AT THE EREMITE OR UPPER CONVENT OF CAMALDOLI.' And now, ye Miltonian shades! under you
var aim had they, the Pair of Monks, in size E: ruous, dragged, while side by side they sate, B. panting steers up to this convent gate? Hyw, with empurpled cheeks and pampered eyes, [are they confront the lean austerities Of Brethren who, here fixed, on Jesu wait la sackcloth, and God's anger deprecate Through all that humbles flesh and mortifies? Strange contrast! - verily the world of dreams, Where mingle, as for mockery combined, Things in their very essences at strife, Shows not a sight incongruous as the extremes That everywhere, before the thoughtful mind, Meet on the solid ground of waking life.*
I repose, nor am forced from sweet fancy to part, While your leaves I behold and the brooks they will
And the realized vision is clasped to my heart.
Even so, and unblamed, we rejoice as we may In Forms that must perish, frail objects of sense; Unblamed-if the soul be intent on the day When the Being of Beings shall summon her hence. For he and he only with wisdom is blest Who, gathering true pleasures wherever they grow, Looks up in all places, for joy or for rest,
To the Fountain whence Time and Eternity flow.
AT VALLOMBROSA.
Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks Vallambrosa, where Etrurian shades High over-arch'd embower.f
•VALLOMBROSA-I longed in thy shadiest wood To slumber, reclined on the moss-covered floor!" Find wish that was granted at last, and the Flood, That lulled me asleep, bids me listen once more, Its murmur how soft! as it falls down the steep, Near that Cell-yon sequestered Retreat high in Where our Milton was wont lonely vigils to keep For converse with God, sought through study and
UNDER the shadow of a stately Pile The dome of Florence, pensive and alone, Nor giving heed to aught that passed the while, I stood and gazed upon a marble stone, The laurelled Dante's favourite seat. A throne, In just esteem, it rivals; though no style Be there of decoration to beguile
The mind, depressed by thought of greatness flown. air-As a true man, who long had served the lyre, I gazed with earnestness, and dared no more. But in his breast the mighty Poet bore
The Monks still repeat the tradition with pride, And its truth who shall doubt? for his Spirit is here; la the cloud-piercing rocks doth her grandeur abide, In the pines pointing heavenward her beauty austere; In the flower-besprent meadows his genius we trace Turned to humbler delights, in which youth might confide,
A Patriot's heart, warm with undying fire. Bold with the thought, in reverence I sate down, And, for a moment, filled that empty Throne.
BEFORE THE PICTURE OF THE BAPTIST, BY RAPHAEL IN THE GALLERY AT FLORENCE.
THE Baptist might have been ordain'd to cry
That would yield him fit help while prefiguring that Forth from the towers of that huge Pile, wherein
Where, if Sin had not entered, Love never had died.
Wes with life lengthened out came a desolate time, And carkness and danger had compassed him round, With a thought he would flee to these haunts of his
Aad bere once again a kind shelter be found.
And let me believe that when nightly the Muse Dh waft him to Sion, the glorified hill, Here also, on some favoured height, he would choose To wander and drink inspiration at will. Vallambrosa! of thee I first heard in the page Of that holiest of Bards, and the name for my mind Had a musical charm, which the winter of age And the changes it brings had no power to unbind.
His Father served Jehovah; but how win Due audience, how for aught but scorn defy The obstinate pride and wanton revelry Of the Jerusalem below, her sin And folly, if they with united din
Drown not at once mandate and prophecy? Therefore the Voice spake from the Desert, thence To Her, as to her opposite in peace, Silence, and holiness, and innocence, To Her and to all Lands its warning sent, Crying with earnestness that might not cease, "Make straight a highway for the Lord - repent!"
AT FLORENCE.-FROM MICHAEL ANGELO.
RAPT above earth by power of one fair face, Hers in whose sway alone my heart delights,
*See for the two first lines, "Stanzas composed in the I mingle with the blest on those pure heights Exaplon Pass," p. 287.- See Note.
Where Man, yet mortal, rarely finds a place.
