No. XXXI. THE ELFIN-KING! J. LEYDEN. -“O SWIFT, and swifter far he speeds "Than earthly fteed can run; "But I hear not the feet of his courfer fleet, "As he glides o'er the moorland dun.”— Lone was the strath where he croffed their path, The Knight in Green on that moor is seen And swift is the speed of his coal-black fteed, As the leaf before the gale, But never yet have that courfer's feet Been heard on hill or dale. But But woe to the wight who meets the Green Knight, For then fhall fly his gifted eye, And each unblefs'd shade fhall ftand pourtray'd O fwift, and fwifter far he speeds Than earthly steed can run; "He fkims the blue air," faid the brave St. Clair, "Inftead of the heath fo dun. "His locks are bright as the ftreamer's light, "His cheeks like the rofe's hue; "The Elfin-King, like the merlin's wing "Are his pinions of gloffy blue." "No Elfin-King, with azure wing, "On the dark brown moor I fee; "But a courfer keen, and a Knight in Green, "And full fair I ween is he. "Nor Elfin-King, nor azure wing, "Nor ringlets fparkling bright;" Sir Geoffry cried, and forward hied To join the ftranger Knight. He He knew not the path of the lonely ftrath, Or he never had gone with the Green Knight on How swift flew ! no eye could view And foon was feen a circle green, And the windleftrae,* fo limber and gray, Did fhiver beneath the tread Of the courfers' feet, as they rushed to meet The morrice of the dead. "Come here, come here, with thy green feere, "Before the bread be ftale; "To roundel dance with speed advance, "And taste our waffel ale." Then up to the Knight came a grizzly wight, "Sir Knight, efchew this goblin crew, "Nor taste their ghoftly cheer." * Ryegrass. The The tabors rung, the lilts were fung, And the Knight the dance did lead; The glance of their eye, fo cold and so dry, Their motion is swift, but their limbs they lift Again to the Knight came the grizzly wight, "Sir Knight, efchew this goblin crew, But forward prefs'd the dauntless guest And there was feen the Knight in Green, And before that Knight was a goblet bright The fretted brim was ftudded full trim Sir Geoffry the Bold of the cup laid hold, With heath-ale mantling o'er; And he faw as he drank that the ale never fhrank, But mantled as before. Then Then Sir Geoffry grew pale as he quaffed the ale, And with horny beak the ravens did shriek, But foon throughout the revel rout A ftrange commotion ran, For beyond the round, they heard the found And foon to St. Clair the grim wight did repair, "What woeful wight art thou," said the Knight, "To haunt this waffel fray ?"— "I was once," quoth he, "a mortal, like thee, "Though now I'm an Elfin gray. "And the Knight fo Bold as the corpfe lies cold, "Who trode the green fward ring; "He muft wander along with that reftless throng "For aye, with the Elfin-King. "With the restlefs crew, in weeds fo blue, "The hapless Knight muft wend; "Nor ever be seen on haunted green "Till the weary feven years end. |