collection of past "vanity and vexation," and reviving with the support of honest and holy resolution. For time is ever hurrying on; To the hour of death our moments run: What, in our long career, what useful have we done? My youth beneath a master's rod Trembled. In riper years, I trod The path of vice; the Toga drove my thoughts from God. And luxury-then, (O sin, O shame!) I sunk in the deep slough of infamy and blame. "Tis vanished all-in hurried flight Ere yet I felt Time's trophies white Were sprinkled on my brow,-or thought, that since the light Time's snows are on my forehead thrown- For soon, too soon, oblivion pale Will blot alike the good and evil of my "Twill then be said-Whoe'er thou be, tale. That world is lost which flatter'd thee, Sin's robes away-redeem the past, If not in deeds, in words to praise thy Maker haste. In sacred hymns employ the day, In praises pass the night away; And let the Martyrs' praise attune the willing lay. O what a privilege, could I, The prison of mortality Thus burst, and breathing forth this language die!* In the reign of Theodosius, Latinus Pacatus panegyrizes Spain, on account of the warlike soldiers, the eloquent orators, and renowned poets, it had produced.-A list of obscurer Instat terminus, et diem Vicinum senio jam Deus applicat. Quid nos utile tanti spatio temporis egimus? Etas prima crepantibus Flevit sub ferulis. Mox docuit toga Infectum vitiis falsa loqui, non sine crimine: Tum lasciva protervitas names occupies the years which preceded the Gothic reigns. On these, the national pride and vanity of Spain love to linger-as the smallest star looks beautiful on a long and gloomy night. But they offer nothing which should detain us from a period, when the decline of literature, the effeminating consequences of a debilitating and womanish luxury, the false security of those who imagined that the heroism of their forefathers had done enough to entail the privileges and the rewards of valor on a careless and dissipated posterity, made way for the introduction of the sterner and more manly tribes of the north, who soon overspread the fairest and fruitfullest portions of Europe. These probably met with little resistance from the aboriginal inhabitants of Spain, who perhaps never were completely amalgamated with the Roman intruders; -and this may make it appear less surprising, that the Visigoths should so soon have firmly fixed themselves in the territory they invaded. They sympathized but little with the habits and the amusements of the subdued Romans. The circuses, Et luxus petulans (heu pudet ac piget!) Hæc dum vita volans agit; Oblitum veteris me Saliæ Consulis arguens : Sub quo prima dies mihi Quam multas hiemes volverit, et rosas Pratis post glaciem reddiderit, nix capitis probat Numquid talia proderunt Carnis post obitum vel bona vel mala? Cum jam, quidquid id est, quod fueram, mors aboleverit. Dicendum mihi, quisquis es: Mundum, quem coluit, mens tua, perdidit. Non sunt illa Dei, quæ studuit, cujus habeberis. Atque fine sub ultimo Peccatrix anima stultitiam exuat ; Saltem voce Deum concelebret, si meritis nequit: Hymnis continuet dies Nec vox ulla vacet, quin Dominum canat: Carmen Martyribus devoveat: Hæc dum scribo vel eloquor Liber, quo tulerit lingua sono mobilis ultimo ! the theatres of Toledo, Merida, and other places, gradually crumbled into decay and ruin.-To the Goths, they brought nothing but idolatrous recollections and associations, independently of which their enjoyments were the hardier and freer sports of the field. However interesting might be the inquiry, it would be extremely difficult to trace the influence of the poetry of the north, on the character of the subdued peninsula. The records left are faint and few. The dominion of the Romans had lasted so long, that the Visigoths found it very desirable to adopt the language of the previous masters of Spain,-and this with so universal an application, that, excepting a few inscriptions preserved by Morales in his Chronicles, every thing that has come down to us from the Gothic period, is in Latin. During that period, we find many Latin poets, natives of the peninsula. Avilus, Bishop of Braga, who flourished at the beginning of the sixth century, wrote a Latin heroic poem, in five books, on the early Mosaic history. Merobaudes, another poet, is celebrated by Sidonius. Draconcius wrote his Hexaëmeron, on the Creation of the World, in Latin heroic verse-a work which was patronized by the Visigothic King Chindasuinthus, who ordered all the manuscripts of it, which existed, to be compared, and a perfect copy made. The Goths had no national literatureliterature, in fact, they despised; of which a curious instance is given in the opposition they raised to the purpose of Amalasunta, who was eager to give the advantages of a liberal education to her son, Alaric." No! no!" said the assembled warriors, "the idleness of study is unworthy of a Goth; high thoughts of glory are not fed by books, but by deeds of valor.He is to be a king, whom all should dread-shall he be compelled to dread his instructors? No." Nor can it be deemed that the Spanish historians have depreciated the literary character of the Goths. On the contrary, they have been most solicitous to honor them with every species of flattery. Though it appears, that Licinian applied to Gregory the Great, for permission to make bishops and priests of those, who (knowing nothing of the character of the Christian religion,) had only heard speak of Christ the crucified,-and who could neither read nor write-most of the Spanish authorities insist, that the Goths were, after the Greeks, the most polished of all the European nations,-and Saavedra angrily declares, that the Greeks held them to be barbarians, through pure arogancia, only because they did not pronounce their language with Athenian accent. The Spaniards will have it, that the similarity of