Chief of the church in Britain, and before

The stateliest of her altar-shrines, the king

That morn was married, while in stainless white,

The fair beginners of a nobler time,

And glorying in their vows and him, his knights

Stood round him, and rejoicing in his joy.

And holy Dubric spread his hands and spake,

"Reign ye, and live and love, and make the world Other, and may thy Queen be one with thee,

And all this Order of thy Table Round

Fulfil the boundless pupose of their king."

Then at the marriage feast came in from Rome,

The slowly-fading mistress of the world,
Great lords, who claim'd the tribute as of yore.
But Arthur spake, "Behold, for these have sworn
To fight my wars, and worship me their king;
The old order changeth, yielding place to new;
And we that fight for our fair father Christ,
Seeing that ye be grown too weak and old

2*

C

To drive the heathen from your Roman wall,

No tribute will we pay ": so those great lords

Drew back in wrath, and Arthur strove with Rome.

And Arthur and his knighthood for a space Were all one will, and thro' that strength the king Drew in the petty princedoms under him, Fought, and in twelve great battles overcame The heathen hordes, and made a realm and reign'd. THE HOLY GRAIL.

THE HOLY GRAIL.

FROM noiseful arms, and acts of prowess done

In tournament or tilt, Sir Percivale,

Whom Arthur and his knighthood call'd The Pure,

Had pass'd into the silent life of prayer,

Praise, fast, and alms; and leaving for the cowl

The helmet in an abbey far away

From Camelot, there, and not long after, died.

And one, a fellow-monk among the rest,
Ambrosius, loved him much beyond the rest,
And honor'd him, and wrought into his heart
A way by love that waken'd love within,
To answer that which came: and as they sat