"WE PASS; THE PATH THAT EACH MAN TROD IS DIM, OR WILL BE DIM, WITH WEEDS:-(TENNYSON)

OH, YET WE TRUST THAT SOMEHOW GOOD

THE TOURNAMENT.

With that I drave

Among the thickest and bore down a prince.

But that large-moulded man,
His visage all agrin as at a wake,*

Made at me through the press, and, staggering back
With stroke on stroke the horse and horseman, came
As comes a pillar of electric cloud,

Flaying the roofs and sucking up the drains,

And shadowing down the champain till it strikes

On a wood, and takes, and breaks, and cracks, and splits,
And twists the grain with such a roar that Earth

Reels, and the herdsmen cry; for everything
Gave way before him: only Florian, he
That loved me closer than his own right eye,
Thrust in between; but Arac rode him down :
And Cyril seeing it, pushed against the prince,
Strong, supple, sinew-corded, apt at arms;
But tougher, heavier, stronger, he that smote
And threw him: last I spurred; I felt my veins
Stretch with fierce heat; a moment, hand to hand
And sword to sword, and horse to horse we hung,
Till I struck out and shouted; the blade glanced;
I did but shear a feather, and dream and truth
Flowed from me; darkness closed me; and I fell.

[ALFRED TENNYSON. From "The Princess: A Medley."]

* At wakes, or country fairs, it was a common amusement for peasants to outvie one another in grinning through a horse collar.

WILL BE THE FINAL GOAL OF ILL!"--TENNYSON.

297

WHAT FAME IS LEFT FOR HUMAN DEEDS IN ENDLESS AGE?

IT RESTS WITH GOD."-TENNYSON.

"A GENIAL MOMENT OFT HAS GIVEN WHAT YEARS OF TOIL AND PAIN,

THOUGHT IS THE SOUL OF ACT; AND, STAGE BY STAGE,

298

HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS.

HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM

88

GHENT TO AIX.

SPRANG to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;

I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three ;
"Good speed!" cried the watch, as the gate-bolts
undrew ;

"Speed!" echoed the wall to us galloping through;
Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest,
And into the midnight we galloped abreast.

Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace
Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place;
I turned in my saddle, and made its girths tight,
Then shortened each stirrup, and set the pique right,
Rebuckled the cheek-strap, chained slacker the bit,
Nor galloped less steadily Roland a whit.

'Twas moonset at starting; but, while we drew near
Lokeren, the cocks crew and twilight dawned clear;
At Boom, a great yellow star came out to see ;
At Düffeld, 'twas morning as plain as could be;
And from Mechlin church-steeple we heard the half-chime,
So Joris broke silence with, "Yet there is time!"

At Aerschot, up leaped of a sudden the sun,
And against him the cattle stood black every one,
To stare through the mist at us galloping past,
And I saw my stout galloper, Roland, at last,
With resolute shoulders each butting away
The haze, as some bluff river headland its spray;

SOUL IS FROM BODY STILL TO DISENGAGE. -BROWNING.

OF LONG INDUSTRIOUS TOIL, HAVE STRIVEN TO WIN, AND ALL IN VAIN."-TRENCH.

"GOD WILL BLESS IN TURN THAT HEART WHICH BEATS, THOSE EYES WHICH MILDLY BURN, FOR ALL MEN."-BROWNING.

66

LET FRIEND TRUST FRIEND, AND LOVE DEMANDS ITS LIKE."-BROWNING.

HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS. 299

And his low head and crest, just one sharp ear bent back,
For my voice, and the other pricked out on his track;
And one eye's black intelligence-ever that glance

O'er its white edge at me, his own master, askance!
And the thick heavy spume-flakes which aye and anon
His fierce lips shook upwards in galloping on.

By Hasselt Dirck groaned; and cried Joris, "Stay spur!
Your Roos galloped bravely, the fault's not in her,
We'll remember at Aix”—for one heard the quick wheeze
Of her chest, saw the stretched neck, and staggering knees,
And sunk tail, and horrible heave of the flank,
As down on her haunches she shuddered and sank.

