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ALFRED LORD TENNYSON

TENNYSON'S

GARETH AND LYNETTE

LANCELOT AND ELAINE

AND THE PASSING

OF ARTHUR

EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES

BY WILLIS BOUGHTON, PH.D.

TEACHER OF ENGLISH IN ERASMUS HALL HIGH SCHOOL NEW YORK CITY

GINN & COMPANY

BOSTON • NEW YORK . CHICAGO . LONDON

COPYRIGHT, 1903 BY WILLIS BOUGHTON

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 27.3

Cftt atbtnacum 3&rtet GINN \- COMPANY • PKO-

i-ilETORS • BOSTON • U.S.A.

PREFACE

The three idylls included in this volume are those selected as a substitute for The Princess for the College Entrance Examinations of 1906 and thereafter.

The aim of the editor has been threefold : to edit fully without the appearance of pedantry; to give the pupils such an introduction to the Arthurian romances as seems neces- sary for a complete understanding of these special idylls ; to make the learner a sympathetic reader of Tennyson. The text of the Globe edition of the poet's works has been followed in all respects excepting in the spelling of such words as color, honor, etc. In annotating the Century Dic- tionary has been used for definitions. The editor has made frequent use of Malory's Morte Darthur whenever a quota- tion would make a passage clearer. He is also indebted to Dr. J. Scott Clark's A Study of English and American Poets for some short quotations used in the Introduction.

In the matter of interpretation a paper in the Contem- porary Review for January, 1870, and one in the same review for May, 1873, were found helpful ; but the editor is most largely indebted to the present Lord Tennyson, whose Memoir of his father is an invaluable aid in a study of the Idylls. This Memoir was prepared largely under the eye of the poet. It contains a history of almost every poem and interpretations of many. The explanation of the allegory of the Idylls, as given in the Introduction to this volume, is quoted by Lord Tennyson as that of his father.

2054658

vi PREFACE

In order to interpret the music and the spirit of a poet it is necessary to understand his art form. Tennyson was a master of blank verse. The editor has therefore given several pages to a discussion of the mechanism of Tenny- son's blank verse. In his definitions of the kinds of poetry and in his classification of the poems mentioned he has been to some extent guided by Dr. Gummere's Handbook of Poetics. The method of scansion suggested, however, is his own, formed from ideas gathered from many sources after a long experience as a teacher of poetry. Teachers will find that a thorough understanding of some such method will aid the learner in the appreciation of poetry.

W. B.

ERASMUS HALL HIGH SCHOOL, Brooklyn, Nov. i, 1903.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION PAGK

ALFRED LORD TENNYSON . ix

THE POETRY OF TENNYSON xvi

THE " IDYLLS OF THE KING " xxiii

TENNYSON'S BLANK VERSE xxx

REFERENCES xxxviii

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE xl

KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE xliv

IDYLLS OF THE KING

GARETH AND LYNETTE ..... i

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 49

THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 95

NOTES

GARETH AND LYNETTE in

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 121

THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 126

vii

INTRODUCTION

ALFRED LORD TENNYSON

"If a man were permitted to make all the ballads of a nation, he need not care who should make the laws." For more than fifty years Alfred Tennyson wrote songs for the English-speaking peoples, and his poetry had an ever- increasing effect on the laws and on the manners and cus- toms of his countrymen. With the inspiration of a seer or prophet he outlined a poet's solution of political, social, and moral questions, and his persuasive utterances produced action and led to permanent reform.

Alfred Tennyson was born at Somersby in Lincolnshire. His father, the Rev. George Clayton Tennyson, as the elder of two sons, was naturally the heir to an estate called Bayons Manor ; but through some caprice of fortune he had been disinherited. The condition of the 'rn i8oqUSt 6> family was thus one of forced content with a fairly good income from three church livings, — Somersby, Benniworth, and Great Grimsby. The parson- age was not a lonely place, however, for in less than four- teen years there came into it twelve children, — eight boys and four girls. The firstborn died in infancy, leaving Alfred as the third boy in this family of eleven, all of whom lived to an advanced age.

At seven years of age Alfred was sent to a grammar school at Louth, where he remained for four years under "a tempestuous, flogging master of the old stamp." He

X INTRODUCTION

had a sensitive poetic nature, and his companions were rough and even cruel ; so these were unhappy years. Then he returned to his home to study with his fatner> who was an excellent language scholar. Thus passed the formative years of his life, with his ten brothers and sisters, the oldest thirteen and the youngest a mere babe. The boys played at tourna- ment when they were in the field. In the house they wrote stories and composed verses to be read at the dinner table. Even then, it is remembered, Alfred was the most expert, his stories being often literary and dramatic. It was a poetic family. The father, who wrote poetry, was a severe though sympathetic critic ; and under his direction Alfred received lessons that tended to shape his style and improve his art. At eight years of age he wrote blank verse ; before he was thirteen he had written an epic poem of six thousand lines. Such was the merit of his verses that his father exclaimed, " If Alfred die, one of the greatest poets will have gone." The climax of this period was reached when the volume of poems entitled Poems of Two Brothers appeared. It was, however, the work of three brothers, Frederick, Charles, and Alfred Tennyson. Alfred was then eighteen years old.

Frederick, the oldest living brother, already at Trinity College, Cambridge, had won a university medal for Greek odes when Charles and Alfred entered. Charles soon secured a scholarship by the beauty of his translations. Alfred about the same time won the Chancellor's prize medal for original poems, his subject being Timbuctoo. The strong personality of the poet attracted attention. He was six feet tall, broad chested, strong limbed, with deep eyes and an ample forehead crowned with dark wavy hair. Yet his shyness was such that he sought & substitute when

INTRODUCTION xi

summoned to read his prize poem at Commencement. As

a member of a society of college men called the "Apostles,"

however, this shyness left him, and he was

Tennyson at Cam- .

bridge, February, always ready to recite ballads of his own com- 1828, to February, position or even to extemporize verses when called on to entertain. "Alfred Tennyson was our hero, the great hero of our day," said Fanny Kemble, the celebrated actress, who used to visit her brother who also was at Cambridge. In this society of the "Apostles " Tennyson formed lifelong friendships with Milnes (afterward Lord Houghton), Trench (afterward Archbishop), Alford (afterward Dean of Canterbury), Merivale (afterward Dean of Ely), and Hallam, whom he immortalized in In Memo- riam. In the meetings of this society were discussed all the leading social and political questions of the day. Tennyson preached the onward progress of liberty, while he opposed revolutionary license. In the summer of 1830 there was an insurrection in Spain against the tyranny of the king. Tennyson and Hallam, sympathizing with the insurgents, journeyed to the Pyrenees with money to assist the revo- lutionists. They succeeded in delivering the money and in escaping the watchfulness of the Spanish authorities. Thus he was willing to a^t as well as to preach. In this year also appeared his volume of Poems chiefly Lyrical. The next year he left Cambridge to begin his life work as poet.

One month after Tennyson's departure from the Univer- sity his father died, and the care of a large family fell on the young poet, though there was an income sufficiently great to enable them all to live comfortably. For nearly twenty years he studied his art ; at times severely criticised, at others receiv- ing his due reward of praise. He was struggling to become

xii INTRODUCTION

the master poet, and full recognition came in the end. The year 1850 is memorable for three events in the poet's life, — the publication of In Memoriam, his marriage, and the laureateship.

At Cambridge Tennyson met Arthur Henry Hallam, and the two became warm friends. Though they were com- petitors in the race for the Chancellor's prize, this made no difference in their friendship. After Tennyson left the

University, Hallam became a frequent vis- " in Memoriam." itor at the Tennyson home, and there he met

Alfred's sister, Emilia, to whom he became betrothed. Hallam was the most sympathetic critic of Tennyson's poems, and verses seldom passed to the pub- lic until they had received the friend's sanction. They twice visited the continent together, and they were equally concerned in the social and political conditions of the time, meditating and debating great plans of reform. Sud- denly the friendship was severed; Hallam died at Vienna on September 15, 1833. He was there with his father. " When Mr. Hallam returned from his daily walk, he saw Arthur asleep as he supposed upon the couch ; a blood vessel near the brain had suddenly burst; it was not sleep but death." A letter from Arthur's uncle announced the sad news to Alfred, and the course of the poet's life was changed. In the next two years he produced a small vol- ume of poems, and in 1847 The Princess appeared; but the poet was brooding over the death of his friend and over all that death means. In 1850 his great memorial poem, In Memoriam, was printed. Stopford Brooke calls it "the most complete, most rounded to a polished sphere, of the longer poems of Tennyson." This poem not only fixed his rank as a poet, but gave him ready money and income sufficient to enable him to consider the subject of marriage.

INTRODUCTION xili

Tennyson's brother Charles was married in 1836. Alfred walked into the church with the bride's younger sister, Emily Sarah Sellwood, a slender, beautiful girl of seventeen. They had met six years before, but this second meeting convinced Tennyson that his feeling toward her was more than that of friendship. Very soon an engagement existed between them, but marriage was deferred be-

Tennyson's cause of lack of funds. Tennyson's income

mamage . *

was small. He and his family lost heavily

in an investment. So far away did marriage seem that the poet generously gave the woman he loved her freedom. Even with his longings for a better income, when, in 1845, Sir Robert Peel secured for him an annual pension of .£200, he accepted it on his own conditions, writing : " I have done nothing slavish to get it. I never even solicited for it by myself or thro' others. It was all done for me without a word or hint from me, and Peel tells me I need not by it be fettered in the public expression of any opinion I choose to take up." When, however, In Memoriam was printed, the poet found himself with a bank account of ^300 and the promise of a regular income from his ppems sufficient to warrant his marriage. On June 13, 1850, Alfred Tennyson and Emily Sellwood became husband and wife. " The peace of God came into my life before the altar when I wedded her," he said in after life; and on another occasion to some of his most intimate friends he remarked : " I have known many women who were excellent, one in one way, another in another way, but this woman is the noblest woman I have ever known." The wedding was followed very closely by the laureateship.

Wordsworth had been poet laureate, but he died in 1850. In November the appointment came to Tennyson, owing, it is asserted, " chiefly to Prince Albert's admiration for

xiv INTRODUCTION

In Memoriam" Upon receiving the letter announcing that he was the choice of the queen for the vacant laureateship he wrote two letters, one declining and one accepting, deter- mining to rely on the advice of friends in the laureate* matter of mailing the letters. " I have no

passion for courts, but a great love of privacy," he wrote to one. He was advised by them not to decline it This office added about ^100 to his annual income. From this time he continued in easy circumstances, with an ever- increasing revenue.

In 1853 the annual income from Tennyson's books was ^"500. Two years later he purchased the Farringford house on the Isle of Wight. This became his permanent home, though in 1868 he built a summer house at Aldworth in Surrey. Many honors now came to him. In 1855 the University of Oxford conferred on him the degree of D.C.L. In a few years he had the honor to decline the lord rectorship of Glas- gow University. He had not only kept the friends of his early life, but made new friendships. Prince Albert and Gladstone visited him at Farringford. The Duke of Argyll became a firm friend, and the living authors such as Brown- ing, Carlyle, Ruskin, Thackeray, Fitzgerald, Huxley, Bage- hot, and Harrison boasted and valued his companionship. In 1873 Tennyson received a letter from Mr. Gladstone offering a baronetcy from the queen. In answer he wrote, "I had rather we should remain plain Mr. and Mrs. and that, if it were possible, the title should first be assumed by our son." This did not seem wise and so passed by. Again the next year the offer was renewed through Mr. Disraeli, who was then premier. Tennyson still insisted on asking that the honor be reserved for his son, but as this was con- trary to all precedent, the baronetcy passed by him again.

INTRODUCTION XV

Nine years later, through Mr. Gladstone the queen made an offer of a peerage. This time the poet was approached with much diplomacy, Mr. Gladstone first suggesting the idea to Tennyson's son. It was while the Tennysons and Gladstones were on a voyage. The son watched his oppor- tunity and opened the subject. Then Mr. Gladstone came and urged the matter on the poet. Tennyson took two or three days to consider the offer ; then he said to his son, " By Gladstone's advice I have consented to take the peerage, but for my own part I shall regret my simple name all my life." About this matter Mr. Gladstone wrote the poet's son, " I think that by it we certainly succeeded in decorating the House of Lords, and I think your father will also be pleased with having given, as I believe, some real pleasure to the Queen in the grant of this honor." When Tennyson took his seat in the House of Lords he refused to sit with either party. " He felt that he must be free to vote for that which seemed to him best for the empire." The first bill for which he voted was the Extension of the Franchise. This he held to be a "matter of justice," and he always acted on that principle.

Tennyson was in his seventy-fifth year when he attained

to the peerage ; still he was a very active man. His political

utterances were not in the form of speeches to

Tennyson's last ... ......

years and his the lords, but in the form of stirnng lyrics, — death, October e, his fjrst as a peer being his poem Freedom, published in Macmillaii s Magazine for Decem- ber, 1884. About this time, when the Franchise Bill was under discussion, he wrote to Gladstone, who was premier :

Steersman, be not precipitate in thine act Of steering, for the river here, my friend, Parts in two channels, moving to one end — This goes straight forward to the cataract:

XVI INTRODUCTION

That streams about the bend ;

But tho' the cataract seem the nearer way,

Whate'er the crowd on either bank may say,

Take thou the "bend," 'twill save thee many a day.

Tennyson enjoyed the peerage for eight years, working, planning, writing. In his eighty-first year he wrote Crossing the Bar. One October day while passing from Aldworth to Farringford he heard the "moaning of the bar," and the poem was written. His wish that it be placed at the end of all editions of his poems has been observed. When he died, a life that had been all music passed away in song; singing, he " crost the bar."

THE POETRY OF TENNYSON

De Quincey mentions two elements of literary style, — matter and manner. Buffon's well-known definition, " Style is of the man himself," adds a third, and a Tennyson's style, very important one, — the personality or indi- viduality of the writer. These three elements may easily be found in the style of Tennyson.

As to his matter, Stopford Brooke says that " he wrote of the everyday loves and duties of men and women ; of the aspirations and trials which are common to all (a) His matter. ages and classes." Tennyson's son, Hallam, relates how the poet was accustomed to meet Carlyle, Thackeray, Dickens, Huxley, and other thoughtful men of all professions and of all degrees of attainment. Their talk would touch largely on politics, philosophy, and especially on the new speculations rife on every side. Upon projects of reform or of the great movements of philan- thropy he reflected much. This reflection furnished the

INTRODUCTION xvii

matter for his poetry ; this matter he molded into art form. The Princess offered a poet's solution of the woman ques- tion as it stood nearly sixty years ago. Locksley Hall repre- sented " young life, its good side, its deficiencies, and its yearnings." Tennyson called In Memoriam " The Way of the Soul," and Maud a " Drama of the Soul " set in a land- scape glorified by love. But the matter of Tennyson's poetry is spiritualized by the personality of the man.

There must have been something great in Tennyson the

man. The queen received him cordially from time to time.

The Prince Consort, the princesses, Gladstone,

W Haii?yrSOD" Huxlev> and the Duke of ArgYU were visitors at Farringford. A few of the elements of the poet's individuality have been noted by his critics. The great French writer, Taine, says, " Without being a pedant, he is moral. . . . He speaks of God and the soul nobly, tenderly, without ecclesiastical prejudice." Canon Farrar says, " Tennyson, though he had his moods of sorrow and perplexity, was an optimist, who had achieved his right to optimism by the fighting down of despair and doubt." Pro- fessor Dowden says Mr. Tennyson " has a strong dignity and efficiency of law, and law understood in its widest mean- ing. Energy nobly controlled, and ordered activity, delight his imagination. Violence, extravagance, immoderate force, the swerving from appointed ends, revolt, — these are with ^tr. Tennyson the supreme manifestations of evil." And Dr. Van Dyke adds, " His music must thrill us with the con- viction that the humblest child of man has a duty, an ideal, a destiny." Throughout his life he allied himself against the cry of "Art for art's sake " ; he was " a poet with a message." From his earliest attempts Tennyson endeavored to culti- vate the highest art of poetic expression. He was accustomed to modify the old adage so that it read, Poeta nascitur et fii

xviii INTRODUCTION

(the poet is both born and made). Some of his poems were subjected to many changes and several complete revisions.

It seemed to be the poet's aim to paint his (c) His manner, scenes vividly, to express his thoughts clearly

and precisely, to adorn his pages with jewels of thought and figures of beauty, and to give the whole the color of rich romance. There are critics of note, however, who have charged Tennyson with an over-ornateness. Taine says, " He gave them [his poems] too much adornment and polishing ; he seemed like an Epicurean in style as well as in beauty." On the other hand, Bagehot asserts that " Tenny- son has painted with pure art." Although his style is beset with mannerisms offensive to some, although he reveled in alliteration and delighted in compound words three or four deep, such as " one-day-seen " and " nine-years-fought-for," Tennyson became so skilled in the use of ornamentation that criticism was silenced. The poet proved himself supe- rior to his critics in artistic judgment and in taste. His own dictum about literary work was, "An artist should get his workmanship as good as he can, and make his work as per- fect as possible. A small vessel built on fine lines is likely to float further down the stream of time than a big raft." So he strove to make every verse he composed as artistically correct as he was able to make it.

The Greeks recognized three kinds of poetry, — lyric, epic, and dramatic. Tennyson tried all three. In his early life the lyric element predominated ; next " the melody of the

lyric is wedded to the sentiment and picture Threpeoekti^ds of of the idyll." The idyll merges into the epic.

There are, too, the mock heroic, The Princess, and the monodrama, Maud, with their beautiful inter-lyrics ; and these lead to the drama. First, then, as a lyric poet.

INTRODUCTION xix

Lyric poetry is the artistic expression of the sentiments and emotions, that is, it is subjective. The poet "lets his illumined being o'errun " in music and song. The action of the lyric is usually rapid ; the time quick ;

a the verse itself musical- The poet is free to invent forms. Many of Tennyson's lyric measures are wholly his own ; while others have been so treated by him as to make them virtually new. Among those which the poet himself admired were that of The Daisy, some of the anapestic movements in Maud, and the " long- rolling rhythm of his ode To Virgil" Alfred Tennyson's contribution to the volume of verse entitled Poems of Two Brothers was largely lyric. At Cambridge, in certain college rooms, he would often declaim his own poems and even "improvise verses by the score, full of lyrical passion." In his first volume, Poems chiefly Lyrical, " the variety of his lyrical measures " was noted. In the volume of 1842 appeared St. Agnes' Eve and Sir Galahad, which Stedman pronounces the " purest and highest of all his lyrical pieces." The Talk- ing Oak of this same volume is called the "nonpareil of sustained lyrics in quatrain verse." Throughout his long lifetime the lyric fires continued to burn intensely ; for nearly every year gave the world new songs and ballads. What he furnished is usually described in the superlative degree. Landor called his Hands all Round " incomparably the best (convivial) lyric in the language." The spirit of English freedom and patriotism breathes through such songs as Love thou thy land, Of old sat Freedom on the heights, England and America in 1782, and The Charge of the Light Brigade. The Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington is the most ambi- tious of the patriotic lyrics. , Stedman says, " Few will deny that, taken together, the five melodies, — As through the land, Sweet and low, The splendor falls on castle walls, Home they

XX INTRODUCTION

brought her warrior dead, and Ask me no more! — that these constitute the finest group of songs produced in our century" ; and he adds, "the Bugle Song seems to many the most perfect English lyric since the time of Shakespeare." The great elegy, In Memoriam, is a chain of lyrics, and Maud is more lyric than dramatic. Crossing the Bar, written in his eighty-first year, shows the lyric power still unimpaired. In all this work he was cheered and encouraged by Lady Tennyson, who furnished the musical setting for several of his songs and the inspiration for some of his idylls. The idyll, indeed, was the stepping-stone from the lyric to the epic. The word "idyll" means "a little picture." Quiet and homely scenes are fitting subjects for this kind of poetry ; for " the idyll must be simple, calm, more concerned with situa- tion than with action." Tennyson's short narrative poems

giving pictures of simple country life are The idyll. idylls, and he wrote many of this kind. The

Gardener's Daughter, The Miller's Daughter, and Godiva are purely idyllic pieces. In Tennyson's poetry there is no dividing line between the lyric and the idyll and the idyll and the epic. The Brook is an idyll containing an inter-lyric; The Princess is a mock heroic poem containing several lyrics and one idyll.

Epic poetry, Dr. Gummere says, is that kind in which the poet himself narrates a story as if he were present. It is simple in construction, yet it admits of the episode and the dialogue. The meter of the lyric may vary with the impulses of thought ; that of the epic must be uniform. The lyric

deals with the present ; the grand epic with

the Past> The ePic enforces no moral although it may hold one in solution. Some of Tenny- son's idylls are epics. Such ballads as The Revenge, The Defence of Lucknow, and The Voyage of Maeldune are good

INTRODUCTION xxi

examples of the ballad-epic. Enoch Arden and Dora repre- sent another kind of epic, — the simple, touching tale. Tenny- son's nearest approach to a grand epic was his Idylls of the King. A friend of the poet called this work " Epylls of the King." " According to him they were little epics (not idylls) woven into an epical unity." Still the Idylls of the King are idyllic ; they " are full of little pictures which show that Tennyson has studied nature at first-hand, and that he

understood how to catch and reproduce the T the' Kiif U "°f most fleeting and delicate expressions of her

face." This poem was the growth of nearly half a century. It was late in life when Tennyson turned to the drama as the medium of art expression.

"The drama is imitated human action." Dramatic poetry partakes of the nature of both the epic and the lyric; it

deals with the past, but represents past actions Dramatic poetry, as actually occurring before our eyes. The

basis, then, is epic, but there are the lyric sentiment, action, and fire. Characters live and act before us and speak in our presence. Thus the poetry is heightened by the varying situations. Tennyson was sixty-five years of age when his first play was published. Queen Mary, Harold, and Heckettorm what he called his " historical trilogy." The poet's idea was to portray the making of England : Harold

reproduces the great conflict between Danes, Tennyson's Saxons, and Normans; Becket deals with the

dramas.

struggle between the Crown and the Church ; Queen Mary represents the rise of the individual into freedom. Other dramas are The Foresters, The Cup, and The Falcon. The value of his dramatic work as compared with his other poetry has been questioned.

In Maud, Locksley Hall, and other pieces, Tennyson used the monodrama, — a form very popul ar with Browning. When

xxii INTRODUCTION

he undertook the drama proper he was prepared for adverse criticism. There have, however, been given two estimates of his dramatic work, as there are two kinds of modern drama, — the drama of action and the drama of living. In the one the characters move before our eyes

and in an artificial way act their little Parts ;

in the other the characters live before our eyes. The contrast is felt when Shakespeare's Othello is compared with Browning's Luria. Othello talks and acts ; Luria says little, acts little, but lives the hero. Of course on the stage the drama of action is the more popular. Tenny- son's were rather dramas of living. One critic, therefore, says that he is not a true dramatic poet because he has the limitations of his day and generation ; he is romantic and not dramatic. Another says: "Tennyson is one of the great voices of modern times. He is thoroughly penetrated with the spirit of the era, and his methods are throughout such as that spirit dictates. His plays are not so much the delineation of great deeds as they are the studies of the motives which lie behind those deeds. . . . Green, the his- torian of England, says, ' All my researches into the annals of the twelfth century have not given me so vivid a concep- tion of the character of Henry II. as was embodied in Tenny- son's Beckett " Dr. Van Dyke has expressed the opinion that " it is not too daring to predict that the day is coming when the study of Shakespeare's historical plays will be reckoned no more important to an understanding of English history than the study of Tennyson's trilogy ! "

INTRODUCTION xxiii

THE "IDYLLS OF THE KING"

Tennyson's Idylls of the King has been called the " Epic of Arthur." The Grand Epic may deal with the mythology or the religion of a people, or it may relate the legends that gather about the history of the past. Milton chose for his great epic the theme of "man's first disobedience" and the bringing of " Death into the world," a subject that deeply concerned every human being and enabled him to write a Grand Epic ; for a work of great art must have a great subject. Tennyson, combining the legendary with the myth- ical, embodied in his poem a Christian ideal that makes it also a Grand Epic. The Epic of Arthur is a double allegory ; first, as " shadowing Sense at war with Soul " ; next, as a poem of " The Year and the Soul."

As the Epic of Arthur the poem is legendary. Arthur was a king of Britain who flourished in that dark

The ' ' Epic of , . .

Arthur." and stormy period when, the protecting arm of Rome having been withdrawn, the weakened people were left subject to the inroads of the invading Saxon. In this struggle of Christian against pagan, King Arthur, by uniting the native kings and barons in a confederacy, was able to stand successfully against the incoming Northmen and even to drive them back. Such was his fame that suc- ceeding generations came to hold him in great veneration. As time passed, legends gathered around the name of the great Arthur. For two or three centuries these grew by oral repetition, until, after the eighth century, a monk named Nennius put in Latin a written account of the wars of Arthur, naming the twelve great battles which this king fought and won. In written form this account passed from hand to hand, the stories growing in number and in interest. In one

xxiv INTRODUCTION

form or another the legends of Arthur found their way across the English Channel. The trouveres of northern France chanted the old ones and created new. The stories became popular at the court of the Plantagenet kings, eventually forming what has been called the "Arthurian The "Arthurian Cycie of Romance." Then through many Romance." hands they passed into Anglo-Saxon and into

modern English.

The edition of the Arthurian legends which most influenced Tennyson was that of Sir Thomas Malory, a knight of the fifteenth century, whose Morte Darthur was Polished in 1485. He seems to have added the story of Gareth and Lynette. Though he added little else, "he selected the most interesting things with an almost invariable sureness, though there are one or two omissions ; and he omitted the less interesting parts with a sureness to which there are hardly any exceptions at all. He grasped, and this is his great and saving merit as an author, the one central fact of the story — that in the combination of the Quest of the Grail with the loves of Lancelot and Guinevere, lay the kernel at once and the conclusion of the whole matter." Tennyson, however, has made the old legends his own, " restored the idealism, and infused into them a spirit of modern thought and an ethical significance, setting his characters in a rich and varied landscape ; as indeed otherwise their archaic

Preparation for stories would not have appealed to the modern -writing the , , , ..

•"idylls." world at large. In 1848 the poet, brooding

over the Arthurian romances, made a tour of •Cornwall, and eight years later, accompanied by his wife, he visited Wales, where he wandered over the mountains and viewed the scenes so wonderfully reproduced in his verse pictures.

INTRODUCTION XXV

With Tennyson himself the Idylls were a growth of nearly half a century. A great poem comes from brooding, and through all these years the brooding process continued. As early as 1832 the poet began to draw on the Arthurian legends for his inspiration to song. First there appeared the lyric, The Lady of Shalott, which is only another ver- sion of Lancelot and Elaine, The 1842 volume contained Sir Galahad, Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, and Morte d' Arthur (which forms a part of his present The Passing of Arthur}. The poet was just experimenting; it was not till 1859 that he published the first installment, Enid, Vivien, Elaine, Guinevere. Then followed a rest of ten years, after which (1869) a volume appeared containing The Coming of Arthur, The Holy Grail, Pelleas and Ettarre, and The Passing of Arthur. In 1871 The Last Tournament was privately printed and then published in the Contemporary Rmiew; republished with Gareth and Lynette in 1872. These with Balin and Balan (published in 1885) make up the twelve books.

