6. And it bubbles and seethes, and it hisses and roars,

As when fire is with water commixed and contending;
And the spray of its wrath to the welkin up-sōars,
And flood upon flood hurries on, never ending.
And it never will rest, nor from travail be free,
Like a sea that is laboring the birth of a sea.

7. And at last there lay open the desolate realm!

Through the breakers that whitened the waste of the swell,
Dark-dark yawned a cleft in the midst of the whelm,
The path to the heart of that fathomless hell.

Round and round whirled the waves-deep and deeper still
driven,

Like a gorge thro' the mountainous main thunder-riven. 8. The youth gave his trust to his Maker! Before

That path through the riven abyss closed again— Hark! a shriek from the crowd rang ålöft from the shōre, And, behold! he is whirled in the grasp of the main! And o'er him the breakers mysteriously rolled, And the giant-mouth closed on the swimmer so bold. 9. O'er the surface grim silence lay dark and profound, But the deep from below murmured hollow and fell; And the crowd, as it shuddered, lamented aloud"Gallant youth-noble heart-fare-thee-well, fare-theewell!"

And still ever deepening that wail as of woe,
More hollow the gulf sent its howl from below.

10. If thou should'st in those waters thy diadem fling,

And cry, "Who may find it shall win it, and wear;"
God's wot, though the prize were the crown of a king-
A crown at such hazard were valued too dear.
For never did lips of the living reveal,

What the deeps that howl yonder in terror conceal.

11. Oh many a ship, to that breast grappled fast,

Has gone down to the fearful and fathomless grave;
Again, crashed together, the keel and the mast,

To be seen, tossed aloft in the glee of the wave.-
Like the growth of a storm ever louder and clearer,
Grows the roar of the gulf rising nearer and nearer.

12. And it bubbles and seethes, and it hisses and roars,

As when fire is with water commixed and contending; And the spray of its wrath to the welkin up-sōars,

And flood upon flood hurries on, never ending. And, as with the swell of the far thunder-boom, Rushes roaringly forth from the heart of the gloom. 13. And, lo! from the heart of that far-floating gloom,

What gleams on the darkness so swanlike and white?
Lo! an arm and a neck, glancing up from the tomb!—
They battle-the Man's with the Element's might.
It is he-it is he!--in his left hand behold,
As a sign-as a joy!-shines the goblet of gold!
14. And he breathed deep, and he breathed long,

And he greeted the heavenly delight of the day.
They gaze on each other-they shout as they throng-
"He lives-lo the ocean has rendered its prey!
And out of the grave where the Hell began,
His valor has rescued the living man!"

15. And he comes with the crowd in their clamor and glee, And the goblet his daring has won from the water, He lifts to the king as he sinks on his knee;

And the king from her maidens has beckoned his daughter, And he både her the wine to his cup-bearer bring, And thus spake the Diver-"Long life to the king! 16. "Happy they whom the rose-hues of daylight rejoice, The air and the sky that to mortals are given! May the horror below never mōre find a voice

Nor Man stretch too far the wide mercy of Heaven! Never more-never more may he lift from the mirror, The Veil which is woven with NIGHT and with TERROR! 17. "Quick-brightening like lightning-it tōre me ǎlõng, Down, down, till the gush of a torrent at play, In the rocks of its wilderness caught me-and strong As the wings of an eagle, it whirled me away. Vain, vain were my struggles-the circle had won me, Round and round in its dance the wild element spun me. 18. "And I called on my God, and my God heard my prayer, In the strength of my need, in the gasp of my breath

And showed me a crag that rose up from the lair,
And I clung to it, trembling-and baffled the death!
And, safe in the perils around me, behold

On the spikes of the coral the goblet of gold. 19. "Below, at the foot of that precipice drear,

Spread the gloomy, and purple, and pathless obscure! A Silence of Horror that slept on the ear,

That the eye more appalled might the Horror endure! Salamander--snake-dragon-vast reptiles that dwell In the deep-coiled about the grim jaws of their hell. 20. "Dark-crawled-glided dark the unspeakable swarms, Like masses unshapen, made life hideouslyHere clung and here bristled the fashionless formsHere the Hammer-fish darkened the dark of the seaAnd with teeth grinning white, and a menacing motion, Went the terrible Shark-the Hyena of Ocean.

21. "There I hung, and the awe gathered icily o'er me,

So far from the earth where man's help there was none! The One Human Thing, with the Goblins before meAlone-in a loneness so ghastly-ALONE!

