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 ORLANDO 
 
 IN 
 
 RONCESVALLES5 
 
 % poem. 
 
 IN FIVE CANTOS. 
 
 BY 
 
 J. H. MERIVALE, Esq. 
 
 o 
 
 ALERB I FLAMNAM. 
 
 PRINTED FOR JOHN MURRAY, 
 
 50, ALBEMARLE STREET, 
 
 BT RICHARD AND ARTHUR TAYLOR, SHOE-LANE. 
 
 1814.
 
 
 TO 
 
 THOMAS JOHNES, 
 
 OF HArOD 
 
 IN THE COUNTY OF CARDIGAN, ESQ. M. P. 
 
 THIS POEM IS INSCRIBED, 
 
 \ 
 
 IN TESTIMONY OF RESPECT 
 AND FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 775446
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Eginhart relates, in his Annals*, that, 
 when Charlemagne had achieved the con- 
 quest of those provinces which, lying between 
 the frontier of France and the Ebro, were an- 
 ciently distinguished by the appellation of the 
 Marches of Spain (Marca Hispanica), the 
 Basques or Gascons who inhabited the Py- 
 renees, a race of wild mountaineers, nomi- 
 nally subject to the French empire, but in 
 reality unused to any species of subordination, 
 being irritated by the disorders which his sol- 
 diers had committed on their passage, lay in 
 wait for his return, and, after suffering the 
 Emperor himself and the main body of his 
 army to repass the frontier unmolested, sud- 
 
 * Anno 778. Duchesne, torn. ii. p. 97.
 
 VI PREFACK. 
 
 denly fell on his rear-guard, and, by tlie ad- 
 vantage of situation, overwhelmed it with frag- 
 ments of rocks and missile weapons, so that 
 not a man escaped. Among the officers of di- 
 stinction who perished on this occasion, the 
 same historian has recorded the names of 
 Eghart, an officer of the imperial household 
 called Regia Mais(p prcepositus^ Anselm Count 
 of the Palace, and Roland (Rutlaiidus) Go- 
 vernor of the Marches or Frontier of Britan- 
 ny. It is remarkable that tliis is the only oc- 
 casion on which the last name, so celebrated 
 in romance, is found to occur in anytliing like 
 a genuine historical document. 
 
 On the same authority we are informed 
 that, in the year 824, the Emperor Louis le 
 Debonnaire sent a considerable force under tlie 
 cotnmand of the Counts or Dukes of Gascony, 
 Ebles and Aznar, to repress the incursions of 
 the Moorish King of Cordova on tlie imperial 
 frontier. Thesegencrals executed their commis- 
 sion wilh promptitude and firmness ; but, on 
 tlieir return tlirough tlie passes of the Pyrenees,
 
 preface; vH 
 
 were led, by the perfidious mountaineers Avhom 
 they had taken for their conductors, into an 
 ambuscade prepared for them by the Saracens, 
 routed, and cut to pieces, and their two chiefs 
 sent captive to Cordova. 
 . It seems probable that these two historical 
 relations, in themselves distinct, but confound- 
 ed together by tradition, formed the basis of 
 all the succeeding fictions respecting the battle 
 of Roncesvalles *. 
 
 Of these fictions, the famous Chronicle at- 
 
 * The Sieur Pierre de Marca (in his Histoire de 
 B^am, folio, 1660, p. 153,) speaking of the first of the 
 events here referred to, says, " De cette defaite, dont 
 ia gloire pour le courage, ou la honte pour la rebellion, 
 doit estre rapportee aux habitans des vallees de ce quar- 
 tier, a sgavoir a ceux de Soule, de Basse Navarre, et de 
 Bastan, la vanite Espagnole a pris occasion de s'attri- 
 buer le triomphe des Douze Pairs de France, qui ne fu- 
 rent point en nature de plus de trois siecles apres. Ce 
 qui a este fouiente par les inventions fabuleuses du sup- 
 pose Turpin de llheims, ausquelles Roderic de Tolede 
 s'est laisse tellement surprendre, qu'il a voulu encheoir 
 par dessous tons, escrivant que Charlemagne ne fit au- 
 cune conquete, sinon en la Catalogne, et qu'il fut batu
 
 wH preface; 
 
 tributed to Turpin Arclibishop of Rheims, the 
 supposed contemporary and friend of Char- 
 lemagne, has usually been considered as the 
 foundation ; but it seems more probable that 
 other ancient legends, no longer extant, might 
 share with it at least the honours of parentage. 
 If the Spanish origin, which some antiquaries 
 have assigned to that singular monument of 
 invention, rests on no belter foundation than 
 the fact cited at the conclusion of the note 
 above, it is very little to be depended u[Hjn, 
 
 et repousse voulant passer en Navarre par Ronces- 
 Taux." 
 
 The same author, who is deserving of great esteem 
 as a diligent antiquary, says it should be put out of all 
 question that this famous Chronicle of Turpin was 
 forged in Spain, " ou les esprits estoient portes a sup- 
 poser des ouvrages sous le nom des anciens Sui- 
 
 vant cette inclination, ils composoient le Roman de 
 Turpin k Tavantage de leur nation." And to this he 
 adds, as confirmation of his opinion, that a copy of the 
 work in question is related to have come from Spain 
 into the possession of G^firoy Prior of Limoges in tlie 
 year 1200, " dont les lettrcs estoient ustcs, et dont le 
 recit s'accordoit avec les chansons des Farceurs."
 
 P R E F A C K. 
 
 since the existence of Tiirpin's History at a 
 much earlier period has been demonstrated by 
 Warton (Hist, of English Poetry, dissert. 1.) 
 from a Bull of Pope Calixtus II. dated 1 125, 
 decreeing i ts authen tici ty . N ei ther is the circum- 
 stance of its being so favourable to tlie Spanish 
 nation to be regarded as of much weight, 
 seeing that the victory which it ascribes to 
 the Spania"ds is treated merely as the result 
 of fraud and treachery ; whereas the class of 
 romances which have adopted the fabulous 
 Bernardo del Carpio for their hero, and which 
 are evidently of Spanish parentage, is of a cast 
 altogether different, and calculated at once to 
 feed the common prejudice against France, 
 and exalt the sentiments of national honour 
 and patriotism. 
 
 But, whether of French or Spanish origin, 
 and whether composed in Latin, or translated 
 into that language from any and what verna 
 cular idiom (for this also is matter of specu- 
 lation), it seems to be now pretty generally 
 agreed that the celebrated Chronicle, bearing
 
 P-REFACE. 
 
 the title of " Joaniiis Turpini Historia de Vita 
 Caroli Magni et Rolandi," and purporting to 
 be tlie work of the "JVrchbishop of Rljeiins al- 
 ready mentioned, was in fact a literary forge- 
 1^ of no older date than the commencement 
 of tlie twelfth century. The History of Egin- 
 hart, which, for want of more full and satis- 
 factory information, must for this purpose be 
 assumed as containing die only autlientic nar- 
 rative of the event in question, is so far ad- 
 hered to that it is still the reai* guard only of 
 Charlemagne's army which is surprised and 
 slaughtered in its passage through the defile 
 of Roncesvalles. But the cause of the expe- 
 dition itself, the quality and numbers of the 
 enemy by whom tlie assault was made, the 
 miracles by which it was attended, the treason 
 of Ganellon, the return of Charlemagne and 
 utter discomfiture by him of the whole Moor- 
 ish army, and, above all, the dying exjiloits 
 and chivalrous character of the hero Roland, 
 arc solely attributable to tlie fertile invention 
 of tlie author ; and it is in these fictitious de-
 
 preface; XI 
 
 tails that all the interest of this celebrated 
 occurrence consists, — an occurrence which, 
 notwitlistanding the barrenness of the dry hi- 
 storical record, will ever remain associated 
 widi all grand and pathedc images ; — for 
 
 " Sad and fearful is the story 
 Of the Roncesvalles fight" — 
 
 and, as an eminent French critic* has lately 
 observed, " II y a, m^me dans les r^cits gros- 
 siers attribu^s a Turpin, un fond d'interet que 
 rien ne peut d^truiref." 
 
 In this persuasion, 1 shall need no further 
 apology for having overlooked the manifest 
 advantage, especially under the late circum- 
 stances of the French and Spanish nations, 
 which must accrue to a poet who, in treating 
 
 * Ginguene, Hist. Littiraire d'ltalie, part. 2. chap. iy. 
 (torn. iv. p. 192.) 
 
 t See Warton ubi supra. Ellis's Specimens of Early 
 English Romances, Romances relating to Charlemagne, 
 Yol. ii. p. 283. Rodd's History of Charles the Great 
 and Orlando, translated from the Latin, &c.— and Spa- 
 nish Ballads relating to the Twelve Peers of France.
 
 Xll PREFACE, 
 
 the battle of Roncesvalles, adopts the Spanish 
 legends for the outline of his fable. But tlie 
 truth is, that the plan ofmy poem was formed, 
 and a considerable part of it composed, long 
 ago, from a perusal of the " Morgan te Mag- 
 giore" of Luigi Pulci, of which tlie four last 
 cantos are framed on tlie model of Turpin's 
 Chronicle. 
 
 It remains then tliat I should say a few 
 words on the subject of this last-mentioned 
 poem, the earliest of tliose Italian roniances 
 which are esteemed classical, but not the first 
 of those which treat the history of Charle- 
 magne and his Peers, or even of those w hich 
 quote the fabulous Archbishop of Rheims as 
 their authority *. 
 
 ♦ On this subject, I again refer to M, Ginguene. 
 After the Reali di Francia, a prose romance ascribed to 
 the commencement of the fourteenth century, followed 
 a poem in the ottava rima entitled Buovo d' /Intona, in 
 which it seems somewhat extraordinary that the French 
 critic did not immediately recognise our English Bevis 
 of Hampton. On the other hand, Mr. Ellis seems not 
 to have been aware of the connection between this
 
 P R E F A C B. Xm 
 
 Pulci is well known to have composed this 
 curious work at the instigation and for the 
 amusement of Lorenzo de' Medici, his friend 
 and patron ; and the poet himself takes occa- 
 sion to acknowledge the assistance he derived 
 in its composition from the famous Politian, 
 who at one time was very currently reported 
 to be its real author. The share in it ascribed 
 by tradition to Marsilius Ficinus, which will 
 be more particularly pointed out in some of 
 the ensuing Notes, may perhaps rest on a 
 more authentic foundation. 
 
 The poet gives us to understand that the 
 task assigned him was that of composing a 
 poem in honour of the great restorer of his 
 native Florence ; and that his friend Politian 
 
 latter fable, which he pronounces of Saxon origin, and 
 the Romances of Charlemagne, or the reputed descent 
 of its hero from the same august stock with the son of 
 Pepin. This most ancient specimen of the ottava rima 
 was followed by the romance of La Spagna j the first 
 which treats of the battle of Roncesvalles and the ex- 
 pedition preceding it, in which it very closely copies 
 the Chronicle of Turpin.
 
 XtV ? n E F A C E. 
 
 had for that purpose referred him to the Pro- 
 vencal Arnald, and to Alcuin the contempo- 
 rary annalist of his reign. Nevertheless, Tur- 
 pin is the single authority to which he refers 
 throughout the whole of his poem ; and in this 
 he has set the example to his followers Boy- 
 ardo and Ariosto, who in like manner swear 
 by the much injured Archbishop, whenever 
 the humour takes them, or when anything oc- 
 curs too monstrous even for the strong diges- 
 tion of an experienced romance reader. 
 
 Notwithstanding these freqUent appeals, the 
 only passages in the whole ploem which are 
 really founded on Turpin are the battle of 
 Roncesvalles, and th ^ vengeance of Charle- 
 magne which ensues. All the preceding four- 
 and-twenty cantos are totally foreign ; and 
 even with regard to the narrative of the battle 
 itself, many of its most important circum- 
 stances, and the history of the causes which 
 led to it, are either of the author's own inven- 
 tion, or derived from some other romantic 
 sources which it is useless at present to trace.
 
 PREFACE. Wr 
 
 It is a question which may fairly be asked, 
 What can be thought of a poem, so strange in 
 its design and tendency, that, to the present 
 moment, it remains undecided whether it was 
 intended as a burlesque or as a serious com- 
 position ? Milton, who was well read in ro- 
 mance, and most conversant with Italian li- 
 terature, classes it, without doubt or hesita- 
 tion, among fictions the most generally ac- 
 knowledged as ludicrous*. AI. Ginguen^, 
 adopting the sentiments of some of the latest 
 critics, is of the same opinion ; for which, on 
 the contrary, Crescimbeni (somewhat hazard* 
 ously) asserts that there is no manner of foun- 
 dation. But it is, in fact, a dispute not much 
 more sensible than that concerning the colour 
 
 * " And perhaps it was from that same politic drift 
 that the devil whipt St. Jerom in a lenten dream, for 
 reading Cicero ; or else it was a fantasm bred by the 
 feaver which had then seised him. For had an angel 
 been his discipliner, unless it were for dwelling too 
 much upon Ciceronianisms, and had chastized the read- 
 ing and not the vanity, it had been plainly partial ; first 
 to correct him for grave Cicero and not for scurrilePlau-» 
 tus, whom he confesses to have been reading not long
 
 Wn PREFACE. 
 
 of the chameleon. Even tlie critics most posi- 
 tive in favour of tlie ludicrous side of the 
 question admit the grand tragic effect of much 
 of the latter cantos ; nor can they fairly do so 
 much without also admitting a considerable 
 portion of the eailier part ot tlie poem to be 
 equally serious. On tlie other hand, it is im- 
 possible to deny that, in the most serious pas^ 
 sages, the reader is often offended by the sud- 
 den interposition of low buffoonery or of the 
 grossest profaneness; and the same debasing 
 strain is often continued through several suc- 
 cessive cantos. 
 
 It is very true that neither the state of so- 
 ciety and manners of the age in which the 
 poem was written, nor the peculiar circum- 
 
 bcfore ; next to correct him only, and let so many more 
 ancient fathers wax old in those pleasant and florid stu- 
 dies without the lash of such a tutouring apparition ; in- 
 somuch that Basil teaches how some good use may be 
 made of Margites, a sportful poem, not now extant, 
 writ by Homer ; and why not then of Morganle, an Ita- 
 lian romance much to the same purpose?" — Milton* 
 Areopagiiica, a Speech for the Liberty of unlicensed 
 Printing. Prose Works, folio, 1697, p. 378.
 
 PREFACE. XVll 
 
 Stances under which it was probably composed, 
 (canto by canto, without regular plan or fore- 
 sight, to be read or recited by the author him- 
 self at the table of his patron for the amuse- 
 ment of a mixed company,) nor the author's 
 ignorance, nor his contempt, of moral or of 
 literary discipline, can be adduced as a satis- 
 factory reason or apology for this gross in- 
 consistency. The society and manners were 
 those of Lorenzo de' Medici and his learned 
 companions ; and there is sufficient proof, both 
 in this extraordinary composition and in other 
 works of the same poet, that Pulci himself 
 was, in respect of his literary and philosophi- 
 cal attainments, no unworthy partner of a fel- 
 lowship in many respects so refined and en- 
 lightened. Let it then remain among the 
 unexplained and perhaps inexplicable phaeno- 
 mena of the human mind ; but let us at the 
 same time remember that the vice, so glaring 
 in this poet, exists in a less offensive degree 
 in both his more polished successors ; and that 
 Boyardo and Ariosto, and above all Bemi, 
 the restorer of Boyardo, .though they have 
 b
 
 XVIU PREFACE. 
 
 never been condemned to the rank of bur- 
 lesque-writers, are nevertheless apt to smile, 
 if not laugh outright, frequently to the dis- 
 may of their incautious readers, even in the 
 midst of their most apparently grave and sober 
 narratives. 
 
 It is unnecessary for me to pursue tliis in- 
 quiry any further. The Notes to tlie poem 
 will sufficiently point out the extent to wliich 
 I have followed the author of the Morgantc 
 in his majiagement of the fable, and the pas- 
 sages which I have imitated, or rather freely 
 translated, from his work. It may be ad- 
 mitted, as an excuse for some absurdities in 
 the story, on which I should not otherwise 
 have ventured, that they are founded on his 
 autliority. 
 
 I cannot conclude without expressing my 
 obligations to my friend Mr. Utterson for the 
 use he has enabled me to make of his .stores 
 of " Romaunt," and for the aid of his pencil 
 in the designs prefixed to each of the follow- 
 ing cantos.
 
 GENERAL ARGUMENT. 
 
 Marsilius, the Moorish King of Saragossa, 
 (whose empire is represented to have extended over 
 the whole or the greater part of Spain, and as en- 
 titling him to the first rank in the confederation of 
 *^ Paynim^' powers against the ^* Roman Empire" of 
 Charlemagne,) having sustained a signal defeat under 
 the walls of Paris, has recourse to negotiation, pend- 
 ing which, Ganellon (or Gano) of Maganza, Count 
 of Poictiers, is sent, on the part of the Christian Em- 
 peror, to demand from him the cession of the " Marca 
 Hispanica," the country extending from the Pyrenees 
 to the Ebro. 
 
 Ganellon, actuated by his hatred to Orlando (or 
 Roland) Count of Clermont and Lord of Anglante, 
 the nephew of Charlemagne, and the other Paladins 
 of France, enters into a conspiracy with Marsilius, of 
 which the principal object is the destruction of these 
 celebrated champions of the Christian cause. Under 
 professions of peace and amity, Charlemagne is in- 
 vited to send his nephew and the chief warriors of his 
 court to the Pass of Roncesvalles, there to receive
 
 XX GENERAL ARGUMEKT. 
 
 from Marsilius the promised cession, and at the same 
 time to repair in person to Fontarabia^ to await the 
 accomplishment of the transaction. 
 
 The elder Counsellors of his Court, suspecting the 
 treason of the ambassador, dissuade their sovereign 
 from accepting these terms ; and Malagigi (or Mau- 
 gis) the cousin of Rinaldo, and Governor during the 
 absence of that renowned Paladin of his Castle of 
 Montalban, predicts, from his well-known skill in 
 magic, the disasters to ensue. But the " Roman 
 Emperor," swayed by his blind partiality for Ganellon, 
 accepts the proposal in spite of all their remon- 
 strances J and Orlando is forbidden, by his sense of 
 loyalty and honour, to hesitate in yielding obedience 
 to his sovereign's mandate. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the Poem opens with 
 the departure of Orlando for Roncesvalles from his 
 Ca'^tle of Clermont en Viennois.
 
 £)riaftiio in ^omt^Mllts. 
 
 Canto tije Mtst 
 
 JL H E banner waved on Clermont's highest tower ; 
 Forth rode the Count in glittering armour clad : 
 But Aldabelle bewail'd the luckless hour. 
 Alone, amidst the pomp of triumph, sad : 
 From her fair eyes fast fell the pearly shower, — 
 Ah tears ill timed, when all things else were glad! 
 The soul born pride of female courage slept; 
 Anglante's spouse, the Rose of Clermont, wept, 
 B
 
 9 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 
 
 And wherefore falls the pearly shower so fast ? 
 And wherefore heaves with frequent sighs her breast? 
 Not 80, when War had blown his deadliest blast, 
 The mailed hero to her heart she prest ; 
 Then fearless waited, till the storm o'erpast 
 Should give him back to her who loved him best. 
 Safe in the prowess of her con(iuering lord, 
 And the resistless magic of his sword. 
 
 *' Orlando, stay ! last night the sheeted fire 
 Blazed from yon western heaven, in crimson dyed- 
 Orlando, stay! with screeches luuJ and dire 
 The deadly raven at my casement cried ; 
 And, when I woke, the spectre of thy sire, 
 Of Milo, Clermont's lord, was at my side('). 
 Orlando, stay ! I 'm sick and faint at heart, 
 Nor can my soul endure the thought, — to part ! 
 
 *' Thou too, my Oliver, my brother, stay (•) ! 
 Thou gentlest knight that ever bore a shield ! 
 'Tis come, alas! that heaven appointed day — 
 Orlando breathless lies on Honour's field. 
 O let thine Aldabelle, thy sister, pray 1 
 To female tears 'tis no disgrace to yield : 
 Think on the duties of thy knightly vow. 
 Behold the widow and the orphan bow I
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 
 
 '* Can ye remember Gano's treacherous tongue ('), 
 
 His smooth deceits, his unextinguisht hate ? 
 
 Can ye forget how Malagigi sung 
 
 The dark presages of approaching fate ? 
 
 The warning words, on Namo's Hps that hung (^)j 
 
 Big with the ruin of the Christian state ? 
 
 What Salamon's sagacious mind foretold ? 
 
 What Britain's valiant King, the wise and old (=') ? 
 
 *' In Poictiers* race was friendship ever knowTj ? 
 Then trust the tale by base Maganza wrought. 
 Was ever truth on Saragossa's throne (") ? 
 Then throw aside the guard that prudence taught. 
 But, oh Orlando ! 'tis to thee alone. 
 The generous soul, and unsuspecting thought : 
 Against thee, in the unequal fight, engage 
 Unfathom'd Fraud, insatiable Rage." 
 
 Vain are thy prayers and sighs, fair Aldabelle, 
 Sweet lady, vain ; — thy warning who can hear ? 
 Bright hope and joy^hy brother's bosom swell. 
 And plumed pride, the deadly foe to fear. 
 But Clermont's lord pronounced one faint farewel. 
 From his dark brow he dash'd one manly tear. 
 Omen of ill ! — then cried, *' On, soldiers, on ! — 
 Long is our journey, and the day far gone." 
 b2
 
 4 ORLANDO IN R0NCESVALLB8. 
 
 Their pleasant road through glades and forests lay 
 Of shadowy plane rows, and the stately beech. 
 Beneath whose foliage winds her rapid way 
 Is^re, in haste her wedded Rhone to reach. 
 Sweet birds from every thicket caroU'd gay. 
 In melody surpassing human speech ; 
 Soft breezes fann'd the air, and curl'd the stream. 
 Melting the soul in love's enchanted dream. 
 
 I cannot say what amorous thoughts posse>t 
 The younger Paladin, as on he rode j 
 But, ever and anon, his steed he prest 
 With idle spur ; then carelessly bestrode, 
 The reins let loose, and every limb at rest, 
 Jast as his actfve spirits ebb'd and flow'd : 
 i lad he in love been constant as in fight. 
 Not all the world could boast a worthier l^night. 
 
 Orlando's heart the soft attemper *d air 
 To different thoughts of graver hue inclined ; 
 No vain delusive fires enkindled there. 
 But breathed a solemn stillness o'er his mind, 
 (That mood the gifted sage is said to share 
 When inspiration leaves the sense behind,) 
 Recalling every sigh, and sad farewel. 
 And boding tear of his loved Aldabelle.
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 
 
 From the deep trance, that until even tide 
 Still held the knights so diversely enthrall'd. 
 First Oliver awoke, and sportive cried, 
 " How fares my brother ? has his mind recall'd 
 Some fearful scene by Merlin prophesied ? 
 Or, by Montalban's raven voice appall'd ('), 
 Thinks he the dreams of female terror true. 
 And half regrets the glory we pursue ? 
 
 *' My temper suits not with the gloomy mood 
 Gender'd by woman's tear and beadsman's groan : 
 It ever whispers. Seize the present good. 
 And live in hope, till hope and life are flo\vn. 
 E'en now, to say thee sooth, I inly brood 
 On fancied pleasures near the Moorish throne ;— ^ 
 Proud lordships and embattled towers for thee. 
 For me, high dames, and sports and minstrelsy. 
 
