494 REVIEWS. 



The falling leaf shall shew the cause of things 



Sages have sought in vain — and the whole vast 



Of sight and sound shall be to man a school 



Where they may leai-n sti-ange lessons ; and great truths, 



That long have slept in the deep heart of God 



Shall waken and come forth and dwell with men, 



As in the elder days the tented lord 



Of countless herds was taught by angel-guests." 



A Prince " of goodly mien and face, from o'er the sea" shall wed 

 this queen, and " loving her, be loved by all the world." Sir Bedivere 

 at once adopts the idea that this is the Blameless Prince himself, return- 

 ing, according to general expectation, from his long sleep in Avalon, 

 " to crown the glories of the latter world." Merlin admits that, if not 

 Arthur himself, he would be one whose aims in respect to Britain 

 would be like those of the British hero-king. The coming Prince in 

 after time was to take " the purpose " of Arthur — 



— " From the dim shrine where it had lain 

 Scarce touched by dreamy reverence, many an age, 

 And hold it in the daylight of his life." 



What " the purpose" of the ancient King had been is fully told : 



— " In deeds of war, — 

 The rage of battle, and the clangorous charge 

 Of mailed knights, and flash of hostile swords, 

 And flying spears, and din of meeting shields, 

 And all the use of man-ennobling might, 

 For Christ and for his Cross, to wrest the land 

 From heathen foes — did Arthur win his fame. 

 For this, by marvels, was he chosen King ; 

 For this he sent his heralds to all parts 

 Of the divided realm, to summon forth 

 All bravest, truest knights of Christendom, 

 From rude and selfish war to Camelot, 

 That they might be one heart around himself. 

 To send new life-blood through the sickly land. 

 And purge it of the plague of heathenness. 

 And had not the foul falsehood of his house 

 Broken athwart the true aim of his life. 

 And set the Table Round against itself, 

 Ere now the heathen Dragon had been crushed. 

 Never again to raise its hideous head 

 O'er the fair land that Christ's Apostle blessed." 



