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RECOVERY

England's first Martyr, whom no threats could shake;
Self-offered victim, for his friend he died,

And for the faith; nor shall his name forsake
That Hill, whose flowery platform seems to rise
By Nature decked for holiest sacrifice.*

II

VII

RECOVERY

As, when a storm hath ceased, the birds regain
Their cheerfulness, and busily retrim

Their nests, or chant a gratulating hymn
To the blue ether and bespangled plain;
Even so, in many a re-constructed fane,
Have the survivors of this Storm renewed
Their holy rites with vocal gratitude :
And solemn ceremonials they ordain
To celebrate their great deliverance;
Most feelingly instructed 'mid their fear-
That persecution, blind with rage extreme,

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10

May not the less, through Heaven's mild countenance,
Even in her own despite, both feed and cheer;
For all things are less dreadful than they seem.

governor.

putting on the hair-cassock of his teacher, delivered himself into their hands, as if he had been the fugitive, and was carried before the heathen Because he refused to betray his guest or offer sacrifices to the Roman gods, he was scourged, and then led to execution upon the spot where the abbey now stands, which in after times was erected to his memory, and still bears his name. That spot was then a beautiful meadow upon a little rising ground, 'seeming,' says the venerable Bede, 'a fit theatre for the martyr's triumph."" (Southey's Book of the Church, vol. i. pp. 13-14.)-ED.

*This hill at St. Albans must have been an object of great interest to the imagination of the venerable Bede, who thus describes it, with a delicate feeling, delightful to meet with in that rude age, traces of which are frequent in his works:-"Variis herbarum floribus depictus imo usquequaque vestitus, in quo nihil repente arduum, nihil præceps, nihil abruptum, quem lateribus longe lateque deductum in modum æquoris natura complanat, dignum videlicet eum pro insita sibi specie venustatis jam olim reddens, qui beati martyris cruore dicaretur."-W. W. 1822.

VIII

TEMPTATIONS FROM ROMAN REFINEMENTS

WATCH, and be firm! for, soul-subduing vice,
Heart-killing luxury, on your steps await.
Fair houses, baths, and banquets delicate,
And temples flashing, bright as polar ice,

Their radiance through the woods—may yet suffice 5
To sap your hardy virtue, and abate

Your love of Him upon whose forehead sate

The crown of thorns; whose life-blood flowed, the price Of your redemption. Shun the insidious arts

That Rome provides, less dreading from her frown Than from her wily praise, her peaceful gown, Language, and letters ;—these, though fondly viewed As humanising graces, are but parts

And instruments of deadliest servitude!

ΙΟ

IX

DISSENSIONS

THAT heresies should strike (if truth be scanned
Presumptuously) their roots both wide and deep,
Is natural as dreams to feverish sleep.
Lo! Discord at the altar dares to stand *
Uplifting toward1 high Heaven her fiery brand,
A cherished Priestess of the new-baptized!
But chastisement shall follow peace despised.

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1

1827.

Lifting towards

1822.

* Arianism had spread into Britain, and British Bishops were summoned to councils held concerning it, at Sardica, A.D. 347, and at Ariminum, A.D. 360. See Fuller's Church History, p. 25; and Churton's Early English Church, p. 9.-ED.

STRUGGLE of the BRITONS

The Pictish cloud darkens the enervate land
By Rome abandoned; vain are suppliant cries,
And prayers that would undo her forced farewell;
For she returns not.—Awed by her own knell,
She casts the Britons upon strange Allies,
Soon to become more dreaded enemies
Than heartless misery called them to repel.

II

ΙΟ

X

STRUGGLE OF THE BRITONS AGAINST THE

1

BARBARIANS

RISE!-they have risen: of brave Aneurin ask *
How they have scourged old foes, perfidious friends :
The Spirit of Caractacus descends

Upon the Patriots, animates their task; 1
Amazement runs before the towering casque
Of Arthur, bearing through the stormy field
The Virgin sculptured on his Christian shield :-
Stretched in the sunny light of victory bask
The Host that followed Urien † as he strode

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O'er heaps of slain ;—from Cambrian wood and moss 10 Druids descend, auxiliars of the Cross;

Bards, nursed on blue Plinlimmon's still abode,‡

Rush on the fight, to harps preferring swords,

And everlasting deeds to burning words!

