SELECTIONS IN ENGLISH POETRY
And next with his son he sailed to France
To claim the Norman allegiance:
And every baron in Normandy 25
Had taken the oath of fealty.
'TXvas sworn and sealed, and the day had come
When the King and the Prince might journey home :
For Christmas cheer is to home hearts dear,
And Christmas now was drawing near. 3°
vStout Fitz-Stephen came to the King,—
A pilot famous in seafaring;
And he held to the King, in all men's sight,
A mark of gold for his tribute's right.
'Liege Lord! my father guided the ship --
From whose boat your father's foot did slip
When he caught the English soil in the grip,
'And cried : "By this clasp I claim command
O'er every rood of English land!1'
'He was borne to the realm you rule o'er now ^o
In that ship with the anchor carved at her prow :
'And thither I'll bear, an' it be my due.
Your father's son and his grandson too.
*The famed White Ship is mine in the bay;
From Harfleur's harbour she sails to-day., 45
'With masts fair-pennoned as Norman spears
And with fifty well-tried mariners.'
305 eo