thus bent 
 On slaughter ? For a grain of chaff the strife ; 
 I thought of human blood inglorious spent 
 In private feud for straws with quarrel rife, 
 And deadly weapons aimed at God's best gift of life \ 
 
 XVII. 
 
 But, hark ! the din of slaughter ; hark ! the scream 
 Of virgin innocence and matron shame. 
 Of Spain's defenders see the bayonets gleam, 
 And lust and plunder the defender's aim! 
 Yet haply share not all nor most the blame. 
 A band of ruffians, vilest scum of War, 
 By deeds inglorious, crimes without a name, 
 Sully the brightest rays of Victory's star, 
 And send their crimes to blaze with Valour's fame afar. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Frantic with fear for her his only fear, 
 Rushed Carlos quick to Isidora's side ; 
 And when the plunderers villain-eyed drew near, 
 Barred all Salustian's house, the horde defied, 
 And with good rifle to their threats replied. 
 Long was the contest, oft their firelocks flashed, 
 But Carlos gaily cheered his destined bride ; 
 And, foiled, the band for rapine further dashed, 
 But swearing dire revenge, their teeth like tigers gnashed. 
 
CANTO VII.] IBERIA WON. 207 
 
 XIX. 
 
 " Away, away, my life, my love, my joy ! 
 " Querida, thou must find secure retreat. 
 "My peace 'twill, by my father's dust, destroy, 
 " If e'er thy charms these rabid dogs should meet. 
 " For Dios, with steel I will the monsters greet !" 
 With many a gentle word and heavenly smile 
 Replied his Isidora, angel-sweet. 
 Now fell the night, and blazed full many a pile, 
 And Charles for his adored a shelter sought the while. 
 
 xx. 
 
 To Santiago's shrine Don Carlos bore 
 Salustian and his daughters pale with dread. 
 A mighty crowd hath filled with life the floor, 
 And loveliest of them all the maid he led. 
 Ah, lily cheeks and lips that Beauty fled 
 At peril's aspect, colourless were there, 
 And vows were made at many an altar red 
 With blood from wounded victims of despair, 
 And through the Temple rose a wailing voice of prayer. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Sudden was heard the appalling cry of " Fire !" 
 One moment mortal terror hushed each heart ; 
 The next, outburst a shriek of anguish dire. 
 For flashed the Demon red o'er every part. 
 The crackling flames across each window dart, 
 And cast a lurid glare o'er faces pale 
 With dread, or screaming till their eyeballs start 
 Wild, frantic, terrible. The bravest quail, 
 For, ah, so dense the crowd no means of 'scape avail. 
 
208 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vn. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Fire " Fire r_the cry of agony again 
 More shrill ascended " ay /" and " u /" the scream ; 
 And women clapt their hands, and hoarsely men 
 Implored, and piercing shrieks of children stream 
 Far o'er the tumult to the topmost beam 
 Of that tall Gothic pile. As in some vast 
 Disastrous shipwreck, howling winds do seem 
 With roaring waves to struggle fierce and fast, 
 And cries of drowning men are mingled with the blast. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Then rushed the crowd, by instinct furious borne 
 Of life preserving, like the Ocean surge 
 Towards the great entrance. Trodden down and torn 
 Was every weaker form, and frantic urge 
 The merciless hale who fly that fiery scourge ; 
 And heaving to and fro they cried to Heaven, 
 Still vainly seeking instant to emerge, 
 Till barriers of the sanctuary were riven, 
 And to the altar-front the trembling priests were driven. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Now onward rolls the mass, till near the door 
 More fiercely violent grows the maddened throng 
 With sight of safety. Hundreds strew the floor 
 Crushed, bruised, and trampled. O'er the weak the 
 
 strong 
 
 Unpitying stride, and dying shrieks the wrong 
 With vain reproof attest of selfish man. 
 But Carlos bore like Hercules along 
 His Isidor with strength that all putran ; 
 Grasped Isabel his waist the outer wall they scan. 
 
CANTO VII.] IBERIA WON. 209 
 
 XXV. 
 
 " Now had I known," the grave Salustiau cried, 
 " That thus the stranger would have Spain defended, 
 I sooner, by my fathers' bones, had died, 
 Than Leon's fate with Albion thus have blended. 
 For vain the seas of treasure, blood expended, 
 If fire and sword our homes and hearths assail. 
 The standard joint I raised, yet now would rend it. 
 While England's lions roar, Castile may wail 
 Her lions mute ; 'tis shrieks are borne upon the gale !" 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 It was a blessed thought so Carlos deemed ; 
 A chamber high in the Cathedral tower 
 His love might harbour while ferocious gleamed 
 The eye of Rapine. Rude for lady's bower 
 Was this abode, where oft huge bells of power 
 Swung loud, but who may choose in scenes like these? 
 Cloak and sombrero thrown o'er Beauty's flower 
 Disguised the form which, ah ! too well could please, 
 And Carlos guided well their path through danger's seas. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 At deepest night the blaze of burning streets 
 With horrid gleam doth light like Hell the town ; 
 The lurid glare its fit reflection meets, 
 Where many a stream of blood runs crimson down ! 
 Ferocious yell and savage war-whoop crown 
 The pile of dire disaster. Anguished screams 
 Of terror shrill the roaring noises drown. 
 Shrieks turn to groaning where the bayonet gleams, 
 And murdered Sleep wakes wild from sanguinary dreams. 
 
210 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vn. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 The tower is reached quivers with rage suppressed 
 Don Carlos' lip Salustian's cheek is pale, 
 And pants fair Isidora's fluttering breast, 
 Like linnet o'er whose nest kites sharp-beaked sail. 
 Well might that night of horrors make thee quail, 
 Daughter of Vascongada ! Rent the air, 
 Till morning dawned nor ceased ev'n then, the wail 
 Of hopeless Anguish where the voice of Prayer 
 Was choked, and shriek on shriek gave utterance to Despair. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 " Here sit, my children," grave Salustian said, 
 "While Spain's disasters from their primal source 
 I briefly trace, and 'midst these horrors dread 
 Relief pursue by patriot discourse ; 
 For at each shriek my voice doth lose its force, 
 And highest deeds recounting may sustain 
 The fainting spirit. Ah ! my throat is hoarse, 
 And parched my lips with heat to speak yet fain 
 Would I had never lived to see this day for Spain ! 
 
 XXX. 
 
 " Five years have past thou dost remember well, 
 'Twas when thou first didst braid thy raven hair, 
 My Isidor, as now doth Isabel 
 Five wretched years and both have grown so fair ! 
 Since first this Meteor who the earth doth scare 
 With blood-red beams this dire Napoleon 
 O'er Spain began to cast his lurid glare, 
 Covet her lovely sky and radiant sun, 
 And try how much could first by treacherous fraud be won. 
 
CANTO VII.] IBERIA WON. 211 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 " Dire was the ruin by Corruption's hand 
 Shed on our ancient monarchy. Her men 
 Were noble still and worthy of the land, 
 Whose blood hath poured in every mountain-glen 
 From Calpe to Asturia's rudest den, 
 'Gainst warlike Moor contending. But her Kings 
 Unworthy most beneath dominion's ken 
 To hold so proud a people timorous things 
 Crawled 'neath a favourite's sway, or crouched 'neath 
 churchmen's wings. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 " Corruption fills the Court the Grande taints 
 The Judge perverts to more pervert the law, 
 Gives Demon-forms of hate the guise of Saints, 
 And Freedom flings to Persecution's maw. 
 The Holy Office Hell delighted saw ! 
 Divine Religion ! man's best, purest gift, 
 Thou only gem that shines without a flaw ! 
 Star, from whose ray withdrawn we chartless drift, 
 A Gorgon thou wast made, a Moloch spear didst lift ! 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 " And Man was told to love where forced to hate, 
 And saw his fairest fields partitioned forth 
 To Nobles so miscalled by robbery great, 
 Whose phantom title was ancestral worth, 
 Their own sole merit accident of birth ! 
 Heart-bitterness and worming discontent 
 Made all the land the loveliest upon earth 
 In sullen, fierce indifference bide till rent 
 The Thunder-clouds, supine and some on Vengeance 
 bent. 
 
212 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vn. 
 
 xxxiv. 
 
 " And patience, Heaven ! while I pronounce the name 
 Of him, the fellest monster of them all 
 Godoy who sold Iberia first to shame, 
 And through her cold lips forced the cup of gall, 
 Parted to France the Indian dower whose thrall 
 Columbus won even basely dared profane 
 His monarch's bed ; and shadowing thus our fall, 
 Napoleon gave a path to Lusitain 
 
 O'er our dishonoured soil those footsteps conquered 
 Spain ! 
 
 xxxv. 
 
 " And secret treaties had the recreant drawn 
 With Hell's diplomacy our soil to carve ; 
 And Europe was to have seen ere Aries' dawn 
 The traitor's self the sovereign of Algarve. 
 Thus rulers traffic while the people starve ! 
 Perchance Gaul's tyrant mocked him with the lure 
 A double traitor base design to serve. 
 Howe'er be this, his legions we endure 
 Marched to the sister-land that erst expelled the Moor. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 " Trembled blue Tagus when his waters saw 
 A conqueror come unwounded to his shore ; 
 His curling wave, receding, he doth draw 
 In violent scorn to where Almada o'er 
 The Serra lords Lisboa's towers before. 
 Her soil that spurned the Invader quakes again, 
 And gapes athirst for foreign tyrants' gore. 
 Indignant Tagus lashes it in vain 
 Sinks o'er his golden sands, and sighing wears the chain. 
 
CANTO VII.] IBERIA WON. 213 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 " Where were thy men where, Lusitain, were they ? 
 Entranced, appalled with none to lead or guide. 
 Thy coward Princes fled like hinds away 
 Thy caitiff Nobles crost the Ocean-tide. 
 No sword in the Invader's blood was dyed ! 
 Thy Chiefs and Patriarchs basely kist the rod ; 
 Thy sacred banner of Saint George the pride, 
 Torn from his castled height o'erspread the sod, 
 And Priests profane declared thy conquerors sent by God ! 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 " Spain next a victim ! Foulest treachery seized 
 Her fortress-castles to the frontier drew 
 Her Princes whose domestic feuds it pleased 
 The Invader to foment, as Hell might do ! 
 His legions marched for patriots then were few 
 To Manzanares' banks ; our aged King 
 The Usurper made pronounce his last adieu, 
 And caged his Heir a poor and mindless thing 
 But Spain her talons ground, and imped her soaring wing! 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 " Oh, many a murder marked that foreign sway, 
 And many a shriek appalling rent the air." 
 He ceased an instant thus while he did say, 
 Their ears were smote by cries of deep despair. 
 Rushed Carlos to the door, but held him there 
 Salustian, Isidora, Isabel. 
 He shook with passion, till his mistress fair 
 With gentlest pressure strove his rage to quell ; 
 Then snatched a ghittern - thus he struck the tuneful 
 shell: 
 
214 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vii. 
 
 f)e Tartar Cofon. 
 
 1. 
 'Tis foully done to wrong the Basque ; 
 
 No nobler man than he. 
 A desert-child, a Tartar wild, 
 He once was more than free. 
 
 2. 
 He ne'er to Tyrants bowed the neck, 
 
 Nor stooped to slavish task. 
 The King of Spain, if he would reign, 
 Must doff before the Basque. 
 
 3. 
 His lordly Fueros prove his worth, 
 
 Bequeathed from sire to son. 
 Hidalgos proud, the Vascon crowd 
 Are noble every one. 
 
 4. 
 No other land the heir-loom grand 
 
 Of Vascongada claims. 
 Each earthly shore must vail before 
 The nobler Vascon names. 
 
 5. 
 No blood of Christ-beslaughtering Jew, 
 
 No Moorish taint we own ; 
 But God's own gold the Christians Old, 
 'Tis we be they alone ! 
 
 6. 
 O'er stately Kings our triumph rings 
 
 'Tis thus we spoke to them, 
 Low kneeling down, or ere the crown 
 Possest this sparkling gem : 
 
CANTO VII.] IBERIA WON. 215 
 
 7. 
 
 Our bonnets worn, in lordly scorn, 
 
 The Monarch kneeling bare : 
 " We great as you, more powerful too, 
 
 " Our King we you declare. 
 
 8. 
 " Our rights and liberties to guard, 
 
 " We make thee King and Lord, 
 " To be allowed our Fueros proud ; 
 
 " If not then No's the word !" 
 
 9. 
 And still when San Sebastian ran 
 
 To take the King to task, 
 Or treat with him for life or limb, 
 
 He doffed him to the Basque ! 
 
216 
 
 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 
 TO CANTO VII. 
 
 FOR the incidents connected with Napoleon's invasion of Por- 
 tugal and Spain, and for the state of both monarchies at that 
 period, the reader is referred to Napier's and Southey's Histories 
 of the Peninsular War, and (with the necessary caution in the 
 perusal) to Thiers's Histoire du Consulat et de V Empire. I have 
 endeavoured to adhere as closely to historical truth as the nature 
 of poetical composition would permit. My residence in both 
 Peninsular countries, since they were visited either by Southey or 
 Napier, has enabled me to add some additional particulars, derived 
 from sources exhibited of late years, which tend to throw fresh 
 light upon these transactions. 
 
 The Emperor commenced with the invasion of Portugal, for 
 various reasons, of which the chief was probably that, as there was 
 no family alliance between France and Portugal, as between France 
 and Spain, an injustice done to the former country would be less 
 shocking and startling to the common feelings of mankind. That 
 Napoleon himself regarded an invasion of Spain in that light is 
 evident from a remarkable expression which he used in conversation 
 with his aide-de-camp, Savary : " I am always afraid of a change 
 of which I do not see the scope : the best plan of all would be to 
 avoid a war with Spain, it would be a kind of Sacrilege (be used 
 the expression) ; but I shall not shrink from making it." Thiers, 
 Histoire du Consulat et de V Empire. 
 
 When Junot entered Lisbon, the old Queen of Portugal was 
 mad, and the Prince Regent possessed no vigour of character to 
 supply the sovereign's intellectual deficiencies. These were sup- 
 posed to be in great measure chargeable upon the superstitious 
 
NOTES TO CANTO VII. 217 
 
 terrors with which her head had been filled by Dom Jose Maria de 
 Mello, Bishop of Algarve and Grand Inquisitor of the Kingdom. 
 Influenced partly by fear of Junot, and partly by the popular dis- 
 content with the fugitive government, (for the entire Royal family 
 and Court of Portugal fled to Brazil the moment it was ascertained 
 that Junot was on his march close to Lisbon, and left the poor 
 miserable country to shift for itself,) the principal ecclesiastics of 
 the kingdom, with a subserviency too characteristic of that order 
 in every country, worshipped the rising sun, and lavished their 
 despicable incense upon Junot and Napoleon. Cardinal Mendoza, 
 the Patriarch of Lisbon, issued a pastoral sounding the praises of 
 " the man whom past ages had been unable to divine, the man of 
 prodigies, the Great Emperor whom God had called to establish 
 the happiness of nations ! " At the voice of this reverend Prince 
 of the Church, the bishops and clergy, and in imitation of them the 
 civil magistrates, recommended it to the faithful and to the people 
 generally, as a binding civil and religious obligation, to receive the 
 French cordially and pay obedience to their General. This lan- 
 guage was especially noticeable in the mouth of the Inquisitor 
 General, since he had always been heard to profess principles of the 
 most diametrically opposite character. Against the " impious re- 
 volutionists" of France he had been the first to fulminate his cen- 
 sures. He had sought to re-establish autos-da-fe, in all their ori- 
 ginal bloody ferocity, under the reign of his august but crazy 
 penitent. And at the commencement of the revolution he had 
 seriously proposed the excommunication of the French nation en 
 masse by the dignified clergy of Portugal. 
 
 The concentration of Junot's troops around Lisbon made the re- 
 ception of the French regime a matter of little difficulty. But it 
 is not a little curious that the voice of old prophecy was made to 
 contribute to the same result. The Nostradamus of Portugal, 
 Bandarra, had predicted these changes as conformable to the will 
 of God, and the triumph of the imperial eagle of Napoleon might 
 be read in his prophetic quatrains. Curiously illustrative are these 
 details of the character of a people of whom it has (with some ex- 
 L 
 
218 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 aggeration) been said that one half are waiting for the coming of 
 Dom Sebastian, and the other half for that of the Messiah. The 
 prophecy of Bandarra struck the nation with astonishment, and 
 for a time they regarded it as literally fulfilled. The closeness of 
 realization was certainly astounding. Gonzalo Annes Bandarra 
 was a poor cobbler of Trancoso in the district of Guarda, who 
 composed about the year 1540 some prophecies which have ever 
 since obtained great reputation in the country, amongst all classes. 
 His trovas or redondilhas (rhymed quatrains) have been printed 
 several times, and in 1809 an edition was published at Barcelona. 
 When the French entered Lisbon in 1807, the event was found by 
 the believers in prophecy to be not only clearly predicted in 
 Bandarra, but the Imperial power to be precisely indicated, and 
 the first letter of the name of Napoleon, in the 17th and 18th 
 quatrains of the third prophetic dream, which are as follows : 
 
 " Ergue-se a Aguia imperial 
 Com os seus filhos ao rabo, 
 E com as unhas no cabo 
 Faz o ninho em Portugal. 
 Poe urn A pernas acima, 
 Tira Ihe a risca do meio, 
 E por detraz lha arrima, 
 Saberas quern te nomeio." 
 
 " The Imperial Eagle rises, with his children at his tail, and with 
 his claws before him makes his nest in Portugal. Put an A with 
 its legs upside down ; take away its middle bar, and put this bar 
 behind it. You will know him I name." The coarseness of the 
 wording belongs to the era and to the popular literature of Portugal 
 generally. The N and the imperial eagle are made out perfectly. 
 The coincidence does not quite convince, but in the words of the 
 hero of the Gridiron story, " it is mighty remarkable ! " 
 
 Junot proceeded to depose the Royal House of Portugal with 
 the coolest unconcern, and from the old Palace of the Inquisition, 
 where he established his Intendance Generate, and upon whose 
 
NOTES TO CANTO VII. 219 
 
 ruins the new National Theatre has just been raised, he issued a 
 proclamation declaring that " the dynasty of Braganza had ceased 
 in Portugal !" Meanwhile Solano, a creature of Godoy's, who had 
 accompanied Junot to Lisbon, was active on behalf of his infamous 
 master, whose obscure birth-place I lately saw at Badajoz, and 
 substituted in several public acts the name of the King of Spain 
 for that of the Prince Regent of Portugal. He created a Chief 
 Judge and a Superintendent of Finances, and both employments 
 were conferred upon Castilian subjects. Solano was the intimate 
 confident of the Prince of the Peace, and it is believed that it was 
 not without superior orders that he proceeded in these hasty inno- 
 vations. The future Sovereign of the Algarves, as designated in the 
 secret treaty with Napoleon, was so impatient to reign on his own 
 account that, if the reports which prevailed at the period are to be 
 believed, dollars were struck at the Madrid mint, bearing upon 
 one side the head of Godoy with the legend Emmanuel primus 
 Alffarviorum dux, and on the other the ancient arms of the king- 
 dom of Algarve. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival Junot proceeded, as he phrased it, 
 " inaugurer avec eclat a Lisbonne le drapeau tricolore francais." 
 The Portuguese had previously received them as friends : this 
 outrage opened their eyes. It was on a Sunday ; 6,000 men of all 
 arms were assembled in the great square of the Rocio, to be re- 
 viewed by the General. Mid-day sounded. A salvo of artillery 
 resounded from the Castle of St. George, originally built by the 
 Moors. Every eye was turned towards these ancient walls, which 
 topple over the city somewhat like the Calton Hill at Edinburgh. 
 In an instant was seen to fall the standard of Portugal which^ 
 floated before on the loftiest tower of the Castle, while its place 
 was taken in another instant by a foreign flag surmounted by the 
 imperial eagle ! To describe the outraged feelings of the Portu- 
 guese, to paint their indignation and horror, is impossible. Their 
 loyalty and their national pride are almost the only virtues which 
 they retain. Their southern hatred was excited to terrific intensity. 
 Conceive what would be the feelings of veteran warriors, who 
 L2 
 
220 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 have dragged out the remnant of an existence spared by the 
 missiles and casualties of war, to see the flag beneath which their 
 blood has flowed insulted by its enemies. Some idea may then be 
 formed of the grief and rage which took possession of the people 
 of Lisbon. A torrent of bitterness deluged their souls. The sacred 
 standard which was thus supplanted was consecrated alike by re- 
 ligious feelings and by secular remembrances of glory. It had 
 been given, according to popular belief, by Christ himself to 
 Afonso Henriques, the founder of the Monarchy, impressed by the 
 Redeemer with the marks of his Passion, for the five shields of the 
 conquered Moorish kings displayed on the Quinas were likewise 
 said to be typical of the Sacred Wounds, and with this other laba- 
 rum their new Constantine had been told to " go forth and con- 
 quer." "Death to the French!" was soon the cry, but the 
 cannon and paraded soldiery of Junot suppressed the insurrectionary 
 movement. 
 
 The earthquake, stated in the text to have occurred at the period 
 of the French entry into Lisbon, is strictly historical. " Le len- 
 demain de 1'entree des Francais on eprouva dans Lisbonne une 
 legere secousse de tremblement de terre, qui fit monter la mer sur 
 les quais." (Foy, Hist. Guerre. Penins. liv. ii.) Junot wrote thus 
 impiously concerning this event to the Minister of War, Clarke. 
 " Les dieux sont pour nous ; j'en tiens 1'augure de ce, que le trem- 
 blement de terre ne nous a annonce que leur puissance sans nous 
 faire de mal ! " 
 
 Napoleon's treatment of Spain was not characterized by the 
 same daring recklessness, but by what must be regarded as un- 
 principled profligacy. One of his own generals, Baron Foy, calls 
 the Spanish invasion " une traltreuse usurpation." Hist. Guerre. 
 Penins. liv. ii. 
 
 A Spanish army entered Portugal under Junot in 1807, with 
 absurd and astounding ignorance mistaking the English for ene- 
 mies, and the French for friends, to both Peninsular countries. 
 The Marquis del Socorro, who commanded this army, was the tool 
 of the infamous Godoy and the French, and it is thus he spoke of 
 
NOTES TO CANTO VII. 221 
 
 us in the proclamation which he issued at Oporto. He declared 
 his object to he " de vous delivrer de la perfide domination et de 
 la politique ambitieuse des Anglais. * * Tous ensemble, nous 
 vengerons les outrages que la ferocite traitresse des Anglais a faits 
 a toutes les nations de 1'Europe ! " Foy, Histoire Guerre. Penins. 
 liv. ii. pieces justificatives. 
 
 The unsuspected testimony of Foy leaves the fearful iniquity 
 of Napoleon's seizure of the principal fortresses of Spain 
 beyond dispute. "II y eut," says he, " dans les moyens par 
 lesquels on s'en rendit maitre, un melange de 1'astuce des faibles 
 et de 1' arrogance des forts. On n'employa que la ruse pour Pam- 
 pelune et Saint-Sebastien." (liv. iii.) The following is his detailed 
 account of the seizure of these several fortresses : The castle of 
 Montjuic at Barcelona was too difficult of approach for the troops 
 to reach it without being perceived. Duhesme went to the Count 
 d'Ezpeleta, Captain-General of the province : " My soldiers occupy 
 your citadel," said he. " Open to me this instant the gates of Mont- 
 juic ; for the Emperor Napoleon has ordered me to place a garrison 
 in your fortresses. If you hesitate, I declare war against Spain, 
 and you will be responsible for the torrents of blood which your 
 resistance will have caused to flow." The name of Napoleon pro- 
 duced its accustomed effect. The Spanish General was aged and 
 timid, and the only instruction which his government had given 
 him was to avoid taking any step which might embroil them with 
 France. He resigned the keys of Montjuic, and General Duhesme 
 became master of Catalonia. Thus fell without striking a blow, 
 into the power of France, the largest city of the Spanish monarchy 
 a city which a century before had struggled single-handed, after 
 all Spain had submitted, against the power of Louis XIV. 
 
 The gates of the fortress of Pamplona had been opened to the 
 French general Darmagnac as to a friend. But the military autho- 
 rity remained in the hands of the Viceroy, Marquis de Valle- 
 Santoro, and the volunteer battalion of Tarragona, 700 men strong, 
 was lying in the citadel, and performed the military service of the 
 place. Since Cardinal Cisneros, regent of Castile, dismantled all 
 
222 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 the strong places of Navarre, with the exception of its capital, the 
 received opinion has been that he who commands in Pamplona is 
 master of the province. To command in Pamplona, it is requisite 
 to obtain possession of the citadel. This fortress, built by Philip 
 II., contains within it extensive magazines for munitions of war 
 and mouth, and might hold out for an indefinite period. The 
 French soldiers came on fixed days, in undress and unarmed, to 
 receive their provisions in the interior of the citadel. The Spanish 
 troops maintained a strict guard upon these occasions, and never 
 failed to have the drawbridge raised during the entire time that the 
 distribution lasted. During the night of the 15th February, 1808, 
 Darmagnac collected 100 grenadiers at his lodgings, which he had 
 taken " non sans dessein," says Foy, on the esplanade which sepa- 
 rates the town from the citadel. They entered their general's resi- 
 dence with their firelocks and cartouches, one after the other, in 
 profound silence. At seven o'clock on the morning of the 16th, 
 sixty men went to receive their provisions as usual, but were com- 
 manded by an ofiicer of intelligence and daring named Robert. 
 Under pretext of waiting for the quarter-master, the men stopt, 
 some of them on the drawbridge and some beyond it. The draw- 
 bridge was thus prevented from being raised. It rained ; and some 
 of them entered the guard-house, as it were to escape from the 
 shower. " A un signal donne," (says Foy) they leapt upon the 
 arms of the guard, where they lay ranged at one side; and 
 the two sentinels were immediately disarmed. The Spaniards 
 could not extricate themselves from the hands of the French, who 
 filled the guard-house. Those who made any resistance were beat 
 with the butt-ends of muskets. By this time arrived the grenadiers 
 who had been lying in ambuscade at the general's house. They 
 proceeded straight to a bastion of 15 guns, directed on the en- 
 trance to the ditch. The forty-seventh French battalion, quar- 
 tered not far distant, followed close on the grenadiers. The ram- 
 part was covered with Frenchmen, before the Spanish garrison, 
 shut up in their casernes, had even thought of putting themselves 
 on their defence. Darmagnac announced to the Viceroy and the 
 
NOTES TO CANTO VII. 223 
 
 Council of Navarre that, as he would probably have some stay to 
 make in Pamplona, he had been obliged for the security of his 
 troops to introduce into the citadel a battalion which would do' 
 duty there in concert with the national garrison " a slight change, 
 he added, which, instead of altering the good understanding between 
 ,hem, should only be regarded as a tie the more between two re- 
 ciprocally faithful allies !" 
 
 Ties of a similar character became established daily. Thou- 
 venot, General of Brigade, had been sent to San Sebastian, with a 
 commission to assemble in one depot the soldiers who arrived from 
 France on their way to join their respective corps in Spain. " This 
 dep6t (concludes Foy) becoming presently very numerous found 
 itself in possession of the place, without the detachments of the 
 Spanish regiments of the King and of Africa, who formed the gar- 
 rison, perceiving it. It is thus that the French became masters of 
 Figuera, Barcelona, Pamplona, and San Sebastian ; and then their 
 military operations in the Peninsula became placed on a reasonable 
 basis ! The mask was thrown off, the interested observers whom 
 Spain had received as allies, for a time dissembled their projects, 
 but they no longer sought to conceal the means which they adopted 
 for their accomplishment." Hist. Guerre. Penins. liv. iii. 
 
 Yet these are the events which Thiers, in his Histoire du Con- 
 sulat et de V Empire, has the coolness to describe, without one 
 word of reprobation, censure, or comment, in the following words : 
 
 " As soon as the French troops crossed the frontiers they were 
 quartered at Saint Sebastian, Pampeluna, Rosas, Figueras, and 
 Barcelona." 
 
 Of the character and deeds of Godoy, the chief actor in these 
 transactions, the following brief but on the whole satisfactory 
 sketch is given by Thiers : 
 
 " This man, whom an extraordinary degree of favour had raised 
 up to the supreme power in Spain, governed the state as an abso- 
 lute master for more than ten years ; he had confirmed his power 
 by filling the government offices with his creatures. He had 
 become the dispenser of every favour and every boon, and was so 
 
224 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 completely the medium of the king's decisions, that the monarch 
 answered to every applicant : " Call upon Emanuel," the prince 
 being named Emanuel Godoy. This supreme authority had stirred 
 up against him a general detestation, which had counterbalanced 
 the favour he enjoyed, because he had of course committed many 
 acts of injustice in building up his power. The Prince of Asturias 
 was in the cabinet ; he likewise had to complain of the favourite's 
 haughtiness, the Prince of Peace not fearing to irritate him by ex- 
 hibiting the source of a despotic sway which laid its burden even- 
 on the successor to the crown. The Prince of Asturias became 
 his enemy, and lost no opportunity of contriving his destruction, in 
 which object he was encouraged by the opinion of the people. 
 
 " On every side murmurs rose against the Prince of Peace ; his 
 influence began to decline ; and he was soon driven to his last and 
 lowest shifts to prop it up. He had long since felt the necessity 
 of consolidating his power, and had striven by every art to acquire 
 the friendship of France. His enemies availed themselves of 
 this circumstance to injure him, and charged him with treachery ; 
 asserted that he wanted to sell Spain to France, and had reduced 
 her already to one of those vice-royalties obedient to the 
 Emperor. 
 
