II.
And thou, oh Virgin! daughter, mother, bride,

Of the same Lord, who gave to you each key
Of heaven, and hell, and every thing beside,

The day thy Gabriel said, « All bail!» to thee,
Since to thy servants pily's ne'er denied,

With flowing rlıymes, a pleasant style and free,
De to my verses then benignly kind,
And to the end illuminale my mind.

III.
'T was in the season when sad Philomel

Weeps with her sister, who remembers and Deplores the ancient woes which both befel,

And makes the nymphs enamourd, to the hand Of Phaeton by Phoebus loved so well

His car (bul temper'd by his sire's command)
Was given, and on the horizon's verge just now
Appear'd, so that Tithonus scratch'd his brow;

IV.
When I prepared my bark first to obey,

As it should still obey, the helm, my mind,
And carry prose or rhyme, and this my lay

Of Charles the Emperor, whom you will find
By sever il pens already praised; but they

Who to diffuse his glory were inclined,
For all that I can see in prose or verse,
Have understood Charles badly—and wrote worse.

V.
Leonardo Aretino said already,

That if, like Pepin, Charles had had a writer Of genius quick, and diligently steady,

No hero would in history look brighter; Ile in the cabinet being always ready,

And in the field a most victorious tighter,
Who for the church and Christian faith had wrought,
Certes far more than yet is said or thought.

VI.
You still may see at Saint Liberatore,

The abbey no great way from Manopell,
Erected in the Abruzzi to his glory,

Because of the great balile in which fell A pagan king, according to tlic story,

And felon people whom Charles sent to hell:
And there are bones so many, and so many,
Near them Giusaffa's would seem few, if any.

VII.
Put the world, blind and ignorant, don't prize

His virtues as I wish to see them : thou,
Florence, by his great bounty don't arise,

And hast, and may have, if thou wilt allow, All proper customs and true courtesies :

Whate'er thou hast acquired from then till now,
With koighily courage, treasure, or the lance,
Is sprung from out thic noble blood of France.

VIII.
Twelve paladins had Charles, in court, of whom

The wisest and most famous was Orlando;
Him traitor Gan conducted to the tomb

In Roncesvalles, as the villain plann'd too, While the hora rang so loud, and knell'd the doom

Of their sad rout, though he did all knight can do, And Dante in his comedy has given To him a happy seat with Charies in heaven.

IX. "I was Christmas-day; in Paris all bis court

Charles held; the chief, I say, Orlando was, The Dane; Astolfo there foo did resort,

Also Ansuigi, the gay time to pass In festival and in triumphant sport,

The much renowo'd Saint Deunis being the cause ; Angiolin of Bayonne, and Oliver, And gentle Belinghieri too came there :

X. Avolio, and Arino, and Othone

Of Normandy, and Richard Paladin, Wise Damo, and the ancient Salemone,

Walter of Lion's Mount, and Baldovia,
Who was the son of the sad Ganellone,

Were there, exciting 100 much gladness in
The son of Pepin :-wlien his knights came hither,
He groan'd with joy to see them altogether.

XI.
But watchful fortune lurking, takes good heed

Ever some bar 'gainst our intents to bring.
While Charles reposed liim thus in word and deed,

Orlando ruled court, Charles, and every thing;
Curst Gan, with envy bursting, had such need

To vent liis spite, that thus with Charles the king, One day lie openly began to say, « Orlando must we always then obey ?

XII.
« A thousand times I've been about to say,

Orlando 100 presumptuously goes on;
Flere are we, counts, kings, siukes, to own thy stay,

Hamo, and Otho, Ogier, Solomon,
Each have to honour thee and to obey;

But he has too much credit near the throne, Which we won't suffer, but are quite decided By such a boy lo be no longer guided.

XUI. « And even at Aspramont thou didst begin

To let him know lie was a gallant knight, And by the fount did much the day to win;

But I kuow who that day had won the fight If it had not for good Gherardo been :

The victory was Almonte's else, his sight He kept upon the standard, and the laurels In fact and fairness are liis earning, Charles.

XIV. « If thou rememberest being in Gascony,

When there advanced the nations out of Spain, The Christian cause had suffer'd shamefully,

Had not his valour driven them back again.
Best speak the truth when there's a reason why :

Know then, oh emperor! that all complain :
As for myself, I shall repass the mounts
O'er which I cross'd withi iwo-and-sixty counts.

