Then to his horse he said, "Brave Va

lentine *,

In many a battle hast thou borne me well: I never knew thy courage yet decline, Let me not fall before this Pagan fell. Here more than all let thy rare spirit shine, And gain a prize the world can ne'er excell!"

The charger, to which God had sense al

low'd,

Cheeringly neigh'd, as of his praises proud.

Impatient of restraint, he beat the ground With sounding hoofs, and struck out sparks of fire,

To show his master that he had not found A steed that would not second his desire. With joy Orlando felt his courser bound, And then began his weapon to admire, Saying, "Good sword, ywrought by magic skill,

Oft hast thou freed me from impending ill.

"Thy temper yet I never knew to fail, But thou hast ta'en the Pagans' lives with joy.

Now let my strength against this foe avail More than Achilles' 'gainst the flower of Troy !"

Orlando felt new vigour to assail,

And, at one blow, his foeman to destroy, With both his hands his sword he lifted high,

And spurr'd towards the Pagan furiously.

His generous steed sprang forward to the foe,

And, as it pleas'd the glorious King of all To give consent, Orlando aim'd a blow, Which on the shield of Ferran he let fall: It split the shield, and to the saddle-bow Descended, where it staid: resistance small The Pagan's plated armour could afford To the keen edge of great Orlando's sword.

It made its way through the huge baron's side,

And gave a mortal wound to his bold heart:

"Hold, hold thy hand!" he to Orlando cried,

"And let my weary soul in peace depart!
Nor be thy holy baptism denied,
For well I see there is no other art
Can now avail, or grace from God secure,
Who was incarnate of the Virgin pure."

Pulci, C. VII. st. 45 and 46, relates how Orlando recovered his horse Vegliantino, and his sword Durlindana. Boiardo, in the very opening of his romance, states as one of the objects of the Moors, in making war, the obtaining of this weapon.

Orlando hasten'd to obey his prayer, And to baptise him 'lighted from his steed;

Descending from the bridge on that side where

The troops of Charlemagne kept watchful

heed.

Of his bright helm he laid his temples bare,

For nought else could he find to serve his

need,

And, filling it with purest water, brought it Brave Ferran to baptise, as he besought it.

After a variety of incidents, most of them of considerable interest, (partly produced by Orlando's exchanging surcoats with Ferran, and entering Lazera as the victorious Pagan, with the dead body of Orlando,) the town, in the Seventh Canto, is taken. Pampeluna is assaulted by the Christians, but without success, in Canto XI.; and, two Cantos afterwards, occurs a most remarkable quarrel between Charles and Orlando, occasioned by an attack made by the latter, without orders, upon the city, in which Samson of Picardy and five hundred men were slain. When, afterwards, Orlando entered the royal tent

Charles look'd on him, fury in his face, And thus bespake in angry voice and loud: "Curst be the hour I see thee, a disgrace To me and mine, thou arrogant and proud! Son of a beastly harlot *, odious, base! Why without orders were my troops allow'd

To march to the assault? without command

How dar'dst thou be the leader of the band?

"Last night with my brave people thou departed:

By thee five hundred valiant lives were lost;

Samson of Picardy, most noble hearted, Fell by thy folly-thou shalt rue the cost. No wonder if for him my heart has smarted,

I lov'd him as I knew his worth the most; Seven royal cities, fairest of the earth, Compar'd with him were but of little

worth.

"I value not thy courage-not a pin† ; I'll not forget it long as life shall last :

*Fio de Putana troiante.

+ D'un ago, used just in the sense that we employ the word pin.

"Thou pay'st them not in silver or in gold,

But by the Roman Church they all are paid:

My twenty thousand followers I but hold For her defence, to give her ready aid Where'er her foes their standard dare unfold.

If lawless Saracens her rights invade,

1 march against them with my people free; I serve the holy Church-I serve not thee*!

And if of those I lose five hundred men, And Samson with them, what is that to thee?

I need not ask for thy forgiveness, when
The Church I serve will not refuse it me!"
The Emperor paus'd not to reply again;
An iron gauntlet on his hand had he,
And in a rage so fierce he could not speak,
He flung it, striking his proud Nephew's
cheek.

So violent and sudden was the blow,
Orlando stood, e'en by its force astounded,
And three large drops of blood began to
flow

Down from his nose †. The courtiers

who surrounded,

Wonder'd to see the County wounded so, Since God's own messenger before had

sounded,

In Aspramont, that he no wound should

feel,

And that his blood could not be drawn by

steel.

The flinging of the gauntlet in the face of another Knight is a very usual incident in romances of this kind t; and hence arose the practice of throwing down the gauntlet, by which a sort of implied blow was given. Orlando leaves the camp of Charles in disgust, and after serving long in the East among the Pagans, is discovered by his cousin Hugo, and induced to return to the Emperor, who, for a number of years, had in vain besieged Pampeluna, and was now reduced to some extremity. Orlando and Hugo take with them two newly-converted Saracens, Pilagi they have to pass a deep river: here and Sansonet, and, on their way, a little incident occurs, which is curious, because it is told so precisely in the style and spirit of the author of Morgante Maggiore.

