The New Monthly Magazine, Volume 17, Pages 553-554
THE KAISER'S FEAST.*[1]
The Kaiser feasted in his hall,
The red wine mantled high;
Banners were trembling on the wall
To the peals of minstrelsy:
And many a gleam and sparkle came
From the armour hung around,
As it caught the glance of the torch's flame,
Or the hearth with pine-boughs crown'd.
Why fell there silence on the chord
Beneath the harper's hand?
And suddenly, from that rich board,
Why rose the wassail-band?
The strings were hush'd—the Knights made way
For the queenly Mother's tread,
As up the hall, in dark array,
Two fair-hair'd boys she led.
- ↑ * Louis, Emperor of Germany, having put his brother, the Palsgrave Rodolphus, under the ban of the empire (in the twelfth century), that unfortunate prince fled to England, where be died in neglect and poverty. "After his decease, his mother Matilda privately invited his children to return to Germany, and by her mediation, during a season of festivity, when Louis kept wassail in the castle of Heidelberg, the family of his brother presented themselves before him in the garb of suppliants, imploring pity and forgiveness. To this appeal the victor softened."—See Miss Benger's Memoirs of the Queen of Bohemia, vol. i.
