Desiring to be join'd with Guinevere ;

And thinking as he rode, ' Her father said

That there between the man and beast they die.

Shall I not lift her from this land of beasts

Up to my throne, and side by side with me?

What happiness to reign a lonely king,

Vext-0 ye stars that shudder over me,

O earth that soundest hollow under me,

Vext with waste dreams? for saving I be join'd

To her that is the fairest under heaven,

I seem as nothing in the mighty world,

And cannot will my will, nor work my work
Wholly, nor make myself in mine own realm
Victor and lord. But were I join'd with her,
Then might we live together as one life,

And reigning with one will in everything
Have power on this dark land to lighten it,

And power on this dead world to make it live.'

And Arthur from the field of battle sent

Ulfius, and Brastias, and Bedivere,

His new-made knights, to King Leodogran,

Saying, 'If I in ought have served thee well,
Give me thy daughter Guinevere to wife.'

Whom when he heard, Leodogran in heart Debating How should I that am a king, However much he holp me at my need,

Give my one daughter saving to a king,

And a king's son'-lifted his voice, and call'd

A hoary man, his chamberlain, to whom

He trusted all things, and of him required

6

His counsel: Knowest thou aught of Arthur's birth'?

Then spake the hoary chamberlain and said,

'Sir king, there be but two old men that know :

And each is twice as old as I; and one

Is Merlin, the wise man that ever served

King Uther thro' his magic art; and one

Is Merlin's master (so they call him) Bleys,

Who taught him magic; but the scholar ran
Before the master, and so far, that Bleys

Laid magic by, and sat him down, and wrote
All things and whatsoever Merlin did

In one great annal-book, where after-years
Will learn the secret of our Arthur's birth.'

To whom the King Leodogran replied,

'O friend, had I been holpen half as well

By this King Arthur as by thee to-day,

Then beast and man had had their share of me:

But summon here before us yet once more

Ulfius, and Brastias, and Bedivere.'

Then, when they came before him, the king said,

'I have seen the cuckoo chased by lesser fowl, And reason in the chase: but wherefore now

Do these your lords stir up the heat of war,

Some calling Arthur born of Gorloïs,
Others of Anton? Tell me, ye yourselves,

Hold ye this Arthur for King Uther's son?'

And Ulfius and Brastias answer'd, 'Ay.' Then Bedivere, the first of all his knights Knighted by Arthur at his crowning, spakeFor bold in heart and act and word was he, Whenever slander breathed against the king

'Sir, there be many rumours on this head: For there be those who hate him in their hearts, Call him baseborn, and since his ways are sweet, And theirs are bestial, hold him less than man : And there be those who deem him more than man,

my

belief

And dream he dropt from heaven: but
In all this matter-so ye care to learn—
Sir, for ye know that in King Uther's time
The prince and warrior Gorloïs, he that held
Tintagil castle by the Cornish sea,

Was wedded with a winsome wife, Ygerne :

And daughters had she borne him,-one whereof

Lot's wife, the Queen of Orkney, Bellicent,

Hath ever like a loyal sister cleaved

To Arthur,-but a son she had not borne.

And Uther cast upon her eyes of love :
But she, a stainless wife to Gorloïs,

So loathed the bright dishonour of his love,
That Gorloïs and King Uther went to war:

And overthrown was Gorloïs and slain.

Then Uther in his wrath and heat besieged

Ygerne within Tintagil, where her men,

Seeing the mighty swarm about their walls,