With Him who made the Work that Work accords So well, that by its help and through his grace I raise my thoughts, inform my deeds and words, Clasping her beauty in my soul's embrace. Thus, if from two fair eyes mine cannot turn, I feel how in their presence doth abide Light which to God is both the way and guide; And, kindling at their lustre, if I burn, My noble fire emits the joyful ray
That through the realms of glory shines for aye.
Acknowledging no task-master, at will
(As if her labour and her ease were twins) She seems to work, at pleasure to lie still; — And softly sleeps within the thread she spins. So fare they the Man serving as her Slave. Ere long their fates do each to each conform: Both pass into new being, but the Worm, Transfigured, sinks into a hopeless grave; His volant Spirit will, he trusts, ascend To bliss unbounded, glory without end.
AT FLORENCE.-FROM M. ANGELO. ETERNAL Lord! eased of a cumbrous load, And loosened from the world, I turn to Thee; Shun, like a shattered bark, the storm, and flee To thy protection for a safe abode.
The crowns of thorns, hands pierced upon the tree, The meek, benign, and lacerated face, To a sincere repentance promised grace, To the sad soul give hope of pardon free. With justice mark not Thou, O Light divine, My fault, nor hear it with thy sacred ear; Neither put forth that way thy arm severe; Wash with thy blood my sins; thereto incline More readily the more my years require Help, and forgiveness speedy and entire.
AFTER LEAVING ITALY.
FAIR Land! Thee all men greet with joy; how few, Whose souls take pride in freedom, virtue, fame, Part from thee without pity dyed in shame: I could not while from Venice we withdrew, Led on till an Alpine strait confined our view Within its depths, and to the shore we came Of Lago Morto, dreary sight and name, Which o'er sad thoughts a sadder colouring threw Italia! on the surface of thy spirit, (Too aptly emblemed by that torpid lake) Shall a few partial breezes only creep? - Be its depths quickened; what thou dost inherit Of the world's hopes, dare to fulfil; awake, Mother of Heroes, from thy death-like sleep!
As indignation mastered grief, my tongue Spake bitter words; words that did ill agree With those rich stores of Nature's imagery, And divine Art, that fast to memory clung- Thy gifts, magnificent Region, ever young In the sun's eye, and in his sister's sight How beautiful! how worthy to be sung In strains of rapture, or subdued delight! I feign not; witness that unwelcome shock That followed the first sound of German speech, Caught the far-winding barrier Alps among. In that announcement, greeting seemed to mock Parting; the casual word had power to reach My heart, and filled that heart with conflict strong.
COMPOSED AT RYDAL ON MAY MORNING, 1838
IF with old love of you, dear Hills! I share New love of many a rival image brought From far, forgive the wanderings of my thought: Nor art thou wronged, sweet May! when I compare Thy present birth-morn with thy last, so fair, So rich to me in favours. For my lot Then was, within the famed Egerian Grot To sit and muse, fanned by its dewy air
Waging with thy soft breath! That morning too, Warbiers I heard their joy unbosoming And the sunny, shadowy Coliseum;
Heard them, unchecked by aught of saddening hue, Fir victories there won by flower-crowned Spring, Chant in full choir their innocent Te Deum.
WHERE towers are crushed, and unforbidden weeds (er mutilated arches shed their seeds; And temples, doomed to milder change, unfold A new magnificence that vies with old; Frun in its pristine majesty hath stood A votive Column, spared by fire and flood:- And, though the passions of man's fretful race Have never ceased to eddy round its base, Not injured more by touch of meddling hands Than a lone obelisk, 'mid Nubian sands, Or aught in Syrian deserts left to save
From death the memory of the good and brave. Hotare figures round the shaft embost Ascend, with lineaments in air not lost: Stil as he turns, the charmed spectator sees Gap winding after group with dream-like ease; Triumphs in sunbright gratitude displayed, Or softly stealing into modest shade. -So, pleased with purple clusters to entwine me lofty elm-tree, mounts the daring vine; Te woodbine so, with spiral grace, and breathes W de-spreading odours from her flowery wreaths.