The complete epic as finally arranged consists of a Dedica- tion to Prince Albert, an Epilogue To the Queen, and the Idylls in three parts, — The Coming of Arthur, The Round Table, and The Passing of Arthur. The Round Table consists of ten idylls, the names of which have already been mentioned. The main action of the plot is the criminal love of Lancelot and Guinevere working to overthrow The plot. the unsuspecting goodness of King Arthur.

While each of the idylls of The Round Table has an interest of its own, every one bears upon this main action, and by suggestion, by assertion, and by foreshadow- ing helps to work the solution of the problem of virtue. Though virtue seems to fail, the poet has given his own interpretation to his theme in the words :

xxvi INTRODUCTION

" The old order changeth, yielding place to new,

And Gcd fulfils himself in many ways,

Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. . . ."

As for the meaning of the poem, Lord Tennyson would affirm, " Poetry is like shot-silk with many glancing colors. Every reader must find his own interpretation according to his ability, and according to his sympathy with the poet." Readers who have most sympathy with the

poet have found in the Idylls °J the Kins a

double allegory; it is an epic of "The Year," and also a poem of " Sense at war with Soul."

As we read the poem, " we go from the marriage of spring in The Coming of Arthur, when the blossom of the May seems to spread its perfume over the whole scene, to the early

summer of the honeysuckle in Gareth, the ^The^ear „ quickly following mowing-season of Geraint,

and the sudden summer-thunder-shower of Vivien — thence to the full summer of Elaine, with oriel casements standing wide for heat — and later, to the sweep of equinoctial storms and broken weather of The Holy Grail. Then come the autumn roses and branches of Pelleas, and in The Last Tournament the close autumn-tide, with all its slowly mellowing avenues, through which we see Sir Tristram riding to his doom. In Guinevere the creeping mists of com- ing winter pervade the picture, and in The Passing of Arthur we come to deep winter on the frozen hills : — and the end of all, on the year's shortest day (taken as the end of the year) — that day when the great light of heaven burned at his lowest in the rolling year. The King, who first appears on the night of the New Year, disappears into the dawning light of the new sun bringing the New Year, and thus the whole action of the poem is comprised precisely within the

INTRODUCTION xxvil

limits of the one principal and ever-recurring cycle of time." In Gareth the joy of life "lives in the eternal youth of goodness. But in the later idylls the allowed sin not only poisons the spring of life in the summer, but spreads its poison through the whole community."

" If epic unity is looked for in the Idylls, we find it not in the wrath of an Achilles, nor in the wanderings of Ulysses,

but in the unending war of humanity in all The epic of ages, — the world-wide war of Sense and

with soul." Soul, typified in individuals, with the subtle

interaction of character upon character, the central dominant figure being the pure, generous, tender, brave, human-hearted Arthur. . . . The great resolve [to ennoble and spiritualize mankind] is kept so long as all work in obedience to the highest and holiest law within them." A single sin intrudes and is allowed to remain ; but " in some natures, even among those who would rather die than doubt, it breeds suspicion and want of trust in God and man. Some royal souls are wrought to madness against the world. Others, and some among the highest intellects, become the slaves of the evil which is at first half-disdained. Tender natures sink under the blight; that which is of the highest is then working their death. And in some, as faith declines, religion turns from practical goodness to superstition.

" This madness has come on us for our sin.

" These seek relief in selfish spiritual excitement, not remembering that man's duty is to forget self in the service of others, and to let visions come and go, and that so only will they see the Holy Grail. In the idyll of Pelleas and Ettarre selfishness has turned to open crime ; it is the break- ing of the storm ; nevertheless Pelleas still honors his sacred

xxviii INTRODUCTION

vow to the king and spares the wrong-doers. Whereas in The Last Tournament the wrong-doer suffers his doom, and is cloven through the brain. We have here the deadly proof of the kinship of all willful sin in murder following adultery in closest relation of cause and consequence, — the prelude of the final act of the tragedy which culminates in the tem- porary triumph of evil, the confusion of moral order, closing in the great Battle of the West."

" The whole poem is the dream of man coming into prac- tical life and ruined by one sin. Birth is a mystery and death is a mystery, and in the midst lies the table-land of life, and its struggles and performances. It is not the his- tory of one man or one generation but of a whole cycle of generations."

Gareth and Lynette represents spring and the springtime of life. The young man in strength and hope and ambi- tion seeks knighthood. After attaining this, L nette*"d ^e *s granted his first quest when nature is as full of life as the sharp-tongued Lynette. The interpretation of the incident of the " blooming boy " is twofold : Gareth found " Love instead of Death " ; and "who knows whether indeed Life be Death and Death Life ? " The allegorical interpretation is, " Death, though apparently the most formidable antagonist of all, turns out to be no real foe, and his fall ushers in the happier day from underground."

Lancelot and Elaine is seventh in the order of final arrange- ment of the Idylls. The poison of the one sin at Arthur's court has spread and we see " the piteous early death of inno- cence and hope resulting from it." Littledale says: "This is perhaps the most idyllic of the Idylls and it is in most respects the most touching, as a picture of Elaine's love, 'that never found its mortal close,' and Lancelot's great

INTRODUCTION xxix

and guilty passion ' that marred his face and marked it ere

his time.' Tennyson's power of drawing the characters of

simple and lovable women is here seen to perfection. It is

a harder task to depict women like Enid and

•• Lancelot ana Elaine fair and lovable beings with all the ElcLinc.

charm of purity and goodness, but moving

steadfastly within the orbit of simple duties, and lacking the

effect of deviation, the contrast of light and shade, that we

see in the lives of less clear-natured women. In delineating

these gracious creatures, Tennyson stands unrivaled ; and

in his rare sympathy with such types of womanly purity, we

may perceive the almost feminine delicacy of his mind."

The Passing of Arthur is the concluding idyll of the poem,

yet it was the first one of the series to be

"Th^aSSi°g°f written. In the volume of 1842 the largest

Arthur. ' '

part of the poem appeared under the title of Morte d' Arthur. It is a fitting end to the poem in every way. Arthur received Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake and he returns it to her. Then the barge appears to carry him to the blest Avilion. " The symbolism in this portion of the idyll is less prominent, and the story is told in Homeric simplicity and directness. . . . Arthur's earthly realm may reel back into the beast," and his round table may be dissolved ; but his purity is untarnished, his honor is without stain, and the ideal which he has striven to real- ize has lost none of its inward vitality and significance. As he passes from earth to "vanish into light," he already gives a forecast of his return as the representative of the new chivalry, when he shall come

With all good things, and war shall be no more.

XXX INTRODUCTION

TENNYSON'S BLANK VERSE

Tennyson " is the creator of a new blank verse, different both from the Elizabethan and from the Miltonic. He has known how to modulate it to every theme, and to elicit a music appropriate to each ; attuning it in His blank verse, turn to a tender and lovely grace, as in The Gardener's Daughter ; to the severe and ideal majesty of the antique, as in Tithonus ; to meditative thought, as in The Ancient Sage, or Akbar's Dream ; to pathetic or tragic tales of contemporary life, as in Aylmer's Field, or Enoch Arden ; or to sustained romantic narration, as in the Idylls. No [other] English poet has used blank verse with such flexible variety, or drawn from it so large a compass of tones ; nor has any maintained it so equally on a high level of excellence."

The artistic and musical blank verse of the Idylls of the King is not crystallized into arbitrary forms. The poet takes all the liberties of the musician. Time is the basal element in his verse structure. The movement is quickened or retarded according to the thought. " Don't write so rhythmically," his father said to the boy poet; " break your lines occasion- ally for the sake of variety." Tennyson, following this sug- gestion, declared that he was nearer thirty than twenty before he was anything of an artist. While he rigidly conforms to the pentameter line, he gains variety and many delicate shades of effect by using almost every possible mixture of feet. The feet not iambic are called substituted feet. He himself tells us how blank verse ought to be made : " The English public think that blank verse is the easiest thing in the world to write, mere prose cut up into five-foot lines ; whereas it is one of the most difficult. In a blank verse you can have

INTRODUCTION xxxi

from three up to eight beats [or accents] ; but, if you vary the beats unusually, your ordinary newspaper critic sets up a howl. The varying of the beats, of the construction of the feet, of the emphasis, of the extra-metrical syllables, and of the pauses, helps to make the greatness of blank verse." In order to discuss this verse with intelligence and appre- ciation, it is necessary to agree on a vocabulary; such a vocabulary is here suggested. Meter is measure. Verse is measured language. A verse is a single line of measured language. Language is measured by the foot.

Vocabulary for

the study of Ten- A Joot is a combination of two or three sylla-

nyson's blank b\e$ usually containing one accent or more. verse .

There are eight kinds of feet found in Tenny-

son's blank verse : the iamb, a foot of two syllables, the second of which is accented, indicated in writing thus (w /) ; the trochee, a foot of two syllables, the first of which is accented, indicated (/^); the spondee, two syllables, both accented (//); the pyrrhic, two syllables, neither accented (ww); the anapest, three syllables, the last of which is accented (w^//); the dactyl, three syllables, first accented (/ww); the amphibrach, three syllables, second accented (w/w); and the amphimacer, three syllables, first and last accented (/w/). Saintsbury speaks even of the tribrachs of Tennyson's idylls. Language to be measured must be rhythmic. Perfect rhythm is produced by a regular succes- sion of the same foot or of feet that require equal intervals of time for utterance. The greater swells of a rhythmic movement are produced by a regular succession of verses of equal measure or of verses that require equal intervals of time for utterance. Perfect blank verse consists of lines, or verses, which contain five iambic feet and which do not rhyme. (Loosely speaking, rhyme is similarity of sound occurring usually at the end of successive or alternating

XXX11

INTRODUCTION

verses.) Such verse containing five iambic feet is de- scribed as iambic pentameter. Scansion consists of reading verse so as to reproduce its rhythm by indicating the natu- ral beats of the feet, the varying flow of the movement, and the changing pulsations of the thought. In scanning blank verse do not try to make all the feet iambic ; read for the thought and the effect, and allow the accents to fall where they must. Describe every verse as iambic pentameter, point- ing out and naming the substituted feet.

The prevailing verse in the Idylls of the King is iambic pentameter, such as the following :

And friend

And some

slew friend

not know ing whom he slew ;

had vi sions out

of gold en youth,

The Passing of Arthur, 11. 101, 102.

While a surpassing number of verses contain five beats there is almost every possible arrangement of accented and unaccented syllables with reference to one another. Here and hereafter rhythmic stress and not syllabic accent is meant by the word "accent." In scanning, the syllables of polysyllabic words bearing either primary or secondary word or syllabic accents may have also rhythmic stress. Do not mispronounce words in order to make the rhythm regularly iambic.

Every new arrangement of rhythmic accents produces a new effect. Note the following variations in the kinds of feet used in verse of five rhythmic beats :

Prisoned, and kept | and coax'd

and whis tied to —

Gareth and Lynette, \. 14.

This may be described as an iambic pentameter verse with a trochee substituted for the first iamb.

INTRODUCTION

xxxm

He nev er spake word of reproach

to me,

Lancelot and Elaine, 1. 124.

In this verse the third and fourth feet form a choriambus (a trochee followed by an iamb), and in the following verse a hesitating effect is produced by a double choriambus.

First as

Till the

in fear, step after step

she stole

Lancelot and Elaine, \. 340.

High God

behold

it from

beyond,

The Passing of Arthur, 1. 16.

Described as an iambic pentameter verse with a trochee substituted for the first, a spondee for the second, and a pyrrhic for the fourth iambs.

Meeker

than an

y child

to a

rough nurse,

Lancelot and Elaine, 1. 852.

Note the jarring effect produced by the pyrrhic followed by the spondee.

All night

waste land

where no

^ / one comes,

The Passing of Arthur, 1. 370.

And there, that day

when the

great light

of heaven

The Passing of Arthur, \. 90.

Southward

they set

their fa ces. The

birds made

Gareth and Lynette, 1. 179.

Rapidly and lightly gliding effects are produced by the introduction of extra syllables. The five-accent lines may have eleven or twelve syllables like the following.

\J / W / W ^ / W / W /

In ev er high ering ea gle cir cles up

Gareth and Lynette, 1. 21.

XXXIV

INTRODUCTION

And Gareth went

and hov ering round

her chair

Gareth and Lynette, \. 33

That smells

a foul-

flesh'd ag aric in the holt,

Gareth and Lynette, 1. 729.

For this

-

an eagle,

a roy

w /

al eagle, laid

Anon,

the whole

Gareth and Lynette, \. 44. /I W /

fair city had disjappear'd.

Gareth and Lynette, 1. 193.

Then I so shook

him in

the saddle, he said,

Gareth and Lynette, 1. 29.

^ / •An I

could climb

and lay | my hand

upon it,

Gareth and Lynette, 1. 50.

Here the last foot is an amphibrach, and in the next verse the last foot is an amphimacer, a foot rarely found at the end of a line.

At times

the sum mit of

the high city flash'd;

Gareth and Lynette, 1. 189.

Milder than an

y mother to a | sick child,

Lancelot and Elaine, 1. 853.

This verse is described as an iambic pentameter verse with a trochee substituted for the first, an amphibrach for the third, a pyrrhic for the fourth, and a spondee for the fifth iambs.

To weary

her ears with one

continuous prayer,

Gareth and Lynette, 1. 19.

This and the following two verses have five accents and twelve syllables.

INTRODUCTION

XXXV

\j f \j y / \j / ' \j / \j \j f

Immingled with Heav en's a zure wav eringly,

Gareth and Lynette, 1. 914.

/ ww

Melody

on branch

and melo dy in

mid air.

Gareth and Lynette, 1. 180.

This verse, with its dactyl and iamb and amphibrach and spondee, reproduces the melody of the lark or of the thrush.

Verses of three beats are of rare occurrence, but those of four accents are found with greater frequency. Rapidity of movement is gained by lessening the number of accented syllables ; and often the movement is lightened by the introduction of extra syllables, eleven and twelve not being uncommon.

And the

long glo ry of

the win

ter moon.

The Passing of Arthur, 1. 360.

Burn'd at

his low est in

the rolling year,

The Passing of Arthur, 1. 91.

Look in

And let

upon

W \J \ \J

the battle ; and in the mist

The Passing of Arthur, 1. 104.

the story

of her dol orous

voyage

Lancelot and Elaine, 1. 1332.

In verses of six and seven accents, the added beats pro- duce emphasis or the effect of harshness, impressiveness, stateliness, solemnity, or kindred tones. With the normal number of syllables, the effect is very marked.

Shrill, chill,

with flakes

of foam.

He, step ping down

Tkt Passing of Arthur, 1. 217,

XXXVI

INTRODUCTION

Down the

long tow er stairs hesi tating :

Lancelot and Elaine, \. 341.

Note the hesitating of this verse and the slow tread of the following.

And so

strode back

Like this

last, dim,

slow to

weird bat

the wound ed King.

The Passing of Arthur, 1. 280.

tie of

the west.

The Passing of A rthitr, \. 94.

Note the solemn weirdness produced in this verse by the five successive accents and the emphasis produced in the following verses by the distribution of the accents.

He is

all fault

Good moth

er is

w /

who hath

bad moth

no fault

at all :

Lancelot and Elaine, \. 132.

er un to me !

Gareth and Lynette, 1. 16.

Needs must

be less er like lihood, noble lord,

A dead

hush fell ;

but when

Lancelot and Elaine, 1. 365.

the dol orous day

The Passing of Arthur, 1. 122.

And with mine

own hand

give his

diamond

/ y to him,

Lancelot and Elaine, 1. 755.

For I, being simple, thought to work

His will.

The Passing of Arthur, 1. 22.

'Thou hast half

prevail'd against me,' said

so — he —

Gareth and Lynette, \. 30.

/ /

Muttering and mur muring at his ear, " Quick, quick !

The Passing of Arthur, 1. 347.

INTRODUCTION

xxxvil

The following verses, which contain seven accents, are still more weighty or imposing.

" Hearest

thou this

great voice

that shakes

the world,

The Passing of Arthur, 1. 139.

Ran to her,

and lo !

w / the blood-

^ / of dawn

red light

Lancelot and Elaine, 1. 1018.

Stay, my

best son !

ye are yet more boy

than man."

Caret 'h and Lynette, 1. 97.

Were it well

to o

bey then, if a king

^ /

demand

The Passing of A rthur, 1. 263.

Thus all the lights and shades and variations of tone and voice and color are reproduced by the art of Tennyson. Nature is made to teem with life and to sparkle with beauty.

REFERENCES

The student will find the following books and papers of value in an appreciative and sympathetic study of the Idylls of the King.

Alfred Lord Tennyson : a Memoir by his Son.

Tennyson : His Art and Relation to Modern Life, by the Rev. Stopford A. Brooke.

Tennyson's Idylls of the King, edited by William J. Rolfe. The Poetry of Tennyson, by the Rev. Henry Van Dyke. The Growth of the Idylls of the King, by Richard Jones, Ph.D. Essays on Tenny soil's Idylls of the King, by Harold Littledale. Morte Darthur, by Sir Thomas Malory.

"The Idylls of the King," by Henry (Dean) Alford, Con- temporary Review, January, 1870.

"The Meaning of Mr. Tennyson's King Arthur," Contemporary Review, May, 1873.

xxxviii

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KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE

" BEDIVERE — « First made and latest left of all the knights';

LANCELOT — ' His warrior whom he loved and honored most ' ;

GAWAIN — ' A reckless and irreverent knight was he ' ;

MODRED — ' Struck for the throne, and striking found his doom ';

GARETH — ' Underwent the sooty yoke of kitchen vassalage';

KAY — ' No mellow master of the meats and drinks ' ;

GERAINT — 'A tributary prince of Devon,' married to Enid ;

BALIN — 'The Savage'; and Balan, his brother;

PERCIVALE — ' Whom Arthur and his knighthood called The Pure ' ;

GALAHAD — ' But I, Sir Arthur, saw the Holy Grail ' ;

BORS — ' A square-set man and honest,' of Lancelot's kin ;

PELLEAS — ' Of the Isles ' ; enamored of Ettarre ;

TRISTRAM — 'Of the Woods'; slain by Mark, Isolt's husband."

Rowe.

xliv

IDYLLS OF THE KING

GARETH AND LYNETTE

ti x. 4 u ^. \ o — l — 1"-^| The last tall son of Lot land Bellicent;

And tallest, Garefth, in a showerful spring

Stared at the spate. A slender-shafted pine

Lost footing, fell, andiso was whirl'd away.

" Ifow heiwent down,? said Gareth, "as/ a false knight 5

Or evil king before my lance, if lance

Were mine to use — O senseless cataract,

Bearing all down in thy precipitancy —

And yet thou art but swollen with cold snows

And mine is living blood : thou dost His will, 10

The Maker's, and not knowest, and I that know,

Have strength and wit, in my good mother's hall

Linger with vacillating obedience,

Prison'd, and kept and coax'd and whistled to —

Since the good mother holds me still a child! 15

Good mother is bad mother unto me !

A worse were better ; yet no worse would I.

Heaven yield her for it, but in me put force

To weary her ears with one continuous prayer,

Until she let me fly discaged to sweep 20

In ever-highering eagle-circles up

To the great Sun of Glory, and thence swoop

Down upon all things base, and dash them dead,

A knight of Arthur, working out his will,

2 IDYLLS OF THE KING

To cleanse the world. Why, Gawain, when he came 25

With Modred hither in the summer-time,

Ask'd me to tilt with him, the proven knight.

Modred for want of worthier was the judge.

Then I so shook him in the saddle, he said,

' Thou hast half prevail'd against me,' said so — he — 30

Tho' Modred biting his thin lips was mute,

For he is alway sullen : what care I ? "

And Gareth went, and hovering round her chair Ask'd, " Mother, tho' ye count me still the child, Sweet mother, do ye love the child ? " She laughed, 35

" Thou art but a wild-goose to question it." " Then, mother, an ye love the child," he said, " Being a goose and rather tame than wild, Hear the child's story." "Yea, my well-beloved,

An 'twere but of the goose and golden eggs." 40

•

And Gareth answer'd her with kindling eyes : " Nay, nay, good mother, but this egg of mine Was finer gold than any goose can lay ; For this an eagle, a royal eagle, laid

Almost beyond eye-reach, on such a palm 45

As glitters gilded in thy Book of Hours. And there was ever haunting round the palm A lusty youth, but poor, who often saw The splendor sparkling from aloft, and thought, { An I could climb and lay my hand upon it, 50

Then were I wealthier than a leash of kings.' But ever when he reach'd a hand to climb, One that had loved him from his childhood caught And stay'd him, ' Climb not lest thou break thy neck, I charge thee by my love,' and so the boy, 55

GARETH AND LYNETTE 3

V

Sweet mother, neither clomb nor brake his neck, But brake his very heart in pining for it, And past away."

To whom the mother said,

" True love, sweet son, had risk'd himself and climb'd, And handed down the golden treasure to him." 60

And Gareth answer'd her with kindling eyes : " Gold ? said I gold ? — ay then, why he, or she, Or whosoe'er it was, or half the world Had ventured — had the thing I spake of been Mere gold — but this was all of that true steel 65

Whereof they forged the brand Excalibur, And lightnings play'd about it in the storm, And all the little fowl were flurried at it, And there were cries and clashings in the nest, That sent him from his senses : let me go." 70

Then Bellicent bemoan'd herself and said : " Hast thou no pity upon my loneliness ? Lo, where thy father Lot beside the hearth Lies like a log, and all but smoulder'd out! For ever since when traitor to the King 75

He fought against him in the barons' war, And Arthur gave him back his territory, His age hath slowly droopt, and now lies there A yet-warm corpse, and yet unburiable,

No more ; nor sees, nor hears, nor speaks, nor knows. 80 And both thy brethren are in Arthur's hall, Albeit neither loved with that full love I feel for thee, nor worthy such a love. Stay therefore thou ; red berries charm the bird,

4 IDYLLS OF THE KING

And thee, mine innocent, the jousts, the wars, 85

Who never knewest finger-ache, nor pang

Of wrench'd or broken limb — an often chance

In those brain-stunning shocks, and tourney-falls,

Frights to my heart ; but stay : follow the deer

By these tall firs and our fast-falling burns ; 90

So make thy manhood mightier day by day ;

Sweet is the chase : and I will seek thee out

Some comfortable bride and fair, to grace

Thy climbing life, and cherish my prone year,

Till falling into Lot's forgetfulness 95

I know not thee, myself, nor anything.

Stay, my best son I ye are yet more boy than man."

Then Gareth : " An ye hold me yet for child, Hear yet once more the story of the child. For, mother, there was once a king, like ours. 100

The prince his heir, when tall and marriageable, Ask'd for a bride ; and thereupon the king Set two before him. One was fair, strong, arm'd — But to be won by force — and many men Desired her ; one, good lack, no man desired. 105

And these were the conditions of the king : That save he won the first by force, he needs Must wed that other, whom no man desired, A red-faced bride who knew herself so vile That evermore she long'd to hide herself, 1I0

Nor fronted man or woman, eye to eye — Yea — some she cleaved to, but they died of her. And one — they call'd her Fame ; and one — O mother. How can ye keep me tether'd to you ? — Shame. Man am I grown, a man's work must I do. I15

Follow the deer ? follow the Christ, the King,

GARETH AND LYNETTE 5

Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King — Else, wherefore born ? "

To whom the mother said:

" Sweet son, for there be many who deem him not, Or will not deem him, wholly proven King — 120

Albeit in mine own heart I knew him King When I was frequent with him in my youth, And heard him kingly speak, and doubted him No more than he, himself ; but felt him mine, Of closest kin to me : yet — wilt thou leave 125

Thine easeful biding here, and risk thine all, Life, limbs, for one that is not proven King ? Stay, till the cloud that settles round his birth Hath lifted but a little. Stay, sweet son."

And Gareth answer'd quickly : "Not an hour, 130

So that ye yield me — I will walk thro' fire, Mother, to gain it — your full leave to go. Not proven, who swept the dust of ruin'd Rome From off the threshold of the realm, and crush'd The idolaters, and made the people free ? 135

Who should be king save him who makes us free ^'

So when the Queen, who long had sought in vain To break him from the intent to which he grew, Found her son's will unwaveringly one, She answer'd craftily : " Will ye walk thro' fire ? 140

Who walks thro' fire will hardly heed the smoke. Ay, go then, an ye must : only one proof, Before thou ask the King to make thee knight, Of thine obedience and thy love to me, Thy mother, — I demand."

6 IDYLLS OF THE KING

And Gareth cried : I45

"A hard one, or a hundred, so I go. Nay — quick ! the proof to prove me to the quick ! "

But slowly spake the mother looking at him : " Prince, thou shalt go disguised to Arthur's hall, And hire thyself to serve for meats and drinks 150

Among the scullions and the kitchen-knaves, And those that hand the dish across the bar. Nor shalt thou tell thy name to any one. And thou shalt serve a twelvemonth and a day."

For so the Queen believed that when her son 155

Beheld his only way to glory lead Low down thro' villain kitchen-vassalage, Her own true Gareth was too princely-proud To pass thereby ; so should he rest with her, Closed in her castle from the sound of arms. 160

Silent awhile was Gareth, then replied : " The thrall in person may be free in soul, And I shall see the jousts. Thy son am I, And, since thou art my mother, must obey. I therefore yield me freely to thy will ; 165

For hence will I, disguised, and hire myself To serve with scullions and with kitchen-knaves ; Nor tell my name to any — no, not the King."

Gareth awhile linger'd. The mother's eye Full of the wistful fear that he would go, 170

And turning toward him wheresoe'er he turn'd, Perplext his outward purpose, till an hour When, waken'd by the wind which with full voice

GARETH AND LYNETTE 7

Swept bellowing thro' the darkness on to dawn,

He rose, and out of slumber calling two 175

That still had tended on him from his birth,

Before the wakeful mother heard him, went.

The three were clad like tillers of the soil. Southward they set their faces. The birds made Melody on branch and melody in mid air. 180

The damp hill-slopes were quicken'd into green, And the live green had kindled into flowers, For it was past the time of Easter-day.

So, when their feet were planted on the plain That broaden'd toward the base of Camelot, 185

Far off they saw the silver-misty morn Rolling her smoke about the royal mount, That rose between the forest and the field. At times the summit of the high city flash'd; At times the spires and turrets half-way down 190

Prick'd thro' the mist ; at times the great gate shone Only, that open'd on the field below: Anon, the whole fair city had disappear'd.

