With fancied roses, than the unblemished moon Before her wane begins on heaven's blue coast; Thy Image falls to earth. Yet some, I ween, Not unforgiven the suppliant knee might bend, As to a visible Power, in which did blend All that was mixed and reconciled in Thee Of mother's love with maiden purity, Of high with low, celestial with terrene!
NOT utterly unworthy to endure Was the supremacy of crafty Rome: Age after age to the arch of Christendom Aerial keystone haughtily secure;
Supremacy from Heaven transmitted pure, As many hold; and, therefore, to the tomb Pass, some through fire-and by the scaffold
Like saintly Fisher, and unbending More. "Lightly for both the bosom's lord did sit Upon his throne;"unsoftened, undismayed By aught that mingled with the tragic scene Of pity or fear; and More's gay genius played With the inoffensive sword of native wit, Than the bare axe more luminous and keen.
DEEP is the lamentation! From Sages justly honoured by mankind; But from the ghostly tenants of the wind, Demons and Spirits, many a dolorous groan Issues for that dominion overthrown: Proud Tiber grieves, and far-off Ganges, blind As his own worshippers: and Nile, reclined Upon his monstrous urn, the farewell moan Renews. Through every forest, cave, and den, Where frauds were hatched of old, hath sorrow past-
Hangs o'er the Arabian Prophet's native Waste, Where once his airy helpers schemed and planned
'Mid spectral lakes bemocking thirsty men, And stalking pillars built of fiery sand.
"SWEET is the holiness of Youth "-so felt Time-honoured Chaucer speaking through that Lay
By which the Prioress beguiled the way, And many a Pilgrim's rugged heart did melt. Hadst thou, loved Bard! whose spirit often dwelt
In the clear land of vision, but foreseen King, child, and seraph, blended in the mien Of pious Edward kneeling as he knelt In meek and simple infancy, what joy For universal Christendom had thrilled Thy heart! what hopes inspired thy genius, skilled
(O great Precursor, genuine morning Star) The lucid shafts of reason to employ, Piercing the Papal darkness from afar!
XXXII. EDWARD SIGNING THE WARRANT FOR THE EXECUTION OF JOAN OF KENT. THE tears of man in various measure gush From various sources; gently overflow From blissful transport some-from clefts of woe Some with ungovernable impulse rush; And some, coeval with the earliest blush Of infant passion, scarcely dare to show Their pearly lustre- coming but to go; And some break forth when others' sorrows crush
The sympathising heart. Nor these, nor yet
The noblest drops to admiration known, To gratitude, to injuries forgiven- Claim Heaven's regard like waters that have wet The innocent eyes of youthful Monarchs driven To pen the mandates nature doth disown.
THE saintly Youth has ceased to rule, discrowned By unrelenting Death. O People keen For change, to whom the new looks always green!
Rejoicing did they cast upon the ground Their Gods of wood and stone; and, at the sound
Of counter-proclamation, now are seen, (Proud triumph is it for a sullen Queen !) Lifting them up, the worship to confound Of the Most High. Again do they invoke The Creature, to the Creature glory give; Again with frankincense the altars smoke Like those the Heathen served; and mass is sung;
And prayer man's rational prerogative, Runs through blind channels of an unknown tongue.
LATIMER AND RIDLEY. How fast the Marian death-list is unrolled ' See Latimer and Ridley in the might Of Faith stand coupled for a common flight! One (like those prophets whom God sent of old) Transfigured, from this kindling hath foretold A torch of inextinguishable light; The Other gains a confidence as bold; And thus they foil their enemy's despite. The penal instruments, the shows of crime, Are glorified while this once-mitred pair Of saintly Friends the "murtherer's chain par- take,
Corded, and burning at the social stake:" Earth never witnessed object more sublime In constancy, in fellowship more fair!
OUTSTRETCHING flame-ward his upbraided
( God of mercy, may no earthly Seat
HAIL, Virgin Queen! o'er many an envious bar Triumphant, snatched from many a treacherous wile!
All hail, sage Lady, whom a grateful Isle Hath blest, respiring from that dismal war Stilled by thy voice! But quickly from afar Defiance breathes with more malignant aim; And alien storms with home-bred ferments claim Portentous fellowship. Her silver car, By sleepless prudence ruled, glides slowly on; Unhurt by violence, from menaced taint Emerging pure, and seemingly more bright: Ah! wherefore yields it to a foul constraint Black as the clouds its beams dispersed, while shone,
Of judgment such presumptuous doom repeat !) Amid the shuddering throng doth Cranmer By men and angels blest, the glorious light?
