The base priest's word Gonsalez heard, Now, by the rood!' quoth he, It was ill with Count Gonsalez, the fetters press'd his knees, For help, for help, Gonsalez ! for help,' he hears her cry, 'God aiding, fast I'll hold thee, until my lord come nigh.' He has come within the thicket, there lay they on the green, They wrapp'd him in his mantle, and left him there to bleed, gone, Come forth, come forth, Infanta, mine own true men they be, We have quoted so many of these fine ballads, that we are sure it is unnecessary for us to comment on their merits. We shall, therefore extract one more, and have done. It shall be "the Song of the Admiral Guarinos,"-the same which Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are described as hearing sung by "a labourer going to his work at day-break," in one of the most beautiful that can be pointed out in the whole of the Romance. GUARINOS. "The day of Roncesvalles was a dismal day for you, Ye men of France, for there the lance of King Charles was broke in two, In fray or fight the dust did bite, beneath Bernardo's spear. There captured was Guarinos, King Charles's admiral; Seven Moorish kings surrounded him, and seized him for their thrall; Much joy had then Marlotes, and his captive much did prize, Now, for the sake of Alla, Lord Admiral Guarinos, Be thou a Moslem, and much love shall ever rest between us. The one shall be thy waiting-maid, thy weary feet to lave, To scatter perfumes on thy head, and fetch thee garments brave; And my field and my city they both shall be her dower. If more thou wishest, more I'll give-speak boldly what thy thought is." But not a moment did he take to ponder or to pause, Thus clear and quick the answer of the Christian Captain was : 'Now, God forbid ! Marlotes, and Mary, his dear mother, That I should leave the faith of Christ, and bind me to another; For women-I've one wife in France, and I'll wed no more in Spain; passages . Wroth waxed King Marlotes, when thus he heard him say, With fetters bound in darksome deep, far off from sun and sky. On three high-feasts they bring him forth, a spectacle to be, And on that morn, more solemn yet, when maidens strip the bowers, Days come and go of gloom and show. Seven years are come and gone, Marlotes, in his joy and pride, a target high doth rear, Below the Moorish knights must ride, and pierce it with the spear; No Moorish shaft so far may fly, Marlotes' prize to gain. Wroth waxed King Marlotes, when he beheld them fail, The whisker trembled on his lip, and his cheek for ire was pale ; And heralds proclamation made, with trumpets, through the town, Nor child should suck, nor man should eat, till the mark was tumbled down. The cry of proclamation, and the trumpet's haughty sound, Did send an echo to the vault where the Admiral was bound. Now, help me, God!' the captive cries,' what means this din so loud? O, Queen of Heaven! be vengeance given on these thy haters proud ; O, is it that some Pagan gay doth Marlotes' daughter wed, And that they bear my scorned Fair in triumph to his bed? Or is it that the day is come, one of the hateful three, When they, with trumpet, fife, and drum, make Heathen game of me ?* This is the joyful morning of John the Baptist's day, Give me my grey, old Trebizond, so be he is not dead, The jailor wonder'd at his words. Thus to the knight said he, The jailor put his mantle on, and came unto the king, What never Moorish knight could pierce, he would pierce at a blow, So, Jailor, gird his harness on, and bring your champion high.' They have girded on his shirt of mail, his cuissers well they've clasp'd, And they've barr'd the helm on his visage pale, and his hand the lance hath grasp'd And he stands bridled at the gate-once more caparison'd. When the knight came out, the Moors did shout, and loudly laugh'd the king, For the horse he pranced and caper'd, and furiously did fling; But Guarinos whisper'd in his ear, and look'd into his face, Then stood the old charger like a lamb, with a calm and gentle grace. Oh! lightly did Guarinos vault into the saddle-tree, And slowly riding down made halt before Marlotes' knee; We have now done enough to make known to our readers the literary character of this edition.- But why deprive the noble Don of his usual accompaniments of engravings? We cannot away with the want of Sancho's flying out of the carpet-Don Quixote hanging from the hole in the wall, &c. Smirke's designs are admirable; but the native old Spanish ones of Castillo, engraved in the academy's large edition of 1781, are infinitely the best. The notes, read continuously, and without reference to the text they so admirably illustrate, would form a most delightful book. Indeed, what can be more interesting than such a collection of rare anecdotes, curious quotations from forgotten books, and beautiful versions of most beautiful ballads? Printed in a volume by themselves, these notes would constitute one of the most entertaining Ana in our language, or in any other that we are acquainted with. APHORISMS, THOUGHTS, AND OPINIONS ON MORALS. UR duties are so closely linked together that, as the breaking one pearl from a string of pearls hazards the loss of all, so the violation of one duty endangers the safety of every other. Where is the mortal, who can venture to pronounce that his actions are of importance to no one, and that the consequences of his virtues and his vices will be confined to himself alone? Women reason, and men feel, when passing judginent on female beauty; and when a woman declares another 60 ATHENEUM VOL 11.. to be plain, the chances are that she is right in her opinion; as she cannot, because she is a woman herself, feel that charm, "that something than beauty dearer," which often throws a veil over irregularity of features, and sometimes obtains for even a plain woman, from men at least, the appellation of pretty. A woman is never so likely to be the fool of love, as when it assails her late in life; especially if a lover be as great a novelty to her as the passion itself" Love," it has been wittily ob served, "like the small-pox, pits deepest in old subjects." Any connexion between the sexes, that is founded on a guilty disregard of sacred and positive institutions, cannot long be productive of happiness; even though the reasonings of perverted intellect, and the persuasions of self-love, have convinced the offending parties that such an union is wise and virtuous. Such offenders, while secluded from society, may fancy themselves happy; but as soon as society resumes, in any way, its power and opportunity of operating on their happiness, that happiness must necessarily vanish; as a dead body, which has been preserved from decay by being entirely excluded from the external air, moulders into dust as soon as ever it is exposed to its influence. The wish to say lessening things of those, of whom one hears extravagant commendations, is, I fear, common to almost every one; even where the object praised comes in no competition with oneself. The strongest of all ties is the consciousness of mutual benefit and assist ance. We are all of us too apt to repeat stories to the prejudice of others, even though we do not believe them.