Then those who went with Gareth were amazed, One crying, "Let us go no further, lord: 195

Here is a city of enchanters, built By fairy kings." The second echo'd him, "Lord, we have heard from our wise man at home To northward, that this king is not the King, But only changeling out of Fairyland, 200

Who drave the heathen hence by sorcery And Merlin's glamour." Then the first again, "Lord, there is no such city anywhere, But all a vision."

8 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Gareth answer'd them

With laughter, swearing he had glamour enow 205

In his own blood, his princedom, youth, and hopes, To plunge old Merlin in the Arabian sea; So push'd them all unwilling toward the gate. And there was no gate like it under heaven. For barefoot on the keystone, which was lined 210

And rippled like an ever-fleeting wave, The Lady of the Lake stood : all her dress Wept from her sides as water flowing away ; But like the cross her great and goodly arms Stretch'd under all the cornice and upheld: 215

And drops of water fell from either hand ; And down from one a sword was hung, from one A censer, either worn with wind and storm ; And o'er her breast floated the sacred fish ; And in the space to left of her, and right, 220

Were Arthur's wars in weird devices done, New things and old co-twisted, as if Time Were nothing, so inveterately that men Were giddy gazing there ; and over all

High on the top were those three queens, the friends 225 Of Arthur, who should help him at his need.

Then those with Gareth for so long a space Stared at the figures that at last it seem'd The dragon-boughts and elvish emblemings Began to move, seethe, twine, and curl : they call'd 230 To Gareth, "Lord, the gateway is alive."

And Gareth likewise on them fixt his eyes So long that even to him they seem'd to move. Out of the city a blast of music peal'd.

GARETH AND LYNETTE 9

Back from the gate started the three, to whom 235

From out thereunder came an ancient man Long-bearded, saying, "Who be ye, my sons?"

Then Gareth: "We be tillers of the soil, Who leaving share in furrow come to see The glories of our King: but these, my men, — 240

Your city moved so weirdly in the mist — Doubt if the King be king at all, or come From Fairyland; and whether this be built By magic, and by fairy kings and queens ; Or wnether there be any city at all, 245

Or all a vision : and this music now Hath scared them both, but tell thou these the truth."

Then that old Seer made answer, playing on him And saying: "Son, I have seen the good ship sail Keel upward and mast downward, in the heavens, 250

And solid turrets topsy-turvy in air : And here is truth ; but an it please thee not, Take thou the truth as thou hast told it me For truly, as thou sayest, a fairy king

And fairy queens have built the city, son ; 255

They came from out a sacred mountain-cleft Toward the sunrise, each with harp in hand, And built it to the music of their harps. And, as thou sayest, it is enchanted, son, For there is nothing in it as it seems 260

Saving the King ; tho' some there be that hold The King a shadow, and the city real ; Yet take thou heed of him, for, so thou pass Beneath this archway, then wilt thou become A thrall to his enchantments, for the King 265

10 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Will bind thee by such vows as is a shame

A man should not be bound by, yet the which

No man can keep ; but, so thou dread to swear,

Pass not beneath this gateway, but abide

Without, among the cattle of the field. 270

For an ye heard a music, like enow

They are building still, seeing the city is built

To music, therefore never built at all,

And therefore built for ever."

Gareth spake

Anger'd : "Old master, reverence thine own beard 275

That looks as white as utter truth, and seems Wellnigh as long as thou art statured tall ! Why mockest thou the stranger that hath been To thee fair-spoken ? "

But the Seer replied :

"Know ye not then the Riddling of the Bards: 280

'Confusion, and illusion, and relation, Elusion, and occasion, and evasion'? I mock thee not but as thou mockest me, And all that see thee, for thou art not who ^ Thou seemest, but I know thee who thou art. 285

And now thou goest up to mock the King, Who cannot brook the shadow of any lie."

Unmockingly the mocker ending here, Turn'd to the right, and past along the plain ; Whom Gareth looking after said : "My men, 290

Our one white lie sits like a little ghost Here on the threshold of our enterprise. Let love be blamed for it, not she, nor I : Well, we will make amends."

GARETH AND LYNETTE II

With all good cheer

He spake and laugh'd, then enter'd with his twain 295

Camelot, a city of shadowy palaces And stately, rich in emblem and the work Of ancient kings who did their days in stone ; Which Merlin's hand, the Mage at Arthur's court, Knowing all arts, had touch'd, and everywhere, 300

At Arthur's ordinance, tipt with lessening peak And pinnacle, and had made it spire to heaven. And ever and anon a knight would pass Outward, or inward to the hall : his arms Clash'd ; and the sound was good to Gareth's ear. 305

And out of bower and casement shyly glanced Eyes of pure women, wholesome stars of love ; And all about a healthful people stept As in the presence of a gracious king. ^^^

<7

Then into hall Gareth ascending heard 310

A voice, the voice of Arthur, and beheld Far over heads in that long-vaulted hall The splendor of the presence of the King Throned, and delivering doom — and look'd no more — But felt his young heart hammering in his ears, 315

And thought, " For this half-shadow of a lie The truthful King will doom me when I speak." Yet pressing on, tho' all in fear to find Sir Gawain or Sir Modred, saw nor one Nor other, but in all the listening eyes 320

Of those tall knights that ranged about the throne Clear honor shining like the dewy star Of dawn, and faith in their great King, with pure Affection, and the light of victory, And glory gain'd, and evermore to gain. 325

12 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Then came a widow crying to the King: "A boon, Sir King! Thy father, Uther, reft From my dead lord a field with violence ; For howsoe'er at first he proffer'd gold,

Yet, for the field was pleasant in our eyes, 330

We yielded not ; and then he reft us of it Perforce and left us neither gold nor field."

Said Arthur, "Whether would ye? gold or field? " To whom the woman weeping, "Nay, my lord, The field was pleasant in my husband's eye." 335

And Arthur : " Have thy pleasant field again, And thrice the gold for Uther's use thereof, According to the years. No boon is here, But justice, so thy say be proven true.

Accursed, who from the wrongs his father did 340

Would shape himself a right ! "

And while she past,

Came yet another widow crying to him : "A boon, Sir King ! Thine enemy, King, am I. With thine own hand thou slewest my dear lord, A knight of Uther in the barons' war, 345

When Lot and many another rose and fought Against thee, saying thou wert basely born. I held with these, and loathe to ask thee aught. Yet lo ! my husband's brother had my son Thrall'd in his castle, and hath starved him dead, 350

And standeth seized of that inheritance Which thou that slewest the sire hast left the son. So, tho' I scarce can ask it thee for hate, Grant me some knight to do the battle for me, Kill the foul thief, and wreak me for my son." 355

GARETH AND LYNETTE 13

Then strode a good knight forward, crying to him, "A boon, Sir King! I am her kinsman, I. Give me to right her wrong, and slay the man."

Then came Sir Kay, the seneschal, and cried, "A boon, Sir King! even that thou grant her none, 360 This railer, that hath mock'd thee in full hall — None ; or the wholesome boon of gyve and gag."

But Arthur: "We sit King, to help the wrong'd Thro' all our realm. The woman loves her lord. Peace to thee, woman, with thy loves and hates ! 365

The kings of old had doom'd thee to the flames ; Aurelius Emrys would have scourged thee dead, And Uther slit thy tongue : but get thee hence — Lest that rough humor of the kings of old Return upon me ! Thou that art her kin, 370

Go likewise ; lay him low and slay him not, But bring him here, that I may judge the right, According to the justice of the King : Then, be he guilty, by that deathless King Who lived and died for men, the man shall die." 375

Then came in hall the messenger of Mark, A name of evil savor in the land, The Cornish king. In either hand he bore What dazzled all, and shone far-off as shines A field of charlock in the sudden sun 380

Between two showers, a cloth of palest gold, Which down he laid before the throne, and knelt, Delivering that his lord, the vassal king, Was even upon his way to Camelot ; For having heard that Arthur of his grace 385

14 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Had made his goodly cousin Tristram knight,

And, for himself was of the greater state,

Being a king, he trusted his liege-lord

Would yield him this large honor all the more ;

So pray'd him well to accept this cloth of gold, 390

In token of true heart and fealty.

Then Arthur cried to rend the cloth, to rend In pieces, and so cast it on the hearth. An oak-tree smoulder'd there. " The goodly knight ! What ! shall the shield of Mark stand among these? " 395 For, midway down the side of that long hall, A stately pile, — whereof along the front, Some blazon'd, some but carven, and some blank, There ran a treble range of stony shields, — Rose, and high-arching over-brow'd the hearth. 400

And under every shield a knight was named. For this was Arthur's custom in his hall : When some good knight had done one noble deed, His arms were carven only ; but if twain, His arms were blazon'd also ; but if none, 405

The shield was blank and bare, without a sign Saving the name beneath : and Gareth saw The shield of Gawain blazon'd rich and bright, And Modred's blank as death ; and Arthur cried To rend the cloth and cast it on the hearth. 410

" More like are we to reave him of his crown Than make him knight because men call him king. The kings we found, ye know we stay'd their hands From war among themselves, but left them kings ; Of whom were any Bounteous, merciful, 415

Truth-speaking, brave, good livers, them we enroll'd

GARETH AND LYNETTE 15

Among us, and they sit within our hall.

But Mark hath tarnish'd the great name of king,

As Mark would sully the low state of churl;

And, seeing he hath sent us cloth of gold, 420

Return, and meet, and hold him from our eyes,

Lest we should lap him up in cloth of lead,

Silenced for ever — craven — a man of plots,

Craft, poisonous counsels, wayside ambushings —

No fault of thine : let Kay the seneschal 425

Look to thy wants, and send thee satisfied —

Accursed, who strikes nor lets the hand be seen ! "

And many another suppliant crying came With noise of ravage wrought by beast and man, And evermore a knight would ride away. 430

Last, Gareth leaning both hands heavily Down on the shoulders of the twain, his men, Approach'd between them toward the King, and ask'd, "A boon, Sir King,"- — his voice was all ashamed, — " For see ye not how weak and hunger-worn 435

I seem — leaning on these ? grant me to serve For meat and drink among thy kitchen-knaves A twelvemonth and a day, nor seek my name. Hereafter I will fight."

To him the King :

" A goodly youth and worth a goodlier boon ! 440

But so thou wilt no goodlier, then must Kay, The master of the meats and drinks, be thine."

He rose and past ; then Kay, a man of mien Wan-sallow as the plant that feels itself Root-bitten by white lichen :

16 IDYLLS OF THE KING

"Lo ye now ! 445

This fellow hath broken from some abbey, where, God wot, he had not beef and brewis enow, However that might chance ! but an he work, Like any pigeon will I cram his crop, And sleeker shall he shine than any hog." 450

Then Lancelot standing near : " Sir Seneschal, Sleuth-hound thou knowest, and gray, and all the hounds ; A horse thou knowest, a man thou dost not know : Broad brows and fair, a fluent hair and fine, High nose, a nostril large and fine, and hands, 455

Large, fair, and fine ! — Some young lad's mystery — But, or from sheepcot or king's hall, the boy Is noble-natured. Treat him with all grace, Lest he should come to shame thy judging of him."

Then Kay: " What murmurest thou of mystery ? 460

Think ye this fellow will poison the King's dish ? Nay, for he spake too fool-like : mystery ! Tut, an the lad were noble, he had ask'd For horse and armor : fair and fine, forsooth ! Sir Fine-face, Sir Fair-hands ? but see thou to it 465

That thine own fineness, Lancelot, some fine day Undo thee not — and leave my man to me."

So Gareth all for glory underwent The sooty yoke of kitchen-vassalage,

Ate with young lads his portion by the door, 470

And couch'd at night with grimy kitchen-knaves. And Lancelot ever spake him pleasantly, But Kay the seneschal, who loved him not, Would hustle and harry him, and labor him

GARETH AND LYNETTE 17

Beyond his comrade of the hearth, and set 475

To turn the broach, draw water, or hew wood,

Or grosser tasks ; and Gareth bow'd himself

With all obedience to the King, and wrought

All kind of service with a noble ease

That graced the lowliest act in doing it, 480

And when the thralls had talk among themselves,

And one would praise the love that linkt the King

And Lancelot — how the King had saved his life

In battle twice, and Lancelot once the King's —

For Lancelot was the first in tournament, 485

But Arthur mightiest on the battle-field —

Gareth was glad. Or if some other told

How once the wandering forester at dawn,

Far over the blue tarns and hazy seas,

On Caer-Eryri's highest found the King, 49o

A naked babe, of whom the Prophet spake,

" He passes to the Isle Avilion,

He passes and is heal'd and cannot die " —

Gareth was glad. But if their talk were foul,

Then would he whistle rapid as any lark, 49^

Or carol some old roundelay, and so loud

That first they mock'd, but, after, reverenced him.

Or Gareth, telling some prodigious tale

Of knights who sliced a red life-bubbling way

Thro' twenty folds of twisted dragon, held 500

All in a gap-mouth'd circle his good mates

Lying or sitting round him, idle hands,

Charm'd ; till Sir Kay, the seneschal, would come

Blustering upon them, like a sudden wind

Among dead leaves, and drive them all apart. 505

Or when the thralls had sport among themselves,

So there were any trial of mastery,

18 IDYLLS OF THE KING

He, by two yards in casting bar or stone,

Was counted best ; and if there chanced a joust,

So that Sir Kay nodded him leave to go, 510

Would hurry thither, and when he saw the knights

Clash like the coming and retiring wave,

And the spear spring, and good horse reel, the boy

Was half beyond himself for ecstasy.

So for a month he wrought among the thralls ; 515

But in the weeks that follow'd, the good Queen, Repentant of the word she made him swear, And saddening in her childless castle, sent, Between the in-crescent and de-crescent moon, Arms for her son, and loosed him from his vow. 520

This, Gareth hearing from a squire of Lot With whom he used to play at tourney once, When both were children, and in lonely haunts Would scratch a ragged oval on the sand, And each at either dash from either end — 525

Shame never made girl redder than Gareth joy. He laugh'd ; he sprang. " Out of the smoke, at once I leap from Satan's foot to Peter's knee — These news be mine, none other's — nay, the King's — Descend into the city : " whereon he sought 530

The King alone, and found, and told him all.

" I have stagger'd thy strong Gawain in a tilt For pastime ; yea, he said it : joust can I. Make me thy knight — in secret ! let my name Be hidden, and give me the first quest, I spring 535

Like flame from ashes."

Here the King's calm eye Fell on, and check'd, and made him flush, and bow

GARETH AND LYNETTE 19

Lowly, to kiss his hand, who answer'd him :

" Son, the good mother let me know thee here,

And sent her wish that I would yield thee thine. 540

Make thee my knight ? my knights are sworn to vows

Of utter hardihood, utter gentleness,

And, loving, utter faithfulness in love,

And uttermost obedience to the King."

Then Gareth, lightly springing from his knees : 545

" My King, for hardihood I can promise thee. For uttermost obedience make demand Of whom ye gave me to, the Seneschal, No mellow master of the meats and drinks 1 And as for love, God wot, I love not yet, 550

But love I shall, God willing."

And the King:

" Make thee my knight in secret ? yea, but he, Our noblest brother, and our truest man, And one with me in all, he needs must know."

" Let Lancelot know, my King, let Lancelot know, 555 Thy noblest and thy truest ! "

And the King-.

" But wherefore would ye men should wonder at you ? Nay, rather for the sake of me, their King, And the deed's sake my knighthood do the deed, Than to be noised of."

Merrily Gareth ask'd : 560

" Have I not earn'd my cake in baking of it ? Let be my name until I make my name ! My deeds will speak : it is but for a day."

20 IDYLLS OF THE KING

So with a kindly hand on Gareth's arm

Smiled the great King, and half-unwillingly 565

Loving his lusty youthhood yielded to him.

Then, after summoning Lancelot privily :

" I have given him the first quest : he is not proven.

Look therefore, when he calls for this in hall,

Thou get to horse and follow him far away. 570

Cover the lions on thy shield, and see,

Far as thou mayest, he be nor ta'en nor slain."

Then that same day there past into the hall A damsel of high lineage, and a brow

May-blossom, and a cheek of apple-blossom, 575

Hawk-eyes ; and lightly was her slender nose Tip-tilted like the petal of a flower : She into hall past with her page and cried :

" O King, for thou hast driven the foe without, See to the foe within ! bridge, ford, beset 580

By bandits, every one that owns a tower The lord of half a league. Why sit ye there ? Rest would I not, Sir King, an I were king, Till even the lonest hold were all as free From cursed bloodshed as thine altar-cloth 585

From that best blood it is a sin to spill."

" Comfort thyself," said Arthur, " I nor mine Rest : so my knighthood keep the vows they swore, The wastest moorland of our realm shall be Safe, damsel, as the centre of this hall. 590

What is thy name ? thy need ? "

" My name ? " she said — " Lynette, my name ; noble ; my need, a knight

GARETH AND LYNETTE 21

To combat for my sister, Lyonors,

A lady of high lineage, of great lands,

And comely, yea, and comelier than myself. 595

She lives in Castle Perilous : a river

Runs in three loops about her living-place ;

And o'er it are three passings, and three knights

Defend the passings, brethren, and a fourth,

And of that four the mightiest, holds her stay'd 600

In her own castle, and so besieges her

To break her will, and make her wed with him ;

And but delays his purport till thou send

To do the battle with him thy chief man

Sir Lancelot, whom he trusts to overthrow ; 605

Then wed, with glory : but she will not wed

Save whom she loveth, or a holy life.

Now therefore have I come for Lancelot."

Then Arthur mindful of Sir Gareth ask'd : " Damsel, ye know this Order lives to crush 610

All wrongers of the realm. But say, these four, Who be they ? What the fashion of the men ? "

" They be of foolish fashion, O Sir King, The fashion of that old knight-errantry Who ride abroad, and do but what they will ; 615

Courteous or bestial from the moment, such As have nor law nor king ; and three of these Proud in their fantasy call themselves the Day, Morning-Star, and Noon-Sun, and Evening-Star, Being strong fools ; and never a whit more wise 620

The fourth, who alway rideth arm'd in black, A huge man-beast of boundless savagery. He names himself the Night and oftener Death,

22 IDYLLS OF THE KING

And wears a helmet mounted with a skull,

And bears a skeleton figured on his arms, 62t

To show that who may slay or scape the three,

Slain by himself, shall enter endless night.

And all these four be fools, but mighty men,

And therefore am I come for Lancelot."

Hereat Sir Gareth call'd from where he rose, 630

A head with kindling eyes above the throng, "A boon, Sir King — this quest!" then — for he mark'd Kay near him groaning like a wounded bull — " Yea, King, thou knowest thy kitchen-knave am I, And mighty thro' thy meats and drinks am I, 635

And I can topple over a hundred such. Thy promise, King," and Arthur glancing at him, Brought down a momentary brow. "Rough, sudden, And pardonable, worthy to be knight — Go therefore," and all hearers were amazed. 640

J2K

But on the damsel's forehead shame, pride, wrath Slew the may-white : she lifted either arm, " Fie on thee, King ! I ask'd for thy chief knight, And thou hast given me but a kitchen-knave." Then ere a man in hall could stay her, turn'd, 645

Fled down the lane of access to the King, Took horse, descended the slope street, and past The weird white gate, and paused without, beside The field of tourney, murmuring "kitchen-knave!"

Now two great entries open'd from the hall, 650

At one end one that gave upon a range Of level pavement where the King would pace

GARETH AND LYNETTE 23

At sunrise, gazing over plain and wood;

And down from this a lordly stairway sloped

Till lost in blowing trees and tops of towers ; 655

And out by this main doorway past the King.

But one was counter to the hearth, and rose

High that the highest-crested helm could ride

Therethro' nor graze ; and by this entry fled

The damsel in her wrath, and on to this 660

Sir Gareth strode, and saw without the door

King Arthur's gift, the worth of half a town,

A war-horse of the best, and near it stood

The two that out of north had follow'd him.

This bare a maiden shield, a casque ; that held 665

The horse, the spear ; whereat Sir Gareth loosed

A cloak that dropt from collar-bone to heel,

A cloth of roughest web, and cast it down,

And from it, like a fuel-smother'd fire

That lookt half-dead, brake bright, and flash'd as those 670

Dull-coated things, that making slide apart

Their dusk wing-cases, all beneath there burns

A jewell'd harness, ere they pass and fly.

So Gareth ere he parted flash'd in arms.

Then as he donn'd the helm, and took the shield 675

And mounted horse and graspt a spear, of grain

Storm-strengthen'd on a windy site, and tipt

With trenchant steel, around him slowly prest

The people, while from out of kitchen came

The thralls in throng, and seeing who had work'd 680

Lustier than any, and whom they could but love,

Mounted in arms, threw up their caps and cried,

"God bless the King, and all his fellowship!"

And on thro' lanes of shouting Gareth rode

Down the slope street, and past without the gate. 685

24 IDYLLS OF THE KING

So Gareth past with joy ; but as the cur Pluckt from the cur he fights with, ere his cause Be cool'd by fighting, follows, being named, His owner, but remembers all, and growls Remembering, so Sir Kay beside the door 690

Mutter'd in scorn of Gareth whom he used To harry and hustle.

"Bound upon a quest

With horse and arms — the King hath past his time — My scullion knave ! Thralls, to your work again, For an your fire be low ye kindle mine ! 695

Will there be dawn in West and eve in East ? Begone! — my knave! — belike and like enow Some old head-blow not heeded in his youth So shook his wits they wander in his prime — Crazed ! How the villain lifted up his voice, 700

Nor shamed to bawl himself a kitchen-knave ! Tut, he was tame and meek enow with me, Till peacock'd up with Lancelot's noticing. Well — I will after my loud knave, and learn Whether he know me for his master yet. 705

Out of the smoke he came, and so my lance Hold, by God's grace, he shall into the mire — Thence, if the King awaken from his craze, Into the smoke again."

But Lancelot said :

" Kay, wherefore wilt thou go against the King, 710

For that did never he whereon ye rail, ' But ever meekly served the King in thee? Abide : take counsel ; for this lad is great And lusty, and knowing both of lance and sword."

GARETH AND LYNETTE 25

"Tut, tell not me," said Kay, uye are overfine 715

To mar stout knaves with foolish courtesies : " Then mounted, on thro' silent faces rode Down the slope city, and out beyond the gate.

But by the field of tourney lingering yet Mutter'd the damsel : " Wherefore did the King 720

Scorn me ? for, were Sir Lancelot lackt, at least He might have yielded to me one of those Who tilt for lady's love and glory here, Rather than — O sweet heaven ! O fie upon him ! — His kitchen-knave."

To whom Sir Gareth drew — 725 And there were none but few goodlier than he — Shining in arms, "Damsel, the quest is mine. Lead, and I follow." She thereat, as one That smells a foul-flesh'd agaric in the holt, And deems it carrion of some woodland thing, 730

Or shrew, or weasel, nipt her slender nose With petulant thumb and finger, shrilling, "Hence! Avoid, thou smellest all of kitchen-grease. And look who comes behind;" for there was Kay. "Knowest thou not me ? thy master? I am Kay. 735

We lack thee by the hearth."

And Gareth to him,

"Master no more ! too well I know thee, ay — The most ungentle knight in Arthur's hall." " Have at thee then," said Kay : they shock'd, and Kay Fell shoulder-slipt, and Gareth cried again, 740

"Lead, and I follow," and fast away she fled.

But after sod and shingle ceased to fly Behind her, and the heart of her good horse

26 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Was nigh to burst with violence of the beat,

Perforce she stay'd, and overtaken spoke : 745

"What doest thou, scullion, in my fellowship? Deem'st thou that I accept thee aught the more Or love thee better, that by some device Full cowardly, or by mere unhappiness, Thou hast overthrown and slain thy master — thou ! — 750 Dish-washer and broach-turner, loon ! — to me Thou smellest all of kitchen as before."

" Damsel," Sir Gareth answer'd gently, " say Whate'er ye will, but whatsoe'er ye say, I leave not till I finish this fair quest, 755

Or die therefor."

" Ay, wilt thou finish it ?

Sweet lord, how like a noble knight he talks ! The listening rogue hath caught the manner of it But, knave, anon thou shalt be met with, knave, And then by such a one that thou for all 760

The kitchen brewis that was ever supt Shalt not once dare to look him in the face."

" I shall assay," said Gareth with a smile That madden'd her, and away she flash'd again Down the long avenues of a boundless wood, 765

And Gareth following was again beknaved :

" Sir Kitchen-knave, I have miss'd the only way Where Arthur's men are set along the wood ; The wood is nigh as full of thieves as leaves : If both be slain, I am rid of thee ; but yet, 770

Sir Scullion, canst thou use that spit of thine ? Fight, an thou canst : I have miss'd the only way."

GARETH AND LYNETTE 27

So till the dusk that follow'd evensong Rode on the two, reviler and reviled ;

Then after one long slope was mounted, saw, 775

Bowl-shaped, thro' tops of many thousand pines A gloomy-gladed hollow slowly sink To westward — in the deeps whereof a mere, Round as the red eye of an eagle-owl,

Under the half-dead sunset glared ; and shouts 780

Ascended, and there brake a servingman Flying from out of the black wood, and crying, " They have bound my lord to cast him in the mere." Then Gareth, " Bound am I to right the wrong'd, But straitlier bound am I to bide with thee." 785

And when the damsel spake contemptuously, "Lead, and I follow," Gareth cried again, " Follow, I lead ! " so down among the pines He plunged ; and there, black-shadow'd nigh the mere, And mid-thigh-deep in bulrushes and reed, 790

Saw six tall men haling a seventh along, A stone about his neck to drown him in it. Three with good blows he quieted, but three Fled thro' the pines ; and Gareth loosed the stone From off his neck, then in the mere beside 795

Tumbled it ; oilily bubbled up the mere. Last, Gareth loosed his bonds and on free feet Set him, a stalwart baron, Arthur's friend.

"Well that ye came, or else these caitiff rogues Had wreak'd themselves on me ; good cause is theirs 800 To hate me, for my wont hath ever been To catch my thief, and then like vermin here Drown him, and with a stone about his neck ; And under this wan water many of them

28 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Lie rotting, but at night let go the stone, 805

And rise, and flickering in a grimly light

Dance on the mere. Good now, ye have saved a lite

Worth somewhat as the cleanser of this wood.

And fain would I reward thee worshipfully.

What guerdon will ye ? "

Gareth sharply spake : gio

" None ! for the deed's sake have I done the deed, In uttermost obedience to the King. But wilt thou yield this damsel harborage ? "

Whereat the baron saying, "I well believe You be of Arthur's Table," a light laugh 815

Broke from Lynette : " Ay, truly of a truth, And in a sort, being Arthur's kitchen-knave ! — . But deem not I accept thee aught the more, Scullion, for running sharply with thy spit Down on a rout of craven foresters. 820

A thresher with his flail had scatter'd them. Nay — for thou smellest of the kitchen still. But an this lord will yield us harborage, Well."

So she spake. A league beyond the wood, All in a full-fair manor and a rich, 825

His towers, where that day a feast had been Held in high hall, and many a viand left, And many a costly cate, received the three. And there they placed a peacock in his pride Before the damsel, and the baron set 830

Gareth beside her, but at once she rose.

