If you or I had ever found one four-leaved shamrock, we should be justified in cherish- ing a vague hope that we might some day light upon another.
The Knights of the Round Table beheld with their own eyes that vision of the Holy Vessel, descending in their midst, which scattered those steel-clad heroes in all directions on the adventure of the Sangreal; but perhaps the very vows of chivalry they had registered, the very exploits they performed, originated with that restless longing they could not but acknowledge in common with all mankind for possession of the four-leaved shamrock.
"And better he loved, that monarch bold,
On venturous quest to ride
In mail and plate, by wood and wold.
Than with ermine trapped and cloth of gold.
In princely bower to bide.
The bursting crash of a foeman's spear,
As it shivered against his mail.
Was merrier music to his ear
Than courtier's whispered tale.
