To every lovely lady bright,
What can I wish but faithful knight?
To every faithful lover too,
What can I wish but lady true ?
And knowledge to the studious sage ;
And pillow soft to head of age.
To thee, dear schoolboy, whom my lay,
Has cheated of thy hour of play,
Light task, and merry holiday !
To all, to each, a fair good night,
And pleasing dreams, and slumbers light!

END OF MARMION.

NOTES

2

NOTES TO CANTO FIRST.

Note I.

As when the Champion of the Lake
Enters Morgana's fated house,
Or in the Chapel Perilous,
Despising spells and demons' force,

Holds converse with the unburied corse.-P. 17. The Romance of the Morte Arthur contains a sort of abridgment of the most celebrated adventures of the Round Table; and, being written in comparatively modern language, gives the general reader an excellent idea of what romances of chivalry actually were. It has also the merit of being written in pure old English ; and many of the wild adventures which it contains, are told with a simplicity bordering upon the sublime. Several of these are referred to in the text; and I would have illustrated them by more full extracts, but as this curious work is about to be republished, I confine myself to the tale of the Chapel Perilous, and of the quest of Sir Launcelot after the Sangreall.

“ Right so Sir Launcelot departed; and when he came to the Chapell Perilous, he alighted downe, and tied his horse to