Of Lancelot, she that knew not ev'n his name?

He left it with her, when he rode to tilt For the great diamond in the diamond jousts, 31

Which Arthur had ordained, and by that

name

Had named them, since a diamond was the prize.

For Arthur, long before they crowned him King,

Roving the trackless realms of Lyonesse, Had found a glen, gray boulder and black tarn.1

A horror lived about the tarn, and clave Like its own mists to all the mountain side:

For here two brothers, one a king, had met

And fought together; but their names were lost;

40 And each had slain his brother at a blow; And down they fell and made the glen abhorred:

And there they lay till all their bones were bleached,

And lichened into color with the crags: And he, that once was king, had on a

For public use: henceforward let there be,

60 Once every year, a joust for one of these: For so by nine years' proof we needs must learn

Which is our mightiest, and ourselves shall grow

In use of arms and manhood, till we drive

The heathen, who, some say, shall rule the land

Hereafter, which God hinder." Thus he spoke :

And eight years past, eight jousts had been, and still.3

Had Lancelot won the diamond of the year,

With purpose to present them to the Queen,

Hard on the river nigh the place which 1 now

Is this world's hugest, let proclaim1 a joust

At Camelot, and when the time drew nigh Spake (for she had been sick) to Guine

vere,

"Are you so sick, my Queen, you cannot

move

To these fair jousts?" "Yea, lord," she said, "ye know it." 80

"Then will ye miss," he answered, “the great deeds

Of Lancelot, and his prowess in the lists, A sight ye love to look on." And the Queen

Lifted her eyes, and they dwelt languidly On Lancelot, where he stood beside the King.

He, thinking that he read her meaning there,

"Stay with me, I am sick; my love is

more

Than many diamonds," yielded; and a heart

Love-loyal to the least wish of the Queen 3 still.

Always. 4 let proclaim. Had proclaimed

of grass,

And every voice is nothing. As to knights, Them surely can I silence with all ease. But now my loyal worship3 is allowed 110 Of all men many a bard, without offence, Has linked our names together in his lay,

Lancelot, the flower of bravery, Guinevere,

The pearl of beauty: and our knights at feast

Have pledged us in this union, while the King

Would listen smiling. How then? is there more?

Has Arthur spoken aught? or would yourself,

Now weary of my service and devoir, Henceforth be truer to your faultless lord?"

Win shall I not, but do my best to win: Young as I am, yet would I do my best."

222

"So ye will grace me," answered Lancelot, Smiling a moment, “with your fellowship O'er these waste downs whereon I lost myself,

Then were I glad of you as guide and friend:

And you shall win this diamond,—as I hear

It is a fair large diamond,-if ye may, And yield it to this maiden, if ye will." "A fair large diamond," added plain Sir Torre,

"Such be for queens, and not for simple maids." 230

Then she, who held her eyes upon the ground,

Elaine, and heard her name so tossed about,

Flushed slightly at the slight disparage

ment

Before the stranger knight, who, looking at her,

Full courtly, yet not falsely, thus returned:

"If what is fair be but for what is fair, And only queens are to be counted so, Rash were my judgment then, who deem this maid

Might wear as fair a jewel as is on earth, Not violating the bond of like to like."

He spoke and ceased: the lily maid Elaine,

241 Won by the mellow voice before she looked,

Lifted her eyes, and read his lineaments. The great and guilty love he bare the

However marred, of more than twice her years,

Seamed with an ancient swordcut on the cheek,

And bruised and bronzed, she lifted up her eyes

And loved him, with that love which was her doom.

Then the great knight, the darling of the court,

260 Loved of the loveliest, into that rude hall Stepped with all grace, and not with half disdain

Hid under grace, as in a smaller time, But kindly man moving among his kind: Whom they with meats and vintage of their best

And talk and minstrel melody entertained. And much they asked of court and Table Round,

And ever well and readily answered he: But Lancelot, when they glanced at 2 Guinevere,

Suddenly speaking of the wordless man, Heard from the Baron that, ten years before,

271

Whenever in her hovering to and fro The lily maid had striven to make him cheer,

There brake a sudden-beaming tenderness Of manners and of nature: and she thought

That all was nature, all, perchance, for her,

And all night long his face before her lived,

As when a painter, poring on a face, 330 Divinely thro' all hindrance finds the man Behind it, and so paints him that his face, The shape and color of a mind and life, Lives for his children, ever at its best And fullest; so the face before her lived, Dark-splendid, speaking in the silence, full

Of noble things, and held her from her sleep.

Till rathe2 she rose, half-cheated in the thought

She needs must bid farewell to sweet Lavaine.

339

Than if seven men had set upon him, saw The maiden standing in the dewy light. He had not dreamed she was so beautiful. Then came on him a sort of sacred fear, For silent, tho' he greeted her, she stood Rapt3 on his face as if it were a god's. Suddenly flashed on her a wild desire, That he should wear her favor at the tilt. She braved a riotous heart in asking for it.

"Fair lord, whose name I know notnoble it is,

I well believe, the noblest-will you wear My favor at this tourney?" "Nay," said he, 360 "Fair lady, since I never yet have worn Favor of any lady in the lists.

2 rathe. Early.

3 Rapt. Gazing intensely.