^ /--',' 
 
 / J '^ 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, g 
 
 Shel! 
 
 Hi.A^ 
 
 lli'^^'"^^^ STATES OF AMERICA. , 
 
ARTELOISE 
 
 A EOMANCE 
 
 OF 
 
 KING ARTHUR AND KNIGHTS OF 
 THE ROUND TABLE; 
 
 BY 
 
 J. DUNBAR HYLTON, M. D., LL. D., 
 
 ,/ 7 7 7 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE BRIDE OK GETTYSBURG," "BETRAYED," "THEPRiESlD- 
 ICIDE," AND " THE HEIR OF LYOLYNN," ETC., ETC. 
 
 PALMYRA, NEW JERSEY: 
 THE HYLTON PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
 
 1887. 
 
^o 
 
 A^ 
 
 ^^>^^ 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART FIRST. (Page 1.) 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 The Origin of the Tale. 
 
 Arthur, King of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. A 
 Partial List of the Knights of the Round Table. Their Useful- 
 ness. The Feast at Camelot. The Tournament ; Beau De Main 
 is by King Arthur Declared Victor; is Crowned with a Wreath 
 by Clotilda. A Description of that Maid. Her Birth and Edu- 
 cation. An Old Man Enters at the Feast with a Sword. Hands 
 the same to the King. All Endeavor to Draw it from the 
 Sheath, and all Fail to do so except Beau De Main, who 
 Draws it Easily. A Descri[)tion of the Sword. A Description 
 of Arthur's Halls. The Old Man and Beau De Main go on a 
 Quest. They Reach the Cave of a Dragon. A Description of 
 the Monster. The Knight's Prayer for Victory. He Slays the 
 Monster. He Passes with his Guide Through a Secret Passage 
 to the Towers of Arteloise. A Description of Those Bulwarks. 
 His Conquest of the Place, which Ends the First Day. 
 
 PART SECOND. (Page 40.) 
 
 Argument. 
 
 Time— Night. The Knight with his Guide seeks an En- 
 trance to the Towers. They see Wizards Dancing round a 
 Skull, within which Burns a Light. They give Battle to the 
 Knight and are Overthrown. He Extinguishes their Light by 
 the Dragon's Blood. The Towers Reel and Rock, and over all 
 
 III 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 Instantly is Wrought a Change. The Hymn of the Captives. 
 They are sought for and set at Liberty, but their Succor arrives 
 too late. They Die of Exliaustion while Drinking from a Foun- 
 tain of Water. The Towers and all their Halls are Explored. 
 The Strange and Wonderful Scenes therein Found. The Prophet 
 of the Shrine. His Anger at seeing the Deathless Jew. The 
 Jew Confronts him with equal Scorn. After a Wordy War 
 the Prophet strikes his Shield with his Sword, which sets up 
 a Terrible Noise. Then the Prophet Mysteriously Disappears. 
 
 PART THIRD. (Page 80.) 
 
 Argument. 
 
 A Continuation of the Description of the Scenes of Wonder 
 found within the Towers of Arteloise. The Sculptured Walls, 
 Floors and Ceiling Described. The Guide's Sudden Disappear- 
 ance. The Knight enters the Forbidden Halls, where Dwell 
 the Spirits of Fire. He Fights with them and they are Over- 
 thrown. Their Wonderful Book. He passes on to another 
 Hall, and finds Clotilda and her Attendant Maidens l,ying on 
 Couches in an Enchanted Sleep, brought about b}^ the Artifice 
 of Merlin. He Overthrows all the Temptations of Sin. The 
 Halls Catch on Fire. His Prayer for Deliverance. The Place 
 is suddenly filled with a Polar Atmosphere, wliich as suddenly 
 becomes Heated, and Expands and Blows the Place to Atoms, 
 leaving Clotilda and her Maidens Unharmed and still Asleep. 
 
 PART FOURTH. (Page 112.) 
 
 Argument. 
 
 Griselda, the Daughter of King Pellinore, meets the Knight 
 on his Passage to another Tower, wherein is Heard Melodious 
 •Music. Description of Griselda. She goes with the Knight to 
 
CONTENTS. V 
 
 Slay a Dragon that has Guarded the Cyclops' Treasures for 
 Two Thousand Years. They meet the Dragon at the Mouth of 
 his Cavern. The Knight gives Battle to the Dragon, and while 
 the Monster's Breast is Impaled on the boss of his Shield 
 Griselda Pierces it to Death with Arrows from her Bow. At 
 this Necromancy gives a Dying Groan. The Hills around 
 Quake, and a General Change Overtakes the Appearance of the 
 Yalley. The Moon Rises. How all Nature Looks under the 
 Brightness of her Beams. Both the Maiden and the Knight 
 tell' how they have Sought for the Holy Grail. Sweet Music 
 issues from everything Around, and Lulls all Nature to Sweet 
 Repose. Two Songs, coming from an LTnknown Source, are 
 Sung and are Paradox. Again all Space and Earth are Teeming 
 with Music. The Heavens shoAv Wonderful Signs, and a Bridge 
 of Light Instantl}^ Spans from the Sky to the Hill wdiereon 
 stand the Knight and Maiden, and a Throng of Angels come 
 Descending on the Bridge, Bearing to the Knight and Maiden 
 the Holy Grail. It is Given to the Two, and after the Foremost 
 Angel Pours a Blessing on the Maid and Knight they take 
 tlieir Departure over the bright Bridge of Light back to Heaven, 
 which Ends the First Niulit. 
 
 PART FIFTH. (Page 149 ) 
 
 Argument. 
 
 The Second Day Arrives. The Sunrise. How the Earth 
 and all Nature are Delighted at his Coming, and how every- 
 thing Shines, Grows and Teems with Life under the Glory of 
 his Beams. Griselda Carries the Holy Grail to where Clotilda 
 and her Maidens still Lie iu tlieir Euchanted Sleep. She Wakens 
 them. Clotilda tells haw Merlin Wrought his Enchantment 
 over them. Merlin's Sudden Appearance. A Description of 
 hira. His Wishes. His Prophecies. Two Great Battles to be 
 
 >1 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 Fought. He requests Beau De Main to go to the Polar Regions 
 and bring away his Daughter, Ursula, Avho has there been Sleep- 
 ing an Enchanted Sleep forever Six Hundred Years. Fate has 
 Decreed that no one shall Waken her but Beau De Main. King- 
 Arthur and his Knights arrive at the Towers of Arteloise. 'J'he 
 Deathless Jew leads them to the Dragon's Cave, from which 
 they carry the Enormous Treasures of the Giants of Old and 
 their Cyclops Allies. A Description of the Wonderful Amount 
 •of Treasure. Lions, Elephants and all manner of Beast are 
 there found cast out of Solid Gold. The Knight, with the 
 Deathless Jew, sets sail, which Ends the Second Day. As the 
 Mortal-made Armor that he wears would be useless in Battle 
 againstthe Polar Spirits lie has to obtain Arms wrought by Yulcan. 
 His Guide steers the Barge to the Straits of Hercules. They 
 enter the Mediterranean Sea and sail to the Isle of Sicil}' , where 
 they enter the Gorge that leads them to the Forges of Vulcan. 
 A Description of the Place. Vulcan measures the Knight for a 
 Suit of Armor. His Forges glow and his three Cyclops Smiths 
 aid in building the Armor. It is completed and the Knight 
 dons it. A General Description of Vulcan's Wonderful Work- 
 manship, of the Shield and its artistic engraving. A Spear ol' 
 Enormous Size and Strength is next forged. Then an Axe of 
 Redundant Brightness. Th*ni the Sword is forged by Vulcan 
 and all three of his Cyclops Smitlis. Vulcan places a Vast 
 Wedge on an Anvil, and, witli one terrific blow, cuts both Wedge 
 and Anvil in two with the Sword, without the least injury to its 
 keenness. The Kniglit with his Armor leaves Vulcan's Works, 
 guided by the Jew. Tliey sail to the Polar Seas. A General 
 Description of the Whole Place. The Beasts there found Frozen 
 in the Ice. What caused the Polar Mountains of Ice. An Open 
 Sea found. How it Originated, and for what Purpose. The 
 Knight meets the Might of the Polar Spirits. A Battle ensues, 
 in which those Spirits are Overthrown. Ursula found and roused 
 from her Sleep. Is brought away to Britain. A Description 
 of the Places they pass, which Ends the Second Night. 
 
CONTENTS. VII 
 
 PART SIXTH. (Page 201.) 
 
 Argument. 
 
 The Birth, Life and Education of Ursula. Her Fondness 
 for tiie Tourney, caused by the Teaching of her Sire, Merlin. 
 Her Cruelty and Pride. The Knight carries her to the Halls of 
 King Arthur, where the Extreme Beauty of her Charms creates 
 Quite an Excitement amongsc the Heroes of the Round Table, 
 and even on the King, A Herald enters, bearing a Broken Cross, 
 and tells of the Approach of the Invading Roman Fleet. 
 Amidst the Darkness and Confusion that ensues Ursula and the 
 Jew depart and Night sets in, which closes the Third Day. 
 The King orders the Fires for Signals of Distress to be lit on 
 the Hill-tops, to warn his Allies of his and their own Danger. 
 Their glow lights up the Hills, and soon the answering Signals 
 are seen. The Forges are all fired and the old armor repaired, 
 and new ones made. A General Description of the Stir and 
 Activity displayed amongst the Troops throughout the Night. 
 King Arthur, armed and on horseback, departs from his Follow- 
 ers. His Adventures. His Prayer. The History of the Death- 
 less Jew. His Mode of Setting Fire to the Roman Fleet. He 
 suddenly Departs in Search of Beau de Main, and the King and 
 Ursula are left alone on tlie Hill for the Night. Their Admira- 
 tion for each other, which Ends the Third Night. 
 
 PART SEVENTH. (Page 240.) 
 
 Argument. 
 
 Day Dawns. The Gathering of the Allies and Preparing for 
 Battle. Their Appearance in Battle Array. The Names of some 
 of King Arthur's Knights. A Description of the Roman Host. 
 TliB Appearnnce of the Prophet of the Shrine. He Marslials 
 his Host for Battle. The First Day's Battle. The Dctermina- 
 
VIII CONTENTS. 
 
 tion of either Host to Win. Tlie Heroic Deeds of Arthur and 
 Beau de Main. Ursula and tlie Deathless Jew with their Mirrors 
 Fire the Roman i^'leet. Its Destruction, ^^ight closing in, puts 
 an end to the First Day's Battle, which ends the Fourth Day. 
 After Sentinels are placed to Watch the Enem}', the Britons 
 take Rest and Refreshments. Arthur and Beau de Main Dis- 
 cover Clotilda wounded on the Battle-Field amongst the Slain. 
 How she became Wounded. Her Death. Their Sorrow over 
 her Fate. They then both go to the ''I'ent of King Pellinore. A 
 Description of that King. Arthur and his Knights join in the 
 Feast that is there Spread. Pellinore Sings a Love Tale. AVhon 
 the Song ends he finds Arthur and his Knights fast asleep. Day 
 Dawns. Both Armies Drawn up in Battle Array. How they 
 Looked. The Second Daj^'s Battle. The Fierceness of the Con- 
 flict. A Knight sheathed in White Armor rides ui) to the Roman 
 Line that walled in the Prophet from Harm. He breaks through 
 it. Drives his Spear through the Prophet, and while he is in 
 the act of Falling the Knight Cuts his Head off", and casts it up 
 high in air to the view of all. The Desperate Struggle of Arthur, 
 Beau de Main and Pellinore to save the life of the Knight in 
 White Armor. He is killed by the Romans. The Earth Quakes, 
 and Merlin arises amidst the Battle. His Magic Banner. It 
 waA^es in Windless Air as in a Storm. A Description of the 
 Banner. The Battle ends with the Total Destruction of the 
 Roman Army. The Earth Quakes, and Merlin, wrapping his 
 Banner around his child, departs mysteriously. A general 
 silence ensues. All being Over-fatigued with the Toil of the Day, 
 Rest where they are. Night having closed in. Griselda, witli the 
 Holy Grail, meets Beau de Main. They exchange mutual Sen- 
 timents of Love. The Deathless Jew Approaches them. Joins 
 their Hands, Blesses them and tells them that he is a Rabbi and 
 that they are Wed, which closes the Story. 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 To My Son. 
 
 Among the many races found 
 
 Within wide Nature's spacious bound 
 
 Breathes there a maiden or a youth, 
 
 Or aged dame, or man, forsooth, 
 
 Wi»o does not lend a willing ear 
 
 Strange stories of the Past to hear? 
 
 Though they be wild and void of truth 
 
 As is a rock of love or ruth, 
 
 Be Avild as ever Fiction drew, 
 
 Or in Romance's regions grew. 
 
 If in the tale were love and woe, 
 
 And pains and joys we .nortals know, 
 
 And feel and love or hate and fear, 
 
 The story finds a willing ear. 
 
 The Arabian Nights sliall please 
 
 Both old and young, on land or seas, 
 
 While ages on their ilight proceed 
 
 As in the past, where man can read. 
 
 Though Homer's songs three thousand years 
 
 Have sounded on the human ears, 
 
 Three thousand years to come and moi-c 
 
 His songs shall sound on every shore. 
 
 Wherever breathes a human soul 
 
 Whose feeling noble thoughts control. 
 
 He'll be the rich, exhaustless mine, 
 
 Where delighted sport the Sacred Nine. 
 
 Wliju l)ut a boy behind my plow 
 
 I sang his songs, and sing them now ; 
 
 Nor shall he ever cease to charm 
 
 Me through all toil, and it disarm 
 
 IX 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 Of weariness, and pain and care, 
 And all that doth make wear and tear 
 On human tissue, but keep me strong, 
 While toiling I shall sing his song. 
 Ort when a boy my teachers sought 
 On Euclid's page to bind my thought, 
 Tn problems there ni_v mind invoh-e 
 
 
 Archimedes might gladly solve. 
 Away from them I swiftly slid, 
 Within the woods all day I hid, 
 And read Shah Namoh or the Cid, 
 Or, foodlesR, there I dwelt all da}', 
 Feasting on the Nibelungen Lay. 
 Tasso's or Virgil's songs I read, 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 Or tales of Dante filled my head ; 
 Nor in those da^'s I e'er forgot 
 The immortal poet, Walter Scott. 
 But all the bards of ancient time, 
 Or mQdern daj's, whate'er their rhyme, 
 Of Southern or of Northern clime. 
 Of lands throughout the East or West, 
 Old Ossian I then loved the best. 
 
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 He was my solace, my delight, 
 My joy b}" day, my dream by night. 
 The more I conned him o'er and o'er 
 The more he warmed my bosom's core. 
 His tales of love, and war, and woe, 
 Made all my soul with wonder glow. 
 Whole daj's and nights did Ossian 's page 
 
XII DEDICATION. 
 
 Enraptured all my soul engage. 
 Fingal's great deeds, in war and peace. 
 His triumphs, his glory's grand increase, 
 My boyish soul with daring fraught, 
 Till seemed beside that king I fought ; 
 Seemed I rushed with Ossian o'er the field, 
 And met the battle on my bossy shield ; 
 Stood by the tuneful warrior's side, 
 And wept with him when noble Oscar died. 
 No matter what or how we sing, 
 Or strike the lyre's sounding string. 
 If short or long, we make the line 
 When come in aid the tuneful Nine, 
 If we some noble feelings bring- 
 Within the tales we tell or sing — 
 Something to move the joy or woe, 
 Or yearnings that we mortals know. 
 No matter if we limn the form 
 Of the grim spirit of the storm, 
 Place him on heights stupendous hurled, 
 Midst clouds above a moving world, 
 His meteor-banner there unfurled 
 To storms and lightnings round him twirled 
 Or place him on the ocean's wave, 
 To give the bounding bark its grave. 
 So that we fill the human soul 
 With wonder, pity, joy or dole; 
 Teach there's a path that should be trod 
 By mortals that leads up to God, 
 Where they shall view the final end — 
 One Judge, one God, one Father, Friend ; 
 Or if we limn the rainbow's form 
 At eve, amidst the dying storm. 
 And paint the hills with sunset glow, 
 While floods his beams of glory show, 
 
DEDICATION. xill 
 
 While skipping lambs and grazing sheep 
 
 All peaceful throng the grassy steep, 
 
 And shepherds watchful vigils keep; 
 
 Or paint with ever}^ rural charm 
 
 The pleasures on a Jersey farm, 
 
 Where every joy of mortal life 
 
 Around has Nature scattered rife ; 
 
 Or lead the reader through a vale, 
 
 Flowers all sides the eye assail, 
 
 Into the fields of choicest fruits. 
 
 To pluck whate'er his fancy suits, 
 
 No matter what we tell or sing, 
 
 So strictly we to Nature cling — 
 
 Nature, man's uiortal, final goal. 
 
 When God emancipates his soul ; 
 
 Nature that unto dust shall bring 
 
 His form and every mortal thing, 
 
 And scatter on the tempest's pride 
 
 His dust o'er all her regions wide; 
 
 And Avho at last shall bow her head, 
 
 And, hoary, slumber with the dead — 
 
 That path be by her spirit trod 
 
 That brings us face to face with God. 
 
 Some mortals on this planet dwell 
 
 Who doubt all things that poets tell, 
 
 Believe no more that Arthur lived 
 
 Than mountains through a screen were sieved 
 
 Of meshes half an inch in size 
 
 Ere they did from earth's surface rise, 
 
 Though they were just as huge and vast 
 
 As now when they those meshes past. 
 
 They even doubt this spacious earth 
 
 From the Almighty had its birth, 
 
 Tliat it alone through Chance was born, 
 
 And all the worlds that space adorn ; 
 
XIV DEDICATION. 
 
 But who is Chance? Who did all this? 
 
 Who formed all Space's vast abyss? 
 
 How Chance did into being move 
 
 And make all things they cannot prove, 
 
 And when we all their theories view, 
 
 And search and sift them through and through, 
 
 We find their theories all unsound, 
 
 And they the only liars found. 
 
 That Arthur lived I well believe, 
 
 It a historic truth receive, 
 
 And see no more to doubt in him 
 
 Than fish do in the waters swim. 
 
 Or birds fly through the yielding air, 
 
 Or earth blooms with its flowers fair, 
 
 Or storms the waves of ocean roll 
 
 With force no mortal can control ; 
 
 Or that the hills my hands can lift, 
 
 And them from off their bases shift. 
 
 Or I the sun could drag to earth, 
 
 And place him on my little hearth ; 
 
 Or I could stop the Comet's car. 
 
 And load it with the Polar Star. 
 
 Yea, let the skeptics doubt the birth 
 
 Of good King Arthur on this earth, 
 
 Deny him all his fame and worth. 
 
 And prowess of unmeasured girth ; 
 
 We'll war 'gainst them both day and night, 
 
 And we shall conquer in the fight. 
 
 My son, the winds are wild and shrill, 
 
 They drive the snow o'er glen and hill ; 
 
 The night with all its clouds is stored, 
 
 And not a planet is abroad ; 
 
 Deep darkness fills all sky and space, 
 
 And over all of Nature's face 
 
 No object through the night we trace. 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 But let the night be as it will, 
 And blasts scream over moor and hill 
 Warm beside our blazing hearth, 
 We'll listen to the tempest's mirth ; 
 Be just as happy and as gay 
 As winds that rough the forests sway. 
 Come, let's broach the ruddy wine 
 Drink healths unto the Sacred Nine, 
 And to the Spirit of the Soil, 
 Who ever doth reward man's toil. 
 ITail to the Spirit of the Land, 
 Who gives us food on every hand, 
 Who fills the earth with germs of life, 
 And crowns it all with fruitage rife ; 
 Who makes the vine on hill and field 
 Its purple, ample harvest yield, 
 From which we press the luscious wine, 
 
 Which fills the veins with glow divine 
 
 Hail 1 hail to Ceres ever blest I 
 
 May every bliss her heart invest 1 
 
 The goddess of the wholesome corn, 
 
 That doth with vigor man adorn, 
 
 That gives him muscle, brain and bone, 
 
 And spirit of a lofty tone ; 
 
 Hail to the goddess, all divine, 
 
 And to her daughter, Proserpine, 
 
 Who crown the earth with corn and wine! 
 
 Who make the vine yield well and live 
 
 When man it proper care will give. 
 
 My song unto its end has run, 
 
 And now its dedication's done. 
 
 Come, bring the wine ; 'tis Christmas Eve, 
 
 Mai;ls round the altars flowers weave ; 
 
 To-morrow brings the hapi:)y morn 
 
 The Saviour of this World was born. 
 
 XV 
 
XVI 
 
 A Jersey Farm. 
 
ARTELOISE. 
 
 PART T. 
 
 I. 
 
 A story of our fathers 
 
 In the misty da3^s of old, 
 Their deeds of daring and their tourneys, 
 
 Their battles fierce and bold; 
 Their high feasts and merr}' meetings, 
 
 Their love, their hate, their joys and woes, 
 And of their dread necromancers 
 
 This ancient story shall disclose. 
 And how in Etna's fiery caves, 
 
 Within the mighty Cyclops' den, 
 Were forged on thundering anvils. 
 
 Immortal arms for godlike men. 
 The shield no earthly spear could pierce, 
 
 The breakless, adamantine helm. 
 The sword and axe, that aye in fight 
 
 Would every enemy o'erwhelm. 
 The morion before whose sheen 
 
 The hardiest foemen quail, 
 By the light it threw, full well they knew 
 
 Immortal Vulcan forged the mail. 
 And how in rocky caves of hills. 
 
 Guarded safe by dragons bold. 
 Lie enormous hoarded treasures 
 
 Of glittering gems and gold. 
 And how a knight of fearless prowess, 
 
 With soul untouched by mortal sin, 
 
ARTELOISE 
 
 As prophesied by Merlin's breath, 
 Did the countless treasure win. 
 
 Of gallant knights and ladies fair, 
 
 Whom grisly giants sought to wrong; 
 
 Of courts of kings and castles strange, 
 I yet shall tell you in this song. 
 
 II. 
 
 A king in ancient Britain reigned, 
 
 For high valor far renowned; 
 Before him no greater hero lived, 
 
 And since no greater can be found. 
 He ruled o'er all merry England, 
 
 Fair Scotland, Ireland, and "Wales, 
 And manj^ Islands of the deep 
 
 The far distant sea assails. 
 In peace and war was he renowned, 
 
 And good King Arthur was his name; 
 O'er Christendom where mortal lived 
 
 Was spead wide his deathless fame. 
 And many knights and chiefs had he, 
 
 Of mighty prowess and of worth, 
 Whose gallant deeds of hardihood 
 
 Ever shall be sung on earth; 
 Their many battles, fierce and bold, 
 
 With proud princes and with kings; 
 With monsters, dreadful to behold, 
 
 Dragons and infernal things, 
 Shall down the corridors of time. 
 
 Come on poet's deathless song. 
 And how they, aye, upbuoyed the right. 
 
 And bore ever down the wrong. 
 
ARTELOISE. 
 
 How day and night in armour bright, 
 They ever sought for perils new; 
 
 To crush the cruel, faithless, vile — 
 Aid the noble, good, and true. 
 
 III. 
 
 There was Lancelot de Lake, 
 
 With glittering sword and shield, 
 Who, aye, ready was for lady's sake 
 
 His conquering blade to wield. 
 And Sir Tristeam, the bold and strong, 
 
 The proud, fear-defying chief, 
 Who ever warr'd 'gainst others' wrong, 
 
 Soothed and lessened others' grief. 
 There was Gawaine, Kings Bore and Ban 
 
 All desperate men in fraj ; 
 And Bedivere, who, in the A'an 
 
 Of glory, shone both night and day. 
 And there was Percivale, the famed, 
 
 With the helmet crushing mace; 
 And gallant Lionell, who claimed. 
 
 In field and foray, foremost place. 
 There was Galahad, the divine, 
 
 Loved of angels and the Lord; 
 Who hung upon religions' shrine, 
 
 All the trophies of his sword. 
 There was Aglovale, of giant limb, 
 
 There was Tor, and Pelinore; 
 All knights in peril, bold and grim, 
 
 And full a thousand heroes more 
 Who made renowned the Table Round; 
 
 For knights of prowess and of worth — 
 
ARTELOISE. 
 
 Whose fame through fleeting times hall go 
 
 'Till deeds heroic fade from earth. 
 True knights wlio by King Arthur's side, 
 
 Full, twelve times, in bloody fray, 
 Crushed down the Roman ranks of pride; 
 
 And overwhelmed them with dismay. 
 Save King Arthur, of all that Train, 
 
 For deeds of hardihood and worth 
 Was none like valiant Beau de Main 
 
 'Mongst all the heroes of the earth. 
 True kniglit was he to friend or foe. 
 
 In time of peace and battle grim; 
 A heart more true in weal or woe. 
 
 Ne'er sent blood through human limb. 
 He was the knight of prowess bold, 
 
 And of sin untainted soul; 
 Whom the voice of Merlin had foretold, 
 
 Should the power alone control 
 That should slay the dragon fierce and grim, 
 
 Within a cavern dark and drear; 
 And monsters of gigantic limb 
 
 That guarded hoarded treasures there. 
 And bring the hoard from out that den, 
 
 With spirit void of mortal fears — 
 Though it had hidden been from men, 
 
 Twice one thousand fleeting 3'ears. 
 
 IV. 
 
 A royal feast at Camelot, 
 
 Had the noble Arthur spread, 
 Nor was there a single knight forgot 
 
 Who did glory's pathway tread; 
 
ABTELOISE. 
 
 All knights renowned of the Table Round, 
 And kings were gathered there, I ween 
 There many a comely knight was found 
 
 And many a courteous queen ; 
 The morning fair midst tourney sports, 
 
 Had most blithely past away, 
 The din throughout King Arthur's courts 
 
 Had sprightly rung of mimic fray; 
 The groiaid where it had been all strown, 
 
 With wreck'd and splintered spears was seen, 
 And plumes of every color known 
 
 With these were spread o'er all the green. 
 Had storms of lightning and of hail, 
 
 Fiercely over woodlands past, 
 And countless branches strown the gale, 
 
 And broken on the earth had cast; 
 And there unnumbered flowers brought 
 
 Of all shape and size and hue, 
 And strewing them 'midst limbs had sought 
 
 To hide the grassy earth from view; 
 It had resembled much the ground 
 
 Where had past that mimic fray. 
 Where shivered spears were cast around, 
 
 And torn plumes unnumbered lay; 
 And that grand morning's tourney prize 
 
 The gallant Beau de Main had won, 
 He 'neath King Arthur's judging eyes 
 
 The knightliest deeds had done; 
 And never breathed a man on earth 
 
 More fitter than that gallant king, 
 To judge a hero's knightly worth, 
 
 And deed of skill in tourney ring. 
 
ABTELOISK 
 
 A mighty helm of flashing steel, 
 
 With purest ruddy gold inlaid, 
 That o'er it saving plumes reveal 
 
 That day as prize the Monarch made. 
 And on the head of Beau de Main 
 
 Was placed that helm by Arthur's hand, 
 While joyous shouts from all his Train 
 
 Reechoed loud across the land; 
 The fairest of the maidens there 
 
 Forth stepped from out the female crowd. 
 With wreath as fair as queen could wear, 
 
 On knee to her the hero bowed; 
 Firm on his head the wreath was placed, 
 
 Where waved the towering plumes above; 
 Tlien spoke the maid, A wreath ne'er graced 
 
 Chief fitter maiden's faith, and love; 
 And I have crowned thee here, Sir Knight 
 
 Champion of the Chaste and fair, 
 May virtue be thy guiding light, 
 
 And woman's houor be thy care. 
 
 V. 
 
 All knights renowned of the Table Round 
 
 Have thronged unto the festive board. 
 Ceased is the clanging armor's sound, 
 
 And ringing clash of spear and sword, 
 With sparkling wave the cups are crowned, 
 
 For in them ruddy wine is poured; 
 And not a care-worn face is found 
 
 From humblest knight to proudest lord. 
 All is merry feasting, joy and mirth, 
 
 In every stir and sight and sound, 
 Nor happier scenes has witnessed earth 
 
 Since ever hero kings were crowned, 
 
ARTELOISE. 
 
 By knights where e'er the eye may go, 
 
 Are all beauteous maidens seen, 
 Tlie best the whole wide world can show- 
 In comeliness of face and mien. 
 Each gallant baron, king and knight, 
 
 Has his fair partner b}' his side, 
 For whose fair name and honor bright 
 
 He unto deed of death would ride. 
 The fair Guenever ever blest 
 
 "With sweetest charms in beauty stored, 
 Sits with heart at ease and soul at rest, 
 
 Beside her loved and loving lord; 
 But those who'd know each beauteous guest 
 
 That sat around that spacious board, 
 Let them through Arthur's annals quest, 
 
 The tales will well their time reward I 
 Of her who sat b}^ Beau de Main 
 It will be my duty here to tell: 
 Of all the maids 'neath Arthur's reign 
 
 She did in comeliness excell. 
 Her eyes were like the living light 
 
 Of meteors born of blue, 
 And from each orb, so starry bright, 
 
 A generous soul looked through 
 Her face like garden of the East 
 
 When summer blooms in all her prime, 
 Roses red and white the showers feast, 
 
 Do all commingling bloom sublime. 
 A nobler head and fairer brow 
 
 "Was never seen with mortal maid, 
 Nor through all the ages until now 
 
 Were such wavy, golden locks surve3'ed; 
 As opening rose her mouth was sweet, 
 Never yet did rubier lip 
 
ABTELOISE. 
 
 The searching eye of nature greet, 
 
 Nor from a mortal goblet sip. 
 White as the foam the billows show, 
 
 Heaved 'neath gauz}^ silk her bosom fair. 
 As golden sunshine cast on snow 
 
 O'er neck and shoulders stream'd her hair; 
 Her white round arms were like the down 
 
 That waves upon the autumn field, 
 That with snow}^ loveliness doth crown 
 
 The dark brown hulls that did it yield. 
 A form more perfect and more fair, 
 
 By nature crowned with nobler grace, 
 Ne'er trod the earth, nor breathed its air, 
 
 Nor did those of mortal mold embrace. 
 A foot more light, j^et firm than hers. 
 
 Upon this world has never trod; 
 Not lighter summer's zephyr stirs 
 
 That bows no grass along the sod, 
 Her tread was like the fleecy snow 
 
 That touches on the river's face. 
 But ruffles not its tranquil flow, 
 
 Nor leaves behind the slightest tra,ce; 
 Her voice was soft as wind that sighs 
 
 At summer through the sultr^^ vale, 
 Sweet as perfumes that on it rise — 
 
 From violets, rose and lilies pale I 
 
 VI. 
 
 No wonder that the maid was fair, 
 And famed for beauty o'er the earth, 
 
 For from a bright immortal pair 
 
 'Twas said that maiden drew her birth. 
 
ARTELOISK. 
 
 A pair of angels, so the story runs, 
 
 Left their lieavenlj' liomes of yore, 
 To journey space and view the suns, 
 
 And countless planets to explore; 
 From world to world, from star to slar, 
 
 The adventurous angels flew. 
 And where the comets blazed afar 
 
 All grand, but terrible to view; 
 And while amidst the realms of space, 
 
 Where worlds on worlds unnumbered glow'd 
 And over all creation's face 
 
 Their blazing lights eternal flowed. 
 Amidst the boundless realms afar, 
 
 A world they saw in glowing azure drest 
 Tiiat seem'd to them a gleaming star. 
 
 More beautiful than all the rest; 
 And down they shot on lightning Aving8 
 
 Beyond the utmost speed of thought, 
 Past planets form'd in glowing rings, 
 
 All with immortal beaut}^ fraught; 
 And lighted here upon this sphere. 
 
 The lovely home of moital man; 
 Enraptured stare the angel pair. 
 
 No world thej^'d seen of grander plan; 
 And here on earth their home they made, 
 
 Though all unseen of mortal men, 
 Save at noons when forests spread their shade, 
 
 And sunshine warm'd the hill and glen. 
 All those wlio saw the lovely pair. 
 
 Of them did wonderous marvels tell, 
 One was a maiden heavenly fair, 
 
 Her waving, golden tresses fell 
 
10 ARTELOISE. 
 
 O'er shoulders fair as froth on seas, 
 
 Face with all charms in rainbows seen; 
 Her airy step was like the breeze 
 
 That stirs not e'en the aspen green. 
 The other was a comely youth, 
 
 Of godlike, all commanding mien, 
 Whose visage seem'd the shrine of truth, 
 
 With every virtue glittering sheen; 
 The Genii he was styled b}^ men 
 
 Of all the mountains and the hills, 
 And she the Nymph of sunny glen, 
 
 And all the fountains and the rills; 
 One sole offspring, but of form divine, 
 
 Sprung from the union of this pair, 
 In her did all their viitues shine, 
 
 And all beauties of her mother fair: 
 They kept her in their secret glen 
 
 Throughout many an age of time. 
 And taught her all that mortals ken, 
 
 And all of angel lore sublime; 
 Then sent her forth as mortal maid, 
 
 To charm and gladden human kind; 
 In ever}^ glorious cause to aid, 
 
 And lead the race on paths refined. 
 Clotilda was this maiden named, 
 
 In Orkney she'd been born and bred. 
 And much through her those isles were famed. 
 
 Back in the misty ages fled. 
 The glories of King Arthur's court. 
 
 Had reached her in her secret glen, 
 And unto Camelot did she resort 
 
 To see this first of moi'tal men. 
 
ARTELOISE. 1 ] 
 
 In quest of gallant knight came she, 
 
 Who could achieve achentures bold, 
 And for her pining captives free, 
 
 Grim giants kept in rocky hold. 
 But none like Beau de Main she found 
 
 In perilous deeds and knightly worth; 
 All knights renowned of the Table Round 
 
 He far out shone, and all on earth; 
 So he she singled for perils grim, 
 
 And dread, awe inspiring deed; 
 What recked he loss of life and limb, 
 
 Her faith and love his glorious meed; 
 If was death his lot, he lost her not, 
 
 His spirit would move at her side, 
 If he lived, then at high Camelot 
 
 Her King Arthur would give as bride. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Done is the feast, the mirth has ceased, 
 
 In King Arthur's glittering halls; 
 Where spear and sword and targes broad 
 
 Hang vast along the mighty walls. 
 Where axes bright and mace of might 
 
 The gazing coward's soul appalls; 
 And high o'er head the banner red, 
 
 O'er helms and gleaming armor falls, 
 In awful rows they there repose, 
 
 For not a sound to battle calls. 
 But loud the la}^ of love and fray 
 
 The skillful bards of Arthur sing; 
 Deep, full and strong, flows forth the song. 
 
 While chords of harps responding ring. 
 
12 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Of gallant knight and lacl}^ bright, 
 
 Of loves and hates and wars of old, 
 Of daring king in tourney ring, 
 
 Waving plume and helm ot gold; 
 Of h^^lras dread with dragon's head, 
 
 By arm of mortal heroes slain; 
 Of slighted oath and broken troth, 
 
 And dying friendship's throes and pain; 
 Hunts o'er brake, and moor for stag and boar, 
 
 And glories of the chase they sing, 
 And varied swell and songs as well 
 
 From bards and harps alternate ring. 
 
 Viii. 
 
 The festive day is waning fast, 
 
 Yet shines the sun in Arthur's halls, 
 Though eastward of those towers vast 
 
 Apace a lengthening shadow falls; 
 Yet, 'ere he goes his beams are cast 
 
 In living splendor on those walls, 
 On shield and lance the sunbeams glance, 
 
 And all like waving flame they blaze; 
 On greaves of steel the sunbeams reel, 
 
 And flash around their blinding rays. 
 On shield and lance the sunbeams glance, 
 
 On Morion,sword and helmet sheen, 
 On armor bright those beams alight. 
 
 And all resplendent glows the scene; 
 So long they glar'd on polished steel. 
 
 And so intense the sheen became, 
 It seems those halls within reveal 
 
 One waving flood of dazzling flame; 
 
ARTELOISE. 13 
 
 Then at the sight as if inspired 
 
 With brightness that around them fell, 
 Each bard and minstrel's soul seems tired 
 
 With something more than mortal spell. 
 And loud and louder still their song, 
 
 And strains of music roar and ring, 
 'Till like a storm it sweeps along 
 
 Through all the castles of the king; 
 And swiftly turns where splendor burns 
 
 The eyes of every chief and knight, 
 Soul and mind all thought and feeling spurns, 
 
 Save steel gleaming to the sunbeams bright. 
 
 IX. 
 
 While gleam'd the shine of the da3''s decline, 
 
 In princely Arthur's royal halls, 
 And stirring chime of minstrel's rhyme 
 
 Reechoed loud Avithin the walls; 
 Strode in the hall an aged man, 
 
 With locks as white as Denmark's snow. 
 Who bowed to the king and then began 
 
 To speak in accents soft and low; 
 King Arthur, o'er man}^ a mile 
 
 Of earth ray weary feet have trod, 
 O'er mountain high and deep defile, 
 
 O'er deserts drear and vernal sod. 
 To many a kingly court I've been, 
 
 And noble kings were they, I trow, 
 But never place like this I've seen. 
 
 Through all my journeys until now. 
 The knights renown'd of the Table Round 
 
 Are known throughout the spacious earth, 
 
14 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Their praise doth sound where men are found 
 
 Who honor give to fame and worth; 
 And hither here IVe sped to see 
 
 If any hero I can find, 
 Whose soul's of every baseness free, 
 
 And has an unpolluted mind, 
 For such alone can draw this sword, 
 
 From out its diamond studded sheath, 
 And he who doth, shall be its lord, 
 
 Nor any peril fear jon sky beneath; 
 With that he placed in Arthur's hand 
 
 A long, massive glittering sword, 
 Than Excalibur, far more grand. 
 
 More terrible and long and broad. 
 
 X. 
 
 Long, long essayed the gallant king, 
 
 To draw from out its sheath that magic blade, 
 But it from sheath he could not bring, 
 
 Though he with all his might essayed; 
 Tlien all disma3'ed liis chiefs surveyed 
 
 The ponderous, glittering brand 
 Tliey knew 'twas "vain for them to try 
 
 When failed had Arthur's stalwart hand. 
 They all essayed to draw that blade 
 
 They all essayed but Beau de Main, 
 In his hand was laid the starry blade 
 
 Nor was that hero's effort vain; 
 Forth at his touch the weapon came, 
 
 Loud rattling from its starry sheath, 
 The glittering falchion flashed like flame 
 
 From burning cloud on midnight heath; 
 
ARTELOISE. 1 5 
 
 Then high up on the Table Round 
 
 He the glittering falchion threw. 
 There it fell, with thundering sound, 
 
 While gems of lightning from it flew, 
 Abashed with surprise the heroes all 
 
 The wonderous deed behold, 
 And louder through King Arthur's hall 
 
 The swelling strains of music rolled. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Come, come with me, the old man spake, 
 
 And thou shalt rise to honors new; 
 Thou shalt j'okes of banded tyrants break, 
 
 And gloiy's brightest path pursue. 
 Thou art the lord of magic sword, 
 
 And thou with it shall prowess do; 
 On battle field, 'twill cleave each shield, 
 
 And smite all mortal armor through. 
 Eeneath its sheen and edges keen, 
 
 Those who never fled before shall fly; 
 And monsters grim in form and limb 
 
 That vex and curse the world shall die 
 So mount thy steed and with me speed 
 
 For ere yon sun our sight shall leave. 
 Thou shalt range through a castle strange, 
 
 And deeds of prowess high achieve. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Forth on their steeds the twain have gone, 
 
 From King Arthur's ancient halls, 
 Where j^et the glowing sunbeams shone, 
 
 On glittering sceel clad walls. 
 O'er moor and brake, by sti-eam and laka. 
 
 The wild boar's reedy feu, 
 
16 ARTELOISE. 
 
 By hill and crag where roams the stag, 
 
 And wilds scai'ce known to men; 
 Ride on those twain, until they gain 
 
 A A^alley lone and drear, 
 Abrupt and grand on either hand, 
 
 The towering hills appear; 
 Each steep incline with fir and pine, 
 
 And oak and gum is crownetl, 
 And o'er them twine huge folds of vine, 
 
 That trail along the ground, 
 Though here and there the hills are bare, 
 
 No trees bedeck their side, 
 Yet there green moss with glowing gloss 
 
 Waves in its vernal pride. 
 O'er boulders steep huge torrents leap 
 
 Into the A'ale below, 
 O'er boulders brown those floods rush dov.n, 
 
 With foam as white as snoAV. 
 In roaring mass they onward pass, 
 
 To a river deep and broad. 
 Those waters strong flow fierce along, 
 
 Too wild for steed to ford. 
 And midst its flow huge boulders show 
 
 At times their naked heads, 
 Some red as blood, some white as flood. 
 
 When froth its surface spreads. 
 And some are dark as is the bark 
 
 When charred b}'^ scorching flame, 
 Some somber brown that sternly frown. 
 
 O'er floods they can not tame; 
 That by them toil in fierce turmoil. 
 
 And o'er them dash their spray, 
 
ARTELOISE. 17 
 
 As if their pride all rocks defied, 
 
 That dared to bar their way, 
 And long that vale the lilies pale 
 
 Waved o'er those waters wide; 
 And roses set hy violet 
 
 Bedeck tlie riA'er's side; 
 And grasses green as ever seen 
 
 Wave o'er tlie teeming soil; 
 And incommode the narrow road 
 
 'Long wliich those horsemen toil, 
 And 3'ears have past, a number vast, 
 
 Since there has horseman trod; 
 All men feared well that haunted dell, 
 
 And shunu'd its fatal sod, 
 In rhymes of old strange tales are told 
 
 About that valle}' drear, 
 Of monsters dread that there are bred, 
 
 And fiends for men to fear; 
 Of dragons grim in form and limb, 
 
 That fly on wings of flame; 
 All O'er wliose hide sti'ange scales abide, 
 
 Hard as 3-et sword became; 
 And ne'er could feel the edge of steel, 
 
 All o'er its horrid frame; 
 And vain tlie force of man an<l horse 
 
 Its grisly rage to tame. 
 Ne'er mortal trod tliat fatal sod 
 
 By either night nor da}-, 
 But to its jaw and Iiorrid maw 
 
 They instant found their way. 
 
 xiir. 
 
 But little reck'd our hero bold 
 For idle tales that minstrels told 
 
X8 ARTELOISB. 
 
 'Bout either glen or hill or wold, 
 Of caverns dread or giants bold, 
 His spirit knew no more of fear 
 Than rock 'round Avhich the surges tear; 
 His soul was set on perils grim, 
 And these alone delighted him; 
 With hand on rein and rowels red, 
 He followed where that old man led, 
 Little he knew and less he cared, 
 "What perils should that day be dared; 
 His arm was strong, his sword was keen, 
 He longed to dye its glowing sheen 
 With blood of paynim tyrants grim, 
 Or giants of stupendous limb; 
 Such as by bards were said to dwell 
 Within that valley lone and fell. 
 
 XIV, 
 
 Onward he goes, at length he sees 
 Amidst a grove of giant trees, 
 Whose mighty limbs though spreading wide 
 "With flame are darken'd, scorched and dried. 
 And 'midst them at the mountain's base, 
 A horrid cavern he could trace. 
 Where grisly dragons flame disgorge 
 Dread as yet stream 'd from blazing forge; 
 There noxious flames terrific float, 
 Grim, pestilence and death denote; 
 Sulphurous fumes midst fiame and smoke, 
 And chlorine, lungs and nostrils choke, 
 Yet in that cave of stifling breath. 
 Was silence dread as that of death; 
 Though from it floAved a mighty flood, 
 , Of reekihg- liquid red as blood. 
 
ARTELOISE. 19 
 
 XV. 
 
 Then spoke the man of hoary head: 
 Through yonder cavern we must tread, 
 But thou the dangerous way must lead, 
 So ready make for daring deed: 
 Thy sword unsheath, onward spur thy steed 
 And I'll thy thirst for glory feed. 
 Roused at the voice, from out the cave 
 A fearful leap the dragon gave, 
 Forward it roaring comes amain, 
 Like mountain torrent swelled with rain; 
 Black broods the air above its head, 
 And serpents spring benejith its tread; 
 Its horrid jaws are opened wide, 
 Nor belching flames its fangs could hide; 
 Those were in awful rows revealed, 
 Though half in reeking gore concealed, 
 Which from its jaws dropped down like rain; 
 And from its neck a shaggy mane, 
 Black as was ever darkness found, 
 Hung down and trailed along the ground. 
 Broad was its head and vast its length, 
 And all stupendous seemed its strength; 
 And over all its sable hide 
 Were folds on folds of horn}- pride, 
 That sharpest steel of man defied 
 To pierce, or harm to it betide; 
 Two might}^ wings it shook in air, 
 Stirred it as though a storm were there. 
 To gaze upon its might}' size, 
 Its lion's head and horrid eyes, 
 It seemed all vain for man to hope 
 In fray 'gainst such a beast to cope; 
 
20 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Too vast its force, too huge its length, 
 For mortal's steel or hero's strength. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 But thought not thus the gallant knight, 
 He longed to meet that beast in fight; 
 He eyed it with a stern delight, 
 But ere he drew his falchion bright 
 To heaA-^en a secret prayer he made, 
 Invoked his Lord Jehovah's aid; 
 Prayed as all knights and heroes true 
 Are wont, when glory the}' pursue. 
 Great God of every sea and clime. 
 Who sits 'midst seraph hosts sublime, 
 Thine the earth and sun and starry zone, 
 That journey round Thy endless throne, 
 Thine is the fount of life and light, 
 As well as death's all whelming might; 
 Thou gracious Judge of right and wrong, 
 Who can make the hero weak or strong. 
 Thy gracious ear to me incline, 
 And hear m^^ thoughts for the3'- are Thine- 
 Almight}'^ and eternal Lord, 
 This day, with vietor}'^, crown my sword I 
 Strengthen my arm, make good m^' breath. 
 That I may stretch yon beast in death; 
 Let earth drink up its vital gore. 
 So it may curse mankind no more, 
 Let it beneath Thy servant fall, 
 So may it be. Thou Lord of all 1 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Then swift, soon as the prayer he breathed, 
 He his glittering sword unsheathed, 
 
ARTELOISE. 21 
 
 And springing from liis gallant horse 
 
 On foot he tries the dragon's force. 
 
 High o'er liis Iiead on ponderous wings 
 
 In air the horrid monster springs; 
 
 And as it strove with grisly claw 
 
 The gallant knight from earth to draw, 
 
 With one fell blow his sword he brings 
 
 On one of its tremendous wings, 
 
 Clean severed from its trunk it flew, 
 
 And prone on earth the monster threw. 
 
 From mouth that stream'd forth gore and flame 
 
 A dread, infernal roaring came; 
 
 On earth the wing descending fell, 
 
 With shock that shook the lonely dell, 
 
 While gore gushed from the monster's side, 
 
 And shooting far the forests dj-ed 
 
 W^liere o'er the trees on every limb 
 
 Hung hissing folds of serpents grim. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Again the beast his head uprears, 
 For victor}^ or death prepares; 
 Dread as the thunder cloud he came, 
 His throat a roaring fount of flame, 
 Swift as the lightning bolt it sped 
 A claw above the hero's head; 
 Another swoop of his trusty blade. 
 And on the earth that claw is laid; 
 Swift down it falls 'midst streaming gore, 
 To injure mortal man no more. 
 Then fiercer wax'd the monster's ire. 
 And dreader gushed the founts of fire; 
 Before those flames of sulphur dire 
 From conflict did the knioht retire. 
 
22 ARTELOISE. 
 
 But thiough the path he sped, anon 
 The roaring terror thundered on, 
 Forward it sped where e'er he carae, 
 O'er him casting forky, waving flame; 
 Yet sped the knight where purer air 
 Did soon his wasted strength repair; 
 Then higli he reared his seven-fold shield, 
 Which shelter from the flame did yield; 
 And while on this he caught the flame, 
 Full on the roaring beast he came, 
 Between its eyes his reeking sword 
 Made horrid passage deep and broad; 
 Prone on the earth the terror came. 
 And ceased the roaring fount of flame. 
 Though fast and dread its serpent tail 
 Moved round the hero like a flail ! 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Backward a space the hero drew, 
 Where he could well the monster view, 
 Then back he sped with vigor rife. 
 To end the grisly Terror's life; 
 One full sweep with his trusty blade, 
 And the snaky tail on earth is laid; 
 Three times his sword he drives in gore, 
 And with a hoarse and horrid roar, 
 Sliaking the earth on which it lies, 
 The roaring Terror writhing dies. 
 While rivers huge of reeking gore 
 Adown the winding valley pour. 
 The horrid serpents vast and grim, 
 That hang from every tree and limb, 
 All palsied drop with stiffened fang. 
 And breathe on earth their dying pang. 
 
ARTELOISE. 23 
 
 Soon as the grisly Terror dies, 
 And lifeless all it smoking lies, 
 From gore the hero wipes his sword, 
 Gives thanks to Heaven's eternal Lord. 
 
 XX. 
 