 " On the other hand (so mutable and various is the public mind) 
 they attributed to France whatever evil afflicted Spain, and accused 
 her of supporting the Prince of Peace. This state of things every 
 day produced fresh bickerings between the partisans of the rival 
 princes j the counsels of the Prince Royal were not always prudent, 
 and he was induced by the aversion of the people towards his 
 powerful opponent to endeavour to quell the ambition of the 
 Prince of Peace by making him the victim of his immoderate thirst 
 for power. The favourite, foreseeing the coming catastrophe, and 
 all Spain in arms to crush and overthrow him, gave himself up for 
 lost, when the French troops advanced into the Spanish territory, 
 to execute the treaty of Fontainebleau, of which he alone possessed 
 the secret, and which was not even signed." 
 
 The Basque glories, which I have recorded in the ballad of "The 
 
NOTES TO CANTO VII. 225 
 
 Tartar Town," are all strictly historical. The Basque dialect 
 was once spoken all over Spain, and is nearly identical with the 
 Tartar language. I use this supposed Tartar origin for poetical 
 purposes. Ever since the death of Ferdinand VII., the Basque 
 fueros have been a constant bone of contention. Espartero 
 abolished, but Narvaez partially restored them. The only fueros 
 now retained are an exemption from duty upon stamps, salt, 
 and tobacco. 
 
 in. "A glory streamed around her, giant-strong." 
 
 This stanza has been inspired by Murillo's Immaculate Con- 
 ceptions, on whose wonderful beauties I have gazed for days at 
 Seville and Madrid. 
 
 iv. " Seemed as a rosebud gathering ere it blew 
 
 All forms of Beauty." 
 Als eine blume zeigt sie sich der welt ; 
 Zum muster wuchs das schone bild empor. 
 
 Gothe, " Miedings Tod." 
 
 " She blossoms to the world like a flower ; her beautiful form 
 grows up to be a pattern." 
 
 vi. " Oh Love, oh wedded Love, of life the balm ! " 
 
 " You have reason to commend that excellent institution * * 
 the faithful nuptial union of man and wife that was first instituted." 
 (Bacon, New Atlantis.') The same sentiments are still more nobly 
 expressed in Milton's Tetrachordon and Doctrine and Discipline of 
 Divorce, where the poet, unshackled by his prose fetters, is still a 
 poet, glowing with fancy and with rare sublimity, and has given 
 expression to nobler sentiments on chaste love than any other writer, 
 ancient or modern. 
 
 vn. " The rapturous joy more rapture gave alone." 
 
 Tu mihi sola places ; nee jam, te prater, in urbe 
 
 Formosa est oculis ulla puella meis. 
 Atque utinam posses uni mihi bella videri. 
 
 Tibul. 1. iv. 13. 
 L3 
 
 \ 
 
226 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 " A stolen pressure of the hand, a tone 
 Unheard save by one ear." 
 
 Fallendique vias mille ministrat Amor ! 
 
 Tibul. 1. iv. 6. 
 
 " A language dead to all save lovers." 
 
 O quanta dulce imagen, 
 
 Quantas tiernas palabras 
 
 Alii dire, que el labio 
 
 Quiere decir, y calla. Cienfuegos. 
 
 " And bend, oh bend those glorious eyes 
 Upon thy slave once more, once more." 
 
 Medid el ayre de unos bellos ojos, 
 
 Y me direys del cielo al suelo el trecho. 
 
 Lope de Vega, Angelica, iii. 
 
 x. " Like Clytemnestra's son by Furies driven." 
 
 - " Ereptae magno inflammatus amore 
 Conjugis, et scelerum furiis agitatus Orestes." 
 
 Virg. ;En. iii. 330. 
 
 8e <pevye, jinjSe fj.a\dat(bs ysvy' 
 yap (re /cat Si ijirfipov fj.aicpas 
 
 e ir6vrov, KCU irepippvras 
 
 ^Eschyl. Eumen. 74. 
 
 " Fly ! nor inert become. For they (the Furies) shall pursue 
 thee through the long continent, passing untired through the 
 wanderer - trodden earth, through the sea, and the sea-girt 
 cities!" 
 
 xiii. " Through her, too, passed the steel !" 
 
 Cujus animam gementem * * 
 Pertransivit gladius ! 
 
 ANTIFHONAR. ROM. " Stabat Mater." 
 
NOTES TO CANTO VII. 227 
 
 xvi- " As each the other's head had joyous rent, 
 
 And gnawed like Ugolino." 
 
 Quandb ebbe detto cio, con gli occhi torti 
 Riprese il teschio misero co' denti, 
 Che furo all' osso, come d'un can forti. 
 
 Dante, Inferno, c. xxx. 
 
 xvn. " Of Spain's defenders see the bayonets gleam, 
 
 And lust and plunder the defenders' aim !" 
 
 Wir zogen in feindes land hinein, 
 
 Dem freunde sollt's nicht viel besser seyn. 
 
 Gothe, " Ich haV mein sack." 
 
 " We marched into the enemy's land ; our friends they fared no 
 better." 
 
 xxvu. " And murdered sleep wakes wild from sanguinary dreams." 
 <t>6fios 7&p avQ* virvov Trapaffrare'i, 
 
 To p.^] /3e/3cu'o>s /8Ae^>apa <rv^a\fiv \>irv<a. 
 
 jEschyl. Ayamem. 14. 
 
 " For Fear doth stand me in the place of sleep, lest closely I 
 shut my eye-lids." 
 
 xxix. " Spain's disasters from their primal source." 
 
 Dii multa neglecti dederunt 
 Hesperiae mala luctuosae. 
 
 Horat. Carm. iii. 6. 
 
 xxxn. " The judge perverts to more pervert the law." 
 
 "They heard sworn judges of the law adjudge, upon such 
 grounds and reasons as every stander-by was able to swear was 
 not law." Clarendon, Hist. Great Rebel, i. 
 
 " Gives Demon-forms of hate the guise of saints.' 
 
 " Cette question curieuse savoir, s'il est permis aux jesuites 
 de tuer les jansenistes 1" Pascal, Lettres Provinciales, tome i. 
 
228 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 xxxii. " The Holy Office Hell delighted saw ! " 
 
 The operation of the Spanish Inquisition in an intellectual point 
 of view may be inferred from the character of the Index Expur- 
 gatorius which was affixed in the different churches. On these 
 prohibitory lists, by the side of the great names of Montesquieu, 
 Robertson, and Filangieri were to be found the titles of the filthiest 
 French romances. 
 
 xxxin. " In sullen, fierce indifference bide till rent 
 
 The thunder-clouds, supine and some on Vengeance bent." 
 
 'AA.A' S) warp^a 777, 0eoi 
 
 Soph. Philoct. 1040. 
 
 " But, oh father-land and all-seeing Gods ! avenge, avenge at 
 length in fitting time !" It may here be seen how unfounded is 
 the claim of the Germans to the originality of their phrase 
 " Vaterland." 
 
 xxxv. " And secret treaties had the recreant drawn 
 
 With Hell's diplomacy our soil to carve." 
 
 embajadores, puros majaderos ! 
 Que si los reyes quieren engafiar, 
 Comienzan por nosotros los primeros. 
 
 Diego de Mendoza. 
 
 " Oh Ambassadors, mere utterers of silly speeches ! If Kings 
 wish to deceive, they begin by deceiving us the first !" So writes 
 the renowned Mendoza to his brother-diplomatist, Zufiiga. Men- 
 doza, one of the most illustrious of the political, military, and 
 literary worthies of Old Spain, was Ambassador for Charles V. to 
 Rome, and is still more celebrated as the author of Lazarillo de 
 Tormes. 
 
 " Entant que souverain, s'il parle selon sa pensee, il vous dira, 
 j'observerai le traite de paix, pendant que le bien de mon royaume 
 le demandera ; je me moquerai de mon serment, des que la maxime 
 de 1'etat le voudra." Bayle, Diet. Hist, et Crit. art. Agesilans. 
 
NOTES TO CANTO VII. 229 
 
 xxxvi. " His curling wave receding," &c. 
 
 Vidimus flavum Tiberim retortis, &c. Horat. Carm. i. 2. 
 
 Guadiana 
 
 Atraz tornou as ondas de medroso : 
 Correo ao mar o Tejo duvidoso. 
 
 Camoens, Lus. iv. 28. 
 
 " Sinks o'er his golden sands, and sighing wears the chain." 
 
 Amnis aurifer Tagus. 
 
 Catul. xxvii. 
 
 xxxvu. " And Priests profane declared thy conquerors sent by 
 God!" 
 
 Dizei-lhe que tambem dos Portuguezes 
 Alguns traidores houve algumas vezes. 
 
 Camoens, Lus. iv. 33. 
 
 I have had the satisfaction of visiting within the past year 
 all the scenes which form the historical portion of this Canto 
 San Sebastian, Madrid, Badajoz the birth-place of Godoy, Lisbon, 
 Almeda, and a score of other localities consecrated by heroic or 
 saddening recollections. The toils of my pilgrimage will have 
 been amply repaid, if I have derived some inspiration from the 
 genius loci. 
 
IBERIA WON. 
 
 OTanto 
 
 i. 
 
 WITH many a bitter thought and heavy sigh, 
 The grave Salustian his discourse resumed : 
 " Iberia fell, my children but her eye 
 No pomp of battle, no big war illumed. 
 'Twas fraud and treason her destruction doomed ! 
 France came as an ally her Lares seized 
 The joy-pealed cannon soon in hatred boomed. 
 And reckless Murat well his master pleased, 
 His foul behests fulfilled, his rapine-thirst appeased. 
 
 n. 
 
 " But vengeance 'gainst Godoy the people swore, 
 Who counselled Carlos from his realm to fly, 
 And sought in luxury on a foreign shore 
 The fruits of his portentous sway to enjoy. 
 Aranjuez saw them burning to destroy ! 
 Shivering in hideous fright, like beast of prey, 
 Two days, two nights, nor food nor drink Godoy 
 Partook, till in his den its t wolfish bay 
 The thronging city howled they stoned him where he 
 lay! 
 
232 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vin. 
 
 in. 
 
 "And mangled, bruised, and torn, from imminent verge' 
 Of death the Guard released him ; Carlos weak 
 The crown resigned grey hairs the victim urge, 
 And, feebler still, Fernando strove to wreak 
 His feuds upon a throne, where basely meek 
 Full soon as fawning spaniel he doth woo 
 The Gaulish tiger all that France could seek 
 Too little for his willing hand to do 
 All contumelies for him, the Seventh Fernan, too few ! 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Oh galling, dismal servitude ! The sword 
 Which mighty Carlos at Pavia won 
 The puny Ferdinand to France restored, 
 While all through Spain the withering tidings run ; 
 And few believe what patriot ears doth stun. 
 Wrenched from our armouries the trophy proud, 
 Which proved how Franks of old must Spaniards shun ; 
 And Altemira voiced our shame aloud : 
 "The sword of Francis given to noblest hands" he vowed ! 
 
 v. 
 
 " But vain each sacrifice each base compliance 
 Still prompted France to urge ignobler claims, 
 For Spain not yet had raised her proud defiance, 
 And in Fernando' s youth reposed her aims. 
 Fernando he but gorged affronts and shames ! 
 The worshipped Heir of all her line of Kings 
 His bannered Lion to a genet tames, 
 Follows his aged sire to France, and flings 
 Iberia's crown to earth beneath the Usurper's wings ! 
 
CANTO VIII.] IBERIA WON. 233 
 
 VI. 
 
 " Oh, wretched mockery of the forms of State, 
 Oh, farce of Royalty to choke the town ! 
 The sire to-day submits his brow to Fate, 
 The son to-morrow yieldeth too his crown ; 
 The sire resumes it 'neath Napoleon's frown, 
 Again to-morrow to resign its cares 
 Is't not, then just how just ! that, thus laid down, 
 The Tyrant's creature now the bauble wears ? 
 The Father lauds the choice the Son his ardour shares. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " And both implored of Spaniards to obey 
 With cordial loyalty the Kingling given, 
 And both with impious tongue blaspheming say 
 The usurping dynasty is blest of Heaven ! 
 But Spaniards may not thus be bargain-driven. 
 Sudden arose the land in all its might ; 
 Sudden its chains like spider-threads were riven. 
 Too long its slumber too profound the night ; 
 And when the Nation woke, 'twas in a glare of light ! 
 
 VIII. 
 
 "Oh, Madrilenos, generous, dauntless hearts, 
 Who fell upon that glorious May-lit morn, 
 Vain is the tear that from the eye-lid starts 
 At thought of death-wounds all heroic borne, 
 For Freedom's blazon doth your biers adorn! 
 Your blood more potent than Hyantian seed 
 Sprung armed men still fiercer death to scorn 
 Than Thebae saw. Incomparable deed ! 
 Ye braved the Lion's roar your wounds Iberia freed. 
 
234 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vui. 
 
 IX. 
 
 " For though the sabre clove, the charger trod, 
 The scattering grape-shot mowed your dense array, 
 Dai'z, Velarde gave their souls to God 
 In no unprospering cause that gallant day ! 
 If hundred martyrs perished in the fray, 
 'Twas myriad men to rouse through prostrate Spain. 
 Not Murat's arm could bend her to obey. 
 Judicial murder bared the knife in vain 
 The priestly rite denied the unoffending slain ! 
 
 x. 
 
 " Asturia first and noblest raised the cry 
 Cantabria still untamed the yoke to bear 
 Our own Biscaya sees with Baston vie 
 Oviedo's lightning flies to Santander. 
 It wakes Galicia, kindling Leon's air. 
 Castile, unconquered Aragon, Navarre, 
 The standard of revolt successive bear. 
 Valencian, Catalan, and And'luz far 
 The cry devoted raise : * Against the Invader War ! ' 
 
 XI. 
 
 " And lightning fell, 'twas said, upon the shrine 
 Of Guadalupe within the fatal hour 
 That saw the last of Leon's Royal line 
 Retire to France, and own the Usurper's power. 
 In Covadonga, where Mafoma's flower 
 Pelayo slaughtered, drops of sweat were seen 
 Upon the face of Her who stood our tower 
 In battle ; Compostella's tomb a din 
 Of arms gave forth, Saint James proclaiming we should 
 win! 
 
CANTO VIII.] IBERIA WON. 235 
 
 XII. 
 
 " Thus spoke the general voice thus Spain believed, 
 And, Heaven and Earth approving, rushed to arms. 
 The web of Tyranny was swift unweaved, 
 The land was soon o'erspread by War's alarms ; 
 For Freedom's fire once lit intensely charms ! 
 But terrible at first in dire excess 
 Rude license many a timid patriot harms. 
 If perished tyrant-tools yet, ah, not less 
 Good men, too, slaughtered fell in butchery's helplessness. ' 
 
 XIII. 
 
 " 'Twas then the Asturian seniors crost the sea, 
 And I amongst the number, as ye know, 
 To Albion's glorious Island of the free, 
 Her aid demanding 'gainst the general foe. 
 And grand and mighty was the enthusiast flow 
 From brave and generous hearts we witnessed there. 
 Our strife forgot, our feuds aside we throw, 
 Like ancient warriors after battle share 
 The social rite, and war combined 'gainst France declare. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 " But Spain would first her might unaided try, 
 And arms and subsidy alone we sought ; 
 With pain Britannia curbed her spirit high, 
 But doughtiest weapons to the strife we brought. 
 Our earlier efforts in the conflict nought 
 Availed us France her legions marshalled well. 
 Undisciplined our valour marvels wrought ; 
 But 'gainst Gaul's serried phalanx to rebel 
 Was no light peasant's task, and hundreds fighting fell. 
 
236 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vm. 
 
 xv. 
 
 " Oh, wondrous power of Discipline in war ! 
 Spain's men despised the conscript boys of France ; 
 Iberia's sons were stronger, statelier far, 
 More powerful arm to arm to wield the lance. 
 But when untrained, disordered they advance, 
 The unbroken, slender column mows them down. 
 'Tis thus wild horses o'er the Pampas prance, 
 The lasso by the light-limbed rider's thrown, 
 The strong steed flung to earth his victor hand must own. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 "Joy to Valencia! Loud her praise be sung, 
 Where first the stern Invader was repelled. 
 In vain from Hell the assassin Calvo sprung, 
 In vain her Chiefs in dire subjection held. 
 Soon 'gainst his traitorous vengeance they rebelled. 
 His strangled carcase on Domingo's plain, 
 His severed arm that many a victim felled, 
 Inscribed with his foul deeds relentless Cain 
 Proclaim that murderous fiends no more dishonour Spain. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 " Joy to Valencia ! From her leaguered wall, 
 Full valiantly defended, Moncey flies. 
 His shattered legions into fragments fall, 
 So well her grape and musketry she plies ; 
 And torn his summons to surrender lies. 
 This this her answer : ' We have sworn beneath 
 'Our country's ruins buried, ere shall rise, 
 f A foreign standard here, to yield our breath,' 
 And France her flag withdrew all dark with hues of death. 
 
CANTO VIII.] IBERIA WON. 237 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 " In Santander Luarca's mitred head 
 Apostle pure the patriot movement guides ; 
 Priest, peasant, noble gallantly he led, 
 But, ah, Besaya's torrent yields its sides; 
 The Frenchman through the conquered city rides. 
 Palencia bows her head Valladolid 
 Gives hostages ; her might the Gaul derides. 
 And Torquemada many a peasant-Cid 
 Sees 'neath French sabres fall her naming towers amid. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 " Oh, ruthless grasp of the Invader's hand ! 
 Yet not for this shall Spain his sceptre own. 
 In vain Te Deums swell through all the land, 
 In vain allegiance forced sustains his throne. 
 Though rebels fall, rebellion hath not flown ! 
 Intrusive, throneless, crownless, mocking King, 
 No Monarch reigneth save o'er hearts alone ! 
 A Tyrant sent thee, poor and bodiless thing, 
 But ne'er to rule in Spain for flight prepare thy wing ! 
 
 xx. 
 
 " Unconquered Zaragoza shuts her gates ; 
 No fortress her's, and scarce a circling wall. 
 Enough that from her soul the foe she hates, 
 And 'neath her ruined towers hath sworn to fall, 
 Or ere she live a foreign tyrant's thrall. 
 Sublime devotion ! Palafox prepares 
 The proud defence. His gallant soldiers all 
 Obey his voice : ' Who loves me with me shares 
 'The city's doom!' Till death they guard their lion-lairs. 
 
238 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vm. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 " And many a rampart raised the citizens, 
 Their puny wall with bristling men defending ; 
 And Tio Jorge and Marin from their dens 
 Emerge their energies plebeian lending. 
 On many a dire assault her efforts spending 
 By Carmen and Portillo, still repelled, 
 France hurls her shells the town terrific rending. 
 The Moorish Cosso's blown in air, and yelled 
 Is many a dying shriek, but still the rampart's held. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 "Engracia's stormed the summons to despair 
 Is oft repeated but as oft disdained. 
 Though Zaragoza burn though tortures tear, 
 Her vigorous arms shall ne'er by France be chained ! 
 The foe hath entered and the Cosso gained ; 
 But desperate is the fight which there doth rage. 
 Francisco's convent burns, yet death fires rained 
 More fiercely glare such war did man ne'er wage. 
 Beside Numantine fame'twill sound through many an age ! 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 "Within the Cosso's wide and central street 
 The foemen fierce contend from side to side. 
 From roof and window hostile volleys meet ; 
 Each house a fortress, where assault is tried 
 In vain the very women far and wide 
 Rain household gear and scalding water down. 
 The black and shattered walls with blood are dyed. 
 The dead in heaps putrescent grimly frown ; 
 And pestilence doth threat the death-devoted town. 
 
CANTO VIII.] IBERIA WON. 239 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 " In every street are rival batteries placed. 
 Entrenched behind a bulwark of the slain, 
 See where yon Zaragozan death has faced, 
 Resolved a cannon of the Frank to gain. 
 'Neath corse-heaped covert he hath passed a chain 
 Round the huge gun its end his comrades take 
 Their lusty sinews pull with might and main 
 The monster moves but, ah, the chain doth break ; 
 Yet soon as Night doth fall the prize their own they make. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 " Terrific sight the hospital is fired, 
 And maniacs issue from the blazing walls ; 
 Gibbering and mouthing 'mongst the soldiers tired, 
 Even more than War their screaming wild appals. 
 Some frantic laugh while of their number falls 
 A victim smote some mope some mutterings blend ; 
 Some dance and sing amid the hissing balls, 
 Some with hyaena yells the welkin rend, 
 And drivelling idiots cry while warriors fierce contend. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 " Glorious resistance ! See the French recede ; 
 To far Pamplona o'er the plain they pass. 
 Heroic town ! not vainly thou dost bleed, 
 For thou art free, though all one bruised mass. 
 No monument of marble or of brass 
 Can rival, sufferer, thy eternal fame ! 
 Nor 'mongst thy patriots be forgotten Sass, 
 The hero-priest who to the dying came 
 Now with the Host, and now against the foe took aim ! 
 
240 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vin. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 ** Nor dauntless Manuela be unsung, 
 Who when her townsmen from the battery fled, 
 With burning linstock to the rampart sprung, 
 And mounting on the cannon vowed till dead 
 Ne'er through the siege to leave its Gorgon head. 
 Penthesilea not more beautiful ! 
 Nor thou, Burita, sprung from noblest bed, 
 And delicate as fair of courage full 
 'Mid showering shot and shell, as Hebe bountiful ! 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 " And, gallant Palafox, let bright-eyed Fame 
 
 Thy praise resound, whom nought could turn or bend ; 
 
 For when no mandate but the word of shame 
 
 * Capitulation !' France would deign to send, 
 
 * War to the knife !' thy answer straight was penned. 
 Worthy was all the heroic times of old. 
 
 And monks were seen a warlike arm to lend, 
 And cloistered sisters the cartouche to mould. 
 Though History rend each page, this, this shall be enrolled! 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 " Her tercios Aragon, the Catalan 
 His bold Somatenes equipped for war. 
 Spain's armed peasants all her fields o'erran, 
 But strife amongst the chiefs too oft a bar, 
 And Valour weak indiscipline doth mar. 
 At Rio Seco see the furious charge 
 Of France's chivalry like Aias' car 
 Mow thousands down beside the streamlet's marge, 
 While o'er the affrighted plain their broken lines enlarge. 
 
CANTO VIII.] IBERIA WON. 241 
 
 XXX. 
 
 " But Vengeance comes ! Beneath Morena's shade, 
 At Baylen see on Andaluzan plains 
 Where sinks Dupont by olive-circled glade 
 And deep ravine where blood like water rains, 
 And wears his mighty host dishonouring chains. 
 Castafios, Reding, bright your laurels shine, 
 While prostrate 'neath your arm the Gaul remains ; 
 But, ah, perfidious snares your glory mine, 
 And butchery stains the steel which Conquest lit divine, 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 " See see, the Intrusive King o'er Ebro flies, 
 In pale affright by Baylen' s victory driven ; 
 But tall Pyrene's bulwarks o'er him rise, 
 A shield impregnable to despots given. 
 Dissolve, dissolve that towering rampart, Heaven ! 
 And aid our vengeful spear to hurl him back. 
 By Spain's right arm be Spain's rude fetters riven. 
 Our warriors move of zeal there is no lack. 
 The Invaders feel their ire, like gathering thunder black. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 " And hangs upon their skirt with fierce annoy 
 The mountain Guerrillero tiger-springing, 
 The Chapelchurri burning to destroy, 
 From heights around Bilbao vengeance winging, 
 The Chapelgorri with his musket ringing, 
 A dearer Chacolin the Frenchman's blood 
 Thirsting to pour, the rich libation flinging 
 O'er crag and spray their dainty flesh the food 
 Of vulture screaming fierce, and kite, and raven's brood. 
 
242 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vm. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 " But weak the impulse, uncombined the assault ; 
 Divisions, jealousies, our councils blight. 
 Too oft on Victory's field our leaders halt, 
 And leave unplucked the fruit that gleams in sight : 
 Oh, that our men had Chiefs to lead them right. 
 In vain ! France rallies through the land once more. 
 Our peasant warriors gather to the fight, 
 But compact serried legions gall them sore. 
 The soiled Escorial holds the Usurper as before ! 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 " To Albion now Hesperia turns her eyes ; 
 Though bloodshot all and weeping, proud her gaze ; 
 For still her spirit doth unconquered rise, 
 And still she struggles to the world's amaze. 
 Swift Albion answers to the call we raise, 
 And sends to aid our arms a gallant host. 
 Around her swords the light triumphant plays 
 Of many a field where perished Gallia's boast, 
 And see her fleet descend on Lusitania's coast. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 " For vain, too, there hath Gaul her efforts found. 
 Our kinsmen scorn to wear a foreign chain. 
 Indignantly they rise their Tyrants round, 
 And bear the Freeman's threatening port, like Spain. 
 But feeble, too, the bands of Lusitain 
 'Gainst veteran cohorts battling all through life. 
 Great Arthur comes from England to maintain 
 Thy contest, Liberty. With ardour rife 
 His warriors reach the shore, and gird them for the strife. 
 
CANTO VIII.] IBERIA WON. 243 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 " Upon thy beauteous banks, Mondego, where 
 The cry of murdered Inez lingers still, 
 And faithful Pedro's grief the breeze doth bear 
 In many a sigh from fair Coimbra's hill, 
 There Albion's heroes land. Rude blasts and chill 
 Blow from the Atlantic. On Boarcos' crags 
 Full many a soldier perisheth. But will 
 Indomitable their' s nor Lusia lags ; 
 Priest, student, peasant, crowd 'neath azure-crimson flags. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 " Hark to the footfall fierce and measured tread 
 Of Britain's legions o'er the affrighted ground, 
 While martial music's stirring voice is shed, 
 Enthusiast Valour waking at the sound. 
 Trombone and cornet make the heart to bound, 
 The deep bassoon and clarion shrill afar 
 Their echoes send the mellow horn around 
 Gives softer notes, ring fifes their merry bar, 
 And rolls the doubling drum to stimulate the War. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 " Rori^a, hail ! Vimieiro, blest thy sod ! 
 For there the might of France is hurled to dust. 
 The robber-host is victory-smote by God. 
 Junot retires with all his spoils unjust, 
 But sated once for aye his gory lust ! 
 And other fields by England's might are tried, 
 In Heaven and in her arm reposing trust. 
 Corunna's heights see crushed the Gaulish pride, 
 But sad the victory gained where Moore heroic died. 
 M 2 
 
244 IBERIA WON. [CANTO VHI. 
 
 xxxix. 
 
 " And rushed great Arthur to the field again, 
 And conquest o'er his helm unceasing played. 
 On many a dire, tremendous battle plain 
 The eagle-crest of Gallia low he laid, 
 The arms allied in all triumphant made. 
 My soul doth grow more tranquil blame him not, 
 If ruffian-soldiers' deeds his laurels shade ; 
 Too oft in Victory justice is forgot, 
 Too oft are armed men like fiends when passion's hot. 
 
 XL,. 
 
 " Oh Death in battle ! Glory thou art called, 
 When stirred the fervent blood to seething strife ; 
 But Man prefers thee peaceful coffined, palled, 
 And shudders unprepared to yield The Life ; 
 For, oh, with terror the dark shore is rife ! 
 Who in precipitate Death would choose to miss 
 The pillow tended by the loving wife, 
 The dying hand stretched forth to her to kiss, 
 The last words whispered low, surviving Memory's bliss ! 
 
 XLI. 
 
 "That word recalls, my girls, your mother dead, 
 And brings to these weak eyes a sacred tear. 
 Belov'd Juana ! round thy honoured head 
 Celestial glory beams, yet, oh, look here, 
 And shed protection o'er thy children dear!" 
 Salustian ceased he kist the foreheads pure 
 Of both his weeping daughters, Carlos near 
 Impatient stood, his eyes with ceaseless lure 
 Tow'rds the lance-casement drawn, where Morn's first 
 glimmerings pour. 
 
CANTO VIII.] IBERIA WON. 245 
 
 XLII. 
 
 A day of terror to a night of gloom . 
 Succeedeth ; light reveals no glimpse of joy. 
 But rends the Sun the veil from living tomb, 
 To show how swift can ruffians armed destroy. 
 Thy treasures, San Sebastian, a decoy, 
 Thy household gods are shivered into dust ! 
 Nor yet upon thy fell invaders cloy 
 Barbarian violence and Rapine's lust. 
 The thunder-storm hath ceased but, Heaven, thy arm 
 
 is just ! 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 " Thou wilt not go thou wilt not, Carlos, leave 
 " Thy Tsidora's side thy life expose. 
 " What boots their plunder? 'Tis for thee I grieve, 
 " Alone unaided, amongst ruffian foes. 
 " Father, I dread the worst if Carlos goes." 
 But Carlos kist her tenderly, and said : 
 " No danger fear, mi alma, blushful rose ! 
 " I will be careful for thy sake this head 
 " Bright Heaven is sure to shield an Angel I would 
 wed!" 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 Don Carlos wended to Salustian's home ; 
 A smouldering heap of ruins met his gaze ! 
 And rifled remnants of that noble dome 
 Drunk grenadiers transported through the blaze. 
 Oh, who shall paint his horror and amaze ! 
 He took by the throat the first who crost his path. 
 Red bayonets flashed beneath the autumnal rays ; 
 But buckled to his side a sword he hath, 
 And many a victim falls a prey to Carlos' wrath. 
 M 3 
 
246 IBERIA WON. [CANTO vin. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 Now thronged the soldiery, and Carlos prest 
 By numbers fought full long with valour rare ; 
 Till faint and bleeding from his wounded breast, 
 He gained once more the mute Cathedral square. 
 But, ah, the bloodhounds tracked him to his lair, 
 And forced an entrance to the sacred pile. 
 His blood doth guide them up the belfry stair. 
 They reach the door they burst it in the while 
 Young Isidora screams, and laugh those demons vile. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 Grey-haired Salustian feebly snatched a sword, 
 And Carlos strove to lift but falls his hand. 
 Clasped to her breast the maiden her adored, 
 And wildly shrieking Isabel doth stand, 
 Nor for her clamour cared the ruthless band. 
 They charged impetuous, as the breach were still 
 Before them fell that chieftain in the land, 
 Salustian, pierced Carlos they did kill 
 In Isidora's arms, where spouts a crimson rill! 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 Fell to the ground his corse the maiden stood, 
 Like Horror's statue, chained unto the floor. 
 Flowed round her lovely feet a stream of blood, 
 New reeking monsters reeled in at the door. 
 Hell glared i' their drunken glance. An instant more, 
 And Honour's soul had perished. In their eyes 
 She reads her doom. A fiend through slippery gore 
 Advanced in front the casement open lies. 
 She leaps Archangels weep at Virtue's sacrifice ! 
 
