Class. 
 
 T^ Lie** 
 
GLASTONBURY 
 
 ABBEY; 
 
 
 9 p)£ltt. 
 
 TAUNTON: 
 
 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY W. BRAGG; 
 
 \NB SOLD BY LONGMAN k CO.* PATERNOSTER ROW, 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 1828. 
 

 205449 
 '13 
 
siri 
 
 Mtttibuttim* 
 
 The Author, in submitting the following 
 Poem to the Public, acknowledges that he 
 is indebted to Mr. Warner's interesting Pub- 
 lication for the information more immediately 
 relating to Glastonbury Abbey, and has 
 lather endeavoured to connect its importance 
 with the periods during which it flourished 
 than to adhere to its individual history, 
 
SUstontmrg &&&£#♦ 
 
 HERE, in this solitary place, 
 'Tis sweet the sport of age to trace, 
 Where Art hath now her craft foregone, 
 And blunted stands the chiseli'd stone > 
 Where(l) holy Joseph's boasted fane 
 Moulders upon the wasted plain, 
 And Superstition prostrate falls 
 Beneath the weight of ruin'd walls — 
 Behold ! with what expansion vast 
 The portal brares the northern blast, 
 "While round the arch the sculpture leads, 
 How gracefully each wreath recedes, 
 Where Fancy hath with touch refin'd 
 O'er sainted heads her foliage twin'd, 
 With many a fabled steed between 
 Replenishing the circled scene— 
 
6 
 
 Here peacefully the Abbot lies, 
 
 There arm'd insatiate Warriors rise, 
 
 Anon within the train are strew'd 
 
 Crown, mitre, pillow, couch, and rood. 
 
 To show with figurative pride 
 
 How Monarchs reign'd, and Patrons died — 
 
 The adverse port, though not less chaste, 
 
 With sparer imagery trac'd, 
 
 Its tufted ilow'rs and leafy bands 
 
 In one continuous curve expands— 
 
 Oh ! fearful project, where beneath, 
 
 Awak'd by Heav'ns creative breath, 
 
 Man upward looks, with life blood warm, 
 
 Upon his Maker's awful form — 
 
 Hard by, with fruit extending hands. 
 
 Eve with her mate deluded stands, 
 
 In ambush at their guilty trance 
 
 The Tempter darts his joyous glance— 
 
 Tain did the Sculptor's fancy dare 
 
 To shadow forth th ? attainted pair, 
 
 When in tli* essay Death came between, 
 
 ( 2 )Jf ipt the ripe thought; and clos'd the scene- 
 
Well suited seems each giant gate 
 
 T}i' interior pomp to indicate, 
 
 W here fascias cast in beauty's mould 
 
 And smooth pilasters oft foretold 
 
 The hrighter forms, and state immense, 
 
 "Which burst upon the ravish'd sense, 
 
 Where still, though time-worn, Gothic grace 
 
 With Norman strength holds equal place, 
 
 And on the vault that yawns below 
 
 Quaint(S) windows bickering shadows throw, 
 
 While corbel heads in high array 
 
 The changeful march of Age display — 
 
 Here, though no graven tomb appears 
 
 To gloss the tide of human years, 
 
 Lie Tenants of each chequer'd life, 
 
 Ambition, Virtue, Glory, Strife. 
 
 Eastward adown a lengthen'd lawn 
 An unconnected line is drawn 
 Where join'd yon distant pile of old, 
 But browzes now the peaceful fold- 
 There stands the Choir's imperfect shell, 
 Where Harmony's diurnal swell 
 Oft rous'd Devotion's failing pow'rs, 
 
8 
 
 Or plum'd with joy the leaden hours, 
 Or] where perchance its thrilling sound 
 Renewed some half forgotten wound 
 Of tender glance, or honey'd tongue, 
 When thoughts were free, and days were young ; 
 Or, sooth'd by the melodious tide, 
 Distressful Conscience turn'd aside, 
 And, lost in spiritual despair, 
 Found a terrestrial Heaven there; 
 And thither too hath Sculpture brought 
 Her treasured powers of work and thought, 
 And led an ever varying train 
 Of garlands round the pillar'd fane,. 
 Where most conspicuous interweaves 
 The oak its cup, and clustered leaves. 
 
 But lo ! along the greensward plain 
 Yon giant columns, brethren twain, 
 Disdainful with its fall to bow, 
 (4)The central tow'r uprear'd, and show 
 That there, now steep'd in Time's repose, 
 More mighty works of Science rose, 
 Where transept, chancel, aisle, and nave 
 Have cnu&bled in one common grave, 
 
9 
 
 Or where the(5) Traveller treads his way 
 Are blended with their kindred clay- 
 Island of (6)Avalon! of yore 
 The seat of pow*r, and hallow'd lore, 
 Erst wont in stern monastic pride 
 To frown upon the lashing tide, 
 Thine (7)Ocean hath retraced his way 
 Far from the sight of thy decay, 
 And, where his course he lov'd to speed, 
 Now smiles the cool and placid mead; 
 Not now thy ships their booming sail 
 Expand before the northern gale, 
 Nor, fraught with gems and precious ore, 
 Lean tow'rd thy once attractive shore, 
 Not now each rich and varied dye 
 Glows in thy gorgeous sacristy, 
 Nor there to the admiring gaze 
 The cope its velvet pomp displays, 
 Upon whose broider'd skirt was seen 
 The ( 8 )popin jay of glossy green, 
 With many a bird of gaudy plume 
 Inweav'd on Fancy's quaintest loom ; 
 No more, the brilliant show to crown, 
 
10 
 
 Glitters the Virgin's tissued gown, 
 Nor on thine Altar fring'd with gold 
 Is spread the satin's emerald fold — 
 No cloisters now with alleys deep 
 Along the bordering garden sweep, 
 Nor almonry of boundless store 
 Relieves the sick, regales the poor, 
 No more the legendary stall 
 Far rang'd slopes down the letter'd wall, 
 Nor Youth in Music's rapturous school 
 Lisps out her elemental rule- 
 Sudden as in its merry prime 
 The marriage bell withdraws its chime, 
 Or th' icicle's fantastic form 
 Dissolves before the drenching storm, 
 So in thy pride's ecstatic round 
 Shrank each full charm of sight or sound, 
 
 Island of Avalon ! no more 
 Thy porch unfolds its ponderous door, 
 Where Pilgrims throng'd in weary line 
 To bow before the Virgin's shrine, 
 Nor minstresly and carol sweet 
 Now linger in thy silent street/ 
 
11 
 
 No more th 7 acclaim of wild delight 
 Rings at thine Abbey's welcome sight, 
 
 Where the (9)gemm'd Sapphire wont to flare, 
 
 Proud as the sun in upper air ; 
 
 No longer th' aromatic pile 
 
 Of incense breathes along the aisle, 
 
 No banners pendulous display 
 
 The storied deeds of elder day, 
 
 Nor rolls the diapason's march 
 
 Majestic down the fretted arch, 
 
 Now drives the shrill and eager wind 
 
 Through windows colourless and blind. 
 
 That on the solemn scene below 
 
 Shed forth a soft and varied glow; 
 
 Warm with the limner's vivid skill 
 
 No tablatures the wainscot fill, 
 
 Nor galaxies in heav'nly pride 
 
 Along the pencil'd ceiling ride — 
 
 Silenc'd is now the voice of pray'r, 
 For ever quench'd the banquet's glare, 
 Where way-worn Palmer's waxed strong 
 Amid the glad luxurious throng, 
 And minstrels with light madrigal 
 
12 
 
 Wak'd to loud mirth the rapturous hall, 
 Where mask'd in sober hood and cowl. 
 Monks revell'd round the sparkling bowl, 
 (lO)And him, who could its glut withstand, 
 E'en sear'd with persecution's brand — 
 Seasons of riot, and disgust! — - 
 Your monument outlives the dust, — 
 Lo! where the crackling furnace gleam'd, 
 And many a dainty viand steam 'd, 
 Where funnels rise of spacious room 
 To roll on high the cloudy fume, 
 Where rafter, beam, nor peg doth hold 
 The burden of its rock built mould, 
 (11) Yon dome peers o'er the waste of Time 
 To mark the glutton's deathless crime — 
 As started fresh from Sculpture's hands 
 In pristine form the fabric stands, 
 Yet how more beauteous in decay 
 Each sacred arch and turret gray, 
 Around whose ivy tresses flings 
 The sighing breeze its fitful wings, 
 And seems of choral sounds to tell 
 Of vesper soft, and matin bell, 
 While Contemplation loves to trace 
 
13 
 
 On History's half averted face 
 The beams which scarce discerned adorn 
 The rise of pure Religion's morn — 
 How weakly strives the radiant plume 
 Of Truth to clear that epoch's gloom, 
 And waft from Superstition's night 
 Th' impalpable and scanty light! 
 Yet some with zeal or vain respect 
 Cull every flow'r by Fancy deckt, 
 And with impatient gasp receive 
 The dregs which darkest Ages leave, 
 While with imaginative eye 
 They through mysterious records pry, 
 And nourish many a darling thought 
 By pride of self distinction wrought — ■ 
 
 Ofttimes as when the Connoisseur 
 With eager pains and eye unsure 
 Among the canvass' aged hues 
 Some favorite Painter's touch pursues, 
 Which now. with tint no longer warm 4 
 But faintly shows th' historic form, 
 So would I snatch one living ray 
 From Revelation's orient day, 
 3 
 
14 
 
 And on Tradition's fragments raise 
 A trophy to her dawning praise ; 
 So would I now in fancy hail 
 *Th' Apostle's heav'n directed sail, 
 And here with adoration greet 
 His meek and gloom dispelling feet — - 
 For 'tis averr'd ere haughty Rome 
 Prepar'd his crown of martyrdom, 
 When last she op'd her iron heart, 
 And bade th' imprison'd Saint depart, 
 Through western realms he went to strew 
 Of Righteousness the oral dew — 
 But then the soil was cold and drear — 
 If e'er it fell, 'twas frozen here. 
 Some, zealous of more distant fame, 
 Arimathean Joseph claim 
 As he who from Judaea cast, 
 An exile,reft of sail or mast, 
 Of every gale and tide the sport, 
 First drifted to (i2)Massilia's port, 
 Thence hither brought th' immortal word, 
 And wak'd to light a Druid horde— 
 
 » St. Pad. 
 
15 
 
 But 'tis not mine to sing, if then 
 The devotee forsook his den, 
 And steep'd in sacrifice no more 
 The falchion blush'd with human gore, 
 Or spoils, from bleeding foemen wrung, 
 No longer round each idol hung, 
 Or livelier scenes began to glow 
 Than orgies crown d with mistletoe, 
 Or whither from the silent dead 
 Transferr'd the vagrant spirit fled — 
 A theme more grateful woos my strain 
 Than souls debas'd, and victims slain — 
 
 When with his holy brethren came 
 That Saint to spread the Gospel's flame, 
 ? Tis said a pitying Angel heard 
 Their daily voice to Heav'n preferr'd 
 For refuge whither to repair 
 For praises due and secret pray'r, 
 And bade them in that hour of need 
 Entwine the alder wand and reed, 
 And here an oratory frame 
 To Mary's ever blessed name — 
 When soon a temple rude and green 
 Uprose amid a watery scene. 
 
16 
 
 And little seem'd foundation meet 
 For Mammon's fane that simple seat. — 
 But let, where first he sank to rest, 
 (13) Yon hill the miracle attest, 
 What day his ever living rod 
 He planted in the frozen sod, 
 On winter's deep its lot was cast; 
 Around it whirl'd the bitter blast, 
 Meanwhile exchang'd for wither d wood 
 A thorn in Summer's blossom stood; 
 Of every future lawn the pride 
 Its scions sprang, and multiplied,* 
 And while that plant repeats its flow'r 
 To greet the Saviour's natal hour, 
 Well nigh it seems the only form 
 Now spar'd by Desolation's storm, 
 Save that beneath an arch of stone, 
 Where Saracenic art is shown, 
 Fair, as th' Arician nymph appears 
 Dissolving in a bath of tears, 
 Chastens Siloam's pool, (I4)awell 
 Lies in a deep sequester'd cell, 
 Where ag'd and feeble Palmers sank, 
 And life recruiting water drank, 
 
17 
 
 While warriors maim'd from Palestine 
 Crowded around the limpid shrine, 
 There to recount the valorous tale, 
 Or Strength's luxuriant flow inhale — 
 And though its surface cool and pure 
 May still the faded lip allure, 
 Yet ah ! no health's returning blood 
 Now mantles o'er the crystal flood. 
 
 Yet record of an after age 
 
 Lives on the legend's jealous page, 
 
 How(l5) a sad wight,by sore disease 
 
 Long vex'd, and dreamy agonies, 
 
 Awak'd convuls'd with phthisic pain — 
 
 Blam'd his ill fate— and doz'd again — 
 
 The while in thought a track he spied, 
 
 Where by its edge a mimic tide 
 
 Of sunny waters gurgled down 
 
 To the near gates of Avalon, 
 
 So clear, that with its buoyancy 
 
 Danc'd every object gliding by 
 
 Of steed or car's impetuous flight 
 
 Reflected to his mazy sight — 
 
 He stoop'd of the blue rill to drink— 
 
 \Then, as he rose ; upon the brink 
 
18 
 
 A Phantom, pointing to a stone, 
 Thus spake in grave prophetic tone — 
 " First fasting, for seven Sabbaths' space 
 " Quaff daily at that holy place, 
 " And by the Saints. who in that ground 
 " Sleep blessedly, thou shalt be sound "- 
 Anon it talked of Jordan's stream, 
 And Christ baptiz'd— whereat his dream 
 With that imperfect spell was broke — 
 And with a Seer's faith he woke — 
 Enough— the precept was obey'd — 
 Story yet notes the healing shade, 
 Where magic deeds of later term 
 The boast of ancient years confirm- 
 Clearer th' enthusiast's hope of fame 
 Developes at (i6)Saint Patrick's name — 
 Blest Guardian of the emerald Isle, 
 Restorer of the sacred pile ! 
 ? Twas thine to call from sullen night 
 The meagre Saint, and anchorite, 
 'Twas thine by friendship's soft control 
 To lead the stern ascetic soul, 
 To tread the hill's impervious maze> 
 There pass thy ritual life in praise ; 
 
19 
 
 In fasting, watching, pray'r, and dust, 
 Subduing every fleshly lust — 
 By mandate warn'd in ghostly dream, 
 Twas thine from ruin to redeem 
 St. Michael's Spirit-erected tow'r, 
 To ope to light its sylvan bow'r, 
 And thy fraternal band invite 
 To join in that laborious rite, 
 When, token sure of Heav'ns command, 
 No longer staid thy wither'd hand, 
 But fell with ponderous overthrow 
 The forest 'neath thine axe's blow, 
 Where oft the (l7;Beltin far and wide 
 Had gilt the mount's umbrageous side, 
 Then up the slope the beam of day 
 With one unbroken current lay, 
 And smil'd the warring Angel's fane 
 Unmask'd upon the glassy plain—* 
 And hence the wand'ring Palmer firsts 
 When fainting with religious thirst. 
 The goal of tedious penance won 
 Before thy gates— fair Avalon ! 
 
 Exploits of visionary pow'r ! 
 
 Ye ceas'd not in (lS)Saint David's hour— 
 
20 
 
 What time before the Altar's blaze 
 Was strain'd the crowds impatient gaze> 
 There he prepared in mitred state 
 The Virgin's church to consecrate — 
 Scarce had the censer's wreathy flame 
 Breath'd incense to her hallow'd name. 
 When, by Messiah's touch impress'd, 
 Upheld his pierced palm confessed 
 That there a mightier Priest had been 
 To sanctify that mystic scene — 
 (A previous due by Jesus paid 
 In secret to his Mother's shade.) 
 
 Such were those days of sacred gloom, 
 When though for song seems slender room,. 
 Yet on that drear benighted time 
 Have Poets built the lyric rhyme, 
 By harpers tun'd through regions wide, 
 From (l9)Mona to (20)Antona's tide, 
 Whence at the mind's reverted glance 
 Fantastic dreams of eld advance, 
 Legends of Arthur's chivalrous reign, 
 Of dragon, or enchanter slain, 
 Which cherish'd in our boy-hood's hour, 
 Come cloth'd with all their pristine pow'r-* 
 
21 
 
 From such an Hero Spenser caught 
 
 His earliest gleam of fairy thought, 
 
 And thence a faultless model drew 
 
 Which Monarchs might in vain pursue, 
 
 "When, Goddess of each typic scene, 
 
 Shone forth in (21) " Glory " Albion's Queen, 
 
 Enamour'd of that perfect Knight 
 
 Promp with the sword's avengeful might 
 
 From guilt the helpless maid to clear, 
 
 Or crown with smiles the orphan's tear ; 
 
 While some have seiz'd the lyre to tell 
 
 How his false kinsman Mordred fell, 
 
 And how on Carman's gory day 
 
 Entranc'd the son of Uther lay, 
 
 What time the (22) matron nymph convey'd 
 
 His viewless corse to Glaston's shade, 
 
 Where from his cist, when d : Anjou call'd, 
 
 The risen chief each eye appalPd, 
 
 And in the altar's niche display'd 
 
 His godlike form, and massive blade. — 
 
 Whelher to lead the vocal choir, 
 
 Or wake to life the sleeping lyre, 
 
 To grace the court, or wield the spear, 
 
 Where was illustrious Arthur's peer ? 
 
22 
 
 'Twas his to quell the Painim s rage, 
 
 T' adorn 1 the deep scho^stic page, 
 
 To him each wandering star was knowa 
 
 That courses round Heav'n's azure throne, 
 
 The vital jube of various flow'r, 
 
 The Witch's charji, the Sorcerer's pow'r, 
 
 'Twas his to scan each rite divine, 
 
 In every work of love to shine — 
 
 On Fancy's picture never dies 
 
 His giant mould, and enterprise, 
 
 Of which, foregone in manhood's .prime, 
 
 The lisping babe resumes the chi&ie. 
 
