English

My chamber lies apart,
The Castle's very heart,
And all things rich and rare,
From land, and sea, and air,
Are lavished with a wild and waste profusion there!
The carpeting was woven in Turkish looms,
From softest wool of fine Circassian sheep,
Tufted like springy moss in forests deep,
Illuminate with all its autumn blooms;
The antique chairs are made of cedar-trees,

I stroll along the walks
With sandals wetted through,
From dripping flowers and stalks
That fringe the avenue;
My broidered mantle twice begemmed with dropping dew!
Then up an echoing colonnade I go,
With shadowy pillars ranged athwart the light,
Then climb a flight of stairs, ascending slow,
Then through a porch, and through a portal bright,
And I am in my Castle, lord of all,

My Castle stands alone,
In some delicious clime,
Away from Earth and Time,
In Fancy's tropic zone,
Beneath its summer skies,
Where all the livelong year the summer never dies!
A stately marble pile, whose pillars rise
From sculptured bases, fluted to the dome,
With wreathed friezes crowned, and rare device
Of carven leaves like pendant drifts of foam;

WE have two lives about us,
Two worlds in which we dwell;
Within us, and without us,
Alternate Heaven and Hell:
Without, the sombre Real,
Within our heart of hearts, the beautiful Ideal!
I stand between the portals of the two,
Fettered and cramped with many a heavy chain,
Whose links I strive to rend, but all in vain,
So strong the False that holds me from the True;

The Ninth Part.

Now let vs be for a season,
& let us turne to Pendragon
tha t was gone to the forrest wilde
to speake w i th Merlyn the chylde.
the first time he asked for Merlyn,
he see a heardsman keeping swine
w i th an old hatt vpon his head,
& in gray russett was he cladd,
And a good staffe in his hand,
& a white whelpe him followande;
stalworth he seemed, & well made.
the prince anon to him roade;
& well fayre he can him fraine

The merryest time itt is in may;
then springs the sum m ers day;
soe in tha t time, as yee may heere,
the Barrons came to vortiger,
& said, " my Lord the kinge,
wee haue brought you heard tydinge
of Pendragon tha t is thye foe,
& of Vther his brother alsoe;
They are comen into this Land
w i th many a K nigh t doughtye of hand,
& they will stint nought
till thou be to ground brought;
they are att Winchester almost;
therfore send about in hast
to all thy freinds, I thee reed,

The Sixth Part.

" Sonne, " he sayd to Merlin then,
" tell me, chyld, if thou can,
why my castle in this stonde
is eu er ye night fallen to ground,
& why it may stand nought,
of soe strong things as itt is rought. "
then said Merlyn to the K ing ,
" yee shall heare a wonderous thing:
Heere in this ground Deepe
is a water strong and steepe;
vnder the watter are stones towe,
much & strong, & broad alsoe;
beneathe the stones vnder the Mold

The Fifth Part.

Now let vs of his mother fayle,
& turne vs to another tale,
& speake wee of the messenger
tha t wenten from S i r Vortiger
for to seeke Merlin the bold,
to haue his blood, as I you told
soe 3 of them came by chance
into the place where merlyn was
On playing, as he can goe
w i th other children many moe
& as the played in tha t stead
one of his ffellows him misdeed,
& gan to crye on Merlyn thoe,
" thou cursed srow, thou goe vs froe!

Right faire shape he had then,
all the forme tha t fell for a man;
blacke he was w i thout lase,
& rough as a swine he was
then they midwiffe anon-right
was afeard of that sight;
& for he was soe rough of hyde,
ffull well shee wist tha t tyde
That he was neu er gotten by any man,
& full faine shee wold then
in hell that he had beene her froe,
tha t neu er man had seene him moe.
the Hermitt tha t hight Blassye
wist full well sikerlye
the time the Child shold be borne,

Dauid the prophet, & Moyses,
wittenesse & saith how itt was
tha t god had made thorrow his Might
heauen full of Angells bright:
the ioy tha t the hadden then,
forsooth no tounge tell can,
till Lwcifer, w i th guilt of pryde,
& all tha t held w i th him tha t tyde,
Such vengeance god on them can take
tha t they are now feinds blake.
& I find in holy ritt,
the fell from heauen to hell pitt
6 dayes & 7 nights,
as thicke as hayle in thunder lights;
& when it was our Ladyes will,