Ah, how forget when to my ravish'd sight (That in the aisles at midnight haunt me still, Turning my lonely thoughts from good to ill) "Twas the mid hour, when He, whose accents dread," Were there no graves-none in our land," they cry, Still wander'd through the regions of the dead, To elude the seraph-guard that watch'd for man, Mountains and seas fled backward as he pass'd That hourly come with blessings from the skies; CANTO VII. A mutiny excited. WHAT though Despondence reign'd, and wild Affright "That thou hast brought us on the deep to die?" Silent with sorrow, long within his cloak His face he muffled-then the Hero spoke. The scorn of Folly, and of Fraud the prey; (44) At length among us came an unknown Voice! Go, if ye will; and, if ye can, rejoice. Go, with unbidden guests the banquet share; In his own shape shall Death receive you there."(46) CANTO VIII. Land discovered. TWICE in the zenith blazed the orb of light; Stretch'd in the midst, and, through that dismal No shade, all sun, insufferably bright! night, (37) By his white plume reveal'd and buskins white, (38) O'er him a Vampire his dark wings display'd. (39) 1 Tierra del Fuego. Then the long line found rest-in coral groves "Oh whence, as wafted from Elysium, whence The sails were furl'd: with many a melting close, Solemn and slow the evening-anthem rose, Rose to the Virgin. (47) "T was the hour of day, When setting suns o'er summer-seas display A path of glory, opening in the west To golden climes, and islands of the blest; And human voices, on the silent air, Went o'er the waves in songs of gladness there! Chosen of Men! (48) 't was thine, at noon of night, First from the prow to hail the glimmering light; (49) 1 Ex ligno lucido confectum, et arte mirâ laboratum. P. Martyr, dec. i, 5. 2 The Simoom. (Emblem of Truth divine, whose secret ray Enters the soul, and makes the darkness day!) "Pedro! Rodrigo! (50) there, methought it shone! There in the west! and now, alas, 'tis gone!"T was all a dream! we gaze and gaze in vain! -But mark, and speak not, there it comes again! It moves!-what form unseen, what being there With torch-like lustre fires the murky air? His instincts, passions, say how like our own! Oh! when will day reveal a world unknown?" CANTO IX. The New World. LONG on the wave the morning mists reposed, Then broke-and, melting into light, disclosed Half-circling hills, whose everlasting woods Sweep with their sable skirts the shadowy floods: And say, when all, to holy transport given, Embraced and wept as at the gates of Heaven, When one and all of us, repentant, ran, And, on our faces, bless'd the wondrous Man; Say, was I then deceived, or from the skies Burst on my ear seraphic harmonies? "Glory to God!" unnumber'd voices sung, "Glory to God!" the vales and mountains rung, Voices that hail'd' Creation's primal morn, And to the Shepherds sung a Savior born. Slowly, bare-headed, through the surf we bore The sacred cross, (51) and, kneeling, kiss'd the shore. But what a scene was there! (52) Nymphs of romance, (53) Youths graceful as the Faun, with eager glance, At length the spell dissolves! The warrior's lance That now with terror starts, with triumph glows! CANTO X. Cora-luxuriant Vegetation-the Humming-bird--the Fountain of Youth. THEN Cora came, the youngest of her race, And in her hands she hid her lovely face; Yet oft by stealth a timid glance she cast, And now with playful step the Mirror pass'd, Each bright reflection brighter than the last! And oft behind it flew, and oft before; The more she search'd, pleased and perplex'd the more! And look'd and laugh'd, and blush'd with quick surprise ; Her lips all mirth, all ecstasy her eyes! But soon the telescope attracts her view; Nor can thy flute, Alonso, now excite, Soon from the bay the mingling crowd ascends, Kindred first met! by sacred instinct Friends! Through citron-groves, and fields of yellow maize, (57) Here blue savannas fade into the sky, Through plantain-walks where not a sun-beam plays. There forests frown in midnight majesty; Ceiba, (58) and Indian fig, and plane sublime, Nature's first-born, and reverenced by Time! There sits the bird that speaks! (59) there, quivering CANTO XI. Evening a banquet-the ghost of Cazziva. There odorous lamps adorn'd the festal rite, There met, as erst, within the wonted grove, broke! And whence that voice? As from the grave it spoke! Hark, o'er the busy mead the shell' proclaims Twice the moon fill'd her silver urn with light, Then from the Throne an Angel wing'd his flight He, who unfix'd the compass, and assign'd O'er the wild waves a pathway to the wind; Who, while approach'd by none but Spirits pure, Wrought, in his progress through the dread obscure, Signs like the ethereal bow-that shall endure! (73) As he descended through the upper air, Day broke on day as God himself were there! Before the great Discoverer, laid to rest, He stood, and thus his secret soul address'd: (74) "The wind recalls thee; its still voice obey, Millions await thy coming; hence, away! To thee blest tidings of great joy consign'd, Another Nature, and a new Mankind! The vain to dream, the wise to doubt shall cease; Young men be glad, and old depart in peace!1 Hence! though assembling in the fields of air, Now, in a night of clouds, thy Foes prepare To rock the globe with elemental wars, And dash the floods of ocean to the stars; (75) To bid the meek repine, the valiant weep, And Thee restore thy Secret to the Deep! (76) Not then to leave Thee! to their vengeance cast, Thy heart their aliment, their dire repast!? 1 P. Martyr, Epist. 133, 152. 2 See the Eumenides of Eschylus, v. 305, etc. 3 Clavigero, VII. 52. 4 See the Eumenides, v. 216. 