 Come fairy Muse I in fabled verse 
 if yet unroll'd, a tale rehearse, 
 A priestly fraud, an a^tof ruth, 
 Design'd to seal the (23) Papist's truth, 
 And bid one spark of minstrel flame 
 Kindle at Arthur's magic name. 
 
 (24) Where on an high and sloping down 
 Spring had her flowVy carpet thrown, 
 Ere shepherd yet had penn'd his fold, 
 Or thrush her broken vesper told, 
 
23 
 
 Ere yet the lazy daw had fled 
 
 Fast prattling to his rocky bed, 
 
 Or distant Curfew's chime was clos'd, 
 
 The Lion Monarch there repos'd— - 
 
 Stretch'd to the north in far array 
 
 The cluster'd tow'rs of Glaston lay, 
 
 Where many a spire and window bright 
 
 Twinkled beneath the verge of light, 
 
 Imbued in Evening's purple stream 
 
 Old Mendip's heights return'd their gleam . 
 
 And on the glowing landscape threw 
 
 The softness of their deeper hue; 
 
 There, with his steel-clad visor rais'd , 
 
 Upon th' enchanting scene he gaz'd, 
 
 When beam'd upon his ravish'd sight, 
 
 Enrob'd in dew, an Angel sprite, 
 
 Beauteous, as on Anchises' son 
 
 Elissa's fairy image shone, 
 
 Or Cypria's emergent ray 
 
 With smiles imbath'd the silvery spray, 
 
 And thus from lips prophetic fell 
 
 The music of her mystic spell— 
 
 " Silurian ! when the rosy streak 
 
 " Of Morn o'er Joseph's mount shall break, 
 
24 
 
 " Along the depths of yonder glen 
 " Go, vseek the fane of (25 ) Magdalen — 
 n There at her oratory bow, 
 " There dedicate thy penance-vow"— 
 
 Intent upon the pious deed 
 Slowly he swept the hoary mead, 
 Pensive his step, as that which bore 
 Sad Chryses down the echoing shore, 
 Stately, as when the Theban God 
 Up fam'd Cithoeron's mountain trod, 
 Glar'd as a meteor through the field 
 The brightness of his studded shield, 
 His scabbard rang and iron mail 
 Like thunder on the springing gale ; 
 Along th * enamell'd aisle he went, 
 And lowly at the altar bent— 
 Not yet in sacramental vest 
 Array'd the Priest his Monarch guest 
 Espied, and gave him station high 
 Beneath a golden canopy, 
 Where, though enthron'd in solemn state, 
 Fast wept that humble Potentate, 
 And meekly, in repentant mood, 
 Each soft response; and pray r renew *d— 
 
25 
 
 Rob'd in full lawn the Minister 
 
 The burnish'd sanctuary drew near— 
 
 The missal scarcely was unclasp'd, 
 
 Or consecrated wafer grasp'd, 
 
 When straining to her Virgin breast 
 
 A babe in swathing mantle drest, 
 
 Encircled by a glorious flood 
 
 Of light, the blessed Mary stood — 
 
 Engag'd in each mysterious rite 
 
 Around her shone more softly bright 
 
 Each taper, and the Chantry's lay 
 
 In tones Seraphic died away — 
 
 Now to the Offertory turn'd 
 
 The Priest with deep devotion burn'd, 
 
 When on the sacred cloth she laid 
 
 Her victim child — the blessing said, 
 
 No emblematic Host he lies, 
 
 Of real flesh the sacrifice — 
 
 There they partook of (26)carnal food, 
 
 And drank indeed the Saviour's blood — 
 
 The Mass concludes— on Cherub's wings 
 
 Intire and free the infant springs, 
 
 And in his Mother's warm embrace 
 
 Nestles his fair and spotless face— 
 C 
 
26 
 
 But hence each vain unhallow'd charm, 
 The nurse's tale, the babe's alarm ! — 
 See where, to mock each fam'd emprise, 
 (27) One mutilated Lion lies, 
 Which erst upheld a coffin'd Lord, 
 Whom Abbots wept, and Saints ador'd — 
 
 Dark and malignant was the day 
 
 That mark'd the Saxon's early sway, 
 
 When Murder walk'd the barren heath, 
 
 Clench'd his red hand, and gnash'd his teeth, 
 
 Nor thought of penitential vow 
 
 To expiate the trait'rous blow, 
 
 But in the luxury of blood 
 
 Found all that seem'd most blest or good, 
 
 Or when he dreamt of brimmers full 
 
 On couches quaffd from Christian skull, 
 
 And the loud clarion's endless call 
 
 In Woden's bright ethereal hall, 
 
 Or when before the fiery cloud 
 
 Of Thor with fearful praise he bow'd, 
 
 Or haply to the moon-beam pale 
 
 Henew'd his pray'r and amorous wail, 
 
 Until from Rome's polluted spring 
 
 Came Image show, and offering, 
 
27 
 
 When half converted Constanline 
 Grac'd with the Cross his marshall'd line ? 
 And Superstition's Hydra crest 
 Pestiferous stretch' d from East to West ; 
 'Twas then before a foreign pall 
 Content to fawn, to cow'r, to fall, 
 To Saint or Priest the votary fled 
 To snatch his garment's single shred, 
 And keep it as a lov'd heir-loom, 
 More precious than an Angel's plume, 
 His foot on bended knee to kiss, 
 And deem the right no mortal bliss, 
 When Britons too the grace preferr'd 
 Of baubles to their Maker's word, 
 And, jealous of their slender lore, 
 From Pagans screen'd th' eternal door* 
 
 "Upon the billowy ocean cast 
 I've o'er its liquid girdle past, 
 And to the farthest East I've been, 
 And there the works of Mammon seen ; 
 I've view'd the Mosque with dazzled eye 
 Flaring beneath the golden sky, 
 On Kistna's pebbled shore I've sunk, 
 And her refreshing waters drunk, 
 
28 
 
 There the Fakeer at morning's gun 
 Loud prays before the rising sun, 
 And seeks th' eternal soul to save 
 Beneath the guilt absolving wave, 
 Where streams along the throng'd bizarre 
 The swarth Biraggy's matted hair, 
 The while his figure bare and foul 
 Trembles before the tempest's scowl, 
 Where the poor Hindoo crawls from far 
 To fall beneath his Moloch's car, 
 Or where the fierce untam'd Malay 
 (28;Banquets upon his foeman prey, 
 (For such to idol service due 
 Are rites those savage hordes pursue) 
 Thither of old my course I've spann'd 
 O'er many a wild and heathen land. 
 
 But Avalon ! (and thou may'st know 
 Of darker deeds than Fame can show) 
 Say was this less the curse of Hell 
 That on thine embryon blossom fell, 
 With bitter stripes to lash the skin, 
 As if by writhing Pleav'n to win, 
 To glory in the show of shame, 
 With fastings long to waste the frame, 
 
29 
 
 To triumph o'er the ghastly qualms 
 Of Conscience by display of alms, 
 To weep the night in stony tomb, 
 The day in self created gloom, 
 To be by changes Hermit, Priest, 
 Magician, Saint, but Christian least, 
 Thus marring all that else might seem 
 Most lovely on the Gospel's stream. 
 
 Thrice favor'd Nation of the West ! 
 With Life's true word securely blest, 
 Thy fullest vintage clothes the ground 
 Where least its early seed is found — 
 Now, thrifty as the stately Palm, 
 Thou scatterest thine holy balm, 
 Outreaching to each weary soul 
 Thy fruitful arm from Pole to Pole, 
 And though the loathsome grasp of sloth 
 Clung rudely round thine infant growth, 
 With many a rank and noxious weed 
 That did thy ripening hour impede, 
 Full well the picture cheers the heart 
 Of what thou wert, and what thou arU 
 
30 
 
 Blest was the Age whose milder star, 
 
 Prom tiar of Rome reflected far, 
 
 Upon thine highlands dark and wild 
 
 Rested in peace, and kindly smil'd, 
 
 When Gregory sent his Heralds forth 
 
 To face the dank and sullen North, 
 
 And chase the baneful mist away 
 
 Which long had veiFd thy rising day, 
 
 And blest was he who then unfurl'd 
 
 Truth's standard in the western world, 
 
 And Superstition's sons did ledd 
 
 To higher thought, and purer deed — 
 
 Augustine, hail ! repentant Saint! 
 
 As the shorn wether, cleans'd from taint 
 
 Unwholesome, and superfluous wool, 
 
 In spotless beauty leaves the pool, 
 
 Regenerate from the living spring 
 
 Of Grace, with simple offering 
 
 Of chaste and dauntless eloquence 
 
 Thou cam'st to charm the wayward sense ; 
 
 Thou didst to Ethelbert impart 
 
 The light which shone in Bertha's heart. 
 
 And to one Saviour's vineyard bring 
 
 A Christian Queen, and Pagan King, 
 
31 
 
 In fanes that teem'd with heathen weed, 
 ? Twas thine to rear the Gospel's seed, 
 Thy delegated trust to prove 
 By exercise of social love, 
 To make the substance, not the sound 
 Of Righteousness by works abound, 
 Thine was ingenuous Freedom's call, 
 Constraining none, inviting all — 
 Meek Champion in Pelagian strife ! 
 With laurels ebb'd thine holy life.— 
 Nor least thou of the Pontiff's choice, 
 "Welcome (29)Paulinus ! by the voice 
 Of pure Persuasion doorn'd to grace 
 With Edwin's faith the Saxon race, 
 To tread each idol altar down, 
 And with the Cross adorn his crown — 
 Glaston, by (30)Egypt's leav'n defil'd, 
 For thee her port unclos'd, and smil'd, 
 And solitary Saints began 
 To own that man was made for man — 
 But oh ! most glorious for their weal 
 The hour, when rose with charter seal 
 (3l)lna, the prince of pow'r and gold, 
 And gathered in his scattered fold,--* 
 
32 
 
 Proud jewel in Monastic page, 
 Resplendent star of chivalrous age. 
 With heart to give, with arm to save, 
 In council wise, in battle brave, 
 Launch'd from thine hand in splendor new 
 The consecrate asylum grew, 
 Beauteous, as when with columns bright 
 Sol's palace spann'd the arch of light, 
 So teeming with the dazzling store 
 Of starry gems, and burnish'd ore, 
 That meeter far for pride than pray'r 
 Seem'd all that rose, and glitter'd there, 
 Nor less profuse beneath its pow'r 
 Earth yielded forth her fruitful show'r, 
 And herds, in meek submission lain, 
 Chequer'd with 'groups the smiling plain. 
 
 Oh ! baneful dow'r of pomp and wealth, 
 When Avarice with encroaching stealth 
 Beneath Religion's guise crept in, 
 And mock'd his God in secret sin — 
 E'en now with gasp insatiate 
 He thirsted in his golden state, 
 Nor deign'd his eager hand to pause, 
 Outstretch' d forsooth— in worship^ cause I 
 
33 
 
 Better if in the lonely cot 
 Had been his less aspiring lot, 
 Better had been his service rude 
 Paid in the arms of Solitude, 
 Than on Ambition's deadly shoal 
 Unblest to strand his fever' d soul — 
 
 But onward Muse ! through pages rife 
 With patron Kings and Saints, whose life 
 With bright expectancy deeay'd 
 Of sepulture in Glaston's shade, 
 To where the Dane's rapacious host 
 Fill'd as a swarm the Western coast, 
 And through seven sceptred Egbert's reign 
 Forth rush'd with War's tumultuous train. 
 Oh ! rueful task to trace that foe 
 Through ages steep'd in blood and woe, 
 Through fields. that now their garnish'd soil 
 Unrob'd beneath the plunderer's spoil, 
 And villages, whose bow'rs among 
 RevelTd the Murderer's savage song, 
 Through where pursued by curse and blade 
 Mothers in vain for mercy pray'd, 
 And, of his fate unconscious, smil'd 
 In th' arms of Death the speechless child ; 
 
34 
 
 Or where uprose the flaming pile> 
 And crashed beneath the vaulted aisle* 
 And Priests in chains suspensory bow'd 
 Their heads before th' exulting crowd— 
 ^Twas then, ere Alfred's righteous pow'r 
 Had boldly stemm'd that stormy hour, 
 Proud Avalon ! thou wert doom'd to weep 
 O'er many a dear dejected heap, 
 When listless, sad, and weary growii 
 Of carnage and a widow'd throne, 
 Thy sons gave way to secret care, 
 And languished o'er unanswer'd pray'r- — 
 But He, who tends the naked flock, 
 And turns aside the torrent's shock, 
 For Ethelwolf's enlighten'd son 
 The crown of retribution won. 
 E'en now in thought his step is trac'd 
 O'er (32)JEthelingay's marshy waste, 
 Where on to Parret's inmost bed 
 A thousand babbling rills are sped, 
 Where, lurking in the waving sedge^ 
 The robber whets his sabre's edge, 
 Or to the sunless wood with bow 
 Par through the fen pursues his foe — 
 
35 
 
 E'en now is dimm'd the Monarch's zeal, 
 Despondent of his country's weal — 
 The distant war-cry on his ear 
 Pealing rebukes the starting tear — 
 On to the waning strife he leads 
 His chosen band in peasant weeds, 
 Where Albion's denizens the field 
 Of desultory battle yield — 
 Welcome, as in the tempest's rear 
 The rainbow, shines his timely spear, 
 Herald of Vengeance, fleet and brave, 
 He comes to vanquish, and to save — 
 With secret triumph down the swamp 
 They bear him to his lonely camp, 
 There in the gloom of doubt to wait 
 The fitful tide of future fate — 
 Nor long the pause — Lo ! where a sword 
 More weighty gleams for (^)Devon's lord, 
 And, as upon the winds a rag, 
 Shivers the Dane's (34) e nchanted flag — 
 See ! as its Raven honor flies, 
 The last lorn hope of victory dies— * 
 To whither pines the patriot King 
 Fame instant speeds her joyous wing — 
 
36 
 
 By its own depth awhile supprest 
 
 The grateful voice within his breast 
 
 Struggles, as from the smother'd pyre 
 
 First glimmers forth the living fire, 
 
 Now Heav'nward fuller utterance gives— 
 
 Efts crown returns— his Israel lives ! — 
 
 But 'twas not his from solitude 
 
 To sally forth, by Glory sued 
 
 For fresh emprise, on Triumph's car 
 
 With all the glittering pomp of War ; 
 
 A minstrel provident and bold 
 
 He treads the spoiler's fearful hold, 
 
 And charms the unsuspecting throng 
 
 With racy wit, and festive song — 
 
 Now with an Eagle's eye he scans 
 
 Each moated fort, now mutely plans 
 
 Where best his battle axe may reach 
 
 Its centre through the riven breach — 
 
 Full well the coming day repays 
 
 His servitude with budding bays — 
 
 •See ! where in bristled ranks array'd 
 
 His trainband meets in S el wood's glade— 
 
 Innumerous shouts the welkin rend — 
 
 "Hail Shepherd lost!— hail, Frince and friend!" 
 
37 
 
 Forward he points liis brandish'd steel — ■ 
 Forward his death-wing'd columns wheel- 
 Through braky shade, and rude morass 
 Th' unhesitating veterans pass 
 To where unguarded sleeps the Dane 
 On Eddington's deep tented plain- 
 As when aloof with still dismay 
 The trooping deer the pard surrey 
 Entranc'd, ere yet with swiftest flight 
 Bounding they seek the mountain's height, 
 So, when afar that robber host 
 Discerns ere now the Monarch lost, 
 Aghast they stand — they fight awhile— 
 The panic spreads from file to file — 
 These in the van despairing die, 
 Those to the distant rampart fly, 
 Alike inglorious where is seal'd 
 Th' alternative — to starve, or yield — 
 But Mercy, Queen of boundless pow'r, 
 By merit measures not her dow'r, 
 Nor from her hand the suppliant spurns 
 Who least her gracious boon returns — 
 
38 
 
 How pure in virtuous Alfred's breast 
 Her spirit breath'd, ye deeds attest 
 Of heathen pravity, that flew 
 Before the Cross, as scatter'd dew ; 
 Attest it he^the leader Dane, 
 Who, at the font from idol stain 
 Deterg'd, a two-fold title won — 
 (35)A Christian Chief, a Monarch's son ; 
 Attest it laws, whose equal end 
 Now joins in peace for foe and friend, 
 And treasures, that untouched outspread 
 Their lure where spoilers wont to tread, 
 And desert lands, whose thistles bow 
 Obsequious to the Pagan's plough, 
 And cities, in whose spacious street 
 The victor and the vanquished greet, 
 And Science, who from dismal shade 
 Recall' d to walk the classic glade, 
 Her crown rebinds on Isis' shore, 
 And consecrates her treasured lore ; 
 Nor least ye Monasteries ! where 
 Religion sigh'd her lonely pray'r, 
 
39 
 
 And, fostering still the ruin'd tomb, 
 Shudder'd, and spread her shattered plume, 
 But now with renovated form 
 More beauteous since Destruction's storm, 
 Smiles o'er the waste of Death and Scorn, 
 And seems to breathe a second morn — 
 
 But who is this, bright Avalon ! 
 
 That now revests thy tatter'd throne, ~ 
 
 And to meridian estate 
 
 Thy fallen crest doth elevate 
 
 Now rising as the (^ 6 )watery pier 
 
 On Ocean's wilds, when skies are clear, 
 
 Show'ring its sun lit drops with sweep 
 
 Vain boastful on the whirling deep ? 
 
 Tis he of sullen brow and eye, 
 
 And thought of darkest mystery, 
 
 Dunstan — thy sainted history's boast. 
 