GARETH AND LYNETTE 29

" Meseems, that here is much discourtesy, Setting this knave, Lord Baron, at my side. Hear me — this morn I stood in Arthur's hall, And pray'd the King would grant me Lancelot 835

To fight the brotherhood of Day and Night — The last a monster unsubduable Of any save of him for whom I call'd — Suddenly bawls this frontless kitchen-knave, ' The quest is mine ; thy kitchen-knave am I, 840

And mighty thro' thy meats and drinks am I.' Then Arthur all at once gone mad replies, 'Go therefore,' and so gives the quest to him — Him — here — a villain fitter to stick swine Than ride abroad redressing women's wrong, 845

Or sit beside a noble gentlewoman."

Then half-ashamed and part-amazed, the lord Now look'd at one and now at other, left The damsel by the peacock in his pride, And, seating Gareth at another board, 850

Sat down beside him, ate and then began :

" Friend, whether thou be kitchen-knave, or not, Or whether it be the maiden s fantasy, And whether she be mad, or else the King, Or both or neither, or thyself be mad, 855

I ask not : but thou strikest a strong stroke, For strong thou art and goodly therewithal And saver of my life ; and therefore now, For here be mighty men to joust with, weigh Whether thou wilt not with thy damsel back 860

To crave again Sir Lancelot of the King. Thy pardon ; I but speak for thine avail, The saver of my life."

30 IDYLLS OF THE KING

And Gareth said,

" Full pardon, but I follow up the quest, Despite of Day and Night and Death and Hell." 865

So when, next morn, the lord whose life he saved Had, some brief space, convey'd them on their way And left them with God-speed, Sir Gareth spake, " Lead, and I follow." Haughtily she replied :

" I fly no more : I allow thee for an hour. 870

Lion and stoat have isled together, knave, In time of flood. Nay, furthermore, methinks Some ruth is mine for thee. Back wilt thou, fool ? For hard by here is one will overthrow

And slay thee ; then will I to court again, 875

And shame the King for only yielding me My champion from the ashes of his hearth."

To whom Sir Gareth answer'd courteously : " Say thou thy say, and I will do my deed. Allow me for mine hour, and thou wilt find 880

My fortunes all as fair as hers who lay Among the ashes and wedded the King's son."

Then to the shore of one of those long loops Wherethfo' the serpent river coil'd, they came. Rough-thicketed were the banks and steep ; the stream 885 Full, narrow ; this a bridge of single arc Took at a leap ; and on the further side Arose a silk pavilion, gay with gold In streaks and rays, and all Lent-lily in hue, Save that the dome was purple, and above, 890

Crimson, a slender banneret fluttering.

GARETH AND LYNETTE 31

And therebefore the lawless warrior paced

Unarm'd, and calling, " Damsel, is this he,

The champion thou hast brought from Arthur's hall ?

For whom we let thee pass." "Nay, nay," she said, 895

" Sir Morning-Star. The King in utter scorn

Of thee and thy much folly hath sent thee here

His kitchen-knave : and look thou to thyself:

See that he fall not on thee suddenly,

And slay thee unarm'd ; he is not knight but knave." - 900

Then at his call, " O daughters of the Dawn, And servants of the Morn ing- Star, approach, Arm me," from out the silken curtain-folds Bare-footed and bare-headed three fair girls In gilt and rosy raiment came : their feet 905

In dewy grasses glisten'd ; and the hair All over glanced with dewdrop or with gem Like sparkles in the stone Avanturine. These arm'd him in blue arms, and gave a shield Blue also, and thereon the morning star. 910

And Gareth silent gazed upon the knight, Who stood a moment, ere his horse was brought, Glorying ; and in the stream beneath him shone, Immingled with Heaven's azure waveringly, The gay pavilion and the naked feet, 915

His arms, the rosy raiment, and the star.

Then she that watch'd him : " Wherefore stare ye so ? Thou shakest in thy fear : there yet is time : Flee down the valley before he get to horse. Who will cry shame ? Thou art not knight but knave." 920

Said Gareth : " Damsel, whether knave or knight, Far liefer had I fight a score of times

32 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Than hear thee so missay me and revile.

Fair words were best for him who fights for thee ;

But truly foul are better, for they send 925

That strength of anger thro' mine arms, I know

That I shall overthrow him."

And he that bore

The star, when mounted, cried from o'er the bridge : "A kitchen-knave, and sent in scorn of me ! Such fight not I, but answer scorn with scorn. 930

For this were shame to do him further wrong Than set him on his feet, and take his horse And arms, and so return him to the King. Come, therefore, leave thy lady light! y, knave. Avoid : for it beseemeth not a knave 935

To ride with such a lady."

" Dog, thou liest !

I spring from loftier lineage than thine own." He spake ; and all at fiery speed the two Shock'd on the central bridge, and either spear Bent but not brake, and either knight at once, 940

Hurl'd as a stone from out of a catapult Beyond the horse's crupper and the bridge, Fell, as if dead ; but quickly rose and drew, And Gareth lash'd so fiercely with his brand He drave his enemy backward down the bridge, 945

The damsel crying, " Well-stricken, kitchen-knave ! " Till Gareth's shield was cloven ; but one stroke Laid him that clove it grovelling on the ground.

Then cried the fallen, " Take not my life : I yield." And Gareth, " So this damsel ask it of me 950

Good — I accord it easily as a grace."

GARETH AND LYNETTE 33

She reddening, " Insolent scullion ! I of thee ?

I bound to thee for any favor ask'd ! "

" Then shall he die." And Gareth there unlaced

His helmet as to slay him, but she shriek'd, 955

" Be not so hardy, scullion, as to slay

One nobler than thyself." " Damsel, thy charge

Is an abounding pleasure to me. Knight,

Thy life is thine at her command. Arise

And quickly pass to Arthur's hall, and say 960

His kitchen-knave hath sent thee. See thou crave

His pardon for thy breaking of his laws.

Myself when I return will plead for thee.

Thy shield is mine — farewell ; and, damsel, thou,

Lead, and I follow."

And fast away she fled ; 965

Then when he came upon her, spake : " Methought, Knave, when I watch'd thee striking on the bridge, The savor of thy kitchen came upon me A little faintlier : but the wind hath changed ; I scent it twenty-fold." And then she sang, 970

" ' O morning star ' — not that tall felon there, Whom thou, by sorcery or unhappiness Or some device, hast foully overthrown, — ' O morning star that smilest in the blue, O star, my morning dream hath proven true, 975

Smile sweetly, thou ! my love hath smiled on me.'

" But thou begone, take counsel, and away, For hard by here is one that guards a ford — The second brother in their fool's parable — Will pay thee all thy wages, and to boot. 980

Care not for shame : thou art not knight but knave."

34 IDYLLS OF THE KING

To whom Sir Gareth answer'd, laughingly : " Parables ? Hear a parable of the knave. When I was kitchen-knave among the rest, Fierce was the hearth, and one of my co-mates 985

Own'd a rough dog, to whom he cast his coat, ' Guard it,' and there was none to meddle with it And such a coat art thou, and thee the King Gave me to guard, and such a dog am I, To worry, and not to flee ; and — knight or knave — 990 The knave that doth thee service as full knight Is all as good, meseems, as any knight Toward thy sister's freeing."

" Ay, Sir Knave !

Ay, knave, because thou strikest as a knight, Being but knave, I hate thee all the more." 995

"Fair damsel, you should worship me the more, That, being but knave, I throw thine enemies."

"Ay, ay," she said, "but thou shalt meet thy match."

So when they touch'd the second river-loop, Huge on a high red horse, and all in mail 1000

Burnish'd to blinding, shone the Noonday Sun, Beyond a raging shallow. As if the flower That blows a globe of after arrowlets Ten thousand-fold had grown, flash'd the fierce shield, All sun ; and Gareth's eyes had flying blots 1005

Before them when he turn'd from watching him. He from beyond the roaring shallow roar'd, "What doest thou, brother, in my marches here?" And she athwart the shallow shrill'd again,

GARETH AND LYNETTE

35

" Here is a kitchen-knave from Arthur's hall 1010

Hath overthrown thy brother, and hath his arms."

"Ugh!" cried the Sun, and, vizoring up a red

And cipher face of rounded foolishness,

Push'd horse across the foamings of the ford,

Whom Gareth met mid-stream; no room was there 1015

For lance or tourney-skill ; four strokes they struck

With sword, and these were mighty ; the new knight

Had fear he might be shamed ; but as the Sun

Heaved up a ponderous arm to strike the fifth,

The hoof of his horse slipt in the stream, the stream 1020

Descended, and the Sun was wash'd away.

Then Gareth laid his lance athwart the ford ; So drew him home ; but he that fought no more, As being all bone-batter'd on the rock,

Yielded ; and Gareth sent him to the King. 102$

" Myself when I return will plead for thee. Lead, and I follow." Quietly she led. "Hath not the good wind, damsel, changed again?" "Nay, not a point; nor art thou victor here. There lies a ridge of slate across the ford ; JOIQ

His horse thereon stumbled — ay, for I saw it.

"'O sun' — not this strong fool whom thou, Sir Knave, Hast overthrown thro' mere unhappiness — ' O sun, that wakenest all to bliss or pain, O moon, that layest all to sleep again, 1035

Shine sweetly: twice my love hath smiled on me.'

" What knowest thou of love-song or of love ? Nay, nay, God wot, so thou wert nobly born, Thou hast a pleasant presence. Yea, perchance, —

36 IDYLLS OF THE KING

"'O dewy flowers that open to the sun, 1040

O dewy flowers that close when day is done, Blow sweetly : twice my love hath smiled on me.'

" What knowest thou of flowers, except, belike, To garnish meats with ? hath not our good King Who lent me thee, the flower of kitchendom, 1045

A foolish love for flowers ? what stick ye round The pasty ? wherewithal deck the boar's head ? Flowers ? nay, the boar hath rosemaries and bay.

'"O birds that warble to the morning sky, O birds that warble as the day goes by, 1050

Sing sweetly : twice my love hath smiled on me.'

"What knowest thou of birds, lark, mavis, merle, Linnet ? what dream ye when they utter forth May-music growing with the growing light, Their sweet sun-worship ? these be for the snare — 1055 So runs thy fancy — these be for the spit, Larding and basting. See thou have not now Larded thy last, except thou turn and fly. There stands the third fool of their allegory."

For there beyond a bridge of treble bow, 1060

All in a rose-red from the west, and all Naked it seem'd, and glowing in the broad Deep-dimpled current underneath, the knight That named himself the Star of Evening stood.

And Gareth, " Wherefore waits the madman there 1065 Naked in open dayshine?" "Nay," she cried, "Not naked, only wrapt in harden'd skins

GARETH AND LYNETTE 37

That fit him like his own ; and so ye cleave His armor off him, these will turn the blade."

Then the third brother shouted o'er the bridge, 1070

"O brother-star, why shine ye here so low? Thy ward is higher up : but have ye slain The damsel's champion ? " and the damsel cried :

"No star of thine, but shot from Arthur's heaven With all disaster unto thine and thee ! I07j

For both thy younger brethren have gone down Before this youth ; and so wilt thou, Sir Star ; Art thou not old ? "

" Old, damsel, old and hard, Old, with the might and breath of twenty boys." Said Gareth, "Old, and over-bold in brag! I08o

But that same strength which threw the Morning Star Can throw the Evening."

Then that other blew A hard and deadly note upon the horn. " Approach and arm me ! " With slow steps from out An old storm-beaten, russet, many-stain'd 1085

Pavilion, forth a grizzled damsel came, And arm'd him in old arms, and brought a helm With but a drying evergreen for crest, And gave a shield whereon the star of even Half-tarnish'd and half-bright, his emblem, shone. 1090

But when it glitter'd o'er the saddle-bow, They madly hurl'd together on the bridge ; And Gareth overthrew him, lighted, drew, There met him drawn, and overthrew him again, But up like fire he started : and as oft 1095

38 IDYLLS OF THE KING

As Gareth brought him grovelling on his knees, So many a time he vaulted up again ; Till Gareth panted hard, and his great heart, Foredooming all his trouble was in vain, Labor'd within him, for he seem'd as one noo

That all in later, sadder age begins To war against ill uses of a life, But these from all his life arise, and cry, "Thou hast made us lords, and canst not put us down!" He half despairs; so Gareth seem'd to strike 1105

Vainly, the damsel clamoring all the while, "Well done, knave-knight, well stricken, O good knight- knave —

O knave, as noble as any of all the knights — Shame me not, shame me not. I have prophesied — Strike, thou art worthy of the Table Round — mo

His arms are old, he trusts the harden'd skin — Strike — strike — the wind will never change again." And Gareth hearing ever stronglier smote, And hew'd great pieces of his armor off him, But lash'd in vain against the harden'd skin, 1115

And could not wholly bring him under, more Than loud Southwesterns, rolling ridge on ridge, The buoy that rides at sea, and dips and springs For ever ; till at length Sir Gareth's brand Clash'd his, and brake it utterly to the hilt. 1120

" I have thee now ; " but forth that other sprang, And, all unknightlike, writhed his wiry arms Around him, till he felt, despite his mail, Strangled, but straining even his uttermost Cast, and so hurl'd him headlong o'er the bridge 1125

Down to the river, sink or swim, and cried, " Lead, and I follow."

GARETH AN 3 LYNETTE 39

But the damsel said : " I lead no longer ; ride thou at my side ; Thou art the kingliest of all kitchen-knaves.

" ' O trefoil, sparkling on the rainy plain, 1130

O rainbow with three colors after rain, Shine sweetly : thrice my love hath smiled on me.'

" Sir, — and, good faith, I fain had added — Knight, But that I heard thee call thyself a knave, — Shamed am I that I so rebuked, reviled, "35

Missaid thee ; noble I am ; and thought the King Scorn'd me and mine ; and now thy pardon, friend, For thou hast ever answer'd courteously, And wholly bold thou art, and meek withal As any of Arthur's best, but, being knave, 1140

Hast mazed my wit : I marvel what thou art."

"Damsel," he said, "you be not all to blame, Saving that you mistrusted our good King Would handle scorn, or yield you, asking, one Not fit to cope your quest. You said your say; 1145

Mine answer was my deed. Good sooth ! I hold He scarce is knight, yea but half-man, nor meet To fight for gentle damsel, he, who lets His heart be stirr'd with any foolish heat At any gentle damsel's waywardness. 1150

Shamed ? care not ! thy foul sayings fought for me : And seeing now thy words are fair, methinks There rides no knight, not Lancelot, his great self, Hath force to quell me."

Nigh upon that hour When the lone hern forgets his melancholy, 1155

40 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Lets down his other leg, and stretching dreams

Of goodly supper in the distant pool,

Then turn'd the noble damsel smiling at him,

And told him of a cavern hard at hand,

Where bread and baken meats and good red wine 1160

Of Southland, which the Lady Lyonors

Had sent her coming champion, waited him.

Anon they past a narrow comb wherein Were slabs of rock with figures, knights on horse Sculptured, and deckt in slowly-waning hues. 1165

" Sir Knave, my knight, a hermit once was here, Whose holy hand hath fashion'd on the rock The war of Time against the soul of man, And yon four fools have suck'd their allegory From these damp walls, and taken but the form. 117°

Know ye not these ? " and Gareth lookt and read — In letters like to those the vexillary Hath left crag-carven o'er the streaming Gelt — " PHOSPHORUS " then " MERIDIES," — " HESPERUS " — " Nox " — " MORS," beneath five figures, armed men, 1175 Slab after slab, their faces forward all, And running down the Soul, a shape that fled With broken wings, torn raiment, and loose hair, For help and shelter to the hermit's cave. "Follow the faces, and we find it. Look, 1180

Who comes behind ? "

For one — delay'd at first Thro' helping back the dislocated Kay To Camelot, then by what thereafter chanced, The damsel's headlong error thro' the wood — Sir Lancelot, having swum the river-loops — 1185

His blue shield-lions cover 'd — softly drew

GARETH AND LYNETTE 41

Behind the twain, and when he saw the star Gleam, on Sir Gareth's turning to him, cried, " Stay, felon knight, I avenge me for my friend." And Gareth crying prick'd against the cry; 1190

But when they closed — in a moment — at one touch Of that skill'd spear, the wonder of the world — Went sliding down so easily, and fell, That when he found the grass within his hands He laugh'd; the laughter jarr'd upon Lynette : 1195

Harshly she ask'd him, " Shamed and overthrown, And tumbled back into the kitchen-knave, Why laugh ye ? that ye blew your boast in vain ? " " Nay, noble damsel, but that I, the son Of old King Lot and good Queen Bellicent, 1200

And victor of the bridges and the ford, And knight of Arthur, here lie thrown by whom I know not, all thro' mere unhappiness — Device and sorcery and unhappiness — Out, sword ; we are thrown ! " And Lancelot answer'd : "Prince, 1205

O Gareth — thro' the mere unhappiness Of one who came to help thee, not to harm, Lancelot, and all as glad to find thee whole As on the day when Arthur knighted him." '!

Then Gareth : " Thou — Lancelot ! — thine the hand 1210 That threw me ? An some chance to mar the boast Thy brethren of thee make — which could not chance — Had sent thee down before a lesser spear, Shamed had I been, and sad — O Lancelot — thou ! "

Whereat the maiden, petulant : " Lancelot, 1215

Why came ye not, when call'd ? and wherefore now

42 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Come ye, not call'd ? I gloried in my knave,

Who being still rebuked would answer still

Courteous as any knight — but now, if knight,

The marvel dies, and leaves me fool'd and trick'd, 1220

And only wondering wherefore played upon ;

And doubtful whether I and mine be scorn 'd.

Where should be truth if not in Arthur's hall,

In Arthur's presence? Knight, knave, prince and fool,

I hate thee and for ever."

And Lancelot said : 1225

"Blessed be thou, Sir Gareth! knight art thou To the King's best wish. O damsel, be you wise To call him shamed who is but overthrown ? Thrown have I been, nor once, but many a time. Victor from vanquish'd issues at the last, 1230

And overthrower from being overthrown. With sword we have not striven ; and thy good horse And thou are weary ; yet not less I felt Thy manhood thro' that wearied lance of thine. Well hast thou done; for all the stream is freed, 1235

And thou hast wreak'd his justice on his foes, And when reviled hast answer'd graciously, And makest merry when overthrown. Prince, knight, Hail, knight and prince, and of our Table Round ! "

And then when turning to Lynette he told 1240

The tale of Gareth, petulantly she said : "Ay, well — ay, well — for worse than being fool'd Of others, is to fool one's self. A cave, Sir Lancelot, is hard by, with meats and drinks And forage for the horse, and flint for fire. 1245

But all about it flies a honeysuckle.

GARETH AND LYNETTE 43

Seek, till we find." And when they sought and found,

Sir Gareth drank and ate, and all his life

Past into sleep ; on whom the maiden gazed :

" Sound sleep be thine ! sound cause to sleep hast thou. 1250

Wake lusty ! Seem I not as tender to him

As any mother ? Ay, but such a one

As all day long hath rated at her child,

And vext his day, but blesses him asleep —

Good lord, how sweetly smells the honeysuckle 1255

In the hush'd night, as if the world were one

Of utter peace, and love, and gentleness !

O Lancelot, Lancelot," — and she clapt her hands —

" Full merry am I to find my goodly knave

Is knight and noble. See now, sworn have I, 1260

Else yon black felon had not let me pass,

To bring thee back to do the battle with him.

Thus an thou goest, he will fight thee first ;

Who doubts thee victor ? so will my knight-knave

Miss the full flower of this accomplishment." 1265

Said Lancelot : " Peradventure he you name May know my shield. Let Gareth, an he will, Change his for mine, and take my charger, fresh, Not to be spurr'd, loving the battle as well As he that rides him." " Lancelot like," she said, 1270

" Courteous in this, Lord Lancelot, as in all."

And Gareth, wakening, fiercely clutch'd the shield : " Ramp, ye lance-splintering lions, on whom all spears Are rotten sticks ! ye seem agape to roar ! Yea, ramp and roar at leaving of your lord ! — 1275

Care not, good beasts, so well I care for you. O noble Lancelot, from my hold on these

44 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Streams virtue — fire — thro' one that will not shame Even the shadow of Lancelot under shield. Hence : let us go."

Silent the silent field 1280

They traversed. Arthur's Harp tho' summer-wan, In counter motion to the clouds, allured The glance of Gareth dreaming on his liege. A star shot : " Lo," said Gareth, " the foe falls ! " An owl whoopt : " Hark the victor pealing there ! " 1285 Suddenly she that rode upon his left Clung to the shield that Lancelot lent him, crying : " Yield, yield him this again ; 't is he must fight : I curse the tongue that all thro' yesterday Reviled thee, and hath wrought on Lancelot now 1290

To lend thee horse and shield : wonders ye have done ; Miracles ye cannot : here is glory enow In having flung three : I see thee maim'd, Mangled : I swear thou canst not fling the fourth."

" And wherefore, damsel ? tell me all ye know. 1295

You cannot scare me ; nor rough face, or voice, Brute bulk of limb, or boundless savagery Appal me from the quest."

" Nay, prince," she cried, " God wot, I never look'd upon the face, Seeing he never rides abroad by day ; 1300

But watch 'd him have I like a phantom pass Chilling the night : nor have I heard the voice. Always he made his mouthpiece of a page Who came and went, and still reported him As closing in himself the strength of ten, 1305

GARETH AND LYNETTE 45

And when his anger tare him, massacring

Man, woman, lad, and girl — yea, the soft babe!

Some hold that he hath swallow'd infant flesh,

Monster ! O prince, I went for Lancelot first,

The quest is Lancelot's : give him back the shield." 1310

Said Gareth laughing, " An he fight for this, Belike he wins it as the better man : Thus — and not else!"

But Lancelot on him urged All the devisings of their chivalry

When one might meet a mightier than himself; 1315

How best to manage horse, lance, sword, and shield, And so fill up the gap where force might fail With skill and fineness. Instant were his words.

Then Gareth : " Here be rules. I know but one — To dash against mine enemy and to win. 1320

Yet have I watch'd thee victor in the joust, And seen thy way." " Heaven help thee ! " sigh'd Lynette.

Then for a space, and under cloud that grew To thunder-gloom palling all stars, they rode In converse till she made her palfrey halt, 1325

Lifted an arm, and softly whisper'd, " There." And all the three were silent seeing, pitch'd Beside the Castle Perilous on flat field, A huge pavilion like a mountain peak

Sunder the glooming crimson on the marge, 1330

Black, with black banner, and a long black horn Beside it hanging ; which Sir Gareth graspt, And so, before the two could hinder him,

46 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Sent all his heart and breath thro' all the horn.

Echo'd the walls, a light twinkled ; anon 1335

Came lights and lights, and once again he blew;

Whereon were hollow tramplings up and down

And muffled voices heard, and shadows past ;

Till high above him, circled with her maids,

The Lady Lyonors at a window stood, 1340

Beautiful among lights, and waving to him

White hands and courtesy ; but when the prince

Three times had blown — after long hush — at last —

The huge pavilion slowly yielded up,

Thro' those black foldings, that which housed therein. 1345

High on a night-black horse, in night-black arms,

With white breast-bone, and barren ribs of Death,

And crown'd with fleshless laughter — some ten steps —

In the half-light — thro' the dim dawn — advanced

The monster, and then paused, and spake no word. 1350

But Gareth spake and all indignantly : " Fool, for thou hast, men say, the strength of ten, Canst thou not trust the limbs thy God hath given, But must, to make the terror of thee more, Trick thyself out in ghastly imageries 1355

Of that which Life hath done with, and the clod, Less dull than thou, will hide with mantling flowers As if for pity ? " But he spake no word ; Which set the horror higher : a maiden swoon'd ; The Lady Lyonors wrung her hands and wept, 1360

As doom'd to be the bride of Night and Death ; Sir Gareth's head prickled beneath his helm ; And even Sir Lancelot thro' his warm blood felt Ice strike, and all that mark'd him were aghast

GARETH AND LYNETTE 47

At once Sir Lancelot's charger fiercely neigh'd, 1365

And Death's dark war-horse bounded forward with him. Then those that did not blink the terror saw That Death was cast to ground, and slowly rose. But with one stroke Sir Gareth split the skull. Half fell to right and half to left and lay. 1370

Then with a stronger buffet he clove the helm As throughly as the skull ; and out from this Issued the bright face of a blooming boy Fresh as a flower new-born, and crying, " Knight, Slay me not: my three brethren bade me do it, 1375

To make a horror all about the house, And stay the world from Lady Lyonors ; They never dream'd the passes would be past." Answer'd Sir Gareth graciously to one

Not many a moon his younger, "My fair child, 1380

What madness made thee challenge the chief knight Of Arthur's hall ? " " Fair Sir, they bade me do it. They hate the King and Lancelot, the King's friend ; They hoped to slay him somewhere on the stream, They never dream'd the passes could be past." 1385

Then sprang the happier day from underground; And Lady Lyonors and her house, with dance And revel and song, made merry over Death, As being after all their foolish fears

And horrors only proven a blooming boy. 1390

So large mirth lived, and Gareth won the quest.

And he that told the tale in older times Says that Sir Gareth wedded Lyonors, But he that told it later says Lynette.

LANCELOT AND ELAINE

Elaine the fair, Elaine the lovable, Elaine, the lily maid of Astolat, High in her chamber up a tower to the east Guarded the sacred shield of Lancelot; Which first she placed where morning's earliest ray 5

Might strike it, and awake her with the gleam; Then fearing rust or soilure fashion'd for it A case of silk, and braided thereupon All the devices blazon'd on the shield

In their own tinct, and added, of her wit, 10

A border fantasy of branch and flower, And yellow-throated nestling in her nest. Nor rested thus content, but day by day, Leaving her household and good father, climb'd That eastern tower, and entering barr'd her door, 15

Stript off the case, and read the naked shield, Now guess'd a hidden meaning in his arms, Now made a pretty history to herself Of every dint a sword had beaten in it, And every scratch a lance had made upon it, 20

Conjecturing when and where : this cut is fresh ; That ten years back ; this dealt him at Caerlyle ; That at Caerleon ; this at Camelot : And ah, God's mercy, what a stroke was there ! And here a thrust that might have kill'd, but God 25

Broke the strong lance, and roll'd his enemy down, And saved him: so she lived in fantasy. 49

50 IDYLLS OF THE KING

How came the lily maid by that good shield Of Lancelot, she that knew not even his name? He left it with her, when he rode to tilt 30

For the great diamond in the diamond jousts, Which Arthur had ordain'd, and by that name Had named them, since a diamond was the prize.

