The New Monthly Magazine, Volume 23, Pages 513-515
THE CORONATION OF INEZ DE CASTRO.*[1]
"Tableau, où l'Amour fait alliance avec la Tombe; union redoutable de la mort et de la vie."—Madame de Stael.
There was music on the midnight;—
From a royal fane it roll'd,
And a mighty bell, each pause between,
Sternly and slowly toll'd.
Strange was their mingling in the sky,
It hush'd the listener's breath;
For the music spoke of triumph high,
The lonely bell, of death.
There was hurrying through the midnight; —
A sound of many feet;
But they fell with a muffled fearfulness,
Along the shadowy street:
And softer, fainter, grew their tread,
As it near'd the Minster-gate,
Whence a broad and solemn light was shed
From a scene of royal state.
- ↑
* Don Pedro of Portugal, after his accession to the kingdom, had the body of the murdered Inez taken from the grave, solemnly enthroned and crowned.
