The Talba

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Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1845

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Page 245 - He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha! And he smelleth the battle afar off, The thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
Page 45 - Tis now the very witching time of night When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world. Now could I drink hot blood, And do such bitter business as the day Would quake to look on.
Page 142 - He has tossed one of them on his horns," said Cassim. " See, he tramples on another ; a third is mangled ; a fourth stunned : now the bull drives at the young sharif : Allah be thy shield, noble Hamet!" The bull, that had been thus irritated by having the dogs turned out upon him — a usual practice whenever the animal shewed any delay in the attack- — -now sufficiently convinced all the spectators that such delay was not from want of spirit. With an aspect full of savage fury, he lashed his sides...
Page 316 - It was, then, to replace Hamet on the throne of thy Moslem master, now dead, that you entered on this wild war?" said the king. " It was," replied the Talba; " and to avenge his father's death. Think, Alonso, of that devoted prince. Thou art a king, noble in war, and of an ancient race ; but thy honours, thy descent, compared to the great Alcanzor, were but as a thing of yesterday. A hundred Moorish kings had worn the diadem thou didst tear from his manly brow. I was of his kindred; I fought by his...
Page 16 - This is some fellow, Who, having been praised for bluntness, doth affect A saucy roughness ; and constrains the garb Quite from his nature : ,he cannot flatter, he ! — An honest mind and plain, — he must speak truth ! An they will take it, so ; if not, he's plain.
Page 320 - ... native beauty of his virtues. Alonso's frequent rebellions against his late father, his murder of the venerable bishop, who reproved him for those rebellions, his persecution of his brother, Don Sanchez (whom, as we have seen, he afterwards so generously received into favour), are all acts that shew the unbridled license of his evil passions when they once gained the mastery, and must ever remain fearful blots in the character of a king, who in many other respects was deserving the affections...
Page 311 - ... been leading successfully an uprising against the monarch. THE MEETING OF ALONSO, THE BRAVE, AND THE TALBA CHAPTER VII He speaks with such a proud commanding spirit. — SHAKESPEARE. With a steady step did the stranger enter the chamber in presence of the king ; and, though he bent his head in token of salutation, he neither discovered his person, nor spoke, nor even moved from the spot where he had fixed himself till the chamberlain, who had been his conductor, was retired. Alonso arose as he...
Page 314 - Alonso, who though sensible to pity and every gentler feeling of a Christian, still possessed that attribute of a warrior king, a high estimation of the great and the heroic even in an enemy when no sudden burst of passion obscured his judgment or prejudiced his feelings, was struck with that admiration which becomes involuntary praise, when he said in a voice full of energy, " Can such generosity of spirit live in the bosom of a Moor ? Talba, thou art the most deadly foe I have encountered in war,...
Page 253 - How strange is your request ! Per. No, madam, no : Though love has hurt my mind, I still can judge What springs controul the passions of the great. Ambition is first minister of state ; Love's but a second in the cabinet : Nor can he feather there his unfledg'd shaft But from ambition's wing : but you conceive More sanguine hopes, from him whom Rome supports Than me. You view Demetrius on my throne; And thence he shines indeed ! his charms from thence Transpierce your soul, enamour'd of dominion.
Page 203 - for, Moor though he be, he fights in a Christian cause. I will pray for him, Cassim ; I will so deal with the holy St. Francis, that he shall not have peace in heaven itself until he helps us. Hamet is sure of my orisons." "Nay," said Cassim, with a grin that shewed his ivory teeth in rivalry to the white around his full black eyes; " nay, good father, thou wilt confer on him another sort of benefit, I trust, before he adventures forth." "What mean you?" said the Prior. " Thou wilt not ask me to...

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