“All the faiths!” We wonder how many “faiths” Harold knew of or contemplated. Indeed, it seems to us that Mr. Tennyson here speaks for himself, and in a manner that causes some suspicion of his having lost something of his own earlier and more robust belief. Harold continues:
“But a little light!—
And on it falls the shadow of the priest;
Heaven yield us more! for better Woden, all
Our cancell’d warrior-gods, our grim Walhalla,
Eternal war, than that the Saints at peace;
The Holiest of our Holiest one should be
This William’s fellow-tricksters; better die
Than credit this, for death is death, or else
Lifts us beyond the lie.”