41 These gardens of the sun, sacred to song, Here, in His train, shall arts and arms attend, (83) "Hence, and rejoice. The glorious work is done. The spoiler spoil'd of all; (86) the slayer slain; (87) On the two last leaves, and written in another hand, are some stanzas in the romance or ballad measure of the Spaniards. The subject is an adventure soon related. Thy lonely watch-tower, Larenille, Had lost the western sun; And loud and long from hill to hill 3 When Hernan, rising on his oar, Two Strangers at the Convent-gate. And ermine fringed his broider'd vest; The eldest had a rougher aspect, and there was craft in his eye. He stood a little behind in a long black mantle, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword; and his white hat and white shoes glittered in the moonshine." 1 See Washington's farewell-address to his fellow-citizens. 2 See Paradise Lost, X. 3 The Convent of Rabida. 4 See Bernal Diaz, c. 203; and also a well-known portrait of Cortes, ascribed to Titian. Cortes was now in the 43d, Pizarro in the 60th year of his age 5 Augustin, Zarate, lib. iv, c. 9. When other sounds had died away, The supper in the chamber done, Of seven kings in chains of gold, The Eldest swore by our Lady, the Youngest by his conscience;" while the Franciscan, sitting by in his grey habit, turned away and crossed himself again and again. "Here is a little book," said he at last, "the work of him in his shroud below. It tells of things you have mentioned; and, were Cortes and Pizarro here, it might perhaps make them reflect for a moment." The youngest smiled as he took it into his hand. He read it aloud to his companion with an unfaltering voice; but, when he laid it down, a silence ensued; nor was he seen to smile again that night. "The curse is heavy," said he at parting, but Cortes may live to disappoint it."-" Ay, and Pizarro too!" *** A circumstance, recorded by Herrera, renders this visit not improbable. "In May 1528, Cortes arrived unexpectedly at Palos; and, soon after he had landed, he and Pizarro met and rejoiced; and it was remarkable that they should meet, as they were two of the most renowned men in the world." B. Díaz makes no mention of the interview; but, relating an occurrence that took place at this time in Palos, says, "that Cortes was now absent at Nuestra Senora de la Rábida." The Convent is within half a league of the town. 1 Late Superior of the House. 2 In the chancel of the cathedral of St. Domingo. 3 The words of the epitaph. "A Castilia y a Leon nuevo Mundo dio Colon." 4 Mexico. 5 Afterwards the arms of Cortes and his descendants. 6 Fernandez, lib. ii, c. 63. 7 B. Diaz, c. 203. 8 "After the death of Guatimotzin," says B. Diaz, "he became gloomy and restless; rising continually from his bed, and wandering about in the dark."-"Nothing prospered with him, and it was ascribed to the curses he was loaded with." Note 9, page 28, col. 2. Atlantic kings their barbarous pomp display'd. See Plato's Timeus; where mention is made of mighty kingdoms, which, in a day and a night, had disappeared in the Atlantic, rendering its waters un Si quæras Helicen et Burin, Achaïdas urbes, In the original, El Almirante. "In Spanish Amer-navigable. ica." says M. de Humboldt, "when El Almirante is pronounced without the addition of a name, that of Columbus is understood; as, from the lips of a Mexi- At the destruction of Callao, in 1747, no more than can, El Marchese signifies Cortes ;" and as among the one of all the inhabitants escaped; and he by a provFlorentines, Il Segretario has always signified Mach-idence the most extraordinary. This man was on the iavel. Note 3, page 28, col. 2. "Thee hath it pleased-Thy will be done!" he said. "It has pleased our Lord to grant me faith and assurance for this enterprise-He has opened my understanding, and made me most willing to go." See his Life by his son, Ferd. Columbus, entitled, Hist. del Almirante Don Christoval Colon, c. 4 and 37. Note 4, page 28, col. 2. Whose voice is truth, whose wisdom is from heaven. The compass might well be an object of superstition. A belief is said to prevail even at this day, that it will refuse to traverse when there is a dead body on board.-Hist. des Navig. aux Terres Australes. Note 5, page 28, col. 2. Columbus erred not. When these regions were to be illuminated, says Acosta, cùm divino concilio decretum esset, prospectum etiam divinitus est, ut tam longi itineris dux certus hominibus præberetur.-De Natura Novi Orbis. A romantic circumstance is related of some early navigator in the Histoire Gen. des Voyages, I. i. 2. "On trouva dans l'ile de Cuervo une statue équestre, couverte d'un manteau, mais la tête nue, qui tenoit de la main gauche la bride du cheval, et qui montroit l'occident de la main droite. Il y avoit sur le bas d'un roc quelques lettres gravées, qui ne furent point entendues; mais il parut clairement que le signe de la main regardoit l'Amérique." Note 6, page 28, col. 2. He spoke, and, at his call, a mighty Wind. The more Christian opinion is that God, at the length, with eyes of compassion as it were, looking downe from heaven, intended even then to rayse those windes of mercy, whereby this newe worlde receyved the hope of salvation.-Certaine Preambles to the Decades of the Ocean. Note 7, page 28, col. 2. Folded their arms and sat. To retum was deemed impossible, as it blew al fort that overlooked the harbor, going to strike the flag, when he perceived the sea to retire to a considerable distance; and then, swelling mountain-high, it their houses in terror and confusion; he heard a cry returned with great violence. The people ran from of Miserere rise from all parts of the city; and immediately all was silent; the sea had entirely over whelmed it, and buried it for ever in its bosom: but the same wave that destroyed it, drove a little boat by the place where he stood, into which he threw himself and was saved. And, rising, shoot in columns to the skies. Note 15, page 29, col. 1. Many of the first dis |