 '' Then, with the earliest breeze of balmy morn. 
 The silent Pyrenees shall start to hear 
 The mountain music of my echoing horn ; 
 And by my side, dispell'd each maiden fear. 
 The Moorish nymph, to gentler pastimes born, 
 Shall curb the steed and dart the slender spear. 
 While her dark lover, following far behind. 
 May sigh his jealous sorrows to the wind. —
 
 6 ORLANDO IN ROKCESVALLES. 
 
 *' She heeds not his rebuke ; but, when the hour 
 Of feast and revelry begins its reign, 
 My himtress fair shall sparkling nectar pour 
 For me, for me awake the amorous strain. — 
 The banquet's past ; and o'er the myrtle bower 
 Night spreads her veil, — the fairest bower in Spain 5- 
 I know not, — but a Christian knight, 'tis said. 
 May haply win the love of Moorish maid." 
 
 Thus as he spake, he smiled in merry guise. 
 And Clermont's lord with temperate smile return *d, 
 " Fair cousin, while you speak, our elders wise 
 May wish, fidl fa,in, their gravest lore unlearn'd. 
 And ladies, chaste as ice, whose fixed eyes 
 Ne'er stray'd from fancy, nor with passion burn'd. 
 By heaving bosom and warm cheek confess 
 Some hidden sense of undream'd blessedness. 
 
 " Me would it ill beseem to knit my brow 
 When amorous knights discourse of ladies gay. 
 Or, like a churchman, mutter penance vow 
 \\Tien laughing minstrels chaunt the merry lay ; 
 The gibing Paladins would ask. Where now 
 Is he who loved the Princess of Cathay, 
 Orlando, — whom Angelica the vain 
 Robb'd of his wits beside the banks of Seine (") ?
 
 ORLANDO list RONCBSVALLES. 
 
 '' And, tnist me^ Oliver, no dismal tale 
 Of dark foreboding, portent dire and strange. 
 Of shrieking night bird, or of phantom pale. 
 Can the high puipose of my soul derange : 
 Though o'er my mind be cast a transient veil. 
 As passing clouds the summer skies may change. 
 No fears the champion of the Cross can move. 
 Whose confidence is firm in heavenly love/' 
 
 "Well I believe," return 'd that younger knight. 
 The unshaken firmness of Orlando's soul : 
 For when nor prospect of unequal fight. 
 Nor tempest rattling fierce from pole to pole 
 Had ever power to make thee blench with fright. 
 Oh how should peace array'd in gorgeous stole. 
 The tributary realm and proffer'd throne. 
 But fill thy breast with joy and pride alone?'* 
 
 Thus in fi-ee converse pass'd the sultry hours ; 
 Till eve descending over hill and vale 
 With dewy fingers closed the flaunting flowers : 
 Now fresher perfumes load each passing gale. 
 And sweet birds nestle in their summer bowers. 
 And tunes her throat the wakeful nightingale. 
 The wandering knights some friendly shelter claim 
 With needftil sleep to soothe the o'erwearied frame.
 
 8 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 
 
 Anselm, the generous chief of Arli's race ("), 
 It chanced some knightly purpose thither led. 
 At the same hour their frugal hoard to grace, 
 And share the lord of Clermont's proffcr'd hed. — 
 So fared the knights of old ; — no lack of space 
 To noble spirits in the narrowest shed. 
 While the wide world was all too small to hold 
 The guardian, and the plunderer, of the fold. 
 
 In mutual faith, both ask'd, and both declared 
 
 Their different journey's end. — How Charles had sent 
 
 To king Marsilius messengers prepared 
 
 To treat, with words of fair arbitrement. 
 
 That both by Moor and Christian might be shared 
 
 Once more the joys of peaceable content ; 
 
 How Poictiers' lord the gracious olive bore. 
 
 And spread the joyful news from shore to shore, 
 
 Orlando told : nor fail'd he to declare 
 
 That Saragossa's prince had fixt the day 
 
 VVhereon to Roncesvaux he would repair 
 
 In pomp of peace, with suitable array, 
 
 To meet Anglante's valiant lord, and there 
 
 Into his hands with honour reconvey 
 
 The realms erst won by conquering Charlemain 
 
 From wild Sobrarbe to Ebro's fertile plain ("^). —
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 
 
 " Thither, at Charles's high behest, I go ; 
 And Uttle reck I whether false or sooth 
 Montalban's death denouncing voice of woe. 
 That bade beware the subtile mask of truth, 
 And hold no reverence for his head of snow 
 Who stain'd with treason the fair page of youth. 
 Fear must not couple with Orlando's name : 
 Whate'er betide, his course is still the same." 
 
 Short time the generous Anselm mused, and then- 
 " Now by the faith of former years," he cried, 
 ** The mutual faith we pledged in fair Ardenne, 
 And since in dangerous battle oft have tried, 
 Orlando, if thou dare the lion's den. 
 Thy brother knight shall enter by thy side. 
 Till both return from Roncesvalles free. 
 Loved Aries, adieu ! I '11 ne'er revisit thee." 
 
 Meanwhile, upon his rushy couch reclined. 
 Slept Oliver as on the softest bed ; 
 While fancy left the present scenes behind, 
 And dreams delusive throng'd about his head : 
 Now round his brows are rosy chaplets twined. 
 Now gorgeous tapestry for his feet is spread ; 
 The storied walls, carved roofs, and inlaid floor. 
 The same that deck'd the courts of Caradore("),
 
 10 ORLAXDO IN RONCESVALLES. 
 
 The banquet rich in royal state is spread, 
 
 Midst the full blaze of artificial day : 
 
 The air with music trembles : higjj o'er head 
 
 Harmonious minstrels chaunt the jocund lay: 
 
 Piment and clairet, hypocras and mead('*). 
 
 And sparkling cypms, and the deep tokay. 
 
 By amorous knights are pledged to blushing maids. 
 
 While peals of laughter shake the proud arcades. 
 
 Sudden the feast is vanisht, husht the sound 
 Of minstrelsy, and quencht the torches' blaze : 
 One solitary taper sheds around 
 The couch of love its soft raytiterious rays; 
 And on that couch reclines in sleep profound 
 The bright enchantress of his later days. 
 In bloom of virgin freshness, as she lay 
 Lost in his arms, and sigh'd her soul away. 
 
 " My fondest love, awake ! " he seem'd to say, — 
 
 *' Meridiana ! let those melting eyes 
 
 Beam on my soul, once more, celestial day. 
 
 And light me on the road to Paradise ! " 
 
 They ope, those stars of love ; the kindling ray 
 
 O'er all her frame in swift emotion flies: 
 
 " My Oliver ! " — enraptured, tranced, j)ossest. 
 
 She cries, — he sinks uj)on her panting breast —
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. Il 
 
 Upon her panting breast he sinks — but oh ! 
 
 How does she meet his eager fierce desire ? 
 
 That breast has ceased to pant, that cheek to glow. 
 
 Those eyes to sparkle with voluptuous fire : 
 
 The form he clasps is cold as fi-ozen snow ; 
 
 The couch he presses is the fimeral pyre ; 
 
 The sounds, faint struggling those pale lips between, 
 
 *' Take thy first bride, thy murder'd Florisene ('*) 1'* 
 
 With horror wild, he bursts the icy chain 
 
 Of slumber ; and, ere yet the cheerftil light 
 
 Purpled the billows of the eastern main. 
 
 Hath summon'd to the field each brother knight : 
 
 His alter'd cheer they note, but seek in vain 
 
 To rouse the extinguisht genius of delight, . 
 
 Or clear the brow with shades of death o'ercast : — • 
 
 So heavy sits remembrance of the past. 
 
 Five days they journey on, from morning's break 
 To night, and on the sixth fair evening view 
 The sun clad Pyrenean's spiry peak. 
 Like some proud banner tinged with golden hue. 
 " Behold," Orlando cries, " the mark we seek,— 
 How awful, yet how goodly, to the view ! 
 Hail we the passing glory, as a sign, 
 Vojichsafed from Heaven, of countenance divine.
 
 12 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 
 
 ** But who are they that, from yon forest glade 
 Emerging, hither urge their steeds aright ? 
 Full gallant lords they seem, and well array'd, 
 As on their arms faint glows the expiring light." 
 ** If well mine eyes distinguish," Anselm said, 
 " The foremost is, indeed, a gallant knight : 
 Charles cannot houst a wortliier in his train.— 
 What ! know ye not the far famed British thane {'*) ? " 
 
 " Now shame upon mine eyes untimely hlind ! 
 
 It is, it is Astolpho's self I see ; 
 
 And now the chief who follows close behind 
 
 I note, — the flower of Asia's chivalry. 
 
 The heir to Mecca's throne, — whose virtuous mind 
 
 From Paynim bonds of prejudice set free, 
 
 J press'd him to my heart, and hail'd with pride. 
 
 In friendsliip once, and now in faith allied (''). 
 
 " A third still follows after, who, in show 
 Of outward pomp, outdazzles both his peers: 
 And where 's the champion in whose veins doth flow 
 A current of such noble blood as theirs ? 
 Vet else, methinks, that gracefut form I know j — 
 It should be own'd by Baldwin of Poictiers, 
 A generous youth, and, though of Gano's race, 
 Heir to h\< fortunes, not to his disgrace ('')."
 
 ftRLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 13 
 
 By this, the knights advancing wave on high 
 Their plumed casques, in gratulation fair, 
 Mid shouts of joy ; and as they press more nigh, » 
 With answering shouts resounds the vocal air : 
 And now, in phrase of untaught courtesy, 
 (Embraces past,) old Otho's valiant heir 
 Begins their cause of coming to explain,— 
 ** Orlando, hail ! iujperial Charlemain 
 
 " Sends thee this greeting ; — (for myself and these 
 
 Brethren in arms all reverence and love ! — ) 
 
 At Fontarabia on the Gascon seas('') 
 
 Our sovereign holds his court ; nor thence will move, 
 
 Till, as the tenor of the peace decrees. 
 
 In the tremendous sight of God above. 
 
 Whom Moor and Christian equally adore, 
 
 Marsilius shall have seal'd the faith he swore, 
 
 ** But when into thy hands at Roncesvaux 
 The solemn cession shall be made complete. 
 The powers of France and Spain, no longer foes. 
 In Pampeluna's royal courts shall meet ; 
 And there, instead of rude uncivil blows. 
 Shall merriment resound through every street ; 
 For shrieks of desolate wives from husbands rent, 
 The festive dance and knightly tournament.
 
 It ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 
 
 ** On Roncesvalles' field already wait 
 
 Thy coming many chiefs of worth declared ; 
 
 There Turpin, reverend sire, to consecrate 
 
 The solemn act with holiest rites prepared, 
 
 Saint Michel's lords, the Prince of Neustria's state, 
 
 Montleon's Gualtier, good Duke Egibard, 
 
 Avino, either Anjolin, are there, 
 
 Avolio, and the gentle Berlinghier ('"). 
 
 "As marshals we before the joyous host » 
 
 Are sent to meet and guide your course aright. 
 Myself, with Sansonetto, Asia's boast, 
 And gentle Baldwin, yet untried in fight, ? 
 
 Who, though a little month is gone at most, ' 
 
 Since Charles array'd, and sent him forth, a knight. 
 Will soon, perchance, eclipse our paler fire, 
 As he already shames our mean attire." 
 
 So spake he, jesting : but the ingenuous youth, » 
 Who, erst, Orlando's best loved page had been, 
 And served nith matchless constancy and truth, 
 Advanced with modest blush yet manly mien — ; 
 ** Think not, my honour 'd patron, that in sooth 
 I would in aught but simplest garb be seen. 
 Such as befits a knight of worth untried : — 
 This is not Baldwin's, but a father's pride.
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCBlSTALLESi 141 
 
 '* He bade me wear this rich embroidcr'd vest. 
 
 Which, at your bidding, gladly I restore :" 
 
 Orlando strain'd the warrior to his breast — 
 
 *' No, wear it still — there's none can grace it more ; 
 
 And, be it freely, noble friend, confest, 
 
 1 never felt so true a joy before, 
 
 As now, that in thy welcome sight I see 
 
 The surest pledge of Gano's loyalty. 
 
 " For ever be ungenerous doubt," he cried, 
 *' Offspring of idle fancy, cast away ! 
 Now, Aldabelle, resume thy wonted pride : 
 Suspicion is a guest that shuns the day." 
 A deeper blush the cheek of Baldwin dyed — 
 " Suspicion ! — did my noble patron say ? 
 Now, so sit honour on my virgin sword. 
 As spotless is the faith of Poictiers' lord." 
 
 S<r spake the son, unknowing yet the cause 
 That stain'd with doubt Maganza's perjured name : 
 And who so strange to nature's holiest laws 
 But loves the champion of a parent's fame ? 
 Orlando mark'd his warmth with just applause. 
 '^ My valiant Baldwin ! on my head the blame. 
 Whose heedless words have hurt a soul like thine : 
 Henceforth, thy father's honour shall be mine."
 
 )6 ORLANDO IK RONCCSVALLES. 
 
 Now must we leave the Paladins awhile. 
 
 And ye, who kindly listen to my lay, 
 
 Think they have reach 'd the destined vale, where smile 
 
 Soft meadows in perennial verdure gay. 
 
 And, every side surrounding, pile o'er pile 
 
 Rise the gigantic hills, and seem to say. 
 
 Here are we fixt by Heaven's creating hand 
 
 The everlasthig guardians of the land.
 
 NOTES 
 
 Mil 
 TO 
 
 CANTO THE FIRST. 
 
 (1) " Milo, Clermont's lord.''] The genealogy of 
 romance makes Charlemagne and Milo of Anglante 
 both descendants in the eighth degree from the 
 Emperor Constantine, and even assigns to the latter 
 the honours of the elder branch. Notwithstanding his 
 high birth and consanguinity, this Milo was so reduced 
 in fortune as to be judged a suitor unworthy the hand 
 of Bertha, Charles's favourite sister ; to whom being 
 married in secret, they fled together to avoid the anger 
 of their sovereign ; and Bertha, falling in labour in a 
 cavern at Sutri near Rome, gave birth in this situa- 
 tion to an infant, respecting whom Milo is thus made 
 to speak to his unfortunate consort as soon as she has 
 recovered from the trance which followed her de- 
 livery : " La prima volta che io lo vidi, si lo vidi ioche 
 il rotolava, et in Franzoso e a dire rotolare roolare... . 
 c
 
 18 NOTES TO 
 
 lovoglioper rimemoranza che I'habbia Donie Iloorlan- 
 do." That is to say, " The first moment I beheld him, 
 I saw him roll himself round of his own accord ; and in 
 the French language rololare (to roll) is called roolnre 
 (rouler): therefore, in remembrance thereof I will that 
 he shall be named Roorlando (Roland or Orlando \" 
 Whoever wishes to hear more concerning the loves of 
 Milo and Bertha, and the acts of this rolling phaenome- 
 non in his infancy, must read the very ancient Italian 
 romance of " I Reali di Francia," unless he had rather 
 content himself with the analysis of that singular pro- 
 duction in M. Ginguen^'s Hist. Litt. d'ltalie, part 2. 
 chap. 4. ^ 
 
 (2) Oliver (Ulineri) the brother of Alda la bella 
 (the beautiful Alda) is called, in the old romances. 
 Marquis of Burgundy. I cannot immediately discover 
 his parentage, or degree of consanguinity to the hero of 
 my poem ; for he was his cousin as well as his brotlier- 
 in-law. Pulci describes him throughout as a young 
 and daring warrior, of an extremely amorous complex- 
 ion ; but Boyardo and Ariosto have altogether changed 
 his romantic character, giving him a beard and two 
 full-grown men for his sons, 
 
 " Gryphon the white and Aquilant the black." 
 
 (3) Gano or Ganellon, Count of Poictiers, diief 
 of the Maganzesc, or family of Mayence, a noble house,
 
 CANTO THE FIRST. 1!^ 
 
 also connected in blood to the numerous progeny of 
 Constantine, but of which every member (with the sin- 
 gle exception of Baldwin) appears to have been born 
 a traitor. The history of their ancient hatred to the 
 Paladins, particularly to those of the same imperial li- 
 neage, " were long to tell," and perhaps not very pro- 
 fitable if told. 
 
 (4) Namo, or Naymes, king of Bavaria, and Sa- 
 iaraon, Duke of Bretagne, two of Charlemagne's most 
 powerful vassals and faithful counsellors. 
 
 (5) " Britain's valiant King, the wise and old?"'\ 
 Reverting to the fabulous genealogy already cited, we 
 find that Buovo or Beuves d'Antona (whose actions 
 form the subject of another Italian romance which 
 bears his name) was the common progenitor of Milo 
 lordofAnglante already mentioned, and of three brothers 
 of at least equal repute ; Beuves of Aigremont, Aymon 
 ofDordogne, and Olho King of b'itain. The latter of 
 these is the personage here alluded to ; and he was the 
 father of Astolpho, another of the Paladins. Of the two 
 former, Beuves was father of the fairous Christian 
 enchanter Maugis (called by the Italians Malaglgi), 
 and Aymon was rendered illustrious by the splendid 
 achievements of his four sons (les quatre filz Ay- 
 mon), — Renaud (or Rinaldo), Guichard (Guiscardo),. 
 
 c2
 
 SI NOT£S TO 
 
 Alard, and Richard (or Ricciardetto). Of these more 
 hereafter. 
 
 (6) Marsilius, King of Saragossa, has been already 
 mentioned in the Argument. He was the son of Ga- 
 lafro, and brother of two " bloody Pagans," Balugaud 
 and Falseron. I am here speaking on the authority of 
 the ancient romances; Boyardo and Ariosto have 
 strangely confounded the pure historical records of 
 Archbishop Turpin, &c. 
 
 (7) '^ATonlallan's raven voice.'"] The enchanter Mau- 
 gis or Malagigi, already mentioned ; who held the strong 
 castle of Montalban for his cousin Rinaldo during hi« 
 absence in the East. 
 
 (8) "The Princess of Cathay"-^" Angelica the 
 vain."] The existence of this celebrated princess, who 
 is called the daughter of Galafron, King of Cathay (or 
 China), is owing to the creative fancy of Boyardo alone. 
 Her name is not mentioned in any of the older ro- 
 mances : but the reader will immediately perceive that 
 my allusion is to the " Orlando Furioso." 
 
 (9) I am unable to say any thing of this worthy, 
 further than that he was Count of Aries (Arii in Ita- 
 han ), and one of the bravest and most devoted cham- 
 pions at Roncesvalles.
 
 CANTO THE FIRST. 21 
 
 (10) The marches of Spain, (Marca Hispanica,) 
 which formed a part of Charlemagne's empire. So* 
 brarbe is the name of a mountainous region at the foot 
 of the Pyrenees, bordering on Spanish Navarre. The 
 early princes of the house of Inigo are sometimes called 
 kings of Sobrarbe. 
 
 (11) Caradore was sovereign of a certain king- 
 dom in " Pagania," whose daughter Meridiana had 
 by her beauty attracted the admiration, among many 
 others, of a gallant " Paynim," by name Manfredonio. 
 The war which this ardent lover makes on the father in 
 hopes of winning the daughter forms the subject of 
 some of the earlier cantos of the Morgante Maggiore^ 
 and is one of the most interesting and best parts of that 
 poem, Orlando having enlisted hiraself in the service 
 of her suitor meets the martial princess in single com- 
 bat, of which the termination is described in a very 
 poetical manner : 
 
 " All full of rage, the Paladin her foe 
 Kis heavy sword drove furious at her crest ; 
 Crest, plume, and helm, were sever'd by the blow, 
 And her long hair dropt loosen'd o'er her breast ; 
 Bright as the stars in cloudless night that glow, 
 Fair as the locks the Queen of Love confest. 
 Or Daphne's tresses floating in the wind, 
 Fann'd by Apollo's panting breath behind." 
 
 C. iii. St. 17.
 
 42 KOTES TO 
 
 Shortly afterwards, Oliver, ignorant that his brother- 
 in-law is in the enemy's camp, espouses the cause of 
 this hardly-treated virago ; and Orlando himself, re- 
 penting of" the unknightly office he had assumed, leaves 
 the unfortunate suitor to his fate. I shall have recourse 
 to M. Ginguen6 for the conclusion of the adventure : 
 
 ** Les Paladins r^unis k cette cour sont fet^s comma 
 des liberateurs. Meridienne 6tait devenue amoureuse 
 d'Olivier. Elle ne peut plus s'y contraindre, lui d#- 
 couvre son amour, et veut I'engager a y repondre. 
 
 • Je n'en ferai rien,* dit Olivier ; * vous etes Sarrazine et 
 moi Chretien : notre Dieu m'abandonnerait : tuez-moi 
 plutot de votre main.' — ' Eh bien,' reprend Meridienne, 
 
 * demontre-^moi clairement que notre Mahomet est un 
 faux dieu. et je me ferai baptiser pour I'amour de toi.' 
 Le bon Olivier se met a cat6chiser sommairement Me- 
 ridienne ; et voici, autant que je puis me pemnettre de 
 le traduire, comment se fait cette conversion, 
 
 " Olivier lui parla de la Trinity, et lui dit comment 
 elle est a la fois une scule substance et trois personnel, 
 et leur puissance, et leur divinite. Ensuite il lui fit 
 une comparaison. * Si vous doutez encore que Ton 
 puisse etre un et trois, un exemple vous le fera coni- 
 prendre. Une chandelle allumee en allume millc, et ne 
 cesse pas de rendre la meme lumiere.' II lui donne 
 d'autres explications tout aussi claires. Elle n'a riea 
 i y repondre, et demande aussitot qu'il la baptise ;
 
 CANTO THE FIRST. 3S 
 
 E dopo a questo vennono alia Cresima 
 Tanto che in fine e' ruppon la quaresima. 
 
 C.viii. St. 11. 
 
 ** Je prie qu'on ne se scandalise pas," adds our com- 
 mentator, " mais qu'on veuille bien se rappeler mes 
 doutes sur I'emploi serieux des textes sacres et des pri- 
 eres qu'on trouve si frequemment dans le poeme du 
 Pulci. Cette citation ne suffit-elle pas pour nous ap- 
 prendre ce que nous en devons penser ?" Hist. Litt. 
 d'ltalie, torn, iv, p. 222. 
 
 (12) " Piment and clairei, hypocras and mead."'] 
 These are the names given to certain compositions of 
 wine, honey, spices, and other delectable ingredients, 
 fit nourriture des Heros, which were much in vogue 
 among the ancient worthies, and the various recipes 
 for which may be found in more than one modern trea- 
 tise on chivalry and romance. 
 
 (13) Florisena was another princess to whom this 
 faithless Paladin vowed unalterable affection : 
 
 " Non si diparte amor si leggiermente 
 Che per conformita nasce di stella. 
 Dovunque andremo in Levante o in Ponente, 
 Amerd sempre Florisena bella." 
 
 So says the knight at parting ; notwithstanding which 
 he shortly -ifter enters into the service of Meridiana ;
 
 2i N0TE8 TO 
 
 and the deserted fair, in a transport of grief nnd jea- 
 lousy, throws herself out of a window of her father's 
 palace. 
 
 (14) Astolpho, the son of Otho, King of Britain, 
 already mentioned, and first cousin of Orlando, Ri- 
 naldo, and Malagigi. His character is preserved with 
 tolerable consistency in most of the romances founded 
 on Turpin's Chronicle : enthusiastically brave, and ho- 
 nest ; but blunt in manner, somewhat pertinacious in 
 opinion, and mightily given to the art of making prac- 
 tical bulls. 
 
