55 



Howe'er inclin'd io doubt, yet soon I knew, 

 Though night couceal'd her features from mj' view, 

 That truth was stamp'd on every word she sí; id ; 

 So full of grief, so free from guilty dread : 

 And that bold love, to every danger blind, 

 Had sent her forth her slaughter'd Lord to fnul, 

 Who in the onset of our bloody strife, 

 For brave distinction sacrifis'd his life. 



Fill'd with compassion, when I saw her bent 

 To execute her chaste and fond intent, 

 I led her weeping to the higher spot. 

 To guard whose precincts was that night my lot ; 

 Securely there I begg'd her to relate 

 The perfect story of her various fate ; 

 From first to last her touching woes imparl, 

 And by the tale relieve her loaded heart. 



Ah ! she replied, relief I ne'er can know, 

 Till Death's kind aid shall terminate my woe ¡ 

 Earth for my ills no remedy supplies, 

 Beyond all sufF'rancc my afflictions rise : i 



Yet, though the task will agonize my soul, 

 Of my sad story I will tell the whole ; 

 Grief, thus inforc'd, my life's weak thread may rend, 

 And in the killing tale my pangs may end. 



The fair Indian then relates to Ercilla the particulars of her 

 life, in a speech of considerable length : — she informs him, that 

 her name is Tegualda ; — that she is the daughter of the Chieftain 

 Brancol ; — that her father had often i)ressed her to marry, which 

 she had for some time declined, though solicited by many of the 

 noblest Youths in her country ; till, being appointed, in compli- 

 ment to her beauty, to distribute the prizes, in a scene of public 

 festivity, to those who excelled in the manly exercises, she was 

 struck by the accomplishments of a gallant Youth, named Crcpino, 

 as she bestowed on him the reward of his victories ; — that she 

 declared her choice to her father, after perceiving the Youth in- 

 spired with a mutual affection for her ; — that the old Chieftain 

 was delighted by her chusing so noble a character, and their mar- 

 riage had been publickly solemnized but a month from that day. 

 On this conclusion of her story, she bursts into new agonies of 

 grief, and intreats Ercilla to let her pay her last duties to her hus- 

 band ; or rather, to unite them again iu a common grave, Ercilla 