Fathom-deep from man's eye in the speechless profound,
With the death of the Main and the Monsters around.
22. “Methought, as I gazed through the darkness, that now
A hundred-limbed creature caught sight of its prey,
And darted-O God! from the far-flaming bough
Of the coral, I swept on the horrible way;

And it seized me, the wave with its wrath and its roar,
It seized me to save-King, the danger is o'er!"

23. On the youth gazed the monarch, and marveled-quoth he, "Bold Diver, the goblet I promised is thine,

And this ring will I give, a fresh guerdon to thee, Never jewels more precious shōne up from the mine ; If thou'lt bring me fresh tidings, and venture again, To say what lies hid in the innermost main!" 24. Then outspake the daughter in tender emotion,

"Ah! father, my father, what more can there rest? Enough of this sport with the pitilèss ocean—

He has served thee as none would, thyself hast confest.

If nothing can slake thy wild thirst of desire,

Be your knights not, at least, put to shame by the squire !" 25. The king seized the goblet-he swung it on high,

And whirling, it fell in the roar of the tide;
"But bring back that goblet again to my eye,

And I'll hold thee the dearest that rides by my side,
And thine arms shall embrace as thy bride, I decree,
The maiden whose pity now pleadèth for thee."
26. In his heart, as he listened, there leapt the wild joy-

And the hope and the love through his eyes spoke in fire,
On that bloom, on that blush, gazed, delighted, the boy;
The maiden she faints at the feet of her sire!
Here the guerdon divine, there the danger beneath;
He resolves!-To the strife with the life and the death!
27. They hear the loud surges sweep back in their swell;
Their coming the thunder-sound heralds along!
Fond eyes yět are tracking the spot where he fell-
They come, the wild waters, in tumult and throng,
Rearing up to the cliff-roaring back as before;
But no wave ever brought the lost youth to the shore.

SCHILLER.

JOHANN CHRISTOPH FRIEDRICH VON SCHILLER, a German poet, dramatist, and historian, was born in Marbach, Würtemberg, November 10th, 1759, and died in Weimar, May 9th, 1805. His best prose production, "History of the Thirty Years' War," published in 1791, is probably the best historical performance of which Germany can boast. His greatest performance, the drama of "Wallenstein," appeared in 1799. "William Tell," his most popular drama, was published in 1804. He is probably best known by his ballads and lyric poems.

S

IV.

138. MORTE D'ARTHUR.

O all day long the noise of battle rolled.
Among the mountains by the winter sea;
Until King Arthur's' table, man by man,
Had fallen in Lyonness about their Lord,

1 King Arthur. The life and death of this ancient British hero, if indeed there ever was such a person, are involved in fiction. Modred, his nephew, revolted from him, which brought on the fatal battle of Com

lan, in Cornwall, in 542. Modred was slain and Arthur mortally wounded. The British Celts long believed that he would some day come back and vindicate for them the undivided sovereignty of Britannia.

King Arthur: then, because his wound was deep,
The bold Sir Bedivere uplifted him,

Sir Bedivere, the last of all his knights,
And bore him to a chapel nigh the field,
A broken chancel with a broken cross,
That stood on a dark strait of barren land.
On one side lay the Ocean, and on one
Lay a great water, and the moon was full.
2. Then spake King Arthur to Sir Bedivere:
"The sequel of to-day unsolders all

The goodliëst fellowship of famous knights
Whereof this world holds record. Such a sleep
They sleep-the men I loved. I think that we
Shall never more, at any future time,

Delight our souls with talk of knightly deeds,
Walking about the gardens and the halls
Of Camelot, as in the days that were.

I perish by this people which I made,—
Though Merlin' sware that I should come again
To rule once more-but let what will be, be,
I am so deeply smitten through the helm
That without help I can not last till morn.
3. Thou, therefore, take my brand Excalibur,
Which was my pride; for thou rememberest how
In those old days, one summer noon, an arm
Rose up from out the bosom of the lake,
Clothed in white sāmīte,' mystic, wonderful,
Holding the sword—and how I rowed across
And took it, and have worn it, like a king:
And, wheresoever I am sung or told,
In aftertime, this also shall be known:
But now delay not: take Excalibur,
And fling him far into the middle meer :
Watch what thou seest, and lightly bring me word."

4. To him replied the bold Sir Bedivere :

"It is not meet, Sir King, to leave thee thus,
Aidless, alone, and smitten through the helm.

'Merlin, two British seers and sorcerers, of the 5th and 6th centuries.

2

Sā mīte, a kind of silk stuff, or taffeta, often adorned with gcld.