And each marble knight shook his plume of white,

And drew his glittering blade;

Whilst their coursers' feet the pavement beat,

And deafening clamour made.

As leopards burst from their wild-wood den,
They rushed on the single warrior then ;
Waving their weapons wide on high,

As their victim was doomed at once to die!

In fixed amaze, he bent his gaze

On his hundred foes of stone;

And shuddered with awe, when the blade he saw

Of the mystic sword, he dared to draw,

Was a living serpent grown!

With conscious start, he flung it apart,

Nor thought on his guide's command; And his own true blade drew to his aid, And rushed on the marble band!

But straight the light, each cresset gave,
Was quenched to a feeble spark!
And the haunted hall became as the grave,
As silent, and as dark!

And first, upon the stillness dead,
A groan of anguish broke!

Then next, a voice of anger dread
In hollow murmurs spoke !—

"Devoted wretch! whose coward hand "Forsook the consecrated brand;

"When one bold thrust, or fearless stroke,
"At once the powerful spell had broke,
"And silently dissolved in air,

"The mock array of warriors there;
"Now take thy doom, and rue the hour
"Thou looked on Dunstanborough's tower!
"Be thine the canker of the soul,
"That life yields nothing to control!
"Be thine the mildew of the heart,
"That death alone can bid depart!
"And death-thine only refuge-be
"From age to age forbidden thee!"

It ceased-and again through the gloom appeared The lamp, by that death-like hand upreared: But sight and hearing soon were o'er, For the giant hunter dealt a blow, That, prone upon the marble floor, Stretched the pale warrior lifeless and low! Till the purple morning's early ray, In that dark and dreary trance he lay! He 'woke-the pageant all was flown ; The hall of state-the knights of stoneThe crystal globe-the captive fair, Condemned to weep unpitied there— All, all were gone! and, in their stead, The portal arch was o'er his head, Dripping its tears of dew upon

His pallid brow and features wan.

G

Prone on the earth he found him laid,
In rude and wretched weeds arrayed;
His courser fled, and the aged yew
Rent by the bursting leaven through!

Full many an age hath glided by,
Yet still the castle he lingers nigh;
And vainly seeks again to find

The stairs to the haunted hall that wind.
Each hollow vault, and secret way,

He totters through, both night and day;
Through many an aisle, through many a tomb,
Through chapel, dungeon, hall, and room ;
Far as the aged pile extends,

From morn till eve, his course he bends;
And to himself, in accents low,

Mutters his tale of fear and woe.

Five hundred years their course have run,

Nor yet his search, nor life is done!

THE

CORAL WREATH;

OR,

The Spell-Bound Knight,

BY W. G. THOMPSON.

"Let FICTION come, upon her vagrant wings, Wafting ten thousand colours through the air, Which, by the glances of her magic eye,

She blends and shifts at will through countless forms

Her wild creation."

AKENSIDE.

THE idea of this story is taken from a small but wellwritten poem, lately published, entitled "The Wandering Knight of Dunstanborough Castle," the history of which, as it will enable the reader the more fully to understand this, I shall briefly relate. A knight from the Holy Land, travelling in the vicinity

"Of Dunstanborough's caverned shore,"

found himself compelled to take shelter in the ruined Castle of Dunstanborough, where it became his task. to attempt the freedom of an enchanted lady who was there confined in a globe

"Of purest of crystal, with coral enwreath'd."

A mysterious voice warns him of his danger-informs him of the means he must use-and forbids him to throw the object of his choice aside. Unfortunately for himself, however, he DID throw aside a charmed sword he had drawn in the cause, and was immediately doomed to linger there for ever!

Happening to hear a gentleman observe that it would have been much more agreeable had the result been fortunate, and recollecting that the Edinburgh Review says "the readers of romance do not like an unsuccessful warrior," I immediately determined the liberation of the wanderer. How that has been accomplished, the following pages must bear witness.