Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1844-11-15
LEGEND OF
COUNT JULIAN AND HIS FAMILY,
BY WASHINGTON IRVING.


Tn the preceding legends has been darklv
Swallowed out true story of the woes of
Spain. Ii is story full of wholesome add
monition, rebukng the insolcnce of human
pride, and the vanity of human ambition,
and showing the futilhy of all greatness that
is not strongly based on virtue. We have
seen, in brief space of time. most of the ac-
tors in this historic drama disappearing, one
by one, from the scene, and going down con-
queror and conquered, to gloomy and un-
honorcd graves. 1t remains to close this
eventful history, by holding up as signal
warning, the fate of the traitor, whose per-
fdious scheme of vengeance brought ruin on
his native land
Many and various are the accounts given
in ancient chronicles of the fortunes of Count
Julian and his family; and many are the ira
diions on the subject still ex,ant among the
populace of Spain, and pcrpetuated in those
countless ballads sung by peasants and mu-
letters, which spread singular charm over
the whole of this romantic land.
He WHO has travelled in Spain in the true
way in which the country ought 10 be travel
led; soionrning in its remotest provinces;
rambling among the rugged dr(iles and Sc
cIuded valleys of its mountains and making
himself familiar with the people in their out
of-,he- way hamlcts, and rarely visits neigh
borhoods, will remember many group of
travellers and mulalecrs, gathered of an eve
ming around the door or the spacious hearth
of mountain venta, wrapped in their brown
cloaks, and listening with grave and pro-
found attention to the long historic ballad of
some rustic troubadour either recitcd with
the true ore rotunde and modulated cadences
of Spanish elocution or chanted to the tink-
ling of guitar. In tins way, he may have
heard the doleGn end of Count Julian and
his family recounted in Evolutionary rhymes.
The particulars, however, of the following
wild legend are chiefly gathered from the
writings of the pseudo Moor, RaSis, how far
they may be safely taken as historic facts 1t
is impossible now TO ascertain; we must con-
tent ourselves, therefor, with their answ erng
to the cxaclions of poetic Justice.
AS yet everything had prospered with
Count Julian. He had gratifed his VEN
eeance he had been successful in his trea-
son, and had acquired countless riches from
the ruin of his country. But it is not out
ward success that constitutes prosperity
The tree Aonrishcs with fruit and foliage
while blasted and whitening at the heart
Wherever he went Count Julian read hatred
in every eve. The Christians cursed him
as the cause Of al! their woe; the Moslems
despiscd and distrusted him as traitor
Men whispered together as he approached,
and then turned away in soon; and moth
ers snached away their children with horror
if he offered to caress them. He whercd
under the execration of his fellow men !; and
last, and worst of all, he began to loathe
himself. He tried in vain to persuade him
self that he had but taken justifabe VEN
geance: he felt that no personal wrong can
Justify the crime of treason to ones country.
For time, he sought in luxurious indul-
gence to soothe, or forget, the miseries of the
mind. He assembled round him every
pleasure and qualification that boundess
wealth could purchase; but all in vain. lie
had no relish for the dainties of his board
music had no charm wherewith to lull his
soul. and remorse drove slumber from his oil.
low. He sent to Centa for his wife Fradi-
ma, his daughter Florinda, and his youthful
son Alarbol hoping in the bosom of his
family to find that sympathy and kindness
which he could no longer meet with in the
world. Their presence, however, brought
him no alienation. Forinda, the daughter
of his heart, for whose sake he had underta.
ken this signal vengeance, was sinking vic.
tim to its effects. Wherever she went she
found herself bye-word of shame and re-
proach. The outrage she had suffered was
imputed tie her as wantonness, and her ca
lamty was magnifed into crime. The
Christians never mentioned her name with
out curse, and the Moslems, the gamers BY
her misfortune, spake of her only by the ap.
peliation of Cava, the vilest epithet they
could apply to woman.
But the opprobrium Of the world was no.
thing to the upbraiding of her own heart
She charged herself with all the miseries o
these disastrous wars; the deaths of so ma.
nv gallant cavaliers; the conquest and per.
dtion of her own country. The anguish 81
her mind preyed upon the beauty of her per.
son. Her eye, once soft and tender in its
expression, became wild and haggard her
cheek lost its bloom, and became hollow and
palld and at times there was desperation
in her words. When her father sought ia
embrace her, she Withdrew with shudderng
from his arms for she thought of his trea-
son, and the ruin it had brought upon
Spain. Her wrelchedness increased after
her return to her native country, until il rose
,oa degree of frenzy. One day when she