And paffing through th' obfequious guards, he fate
Confpicuous on a throne, fublime in state;
There, for the two contending knights he sent :
Arm'd cap-a-pee, with reverence low they bent;
He fmil'd on both, and with fuperior look
Alike their offer'd adoration took.

The people prefs on every fide, to fee

Their awful prince, and hear his high decree.
Then figning to their heralds with his hand,
They gave his orders from their lofty stand.
Silence is thrice enjoin'd; then thus aloud

The king at arms befpeaks the knights and liftening crowd.

Our fovereign lord has ponder'd in his mind The means to fpare the blood of gentle kind; And of his grace, and inborn clemency,

He modifies his first severe decree !

The keener edge of battle to rebate,

The troops for honour fighting, not for hate.
He wills, not death fhould terminate their ftrife ;
And wounds, if wounds enfue, be fhort of life:
But iffues, ere the fight, his dread command,
That flings afar, and poniards hand to hand,
Be banish'd from the field; that none shall dare
With fhortned fword to ftab in clofer war;
But in fair combat fight with manly strength,
Nor push with biting point, but strike at length.
The tourney is allow'd but one career,

Of the tough afh, with the fharp-grinded spear,

But knights unhors'd may rife from off the plain,
And fight on foot their honour to regain;
Nor, if at mischief taken, on the ground
Be flain, but prifoners to the pillar bound,
At either barrier plac'd; nor (captives made)
Be freed, or arm'd anew the fight invade.
The chief of either fide, bereft of life,

Or yielded to his foe, concludes the ftrife.

Thus dooms the lord: now valiant knights and young
Fight each his fill with fwords and maces long.
The herald ends: the vaulted firmament

With loud acclaims and vaft applaufe is rent:
Heaven guard a prince fo gracious and so good,
So juft, and yet fo provident of blood!

This was the general cry. The trumpets found,
And warlike fymphony is heard around.

The marching troops through Athens take their way,
The great earl-marshal orders their array.

The fair from high the paffing pomp behold;
A rain of flowers is from the windows roll'd.

The cafements are with golden tiffue spread,
And horfes hoofs, for earth, on filken tapestry tread;
The king goes midmoft, and the rivals ride

In equal rank, and clofe his either fide.

Next after thefe, there rode the royal wife,

With Emily, the caufe and the reward of ftrife.
The following cavalcade, by three and three,
Proceed by titles marshal'd in degree.

Thus through the fouthern gate they take their way,
And at the lift arriv'd ere prime of day.

There, parting from the king, the chiefs divide,
And, wheeling East and West, before their many ride.
Th' Athenian monarch mounts his throne on high,
And after him the queen and Emily:

Next thefe the kindred of the crown are grac'd
With nearer feats, and lords by ladies plac'd.
Scarce were they feated, when with clamours loud
In rush'd at once a rude promifcuous crowd:
The guards and then each other overbear,
And in a moment throng the fpacious theatre.
Now chang'd the jarring noife to whispers low,
As winds forfaking feas more foftly blow;
When at the western gate, on which the car
Is plac'd aloft, that bears the God of war,
Proud Arcite entering arm'd before his train,
Stops at the barrier, and divides the plain.
Red was his banner, and difplay'd abroad
The bloody colours of his patron God.

At that felf moment enters Palamon
The gate of Venus, and the rifing-fun;
Wav'd by the wanton winds, his banner flies,,
All maiden white, and fhares the people's eyes..
From Eaft to Weft, look all the world around,
Two troops fo match'd were never to be found:
Such bodies built for ftrength, of equal age,
In ftature fiz'd; fo proud an equipage:
The niceft eye could no diftinction make,
Where lay th' advantage, or what side to take.
Thus rang'd, the herald for the last proclaims
A filence, while they anfwer'd to their names:

For

For fo the king decreed, to fhun the care,

The fraud of mufters falfe, the common bane of war.
The tale was juft, and then the gates were clos'd;
And chief to chief, and troop to troop oppos'd.

The heralds laft retir'd, and loudly cry'd,
The fortune of the field be fairly try'd.

At this, the challenger with fierce defy

His trumpet founds; the challeng'd makes reply:
With clangor rings the field, refounds the vaulted sky.
Their vizors clos'd, their lances in the reft,
Or at the helmet pointed, or the creft ;
They vanish from the barrier, speed the race,
And fpurring fee decrease the middle space.
A cloud of smoke envelops either hoft,
And all at once the combatants are loft:
Darkling they join adverfe, and fhock unfeen,
Courfers with courfers juftling, men with men:
As labouring in eclipfe, a while they stay,
Till the next blast of wind restores the day.
They look anew: the beauteous form of fight
Is chang'd, and war appears a grizly fight.
Two troops in fair array one moment fhow'd,
The next, a field with fallen bodies ftrow'd:
Not half the number in their feats are found;
But men and steeds lie groveling on the ground.
The points of fpears are ftuck within the fhield,
The fteeds without their riders fcour the field.
The knights unhors'd, on foot renew the fight;
The glittering faulchions caft a gleaming light:

Hauberks and helms are hew'd with many a wound
Out fpins the ftreaming blood, and dies the ground.
The mighty maces with such haste descend,

They break the bones, and make the folid armour bend.
This thrufts amid the throng with furious force;
Down goes, at once, the horfeman and the horse :
That courfer fumbles on the fallen fteed,
And floundering throws the rider o'er his head.
One rolls along, a foot-ball to his foes;
One with a broken truncheon deals his blows.
This halting, this difabled with his wound,
In triumph led, is to the pillar bound,
Where by the king's award he must abide ::
There goes a captive led on t' other fide.
By fits they ccafe; and, leaning on the lance,
Take breath a while, and to new fight advance..
Full oft the rivals met, and neither fpar'd
His utmost force, and each forgot to ward.
The head of this was to the saddle bent,
The other backward to the crupper fent :
Both were by turns unhors'd; the jealous blows.
Fall thick and heavy, when on foot they close.
So deep their faulchions bite, that every ftroke
Pierc'd to the quick; and equal wounds they gave and
took.

Borne far afunder by the tides of

men,

Like adamant and steel they meet again.

So when a tiger fucks the bullock's blood,
A famish'd lion iffuing from the wood.
Roars lordly fierce, and challenges the food.

Each