 Proud Chieftainof thy mitred host—* 
 
 Erst wont the jocund festival 
 
 To lead in Edmund's princely hall, 
 
 Or gaily give the votive hour 
 
 To dallying court in Lady's bow'r, 
 
40 
 
 The Monarch's peat, the rival's jest, 
 
 Lov'd, hated, slighted, and caress'd, 
 
 Tin til, by Slander's hideous hue 
 
 Depicted to the royal view, 
 
 He fled to scenes of earlier time, 
 
 An exile in his native clime, 
 
 And there to th' Anglo Saxon maid 
 
 Renew'd beneath the woodbine shade 
 
 The vow that all his after pride 
 
 Should centre in a promis'd bride, 
 
 There pouring on the wispering grove 
 
 Breathings of everlasting love, 
 
 Or dreaming how his days should pass 
 
 As visions from a glozing glass 
 
 Reflected to his heedless eye 
 
 In forms of bright futurity — 
 
 But ah! what time with blissful store 
 
 Th' uxorious cup was mantling o'er, 
 
 (3T)A Serpent with th' illusive thought 
 
 Arose, and ban'd the proffer'd draught - 
 
 Of human shape he rear'd his crest 
 
 In Superstition's varnish drest, 
 
41 
 
 Benumbing with insidious tootli 
 
 The vital springs of Hope and Youth — 
 
 He babbled how the soul should be 
 
 Before its Maker sifigly free, 
 
 That monstrous would th' accordance prove 
 
 Of sanctity with woman's love, 
 
 And life. to Heav'n when most allied, 
 
 Was joyless, pain'd^ and mortified— 
 
 Alarm'd, as when a child first hears 
 
 How Death must close his hopeful years, 
 
 The Lover's heart half yielding caught 
 
 The spell, and sicken'd at the thought, 
 
 Till Conscience with unwearied goad 
 
 Subversive o'er her victim rode, 
 
 And to the cell's benighted shade 
 
 His self afflicted soul convey'd — 
 
 Now. fronted to the rushing air, 
 
 He stands in rugged shirt of hair, 
 
 The compass of his house, his form— 
 
 His bed, a stone,— his friend, the storm — 
 
 Muttering communion with the wind, 
 
 The wretched outcast of mankind, 
 
42 
 
 Wearing his hours in worldly hate, 
 Or pangs of disappointed fate, 
 Brooding o'er things that might have been 
 In conscious guilt, and restless spleen, 
 Or hushing th' inward voice of Care 
 With penal throes, and tearful pray'r— 
 And thus his loathsome days had past 
 Clogg'd as a dream with dread o'ercast, 
 And fraught with fantasies austere, 
 Till Death should close his dim career, 
 When Superstition's nightmare prest 
 With equal weight a kindred breast, 
 And in her favorite's hand display'd 
 The mace, by Edred weakly sway'd — 
 Deeming perchance the fable true 
 How Satan from the Hermit flew, 
 And with the smart of chastisement 
 Loud bellowing far the woodlands rent, 
 Now to his minion's dread control 
 The Monarch yields his recreant soul, 
 To Fanatisnvs specious zeal 
 Nor less confides his Country's weaU- 
 
43 
 
 Full well the gamester knows his pow'r, 
 
 Nor fails to seize the timely hour— 
 
 (38)See ! fresh from Rome's o'erwhelming flood 
 
 Pours in tb*. array of cowl and hood, 
 
 And saintly Pride with frenzied hand 
 
 Shrouds as a cloud the sluggard land— 
 
 They hive, a studious swarm, in calls 
 
 Respective skilFd, round Glaston's walls, 
 
 With chisel, needle, knife, or file, 
 
 In scapular of daily toil,— 
 
 Their labour done, in tunic dight 
 
 They sleep, or walk the cloister'd night, 
 
 Or of connubial bliss on straw 
 
 Dreaming, awake— and curse the law 
 
 That e'en to them the charm denies 
 
 Which mated brute to brute allies— 
 
 But marvel not if lure of Rome 
 
 Oft drew them from their tedious home, 
 
 And haply 'mid her glittering show 
 
 The frown forsook the rigid brow, 
 
 Nor vainly in their journeying hours 
 
 Pleasure outspread her lap of flow'rs, 
 
44 
 
 Though not to them was giv'n the right 
 Of shining in the tilting fight,, 
 jVor in the court's voluptuous glare, 
 Or knightly hall their part to bear, 
 Yet Vanity's all ruling charm 
 Would oft the sober sense disarm^ 
 And pastime's treach'rous joys intrude 
 With comelier garb, and lighter mood— 
 For who, in chains of Conscience pent 
 And penance tows, in earnest meant, 
 To Nature hath with eye askance 
 Reverted not the longing glance ? 
 
 But turn we now to deeds that stain: 
 The young career of Edwy's reign, 
 Where Insolence, with pow'r elate, 
 Brims up the cup of Dunstan's fate— 
 From banquet hall ? where many a Peer 
 High revel! 'd round the regal cheer. 
 To seal with festive offering 
 The day that crown'd their beardless King* 
 By purple flush of wine inspir'd 
 And nuptial love, the Prince retir'd 
 
45 
 
 To whither deck'd with bridal state 
 In bowT apart (39)Elgiva sate; 
 Impatient of her lord's delay 
 Anon she blam'd the lagging day, 
 And mantled on her cheek the blush 
 Of fretful hope, with changeful rush— 
 For list ! with renovated birth 
 The fitful snatch of drunken mirth 
 And carol wild, that fill with fear 
 Her woman's heart, assail her ear— 
 u And is it thus/' she says, " my spouse 
 " Yearns to the charm of loud carouse, 
 " And, heedless of restrictions pure, 
 " Which most the plighted troth secure, 
 " With joys, that Love's dominion shame, 
 " Thus tarnishes his tender fame ? 
 " Is it for this I've borne the sneers 
 " Of Nobles in my maiden years, 
 " And brook'd, by kindred blood allied, 
 " The taunting name of lawless bride ?** 
 " And is it thus" a voice replies, 
 •' Elgiva yields to vain surmise* 
 
46 
 
 '* Deeming that in baronial hall 
 
 " Aught stills Affection's inward call? 
 
 " Sooner be curst this morning's rite 
 
 " Which arm'd mine hand with sceptred might, 
 
 " And studded gold, that on mine head 
 
 " Blaz'd as a planet, melt instead, 
 
 " Ere of thine absent lord can be 
 
 " One joy or thought unmix'd with thee— 
 
 " For know that when each Patriot vein 
 
 " Throbb'd highest, and the jocund reign 
 
 u Of circling cup had rear'd its crown 
 
 " Full foaming to the day's renown, 
 
 " And Flattery play'd her under part 
 
 " With silvery tongue, and wheedling art, 
 
 " Methought how bootless falls on me 
 
 " That note, my kingdom's moiety ! 
 
 " Which, void of thee its leading gem, 
 
 " But seems to mock my diadem— 
 
 " For me no feast of goblet vies 
 
 " With banquet on Elgiva's eyes, 
 
 " No taste so daintily divine 
 
 " As that my lip imbibes from thine"— . 
 
4? 
 
 Pledge of the truth of Love's appeal 
 
 Scarcely was set his burning seal, 
 
 When, low'ring on the amorous scene, 
 
 Dunstan appear'd— and stood between — 
 
 WrithM as with hate his brow, and ire 
 
 Flash'd from his eye's deep orb, as fire— 
 
 " What deeds" cried he " are these profane 
 
 " Which shame the dawn of Edwy's reign, 
 
 " What Hecate from lustful hell 
 
 " Upsprung, here works her pois'nous spells. 
 
 u Back to the feast! by courtiers woo'd 
 
 " With vain regret, or by the Rood 
 
 " I'll brand thee e'en before thy Peers 
 
 " As he who their allegiance jeers, 
 
 " And Fame shall write upon thy grave 
 
 " An English King— a Woman's slave' 1 
 
 Palsied, as with an eastern gale 
 
 The pow'rs of vernant Nature fail, 
 
 The fondlers with resilient arm 
 
 Shrink face to face, in mute alarm — 
 
 The Ruffian's hand brief time allows 
 
 For closing kiss, and parting vows. 
 
48 
 
 Or tender glance, which strives in vain 
 To turn aside— and looks again— 
 He hurries on with impulse rude 
 His Liege by fruitless pray'r pursued, 
 And bandies down the tittering board 
 Th' unseemly jest from lord to lord- 
 Woe to his daring soul ! which deems 
 Vengeance e'er rests, or idly dreams— 
 Banish'd he mourns each rigid school 
 Revers'd by Hymen's milder rule, 
 Yet leans on Edwy's future woe, 
 And bodes th' Avenger's overthrow. 
 
 Hide, hide, ye softer Pow'rs of verse. 
 
 The throes which mark'd Elgiva's curse ! 
 
 How spurn'd, derided, and forlorn 
 
 She bore unblest a nation's scorn, 
 
 How railing Monks their Queen with shame 
 
 Decried, and shudder'd at her name. 
 
 Oh ! hide the scene with horror fraught, 
 
 The ravage on her beauty wrought 
 
 By fiery brand— her exil'd flight, — 
 
 And sword, that steep'd her grief in night— 
 
49 
 
 (39*) But where was he, her lingering mate 
 Edwy, twin child of evil Fate? — 
 Unpitied, slander'd, and dethron'd 
 Awhile his severed Dove he moan'd, 
 Awhile to live without her tried— 
 Loath'd his lone being— pin'd— and died. 
 
 Oh changeless fortune ! — Dunstan still 
 Rules paramount a People's will, 
 And still, with flattery gorg'd, the mace 
 Upholds, their glory and disgrace — 
 Lo ! where young Edgar, clotlrd with might 
 Suborn'd, usurps his brother's right, 
 And in Religion's specious cloak 
 Grows grave, and truckles to her yoke- 
 How th' Abbot to the artful boy 
 Listens, and smooth's his beard for joy, 
 While, for debate caparison' d, 
 The stripling Monarch sits enthron'd 
 In conclave, and the law assigns 
 Which Monks in holier bond confines- 
 Quoth he "Lord Prelate! of my soul 
 " To thee I gave the first control, 
 
50 
 
 " Thou in my Childhood's heedless day 
 
 " First taught my heart to fear and pray— 
 
 " Counsell'd by thee I've freely giv'n 
 
 " My substance for the love of Heav'n, 
 
 ** Churches and convents through the land 
 
 " Rais'd or endow'd with lavish hand, 
 
 " And yet these brethren of the hood 
 
 " With deeds licentious shame the Rood, 
 
 " Thus rend'ring our high purpose vain 
 
 " By lives that slur our goodly reign — 
 
 " But not to thee (far, far the thought !) 
 
 " Applies the blame— thou hast besought 
 
 " By earnest call, by reason mild 
 
 " Instructed, threaten'd, and revil'd— 
 
 " And shall I then mine arm withhold, 
 
 " And cleanse not this distemper'd fold 
 
 " From carnal Priests, who thus by gaude 
 
 " Of Satan lur'd, their God defraud ? "— 
 
 Thus spake the Prince, when wing'd with dread 
 
 From fane to fane his fiat sped ; 
 
 Now penance mends the broken vow, 
 
 More darkly scowls each lurid brow, 
 
51 
 
 And beards, curtail'd and bristly grown, 
 Ape in fresh form the thorny crown, 
 And Edgar styl'd " the good, the sage," 
 Supreme adorns the Monkish page— 
 Fie.' on his thievish hand, that won 
 In after time the pious Nun, 
 What day with diadem dispiac'd 
 Dunstan his darling Liege disgrac'd, 
 Yet, jealous for his early fame, 
 With mercy temper'd penal shame ;— 
 For oft he dreamt of golden show'rs 
 On Glaston shed, manorial dow'rs, 
 And pomp, which yielding to the throne 
 New dignity, confirm'd his own, 
 How came the King in royal state 
 Each sacred grant to consummate > 
 ( 40 )And on the altar bade remain 
 For aye, his sceptre rent in twain— 
 But passing by each scene impure 
 Of princely guile, and dark amour^ 
 And debt of wounded pride repaid 
 To Athelwood with fatal blade, 
 
52 
 
 The Muse reverts with tender gloom 
 
 To Edward's reign, and martyrdom. 
 
 Ill fated Youth ! a stepdame's hate 
 
 And violence thy crown await, 
 
 For now expell'd by (41)Mercia's Thane 
 
 Priests to new Orders yield the fane ; 
 
 Still Superstition rears her wand, 
 
 And civil Discord walks the land, 
 
 Tumultuous synods for the state 
 
 In harsh collision legislate — 
 
 But hark ! that crash in conclave hall ! — 
 
 Innumerous laden benches fall — » 
 
 Yet, type of Heav'ns peculiar care, 
 
 Dunstan maintains th' unshaken chair — 
 
 Miraculously safe, again 
 
 He triumphs with despotic reign, 
 
 Sees laws restor'd, himself devis'd, 
 
 And dies ador'd, and canoniz'd — 
 
 But thee, fair Prince, nor peace could save 
 
 ~N or justice from a timeless grave, 
 
 Doom'd at Elfrida's base command 
 
 To perish by a Traitor's hand, 
 
53 
 
 Yet Mem'ry crown9 thy righteous name 
 With wreaths of Amaranthine fame, 
 And miracles upon thy tomb 
 Immortalize thy ruthful doom, 
 "While she, the fiendish Queen, in vain 
 With penance wipes the guilty stain, 
 And finds alone from scorn and hate 
 A refuge in the arms of Fate. 
 
 Now Glaston ! to thy zenith's height 
 Though lifted, eminently bright, 
 Tame hath with scanty light supplied 
 Thine Eiist'ry's intervening tide 
 Till sacrilegious Normans rose, 
 And wak'd with war thy long repose ; 
 Though in that space rag'd factious broil, 
 And Danish thieves resum'd their spoil, 
 Yet, in self potency secure, 
 No tales of ruth thy peace obscure 
 Of Ethelred's inglorious reign, 
 Or hapless Edmund falsely slain — 
 Twain Kings unlike, the base and brar*. 
 With thee attain'd an equal grave. 
 
54 
 
 This, for manorial largess blest, 
 Conferr'd in fear for ghostly rest, 
 That honor'd for the nobler part 
 Of piteous death, and iron heart — 
 With gifts abounding ever new 
 Rich was thy store, thy labors few ; 
 As teems some garden's favor'd soil 
 Spontaneous, or with slender toil, 
 While various climes unite their dowV 
 Of sweeter scent, and fairer flow'r, 
 Thou lured'stto thy wily seat 
 Full fraught, yet ever incomplete, 
 Fresh bounty cull'd from divers hands, 
 Gold, jewels, tapestry, honor, lands — 
 But leaving sumptuous treasures shed 
 By frighted Conscience o'er the dead, 
 And pearly pall, with golden bloom 
 Of apples spread on Edmund's tomb 
 (42)By Canute, when in pious hour 
 He seal'd each right of Glaston's pow'r, 
 Or where on sainted Edward's bier 
 Hi st'ry may drop her parting tear 
 
5b 
 
 For Saxon pride and royalty 
 Long ravish'd from her partial eye, 
 Turn where the Norman grasps the throne 
 Of war-distracted Albion. 
 
 Fresh from (43)Othona's reeking shore 
 He comes, elate w^ith Harold's gore, 
 Yet, doubtful of his rise or fall, 
 Cringes before the priestly pall, 
 But not respect to Prelates home, 
 Nor oaths for Church protection sworn 
 Could Rapine's eager hand restrain 
 From lure of Glaston's georgeous fane — 
 
 Oh temple ! teeming with the store 
 Of ill starr'd shrines and baneful ore, 
 Had less thy weight of glory been, 
 Then hads't thou not thy mammon seen 
 And lands despoil'd in sorrow's day, 
 Nor freedom wrench'd by foreign sway — 
 But now full treasured and desir'd 
 They seek thee, by thy beauty nYd, 
 
56 
 
 Consigned to rule with slighted will, 
 
 Portion of Scorn and Slavery still. 
 
 Now with the hood o'er common fare 
 
 Mingles the hawbeck's martial glare, 
 
 And warriors tell the gory tale, 
 
 While awe-struck Monks grow sick, and quail; 
 
 Vex'd ever by a (44)mitred Fiend, 
 Honors of eld by spoiler s glean'd, 
 
 The service of Gregorian song 
 
 RepeaFd, endear'd by usage long, 
 
 By durance hard of viands brief, 
 
 Wrongs unredress'd, unpitied grief, 
 
 Us'd most to seT/'-inflicted care, 
 
 But least another's curse to bear,, 
 
 No marvel if in carnal woes 
 
 Rebellious oft their spirit rose : 
 
 They show'd perchance how ill could brook. 
 
