5101 M585p L A — === i AH - i = — ~ i 1 0| = jj i 3^ ^= = I 8 = . _ > 1 ■ ._" rr: l "- 1 1 s — I> . '■ 33 — — -< I 7 9 ^^^ > ? = -^— f — ■ ■— -C r~ K HE PURITANS ERNEST MYERS THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES / THE PURITANS. THE PURITANS BY ERNEST MYERS. 2ont)on : MACMILLAN AND CO. 1869. ?K 937( PERSONS OF THE DRAMA. Milton. Chorus of Puritans. Old Man. King's Envoy. Messenger. Scene — A gate of London MILTON. O warrior elders, guardians of die gate, Hath the night brought your watching any word, Or doth the dawn bear any beam of truth To our sick minds which all the dim night's length A flying formless rumour makes afraid, Boding some piteous wrong at Leicester wrought ? For this have I come down to stand with you, If haply from your outlook on the wall We may descry what shall make end of fear. THE PURITANS. CHORUS. Neither the night deliverance from doubt Hath given, nor any message came with morn. But now I see one making hitherward, An old man and with travel sorely spent ; Yet swiftly, though scarce gladly, he comes on. Methinks he seems as one with tidings fraught. OLD MAX. I know not, sirs, if I shall tell you news. If not, full gladly were I spared my tale, For to sad ears from sadder lips it comes. I speak of what to Leicester hath befallen. CHORUS. Ay me. Speak on, for of this thing we hear Dim rumours only : take away our doubt. THE PURITANS. OLD MAN. Nay then I give you certainty of woe. Leicester hath fallen ; yet even were that loss A little thing and easily to be borne But for such shameful circumstance of wrong As never yet this bitter strife hath known. For not as by the use of civil war, Nor reverencing the homes of peaceful men, Nor mindful of the bond of English blood, But with wild lust of robber violence Came these men on us. It was eventide, And we were standing sadly at our doors, Expecting they should quarter on the town, But orderly and after warlike wont ; When suddenly all the streets were filled with noise, And through the houses swarmed an armed horde Harrying our homes for spoil : I barred my door 6 THE PURITANS. Demanding warrant, but a sudden blow- Felled me, and long time in a swoon I lay. Would I had never waked thereout again. For when I rose the night was on the land, Yet all around dimly I could perceive Corpses of friends, and all the air was loud With shouts of licence and fierce revelry Mingled with groans of trampled dying men, Or wail of ravished women and vain cries On slaughtered sire or brother : our town was sacked ; From that one word conceive a world of woe. Best was it then for wifeless childless men. My lone old age I counted then for gain. So hardly from the demons I stole forth, And hasted hitherward : only once I looked Back to the fair place where my home was made. Still rose the cries from the long-tortured town, * And ever and anon where'er they rode Ranging for rapine o'er the frightened fields, THE PURITANS. j Some plundered peasant's homestead here or there In sudden ruin to the windy night Flared a wild witness of devouring fire. MILTON. Fire in those homes shall light a fire in hearts. What ho firebreathing sworded seraphim, Avenging angels, legions of the Lord, Lo with clear voice hereon I summon you, Join with our amis in service of your King : On bloody men just judgment write in blood. Enough — this last and foulest deed of wrong Shall serve to case our souls in triple steel. But thou, old man, I pray come hence with me To bear thy tale to them who rule the state. CHORUS. Day by day with a louder lamentation Rises England's cry to thee, O Lord; THE PURITANS. Day by day with a fiercer indignation Prays thy power against the tiling abhorred. In the hymns of the Hebrew seers Surely, we said, they had told, Singing to awestruck ears Marvellous music of old, The tale of an ancient salvation, The pledge of a promise to be, How he brought forth his people from Bashon, His own from the deep of the sea. Surely such a God, we said, was our God, Surely he would lean to us and hear, Surely he would move before our armies, Surely he was with us, he was near. Then would we waiting wearily Speak each to each exhortingly : THE PURITANS. 