Is Merlin, the wise man that ever served King Uther thro' his magic art; and ono Who taught him magic; but the scholar ran Laid magic by, and sat him down, and wroto All things and whatsoever Merlin did In one great anual-book, where after-years 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, me calling Arthur born of Gorloïs, 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- The prince and warrior Gorloïs, he that held 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 : So loathed the bright dishonour of his love, 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 with a shameful swiftness: afterward, 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, 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, |