For Arthur, long before they crown'd him king, Roving the trackless realms of Lyonnesse, 35

Had found a glen, gray boulder and black tarn. A horror lived about the tarn, and clave Like its own mists to all the mountain side : For here two brothers, one a king, had met And fought together ; but their names were lost; 40

And each had slain his brother at a blow; And down they fell and made the glen abhorr'd : And there they lay till all their bones were bleach'd, And lichen'd into color with the crags :

And he that once was king had on a crown 45

Of diamonds, one in front and four aside. And Arthur came, and laboring up the pass, All in a misty moonshine, unawares Had trodden that crown'd skeleton, and the skull Brake from the nape, and from the skull the crown 50

Roll'd into light, and turning on its rims Fled like a glittering rivulet to the tarn: And down the shingly scaur he plunged, and caught, And set it on his head, and in his heart Heard murmurs, " Lo, thou likewise shalt be king." 55

Thereafter, when a king, he had the gems Pluck'd from the crown, and show'd them to his knights, Saying: "These jewels, whereupon I chanced

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 51

Divinely, are the kingdom's, not the King's —

For public use : henceforward let there be, 60

Once every year, a joust for one of these :

For so by nine years' proof we needs must learn

Which is our mightiest, and ourselves shall grow

In use of arms and manhood, till we drive

The heathen, who, some say, shall rule the land 65

Hereafter, which God hinder ! " Thus he spoke :

And eight years past, eight jousts had been, and still

Had Lancelot won the diamond of the year,

With purpose to present them to the Queen

When all were won; but, meaning all at once 70

To snare her royal fancy with a boon

Worth half her realm, had never spoken word.

Now for the central diamond and the last And largest, Arthur, holding then his court Hard on the river nigh the place which now 75

Is this world's hugest, let proclaim a joust At Camelot, and when the time drew nigh Spake — for she had been sick — to Guinevere: "Are you so sick, my Queen, you cannot move To these fair jousts?" "Yea, lord," she said, "ye know it." "Then will ye miss," he answer'd, "the great deeds 81

Of Lancelot, and his prowess in the lists, A sight ye love to look on." And the Queen Lifted her eyes, and they dwelt languidly On Lancelot, where he stood beside the King. 85

He, thinking that he read her meaning there, " Stay with me, I am sick ; my love is more Than many diamonds," yielded; and a heart Love-loyal to the least wish of the Queen — However much he yearn 'd to make complete 90

52 IDYLLS OF THE KING

The tale of diamonds for his destined boon —

Urged him to speak against the truth, and say,

" Sir King, mine ancient wound is hardly whole,

And lets me from the saddle ;" and the King

Glanced first at him, then her, and went his way. 95

No sooner gone than suddenly she began :

" To blame, my lord Sir Lancelot, much to blame I Why go ye not to these fair jousts ? the knights Are half of them our enemies, and the crowd Will murmur, ' Lo the shameless ones, who take 100

Their pastime now the trustful King is gone ! ' ' Then Lancelot, vext at having lied in vain: "Are ye so wise ? ye were not once so wise, My Queen, that summer when ye loved me first. Then of the crowd ye took no more account 105

Than of the myriad cricket of the mead, When its own voice clings to each blade of grass, And every voice is nothing. As to knights, Them surely can I silence with all ease. But now my loyal worship is allow'd no

Of all men : many a bard, without offence, Has link'd our names together in his lay, Lancelot, the flower of bravery, Guinevere, The pearl of beauty ; and our knights at feast Have pledged us in this union, while the King 115

Would listen smiling. How then ? is there more ? Has Arthur spoken aught ? or would yourself, Now weary of my service and devoir, Henceforth be truer to your faultless lord ? "

She broke into a little scornful laugh : 120

"Arthur, my lord, Arthur, the faultless King,

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 53

That passionate perfection, my good lord —

But who can gaze upon the sun in heaven?

He never spake word of reproach to me,

He never had a glimpse of mine untruth, 125

He cares not for me : only here to-day

There gleamed a vague suspicion in his eyes :

Some meddling rogue has tamper'd with him — else

Rapt in this fancy of his Table Round,

And swearing men to vows impossible, 130

To make them like himself ; but, friend, to me

He is all fault who hath no fault at all:

For who loves me must have a touch of earth;

The low sun makes the color: I am yours,

Nor Arthur's, as ye know, save by the bond. 135

And therefore hear my words : go to the jousts :

The tiny-trumpeting gnat can break our dream

When sweetest ; and the vermin voices here

May buzz so loud — we scorn them, but they sting."

Then answer'd Lancelot, the chief of knights : 140

"And with what face, after my pretext made, Shall I appear, O Queen, at Camelot, I Before a king who honors his own word As if it were his God's ? "

" Yea," said the Queen,

"A moral child without the craft to rule, 145

Else had he not lost me : but listen to me, If I must find you wit : we hear it said That men go down before your spear at a touch, But knowing you are Lancelot ; your great name, This conquers : hide it therefore ; go unknown : 150

Win ! by this kiss you will : and our true King

54 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Will then allow your pretext, O my knight,

As all for glory ; for to speak him true,

Ye know right well, how meek soe'er he seem,

No keener hunter after glory breathes. 155

He loves it in his knights more than himself ;

They prove to him his work : win and return."

Then got Sir Lancelot suddenly to horse, Wroth at himself. Not willing to be known, He left the barren-beaten thoroughfare, 160

Chose the green path that show'd the rarer foot, And there among the solitary downs, Full often lost in fancy, lost his way; Till as he traced a faintly-shadow'd track, That all in loops and links among the dales 165

Ran to the Castle of Astolat, he saw Fired from the west, far on a hill, the towers. Thither he made, and blew the gateway horn. Then came an old, dumb, myriad-wrinkled man, Who let him into lodging and disarm'd. 170

And Lancelot marvell'd at the wordless man ; And issuing found the Lord of Astolat With two strong sons, Sir Torre and Sir Lavaine, Moving to meet him in the castle court ; And close behind them stept the lily maid 175

Elaine, his daughter : mother of the house There was not. Some light jest among them rose With laughter dying down as the great knight Approach'd them ; then the Lord of Astolat : " Whence comest thou my guest, and by what name 180 Livest between the lips ? for by thy state And presence I might guess thee chief of those, After the King, who eat in Arthur's halls.

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 55

Him have I seen : the rest, his Table Round,

Known as they are, to me they are unknown." 185

Then answer'd Lancelot, the chief of knights : " Known am I, and of Arthur's hall, and known, What I by mere mischance have brought, my shield. But since I go to joust as one unknown At Camelot for the diamond, ask me not ; 190

Hereafter ye shall know me — and the shield — I pray you lend me one, if such you have, Blank, or at least with some device not mine."

Then said the Lord of Astolat : " Here is Torre's : Hurt in his first tilt was my son, Sir Torre ; 195

And so, God wot, his shield is blank enough. His ye can have." Then added plain Sir Torre, " Yea, since I cannot use it, ye may have it." Here laugh'd the father saying : " Fie, Sir Churl, Is that an answer for a noble knight ? 200

Allow him ! but Lavaine, my younger here, He is so full of lustihood, he will ride, Joust for it, and win, and bring it in an hour, And set it in this damsel's golden hair, To make her thrice as wilful as before." 205

" Nay, father, nay, good father, shame me not Before this noble knight," said young Lavaine, " For nothing. Surely I but play'd on Torre : He seem'd so sullen, vext he could not go : A jest, no more ! for, knight, the maiden dreamt 210

That some one put this diamond in her hand, And that it was too slippery to be held, And slipt and fell into some pool or stream,

56 IDYLLS OF THE KING

The castle-well, belike ; and then I said

That if I went and if\ fought and won it — 215

But all was jest and joke among ourselves —

Then must she keep it safelier. All was jest.

But, father, give me leave, and if he will,

To ride to Camelot with this noble knight :

Win shall I not, but do my best to win ; 220

Young as I am, yet would I do my best."

" So ye will grace me," answer'd Lancelot, Smiling a moment, " with your fellowship O'er these waste downs whereon I lost myself, Then were I glad of you as guide and friend : 225

And you shall win this diamond, — as I hear, It is a fair large diamond, — if ye may, And yield it to this maiden, if ye will." "A fair large diamond," added plain Sir Torre, "Such be for queens, and not for simple maids." 230

Then she, who held her eyes upon the ground, Elaine, and heard her name so tost about, Flush'd slightly at the slight disparagement Before the stranger knight, who, looking at her, Full courtly, yet not falsely, thus return'd : 235

" If what is fair be but for what is fair, And only queens are to be counted so, Rash were my judgment then, who deem this maid Might wear as fair a jewel as is on earth, Not violating the bond of like to like." 240

He spoke and ceased : the lily maid Elaine, Won by the mellow voice before she look'd, Lifted her eyes and read his lineaments. The great and guilty love he bare the Queen,

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 57

In battle with the love he bare his lord, 245

Had marr'd his face, and mark'd it ere his time.

Another sinning on such heights with one,

The flower of all the west and all the world,

Had been the sleeker for it ; but in him

His mood was often like a fiend, and rose 250

And drove him into wastes and solitudes

For agony, who was yet a living soul. \

Marr'd as he was, he seem'd the goodliest man

That ever among ladies ate in hall,

And noblest, when she lifted up her eyes. 255

However marr'd, of more than twice her years,

Seam'd with an ancient sword-cut on the cheek,

And bruised and bronzed, she lifted up her eyes

And loved him, with that love which was her doom.

Then the great knight, the darling of the court, 260

Loved of the loveliest, into that rude hall Stept with all grace, and not with half disdain Hid under grace, as in a smaller time, But kindly man moving among his kind : Whom they with meats and vintage of their best 265

And talk and minstrel melody entertain'd. And much they ask'd of court and Table Round And ever well and readily answer'd he ; But Lancelot, when they glanced at Guinevere, Suddenly speaking of the wordless man, 270

Heard from the baron that, ten years before, The heathen caught and reft him of his tongue. "He learnt and warn'd me of their fierce design Against my house, and him they caught and maim'd ; But I, my sons, and little daughter fled 275

From bonds or death, and dwelt among the woods

58 IDYLLS OF THE KING

By the great river in a boatman's hut.

Dull days were those, till our good Arthur broke

The Pagan yet once more on Badon hill."

"O there, great lord, doubtless," Lavaine said, rapt 280 By all the sweet and sudden passion of youth Toward greatness in its elder, "you have fought. O tell us — for we live apart — you know Of Arthur's glorious wars." And Lancelot spoke And answer'd him at full, as having been 285

With Arthur in the fight which all day long Rang by the white mouth of the violent Glem ; And in the four loud battles by the shore Of Duglas ; that on Bassa ; then the war That thunder'd in and out the gloomy skirts 290

Of Celidon the forest ; and again By Castle Gurnion, where the glorious King Had on his cuirass worn our Lady's Head, Carved of one emerald centred in a sun Of silver rays, that lighten'd as he breathed; 295

And at Caerleon had he helped his lord, When the strong neighings of the wild white Horse Set every gilded parapet shuddering ; And up in Agned-Cathregonion too,

And down the waste sand-shores of Trath Treroit, 300

Where many a heathen fell ; "and on the mount Of Badon I myself beheld the King Charge at the head of all his Table Round, And all his legion crying Christ and him, And brake them; and I saw him, after, stand 305

High on a heap of slain, from spur to plume Red as the rising sun with heathen blood, And seeing me, with a great voice he cried,

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 59

'They are broken, they are broken!' for the King,

However mild he seems at home, nor cares 310

For triumph in our mimic wars, the jousts —

For if his own knight cast him down, he laughs,

Saying his knights are better men than he —

Yet in this heathen war the fire of God

Fills him : I never saw his like; there lives 315

No greater leader."

While he utter'd this, Low to her own heart said the lily maid, "Save your great self, fair lord ;" and when he fell From talk of war to traits of pleasantry — Being mirthful he, but in a stately kind — 320

She still took note that when the living smile Died from his lips, across him came a cloud Of melancholy severe, from which again, Whenever in her hovering to and fro

The lily maid had striven to make him cheer, 325

There brake a sudden-beaming tenderness Of manners and of nature: and she thought That all was nature, all, perchance, for her. And all night long his face before her lived, As when a painter, poring on a face, 330

Divinely thro' all hindrance finds the man Behind it, and so paints him that his face, The shape and color of a mind and life, Lives for his children, ever at its best

And fullest; so the face before her lived, 335

Dark-splendid, speaking in the silence, full Of noble things, and held her from her sleep, Till rathe she rose, half-cheated in the thought She needs must bid farewell to sweet Lavaine.

60 IDYLLS OF THE KING

First as in fear, step after step, she stole 340

Down the long tower-stairs, hesitating :

Anon, she heard Sir Lancelot cry in the court,

"This shield, my friend, where is it?" and Lavaine

Past inward, as she came from out the tower.

There to his proud horse Lancelot turn'd, and smooth'd 345

The glossy shoulder, humming to himself.

Half-envious of the flattering hand, she drew

Nearer and stood. He look'd, and, more amazed

Than if seven men had set upon him, saw

The maiden standing in the dewy light. 350

He had not dream'd she was so beautiful.

Then came on him a sort of sacred fear,

For silent, tho' he greeted her, she stood

Rapt on his face as if it were a god's.

Suddenly flash'd on her a wild desire 355

That he should wear her favor at the tilt.

She braved a riotous heart in asking for it.

"Fair lord, whose name I know not — noble it is

I well believe, the noblest — will you wear

My favor at this tourney ? " " Nay," said he, 360

" Fair lady, since I never yet have worn

Favor of any lady in the lists.

Such is my wont, as those who know me know."

" Yea, so," she answer'd ; " then in wearing mine

Needs must be lesser likelihood, noble lord, 365

That those who know should know you." And he turn'd

Her counsel up and down within his mind,

And found it true, and answer'd : " True, my child.

Well, I will wear it : fetch it out to me :

What is it ? " and she told him, "A red sleeve 37Q

Broider'd with pearls," and brought it : then he bound

Her token on his helmet, with a smile

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 6l

Saying, " I never yet have done so much

For any maiden living," and the blood

Sprang to her face and fill'd her with delight ; 375

But left her all the paler when Lavaine

Returning brought the yet-unblazon'd shield,

His brother's ; which he gave to Lancelot,

Who parted with his own to fair Elaine :

" Do me this grace, my child, to have my shield 380

In keeping till I come." "A grace to me,"

She answer'd, " twice to-day. I am your squire 1 "

Whereat Lavaine said laughingly: "Lily maid,

For fear our people call you lily maid

In earnest, let me bring your color back ; 385

Once, twice, and thrice : now get you hence to bed : "

So kiss'd her, and Sir Lancelot his own hand,

And thus they moved away : she stay'd a minute,

Then made a sudden step to the gate, and there —

Her bright hair blown about the serious face 390

Yet rosy kindled with her brother's kiss —

Paused by the gateway, standing near the shield

In silence, while she watch'd their arms far-off

Sparkle, until they dipt below the downs.

Then to her tower she climb'd, and took the shield, 395

There kept it, and so lived in fantasy.

Meanwhile the new companions past away Far o'er the long backs of the bushless downs, To where Sir Lancelot knew there lived a knight Not far from Camelot, now for forty years 400

A hermit, who had pray'd, labor'd and pray'd, And ever laboring had scoop'd himself In the white rock a chapel and a hall On massive columns, like a shore-cliff cave,

62 IDYLLS OF THE KING

And cells and chambers : all were fair and dry ; 405

The green light from the meadows underneath

Struck up and lived along the milky roofs^

And in the meadows tremulous aspen-trees

And poplars made a noise of falling showers.

And thither wending there that night they bode. 410

But when the next day broke from underground, And shot red fire and shadows thro' the cave, They rose, heard mass, broke fast, and rode away. Then Lancelot saying, " Hear, but hold my name Hidden, you ride with Lancelot of the Lake," 415

Abash'd Lavaine, whose instant reverence, Dearer to true young hearts than their own praise, But left him leave to stammer, " Is it indeed ? " And after muttering, " The great Lancelot," At last he got his breath and answer'd : "One, 420

One have I seen — that other, our liege lord, The dread Pendragon, Britain's King of kings, Of whom the people talk mysteriously, He will be there — then were I stricken blind That minute, I might say that I had seen." 425

So spake Lavaine, and when they reached the lists By Camelot in the meadow, let his eyes Run thro' the peopled gallery which half round Lay like a rainbow fallen upon the grass, Until they found the clear-faced King, who sat 430

Robed in red samite, easily to be known, Since to his crown the golden dragon clung, And down his robe the dragon writhed in gold, And from the carven-work behind him crept Two dragons gilded, sloping down to make 435

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 63

Arms for his chair, while all the rest of them

Thro' knots and loops and folds innumerable

Fled ever thro' the woodwork, till they found

The new design wherein they lost themselves,

Yet with all ease, so tender was the work : 440

And, in the costly canopy o'er him set,

Blazed the last diamond of the nameless king.

Then Lancelot answer'd young Lavaine and said : " Me you call great : mine is the firmer seat, The truer lance : but there is many a youth 445

Now crescent, who will come to all I am And overcome it ; and in me there dwells No greatness, save it be some far-off touch Of greatness to know wfell I am not great : There is the man." And Lavaine gaped upon him 450

As on a thing miraculous, and anon The trumpets blew ; and then did either side, They that assail'd, and they that held the lists, Set lance in rest, strike spur, suddenly move, Meet in the midst, and there so furiously 455

Shock that a man far-off might well perceive, If any man that day were left afield, The hard earth shake, and a low thunder of arms. And Lancelot bode a little, till he saw Which were the weaker ; then he hurl'd into it 460

Against the stronger: little need to speak Of Lancelot in his glory ! King, duke, earl, Count, baron — whom he smote, he overthrew.

But in the field were Lancelot's kith and kin, Ranged with the Table Round that held the lists, 465

Strong men, and wrathful that a stranger knight

64 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Should do and almost overdo the deeds

Of Lancelot ; and one said to the other, " Lo !

What is he ? I do not mean the force alone —

The grace and versatility of the man ! 470

Is it not Lancelot ? " " When has Lancelot worn

Favor of any lady in the lists ?

Not such his wont, as we that know him know.';

" How then ? who then ? " a fury seized them all,

A fiery family passion for the name 475

Of Lancelot, and a glory one with theirs.

They couch'd their spears and prick'd their steeds, and thus,

Their plumes driven backward by the wind they made

In moving, all together down upon him

Bare, as a wild wave in the wide North Sea, 480

Green-glimmering toward the summit, bears, with all

Its stormy crests that smoke against the skies,

Down on a bark, and overbears the bark

And him that helms it ; so they overbore

Sir Lancelot and his charger, and a spear 485

Down-glancing lamed the charger, and a spear

Prick'd sharply his own cuirass, and the head

Pierced thro' his side, and there snapt and remain'd.

Then Sir Lavaine did well and worshipfully : He bore a knight of old repute to the earth, 490

And brought his horse to Lancelot where he lay. He up the side, sweating with agony, got, But thought to do while he might yet endure, And being lustily holpen by the rest,

His party, — tho' it seem'd half-miracle 495

To those he fought with, — drave his kith and kin, And all the Table Round that held the lists, Back to the barrier ; then the trumpets blew

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 65

Proclaiming his the prize who wore the sleeve

Of scarlet and the pearls ; and all the knights, 500

His party, cried, "Advance and take thy prize

The diamond ; " but he answer'd : " Diamond me

No diamonds ! for God's love, a little air !

Prize me no prizes, for my prize is death !

Hence will I, and I charge you, follow me not." 505

He spoke, and vanish'd suddenly from the field

With young Lavaine into the poplar grove.

There from his charger down he slid, and sat,

Gasping to Sir Lavaine, " Draw the lance-head."

"Ah, my sweet lord Sir Lancelot," said Lavaine, 510

"I dread me, if I draw it, you will die."

But he, " I die already with it : draw —

Draw," — and Lavaine drew, and Sir Lancelot gave

A marvellous great shriek and ghastly groan,

And half his blood burst forth, and down he sank 515

For the pure pain, and wholly swoon'd away.

Then jame the hermit out and bare him in,

There stanch'd his wound ; and there, in daily doubt

Whether to live or die, for many a week

Hid from the wild world's rumor by the grove / 520

Of poplars with their noise of falling showers,

And ever-tremulous aspen-trees, he lay.

But on that day when Lancelot fled the lists, His party, knights of utmost North and West, Lords of waste marshes, kings of desolate isles, 525

Came round their great Pendragon, saying to him, " Lo, Sire, our knight, thro' whom we won the day, Hath gone sore wounded, and hath left his prize Untaken, crying that his prize is death."

66 IDYLLS OF THE KING

" Heaven hinder," said the King, " that such an one, 530

So great a knight as we have seen to-day —

He seem'd to me another Lancelot —

Yea, twenty times I thought him Lancelot —

He must not pass uncared for. Wherefore rise,

0 Gawain, and ride forth and find the knight. 535 Wounded and wearied, needs must he be near.

1 charge you that you get at once to horse.

And, knights and kings, there breathes not one of you

Will deem this prize of ours is rashly given :

His prowess was too wondrous. We will do him 540

No customary honor : since the knight

Came not to us, of us to claim the prize,

Ourselves will send it after. Rise and take

This diamond, and deliver it, and return,

And bring us where he is, and how he fares, 545

And cease not from your quest until ye find."

So saying, from the carven flower above, To which it made a restless heart, he took And gave the diamond : then from where he sat At Arthur's right, with smiling face arose, 550

With smiling face and frowning heart, a prince In the mid might and flourish of his May, Gawain, surnamed the Courteous, fair and strong, And after Lancelot, Tristram, and Geraint, And Gareth, a good knight, but therewithal 555

Sir Modred's brother, and the child of Lot, Nor often loyal to his word, and now Wroth that the King's command to sally forth In quest of whom he knew not, made him leave The banquet and concourse of knights and kings. 560

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 6/

So all in wrath he got to horse and went ; While Arthur to the banquet, dark in mood, Past, thinking, " Is it Lancelot who hath "come Despite the wound he spake of, all for gain Of glory, and hath added wound to wound, 565

And ridden away to die ? " So fear'd the King, And, after two days' tarriance there, return'd. Then when he saw the Queen, embracing ask'd, " Love, are you yet so sick ? " " Nay, lord," she said. "And where is Lancelot ? " Then the Queen amazed, 570 " Was he not with you ? won he not your prize ? " " Nay, but one like him." " Why, that like was he." And when the King demanded how she knew, Said : " Lord, no sooner had ye parted from us Than Lancelot told me of a common talk 575

That men went down before his spear at a touch, But knowing he was Lancelot ; his great name Conquer'd ; and therefore would he hide his name From all men, even the King, and to this end Had made the pretext of a hindering wound, 580

That he might joust unknown of all, and learn If his old prowess were in aught decay'd ; And added, ' Our true Arthur, when he learns, Will well allow my pretext, as for gain Of purer glory.' "

Then replied the King : 585

" Far lovelier in our Lancelot had it been, In lieu of idly dallying with the truth, To have trusted me as he hath trusted thee. Surely his King and most familiar friend Might well have kept his secret. True, indeed, 590

68 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Albeit I know my knights fantastical,

So fine a fear in our large Lancelot

Must needs have moved my laughter : now remains

But little cause for laughter : his own kin —

111 news, my Queen, for all who love him, this ! — 595

His kith and kin, not knowing, set upon him ;

So that he went sore wounded from the field.

Yet good news too ; for goodly hopes are mine

That Lancelot is no more a lonely heart.

He wore, against his wont, upon his helm 600

A sleeve of scarlet, broider'd with great pearls,

Some gentle maiden's gift."

" Yea, lord," she said,

" Thy hopes are mine," and saying that, she choked, And sharply turn'd about to hide her face, Past to her chamber and there flung herself 605

Down on the great King's couch, and writhed upon it, And clench'd her fingers till they bit the palm, And shriek'd out " Traitor ! " to the unhearing wall, Then flash'd into wild tears, and rose again, And moved about her palace, proud and pale. 610

Gawain the while thro' all the region round Rode with his diamond, wearied of the quest, Touch'd at all points except the poplar grove, And came at last, tho' late, to Astolat ; Whom glittering in enamell'd arms the maid 615

Glanced at, and cried, " What news from Camelot, lord ? What of the knight with the red sleeve ? " " He won." " I knew it," she said. " But parted from the jousts Hurt in the side ; " whereat she caught her breath ; Thro' her own side she felt the sharp lance go ; 620

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 69

Thereon she smote her hand ; wellnigh she swoon'd :

And, while he gazed wonderingly at her, came

The Lord of Astolat out, to whom the prince

Reported who he was, and on what quest

Sent, that he bore the prize and could not find 625

The victor, but had ridden at random round

To seek him, and had wearied of the search.

To whom the Lord of Astolat: " Bide with us,

And ride no more at random, noble prince!

Here was the knight and here he left a shield ; 630

This will he send or come for : furthermore,

Our son is with him ; we shall hear anon,

Needs must we hear." To this the courteous prince

Accorded with his wonted courtesy,

Courtesy with a touch of traitor in it, 635

And stay'd ; and cast his eyes on fair Elaine ;

Where could be found face daintier ? then her shape

From forehead down to foot, perfect — again

From foot to forehead exquisitely turn'd :

" Well — if I bide, lo ! this wild flower for me ! " 640

And oft they met among the garden yews,

And there he set himself to play upon her

With sallying wit, free flashes from a height

Above her, graces of the court, and songs,

Sighs, and low smiles, and golden eloquence 645

And amorous adulation, till the maid

RebelPd against it, saying to him : " Prince,

O loyal nephew of our noble King,

Why ask you not to see the shield he left,

Whence you might learn his name ? Why slight your King,

And lose the quest he sent you on, and prove 651

No surer than our falcon yesterday,

Who lost the hern we slipt her at, and went

70 IDYLLS OF THE KING

To all the winds? " " Nay, by mine head," said he,

" I lose it, as we lose the lark in heaven, 655

0 damsel, in the light of your blue eyes ; But an ye will it let me see the shield."

And when the shield was brought, and Gawain saw

Sir Lancelot's azure lions, crown'd with gold,

Ramp in the field, he smote his thigh, and mock'd : 660

"Right was the King! our Lancelot! that true man!"

"And right was I," she answer'd merrily, " I,

Who dream'd my knight the greatest knight of all."

"And if / dream'd," said Gawain, " that you love

This greatest knight, your pardon ! lo, ye know it 1 665

Speak therefore : shall I waste myself in vain?"

Full simple was her answer : " What know I ?

My brethren have been all my fellowship;

And I, when often they have talk'd of love,

Wish'd it had been my mother, for they talk'd, 670

Meseem'd, of what they knew not; so myself —

1 know not if I know what true love is, But if I know, then, if I love not him,

I know there is none other I can love."

" Yea, by God's death," said he, "ye love him well, 675

But would not, knew ye what all others know,

And whom he loves." " So be it," cried Elaine,

And lifted her fair face and moved away :

But he pursued her, calling, " Stay a little !

One golden minute's grace ! he wore your sleeve: 680

Would he break faith with one I may not name ?

Must our true man change like a leaf at last ?

Nay — like enow : why then, far be it from me

To cross our mighty Lancelot in his loves !

And, damsel, for I deem you know full well 685

Where your great knight is hidden, let me leave

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 71

My quest with you ; the diamond also : here !

