XIX.

Were old Gualberto's reasons built on truth,
Dear George, or like Moscera's base unsound?
This sure I know, that glad am I in sooth

He only play'd his pranks on foreign ground;
For had he turn'd the stream on England too,
The Vandal monk had spoilt full many a goodly view.

XX.

Then Malmsbury's arch had never met my sight,
Nor Battles's vast and venerable pile;

I had not traversed then with such delight
The hallowed ruins of our Arthur's isle,
Where many a pilgrim's curse is well bestow'd
On those who rob its walls to mend the turnpike road.

XXI.

Wells would have fallen, dear George, thy country's pride;
And Canning's stately church been rear'd in vain.
Nor had the traveller Ely's tower descried,

Which when thou seest far o'er the fenny plain,
Dear George, I counsel thee to turn that way,
Its ancient beauties sure will well reward delay.

XXII.

And we should never then have heard I think,

At evening hour, great Tom's tremendous knell ; The fountain streams that now in Christ-Church stink, Had niagara'd o'er the quadrangle ;

But, as 'twas beauty that deserv'd the flood,

I ween, dear George, our own old college might have stood.

XXIII.

Then had not Westminster, the house of God,
Served for a concert-room, or signal post;

Old Thames, obedient to the father's nod,

Had swept down Greenwich, England's noblest boast; And eager to destroy the unholy walls,

Fleet-ditch bad roll'd up hill to overwhelm St. Pauls.

XXIV.

George, dost thou deem the legendary deeds
Of Romish saints a useless medley store
Of lies, that he flings time away who reads?

And wouldst thou rather bid me puzzle o'er
Matter and Mind, and all the eternal round,

Plunged headlong down the dark and fathomless profound?

XXV.

Now do I bless the man who undertook
These monks and martyrs to biographize,
And love to ponder o'er his ponderous book,
The mingled mass of nature and of lies,
Where Angels now, now Beelzebubs appear,
And blind and honest zeal, and holy faith sincere.

XXVI.

"Tis not all Euclid truth, and yet 'twere hard
The fabling monks for fabling to abuse;
What if a monk, from better theme debarred,
Some pious subject for a tale should chuse,

How some good man the flesh and fiend o'ercame,
His taste methinks, and not his conscience, were to blame.

XXVII.

In after years, what he, good man! had wrote,
As we write novels to instruct our youth,

Went travelling on, its origin forgot,

Till at the length it past for gospel truth.

A fair account! and shouldst thou like the plea, Thank thou thy valued friend, dear George, who taught it me.

XXVIII.

All is not false that seems at first a lie. One Antolinez* once, a Spanish knight, Knelt at the mass, when lo! the troops hard by Before the expected hour began the fight. Tho' courage, duty, honour summoned there, He chose to forfeit all, not leave the unfinish'd prayer.

* Acontecio en aquella+ batalla una cosa digna de memoria. Fernan Antolinez, hombre noble y muy devoto, oia missa al tiempo que se dio senal de acometer, costumbre ordinaria suya antes de la pelea; por no dexarla començada, se quedo en el templo quando se toco à la arma. Esta piedad quan agradable fuesse a Dios, se entendio por un milagro. Estavase primero en la Iglesia, despues escondido en su casa, temia no le afrentassen como a cobarde. En tanto, otro a el semejante, es a saber, su Angel bueno, pelea entre los primeros tan valientemente, que la vitoria de aquel dia se atribuyo en gran parte al valor de el dicho Antolinez. Confirmaron el milagro las senales de los golpes, y las manchas de la sangre que se hallaron frescas en sus armas y cavallo.

+Cerca de Santistevan de Gormaz, a la ribera del rio Duero. A. D 982.

XXIX.

But whilst devoutly thus the unarmed knight Waits till the holy service should be o'er, Even then the foremost in the furious fight Was he beheld to bathe his sword in gore, First in the van his plumes were seen to play, And Spain to him decreed the glory of the day.

XXX.

The truth is told, and all at once exclaim

His guardian angel Heaven had deign'd to send; And thus the tale is handed down to fame.

Now if this Antolinez had a friend

Who in the hour of danger serv'd him well, Dear George, the tale is true, and yet no miracle.

Assi publicado el caso, y sabido lo que passava, quedo mas conocida la inocencia y esfuerço de Antolinez.

Mariana.

Perhaps this miracle and its obvious interpretation, may have suggested to Florian the circumstance by which his Gonsalvo is prevented from combating and killing the brother of his mistress. Florian was fond of Spanish literature.