Upon the sod

He knelt, and on that Standard gazed, and spake,
Calm-voiced, with hand to heaven: 'I promise thee,
Thou Sign, another victory, and thy best-
This island shall be thine!'

Augustine rose

And took the right hand of King Ethelbert,
And placed therein the Standard's staff, and laid
His own above the monarch's, speaking thus:
'King of this land, I bid thee know from God
That kings have higher privilege than they know,
The standard-bearers of the King of kings.'

Long time he clasped that royal hand; long time
The King, that patriarch's hand at last withdrawn,
His own withdrew not from that Standard's staff
Committed to his charge. His hand he deemed
Thenceforth its servant vowed. With large, meek eyes
Fixed on that Maid and Babe, he stood as child
That, gazing on some reverent stranger's face,
Nor loosening from that stranger's hold his palm,
Listens his words attent.

The man of God

Meantime as silent gazed on Thanet's shore
Gold-tinged, with sunset spray to crimson turned
In league-long crescent. Love was in his face,

That love which rests on Faith. He spake : 'Fair land,

I know thee what thou art, and what thou lack'st!

The Master saith, "I give to him that hath :"

Thy harvest shall be great.'

And shadow o'er him crept.

Again he mused,

Again he spake :

'That harvest won, when centuries have gone by,

What countenance wilt thou wear? How oft on brows
Brightened by Baptism's splendour, sin more late
Drags down its cloud! The time may come when thou
This day, though darkling, yet so innocent,
Barbaric, not depraved, on greater heights
May'st sin in malice-sin the great offence,
Changing thy light to darkness, knowing God,
Yet honouring God no more; that time may come
When, rich as Carthage, great in arms as Rome,
Keen-eyed as Greece, this isle, to sensuous gaze
A sun all gold, to angels may present

Aspect no nobler than a desert waste,

Some blind and blinding waste of sun-scorched sands, Trod by a race of pigmies not of men,

Pigmies by passions ruled!'

Once more he mused;

Then o'er his countenance passed a second change;

And from it flashed the light of one who sees,
Some hill-top gained, beyond the incumbent night
The instant foot of morn. With regal step,

Martial yet measured, to the King he strode,

And laid a strong hand on him, speaking thus:
Rejoice, my son, for God hath sent thy land
This day Good Tidings of exceeding joy,
And planted in her breast a Tree divine

Whose leaves shall heal far nations.

Know besides,

Should sickness blight that Tree, or tempest mar,
The strong root shall survive the winter past,
Heavenward once more shall rush both branch and bough,
And over-vault the stars.'

He spake, and took

The sacred Standard from that monarch's hand,

And held it in his own, and fixed its point
Deep in the earth, and by it stood. Then lo!
Like one disburthened of some ponderous charge,
King Ethelbert became himself again,

And round him gazed well pleased.

Throughout his train

Sudden a movement thrilled: remembrance had

Of those around, his warriors and his thanes,

That ever on his wisdom waiting hung,

Thus he replied discreet: 'Stranger and friend,
Thou bear'st good tidings!

That thou camest thus far

To fool us, knave and witling may believe :
I walk not with their sort; yet, guest revered,
Kings are not as the common race of men ;
Counsel they take, lest honour heaped on one
Dishonour others. Odin holds on us

Prescriptive right, and special claims on me,

The son of Hengist's grandson. Preach your Faith! The man who wills I suffer to believe:

The man who wills not, let him moor his skiff

Where anchorage likes him best. The day declines :
This night with us you harbour, and our Queen
Shall lovingly receive you.'

Staid and slow

The King rode homewards, while behind him paced
Augustine and his Monks. The ebb had left
'Twixt Thanet and the mainland narrow space
Marsh-land more late: beyond the ford there wound
A path through flowery meads; and, as they passed,
Not herdsmen only, but the broad-browed kine
Fixed on them long their meditative gaze;

And oft some blue-eyed boy with flaxen locks

Ran, fearless, forth, and plucked them by the sleeve, Some boy clear-browed as those Saint Gregory marked, Poor slaves, new-landed on the quays of Rome,

6.66

That drew from him that saying, 'Angli "—nay,
Call them henceforward "Angels " !'

From a wood

Issuing, before them lustrous they beheld

King Ethelbert's chief city, Canterbury,

Strong-walled, with winding street, and airy roofs,
And high o'er all the monarch's palace pile

Thick-set with towers.

Then fire from God there fell

Upon Augustine's heart; and thus he sang
Advancing; and the brethren sang 'Amen':

'Hail, City loved of God, for on thy brow Great Fates are writ. Thou cumberest not His earth For petty traffic reared, or petty sway;

I see a heavenly choir descend, thy crown
Henceforth to bind thy brow. Forever hail !

'I see the basis of a kingly throne

In thee ascending! High it soars and higher,
Like some great pyramid o'er Nilus kenned
When vapours melt-the Apostolic Chair!
Doctrine and Discipline thence shall hold their course,
Like Tigris and Euphrates, through all lands

That face the Northern Star. Forever hail!

'Where stands yon royal keep, a church shall rise Like Incorruption clothing the Corrupt

On the resurrection morn! Strong House of God,
To Him exalt thy walls, and nothing doubt,
For lo! from thee like lions from their lair

Abroad shall pace the Primates of this land :—
They shall not lick the hand that gives and smites,
Doglike, nor snakelike on their bellies creep