The Visions of England | Page 4

Norseman wait
The sign of coming forth,
The foul Landeyda flap its raven plume,

And all the realms once more eclipsed in pagan gloom!
14

--O race, of many races well compact!
As some rich stream that runs
in silver down
From the White Mount:--his baby steps untrack'd

Where clouds and emerald cliffs of crystal frown;
Now, alien founts
bring tributary flood,
Or kindred waters blend their native hue,
Some darkening as with blood;
These fraught with iron strength and
freshening brine,
And these with lustral waves, to sweeten and refine.
15
Now calm as strong, and clear as summer air,
Blessing and blest of
earth and sky, he glides:
Now on some rock-ridge rends his bosom
fair,
And foams with cloudy wrath and hissing tides:
Then with full
flood of level-gliding force,
His discord-blended melody murmurs
low
Down the long seaward course:--
So through Time's mead, great
River, greatly glide:
Whither, thou may'st not know:--but He, who
knows, will guide.
St. 3 Sketches Prehistoric England. St. 4 Mile-paths; old English name
for Roman roads. St. 5 Tree and flower; such are reported to have been
naturalized in England by the Romans.--Northern ramparts; that of
Agricola and Lollius Urbicus from Forth to Clyde, and the greater work
of Hadrian and Severus between Tyne and Solway. St. 6, 7 The
Arthurian legends,--now revivified for us by Tennyson's magnificent
_Idylls of the King_,--form the visionary links in our history between
the decline of the Roman power and the earlier days of the Saxon
conquest. St. 9 Villagedom; Angles and Saxons seem at first to have
burned the larger towns of the Romanized Britons and left them
deserted, in favour of village-life. St. 11 Village-moot: Held on a little
hill or round a sacred tree: 'the ealdermen spoke, groups of freemen
stood round, clashing shields in applause, settling matters by loud
shouts of Aye or Nay.' (J. R. Green, History of the English People). St.
12 Balder, the God of Light, like Adonis in the old Greek story, is a
nature-myth, figuring the Sun, yearly dying in winter, and yearly

restored to life. St. 13 Landeyda; Name of Danish banner: 'the
desolation of the land.'
For further details upon points briefly noticed in this Prelude, readers
are referred to Mr. J. R. Green's History, and to Mr. T. Wright's The
Celt_, _The Roman_, and _The Saxon, as sources readily accessible.
THE FIRST AND LAST LAND
AT SENNEN
Thrice-blest, alone with Nature!--here, where gray
Belerium fronts the spray
Smiting the bastion'd crags through
centuries flown,
While, 'neath the hissing surge,
Ocean sends up a deep, deep
undertone,
As though his heavy chariot-wheels went round:
Nor is there other sound
Save from the abyss of air, a plaintive note,
The seabirds' calling cry,
As 'gainst the wind with well-poised weight
they float,
Or on some white-fringed reef set up their post,
And sentinel the coast:--
Whilst, round each jutting cape, in pillar'd
file,
The lichen-bearded rocks
Like hoary giants guard the sacred Isle.
--Happy, alone with Nature thus!--Yet here
Dim, primal man is near;--
The hawk-eyed eager traders, who of yore
Through long Biscayan waves
Star-steer'd adventurous from the

Iberic shore
Or the Sidonian, with their fragrant freight
Oil-olive, fig, and date;
Jars of dark sunburnt wine, flax-woven robes,
Or Tyrian azure glass
Wavy with gold, and agate-banded globes:--
Changing for amber-knobs their Eastern ware
Or tin-sand silvery fair,
To temper brazen swords, or rim the shield
Of heroes, arm'd for fight:--
While the rough miners, wondering,
gladly yield
The treasured ore; nor Alexander's name
Know, nor fair Helen's shame;
Or in his tent how Peleus' wrathful son
Looks toward the sea, nor heeds
The towers of still-unconquer'd
Ilion.
Belerium; The name given to the Land's End by Diodorus, the Greek
historical compiler. He describes the natives as hospitable and civilized.
They mined tin, which was bought by traders and carried through Gaul
to the south-east, and may, as suggested here, have been used in their
armour by the warriors during the Homeric Siege of Troy.
PAULINUS AND EDWIN
627
The black-hair'd gaunt Paulinus
By ruddy Edwin stood:--
'Bow down, O King of Deira,
Before the holy Rood!
Cast forth thy demon idols,

And worship Christ our Lord!'
--But Edwin look'd and ponder'd,
And answer'd not a word.
Again the gaunt Paulinus
To ruddy Edwin spake:
'God offers life immortal
For His dear Son's own sake!
Wilt thou not hear his message
Who bears the Keys and Sword?'
--But Edwin look'd and ponder'd,
And answer'd not a word.
Rose then a sage old warrior;
Was five-score winters old;
Whose beard from chin to girdle
Like one long snow-wreath roll'd:--
'At Yule-time in our chamber
We sit in warmth and light,
While cavern-black around us
Lies the grim mouth of Night.
'Athwart the room a sparrow
Darts from the open door:
Within the happy hearth-light
One red flash,--and no more!
We see it born from darkness,
And into darkness go:--
So is our life, King Edwin!
Ah, that it should be so!
'But if this pale Paulinus
Have somewhat more to tell;
Some