"Beneath such mantling shades for ever dwell In virgin innocence and honour pure, Damsels and youths, from age and sickness free, And ignorant of woe, and fraught with joy, In choice community of all things best. O'er these, and o'er the welfare of this land, Girt with her maidens, fairest among fair, Reigns a bright virgin sprung from generous sires, In counsel strong, and skill'd in med'cine's lore. Of her (Britannia's diadem consign'd To other brow), for his deep wound and wide Great Arthur sought relief: hither he sped (Nigh two and forty and five hundred years Since came the incarnate Son to save mankind), And in Avallon's princely hall repos'd. His wound the royal damsel search'd; she heal'd; And in this isle still holds him to herself In sweet society,--so fame say true!"XI. MAELDUINThis narrative is taken partly from Nutt's "Voyage of Bram" (I. 162) andpartly from Joyce's "Ancient Celtic Romances." The latter, however, allowsMaelduin sixty comrades instead of seventeen, which is Nutt's version.There are copies of the original narrative in the Erse language at theBritish Museum, and in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. The voyage,which may have had some reality at its foundation, is supposed to havetaken place about the year 700 A.D. It belongs to the class known asImrama, or sea-expeditions.
Pages:
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184