Sometimes the Beast sprung up to bear

His foe aloft; and, trusting there

To shake him from his hold,

Relax’d the rings that wreath’d him round;

But on his throat Ladurlad hung,

And weigh’d him to the ground;

And if they sink, or if they float,

Alike with stubborn clasp he clung,

Tenacious of his grasp;

For well he knew with what a power,

Exempt from Nature’s laws,

The Curse had arm’d him for this hour;

And in the monster’s gasping jaws,

And in his hollow eye,

Well could Ladurlad now descry

The certain signs of victory.