XLIV.

Various and strange was the long-winded tale; And halls, and knights, and feats of arms display'd; Or merry swains, who quaff the nut-brown ale, And sing enamour'd of the nut-brown maid; The moonlight revel of the fairy glade; Or hags, that suckle an infernal brood, And ply in caves th' unutterable trade,[3] Midst fiends and spectres, quench the moon in blood, Yell in the midnight storm, or ride th' infuriate flood.