10

Known to the moral world, Imagination, Upheave, so seems it, from her natural station All Christendom:-they sweep along (was

never

So huge a host!)—to tear from the Unbeliever The precious Tomb, their haven of salvation.

XXXV.

RICHARD I.

5

REDOUBTED King, of courage leonine,
I mark thee, Richard! urgent to equip
Thy warlike person with the staff and scrip;
I watch thee sailing o'er the midland brine;
In conquered Cyprus see thy Bride decline
Her blushing cheek, love-vows upon her lip,
And see love-emblems streaming from thy ship,
As thence she holds her way to Palestine.
My Song, a fearless homager, would attend
Thy thundering battle-axe as it cleaves the press
Of war, but duty summons her away
To tell-how, finding in the rash distress
Of those Enthusiasts a subservient friend,
To giddier heights hath clomb the Papal sway.

9

XXXVI.

AN INTERDICT.

REALMS quake by turns: proud Arbitress of

grace,

The Church, by mandate shadowing forth the

power

She arrogates o'er heaven's eternal door,
Closes the gates of every sacred place.

Straight from the sun and tainted air's embrace

All sacred things are covered: cheerful morn Grows sad as night-no seemly garb is worn, Nor is a face allowed to meet a face

With natural smiles of greeting.

dumb;

Bells are

10

Ditches are graves-funereal rites denied ;
And in the church-yard he must take his bride
Who dares be wedded! Fancies thickly come
Into the pensive heart ill fortified,

And comfortless despairs the soul benumb.

XXXVII.

PAPAL ABUSES.

As with the Stream our voyage we pursue,
The gross materials of this world present
A marvellous study of wild accident;
Uncouth proximities of old and new;
And bold transfigurations, more untrue
(As might be deemed) to disciplined intent
Than aught the sky's fantastic element,
When most fantastic, offers to the view.
Saw we not Henry scourged at Becket's Shrine?
Lo! John self-stripped of his insignia:-

crown,

10

Sceptre and mantle, sword and ring laid down At a proud Legate's feet! The spears that line Baronial halls the opprobrious insult feel; And angry Ocean roars a vain appeal.

XXXVIII.

SCENE IN VENICE.

BLACK Demons hovering o'er his mitred head, To Cæsar's Successor the Pontiff spake ;

46

Ere I absolve thee, stoop! that on thy neck

Levelled with earth this foot of mine may tread."

Then he, who to the altar had been led,

5

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

10

From outraged Nature; but the sense of most In abject sympathy with power is lost.

XXXIX.

PAPAL DOMINION.

UNLESS 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, 5 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 10 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!

PART II.

TO THE CLOSE OF THE TROUBLES IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES I.

I.

How 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 5
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.

II.

FROM 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

5

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, 10
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.

III.

CISTERTIAN MONASTERY.

5

"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.' "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.

IV.

DEPLORABLE 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; 5

1 See Note.