When pass'd by Hugo and young Sanso.

net,

Into the stream Pilagi made a bound;
But fondly calling upon Mahomet,
In the deep waters he was well nigh
drown'd:

The Christian seed in him was newly set,
And in this way no baptism he found.
He had been surely drown'd, if, from a
distance,

Orlando had not swam to his assistance.

It is here as difficult as in Pulci to say whether Zinabi speaks from mere superstitious simplicity, or whether he means to make a half joke of the accident of Pilagi. The reconciliation of Charlemagne and Orlando does not take place until the 21st Canto. Finding that the Count was on his way, a number of the Christian Peers ride out to welcome him.

To camp some soon return'd in utmost joy,

As if they strove who could rejoice the

most.

No sad desponding thoughts could now annoy ;

They prais'd the Father and the Holy Ghost.

When the consuming flames encircled Troy,

The grief afflicting all the Trojan host,

"Champion of the Church."

The words in the original are

E tre gioccie di sangue gli usci

Di naso a Orlando, a ognun maravigliato, fc.

To have the Count again before their sight.

+ See Pulci, CIX. st. 30. where Rinaldo strikes a giant in the same way.

out:

But Charles could not the happy news believe,

That Heaven had thus restored its champion stout.

Astolfo bursting in without all leave, Breathless with joy and speed, remov'd

all doubt.

"Why com'st thou not to meet thy Nephew dear ?"

He rudely cried, "Orlando's self is here!"

When Charles in transport the clear truth had heard,

That great Orlando was return'd indeed, He mounted horse, and from his tent he spurr'd,

By many a Peer attended, at full speed. He met the Count, and ere he spoke a word For love, would have alighted from his steed,

To do him honour whom he had dis

graced :

Zinabi tells us, that the Soldan, before Orlando left the East, gave him a book, like those of Malagigi and Atlante, in Boiardo and Ariosto, by which he was able to summon to his assistance a thousand devils. The Count employs it to gain intelligence from Paris, and finds that Maccario, the nephew of Ganelon, had intercepted all communications between Charles and his Queen, while the former was before Pampeluna, and that he was about to usurp the throne, and compel Galerana to marry him. Orlando obliges one of the demons, (named Malachel, by Pulci,) to convert himself into an aerial horse; and in Canto XXII. Charles is placed upon its back, in the habit of a pilgrim, and conveyed in a single night

foot embrac'd.

Charles, with all reverence due to his degree,

Full often kiss'd the forehead of his Knight;

And brave Orlando, generous, frank, and free,

Remounted with a bounding heart, and light.

The Baronage, as joyous as might be, Rode to the Emperor's pavilion bright, And there the Paladins, renown'd and bold,

All took their seats, as they were wont of old.

It may be mentioned here, that Pulci, in the 28th Canto of his Morgante, citing the authority of

un certo citarista

Lattanzio appellato,

hints at the foregoing incidents, but only hints at them, entering into no details; probably because Zinabi had already made ample use of them, in the romance under consideration. Pulci also alludes, as follows, to a circumstance to which Zinabi's poem next proceeds:

To Pampeluna the great Count came back, Where Charles his camp had kept for many years;

And found by art, Maccario made attack On Charles's crown and wife, as there ap

pears:

Charles to regain his empire was not slack, And went in person to remove her fears;

The demon from Pampluna took its way, Flying through air, with Charles upon its back;

'Twas evening, even clearer than the day. While Charles revolv'd upon the treachery

black,

The demon pointed out the realms that lay

On either side, as they pursued their track, (For it appear'd to talking much inclin'd,) As well as others that they left behind. Cried Charles, impatiently, “ Make speed, make speed!

Be still, I know you only mean to lie." "Normandy's there, (the demon would proceed,)

And there is Brabant, there lies Burgundy :

Picardy also may be seen indeed,

And that is Flanders, and that Gascony. Champaigne and Brittany just there one

Prais'd may He be, whose equal is not found!

And be St Denis also prais'd and blest!" The demon saw Charles cross him, turn

ing round,

And let him fall-that sign he must detest. He fell upon the steps of his own palace, And suffer'd nothing from the demon's malice.

This is another of those incidents, mot peculiar to Pulci, and which one hardly knows in what light to consider, whether as burlesque or simplicity: recollecting the state of knowledge and superstition at the ine Zinabi wrote, probably it was the latter: he proceeds,

That day Maccario should be crown'dI mean

Maccario, nephew to vile Gan the traitorThat day he also was to wed the Queen, The wife of Charles, such dreadful ills await her.

When Charles had all these preparations

seen,

His rage and sorrow became keener, greater;

And, trembling as beneath a load of grief, Sought his own kitchen, to implore relief.

The Emperor said, "I pray for charity, Bestow on me some scraps of meat and bread."

