The tide did now its floodmark gain, And girdled in the saint’s domain: For, with the flow and ebb, its style Varies from continent to isle; Dry-shod, o’er sands, twice every day, The pilgrims to the shrine find way; Twice every day, the waves efface Of staves and sandalled feet the trace. As to the port the galley flew, Higher and higher rose to view The castle with its battled walls, The ancient monastery’s halls, A solemn, huge, and dark-red pile, Placed on the margin of the isle. X. In Saxon strength that abbey frowned, With massive arches broad and round, That rose alternate, row and row, On ponderous columns, short and low, Built ere the art was known, By pointed aisle, and shafted stalk, The arcades of an alleyed walk To emulate in stone. On the deep walls the heathen Dane Had poured his impious rage in vain; And needful was such strength to these, Exposed to the tempestuous seas, Scourged by the winds’ eternal sway, Open to rovers fierce as they, Which could twelve hundred years withstand Winds, waves, and northern pirates’ hand. Not but that portions of the pile, Rebuilded in a later style, Showed where the spoiler’s hand had been; Not hut the wasting sea-breeze keen Had worn the pillar’s carving quaint, And mouldered in his niche the saint, And rounded, with consuming power, The pointed angles of each tower; Yet still entire the abbey stood, Like veteran, worn, but unsubdued. XI. Soon as they neared his turrets strong, The maidens raised Saint Hilda’s song, And with the sea-wave and the wind, Their voices, sweetly shrill, combined And made harmonious close; Then, answering from the sandy shore, Half-drowned amid the breakers’ roar, According chorus rose: Down to the haven of the isle The monks and nuns in order file, From Cuthbert’s cloisters grim; Banner, and cross, and relics there, To meet Saint Hilda’s maids, they bare; And, as they caught the sounds on air, They echoed back the hymn. The islanders, in joyous mood, Rushed emulously through the flood, To hale the barque to land; Conspicuous by her veil and hood, Signing the cross, the Abbess stood, And blessed them with her hand. XII.