summer sea,

Where I will heal mo of my grievous wound."

So said he, and the barge with oar and sail

Moved from the brink, like some fullbreasted swan

That, fluting a wild carol ere her death,

Ruffles her pure cold plume, and takes the flood

With swarthy webs. Long stood Sir Bedivere

Revolving many memories, till the hull Look'd one black dot against the verge of dawn,

And on the mere the wailing died away.

At length he groan'd, and turning slowly clomb

The last hardfootstep of that iron crag Thence mark'd the black hull moving yet and cried,

"He passes to be king among the dead Aud after healing of his grievous wound

IN THE GARDEN AT SWAINSTON.
NIGHTINGALES warbled without,
Within was weeping for thee:
Shadows of three dead men
Walk'd in the walks with me,
Shadows of three dead men, and tho
wast one of the three.

Nightingales sang in his woods:
The Master was far away:
Nightingales warbled and sang
Of a passion that lasts but a day:
Still in the house in his coffin the Prince
of courtesy lay.

Two dead men have I known
In courtesy like to thee:

Two dead men have I loved
With a love that ever will be:

Three dead men have I loved, and thou art last of the three.

THE VOICE AND THE PEAK.

THE Voice and the Peak
Far over summit and lawn,
The lone glow and long roar
Green-rushing from the rosy thrones of
dawn!

And welcome! witness, too, the silen cry,

The prayer of many a race and creed, and clime

Thunderless lightnings striking under

sea

From sunset and sunrise of all thy realm,

And that true North, whereof we lately heard

A strain to shame us "keep you to yourselves :

So loyal is too costly! friends-your love

Is but a burden: loose the bond, and go."

Is this the tone of empire? here the faith

That made us rulers? this, indeed, her voice

And meaning, whom the roar of Hougoumont

Left mightiest of all peoples under heaven?

What shock has fool'd her since, that she should speak

So feebly? wealthier-wealthier-hour by hour!

The voice of Britain, or a sinking land, Some third-rate isle half-lost among her seas?

There rang her voice, when the full city peal'd

Thee and thy Prince! The loyal to their

356 From thine and ours: for some are sa

cred, who mark,

Or wisely or unwisely, signs of storm, Waverings of every vane with every wind,

And wordy trucklings to the transient hour,

And fierce or careless looseners of the faith,

And Softness breeding scorn of simple life,

Or Cowardice, the child of lust for gold,

Or Labor, with a groan and not a voice, Or Art, with poisonous honey stol'n from France,

And that which knows, but careful for itself.

And that which knows not, ruling that which knows

To its own harm: the goal of this great world

Lies beyond sight: yet-if our slowlygrown

And crown'd Republic's crowning common-sense,

That saved her many times, not failtheir fears

Are morning shadows huger than the shapes

That cast them, not those gloomier which forego

The darkness of that battle in the West, Where all of high and holy dies away.

And Love has led thee to the stranger land,

Where men are bold and strongly

say their say :

Sce, empire upon empire smiles to

day,

As thou with thy young lover hand in hand,

Alexandrovna ! So now thy fuller life is in the West, Whose hand at home was gracious to

thy poor :

Thy name was blest within the narrow door;

Here, also, Marie, shall thy name be blest,

Marie-Alexandrovna !

V.

Shall fears and jealous hatreds flame again?

Or at thy coming, Princess, everywhere,

The blue heaven break, and some diviner air

Breathe thro' the world and change the hearts of men,

Álexandrovna ? But hearts that change not, love that cannot cease,

And peace be yours, the peace of soul in soul!

And howsoever this wide world may roll,

Between your peoples truth and manful peace,

Álfred-Alexandrovna!

ACT I.

SCENE I.-Aldgate richly decorated. Crowd. Marshalmen.

Marshalman. Stand back, keep a clear lane. When will her Majesty pass, sayst thou? why now, even now; wherefore draw back your heads and your horns before I break them, and make what noise you will with your tongues, so it be not treason. Long live Queen Mary, the lawful and legiti mate daughter of Harry the Eighth. Shout, knaves!

Citizens. Long live Queen Mary! 1 Cit. That's a hard word, legitimate; what does it mean?

2 Cit. It means a bastard.

3 Cit. Nay, it means true-born. 1 Cit. Why, lidn't the Parliament make her a bastard?

[beth.

2 Cit. No; it was the lady Eliza

3 Cit. That was after, man; that was after.

1 Cit. Then which is the bastard? 2 Cit. Troth, they be both bastards by Act of Parliament and Council.

3 Cit. Ay, the Parliament can make every true-born man of us a bastard. Old Nokes, can't it make thee a bastard? thou shouldst know, for thou art as white as three Christmasses.

O. Nokes (dreamily). Who's a-passing? King Edward or King Richard?

3 Cit. No, old Nokes.
O. Nokes. It's Harry!
3 Cit. It's Queen Mary.

O. Nokes. The blessed Mary's a-passing! [Falls on his knees. Nokes. Let father alone, my masters! he's past your questioning.

3 Cit. Answer thou for him, then! thou art no such cockerel thyself, for