So we were left galloping, Joris and I,

Past Loos and past Tongres, no cloud in the sky;
The broad sun above laughed a pitiless laugh,

'Neath our foot broke the brittle bright stubble like chaff;
Till over by Dalhem a dome-tower sprang white,
And "Gallop," cried Joris, "for Aix is in sight!"

"How they'll greet us!" and all in a moment his roan
Rolled neck and croup over, lay dead as a stone;
And there was my Roland to bear the whole weight
Of the news which alone could save Aix from her fate,
With his nostrils like pits full of blood to the brim,
And with circles of red for his eye-sockets' rim.

Then I cast my loose buff-coat, each holster let fall,
Shook off both my jack-boots, let go belt and all,
Stood up in the stirrup, leaned, patted his ear,
Called my Roland his pet name, my horse without

peer;

"" ALL SERVICE RANKS THE SAME WITH GOD."-ROBERT BROWNING.

"I HAVE LIVED, SEEN GOD'S HAND THROUGH A LIFETIME, AND ALL WAS FOR BEST."-ROBERT BROWNING.

Clapped my hands, laughed and sang, any noise, bad or

good,

Till at length into Aix Roland galloped and stood.

And all I remember is friends flocking round

As I sate with his head 'twixt my knees on the ground,
And no voice but was praising this Roland of mine,
As I poured down his throat our last measure of wine,
Which (the burgesses voted by common consent)
Was no more than his due who brought good news from
Ghent.

[ROBERT BROWNING, in some respects the greatest of living poets, and scarcely less remarkable for his wealth of language than his depth of thought, his insight into character, and suggestiveness, is the author of "Paracelsus," "The Blot in the 'Scutcheon," "Dramatis Personæ,” “Pippa Passes," "Men and Women," "The Ring and the Book," and numerous lyrics and ballads.]

THY FLEETING HOURS WERE LENT IN VAIN TO MY ENDEAVOUR: "FAREWELL, O DAY MISSPENT !

IN SHADE AND SUN THY RACE IS RUN FOR EVER-OH, FOR EVER!"-DR. CHARLES MACKAY.

TUBAL CAIN.

I.

LD Tubal Cain was a man of might
In the days when Earth was young;
By the fierce red light of his furnace bright
The strokes of his hammer rung;

And he lifted high his horny hand
On the glowing iron clear,

Till the sparks rushed out in scarlet showers,
As he fashioned the sword and the spear.
And he sang-"Hurra for my handiwork!
Hurra for the spear and the sword!
Hurra for the hand that shall wield them well,
For he shall be king and lord!"

SHE IS NOT RIGID AS FANATIC'S DREAM."-MACKAY.

"DIG CHANNELS FOR THE STREAMS OF LOVE, WHERE THEY MAY BROADLY RUN,

"SWEET PIETY DIVINEST PIETY!

TUBAL CAIN.

301

II.

To Tubal Cain came many a one,

As he wrought by his roaring fire,

And each one prayed for a strong steel blade

As the crown of his desire;

And he made them weapons sharp and strong,

Till they shouted loud for glee,
And gave him gifts of pearl and gold,

And spoils of the forest free.

And they sang―" Hurra for Tubal Cain,
Who hath given us strength anew!
Hurra for the smith, hurra for the fire,

And hurra for the metal true!"

AND LOVE HAS OVERFLOWING STREAMS TO FILL THEM EVERY ONE."-R. C. TRENCH.

III.

But a sudden change came o'er his heart
Ere the setting of the sun,

And Tubal Cain was filled with pain
For the evil he had done;

He saw that men, with rage and hate,
Made war upon their kind,

That the land was red with the blood they shed
In their lust for carnage blind.

And he said-"Alas! that ever I made
Or that skill of mine should plan
The spear and the sword for men whose joy

Is to slay their fellow-man."

IV.

For many a day old Tubal Cain

Sat brooding o'er his woe;

And his hand forbore to smite the ore,

And his furnace smouldered low.

SHE HAS A SOUL CAPACIOUS AS THE SPHERES."-MACKAY.