"And where their gripe the best assails
The belly, left unsheath'd in scales,
I taught the dexterous hounds to hang,
And find the spot to fix the fang;
Whilst I, with lance and mailed garb,
Launch'd on the beast mine Arab barb.
From purest race that Arab came ;
His fire my hand and voice inflame;
Beneath the sharp spur bounding fierce,
He fronts the beast in full career-
And there, as if the hide to pierce,
By turns I couch or hurl the spear.
"Tho' when the Monster first it eyed,
It champ'd the bit and swerved aside,
Snorted and rear'd—and even they,
The fierce hounds, shrank with startled bay;
I ceased not, till, by custom bold,
After three tedious moons were told,
Both barb and hounds were train'd-nay, more,
Fierce for the fight ;-then left the shore!
Three days have fleeted since I prest
(Return'd at length) this welcome soil,
Nor once would lay my limbs to rest,
Till wrought the glorious crowning toil.
"It burn'd my heart within to know
New ravage done by that dread foe.
The bones of herdsmen, bleach'd and bare,
Lay round the hell-worm's swampy lair ;—
Stung, on the sudden I depart,
Nor counsel take but from my
And so my squires I call in speed,
Spring lightly on my proven steed,
Take my two gallant hounds, and by
Lone secret pathways gaily go,
To seek, unmark'd by human eye,
In its own deathful hold, the foe.
"Thou know'st the chapel glimmering o'er
The mountain rock, from ridges hoar ;
Aloft it overlooks the isle-
Bold was the soul that built the pile.
Humble and mean, the sacred house
Contains a shrine miraculous-
Mother and Child, to whom of old
Came the Three Kings, we there behold.
By three times thirty steps must climb
The pilgrim to that steep abode,
To feel, in sudden strength sublime
Renewed, the Saviour's neighbourhood.
"Yawns wide within that holy steep
A mighty cavern dark and deep—
Damp with the marsh dews, dim and dun,
And never lit by heavenly sun;
And there by night, and there by day,
The worm unguest and greeding lay,
Ever at watch, in darkness screen'd
Under God's House,-like Hell's own fiend.
And when along that path of woe
The pilgrim came, upon the way
Forth from its ambush rushed the foe,
And down, devouring, dragg'd the prey.
"I stood upon that rocky height
Ere yet I dar'd the dreadful fight—
Before the Infant Christ within
I knelt, and purg'd my heart from sin.
The mantle white on holy ground,
Above my coat of mail I bound.
In my right hand I grasp'd my spear,
Then downwards strode with conscience clear;
There to my squires I gave the heed
To wait in refuge safe behind;
Nimbly I vaulted on my steed,
And unto God my soul consign'd.
"The level plain before me lay
Started the hounds with sudden bay—
Aghast the frighten'd charger slanting,
Refused the rein, and trembled, panting-
For curling there, in coiled fold,
The Unutterable Beast behold,
Lazily basking in the sun!
Forth sprang the dogs. The fight's begun! But back the hounds, recoiling fast,
Before the jaws expanded fly,
Scared by the reeking poison-blast,
And the howl'd dismal jackal cry.
"But quickly cheered, again they go,
And fasten fiercely on the foe-
While full against the monster's hide
I launch the spear-it slants aside
As harmless on the woven scale
As slender reed on coat of mail.
And ere I could renew the stroke
From rein and rule the charger broke-
That basilisk eye had spell'd the steed,
It felt the poisonous charnel breath—
Forsaken in my dreadest need,
Hope vanish'd, and I look'd on Death.
"But light and quick to earth I leapt ;
Swift from the sheath my falchion swept ;
Swift on that rock-like mail it plied-
The rock-like mail the sword defied:
The monster lash'd its mighty coil;
Down hurl'd, behold me on the soil.
O'er me the jaw's dark cavern hangs—
I feel the snap of those grim fangs,
When lo! the dogs-the flesh is found;
The scaleless parts their fury gain!
And the fell monster, writhing round,
Howls its immeasurable pain.
"No time to foil its fastening foes· Light, as it writhed, I sprang, and rose; The bare, unguarded place explor'd,And to the hilt I plunged the sword
Up from the vitals sprang the blood,
Black-bubbling spouted forth the flood.
Then down it bore me in its fall;
Buried beneath that giant ball,
In dizzy swoon upon the ground
I lay ;-till sense returns once more—
I see my squires that stand around,
And the dead dragon in its gore."
Then burst from every eager breast The loud applause, so long supprest. Scarcely the knight those words had spoken, Than, on the vaulted rafters broken, Times ten re-echoing and ascending, Came the vast shout of thousands blending; As loud, the knights their voices raise, "His brows be crown'd with wreaths of bays! The crowd, in pomp, would lead him round,
From street to street his deed proclaimWhen the Grand Master sternly frown'd, And calling silence, silence came.
And thus he spoke-" With valiant hand
Thou from the pest hast purged the land.
Let crowds their idol hail; in thee
A foe our Order can but see!
Thy breast has cherish'd to its bane
A worm more fell than Dragon slain—
The snake that poisons hearts within,
And breeds dissension, strife, and sin.
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