Como un vapor, como un humo
Que entre los àrboles gira:
Ni entrè en aquellos salones
Sin figuràrseme erguida
Del fundador la fantasma
En helada sangre tinta;
Ni en vestibulo oscuro
El que tiene en la cornisa
De los reyes los retratos,
El que en colunas estriba,
Al que adornan azulejos
Abajo, y esmalte arriba
El que muestra en cada muro
Un rico balcon, y encima
El hondo arteson dorado
Que lo corona y atrista,
Sin ver en tierra un cadaver.
Aun en las losas se mira
Una tenaz mancha oscura
Ni las edades limpian!
Sangre! sangre! oh, cielos, cuantos
Sin saber que lo es, la pisan!
This romance was originally printed with the 'Moro Esposito,' Paris 1834, vol. ii. p. 451. It was subsequently included among the 'Romances Historicos,' Madrid 1841, p. 19. The Alcazar of Seville has been described by so many travellers that it is unnecessary to add to their accounts of it, or to the graphic details of the romance. The stain on the floor may remind the reader of the legends of Holy rood and the Alhambra, as well as of other places.
40. Page 233. "Darting round fierce looks," &c.
This description of anger, as again at p. 241, seems a favourite one with the Duke, as well as other poets; thus Virgil—
Totoque ardentis ab ore
Scintillæ absistunt, oculis micat acribus ignis.
41. Page 234. "The crackling of his arms and knees."
From the peculiarity of this formation, the king was recognized
