ll address to his
fellow-citizens.]

[Footnote 12: See Paradise Lost. X.]

[Footnote 13: Cortes, Pizarro.--'Almost all,' says Las Casas, 'have
perished. The innocent blood, which they had shed, cried aloud for
vengeance; the sighs, the tears of so many victims went up before
God.']

[Footnote 14: L'Espagne a fait comme ce roi insense qui demanda que
tout ce qu'il toucheroit se convertit en or, et qui fut oblige de
revenir aux dieux pour les prier de finir sa misere. Montesquieu.]

On the two last leaves, and written in another hand, are some stanzas
in the romance or ballad measure of the Spaniards. The subject is an
adventure soon related.

Thy lonely watch-tower, Larenille,
Had lost the western sun;
And loud and long from hill to hill
Echoed the evening-gun,
When Hernan, rising on his oar,
Shot like an arrow from the shore.
--"Those lights are on St. Mary's Isle;
They glimmer from the sacred pile." [Footnote 1]
The waves were rough; the hour was late.
But soon across the Tinto borne,
Thrice he blew the signal-horn,
He blew and would not wait.
Home by his dangerous path he went;
Leaving, in rich habiliment,
Two Strangers at the Convent-gate.

They ascended by steps hewn out in the rock; and, having asked for
admittance, were lodged there,

Brothers in arms the Guests appear'd;
The Youngest with a Princely grace!
Short and sable was his beard,
Thoughtful and wan his face.
His velvet cap a medal bore,
And ermine fring'd his broider'd vest;
And, ever sparkling on his breast,
An image of St. John he wore. [Footnote 2]

The Eldest had a rougher aspect, and there was craft in his eye. He
stood a little behind in a long black mantle, his hand resting upon
the hilt of his sword; and his white hat and white shoes glittered in
the moon-shine. [Footnote 3]

"Not here unwelcome, tho' unknown.
Enter and rest!" the Friar said.
The moon, that thro' the portal shone,
Shone on his reverend head.
Thro' many a court and gallery dim
Slowly he led, the burial-hymn
Swelling from the distant choir.
But now the holy men retire;
The arched cloisters issuing thro'
In long long order, two and two.
* * * * *
When other sounds had died away,
And the waves were heard alone,
They enter'd, tho' unus'd to pray,
Where God was worshipp'd, night and day,
And the dead knelt round in stone;
They enter'd, and from aisle to aisle
Wander'd with folded arms awhile,
Where on his altar-tomb reclin'd [f]