XXIII.

FEELINGS OF A NOBLE BISCAYAN AT ONE OF THESE FUNERALS.

1810.

YET, yet Biscayans, we must meet our Foes

With firmer soul,

— yet labour to regain

Our ancient freedom; else 'twere worse than vain
To gather round the Bier these festal shows!
A garland fashioned of the pure white rose
Becomes not one whose Father is a Slave:
Oh! bear the Infant covered to his Grave!
These venerable mountains now enclose
A People sunk in apathy and fear.
If this endure, farewell, for us, all good!
The awful light of heavenly Innocence
Will fail to illuminate the Infant's bier;
And guilt and shame, from which is no defence,
Descend on all that issues from our blood.

XXIV.

THE OAK OF GUERNICA.

The ancient oak of Guernica, says Laborde in his account of Biscay, is a most venerable natural monument. Ferdinand and Isabella, in the year 1476, after hearing mass in the Church of Santa Maria de la Antigua, repaired to this tree, under which they swore to the Biscayans to maintain their fueros (privileges). What other interest belongs to it in the minds of this People will appear from the following

SUPPOSED ADDRESS OF THE SAME. 1810.

OAK of Guernica! Tree of holier power
Than that which in Dodona did enshrine
(So faith too fondly deemed) a voice divine
Heard from the depths of its aërial bower,
How canst thou flourish at this blighting hour?
What hope, what joy can sunshine bring to thee,
Or the soft breezes from the Atlantic sea,

The dews of morn, or April's tender shower?

Stroke merciful and welcome would that be Which should extend thy branches on the ground, If never more within their shady round Those lofty-minded Lawgivers shall meet, Peasant and Lord, in their appointed seat, Guardians of Biscay's ancient liberty.

XXV.

INDIGNATION OF A HIGH-MINDED SPANIARD. 1810.

WE can endure that He should waste our lands,

Despoil our temples,

and by sword and flame

Return us to the dust from which we came;

Such food a Tyrant's appetite demands:

And we can brook the thought that by his hands
Spain may be overpowered, and he possess,
For his delight, a solemn wilderness,

Where all the Brave lie dead. But when of bands,
Which he will break for us, he dares to speak, -

Of benefits, and of a future day

When our enlightened minds shall bless his sway,
Then, the strained heart of fortitude proves weak:
Our
groans, our blushes, our pale cheeks declare
That he has power to inflict what we lack strength

to bear.

XXVI.

AVAUNT all specious pliancy of mind
In men of low degree, all smooth pretence!
I better like a blunt indifference

And self-respecting slowness, disinclined

To win me at first sight:- and be there joined Patience and temperance with this high reserve, Honour that knows the path and will not swerve ; Affections, which, if put to proof, are kind;

And piety tow'rds God.- Such Men of old

Were England's native growth; and, throughout

Spain,

Forests of such do at this day remain ;

Then for that Country let our hopes be bold;
For matched with these shall policy prove vain,
Her arts, her strength, her iron, and her gold.

XXVII.

1810.

O'ERWEENING Statesmen have full long relied
On fleets and armies, and external wealth:
But from within proceeds a Nation's health;

Which shall not fail, though poor men cleave with

pride

To the paternal floor; or turn aside,

In the thronged City, from the walks of gain,
As being all unworthy to detain

A Soul by contemplation sanctified.

There are who cannot languish in this strife,
Spaniards of every rank, by whom the good
Of such high course was felt and understood;
Who to their Country's cause have bound a life,
Ere while by solemn consecration given

To labour, and to prayer, to nature, and to heaven.*

* See Laborde's Character of the Spanish People; from him the sentiment of these two last lines is taken.