 Their peaceful eye the Scoffer's look, 
 
 Or hinted for their weal alarms — 
 
 Their answer was the clash of arms, 
 
 Through shrines the whirring arrow sped, 
 Reliques avuls'd, blood idly shed, 
 
57 
 
 Within the altar's bound the war 
 
 Of brandish'd sconce, and scymitar,— * 
 
 With horror fraught those tidings drear 
 
 Of carnage thrill'd the Monarch's ear, 
 
 Who, not unmindful of the pledge 
 
 Of vengeance due to sacrilege, 
 
 By fiat marks some distant clime, 
 
 Where Turstine wails his lavish crime. — 
 
 But, fearful still of future thralls, 
 
 See ! votaries fly from Glaston's walls, 
 
 Till good (45)Herlewinus mounts the chair > 
 
 And makes their better fate his care — 
 
 By personal blandishment besought, 
 
 Or bounty lur'd, in pity brought, 
 
 As truant sheep reclaim'd, retold, 
 
 They rally round their native fold — 
 
 A Pastor vigilant is he, 
 
 Vers'd in the rites of Charity, 
 
 Who now redeems from wolfish spoil 
 
 Hisplunder'd house, and wasted soil,— 
 
58 
 
 But fully [40] m itred Blois repairs 
 The trace yet left which Ravage wears — 
 Nature for him two boons design'd, 
 A Soldiers heart, a Prelate's mind. 
 And, each important trust to fill, 
 To these adjoin'd a Statesman's skill- 
 He lives on History's page diffuse 
 Bounteous as Morn, as Eve recluse, 
 For proudly shows th' unnumber'd roll 
 His deep conceit, and gen'rous soul.— 
 Witness reform' d Monastic laws, 
 And tomes. array 'd in Learning's cause,. 
 The temple's shrine, the Peasant's roof^ 
 Of righteous scheme alike the proof — 
 
 But transient reign of Art and Pow'r ! 
 The sport of one disastrous hour — 
 Oh ! day of all (47) consuming fire— 
 Oh! fane, one universal pyre — 
 Thy Glory sleeps a lengthen'd night, 
 But wakes again to dawning light — 
 To royal Anjou's bidding true 
 (48)Pita, Stephens comes with purpose new, 
 
59 
 
 The scatter'd Brotherhood recalls, 
 
 And with fresh grace each dome installs — 
 
 What time the Prince, at Rome's behest 
 Empower'd to bow Hibernia's crest, 
 Full homage from each craven lord 
 Had gain'd, and sheath r d his bloodless sword, 
 Winding his retrograde career 
 Along (49)Demetia's mountains drear, 
 And many a crag austere and hoar 
 That shades (50)Sabrina's peaceful shore, 
 He hears the harp's glad echo sweep 
 By minstrels tun'd from steep to steep, 
 And carols sung in lauding rhyme 
 To valorous deeds of Arthur's time, 
 How Saxons fled (5l)Valentia's plain 
 (52)Brigantium's castled walls to gain, 
 And how ( 5 3)Germania's recreant Liege 
 Brook'd not the storm of ( 54 )Lindum's siege, 
 Doom'd in the forest's depths to bleed, 
 Or strip each Knight, and harness'd steed ; 
 How many a hoarse and Boreal flood 
 Ran purpled with unchristian blood, 
 
60 
 
 Or flash'd his cross- embellish'd shield 
 In triumph on (55)Badonis' field, 
 And how victorious wing'd his life 
 Its secret flight from (56 Carman's strife — 
 They sang how rites by Elves devis'd 
 His guardian reign immortaliz'd, 
 And amaranths renew'd their bloom 
 For ever o'er his honor'd tomb — 
 Heroic thrills the lyric string- 
 Heroic burns the ravish'd King — 
 Nor rock, nor stream his course impedes — 
 To Glaston's cloisterd aisles he speeds, 
 And to the grave imparts the word 
 Which lifts from earth the giant lord — 
 Fruits of that funeral enterprise 
 New privilege and honor rise, 
 And charter rights of Saxon trace 
 With ancient pow'r the volume grace- 
 Perchance his sad repentant heart 
 QuaiFd at the rod's remember'd smart, 
 Reverting ever with self hate 
 To Becket's sacrilegious fate, 
 
61 
 
 And gave to Avalon's control 
 The requiem of hisharrow'd soul. 
 
 But Time rolls on with broken day, 
 And glooms yet mark his chequer'd way — 
 For scarce, her rescued throne to filL 
 Had Freedom gain'd her native hill, 
 And, self-secure from fresh annoy, 
 Rested, andclapt her wings for joy, 
 When, nurtured in a neighbouring + fane 
 That long had rul'd the northward plain, 
 Envy arose with glance malign, 
 And leering eyed each rival shrine 
 By many a relique now increasd 
 Far wafted from the pamper'd East, 
 Where Lion Richard's arm of steel 
 Sway'd the broad axe for Christian weal, 
 While through the hot and chivalrous day 
 Plum'd morions flar'd in wide array, 
 And the pale crescent dimly shone 
 High on the tow'rs of Ascalon, 
 
 J Wells Cathedral* 
 
62 
 
 Flush'd with the fame of Christendom, 
 
 Now yearning to his Kingdom's home, 
 
 While doom'd through Adria's gulph to plough 
 
 With faithless helm, and riven prow, 
 
 Fast drifted down hy tide and gale 
 
 In vain he plies his leeward sail 
 
 From where the foaming surges roll 
 
 O'er Aquileia's fateful shoal — 
 
 Still by the Patriot guerdon led, 
 
 That homeward waits his wreath-bound head, 
 
 A pilgrim lone or troubadour, 
 
 Fie treads the Danube's castled shore — 
 
 But not the guise of scrip or rood 
 
 Could Austria's falcon- eye delude, 
 
 Nor his soft harp's voluptuous charm 
 
 Her iron soul, and grasp disarm; 
 
 Meanwhile for him the proud, the brave, 
 
 Kings traffic as a barter'd slave, 
 
 To western Henry's vengeance sold 
 
 For graceless pledge of venal gold — 
 
 And hence, oh Avalon ! the date 
 
 Is mark'd of thy declining state, 
 
63 
 
 For Freedom then thy temple scorn"' d 
 (5T)By fed'rate truck of blood suboru'd — 
 Long wont wert tliou a Priest to throne 
 By right peculiarly thine own, 
 Till for thy Sovereign's ransom first 
 To foreign choice that pow'r revers'u, 
 When. for Imperial kin designed, 
 The Mitre with the Crosier join'd — 
 Dread fortune for thy monarchy ! 
 Fresh claims for its subjection vie. 
 And new writ laws episcopal 
 Of other walls thy freemen gall — 
 More just the Dane, or less severe 
 To thee the Xorman might appear 
 Than rules which clip thy soar for gain, 
 And bind thee in a rival's chain — 
 But idle thought, which deems that thou 
 Could'st e'er with tame submission bow, 
 And the last spark of liberty 
 Could in thy bosom meekly die!— 
 Still, loud in Disputation's field, 
 Thou girdest on thy legal shield, 
 
64 
 
 Condemn'd to view thy rightful land 
 
 Subservient to a Stranger's hand, 
 
 Still wrangling strife, and voice profane 
 
 Through each unyielding party reign, 
 
 While Monks may ponder with a blush 
 
 On force, which legends fain would hush ; 
 
 How kindled into boundless flame 
 
 Each factious heart for pristine fame, 
 
 Till with one universal brawl 
 
 Suffrage depriv'd th' Usurper's pall, 
 
 How when with form of ancient pride 
 
 Another had thy chair supplied, 
 
 The fulminating Vatican 
 
 Overthrew the leaders of thy van, 
 
 And on each mutineer oppos'd 
 
 To alien sway thy portal clos'd ; 
 
 And lastly how by poison he, 
 
 Invested by thine own decree, 
 
 Aton'd for deeds in frenzy done, 
 
 And rights by lawless tumult won.— 
 
 Inglorious still, yet ever prone 
 
 To battle for an injur'd throne. 
 
65 
 
 Few changes, save of liar-slier fate, 
 Thy desultory struggle wait — 
 Ages pass on, a tedious term, 
 More ceded laws thy bond confirm. 
 More lands manorial yielded lie 
 Beneath thine Harpy's restless eye, 
 Meantime at will the Papal frown 
 Bows thine insulted honors down. 
 
 Oh Avalon ! for thee might now 
 With weaker praise my numbers flow, 
 Regretful of that old renown 
 Which most endear'd thine early crown, 
 Thy reign, that spunfu another's choice, 
 And pride of independent voice. 
 
 ( 58 )But list that sound ! — it peals again — 
 And seems to mock my pitying strain — 
 Is it of thunder ? — cloudless day 
 Spans the broad sky in blue array — 
 Is it of wind ? — most strangely loud ! — 
 The breeze scarce whispers— trees are bow'd- 
 
66 
 
 The Tor heaves, as a storm-rock'd mast — 
 Shock follows shock — and now the last — 
 "Earth, Earth !" they cry, each nearer wall 
 Gazing with dread — they shake, — they fall !- 
 The havoc o'er, and stilPd the cry 
 Of first dismay, each anxious eye 
 With mute inquiry ascertains 
 What tow'r hath crumbled, which remains— 
 Of this how vast the overthrow! — 
 That brooks the subterraneous blow — 
 Some o'er the ruin idly moan, 
 Others rebuild the shatter'd stone — 
 
 But now methinks a kindlier gleam 
 
 Illuminates this hopeless theme, 
 
 When, with bright fancy animate, 
 
 I muse on court, with ancient state 
 
 (59)By Eleanor and Edward paid 
 
 Propitious to thine holy shade ; 
 
 How first, their visit to proclaim 
 
 The Marshal to thy portal came, 
 
 And for thy splendid carnival 
 
 Would fain have rang'd the banquet hall, 
 
67 
 
 Till, jealous for conventual right, 
 Thou ill receiv'dst the herald Knight, 
 And spak'st aloud of charter laws 
 Long made in Freedom's olden cause, 
 Which e'en the privileges bound 
 Of Princes on thy sacred ground— 
 But see ! arriv'd the regal pair 
 Thy pomp survey with rapturous stare,> 
 Explaining to their present sense 
 Past dreams of thy magnificence — 
 Thy costly shrines, and tapestry's blaze 
 Challenge the meed of endless praise, 
 Thine Altars, groaning with the load 
 Of wealth, by Kings and Saints bestow'd, 
 Nor less thine Organ's liquid tide, 
 Now heaving in meridian pride, 
 Now languishing with cadence low, 
 Warm the tranc'd heart with pious glow— . 
 And here I'd speak of honors shown 
 To thee, which others fain would own, 
 How he, then cloth'd with Albion's pall;, 
 Approacji'd at prime canonical, 
 
68 
 
 And. spite pf queralous turmoil 
 Of rival Monks, denied the oil 
 At holy Chrism, save but to them 
 The favor'd of thy diadem ; 
 Or how when travers'd through thy town 
 Th' expectancy of legal gown. 
 And jarring saws, and stern decrees 
 Threaten'd the rupture of thine ease, 
 Thy Monarch smil'd on homage paid 
 Tor old immunities, and bade 
 His Lords to further ground repair, 
 And grac'd the hall of Justice there — 
 Ts"or be untold a tale of blood, 
 Which slurr'd awhile the sober hood — 
 Perchance inflani'd with festive wine, 
 (No matter who) — a son of thine 
 Had rous'd by contumely profane 
 The vengeance of the royal train-*- 
 With instant sabre they apply 
 The scourge for wounded Majesty, 
 When failing in th' unequal strife, 
 He draws— he aims the deadly knife ■— 
 
69 
 
 (Shall unreveng'd a soldier bleed ?) 
 In fetters he bewails the deed — 
 And yet forsooth thy sacred name 
 Effaces e'en a traitor's shame, 
 And for thine haughty self attains 
 A forfeit claim'd for rightful chains — 
 
 I quit the royal meiny, where 
 Innumerable torches glare, 
 And ostentatious banners wave 
 For rites resum'd o'er Arthur's grave— 
 And now more lightsome aidance need 
 From Truth, for drearier hours succeed- 
 Yet she shall as a morning Star 
 Arise, though "deeply set and far, 
 And blazon forth her vital glance 
 Athwart the vale of Ignorance. 
 
 Oh Avalon ! I've sought to mark 
 
 Thy reign through epochs rude and dark, 
 
 And trod, with hesitating pace, 
 
 Through weal and woe thine hist'ry's trace,, 
 
70 
 
 And if I've wander'd in my way, 
 And miss'd the faithful path of day, 
 How hopeless here must be mine aim 
 Which fain would now that fault reclaim !— * 
 High as thou seem'stfrom vengeful Earth* 
 TJprear'd to breathe another hirth, 
 Still, still my dubious track is laid 
 Through Superstition's listless shade, 
 Where soft luxurious Indolence 
 Twines doating round the drowsy sense*. 
 And Crime, in cloister'd shades unseeiL; 
 Exults behind his saintly screen ; 
 Oh ! lulPd by self conceit of lore — 
 Oh ! loath from Folly's depths to soar, 
 While Heresies for empire vie, 
 And wanton round thy sleeping eye* 
 Thou ever mingling carnal leav'n 
 With pageant services of Heav'n, 
 Where shall I catch one hopeful ray 
 To clear this slothful spell away ? 
 For. ere Truth's rising is decreed, 
 More gloomy Jfate shall yet precede, 
 
71 
 
 And from the restless forge of Rome 
 New fangled creeds and Orders come, — 
 A race, whom Mammon ne'er beguiles, 
 (60)Self opulent in Papal smiles, 
 With soul unmov'd by worldly fear, 
 Abstemious, mendicant, austere,— 
 From door to door they beg or preach, 
 And Saintship's highest summit reach,— 
 Year treads on year— their ghostly pow'r 
 Ascends with each portentous hour, 
 Till they the mean, the needy rule 
 First heard in senate, church, and school— 
 "Monstrous dominion!" Learning said, 
 And down the Benedictine shade 
 Invidious fled— her fiat spoke — 
 Dolts seiz'd the tome, and sluggards woke. 
 But scarce had they their jealous rage 
 Stamp'd on the vindicating page, 
 When, Cynosure of young Reform, 
 De Wickliff stirr'd a fiercer storm—* 
 Waters of Isis ! ye may tell 
 How first his ireful rhetoric fell, 
 
72 
 
 And Friars accurs'd the day that bore 
 The scourger to thine hallow'd shore- 
 But on he strives— his daring soul 
 Now grasps a more exalted goal, 
 And e'en (oh desp'rate thought !) essays 
 To shear the high Tiara's rays, 
 The while with eye of fearful gloom 
 Glaston forebodes her children's doom, 
 And bids them the polemic field 
 Resume, and back his thunder wield — 
 Oh dauntless eloquence— for list! 
 He dares arraign the Eucharist — 
 "' Bread is not Jesus — but the sign — 
 " Its form effectual — not divine — 
 " For, if a God were every Host, 
 " The Church unnumber'd Christs might boast"- 
 Again— " One Priest alone its key 
 " Usurps, to others just as free— 
 " Nor doth St. Peter station hold 
 u Supreme in th' Apostolic fold— 
 ci And as to homage due to Rome 
 " From Albion's King— the thought is foam"-* 
 
73 
 
 Firmly he spake, when some aside 
 Turn'd with a bigot's sneering pride, 
 Too blear of others was the sight 
 At once to bear the dawning light, 
 Yetwak'd, his doctrine half receiv'd— . 
 Doubted,— consider'd— then belie v'd— 
 But how momentous now is grown 
 The soil where late its seed was sown, 
 "When thousands to his garner fly, 
 And Cobham for his truths can die- 
 But I have wander'd from my theme. 
 Or haply mus'd, as in a dream, 
 On scenes that to self-boast redound, 
 And wake again on Glaston's ground — 
 I hail her sons yet more reform'd, 
 By rule subdued, by Science warm'd, 
 Some wearing out with classic toil 
 By Isis' side the midnight oil, 
 While others, tied to spleenish home, 
 'Gainst Lollards build the scurrii tome ; 
 I mark where Prelates of her throne 
 Have rear'd to light the ruin'd stone, 
 
 G 
 
74 
 
 Attest it Feast! in social hall 
 
 Now long reviv'd at (6i)Fromont's call, 
 
 And Dome, where Monks in mystic state 
 
 Confessions lisp, or urge debate, 
 
 Ye mighty Arches, which upraise 
 
 The central tow'r to (62)Tanton\s praise, 
 
 With bells, at jocund holy day 
 
 That steal the saddest heart away, 
 
 And, Music ! to the choral fane 
 
 Recall'd to breathe thine holy strain. 
 
 But on ! from where the ember s fume 
 Rolls its last wreath for Cobham's doom a 
 Through many a dungeon's night, or flood 
 Of tears hard wrung, and guiltless blood, 
 Through Councils fruitlessly conven'd 
 To tread down Schism's tyrannic fiend, 
 To w T here not e'en the blended Rose 
 Sheds one blest ray for Church repose — 
 
 Oh ! say, Reform, thine aim to gain 
 For ever striving, yet in vain, 
 
To 
 
 Wherefore, oh ! wherefore, by thee led, 
 Have Laymen pin'd, and Martyr s bled, 
 And through eight broil-polluted reigns 
 Have Patriots aigh'd in galling chains — 
 Say, was it only for thy name 
 Gleani'd the hot axe, and writh'd the flame — 
 Xo, — 'twas because that deed, the one 
 Thou neededst most, was left undone — 
 Tor when thou strirdst to prune the tree 
 Of Rome's luxuriant Hierarchy, 
 Had'st thou but ta'en the root away, 
 Thy prime had seen an earlier day. 
 Thou Age of blind fatuity ! 
 Whither shall turn thy beamless eye, 
 "What Pilot shall thine helm command 
 Launched on a Sea, without a strand ? — 
 All round is drear, invariable, 
 No Prophets brighter changes tell, 
 And Heav'n, which gilds each meaner form, 
 Smiles faintly through thy darkened storm — 
 Thy compass is the narrow scope 
 Of fear, or incidental hope 
 
76 
 
 Leaning on human pow'r, whose grace 
 With Mammon times coequal pace, 
 And thus suspended is thy soul 
 Between a tempest, and a shoal — 
 
 Wild, fatal creed ! which deems is giv^n 
 To Earth the stewardship of Heav'n, 
 And Saints, ere rob'd in glorious state, 
 By merit supererogate, 
 Who, having stores in Paradise 
 More ample than themselves suffice, 
 Have to the charge of Man decreed 
 The fund superfluous— for his need, 
 Amlmore his casket yet to fill, 
 Are canoniz'd— as serves his will ; 
 Wherewith becomes Eternity 
 A truck, for which Mankind agree, 
 And he, who in the merchandize 
 Bids highest, hath the higher prize, 
 Mean time the Purgatory's dread 
 Low'rs o'er the living and the dead, 
 And weeps th' imaginary Shade 
 Penance undone, and wealth unpaid, 
 
77 
 
 Which, had it Wtinkled in the chest, 
 Hadrais'd the Spirit to its rest; 
 Whence seems an idle tale the one 
 Sole pardon by a Saviour won, 
 When sin, at Man's tribunal tried, 
 Isdamn'd, remitted, justified — ■ 
 
 Oh Rome ! the once free, generous Rome ! 
 What taint succeeds thy Glory's doom ! 
 Erst strong in learning, treasure, blade, 
 And pow'r, that scorn'd another's aid ; k 
 Now art thou crafty, insincere, 
 Stor'd with the spoils of ghostly fear, 
 And dupes a Kingdom's wealth resign 
 To pamper more thy lavish shrine. 
 