247 
 
 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 
 TO CANTO VIII. 
 
 FOB the long series of historical incidents, of which this Canto 
 records only as much as appears to come within the province of 
 poetry, the reader is referred to the Histories of Napier and 
 Southey, and to Thiers's Histoire du Consulat et de I'Empire, as 
 well as to the work of Foy, which will bear comparison with any 
 of those mentioned. 
 
 With regard to Godoy's character and conduct, I have read most 
 carefully his Memoires published some years back in Paris ; but 
 to many of the statements in that book it is impossible to give 
 credit, and to the view which I have taken of his career in this 
 and the last Canto I cannot but strongly adhere. 
 
 Foy thus describes him and the Royal family of Spain: 
 " On vit Godoy s'elancer de la couche adultere de la reine aux 
 premiers grades de la milice, k hi presidence des conseils, au gou- 
 vernement absolu de la paix et de la guerre. * * Le roi 
 d'Espagne n'avait pas quarante mils soldats en Europe. Ses arse- 
 naux etaient degarnis, son tresor etait vide. Les dons patriotiquea 
 arriverent de toutes part. La Catalogue demanda a se lever en 
 masse. Les provinces de Biscaye et de Navarre firent des appels 
 a la population. Les grands seigneurs accoururent a hi tete de 
 leurs vassaux. Les moines arriverent enregimentes. Des bandes 
 de contrebandiers, oubliant leurs demeles habituels avec le gou- 
 vernement, demanderent a combattre les ennemis du trone et 
 de 1'autel. Tous les etats, tous les rangs voulurent vaincre ou 
 mourir pour la patrie. Quel parti tira le gouvernement espagnol 
 de tant de devouement ? * * Le general des Franciscains 
 offrit de marcher a la tete de dix mille moines. Le due d'Albe 
 et deux autres seigneurs voulurent lever dix mille hommes a leurs 
 
248 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 frais. Le chapitre de Tolede offrit vingt-cinq millions de reaux. Le 
 clerge parcourait les villages le crucifix a la main." (Foy, Hist. 
 Guerre. Penin. liv. iv.) All was useless. " Aucun exploit, aucune 
 vertu, n'honorerent sa jeunesse, il n'avait pas tire 1'epee pendant la 
 guerre. II ne montra pendant la paix ni talent dans les conseils, 
 ni determination dans le gouvernement." (Ibid.} 
 
 A curious parallel for the fortune of Godoy, and for the popular 
 hatred which he excited, is to be found in Horace : 
 
 Ibericis peruste funibus latus, 
 Licet superbus ambules pecunia, 
 
 Fortuna non mutat genus. 
 Videsne, sacram metiente te viam, 
 
 Cum bis ter ulnarum toga, 
 Ut ora vertat hue et hue euntium 
 
 Liberrima indignatio ? 
 " Arat Falerni mille fundi jugera, 
 
 " Et Appiam mannis terit ; 
 " Sedilibusque magnus in primis eques, 
 
 " Othone contempto, sedet !" Epod. iv. 
 
 Menas, Pompey's freedman, and Augustus's Tribune, a double 
 and impartial traitor, to whom this ode was addressed, was the 
 Godoy of ancient Rome. 
 
 The Massacre of Madrid on the memorable Second of May did 
 not happily involve so much bloodshed as for a long period had 
 been imagined. The exaggeration common to all countries in 
 commemorating their patriotic struggles, and especially so in the 
 Peninsula, had fully quadrupled the number of martyrs who fell 
 upon that occasion. Recent minute inquiries have confirmed the 
 statement of Napier that the entire number of the Madrid popu- 
 lation slain in this massacre did not exceed 200. The real name 
 of the " Da'iz " in the text was Daoiz. The shootings subsequent 
 to the street massacre took place, as I have recorded them, under 
 circumstances which in Spain were necessarily regarded as of 
 excessive atrocity, the denial of the assistance of clergy, which by 
 
NOTES TO CANTO VIII. 249 
 
 Frenchmen was lightly considered, being in Spanish eyes the acme 
 of horrors. The supposed miraculous appearances in the Northern 
 provinces are derived from Foy's History. 
 
 For the circumstances of the rising which followed throughout 
 Spain the reader is referred to Napier and to Southey, whose des- 
 cription of the Siege of Zaragoza I have followed because it is the 
 more poetical, although I cannot refrain from remarking that it is 
 disfigured by occasional passages of exaggeration and bombast 
 not altogether worthy of an historical work. 
 
 The state of political knowledge in Spain at the period of the 
 French invasion may be inferred from the character of the ques- 
 tions treated by their publicists. An old Spanish political writer, 
 held in the greatest esteem down to that period, D. Diego Saavedra 
 Faxardo, formally discusses this thesis : Whether is it better for 
 a prince to delegate his authority to one or. many ? and concludes 
 in favour of delegation to a single person, for the following reason, 
 stated in his own words : " That the King is the image of the sun, 
 and when the sun disappears from the horizon, he leaves to one 
 only, the moon, and not to several, the care of presiding over the 
 night !" The political work from which this mo^eau is extracted 
 was composed for the instruction of the Prince of the Asturias, 
 who afterwards became Carlos II. It was long the French system 
 to keep Spain in this state of pupillage. Choiseul, the ablest 
 minister of France during the 18th century, said that he was more 
 certain of his preponderance in the cabinet of Madrid than in that 
 of Versailles ! He said this in the reign of Carlos III., the ablest 
 of the Spanish Bourbons. Up to the end of the last century, 
 France was the planet, and Spain the satellite. 
 
 The first era of the Peninsular campaigns comprised our two 
 first victories of Rori^a and Vimieiro, more intrinsically glorious 
 perhaps, than any of their successors, but rendered futile in their 
 consequences by the mistaken generosity of concession which cha- 
 racterized the Convention of Cintra. 
 
 The second period of the War was commenced by the battle of 
 Talavera, previously to which Wellington found the Spanish 
 
 M3 
 
250 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 General Cuesta equally unmanageable, stubborn, and foolishly 
 arrogant, as the Portuguese General showed himself on the eve 
 of the battle of Rori9a which commenced the first period of the 
 War. In both cases the results were the same. After a great 
 deal of vapouring about " doing the business themselves and not 
 needing British assistance," both worthies retired, leaving the 
 sole and undivided honour of each day to the genius and fortune 
 of Wellington. In the preliminary combat of Alcabon, the Spa- 
 nish division (4,000 infantry, 2,000 horse, and 8 guns) scampered 
 off from before the French, and it was manifest that they could 
 not be depended on. Wellington was therefore determined that 
 they should withdraw to Talavera, where there was strong ground 
 suited for defence, on which alone the Spaniards were likely to 
 make a stand. Cuesta boastingly replied that " he would fight 
 where he stood." The 27th, at daylight, the British General 
 renewed his solicitations, at first fruitlessly ; but when the enemy's 
 cavalry came in sight, Cuesta sullenly yielded, yet turning to his 
 staff with frantic pride observed that " he had first made the Eng- 
 lishman go down on his knees ! " (Napier, Hist. W. P. b. viii. 
 c. 2.) In the next preliminary combat of Salinas, the Spanish 
 army to the number of 11,000 men (including artillery) threw 
 down their arms, and ran away, declaring that the Allies were 
 entirely routed ! It might have been so but that their example 
 was despised. Thus undivided glory was thrust upon Wellington ; 
 and ever after the part which the Spaniards took was very sub- 
 ordinate. 
 
 After the battle of Talavera, the Spaniards were shamefully 
 defeated (having regard to the truth of History it is impossible 
 to use any other expression) by the French in two successive 
 actions those of Arzobispo and Almonacid, at both of which 
 they threw down their arms and ran, and in the latter were 
 slaughtered in thousands a result partly attributable to the 
 bad conduct of the men and partly to the bad guiding of 
 their commander, Cuenca, whose character was a concentration 
 of all the worst possible qualities of a General. " King" Joseph, 
 
NOTES TO CANTO VIII. 251 
 
 who had retreated after the battle of Baylen, now returned to 
 Madrid. Embarrassed by these disasters, by the perfidious with- 
 holding of supplies, by the perpetual crossing' and opposition of 
 the Spanish juntas, which like those of Portugal, instead of an aid, 
 were for ever a thorn in the side of their Liberator, Wellington, 
 in the face of an overwhelming French force, took the resolution 
 of retiring into Portugal. The conduct of the Spaniards may be 
 best estimated from his own words, stating his reasons for declining 
 again to co-operate with them : 
 
 "But there was a more shameful consideration, namely, the 
 constant and shameful misbehaviour of the Spanish troops before 
 the enemy. We in England never hear of their defeats and flights, 
 but I have heard Spanish officers telling of nineteen or twenty 
 actions of the description of that at the bridge of Arzobispo, 
 accounts of which, I believe, have never been published. * * * 
 In the battle of Talavera, in which the Spanish army, with very 
 trifling exception, was not engaged whole corps threw away their 
 arms, and ran off, when they were"neither attacked nor threatened 
 with an attack. When these dastardly soldiers run away, they 
 plunder everything they meet. In their flight from Talavera they 
 plundered the baggage of the British army, which was at that 
 moment bravely engaged in their cause/' 
 
 When Wellington came to this resolution to retire into Portugal, 
 he was at the head of only 17,000 British troops of all arms ; the 
 " terror-stricken Spaniards " were literally an incumbrance. (Na- 
 pier, Hist. W. P. b. viii. c. 5.) Our troops, through the faith- 
 lessness of their allies, were almost starving, and they were con- 
 fronted by 70,000 French ! The wonder is that they were not 
 utterly and immediately crushed by the latter. But Soult was 
 the only great General then amongst the French commanders ; 
 and the promptness is as much to be admired as the prudence 
 with which Wellington retired into Portugal. 
 
 The Spanish army made some miserable attempts after this at 
 independent action against the French, which ended four months 
 after the battle of Talavera in the disastrous battle of Ocafia, one 
 
252 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 of the most frightful routs recorded in history, where the whole 
 Spanish army of more than 50,000 men was destroyed, having 
 5000 killed and wounded, and leaving 26,000 prisoners, 45 pieces 
 of artillery, 30,000 muskets, and 3000 horses and beasts of burden 
 in the hands of the enemy! The French lost but 1700 men, 
 killed and wounded; and I must do them the justice of saying 
 that no exploit of ours in the Peninsula equalled this in its nume- 
 rical results ; for God forbid that I should obscure the glory of an 
 enemy or gloss over the misconduct of an ally. The rest of the 
 Spanish army was subsequently defeated at Alba de Tormes, which 
 closed the campaigns of 1809. 
 
 These scattering and consuming thunderbolts opened the eyes of 
 the Spaniards at last to the value of the British alliance, and threw 
 the defence of the Peninsula entirely into those heroic hands, by 
 which it was so brilliantly completed. The soldiery of Spain acted 
 thenceforth a subordinate part, and the boast after the battle of 
 Baylen, " We will not need the services of you Ingleses we will 
 escort you home through France, but you will not have to strike a 
 blow ! " was not again repeated. For six months of the next year 
 (till Wellington re-appeared on the scene) they continued their 
 despairing efforts against the French, but with uniform defeat and 
 failure. No fitting leaders appeared, and the efforts of the people 
 were worse than useless. 
 
 The third era of the Peninsular campaigns commenced with the 
 third invasion of Portugal by the French army, which was this 
 time commanded by Massena. The battle of Busaco was the great 
 event of the commencement of this campaign. This powerful 
 check was for the time successful, but unable long to control a 
 far superior force, and the British army fell back within the lines 
 of Torres Vedras. Massena arrived in front of them, and made 
 prodigious efforts to pass. But this triumph of Wellington's genius, 
 and marvel of engineering and strategic skill, was impregnable to 
 all assaults, and was at once the salvation of Portugal and the 
 ultimate means of rescuing Spain from the Invader. Emerging 
 from his unassailable redoubt, Wellington at last pursued the French 
 
NOTES TO CANTO VIII. 253 
 
 beyond the frontier, and defeated them on the Spanish soil in 
 battle, action, and assault, from Salamanca to Vitoria, from Vi- 
 toria to the Pyrenees. 
 
 One can laugh at this distance of time at the monstrosities 
 written about these memorable struggles by French nobles and 
 generals. Thus Foy has the coolness to say of the relative num- 
 bers at Vimieiro , " Les Anglois etaient deux contre un par rap- 
 port aux Franais !" (Hist. Guerre. Pe'nins., livre ix.) He further 
 denies that it was a battle at all. " Us n'etaient pas desireux de 
 changer un avantage defensif bien caracterise en une bataille dont 
 le succes leur paraissait incertain ! " (Ibid.) 
 
 The political sagacity and military skill of Wellington not only 
 maintained his position in the face of overwhelming difficulties, 
 but speedily took the offensive. The co-operation of (Lord) Beres- 
 ford, who was placed over the Portuguese army, organized by 
 the genius of Wellington, and led by British officers, must not be 
 overlooked. Massena was forced to retreat from Portugal ; and as 
 he passed the border-line of the two Peninsular countries, Wel- 
 lington followed victorious and menacing, having achieved what 
 at first appeared utterly vain to attempt. The battle of Fuentes 
 de Onoro ensued, the French were forced to evacuate the fortress 
 of Almeida, and then followed a long career of victory to the British 
 arms, which was uninterrupted till our triumphant entry into Tou- 
 louse, and the news of Napoleon's abdication. 
 
 The allusion in this Canto to the Basque Guerrillas needs a word of 
 explanation. The Chapelgorris and Chapelchurris are distinguish- 
 ing names of the Basque mountain peasantry, derived from the 
 colour of their caps. Chacolin is the thin, sour wine of the dis- 
 trict. During the late Carlist war, a considerable degree of ro- 
 mantic interest attached to these peasantry for the keenness of 
 their partisan admixture in the strife. One of the most famous 
 events in the Carlist struggle was the siege of Bilbao, which was 
 raised by the Cristino General Cordova, and where the most 
 famous of modern Guerrilleros, Zumalacarregui, received his death- 
 wound. Had this most energetic of the Carlist Generals lived, the 
 
254 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 war might have had a very different termination. It was he, who, 
 on the wretchedly unprovided state of his men as to arms being 
 remarked to him, pointing to the muskets in the Cristino bat- 
 talions, said, " There are their arms ! " and contrived to arm them 
 very respectably by stripping the Cristinos in repeated brilliant 
 surprises. The circumstances of this rude but powerful hero's 
 death are recorded in the Cristino song : 
 
 Ya vienen Chapelchurris 
 Con corneta y clarin, 
 Para entrar en Bilbao 
 
 A beber chacolin. 
 Mai chacolin tuvieron, 
 
 Y dia tan fatal, 
 / Que con la borrachera 
 \ Se murio el general ! 
 
 i. " Twas fraud and treason her destruction doomed." 
 
 Rancorous Despite, 
 Disloyal Treason and heart-burning Hate. 
 
 Spenser, Fairy Queen. 
 
 iv. " The sword 
 
 " Which mighty Carlos at Pavia won, 
 
 " The puny Ferdinand to France restored." 
 
 ffTrepfji,' 'AxiAAcws, r&\\a fj.ev irdpeffri ffoi 
 
 y' f\f<r6a.t ru>v 8' ftirXwv Ktlvow avyp 
 "AAAos Kpmvvfi vvv, 6 Aoeprou y6i>os. 
 
 Soph. Philoct. 364. 
 
 " Oh, born of Achilles ! the rest of what pertained to thy father 
 thou mayst take ; but these arms another now possesses Laertes' 
 son ! " Such was the answer of Ulysses to Neoptolemus, when 
 the latter sought the arms of Achilles, and such should have been 
 the reply of Ferdinand to Napoleon. 
 
NOTES TO CANTO VIII. 255 
 
 xi. " And when the Nation woke, 'twas in a glare of light." 
 
 See Wordsworth's " Convention of Cintra." 
 
 x. " Castile, unconquered Aragon, Navarre," &c. 
 
 Com esta voz Castella alevantada 
 Suas forc.as ajunta para as guerras, 
 De varias regioens, e varias terras. 
 
 Camoens, Lus. iv. 7. 
 
 xvi. " His strangled carcase on Domingos' plain," &c. 
 <f>p6vr)<rov . . . 
 
 'fls vtfV cwre'x^s 8yo7c\e^s T' 
 
 Soph. Antig. 49. 
 
 " Remember, how he perished odious and infamous !" 
 
 xxvu. " Nor dauntless Manuela be unsung * * 
 
 " Nor thou, Burita, sprung from noblest bed." 
 
 These heroines were by no means singular in their courage and 
 constancy, at that eventful era. Blanca is, I trust, no inaccurate 
 type of that multitude of heroic women who sprang up in all 
 parts of Spain during the Peninsular War, who rose superior to 
 the weakness of their sex in the face of invasion and its at- 
 tendant horrors, and who resembled more the Antigones than the 
 Ismenes of ancient history. It was theirs to falsify the familiar 
 reproach : 
 
 - yvvfy yap ra\\a n-tv <f>6/3ov TrAca, 
 Ka/dj T* Is aA/cV> ' fflSirjpoi' fiffopyv. 
 
 Eurip. Med. 266. 
 
 " For Woman is full of fear, and weak for the combat and at 
 sight of steel." The heroic plebeian Maid of Zaragoza, and the not 
 less heroic patrician, Burita, were not of Ismene's way of thinking, 
 which is nevertheless expressed with beautiful feminine propriety 
 (for common occasions) : 
 
256 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 'AAA' hvosiv xp~h TOVTO fj.ev, yvvaix' '6n 
 'E(pv/j.ev, us irpbs HvSpas ov ^taxov/ieVa. 
 
 Soph. Antig. 61. 
 
 " But it is meet we think on this that we are women, and un- 
 equal to contend with men." They rather said with Antigone : 
 
 ffol 8' el 5o/ce?, 
 
 Ta TUV dewv <ivTljjC a.Ti/j.a<ras y e%f . * * 
 'AAA' eo fj.e, Kal T)]V Q e/toD SvcrfiovXicu'. 
 
 Ib. 95. 
 
 "Do thou, if so to thee seem fit, despise that which the Gods 
 deem holiest. * * But suffer me and my rashness !" 
 
 xxviii. " And cloistered sisters the cartouche to mould." 
 ! decus, o ! sacra foemina digna domo ! 
 
 Ovid. Fast. vi. 810. 
 
 " Though History rend each page, this, this shall be enrolled ! " 
 See Wordsworth's " Convention of Cintra." 
 
 xxix. "See the furious charge 
 
 " Of France's chivalry, like Aias' car, 
 " Mow thousands down." 
 
 Afas Se Tpwetrcriv GTrd\/j.evos fl\e AopvK\ot> K. r. A. 
 *ns e^eire K\oveav TreSto;/ rJre (paiSifjLOS AKas 
 Aaifav 'ttrirovs re /cat avepas. 
 
 Horn. //. xi. 489. 
 
 xxxvi. " Upon thy beauteous banks, Mondego, where," &c. 
 
 As filhas do Mondego a morte escura 
 Longo tempo chorando memoraram ; 
 E por memoria eterna, em fonte pura 
 As lagrimas choradas transformaram : 
 nome Ihe pozeram, que ainda dura, 
 Dos amores de Ignez, que alii passaram. 
 
NOTES TO CANTO VIII. 257 
 
 Vede que fresca fonte rega as flores, 
 
 Que lagrimas sao a agua, e o nome -amores. 
 
 Camoens, Lus. iii. 135. 
 
 xxxvm. " But sad the victory gained where Moore heroic died." 
 
 See the clear and affecting account of Sir John Moore's last 
 moments, by the present Lord Hardinge, annexed to Mr. Moore's 
 Narrative. 
 
 XL. " The pillow tended by the loving wife," &c. 
 
 See the beautiful speech of Andromache over the body of 
 Hector : 
 
 Ou ydp fj.oi QvJ]ffK<av AexeW e/c xetpas #pe|as* 
 OuSe rt /to: eTTres irvKivkv eiros, Sure K^V aiel 
 Me^j/T^Mjv J/UKTOS T Kal ^uoTo 5o/cpux6ou<ra. 
 
 Horn. II. xxiv. 743. 
 
 xxin. " Thou wilt not go thou wilt not, Carlos, leave," &c. 
 
 Clyt. IIoO <r' uvQis o\l/6fj.da ; irov xP"h 
 
 'E\6ovffav evpstv aty xty, tiriicovpov 
 Achil. 'U/ji.eis ffe </>uAo/ces, ov XP^^f <pvXa.a-ffoiJ.ev. 
 
 Clyt. " Where shall we again behold thee ? Whither must I 
 wretched go to find thy protecting hand?" 
 
 Achil. " We will guard you, when it is needful." 
 
 Eurip. Iphiff. in Aul. 1026. 
 " No danger fear, mi alma, blushful rose ! " 
 Ne te, Altamoro, entro al pudico letto, 
 Potuto ha ritener la sposa amata. 
 Pianse, percosse il biondo crine e '1 petto, 
 Per distornar la tua fatale andata. 
 " Dunque (dicia) crudel, piu che'l mio aspetto 
 ' Del mar 1'orrida faccia a te fia grata ? 
 " Fian 1'arme al braccio tuo piii caro peso, 
 " Che'l picciol figlio ai dolci scherzi inteso ?" 
 
 Tasso, Gerus. Lib. xvii. 26. 
 
258 NOTES TO CANTO VIII. 
 
 XL vn. " She leaps Archangels weep at Virtue's sacrifice !" 
 
 V/J.POS, 
 
 "ty aleifypovpos * 
 Kdreifj.1, irpiv /xot poipav ^?/cew fiiov. 
 
 Soph. Antig. 891. 
 
 " Oh sepulchre, oh bridal bed, oh earth-dug everlasting dwell- 
 ing ! by the worst of deaths I perish before the allotted day." 
 
 I visited in September last the principal historical scenes recorded 
 in this Canto the Castle at Bayonne where Napoleon filched the 
 crown with such sinister dexterity from the old King, as well as 
 from Ferdinand VII.; the fine fortress at Badajoz where the miser- 
 able Godoy was born ; the museum of Armoin at Madrid, where, 
 alas, the sword of Francis the First surrendered at Pavia, is not ; 
 and the monument in the Prado, erected to the memory of the 
 victims who fell on the Dos de Maio. I had previously visited 
 the fields of Korica and Vimieiro, and made more than one pil- 
 grimage to Corunna. 
 
 The name of the Maid of Zaragoza (in contradiction to all 
 English writers) I have fixed, upon Spanish authority, as Manuela 
 Sanchez. 
 
IBERIA WON. 
 
 Canto m. 
 i. 
 
 A YOUTHFUL Chieftain's form as Phoebus fair 
 An instant filled the door then forward rushed : 
 " Back, villains, nor with deeds of carnage dare 
 To stain the arms that late the Gaul have crushed I 
 Not men, but demons where the life-blood gushed 
 Of all her tribe, this maiden would ye harm ?" 
 'Twas Nial ! 'Neath his glance was instant hushed 
 Each caitiff's heart. With ill-disguised alarm, 
 They skulk aloof hi awe. Such god-like Virtue's charm ! 
 
 ii. 
 
 He takes the trembling maiden by the hand, 
 Where huddled in a corner, nigh to swoon, 
 Shuddering and paralysed, she scarce doth stand, 
 And ill divineth what a priceless boon 
 Hath Nial brought her that he came so soon ! 
 For ruffian violence her charms had eyed, 
 And forward rushed to stain that peerless Moon, 
 As Nial entered. Better in her pride 
 A million-fold to have like Isidora died ! 
 
260 IBERIA WON. [CANTO ix. 
 
 in. 
 
 But Heaven, I ween, had sent the gallant youth 
 To rescue Innocence in that dread hour, 
 And show transcendent courage, manhood, truth 
 O'er hell-born passion's momentary power ! 
 He seized her hand at first from him, her tower 
 Of strength in peril, she withdrew in fear ; 
 But in his eyes she looked, and when the flower 
 Of generous youth and beauty stood so near, 
 Her awe dissolved her face was bright 'mid many a tear. 
 
 IV. 
 
 As vines their tendrils curl round sturdy elms, 
 As delicate flowers their heads bend to the sun, 
 As ivy twines round oak in forest realms, 
 As jasmine soft doth o'er the trellis run : 
 So Isabel her soul doth throw upon 
 Young Nial's arm, reposing fearless there. 
 His hero-heart her confidence hath won. 
 So brave, so kind he looks that even Despair 
 His presence flies, and blood less direful hues doth wear. 
 
 v. 
 
 He spoke brief words but deep, consoling, tender ; 
 Iberia's language War's quick ear had taught ; 
 His thrilling voice new confidence doth lend her, 
 But tow'rds the floor her eyes an instant brought 
 Sent back the flood of agonizing thought. 
 And wild she cried, and frantic was her wail ; 
 And shuddering she nigh fell, till Nial caught 
 The bruised lambkin in his arms, and pale 
 He bore her through the door, and fanned her in the gale. 
 
CANTO IX.] IBERIA WON. 261 
 
 VI. 
 
 Full slowly she revived, and Nial then- 
 Aa instant left her in the outer air, 
 While to the chamber he returned again, 
 And made her butchered kindred next his care. 
 Joy ! joy ! Salustian upright sits, and spare 
 Thy talons, Death, one victim : deep his wound, 
 But yet not perilous. Nial straight doth tear 
 His sash away, and swathe it firmly round 
 Salustian' s side, the blood he staunched, the gash he 
 bound. 
 
 VII, 
 
 Salustian deeply groaned : " Would I had died, 
 Would Heaven that I had died this fatal hour ! 
 Where are my girls my girls ? Oh God," he cried, 
 " One dashed to pieces in the villains' power 
 The other Slay me ! Hellhounds, all devour 
 That owns me. Slay me ! Oh, in mercy slay. 
 Yet I'll not leave my daughter sweet, my flower 
 Of Beauty in their claws. Kites, Kites, I say, 
 Where, hellkites, is my girl ? My sword your lust shall 
 stay ?" 
 
 VIII. 
 
 He scrambled to his feet, then to his knees 
 Fell weakly ; but with sword convulsive grasped, 
 And energy tremendous, Nial sees 
 Him drag his body o'er the floor, which rasped 
 His blade in dire excitement, while he gasped 
 With nostril panting. Nial's hand in vain 
 His movement bars, till Isabel is clasped 
 In her wild father's arms, who shrieks amain, 
 Frantic with joy to think her Honour without stain ! 
 
262 IBERIA WON. [CANTO ix. 
 
 IX. 
 
 And told young Isabel the debt she owed 
 To Nial's care, which soothed the old man much, 
 And tears for his relief abundant flowed, 
 Though thought of Isidora made him clutch 
 His sword again. Oh villains, it might touch 
 Your stony hearts, e'en your's that did this wrong, 
 To see its dire effect. Methinks, not such 
 Are England's men. I ween that ye belong 
 To some base mongrel breed, against the helpless strong. 
 
 x. 
 
 And Nial's gentle voice the old man's ear 
 Like music enters. Slowly he doth rise, 
 And 'neath the hero's guidance without fear 
 Father and daughter, yet with many sighs, 
 A step advance. In vain Salustian tries 
 The turret to descend his wound too deep. 
 A litter Nial's active zeal supplies ; 
 And careful borne adown the turret steep, 
 Salustian soon within young Nial's tent doth weep. 
 
 XI. 
 
 While Britain's columns fierce assault the town, 
 Rages terrific strife without the wall ; 
 The elements with fierce, o'ershadowing frown 
 Dashed through Pyrene's wind-compelling hall, 
 And storm within and storm without appal ! 
 The noble Soult of nobler Moore the foe, 
 Of San Sebastian strove to avert the fall ; 
 And now Behobia's broken arch below 
 By Biriatti he threats the Bidasoa's flow. 
 
CANTO IX.] IBERIA WON. 263 
 
 XII. 
 
 At Andarlasa craggy mount and moor. 
 Girding the rapid stream forbid its verge ; 
 But Oyarzun not yet may sleep secure. 
 'Twixt Jaizquibel and crested Haya urge 
 His fiery columns straining to emerge. 
 See on the crowned heights our forces rest. 
 Zugaramurdi, Echallar a dirge 
 May roar for him who dares the eagle's nest. 
 Great Arthur guards the pass with high, heroic breast. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Not his the blame for San Sebastian's deeds ; 
 Upon the mountain-peaks he guides the war. 
 No warning voice the ravening soldier heeds, 
 And battling rides the Chief revered afar. 
 To Fuentarabia'g walls our legions bar 
 The French approach, and Bidasoa runs 
 Round tall San Marcial's foot their path to mar ; 
 And Spain hath banded there her warrior sons, 
 While o'er the river's edge France points her thunderous 
 guns. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 By Biriatu now Reille the river fords, 
 And climbs San Marcial with his fierce brigades, 
 But tangled furze and copse impede their swords. 
 Confusion mixes skirmishers and aids ; 
 The mountain steep their forceful \igour jades ; 
 And dashing down its sides Spain's columns rush. 
 Before that charge the might of Jena fades. 
 As reeds are swept beneath the torrent's gush, 
 So headlong falls the Frank, and feels subjection's blush. 
 
264 IBERIA WON. [CANTO ix. 
 
 xv. 
 