 Up through that cavern dark and drear, 
 Where that grim Terror made its lair, 
 Upon their strong and mettled steeds, 
 That hero with liis guide proceeds; 
 Through subterranean passage drear, 
 They go and mock at night and fear. 
 The way was rough and dark and dread 
 For either steed or man to tread; 
 Yet safely on their way the}' made 
 Till daylight on the darkness pla3'ed; 
 And here a gate did they survey, 
 That blocked the passage of that way, 
 Huge bars of steel and beams of brass, 
 A gate, a strong and ponderous mass. 
 That gleamed all o'er like molten glass, 
 Completely blocked that gloomy pass. 
 Down from his steed the hero springs, 
 And 'gainst the gate his force he flings, 
 But vain 'gainst it his strength he brings. 
 It neither stirs nor shakes nor rings; 
 Solid as rock or mountain's side, 
 It stood and all his force defied; 
 Nor least bewildered and amazed, 
 Upon that gate the hero gazed; 
 But strove and strove with all his force. 
 To move that gate and clear his course. 
 
24 ARTELOISE. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Then spake the man "with hoaiy head: 
 The path we came again no man shall tread. 
 Behold, it all is closed with rock, 
 That ne'er shall move to earthquake 's shock , 
 To flame, nor storm, nor hand of time, 
 Till nature's death-knell God shall chime. 
 Before us life and glorj^ glow. 
 Behind are only death and woe. 
 To linger midst this stifling breath 
 Would shortly bring us ghastly death; 
 So then, most valiant knight and good, 
 Well proved in deeds of hardihood, 
 Once more 'gainst it thy valor try, 
 And clear the way or here we die; 
 Perhaps in this thy gleaming sword 
 May unto thee some aid aflPord." 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Behind the hero cast his e^-e, 
 And nought but rock could he descry; 
 The path that they had journeyed through 
 No longer met his searching view; 
 But rocks as hard as e'er were drilled 
 In solid mass that jDassage filled. 
 Nor left the faintest trace behind, 
 Where'd been that pass for him to find. 
 A moment, and but a moment's space, 
 He gazed on the enchanted place, 
 Then from his sheath his blade he drew. 
 While sparks of lightning from it flew, 
 Which far and wide spread flashing round, 
 And filled the place with light and sound. 
 
ARTELOISE. 25 
 
 Then swift on that barrier grim 
 
 It sped with all his force of limb, 
 
 The ponderous gate terrific rings, 
 
 And from its place like lightning springs, 
 
 And instant fades from mortal sight. 
 
 Like on the cloud the flash of light. 
 
 Then spoke a voice, a voice sublime, 
 
 That seemed to sound all o'er that clime: 
 
 Dreadful hour and fatal day, 
 
 All our power has past away; 
 
 All, all our spells and magic grand, 
 
 Are wrecked for a^-e by mortal hand. 
 
 Past away, as foretold of yore, 
 
 By Merlin's voice and Merlin's lore; 
 
 Dreadful day and fatal hour, 
 
 That ends on earth the wizard's power. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Ceased the voice, but ere died its sound 
 Like rolling waves the earth stirred round, 
 'Till rocks from out their places rose. 
 And writhed with all terrific throes; 
 The lofty hills were rent in twain 
 A moment's space, then joined again. 
 While over all a sable cloud 
 Closed grim and dread with thunders loud, 
 Though not a lightning flash nor flame 
 From out that shroud of thunder came; 
 Dread and more dread the thunder rolled, 
 And darker grew that awful fold. 
 Beneath those peals of thunder loud 
 To earth their heads the forests bowed, 
 As if there a roaring whirlwind trod, 
 Or dreader still, an angry God ! 
 
26 ABTELOISE. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 The thunder ceased and shrieks aghast, 
 
 Loud as the roar of mountain blast, 
 
 Burst from tliat cloud's terrific fold, 
 
 Then all at once from sight it rolled; 
 
 Where it had been nought else was seen 
 
 But azure sky and mountains green, 
 
 A flowery dell with loft}^ trees, 
 
 That waved their leaves 'midst balmy breeze; 
 
 Along which that old man hoar and strange 
 
 With Beau de Main begins to range. 
 
 Far up that dell those travellers wound, 
 
 O'er barren rock and grassy ground; 
 
 At length a lofty hill they spy. 
 
 Piled up against the western sky, 
 
 Where many a tower confronts the eye, 
 
 With wall and gate and bulwark high; 
 
 All formed of vast stupendous blocks, 
 
 And seem'd a pyramid of rocks, 
 
 Of dark and green and red and gray; 
 
 By Titans piled in vast arraj'. 
 
 To rear their battlements and towers, 
 
 When warr'd they 'gainst the heavenly powers. 
 
 High on the hills they stood sublime, 
 
 Seemed out of reach of storm or time, 
 
 As there they gleamed in grand arra}-. 
 
 Beneath tne beams of closing day I 
 
 But to them, of path, no utter trace 
 
 Was seen upon that mountain's face, 
 
 Of road where e'er the eye pursue 
 
 On right or left was caught no clue; 
 
 Like some rock-guarded eagle's nest, 
 
 High hung upon the movmtain's crest, 
 
ARTELOISB. 21 
 
 Beyond the reach of hunter's hand, 
 Those towers amidst the sunshine stand ! 
 
 XXV. 
 
 O'er his eyes his hand the hero raised, 
 To shield them from the beam that blazed, 
 And at their splendor all amazed 
 Steadfastly on those bulwarks gazed, 
 For stronger, loftier tower 
 He'd ne'er seen before that hour; 
 It looked all like some mighty hold 
 Reared by the Cyclops Kings of old, 
 Yet all within and all around 
 Seem'd wrapt in silence so profound, 
 So void of life and stir and sound — 
 Those hills seem'd with a phantom crown 'd. 
 But while he gaied the old man spake: 
 Come, thy way to jonder bulwark take 1 
 No road I see, the knight replied, 
 O'er all yon mountain's lofty side. 
 Its whole broad surface I can view, 
 And road on it I see no clue; 
 And vain for me or 3'ou to try 
 The sealing of tiiat mountain high; 
 Those rocks are all too smooth and steep 
 For man up them to climb or creep. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 There is a road, tlie other spake, 
 Thyself for it now ready make, 
 Within thy hand thy falchion take, 
 Lift shield, and keep thine eye awake, 
 For I may lead on peril's path. 
 And thou must nobly brave their wrath; 
 
28 ARTELOISB. 
 
 And never glory yet was won 
 
 By any knight beneath yon sun, 
 
 Who did not bravely troubles meet, 
 
 And all unflinching dangers greet; 
 
 And put all perils to defeat, 
 
 Be they of body or of soul, 
 
 And onward press to glory's goal I 
 
 While thus he speaks they swiftly I'ide 
 
 Far down along the mountain's side, 
 
 To where the base with trees was crowned, 
 
 And then 'midst tangled bush they found 
 
 There opened a passage broad and wide, 
 
 Right through the hollow mountain's side; 
 
 In rode the twain, and soon anon 
 
 SaAv a broad, steep way leading on, 
 
 To where those lofty towers rose, 
 
 In dream-like silence and dread repose. 
 
 xxvii. 
 
 They reached the bulwark's lofty wall, 
 Pass'd through an archway broad and tall, 
 Where stood a gate wide open cast, 
 Wrought out of bars of iron vast. 
 Braced with bands of ponderous brass, 
 And those of steel in mighty- mass. 
 Scarce by the gate those twain were past 
 Than 'cross the archway it was cast, 
 Closed with a fierce and sudden sound, 
 That echoed all those bulwarks round; 
 And loud and plain was heard the jar 
 Of placing lock and bolt and bar. 
 The knight turn'd round with searching eye, 
 But not a thing could he descry 
 
ARTELOISE. 29 
 
 In likeness of the human race 
 About that archway's ample space; 
 The deed was done by hand unseen, 
 Perhaps not one of mortal mien. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Then onward swift those horsemen ride 
 
 Into a court-yard long and wide, 
 
 Yet all the place of life seems free, 
 
 For not a beast nor man they see; 
 
 No sound of human voice they hear, 
 
 Nor any stir breaks on tlieir ear, 
 
 Save their coursers' tread on stony ground, 
 
 They meet no other stir nor sound; 
 
 And these re-eclio strange and drear 
 
 Through all those loft}' bulwarks there. 
 
 Was it some dread, enchanted j^lace 
 
 Unknown to those of mortal race. 
 
 Where never mortal trod before, 
 
 And whence he shall dejDart no more, 
 
 'Till time the judgment morn shall bring? 
 
 Or was it the tomb of some great king, 
 
 Who reign'd amidst the ages past. 
 
 Long since neath oblivion cast ? 
 
 Who, though he rear'd a tomb as grand 
 
 As ever yet by monarch plann'd, 
 
 His fame and name he could not save 
 
 However cruel, good, or brave. 
 
 From wasting time and fleeting years. 
 
 That crumble all that mortal rears, 
 
 And all that nature can control ? 
 
 While thus i-evolved the hero's soul, 
 
 From westward, from whence beam'd the sun 
 
30 ARTELOISE. 
 
 His setting rays o'er mountains dun, 
 He heard a deafening trumpet clang, 
 Tliat echoing througli those bulwarks rang; 
 Hills shook beneath that trumpet's blast, 
 As if through them an earthquake past, 
 And right between him and the light 
 The sunbeams cast upon that height. 
 A steel-clad champion he espied 
 Upon a coal-black charger ride, 
 With visor down and spear in rest, 
 Right onward unto him he press 'd; 
 "With clang of arms and courser's tread 
 The air was filled with tumult dread; 
 As if with riving thunders torn, 
 Not swifter 3 et a cloud was borne 
 Upon the pinions of the storm 
 Than sped that horse and steel-clad form; 
 And like a cloud that meets the sight, 
 Whose centre all is black as night, 
 Though round its edges lightnings play. 
 Gild it with terrible arra}*, 
 For man and horse from head to heel 
 Are sheathed in plates of sable steel; 
 But gleaming helm and spear and sword, 
 And axe terrific, keen and broad, 
 That armed that rider cast a light 
 Like that round thunder-cloud at night. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Another glorious trumpet clang 
 Throughout those lofty ramparts rang; 
 And straight a line of glittering spears 
 Behind that rider grim appears; 
 
ARTELOISE. 31 
 
 Far down the hill they swift arise 
 Like flashing clouds that mount the skies, 
 And glowing helm and sword' and shield 
 Are 'midst the rising ranks revealed; 
 And o'er the coming wave of steel 
 To and fro, golden banners reel. 
 Onward it came in swift career, 
 While dust made dark the stagnant air. 
 All that wide space grew dark and dun, 
 To silence sped the glowing sun. 
 As when the simoom fierce and red 
 Roars o'er the desert's sandy bed: 
 Yet nearer fast that wave of steel 
 Comes on with deafening trumpet peal, 
 That shakes the air with tumult dread, 
 While nearer sounds the measured tread 
 Of armed men, whose clanging sound 
 The stormy trumpet notes have drowned: 
 And nearer 'midst the dark'ning gloom 
 Is seen the coming helm and plume; 
 With broken gleams of ruddy light 
 Rise long array's of lances bright; 
 The long arraj-s of shield and sword, 
 Of daggers keen and axes broad. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Then from those lofty ramparts rost> 
 Storms of unutterable woes, 
 Sighs, lamentations and loud moans, 
 Horrible outcries and hoarse groans; 
 All languages — tongues of every clime 
 Mix'd in that storm of anguish chime; 
 With hands together smote amain, 
 
32 ARTELOISE. 
 
 And feet that stamp with throes of pain, 
 
 Made up a tumult dread and fell 
 
 As ever roused the king of hellj 
 
 Made up a tumult grim and drear, 
 
 That whirled through all that darken'd air. 
 
 Like burning sand the simoom lifts, 
 
 And on that roaring whirlwind drifts. 
 
 With ear intent and eye awi.ke, 
 
 As stands the lion in the brake, 
 
 With soul as void of mortal fear, 
 
 As oaks round which the tempests tear 
 
 All things strange, Beau de Main watched there 
 
 That met his eye or pierced his ear. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 My gallant knight, thus spoke his guide, 
 
 Fear not the least 3'on ranks of pride, 
 
 Though they hem thee in on ever}'^ side, 
 
 Thou shalt as victor o'er them ride. 
 
 Go, cleave each gleaming helm and shield. 
 
 Yon host through thee to death shall yield; 
 
 First take this spear and spur thy steed, 
 
 'Gainst him who doth yon squadron lead; 
 
 Yon sable knight who comes so fierce, 
 
 Him through the breast and breast-plate pierce, 
 
 He said, then unto Beau de Main 
 
 A spear he gave of twisted grain. 
 
 All like a stately mast in length, 
 
 And like the mountain oak for strength, 
 
 Armed at the end with steel as strong 
 
 As e'er was forged, wrought sharp and long, 
 
 This swift the hero placed in rest, 
 
 Waiting for him who onward pressed. 
 
ARTELOISE. 3J 
 
 As there he stood a sudden flume 
 Swift bursting from that darkness came, 
 High o'er the hemisphere it sailed, 
 And through the darkened air prevailed. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 As some dark cloud of giant form, 
 
 That rides upon the roaring storm, 
 
 That shakes the world beneath its path. 
 
 Whose thunders mutter forth its wratn; 
 
 Wliose lightnings fiercely round it plaj-. 
 
 And guides it on its rapid wa}^, 
 
 That meeting bursts with deafening shock, 
 
 Upon the side of some firm rock; 
 
 Then downward falls in sudden flight, 
 
 Before that rock and fades from sight: 
 
 So met that hero Beau de Main, 
 
 So sudden rolled upon the plain; 
 
 Through breast-plate and through breast that spc^ar 
 
 Had torn a passage grim and drear, 
 
 With horrid din his armor rung, 
 
 As horse and man to earth were flung; 
 
 O'er broken steel his crimson blood 
 
 Fast steam 'd to earth in ample flood; 
 
 By fallen steed he writhed with pain, 
 
 And never to arise again. 
 
 As to earth that champion came, 
 
 Died in the air that flash of flame; 
 
 Swift from the hemisphere it sailed, 
 
 And darkness grim again prevailed 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Then favored by the solid gloom, 
 That gathered as the dread simoom, 
 
34 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Like whirlwind on that armed band 
 Rode Arthur's knight with flaming brand; 
 As tlirough a grove of saplings strong 
 The horrid cyclone sweeps along, 
 Uproots and tears them from the ground , 
 And strews them all in ruin round; 
 Wide is its path and grim and dread 
 The devastation 'neath it spread; 
 When past the groves, it staj's its course, 
 Then back returns with tenfold force; 
 Another path of ruin dread 
 Behind its roaring flight is spread; 
 So through that grove of lances bright, 
 Rode to and fro King Arthur's knight; 
 And all before him, right and left, 
 Went down with heads and helmets cleft, 
 Slaughtered and dj'ing strew the ground 
 While armor clangs with horrid sound 
 And thunders through those ramparts tall, 
 Like waters o'er some might}^ fall — 
 And echo OA'^er hill and glen. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 Not tamely died those armed men: 
 They closed upon King Arthur's knight, 
 With sword and spear and axes bright; 
 Three times they closed in fierce array. 
 And three times stopped his gorj^ way. 
 While on his shield with horrid clang 
 Their spears and swords and axes rang. 
 With fearful din they closed on him, 
 Like roarings of tlie lions grim 
 Upon the night o'er shadowed wild, 
 With reeking slaughter round them piled; 
 
ARTELOISE. 35 
 
 And hunger drives them on amain, 
 To make themselves tombs of tlie slain. 
 They closed like angry billows' shock, 
 At midnight on a solid rock, 
 Whose lofty head with giant pines 
 Towering o'er the deep inclines; 
 Who while the floods are rocked below, 
 The roaring storms that o'er them blow; 
 In thousand shapes their branches throw, 
 And from them make fell tumult flow; 
 The branches clash, the waters roar, 
 On tempests mingled tumults pour. 
 And waked b^^ nature's fierce unrest 
 The eagles leave their loft^^ nest; 
 And mounting on the tempest's car. 
 High o'er the elemental jar. 
 They flap their wings, then whirl around. 
 Send far their screams on night profound; 
 So on that knight those men closed in, 
 With trumpet's clang and armor's din. 
 
 XXXY. 
 
 But while amidst that darkness dread 
 Their blows at Arthur's knight they sped, 
 Full manj^ a warrior's buckler broad 
 Was rent hy his own comrade's sword; 
 Full man}^ a brawny bosom there 
 Was pierced by its own comrade's spear; 
 B}'' scores they fell amongst the slain. 
 By their own men, not Beau do Main; 
 Yet fought that hero fierce and grim, 
 'Till not one living stood round him. 
 Died out the trumpet's stirring peal, 
 And ceased the horrid clang of steel; 
 
SB ARTELOISE. 
 
 Then through the darkness burst a flame, 
 
 That gleaming o'er the ramparts came, 
 
 And ceased of pain, the horrid din 
 
 That roar'd like storms those walls within; 
 
 The setting sun his glor}^ threw, 
 
 Around and all that gloom withdrew; 
 
 There round the hero lay his foes, 
 
 All stark and still in dread repose; 
 
 There broken armor strew 'd the ground. 
 
 Heads cleft or pierced with wounds profound: 
 
 They lay in reeking crimson drown'd. 
 
 None save that hei'o and his guide 
 
 Were living 'midst that wreck espied. 
 
 Where that huge steed and rider lay 
 
 Those twain there bent their eager way; 
 
 His towering plume of sable hue 
 
 From off his glittering helm they drew; 
 
 Then doff his helm and visor all, 
 
 Full on his face the sunbeams fall. 
 
 Darker than night his shaggy beard, 
 
 Matted o'er visage stern appeared; 
 
 A savage frown those features wore, 
 
 As always in their life they bore; 
 
 And glared his eyes in death unr-losed, 
 
 As fierce as when he foe opposed; 
 
 Dark as the shades of night were the}-, 
 
 And gleam'd in death with piercing ray; 
 
 O'er them his brows descending flowed, 
 
 Black as e'er raven's plumage glowed; 
 
 Like eagle's bill his massive nose 
 
 Descending o'er his mouth arose; 
 
 But this was hid from human e^'e. 
 
 With heavy beard of sable dye; 
 
ARTELOISE. 3"; 
 
 A fiercer countenance on man 
 Than his, ne'er j-et did nature scan. 
 Taking his face and bearing all, 
 His mighty statue broad and tall. 
 Ponderous limbs of massive length, 
 That all bespoke a monster's strength; 
 He seem'd more like a Titan grim 
 Than one of mortal form and limb. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 But he was one of mortal mould, 
 A giant cruel, stiong and bold, 
 As in history we are told 
 Were often seen in days of old, 
 And wrought to mortal's dole and wrong. 
 His were those bulwarks tall and strong. 
 Whose walls of i-ock so broad and high, 
 Might wear of storm and time defy; 
 Whose bristling parapets and towers 
 Scoffing frown 'd at human poAvers. 
 Right often did King Arthur's ear 
 Strange stories of these ramparts hear; 
 They told him of its mighty lord, 
 His savage statue tall and broad, 
 In size surpassing those of earth, 
 And who from monsters drew his birth; 
 Who lived on flesh of mortal men. 
 And drank their blood; who in his den 
 Unnumbered captives held in thrall. 
 Good knights and gentle ladies all. 
 But never could King Arthur's eye 
 The passage to those walls descry — 
 By day and night the path he sought, 
 But ne'er a clue to it he caught; 
 
38 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Or unto it had sped that king, 
 
 With all the knights that he could bring. 
 
 And he had raised that bulwark's wall, 
 
 Those captives straight had set from thrall, 
 
 Or he had with them found his fall 
 
 Beneath that grisly giant tall; 
 
 But of road or path no single clue 
 
 To reach those walls could Arthur view, 
 
 So safe from hand of mortal foe 
 
 They proudly scoffed at all below, 
 
 And safe within its lofty hold 
 
 Dwelt its tyrant owner fierce and bold. 
 
 Surrounded by a mighty throng 
 
 Of followers, haughty, huge and strong, 
 
 Who through the force of Beau de Main 
 
 Were numbered 'mongst the gory slain. 
 
 And for allies the giant sought 
 
 All who in necromancy wrought; 
 
 All conjurers of magic spell 
 
 Who wrought on earth the lore of hell; 
 
 Who could enchantments cast around. 
 
 And men with wizard's charms confound; 
 
 All those who could those arts unfold 
 
 Found favor in that lofty hold; 
 
 Through them he hidden kept the road 
 
 From men that led to his abode. 
 
 But ways there were and more than three 
 
 That gave egress and ingress free, 
 
 By which could pass both steeds and men, 
 
 From there unto the distant glen. 
 
 Easier far and safer more 
 
 Than that De Main had travelled o'er. 
 
ARTELOISE. 39 
 
 And when a destined deed he'll do, 
 He'll break the subtle secrets through, 
 To every road he'll find the clue 
 And easily each road pursue. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 In glowing chambers of the West 
 The sun's in all his glory drest. 
 Basking beneath his tingeing smile 
 Float round unnumbered clouds the while, 
 O'er his bright disk their forms they throw, 
 And 'neatli him all resplendent glow. 
 All o'er the sky the clouds are rolled 
 With hues of amber and of gold , 
 With forms apart by sunbeams torn, 
 They all the western skies adorn. 
 But in the East a mighty cloud 
 Doth all the sky with sable shroud; 
 From earth imto the zenith's bound. 
 It spread its robe of gloom profound; 
 But bright on the darkness that it reared 
 A vision of glory there appeared; 
 It came like a spirit on the cloud, 
 Whose beauty could no darkness shroud; 
 It spread in a glorious arch, 
 From horizon to zenith did march. 
 Then sublime in its grandeur it stood, 
 O'er hanging the mountains and wood. 
 The valleys, the torrents, and flood, 
 Tingeing their flow with the hues of blood; 
 Sped the rays of the sun frona the land, 
 Yet, that iris the heavens still spann'd; 
 Near the earth it ends darkened anon. 
 While in the zenith it still beam'd on, 
 
40' ABTELOISE. 
 
 Smiled on earth like an angel of light, 
 
 'Till the sunbeams departed from sight. 
 
 Then away like a phantom it fled, 
 
 And dense darkness after it sped. 
 
 Night o'er the mountains her banner unfuii'd, 
 
 And solid gloom settled over the world. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 At midnight round that lofty wall, 
 
 Wherein was utter silence all, 
 
 That hero and his trusty guide 
 
 All noiseless as two spectres ride; 
 
 A solid darkness grim and drear 
 
 Lay o'er the sk}- and everywhere, 
 
 While silence horrid and profound 
 
 Reigned over all the hills around; 
 
 No breath of air the darkness stirred, 
 
 Nor rustling of a leaf was heard; 
 
 No night-hawk's scream, no shriek of owl, 
 
 No stir of bats, nor watch-dogs' howl, 
 
 Though many in those walls were bred, 
 
 Stirr'd once with sound that darkness dread. 
 
 All was as silent and as dark 
 
 As is the dead oak's withered bark, 
 
 That lies at night on desert sand, 
 
 Charred by the lightning's blasting brand; 
 
 All was as silent as the tomb, 
 
 And spread around as dense a gloom, 
 
ARTELOISE. 41 
 
 Around all nature seem'd to rest, 
 
 As if with some grim awe oppressed; 
 
 In stillness horrible she stood, 
 
 Like mourner wrapped in sable hood, 
 
 Whom grief has freed of vital breath, 
 
 And placed upon the lap of death. 
 
 But the dreadest silence ever born 
 
 Shall with stirring sound of man be torn, 
 
 And he shall break through every spell 
 
 By witches brought to earth from hell; 
 
 He shall crush their power and might, 
 
 Through him from earth they'll wing their flight, 
 
 And he shall turn their realms of night 
 
 To regions, joyous, grand and bright. 
 
 His dauntless soul and stalwart arm 
 
 Shall burst the wizard's fatal charm; 
 
 The fell necromancer's power 
 
 Through man shall find its d3'ing hour; 
 
 He all spells, arts and charms shall quell, 
 
 And victor stand o'er those and hell. 
 
 Foremost of all in nature's clime, 
 
 And all the universe sublime, 
 
 "Where being is, shall man be found, 
 
 And be its king forever crown 'd; 
 
 And subject be to only Him 
 
 Who fashioned body, soul and limb, 
 
 Created after His own plan. 
 
 Breathed in hini life, and called him man. 
 
 II. 
 
 Apace the night was speeding on, 
 Yet did black darkness all things don; 
 Meanwhile that hero and his guide 
 A gateway in the walls espied; 
 
t'l ARTELOISE. 
 
 But it was close and bolted fast, 
 With locks deep set in granite vast, 
 And formed of such stupendous bars 
 And beams of steel and brass, it mars 
 That stalwart hero's utmost strength, 
 To e'en shake its ponderous length; 
 But through its bars his gaze he cast, 
 And peered into those bulwarks vast, 
 And there he saw far, far awa}^, 
 A flame of blue unearthly ray; 
 Within a grisly skull it burn'd, 
 Which round and round forever turn'd 
 As doth the windmill in the blast, 
 And horrid sparks around it cast. 
 'Twas just one thousand 3' ears that night 
 Since first was lit that hellish light, 
 Yet day and night that flame had burn'd, 
 And round and round the skull had turn'd, 
 Showering sparks in ceaseless flight. 
 Astonished gazed the wondering knight, 
 While ghastly figures round it drew, 
 And caught the sparks that from it flew; 
 Held them before their glaring e^es, 
 And watched them into serpents rise; 
 Which soon as they with being breathed. 
 They round their aemon bodies wreathed. 
 One saw he 'mongst those demons grim 
 Tar more dread both in shape and limb 
 Than all the rest; this grisly- form 
 Was black as cloud of thunder storm; 
 His massive breast and limbs of length 
 Showed him a monster huge in strength, 
 
ARTELOISE. 43 
 
 His horrid eyes gleamM fierce witli light, 
 
 But black as is the womb of night; 
 
 Bald was his head and o'er his face 
 
 Was seen of hair no single trace; 
 
 His horrid mouth a tusk revealed, 
 
 Huge as the boss on hero's shield; 
 
 And from each side with gleaming fang 
 
 Did two grim hissing serpents hang; 
 
 Huge was his nose, from nostrils broad 
 
 Eternal jets of steam he poured; 
 
 A crown wrought out of bones of men, 
 
 And whiter than the frost on fen, 
 
 High on his grisly head he wore, 
 
 And plainly this device it bore: 
 /^""ho e'er o'ercomes this form in fight 
 'Shall with its blood destroy the light 
 j That in this skull forever burns, 
 
 And round and round forever turns; 
 , When it is quenched the wizard's power 
 ! Shall instant fly this fatal tower; 
 Brave must he be and sti'ong his arm, 
 
 Who dares to deal us dole and harm. 
 Scarce this the gazing knight had read 
 Than swift he sees that monster dread 
 Grasp in his hands a might}' spear, 
 Vast as an oak the mountains rear — 
 Weighty and knott}', thick and long, 
 Steel'd at the end both keen and strong; 
 Round it he coils a serpent vast, 
 That hisses flame horrid and 'ghast — 
 As lightnings from the clouds are cast, 
 When they ride at night on the blast; 
 Then high o'er his head he shakes the sj^ear, 
 Whirls it round and around in air, 
 
44 ARTEIOISE. 
 
 All as easy as some frail toy 
 In the hand of a stalwart bo}'. 
 Then round him danced unearthlj^ forms, 
 And rose a wail like rising storms; 
 "When on the night o'er shadow'd plain 
 The storm king comes with all his main; 
 And eagles scream and flap their wings, 
 High o'er the tumult that he brings. 
 
 III. 
 
 Swift towards the gate where stood the knight 
 
 Came on that form of demon might; 
 
 Close at his side a monster grim, 
 
 Of all unearthly shape and limb 
 
 Moved its ponderous length along, 
 
 Swift as an elephant and strong; 
 
 And like that beast its head it reared, 
 
 A trunk and two huge tusks appeared; 
 
 And o'er its back a scaly hide 
 
 Harder than steel the knight espied; 
 
 But where its neck and shoulders met 
 
 Was no defense 'gainst weapon set; 
 
 This saw the knight and marked the spot, 
 
 !Nor in the fray that place forgot. 
 
 Ten legs from earth the monster bore. 
 
 Seven behind and three before; 
 
 And these were armed with mighty claws, 
 
 Like those round prey the lion draws; 
 
 And from it hung a snaky tail, 
 
 All covered o'er with horny scale; 
 
 Onward it came with lordly stride, 
 
 Its sable master close beside. 
 
ARTELOISE. 45 
 
 lY. 
 
 Open the gate the giant threw, 
 
 Against the solid wall it flew — 
 
 With dread recoil and jarring sound, 
 
 That fiU'd with din the air around; 
 
 "While its huge hinges grating roar'd, 
 
 And hoarse, harsh thunders round it pour 'd. 
 
 And forth upon King Arthur's knight 
 
 Kushed out that form of demon might. 
 
 As on he came in swift career 
 
 On high he reared his knotted spear; 
 
 While high in air its gleaming point 
 
 Shone like a steeple's topmost joint; 
 
 Ere yet it took its downward flight 
 
 Upon that gallant steed and knight, 
 
 As bursts from cloud a flash of flame, 
 
 Full on the giant grim he came; 
 
 And through his bosom deep and broad 
 
 Up to the hilt he drove his sword; 
 
 And long before that giant's spear 
 
 Began to downward cleave the air, 
 
 His sword the good knight drew amain, 
 
 And pierced him through and through again. 
 
 Through heart and lungs the blade he drove, 
 
 And heart and lungs asunder clove; 
 
 Back on his monster huge and grim 
 
 The giant went with quivering limb; 
 
 Beneath his weight the monster fell 
 
 Crushed to the earth, and roar'd a yell 
 
 That shook the startled air around, 
 
 As if did hoarded thunders sound; 
 
 Then swifter than a flash of thought 
 
 On it his blade the good kuigh!; brought— 
 
46 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Right where the neck and shoulders grew, 
 And through that place his falchion flew — 
 That head to earth 'midst warm blood sunk, 
 And dying writhed the headless trunk. 
 Dropped from the giant's knotted spear. 
 The grisly serpent he'd coiled there — 
 Writhing it lay with broken fang, 
 And heaved on earth its dying pang. 
 Then in a vessel deep and wide, 
 That lay that lofty gate beside, 
 The Ivuight caught up that giant's gore, 
 Fill'd it so it would hold no more; 
 And towards that all infernal light. 
 That glared within tliat skull so bright, 
 He onwai'd spurr'd his snorting liorse, 
 Swift as storm sweeps o'er its course. 
 And as storm in vigor and force 
 That sweeps over seas of the Norse 1 
 
 V. 
 
 As that strange light the hero uear'd, 
 Round it unearthly forms appear 'd; 
 Loud neighed the steed and prick'd his ears, 
 And seems at times o'erwhelm'd with fears 
 At what there round that light appears, 
 And sounds that from that flame he hears; 
 Trembles that steed through form and limb, 
 Before that flame so strange and grim, 
 And not till in his foamy flank 
 Right oft and deep the rowels sank 
 Would he approach that hellish light, 
 And near it bring King Arthur's knight. 
 
ARTELUISE. 47 
 
 VI. 
 
 Right o'er the flame the hero drew, 
 
 And on it fast the gore he threw; 
 
 But ere that flame to darkness grew 
 
 Gore round in hissing showers flew; 
 
 And rising clouds of smoke and steam, 
 
 Gives it a more infernal gleam. 
 
 Again on it the gore he threw, 
 
 And unto utter night it grew; 
 
 While hiss'd it like the seething steel 
 
 When first its heat the waters feci. 
 
 Then rocked those ramparts dread and strange 
 
 As if through them did whirlwinds range; 
 
 And all things round began to change 
 
 Their color, aspect, size and form, 
 
 Like clouds before the driving storm. 
 
 Shook lofty parapet and tower, 
 
 Like leaves in autumn's wind}^ bower; 
 
 While all unsightly figures glide 
 
 Around the walls on eA^erj^ side; 
 
 Then instant vanish in the air 
 
 With horrid shriekings of despair; 
 
 Filling the solid gloom around 
 With tumult dismal and profound; 
 Shook ib as if huge birds of prey 
 Forever through it winged their waj-; 
 And flapped their pinions with a sound 
 That made the air like waves rebound, 
 When wild the ocean's surges roar, 
 Waging fray at night on rocky shore; 
 Or like huge sails on stately mast, 
 That flap amidst the midnight blast, 
 While waves toss 'neath the storm's control 
 And overhead the thunders roll. 
 
48 ARTELOISfc. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Dead silence came a little space, 
 And rested over nature's face, 
 And from the battlements and -u'alls 
 The solid gloom that instant falls; 
 Springs up a breeze that fans the air, 
 And all the gloom doth disappear — 
 Unnumbered stars in heaven shine, 
 And cast below their light divine; 
 And all around the ramparts rise 
 Distinctly to the hero's e3'es. 
 Bright in the East o'er mountains green 
 The half-fill'd, ascending moon is seen; 
 Enormous clouds around her sail, 
 And make at times her lustre pale; 
 But their edges cragg}', dark and torn, 
 She doth with glo^7ing light adorn; 
 Gives all a glory not their own, 
 That circle round her beaming throne, 
 And on the dewy forests green 
 She pours her all bewitching sheen; 
 And where, amidst the far-off trees. 
 At times moves forth the gentle breeze, 
 Where leaves are waving to and fro, 
 The pearly dew-drops that they show, 
 Glitter beneath her glowing beam, 
 And molten, flowing silver seem. 
 And barren rocks o'er mountains thrown, 
 That never moss nor tree have grown; 
 !Nor sign of vintage yet have known, 
 She decks with glory not their own; 
 Huge rocks of iron and of lime, 
 Imperviou3 to storm or time; 
 
ARTELOISE. 49 
 
 Beneath her all enlivening glow, 
 The lustre of the diamond show; 
 And over all that lofty wall, 
 High parapet and tower tall, 
 Her glowing beams in glory fall, 
 And fill with light those ramparts all. 
 O'er spread with sheen and peace sublime, 
 All rested there throughout that clime. 
 
 VIH. 
 
 Towards a casement broad and tall, 
 Placed in that bulwark's granite wall, 
 Where suddenly a taper burns, 
 His scanning eyes that hero turns; 
 And there beheld a weeping throng 
 Of youths and maidens fair and strong. 
 Between their tears and wails of woe, 
 That all throughout those bulwarks flow, 
 And make them with their anguish ring, 
 A sorrow-laden song the;y sing. 
 The language of those strains they sung 
 Seem'd ever of the Hebrew tongue; 
 But one that on the hero's ear 
 Fell aye most dismal and most drear, 
 With sorrow freighted wild and grim, 
 His guide thus rendered unto him: 
 
 IX. 
 
 Shall our anguish never end ? 
 Must we neath it forever bend ? 
 Have Ave no Saviour, God or friend. 
 Who'll pity take and succor send ? 
 Must our poor frames forever feel 
 The tyrant's chains and burning steel ? 
 
50 ARTELOISE. 
 
 His scourging lash and crushing wheel, 
 
 Whose pains make soul and senses reel ? 
 
 That leaves the body numbed with pain 
 
 'Till scarce the blood crawls through the vein; 
 
 Then tighter draws the clanking chain, 
 
 'Till we for gold shall ransom gain ? 
 
 Oh, who will our succor be ? 
 
 Oh, who will us from tortures free ? 
 
 Who'll bring the hoard and pay the fee ? 
 
 God of heaven, we look to Thee 1 
 
 Thou God of Jacob, who of old 
 
 The gushing floods from Horeb rolled, 
 
 Who waters of the sea controllVl, 
 
 And through them led Thy chosen fold; 
 
 Who amidst thunder, smoke and flame 
 
 On Sinai's mount to Moses came, 
 
 Who with fire and sword Thy name 
 
 Did unto Israel's foes proclaim 1 
 
 God of Abraham, who of old 
 
 The glories of his race foretold ! 
 
 With pity here our pains behold, 
 
 For we belong unto that fold ! 
 
 Bid this long night of bondage break, 
 
 And bid the morn of freedom wake; 
 
 God 1 upon us mere}' take, 
 
 If but for only Isaac's sake 1 
 
 X. 
 
 Ceased the sad song and sadder strain. 
 But in the ear of Beau de Main 
 It rung as deep and wild and strong 
 As when their voices woke the song. 
 E'en when long years had past, his ear 
 Seem'd still that mournful song to hear; 
 
ABTELOISE. 51 
 
 Go where he would, its echoes still 
 Seem'd ever on his ears to thrill. 
 But while they sang that mournful lay 
 The beams of morning, hoar and gray, 
 Along the eastern skies began 
 With light the universe to span; 
 And soon Aurora's rosy car 
 Had paled the moon and dimmed east star; 
 Cast over hill and dale below 
 The sun's warm light and cheering glow; 
 Beneath his sheen the forests wide, 
 O'er hill and dale and mountain's side, 
 Put on that dark green, waving glow, 
 They only 'neath his lustre show; 
 While high o'er them on flapping Tsing 
 Did birds their morning praises sing; 
 And distant stream and mountain flood 
 Donn'd hues of crimson, gold and blood; 
 And o'er the fall, the torrent's spray 
 Like diamond flashed beneath his ra}^; 
 While all the hills of clouds that rolled 
 Around his disk were turn'd to gold. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Bright on the parapets and towers 
 The sun displays his morning powers; 
 Through all that castle's ample halls 
 The flooding light of sunshine falls. 
 Those men themselves from saddles free, 
 And tie their chargers to a tree 
 That rear'd itself erect and tall, 
 As was that bulwark's loft}- wall. 
 Then through a doorway tall and wide. 
 Moved on that hero and his guide — 
 
52 ARTEL0I8E. 
 
 From room to room, from door to door, 
 They all that stately place explore. 
 And many things they there behold, 
 Like urns and vases wrought of gold; 
 Huge sceptres, crowns and diadems, 
 Set thick with flashing, starry gems; 
 Huge polished helms with gold inlaid. 
 Piled high they in those rooms surveyed; 
 And swords whose hilts with gems were crown'd 
 That blinding lightnings flashed around. 
 And there did piles of treasure gleam 
 More vast than e'er in thought or dream 
 A miser yet conceived, and more 
 Than ever formed a monarch's store. 
 But with contempt from all this hoard, 
 And gems that flashed their light abroad, 
 As sheen as ever lightning burn'd, 
 The glory-seeking hero turn'd: 
 Such prize as it his spirit spurn 'd; 
 /Immortal renown, deathless fame, 
 [Was his soul's only thought and aim; 
 And that glory must by him be won. 
 Where only knightly deeds are done; 
 Brave hell and fiends and all their wrath, 
 But never swerve from virtue's path. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Down to the gloomy vaults below, 
 Whence throes of pain eternal flow — 
 Where groans, wails, lamentations, sighs, 
 In divers languages arise — 
 With curses ever and anon. 
 That hero and his guide move on. 
 
ARTEL0I8E, 53 
 
 From vault to vault, o er stony floors, 
 Through iron gates and massive doors, 
 Whose hinges grated, creaked and roar'd, 
 Those twain the grisly place explored. 
 Gyves, shackles and rusty chains, 
 Bespattered thick with gory stains, 
 Are piled in windrows long and tall, 
 And hang upon the mouldy wall. 
 Yet, in the rings of some are seen 
 Bones crusted o'er with mildew green — 
 Showing that forms of human kind 
 Those grisly fetters once did bind; 
 And they not only in them died. 
 But into skeletons they dried; 
 There perished and consumed away, 
 'Till scarce of them a vestige lay. 
 In one set of fetters they espied 
 A youth who but lately must have died; 
 All naked was his wasting form, 
 And it did worms consuming swarm; 
 Its skin from end to end was flaw'd. 
 Where vermin, rats and mice had gnaw'd; 
 O'er it green mould was growing fast. 
 And stifling fumes from it was cast. 
 And other sets securely span 
 Skeletons of woman or of man, 
 With flesh entirely destroyed. 
 Whose eyes displayed their horrid void; 
 Whose hollow ribs and grinning skull 
 Tell gazers there did tyrants cull 
 All vengeance, hate and ire grim. 
 They could from human form and limb. 
 Sickened with the fell scenes around, 
 
54 ARTELOISE. 
 
 As before he'd ne'er seen nor found, 
 
 With hasty steps he onward drew 
 
 To where that wail of anguish grew; 
 
 And soon within a vault he found 
 
 A throng of youths in fetters bound; 
 
 Whose bodies horrid sears reveal, 
 
 From burning oil and fusing steel; 
 
 With their toes, ears and fingers lopped, 
 
 And strown o'er floors where tliey had dropped, 
 
 With eyes that from grim sorrow glare. 
 
 Upon those twain the}- fix their stare; 
 
 Cease tlieir wail of anguish deep, 
 
 And stop the scalding tears they weep; 
 
 With parted lips and glaring eyes 
 
 They view the twain w^th dumb surprise. 
 
 xiri. 
 
 Mute stood the knight a little space, 
 And in it view'd each captive's face; 
 On all their featui'es woe and want 
 And famine stared forth grim and gaunt; 
 Such grisly wrecks in shapes of men 
 Had ne'er been seen by him 'till then; 
 Naked stood each poor captive's form, 
 As leafless trees in winter's storm; 
 And even all their hair and beard 
 The captor's rage and hate had shared; 
 All this unto the roots was singed, 
 And dark with flame the skin was. tinged, 
 While scars were seen from head to heel. 
 Prom scalding oil and burning steel; 
 Some deep unto the bones were burn'd. 
 
ARTELOISE. 55 
 
 Awed at the sight, the hero turn'd 
 
 In haste his sicken'd gaze away, 
 
 Wliere casement broad let in the light of day. 
 
 Througli it far off the walls he spied 
 
 Of stately towers, tall and wide, 
 
 And on their walls were easements seen 
 
 Whence curtains stream of gold and green, 
 
 Of yellow, crimson, red and blue. 
 
 And every varied shade and hue 
 
 That art or nature jet could show, 
 
 Or both of these shall ever know; 
 
 Amidst the flooding sunshine's glow, 
 
 On winds that wave them to and fro; 
 
 Rich fabrics they as e'er were wrought, 
 
 Or ever yet to kings were brought, 
 
 From Carthage, Tyre or Sidon's looms. 
 
 O'er them each flower in nature blooms, 
 
 Each flower its native hue assumes. 
 
 Just as nature it with beavit}- plumes. 
 
 Upon the all-enchanting scene 
 
 Long gazed the knight with vision keen; 
 
 Long looked the knight, for twice he saw 
 
 Forms of surpassing beauty draw 
 
 TJnto those casements broad and high; 
 
 Gaze each with sorrow streaming e3^e. 
 
 And saw their scalding teardrops fall 
 
 Like rain flow down the lofty wall, 
 
 Which neither wind nor sunshine di'ied. 
 
 While there he gazed his hoary guide 
 
 Each captive of his fetters freed — 
 
 Did all from out that dungeon lead. 
 
 Into a court-j'ard long and broad, 
 
 Through which clear streams of water pour'd; 
 
56 ARTELOISE. 
 
 But as they reached the crystal wave, 
 Ere yet a hand those waters lave, 
 There side by side right on its brink 
 O'er worn with famine, those captives sink, 
 Breathing the saddest word that Fate 
 E'er gave to man — Too late ! too late 1 
 And hand in hand, and side by side: 
 Breathing this word, those captives died; 
 B}^ famine wasted gaunt and grim, 
 With grisly scars o'er form and limb: 
 A horrid spectacle they made, 
 As side by side in death they laid. 
 O'er the ghastly scene a mournful view 
 The old man cast and swift withdrew; 
 Then with the hero swift he speeds 
 "Where e'er the eye or fancy leads. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Into that castle huge and grand, 
 Where weeping forms at windows stand, 
 With hasty step those twain speed on. 
 Where groans rise ever and anon — 
 Strike on the vaulted roof around, 
 And fill the air with dismal sound. 
 Yet onward swift the twain explore 
 Until they reach a loft}^ door, 
 Wliich marks of time and ruin wore, 
 And on it this inscription bore: 
 
 inscription: 
 Mortal 1 be it woman, maid or man, 
 Fear the secrets of this hall to scan: 
 For whosoever enters here 
 Shall never leave these halls of fear; 
 
ARTELOISE. 57 
 
 Rash adventurer, read this o'er, 
 Then turn back and intrude no more I 
 
 XV. 
 
 That I'll ne'er do, the knight began, 
 
 While I can hilt of broadsword span; 
 
 While I am warm'd with blood of man, 
 
 I fear no secrets there to scan. 
 
 He said, and 'gainst the loft}- door 
 
 His strength he threw; with harsh, loud roar 
 
 Of grating hinge it open flew, 
 
 And swift the twain within it drew; 
 
 While burst unearthly- jells of scorn. 
 
 That fill'd their ears like blasts from horn. 
 
 Soon as they clear'd the doorway broad 
 
 A hand unseen, a flaming sword, 
 
 Struck on the door; with deafening sound 
 
 It fill'd the lofty walls around; 
 
 And closed again the door was sprung. 
 
 While hinges hoarse, harsh thunders rung; 
 
 Through wide wastes of bowers and halls, 
 
 Whose splendor on their vision falls — 
 
 With varied glory, such as streams 
 
 On banks of broken clouds, when gleams 
 
 The setting sun behind a storm, 
 
 And limns 'midst them the rainbow's form. 
 
 It seem'd all charms of earth and sky 
 
 Did ohere in mingling glory vie; 
 
 And all the wealth in nature known 
 
 Was there in rich confusion thrown. 
 
 There goblets bright with gold inlaid. 
 
 And tables all of silver made, 
 
 On which huge piles of coin were piled, 
 
 All round with burnished lustre smiled. 
 
68 - ARTELOISE. 
 
 There golden vases, trays and urns 
 
 Are seen where e'er the vision turns; 
 
 With those of silver, whose lustre burns 
 
 Like flame and e'en that brightness spurns; 
 
 And all the place with splendor churns, 
 
 While high o'er head tlie eye discerns, 
 
 From lofty walls and ceilings hung, 
 
 Banners as gay as ever flung 
 
 Their folds upon the breeze's wings 
 
 When triumphal marched the eastern kings. 
 
 O'er casements wide were curtains thrown, 
 
 Of every tinge and color known; 
 
 Through which the sun his lustre threw, 
 
 And spread on all enchanted hue — 
 
 Of every sheen and varied shade 
 
 That ever art or nature made. 
 
 While did at every casement stand 
 
 Forms all like mortal maidens plann'd; 
 
 And fashioned all as fair and grand 
 
 As e'er the eye of mortal scann'd. 
 
 Some wore long, golden, wavy hair, 
 
 Which like the sunshine stream'd through air, 
 
 While some wore dark as is the shade 
 
 Of which the raven's plume is made; 
 
 And all as glossy and as sheen 
 
 As is that polished lustre seen 
 
 Upon the sable serpent's hide, 
 
 Where sunshine gilds his glossy pride. 
 
 And every form that there appears 
 
 Seems to be a Niobe of tears; 
 
 With heads lean'd o'er the casement's sill, 
 
 They fast eternal tears distill; 
 
 Like human tears they seem to fall, 
 
AIITELOISE. 
 
 5S 
 
 And flow adown the castle wall; 
 But not from them a murmur flows 
 Nor slightest sound of mortal throes- 
 Save tears all seem'd as void of woes 
 As rock down which the water goes. 
 Upon a statue nobly plann'd 
 The hero placed his steel-clad hand— 
 Back from her face her tresses threw, 
 And on her features fixed his view, 
 And thus began in merry mood: 
 
 XVI. 
 
 In me did darkening horror brood, 
 And boil'd my blood through every limb 
 When first from yonder dungeon grim 
 These forms of weeping maids I saw; 
 I would have sworn I view'd them draw 
 Their faces from these casements high, 
 And then return with weeping eye; 
 I saw them move I would have sworn, 
 
 And vow'd they were of woman born 
 
 I little deem'd, but here I'd seek, 
 And gentle maidens find and meek; 
 Not forms that neither breathe nor speak: 
 Wrought by the chisel of some Greek; 
 Who out of silent stone can form 
 A shape that seems with being warm; 
 That seems to bow and move and walk, 
 Its nostrils breathe, and lips to talk. 
 And I had also sworn when first 
 These forms upon my vision burst, 
 That I heard groans and sighs of pain 
 Ring on mine ears again, again ! 
 
QO ARTELOISB. 
 
 Perhaps in them poor mortals dwell, 
 Closed up in them by magic spell — 
 Brought up to earth by fiends from hell, 
 Wnich hero's arm and soul shall quell. 
 But now this secret I will test: 
 For whtn I came upon this quest, 
 I secret swore within my breast 
 That I would neither pause nor rest 
 'Till every cursed wizard's charm 
 I did of all its force disarm; 
 And set each pining captive free 
 That might within this castle be. 
 And this I'll do while my good breath 
 Keeps me from numbers grim, of death. 
 As this he said, an axe he caught 
 Within his hand, and down he brought 
 The polished weapon, huge and dread, 
 With force immense upon the statue's head. 
 On the floor that blow the statue threw, 
 Which in a tliousand fragments flew; 
 While all that axe of ponderous mass 
 To atoms sped like scattered glass; 
 And all the air around was torn 
 With loud, unearthly yells of scorn, 
 And scream'd a voice from out a vault: 
 Stay here thy course, rash mortal, halt 1 
 
 XVII. 
 