For if you love, it will be sweet to give it ;

And if he love, it will be sweet to have it

From your own hand ; and whether he love or not, 690

A diamond is a diamond. Fare you well

A thousand times ! — a thousand times farewell !

Yet, if he love, and his love hold, we two

May meet at court hereafter : there, I think,

So ye will learn the courtesies of the court, 695

We two shall know each other."

Then he gave,

And slightly kiss'd the hand to which he gave, The diamond, and all wearied of the quest Leapt on his horse, and carolling as he went A true-love ballad, lightly rode away. 700

Thence to the court he past ; there told the King What the King knew, " Sir Lancelot is the knight." And added, " Sire, my liege, so much I learnt ; But fail'd to find him tho' I rode all round The region : but I lighted on the maid 705

Whose sleeve he wore ; she loves him ; and to her, Deeming our courtesy is the truest law, I gave the diamond: she will render it; For by mine head she knows his hiding-place."

The seldom-frowning King frown 'd, and replied, 710

" Too courteous truly ! ye shall go no more On quest of mine, seeing that ye forget Obedience is the courtesy due to kings."

He spake and parted. Wroth, but all in awe, For twenty strokes of the blood, without a word, 715

72 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Linger'd that other, staring after him ;

Then shook his hair, strode off, and buzz'd abroad

About the maid of Astolat, and her love.

All ears were prick'd at once, all tongues were loosed:

" The maid of Astolat loves Sir Lancelot, 720

Sir Lancelot loves the maid of Astolat."

Some read the King's face, some the Queen's, and all

Had marvel what the maid might be, but most

Predoom'd her as unworthy. One old dame

Came suddenly on the Queen with the sharp news. 725

She, that had heard the noise of it before,

But sorrowing Lancelot should have stoop'd so low,

Marr'd her friend's aim with pale tranquillity.

So ran the tale like fire about the court,

Fire in dry stubble a nine-days' wonder flared : 730

Till even the knights at banquet twice or thrice

Forgot to drink to Lancelot and the Queen,

And pledging Lancelot and the lily maid

Smiled at each other, while the Queen, who sat

With lips severely placid, felt the knot 735

Climb in her throat, and with her feet unseen

Crush'd the wild passion out against the floor

Beneath the banquet, where the meats became

As wormwood, and she hated all who pledged.

But far away the maid in Astolat, 740

Her guiltless rival, she that ever kept The one-day-seen Sir Lancelot in her heart, Crept to her father, while he mused alone. Sat on his knee, stroked his gray face and said: " Father, you call me wilful, and the fault 745

Is yours who let me have my will-, and now, Sweet father, will you let me lose my wits? "

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 73

" Nay," said he, " surely." " Wherefore, let me hence,"

She answer'd, " and find out our dear Lavaine."

" Ye will not lose your wits for dear Lavaine : 750

Bide," answer'd he : " we needs must hear anon

Of him, and of that other." "Ay," she said,

"And of that other, for I needs must hence

And find that other, whereso'er he be,

And with mine own hand give his diamond to him, 755

Lest I be found as faithless in the quest

As yon proud prince who left the quest to me.

Sweet father, I behold him in my dreams

Gaunt as it were the skeleton of himself,

Death-pale, for the lack of gentle maiden's aid. 760

The gentler-born the maiden, the more bound,

My father, to be sweet and serviceable

To noble knights in sickness, as ye know,

When these have worn their tokens : let me hence,

I pray you." Then her father nodding said : 765

"Ay, ay, the diamond : wit ye well, my child,

Right fain were I to learn this knight were whole,

Being our greatest : yea, and you must give it —

And sure I think this fruit is hung too high

For any mouth to gape for save a queen's — 770

Nay, I mean nothing : so then, get you gone,

Being so very wilful you must go."

Lightly, her suit allow'd, she slipt away, And while she made her ready for her ride, Her father's latest word humm'd in her ear, 775

" Being so very wilful you must go," And changed itself and echo'd in her heart, " Being so very wilful you must die." But she was happy enough and shook it off,

74 IDYLLS OF THE KING

As we shake off the bee that buzzes at us ; 780

And in her heart she answer'd it and said,

" What matter, so I help him back to life ? "

Then far away with good Sir Torre for guide

Rode o'er the long backs of the bushless downs

To Camelot, and before the city-gates 785

Came on her brother with a happy face

Making a roan horse caper and curvet

For pleasure all about a field of flowers;

Whom when she saw, " Lavaine," she cried, " Lavaine,

How fares my lord Sir Lancelot ? " He amazed, 790

" Torre and Elaine ! why here ? Sir Lancelot !

How know ye my lord's name is Lancelot ? "

But when the maid had told him all her tale,

Then turn'd Sir Torre, and being in his moods

Left them, and under the strange-statued gate, 795

Where Arthur's wars were render'd mystically,

Past up the still rich city to his kin,

His own far blood, which dwelt at Camelot ;

And her, Lavaine across the poplar grove

Led to the caves : there first she saw the casque 800

Of Lancelot on the wall : her scarlet sleeve,

Tho' carved and cut, and half the pearls away,

Stream'd from it still ; and in her heart she laugh'd,

Because he had not loosed it from his helm,

But meant once more perchance to tourney in it. 805

And when they gain'd the cell wherein he slept,

His battle-writhen arms and mighty hands

Lay naked on the wolf-skin, and a dream

Of dragging down his enemy made them move.

Then she that saw him lying unsleek, unshorn, 810

Gaunt as it were the skeleton of himself,

Utter'd a little tender dolorous cry.

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 75

The sound not wonted in a place so still

Woke the sick knight, and while he roll'd his eyes

Yet blank from sleep, she started to him, saying, 815

" Your prize the diamond sent you by the King."

His eyes glisten'd : she fancied, "Is it for me ? "

And when the maid had told him all the tale

Of king and prince, the diamond sent, the quest

Assign'd to her not worthy of it, she knelt 820

Full lowly by the corners of his bed,

And laid the diamond in his open hand.

Her face was near, and as we kiss the child

That does the task assign'd, he kiss'd her face.

At once she slipt like water to the floor. 825

"Alas," he said, "your ride hath wearied you.

Rest must you have." " No rest for me," she said ;

" Nay, for near you, fair lord, I am at rest."

What might she mean by that ? his large black eyes,

Yet larger thro' his leanness, dwelt upon her, 830

Till all her heart's sad secret blazed itself

In the heart's colors on her simple face ;

And Lancelot look'd and was perplext in mind,

And being weak in body said no more,

But did not love the color ; woman's love, 835

Save one, he not regarded, and so turn'd

Sighing, and feign'd a sleep until he slept.

Then rose Elaine and glided thro' the fields, And past beneath the weirdly-sculptured gates Far up the dim rich city to her kin ; 840

There bode the night : but woke with dawn, and past Down thro' the dim rich city to the fields, Thence to the cave. So day by day she past In either twilight ghost-like to and fro

76 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Gliding, and every day she tended him, 845

And likewise many a night ; and Lancelot

Would, tho' he call'd his wound a little hurt

Whereof he should be quickly whole, at times

Brain-feverous in his heat and agony, seem

Uncourteous, even he : but the meek maid 850

Sweetly forbore him ever, being to him

Meeker than any child to a rough nurse,

Milder than any mother to a sick child,

And never woman yet, since man's first fall,

Did kindlier unto man, but her deep love 855

Upbore her; till the hermit, skill'd in all

The simples and the science of that time,

Told him that her fine care had saved his life.

And the sick man forgot her simple blush,

Would call her friend and sister, sweet Elaine, 860

Would listen for her coming and regret

Her parting step, and held her tenderly,

And loved her with all love except the love

Of man and woman when they love their best,

Closest and sweetest, and had died the death 865

In any knightly fashion for her sake.

And peradventure had he seen her first

She might have made this and that other world

Another world for the sick man ; but now

The shackles of an old love straiten 'd him, 870

His honor rooted in dishonor stood,

And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.

Yet the great knight in his mid-sickness made Full many a holy vow and pure resolve. These, as but born of sickness, could not live ; 875

For when the blood ran lustier in him again,

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 77

Full often the bright image of one face,

Making a treacherous quiet in his heart,

Dispersed his resolution like a cloud.

Then if the maiden, while that ghostly grace 880

Beam'd on his fancy, spoke, he answer'd not,

Or short and coldly, and she knew right well

What the rough sickness meant, but what this meant

She knew not, and the sorrow dimm'd her sight,

And drave her ere her time across the fields 885

Far into the rich city, where alone

She murmur'd, " Vain, in vain : it cannot be.

He will not love me : how then ? must I die ? "

Then as a little helpless innocent bird,

That has but one plain passage of few notes, 890

Will sing the simple passage o'er and o'er

For all an April morning, till the ear

Wearies to hear it, so the simple maid

Went half the night repeating, " Must I die ? "

And now to right she turn'd, and now to left, 895

And found no ease in turning or in rest ;

And " Him or death," she mutter'd, " death or him,"

Again and like a burthen, " Him or death."

But when Sir Lancelot's deadly hurt was whole, To Astolat returning rode the three. 900

There morn by morn, arraying her sweet self In that wherein she deem'd she look'd her best, She came before Sir Lancelot, for she thought, " If I be loved, these are my festal robes, If not, the victim's flowers before he fall." 905

And Lancelot ever prest upon the maid That she should ask some goodly gift of him For her own self or hers : " and do not shun

78 IDYLLS OF THE KING

To speak the wish most near to your true heart;

Such service have ye done me that I make gio

My will of yours, and prince and lord am I

In mine own land, and what I will I can."

Then like a ghost she lifted up her face,

But like a ghost without the power to speak.

And Lancelot saw that she withheld her wish, 915

And bode among them yet a little space

Till he should learn it ; and one morn it chanced

He found her in among the garden yews,

And said, " Delay no longer, speak your wish,

Seeing I go to-day: " then out she brake : 920

" Going ? and we shall never see you more.

And I must die for want of one bold word."

" Speak : that I live to hear," he said, " is yours."

Then suddenly and passionately she spoke :

" I have gone mad. I love you : let me die." 925

"Ah, sister," answer'd Lancelot, " what is this ? "

And innocently extending her white arms,

" Your love," she said, " your love — to be your wife."

And Lancelot answer'd, " Had I chosen to wed,

I had been wedded earlier, sweet Elaine ; 930

But now there never will be wife of mine."

" No, no," she cried, " I care not to be wife,

But to be with you still, to see your face,

To serve you, and to follow you thro' the world."

And Lancelot answer'd : " Nay, the world, the world, 935

All ear and eye, with such a stupid heart

To interpret ear and eye, and such a tongue

To blare its own interpretation — nay,

Full ill then should I quit your brother's love,

And your good father's kindness." And she said, 940

" Not to be with you, not to see your face —

LANCELOT AND ELAINE

79

Alas for me then, my good days are done ! "

" Nay, noble maid," he answer'd, " ten times nay !

This is not love, but love's first flash in youth,

Most common: yea, I know it of mine own self; 945

And you yourself will smile at your own self

Hereafter, when you yield your flower of life

To one more fitly yours, not thrice your age:

And then will I, for true you are and sweet

Beyond mine old belief in womanhood, 950

More specially should your good knight be poor,

Endow you with broad land and territory

Even to the half my realm beyond the seas,

So that would make you happy : furthermore,

Even to the death, as tho' ye were my blood, 955

In all your quarrels will I be your knight.

This will I do, dear damsel, for your sake,

And more than this I cannot."

While he spoke

She neither blush'd nor shook, but deathly-pale Stood grasping what was nearest, then replied, 960

"Of all this will I nothing;" and so fell, And thus they bore her swooning to her tower.

Then spake, to whom thro' those black walls of yew Their talk had pierced, her father : "Ay, a flash, I fear me, that will strike my blossom dead. 965

Too courteous are ye, fair Lord Lancelot. I pray you, use some rough discourtesy To blunt or break her passion."

Lancelot said, " That were against me : what I can I will ; "

80 IDYLLS OF THE KING

And there that day remain'd, and toward even 970

Sent for his shield : full meekly rose the maid,

Stript off the case, and gave the naked shield;

Then, when she heard his horse upon the stones,

Unclasping flung the casement back, and look'd

Down on his helm, from which her sleeve had gone. 975

And Lancelot knew the little clinking sound ;

And she by tact of love was well aware

That Lancelot knew that she was looking at him.

And yet he glanced not up, nor waved his hand,

Nor bade farewell, but sadly rode away. 98°

This was the one discourtesy that he used.

So in her tower alone the maiden sat : His very shield was gone ; only the case, Her own poor work, her empty labor, left. But still she heard him, still his picture form'd 985

And grew between her and the pictured wall. Then came her father, saying in low tones, " Have comfort," whom she greeted quietly. Then came her brethren saying, " Peace to thee, Sweet sister," whom she answer'd with all calm. 990

But when they left her to herself again, Death, like a friend's voice from a distant field Approaching thro' the darkness, call'd ; the owls Wailing had power upon her, and she mixt Her fancies with the sallow-rifted glooms 995

Of evening and the moanings of the wind.

And in those days she made a little song, And call'd her song " The Song of Love and Death," And sang it: sweetly could she make and sing.

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 8l

" Sweet is true love tho' given in vain, in vain ; 1000

And sweet is death who puts an end to pain : I know not which is sweeter, no, not I.

" Love, art thou sweet ? then bitter death must be : Love, thou art bitter ; sweet is death to me.

0 Love, if death be sweeter, let me die. 1005

" Sweet love, that seems not made to fade away ; Sweet death, that seems to make us loveless clay :

1 know not which is sweeter, no, not I.

" I fain would follow love, if that could be ; I needs must follow death, who calls for me ; 1010

Call and I follow, I follow! let me die."

High with the last line scaled her voice, and this, All in a fiery dawning wild with wind That shook her tower, the brothers heard, and thought With shuddering, " Hark the Phantom of the house 1015 That ever shrieks before a death," and call'd The father, and all three in hurry and fear Ran to her, and lo ! the blood-red light of dawn Flared on her face, she shrilling, " Let me die ! "

As when we dwell upon a word we know, 1020

Repeating, till the word we know so well Becomes a wonder, and we know not why, So dwelt the father on her face, and thought, "Is this Elaine?" till back the maiden fell, Then gave a languid hand to each, and lay, 1025

Speaking a still good-morrow with her eyes. At last she said : "Sweet brothers, yesternight I seem'd a curious little maid again,

82 IDYLLS OF THE KING

As happy as when we dwelt among the woods,

And when ye used to take me with the flood 1030

Up the great river in the boatman's boat.

Only ye would not pass beyond the cape

That had the poplar on it : there ye fixt

Your limit, oft returning with the tide.

And yet I cried because ye would not pass 1035

Beyond it, and far up the shining flood

Until we found the palace of the King.

And yet ye would not ; but this night I dream'd

That I was all alone upon the flood,

And then I said, 'Now shall I have my will :' 1040

And there I woke, but still the wish remain'd.

So let me hence that I may pass at last

Beyond the poplar and far up the flood,

Until I find the palace of the King.

There will I enter in among them all, 1045

And no man there will dare to mock at me ;

But there the fine Gawain will wonder at me,

And there the great Sir Lancelot muse at me ;

Gawain, who bade a thousand farewells to me,

Lancelot, who coldly went, nor bade me one : 1050

And there the King will know me and my love,

And there the Queen herself will pity me,

And all the gentle court will welcome me,

And after my long voyage I shall rest!"

"Peace," said her father, "O my child, ye seem 1055 Light-headed, for what force is yours to go So far, being sick ? and wherefore would ye look On this proud fellow again, who scorns us all?"

Then the rough Torre began to heave and move, And bluster into stormy sobs and say : 1060

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 83

" I never loved him : an I meet with him,

I care not howsoever great he be,

Then will I strike at him and strike him down;

Give me good fortune, I will strike him dead,

For this discomfort he hath done the house." 1065

To whom the gentle sister made reply : " Fret not yourself, dear brother, nor be wroth, Seeing it is no more Sir Lancelot's fault Not to love me than it is mine to love Him of all men who seems to me the highest." 1070

"Highest?" the father answer'd, echoing "highest?" — He meant to break the passion in her — "nay, Daughter, I know not what you call the highest ; But this I know, for all the people know it, He loves the Queen, and in an open shame: 1075

And she returns his love in open shame ; If this be high, what is it to be low?"

Then spake the lily maid of Astolat : "Sweet father, all too faint and sick am I For anger : these are slanders ; never yet 1080

Was noble man but made ignoble talk. He makes no friend who never made a foe. But now it is my glory to have loved One peerless, without stain : so let me pass, My father, howsoe'er I seem to you, 1085

Not all unhappy, having loved God's best And greatest, tho' my love had no return : Yet, seeing you desire your child to live, Thanks, but you work against your own desire ; For if I could believe the things you say 1090

84 IDYLLS OF THE KING

I should but die the sooner ; wherefore cease, Sweet father, and bid call the ghostly man Hither, and let me shrive me clean and die."

So when the ghostly man had come and gone, She, with a face bright as for sin forgiven, 1095

Besought Lavaine to write as she devised A letter, word for word ; and when he ask'd, "Is it for Lancelot, is it for my dear lord ? Then will I bear it gladly ; " she replied, "For Lancelot and the Queen and all the world, noo

But I myself must bear it." Then he wrote The letter she devised; which being writ And folded, "O sweet father, tender and true, Deny me not," she said — "ye never yet Denied my fancies — this, however strange, 1105

My latest : lay the letter in my hand A little ere I die, and close the hand Upon it ; I shall guard it even in death. And when the heat has gone from out my heart, Then take the little bed on which I died mo

For Lancelot's love, and deck it like the Queen's For richness, and me also like the Queen In all I have of rich, and lay me on it. And let there be prepared a chariot-bier To take me to the river, and a barge 1115

Be ready on the river, clothed in black. I go in state to court, to meet the Queen. There surely I shall speak for mine own self, And none of you can speak for me so well. And therefore let our dumb old man alone 1120

Go with me ; he can steer and row, and he Will guide me to that palace, to the doors."

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 8$

She ceased: her father promised ; whereupon She grew so cheerful that they deem'd her death Was rather in the fantasy than the blood. 1125

But ten slow mornings past, and on the eleventh Her father laid the letter in her hand, And closed the hand upon it, and she died. So that day there was dole in Astolat.

But when the next sun brake from underground, 1130 Then, those two brethren slowly with bent brows Accompanying, the sad chariot-bier Past like a shadow thro' the field, that shone Full-summer, to that stream whereon the barge, Pall'd all its length in blackest samite, lay. 1135

There sat the lifelong creature of the house, Loyal, the dumb old servitor, on deck, Winking his eyes, and twisted all his face. So those two brethren from the chariot took And on the black decks laid her in her bed, 1140

Set in her hand a lily, o'er her hung The silken case with braided blazonings, And kiss'd her quiet brows, and saying to her, "Sister, farewell for ever," and again,

"Farewell, sweet sister," parted all in tears. 1145

Then rose the dumb old servitor, and the dead, Oar'd by the dumb, went upward with the flood — In her right hand the lily, in her left The letter — all her bright hair streaming down — And all the coverlid was cloth of gold 1150

Drawn to her waist, and she herself in white All but her face, and that clear-featured face Was lovely, for she did not seem as dead, But fast asleep, and lay as tho' she smiled.

86 IDYLLS OF THE KING

That day Sir Lancelot at the palace craved 1155

Audience of Guinevere, to give at last The price of half a realm, his costly gift, Hard-won and hardly won with bruise and blow, With deaths of others, and almost his own, The nine-years-fought-for diamonds ; for he saw 1160

One of her house, and sent him to the Queen Bearing his wish, whereto the Queen agreed With such and so unmoved a majesty She might have seem'd her statue, but that he, Low-drooping till he wellnigh kiss'd her feet 1165

For loyal awe, saw with a sidelong eye The shadow of some piece of pointed lace, In the Queen's shadow, vibrate on the walls, And parted, laughing in his courtly heart.

All in an oriel on the summer side, 1170

Vine-clad, of Arthur's palace toward the stream, They met, and Lancelot kneeling utter'd, " Queen, Lady, my liege, in whom I have my joy, Take, what I had not won except for you, These jewels, and make me happy, making them 1175

An armlet for the roundest arm on earth, Or necklace for a neck to which the swan's Is tawnier than her cygnet's : these are words : Your beauty is your beauty, and I sin

In speaking, yet O grant my worship of it 1180

Words, as we grant grief tears. Such sin in words Perchance, we both can pardon : but, my Queen, I hear of rumors flying thro' your court. Our bond, as not the bond of man and wife, Should have in it an absoluter trust 1185

To make up that defect : let rumors be :

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 87

When did not rumors fly ? these, as I trust That you trust me in your own nobleness, I may not well believe that you believe."

While thus he spoke, half turn'd away, the Queen 1190 Brake from the vast oriel-embowering vine Leaf after leaf, and tore, and cast them off, Till all the place whereon she stood was green ; Then, when he ceased, in one cold passive hand Received at once and laid aside the gems 1195

There on a table near her, and replied :

" It may be I am quicker of belief Than you believe me, Lancelot of the Lake. Our bond is not the bond of man and wife. This good is in it, whatsoe'er of ill, 1200

It can be broken easier. I for you This many a year have done despite and wrong To one whom ever in my heart of hearts I did acknowledge nobler. What are these ? Diamonds for me! they had been thrice their worth 1205 Being your gift, had you not lost your own. To loyal hearts the value of all gifts Must vary as the giver's. Not for me ! For her! for your new fancy. Only this Grant me, I pray you : have your joys apart. 1210

I doubt not that, however changed, you keep So much of what is graceful : and myself Would shun to break those bonds of courtesy In which as Arthur's Queen I move and rule : So cannot speak my mind. An end to this! 121$

A strange one ! yet I take it with Amen. So pray you, add my diamonds to her pearls ;

88 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Deck her with these ; tell her; she shines me down :

An armlet for an arm to which the Queen's

Is haggard, or a necklace for a neck 1220

O as much fairer — as a faith once fair

Was richer than these diamonds — hers not mine —

Nay, by the mother of our Lord himself,

Or hers or mine, mine now to work my will —

She shall not have them."

Saying which she seized, 1225 And, thro' the casement standing wide for heat, Flung them, and down they flash'd, and smote the stream. Then from the smitten surface flash'd, as it were, Diamonds to meet them, and they past away. Then while Sir Lancelot leant, in half disdain 1230

At love, life, all things, on the window ledge, Close underneath his eyes, and right across Where these had fallen, slowly past the barge Whereon the lily maid of Astolat Lay smiling, like a star in blackest night. 1235

But the wild Queen, who saw not, burst away To weep and wail in secret ; and the barge, On to the palace-doorway sliding, paused. There two stood arm'd, and kept the door ; to whom All up the marble stair, tier over tier, 1240

Were added mouths that gaped, and eyes that ask'd, " What is it ? " but that oarsman's haggard face, As hard and still as is the face that men Shape to their fancy's eye from broken rocks On some cliff-side, appall'd them, and they said, 1245

" He is enchanted, cannot speak — and she, Look how she sleeps — the Fairy Queen, so fair !

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 89

Yea, but how pale ! what are they ? flesh and blood ?

Or come to take the King to Fairyland ?

For some do hold our Arthur cannot die, 1250

But that he passes into Fairyland."

While thus they babbled of the King, the King Came girt with knights : then turn'd the tongueless man From the half-face to the full eye, and rose And pointed to the damsel, and the doors. 1255

So Arthur bade the meek Sir Percivale And pure Sir Galahad to uplift the maid; And reverently they bore her into hall. Then came the fine Gawain and wonder'd at her, And Lancelot later came and mused at her, 1260

And last the Queen herself, and pitied her: But Arthur spied the letter in her hand, Stoopt, took, brake seal, and read it ; this was all :

" Most noble lord, Sir Lancelot of the Lake, I, sometime call'd the maid of Astolat, 1265

Come, for you left me taking no farewell, Hither, to take my last farewell of you. I loved you, and my love had no return, And therefore my true love has been my death. And therefore to our Lady Guinevere, 1270

And to all other ladies, I make moan : Pray for my soul, and yield me burial. Pray for my soul thou too, Sir Lancelot, As thou art a knight peerless."

Thus he read ;

And ever in the reading, lords and dames 1275

Wept, looking often from his face who read

90 IDYLLS OF THE KING

To hers which lay so silent, and at times,

So touch'd were they, half-thinking that her lips,

Who had devised the letter, moved again.

Then freely spoke Sir Lancelot to them all : 1280

" My lord liege Arthur, and all ye that hear, Know that for this most gentle maiden's death Right heavy am I ; for good she was and true, But loved me with a love beyond all love In women, whomsoever I have known. 1285

Yet to be loved makes not to love again; Not at my years, however it hold in youth. I swear by truth and knighthood that I gave No cause, not willingly, for such a love : To this I call my friends in testimony, I29°

Her brethren, and her father, who himself Besought me to be plain and blunt, and use, To break her passion, some discourtesy Against my nature : what I could, I did. I left her and I bade her no farewell ; 1295

Tho' had I dreamt the damsel would have died, I might have put my wits to some rough use, And help'd her from herself."

Then said the Queen

(Sea was her wrath, yet working after storm) " Ye might at least have done her so much grace, 1300

Fair lord, as would have help'd her from her death." He raised his head, their eyes met and hers fell, He adding,

" Queen, she would not be content Save that I wedded her, which could not be.

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 91

Then might she follow me thro' the world, she ask'd ; 1305

It could not be. I told her that her love

Was but the flash of youth, would darken down,

To rise hereafter in a stiller flame

Toward one more worthy of her — then would I,

More specially were he, she wedded, poor, 1310

Estate them with large land and territory

In mine own realm beyond the narrow seas,

To keep them in all joyance : more than this

I could not ; this she would not, and she died."

He pausing, Arthur answer'd, "O my knight, 1315

It will be to thy worship, as my knight, And mine, as head of all our Table Round, To see that she be buried worshipfully."

So toward that shrine which then in all the realm Was richest, Arthur leading, slowly went 132°

The marshall'd Order of their Table Round, And Lancelot sad beyond his wont, to see The maiden buried, not as one unknown, Nor meanly, but with gorgeous obsequies, And mass, and rolling music, like a queen. 1325

And when the knights had laid her comely head Low in the dust of half-forgotten kings, Then Arthur spake among them, " Let her tomb Be costly, and her image thereupon,

And let the shield of Lancelot at her feet 1330

Be carven, and her lily in her hand. And let the story of her dolorous voyage For all true hearts be blazon'd on her tomb In letters gold and azure ! " which was wrought Thereafter ; but when now the lords and dames 1335

92 IDYLLS OF THE KING

And people, from the high door streaming, broke

Disorderly, as homeward each, the Queen,

Who mark'd Sir Lancelot where he moved apart,

Drew near, and sigh'd in passing, " Lancelot,

Forgive me ; mine was jealousy in love." 1340

He answer'd with his eyes upon the ground,

" That is love's curse ; pass on, my Queen, forgiven."

