To lead sweet lives in purest chastity,
To love one maiden only, cleave to her,
And worship her by years of noble deeds,
Until they won her."

267. large, sublime. comfortable, comforting, cheering; Tennyson has 'comfortable words' again in The Lover's Tale and in Queen Mary, v. 2. So in the Communion Service in the Prayer Book: "Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith to all that truly turn to him."

269. From eye... likeness of the King. Cf. The Holy Grail :"and this Galahad when he heard

My sister's vision, fill'd me with amaze;

His eyes became so like her own, they seem'd
Hers, and himself her brother more than I."

273. Down from the casement, i.e. through the glass of the "storied window richly dight" with the picture of Christ on the Cross.

274. vert, and azure, heraldic names for green and blue. In early legends the different colours are sometimes supposed. to be symbolic of various virtues or feelings. Thus red, celestial rosy red, Love's proper hue," as Milton calls it, typified Love, green, Hope, and blue, Truth or Faith.

275. three fair queens. See Introduction. On the deck of a dark barge which bears Arthur away after his last battle in The Passing of Arthur, there also stood "black-stoled, black-hooded" "three queens with crowns of gold" who "put forth their hands and took the king and wept." Bedivere asks if they be not "the three whereat we gazed

On that high day, when clothed with living light,
They stood before the throne in silence, friends
Of Arthur, who should help him at his need?"

See note to The Passing of Arthur, line 366.

279. mage Merlin. See note to 1. 150, above.

282. Lady of the Lake. For Malory's account of "How Arthur by the mean of Merlin gat Excalibur his sword of the Lady of the Lake," see his Morte d'Arthur, i. 23.

283. Who knows... Lord. See Introduction.

284. Clothed ... wonderful. "And in the midst of the lake Arthur was ware of an arm clothed in white samite" (Malory). See also the description of the finding and the casting away of Excalibur in The Passing of Arthur, where this line is repeated as a 'permanent epithet' of the arm that arose from the lake. samite is a rich silk stuff interwoven with gold or silver thread; derived from Gk. hex, six, and mitos, thread of the warp, literally woven of six threads'; cf. dimity. Tennyson has 'red

samite' and 'blackest samite' in Lancelot and Elaine, and 'crimson samite' in The Holy Grail.

285. his huge cross-hilted sword. The cross-shaped hilt of the swords of Christian knights, symbolic of their religious belief, was often used as a sacred emblem upon which oaths were taken, and which sometimes reminded them of their vows. Malory (xiv. 9) tells of Sir Percivale how, when sore tempted, "by adventure and grace he saw his sword lie upon the ground all naked, in whose pommel was a red cross, and the sign of the crucifix therein, and bethought him on his knighthood, and his promise made toforehand unto the good man. Then he made the sign of the cross in his forehead, and therewith the pavilion turned up so down, and then it changed unto a smoke and a black cloud, and then he was adred."

286. a mist... Lord. For the allegorical significance of this description_see Introduction; and cf. the description of the gate of the Lady of the Lake in Gareth and Lynette.

290. A voice as of the waters. Cf. Bible, Rev. xiv. 2, "And I heard a voice from Heaven, as the voice of many waters." Cf. also Lancelot and Elaine :

"She chanted snatches of mysterious hymns,

Heard on the winding waters."

for she dwells... world. It is a scientific fact that even the most violent storms affect only the surface of the ocean, leaving its depths undisturbed.

293. Hath power... Lord. Cf. Bible, Matt. xiv. 25, "And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.'

294. Excalibur. In Malory's Morte d'Arthur, ii. 3, the Lady of the Lake, who had given Arthur the sword, says "The name of it is Excalibur, that is as much to say as Cut-steel." According to the English romance Merlin, the sword bore the following inscription:

"Ich am y-hote Escalabore,

and it is added:

Unto a king a fair tresore;"

"On Inglis is this writing,

Kerve steel and iren and al thing."

In the French Merlin it is said that the name is a Hebrew word meaning 'tres cher et acier fer,' which is, perhaps, a printer's mis-correction of the true reading 'trancher acier et fer,' carve steel and iron. Cf. Malory, iv. 9:-"And then he (Arthur) deemed treason, that his sword was changed; for his sword bit not steel as it was wont to do." The name is also written

Escalibore and Caliburn. In Geoffrey of Monmouth's Chronicle we read how "Arthur himself, dressed in a breastplate worthy of so great a king, places on his head a golden helmet engraved with the semblance of a dragon. Over his shoulders he throws his shield called Priwen, on which a picture of Holy Mary, Mother of God, constantly recalled her to his memory. Girt with Caliburn, a most excellent sword, and fabricated in the isle of Avalon, he graces his right hand with the lance named Ron. This was a long and broad spear, well contrived for slaughter.' Merlin informed Arthur that Excalibur's scabbard was "worth ten of the sword, for while ye have the scabbard upon you ye shall lose no blood, be ye never so sore wounded "(Malory, i. 23). Arthur had also a second-best sword, Clarent; and in Merlin, ii. 9, he is described as capturing the Irish king Ryance's "excellent sword Marandoise. Gawain also had a "good sword," called Galatine.

