"Grant but three days"-He spoke not uninspired; *

And each in silence to his watch retired.

At length among us came an unknown Voice!

Go, if ye will; and, if ye can, rejoice.

"Go, with unbidden guests the banquet share.

"In his own shape shall Death receive you there." †

* He used to affirm, that he stood in need of God's particular assistance; like Moses, when he led forth the people of Israel, who forbore to lay violent hands upon him, because of the miracles which God wrought by his means. 'So,' said the Admiral, did it happen to me on that voyage.' F. Columbus, c. 19. And so easily,' says a Commentator, are the workings of the Evil one overcome by the power of God!'

+ This denunciation, fulfilled as it appears to be in the eleventh canto, may remind the reader of the Harpy's in Virgil.

CANTO VIII.

Land discovered.

TWICE in the zenith blazed the orb of light;
No shade, all sun, insufferably bright!

Then the long line found rest-in coral groves
Silent and dark, where the sea-lion roves:-
And all on deck, kindling to life again,

Sent forth their anxious spirits o'er the main.

"Oh whence, as wafted from Elysium, whence "These perfumes, strangers to the raptured sense? "These boughs of gold, and fruits of heavenly hue, "Tinging with vermeil light the billows blue? " And (thrice, thrice blessed is the eye that spied, "The hand that snatched it sparkling in the tide) "Whose cunning carved this vegetable bowl,*

66

Symbol of social rites, and intercourse of soul?" Such to their grateful ear the gush of springs,

Who course the ostrich, as away she wings;

*Ex ligno lucido confectum, et arte mirâ laboratum. P. Martyr.dec. i. 5.

Sons of the desert! who delight to dwell

Mid kneeling camels round the sacred well.

The sails were furled: with many a melting close,
Solemn and slow the evening-anthem rose,

Rose to the Virgin.* 'Twas the hour of day,
When setting suns o'er summer-seas display
A path of glory, opening in the west

To golden climes, and islands of the blest;
And human voices, on the silent air,

Went o'er the waves in songs of gladness there!
Chosen of Men! 'twas thine, at noon of night,
First from the prow to hail the glimmering light; †
(Emblem of Truth divine, whose secret ray

Enters the soul, and makes the darkness day!)

* Salve, regina. Herrera, I. i. 12.—It was the usual service, and always sung with great solemnity. I remember one evening,' says Oviedo, 'when the ship was in full sail, and all the men were on their knees, singing Salve, regina, &c. Relacion Sommaria.-The hymn, O Sanctissima, is still to be heard after sunset along the shores of Sicily, and its effect may be better conceived than described. See Brydone, I. 330.

+ A light in the midst of darkness, signifying the spiritual light that he came to spread there. F. Col. c. 22. Herrera, I. i. 12.

"PEDRO! RODRIGO!* there, methought, it shone! "There-in the west! and now, alas, 'tis gone!

""Twas all a dream! we gaze and gaze in vain!

-But mark and speak not, there it comes again!

"It moves!-what form unseen, what being there "With torch-like lustre fires the murky air?

"His instincts, passions, say, how like our own? "Oh! when will day reveal a world unknown?"

Pedro Gutierrez, a Page of the King's Chamber. Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, Comptroller of the Fleet.

LONG on the wave the morning-mists reposed,

Then broke-and, melting into light, disclosed
Half-circling hills, whose everlasting woods
Sweep with their sable skirts the shadowy floods:
And say, when all, to holy transport given,
Embraced and wept as at the gates of Heaven,
When one and all of us, repentant, ran,

And, on our faces, blessed the wondrous Man;
Say, was I then deceived, or from the skies
Burst on my ear seraphic harmonies?

P