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Untitled Article
the ground , and were cinctured with girdles , wrought with the si gn * of the zodiac , from which were suspended enormous bunches of keys of every variety of form . Having approached the throne and made obedience : ' Know , O king , said one of the old men , that in days of yore , when Hercules of Lybia , surnamed the Strong , had set np his pillars at the ocean Strait , he erected a tower near to this ancient city of Toledo . He built it of prodigious strength , and finished it with
magic art , shutting up within it a fearful secret , never to be penetrated without peril and disaster . To protect this terrible mystery he closed the entrance to the edifice with a ponderous door of iron , secured by a great lock of steel ; and he left a command that every king who should succeed him should add another lock to the portal ; denouncing woe and destruction on him who should eventually unfold the secret of the tower . ' "—p . 45 .
Don Roderick , however , determined , instead of adding his lock to the door , to open it , and penetrate the mystery . The legend then goes on to relate the story of the " marvellous and portentous tower , " concerning which" ' I doubt much / adds the venerable Agpaida , * whether many
readers will not consider the whole as a cunningly devised fable , sprung from an oriental imagination ; but it is not for me to reject a fact which is recorded by all those writers who are the fathers of our national history—a fact , too , which is as well attested as most of the remarkable events in the story of Don Roderick . None but light and inconsiderate minds , ' continues the good friar , 'do hastily reject the marvellous . To the thinking mind the whole world is enveloped in
mystery , and everything is full of type and portent /"—p . 50 . The king and his train achieve the adventure of the tower . They succeed in opening the massive portals , and , after encountering various appalling sights , and hearing awful sounds , they reached a vast chamber of " a rare and sumptuous architecture , difficult to be described . " Here on a table of alabaster
stood a golden casket ; on the lid were inscribed the following words : — " ' In this coffer is contained the mystery of the tower . The hand of none but a king can open it ; but let him beware ! for marvellous events will be revealed to him , which are to take place before Uis death . '
" King Roderick boldly seized upon the casket . The venerable archbishop laid his hand upon his arm , and made a last remonstrance . ' Forbear , my son , * said he ; ' desist while there is yet time . Look not into the mysterious decrees of Providence . God has hidden them in mercy from our sight ; and it is impious to rend the veil by which they are concealed . '
' * What have I to dread from a knowledge of the future ?* replied Roderick , with an air of haughty presumption . 'If good be destined for me , 1 shall enjoy it by anticipation ; if evil , I shall arm myself to meet it . ' So saying , he rashly broke the lock . " Within the coffer he found nothing but a linen cloth , folded between two tablets of copper . On unfolding it , he beheld painted on
Untitled Article
B 4 i Legends of the Conquest of Spain .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1836, page 84, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2654/page/20/
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