Borne by the Muse from rills in shepherd's ears Varmuring but one smooth story for all years, 1dly commune with the mind and heart
im who thus survives by classic art, His actions witness, venerate his mien, And study Trajan as by Pliny seen;
B-old now fought the Chief whose conquering sword Stretched far as earth might own a single lord; In the delight of moral prudence schooled, How feelingly at home the Sovereign ruled;
Memorial Pillar! 'mid the wrecks of Time Preserve thy charge with confidence sublime — The exultations, pomps, and cares of Rome, Whence half the breathing world received its doom; Things that recoil from language; that, if shown By apter pencil, from the light had flown.
A Pontiff, Trajan here the Gods implores, There greets an Embassy from Indian shores; Lo! he harangues his cohorts-there the storm Of battle meets him in authentic form! Unharnessed, naked, troops of Moorish horse Sweep to the charge; more high, the Dacian force, To hoof and finger mailed; * - yet, high or low, None bleed, and none lie prostrate but the foe; In every Roman, through all turns of fate Is Roman dignity inviolate;
Spirit in him pre-eminent, who guides, Supports, adorns, and over all presides; Distinguished only by inherent state From honoured Instruments that round him wait; Rise as he may, his grandeur scorns the test Of outward symbol, nor will deign to rest On aught by which another is deprest. -Alas! that one thus disciplined could toil To enslave whole nations on their native soil; So emulous of Macedonian fame,
That, when his age was measured with his aim, He drooped, 'mid else unclouded victories, And turned his eagles back with deep-drawn sighs: O weakness of the Great! O folly of the Wise!
Where now the haughty Empire that was spread With such fond hope? her very speech is dead; Yet glorious Art the power of Time defies, And Trajan still, through various enterprise, Mounts, in this fine illusion, toward the skies: Still are we present with the imperial Chief, Nor cease to gaze upon the bold Relief Till Rome, to silent marble unconfined, Becomes with all her years a vision of the Mind.
Here and infra, see Forsyth.
THE WHITE DOE OF RYLSTONE;
"They that deny a God, destroy Man's nobility: for certainly Man is of kinn to the Beasts by his Body; and if he be not of kinn to God by his Spirit, he is a base ignoble Creature. It destroys likewise Magnanimity, and the raising of humane Nature: for take an example of a Dogg, and mark what a generosity and courage he will put on, when he finds himself maintained by a Man, who to him is instead of a God, or Melior Natura. Which courage is manifestly such, as that Creature without that confidence of a better Nature than his own could never attain. So Man, when he resteth and assureth himself upon Divine protection and favour, gathereth a force and faith which human Nature in itself could not obtain."- -LORD BACON.
DURING the Summer of 1807, the Author visited, | Fair fruit of pleasure and serene content for the first time, the beautiful scenery that surrounds From blossoms wild of fancies innocent. Bolton Priory, in Yorkshire; and the Poem of the WHITE DOE, founded upon a Tradition connected with the place, was composed at the close of the same year.*
IN trellised shed with clustering roses gay, And, MARY! oft beside our blazing fire, When years of wedded life were as a day Whose current answers to the heart's desire, Did we together read in Spenser's Lay How Una, sad of soul-in sad attire, The gentle Una, born of heavenly birth,
To seek her Knight went wandering o'er the earth.
Ah, then, Beloved! pleasing was the smart, And the tear precious in compassion shed For Her, who, pierced by sorrow's thrilling dart, Did meekly bear the pang unmerited; Meek as that emblem of her lowly heart The milk-white Lamb which in a line she led, And faithful, loyal in her innocence, Like the brave Lion slain in her defence.
Notes could we hear as of a faery shell Attuned to words with sacred wisdom fraught; Free Fancy prized each specious miracle, And all its finer inspiration caught; Till in the bosom of our rustic Cell, We by a lamentable change were taught That "bliss with mortal Man may not abide ;"- How nearly joy and sorrow are allied!
For us the stream of fiction ceased to flow, For us the voice of melody was mute.
