Was it for this through seven long years of war We bore the miserable wants of woes Pour’d on our naked heads by barb’rous foes, While thou a patient captive—absent far, Nor heard’st our cries, nor saw’st the bloody star That o’er our helpless, hapless country rose? Did we not break the intolerable bar Forged by the master-tyrant? Interpose To rescue—not our country—but mankind? Did we not break thy prison-doors, unbind Thy fetters, and with shouts of joy that rent The very arches of the firmament Receive thee?—And is this our destiny? Insults and slavery, and a wretch like thee! * * * * * * * * * * G. SMALLFIELD, Printer, Hackney. FOOTNOTES. {3a} Antillon—I cannot mention this illustrious name without a tribute of admiration and gratitude. A life devoted to virtue and literature, an unwearied struggle in the cause of civil and religious liberty, rewarded by the fatal blow of a hired assassin, leaves behind it an impress on the hearts of the generous and the good which will not and cannot be erased. {3b} It cannot be denied that the seclusion of the convent is so friendly to contemplation and research, that, literature has been, and still is, greatly indebted to it. A glance at the columns of Nich. Antonio’s Biographical Dictionary will give striking proof of this. {3c} There are many convents in which no book could be found but the service of mass or the rules of the order. In others, there are excellent libraries, of whose value friars have no idea whatever. In the convent of San Miguel de los Reyes, near Valencia, I examined some of the most interesting MSS. in existence, which are in charge of a brotherhood of unlearned Geronomites. The librarian refused to shew me a celebrated MS. of the Roman de la Rose, “because” (he said) “it was the work of a heretic;” though he added, he had written some verses in it to frighten any inquirer who might accidentally open it. He had been recommending _the burning_ a noble illuminated MS. of the “Divina Commedia,” apparently contemporary with Dante, as “the wretch had dared to send even Popes to hell.” Ancient copies of Virgil, Livy and others, are in some danger, should our zealous friar stumble on their history, and learn that they never went to mass. {3d} Montalvan. Es Purgatorio— Toda dicha, comparada Con la de un frayle, cifrada Desde el coro al refectorio. The whole description is admirable, and I am tempted to introduce it here.