9 O brothers, for he is not far from us, But a kind lord and very piteous, Be of good cheer to quit you manfully Until there be an end of agony. But now for all our praying Comes back to mock desire A sound of sorer slaying, A glare of fiercer fire. My soul, why searchest thou the signs of old ? Have not we too our story of the seas? Have we forgot how our own sires were bold, Sprung from their loins and nursed upon their knees ? Though we forgat yet should not they forget, The folk of fair Granada and Castile, Whose widows mourn the tyrants' madness yet Who to their woe made war against our weal ; ,0 THE PURITANS. When on England came the kings Lusting for unlawful things, When with hearts and hands of flame Aragon and Parma came ; But our God who willed it so Smiled in scorn upon the foe When the stately ships of Spain Felt the tyrannous tempest blow And the swordsmen in their pain Smote their swords upon the deck ; Splintered hull and shattered sail Drave before the giant gale Reeling on, a royal wreck, Dashed upon the island coast Deadly to the foemen's host. But now, O land beloved, thy light is low, And thy hand falters and thy feet are slow; It is because thy heart is torn within, THE PURITANS. u And evil sons have sold thee to the foe, And thou hast not yet quite cast out their sin. And now the children of the sea Who struck so well for liberty May scarcely dare to call them free. For this thing England cries to thee, O God, to help her misery. Bethink thee remember her story, It is written full large for all, Her great preeminent glory, Her shameful and horrible fall. How long shall her cry before heaven Go up to startle the sun? When shall her sin be forgiven ? When shall her anguish be done? For the tyrants assembled upbraid her, And the hand of the spoiler is strong 12 THE PURITANS. Make haste, O Avenger, to aid her, Make haste, for thou tarriest long. MILTON. Friends, one more blow hath fallen upon our heads. Yet to this war we went not as to sport. Let this last wrong but steel our hearts the more For the sore struggle, and therewith found we firm Our fortress of sure faith against the waves, Nor through much grief let slip the undying hopes Whereof shall no ill fortune leave us lorn. CHORUS. What hopes, if that one hope of war be lost? MILTON. This first, that in that cause wherein we fight Fight also Justice and all conquering Time. THE PURITANS. 13 And though full long we wrestle up and down Fruitlessly, and defeat make dark our day, Yet be assured who strives to crush our cause Strives not with us but with a Power unseen Whereto shall witness not one age alone. Ay rather far, I ween, shall one prevail To change the ancient courses of the stars, Or from his steep course turn the lordly sun ; Only this Power he shall not woo with gifts, Nor find a spell to stay his sovereignty. Wherefore though herein fortune work her worst, Howbeit haply we have desired ourselves To know the blessed birth of Liberty Too early, and our unseasonable age Be held unworthy of so fair a flower, (And verily ever in each great emprize The sower reaps not also oftentimes, And sweetest fruit is bought with holiest blood) Yet toil we now as patient pioneers, i 4 THE PURITANS. In trustful strength abiding steadfastly, Content that we should die, and age on age Roll on, till God's high purpose be revealed ; Till this thick night wherein we look and long, Wistfully watching where faint streaks half-seen Glimmer, and fitfully foretell the dawn — This dreary darkness dim with flying dreams Shall flee far off, and men's expectant eyes Look up at last to the free firmament Glad in the golden marvel of the morn. Thereto God's labourers labour even now Each in his day, till in that gracious time Gross lusts and gross discernings such as now Breed baleful pestilence in homes of men Be purged away, and many an ancient foe That waged long feud in wasteful rivalry Shall then with new-won wisdom either way Make oath of reconcilement evermore. Then Freedom shall be one with Loyalty THE PURITANS. 15 And Knowledge vext no more, no more in wrath, Emancipate from fettering falsities, Shall render duly to Love paramount, Servant not slave, the service of the free. CHORUS. Fair hopes are these and answering to our prayers. But that melodious message of sure faith And sweet sound of propitious prophecy May scarcely in this iron age of ours Win credent audience mid the clash of arms, A tuneless noise and louder than the lyre. And therewithal needs must we have sore fear Lest in the stormy surging of our strife And angry clamour and pushing to and fro And slaying of kindred and intestine war Shall this fair Love whose kingdom is foretold, Sickened with savour of blood-rusted arms, Stand sadly off, and to a happier air 1 6 THE PURITAN'S. Fly far away, and leave the world to woe, Tired out with waiting among loveless men. MILTON. Love in his tireless labour grows not old. He works among us when we know him not. Yea though he wear sometimes the mask of hate, (So must it be, for from the love of good Hatred of evil who shall separate ?) Yet when the lurid clouds of combat clear, What time he feed upon his proper air And bathe his pinions in the golden light, Then shall his glory beam upon his brows, And his stern helm that frowned upon the fray Shall presently in a kindlier clime of peace Melt to the soft rays of a starry crown. Thus far I speak the hopes of all the world. But yet with smaller shafts my soul is armed Of nearer import to ourselves to-day. THE PURITANS. 