19
Bernard strides from the apartment
And the palace-gate he leaves,
And his people he assembles,
To his host his orders gives.

II.

23

Then the king again reflecting
Bids the nobles to decree,
And they came to this decision-
That Castille shall still be free.

CON LOS MEJORES DE ASTURIAS, &c.

The Address of Bernardo to the Asturians before the Battle of Roncesvalles.

They would check the Lord of Nor, where stand the noble lions,
France.
Let the fleur-de-lis have place.

ANTES QUE BARBAS TUVIESE, &c.

Bernardo requests Alfonso to liberate his Father, with the result of his Request.

MAL MIS SERVICIOS PAGASTE, &c.
Bernardo reproves the King for his Treachery.
1

"Thou ungrateful King Alfonso,
Thus my deeds would'st thou repay,
When thou know'st that all thy safety
In my single valour lay.

2

"Yes, thou told'st me, crafty monarch,

Thou wouldst set my father free; Yet an eyeless man thou gav'st him, For mine own sad eyes to see.

3

"Oh, a curse on all my actions,
And a curse upon my sword,
Which by true and gallant service
Has procured me such reward.

4

"From this very day I leave thee,

To thine enemies I go,
When our kings commit injustice
They do service to the foe.

5

"For my father's death I mourn

not,

But I grieve that all will say,
I must be a son unworthy,

Such respect to thee to pay.

6
"Oh for serving thee, thee only,
May a curse upon me fall,
When I let my own blood perish,
And became the hate of all.

Si yerros fueron los myos

Bien de hierros le cargaste.

A pun is intended between "yerros" and "hierros.”—J. O.

"San Juan de Letrane," seems to have been a name commonly given to desig

nate a church.-J. O.

12

"My father, to the spacious realms on high,
Secure of retribution thou may'st soar;
The iron of my lance that once could dye
The soil with the invading Frenchman's gore;
And e'en to yonder starr'd and vaulted sky,

The hopes of thankless King Alfonso bore,
Has now to show that earth no safety gives,
While, father, thou art wrong'd, and Bernard lives.
13

"True, I am only one, a son of Spain,

I am but one, Alfonso, yet my might
Was found enough to conquer Charlemagne,
And bring the whole of France to dismal plight;
This is the hand victorious that could gain
Glory for thee, and all the world affright ;-
This hand, my sire, to thee full vengeance gives,
For thou art foully wrong'd, and Bernard lives."

A SKETCH OF THE LIVES OF THE LORDS STOWELL AND

ELDON,

TOGETHER WITH SOME CORRECTIONS, AND ADDITIONS, TO MR. TWISS'S

LIFE OF THE LATTER.

PART V.

Virtus omnia domuerat: sed gloriæ maximum certamen inter ipsos erat.

SALLUST.

As the last chapter took but slight notice of Sir William Scott, this chapter shall open with the continuation of his history.

It will be remembered* that, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, Sir William Scott was appointed judge of the Bishop of London's Consistorial Court, and then judge of the High Court of Admiralty, both of which situations he continued for a long period to fill, alike to his own honour and the advantage of his country. Nor will it have been forgotten that, at the commencement of the nineteenth century he was elected to parliament as representative of that university which once as a tutor and professor he had instructed and adorned. The learned constituency of Oxford is not in the habit of withdrawing the confidence which it has reposed, and our civilian retained this honourable seat till his elevation to the peerage.

On the 4th of September, 1809, Sir William Scott experienced the loss of his wife, and, between three and four years afterwards, most inauspiciously was he induced to attempt to fill that void which her death had left in his domestic affections.

Strange are the circumstances which preceded and produced his second marriage. We shall, therefore, relate them, though they will involve the episode of the early adventures of the late Marquis of Sligo.

Howe Peter Browne, second Marquis of Sligo, then hardly twenty

* See the number for last October, p. 220.

two years old, and freshly imbued with the associations of a classical education, was, in 1810, making the tour of the Mediterranean. He had formed the laudable project of visiting Greece* and its islands,-laudable, if in its execution he had not been tempted into transgressing the dictates of patriotism and of honour. At Malta he hired a brig; he was anxious to man it with a good crew, and hence he seduced, or suffered his servants to seduce, two picked seamen from a king's ship to his own, and that (be it remembered) at a time of war; and, when they were demanded by a naval captain, denied that they were in his vessel. For this, his offence, he was called, as a criminal, to answer in a court of justice.

Over crimes committed at sea the Lord High Admiral, or his judges, would, in an early period of our history, have exercised an exclusive jurisdiction. But, as juries were unknown to the Court of Admiralty, the liberty or life of the subject could thus be sacrificed without the judgment of his peers. This infringement upon the spirit of the constitution, was rectified by statutes which directed that crimes perpetrated upon the sea should be tried by jury before commissioners appointed under the Great Seal.

On the 16th of December, 1812, such commissioners assembled in the court-house at the Old Bailey for the trial of the young marquis. In these commissions the Lord High Admiral, or his judge, was necessarily placed, and it was usual to include in them two common law judges, and several civil lawyers, besides the judge of the Admiralty. The most distinguished members of the present commission were Lord Chief Justice Ellenborough, and Sir William Scott. Amongst the spectators was the Duke of Clarence.

At the commencement of the trial the counsel for the marquis stated that his lordship was anxious to plead "guilty" as to part of the indictment, and "not guilty" as to the rest; but Lord Ellenborough sternly answered, "The indictment must not be garbled. He must plead guilty to the whole, or not guilty to the whole." On this Lord Sligo pleaded "not guilty."

The evidence was then heard-Lord Ellenborough summed up for a conviction-the jury gave a verdict of "guilty."

On the following day Mr. Scarlett, one of the counsel for the defendant, stated to the court that it had been no wish of his client to justify his proceedings by the plea which he had offered;-that he had desired to plead guilty, but that his intention had been over-ruled by his professional advisers, who thought that he could not with propriety plead guilty to all the counts in the indictment.

It then only remained to pass sentence. This duty devolved on Sir William Scott, who thus addressed the distinguished prisoner :

"It now becomes my painful duty to affix the penalty, which, on the result of a laborious inquiry, the country expects as a reparation for its violated laws. It is unnecessary for me to dwell on the magnitude of the offence; on the incalculable mischief which it might produce to the public safety; or on those unworthy practices without which the criminal purpose could not have been effected-practices, as adverse, no doubt, to

* At Athens he met his old fellow-collegian, Lord Byron, and with him travelled as far as Corinth.-Galt's Life of Byron, p. 155.