 But see ! where rises from the North 
 Truth's gleaming Star, whose rays spring forth 
 Temper'd by steadier, chaster fire, 
 Than wak'd erewhile de Wickliff's ire— 
 Thrice welcome on my waning page 
 Erst rbym/d with deeds of Saxou age, 
 
78 
 
 The brightest of that honor'd race, 
 
 He claims the highest, holiest place — 
 
 I see him from (64) m0 nastic night 
 
 Slowly develop'd into light, 
 
 While, as he radiates, the more 
 
 Spreads into joy each kindling shore, 
 
 Amid a galaxy of foes 
 
 Invidious of his beams he glows, 
 
 Still holding his determin'd way 
 
 Through flying clouds to onward day ; 
 
 Each hill of Zurich, vale, and lake 
 
 Forth into fresher lustre break, 
 
 While Dresden's tow'rs the charm have won, 
 
 And Elbe rejoicing wafts it on — 
 
 " Hear, Nations, hear ! Christ, only Christ 
 
 " For you hath died, for you suffie'd — 
 
 " Your Pontiff, Abbot, Cardinal, 
 
 "Wealth, Steward, ransom— all in air* — 
 
 " Oh Schism ! oh impious heresy !" 
 
 Bursts forth at once the Papal cry, 
 
 " Select thy doom, false Protestant ! 
 
 ^Bow to Rome's tempest— or recant P-* 
 
79 
 
 Vain threat for him ! — shall he despair ? - 
 His God and Christ are every where — 
 That curse, which heavier far might he 
 Than bonds to others, sets Aim free- 
 Let ( G5 )Aleander, (66)Eckius show 
 How menac'd oft th' eventual blow 
 L T nheeded hung a'er Luther's head, 
 Who for the truths he joy'd to spread 
 E'en hop'd, if worthy were the price* 
 Himself might prove the sacrifice. 
 
 But here I pause— who long have bent 
 My purpose to that hour's event 
 Which riv'd the ( 6 ?)second link in twain 
 Of Albion's spell-entangled chain, 
 For Henry comes with stubborn zeal 
 To mix the cup of woe and weal. 
 
 As some proud lion walks the glade 
 Where cries of rude pursuit invade, 
 And pants t' avenge th* uneasy smart 
 Of th' hunter's first inflicted dart, 
 
80 
 
 So broods he i goaded, mortified 
 
 By Luther's test, o'er wounded pride, 
 
 And name assail'd, new sped from Rome, 
 
 "Champion of faith for Christendom" 
 
 Vain glorious rage ! shall Freedom rest, 
 
 Once kindled in his Country's breast, 
 
 And eyes, that now Truth's glimpse attain, 
 
 In fatuous darkness close again? 
 
 Or Learning, drest in brighter gear, 
 
 For nought her sacred temple rear ? — 
 
 Why ? but for dawning wisdom ripe, 
 
 Late hath she plann'd her facile type,. 
 
 And thus a new made form decreed 
 
 Of writ, that he who runs may read^ 
 
 Why? but that man entranc'd might wake, 
 
 And Superstition's trammel break, 
 
 In art, or holy love increase, 
 
 Live in fresh hope, and die in peace — 
 
 But mark th' event — how languish now 
 
 The penance, and monastic vow — 
 
 " Away ! ye visionary creeds 
 
 ^ Of pardons, reliques, bulls, and beads,* 
 
81 
 
 Spreads forth th' acclaim, "false raptures, fly 
 
 " Before Faith's keener, purer eye ! 
 
 •' Ye Princes, lift the arm of might; 
 
 " Arise, avenge your stolen right, 
 
 " For Antichrist usurps your throne, 
 
 " And reigna supreme in Babylon "— 
 
 They have arisen— Woe ! Rome, to thee 
 Bound e'en in thy supremacy, 
 And woe ! that for eventual good 
 Oft Fortune speeds her wheel in blood— 
 A fed'rate band around thee waits, 
 And burns for plunder at thy gates, 
 The German and the Spaniard gain 
 Thy gleaming walls, a grisly train, 
 Prepar'd with frantic carnival 
 T' avenge their (68)Leader's early fall, 
 They waste in revelry of spoil 
 Thine Altars, virgins there defile, 
 First to the tortuous rack eonsign'd, 
 Thine aged Priests in dungeons bind, 
 And him thy Pontiff, him thine all 
 Seize, banter, pillage, and inthrall — 
 
82 
 
 But to my tale— for Albion's King 
 My Muse still harps with fitful string, 
 For him, full vers'd in dark intrigue, 
 And " Guardian of the holy League " — 
 His path th' alternate visions course 
 Of Hope, Despondence* and Remorse, 
 Where Catharine's image ever nigh, 
 Darting askance her watchful eye, 
 Of fond reality disarms 
 Each blissful dream of Boleyn's charms^ 
 While Conclaves his uncertain fate 
 Through tedious time deliberate, 
 Nor yet, to loose his nuptial gyves, 
 The long wish'd leaden seal arrives, 
 For Clement's tiar is balanc'd still 
 On Germany's imperious will, 
 And ill it suits with Charles' pride 
 To shame a Queen, (69)by blood allied, 
 Against her honor to conspire, 
 And glut an amorous foe's desire- 
 Time onward spreads his lazy wings, 
 Nor freedom yet for Henry brings*. 
 
83 
 
 Meanwhile within the Senate's walls 
 
 For prompt Reform each Patriot calls, 
 
 " Shall Laymen, whose proud deeds have gain'd 
 
 " A Kingdom's glory, be constrained 
 
 u To wave their right for ages seal'd 
 
 " On many a life hlood-channell'd field, 
 
 " And cherish every darling vice 
 
 " Of priestly lust, and avarice ? * 
 
 Brave words ! —which though they breathe the tone 
 
 Of liberty for Albion's throne, 
 
 And each might seem a ray to shed 
 
 Still brighter round her Monarch's head, 
 
 Each on his treasury to show'r 
 
 Fresh lucre, wrench'd from Papal pow'r, 
 
 Yet how shall he, before whose eyes 
 
 A thousand barking Scyllas rise, 
 
 Take profit from the favoring gale, 
 
 And aptly trim his flutt'ring sail ? 
 
 For he was cast from infancy 
 
 On Superstition's starless sea, 
 
 And Bigotry's unplianthelm 
 
 Had steer'd him through his early realm, 
 
84 
 
 He for his faith in Youth's career 
 
 Had grasp'd the pen, and couch'd the spear,, 
 
 And to his fancy's ardent gaze 
 
 From Pontiffs reap'd immortal bays — 
 
 " And thus shall dare a wild will'd tribe 
 
 " Of yesterday new laws prescribe, 
 
 " Or domes arraign, by Princes rear'd, 
 
 " By Priests preserv'd, and Saints rever'd?' 
 
 But other thoughts of deeper trace 
 
 This boast of memory efface, 
 
 His baffled hope, his injur'd pride, 
 
 Reliance trick'd^and lust denied, 
 
 And selfish gain, which bursts at length 
 
 The firm resolves of human strength — » 
 
 The die is cast — years onward fly, 
 Each wing'd with some new destiny, 
 Which vindicates another gem 
 From Rome's to Albion's diadem — 
 No longer now with golden fines 
 111 sated Clement's coffer shines, 
 Nor thither cringing Prelates bring 
 Of fruits the primal offering, 
 
85 
 
 No threat'nings dash the cup away 
 
 Which foams for Henry's bridal day, 
 
 Nor alien laws his Church inthrall, 
 
 While he supremely wears the pall — 
 
 Self cloth'd in richest hierarchy 
 
 What throne as his so proudly high ? — 
 
 To Papal faith a Bigot still, 
 
 He rules with more than Papal will, 
 
 And though, as Fortune turns her vane, 
 
 Blind Factions through the Senate reign, 
 
 Still he, ere yet the strife is warm, 
 
 But frowns, and curbs the motley storm — 
 
 Meantime, remote from royal ken, 
 
 In secret toils the subtile pen, 
 
 And ever paints in deadliest hue 
 
 How penance mocks the Saviour's due, 
 
 And, save on Faith's foundation built, 
 
 All works in Heav'n's pure eye are guilt, 
 
 While Converts, peering through the dark, 
 
 Wax warm, and fan the living spark — 
 
 But see ! to cloud this dawning scene 
 
 Of Truth, what fate hath come between ! 
 H 
 
86 
 
 What deeds have stain'd the adverse zeal — 
 How blaz'd the pile, and wound the wheel— 
 How bravely some the embers pac'd — 
 How tenderly the brands embrac'd ! 
 While e'en the placid More with ire 
 Hath flush'd, nor staid the raging pyre — 
 
 Now turn awhile from rack and flame 
 Where Guile contrives her meaner game, 
 And crafty Friars widely tell 
 The Kentish maiden's holy spell, 
 How oft, entranc'd with ghostly pains, 
 She writh'd, and breath'd unearthly strains, 
 Denouncing Heav'n's impendent storm 
 On each mad votary of Reform, 
 On Henry's head that dread decree, 
 The deadly curse of Heresy, 
 And, vengeful of his Queen's divorce, 
 The Villain's end— a death of force — 
 Anon they bruit the gracious sign 
 Achiev'd before the Virgin's shrine, 
 How there each limb's convulsive strife 
 Forebode the last of parting life, 
 
S7 
 
 When chang'd at once her hopeless doom, 
 And Health upspraog with instant bloom. 
 
 But marvel not if Monks deceive, 
 When Prelates hearken, and believe, 
 When Fisher, he the good and wise, 
 Could in his breast the fraud disguise, 
 Nor, ere its heady Hood could mount, 
 The faction stifle at the fount — 
 Rags, and a prison's iron hold 
 For him repay the cheat untold, 
 While graver charges yet impend — 
 Treason — and last a Traitor's end — 
 But scarcely, by the strong axe sped, 
 Had roll'd to earth his hoary head, 
 Or from the block the crimson stain 
 Was wip'd, ere fiow'd the stream again , 
 And there the gay, the sportive More 
 Pour'd out his spirit, and his gore — 
 Congenerous Statesmen ! meek and sage, 
 Both victims of a stormy Age, 
 Ye, who in Freedom's darling pride 
 Alike a Tyrant's pow'r denied, 
 
88 
 
 Alike enjoy your soul's release 
 
 Attain'd by force, and meet in peace, 
 
 Well know who now most just and free 
 
 Shines in th' Angelic company, 
 
 Whom Conscience goads with mortal sting, 
 
 The Martyr subject — or his King — 
 
 Long since hith Henry for your blood 
 
 Before Rome's final thunder stood — 
 
 Further no eye can penetrate — 
 
 But thought may tremble for his fate. 
 
 Now on he drives his vengeful rod, 
 
 Maugre the fear of Man and God, 
 
 While other scourges he hath plann'd 
 
 For Cromwell's instrumental hand, 
 
 Swearing, by every holy shrine 
 
 " These Priests upon a crumb shall dine> 
 
 " Who thus in each seditious fane 
 
 " Have dar'd to beard their Sovereign — - 
 
 " What? shall these overweening curs 
 
 " Cast in my teeth their barking slurs, 
 
 " And tell me, " Dogs thy blood shall lick 
 
 Ci As Ahab's —wanton Heretic / " 
 
89 
 
 " Now by Saint Dunstan I will foil 
 
 " These gluttons on their very soil, 
 
 u And purge withal each rebel dome, 
 
 " Lest bite they, who already foam— 
 
 M Cromwell ! — thou knowest well how Fame 
 
 " Trumpets the public blast of shame 
 
 u On these mad Friars— down with them all !-« 
 
 " Or by my troth my throne needs fall — 
 
 " Shall Superstition's canker-worm 
 
 " Thus nip young Freedom's hopeful germe, 
 
 " And by its ever fretting bane 
 
 " Each spring of Industry constrain? — 
 
 " These black Inquisitors, whose brand 
 
 " Speeds from dark synods through the land, 
 
 " Shall own that, keen as theirs, our eyes 
 
 u Can scan their deathful mysteries, 
 
 u Of which, this is our firm decree, 
 
 " Thou chief Inquisitor shalt be — 
 
 " But hark ye !— first thy scouring hand 
 
 " The lesser, fouler fanes demand— 
 
 ** Thy pursuivants are at thine heel - 
 
 M Go, search, discover, and reveal ! .:"— , 
 
90 
 
 The task aehiev'd, of deeds they, tell 
 Most strangely wild and horrible, 
 Of babes, some in their embryon's hour 
 Extinguish'd, others in their flow'r, 
 And Convents fearlessly debas'd 
 By Monks profane, and Nuns unchaste — 
 But truce to these or false or true — 
 An equal verdict is their due — 
 For instant spoil th' array of gold 
 A thousand yielding doors unfold, 
 Ten thousand frighted votaries fly 
 To starve in houseless misery, 
 The veriest heart of adamant 
 For them might in compassion pant, 
 Much more indignant ire inflame 
 The Priesthood for each brother's shame- 
 But see ! Rebellion leadeth forth 
 Her children from the hardy North, 
 Gnarling o'er masses now unsaid 
 For many a sad ancestral shade, 
 O'er shrines, whose glory to sustain 
 Patrician pride hath burnt in vain, 
 
91 
 
 Foul evidence > by bribery wrung 
 
 From recreant Slander's venom'd tongue, 
 
 And pelf, which seems more confiscate 
 
 To hireling robbers than the State — 
 
 Half clerical, half militant 
 
 Onward they come with loud complaint, 
 
 Where, their impatient cause to plead. 
 
 Priests in rob'd majesty precede, 
 
 And, pictured with the ( 70 )grayle and cross 
 
 On high the tissued banner toss, 
 
 While glimmers from their medley rear 
 
 Th' assertive show of staff and spear — 
 
 Self justified by fair pretence 
 
 Their columns grow more dire and dense, 
 
 From neighbouring shires their sacred line 
 
 The vassal and the noble join — 
 
 More clamorous, as their pow'rs expand, 
 
 Shouts for redress the rebel band — 
 
 Unheeded lifts the battle's yell, 
 
 And storms at Pomfret's citadel, 
 
 Where Darcy to the Royal cause 
 
 A truant sits, in dubious pause 
 
92 
 
 Whether in Conquest's chains to lie>, 
 Gr fight for trait'rous Liberty — 
 Sad Chief! for ever doom'd to rue 
 Th' allegiance to thy King untrue, 
 Thy plot for pow'r too weakly huilt, 
 Too deep for pardon is thy guilt — 
 Let Pity here thy fated woes 
 And knell upon the Scaffold close- 
 But not with Faction's voice suppresfc 
 Doth Henry's heart in mercy rest — 
 There's not a Convent in the realm 
 He schemes not now to overwhelm — 
 Soon as resolv'd— complete their fate,. 
 By force or treaty desolate, 
 Yields to the Plunderer's greedy rage 
 The charm of immemorial Age — 
 All, all denuded cow'r — save (?l)three- 
 Before the Crown's supremacy, 
 And of that numher thou art one, 
 Too proud to stoop — fam'd Avalon ! 
 Of thee as of a maid I rhyme 
 f To live too fair, though in her prime — 
 
93 
 
 Bright were thy days in glory spann'd — 
 Tremble ! — thine Autumn is at hand — 
 I left thee, as a glittering bark 
 Still rising from the distant dark, 
 Looming more fully grand and nigh, 
 And swelling into Majesty — 
 I left thee from Earth's yawning waste 
 To renovated splendor trac'd, 
 And now, in Beauty's zenith ripe, 
 Of her thou seem'st th' unrivall'd type — » 
 Pull largely since that ruthless hour 
 Have spread thy lustre and thy pow'r, 
 For not, as other fanes, art thou 
 Worthy 'neath ruffian spoil to bow, 
 Though dup'd by darling Vanity, 
 Yet are thy faults of fainter dye, 
 The Tempter thou hast most withstood, 
 Cans't pride thee most in moral good—. 
 Far hast thou been above the rest 
 With royal court, and Prelates blest, 
 E'en Henry, once from avarice free, 
 Cast a religious glance on thee— 
 
94 
 
 Bright are the shades that grace thy dome, 
 Thy bounteous (7 2 )Chynnoke, and thy ( 73 ) From e ; 
 The first, yet incompletely wrought, 
 Thine hall to rich perfection brought, 
 And bade each hue prismatic smile 
 Along thy Cloister s window'd aisle, 
 Where Monks in sunny joy reclin'd, 
 Or ambling breath'd the southern wind, 
 Down recreative meadows drawn 
 For them he plann'd the sweeping lawn, 
 Thus tempering with severer gloom 
 Health's active pleasures, and her bloom— 
 The other every sorrowing eye 
 Bath'd with the dew of Charity, 
 Friend of the ailing and the poor, 
 For them he op'd the sheltering door, 
 For them displayed a Giant's skill, 
 And rais'd a glorious domicil ; 
 His prime was as the Oak's broad shade 
 In Morning's dripping vestarray'd, 
 Where all beneath its vital screen 
 Springs into life refreshed and green, 
 s 
 
95 
 
 His age as reverend appears, 
 
 Bow'd by a century of years — 
 
 Nor less may Memory endear 
 
 The spirit of thy later ( 74 )Brere, 
 
 Bound to Erasmus by the tie 
 
 Of mutual lore and amity, 
 
 Or honor'd by the royal choice 
 
 To personate his Country's voice, 
 
 And at the feet of Pius lay 
 
 Meet greetings for his crowning day — 
 
 The next- the last— thy (75) Whiting comes, 
 
 Rejoicing in his treasur'd domes, 
 
 Prince of his home, in Senate high, 
 
 He walks with peerless dignity, 
 
 Before him march with solemn pace 
 
 Th' Upholder's of the gilded mace, ; 
 
 Receding to the farthest view, 
 
 Behind a pageant retinue, 
 
 Round him an host of subjects bend 
 
 The Convent's hope, the Cotter's friend, 
 
 Round him exulting voices shed 
 
 Their blessings on his mitred head, 
 
96 
 
 Tn him with equal trust repose 
 Their claims, perplexities, and woes, 
 Whose daily rites to each afford 
 A prop, a solace, and a board- 
 Review his state, and search his heart- 
 Shall he with these fair honors part. 
 Long launch'd on Fame's transcendant stage, 
 His wealth, domain, and (^)tutelage ?— 
 Call'd to the neighbouring city now 
 To yield, or by compulsion bow, 
 The feather'd test is in his hand, 
 " Sign, and Surrender" the command— 
 He deigns not, scorns to perpetrate 
 The act, which seals his Children's fate, 
 Yet boding still suspended wrath, 
 (7T)To Glaston turns his pensive path— 
 But who are these who stay his course, 
 Grim Messengers of hellish force ?— 
 " Sieze— bind him to the crate— lead on,— 
 " Till the Tor's upmost peak is won"— 
 There for his stubborn pride to die 
 " In chains !" resounds the savage cry— 
 
97 
 
 Oh ! rueful, shameless, murderous scene ! 
 He hangs ( 78 )two faithful friends between, 
 Denied his Abbey's last, long view, 
 His brethren's blessing, and adieu— 
 His sever'd head, and streaming hair 
 High on the clotted portal stare, 
 While far his quarter'd trunk outcast 
 Banes with its taint the passing blast — 
 
 Now Avalon ! thy treasures fly 
 Condemned to various destiny, 
 (79)Fragments of Glory, shreds of Ind, 
 They shiver in the reckless wind— . 
 I leave thee with thy sentence past, 
 A bauble far too frail to last, 
 Thy childish visions, and thy dreams 
 For surer, purer, holier beams 
 Than those which, void of due control, 
 Dried up the essence of thy soul, 
 And turn to where * thy Sister fane 
 Fronts broadly down the distant plain, 
 
 • Wells Cathedral. 
 I 
 
98 
 
 Thy t 8 <0gorgeous horologe points there 
 
 The periods meet for chime and pray'r, 
 
 But not for masses, lifted Hosts, 
 
 And all the pomp which Popery boasts, 
 
 Nor genuflections paid to toys, 
 
 Beads, and Confession's babbling voice, 
 
 Dark rites— a charge I'd fain deny 
 
 Half utter d— of Idolatry — 
 
 There every fleeting hour is told 
 
 From day to day for Israel's fold, 
 
 In sober grandeur met to raise 
 
 The song of undivided praise, 
 
 And smooth their onward course shall be ; 
 
 Till steep'd in Time's eternal sea. 
 
