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Erect and firm he march'd; his armour rang.

With him his youthful son Choræbus came.
Such Paris issued from the Scaan gate,

When, rous'd at length to daring deeds of arms
By Hector's just reproof, and Hector's fame,
Exulting Troy the graceful chief beheld.

Next Butes stood: skill'd with unerring aim
To launch the jav'lin from his nervous arm.
Achates next; and, matchless in the race,
Chaonian Pandrasus. Ere horrid war

Shook with his dire alarms th' astonish'd land,

In Avalon's P fair isle the hero dwelt;

Fair isle, fit emblem of his gen'rous mind.

For there the bounteous earth spontaneous gave
Her treasures forth. The blest inhabitant,

Reclin'd in od'rous shades, and in the ear

Of yielding virgin whisp'ring tales of love,

Inhal'd the smell of flow'rs, the violet,

P The isle of Avalon is said, in old authors, to produce fruits all the year round, and corn, &c. without culture,

The cowslip, which the Fairy empress loves,
And the soft blushing rose; with ev'ry sweet

Which wanton Zephyr from the teeming earth
All combin'd,

Wins by his warm caresses.

Invade the sense; for there perpetual Spring,

With Summer join'd, holds through the laughing year

Delightful empire; each luxuriant bough

Bends with Hesperian fruit, and courts the hand;

While the fair blossom to the ravish'd eye

Foretells the rich succession. Uther next,

Uther, the bravest of Loëgria's chiefs,

Advanc'd his giant limbs: great Uther, first

In dang'rous fight, in peace the just and good,
Awful the hero stood, by fate design'd
The mighty father of a line of kings,

Of great Pendragon, and his greater son.

But Deunan's warriors noble Turon led,

And hardy Malim of Phoenician race,

And sage Mempricius, whose deep-furrow'd brow,

Thinly o'erspread with hoary hair, confest

The force of eighty winters. His weak arm
No longer lifts the spear, and swells the tide
Of slaughter; but in council wise, and skill'd
In all the stratagems of various war,

He guides more vig'rous youth to fair success.
From Ellandunum, and the fruitful shore

Of smooth Antona, and the plain where now

Fair Sarisburia's lofty spires arise;

From strong Verlucio's walls with turrets crown'd,

(Verlucio, seated by the gliding stream,

Amidst whose fields, with waving harvests gay,
Fair Plenty moves rejoicing,) Amber led,

In equal arms with godlike Dares join'd,
And equal sway, their yet unconquer'd bands.
Frome's rapid wave, and Durnovaria's walls,

And Vindogladia, and Alaunus' stream,

Send Durius, Leucon, Attys to the war.

The noble Durius in the field of death

Wields the strong lance, and rears the sev❜nfold shield.

Leucon and Attys speed the flying dart,

VOL. II.

E

Or hurl destruction from the distant sling.

An hundred chiefs with princely Locrine came,
For dauntless courage fam'd, and martial skill.

But far the bravest, Galgacus was there,

And Ilus, sprung from great Æneas' line;

And Polydorus, of Achæan race,

Son of Euryalus, whom toils of war

Together borne, and hardy deeds achiev'd,

Had bound the friend of Brutus. When the chief

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His blooming Polydorus. O'er the rest

Hence was the hero grac'd in Locrine's court

With every honour. To his warm embrace

The Monarch gave the charms of Imogen,
His lovely sister; who now bath'd in tears
Laments her absent lord, or shrieking starts
From broken slumbers, and ill-boding dreams,

Dimly foreshewing future misery.

And now the heralds to the royal tent

Summon Loëgria's leaders. Ev'ry chief

Assumes his place. High in the midst, the king

Superior sits enthron'd. Then Turon rose,

And, turning to the bold Deunanian chiefs,

Thus spoke his ardent soul. "At length, my friends,
Mars hears our pray'rs, and aids our just revenge.
Oh, with what anguish, when the fierce invader
Şeiz'd our defenceless frontier, trusted weakly

To solemn treaties and Cornubian faith,

We saw our wealth, our cultivated plains

Seiz'd by th' insulting foe; our towns in flames;

The sacred temples of our gods profan'd

With impious violation! Then we wept

Upon our useless arms, which should have stream'd

With hostile blood, and with reluctant step

Before th' innumerous foe retir'd, not fled.

At length Loëgria's chiefs appear in arms.

Hear then my sentence, warriors. With the dawn

Seek we the foe. I brook disgrace no more."

He ceas'd. Then rising slow, the king extends

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