The notion of enchanted armour is found in many old poets and romancers of various nations. In the Mahabarat the magic bow of Arjuna is described under the name Gandiva, and Mukta Phalaketu in the Katha Sarit Ságara (chap. 115) is presented by Siva with a sword named Invincible. The names of some of the most celebrated of these enchanted weapons are given below:

A list of some thirty-five such weapons is given in Brewer's
Dict. of Phrase and Fable, s. v. Sword. Cf. Longfellow's lines:-
"It is the sword of a good knight,
Tho' homespun be his mail;
What matter if it be not hight
Joyeuse, Colada, Durindale,
Excalibar, or Aroundight."

Spenser (F. Q. ii. 8. 19) calls Arthur's sword Morddure.

297. rich With jewels. Cf. the description in The Passing of Arthur, 11. 224-226.

298. elfin Urim, fairy jewellery of mystic significance. Cf. the description of the "breastplate of judgment" made for the high priest, Bible, Exodus, xxviii. 15-30:-" And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummím; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart when he goeth in before the Lord; and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually"; also

Numbers, xxvii. 21, Deut. xxxiii. 8, Ezra, ii. 63, and 1 Sam. xxviii. 6:-" And when Saul enquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets." The Urim and Thummim seem to have been a mysterious contrivance in or on the High Priest's breastplate, which was supposed to give oracular responses; it consisted, according to some authorities, either of the four rows of precious stones upon which the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were inscribed, or of three precious stones, one of which, by some peculiar appearance on it, indicated 'Yes,' another 'No,' while the third implied that the answer was neutral. Urim means Light, and Thummim, Truth. A curious disquisition on this subject may be found in Cruden's Concordance, s. v. Thummim ; but see Smith's Dict. of the Bible.

299. the blade... by it. Cf. Gareth and Lynette:—

"but this was all of that true steel

Whereof they forged the brand Excalibur,

And lightnings played about it in the storm."

Cf. Malory, i. 7, "Then he drew his sword Excalibur, but it was so bright in his enemies eyes that it gave light like thirty torches." So also in The Passing of Arthur when Excalibur was cast away, it

"Made lightnings in the splendour of the moon." 300. on one side... Is yet far off. See Introduction. 312. The swallow... dear sister. Though not in the interro. gative form, this statement is meant to suggest a question and a doubt.

319. And Gawain ... half heard. The distinction here suggested between the natures of Gawaine and Modred is carried out in the other Idylls. For a sketch of the characters of the two brothers see The Passing of Arthur, notes to 11. 33 and 59. In Guinevere also Modred's eaves-dropping propensity is noticed :"Modred still in green, all ear all eye, Climb'd to the high top of the garden wall To spy some secret scandal if he might."

:

324. Struck for the throne... doom. See Guinevere and The Passing of Arthur.

...

329. fair of men. Arthur's fairness of complexion is alluded to in The Passing of Arthur; see lines 337, "with wide blue eyes," and 384, "his light and lustrous curls." The ancient Britons were generally of a light complexion, and 'blonde as an Englishwoman' is still used in France as a description of unusual fairness.

336. "Ay... and hear ye," "Is it so and do you hear.'

346. who... can walk Unseen. A common attribute of wizards, generally described as inherent in some magic amulet, dress, ring, or herb that they wore. Cf. Shaks., i. Henry IV. iv. 4. :— "We have the receipt of fern-seed, we walk invisible," and Beaumont and Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, i. :—

"Why, did you think that you had Gyges' ring,

Or the herb that gives invisibility?

362. Shrunk like a fairy changeling. It was an accepted doctrine of fairy lore that wicked fairies had the power to substitute an elf or imp of their own species for a human child. The changeling, however, was soon recognized as no natural offspring by its peevishness and wizened, shrivelled appearance; it often resembled a little old man with a face full of puckers and wrinkles. Cf. Shaks., i. Henry IV. i. 1. :—

"Oh, that it could be proved

That some night-tripping fairy had exchanged
In cradle-clothes, our children as they lay.

374. and all... decks. Contrast this bright vision with the gloomy blackness of the "dusky barge, dark as a funeral scarf from stem to stern" which carries Arthur away in The Passing of Arthur. The dragon ship is " gone as soon as seen "; the barge glides slowly away till it appears to go

"From less to less and vanish into light."

379. a ninth one. Every ninth wave, and in a smaller degree every third, was commonly believed to be larger than those that went before it. Cf. év Káкwv тρiкvμía, Eschylus, Prom. Vinct. 1015. Southey, in his Notes to Madoc, says that the ninth wave is often spoken of by Welsh poets, and quotes, "Eva, of the hue of the spraying foam before the ninth wave. The Romans thought that the tenth wave was the largest: "Decumana ova dicuntur et decumani fluctus, quia sunt larga." 380. full of voices. Cf. The Voice and the Peak; and Ulysses, 1. 55:

"the deep

Moans round with many voices;"

also The Passing of Arthur, 1. 134, of the sea :

"rolling far along the gloomy shores

The voice of days of old and days to be "

and 11. 290, 464, of this Idyll :

:

"A voice as of the waters."

It is recorded that Tennyson's first line of poetry, composed at the age of 5 years, was

"I hear a voice that's speaking in the wind.'