 But rapid Soult who notes the unequal fight 
 O'er Bidasoa's stream two bridges throws 
 On harks securely moored and trestles light, 
 And, quick, Villatte's reserves their fronts disclose. 
 O'er bridge and mount they fly to face their foes. 
 San Marcial's sides they climb, his shrine they gain. 
 Thy line, Castile, an instant backward goes. 
 But up great Arthur rides the sons of Spain 
 Recall their strength, and hurl the foemen to the plain. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 For 'neath that mighty Chief's commanding eye 
 Impossible to sink or droop or quail. 
 And Aylmer's British-born brigade is nigh 
 To baffle France if, Spain, thy sons should fail. 
 A loud Castilian shout doth rend the gale, 
 Acknowledging the Hero's presence there. 
 Full swift the Gaul is dashed into the vale, 
 Urged to the brink of Bidasoa fair ; 
 And drowned or slaughtered sink the victims of despair. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Soult from the summit of the Grand Monarque 
 (For sight in mountain war is baffled oft, 
 And loftiest points befit the leader's mark) 
 Beheld the dreadful rout and mourned aloft ; 
 Then urged his columns onward, gliding soft 
 To Vera's fords, his loud artillery's roar 
 Covering the stream. Our men derisive scoft 
 To see his shells descend destructive o'er 
 His own astounded troops, their ranks molesting sore. 
 
CANTO IX.] IBERIA WON. 265 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Ill brooks the Frenchman withering laughter's scorn: 
 The Lusitan brigade they swift assail, 
 Whose head by rapid fire is backward borne. 
 With wondrous fleetness mounting from the vale, 
 Rough Haya's slopes the active foemen scale. 
 But Inglis' columns now the skirmish join, 
 And soon Clausel is on the English trail. 
 'Mid Haya's dells and lofty ridges shine 
 For many an hour their fires along each broken line. 
 
 XTX. 
 
 Joy ! joy ! the battle to the Frenchward side 
 Is proudly borne, and pass Kempt' s rifles keen 
 O'er Bidasoa's stream, where swift they glide, 
 In modest garments all of darkest green 
 A hue for special service chos'n, I ween, 
 For England loves the daring and the frank. 
 In brightest red her columns robed are seen, 
 A mark inviting like the target's blank ; 
 And fair her mind is spoke, and fair her battle's rank ! 
 
 xx. 
 
 Kempt holds Lesaca, and the chain's complete 
 From Santa Barbara now to Haya's crest. 
 Clausel beholds the movement of defeat, 
 And dreads to tempt the battle further west. 
 Hill threatens D'Erlon at his Chiefs behest. 
 Dalhousie, Colville gall the Gallic line ; 
 Giron's Castilians aim at Conroux' breast ; 
 The Lusitan battalion's bayonets shine ; 
 And swift the French are forced their stronghold to resign. 
 
 N 
 
266 IBERIA WON. [CANTO ix 
 
 XXI. 
 
 See blaze their camp in fires terrific whirled 
 By rising tempest-blasts along the sky ; 
 Tent, abatis, redoubt, and breastwork hurled 
 To ruin far and near below on high. 
 Red streams the fluttering canvass in the eye 
 Of that autumnal sun fierce embers flare, 
 And strew the gale fall blackening timbers nigh ; 
 Pyrene's sides reflect the lurid glare, 
 And myriad crackling sparks are borne upon the air. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 But now resounds the cannonade of Graham 
 That direful torrent o'er the stormers' heads 
 And bids Soult pause. A moment grief o'ercame 
 The hero's soul almost a tear he sheds, 
 For ominous boding and profound he dreads 
 The noble city's fall. Yet firm he stands, 
 And menacing the foe his phalanx treads 
 San Marcial's sides, where still their blazing brands 
 And glittering points of steel are swayed by sturdy hands. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 And now the direful storm that fell when San 
 Sebastian's scarp was won the battle palls. 
 The tempest louder shouts than warring man ; 
 San Marcial's voice on Haya echoing calls, 
 And rattles Jaizquibel his thunder-balls, 
 Mocking weak mortals, far along the sky. 
 Terrific lightnings o'er Pyrene's walls 
 Flash like the swords of mountain spirits on high ; 
 And halts the strife of Man his pellets cease to fly. 
 
CANTO IX.] IBERIA WON. 267 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Louder and louder grows the tempest's voice. 
 From secular oak and pine huge branches riven 
 Are whirled through air by winds that fierce rejoice ; 
 And trees for playthings to the blast are given, 
 As howls the whirlwind breath of angry Heaven ! 
 And pettiest streams to cataracts are swelled, 
 And torrents dash adown the mountain driven ; 
 While Druid stone and cairn are instant felled, 
 And boulders rolled along like pebbles are compelled. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Dismayed and scattered fly the rival hosts, 
 Full many a Gaul in Bidasoa drowned ; 
 But, ah, no respite San Sebastian boasts 
 No truce proclaimed upon that fatal ground. 
 Still havoc, plunder, stalk the streets around, 
 Still bloodhounds bathe their sides in streaming gore ! 
 No angel-voice to plead for mercy found, 
 No power to quell the fierce hyaena's roar 
 Even Hope doth seem to fly from that devoted shore ! 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Too dire the scenes that San Sebastian stain 
 To leave Salustian safe within its wall ; 
 Young Isabel doth by his side remain 
 In Nial's tent, and soothe his sorrows all, 
 But oft her face doth Isidor recall ! 
 Before the old man from the tower descended, 
 Had Nial, fearful lest the sight appal 
 Their eyelids, moved the shattered corse and tended 
 Its hurried funeral, where no tear with his was blended. 
 
 N2 
 
268 IBERIA WON. [CANTO ix. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 But Blanca's corse, her foster-sister fair, 
 Was borne with flowrets strewn to Isaro's isle, 
 While snow-white banner trembled in the air 
 Above the bark where cold she lay the while, 
 To show her virgin spirit without guile ! 
 And while her sisters of the oar with long 
 And pensive strokes, and thoughts that War revile, 
 In mournful pageant tame the waters strong, 
 The Island coast they round with low funereal song. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 And now with interest deep that hourly grew 
 To tenderest love doth Nial oft behold 
 Sweet Isabel, not formally to woo, 
 But drink unconsciously a bliss untold 
 From presence that his destiny doth mould ! 
 Her figure light and graceful as gazelle, 
 Her eyes' majestic orbs like starlight rolled, 
 Her nature gentle yet with witching spell 
 Of buoyant life, upon his kindred bosom fell. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 And felt the maiden boundless gratitude 
 To him the saviour of herself and sire. 
 Love when he comes doth little there intrude, 
 With such devoted zeal she doth admire ; 
 'Tis only kindling an intenser fire. 
 Neither had noted the delicious hour, 
 When mutual transport as in Heavenly choir 
 Their souls united ; but the common power 
 They owned with one accord of hearts the richest dower. 
 
CANTO IX.] IBERIA WON. 269 
 
 XXX. 
 
 She loved him with a deep idolatry, 
 So like a god he to her eyes doth seem, 
 Who came from demon-hate her soul to free, 
 Nor shorn at times of a Hyperion beam 
 The very image of her virgin dream ! 
 Like to those angel-visitants descending 
 To earthly loves in Time's primeval gleam. 
 And Nial joys her beauty in defending, 
 And deems celestial charms were ne'er so sweetly blending. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 And while the father 'neath the daughter's care 
 Doth gather strength and resignation's calm, 
 Young Nial to the grave doth pious bear 
 The corse of Carlos which their tears embalm. 
 And Morton low reposeth 'neath the palm 
 Of martyr-courage in the self-same grave. 
 Funereal rite was none nor dirge nor psalm ; 
 But warriors mourned for them, the true and brave 
 There sleep, young soldiers, well for gallant souls ye gave ! 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 And Nial wept his faithful comrade dead, 
 Like woman wept nor blame his hero-soul, 
 For many a fervid kindness done and said 
 Rushed o'er his mind, and swept to memory's goal, 
 Till tears in torrents gushed beyond controul. 
 Oh, tears are generous, noble ! Tears became 
 Achilles' cheek, when Death Patroclus stole ; 
 His frame sharp anguish shook who shook the frame 
 Of Troy nor, Nial, blush that thou didst weep the same! 
 
270 IBERIA WON. [CANTO ix, 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Three days, three nights, Sebastian's sack went on; 
 And as in fire the earth will sink at last, 
 And fire avenge the deeds that then were done, 
 Through fiery scourge so San Sebastian past. 
 Raged o'er the town, urged by the Atlantic blast, 
 The red relentless flame, and to and fro 
 Swept like a desert courser, lurid cast 
 Its glare o'er Ocean, flashed above below, 
 Till all was smouldering heaps of desolation, wo ! 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 Biscayan Nereids ! fill your urns with tears ; 
 With scent of gore the bloodhound's on the trail. 
 Mourn, Urumean Naiads, plunged in fears, 
 For shrieks portentous load the sighing gale 
 From virgins all dishevelled, lorn, and pale ; 
 And stab and death-shot end what leers begin, 
 And strong men fall o'erpowered, and seniors frail 
 Are slaughtered with the babes of all their kin, 
 And vilest passions loosed the Carnival of Sin ! 
 
 XXXV, 
 
 Oh, spectral portent of Calamity ! 
 Oh, ghost of violated Beauty smeared 
 With blood and fiery blackness. See it, see 
 Where War' s wild wave hath swept o' er homes endeared 
 All, all by Havoc's burning ploughshare seared! 
 An awful silence reigns, more horrid than 
 The late artillery's roar a trophy reared 
 To ruin in each street, that crimson ran. 
 A plague infects the air from piled, putrescent man ! 
 
CANTO IX.] IBERIA WON. 271 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 Ay, thousand corses, shroudless, graveless lie, 
 And flout Heaven's nostril with their carrion hue. 
 The iron hail is scattered far and nigh, 
 And earth unnumbered fragments sadly strew : 
 Wrecked lares torn apparel arms that slew 
 Till butchery broke them, headgear, shell, and shot, 
 But ah ! no living thing yes, one I view 
 A haggard maniac, crouched in loneliest spot. 
 The sole survivor he where slaughtered thousands rot ! 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 Nor war's dread engines yet have done their worst, 
 For Mont' Orgullo still by Key is held ; 
 And o'er that stronghold falls a doom accurst, 
 For ere he leave the Castle must be shelled. 
 Nine days of horror by our cannon knelled 
 Bring death to our own captives on the tenth 
 When Honour, grisly demon's voice is quelled 
 By glut of gore, he proudly yields at length, 
 Walksforth tobeat of drum, and owns Britannia's strength. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 What art thou, Man, that mak'st a pride of strife, 
 A glory of the sufferings of thy kind ? 
 That dar'st profanely sport with human life, 
 And ev'n in cruelty canst greatness find ? 
 Oh, steeped in folly, oh, intensely blind, 
 And worshipping false Honour more than God, 
 Of beasts derided is thy boasted mind ! 
 Fawn on thy gilded butchers, kiss the rod, 
 But deem not scenes like these have Heaven's approving 
 nod. 
 
272 IBERIA WON. [CANTO ix. 
 
 xxxix. 
 
 Not these thy triumphs, England ! Ne'er again 
 Thy soul shall covet save of Locrian power 
 And intellect the glory ! Beaconing men 
 To happiness he thine still Freedom's tower, 
 Still making every scowling despot cower 
 By labouring mind alone ! let Justice wrest 
 The axe from War, and give to man her dower. 
 Plant, plant the olive pure from East to West, 
 And bare not, save compelled, the sword 'gainst human 
 breast ! 
 
 XL. 
 
 Salustian quick regained his wonted strength, 
 Such strength as leaves the feebler tide of life, 
 And near Ernani moved of moderate length 
 The journey to a house with comforts rife, 
 His patrimony fair, where sound of strife 
 There comes not. Grassy slopes and orchards gay, 
 And sweetest daughter to replace a wife 
 Embalmed in deathless memory, fill the day 
 With gentlest exercise, and health resumes its sway. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 And Nial oft on fiery steed doth ride 
 O'er the brief space that sunders them, to mark 
 The old man's progress. Oft bright eyes replied 
 In mutual glances blithe as song of lark 
 At each returning. Soft, though lustrous dark, 
 Beamed Isabel on Nial's blue-eyed smile. 
 Salustian saw full clear the kindling spark, 
 Nor chid the flame that grew and spread the while, 
 Till Nial's plighted troth was echoed without guile. 
 
CANTO IX.] IBERIA WON 273 
 
 XLII. 
 
 Her soul was all absorbed in his her life 
 Was cast, since meeting/ in another mould. 
 The cloud or sunshine, calm repose or strife, 
 Must be together shared, the bliss untold 
 Or mortal grief must Fate for both unfold ! 
 No thought her bosom entered but was Nial's ; 
 Self-consecrate to him, her champion bold 
 His his though Destiny pour all its phials, 
 His his 'mid love's best joys or life's acutest trials ! 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 Now tranquilly beneath the autumnal sun, 
 Whose beams the mountain breezes tempered bland, 
 Salustian, Isabel from sorrow won 
 Full many an hour by wings angelic fanned ; 
 And oft within their lawn doth Nial stand, 
 And pluck the golden apple from the bough, 
 Or cull grapes purple-clustering for the hand 
 Of Isabel now plum or almond now 
 The green and luscious fig, the peach with blushing brow. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 And quiet smiled the old man, pleased to see 
 A pair so formed for mutual happiness, 
 So beautiful in different quality, 
 Whom destined wedlock's bonds ere long to bless ; 
 And as he feasted on their comeliness, 
 At thought of Carlos and of Isidor 
 A tear would gathering come yet not the less 
 He poured on these his deep affection's store.; 
 But rather, centred thus, his spirit entwined them more. 
 N 3 
 
274 IBERIA WON. [CANTO ix. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 Now all his momentary ire had ceased 
 'Gainst Britain's sons, whose high and generous hearts 
 Partook no stain of deeds which are the feast 
 Of felon-natures wielding Victory's darts. 
 And when for war again young Nial starts, 
 Salustian gives his blessing : Isabel 
 "With many a tear a treasured chain imparts 
 Of Isidora's hair and her's : " Twill dwell 
 Next tomyheart,"he said, as sobbed the maid 4 'Farewell!'* 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 But, ah, the town Isaiah's voice recals 
 When mourned the awful prophet Zion's doom, 
 With battering nations camped around her walls, 
 Till flames devouring chase the midnight gloom. 
 Wo to thee, Ariel, wo, gigantic tomb ! 
 The Lord of Hosts shall visit thee with storm 
 And thunder ; vengeful fires thy pride consume, 
 In gory dust is laid thy beauteous form, 
 And as a dream of night thy agonies shall swarm ! 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 In after days, when Isidora long 
 Had slept the icy slumber of the dead, 
 The memory of her Beauty and her wrong 
 O'er her still honoured name a lustre shed ; 
 And many a lover with her story fed 
 The tuneful echoes of Biscaya's plain, 
 Told how all crimson ran her stony bed, 
 How passed to bliss the maiden without stain, 
 And thus her early doom preserved in simple strain : 
 
CANTO IX.] IBERIA WON. 275 
 
 Mourn Cantabria's lily fair, 
 
 Blooming soft like young Aurora ; 
 Broken lies and bleeding there 
 
 Beauty's flowret, Isidora ! 
 Honour's martyr-crown she prized 
 
 Life before and living splendour. 
 Ah, how fearfully disguised 
 
 Is that blossom once so tender. 
 Vascongada, mourn ! 
 
 2 
 Ne'er was such unfading truth, 
 
 Love so pure beheld in maiden ; 
 Never was such radiant youth 
 
 With such boundless virtue laden. 
 Pity felt her heart for wo, 
 
 For Iberia deep devotion ; 
 While her damask cheek would show 
 
 Of her soul the least emotion. 
 Vascongada, mourn ! 
 
 3 
 
 San Sebastian's daughters, weep, 
 
 Yet a blessing call upon her ; 
 Even the dread Cathedral leap 
 
 Chose the maid before dishonour ! 
 Red the lily, torn its charms, 
 
 Fiery-tongued for pity pleading. 
 Carlos, ah, thy frozen arms 
 
 Cannot fold thy angel bleeding. 
 Vascongada, mourn. 
 
276 
 
 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 
 TO CANTO IX. 
 
 THE terrible scenes consequent upon the siege and storming of 
 San Sebastian, which occupy considerable portions of this and the 
 preceding Canto, and form in their bare recital an illustration 
 never surpassed of the horrors of War, are attested by so many 
 authorities, that to enter into minute corroborative details would 
 far exceed the limits which I have prescribed to myself. The follow- 
 ing brief but vigorous description is from Gleig's Subaltern:^^ 
 " The reader will easily believe that a man who has spent some 
 of the best years of his life amid scenes of violence and bloodshed, 
 must have witnessed many spectacles highly revolting to the purest 
 feelings of our nature ; but a more appalling picture of war passed 
 by of war in its darkest colours, those which distinguish it when 
 its din is over than was presented by St. Sebastian, and the 
 country in its immediate vicinity, I certainly never beheld. Whilst 
 an army is stationary in any district, you are wholly unconscious of 
 the work of devastation which is proceeding you see only the 
 hurry and pomp of hostile operations. But, when the tide has 
 rolled on, and you return by chance to the spot over which it has 
 last swept, the effect upon your mind is such, as cannot even be 
 imagined by him who has not experienced it. Little more than a 
 week had elapsed, since the division employed in the siege of St. 
 Sebastian had moved forward. Their trenches were not yet filled 
 up, nor their batteries demolished ; yet the former had, in some 
 places, fallen in of their own accord, and the latter were beginning 
 to crumble to pieces. We passed them by, however, without 
 much notice. It was, indeed, impossible not to acknowledge, that 
 the perfect silence which prevailed was far more awful than the 
 bustle and stir that lately pervaded them ; whilst the dilapidated 
 condition of the convent, and of the few cottages which stood 
 
NOTES TO CANTO IX. 277 
 
 near it, stripped, as they were, of roofs, doors, and windows, and 
 perforated with cannon shot, inspired us with gloomy sensations. 
 
 " As we pursued the main road, and approached St. Sebastian 
 by its ordinary entrance, we were at first surprised at the slight 
 degree of damage done to its fortifications by the fire of our bat- 
 teries. The walls and battlements beside the gateway appeared 
 wholly uninjured, the very embrasures being hardly defaced. But 
 the delusion grew gradually more faint as we drew nearer, and had 
 totally vanished before we reached the glacis. We found the 
 draw- bridge fallen down across the ditch, in such a fashion that 
 the endeavour to pass it was not without danger. The folding 
 gates were torn from their hinges, one lying flat upon the ground, 
 and the other leaning against the wall ; whilst our own steps, as 
 we moved along the arched passage, sounded loud and melancholy., 
 --" Having crossed this, we found ourselves at the commencement 
 of what had once been the principal street in the place. No 
 doubt it was, in its day, both neat and regular ; but of the houses 
 nothing now remained except the outward shells, which, however, 
 appeared to be of an uniform height and style of architecture. As 
 far as I could judge, they stood five stories from the ground, and 
 were faced with a sort of freestone, so thoroughly blackened and 
 defiled as to be hardly cognizable. The street itself was, more- 
 over, choked up with heaps of ruins, among which were strewed 
 about fragments of household furniture and clothing, mixed with 
 caps, military accoutrements, round shot, pieces of shells, and all 
 the other implements of strife. Neither were there wanting other 
 evidences of the drama which had been lately acted here, in the 
 shape of dead bodies, putrefying, and infecting the air with the 
 most horrible stench. Of living creatures, on the other hand, not 
 one was to be seen, not even a dog or a cat ; indeed, we traversed 
 the whole city without meeting more than six human beings. 
 These, from their dress and abject appearance, struck me as being 
 some of the inhabitants who had survived the assault. They looked 
 wild and haggard, and moved about here and there, poking among 
 the ruins, as if they were either in search of the bodies of their 
 
278 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 slaughtered relatives, or hoped to find some little remnant of their 
 property." For an account of the excesses committed by our 
 soldiery after the storming, " atrocities degrading to human 
 nature," see Napier's History, book xxii. chap. 2. Mr. Ford's 
 denial, in his otherwise valuable Hand-book, deserves much cen- 
 sure. I heard those horrors detailed on the spot. 
 
 The operations on the Pyrenees on the day of the storming of 
 San Sebastian, with the rival mano3uvrings of Soult and Wellington, 
 the combat of San Marcial, in which the Spaniards behaved so well, 
 and the several remarkable incidents of which I have sought to 
 avail myself, will be found fully recorded in Napier's History, 
 book xxii. chap. 3. The scene of these, and the subsequent ope* 
 rations, struck me at passing as grand and majestic in the highest 
 degree the lofty and broken Pyrenean range, more fitted, as I 
 have elsewhere remarked, for the combats of Titans than of men. 
 The very names have a majestic sound, and their associations are 
 often supernatural. I have warrant for the lines : 
 
 " Zugaramurdi, Echallar a dirge 
 May roar for him who dares the eagle's nest." 
 
 These terrific mountain-solitudes were celebrated as the scene of 
 witchcraft in ancient times: "Las trasformaciones y maleficios, 
 las zambras, bailes, y comilonas con que se solazaban otras en los 
 aquelarres 6 ayuntamientos nocturnes de Zugaramurdi, en el valle 
 de Baztan." (Navarrete, Vida de Cervantes.} A number of these 
 so-called witches were condemned to be whipped publicly in 1810 
 by the Inquisition of Logrono . 
 
 v. " Shuddering she nigh fell, till Nial caught 
 
 The bruised lambkin in his arms." 
 
 Ilia nihil : neque enim vocem viresque loquendi, 
 Aut aliquid toto pectore mentis habet ; 
 
 Sed tremit, ut quondam stabulis deprensa relictis, 
 Parva sub infesto cum jacet agna lupo. 
 
 Ovid. Fast. ii. 797. 
 
NOTES TO CANTO IX. 279 
 
 vii. - " Would I had died, 
 
 Would Heaven that I had died this fatal hour !" &c. 
 
 'lou, lob, 
 Me0era icapSias ffraXayfibv 
 X9ovia<p6poV e 8e row 
 &<pv\\os, 
 
 jEschyl. Eumen. 810. 
 
 " Wo, bitter wo is me ! I will shed a drop from my heart 
 which shall corrupt all earthly things ! And thence shall spring a 
 ring-worm sterile childless, and fling man-rotting spots through 
 earth around !" 
 
 xi. " The elements with fierce, o'ershadowing frown." 
 
 At pater omnipotens densa inter nubila telum 
 Contorsit (non ille faces, nee fumea taedis 
 Lumina) praecipitemque immani turbine adegit. 
 
 Virg. jEn. vi. 
 
 xxni. " And halts the strife of man his pellets cease to fly." 
 
 eirl 70 Treae Tai/ra\(a6els 
 Tlvp(j>6pos, t>s r6re fj.aivofj.eva 
 
 'Pnrais e 
 
 Soph. Antig. 134. 
 
 "But stricken with the thunder that fiery one fell to earth 
 who raging before with insane fury had excited the violent 
 winds." 
 
 xxv. " Dismayed and scattered fly the rival hosts." 
 
 Stolto, ch'al Ciel si agguaglia, e in oblio pone 
 Come di Dio la destra irata tuone ! 
 
 Tasso. Ger. Lib. iv. 2. 
 
280 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 xxix. - " The common power 
 
 They owned with one accord of hearts the richest dower." 
 
 Die heilige Liebe 
 
 Strebt zu der hochsten frucht gleicher gesinungen auf * * 
 Sich verbinde das paar, finde die hohere welt. 
 
 Goethe, " Metamorphose der Pflanzen." 
 
 " Holy Love strives after the loftiest fruit of equal dispositions 
 that those who love may be one, and find the Higher World !" 
 
 xxx. " So like a god he to her eyes doth seem, 
 
 Who came from demon hate her soul to free." 
 
 Clyt. OVK e%w &w/Jibj/ KaTaQvyw &\\ov, % rJl ff})V y6vv, 
 Ou8e <(>i\os ovSels ye\a pot. * * * 
 
 Eurip. Iphig. in Aul. 911. 
 
 Achil. 
 
 Meyurros, OVK &v. Ib. 973. 
 
 Clyt. " I have no other altar to fly to but thy knee ; nor have 
 I a friend!" 
 
 Achil. " I have appeared to thee a mighty God ; but am not 
 one." 
 
 xxxn. "His frame sharp anguish shook," &c. 
 
 - KXaiovTa Xiyecos. Horn. //. T. 
 
 " Crying sharply" such is the epithet which the poet applies to 
 the wailing of Achilles for Patroclus. 
 
 xxxin. " Through fiery scourge so San Sebastian past," &c. 
 
 S' 6/u.ov fjiev Ov/u.ia/j.d.T<av ye/j.fi, 
 ira.ia.vdiv re KCU <TTvay/j.dT(i)v. 
 
 Soph. (Edip. Tyr. 4. 
 
 Tl6\is yap, &ffirep Kavrbs elffopas, Hyav 
 v H87j (TaAetici, KavaKovtyitfai itdpa. 
 
 % oia. re <pou>iov aa\ov. Ib. 22. 
 
NOTES TO CANTO IX. 281 
 
 " The whole city smokes, and is full of mournful paeans and 
 lamentations. * * As thou thyself dost witness, the city is 
 shaken with a mighty grief, nor can raise its head from the depths 
 of the gory sea." 
 
 " Till all was smouldering heaps of desolation, wo." 
 Gern mocht' er in tempeln heten, 
 Nur triimmer findet er mehr ! 
 Altar' und Cotter liegen 
 Zerstiickelt am boden umher. 
 
 Anastasius Griin (Von Auersperg). 
 
 " Willingly would he pray in temples, but he finds only ruins. 
 Altars and Gods lie shattered upon the earth around ! " 
 
 | 
 
 xxxix. " Thy soul shall covet but of Locrian power 
 And intellect the glory ! Beaconing men 
 To happiness be thine still Freedom's tower, 
 Still making every scowling Despot cower !" 
 
 Ne/zet yhp 'ArpeKeia TT&\IV AoKpwv 
 
 Z,<pvpt(av : fieAei re ffQitri KaAAtcforo, 
 
 Kal x^ Keos *Ap?js. Find. Olymp. x. 
 
 " For Truth doth govern in the Zephyrian Locri's city, and 
 Calliope is their care, and likewise brazen Mars." A magnificent 
 eulogy is conveyed here in a few words. 'Arpe'/cefo in the ori- 
 ginal has the force both of Truth and Justice. No people of an- 
 tiquity were more renowned for the excellence of their institutions 
 than the Locri, who were the first to make use of written laws. 
 (Strabo, lib. 6.) Calliope is used by synecdoche for the Muses, to 
 whom the Locri were greatly devoted, having invented the Locric 
 harmony which was subsequently imitated by Sappho and Anacreon. 
 (Athena3us, lib. xiv. et xv.) Their warlike character upon fitting oc- 
 casions was also terribly displayed, 10,000 Locri having put to flight 
 130,000 invading Crotonians on the banks of the river Sagra a fact 
 which, at first doubted as impossible, was afterwards strictly 
 verified, and passed into a proverb. (Strabo, lib. 6.) The epithet 
 
282 NOTES TO CANTO IX. 
 
 "brazen" applied here to Mars arises from the singular fact that 
 iron did not enter into the composition of the Grecian arms, which 
 were all of brass. (Pausanias, in Laconicis, and Homer passim.} 
 The magnificent region of Locris was situated at the foot of Par- 
 nassus ; and the splendid pre-eminence of its inhabitants in arts 
 and arms, with their prodigious victory over the Crotonians, 
 appears to justify their comparison with England. 
 
 XLII. " Her soul was all absorbed in his her life 
 
 Was cast, since meeting, in another mould." 
 
 Und wenn du ganz in dem gefiihle selig bist, 
 
 Nenn'es dann wie du willst, 
 
 Nenn's gliick ! herz ! liebe ! Gott ! 
 
 Ich habe keinen namen 
 
 Dafiir! Gefuhl ist alles. Goethe, Faust. 
 
 " And when thou art perfectly blissful in that feeling, call it 
 what thou wilt call it joy heart love God ! I have no name 
 for it feeling is all !" 
 
 XLIII. " And pluck the golden apple from the bough." 
 
 Vel cum decorum mitibus pomis caput 
 
 Autumnus arvis extulit, 
 Ut gaudet . . . decerpens pyra, 
 
 Certantem et uvam purpurae. Hor. Epod. ii. 
 
 " Even the dread Cathedral leap 
 Chose the maid before dishonour." 
 
 UapBfvlov 6' a'/yuaros op- 
 
 /*/ e(j.is. ^Eschyl. Agamem. 216. 
 
 " Of the sacrifice of virgin blood Diana is vehemently desirous." 
 
IBERIA WON. 
 
 Canto X. 
 i. 
 
 HEAVY the Morn, and sullenly and fierce 
 A thunder-storm o'ergathers Haya's crest. 
 His rocky diadem red lightnings pierce, 
 Leap o'er each crag, and smite the eagle's nest ; 
 And volleying thunder rolls from East to West. 
 Now rain in gushing torrents drowns the sky ; 
 Anon a fiery bolt on Mandal's breast 
 Leaves its black scar ; anon the storm from high 
 O'er Bidasoa falls while winds like spirits cry ! 
 
 n. 
 
 Great Arthur seized the tempest as a boon, 
 His columns lit by glory to advance 
 Tow'rds Commissari, Bayonnette, and Rhune, 
 And entering tame the pride of haughty France. 
 Daring his mighty plan, whose toils enhance 
 The Fuentarabian waters poured between. 
 A stronger than Bernardo wields the lance, . 
 And Paladins again to quail are seen. 
 Our conquering footsteps Spain re-echoes proud, I ween. 
 
284 IBERTA WON. [CANTO X, 
 
 III. 
 
 For Roncesvalles is to Spain restored ; 
 Her Mina's legions fill its storied dell. 
 His Guerrilleros 'neath that Chief adored 
 'Gainst the marauding Gaul have battled well. 
 And at Baigorri hark where grandly swell 
 The war-notes of Castile, while rush the wild 
 Partidas ringing many a Norman's knell ; 
 And sweep from France the forage she hath piled 
 On Spanish soil profaned, from stall andsheepfold mild. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Unconsciously the lowing herds resent 
 Their change of masters, rudely by the horn 
 Seized in the foray while trabucos bent 
 'Gainst Gaulish bosoms vomit deathful scorn, 
 With loud explosive sound on Echo borne. 
 And innocent sheep in thousands piteous bleat 
 'Gainst hands that will restore them ere the Morn 
 To the sweet fold, and oxen loud repeat 
 
 Moan upon moan, by bayonet pricked or firelock beat. 
 
 v. 
 