-Well indeed does St. James say, that, "the tongue is an unruly member." There are defects in character, which can be known only by means of an intimate connection, and which co-habitation can alone call forth--for inattention to trifles is a general and a most destructive failing, and many a conjugal union, which has never been assail ed by the battery of crime, has fallen af victim to the slowly undermining pow er of petty quarrels, trivial unkindnes ses, and thoughtless neglect; like the gallant officer, though escaping unhurt from the rage of battles both by land and water, tempest, or sea, and earthquake on shore, returns perhaps to his native country, and perishes by the power of a slow fever. Some persons are so deficient in what may be called delivery of mental talk, that they are nearly unconscious of the wounds, which they inflict by “The word whose meaning kills, yet tald, The speaker wonders that you thought it cold.” They are unconscious that opportunities of conferring large benefits, like bank bills for £1,000, rarely come into use; but that little attentions, friendly participations, and kindnesses are wanted daily, and, like small change, are necessary to carry on the business of life and happiness. Where the conduct is not founded on religious, and consequently, on immutable principles, we may not err while temptation is absent; but when once we are exposed to its presence, and its power, we are capable of falling even into the very vices the most abhorrent to our nature. It is only too true that wounds however little, which are inflicted on our self-love, are never forgotten or forgiv en, and that it is safer to censure the morals of our acquaintance, than to ridicule a defect in their dress, a peculiarity in their manners, or a fault in their persons. To bear and forbear is the grand surety of happiness, and therefore ought to be the great study of life, and what is it but that charity which “suffereth long and is kind, and is not easily provoked." What a forcible lesson, and what an impressive warning to the tempted amongst women, are contained in the following extracts from a work of Madame de Stael! "Though it is possible to love and esteem a woman, who has expiated the faults of her youth by a sincere repentance; and though before God and man her errors may be obliterated, still there exists one being, in whose eyes she can never hope to efface them-and that is, her lover or her husband." No-she has obscured her own image in his bosom, and tho' he must as a fellow-sinner forgive, he can never forget her degradation. It is certain that though the agency of the passions be necessary to the existence of society, it is on the cultivation and influence of the affections, that the happiness and improvement of social life depend. A child's education ought to begin from the first hours of its existence; and the mother, who understands her task, knows that the circumstances which every moment calls forth, are the tools with which she is to work, in order to fashion her child's mind and character. How pernicious is an aptitude to call the experience of ages, contempt ible prejudices-how dangerous is it to our well being, to embrace and possess opinions, which tend to destroy our sympathies with general society, and which are likely to make us aliens to the hearts of those amongst whom we live. Whatever may be the ill conduct of a husband, that wife must be deluded indeed, who thinks his culpability an excuse for her's, or seeks to revenge herself on her tormentor by following the bad example which he sets her. She is not wiser than the child, who, to punish the wall against which he has struck his head,dashes his fist against it in the vehemence of his vengeance, and is himself the only sufferer from the blow. Natural affection, as it is called, is chiefly in human beings the result of habit, and a series of care, tenderness, mutual kindness, and good offices. There is nothing more dangerous to the virtuous, and to the interests of virtue, than association with the guilty, who possess amiable and attractive qualities for that salutary hatred, which we feel towards vice itself, must necessarily be destroyed by it; and I believe that our destestation of ice can be securely maintained, only by keeping ourselves at a degree of distance from the vicious. Love, like some fair plants of rare quality, flourishes most in retired places. It flies the glaring sunshine of crowded scenes, or puts forth a few gaudy feeble flowers there, which live their little hour, then droop and die. But in retirement, and in the still shade of solitude, it strikes a deep and lasting root-it requires no hand to plant it there, no care to nourish it, no rich soil to manure it. The pen of the anonymous letter is held by a hand that would, but for the fear of the law, delight to wield the stilletto of the assassin; for in his heart lurk feelings the most terrible and depraved, while he cruelly calumniates the unoffending innocent, by accusing them either to themselves or others, of crimes the most abhorrent to their natures; and pores over his baleful manuscript with the grin of a fiend, as he is about to impel a poisoned arrow into the breast of those, who never perhaps, even in thought, offended him. Every one has some kind friend who, on pretence of expressing his or her sorrow for one's injuries, takes care to inform one of some detracting observation of which one has been the object; and, which, but for their odious officiousness, one should never have known. Ce n'est que le premier pas qui coute, and those, who have once so far compromized with their consciences as to resist its pleadings to sincerity, and can be contented to be praised for actions which they have not performed, have laid the foundation stone of future vice; and obscured, perhaps for life, the fair image of virtue in their bosom. Sketches of London Society. BELZONI'S EGYPTIAN TOMB. BY LADY BLESSINGTON. AFTER mounting a steep and dark staircase, the first sentence we heard was uttered by a lady, who exclaimed, 'O dear, how hot the Tomb is!' and another remarked That there was not light sufficient to see the gods.' The groups scattered round formed a striking contrast to the scene itself:at the entrance were two large animals, of the Sphinx species, formed of granite, with lion's heads, and between them was an elderly man, in the act of masticating tobacco, whose countenance bore a strong likeness to them. Two or three young women, simply but elegantly attired, with their graceful attitudes, and undulating draperies, formed an agreeable contrast to the |