The poetical works of Sir Walter Scott ... Notes & life of the author.

a (Gl6 TUBT VISION OPF WON RODERICv
XIL
"There, of Numantian fire a swarthy spark
Still lightens in the sun-burnt native's eye;
The stately port, slow step, and visage dark,
Still mark enduring pride and constancy.
And, if the glow of feudal chivalry
Beam not, as once, thy nobles' dearest pride,
Iberia! oft thy crestless peasantry
Have seen the plumed Hidalgo quit their side;
Have seen, yet dauntless stood-'gainst fortune fuughti and
died.
"And eherish'd still by that unchanging race,
Are themes for minstrelsy more high than thineOf strange tradition many a mystic. trace,
Legend and vision, prophecy and sign;
Where wonders wild of Arabesque combine
With Gothic imagery of darker shade,
Forming a model meet for minstrel line.
Go, seek such theme!"-the M1ountain Spirit sai*:
With filial awe I heard-I heard, and I obey'd.
THE VISION.
Rearing their crests amid the, cloudless skies,
And darkly clustering in the pale moonlights
Toledo's holy towers and spires arise,
As from a trembling lake of silver white;
Their mingled shadows intercept the sight
Of the broad burial-ground outstretch'd below,
And nought disturbs the silence of the night;
All sleeps in sullen shade, or silver glow,
All save the heavy swell of Teio's ceaseless flow.
IL
AU save the rushing swell of Teio's tide,
Or, distant heard, a courser's neigh or trampr
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