[279] It was a Spanish tradition that the great bell of the cathedral of Saragossa always tolled spontaneously before a king of Spain died.
[280] “El que en buen hora nasco;” he that was born in happy hour. An appellation given to the Cid in the ancient chronicles.
[281] For this, and the subsequent allusions to Spanish legends, see The Romances, and Chronicle of the Cid.
[282] Barded, caparisoned for battle.
Scene VII.—The walls of the city. The plains beneath, with the Moorish Camp and Army.
Gonzalez, Garcias, Hernandez.
(A wild sound of Moorish music heard from below.)
Her. What notes are these in their deep mournfulness
So strangely wild?
Gar. ’Tis the shrill melody