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St Alban's shrine, to offer vows, Vows to the God who heard them in that hour When all beside had perished in the storm. 175 Wrecked near his ocean-cave, an eremite (So went the tale of their disastrous fate) Sustained them, and now guides them through a land Of strangers. That fair boy was wont to sing Upon the mast, when the still ship went slow 180 Along the seas, in sunshine; and that garb Conceals the lovely, light-haired Adela. The cuckoo's note in the deep woods was heard When forth, they fared. At many a convent gate They stood and prayed for shelter, and their pace Hastened, if, high amid the clouds, they marked Some solitary castle lift its brow Gray in the distance--hastened, so to reach, Ere it grew dark, its hospitable towers. There the lithe minstrel sung his roundelay: 190 Listen, lords and ladies bright! I can sing of many a knight Who fought in paynim lands afar; Of Bevis, or of Iscapar. I have tales of wandering maids, And fairy elves in haunted glades, Of phantom-troops that silent ride By the moonlit forest's side. I have songs (fair maidens, hear!) To warn the lovelorn lady's ear. 200 The choice of all my treasures take, And grant us food for pity's sake! When tired, at noon, by the white waterfall, In some romantic and secluded glen, They sat, and heard the blackbird overhead Singing, unseen, a song, such as they heard In infancy.[105] So every vernal morn 207 Brought with it scents of flowers, or songs of birds, Mingled with many shapings of old things, And days gone by. Then up again, to scale The airy mountain, and behold the plain Stretching below, and fading far away, How beautiful; yet still to feel a tear Starting, even when it shone most beautiful, To think, Here, in the country of our birth, No rest is ours! On, to our father's grave! So southward through the country they had passed Now many days, and casual shelter found In villages, or hermit's lonely cave, 220 Or castle, high embattled on the point Of some steep mountain, or in convent walls; For most with pity heard his song, and marked The count
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