 That I'll not do, the knight replied. 
 With voice that roar'd as far and wide, 
 And shook the startled air around 
 With just as much of life and sound I 
 That I'll not do, for Avlien I sped 
 To search this castle grim and dread, 
 
ARTELOISE. 61 
 
 I secret swore within my soul 
 No force in man, no fiend's control — • 
 Should make me either pause or rest 
 'Till I had sped through all my quest; 
 And none of force that the}^ control 
 Shall make me perjure my true soul; 
 Nor shall the3^ ever dull the zest 
 Por glory throbbing in my breast. 
 With my good sword my path I'll hew, 
 Though foes unnumbered rise to view; 
 And die, or honor's path pursue, 
 Nor reck I who shall mourn or rue 
 The way I tread, all those I harm 
 Deeds of true glory cannot charm. 
 Back I'd not turn for all the hoard 
 That mortals own in nature broad, 
 'Till I have all this place explored, 
 And glory won with my good swoi'd; 
 'Till all shall fall beneath its swa}^, 
 He said, and moved upon his way. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 On through wastes of bowers and halls. 
 
 That vaster grow as they proceed — 
 Where paintings hang on all the walls. 
 
 And eyes with chanting beaut}^ feed; 
 Where through silken screens the sunlight falls 
 
 On mimic forest, field and mead, 
 On mountain glen that rock enthralls. 
 
 Those twain in utter silence speed. 
 There wrought in wax are forests seen, 
 
 Standing on all those spacious floors — 
 Glowing on high with native green, 
 
 As when they bloom o'er hills and moors; 
 
62 ABTELOISE. 
 
 There gum and beach and poplar tall, 
 
 The chestnut, oak and lofty pine, 
 The cedar, maple, ash and all 
 
 That grow on glen or steep incline; 
 While over all their heads doth crawl 
 
 The binding folds of spreading vine, 
 While at their feet from wall to wall 
 
 The dark green, glossy grasses shine. 
 And flowers of every shape and hue 
 
 Are 'midst those spreading forests seen. 
 The 3^ellow, crimson, white and blue 
 
 Bloom on their stems of lifelike green; 
 And spacious orchards bloom around — 
 
 The cherry, apple, peach and pear, 
 With lifelike fruit or blossoms crown'd. 
 
 On high their stately heads they rear — 
 And there blooming gage and plum 
 
 Threw round their branches tough and frim 
 With life-like tears of oozing gum, 
 
 That spread o'er every bole and limb. 
 And waved the tall acacia round, 
 
 The palm, the orange and the lime — 
 All trees and shrubs in nature found, 
 
 That bud and bloom in every clime. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Then next they see a forest wide. 
 
 That on a rocky mountain stands — 
 It covers all its dark brown side. 
 
 As planted there by nature's hands; 
 'Tis autumn there, the trees are bare 
 
 Of dark green leaves and bloomy spra}', 
 But suns and frosts have smitten there, 
 
 And turn'd them red and brown and gra3^• 
 
ABTELOISE. 63 
 
 But ample fruit their branches load, 
 
 In clusters from each limb 'tis hung, 
 AncI over all its soil 'tis strowed 
 
 In rich and grand abundance flung. 
 And then amidst a seeming fen, 
 
 Where nuts and acorns strew the ground, 
 Unnumbered Avild hogs make their den. 
 
 And view their paradise ai'ound. 
 Then next, unmeasured wastes they see 
 
 Where grass seems ever waving gr^ien, 
 There all earthly monsters wander free 
 
 As in the wilds of nature seen: 
 The lion, elephant and bear. 
 
 The tiger and the kangaroo, 
 With h3"enas, seem to wander there 
 
 With rhinoceros and leopard too; 
 And every beast that mortals fear. 
 
 Or lonely jungles bring to view: 
 And lifelike there they all appear. 
 
 As if they in the jungle grew. 
 
 XX. 
 
 Next meets the eye a field of wheat" 
 
 That rears its ripen'd ears on high, 
 And near it brown'd with rain and heat. 
 
 Waves ripe a waste of lofty r3'e; 
 And all around the reapers stand 
 
 With arm unto the elbow bared. 
 The shining sickle fills one hand, 
 
 The other with cut grain appear'do 
 Next, fields of corn in even rows 
 
 Stately in tassel 'd bloom is seen, 
 The same as on the moor it grows 
 
 When waving in its pride of green. 
 
64 ARTELOISE. 
 
 And oft the waving blades disclose 
 
 The plowman with his team between, 
 Or youths and maids with shining hoes, 
 
 And all of sprightly mortal mien; 
 Some, while seen to wave the blades above 
 
 Their heads and hide them from the rest, 
 Received their harmless kiss of love 
 
 From those they seem to prize the best. 
 Tlien next a hoary lodge arose 
 
 Half seen amidst a lofty grove, 
 Its front a shallow river shows 
 
 Whose waters over pebbles rove. 
 And far to left and far to right, 
 
 Where e'er the searching eye may view, 
 Vast herds of cattle rise to sight 
 
 'Midst pastures rich as ever grew; 
 There lifelike stood the stately steer, 
 
 With hidden ribs and glossy hide; 
 There seem'd the steeds in swift career, 
 
 With heads erect and nostrils wide, 
 All startled into mortal fear, 
 
 By eagles flying at their side. 
 And there 'midst pastures rich and rare 
 
 Were mighty herds of kine espied; 
 And sheep unnumbered thronged the scene. 
 
 With skipping lambs that round them pla3''d, 
 While clad from head to heel in green 
 
 The watchful shepherds near them straj^'d. 
 But who can limw the varied scenes 
 
 That rose to view amidst those halls ? 
 That rose in wax-work or on screens, 
 
 Or canvas vast, along those walls ' 
 
ARTELOTSE. 65 
 
 E'en there the bounding ship careens, 
 
 On it the rolling billow falls — 
 The bending mast o'er ocean leans, 
 
 Through it the flying surge recalls; 
 The clouds around the sun are roll'd. 
 
 Yet comes enough of glancing ray 
 To light the waves b}^ storms cuntroU'd, 
 
 And gild their crest with sparkling spray, 
 While on that vessel's foamy wake 
 
 Huge whales from ocean rise to view, 
 O'er their grim forms the surges break, 
 
 And o'er these screams the white seamew. 
 The tattered sail on flj'ing gale 
 
 Still clinging to the lonely mast, 
 The trembling crew, the helmsman pale. 
 
 Seem living on the canvas cast; 
 Each seems to breatiie, and stand alive 
 
 Upon that vessel's wave-washed deck, 
 And did with all their power strive 
 
 To fight the floods that would them wreck; 
 That would her unto ruin drive, 
 
 If left to winds and billow's beck. 
 Next rose a mountain scene sublime, 
 
 Adown whose lofty woody slope, 
 Like fairies of the olden time, 
 
 Came fawn and spotted antelope; 
 From peak to peak, from crag to crag. 
 
 That bold and high stand o'er the rest, 
 Was seen the goat and bounding stag, 
 
 And eagle soaring o'er her nest. 
 While like the witch or midnight hag. 
 
 The owl stared from a rock's high crest; 
 
^ , ARTELOISE. 
 
 While their huge length grim serpents drag, 
 
 With heads erect, for victims quest; 
 With flaming tongues and glaring eyes 
 
 Their folds around their prey they coil; 
 And darting irom the canvas rise, 
 
 As in some sultrj^ native soil. 
 Next battle-scenes the walls assume: 
 
 Glittering axe and spear and shield, 
 And blazing helm and nodding plume, 
 
 With flaming swords flash o'er tlu field; 
 Sheathed ai'e the men from head to heel. 
 
 In armor bright as flashing flame — 
 With mighty shields of brass and steel, 
 
 Where sevenfolds together came; 
 And riveted so sure and fast 
 
 No spear nor mace nor axe nor sword — 
 Could their strong ties asunder cast. 
 
 Nor pierce nor bi'eak the egis broad. 
 The armies were together roll'd, 
 
 In mixed, confused and dread affray — 
 Through morions bright and helms of gold 
 
 Both axe and falchion made their wa}^; 
 And over field and gor}^ wold 
 
 Unnumbered dead and d^'ing lay; 
 And on those dead the chargers tread, 
 
 And crush out reeking brains and gore 
 And the blood of the djing spread 
 
 With their iron hoofs upon the moor. 
 And over steeds and riders bold 
 
 Thick grows the dust and gory spraj"-, 
 As plain the twain the scenes behold: 
 
 As there were men and waging fray; 
 
AKI'ELOISE. 61 
 
 Cloyed of the scenes around these roll'd, 
 
 With keener haste they speed their way, 
 Past a huge hall were breezes troll 'd, 
 
 From walls vast fabrics rich and gay — 
 Silks, satins, velvets and cashmeres, 
 
 And plumes and furs of gaudj^ shade: 
 All Carthage, Tyre and Sidon's wares, 
 
 Where were the richest fabrics made. 
 Past these in haste the twain move on, 
 
 Through many a strange and winding way 
 Where gaud, forever and anon 
 
 They view, no matter where they stray; 
 When lo, their ^\ray is cross'd once moi'e 
 
 By door of strange and massive size, 
 And with letters cast in golden ore 
 
 This strange inscription meets their e3^es: 
 
 inscription: 
 
 Rash adventurer, would thou dare 
 
 The secrets of these halls behold, 
 Thyself thou must of armor bare, 
 
 And wrap thee in a silken fold; 
 No mail-clad hero enters here. 
 
 Helmet of neither steel nor gold; 
 No glittering shield nor sword nor spear, 
 
 As worn by heroes strong and bold; 
 But he who enters here in steel 
 
 Must first aloud this trumpet blow. 
 And when these halls have heard its peal, 
 
 'Twill fearful odds against him throw 1 
 So, rash adventurer, turn thee back, 
 
 Nor seek to view the prophet's shrine — 
 Return upon th}^ journeyed track. 
 
 While life and liberty are thine. 
 
68 ARTELOISE. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Such words as those might shake with fear 
 
 He who never a danger dared, 
 Who never lifted a sword or sj^ear, 
 
 Nor the perils of battle shared; 
 But I hold them as idle things, 
 
 And from me I cast them away — 
 Heed them little as shadow from wings 
 
 Of the magpie, sparrow or jay. 
 This mighty trumpet I shall blow, 
 
 Its loudest music send abroad — 
 All odds it shall against me throw, 
 
 I'll nobly face Avith my good sword. 
 "With tliat a mighty trump he raised 
 
 Within his hand, 'twas wrought of gold, 
 That lay before the door, and blazed 
 
 With diamonds gorgeous to behold; 
 A mighty trump of wondei'ous size, 
 
 And of enchanting beauty wrought — 
 A richer and more costly prize 
 
 Was never yet to monarch brought. 
 Around and round that trump he turn'd, 
 
 And view'd it o'er from end to cnd^ — 
 Where gems of flashing brightness burn'd, 
 
 And did with every color blend. 
 Then said, No living thing I've seen 
 
 'Midsc all this waste of gaud}' show, 
 Though oft behind some silken screen 
 
 Methought there lurked a secret foe; 
 But when with read}^ sword I sought 
 
 The form, and rightly did survey, 
 I found of wax or brass 'twas wrought, 
 
 Of marble or of lifeless claj'. 
 
ARTELOISE. 69 
 
 The work of Roman or of Greek, 
 
 Or of some cunning race of men, 
 Who mould tlie forms that seem to speak, 
 
 And seem to mortal being ken. 
 If sound of this to me will bring 
 The likeness of a human thing, 
 
 With blood and thew and being warm, 
 Then let it come, as come it will, 
 With fear it shall not make me thrill: 
 
 However dreadful be the form, 
 He said, and blew a blast as shrill 
 As e'er through gorges of a hill 
 
 Has piped the breath of furious storm. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 From turret to foundation stone 
 
 Shook all beneath that trumpet's tone, 
 
 As if the walls and solid rock 
 
 Were shaken b}' an earthquake shock; 
 
 And swifter than a flash of flame 
 
 The massive door wide open came. 
 
 It and the vast partition flew 
 
 Back to the walls, and spread to view 
 
 A lofty and enormous hall; 
 
 Where o'er its floors from wall to wall 
 
 Arose an army vast, arrajed 
 
 In gleaming steel, whose lustre made 
 
 A brightness all that place pervade, 
 
 As if it all was wrapt in flame; 
 
 And fire, whose sheen might put to shame 
 
 The brightest earthly blaze that man 
 
 Can into gleaming embers fan. 
 
 O'er his eyes his hand the hero raised, 
 
 To shield them from the sheen that blazed. 
 
70 ARTELOISE. 
 
 And long Lis searching gaze he threw 
 
 On splendor that there met his view: 
 
 There rank behind rank, line on line, 
 
 Both horse and foot in arnaor shine — 
 
 Enormous steeds and riders grim, 
 
 Of towering form and giant limb; 
 
 High o'er their helms the gaudy plumes, 
 
 Of every color wrought that blooms 
 
 In nature's reign, there waving rise 
 
 In untold splendor; with surprise 
 
 He views the enormous plates of steel 
 
 That arm those forms from head to heel, 
 
 The bossy shields of massive strength, 
 
 And swords of wonderous breadth and length. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Foremost of all, five columns deep. 
 Huge spearmen stand, the horsemen keep 
 From the approach of charging foe, 
 Their gleaming spears all rangod arow — 
 Levelled and far advanced reveal 
 A horrid front of gleaming steel; 
 So close their points together shine 
 No man between could pass their line, 
 And in their front a breastwork stood 
 Of craggy rocks and beams of wood. 
 Keen looked the gallant knight, but he 
 No signs of life could 'mongst them see; 
 Where e'er he look'd nought they reveal 
 But lifeless images in steel ! 
 Nor do their close up visors show 
 One sign of e3^es that flash or glow, 
 Nor from their chargers' nostrils wide 
 Is single sign of breath espied; 
 
ABTELOISE. ^j 
 
 Silent as death the}' block 'd the puss, 
 And were but forms of steel and brass. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Again the glittering trump be blew, 
 And straight that host in motion threw: 
 The horsemen swift their falchions drew, 
 And seem dread murmurs from them flew, 
 As brandished high their weapons gleam 
 Bright as the flames the lightnings stream: 
 There poised on high each shining brand 
 Rests still, as waiting some command; 
 While to and fro that host of spears 
 A moment moves, then straight appears 
 All sign of life from 'mongst them fled, 
 And tomblike silence 'mongst them spread. 
 Again the trump he blew; no more 
 They moved in action as before; 
 Again, again, with deafening sound, 
 Tliat trumpet's music sped around; 
 But not a sign of life it brought. 
 It not a sign of action wrought 
 Amongst those grisly forms of steel. 
 Moveless they stand from head to heel; 
 And all in postures stand alike, 
 Ready to charge, to thrust or strike. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Then spoke the knight, half roused to wrath: 
 I swore no force should stop my path 
 By either man or fiend controll'd, 
 And true unto ray oath I'll hold. 
 On yonder grisly host I'll charge. 
 And through it make an opening large; 
 
72 ABTELOISE. 
 
 I'll stir them into motion grim, 
 If they be things of form and limb; 
 Nor shall they bloek m}' onward road 
 'Till greater signs of life are show'd; 
 And I have tried their strength of limb, 
 He said, and from the breast-work grim, 
 Which stood that host of spears before, 
 A rock of mighty mass he tore, 
 High o'er his head the rock he rear'd — 
 Poised in his hand, the rock appeared 
 Craggy and weight}^, vast and dread; 
 Three times he whirls it round his head, 
 While backward bending for the throw — ■ 
 Then hurls it with terrific blow: 
 Full on the line of spears it flew, 
 And clear'd its path their columns through: 
 Down spear and spearmen went amain, 
 Nor from the floor rose up again; 
 Broken beneath the ruin dread 
 Around is shattered armor spread. 
 Another mighty crag he threw, 
 Which full upon a horseman flew, 
 And down he went; then strange to tell 
 But true, each steed and rider fell 
 Prone on tliat floor; with horrid clang 
 The fallen mass of armor rang; 
 But not one groan nor dying pang 
 The hero heard, as swift he sprang 
 Upon his foes, with trump and SAvord, 
 And mimic men and steeds explored. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Onward, through bowers grand and gay. 
 Again the twain pursue their way; 
 
ARTELOISE. 73 
 
 When soon they gain'd a lofty shrine 
 
 Round which did beads unnumbered shine. 
 
 Decked o'er witli crimson, gold and green 
 
 Hioh o'er the shrine a cross was seen; 
 
 And round the altar broad and high 
 
 Hung flowing screen of ever}' d3^e, 
 
 Of every color, hue and shade 
 
 That e'er the looms of nations made 
 
 Which o'er that loftj^ altar threw 
 
 A varied and a blending hue. 
 
 High on a velvet crimson throne, 
 
 Set round with manj' a precious stone 
 
 Of topaz and of diamond sheen, 
 
 The prophet of the place was seen. 
 
 White was his robe as fleec}' snow, 
 
 And white o'er it his beard did flow; 
 
 And past his knees'his beard hung down, 
 
 E'en to the borders of his gown; 
 
 His head was hoar as is the fur 
 
 That hangs from out the thistle's burr, 
 
 And over ej^es as black as night 
 
 His shaggy brows flowed long and white; 
 
 His haughty forehead, high and broad, 
 
 Denoted knowledge 'neath it stored; 
 
 Save Roman nose, no other trace 
 
 For beard was seen of all his face — • 
 
 So dense it grew o'er all its lair, 
 
 It hid features haggard with despair: 
 
 Nor could you tell if joy or woe. 
 
 Or which grim pang we mortal know, 
 
 It was that lit his eyes so bright, 
 
 And gave to them such glaring light: 
 
 Still as the grave he kept his chair, 
 
 And eyed the fast approaching pair. 
 
74 ARTELOISE. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Before his shrine the twain appeared 
 And gazed on him with hoary beard. 
 I do believe, tlie knight began. 
 That yonder bent and hoary man, 
 "Were I to hurl him from his throne, 
 We'd find him wax or brass or stone — 
 Like all the rest that we have seen, 
 Altliough ]iis e^^es look bright and keen 
 When e'er on them I cast my view. 
 As tlius he spoke, the trump he blew: 
 Sent sound terrific, wild and strong- 
 Through all those towers broad and long, 
 And back were countless echoes thrown 
 As if unnumbered trumps were blown; 
 Through all those towers rang their sound, 
 While sliook the massive walls around. 
 From off his throne the pro^Dhet sprang, 
 
 And seized a gleaming sword, 
 With voice strong as that trumpet's clang 
 
 Thus sent his voice abroad: 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Dog of an unbelieving JeVv, 
 
 Whose race of old the Saviour slew — 
 
 AVlio to the cross the Saviour nailed, 
 
 And at His anguish mocked and railed 
 
 And Him with blow and curse assailed, 
 
 His agony with rapture hailed ! 
 
 Thou art the man who, when the crowd 
 
 Bore Christ along, cried to Him aloud: 
 
 Haste, to Thy crucifixion go, 
 
 And on Him dealt thy cruel blow: 
 
ARTELOISE. ^5 
 
 When thus thou hadst the Savioiu' spurn VI, 
 
 On thee His eye 5 a moment turn'd: 
 
 And said He, Simon, here remain 
 
 Until I shall return again 1 
 
 And here thou hast been since that day, 
 
 And 'till He comes thou here must staj; 
 
 Feared by the young, loathed by the old, 
 
 Ivoam earth like phantom of the wold ; 
 
 On earth thy form no shadow throws, 
 
 And none of rest thy wandering knows. 
 Dog of an unbelieving Jew, 
 How darest thou come within my view? 
 Dost thou not dread once more to feel 
 The scalding oil and burning steel, 
 And all the pangs that we prepare 
 For thy accursed race who dare 
 Within these saci'ed towers tread. 
 E'en though the}- should be captives led? 
 Like all of thy accursed race 
 That ever looked upon my face, 
 And untold thousands there have gazed 
 Since I unto this throne was raised, 
 Thy fate shalt be and thou slialt feci 
 Pangs which no language can reveal; 
 All throes tliat writhe the human form 
 Shall fall on tliee in one grim storm. 
 Here seven times thou hast appeared, 
 Here seven times my presence dared: 
 Six times thou hast escaped my Avrath— 
 Fled from here by some secret path. 
 But this, the seventh, is the last 
 My threshold shalt b_y thee be past. 
 This time thy grisly doom is seal'd, 
 
76 ARTELOISE. 
 
 And thou thy cursed life shall yield, 
 
 Thou unbelieving dog of sin. 
 
 At this the hoary guide broke in- 
 
 Thou, Terentius Aulus, whom 
 
 To death would all the Hebrews doom, 
 
 Thou, worst of all thy race and line, 
 
 Though styled the Prophet of the Shrine, 
 
 Thou cursed fiend of cruel Rome, 
 
 True, 'tis the last time here I roam, 
 
 At least, the last time I shall see 
 
 The likeness here of such as thee: 
 
 For it is prophesied of old 
 
 The seventh time I tread this hold, 
 
 I with me the power shall bring 
 
 That shall thy sway to ruin fling; 
 
 That I should break each subtle spell 
 
 That thou hast lured to earth from hell. 
 
 That I through strength of knight renown 'd, 
 
 A hero of the Table Round, 
 
 Should all thy force and fraud o'erthrow 
 
 And cast thy pride forever Ioav, 
 
 Set every pining captive free 
 
 Of every nation held b^^ thee; 
 
 And here I come that deed to do, 
 
 In me thy awful ruin view — 
 
 For those prophesies I'll perform 
 
 In spite of earthquake, flood or storm; 
 
 In spite of all the fraud or force 
 
 Such as thou bringest to bar my course. 
 
 Tliy strongest heroes now are low, 
 
 This good knight wrought their overthrow. 
 
 And none throughout thy towers broad 
 
 Now lives to draw 'gainst me the sword 
 
ARTELOISE. 77 
 
 But thine old hand, so weak with age 
 I fear no strife that it can wage. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Fell lightning fill'd the Prophet's eye, 
 Shot forth like flame from sable sky, 
 His form to its full height he rear'd 
 And from its sheath his sword he bared; 
 Some hasty steps he forward made, 
 Then paused, and sheathed again his blade. 
 I would, he said, have cleaved th}^ head 
 And thy cursed form to dogs have fed, 
 But all too easy were such death 
 For such as thee: tliy hated breath 
 Shall leave thy all accursed frame 
 With throes that only hell can tame. 
 Thy form shall feel unnumbered pains, 
 I'll bind thee down with red-hot chains; 
 Of boiling water thou shalt drink, 
 Then quaff of molten lead and zinc; 
 Thy limbs from thee I'll piecemeal hew 
 And thou shalt eat those pieces too; 
 Thou'lt have them served in fry and stew, 
 A food most fit for cursed Jew. 
 Base unbeliever, boasts thou then 
 This heio overcame my men. 
 That all my giants huge of limb 
 And statues terrible and grim, 
 Were overthrown b}^ knight renown'd 
 From Arthur of the Table Round. 
 Why, were the stor}^ eveu true, 
 Thou unbelieving, cursed Jew, 
 The avenging hordes of mighty Rome 
 Would hunt the craven to his home, 
 
Y8 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Would tear him from King Arthur's hall 
 
 And crush him to an atom small — 
 
 As is the frailest grain of sand 
 
 That yet from earth a tempest fann'd, 
 
 As ever found in any land 
 
 In desert wilds or ocean's strand. 
 
 Think ye, because the menial cre-w 
 
 1 held beneath m}' swa}- ye slew, 
 
 That ye haA'e crush 'd each magic spell 
 
 With which I force of foemen quell ? 
 
 With which I too have guarded long 
 
 From Arthur's hand these towers strong? 
 
 Yes, this last hold in Britain's land 
 
 Of Roman power and command ? 
 
 Rome, the grand mistress of the world, 
 Whose banner shall be j-et unfurl'd 
 
 In glorj^, power and might once more 
 
 As erst it was on every shore; 
 
 And teach rebellious nations round 
 
 To tremble Avhen her name tlie}^ sound. 
 
 Hal thought 3'e, when mj' curs ye slew, 
 
 Ye all my pride and might o'erthrew? 
 
 That no reserve at all I held 
 
 By which be such as yc repelled. 
 
 Or into humble captives quellxl ? 
 
 I'll teach you I have yet the force 
 
 To vanquish you and stop 3'our course. 
 
 He ceased, and on a buckler broad 
 
 With force terrific smote his sword; 
 
 The sound from out that clanging shield 
 
 Around like rolling thunders pealed. 
 
 When through the wilds with night o'er spread 
 
 They echo long and deep and dread; 
 
ARTELOISE. T9 
 
 Through fill the place its deafening clang 
 
 Like din from thousand anvils rang, 
 
 And countless streams of ruddy flame 
 
 Around that shrine terrific came. 
 
 Still louder from that clanging shield 
 
 The deafening sounds of thunder pealed, 
 
 While keener flashed the blinding light 
 
 And dazzled each beholder's sight; 
 
 But hissing flame the twain behold 
 
 Which round that shrine unearthly rolled, 
 
 While awful figures from it came — 
 
 Terrific spectres wrought of flame, 
 
 Which seem surcharged with demon rage, 
 
 And there infernal conflict wage; 
 
 Then swift as thought mount through the air, 
 
 And flaming from the shrine repair, 
 
 Then towards the open windows fly 
 
 And vanish from each gazer's eye. 
 
 Soon ceased the all unearthl}^ sound. 
 
 And died the flame that shrine around; 
 
 Each eager looked, but neither man 
 
 Could anywhere that prophet scan; 
 
 Bnt all the shrine was singed and black. 
 
 Showed plain the flames' destrojing track. 
 
 High o'er the shrine still hung the shield 
 
 From Avhence those sounds of thunder peal'd, 
 
 But no trace did all that shrine afford 
 
 Of the Prophet and his gleaming sword. 
 
80 ARTELOISE. 
 
 PART III. 
 
 A silence dismal and profonnd 
 Settled o'er all those towers round, 
 As there those twain surprised, amazed, 
 On the scorched shrine together gazed; 
 And saw how sudden and how strange 
 
 The Prophet from their gaze withdrew 
 As o'er the scenes their visions range 
 
 Tliey scarce believe tlie change they view 
 CTpon the shrine the hero strode 
 
 And with his broadsword smote the shicltl; 
 Though heav}'' w'as the blow bestowed 
 
 No slightest sound from out it pealed; 
 It gave no more of jar or sound 
 
 Than feather smote on fleecy snow. 
 Again, again lie smote, but found 
 
 No sound at all for him Avould flow. 
 Once more upon the trump he blew 
 
 A blast as loud and deep and long 
 As ever yet from trumpet flew 
 
 By breath of mortal hero strong; 
 And save the echoes from that blast 
 
 That came from all tlie turrets i*ound, 
 'Midst all those vaulted towers vast 
 
 Was heard no other stir nor sound. 
 All void of life those towers seem'd, 
 
 No living object in them stirred; 
 
AETELOISE. 
 
 Though bright o'er them the noon sun beam'tl 
 
 There moved not e'en the sound of bird. 
 All within, all without was void 
 
 Of stir or sound as is the tomb, 
 And not a zephyr's breath destroyed 
 
 The grave-like rest that there employed 
 The banners hung around that room, 
 
 And curtains that hung the casement round 
 Where breeze of motion left no trace. 
 
 As if to wake again with sound 
 The awful stillness of the place 
 
 Again the mighty horn he blew 
 And sent its music far and wide, 
 
 Then forward on their questing di-ew 
 That hero and his hoary guide. 
 
 II. 
 
 Through lonely w^a^s, up winding stairs 
 
 Tho twain their path pursued, 
 And rooms piled up in lofty tiers 
 
 With searching e^'es they viewed. 
 Around where e'er their visions fell 
 
 Gaudy fabrics met their gaze, 
 From ceilings and from walls as well 
 
 Like sunset clouds the}^ blaze. 
 There it seem'd as if all the wares 
 
 That ever came from looms, 
 Silks, satins, velvets and cashmeres, 
 
 Were gathered in those rooms; 
 Fabrics of every style e'er wove, 
 
 Of every shade and hue, 
 Display- those rooms where e'er they rove, 
 
 Where e'er their eyes pursue. 
 
82 ARTEI.OISE. 
 
 Yet, A^ainly of living thing they Btrovo 
 To find a single clue. 
 
 in. 
 
 Atlength they reached a spacious hall, 
 
 Of snow-white marble was the wall; 
 
 The floor was marble-white as frost, 
 
 Or foam upon the surges tost. 
 
 It seemed so perfect, white and clean 
 
 It never foot of man had seen, 
 
 Nor speck of dust the winds had thrown 
 
 Upon that white and polished stone. 
 
 And over all that spacious floor 
 
 "Were gravened battle-scenes of yore, 
 
 The ceilings and the loftj' walls 
 
 Where e'er the searching vision falls — 
 
 The sculptor's bus}^ hand had wrought, 
 
 And all with scenes of battles fraught; 
 
 Men and steeds seemed starting from the wall, 
 
 Woke to action by the trumpet's call. 
 
 Their armies meet in fierce career 
 
 With lifted shield and levelled spear, 
 
 With mace and club and axe and sword 
 
 They spread their carnage long and broad. 
 
 There heroes seemed to speak and breathe, 
 
 And fiercely there their swords unsheathe, 
 
 There face to face they lifelike stand 
 
 With hilt firm grasped Avithin their hand. 
 
 The armies seem to move along, 
 
 And seems to neigh the charger strong 
 
 And move his nostrils wide, 
 And rife the minstrel seems with song 
 
 Amidst the battle tide. 
 
ARTELOISE. 83 
 
 The stormy trumpets seem to blow, 
 
 The banners seem to wave, 
 The archer seems to bendhis bow, 
 
 His mark, a hero brave. 
 And here and there a combat grim 
 
 Is on tliat marble seen, 
 By monster of enormous limb 
 
 And hero waged between. 
 Beneath a hero's sword lies slain 
 
 A dragon huge and dread, 
 Cleffc is his grisly form in twain, 
 
 And cleft his horrid head. 
 But vainly words could limn the scenes 
 
 Graved on those lofty walls, 
 For mortal language has no means 
 
 To paint aright those halls; 
 Yes, limn aright each wonderous sight 
 
 The vision meets where e'er it falh. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Long wrapt in pleasing thouglit profound 
 The hero viewed the scenes around. 
 He A'iewed them all with sti'ange delight, 
 For such 'till then ne'er met his sight. 
 The sun went down and night apace 
 Was brooding o'er that marvellous place, 
 Ere from those scenes on marble shown 
 The hero's raptured gaze was thrown. 
 Then round he viewed those halls so wide. 
 But nowhere saw his hoary guide, 
 On right, on left he searched the jjlace 
 But of his guide he found no trace. 
 To blow that trump thrice lie essayed 
 But not for him a sound it made, 
 
84 ARTELOISE. 
 
 In spite of him 'twas void of sound 
 
 As were the marble walls around. 
 
 But through the black and solid gloom 
 
 That there pervaded all that room, 
 
 He then saw a flickering light 
 
 Swift stream upon the folds of night; 
 
 Soon more intense its brightness grew 
 
 'Till light it round like sunshine threw, 
 
 And made the sculptered walls around 
 
 Gleam with a lustre all profound; 
 
 It seem'd that bright and waving glare 
 
 In motion put the armies there, 
 
 And all around that mighty room 
 
 Seemed moving, banner, spear and plume; 
 
 Streamed on the blast the charger's mane 
 
 As high he leaped o'er mounds of slain, 
 
 And motion seem'd o'er all the wall 
 
 And floor, where e'er die gaze might fall. 
 
 But to w^hence had burst that ruddy light 
 
 Swift onward sped the gallant knight. 
 
 V. 
 
 Along a passage bright as day 
 In haste the hero made his way; 
 Though dazzling brightness round him fell 
 Whence came the light he could not tell; 
 No trace at all his vision caught 
 To show where all that light w^as wrought, 
 But where it seemed it keenest burned 
 Full on its end the passage turned; 
 And here two mighty doors were seen 
 Of wonderous length and breadth, I ween. 
 Each door was wrought of polislied ore, 
 And each a strange inscription bore;. 
 
ARTELOISE. 85 
 
 Plainly on them the words were scrolled 
 
 And all the letters wrought of gold. 
 
 First that on the left the hero scanned 
 I 
 
 While o'er liis eyes he raised his hand, 
 To shield them from the blinding glare 
 That waving light engendered there. 
 
 INSCRIPTION: 
 
 Pleasure and ease and raptures rare 
 Are his who dares to enter here; 
 ,No toil nor strife shall e'er annoy 
 All those who tread this hall of jo}'^; 
 No clash of arms nor trumpet's sound 
 Shall break its harmony profound. 
 Who loves not peace and pleasures rare 
 Must dare not think to enter here; 
 And those who seek for ancient lore 
 Or knowledge of the days of ^'ore, 
 Or waste their time in wisdom's bower, 
 Here shall not dwell one fleeting hour. 
 Only those whom pleasures cannot cloy 
 Shall dare to tread this hall of joy ! 
 Said the knight, as he read it o'er, 
 I there would scroll a line or more: 
 That onl}' those should enter here 
 Who deem sloth and ease raptures rare; 
 Who feel no remorse nor pangs of grief 
 For time ill spent though life is brief, 
 And glides away from mortal man 
 As doth quicksilver from his spar; 
 Who ne'er seem to think, for tlie time 
 They waste upon this mortal clime, 
 The}' must some day a reckoning show 
 To Him who did that life bestow. 
 
80 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Only those who deem sloth no sin 
 Should dare that hall to enter in. 
 Were I indeed to enter there 
 I'd wake with din its atmosphere; 
 I'd change the order of all things 
 Within it found, queens and kings, 
 Beasts and birds with claws or wings, 
 Anything that walks, crawls or sprnigs 
 That I should meet within that hall 
 Should learn to loathe sloth's dismal thrall, 
 And see it from his nature spurned. 
 This said the knight, and swift he tux'ned 
 To read the strange inscription o'er 
 That gleamed upon the other door. 
 But far less plain its words were scrolled 
 And formed of steel instead of gold. 
 But polished all as bright were they 
 As is the broadsword whet for fray. 
 Or was that hero's morion bright 
 That flash beneath that waving light, 
 And seemed as bright a sheet of flame 
 As e'er from blazing furnace came. 
 To screen his eyes his mailed hand 
 The hero raised while this he scanned: 
 
 inscription: 
 
 Mortal, be thou a fool or knave, 
 Or one to whom God wisdom gave, 
 Be thou to fear a crouching slave, 
 Or yet the bravest of the brave; 
 Who would all grimmest dangers dare, 
 Whose soul's a fount of virtues rare, 
 To enter this dread door beware ! 
 Turn back, thyself from dangers spare. 
 
ARTELOISE. g-^ 
 
 Art thou a hero grand, whose name 
 Is written on the rulls of fame ? 
 And tliere shall blaze like living flame 
 'Till time grows halt and nature lame, 
 
 Whose praise shall glow while shines the sun, 
 
 While breezes blow, or waters run, 
 
 Then keep the honor thou has won 
 
 And these dread halls forever shun. 
 
 Mortal, hast thou a spirit fraught 
 
 With truths the ancient sages taught, 
 
 A spirit all of glory wrought, 
 
 Daring deed and generous thought, 
 
 A soul conceived and born and rear'd 
 
 In temperance and toil, prepared 
 
 'Midst virtues freedom fanned and aired. 
 
 And sunned and for them constant cared; 
 
 And dost thou seek to place thy name 
 
 Eternal on the heights of fame ? 
 
 For it would brave both flood and flame, 
 
 Grim fiends, disease and hunger tame, 
 
 Then open wide this iron door. 
 Nor heed thou how its hinges roar, 
 Right swiftly pass its threshold o'er 
 But back thou canst return no more. 
 If strong thy arm and keen thy sword, 
 And fear is from th^^ soul ignored, 
 Thou'lt burst the grim magician's fraud 
 That reigns through all these towers broad. 
 Good knight and true, pursue thy course. 
 And through this door thy journey force; 
 When creaks its hinges harsh and hoarse, 
 
 Twill bring to tyrants grim remorse. 
 
88 ARTELOISE, 
 
 VI. 
 
 When thrice the hero had read o'er 
 
 The strange inscription on that door, 
 
 Thus to himself he muttered low: 
 
 Let it betide me weal or woe 
 
 I through this door my way must wend, 
 
 Though 'gainst me hell its hosts shall send. 
 
 I'll not turn back nor fear nor quail 
 
 But meet all odds that dare assail; 
 
 I've still gone, let it fail or thrive. 
 
 The way that reason seem'd to drive 
 
 Since first myself I rightly knew, 
 
 And reason bids me now pursue 
 
 This course and pass this doorway through, 
 
 And as she dictates, I shall do. 
 
 In me as one are strength and will, 
 
 And daring courage, nerve and skill. 
 
 Those things alone by me are feared 
 
 Out of which evils may be rear'd, 
 
 My nature doth all sins ignore 
 
 And evils of all kinds abhor, 
 
 No evil unto God nor man 
 
 Shall breathe in all my nature's plan; 
 
 And not a thought shall rise in me 
 
 I should fear God or man to see. 
 
 For this my soul ne'er harbored fear. 
 
 Courage and daring deed are there; 
 
 And ne'er a scene I've yet beheld 
 
 That in the least my courage quelled. 
 
 Though I've faced fire, war and storm, 
 
 And beasts of every size and form 
 
 Alone on mountain and in glen. 
 
 On flood and fever-reeking fen. 
 
ARTELOISE. ^9 
 
 But no man feels the least of fear 
 
 For dangers cast around him here, 
 
 Whatever land by liim be trod 
 
 Who has abiding faith in God. 
 
 Into this world man comes alone 
 
 A feeble being and unknown, 
 
 A stranger landed on a shore 
 
 Where perils throng his path before, 
 
 Against Avliich he must bravel}^ cope, 
 
 Led on his waj^ by faith and hope; 
 
 So, when he dies he goes alone 
 
 A stranger in a land unknown. 
 
 Through faitli and hope he treads the sphere 
 
 Nor fears what he'll encounter there; 
 
 So through this door I now shall go, 
 
 See what beyond it it doth show, 
 
 Let beasts or demons bar my way 
 
 They shall not hold this arm at bay; 
 
 Nor heroes of gigantic limb, 
 
 Strong as dragons and as grim. 
 
 Dreadful as ever stalked in mail 
 
 Or yet in fray did foe assail, 
 
 Through valor, strength and hope and faith 
 
 I'll quell force of beast, man or wraith, 
 
 No force nor fraud nor hate nor wrath 
 
 Here through this place shall bar my path. 
 
 VII. 
 
 With that his force the hero threw 
 Against the door, which open flew, 
 While loud through all those halls around 
 The grating of its hinges sound, 
 Terrific as the earthquake shock 
 When it bursts up the solid rock, 
 
00 ARTELOISE. 
 
 And sends it scattered far &nd wide 
 
 In fragments down the mountain's side. 
 
 With horrid jar and deafening sound 
 
 The door did gainst the wall rebound. 
 
 And scarce he'd past the threshold o'er 
 
 Thau straight again was closed the door, 
 
 And all uu earthly was the jar 
 
 Of swift returning bolt and bar; 
 
 Each to its place like lightning flew 
 
 By hands invisible, which threw 
 
 An iron beam across the door, 
 
 And it into its fastenings bore. 
 
 And in a place to him unknown 
 
 Ouce more that hero stood alone, 
 
 To him it seemed a mightj^ hall, 
 
 But light Avas dead and silent all, 
 
 And vain his eyes the place explored; 
 
 Yet, o'er the floor with his good sword 
 
 He felt his way, and he had strode 
 
 Some thirty paces on his road, 
 
 When to liis lips the trump he drew 
 
 And once again upon it blew; 
 
 But 'twas no longer dead to sound, 
 
 It seut a blast those halls around 
 
 Terrific as old ocean's waves 
 
 Assaulting all their rocky caves. 
 
 When stirring earthquakes move their shore 
 
 And storm fieuds shriek above their roar. 
 
 From turret to foundation stone 
 
 Shook all beneath that trumpet's tone, 
 
 As if a whirlwind tJiere had blown 
 
 And everything in motion thrown 
 
 The walls, the ceilings and the floors; 
 
ARTELOISE. 91 
 
 And sounds as of a thousand doors 
 On noisy, grating hinges hung 
 Seemed on a sudden open flung, 
 'Gainst walls with force immense they bound 
 And shake the place with jarring sound; 
 While figures move from room to room. 
 And voices whisper through the gloom, 
 Tlien closed again the doors are thrown 
 And silence there once more is known. 
 An awfal silence like the tomb 
 Reigned grim o'er all that solid gloom, 
 On darkness dread that filled the place 
 The hero gazed a moment's space 1 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Now through the place a brightness glows 
 
 And, lo I all unearthly phantoms rose, 
 
 Which in a group together came. 
 
 Their hair seemed waving fonts of flame 
 
 Which cast a fearful light abroad 
 
 And gloom from all that place ignored; 
 
 Still brighter o'er those phantom forms 
 
 Like fire poured by roaring storms, 
 
 The flame rose up a column vast 
 
 As tliat from out volcano cast, , 
 
 While on its top a spirit came 
 
 Which seemed half formed of smoke and flame, 
 
 But all his face from sight was veiled 
 
 By mist and flame that round it sailed, 
 
 In its right hand a skull it bore 
 
 Which ever streamed with reeking gore, 
 
 Which downward pour'd in steady flow 
 
 Upon the heads of those below. 
 
92 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Which as it touched them burned and hissed 
 And formed a cloud of awful mist; 
 Did just such sound and sight reveal 
 As water poured on burning steel. 
 In his left hand a book he held 
 Which aye from it the flame repelled, 
 Where e'er that book the spectre moved 
 The flame to it all harmless proved; 
 Far back from it the fire rolled 
 As though it there the flame controlled, 
 Held it and all its tongues at bay, 
 O'er all its force kept boundless sway. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Down o'er that peak of flame enorm 
 The spectre leaned his awful form, 
 And in the ears of those below 
 From him some whispered accents flow; 
 Each spectre forward leaned his ear 
 As all intent that voice to hear, 
 But what he said no single word 
 The wonder-stricken hero heard. 
 Open that book the spectre threw 
 And held it to the other's view, 
 Forward he leaned and on it gazed 
 With e3^es that red with fur^^ blazed; 
 Then seem'd their horrid forms to writhe 
 Like serpents 'neath the reaper's scythe, 
 And from them burst a wail of woe 
 Dreary and weird as blasts that blow 
 At midnight o'er the gloomy plain, 
 And sigh through the hair of the slain; 
 And from them burst this wail of doom 
 Which like a storm swept through the room* 
 
ARTELOISE. 93 
 
 X. 
 
 Lower, dreadful hour, fatal day, 
 All our power has past away, 
 All, all the arts that Merlin taught 
 . This day are unto ruin brought; 
 As wizards prophesied of old. 
 As in this awful book foretold, 
 Here before our ej-es revealed 
 Our doom has come, our fate is sealed. 
 We perish all by knight renowned, 
 A hero of the Table Round, 
 And shall we tamely let th:it power fall 
 That long has held the world in thrall ? 
 Shall we from out this hold be driven 
 And all our force to dust be given, 
 Ere we with Arthur's knight have striven 
 And proved his helm cannot be riven? 
 No, by all the powers that dwell 
 Throughout the burning realms of hell, 
 And those of intramundane air 
 While we have life we'll not despair. 
 We'll teach the world the force we wield. 
 Can cleave asunder helm and shield, 
 Can break the spear and rend the sword 
 Of any mortal knight or lord. 
 Up, up and wage infernal strife, 
 Nor tamely fall while we have life. 
 But bid our force on mortals storm. 
 Loud shrieked the grim, terrific form 
 That rose above that fount of flame — 
 As far more dread his front became, 
 Ten thousand seri)ents breathing fire 
 Wreathed around his statue dire, 
 
94 ARTELOISfi 
 
 Down fell the skull of reeking gore 
 On flames below with hissing roar, 
 And far and wide its horrid spray 
 Flashed round in sparks of blinding ray; 
 Down fell the book the spectre held 
 With sounds that had all thunder quelled, 
 It smote the flame, then swift recoiled 
 And rose from out the flame unsoiled, 
 Unsinged by flames it rose in space. 
 There stood as on some solid base, 
 B^^ hand unseen 'twas opened wide 
 And writing large and plain espied; 
 Slowly leaf by leaf each page was turn'd, 
 But ere the hero had discerned 
 The import of the Avriting there, 
 Dark mists began to All the air; 
 Round it rose clouds black as night 
 And hid it from the hero's sight; 
 But still he heard the pages turned 
 Right roughly o'er as they were spurned 
 In anger by the spirits there, 
 Or force that held that tome in the air; 
 But at times 'tis seen thi'ough the night 
 Encircled with flashes of light. 
 Like the moon in the clouds of the storm 
 'Midst paths where the thunders form. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Down from his columns of fire 
 Bent forward that spirit in ire. 
 The winds lifted his flaming hair 
 And spread it on the gloom}^ air 
 Like the comet's fiery tail; 
 
ARTELOISE. 95 
 
 His features were ghastly and pale, 
 As seen by the light of that place, 
 Horrible and grim was his face; 
 Disappointment, terror, despair 
 O'er his dread visage made their lau*. 
 And light from his terrible eyes 
 Was fierce as the flames that arise 
 From lips of the crater at night 
 Whelming vales with lava and light. 
 His nostrils poured vapors of death, 
 And pestilence streamed from his breath; 
 The serpents that twined round his form 
 Had tongues as lightnings of the storm. 
 
 XII. 
 
 He bent forward his towering height 
 
 And lean'd above the wondering knight, 
 
 Lifted on high his flaming spear 
 
 Huge as a pine the mountains rear, 
 
 Bat ere it on the hero came 
 
 Swift as thought or a flash of flame, 
 
 The good knight drew his gleaming sword 
 
 And through it cut a passage broad; 
 
 With deafening sound down fell the spear 
 
 And on the creaking floor found lair, 
 
 Then swifter far than speeds the storm 
 
 He sped upon that awful form, 
 
 And dovn his sword he brought amain 
 
 And lopped the horrid shape in tAvain. 
 
 Grisly sight did that shape reveal — 
 
 To the path of the gleaming steel, 
 
 The form sped shapeless into air 
 
 Like column of mist on marshy lair — 
 
.96 ARTELOISK 
 
 That the winds drive over the plain, 
 And the warm sun dissolves in rain. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Loud was his shriek of grim despair 
 As shapeless he rolled into air, 
 Shook all that vast place at the sound, 
 As earthquakes were stirring around, 
 And all hell was shrieking in wrath: 
 As the thunder's ruddy, grim path, 
 Seen at night in cloud of the storm, 
 Sped the sword through the spectre's form; 
 As the lightning's terrible light 
 Leaves behind no path to the sight. 
 Shows the clouds united in form 
 As borne on the car of the storm ; 
 So that form no wound did reveal, 
 Or retain from the course of the steel, 
 As shapeless together it flew 
 And far from the hero withdrew, 
 Sped forth evermore from his view; 
 Grew extinct 'neath night's sable frown 
 As the spark when the rocket falls down. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Sounds had ceased, the spirits had fled, 
 Whose flaming hair such brightness had shed, 
 Yet, where the}^ stood a blue flame burn'd 
 Which from the place the darkness spurn 'd, 
 Though round a fitful glare it threw 
 That dreary place the knight could view; 
 It was a wide, stupendous hall, 
 Encircled round with sable wall, 
 
AUTELOISE. 9*7 
 
 -And on it hung in strange array 
 
 All kinds of armor used in fra^-; 
 
 But all was battered, soiled and worn, 
 
 And of all these of brightness shorn, 
 
 There hung huge bossy iron shields 
 
 Revealing dents from battlefields; 
 
 Cleft helms, and breast-plates, broken spears 
 
 And swords on which thick rust appears 
 
 Huge shirts of mail wrought out of chains, 
 
 Bespattered thick with gory stains; 
 
 Which even time did not deface: 
 
 Ponderous axe and knotty- mace 
 
 By bow and arrow found a place, 
 
 And broken trump and dented horn. 
 
 Did here and there the wall adorn; 
 
 And banners singed by flame and torn 
 
 Right thickly o'er that wall were liung 
 
 With folds o'er broken armor flung; 
 
 And scattered o'er the horrid floor, 
 
 Where e'er the hero's eyes explore, 
 
 Were seen the ghastly bonos of men, 
 
 Strown like the leaves on autumn's fen. 
 
 And over all the ceiling wide 
 
 Were countless mai*ks of fl^fme espied. 
 
 The lofty rafters flames had charred. 
 
 Its beams had wasting fires scarred, 
 
 The roof had holes where flames had burn'd 
 
 And through them were the stars discern 'd. 
 
 XV. 
 
 As round the hero's glances range 
 On scenes of desolation strange, 
 Scenes all as dreary and as grim 
 As e'er before were seen by him, 
 
98 ARTELOISE. 
 
 He saw a small white hand repair 
 To ■where that book hung poised in air, 
 Swift down towards him the tome it bore 
 And opened it his eyes before. 
 Plain was the writing, bold and large, 
 And written o'er from marge to marge; 
 Swift down o'er it his glances ran^e 
 Until he meets this passage strange: 
 Thrice blessed is he of mortal seed 
 Who from this Avonderous book shall read 
 Blessed is that child of mortal birth, 
 And favored of all sons of earth; 
 The whole wide world shall sound his fame, 
 And lasting honors robe his name, 
 Through countless ages sire to son 
 Shall tell his deeds of glory won. 
 He shall triumphant sweep along 
 The course of time, the theme of song. 
 And bards shall win immortal fame 
 Rehearsing glories of his name; 
 But he who in this book doth read 
 No easy, slothful life shall lead, 
 No nights of sleep, no days of rest. 
 No thoughts of i?ase must dull the zest 
 For glory throbbing in his breast. 
 He must all toils and dangers meet 
 And never dream of foul retreat. 
 Pleasures and rest are not for him, 
 But days and nights of perils grim. 
 'Gainst fiend and demon he must cope 
 By strength of arm and faith and hope, 
 And when he has to ruin hurled 
 The demons that annoy the world, 
 
ARTELOISE. 
 