 And on Ayrola's rock is swift surprised 
 By Campbell's highlanders a post of Gaul ; 
 For not more firm the red-deer's limb is poised 
 For strength and fleetness mixed than doth befal 
 Those hardy mountaineers whose shouts appal 
 The braves of France as e'en surprised them more, 
 When first beheld by Vimieiro's wall, 
 Their antique garb, such as in days of yore 
 
 (In them revived to-day) the Roman legions wore. 
 
CANTO X.] IBERIA WON. 285 
 
 VI. 
 
 Thus breaking fast the spirit of Gallia's sons, 
 Great Arthur now begins his great emprize ; 
 Where Bidasoa's stream impetuous runs, 
 Resolved to pass though strenuous Soult defies. 
 And while the thunder-storm doth lash the skies, 
 His dread artillery's ranged on Marcial's flanks. 
 O'er the tall crest doth many a cannon rise ; 
 His columns line the Bidasoa's banks, 
 In silence poured along, and form their warlike ranks. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Full many a howitzer by fair Irun, 
 While rages still the blast, its thunder hoards ; 
 And there lies closely moored each strong pontoon, 
 Beneath the town. Where Bidasoa's fords, 
 Through fishermen unawed by Gallic swords, 
 To lynx-eyed vigilance their soundings yield, 
 Castile shall pass and flout her tyrant lords. 
 With deftest skill the troops are all concealed 
 By Jonco, Biriatu, and Fuentarabia's field. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 And near to fair Behobia's broken arch 
 The Lusitan battalion secret placed 
 Is with the British guards prepared to march 
 Beyond the Adour, till Gaul herself shall taste 
 Invasion's sweets, her dreams of glory chased! 
 Still stand i' the camp the tent-sheets as before, 
 Nor change appears nor new design embraced, 
 When breaks that clouded morn from mist-drops o'er 
 Pyrene's towering hills, and gloom o'erspreads the shore. 
 
286 IBERIA WON. [CANTO x, 
 
 IX. 
 
 Beneath Andaye our bold brigades emerge, 
 And in two columns rapid cross the sand. 
 Silent as Death they gain the river's verge, 
 They pass the fords, they reach the further land. 
 Then rose on high a rocket streaming grand, 
 The signal true from Fuentarabia's tower; 
 And howitzer and cannon briskly manned 
 From tall San Marcial raised their voice of power, 
 And covered with their fire the fords in peril's hour. 
 
 x. 
 
 Seven columns o'er the sand like serpents wind, 
 With crimson bright and azure scales bespread 
 The various garbs of Spain and England joined 
 And glancing bayonets bristle o'er each head ; 
 No Hydra in Lernaean marsh so dread ! 
 The Gaul o'ermatched can scarcely trust his eyes. 
 Confusedly gathering each with shame is red ; 
 And form our lines beyond the stream ere flies 
 A hostile shot, so great that terrible surprise ! 
 
 XI. 
 
 Now mustering yet disordered forth they come, 
 For spreads the alarm : Alerte ! alerte /'s the cry. 
 The hurrying leaders urge them rolls the drum, 
 And to San Marcial' s thunderous guns reply 
 Their cannon from the Grand Monarque on high. 
 But all too late the movement see, their camp 
 Beneath Andaye is carried manfully 
 At glittering point of bayonet. Nought can damp 
 The ardour of our men, or check their onward tramp. 
 
CANTO X.] IBERIA WON. 287 
 
 XII. 
 
 Vain, Boyer, thy decision vain, Maucune, 
 Thy energy. Soult hears the cannonade 
 At Espelette, and rushes forth full soon ; 
 But ere he comes his camps a prey are made 
 By Britain's sons beneath Andaya's shade. 
 Zugaramurdi feels the advancing power, 
 And D'Erlon sees his post by Fate betrayed 
 The Lusitan battalion's fairest flower 
 Alone by France cut down in that eventful hour. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Our German Chasseurs now by Halket led 
 The Grand Monarque with vigorous footsteps climb. 
 Before their onset fierce the Gaul hath fled ; 
 But, guardian of the pass, that peak sublime 
 Must not be yielded in an instant's time. 
 Reille pours his masses on the mountain's brow, 
 With field artillery, to efface the crime 
 Of light concession. Halt the Germans now, 
 For tired and wounded sore their spirits an instant bow. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 But Cameron with his gallant warriors rushed 
 Straight through their broken ranks, andgainedthepeak, 
 Where stands the Wreathe d Cross . Ne' er torrent gushed 
 From Mandal more impetuous fierce to seek 
 The plain. Beneath the shock Gaul's columns break. 
 First fly their cannon down the mountain-side, 
 And next the mouths secured that dare not speak 
 To a lower ridge the infantry doth glide 
 Where forms their line, not yet abated all their pride. 
 
288 IBERIA WON. [CANTO x. 
 
 xv. 
 
 Narrow the pathway leading to the ridge, 
 Which now the Frenchmen clustering strongly hold ; 
 But o'er it urge, like passing tiniest bridge, 
 In single column led by Cameron bold, 
 Our heroes as at Azincour of old. 
 The hill doth inward curve concentrate fire 
 The foemen pour ; but by the shout appalled 
 Of sturdiest freemen, swift the French retire, 
 The British bayonet ne'er withstanding in its ire. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 And Freyre's Spaniards now the peak have won 
 Of Mandal lording o'er his craggy slopes, 
 Where the Green Mountain glistens in the sun, 
 And tow'rds Urogne an easy pathway opes. 
 Thus turned his flanks, and foiled in front his hopes, 
 Reille by the causeway of Bayonne recedes, 
 Till Soult's great voice the flight majestic stops. 
 In vain the foeman's breast contending bleeds ; 
 The Bidasoa's won not least of England's deeds ! 
 
 XVII. 
 
 But yet the pass of Vera we must gain, 
 Where now Giron from Ivantelly's come 
 And Longa with the skirmishers of Spain, 
 And Alten too with men Old England from 
 Not these the least, I ween, in Victory's sum ! 
 Dire were the works upon the heights above 
 Which Gaul could raise, but not the brave benumb. 
 And here was Nial, oft with tenderest love 
 Musing on Isabel, poor lorn and fluttering dove ! 
 
CANTO X.] IBERIA WON. 289 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 The youth looked up : by outward posts defended 
 And star-redoubts he saw the Bayonnette ; 
 The Commissar! with that mountain blended 
 Was girt with abatis incessant met. 
 He thought those bulwarks would be England's yet ! 
 A gulf profound with skirmishers was filled, 
 And thickest woods where marksmen keen were set. 
 Rugged the path where Spain her hope must build, 
 With turns abrupt where men by striplings might be killed. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 An isolated mountain midway rose 
 'Tis called "The Boar" by France's warriors crowned ; 
 And Longa's guns and Colborne's rifles chose 
 The toilsome task to gain this lofty ground 
 So high, though dwarfed amongst the peaks around, 
 That the spent musket-bullets singing fell 
 All harmless at its foot with feeble sound, 
 Which marksmen from the crest directed well 
 'Gainst our advancing men, but none its tale could tell. 
 
 xx. 
 
 The word is given, and swift our heroes climb 
 The mountain, Nial first their steps to guide. 
 A pine-wood 's gained far up in quickest time 
 They breathe a moment with disdainful pride 
 Doth Nial dash each shadowing branch aside, 
 And forward rush, exclaiming, " On men, on !" 
 His gallant followers scorn secure to bide 
 Behind the summit's gained the foemen wan 
 Scarce meet their dashing charge ; an instant they are 
 gone ! 
 
290 IBERIA WON. [CANTO x. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Emboldened by this triumph rush the Allies ; 
 Our columns plunge into the rough defile. 
 The dark ravine to the left with lusty cries 
 Is ta'en by Longa's Leonese, the while 
 Colborne's brigade o'er narrow pathways toil 
 To the Bayonnette with skirmishers before, 
 Breastwork, redoubt, and abatis to spoil. 
 With men and fire the slopes are covered o'er, 
 And curls white smoke above the forest-battle's roar. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Through each intrenchment in the greater pass 
 Soon Kempt' s brigade doth force resistless sway, 
 His skirmishers wide scattered o'er the grass 
 To small detachments broke, as melt away 
 The lessening slopes into the ridges gray. 
 The platform 's won, and Colborne's bold brigade 
 Of rifles far above, like huntsmen gay, 
 Is seen to emerge from forth the forest shade 
 To the broad space before the star-redoubt displayed. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Nial was there, and swift he led his men 
 With rapid fire the strong redoubt to storm. 
 Their dark attire the French mistaking then 
 For garb of Southron soldiers, forth they swarm, 
 And face our ca^adores in conflict warm. 
 Sudden their charge, and struggling hand to hand, 
 The firelock and its fixed bayonet form 
 Against the unarmed rifle surer brand, 
 And shrill the Frenchmen cried as backward drew the band. 
 
CANTO X.] IBERIA WON. 291 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 But Nial with his sword the bayonet matched, 
 And as he fought upon the rocky verge 
 That bounds the platform, he a firelock snatched 
 From forth a Frenchman's hands whom he did urge 
 At swordpoint till he slew him. While the surge 
 Of foemen rushed, he kept them all at bay, 
 Till from the forest swift our troops emerge. 
 Their crimson garb with panic struck the fray, 
 And Nial cheered his men to give their rifles play. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Then loud arose the sturdy British shout. 
 Rifles and foot in full career advance. 
 The foe to their intrenchment wheel about ; 
 And England's sons, improving well the chance, 
 The fort have entered with the sons of France. 
 Dense clouds of smoke o'er all the works ascended. 
 Sharp rang the musket, active played its lance. 
 But soon the mass of French and English blended 
 Emerged, while British cheers proclaimed the conflict 
 ended. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Up, up the crags the rapid Frenchman flies, 
 The powerful Briton following in his trail, 
 Till new intrenchment, new redoubts, arise. 
 Once more they stand once more our troops assail 
 Their abatis, till France again doth quail. 
 And ever Nial flourished in the van 
 His faithful sword that turned the foeman pale, 
 And cheered his rifles on, and foremost ran, 
 Like gallant chief whose port gives courage to each man, 
 o2 
 
292 IBERIA WON. [CANTO x. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 And Colborne nobly guided the brigade, 
 Which now the mount hath carried to its crest ; 
 But there a terrible redoubt's displayed, 
 Where loop-holed works with musketry arrest 
 The brave who fall with many a pierced breast. 
 No howitzer is there no mountain-gun, 
 But missiles scarce less dire our troops molest ; 
 For thundering down the steep comes many a stone, 
 Huge, rugged, dealing death, or shattering flesh and bone. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 But Kempt's brigade its toilsome way hath gained 
 With Andaluzan comrades up the steep, 
 And turned the fort's left flank 'tis scarce attained, 
 When rush the foemen in disordered heap 
 Down the far hill-side to the valley deep. 
 The fort is our's ! The tricolor is torn 
 By Nial from the flag- staff at a leap ; 
 And, Spain, thy lions and thy towers upborne 
 In many a victor field its summit proud adorn. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 The Bayonnette is won ! The mountain's brow 
 Doth bear a signal-tower whose beechen arms 
 Soult's mandates wonted to transmit till now, 
 And o'er his lines convey with magic charms 
 Of fleetness War's instructions and alarms. 
 " Now down," quoth Nial, "with the wooden head, 
 Whose baleful movement oft the Spaniard harms. 
 His clumsy flourishes through aether sped 
 No more shall wound the Allies, no more by Soult be read." 
 
CANTO X.] IBERIA WON. 293 
 
 XXX. 
 
 From Leon's corps two sturdy pioneers 
 With gleaming axes clove the column's foot. 
 The laughing Andaluz the tell-tale jeers : 
 "Tis thus we lay the hatchet to the root." 
 " That tree," said Nial, " shall no more give fruit !" 
 The Andaluzes yet more fiercely mock, 
 Keen as the shafts their bullring Majos shoot : : 
 " Now did king Joseph's self receive the shock, 
 Right lustily the axe should cleave the senseless block !" 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Soon pierced the column round, till scarce a thread 
 Supports its weight : " Look out look out below !" 
 Another stroke and stoops its monstrous head. 
 It sways it topples o'er first bending slow, 
 Then falls with mighty crash beneath the blow. 
 As when 'mid storms, some labouring ship to ease, 
 The mast is hewn away, and falls where flow 
 The seething billows tackles, shrouds, and trees, 
 Canvass and cordage sink, a victim to the seas. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 Meanwhile great Arthur hath so well combined 
 His several forces tow'rds the frontier nigh, 
 That Commissari and Puerto, as designed, 
 Our flag now wear upon their summits high. 
 Five perilous hours our heroes by the cry 
 Of Freedom spurred, o'er crags stupendous toiling, 
 Have ceaseless fought where dead and wounded lie, 
 At every guarded post the Frenchman foiling, 
 And round Pyrene's girth like powerful serpent coiling. 
 
294 IBERIA WON. [CANTO x. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 But now the greater Rhune must too be won, 
 And Colborne's corps and Longa's force the hill. 
 Through wooded gorge, up craggy slopes they run, 
 Then breathless pause again with lusty will 
 Burst fresh and sparkling like a mountain rill. 
 And many and fleet the skirmishers of France, 
 With fusillade severe but conquering still, 
 They backward drive along the broad expanse, 
 And Nial's gleaming sword was ever in advance. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 Strong was the line of abatis that rose 
 Full in the path of Longa's wearied men. 
 They halt irresolute before their foes, 
 Nor list to Longa's voice nor mark his ken. 
 But Nial whom all loved was 'mongst them then, 
 And " adelante" crying waved his sword 
 Leapt o'er the abatis i' the lion's den. 
 The generous Spaniards bounded at the word, 
 Saved " the fair boy " and smote the French with one 
 accord. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 To Rhune' s enormous sides the foemen fled, 
 Where 'neath Clausel the Gaul doth muster strong. 
 The Hermitage upon the mountain's head 
 Is thick with armed men, though Fate should wrong, 
 Full stern resolved the contest to prolong. 
 By others not less fierce are held his flanks ; 
 To Sarre and to Ascaiii extends the throng. 
 A lower ridge the greater Rhune embanks, 
 And this too bristles o'er with Gallia's hostile ranks. 
 
CANTO X.] IBERIA WON. 295 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 Now now the Andaluzes scale the Rhune, 
 By Colborne's ca9adores supported still. 
 A musket-shot below the crest full soon 
 Their charge doth reach, to where a craggy hill 
 Detached doth rise. This natural bulwark fill 
 The skirmishers of France, whose fusillade 
 Not long withstands the assailants' vengeful will. 
 The bulwark's cleared, the pathway free is made, 
 And up the Spaniards climb nor ask for British aid. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 But from the Hermitage terrific rocks 
 Come bounding fierce, of such enormous size, 
 That seemeth each of those succeeding shocks 
 Enough to sink a column ne'er to rise ! 
 Not Valour's self can with unmoved eyes 
 That horrid task of Sisyphus survey. 
 Appalled and unadvancing the allies 
 With distant fire along the mountain way 
 The foe in vain assail, withheld by dire dismay. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 But saw great Arthur now with Lyncean ken, 
 Though Rhune was there impregnable, a side 
 Which might a pathway open to his men, 
 And give their arms of Gaul to tame the pride. 
 O'er Sarre the ascent arose more fair and wide, 
 And strongly there concentred the brigades 
 Assail the rocks that long approach defied. 
 The rocks are won the Gaulish valour fades, 
 And won a height intrenched their camp at Sarre which 
 shades. 
 
296 IBERIA WON. [CANTO x. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 From Echallar on Barbe our men descend, 
 And win the fort with British shouts of power. 
 The camp of Sarre's outflanked, Clausel doth end 
 Resistance there, retiring in that hour. 
 He dreads his rear cut off, resigns his tower 
 Of strength the greater Rhune, and takes his stand 
 Upon the lesser height. But soon the flower 
 Of Britain's rifles crown the mountain grand, 
 And from the Hermitage the lower heights command. 
 
 XL. 
 
 And while the garrison was swift retiring 
 From that strong ground, their path young Nial crost 
 With six poor rifles not a shot e'en firing, 
 When forth the gallant stept, and from his post, 
 " Lay down your arms 1" he shouted to the host 
 Three hundred men ! His mandate they obeyed, 
 Scared by that voice of power, and deeming lost 
 All means of 'scape. Resistance none they made, 
 And Nial at their head regained his bold brigade. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 And when the eye of England's glorious Chief, 
 Great Arthur, fell with favour on the youth, 
 And praise he spoke in stirring words though brief, 
 Such as with thought impregnate all and truth 
 It was his wont to utter, Envy's tooth 
 Of calumny to silence proudly shaming, 
 Beat Nial's heart, and soldiers all uncouth 
 Felt tears well nigh to flow, the stripling naming 
 So loved by all, their hearts with gentlest Valour taming. 
 
CANTO X.] IBERIA WON. 297 
 
 XLII. 
 
 And Nial thought upon his Isabel, 
 For all his proudest feelings centred there, 
 Prophetic that the maid he loved so well 
 The praise would echo sweetly, smiling fair ; 
 And while his brow a loftier plume doth wear 
 Through glory for that day's achievements done, 
 With her he thought the joyous fruits to share, 
 With her to feel the glow of Victory's sun, 
 For still for her and Spain was Freedom's battle won. 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 Now our's the Bidasoa, our's the Rhune, 
 And Bayonnette, and Commissari too. 
 Oh France ! thy fields shall now be entered soon, 
 For at our feet the fair Nivelle doth flow. 
 Saint Jean de Luz, thy vesper-lights below 
 O'erhang the Gascon gulf. Invasion's tread 
 Hath passed thy border, yet no sound of wo 
 Shall rend thy sky, thy homes shall mourn no dead, 
 For Justice now humane with Britain's arms is wed. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 The wail of San Sebastian reached thy heart, 
 Great Arthur, and provoked the stern command, 
 Which none may dare dispute. The conqueror's part 
 Shall Mercy temper in the Gaulish land. 
 Now on Pyrene's farthest summit stand 
 Thy legions bolder than e'er Caesar's arm 
 To victory marshalled. Every crag was manned 
 By armed foes, yet quelled is War's alarm 
 Through Spain, such Valour's power, such godlike Free- 
 dom's charm ! 
 
 o3 
 
298 IBERIA WON. [CANTO x. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 But mourn the brave who nobly fighting fell 
 Upon Pyrene's mountains, mourn the brave 
 Whose breasts were pierced, where strove those bosoms 
 
 well, 
 
 And, ah, too oft have found not e'en a grave ! 
 For o'er those pathless solitudes the wave 
 Of War hath rolled, and 'mid those regions vast 
 Full many a wounded man, with none to save, 
 Hath sighed his aidless death-groan to the blast, 
 And vultures strip the bones which Heaven will clothe 
 at last ! 
 
299 
 
 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 
 TO CANTO X. 
 
 THE Passage of the Bidasoa, with the military movements which 
 immediately ensued, completing that operation and establishing the 
 left wing of our army on the soil of France, occupies the entire of 
 this Canto. The events with which it deals will be found very 
 fully and satisfactorily recorded in Napier's History, book xxii. 
 chap. 4. The thunder-storm which rolled over the district on 
 the eventful morning chosen by Wellington for this remarkable 
 strategical evolution is by no means exaggerated in the text. It 
 is in the Pyrenees that thunder is witnessed to perfection. The 
 exploits which in this Canto I attribute to Nial have all their 
 foundation in the genuine history of the campaign. 
 
 General Alten had the command of the Light Division, and the 
 Rifle corps, to which I suppose Nial to have belonged, was under 
 the immediate guidance of the gallant Colborne. 
 
 Captain Batty's description of the Passage of the Bidasoa, with 
 which operation, the first in which he shared, he commences his 
 Campaign of the Western Pyrenees, is very animated, and illus- 
 trated by spirited etchings of the event of the Passage and of 
 Pyrenean scenery. His view of Fuenterrabia and of the mountain 
 of Jaizquibel is particularly deserving of praise. It is impossible 
 to describe the effect upon my feelings of going over this heroic 
 mountain ground from Andaye to the Louis Quatorze, from Bildox 
 and Mandale to the Bayonnette and Commissari, and from thence 
 to the greater Rhune. 
 
 The allusion in the commencement of this Canto to the Vale of 
 Baigorri refers to the rescue of an enormous amount of forage by 
 Mina's Guerrilla from the French, including 2,000 sheep. 
 
300 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 The pastoral habits, to which large districts in Spain are still 
 addicted, cause the people to occupy five times the extent of land, 
 which with agricultural pursuits would be sufficient for their 
 maintenance. The pastoral institution of the mesta encourages 
 the feeding of sheep, and the enormous migratory flocks of Estre- 
 madura and elsewhere move every year some hundreds of miles, 
 devastating the tracts over which they pass. " By the increase of 
 pasture," says Sir Thomas More, " your sheep, that are naturally 
 mild, may be said now to devour men, and unpeople, not only 
 villages, but towns." Utopia, book i. The invaders found their 
 account in this primitive system, and their entire subsistence was 
 derived from ready plunder. The French in their Peninsular 
 prowlings resembled in one other respect, as well as in their Re- 
 publican and Heathen names, the Lacedaemonians, who held a 
 grand hunt annually, in which the agricultural peasantry were 
 pursued and destroyed like wild beasts a fact which, though 
 Miiller questions the testimony that supports it, is as well au- 
 thenticated as any other incident in the Dorian history. The 
 argument, taken from the improbable inhumanity of the fact, is 
 refuted by the modern practices of the French in Spain and 
 Portugal, and in their Algerian Razzias to this hour. They 
 differ from the Lacedaemonians, it would seem, in this, that the 
 Spartans perpetrated the enormity only once a year, while the 
 French perform it weekly. I have seen with my own eyes the 
 ravages which they have left in the Peninsula, the glorious monu- 
 ments of antiquity which they have disfigured and defaced, the 
 desecration which they have brought upon shrine and tomb. 
 And, much as I may be disposed to forget and forgive, it is 
 not easy to suppress one's choler amidst the mutilated glories of 
 Burgos, Alcoba9a, and Batalha. 
 
 ii. " The Fuentarabian waters poured between/' 
 
 When Charlemagne with all his peerage fell 
 
 By Fontarabia. Milt. Par. Lost, i. 586. 
 
NOTES TO CANTO X. 301 
 
 In this name, I have departed slightly from the Spanish ortho- 
 graphy, a corruption of the Latin Fons rapidus, and made 
 " errabia " " arabia,-" in deference to the example of Milton, and 
 for the sake of the excellent musical effect in connection with one 
 of the finest names in romance. 
 
 v. " When first heheld by Vimieiro's wall." 
 
 Vimieiro is merely a village about 35 miles N.N.W. of Lisbon, 
 where the accommodations are so miserable that it was with diffi- 
 culty I could procure a calda de gallinha (boiled fowl served up 
 with its broth) the only thing in the shape of comfortable nourish- 
 ment which is 'to be had in the country parts of Portugal. The 
 walls referred to are therefore, as may be supposed, not turret- 
 crowned like Berecyuthian Cybele. For the allusion to the effect 
 produced on the French by the sight of our Highlanders first mej 
 by them in this battle, see Southey, Hist. Penins. War, and 
 Campbell, Ode for the Highland Society. 
 
 vi. "Where Bidasoa' s stream impetuous runs." 
 
 The Passage of the Bidasoa took place on the 7th October, a 
 month after the fall of San Sebastian. The morning was heavy 
 and louring, and the day's work was ushered in by a thunder- 
 storm (already referred to) which caused the early British opera- 
 tions to be happily unperceived. 
 
 vii, " To lynx-eyed vigilance their soundings yield." 
 
 " By the help of Spanish fishermen he had secretly discovered 
 three fords, practicable at low water, between the bridge of 
 Behobia and the sea." Napier, Hist. War in the Penins. book 
 xxii. chap. 4. 
 
 xi. " Their cannon from the Grand Monarque on high." 
 
 The mountain of Louis XIV., overhanging the Bidasoa at 
 Biriatu, where the French had their principal battery. 
 
302 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 xii. The Lusitan battalion's fairest flower," 
 
 The Portuguese brigade lost one hundred and fifty men. 
 xiv. " The peak where stands the wreathed cross." 
 
 The Croix des Bouquets a height adjoining the mountain of 
 Louis XIV. 
 
 xv. " The British bayonet ne'er withstanding in its ire." 
 
 This is no boast. It is a fact attested by the whole of our 
 Peninsular and Belgian campaigns that the French never withstood 
 one bayonet charge, and scarcely ever, indeed, would cross that 
 weapon with us. 
 
 xvi. " Where the green mountain glistens in the sun." 
 
 Bildox, called the Sierra Verde, a little northward of the Mandale 
 mountain. 
 
 " The Bidasoa 's won not least of England's deeds." 
 
 " This stupendous operation." 
 Napier, Hist. War in the Penins., book xxii. chap. 4. 
 
 xxii. " Colborne's bold brigade 
 
 Of Rifles far above, like huntsmen gay." 
 
 Des jagers muth ist immer grim, 
 Und aus dem griinen muth soil bliihn 
 
 Ein bliimlein blutig roth, 
 
 Soil heissen feindes tod. * * 
 Mein schalz gab mir 'nen silbern ring, 
 Dass ich ihr einen gold'nen bring' ; 
 
 Der ring soil sein entwandt 
 
 Von eines Franzmanns hand ! Riickert. 
 
 " The jager's courage (like his raiment) is evergreen, and out 
 of the green courage shall spring a blood-red flowret, and be called 
 Death to the Foe ! * * My beloved gave to me a silver ring, 
 
NOTES TO CANTO X. 303 
 
 that I may bring her a ring of gold. The ring shall be taken 
 from a Frenchman's hand !" 
 
 xxiv. " A firelock snatched 
 
 From forth a Frenchman's hand whom he did urge 
 At sword point till he slew him," &c. 
 
 Tancredi con un colpo il ferro crudo 
 Del nemico ribatte, e lui fere anco : 
 Ne poi, cib fatto, in ritirarsi tarda, 
 Ma si raccoglie, e si ristringe in guarda. 
 
 Tasso, Gerus. Lib. vi. 43. 
 
 xxvi. " Like gallant chief whose port gives courage to each man." 
 
 como sabio capitao, 
 
 Tudo corria, e via, e a todos dava 
 Com presen9a e palavras corafao. 
 
 Camoens, Lus. iv. 36. 
 
 xxix. " The mountain's brow 
 
 " Doth bear a signal tower whose beechen arms." 
 
 " Longa was also to send some men over the river to Andarlasa, 
 to seize a telegraph which the French used to communicate 
 between the left and centre of their line." Napier, xxii. 4. 
 
 xxxiv. " And ' adelante !' crying, waved his sword." 
 
 " Adelante /" which signifies " forward," is the word of encou- 
 ragement used at charging in the Spanish service. 
 
 " Saved < the fair boy,' and smote the French with one accord." 
 
 This act of bravery was performed almost literally as described, 
 by an officer of the 43rd regiment named Havelock. The 
 Spaniards shouted for el chico bianco, " the fair boy," and 
 followed him into the abatis. 
 
 xxxvin. " But saw great Arthur now with Lyncean ken." 
 
 ffiev AvyKfvs. /cetj/ou yap eirixOoviuv 
 j o^vrarov 
 
 Find. Nem. x. 
 
304 NOTES TO CANTO X. 
 
 " Lynceus saw. For his sight was of all men's the sharpest." 
 See also Theocritus. (Idyl. 27.) " Lynceo perspicacior " became 
 an adage. 
 
 Prolesque Apharei'a Lynceus 
 
 Et velox Idas. Ovid. Met. viii. 304. 
 
 XL. " ' Lay down your arms !' he shouted to the host." 
 
 This adventure actually occurred to the gallant Colborne. "Ac- 
 companied by only one of his staff and half-a-dozen riflemen, he 
 crossed their march unexpectedly, and with great presence of 
 mind and intrepidity ordered them (three hundred men) to lay 
 down their arms, an order which they thinking themselves en- 
 tirely cut off obeyed." (Napier, Hist, book xxii. chap. 4.) 
 
 XLV. " And vultures strip the bones which Heaven will clothe at 
 last!" 
 
 oi 8' firl yaiy 
 Keioro, yvirecrcnv iro\b <f>i\Tepoi $ a.\6xoi<nv. 
 
 Horn. //. xi. 161. 
 
 " Upon the ground they lay, far dearer to the vultures than to 
 their wives !" one of the most terrible lines that ever was written. 
 
IBERIA WON. 
 
 THERE are two Fountains in the Vale of Life, 
 That flow for lovers one with nectar runs, 
 The other poison ! One with joy is rife, 
 The other with a deadly gurgle stuns. 
 Their stream commingles for all Eva's sons 
 And daughters who with mutual passion thrill. 
 None, none may drink the nectar pure, which shuns 
 All human lips till with the poison-rill 
 'Tis mixed, and happiest they whose cups the least may fill! 
 
 ii. 
 
 And Young Love sits upon a flowery knoll 
 Where those two streamlets mix, his shafts he dips 
 In their joint flow, and ceaseless twangs at all 
 Who pass his ivory bow with wanton quips. 
 But in the honeyest kiss of human lips 
 There lurks a poison ay, when hearts most mingle, 
 Doth Fate perchance prepare his scorpion whips ; 
 And nerves that with the keenest rapture tingle 
 Shall haply curse the hour when ceased they to be single ! 
 
306 IBERIA WON. [CANTO xi. 
 
 in. 
 
