Of golden lands. Sesina's younger brother And ne'er was heard of more: but 'tis supposed, He lived and died among the savage men. Note to the words " Act II. you are a painter," p. 162, Scene II. The following lines I have preserved in this place, not so much as explanatory of the picture of the assassination, as (if I may say so without disrespect to the Public) to gratify my own feelings, the passage being no mere fancy portrait; but a slight, yet not unfaithful, profile of one, who still lives, nobilitate felix, arte clarior, vità colendissimus. ZULIMEZ. (speaking of Alvar in the third person.) Such was the noble Spaniard's own relation. Sir George Beaumont. [Written 1814.] Gave light, depth, substance, bloom, yea, thought and motion. And though of noblest birth and ample fortune, ALHADRA. And then he framed this picture? and unaided ALVAR. A potent spell, a mighty talisman! So vivid were the forms within his brain, His very eyes, when shut, made pictures of them! ZAPOLYA: A CHRISTMAS TALE, IN TWO PARTS. Πὰρ πυρὶ χρὴ τοιαῦτα λέγειν χειμῶνος ἐν ὥρᾳ. APUD ATHENÆUM. PART 1. THE PRELUDE ENTITLED "THE USURPER'S FORTUNE." ADVERTISEMENT. THE form of the following dramatic poem is in humble imitation of the Winter's Tale of Shakspeare, except that I have called the first part a Prelude instead of a first Act, as a somewhat nearer resemblance to the plan of the ancients, of which one specimen is left us in the Æschylian Trilogy of the Agamemnon, the Orestes, and the Eumenides. Though a matter of form merely, yet two plays, on different periods of the same tale, might seem less bold, than an interval of twenty years between a first and second act. This is, however, in mere obedience to custom. The effect does not, in reality, at all depend on the Time of the interval; but on a very different principle. There are cases in which an interval of twenty hours between the acts would have a worse effect (i. e. render the imagination less disposed to take the position required) than twenty years in other cases. For the rest, I shall be well content if my readers will take it up, read and judge it, as a Christmas tale. S. T. COLERIDGE. |