 (15) Sansonetto, son of the Soldan of Mecca, had 
 been converted to Christianity by Orlando in one of 
 his Asiatic adventures, and thenceforward attached 
 himself to the fortunes of the hero with undeviating 
 constancy. 
 
 (16) Baldwin, only son of Ganellon, tlie most 
 zealous of Orlando's friends and followers, who had just 
 before been knighted by Charlemagne on account of the 
 valour he displayed in the battle of Paris. His unfor- 
 tunate history will be fully explained in the sequel. 
 
 (17) " jil Fon tar alia on the Gascon seas. "1 In the 
 original romances it is at St. Jean Pied de Port that 
 Charlemagne encamps to await the rati&cation of the
 
 CANTO THE FIRST. 23 
 
 treaty at Roncesvalles. I have substituted Fontarabla 
 for more than one reason : first, because it is hard to 
 conceive that, at so short a distance as the town of St. 
 Jean, Charlemagne could have remained ignorant of 
 the advance of 300,000 Moors to surprise the Paladins 
 in Roncesvalles ; secondly, because the name of Fonta- 
 rabia is more poetical and more familiar ; and because 
 Milton tells us (although not consistently with the le- 
 gendary Chronicle of Turpin, or with the history which 
 forms the basis of this poem,) that 
 
 Charlemagne with all his peerage fell 
 
 By Fontarabia.- 
 
 (18) " Avino, Avolio, e '1 gentil Berlinghieri,"— 
 a verse that occurs in Pulci, Boyardo and Ariosto, as 
 often as the rhyme or the metre requires it, like the 
 
 — — fortemque Gyan, fortemque Cloanthum. 
 
 The other Paladins here noticed are Matthew and 
 Mark the brother lords of St. Michel, Richard of 
 Normandy, Walter (Gualtieri) of Montleon, one Egi- 
 bard (of whom I know nothing more than that he is 
 constantly honoured with the appellation of " II buon 
 Duca Egibardo"), and the two Anjolins, of Bourdeaux 
 and Bellande. I need not repeat that Turpin, the war- 
 like archbishop, is the same with the pseudo-chronicler 
 of Charlemagne and Roland. 
 
 Upon referring to the " Reali di Francia," lib. v. c. 9.
 
 m VOTES TO CANTO THK riltST. 
 
 I Hnd Berlingliieri and Gualteri named as brothers, sons 
 of a certain Arwerigo di Verbena, who was himself 
 grandson to the famous Buovo d'Antona, and of the 
 race of Mongrana. The brothers lords of St, Michel, 
 it seems, trace their descent also from the sanie stock, 
 but through a different branch which takes its name 
 from one Ricardo di Conturbia ( Richard of Canter- 
 bury). A more diligent genealogist might, doubtless, 
 trace some familj' connexion between all the Paladina 
 here mentioned.
 
 £)riatii)o in 33ionttsiomts. 
 
 Canto tlje ^econtr. 
 
 JN OW to Montalban's raven haunted tower. 
 Genius of old romance ! direct my way; 
 Where, erst, against the leagued imperial power 
 The sons of Aymon held rebellious sway ('). 
 Then, proud Montalban, was thy courtly bower 
 Throng'd with the pomp of chivalrous array : 
 But now, since peace has seal'd the fatal strife 
 That arm'd a vassal 'gainst hb sovereign's life.
 
 28 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLSS. 
 
 For many a slow revolving year, no more 
 Thy walls have echoed any earthly sound ; 
 While, far from thee, to Asia's distant ^hore 
 Thy chiefs are gone, on wild adventure bound : 
 Now waves the rank grass from thy turrets hoar, 
 Erewhile with Aymon's feudal banner crown *d ; 
 The Sim, whose setting beams reflected shone 
 From buckler, casque and spear, now warms the 
 mouldering stone. 
 
 Yet not untenanted, — so fame reports 
 Among the credulous peasants of the plain, — 
 Though Silence in thy halls and spacious courts 
 Upholds " her ancient solitary reign :'* 
 But thither oft at midnight hour resorts 
 From central caves of earth a viewless train, 
 At Malagigi's potent spell, to wait 
 His bidding, and lay bare the womb of fate. 
 
 *Tis said, — an<l, courteous hearers, if I seem 
 
 On fancy's wing to take too bold a flight, 
 
 The reverend Turpin vouches for my theme (^) ; 
 
 And who can doulit what reverend churchmen write? — 
 
 Oft from the banks of Seine's imperial stream. 
 
 Borne on the rapid coursers of the night. 
 
 The wise enchanter, in one little hour, 
 
 Would cleave the sky to gray Montalban's tower j
 
 OHLANDO IN RONCESVALLKS, 29 
 
 And there, with cabalistic lore profound. 
 Summon the princes of the infernal coasts. 
 Or break with potent words the hallow'd ground. 
 Waking from death's long sleep unbodied ghosts ; 
 Then deep mysterious converse hold, till sound 
 Of earliest cock dispersed the shadowy hosts : — • 
 So Turpin writes, — and, if you doubt the tale 
 By me affirm'd, let Turpin's words prevail. 
 
 When false Maganza to the imperial throne (') 
 
 The peaceful answer of Marsilius bore. 
 
 Many a brave peer, for faith and courage known. 
 
 Doubted a fraud in every smile he wore j 
 
 But chiefly Malagigi, whether prone 
 
 By cautious nature to suspect, or more 
 
 Than others knew by art superior taught. 
 
 Freely proclaim'd the peace with treason fraught. 
 
 And then, since Charles, unheeding all he told. 
 And fondly trusting a false favourite's tale. 
 His mandate sent to Clermont's lord, to hold 
 That solemn meeting in the appointed vale. 
 With stern despight that would not be controll'd 
 The enchanter sought, beneath the moonlight pale, 
 Montalban's towers, and there deep ponder'd o'er, 
 Night following night, his strange mysterious lore, .
 
 $f^ ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLBS. 
 
 Down in the infernal cavern's deepest place '" ' - * 
 His mansion holds a spirit wise and strong (••) 
 And terrible ; of his abandoii'd race 
 Moves none more black those dismal courts among : 
 Vet over him, by Heaven's eternal grace, 
 The more to hmnble that rebellious throng, 
 Have magic charms permitted power to quell 
 His savage force with adamantine spell. 
 
 Him Malagigi summon'd : by his voice 
 Compell'd, the daemon rose ; but fiercer far 
 Thau subject spirit suits ; as if the choice 
 IK' liad to serve, or wage viudictive war. 
 He -smiled, as devils smile when they rejoice,— 
 Such smile as murderers in their vengeance wear. — 
 That smile the enchanter mark'd, and felt the hour 
 Draw nigh when he must render back his power. 
 
 Shuddering he mark'd, — but soon collected spoke; 
 " Not yet, oh Astaroth ! — not yet the day 
 That frees immortals from my earthly yoke : 
 Still art thou bound, and still thou must obey. 
 Hear then my last command ! Henceforth be broke 
 The mighty spell, and melt in air away (•), 
 So now my potent bidding thou fulfil — 
 Hear then, submissive ! hear, and do my will I
 
 ORLANDO IS rtOVCESVALLl*. 31- 
 
 " First teach me, for thou camt, since Charles hath gone, 
 Reckless of danger, to the coast of Spain, 
 And he, the great defender of his throne, 
 Ahides the Moor on Roncesvalles' plain, 
 What doom is in the rolls of fate foreshown ? 
 What is the doom of France and Charlemain ? 
 Say — doth the daemon of destruction lower, 
 With treason leagued, o'er all the Christian power? " 
 
 " Master! — so still thou art !" — the fiend replied, — 
 (For that determined voice recall'd the day 
 When magic hound for his rebellious pride 
 Seven years within the rifted rock he lay,) — 
 *' Things are there in the womb of fate denied 
 To spiritual ken as sense of mortal clay : 
 The past and present are our own ; but eye 
 Of creature never pierced futurity C'). 
 
 *' Darlily indeed and doubtfully we trace 
 Shadows that flit behind the eternal veil. 
 Sometimes we view them imaged in the face 
 Of outer heaven in colours dim and pale. 
 But nothing certain. Had Almighty Grace (") 
 Thrown such a weight of knowledge in our scale, 
 ' How should the boaster, Man, elude our powers ' 
 No, — God hath clipp'd our wings, or the wide world 
 were ours (").
 
 81 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 
 
 " Think'st thou, if Lucifer himself, the first ('^), 
 As once in heaven, so now in lowest hell. 
 Could pierce that sacred veil, that he had durst 
 Claim power supreme, and, claiming it, rebel ?— 
 Or we those easier chains of wrath had burst 
 To make our second fall more damnable ? 
 Ni>, no: all knowledge is to angels known,— 
 All, but the future : that is God's alone. 
 
 " Yet what I can my master may command. 
 Know then that all the circling air is dense ('") 
 With spirits, each his astrolabe in hand. 
 Searching the hidden ways of Providence. 
 For from his throne in Scorjiio o'er the land 
 Now gloomy Mars sheds l)aleful influence, 
 Portending chances terrible and strange, 
 Treason and blood to man, — to empires change. 
 
 '* Yes, — in that heavenly sign I see pourtray'd 
 
 The massacre of nations, and the fall 
 
 Of mighty states, and man by man betray 'd. 
 
 And many a prince's bloody funeral. 
 
 Hast thou not mark'd yon comet, that array'd 
 
 In sanguine lustre rules this nightly \id\\ ? 
 
 All this and worse that sanguine beam foreshows,- 
 
 A long interminable train of woes.
 
 ORLANDO IN ROlTCESVALLES. 53 
 
 ^' Thus far into the future can I see, — 
 And only thus, — for, what conclusion thence 
 The mind may draw, it open Ues to thee 
 As much as to the keenest spiritual sense. 
 But, for the things that were and those that be. 
 Somewhat to me my searching sight presents. 
 To thee unknown, that may, if rightly told. 
 More of hereafter to thy mind unfold. 
 
 '^ Know then, when Poictiers' traitorous lord was sent 
 With courteous phrase the Moorish chief to greet(") ? 
 Veiling in honest show his base intent. 
 As if by Charles deliver'd, at his feet H 
 
 He dared pronounce so rude a compliment. 
 So full of threats for sovereign's ear unmeet. 
 That proud Marsilius, swelling with disdain, 
 Hurl'd back defiance stern to Charlemain. >L 
 
 " And when thus apt for vengeance, hot for blood. 
 
 The prince he found, this wily traitor knew 
 
 By weaving phrases of more courtly mood. 
 
 Unto his damned purpose to subdue 
 
 And mould that tiger soul. It were not good, * 
 
 He said, such insolent mockery to pursue 
 
 With open vengeance, which might miss its blow : 
 
 No, — make the example terrible though slow. 
 
 D
 
 M ORLANDO IN ROKCESVALLES. 
 
 " From hour to hour his favour stronger grows 
 With Saragossa's monarch, till it seems 
 Marsilius through his knowledge all things knows. 
 Thinks with liis thoughts and with his reason deems : 
 One day it chanced, beneath the verdant rows 
 Of poplar fringing rapid Ebro's streams, 
 Tired with the chase, that from the noontide heat 
 They sought together a secure retreat ; 
 
 ** And there, — to end my tale, — between them plann'd 
 A work so full of monstrous villainy. 
 That, heard in hell, the whole infernal band 
 Raised one loud shout, reechoing to the sky. 
 The mine is now prepared, the work in hand ; 
 Nor can I in the signs of Heaven descry, — 
 If godlike virtue may not guard the event,— 
 Aught to divert its full accomplishment. 
 
 " It matters not, their bloody league complete. 
 As from the bank arose that son of hell, 
 That the wild carob shook, and at his feet (") 
 The accursed fruit, sign of Heaven's anger, fell ; 
 Though, since Iscariot's death, the judgment seat 
 Had never witness'd deed so damnable. 
 A moment's space the traitor stoo<l aghast, — 
 The next, laugh'd at his fears and onward pass'd.
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 35 
 
 " ' How, if Orlando fears ?' ' He shall not fear/ 
 The traitor answer'd: — ' to confirm him ours. 
 Give me the surcoat thou art used to bear ('^) 
 In purple wrought and stiff with golden flowers : 
 That vest my son, my only son, shall wear, — 
 A safe protection when the battle lowers,— 
 And thus begirt, as vsith Jove's aegis, be 
 Himself the guide of Clermont's chivalry, 
 
 " * Their ignorant guide to havoc and despair : 
 Do thou but pledge thy solemn faith to mine. 
 To bid thy soldiers watch with special care. 
 And when they mark, amidst the Christian line. 
 The embroider'd vest their sovereign used to wear 
 Upon a young and gallant warrior shine. 
 That warrior see ye spare, and spare alone ! — 
 That warrior is the son of Ganellon.' '* 
 
 The daemon paused ; and thus the enchanter said : 
 " Too well, oh Astaroth ! too well I see 
 A sight to fill the stoutest heart with dread. 
 The fearful hour of Gallia's chivalry. 
 Already are the mountains wide o'erspread. 
 Wave following wave, by one devouring sea. 
 While in the vale our Paladins await, 
 Thoughtless of ill, the o'erwhelming rush of fate, 
 d2
 
 9» 
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 
 
 " But say, is there no hope of safety yet ? 
 No buckler yet the impending blow to stay?" 
 " None — Roncesvalles is the fowler's net. 
 Already cast around the unconscious prey. 
 They know it not ; but ere the sun hath set 
 That dawns upon the third portentous day. 
 For every lance in that devoted band 
 Unnumber'd Paynim swords will sweep across the 
 land ('••)." 
 
 Silent and sad awhile the enchanter sate ; 
 
 Then cried, ** Oh yet — Orlando's powerful sword 
 
 May yet carve out for France a nobler fate." 
 
 ** Yes, so it please high heaven's imperial Lord 
 
 That for the weal of that neglectful state 
 
 The days of Amalek shall be restored." 
 
 The irreverent taunt the enchanter heeded not. 
 
 But inly musing — " Whatsoe'er their lot, 
 
 " Would," he exclaim'd, '' they had Rinaldo there ! 
 That wondrous arm might turn the opposing scale." 
 Then thus to Astaroth, — " Say, dxraon, where 
 Lingers mV cousin in this mortal vale ? " 
 Eastward he tum'd those eyes that through mid air 
 Ten thousand leagues can swift as lightning sail. 
 I see him now beneath the sultry skies 
 Where Pharaoh's everlasting temples rise."
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 37 
 
 Then Malagigi gave his last command, — 
 
 That in three days the daemon should convey 
 
 Montalban's knight from Egypt's burning sand 
 
 To Roncesvalies, through the aerial way. 
 
 '^ Henceforth be free from spell of mortal band. 
 
 As thou shalt this my last behest obey ! " 
 
 Grimly the daemon smiled his last farewell. 
 
 *^ I'hou art obey'd," he cried j then plunged to hell. 
 
 Montalban's towers and silent streams and glades 
 
 Sleep in the quiet moonsiiine, when from far 
 
 Borne through mid heaven attend the courser shades 
 
 Self-harness'd to their visionary car. 
 
 *' To Charlemain, ere yet the moonbeam fades. 
 
 Lost in the brightness of Aurora's star, 
 
 Bear me, my steeds, in silence through the sky : 
 
 Yet may we change Orlando's destiny I " 
 
 He who from dull repose short hours can steal. 
 
 Alone to wander mid the calm serene 
 
 Of a fair summer's midnight, and can feel 
 
 His soul accordant to that solemn scene. 
 
 May think how joyful, swift as thought, to wheel :r 
 
 From fleecy cloud to cloud, while all between 
 
 Is one pure flood of light, and dim and slow 
 
 Rolls the wide world of vapour far below.
 
 Vi ^LANDO IN ROXCBSVALLB& 
 
 And now o'«r Roncesvalles' fatal plain 
 Hovering, the wise enchanter bids descend 
 His coursers, and awhile their speed restrain e 
 Now far o'er hill and vale his eyes extend. 
 Beyond ungifted vision's furthest strain ; 
 And, miles and miles around, space without end, 
 Where'er the moonbeams fell, their sparkling light 
 Glanced back from groves of steel, and scared the 
 peaceful night. 
 
 Yet not a breath distmbs the air ; nor sound 
 Of clashing arms, nor shout of revelry. 
 Nor squadrons trampling o'er the hollow ground 
 Give signal of the Moorish chivalry. 
 Twice more the sun must walk his daily romid 
 And bathe his forehead in the Gascon sea. 
 Ere yet the tallest Pagan spear shall show 
 Its glittering point to the devoted foe. 
 
 VVho wakes in Roncesvalles ? Is there one 
 That slumbers not, secure from thought of ill ? 
 All slumber, — all save Oliver alone, — 
 All but unhappy Oliver, whom still 
 That icy grasp of death, that stifled groan, 
 Those words of more than mortal wanting thrill 
 With memory's pangs, and force him wide to stray, 
 A sad, self brooding man, till dawn of day.
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. S9 
 
 Him when the enchanter saw, as on the brow 
 Of a projecting precipice he stood, 
 Fixing his eyes on empty space below 
 But inly rapt in his own gloomy mood. 
 Through a disguise so strange he could not know 5 
 And who had known, in that wild solitude, 
 With eyes so fixt and looks so wan and drear, 
 The flower of knighthood, gallant Olivier ? 
 
 Like one unknown upon his path he came. 
 And thus in few and hasty words addrest : 
 *^ Go, wake yon eagle ! for the aspiring flame 
 Already mounts, and fires his royal nest : 
 Treason hath writ in blood Orlando's name. 
 And Hell is busy with the coming feast. — 
 Go, wake yon eagle ! for the toils are spread. 
 And the proud fowler marks him for the dead." 
 
 Thus said, he sprang into his car, and high 
 Soar'd in an instant out of mortal sight. 
 Steering his voyage through the dusky sky 
 To reach the imperial camp ere morning light. 
 Roused from his trance, long time with eager eye 
 The Paladin in vain pursues his flight. 
 Straining the almost bursting orbs, till day 
 Stole unperceived the shadowy hours away.
 
 46 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLKS. 
 
 " Arm, arm ! Orlando, arm ! Above, around, 
 On every side, his toils hath Treason traced." 
 Scared from his slumbers at the startling sound. 
 Soon has the valiant knight his armour braced, 
 And climb'd with toilsome speed the highest ground; 
 And thither Anselm, Sansonetto, haste ; 
 Gualtier and youthful Baldwin too are there, 
 Astolpho, and the gentle Berlinghier. 
 
 Aboi\'e, below, around, on every side, 
 
 They cast their eager and inquiring eyes ; 
 
 But void and waste extend the mountains wde, 
 
 And void and waste the silent valley lies. 
 
 As at the hour when the Creator cried 
 
 " Be spread, ye valleys ! and, ye moimtains, rise ! " — 
 
 *' Oh Oliver ! what vision, wild and vain. 
 
 My friend, my brother ! hath disturb'd thy brfun ?" 
 
 Another day, another night are o'er. 
 
 And Oliver his watch tower mounts again : 
 
 The hills are void and silent as before. 
 
 And void and silent as before, the plain. 
 
 He warns Orlando of his fate once more. 
 
 And once again he finds his warning vain ; 
 
 Then solitary and dejected strays 
 
 Till the third day star o'er the mountains plays.
 
 -ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 41 
 
 Above, below, around, on every side, 
 
 He turns his eyes ; and sees reflected shine 
 
 The beaming light from war's advancing tide ; 
 
 Sees o'er the hills the interminable line 
 
 Of steel clad squadrons wind in martial pride. 
 
 Seeming in one bright girdle to confine 
 
 All that devoted vale, the closing stage, 
 
 To many a knight, of earth's loved pilgrimage. 
 
 Too late Orlando owns the truth, — too late 
 
 For wise retreat, or provident defence : 
 
 Yet not a signal of his coming fate 
 
 But swells his bosom with a nobler sense ; 
 
 And not a partner of his perilous state 
 
 But feels a martyr's holy confidence. 
 
 While, warm and strengthening like celestial food. 
 
 Flows from his lips the stream of Christian fortitude. 
 
 *' Could I have thought that in the human heart ('') 
 Such hellish treason might a lodging find, 
 I would have play'd a soldier's better part. 
 Not thus untimely to my fate resign 'd. 
 But force opposed to force and art to art. 
 Hither I came, to peace and love inclined. 
 And thought the love that in my bosom burn'd 
 For all mankind, with equal love return'd.
 
 49 ORLANDO IK RONCESVALLBS. 
 
 ** Yet the deceiver shall himself deceive, 
 On his own head the dreadful thunders call ; 
 While ye, who in eternal truth helieve. 
 Sure of approving heaven, will nohlv fall : 
 Soon shall ye all rejoice, though now ye grieve. 
 And change for food divine your bitter gall : 
 Though now your bread be mixt with tears and sighs, 
 Your sods this night shall feast in Paradise. 
 
 *' So to his Greeks the generous Spartan said C"), 
 Whose promises were far less sure than mine : 
 Them only hope exalted when they bled ; 
 Your hope is faith, your promises divine. 
 See on the grate the martyr'd Laurence spread ; 
 Even in the flames his eyes with transport shine. 
 And show how easy and how sweet to die. 
 When the freed soul is rapt and fixt on high. 
 
 ** And now, while little life is yet your own. 
 All fearless mingle in the bloody fray ! 
 Now, Paladins, be all )'our prowess shov^Ti j 
 
 50 shall your bodies only die this day. 
 Now let the fathers by their sons be known, 
 And cast delusive fruitless hope away ! 
 Fight not for life ! Caught in this fatal snare, 
 Our hope is death; our confidence, despair.
 
 OnLANDO ly R0NCBSVALLE9% 4S. 
 
 " And yet it grieves me, noble Charles, for thee,— 
 That, after such high fame, thy royal head 
 Is doom'd so sad, so dark a change to see. 
 Thine honours blasted and thy glory fled ! 
 But ah ! no human state from change is free,— • 
 Whole empires hang upon the slenderest thread ; 
 And often Fate, at Heaven 'v«« appointed hour. 
 Exalts the meek, and blasts the proud man's power. 
 
 " Thee too ! — this faithful bosom bleeds for thee, 
 My cousin, my Rinaldo ! — Once again 
 Might I that much loved form in battle see. 
 Proud in the field, and dreadful o'er the slain ! — 
 Even while I speak, strange visions welcome me, 
 Hope's cheering phantoms crowd upon my brain. 
 I feel, — I know, — that with this mortal eye 
 I yet shall view Rinaldo ere I die. 
 
 " I fear not death ; but hope my worth to show, 
 
 And nobly on the bloody field to lie ; 
 
 To deal the wrath of Heaven and tenfold woe 
 
 On baneful fraud and curst impiety : 
 
 Death is not to be fear'd, but when we know 
 
 The soul shall also with the body die j 
 
 The loss of life is gain, if spirits flee 
 
 From this cold clay to immortality.
 
 4fi ORLANDO IN RONCKSVALLES. 
 
 " Think how the self devoted Decii died. 
 
 And other noble patriot souls of yore. 
 
 Who fell, to satisfy a glorious jjride, 
 
 And leave their memories when they were no more. 
 