 His recompense shall be a crown 
 Of priceless, immortal renown; 
 Upon the tallest cliffs of fame 
 The world shall ever keep his name; 
 There it shall shine the most sublime 
 Through all the change and wreck of time, 
 Like sound upon the torrent's fall 
 That thunders o'er its granite tall, 
 Ilis name upon the world's vast tongue 
 Shall ever more be praised and sung; 
 And what's life to knight without fame, 
 Without placing in stor}^ his name ? 
 And to live on renowned in song 
 He must learn to suffer and be strong; 
 Thou art the first of mortal man 
 Who ever dared this book to scan, 
 And art the sole one of his race 
 Who e'er his e^-es on it shall place; 
 So blest, thrice blest, of mortal seed, 
 Go, thou, and peril daring deed, 
 f Before thee lies both wealth and fame. 
 Behind thee perjury and shame 1 
 Pass on, you soon will reach a hall 
 Where speechless captives dwell in thrali. 
 And there in bondage tUe}^ shall be 
 'Till Knight of Arthur sets them free. 
 Take up the skull the demon held 
 And which from it the flame repelled, 
 It now is full of dragon's gore. 
 So full that it is brimming o'er. 
 And bear it with thee to that hall. 
 Nor let from it an atom fall, 
 
 99 
 
100 ARTELOISE. 
 
 There pour it on a flame that bums 
 Of yellow hue, 'till white it turns, 
 And thou shalt set from bondage free 
 Maids fair as ever man shall see; 
 Speed on thj wa}-, temptation shun, 
 Lest thoa should st ever be undone, 
 And thou be proven frail as sand. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 When this he read the small white hand 
 Straight closed the book and high in air 
 Did with it from the knight repair, 
 J3ut placed it where the hero's eye 
 Oould it amidst the gloom descry. 
 Down leaned the knight and from the floor 
 He lifted up the skull of gore, 
 And it upon his journey bore. 
 O'er whitened bones that round him lay 
 Tlie eager knight pursued his way. 
 And as with cautious step and slow 
 He moved, he sang in accent low: 
 Man's deeds must ever clothe him still 
 With immortality, good or ill. 
 They make him glorious, sublime, 
 Or loathsome, reeking grim with crime, 
 Who for earth's highest sphere was born 
 Must hold her evils all in scorn. 
 He who seeks Heaven's help to win 
 Must first himself his task begin, 
 A happ3^ man earth never knew 
 Save he who was to nature true. 
 A good man has no fear of death, 
 No dread of parting with his breath; 
 
ARTELUISE. lOi 
 
 To him death is a darksome road 
 Leading from out a lone abode 
 Into those realms of perfect day 
 Where only God himself holds sway, 
 Where all is action, life and bliss, 
 And naught can ever move amiss, 
 And linowing all tliese truths sul)lime, 
 I stand above the wreck of time, 
 Fear nothing wliile I breathe this breath, 
 And naught beyond the A'ale of deatlu 
 M}^ guide perhaps has me betrayed 
 Into some fearful ambuscade, 
 If this be so, I'll teach the knave 
 That I its force unflinching brave; 
 Though fearful odds he 'gainst me cast 
 I'll face them as the oak the blast, 
 That breaks all storms, however grim 
 They smite upon its bole and limb — 
 Tliat king-lilie rears its structure tall, 
 While round it trees unnumbered fall; 
 Thougli wrecked are forests far and wide, 
 It stands erect in lordl}' pride. 
 But I'll assault this den of crime 
 With force and energy sublime, 
 As of storms impetuous and dread 
 From out conflicting vapors bred, 
 Grim witli their thunder, flame and hail, 
 That in their might the groves assail. 
 Break their limbs, hurl them to the ground. 
 And spread them far and wide around; 
 Then onward passing to tlie plain 
 Up proudly sweeps the dust amain, 
 
102 ARTELOISE. 
 
 And liowling darkness spreads on high, 
 While from it beasts and mortals flj-. 
 From highest roof to lowest base 
 I'll search through all this ghastly place, 
 For God "will not forbid the deed. 
 And man and fiends I do not heed. 
 
 XVIT. 
 
 Thus thought the knight as on he sped 
 Through halls and chambers lone and dreadi 
 Where dismal silence reigned around 
 As ever in the world was found; 
 Through lonely, winding colonnades, 
 Where gloomy stillness all perA'ades, 
 The eager knight his way pursued, 
 Nor breathing mortal thing he view'd; 
 But still high in air before him, 
 Amidst the gloom however dim, 
 Fe saw the wonderous book proceed 
 And follow where it seemed to lead. 
 Guided by it at length he turns 
 Upon a path where he discerns 
 A flame that burns of ^^elloA^ hue 
 Which round a blinding brightness threw; 
 Within a lofty hall it glowed 
 And its vast space in splendor showed, 
 Through all the hall so wide and broad 
 All things save splendor were ignored; 
 Gaud was the sole thing there beheld, 
 All else was from that place repelled. 
 Its flashing gaud to shame might bring 
 Bridal chamber of an Eastern King; 
 
ARTELOISE. 103 
 
 O'er all its ceilings and its walls 
 
 TVhere e'er the hero's vision falls, 
 
 "Were blazoned, gorgeous and grand 
 
 As ever limned by painter's hand: 
 
 The spoi'ting n3'mphs of dale and hill^ 
 
 Some bathing in a crjstal rill. 
 
 Life-like through jielding floods they swim, 
 
 And through it stretch each glowing limb; 
 
 The flood rolls o'er their outstretch'd arms. 
 
 And laves, but hides none of their charms; 
 
 Some leading fawns o'er mossy green. 
 
 Some resting in their caves are seen, 
 
 But no robes o'er them the eye assailed, 
 
 Each breathed with beauties all unveiled; 
 
 O'er their white shoulders stream their hair 
 
 Or float upon the fanning air. 
 
 Hung canvas' o'er those walls unrolled 
 
 On which were limned the loves of old. 
 
 There in stately bower or hall 
 
 By flowing stream or torrent's fall, 
 
 In shady grove or grottoes green 
 
 The all enamored pairs are seen. 
 
 Each with warm lips to love resigned 
 
 Meet in their longing arms entwined, 
 
 As lip to lip each lover turned 
 
 They showed the flame that in them burned. 
 
 Some meet tlitir wanton lover's glance 
 
 And kiss wdth bashful eyes askance; 
 
 But sought not in the least to veil 
 
 The warmth that doth their breast assail, 
 
 Though sun and moon and earth should fall, 
 
 And ruin wreck the planets all, 
 
J 04 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Tliey would not fail that lip to taste 
 And feel that arm around their waist, 
 And hot breath on their blushing face, 
 Nor shun thac amorous embrace. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 From scenes like these the hero turn'd 
 His eye, for such his spirit spurn'd, 
 Around the hall his gaze he threw, 
 Where greater wonders met his view: 
 The floor where e'er his vision roll'd 
 Seem'd pav'd with solid, burnished gold, 
 And o'er that floor all ranged arow 
 Were gorgeous couches seen, and show 
 On each a female form as fair 
 As ever breathed of mortal air; 
 Each is arrajed in nature's robe 
 Decked with all charms from beauties 'globe 
 Each form each glowing charm assumes 
 That in the realm of beauty blooms; 
 On crimson pillow lay each head. 
 And on quilts of blue, green and red 
 Their snow-white stirless limbs were spread 
 All helpless on the gaudy bed. 
 But one there was among them there 
 Than all the others far more fair, 
 Tied round her form with studs of gold 
 Lay a thin gauze of many a fold, 
 Scarce hides the robe her bosom's snow, 
 Her ample breasts gieam'd white below, 
 The fanning airs the robes wav'd wide, 
 And ceased the swan-like neck to hide; 
 
ARTELOl&E. 105 
 
 And that fair form when breezes blew 
 The faithless robe betrayed to view, 
 Left that form superb, divinely fair, 
 Without a robe save balmy air; 
 O'er her fair cheeks her tresses rolled 
 In heavy folds, the hue of gold, 
 Spread o'er the cheeks so w^hite below 
 They seemed like sunshine cast on snow; 
 Round was her arm and white as foam 
 When storms above the billows' roam. 
 Her small, white, perfect hands were fair — 
 As ever did a beauty heir, 
 Fairer hands earth ne'er rear'd before. 
 Though no glittering gems they wore. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Down o'er her head the hero leaned 
 And gentl}' moved the locks that screened 
 Nigh all her beauteous face from view, 
 But as from there those locks he drew 
 A sudden tremor shook his form 
 And heaved his breast like wave in storm. 
 Backward he drew in dread surprise 
 And on those features fix'd his ej-es; 
 Gazed on that brow and lovely face 
 Wrought with all angel air and grace, 
 Viewed those lialf-open ruhy lips 
 Sweet as the rose that morn's dew sips, 
 That showed their rows of pearls below 
 With hue the shade of driven snow. 
 Scarce sign of life the form revealed. 
 And closely were her ej^elids sealed, 
 And seem'd she had no more of breath 
 Than one upon the couch of death. 
 
106 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Save color that her red lips bore 
 No other sign of life she wore — 
 Did nothing else of life reveal. 
 
 XX. 
 
 Swift doffed the knight his glove of steel, 
 
 And with his bare and brawny hand 
 
 He felt that brow and features grand, 
 
 But all was warm as life; no death 
 
 Was there, although she breathed no breath. 
 
 As shakes the rose in summer storm 
 
 The hero shook that lovely form, 
 
 But no sign of life in her stirred, 
 
 No move, no breath, no groan, no word. 
 
 There lay his love in slumber deep: 
 
 Clotilda, in enchanted sleep, 
 
 Yea, she the glory of his soul, 
 
 The idol of his heart — the goal 
 
 For which he deathless glory sought. 
 
 And for it through all perils wrought, 
 
 Thai he with his might place her name 
 
 Eternal on the throne of fame. 
 
 The maid who but three dajs before 
 
 He'd left in Arthur's halls secure 
 
 From every danger, foe or pain. 
 
 While blood flowed warmin Arthur's vein. 
 
 Was it all but a maddened dream 
 
 Such as doth to a drunkard seem. 
 
 When he lies in the mud supine 
 
 O'erwhelmed with reeking fumes of wine, 
 
 And grim nightmares, dread ful and strange. 
 
 With thunder sound and lightning change, 
 
 Oppress his breast and through him range ? 
 
ARTELOISE„ " 107 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Was it a dream ? or did he see 
 
 Clotilda in reality ? 
 
 Was that the angel form and face, 
 
 The paragon of beauty, grace, 
 
 The fairest maid since birth of time 
 
 Has ever trod this mortal clime; 
 
 The kindest heart and purest soul 
 
 Through which did ever feelings roll, 
 
 The mind throughwhich no thought did flow 
 
 But Avhat the whole vast world mighl know, 
 
 For all was pure within its sphere. 
 
 And naught it felt was hidden there; 
 
 'Twas pure as is the crystal rill 
 
 That flows 'neath sunshine down the hill, 
 
 That sends forth life to bloomj' sprj,>- 
 
 That bends in arches o'er its way. 
 
 Was this the maid ? How came she there ? 
 
 What force ? what fraud ? what cunning snare 
 
 Had brought her 'neath the wizard's tlirall, 
 
 To lie in that enchanted hall ? 
 
 Were thoughts that all his soul pervade 
 
 As there he viewed the sleeping maid 
 
 XXII. 
 
 And as he gazed a sense of sleep 
 He felt all o'er his nature creep; 
 A drowsy mist oppressed his brain. 
 Slow moved the blood in every vein. 
 As if by bolt of lightning spurned 
 From off the maid his gaze he turned 
 To where the flame of yellow burned, 
 And towards it swift as thought he bore 
 The grinning skull of dragon's gore. 
 
108 ARTELOISB. 
 
 Right In tne centre of the hall 
 Stream Yl from a pit in column tall 
 That fount of flame of yellow hue, 
 Wliich light intense around it threw; 
 High o'er the glowing fount of flame 
 The skull and hand of hero came, 
 A moment's space they o'er it soared 
 Then full on it the blood was poured. 
 From out the skull the crimson flowed 
 And no diminished stream it showed; 
 Though hovirs past before the flame 
 From yellow unto white became, 
 Yet still that skull was full of blood, 
 Gave forth a never-ending flood; 
 'Twas fed from some mysterious source, 
 And flowed with nnabating force. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Dreadful and harsh the fire roar'd 
 As on its flame the blood was poured, 
 The sparks terrific flew apace 
 And scattered vast o'er all the place, 
 As from the cloud the flakes of snow 
 Descend and hide the fields below; 
 Then spread around in shapeless drifts 
 * Where over them the tempest shifts; 
 
 Fast to the limbs of trees they cling, 
 And form a crust o'er everything; 
 So from that flame 'midst deafening sound 
 The sparks flew over all the ground, 
 'Till all the place around became 
 The color of that roaring flame, 
 And glowed around tliat spark-strown floor 
 Like furnace filled with molten ore. 
 
ARTELOISE. J^Qjj 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 All sudden and swift as the hue 
 
 Of a pnre vegetable blue 
 
 To a green or a red doth change 
 
 When there alkalies or acids range, 
 
 So suddeii, so swift and so strange 
 
 The 3^ellow flames to whiteness turned 
 
 And with increasing fury burned. 
 
 From floor to ceiling shot the flame 
 
 And soon the roof a blaze became, 
 
 The rafters in a moment's space 
 
 Were wrapped within the flames' embrace, 
 
 And all the hall around, o'er head 
 
 Were cast in conflagration dread. 
 
 The iron columns vast and tall 
 
 Tliat propped the roof of that vast hall, 
 
 The iron beams and girders all 
 
 That spannVl the place from wall to wall. 
 
 Began to drop in atoms small 
 
 Like icicle 'neath sunshine's thrall. 
 
 Full on the roaring fount of flame 
 
 That hero could not quell or tame. 
 
 The reeking skull of gore he threw 
 
 And from the blinding flame withdrew; 
 
 A.nd on the sleeping mortals there 
 
 He gazed in anguish and despair. 
 
 They stirred not from their slumber deep, 
 
 Did still their death-like silence keep; 
 
 To leave them there an hour more 
 
 Their race on earth would then be o'er, 
 
 Yet, he had strove with all his main 
 
 To rouse them, but had toiled in vain. 
 
110 ARTELOISE. 
 
 They slept as rigid and as still 
 
 As those Avho do theii* coffins fill. 
 
 God of my soul; the hero cried 
 
 With voice that shook those towers wide; 
 
 Must I behold Clotilda's death 
 
 Amidst those flames of stifling breath ? 
 
 God of all ! grant Thou m^^ arm 
 
 The force to save her from all harm; 
 
 To save her from all pain and dole 
 
 Alike of body and of soul. 
 
 Grant me the strength this awful hour 
 
 To burst the wizard's cursed power, 
 
 And rouse them from their slumbers dread 
 
 Or bear them from these embers red, 
 
 For nothing in this world is wrought 
 
 That is Avith lasting glory fraught. 
 
 Be it of body or of thought, 
 
 If Thy aid by mortal is not sought 
 
 And ever in the action brought; 
 
 Yes, all without Thee comes to naught ! 
 
 XXV. 
 
 As spoke the knight, an awful sound 
 Shook earth and air, and all around; 
 A blast cold as the storms that freeze 
 The waters of the Polar seas 
 Poured round, and in a moment's space 
 Fill'd up complete that burning place; 
 A moment more, that frozen air 
 Expands by heat engendered there — 
 With force terrific outward throw 
 The walls that there with fire glow, 
 With sounds immense to earth are thrown 
 And into smallest atoms blown; 
 
ARTELOTSE. Ill 
 
 High up the flaming roof it whirled, 
 
 And it far down the mountain hurled, 
 
 Scattered like dust before the blast 
 
 And o'er the land ii> fragments cast. 
 
 And leave the silent sleepers there 
 
 A canop3' of sky and air. 
 
 Dread in the sky the thunders roll. 
 
 And clouds spread round from pole to pole; 
 
 Like awful battlements and towers 
 
 The dark'ning sky witli tempests lowers. 
 
 Deep and more deep the darkness grows 
 
 The cloudland o'er the heaven throws — 
 
 'Till over all its vast domains 
 
 An inky, pitchy blackness reigns, 
 
 And all the startled world around 
 
 Is wi-apt in storm and night profound; 
 
 Witli sudden dash a whelming rain 
 
 The clouds pour to the earth amain, 
 
 On flames the hero could not quell 
 
 The pouring floods a deluge fell. 
 
 And dashing puured on those as well 
 
 Who slept beneath the wizard's spell. 
 
 Down mountain, valley, wold and plain 
 
 In rivers rushed the flooding rain. 
 
 And far away o'er boulders tall 
 
 Was heard the roaring water-fall, 
 
 As off it swept to valleys drear 
 
 That lay amongst those mountains there, 
 
 Whose forests vast the driving storm 
 
 Did all in wild confusion form. 
 
 And made their limbs together clash 
 
 With sounds above the thunder's crash. 
 
112 ARTELOISE. 
 
 And stirs the eagle from his nest 
 That towers o'er the monntain's crest, 
 He flaps his wings and rears his form 
 High on the pinions of the storm, 
 Darts where the thunders roll most loud 
 And drinks the flood within the cloud; 
 Screams with his deepest, wildest mirth 
 As he beholds the lightning's birth; 
 And proudly rears his mighty form 
 Beside the spirit of the storm; 
 Delighted mounts his roaring car 
 Where lightnings flash and thunders jar. 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 A tower of stupendous size 
 
 The hero through the tempest ej^es, 
 
 From its broad door- way came a light 
 
 That fiercely cleft the inky nighty 
 
 Sent its long shaft of lustre forth 
 
 Like flaming streamer of the North; 
 
 And o'er battlement and tower 
 
 Cast its majesty and power — 
 
 Like conqueror sits on its throne 
 
 And guilds the night with blazing zone. 
 
 To this broad door-way strode the knight, 
 
 A spacious hall there met his sight, 
 
 The hero o'er the threshold strode 
 
 And entered swift the strange abode. 
 
ARTELOISE. 113 
 
 A gaud and splendor filled the place 
 
 From wall to wall through all its space, 
 
 A thousand times more grand and fair 
 
 Than seen in all those towers there 
 
 Through whicli that knight 'till then had past, 
 
 Though arrayed were some in splendor vast; 
 
 Scarce his wondering eyes behold 
 
 The gaudy splendors round him roll'd, 
 
 That dazzling flash before his gaze 
 
 Filling him with surprise, amaze; 
 
 When hark! he hears a gentle sound, 
 
 And soothing music floats around. 
 
 From room to room the music trilled, 
 
 With melody the region filled, 
 
 With harmony the walls around 
 
 And ceilings echo back the sound; 
 
 Through loft^^ arcli and nave and dome 
 
 The flooding strains of music roam 
 
 'Till together all the blending notes 
 
 In one grand diapason floats. 
 
 While through the hero's sense they roll 
 
 And lull from toil his hardy soul, 
 
 He sees approaching from a hall 
 
 Swift through a door-wa}' wide and tall 
 
 A maid form'd divine, of angel face, 
 
 By nature crown'd with every grace 
 
 Eyes dark a3 nature saw 'till now 
 
 Flashed bright beneath their arching brow; 
 
 Her sable tresses loosely flow 
 
 Down o'er a bosom wliite as snow; 
 
 Her arms were bare, her shoulders too, 
 
 For all the fanning winds to woo; 
 
114 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Her ankles bare, revealed to sight 
 
 A skill as northern snow drifts white, 
 
 Her milk-hued feet no sandles wore, 
 
 And light as air they touched the floor. 
 
 A huntress seem'd the lovely maid, 
 
 Or some bright nj^mph of wold or glade; 
 
 A quiver her fair shoulders bore 
 
 Which held of arrows goodl}'^ store, 
 
 A polished bow of wondrous length, 
 
 Of twisted wood and matchless strength, 
 
 As lightly held she in her grasp 
 
 Though did slie but a feather clasp; 
 
 Though but a maid of fragile form 
 
 She'd strength and fleetness of the storm. 
 
 Her nature was as void of fear 
 
 As any oak the mountains rear; 
 
 Her soul as generous and bold 
 
 As any cased in human mould; 
 
 Yet had she just as fix'd a will 
 
 As e'er svva3'ed man for good or ill. 
 
 Griselda was the name she bore, 
 
 And was daughter of King Tellemore, 
 
 Swift towards the knight came on the maid 
 
 Sweet as a sunbeam through a glade; 
 
 Close to the knight the maiden drew 
 
 Where he could all her beauty view, 
 
 And with a voice as soft and sweet 
 
 As 3'et did ear of mortal greet. 
 
 She thus King Arthur's knight did meet: 
 
 II. 
 
 Welcome to these halls, gallant knight, 
 Thou soul of courage, arm of might; 
 
ARTELOISE. 115 
 
 The whole wide earth resounds thy name, 
 
 Thou hero of immortal fame; 
 
 Champion of the weak and lone 
 
 Th}' succor kind htne thousands known; 
 
 Thou art the frail ones' sword and shield 
 
 In halls of jo}'^ or battle-field; 
 
 Yainly no mortal sought thine aid 
 
 B3' day nor night, no man nor maid. 
 
 To-night there is a mighty deed 
 
 That thou must do, perform with speed. 
 
 This is the night foretold of 3'ore 
 
 B}' Merlin's craft and Merlin's lore, 
 
 A valiant knight of Arthur's train. 
 
 Whom Merlin christened Beau de Main, 
 
 Should sla}'^ the dragon of the glen 
 
 And bring the treasure from his den, 
 
 Though that vast hoard of treasure bright 
 
 Has there been hid from human sight. — 
 
 Through all their joj^s, their hopes and fears 
 
 For just two thousand fleeting 3'ears; 
 
 And it is prophesied of 3'ore 
 
 That when this dragon's life is o'er, 
 
 All wizard's charms shall be destro3'ed, 
 
 And all their force made null and void 
 
 Hound the towers of Arteloise; 
 
 Still'd ever as the serpent's noise 
 
 The stalwart plowman treads to death 
 
 That no more coils or breathes a breath. 
 
 • 
 
 When this is done Clotilda's sleep 
 Shall waken from its slumbers deep. 
 At earl3r dawn, ere any star 
 Has paled before Aurora's car, 
 
116 ARTELOISE. 
 
 That dragon shall be slain b}' thee, 
 
 Clotilda rise, of slumber free, 
 
 And we gain all the mighty hoard 
 
 That's in the dragon's cavern stored. 
 
 So come with me, thou valiant knight; 
 
 Through storm and gloom I'll guide thee right; 
 
 Yea, lead thee on the safest path 
 
 So thou mayst quell the dragon's wrath. 
 
 III. 
 
 Forth from those wide and loft}^ halls 
 Where light on blazing splendor falls, 
 And music with its sweetest notes 
 In ceaseless diapason floats, 
 The hero and his lovely guide 
 Through storms descend a mountain side, 
 Where flooding rains to torrents flow 
 And roar throughout the vale below. 
 Right at the lofty mountain's base 
 Within a dark and lonesome place. 
 Stood still that hero and his guide; 
 Soon on the mountain's shaggy side 
 Within a cavern gaping wide, 
 A horrid light the twain espied; 
 And in that cavern vast and dread 
 Was seen a grisl^^ dragon spread, 
 From his huge mouth a roaring came 
 And horrid blasts of smoke and flame; 
 His awful fangs Avere red with gore 
 And blood was dashed his bodj' o'er. 
 Huge was the beast in breadth and length 
 And seem'd of more than mortal strength, 
 A huger form and vaster limb, 
 A beast more horrible and grim — 
 
ARTELOISE. 1]7 
 
 , With fiercer look and feller jaws 
 And stronger thews and longer claws, 
 And eye-balls of more hellish glow 
 That did dread lightnings from them tlirow, 
 Tlirough all his sights on hill and glen 
 That hero ne'er had seen 'till then. 
 Limbs had the monster, dread and long, 
 And arm'd with weapons grim and strong. 
 'Twas said the monster drew his birth 
 From fiend of hell and ghoul of earth. 
 Whose souls were full of evil deeds 
 As is a tropic moor witli weeds; 
 Monsters were botli, terrific, grim, 
 Of all infernal form and limb. 
 That dwelt upon a slimj^ lair 
 'Midst caves of intramundane air. 
 From these this horrid dragon sprung, 
 And while the beast immense was 3'oung 
 A Titan brought him to this glen 
 To guard tlie treasure of his den; 
 To guard the hoard through weal or woe 
 'Till time two thousand j^ears should sow 
 Nor let 'till then tlie eye of man 
 The boundless pile of treasure scan, 
 And not 'till one of mortal breath 
 Had stretched it still in grisly death; 
 One sprung from man and woman's seed 
 111 time to come sliould do the deed. 
 And only he should win the hoard, 
 Yes, only he, that there is stored. 
 
 IV. 
 
 While there the knight the monster eyed 
 And viewed t'.ie reeking cavern Avide, 
 
1 18 ARTEIOISE. 
 
 And saw the task that fate had willed 
 Should by his prowess be fulfdled, 
 Secret to Him his thoughts he raised 
 Who all his life he'd loved and praised. 
 Lord, divine, make me to-night 
 The victor in this coming fight; 
 Let me yon grisly monster slay 
 And crush on earth all wizard's sway. 
 Thus secret prayed King Arthur's knight 
 And rushed to meet the beast in fight. 
 
 V. 
 
 Roused by the good knight's stalwart tread 
 On rocks that round that cavern spread, 
 And sounds that from his armor rang, 
 From off his lair the dragon sprang; 
 High up his horrid head he rears 
 And pricks aloft his shaggy ears, 
 For full before liis e3'e-bairs sight 
 He sees King Arthur's armed knight. 
 And with a roar of horrid sound 
 That even shook the hills around, 
 Full on tlie knight the dragon came 
 Forth belching dread his founts of flame. 
 But ne'er that knight had met before 
 Through all his thousand frays of yore, 
 A foe with form so grim and long, 
 And limbs so terrible and strong; 
 Nor force of such terrific ire, 
 Kor breath of such consuming fii'e. 
 High up his seven-fold shield he bore 
 The dragon's flaming mouth before; 
 While there the spacious targe he held 
 And from his form the flame repell'd, 
 
ARTELOISE. Il9 
 
 Down on the dragon's head he brought 
 His flaming sword more swift tlian tliought, 
 Swift as electric currents speed 
 The hero's broadswoi'd did tlae deed. 
 A liorrid wound tlie weapon made, 
 The dragon's ear wide open laid, 
 And fast from it the reeking blood 
 Poured to the earth a dark red flood; 
 Roused by the wound to fiercer wrath. 
 And swift as light darts on its path, 
 The dragon reared its might}^ paws 
 And on the knight descends its claws; 
 His seven-fold shield receives the blow 
 And weight enormous of the foe. 
 High o'er the knight the monster rear'd 
 Its horrid head with eyes that glared 
 A light as awful and as dread 
 As yet a beast or demon shed; 
 And fast his claws upon the knight 
 Descending show their ponderous might; 
 Fast, hard the}-- on the hero light 
 And "gainst him wage terrific fight; 
 While thus in dreadful close they strove, 
 The knight his targe impetuous drove 
 Against the dragon's braAvny breast 
 Whose hide with horn}^ scales was drest; 
 And deep in it to floods of gore 
 The shining boss its passage tore. 
 Through steely scales and horny hide — 
 Bones, thews, that mortal steel defied, 
 It tore its passage deep and Avide. 
 Then high up the horrid beast he held, 
 And thus from him its mouth repell'd, 
 
120 ARTELOISE. 
 
 From whence grim flame eternal sailed; 
 And while the beast was thus impaled, 
 All o'er its form and grisly throat 
 The good knight's sword terrific smote. 
 Though here and there right oft his blade 
 Dread wounds o'er all the monster made, 
 Yet still it seem'd that dragon grim 
 More stronger wax'd in form and limb, 
 While seem'd weaker grew the gallant knight 
 Before that fierce, unequal fight — 
 That monster's superhuman might. 
 
 VI. 
 
 From side to side, aroimd, around, 
 
 Through all that cavern's ample bound 
 
 The knight and beast with growing rage 
 
 Their all uneai'thly combat wage. 
 
 They part and breathe, then meet apace. 
 
 And battle dread through all the place; 
 
 His sword the good knight wields amain, 
 
 Blows on the beast eternal rain. 
 
 The cave through all its vast domain 
 
 Is redden 'd with a gory stain; 
 
 O'er all the floor and walls around , 
 
 The dragon's wasted gore is found; 
 
 From him it flows in torrents large 
 
 And stains the hero's mail and targe. 
 
 Sudden as ever flash of light 
 
 Sped from the tempest cloud at night, 
 
 The dragon from the hero flew 
 
 'Till wide the space between them grew; 
 
 Where lay huge rocks he hastened hence 
 
 And in his paws with force immense 
 
ARTELOISE. 121 
 
 High o'er his head those rocks he twirled 
 
 And them full on the hero hurled; 
 
 And as he caught them on his shield 
 
 The blows like distant thunders peal'd. 
 
 And as the rocks the monster threw 
 
 More dread his founts of fire grew, 
 
 From out his horrid mouth they flew 
 
 Horrid and vast as ever flame 
 
 From out a roaring furnace came, 
 
 And full upon the gallant knight 
 
 They rush with all their heat and might. 
 
 Forth from the cave the hero flew 
 
 While at his heels the dragon drew; 
 
 Soon on the mountain's craggj- side 
 
 A fallen tree the knight espied, 
 
 All void of limbs and huge and long, 
 
 Well pointed, dried and tough and strong. 
 
 This in his hands the hero caught 
 
 And it right o'er the dragon brought; 
 
 Right to its mouth of roaring flame 
 
 The keen, sharp-pointed timber came, 
 
 Then down that gulf of flame with force 
 
 Immense that timber took its course. 
 
 Down mouth and throat the good knight drove 
 
 The mighty' spear, while grimly strove 
 
 Tiiat grim, infernal monster there 
 
 To break free of the mighty spear; 
 
 Which ever wa}^ he turn'd or strove 
 
 The spear the knight still deeper drove, 
 
 Still held the monster on his lair 
 
 And saAv his eye-balls fiercer glare; 
 
 With growing pain and fell despair 
 
 Their sheen illumes the sable air; 
 
122 ARTELOISE. 
 
 A horrid light on darkness throws 
 Wliicli unto all grini hues bestows. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Ill dim those ej'e-balls' savage glow 
 And aid thee quell thy grisly foe, 
 For ne'er did fate on man bestow 
 A fiercer one to ovei'throw. 
 Thus to the knight Griselda spake, 
 And straight she did an arrow take. 
 Swift as a flash she bent her bow 
 And in an eye-ball's horrid glow 
 Iler hissing shaft its entrance made, 
 Did grim its source of light invade. 
 Out gushed in streams the riven orb 
 And earth did swift its light absorb. 
 Again her twanging bow she bent 
 In other orb a shaft she sent, ' 
 Deep to the source of light it went 
 And ghastl}'^ was its structure rent; 
 Out oozed amain the flowing light, 
 Streamed on the earth to sable night; 
 All trace of light those shafts destroyed, 
 Left in each place a darksome void; 
 But still grim founts of roaring flame 
 It seem'd no mortal force could tame 
 From huge jaws of the monster came 
 And seem'd to stronger wax his frame; 
 Dread and more dread boiled forth his rage, 
 And grimmer did the knight engage. 
 Still hotter did the battle wage. 
 In strife more dreadful grew and sage. 
 Round the wide cave it turns or flies, 
 Then sudden back to battle hies. 
 
ARTELOISE. 123 
 
 Yet still the knight pursued its path 
 
 With equal strength and equal wrath; 
 
 At bay his horrid foe he held 
 
 And from him all its Llows repell'd; 
 
 Deep that tough hide of horny scales 
 
 Incessant his good sword assails. 
 
 At length b}'- fate decreed ho found 
 
 A vital spot for him to wound; 
 
 There swift with his good sword he smote, 
 
 Cut grim and wide the dragon's throat; 
 
 Again, again his good sword sped 
 
 'Till it lopped otf the monster's head, 
 
 Then gushed o'er all that cavern's floor 
 
 A torrent grim of reeking gore. 
 
 Yet from the monster roared a sound 
 
 Like ocean's wrath on rocky ground. 
 
 Forth from the cave the hero sped 
 
 And bore along the dragon's head, 
 
 Fierce twirled it b}- its tawny hair 
 
 Then cast it forth on 3'ielding air, 
 
 In a deep vale of rocky ground 
 
 1 1 roaring fell with horrid sound; 
 
 From rock to rock the sightless head 
 
 AVhose orbs had late such horror sh^d, 
 
 O'er giddy heights down mountains sped 
 
 With sounds infernal, grim and dread. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Again, again Griselda's bow 
 Did arrow in the carcass throw; 
 Soon the headless, quivering trunk 
 Though deep in its own lifeblood sunk, 
 l>ristled with spears like harvest plain 
 Where late the reapers garnered grain. 
 
124 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Yet still Griselda's bow did twang, 
 Through air her hissing arrows rang, 
 Until within the monster's heart 
 With force terrific sped a dart; 
 Then vath a groan of grim despair 
 That shook the liills and startled air, 
 The monster 3'ields his flaming breath 
 To silince, darkness and to death. 
 But least in it should be some life 
 And it should rise again to strife, 
 The knight drives deep his sword amain 
 And cut the carcass all in twain. 
 Piece-meal from the cave he drags its form 
 And casts it to the night and storm. 
 Hurls it far down the mountain side 
 Where once it stalked in lordly pride, 
 With horrid fangs and scalj^ hide 
 And all the might of man defied; 
 And for two thousand wear}- years 
 Without one throe of mortal fears. 
 Had guarded safe enormous hoard 
 That was within that cavern stored, 
 B}' Titan kings piled there of old. 
 By wizards and by giants bold, 
 Who for it ravaged, scourged the world. 
 And here in heaps their booty hurl'd. 
 Yes, here enormous jdI under piled 
 Vast as o'er which has mortal smiled, 
 Since first the love of gold began 
 To hold its swa}^ in breast of man; 
 And here it lay, so fate decreed. 
 Until a knight of daring deed — 
 
ARTELOISE. 125 
 
 Whose soul was free of sin and crime 
 And every evil known to time, 
 Should by his strength and prowess slay 
 The beast tliat watclied it niglit and day; 
 But filled must be his soul with seeds 
 That only grow immortal deeds, 
 Who shall the mighty beast o'erthrow, 
 And to that hoard of treasure go. 
 
 IX. 
 
 The task was done, the beast was slain, 
 His lifeblood did the cavern stain, 
 And all around o'er hill and plain 
 Did universal darkness reign. 
 And still the rain in steady pour 
 Fell down 'midst storm's incessant roar: 
 At times was heard a hooting owl, 
 And distant fox and mastiff's howl; 
 While near that deep and darksome cave 
 Stood still the maid and hero brave, 
 When lo., they heard a mj'stic noise 
 And flashed strange lights round Arteloise; 
 The hills beneath them seemed to quake, 
 And seem'd strange voices from them spake, 
 Louder than e'er volcano spoke 
 The blending voices round them broke; 
 And all confused the accents rung. 
 But what was said was in the tongue 
 And language of some unknown land, 
 Nor knight nor maid could understand. 
 The voices still'd, a moment's calm 
 Hung over all like holy balm; 
 Then sudden from the mountain's side 
 And all the valley far aud wide, 
 
126 AETELOISE. 
 
 Shot xip unnumbered lights of blue 
 And every known and fancied hue. 
 Straight all things round began to change 
 And into other forms arrange; 
 Where gloomy fens and jungles stood, 
 And rocks o'ergrown with knotted wood, 
 Like magic past awaj^ from sight 
 And left a landscape pleasing, bright; 
 Each dread wizard's power and spell 
 That fiends -had brought to earth from hell, 
 That long had ruled those hills and dell^ — 
 Down, down with jars terrific fell, 
 Was straight to utter ruin hurl'd 
 And banished from the startled world; 
 The storm that instant past away 
 And peace once more assumed its sway. 
 The stars pour down their steadfast ray, 
 While over all the moonbeams play, 
 From zenith to the earth below 
 Her all unclouded glories flow^; 
 And over all that earth can show 
 Her flooding lights of splendor glow. 
 The hills, the vale and rippling stream 
 Yv'"ith dazzling light beneath her gleam; 
 Breathes o'er the land a baln\y breeze 
 Which gentl}^ stirs the heads of trees. 
 And o'er their rain-wet, moving leaves 
 Her light a robe of silver weaves; 
 Violets breathe from their moon-lit lair, 
 And with sweet odors load the air, 
 Roses and shrubs and lilies pale. 
 And all flowers of hill or dale, 
 
ARTELOISE. 127 
 
 Of mountain, plain, or wokl, or vale, 
 
 With fragrance there the air assail; 
 
 And over all a glory fell 
 
 That whispered like a passing knell, 
 
 Which atom seem'd to atom tell 
 
 Now man had burst the wizard's spell, 
 
 Their force did seed of woman quell, 
 
 So joyed was earth and grieved was hell. 
 
 X. 
 
 Charmed with this sylvan scene around 
 That pleased at every sight and sound, 
 Griselda and the daring knight 
 With rapture viewed the landscape bright. 
 A crystal strisam with pearly glow 
 That run o'er pebbles white as snow, 
 Did close beside them babbling flow 
 And murmured on to A^alcs below. 
 Where shrubs and flowers formed an arch 
 AboA'e the waters' rapid march. 
 To this the maid and hero hied, 
 Soon stood the crystal stream beside; 
 Here doflfed the knight his gleaming helm 
 And filled it from the watery realm; 
 Unto the maid the cask he gave. 
 Long drank she of the sparkling wave; 
 Then where her lips the helm had graced 
 Unto that spot his own he placed, 
 And from the crystal wave he quaffed 
 His fill of the refreshing draft. 
 Full on his face the moonbeams glow'd, 
 His features to the maiden show'd, 
 His manly visage fair to see 
 Of all save nobleness was free; 
 
128 ARTELOISE. 
 
 His was the form and his the face 
 
 Where maid was sure her love to place, 
 
 And feel the while her love, hope, trnst, 
 
 And all things prized by mortal dust, 
 
 Were laid upon as pure a shrine 
 
 Of virtue and of faith divine, 
 
 As ever since the world began 
 
 Fond, trusting woman found in man. 
 
 And pure and true in soul was he 
 
 As can on earth we mortals be, 
 
 And just as pure and good was she 
 
 As those that are of evil free, 
 
 Or nature ever saw 'till now. 
 
 And while the night breeze fanned his brow 
 
 Into the face before her raised 
 
 With fix'd and searching stare she gazea: 
 
 Watch'd the eyes beam her own above 
 
 Which seem'd return 'd an equal love; 
 
 And while they gazed, it seem'd each soul 
 
 Did through the other's being roll, 
 
 Mutual love through either heart 
 
 Did with the foi'ce of lightning dart; 
 
 But neither did by words confess 
 
 What each the while could rightly guess. 
 
 And eye to eye more plain confest 
 
 Than Avords the feelings of each breast. 
 
 For her that hero felt his love 
 
 Sweep all his other thoughts above. 
 
 She in his soul triumphant rose 
 
 With force that could no thought oppose; 
 
 Her image filled his spirit's sphere 
 
 'Till nothing else seem'd harbored there; 
 
ARTELOISE. 129 
 
 Love did through all his senses roll, 
 And flood and overwheini his soul. 
 
 xr. 
 
 Sudden and swift he turned his gaze 
 From e^^es that on him true love blaze; 
 That beam like those in angel land 
 And well his feelings understand, 
 And towards a mound he led the maid 
 Where flowers all the soil invade; 
 There from that fair and lofty ground 
 He viewed the silent hills around. 
 As if the stillness there to break, 
 Thus to the maid the hero spake: 
 
 XII. 
 
 Behold I how sweet the moonbeams glow 
 Where 3'onder linn its waters throw, 
 Thej^ make as grand and bright a show 
 As there did molten silver flow. 
 Those waters rush o'er beds of stone 
 Arrayed with lustre not their own; 
 For were the moon to give no light 
 Those waters would be dark as night, 
 And so it is with beings here 
 Whom fate has placed ujjon this sphere, 
 If not for some kind, genial soul, 
 In whom doth kindred feeling roll. 
 That sheds from each to each its ray 
 Of faith and love b}'' nighc and da}-, 
 How dark through life would be the way. 
 And sadness would all nature sway. 
 But I must keep my thoughts above 
 All feelings such as earthly love, 
 
130 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Nor let it e'er my spirit melt; 
 A maiden's kiss I never felt; 
 In mine her hand was never placed, 
 By me was never maid embraced 
 Through all my life on earth 'till now, 
 And never will by me, I trow. 
 O'er love my heart must aye prevail, 
 My soul sheathed sure in virtue's mail 
 Shall vanquish sin and love's assail. 
 For I must earn the sacred Grail. 
 I cleave the helms of giants grim, 
 And piece-meal hew them form and limb; 
 With stalwart arm and spirit bold 
 I slaughter beasts of fen and wold, 
 Huge hydi'as dread and dragons grim 
 That roam the earth, or waters swim, 
 That have on earth for countless years 
 The souls of mortals fiU'd with fears, 
 Annoyed the earth and stored the air 
 With pestilence and fell despair. 
 The swords of foes I do not feel, 
 The}'^ shiver broken on m}^ steel. 
 Nor spear, nor lance m}^ mail can pierce 
 However strong the foe, and fierce; 
 But when I strike, or thrust, ni}' sword 
 Cleaves targe, however deep and broad; 
 I carve my foeman's helm and mail, 
 And vanquish all that I assail; 
 Where e'er I strike mj^ blow is sure 
 Because m}^ soul of sin is pure; 
 M}^ strength is as a' thousand men 
 Because I only virtue ken. 
 
ARTELOISE. 131 
 
 I ride into the clanging lists, 
 
 No giant there my force resists, 
 
 My spear is tough, its strength is sure, 
 
 And sliall all weight and shock endure; 
 
 Before me horse and riders reel. 
 
 It pierces true their hardest steel. 
 
 Of conquest I am ever sure 
 
 Because my soul of sin is pure. 
 
 M3'' soul must aye of sin be free 
 
 For I the sacred Grail shall see; 
 
 It must o'er love and sin prevail 
 
 For I shall win the holy Grail. 
 
 And over moor and dale and hill 
 
 Through sti-ife, and storm and every ill, 
 
 I quest for it with sacred will 
 
 'Till I my holy task fullil; 
 
 Me mighty yearnings move and thrill, 
 
 Keep hope and faith before me still, 
 
 And silver voices fill mine ear: 
 
 Press on, good knight, the goal is near, 
 
 One effort more, thou shalt prevail. 
 
 And win for aye the sacred Grail ! 
 
 Right oft I roam through mountain halls 
 
 To which it seems some spirit calls, 
 
 I tread the place, I near the shrine. 
 
 And see the lights around it shine; 
 
 A holy music tills ni}' ears, 
 
 But to my sense nought else appears; 
 
 I watch the shrine 'till day's decline 
 
 And night creeps o'er the dark'ning halls, 
 When lo, a light all ruddy bright 
 
 O'er all in sacred splendor fallsj 
 
132 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Still, still I gaze 'till morning rays 
 
 Light up again the mountain halls, 
 A mystic shrine witli sounds divine, 
 
 Nought else to me my vision calls. 
 O'er mountain lake my w^ay I take 
 
 Within a bark as light as air, 
 My sails the breeze wafts o'er those seas 
 
 Unto a secret island fair; 
 I tread its sands, before me standa 
 
 A shrine with tapers burning there, 
 I look around but nought is found. 
 
 The shrine of sacred Grail is bare; 
 J5ut awed profound, I hear the sound 
 
 Of whispered, never-ending jjrayer. 
 But whence it springs, from whence it rings 
 
 My spirit can't conjecture where. 
 By day and night in armor bright, 
 
 With read}^ sword and spear in rest, 
 Through shine and storm I urge m}' form, 
 
 And for the sacred Grail I quest; 
 And while I ride o'er kingdoms wide, 
 
 Search palace, cot, tower and hall. 
 Grim dragon's cave, or hero's grave, 
 
 Or where so e'er my shadow fall. 
 Strange sights and new I ever view, 
 
 And of alternate woe and weal. 
 Which often bring in listed ring 
 
 The champions clothed in clanging steel; 
 With mace of might and axe as briglit; 
 
 As icicle 'neath moonlight seen, 
 The tough, strong spear that keepeth clear 
 
 Wide space the charging knights between 
 
AATELOISE. 133 
 
 The gleaming sword with surface broad 
 
 Which ever to its task is true, 
 Tliat swift alights, the helmet smites, 
 
 And it and breast-plate journeys through 
 And oft a maid with charm arrajed 
 
 Sweet as the rose at early morn, 
 This single arm has brought from hann 
 
 And saved from lasting shame and scorn. 
 And if I ride the nations wade 
 
 And never find the sacred Grail, 
 Yet, deeds of good, my knightlihood, 
 
 Shall recompense me if I fail. 
 Apast my lips no nectar slips 
 
 Save what gushes from the cr3^stal rill, 
 The sparkling wine for those must shine 
 
 Who courteth human i)ain and ill. 
 Through shine and hail o'er hill and dale 
 
 With toil that seeketh none of rest, 
 I'll search each place and secret space, 
 
 And for the sacred Grail I'll quest. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 And for it too, the maid replied, 
 I'll with you search the nations wide. 
 For it through storm and shine I'll ride, 
 And nougiit shall bring me from ^our side. 
 My soul of sin is chaste and pure, 
 In virtue's mail 'tis sheathed secure. 
 His lips on mine ne'er man did place, 
 And never felt I knight's embrace. 
 Ne'er hero pressed this hand of mine. 
 My thoughts are void of sin as thine, 
 And for tlie sacred Grail I'll quest 
 With equal care and equal zest. 
 
134 ABTEL0I8E. 
 
 I seek no wealth but ruddy health, 
 
 And spiriu unalloyed with sin, 
 With you I go through weal or woe 
 
 'Till I with you the Grail shall win. 
 Through stately halls 'midst mountain walls, 
 
 Piled there b^^ knightly kings of old. 
 By night and day I've ta'en my way, 
 
 Searched secret shrjne and magic hold. 
 No matter where m^^ feet career 
 
 To hidden mosque or secret shrine, 
 The shrine was bare, no Grail was there. 
 
 But glowing rouud did tapers shine; 
 While all around did whispers sound 
 
 Like voices of ascending prayer, 
 Or mists at morn when light is born 
 
 And vapors rise in sunlit air. 
 No pause nor stay, I've ta'en my way. 
 
 And quested for the sacred Grail 
 O'er lonely lands and burning sands, 
 
 To tread might any mortal quail; 
 And though no sound nor sight I found 
 
 That might me on my pathway cheer. 
 Yet faith and hope still bade me cope 
 
 'Gainst disappointment, toil and care; 
 And meet with scorn all feeling born 
 
 From doubt, or sloth, or dark despair, 
 Turn from aside with lordly pride 
 
 Those who mocked at my questing there. 
 Through mountain mists 'midst tourney lists 
 
 Where charging, clashing squadrons reel. 
 Where armors clang, and trumpets twang 
 
 Their mad'ning strains to heroes' peal; 
 
ARTELOISE. 135 
 
 Where morions bright tlie swords invite, 
 
 That sunder wide the tempered steel, 
 Wliere death careers, and sjilintered spears 
 
 Their fl^'ing shafts in air reveal. 
 Where mace of might and axes bright 
 
 Tremendous wreck and ruin deal, 
 Such sights and sounds mine ej'es have found 
 
 While questing for the holy Grail; 
 Yet still I quest and may not rest 
 
 For it I'll fiud, I shall not fail. 
 Once on my quest, with toil oppressed, 
 
 And burden of the dreary day, 
 Beside a shrine did I recline 
 
 Where tapers burn'd with steadfast ray; 
 Without did howling tempest blow, 
 And cover'd o'er the hills with snow; 
 Lull'd by the sighing of the storm 
 In slumber sank my weary form, 
 And while I slept, I dream'd I saw 
 A scene that fill'd my soul with awe; 
 Methought I sailed a mountain mere, 
 That was as crystal, bright and clear, 
 So pure that I could look below 
 And see its rock floor white as snow; 
 Down deep upon its polished bed 
 Methought I saw bright fairies tread, 
 They danced around in perfect mirth 
 And seem'd of joy to have no dearth; 
 And while they danced I heard them sing 
 A song that made the waters ring. 
 