17 Albeit this war had end as worst it might, And even now the king had burst our gates, And we still lived (which thing God's grace forbid) To see the cause lost and the land enslaved — If one shall see the abominable thing Still living, and deem that he has known on earth Enough, having known the ruin of this cause, Yet in that last most sore necessity Let him go down unto the barren sea, And there take ship, and call once more on fate To bear him westward on a saving wind. So shall he come unto no alien race, But to near kindred both of flesh and soul, The brothers of our fathers, those brave hearts Whereat our childhood marvelled reverently, Hearing the tale, how in the winter wild On the great sea their little boat went forth, The Mayflower, but no balmy breeze of May Soothed her with nurture suiting her spring-name, 2 1 8 THE PURITANS. No, but the black Northeaster tost her long Amid the rolling mountains of the main. Also when hardly from the hungry sea They gat them to the inhospitable shore, Full many days beneath the thickening snow And breath of icebergs blown from Labrador, Among their dying children, dying wives, The lonely men made stand against their doom. Then in the third year, even in the grasp of death. They overcame, and the earth gave them fruit : So reaped they scanty harvest, thanking God, And built a little town in that far land : But wrestling ever with the stubborn soil, And vext by stealthy arrows of red men, Not yet were quit of travail and sore pain. Yea and thenceforward many a grievous year Often, I ween, in pauses of their toil, What time the young-eyed morning smote the sea. Or when the sun sank to his unknown grave, THE PURITANS. nj Incoming or forthgoing would they turn Sad gaze across the sea, and sigh for home ; Yet swerved not so from their severe emprize, Bating no jot, till in their need was born Hope, the fair child of faith and faithful toil. And in their sombre sky a guiding star New-risen, of kindlier omen, leads them now From wonder unto wonder on and on : Whether in wanderings southward o'er broad plains Ne'er trod but by the browsing buffalo, Or the stray simple children of the soil, Choctaws and Cherokees, a homeless host, Even to the land of summer are they spread And flowery margent of a sunny sea : Or elsewhere northward by the inland coasts Of Huron and his fellows fix their home, Strange seas, and unaware of ocean-brine ; Or the great river follow in his flow, Who eastward as he rolls eternally 20 THE PURITANS. From Erie to Ontario travelling on Sheer o'er the verge of Niagara's gulf Heaves his precipitate bulk in thunder down. So everywhere they move and multiply, A people called and chosen of the Lord. CHORUS. Fain would their feet have stayed In the home of their fathers of old; But they waited and none would aid, They wondered that none would uphold. Then they arose at the last, They set their faces to go, Spread the sail to the bending mast, Bade the Eastwind blow. The gloom of an evil night Had turned their faces away, Too much wrong for the right, Too much dark for the day; THE PURITANS. 21 So dark a shade on their English home That better it seemed to be To run with the crests of the racing foam, And ride on the reinless sea. Yet not the less from that seed sown in woe, Stern woe but sterner purpose of strong men, Shall there sometime large fruit of gladness grow To tell the world what God was working then. Now beneath the setting sun Far away their zeal hath won A fairer fate in a freer land Glad to greet the stranger band, There where inviolate nature's face is fair With sweeter seasons and a larger air, There where the strength of ancient rivers rolls Through teeming realms no sceptred king controls Nor ever foot of restless man hath trod Since first they grew beneath the breath of God 22 TJIE rURITANS. Who in that place prepared from long ago For the young eagle of his choice a nest, "Wherein for some great work to make him grow And crown him with the crowns of all the West. O sons of our old friends that shall be born To that fair heritage beyond the sea, How hath there risen upon mine eyes forlorn Presage and hope of all your praise to be. ■ For lo the Lord hath loved you, He hath helped his own from ill, He hath given his own a vineyard In a very fruitful hill. From all the old world's evil, From the baffled hosts of hell We charge you by your birth-right Look that ye guard it well. O if there spring to prove you What time ye deem you strong THE PURITANS. 