national character led to the completest and most cordial union between the Goths, and the previous inhabitants of the peninsula; but in the history of the different conquerors of Spain, the conquered seem wholly forgotten. Perhaps, like the ass between the two masters, they were little interested in the issue of the fray. The Romans resisted the Goths-the Goths, the Moors,-and it was not till the up-rising of the nation against the last and the longest usurpation, that we see any prominent activity among the Spanish people. Inferior, probably, in arts and in arms, they quietly submitted to the different invaders of their soil. The Visigoths are thus characterized by Rodericus Toletanus. "Fuêre autem magnanimi et audaces et naturaliter ingenio faciles, et subtiles, in proposito providi et constantes." Excepting a few fine specimens of martial eloquence, and some funeral orations, nothing which is worthy of any note is preserved by the Gothic chroniclers. Their historians being almost without exception, ecclesiastics, have wholly occupied themselves in church affairs. The proceedings of the Toledo councils may be easily traced in their records, and little else. The tone and temper of these intolerant priests may be judged of, by the titles they conferred on Recaredo, who (in the true spirit of a furious controversialist) burned the books he could not answer: "Rex fidelissimus, gloriosissimus, piissimus, sanctissimus, religiosissimus, felicissimus, serenissimus, catholicus, et orthodoxus." With respect to the moral character of the Gothic dynasty, it is but a succession of violence, deposition, murder, and cruelty. The history of its monarchy, is a history of assassinations. Thurismond and Theuderic perished by the hand of brothers. Athaulf, Sigeric, Amaralic, Theudius, Theudiselus, Agila, and many others of the Visigothic Kings, met with violent deaths, accompanied often with circumstances of barbarity and horror. There are some facts, however, scattered over the Visigothic period, which are grateful to the recollection. The liberal spirit, for instance, with which a variety of sects were invited to the ecclesiastical counsels; the protection given to learning by Sisebutthe long abode of the Abad Baclara at Constantinople, in order to acquire the Greek language, and his efforts to rouse his countrymen to intellectual dignity;-but, on the whole, the review of this epoch is very uninviting. The chronicles are meagre and barbarous-the Latin monumental inscriptions are rude and inelegant; and we are often left to determine the characters of the leading personages, in the absence of all satisfactory historical data, between the strange accusations and the unqualified eulogisms of different chroniclers. Thus, whether Alaric is entitled to all the praises showered on him by Sigonius, Roricon, and others, or deserves the vehement attacks of Isidore, J. Magnus, and Mariana;-whether Witiza was one of the very best, or one of the very worst, of men and of monarchs, may well continue to be matter of obstinate discussion, in which each party will be sure to find authorities in abundance. Ten languages were spoken in Spain, in the time of Augustus, according to Luitprandus: "Vetus Hispana, Cantabrica, Græca, Latina, Arabica, Chaldæa, Hebræa, Celteberica, Valentina, Cathalaunica; de quibus Strabo, in lib. iii. ubi docet plures fuisse litterarum formas et linguas in Hispaniis."-Most of these have blended more or less with the present Castilian_tongue; but the language brought by the Visigoths scarcely left a trace behind it. They perhaps soon discovered that the Latin, which many of them had probably learnt in their visits to Italy, would serve generally throughout Spain-and in it they promulgated their laws; as in the case of Alaric's code, which became the basis of the fuero juzgo. Independently of other circumstances, it will, we expect, be found, that when two languages are contending for the mastery, that of the two which is used by the more civilized party becomes predominant, and finally banishes the other. The Goths were, however, keenly alive to the charms of music and of poetry, which were introduced on all interesting occasions. On the death of a monarch, choirs of youths and maidens celebrated his deeds and virtues in melancholy songs-they bewailed their dead at funerals in measured lamentations,-and their feasts and banquetings resounded with the musical compositions of their minstrels. They brought rime with them, which they introduced into the languages of the country where they fixed themselves,-for all the previous examples which may be found in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin poetry seem rather accidental than intended. They modified and diminished the difficulties of the Latin tongue. Nouns became indeclinable,-articles were introduced-the variety of termination was lessened-they sought, in a word, rather to mould and simplify the language they found, than to establish their own. Massieu, who, by the way, has shown such marvellous ignorance of the history of Spanish poetry as to suppose that Mena was its founder, attributes the general introduction of rime into Europe, to the Spaniards, who had it, he supposes, from their Arabic masters-but there is little difficulty in giving it a higher origin. Whatever impression was left by the Gothic possessors of Spain, that impression can be imperfectly traced at the distance from whence we now are compelled to contemplate it. The Moorish conquerors left behind them stronger and deeper marks; their influence may be seen-their footsteps may be followed-relics of their glories may be discovered in almost every part of the Spanish peninsula-walls, and towers, and castles, and palaces, and aqueducts, and oratories, and mosques, and mesquitas, some crumbling under the attacks of ages, others standing as if proud to bid defiance to time, attest the |