But, as soft gales dissolve the dreary snow, And give the timid herbage leave to shoot, Heaven's breathing influence failed not to bestow A timely promise of unlooked-for fruit,
it beguiled us—then, to hear, Once more, of troubles wrought by magic spell; And griefs whose aery motion comes not near The pangs that tempt the Spirit to rebel; Then, with mild Una in her sober cheer, High over hill and low adown the dell Again we wandered, willing to partake All that she suffered for her dear Lord's sake.
Bolton's old monastic tower*
The bells ring loud with gladsome power; The sun is bright; the fields are gay th people in their best array
sule and doublet, hood and scarf, Ling the banks of crystal Wharf, Trough the Vale retired and lowly, Trxping to that summons holy. An up among the moorlands, see Wat sprinklings of blithe company! asses and of shepherd grooms,
at down the steep hills force their way, 1.se cattle through the budded brooms; Path, or no path, what care they? And thus in joyous mood they hie Bolton's mouldering Priory.
Wat would they there! - Full fifty years Tat sumptuous Pile, with all its peers, Tx barshly hath been doomed to taste The bitterness of wrong and waste: Its courts are ravaged; but the tower standing with a voice of power,
Tat ancient voice which wont to call 7 mss or some high festival; And the shattered fabric's heart Paneth one protected part; A rural Chapel, neatly drest,† Is evert like a little nest; And thither young and old repair, Sabbath-day, for praise and prayer.
Fut the church-yard fills; -anon Lx again, and they all are gone; To cluster round the porch, and the folk Wate in the shade of the Prior's Oak !‡ And scarcely have they disappeared Ere the prelusive hymn is heard:- With one consent the people rejoice, Fag the church with a lofty voice!
*It to be regretted that at the present day Bolton Abbey #arthacrament; but the Poem, according to the imaginaet of the Poet, is composed in Queen Elizabeth's time. "For mys Dr. Whitaker, "over the Transept was a tower. Ta proved not only from the mention of bells at the Dissoi when they could have had no other place, but from the and mof of the choir, which must have terminated west*** in some building of superior height to the ridge." **The Nave of the Church having been reserved at the Disfor the use of the Saxon Cure, is still a parochial Dateland, at this day, is as well kept as the neatest English
** At a small distance from the great gateway stood the Priwith which was felled about the year 1720, and sold for 704 Ang in the price of wood at that time, it could scarcely
lore marned less than 1400 feet of timber.” 2 R
They sing a service which they feel; For 't is the sunrise now of zea., And faith and hope are in their prime In great Eliza's golden time.
A moment ends the fervent din, And all is hushed, without and within; For though the priest, more tranquilly, Recites the holy liturgy,
The only voice which you can hear
Is the river murmuring near.
-When soft!-the dusky trees between, And down the path through the open green, Where is no living thing to be seen; And through yon gateway, where is found, Beneath the arch with ivy bound, Free entrance to the church-yard ground; And right across the verdant sod Towards the very house of God; -Comes gliding in with lovely gleam, Comes gliding in serene and slow, Soft and silent as a dream, A solitary Doe!
White she is as lily of June,
And beauteous as the silver moon When out of sight the clouds are driven And she is left alone in heaven;
Or like a ship some gentle day
In sunshine sailing far away,
A glittering ship, that hath the plain Of ocean for her own domain.
Lie silent in your graves, ye dead! Lie quiet in your church-yard bed! Ye living, tend your holy cares; Ye multitude, pursue your prayers; And blame not me if my heart and sight Are occupied with one delight!
"T is a work for sabbath hours If I with this bright Creature go: Whether she be of forest bowers, From the bowers of earth below; Or a Spirit, for one day given, A gift of grace from purest heaven.
What harmonious pensive changes Wait upon her as she ranges Round and through this Pile of state, Overthrown and desolate! Now a step or two her way Is through space of open day, Where the enamoured sunny light Brightens her that was so bright; Now doth a delicate shadow fall, Falls upon her like a breath, From some lofty arch or wall, As she passes underneath: 28*
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