The ensuing midnight, they heard great cries
and clamour from the Cave, resounding like the noise of Battle, and
the ground shaking with a tremendous roar; the whole edifice of the
old Tower fell to the ground, by which they were greatly affrighted,
the Vision which they had beheld appearing to them as a dream."
Scott's poem on the Field of Waterloo was written to assist the
Waterloo subscription.
H. M.
"Quid dignum memorare tuis, Hispania, terris,
Vox humana valet!"--CLAUDIAN.
THE VISION OF DON RODERICK.
PREFACE
The following Poem is founded upon a Spanish Tradition, bearing, in
general, that Don Roderick, the last Gothic King of Spain, when the
invasion of the Moors was depending, had the temerity to descend
into an ancient vault, near Toledo, the opening of which had been
denounced as fatal to the Spanish Monarchy. The legend adds, that
his rash curiosity was mortified by an emblematical representation
of those Saracens who, in the year 714, defeated him in battle, and
reduced Spain under their dominion. I have presumed to prolong the
Vision of the Revolutions of Spain down to the present eventful
crisis of the Peninsula, and to divide it, by a supposed change of
scene, into, THREE PERIODS. The FIRST of these represents the
Invasion of the Moors, the Defeat and Death of Roderick, and closes
with the peaceful occupation of the country by the victors.
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