A pleasant music floats along the Mere,
From Monks in Ely chanting service high,
While-as Canùte the King is rowing by:
"My Oarsmen," quoth the mighty King, "draw near,
"That we the sweet song of the Monks may hear!"[90]
He listens (all past conquests and all schemes 6
Of future vanishing like empty dreams)
Heart-touched, and haply not without a tear.
The Royal Minstrel, ere the choir is still,[91]
While his free Barge skims the smooth flood along,
Gives to that rapture an accordant Rhyme.[92][93] 11
O suffering Earth! be thankful; sternest clime
And rudest age are subject to the thrill
Of heaven-descended Piety and Song.
FOOTNOTES:
[90] A monk of Ely, who wrote a History of the Church (circa 1166), records a fragment of song, said to have been composed by Canute when on his way to a church festival. He told his rowers to proceed slowly, and near the shore, that he might hear the chanting of the Psalter by the monks, and he then composed a song himself.
Merie sangen the Muneches binnen Ely,
Tha Cnut ching reu therby:
Roweth cnites ner the land
And here ye thes Muneches sang.—Ed.
[91] 1827.
... was still, 1822.
[92] 1827.
... a memorial Rhyme. 1822.
[93] Which is still extant.—W. W. 1822. See last note.—Ed.