“That thus the stranger would have Spain defended,
I sooner, by my fathers’ bones, had died,
Than Leon’s fate with Albion thus have blended.
For vain the seas of treasure, blood expended,
If fire and sword our homes and hearths assail.
The standard joint I raised, yet now would rend it.
While England’s lions roar, Castile may wail
Her lions mute; ’tis shrieks are borne upon the gale!”
XXVI.
It was a blessed thought—so Carlos deemed;