Firm as the stake to which with iron band His frame is tied; firm from the naked feet To the bare head. The victory is complete; The shrouded Body to the Soul's command Answers with more than Indian fortitude,
Through all her nerves with finer sense endued, Till breath departs in blissful aspiration: Then, 'mid the ghastly ruins of the fire, Behold the unalterable heart entire, Emblem of faith untouched, miraculous attesta-
GENERAL VIEW OF THE TROUBLES OF THE REFORMATION.
AID, glorious Martyrs, from your fields of light, Our mortal ken! Inspire a perfect trust (While we look round) that Heaven's decrees are just:
METHINKS that I could trip o'er heaviest soil, Light as a buoyant bark from wave to wave, To youthful HOOKER, in familiar style Were mine the trusty staff that JEWEL gave The gift exalting, and with playful smile: For thus equipped, and bearing on his head Tempest, or length of way, or weight of toil?- The Donor's farewell blessing, can he dread More sweet than odours caught by him who
Near spicy shores of Araby the blest, A thousand times more exquisitely sweet, The freight of holy feeling which we meet, In thoughtful moments, wafted by the gales From fields where good men walk, or bowers wherein they rest.
HOLY and heavenly Spirits as they are, Spotless in life, and eloquent as wise, With what entire affection do they prize Their Church reformed! labouring with earnest
To baffle all that may her strength impair; That Church, the unperverted Gospel's seat; In their afflictions a divine retreat; Source of their liveliest hope and tenderest prayer!-
The truth exploring with an equal mind, In doctrine and communion they have sought Firmly between the two extremes to steer; But theirs the wise man's ordinary lot, To trace right courses for the stubborn blind, And prophesy to ears that will not hear.
MEN, who have ceased to reverence, soon defy Their forefathers; lo! sects are formed, and split
With morbid restlessness ;-the ecstatic fit Spreads wide; though special mysteries multiply,
The Saints must govern, is their common cry; And so they labour, deeming Holy Writ Disgraced by aught that seems content to sit Beneath the roof of settled Modesty. The Romanist exults; fresh hope he draws From the confusion, craftily incites The overweening, personates the mad- To heap disgust upon the worthier Cause: Totters the Throne; the new-born Church is sad For every wave against her peace unites.
GUNPOWDER PLOT. FEAR hath a hundred eyes that all agree To plague her beating heart; and there is one (Nor idlest that !) which holds communion With things that were not, yet were meant to be.
Aghast within its gloomy cavity
That eye (which sees as if fulfilled and done Crimes that might stop the motion of the sun) Beholds the horrible catastrophe
Of an assembled Senate unredeemed From subterraneous Treason's darkling power: Merciless act of sorrow infinite!
Worse than the product of that dismal night, When gushing, copious as a thunder-shower, The blood of Huguenots through Paris streamed.
THE JUNG-FRAU AND THE FALL OF THE RHINE NEAR SCHAFFHAUSEN.
THE Virgin Mountain, wearing like a Queen A brilliant crown of everlasting snow, Sheds ruin from her sides; and men below Wonder that aught of aspect so serene Can link with desolation. Smooth and green, And seeming, at a little distance, slow, The waters of the Rhine; but on they go Fretting and whitening, keener and more keen; Till madness seizes on the whole wide Flood,
Turned to a fearful Thing whose nostrils breathe Blasts of tempestuous smoke-wherewith he tries
To hide himself, but only magnifies; And doth in more conspicuous torment writhe, Deafening the region in his ireful mood.
TROUBLES OF CHARLES THE FIrst.
EVEN Such the contrast that, where'er we move, To the mind's eye Religion doth present; Now with her own deep quietness content; Then, like the mountain, thundering from above Against the ancient pine-trees of the grove And the Land's humblest comforts. Now her mood
Recals the transformation of the flood, Whose rage the gentle skies in vain reprove, Earth cannot check. O terrible excess Of headstrong will! Can this be Piety? No-some fierce Maniac hath usurped her
And scourges England struggling to be free: Her peace destroyed! her hopes a wilderness! Her blessings cursed her glory turned to shame
PREJUDGED by foes determined not to spare, An old weak Man for vengeance thrown aside, Laud, "in the painful art of dying" tried, (Like a poor bird entangled in a snare Whose heart still flutters, though his wings for- bear
To stir in useless struggle) hath relied On hope that conscious innocence supplied, And in his prison breathes celestial air. Why tarries then thy chariot? Wherefore stay. O Death! the ensanguined yet triumphant wheels,
Which thou prepar'st, full often, to convey (What time a State with madding faction reels) The Saint or Patriot to the world that heals All wounds, all perturbations doth allay?
PATRIOTIC SYMPATHIES.
