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

;THE VISION OF DON RODERICK. 3G('And welcome then," he cried, "be blood for blood,
For treason treachery, for dishonour doom!
Yet will I know whence come they, or by whom.
Show, for thou canst-give forth the fated key,
And guide me, Priest, to that mysterious room,
Where, if aught true in old tradition be,
His nation's future fates a Spanish King shall see."XL
"Ill-fated prince! recall the desperate word,
Or pause ere yet the omen thou obey!
Bethink, you spell-bound portal would, afford
Never to former Monarch entrance-way;
Nor shall it ever ope, old records say,
Save to a King, the last of all his line,
What time his empire totters to decay,
And treason digs, beneath, her fatal mine,
And, high above, impends avenging wrath divine."-.
XIL
" Prelate! a Monarch's fIte brooks no delay!
Lead on!" — The ponderous key the old man took,
And held the winking lamp, and led the way
By winding stair, dark aisle, and secret nook,
Then on an ancient gateway bent his look;
And, as the key the desperate King essay'd,
Low mutter'd thunders the Cathedral shook,
And twice he stopp'd, and twice new effort made,
Till the huge bolts roll'd back, and the loud hinges bray'd.
XIIL
Long, large, and lofty, was that vaulted hall;
Roof, walls, and floor, were all of marble stone,
Of polish'd marble, black as funeral pall,
Carved o'er with signs and characters unknown.
A paly light, as of The dawning, shone
Through the sad bounds, but whence they could not spy;,.
For window to the upper air was none;
Yet, by that light, Don Roderick could descry
Wonders that ne'er till then were seen by mortal eye.
XIV.
Grim sentinels, against the upper wall,
Of molten bronze, two Statues held their place;
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