Sinking I rise and dressing I undress,
The heaviest weight too lightly seems to fall;
I swim-yet rest in perfect quietness,

And sweetest sugar turns to bitterest gall.
The day is night to me,-and darkness day,
The time that's past is present to my thought;
Strength becomes weakness-hard is softest clay,
I linger, wanting what I wanted not.

I stand unmoved,-yet never, never stop, And what I seek not, that besets me wholly; The man I trust not is my firmest prop,

The low is high-the high runs ever lowly.

I chace what I can never hope to gain,
What's weak as sand-rope looks like firmest ground,
The whirlpool seems a fountain's surface plane,
And virtue but a weak and empty sound.

My songs are but an infant's uttering slow,
Disgusting in my eyes is all that's fair,
I turn, because I know not where to go,
I'm not at peace, but cannot war declare;
And thus it is, and such is my dark doom,
And so the world and so all nature fleets,
And I am curtained in the general gloom
And I must live-deceived by these deceits."

ez a dreyt seny en fau ço que no vull

e perden guany el temps cuxats mes tarda
e sens dolor mantes de vets me dull:
e simpl anyell tench per falsa guinarda.
Colgar me leu e vestin me despull
e trop leuger tot fexuch e gran Carch
e quant me bany, me pens que nom remull
e sucre dolz me Sembla fel amarch.

Lo iorn mes nuyt e fau clar dal escur

Lo temps passats mes presen cascun ora
el fort mes flach el blan tench molt per dur
e sens fallar me fall ço quem demora.

Nom part dun loch, e iames nom altur
So que no cerch inarçosament trob
Del qui nom fiu, me tench molt per segur
el baix mes alt el alt me sembla prop:

e vau cercar ço que nos pot trobar e ferma vey la Causa somoguda

Tornada.

Let each apply what may to each belong,
And by these rules contrarious wisely steer;
For right oft flows from darkness-covered wrong,
And good may spring from seeming evil here."*

Of Mosen Jaume Febrer, who is generally believed to have written about the middle of the thirteenth century, many poems exist in the Vatican library, but his great work is an account of the Cavaliers, engaged in the taking of Valencia, under King James the Conqueror, at which he was present. It is called The Book of Linages, and was first printed at Valencia, in 1746. We have seen ancient MSS. of this volume, all accompanied with painted escutcheons of the different knights celebrated in it. The editor calls the book

Pomell.

"De flors, les grans Trobes de Mosen Febrer
Escritor molt docte de este rich vergell
Que per aplaudirles com precios joyell
Antichs e modems, sa gloria han de sen.”

We are, however, fully persuaded that this composition has not the antiquity ascribed to it, and that its date is not more distant than the fifteenth century, probably than the beginning of the sixteenth. We will give a passage or two which are curious as illustrating the reputation which our country had then acquired, and which may serve to excite an inquiry as to

e lo fons gorch aygua sus part me par:
e ma virtut nom le prou nem aiuda.

Cant xant, me par de quem prench adular
e lo molt bell me sembla fer e leig
Abans min torn quen loch no vull anar
e no he pau, e no tench quim garreig
Açom ve tot per tal com vey ences
De revers fayts ayces mon e natura
Ez eu quim so en lurs fayts tan empes
quem es forçat de viure sens mesura."

Tornada.

* "Prenya xascu ço qui millor li es
De mon dit vers reversat descriptura
e sill mirats al dreists es al reves
Fraure porets del avol cas dretura.

E

VOL. IV. PART I.

the identity of the personages thus celebrated. The parts in italics seem to demonstrate that the poem is of a more modern date than has been generally attributed to it:

TROBA CXV.

"Briones. Jacques de Briones, que en la Ingalaterra De aquels richs Milorts tè la descendencia De la rosa blanca deixant à sa terra

Per guanyar honra sen vinque a la guerra
Portant en lo escut ab molta desencia
Un Lleopardo de or, en lo camp bermell
E una rosa bella, ab fulles de plata.
Estigue en Valencia, hon li cabe a ell
E a la camarada cases è fardell
Dempres a Oriola pasa e alli trata
De restasse a viure per terra barata."

"James de Briones (q. Brion or Byron ?) descended from the rich lords of England, of the white rose, leaving his country to acquire fame, and bearing on his shield a golden leopard on a vermillion field, and a beautiful rose with silver leaves, came to the conquest of Valencia; when he obtained a grant of houses and other goods for himself and for those who accompanied him. Afterwards he went to Orihuela, where he fixed himself, on account of the cheapness of the land."

Again in stanza ccxxxix; but we can neither give a guess at the names or the place referred to.