 'Twas a delicious, soft autumnal eve ; 
 Salustian through his lovely garden strayed, 
 By Isabel supported. Mountains heave 
 Their giant forms to Heaven, Pyrene's shade 
 Thrown to the Frenchward side. His bulwarks made 
 A fence the westering sunbeam to reflect, 
 And balmy gales from many an opening glade 
 Came soft the old man's forehead to protect 
 From fiercer rays, while moved his form no more erect. 
 
 IV. 
 
 And, as on Isabel's sustaining arm 
 He passed 'neath trellised vine that dropt its load 
 Of blooming clusters near their heads, the charm 
 Of youthful beauty in that fair abode 
 More interest took from sorrows that corrode 
 The old man's brow beside her. Ne'er was seen 
 A lovelier picture than the pains bestowed 
 On that ripe senior by that maiden green 
 No sire more grave, no maid more dutiful I ween. 
 
 v. 
 
 Between the apple-trees with loaded boughs 
 Peeped ever and anon Ernani's towers, 
 And Haya tops them with his craggy brows, 
 And distant Jaizquibel where tempest lours 
 So oft serenely smiles. Through scented bowers 
 Of orange, jasmine, myrtle, balm, they pass, 
 And Isabel now tends, now plucks the flowers, 
 A nosegay for her sire, while dew like glass 
 In beads begins to strew the eve-reviving grass. 
 
CANTO XI. J IBERIA WON. 307 
 
 VI. 
 
 Not fairer opened in Alcina's isle 
 Upon Ruggiero's wild, enchanted view 
 The magic garden, mightiest wings the while 
 Furled the aerial steed on which he flew. 
 Not fairer that to which Armida drew 
 The Christian Knight whom fatal toils ensnared, 
 Where side by side the fruit and blossoms grew, 
 The bough green apples with the golden shared, 
 And the full ripened with the nascent fig compared. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Salustian to the sheltering house returned 
 For twilight's bland repose, and Isabel 
 Amongst the flowers she loved till night sojourned, 
 Then to a bower retired in distant dell 
 Upon the garden's verge she cherished well, 
 For there full oft with Nial joyous seated 
 She deep had drunk of Love's delicious spell, 
 And many a Vascon legend oft repeated, 
 And now with thought of him the tedious hours she cheated . 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Sudden a tall gaunt man before her stood, 
 With hat broad-flapping slouched upon his face, 
 Xaqueta and buckled shoon : in masking mood 
 He seemed, half-monk and half of worldlier race. 
 He raised his head, his features showed apace. 
 Screamed Isabel who saw 'twas Fray Beltran, 
 Don Carlos' brother who a rival place 
 Had sought in Isidora's heart, and ran, 
 When Carlos he had smote, to cloisters fenced from man. 
 
308 IBERIA WON. [CANTO xi. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Now glared his eye with fearful purpose swift 
 
 He caught her wrist she screamed again : " Thou'lt 
 
 come 
 
 " With me !" he said she struggled he did lift 
 Her in his arms, where swooned the maid struck dumb 
 With terror to a steed he bore her from 
 The bower, upon its shoulder laid her form, 
 Then sprang to the saddle ere her senses numb 
 Revived, and galloped swift his courser warm, 
 Till on an ocean-cliff he stood 'neath gathering storm. 
 
 x. 
 
 Here by steep paths he led the maid perforce 
 Adown the cliff amid the seamew's wail. 
 Terrific were the perils of their course, 
 And Isabel with sobs outsighed the gale. 
 Oh, dire to see that beauty lorn and pale ! 
 At length so difficult the rude descent, 
 That in his arms he lifted her ; no jail 
 She dreaded like those arms, and shuddering bent 
 Away and shrieked, but none to aid the maiden went. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Within a lofty cave and wide they now 
 Together stood, the ocean-wave before, 
 Stalactites pendent from its rocky brow, 
 And moon-lit shells and shingle strewed the floor. 
 Little of these thought Isabel, though more 
 Delighted none with Nature's works than she, 
 In calmer hours. Beltran she doth implore 
 On bended knees with tears full sad to see, 
 And prayers and passionate sobs, to set her stainless free. 
 
CANTO XI.] IBERIA WON. 309 
 
 XII. 
 
 He shook his head : " Oh dread, mysterious man, 
 " What would'st thou with me here ?" " Not harm 
 
 a hair 
 
 " Of thine, most beauteous maiden." Curdling ran 
 Her blood, for she did think he mocked her prayer. 
 " If just thy purpose, why felonious tear 
 "Me from my father's side my father ailing?" 
 
 She wept again : " My innocence, oh, spare 
 
 " Release me" but her prayers were unavailing, 
 And loud resounded all the cavern with her wailing. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 " Now hear me," said Beltran, while flashed his eye 
 With supernatural light, and instant flushed 
 His pale and haggard cheek. " My destiny 
 "Thou know'st is terrible as e'er hath hushed 
 The heart of man, or youthful spirit crushed. 
 I loved, and in a brother found, oh God ! 
 A rival all unconsciously I rushed 
 And stabbed him then a cloister's pavement trod, 
 And sought relief in prayer, in monkish fast, and rod. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 " But vain the toil. Thy image, Isidor, 
 For ever haunted thus my troubled brain. 
 The prisoned lion doth the fiercer roar, 
 And chafed my tortured spirit 'neath its chain. 
 The thought that Isidora" 'Twas in vain 
 He checked the tears that here began to flow, 
 Tears that like molten fire adown did rain. 
 " The thought that she could not be mine the wo 
 Unutterable racked my brain to madness so ! 
 
310 IBERIA WON. [CANTO xi. 
 
 XV. 
 
 " The sack of San Sebastian came to ope 
 My convent-door which War's dread fire consumed. 
 Kindled that fire in me a ray of hope. 
 I rushed to your house hut found its Lar entombed 
 In smouldering ashes. Like a spirit doomed, 
 I wandered then Guipuscoa's confines through, 
 When chance another ray of Hope illumed. 
 I found the garden, saw your sire and you, 
 But nought of Isidor could learn, nor e'er could view. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 " All thought of her I checked but while my soul 
 Shook with its mortal agony I sought 
 Relief in the design to this rude goal 
 To bear thee, maiden, as I now have brought, 
 And gaze upon thy face where Nature wrought 
 Such likeness unto her but fear not harm 
 From me ! Thou'rt as a sister dear, whom nought 
 Shall dare to injure. Let me drink the charm 
 Of thy sweet face i' the Moon nay, curb thy vain alarm ! 
 
 XVII. 
 
 " 'Tis her's I see in thine her angel face 
 In thee depictured. In the moonlight stand, 
 I pray thee, Isabel." On that lone place 
 The sound of oars and voices from the strand 
 Fell 'tis the Basque barqueras come to land ; 
 And straight they fill the cave, where from the storm 
 They seek retreat. Amazed the Nereid band 
 Behold the frayle's and the maiden's form ; 
 But soon the mystery solved uproused their spirits warm. 
 
CANTO XI.] IBERIA WON. 311 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 " Go, Frayle, to thy book and to thy beads ; 
 With dame or damsel nought concerns thee more. 
 Off to thy cloister, breviary, and weeds, 
 Or straight we'll drive thee forth with lusty oar, 
 Laid on thy shoulders till no bull shall roar 
 On Guetaria's plain more loud than thou. 
 The peerless lily, Dona Isidor, 
 Whom thou so madly lov'dst, is buried now 
 In Santiago's green, where lilies o'er her bow." 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Dire was the change in all his face, when heard 
 This fatal news he ne'er before had learned. 
 He gasped with horror nor could e'en a word 
 Put forth his jawbone fell as pale he turned 
 As monumental marble, for inurned 
 His hopes lay in her tomb. Upon his face 
 Grief stamped a fearful image. He sojourned 
 But for an instant more " 'Tis lilies grace 
 " Her grave ?" he said they nod he roelike fled the 
 place ! 
 
 xx. 
 
 Soon found the blithe Barqueras dry old wood, 
 And kindled fire i' the centre of the cave. 
 Bright flashed the blaze, and sparkling keener stood 
 The dark-eyed daughters of the ocean- wave, 
 But brighter flashed, that thus they came to save 
 In peril's hour, the eyes of Isabel. 
 Her glances eloquent the tribute gave 
 Of gratitude, nor looked she e'er so well 
 As when the o'erflowing heart threw Beauty's softer spell. 
 
312 IBERIA WON. [CANTO xi. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Her mobile face with play of sweetest smiles 
 Gives forth her innocent thoughts and nought conceals : 
 An aspect changeful still that ne'er beguiles, 
 For every change a beauty new reveals, 
 Its form vibrating as her bosom feels. 
 As some fair lake reflects each passing cloud, 
 Each sun-bright ray that o'er its bosom steals, 
 So were her looks with mirror truth endowed, 
 Nor could she, if she would, emotion's play enshroud. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 "Oh, Isidor's and Blanca's blessing fall 
 " From Heaven upon your heads !" she weeping cried. 
 At Blanca's name the maidens kist her all, 
 In memory of their Armadilla's pride. 
 From Contrabandist stores, the cavern wide 
 Embosomed, then refreshment meet they drew ; 
 And while the flickering blaze, as nightwinds sighed, 
 In light or shade their beauties lambent threw, 
 They waited till more calm the Ocean grow to view. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 'Twas after Sunset but the second hour, 
 "When Nial from the Bidasoa came, 
 Glowing with valour's pride and passion's power, 
 And eager to recount the army's fame 
 To Isabel for sealed a blushing shame 
 His lips to his own daringness of deed, 
 And to conceal it e'en was oft his aim. 
 Swift lit the hero from his foaming steed, 
 And met Salustian wild distracted, borne at speed : 
 
CANTO XI.] IBERIA WON. 313 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 " Hast seen her ? Hast thou seen my daughter ? Say, 
 " Know'st thou aught of my girl ?" " Great Heaven, 
 
 what means 
 
 "Thy question?" " They have ta'en my girl away 
 "One, one was not enough. Oh, Hell-born scenes 
 " Of War !" An instant's breathing-time he leans 
 On Nial. " Isabel/' " Who dared to harm ?" 
 Quoth Nial, flashing terrible wrath, then gleans 
 From the old man, how, sleeping, the alarm 
 Reached him that she was torn away by a stranger's arm, 
 
 XXV. 
 
 And then to horse, and galloped out of sight, 
 But none knew whither none who dared aspire. 
 Swift to his steed leapt Nial airy light, 
 His nostril panting with excitement dire, 
 His lips compressed with fearful purpose ire 
 And vengeance from his eagle glances fly. 
 " Stay stay ; I join thee," cried the plundered sire. 
 " Stir not for love of Heaven !" was the reply. 
 Salustian screamed : "I go ! Who so bereaved as I ?" 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Vain Nial's words Salustian would to horse : 
 " Then let your ailing master be your care," 
 Quoth Nial to Salustian' s men. " Remorse 
 " Be his who shall neglect my fervent prayer, 
 "That, if he still will follow, slow ye fare !" 
 He spurred his generous charger at a bound 
 Crost half the court-yard, learnt the route to bear 
 Upon the robber's track, and soon the sound 
 Of his steed's hoofs was lost upon the mountain-ground. 
 p 
 
.314 IBERIA WON. [CANTO xi. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Vain his long gallop, vain his bird-like speed, 
 Vain every turn and venture far and near. 
 Sad, sad grew Nial's heart, and 'gan to bleed, 
 While from his eye fell many a bitter tear. 
 O'er leagues of mountain heath did nought appear, 
 Save his own shadow and his steed's i' the Moon 
 Reflected long and dreary as the year 
 It seemed since he had parted, vowing soon 
 To meet, from Isabel thus lost in Beauty's noon! 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 He sickened at the thought of what might be, 
 And let his weary charger pace at will, 
 While o'er the heath Salustian rapidly 
 At peril of his life through dale and hill 
 Careered, grief's energy sustaining still. 
 " Oh Nial, know'st thou aught ?" A tear he shed, 
 More speaking Silence than might volumes fill. 
 The old man tore his hair. His steed they led 
 By the rein, and held his hands in pity for his head. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Thus by the far-resounding shore they past, 
 High o'er the bosom of the heaving main, 
 When reached their ears upon the lulling blast 
 A chorus sweet that seemed to ease their pain. 
 Their eyes cast downward o'er the Ocean-plain 
 Beheld the Basque barqueras distant ply 
 Their shallops in the moonlight, like a chain 
 Of jet o'er sparkling emerald. Both drew nigh 
 To the cliff's edge, amazed a sight so strange to espy. 
 
CANTO XI.] IBERIA WON. 315 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Sudden the chorus ceased the shallops stopt 
 The oars arose like spear-shafts in the air ; 
 " Parad /" a voice exclaimed, like music dropt 
 Upon the gale that hastened swift to bear 
 The summons to the victims of Despair. 
 Down fell the oars again, and swift each hand 
 The green wave lashed, till urged those Nereids fair 
 Their prows with rival speed upon the strand, 
 And soon in beauteous file upon the beach they land. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Great Heaven! what is 't? 'Tis she, 'tis Isabel, 
 That from the midst takes rapidly the lead, 
 With eager cry of transport. Each full well 
 Of each the features recognized. His steed 
 Soon Nial left, and sprang with headlong speed 
 Adown the cliff, of Isabel's alarms 
 And imminent perils taking little heed. 
 His magnet strong was her recovered charms, 
 Nor drew he foot nor breath till clasped within his arms ! 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 Oh, rapturous embrace ! oh, tenfold joy, 
 All sweeter for the racking grief sustained. 
 Salustian shook with transport to destroy, 
 Upon the cliff where he perforce remained, 
 By iron bonds of age and sickness chained. 
 But swift sweet Isabel to cheer him flew, 
 Like beauteous fawn, and soon the summit gained, 
 And wept with bliss, and on her bosom true 
 The old man's weary head sustained, and kist anew. 
 p2 
 
316 IBERIA WON. [CANTO xi. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 And soon her story wondrous strange was told, 
 Beltran's devoted frenzy, harmless all, 
 And how the Basque barqueras, even though bold 
 And criminal his passion, seemed to fall 
 From Heaven to her relief. From Vascon tall, 
 Salustian's servitor, doth Nial here 
 Take well-trained steed, then lift her wrapt in shawl ; 
 And, homeward wending, Heaven received a tear 
 Of gratitude for her who now was doubly dear. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 And many a noble gift Salustian sent 
 With old Hidalgo lavishment to mark 
 His grateful spirit to the maids who went 
 To aid his daughter when the sky was dark, 
 And safely bore to his arms in gallant bark. 
 But what of San Sebastian 'mid this play 
 Of grief and joy alternate ? Is no ark 
 Of saving launched upon the torrent spray, 
 That swept her homes ? Alas, still desolate are they ! 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 In Santiago's burial-green, while fall 
 The struggling moonbeams from a stormy sky, 
 With brilliance now unclouded, now with pall 
 Of darkness shadowed intermittingly, 
 A haggard, gaunt, and ghostly form doth try 
 Each mound of earth for some peculiar sign, 
 With preternatural strides and gleaming eye 
 Doth pass from grave to grave, from line to line, 
 With eye more fearful bright then halt and cry : " 'Tis 
 thine !" 
 
CANTO XI.] IBERIA WON. 317 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 'Twas Fray Beltran, who 'mongst the graves had found, 
 With instinct's fatal truth and frenzy's lore, 
 The lilies planted o'er the new-raised mound, 
 That hid the Vascon lily, Isidor ! 
 And as some mariner a rock-bound shore 
 Doth find in shipwreck, where his limbs are cast 
 And dashed to pieces with the saving oar, 
 So baleful was this sight of earth that passed 
 Before Beltran' s red eyes, and like to prove their last! 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 With nerves mad-strung he knelt upon the sod, 
 And deeply groaned, and raised a fervent prayer. 
 That prayer, ah me, it was not breathed to God ; 
 It seemed the very echo of Despair ! 
 Nor yet the name of Heaven invoked he there, 
 But loud at first he called the Fiend and Hell, 
 Till breathed the name of Isidora fair, 
 All 'midst his anguish dire it was a spell, 
 Melting his heart to tears that now in torrents fell ! 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 " Oh, lily torn and crushed," he said, "thou art gone! 
 Mine mine though Fate had given thee to another. 
 Let cold, weak hearts condemn the love whose dawn 
 Was ere the altar bound thee to a brother. 
 I sought that world-condemned love to smother 
 As well might stifle a volcano, bind 
 The ocean-wave, or bid the yearning mother 
 Curse her first-born. The cloister more enshrined 
 Thy image Solitude the gold but more refined ! 
 
318 IBERIA WON. [CANTO xi. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 " Sack-cloth, the fast, the scourge could not o'ercome 
 The force of passion tyrant-strong like this ; 
 Heart-rooted, it can ne'er be torn but from 
 My heart with life. Grie anguish, Death e'en, miss 
 The aim to mar it. Memory's self is bliss 
 An anguished bliss the only I can know. 
 My love hath fed on agony. A kiss, 
 Stol'n from thee once unwilling, soothed my wo, 
 When after days of fast had laid me fainting low ! 
 
 XL. 
 
 " Cloisters are not for me. Ascetic bands, 
 Although of iron, chain not souls like mine. 
 Withes bind not giants, twirled by pigmy hands. 
 Earth's hidden fires the globe cannot confine. 
 They burst in lava torrents ! Shade divine 
 Of Isidor, the fires within my breast 
 Consume me for a sight of thee I pine. 
 Thy lovely lips must yet once more be prest, 
 Even though in death, or ere I find eternal rest !" 
 
 XLI. 
 
 Then with a frantic energy he tore 
 The earth light-piled upon the new-made grave ; 
 Digging with kite-like nails till they were sore, 
 But slow his progress, dire the toil he gave. 
 Ill brooked his soul of time to be the slave. 
 Again he tore the earth, till stiff and numb 
 His hands refuse the task. Not demons rave 
 More wild than he ; he shrieked and howled o'ercome ; 
 And tears like molten lead descend till he is dumb ! 
 
CANTO XI.] IBERIA WON. 319 
 
 XLII. 
 
 Sudden a thought flashed o'er him he is gone, 
 Swift as the antelope, and soon returns 
 With spade and mattock unto Heaven 'tis known 
 Where found, but frantic energy that burns 
 Like his the will that shapes a way inurns ; 
 And rapid his career the churchyard 'mid. 
 Now, now the clay to either side he spurns 
 With swift-plied implements in earth deep hid, 
 And now his mattock strikes upon a coffin-lid ! 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 He yelled for joy ! In vain his fingers flew 
 To loose the firm new lid it mocks his art. 
 His toil with ten-fold zeal he doth renew, 
 And clear the earth away from every part. 
 Oh now, how glare his eyes, how bounds his heart ! 
 Gently his mattock's pressure is applied 
 'Twixt lid and coffin till the strong nails start ; 
 Gently, for all is sacred by her side, 
 Loveliest of Vascon maids, who Virtue's martyr died ! 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 The lid is moved the beauteous face unveiled, 
 Whose beauty not e'en violent death could mar. 
 That instant forth the Moon sublimely sailed 
 From darkest cloud that long its stormy bar 
 To her light opposed, and shone o'er every star, 
 Peerless in Heaven as Isidor on earth. 
 Heart-piercing was the cry that pealed afar, 
 As threw Beltran his form on hers, in mirth 
 Hysteric mixed with sobs, and clasped her frozen girtb, 
 
320 IBERIA WON. [CANTO xi. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 And kist her icy lips ah me, 'twas cold 
 Reply to love that like a furnace glowed ; 
 Love that all lawless and forbidden told 
 Its tale more fierce that o'er such bounds it strode 
 The solemn bounds 'twixt Life and Death's abode, 
 'Twixt Transience and Eternity ! Her form 
 Was fresh and pure, Decay could not corrode 
 So soon its loveliness. Beltran i' the storm 
 Still kist as if his breath her lifeless clay could warm. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 But vain his kisses, vain his burning tears, 
 Though poured in showers like those that left the sky. 
 Man cannot weep for aye his brain it sears 
 To feel such anguish as Beltran made cry 
 Beneath the withering stroke of Destiny ! 
 Up from the grave he sprang, and fiercely bore 
 The coffin-lid its parts asunder fly 
 "With spade and mattock into lengths he tore 
 The stubborn wood, and thus the grave he laid them o'er. 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 And from the churchyard near he gathered stones, 
 And deftly filled the spaces 'twixt the wood ; 
 Then took what came to hand, or clay or bones 
 And wedged each interstice with worm's old food, 
 And when the work was done pronounced it good ! 
 Then o'er the deathful pit thus covered in 
 He heaped the earth beside the margins strewed, 
 Leaving but at the head a fissure thin 
 For meagre body worn by sorrow and by sin ! 
 
CANTO XI.] IBERIA WON. 321 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 He entered worming through the aperture 
 With cautious care lest all his toil should fail, 
 And smiled he last to see the work so sure, 
 Then drew his head within the covert frail. 
 He laid him down beside that beauty pale, 
 And with his hands the boards he turned aside, 
 Destroying the slight arch that propt his gaol. 
 The earth-fall smothered the last words he cried : 
 " Though severed in our lives, yet Death could not 
 divide!" 
 
322 
 
 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 
 TO CANTO XI. 
 
 THE character of Fray Beltran, as portrayed in this Canto, is 
 meant to represent a portion of the extraordinary and irregular 
 energies which the events of the French Revolution and Invasion 
 produced in Spanish cloisters. It is with a view to impart variety 
 to my subject, that I have dwelt upon love and madness as the 
 shapes which Beltran's wild energy assumed, though political 
 propagandism, patriotic denunciation of the French, and even 
 taking up arms, were acts familiar to the Exclaustrados or expelled 
 inmates of religious houses, violated by the ruthless invader often 
 for the purpose of converting cloisters into stables ! 
 
 In these transactions, the French took one way of realising 
 Sir Thomas More's " Happy Republic." "In no victory do 
 they glory so much, as in that which is gained without blood- 
 shed." They rejoiced to triumph by fraud, like the ancient 
 Spartans, or liker perhaps the Egyptian Harami incorporated 
 for plunder. The monks and friars of the Peninsula were not all, 
 however, helpless. Many fled to the mountains and marshalled 
 or joined Guerrilla parties, and there was scarcely a Guerrilla 
 throughout Spain during the War of Independence that had not 
 some monks and friars incorporated with it. This system con- 
 tinues down to the present hour, and the accession of these clerical 
 auxiliaries has ever thrown a sort of halo over the pursuit in a 
 superstitious country. " La Palria y la Religion J" was a potent 
 cry, and the life of perpetual adventure was in the highest degree 
 exciting and romantic. 
 
 But the poetical view of the Guerrillas must be counterbalanced 
 by the more strictly historical view of their character. It is ques- 
 
NOTES TO CANTO XI. 323 
 
 tionable whether these irregular levies did not produce nearly as 
 much evil as good. Candour must confess that there was as 
 much robbery as patriotism in the system. Amongst the leaders 
 of the partidas personal interests were too often predominant. 
 Discipline under such a system is of course impossible, and each 
 man's object is naturally to secure the largest share of the plunder 
 for himself. The leaders of the different partidas were terribly 
 jealous of each other ; and one of the first exploits of Espozy Mina, 
 the most distinguished of all their chiefs, was to slay the leader of 
 a Guerrilla band in his neighbourhood, because he plundered his 
 own countrymen under the mask of patriotism : he was also, 
 doubtless, in Mina's way. All through Mina's career, " he would 
 never suffer any partida but his own to be in his district." (Life 
 of Mina.} The irregularity inherent in the Guerrilla system of 
 warfare encouraged violence, license, and disregard for the rights 
 of property. The partidas were an admirable instrument for 
 raising a whole people against the invader ; but the application of 
 the force was subsequently misdirected, and the surprise of 
 Figueras was the only service of first-rate importance that they 
 ever performed in Spain. Their minor exploits were, however, 
 innumerable, and the disparaging observations of Napier, Foy, 
 and St. Cyr, all regular military men, are to be received with 
 caution. 
 
 The course of life of the Spanish Guerrillero, commencing often 
 as a soldier, then becoming a deserter, next flying to the moun- 
 tains and turning robber, and lastly turning soldier on his own 
 account, closely resembles the description of the Roman Spartacus 
 by Florus : " Ille de stipendiario Thrace miles, de milite deserter, 
 inde latro, deinde in honore virium gladiator . . . Exercitum 
 percecidit . . . castra delevit ... in primo agmine fortissime 
 dimicans." (Lib. Hi. cap. 30.) 
 
 It is not intended to palliate the numerous acts of jealousy, 
 hatred, treachery, and plunder, which our army sustained from 
 Spanish and Portuguese allies. But many important services 
 were rendered by the Guerrillas, and still more by the regular 
 
324 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 troops of Portugal. And, in addition to the Guerrilla chiefs, of 
 whom I have already noticed the principal, the regular troops of 
 Spain achieved some successes under the command of Castanos, 
 Palafox, Reding, Blake, O'Donnel, Sarsfield, Downie (these four 
 Generals were Irish or of Irish extraction), Albuquerque, Freyre, 
 Ballasteros, Longa,' Giron, Mendizabal, Romana and Morillo. 
 
 Amongst the Portuguese officers, who distinguished themselves 
 in these campaigns, must be noticed with praise, besides Saldanha 
 and Terceira, the Condes of Amarante, Villareal, Das Antas and 
 Bomfim, the Freires, Lecor, Leite, Vallongo, and Talaia. 
 
 ii. " And Young love sits upon a flowery knoll." 
 
 Vide Claudian. Nupt. Honor, et Marias. Claudian makes one of 
 
 the fountains of honey. 
 
 "And nerves that with the keenest rapture tingle 
 Shall haply curse the hour when ceased they to be single !" 
 
 Molestae hae sunt nuptiae ! Terent. Andr. act ii. sc. 2. 
 
 vi. u Not fairer opened in Alcina's isle." 
 
 Vide Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, canto vi. 
 " Where side by side the fruit and blossoms grow." 
 
 Vide Tasso, Gerunalemme, canto xvi. 
 
 ix. " But brighter flashed, that thus they came to save 
 
 In peril's hour, the eyes of Isabel." 
 
 "Wer rettete vom tode mich, 
 
 Von sklaverey ? 
 
 Hast du nicht alles selbst vollendet, 
 
 Heilig gliihend herz ? Goethe (Prometheus). 
 
 " Who rescued me from death, from slavery ? Hast thou not 
 all achieved, holily glowing heart ?" 
 
 xxn. " In memory of their Armadilla's pride." 
 
 Armada " a fleet," Armadillo. " a little fleet." 
 
NOTES TO CANTO XI. 325 
 
 xxiv. " Hast seen her ? Hast thou seen my daughter ? Say, 
 Know'st thou aught of my girl ?" 
 Er rief in das geheul des windes, 
 Lenorens namen hundertmal ; 
 Doch statt des heissgeliebten kindes, 
 Antwortet ihm der wiederhall. Langbein. 
 
 "He cried out, 'mid the howling of the winds, Leonora's name a 
 hundred times ; but echo answered him instead of his best-beloved 
 child." 
 
 xxx. " Par ad ! a voice exclaimed like music dropt." 
 
 Parad, " stop 1" 
 
 xxxn. " Oh, rapturous embrace, oh tenfold joy, 
 
 All sweeter for the racking grief sustained !" 
 
 "Idem est beate vivere, et secundum naturam," says Seneca. 
 This was the great rule of the Stoic philosophy, and may like- 
 wise be applied to Christian lovers. Tranquil wedded bliss 
 appears to be its consummation. This living according to 
 Nature will, of course, be varied in its interpretation, according to 
 each man's individual temperament. " Tot sensus, quot capita," 
 says Tertullian. And the decision of Protagoras will find too 
 many adherents, who conceived himself to be the only standard 
 of what was right and proper, and believed all things good which 
 seemed so to him. Christianity happily gets rid of the evanescent 
 and impalpable vagueness of the ancient philosophy, which slipt 
 through the fingers like the statues of Daedalus, and comes to our 
 aid with positive precept. In illustration of this vagueness the 
 advocates of the atomic theory as an adjunct of their system made 
 the chief part of man's happiness consist in pleasure, which an 
 Epicurean would interpret literally to signify the enjoyments of 
 sense, and a Platonist would expound, properly understood, to 
 mean the exercise of virtue. Yet both in their philosophizing 
 would be probably theoretical, and their practice, as in most 
 
326 NOTES TO CANTO XI. 
 
 instances, would be the result of temperament and impulse ; 
 for "every man calleth that which pleaseth, and is delightful 
 to himself, good; and evil that which displeaseth him." (Hobbes, 
 Treatise on Human Nature, c. vii.) 
 
 xxxiv. " With old Hidalgo lavishment." 
 
 Que un hidalgo no debe a otro que a Dios y al Rei nada. (Men- 
 doza, Lazarillo de Tormes.} 
 
 " An Hidalgo owes nothing, except to God and the King." 
 Such were the ideas of justice, which prevailed amongst the noble 
 class in Old Spain. The funds which were denied to creditors 
 were squandered in largesses. 
 
 " To aid his daughter when the sky was dark." 
 Die hand die uns durch dieses dunkel fiihrt. Wieland. 
 " The hand that leads us through this darkness." 
 XL. " Earth's hidden fires the globe cannot confine." 
 
 Ne si scossa giammai trema la terra, 
 Quando i vapori in sen gravida serra. 
 
 Tasso, Ger. Lib. iv. 3. 
 
 Those who may think the beauty of Salustian's garden, as 
 described in this Canto, exaggerated, I would invite to visit 
 the country between San Sebastian and Ernani, as I did last 
 year, and revel in its groves and orchards. 
 
IBERIA WON. 
 
 <2Danto KM. 
 i. 
 
