and rubbing his hands. "I can show your excellency the written testimony in the case." "Fetch it hither," said the governor. The Escribano bustled into his office, delighted with having another opportunity of displaying his ingenuity at the expense of the hard-headed veteran. He returned with a satchel full of papers, and began to read a long deposition with professional volubility. By this time a crowd had collected, listening with outstretched necks and gaping mouths. "Prithee man, get into the carriage out of this pestilent throng, that I may the better hear thee," said the governor. The Escribano entered the carriage, when in a twinkling the door was closed, the coachman smacked his whip, mules, carriage, guards, and all dashed off at a thundering rate, leaving the crowd in gaping wonderment, nor did the governor pause until he had lodged his prey in one of the strongest dungeons of the Alhambra. He then sent down a flag of truce in military style, proposing a cartel or exchange of prisoners, the corporal for the notary. The pride of the captain-general was piqued, he returned a contemptuous refusal, and forthwith caused a gallows, tall and strong, to be erected in the center of the Plaza Nueva, for the execution of the corporal. "Oho! is that the game?" said Governor Manco; he gave orders, and immediately a gibbet was reared on the verge of the great beetling bastion that overlooked the Plaza. "Now," said he, in a message to the captain-general, "hang my soldier when you please; but at the same time that he is swung off in the square, look up to see your Escribano dangling against the sky." The captain-general was inflexible; troops were paraded in the square; the drums beat; the bell tolled; an immense multitude of amateurs had collected to behold the execution; on the other hand, the governor paraded his garrison on the bastion, and tolled the funeral dirge of the notary from the Torre de la Campana, or tower of the bell. The notary's wife pressed through the crowd with a whole progeny of little embryo Escribanoes at her heels, and throwing herself at the feet of the captain-general implored him not to sacrifice the life of her husband and the welfare of herself and her numerous little ones to a point of pride. The captain-general was overpowered by her tears and lamentations, and the clamors of her callow brood. The corporal was sent up to the Alhambra under a guard, in his gallows garb, like a hooded friar; but with head erect and a face of iron. The Escribano was demanded in exchange, according to the cartel. The once bustling and selfsufficient man of the law was drawn forth from his dungeon, more dead than alive. All his flippancy and conceit had evaporated; his hair, it is said, had nearly turned gray with fright, and he had a downcast, dogged look, as if he still felt the halter round his neck. The old governor stuck his one arm akimbo, and for a moment surveyed him with an iron smile. "Henceforth, my friend," said he, “moderate your zeal in hurrying others to the gallows; be not too certain of your own safety, even though you should have the law on your side; and, above all, take care how you play off your schoolcraft another time upon an old soldier." IT And he stoppeth one of three. "By thy long gray beard and glittering eye, Now wherefore stopp'st thou me? "The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide, And I am next of kin; The guests are met, the feast is set: May'st hear the merry din." *NOTE.-In 1798 there was published in England a little volume of poems known as Lyrical Ballads. This collection brought to its two young authors. Wordsworth and Coleridge, little immediate fame, but not long afterward people began to realize that much that was contained in the little book was real poetry, and great poetry. The chief contribution of Coleridge to this venture was The Ancient Mariner. The poem as originally printed had a series of quaintly explanatory notes in the margin, and an introductory argument which read as follows: "How a ship having passed the Line, was driven by storms to the cold Country towards the South Pole; and how from thence she made her course to the tropical latitudes of the great Pacific Ocean, and of the strange things that befell; and in what manner the Ancient Mariner came back to his own country." He holds him with a skinny hand, "There was a ship," quoth he. "Hold off! unhand me, gray-beard loon!" Eftsoons1 his hand dropt he. He holds him with his glittering eye- And listens like a three years' child: The Mariner hath his will. The Wedding-guest sat on a stone: And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed Mariner:2 "The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared, Merrily did we drop Below the kirk, below the hill, Below the lighthouse top. "The sun came up upon the left,3 Out of the sea came he! And he shone bright, and on the right Went down into the sea. 1. Estsoons means quickly. The poem is written in ballad form, and many quaint old words are introduced. 2. Such rhymes as this-Mariner with hear, were common in the old ballads which Coleridge so perfectly imitates. 3. Does this line tell you anything about the direction in which they were sailing? The Wedding-guest here beat his breast, The bride hath paced into the hall, Nodding their heads before her goes The Wedding-guest he beat his breast, "And now the storm-blast came, and he Was tyrannous and strong; He struck with his o'ertaking wings, "With sloping masts and dipping prow, The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, "And now there came both mist and snow, And it grew wondrous cold: 4. Where was the ship when the sun stood "over the mast at noon"? 5. Two words are to be understood in this line-"As one who is pursued." 6. Is not this an effective line? Can you think of any way in which the closeness of the foe could be more effectively suggested? |