Em 1811 Walter Scott , impressionado pelas vítimas portuguesas das Guerra Napoleónicas, escreveu The Vision of Don Roderickuma obra cuja rendimento da venda - cem guinéus - foi entregue ao Fundo de Socorro às vítimas portuguesas da invasão de Massena. Na foto, a parte referente à batalha de Albuera.
The Vision of Don Roderick; A Poem. By Walter Scott, Esq. Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co. For John Ballantyne and Co., Edinburgh; and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London. 1811. First Edition, First Impression:
The Vision of Don Roderick was written in celebration of Wellington's successes in the Peninsular Campaign, with all profits to be donated to Portuguese war sufferers. Composed in Spenserian stanzas, the poem was based on an episode in Ginés Pérez de Hita's Guerras civiles de Granada, one of Scott's favourite books as a boy. He began work on the poem at Ashestiel during the spring vacation of 1811 but found composition extremely hard-going. Upon completing the poem, he dismissed it in his correspondence as 'this patriotic puppet' (letter to John Morrit, 1 July 1811) and a mere 'Drum and Trumpet performance' (letter to William Hayley, 2 July 1811).
Scott derived his poem's scheme from Pérez Hita's story of Don Roderick, the last Gothic King of Spain, descending into an enchanted cave to learn the outcome of the Moorish invasion. Scott has two bronze giants reveal further visions of Spain's future: the Moorish dominion following Don Roderick's death, the restoration of Christian rule, the conquest of the New World, religious persecution, the slow decline of the increasingly corrupt Spanish court, down to the present day with Napoleon's invasion, the resistance of the Spanish patriots, and, finally, Wellington's brilliant victories.
The Vision of Don Roderick was written in celebration of Wellington's successes in the Peninsular Campaign, with all profits to be donated to Portuguese war sufferers. Composed in Spenserian stanzas, the poem was based on an episode in Ginés Pérez de Hita's Guerras civiles de Granada, one of Scott's favourite books as a boy. He began work on the poem at Ashestiel during the spring vacation of 1811 but found composition extremely hard-going. Upon completing the poem, he dismissed it in his correspondence as 'this patriotic puppet' (letter to John Morrit, 1 July 1811) and a mere 'Drum and Trumpet performance' (letter to William Hayley, 2 July 1811).
Scott derived his poem's scheme from Pérez Hita's story of Don Roderick, the last Gothic King of Spain, descending into an enchanted cave to learn the outcome of the Moorish invasion. Scott has two bronze giants reveal further visions of Spain's future: the Moorish dominion following Don Roderick's death, the restoration of Christian rule, the conquest of the New World, religious persecution, the slow decline of the increasingly corrupt Spanish court, down to the present day with Napoleon's invasion, the resistance of the Spanish patriots, and, finally, Wellington's brilliant victories.
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