The Tale of Alvarez

WHAT IS, IS BEST! a maxim wise,
Wherein our dearest comfort lies;
Which gives us spirit to abide,
Whate'er mischances may betide,
Care, disappointment, pain, or woe,
In our precarious state below.
This keeps the meek and pious mind
Collected, patient, and resign'd;
This dries the momentary tear
That falls for short afflictions here,
And bids our hopes and wishes rest
On Him, who knows our welfare best;
Who can life's heaviest ills repair
With joys in a sublimer sphere.

Shame to the man who would remove
This basis of our trust above!
Who dares deride, with impious jest,
The refuge of the sorrowing breast!
Shame and contrition be his share!
Shame to the libertine VOLTAIRE!

In fam'd Madeira's woody Isle,
That rocky, but prolific soil,
From noble Portuguese deriv'd,
In wealth and rank ALVAREZ liv'd.
For (all the pious tributes paid
Due to his father's honour'd shade)
He finds with gold his coffers fill'd,
His fields their plenteous harvests yield;
His board with plate abundant shines,
And purple clusters load his vines.

To filial love and duty true,
His father's rules he kept in view,
Freely he succour'd old and poor,
But chas'd the slothful from his door:
To those who might deserve his grace,
He strove to fill his father's place;
Servants of zeal and honesty
He held as friends in low degree.

Oft as he travers'd wood or plain,
Contemplating his menial train,
Possess'd of sentiments refin'd,
Thus would he commune with his mind:
"Ah! should not they, whom fortunes rude
"Doom to a life of servitude,
"At least, receive a courteous smile,
"To mitigate their sense of toil?
"Ye, for whose pleasures others groan,
"One moment, make their state your own;
"What they deserve with grace requite,
"And make their weary labour light."

Innately good, ALVAREZ' mind
By education was refin'd;
Devout instruction, in his youth,
Had train'd him in the paths of truth,
And various maxims sound and sage
Were written clear on mem'ry's page;
But graven chief, o'er all the rest,
This golden rule, WHAT IS, IS BEST.
To a pure mind and gentle heart
What more could Heaven itself impart,
Than that which tranquilizes life,
And sweetens all—a virtuous wife?

Among the rival fair, who then
Upheld in Fonchale beauty's reign,
Rich SANCHIO's daughter, ISABEL,
By all was granted to excel;
Yet not the beauteous form alone,
Or dimpled smiles distinction won,
Not outward symmetry of feature,
But the instinctive spark of nature,
The glance, with fire electric fraught,
The eye that spoke, the brow that thought;
These were the graces, that impress'd
With ardent passion ev'ry breast.

No wonder all essay'd to move
Bright ISABELLA's heart to love;
On her each youth's attention hung,
And GUZMAN danc'd, and FLORIO sung;
And VASQUEZ tried her taste to hit
With modes of dress, and strokes of wit.

Not always let the Fop suppose
'Tis the embroidery on his clothes,
The ogled glance, or forward air,
Or servile flattery wins the fair:
Females there are of taste refin'd,
Who see the features in the mind:
ALVAREZ' manners, modest grace,
His fair soul beaming in his face,
Alone had prevalence to move
Fair ISABELLA's heart to love.
The sire approv'd the daughter's choice,
And, with benign parental voice,
SHAKESPEARE.
His ISABELLA's dower and charms
Consign'd to good ALVAREZ' arms.

HENRIQUEZ, 'mongst the suitor train,
Vindictive, arrogant, and vain,
Enrag'd his rival's bliss beheld,
And black revenge his bosom swell'd;
But, coward-like, in treach'ry's veil
He sought his rancour to conceal,
Till precious mischief might destroy
Their mutual bliss, their bridal joy.

Now by the dearest tie combin'd
The sacred union of the mind,
Their tastes alike, their wishes one,
Each for the other liv'd alone;
With hearts elate, and prospects gay,
The rapt'rous hours danc'd swift away.

Alas! how soon can fate severe
Our brightest hopes disperse in air!
Lo! black descends the ev'ning cloud,
The northern blast is strong and loud,
And all the hemisphere around
Seems in a sable mantle bound:
A summons, of unusual sort,
Cites good ALVAREZ to the port,
Its purport but in part reveal'd,
Part in mysterious hints conceal'd.
Soft ISABEL the mandate reads,
And the requir'd compliance dreads,
For angry gusts now louder rage,
And an increasing storm presage;
The billet firm ALVAREZ hears,
And, smiling, tries to chance her sears.

As to the call ALVAREZ speeds,
And in his haste incautious treads,
The marble stair his step betrays,
And, from the summit to the base,
Headlong he dashes—snapp'd in twain
Each tibia strong, he smiles in pain,
Smiles, on revolving in his breast,
His great support—WHAT IS, IS BEST.

