On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
" The soldiers searched among the tombs , and found that of
Florinda partly open . Within lay the boy in the sound sleep of childhood , and one of the soldiers took him gently in his arms to bear him to the Emir . " When the countess beheld that her child was discovered , she rushed into the presence of Alahor , and , forgetting all her pride , threw . herself upon her knees before him .
" * Mercy i mercy ! ' cried she , in piercing accents , ' Mercy on my son—my only child ! O Emir ! listen to a mother ' s prayer , and my lips shall kiss thy feet . As thou art merciful to him , so may the most high God have mercy upon thee , and heap ' blessings on thy head I
" * Bear that frantic woman hence , ' said the Emir , * but guard her iv elk " The ' countess was dragged away by the soldiery , without regard to her struggles and her cries , and confined in a dungeon of the citadel . " The child was now brought to the Emir . He had been awakened
by the tumult , but he gazed fearlessly on the stern countenances of the soldier ? . Had the heart of the Emir been capable of pity , it would have been touched by the tender youth and innocent beauty of the child ; but his heart was as the nether millstone , and he was bent upon the destruction of the whole family of Julian . Culling to him the astrologer , he gave the child into his charge with a secret command . The withered son of the desert took the boy by the hand , and led him up the winding staircase of a tower . When they reached the summit Yuza placed him on the battlements .
< c * Cling not to me , my child / said he ; ' there is no danger . ' Father , 1 fear not , ' said the undaunted boy ; ' yet it is a wondrous height !' " The child looked around with delighted eyes . The breeze blew his curling locks from about his face , and his cheek glowed at the boundlebs piospect ; for the tower was reared upon that lofty promontory on which Hercules founded one of his pillars . The surges of tha
sea were heard far below beating upon the rooks , the seagull screamed and wheeled about the foundations of the tower , and the sails of lofty
caraccas were as mere specks on the bosom of the deep . 44 4 Dost thou know yonder land beyond the blue water /* ' said Yuza . 44 * It is Spain , * replied the boy ; ' it is the land of my father and
mother / 44 4 Then stretch forth thy hands and bless it my child , ' said the astrologer .
4 t The boy let go his hold of the wall , and as he stretched forth his hands , the aged son of lshrnael , exerting all the strength of his withered limbs , suddenly pushed him over the battlements . He fell headlong from the top ol that tall tower , and not a boue in his tender frame but was crushed upon the rocks beneath . ** * * On the following morning the countess was led forth from her dungeon into the public square . She knew of the death of her child , and that her own death wa- at hand ; but she neither wept nor supplicated . Her hair whs dibhevelled , her eyes were haggard with watching , and her cheek was as the monumental stone ; but there
Untitled Article
88 Legends of the Conquest of Spain *
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1836, page 88, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2654/page/24/
-