XV.
« "T is fit thy grandeur should dispense relief,

So that each here many have his proper part, For the whole court is more or less in grief :

Perhaps thou deem'st this lad a Mars in heart? Orlando one day beard this spech in brief,

As by bimself it chanced he sate apart: Displeased he was with Gan because he said it, But much more still that Charles should give him credit

SVT. And with the sword he would have murder'd Gan,

But Oliver thrust in between the pair, And from his hand extracted Durlindan,

And thus at length they separated were.
Orlando, angry too with Carloman,

Wanted but little to have slain him there;
Then forth alone from Paris went the chief,
And burst and madden'd with disdain and grief.

XVII.
From Ermellina, consort of the Dane,

He took Cortana, and then took Rondell,
And on towards Brara prick'd him o'er the plain;

And when she saw himn coming, Aldabelle
Stretch'd forth her arms to clasp her lord again :

Orlando, in whose brain all was not well,
As « Welcome my Orlando home,» she said,
Raised up his sword to smite her on the head.

XVIII.
Like him a fury counsels; his revenge

On Gan in that raslı act he seem d to take,
Which Aldabella thought extremely strange,

But soon Orlando found himself awake;
And his spouse took his bridle on this change,

And he dismounted from his horse, and spake
Of every thing which pass'd without demur,
And then reposed himself some days with her.

XIX.
Then full of wrath departed from the place,

And far as Pagan countries roam'd astray,
And while be rode, yet still at every pace

The traitor Gao remember'd by the way; And wandering on in error a long space,

An abbey which in a lone desert lay,
Midst glens obscure, and distant lands he found,
Which form d the Christian's and the Pagan's bound,

XX.
The abbot was call'd Clermont, and by blood

Descended from Angrante: under cover
Of a great mountain's brow the abbey stood,

But certain savage giants look d bim over!
One Passamont was foremost of the brood,

And Alabaster and Morgante hover
Second and third, with certain slings, and thirow
In daily jeopardy the place below.

XXI.
The monks could pass the convent gate no more,

Nor leave their cells for water or for wood.
Orlando knock'd, but none would ope, before

Unto the prior it at length scem'd good; Enterd, he said that he was taught to adore

Him who was born of Mary's holiest blood, And was baptized a Christian; and then show'd How to the abbey be had found his road.

XVII. Said the abbot, « You are welcome; what is mine We give you freely, since that you

believe With us in Mary Mother's son divine;

And that you may not, cavalier, conceive
The cause of our delay to let you in

To be rusticity, you shall receive
The reason why our gate was barrd to you ;
Thus those who in suspicion live must do.

XXIII. « When hitler to inhabit first we came

These mountaios, albeit that they are obscure, As you perceive, yet withour fear or blame

They seem'd to promise an asylum sure : From savage brutes alone, too fierce to tame,

'T was fit our quiet dwelling to secure; But now, if here we 'd stay, we needs must guard Against domestic beasts with watch and ward.

XXIV. « These make us stand, in fact, upon the watch,

For late there have appear'd three giants rough; What nation or what kingdom bore the batch

I know not, but they are all of savage stuff.
When force and malice with some genius match,

You know, they can do all --we are not enough:
And these so much our orisons derange,
I know not what to do till matters change.

SXV.
« Our ancient fathers living the desert in,

For just and holy works were duly fed;
Think not they lived on locusts sole, 'l is certain

That manna was rain'd down from heaven instead;
But here 't is fit we keep on the alert in
Our bounds, or taste the stones shower'd down for

bread, From off yon mountain daily raining faster, And nung by Passamont and Alabaster.

XXVI. « The third, Morgante, 's savagest by far; he Plucks

up pines, beeches, poplar-trees, and oaks, And things them, our community to bury,

And all that I can do but more provokes,»
While thus they parley in the cemetery,

A stone from one of their gigantic strokes,
Which nearly crushid Rondell, came tumbling over,
So that be took a long leap under cover.

XXVII.
« For God sake, cavalier, come in with speed,

The manoa's falling now,» the abbot cried : a This fellow does not wish my horse should feed,

Dear Abbot,» Roland unto him replied ; « Of restiveness he'd cure him had he need;

That stone seems with good-will and aim applied.»
The holy father said, «I don't deceive;
They 'll one day tling the mountain, I believe. »

XXVIU.
Orlando bade them take care of Rondello,

And also made a breakfast of his own :
«Abbot,” he said, « I want to find that fellow

Who flung at my good borse yon corner-stone.»
Said the abbot, « Let not my advice seem shallow,

As to a brother dear I speak alone;
I would dissuade you, baron, from this strife,
As knowing sure that you will lose

your

life.

XXIX. « That Passamont as in his hand three darts-

Such slings, clubs, ballast-stones, that yield you must; You know that giants have much stouter hearts

Than us, with reason, in proportion just; If go you will, guard well against their arts,

For these are very barbarous and robust.» Orlando answer d, « This I 'll sec, be sure, And walk the wild on foot to be secure.»

IX.