 Death is to you the pilot who will guide 
 
 Your parted spirits to a happier shore : 
 
 O how much greater than all earthly love 
 
 Is that which hopes and pants for things above \ 
 
 '* And now, my friends and brethren, O receive 
 The last fond blessing that your chief can give 1 
 Your parting souls shall holy Turpin shrieve. 
 Assured in heaven eternally to live. 
 Even now, in faith's bright mirror, I perceive 
 The undoubted sign of your prerogative: 
 The gates of Heaven are open'd wide around. 
 And radiant angels guard the fatal ground." 
 
 Thus said, he once more vaulted on his steed, 
 
 And loud exclaim'd, " Now for our treacherous foes ! " 
 
 But, when he saw his comrades doom'd to bleed. 
 
 Some tender tears of human pity rose. — 
 
 ** Ah vale accurst ! " he cried, " ah vale decreed 
 
 For orphans* suflferings and the widow's woes ! 
 
 The latest ages shall thy name depl<»re, 
 
 And mark with blood, till time itself is o'er ('')."
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 45 
 
 On every front the holy Turpi n traced 
 
 A sacred cross, and benediction gave. 
 
 And pardon'd them through him in whom are placed 
 
 Our hope and trust, who died mankind to save. 
 
 Then all the valiant band in tears embraced. 
 
 And drew their swords, and stood, resolved and brave : 
 
 Almonte's banner waved their lines before. 
 
 The banner won in Aspramount of yore ('^).
 
 NOTES 
 
 TO 
 
 CANTO THE SECOND. 
 
 (1) The names of the four sons of Duke Aymon 
 are given in a preceding note. The famous rebellion 
 alluded to in this stanza is detailed, together with a va- 
 riety of romantic incident, in the 10th and 11th canto* 
 of Pulci, who borrowed it, not from the Chronicle of 
 Turpin, but from a second source of chivalrous fiction, 
 the old French romance of " Les quatre filz Aymon." 
 
 (2) " The reverend Turpin vouches for my theme"'] 
 The fabulous Chn)nicle, so often mentioned already, 
 being the avowed authority for the fictions of the early 
 Italian romance writers, it became a prevailing fashion 
 among them (in which they are followed by Boyardo 
 and Ariosto) to employ the same fanciful cover for all 
 the extravagances of their own imaginations : and thus 
 the poor archbishop, who has lies enough to answer for
 
 VOTES TO CANTO THE SECOND. 4et 
 
 of his own begetting, became the reputed father of so 
 many others, in the proportion of at least a hundred 
 to one, that he never dreamed of. In adopting the 
 same contrivance, my only object has been to give my 
 poem some air of resemblance to the originals on which 
 it is founded. 
 
 (3) " When false Maganza" ^c."] Compare Pulci, 
 lb. canto xxv. st. 115. et seq. 
 
 (4) " A spirit w'lse a7id strong," fej'c.] Compare Pulci, 
 lb. St. 116. 
 
 Uno Spirto chiamato e Astarotte, 
 Molto savio, terribil, molto fiero ; 
 Questo si sta giu nell' infernal grotte, 
 Non e Spirto folletto, — egli e piu nero, &c. 
 
 (5) " Henceforth he broke The mighty spell" {s'c] lb. 
 stanza 117. After this, in the poem of Pulci, follows 
 one of the most extraordinary passages to be found in 
 that most whimsical production. It is the conversation of 
 the enchanter and daemon, which turns almost entirely 
 on points of abstruse theology, and those discussed 
 with a degree of sceptical freedom which one would 
 imagine to be altogether remote from the spirit of the 
 fifteenth century. The poet informs us that his autho- 
 rity, in this instance, is no longer the orthodox arch- 
 bishop, but a certain Provengal poet by name Arnauld. 
 Wliether there is any more reality in this, than in so
 
 48 NOTES TO 
 
 many other assertions of the same nature, there seems 
 to be at the present day no possibilit); of judging ; but 
 tradition (probably founded on the nature of the doc- 
 trines which are hazarded in this curious dialogue) as- 
 signs the invention of it to Marsilius Ficinus, the phi- 
 losophical friend of Lorenzo de' Medici. I have ven- 
 tured to embody a very small portion only of these 
 metaphysics in some of my succeeding stanzas, and 
 refer the reader to M. Ginguene (torn. iv. p. 237.) for 
 an exposition of the whole passage. 
 
 (6) " Eye Of creature never pierced futurity."^ 
 
 Pulci, or his colleague Ficinus, pushes this idea much 
 further, so as to decide, in no very orthodox manner, 
 the most grave and important question of Christian 
 doctriae. 
 
 Colui che tutto fe sa il tutto solo, 
 
 £ non sa ogni cosa il suo hgliuolo. lb. st. 13v3. 
 
 (7) ** But nothing certain."'] Speaking of the power 
 of spirits to penetrate futurity, Dante makes Farinata 
 degli Uberti declare, 
 
 Noi veggiam, come quei che a mala luce 
 
 Le cose, disse, che ne son lontane. Inferno, c.IO. 
 
 (8) " God hath clipp' dour wings" isfc."] 
 — Non camperebbe huom ne animale, 
 Se non che corte habbium tarpate I'ale. 
 
 Pulcj, c. XXV. St. 132.
 
 CANTO THE SECOND. fd 
 
 (9) " Thinyt thou if Lucifer himself" ^c] Com- 
 pare stanzas 142, 143. 
 
 (10) " Know then that all the circling air is dense 
 
 IVith spirits, each his astrolabe in hand"] 
 I feel that this wliimsical idea stands in need of better 
 authority than the archbishop's to justify it : and perhaps, 
 even now, I shall not be excused for its voluntary 
 adoption. 
 
 Sappi che tutto quest' aere e denso 
 
 Di spirti, ogn' un con 1' astrolabio in mano, 
 
 E '1 calcul tutto, e '1 taccuin remenso, 
 
 Minaccia '1 ciel di qualche caso strano, 
 
 E sangue, e tradimento, e guerra, e storpio, 
 
 Pero che Marte angulare e in Scorpio. St. 134. 
 
 ( 11 ) "Know then, when Poictjers' treacherous lord ivns 
 sent."] The history of Ganellon's treasonable conspi- 
 racy with Marsihus, which I have introduced in this 
 place, is detailed at great length in the Morgante, in a 
 former part of the same canto. Among' other particu- 
 lars which I have thought it necessary to suppress, from 
 the fear of extending a mere digression, beyond all 
 reasonable bounds of patience, Pulci introduces a sin- 
 gular fable, which (I scarcely understand with what ob- 
 ject) he puts into the mouth of the Moorish king. It 
 is in answer to the demand, which Ganellon pretends to 
 have been made by Charlemagne, of a change of religion. 
 
 E
 
 60 NOTES TO 
 
 " I was once informed that in a wood near Saragossa 
 there is a cave, narrow of entrance, but very spacious 
 in the midst, where six pillars are erected, each of 
 which is guarded by a particular spirit. These pillars 
 are typical of the six religions. That of gold is the first 
 and purest. The others are of silver, brass, iron, tin, 
 and lead. All souls, before they enter their corporeal 
 habitations, must here make choice of their creed, and, 
 in making the important selection, are beset by the guair- 
 dian spirits who throng around them, each with a desire 
 of making them embrace his own peculiar pillar. The 
 souls, yet simple and ignorant, but endowed by nature 
 with liberty of action, arc generally determined by the 
 degree of force which accompanies each several solici- 
 tation; and, whichever pillar each embraces, it is typical 
 of the religion that it will follow through life. Happy 
 are those which embrace the golden column ! " (Morg. 
 Magg. c. XXV. St. 42, &c. ) 
 
 (12) " That the wildcarob shook.'"] This is only 
 one of many remarkable prodigies which are, in the 
 Morgante, made to signalize the conclusion of this ac- 
 cursed league ; and it may appear to require explana- 
 tion. At least I think it probable that some of my 
 readers (however learned in sacred history) may not be 
 aware of the circumstance, — which nevertheless rests 
 upon no less authority than that of our reverend arch- 
 bishop, — that the tree from which Judas Iscariot sus-
 
 CANTO THE SECOND. 61 
 
 pended himself was of the species called the wild carob, 
 which is common in the Levant, and, if I am not mis- 
 taken, on all the shores of the Mediterranean. — 
 Era di sopra alia fonte un carubbio, 
 
 L' arbor si dice ove s' impicco Giuda. St. 74. 
 
 (13) " Give me the surcoat thou art wont to bearJ"\ . 
 This cunning stratagem, by which Ganellon intends 
 at once to protect his son amidst the indiscriminate 
 massacre of the other Paladins, and to-lull Orlando into 
 security by the appearance of Baldwin as a hostage for 
 his father's loyalty, is recorded by Pulci, canto xxv. 
 St. 192 et seq. 
 
 (14') " For every lance in that devoted land 
 
 Unnumberd Paynim swords," i*fc.~\ The mar- 
 vellous disproportion of the Moorish to the Christian 
 forces at the battle of Roncesvalles, draws forth the 
 following heroical observation from M. Ginguene, which 
 is perhaps pardonable in a Frenchman : *' Cela est gi- 
 gantesque et deraisonnable sans doute. II y a pour- 
 tant dans ces exagerations un sentiment de I'heroi'sme 
 Frangais, qui serait orgueil dans un poiite national, mais 
 que dans un poete etranger nous pourrions regai'der 
 comme un hommage ; et quand on a ete teraoin de ce 
 qu'ont souvent fait nos intrepides armees, on est tente de 
 trouver tout cela vraisemblable." Notwithstanding the 
 homage which appears to be required from the " poete 
 k2
 
 n MOTES TO 
 
 Stranger," I have thought it more prudent to employ 
 only indefinite phrases in representing the extent of tlie 
 Spanish armament. 
 
 (15) <* Could I have thought" ^c] This oration of 
 Orlando to his little band of brothers forms but a part 
 of that which is assigned to him by Pulci, and which 
 extends through nearly twenty stanzas, from the 24th 
 to the 42d, of canto xxvi. 
 
 (16) " So to his Greeks the generous Spartan *<»'<£."] It 
 may perhaps be remarked tlmt this must have been no 
 better than Greek to the followers of Orlando. Pulci, 
 however, quotes not only Leonidas and the Decii, but 
 the philosopher Thales, Iloratius, and Curtius, besides 
 scripture authorities with which his hearers may be rea- 
 sonably supposed to have been more conversant. 
 
 It may further be objected, that so much sound doc- 
 trine would have been better placed in the mouth of the 
 reverend archbishop than of the captain of this « little 
 band of brothers." But the unlearned render is not 
 aware how much of Orlando's genuine character would 
 have been sacrificed to such an arrangement. Indeed, 
 it may safely be affirmed that few churchmen of that 
 (or indeed of any other age) were more deeply versed 
 in theological science, or more experienced in the pole- 
 mical art, than this noble champion of the faith. In the 
 very first canto, he converts Morgante, the infidel giant,
 
 ' CANTO THE SECOND. 53 
 
 by main force of argument ; and, shortly after, (by vir- 
 tue of a command which may appear to have been 
 somewliat disputable, since it emanates from a vassal of 
 his Satanic majesty,) assumes one of the most important 
 offices of the priesthood, in conferring upon him the 
 rites of baptism. The following is the description of 
 the fearful personage last mentioned, and conclusion of 
 the adventure here alluded to : 
 
 A daemon, black as deepest hell, 
 
 Wrapt in the mouldering cerements of the grave, 
 Leap'd bounding from the abyss with hideous yell. 
 Dry was his flesh, and bare and naked, save j 
 
 Where the worm-eaten grave-clothes tatter'd fell. 
 " It is the devil himself!— I know his face," 
 Orlando cried, and gave him instant chase. 
 In the " unearthly" conflict which ensues, the daemon 
 has well nigh attained the superiority over his noble ad- 
 versary, when the attendant giant interposes, and suc- 
 ceeds at last in driving back the monster into the grave 
 from which he had sprung. 
 
 And there he held him down with force and pain ; 
 But, as he held him, loud the daemon roar'd, 
 " Close not the tomb ! for, if it shuts again, 
 Never to freedom canst thou be restored!" — 
 *' What must we do, our freedom to regain ? 
 How shall we ever quit this place abhorr'd?" 
 " Baptize Morgante!" roar'd again the fiend, 
 " And so securely on thy journey wend!"
 
 54 KOTES TO CANTO THE SECOND. 
 
 The whole adventure may be perused, with great profit, 
 in canto ii. st. 18 et seq. In a subsequent part of the 
 poem we find our hero repeating the exercise of the 
 same solemn function in favour ot" a Pagan chief in 
 articulo mortis. 
 
 (17) " O vale accurst !" Wc.'] 
 
 • O dolorosa 
 
 Valle! 
 
 Tu sarai ricordata in rima e in prosa. St. 41. 
 
 (18) " Almontes banner" ^c] 
 
 £ la bandiera innanzi era d' Almonte, 
 La qual fu acquistata in Aspramonte. St. 42. 
 The battle of Aspramonte ( Aspremont) was another 
 of the fabulous exploits of Charlemagne, in which by 
 the assistance of the brothers Milo and Aymon, of 
 Gualtier de Montleon and Salamon of Bretagne, he 
 overcame an immense host of Pagans conducted by 
 Gamier King of Carthage, Agoland, Troyano (the fa- 
 ther of Boyardo's Agramant), and the Almonte here 
 mentioned. I do not know the romantic origin of this 
 incident, which is barely alluded to by Pulci, but is the 
 entire subject of an Italian poem entitled " Aspramonte," 
 which made its appearance shortly aAer the Orlando 
 Furioso. See Ginguene, torn. iv. p. 550.
 
 DciatiiJO in Bonceistjauefi^ 
 
 Canto tlje CfjirtJ. 
 
 W HOE'ER had heard the brazen trumpet's blast(') 
 
 In Roncesvalles on that fatal morn. 
 
 Might look to see the world's vain pageant past. 
 
 The eternal veil of heaven asmider torn. 
 
 And its appointed angel come at last 
 
 To bid the grave yield up her dead new-born : 
 
 So terrible was that portentous sound 
 
 Borne by the mountain echos wide around —
 
 56 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLCS. 
 
 Wide, wide around the mountain echos bore 
 That soul-dissolving clangor ; cold dismay 
 A moment all the Pagan host came o'er, 
 And check'd the advancing battle's proud array ; 
 A moment only, — and with answering roar, 
 Loud as the ocean surges, when the spray 
 Is tempest-driven against impending skies, 
 Through all the lengthening line the shouts of slaugh- 
 ter rise-^ 
 
 Strange shouts, and yells, and dissonant turbulence 
 
 Of nations, brought from earth's remotest bound, 
 
 Mixt with the din of martial instruments. 
 
 The clash of arms, the neigh of steeds, the somid 
 
 (Like shock of wildly janing elements) 
 
 Of s([uadrons trampling o'er the hollow ground : 
 
 The Christians felt the gathering storm draw near, 
 
 But not a hero's check was blanch 'd with fear. 
 
 Up the steep heights the Christian warriors strain, 
 Firm and unbroken o'er the nigged ground. 
 Nor heed the Moorish darts, that fall like rajn 
 On their broad shields and heads with iron bound : 
 Foremost to climb, and first the ascent to gain, 
 (As England's sons in war are ever found,) 
 The English knight his banner plants on high : 
 " Forward ! Behold the Pagan dastards fly ! "
 
 ORtANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 57 
 
 Awhile on every side, as panic-driven. 
 The outnumbering hosts recoil ; for at a blow 
 Astolpho's lance had shield and hauberk riven (-), 
 And stretch'd their first and stoutest champion low : 
 But soon, as clouds, by the rude blasts of heaven 
 Dispell'd, unite and burst in floods below. 
 Back to the charge the astonisht squadrons pour 
 With hotter fury, and the fight restore. 
 
 Here on the right unhappy Olivier, 
 
 Desperate of life, deals shanle and slaughter round ; 
 
 Gualtier and gentle Berlinghier are here. 
 
 And keep unmoved the hard-won vantage-ground : 
 
 But in the front of danger, death, and fear. 
 
 The English lance is ever foremost found^ 
 
 And ever there the English crest elate 
 
 Moves the terrific harbinger of fate. 
 
 Nor less upon the left, in arms allied. 
 
 Each gallant Anjolin his prowess tries, 
 
 And Baldwin, v\ith a youthful soldier's pride. 
 
 And eye firm fixt on Fame's immortal prize. 
 
 Courts Danger, like a new and blushing bride. 
 
 And wonders why his eager suit she flies ; 
 
 Ah brave unhappy boy ! his guileless breast (') 
 
 Knew not the charm of Poictiers' treacherous vest ',
 
 3^ ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLKS. 
 
 But who shall speak the terrors of that hour^ 
 When, as o'er Libya's hot and thirsty land 
 Moves, bursts, and falls, the self-erected tower. 
 And whelms whole armies in a waste of sand. 
 So dark and dreadful, o'er the Moorish power. 
 Hung great Orlando's desolating hand. 
 And, with unerring aim, where'er it fell. 
 Laid bare some new and fearful path to hell ! 
 
 " From mom till noon, from noon till dewy night," 
 With unabated rage the contest glow'd ; 
 And not a Christian in that bloody fight 
 Gave up to Heaven the sacrifice he ow'd. 
 But first, in glorious witness of the right. 
 From Pagan breasts a plenteous current flow'd, 
 And ghastly heaps on heaps of slaughter'd foes 
 A monument of Heaven's stern justice rose. 
 
 The God of battles, that tremendoas day, 
 Look'd from his throne of vengeance o'er the field. 
 And scatter'd vnhl confusion and dismay 
 From the red terrors of his blazing shield : 
 'Tis said, — (the crowd believes what zealots say,) — 
 The archangel's self, to human eyes reveal *d. 
 In radiant armour, on a snow white horse, 
 Thrice rallied to the charge the Christian force.
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES* 89 
 
 And still let those believe, who cannot feel 
 
 What sovereign force almighty virtue hath : 
 
 More hard than adamant, more strong than steel. 
 
 Scorning the weak assaults of human wrath. 
 
 Virtue through life and death, through woe and weal^ 
 
 Keeps irresistible her onward path. 
 
 Nor can be turn'd by terror or surprise. 
 
 Till Heaven's own towers before her sight arise. 
 
 Brave flower of widow'd England ! in thy sight 
 Already do those towers unveil'd appear, — 
 Thou best and earliest victim of the fight. 
 Cut glorious off in manhood's proud career ! 
 Already beams the fresh-created light 
 On Anjolin and gentle Berlinghier, — 
 Light from a purer heaven, a brighter sun. 
 Than sparkles on their own beloved Garonne. 
 
 Amidst the Paynim host a stranger knight 
 It chanced that day his maiden faulchion drew. 
 The son of that old mountain Ismaelite {*) 
 Whom in a better hour Orlando knew, — 
 Whom high Montalban's lord in single fight 
 (Sent by the Persian princess) first o'erthrew. 
 Then bound in friendship's holiest knot, till He 
 Who breaks all earthly bondage set him free.
 
 99 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 
 
 *Twere long to tell what changeful stars had led 
 That youthful wanderer to the coast of Spain, 
 What phrensy urged, Iiis heart's best blood to shed 
 In treason's cause on Roncesvalles' plain : 
 E'en now the sword of Clermont, on his head 
 Descending swift, had stretch'd him with the slain. 
 Had he not mark'd its threatening course, and low 
 Cowering to earth, escaped the deadly blow ; — 
 
 Yet so escaped not, but that flaming brand. 
 Which never thirsted yet in vain for blood. 
 In glittering fragments scatter'd o'er the sand 
 His gilded casque, and drank the vital flood. 
 Tottering he sank ; the conqueror's ruthlcas hand. 
 Twined in his locks, its murderous aim renew'd, — 
 When " Spare, O spare," Vith feeble voice he cried, 
 " A miserable youth by birth allied ! " 
 
 When good Orlando heard that voice in prayer. 
 Before his eyes the father's image stood ; 
 By pity moved, he loosed his twisted hair. 
 Embraced the youth, and with his tears bedcw'd : 
 *' Thy form, thy face," he cried, " the truth declare; 
 Mine ancient friend I here behold renew'd : 
 Yet 't was ill done, young soldier, to oppose 
 Thy father's friends, and arm to serve his foes ! "
 
 ORLAKDO IS R0NCESVALLE9. 6l 
 
 " O chief revered ! O master ! " he replied, 
 ^' To thee my sword, myself, my faith, I yield. 
 So I may hope to perish at thy side, 
 Devoted warrior, on this bloody field : 
 For fall thou must ! Though war's impetuous tide 
 This day roll harmless round thy heaven-girt shield. 
 Though triumph crown the wonders of thy hand. 
 Yet fall thou must, with all thy generous band 1 
 
 " Think'st thou, this countless host disperst and fled. 
 
 Treason hath laid her cunning toils in vain ? 
 
 No — Ere tomorrow's sun shall rear his head. 
 
 This countless host, thrice number'd, crowds the plain ; 
 
 A brave and stately victim thou art led 
 
 To feed the altars of insatiate Spain, 
 
 And they who drive thee toithe stake are those 
 
 Whom thy free bosom for its inmates chose ! " 
 
 As he who, wandering through some vernal wood 
 Or tangled copse, no latent danger fears. 
 But keeps unmoved his calm or cheerful mood — 
 If 'chance some ambush'd adder's hiss he hears. 
 Back to his heart recoils the healthful blood. 
 And death's pale livery on his cheek appears ; — 
 So, like the serpent's hiss, that hateful sound 
 To Clermont's inmost soul its freezing passage found.
 
 SB ORLANDO IN R0NCESVALLE8. 
 
 '* Wliat ! treason in my camp ! among my friends— 
 My noble generous friends !" he shuddering cried — 
 *' Yes — look where now his onward course he bends. 
 That friend, to Poictiers' bloody race allied ! 
 Hast thou not mark'd his gorgeous vest, where blendsi 
 The sun-bright gold with empire's purple pride ? 
 That to the traitor sire Marsilius gave, 
 Alone, of all thy host, the traitor son to save ! " 
 
 O Saragossa ! though with blood imbrued, 
 How fair, when aftertimes thy story tell. 
 Will show thy guilt by black ingratitude ! 
 It is the sin by which the devil fell (0 
 From the bright mansions of beatitude 
 To unremitting pain, unfathom'd hell ; 
 It is the sin that loudest cries to heaven } 
 It is the sin that never was forgiven. 
 
 Now had Orlando left that old man's son ('), 
 And, fired with rage, sought Baldwin o'er the course ; 
 Who call'd for death, which seem'd his path to shun. 
 And spend on less adventurous heads its force. — 
 When he beheld swift Brigliadoro run 
 Hot o'er the field, (Orlando's well-known horse,) 
 He rush'd to meet his friend beloved, and cried, 
 " What woes, unfortunate ! — thi** head betide !
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLliS. 63 
 
 '^ I seek today among the brave to die, 
 
 And many a warrior by my lance lies slain : 
 
 But none against this arm their force will try, 
 
 I call, I threaten, to the fight in vain ! " 
 
 *' False boy ! " return'd the chief, ^'no more they'll fly. 
 
 Lay but that gaudy garment on the plain, — 
 
 Which to thy traitor sire Marsilius gave, 
 
 For which that traitor sold his son a slave ! '* 
 
 *' If on this day," the unhappy youth replied, 
 " Thee and thy friends my father has betray'd. 
 And I am curst to live, this hand shall guide 
 Keen to his heart the parricidal blade ! 
 But I, Orlando ! " — thus in tears he cried, 
 *^ Was never, never, for a traitor made, 
 Unless I've earn'd the name in following thee 
 With true, with perfect love, o'er land and sea. 
 
