Page:Modern poets and poetry of Spain.djvu/423

Rh 37. Page. "The advantages he enjoyed there."

In his poem of the 'Moro Esposito,' the Duke has inserted an interesting episode referring to his residence in Malta, "whose good and honest inhabitants he found under the dominion of the most wealthy, free, enlightened, noble and powerful nation that the sun admires from the zodiac." (Book VI.) In the notes he details the particulars under which he arrived there, acknowledging gratefully the hospitality he had received. 38. Page. "Pedro, surnamed the Cruel."

This name is pronounced Ped-ro. The true character of the monarch is yet a disputed question, and has only within the last year been offered as a subject for inquiry by the Spanish Academy. The learned Llorente, in his 'Historical Notices,' vol. v., has, I think, clearly shown that Pedro was no more deserving of the epithet peculiarly than others of his age, including his half-brother and successor, by whose hand he fell, in retributive justice for the death of their other brother Fadrique. The legend of this prince's death has been variously given, and thus Salvador Bermudez de Castro, who has also a poem on the subject, takes some different details to those repeated by the Duke de Rivas. The traditions of the people have handed down Don Pedro's memory more favourably, and, perhaps, more justly, than the historians of the time, whose accounts no doubt were tinctured as darkly as they could be, partly to please the reigning monarch, and partly because Don Pedro had not been so submissive to priestly rule as they had desired. 39. Page. '"Yet, ah! those lovely bowers along," &c.

Mas, ay! aquellos pensiles No he pisado un solo dia Sin ver (sueños de mi mente!) La sombra de la Padilla,
 * Lanzando un hondo gemido

Cruzar leve ante mi vista,