Then he, who to the altar had been led,
He, whose strong arm the Orient could not check, He, who had held the Soldan at his beck, Stooped, of all glory disinherited,
And even the common dignity of man!— Amazement strikes the crowd: while many turn
Their eyes away in sorrow, others burn With scorn, invoking a vindictive ban
From outraged Nature; but the sense of most In abject sympathy with power is lost.
NLESS to Peter's Chair the viewless wind
Must come and ask permission when to blow, What further empire would it have? for now A ghostly Domination, unconfined
As that by dreaming Bards to Love assigned, Sits there in sober truth-to raise the low, Perplex the wise, the strong to overthrow; Through earth and heaven to bind and to unbind! Resist the thunder quails thee!—crouch-rebuff Shall be thy recompense! from land to land The ancient thrones of Christendom are stuff For occupation of a magic wand,
And 'tis the Pope that wields it :—whether rough Or smooth his front, our world is in his hand!
TO THE CLOSE OF THE TROUBLES IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES I
OW soon-alas! did Man, created pure,
By Angels guarded, deviate from the line
Prescribed to duty:-woeful forfeiture
He made by wilful breach of law divine. With like perverseness did the Church abjure Obedience to her Lord, and haste to twine,
'Mid Heaven-born flowers that shall for aye endure, Weeds on whose front the world had fixed her sign.
O Man,-if with thy trials thus it fares, If good can smooth the way to evil choice, From all rash censure be the mind kept free; He only judges right who weighs, compares, And, in the sternest sentence which his voice Pronounces, ne'er abandons Charity.
ROM false assumption rose, and fondly hailed
By superstition, spread the Papal power;
Yet do not deem the Autocracy prevailed
Thus only, even in error's darkest hour.
She daunts, forth-thundering from her spiritual tower, Brute rapine, or with gentle lure she tames. Justice and Peace through Her uphold their claims ; And Chastity finds many a sheltering bower. Realm there is none that if controlled or sway'd By her commands partakes not, in degree, Of good, o'er manners arts and arms, diffused: Yes, to thy domination, Roman See, Tho' miserably, oft monstrously, abused By blind ambition, be this tribute paid.
'HERE Man more purely lives, less oft doth fall, More promptly rises, walks with stricter heed, More safely rests, dies happier, is freed Earlier from cleansing fires, and gains withal A brighter crown."1-On yon Cistertian wall That confident assurance may be read; And, to like shelter, from the world have fled Increasing multitudes. The potent call Doubtless shall cheat full oft the heart's desires; Yet, while the rugged Age on pliant knee Vows to rapt Fancy humble fealty,
A gentler life spreads round the holy spires; Where'er they rise, the sylvan waste retires, And aëry harvests crown the fertile lea.
EPLORABLE his lot who tills the ground,
His whole life long tills it, with heartless toil
Of villain-service, passing with the soil
To each new Master, like a steer or hound, Or like a rooted tree, or stone earth-bound; But mark how gladly, through their own domains, The Monks relax or break these iron chains; While Mercy, uttering, through their voice, a sound Echoed in Heaven, cries out, 'Ye Chiefs, abate These legalized oppressions! Man-whose name And nature God disdained not; Man-whose soul Christ died for-cannot forfeit his high claim To live and move exempt from all controul Which fellow-feeling doth not mitigate!'
ECORD we too, with just and faithful pen, That many hooded Cenobites there are, Who in their private cells have yet a care Of public quiet; unambitious Men, Counsellors for the world, of piercing ken; Whose fervent exhortations from afar Move Princes to their duty, peace or war; And oft-times in the most forbidding den Of solitude, with love of silence strong, How patiently the yoke of thought they bear! How subtly glide its finest threads along! Spirits that crowd the intellectual sphere With mazy boundaries, as the astronomer With orb and cycle girds the starry throng.
ND, not in vain embodied to the sight, Religion finds even in the stern retreat Of feudal sway her own appropriate seat;
From the collegiate pomps on Windsor's height Down to the humbler altar, which the Knight And his Retainers of the embattled hall Seek in domestic oratory small,
For prayer in stillness, or the chanted rite;
Then chiefly dear, when foes are planted round, Who teach the intrepid guardians of the place- Hourly exposed to death, with famine worn, And suffering under many a perilous wound- How sad would be their durance, if forlorn Of offices dispensing heavenly grace!
ND what melodious sounds at times prevail ! And, ever and anon, how bright a gleam Pours on the surface of the turbid Stream! What heartfelt fragrance mingles with the gale That swells the bosom of our passing sail! For where, but on this River's margin, blow Those flowers of chivalry, to bind the brow Of hardihood with wreaths that shall not fail?- Fair Court of Edward! wonder of the world! I see a matchless blazonry unfurled Of wisdom, magnanimity, and love; And meekness tempering honourable pride; The lamb is couching by the lion's side, And near the flame-eyed eagle sits the dove.
URL we the sails, and pass with tardy oars
Through these bright regions, casting many a glance
Upon the dream-like issues—the romance Of many-coloured life that Fortune pours Round the Crusaders, till on distant shores Their labours end; or they return to lie, The vow performed, in cross-legged effigy, Devoutly stretched upon their chancel floors. Am I deceived? Or is their requiem chanted By voices never mute when Heaven unties Her inmost, softest, tenderest harmonies; Requiem which Earth takes up with voice undaunted, When she would tell how Brave, and Good, and Wise, For their high guerdon not in vain have panted!
S faith thus sanctified the warrior's crest
While from the Papal Unity there came, What feebler means had failed to give, one aim Diffused thro' all the regions of the West;
So does her Unity its power attest
By works of Art, that shed, on the outward frame Of worship, glory and grace, which who shall blame That ever looked to heaven for final rest? Hail countless Temples! that so well befit Your ministry; that, as ye rise and take Form, spirit, and character from holy writ, Give to devotion, wheresoe'er awake, Pinions of high and higher sweep, and make The unconverted soul with awe submit.
HERE long and deeply hath been fixed the
In the blest soil of gospel truth, the Tree, (Blighted or scathed tho' many branches be, Put forth to wither many a hopeful shoot) Can never cease to bear celestial fruit. Witness the Church that oft-times, with effect Dear to the saints, strives earnestly to eject Her bane, her vital energies recruit. Lamenting, do not hopelessly repine When such good work is doomed to be undone, The conquests lost that were so hardly won:- All promises vouchsafed by Heaven will shine In light confirmed while years their course shall run, Confirmed alike in progress and decline.
NOUGH! for see, with dim association
The tapers burn; the odorous incense feeds A greedy flame; the pompous mass proceeds; The Priest bestows the appointed consecration; And, while the Host is raised, its elevation An awe and supernatural horror breeds; And all the people bow their heads, like reeds To a soft breeze, in lowly adoration.
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