 *' Now to the conflict I return once more ; 
 The traitor's name I shall not carry long." 
 That fraudful, fatal vest away he tore. 
 And said, ^' My love to thee was firm and strong ! 
 This heart no guile, this breast no treason bore ; 
 Indeed, Orlando, thou hast done me wrong !" — 
 Then burst away — The hero mark'd his air 
 With altering heart, that droop 'd at his despair.
 
 64 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 
 
 Already to the main's remotest bound 
 Rolls ill his rapid car the glorious sun, 
 And evening's grateful shadows gather round 
 On either host, with murderous toil fordone : 
 How changed, since on the steel -embattled ground 
 From the bright east his early splendours shone, 
 When glittering arms pour'd back a brighter flood ! 
 Now half tiieir fires are qucnch'd in dust and blood. 
 
 Still victory suspends in middle air 
 Her doubtful scale j and for a moment's breath, 
 As if by sudden concert, both forbear 
 (Christian and Moor) the fearful work of death. 
 In that dread pause the generous 01i\ ier 
 •Bends, sadly pensive, o'er the enstinguincd heath 
 Where cold and stiff the Briton's corse is found ; 
 And with a soldier's tears embalms the sacred woimd. 
 
 / O blest in saint-like slumber ! O redeem'd 
 / From all the miseries of this vale below ! 
 Was it for thee the warrior's sorrows stream'd ? 
 Can human tears for happy angels flow ? 
 Ah ! how much rather, if but rightly dcein'd, 
 Those tears should fall for human vice and woe. 
 The retchlessncss of life, the fear to die. 
 Hopeless desire, heait-sinking infamy () 1
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. €iS 
 
 But short the pause to sorrowing friendship lent — 
 Rise, warriors, would ye call your lives your own ! 
 Lo ! from the distant hills in swift descent 
 Like some swolii mountain torrent thunder dov^Ti 
 Squadrons unthinn'd by war, by toil unspent. 
 Led to the charge by Persian Falseron ("^) : 
 Already with the foremost bands in fight 
 They mix ; already bleeds the foremost Christian 
 
 knight. 
 Orlando roused by v/ar's reechoing cries (") 
 Hastes to the charge ; back fall the squadrons round : 
 And see where hapless Baldwin gasping lies. 
 Pierced to the heart by no dishonest wound 1 
 '^ I am no traitor now! " he faintly cries. 
 Then sinks a stiffen'd corse upon the ground — 
 With bleeding soul Orlando saw him die. 
 '* Thy fate is seal'd ; the unhappy cause am I ! " 
 
 There is a time for woe, — 'a peacefid hour, 
 
 When the sore-wounded heart may seek relief 
 
 For ills, past cure of every earthly power. 
 
 In the dissolving luxury of grief ; 
 
 But when the blast of war uproots the bower. 
 
 And strews the vale with many a wither'd leaf, 
 
 Joy to the mourner ! — He no longer hears 
 
 In that rude storm his sighs, nor feels his starting tears . 
 
 F
 
 66 ORLAKDO IN RONCKSVALLES. 
 
 This truth confess 'd Anglante's Paladine, 
 When vengeance every softer thought subdued 
 That else, for Baldwin lost, perchance might twin* 
 About his heart, and chill the vital flood : 
 But when that eastern satrap mark'd the sign 
 Of Fate, fore-doom'd in Clermont's mantling blood. 
 As from the bolt of heaven, with headlong speed 
 Aghast he fled, and urged his purple-haniess'd steed. 
 
 O how unlike the chief, whose boasts were heard 
 
 From far Euphrates to the Ebro wave. 
 
 That he would tear Anglante's honour'd beard, 
 
 And set his foot upon the Christian slave. 
 
 And wreak such vengeance as the world ne'er heard 
 
 For bold Ferrau, whom to a bloody grave 
 
 The knight had sent, what time the powers of Spain 
 
 First homage paid to conquering Charlemain ('*) ! 
 
 " Turn traitor!" (the rude gales such sotnids convey'd 
 To his unwilling ears) — " For Baldwin slain 
 Turn traitor ! Be that Judas kiss repaid, 
 WTiich erst was pledged upon the banks of Seine ! " — 
 Stung by the taunt, the flying soldan staid 
 His full career ; while impotent Disdain 
 And smarting Pride contended with his fear, 
 And half resolved him to abide the tempest hurrjnnj 
 near.
 
 OKLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 67 
 
 But half resolved he staid, and still for flight 
 Uncertain, or for deed of manly daring. 
 Till, terrible as thunder, swift as light. 
 The Christian lance drove on, through buckler tearing. 
 Hauberk, and plated mail j — the shades of night 
 Cloud round his swimming eyeballs, and, down bearing 
 Horseman and horse to earth with thundering force. 
 Fate irresistible pursues its iron course. 
 
 Low sweeps the dust the boaster's humbled head, 
 And loud and wide his clanging arms resound : 
 But (so in ancient chronicles 'tis read) 
 Were never more beheld above the ground 
 The cold and bloody reliques of the dead : 
 There where he fell was his rent buckler found. 
 His empty cuirass, greaves, and morrion there. 
 But where the naked corse could none declare ("). 
 
 The God of justice (in that elder time 
 Men fondly deem'd) would sometimes from the course, 
 By which he guides the wheels of Fate sublime. 
 Deviate awhile, and with miraculous force 
 Stamp on the forehead of unblushing Crime, 
 Dead to the probing search of kind Remorse, 
 " Some direful impress of his wrath, to stand 
 The warning wonder pf a guilty land.
 
 6S ORLANDO IK ROKCBSVALLXS* 
 
 Not now by prophet's tongue, or angel's flight. 
 Or ghost, or spell, God lets his power be known : 
 Yet not the less display'd to mortal sight 
 (Would thankless man his father's empire own) 
 The blazing beacon stands of wrong and right : 
 Not he who fills the world's ill gotten throne ('■),— 
 That self-appointed arbiter of fate, — 
 Sits so secure in his tremendous state. 
 
 But in the solemn hour of secret thought, 
 In that dark hour, when Pride and Grandeur sleep, 
 \Vlien poison drugs the soul's unhallow'd draught. 
 Through Sin's voluptuous bowers when scorpions creep. 
 Then Conscience comes, with nameless terrors fraught. 
 And with her flaming signet, broad and deep. 
 Brands the pale tyrant's brow, and fires his brain 
 With quenchless torments of delirious pain. 
 
 For ever shall that fiery torment last, 
 For ever shall that awftil impress stand, 
 Plain as the old miraculous legend traced 
 Cpon the wall by Heaven's conspicuous hand^ 
 Defaceless as the holy symbol cast 
 ^'So sages erst believed) by just command 
 On Israel's wretched exile, doom'd to stray 
 ^ wanderer over earth until the judgement day.
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 69 
 
 Forgive, kind hearers, my wide wandering strain, 
 
 Uncheck'd by rules of sterner minstrelsy, 
 
 If, from the baseless fabric of the brain, 
 
 I sometimes turn to sad reality. 
 
 The genius of romance with loosen'd rein 
 
 Still gives his HippogryfF to wander free. 
 
 Now o'er the aerial heights that gave him birth. 
 
 Now through the calm and lowly vales of earth. 
 
 So he, " of dames and knights, of arms and love^ 
 Of courtesies and high attempts," who sung (''), 
 Oft with the web of fancy interwove 
 Alphonso's praises, or with bolder tongue 
 Caird down the vengeful lightning from above 
 On Caesar's head, whom mad Ambition stung 
 O'er bhnd Ausonia's weeping fields to pour 
 His harpy legions from Iberia's shore. 
 
 Yet rest, my wandering steed, ere long to soar 
 Mid higher regions of excursive song. 
 The secrets of the eternal veil explore. 
 And realms that to the shadowy hosts belong ! 
 The cries of slaughter and the battle's roar 
 Die on my listening ear, while, borne along 
 Through midway air, with all too sudden speed 
 1 rise ; — then rest awhile my wandering steed !
 
 NOTES 
 
 TO 
 
 CANTO THE THIRD. 
 
 (1) « Whoever had heard the Irazen trumpet's blast."} 
 
 E risonava plii d' una trombctta 
 Per Roncisvalle con ccrto clangore, 
 Che parea proprio al giudicio chiamassi ; 
 In Giusaifa si che i morti destassi. 
 
 Morgante, c xxvi. st. 17. 
 
 (2) " jind laid their first and stoutest champion low.""] 
 Whoever is curious to know the name of this unlucky 
 champion may read it in the Morgante, c. xxvi. st. 51, 
 &C. " Arlotto, King of Syria." 
 
 (3) " j4h brave unhappy boy! " {S^c] Compare Pulci, 
 C. xxvi. St. 132. 
 
 (4) " But who shall speak the terrors of thai hour T'] 
 For the simile in tliis stanza I am perhaps indebted (but
 
 KOTES TO CANTO THE THIRD. 7Jk 
 
 unconsciously) to one whose friendly zeal, manifested 
 by many valuable suggestions throughout the whole of 
 my poem, 1 am most happy in this opportunity of ac- 
 knowledging as having laid me under much more im- 
 portant obligations. 
 
 Dark wave the plumes upon his iron casque, 
 A more than human grandeur fiU'd his form ; 
 Such, in those sands where sunburnt Arabs bask, 
 Stalks the black column through the deepening storm. 
 Hodgson's Sir Edgar, c. ii. st. 11. 
 
 {5) *' Brave Jloiver of widow' d England I""] Astolpho. 
 See before, canto i. note (l^). 
 
 (6) " That old mountain Ismnelile"'\ 
 
 Quel veglio antico maladetto 
 
 Che sta nelle Montagne d'Aspracorte. 
 
 For the history of this singular personage, — and 
 how Rinaldo, journeying eastward after the unsuccess- 
 ful termination of his rebellion against Charlemagne, 
 fell in love with Anthea the Amazon Princess of Baby- 
 lon, — and how he was dispatched by that proud princess 
 on an apparently hopeless errand, to subdue and bring 
 to her in chains this " ancient, cursed old man," — 
 and how he succeeded in the enterprise, — and how he 
 and Orlando afterwards made a friend of him, and 
 availed themselves of his powerful assistance in the war 
 which they subsequently made on the soldan of Baby-
 
 72 NOTES TO ' 
 
 Ion, — together with much other delectable and right pro. 
 fitable matter arising out of the same source, — the reader 
 is referred to the sixteenth and following cantos of the 
 Morgante. In the twenty-sixth, we learn that Bujaforte, 
 the son of this ancient worthy, entered into the service 
 of King Marsilius ; and the circumstance here related 
 is taken from the 1 43d and following stanzas. To re- 
 turn to his father : The description of him by Pulci 
 seems to me clearly to point at the celebrated " Old 
 Man of the Mountains" so familiar to the readers of 
 the History of the Crusades ; and under this impress 
 sion I have ventured to give him the title of " Ismae- 
 lite," alluding to the supposed origin of that curious 
 historical personage. See Falconet's Dissertation on 
 the Assassins, at the end of the " Memoirs of the Lord 
 de Joinville." 
 
 Rinaldo's love for Anthea, above referred to, gives 
 occasion to his cousin Orlando for the display of much 
 eloquence and argument, and to Pulci for the intro- 
 duction of several successive stanzas, in the objurga- 
 tory style, of peculiar construction, the Brst hemistich 
 in each being repeated at the commencement of every 
 following line in the same stanza. As, for example ; 
 
 Ah where, Rinaldo, is thy valour gone? 
 Ah where, Rinaldo, is thy power, thy fame? 
 Ah where, Rinaldo, is thy sense o'erthrown ? 
 Ah where, Rinaldo, is thine ancient name ?
 
 CANTO THE THIRD. 7$ 
 
 Ah where, Rinaldo, hath thy fancy flown ? 
 Ah where, Rinaldo, hast thou lost thy shame ? 
 Ah where, Rinaldo, is thy proud command? 
 Ah where, Rinaldo ? — In a woman's hand ! 
 
 Is this a season fit for sport and play ? 
 
 Is this a season to be spent in love ? 
 
 Is this a wanton summer's holiday ? 
 
 Is this the Idalian hill, or Paphian grove ? 
 
 Is this a time in idle peace to stay ? 
 
 Is this the faith Orlando hoped to prove ? 
 
 Is this a time to joust with harmless lance? 
 
 Js this the soft and peaceful realm of France ? 
 
 And is it thus our conquests we shall save ? 
 And is it thus we gain a glorious throne? 
 And is it thus Anthea's boasts we brave ? 
 And is it thus we conquer Babylon ? 
 And was it thus our plighted faith we gave ? 
 And is it thus that plighted faith is shown ? 
 And is it thus our hearts and souls we sever ? — 
 Adventurous Hope and Joy, farewell for ever ! 
 
 Pulci, canto xvi. st. 49, &c. 
 
 (7) " // w the sin ly which the Devil fell," ^c] 
 
 Questo peccato scaccia la giustizia, &c. 
 
 Morgante, c. xi. st. 75.
 
 f^ NOTES TO 
 
 (8) " Now had Orlando left that old man's son.'"] Com- 
 pare Pulci, c. xxvii. St. 4?— 8. In the original Orlando'* 
 horse is named Vcgliantino (Vcillantin) ; but, though 
 that a))pellation is sanctioned by the most ancient au- 
 thority of romance, 1 have preferred the name which 
 Ariosto lias rendered so much more familiar to tlie mo- 
 dern reader. 
 
 (9) " Hopeless desire," tsfc.^ Dante makes the pu- 
 nishment of souls in limbo consist in desire without 
 hope. 
 
 ■ Sol di tanto ofTesi, 
 
 Che senza speme vivcmo in desio. 
 
 Inferno, c. 4. 
 
 (10) " Persian Falseron."] Called in some of the 
 ©Id romances, brother of Marsilius. See a formernote. 
 
 (11) " Orlando roused ly war's reechoing cries," tS^c.'] 
 Compare Morgante, c. xxvii. st. 47. 
 
 — E disse, " Hor noii son' io piu traditore !"— 
 £ caddu in terra morto, cosi detto. 
 
 (12) "0 how unlike the chief" ^c] Compare 
 Morgante, canto xxvi. stanza 66 et seq. 
 
 " 'Twere long to tell" the history of the proud 
 boasts and Judas kiss here alluded to, but uhich the 
 reader may find at large in a former canto of Pulci's
 
 CANTO THE THIRD. 75 
 
 romance. The death of the giant Ferrau or Ferragus, 
 who forms so eminent a character in the list of Boyar- 
 do's and Ariosto's dramatis personae, is merely alluded 
 to by Pulci (c. xxiv. st. 16) ; but it forms a prominent 
 incident in Turpin's Chronicle, and is transferred from' 
 thence to the poem of " La Spagna," the most an- 
 cient of the Italian romances derived from that fabulou* 
 source. See Ginguene, tom. iv. p. 193. 
 
 (13) " But where the naked corse could none declare."'] 
 Compare Morgante, c. xxvi. st. 71. 
 
 (14.) « iVb/ he who fills the world's ill gotten throne.""] 
 The question may now be asked, " Who is he that filU 
 the world's ill gotten throne ?" And it is perhaps need- 
 less to anticipate the answer, viz. that this part of my 
 poem was composed three summers ago. 
 
 (15) "So he, 'of dames and knights, of arms and love, 
 Of courtesies and high attempts," who suvg" ^c] 
 Le donne e i cavalier', I'arme, gl' amori, 
 Le cortesie, le audaci imprese, io canto. 
 " Alphonso's praises"] Alphonso, Marquis of Este 
 and Duke of Ferrara, the great patron of Ariosto, in 
 compliment to whom the main object of the Orlando 
 Furioso is made to consist in the union of Rogero and 
 Bradamante, the reputed ancestors of his venerivble 
 family. M. Sisraondi, in his late work on the Literature
 
 Til KOTES TO CANTO THE THIRB. 
 
 of the south of Europe (torn. ii. p. 67), seems to be ani- 
 mated with something like a republican spirit of indig- 
 nation at this instance of what he considers a base pro« 
 stitution of the poetical dignity. But really, since this 
 object is by no means forced upon the reader, but blends 
 itself most naturally with the general design of the 
 poem, I cannot admit the full justice of his virtuous 
 anger. The latter part of this stanza alludes to several 
 passages in the Orlando Furioso, wherein the poet la- 
 ments the irruption of the Emperor Charles the Fifth 
 into Italy ; particularly the opening of the thirty -fourth 
 canto, which is understood to refer to his Spanish and 
 German armies. 
 
 O faraeliche, inique, e fiere harpie, 
 Che all' accecata Italia, e d' error piena, 
 Per punir forse antiche coipe rie, 
 In ogni mensa alto giudicio mena ! &c.
 
 £)rlaaoo in JaotttesMlleg^ 
 
 Canto ti&e JTourtl^. 
 
 Imagination, whose unbounded sight 
 
 Can at one glance embrace all sea and land. 
 Now swift pursues the daemon's destined flight. 
 Prompt to obey his master's last command, 
 From high Montalban to those realms of night 
 Where Pharaoh's old sepulchral temples stand. 
 Where Guiscard and his greater brother bore 
 Duke Aymon's banner on that Pagan shore (')•
 
 78 ORLANDO IM ROKCESVALLBS* 
 
 Turbid and deep the mighty river flow'd, 
 Curtain 'd in shades of evening; by whose side 
 Montalban's lords pursue<l their mazy road, 
 Listening the murmurs of that sullen tide : 
 When from the tomb, Sesostris' last abocle, 
 Silent a darkling form was seen to glide. 
 The giant shadow of a knight and horse, 
 That onward seem'd to bear its threatening course. 
 
 " Be mine the adventure ! " cried the younger peer, 
 And spurr'd, that vision new and strange to meet : 
 The gallant courser stopp'd in mid career. 
 And toss'd his mane, and, plunging, from his seat 
 Strove to shake off the rider ; while the spear 
 Of that unearthly warrior, following fleet 
 The impulse lent, without a blow or wound. 
 Like some rude tempest huri'd him to the ground. 
 
 Uncheck'd, as through the j-ielding air he pass'd,— • 
 That wondrous spectre, — and o'er all things near 
 Breathed a damp chillness which the soul o'ercast 
 Of brave Rinaldo, long unused to fear: 
 It seem'd as hell had sent some poisonous blast, 
 Embodied in that image dark and drear. 
 To freeze the courage of the noblest knight 
 That e'er cuib'd gallant ateed or harucsii'd armour 
 bright.
 
 OnLANnO IN RONCESVALLBS. 79 
 
 AH powerless stood the Paladin, the while 
 A laugh insulting from the vision broke, — 
 Laugh, that reechoed from the banks of Nile 
 Even to his lunar source, — then fiercely spoke : 
 " My name is Astaroth : from that famed pile 
 That erst obey'd Duke Aymon's lordly yoke, 
 Hither I steer my flight to make thee know 
 His will, whose art compels the powers below. 
 
 " Thus then thy wizard kinsman bids me say: 
 
 In Roncesvalles, at this fatal hour. 
 
 All marshall'd sits, in terrible array, 
 
 By great Marsilius led, the Moorish power ; 
 
 Unconscious yet the heaven -devoted prey 
 
 Waits while Destruction's d;«mons round him lower,— 
 
 The chief who wields Anglante's powerful lance ; 
 
 And with him every prince and paladin of France." 
 
 He ceased : but when Montalban's loyal peer 
 That mortal danger of his friends had known, 
 Each baser taint of wonder, doubt, and fear. 
 Like shadows fled before high reason's throne ; 
 While every impulse form'd and seated there 
 Gave place, and strong affection ruled alone : 
 It seem'd a thousand years in every day 
 That kept him from his valiant friends away (*).
 
 80 ORLANDO IX RONCESVALLBS. 
 
 " Aiid thou, mysterious agent ! whether sprung 
 From shades below, or Hght above, O say, — 
 Shall I not mingle in the battle's throng 
 My blood with theirs upon that fatal day ? " 
 The fiend replied not ; but, as if among 
 Attendant crowds, — " Speed, messenger, away! 
 And bring that iEthiopian plant, whose flower 
 To mock the feeble sight of man hath power (') ! " 
 
 Thus as he spoke, he look'd towards empty space. 
 And sound, as if of rustling wings, rej>lied : 
 Seized with strange awe, Montalban's knightly grace 
 Look'd wild and wide around, but nothing spied. 
 ** Thy wonder cease, weak child of Adam's race (^) ! '* 
 Thus with a scornful smile the daemon cried — 
 *^ Know that ten thousand spirits around me stray 
 To do my bidding, be it night or day. 
 
 *' As here on earth, so boast the realms below. 
 Thrones and dominions, princedoms, virtues, powers j 
 And, as mankind their several stations know, 
 And keep their destined course, so we do ours. 
 'Tis mine to bear thee to that field of woe 
 Where Christian blood distills in purple showers, 
 A kindred stream, — and, if the will divine 
 Have so ordain'd, haply to mix with thine 1
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLKS. 81 
 
 " Nor fear a daemon's faith, nor doubt to trust 
 Thy frail existence to the power of fate : 
 What though ye be, weak children of the dust. 
 Sport of our malice, our revenge, and hate. 
 E'en were I not compell'd, as now I mustj 
 To yield obedience, for a certain date. 
 To mortal spells and man's accurst control. 
 This is a fiend- like part and suits my soul. 
 
 '' I know the deeds of death thine arm vnW do 
 
 In Roncesvalles ; therefore freely bear. 
 
 With such glad scenes of slaughter in my view. 
 
 Thee and thy Christian brother through the air i 
 
 What sanguine streams shall rush that valley through ! 
 
 How shall we feast on anguish and despair ! 
 
 It is the festival of Hell to see 
 
 Man equal to the damn'd in misery*" 
 
 By this return'd the attendant sprite and stood 
 Confest to view, bearing that charmed plant 
 From where it sprung by Niger's eastward flood, 
 On Samen's mount, the satyrs' fabled haunt (^), 
 Or in Zendero's old inaugural wood. 
 Or where the hunted pards of Sennaar pant. 
 From its prest leaves a potent dew is shed. 
 Veiling in sightless mist the anointed head.
 
 n ORLANDO IN RQNCESVALLES. 
 
 The daemon's form dispersing seem'd to glide 
 Into thin smoke, and curi'd along tiie ground 
 To where Bayardo stood with nostrils wide 
 Snuffing the bahny gales that breathed around : 
 Now by the subtle spirit possest, supplied 
 With sense unknown, with powers before unfound. 
 His eyes flash fire and, tossing wild and high 
 His eager neck, he burns to mount hito the sky. 
 
 Nor less the steed that good Guiscardo bore 
 Confess'd some kindred power ; each brother knight. 
 With that strange robe of darkness cover'd o'er, 
 Leaps on his ready courser swift as light ; 
 And in an instant's space as high they soar 
 As soars the eagle in his loftiest flight. 
 The virtues of the charmed herb, or Heaven 
 Itself, had calm'd their souls and made their courage 
 
 even. 
 'Twas now the hour when fond Desire renews (') 
 To those who wander o'er the pathless main, 
 Raising unbidden tears, the last adieus 
 Of tender friends whom Fancy shapes again ; 
 When the late parted pilgrim who j)iirsues 
 His lonely walk o'er some unbounded plain. 
 If sound of distant bells fall on his ear. 
 Seems the sad knell of his departed joys to hear.
 
 OftLANDO la ftONCESVALLKS* 
 
 Lights, numberless as by some fountain's side (') 
 
 The silly swain reposing (at the hour 
 
 When beams the day star with diminisht pride, 
 
 When the sunn'd bee deserts each rifled flower. 
 