 BRIGHT be thy fame, illustrious Wellington ! 
 Whose arm Britannia's glory raised so far 
 That all the matchless victories she had won 
 Before thee pale beside thy Victory's star! 
 For when the Conqueror whirled o'er earth his car, 
 More strong than Philip's son to Indus rolled, 
 Invoking Freedom's power his path to mar, 
 Thou gav'st him battle with thy Britons bold, 
 And vanquished him who Earth had cast in tyrant-mould. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Bright be thy fame, illustrious Wellington ! 
 Whose ordinance pure, proscribing Rapine's lust, 
 Outshone in peace and war Napoleon ; 
 Like Aristides fitly called "The Just ;" 
 Or liker his associate in the trust 
 Of Athens, great Themistocles, excelling 
 In martial prowess all that turns to dust, 
 Nor less in Wisdom. Gaul is grateful telling 
 Thy glories, Scipio-pure, amidst her Lares dwelling. 
 
328 IBERIA WON. [CANTO xn. 
 
 in. 
 
 Shall I not sing thy triumph ? I was horn 
 Amid the thunder of thy victories ! 
 The cannon fired for joy upon the morn 
 That told the nation Salamanca's skies 
 Saw thy most skilful battle's trophy rise 
 Reached me still wombed. The fame of Waterloo, 
 That made each cheek to glow and lit all eyes, 
 Even to my infant ear half-conscious flew. 
 All Hail ! for to this Earth I soon must bid adieu. 
 
 IV. 
 
 My cup of life is broken at the full, 
 My lamp doth fade ere half its light is shed, 
 And whispereth angel sternly beautiful, 
 Whose shadowy wings have touched my aching head : 
 Before the greybeard shall the youth be dead ! 
 Yet still, though perisheth my mortal part, 
 With thine and England's glory shall be fed 
 The echoes roused by my enduring art, 
 And patriot strains of pride shall free my bursting heart ! 
 
 v. 
 
 Soldier of Liberty ! Be this thy praise ; 
 Thy sword was drawn to shield the rights of Man 
 Against his mightiest Tyrant. Length of days, 
 And honours of a Demigod, the plan 
 Of Heaven assigned thy front revered to fan : 
 Sublime reward ! Yet conquests greater thine : 
 The path of Caesar blood and tears o'erran ; 
 Thou mad'st War human and in Peace canst shine; 
 Thy hand struck off the chain that galled Milesius' line! 
 
CANTO XII.] IBERIA WON. 329 
 
 VI. 
 
 And well were seconded thy glorious views 
 By noblest Captains. Many a gallant name 
 Amongst thy host, if destined thee to lose, 
 Would surely have achieved eternal Fame ! 
 'Twas patriot zeal of Valour fanned the flame, 
 That glowed within their breasts like purest gem, 
 And nought but godlike deeds could quench or tame. 
 Of hero-pith thy legions, root and stem ; 
 Thy host was worthy thee and thou wert worthy them ! 
 
 vn. 
 
 I late have stood upon thy battle-fields ; 
 On rugged-browed Rori^a, where 'gainst France 
 Was earliest proved the strength that Britain wields, 
 And up the dread ravines thou didst advance 
 'Mongst olive-groves and ilex, where enhance 
 The perils of the way such crags as none 
 Save mountain-goats may leap yet drove thy lance 
 The foeman thence. Arbutus smiled upon, 
 And myrtles kist thy brow, revived by Victory's sun ! 
 
 VIII. 
 
 And on Vimieiro, where the deep defile 
 With rocks and torrent-beds and hardy pines 
 The foe entangles, while they climb with toil 
 The crescent-ridge that sweeps to the Atlantic. Shines 
 Thy bristling bayonet-row, and fall their lines, 
 Like corn the yeoman reaps. Thy triumph graced 
 Their cannon captured 'mid the purpling vines ; 
 And backward fell their force to Torres chased, 
 Where I have marked the skill thy glorious Lines that 
 traced. 
 
330 IBERIA WON. [CANTO xn. 
 
 IX. 
 
 And upon Talavera's glorious hill, 
 Scorched by the glare of Leo's burning sun, 
 Where drank the rival warriors from the rill, 
 And fired Belluno many a thunderous gun, 
 Which Britain's warriors fiercely shouting won ; 
 And plunged our horsemen down the fearful chasm, 
 Though smote, victorious ; and terrific run 
 The flames throughshrubs all parched by heat's miasm, 
 Burning the wounded men who lay in mortal spasm ! 
 
 x. 
 
 And on Busaco's horrid mountain-crest, 
 Where topples o'er the crags the convent-tower, 
 And bayonets bristled o'er the eagle's nest. 
 The foeman climbs the steep with wondrous power, 
 But swift our charging files their host devour, 
 And down the mountain-side they slaughtered roll. 
 Massena rash, of valour Ney the flower, 
 Vainly up wooded dell and pine-clad knoll 
 Urged their fierce veterans. Our's that day was Glory's 
 goal ! 
 
 XI. 
 
 And at Fuentes d'Onor, whose chapelled steep 
 'Gainst multiplied assaults thy forces shield ; 
 Too late arriving, save the dead to weep, 
 At Albuera's dire, tremendous field, 
 Where great the cost yet Victory's clarion pealed ; 
 And with terrific march the fusiliers, 
 When shook the balance scorning proud to yield, 
 Mounted the fatal hill which cannon clears, 
 And hurled the foeman down with deafening British 
 cheers ! 
 
CANTO XII.] IBERIA WON. 331 
 
 XII. 
 
 And at Rodrigo, where the counterscarp 
 Inviolate standing cost thy Crawfurd's life, 
 And 'gainst stern wall and cannon rattling sharp 
 Man's naked breast maintained unequal strife ; 
 And Badajoz, where on the stormers, rife 
 With daring, rushed by deadly breach and scale, 
 Like lava poured 'gainst bayonet, pike, and knife, 
 Fronting a hurricane of iron hail, 
 And mowed by shot and shell yet made thefoeman quail! 
 
 XIII. 
 
 For nought could baffle England's trusted Chief, 
 Who Marmont's lines on Salamanca's plain 
 Smote like a thunderbolt, keen rapid brief, 
 And rent his legions like a shattered chain ! 
 And at Vitoria wrenched the crown of Spain 
 From the poor tremulous Usurper's hand, 
 The spoils of Empire seized, a countless train 
 Of cannon, standards, eagles trophies grand 
 Nor, fiery Jourdan, least, thy baton of command ! 
 
 XIV. 
 
 And now upon Navarre's Typhsean crest 
 He stands triumphant, threatening haughty France, 
 While bounds once more Iberia's lovely breast, 
 And close the wounds that held in death-like trance. 
 Proud beams her eye she bids the Chief advance, 
 And points to Roncesvalles where of old 
 She crushed the invading Gaul with mighty lance. 
 See, see a Briton as Bernardo bold 
 His conquering chariot-wheel o'er Gallia's host hath 
 rolled ! 
 
332 IBERIA WON. [CANTO xu 
 
 xv. 
 
 Sublime Pyrene feels his vigorous tread, 
 And trembles Gaul with all her martial sons, 
 For sure as Fate his legions shall be led 
 To where Garumna's stream to Ocean runs. 
 Even now his mighty stride the nations stuns ! 
 Soult, on thine arm an Empire's fate depends. 
 From San Sebastian's fortress to Bayonne's, 
 By Sarre and TJstaritz great Arthur bends. 
 Soult spreads incessant toils which England's lion rends. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Through many a craggy pass and dread defile, 
 From Oyarzun and Bidasoa's stream, 
 By rugged steeps that Ossa's crest outpile, 
 And cataract beds that Earth to sunder seem 
 Pyrene' s fearful wilderness where teem 
 All forms of savage beauty olive, larch, 
 Pine, myrtle mixed, and forests hair-like gleam 
 Upon that couchant monster's spinal arch, 
 Still slow the leaguered French recede before our march. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 What cavalcade through San Sebastian rides ? 
 A Chieftain mighty and a senior grave ; 
 A blooming warrior next his steed bestrides, 
 Like young Achilles to whom Chiron gave 
 The Centaur's mastery. With bounding wave 
 His light plume dances o'er a maiden fair, 
 Who reins her genet too with spirit brave ; 
 Worthy, me seems, her grace and beauty rare 
 With that young hero proud companionship to bear. 
 
CANTO XII.] IBERIA WON. 333 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 'Tis Nial Isabel ; great Arthur's form 
 With grave Salustian's stately fills the van. 
 They reach the central square where late the storm 
 Of War with surges wild hath rolled o'er San 
 Sebastian dire calamity to Man. 
 Great Arthur sad surveyed the ruin round, 
 And at the sight a tear his eye o'erran, 
 For every house was now a blackened mound, 
 And Solitude more grim where Life so late was found. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Round Santa Clara's isle that instant came 
 The Basque barqueras in their shallops slight ; 
 Their graceful oaring still was plied the same, 
 But one fair pinnace less careered in sight. 
 Ah, where is she their glory and delight ? 
 Rose softly sad and low from distance borne 
 A plaintive strain that in its dying flight 
 Fell on the town where other breasts are torn. 
 'Tis thus in chorus sweet they raise their plaint forlorn : 
 
 f)e 23trg;e. 
 
 Weep, Biscay a, weep ! 
 
 'Mongst dead and dying, 
 On the bloody heap 
 
 Is Blanca lying. 
 William's sword hath smote 
 
 Her bosom heaving, 
 Her on whom we doat 
 
 Of life bereaving. 
 
 Weep, Biscaya, weep ! 
 
334 IBERIA WON. [CANTO xn. 
 
 Pierced though William's sword 
 
 That bounding billow, 
 Yet his corse adored 
 
 She makes her pillow. 
 Red is William's vest, 
 
 With glory wreathed. 
 Redder is the breast 
 
 Transfixed beneath it. 
 
 Weep, Biscaya, weep ! 
 Ne'er could William stain 
 
 That bosom tender. 
 How the deed would pain 
 
 Her brave defender ! 
 Who in all the land 
 
 So crime-convicted ? 
 Ah, 'twas Blanca's hand 
 
 The wound inflicted. 
 
 Weep, Biscaya, weep ! 
 Heaven for deeds of note 
 
 So daring made her. 
 Her's the arm that smote 
 
 The French invader. 
 Flashed her carbine true, 
 
 The Norman felling. 
 Pierced that spirit, too, 
 
 Its own pure dwelling. 
 
 Weep, Biscaya, weep ! 
 Ne'er was true-love seen 
 
 Like her's undying. 
 Few like her, I ween, 
 
 The grave defying. 
 Broken heart the sod 
 
 Can fittest cover. 
 She could not, oh God ! 
 
 Survive her lover. 
 San Sebastian, weep ! 
 
CANTO XII.] IBERIA WON. 335 
 
 XX. 
 
 " Now, Don Salustian " thus great Arthur said 
 " This piteous scene doth touch my heart full sore, 
 And if War brought not Peace, the Invader fled, 
 My sword were haply sheathed for ever more ; 
 For none can deeplier Battle's wreck deplore. 
 But e'en these ills can Spaniards bear for Spain, 
 As England bears her warriors' streaming gore ; 
 And from this hour the villain wears a chain, 
 Who dares by deeds like these our triumphs to profane." 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Salustian bowed with grave Hidalgo pride : 
 "Your words, great Chief, console the Spanish heart." 
 Then Nial bounded to great Arthur's side ; 
 His hat is doffed, his plume doth bird-like start, 
 His curls rich wave, his eyes new lightnings dart : 
 " Give, give the right this maiden fair to shield ; 
 Still suffering she from San Sebastian's smart, 
 Saved from the wreck of worse than battle-field : 
 Give, give at altar-foot a husband's right to wield." 
 
 XXII. 
 
 A word Salustian with the Chief exchanged, 
 And smiles on both their faces cordial beam. 
 Sweet Isabel her timid glances ranged 
 From side to side a momentary gleam 
 O'ercast with blushes that like roses seem. 
 Her fluttering breast now pants like prisoned bird, 
 Her downcast eyes reluctant ye might deem ; 
 But oh, what joy doth light them at a word : 
 Young Nial says, " Thou'rt mine !" and every heart is 
 stirred. 
 
336 IBERIA WON. [CANTO xn. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Great Arthur blest the union, promising 
 That Nial's fortunes should he England's care, 
 For of her eaglets none with stronger wing 
 To soar in Victory's blazing sunlight dare. 
 Salustian called on both a blessing rare ! 
 And Nial caught her beauteous hand, while fast 
 She melts in tears which joy and sorrow share ; 
 In kisses o'er her hand his soul was cast, 
 The hastening cavalcade to Fuentarabia past. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Now War his direful tasks again pursues 
 O'er rugged steep and castled crag sublime ; 
 And, Gaul, thy fields no longer sacred lose 
 The conquering fame that propt Invasion's crime. 
 The mountain-barriers of thy Southern clime 
 No more shall serve as bulwarks for thy soil, 
 For Britain's sons advance as sure as Time, 
 Soult's bristling huge entrenchments instant spoil, 
 And onward march with ease where mocked was human toil. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 See on Pyrene's loftiest summit stand 
 Majestic Freedom, o'er the despot's frown 
 Gigantic towering till her forehead grand 
 The Sun encircles for a fitting crown, 
 And stream rays brighter from her eyelids down ! 
 The rainbow clothes her Heaven-ascending form. 
 Her mighty arm great Arthur beckons on, 
 Against Soult's host to urge the fiery storm, 
 And thus with voice sublime she speaks in accents 
 warm : 
 
CANTO XII.] IBERIA WON. 337 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 " Oh Arthur ! thou my soldier and my shield, 
 In whom revived to-day is e'en surpassed 
 Another Arthur's fame who first revealed 
 The heroic glow of Chivalry, and cast 
 A blaze o'er England which for aye will last. 
 Greater thy glory than Pendragon's son 
 With all his knights achieved to strike aghast 
 My fiercest foe in many a battle won, 
 And still with Victory's march his countless legions stun. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 " List to thy Destiny, and nerve thy arm 
 To accomplish Heaven's designs. By fair Nivelle 
 Thy next great battle shall with dire alarm 
 Man's bitter foes affright in Earth and Hell. 
 For fortress-crags and precipices fell, 
 Cyclopian castles hewn from solid rock, 
 Redoubt and natural tower where eagles dwell, 
 Thou'lt instant carry with resistless shock, 
 The armed river ford, the plains of France bemock ! 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 "Next o'er the Nive thou'lt pass by quick surprise 
 At Ustaritz 'neath Cambo's beacon light 
 The stream thy dashing cavalry defies, 
 Scorns the pontoon and dares the unequal fight 
 And some shall perish torrent-swept from sight ! 
 Next by Barouilhet's ridge with thickets spread 
 Thou'lt stand resistless, battling thrice till night 
 The combat palls, and still to Victory led 
 Triumphant at Saint Pierre, 'mid thousand warriors dead. 
 
338 IBERIA WON. [CANTO xn. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 "Then o'er the Adour a monster-bridge thou'lt cast, 
 Lashing the Ocean-tide with chain of power, 
 Through no vain boast like Xerxes when he past 
 The stormy Hellespont to mine my tower 
 In godlike Greece but fell before her flower ! 
 Hope's chained chasse-marees and gigantic boom 
 Shall ope a pathway to extend my dower 
 To Nations suffering 'neath despotic doom, 
 And o'er the dashing surge shall roll the cannon's womb. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 " And next at Orthez from its Roman camp 
 Thou'lt baffle Soult upon his convex hill, 
 His ardour ev'n 'mid seeming victory damp, 
 And pour thy Picton's veterans, matchless still, 
 Through the dread marsh with new dismay to fill 
 The French battalions, Cotton's bold hussars 
 Their rout completing. There thy dauntless will 
 Thou'lt prove 'neath wound which nought thy pro- 
 gress bars, 
 And France thy onward tread shall feel, despite of scars ! 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 " Then on the steep and wooded height of Aire, 
 Where Lusitain's brigade shall bleeding fly, 
 And lose the battle but that Hill is there, 
 Resolved with British steel to do or die ! 
 While 'neath the Frenchman's charge your galled ally 
 Outnumbered falls, the might of England's sons 
 Will turn the stream of battle, raising high 
 The fearful war-shout which the foeman stuns, 
 Who flies to where the Adour with branching channel 
 runs. 
 
CANTO XII.] IBERIA WON. 339 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 " At Tarbes, Bigorre, and Gaudens thou shalt next 
 Still conquering pass to fair Tolosa's wall, 
 Where Soult will desperate stand, and Spain perplext 
 Behold her warriors snared in thousands fall. 
 But Clinton, Beresford his breast-works all 
 Will dauntless carry amid carnage dire ; 
 Mont Rave thou' It win ere Night shall spread her pall, 
 And bristling still shall warlike Soult retire, 
 W r hile o'er Garonne thou'lt pass and Victory's salvo fire. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 "And in that hour thou'lt learn not e'en the great 
 Usurper's genius can avert his doom. 
 His crown an instant he resigns to Fate, 
 But with more fierce rebound new sway to assume. 
 War-fires shall then the Belgian fields illume. 
 'Tis thine Napoleon's self at Waterloo 
 To crush for aye. Despite his cannon's boom, 
 Terrific rout and bondage he will rue. 
 Soldier of Liberty, this task remains to do !" 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 She said, and pointing to the fields of France, 
 And beckoning Arthur on with Godlike smile, 
 That bids the Hero fearlessly advance, 
 Her giant form dissolves in air, the while 
 Pyrene shakes with earthquake many a mile, 
 From peak to peak the volleying thunders roll. 
 Great Arthur marched, and heaped the trophied pile, 
 His Destiny fulfilling to its goal, 
 
 And Heaven for long renown hath spared his hero-soul. 
 Q2 
 
340 IBERIA WON. [CANTO xn, 
 
 xxxv. 
 
 Aggressive Conquest ! tempt not Freedom's shields, 
 For Britons still your fiercest ire can quell. 
 Ambition, Treachery seized Iberia's fields, 
 And mark how freemen tyrant-bands expel ! 
 If Victory cheered us, 'twas that Spain might dwell 
 Beneath her vine secure from despot's frown. 
 And if thy dauntless children battled well, 
 No need thy Edwards, Henries left thy crown, 
 No need, Britannia, left thy Marlborough of renown ! 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 Grand though thy trophies, ne'er by land or main 
 Shall War's barbarian triumphs wake thy pride ; 
 No blood-stained laurels shall thy forehead stain, 
 But Peace with olive branch o'ershadowing bide, 
 And mark the Godhead in thy empire wide. 
 Not human anguish but new joy to Man 
 Thy limbs shall shed in their colossal stride ; 
 Foredoomed despotic wrath and wrong to ban, 
 And make creation square with the Eternal plan ! 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 A.S thine the curb, so thine be too the scourge, 
 Not lightly used, but terrible in need. 
 Earth, like Alcides, of its monsters purge, 
 Both hydra-tyrants and the single breed ! 
 Untusk the boar, and shatter like a reed 
 The swords resisting Justice ; yet be thine 
 With mercy to attemper strength of deed ; 
 Nor let thy Fecial seers too nice refine, 
 But loveliest rays of Truth through all thy orbit shine. 
 
CANTO XII.] IBERIA WON. 341 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 Strong be thy armament as fits thy strength 
 Of mandate powerful thy Lernaean clave ; 
 Nor pinch nor waste distort from its due length 
 The sword of Justice which the Godhead gave. 
 And, firstly, still, Britannia, rule the wave ! 
 With floating battlements to plough the main, 
 Make peaceful every shore ! Bid every slave, 
 While freemen prouder swell, dash off his chain, 
 When thy artillery's roar is heard o'er Ocean's plain ! 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 And lording o'er thy empire of the Deep, 
 Whose noblest uses are thy virtue's dower, 
 Diffusing knowledge where thy navies sweep, 
 And linking distant lands, where rolls each hour 
 That mightiest image of surpassing power, 
 Reign on beneficent the Nations tell 
 Thy commerce, like thy shore, is Freedom's tower. 
 Scatter with Godlike hand wide blessings quell 
 The factious voice abroad, the subjects who rebel. 
 
 XL. 
 
 Shall boys the emerald from thy circlet rend, 
 Queen of the Nations, Mistress of the Seas ? 
 Must all thy glories thus obscurely end 
 A rag of Empire fluttering to the breeze ! 
 And shall Britannia vail to such as these, 
 Barbarian traffickers in base turmoil, 
 The sceptre at whose wave Oppression flees ? 
 No, no ; while springs a leaf o'er all her soil, 
 Shall men too spring up there to mock Sedition's toil ! 
 
342 IBERIA WON. [CANTO xn. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 And generous hearts are Erin's. Think not they 
 Who storm the loudest are the deepest felt. 
 Fair shines the Moon, though dogs unquiet bay, 
 And rusts the sword that rattled in the belt ; 
 Ere crost, how would the clamorous phalanx melt ? 
 In scurril threats, that wound not, most they shine. 
 Too base the altars where they've groveling knelt, 
 To feel true Celts the valourous glow divine 
 That led thy " hope forlorn" in many a battle line. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 Let selfish virulence its coffers fill, 
 Let half-formed striplings dream that they have minds ; 
 But vaunts mistake not for a nation's will, 
 Nor lucre's lust for what the true heart binds. 
 Some fervent spirits still the mockery blinds 
 Of patriot zeal, but fades the dream amain, 
 And scatters the weak bubble to the winds. 
 Not Erin's heart partakes the traitor-stain; 
 Sound to the core the breast that bled for thee in Spain ! 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 Yet gently deal with that distracted land ; 
 With generous flood of bounty soothe her woes. 
 Mete Justice with no nice or niggard hand, 
 But heap like coals of fire upon thy foes 
 Magnanimous replies to dastard blows ! 
 Not false the people every boon be theirs, 
 Each healing measure quivering wounds to close. 
 Forget not that thy fame lerne shares ; 
 Forget not that she gave great Arthur to thy wars ! 
 
CANTO XII.] IBERIA WON. 343 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 Fulfil thy destiny ! Resistless spread 
 Through boundless Asia, forced to bear thy arms. 
 O'er Scindian waters be thy spirit shed, 
 Divulging ev'n in Conquest Freedom's charms! 
 Earth shaketh still with Battle's late alarms, 
 Yet peace and joy pervade the fields thou'st won ; 
 VICTORIA blesses with her hand not harms. 
 Beneath Britannia's sway shall millions run; 
 Earth's labouring head art thou, her Cyclop eye and sun ! 
 
 XLV. 
 
 Yet robed in power and grandeur, bate thy pride, 
 And 'mid thy glory shudder at thy shame, 
 For starves the vagrant by the palace side, 
 And misery's blight is tarnishing thy fame. 
 Your bosoms, boundless wealth and luxury, tame ; 
 Nor rags nor squalor all your laws can ban. 
 Deal, deal more kindly with the poor, nor frame 
 A felon statute each offence to scan ; 
 And let not Ignorance mar the Eternal's image, Man ! 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 Oh England ! to thyself be true, nor fear 
 But every hostile voice will soon be dumb. 
 Smile on majestic ev'n while thou dost hear 
 O'er subject Ocean roll the doubling drum. 
 There sleep their wrath, or let the Invader come ! 
 To thee indifferent thou wilt strike no blow, 
 Save for such cause as Heaven descendeth from. 
 Live, Arbitress of Peace and War, that so 
 All Earth may court thy smile, and dread thee as a foe ! 
 
344 
 
 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 
 TO CANTO XII. 
 
 THE allusion at the commencement of this Canto is more especially 
 to the admirable regulations established and enforced while our 
 troops were upon the French territory. Never, since the days of 
 the great Gustavus, was such discipline preserved in an enemy's 
 country. Captain Batty attests the excellent feeling produced 
 amongst the inhabitants of St. Jean de Luz and its neighbourhood 
 by the wonderful restraint observed by our army while stationed 
 there in cantonments. (Campaign of the Western Pyrenees.} The 
 well-known General Order of Wellington enforcing this discipline 
 can never be forgotten, as the brightest monument of civilized 
 war perhaps in certain circumstances an inevitable calamity, but 
 by him softened to the smallest infliction of injury. An official 
 letter written from Bayonne, and quoted by Napier, book xxiv. 
 chap. 1, contains this splendid testimony; " The English general's 
 policy, and the good discipline he maintains, do us more harm 
 than ten battles. Every peasant wishes to be under his protection." 
 
 The principal battles are described in the order of their occur- 
 rence, and my impressions from recent visits are here recorded. 
 
 The ravines which intersect the heights of Rori9a are overgrown 
 with the beautiful shrubs, which make the wild districts of Portugal 
 so delightful. The arbutus and myrtle I noted especially. Near 
 the top of the middle pass is a small opening in the form of a 
 wedge, nearly covered with these shrubs, where the severest fight- 
 ing took place. The principal column in the main attack advanced 
 under cover of some olive and cork trees, the ilex of the text. The 
 name of this battle-ground (as remarked in my Introduction) has 
 
NOTES TO CANTO XII. 345 
 
 been frequently disfigured in English accounts. " Rolissa" is a com- 
 mon form of error ; and the usual, but absurdly erroneous, form 
 was for many years, " Roleia." The true reading is that in the 
 text. This battle was fought on the 17th August, 1808. 
 
 The difficulty of the ground, both at Vimieiro and at Rorica, 
 struck me as only inferior to that of the terrible Serra of Busaco, 
 and the still more gigantic inequalities of the Pyrenees. In front 
 of the little village of Vimieiro, sweetly situated in a \alleywatered 
 by the silver stream of Maceira, rises a rugged and detached 
 flat-topped hill, commanding the passes which stretch to the south 
 and east. A fearful ravine, the scene of great carnage, separates 
 a mountain, that sweeps in a crescent from the coast, from another 
 range of heights over which passes the road from Vimieiro to 
 Lourinham, and which returns to the coast with a sudden bend 
 backwards, terminating there in a tall and precipitous cliff. The 
 ground between the points where the two armies were posted is 
 wooded and broken in an extraordinary degree, especially by the 
 deep ravine above referred to, where Brennier was for a considerable 
 time entangled. Kellerman's reserves were posted in a pine wood. 
 Our 43rd regiment, stationed amongst some vineyards, covered 
 with ripening grapes, to which allusion is made in the text, for 
 the battle was fought on the 21st August, 1808, maintained a fierce 
 contest against the French grenadiers, whom they eventually 
 scattered with a furious onset of the bayonet, the regiment suffer- 
 ing severely. On the crest of the ridge Solignac was equally de- 
 feated ; the French artillery, taken and rescued for a time, were 
 finally retaken, and their discomfited troops compelled to retreat. 
 
 The glorious battle of Talavera was fought on the 28th July, 
 1809, when the "burning sun" described in the text was so fierce 
 and scathing as to tempt the soldiers of both armies, before the 
 commencement of the fight, down to the little brook which sepa- 
 rated their positions, not far from the memorable hill which was 
 the vital point of the action, where they quenched their thirst 
 together, mingling without any attempt at mutual molestation, 
 Q3 
 
346 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 with a degree of reciprocal confidence which was not without 
 something chivalroiis in its character. I slaked my thirst at the 
 same stream on my visit, and could not help smiling at the remark 
 of a Spanish peasant, that that water to this hour is " ensangren- 
 tada!" I pointed to its limpid purity, which assuredly had 
 nothing of the crimson hue. The mingling of the French and 
 English troops at this stream for such a purpose reminded me of a 
 passage in my life which occurred in 1836 at Compiegne in France, 
 where the late lamented Duke of Orleans had formed a camp for 
 military exercises, which I attended as a spectator. The heat was 
 likewise then intolerable, and I slaked my thirst at a streamlet on 
 the ground in the midst of scores of French soldiers, similarly 
 employed, who assisted me with great politeness. . At Talavera 
 the French, posted near the Tagus, amongst some olive groves 
 which were in full bloom at the period of my visit, commenced 
 the battle with a tempest of bullets from no fewer than 80 pieces 
 of artillery. The " Belluno" alluded to in the text was Marshal 
 Victor, Duke of that name. " The English regiments met the 
 advancing columns." "Their loud and confident shouts sure 
 augury of success were heard along the whole line." (Napier, 
 Hist. War in the Penins. book viii. chap. 2.) A terrible charge of 
 cavalry was executed by the 23rd, down a nearly precipitous cleft, 
 in which half the regiment was sacrificed. The charge of the 48th 
 decided the day, which says Napier " was one of hard, honest 
 fighting," and for which Sir Arthur Wellesley first was made a Peer. 
 " The battle was scarcely over when the dry grass and shrubs taking 
 fire, a volume of flames passed with inconceivable rapidity across 
 a part of the field, scorching in its course both the dead and the 
 wounded." (Napier, Hist. War in the Penins. book viii. chap. 2.) 
 My first reflection, on ascending the Serra of Busaco, was one 
 of astonishment how any troops could act in such terrifically 
 broken ground. It seemed almost impracticable to my mule. 
 Yet up these tremendous steeps the French scaled rather than 
 charged with a degree of active energy and hardihood, which well 
 
NOTES TO CANTO XII. 347 
 
 deserves the compliment paid to them by Napier : " In this battle 
 of Busaco, the French, after astonishing efforts of valour, were re- 
 pulsed, in the manner to be expected from the strength of the 
 ground, and the goodness of the soldiers opposed to them." 
 (Hist. War in the Penins. book xi. chap. 7.) It was not easy in 
 imagination to conjure up the spectacle of these elevated crags 
 fronting the peaceful convent, and these crests of rugged mountains 
 scattered in tumbling confusion around, bristling all over with 
 bayonets as they did before sunrise on that eventful morning, thirty- 
 six years since, and the French emerging from those wooded ravines, 
 and rushing up the face of these fearful heights, down which they 
 were hurled again, their bodies strewing the way to the very 
 depths of the valley. A mist capped the mountain on my visit, and 
 it was so on the day of the battle the 27th September, 1810. 
 " In less than half an hour the French were close upon the summit ; 
 so swiftly and with such astonishing power and resolution did they 
 scale the mountain." (Napier, Hist. War in the Penins. ibid.) 
 "The Duke"'s despatch is, as usual, succinct and forcible. 
 Massena's character, as drawn by Napoleon, was as follows : 
 " Brave, decided, and intrepid * * his dispositions for battle 
 bad, but his temper pertinacious to the last degree." His rash- 
 ness was here apparent. His ruthless cruelty and infamous burn- 
 ings and destruction, in retreating from the Lines of Torres 
 Vedras six months later, including his firing of the Convent of 
 Alcoba?a, make the name which Napoleon gave him, " the child 
 of victory," unworthy by the side of Ney, "the bravest of the 
 brave." 
 
