Calm, Olmedo mark'd the scene *, Strangers, o'er him spread your shields! * Bartholeme de Olmedo, chaplain to Cortes: he seems to have been a man of enlarged ideas, much prudence, moderation, and humanity. + Motezuma, who was resident in the Spanish quarters when they were attacked by the Mexicans, proposed showing himself to the people, in order to appease the tumult. At his first appearance he was regarded with veneration, which was soon exchanged for rage, to the effects whereof he fell a victim. Thick the darts, the arrows fly; 'Cease the strife! alas, 'tis vain! Bid the captive youths expire † ; Cortes, in his retreat from Mexico, after the death of Motezuma, was followed and surrounded by the whole collective force of the empire, in the plains of Otumba. After repelling the attacks of his enemies on every side, with indefatigable valour, he found himself overpowered by numbers; when, making one desperate effort, with a few select friends, he seized the imperial standard, killed the general, and routed the army. + De Solis relates, that the Mexicans sacrificed to their idols a number of Spaniards whom they had taken prisoners, and whose cries and groans were distinctly heard in the Spanish camp, exciting sentiments of horror and revenge in their sur viving companions. Wake the sacred trumpet's breath, Lo! the dauntless band return, See thy priests, thy princes thrown-- *The above author observes, that the sacred trumpet of the Mexicans was so called because it was not permitted to any but the priests to sound it; and that only when they de nounced war, and animated the people on the part of their gods. + When the Spaniards had forced their way to the centre of Mexico, Guatimozin, the reigning emperor, endeavoured to escape in his canoes across the Lake; but was pursued and taken prisoner by Garcia de Holguin, captain of one of the Spanish brigantines. Otomèca shares thy spoils, 'Cease your boast, O stranger band, Ceased the voice with dreadful sounds, Their course the' Iberians downward bore; SCOTT. The Otomies were a fierce, savage nation, never thoroughly subdued by the Mexicans. Tlascala was a powerful neighbouring republic, the rival of Mexico. + Alluding to the dissensions which ensued among the Spaniards after the conquest of America. A MELOLOGUE*. (STRAIN OF MUSIC.) THERE breathes the language known and felt That language of the soul is felt and known. From those meridian plains Where oft, of old, on some high tower, The soft Peruvian pour'd his midnight strains, And call'd his distant love with such sweet power That when she heard the well known lay, Where the youth of Lapland's sky Bids his rapid reindeer fly, And sings along the darkling waste of snow Of vernal Phoebus burn'd upon his brow; Is still resistless, still the same; And faithful as the mighty sea To the pole star that o'er its realm presides, The spell-bound tides Of human passion rise and fall from thee. (GREEK AIR.) List! 'tis a Grecian maid that sings While, from Ilyssus' flowery springs, Recited by the author, at the Kilkenny Theatre, in 1810. The performers were gentlemen of the neighbouring country; and the profits were given to the charitable institutions of Kilkenny. |