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How dreadful the dominion of the impure!
Why should the Song be tardy to proclaim
That less than power unbounded could not tame
That soul of Evil-which, from Hell let loose,
Had filled the astonished world with such abuse
As boundless patience only could endure?
-Wide-wasted regions-cities wrapt in flame—
Who sees, may lift a streaming eye

To Heaven; who never saw, may heave a sigh;
But the foundation of our nature shakes,
And with an infinite pain the spirit aches,
When desolated countries, towns on fire,
Are but the avowed attire

Of warfare waged with desperate mind
Against the life of virtue in mankind;
Assaulting without ruth

The citadels of truth;

While the fair gardens of civility,

By ignorance defaced,

By violence laid waste,

Perish without reprieve for flower or tree!

VI

A crouching purpose-a distracted will—
Opposed to hopes that battened upon scorn,
And to desires whose ever-waxing horn
Not all the light of earthly power could fill;
Opposed to dark, deep plots of patient skill,
And to celerities of lawless force;

Which, spurning God, had flung away remorse—
What could they gain but shadows of redress?
-So bad proceeded propagating worse;
And discipline was passion's dire excess.
Widens the fatal web, its lines extend,
And deadlier poisons in the chalice blend.
When will your trials teach you to be wise?
-O prostrate Lands, consult your agonies!

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VII

No more-the guilt is banish'd,

And, with the guilt, the shame is fled;

And, with the guilt and shame, the Woe hath vanish'd,

Shaking the dust and ashes from her head!

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-No more—these lingerings of distress Sully the limpid stream of thankfulness. What robe can Gratitude employ

So seemly as the radiant vest of Joy?

What steps so suitable as those that move

In prompt obedience to spontaneous measures
Of glory, and felicity, and love,

Surrendering the whole heart to sacred pleasures?

VIII

O Britain! dearer far than life is dear,

If one there be

Of all thy progeny

Who can forget thy prowess, never more

Be that ungrateful Son allowed to hear

Thy green leaves rustle or thy torrents roar.
As springs the lion from his den,

As from a forest-brake

Upstarts a glistering snake,

The bold Arch-despot re-appeared;—again
Wide Europe heaves, impatient to be cast,

With all her armèd Powers,

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On that offensive soil, like waves upon a thousand

shores.

The trumpet blew a universal blast!

But Thou art foremost in the field :-there stand:
Receive the triumph destined to thy hand!

All States have glorified themselves;—their claims
Are weighed by Providence, in balance even;
And now, in preference to the mightiest names,
To Thee the exterminating sword is given.
Dread mark of approbation, justly gained!
Exalted office, worthily sustained!

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IX

Preserve, O Lord! within our hearts

The memory of Thy favour,

That else insensibly departs,

And loses its sweet savour!

Lodge it within us!-as the power of light
Lives inexhaustibly in precious gems,
Fixed on the front of Eastern diadems,
So shine our thankfulness for ever bright!
What offering, what transcendent monument
Shall our sincerity to Thee present?

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-Not work of hands; but trophies that may reach
To highest Heaven-the labour of the Soul;
That builds, as Thy unerring precepts teach,
Upon the internal conquests made by each,
Her hope of lasting glory for the whole.
Yet will not heaven disown nor earth gainsay
The outward service of this day;
Whether the worshippers entreat
Forgiveness from God's mercy-seat;

Or thanks and praises to His throne ascend
That He has brought our warfare to an end,
And that we need no second victory!-
Ha! what a ghastly sight for man to see;
And to the heavenly saints in peace who dwell,
For a brief moment, terrible;

But, to Thy sovereign penetration, fair,
Before whom all things are, that were,

All judgments that have been, or e'er shall be;
Links in the chain of Thy tranquillity!
Along the bosom of this favoured Nation,
Breathe Thou, this day, a vital undulationꞌ
Let all who do this land inherit
Be conscious of Thy moving spirit!
Oh, 'tis a goodly Ordinance,-the sight,

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Though sprung from bleeding war, is one of pure delight; Bless Thou the hour, or ere the hour arrive,

When a whole people shall kneel down in prayer,

And, at one moment, in one rapture, strive
With lip and heart to tell their gratitude

For Thy protecting care,

Their solemn joy-praising the Eternal Lord
For tyranny subdued,

And for the sway of equity renewed,

For liberty confirmed, and peace restored!

X

But hark-the summons!-down the placid lake
Floats the soft cadence of the church-tower bells;
Bright shines the Sun, as if his beams would wake
The tender insects sleeping in their cells;
Bright shines the Sun-and not a breeze to shake
The drops that tip the melting icicles.

O, enter now his temple gate!

Inviting words-perchance already flung
(As the crowd press devoutly down the aisle
Of some old Minster's venerable pile)
From voices into zealous passion stung,

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While the tubed engine feels the inspiring blast,
And has begun-its clouds of sound to cast
Forth towards empyreal Heaven,

As if the fretted roof were riven.
Us humbler ceremonies now await;
But in the bosom with devout respect
The banner of our joy we will erect,

And strength of love our souls shall elevate:
For to a few collected in His name,
Their heavenly Father will incline an ear
Gracious to service hallowed by its aim ;-
Awake! the majesty of God revere !

Go-and with foreheads meekly bowed
Present your prayers-go-and rejoice aloud—
The Holy One will hear!

And what, 'mid silence deep, with faith sincere,
Ye, in your low and undisturbed estate,
Shall simply feel and purely meditate—

Of warnings-from the unprecedented might,
Which, in our time, the impious have disclosed ;
And of more arduous duties thence imposed

Upon the future advocates of right;

Of mysteries revealed,

And judgments unrepealed,
Of earthly revolution,

And final retribution,—

To His omniscience will appear

An offering not unworthy to find place,

On this high DAY of THANKS, before the Throne

of Grace!

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1816

MEMORIALS OF A TOUR ON THE

CONTINENT, 1820

DEDICATION

(SENT WITH THESE poems, in ms., to

-)

DEAR Fellow-travellers! think not that the Muse,
To You presenting these memorial Lays,
Can hope the general eye thereon would gaze,
As on a mirror that gives back the hues
Of living Nature; no-though free to choose
The greenest bowers, the most inviting ways,
The fairest landscapes and the brightest days-
Her skill she tried with less ambitious views.
For You she wrought: Ye only can supply
The life, the truth, the beauty: she confides
In that enjoyment which with You abides,
Trusts to your love and vivid memory;
Thus far contented, that for You her verse
Shall lack not power the 'meeting soul to pierce !'
W. WORDSWORTH

RYDAL MOUNT, Nov. 1821

T

I

FISH-WOMEN.- -ON LANDING AT CALAIS

IS said, fantastic ocean doth enfold

The likeness of whate'er on land is seen;
But, if the Nereid Sisters and their Queen,
Above whose heads the tide so long hath rolled,
The Dames resemble whom we here behold,
How fearful were it down through opening waves
To sink, and meet them in their fretted caves,
Withered, grotesque, immeasurably old,

And shrill and fierce in accent!-Fear it not:
For they Earth's fairest daughters do excel;
Pure undecaying beauty is their lot;
Their voices into liquid music swell,
Thrilling each pearly cleft and sparry grot,

The undisturbed abodes where Sea-nymphs dwell!

1820 or 1821

ΙΟ

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