3

1

She sleeps: her breathings are not heard
In palace chambers far apart.1
The fragrant tresses are not stirr'd
That lie upon her charmed heart.
She sleeps on either hand - upswells
The gold-fringed pillow lightly prest:
She sleeps, nor dreams, but ever dwells
A perfect form in perfect rest.

THE ARRIVAL

No alteration after 1853.

1

All precious things, discover'd late,
To those that seek them issue forth;
For love in sequel works with fate,

And draws the veil from hidden worth.

He travels far from other skies—

His mantle glitters on the rocks—

A fairy Prince, with joyful eyes,
And lighter footed than the fox.

2

The bodies and the bones of those
That strove in other days to pass,
Are wither'd in the thorny close,

3

Or scatter'd blanching on 8 the grass.
He gazes on the silent dead:

"They perish'd in their daring deeds."
This proverb flashes thro' his head,

"The many

fail: the one succeeds".

1 A writer in Notts and Queries, February, 1880, asks whether these lines mean that the lovely princess did not snore so loud that she could be heard from one end of the palace to the other and whether it would not have detracted from her charms had that state of things been habitual. This brings into the field Dr. Gatty and other admirers of Tennyson, who, it must be owned, are not very successful in giving a satisfactory reply.

3

He comes, scarce knowing what he seeks :
He breaks the hedge: he enters there :
The colour flies into his cheeks:

He trusts to light on something fair;
For all his life the charm did talk
About his path, and hover near
With words of promise in his walk,
And whisper'd voices at his ear.1

4

More close and close his footsteps wind;
The Magic Music - in his heart
Beats quick and quicker, till he find

The quiet chamber far apart.

His spirit flutters like a lark,

He stoops—to kiss her on his knee.

"Love, if thy tresses be so dark,

How dark those hidden eyes must be !"

THE REVIVAL

No alteration after 1853.

1

A Touch, a kiss! the charm was snapt.
There rose a noise of striking clocks,
And feet that ran, and doors that clapt,

And barking dogs, and crowing cocks;
A fuller light illumined all,

A breeze thro' all the garden swept,
A sudden hubbub shook the hall,
And sixty feet the fountain leapt.

2

The hedge broke in, the banner blew,

The butler drank, the steward scrawl'd,

The fire shot up, the martin flew,

The parrot screamed, the peacock squall'd,

1 All editions up to and including 1850.

In his ear.

2 All editions up to and including 1851. Not capitals in magic music.

The maid and page renew'd their strife,
The palace bang'd, and buzz'd and clackt,
And all the long-pent stream of life
Dash'd downward in a cataract.

3

And last with these the king awoke,
And in his chair himself uprear'd,
And yawn'd, and rubb'd his face, and spoke,
By holy rood, a royal beard!

How say you? we have slept, my lords,
My beard has grown into my lap."
The barons swore, with many words,
'Twas but an after-dinner's nap.

"Pardy," return'd the king, "but still My joints are something 2 stiff or so. My lord, and shall we pass the bill

I mention'd half an hour ago?" The chancellor, sedate and vain,

In courteous words return'd reply: But dallied with his golden chain, And, smiling, put the question by.

THE DEPARTURE

No alteration since 1843.

1

And on her lover's arm she leant,
And round her waist she felt it fold,
And far across the hills they went

In that new world which is the old :
Across the hills and far away

Beyond their utmost purple rim,
And deep into the dying day
The happy princess followed him.

1 1843 to 1851. And last of all.
21863. Somewhat.

2

"I'd sleep another hundred years,

O love, for such another kiss;" "O wake for ever, love," she hears,

"O love, 'twas such as this and this." And o'er them many a sliding star,

And many a merry wind was borne, And, stream'd thro' many a golden bar, The twilight melted into morn.

66

3

"O eyes long laid in happy sleep!" "O happy sleep, that lightly fled!" "O happy kiss, that woke thy sleep!" "O love, thy kiss would wake the dead!" And o'er them many a flowing range Of vapour buoy'd the crescent-bark, And, rapt thro' many a rosy change, The twilight died into the dark.

4

"A hundred summers! can it be?

And whither goest thou, tell me where?"

"O seek my father's court with me!

For there are greater wonders there."

And o'er the hills, and far away

Beyond their utmost purple rim,

Beyond the night across the day,

Thro' all the world she followed him.

MORAL

No alteration since 1843.

1

So, Lady Flora, take my lay,
And if you find no moral there,
Go, look in any glass and say,

What moral is in being fair.
Oh, to what uses shall we put

The wildweed-flower that simply blows?

And is there any moral shut

Within the bosom of the rose?

2

But any man that walks the mead,
In bud or blade, or bloom, may find,
According as his humours lead,

A meaning suited to his mind.
And liberal applications lie

In Art like Nature, dearest friend;1
So 'twere to cramp its use, if I

Should hook it to some useful end.

L'ENVOI

No alteration since 1843 except in numbering the stanzas.

You shake your head.

1

A random string
Your finer female sense offends.
Well—were it not a pleasant thing
To fall asleep with all one's friends;
To pass with all our social ties

To silence from the paths of men;
And every hundred years to rise

And learn the world, and sleep again;

To sleep thro' terms of mighty wars,
And wake on science grown to more,
On secrets of the brain, the stars,
As wild as aught of fairy lore;
And all that else the years will show,
The Poet-forms of stronger hours,
The vast Republics that may grow,

The Federations and the Powers;
Titanic forces taking birth

In divers seasons, divers climes;
For we are Ancients of the earth,
And in the morning of the times.

2

So sleeping, so aroused from sleep

Thro' sunny decads new and strange,

1 So Wordsworth :--

O Reader! had you in your mind

Such stores as silent thought can bring,
O gentle Reader! you would find

A tale in everything.

—Simon Lee.