Relief obtain'd, upon his bed
The patient sufferer gently laid,
Kindly solicitous to seize
The first short interval of ease,
Thus sooths the circle of his friends,
Which round the mournful couch attends.

"My wife! my kindred! nay, restrain
"Those tears, they aggravate my pain.
"O! rather let your thanks arise,
"In grateful tribute, to the skies,
"That, by indulgent Heav'n's award,
"In such extremes, my life was spar'd!
"That graciously he deigns extend
"The bliss I have so newly gain'd.
"My dearer self, my sorrowing wife,
"She teaches me to value life.
"Tho' transient suff'ring I sustain,
"Ought I—nay, dare I to complain?

"Shall we at God's great hand receive
"The comforts he vouchsafes to give,
"And shall we not, with patience due,
"Receive, and bear affliction too?
"Perhaps the pain I suffer here,
"(However tiresome and severe)
"Tho' unperceiv'd by our weak eyes,
"Is but a blessing in disguise.
"'Tis so; there is a voice within,
"Tells me repining is a sin:
"Unable to explore the ends,
"All-guiding Providence intends,
"With holy confidence I rest
"On this great truth—WHAT IS, IS BEST."

The Power on high vouchsaf'd an ear,
And smil'd propitious on his prayer;
The fractur'd members were replac'd
With more, far more, than usual haste,
Which time and temperance restore
Firm, straight, and useful as before.

Now daily thanks, and fervent praise,
To heaven devout ALVAREZ pays,
For spirits, health, and strength, repair'd,
By late affliction more endear'd;
His kindred, friends, once more he sees
With looks of joy, and hearts at ease,
And hallows, with an annual fast,
The date of his misfortune past.

One doubt alone disturbs his mind,
His best enquiries fail to find
From whence that summons could have come,
That urg'd him to forsake his home,
On that tempestuous close of day,
Which doom'd him to mischance a prey.

When ten revolving seasons more
Of nuptial comfort had flown o'er,
And Heaven ordain'd a blooming race
Should rise in goodness, as in grace,
Their parent's ardent hopes to crown
With truth and virtue, like their own,
A murd'rer (doom'd to expiate
A life of crimes) in awful state
Before ALVAREZ dwelling pass'd,
That morn, that wretched morn his last!
The culprit cast a conscious look,
And thus his confessor bespoke:

"Father, thou tell'st me that, in vain,
"Heaven's pardon I attempt to gain,
"Unless I freely here confess
"Each meditated wickedness;
"Let me then to ALVAREZ kneel,
"And one oppressive crime reveal."

ALVAREZ comes! the murd'rer straight
With shame relieves his bosom's weight.

"Hear, good ALVAREZ, and forgive;
"Recall to mind that fatal eve,
"(Some years o'er-past) when gloom profound
"Obscur'd the whole horizon round,
"A treacherous billet reach'd thy hand,
"Contriv'd to lure thee tow'rd the strand;
"Mine was the mischievous intent,
"This impious hand the mandate sent.
"Hadst thou thereto obedience paid,
"And from thy happy mansion stray'd,
"Ere twenty paces thou hadst past,
"That fatal eye had been thy last:
"Lur'd by the cursed thirst of gain,
"This arm had good ALVAREZ slain.
"HENRIQUEZ sought to have imbrued
"My soul in thy devoted blood;
"He instant fled to INDIA's land,
"Dreading the law's vindictive hand;
"Or keen compunction and remorse
"Might urge him to that devious course.
"One crime may have been his alone,
"I for variety atone:
"He may, with hope, for grace apply,
"Reform, and live; but I must dye."

'My free remission thus receive,
'I bless, lament thee, and forgive.'

So spoke the Sire, then sped away
To his dear inmates to convey
What the sad culprit had confess'd,
Then his sweet offspring thus address'd:

"My children, ever bear in thought
"The lesson I so oft have taught;
"Declar'd I not, then when I lay
"To sad mischance a crippled prey,
"That stroke, (tho' hid from our weak eyes)
"Might be a "blessing in disguise?"
"And was it not? what had I lost,
"Had not the murd'rer's aim been cross'd!
"I had not now, with rapture, press'd
"The best of consorts to my breast;
"Nor pour'd upon my offspring's head
"Such tears, as only fathers shed.
"Oh, as ye journey on in life,
"Thro' paths of labour, woe or strife,
"Unshrinking, unrepining, bear
"Whate'er afflictions interfere,
"Be ever on your minds impres'd,
"This sacred truth, WHAT IS, IS BEST!