And Is It Among Rude Untutored Dales

Composed 1809.--Published 1809[A]

This and the remaining sonnets of 1809 were placed among those "dedicated to Liberty."--ED.

And is it among rude untutored Dales, There, and there only, that the heart is true? And, rising to repel or to subdue, Is it by rocks and woods that man prevails? Ah no! though Nature's dread protection fails, There is a bulwark in the soul. This knew Iberian Burghers when the sword they drew In Zaragoza, naked to the gales Of fiercely-breathing war. The truth was felt By Palafox, and many a brave compeer, Like him of noble birth and noble mind; By ladies, meek-eyed women without fear; And wanderers of the street, to whom is dealt The bread which without industry they find.

Palafox-y-Melzi, Don Joseph (1780-1847), immortalized by his heroic defence of Saragossa in 1808-9. He was of an old Aragon family, and entered the Spanish army at an early age. In 1808, when twenty-nine years of age, he was appointed governor of Saragossa, by the people of the town, who were menaced by the French armies. He defended it with a few men, against immense odds, and compelled the French to abandon the siege, after sixty-one days' attack, and the loss of thousands. Saragossa, however, was too important to lose, and Marshals Mortier and Moncy renewed the siege with a large army. Palafox (twice defeated outside) retired to the fortress as before, where the men, women, and children fought in defence, till the city was almost a heap of ruins. Typhus attacked the garrison within, while the French army assailed it from without. Palafox, smitten by the fever, had to give up the command to another, who signed a capitulation next day. He was sent a prisoner to Vincennes, and kept there for nearly five years, till the restoration of Ferdinand VII., when he was sent back on a secret mission to Madrid. In 1814 he was appointed Captain-General of Aragon; but for about thirty years--till his death in 1847--he took no part in public affairs.--ED.

VARIANTS:

1815.

... vales, 1809.

The word "soul" was italicised in the editions of 1809 to 1832.