This was the purpose that his soul had formed-- Alas! how unaccomplished!--and he hoped That gentle peace would be the meed of war,-- That ’neath the laurel far and wide would bloom The flowers of wisdom, charity and truth,-- That holy men and sages, ladies fair And famous knights, and those that from earth’s lap Gather God’s bounties, and the men whose hands Have skilful touch, and those who tell or sing Of Nature and her marvels, or who fill The scroll with records of the misty past, And others of all arts and all degrees, Should work, each in the place that he had found, With one pure impulse in the heart of all,-- That Britain should be called of all the world A blameless people round a Blameless King. This purpose Albert, in the after-time, (So shall the Prince be named of whom I spake,) Shall take from the dim shrine where it has lain, Scarce touched by dreamy reverence, many an age, And hold it in the daylight of his life. But not alone. She whom his heart has won, With loving aid, shall ever at his side (Till death them part) sustain him in his thought. And these two, nobly mated, each to each The sweet and ripe completion, shall be named With loyal love and tenderest respect By knight and lady, poet, sage and priest, In mart and camp, in palace and in cot, By babbling gray-beard and by lisping child, Wherever Britain’s banner is unfurled. So shall the land grow strong with bonds of peace, Till men believe that wars have ceased to drench The earth with bloody rain;--and Art shall smile On myriad shapes of beauty and of use,-- And Wisdom shall have freer scope, and push The boulders of old folly from her field,-- And men shall walk with larger minds across The limits of the superstitious past, And cull the gold out of the dross of things, Flinging the dross aside,--and then shall be New hopes of better changes yet to be, When harmony shall reign through all the world, And interchange of good for common weal Be only law. A palace shall arise Beneath the guidance of the Blameless Prince, The crystal image of his ample mind, The home of what is best in every clime; And thither, from all lands beneath the sun, Shall crowd the patient workers in all arts, Bringing the treasures of their skill. The hands Of many nations with a brother’s clasp Shall join together; and the Babel tongues Of Eastern, Western, Northern, Southern lands Shall strive no more in discord, but, as one, Shall make harmonious music, as of yore The sound of four great rivers rose and fell Through fragrant splendours in the Eden-world.