 With harmonj' profound, 
 The song they sang did wider fling 
 Its more than mortal sound; 
 
136 ARTELOISK 
 
 Till from the flood a mighty storm 
 
 It swelling o'er the mountain falls, 
 Until it shook the lofty form 
 
 Of all the momitain's granite walls; 
 Where steep and vast those mountains rose 
 With summits crowned with flecc}^ snows, 
 And where the clouds above them formed 
 An awful arch where lightnings stormed, 
 And shot their flashing bolts around 
 'Midst floods of flame and worlds of sound. 
 And while the noises thundered there, 
 And fill'd that arching cloudlaud's sphere, 
 Right through the flakes of falling snow 
 There shot a shaft of silver glow, 
 From clouds it reached to earth below 
 And formed a bridge all glowing bright; ' 
 It made a span of dazzling light 
 From clouds unto the crystal mere, '• 
 
 Shot through the rippling waters there, 
 And full with flooding sheen it falls 
 Upon the fairies' wonderous halls; 
 Swift up the shaft of glowing light 
 I saw the fairies take their flight, 
 And as they lightly sped along 
 Incessant poured their tide of song. 
 The language was some Runic rhyme. 
 Or of some race of olden time. 
 That lived within some unknown land; 
 And I no word could understand; 
 But with bewitching music rung 
 The harmony those fairies sung, 
 And organ notes roll deep between 
 The rhymes, as preludes intervene. 
 
ARTELOISE. 13»f 
 
 Moved foremost of the faiiy tlu-ong 
 One o'er the rest more tall and strong, 
 And did diviner form disclose; 
 Fair was her face as is the rose 
 Where red and white divinely glow, 
 Their blending shades together throw, 
 Commingling pour their living hues 
 And glitter with their morning dews. 
 Her golden tresses loosely streamed 
 O'er her, and all radiant gleam'd 
 As doth the waste of frozen snow 
 When full on it the moonbeams glow, 
 And makes its polished surface show 
 A gleamy sheen that seems to flow, 
 And move in ripples flashing bright, 
 And pours around redundant light. 
 Her lily hands were clean and fair 
 As virgin snow just born in air, 
 Nor yet of earth has caught a sight, 
 
 Nor knows of taint from mount nor moor 
 And in her hands a vessel bright 
 
 She up her shining pathway bore, 
 A vessel bright, I knew, it well, 
 
 Though never it I'd seen before, 
 A brighter lustre round it fell 
 
 As it did higher, higher soar. 
 0, glorious sight, the sacred Grail 
 
 I saw brought from that mountain Hood, 
 Up paths of light with fairies sail, 
 
 Fill'd with the Saviour's holy blood. 
 I heard a peal of thunder, loud 
 
 As ever jarred on mortal ears, 
 
138 AIITELOISE. 
 
 And looking np unto the cloud 
 
 That hid all the heavenlj' spheres, 
 I saw upon that bridge of light 
 
 Descending swift as flying hail, 
 A throng of angels stoled in white 
 
 "Who seized and bore awa}^ the sacred Grail. 
 I heard the flapping of their wings 
 
 As up the path of light they flew, 
 And Avhile they sped, each angel sings 
 
 A song that all triumphant rings, 
 And fir and wide a music flings 
 
 That only ears of heaven knew. 
 Straight the clouds above "svere riven 
 
 And light redundant filled the space, 
 A flaring shaft of light was driven 
 
 Like magic from the earth to heaven, 
 
 And did the boundless void embrace. 
 Up this with speed the angels throng 
 
 On flapping, snowy pinions sail. 
 And bear away 'midst blissful song 
 
 The blood of God, the sacred Grail. 
 I Avatched the glory pass away 
 'Till it was lost in dazzling ray, 
 To which it ever seemVl to soar 
 'Till I could see and hear no more. 
 Oh, how I longed to burst the thrall 
 Of mortal bondage, leap the wall 
 And free me from this earthly hall, 
 As neighing charger breaks from stall 
 And darts along the grassy plains, 
 And evermore the bit disdains. 
 Light after light, ray after ray, 
 I saw the glory fade away, 
 
ARTELOISE. L 89 
 
 And pass back to the noon-day su::, 
 And seem'd at once the place grew dun, 
 And woke I Avith a stiffen'd form, 
 Still fell the snow, still roared the storm. 
 The liglits around the altar hurn'd 
 Bright as when them I first discerned, 
 And o'er it la}^ its snowy cloth, 
 Untouched by time, or wasting moth, 
 Its silver vessels glittered there, 
 And by them opened books of prayer, 
 And a3'c I heard sweet voices ring, 
 Yet could I see no living thing. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 O'er mountain wilds, through snow and hail 
 For years I've sought the sacred Grail, 
 Through vast cathedrals I have trod, 
 All places mortals worship God; 
 Througli chapel, temple and through fane, 
 Yet has m_y search been all in vain. 
 Searched caves in forests, glen and fell, 
 Where hoary Druids secret dwell, 
 And ever chant their mournful tunes, 
 Their hjmns and psalms in mystic runes. 
 Where e'er I tread I feel no dread 
 Of aught I meet nor see nor hear, 
 I dread no storm nor breathing form, 
 'Tis only sin I need to fear; 
 Through good or ill my spirit still 
 Shall kee^) itself serene and pure, 
 Virtue with me must ever be 
 
 Strong as eternity and sui'e. 
 A maiden kniglit am I, I roam 
 
 Where e'er on earth I list to go, 
 
140 ARTELOISE. 
 
 The whole wide earth to me is home, 
 
 My friends: my quiver and m^' bow. 
 Oft on m}^ gallant steed I ride, 
 Scour the countr}' far and wide. 
 All clad like knight in gleaming mail, 
 
 I wear a helm, I bear a shield. 
 The spear I lift, the sword I wield, 
 
 Although my hand seems small and frail; 
 And ne'er to foeman did I yield. 
 
 Nor at grim danger quake nor quail; 
 I meet ray foemen on the field — 
 
 All who w^ould me with wrong assail, 
 I pierce their steel, my blows they feel, 
 To earth doth steeds and riders reel, 
 
 And I o'er all their might prevail. 
 Such have I done and still shall do, 
 Until I find the blessed clue 
 
 That leads me to the sacred Grail. 
 Oft in my dreams a glory gleams 
 
 That floods on high the viewless air, 
 And mighty forms like clouds in storms 
 
 Although no sable hues they wear — 
 Fill up all space and hide the face 
 
 Of skies that late were beaming clear. 
 And angels bright, wdiose robes are white 
 
 As foam round ocean's stormy wraith, 
 Come round me there and hover near, 
 
 Pure angels of immortal faith; 
 And of eternal hope and love, 
 
 Pure beings of immortal joy, 
 Who hover round the throne above, 
 
 Wiiose souls uo isius shall e'er annoy. 
 
ARTELOISE, 14 1 
 
 Pure spirits of eternal peace, 
 
 Whose downy j^inions cleave the air, 
 Whom I shall join when I shall cease 
 
 My questing on this planet here. 
 And while I long to burst the chains 
 
 That binds my soul in mortal thrall, 
 I hear distinct the blissful strains 
 
 Of song and music rise and fall. 
 I see them rise and soar to sides, 
 
 And into dazzling brightness sail, 
 Soar into beams where glory gleams 
 
 And bear with them the sacred Grail. 
 
 XV. 
 
 She ceased, for from the heights aloft 
 There came a music sweet and soft. 
 That louder came and still more near, 
 And filled with tones the moonlit air; 
 And countless voices hover round. 
 And load the place with song and sound, 
 This song of all did loudest swell, 
 And sent its words o'er hill and dell: 
 
 SONG- 
 
 Gloomy as midnight clouds above 
 
 The mountain's craggy crest. 
 Are those w!io never felt of love 
 
 One feeling light their breast; 
 Who ever keep themselves aloof 
 
 From friendship's smiles and tears, 
 Whose souls are sheathed in armor i)roof 
 
 To all its hopes and fears. 
 Who sail across the sea of life, 
 
 Feel no joy that grief beguiles, 
 
142 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Nor feel the bliss with rapture rife 
 
 Found in its ftiiry isles; 
 Whose lips through all their mortal thrall 
 
 Kiss only empty air, 
 And never touch the mouth at all 
 
 Of loving being here. 
 Who plod through life their weary day, 
 
 And breathe for self alone, 
 And dying pass from earth away 
 
 Forsaken and unknown; 
 Their life on earth has been a blank, 
 
 An empty, dreary space, 
 The stream is dried along the bank, 
 
 No waters bless the place. 
 The talents nature gave to them 
 
 Have faded ere their bloom, 
 The whole is withered branch and stem, 
 
 And death the roots assume. 
 They reap no harvest from their toil, 
 
 Blight seizes every ear, 
 And over all their dreary soil 
 
 Doth moulding night appear; 
 But those who hand in hand move down 
 
 The mystic vale of life, 
 Though sorrows darkly round them frown 
 
 They still with bliss are rife. 
 Their days are ever flowing full 
 
 Of joys that vanquish pain. 
 Together on through life they pull 
 
 As nature did ordain; 
 Their stream is ever flowing clear 
 
 How e'er the storms may fly, 
 
AliTELOISE. 143 
 
 Nor droughts however long and drear 
 
 Can ever wholly dr3\ 
 They kiss no empty air, but press 
 
 The lips with passions warm, 
 No empty shadows they caress, 
 
 The}' clasp the human form; 
 They feel it nestle to their side 
 
 In loving, close embrace, 
 Nor they of it would be denied 
 
 For aught on nature's face. 
 Their arms are just as strong in fight, 
 
 Their spears are just as sure 
 As those who ne'er felt love's delight, 
 
 And feeling deep and pure; 
 They bend as strong and tough a bow. 
 
 Their arrows fly as true 
 As those who never felt love's throe, 
 
 Nor yet his raptures knew. 
 Their swords the gleaming helmets carve* 
 
 And hew as deep through mail 
 As who of love their natures starve, 
 
 And o'er its sweets prevail; 
 Yes, hand in hand, they move along 
 
 In everlasting gleam. 
 All jo3'S of earth to them belong 
 
 With which does nature teem. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Here ceased the song, but ere had died 
 
 Its echoes o'er the vallcj's wide, 
 
 A lay of deeper, stronger tone 
 
 Was over all the valle3's thrown; 
 
 But what spot, or place around 
 
 Burst forth that song and music's sound, 
 
144 ARTELOISE. 
 
 The knight and maiden could not tell, 
 Nor guess the least from whence they swell. 
 It seemed the earth as well as air 
 Had voices singing everywhere, 
 All space was full of music's sound, 
 It breathed from all the eartli around, 
 And aeem'd that ever^^ tree that stood 
 Alone, or in the Avaving wood, 
 The oak, the gum, the poplar sti'ong. 
 Were music breatliing forth with song, 
 And with a w^ild and mystic trill 
 This la}^ was sung o'er glen and hill: 
 
 song: 
 Happy are they who void of sin 
 
 Walk pure and chaste before their God, 
 For they a priceless crown shall win 
 
 When they through nature's realm have trod; 
 Happy are the}'' who through this life 
 
 No fleeting joys of earth have known. 
 Who 'gainst the tempter waged their strife 
 
 'Till all his wiles w^ere overthrown. 
 Happy are the^^ wdio never kuew 
 
 One pang nor thrill of mortal love, 
 For they shall all the glories view 
 
 And feel within the realms aboA'e; 
 Happy are thej'- Avho never pressed 
 
 The lips of mortals to their own. 
 Who ne'er w^ere fondled and caressed 
 By those of mortal flesh and bone. 
 Happ3' are they whose chastened lips » 
 
 Touch and kiss empty air alone, 
 Their mouth alone the nectar sips 
 
 That flows from the eternal throne; 
 
ARrTELOISE. 145 
 
 Happy are they whose hearts are pure 
 
 And ne'er did mortal passions feel, 
 Who sheathed in A'irtue's mail secure 
 
 Are ever unto heaven leal. 
 They stand in everlasting light, 
 
 A glory ever round them beams, 
 The angels watch their sleep b}' niglit, 
 
 With happy visions lill tiieir dreams; 
 Happy are they who bold in faith 
 
 Have waited, watched and trusted long, 
 Their robes shall be white as the wraith 
 
 Whenseas are stirred by tempests strong. 
 Happy are they who love but God, 
 
 And have save Him no other fear, 
 By them the sacred path is trod 
 
 That brings them to their Maker near; 
 Happy are they who through this life 
 
 Forever walk and dwell alone. 
 Who quell their natures, passions rife 
 
 That riot in their flesh and bone; 
 Who over vanquished lust and will 
 
 Rear firm their everlasting throne; 
 Who over every mortal ill 
 
 Sustain a triumph all their own; 
 Who quell all tumults of their soul, 
 
 All anarchy of hopes and fears. 
 Nor ever waver in control 
 
 Through all their sj^an of mortal years; 
 Their spear shall still be tough and strong 
 
 And pierce all gleaming armor sure; 
 
 Their trust}^ sword carve bucklers broad 
 
 And helms of tempered metals pure; 
 
146' ARTELOISE. 
 
 In listed rings o'er knights and kings 
 
 They ever shall triumphant ride, 
 Safe and secure they shall endure 
 
 What e'er the odds, what e'er betide. 
 Happy they who thrice all ills endure, 
 
 Suffer woe and pain through all their lives, 
 And still of every sin are. pure 
 
 Though fierce 'gainst them the tempter strives, 
 By fate it is to them decreed 
 
 To vanquish; over all prevail; 
 Before their steel all foes shall reel, 
 
 And they shall find the sacred Grail. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 The voices died; but still the sound 
 Of music fiird the air around, 
 Weird and strange at times its trill 
 Re-echoed over glen and hill; 
 Where height and valley, rock and stream 
 Glowed bright unto the moon's broad beam, 
 Where forests waved their statel}' heads 
 In glor}' 'neath the light she sheds; 
 Whose dewy leaves a splendor show 
 When e'er the sighing breezes blow, 
 And them in gentle motion throw 
 As molten silver there did flow. 
 Where tracks of distant torrents gleam 
 With dazzling light beneath her beam, 
 As ceaseless down the mountain side 
 They rush unto the valley wide. 
 And dashing on the rocks below, 
 In air their mist}^ vapors throw; 
 And white along the valle}' s sail 
 Look like some virgin's bridal veil, 
 
ARTELOISE. 147 
 
 The moon like some vast pharos' blaze 
 Looks on the earth with steadfast gaze; 
 While stars that round her faintly beam, 
 Like ships upon an ocean seem, 
 When all becalm'd their silent sails 
 Hang deathlike, waiting rising gales. 
 The violets and lily's bed 
 Still on the air sweet odors shed, 
 The rose hung on its tender stem 
 And in sweet fragrance vied with them; 
 Flowers of garden and of dale 
 There breathed their odors o'er the vale. 
 And everj-where the e3'e could trace 
 O'er all that strange and lovelj^ place, 
 In every stir and sight and sound 
 That was above, below, around. 
 There lurked a splendor vast, intense, 
 That charmed all mortal soul and sense. 
 Swift as the speed of fleeting breath 
 That sudden leaves us thrall'd in death, 
 A column vast of blazing sheen 
 Flashed up the earth and sky between; 
 And where the mountain tallest stood 
 With gleaming rocks, all bare of wood, 
 That column vast of brightness pure 
 Stood blazing on foundation sure; 
 And all that mountain's mighty crest 
 With dazzling rings huge flames invest; 
 Strange forms and figures mov'd around, 
 But all with them is void of sound; 
 And seem'd no noise amongst them stirr'd, 
 Not e'en a lowly whispered word. 
 
148 ARTELOISE. 
 
 From place to i:)lace they glide or come, 
 But with them noise is dead or dumb 
 'Till shot a shaft of gleaming sheen 
 Across the vale, the heights between, 
 A might}^ bridge of glowing light, 
 It spann'd the vale from height to height; 
 And right where stood the knight and maid 
 The bridge's glowing end was laid, 
 Then from the sky and nature's form 
 A rolling, shaking, swelling storm 
 Of harmony rose on the air 
 That fill'd all space and everywhere; 
 And swift across the bridge of light 
 Where stood the maiden and the knight. 
 There past a throng of angels bright 
 On downy wings all clothed in white; 
 A kindly smile the foremost wore 
 As ever 3'et an angel bore; 
 And thus with gentle words she spake, 
 Whose tones did sweetest music make: 
 Thou maid of Christ, thou knight of God 
 The journey to th^^ goal is trod. 
 Thy quest by day and night is done, 
 Tiie prize, the sacred Grail is won ! 
 Tiien in the hands of knight and maid 
 A chalice bright that angel laid. 
 Swift, sudden as the flash of light 
 Darting from the cloud at night. 
 The angel throng straight disappear 
 As though they melted into air; 
 The gleaming pageant past away 
 'Till hidden in redundant ray; 
 
ARTELOISE. 149 
 
 'Till lost beyond the walls of space, 
 
 And mortal e^'C no more could trace; 
 
 With peace to earth, good-will to men 
 
 The music died on hill and glen. 
 
 And side by side in silent prayer 
 
 Kneel'd down the kniglit and maiden there. 
 
 With spirits void of lust and sin — • 
 
 Where rest could nouglit but virtue win, 
 
 They breathed to God their thankful praters, 
 
 The prize was won, the sacred Grail was theirs. 
 
 PART V. 
 
 I. 
 
 Above the graj' horizon's rim 
 
 The coming liglits of morning swim, 
 
 Shaft after shaft, spear after spear, 
 
 T'he feeble lines of light appear; 
 
 And floating through the realms of space 
 
 Spread over all creation's face; 
 
 From sight the paling stars are drawn 
 
 And hide before the coming dawn. 
 
 Wave after wave tlie sprat's of light 
 
 By swift degrees become more bright, 
 
 'Till ros3' streaks the skies adorn 
 
 A nd don the ruddj' hues of morn; 
 
 'Till night of all its gloom is shorn 
 
 And day upon its lap is born. 
 
 The sun beams from his glowing halls, 
 
 And over glen and mountain walls 
 
150 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Ilis floo'.l of sheen redundant falls, 
 And earth from darkness disenthralls. 
 The rocky peaks and mountain stream 
 With renovated glory gleam; 
 The forests wave their heads and teem 
 With life increased beneath his beam; 
 O'er violets the dew drops shine 
 And sparkle with a sheen divine. 
 The grass and moss and flowers bright. 
 Moist with refreshing- dews of night 
 llejoicing don his beams of light, 
 Display an all enchanting sight. 
 Emit from all their heads and stems 
 'i'lie gleaming often thousand gems, 
 Of every varied hue and shade 
 Yet fancy drew or nature made; 
 Where down the heights abrupt and tall 
 The roaring floods of torrents fall. 
 And swingeing by the boulders vast 
 That all along their bed are cast, 
 Around the watei-s madly swirl, 
 And high o'er them their snow wreaths hurl; 
 Then crested o'er with flying froth 
 White as the snow fields of the North, 
 The}' gather down the mountain's side 
 To dread ab3sses yawning wide; 
 There plunge on rocks in headlong flow 
 That churn them into foam below, 
 Their spra^^ in misty vapors rise 
 'Till cloudlike o'er the hills it flies; 
 On it the sun his glory sheds 
 And bursts it into shining shreds; 
 
ARTELOISE. 151 
 
 And bright through fields of azure air 
 Like sheets of gold those mists repair, 
 Through space spread widetheir flyingtrain 
 Like fleeting fancies of the brain. 
 And lost in space they disappear 
 Like human hope and joy and fear. 
 
 II. 
 
 The sun moves up his destined way 
 And cheers the world with his warm ray, 
 Seems all things wake to rapture rife, 
 Assume the ruddy hues of life; 
 And strengthened by their night's repose, 
 The virgin blush of joy disclose. 
 At his bright coming all the world 
 In glor^' and in light is furled, 
 Wrapt in a robe of flashing gems 
 More bright than queenly diadems, 
 That with their beauty overwhelms 
 All other gaud in nature's realms, 
 And fills with warmth and vigor rife 
 All things that nature throbs with life. 
 Roused from his lair b}'^ coming morn 
 The roe looks from his den of thorn, 
 Sees with glad heart the day begun, 
 
 « 
 
 And hails with joy the rising sun; 
 Feels strengthened 'neath the coming sheen 
 And bounds to pastures fresh and green. 
 And happy birds on flapping wing, 
 Make hills and glens and forests ring 
 With gladsome songs thej^ ceaseless sing; 
 Hail with delight his coming beam, 
 And lave their wings in rill and stream. 
 
152 ARTELOISE. 
 
 All birds of air and beasts of field 
 
 A homage to his splendors yield, 
 
 The bleating sheep and lowing kine 
 
 Delighted hail his coming shine; 
 
 And leaping skip around the fold, 
 
 Or gambol over field and wold; 
 
 Frolic before his coming glow 
 
 With pranks no other time they show. 
 
 The goat leaps from his leavy lair 
 
 Aiid sniffs with joy the morning air, 
 
 Spreads on the wind his flowing beard 
 
 And bounds where tallest heights are rear'd. 
 
 With haughty neigh, the gallant steed 
 
 Sees earth by morn of darkness freed. 
 
 With head erect and nostrils wide, 
 
 And eyes that flash with lordly pride, 
 
 He sees the new-born day begun; 
 
 And gazing on the rising sun 
 
 He shakes the dew drops from his mane, 
 
 And neighing bounds along the plain 
 
 High on the mountain's tallest crest 
 
 Where hangs from giddy crags his nest, 
 
 With flapping wings and joyous scream 
 
 The eagle hails tLe rising beam; 
 
 On soaring pinions speeds his flight 
 
 'Till hid in azure fields of light; 
 
 'Till lost in boundless realms of space 
 
 Where he can view ail nature's face. 
 
 The stately hound with leap and whine. 
 
 Delighted sees the morning's shine; 
 
 Speeds o'er the hills in swift career, 
 
 Or scents through glens the bounding deer 
 
ARTELOISE. 153 
 
 Yes, everything in nature born 
 Hails with delight the coming morn; 
 With gladness hails the rising sun 
 Dispersing night and vapors dun. 
 Yes, eveiythihg in nature's state, 
 The animate and inanimate, 
 V>y color, sound or glowing gleam, 
 A welcome gives his rising beam; 
 The love of all his raj^s have won. 
 For life they breathe from out the sun. 
 
 III. 
 
 But ere had dawned the morning's light, 
 
 The maiden and that gallant knight 
 
 In quest of fair Clotilda sped, 
 
 And roused her from her slumbers dread; 
 
 Soon as the hol}^ Grail they bore 
 
 Beside the maid, her sleep was o'er, 
 
 Her eyelids oped, her sleep was done, 
 
 And sped like mists before the sun, 
 
 Xo more the necromancer's thrall 
 
 Bound body, soul and senses all. 
 
 She rose from off the wizard's lair 
 
 As light as springs a fomn of air, 
 
 And with a wild, bewildered stare 
 
 She ej^es the knight and maiden there; 
 
 Who in their turn with wonder see 
 
 Her of the wizard's slumber free, 
 
 And all that throng of maidens fair 
 
 Who slept around Clotilda there, 
 
 Were roused from out their slumbers deep, 
 
 Their fell, enchanted, wizard's sleep. 
 
 And thus her tale Clotilda tells 
 
 How all came there through wizard's si)ells: 
 
154 ARTELOISE. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The (lay 3011 left King Arthur's hall 
 
 To journey with that hoary man, 
 I vowed, let good or ill befall, 
 I'd follow over mountain wall, 
 O'er bridgeless voids and summits tall, 
 
 And fiercest streams that ever ran; 
 No danger drear in nature wide 
 Should keep me from my idol's side; 
 So I and all this maiden throng 
 Set forth on our palfreys strong; 
 An open wav before us lay 
 
 Through brake, through glen, o'er wold and hill 
 We journeyed 'till tlie close of day 
 
 Nor met with least of dole or ill. 
 On sand, on rock, on moss and sod. 
 
 Fresh horse tracks we could ever scan, 
 That showed where steeds had lately trod, 
 
 Rode by 3'ou and that hoary man. 
 As night closed in, and hill and dell 
 
 Were donn'd in sable robes of mist. 
 And their black arms round glen and fell 
 
 The spirits stern of darkness twist. 
 We saw a vast and lofty tower 
 High on a rock}'" mountain loAver. 
 Swift up the winding wa}^ we sped 
 That to the lofty tower led. 
 Wide open were its portals thrown 
 And to us there was Merlin shown, 
 He bade us welcome and we rode 
 Through the threshold in the strange abode. 
 Then we heard the huge portcullis fall. 
 And iron gate close 'gainst the wall, 
 
ARTELOISE. 155 
 
 And knew we were in Merlin's tlirall; 
 And soon we on our palfreys range 
 Throughout a court-yard wild and strange, 
 Away our palfrey's reins we flung, 
 And to the earth we lightly sprung; 
 We reached a hall of grand array, 
 To whicii grim Merlin led the way, 
 Around bright lights their lustre shed, 
 And round were crimson couches spread, 
 A drowsy sleep o'ertook us all; 
 One by one I saw these maidens fall 
 Each on a couch in slumber deep, 
 And soon myself, I sank to sleep. 
 The last thing there that I beheld 
 Just ere I was to slumber quelled 
 Was Merlin standing hy my bed 
 Waving a wand above m}' head; 
 His flowing beard as white as frost 
 Was over all his bosom tost; 
 His hoary locks in mighty hoard 
 Hung down o'er all his shoulders broad; 
 His sable eyes like lightnings glowed 
 'Neath brows that white and shaggy floAved; 
 And his strange features seemed the lair 
 Of wretchedness and grim dispair; 
 As if all sorrows, woes and grief, 
 All cares that know of no relief- 
 Had on him swooped in one fell storm 
 And bent and knarled his awful form. 
 He looked like some old mountain oak 
 That long had stood the tempest's stroke, 
 And felt the lightnings round it hurled, 
 Which lelt it scorched and torn and knurled; 
 
150 AllTELOISE. 
 
 Tluit winter decks with fleecy snows 
 
 But every knar distinctly sliows, 
 
 Each withered branch and bliglited stem 
 
 Where leaves no more shall spring from them, 
 
 But soon the storms shall scatter wide 
 
 O'er vale and stream and mountain side. 
 
 As ceased her tale a wondrous stir 
 
 Filled all the air around, 
 All like that swift and sudden whir 
 
 From ll3ing arrows sound; 
 Like the murmur of may Lees 
 
 When round their hives they swarm, 
 Like the buzz of collected Hies 
 
 On eve of summer storm; 
 liike the low droning of the sea 
 
 When winds are sleeping round, 
 Like hum from Eolian har[)S 
 
 Poth come the whirring sound. 
 And from a spot of naked earth 
 
 That did but rock disclose, 
 Sudden as phantom springs to sight 
 
 The form of Merlin rose. 
 All full of griefs and full of years 
 
 The aged seer appeared, 
 Down o'er his breast and shoulders broad 
 
 Flowed white his hair and beard; 
 Though many marks they both revealed 
 
 Where scorching flame had jmst, 
 Singed was his beard and singed his hair, 
 
 And charrs his robe o'er cast; 
 X twitching all his form revealed 
 
 As smote by palsy grim, 
 
ARTELOISE. 15'i 
 
 Or else it seemed some nakir dretul 
 
 Posessed him every limb. 
 His brawny hands and arms were bare, 
 
 And hard their thews were knarr'd, 
 O'er them tlie prints of flame were seen, 
 
 These too with flame were scarr'd; 
 His brows and beard all o'er his lace 
 
 Through singeing flames were marr'd. 
 Sudden with form erect and tall 
 
 All changed to vigor good, 
 Before the knight and maiden throng 
 
 The hoary wizard stood; 
 And with a voice as wierd and wild 
 
 As when night donns her hood 
 And the breezes bring the sighs of ghosts 
 
 From out some olden wood 
 He spoke: Ere I to the nadir go 
 
 To there through eon dwell, 
 1 would alike to friend and foe 
 
 All peaceful bid farewell. 
 Soon will my time on earth be o'er, 
 
 My place shall others mMu, 
 For too much goodness corrupts the worhl 
 As well as too much sin, 
 1 A full and equal share of both 
 
 This whole rountl world must swaY; 
 Too much action, or too much sloth 
 
 Would make the w^orld decay. 
 Old styles, old things must pass away 
 
 And make room for the new, 
 Fancies, customs, habits, laws must change 
 All ever nature kncM-; 
 
158 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Ignorance dwells with the multitude 
 
 And wisdom with the few. 
 The common soldier of the ranks 
 
 Can countless comrades boast, 
 But still only one head, one brain, 
 
 To glory leads the host. 
 Tlie bees are many in the hive. 
 
 The drones in swarms are seen, 
 But howe'er A-ast they seem to be 
 
 They only show one queen. 
 Birds are man}' in the air: 
 
 The swallow, sparrow, jay. 
 Their c >untless kindred show around 
 
 On every leav}' spray; 
 Bat more than one eagle at a time 
 
 We scarcely' e'er survey; 
 The slave his countless kindred boasts 
 
 On moor, on hill and field. 
 But to one chief, one king alone 
 
 His trooping kindred 3'ield. 
 The stars are many in the sk}'-, 
 
 But only one bright sun 
 Warms up and cheers the earth, while it 
 
 Through boundless space is spun, 
 And keeps it from eternal chill 
 
 And vapors dank and dun. 
 The trees are many on the hills, 
 
 Of every size and form — 
 But only one good sturdy oak 
 Withstood the lightning's blasting stroke. 
 
 The thunder and the storm. 
 Flowers are man}' o'er the earth 
 
 Of every shape and hue, 
 
ARTELOISE. 159 
 
 But those tliJit claim the gardeiu>r's care 
 
 Are hut a wondrous few. 
 The shells are many on the beach, 
 
 Yet in only one was seen 
 The pearl that pleased the monarch's eye, 
 
 And decks the brow of queen. 
 And for some cause unknown to me 
 
 I'm different from my kind, 
 In subtle secrets I am skill'd 
 
 To Avliich my race is blind. 
 I walk the paths of life alone 
 
 Aaid do the will of fate. 
 Mysteries, I unveil, undo, 
 
 Or m^'steries create; 
 And over man 'till now I've been 
 
 Despotic potentate. 
 I have but swayed the wand of power 
 
 With all my might and will. 
 That fate entrusted unto me 
 
 For either good or ill. 
 And having done what fate decreed 
 
 My m^^stic force should do, 
 I've but done my duty here, and been 
 
 Unto my nature true; 
 No fault that man shall find shall make 
 
 Me any action rue; 
 Had I a thousand j-ears to live 
 
 I'd still my ways pursue. 
 I curse, I bless, I guard, I harm, 
 
 I succor, aid, defeat, 
 I arm the hero or disarm. 
 His courage, cool or heat; 
 
60 -ARTELOISE. 
 
 All weal or woe that he endures 
 
 Alike to me are sweet 
 As honey to the taste, or wine 
 
 Unto the drunkard's lips, 
 Or dew unto the thirsty bud 
 It in the drought-time sips. 
 Sweet as is unto the miser 
 The glitter of his hoard, 
 Sweet as is unto the hero 
 
 The trophies of his sword. 
 Sweet as is unto the mother 
 
 The smile of her first-bom, 
 Sweet as to benighted traveller 
 
 The glimmer of the morn, 
 Sweet as the first -narm kiss of love 
 
 Of maiden and of jouth, 
 Sweet as the secret vows the^' breathe- 
 All hope and faith And truth — - 
 Sweet as to the drowning sailor 
 The hand that succor brings, 
 Sweet as to the butterfly 
 
 The splendor of its wings ; 
 So sweet, so dear, unto my soul 
 
 Is all my magic lore ; 
 Give me the wisdom of the seer, 
 
 I ask of Fate no more. 
 Let me but in my selfhood own 
 The wizard's power and swaj', 
 I care not for all else that is 
 
 Throughout wide Nature's way. 
 And as a seer ui)on this earth 
 I here would liuscer still — 
 
ARTELOISE. 161 
 
 Through immortality of good, 
 
 Immortality of ill. 
 Of Fate I compreliend the goal — 
 
 Have studied ever}' part ; 
 Those parts were atoms of the whole, 
 Made up its body, mind and soul. 
 And all that did its life control — 
 
 So I know it all by heart. 
 Time with me is hoar, and Fate decrees 
 
 Me for some other clime, 
 Where 1 shall work for weal or woe 
 
 Beyond the walls of Time ; 
 And there, like here, I still shall move 
 
 Through tower, o'er glen and hill. 
 Unseen by eyes of living thing, 
 
 Except when e'er I will. 
 Though fashioned like mankind I am, 
 
 And life-blood through me flows, 
 Yet, in shine or shade, by day or night. 
 
 My form no shadow throws ; 
 And where I tread, save when I will. 
 
 No mortal vision knows. 
 Though I journey to some other spliere, 
 
 Be^'Ond the coast of Tnne, 
 Yet Fate decrees I shall once more 
 
 Be seen upon this clime. 
 Ere yonder moon shall wane and change, 
 
 And full become once more, 
 I here shall tread in power dread, 
 
 A wizard as of yore ; 
 For on these hills the hosts of Rome 
 
 Shall, for the last time, meet 
 
 11 
 
162 ARTELOISE. 
 
 The knights renowned of the Table Round, 
 
 With war King Arthur greet ; 
 And on one side shall glor}' bide, 
 
 On the other grim defeat, 
 But which shall vanquish, which shall fly, 
 
 Fate bids me not foretell ; 
 For two whole days the strife shall last; 
 
 And spread a havoc fell ; 
 And midst that fight, in all my might 
 
 And glory, as of old. 
 From out the earth shall I arise, 
 
 And me shall all behold. 
 My magic flag with me shall rise, 
 
 A phantom to the sight, 
 And it shall wave in windless air, 
 
 As midst a tempest's might ; 
 And on that side shall Merlin ride 
 
 Who'll conquer in that fight. 
 Farewell ; be wise, be good, be true, 
 
 B.e ever virtuous still ; 
 Feai only God, where'er ye be. 
 
 And guard 'gainst sin and ill. 
 Do this b}^ night and day, and ye 
 
 Shall your destinies fulfil, 
 And overwhelm the wizard's might, 
 
 His force, his fraud and will. 
 Still bless, not curse, your mortal foe; 
 
 Do as the sandal-tree, 
 That doth a sweet perfume bestow 
 Unto the axe that lays it low 
 
 In death upon the lea. 
 Sow 3'our seed for good in faith and hope, 
 
 And water it with tears ; 
 
ARTELOISE. 163 
 
 So choice fruit, in God's briglit light, 'twill bear 
 
 AVithin the coming years. 
 Who sows the seed is answerable 
 
 For the harvest that it rears. 
 Both good and ill their deeds have wrought, 
 
 Through all the boundless past ; 
 Botli for the mastery have warred, 
 
 And still their strife shall last 
 Through all the ages yet to come, 
 
 Till, midst wasting ruins strown. 
 The hidden generations rest, 
 
 And Time is with moss o'ergrown. 
 Faith, hope and love and charity, 
 
 Be ever with 3^ou still — 
 I'd not wish ye else, e^en could I 
 Heap over ye, as mountains high, 
 
 Famine, war and every ill. 
 May Glory w\alk beside ye still 
 
 Where'er your feet invade. 
 And keep with ye through good or ill 
 
 The vast world's promenade. 
 But Lhou, Sir Knight, a deed must do 
 
 Ere yet five days be past ; 
 Thou, with thy hoary guide, the Jew, 
 
 Must cross an ocean vast. 
 And sail into the Polar seas, 
 
 To realms of ice and snow, 
 Where only rocks of ice are seen, 
 
 And freezing tempests blow. 
 There, midst those mountains grim of ice. 
 
 Within a cavern deep, 
 My only child, Ursula, dwells. 
 Wrapt in a charmed sleep. 
 
164 ARTELOISE. 
 
 For just six hundred years and one 
 
 Ha-s she been sleeping there, 
 Guarded by ghouls and>demons grim 
 
 That rule the Polar sphere ; 
 And never from her slumber drear 
 
 Shall she arise again, 
 Till a knight renowned of the Table Round 
 
 Shall tread that frozen main. 
 Thou art the knight, described of yore, 
 
 The man by Fate decreed 
 To journey to those realms of snow, 
 
 And do the daring' deed ; 
 Yes, end a father's wasting woe, 
 
 And glory is thy meed ; 
 For thou shalt save from lasting harm 
 
 As fair and pure a maid 
 As since the birth of time has walked 
 
 The huge world's promenade. 
 This eve a barge will wait for thee, 
 
 Moor'd to an ocean pier ; 
 Thy hoary guide will go with thee, 
 
 And o'er floods the barge will steer. 
 Go, do the task that Fate decreed ; 
 
 From rigid realms of snow 
 Carry forth the loveliest maid 
 
 That ever Time shall know. 
 
 As the bubble leaves the gazers eye, 
 
 Upon the water's face, 
 And o'er all the realm of water 
 
 Behind it leaves uo trace — 
 
ARTELOISB. 165 
 
 So swift, complete and suddenly 
 
 Grim Merlin left the place. 
 Ere on his tongue the last word died, 
 
 Gone was the hoary seer ; 
 Far swifter than a flash of thought " 
 
 He melted into air. 
 Whilti gazed the knight and maidens there, 
 
 With wonder and surprise, 
 Their startled senses scarce believing 
 
 The witness of their eyes, 
 They heard the heavy tramp of steeds 
 
 Within the vale below ; 
 The clash of arms, the clang of steel. 
 
 And heard a trumpet blow. 
 A thousand knights, on thousand steeds, 
 
 Came plunging up the hill — 
 The knights renowned of the Table Round, 
 
 Whose fame the nations fill. 
 Arthur, the good, of knightlihood 
 
 The choicest flower on earth, 
 That ever dared a noble deed. 
 
 Since Time has had its birth, 
 Rode by the side of the hoary guide, 
 
 The Jew, who there had led, 
 Through lonely, winding ways, De Main, 
 
 And there had from him sped. 
 Around the knight and maidens there 
 
 The horsemen throng amain ; 
 With shouts of joy that sounded wide 
 
 Their snorting steeds they rein. 
 Sheathed v/as each knight in armor bright. 
 
 From head to heel it glowed ; 
 
166 AETELOISE. 
 
 And down o'er casques of burnished steel 
 
 Plumes of varied colors flowed. 
 From otf his steed King Arthur sprang, 
 
 And doffed his glove of steel ; 
 The hero's hand he grasped, and said : 
 
 " Thou noble knight and leal, 
 No braver soul in Fate's control 
 
 Was e'er in mortal stored ; 
 No braver heart and stronger hand 
 
 Has ever drawn a sword. 
 Thy fame shall last till time is o'er, 
 
 And ceased has even earth, 
 And then in other worlds than this 
 
 Shall angels sing thy worth. 
 And what is all this path through life, 
 Though Fortune's gifts be scattered rife, 
 
 And all exempt from woe, 
 If we don't leave behind our name 
 Enrolled upon the page of fame. 
 
 With never-fading glow, 
 To live in story and in song, 
 While the centuries sweep along, 
 
 So all our worth shall know? 
 Demons of every woe and ill, 
 
 That long have cursed my realm, 
 The prowess of thy soul and arm 
 
 Did all with ruin whelm. 
 Thou art the knight whom God decreed 
 
 Should burst the wizards' spell. 
 And crush out all their force and fraud 
 
 They've brought to earth from hell. 
 Now wiiat more can I say or do 
 Than thank thee, noble knight and true. 
 
ARTELOISE. 1 Q*J 
 
 And aid thee more of glory win?" 
 At this the hoary guide broke in : 
 " More glory lie must yet achieve ; 
 Fate liira from toil will not relieve. 
 Ursula's slumber he mi.st wake, 
 And her from Polar demons take; 
 And other tasks as dread and grim 
 Be wrought, Fate has decreed, by him, 
 I am his guide, ordered by Fate 
 Him to lead, on him watch and wait. 
 Here shortly shall a war be waged. 
 Dread as e'er 'tween mortals raged ; 
 Heroes shall die hj thousands here. 
 And clothe these hills with carnage drear ; 
 These hills shall all be dyed with blood. 
 And red shall flow each mountain flood. 
 Ursula must that carnage see, 
 And forward in that slaughter be. 
 She shall that day a deed achieve 
 That shall this realm of woes relieve. 
 But more I cannot tell you now, 
 For rigid Fate w-ill not allow. 
 Come, let us go to yonder glen. 
 And see the slaughtered dragon's den; 
 And view the hoards of solid gold. 
 That there have lain since ages old." 
 
 VI. 
 
 Into the den the knights have sped. 
 
 Led b}'^ the hoary Jew, 
 Where dwelt the dragon grim and dread 
 
 The hero's arm o'erthrew. 
 
168 ARTELOISE. 
 
 From out the den wealth the}^ bring forth. 
 
 From where it's lain for years. 
 Gathered from west, east, south and north, 
 
 Wherever hoard appears. 
 Huge was the cavern, broad and long, 
 
 And vast from floor to roof; 
 Nine columns tall of solid rock 
 
 From falling kept it proof; 
 Its granite walls were wide apart, 
 
 A thousand 3'ards aloof. 
 Yet piled was it with golden hoard 
 
 From rocky roof to floor ; 
 The shining treasures meet their eyes 
 
 Where'er the knights explore. 
 Silver and gold, and precious stones — 
 
 All riches of the world — 
 Were promiscuous gathered there, 
 
 In glowing piles were hurled ; 
 Mighty thrones, cast in solid gold, 
 
 Set o'er with starry gems ; 
 Kings, queens, wrought out of gold, and decked 
 
 With flashing diadems. 
 Sat midst foi-ests wrought of gold, 
 
 With diamond kaves and stems ; 
 And ever}^ beast that roams the field. 
 
 The mountain, moor or fen ; 
 And many a monster, grim and vast. 
 
 Now all unknown to men, 
 Had there his likeness cast in gold, 
 
 His lifelike size and mien. 
 There camels, lions, elephants, 
 
 With golden steeds, were seen ; 
 
ARTELOISE. 169 
 
 And every bird that flaps its wings 
 
 Within the realms of space, 
 Wrought of pure gold, in lifelike size, 
 
 Was found within that place ; 
 And every fish and monster grim, 
 That through the depths of ocean swim, 
 Was there displayed in perfect trim, 
 Of solid gold each form and limb. 
 Where'ei* the searching eyes explore 
 Are flashing gems and golden ore ; 
 Goblets and urns and mighty trays, 
 The wealth of kings of other days, 
 All wrought of gold, with splendor blaze. 
 
 VII. 
 
 A thousand knights are toiling fast 
 To bring away the treasure vast ; 
 A thousand knights, with sinews strong 
 As those that to the steeds belong, 
 With all their strength can scarcely lift, 
 Or yet from out their places shift. 
 Some of those castings broad and tall ; 
 To move them takes the strength of all ; 
 Their gathered force assistance needs, 
 And levers, fuk-rums, chains and steeds, 
 Are brought to aid them bring the hoard 
 From out the dragon's cavern broad. 
 Upon the wold round Arteloise 
 They pile the dragon's shining toys, 
 The wealth of Cyclops kings of old, 
 Who stored it in that rocky hold ; 
 And, spite of human swords and spears, 
 
no ARTELOISE. 
 
 Had rested there two thousand years. 
 While heroes toil to bring this hoard 
 From out the cavern deep and broad, 
 That cavern lonely, drear and dun, 
 And pile it in the blazing sun — 
 Heap up a mound of shining ore 
 As never sunlight saw before — 
 And while Griselda, sheathed in mail, 
 With Arthur, guards the Holy Grail, 
 The sun has set, and night amain 
 Is thickening over hill and plain ; 
 The stars displa}^ their glowing sheen. 
 And in the east the moon is seen. 
 And from the knights and heroes there 
 Two forms arc missed, search everywhere. 
 » Their departure none can explain — 
 
 One is the Jew, one Beau de Main. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 A barge moored to the ocean's beach 
 The hero and his guide soon reach ; 
 And in it swift the eager twain 
 Go sailing o'er the silent main. 
 The air was still, no breezes blew. 
 Yet swift across the seas they flew ; 
 Their sails were full, as if a gale 
 Did them with all its force assail. 
 The silent ocean stretched around 
 In one calm slumber deep and sound, 
 And scarce those silent floods reveal 
 A furrow from the plowing keel. 
 Yet on and on upon her course 
 
ARTELOTSE. 1 7 [ 
 
 She sped before some magic force, 
 And swifter than a tliin"- of thouaht 
 Her flight she o'er the waters sought. 
 Onward, o'er floods profound, they di'ew, 
 Until two mountains rose in view : 
 Abyla, one, that proudl}' stands 
 And views the sea from A trie's lands ; 
 The other that frowned o'er the main 
 "Was Calpe, on the coast of Spain. 
 Here, onward through narrowing seas, 
 They pass the Pillars of Hercules. 
 Onward they speed, and soon they gain 
 A spacious and a tranquil main. 
 Where the Mediterranean wave 
 Doth shores of many nations lave, 
 And soon in sight of ^Etna's flame 
 The hoary guide and hero came. 
 High on the prow the good knight stands, 
 And views afar the mountain lands. 
 While thus unto his hoary guide 
 He speaks : " Let good or ill betide, 
 I swore to journey by thy side. 
 And reach with thee the Polar main, 
 Ursula wake to life again, 
 The ci-aft of Polar fiends o'erthrow, 
 And crush them from the realm of snow. 
 Make all their force to mankind bow. 
 If God would me the deed allow. 
 But we are sailing fast, I scan. 
 To regions of f:ir different plan. 
 What does this mean? Come, swift explain 
 Why sail we thus this Southern main, 
 And see the lights of ^tna glow 
 
172 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Instead of Polar ice and snow." 
 
 To this the hoary Jew replied : 
 
 " I am by Fate decreed thy guide. 
 
 Henceforth through all thy mortal life, 
 
 Through pleasure, trouble, peace or strife, 
 
 Through every throe of bliss or woes 
 
 That mortal nature feels or knows 
 
 I am thy guide, and 'tis thy fate 
 
 To follow me, on me to wait. 
 
 Did proper faith in thee abide. 
 
 For him who is thy destined guide 
 
 Thou wouldst not ask with haughty air 
 
 And doubting soul, ' Wh}^ sail wc here ? ' 
 
 No matter where on earth I went 
 
 Thy heart and soul should be content, 
 
 And feel the while I did my task. 
 
 And of me none of questions ask. 
 
 But as thy mind is full of doubt, 
 
 I now will turn it inside out, 
 
 Shake from it all that therein be 
 
 And fill it full of faith for me, 
 
 And since we shall together wend 
 
 Until thy race on earth shall end, 
 
 Be we within the rear or van. 
 
 Be thou in every sense a man ; 
 
 TJirough weal or woe, through peace or strife, 
 
 Unflinching grasp the end of Life, 
 
 Pluck mid its thorns the buds and fruit, 
 
 What best thy will or fancy suit, 
 
 What most thj^ nature seems to need. 
 
 Nor let shadows of the Future feed 
 
 And fatten as may suit their greed 
 
 Upon the substance and the wealth 
 
ARTELOISE. 1 73 
 
 Of the present, nor sap its health. 
 
 Revel in pleasures well thy soul, 
 
 Yet keep those pleasures in control. 
 
 I trust we two shall undei'stand 
 
 Each other well, and hand in hand 
 
 Keep upon our destined way, 
 
 Nor feel a doubt by night or day 
 
 Of any careless word or deed 
 
 That may from either one proceed. 
 
 Have faith in me is all I ask 
 
 And thou'lt accomplish every task, 
 
 I guide thee now from haunts of men 
 
 Unto the mighty Cyclops' den ; 
 
 We soon shall pass the sullen gorge 
 
 That leads to Vulcan's roaring forge, 
 
 And armor he for thee shall make 
 
 No force of fiend nor man can break, 
 
 No frost shall crack, no spear shall pierce, 
 
 However dread the foe and fierce. 
 
 The arms that now thy form invest. 
 
 Though strong as ever hero dressed, 
 
 And are most pleasing to the eye, 
 
 Would all to smallest atoms fly 
 
 If ever midst the Polar snow 
 
 The icy blasts on them should blow, 
 
 And any demon's sword or spear 
 
 Its force should e'er against them bear. 
 
 To ?vage with it 'gainst them a strife 
 
 Would cost thee swift thy fame and life. 
 
 By Vulcan must thy arms be wrought 
 
 Ere war with Polar fiends is sought. 
 
 The tempered steel he only makes 
 
 That never Polar demon breaks ; 
 
Hi ARTELOISE. 
 
 The arms no demon's sword nor spear 
 Can cleave or 3'et asunder tear." 
 
 IX. 
 
 While thus they spoke they reached the gorge 
 
 That led to Vulcan's flaming forge. 
 
 Right through the mountain's open side 
 
 The ocean forced its rushing tide, 
 
 And onward swift as light or thought 
 
 The barge the forge of Vulcan sought. 
 
 Down, down on waters swift and vast 
 
 The barge by seething whirlpools past 
 
 Until it reached the rocky gorge 
 
 Where flamed on high grim Vulcan's forge. 
 
 High on his dusty iron throne 
 
 The mighty monarch sat alone ; 
 
 His shagg}' brows with dust were grim, 
 
 And dust lay on each shaggy limb. 
 
 As some huge column, damp and rust, 
 
 Doth Avith a scaly garb o'er crust, 
 
 O'er his vast form was sweat and dust. 
 
 His flowing tresses, black as night, 
 
 Hid half his features from the sight, 
 
 And o'er his breast and shoulders broad 
 
 They flowed in vast, enormous hoard. 
 
 Like beams of steel his thewy arms 
 
 Displa3^ed their Cyclopean charms. 
 
 His mighty hands a vigor showed 
 
 Which is alone to gods bestowed. 
 