23 Some treason of a tyranny, Some bitter root of wrong, The God who fights for freedom Strengthen your hearts that day To pluck the poison from you And cut the curse away. So from that propitious place Ever to the elder race Flash us back a cheering flame From a beacon still the same, From a strong and steadfast star, Both to us and all that are Here across the sundering sea Linked in love of liberty, Each to each with honour paid, With kindly welcome and kindly aid, Brother to brother, afar. Yea for what though your western land be fair And wider woods and huger hills be there 2 4 THE PURITANS. And kindlier influence of a brighter heaven, Yet have we larger claims upon your love By right of that first gift of freedom given All other gifts and other gains above. Such inheritance for you Hence from us your fathers drew; This we handed on to them As a king his diadem ; Or as when the lord of a liberal house At the marriage-feast of his child takes up The glowing gold of a carven cup Made merry within with the red wine's foam, And pledges and gives it his daughter's spouse A present of price from home to home. ENVOY. Ho ye who guard this rebel city's gate Open with speed and lead me to your lords, For I am charged with message from the King. THE PURITANS. «5 MILTON. Tell us thy charge : no envoy from the King Enters this gate; so wills the Parliament Since the foul tale of Leicester hurt their ears. But one of us shall bear thy message hence ; Thy work is made the lighter by so far. ENVOY. This is new insult to our gracious King. So be it : I leave my message with small care Whether ye like the terms I bring or no : If not, 'tis but to your own hurt the more. The King, by this doubtless your host o'erthrown, Once more demands this rebel city's keys. Refuse, then London fares as Leicester fared. This is the last time he will treat — beware. Our king is gracious being sought in time, But being often chafed he shall not spare From vengeance, nor shall bear the sword in vain. THE PURITANS. MILTON. Thee we defy and thine unrighteous king. Unrighteous and ungenerous and untrue. Nay, did we deign to take his terms to-day, What surety should he give us for our faith ? How often hath his fear made him forsworn, Ay, left his friends for death to disappoint, How often dragged his ermine through the dust In most unkingly cruelty of wrong. The blood of Eliot crying from the tomb Of his dark dungeon is not silent yet : Often, I ween, in slumbers of the king Shall that great shade to his admonishment Rise in his dreams and fright him with a frown. Ay and with him a crowd of much-wronged men Bearing dread witness of unholy wrong, Even to this latest sin of Leicester's sack. THE PURITANS. 27 ENVOY. Thou railest still: yet shall thy time be short. MILTON. Too long already drags this bitter strife. ENVOY. Too long the realm is troubled with your rage. MILTON. For Revolution is own child of Wrong. ENVOY. Alas for outraged thrones and sceptres spurned. MILTON. Alas for broken laws and oaths forgot. ENVOY. O splendid state of God-commissioned kings. MILTON. O impious mockery of God-aping fools. 28 THE PURITANS. ENVOY. Expect in fear the coming of your king. MILTON. Our king is Christ: his people know not fear. ENVOY. Nay, but we fight with priests upon our side. MILTON. Their God the world, just men their sacrifice. ENVOY. Enough, I go : your blood be on your heads. MILTON. Trust us for this: blood shall be bought with blood. So let him go: he thinks he goes to find Our foes in triumph over new-won spoil, And bring them back in fury on our town. THE PURITANS. 