II.
And thou, oh Virgin! daughter, mother, bride,

Of the same Lord, who gave to you each key
Of heaven, and hell, and every thing beside,

The day thy Gabriel said, « All bail!» to thee,
Since to thy servants pily 's pe'er denied,

With flowing clıymes, a pleasant style and free,
Be to my verses then benignly kind,
And to the end illuminate my mind.

III.
'T was in the scason when sad Philomel

Weeps with her sister, who remembers and Deplores the ancient woes which both befel,

And makes the nymphs enamourd, to the hand Of Phaeton by Phæbus loved so well

His car (but temper'd by his sire's command)
Was given, and on the horizon's verge just now
Appear'd, so that Tithonus scratch'd his brow;

IV.
When I prepared my bark first to obey,

As it should still obey, the helm, my mind,
And carry prose or rhyme, and this my lay

Of Charles the Emperor, whom you will find
By sever il pens already praised; but they

Who to diffuse his glory were inclined,
For all that I can see in prose or verse,
Have understood Charles badly—and wrote worse.

v. Leonardo Aretino said already,

That if, like lepin, Charles had had a writer Of genius quick, and diligently steady,

No hero would in bistory look brighter; Ile in the cabinet being always ready,

And in the field a most victorious fighter,
Who for the church and Christian faith iad wrought,
Certes far more than yet is said or thought.

VI.
You still may see at Saint Liberatore,

The abbey no great way from Manopell,
Erected in the Abruzzi to his glory,

Because of the great batile in whicl: fell A pagan king, according to the story,

And felon people whom Charles sent to hell :
And there are bones so many, and so many,
Near them Giusaffa's would seem few, if any.

VII.
Put the world, blind and ignorant, don't prize

His virtucs as I wish to see them : thou,
Florence, by his great bounty don't arise,

And hast, and may have, if thou wilt allow, All proper customs and true courtesies :

Whate'er thou hast acquired from then till now,
With koighily courage, treasure, or the lance,
Is sprung from out thic noble blood of France.

VIII.
Twelve paladins had Charles, in court, of whom

The wisest and most famous was Orlando;
Him Traitor Gan conducted to the tomb

In Roncesvalles, as the villain plannid too, While the horu rang so loud, and knell'd the doom

Of their sad rout, though he did all knight can do, And Dante in his comedy has given To him a happy seat with Charies in heaven.

'T was Christmas-day; in Paris all bis court

Charles held; the chief, I say, Orlando was, The Dane; Astolfo there too did resort,

Also Ansuigi, the gay time to pass
In festival and in triumphant sport,

The much renowu'd Saint Deunis being the cause ;
Angiolin of Bayonne, and Oliver,
And gentle Belinghieri 100 came there :

X.
Avolio, and Arino, and Othone

Of Normandy, and Richard Paladin, Wise llamo, and the ancient Salemoue,

Walter of Lion's Mount, and Baldovin,
Who was the son of the sad Ganellone,

Were there, exciting too much gladness in
The son of Pepin :-when his knights came hither,
He groan'd with joy to see them altogether.

XI.
But watchful fortune lurking, takes good heed

Ever some bar 'gainst our intents to bring.
While Charles reposed bim thus in word and deed,

Orlando ruled court, Charles, and every thing;
Curst Gan, withi envy bursting, had such need

To vent his spite, that thus with Charles the king, One day he openly began to say, «Orlando must we always then obey?

XII.
«A thousand times I've been about to say,

Orlando too presumptuously goes on;
Here are we, counts, kings, ciukes, to own thy sway,

Hamo, and Otho, Ogier, Solomon,
Each have to honour thee and to obey;

But he has too much credit near the throne, Which we won't suffer, but are quite decided By such a boy to be no longer guided.

XIII. « And even at Aspramont thou didst begin

To let him know he was a galiant knight, And by the fount did much the dry to win;

But I kuow who that day had won the fight If it had not for good Gherardo been :

The victory was Almonte's else, his sight He kept upon the standard, and the laurels In fact and fairness are his earning, Charles.

XIV. « If thou rememberest being in Gascony,

When there advanced the nations out of Spain, The Christian cause had suffer'd shamefully,

Had not his valour driven them back agajo.
Best speak ihe truth when there's a reason why :

Know then, oh emperor! that all complain:
As for myself, I shall repass the mounts
O'er which I cross'd with two-and-sixty counts.

XV.
« T is fit thy grandeur should dispense relief,

So that each here many have luis proper part, For the whole court is more or less in grief :

Perhaps thou deem'st this lad a Mars in heart, Orlando one day heard this spech in brief,

As by bimself it chanced he sate apart: Displeased he was with Gan because he said it, But much more still that Charles should give him credu. XVI. And with the sword he would have murder'd Gan,

But Oliver thrust in between the pair, And from his hand extracted Durlindan,

And thus at length they separated were.
Orlando, angry too with Carloman,

Wanted but little to have slain him there;
Then forth alone from Paris went the chief,
And burst and maddend with disdain and grief.