 And only by those gods is shared 
 
 Who midst toil and temperance are reared ♦ 
 
 Athwart his brow his hand he drew, 
 
ARTELOISE. 175 
 
 From off his face his locks he threw, 
 Beneath his forge's flaming light 
 Displayed his features to the sight. 
 Comelier head and nobler brow 
 Did ne'er before a god endow. 
 Sublime he looked in form and limb ; 
 Immortal grandeur breathed in him. 
 In his mild e^e and noble face 
 A kindly soul the knight could trace ; 
 On that vast visage robed with hair 
 Good nature kept her chosen lair, 
 And seem'd there beam'd from it the while 
 A rising or a smothered smile. 
 Swift from the barge the hero trod 
 And with his guide approached the god, 
 But ere they reached his iron throne 
 The monarch spoke in kindly tone. 
 
 X. 
 
 " T know thy wants, know all the cause, 
 Sir Knight, that here thy presence draws, 
 And I for thee will forge the steel 
 That sheathes thy form from head to heel 
 In such strong plates of tempered mail 
 That shall no foe with hurt assail. 
 Sir Knight, thee I will make the lord 
 Of such an axe and spear and sword 
 As never yet were grasped b}' man 
 Since on the earth his race began. 
 And such a casque thy head shall wear 
 As never did to man appear. 
 And I will make thee such a targe 
 
176 ARTELOISE. 
 
 To pierce it vainly foes shall charge. 
 
 In every climate 'neath the sun 
 
 Where breezes blow or waters run, 
 
 Where southern suns terrific glow. 
 
 And metals force to molten flow, 
 
 Where winter wraps the Polar main 
 
 In bondage with its icy chain, 
 
 Those arms by climate all unchanged — 
 
 No atom of them disarranged — 
 
 Shall still remain wher e'er thej'^ go, 
 
 Whate'er the clime, whate'er the fue, 
 
 And e'en the lustre of thy mail 
 
 Shall make the fiercest foeman quail." 
 
 So smiling spake the mighty god, 
 
 And to his flaming furnace trod, 
 
 Where stacks on stacks in grim repose 
 
 Huge as a ridge of mountains rose. 
 
 A mighty door he open threw 
 
 And his vast works disclosed to view. 
 
 The knight through all the place immense 
 
 Gazed with a wonder deep, intense, 
 
 For vast machines with mighty wheels 
 
 From end to end the place reveals, 
 
 And tools of every shape and size 
 
 With wonder mute the hero eyes. 
 
 Soon Vulcan touched a secret sprin ;• 
 
 And motion sprang to everything ; 
 
 Straight at the touch seem'd all things fraUj^ht 
 
 With attributes of life and thought : 
 
 All things an inspiration caught 
 
 That were with instant motion wrought ; 
 
 Then, obedient to his call, 
 
 Came forth three Cyclops giants tall ; 
 
ARTELOTSE. 177 
 
 Arges, Brontes and Steropes came 
 Soon as the god called forth each name. 
 Each all their days in steel had wrought, 
 His skill to them had Vulcan taught ; 
 Each well the tongs or sledge could wield 
 And forge the spear, the helm or shield ; 
 No armor used by mortal man 
 Or gods but what those three could plan, 
 Nor missile e'er in battle thrown 
 But what unto those three was known. 
 The thunderbolts their wisdom formed 
 When gods in angry warfare stormed, 
 And when grim Briareus strove 
 To overwhelm the might of Jove, 
 Skiird in all craft of forging steel, 
 And ever unto Vulcan leal, 
 They forged the arms of gods and men. 
 And waked with sound his mighty den. 
 From Coelus and Terra sprung their birth, 
 Nor feared they aught on sky or earth. 
 
 xr. 
 
 From forge to forge, whence roaring flame 
 Like streams from grim volcanoes came. 
 And vast showers of sparks fell round. 
 With blinding light and hissing sound. 
 Those three enormous Cyclops flew 
 And in the flames the metals threw. 
 Swift from the stacks the molten ore 
 Doth into huge converters pour. 
 Then swift on it a mighty blast. 
 Of freezing air is constant cast ; 
 
 12 
 
178 ARTELOISE. 
 
 It rushes through the spacious tuyeres, 
 
 And it to purest metal rears. 
 
 Then swift they search each huge retort, 
 
 And metal from the dross they sort. 
 
 Through crushing rollers swift 'tis brought 
 
 And into solid metal wrought. 
 
 And then the flowing ore assumes 
 
 The statel}^ structure of the blooms. 
 
 Again the blooms with flame are tried 
 
 Until no dross is there espied. 
 
 Through melting flame and freezing l)last 
 
 Again, again tlie steel is past. 
 
 Till all from dross is doubly pure, 
 
 And all is tempered true and sure. 
 
 Then mighty bars of red-hot steel 
 
 They pass from crushing wheel to wheel ; 
 
 Then, swung upon a mighty crane. 
 
 They bear it to the flame again ; 
 
 There bring it to a snow-white heat, 
 
 Then it upon the anvils beat 
 
 With sledges of gigantic size, 
 
 Whose blows like loudest thunders rise. 
 
 Again, with tongs and swinging crane. 
 
 They cast it midst the flames amain ; 
 
 The bellows roar, the flames arise, 
 
 And all save metal from it flies. 
 
 Then on the anvil swift they shape 
 
 The arms that shall the hero drape. 
 
 Then Vulcan spoke : " Thy body bare 
 
 Of that frail mortal mail you wear, 
 
 O'er thee we'll brace an armor on 
 
 Fit for a god himself to don." 
 
 Swift from his form, from head to heel, 
 
ARTELOISE. 179 
 
 The hero doffed his clanging steel, 
 
 And bared as strong and perfect form 
 
 Of man as e'er felt shine or storm. 
 
 TJie Cyclops smiths with wonder view 
 
 Tag symmetry of limb and thew, 
 
 The swelling chest and shoulders broad 
 
 That showed of strength a matchless hoard. 
 
 Such limbs and thews the hero wore 
 
 Had never met their gaze before. 
 
 His mighty shoulders first they sheathe 
 
 Wish plates that round and round him Avreathe ; 
 
 With triple care his brawny breast 
 
 With flashing plates of steel is drest ; 
 
 Down o'er his form unto his thighs 
 
 The}' fit the plates of wondrous size ; 
 
 In blazing steel his legs they case, 
 
 Thick layers o'er the joints they place ; 
 
 Then all the foot, from toe to lieel, 
 
 They case in adamantine steel ; 
 
 Then straight a flashing casque they wrouaiit 
 
 That was with strange devices fraught ; 
 
 From purest steel the helm was made. 
 
 And all with burnished gold inlaid. 
 
 The hero's head the morion Avears, 
 
 The polished visor next appears ; 
 
 With care within its grooves 'tis placed. 
 
 By cords of steel securely laced ; 
 
 Collars of adamantine mail 
 
 Guard sure his throat from foe's assail ; 
 
 Then next, round as the maiden moon 
 
 When full in all her prime of noon. 
 
 Or sun in his empyrean field, 
 
 They shape the hero's massive shield. 
 
180 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Seven layers of purest steel 
 Dense as did sledge and anvil feel 
 In thickness vast compose the shield, 
 While yet, to vaster sureness yield, 
 'Gainst flying shaft or driven spear, 
 Or harm that heat or cold can rear. 
 Vast fleecy hides as white as snow- 
 Are placed in order row on row — 
 Between the shining plates are laid. 
 And all the space between invade. 
 Then press'd together close and hard, 
 By weight immense the whole is barred 
 Secure together, strong and fast. 
 By bolts and screws and rivets vast. 
 Then next a mighty boss they reared, 
 Which on its centre grim appeared, 
 Then on the inward disc they weld 
 The rings, with many a blow impelled. 
 By which it on the arm is held. 
 The shield, complete in make and strength. 
 Through all its thickness, breadth and leno-t!i 
 The searching eyes of Vulcan view ; 
 His chisel o'er its face he drew ; 
 Engraving strange that mighty shield 
 Soon wore o'er all its ample field ; 
 Strange scenes where e'er his chisel goes 
 Like magic o'er the surface rose. 
 First on the shining field he drcAv 
 The heavens and all the stars we view ; 
 There shone in calm and bright array 
 The sun and moon and milky way ; 
 Shot from the sun, the comets burn'd, 
 Or flaming-, back to him returned ; 
 
ARTELOISE. 181 
 
 The distant systems rose to sight, 
 
 With suns and moons and planets bright ; 
 
 Then far below the earth he drew 
 
 Its oceans, mountains rose to view ; 
 
 Its rivers rush, its torrents flow, 
 
 The sunshine gleams, the tempests blow ; 
 
 O'er wold and dell the forests grow ; 
 
 In air their stately heads they throw. 
 
 Then clouds he drew, as if to robe 
 
 With floating mists the spacious globe ; 
 
 The sun o'er these his lustre throws, 
 
 And splendor o'er the broad shield glows. 
 
 In living motion oceans roll'd. 
 
 The hues of silver and of gold, 
 
 And over mountain, glen and wold 
 
 They stretched their bright, transparent fold. 
 
 Vast harvest fields with ripened grain 
 
 With sickle showed the reaper train. 
 
 And fields of corn in waving rows 
 
 Beneath the artist's chisel grows ; 
 
 The purple vineyards deck the shield. 
 
 And grapes hang vast o'er hill and field ; 
 
 Then mighty heads in pastures green 
 
 Upon the massive targe are seen ; 
 
 O'er skipping lambs and grazing sheep 
 
 Their careful watch the shepherds keep. 
 
 Then swift unto the hero's view 
 
 Vast jungles o'er the buckler grew ; 
 
 The lion, bear and tiger grim 
 
 Seem'd there alive in form and limb ; 
 
 Huge elephants their trunks uprear, 
 
 And moving on the shield appear, 
 
 And mighty monsters, now unknown 
 
182 ARTELOISE. 
 
 To man, were on that buckler shown ; 
 
 Round some their coils dread serpents wreatheo 
 
 And seem'd they struggled and they breathed. 
 
 A city next the artist graved, 
 
 Whose streets with shining gold were paved, 
 
 High rose the massive walls around, 
 
 With battlements and turrets crown'd ; 
 
 Upon these walls, all dread to view, 
 
 By Vulcan's hand an army grew ; 
 
 The shield and sword and bristling spear 
 
 Vast, dense o'er all those walls appear ; 
 
 Besieged the city seems ; below 
 
 The plains with moving armies glow ; 
 
 Huge battering-rams he swiftly form'd, 
 
 And seem'd those walls those engines storm 'd ; 
 
 Wide breaches in the walls were made, 
 
 Through which the troops the town invade ; 
 
 Grim piles of slaughter throng the streets, 
 
 Everywhere the eye but ruin meets ; 
 
 Children and women, old and young, 
 
 With men are midst the carnage flung ; 
 
 Lie son and sire, mother, daughter, 
 
 In promiscuous piles of slaughter. 
 
 The victors from the cit}' lead 
 
 Their captive maids o'er field and mead ; 
 
 Then seemed an all-engulfing flame 
 
 Around throughout that city came ; 
 
 Beneath its force the city falls — 
 
 Palaces, battlements and walls. 
 
 And naught but ashes, gray and pale, 
 
 Are left to tell its dreadful tale. 
 
 Another city swift arose ; 
 
 Round it the azure ocean flows, 
 
ARTELOISE. 183 
 
 And ships unnumbered o'er its waves 
 The artist's sicillful hand engraves ; 
 All, all those seas are white with sails 
 They glide where e'er the flood prevails. 
 Vast wharves and piers, secure from storm, 
 Safe harbors round that city form ; 
 O'er these his hand the artist casts — 
 Straight bristle there unnumbered masL. , 
 And all around on either hand 
 Stand moored the ships of everj^ land, 
 And every nation of the world 
 Has there its standard sheet unfurled, 
 And men of every clime and race 
 That ever trod the earth's broad face 
 In busy hives that city throng, 
 And all to peaceful calls belong; 
 No strife nor discord there is found 
 Through all that city's ample round ; 
 They sell or buy in crowded marts 
 The wares or works of peaceful arts. 
 And thro.ugh that city peace and mirth 
 Spring up in spontaneous birth. 
 Far from that city, vast to view, 
 An ocean into icebergs grew ; 
 Fixed as the hills or rocky plain, 
 So solid seem'd that frozen main. 
 A stately vessel thrall'd in ice, 
 Secure as steel in Vulcan's vice. 
 High on the floes displayed its form, 
 Unwrecked by frost or Polar storm; 
 Upon the deck the sailors stand. 
 Froze stark and dead,. a ghastly bund. 
 But deep within that vessel's hold. 
 
184 ARTELOISE. 
 
 White as the whitest frost on wold, 
 
 Is seen a lovely female form 
 
 That sleeps unscathed by cold or storm ; 
 
 A wondrous form, whose features smile, 
 
 As though she joyous dreamed the while. 
 
 Another town the artist forms, 
 
 Exempt from war and blast and storms ; 
 
 No walls around the city stand. 
 
 But purple vine^-ards crown the land ; 
 
 Vast fields of wheat and waving corn 
 
 That city's fertile realms adorn, 
 
 And scenes of joy and mirth and peace 
 
 Seem ever round it to increase ; 
 
 With plenty all the land is crown 'd ; 
 
 Whatever good for man is found, 
 
 Or beast, where e'er we gaze around 
 
 Spring spontaneous from the ground ; 
 
 By winding streams, through leafy shades 
 
 The shepherds lead their smiling maids ; 
 
 In endless peace and safety too 
 
 In hall or grove their loves they woo ; 
 
 And over all that city's round, 
 
 O'er all its l)road and ample bound, 
 
 Is naught but pleasing pleasures found 
 
 In every turn and sight and sound. 
 
 Another scene the artist drew ; 
 
 A mighty dragon rose in view ; 
 
 Vast was his head and huge his jaws, 
 
 His limbs immense, with horrid claws, 
 
 And from his throat a flood of flame 
 
 Red as is blood eternal came ; 
 
 O'er all his hide a horny scale 
 
ARTELOISE. 185 
 
 Was placed like plates of hardest mail, 
 And mighty rows of teetli were seen 
 The monster's horrid jaws between. 
 Another scene the eye engaged, 
 The beast with man a combat waged ; 
 A knight all sheathed from head to heel 
 In glowing panoply of steel 
 His flaming falchion drove amain, 
 And cleft the monster grim in twain. 
 High on its form the hero stands, 
 And treads it in the gory sands ; 
 To ruin trod, it sinks from view. 
 Anil where it died a lloAver grew. 
 Tlie shield complete in every part. 
 Adorned with all of A^nlcan's art^ 
 The monarch of the flaming forge. 
 
 Whose flames but purest steel disgorge, 
 
 Unto the knight the vast targe bore, 
 
 And soon his arm the buckler wore. 
 
 The hero, sheathed from head to heel, 
 
 A mighty column seemed of steel, 
 
 A tower vast, sure built of mail 
 
 That vainly might all foes assail. 
 
 Behind his shield the hero's frame 
 
 Far broader seem'd, more tall became. 
 
 Then o'er his mail and massive shield 
 
 A wand the hands of Vulcan wield, 
 
 And straight from all his arms a light 
 
 Of blinding blaze, redundant bright. 
 
 Shot forth in never ending gleam, 
 
 And did from all his buckler beam. 
 
 Then Vulcan spoke : " Thy armor's sheen 
 
186 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Shall last while leaves and vintage green 
 Are known and seen in summer's prime, 
 And know no change through wear of time. 
 The dazzling lustre of thy mail 
 Shall all thy foes with fear assail." 
 Then swift an axe and sword and spear 
 Those smiths upon their anvils rear. 
 First a ponderous axe they wrought, 
 Then to the knight a spear they brought. 
 Fast from a bloom of purest steel, 
 Refined as e'er did Yulcan feel. 
 With sounds that make all ^tna reel 
 And rock with ringing blows they deal, 
 They forge for him a mighty sword 
 Of surface bi'ight and long and broad. 
 Bellows roar, llames to whiteness burn ; 
 "With tongs in llames the mass they turn ; 
 Through rollers vast the mass is brought, 
 And into flatter structure wrought. 
 By turns the steel they cool or heat, 
 And it upon the anvils beat. 
 With blows tliat shake the forges round 
 And like incessant thunders sound 
 They wrought for him the breukless sword. 
 The adamantine falchion broad. 
 The hilt witli starry gems is crown'd. 
 And Hash a blinding brightness round. 
 The sword complete, in sheath is placed, 
 And soon the hero's hand it graced : 
 The sword that soon its way should take 
 Through every mail of mortal make, 
 Beneath whose weight all foes should reel 
 And die, the adamantine steel. 
 
ARTELOISE. 187 
 
 Xll. 
 
 But ere unto the hero's hand 
 
 Wise Vulcan gave the new-made brand, 
 
 To prove its strength and tempered edge 
 
 He lifts from earth an iron wedge 
 
 Of structure hard, compact and dense, 
 
 Of size enormous, weight immense ; 
 
 The wedge he on the anvil laid, 
 
 Then grasps the new-made, shining blade; 
 
 High o'er his head the sword he swings, 
 
 Down on the wedge its edge he brings. 
 
 Unto the blow he gave such strength 
 
 The wedge was cut through all its length ; 
 
 Nor stopped at this the mighty sword, 
 
 Down through the anvil tall and broad 
 
 Like lightning past the edge amain, 
 
 The ponderous anvil' cleft in twain : 
 
 Parted the solid structures lie. 
 
 Along its edge the searching eye 
 
 And hand of skillful Vulcan ran 
 
 Nor flaw along its edge could scan. 
 
 All, all its edge was perfect, keen, 
 
 And as is blinding leven-sheen 
 
 When through the gloom of darkness driven ; 
 
 Then to the knight the sword was given. 
 
 'Twas Vulcan's hand the blade bestowed, 
 
 And thus his voice his feelings showed : 
 
 " Since ever forge or furnace glowed 
 
 And metals from their heat have flowed 
 
 No mightier panoply of steel 
 
 Has sheathed a knight from head to heel. 
 
 Speed on thy way, perform each task 
 
188 ARTELOISE. 
 
 That Fate shall of thy prowess ask ; 
 
 Honor high Heaven with all thy soul, 
 
 Let naught thy love for God control 
 
 Whatever place by thee be trod, 
 
 For all thy glory is from God. 
 
 For true glory only draw this blade, 
 
 And Vulcan's toil is well reiiaid." 
 
 He ceased, and from his vast abode 
 
 The hoary guide and hero strode ; 
 
 They reach the torrent's sounding marge; 
 
 Their footsteps tread the stately barge, 
 
 And soon they pass the sullen gorge 
 
 That leads to earth from Vulcan's forge. 
 
 Once more upon the ocean wide 
 
 They Etna's flaming peak espied. 
 
 By lands of bloom and scented isles 
 
 O'er which the moon in splendor smiles 
 
 The barge sails on, nor breezes waits, 
 
 And passes soon again the straits. 
 
 Into the wide Atlantic sails. 
 
 And soon the shores of Norway hails ; 
 
 O'er the dread maelstrom, white with foam. 
 
 Still ever onward North they roam ; 
 
 North, ever North they onward sail 
 
 Until the Polar seas they hail, 
 
 The mountains vast of ice and snow, 
 
 Where ever-freezing tempests blow. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Moor'd midst the cliffs of gleaming ice. 
 
 The Polar spirits' paradise, 
 
 Soon quit the barge the eager twain 
 
ARTELOISE. 180 
 
 And journey o'er the frozen main ; 
 
 They reached a pile of mighty lialls, 
 
 Ice was the roof and ice the widls, 
 
 Through windows of transparent ice 
 
 Clearer than glass, with strange device 
 
 Wrought over all their vast expanre, 
 
 The lights from moon and stars advance; 
 
 Their sheen strikes on the gleaming walls, 
 
 This refraction into motion calls 
 
 And one transmitting splendor falls 
 
 From place to place through all those halls. 
 
 Within the place was bright as day 
 
 When Sol at noontide pours his ray, 
 
 And not a cloud is seen to march 
 
 Through all the clear, ethereal arch. 
 
 With scanning eyes the knight proceeds, 
 
 Follows his guide where e'er he leads ; 
 
 Around where e'er his vision strays 
 
 He relics sees of former days ; 
 
 In crystal ice embedded fast. 
 
 As they had been for ages past, 
 
 Were seen the forms of monsters grim 
 
 And perfect all in form and limb 
 
 As when alive tliey stalked the world 
 
 Ere freezing floods were round them hurl'd. 
 
 Many still seem'd endowed with breath. 
 
 As if they ne'er yet felt of death. 
 
 Some monsters were of form and limb 
 
 Tremendous, horrible and grim, 
 
 Tall as the oaks the forests grow, 
 
 Such stately height their bodies show, 
 
 And of proportioned breadth and length, 
 
 And limbs that shoAved not aught but strength. 
 
;90 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Dread monsters these of ancient time 
 Ere man walked on this eartlalj- clime, 
 Whose traces only here are found 
 Throughout creation's spacious round. 
 Lifelike through floods they seem to swim 
 And stretch afar each mighty limb. 
 On scenes like these the hero's gaze 
 Is fixed in astonishment, amaze, 
 But stranger sights shall meet his view 
 Ere he has searched those ice halls through, 
 And greater wonders of the olden time 
 Shall rise from out that realm of rime, 
 Wonders on earth forever lost, 
 Or found but in this realm of frost. 
 Onward they go through mighty caves 
 Formed out of high and sparkling waves 
 » That yet retained their rolling forms, 
 
 As if they still were ruled by storms ; 
 In ridges all the waves are tost, 
 As ere fettered by the wand of frost, 
 Each mighty trough and lofty crest 
 With sparkling wreaths of foam are d rest. 
 So lifelike seem'd those waves to roll 
 Still look they 'neath the storm's control. 
 Fettered amidst the frozen flood 
 Were mighty forms of flesh and blood ; 
 Many a shape well known to man, 
 And some his eye shall never scan. 
 Lions and bears and bulls and steeds 
 And all earth's beasts of varied breeds : 
 But not a trace was seen of man 
 Where'er the hero's gaze could scan. 
 What seem'd most resemble human kind 
 
ARTELOISE. 191 
 
 Midst all the wonders he could find 
 Were forms of long and snake-like plan, 
 Whose heads and faces looked like man ; 
 Two horns from every head arose, 
 And sharp, fell points those horns disclose , 
 Three eyes in every face were seen, 
 That dreadful flowed their horns between; 
 Huge teeth in sharp and horrid rows 
 Did every open mouth disclose; 
 But neither legs nor arms they bore, 
 And gleaming scales their bodies wore. 
 Though chained in ice and void of breath 
 Terrific looked those forms in death. 
 Each beast seem'd starting from his place, 
 War in his e^^e, war in his face, 
 And held aloft his scaly tail 
 In act to guard or foe assail. 
 Still onward through unnumbered caves 
 Form'd out of frozen floods and waves, 
 Midst wonders strange that eager twain 
 Explore and view the Polar main. 
 Surrounded by vast cliflTs of ice, 
 Wide open seas their e^^es entice, 
 Where rapid floods whirl round and round. 
 A maelstrom in its flow and sound ; 
 And while they here the waters scan 
 This speech the hoary guide began : 
 " Back in the dim and distant past, 
 Ere the flight of centuries vast. 
 Beneath these wastes of ice and snow 
 The earth did fertile regions show. 
 Where science and the arts excelled. 
 And man a grand dominion held ; 
 
192 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Here vast and mighty cities rose, 
 And tliem did lofty walls enclose ; 
 Palaces, toAvers and marble halls, 
 Super!) of structure, vast of walls ; 
 Gardens suspended high in air 
 That ever bloomed with verdure fair, 
 Where every tree and flower grew 
 That e'er the realm of nature knew, 
 Where fountains rose in columns tall, 
 Then arching fell, and showers fall 
 From them of gentle spray and rain 
 O'er all the gardens' fair domain. 
 Here war and peace their seasons knew, 
 And trade and commerce flourished too. 
 But sin and sloth and every crime 
 Yet brought unto these realms of time 
 Besieged the spirits of the race 
 That erst had god-like ruled the place, 
 And lured them onward to their doom 
 Swift as the wreck on the simoom. 
 Virtue was gone and sin was strong. 
 And all that did to vice belong. 
 Only those paths those mortals trod 
 That would oflTend and anger God. 
 Sudden as ever wild bird flew 
 From fowler's hand, a tempest grew ; 
 The noonda}^ sun was hid from sight, 
 And all was draped in densest night. 
 As do yon roaring eddies run 
 The air around in whirlpools spun, 
 And sounds amidst the solid gloom 
 Around like ceaseless thunders boom. 
 But loud o'er these, teirific, fierce, 
 
ARTELOISE. J 93 
 
 The shrieks of men the darkness pierce, 
 
 Cries of fear, distress and pain 
 
 Like roaring whirl v^inds sweep amain, 
 
 And roars and growls from ever^- beast 
 
 That ever 3'et on flesli did feast, 
 
 That ever loved the taste of blood 
 
 Or sucked from man liis vital flood, 
 
 There, there to one grim carnage fly, 
 
 And men and women 'neath them die. 
 
 Every grim, devouring beast 
 
 On man or woman makes liis feast. 
 
 Swift here and there for arms they fly, 
 
 Alas for them ! no arms are nigh ; 
 
 No weapons find they in the gloom 
 
 With which to stay awhile their doom. 
 
 To fly is death, to pause or wait 
 
 The same ; the monsters' rage and hate 
 
 Is theirs alone ; to ask of Fate 
 
 For mercy is too late, too late. 
 
 Children, men and women fall, 
 
 Devouring monsters swallow all, 
 
 Till o'er the nation's ample round 
 
 No likeness of a man is found. 
 
 Thus died they 'neath the liand of God, 
 
 And onl}^ beasts tliut country trod. 
 
 Sudden the face of all that land 
 
 Went sinking down, and o'er its strand 
 
 From marge to marge of tliis vast realm 
 
 The rising seas the whole o'erwhelm ; 
 
 The floods in dread commotion flow, 
 
 And bu:y deep the realm below. 
 
 And every beast upon it found 
 
 Is midst the roaring billows drown'd. 
 
 13 
 
194 ARTELOTSE. 
 
 While flow the surges broad and tall 
 
 The icy chains the billows thrall, 
 
 The Polar spirit o'er them crost 
 
 And froze them into solid frost. 
 
 And thus amidst this frozen flood 
 
 Were cast these forms of flesh and blood. 
 
 The souls of those the monsters slew 
 
 Far from the light of day withdrew ; 
 
 Forever thralled with grim despair, 
 
 Dwell in caves of intramundane air. 
 
 For ages did they dwell in pain, 
 
 For water, thirsting, shrieked amain. 
 
 Till God did them with pity view, 
 
 And half their woes from them Avithdrew ; 
 
 For them the solid globe He split, 
 
 And by them form'd a mighty pit ; 
 
 Down it these rushing waters flow 
 
 And drink to those poor souls bestow. 
 
 And here these floods shall onward rush 
 
 Till God shall all their fury hush, 
 
 And here these icy peaks shall stand 
 
 Eternal as the rocky land 
 
 Till He shall all of Nature change, 
 
 And all its atoms rearrange. 
 
 From whence these ceaseless waters flow 
 
 Man knows not and shall never know." 
 
 XIV. 
 
 He ceased, then towards a cavern dread 
 Of gleaming ice in haste they tread, 
 From whence a surging sound was sent, 
 As of vast angry waters pent. 
 
ARTELOISE. 195 
 
 And from the cave a hollow voice 
 
 Spake loud : " It has been our choice 
 
 And will alid wish since time began 
 
 To live apart, alone from man, 
 
 And never tread the hated shore 
 
 That foot of man or woman bore. 
 
 We loathe, detest and scorn the breed 
 
 Of man, yes, every race and creed. 
 
 So what cause brings ye mortals here ? 
 
 Back, back to your own distant si)here, 
 
 Or feel the Polar spirits' might ! " 
 
 To this replied King Arthur's knight: 
 
 " I came to search these realms of ice 
 
 For Merlin's child, and twice, yes, thrice 
 
 All force that Polar spirits own 
 
 Shall by this arm be overthrown 
 
 But what from here the maid I'll bring 
 
 Unto the halls of Britain's king. 
 
 Merlin again his child shall see 
 
 In spite of all thy fiends and thee." 
 
 To this the hollow ^ oice replied : 
 
 " Then let force her fate decide, 
 
 If from us she is sundered wide 
 
 Or here doth still with me abide.^' 
 
 Then from behind a wall of mist 
 
 That glow'd like sunlit amethjst 
 
 Broad and tOAvering forms appear, 
 
 All armed with sword and axe and spear, 
 
 Grim weapons of enormous mass 
 
 And bright as sun-illumined glass. 
 
 Their forms are sheathed from head to heel 
 
 In icy mail more bright than steel, 
 
 And over all their helms of ice 
 
196 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Gleam'd lofty plumes of strange device. 
 Down on the knight in dread career 
 The foremost drove his massive spear, 
 Full on his shield he caught the blow, 
 Firm as a rock the mountains show ; 
 With such fell force that spear was sent 
 It on the shield to atoms went, 
 With flying splinters fill'd the air 
 And noises loud and grim and drear. 
 Swift as the speed of tropic storm 
 The knight sped at the mighty form, 
 Down on his helm the axe he drove 
 And helm and head asunder clove, 
 Nor stopped the axe at this, down far 
 It past, swift as a falling star ; 
 Through all the form in ice arrayed 
 Its way the gleaming weapon made. 
 Parted, the shape enormous falls, 
 With sound that deafens and appalls ; 
 Upon the icy floor it lies 
 And to a million atoms flies. 
 Then from the forms in icy mail 
 There burst a universal wail, 
 And cries of grief and rage and pain 
 Rose like the shrieking of the main 
 When spirits of the tropic storm 
 With foamy waves its floods deform 
 And all the wraiths to ocean known 
 Are into writhing anguish thrown. 
 Another form to combat came, 
 Swift mo^ed the grim, enormous frame, 
 By grief and rage and hate impelled ; 
 High o'er his head an axe he held 
 
AETELOISE. lOT 
 
 Of weight immense and structure vast, 
 ind bright as flame from furnace cast. 
 Down on the helm that Vulcan wrought 
 The might}' axe the demon brought ; 
 Unharmed the casque received the blow ; 
 The axe did into fragments go. 
 Nor to the blow the hero bends, 
 But swift on high his axe ascends, 
 Down on the fiend its edge he drives, 
 Another fiend asunder rives. 
 The riven form terrific falls 
 In splinters o'er those icy halls. 
 Another shape of mighty strength. 
 Dreadful in breadth as well as length, 
 Tlaming with rage, his falchion drew. 
 And at the knightJike lightning flew. 
 Dread on the knight the sword descends 
 With crashing sound, like that when blends 
 The thunder's boom and earthquake's jar 
 And billows wash a rocky bar 
 And all the fiends of storm and blast 
 Their shriekings on the tempest cast. 
 Nor to the blows the hero reeled ; 
 On high he rear'd his shining shield. 
 And swift he made his mighty spear 
 Through his grim foeman's bosom tear. 
 Through gleaming mail the weapon tore, 
 Throngh heart and lungs and vital gore 
 And all that stood its path before. 
 Past through a yard behind and more. 
 Forth from the breast the spear he drew, 
 The horrid wound disclosed to view ; 
 Prone on the earth the demon fell, 
 
198 ARTELOISE. 
 
 With crashing sound and dying yell. 
 
 A thousand shapes in icy mail 
 
 With spears and swords the knight assail, 
 
 But vain is all the war they wage, 
 
 He quells their fur}', force and rage ; 
 
 In vain they close the hero round 
 
 With noise of shock and jars of sound ; 
 
 Where e'er they charged, where e'er they drew, 
 
 His sword in flaming circles flew, 
 
 And fast their numbers smaller grew; 
 
 They waste away like morning dew 
 
 When on it like a gleaming lance 
 
 The splendors of the sun advance. 
 
 The strife is done, no moving foe 
 
 The whole vast cave of ice can show, 
 
 But far away o'er icy peaks 
 
 Is heard the flying foemen's shrieks 
 
 With savage curse and groan and yell 
 
 They fly o'er icy cliff" and dell. 
 
 XV. 
 
 The cave the twain rove as they list, 
 Pass round the wall of gleaming mist, 
 And right behind this wondrous wall 
 Tiiere rose a small but gaudy hall ; 
 Here on a couch in slumber laid 
 A form superb, a mortal maid. 
 Dark was her hair as is the night 
 "When never planet shed its light ; 
 Her comely face was sweet and fair 
 As ever fanned by vital air ; 
 From crown to waist, from waist to feet, 
 
ARTELOISE. 199 
 
 The maid was loveliness complete. 
 Sheathed was the maid in icy mail, 
 And o'er her face was ic}'^ veil, 
 But so transparent was tiie sheath 
 It plainly showed the face beneath. 
 Beneath her couch the hero spies 
 A robe that there half hidden lies, 
 A robe such as might huntress wear 
 When she Avould in the chase appear. 
 Along her face his hand he drew 
 And from her face the ice veil threw. 
 From off her form the ice he broke, 
 And from her sleep Ursula woke. 
 Roused from the sleep that she had slept, 
 Which o'er her Polar fiends had kept 
 In spite of Merlin's praters and tears 
 For full six hundred fleeting 3'ears, 
 With parted lips and straining 63x8, 
 Bewildered with a strange surprise, 
 Around her searching gaze she threw 
 On everything that met her view. 
 And soon again the maiden wore 
 The garb that she had worn of 3'ore, 
 When on that distant, fatal day 
 She fell the Polar spirits' prey. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 All was accomplished, finished now 
 That Fate or force would there allow ; 
 No need to roam those realms of snow 
 And fight or chase the demon foe. 
 Back to the barge in eager haste 
 
200 ARTELOISE. 
 
 They journey o'er the frozen waste, 
 
 That gleamed far as the e3e could view, 
 
 Where e'er the roaming vision drew, 
 
 In waving lustre, Winding bright 
 
 As sunlit sopes of chrAsolite 
 
 The seaman sees with dazzled gaze 
 
 Far off on slopes of Greenland blaze. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 The barge is reached, and swift the three 
 With rapture leave the Polar sea ; 
 Some friendly spirit fills their sails 
 With ever-onward speeding gales ; 
 Some spirit the barge's keel below 
 Drives it more fleet than storm can blow. 
 O'er billows tall it makes its way 
 And round it flies tiie cool salt spray, 
 Which fills Avith mist the realms of space 
 And kissing laves Ursula's face. 
 On, on, in never-ending race. 
 Behind the billows vainly chase ; 
 Both wave and wind with all their speed 
 The barge doth thrice in flight outlead. 
 By frozen shores and icy isles, 
 Where scarcely e'er the sunlight smiles, 
 Where spirits of the Polar clime 
 Move grimly o'er the fields of rime. 
 Where all with white is overcast 
 By fleecy snow-flakes falling fast, 
 And high in air each spirit makes 
 A pathway of the falling flakes 
 And, like meteors of the night, 
 
ARTELOISE. 201 
 
 Descend with misty trails of light, 
 That far away through darkness sail, 
 White as a maiden's bridal veil, 
 While o'er the flying barge they throw 
 A pure, white robe of fleecy snow. 
 By frozen shores and icy isles 
 The wind the fleeting barge beguiles 
 To where a milder climate smiles, 
 And soon again on Britain's shore 
 The flying barge again they moor. 
 
 PART YI. 
 
 As to the pier the barge was moor'd 
 O'er rippling seas the sun up soar'd. 
 And niglit with all its mists Avas hurl'd 
 In splendor from the sleeping world. 
 To highest realms of ether rose, 
 Where sunlight could its charms disclose. 
 And over all a glory throw 
 More bright than e'en the sun could show. 
 So seems on earth the mortal maid 
 When in virtue's cliarms arrayed, 
 When kind of heart and chaste of soul, 
 And pureness all her thoughts control, 
 . She walks amidst the light of life 
 As either maiden, mother, wife ; 
 No gloom that Fate can round her throw 
 But latent glory there shall glow 
 Soon as her sun, the soul of man 
 Shall rise and her pure heaven span ; 
 
202 ARTELOISE, 
 
 The more of beams his spirit throws, 
 And sunlight to her soul bestows, 
 The more divine her nature glows, 
 And pureness from her spirit flows, 
 Till she shall far more dazzling glow 
 Than source whence all her glories flow, 
 Like sunlit clouds in distant space, 
 That far out-beam the sun's own face. 
 If e'er on earth was woman's soul 
 Where vicious passions held control, 
 Where envy, hatred, vice and sin 
 Ruled all her form and soul within, 
 'Twas man who thus her nature wrought, 
 And all her soul with vileness fraught ; 
 Instead of light he darkness threw 
 ThroTigh all her soul, until it grew 
 Dark as the source from which it drew 
 All thought and feeling that it knew. 
 If not for him she would have stood 
 Sublime in virtue, chaste and good 
 As God at first made womanhood. 
 
 n. 
 
 The shore was reached and from the barge 
 The good knight bore his lovely charge, 
 Ursula, whose transcendent charms 
 Of yore had roused the world to arms ; 
 Ursula, who to win as bride 
 Unnumbered knights in war had died; 
 The fairest maid of every clime 
 That Fate had seen since birth of time. 
 Wide as the morn its golden beams 
 
ARTELOISE. 203 
 
 Extends o'er space and hills and streams, 
 So wide o'er earth Ursula's fame 
 For beauty to all heroes came. 
 To isles remote and lands scarce known 
 The glories of her charms were blown ; 
 For beauty was the maid renowned 
 Where waters flowed or land was found, 
 Or where the voice of praise could sound, 
 And from all lands the world around 
 To Britain's shores the heroes drew 
 The all transcendent maid to view, 
 And her to woo and win as bride ; 
 And if to them the maid denied 
 Her love, chen in the tourney grim 
 For her they'd risk both life and limb. 
 And oft for her transcendent charms 
 Unnumbered heroes died in arms ; 
 For her the earth w^as drenched with blood, 
 And was crimsoned many a flood. 
 But on one day the Fates decreed 
 That man should of the maid be freed. 
 A thousand knights in mail arrayed 
 In tourney stood for that fair maid ; 
 Nine hundred of those heroes bold 
 In death upon the earth were rolled ; 
 The rest were falling void of breath, 
 'Mongst steeds and heroes grim in death ; 
 And at the ghastly scene the while 
 Ursula gazes with a smile, 
 Nor raises once her hand nor breath 
 To stop the grisly work of death. 
 Two heroes of enormous frame, 
 Whose gleaming armor slione like flame, 
 
204 ABTELOISE. 
 
 Together in the tourney came. 
 Both kings for prowess wide renown'd 
 As ever yet on earth were crown'd, 
 Their glory did o'er earth redound 
 Where e'er a liuman voice was found, 
 Their prowess and their knightly worth 
 Was sung o'er all the spacious earth. 
 One came from out the Isle of Mist, 
 Where tempests wander as they list, 
 And clothe with foam the stormy seas 
 That thunder round the Hebrides. 
 'Twas said the hero drew his birth 
 From ocean wraith and genie of the earth, 
 Who embraced upon that stormy isle 
 While* foam roared white for many a mile. 
 And that all daring of the storm and wave 
 They to the issue of their union gave. 
 The Storm King claimed him at his birth. 
 Reared him midst giants of the earth, 
 Fiird his soul with prowess and with worth, 
 All knightly deeds tliat man can prize 
 Or favor find in woman's eyes ; 
 And wheresoe er the hero roam'd. 
 O'er land, o'er seas that slept or foam'd. 
 The Storm King ever round him dwelled 
 And from him every harm repelled ; 
 Woe to the hand in peace or strife 
 At day or night should seek his life ; 
 Though all unseen, the Storm King's arm 
 Was ever there to shield from harm ; 
 Upon his mail the lance would speed 
 And shatter like a doated reed. 
 All vain at him was* weapon flung 
 
ARTELOISE. 205 
 
 Who from the wraith and genie sprung. 
 
 Trenmor was the wondrous hero called 
 
 In tales and songs of bard and scald ! 
 
 In a far distant, Northern isle, 
 
 Where half the year no sunbeams smile, 
 
 Where spirits of the Polar clime 
 
 Their orgies hold in halls of rime, 
 
 The other had been born and bred, 
 
 His life in toils of battle led. 
 
 From Thor, sb ancient bards have sung, 
 
 And Polar nymph the hero sprung. 
 
 He was the fruit of their embrace. 
 
 And looked like both in Ibrm and face. 
 
 In mighty halls of frozen snow 
 
 The twain did Fate together throw. 
 
 Long dwelt they in those halls of ice, 
 
 For charms of each did each entice. 
 
 Fair was the nymph in form and face, 
 
 By Nature framed with every grace 
 
 That yet belonged to Beauty's race ; 
 
 Her form, though vast of size and tall, 
 
 Was harmony throughout it all ; 
 
 Her heaving breast and white, round arms 
 
 Were perfect all with beauty's charms ; 
 
 Her step was light as falling mist 
 
 That moves where e'er the sunbeams list, 
 
 Light as the snow of fleecy flake 
 
 Which falling none of sound doth maiie. 
 
 Nor doth at all the silence break 
 
 O'er the calm surface of a lake ; 
 
 Her e3'es were as the ocean's blue. 
 
 Or like the heavens' azure hue. 
 
 But as two stars those eyes were bright, 
 
206 ARTELOTSE. 
 
 The slieenest of a frosty night ; 
 Her cheeks were rosy as the morn 
 When sunlight in the east is born, 
 When snowy white and crimson hues 
 Their blending shades o'er skies infuse. 
 A being more by beauty blessed 
 Was never yet by man caressed. 
 From the union of this noble pair 
 The hero breathed man's vital air. 
 His mother reared him from his birth 
 To be a wonder of the earth ; 
 Him to all toils of battle bred, 
 His mind on themes of glory fed, 
 Planted through all his soul the seeds 
 That only grow to noble deeds. 
 But ere he unto manhood grew 
 Death the mother fi'om the child withdrew, 
 Left him alone without a guide 
 To wander o'er the nations wide. 
 Yet still her wraith, the Fates decreed, 
 Should guard her son in time of need, 
 Should shield him from all hurt and harm 
 And aid him every foe disarm, 
 In strife all shock unscathed abide 
 And from it aye triumphant ride. 
 This was the tale that poets told 
 About this hero strong and bold. 
 Cormar by them this chief was named, 
 And o'er the world for prowess famed, 
 Where knighthood foremost honors claimed 
 And glory heroes' souls inflamed. 
 
ARTELOISE. 207 
 
 III. 
 
 With soul all fill'd with scorn and pride, 
 Where yet did pity ne'er abide, 
 The coming strife Ursular eyed. 
 But ere in fray the heroes met, 
 While spears were for the conflict set, 
 While yet three lances' lengths between 
 The closing kings did intervene, 
 Rigid as death each charger stood 
 Like statues hewn from stone or wood, 
 Nor for the goad of lance nor spur 
 From out his place would either stir; 
 The dead'ning power the heroes crost 
 And straight the kings all motions lost. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Sudden as gleams the flash of light 
 From clouds around the brow of night 
 A sable storm of dust and sand 
 Swell'd up and overwhelmed the land. 
 Darker than night the gloom o'erspread 
 The place around, while noises dread 
 As of the crumbling of a world 
 Were through the solid darkness hurl'd ; 
 And came a voice, a voice sublime, 
 To which the tempests of all time 
 Together hoarded in one storm 
 Would but a low, frail whisper form, 
 Saying these words : " Thou soul of pride, 
 Whose heart was ne'er to love allied. 
 Whose soul no more of pity knows 
 Than rock that sleeps 'neath Sevo's snows, 
 
208 ARTELOISE. 
 
 V^ile, worthless thing of scorn and pride, 
 For whom have countless heroes died 
 On stormy flood and reeking field, 
 This day thy doom, thy fate is sealed. 
 Six hundred weary years and more 
 Shalt thou be banished from this shore; 
 The Polar fiends shall thee possess, 
 Their icy arms shall thee caress. 
 They shall round thee frantic orgies hold, 
 And all their awful rites be told ; 
 All fiends within those realms of ice 
 To thee thy beauty shall entice ; 
 They'll round thee meet and cast the die, 
 And at its hazard all shall try ; 
 As prize by one thou shalt be won, 
 Whom thou for ages shall not shun; 
 Thou shalt sleep upon his breast of snow, 
 And thy sleep shall none of ending know 
 Until a knight for deeds renown 'd, 
 A hero of the Table Round, 
 If this the favoring fates decree, 
 Shall from thy slumbers set thee free 
 And bring thee back across the sea, 
 Where thou shalt yet a deed perform 
 In spite of demon, flood or storm 
 That shall for thee forgiveness Avin 
 Of half thj' follies, pride and sin.' 
 Thus spake the voice, and, dreader slill, 
 All space did booming noises fill 
 And deeper still the darkness grew, 
 Seem'd through the air dread demons flew ; 
 The flutter of huge wings v;as heard, 
 Through all of space theij flappings stirr'd. 
 
ARTELOISE. 209 
 
 A maiden's shriek rose on the air. 
 'Twas agony or grim despair, 
 But ne'er l)efore a shriek so drear 
 Was ever knelled on human ear 
 Since earth with pain and woe was curst. 
 At this the solid gloom dispersed ; 
 Some power the noises straight benumb, 
 And every sound grows dead or dumb. 
 The gloom departs and sunlight gleams 
 Afresh o'er all the hills and streams; 
 There on the tourney's ghastly field 
 Is seen the cloven helm and shield, 
 The earth with grisly corpses strown 
 And all the wreck of battle shown. 
 And there amidst the listed field 
 Was either haughty king revealed, 
 Silent as if all void of breath 
 Or chained within the clasp of death. 
 They still their mighty steeds bestride, 
 And view the place both far and wide, 
 But not a trace their eyes can find 
 Of that fair form of womankind ; 
 Like vision of a pleasing dream 
 That fades from sight with dazzling gleam 
 She'd sped, or like the rainbow's form 
 That vanishes amidst the storm. 
 
 And never from that fatal day 
 
 The furies bore the maid away 
 
 Were either of those mighty kings 
 
 E'er seen in war or listed rings. 
 
 Back to their native isles they drew, 
 14 
 
210 ARTELOISE. 
 
 And never more of battles knew. 
 
 With peace and calm their realms they ruled ; 
 
 In peaceful ways their subjects schooled ; 
 
 Science and all the arts excelled 
 
 Where e'er their sway those monarchs held ; 
 
 The mighty energies of both 
 
 Gave justice everlasting growth; 
 
 Discord and sloth and every crime 
 
 No foothold found in either clime ; 
 
 Wisdom and justice held the sway, 
 
 And fraud and wrong flew in dismay. 
 
 Each monarch lived an ample life, 
 
 Found fairer maid and fitter wife 
 
 Than her they'd sought in mortal strife 
 
 In listed field with carnage rife, 
 
 Where men and steeds in gore lay drown'd ; 
 
 But ever as the j^ears flew round 
 
 Revolving brought that fatal day 
 
 The furies tore the maid away 
 
 To some lone cave would each repair, 
 
 Wliere none their grief could see or hear, 
 
 And past the dreary day in tears, 
 
 In fasiing and in ceaseless prayers, 
 
 And prayed for the immortal weal 
 
 Of her who could no pity feel, 
 
 Within whose soul did naught abide 
 
 But cruel scorn and selfish pride. 
 
 If e'er the fates and furies cast 
 
 A pitying glance o'er all her past 
 
 And doom'd her to a milder fate, 
 
 Removed from her one-half their hate, 
 
 'Twas done amidst the flight of years 
 
 Through Trenmor's and through Cormar's pra3-ers 
 
ARTEIOISE. 211 
 
 VI. 
 
 And pity should the furies show 
 
 And less of hate the fates bestow 
 
 To one who from her early years 
 
 Had never known a mother's cares, 
 
 Who had been trained both soul and mind 
 
 Unlike the rest of human kind, 
 
 And scarcely ever from her birth 
 
 Had mingled with the race of earth, 
 
 But did alone with Merlin dwell, 
 
 For bards of her this story tell, 
 
 And bards are noted throuj^h all time 
 
 For telling truth, whate'er their rhyme. 
 
 They are of men the chosen few, 
 
 The fates hid nothing from their view, 
 
 The mists of all the ages past, 
 
 Dense around the centuries-cast. 
 
 They lift from off the distant years 
 
 And lo, the Past all bright appears. 
 
 Things buried deep in rayless night. 
 
 Fettered in oblivion quite. 
 
 From out the tomb they bring to light ; 
 
 With life forgotten forms arise 
 
 And move on before our eyes. 
 
 Their mystic touch makes us behold 
 
 The deeds of centuries of old ; 
 
 Realms, nations, races, cities rise, 
 
 All that in the Past deep buried lies. 
 
 And this strange tale of Merlin's child, 
 
 Wliom they'd by name Ursula styled. 
 
 The bards have told : Cornar, a king 
 
 Whose deeds of old the poets sing, 
 
212 . ARTELOISE. 
 
 Who by the prowess of his sword 
 
 In Wales won kingdom fair and broad, 
 
 And spread his fame o'er ever}^ land 
 
 Wide as the beams of morn expand 
 
 As wisest monarch yet enthroned, 
 
 A fair and lovely daughter own'd, 
 
 As lovely and as pure a maid 
 
 As ever nature yet surve^'ed. 
 
 Pure health did her fair features show, 
 
 And o'er them cast a ruddy glow, 
 
 Like sunshine thrown on virgin snow. 
 
 Mild in her manners and her mind, 
 
 By nature generous and kind, 
 
 She was the paragon of grace 
 
 And virtues of the female race. 
 
 Fiona, Cornar's lovely child, 
 
 Was known wherever morning smiled. 
 
