3-101-096 - "Royal Academy of Arts, London"/Heritage Images

Hengist and Mey, 1844. 'His limbs, his arms, his stature shaped By nature's finest hand; His sparkling eyes declare him born To love, and to command.' The live-long year, fair Mey bemoaned Her hopeless, pining love: But when the balmy spring returned, And summer clothed the grove, All round by pleasant Humber side, The Saxon banners flew, And to Sir Elmer's castle gates The spearmen came in view. Fair blushed the morn, when Mey looked o'er The castle walls so sheen; And lo! the warlike Saxon youth Were sporting on the green. There Hengist, Offa's eldest son, Leaned on his burnished lance. And all the armed youth around Obeyed his manly glance. His locks, as black as raven's wing, Adown his shoulders flowed; His cheeks outvied the blush of morn, His lips like rose-buds glowed. And soon, the lovely form of Mey Has caught his piercing eyes; He gives the sign, the bands retire, While big with love he sighs. 'Oh, thou! for whom I dared the seas. And came with peace or war; Oh! by that cross that veils thy breast, Relieve thy lover's care!'. From "The Book of British Ballads", edited by S. C. Hall, vol. II, p. 437, [London: Jeremiah How, 1842-44]