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Is Merlin, the wise man that ever served

King Uther thro' his magic art; and ono
Is Merlin's master (so they call him) Bleys,

Who taught him magic; but the scholar ran
Before the master, and so far, that Bleys

Laid magic by, and sat him down, and wroto

All things and whatsoever Merlin did

In one great anual-book, where after-years
Will learn the secret of our Arthur's birth.'

To whom the King Leodogran replied,

'O friend, had I been holpen half as well

By this King Arthur as by thee to-day,

Then beast and man had had their share of me:

But summon here before us yet once more

Ulfius, and Brastias, and Bedivere.'

Then, when they came before him, the king said,

have seen the cuckoo chased by lesser fowl,
Ad reason in the chase: but wherefore now
o these your lords stir up the heat of war,

me calling Arthur born of Gorloïs,
thers of Anton? Tell me, ye yourselves,

fold yo this Arthur for King Uther's son ?'

And Ulfius and Brastias answer'd, ‘Ay.' Then Bedivere, the first of all his knights nighted by Arthur at his crowning, spakefor bold in heart and act and word was he, Whenever slander breathed against the king

'Sir, there be many rumours on this head: For there be those who hate him in their hearts, Call him baseborn, and since his ways are sweet, And theirs are bestial, hold him less than man : And there be those who deem him more than man,

And dream he dropt from heaven

: but

my belief

In all this matter-so ye care to learn-
Sir, for ye know that in King Uther's time

The prince and warrior Gorloïs, he that held
Tintagil castle by the Cornish son,

Was wedded with a winsome wife, Ygerne :

And daughters had she borne him,—one whereof

Lot's wife, the Queen of Orkney, Bellicent,

Hath over like a loyal sistor cleaved

To Arthur,-but a son she had not borne.

And Uther cast upon her eyes of love :
But she, a stainless wife to Gorloïs,

So loathed the bright dishonour of his love,
That Gorloïs and King Uther went to war:
And overthrown was Gorloïs and slain.

Then Uther in his wrath and heat besieged

Ygerne within Tintagil, where her men,

Seeing the mighty swarm about their walls,

1

Lef her and fled, and Uther enter'd in,
And there was none to call to but himself.
So, compass'd by the power of the king,
Enforced she was to wed him in her tears,

And with a shameful swiftness: afterward,

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After him, lest the realm should go to wrack.

And that same night, the night of the now year,

By reason of the bitterness and grief

That vext his mother, all before his time

Was Arthur born, and all as soon as born

Deliver'd at a secret postern-gate

To Merlin, to be holden far apart

Until his hour should come; because the lords

that fierce day were as the lords of this,

Vild beasts, and surely.would have torn the child

Pecemeal among them; had they known; for each

But sought to rule for his own self and hand,

And

many

hated Uther for the sake

Of Gorloïs. Wherefore Merlin took the child,

And gave him to Sir Anton, an old knight

And ancient friend of Uther; and his wife

Nursed the young prince, and rear'd him with her

own;

And no man knew. And ever since the lords

Have foughten like wild beasts among themselves,
So that the realm has gone to wrack: but now,
This year, when Merlin (for his hour had come)
Brought Arthur forth, and set him in the hall,
Proclaiming, "Here is Uther's heir, your king,"
A hundred voices cried, "Away with him!

No king of ours! a son of Gorloïs he,

Or else the child of Anton, and no king,

Or else baseborn." Yet Merlin thro' his craft,

And while the people clamour'd for a king,

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