NOTES, 
 
NOTE S. 
 
 Note 1. p. 5. 
 
 " Where Holy Joseph's boasted fane " 
 
 This Chapel, according to the records of the 
 Abbey, is the burial place of Joseph of Arima- 
 thea, and stands on the site of the original Chapel 
 founded by him and his companions. 
 
 " Avalonian Guide." 
 
 Note 2. p. 6. 
 
 u Nipt the ripe thought, and etas' d the scene— " 
 
 It is evident from the abrupt termination of 
 this piece of Sculpture that the whole fascia was 
 intended to have been completed with a series 
 of Scriptural representations, the design was 
 probably relinquished in consequence of the 
 death of the Artist. 
 
102 
 
 Note 3. p. 7. 
 
 " Quaint windows bickering shadows throw" 
 
 At the west end is a lofty triariel window, and 
 on each side of the Chapel are four windows all 
 with circular Arches, the weather mouldings 
 over them are pointed, and supported by a series 
 of Corbel heads emblematically representing the 
 progress of Age. 
 
 " Avalonian Guide/' 5 
 
 Note 4. p. 8. 
 
 6< The central towW uprear'd, and show " 
 
 The central tower, containing a chime of bells, 
 stood on the four great Arches at the intersection 
 of the transepts with the nave and choir— of the 
 four main pillars which supported these Arches 
 only the two Eastermost remain. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 Note 5. p. 9, 
 
 " Or ichcrc the Traveller treads his way y - 
 
 The Materials of these ruins have from time 
 to time been taken away for the repairs of high- 
 ways, a devastation which might probably have 
 continued, had they not lately become the property 
 of Mr. Reeves, of Glastonbury, who has, to his 
 gr f eat credit, preserved them very earefully for 
 the gratification of the Public* 
 
103 
 
 Note 6. p. 9. 
 
 " Island of Avalon ! of yore " 
 
 This Island according to Mr. Eyston's " Little 
 Monument," affixed to Mr. Warner's history, 
 was called by the original Britons " Inis Within, 
 or the " Glassy Island," but in succeeding Ages 
 " Avalonia" from the Saxon word " Avale " 
 an apple, with which fruit it greatly abounds. 
 
 Note 7. p. 9. 
 
 " Thine Ocean hath retraced his way " 
 
 In 1606 was a remarkable flood, occasioned 
 by a high spring tide from the Bristol Channel, 
 breaking over the sea wall, and reaching even to 
 the tower of St. Benedict's Church — Indeed the 
 whole vale of Glastonbury is reported to have 
 been formerly entirely covered with water. 
 
 " Avalonian Guide." 
 
 Note 8. p. 9. 
 
 <s The popinjay of glossy green" 
 
 From a list of vestments, and other ornaments 
 recorded in the reign of Queen Elizabeth this 
 Bird appears to have been a common decoration 
 of the Cope, its being an inhabitant of the sacred 
 East probably accounts for its frequent adoption, 
 
104 
 
 Note 9. p. 11, 
 
 ic Where the gemind Sapphire wont to flare " 
 
 This Sapphire, which was extremely large, 
 encased in silver, and surrounded by jewels of 
 the greatest brilliancy, was placed on high and 
 festal days on the summit of the great Altar in 
 the Cathedral Church, and was known by the 
 name of " Superaltare " — Pope Innocent the 
 sixth, granted an indulgence of ten days to any 
 one who made a pilgrimage to it, 
 
 " Warner's History * p, exlvii. 
 
 Note 10, p. 12. 
 
 " And him, who could its glut withstand," 
 
 The Monks of Glastonbury have been most 
 bitterly lashed by various Satirists for their in- 
 ordinate mode of living — Mr. Warner has intro- 
 duced the following lines in confirmation of 
 
 this — 
 
 " As if that one liv'd well,, and virtuously,. 
 
 " In way of grace, like as he ought to go, 
 
 " The remenent assaile him with envy, 
 
 u And him oppresse with grievous pajne and woe^ 
 
 *i Until he followe like as other do." 
 
 " Barclay's Ship of Fools* 
 
105 
 Note ll. p. 12. 
 
 " Yon dome peers o'er the waste of Time ' 
 
 The Kitchen, to which I allude, is formed en- 
 tirely of stone, in order to secure it from fire- 
 Tradition says, that Henry the Eighth having 
 some disputes with one of the Abbots, threatened 
 to burn it, thereby insinuating a reproof for his 
 gluttony and luxurious manner of living, to which 
 the Abbot haughtily answered, that he would 
 build such an one that all the wood in the royal 
 forest should not accomplish that threat, and 
 forthwith erected the present edifice. 
 
 "Warner's History, p. 14.'' 
 
 Note 12. p. 14, 
 
 u First drifted to Massilias port./ 
 
 M Massilia 7 ' — Marseilles. 
 
 Note 13. p. M. 
 
 " Yon hill the miracle attest,' 
 
 The name of this mound situated about a mile 
 to the south east of Glastonbury is u Wearv 
 All Hill." 
 
106 
 
 Note 14. p. 16. 
 
 " Chaste as Siloam's pool, a well " 
 
 The discovery of this well was made April 
 1825, It is evidently coeval with St. Joseph's 
 Chapel^ and was originally covered with a 
 groined roof, it appears to have heen entered by 
 the Pilgrims through a door way in the South- 
 ern wall of the Chapel surmounted by an elegant 
 Arch in the mixed Saracenic and Gothic style. 
 
 " Warner's History p. 74** 
 
 Note 15. p. 17. 
 
 " How a sad wight by sore disease " 
 
 See Matthew Chancellor's declaration of his 
 cure. 
 
 Ibid. p. 276. 
 
 Note 16. p. 18. 
 
 " Developes at Saint Patrick's name — " 
 
 St. Patrick, after several years labor in his 
 Apostolic Office in Ireland, retired A. D. 439, 
 to this Island, where be spent thirty years in all 
 kinds ot penitential austerities. On his arrival 
 lie found twelve successors of St. Phaganus and 
 
107 
 
 Damianus(two holy Legates of Pope Eleutherius, 
 who were sent here an hundred years after the 
 time of St. Joseph) so wonderful for their piety, 
 that St. Patrick says he was not worthy to un- 
 latch their shoes. These holy men chose St. 
 Patrick for their superior, and informed him of 
 all they knew of the Island. Whereupon, hav- 
 ing brought them to live in community under 
 the same roof, (for they abode singly in huts, 
 dens, and caves,) he took brother Wellias with 
 him, and with great difficulty they went up 
 together to the Tor, where he found the ancient 
 oracle of St. Michael almost ruined, and dis- 
 covering by some records that the Chapel had 
 been built by Revelation, he and his companions 
 spent three months there in religious exercises* 
 during which time he had a vision from our 
 Saviour, who signified to him that he was to 
 honor the same Archangel in the same place, 
 for a testimony of the certainty of which his 
 left arm was withered, and was not restored till 
 he had acquainted the rest of his brethren be- 
 low with what he had seen. 
 
 "Little Monument." 
 
 Note 17. p. 19. 
 " Where oft the Beltinfar and wide" 
 
 The Druidical fire, sacred to " Bel'' or the 
 Sun. 
 
103 
 
 Note 18. p. 19. 
 
 ** Ye ceas'd not in St. David* s hour — " 
 
 About the year 530, St. David, Archbishop of 
 Menevia, having put an end to the Provincial 
 Synod, called the Synod of Victory, took a 
 jou»ney to Avalon, accompanied by his seven 
 Suffragan Bishops, with the intention of repairing 
 the ruins of the Monastery, and again consecrat- 
 ing the Church, but was deterred from this 
 design by our Lord's appearing to him in sleep 
 the riigat before he proposed to consecrate it f 
 who forbade him to profane the sacred ceremony 
 by a second dedication, which he himself had 
 performed many years before in honor of his* 
 blessed Mother. In testimony whereof our 
 Saviour with his finger pierced a hole in St. 
 David's hand, which remained open to the view 
 of all men till the end of the next day's Mass, 
 Hereupon all the preparations for consecration 
 came to nothing, and the miracle divinely 
 wrought being known publicly to all the heareus, 
 increased their admiration, and in conclusion, 
 when the mass was celebrated, St. David's hand 
 was restored to its former soundness. 
 
 " Little Monument,' 
 
 Note 19. p. 20. 
 
 ?? From Mona to Antona's tide" 
 
 " Mona" Isle of Man. Styled by Warton, 
 ** distant Nurse of Song" 
 
109 
 
 Note 20. p. 20* 
 
 " Antona "-— River Avon* 
 
 Note 21* p. 21* 
 
 Shone forth in " Glory " Albian's Queefi, 
 
 " Gloriana "■— the presiding Nymph of Al- 
 fred's achievements, as described by Spenser, and 
 the type of Queen Elizabeth, 
 
 Note 22. p. 21. 
 
 " What time the matrori nymph conveyed. " 
 
 In this combat, Which continued almost a whole 
 day after horrible bloodshed on both sides, King 
 Arthur with the courage and fury of a lion, rush- 
 ed into the troop where he knew Mordred was, 
 and making way with his sword, he slew Mord- 
 red outright, and dispersed the enemy, but in 
 the contest he himself received his death wounds, 
 whereupon he is said to have been secretly con- 
 veyed to the Abbey of Avaloii* by the charity 
 of his noble kinswoman " Morgains," where ho 
 died* 
 
 "Little Monument." 
 
 Sec Warton's beautiful lines on the exhumation of Arthur 
 in the reign of Henrjr the second, 
 
 K 
 
110 
 
 Note 23. p. 22. 
 
 " Design d to seal the Papist's truth," 
 
 It should seem from this legend, observes Mr* 
 Warner, that Arthur was speculative on the doc- 
 trine of the real presence. 
 
 Note 24. p. 22. 
 
 *'• Where on an high and sloping down*' 
 
 See this story related by Mr. Warner. Page 169. 
 
 Note '25. p. 24. 
 
 e * Go seek the fane of Magdalen," 
 
 The oratory of Mary Magdalen was placed on 
 a small Island in the neighbourhood called 
 " Bekery." 
 
 Ncte 20. p. 25. 
 
 " There they partook of carnal food " 
 
 Cum autem pervenisset adhosiioeperceptionem, 
 eundem puerum, Dei filium, assumpsit, percepit, 
 masticavit ; ipso percepto, et communione facta, 
 apparuitloco, o^io prius sedens illaesus et integer 
 ille Agnus Paschalis absque omni macula. 
 
 John Glas. p. 88. 
 
 Vide Warner g. 171. 
 
Ill 
 
 Note 27. p. 2a. 
 
 " One mutilated Lion lies,*' 
 
 Arthur's Coffin is supposed to have been sup- 
 ported by four Lions. 
 
 Note 28. p. 28. 
 
 " Banquets upon his foemanprey" 
 
 The palm of the hand of a fallen enemy is the 
 common prey of the victor among the Malays of 
 Sumatra, and I believe the ceremony of eating 
 it, to be religiously enjoined them. 
 
 Note 29. p. 31. 
 
 u Welcome Paulinus ! by the voice " 
 
 Mr. Eyston reports that both St. Augustine, 
 and Paulinus, the first Archbishop of York, in 
 the Saxon time, and a principal person in Pope 
 Gregory's mission, resided at Glastonbury with 
 the Monks, and made new buildings and repairs 
 for them. 
 
 Note 30. p. 31. 
 
 " Glaston, by Egypt's leav'n defiVd? 
 
 TJnde his temporibus in monasterio Glastonensr 
 ccepit primo eadem regula exerceri quod prius 
 fuerat more ccenobiorum CEgypti. 
 
 John Glas. 88. 
 
 Vide Warner, p. 1-79* 
 
112 
 
 Note 31. p. 31, 
 
 u Ina, the prince of powW and gold,' 
 
 The bounties of this prince towards the Ab~ 
 hey were incredibly magnificent. Besides gar- 
 nishing St. Joseph's Chapel over with gold and 
 silver, and giving it a profusion of ornaments and 
 vessels, he conferred upon it several very valua- 
 ble Manors, 
 
 Note 32, p. 34. 
 
 M O'er JEthelingay's marshy wasted 
 
 " JEthelingay " the marsh now called Sedge- 
 moor, and skirted by the River Parret. 
 
 Note 33. p. 33, 
 
 u More weighty gleams for Devon's lord" 
 
 Oddune— - Earl of Devon. 
 
 Note 34. p. 35. 
 
 %i Shivers the Dane's enchanted flag — " 
 
 " Rtafen " or the Dane's enchanted standard, 
 containing the figure of a Raven. 
 
113 
 
 Note 35. p. 38. 
 
 " A Christian Chief a Monarch's son;" 
 
 Alfred, before lie ratified his mild conditions 
 with the vanquished Danes, required them to 
 give one pledge of their submission by their con- 
 version to Christianity. He stood at the font 
 for Gu thrum their Leader, and adopted him as 
 his own son. 
 
 " Hume." 
 
 Note 36. p. 39. 
 
 (i Now rising as the watery pier " 
 
 I have seen one of these Phenomena at Sea 
 after a severe storm, when the Heavens were 
 perfectly clear, and, when lit by the Sun, a more 
 beautiful pillar cannot well be conceived.. 
 
 Note 37. p. 40. 
 " A Serpent with tfC illusive thought "' 
 Elpheagus, a relation of St. Dunstan.. 
 
 Note 38. p. 43.. 
 
 * See ! fresh from Rome's overwhelming flood" 
 
 About this time the Benedictine order appears 
 tahave been, introduced at Glastonbury. 
 
114 
 
 Note 39. p. 45. 
 
 V In bowW apart Elgiva sate,*' 
 
 TEdwy ventured contrary to the advice of his 
 gravest Counsellors, and the remonstances of the 
 most dignified Ecclesiastics to espouse this beau- 
 tiful Princess, though she was within the degrees 
 of affinity prohibited by the Canon law, 
 
 " Hume/' 
 
 Note 39.* p. 49. 
 
 < ; But where was he, her lingering mate " 
 
 The six following lines were suggested by the 
 recollection of an Epitaph in Tiverton Church, 
 in memory of a Lady whose death happened two 
 days subsequent to that of her Husband* 
 
 " The Turtle Dove can't long survive the fate ** 
 u Or sad divorcement of her dearest mate," 
 '* So, he first dead, she stray 'd awhile, and tried * 
 u To live without him — lik'd it not — and died." 
 
 Note 40. p. 51. 
 
 u And on the altar bad remain " 
 
 One of the Charters of King Edgar conferred 
 on Glastonbury Abbey was, that the Monka 
 should always be electors of their own Abbot, 
 
115 
 
 who was to be chosen out of their own body, 
 and that this privilege, as well as some others 
 granted at the same time, might be perpetually 
 valid, he. at the delivery of them, laid his Ivory 
 sceptre on the Virgin's Altar, after which he 
 divided it into two pieces, lest some succeeding 
 Abbot might dispose of it, one half whereof he 
 left with the Abbot, reserving the other to 
 himself. 
 
 " Little Monument." 
 
 Note 41. p. 52. 
 
 iC For now expelVd by Mercians Thane" 
 
 On the first intelligence of Edgar's death, 
 Alfere, Duke of Mercia, expelled the new or- 
 ders of Monks from all the Monasteries, which 
 lay within his jurisdiction. 
 
 " Hume." 
 
 Note 42. p. 54. 
 
 " By Canute, when in pious hour " 
 
 According to Mr. Eyston's " Little Monu- 
 ment," King Canute about the year 1030, went 
 to Glastonbury to see the tomb of King Edmund 
 Ironside (whom he used to call his Brother) 
 and bestowed upon it a very rich embroidered 
 pall with apples of gold and pearls— The apples 
 were evidently intended in honor of the name of 
 "Avalon" whose derivation I have already 
 explained. 
 
116 
 
 Note 43. p. 55. 
 
 "Fresh from Othona's reeking shore '' 
 
 " Othona "—Hastings. 
 
