Page images
PDF
EPUB

ON the two last leaves, and written in another hand, are some stanzas in the romance or ballad measure of the Spaniards. The subject is an adventure soon related.

THY lonely watch-tower, Larenille,

Had lost the western sun ;

And loud and long from hill to hill
Echoed the evening-gun,

When Hernan, rising on his oar,

Shot like an arrow from the shore.

"Those lights are on St. Mary's Isle;
They glimmer from the sacred pile."1
The waves were rough; the hour was late.
But soon across the Tinto borne,
Thrice he blew the signal-horn,

He blew and would not wait.

Home by his dangerous path he went;
Leaving, in rich habiliment,

Two strangers at the convent-gate.

They ascended by steps hewn out in the rock; and, having asked for admittance, were lodged there.

Brothers in arms the guests appeared;

The youngest with a princely grace!
Short and sable was his beard,
Thoughtful and wan his face.

His velvet cap a medal bore,

And ermine fringed his broidered vest;
And, ever sparkling on his breast,
An image of St. John he wore.2

He

The eldest had a rougher aspect, and there was craft in his eye stood a little behind, in a long black mantle, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword; and his white hat and white shoes glittered in the moonshine.3

"Not here unwelcome, though unknown.

Enter and rest!" the friar said.

The moon, that through the portal shone,
Shone on his reverend head.

Through many a court and gallery dim
Slowly he led, the burial-hymn
Swelling from the distant choir.
But now the holy men retire;
The arched cloisters issuing through,
In long, long order, two and two.

[blocks in formation]

When other sounds had died away,
And the waves were heard alone,
They entered, though unused to pray,
Where God was worshipped, night and day,
And the dead knelt round in stone;
They entered, and from aisle to aisle
Wandered with folded arms a while,
Where on his altar-tomb reclined 1
The crosiered abbot; and the knight,
In harness for the Christian fight,
His hands in supplication joined ;
Then said, as in a solemn mood,

"Now stand we where COLUMBUS stood!"

[blocks in formation]

5

[blocks in formation]

"PEREZ, thou good old man," they cried,
"And art thou in thy place of rest?-
Though in the western world his grave,
That other world, the gift he gave,7

6

Would ye were sleeping side by side!
Of all his friends he loved thee best."

[blocks in formation]

8

And of that glorious city won

Near the setting of the sun,
Throned in a silver lake;

Of seven kings in chains of gold,3
And deeds of death by tongue untold,

Deeds such as breathed in secret there
Had shaken the confession-chair!

The eldest swore by our Lady,10 the youngest by his conscience; 11 while the Franciscan, sitting by in his gray habit, turned away and crossed himself again and again. "Here is a little book," said he at last, "the work of him in his shroud below. It tells of things you have mentioned; and, were Cortes and Pizarro here, it might perhaps make them reflect for a moment." The youngest smiled as he took it into his hand. He read it aloud to his companion with an unfaltering voice; but, when he laid it down, a silence ensued; nor was he seen to smile again that night.12 The eurse is heavy," said he at parting, "but Cortes may live to disappoint it.". Ay, and Pizarro too !

دو

** A circumstance, recorded by Herrera, renders this visit not improbable. "In May, 1528, Cortes arrived unexpectedly at Palos; and, soon after he had landed, he and Pizarro met and rejoiced; and it was remarkable that they should meet, as they were two of the most renowned men in the world." B. Diaz makes no mention of the interview; but, relating an occurrence that took place at this time in Palos, says "that Cortes was now absent at Neustra Senora de la Rábida." The convent is within half a league of the town.

NOTES.

CANTO I.

(1) IN him was fulfilled the ancient prophecy,

venient annis

Secula seris, quibus Oceanus
Vincula rerum laxet, &c.

Seneca in Medea, v. 374.

Which Tasso has imitated in his Gierusalemme Liberata.

Tempo verrà, che fian d'Ercole i segni
Favola, vile, &c.

The poem opens on Friday the 14th of September, 1492.