 And yields to humming gnats the populous void,) 
 
 Beholds in grassy lawn, or leafy bower. 
 
 Or orchard plot, of glow-worms emerald bright. 
 
 Flamed in the front of that ambrosial night. 
 
 Vain fears, the impious progeny of crime. 
 Hold no alliance with a scene so fair ; 
 Remembrance claims the consecrated time, 
 And Love refined from every selfish care. 
 Thus, as they wheel their rapid course sublime 
 Through the mid realms of circumambient air. 
 In spirit they have reach'd the fatal place, 
 And strain their brethren in a last embrace. 
 
 Fain would I tell, as Arno*s bard hath told (*), 
 What hill and valley, sea and running flood. 
 What peopled cities, and what forests old. 
 Rich champain, idle desert, waving wood. 
 Lay underneath like some vast map unroU'd, 
 As swift their airy voyage they pursued. 
 Scanning, 'twixt sun and sun, the regions wide 
 From Meroe's lake to Gades' western tide ; — > 
 g2
 
 M ORLAHDO IN RONCESVALLES. 
 
 Fain would repeat, in this my careless rhyme, 
 The converse held by proud Montalban's knight 
 With the fall'n angel, — converse, strange, sublime, 
 Of things beyond the ken of feeble sight : 
 For spirits, still unharni'd bv age or time, 
 Retain the spark divine of earliest light, 
 (Angelic nature !) nor, though lost, forget 
 Their happier state, but hope and tremble yet. 
 
 Hope lives through fear : who saith that hope is vain ? 
 
 Worm of the earth ! canst thou presume to trace 
 
 The eternal limits of God's holy reign, 
 
 Infinite justice and imfailing grace ? 
 
 Will Heaven destroy its own fair work again ? 
 
 Or, after some dark, doubtftil, lingering space ('^), 
 
 All with one voice eternal truth adore. 
 
 And humbly sue for peace and gain what they implore ? 
 
 Beyond the pillars of this woild of old. 
 Far o'er yon western flood's unmeasured plaiq. 
 Of other worlds the spirit darkly told. 
 For ages lost, for ages to remain 
 Unvisited by light divine, and cold 
 As Zembla's rocks which endless frosts enchain : 
 Yet hath the sun of Grace, to them unknown. 
 E'en for those cheerless realms and untaught nations 
 shone.
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 85 
 
 Such the high themes that held in wonder bound 
 The sons of Aymon, while their mystic guide 
 Still onward bore them through the vast profound. — 
 As t® some wretch who, after wanderings wide. 
 Returns to view his once loved native ground. 
 Forgotten dreams of youth's gay morning tide 
 Crowd on each gale, and with a transient light 
 Delusive gild the lonely gloom of night 3 
 
 E'en so, as in the daemon^ upward flight 
 He almost reach'd the heaven from whence he fell. 
 The purer airs of that celestial height 
 Might for a space the noxious fumes of hell 
 Haply disperse, and new-created light 
 Beam on the darkness of the soul's deep cell, 
 Renewing traces of the angelic frame. 
 Long forfeited by sin to death and shame. 
 
 S 
 
 But when (descending o'er that fatal plain 
 At latest eve) before them seem'd to rise 
 From the low vale the blood of thousands slain 
 Staining with crimson blush the conscious skies ; 
 When, in wild dissonance, the groans of pain 
 Came mingled with the battle's fiercer cries J 
 Then every softer shade at once was flown. 
 And all the daemon reassumed his throne.
 
 ■» ORLANDO IN ROVCESVALLBS, 
 
 The barbarous legends of an elder age, 
 
 Nursed in the darkness of some cloister'd cell. 
 
 Now sconi'd or pitied by the gay or sage. 
 
 The chasten'd muse must shun ; — else would she tell 
 
 How, on the top of yon lone hermitage (' ) 
 
 Descending swift, the winged sons of hell 
 
 Fix'd their damn'd seat, to arrest the upward flight 
 
 Of spirits battle-freed and thrust them back to night. 
 
 Aided by grace divine and heavenly love, 
 The Christian souls elastic spurn 'd their hold. 
 Sprang fearless to their glorious scats above. 
 And sit amid the angelic choir enroU'd : 
 But Mahound's impure votaries vainly strove, 
 Fluttering and struggling, till, in many a fold 
 Of serpent strength comprest, forworn and spent, 
 Down, down they sink, a steep, dark, bottomless de- 
 scent. * 
 
 Leave we these baseless phantoms and pursue 
 Montalban's banner through the ranks of war ; — 
 But distant yet ; — for, where the standard flew 
 O'er Saragossa's proud pavilion, far 
 From the throng'd battle field, confest to view 
 Alight the brother chiefs, like that tuin star 
 In arms refulgent, whose mild radiance guide* 
 The prosperous vessel o'«r obedient tides.
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 87 
 
 ** Dp armed angels mingle in the fight ? "— 
 Thus bursts from rank to rank the general cry ; 
 And panic Terror, and disgraceful Flight, 
 And crimson Slaughter's horrid form were nigh : 
 E'en He, whose iron heart each sound and sight 
 Of woe and dread did till that hour defy. 
 In that appalling vision seem'd to own 
 A higher power and tremble on his throne. 
 
 Perhaps some prescience of approaching fate, 
 Obscurely shadow'd, flash'd across his brain, 
 When Aymon's banner in victorious state 
 Shall wave o'er Saragossa's loftiest fane. 
 And life, prolong'd to misery's utmost date 
 In dreadful vengeance for Orlando slain (' ), 
 At length expire, not glorious in the fight. 
 But midst the groans of scorn and fierce despight. 
 
 But not Marsilius, nor the tented field 
 Those brother warriors sought : where Clermont's lance 
 Still ruled the opposing war, and Clermont's shield 
 Protected still the Paladins of France, 
 Thither, while crowds on crowds retiring yield. 
 Like vapours scatter'd by the sun's advance. 
 They flew on coursers swifter than the wind. 
 And left their panic-stricken foes behind.
 
 88 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES, 
 
 Orlando, as the furious chief drew near, 
 Like lightning borne across the battle field. 
 Or friend or foe uncertain, held his spear, 
 Prepared to meet the thundering shock, or ) ield : 
 But when through clouds of dust he saw appear 
 Montalban's lion on the blazing shield ('*), — 
 Ye, who the thrilling transport e'er have known 
 To meet some long-lost friend when every hope was 
 flown. 
 
 Judge ye if rapture's full impetuous tide 
 Swell'd his bold heart, and triumph'd in his face ; 
 If ardent love the strength of wings supplied. 
 As swift he rush'd to meet his friend's embrace- 
 No : bloodless was his cheek ; his bosom's pride 
 Was cold ; his limbs dropp'd nerveless ; and the space 
 That parts the living from the realm of night 
 Was closing fast before his dizzy sight. 
 
 And Oliver, who ever foremost stood 
 
 Where Clermont's banner stemm'd the battle's rage. 
 
 Still flow'd the current of his gentler blood ? 
 
 Still kept his pulse its wonted vassalage ? 
 
 Oh ! loosen'd oft by Joy's too sudden flood ('*), 
 
 Asunder bursts the heart's strong anchorage ; 
 
 And, all the vital spirits at once set free, 
 
 The soul springs uj)ward to eternity.
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 89 
 
 But when the dissipated powers return'd 
 To fill the seat of thought and Hfe again, 
 And Nature's fire, rekindUng, brighter burn'd 
 In either breast, and ran through every vein, 
 Who can conceive the rapture ? Who hath learn'd 
 So well the excess of pleasure sow'd in pain. 
 The joy that bursts in tears, or seeks relief ('-♦) 
 In deep-drawn sighs, the natural voice of grief ? 
 
 And now the panic far and wide hath spread. 
 
 And on their camp the routed Paynims pour ; 
 
 But night's dark curtain screen'd them as they fled. 
 
 And the tired Paladins the chase give o'er : 
 
 With painful steps their backward course they tread. 
 
 Fired with the ardour of pursuit no more ; 
 
 They mourn the dead, yet wish their happier doom. 
 
 Nor bless their own short respite from the tomb. 
 
 But when, conspicuous through the gathering gloom. 
 
 The lion banner burst upon their sight ; 
 
 When by the well-known crest and raven plume 
 
 Of Aymon's house, the fair proportion'd height. 
 
 The lordly port which Aymon's sons assume 
 
 And none can doubt, they mark Montalban's knight ; 
 
 All fear and grief, all languor and all pain. 
 
 All sense of woes endured, all thought of what remain.
 
 90 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 
 
 At once have fled ; and through the knightly train 
 Late so desponding, solemn, and vSo slow. 
 Fresh pours the flood of life, as if again 
 Creating Nature bade the current flow 
 From the cold heart through every stagnant vein, 
 And the glazed eyeballs with new lustre glow. 
 Of some unburied corse, for many an hour 
 Left vacant by the vivifying power. 
 
 Dark falls the night, no stars her course attending, 
 And lurid clouds portend a gloomier day : — 
 Oh who that sees it rise shall mark its ending ? 
 Oh who shall live, in after years to say 
 What tides of precious blood, their channels blending 
 With streams accurst and vile, have roH'd their way. 
 Dyeing that verdant field with crimson stain 
 That thousand circling springs shall ne'er make green 
 again ? 
 
 Yet at the last a prouder day shall dawn, 
 O Roncesvalles ! on thy blighted name ; 
 When Treason, to her secret haunts withdrawn, 
 Shall mourn her concjuests past in present shame : 
 Fresh laurels shall o'ercanopv the lawn 
 With grateful shade, and fairest flowers of fame 
 Start from each barren cleft and sun-burnt cave, 
 To wreathe inunortal chaplets for the brave.
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 91 
 
 But not for France shall swell the solemn strain 
 Of triumph ; — not, degenerate France, for thee ! 
 Thy fame is past ; and treason's foulest stain 
 Blots out thy light of ancient chivalry. 
 Lo ! Britain leads the glorious chase, and Spain 
 From all her mountain sunnnits follows free, 
 Leagued in just vengeance for a blacker crime 
 Than e'er defiled the rolls of elder Time. 
 
 Sleeps Arthur in his isle of Aval on (") ' 
 High-favour 'd Erin sends him forth once more 
 To realize the dream of days far gone. 
 The wizard strains of old Caer-merddhyn's lore. 
 Another Rowland brings his legions on. 
 The happier Rowland of an English shore ; 
 And thunders in the van with foot of flame 
 Scotland's romantic champion, gallant Graeme. 
 
 What mournful train, descending through the glade, 
 *' Breaks the long glories of my dazzled sight ? " 
 Rest, Paladin of England ! Lowly laid ('' ) 
 Beneath the o'erarching pine-tree's towery height. 
 Rest yet awhile ! Erelong thy generous shade 
 Shall witness, with a soldier's proud delight. 
 High deeds of kindred valour, and inspire 
 In kindred bosoms old heroic fire !
 
 99 ORLANDO IN RONCBSVALLBS. 
 
 Or, haply, shall thy spirit, hovering near, 
 With glorious breathings for immortal fame 
 Fill the departing warrior's breast, and cheer 
 With hope's bright dream his weak and suffering 
 
 frame — 
 Fair dream ! — that o'er Cadogan's early bier ('") 
 Shed mildest influence, when with faint acclaim 
 He hail'd his conquering friends, and closed his eye, 
 Rejoicing, 'mid the shouts of victory !
 
 NOTES 
 
 TO 
 
 CANTO THE FOURTH. 
 
 (1) " The dcemon's destined flight '^'] See before, 
 canto the second, st. 29. Richard, or Ricciardetto, 
 the youngest son of Duke Aymon, is chosen by Pulci 
 as the companion of Rinaldo ; but the name of Guis- 
 card sounds better. Perhaps I owe some apology for 
 introducing any companion whatever, as he contributes 
 nothing towards the action of the poem. 
 
 (2) " It seem' da thousand years " ^c."] 
 Ma poi che tutto da Rinaldo intese, 
 Pargli mill' anni di veder Orlando. 
 
 Morgante, c. xxv. st. 199. 
 
 (3) '' That Ethiopian plant. ""^ 
 
 ch' io mandi insino in Ethiopia, 
 
 E porteratti uno spirto un' herbetta, 
 Che pud far questo, e non pur elitropia. 
 
 C. xxv. St. 200. 
 I must leave it to the naturalists to determine the
 
 94 NOTES TO 
 
 genus of this remarkable plant ; for, since Pulci assures 
 us that it is not the heliotrope, I must confess my utter 
 inability to discover what it is. 
 
 (-t) " Thy wonder cease" tS^c."] Compare the Mor- 
 gante, c. xxv. st. 201 — 205. 
 
 (5) " On Samens mount" ^c."] Pulci makes his 
 daemon- lacquey bring the plant from the Antipodes ; 
 but, as he calls it an Ethiopian herb, there seems no 
 adequate reason for his going quite so far to fetch it. The 
 geographical reader will remember that Herodotus as- 
 serts, and Mungo Park has ascertained, the eastward 
 course of the Niger, and will consequently allow nie 
 tlte adoption of that epithet. Tlie mountain Samen is 
 in Abyssinia. 
 
 *< Among the rest, the vast and high mountains of 
 Amhara and Somen are, as it were, the embossment of 
 Habessinia." (Ludolph's Hist, of Ethiopia, c. vi.) 1 
 cannot produce any specific authority for making this 
 mountain the peculiar haunt of the satyrs ; but it is no- 
 torious that they in general frequent all the mountainous 
 regions of the interior of Africa. Ludolphus furnishes 
 me with abetter reason for the epithet " inaugural" as 
 applied to the forest of Zendero. 
 
 " Now let us take a view of the kingdom of Zan- 
 dero, till lately undiscovered, although contiguous to
 
 CANTO THE FOURTH. 951 
 
 Habesslnia, as being not above four or five days from 
 it. The inhabitants are but little more civil than the 
 Gallans, ( Gallas, ) only that they acknowledge a king, 
 and have an awful respect for something, whether it 
 be God or Devil. The king being dead, the next of 
 kin retire into the wood, and there modestly wait the 
 election of the nobility, who, in quest of their king 
 newly elected among themselves, enter the wood, 
 guided by a certain bird of the eagle kind, which, by 
 the noise it makes, discovers the conceal'd person : 
 presently they find him surrounded with a guard of 
 lions, dragons, and panthers, assembled together by a 
 sort of incantation to the ancients unknown : at first 
 he makes a resistance against the electors, and wounds 
 those he can, that he may seem to be constrained to 
 take the government upon him : soon after, as they are 
 going along, another gang, to whom it belongs of an- 
 cient custom, endeavour to rescue their king from the 
 other party, claiming to themselves the honour of being 
 the persons that set the crown upon the king's head, 
 and purchasing the hopes of royal favour by means of 
 a seeming sport, which ofttimes proves very bloody. 
 Thus, instead of inauguration, the African gentiles 
 think it lawful to attone the Devil with human blood. 
 The king, proud in the height of poverty, not con- 
 tented with the few steps to his throne, gets upon the 
 beam of his house, from whence he looks down, as
 
 96 NOTES TO 
 
 from a gallery, and gives answers to embassadors. An- 
 tony Fernandez, travelling with the Habessinian am- 
 bassador into that kingdom, having viewed this same 
 Lybian sovereign, compares him for colour and gesture 
 to a rampant monkey. Nor does the word Zendero, 
 which is the name of the kingdom, intimate much less, 
 in regard that Zendero signifies an ape. Tellezius adds, 
 tliat it is the custom of those barbarians, if their king 
 be wounded, to kill him ; which is conformable to the 
 nature of monkeys, who having received a wound, tear 
 and scratch at it so long, till their entrails drop out, or 
 tliat they lose all their blood." Ludolfus, folio, 1682, 
 p. 86. 
 
 (6) " 'Twas now the hour when fond Desire renews" 
 
 Era gia 1' hora che volge '1 disio 
 
 A i naviganti, e 'ntenerisce il core 
 
 Lo di, c' ban detto a i dolci amici, A Dio ; 
 
 E che lo nova peregrin d' amore 
 
 Punge; se ode squilla di lontano, 
 
 Che paia '1 giurno piangcr, che si more. 
 
 Dante Purg. c. 8. 
 
 (7) " Lights numberless" i^cJ] 
 
 Quante il villan, ch' al poggio si riposa, &c. 
 
 Dante Inf. c. 26.
 
 CANTO THE POURTM. fT 
 
 (8) " Fain would 1 tell, as Arnoi lard hath told," 
 tsfc.'] Here, in the Morgante, begins another of those 
 singular passages which have given rise to the opinion 
 that the poet Pulci was assisted by the philosopher Fi- 
 cinus in the composition of his work. The journey 
 through the air is described with geographical minute? 
 ness. They rest on the banks of the river Bagrada in 
 Africa, where they find a banquet ready prepared for 
 them, and, on inquiring of their conductor, are informed 
 that it has been transferred to them by attendant 
 spirits from the royal pavilion of Mai'silius, who, i( 
 may be supposed, was not a party to the conveyance. 
 The next day they arrive at the straits of Gibraltar, 
 where Astaroth entertains them with a philosophical 
 discourse, which is rendered remarkable by a con- 
 sideration of the period at which it was composed. 
 In answer to a question of Rinaldo's relating to the 
 supposed termination of the world at the pillars of 
 Hercules, the daemon answers that this expression is 
 the result of an antiquated error. " The water," he 
 says, " is level throughout its whole extent, although, 
 like the earth, it has the form of a globe. Mankind, 
 in those ages, were much more ignorant than now. 
 Hercules would blush, at this day, for having fixed his 
 columns. Vessels will soon pass far beyond them. They 
 may even reach another hemisphere, because every 
 thing tends towards its centre, in like manner as, by a 
 divine mystery, the earth is suspended in the midst of 
 the stars : here below are cities and castles and em- 
 
 H
 
 98 NOTES TO 
 
 pires which were unknown to the ancients .... the in- 
 habitants of those regions are called our Antipodes ; 
 they worship Jupiter and. Mars; they have plants and 
 animals as well as you, and wage wars as well as you." 
 (C. XXV. St. 229—231.) It must be remembered that 
 Pulci died many years before the discovery of America 
 by Columbus, and this passage will become a very in- 
 teresting document for the philosophical historian. 
 ;■ But great as Astaroth displays himself in the sciences 
 of geography and astronomy, his fort (as M. Gin- 
 guene observes) is theology. " Renaud est curieux 
 de savoir si les Antipodes sont de la race d'Adam, et 
 s'ils peuvent se sauver comme nous. Le diable, tout 
 en disant qu'il ne faut pas le questionner la-dessus, re- 
 pond que le Redempteur se serait montr^ partial, si ce 
 n'^tait que pour nous qu'Adam eOt efe form^, et s'il 
 n'avait ^t€ lui-meme crucifix que pour Tamour de nous. 
 Astaroth ne doute pas qu'un jour la meme foi ne r^u- 
 niase tous les hommes ; c'est celle des chretiens qui est 
 la seule veritable et certaine. II parle de la Vierge glo- 
 rifi^e dans le ciel, d'Emmanuel, du Verbe saint, de 
 I'ignorance invincible, et de I'ignorance volontaire. En- 
 fin ce diable-ci est tout aussi savant que le serait un 
 docteur de Sorbonne. II ne faut point qu'une fausse 
 delicatesse nous empeche de d«'terrer ces traits carac- 
 terisques, dans un poeme qu'on ne lit guere, et d'oii on 
 ne les a Jamais tires. lis servent a faire connaitre non 
 ■eulement une litt>'rature, maisune nation et un sieclc." 
 (Ginguene, torn. iv. p. 240.)
 
 CANTO THE FOURTH. 99 
 
 The reader will immediately call to mind the occu- 
 pation of the fallen angels in Milton — 
 Others apart sat on a hill retired, 
 In thoughts more elevate, and reason'd high 
 Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate, 
 Fixt fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute; 
 "' And found no end in wandering mazes lost. 
 
 Of good and evil much they argued then, &c. 
 There can be little doubt that our English poet was 
 acquainted with this singular passage of the Morgante 
 Maggiore. 
 
 (9) " Or, after some dark, doubtful lingering space " 
 ^c] M. Ginguene has omitted to state the most cha- 
 racteristic circumstance of this heterodox poet's creed, 
 — one which he repeatedly insists upon with a zeal 
 which we should more expect to meet with in an here- 
 siarch of the early church than in a romance-writer and 
 buffoon of the fifteenth century. This is the doctrine 
 of universal redemption. 
 
 Forse che il Vero, dopo lungo errore, 
 
 Adorerete tutti di Concordia, 
 
 E troverete ogn' un misericordia. 
 So, in the long prayer which Orlando offers up when 
 
 dying, 
 
 E perdonasti a tutta la Natura 
 Quando tu perdonasti al prime Padre ! 
 
 , C. xxvii. St. 127. 
 h2
 
 100 KOTES TO 
 
 There are, however, various passages throughout this 
 extraordinary poem, which seem to discountenance the 
 necessity of attributing to any other than Pulci himself 
 those daring errors of theology for which the shade of 
 Ficinus has been invoked to answer. 1 am not now ad- 
 verting to the irreligious mockeries by which it is un- 
 fortunately too often disgraced; but to points of serious 
 doctrine, in which is displayed a spirit of tolerance and 
 liberality worthy of the more enlightened periods of 
 protestantism. In this spirit is Orlando's address to a 
 reverend abbot by whom he is entertained and lotlged 
 in the first canto of the Morgante, and the holy man's 
 answer. 
 
 •* O tell me, much-loved father, why has Fate 
 Thy head within the monkish cowl conceal'd ? 
 Oh why not rather, in the martial state. 
 Thy lance, like other warlike nobles wield ?" 
 " Because," replied the holy abbot straight, 
 ** The will of Heaven was otherwise reveal'd, 
 That sacred will, which points by different roads 
 The pilgrim's journey to those bright abodes. 
 
 ** Some with the crosier, others with the sword, 
 Set out, as various minds or tempers cast ; 
 Yet all these various ways, aright explond, 
 Meet in one safe and common port at last ; 
 Full many lots our checquer'd lives a fiord, 
 Nor is the hindmost by the first surpast :
 
 CANTO THE FOURTH. 101 
 
 All men, Orlando, seek the gates of Rome ; 
 But many are the paths that lead them home." 
 
 (10) " On the top of yon lone hermitage,'* iffc."] Com-' 
 pare the Morgante, c. xxvii. st. 88, 89. 
 
 (11) " /« dreadful vengeance for Orlando slain."} The 
 vengeance here foretold actually takes effect in Pulci's 
 poem, of which an entire canto, after the death of Or- 
 lando, is occupied with the hanging and quartering of 
 Ganellon, and the destruction of Marsilius and his em- 
 pire by Rinaldo. But, although _the laws of poetry 
 seem to require that this Paladin should at least be 
 pointed out as the future restorer of France and avenger 
 of the slaughter at Roncesvalles, in order to justify the 
 miraculous interposition of his aerial journey, I have 
 thought the rule sufficiently satisfied in this instance by 
 barely hinting at the epic conclusion ; for no interest can 
 possibly be made to survive the death of the hero, 
 
 (12) '^ Montalhans lion on the blazing shield."} Cora- 
 pare Pulci, c. xxvi. St. 98. 
 
 (13) " Oh! loosen d oft by Joy's too sudden flood" 
 
 Tanto gaudio nel cor sente in un punto, 
 Che gli spirti vital quel sendo aperto, 
 E gia per 1' arteria di sangue munto,
 
 lOt VOTES TO CANTO THE FOURTH. 
 