 Note 44. p. 5<6. 
 
 cf Vex'd ever by a mitred Fiend/' 
 
 Turstine, the Abbot of this time, shamefully 
 wasted the revenues of the Abbey, and altered 
 several of the ancient customs and statutes of the 
 House. Among other things he compelled his 
 Monks to lay aside the old Gregorian song, used 
 by that Monastery time out of mind, and imposed 
 upon them a new sort of Church song invented 
 by one William Fiscamp a Norman—He pinched 
 them in their diet, and in a word so tyrannized, 
 Qver them that they refused to submit to many 
 of his innovations. 
 
 " Little Monument.'^ 
 
 Note 45. p. 57. 
 
 " Till Good Herlewinus mounts the chair" 
 
 This good Prelate not only purchased several' 
 of the possessions that had been alienated in the 
 Conqueror's time from his Abbey, but likewise 
 began to build the Church anew, which, having 
 stood for nearly four hundred years, was begin- 
 ning to decay. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
117 
 
 Note 46. p. 58. 
 
 " But fully mitred Blois repairs ' y 
 
 Henry de Blois, from his relationship both to 
 Henry the First and Stephen, had ample interest 
 ftl Court to enable him to render great benefits to 
 Glastonbury, which he did, not only by many 
 costly presents, but also by obtaining the confir- 
 mation of many Manors, 
 
 Ibid, 
 
 Note 47, p. 58, 
 
 u Oh! day of all consuming fire — " 
 
 This fire happened A. D. 1171. 
 
 Note 48. p. 58. 
 
 M Fitz Stephens comes with purpose new," 
 
 After this disaster Henry the Second sent 
 one of his Chamberlains, Ralph Fitz Stephens, 
 to take care of the revenues of the Abbey, who 
 began, and in a manner finished the new church 
 and other offices of the house. 
 
 Note 49. p. 59. 
 
 " Along Dcmetia's mountains drear ^ 
 
 u Demetia"— South Wales, 
 
118 
 
 Note 50. p. 59. 
 
 " That shades Sabrina's 'peaceful shore" 
 
 " Sabrina" — River Severn. 
 
 Note 51. p. 59. 
 
 u How Saxons fled Valentias plain" 
 
 " Valentia''— Northumberland. 
 
 Note 52. p. 59. 
 
 " Brigantium's castled walls to gain" 
 
 " Brigantium" — York. 
 
 Note 53. p. 59. 
 
 u And how Germania's recreant Liege'* 
 
 " Germania's Liege" — Cherdick. 
 
 Note 54. p. 59. 
 
 " Brook'd not the storm of Lindunis siege" 
 
 " Lindum" — Lincoln, 
 
119 
 
 Note 55. p. 60. 
 " In triumph on B adonis 9 fie Id " 
 « Badonis"— Bath—Baden Hill. 
 
 Note 56. p. 60. 
 
 *' Its secret flight from Carman's strife — " 
 
 " Carman"— now supposed to be Camerton, 
 near Bath. All which Victories (particularly the 
 last) Popish Authors attribute to the image of 
 the Virgin Mary, which Arthur wore over his 
 armour, and painted on his Standard. 
 
 Note 57. p. 63. 
 
 By fed 'rate truck of blood suborn' d — " 
 
 Mr. Eyston's account of the transaction is as 
 
 follows Henry the sixth, the then Emperor 
 
 of Germany, enjoined Leopold Duke of Austria, 
 who had taken the King prisoner, that one of 
 the conditions of his release should be to make 
 Savaricus, who was kin to the Emperor (and at 
 that time in England, Archdeacon of Northamp- 
 ton) Bishop of Bath and Wells, and to annex 
 the Abbotship of Glastonbury to that Bishop- 
 rick. To effect this, Henry de Saliaco, at that 
 time Abbot of Glastonbury, was promoted to the 
 See of Worcester, and Savaricus was preferred 
 to the Bishoprick of Wells, having previously 
 
120 
 
 consented to restore to the Crown the City of 
 Bath. Upon the nomination of Savaricus to 
 the Abbotship of Glastonbury, a great controversy 
 ensued, and the Monks elected William Pica 
 A. D. 1199. for their Abbot, but this election 
 was very hotly contested, even to excommunica- 
 tion, whereupon William Pica repaired to 
 Rome, where he died> and is supposed to have 
 b^en poisoned by the means of Savaricus. 
 
 Note 58> p. 65. 
 
 f! But list that sound ! — it peals again — * 
 
 This Earthquake took place A. D. 1276, it 
 threw down the Tor, and did great damage to 
 the Abbey. 
 
 Note 59. p. 66. 
 
 '* By Efeanor and Edward paid" 
 
 See Warner's History* Page 196. 
 
 Note 60. p, 71. 
 
 "Self opulent in Papal smiles?' 
 
 These orders of Friars, \\t * Franciscans, Do- 
 minicans, Carmelites, and Augustines, seem to 
 have been sent from Rome with a view of re- 
 forming by their example the extremely dissi- 
 pated state of the Monks at this period. 
 
121 
 
 Note 61. p. 74. 
 
 u Now long revived at Fromonfs call" 
 
 " Geoffrey Frornont," made Abbot 1303, first 
 began to build the great Hall and the Chapter 
 House, the latter, a spacious apartment where 
 the Monks met for the acknowledgement and 
 correction of their faults, and for spiritual con- 
 fession, as well as for the determination of those 
 temporal concerns which required the consent of 
 the whole body of members. 
 
 " Little Monument." 
 
 Note 62. p. 74. 
 
 " The central tow^r to Tantons praise," 
 
 "Walter de Tanton" his successor built the 
 front of the choir, as well as the Central tower. 
 
 ib. 
 
 Note 63. p. 77, 
 
 " Which, had it tinkled in the chest" 
 
 These were part of the positive terms by which 
 Tetzel, the Dominican Inquisitor, described the 
 benefits of Indulgences, when sent by Leo the 
 tenth to enforce them for the support of the 
 Teutonic Knights. 
 
 " Milner's Church History" Vol, 4. Part 1. 
 Page 288. 
 
 t 
 
122 
 
 Note 64. p. 78. 
 
 " I see him from monastic night 
 
 " Monastic night" — the Augustine Monastery 
 at Erfurt, where Luther not only gave the closest 
 attention to his ecclesiastical studies, but also 
 personally submitted to the severest discipline. 
 
 " Melancthon's Life of Luther." 
 
 Note 65. p. 79. 
 
 Aleander was appointed joint Nuncio with 
 Eckius, in the particular affair of Luther. 
 
 "Milner's Church History" Vol. iv. part 2. 
 
 Page 463. 
 
 Note 66. p. 79. 
 
 " Let Aleander, Eckius shore " 
 
 The Bull in condemnation of Luther's heresy 
 was brought by Eckius— Though issued from the 
 Papal Chamber June 15th. 1520, it was not 
 published in Germany till a considerable time 
 afterwards, and reached Wittemburg in the be- 
 ginning of October. 
 
 " Melancthon's Life of Luther." 
 
 Note 67. p. 79. 
 
 * Which riv'd the second link in twain" 
 
 De Wickliff may be said to have riven the 
 first link, and Luther the second of that super- 
 stitious bondage by which the earlier periods of 
 English history have been so notoriously encum- 
 bered. 
 
123 
 
 Note 68. p. 81. 
 
 <C T' avenge their Leader s early fall '/' 
 
 "The Duke of Bourbon" killed May 6th. 1527, 
 as he was planting a scaling ladder against the 
 walls. 
 
 Note 69. p. 82. 
 
 " To shame a Queen, by blood allied," 
 The Emperor Charles hearkened to the ap- 
 plications of Catharine, his Aunt; and promising 
 her his utmost protection, exhorted her never to 
 yield to the malice or persecutions of her ene- 
 mies. 
 
 " Hume/' 
 Note 70. p. 91. 
 " And pictured with the grayh and cross *' 
 " Grayle " Christ's blood. 
 
 Note 71. p. 92. 
 " All, all denuded cow'r— save three—-" 
 " Colchester, Reading, Glastonbury." 
 
 Note 72. p. 94. 
 " Thy bounteous Chynnoke, and thy Frome ;" 
 John de Chynnoke elected Abbot 1374, built 
 the Cloisters to the south of the Church, the 
 Dormitory, and Fratery j he perfected the great 
 Hall and Chapter House, begun by Abbot 
 Fromont, and also purchased several meadows 
 for the recreation of the Monks. 
 
 "Warner's History p. 210." 
 
124 
 
 Note 73. p. 94. 
 
 " Thy bou?iteous Chynnoke, and thy Frome;" 
 
 Nicholas de Frome built the Domus Miseri- 
 cordire, the Abbot's great audience Chamber, 
 and many other needful offices — He lived to the 
 advanced age of a hundred, and died after a 
 reign of thirty-six years, A. D. 1456. 
 
 Ibid. p. 211. 
 
 Note 74. p. 95. 
 
 " The spirit of thy later Br ere " 
 
 This Abbot elected 1493, erected the lodgings 
 of the secular Priests, arched the aisles of the 
 great Church, and began St. Edgar's Chapel 
 on the south side of it. He founded an Alms- 
 house, and Chapel, north of the Abbey, for wo- 
 men, and also that of the Lady of Loretto. 
 
 " Avalonian Guide." 
 
 Abbot Brere, with others, was sent Ambassa- 
 dor to Rome, A. D. 1503, to congratulate Pius 
 the third, on his election, and to pay his and 
 the nation's obedience to the holy see. 
 
 Harpsfield's Hist/ Eccles. p. 648, 
 
 Note 75. p. 95. 
 
 c< The next— the last — thy Whiting comes," 
 
 Mr. Eyston reports that at home Abbot Whit- 
 ing's table, attendance, and officers were an honor 
 to the nation— When he went abroad, which he 
 seldom did but to national synods, general chap- 
 ters, and to Parliament, he was attended by 
 nearly six score persons. Weekly upon Wed- 
 nesdays and Fridays all the poor in the country 
 were relieved by his particular charity. 
 
125 
 
 Note 70. p. 90. 
 
 " His wealthy domain, and tutelage ?— " 
 
 His apartment in the Abbey was a kind of 
 well disciplined Court, where the sons of Xoble- 
 men and Gentlemen were sent for virtuous 
 education. 
 
 Note 77. p. 93. 
 
 (i To Glaston turns his pensive path — " 
 
 That he should have been dismissed, and suf- 
 fered to go at large after refusing to sign the 
 surrender of his Abbey, makes the subsequent 
 execution of Whiting doubly atrocious. 
 
 Note 78. p. 97. 
 
 w He hangs two faithful friends between," 
 
 The Treasurer, and under Treasurer of the 
 Abbey, " John Thorne, and Roger James.'' 
 
 Note 79. p. 97. 
 
 u Fragments of Glory, shreds of Ind" 
 
 It is not worth while enumerating all the 
 sacred reliques of Avalon. There were many 
 referring to the Old Testament, viz; some of 
 
126 
 
 the Manna in the Wilderness, of the Remains 
 of Daniel, of the dust of the three children cast 
 into the fiery furnace, and one bone of one of 
 the three, &c. — Some of those referring to the 
 New, were fragments of the stable in which 
 Christ was born, of the Mantle in which he was 
 swathed, part of the gold offered to him by the 
 Magi, one of the water pots of the Marriage in 
 Cana, one of the thorns of our Saviour's crown, 
 and some of the stones on which he stood when 
 he ascended into Heaven, &c. 
 
 " For a further list of these see Warner's 
 History, p. lxii. 
 
 Note 80. p. 98. 
 
 " Thy gorgeous horologe points there " 
 
 This Clock, now in the north transept of Wells 
 Cathedral, was made by one of the Monks of 
 Glastonbury. The dial plate is divided into 
 twenty-four hours, exhibiting the diurnal and 
 nocturnal time, with the solar, lunar, and other 
 astronomic motions. 
 
 " Avalonian Guide." 
 
 Above the dial plate is an apparatus consisting 
 of two pieces of curved wood, which bear four 
 figures (two on each piece) equipped for tourna- 
 ment, and so contrived by the wheel which con- 
 nects it with the clock, as to continue crossing 
 each other with great rapidity, as if running 
 at the ring, and striking at every hour. 
 
 " Warner's Hist. p. li " 
 
MINOR POEMS. 
 
MINOR POEMS. 
 
 LINES TO AN INDIAN FRIEND. 
 
 Where the streaky morning breaks, 
 And his round the Shepherd takes, 
 Where the purple heather blows, 
 And the fern expanded grows, 
 Where the rich and fragrant broom 
 Pours its flood of golden bloom, 
 Where the whortleberry creeps, 
 And the scarlet lichen peeps, 
 There Pve marked a path for thee, 
 When thou com'st, my friend, to me. 
 
130 
 
 Where the twisted bugle far 
 
 Winds the matin note of war, 
 
 Where o'er plain so parch'd and drear 
 
 Bounds the wild affrighted deer, 
 
 Where the fox, so coy and still, 
 
 Crouches 'neath the craggy hill, 
 
 And the bear of sluggish hoof 
 
 Stands upon the rock aloof, 
 
 There our way, my friend, hath been 
 
 O'er that strange and barren scene. 
 
 Where at noon the herd is laid 
 'Neath the weeping alder's shade, 
 And the holly, green and bright, 
 Glitters in the silvery light, 
 Where the tangled boughs among 
 Tunes the thrush her trembling song, 
 And the ivy's velvet cloak 
 Mantles round the sinewy oak, 
 There I've mark'd a path for thee, 
 When thou com'st, my friend, to me, 
 
1S1 
 
 Where beneath the prickly brake 
 Sleeps the coil'd and freckled snake, 
 And the lizard rest doth find 
 On the bamboo's knotted rind, 
 Where the paroquet on high 
 From the palm repeats her cry, 
 And the squirrel, pied with brown, 
 Smooths his breast of snowy down, 
 There our way, my friend, hath been 
 O'er that strange and chequer'd scene. 
 
 Where at evening sounds the horn 
 Joyful o'er the gather'd corn, 
 And the reaper homeward goes, 
 Chanting blithe, to seek repose, 
 Where, with sage and sullen scowl, 
 Flits the lone and pond'rous owl, 
 And the watch dogs' distant bark 
 Speaketh of approaching dark, 
 There I've mark'd a path for thee, 
 When thou corn st, my friend, to me. 
 
132 
 
 Where upon the vaporous marsh 
 Croaks the frog in discord harsh, 
 And countless flies from fiery wing 
 Light around the traveller fling, 
 Where the paddy bird doth stand, 
 Queen of every watery land, 
 And with alabaster plumes 
 At eve the shadow'd sedge illumes, 
 There our path, my friend, hath been 
 O'er that strange and chequer'd scene. 
 
 Where beside the ember pale 
 Tells the Moor his chivalrous tale, 
 And the jetty maidens take 
 Pastime in the festive wake, 
 Where the jackall guard doth keep 
 O'er the new sepulchral heap, 
 And the wolf, with dismal howl, 
 'Neath the moon-beam loves to prowl, 
 There our way, my friend, hath been 
 O'er that strange and chequer'd scene. 
 
133 
 
 We together oft have trod 
 Burning sand, and swampy sod, 
 And on palfrey swift and bold 
 Chas'd the wild boar from his hold, 
 We have stemm'd the torrent's tide, 
 We have rov'd the Ocean wide, 
 We have reach'd our journey's end* 
 We have wept our parted friend, 
 And in all the war of life 
 We have shar'd one common strife ; 
 
 Now no longer we will sigh 
 For our fresh and native sky, 
 Now no longer we will roam 
 From our dear enchanting home> 
 Where Affection leaning by 
 Beams with soft and liquid eye, 
 Where the cup of Joy and Health 
 Savours not of Eastern wealth, 
 But Content and Plenty pour 
 Blessings on our social hour* 
 
 at 
 
134 
 
 IN MEMORY OF AN OFFICER SHOT ON PARADE 
 
 BY ONE OF HIS OWN MEN, WHO WAS 
 
 EXECUTED FOR THE CRIME. 
 
 At dawn upon a river's bank, 
 
 Glitt'ring in golden pride, 
 On bended knee a Moslem sank, 
 
 And thus to Allah cried. 
 
 " Oh ! Allah ! Allah ! thou'rt my Lord, 
 
 " My only God art thou, 
 <c And thou, the Herald of his word, 
 
 " Mahomet, hear my vow ! 
 
 u Thrice bow'd beneath the wave I kneel, 
 " Now, fallen thrice before thee, 
 
 u I'll grasp thy book with purest zeal, 
 " And silently adore thee'' — 
 
 The orison was scarcely past, 
 
 When from the distant plain 
 Full on his ear the bugle's blast 
 
 Muster d the martial train — 
 
135 
 
 And where is npw his cleansed hand 
 Fresh from the crystal flood? 
 
 Full sure it speeds the leaden hrand — 
 To spill a Christian's blood — 
 
 And thou, my true and trusty friend, 
 Where is thy spirit gone ? — 
 
 It weeps th' Assassin's shameful end 
 Before the Saviour's throne ; 
 
 For there thy bosom pure and meek 
 
 May pity still retain, 
 While he in saddest pray'r may s^ek 
 
 His Allah's grace in vain — 
 
136 
 
 Routs Rimes. 
 
 In a deep wood I found a nameless stream* 
 Whispering sweet music doth it idly flow, 
 And on its banks a thousand flow'rets grow, 
 Whose many hued reflections 'neath the beam 
 Of noontide sun in rich confusion play; 
 And sometimes doth the stately swan float by, 
 Sometimes in troops the antlerd stags draw nigh, 
 Quench their deep thirst, then lightly bound away; 
 Myriads of birds at Evening's balmy hour 
 Its willowy bowers with broken music fill, 
 And all things lovely seek the happy rill, 
 Lend it their charms, and feel its soothing power— 
 Oh ! that my life might thus serenely glide, 
 Reflecting peaceful images on its pure tide. 
 
137 
 
 Bouts Rimes. 
 
