Note 1 — Chapter II

An old tradition supports the imaginative prejudice which persuaded Corinne that the diamond could forewarn its wearer of its giver's treachery. Frequent allusions are made to this legend by Spanish poets, in their peculiar manner. In one of Calderon's tragedies, Ferdinand, Prince of Portugal, prefers death in chains, before the crime of surrendering to a Moorish king the Christian city which his brother, King Edward, offers for his ransom. The Moor, enraged at this refusal, subjects the noble youth to the basest ignominy. Ferdinand, in reproof, reminds him that mercy and generosity are the truest characteristics of supreme power. He cites all that is royal in the universe—the lion, the dolphin, the eagle, amid animals; and seeks even among plants and stones for traits of natural goodness, which have been attributed to those who lord it over the rest. Thus he says, the diamond, which resists the blow of steel, resolves itself to dust, that it may inform its master if treason threatens him. It is impossible to know whether this mode of considering all nature as connected with the destiny and sentiments of man is mathematically correct; but it is ever pleasing to imagination; and poetry, especially that of Spain, has owed it many great beauties. Calderon is only known to me by the German translation of Wihelm Schlegel; but this author, one of his own country's finest poets, has the art of transporting into his native language, with the rarest perfection, the poetic graces of Spanish, English, and Italian—giving a lively idea of the original, be it what it may.

NoteTR.—Had Oswald's gift been his mother's wedding-ring, that incident would have been more affecting than so fanciful a fable.