 Usciron quasi della bocca fora, 
 Che spesso avvien ch* huom d' allegrezza mora. 
 
 St. 99. 
 
 (14) " The joy that bursts in tears" ^c] 
 Orlando mille volte ha abbracciato 
 Riiialdo pure ; e <t allegrezxa geme. St. 101. 
 
 (15) " Sleeps Arthur in his isle of yfvalon P"'\ Every 
 body knows that King Arthur is not dead, but still lies, 
 or till lately did lie, asleep on the lap of the Lady of 
 the Lake, in the island of Avalon. And, as Drayton 
 sings in his Polyolbion, 
 
 Of Merlin and his skill what region doth not heare? 
 Or who is not apprized that Carmarthen, alias Caer- 
 Merddhyn, (the castle of Merlin) claims the honour of 
 that famous wizard's nativity ? 
 
 (16) " Rest, Paladin of England!"'] Astolpho, 
 whose death is related in the last canto. 
 
 (17) " Fair dream, that o'er Cadogan's early Her."'] 
 Surely, no event, in the annals of our Spanish cam- 
 paigns, is more de8er\'iug of chivalrous celebration, 
 from the circumstances attending it, than the death of 
 the gallant Colonel Cadogan at the battle of Vittoria. 
 The particulars must be fresh in the memory of my 
 readers.
 
 Drtattuo in iSionctsbmts. 
 
 Canto tf)e Mftih 
 
 J. H E funeral rites have ceased ; and, lowly laid 
 Where not a sound shall break his slumbers more, 
 Astolpho sleeps beneath the pine-tree's shade ; 
 All his proud hopes extinct,- his sorrows o'er. 
 Yet the wild winds that mountain music made 
 Amid the waving woods with ceaseless roar, — 
 Though o'er the quiet dead they pass in vain, 
 One solitary mourner hears the strain.
 
 IM ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLBS. 
 
 Breaking the stillness of the unconscious sky, 
 
 Is that the bridal voice that calls thee home (')? 
 
 Ah ! how unlike the festive minstrelsy 
 
 That peal'd through Caradore's illumined dome ! 
 
 Ah ! how unlike the softer melody 
 
 Of love, faint murmuring through the grateful gloom 1 
 
 To thee, oh Oliver ! the gentlest breath 
 
 That stirs the pine's tall branches, whispers Death. 
 
 That fatal morning's dawn how shall I sing ? 
 How paint the impending battle's horrid face ? 
 Have I not said that Death is on the wing, 
 i\nd shall I not o'erleap the middle space ? 
 The bolt hath sped, and oped the sacred spring 
 Whence flows the purest blood of Gallia's race ; 
 But never yet Orlando's fixed mood 
 Had alter'd, or roU'd back the vital flood ; 
 
 Not when Bcllandc her blooming honour lost ('), 
 And headless on the ground lay Neustria's pride j 
 Not e'en when he, who loved his master most. 
 And served him best, since hapless Baldwin died. 
 Of all his youthful followers in the host, 
 Good Sansonetto, perish'd at his side : 
 It seem'd nor human fear, nor human woe 
 Could move hb soul again or make his sorrows flow.
 
 ORLAKDO IN ROXCESVALLKflk. 105 
 
 Yet once agmn that inmost soul must bleed (') 
 
 For Oliver, his friend and better part ; 
 
 Oh ! then he knew the doom of all decreed. 
 
 And cursed the Payniin traitor from his heart : 
 
 While thus the dying chief, — " In thought or deed 
 
 If e'er our souls bore undivided part, 
 
 O lead me where in death I may be known, 
 
 Nor leave me, uurevenged, to die alone ! " 
 
 *' I have no heart, without thee," he replied, 
 
 *^ In this perplext and dreary life to stay ; 
 
 I've bid adieu to daring joy and pride. 
 
 And human Hope deserts my darkening day : 
 
 Love only can the fall of life abide {*) ; 
 
 Thy love, my Oliver, yet lights my way : 
 
 O follow, Oliver, that guiding love. 
 
 With me one faith, one hope, one will, to prove." 
 
 Thus said, they mingled in the thickest fight ; 
 Once more the dying warrior raised his blade, 
 And, tho' the approach of death had dimm'd his sight. 
 Through the mid ranks a bloody passage made : 
 Close on the confines of eternal night. 
 Still his sad friend with wondering eye surveyed 
 Such deeds as might have graced life's vigorous day,-— 
 For the soul's fire survived the frame's decay.
 
 106 ORLAKDO IN ROKCESVALLBS. 
 
 Thus through the storm of swords and spears they gd, 
 
 Still dealing vengeance and despair around : 
 
 But Oliver, who now more faint and slow 
 
 The heavy hand of Death oppressive found, 
 
 Press'd towards his tent : the end of all his woe 
 
 He felt approaching from that mortal wound. 
 
 *' Oh yet a little wait ! " Orlando cries ; 
 
 ** I'll sound my horn — assistance near us lies." 
 
 ** My hrother," he replied, *' there's now no needi 
 
 My soul is hastening from its bonds to flee j 
 
 It soars, expectant of the promised meed ; 
 
 It beats, it pants, it must, it will, be free — " 
 
 More would hisfaltering tongue, — but Heaven decreed 
 
 An instaiit change for immortality : 
 
 Yet the last wish Orlando knew full well, — 
 
 ** Live thou ! and guard my sister Aldabelle (')." 
 
 Now, when he saw the noble spirit fled. 
 
 He seem'd on earth's wild coast alone to stray j 
 
 And, sick at heart and sorrowful, he sped 
 
 To gain a hillock that adjoining lav : 
 
 And there " he blew a blast so loud and dread ( ),'* 
 
 The PajTiim host all trembled with dismay. 
 
 Another, and another yet, hi* blew : 
 
 ^^'ith the third blast, that horn was burst in two.
 
 ORLAKDO IN RONCESVALLBS. • 107 
 
 Then back he hasten'd to the battle field, 
 As the sad widow'd sire suspends his grief ("), 
 Returning from the funeral rite, to yield 
 His little weeping family relief. 
 E'en in that moment's space had Fate unseal'd 
 New springs of sorrow to the afflicted chief : 
 The desolating Fury had not spared 
 Avino, Avolio, Gualtier, Egibard ("). 
 
 Still Anselm rear'd his ponderous mace on high ; 
 Still Aymon's banner rode the battle wave j 
 And Turpin, mid the Christian chivalry. 
 Still held the sword to strike, the cross to save : 
 But Clermont's horn, that shook the startled sky, 
 New hope inspired to rouse the fainting brave. 
 While to the Payiiim host it seem'd to bear. 
 In each successive blast, defeat, dismay, despair. 
 
 At the first blast of that miraculous horn, 
 That, league o'er league, round hill and vale resounded, 
 •' By Fontarabian echos" westward " borne (')," 
 And by the Atlantic billows back rebounded. 
 Like some tired traveller, on the sudden torn 
 From slumbers that have all his sense confounded. 
 The Roman Emperor started from his throne. 
 And sternly eyed the traitor Ganellon ('").
 
 lOS ORLAKDO IN RONCESVALLKS. 
 
 '* Fair speed the chase in Roncesvalles' glade !" 
 The traitor cried ; — " beneath the greenwood bough 
 How many antlers, 1)rave and tall, are laid 
 Lowly on earth by Clennont's arrows now ? '* 
 Gladly deceived, the momentary shade 
 Of doubt and fear pass'd o'er the imperial brow ; 
 But Salamon still grasp'd his half-drawn sword, 
 And Britain's king, and wise Bavaria's lord. 
 
 But when the second blast that pierced the sky 
 Had far and wide its scatter'd echos sent. 
 From all the circle burst one general cry. 
 And loud indignant clamour fill'd the tent : 
 A hundred faidchions from the scabbard fly, 
 And all against the conscious traitor bent : 
 The conscious traitor, yet unshaken, said 
 ** How well this day Anglante's shafts have sped 1 " 
 
 Again it sounds,— but Ganellon no more 
 Affects the glozing S}>eech and bold disguise : 
 A shuddering tremor steals his senses o'er. 
 And heavT clouds of guilt oppress his eyes ; 
 His straining eyeballs seek the expanded door. 
 Through which, unseen, a grisly phantom flies, 
 Unseen by all beside, — for Conscience shows 
 Such mockeries only to delude Heaven's foes.
 
 ORLAIiDO IN RONCESVALLES. 109 
 
 And well that fearful vision might appall 
 And freeze the life-stream in a father's vein. 
 Speaking of Baldwin's bloody funeral. 
 It bore upon its front the battle stain, 
 That marr'd his youthful graces, and, withal, 
 Grasp'd in its hand the vest of purple grain,— 
 That fatal vest, which well the traitor knew, — 
 Then, on hint sternly frowning, slow withdrew. 
 
 How pale he stands ! how fixt his look, how strange ! 
 How self-condemn'd, who late so brave appear'd ! 
 In silent dread, all view'd that sudden change. 
 Mysterious omen of the worst they fear'd. 
 "But not in all thine empire's widest range 
 Breathed there a peasant, so by hope uncheer'd. 
 As at that moment, noble Charles, to be 
 Compared, in bitterness of soul, with thee. 
 
 Who breaks the portals of the grave again. 
 And glares so fiercely on the imperial throne ? 
 Not that the guest of a bewilder'd brain. 
 Invisible to all but guilt alone : 
 To all Alike it stands cOnfest and plain ; 
 And yet, among the living ne'er was known. 
 Like meteors flashing from the northern sky, 
 The withering flame that fired that sunken eye.
 
 HO ORLAKDO IN R0NCESVALLE8. 
 
 The sounds that, labouring in that hollow chest. 
 As in some sepulchre the iniprison'd wind. 
 Thus the dark oracle of Fate express'd : — 
 " It is too late, O man perverse and blind ! 
 Yes — thou mayst rend thy garment, beat thy breast, 
 And round thy loins repentant sackcloth bind ; 
 Yes — thou mayst gird thy potent sword, display 
 Thy banner, and lead forth thy proud array ! 
 
 "Vengeance may wake; and, wrapt in smouldering fire. 
 
 E'en Saragossa's lofty towers may fall ; 
 
 Marsilius, and his line accurst, expire 
 
 Amid the ruins of his tottering hall ; 
 
 All this, and more, by Heaven's eternal Sire 
 
 May stand decreed : but Heaven can ne'er recall 
 
 Thv fatal hour, O widow'd France ! nor save 
 
 Thy glories from disgrace, thy children from the giave. 
 
 *' It is too late to avert Astolpho's doom. 
 
 Or heal thy wounds, thou gentlest Berlinghier ! 
 
 It is too late to close the greedy tomb 
 
 That opens npw its gates for Olivier. 
 
 E'en thee, Orlando ! — would that earthly fume 
 
 That clouds my dying senses disappear. 
 
 And leave my sight from doubt and error free, — 
 
 My last sad funeral knell might so\u\d for thee !
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCKSrALr,ES. Ill 
 
 *' One vision yet — it soothes my parting soul — 
 O sons of Aymon ! brethren of my love !" — 
 No more — those flaming orbs have ceased to roll. 
 That breast to labour, and those lips to move : 
 Through all the tent a solemn murmur stole. 
 As fear with rage, with grief amazement strove— 
 That lifeless corse, the eye's unnatural light 
 Extinct, to memory gave Montalban's wizard knight. 
 
 'Tis said — but who the fearful truth can tell ?— 
 That in his hovering flight, 'twixt earth and sky ("), 
 A startling peal, the well-known voice of Hell, 
 Announced his league dissolved, his hour gone by : 
 Then from his air-built car the enchanter fell. 
 And, where he fell, in mortal trance did lie j 
 Till Clermont's horn, with its awakening blast, '■ 
 
 Roused his prophetic rage to speak and breathe its last. 
 
 Back to the field of blood, my wandering song. 
 And wait the ending of that dismal fight ! 
 The wonders of the charmed horn too long 
 Have staid thy pinions from their onward flight. 
 Behold, where Aymon's sons the routed throng 
 Still urge, impetuous, down the mountain's height. 
 And Anselm follows in that glorious chase- 
 But where is he, the leader of the race ?
 
 112 ORLANDO IN ROMCESTALLES. 
 
 Opprest with wounds euwl toil, the valiant knight 
 Can now support his helmet's weight no more ; 
 Tired with the labours of so long a fight, 
 Parcht by a burning thirst unfclt before : 
 He now remember 'd where, the former night. 
 From a rlear fount the crystal stream he bore ; 
 Thither he urged his steed, there sought repose. 
 And wash'd his wounds, and rested from his woes('*). 
 
 His faithful steed, that long had served him well 
 In peace and war, now closed his languid eye, 
 Kneel'd at his feet, and seem'd to say **Farewell(") I 
 I've brought thee to the destined port, aud die." 
 Orlando felt anew his sorrows swell 
 When he beheld his Brigliadoro lie 
 Stretcht on the field, that crystal fount beside. 
 Stiffened his limbs, and cold hb warlike pride. 
 
 And *' O my much-loved steed, my generous friend^ 
 
 Companion of my better years 1 " he said ; 
 
 '' And have I lived to see so sad an end 
 
 Of all thy toils, and thy brave spirit fled ? 
 
 O pardon me, if e'er I did offend ('■•) 
 
 With hasty wrong that mild and faithful head ! "— 
 
 Just then, his eyes a momentary light 
 
 Flash'd quick 3 — then closed again in endless night.
 
 -> ©RLANDO IN RONCESVALLM. 113 
 
 Now when Drlaiido found himself alone. 
 
 Upon the field he ca^t his swimming eyes ; 
 
 But there no kindred form, no friend well known. 
 
 Of all his host, to glad his sight, arise : 
 
 With undi^tinguisht dead the mpuntains groan ; 
 
 A heap of slaughter, Roncesvalles lies : 
 
 Oh, what a pang of grief oppress'd his brain. 
 
 As his strain 'd eyeballs rested on the slain I 
 
 '^ Farewell," he cried, *' ye gallant souls thrice blestj 
 
 Whose woes lie buried in that bloody tomb ! 
 
 For me, I know my fate, but cannot rest ; 
 
 Feel Death approaching, and h^ will not come. 
 
 How peaceful now is thy distracted breast. 
 
 My Oliver ! how sweet Astolpho's doom 1 
 
 Oh yet some human pity feel for me. 
 
 And aid my soul, just struggling to be free C^) !" 
 
 *Twas then, as ancient chronicles have told C^), 
 Orlando gazed upon his faithful blade. 
 And thus address'd, as if of human mould— r- 
 *^ When in the silent grave thy lord is laid. 
 And ages o'er his sad remains have roll'd, 
 O Durindana ! let it ne'er be said. 
 Thy noble steel, aye sacred to the right. 
 Hath lent to Pagan hands its prostituted might."
 
 Hi ORLAKDO IN RONCBSVALtEf. 
 
 He said, and, far his red right arm extending, 
 
 Collected stood for one last dreadful shock. 
 
 The sword, high whirl'd in air, and swift descending. 
 
 Nor bent nor shiver'd on the niarljJe rock. 
 
 But cleaved its solid mass, asunder rending 
 
 Even from the summit to the central block. 
 
 The rudest peasant, in that valley bom. 
 
 Stills shows the cloven crag and wondrous horn. 
 
 In Roncesvalles' melancholy glade 
 The cries of war were now no longer heard j 
 And, ere the lingering star of day decay'd. 
 No Moorish banner o'er the waste appear'd : 
 One tribute more, to Gano's treason paid. 
 The daemons at their hellish banquet cheer'd ; 
 Spent with fatigue and blood, at evening's close. 
 Good Anselm's spirit fled to seek its long repose. 
 
 The sons of Aymon and the martial priest 
 Were now the last sad reliques of the brave : 
 Together from the vain pursuit they ceased, 
 Together sought Orlando's bloody grave. 
 At length they fovmd hira, where, not yet released ('') 
 From mortal anguish, by that fountain wave. 
 His toil-worn limbs rethned. In silent grief 
 They stood collected round the expiring chief.
 
 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 115 
 
 But when Orlando raised his clouded sight. 
 
 And saw Heaven's consecrated warrior near, 
 
 A sacred joy diffiised its kindling light. 
 
 And bathed his face with many a grateful tear: 
 
 Then, cleansed from blood. Heaven's own anointed knight 
 
 Laid his pure hands on Clermont's humble peer. 
 
 And blest him, in His holy name who ^ave 
 
 Himself to death, our ransom from the grave. 
 
 This ended, to Rinaldo kneeling by 
 
 A parting look of tenderness he sent. 
 
 Who grasp'd his hand, but made no more reply— 
 
 'Twas the last look that o;n this earth he bent : 
 
 Thenceforth, on Heaven alone he fix'd his eye, 
 
 Fixt, as the lights that gem the firmament ; 
 
 Yet, while his soul sprang upward, Love had share 
 
 In every wish, and framed his latest prayer ('*). 
 
 Scarce had he ofFer'd up that silent prayer 
 With sighs and tears, and breathed his last desire. 
 When on the dying knight, with sudden glare, 
 Flash'd from the sun three beams of heavenly fire("^). 
 His friends kneel round him with dejected air. 
 Like children at the death-bed of their sire ; 
 No sounds the dread and solemn silence broke. 
 Save when deep sighs the heart's sad language spoke. 
 I 2 "
 
 116 ORLANDO IN RONCKSVALLES. 
 
 Soft music, mingling with that heavenly light (*"), 
 In sweet low murmurs stole upon their ears ; 
 And, like some dying gale of balmy night, 
 A spirit seera'd descending from the spheres. 
 Orlando raised his intellectual sight, 
 When to his ravisht sense confest appears 
 He, who from heaven to our benighted earth 
 Bore the glad tidings of a Saviour's birth. 
 
 And thus that vision said, or seem'd to say, 
 *' Thine offering is received, thy soul forgiven ! 
 Walt- but a little space — the appointed day 
 Restores thee to thy mourning friends in heaven. 
 To those beloved on earth, for whom you pray. 
 Shall special messengers of peace be given. 
 To guard your king in his declining years, 
 *And th6se your fellow-soldiers and your peers. 
 
 ** Bright with eternal yoiith and fadeless bloom (*'), 
 Thine AJdabelle thou shalt behold once more. 
 Partaker of a bliss beyond the tomb 
 With her whom Sinai's holy hills adore, 
 Crown'd with fresh flowers, whose colouf and perfume 
 Surpass what Spring's rich bosom ever bore — 
 Thy mourning widow here she will remain, 
 And be in Heaven thy joyful spouse again."
 
 ORLANDq IN RONCESVALLES. 117 
 
 With look seraphic, raised and fixt on .high ("), 
 He seem'd transfigured from this earthly vest, 
 
 . And holding sweet communion witfi the sky : 
 O happy end ! O soul supremely blest 1 
 At last he hung his languid head to die, . . 
 
 ^ And the freed spirit left his Holy breast ; 
 But, first, the pommel of his sword belaid 
 Fixt to his- heart, his arms across the blade 
 
 The sound of distant thunder shook the skies, 
 Play'd round the hills, and in tlie valley died j 
 From snoWy clouds bright starry. meteors rise. 
 And through mid air celestial lustres glide. 
 And liquid flames, too fierce for mortal eyes; \ 
 To sweetest harps harmonious notes repjied ; 
 Such notes as to^the Heaven of Heavens aspire, 
 Theholy.hymnings-of the angelic choir. - 
 
 The knights, who silent saw their champion "die, 
 Stood rapt in fervent trance upon the plain ; 
 Lost to themselves, in Contemplation's eye 
 They rise at once, their radiant thrones' to gain,; 
 Till ceased the strains of dulcet psalmody,' • • . 
 And long and loud Hosannas closed the strain — ' * 
 So stood the sage of old, and so adored, 
 When up to Heaven Elijah's chariot soar'd (^^)".*
 
 118 OKLAKDO IN RONXESVALLBS. 
 
 Wlien Charles beheld that field of blood, he cast (**) 
 His eyes towards Roncesvalles, and exclaim'd, 
 " Because m thee the fame of France is past, 
 Through every age be thou with curses named ! 
 So long as this vile world and Time shall last, 
 Be desolating barrenness proclaim'd 
 Thy lofty hills and spreading vales around. 
 And Heaven's o%vn lightnings blast the accursed 
 ground!" 
 
 But when he reach'd the fatal mountain's base, 
 
 Where, at the fount, Kinaldo watch'd the dead. 
 
 More lamentable tears bcdcw'd his face : 
 
 The stiffe.n'd corse he kiss'd, embraced, and said, 
 
 ** O blessed soul ! look from the realms of grace 
 
 Upon this old and miserable head; 
 
 And, if all wrongs be not forgotten there, 
 
 For peace and gracious pardon hear my prayer ! ' 
 
 *^ Where is the faith, my son, I bade thee prove ? 
 
 The pledge, in happier days received and given ? 
 
 O shade adored ! if aught of human love 
 
 Or human pity may survive in Heaven, 
 
 Restore me, fi^om thy glorious scat above. 
 
 As the dear token of offence forgiven. 
 
 That sword with which I made thee knight and couut. 
 
 Even as thou erst didst swear at Aspramount ! "
 
 ORLANDO m RONCBSVALLES. 119 
 
 'Twls SO ordain 'd, that, at his sovereign's word, 
 Orlando's body rose from earth once more. 
 And kneel'd before his ancient king and lord 
 With solemn reverence, as in days of yore ; 
 Stretch'd forth his hand, and yielded back the sword. 
 The same he held at Aspramount before : 
 Then, with a smile, to Heaven the spirit fled ; 
 The corse fell back, and lay for ever dead. 
 
 O'er Charles's limbs a sudden tremor ran. 
 
 Something betwixt a thrilling awe and love : 
 
 By the cold hand he grasp 'd the sainted man. 
 
 And felt assured of happier life above. 
 
 A holy horror every breast began 
 
 To seize, and even Rinaldo's soul to prove 
 
 The power of Fear, while, humbly kneeling round, 
 
 They kiss'd with bended face the sacred ground. 
 
 But who shall say how wretched Alda moum'd (*') 
 Her lord and brother on their timeless bier ? 
 '^ Ye, blessed souls, to kindred light return'd. 
 Have left me, all alone and darkling here. 
 Me, once the happiest wife on earth, adorn'd 
 With all that Heaven approves or man holds dear, 
 Crown'd with the love of the most noble knight 
 That ever mounted steed or dared the fight.
 
 120 ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES. 
 
 "O my loved husband, father, friend, farewell ! 
 Ne'er shall the world behold thy peer again j 
 So fonn'd in camps and cities to excel, 
 So mild in peace, so dreadful on the plain ! 
 Faithful in life and death, thine Aldabelle 
 Swears, by thy bones inhumed at Aquisgrane, 
 This constant heart, that only breathed for thee. 
 Shall Uve devoted to thy memory."
 
 NOTES 
 
 TO 
 
 CANTO THE FIFTH: 
 
 (1) " Is that the Iridal voice that calls thee home?'*] 
 Alluding to the dream of Oliver, described in the first 
 •anto. , 
 
 (2) *^ Not when Bellnnde her llooming honour lost, 
 
 And headless on the field lay Neustria's pride "1^ 
 Anjolin of Bellande, and Richard of Normandy, two 
 ©f the Paladins already mentioned. 
 
 (3) " Yet once again that inmost soul must ileed" t^c.l 
 Gran pianto Orlando di questo facea,^ 
 
 Perche molto Ulivier gl* era nel core. 
 
