Or was it Dian's self that seemed to move Before me?-nothing blemished the fair sight; On her I looked whom jocund Fairies love, Cynthia, who puts the little stars to flight, And by that thinning magnifies the great, For exaltation of her sovereign state.
And when I learned to mark the spectral Shape As each new Moon obeyed the call of Time, If gloom fell on me, swift was my escape; Such happy privilege hath life's gay Prime, To see or not to see, as best may please A buoyant Spirit, and a heart at ease.
Now, dazzling Stranger! when thou meet'st my glance,
Thy dark Associate ever I discern;
Emblem of thoughts too eager to advance While I salute my joys, thoughts sad or stern; Shades of past bliss, or phantoms that, to gain Their fill of promised lustre, wait in vain.
So changes mortal Life with fleeting years; A mournful change, should Reason fail to bring The timely insight that can temper fears, And from vicissitude remove its sting; While Faith aspires to seats in that domain Where joys are perfect-neither wax nor wane.
ON SEEING THE FOUNDATION PREPARING FOR THE ERECTION OF RYDAL CHAPEL, WESTMORELAND
LEST is this Isle-our native Land;
Where battlement and moated gate
Are objects only for the hand
Of hoary Time to decorate;
Where shady hamlet, town that breathes Its busy smoke in social wreaths, No rampart's stern defence require, Nought but the heaven-directed spire, And steeple tower (with pealing bells Far-heard) our only citadels.
O Lady! from a noble line
Of chieftains sprung, who stoutly bore The spear, yet gave to works divine A bounteous help in days of yore, (As records mouldering in the Dell Of Nightshade1 haply yet may tell ;) Thee kindred aspirations moved To build, within a vale beloved, For Him upon whose high behests All peace depends, all safety rests.
How fondly will the woods embrace This daughter of thy pious care, Lifting her front with modest grace To make a fair recess more fair; And to exalt the passing hour; Or soothe it with a healing power Drawn from the Sacrifice fulfilled, Before this rugged soil was tilled, Or human habitation rose To interrupt the deep repose!
Well may the villagers rejoice! Nor heat, nor cold, nor weary ways, Will be a hindrance to the voice
That would unite in prayer and praise; More duly shall wild wandering Youth Receive the curb of sacred truth,
Shall tottering Age, bent earthward, hear The Promise, with uplifted ear; And all shall welcome the new ray Imparted to their sabbath-day.
Nor deem the Poet's hope misplaced, His fancy cheated-that can see A shade upon the future cast,
Of time's pathetic sanctity;
Can hear the monitory clock
Sound o'er the lake with gentle shock At evening, when the ground beneath.
Is ruffled o'er with cells of death;
1 Bekangs Ghyll-or the dell of Nightshade-in which stands St. Mary's Abbey in Low Furness.
Lives there a man whose sole delights Are trivial pomp and city noise,
Hardening a heart that loathes or slights What every natural heart enjoys? Who never caught a noon-tide dream From murmur of a running stream; Could strip, for aught the prospect yields To him, their verdure from the fields; And take the radiance from the clouds In which the sun his setting shrouds.
A soul so pitiably forlorn,
If such do on this earth abide, May season apathy with scorn, May turn indifference to pride; And still be not unblest-compared With him who grovels, self-debarred From all that lies within the scope Of holy faith and christian hope; Or, shipwreck'd, kindles on the coast False fires, that others may be lost.
Alas! that such perverted zeal
Should spread on Britain's favoured ground!
That public order, private weal,
Should e'er have felt or feared a wound
From champions of the desperate law
Which from their own blind hearts they draw;
Who tempt their reason to deny
God, whom their passions dare defy,
And boast that they alone are free Who reach this dire extremity!
But turn we from these 'bold bad' men ;
The way, mild Lady! that hath led Down to their 'dark opprobrious den,' Is all too rough for Thee to tread. Softly as morning vapours glide Down Rydal-cove from Fairfield's side,
Should move the tenor of his song Who means to charity no wrong; Whose offering gladly would accord With this day's work, in thought and word.
Heaven prosper it! may peace, and love, And hope, and consolation, fall, Through its meek influence, from above, And penetrate the hearts of all; All who, around the hallowed Fane, Shall sojourn in this fair domain; Grateful to Thee, while service pure, And ancient ordinance, shall endure, For opportunity bestowed
To kneel together, and adore their God!
Oh! gather whencesoe'er ye safely may The help which slackening Piety requires; Nor deem that he perforce must go astray
Who treads upon the footmarks of his sires.
OUR churches, invariably perhaps, stand east and west, but why is by few persons exactly known; nor, that the degree of deviation from due east often noticeable in the ancient ones was determined, in each particular case, by the point in the horizon, at which the sun rose upon the day of the saint to whom the church was dedicated. These observances of our ancestors, and the causes of them, are the subject of the following stanzas.
HEN in the antique age of bow and spear
And feudal rapine clothed with iron mail, Came ministers of peace, intent to rear The Mother Church in yon sequestered vale;
Then, to her Patron Saint a previous rite Resounded with deep swell and solemn close, Through unremitting vigils of the night, Till from his couch the wished-for Sun uprose.
He rose, and straight-as by divine command, They, who had waited for that sign to trace Their work's foundation, gave with careful hand To the high altar its determined place;
Mindful of Him who in the Orient born
There lived, and on the cross his life resigned, And who, from out the regions of the morn, Issuing in pomp, shall come to judge mankind.
So taught their creed;-nor failed the eastern sky, 'Mid these more awful feelings, to infuse
The sweet and natural hopes that shall not die, Long as the sun his gladsome course renews.
For us hath such prelusive vigil ceased; Yet still we plant, like men of elder days Our christian altar faithful to the east,
Whence the tall window drinks the morning rays;
That obvious emblem giving to the eye Of meek devotion, which erewhile it gave, That symbol of the day-spring from on high, Triumphant o'er the darkness of the grave.
THE HORN OF EGREMONT CASTLE
RE the Brothers through the gateway Issued forth with old and young,
To the Horn Sir Eustace pointed
Which for ages there had hung. Horn it was which none could sound, No one upon living ground,
Save He who came as rightful Heir To Egremont's Domains and Castle fair.
Heirs from times of earliest record Had the House of Lucie born, Who of right had held the Lordship Claimed by proof upon the Horn: Each at the appointed hour
Tried the Horn,-it owned his power;
He was acknowledged: and the blast,
Which good Sir Eustace sounded, was the last.
With his lance Sir Eustace pointed, And to Hubert thus said he,
'What I speak this Horn shall witness For thy better memory.
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