Lo where the sacred talismans diffuse113
Their fragrant charms against the Evil Powers;
Lo where young hands the consecrated dews
From cuspèd vervain sprinkle round the flowers,
And o'er the robe, with broider'd palm-leaves sown,
That decks the daughter of the peaceful throne!
Lo, on those locks of night the myrtle crown,114
Lo, where the heart beats quick beneath the veil;
Lo, where the lids, cast tremulously down,
Cloud stars which Eros as his own might hail;
Oh, lovelier than Endymion's loveliest dream,
Joy to the heart on which those eyes shall beam!
The bark comes bounding to the islet shore,115
The trellised gates fly back: the footsteps fall
Through jasmined galleries on the threshold floor;
And, in the Heart-Enchainer's golden thrall,
There, spell-bound halt;—So, first since youth began
Her eyes meet youth in the charm'd eyes of man!
And there Art's two opposed Ideals rest;116
There the twin flowers of the old world bloom forth;
The classic symbol of the gentle West,
And the bold type of the chivalric North.
What trial waits thee, Cymrian, sharper here
Than the wolf's death-fang or the Saxon's spear?
But would ye learn how he we left afar,117
Girt by the stormy people of the wild,
Came to the confines of the Hesperus Star,
And the soft gardens of the Etrurian child;
Would ye, yet lingering in the wondrous vale,
Learn what time spares if sorrow can assail;
What there, forgetful of the vanish'd dove,118
(Lost at these portals) did the king befall;
Pause till the hand has tuned the harp to love,
And notes that bring young listeners to the hall;
And he, whose sires in Cymri reign'd, shall sing
How Tusca's daughter loved the Cymrian King.
BOOK IV.
ARGUMENT.
Invocation to Love—Arthur, Ægle, and the Augur—Dialogue between the Cymrian and the Etrurian—Meanwhile Lancelot gains the sea-shore, where he meets with the Aleman priest and his sons, and hears tidings of Arthur—He tells them the tale of his own infancy—Crosses the sea—Lands on the coast of Brettannie—And is guided by the crystal ring in quest of Arthur towards the Alps—He finds the King's charger, which Arthur had left without the vaulted passage into the Happy Valley—But the rock-gate being closed, he cannot discover the King; and, winding by the foot of the Alps round the valley, gains a lake and a convent—The story now returns to Arthur and Ægle—Descriptive stanzas—A raven brings Arthur news from Merlin—The King resolves to quit the valley—He seeks and finds the Augur—Dialogue—Parting scene with Ægle—Arthur follows the Augur towards the fane of the funereal god.