 ;-« G. xxvii St. 64. 
 
 The account of Oliver's death, which T have closely 
 followed, is contained in the five succeeding stanzas of 
 Fulci.
 
 122 KOTES TO 
 
 (4f) " Love only can the fall of life abide," tsfc^ 
 " E perch* io t' amo Ulivier com' io soglio, 
 Vioiine con meco a niostrar tua possanza, 
 Una morte, una fede, un volcr solo," — 
 Pol Io mend nel mezzo dello stuolo. St. 65. 
 
 (5) E blsogno intender, che Alda la bella 
 Raecomandar voleaj la sua sorella. St. G8. 
 
 (6) " ^nd there ' he blew a blast so loud and dread.' "] 
 Collins's Ode on the Passions. 
 
 E sono tanto forte che Io intese (Carlo) ; 
 E 1 sangue usci per la bocca e pel naso, 
 Dice Turpino, e che il corno si fesse, 
 La terza volta ch' a.bocca se '1 messe. St. 69. 
 The refusal of Orlando to'blow his wonderful horn, 
 till the very last extremity when it is too late to do him 
 any service or save his friends from destruction, is 
 surely a pretty considerable stretch of chivalrous extra- 
 vagance ; but so Turpin relates the fact ; 
 J\.nd who can doubt what reverend churchmen write? 
 1 have been disposed, however, to throw over the 
 transaction sufficient obscurity to leave it in some de- 
 gree uncertain whether Orlando himself was fully aware 
 of the powers of his instrument, or whether the sound 
 were not conveyed to Fontarabia rather by some im- 
 mediate preternatural agency than by the mere force of 
 mortal breath. The wonder is at all events enhanced
 
 CANTO THE FIFTH. 12$ 
 
 by placing Charlemagne's camp at Fontarabia instead of 
 St. Jean Pied du Port. 
 
 The circumstance of theblood gushing outat Orlando's 
 eyes and nostrils, which I have not ventured to repeat, 
 is faithfully copied by Pulci from Turpin's Chronicle. 
 
 " Roland .... sonna encore son cor adonc qu'il ne 
 vid personne venir, par si grant vertu et efForcement de 
 soufflet, que son diet cor fust perce et fendu de la force 
 du vent et aspiration de sa bouche : et furent ses veines 
 et nerfz du col rompuz et cassez, ainsi que ion ra- 
 conte." Paris ed. 1527. feuill. xxxvii. 
 
 In the 13th century, a long romantic poem, on the 
 life and achievements of Alexander the Great, was 
 written, or rather imitated from the Greek of Simeon 
 Seth, by Aretinus Quilichinus. " If I recollect right," 
 says Warton (Hist, of Engl. Poetry, vol. i. p. 132), 
 " one of the miracles of this romance is our hero's horn. 
 It is said that Alexander gave the signal to his whole 
 army by a wonderful horn of immense magnitude, which 
 might be heard at the distance of sixty miles, and that 
 it was blown or sounded by sixty men at once. This 
 is the horn which Orlando won from the giant Jat- 
 mund, and which, as Turpin and the Islandic bards re- 
 port,was endued with magical power, and might be heard 
 at the distance of twenty miles." And in a note on 
 the same passage he adds, " Olaus Magnus relates 
 that this horn, which was called Olivant, was won by 
 Orlando, togetlier with the famous sword Durindanai
 
 124 KOTES TO 
 
 from this giant (Jatniund), who was the son of Aglandus 
 king of Africa," the Aygoland of Turpin's Chronicle, and 
 the Agolante of Pulci and the Italian romance-writers. 
 This famous instrument, which, as Cervantes assures 
 us, was " as big as a great beam," became the parent 
 of many similar fictions. Of the same fimuly is that 
 which Logestylla presents to Astolpho in the Orlando 
 Furioso, — 
 A horn, in which if he do once but blowe, 
 The noise thereof shall trouble men so sore, 
 Tliat all, both stout and faint, shall flee therefro'. 
 Harrington's Trans, c. xv. s. 10. 
 And that with which Spenser furnishes Prince Arthur's 
 iquire: . 
 
 • ■ wide wonders over all, 
 
 Of that same home's great vertues weren told, 
 . Which had appf oven been in uses manifold. 
 
 Was never wight that heard that shrilling sound. 
 But trembling feare did feele in every veine ; 
 Three miles it might be easie heard around, 
 And echoes three answered itselfe againe. 
 "No false enchauntment nor'deceitful traine 
 Might once abide the terror of that blast, &c. - 
 
 Book i. canto viii. st. S) 4. 
 
 • Oberon, the. dwarfish king of the Fayery, gave a 
 horn of very extraordinary power to his favourite Huon 
 of Bordeaux. Whenever it somided, Oberon, from
 
 CANTO THJb FIFTH. 125 
 
 whatever distance, instantly appeared to succour the 
 knight in danger, with an army of 100^000 men. On 
 the first occasion that its effects were tried, " Huon," 
 says the old French romance, " meist le cor en 5a 
 bouche, si le fist si tres fort retentir et sonner que le 
 sang luy en seillit de la bouche :" — thus given by Lord 
 Berners, so well known by his translation of Froissart— 
 ♦' And so he blewe it so sore that the blood came out 
 of his mouth." Huon of Bordeaux, ed. 1601. 4to. lib. i. 
 c. 30. 
 
 The classfcal reader may be inclined to refer the ul- 
 timate origin, as well of the parent fiction, as of its. 
 numerous progeny, to the horn of Alecto in the seventh 
 book of the ^neid. 
 
 I must not forget the sublime passage in which Dante 
 compares the sound of the horn, at the entrance into 
 the ninth circle of his Inferno, to that which forms the 
 subject of this rambling note. 
 
 Ma lo senti sonare un' alto como, 
 ■ Tanto ch' avrebbe ogni tuon fatto fioco, 
 Che contra se la sua via seguitando 
 Dirizz.d gl' occhi miei tutti ad un loco. 
 Dopo la dolorosa rotta, quando 
 . Carlo magno perde la santa gesta, 
 
 Non sono si terribilmente Orlando. Inf. c. 31. 
 (7) *' As the sad widow' d sire suspends his grief ," isfc] 
 
 Come chi torna dal funereo lutto 
 • Alia sua famigliuola a daf couforto. St. 81.
 
 126 KOTES TO 
 
 (8) " Avino, AvoHoy GucUtier, Egilard."'] I fear 
 that the example of an Italian Hne, which frequently 
 occurs in Boyardo and Ariosto as well as Pulci, will 
 hardly be admitted as a sufficient excuse for the license 
 of versification I have here assumed. 
 
 Avino, Avolio, e '1 gentil Berlingieri. 
 
 (9) " * Bj/ Fontaralian echos' westward * borne.' "^ 
 O for a blast of that dread horn, 
 
 By Tontarabian echos borne, 
 
 That to King Charles did come, 
 When Rowland brave, and Olivier 
 And every Paladin and peer, &c. 
 
 Marmion, canto vi. 
 
 (10) " The Rowan Emperor started from his throne," 
 tSfc."] Compare the Morgante, canto xxvii. st. IGl * 
 et seq. 
 
 (11) " That in his hovering flight Uwitt earth and sky" 
 to'c] See before, canto the second, stanza 37. 
 
 (12) " Opprest with wounds and toil,'* ti^c] Com- 
 pare the Morgante, canto xxvii. st. 100 — 105. 
 
 (13) " Knetl'dat hisfeet," {jTc] 
 
 £ inginnocchiossi, e licenzia gii chiese. 
 
 Quasi dicesse, "lot 'ho condotto ^ porto." St.lOI.
 
 CANTO THE FIFTH. 127 
 
 (14) " O pardon me, if e'er I did offend," isfc] 
 O Vegliantin, s' io ti feci mai torto, 
 Perdonami, ti prego, cosi morto ! 
 , The miracle which follows, is, for decency's sake, re- 
 lated on the authority of Turpin. 
 
 Dice Turpin, che mi par maraviglia, 
 Che, come Orlando " Perdonami " disse, 
 Quel caval parve ch' apprisse le ciglia, 
 E col capo e co' gesti consentisse. St. 103. 
 
 (15) To this succeeds a very impressive stanzainPulci's 
 peculiar manner ; but which 1 do not venture to imitate. 
 
 Hor sara ricordata Malagigi, 
 
 Hor sara tutta Francia in bruna vesta, 
 
 Hor sara in pianti e lagrime Parigi, 
 
 Hor sara la mia sposa afflitta e mesta, 
 
 Hor sara quasi inculto San Dionigi, 
 
 Hor sara spenta la Christiana gesta, 
 
 Hor sara Carlo e '1 suo regno distrutto, 
 
 Hor sara Ganellon contento in tutto! St. 105. 
 
 (16) " 'Twos then, as ancient chronicles have told," 
 iSfc.'] Compare the Morgante, c. xxvii. st. 108, which 
 is borrowed from Turpin, as to the fact ; but the part- 
 ing address is much more diffuse and particular in the 
 original chronicle. 
 
 " II avoit encore son espee, qui moult estoit belle, 
 tres bien aiguisee en la poihte, et si tres forte quelle
 
 196 NOTES TO 
 
 eatoit inflexible sans nuUcment pouvoir estre ployee, re- 
 luisarit clere nierveilleusement et resplendissant ; et etoit 
 nomme Durendal pourcequ'elle frappoit durement; 
 ainsi la peut on interpreter : plustost luy eust failly le 
 bras que sa dicte espee, qui tant avoit faic^t bcaulx ex- 
 plectz d'armes sur les ennemis de Jesuclvrist et con- 
 trarians a la saincte foy catholicque. Luy estant ainsi 
 dolent et couche soulz larbre dessus diet tyra celle clere 
 espee de son fourreau ; et ainsi quil la tenoit entre ses 
 mains et la regardoit en grand pitie et compassion il 
 dist a haulte voix plorant et larmoyant, * O tres beau 
 couteau resplendissant : qui tant as dure et qui as ete si 
 large si ferme et si fort emrtianche de clere yvoire, du- 
 quel la croix est faicte dor et la surface doree decoree 
 et embelly du pommeau faict de pierres et de beril, es- 
 cript et engrave du grant nom de Dieu singulier Alpha 
 et oo' (x. omega) ' si bien tranchanten la pOinte et en- 
 vironne de la vertu de Dieu. Qui est celuy qui plus et 
 (justre moy usera de ta saincte force ? Mais qui sera 
 desoremais ton possesseur ? Certes celluy qui te pos- 
 sedera ne sera vaincu ny estonne ; ne ne redoubt^a 
 toute la force des ennemys. II naura jamais paour 
 daucunes illusions et fantaisies : car layde de Dieu et la 
 grace seront en sa protection et sauvegarde. O que tu 
 es heureuse, espee digne de mcmoire ! car par toy sont 
 sarrazins destruictz et occis, et les gens infideles mis a 
 rtiort : dont la loy des chresticns est exaltee et la louenge 
 de Dieu et gloire par tout le mondc universel acquire.
 
 CANTO THE FIFTH. 129 
 
 " O, 0, combien de fois ay je venge le sang de nostre 
 
 Seigneur Jesuchrist par ton puissant moyen! &c 
 
 Combien ay je tranche de sarrazins ! combien de juifz 
 et aultres mescreants infideles batus et destruitz, pour 
 exaltation et gloire de la saincte foy chrestienne ! Par 
 toy, noble cousteau, tranchant Durendal de longue 
 
 duree, la chevalerie de Dieu est accomplye, &c 
 
 O, o, espee tres heureuse, de laquelle nest la semblable, 
 ne este, ne ne sera ! Certes celluy qui ta forgee jamais 
 semblable ne fit devant toy ny apres ; &c Si de- 
 venture aucun chevalier non hardy ou paresseux te pos- 
 sede apres ma mort jen seray grandement dolent. Et 
 si aucun sarrazin mescreant ou infidele te touche au- 
 cunement, jen suis en grant dueil et angoisse!" Paris 
 edit, already cited, fo. xxxv. xxxvi. 
 
 The romantic circumstances attending the death of 
 Arthur, especially the casting into the water of his 
 sword Excalibar, are familiar to us through the spirited 
 ballad preserved in Percy's collection. The Morte Ar- 
 thur, however, in adopting the principal features of tlie 
 description, has omitted some of the lesser traits to be 
 found in the original romance of " Lancelot du Lac," 
 which bear a near resemblance to the foregoing relation. 
 It is thus, in particular, that the dying monarch ad- 
 dresses his faithful sword : 
 
 " Haa Excalibor, bonne espee, la meilleure que Ion 
 sceust au monde fors celle aux estranges renges ! Or ne 
 trouveras tu jamais homme ou tu sois si bien em- 
 
 K
 
 130 KOTES T« 
 
 ployee comme tu estoyes en nioy, sc tu ne viens aux 
 mains de Lancelot ! Ilee Lancelot ! le plus preud- 
 homme du monde ! et le meilleur chevalier que je vis 
 oncques ! Pleust or a Jesuchrist que vous la teinssiez et 
 je le sceusse ! Si, mayst Dieu, nion ame en seroit plu« 
 aise a toujours mais." Lors appela Girflet et luy dist, 
 ♦' Girflet, mon amy, allez en ce tertre lassus la ou vous 
 trouverez ung lac et gectez mon espee dedans : car je 
 ne veuil pas quelle deraeure en ce royaulme que lea 
 mauvais ostz en soient saisis." &c. Folio edit. Paris, 
 1533. 3me partie. feuill. clviii. 
 
 (17) "• At length they found him" (sfc] 
 Hor qui incomincian le pictose note. 
 
 C. xxvii. St. 1 16. 
 And then follows Orlando's penitent confession of all 
 his sins to the martial Archbishop. " Here again," cb- 
 serves M. Ginguene, " is- one of those passages that 
 render it so difficult not to suspect the poet's real de- 
 sign. The confession is simple and sincere ; but Tur« 
 pin answers, • I require no more of you; a Paternosterj 
 a Miserere, or, if you will, a Peccavi, will be quite suf- 
 ficient, and I absolve you by the power of the great 
 Cephas, who is getting ready his keys to receive you 
 into eternal life.' " Ging. Hist. Litt. &c. tom. iv. p. 246, 
 
 (18) " framed his latest prayer."'] " It is far 
 
 "Otherwise," proceeds AL Ginguene in continuation of
 
 CANTO THE FIFTH. 131 
 
 his last cited remark, " with the prayer of Orlando and 
 with his death. The prayer is somewhat of the longest, 
 (it occupies from st. 121 to 130;) but it is simple, and 
 not wanting either in truth or unction. The angel Ga- 
 briel appears to him, and holds a long discourse which 
 may afford room to a great deal of discussion; but, in 
 short, it is impossible not to be affected by contemplat- 
 ing the manner in which this famous and intrepid cham- 
 pion of the faith expires ; for such is the character of 
 Roland in all the earlier poems, — a character which he 
 never abandons. * Je ne sais quoi de surnaturel respire 
 dans son air et dans tous ses mouvemens.' " 
 
 In fact, all this part of the poem, which is but slightly 
 supported by Turpin's authority, contains many striking 
 beauties, as well as many curious evidences of the opi- 
 nions of the times and of the author. I have ventured, 
 however, to follow him only in a very general manner. 
 
 (19) ^'' Flasli d from the sun three learns of heavenly 
 ^re."] 
 
 Poi ch' Orlando hebbe dette le parole 
 Con molte amare lachryme, e sospiri, 
 Parve tre corde, o tre linee dal sole, &c. St. 131. 
 
 (20) " Soft music, mingling with that heavenly light," 
 
 esfc] 
 
 In tanto giu per quel lampo apparito, 
 
 Un certo dolce mormorio soave. 
 
 Come vento tal volta fu sentito, &c, St. 1 32. 
 k2
 
 132 KOTIS TO 
 
 (21) " Bright with eternal youth and fadeless lloom."'} 
 Alda la bclla che hui raccomandata, 
 Tu la vedrai nel ciel feiice anc' hora, 
 A pi^ di quella sposa collocata, 
 Clie il monte santo, Synai, honora, 
 £ di gigli e di rose coronata, 
 Che non creo vostro Ariete o Flora, 
 E servera la veste oscura e '1 vclo, 
 Insin che a te si riniariti in ciclo. St. 145. 
 
 (22) " If^ith look seraphic" Sffc] 
 
 Orlando ficco in terra Durlindana, &c. &c. 
 
 Compare tliroughout the description of Orlando's 
 death contained in stanzas 152 — 157 of the Morgante. 
 On the circumstance of Orlando's crossing his arms 
 over his breast with the hilt or pommel of his sword be- 
 tween them, and dying in that attitude, embracing, as 
 it were, the divine symbol of Christian adoration, M. 
 Ginguene exclaims, " Cela est beau, cela est pathe- 
 tique et sublime ; cela doit plaire aux plus incr^dulet 
 comme aux plus zeles croyants." He fails, however, 
 to remark that this dying attitude is not peculiar to 
 Orlando. It is preserved in many monumental statues 
 of warriors, especially of Crusaders ; and it occurs in 
 the account of the death of Bayard, who, like Roland 
 himself, was the "Chevalier sans peur et sans reproche." 
 — " Aussitot il s'ecria, Hclas mon Dieu : je suis mort. 
 Et, prenant sou espec par la poignce, baisa la croisec
 
 CANTO THE FIFTH. 13J 
 
 en signe de la Croix avec cette humble Oraison a Dleu : 
 Miserere mei, Beus, secundum magnam misericordiam 
 tuam /" I quote from Etienne Pasquier, Recherches 
 de la France, liv. 6me. chap. 22. 
 
 (23) " When up to Heaven Elijah's chariot soar" d"'\ 
 Many other particulars are introduced by Pulci, which 
 it would have been impossible to preserve. There is one 
 beautiful thought, however, which I am not satisfied 
 with myself for having neglected. The voices of the 
 singers, he says, were known to be those of angels, 
 from the trembling of their wings. 
 Cantar 
 Sentito fu degli angeli solenne, 
 Che si conobbe al tremolar le penne. 
 
 I cannot quit this part of the poem without citing a 
 passage from the correspondence of Grimm which strikes 
 me as peculiarly applicable to the death of Orlando. In 
 the original it makes part of a very fin<<'criticism on 
 Voltaire's Tragedy of" Tancrede:" but the observations, 
 which may appear to be somewhat hazardous as applied 
 to the drama, become perfectly unexceptionable when 
 transferred to the epic or narrative. 
 
 " Un poete qui aurait expose Tancrede raourant aux 
 yeux d'un peuple, dont le gout serait grand et vrai,. 
 n'aurait pas manque, pourpeindre ce moment touchant 
 et terrible dans toute sa verite, d'y mettre les ceremo- 
 nies de la religion chretienne. Nous aurions vu le heros,
 
 134 NOTES TO 
 
 expirant au milieu de la place publique, recevoir les sa« 
 cremens de I'eglise, et partager ainsi, en vrai chevalier, 
 les derniers niomens de sa vie entre sa devotion et sa 
 tendresse. Je sais que nous sommesbien eloignrs d'oser 
 de pareilles choses, mais je sais aussi que 1% posterity 
 n'aura pas pour nos productions cettc forte admiration 
 que nous sommes forces d'avoir pour les ouvrages des 
 anciens. Je sais encore qu'un grand peintre qui aurait 
 a traiter la mort de Tancredc, tirerait de ce contraste 
 de la religion et de I'amour le principal eftet de son ta- 
 bleau. Or, ut picfura poesis, c'est une regie gencrale." 
 Ire partie, torn. iii. p. 80. 
 
 (24 ) " IFhen Charles hekeld thai vale of blood" ^c] 
 The arrival of Charles in Iloncesvalles, and the stupen- 
 dous miraclevvhich follows, are related in the same canto 
 of the Morgante, from st. 201 to 208. I have borrowed 
 from Pulci enough of prodigies, or I might have related 
 the concluding wonder of this romantic scene. M hen 
 they enter on the melancholy task of burying the Chris- 
 tian dead, they find the difficulty of distinguishing 
 them among the heaps of slain from the bodies of their 
 Pagan enemies vanquished by a peculiar interposition 
 of Heaven ; for the latter all lay flat on their faces, the 
 former with thoir eyes turned upwards to Heaven. 
 
 (25) " But who shall say how wretched /fldn motirn'd,'* 
 &>'c.] Compare the Morgante, c. xxvii. st. 218, 219.
 
 CANTO THE FIFTH. 135 
 
 Aquisgranc is the old romantic name for the imperial 
 city of Aix la Chapelle, whither tradition relates that 
 Orlando's body was taken to be interred after the fatal 
 conflict of Roncesvalles. 
 
 If any of my readers wish to learn the end of RI- 
 naldo's history, let him know that, after taking the 
 ample vengeance already noticed for the slaughter of 
 the Paladins, that hero espoused Luciana, the daugh-- 
 ter of Marsilius, and ascended the throne of Saragossa ; 
 but that, unused to a life of inactivity, he quitted at an 
 advanced age his courtly residence, and set out in quest 
 of new adventures. He was never afterwards heard 
 of ; but there is reason to believe that he sailed west- 
 ward in search of the new hemisphere which had for- 
 merly been described to him by Astaroth. See the 
 Morgante, c. xxviii. 
 
 The character of Orlando, or Roland, given by 
 Turpin, deserves to be cited in this place, not only by 
 way of parallel to Pulci, but as a faithful mirror of true 
 chivalry. 
 
 " II convient done selon droict et raison de plorer 
 maintenant la noble mort du preux Roland duquel lame 
 tient et possede le royaulme du souverain createur. 
 Roland estoit yssu dancienne noblesse comme trouvons 
 par le tiltre de ses parens, et combien quil fust noble 
 quant a la vertu des siens parens encore estoit il plus 
 ennobly par ses gestes et faictz par lesquelz il demeure 
 maintenant sur les estoilles. Austre nestoit pluz
 
 136 NOTES TO CANTO THE FIFTH. 
 
 noble que luy par generosite temporelle valeur et ex- 
 cellence. II estoit toujours le premier par la haultessc 
 de see bonnes moeurs et conditions et frcquentoit les 
 sainctz temples divins, car il estoit bon et vray chres- 
 tien. II recreoit souvent par ses chantz et modulations 
 cytoyens et bourgeois, et estoit la vraye medicine pour 
 guerir les playes de son pays en le gardant des enneniys. 
 Cestoit lesperance du clergie, tuteur et sautVegarde des 
 veufves, et le pain et nourissenient des pauvres souft're- 
 teux. Large estoit en donnant ses ausniones abondant 
 et prodigue a ses hostelliers. Tant donna j)our lamour 
 de Dieu aux temples venerables esglises et sainctz lieux 
 que les richesses par luy donnees le prccederent en pa- 
 radis pour luy aprester lieu en place ; II retenoit tous 
 bons enseignemens dedans son cueur et estoit plain des 
 bonnes doctrines comme larche de livres et volumes : 
 tellement que chascun pouvoit par luy apprendre tout 
 bien et honneur. Saige estoit a donner bon conseil pl- 
 teux de couraige et cler et serain en son parler. II es- 
 toit a touz peuples doulx et anioureux en louanges, du- 
 ^el tout honneur militoit; lequel mourut pour la 
 saincte foy catholique quoy il est niaintenant au ciel 
 quant a 1 esprit et gist le corps en terre quant a sa se- 
 pulture." Ub. sup. feuill. xxxix. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 PriiacU b) IUcharu aud Aktulu 'i ayloh, Sboe-lMtie, Londua.
 
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