Who fell like Phaeton, but more at ease, Into his lake, for there he did not drown;

A different web being by the Destinies Woven for the Laureate's final wreath, whene'er

Reform shall happen either here or there.

recorded by Le Bovier de Fontenelle, in his Entretiens sur la Pluralité des Mondes, 1686, p. 38.]

[See Aubrey's account of the apparition which disappeared "with a curious perfume, and most melodious twang"; or see Scott's Antiquary, The Novels, etc., 1851, i. 375.]

Then the Moors, by this aware,
That bloody Mars recalled them there,

or more ballads which are included in the Guerras Civiles de Granada of Gines Perez de Hita published at Saragossa in 1595.

The ballad as a whole was not known to students of Spanish literature previous to the publication of Byron's translation; but it may be assumed that the Spanish text as printed in the first edition of Childe Harold, Canto IV. (1818), was copied from some printed work.]

[In A.D. 886, during the reign of Muley Abul Hacen, King of Granada, Alhama was surprised and occupied by the Christians under Don Rodrigo Ponce de Leon.]

which

The effect of the original ballad existed both in Spanish and Arabic --was such, that it was forbidden to be sung by the Moors, on pain of death, within Granada.

Because he answered, and because
He spake exceeding well of laws.1
Woe is me, Alhama!

14.

"There is no law to say such things As may disgust the ear of kings:" Thus, snorting with his choler, said The Moorish King, and doomed him dead.

Woe is me, Alhama!

15.

Moor Alfaqui! Moor Alfaqui!
Though thy beard so hoary be,
The King hath sent to have thee seized,
For Alhama's loss displeased.

Woe is me, Alhama!

16.

And to fix thy head upon
High Alhambra's loftiest stone;

That this for thee should be the law,
And others tremble when they saw.

Woe is me, Alhama!

17.

"Cavalier, and man of worth!

Let these words of mine go forth;
Let the Moorish monarch know,
That to him I. nothing owe.

Woe is me, Alhama!
18.

"But on my soul Alhama weighs, And on my inmost spirit preys; And if the King his land hath lost, Yet others may have lost the most. Woe is me, Alhama! 19.

"Sires have lost their children, wives Their lords, and valiant men their lives! One what best his love might claim Hath lost, another wealth, or fame. Woe is me, Alhama!

20.

"I lost a damsel in that hour,
Of all the land the loveliest flower;

["De leyes tambien hablava" should be rendered "He spake 'also' of the laws," not lan bien, "so well," or "exceeding well."]

'TIS midnight - but it is not dark Within thy spacious place, St Mark! The Lights within, the Lamps without, Shine above the revel rout.

The brazen Steeds are glittering o'er
The holy building's massy door,
Glittering with their collars of gold,
The goodly work of the days of old
And the winged Lion stern and solemn
Frowns from the height of his hoary
column,

Facing the palace in which doth lodge
The ocean-city's dreaded Doge.
The palace is proud - but near it lies,
Divided by the "Bridge of Sighs,"

For the sword outwears its sheath,

And the soul wears out the breast, And the heart must pause to breathe, And Love itself have rest.

3.

Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a-roving
By the light of the moon.

February 28, 1817. [First published, Letters and Journals, 1830, ii. 79.]

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