But Arthur, who beheld his cloudy brows,

Approach'd him, and with full affection said :

" Lancelot, my Lancelot, thou in whom I have 1345

Most joy and most affiance, for I know What thou hast been in battle by my side, And many a time have watch'd thee at the tilt Strike down the lusty and long practised knight, And let the younger and unskill'd go by 1350

To win his honor and to make his name, And loved thy courtesies and thee, a man Made to be loved ; but now I would to God, Seeing the homeless trouble in thine eyes, Thou couldst have loved this maiden, shaped, it seems, 1355 By God for thee alone, and from her face, If one may judge the living by the dead, Delicately pure and marvellously fair, Who might have brought thee, now a lonely man Wifeless and heirless, noble issue, sons 1360

Born to the glory of thy name and fame, My knight, the great Sir Lancelot of the Lake."

Then answer'd Lancelot : " Fair she was, my King, Pure, as you ever wish your knights to be. To doubt her fairness were to want an eye, 1365

To doubt her pureness were to want a heart —

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 93

Yea, to be loved, if what is worthy love

Could bind him, but free love will not be bound."

" Free love, so bound, were freest," said the King. " Let love be free ; free love is for the best : 1370

And, after heaven, on our dull side of death, What should be best, if not so pure a love Clothed in so pure a loveliness ? yet thee She fail'd to bind, tho' being, as I think, Unbound as yet, and gentle, as I know." 1375

And Lancelot answer'd nothing, but he went, And at the inrunning of a little brook Sat by the river in a cove, and watch'd The high reed wave, and lifted up his eyes And saw the barge that brought her moving down, 1380

Far-off, a blot upon the stream, and said Low in himself, "Ah, simple heart and sweet, Ye loved me, damsel, surely with a love Far tenderer than my Queen's. Pray for thy soul ? Ay, that will I. Farewell too — now at last — 1385

Farewell, fair lily. ' Jealousy in love ? ' Not rather dead love's harsh heir, jealous pride ? Queen, if I grant the jealousy as of love, May not your crescent fear for name and fame Speak, as it waxes, of a love that wanes ? 1390

Why did the King dwell on my name to me ? Mine own name shames me, seeming a reproach, Lancelot, whom the Lady of the Lake Caught from his mother's arms — the wondrous one Who passes thro' the vision of the night — 1395

She chanted snatches of mysterious hymns Heard on the winding waters, eve and morn

94 IDYLLS OF THE KING

She kiss'd me saying, ' Thou art fair, my child,

As a king's son,' and often in her arms

She bare me, pacing on the dusky mere. 1400

Would she had drown'd me in it, where'er it be !

For what am I? what profits me my name

Of greatest knight? I fought for it, and have it:

Pleasure to have it, none; to lose it, pain:

Now grown a part of me : but what use in it ? 1405

To make men worse by making my sin known?

Or sin seem less, the sinner seeming great ?

Alas for Arthur's greatest knight, a man

Not after Arthur's heart ! I needs must break

These bonds that so defame me : not without 1410

She wills it : would I, if she will'd it ? nay,

Who knows ? but if I would not, then may God,

I pray him, send a sudden angel down

To seize me by the hair and bear me far,

And fling me deep in that forgotten mere, 1415

Among the tumbled fragments of the hills."

So groan'd Sir Lancelot in remorseful pain, Not knowing he should die a holy man.

THE PASSING OF ARTHUR

That story which the bold Sir Bedivere,

First made and latest left of all the knights,

Told, when the man was no more than a voice

In the white winter of his age, to those

With whom he dwelt, new faces, other minds. 5

For on their march to westward, Bedivere, Who slowly paced among the slumbering host,. Heard in his tent the moanings of the King :

" I found Him in the shining of the stars, I mark'd Him in the flowering of His fields, 10

But in His ways with men I find Him not. I waged His wars, and now I pass and die. O me ! for why is all around us here As if some lesser god had made the world, But had not force to shape it as he would, 15

Till the High God behold it from beyond, And enter it, and make it beautiful? Or else as if the world were wholly fair, But that these eyes of men are dense and dim, And have not power to see it as it is : 20

Perchance, because we see not to the close ; — For I, being simple, thought to work His will, And have but stricken with the sword in vain ; And all whereon I lean'd in wife and friend Is traitor to my peace, and all my realm 25

95

96 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Reels back into the beast, and is no more. My God, thou hast forgotten me in my death : Nay — God my Christ — I pass but shall not die."

Then, ere that last weird battle in the west, There came on Arthur sleeping, Gawain kill'd 30

In Lancelot's war, the ghost of Gawain blown Along a wandering wind, and past his ear Went shrilling, " Hollow, hollow all delight ! Hail, King ! to-morrow thou shalt pass away. Farewell ! there is an isle of rest for thee. 35

And I am blown along a wandering wind, And hollow, hollow, hollow all delight ! " And fainter onward, like wild birds that change Their season in the night and wail their way From cloud to cloud, down the long wind the dream 40

Shrill'd ; but in going mingled with dim cries Far in the moonlit haze among the hills, As of some lonely city sack'd by night, When all is lost, and wife and child with wail Pass to new lords ; and Arthur woke and call'd, 45

" Who spake ? A dream. O light upon the wind, Thine, Gawain, was the voice — are these dim cries Thine ? or doth all that haunts the waste and wild Mourn, knowing it will go along with me ? "

This heard the bold Sir Bedivere and spake : 50

" O me, my King, let pass whatever will, Elves, and the harmless glamour of the field ; But in their stead thy name and glory cling To all high places like a golden cloud

For ever : but as yet thou shalt not pass. 55

Light was Gawain in life, and light in death

THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 97

Is Gawain, for the ghost is as the man ;

And care not thou for dreams from him, but rise —

I hear the steps of Modred in the west,

And with him many of thy people, and knights 60

Once thine, whom thou hast loved, but grosser grown

Than heathen, spitting at their vows and thee.

Right well in heart they know thee for the King.

Arise, go forth and conquer as of old."

Then spake King Arthur to Sir Bedivere : 65

" Far other is this battle in the west Whereto we move than when we strove in youth, And brake the petty kings, and fought with Rome, Or thrust the heathen from the Roman wall, And shook him thro' the north. Ill doom is mine 70

To war against my people and my knights. The king who fights his people fights himself. And they my knights, who loved me once, the stroke That strikes them dead is as my death to me. Yet let us hence, and find or feel a way 75

Thro' this blind haze which, ever since I saw One lying in the dust at Almesbury, Hath folded in the passes of the world."

Then rose the King and moved his host by night, And ever push'd Sir Modred, league by league, 80

Back to the sunset bound of Lycnnesse — A land of old upheaven from the abyss By fire, to sink into the abyss again ; Where fragments of forgotten peoples dwelt, And the long mountains ended in a coast 85

Of ever-shifting sand, and far away The phantom circle of a moaning sea.

98 IDYLLS OF THE KING

There the pursuer could pursue no more,

And he that fled no further fly the King ;

And there, that day when the great light of heaven 90

Burn'd at his lowest in the rolling year,

On the waste sand by the waste sea they closed.

Nor ever yet had Arthur fought a fight

Like this last, dim, weird battle of the west.

A death-white mist slept over sand and sea, 95

Whereof the chill, to him who breathed it, drew

Down with his blood, till all his heart was cold

With formless fear ; and even on Arthur fell

Confusion, since he saw not whom he fought.

For friend and foe were shadows in the mist, 100

And friend slew friend not knowing whom he slew;

And some had visions out of golden youth,

And some beheld the faces of old ghosts

Look in upon the battle ; and in the mist

Was many a noble deed, many a base, 105

And chance and craft and strength in single fights,

And ever and anon with host to host

Shocks, and the splintering spear, the hard mail hewn,

Shield-breakings, and the clash of brands, the crash

Of battle-axes on shatter'd helms, and shrieks no

After the Christ, of those who falling down

Look'd up for heaven, and only saw the mist;

And shouts of heathen and the traitor knights,

Oaths, insult, filth, and monstrous blasphemies,

Sweat, wri things, anguish, laboring of the lungs 115

In that close mist, and cryings for the light,

Moans of the dying, and voices of the dead

Last, as by some one deathbed after wail Of suffering, silence follows, or thro' death

THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 99

Or deathlike swoon, thus over all that shore, 120

Save for some whisper of the seething seas,

A dead hush fell ; but when the dolorous day

Grew drearier toward twilight falling, came

A bitter wind, clear from the north, and blew

The mist aside, and with that wind the tide 125

Rose, and the pale King glanced across the field

Of battle : but no man was moving there;

Nor any cry of Christian heard thereon,

Nor yet of heathen ; only the wan wave

Brake in among dead faces, to and fro 130

Swaying the helpless hands, and up and down

Tumbling the hollow helmets of the fallen,

And shiver'd brands that once had fought with Rome,

And rolling far along the gloomy shores

The voice of days of old and days to be. 135

Then spake King Arthur to Sir Bedivere, And whiter than the mist that all day long Had held the field of battle was the King :

" Hearest thou this great voice that shakes the world, And wastes the narrow realm whereon we move, 140

And beats upon the faces of the dead, My dead, as tho' they had not died for me ? — O Bedivere, for on my heart hath fallen Confusion, till I know not what I am,

Nor whence I am, nor whether I be King; 145

Behold, I seem but King among the dead."

Then spake the bold Sir Bedivere : " My King, King everywhere ! and so the dead have kings, There also will I worship thee as King.

100 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Yet still thy life is whole, and still I live 150

Who love thee ; but who hates thee, he that brought The heathen back among us, yonder stands, Modred, unharm'd, the traitor of thine house."

Then spake the King : " My house hath been my doom. But call not thou this traitor of my house 155

Who hath but dwelt beneath one roof with me. My house are rather they who sware my vows, Yea, even while they brake them, own'd me King. And well for thee, saying in my dark hour, When all the purport of my throne hath fail'd, 160

That quick or dead thou boldest me for King. King am I, whatsoever be their cry ; And one last act of kinghood shalt thou see Yet, ere I pass." And uttering this the King Made at the man : then Modred smote his liege 165

Hard on that helm which many a heathen sword Had beaten thin ; while Arthur at one blow, Striking the last stroke with Excalibur, Slew him, and, all but slain himself, he fell.

So all day long the noise of battle roll'd 170

Among the mountains by the winter sea ; Until King Arthur's Table, man by man, Had fall'n in Lyonnesse about their lord, King Arthur. Then, because his wound was deep, The bold Sir Bedivere uplifted him, 175

And bore him to a chapel nigh the field, A broken chancel with a broken cross, That stood on a dark strait of barren land : On one side lay the Ocean, and on one Lay a great water, and the moon was full. 180

THE PASSING OF ARTHUR IOI

Then spake King Arthur to Sir Bedivere : " The sequel of to-day unsolders all The goodliest fellowship of famous knights Whereof this world holds record. Such a sleep They sleep — the men I loved. I think that we 185

Shall never more, at any future time, Delight our souls with talk of knightly deeds, Walking about the gardens and the halls Of Camelot, as in the days that were.

I perish by this people which I made, — 190

Tho' Merlin sware that I should come again To rule once more ; but, let what will be, be, I am so deeply smitten thro' the helm That without help I cannot last till morn. Thou therefore take my brand Excalibur, 195

Which was my pride : for thou rememberest how In those old days, one summer noon, an arm Rose up from out the bosom of the lake, Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful, Holding the sword — and how I row'd across 200

And took it, and have worn it, like a king ; And, wheresoever I am sung or told In aftertime, this also shall be known : But now delay not : take Excalibur,

And fling him far into the middle mere ; 205

Watch what thou seest, and lightly bring me word."

To him replied the bold Sir Bedivere : " It is not meet, Sir King, to leave thee thus, Aidless, alone, and smitten thro' the helm — A little thing may harm a wounded man; 210

Yet I thy hest will all perform at full, Watch what I see, and lightly bring thee word."

102 IDYLLS OF THE KING

So saying, from the ruin'd shrine he stept, And in the moon athwart the place of tombs, Where lay the mighty bones of ancient men, 215

Old knights, and over them the sea-wind sang Shrill, chill, with flakes of foam. He, stepping down By zigzag paths and juts of pointed rock, Came on the shining levels of the lake.

There drew he forth the brand Excalibur, 220

And o'er him, drawing it, the winter moon, Brightening the skirts of a long cloud, ran forth And sparkled keen with frost against the hilt ; For all the haft twinkled with diamond sparks, Myriads of topaz-lights, and jacinth-work 225

Of subtlest jewellery. He gazed so long That both his eyes were dazzled as he stood, This way and that dividing the swift mind, In act to throw : but at last it seem'd

Better to leave Excalibur conceal'd 230

There in the many-knotted water-flags, That whistled stiff and dry about the marge. So strode he back slow to the wounded King.

Then spake King Arthur to Sir Bedivere : "Hast thou perform'd my mission which I gave? 235

What is it thou hast seen? or what hast heard?"

And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere : "I heard the ripple washing in the reeds, And the wild water lapping on the crag."

To whom replied King Arthur, faint and pale : 240

"Thou hast betray'd thy nature and thy name, Not rendering true answer, as beseem'd

THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 103

Thy fealty, nor like a noble knight ;

For surer sign had follow'd, either hand,

Or voice, or else a motion of the mere. 245

This is a shameful thing for men to lie.

Yet now, I charge thee, quickly go again,

As thou art lief and dear, and do the thing

I bade thee, watch, and lightly bring me word. "

Then went Sir Bedivere the second time 250

Across the ridge, and paced beside the mere, Counting the dewy pebbles, fix'd in thought ; But when he saw the wonder of the hilt, How curiously and strangely chased, he smote His palms together, and he cried aloud: 255

"And if indeed I cast the brand away, Surely a precious thing, one worthy note, Should thus be lost for ever from the earth, Which might have pleased the eyes of many men. What good should follow this, if this were done ? 260

What harm, undone ? Deep harm to disobey, Seeing obedience is the bond of rule. Were it well to obey then, if a king demand An act unprofitable, against himself?

The King is sick, and knows not what he does. 265

What record or what relic of my lord Should be to aftertime, but empty breath And rumors of a doubt ? But were this kept, Stored in some treasure-house of mighty kings, Some one might show it at a joust of arms, 270

Saying: 'King Arthur's sword, Excalibur, Wrought by the lonely maiden of the Lake. Nine years she wrought it, sitting in the deeps

104 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Upon the hidden bases of the hills.'

So might some old man speak in the aftertime 275

To all the people, winning reverence.

But now much honor and much fame were lost."

So spake he, clouded with his own conceit, And hid Excalibur the second time And so strode back slow to the wounded King. 280

Then spoke King Arthur, breathing heavily : "What is it thou hast seen ? or what hast heard?"

And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere : "I heard the water lapping on the crag, And the long ripple washing in the reeds." 285

To whom replied King Arthur, much in wrath: "Ah, miserable and unkind, untrue, Unknightly, traitor-hearted ! Woe is me ! Authority forgets a dying king,

Laid widow'd of the power in his eye 290

That bow'd the will. I see thee what thou art, For thou, the latest-left of all my knights, In whom should meet the offices of all, Thou wouldst betray me for the precious hilt ;' Either from lust of gold, or like a girl 295

Valuing the giddy pleasure of the eyes. Yet, for a man may fail in duty twice, And the third time may prosper, get thee hence : But, if thou spare to fling Excalibur, I will arise and slay thee with my hands." 300

Then quickly rose Sir Bedivere, and ran, And, leaping down the ridges lightly, plunged

THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 105

Among the bulrush beds, and clutch'd the sword,

And strongly wheel'd and threw it. The great brand

Made lightnings in the splendor of the moon, 305

And flashing round and round, and whirl'd in an arch,

Shot like a streamer of the northern morn,

Seen where the moving isles of winter shock

By night, with noises of the Northern Sea.

So flash'd and fell the brand Excalibur; 310

But ere he dipt the surface, rose an arm

Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful,

And caught him by the hilt, and brandish'd him

Three times, and drew him under in the mere.

And lightly went the other to the King. 315

Then spoke King Arthur, drawing thicker breath : "Now see I by thine eyes that this is done. Speak out : what is it thou hast heard, or seen?"

And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere : " Sir King, I closed mine eyelids, lest the gems 320

Should blind my purpose, for I never saw, Nor shall see, here or elsewhere, till I die, Nor tho' I live three lives of mortal men, So great a miracle as yonder hilt.

Then with both hands I flung him, wheeling him ; 325

But when I look'd again, behold an arm, Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful, That caught him by the hilt, and brandish'd him Three times, and drew him under in the mere."

And answer made King Arthur, breathing hard : 330

"My end draws nigh; 'tis time that I were gone. Make broad thy shoulders to receive my weight,

106 IDYLLS OF THE KING

And bear me to the margin ; yet I fear

My wound hath taken cold, and I shall die."

So saying, from the pavement he half rose, 335

Slowly, with pain, reclining on his arm, And looking wistfully with wide blue eyes As in a picture. Him Sir Bedivere Remorsefully regarded thro' his tears,

And would have spoken, but he found not words ; 340

Then took with care, and kneeling on one knee, O'er both his shoulders drew the languid hands, And rising bore him thro' the place of tombs.

But, as he walk'd, King Arthur panted hard, Like one that feels a nightmare on his bed 345

When all the house is mute. So sigh'd the King, Muttering and murmuring at his ear, " Quick, quick ! I fear it is too late, and I shall die." But the other swiftly strode from ridge to ridge, Clothed with his breath, and looking, as he walk'd, 350

Larger than human on the frozen hills. He heard the deep behind him, and a cry Before. His own thought drove him like a goad. Dry clash'd his harness in the icy caves And barren chasms, and all to left and right 355

The bare black cliff clang'd round him, as he based His feet on juts of slippery crag that rang Sharp-smitten with the dint of armed heels — And on a sudden, lo, the level lake, And the long glories of the winter moon ! 360

Then saw they how there hove a dusky barge, Dark as a funeral scarf from stem to stern,

THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 107

Beneath them ; and descending they were ware

That all the decks were dense with stately forms,

Black-stoled, black-hooded, like a dream — by these 365

Three Queens with crowns of gold : and from them rose

A cry that shiver'd to the tingling stars,

And, as it were one voice, an agony

Of lamentation, like a wind that shrills

All night in a waste land, where no one comes, 370

Or hath come, since the making of the world.

Then murmur'd Arthur, " Place me in the barge." So to the barge they came. There those three Queens Put forth their hands, and took the King, and wept. But she, that rose the tallest of them all 375

And fairest, laid his head upon her lap, And loosed the shatter'd casque, and chafed his hands, And call'd him by his name, complaining loud, And dropping bitter tears against a brow Striped with dark blood : for all his face was white 380

And colorless, and like the wither'd moon Smote by the fresh beam of the springing east ; And all his greaves and cuisses dash'd with drops Of onset; and the light and lustrous curls — That made his forehead like a rising sun 385

High from the dais-throne — were parch'd with dust, Or, clotted into points and hanging loose, Mixt with the knightly growth that fringed his lips. So like a shatter'd column lay the King ; Not like that Arthur who, with lance in rest, 390

From spur to plume a star of tournament, Shot thro' the lists at Camelot, and charged Before the eyes of ladies and of kings.

108 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Then loudly cried the bold Sir Bedivere : "Ah ! my Lord Arthur, whither shall I go ? 395

Where shall I hide my forehead and my eyes ? For now I see the true old times are dead, When every morning brought a noble chance, And every chance brought out a noble knight. Such times have been not since the light that led 40o

The holy Elders with the gift of myrrh. But now the whole Round Table is dissolved Which was an image of the mighty world, And I, the last, go forth companionless, And the days darken round me, and the years, 405

Among new men, strange faces, other minds."

And slowly answer'd Arthur from the barge : " The old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfils himself in many ways,

Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. 410

Comfort thyself : what comfort is in me ? I have lived my life, and that which I have done May He within himself make pure ! but thou, If thou shouldst never see my face again, Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer 415 Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice Rise like a fountain for me night and day. For what are men better than sheep or goats That nourish a blind life within the brain, If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer 420

Both for themselves and those who call them friend? For so the whole round earth is every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God. But now farewell. I am going a long way With these thou seest — if indeed I go — 425

THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 109

For all my mind is clouded with a doubt —

To the island-valley of Avilion ;

Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,

Nor ever wind blows loudly ; but it lies

Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair with orchard lawns 430

And bowery hollows crown'd with summer sea,

Where I will heal me of my grievous wound."

So said he, and the barge with oar and sail Moved from the brink, like some full-breasted swan That, fluting a wild carol ere her death, 435

Ruffles her pure cold plume, and takes the flood With swarthy webs. Long stood Sir Bedivere Revolving many memories, till the hull Look'd one black dot against the verge of dawn, And on the mere the wailing died away. 440

But when that moan had past for evermore, The stillness of the dead world's winter dawn Amazed him, and he groan'd, " The King is gone." And therewithal came on him the weird rhyme, " From the great deep to the great deep he goes." 445

Whereat he slowly turn'd and slowly clomb The last hard footstep of that iron crag ; Thence mark'd the black hull moving yet, and cried, " He passes to be King among the dead, And after healing of his grievous wound 450

He comes again ; but — if he come no more — O me, be yon dark Queens in yon black boat, Who shriek'd and wail'd, the three whereat we gazed On that high day, when, clothed with living light, They stood before his throne in silence, friends 455

Of Arthur, who should help him at his need ? "

110 IDYLLS OF THE KING

Then from the dawn it seem'd there came, but faint As from beyond the limit of the world, Like the last echo born of a great cry, Sounds, as if some fair city were one voice 460

Around a king returning from his wars.

Thereat once more he moved about, and clomb Ev'n to the highest he could climb, and saw, Straining his eyes beneath an arch of hand, Or thought he saw, the speck that bare the King, 465

Down that long water opening on the deep Somewhere far off, pass on and on, and go From less to less and vanish into light. And the new sun rose bringing the new year.

NOTES

GARETH AN-D LYNETTE

1 1. Lot : king of Orkney.

1 l. Bellicent : queen of Orkney, daughter of Uther and Ygerne, half-sister of King Arthur.

1 2. Gareth : nephew to King Arthur. Malory causes Sir Kay to dub him Beaumains or Fairhands ; and describes him as " large, and long, and broad in the shoulders, and well-visaged, and the fairest and largest hand that ever man saw."

1 2. Spring : in the allegory of " The Year " Gareth and Lynette represent the springtime.

1 3. Spate: a flood or freshet.

1 18. Yield: reward.

1 20. Discaged: uncaged. The figure begins with 1. 14.

2 25. Gawain : son to Bellicent, half-brother to Gareth.

2 26. Modred. Some of the old legends make him the son of Arthur and his half-sister, Bellicent. Arthur did not know that she was related to him ; yet Nemesis follows him, for Modred finally gives the King his death blow. See The Passing of Arthur, 1. 165.

2 27. Proven : tried or put to test.

2 32. Sullen. This word foreshadows. Modred finally proves a traitor to his King.

2 40. An : if.

2 40. Goose and golden eggs. For the story see Tennyson's poem, The Goose.

2 46. Book of Hours : a book which contained the prayers prescribed by the Church for the various hours of the day or week. The pages of the book were illuminated in colors with gilded initials and pictures.

2 47. Haunting : lingering.

2 51. Leash of kings : three or more. Originally leash meant the line with which the hunter held his three greyhounds ; then by metonymy

112 NOTES

it came to be used for the hounds themselves, and later for a pack of hounds.

3 56. Clomb : climbed.

3 56. Brake : broke.

366. Excalibur: King Arthur's sword, —

the sword

That rose from out the bosom of the lake, And Arthur row'd across and took it — rich With jewels, elfin Urim, on the hilt, Bewildering heart and eye — the blade so bright That men are blinded by it — on one side, Graven in the oldest tongue of all this world, " Take me," but turn the blade and ye shall see, And written in the speech ye speak yourself, " Cast me away I "

The Coming of Arthur, 11. 295-304.

3 76. The barons' war.

For while he [King Arthur] linger'd there, [At the court of Guinevere's father] A doubt that ever smoulder'd in the hearts Of those great Lords and Barons of his realm Flash'd forth and into war : for most of these, Colleaguing with a score of petty kings, Made head against him, crying, " Who is he That he should rule us ? who hath proven him King Uther's son ? for lo ! we look at him, And find nor face nor bearing, limbs nor voice, Are like to those of Uther whom we knew."

So when the King had set his banner broad, At once from either side, with trumpet-blast, And shouts, and clarions shrilling unto blood, The long-lanced battle let their horses run. And now the Barons and the Kings prevail'd, And now the King, as here and there that war Went swaying; but the Powers who walk the world Made lightnings and great thunders over him, And dazed all eyes, till Arthur by main might, And mightier of his hands with every blow, And leading all his knighthood threw the kings Carddos, Urien, Cradlemont of Wales,

GARETH AND LYNETTE 113

Claudius, and Clariance of Northumberland, The King Brandagoras of Latangor, With Anguisant of Erin, Morganore, And Lot of Orkney.

Tlie Coming of Arthur, 11. 62-71 and 100-117.

4 85. Jousts : military contests where two knights on horseback attacked each other with blunted lances. See Scott's account of a tournament in Ivanhoe.

4 88. Tourney : a contest of armed men with swords, lances, or other weapons.

4 90. Burns : streams.

4 105. Good lack : Good Lord.

4 116. Follow the Christ: in speaking of the oath he exacted from his knights, King Arthur is made to say:

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 honor 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.

Guinevere, 11. 464-474.

5 128. Cloud that settles round his birth: Uther, Arthur's prede- cessor and reputed father, slew Gorlois, a neighboring king, and took to wife his widow, Ygeme, the mother of Bellicent.

afterward,

Not many moons, King Uther died himself, Moaning and wailing for an heir to rule After him, lest the realm should go to wrack. And that same night, the night of the new year, By reason of the bitterness and grief That vext his mother, all before his time Was Arthur born, and all as soon as bora Deliver'd at a secret postern-gate To Merlin, to be holden far apart Until his hour should come.

114 NOTES

" But let me tell thee now another tale," continued Bellicent, who had related to Leodogran the above story of Arthur's origin :

on the night

When Uther in Tintagil past away Moaning and wailing for an heir, the two Left the still King, and passing forth to breathe, Then from the castle gateway by the chasm Descending thro' the dismal night — a night In which the bounds of heaven and earth were lost — Beheld, so high upon the dreary deeps It seem'd in heaven, a ship, the shape thereof A dragon wing'd, and all from stem to stem Bright with a shining people on the decks, And gone as soon as seen. And then the two Dropt to the cove, and watch'd the great sea fall, Wave after wave, each mightier than the last, Till last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep And full of voices, slowly rose and plunged Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame : And down the wave and in the flame was borne A naked babe, and rode to Merlin's feet, Who stoopt and caught the babe, and cried " The King ! Here is an heir for Uther! "

The Coming of Arthur, 11. 204-214 and 364-385.

For there be those who hate him in their hearts, Call him baseborn, and since his ways are sweet, And theirs are bestial, hold him less than man : And there be those who deem him more than man, And dream he dropt from heaven.