One of the scullions, who the fire stood by, Took up a stick to strike him on the head, Saying, "Begone, and that, too, instantly, Or I will give you something else instead." Charles seiz'd a billet that aside was thrown,

And with it knock'd the brutal scullion down.

His fellows ran in fury to his aid,
All arm'd with shovels, pokers, knives,
and hooks;

But Charles so lustily about him laid,
That he made dreadful havoc 'mong the

cooks,

And of encountering made them all afraid. Some died, some mercy ask'd, with pite

ous looks;

Three were quite kill'd, while others ran

slain;

Arland, and Orbeland, and Turpin, there I also saw; with Otto, Berlinghier.

"Orlando has return'd, and all surpris'd, From Mecca, with a Pagan youth of fame, Who in our Christian faith has been baptis'd,

Son to the Soldan-Sansonet his name. Hugo of Brava, of the Count advis'd, And Ansuigi made the great reclaim. Orlando came out of the East with them From Persia, Mecca, and Jerusalem."

These particulars cannot fail to put the reader in mind of the latter part of the Odyssey, of which it is in some degree an imitation. What follows, on the introduction of the Emperor to the Queen, which we must defer until our next article, bears a still stronger resemblance. We shall also then give Sostegno de Zinabi's account of the

-dolorosa rotta, quando Carlo magno perdè la santa gesta.

(Dante Inf. cxxxi.) the bloody fight of Roncesvalles, with the death of Orlando, and all the Paladins of France. 4 D

A TRUE AND AUTHENTIC HISTORY

OF "ILL TAM."

No. IV.

THE important crisis of my fate at last arrived. I had attained my tenth year-had learned to read with case, if not with accuracy, all manner of English books, with the solitary exception of a black-letter Bible, which had descended, as an heir-loom of the family, from Janet MacCaig, my great and grand maternal grandmother, in regular succession downwards. Besides all this valuable acquisition, my presence was become exceedingly annoying at home. I made scout-guns of boretrce, and squirted black dub-water upon the human face divine-stole gunpowder from a quarry-borrowed Rob Rankin's pistol, and frightened Jean Tait's "brawnit" cow, during the seventh month of her pregnancy, into a miscarriage. I saddled the auld sow, and rode her through dub and mire, almost to death. I hung, for miles, suspended by a cow's tail, floating on, through the day, at the rate of seven knots an hour. I had Rover's cars cropped, and his tail set; and would have done the same good office by his arch-enemy, the cat, but for the risk which such an adventurous experiment implied. It was quite evident, that, as I advanced in years and strength-for in stature I continued long stationary-I made more than a proportionable advance in what the Ettrick Shepherd has denominated deevilry:" and, consequently, that some new, and prompt, and efficient measures, were requisite, else, as my aunts very justly observed, "I would take up the house upon them." In the discussion of this very weighty and pressing consideration, I accidentally overheard my three female housemates, closely and earnestly engaged, one evening betwixt sunset and dusk. Being habituated to pry about, and thrust my nose into every concern, I contrived to place myself so as to avoid discovery, and to hear all that was going forwards. The question of debate was whether I should be sent to herd the gudeman of Auchincairn's stirks, or packed off incontinently to school? Now, to the latter part of this alternative I had conceived the most decided and rooted aversion: and

the ground of it was this:-About a twelvemonth before this period, on of my most intimate playfellows, but somewhat older and larger than myself, had been torn from a partnership in mischief, and packed off, with a pair (as it is called) of Latin Rudiments in his hand, to school. What besides he acquired, I pretend not to say; but this certainly he attained, a complete and most accurate notion of discipline of those immemorial means, by which a certain number of naked "unidea'd" vocables are scourged into the shoulders and finger-ends of all boys, cqually, and without discrimination. He was indeed the "austere master"-reaping where he did not sow, and exacting what it was entirely out of my power to render. for, ever as he advanced in his regular school-hours' lessons, with the whole family of relatives, from "quis” to "quivis," I was compelled to bring up my lea-way every evening, without book or preparation, over the obliquities of "penna," or irregularities of the whole families in "as" and "es" There did we stand, evening after evening, closely wedged and jammed up into the crevices of the "CatCraig:"he armed with a little brief authority, and inflicting the most scholastic discipline; I sometimes rebelling, and breaking out into a paroxys, of opposition; and again submitting. partly through coaxing, and partly through compulsion, to what I was taught to consider as the inseparable and essential practice of a school.And that no means might be lost that were likely to forward my instruction, or to exemplify pedagogi cal tuition, I was subjected to a scale and gradation of punishment. Frem a leather thong were suspended, like trouts attached by the gills to a hooked and pliant switch, a large and graduated assortment of taws; frou. "Tickle Toby," whose office it was to preside over and correct errors of declension and conjugation, to the lengthened, and indurated, and tremendous "Rattler," who guarded every avenue of disrespect, or downright rebellion and disobedience of orders. There was not, in short, a variety of deficiency in point of m mory, or of culpability on the scor of negligence, or of inefficiency resulting from obstinacy and " cr2*