The poetical works of Sir Walter Scott, with memoir of the author.

VISION OF DON RODERICK. 441
"The King having left the tower, ordered wise
men to explain what the inscription signified; and
having consulted upon and studied their meaning,
they declared that the statue of' bronze, with the motion
which it made with its battle-axe, signified Time;
and that its office, alluded to in the inscription on its
breast, was, that he never rests a single moment. The
words on the shoulders,'I call upon the Arabs,' they
expounded, that, in time, Spain would be conquered
by the Arabs. The words upon the left wall signified
the destruction of King Rodrigo; those on the right,
the dreadful calamities which were to fall upon the
Spaniards and Goths, and that the unfortunate King
would be dispossessed of all his states. Finally, the letters on the portal indicated, that good would betide to
the conquerors, and evil to the conquered, of which
experience proved the truth."-Historia Verdadeyra
del Pey Don Rodrigo. Quinta impression. Madrid,
1654, iv. p. 23.
NOTE B.
High, blazed the war, and long, andfar, and wide.-P. 403.
Those who were disposed to believe that mere virtue
and energy are able of themselves to work forth the
salvation of an oppressed people, surprised in a
moment of confidence, deprived of their officers,
armies, and fortresses, who had every means of resistance to seek in the very moment when they were to
be made use of, and whom the numerous treasons
among the higher orders deprived of confidence in