The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-01-03
The Battle of Lyonnessc.

In the "Passing of Arthur" the last Oh the
tonr INV idyls OF Tennyson, the following magni'
acent passage almost Immediately precedes tne
introduction OF the '.Morte d'Arthur," which is
given exactly rs it is familiar to US in his miScel-
1apeous poems. The reader will see that tile new
and the old verse is Of the same golden warp and
wool:
Then rose the king and moved his host by night,
And ever pushed Sir MOlred. league oy league,
Rack 10 the sunset bound OF Lyonnesse-
A land OF old upheaven from the abyss
By fire to sink into the abyss again;
Where fragments OF forgotten peoples u"elt,
And the long mountain ended Ill q coast
or ever-Shiftng sand and Tar away
The phantom circle OF moaning sea-
There the pursuer could pursue no more,
And he that ned no further fly the SlnG
And there that day when the great ilght oi
Heaven -
Burned AT his lowest in the rolling year, ,...,
On the waste sand hy the waste sea theS ciose"'
Nor ever yet had Arthur fought Snsnt
Like this last DIM weird battle of The west.
A Adeath.white mist slept over SAND anu :; Sea 1ro
whereof the chill, to hlm who breathed II, drew @
Down with his blood till all his heart was colo
With forlness fear, and even on Arthur fell
For friend and foe were shadows in the mist,
And friend slew friend, not knowing whom he
slew;
And some had visions ont Of golden YOUTH
And some beheld the faces OF old ghosts
Look i'll upon the battle; and IN the mist
was many noble decd, many base,
Aud chance and craft and strength IN singie
fights
And ever and anon with host to host
Shocks, and the splntering spear, the hard inaii
snieIdbreaRings, and the clash of brands, the
ofb,tGle.axes on shattered helms, and shrieks
After the Christ, OF those who falling down
And shouts of heather and dthe traitor knights,
Oaths, insult, filth andmonstrous blaspheinies,
Sweat writings, anguish, laborlng oil inc lungs
In mat close mist, anu cryings 10, M ,nc nSn,,
Means Of the dying and voices ol the deaa.s
Last. as by some one deathbed, afterwail
OF suffering, silence follows, or thro' death
Or deathlike swoon, thus over all that shore,
Save for some whisper OF the seethlng seas,
A dead hush fell but when the doorous day
Grew drearier toward twilight falling, came
bitter wind, clear from 'he north, ana pew
The mist aside, and with that wind the tidc
Rose and the pale king glanced across the heid
or battle; but no man was moving there:
Nor any cry OF Christian heard thereon,
Nor yetef heathen only the wan wave
Brake In among dead faces, to and iro
STaying the helpless hands, and up ana ao"n
Tumbling the hollow helmets OF the lauen,
And shivered brands that once had fought with
And rulIIng far along the gloomy shores
The voice Of days of old and days to be-
Then spaSe King Arthur TO Sir Bedivere,
And whittier than the mist that all day long
Had held the field Of battle was the king:
."Hearest thou this great voice that snakes the
world,
And wastes the narrow realm whereon We move,
And beats upon the faces OF the dead,
MY dead, as though they had not died Tor me!
o Bedivere, for on my heart hath fallen
Confusion, till know not what am,
Nor whence am. nor whether be king.
q Behold, seem but king among the dead.''
Then spake the bold Sir Bedivere: ''My king
KGK everywhere and so the dead have Kings,
There also will worship thee as king,
Yet still thy life is whole, aud still I've
Who love thee but who hates thee, ne tnat
brought
The nealnen back among MS, yonder stands,
Modred, unharmcd tho traitor of thine house"
From 7taRNSOh'S Setr Totttlne.