LAST night, without a voice, that Vision spake Fear to my Soul, and sadness which might seem Wholly dissevered from our present theme; Yet, my beloved country! I partake Of kindred agitations for thy sake; Thou, too, dost visit oft my midnight dream; Thy glory meets me with the earliest beam Of light, which tells that Morning is awake. If aught impair thy beauty or destroy, Or but forebode destruction, I deplore With filial love the sad vicissitude;
If thou hast fallen, and righteous Heaven re
WHO Comes with rapture greeted, and caress'd With frantic love-his kingdom to regain? Him Virtue's Nurse, Adversity, in vain Received, and fostered in her iron breast: For all she taught of hardiest and of best, Or would have taught, by discipline of pain And long privation, now dissolves amain, Or is remembered only to give zest To wantonness.-Away, Circean revels! But for what gain? if England soon must sink Into a gulf which all distinction levels- That bigotry may swallow the good name, And, with that draught, the life-blood: misery, shame,
By Poets loathed; from which Historians shrink!
YET Truth is keenly sought for, and the wind Charged with rich words poured out in thought's defence;
Whether the Church inspire that eloquence, Or a Platonic Piety confined
To the sole temple of the inward mind; And One there is who builds immortal lays, Though doomed to tread in solitary ways, Darkness before and danger's voice behind; Yet not alone, nor helpless to repel Sad thoughts; for from above the starry sphere Come secrets, whispered nightly to his ear; And the pure spirit of celestial light Shines through his soul-"that he may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight."
PERSECUTION OF THE SCOTTISH COVENANTERS.
WHEN Alpine Vales threw forth a suppliant cry, The majesty of England interposed And the sword stopped; the bleeding wounds were closed;
And Faith preserved her ancient purity. How little boots that precedent of good, Scorned or forgotten, Thou canst testify, For England's shame, O Sister Realm! from wood,
Mountain, and moor, and crowded street, where lie
The headless martyrs of the Covenant, Slain by Compatriot-protestants that draw From councils senseless as intolerant Their warrant. Bodies fall by wild sword-law; But who would force the Soul tilts with a straw Against a Champion cased in adamant.
ACQUITTAL OF THE BISHOPS. A VOICE, from long-expecting thousands sent, Shatters the air, and troubles tower and spire; For Justice hath absolved the innocent, And Tyranny is balked of her desire: Up, down, the busy Thames-rapid as fire Coursing a train of gunpowder-it went, And transport finds in every street a vent, Till the whole City rings like one vast quire. The Fathers urge the People to be still, With outstretched hands and earnest speech
Yea, many, baply wont to entertain Small reverence for the mitre's offices, And to Religion's self no friendly will, A Prelate's blessing ask on bended knees.
CALM as an under-current, strong to draw Millions of waves into itself, and run, From sea to sea, impervious to the sun And ploughing storm, the spirit of Nassau Swerves not, (how blest if by religious awe Swayed, and thereby enabled to contend With the wide world's commotions) from its
Swerves not-diverted by a casual law. Had mortal action e'er a nobler scope? The Hero comes to liberate, not defy; And, while he marches on with stedfast hope, Conqueror beloved! expected anxiously! The vacillating Bondman of the Pope Shrinks from the verdict of his stedfast eye.
OBLIGATIONS OF CIVIL TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. UNGRATEFUL Country, if thou e'er forget The sons who for thy civil rights have bled! How, like a Roman, Sidney bowed his head, And Russel's milder blood the scaffold wet; But these had fallen for profitless regret Had not thy holy Church her champions bred, And claims from other worlds inspirited The star of Liberty to rise. Nor yet (Grave this within thy heart!) if spiritual things Be lost, through apathy, or scorn, or fear, Shalt thou thy humbler franchises support, However hardly won or justly dear: What came from heaven to heaven by nature clings,
And, if dissevered thence, its course is short.
Fathers! your Virtues, such the power of grace, Their spirit, in your Children, thus approve. Transcendent over time, unbound by place, Concord and Charity in circles move.
III. CONCLUDED.-AMERICAN EPISCOPACY.
PATRIOTS informed with Apostolic light Were they, who, when their Country had been freed,
Bowing with reverence to the ancient creed, Fixed on the frame of England's Church their sight,
And strove in filial love to reunite
What force had severed. Thence they fetched the seed
Of Christian unity, and won a meed Of praise from Heaven. To Thee, O saintly WHITE,
Patriarch of a wide-spreading family, Remotest lands and unborn times shall turn, Whether they would restore or build-to Thee, As one who rightly taught how zeal should burn, As one who drew from out Faith's holiest urn The purest stream of patient Energy.
BISHOPS and Priests, blessed are ye, if deep (As yours above all offices is high) Deep in your hearts the sense of duty lie;
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