Sweet pastoral flowers, and laurels that have crowned Full oft the unworthy brow of lawless force; And, for delight of him who tracks its course, Immortal amaranth and palms abound. II CONJECTURES IF there be prophets on whose spirits rest Past things, revealed like future, they can tell What Powers, presiding o'er the sacred well Of Christian Faith, this savage Island blessed With its first bounty. Wandering through the west, Did holy Paul1 a while in Britain dwell, And call the Fountain forth by miracle, And with dread signs the nascent Stream invest? Or He, whose bonds dropped off, whose prison doors Flew open, by an Angel's voice unbarred? Or some of humbler name, to these wild shores Storm-driven; who, having seen the cup of woe Pass from their Master, sojourned here to guard The precious Current they had taught to flow? That, in the lapse of ages, hath crept o'er Diluvian truths, and patriarchal lore. Haughty the Bard: can these meek doctrines blight His transports? wither his heroic strains? But all shall be fulfilled;-the Julian spear A way first opened; and, with Roman chains, The tidings come of Jesus crucified; They come-they spread-the weak, the suffering, hear; Receive the faith, and in the hope abide. IV DRUIDICAL EXCOMMUNICATION MERCY and Love have met thee on thy road, Thou wretched Outcast, from the gift of fire And food cut off by sacerdotal ire, Ancient of days! that to the eternal Sire, Justice, and order. Tremblingly escaped, shaped; And still, 'mid yon thick woods, the primal truth Glimmers through many a superstitious form That fills the Soul with unavailing ruth. III TREPIDATION OF THE DRUIDS SCREAMS round the Arch-druid's brow the seamew 2-white As Menai's foam; and toward the mystic ring Where Augurs stand, the Future questioning, Slowly the cormorant aims her heavy flight, Portending ruin to each baleful rite, 1 See Note. 2 This water-fowl was, among the Druids, an emblem of those traditions connected with the Deluge that made an important part of their mysteries. The Cormorant was a bird of bad omen. UNCERTAINTY DARKNESS surrounds us; seeking, we are lost On Snowdon's wilds, amid Brigantian coves, Or where the solitary shepherd roves Isles Slackens his course-to mark those holy piles XVIII APOLOGY NOR Scorn the aid which Fancy oft doth lend The Soul's eternal interests to promote: Death, darkness, danger, are our nátural lot; And evil Spirits may our walk attend The midnight stars outshining, or the blaze cords Of good works, mingling with the visions, raise The Soul to purer worlds: and who the line Shall draw, the limits of the power define, That even imperfect faith to man affords? XX OTHER INFLUENCES AH, when the Body, round which in love we clung, Is chilled by death, does mutual service fail? Rites that console the Spirit, under grief For Souls whose doom is fixed! The way is smooth For Power that travels with the human heart: XIX PRIMITIVE SAXON CLERGY 1 How beautiful your presence, how benign, Servants of God! who not a thought will share With the vain world; who, outwardly as bare As winter trees, yield no fallacious sign That the firm soul is clothed with fruit divine ! Such Priest, when service worthy of his care Has called him forth to breathe the common air, Might seem a saintly Image from its shrine Descended:-happy are the eyes that meet The Apparition; evil thoughts are stayed At his approach, and low-bowed necks entreat A benediction from his voice or hand; Whence grace, through which the heart can understand, And vows, that bind the will, in silence made. 1 See Note. XXI SECLUSION LANCE, shield, and sword relinquished, at his side A bead-roll, in his hand a clasped book, Or staff more harmless than a shepherd's crook, The war-worn Chieftain quits the worldto hide His thin autumnal locks where Monks abide In grisly folds and strictures serpentine; their own perennial XXII CONTINUED METHINKS that to some vacant hermitage My feet would rather turn-to some dry nook |