Prepares the costly feast in solemn state;
And will on each fourth moon that shall ensue
Make one, resembling this we celebrate.
Pleased of that time the memory to renew,
That he, in the orc’s cavern, had to wait,
—For four months and a day—which is to-morrow;
When he was rescued from such cruel sorrow.
“The things related I in part descried,
And from him, present at the whole, heard more;
From Norandine, through calend and through ide,
Pent, till he changed to smiles his anguish sore:
And if from other you hear aught beside,
Say, he is ill instructed in his lore.”
The Syrian gentleman did thus display
The occasion of that feast and fair array.
Large portion of the night, in like discourse,
Was by those cavaliers together spent,
Who deemed that Love and Pity’s mickle force
Was proved in that so dread experiment;
Then rising, when the supper’s sumptuous course
Was cleared, to good and pleasant lodgings went;
And, as the ensuing morning fairly broke,
To sounds of triumph and rejoicing woke.
The circling drums’ and trumpets’ echoing strain
Assemble all the town within the square;
And now, when mixt with sound of horse and wain,
Loud outcries through the streets repeated are,
Sir Gryphon dons his glittering arms again,
A panoply of those esteemed most rare;
Whose mail, impassable by spear or brand,
She, the white fay, had tempered with her hand.
The man of Antioch in his company,
Armed him (a recreant worse than he was none),
Provided by their landlord’s courtesy
With sturdy spears and good, the course to run;
Who with his kindred, a fair chivalry,
To bring the warriors to the square is gone;
With squires afoot and mounted upon steeds,
Whom he bestowed, as aptest for their needs.
They in the square arrived and stood aside,
Nor of themselves awhile would make display;
Better to see the martial gallants ride
By twos and threes, or singly, to the fray.
One told, by colours cunningly allied,
His joy or sorrow to his lady gay;
One, with a painted Love on crest or shield,
If she were cruel or were kind, revealed.
It was the Syrians’ practise in that age
To arm them in this fashion of the west.
Haply this sprung out of their vicinage
And constant commerce with the Franks, possest
In those days of the sacred heritage,
That God incarnate with his presence blest;
Which now, to them abandoned by the train
Of wretched Christians, heathen hounds profane.
God’s worshippers, where they should couch the lance,
For furtherance of his holy faith and true,
Against each other’s breast the spear advance,
To the destruction of the faithful few.
You men of Spain, and you, ye men of France,
And Switzers, turn your steps elsewhere, and you,
Ye Germans, worthier empire to acquire;
For that is won for Christ, which you desire.
If verily most Christian you would be,
—I speak to you, that catholic are hight—
Why slain by you Christ’s people do I see?
Wherefore are they despoiled of their right?
Why seek you not Jerusalem to free
From renegades? By Turkish Moslemite
Impure, why is Byzantium, with the best
And fairest portion of the world, possest?
Thou Spain, hast thou not fruitful Afric nigh?223
And has she not in sooth offended more
Than Italy? yet her to scathe, that high,
And noble, enterprise wilt thou give o’er.
Alas! thou sleepest, drunken Italy,
Of every vice and crime the fetid sewer!
Nor grievest, as a handmaid, to obey,
In turn, the nations that have owned thy sway.
If fear of famishing within thy cave,
Switzer, does thee to Lombardy convey,
And thou, among our people, dost but crave
A hand to give thee daily bread, or slay—
The Turk has ready wealth; across the wave,
Drive him from Europe or from Greece away:
So shalt thou in those parts have wherewithal
To feed thy hunger, or more nobly fall.
I to the German neighbour of thy lair
Say what I say to thee; the wealth o’ the west,
Which Constantine brought off from Rome, is there—
Brought off the choicest, gave away the rest—224
There golden Hermus and Pactolus are,
Mygdonia and Lydia: nor that country blest,
Which many tales for many praises note,
If thou wouldst thither wend, is too remote.
Thou mighty Lion, that art charged to keep
The keys of Paradise, a weighty care,
Oh! let not Italy lie plunged in sleep,
If thy strong hand is planted in her hair.
To thee, his shepherd, God, to guide his sheep,
Has given that wand and furious name to bear;
That thou may’st roar, and wide thine arms extend,
And so from greedy wolves thy flock defend.
But whither have I roved! who evermore
So from one topic to the other stray?
Yet think not I the road I kept before
To have missed so far, but I can find my way.
I said, the Syrians then observed the lore
Or arming like the Christians of that day.
So that Damascus’ crowded square was bright
With corslet, plate, and helm of belted knight.
The lovely ladies from their scaffolds throw
Upon the jousters yellow flowers and red;
While these, as loud the brazen trumpets blow,
Make their steeds leap and wheel and proudly tread.
Each, rode he well or ill, his art would show,
And with the goring spur his courser bled.
Hence this good cavalier earns fame and praise,
While others scornful hoots and laughter raise.
A suit of arms was prize of the assay,
Presented to the king some days before;
Which late a merchant found upon the way
Returning from Armenia; this the more
To grace, a vest, with noblest tissue gay,
The Syrian king subjoined, so powdered o’er
With jewels, gold, and pearls in rich device,
They made the meed a thing of passing price.
If the good king had known the panoply,
This he had held above all others dear;
Nor this had given, as
