"strength is as the strength of ten, Because his heart is pure," goes in quest of the Sangreal--the sacred wine. He hears the noise of hymns amid the dark stems of the forest, sees in vision the snowy altar-cloth with swinging censers and "silver vessels sparkling clean." He sails, in magic barks, on "lonely mountain meres," and catches glimpses of angels with folded feet "in stoles of white," bearing the holy grail. "Ah! blessed vision! _blood of God!_ My spirit beats her mortal bars. As down dark tides the glory slides, And star-light mingles with the stars. ... So pass I hostel, hall, and grange. By bridge and ford, by park and pale. All armed I ride, whate'er betide. Until I find the holy grail." _Poems_, p. 336. A Catholic aspect may sometimes be observed in a single word. "And so thou lean on our fair father Christ," (_Idylls, Guinevere_, p. 254,) may perhaps sound strange to some ears, and is familiar to Catholics only. "He alone is our inward life," says Dr. Newman, speaking of Christ; "He not only regenerates us, but (to allude to a higher mystery) _semper gignit_; he is ever renewing our new birth and our heavenly sonship. In this sense he may be called, _as in nature so in grace, our real Father_." (_Letter to Dr. Pusey_, p. 89.) Hence, in the Litany of the Holy Name we say, "Jesu, _Pater_ futuri seculi," and "Jesu, _Pater_ pauperum." The Catholic who well understands his own faith will always be very scrupulous about disturbing that of others. If there is anything abhorrent to him, "it is the scattering doubt and unsettling consciences without necessity." (_Newman's Apologia_, p. 344.) There is a well-known poem in _In Memoriam_, (xxxiii.,) which admirably illustrates this feeling. We quote but one verse, as the reader's memory will no doubt supply the rest. "Leave thou thy sister, when she prays, Her early heaven, her happy views; Nor thou with shadowed hint confuse A life that leads melodious ways." The theory and practice of the wisest Catholics conform to the spirit and letter of this injunction. Their devotional life, too, is perfectly reflected in Tennyson whenever he writes of prayer. {151} There is a depth of feeling in his expressions on this subject which reaches to the fact that prayer is the truest religion--that it is the link which unites man more closely to his Creator than any outward acts, any meditations, any professed creed, and is the spring and current of religious life. "Evermore _Prayer_ from a living source within the will, And beating up through all the bitter world, Like fountains of sweet water in the sea, Kept him a living soul" _Enoch Arden_, p. 44. "Thrice blest _whose lives are faithful prayers_. Whose loves in higher love endure: What souls possess themselves so pure? Or is there blessedness like theirs?"