"Here, in His train, shall arts and armis attend, * "Arts to adorn, and arms but to defend. Assembling here, all nations shall be blest; y "The sad be comforted; the weary rest: "Untouched shall drop the fetters from the slave; "And He shall rule the world he died to save! "Hence, and rejoice. The glorious work is done. "A spark is thrown that shall eclipse the sun! *See Paradise Lost. X. + Cortes, Pizarro.- Almost all,' says Las Casas, 'have perished. The innocent blood, which they had shed, cried aloud for vengeance the sighs, the tears of so many victims went up before God.' L'Espagne a fait comme ce roi insensé qui demanda que tout ce qu'il toucheroit se convertit en or, et qui fut obligé de revenir aux dieux pour les prier de finir sa misère. Montesquieu. "While to the starry sphere thy name shall rise, "(Not there unsung thy generous enterprise!) "Thine in all hearts to dwell-by Fame enshrined, "With those the Few, that live but for Mankind; "Thine evermore, transcendant happiness! "World beyond world to visit and to bless." 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 ad venture soon related. Thy lonely watch-tower, Larenille, And loud and long from hill to hill 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.”* The waves were rough; the hour was late. But soon across the Tinto borne, 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. *The Convent of Rábida. See Page 175. Note Brothers in arms the Guests appeared; Thoughtful and wan his face. His velvet cap a medal bore, And ermine fringed his broidered vest; An image of St. John he wore. † The Eldest had a rougher aspect, and there was craft in his eye. He stood a little behind in a long black mantle, his hand resting upon the hilt of his sword; and his white hat and white shoes glittered in the moon-shine. ‡ "Not here unwelcome, tho' unknown. The moon, that thro' the portal shone, Thro' many a court and gallery dim + See Bernal Diaz, c. 203; and also a well-known portrait of Cortes, ascribed to Titian. Cortes was now in the 43d, Pizarro in the 60th of his age. year When other sounds had died away, And the waves were heard alone, Then said as in a solemn mood, "Now stand we where COLUMBUS stood!" "PEREZ,† thou good old man," they cried, * The supper in the chamber done, Much of a Southern Sea they spake, And of that glorious City || won Near the setting of the Sun, + Late Superior of the House. See Page 197. Note. § The words of the epitaph. "A Castilia y a Leon nuevo || Mexico. Mundo dio Colon." |