XVII.
From Ermellina, consort of the Dane,

He took Cortana, and then took Rondell,
And on towards Brara prick'd him o'er the plain;

And when she saw himn coming, Aldabelle
Stretch'd forth her arms to clasp her lord again :

Orlando, in whose brain all was not well,
As a Welcome my Orlando home,” she said,
Raised
up his sword to smite her on the head.

XVIII.
Like him a fury counsels ; his revenge

On Gan in that rash act he seem d to take,
Which Aldabella thought extremely strange,

But soon Orlando found himself awake;
And his spouse took his bridle on this change,

And he dismounted from his borse, and spake
Of every thing which pass d without demur,
And then reposcd himself some days with her.

XIX.
Then full of wrath departed from the place,

And far as Pagan countries roam'd astray,
And while be rode, yet still at every pace

The traitor Gau remember'd by the way; And wandering on in error a long space,

An abbey which in a lone desert lay,
Midst glens obscure, and distant lands he found,
Which form'd the Christian's and the Pagan's bound.

XX.
The abbot was callà Clermont, and by blood

Descended from Angrante: under cover
Of a great mountain's brow the abbey stood,

But certain savage giants look d him over!
One Passamont was foremost of the brood,

And Alabaster and Morgante hover
Second and third, with certain slings, and throw
Ja daily jeopardy the place below.

XXI.
The monks could pass the convent gate no more,

Nor leave their cells for water or for wood.
Orlando knock'd, but none would ope, before

Unto the prior it at length scem'd good; Enterd, he said that he was taught to adore

Him who was born of Mary's holiest blood, And was baptized a Christian; and then show'd How to the abbey he had found his road.

XXII. Said the abbot, « You are welcome; what is mine

We give you frcely, since that you believe With us in Mary Mother's son divine;

And that you may not, cavalier, conceive
The cause of our delay to let you in

To be rusticity, you shall receive
The reason why our gate was barrd to you;
Thus those who in suspiciou live must do.

XXIII. « When hither to inhabit first we came

These mountains, albeit that they are obscure, As

you perceive, yet withour fear or blame They seemd 10 promise an asylum sure : From savage brutes alone, too fierce 10 tamc,

'T was fit our quiet dwelling to secure; But now, if liere we 'd stay, we needs must guard Against domestic beasts with watch and ward.

XXIV. « Thiese make us stand, in fact, upon the watch,

For late there have appeard three giants rough; What nation or what kingdom bore the batch

I know not, but they are all of savage stuff.
When force and malice with some genius match,

You know, they can do all ---we are not enough:
And these so much our orisons derange,
I know not what to do till matters change.

XXV.
« Our ancient fathers living the desert in,

For just and holy works were duly fed;
Think not they lived on locusts solc, 't is certain

That manna was rain'd down from heaven instead;
But bere 'l is fit we keep on the alert in
Our bounds, or taste the stones shower'd down for

bread, From off

yon mountain daily raining faster, And flung by Passamont and Alabaster.

XXVI. « The third, Morgante, 's savagest by far; he

Plucks up pines, beeches, poplar-trees, and oaks, And liings them, our community to bury,

And all that I can do but more provokes.»
While thus they parley in the cemetery,

A stone from one of their gigantic strokes,
Which nearly crushi'd Rondell, came tumbling over,
So that he took a long leap under cover.

XXVII.
« For God sake, cavalier, come in with speed,

The manua's falling now,» the abbot cried : « This fellow does not wish my horse should feed,

Dear Abbot,» Roland unto liim replied ; « Of restiveness he'd cure him had he need;

That stone seems with good-will and aim applied.»
The holy father said, “I don't deceive;
They 'll one day tling the mountain, I believe.»

XXVII.
Orlando bade them take care of Rondello,

And also made a breakfast of his own :
«Abbot,» he said, « I want to find that fellow

Who flung at my good borse yop corner-stone.»
Said the abbot, « Let not my advice seem shallow,

As to a brother dear I speak alone;
I would dissuade you, baron, from this strife,
As knowing sure that will lose life.

XXIX.
« That Passamont has in his hand three darts-

Such slings, clubs, ballast-stones, that yield you must; You know that giants have much slouter learts

Than us, with reason, in proportion just; If go you will, guard well against their arts,

For these are very barbarous and robust.» Orlando answer'd, « This I 'll see, be sure, And walk the wild on foot to be secure.»

you

your