29 Yet let him heed he boast him not too soon. The king hath something yet that he must do Before he sit him down to make us laws; And even by this perchance he may have met One in whose hand is that shall speak anon Somewhat too rudely in the royal ear. For when I led the old man to the House Good news I learnt : the late-made ordinance Is so far set aside that from this time For forty days shall Cromwell lead the horse ; And with the noble Fairfax is he gone To find the king and fight him with all speed. This was the other hope I had for you. CHORUS. Good news indeed and full of saving cheer. MILTON. Meet is it in that hope we have good trust : For there is none shall bring us better aid 30 THE PURITANS. Than this same iron Oliver whom ye know; A man of stormful elements compact Attempered to a giant harmony ; Not fair and smooth in body or in speech, Not eloquent with the eloquence of words, Yet his right hand speaks terrible things to men ; A mighty warrior, yet no friend of war, Nor anywise in confusion hath his joy, But in fair peace and ordered liberty. Lo now I know that many mouth of him As scarce of single purpose in the cause. Now as one long time watchful to discern The nature and the meaning of the man I think to bear true witness for my friend Against the cautions doubt, the envious lie. For this was ever strongest in his blood ; Where'er he saw the vice of tyranny His heart was kindled with no doubtful fire And vehement will to strike the oppressor down THE PURITANS. 31 And crush his noxious life out in the dust Making him nothing ; nor was this, God wot, A passion like to fade from out his soul, Who everywhere through the England of his love Saw the foul signs of rottenness and wrong. Yea oftentimes when haply we looked forth Upon a summer evening on the fields Of this fair England, and the brooding shade Of large-armed trees, and waving wealth of corn, It hath not brought him smiling, nay but tears, Nay rather sad tears from a bleeding heart For the fair land so foully violate That all her beauty turns to bitterness And there is no more gladness in her weal. But how with the other four in Parliament He stood to bear the brunt of the king's rage All saw full plainly, and how since war began He made a light shine suddenly in the East, THE PUR IT A XS. And from his first appearing until now He hath prevailed, and armies of the king Look fearfully when they hear that Cromwell comes. This man whate'er befall I think to trust As a strong man and true to his life's end. Nor know I any who should more avail In this tempestuous season of our stars To heave the straining vessel of the state From the dire quicksands closing round her keel And with Titanic impulse thrust her forth To sail anew with happier pilotage To fairer havens on serener seas. Also ye know the men that ride with him, Even whom he chose, the best of England's best, Strong saints of God, invincible Ironsides, Whom never yet hath any known to flee, Nor shall, while God and Cromwell lead them on. Now would I call such men with such a chief THE PURITANS. 33 England's stout heart made hot with holy fire. Sore shame it were if we should droop our hopes While these still ride together to the war. CHORUS. Thy words and that great name have somewhat stilled The fire which gnawed but now upon my soul : But ever in my breast the bounding blood Holds yet wild revel; neither art thou, O friend, By thine eyes' witness, from such fever free. MILTON. Friends, all my heart is swoln with hope and fear. For presently in the issue of this act A weighty sentence is there like to fall This way or that, for evil or for good. For we are fallen upon a teeming time And big with mightier offspring than ourselves. I think that here within this little isle The fate which deals to every age a lot 3 34 THE PURITANS. Hath marked a battle-ground whereon to-day That war is waged which makes or mars the world. For not one time or by one voice alone The grace of God to this our Christian world Hath cried aloud that we should make us free. For when the inrushing of the violent North Startled the slumberers round the southern sea, Breaking their sleep beneath the eagle's wing — A dying eagle and a sleep of shame — Then from the tumult grew to meet their needs An order of disorder, lawless law; And men were sundered, these for war or sport, Those serfs, fast bound in slavery to the soil. Yet by slow steps the people drew to power: Then speediest when their craftsmen banded them Fenced by strong walls and gathering gold and arms. Also the mild might of the bleeding Cross, And love of his dear name who loved the poor, Wrought ever stealing subtilly and well THE PURITANS. Through the wide waste of dimness and misrule, Shaming the strong to set his bondsmen free. And here and there through that bewildered world Some champion rose to snap the feudal chain : Not only those fierce cities of the south, Whereof he came who sang the threefold realm, (He first, but