Thy daughter that the Prophet’s holy law Forbids compulsion. Give thine errand now; The messenger is here. Then Julian said, Go to Pelayo, and from him entreat Admittance to my child, where’er she be. Say to her, that her father solemnly Annuls the covenant with Orpas pledged, Nor with solicitations, nor with threats, Will urge her more, nor from that liberty Of faith restrain her, which the Prophet’s law, Liberal as Heaven from whence it came, to all Indulges. Tell her that her father says His days are number’d, and beseeches her By that dear love, which from her infancy Still he hath borne her, growing as she grew. Nursed in our weal and strengthen’d in our woe, She will not in the evening of his life Leave him forsaken and alone. Enough Of sorrow, tell her, have her injuries Brought on her father’s head; let not her act Thus aggravate the burden. Tell her too, That when he pray’d her to return, he wept Profusely as a child; but bitterer tears Than ever fell from childhood’s eyes, were those Which traced his hardy cheeks. With faltering voice He spake, and after he had ceased from speech His lip was quivering still. The Moorish chief Then to the messenger his bidding gave. Say, cried he, to these rebel infidels, Thus Abulcacem in the Caliph’s name Exhorteth them: Repent and be forgiven! Nor think to stop the dreadful storm of war, Which conquering and to conquer must fulfil Its destined circle, rolling eastward now Back from the subjugated west, to sweep Thrones and dominions down, till in the bond Of unity all nations join, and Earth Acknowledge, as she sees one Sun in heaven, One God, one Chief, one Prophet, and one Law. Jerusalem, the holy City, bows To holier Mecca’s creed; the Crescent shines Triumphant o’er the eternal pyramids; On the cold altars of the worshippers Of Fire, moss grows, and reptiles leave their slime; The African idolatries are fallen, And Europe’s senseless gods of stone and wood Have had their day. Tell these misguided men, A moment for repentance yet is left, And mercy the submitted neck will spare Before the sword is drawn: but once unsheath’d, Let Auria witness how that dreadful sword Accomplisheth its work! They little know The Moors who hope in battle to withstand Their valour, or in flight escape their rage! Amid our deserts we hunt down the birds Of heaven, ... wings do not save them! Nor shall rocks, And holds, and fastnesses, avail to save These mountaineers. Is not the Earth the Lord’s? And we, his chosen people, whom he sends To conquer and possess it in his name? XXI. THE FOUNTAIN IN THE FOREST.