The Coming of Arthur, 11. 178-182.

5 131. Yield: allow.

5 133-134. Who swept, etc. Arthur was King of Britain in the sixth century. The Romans abandoned England early in the fifth. Thus Arthur " swept the dust of ruined Rome from off the threshold of the realm," and met and defeated the invading Saxons. He was the cham- pion of Christianity against the surrounding heathen "idolaters."

6 151. Knave : boy or servant.

6 152. Bar : a rail or board, across which food was passed from the kitchen into the dining room.

6 157. Villain (adj.) : slavish; villain (noun): a member of the lowest unfree class of serfs.

GARETH AND LYNETTE 115

6 162. Thrall: slave.

6 172. Perplext: interfered with.

7 185. Camelot. " On the latest limit of the West, in the land of Lyonnesse, where save the rocky Isles of Stilly, all is now wild sea, rose the sacred Mount of Camelot. It rose from the deeps, with gar- dens and bowers, and palaces, and at the top of the mount was King Arthur's hall and the holy minster with the cross of gold." — A prose sketch found among Tennyson's papers, quoted by Dr. Vlymen.

7 187. Royal mount. " The Mount was the most beautiful in the world, sometimes green and fresh in the beam of morning, sometimes all one splendor, folded in the golden mists of the West. But all under- neath was hollow and the mountain trembled, when the seas rushed bellowing through the porphyry caves ; and there ran a prophecy that the mountain and the city on some wild morning would topple into th« abyss and be no more." — Manuscript of Tennyson.

7 202. Glamour : enchantment.

7 202. Merlin :

the most famous man of all those times, Merlin, who knew the range of all their arts, Had built the King his havens, ships, and halls, Was also Bard, and knew the starry heavens ; The people call'd him Wizard.

Merlin and Vivien, 11. 164-168.

And there I saw mage Merlin, whose vast wit And hundred winters are but as the hands Of loyal vassals toiling for their liege.

The Coming of Arthur, 11. 279-281.

8 212. Lady of the Lake.

Who knows a subtler magic than his [Merlin's] own —

Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful.

She gave the King his huge cross-hilted sword,

Whereby to drive the heathen out : a mist

Of incense curl'd about her, and her face

Wellnigh was hidden in the minster gloom ;

But there was heard among the holy hymns

A voice as of the waters, for she dwells

Down in a deep ; calm, whatsoever storms

May shake the world, and when the surface rolls,

Hath power to walk the waters like our Lord.

The Coming of Arthur, 11. 282-293.

Il6 NOTES

8 219. Sacred fish. " The fish was adopted by the early Church as its sacred symbol, because the Greek word for fish [IX6TS], which con- tains the initial letters of the name and titles of Christ [ Iri<rbs Xpto-ros, 0eoO TZ6j, SWT^P ; Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour], contains also the initial letters of some prophetic lines ascribed to the Sibyl of Erythra." — Lecky, European Morals, I, 400.

8 225. Three queens. At the crowning of Arthur, there were

three fair queens

Who stood in silence near his throne, the friends Of Arthur, gazing on him, tall, with bright Sweet faces, who will help him at his need.

The Coming of Arthur, 11. 275-278.

Malory says, "One was King Arthur's sister, Queen Morgan le Fayv another was the Queen of Northgales ; the third was the Queen of th» Waste Lands."

8229. Boughts: coils.

9 248. Seer : one who sees or foresees ; a prophet.

9 249-251. The seer is describing a mirage, an optical illusion appar- ently elevating objects into the sky and inverting them.

9 256. Sacred mountain : Parnassus ; in Greek mythology the home of Apollo and the Muses.

9 258. And built it to the music of their harps. So, legend says, Apollo built Troy.

Like that strange song I heard Apollo sing, While Ilion like a mist rose into towers.

Titkonus, 11. 62, 63.

10271. Enow: enough.

10 280. Riddling of the Bards. The bards or poets of ancient Britain were supposed to have the gift of prophecy. Their prophetic utterances were often expressed in language that could bear a double interpretation. The predictions would thus be fulfilled whichever way the events ended. The following is an example of a " riddling triplet."

Rain, rain, and sun ! a rainbow in the sky ! A young man will be wiser by and by ; An old man's wit may wander ere he die.

Rain, rain, and sun ! a rainbow on the leal And truth is this to me, and that to thee ; And truth or clothed or naked let it be.

GARETH AND LYNETTE 1 17

Rain, sun, and rain ! and the free blossom blows : Sun, rain, and sun ! and where is he who knows ? From the great deep to the great deep he goes.

The Coming of Arthur, 11. 402-410. 10 287. Brook : endure.

10 293. She, nor I : give the syntax.

11 298. Did their days in stone : inscribed their deeds on stone. 11 314. Delivering doom : passing decrees or administering justice.

11 321. Ranged : stood in order.

12 333. Whether : which of two.

12 337. Uther : Arthur's predecessor and reputed father.

12339. Say: report.

12 340. Who : give the syntax.

12 348. Held with these : sided with the barons.

12 351. Standeth seized : has seized and still holds possession of.

12 355. Wreak : avenge.

13 359. Sir Kay : King Arthur's foster brother. 13 359. Seneschal : steward.

13 362. Gyve : fetter.

13 362. Gyve and gag : send her to the ducking stool, the punish- ment for a woman who could not control her tongue.

13 366. Had : would have.

13 367. Aurelius Emrys. Ambrosius Aurelianus was emperor in Britain, Gaul, and Spain, under Honorius (about 440). The Arthu- rian legends make him brother of Uther, whom he preceded on the throne.

13 380. Charlock : wild mustard.

14 386. Tristram. Sir Tristram of Lyonnesse was nephew to King Mark, the word " cousin " being used in its older sense of kinsman. He was in love with Mark's wife, Iseult (i-sblt').

14 398. Blazon'd : given their heraldic colors.

14 411. Reave : deprive.

15 419. Churl : a peasant.

15 422. Lap him up in cloth of lead : roll him in his coffin, in those days made of lead.

15 423. Craven : a mean coward.

15 445. Lichen : a plant that often fastens itself to rock or stone or root. It will corrode the hardest rock or kill the thriftiest plant.

16 447. Wot : knows.

16 447. Brewis : broth or pottage.

Il8 NOTES

16451. Lancelot: the knight whom Arthur loved. In the barons'

war,

the two,

For each had warded either in the fight, Sware on the field of death a deathless love.

The Coming of Arthur, 11. 129-131.

Lancelot and Arthur's Queen, Guinevere, fall in love, and he breaks his vows.

16 465. Sir Fair-hands. Beaumains is the name put in the mouth of Sir Kay by Malory. It means fair hands. See note, 1 2.

17476. Broach: spit, to which a piece of meat was fastened for roasting before an open fire.

17489. Tarns: mountain lakes.

17490. Caer-Eryri: Snowdon Field. Caer is a Welsh prefix mean- ing wall, fort, or castle; Eryri is the Welsh name of Snowdon, the highest mountain peak in Wales or in England.

17 492. Isle Avilion (a-vil'ion, or, for the sake of the rhythm here, a-vil'i-on") : literally, the " Isle of Apples." " In Celtic mythology, the Land of the Blessed, or Isle of Souls, an earthly paradise in the west- ern seas." — Century Cyclopedia of Names. See The Passing of Arthur, 11. 427-432-

18 519. Between the in-crescent and de-crescent moon : at the time of the full moon.

18 524. Ragged oval: the boundary of their play lists.

18 528. From Satan's foot to Peter's knee. St. Peter kept the keys of the gate of Heaven. The meaning, then, is from Sir Kay's tyranny (Hell) to King Arthur's favor (Heaven).

18 529. News : now used as a singular noun though plural in form.

20 571. Lions: the heraldic device on Lancelot's shield.

And when the shield was brought, and Gawain saw Sir Lancelot's azure lions, crown'd with gold,

Ramp in the field.

Lancelot and Elaine, 11. 658-660.

20 573. Hall. The mighty hall of Arthur is described in The Holy Grail, 225 ff.

20 575. May-blossom : the white hawthorn which blossoms in May.

The lanes, you know, were white with may.

The Miller's Daughter.

GARETH AND LYNETTE 119

20 586. Best blood : the wine used at the sacrament, typical of Christ's blood.

21 607. Or a holy life : or become a nun.

22 642. May : hawthorn blossom or color of the hawthorn blossom.

22 646. Lane of access : passage to the King between the rows of knights.

23 665. Maiden shield : the shield of an unproved knight. 23 665. Casque : helmet.

23 678. Trenchant : sharpened.

24 688. Being named : called by name.

24 693. Hath past his time : has reached his dotage.

25 729. Foul-flesh'd agaric in the holt: decayed or ill-smelling fungus in the wood. The mushroom belongs to the agaricoid fungi.

25 729. Holt : a grove.

25 742. Shingle : water-worn stones, coarser than gravel.

26 749. Unhappiness : mischance. 26751. Loon: stupid fellow.

26 766. Beknaved : called knave.

27 773. Evensong : vespers. 27 778. Mere : a stagnant pool. 27 799. Caitiff : wicked.

27 804. Wan : gloomy.

28 828. Cate : a dainty article of food.

28 829. Peacock. When the peacock was served at table, in the days of knight-errantry, "All the guests, male and female, took a solemn vow; the knights vowing bravery, and the ladies engaging to be loving and faithful." [Quoted by Rolfe.] Lynette is thus reminded of her duty as a Jady.

29 839. Frontless : shameless.

29 862. Avail : advantage. .

30 870. Allow : accept.

30871. Stoat: ermine. The lion and the ermine have been com- panions on the same small island. 30 873. Ruth : pity. 30881. Hers: Cinderella's.

30 889. Lent-lily in hue : yellow, the color of the daffodil or Lent lily, which is so called because it blossoms about the lenten season.

31 908. Avanturine : a variety of feldspar, spangled with scales of

120 NOTES

31 922. Liefer had I : I had rather.

32 934. Lightly : quickly.

32 948. Grovelling : flat on the ground, face downward.

33 971. Morning star. Lynette is changing. Love for Gareth is entering her heart, though she is too proud to withdraw the epithets with which she has " beknaved " him.

33 979. Fool's parable : foolish parable of the day, — the " Morning- Star, and Noon-Sun, and Evening-Star."

34 996. Worship : respect. 34 1002. Shallow : stream.

34 1002. Flower : the dandelion.

34 1008. Brother. Gareth, having the shield of Morning-Star, is mistaken by Noon-Sun for his brother.

34 1008. Marches : the borderlands or boundaries of his district.

35 1012. Vizoring : covering with the vizor of his helmet. 35 1013. Cipher : round and meaningless.

35 1026. Myself when I return will plead for thee. Gareth is a true knight. His antagonist fell because of an accident to his horse. Knightly courtesy demanded that he be dealt with as an unfortunate. Gareth not only rescued him from the stream but promised to plead for him at Arthur's court.

36 1048. The boar hath rosemaries and bay. The boar's head, when served before the king, is garnished not with flowers but with rosemaries (evergreens) and bay (laurel).

36 1052. Mavis : song thrush.

36 1052. Merle : European blackbird.

36 1060. Treble bow : three spans.

36 1067. Wrapt in harden'd skins. In the allegory these hardened skins may be taken to mean the evil habits of a lifetime.

37 1075. Disaster. Etymologically this word means ill star or evil star.

38 1099. Foredooming : foreboding or apprehending or fearing. 381118. Buoy: the object of "can bring under," the understood

predicate of " Southwesterns." 391130. Trefoil: clover.

39 1146. Sooth : truth.

401163. Comb: a "bowl-shaped hollow or valley inclosed on all sides but one by steep and in some cases perpendicular cliffs." — Century Dictionary.

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 121

401172. Vexillary: a Roman standard bearer. The reference is to certain Latin inscriptions made by a Roman standard bearer on the cliffs above the river Gelt in Cumberland.

40 1174. Phosphorus : the Greek for morning star.

40 1174. Meridies : the Latin for midday.

40 1174. Hesperus : the Greek for evening star.

40 1175. Nox : the Latin for night.

401175. Mors: the Latin for death.

43 1273. Ramp : rear or spring up.

44 1281. Arthur's Harp. Gareth was studying the stars. Some believe that the constellation called Arthur's Harp was the one known as Lyra, consisting of three stars, Vega, Arcturus, and Polaris, arranged in the shape of a triangle. Dr. Rolfe, quoting the lines from The Last Tournament,

Dost thou know the star We call the harp of Arthur up in heaven ?

infers that the Harp was a single star and not a constellation. The star Arcturus, constellation Bootes, is known as Arthur's Hufe (haunt). Dr. Vlymen says that the Great Bear is here referred to.

46 1348. Fleshless laughter : the grinning skull of Death.

47 1367. Blink : shut their eyes to.

47 1386. Then sprang the happier day from underground. In the allegory, spring has come, and the plant life rises again from its season of " death."

47 1392. He : Malory, the author of Morte Darthur.

47 1394. He : Tennyson.

LANCELOT AND ELAINE

49 2. Astolat : the Arthurian name for Guilford in Surrey. 49 4. Sacred : to Elaine. 49 8. Braided : embroidered. 49 10. Tinct : tint. 49 10. Wit : skill or fancy. 49 22. Caerlyle : Carlisle in Cumberland.

49 23. Caerleon: in Monmouthshire, where King Arthur, according to tradition, held his court.

49 23. Camelot : described in Gareth and Lynette, 11. 296 ff.

122 NOTES

50 35. Lyonnesse : the mythical land from which Arthur came and the birthplace of Sir Tristram.

A land of old upheaven from the abyss By fire, to sink into the abyss again.

The Passing of Arthur, 11. 82-83.

Now, " it is said to be more than forty fathoms under water between the Land's End and the isles of Scilly, the sea having gradually encroached upon the land." — Century Cyclopedia of Names.

50 36. Tarn : a small lake which has no visible feeders or outlets.

50 50. Nape : the back, upper part of the neck.

50 53. Shingly scaur (skar) : a steep cliff covered with loose water- worn stones.

51 59. Divinely : by the guidance of God, or providentially. 51 67. Still : every year.

51 69. Queen : Guinevere, between whom and Lancelot there existed unknightly relations.

51 "5. Place : London.

52 91. Tale : number.

52 94. Lets : hinders or keeps. 52 110. Allow'd: permitted. 52 in. Of: by.

52 us. Devoir: duty.

53 125. Untruth : unfaithfulness.

53 132. He is all fault who hath no fault at all. Is this the com- mon verdict ? Nearly the same idea is expressed in the following lines from Tennyson's Maud, I. ii. 11. 6-7 :

Faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null, Dead perfection, no more.

57 269. Glanced at : spoke of.

57 270. Suddenly speaking of the wordless man. Not caring to talk of the Queen and himself, Lancelot changes the subject by asking a question about the dumb porter who met him at the gates of Astolat.

58 279. Badon hill : Mons Badonicus, or Badbury Rings in Dorset- shire. When, in 520, the Saxons (called in The Idylls the "White Horse ") were invading England, " the Britons rallied under a new leader, Arthur, and threw back the invaders as they pressed westward

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 123

through the Dorsetshire wood-lands in a great overthrow at Badbury or Mount Badon." — Green, History of the English People, I, 24. 58 280. Rapt : transported.

58 288 ff. " The first battle in which he [Arthur] was engaged, was at the mouth of the river Gleni. The second, third, fourth, and fifth, were on the river, by the Britons called Duglas, in the region Linius. The sixth, on the river Bassas. The seventh, in the wood Celidon, which the Britons call Cat Coit Celidon. The eighth was near Gurnion castle, where Arthur bore the image of the Holy Virgin, mother of God, upon his shoulders, and through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the holy Mary, put the Saxons to flight, and pursued them the whole day with great slaughter. The ninth was at the City of Legion [Exeter], which is called Cair Lion. The tenth was on the banks of the river Trat Treuroit. The eleventh was on the mountain Breguoin, which we call Cat Bregion. The twelfth was a most severe contest, when Arthur penetrated to the hill of Badon. In this engage- ment, nine hundred and forty fell by his hand alone, no one but the Lord affording him assistance. In all these engagements the Britons were successful. For no strength can avail against the will of the Almighty."

Gleni = Glem, in Lincolnshire, by some.

= probably Glen, in Northumberland. Duglas = the little river Dunglas. Bassas = an isolated rock called " The Bass " in the Frith of Forth, not a

river.

Celidon = the Caledonian forest, or the forest of Englewood. Gurnion castle = probably " the Roman station of Garionenni, near Yar- mouth, in Norfolk." Legion = Exeter.

Trat Treuroit = the Brue, in Somersetshire ; or the Ribble, Lancashire. Cat Bregion = Cadbury, in Somersetshire; or Edinburgh. Badon = Bath.

— Nennius, History of the Britons, translated by J. A. Giles, " Six Old English Chronicles," Bonn's Antiquarian Library, 408, 409, and Note.

58 297. Wild White Horse. The White Horse was the emblem of the Saxon invaders.

Tamper'd with the Lords of the White Horse,

Heathen, the brood by Hengist left.

Guinevere, 11. 15-16.

59 314. The fire of God. King Arthur was God's champion.

124 NOTES

" Sir and my liege," he [Lancelot] cried, " the fire of God Descends upon thee in the battle-field."

The Coming of Arthur, 11. 127-128.

59 338. Rathe : early.

60 357. Braved : set at defiance.

62 422. Pendragon : At the moment when King Aurelius died, there appeared to Uther "a star of wonderful magnitude and brightness, darting forth a ray, at the end of which was a globe of fire in form of a dragon, out of whose mouth issued two rays ; one of which seemed to stretch out itself beyond the extent of Gaul, the other towards the Irish Sea, and ended in seven lesser rays." Uther, the King's brother, in alarm consulted Merlin as to the meaning of the portent. He answered "You shall be king of Britain. For the star, and the fiery dragon under it, signifies yourself, and the ray extending towards the Gallic coast, portends that you shall have a most potent son, to whose power all those kingdoms shall be subject over which the ray reaches." When Uther became king, " remembering the explanation which Merlin had made of the star above-mentioned, [he] commanded two dragons to be made of gold, in likeness of the dragon which he had seen at the ray of the star. . . . From this time, therefore, he was called Uther Pendragon, which in the British tongue signifies the dragon's head." — Geoffrey of Monmouth, British History, translated by J. A. Giles, "Six Old English Chronicles," Bohn's Antiquarian Library, 219-221.

62 423. Mysteriously : referring to the mystery of King Arthur's birth.

62 431. Samite : a heavy silk material.

63 446. Crescent : in the first quarter ; that is, in the period of promise.

66 548. Restless heart. The changing lights reflected from the diamond gave it the restless appearance.

66 552. In the mid might and flourish of his May : at the height of his power.

66554. Geraint.

The brave Geraint, a knight of Arthur's court,

A tributary prince of Devon, one

Of that great Order of the Table Round.

The Marriage of Geraint, II. 1-3.

67567. Tarriance: delay or lingering. 68 592. So fine a fear : note the sarcasm.

LANCELOT AND ELAINE 12$

69 653. Hern : heron.

69 653. Slipt : loosened. In the practice of falconry the hunter " loosened " the falcon that he might pursue and catch the heron. 71715. Strokes of blood : pulse beats.

72 "17. Shook his hair. Sir Gawain, the courteous nephew of the King, was given similar characteristics in The Coming of Arthur, 11. 319-321.

And Gawain went, and breaking into song Sprang out, and follow'd by his flying hair Ran like a colt.

74 798. His own far blood : his relatives, distantly removed.

76 871. Honor, etc. Note the antithesis.

77 883. Rough sickness : delirium. See 11. 849, 850.

77 905. Victim's flowers before he fall. She is comparing herself to the animal intended for sacrifice. The ancients decorated such animals with garlands.

79 953. Half my realm beyond the seas. " But to say the sooth, Sir Lancelot and his nephews were lords of all France, and of all the lands that longed unto France." — Malory, Morte Darlhur, XX, 18.

81 1015. Hark the Phantom of the house : the " banshee " of the house of Astolat. In Ireland and in some parts of Scotland " the ban- shee is a species of aristocratic fairy, who, in the shape of a little hideous old woman, has been known to appear, and heard to sing in a mourn- ful supernatural voice under the windows of great houses, to warn the family that some were soon to die." — Century Dictionary.

84 1092. Ghostly man : priest.

86 1170. Oriel: a room that projects out from the wall of a house. It was formerly used as a boudoir.

86 1170. Summer side : southern side.

86ii78. Tawnier than her cygnet's. The down of the young swan is dark or tan colored. Lancelot says that the swan's neck, compared with the Queen's, seems darker than her cygnet's.

89 1265. Sometime : formerly.

91 1311. Estate : as a transitive verb this word is rare in modern usage. — Murray's Dictionary.

91 1316. Worship : honor.

91 1318. Worshipfully : honorably.

91 1319. That shrine which then in all the realm was richest: Westminstei Abbey.

126 NOTES

92 1346. Affiance : trust.

92 1354. Homeless : loneliness caused by the lack of home ties.

94 1399. King's son. Lancelot was the son of Ban, king of Brittany.

94 1418. He should die a holy man. When Arthur discovered the guilt of Lancelot and the Queen, he decreed that Guinevere should be burned at the stake. Lancelot rescued her and took her to his castle, " Joyous Card." There he was besieged by Arthur and Gawain. The Pope, interfering, brought about a peace and the return of Guinevere to Arthur's court. Lancelot returned to his estate beyond the seas. Arthur followed and made war against him, besieging him in his home castle. The King was called home by the rebellion of Modred, who desired to overthrow Arthur and become king. After Arthur's death, according to Malory, Guinevere retired to the nunnery at Almesbury (Amesbury). Lancelot sought her and found her there, but she, refusing to go with him, made him promise never again to see her face. Having promised, he departed and " rode all that day and all that night in a forest, weeping." At last he came to a hermitage and a chapel, where dwelt the Bishop of Canterbury and the knight, Sir Bedivere. Lance- lot's request to be received as a brother of the order was granted ; so he put on the habit and served God with prayers and fastings. Later he learned of the Queen's death. After that, refusing food, he soon died. His body was, by his request, taken to castle Joyous Card and laid to rest in the body of the quire. — Morte Darthur, XX and XXI.

THE PASSING OF ARTHUR

95 i Sir Bedivere :

the first of all his knights Knighted by Arthur at his crowning.

96 28. I pass but shall not die. Merlin had prophesied that Arthur should not die.

Merlin in our time

Hath spoken also, not in jest, and sworn Tho' man may wound him [the King] that he will not die, But pass, again to come ; and then or now Utterly smite the heathen underfoot, Till these and all men hail him for their king.

The Coming of Arthur, 11. 418-423.

THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 127

96 30-31. Gawain kill'd in Lancelot's war. According to Malory, while Arthur was making war against Lancelot, Gawain received a wound at Lancelot's hand which healed. Then came news that Modred, having raised a rebellion, had proclaimed himself king. Thereupon Arthur and Gawain returned to England, met Modred at Dover, and overcame him in battle. After the battle, Gawain was found uncon- scious in a boat. He had been injured in the old wound made by Lancelot. When Arthur found him, he regained consciousness long enough to write a letter to Lancelot urging him to come to Arthur's aid. "And so at the hour of noon, Sir Gawain yielded up the spirit. And then the king let inter him in a chapel within Dover castle; and there yet all men may see the skull of him, and the same wound is seen that Sir Lancelot gave him in battle." — Malory, Morte Darthur, XXI, 2.

96 35. Isle of rest : " the island-valley of Avilion," 1. 427.

97 77. Almesbury. The Queen (according to Tennyson) fled to the nunnery at Almesbury. Hither the King followed her. When she heard his step ring along the gallery leading to her cell, she fell from

off her seat

And grovell'd with her face against the floor.

The King forgave her and blest her. After he went away the nuns

took her to themselves ; and she Still hoping, fearing, " is it yet too late ? " Dwelt with them, till in time their Abbess died. Then she, for her good deeds and her pure life, And for the power of ministration in her, And likewise for the high rank she had borne, Was chosen Abbess, there, an Abbess, lived For three brief years, and there, an Abbess, past To where beyond these voices there is peace.

Guinevere, 11. 684-692.

99 135. The voice, etc. " The ocean has frequently been used in literature as a symbol of Time and Eternity." — Rowe.

99 139-142. Voice that shakes the world, and wastes the narrow realm . . . and beats, etc. : the sound of the ocean beating on the shore and wearing it away.

100 160. Purport : purpose.

100 177. Chancel : " the eastern and most sacred portion of a church." — Rowe.

128 NOTES

100 iso. Water: lake.

101 182. Unsolders : dissolves.

101 211. Hest : command.

102 215. Mighty bones : " The bones of the Danish invaders heaped tip in part of the church building at Hythe are abnormally large-sized, and seem to show that ' there were giants in those days.' " — Rowe.

103 243. Fealty : fidelity to a lord. 103 248. Lief : beloved.

103 272. Maiden of the Lake. Queen Bellicent was at the crowning of Arthur, and thus describes the Lady of the Lake :

And near him stood the Lady of the Lake, Who knows a subtler magic than his own — Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful. She gave the King his huge cross-hiked sword, Whereby to drive the heathen out : a mist Of incense curl'd about her, and her face Wellnigh was hidden in the minster gloom ; But there wa's heard among the holy hymns A voice as of the waters, for she dwells Down in a deep ; calm, whatsoever storms May shake the world, and when the surface rolls, Hath power to walk the waters like our Lord.

The Coming of Arthur, 11. 282-294.

105 307. Northern morn : the Aurora Borealis.

105 308. Moving isles of winter : blocks of ice floating in the northern sea; icebergs.

107 366. Three Queens. "One was King Arthur's sister, Queen Morgan le Fay ; the other was the Queen of Northgales ; the third was the Queen of the Waste Lands." — Malory, Morte Darthur, XXI, 6. They were the same as, at his crowning, the

three fair queens,

Who stood in silence near his throne, the friends Of Arthur, gazing on him, tall, with bright Sweet faces, who will help him at his need.

The Coming of Arthur, 11. 275-278.

107 383. Greaves : the part of the armor that protected the front of the leg between the knee and the foot. 107 383. Cuisses : armor for the thighs.

THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 129

108 401. Holy Elders : the three wise men, who, guided by the star, came to the child Christ, bringing gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. See Matthew ii. n.

108 403. Image of the mighty world. " Merlin made the Round Table in tokening of the roundness of the world, for by the Round Table is the world signified by right." — Malory, Morte Darthur, XIV, 2.

108 408. This line is quoted from The Coming of Arthur, \. 508.

109 435. Fluting a wild carol ere her death. " The musical note of swans hath been commended, and that they sing most sweetly before their death." — Sir Thomas Browne, Works, II, 517, London, 1836. This belief, that formerly was quite common, has long since been exploded.

109 445. From the great deep to the great deep he goes. This is a verse from one of Merlin's "riddling triplets" (The Coming of Arthur, 1. 410).

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