Who gives himself with his alms feeds three,-
Himself, his hungering neighbour, and Me."

Sir Launfal awoke as from a swound :-
"The Grail in my castle here is found!
Hang my idle armour up on the wall,
Let it be the spider's banquet-hall :
He must be fenced with stronger mail
Who would seek and find the Holy Grail."

The castle gate stands open now,

And the wanderer is welcome to the hall As the hangbird is to the elm-tree bough. No longer scowl the turrets tall; The Summer's long siege at last is o'er : When the first poor outcast went in at the door She entered with him in disguise,

And mastered the fortress by surprise;

There is no spot she loves so well on ground,
She lingers and smiles there the whole year round.
The meanest serf on Sir Launfal's land

Has hall and bower at his command;

And there's no poor man in the North Countree But is lord of the earldom as much as he.

J. R. LOWELL

10. LAODAMÍA

"WITH sacrifice, before the rising morn,
Vows have I made by fruitless hope inspired;
And from the Infernal Gods, 'mid shades forlorn
Of night, my slaughtered Lord have I required:

Celestial pity I again implore :

Restore him to my sight-great Jove, restore !"

So speaking, and by fervent love endowed With faith, the suppliant heavenward lifts her hands;

While, like the sun emerging from a cloud,

Her countenance brightens-and her eye expands; Her bosom heaves and spreads, her stature grows; And she expects the issue in repose.

O terror! what hath she perceived ?— O joy!
What doth she look on ?-whom doth she behold?
Her Hero slain upon the beach of Troy?
His vital presence? his corporeal mould?
It is if sense deceive her not 'tis he!
And a God leads him, wingèd Mercury!

Mild Hermes spake—and touched her with his wand

That calms all fear: "Such grace hath crowned thy prayer,

Laodamía! that at Jove's command

Thy husband walks the paths of upper air.

He comes to tarry with thee three hours' space: Accept the gift; behold him face to face!"

Forth sprang the impassioned Queen her Lord to clasp :

Again that consummation she essayed;
But unsubstantial form eludes her grasp
As often as that eager grasp was made.
The Phantom parts-but parts to re-unite,
And re-assume his place before her sight.

"Protesiláus, lo! thy guide is gone!

Confirm, I pray, the vision with thy voice:
This is our palace,―yonder is thy throne:
Speak, and the floor thou tread'st on will rejoice.
Not to appal me have the gods bestowed
This precious boon, and blest a sad abode."

"Great Jove, Laodamía, doth not leave
His gifts imperfect :-Spectre though I be,
I am not sent to scare thee or deceive;
But in reward of thy fidelity.

And something also did my worth obtain ;
For fearless virtue bringeth boundless gain.

"Thou knowest, the Delphic oracle foretold That the first Greek who touched the Trojan strand

Should die; but me the threat could not withhold:
A generous cause a victim did demand;

And forth I leapt upon the sandy plain ;
A self-devoted chief-by Hector slain."

"Supreme of Heroes-bravest, noblest, best! 3 Thy matchless courage I bewail no more, Which then, when tens of thousands were depressed

By doubt, propelled thee to the fatal shore;
Thou found'st-and I forgive thee here thou

art

A nobler counsellor than my poor heart.

"But thou, though capable of sternest deed,
Wert kind as resolute, and good as brave;
And he, whose power restores thee, hath decreed
Thou should'st elude the malice of the grave:

Redundant are thy locks, thy lips as fair
As when their breath enriched Thessalian air.

"No Spectre greets me-no vain Shadow this; Come, blooming Hero, place thee by my side! Give, on this well-known couch, one nuptial kiss To me, this day a second time thy bride!" Jove frowned in heaven: the conscious Parcæ threw

Upon those roseate lips a Stygian hue.

"This visage tells thee that my doom is passed: Nor should the changed be mourned, even if the joys

Of sense were able to return as fast

And surely as they vanish.-Earth destroys
Those raptures duly—Erebus disdains:
Calm pleasures there abide-majestic pains.

"Be taught, O faithful consort, to control
Rebellious passion, for the Gods approve
The depth, and not the tumult, of the soul;
A fervent, not ungovernable love.

Thy transports moderate; and meekly mourn
When I depart, for brief is my sojourn—”

"Ah! wherefore?—Did not Hercules by force Wrest from the guardian monster of the tomb Alcestis, a reanimated corse,

Given back to dwell on earth in vernal bloom? Medea's spells dispersed the weight of years, And Æson stood a youth 'mid youthful peers.

"The Gods to us are merciful—and they
Yet further may relent: for mightier far

Than strength of nerve and sinew, or the sway
Of magic potent over sun and star,

Is love, though oft to agony distressed,

And though his favourite seat be feeble woman's breast.

"But if thou goest, I follow

said

""Peace!" he

She looked upon him and was calmed and cheered;

The ghastly colour from his lips had fled;

In his deportment, shape, and mien, appeared
Elysian beauty, melancholy grace,

Brought from a pensive though a happy place.

He spake of love, such love as spirits feel
In worlds whose course is equable and pure :
No fears to beat away-no strife to heal—
The past unsighed for, and the future sure;
Spake of heroic arts in graver mood
Revived, with finer harmony pursued ;

Of all that is most beauteous-imaged there
In happier beauty; more pellucid streams,
An ampler ether, a diviner air,

And fields invested with purpureal gleams;

Climes which the sun, who sheds the brightest day
Earth knows, is all unworthy to survey:

Yet there the soul shall enter which hath earned
That privilege by virtue." Ill,” said he,
"The end of man's existence I discerned,
Who from ignoble games and revelry