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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,
And wide did the heath extend,

The Knight in Green on that moor is seen
At every seven years' end.

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,
Except on his faulchion arm
Spell-proof he bear, like the brave St. Clair,
The holy Trefoil's charm;

For then fhall fly his gifted eye,
Delufions false and flim;

And each unblefs'd shade fhall ftand pourtray'd
In ghoftly form and limb.

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,
Where the Elfin-King went his round;

Or he never had gone with the Green Knight on
Nor trode the charmed ground.

How swift flew ! no eye could view
Their track on heath or hill;
Yet fwift across both moor and mofs
St. Clair did follow ftill.

And foon was feen a circle green,
Where a shadowy waffel crew
Amid the ring did dance and fing,
In weeds of watchet blue.

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,
And founded in his ear,

"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;
But the maidens fair feem'd round him to ftare,
With eyes like the glaffy bead.

The glance of their eye, fo cold and so dry,
Did almoft his heart appal;

Their motion is swift, but their limbs they lift
Like ftony ftatues all,

Again to the Knight came the grizzly wight,
When the roundel dance was o'er;

"Sir Knight, efchew this goblin crew,
"Or rue for evermore."-

But forward prefs'd the dauntless guest
To the tables of ezlar red,

And there was feen the Knight in Green,
To grace the fair board head.

And before that Knight was a goblet bright
Of emerald smooth and green,

The fretted brim was ftudded full trim
With mountain rubies fheen.

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 cold as the corpfe of clay;

And with horny beak the ravens did shriek,
And flutter'd o'er their prey.

But foon throughout the revel rout

A ftrange commotion ran,

For beyond the round, they heard the found
Of the steps of an uncharm'd man.

And foon to St. Clair the grim wight did repair,
From the midft of the waffel crew;
"Sir Knight, beware of the revellers there,
"Nor do as they bid thee do."--

"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.

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