LVIII.

"Thou art Wisdom-Freemen never
Dream that God will damn for ever
All who think those things untrue
Of which Priests make such ado.

LIX.

"Thou art Peace-never by thee
Would blood and treasure wasted be
As tyrants wasted them, when all
Leagued to quench thy flame in Gaul.

LX.

"What if English toil and blood Was poured forth, even as a flood? It availed, Oh, Liberty!

To dim, but not extinguish thee.

LXI.

"Thou art Love-the rich have kissed Thy feet, and like him following Christ Give their substance to the free

And through the rough world follow thee,

LXII.

"Or turn their wealth to arms, and make War for thy beloved sake

On wealth, and war, and fraud-whence they Drew the power which is their prey.

LXIII.

"Science, Poetry and Thought

Are thy lamps; they make the lot
Of the dwellers in a cot

So serene, they curse it not.

LXIV.

"Spirit, Patience, Gentleness.

All that can adorn and bless
Art thou---let deeds, not words, expres
Thine exceeding loveliness.

LXV.

"Let a great Assembly be

Of the fearless and the free

On some spot of English ground
Where the plains stretch wide around.

LXVI.

"Let the blue sky overhead,
The green earth on which ye tread,
All that must eternal be,
Witness the solemnity.

LXVII.

66 'From the corners uttermost
Of the bounds of English coast;
From every hut, village and town
Where those who live and suffer moan
For others' misery or their own,'

LXVIII.

"From the workhouse and the prison
Where, pale as corpses newly risen,
Women, children, young and old
Groan for pain, and weep for cold—

The following stanza was rejected from this place :

From the cities where from caves
Like the dead from putrid graves
Troops of starvelings gliding come
Living tenants of a tomb.-ED.

LXIX.

"From the haunts of daily life Where is waged the daily strife

With common wants and common cares Which sows the human heart with tares

LXX.

"Lastly from the palaces.

Where the murmur of distress
Echoes, like the distant sound
Of a wind alive around

LXXI.

"Those prison halls of wealth and fashion
Where some few feel such compassion
For those who groan, and toil, and wail
As must make their brethren pale-

LXXII.

"Ye who suffer woes untold,

Or to feel, or to behold

Your lost country bought and sold
With a price of blood and gold—

LXXIII.

"Let a vast assembly be,

And with great solemnity

Declare with measured words that ye

Are, as God has made

ye, free

LXXIV.

"Be your strong and simple words
Keen to wound as sharpened swords,
And wide as targes let them be,
With their shade to cover ye.

LXXV.

"Let the tyrants pour around
With a quick and startling sound,
Like the loosening of a sea,
Troops of armed emblazonry.

LXXVI.

"Let the charged artillery drive
Till the dead air seems alive
With the clash of clanging wheels,
And the tramp of horses' heels.

LXXVII.

"Let the fixed bayonet

Gleam with sharp desire to wet
Its bright point in English blood
Looking keen as one for food.

LXXVIII.

"Let the horsemen's scymitars
Wheel and flash, like sphereless stars
Thirsting to eclipse their burning
In a sea of death and mourning.

LXXIX.

"Stand ye calm and resolute,

Like a forest close and mute,

With folded arms and looks which are

Weapons of unvanquished war;

LXXX.

"And let Panic, who outspeeds

The career of armed steeds,

Pass, a disregarded shade,

Through your phalanx undismayed.

LXXXI.

"Let the laws of your own land,
Good or ill, between ye stand
Hand to hand, and foot to foot,
Arbiters of the dispute,

LXXXII.

"The old laws of England-they
Whose reverend heads with age are grey,
Children of a wiser day;

And whose solemn voice must be
Thine own echo-Liberty!

LXXXIII.

"On those who first should violate
Such sacred heralds in their state
Rest the blood that must ensue
And it will not rest on you.

LXXXIV.

....

"And if then the tyrants dare,
Let them ride among you there,
Slash, and stab, and maim, and hew,—
What they like, that let them do.

LXXXV.

"With folded arms and steady eyes,
And little fear, and less surprise,
Look upon them as they slay
Till their rage has died away.

LXXXVI.

"Then they will return with shame
To the place from which they came,
And the blood thus shed will speak
In hot blushes on their cheek.