C. xv. 30.

(2) In the original, El Almirante. "In Spanish America," says M. de Humboldt, "when El Almirante is pronounced without the addition of a name, that of Columbus is understood; as, from the lips of a Mexican, El Marchese signifies Cortes ;" and as, among the Florentines, Il Segretario has always signified Machiavel.

(3) "It has pleased our Lord to grant me faith and assurance for this enterprise. He has opened my understanding, and made me most willing to go." See his Life by his Son, Ferd. Columbus, entitled, Hist. del Almirante Don Christoval. Colon. c. 4 & 37.

His will begins thus: "In the name of the most holy Trinity, who inspired me with the idea, and who afterwards made it clear to me, that by traversing the ocean westwardly," &c.

(4) The compass might well be an object of superstition. A belief is said to prevail, even at this day, that it will refuse to traverse when there is a dead body on board. (5) Herrera, dec. I. lib. i. c. 9.

(6) When these regions were to be illuminated, says Acosta, cùm divino concilio decretum esset, prospectum etiam divinitus est, ut tam longi itineris dux certus hominibus præberetur. De Natura Novi Orbis.

A romantic circumstance is related of some early navigator in the Histoire Gén. des Voyages, I. i. 2. "On trouva dans l'ile de Cuervo une statue équestre, couverte d'un manteau, mais la tête nue, qui tenoit de la main gauche la bride du cheval, et qui montroit l'occident de la main droite. Il y avoit sur le bas d'un roc quelques lettres gravees, qui ne furent point entendues; mais il parut clairement que le signe de la main regardoit l'Amérique."

(7) Rev. 19: 17.

(8) The more Christian opinion is, that God, with eyes of compassion, as it were, looking down from heaven, called forth those winds of mercy, whereby this new world received the hope of salvation. - Preambles to the Decades of the Ocean.

(9) To return was deemed impossible, as it blew always from home. Hist. del Almirante, c. 19. Nos pavidi-at pater Anchises - lætus.

CANTO II.

(1) Tasso employs preternatural agents on a similar occasion,

Trappassa, et ecco in quel silvestre loco

Sorge improvisa la città del foco. xiii. 33.

Gli incanti d'Ismeno, che ingannano con delusioni, altro non significano, che la falsità delle ragioni, et delle persuasioni, la qual si genera nella moltitudine, et varietà de' pareri, et de' discorsi humani.

(2) See Plato's Timæus; where mention is made of mighty kingdoms, which, in a day and a night, had disappeared in the Atlantic, rendering its waters unnavigable.

Si quæras Helicen et Burin, Achaïdas urbes,
Invenies sub aquis.

At the destruction of Callao, in 1747, no more than one of all the inhabitants escaped; and he by a providence the most extraordinary. This man was on the fort that overlooked the harbor, going to strike the flag, when he perceived the sea to retire to a considerable distance; and then, swelling mountain-high, it returned with great violence. The people ran from their houses in terror and confusion; he heard a cry of Miserere rise from all parts of the city; and immediately all was silent; the sea had entirely overwhelmed it, and buried it forever in its bosom ; but the same wave that destroyed it drove a little boat by the place where he stood, into which he threw himself and was saved. (3) The description of a submarine forest is here omitted by the translator.

League beyond league gigantic foliage spread,

Shadowing old Ocean on his rocky bed;

The lofty summits of resounding woods,

That grasped the depths, and grappled with the floods;

Such as had climbed the mountain's azure height,

When forth he came and reässumed his right.

(4) Historians are not silent on the subject. The sailors, according to Herrera, saw the signs of an inundated country (tierras anegadas); and it was the general expectation that they should end their lives there, as others had done in the frozen sea, "where St. Amaro suffers no ship to stir backward or forward.” Hist. del Almirante, c. 19.

(5) The author seems to have anticipated his long slumber in the library of the Fathers. (6) They may give me what name they please. I am servant of him, &c. - -Hist. del Almirante, c. 2.

(7) As St. Christopher carried Christ over the deep waters, so Columbus went over safe, himself and his company. - Hist. c. 1.

(8) Water-spouts. See Edwards' History of the West Indies, I. 12. Note.

« PreviousContinue »