XIII.

And now within the council-hall,

And by the monarch’s throne,

Around in rich profusion spread,

The royal presents shone.

There stood Sir John with four arm’d men,

And the captain of the sea,

But the monarch’s warriors in the hall

Were a hundred men and three.

The queens of twenty tribes appear,

And in their midst they bring

Two maidens bright to grace the scene,

The daughters of the king.

And there in his great dignity

Sat Powhatan alone,

In the broad circle that was made

Around the monarch’s throne;

And while his people peer’d and press’d

Those splendid gifts to see,

He never moved his princely eyes,

But kept his dignity.

And when Sir John the signal gave

For the monarch to come down,

And, standing by the throne, receive

The robe of state and crown,

With motion slow and lofty air

He stepp’d upon the floor,

And as he pass’d, with careless eye

He glanced the presents o’er.

Powhatan; A Metrical Romance, in Seven Cantos · 第 96 / 135 题