The humble hosts no longer knew their guest.
His fleshly weeds of sin forever doffed,
Tannhiiuser lay and smiled, for in the night
The angel came who brings eternal peace.
Far into Wartburg, through all Italy,
In every town the Pope sent messengers,
Riding in furious haste ; among them, one
Who bore a branch of dry wood burst in bloom;
The pastoral rod had borne green shoots of spring,
And leaf and blossom. God is merciful.
Note.—In spite of my unwillingness to imply any possible belief of mine that the preceding- unrhymed narratives can enter into competition with the elaborate poems of the author of " The Earthly Paradise," yet the similarity of subjects, and the imputation of plagiarism already made in private circles, induce me to remark that " Admetus " was completed before the publication of the "Love of Alcestis," and " Tannhauser " before the " Hill of Venus."
