"The Vision of Don Roderick; a Poem, by Walter Scott, Esq.," was
printed at Edinburgh by James Ballantyne & Co. in 1811. They are
the present representatives of that firm by whom it is here
reprinted. It was originally inscribed "to John Whitmore, Esq., and
to the Committee of Subscribers for relief of the Portuguese
Sufferers, in which he presides," as a "poem composed for the
benefit of the Fund under their management."

The Legend of Don Roderick will be given in the next volume of our
"Companion Poets," for Robert Southey founded upon it a Romantic
Tale in Verse, which is one of the best tales of the kind in the
English language. Southey's tale of Roderick himself was written at
the same time when Walter Savage Landor was writing a play upon the
subject, and Scott was, in the piece here reprinted, making it the
starting-point of a vision of the war in the Peninsula. The fatal
palace of Don Roderick may have been a fable connected with the
ruins of a Roman amphitheatre. The fable, as translated by Scott
from a Spanish History of King Roderick, was this:-

"One mile on the east side of the city of Toledo, among some rocks,
was situated an ancient Tower of magnificent structure, though much
dilapidated by time, which consumes all: four estadoes (i.e., four
times a man's height) below it, there was a Cave with a very narrow
entrance, and a gate cut out of the solid rock, lined with a strong
covering of iron, and fastened with many locks; above the gate some
Greek letters are engraved, which, although abbreviated, and of
doubtful meaning, were thus interpreted, according to the exposition
of learned men:- The King who opens this cave and discovers the
wonders will discover both good and evil things. Many kings desired