 The battle of Fuentes de Onoro, fought on the 5th May, 1811, 
 was no very decided triumph, although most undoubtedly a 
 victory, since the principal object of the allies, the covering of the 
 blockade of Almeida, was successfully accomplished. The village 
 of Fuentes, so often attacked throughout the day, was unflinchingly 
 and gallantly defended; and on the chapel and crags which 
 surmount the town w r e maintained our ground to the last, while 
 
348 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 the French retired a cannon-shot from the stream. My attention 
 was invited in a more lively degree by the neighbouring fortress of 
 Almeida, which was the scene of such repeated actions during the 
 Peninsular War, and where occurred the curious siege in 1844 by 
 the forces of the Portuguese government, when it was occupied 
 by a revolutionary party under the Conde do Bomfim, aiming at 
 the subversion of Dona Maria's prerogative. 
 
 The battle of Atbuera was fought on the 16th May, 1811, eleven 
 days after the battle of Fuentes de Onoro. At Albuera the personal 
 gallantry of Marshal Beresford was more conspicuous than the 
 generalship. Our loss in killed and wounded here was greater 
 than in any other action during the Peninsular War. Wellington 
 arrived on the field the third day after the battle.- For several 
 days before it the Spaniards had been reduced to horse-flesh for a 
 subsistence ! Yet on the whole they fought well. It was the 
 terrific charge and indomitable valour of the Fusiliers that gained 
 the day. Never was British infantry seen to greater advantage. 
 " The terrible balance hung for two hours, and twice trembling 
 to the sinister side, only yielded at last to the superlative vigour 
 of the fusiliers." (Napier, Hist. War in the Penins. book xii. 
 chap. 7.) 
 
 The assault of Ciudad Rodrigo took place on the 19th January, 
 1812. The success was the result of desperate valour, time not 
 permitting the regular approaches of scientific skill, as it was 
 hourly expected that Marmont would arrive to succour the town. 
 " Wellington resolved to storm the place without blowing in the 
 counterscarp ; in other words, to overstep the rules of science, 
 and sacrifice life rather than time, for such was the capricious 
 nature of the Agueda that in one night a flood might enable a 
 small French force to relieve the place." (Napier, Hist. War in the 
 Penins. book xvi. chap. 3.) " The storming party went straight to 
 the breach, which was so contracted that a gun placed lengthwise 
 across the top nearly blocked up the opening. * * The auda- 
 cious manner in which Wellington stormed the redoubt of Fran- 
 
NOTES TO CANTO XII. 349 
 
 cisco, and broke ground on the first night of the investment ; the 
 more audacious manner in which he assaulted the place before the 
 fire of the defence had been in any manner lessened, * * were 
 the true causes of the sudden fall of the place. * * When the 
 general terminated his order for the assault with this sentence, 
 ' Ciudad Rodrigo must be stormed this evening,' he knew well 
 that it would be nobly understood." (Ibid.} The vital contest 
 lasted only a few minutes, but cost the gallant Crawford's 
 life. " Throwing off the restraints of discipline, the troops 
 committed frightful excesses. The town was fired in three 
 or four places, the soldiers menaced their officers, and shot 
 each other; many were killed in the market-place, intoxica- 
 tion soon increased the tumult, disorder everywhere prevailed, 
 and at last, the fury rising to an absolute madness, a fire was 
 wilfully lighted in the middle of the great magazine, when the 
 town and all in it would have been blown to atoms, but for 
 the energetic courage of some officers and a few soldiers who still 
 preserved their senses." (Ibid.) It is fit that the glories of War 
 should have hung up by their side this pendent picture of its 
 Hellish atrocities and horrors. The " frightful excesses " are here 
 but imperfectly detailed. Neither age nor sex was spared from 
 any description of outrage ; and it was against the Spanish people 
 unarmed, helpless, and allies, that these villanies of unbridled 
 passion were committed. Warlike ambition contains within it 
 the germs of every crime ; and War itself, unless purely defensive 
 and inevitable, is the concentration of all malignity. 
 
 The approach to Badajoz from the side of Elvas is exceedingly 
 interesting. The Portuguese fortress of Elvas is perched on a lofty 
 hill, with the valley at its foot which separates it at the distance 
 of three leagues from Badajoz and the mountains of the Spanish 
 frontier. I was struck by the contrast between the warm and 
 cultivated quintas on the Elvas side, and the bleakness on that of 
 Badajoz. The sun had just risen over the hills of Spanish Estre- 
 madura, which clad in the deepest purple were boldly yet delicately 
 
350 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 limned along the sky. The road was covered with numberless screech- 
 ing carros, and the whistling contrabandists and sturdy almocrebes 
 conducting their mules in listless silence formed a wonderful 
 contrast with my thoughts, which were full of the ' pride, pomp, 
 and circumstance ' of War. When I entered Badajoz, which I 
 did from the side of Madrid, I could not help shuddering at 
 the sight of those walls which, little more than thirty years 
 back, witnessed so terrible a conflict "a combat," says Napier 
 " so fiercely fought, so terribly won, so dreadful in all its cir- 
 cumstances, that posterity can scarcely be expected to credit the 
 tale ; but many are still alive who know that it is true." (Hist. 
 War in the Penins. book xvi. chap. 5.) The courage of Philippon 
 and the garrison was of the highest order. The assault combined 
 escalade and storm, and took place in the night of the 6th April, 
 1812. For a detailed description of this wonderful and terrific 
 scene I must refer to Napier's History, whose magnificent narra- 
 tive it is impossible to abridge. " The ramparts crowded with 
 dark figures and glittering arms were seen on the one side, and on 
 the other the red columns of the British, deep and broad, were 
 coming on like streams of burning lava ; * * a crash of thunder 
 followed, and with incredible violence the storming parties were 
 dashed to pieces by the explosion of hundreds of shells and powder- 
 barrels." (Napier, Hid.) " Now a multitude bounded up the great 
 breach as if driven by a whirlwind, but across the top glittered a 
 range of sword-blades, sharp -pointed, keen-edged on both sides, 
 and firmly fixed in ponderous beams, which were chained together 
 and set deep in the ruins ; and fourteen feet in front, the ascent was 
 covered with loose planks, studded with sharp iron points, on which 
 the feet of the foremost being set the planks moved, and the un- 
 happy soldiers, falling forward on the spikes, rolled down upon the 
 ranks behind." (Ibid.) " Two hours spent in these vain efforts 
 convinced the soldiers that the breach of the Trinidad was impreg- 
 nable. * * Gathering in dark groups, and leaning on their 
 muskets, they looked up with sullen desperation, while the enemy 
 
NOTES TO CANTO XII. 351 
 
 stepping out on the ramparts, and aiming their shot by the light 
 of the fire-balls which they threw over, asked, as their victims 
 fell, Why they did not come into Badajoz ?" (Ibid.) Five thou- 
 sand men fell during the siege, of whom 3,500 were struck 
 during the assault. Five generals were wounded. More than 
 2,000 men fell at the breaches ! Philippon surrendered early 
 next morning. To the heroic Picton and his " fighting third " 
 division the success was chiefly attributable. " Now com- 
 menced that wild and desperate wickedness, which tarnished 
 the lustre of the soldier's heroism. All indeed were not alike, 
 for hundreds risked and many lost their lives in striving to stop 
 the violence, but the madness generally prevailed, and as the worst 
 men were leaders here, all the dreadful passions of human nature 
 were displayed. Shameless rapacity, brutal intemperance, savage 
 lust, cruelty, and murder, shrieks and piteous lamentations, groans, 
 shouts, imprecations, the hissing of fires bursting from the houses, 
 the crashing of doors and windows, and the reports of muskets 
 used in violence, resounded for two days and nights in the streets 
 of Badajoz ! on the third, when the city was sacked, when the 
 soldiers were exhausted by their own excesses, the tumult rather 
 subsided than was quelled. The wounded men were then looked 
 to, the dead disposed of." (Ibid.) Let this scene be for ever en- 
 graven on our minds let its horrors be a response to the insane 
 clamour for war. And, notwithstanding the glories of our Penin- 
 sular campaigns, let us resolve that a sword we will never draw but 
 in defence of our own soil ! 
 
 The ever memorable battle of Salamanca took place in the same 
 month of July in which three years before had been fought the 
 equally glorious battle of Talavera and even in still more sultry 
 weather, so much so that before the engagement at Salamanca, on 
 one occasion when the French, pressing upon our rear, were scat- 
 tered by the bayonet, some of our men fainted with the heat. On 
 the eve of the battle, a terrific thunder-storm came on just as 
 the enemy were taking up their position. The sky was kindled 
 
352 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 with incessant lightnings, and through the heavy rain which sub- 
 sequently fell, the French fires could be seen along their entire 
 line* It is a remarkable fact that nearly every one of our chief 
 battles in the Peninsula was heralded by a storm, as if Nature 
 sympathized in the contest. That of Salamanca was fought upon 
 a plain surrounded by ranges of hills one of the few open and 
 level tracts upon which the rival armies met in the Peninsula, which 
 seemed peculiarly adapted for such a struggle, bearing at opposite 
 and distant points two striking rocky eminences, steep and rugged, 
 called the Arapiles (cut out, as it were, for rival generals) on which 
 the left of the French and the right of the Allies were posted. 
 The battle of Salamanca lasted only forty minutes. It originated 
 in an error of Marmont's, which Wellington seized as thus described 
 by Napier : " Starting up, he repaired to the high ground, and 
 observed their movements for some time, with a stern con- 
 tentment, for their left wing was entirely separated from the 
 centre. The fault was flagrant, and he fixed it with the stroke 
 of a thunder-bolt." (Hist. War in the Penins. book xviii. 
 chap. 3.) 
 
 The battle of Vitoria was fought on the 21st June, 1813. The 
 weather was rainy, and a thick curtain of vapour overspread both 
 armies till noon. The utter rout which the French sustained was 
 in great part the result of a complication of enormous faults and 
 errors on the part of King Joseph. The basin of Vitoria, into 
 which he poured not only his troops, but his parks, baggage, 
 convoys, stores and encumbrances of every description is un- 
 equally divided by the winding Zadora, and nearly ten miles long 
 by an average breadth of eight miles. The stream which intersects 
 it is narrow, and the banks very steep in parts and uniformly 
 rugged. Here he was utterly exposed, and to the last moment 
 undecided even as to a line of retreat. The line of the Ebro had 
 been admirably turned by Wellington, and of the strength of the 
 country about that river the French were by most judicious move- 
 ments deprived. Their position was liable to be taken in flank, 
 
NOTES TO CANTO XII. 353 
 
 and this advantage was mercilessly seized. My emotion here 
 was little short of that which I experienced on the plain of 
 Waterloo ; for though the contest here was immeasurably more 
 brief, the blow was struck with matchless vigour, and likewise 
 on a noble battle ground. The stress of the action lay about 
 the heights of La Puebla. This important point by which the 
 river was passed and the village of Subijana de Alava having 
 been successively carried by the allies, as well as the bridges of 
 Tres Puentes, Mendoza, and Arriaga, the French hotly pressed on 
 all sides were forced to retire on Vitoria, when the rout ensued 
 which was one of the most complete in history. " It was the 
 wreck of a nation." (Napier, Hist. War in the Penins. book xx. 
 chap. 8.) An officer who was present well expressed it thus : "The 
 French were beaten before the town, and in the town, and through 
 the town, and out of the town, and behind the town, and all round 
 about the town ;" and Gazan, a French officer's account was that 
 " they lost all their equipages, all their guns, all their treasure, all 
 their stores, and all their papers, so that no man could prove how 
 much pay was due to him." From the total wreck even king 
 Joseph with difficulty escaped, a pistol-shot having been fired into 
 his carriage. " The trophies were innumerable," (Napier, ibid.) 
 The spoils resembled those of an Oriental rather than an European 
 army ; for Joseph had all his luxuries and treasures with him. 
 Five millions and a half of dollars were stated by the French 
 accounts to have been in the money-chests. Our troops had 
 abundant spoil, for " not one dollar," says Napier, " came to 
 the public." A profusion was found of the choicest wines and 
 delicacies, the baggage was rifled, and our soldiers attired them- 
 selves in the gala dresses of the enemy. Marshal Jourdan's 
 baton was taken by the 87th regiment. " The Duke" 's despatch 
 is excellent. 
 
 Minute details of the several battles of the Pyrenees, and of 
 those fought upon the soil of France up to the gates of Toulouse, 
 will be found in the last volume of Napier's History. 
 
354 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 With regard to the Lines of Torres Vedras, the testimony of 
 Colonel (since General) Jones, an eminent engineer officer, whose 
 writings are of the plainest and most practical character, and who 
 evidently had little imagination to incite him to enthusiasm, is as 
 follows : " The lines in front of Lisbon are a triumph to the 
 British nation. They are without douht the finest specimen of a 
 fortified position ever effected. From their peninsular situation 
 there is no possibility of manreuvring on the flanks, cutting oif the 
 supplies, or getting in the rear of them : in the details of the 
 work there is no pedantry of science ; nor long lines of fortification 
 for show without strength ; mountains themselves are made the 
 prominent points ; the gorges alone derive their total strength 
 from retrenchments. The quantity of labour bestowed on them 
 is incredible, but in no part has the engineer done more than his 
 duty ; assisted nature, assisted the general, and assisted the 
 troops, and for each arm has procured a favourable field of 
 action." (Journals of the Sieges undertaken by the Allies in 
 Spain, note 1.) I have frequently witnessed at Lisbon the ex- 
 citement of French military travellers about these works. Their 
 first rush from Lisbon is to Torres Vedras and the neighbour- 
 hood to see them ; and their admiration, although a little 
 bitterly, is always freely expressed. The testimony of a dis- 
 tinguished French general is equally explicit: "Ce monument 
 remarquable de 1'industrie de nos ennemis, les lignes construites 
 en 1810 pour la defence de Lisbonne." (Foy, Hist. Guerre. 
 Penins. liv. ii.) 
 
 The modes of warfare and the structure of society have under- 
 gone such an utter change that it appears delusive to seek any 
 parallel for the achievements of Wellington in the records of an- 
 cient history. The naked fact that he had to contend against the 
 incomparable military genius of Napoleon, and without any exag- 
 geration became " levainqueur duvainqueur du monde" attests in 
 the severe sobriety of History more than the most fulsome adula- 
 tion. All the great conquerors of the ancient world Sesostris, 
 
NOTES TO CANTO XII. 355 
 
 Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar were invaders : Wellington's battles 
 were nearly all defensive of human rights and liberty. In Roman 
 annals he may be most fittingly compared to Scipio Africanus, the 
 conqueror of Hannibal the more especially for the purity of both 
 their characters. In Grecian history he might be likened to 
 Themistoeles, who also maintained a glorious defensive war, but 
 that the English, unlike the Greek hero, was incorruptible. His 
 character is a compound of the two great joint rulers of Athens 
 of the military conduct of Themistocles and the inflexible justice of 
 Aristides. The admirable strokes of policy by which Themistocles 
 circumvented Xerxes might be paralleled in several parts of Wel- 
 lington's career, who like Themistocles could lead his foes astray 
 as well as rout them at Salamis. There is one part of the 
 Athenian's character, his venality, over which the Englishman 
 towers with transcendent superiority. There is another, and 
 curious particular, in which the comparison is likewise to his 
 advantage. Themistocles was unskilled in music, and therefore 
 by his contemporaries (who prized that art so highly) twitted with 
 ignorance, as Cicero informs us. (Tusc. Quest, lib. i.) Plutarch, 
 (lib, i.) and Athenaeus (lib. xiv.) mention that those w r ho were un- 
 skilled in the harp were forced jocosely to sing to the accom- 
 paniment of a branch of laurel or myrtle held in a cithara-like 
 form, as we sometimes now-a-days see a wag perform a tune with 
 poker and bellows. The ancients in their banquets were in the 
 habit of sending round the lyre to each of the guests in succession, 
 an event of which kind caused Themistocles to be found wanting, 
 from whence Quintilian (lib. i. cap. 16) takes occasion to inculcate 
 on his pupils the necessity of learning music. The same practice 
 prevailed amongst our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, at whose feasts the 
 harp was sent round in a precisely similar manner. (Bede, Hist. 
 Eccles. Anglor. iv. 24.) The Duke of Wellington's love of music 
 is inherited from his accomplished father, the Earl of Mornington, 
 and his Directorship of the Ancient Concerts proves that he is not 
 more devoted to Mars than to Apollo. 
 
356 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 The gallantry and intelligence with which the views of Welling- 
 ton were seconded throughout the Peninsular campaigns most 
 amply deserve the honourable record of the following names 
 amongst the leaders : (Lord) Hill, Graham (Lord Lyuedoch), 
 Picton, Cole, Robert Crawfurd, George Murray, Cotton (Lord 
 Combermere), (Lord) Colborne, Hope (Lord Hopetoun), Kempt, 
 Pakenham, Pack, Clinton, Byng, (Lord) Beresford, Stewart (Marquis 
 of Londonderry), Paget (Marquis of Anglesey), Lord Fitzroy Som- 
 erset, Lord Edward Somerset, Stopford, Catlin Crawfurd, Colville, 
 Leith, Barnes, Barnard, Vandeleur, Borthwick, Bowes, Harvey, 
 Skerrett, Myers, Spencer, Oswald, Bradford, Hamilton, Houghton, 
 Cadogan, Power, William Stewart, Lumley, (Lord) Saltoun, Anson, 
 Hulse, Erskine, Nightingale, (Lord) Vivian, Dalhousie, Le Mar- 
 chant, Walker, Fletcher, Howorth, Mackenzie, Lightfoot, Payne, 
 Campbell, Colin Campbell, Donkin, Langworth, Ludlow, Guise, 
 Dilkes, Ferguson, Ridge, Canch, D'Urban, Anstruther, Mackinnon, 
 Baird, Sherbrooke, Wilson, Hay, Sprye, Robinson, Inglis, Aylmer, 
 Howard, Talbot, Watson, Grant, Madden, Bull, Gibbs, Gough, 
 Hinuber, Bock, &c. And amongst the officers who greatly distin- 
 guished themselves, to complete this Walhalla, (Lord) Hardinge, 
 the Napiers, Mackie, Gurwood, Smith, Grant, OToole, Sturgeon, 
 Manners, Ridge, Duncan, Campbell, Macleod, Hardyman, Shaw 
 (Kennedy), Lord March (Duke of Richmond), Nicholas, Lord 
 William Russell, Hare, Ferguson, Lake, Nugent, Hughes, Barnard, 
 Seymour, Ponsonby, Donnellan, Trant, Waters, Halket, Ellis, 
 Blakeney, Dickson, Otway, Collins, Burgoyne, Hartman, Way, 
 Duckworth, Inglis, Abercrombie, Hawkshawe, M'Intosh, Dyas, 
 Forster, Putton, M'Geechy,Hunt, M'Adam,Maguire,Gethin, Cooke, 
 Robertson, Rose, Patrick, Frier, Lloyd, Arentschild, M'Bean, Snocl- 
 grass, Moore, Herries, Townsend, Maitland, Stuart, Woodford, 
 Sullivan, Crofton, Hervey, Wheatly, Brown, &c. Neither must I 
 omit mention of Graham's glorious victory at Barosa, and Hill's 
 splendid achievement at Almaraz, or of the crossing of the Douro 
 and expulsion of Soult from Oporto. 
 
NOTES TO CANTO XII. 357 
 
 " Bright be thy fame, illustrious Wellington !" 
 Hobs &v a' sira.iv4<raip.i p/>] \ia.v 
 
 Aivovfj.fvoi yap ol 'yaBol, rp6irov riva 
 Mtcrovffi rovs aivovvras, e&v alvus' &yav. 
 
 Eurip. Iph. in Aul. 977. 
 
 " How shall I praise thee in words neither too many nor too 
 few ? For the good, when they are praised, in some manner hate 
 those who praise them, if they praise too much." 
 
 ii. - " Great Themistocles, excelling 
 
 In martial prowess all that turns to dust." 
 
 p.i<rQov. Find. Pyth. i. 
 
 " I will embrace at Salamis the benefit conferred by Athens 
 upon Greece, and will magnify its great reward." The allusion is 
 to the fulfilment of the ancient prophecy, that " the Attic city 
 would be saved by her w r ooden walls," a phrase curiously repro- 
 duced in the modern history of England. For the details of this 
 victory see Herodotus, lib. viii. Pindar, in the foregoing passage, 
 incidentally refers to the splendid reward which he received from 
 the Athenians, who gave him 2000 drachmas, being twice the 
 amount of the fine inflicted on him by his Theban countrymen for 
 celebrating the praises of the Athenians at Salamis. (JUschines, 
 Epist. iv.) 
 
 in. " The cannon fired for joy upon the morn, 
 
 That told the nation Salamanca's skies," &c. 
 
 The battle of Salamanca was fought on the 22nd July, 1812. 
 The author was born on the 27th December in the same year. 
 " Salamanca will always be referred to as the most skilful of 
 Wellington's battles." (Napier, Hist. War in the Peninsula, 
 
358 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 book xix. chap. 7.) This splendid achievement was designated by 
 a French officer at the time as " the beating of forty thousand men 
 in forty minutes." 
 
 iv. " Length of days, 
 
 And honours of a Demigod," &c. 
 
 6 VIKUV Se \oiirbv afjufA fiiorov 
 
 ' 'eveKsv. Find. Otymp. i. 
 
 " The Conqueror for the remainder of his days enjoyeth a honeyed 
 security, the reward of his victories." 
 
 v. " The path of Caesar blood and tears o'erran." 
 
 See Ferguson's Roman Republic, book iv. chap. 1, 2, 3, 7. 
 
 vi. " I late have stood upon thy battle-fields." 
 
 Sint tibi Flaminius, Thrasymenaque litora, testes. 
 
 Ovid. Fast. vi. 765. 
 
 viii., x. For poetical alusions to the battles of Talavera and 
 Albuera see Byron's Childe Harold, Canto i., and Scott's Don 
 Roderick. 
 
 xiv. " To where Garumna's stream to ocean runs." 
 
 " Pernicior unda Gammnae," the Garonne on which Toulouse 
 is situated, the ' docta Tolosa' of Ausonius. 
 
 xix. " ' Now, Don Salustian,' thus great Arthur said 
 
 ' This piteous scene doth touch my heart full sore.' " 
 lf ttyt]X6fyp<av fJLOi Ovfjibs afperai irp6(Tco' 
 '~E.iriffTa.rai Se rots Kaito'icri r' 
 Merpiws re x a ' l P eit/ folff 
 
 Eurip. Iphiff. in Aul. 919. 
 
 " My lofty mind is vehemently raised. But it knows how to 
 pity misfortune, and moderately to enjoy prosperity." 
 
NOTES TO CANTO XII. 359 
 
 xxi. " O'ercast with blushes that like roses seem." 
 
 And ever and anon with rosy red 
 The bashful blood her snowy cheeks did die, 
 And her became as polished ivorie, 
 Which cunning craftsman's hand hath overlaid 
 With fair verrnillion on pure lasterie. 
 
 Spenser, Fairy Queen. 
 
 xxn. " In kisses o'er her hand his soul was cast." 
 
 Suaviolum dulci dulcius ambrosia. Catul. xcvi. 
 
 xxv. " Greater thy glory than Pendragon's son," &c. 
 
 What resounds 
 
 In fable or romance of Uther's son 
 Begirt with British and Armoric knights. 
 
 Milt. Par. Lost, i. 579. 
 
 I have preferred the name Pendragon to Uther, as more reso- 
 nant. King Arthur's father had both names. (Robert de Bor- 
 ron, Hist.} 
 
 xxvi. " List to thy Destiny, and nerve thy arm." 
 
 Nunc age .... quae deinde sequatur Gloria . . . 
 Expediam dictis, et te tua fata docebo. Virg. ^En. vi. 
 
 " Cyclopian castles hewn from solid rock." 
 Though the penultimate in the first word is long in the Greek, 
 in Latin it is short : 
 
 Vos et Cyclopia saxa, Experti. Virg. Mn. i. 205. 
 
 xxvin. " Through no vain boast like Xerxes." 
 
 Tumidum super aequora Xerxem. 
 
 Luc. Phars. ii. 627. 
 
 Suppositumque rotis solidum mare . . . 
 Ille tamen qualis rediit Salamine relicta, 
 Ipsum compedibus qui vinxerat Ennosigaeum ? 
 
 Juvenal. Sat. x. 176. 
 
360 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 xxxin. " She said, and pointing to the fields of France," 
 
 Cosi dicendo . . . 
 
 . . tremo 1'aria riverente, e i campi 
 
 Dell' Oceano, e i monti, e i ciechi abissi. 
 
 Tasso, Gerus. Lib. xiii. 74. 
 
 " And Heaven for long renown hath spared his hero soul." 
 
 E3 Se iraOfiv, rb irp&rov 
 
 e<5 $' aKoveiv, Sevrepa jUO?- 
 
 p\ AfjL(f>OTfpolcri. 5' dv7?p 
 
 &s tiv yKvpa"r), Kal f\y y 
 
 VTetyavov v^iffrov SeSe/cTcu. Find. Pyth. i. 
 
 " To use good fortune is the first of gifts, and to hear men's 
 praise is the second felicity ; but to whatever man both these have 
 fallen, he hath received the highest crown !" While Pindar was 
 eulogizing the Syracusan Hiero, one might think that he was 
 describing Wellington. 
 
 xxxv. - " Ne'er by land or main 
 
 Shall War's barbarian triumphs wake thy pride." 
 
 Ipsum nos carmen deducit Pacis ad aram. 
 
 Pax ades ; et toto mitis in orbe mane. 
 Dum desunt hostes, desit quoque causa triumphi. 
 
 Tu ducibus bello gloria major eris ! 
 Sola gerat miles, quibus arma coerceat, arma ; 
 
 Canteturque fera, nil nisi pompa, tuba. 
 Horreat ^Eneadas et primus et ultimus orbis : 
 
 Si qua parum Romam terra timebit, amet. 
 Utque domus, quae prsestat earn, cum Pace perennet, 
 
 Ad pia propensos vota rogate Deos ! 
 
 Ovid. Fast. i. 709. 
 
NOTES TO CANTO XII. 361 
 
 But Peace with olive branch overshadowing bide, 
 And mark the Godhead in thy empire wide." 
 
 Find. Pyth. viii. 
 
 " Oh bland Tranquillity, thou city-exalting daughter of Justice, 
 holding the keys supreme of councils and of wars !" 
 
 xxxvi. " Nor let thy Fecial seers too nice refine." 
 
 To the college of Feciales was intrusted in ancient Rome the 
 preparation of treaties. 
 
 xxxvu. " Strong be thy armament, as fits thy strength 
 Of mandate powerful thy Lernaean clave." 
 
 Quis facta Herculeae non audit fortia clavae ? 
 
 Propert. 1. iv. Eleg. 10. 
 
 " When thy artillery's roar is heard o'er Ocean's plain." 
 
 While o'er the encircling deep Britannia's thunder roars. 
 
 Thomson, Castle of Indolence, Canto ii. 
 
 xxxvin. " And lording o'er thy empire of the Deep." 
 
 Our dominion of the sea seems to be in some degree indicated 
 by this line of Ovid, from his splendid panegyric on Julius Caesar : 
 
 Scilicet aequoreos plus est domuisse Britannos ! 
 
 Met. xv. 752. 
 
 XLIII. - " Resistless spread 
 
 Through boundless Asia, forced to bear thy arms." 
 
 R 
 
362 HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 Super et Garamantas et Indos 
 
 Proferet imperium * * * 
 
 Nee vero Alcides tantum telluris obivit ; 
 
 Nee qui pampineis victor juga flectit habenis, 
 
 Liber, agens celso Nisae de vertice tigres * * 
 
 Tu regere imperio populos, &c. Virg. ^En. vi. 
 
 It is the glory of England to be able to claim the excellence in 
 which Virgil admitted that the Romans were surpassed : 
 
 Excudent alii spirantia mollius aera, 
 Credo equidem ; vivos ducent de marmore vultus ; 
 Orabunt causas melius, coelique meatus 
 Describent radio et surgentia sidera dicent. 
 
 In all these arts which Virgil excepts, it is our fortune to shine 
 pre-eminent. Our bar is unquestionably the first in the world ; 
 our astronomers and scientific men are the first ; our workers in 
 the metals and engravers are the best ; and our sculptors are not 
 excelled. 
 
 " VICTORIA blesses with her hand, not harms." 
 
 Victoria lasta. 
 
 Hor. Sat. i. 1. 
 
 prima viam Victoria pandit ! 
 
 Virg. dn. xii. 
 
 XLIV. " Your bosoms, boundless wealth and luxury, tame." 
 
 At postquam Fortuna loci caput extulit hujus, 
 
 Et tetigit summos vertice Roma Deos ; 
 Creverunt et opes, et opum furiosa cupido ; 
 
 Et, cum possideant plurima, plura volunt. 
 Quaerere ut absumant, absumpta requirere, certant ; 
 
 Atque ipsae vitiis sunt alimenta vices. 
 
NOTES TO CANTO XII. 363 
 
 Sic, quibus intumuit suffusa venter ab undo, 
 Quo plus sunt potae, plus sitiuntur aquae. 
 
 In pretio pretium nunc est : dat census honores, 
 Census amicitias ; pauper ubique jacet ! 
 
 Ovid. Fast. i. 209. 
 
 I shall conclude with the passage with which Euripides ends 
 his Iphigenia in Tauris : 
 
 * 'fi /j.fya ffffjiv^t Nt/oj, 
 Eiorov 
 Kal )u)) 
 
 "Oh great and august VICTORIA, hold my life, nor fail 
 crown it with thy smile !" 
 
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 William Stevens, Printer, Bell Yard, Temple Bar. 
 
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