From Teivi, fring'd with umbrage brown, From many a shaggy precipice That shades Ierne's hoarse abyss, Of Radnor's inmost mountains rude,) "When Arthur rang'd his red-cross ranks "Arm'd with fate the mighty blow; "For when he fell, an elfin queen, "All in secret, and unseen, "O'er the fainting hero threw "To her green isle's enamel'd steep, "She pillow'd his majestic head; "By gales of Eden ever fann'd, "(If right prophetic rolls I learn) "His knightly table to restore, "And the brave tournaments of yore." They ceas'd: when on the tuneful stage Advanc'd a bard, of aspect sage; His silver tresses, thin besprent, To age a graceful reverence lent ; His beard, all white as spangles frore That clothe Plinlimmon's forests hoar, Down to his harp descending flow'd; With Time's faint rose his features glow'd; His eyes diffus'd a soften'd fire, And thus he wak'd the warbling wire: "Listen, Henry, to my read! "Not from fairy realms I lead "Bright-rob'd Tradition, to relate "In forged colours Arthur's fate; "Though much of old romantic lore "On the high theme I keep in store : "But boastful Fiction should be dumb, "Where Truth the strain might best become. "If thine ear may still be won "With songs of Uther's glorious son; "Henry, I a tale unfold, "Never yet in rhyme enroll'd, "Nor sung nor harp'd in hall or bower; "Which in my youth's full early flower, "A minstrel, sprung of Cornish line, "Who spoke of kings from old Locrine, "Taught me to chant, one vernal dawn, “ Deep in a cliff-encircled lawn, "What time the glistening vapours fled "From cloud-envelop'd Clyder's head; "And on its sides the torrents grey "Shone to the morning's orient ray. "When Arthur bow'd his haughty crest, "No princess, veil'd in azure vest, "Snatcht him, by Merlin's potent spell, "In groves of golden bliss to dwell; "Where, crown'd with wreaths of misletoe, "Slaughter'd kings in glory go: "But when he fell, with winged speed, "His champions, on a milk-white steed, "Bore him to Joseph's towered fane, "No mouldering trophies mark the grave : "Each trace that Time's slow touch had worn; "And long, o'er the neglected stone, "Oblivion's veil its shade has thrown: "The faded tomb, with honour due, "'Tis thine, O Henry, to renew! "Yon recreant isle, and sheath'd the sword, "When peace with palm has crown'd thy brows, "Haste thee, to pay thy pilgrim vows. "There, observant of my lore, "The pavement's hallow'd depth explore; "And thrice a fathom underneath "Dive into the vaults of death. "There shall thine eye, with wild amaze, "On his gigantic stature gaze; "There shalt thou find the monarch laid, "All in warrior-weeds array'd; "Wearing in death his helmet-crown, "And weapons huge of old renown. "Martial prince, 'tis thine to save "From dark oblivion Arthur's grave! "So may thy ships securely stem "The western frith: thy diadem "Shine victorious in the van, "Nor heed the slings of Ulster's clan : The spiced goblets mantled high; And |