Donna Florida. A Tale (review) [pp. 18-22]

Donna Florida.
' Ha! then, you love?' —The youith responded' yea,'
And a slight redness tinged his cheek the while,, I love, Don Ponce, but love without a penny
Is sure, in Sprain, the maddest love of any.'
"' These unto me deliver'd, and your youth
Renew'd, as you avow it then will be;
Your love the same as now, soul full of truth,
No loss of member or of strength to see;
My promise, which I make to you in sooth,
Shall be fulfill'd, bear witness, heaven, for me;
Provided, while you're seeking youth o'er sea, sir,
There comes no lovelier youth a-seeking me, sir."'
"' Unless it be the grey-beard love;' our knight
Thoughtfully murmured.' Strange!' he mused a space;
' This youth and I were both in better plight
Were we but fortuned in each other's case;
Had he my wealth, his barriers woul d be slight,
Mine were all tumbled an I wore his face;The devil take these women —how they worry us,
Tease, tear, vex, wear, and flurry, hurry, scurry us!"'
Don Ponce makes this proud lad his confidant and
unceasingly pours his laments into his ear. This
De Laye was Leonora's own'Alphonso: and when
no one was near he feasted his heart with her lovebreathing letter. De Laye, too, sings his parting
strain:
Leonora then sings him a Lay, very unequivocal
in its insinuations. "Fizz, fuzz, pop, bang, the
knight's rage was terrific." Still, he protests that
the waters when bottled lose much of their virtue,
and urges Leonora to go over as his bride and see
him quaff the rejuvenescent draught,-but she was
"Sorry she could not then afforod relief;
Must first behold the change on beard and hair;
And then, if no one better graced came seeking,
He might renew. on terms, his present speaking."
Leonora's treatment of Don Ponce is malicious and
heartless; but, allowing for the intentional exaggeration and burlesque of the author, true to Nature. What a dance, do young belles, even now,
often lead " old bachelor" lovers! The ordinary
associations connected with this subject constitute
one defect of the Poem; but there are many accessaries, skilfully used by the poet, which counteract
their influence.
No alternative is left the defeated Ponce, but to
seek that enchanted Fountain. With saddest heart,
tho' tearless eye, he bids adieu to Spain, and follows the sun as he goes " down behind the billow's
breast."
Like Harold, he pours forth his lament, which
suffers from the contrast, though there are some
good things in it. His indignation breaks out
against the relentless beloved, for
"Packing him forth o'er sea and wood and mountain
To bottle water for you from that fountain."
Hope of gain, love of adventure, flight from punishment and attachment to himself had collected
him a bold and motley crew. Among them was
a tall, brave looking lad, whose sparkling eye secured the Knight's attention."
"' Your name? Who are you?' —this to the unknown
Spake Ponce de Leon.-' We have met before!'
'Perchance,' replied the youth;' but I am one
You know rot-of my lineage proud, but poor;Of friends bereft, by cruel fate.undone,
I seek my fortune on the Indian shore;I feel that I have in me soul and strength,
And trust in God to make them known at length.'
"''Tis a brave spirit;-but, declare your name!'
' That I must make;-a pride that will not bear
The sting of sympathy, and feels its shame,
Forbids mne yield my father's to your ear:
Too proudly chronicled by deeds of fame,
Let it be silent till mine own appear;
When I have won my laurels I will speak,
What now would bring the blush upon my cheek I
"'Meanwhile, I am Don Ferdinand de Laye,
Provencal lineage;-this shall be my style;
Till, with occasion, I may pierce my way
To glory, that my deeds may win one smnile' —
"That sun which sinks with glorious train
'Beneath the dark blue sea,
Shall hail me when he soars again,
Far distant, love, from thee;
Yet when he rises in the-east,
I'll fancy that he l)ears
A tribute from thy heaving breast,
Affection's gift of tears."
* *. *
"Yet, though the soothing dream be vain,
Of jo ys a t fu ture meet ing;
O f early bliss renew dl again,
As dear and not so fleeting;
Yet shall the bird of better davs
From memory's lab'rinth wander,
To glad the pilgrim's devious ways,
With music sweeter, fonder."
"Yes, thoui wilt watch that sun's last tint,
As in the west declining,
Thou seest him leave his latest print
On rocks where I am pining;
And think and fancy brighter days,
When we may see it streaming
Its fires upon our mutual gaze,
In milder lustre gleaming."
"Farewell, the home that hope endears,
Where young contentment found me,
Ntursed in the arms of friendly years,
With spring-flowers bursting round me;
Farewell, dear maid,-yet, ah! the song
That wakes such fond emotion,
Is silenced in that thunder gong,
That shakes the realm of ocean."
After a long voyage they reach America, where
opens the fouirthl and best Canto, containing much
really heroic. The author now invokes the Muse and
takes occasion to pay a patriotic tribute to his country. The Poet should ever seek to celebrate and
exalt his land.
"She must have health and strength-a wing that soaring
Through cloud and storm may make the heavens her own;
An eye that far, thro' depth of sky e xploring,
May challenge the keen glances of the sun;
A wealth of thoughts and images outpouring,
Worthy the wondrous world, her wing hath won;
And, still subservient to her song, the splendor,
Of all that makes her realm, of rich, and wild, and tender!
20
[JANUARY,