Thou judgest well, the old man replied. I too Seek the Cantabrian Prince, the hope of Spain, With other tidings charged, for other end Design’d, yet such as well may work with thine. My noble Mistress sends me to avert The shame that threats his house. The renegade Numacian, he who for the infidels Oppresses Gegio, insolently woos His sister. Moulded in a wicked womb, The unworthy Guisla hath inherited Her Mother’s leprous taint; and willingly She to the circumcised and upstart slave, Disdaining all admonishment, gives ear. The Lady Gaudiosa sees in this, With the quick foresight of maternal care, The impending danger to her husband’s house, Knowing his generous spirit ne’er will brook The base alliance. Guisla lewdly sets His will at nought; but that vile renegade, From hatred, and from avarice, and from fear, Will seek the extinction of Pelayo’s line. This too my venerable Mistress sees; Wherefore these valiant and high-minded dames Send me to Cordoba; that if the Prince Cannot by timely interdiction stop The irrevocable act of infamy, He may at least to his own safety look, Being timely warn’d. Thy Mistress sojourns then With Gaudiosa, in Pelayo’s hall? Said Roderick. ’Tis her natural home, rejoin’d Siverian: Chindasuintho’s royal race Have ever shared one lot of weal or woe: And she who hath beheld her own fair shoot, The goodly summit of that ancient tree, Struck by Heaven’s bolt, seeks shelter now beneath The only branch of its majestic stem That still survives the storm. Thus they pursued Their journey, each from other gathering store For thought, with many a silent interval Of mournful meditation, till they saw The temples and the towers of Cordoba Shining majestic in the light of eve. Before them Betis roll’d his glittering stream, In many a silvery winding traced afar Amid the ample plain. Behind the walls And stately piles which crown’d its margin, rich With olives, and with sunny slope of vines, And many a lovely hamlet interspersed, Whose citron bowers were once the abode of peace, Height above height, receding hills were seen Imbued with evening hues; and over all The summits of the dark sierra rose, Lifting their heads amid the silent sky. The traveller who with a heart at ease Had seen the goodly vision, would have loved To linger, seeking with insatiate sight To treasure up its image, deep impress’d, A joy for years to come. O Cordoba, Exclaim’d the old man, how princely are thy towers, How fair thy vales, thy hills how beautiful! The sun who sheds on thee his parting smiles Sees not in all his wide career a scene Lovelier, nor more exuberantly blest By bounteous earth and heaven. The very gales Of Eden waft not from the immortal bowers Odours to sense more exquisite, than these Which, breathing from thy groves and gardens, now