 Where e'er the sun his lustre threw. 
 
 Where waters flowed or breezes blew. 
 
 Her with all blessings to assail 
 
 In naught did sturdy Nature fail, 
 
 With beauty's charms did she excell, 
 
 High-born was she and nurtured well ; 
 
 Her pure young heart all virtues grace, 
 
 As Beauty's charms her form and face. 
 
 Though many a knight and prince and king 
 
 For [)rowess wide renown'd. 
 Whose deeds of chivalry did nng 
 
 The spacious world around, 
 Unto the lovely maiden paid 
 
 Their homage warm and true. 
 But Merlin won the rosy maid, 
 
 Left them her loss to rue. 
 
ARTELOISE. 213 
 
 The wisdom of the subtle seer, 
 
 His cunning and his art, 
 Had won the fairest of the fair 
 
 That lieaved a human heart, 
 Tliat ever breathed of earthly air, 
 
 Or yet to life did start, 
 That ever press'd a mortal bier, 
 
 Or did to death depart. 
 
 vn. 
 
 High on a ridge of woody hills 
 
 That looked o'er ocean's foam, 
 Adown whose slopes the crystal rills 
 
 With gentle murmurs roam, 
 And to the leafy summer trees 
 
 Eternal music ring 
 And send upon the gentle breeze 
 
 The happy songs they sing 
 And when, chained by freezing storms 
 
 'Neath winter's hand of frost, 
 Reveal a thousand fairy forms, 
 
 In which their floods are tost, 
 Dwelt Merlin and' his lovely bride, 
 
 Fiona and her lord, 
 "With every joy in nature wide 
 
 That Fate can man afford. 
 But ere two years had past away, 
 
 Upon one summer morn. 
 While flowers blossomed in fair array 
 
 And leaves the trees adorn, 
 With lips apart, with stirless heart 
 
 And pulses void of sound, 
 
ABTELOISE. 
 
 All void of breath and pale in death, 
 
 Was fair Fiona found. 
 And by her side an infant fair 
 
 In slumber lay and smiled, 
 Smiled on as if some angels there 
 
 With happy dreams its sleep beguiled. 
 As some lone wreath of spotless snow 
 
 That lingers in the vale 
 When springtide's gentle breezes blow 
 
 Along the greening dale, 
 And by the snow the violet grows 
 
 And breathes upon the gale. 
 So seemed that child that slept and smiled 
 
 By her, so cold and pale, 
 Who to her child had given birth, 
 
 Then past to other spheres. 
 And thus was found upon the earth 
 
 She who in after years 
 The bards Ursula styled by name 
 
 And whose transcendent charms 
 Sound ever on the roll of fame 
 
 Amidst the clash of arms, 
 Upon the fields of cloven shields, 
 
 Of shivered spear and sword, 
 O'er crimson flood of reeking blood 
 
 And carnage deep and broad. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Secluded from all human kind 
 The crafty Merlin kept his child, 
 
 Reared her in nature and in mind 
 All haughty, scornful, reckless, wild ; 
 
ARTELOISE. 215 
 
 Schooled her in all his craft and lore, 
 
 In all his magic arts and spells, 
 Till she could all the wiles explore 
 
 That in the wizard's stronghold dwells. 
 Whatever secrets knew the seer, 
 
 Whatever charms o'er mortals threw 
 With all their force to wake man's fear, 
 
 As well as he the maiden knew. 
 To make her fitter for the life 
 
 A wizard maid should lead 
 He filled her soul and nature rife 
 With love of discord and of strife 
 
 To never-ending greed ; 
 Taught her to liate the love of man 
 
 And all his friendship scorn, 
 That 'twas to maids their surest ban 
 
 Since first the race was born ; 
 If e'er to lier a knight or king 
 
 Should vows of love declare 
 To bid him in the listed ring 
 
 With either brand or spear 
 Prove all the vows his tongue had spake 
 
 And show his love was true, 
 Perform all deeds for her own sake 
 
 That mortal king could do ; 
 And even then should they return, 
 
 Not fall among the slain, 
 Their proffered love to ever spurn 
 
 And treat them with disdain. 
 Though sweet her face as is the morn 
 When all the charms its birth adorn. 
 That 3^et in Beauty's realm were born. 
 
 Or Beauty yet espied; 
 
216 ARTELOISE. 
 
 He fill'd her soul with hate and scorn 
 
 For all in nature wide. 
 Her heart was ne'er by pity torn, 
 
 No pity touched her pride, 
 And man, her Mind and giddy fool, 
 
 She ever led astraj^, 
 Made him her victim and her tool, 
 
 Her worshipper alway. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Such was the maid the knight had brought 
 
 From out the realms of frost, 
 For whom the Polar fiends had fought 
 
 Till they their prize had lost. 
 And shall o'er him her will prevail ? 
 
 Shall he beneath her fall ? 
 Say, shall her charms his soul assail 
 
 And bind him with their thrall ? 
 In vain on him her glance is cast ; 
 
 Her charms are lost on him ; 
 He heeds no smiles or lovely wiles 
 
 Nor grace of form and limb. 
 As sunbeam from the April skies 
 
 Upon the billows cast 
 That but a moment gleams, then dies 
 
 Amidst the waters vast, 
 So brief to him her charms arise, 
 
 Across his soul are past, 
 The pleasing vision from it flies 
 
 As leaf before the blast. 
 
ARTELOISE. 217 
 
 The sun was high and towards mid-day 
 The creeping- shadows crawl 
 
 Ere they had made their weary way 
 Unto King Arthur's hall. 
 
 X. 
 
 The feast was spread and mirth and song 
 
 Re-echoed wild through Arthur's halls, 
 And ladies fair with heroes throng 
 
 From every land within those walls, 
 As there before both queen and king, 
 
 With all her radiant charms aglow, 
 The hoary guide and hero bring 
 
 Ursula from the land of snoAV. 
 Up springs each laiight and hero there. 
 
 Bewildered with her witching charms ; 
 Each swore to vvin the maiden fair 
 
 Or meet for her his death in arms. 
 They all arose within those walls, 
 
 Each baron, hero, king and lord, 
 Save he, the master of those halls, 
 
 Who spread that day the festive board. 
 He kept liis seat and o'er the throng 
 
 A wily glance King Arthur threw, 
 And thought: "To me shall she belong 
 
 In spite of all that man can do, 
 For such a maid in life or song 
 
 Before did never mortal view." 
 But while his thoughts the mighty king 
 
 All secret in his bosom held, 
 And round eternal praises ring 
 
 Of her who all in charms excelled , 
 
2 1 8 ARTELOISE. 
 
 And while from all the ladies there, 
 
 From every maiden, princess, queen, 
 At her the darting glances glare 
 
 Of jealous envy, hatred, spleen, 
 A slender maid, with feet .\s fleet 
 As spirit of the mountain caves 
 Or wraith the flying whirlwinds greet 
 
 At midnight on the racing waves, 
 Came in; to Arthur's side she drew. 
 In centre of those spacious walls. 
 A gory cross she lifts to view, 
 
 Then on the floor it broken falls ; 
 From place to place its breaking flew 
 
 Like rolling thunders through those halls, 
 Through all the place a darkness grew 
 
 And wonder every soul enthralls ; 
 Strange fear crept over every soul 
 
 That feasted round that festive board, 
 And while the deafening thunders loll 
 
 Each hero sought his shield and sword. 
 The thunders ceased and her frail form 
 
 To its full height the spirit drew. 
 Her tresses, dark as midnight storm. 
 
 From her fair face and brow she threw. 
 Straight with voice of clarion tone 
 
 That did like strange, weird music roll, 
 That rung through marrow, nerve and bone 
 
 And all the precincts of the soul, 
 She spake: "Ye potentates and kings, 
 
 Ye knights and chiefs of deathless names. 
 
 Whose praise across the wide earth rings 
 
 Bright as yet flashed the northern flames, 
 
ARTELOJSE. 219 
 
 The Fates that guard ^our destiny 
 
 Have ordered me their herald here 
 To warn you of your jeopardy 
 
 That fast and dreadful gathers near. 
 The ships speed o'er the ocean's foam, 
 
 For miles they hide the flowing brine, 
 Led by Terentius of Rome, 
 
 The hoary Prophet of the Shrine ; 
 Vast, dreadful are his gleaming spears 
 
 And dreadful is his warlike host, 
 And ere to-morrow's dawn appears 
 
 They'll surely land on Britain's coast. 
 So haste, ye kings and knights renown'd 
 
 For prowess and for daring worth, 
 Ye heroes of the Table Round, 
 
 Whose fame o'erspreads the spacious earth. 
 Back o'er the ocean's sounding wave 
 
 Drive them with slaughter and alarm. 
 Haste, knights of Christendom, and save 
 
 The ci'oss from jeopardy and harm." 
 
 XI. 
 
 She ceased, and through the lofty halls 
 
 A deeper, denser darkness grew. 
 And every knight within those walls 
 
 Could scarce his comrade's features view. 
 As fast they searched for spear and brand. 
 
 For clanging- armor, helm and shield, 
 And seized the first that came to hand 
 
 Where weapon sight or touch reveal'd, 
 Sudden as winds of morning rise 
 
 And drive the mists from off the hill, 
 
220 ARTELOISE. 
 
 And all around in grandeur rise 
 
 Its bristling rocks in ridges still, 
 So swift the gloom from Arthur's halls 
 
 Was by some unseen spirit fann'd, 
 And all within, from walls to walls, 
 
 In gleaming mail his heroes stand ; 
 And with the gloom that left the place 
 
 The mystic monitor had fled, 
 But there still scattered o'er its space 
 
 The fragments of the cross were spread ; 
 From all its atoms flowed apace 
 
 A reeking liquid gory red. 
 And midst those halls no more were seen 
 
 Two forms that late did there abide, 
 Gone was Ursula's lovely mien, 
 
 And gone the Jew, the hoary guide. 
 A dreary silence filled the place, 
 
 Not e'en was heard the clang of steel, 
 Grimly each eyed his comrade's face. 
 
 But not a word their thoughts reveal. 
 Nor was the ghastlj^ silence broke 
 Till, rising, thus King Arthur spoke : 
 " Ye heroes of the Table Round, 
 The bravest of all nations found, 
 Who make such deeds your only choice 
 In which heroic souls rejoice, 
 Ye all have heard the solemn voice 
 That spake but now, whose words still sound 
 In deep, whispering echoes round, 
 And fill this castle's spacious bound. 
 Distinct that monitor I hear 
 As when her voice rung on my ear ; 
 The words she spake still onward roll 
 
ARTELOISE. 22 1 
 
 Through all the regions of my soul, 
 And though I can't foretell the doom 
 Of coming war, I see its gloom, 
 And with a faith deep-rooted, sui'e, 
 That ever shall in God endure. 
 That none of dangers, war or storm 
 Shall ever in my soul deform, 
 I shall all foes and dangers meet 
 As them a Christian knight should greet, 
 Nor ever fear nor know defeat 
 While pulses in my body beat. 
 Now straight let every warrior here 
 Around this table take his chair," 
 Swift at the word around the board 
 Was seated every knight and lord. 
 This done, again the king began : 
 " Say, is there 'mongst ye all a man 
 Who would the coming dangers shun. 
 And tamely see the land o'errun 
 By foreign foe? See rapine spread 
 Around where e'er the foe shall tread, 
 And he not lift his shield -and brand 
 And give the realm a helping hand ? 
 If such there be let him arise 
 And go where never danger flies." 
 He ceased, and long that monarch eyed 
 His knights with silent throes of pride, 
 For from his seat no warrior rose. 
 Each sat in grim and fix'd repose ; 
 In armor sheathed each kept his chair, 
 Like rows of rocks seemed rooted there. 
 Again the king the silence broke, 
 Thus to his list'ning warriors spoke : 
 
222 ARTELOISE. 
 
 " Are there two heroes here who'll ride 
 With me and keep on either side, 
 And aid me stem the shock and brunt 
 And horrors of the battle's front ? " 
 Scarce the sound of the last word slips 
 From out the mighty monarch's lips, 
 Than all around the spacious board 
 Up leapt each hero, knight and lord. 
 Like towers all of moving steel 
 A glorious sight those chiefs reveal 
 As, rising each from out his chair, 
 He lifts aloft his sword in air. 
 " I'll go 1 I'll go 1 " the loud words come, 
 And 'mongst them all no voice is dumb. 
 
 XII. 
 
 What mortal bard shall sing the theme 
 To limn the monarch's joy supreme 
 When near him, faithful, firm and true 
 In danger's hour, he comes to view 
 His trusty heroes round him throng. 
 Ready to die ere harm or wrong 
 Shall unto him or his befall, 
 Around him form a breakless wall ? 
 Bright as the glowing beams of morn 
 Sweet faith doth all his soul adorn, 
 His faith in them is rooted fast. 
 And when comes on the battle's blast 
 Triumphant o'er his foes he rides 
 Nor any foe his charge abides, 
 For at his back or at his side 
 His trusty warriors aye al)ide. 
 
ARTELOISE. 223 
 
 Where e'er he goes they take their way 
 Through all the wreck and shock of fray ; 
 Their faith in him abideth pure, 
 And they of victory are sure ; 
 To ever}^ toil their souls inure, 
 And for him every shock endure. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Pride flashed from good King Arthur's eye 
 
 And gladnc'^s swelled his feelings high 
 
 As there he viewed of men a ring 
 
 As brave as ever circled king, 
 
 As bold of heart and strong of limb 
 
 As ever faced a battle grim ! 
 
 Those chiefs their hands together bring 
 
 And swift around their gallant king 
 
 United move, a solid ring, 
 
 And as they move this song they sing : 
 
 " Where is the maid in nature found 
 
 Who never loved a knight renown 'd, 
 
 Who never deemed his smile and kiss 
 
 And warm caress her chiefest bliss. 
 
 Would sooner lose her life, her all. 
 
 Than not his soul with love enthrall ? 
 
 Where is the knight that breathes this air 
 
 Who loveth not a maiden fair, 
 
 The face bedewed with morning's charms, 
 
 The heaving breast and snowy arms, 
 
 Whose sweetest fruits of bliss are found 
 
 In her midst all the world around ? 
 
 Where breathes the knight who would not wield 
 
 For her the sword on listed field, 
 
224 ARTELOISE. 
 
 To keep her from all harm and soil 
 
 Not lose his life in battle toil ? 
 
 Where breathes the knight on spacious earth 
 
 Who loveth not his land of birth, 
 
 Who would not for her lift the shield 
 
 And ply his sword on battlefield 
 
 Till he had every foe o'ercome 
 
 Or he in death lay cold and dumb ? 
 
 Who would not war and slaughter brave 
 
 The altars of his land to save 
 
 From hand of any mortal foe 
 
 That semblance of a man could show? 
 
 Who would not guard his father's grave 
 
 From foe's despoiling hand ? Who'd wave 
 
 No gleaming sword in freedom's cause 
 
 And make through death grim tyrants pause? 
 
 A band of brothers we, who brave 
 
 For righteous deeds the gloomy grave. 
 
 Where waters run or breezes blow 
 
 For honor Ave will gladl^^ go. 
 
 Where glows the sun in tropic clime 
 
 And simooms roar witli strength sublime, 
 
 Upheave their storms of burning sand 
 
 Till thej^ through all of space expand 
 
 And spread their wreck on every hand 
 
 Till quakes around the groaning land ; 
 
 Where mountains vast their summits show 
 
 In panoply of endless snow, 
 
 And over them the ceaseless storm 
 
 Doth all in nature's real in deform ; 
 
 Yes, thither we will gladly go. 
 
 And die or vanquish ever}- foe. 
 
 No realm so wild, no land so rude, 
 
ARTELOISE. • 225 
 
 But there our feet will dare intrude ; 
 
 No flood so wild, no sea so grim, 
 
 But o'er them we shall sail or swim. 
 
 No charm of seer nor wizard's spell 
 
 But what King Arthur's knights can quell 
 
 And send it back from earth to hell. 
 
 We burst the necromancer's wall 
 
 And beard him in his secret hall ; 
 
 The dread magician's force we break, 
 
 And make him swift the world forsake. 
 
 For Arthur we to war will ride 
 
 Wherever living foes abide ; 
 
 For knightl}^ honor and for fame 
 
 And prowess we the world shall shame, 
 
 And through all coming ages we 
 
 Shall the true knights' pride and glory be; 
 
 From race to race our fame shall last 
 
 Till hoary Time himself be past. 
 
 King Arthur's deeds and manly worth 
 
 Sliall ever charm the sons of earth. 
 
 Speak but the word, oh, gallant king, 
 
 And we who round you form this ring 
 
 Would none of toil or peril shun 
 
 Till we tlie best had tried and done ! " 
 
 Thus sang the hardy warrior throng, 
 
 With voices deep and loud and strong, 
 
 Until the shades of coming night 
 
 Were deepening o'er the mountain's height. 
 
 Then spake the king : " The time has come ; 
 
 None must be idle or be dumb. 
 
 This night we all must spend in toil 
 
 If we the enemy Avould foil. 
 
 Haste, fire in the forges fling ; 
 15 
 
226 ARTELOISE. 
 
 To seething glow each furnace bring ; 
 Let stalwart arms the sledges swing, 
 And busy tongs and anvils ring ; 
 New armor make, the old repair, 
 And sharpen axe and sword and spear ; 
 Let each one toil as best he may, 
 And arm ye for the coming fray. 
 Let fires on the hills be made, 
 Their glow the gloom of night invade ; 
 'Twill call my allies to my aid, 
 For when on hills at night they glow 
 The allies of King Arthur know 
 They are the signals of distress, 
 And hither here they'll shortly press." 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Then swift on every mountain's head 
 There rose a glow of flaming red ; 
 From hill to hill with ruddy light 
 The beacons stream upon the night, 
 And over land and flowing stream 
 They glittered with redundant gleam, 
 And over all the sky was spread 
 A universal glow of red. 
 O'er England's hills the lights were seen 
 And over Scotland's mounts of green. 
 And every rocky hill in Wales 
 With glow the beacon's flame assails; 
 Where e'er allies did Arthur own 
 His signals of distress were shown, 
 While far the signals of distress 
 Did earth and sky in brightness dress, 
 
ARTELOISE. 227 
 
 And over all a sheen was cast 
 Like that from out volcano's blast; 
 Around the blazing forges glowed, 
 And busy, toiling heroes showed ; 
 Some at the bellows work amain, 
 While sweat and dust their features stain ; 
 Some with tongs the metals turn 
 Midst flames that unto whiteness burn ; 
 Some on the spacious anvils hold 
 The flaming metals, bright as gold. 
 While some on these the sledges swing, 
 Make metals and the anvil ring, 
 Send sparks of flame in circles round 
 That flash in air with glow profound, 
 And all the air with sounds is rife, 
 As if all noises and all life 
 That yet the busy world has known 
 Since first it into space was thrown 
 Were hoarded there that place within 
 And burst with all their life and din ! 
 O'er hill and dell the sounds were flung 
 That from those busy toilers rung, 
 And all the air for miles around 
 Re-echoed ^vilh the blows of sound. 
 The helms they wrought and visors bright 
 Tliat flashed around a gleaming light, 
 And breast-plates with a polished glow 
 Soon 'neath the busy toilers grow ; 
 With blows of never-ending sound 
 They build the bucklers broad and round, 
 And all the plates of sounding steel 
 That sheathes a knight from head to heel, 
 All that a knight is wont to wear 
 
298 ARTELOISE. 
 
 When he'd on fighting fields appear, 
 
 And there some daring problems solve 
 
 That victory or death involve. 
 
 On wheels of stone, that swiftly turn 
 
 As windmills which the tempests spurn. 
 
 The ponderous axes, broad and sheen, 
 
 Are ground to edges lightning keen ; 
 
 The swords are whet and polished bright, 
 
 Made ready for the coming fight, 
 
 And every javelin and spear 
 
 Is formed a piercing point to wear ; 
 
 The bows they string with trust}^ thong, 
 
 And form the arrows sharp and long, 
 
 Feathered and tough and pointed strong ; 
 
 The slings to hurl the weighty stone 
 
 That breaks and crushes mail and bone 
 
 And speed the hissing rock through air 
 
 Complete they for the fray prepare. 
 
 While armor new the toilers Avrought 
 
 And it unto perfection brought, 
 
 And from the old they burnt the rust 
 
 Which time had formed in scaly crust 
 
 While it had idle hung on wall 
 
 For years neglected in the hall, 
 
 And while with care they scan the mail, 
 
 Drive firm a rivet or a nail 
 
 Where such is need, and far around 
 
 The place is rife with life and sound, 
 
 Furnaces flame and forges glow 
 
 And red-hot bars of metal show, 
 
 And busj^ men around them toil, 
 
 Whose strong limbs sweat and dust besoil, 
 
 And far away the beacons glow. 
 
ARTELOISE. 229 
 
 On every hill their fires show, 
 And over earth and heaven spread 
 A waving gleam of crimson red, 
 Bidding each baron, king and lord 
 That dwelt throughout those regions broad 
 Round Arthur's halls in haste to press 
 And aid him in his sore distress — 
 While this was passing, sheathed complete 
 In gleaming steel from head to feet, 
 And armed with buckler, spear and sword. 
 Alone through night rode Britain's lord ; 
 Past to a deep and woody vale, 
 Where rocks all sides the eye assail, 
 Soon gain'd a narrow, winding road 
 That horse-tracks up a mountain showed; 
 On this the king" his charger rein'd 
 And soon the mountain's summit gain'd 
 Far up as safe on steed to ride, 
 Then to a tree his steed he tied ; 
 High up a peak on foot he drew. 
 Where he could all the country view — 
 Its vales and hills, and far below 
 Could see where floods their ocean show. 
 And they were tinged with rudd}' glow 
 By lights o'er them the beacons throw. 
 Well o'er the realm of flood and foam 
 The king could see the ships of Home ; 
 Their stately masts and outstretched sails 
 Where e'er he looks his vision hails ; 
 He sees them reach his rocky coast 
 And from them pour their mighty host. 
 In arms they stalked along the beach 
 Far as the human eye could reach, 
 
230 ARTELOISE. 
 
 And well their shouts could Arthur's ear 
 
 Across the lonely distance hear ; 
 
 The murmur of the songs they sung, 
 
 Sounds that from the clarions rung, 
 
 The din of gongs and bray of fife, 
 
 All blended, make a tumult rife, 
 
 Like that which comes on evening's breeze 
 
 When winds stir from their sleep the seas 
 
 And through a waste of waving trees 
 
 The all discordant music comes 
 
 And through the air eternal hums. 
 
 Around the monarch cast his view 
 
 Where on the hills the fires grew, 
 
 And well his piercing eye could see 
 
 Arising on the hilltops free 
 
 Each bright answering signal flame 
 
 That from his host of allies came ; 
 
 J]ach, as in air its light was thrown, 
 
 He knew was answer to his own. 
 
 From hill to hill the answers rolled, 
 
 In every place his allies told 
 
 With tongues of fire, voice of flame, 
 
 They from their lofty strongholds came, 
 
 And soon with buckler, sword and spear, 
 
 His aids, would at his side appear. 
 
 And well he knew that when the^^ came 
 
 Their ardor only death could tame, 
 
 And not a breathing Roman foe 
 
 The nation three days hence would show ; 
 
 Unless the righteous God of all 
 
 Had different will'd, the foe should fall. 
 
 To heaven his face the king upturn 'd, 
 
 With eyes that bright as starbeams burn'd 
 
AKTELOTSE. 231 
 
 And soul that for the nation's weal 
 Yearn 'd all as fervent and as leal 
 As e'er a soul in mortal man 
 Has yearn 'd since humankind began. 
 And while he stood with face upraised 
 To Him who all his life he'd praised, 
 Had worshipped, honored and adored, 
 He thus began : " O Holy Lord, 
 Eternal God, incline Thine ear, 
 Thy humble servant's troubles hear; 
 With pity look on all my woes, 
 And make me victor o'er my foes ; 
 Let me drive them from m^^ native shore, 
 And crown with peace the realm once more ; 
 Let not their rude, insulting hand 
 Destroy my rule within this land. 
 I ask Thee not those foes to tame 
 With Thy own thunder and Thy flame. 
 To hurl on them a storm of death, 
 With pestilence to stop tlieir breath, 
 No roaring tempests from on high. 
 With hurtling rocks to make them die, 
 Wliile I stand idly by and see 
 The whole dread deed performed by Thee. 
 Of such of Thee no aid I ask ; 
 Let me alone perform the task. 
 Aided by those who this night bring 
 Their heroes to support their king. 
 Let us, Lord, the deed perform 
 And be to them destroying storm ; 
 Keep good our courage, strength and breath 
 While we the foes shall smite with death. 
 For it has stood a truth sublime 
 
232 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Since Thou created man and time 
 
 That those Thy hand shall always aid 
 
 Who efforts first themselves have made 
 
 To help and succor their own cause, 
 
 Not pining, fretting, idly pause 
 
 Till Thou shall all their foes o'erthrow, 
 
 While they themselves no aid bestow. 
 
 No, no, O Lord, Thy will be done 
 
 Now as when first that will begun, 
 
 And ever still beyond all time 
 
 Thy will shall govern ever}- clime ; 
 
 All souls and all the starry spheres. 
 
 Whose end nowhere in si:)ace appears. 
 
 Thy arm to do no deed I'd ask 
 
 Were I not partner in the task. 
 
 This is all I crave of Thee, Lord : 
 
 Keep good my breath, my strength and 'sword 
 
 And let me fight as I shall will 
 
 Till foes shall fly or slumber still. 
 
 Do this, O Lord, and men shall see 
 
 How dread in war this arm can be ; 
 
 For strength in war the cliff of Fame 
 
 Will never show a brigliter name ; 
 
 For daring ne'er before espied 
 
 On me the sun shall smile with pride. 
 
 Do this for me, thou Lord of all, 
 
 Nor let me and my kingdom fall ! 
 
 Guard well my breath, my strength and brain 
 
 Nor let me call on Thee profane 
 
 When we shall joyous joeace regain 
 
 And foes are beaten, fled or slain. 
 
 But when by me they are o'erthrown 
 
ARTELOISE. 233 
 
 Ko hatred shall by me be shown; 
 I'll unto them such mercy show 
 I'd have them unto me bestow." 
 
 XV. 
 
 So pray'd the king, and from the place 
 
 He downward trod with hast}' pace 
 
 To where a stately Kock beside 
 
 Two moving figures he espied ; 
 
 One was a young and lovely maid 
 
 In flowing robes of wliite array 'd, 
 
 One was a man well bent with years, 
 
 With feeble form and hoary hairs. 
 
 Right well the twain the monarch knew, 
 
 And unto them he swiftly- drew, 
 
 And spake the king as he came near : 
 
 " What does so strange a couple here ? 
 
 Ursula, for what hast thou to-night 
 
 From out my castle ta'en thy flight 
 
 To wander in so drear a place 
 
 With cheeks of beaut}', form of grace? 
 
 And Simon, this place is damp for thee ; 
 
 Thou shouldst in my castle be. 
 
 Telling thy tales of travel strange, 
 
 For thou hast roam'd the world's broad range." 
 
 " Well hast thou spake," the JeAV replied ; 
 
 •' Here a strange couple doth abide 
 
 As e'er together man espied, 
 
 But, noble king, we came not here 
 
 Through thoughts of pleasure or of fear, 
 
 Nor any passion styled as love ; 
 
 These our thoughts are far above, 
 
234 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Nor is such thing within onr creed. 
 
 We came here to arrange a deed 
 
 That we to-morrow must perform 
 
 If space is free of clouds and storm; 
 
 If the sun dotli radiant glow 
 
 Naught shall these schemes and plans overthrow ; 
 
 We, we the Roman fleet shall burn, 
 
 Its stateliness to ashes turn. 
 
 Laugh not in scorn, O noble king, 
 
 Nor think we cannot do such thing. 
 
 It will be done to-morrow sure 
 
 If no clouds from us the sun obscure 
 
 And he beams on us bright and pure. 
 
 Long time to me such deed was taught, 
 
 And I before such acts haA-e wrought ; 
 
 Archimedes this science knew, 
 
 And he a Roman fleet o'erthrew ; 
 
 Through mirrors it to ruin gave, 
 
 And sank it 'neath the ocean's wave, 
 
 Where floods shores of Ortygia lave. 
 
 His fleet consumed like flaming fuse 
 
 Marcellus viewed at Syracuse. 
 
 Yon Roman fleet aflame shall be 
 
 Ere we to-morrow's noon shall see. 
 
 Behold, good king, these mirrors here. 
 
 Look o'er their bright and glossj- sphere; 
 
 With these I could to flame awake 
 
 The waters of a frozen lake." 
 
 As thus he spoke he ranged arow 
 
 Nine mirrors, all of glossy glow. 
 
 With surfaces all clear and bright 
 
 That flash redundant, blinding light, 
 
 And o'er the hills strange shadows threw 
 
AETELUISE. 235 
 
 That into dazzling brightness giCTv. 
 
 When this he did the lioary man 
 
 Unto the king again began : 
 
 " I was olJ in years when rose the morn 
 
 That Christ upon the earth was born ; 
 
 My head with all its waving hairs 
 
 Was whitened with the rime of years. 
 
 Yet I am living, breathing now, 
 
 Loolc just the same in face and brow, 
 
 In form and every outward show > 
 
 As in those centuries ago. 
 
 In ma tliere is at all no change, 
 
 No matter where o'er earth I range ; 
 
 No matter where I move or go 
 
 In me no changes ever show. 
 
 It seems that I am curst with life 
 
 That shall no ending know, no strife 
 
 Cut ever short, till Christ again 
 
 Shall tread this woild of woe and pain 
 
 And unto me an ending give. 
 
 It is an awful thing to live 
 
 Such weary centuries of time. 
 
 An outcast tost from clime to clime, 
 
 A curse upon the earth's broad face, 
 
 Estranged from all the human race, 
 
 To roam like air from land to land. 
 
 From sea to sea, from strand to strand. 
 
 And never aught but travel know. 
 
 On earth my limbs no shadows throw, 
 
 And when I list no mortal man 
 
 My presence at his side can scan. 
 
 See here, this cloak I'll cast aside 
 
 That seems a mortal form to hide, 
 
236 ARTELOISE. 
 
 But when from me the cloak I cast 
 We both from mortal sight have past ; 
 'Tis only when this cloak I wear 
 Tliat I to mortal sight appear ; 
 The instant that it leaves my form 
 Swift as the lightning of the storm 
 We both invisible become, 
 And every gazer's voice is dumb 
 If asked where we so sudden flew." 
 As this he said his cloak he drew 
 Aside, and straight was lost to view. 
 The cloak and man were lost to sight, 
 Seem'd melted into air outright ; 
 No slightest trace was left behind 
 To either man or garment find. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 A moment past, and lo, the Jew 
 Grew in the air distinct to view ; 
 Sudden as he had ta en his flight 
 Again he stood before their sight, 
 The same old, bent and hoary man. 
 And thus again his voice began. 
 " You see how swift from mortal gaze 
 I start and back to it can raise, 
 Am lost to sight or stand in view. 
 This I've had the power to do 
 Ever since thiit sad, fatal day 
 When, midst uproar and grim dismay, 
 For sin of man the Saviour died, 
 Upon the cross Avas crucified. 
 I stood amidst the crowd that day. 
 
ARTELOISE. 237 
 
 And as by me Christ took His way, 
 Bearing His lieavy cross along, 
 Bleeding from blows of lash and thong 
 From head and form and eVer^- limb 
 Witli which the rabble smote on Him. 
 And while His bare feet, bruised and torn 
 On path of cutting stone and thorn. 
 Were oozing crimson forth amain, 
 Marking His path Avith gory stain. 
 Right close by me the Saviour past ; 
 As this He did my gaze I cast 
 Full in His e_yes and then apace 
 Three times I smote Him on His face, 
 Saying to Him as this I did 
 ' Why tarry here? Haste Thee and rid 
 Thee of Thy pains and mortal breath ; 
 Or dost Tliou fear to meet Thy death ? ' 
 As Him thus with voice and hand I spurned 
 On me His gaze the Saviour turned 
 And calmly said: * Simon, here remain 
 Till I to earth shall come again.' 
 And here on earth I have remained. 
 By Time and even Deatli disdained. 
 Time makes in me no slightest change 
 As o'er their path the centuries range 
 And make all else on cartli grow strange ; 
 The same frail form and wrinkled brow 
 I had that day I still have now. 
 Like lonely waif on restless seas, 
 The prey of waves and storm and breeze, 
 1 roam alone from place to place 
 And mix with every creed and race, 
 For every tongue of every land, 
 
238 ARTELOISE. 
 
 And speech, I speak and understand. 
 Yet all the dreary time my soul 
 So lonely is, so thralled with dole 
 And wretchedness, it seems to me 
 That God doth never with us be. 
 But wjiat to me doth strangest seem 
 Of all, and haunt me like a dream, 
 Is this : The day I smote the Lord 
 A pain as from a thrust of sword 
 That instant shot through all my hand 
 And withered it ; as here I stand 
 That thrill of pain unceasing goes, 
 And never any respite knows ; 
 Since that fatal day this hand received 
 The shock it's never been relieved ; 
 Eternal as my years remain, 
 So lasting seems this throe of pain ; 
 To ease it this world's balms are vain 
 Till Christ shall walk on earth again, 
 And then perhaps I shall fulfill 
 My destiny of pain and ill. 
 No longer o'er the earth repair 
 From clime to clime, like moving air. 
 But in the grave that rest obtain 
 That nature gives to mortal pain, 
 Lie down with Death in calm repose, 
 .Oblivious to human woes. 
 In peaceful company with those 
 I loved and lost in early years 
 And wept for Avith my mortal tears, 
 Who did for me all friendship show 
 That in the hearts of mortals glow, 
 Whose souls were true in weal or woe, 
 
ARTELOISE. 239 
 
 Who died long centuries ago. 
 
 Oh, shortly may the day arrive 
 
 That I shall be no more alive. 
 
 That Christ shall walk the earth once more, 
 
 But not be treated as of yore. 
 
 Now, hero, king, my tale is told ; 
 
 In me the Wandering Jew behold, 
 
 And when to God 3'our prayers you make 
 
 Ask Him to pity, mercy take 
 
 On this old man, for mercy's sake ; 
 
 Though he is curst, not make that curse 
 
 Eternal as the universe, 
 
 Nor let His anger for my crime 
 
 Last through all centuries of lime, 
 
 But let it please His will benign 
 
 To me a different fate assign, 
 
 Give to me a happier state, 
 
 For my repentance has been great. 
 
 Do this for me, gallant king, 
 
 Aid me my woes to ending bring, 
 
 For prayer when by the rightequs made 
 
 Will sure the ear of God invade ; 
 
 With God men's prayers avail far more 
 
 Than dream'd of on this mortal shore. 
 
 And I for you a deed shall do 
 
 Ere we to-morrow's noon shall view 
 
 That shall o'erwhelm the Roman fleet 
 
 With grim disaster all complete. 
 
 But to your halls I now must go. 
 
 What's passing there I fain would know ; 
 
 There I must seek for Beau De Main 
 
 And others of your knightly strain, 
 
 Array them for the coming fraj', 
 
240 ARTELOISE. 
 
 To which I mean to lead the way. 
 To-moirow will be battle day 
 Grim as did e'er the sun survey I " 
 As this he said the hoary Jew 
 Was instant lost to Arthur's view ; 
 Around he gazed, but sight or sound 
 Of that strange man he nowhere found. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 To catch the cooling breeze of night 
 
 His gleaming helm and visor bright 
 
 The hero drew from off their place 
 
 And bared his cornel}' head and face. 
 
 His ruddy cheeks the hues of morn 
 
 With all their healthy tints adorn ; 
 
 Clean rows of white and pearl}' teeth 
 
 His hairy lips display beneath ; 
 
 And from beneath as manly brow 
 
 As nature ever made till now 
 
 Shone his clear eyes, and of that hue 
 
 Seen in the skies, a living blue, 
 
 Which showed a spirit brave and true, 
 
 Whom friends could trust and foemen rue ; 
 
 And o'er his head his yellow hair 
 
 Grew luxuriant on its lair. 
 
 And ne'er before through all her past 
 
 Ursula e'er her gaze had cast 
 
 Upon as comely, noble face, 
 
 Such manly harmony and grace 
 
 And if tiiat maiden never knew 
 
 For man that came witliin her view 
 
 One ray of love, she must have felt 
 
ARTELOISE. 241 
 
 It then, her icy spirit melt, 
 For to the king she swiftly drew, 
 On him cast a lingering view, 
 While blushes all her face o'erspread 
 More sweet than ever morning shed ; 
 Her arms around his neck she threw 
 And to his lips with kisses grew, 
 Pressed warm on his her ruby mouth, 
 Like rosebud of the Sunny South, 
 The fairest yet that ever grew 
 On green or felt the morning dew, 
 And said: " Six hundred years have past 
 Since I on Trenmor looked m}' last. 
 And knew I not right well that he 
 No more on earth doth living be, 
 I'd claim thee as that hero now, 
 Thine is his face and manlj^ brow." 
 Then to the king the maiden told 
 About the tourneys waged of old, 
 How mighty hero, prince and king 
 Did unto her their homage bring, 
 And how, to win earth's fairest prize, 
 Kings fought and died before her eyes I 
 To which King Arthur swift replied : 
 " Had I been there I too had tried 
 To fiivor find within thine e^es 
 And with my lance have won the prize, 
 For fairer maid was never seen 
 And never trod on nature's green. 
 In thee are all the graces rife 
 That ever Beauty woke to life, 
 And through all ages shall thy name 
 Blaze brightest on the cliffs of fame 
 16 
 
242 ARTELOISE. 
 
 As earth's fairest, loveliest maid 
 
 For whom e'er hero drew his blade, 
 
 Or king or knight or prince or peer 
 
 Has e'er in battle couched a spear." 
 
 The monarch ceased^ and blushes red 
 
 The lovely maiden's face o'erspread ; 
 
 Within his arms she dropped her head, 
 
 While he her lips with kisses fed 
 
 Oh, blame him not, ye righteous souls 
 
 Who dwell within earth's spacious polos, 
 
 Whose self-deem'd virtue knows no sin, 
 
 Though all's uncleanliness within, 
 
 If he while she lay in his arms 
 
 Forgot Guinever's lovely charms. 
 
 And he his vows of wedlock broke 
 
 Ere on the hills the morning woke ; 
 
 Condemn him not, ye righteous old, 
 
 Whose natures have through j-ears grown cold 
 
 Who through the feebleness of age 
 
 No more in lusts of flesh engage, 
 
 Who frown austere and madly scold 
 
 At things they did ere grown too old ; 
 
 The hoary and the toothless crone, 
 
 Who's little more than skin and bone ; 
 
 The preacher with the frosted head, 
 
 With all his youthful fires dead ; 
 
 The maid who never did a sin. 
 
 Whose soul for lust no force shall win. 
 
 But harbors much strange thought within. 
 
 Are all too prone to evil think 
 
 Of those who seem upon the brink 
 
 Of doing mortal sin ; 'twere well 
 
 If nobler thoughts would in them dwell. 
 
ARTELOrSE. 243 
 
 And think less of their neighbors' deeds. 
 Though noxious all as poisoned weeds. 
 Or yet the youthful preachers whom 
 Fate to no sin shall ever doom, 
 At least they broadly tell us so, 
 And none like them with virtues glow, 
 But when they think the^^ are unseen 
 Of those who view their actions keen 
 We much in them will find unclean. 
 Their velvet words and silken speech 
 Oft more of crimes than virtues teach, 
 'Cause they don't practice what they preach. 
 They wall their many virtues round 
 As chestnuts in their hulls are bound, 
 A thousand thorns as sharp as spurs 
 Keep them secure within their burs ; 
 But oft the burs that seem the best, 
 To largest, soundest nuts invest, 
 When o.pened all* the fruit is found 
 Worm-eaten, worthless and unsound. 
 How fared till morn the maid and king 
 It is not for this bard to sing ; 
 Mine is a tale of Arthur's time. 
 No history of love or crime. 
 But let no mortal of this earth, 
 Whate'er his station, rank or birth. 
 E'er cast the slightest taint of shame. 
 Dishonor on a maiden's fame. 
 It's like the delicate dust that clings 
 Unto the butterfly's bright wings. 
 The slightest touch will break away 
 The source that gave it glory's ray, 
 The bruised and wounded wing, no more 
 
244 ARTELOISE . 
 
 Shall fly with beauty as before ; 
 On earth the insect falls and lies 
 Till it from pain and anguish dies. 
 Before I'm done this much I'll say: 
 The maid was fair, the king was gay ; 
 Each for the other breathed with charms, 
 And these are Love's and Cupid's arms, 
 The strong morion, spear and shield 
 With which Love ever wins the field, 
 And never knight or maiden met 
 Whose beauty either soul beset 
 But what an easy fray was fought 
 And sweetly to an ending brought. 
 When once a maiden gives her ear 
 The wooing of a knight to hear. 
 If he, indeed, a true knight be. 
 Then soon victorious is he ; 
 It's as Nature from the first decreed, 
 And is in every race and breed. 
 And when the maiden's love is won 
 Then glitter's Joy's ascending sun ; 
 No clouds the glowing beams obscure. 
 All while the loves of both endure. 
 AVe may bright virtue's throne o'erthrow, 
 But what trophies can the concjnest show 
 To recompense the pain and woe 
 That victor and vanquished know, 
 When, with meditative soul and thought, 
 They contemplate the ruin wrought. 
 And know they can rebuild no more 
 The structure with its grace of yore ? 
 A moment's folly may deface 
 A life that erst was perfect grace, 
 
ARTELOISE. 245 
 
 And leave behind a tarnish there 
 Shall never wholly disappear; 
 No matter what the arts devised 
 To keep those blemishes disguised, 
 All follies and all sins that we 
 Commit while in this life we be 
 Glow like the flames on mountains high, 
 That blaze to every mortal eye. 
 None fail to see the glowing light, 
 How fair tlje day or dark the night ; 
 While all our virtues, pure and sheen, 
 By mortal eyes are never seen, 
 Though they be bright as is the sun 
 When o'er his disk no clouds are run, 
 Or like electric beacons glow 
 On mountain tops, that dazzling throw 
 Their fadeless lustre far and wide, 
 Which can no night or darkness hide. 
 They're seen by mortal eyes no more 
 Than pearls on ocean's deepest floor. 
 And if the bright Ursula's ear 
 Did wooing of King Arthur hear. 
 And learned to love him more and more, 
 It past as wooings have before. 
 The bravest knight in listed field, 
 That ever lifted brand or shield, 
 Will, vanquished, unto beauty yield, 
 Become her willing serf and slave, 
 Her football, if the beauty crave. 
 The braver is the knight in arms, 
 And midst all dangers and alarms, 
 Easier the prey to beauty's charms. 
 
24G ARTELOISE. 
 
 PART VII. 
 
 i\ midst the East the coming day 
 
 Has sprinkled all the sky with gray ; 
 
 The lark from his high treetop springs, 
 
 And flaps in air his dewy wings, 
 
 Hails with his small throat the coming beam 
 
 And sips with joy the mountain stream ; 
 
 The roe leaps from his lonely lair, 
 
 And, bounding, snuffs the morning air ; 
 
 Aloud in space the small birds sing, 
 
 And make the woods with music ring. 
 
 Afar o'er wold and field and hill 
 
 Tlie haughty steed neighs, loud and shrill, 
 
 Paws fast the earth and pricks his ears 
 
 To all he sees, to all he hears, 
 
 Hails with delight the rising day. 
 
 And snuffs afar the coming fray ; 
 
 Where e'er he looks around appear 
 
 A forest bright of moving spears ; 
 
 The gleam of arms and bossy shields 
 
 He sees afar o'er hills and fields, 
 
 Sees how Arthur's knights to battle file 
 
 When danger threatens Britain's isle. 
 
 With steady footsteps, swift and strong, 
 
 In silence speed the hosts along ; 
 
 No fife nor trumpet breathed a sound, 
 
 Nor clarion break the stillness round ; 
 
 Save heavy tread and clash of steel 
 
 The hosts no other sounds reveal, 
 
ARTELOISE. 247 
 
 And those the neighing chargers gave , 
 And scarce the winds their banners wave : 
 Each drooping from its staff appears 
 O'er gleaming steel and bristling spears. 
 And far to left and far to right, 
 Wherever roams the searching sight, 
 The liills and glens and fields reveal 
 The moving ranks of British steel, 
 Or those the trusty allies bring 
 To aid the cause of Britain's king. 
 
 II. 
 
 Sheen as the flame the furnace shows 
 When 'neath the bellows' blast it glows, 
 And far its blinding lustre throws, 
 From out the East the sun uprose ; 
 Above the hills his beam uprears, 
 And 'neath his light the world appears. 
 Then all that host of bristling spears 
 A gleaming, blinding splendor wears ; 
 Far to left and far to right. 
 In moving rows of burnished light, 
 And ridges deep, the marshalled lines 
 The splendor of the sun outshines. 
 And there amidst those ranks appear 
 The boldest that the earth could rear. 
 Each haughty baron, knight and lord 
 That dwelt throughout the nation broad, 
 And every knight and king renowned 
 Belonged unto the Table Round. 
 All those who dwelt amidst the isles, 
 Where foam roars round for many miles, 
 
248 ARTELOISE. 
 
 And aye through mist the morning smiles, 
 Were seen amidst those gleaming files : 
 There were the heroes Bors and Ban, 
 Sir Launcelot and Dinadan ; 
 Sir Tristram there, and Pellinore, 
 Balin and haughty Lanceor, 
 Balan and death-defying Tor. 
 Why should I name the heroes o'er? 
 There all the knights and chiefs were found 
 That knew and prized the Table Round ; 
 And those who more of them would know 
 Their lives will Arthur's annals show : 
 Go read the tales b}' night or day, 
 They'll well the time and toil repay. 
 Yes, ever3' knight and chief was there 
 Who that day breathed the vital air, 
 Who were not weak with hoarj^ age. 
 And could in battle toils engage. 
 Whei-e to and fro the standards reel 
 Above a sea of moving steel, 
 Where forests gleam of bristling spears, 
 A giant form in mail appears. 
 Like shining column, broad and tall, 
 lie stood, the tallest of them all ; 
 And, like the sun, his beaming shield 
 Shot splendor over hill and field ; 
 Lustre from his morion came 
 As from some peak of waving flame. 
 So looked amidst the martial strain 
 The daring hero, Bean de Main, 
 Sheathed in the mail that Vulcan wrought, 
 Its shine all eyes of heroes caught ; 
 With wonder all tiie hosts behold 
 
ARTELOISE. 249 
 
 Its gleaming plates of steel and gold. 
 But foremost of that vast arra}', 
 Wliere sunbeams over armor play, 
 And shoots around a sea of light 
 Too blinding for the human sight, 
 Leading to war his own bright wing, 
 Rode daring Arthur, Britain's king. 
 
 III. 
 
 Meanwhile in arms the Roman host 
 Were marshalled grim along the coast, 
 Bright as a sea of rolling flame 
 Along the land they marching came ; 
 Their casques a burnished lustre threw 
 'Neath waving plumes of every hue. 
 There shone the axe and lance and shield, 
 All weapons used on battle-field, 
 And some unknown to Britain's king 
 From Rome these fierce invaders bring. 
 High on a charger black as night. 
 All sheathed in armor ruddy bright, 
 Which over all its form was spread 
 And clothed the steed from tail to head, 
 Leading his foremost battle-line, 
 Rode on the Prophet of the Shrine, 
 No mail the hoary hero wore, 
 A shield and sword were all he bore, 
 And v/ith voice like clarion strong- 
 He led his shouting hosts along 
 Where to and fro the banners reel 
 Above a moving sea of steel. 
 Where sounds the maddening war-horn's peal 
 
250 ARTELOISE. 
 
 And fife and gong their sounds reveal, 
 Wliere lieavy tread and armor's clang 
 Upon the air terrific rang 
 And fiU'd all air with tumult rife, 
 Such as is known to coming strife. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The hosts have met in battle shock, 
 And to and fro they reel and rock, 
 Like billows of a raging main 
 
 When by contending tempests stirr'd, 
 Tiiat rise and fall and rise again, 
 And clash and roar and tug and strain 
 
 And all the rocks with foam-wreaths gird, 
 Wliilk. all the wraiths of ocean howl 
 Amidst the tempest's deep'ning scowl. 
 A thousand swords have left their sheaths, 
 
 A thousand blades are bare, 
 A tliousand swords are flashing bright 
 In hands of hero, king and knight 
 
 Who well can dangers dare, 
 And in and out the}^ ride about 
 
 The Roman cohorts there. 
 With death or rout the^^ quell the shout 
 
 Of Roman knight and peer. 
 As the loud din the forge within 
 
 When anvils rock and ring. 
 When fusing steel tlie sledges feel 
 
 That stalwart toilers swing, 
 Such is the noise that there destroys 
 
 The peace of morning air, 
 And all around is heard the sound 
 
 Of breaking sword and spear, 
 
ARTELOISE. 251 
 
 The clash of arms and dread alarms 
 
 That from that battle rise, 
 The shriek and groan to conflict known 
 
 When hero falls and dies, 
 Or falls in dust from blow or thrust 
 
 And 'neath the charger lies. 
 
 V. 
 
