It was said this collar hid the
Talisman fidelity;
Never did the faithful creature
Leave the side of his dear master.
O that fierce fidelity!
It excites my startled feelings,
When I think how ’twas made public
Here, before our frighten’d presence.
O that day so full of horror!
Here, within this hall, it happen’d,
And as I to-day am sitting,
At the monarch’s table sat I.
At the high end of the table,
Where to-day young Don Henrico
Gaily tipples with the flower
Of Castilian chivalry,
On that day there sat Don Pedro
Darkly silent, and beside him,
Proudly radiant as a goddess,
Sat Maria de Padilla.
At the table’s lower end, where
Here to-day we see the lady
With the linen frill capacious,
Like a white plate in appearance.
Whilst her yellow face is gilded
With a smile of sour complexion,
Like the citron that is lying
On the plate already mention’d,—
At the table’s lower end here
Was a place remaining empty;
Some great guest of lofty station
Seem’d the golden seat to wait for.
Don Fredrego was the guest, for
Whom the golden seat was destined;
Yet he came not,—ah! now know we
But too well why thus he tarried.
Ah! that selfsame hour the wicked
Deed of blood was consummated,
And the innocent young hero
Suddenly attack’d and basely