The evening darken’d, but the avenging sword Turn’d not away its edge till night had closed Upon the field of blood. The Chieftains then Blew the recall, and from their perfect work Return’d rejoicing, all but he for whom All look’d with most expectance. He full sure Had thought upon that field to find his end Desired, and with Florinda in the grave Rest, in indissoluble union join’d. But still where through the press of war he went Half-arm’d, and like a lover seeking death, The arrows past him by to right and left, The spear-point pierced him not, the scymitar Glanced from his helmet; he, when he beheld The rout complete, saw that the shield of Heaven Had been extended over him once more, And bowed before its will. Upon the banks Of Sella was Orelio found, his legs And flanks incarnadined, his poitral smeared With froth and foam and gore, his silver mane Sprinkled with blood, which hung on every hair, Aspersed like dew-drops; trembling there he stood From the toil of battle, and at times sent forth His tremulous voice far echoing loud and shrill, A frequent anxious cry, with which he seem’d To call the master whom he loved so well, And who had thus again forsaken him. Siverian’s helm and cuirass on the grass Lay near; and Julian’s sword, its hilt and chain Clotted with blood; but where was he whose hand Had wielded it so well that glorious day?... Days, months, and years, and generations pass’d, And centuries held their course, before, far off Within a hermitage near Viseu’s walls A humble tomb was found, which bore inscribed In ancient characters King Roderick’s name. NOTES. _Count Julian called the invaders._—I. p. 1. The story of Count Julian and his daughter has been treated as a fable by some authors, because it is not mentioned by the three writers who lived nearest the time. But those writers state the mere fact of the conquest of Spain as briefly as possible, without entering into particulars of any kind; and the best Spanish historians and antiquaries are persuaded that there is no cause for disbelieving the uniform and concurrent tradition of both Moors and Christians. For the purposes of poetry, it is immaterial whether the story be true or false. I have represented the Count as a man both sinned against and sinning, and equally to be commiserated and condemned. The author of the Tragedy of Count Julian has contemplated his character in a grander point of view, and represented him as a man self-justified in bringing an army of foreign auxiliaries to assist him in delivering his country from a tyrant, and foreseeing, when it is too late to recede, the evils which he is thus bringing upon her.