Lanval! 'tis told, had pass'd from foreign strand, And kinsmen none there dwelt on English land; And well he knew that in the hour of proof Friends for the most part fail, and stand aloof: Sue them he would not, but with manly pride In silence turn'd, and toward his prison hied. With generous grief the deed Sir Gawaine view'd; Dear to the king was he, and nephew of his blood, But liberal worth past nature's ties prevail'd, And sympathy stood forth, if friendship fail'd; Nor less good-will full many a knight inspir'd; With general voice the prisoner all requir'd, All pledg'd their fiefs he should not fail the day, And homeward bore him from the court away. His friends, for sure they well that title claim, First thought the licence of his tongue to blame; But, when they mark'd how deeply he was mov'd, They sooth'd and cherish'd rather than reprov'd. Each day, as mute he sat in desperate grief, They spoke kind words of comfort and relief; Each day, howe'er they sought, howe'er they sued, Scarce might they win his lips to taste of food: 'Come, welcome death!' forever was his cry; 'Lo, here a wretch who wishes but to die!' So still he wail'd, till woe such mastery wan They trembled for his nobler powers of man; They fear'd lest reason's tottering rule should end And to a moping ideot sink their friend. At length came on the day, long since decreed, When the sad knight should suffer or be freed. From every part the assembling barons meet: Each judge, as fore-ordain'd, assumes his seat; The king, too strongly sway'd by female pride, O'er the grave council will himself preside, And, while the presence of his queen inspires, Goads on the judgment as her wrath requires. There might be seen that honourable band Late for the prisoner pledg'd in fief and land; Slow they advance, then stand before the board, Whiles all behold the entrusted thrall restor'd. With many a question next the accus'd was prov'd; Then, while the votes were given, awhile remov'd. But those brave warriors, when they weigh'd the plight And the fair promise of this hapless knight, His youth, for yet he reach'd not manhood's prime; His gallant mien, his life without a crime, His helpless state by kindred unsustain'd, In a strange court and in a foreign land, All cried aloud, were Lanval doom'd to die, It were a doom of shame and cruelty.