many other masters wise Of song or art — such fruit is of the free — ) Not only these uplifted on the front Of their proud towers a fiery liberty, Until its fitful splendour sank in blood ; But the strong living light unquenchable, Northward upleaping o'er the snow-robed wall, On Uri's heights alighting shone again Steadier and purer in the Alpine air. Nor failed our isle to labour in her lot Curbing her kings with stubborn temperance ; Howbeit the fuller freedom slept till now. Also the low shores of the Flemish seas 36 THE rUR I TANS. Heaved with forebodings of a coming strife And travail of a glorious birth to be. And to one end full many causes wrought. Yet as the longed-for light came slowly on So also fiercer grew the powers of night, Frenzied with fear to see the dawn draw nigh. And now long time the perjured priests of Christ Had learnt to sell their master's trust for gold, And, making hideous the most holy name With their foul lies and sordid slavery, Leagued them with tyrants and forswore their Lord. And sometimes one would rise with warning words, Wicliffe or Huss or the stern Florentine Who saw the great sword hanging in the sky ; These and their like who served a God of truth, To whom a lie seemed lothlier than death, These in the unkindly twilight of the world Fought their long fight unaided and alone, Unhonoured, unbefriended, by no king THE PURITANS. 37 Ennobled, by no pontiff canonized, Nay rather mocked and murdered like their Lord, Yet not in vain, such might hath martyr's blood Speaking in death and feeding sacred fires. I trow our own sires saw a brighter blaze. Ay in their sight an age most marvellous Was risen indeed upon the startled earth. For now bold men seeking a freer light The faith of Christ had purified from shame, And with strange violence had shaken sore The ancient honour of the Roman hills : And now the strength of cities conjurate Had risen in arms against injurious lords, And all the kings were wroth; and in that cause The armaments of angry Aragon Swept from the South and darkened all the sea. Whom how we brake, Europe not soon forgets. No other cause we deem our cause to-day: Wherefore herein, whether we live or die, 38 THE PURITANS. The Lord is with us, and we have certain hope To make our name a name of loving cheer To all the friends of freedom evermore. CHORUS. To through ages onward gliding In itself its secret hiding Runs the fated race, As a woman dumb with daring In her breast her infant bearing — None hath seen his face. Through the unknown waste of wonders On and on she goes, O'er her head the breaking thunders, Round her angry foes. Many waters shall not drown her, No, nor storms dismay : There is one that waits to crown her Somewhere far away. THE PURITAXS. 3., The sweet strange breeze of hope From that far country blown Presages ampler scope For souls more glorious grown. Altars whose fires are cold, Temples whose gods grow old, Yield place to fairer built upon their fall, When Truth his youngest daughter Shall tell what Time hath taught her, Fair Truth and Love her mate, young Love the lord of all. One love the world shall fill And wide and wider still From side to side from end to end dilate, Each as he lives made one With father and with son, In conscious larger life for aye incorporate. 4 o THE PURITANS. What art thou then, man, Born for so brief a span? Count not so dear thy pleasure or thy pain : The embers aye are red, The old fire is not dead ; Thou in an ampler age shalt work and win again. Fear not thy single soul Shall sink to serve the whole; Who more hath loved he also lives the more : Each strain of generous strife Lifts thee to fuller life ; Love lends thee wings and winds to gain the longed-for shore. Art thou expecting long The Christ to crush the wrong? Lo he that talketh with thee this is he. THE PURITANS. 4 1 Awake arise and do, We have our triumphs too, Nor we nor they alone but all in unity. For with sifting and blending, With weaving and rending The truth is made plain : And still with our learning The dreams of our yearning More nobly returning Shall cheer us again ; And sorrow from sorrow A meaning shall borrow To mould the to-morrow A goodlier day, And shaded with sadness Brief glimpses of gladness Shall lighten our way. With surer appealing 42 THE PURITANS. To lordlier laws, With ampler revealing Of cause behind cause, Each new height unveiling New heights for our scaling, Old heights we have clomb, With striving and failing, With triumph and wailing The spirit prevailing Shall spring to her home. MESSENGER. Hail friends and glorify our fathers' God ; For he hath given the battle to our hands. MILTON. Glory to God. Speak ; tell us all the joy. THE PURITANS. 