10

THE COMING OF ARTHUR.

B

And she was fairest of all flesh on earth,

Guinevere, and in her his one delight.

For many a petty king ere Arthur came Ruled in this isle, and ever waging war Each upon other, wasted all the land,

And still from time to time the heathen host

Swarm'd overseas, and harried what was left.

And so there grew great tracts of wilderness,
Wherein the beast was ever more and more,
But man was less and less, till Arthur came.
For first Aurelius lived and fought and died,
And after him King Uther fought and died,
But either fail'd to make the kingdom one.
And after these King Arthur for a space,

And thro' the puissance of his Table Round,

Drew all their petty princedoms under him,

Their king and head, and made a realm, and

reign'd.

And thus the land of Cameliard was waste,

Thick with wet woods, and many a beast therein,

And none or few to scare or chase the beast; So that wild dog, and wolf and boar and bear

Came night and day, and rooted in the fields,

And wallow'd in the gardens of the king.

And ever and anon the wolf would steal

The children and devour, but now and then, Her own brood lost or dead, lent her fierce teat To human sucklings; and the children, housed

In her foul den, there at their meat would

growl,

And mock their foster-mother on four feet,

Till, straighten'd, they grew up to wolf-like men, Worse than the wolves. And King Leodogran

Groan'd for the Roman legions here again,

And Cæsar's eagle: then his brother king,

Rience, assail'd him: last a heathen horde,