"witnesses, he does not appear to have been directly cri“minated by one. In short, I look upon these aspersions as the effects of mere malice. How is it possible a buc 66 66 66 caneer should have been so good a scholar as Blackbourne "certainly was? he who had so perfect a knowledge of the "classics (particularly of the Greek tragedians), as to be "able to read them with the same ease as he could Shakespeare, must have taken great pains to acquire the learned languages; and have had both leisure and good masters. "But he was undoubtedly educated at Christ-church College, Oxford. He is allowed to have been a pleasant man : "this, however, was turned against him, by its being said, "he gained more hearts than souls."" 66 cr 66 "The only voice that could soothe the passions of the savage (Alphonso 3d) was that of an amiable and virtuous "wife, the sole object of his love; the voice of Donna Isa"bella, the daughter of the Duke of Savoy, and the granddaughter of Philip 2d, King of Spain. Her dying words "sunk deep into his memory; his fierce spirit melted into "tears; and after the last embrace, Alphonso retired into "his chamber to bewail his irreparable loss, and to meditate "on the vanity of human life.”—Miscellaneous Works of Gibbon, New Edition, 8vo. vol. 3, page 473. LARA. CANTO I. I. THE Serfs are glad through Lara's wide domain, And gay retainers gather round the hearth, With tongues all loudness, and with eyes all mirth. II. The chief of Lara is return'd again And why had Lara cross'd the bounding main? |