43 MESSENGER. Not long I tarry; hear the tale in brief. Long following on the footsteps of the king Last night but one we brought his host to bay. Our camp was pitched beside a little town, Naseby; a broad plain lay between the hosts. So all the night we waited for the fray. But when the morning found us face to face A sudden trumpet set the field on fire With bared and brandished steel athwart the sun. For either side the horsemen on the right, Cromwell's for us, Rupert's for them, sped well, And burst the opposing ranks and beat them down. But in the centre Fairfax and the king Long time in equal battle strove and strained. Then Rupert's squadrons wheeled from the pursuit, And made again at us : with wild cries they charged And tossing plumes and loose hair on the wind And gorgeous blazonry of chivalric arms, 44 THE FURITAXS. A storm of knights : but there were those who turned On the other side, the invincible Ironsides, To meet them ; like a storm-fraught cloud they came Edged with a lurid lightning of set steel, And at their head grim-helmed Oliver, God in his flaming eyes, rode thunderous on. Then came a crash and cry that rang to heaven ; And for some space the seething battle swayed This way and that with heaving to and fro; But everywhere the soldiers of the king Beneath the pikes and swords of Ironsides Sank from their saddles : Rupert's chivalry Brake sundered, and their chief spurred forth in flight. And therewithal the centre round the king Brake also, and he with all his routed host In one wild wave fled far across the fields; And far and long our horsemen followed them. THE PURITANS. 45 Then night came down and made an end of blood, Night on the land, and night in our foes' hearts : For when that day died the king's hopes were dead. But straightway to the House I must be gone, For I have brought them letters from the chiefs. CHORUS. They called it, they keep it, The curse and the gloom : They sowed it, they reap it, The whirlwind of doom. For a vengeance unlooked for had found them In the noise of the battle alarms, For the chosen of God were around them In the splendour of terrible arms. The old thing, the new thing In battle were met : God helpeth the true thing, He doth not forget. 4 6 THE PURITANS. Lo now, proud town with eager reverence yearning, Them who went forth in season of our pain With other hearts with other hopes returning Soon shall thy glad gates welcome once again. Then along the shouting street Flowers shall fall before their feet, While the sun of triumph shines Gladly on the laurelled lines ; But chiefest shall they praise the might Of him who rode upon the right, Him whose red and ruinous hand Blazed before his iron band : So the while about his way Man to man shall speak and say : "Who is this that leads the long procession Girded terribly with victorious sword, Breaker of the bondage of oppression, Leader of the armies of the Lord ? Who? for he it may not be, THE PURITANS. 47 Chief of Hebrew chivalry, Royal David, no, nor he, The strength of Samson, who long since in the far East Hath from his labours ceased, Sleeping well with them he slew When the Dagon-trumpets blew." Not these but like to these the man we know; And as that man the men who fought by him ; Wherefore the fame of that brave fight shall grow To more and more, nor in far times wax dim. Yea though we and ours and all our toiling Turn to nothing, fade from under heaven, Deeds that even in dead worlds are deathless — These at least one splendid hour hath given. Yea though as we speak come fate upon us, Blast with lightning, sink us in the sea, This at least a memory eternal 48 THE PURITANS. Crowns for ever foreheads of the free. Surely now our God hath been among us ; (He whose eyes are clear shall understand ;) Scarce more plain, methinks, the vision granted Long ago, there in the chosen land. When of old the prophet watching lonely, Some Esaias or Ezekiel, Heard him thunder by the streams of Chebar. "Waited long the Lord of Israel ; Saw the heavens break and blaze about him. Heard the rushing of the awful air, Felt far off the presence of Jehovah, Knew that now indeed his God was there ; Saw the lion's mane, the eagle's plumage, Bird and beast commingled under him, Saw the everlasting arms incarnate Shadow all the flying cherubim. THE END. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. REC'D LD-URD iM,R ' MAY2 619W