"Ferrer. Dels compts de Barbia, en la gran Bretanya

Rama es generosa En Bernat Ferrer

Que ab la gent Ingleza de que se acompanya
Ab un germa e fill, asisti en campanya
Servint al Rey Jaume, ab tot son valor
Sitiada Valencia. Portaba, Senyor,
Tres Bandes daurades sobre lo camp roig
Per mitg dividides del mateix color
En lo seu escut: premis son valor
Del rey adquiri, que le feren goig
Les Llochs, e les cases gotja de Ali-Boix."

"Of the counts of Barbea (?) in Great Britain, Don Bernard Ferrer (?) is a worthy branch. He, with the English people that accompanied him, and with a son and brother of his own, assisted King James in the campaign against Valencia with all his valor. He, Sir, bore three golden bands upon a red shield, divided in the middle by the same color; and he received, for the reward of his courage, from the king, the villages and the house which had belonged to the Moor Ali Boix."

Again:

TROBA CCLXXXI.

"Lesol. Un Milort Ingles ab gent de acaball
Vinguè à Buriana, è en lo escut un sol
Posaba, lluent; era el camp de aball
De purpura e gules; prenguè per estall
Prop de les muralles ab lo fenevol
Dar la baterìa, ab que el sarrahrì
Entregá la plaza; è al entrar en ella,
Lo Rey demanà: ; hon está el qui

Porta el sol por Armes? è ell al Rey ohri:
Sobre el sol posau una luna bella
Perque no tingau nenguna querella."

"An English lord came among the cavalry to the siege of Burriana. His shield was a splendid sun in a field of purple or gules. He undertook to beat down the walls with a battering ram, and when he had made the attack the place was delivered up by the Sarracen; and when the king entered he demanded, "Where is he who bears the sun for his arms?" and he was introduced to the king, who ordered him to place a fair moon above the sun, that he might not have cause to complain."

TROBA CCXCI.

"Loro. Feu lo rey mercet de part de Albalat
A Perot de Loro, un Milort Ingles,
Perque à la conquista fonch vengut de grat,
Per guanyar lo nom de valent Soldat.
Estiguè en lo Puig, é en Valencia après,
A su Costa propia: asisti ab valor
Fent moltes fazanyes dignes de alabar.
Portaba en lo escut en o Camp de or
Un Lléo de blau; sobre ell una flor

De Llis colorada. Varenlo matar
Los Moros de Pego dino de un olivar."

"The king conferred a part of Albalat on Peter of Loro, an English noble. He came to the conquest for no hope of reward, but to obtain the fame of a valiant soldier. He was at the attack of the mountain and of Valencia, and at his own cost. He was valiant, and his achievements deserved praise. On a field of gold he bore an azure lion, and about it a red fleur-de-lis. For his destruction of the Moors of Pego he merited an olive branch.

TROBA CCCXXV.

"Merchant. Jordi Mercader de la gran Bretanya Dels Milorts antichs noble descendent,

Ab Christia Valor pera la Campanya
Del rey vostrou paré dos beixells apanya
De sa hacienda propria ab tot bastiment :
Son fill los goberna, en lo escut posant
Marks de or, ab que pesa lo bon Mercader,
Sobre camp de roig, è un mot elegant :
RES LI FALL; é es cert, puix tan important
Fonch aquell socorro, com podeu saber
Lo Rey agrait lo Armì Caballer."

"George Merchant, the noble descendant of the ancient lords of Great Britain, out of Christian valor prepared, at his own expense, two vessels to assist your king in his campaigns. His son commanded them. Marks of gold, such as merchants employ, were on his shield, on a red ground, and this elegant motto, nothing wanting, and certain it is, that succour was most acceptable, as well you know. The grateful king armed him a knight."

TROBA CCCCLXXV.

"Sisternes. Quant a lo Rey Artus de la gran Bretanya Ab los seus Milorts en taula redona,

Donantlos tramuzos, els obligà ab manya
Contra els enemichs, que estan en Campanya,

Tants Caps li han de dar, quants tramuzos dona;
Dihuit ne cabaren á un Milort valent,

E els pinta en lo escut, dins de sis daliuets,
de or en colorat sobre camp de argent,

que es conten sis ternes; de est es descendent
Pere de Sisternes, que ab sos dos fillets
Té hui en Consentayna premi per sos fets."

"When King Arthur assembled his knights at his round table, he distributed lupins to each of them, and in his humour compelled them to promise, that for every lupin he gave they would bring him the head of an enemy. Eighteen fell to the portion of a valiant lord, who painted them in gold on his arms in six red dice, upon a silver field, which make six-très (Sisternes.) From him descended Peter de Sisternes, to whom and to his two children, Consentayna was given for his deeds of valor."

Ausias March is the prime glory of the Spanish Trobadors. He died in 1460. He is more known and quoted than any of the rest, and we shall therefore dwell less upon his compositions. His verses are harmonious, natural, and pleasing, pregnant with interesting truths and moral reflections. They are generally pervaded by that soft spirit of melancholy which is so often the favorite companion of the lyre. "Qui no es trist de mos dictats