FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141  
142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   >>   >|  
he cooling shades awake the young desires, And the cold fountains cherish love's soft fires. And thou, famed Lisbon, whose embattled wall Rose by the hand that wrought proud Ilion's[217] fall;[218] Thou queen of cities, whom the seas obey, Thy dreaded ramparts own'd the hero's sway. Far from the north a warlike navy bore From Elbe, from Rhine, and Albion's misty[219] shore; To rescue Salem's[220] long-polluted shrine Their force to great Alonzo's force they join: Before Ulysses' walls the navy rides, The joyful Tagus laves their pitchy sides. Five times the moon her empty horns conceal'd, Five times her broad effulgence shone reveal'd, When, wrapt in clouds of dust, her mural pride Falls thund'ring,--black the smoking breach yawns wide. As, when th' imprison'd waters burst the mounds, And roar, wide sweeping, o'er the cultur'd grounds; Nor cot nor fold withstand their furious course; So, headlong rush'd along the hero's force. The thirst of vengeance the assailants fires, The madness of despair the Moors inspires; Each lane, each street resounds the conflict's roar, And every threshold reeks with tepid gore. Thus fell the city, whose unconquer'd[221] towers Defied of old the banded Gothic powers, Whose harden'd nerves in rig'rous climates train'd The savage courage of their souls sustain'd: Before whose sword the sons of Ebro fled, And Tagus trembled in his oozy bed; Aw'd by whose arms the lawns of Betis' shore The name Vandalia from the Vandals bore. When Lisbon's towers before the Lusian fell, What fort, what rampart might his arms repel! Estremadura's region owns him lord, And Torres-vedras bends beneath his sword; Obidos humbles, and Alamquer yields, Alamquer famous for her verdant fields, Whose murm'ring riv'lets cheer the traveller's way, As the chill waters o'er the pebbles stray. Elva the green, and Moura's fertile dales, Fair Serpa's tillage, and Alcazar's vales Not for himself the Moorish peasant sows; For Lusian hands the yellow harvest glows: And you, fair lawns, beyond the Tagus' wave, Your golden burdens for Alonzo save; Soon shall his thund'ring might your wealth reclaim, And your glad valleys hail their monarch's name. Nor sleep his captains while the sov'reign wars; The brave Giraldo's s
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141  
142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Alonzo
 

Alamquer

 

towers

 

Lusian

 

waters

 

Before

 
Lisbon
 

valleys

 

monarch

 

captains


trembled
 

rampart

 
wealth
 
reclaim
 

Vandalia

 

Vandals

 
Defied
 

banded

 

Gothic

 

powers


Giraldo

 

unconquer

 

harden

 

courage

 

sustain

 
savage
 

nerves

 

climates

 

pebbles

 

traveller


yellow

 

Alcazar

 
tillage
 
Moorish
 
peasant
 

fertile

 

fields

 

harvest

 

burdens

 
Torres

vedras

 

golden

 

Estremadura

 

region

 
beneath
 

famous

 

yields

 

verdant

 
Obidos
 

humbles