ONE THOUSAND FAMOUS THINGS	153
The Proud Voice of King Arthur
w
hen the Roman left us, and their law
Relaxed its hold upon us, and the ways
Were filled with rapine, here and there a deed
Of prowess done redressed a random wrong.
But I was first of all the kings who drew
The knighthood-errant of this realm and all
The realms together under mes their Head,
In that fair Order of my Table Round,
A glorious company, the flower of men,
To serve as model for the might} world,
And be the fair beginning of a time.
I made them lay their hands in mine and swear
To reverence the King, as if he were
Their conscience, and their conscience as their King,
To break the heathen and uphold the Christ,
To ride abroad redressing human wrongs,
To speak no slander, no, nor listen to it,
To honour his own word as if his God's.
To lead sweet lives in purest chastity,
To love one maiden only, cleave to her,
And worship her by years of noble deeds^
Until they won her ;  for indeed I knew
Of no more subtle master under heaven
Than is the maiden passion for a maid,
Not only to keep down the base in man.
But teach high thought, and amiable words
And courtliness, and the desire of fame,
And love of truth, and all that makes a man.   Tennyson
A Credo
i
t is hard to believe in God, but it is harder not to believe,   I
believe in God not from what I see in Nature but from what I
find in man.	Tennyson
The Increasing Purpose
y
et I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs,
And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the sums
Tennyson in Locbsley HaU
Ah, That it Were Possible
a
h, Christ, that it were possible,
For one short hour to see
The souls we loved, that they might tell us
What and where they be !   Tennyson