Excerpt from The Dawn of Freedom: Or the Last Days of Chivalry,& Other Poems The Dawn of Freedom or The Last Days of Chivalry "The old order changeth, yielding place to new." - "The Passing of Arthur." I A hazy English vale, where kingly trees, With folded arms and all their tall tops bathed In golden sunset, seem to meditate And sigh in solemn chorals, sad and low; Far off, the river winds; and farther still, Upon the farthest verge, the silv'ry gleam Of ocean ever calm, while over all Broods undisturbed repose. Save yon gray tow'rs, As fixed and silent as the crags they crown, It seems a wilderness untrod, unknown. And yet, not so. Through yonder shady aisle, Behold that pathway trailing o'er the turf - The rude, expressive signature of man! And as we deeper penetrate the gloom, With senses quickened to each sight and sound, Strange whispers greet us from the knotted trunks, Brown leaves take wing, and twisted roots start up And wriggle out of sight among the ferns; Weird brambles twitch us with their elfish claws, And unseen hands drop acorns at our feet! Sudden we burst upon a grassy glade, A weed-grown garden, and a vassal's cot, About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.