 How sweet to look on thee, thou silvery stream, 
 As through this vale thy eddying currents flow, 
 Where willows weep, and dew-eyed violets grow 
 In fullest fragrance 'neath the noontide beam — 
 Scenes of delight ! where now in boyish play 
 I watch each scaly tribe, that glitters by 
 Spurning the proffer'd bait, or lingering nigh 
 Cull the wild rose, then dash the flower away 
 To dance upon thy bosom— Happy hour ! 
 While all is peace— but Winter soon shall fill 
 Thy banks with desolation, when each rill 
 Shall lie unheeded 'neath its freezing pow'r, 
 And y where thy sunny waves now love to glide, 
 Teach me the fatal truth of life's uncertain tide, 
 
138 
 
 TO THE HAREBELL. 
 
 Sweet Flow'r ! tho' many a ruthless stom 
 Sweep fiercely o'er tliy slender form, 
 And many a sturdier plant may bow 
 In death beneath the tempest's blow, 
 Submissive thou, in pensive guise, 
 Uninjur'd by each gale shalt rise, 
 And, deck't with innocence, remain 
 The fairest Tenant of the plain- 
 So, conscious of its lowly state, 
 Trembles the heart assail'd by Fate, 
 Yet, when the fleeting blast is o'er, 
 Settles as tranquil as before, 
 While the proud breast no peace shall find, 
 No refuge, for a troubled mind. 
 
139 
 
 THOUGHTS ON A WINTER'S EVENING. 
 January 2M 1823. 
 
 Stern Winter now, with fleecy wreath 
 
 And shiver'd mantle dight, 
 Stalks through the desert sky, beneath 
 
 The pale Moon's gloomy light ; 
 
 The reckless blast drives o'er the plain, 
 
 Now holds the storm aloof, 
 Now vainly strives a breach to gain 
 
 Within our sheltring roof ; 
 
 Oppos'd with noisy force the bar 
 
 To this tempestuous rout, 
 Hath music in its very jar 
 
 That mocks the war without ; 
 
 Yet whilst light mirth and laughter keea 
 
 Our careieso hours employ, 
 A secret pray'r will come between. 
 
 And mingle in our joy, 
 
140 
 
 A thought for those who scarce may find 
 
 Hest on the raging deep, 
 Doom'd 'neath the Pole's inclement wind 
 
 Their cheerless watch to keep ! 
 
 The native board they lately grac'd 
 
 With scanty smiles is drest, 
 By sudden sense of danger chas'd, 
 
 Not spoken, yet exprest. 
 
 Lo ! Science waits on Albion's strand 
 
 To greet her chosen crew, 
 And twines the wreath with trembling hand 
 
 To patriot Courage due- 
 Soon may their glorious meed be won ! 
 
 Thro' many a joyous year 
 Long may their earthly course be run, 
 
 A peaceful, calm career, 
 
 Still smoothly flowing on to where 
 
 The promised harbour lies, 
 Supreme reward of toil and care, 
 
 'Mid pure, unclouded skies! 
 
341 
 
 ON THE GRAVE OF A SUICIDK, 
 
 Here, on this rude, unconsecrated ground 
 No sculptur'd stone thy graceless name declares, 
 No pious token, save this way-worn mound, 
 The lasting record of thy ruin bears. 
 
 Alas ! for thee none toll'd the passing knell, 
 With decent turf none cloth'd thy shapeless tomb> 
 But aa a land mark of thy grave they tell, 
 Unpitying, or unconscious of thy doom, 
 
 Deluded ! who with self destructive hand 
 Could'st seek in Death a balm for mortal ill, 
 Unmindful that the deed by Him is scann'd, 
 Who hath to give and take, alike the will. 
 
 To thy sad mem'ry be this tablet rear'd, 
 And this the tribute to thy desp'rate fame — 
 " Stranger! here lies, who though to live he fear'd, 
 (< Yet £ar'd to die, and meet his God ivith shame" 
 
142 
 
 LINES OCCASIONED BY THE SUDDEN DEATH 
 OF A POOR OLD WOMAN. 
 
 She pass'd me— and though bent her form, 
 
 And haggard was her mien, 
 As one who through Life's billowy storm 
 
 No sunshine hour had seen, 
 
 Though with a sad uplifted eye 
 
 She bless'd me as she went, 
 Methought her speech and lengthened sigk 
 
 No real feeling meant ; 
 
 But since she through this vale of woe 
 
 Has clos'd her dim career, 
 I oft on her a thought bestow,. 
 
 And wish her pray'r sincere ; 
 
 For many a word in earnest said 
 
 May go unheeded by, 
 Till Death has on its mem'ry laid 
 
 A lasting sanctity. 
 
143 
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF ASCENSION ISLAND* 
 
 I stood upon Ascension's Isle, 
 That dark and dreary spot, 
 
 Where herb or flow'ret rarely smile. 
 To cheer her friendless lot — 
 
 Bituminous and shapeless rose 
 
 The craggy scene around, 
 Unwaken'd was its dread repose 
 
 By living form or sound, 
 
 Save where along the height, o'ercast 
 
 With blue of solemn shade, 
 111 sated with his sear repast, 
 The meager Chamois stray'd, 
 
 Or where, some omen dire to bring 
 
 Far o'er the watery way, 
 The Albatross his silvery wing 
 
 Turn d to the orb of Day — 
 
144 
 
 Onward 1 trod a rude defile 
 With slaty fragments strew'd, 
 
 And scarce had through one tedious mile 
 My dubious path pursu'd, 
 
 When lo ! a glen beneath me lays 
 Clasp'd by the rock's embrace, 
 
 The stunted shrub its tangled spray 
 Swept o'er that lonely place ; 
 
 Then soon upon mine ear there fell 
 
 A keen and piteous cry, 
 Discordant as the Jackal's yell, 
 
 "Whose hunted prey is nigh ; 
 
 There many a sea fowl near her brood 
 
 Her clamorous round began, 
 Or o'er them in defiance stood, 
 
 And brav'd th ? approach of Man ; 
 
 It was a sight most rare to see 
 
 Beneath each rocky heap 
 Those birds, by nature wild and free, 
 
 Such fearless vigil keep ; 
 
145 
 
 And thus methought " Thy guardian hand 
 Oh Lord ! who shall arraign ? 
 
 Which shields alike the desert land, 
 Or clothes the golden plain — 
 
 For these thy creatures safety find 
 Here 'neath thy shelt'ring powr, 
 
 While, scar'd by Man, the tamer kind 
 Oft fly the closest bow'r." 
 
 XV 
 
146 
 
 the mother's invocation from heaven 
 to her chixd. 
 
 " Come, come, put on th' immortal robe, 
 " Unloose each earthly tether, 
 
 " And we will tread the starry globe 
 " On joyous feet together; 
 
 " I'll show thee where the Mornings red 
 
 " With never fading hue, 
 " Shall ope her lap, with roses spread 
 
 " Beneath thy nearer view ; 
 
 " 111 show thee where the Sun his beam 
 " Pours forth with endless light, 
 
 " So radiant, that by it may seem 
 66 Thy present day as night; 
 
 " 111 lead thee where thy crown i« hung 
 
 " To greet thy coming day, 
 " And where thy golden harp is strung 
 
 " To join the Seraph's lay. 
 
147 
 
 " Come then put on tli' immortal robe, 
 " Unloose each earthly Aether, 
 
 <r And we will tread the starry globe 
 " On joyous feet together ." 
 
 She thus in?ok'd — an Angel heard — 
 
 And in th' etherial hall 
 Before the throne of Grac^preferr'd 
 
 The Mother's, gentle call — 
 
 On balmy wing no sooner went 
 
 The Messenger of Peace, 
 Than o'er the pining Babe he bent,. 
 
 And gave its soul release; 
 
 Swiftly returned, his charge he laid 
 
 Upon the Parent's breast, 
 When thus o'erjoy'd the sainted shade 
 
 Receiv'd her welcome guest — 
 
 " And art thou come, my darling Child ? 
 
 lt How sweetly changed thy face! 
 w When last we met, it faintly smil'd, 
 
 " As if my pain to chase, 
 
m 148 
 
 " But now with bliss unfeigned bounds 
 
 " Thy spirit pure and free, 
 " And thou shalt learn more holy sounds 
 
 " Than e'er I've sung to thee, 
 
 " For here thouwear'st th* immortal robe, 
 " IiOOs'd from each earthly tether, 
 
 u And we will wake the starry globe 
 " With new made songs together/* 
 
149 
 
 * 
 
 THE GREEN-HOUSE. 
 
 With judgment nice arranged by Emma's hands 
 In new made soil the verdant phalanx stands, 
 To blossom in their crystal tent consign'd, 
 Nor frost they fear,, nor feel the chilling wind; 
 Each on its proper post contented smiles, 
 Each by its name the painted billet styles ; 
 With crown of Glory to the Rose allied, 
 Above Camelia s reign in lordly pride, 
 Here blends the fav'rite of the Cyprian Queen 
 Her grateful perfume, and her emerald green, 
 Beneath, exulting on their sawlike stems, 
 The juicy Cactus bears her specious gems, 
 Here Arums hold on high the silv'ry vase, 
 Geraniums there in varied colour blaze, 
 Whilst arid Heaths their purple bloom display, 
 Or seeks the Heliotrope the golden ray ; 
 Here at th' intrusive touch Mimosas quail, 
 And Jasmines breathe Constantia's spicy gale. 
 The Cereus there its bristly tail extends, 
 
150 
 
 And Cyclamen in pensive beauty bends, 
 Below each Saxifrage obsequious lies, 
 And meek Dissandra drops her yellow eyes, 
 Around fair Climbers clothe the trellis wall, 
 Or pendent from the sloping ceiling fall, 
 Where bursts the Clematis its tender sheath, 
 And rich Bignonias twine the trumpet wreath, 
 Anon the Passion flow'r uplifts the cross, 
 And waxen Hoyas hang in varnish'd gloss — 
 A fairer sight ne'er greets thq human eye, 
 Where meets each denizen of ev'ry sky, 
 While these with brilliancy inod'rous rise; 
 To those less showy scent its charm supplies, 
 Yet all enjoy an undisputed sway, 
 And gladly beam beneath the orb of Day— 
 E'en thus, whene'er arrives that golden time 
 When every heart shall in one worship chime. 
 United Nations will in peace rejoice, 
 And laud their Maker with one haly voice. 
 
151 
 
 SPUING. 
 
 Sweet is the perfume of the dewy flowers 
 Call'd forth to blush beneath the Morning's gleam, 
 "When racy breezes chase nocturnal showers, 
 And all things with regenerate beauty teem, 
 'Tis sweet to watch the Spring's returning beam 
 Slackening the bond of Winter s icy chain, 
 When Nature, starting from her sullen dream 
 To sense of conscious life, invokes again 
 Her long neglected charms, to crown her happy reign - 
 
 *Tis sweet to loiter p'er the rapturous scene, 
 And list the song that breaks from every bush, 
 The linnet breathing through her leafy sere en 
 Her note, half silene'd by the merry thrush, 
 To catch at intervals the headlong rush 
 Hoarsely re-echoing from some far cascade, 
 Or, rippling down its pebbled course, the gusli 
 Of nearer streamlet, chequer'd by the shade 
 Of th' alder's waving arms, or reed's feigh 
 quivering blade— 
 
152 
 
 Who, pondering on the modest Snowdrop's prime, 
 The earliest gem in Flora's tiar seen, 
 On his mind's tablet pictures not the time 
 Of golden fruits, and Summer's liveliest greea? — 
 Who, though the victim of unbending spleen, 
 Shrinks from the touch that wakes the vernantbowr, 
 Who stoopeth not some shred of Hope to glean 
 From Earth's replenish'dlap,nor fain would pour 
 A prayer for brighter sense, to gild each future hour?— 
 
 Poor, blighted offspring of that rankling soiF 
 Where all is sear on Sorrow's rugged way,. 
 Forth renovated leave thy frozen coil, 
 And bask awhile beneath this golden day, 
 Come, quaff the joy which fills each vocal spray, 
 Or tempts the hive o'er bloomy fields to rove, 
 Breathes in each form new life, and chides delay, 
 While reptile atoms into being move, 
 And rifle every juice, that swells the budding grove. 
 
 The gray haze lingers on the distant hill, 
 Which dimly glimmers through its slender veil, 
 
153 
 
 Adown whose shadowy verge the trembling rill 
 Or glistening Cot illumes the smiling dale, 
 Cool emerald hues the weary eye regale 
 That finds repose upon the sleepy mead, 
 Where strolling flocks the odorous morn inhale^ 
 And groups of kine in meekest silence feed, 
 Or gambols, free to range, the swift exulting steed. 
 
 Come forth ! the sportive fly on fitful wing 
 Hums round the latticed porch, the bustling flight 
 Of newborn swarms with ceaseless murmuring 
 Rouses the sluggard soul to fresh delight, 
 The lark, scarce kenn'd inHeav'ns cerulean height, 
 Triumphant dwells upon her matin lay, 
 Anon, with simple chirp, on pinion light 
 The wnife throat flits athwart the traveller's way, 
 Who plodding on, with song salutes the opening day; 
 
 The earliest swallow skims the weedy pool, 
 Or near the casement frames its earthy cell, 
 Of every mimic child the ridicule, 
 I hear the cuckoo's soft dissyllable, 
 
154 
 
 The mocking woodpecker along the dell 
 Its undulating flight and laugh renews, 
 The amorous Hours the crafty rook impel 
 For useful spoil o'er scattered fields to cruise, 
 And in the medley choir its hoarser notes infuse. 
 
 JJow rambling onward to that burnish'd stream^ 
 Whose placid current laves the sedgy shore, 
 More clearly viewed beneath the noontide beam,, 
 The scaly tenants of each depth explore ; 
 With closely peering eye enraptur'd pore 
 On all that dallies there— how calmly gay ! 
 And take thy draught of contemplative store 
 From the still waters, on whose margent play 
 Small palpitating flowers, that woo the Zephyr's stay*. 
 
 The fragrant lily, bath'd in silvery light, 
 Smiles, as the Moon upon her liquid sphere, 
 The dainty trout shoots by, profusely bright, 
 Gregarious minnows round the shallow veer — 
 The pearly dace, the dappled loach appear — 
 The pike sleeps stretch'd in rushy ambuscade^ 
 
155 
 
 Anon the yellow gosling twitters near, 
 Or stately swan floats down the winding giade 
 ''Mid the full chaunt of birds, that crowd the willow 
 shade. 
 
 How at this halcyon hour the ear and eye 
 On all by turns with admiration dwell ! — 
 The sail of shallop passing peacefully, 
 The gleamy oar, the soft air's dimpling swell* 
 The Meat of lambs, the sheepfold's distant bell, 
 The flirting rail, the moorhen's dashing plume', 
 Or splendid kingfisher, that frameth well 
 Her curious nest inweav'd on fishy loom, 
 Or doth on some lone twig her silent seat resume— 
 
 And when the dewy Eve the water steeps 
 In purple light, and alibis sleeping nigh, 
 Save where the trout its eager gambol keeps, 
 Or drowsy bat on leathern wing wheels by, 
 How sweet 'tis here the care-trod path to fly 
 Through Life's hot day with restless aim pursued, 
 To view the nether deep, the Heav'ns on high 
 With gladsome stars alike serenely strew'd, 
 And be the feeling part of this blest quietude. 
 
156 
 
 THE DANCING GIRL'S SONG BEFORE 
 TIPPOO SULTAN. 
 
 Tippoo Sultan ! who shall dare 
 Be as thou art rich and great ? 
 
 Can ten thousand Camels bear 
 
 Half the wealth of Tippoo's state ? 
 
 Is thy gold and silken car 
 
 Like thee glorious, fair, and bright ?- 
 Prompt in council, bold in war, 
 
 Vindicate thy Father's right ! 
 
 When the scarlet Host is near 
 
 Thou shalt bid thy thunders roar, 
 
 Thoushalt stretch thy sword and spear 
 0*er the highlands -of Mysore. 
 
 Tippoo Sultan ! thou shalt tread 
 On the pale *Feringy's head, 
 
 Englishman. 
 
157 
 
 Thou shalt lay Golcondah low, 
 Thoushalt crush each foreign foe—* 
 By thy walls in silv'ry pride 
 Cavery's sunny waters glide, 
 Rolling onward to Tanjore, 
 Queen of craft and classic lore, 
 Now they borrow from thy face 
 Fresher beams their path to grace 5; 
 N"bw they in thy pow'r rejoice, 
 Flowing on with babbling voice — 
 
 Gavery's waters ! whilst ye may, 
 Flow in peace, and babble on, 
 
 Ere upon the battle's day 
 Ye with Christians' blood shall run — 
 
 They shall fly the mighty shock 
 By thy cannon's thunder driven, 
 
 Reeling, falling, as a rock, 
 
 By the flashing lightning riven, 
 
 Whilst to clash of gun and pike, 
 
 Strown on Ca?ery*s crimson flood, 
 O 
 
158 
 
 Songs of triumph we will strike, 
 Where the British banner stood, 
 to 
 
 Then shall rise in loud acclaim 
 Roundelays to Tippoo's name, 
 Then shall many a Sylph prepare 
 Perfume for her ebon hair, 
 Perfume prest in fairy bow'rs 
 From orange, rose, and jasmine flow'rs, 
 Then above the spangled vest 
 They shall heave the throbbing breast, 
 And in slow harmonious dance 
 Pour the smile, and melting glance, 
 Now the polish'd arm extending, 
 Now with courtesy lowly bending, 
 Oft commingling music sweet 
 With their gemm'd and silvery feet, 
 Meanwhile fragrant clouds shall break 
 From the hookah's gorgeous snake, 
 And along the alleys steal 
 Fumes of amber, aud pastille, 
 
159 
 
 And the *mica clear and bright 
 Gleam with rich and varied light. 
 There the spicy sweetmeat too 
 And sherbet shall the lip bedew — 
 Tippop Sultan ! these shall be 
 Scenes of thy festivity. 
 
 Tippoo Sultan ! who shall dare 
 Be as thou art rich and great ? 
 
 Can ten thousand camels bear 
 Half the wealth of Tippoo's state * 
 
 Is thy gold and silken car 
 
 Like thee glorious, fair, and bright ? 
 Prompt in council, bold in war, 
 
 Vindicate thy Father's right ! 
 
 * Used in Moorish festivities as a substitute for glass in making 
 transparencies, 
 

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