Hadst thou, loved Bard! whose spirit Lifting them up, the worship to confound Of the Most High. Again do they invoke The Creature, to the Creature glory give; Again with frankincense the altars smoke Like those the Heathen served; and mass is sung; And prayer, man's rational prerogative, Runs through blind channels of an unknown tongue. XXXIV LATIMER AND RIDLEY How fast the Marian death-list is unrolled! Transfigured, from this kindling hath foretold A torch of inextinguishable light; Corded, and burning at the social stake:" XXXV CRANMER OUTSTRETCHING flameward his upbraided hand (O God of mercy, may no earthly Seat Of judgment such presumptuous doom repeat!) Amid the shuddering throng doth Cranmer stand; Firm as the stake to which with iron band His frame is tied; firm from the naked feet To the bare head. The victory is complete; The shrouded Body to the Soul's command Answers with more than Indian fortitude, Through all her nerves with finer sense endued, Till breath departs in blissful aspiration: 1 See Note. SCATTERING, like birds escaped the fowler's net, XXXIX EMINENT REFORMERS METHINKS that I could trip o'er heaviest soil, Light as a buoyant bark from wave to wave, Some seek with timely flight a foreign Were mine the trusty staff that JEWEL XL THE SAME HOLY and heavenly Spirits as they are, earnest care To baffle all that may her strength impair; That Church, the unperverted Gospel's seat; In their afflictions a divine retreat; Source of their liveliest hope, and tenderest prayer! The truth exploring with an equal mind, Firmly between the two extremes to steer; And prophesy to ears that will not hear. XLI DISTRACTIONS MEN, who have ceased to reverence, soon defy, Their forefathers; lo! sects are formed, and split With morbid restlessness;-the ecstatic fit Spreads wide; though special mysteries multiply, The Saints must govern, is their common cry; is sad, For every wave against her peace unites. XLII GUNPOWDER PLOT FEAR hath a hundred eyes that all agree To plague her beating heart; and there is one J See Note. XLIV TROUBLES OF CHARLES THE FIRST EVEN such the contrast that, where'er we move, 2 The Jung-frau. PREJUDGED by foes determined not to spare, An old weak Man for vengeance thrown aside, Laud, "in the painful art of dying" tried, (Like a poor bird entangled in a snare Whose heart still flutters, though his wings forbear To stir in useless struggle) hath relied O Death! the ensanguined yet triumphant wheels, Which thou prepar'st, full often, to convey (What time a State with madding faction reels) The Saint or Patriot to the world that heals All wounds, all perturbations doth allay? XLVI AFFLICTIONS OF ENGLAND HARP! could'st thou venture, on thy boldest string, The faintest note to echo which the blast Caught from the hand of Moses as it passed 1 See Note. PART III FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE PRESENT TIMES When I came to this part of the series I had the dream described in this Sonnet. The figure was that of my daughter, and the whole passed exactly as here represented. The Sonnet was composed on the middle road leading from Grasmere to Ambleside it was begun as I left the last house of the vale, and finished, word for word as it now stands, before I came in view of Rydal, I wish I could say the same of the five or six hundred I have written: most of them were frequently retouched in the course of composition, and, not a few, laboriously. I have only further to observe that the intended Church which prompted these Sonnets was erected on Coleorton Moor towards the centre of a very populous parish between three and four miles from Ashby-de-la-Zouch, on the road to Loughborough, and has proved, I believe, a great benefit to the neighbourhood. I SAW the figure of a lovely Maid |