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THE DUKE DE RIVAS.
A frightful sea, of waves of sand,
Commingling earth and heaven;
Thus with the child between his arms,
And on his knee3 compressed,
The furious dagger of the King
Was planted in his breast.
As if that day had witnessM naught
The palace new or rare,
The King sat at the table calm
To eat as usual there;
Play'd afterwards a game of draughts,
Then went out pacing slow
To see the galleys, arming soon
To Biscay's shores to go.
And when the night the hemisphere
Had with its mantle veil’d,
He enters in the Golden Tower,
Where he shut up has held
The fair Aldonza, whom he took
From Santa Clara's walls,
And as in blind idolatry
Who now his heart enthralls.
With Levi then his treasurer,
