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"That drops from Macon's sooty tree,
"Mid the dread grove of ebony.

"Nor magic charms, nor fiends of hell,
"The christian's holy courage quell.
"Salem, in ancient majesty
"Arise, and lift thee to the sky!
"Soon on thy battlements divine
"Shall wave the badge of Constantine.
"Ye Barons, to the sun unfold

"Our Cross with crimson wove and gold!"

THE GRAVE OF KING ARTHUR.

AN ODE.

STATELY the feast, and high the cheer:

Girt with many an armed peer,
And canopied with golden pall,
Amid Cilgarran's castle hall,
Sublime in formidable state,

And warlike splendour, Henry sate;
Prepar❜d to stain the briny flood
Of Shannon's lakes with rebel blood.
Illumining the vaulted roof,

A thousand torches flam'd aloof:
From massy cups, with golden gleam
Sparkled the red metheglin's stream:
To grace the gorgeous festival,
Along the lofty-window'd hall,

The storied tapestry was hung:
With minstrelsy the rafters rung
Of harps, that with reflected light
From the proud gallery glitter'd bright:
While gifted bards, a rival throng,
(From distant Mona, nurse of song,
From Teivi, fring'd with umbrage brown,
From Elvy's vale, and Cader's crown,
From many a shaggy precipice,
That shades Ierne's hoarse abyss,
And

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many a sunless solitude

Of Radnor's inmost mountains rude,) To crown the banquet's solemn close, Themes of British glory chose; And to the strings of various chime Attemper'd thus the fabling rhyme. "O'er Cornwall's cliffs the tempest roar'd, High the screaming sea-mew soar'd; "On Tintaggel's topmost tower "Darksome fell the sleety shower; "Round the rough castle shrilly sung "The whirling blast, and wildly flung "On each tall rampart's thundering side "The surges of the tumbling tide : "When Arthur rang'd his red-cross ranks "On conscious Camlan's crimson'd banks: By Mordred's faithless guile decreed "Beneath a Saxon spear to bleed! "Yet in vain a paynim foe

"Arm'd with fate the mighty blow;

"For when he fell, an elfin

queen,

"All in secret, and unseen,

"O'er the fainting hero threw
"Her mantle of ambrosial blue;
"And bade her spirits bear him far,
"In Merlin's agate-axled car,

"To her green isle's enamell'd steep,
"Far in the navel of the deep.
"O'er his wounds she sprinkled dew
"From flowers that in Arabia grew :
"On a rich inchanted bed

"She pillow'd his majestic head; "O'er his brow, with whispers bland, "Thrice she wav'd an opiate wand; "And to soft music's airy sound, "Her magic curtains clos'd around. "There, renew'd the vital spring, Again he reigns a mighty king; "And many a fair and fragrant clime, "Blooming in immortal prime, "By gales of Eden ever fann'd, "Owns the monarch's high command: "Thence to Britain shall return, "(If right prophetic rolls I learn) "Borne on victory's spreading plume, "His ancient sceptre to resume; "Once more, in old heroic pride, "His barbed courser to bestride;

"His knightly table to restore, "And brave the tournaments of yore."

They ceas'd: when on the tuneful stage
Advanc'd a bard, of aspect sage;
His silver tresses, thin besprent,
To age a graceful reverence lent;
His beard, all white as spangles frore
That clothe Plinlimmon's forests hoar,
Down to his harp descending flow'd;
With Time's faint rose his features glow'd;
His
eyes diffus'd a soften'd fire,

And thus he wak'd the warbling wire.

"Listen, Henry, to my read!

"Not from fairy realms I lead

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Bright-rob'd Tradition, to relate "In forged colours Arthur's fate;

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Though much of old romantic lore

"On the high theme I keep in store:

"But boastful Fiction should be dumb,

"Where Truth the strain might best become.

"If thine ear may still be won

"With songs of Uther's glorious son,

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Henry, I a tale unfold,

"Never yet in rhyme enroll'd,

"Nor sung nor harp'd in hall or bower;
"Which in my youth's full early flower,
"A minstrel, sprung of Cornish line,
"Who spoke of kings from old Locrine,

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Taught me to chant, one vernal dawn, "Deep in a cliff-encircled lawn,

"What time the glistening vapours fled "From cloud-envelop'd Clyder's head;

"And on its sides the torrents gray
"Shone to the morning's orient ray,
"When Arthur bow'd his haughty crest,
"No princess, veil'd in azure vest,
"Snatch'd him, by Merlin's potent spell,
"In groves of golden bliss to dwell;
"Where, crown'd with wreaths of misletoe,
"Slaughter'd kings in glory go:

"But when he fell, with winged speed,

"His champions, on a milk-white steed,
"From the battle's hurricane,

"Bore him to Joseph's towered fane,
"In the fair vale of Avalon:
"There, with chanted orison,
"And the long blaze of tapers clear,
"The stoled fathers met the bier;
"Through the dim aisles, in order dread
"Of martial woe, the chief they led,
"And deep entomb'd in holy ground,
"Before the altar's solemn bound.
"Around no dusky banners wave,

"No mouldering trophies mark the grave:

"Away the ruthless Dane has torn

"Each trace that Time's slow touch had worn; "And long, o'er the neglected stone,

"Oblivion's veil its shade has thrown:

"The faded tomb, with honour due,
"'Tis thine, O Henry, to renew!
"Thither, when Conquest has restor❜d

"Yon recreant isle, and sheath'd the sword,

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