 The clouds of dust rise up amain 
 And roll athwart the battle-plain, 
 And swarth in clouds of rolling gloom 
 The armies, banner, spear and plume. 
 But while amidst the dust they reel 
 Unceasing roars the clash of steel, 
 On casques the sounding axes ring 
 And echoes far and wide they fling, 
 And clanging blows on sounding shields 
 Roar over all the battle-fields, 
 Dread noises from the roaring strife 
 Pill all the air with tumult rife. 
 The rising winds of morning blow, 
 Aside the shrouds of battle throw ; 
 And far to right and far to left, 
 Where winds the folds of gloom have cleft, 
 Are seen the lines of broadswords bright 
 That rise and fall amidst the fight. 
 The axes with their edges keen 
 That fast descend like lightning's sheen, 
 While over all the scene appears 
 The flying shafts and hissing spears, 
 The stones that from the slings repair 
 
252 ARTELOISE. 
 
 And hissing fill at times the air 
 And deal destruction o'er the fields 
 And break at times the serried shields ; 
 Long arrays of morions bright 
 Tiiat beam amidst tlie battle's night 
 Like ridges seem of waving fiame, 
 And could light of meteors shame. 
 Such sights the rolling battle shows 
 Whene'er the breeze of morning blows, 
 Aside the gloom of battle throws 
 That from the earth eternal grows, 
 As to and fro in battle shock 
 The struggling armies reel and rock 
 With all their will and strength and breath. 
 Increase the ghastly work of death. 
 
 VI. 
 
 'Tis now well nigh the noon of day, 
 
 Yet still unceasing roars the fray ; 
 In vain King Arthur's heroes toil, 
 With foeman's blood bedew the soil ; 
 Still, still the Romans crowd around. 
 Fresh columns throng the gory ground ; 
 At every turn and sight and sound 
 Fresh swarms of Roman knights are found. 
 Side by side, small space between, 
 Arthur and Beau de Main are seen. 
 On foot the might}^ heroes toil, 
 And with grim carnage dye the soil ; 
 With serried shields they bide the brunt 
 And shock of half that battle's front ; 
 With their good swords their path they hew 
 
ARTELOISE. 253 
 
 Where e'er the Romans rise to view, 
 
 Through helms and heads their swords descend, 
 
 And thus the lives of hundreds end ; 
 
 Where e'er the battle dreadest grows, 
 
 Where thickest swarm the hosts of foes 
 
 Their flaming swords the heroes wield 
 
 And hurl to earth both man and shield. 
 
 In vain 'gainst them the Romans sweep 
 
 With serried shields in columns deep ; 
 
 In vain they rush in swift career 
 
 And hurl at them the gleaming spear; 
 
 In vain they hurl the weighty stone 
 
 That crushes other mail and bone; 
 
 All weapons that they own are vain 
 
 To hurt or harm that mighty twain. 
 
 Whose swords descending sweep their ranks 
 
 And make in them wide, ghastly blanks. 
 
 Who clothe the earth with Roman blood 
 
 And crimson it with reeking flood, 
 
 Who mark their tracks where e'er they go 
 
 With gliastly lines of slaughtered foe, 
 
 Morion cleft and broken shield, 
 
 And all the arms that heroes wield 
 
 When striving on the battle-field ; 
 
 Yet still the foemen do not yield. 
 
 But onward, onward, crowd amain 
 
 And battle wage against the twain, 
 
 Those chiefs for prowess wide renown'd, 
 
 Those heroes 'of the Table Round. 
 
254 ARTELOISE. 
 
 VII. 
 
 What lights are those that flash on hio-h 
 
 And shoot their glow across the sky ? 
 
 Whose sheen e'en makes the noonday's sun 
 
 Barn with a brigiitness dim and dun? 
 
 What lights are they ? On yonder hill 
 
 They rise and half of space they fill; 
 
 Across that wide expanse of land 
 
 Between that hill and ocean's strand 
 
 Tliose steady shafts of light descend 
 
 As towards the sea those streamers wend ; 
 
 They fast together nearer tend, 
 
 And all in one sheen point they end; 
 
 And full upon the Roman fleet 
 
 It fast descends with glowing heat. 
 
 A moment past, no more, and flame 
 
 O'er all that fleet fast rushing came; 
 
 The fanning winds that moment rise, 
 
 From ship to ship the fire flies 
 
 In one vast column, hroad and red, 
 
 O'er all the fleet the flames outspread ; 
 
 O'er sails, and spars, and stately masts 
 
 Terrific sweep the flaming blasts. 
 
 From ship to ship the whirling flame 
 
 With horrid sounds and colors came; 
 
 Each deck and hull the flame receives, 
 
 And each burns on like withered leaves, 
 
 Or like dry grass the flame consumes 
 
 When wild o'er it the tempest fumes. 
 
 Down, down unto their water line, 
 
 To where they touched the azure brine, 
 
 Those stately ships the flames consume. 
 
ARTELOISE. 255 
 
 And them to utter ruin doom. 
 Such was the end that fate decreed 
 That fleet, and those who did the deed 
 Shall live in story and in tale 
 Till hoary Time himself shall fail. 
 Ursula and the deathless Jew 
 Shall live in stor}- old and new; 
 Sire to son the tale shall go, 
 And races ^et unborn shall know 
 How they their sul)tle skill employed, 
 And they the Roman fleet destroyed. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 With terror wild the Romans view 
 
 Their fleet that swift to ruin drew; 
 
 To save that fleet in vain they fl}^, 
 
 To quench those flames in vain the}^ try, 
 
 In vain they cast huge streams of brine. 
 
 The flames still broader, brighter shine ; 
 
 A hoarse and sturd}^ Western breeze 
 
 To tossing foam had chaffed the seas. 
 
 And this stirr'd up the eager flame 
 
 Till all a roaring blaze became ; 
 
 And, in spite of all that man could do, 
 
 The circling flames their way pursue. 
 
 Wrapt hulls and masts, and shrouds and sails, 
 
 Till everywhere the flame prevails. 
 
 Till universal ruin spread 
 
 In smoke and conflagration dread 
 
 er all that fleet, in embers red 
 
 And ashes sank to ocean's bed, 
 
 And ocean's azure curtains close 
 
256 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Above its lasting, deep repose, 
 Left not a trace along that shore 
 To tell where it had been of yore. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Along the hills the da}- declines, 
 O'er them the slanting snnbeam shines, 
 And far away their summits tall 
 O'er earth in lengthening shadows crawl. 
 On, onward, wider, longer still 
 Creeps forth the shadow of each hill; 
 The trees increasing dimness wear. 
 Till all Avith somber shades appear. 
 And gloom of night comes falling fast, 
 O'er all her misty mantles cast. 
 Yet still the battle roars amain 
 And heroes die to glory gain. 
 From right to left, from left to right, 
 Terrific rolls the waves of fight ; 
 Now Arthur's knights advantage gain, 
 On all sides rout the foe amain. 
 Pursue o'er fields the Roman hordes 
 With gory spears and dripping swords; 
 When sudden, swift as waves turn back 
 When met upon the tempest's track. 
 Returning come in grim array 
 And fill the air with blinding spray, 
 So sudden and so swift their ranks 
 The Romans turn, their broken flanks 
 Repair apace, and form their van 
 With serried shields and man to man, 
 Wliib to and fro their standards reel 
 
ARTELOISE, 257 
 
 And round their maddening war-horns peal, 
 
 On comes their hurricane of steel 
 
 To death and grisly ruin deal. 
 
 So fought the hosts upon that field, 
 
 Nor one could make the other yield ; 
 
 Where one advantage lost they fought 
 
 Till it Avith blood thej- back had bought, 
 
 Nor heeded they the loss of life, 
 
 So the}^ were victors in the strife ; 
 
 On fought they till their latest breath, 
 
 And piled a grisl}^ mound of death. 
 
 Though dread his sword King Arthur plied, 
 
 And he who battled at his side, 
 
 And 'neath them dread the carnage grew 
 
 As ever field of battle knew, 
 
 Yet still the waste of life seem'd vain, 
 
 Still round the foemen closed amain, 
 
 And hard and swift their blows they rain 
 
 Upon the grim, destroying twain. 
 
 In vain the Prophet of the Shrine 
 
 Urges to strife each serried line. 
 
 In vain he forms his mighty horde 
 
 In ridgy columns deep and broad, 
 
 In vain he forms in hollow squares, 
 
 They're broken by the British spears ; 
 
 III vain they into phalanx move. 
 
 Its; strength the Saxons swiftly prove, 
 
 O'er it the knights terrific ride 
 
 In dust and gore ti'amp down its pride; 
 
 In vain he every tactic proves 
 
 That in the sphere of battle moves ; 
 
 Ilis knowledge and his tactics fail 
 
 To make the Britons fl}^ or quaii. 
 17 
 
268 ARTELOl&E. 
 
 A sable night had gathered in, 
 Yet still was heard the battle's din; 
 O'er hill and glen and lonely wold 
 The distant sounds of conflict rolled, 
 And not till sable gloom had grown 
 And inky night o'er all was thrown 
 The king the well-known signal gave 
 That stops the toil that fills the grave; 
 And not till then his heroes cease 
 The woi'k that gives the night to peace, 
 And slowly from the field of fight 
 His ranks retire for the night, 
 Seek food and drink and rest, repose, 
 What toil to weary nature owes. 
 And from that dreary field of toil, 
 Where reeking blood bedews tlie soil, 
 The hoary Prophet of the .Siirine 
 Brings from the field each Roman line ; 
 Beside the ocean's sounding coast 
 He leads the remnant of his host 
 For drink and food and sleep and rest, 
 Those things that soothe us mortals best, 
 And soon ai-ound both friends and foes 
 Seem lying in a deep repose. 
 
 XT. 
 
 A voice comes unto our ears 
 Sad as the sounds of other j^ears ; 
 It rises on the winds of night 
 From whence is seen yon feeble liglit 
 Watch-fires cast upon the gloom, 
 
ARTELOISE. 259 
 
 Hard by a mossy, ancient tomb ; 
 
 And there some human forms appear 
 
 Whose faces dole and sorrow wear, 
 
 And there upon the gory green 
 
 A wounded maiden knight is seen. 
 
 Beside her, bow'd with grief and pain, 
 
 With eyes of woe, is Beau de Main ; 
 
 And at her side King Arthur bends. 
 
 Witli balms her ghastly wound he tends, 
 
 And strives to stop its gory flow, 
 
 But vain all skill that he can show, 
 
 The gory tide still flows amain, 
 
 And dyes her form with crimson stain. 
 
 A weakness all her sense benumbs. 
 
 And to it all her strength succumbs ; 
 
 But ere the vital spark was flown 
 
 She thus her dying thoughts made known : 
 
 " When all had left King Arthur's hall, 
 
 To battle summon "d at his call, 
 
 From off the walls these arms I d rcw, 
 
 And sheathed myself as here you view, 
 
 And here, disguised, to war I came, 
 
 For love of country, not for fame ; 
 
 To give m}^ life to freedom's cause, 
 
 And not at all for man's applause. 
 
 The hoary Jew to me had told 
 
 There was a prophecy of old 
 
 To this effect : A Roman host 
 
 Should some day land on Britain's coast, 
 
 By Terentius Arlus led, 
 
 One fierce as ever battles bred. 
 
 And styled by some of mortal line 
 
 The sacred Prophet of the Shrine ; 
 
 And he, with fire, blood and sword, 
 
 Should ruin spread o'er Britain broad ; 
 
260 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Him none should e'er o'ercome in fight, 
 Whate'er their skill, whate'er their might, 
 Except the hand of maiden knight. 
 Her force should o'erthrow him quite, 
 Her spear should pierce his bossy shield, 
 His breast to it should passage yield ; 
 Then she a flaming sword should wield, 
 And leave him headless on the field. 
 Then would the woes of Britain cease, 
 And reign again a lasting peace. 
 For this alone to war I came, 
 'Twas for my country, not for fame; 
 But when I reached this field the sun 
 His daily course had almost run ; 
 I found behind a serried line 
 Of shields the Prophet of the Shrine. 
 XJl^on that ridge of blazing steel 
 I charged and made it backward reel ; 
 Its best on earth I breathless laid, 
 And had almost a passage made 
 Through all that ridge's gleaming line 
 Right to the Prophet of the Shrine, 
 When on my helm a hissing stone 
 Was hurl'd, and I to earth was thrown, 
 With shattered casque and bleeding brow, 
 As here you see me lying now. 
 May be some maid will do the deed 
 Stern fate has not for me decreed. 
 Oh I may she quell the tyrant's breath. 
 And swift avenge Clotilda's death, 
 And all the nation's griefs and woes." 
 Slie ceased, and into dread repose 
 Her lovely voice sank ever more ; 
 A snow-white hue her visage wore, 
 Her asliv lips revealed beneath 
 
AETELOISE. 261 
 
 Her still more white and pearly teeth. 
 The king her eyelids gently closed, 
 And viewed the face that there reposed ; 
 There long and steadfastly he gazed 
 Upon that silent face upraised, 
 That looked so calm and sweet it seemed 
 She only slept and happy dreamed. 
 Her lily hands lay on her breast. 
 As white as snow, in endless rest ; 
 With gory stains her-tresses bright 
 Waved sadly in the breeze of night, 
 A rigidness lier form o'erspread, 
 And Clotilda numbered with the dead. 
 Soft pity touched the monarch's soul. 
 His tears in secret silence roll, 
 Adown his face apace they flow, 
 And heaves his breast with manly woe. 
 Witli spirit racked with dole and pain 
 vBeside her silent sat De Main, 
 A gloomy monument of grief. 
 No tears would give his woo relief; 
 No soothing drops for him would roll 
 To ease pent floods within his soul, 
 Tliat surged and swell'd beyond control. 
 He silent sat and steadfast gazed 
 Upon the pale, sweet face upraised 
 In speechless lethargy of woe ; 
 Died out the frail, fliclcering glow 
 The dim watch fires round them threw, 
 And night obscured her from their view ; 
 And there, amidst the solid gloom, 
 She lay all hid as in the tomb. 
 But still that knight beside her bowed 
 His Iiead, still as a corse in shroud, 
 And nothing more of action proved. 
 
262 ARTELOISE. 
 
 At length by sudden feeling moved 
 Her pale, still lips to his he pressed, 
 Arnoment's space her form caress'd, 
 Then left her to eternal rest, 
 And with the king he bent his way 
 Where less of gloom around him lay. 
 
 XII. 
 
 They reached the tent of Pellinore, 
 Who feasting sat his board before. 
 Wide was the tent and long the place, 
 A hundred knights might there find space 
 To feast, or drink, or dance, or rest. 
 As there might suit their natures best. 
 With goblet fill'd with ruddy wine, 
 That did like liquid amber shine. 
 At iiead of his wide, ample board, 
 Tiiat well with healthy food was stored, 
 In fixed contentment sat the king. 
 At times his mirth would loudly ring- 
 In fits of laughter, deep and long, 
 At jests from those who, feasting, throng 
 Around that gay and festive board ; 
 For in there sat many a lord 
 And knight for prowess known abroad, 
 Heroes for courtesy renown'd, 
 All warriors of the Table Round. 
 So Pellinore, with constant smile, 
 Look'd happ3', feasting there the while. 
 Tall was his form, and deep and broad, 
 And limbs with frame did well accord ; 
 Each si)acious hand and giant limb 
 Showed him in war a foeman grim, 
 And over all his face appeared 
 
ARTELOISE. 263 
 
 A thick and just as red a beard 
 
 As ever 3et the dye of blood 
 
 Has tinged th'b earth or rolling flood ; 
 
 With just so bright, so red a hue 
 
 O'er all his head his tresses grew ; 
 
 Yet comely was his face the while, 
 
 And ever wore good-natured smile. 
 
 "Welcome, bold knights!" he loudly cried, 
 
 As he the coming twain espied ; 
 
 " Welcome to mirth, and wine and food, 
 
 And cheer jour nature's weary mood. 
 
 These are the things that God has given 
 
 To us He has in exile driven. 
 
 So we can taste with mortal breath 
 
 The joys that cometh after death. 
 
 Mirth, food, good wine, are sacred gifts, 
 
 Each from the soul all sorrow lifts, 
 
 E'en pain to other quarters shifts. 
 
 When these by men are rightlj' used, 
 
 And neither one too much abused." 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Deep drank King Arthur of the wine, 
 
 And praised the vintage of the vine, 
 
 And amply ate he of the food 
 
 Till he had eased his hungry mood. 
 
 But Beau de Main sat there the while 
 
 Nor joined in either laugh or smile, 
 
 And scarcely touched of food or wine 
 
 Until the king thus spoke : " Resign 
 
 Thy sorrow for th}' country's sake, , 
 
 And of re-strengthening food partake, 
 
 So that thy arms within the fray 
 
 That surely comes with morning's ray 
 
264 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Be strong- as they were yesterday." 
 
 To which the sorrowing knight replied : 
 
 " I have enough ; I ne'er denied 
 
 My nature rest, and drink and food 
 
 Sufficient for its wearj^ mood ; 
 
 But when a boy my sire taught 
 
 The greatest sin that man e'er wrought 
 
 Was in vile gluttony to deal, 
 
 And eat too much at any meal; 
 
 And that the too much use of wine 
 
 Makes all man's faculties supine ; 
 
 Weakens his form, his limbs and brain, 
 
 Unnerves the blood in every vein. 
 
 So from gluttony I forbear, 
 
 Nor let it 'mongst my sins appear." 
 
 To this the king returned : " chief. 
 
 Is there no solace for thy grief? 
 
 I now with thine own words will teach 
 
 And show thee what thou can't impeach. 
 
 Thou art a glutton, soul and mind, 
 
 Great as any in the land we'll find ; 
 
 Though not in food and drink 'tis shown, 
 
 And pleasures unto mortals known. 
 
 But none like thee the crime can show ; 
 
 Thou art a glutton in thy woe — 
 
 As much a glutton in thy grief 
 
 As any gormandizing chief. 
 
 Who on a full-grown deer doth dine. 
 
 And swallows down a butt of wine. 
 
 Then spreads himself on earth supine, 
 
 Insensible as leaf on vine. 
 
 Thou art a glutton in thy woe ; 
 
 Rouse thee, man I thy gluttony forego 1 " 
 
ARTELOISE. 265 
 
 XIV. 
 
 While thus together spoke the twain, 
 And Arthur strove to soothe his pain, 
 The rest around the festive board 
 Ate free, and down the red wine poured. 
 Theirs was a hale and jolly host, 
 And all drank deep to jest or toast. 
 Though he a king to battle trained, 
 Whose soul ne'er thovight of fear contained, 
 Whose prowess had, in deadly fray, 
 Slain fiercest giants of his day. 
 Uprooted all their might and sway. 
 He led the way to feast and drink ; 
 And why should any hero shrink 
 Who sat around that festive board 
 To take example from its lord? 
 Like him, away all care the}' threw, 
 If any such their bosoms knew, 
 And laughed at danger, woe and pain, 
 And all that stalks in sorrow's train. 
 O'er coming ills they could not fret, 
 Those ills must first by them be met ; 
 And not till Fate the time had set 
 Would the}' release or void a debt. 
 Enough for the ills was the day 
 Those evils should master the way, 
 Eat, drink and be merr}', for why 
 Not live happy and happily die ? 
 Cling unto life, nor give up your breath 
 Till ye have had a tussel with death. 
 Show him you can die like a man, 
 With feet to the foe, in the van. 
 Though well they knew another day 
 Would bring them dreary toil and fray, 
 
266 ARTELOTSE. 
 
 And many a knight who sat around 
 That board woukl there no more be found, 
 And would on earth be lying low 
 Before another day should go, 
 Yet recked Ihey not ; when came the time 
 For action, they, with wills sublime. 
 In daring hardihood of soul, * 
 
 That could no force but death control. 
 Though foes would hew their gory way, 
 Do all that knight could do in fraj^, 
 Come victorious from the strife, 
 Or midst the slaughter yield their life. 
 As did the knights in olden time 
 While yet was Nature in her prime. 
 
 XV. 
 
 " The foe is sleeping on the coast, 
 And sentinels watch well his host ; 
 Tristram and Launcelot de Lake, 
 Dagonet, Trol and Lamorake, 
 And many a hero trained in fight 
 Keep well their watch o'er him to-night. 
 No fear that he will 'mongst us rise 
 And take us by the least surprise. 
 So let us pass the night in mirth 
 As suits the heroes of this earth. 
 May ne'er this world of them be dearth 
 While women live to give us birth. 
 Women who love not the noble race 
 Are vagabonds on Nature's face — 
 Yea, unto manhood soi'e disgrace ; 
 Who lives apart from them, alone, 
 And never weds is but a drone, 
 A worthless lump of flesh and bone, 
 To Nature's noblest joys unknown. 
 
ABTELOISE. 261 
 
 I love them all, both young and old, 
 E'en should their faults be manifold, 
 Their natures either warm or cold, 
 Their manners modest, coy or bold, 
 There's something good in every soul, 
 True kindness through their natures roll. 
 If men will half-way treat them right 
 They'd be all angels rosy bright. 
 Joy in his mate should man behold, 
 Ne'er see her frown, nor hear her scold. 
 Now ye all shall judge how Pellinore 
 Can sing ; the song's a tale of yore — 
 Way back within the ancient time, 
 While yet were all things in their prime, 
 And all bloomed lovely in her clime, 
 Ere silvered were her locks with rime, 
 A castle stood midst waving wood 
 
 High on an airy hill ; 
 Its lofty halls had marble walls 
 And built with choicest skill. 
 Its mighty lord had shoulders broad 
 And limbs both lithe and strong. 
 And night and day a vast array 
 
 Of knights did round him throng. 
 O'er all the earth his dee<ls of worth 
 
 Were told in tale and song ; 
 All those in need to him would speed, 
 
 He righted all their wrong. 
 A daughter fair, with golden hair. 
 
 Did unto him belong ; 
 Her rosy cheek did health bespeak, 
 
 And all of Beauty's charms ; 
 A swan-like neck did her bedeck, 
 And plump, round, snowy arms; 
 
268 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Her heaving breast like billow's crest 
 
 When o'er it foam Avreaths ride, 
 And racing storms the sea deforms 
 
 And roll it in their pride. 
 No fairer brow from then till now 
 
 Did realms of beauty show ; 
 No fairer hand in Nature's land 
 
 Has ever bent a bow, 
 E'er drew its thong, all tough and strong, 
 
 And from it shaft did throw ; 
 No fairer hand on sea or land 
 
 O'er strings of harps have strayed. 
 And proved each string a sounding thing 
 
 That soothing music made. 
 Harmonies her soul and mind control. 
 
 In her all else eclipse ; 
 They danced apace o'er brow and face. 
 
 And breathed upon her lips ; 
 Beam'd from her arms and all her charms, 
 
 And e'en her finger tips ; 
 And from her tread that lighter sped 
 
 Than any fairy skips. 
 No sweeter voice did e'er rejoice 
 
 O'er human good and weal, 
 Sang nobler rhymes of olden times 
 
 When heroes all were leal, 
 And maidens fair could danger dare 
 
 And love for true knight feel. 
 Her sunny eyes, like clear, calm skies, 
 
 Were azure in their hue ; 
 And Faith of eld for mirror held 
 
 An eye of spotless blue. 
 Her fairy feet were light and fleet 
 
 As is the zephyr's breath 
 
ARTELOISE. 269 
 
 Sighing at night o'er lilies white, 
 
 When storms are hushed in death 
 \ Inez her name, and far her fame 
 
 O'er Christendom was blown ; 
 For deeds of good and hardihood 
 
 O'er earth the maid was known. 
 The chase loAed she, o'er moor and lea 
 
 She sought the bounding roe, 
 O'er glen and hill, o'er stream and rill, 
 
 Where'er a maid might go. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 From lands of snow, where tempests blow, 
 
 And half the j'ear is ice, 
 From Lochlin's land, whose frozen strand 
 
 The Polar blasts entice ; 
 The chilly soil that to no toil 
 
 Will yield the wliolesome rice, 
 Where stately pines crown tall inclines 
 
 Instead of palms and spice ; 
 The barren clime that grows no lime, 
 
 No olive and no myrrh, 
 Where oaks are seen of stately mien, 
 
 Gum, poplar, elm and fir ; 
 But still each field will ampl}' yield 
 
 The waving corn and vine. 
 The luscious grape, of perfect shape, 
 
 That gives the ruddy wine ; 
 The best of food, that cheers the mood 
 
 Of those who hunger kriow. 
 This northern clime, in summer time, 
 
 Will for its children grow ; 
 And when return the tempests stern 
 
 And falls the winter's snow. 
 
270 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Both corn and deer and best of cheer 
 
 Those northern children show ; 
 There roses grow and sweetly blow 
 
 When summer breathes in prime, 
 Violets bloom with sweet perfume 
 
 As in a warmer clime ; 
 There maidens dwell whose charms excel 
 
 Those where no snow is seen, 
 Whose hearts are pure and cased as sure 
 
 In mail of virtue sheen 
 As any maid that ever strayed 
 
 Through tropic lands of green, 
 And, as the maid of sunny glade 
 
 Tlieir love is just as keen ; 
 All craft}^ wiles and subtle s'miles 
 
 They spurn with stern disdaiu, 
 To thosj are proof as rocky roof 
 
 To winter's storm and rain ; 
 And there are found o'er all its round 
 
 Men just as brave and bold 
 In danger's time and battle's prime 
 
 As dwell in lands less cold, 
 Who fear no storm nor demon form, 
 
 Nor force of wizard's arm. 
 Who o'er their course their way will force 
 
 In spite of wizard's charm ; 
 Whose hearts are pure, whose loves enciure 
 
 In spite of changing time. 
 And though all youthful charms have fled. 
 And every other passion dead, 
 
 That love is in its prime — 
 From out this land of frozen strand. 
 
 Where montlis the tempests blow, 
 The realm of pines and steep inclines, 
 
 Where half the year is snow, 
 
ARTELOISE. 271 
 
 A hero came whose mighty name 
 
 Yet still is known on earth: 
 He sowed the seeds of manly deeds, 
 
 Of prowess and of worth. 
 Siiran his name, where'er he came 
 
 The oppress VI wonld round him throng, 
 For swift was he, on land or sea, 
 
 To smite down crime and wrong. 
 To Corcul's halls of marble walls 
 
 The Northern hero came; 
 Ilis daughter fair, with golden hair, 
 
 Had brought that knight of fame. 
 Not as a knight arra^-ed for fight. 
 
 All sheathed in gleaming mail, 
 With spear and shield for listed field, 
 
 And trimmed for knight's assail. 
 He came to woo the lovely maid : 
 
 He came as bard, with harp in hand 
 For well he knew that maiden bade 
 
 No knight to wield the spear and brand 
 For her in horrid battle toil ; 
 
 She loved no sound of fierce turmoil. 
 The din of arms possess'd no charms 
 
 To win from her a smile ; 
 The trumpet's breath and field of death 
 
 Could not her soul beguile. 
 No knight on earth, whate'er his worth 
 
 In deadly feats of arms. 
 Could woo her smile or love the while. 
 
 Or win those lovel3^ charms. 
 No blasts of war should ever sound 
 Throughout nor o'er the vast Av<;rld round ^ 
 
 If she but had her will ; 
 Strong peace should all the nations bind. 
 
272 AHTELOISE. 
 
 Unite tbem heart and soul and mind, 
 And love be their worst ill. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 All adamantine chains and Lands, 
 
 Nor yet the hardest walls of stone 
 E'er forged or built by human hands 
 
 Since ever yet was Nature known, 
 Would all be vain to hold or chain 
 
 And keep atwain two human hearts 
 When love o'er them begins to reign ; 
 
 Their souls are pierced with Cu2)id's darts. 
 The maid the Northern hero saw, 
 
 And on the bard with love she smiled ; 
 And love his breakless chain did draw 
 
 Around the bard and Corcul's child. 
 Unknown to all within those halls 
 
 Their vows of love they daily swore, 
 And a mutual love enthralls 
 
 The twain and binds them more and more. 
 But had the haughty Corcul known 
 
 The bard found favor in her eyes, 
 Though he was king of Lochliu's throne, 
 
 And there a bard but in disguise, 
 He swift had cut that wooing short; 
 
 For he had sworn a solemn vow 
 No prince or king of any court. 
 
 Who dwelt or ruled on Nature's brow 
 And that no man of mortal line 
 
 Should win his daugiiter for liis bride ; 
 Tliat she a nun by vestal shrine 
 
 Should live, no matter what betide. . 
 No pains and throes nor joys and woes 
 
 Attendant aye on wedded life 
 
ARTELOISE. 273 
 
 His cUlld should feel, but should repose 
 
 In convent from all mortal strife. 
 A thousand men in armor bright, 
 
 And brave as ever couched a spear, 
 As ever drew the sword for fight 
 
 Or stemmed their foemen's fierce career, 
 Had come to woo the lovely maid ; 
 
 But all to woo had come in vain : 
 The stern sire the child obeyed, 
 
 And treated all with cool disdain. 
 In vain they came to woo a bride 
 
 By skillful feats in deadly arms ; 
 On such she smiled with scorn of pride, 
 
 For her grim battles had no charms. 
 But he who came with harp and song, 
 
 Wlio sang the minstrel's stirring lay, 
 And told of peace, themes that belong 
 To love alone, not blood and wrong, 
 
 How charging knights to carnage throng, 
 And reel amidst the grisly fray. 
 
 Within her woke a love so strong 
 It never knew through life decay, 
 But, night by night and day by day. 
 It ever grew with brighter ray. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 'Twas on a warm and lovely morn, 
 
 Tlie winds were blowing free, 
 And fast the wreaths of foam were born 
 
 Out of the travailing sea. 
 From off the land athwart the main 
 
 The stirring breezes blow, 
 And high in air lilce flying rain 
 
 Their sprays the billows throw. 
 
 Swift unto the favoring gales 
 18 
 
274 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Has Suran spread his snow}^ sails, 
 
 With Inez by his side ; 
 To Lochlin's realms of ice and snow, 
 Where half the year the tempests blow, 
 
 He bears his blushing bride. 
 In vain has Corcul's eager host 
 Pursued the lovers to the coast. 
 
 In vain they looking stand, 
 For there is not a single bark 
 To bear them o'er those waters stark 
 
 In sight of their command ; 
 Powerless all, they stand and eye 
 The 3'outhful lovers onward fly 
 
 Still further from the land. 
 In vain does haughty Corcul call 
 Across the billows' rise and fall, 
 
 His daughter does not heed ; 
 Still onward o'er the rolling seas 
 They fly before the faA'oring breeze 
 
 Till from his sight they speed. 
 And nothing rises there to view 
 But rolling seas that whiter grew • 
 But still that sire's eager eye 
 And all his host that gathered nigh 
 There kept their searching gaze still cast 
 Upon the course that bark had past, 
 Until the shades of coming night 
 Obscured the waters from their sight. 
 Till nought they saw except the gloom 
 That swarthed the waters like a tomb. 
 And nought they heard except the flow 
 Of waters on the rocks below. 
 
ARTELOISE. 275 
 
 XIX. 
 
 As a flood that still onward sweeps 
 And bears its waves to unknowi^ dee| 
 And eternal still the same appears, 
 Such is the onward stream of 3-ears, 
 It doth no sign of ceasing show. 
 And never shall an ending know. 
 And as the fleeting ^-ears of time 
 Drove on their chariot sublime, 
 
 From the union of that happy pair 
 Ten noble sons and daughters came, 
 All worthy of their noble name ; 
 
 Worthy of the sire that they heir, 
 And all worthy of his loving dame. 
 When fleeting time had sped apace 
 And Corcul saw the noble race 
 That from that happy anion grew 
 Aside his heart all anger throw. 
 True joy absorbed all grief and dole 
 And anger from his martial soul, 
 And dried them up, as doth the sun 
 The dews o'er which his beams are spun 
 And in his soul he blest the day 
 The bard had borne his child away; 
 Far nobler was to her that life — 
 A loving mother, joyous wife, 
 Her spirit ever teeming rifp 
 With domestic blisses, void of strife; 
 With husband ever true and kind, 
 To every imperfection blind, 
 If such within her he did find. 
 Her home, with children plnying round, 
 Was the blest convent she had found — 
 The noblest, purest, brightest shrine 
 
270 ARTELOISE. 
 
 E'er kneel'd before by human line; 
 The grandest altar on the earth 
 Of godly purity and worth 
 Was in that home, and she the nun, 
 The sacred vestal, spotless one, 
 Who doth no single duty shun ; 
 Oh I may her life forever run 
 In love and jo}', as it begun. 
 And be a never clouded sun," 
 
 XX. 
 
 Here ceased the tale, but riot a sound 
 Of thanks rose from the knights around ; 
 Not that the tale was dull and tame, 
 Or in the least way halt and lame, 
 From them no thanks or praises came ; 
 Not that any of that knightly throng 
 Loved not the sound of stirring soiig ; 
 It was not there from such a cause 
 That Pellinore won no applause. 
 But weary nature, not the wine 
 That glowed in bowls with ruddy shine, 
 Made hero's voice such silence keep, 
 For every knight Avas sound asleep. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 The stirring trump and braying fife 
 Awake the hosts to morn and strife. 
 And ere on hills the sunbeam shines 
 Tlie ranks are form'd in battle-lines, 
 Witli some on foot and some on horse . 
 King Arthur raarslials all liis force. 
 Far on the left down to the coast 
 The sturdy footmen take their post, 
 And there a circling column form, 
 
ARTELOISE. 277 
 
 Like clouds that gather for a storm, 
 Whose edges all with flame are bright 
 And cast around redundant light ; 
 With serried shields and bi'istling spears, 
 And axe that polished surface wears, 
 And mace that knotty head uprears, 
 A horrid line that ridge appears, 
 As forming there for deadly strife. 
 Midst war-horn's blasts and braying fife, 
 And all the sounds that wake to life 
 The knight for deeds with carnage rife. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Far to the right the knights on horse 
 In one long column form their force ; 
 Far down unto the ocean's coast, 
 A gleaming line, they take their post, 
 And there wall in the Roman host. 
 Between the lines of foot and horse 
 The archers gather all their force, 
 And those who used the sling alone 
 That hurled with force the hissing stone 
 Made there a strong and goodly show 
 'Mongst those who bent the sounding bow. 
 And slingmen, archers, foot and horse 
 Still gradually close up their force, 
 Still closer wall the Romans round 
 At every move and stir and sound, 
 As some huge snake that starts his coil 
 Round prey, and closer brings the toil, 
 Still nearer, nearer drawing round 
 Until the crushing toil is wound. 
 So, circling all their Roman foes, 
 Those nearino- lines of Britain close. 
 
2T8 ARTELOISE. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Meanwhile the Prophet of the Shrine 
 
 Had formed his ranks in battle-line ; 
 
 In phalanx placed and hollow squares 
 
 His host all o'er the field appears ; 
 
 With bristling spears and serried shields 
 
 They glitter dreadful o'er the fields ; 
 
 For over visors polished bright, 
 
 And morions of beamy light 
 
 And swords that flaming lustres show 
 
 The rising morning sunbeams glow, 
 
 Till all that Roman host became 
 
 A blinding sea of moving flame. 
 
 In centre of a phalanx line 
 
 On steed the Prophet of the Shrine 
 
 Rode, armed with only shield and sword, 
 
 And nowhere 'mongst his arni}-^ broad 
 
 Another living steed was seen ; 
 
 All they had rode ere came yestreen 
 
 Had there been 'mongst the cai'nage slain, 
 
 Or by the daring Britons ta'en ; 
 
 So all on foot their columns move, 
 
 Their victory or death to prove. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 As seas assault their rocky banks 
 The foes closed in on Arthur's ranks ; 
 As flies the spray when on the rock 
 The billows come with deafening shock 
 So shattered swords and splintered spears 
 Fly where the British line appears, 
 And dreadful sound the blow and thrust 
 Amidst the clouds of rising dust. 
 
ARTELOISE. 279 
 
 This way and that the columns reel 
 Amidst unceasing clang of steel ; 
 Yet still they fight and charge amain 
 And dye the earth with gory stain, 
 Till o'er the hills the rolling sun 
 Across the noonday line has run, 
 And scarce his ray can pierce the gloom 
 That shrouds that field of strife and doom. 
 But sometimes through the dust appears 
 Descending swords and thrusting spears, 
 And sometimes through the dust is seen 
 A morion of polished sheen, 
 And through the dark and stagnant air 
 No single breath of wiuds repair, 
 They not enough of strength would prove 
 The aspen's trembling leaf to move, 
 Nor it to slightest motion beat ; 
 And all the air with stifling heat 
 Is fill'd, around those armies cast 
 Oppressive as a furnace blast. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Before that grisly phalanx line, 
 Where rode the Prophet of the Shrine, 
 Three mighty forms in arms appear, 
 And hew down man and shield and spear. 
 But vain their toil, the Roman ranks 
 Unceasing fill the ghastly blanks ; 
 Fresh warriors rise as from the ground, 
 And fast their Prophet circle round. 
 Though dread his sword King Arthur plied 
 And made the breaches grim and wide, 
 And though the sword of Beau De Main 
 Cut helm and head and man in twain, 
 
280 ARTELOISE. 
 
 And though the mace of Pellinore 
 Spread round a sea of brains and gore, 
 Yet still before those mighty Three 
 No Roman from the fight doth flee, 
 But good again they make their line, 
 Wall in the Prophet of the Shrine, 
 Round whom the arrows fly like rain, 
 But him to wound they fly in vain ; 
 Though clouds of shafts around him sail 
 Thick as the storm of driving hail 
 When clouds surcharged with heat arise 
 And roll with thunders through the skies. 
 Rush dreadful on the roaring gale 
 And scatter it o'er hill and dale, 
 Yet him to harm all vain they prove, 
 Of his not e'en a hair they move ; 
 Heedless of them, around he rides, 
 Unwounded every storm abides ; 
 His form from any hurt or harm 
 From arrow sped by mortal arm 
 Long, long ago did wizards charm. 
 Unwounded midst the flying spears 
 The hoary Prophet there appears, 
 While thus his battling host he cheers : 
 " Ye heroes from the land of Rome, 
 Where rises Vesta's sacred dome, 
 Where, surely jjlaced in Nature's hand, 
 The Seven Hills eternal stand. 
 Whose flag has ever waved unfurl'd 
 In conquest o'er the spacious world ; 
 Sons of the race the she-wolf fed, 
 Sons of the race the she-wolf bred. 
 Your country's foes before you stand, 
 Strike and hurl them from the land ; 
 Strike deep with axe and spear and sword, 
 
ARTELOISE. 281 
 
 And o'er the isles of Britain broad 
 
 Tlie sway of Rome shall be restored J 
 
 Strike 1 Britain is your prize ; 
 
 Strike while the heated metal lies 
 
 Upon the an^dl glowing warm 
 
 And it to targe or broadsword form. 
 
 Strike true, strike strong, nor pause nor wait, 
 
 But while 'tis hot forge well your fate ; 
 
 The brave will heed, but coward fools 
 
 Will idle till the metal cools, 
 
 And every chance is void and lost 
 
 To heat again at any cost." 
 
 Scarce the last words his lips had past 
 
 When onward, like a sudden blast 
 
 That rises in a tropic clime, 
 
 Of warning gives no moment's time, 
 
 But onward sweeps upon its course 
 
 With lightning speed and untold force 
 
 With rattling thunders clears its path 
 
 Of all that dares to bar its wrath, 
 
 All things before it fall and die 
 
 And all behind uprooted lie, 
 
 A waste of devastation dread 
 
 Behind its horrid track is spread, 
 
 So sudden and so dreadful came 
 
 On steed a knight of slender frame ; 
 
 All sheathed was he in clanging mail 
 
 As white as snow or frosted hail, 
 
 And full against the horrid line 
 
 That walled the Brophet of the Shrine 
 
 Secure from harm of spear or sword 
 
 That knight and horse made passage broad ; 
 
 Backward to earth the Romans reel. 
 
 And 'neath those horse-hoofs crash their steel; 
 
 Then at the Prophet swift as light 
 
282 ARTELOISE. 
 
 With levelled spear rode on the knight ; 
 
 That spear through shield and Pi'ophet tore, 
 
 Through heart and lungs the weapon bore, 
 
 And dripping red and grim with blood 
 
 Sent out behind a crimson flood.. 
 
 To earth the stricken Prophet falls, 
 
 But vainly he for mercy calls ; 
 
 The strange knight draws his sword amain, 
 
 And cuts the Prophet's neck in twain ; 
 
 In air the hoary head is tost, 
 
 And, falling, midst the carnage lost. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Then dreader still the battle grew, 
 And shaft around unearthly flew, 
 Hugo hissing stones in showers sail 
 And fly through air like blasts of hail ; 
 On every side sound storms of blows, 
 And everj^where the battle grows, 
 And on all sides the foes assail 
 The stranger knight in snow-white mail ; 
 Though for his aid those mighty Three 
 Give all their strength and prowess free, 
 Yet midst the storm of ceaseless blows 
 That still more busy round him grows 
 He falls upon the gory plain 
 And numbered 'mongst the ghastly slain. 
 Then shook the earth, and from the air 
 The shrouding clouds of dust repair; 
 The sun looks through the moving gloom. 
 Reveals that field of strife and doom. 
 From earth before that stranger knight 
 The form of Merlin rose to sight, 
 A horrid groan the wizard made 
 
ARTELOISE. 2S3 
 
 As he that stranger knight surveyed, 
 Who there so still midst carnage laid, 
 All in his snow-white steel arrayed. 
 Merlin his banner then unfurled, 
 That flag the wonder of the world •, 
 Which had the skill of wizards wrought, 
 And it with strange devices fraught. 
 A thousand forms that standard shows, 
 And each with living instinct glows, 
 And divers awful shapes are seen 
 O'er all that magic banner sheen; 
 And hues of gold, blue, red and green 
 Rise up those awful shapes between. 
 And waves that flag in windless air, 
 Where did no breath of breeze repair, 
 As though a roaring storm were there, 
 Through space was rushing anyAvhere. 
 Then spake the seer: "Ye knights renown'd 
 Ye heroes of the Table Round, 
 On, on! and make the Romans see 
 How ye will die or still be free I 
 On, on, ye knights 1 one onslaught moi'e, 
 And tramp the tyrants in their gore, 
 Or drive them from your native shore, 
 And i)eace unto your land restore. 
 Ursula is of life bereft, 
 No cliild have I now living left. 
 'Tis she, the knight in armor Avhite, 
 Who overthrew the Prophet's might. 
 Alas ! that I should see the day 
 Grim death should seize her for his prey 1 
 Oh, cruel Fate ! it drives me wild 
 To view in death my child! my child I 
 My pride, my glory, my delight ! 
 My sun by day, my star by night I 
 
284 ARTELOISE. 
 
 A peerless jewel of this earth, 
 
 Of matchless price and untold worth. 
 
 Oh, cruel Fate, to deal this blow. 
 
 And overwhelm me thus with woe ! 
 
 To rive me thus with anguish wild ! 
 
 Oh, my dead daughter 1 oh, my child 1 
 
 But, oh 1 my child, thy deed sublime 
 
 Shall last unto the end of time ; 
 
 Thy fame shall crown the poet's verse, 
 
 He'll o'er the world thy praise rehearse I 
 
 Though thou art whelmed by death, to whom 
 
 Has cruel Fate sent different doom ? 
 
 All are its pre}^, the high, the low, 
 
 And victims all through life of woe. 
 
 Now, on, 3'e chiefs 1 avenge her death 
 
 To 3^our last blow, last step, last breath. 
 
 On, on! for Merlin leads the way, 
 
 And ye shall conquer in this fray. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Then round their foes the Britons close, 
 And vainly they the charge oppose. 
 Down, down, amidst the mud and gore, 
 The Romans fall, to rise no more. 
 The knights on horse upon them ride, 
 And vainly they the shock abide. 
 Down, down upon tlie gory plain 
 'Neath steeds the foes are trod and slain. 
 Many a Roman knight doth stain 
 The horse hoofs with his reeking brain. 
 Down, down to earth thej^ (ly^^S" f'^l^ 
 And vainl}' there for mercy call. 
 They fight till all the Roman hordes 
 Have sank beneath their dripping swords. 
 
ARTELOISE. 285 
 
 And noi: a Roman there is left 
 
 Who is not of his life bereft. 
 
 They fight till all their horde of foes 
 
 Are sleeping in a grim repose, 
 
 Till not a breathing foe is found 
 
 Amidst that reeking carnage round 
 
 Who will to Rome the story bear 
 
 How Arthur's knights can ply the spear ; 
 
 How they in war the sword can wield, 
 
 All weapons of the battle-field ; 
 
 How they can guard tlieir native shore, 
 
 And keep her free forevermore ; 
 
 How they tear down the flags unfurl'd 
 
 By all the tyrants of the world. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 There came a dread, unearthly sound, 
 That echoed all that land aroand, 
 And from the field of slaughter piled 
 Grim Merlin lifts his lifeless child, 
 Around her form his flag he drew. 
 And hid the maiden knight from view. 
 As tliis he did the startled air 
 Was filled witli darkness dense and drear. 
 The gloom but for a moment's space 
 O'erwhelmed all Natures smiling face; 
 But when it from the air withdrew 
 None maiden knight nor seer could view. 
 Which way they sped, o'er hill or dell, 
 No bi-eathing mortal there could tell ; 
 And ne'er again by mortal men 
 Have they been seen on hill or glen, 
 Or.roam'd t'his world, to mortal ken. 
 Like comets dead, that no more burn, 
 They ne'er again to sight return. 
 
286 ARTELOISE 
 
 XXIX 
 
 The sun is fading on the hill, 
 His parting rays glow on the rill ; 
 The shades of eve creep soft and still, 
 And space the misty vapors fill, 
 And silence shrouds the field of death, 
 Not e'en the zeph3'rs, breathe a breath ; 
 A silence reigns o'er field and hill, 
 A silence stern and deep and still, 
 Which settles like a soothing balm 
 That throbbing pains of bruises calm. 
 With weary form and aching brow 
 Lie nigh all who are living now ; 
 The strife of those two days has shorn 
 Their strength, with toil has all o'er worn. 
 Down on the field amongst the slain 
 They rest till they their strength regain, 
 Nor food they seek, the two days' toil 
 Their zest for food and drink doth soil ; 
 Sweet sleep is all they ask or crave. 
 Best boon to flesh e'er Nature gave. 
 Soothes the senses, restores the breath, 
 Sweet Sleep, twin brother unto Death. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 The densest shades of sable night 
 Have hidden vale and mountain height. 
 No star within the sky is seen, . 
 Black clouds lie earth and sky between ; 
 Though Nature cast her pall of gloom 
 To shrouil with darkness of the tomb, 
 Though here and there a feeble glow 
 Watch-fires did to-night bestow, 
 Yet all so pale they shone — their light 
 
ARTELOISE. 281 
 
 Wiis scarcely seen amidst the night ; 
 And scarce revealed amidst the gloom 
 Two kings beside a mossy tomb, 
 Where slept below in rest sublime 
 A mighty chief of ancient time. 
 All clad in armor stained with gore 
 Those kings kneel doAvn the tomb before; 
 One holds a grisly iron mace, 
 Whose brightness stains of blood deface ; 
 The other holds a might}' sword, 
 With blood spread o'er its surface broad. 
 One's Arthur of the Table Round, 
 One Pellinore, for strength renowned. 
 Kneeling, those heroes silent clasp 
 Each other's hand within their grasp : 
 To Him who rules the flood and storm, 
 Tlie thunder rolls, the lightnings form, 
 Who spread the stars through endless space , 
 And gave the moon and planets place ; 
 Who made the sun, with all his beams. 
 And space through which his glory streams ; 
 He who from nothing formed this earth, 
 And who from dust gave man his birth; 
 He who created light and life, 
 Filled earth with germs of vintage rife; 
 The God who rules earth, space and sky. 
 Through whom all live, and breathe and die, 
 Those heroes breathed their heartfelt prayers 
 Thanked Him that victorj^ was theirs. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Off from the field of reeking slain, 
 Beside a rock, is Beau De Main, 
 And there Griselda, worn and pale, 
 Sits, grasping still the Holy Grail. 
 She sits her chosen knight beside, 
 
288 ARTELOISE. 
 
 Her soul's own idol and its pride ; 
 His voice is breathing in her ear, 
 A voice she'd ever loved to hear, 
 And still shall love whate'er befall 
 The mortals on this earthly ball ; 
 Yes, love through every turn of fate, 
 Through every varied change and state, 
 Through every bliss and pain and woe 
 That mortal here can feel or know. 
 
 XXXTI. 
 
 Why lengthen out my closing rhjme 
 With a long wooing at this time? 
 The deathless Jew beside them drew ; 
 He well their thoughts. and Avishes knew ; 
 Their hands within his own he caught, 
 And both their hands together brouglit, 
 Some words he muttered on the air 
 That seem'd to sound like voice of prayer ; 
 And then he straight a blessing sped 
 O'er both the knight and maiden's head, 
 And spake he : " I pronounce ye wed ; 
 I am a Rabbi. What I have done 
 None shall undo while time shall run." 
 Tlien sudden from the gazing pair 
 He vanished, melted into air, 
 As doth the meteor's flash of light 
 That dies upon the brow of night, 
 And leaves no trace amidst the dark 
 To show where fell the glowing spark. 
 One by one each watch-fire's ray 
 In solid darkness past away, 
 Left not behind a single si)avk 
 To cheer the midnight damp and dark. 
 And gloom, all void of stir and noise. 
 Sank dense and stern o'er Artelotse. 
 
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