Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

King Arthur, An Heroick Poem. In Twelve Books

London

Printed for Awnsham and John Churchil and Jacob Tonson

1697

"Thence thro' his Skull it passage did obtain, / And pierc'd the inmost Marrow of the Brain; / Where the melodious Strings of Sense are found / Up to a due and just extension wound; / All tun'd for Life, and fitted to receive / Th'harmonious strokes which outward Objects give."

Then Pious Arthur Waving o'er his Head
High in the Air, broad Caliburno , said
Come, follow, Britons, where I lead the way,
These Walls no longer can your progress stay.
Then with an ardor wholly Arthur 's own,
Such as before was ne'er in Battel shown,
Up the high Breach the fearless Monarch rose,
Resolv'd to cut his passage thro' his Foes:
To whom his glorious Arms more dreadful shone,
Then all the impetuous Flames before had done.
He did with Ease o'er the high Ruins leap,
And strode with mighty strides from Heap to Heap.
The Briton thus advanc'd; on the other hand
The Franks drew up his fury to withstand.
Marac did first the Briton 's course resist,
Threw his bright Javelin, but the Warriour mist.
Then his vast Spear the mighty Monarch cast,
Which all the folds of the thick Buckler past.
Thence thro' his Skull it passage did obtain,
And pierc'd the inmost Marrow of the Brain;
Where the melodious Strings of Sense are found
Up to a due and just extension wound;
All tun'd for Life, and fitted to receive
Th'harmonious strokes which outward Objects give.
(Bk XII, p. 336, ll. 600-23)

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C-H Lion

2 entries in ESTC (1697).

First published in 1695 in ten books as Prince Arthur. Reprinted 1696, 1714.

See Richard Blackmore. King Arthur, An Heroick Poem. In Twelve Books. By Richard Blackmore. To which is Annexed, An Index, Explaining the Names of Countrys, Citys, and Rivers, &c. (London: Printed for Awnsham, John Churchil, and Jacob Tonson, 1697). <Link to ESTC>

07/02/2013