Flushes the trailing arbutus

Low under the forest leaves —

A sign that the drowsy goddess
The breath of her Lord perceives.

While He suffered, her pulse beat numbly;

While He slept, she was still with pain;

But now He awakes - He has risen

Her beauty shall bloom again.
O hark in the budding woodlands,
Now far, now near, is heard
The first prelusive warble
Of rivulet and of bird.

O listen the jubilate

From every bough is poured,

And earth in the smile of spring-time

Arises to greet her Lord!

II.

Radiant goddess Aurora !
Open the chambers of dawn;

Let the Hours like a garland of graces

Enrich the chariot of morn.

Thou dost herald no longer Apollo,
The god of the sunbeam and lyre;
The pride of his empire is ended,
And pale is his armor of fire.

From a loftier height than Olympus
Light flows, from the Temple above,
And the mists of old legends are scattered
In the dawn of the Kingdom of Love.
Come forth from the cloud-land of fable,
For day in full splendor make room
For a triumph that lost not its glory
As it paused in the sepulchre's gloom.

She comes the bright goddess of morning,

In crimson and purple array;

Far down on the hill-tops she tosses

The first golden lilies of day.

On the mountains her sandals are glowing,
O'er the valleys she speeds on the wing,

Till the earth is all rosy and radiant

For the feet of the new-risen King.

III.

Open the gates of the Temple,

Spread branches of palm and of bay ;

Let not the spirits of nature

Alone deck the Conqueror's way.

While Spring from her death-sleep arises

And joyous His presence awaits,

While Morning's smile lights up the heavens,
Open the Beautiful Gates!

He is here! the long watches are over,

The stone from the grave rolled away;

"We shall sleep!" was the sigh of the midnight;

"We shall rise!" is the song of to-day.

O Music! no longer lamenting,
On pinions of tremulous flame
Go soaring to meet the Beloved

And swell the new song of His fame!

The altar is snowy with blossoms,
The font is a vase of perfume,
On pillar and chancel are twining
Fresh garlands of eloquent bloom.
Christ is risen! with glad lips we utter,
And far up the infinite height
Archangels the pæan re-echo,

And crown Him with Lilies of Light!

GROUP VIII.

KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS.

AMONG the purely English legends that constantly meet us in our literature, those of the Celtic King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are of permanent interest. We have chosen from Tennyson's "Idylls of the King" the one of the legends that appeals to us most strongly as Christians, "The Holy Grail." The student should read James Russell Lowell's "Vision of Sir Launfal" for comparison. We give Tennyson's "Sir Galahad," another version of the same story, first published in 1842, and his "Morte. d'Arthur," which appeared in the same volume, to show the fascination these stories must have had for him from his very youth, and also that the student may compare these early fruits of his genius with those of later growth; for it was thirty years after the publication of these two poems before the completion of the “Idylls.”

"Morte d'Arthur," as given here, will be found under another title, "The Passing of Arthur," in the "Idylls."

The student should compare the monologue of "Sir Galahad" with the form of the later poem, "The Holy