1837.

The spirit of Caractacus defends

The Patriots, animates their glorious task;-

1822.

* Aneurin was the bard who-in the poem named the Gododin-celebrated the struggle between the Cymri and the Teutons in the middle of the sixth century, which ended in the great battle of Catterick, or Cattreath, in Yorkshire. Aneurin was himself chieftain as well as bard.-ED.

Urien was chief of the Cymri, and led them in the great conflict of the

sixth century against the Angles.-ED.

Such as Aneurin, Taliesin, Llywarch Hen, and Merlin.-ED.

ΧΙ

SAXON CONQUEST

NOR wants the cause the panic-striking aid
Of hallelujahs * tost from hill to hill-
For instant victory. But Heaven's high will
Permits a second and a darker shade

Of Pagan night. Afflicted and dismayed,

The Relics of the sword flee to the mountains:

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O wretched Land! whose tears have flowed like fountains; Whose arts and honours in the dust are laid

By men yet scarcely conscious of a care

For other monuments than those of Earth; †

Who, as the fields 1 and woods have given them birth,
Will 2 build their savage fortunes only there;
Content, if foss, and barrow, and the girth

Of long-drawn rampart, witness what they were.3

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Witness the foss, the barrow, and the girth

Of many a long-drawn rampart, green and bare!

1822.

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* Alluding to the victory gained under Germanus. See Bede.-W. W.

1822.

The Saxons and Picts threatening the Britons, the latter asked the assistance of Germanus. The following is Bede's account :-"Germanus bearing in his hands the standard, instructed his men all in a loud voice to repeat his words, and the enemy advancing securely, as thinking to take them by surprise, the priests three times cried Hallelujah. A universal shout of the same word followed, and the hills resounding the echo on all sides, the enemy was struck with dread. They fled in disorder, casting away their arms." (Bede, Ecclesiastica Historia gentis Anglorum, book i. chap. xx.)--ED.

The last six lines of this Sonnet are chiefly from the prose of Daniel; and here I will state (though to the Readers whom this Poem will chiefly interest it is unnecessary) that my obligations to other prose writers are frequent,-obligations which, even if I had not a pleasure in courting, it would have been presumptuous to shun, in treating an historical subject. I must, however, particularise Fuller, to whom I am indebted in the Sonnet upon Wicliffe and in other instances. And upon the acquittal of the Seven Bishops I have done little more than versify a lively description of that event in the MS. Memoirs of the first Lord Lonsdale.-W. W. 1822.

MONASTERY OF OLD BANGOR

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XII

MONASTERY OF OLD BANGOR *

THE oppression of the tumult-wrath and scorn-
The tribulation—and the gleaming blades—
Such is the impetuous spirit that pervades

The song of Taliesin; †-Ours shall mourn

The unarmed Host who by their prayers would turn 5
The sword from Bangor's walls, and guard the store
Of Aboriginal and Roman lore,

And Christian monuments, that now must burn
To senseless ashes. Mark! how all things swerve
From their known course, or vanish like a dream ; 1
Another language spreads from coast to coast;
Only perchance some melancholy Stream
And some indignant Hills old names preserve, §
When laws, and creeds, and people all are lost!

1 1827.

or pass away like steam;

1822.

ΙΟ

* "Ethelforth reached the convent of Bangor, he perceived the Monks, twelve hundred in number, offering prayers for the success of their countrymen: If they are praying against us,' he exclaimed, 'they are fighting against us'; and he ordered them to be first attacked: they were destroyed; and, appalled by their fate, the courage of Brocmail wavered, and he fled from the field in dismay. Thus abandoned by their leader, his army soon gave way, and Ethelforth obtained a decisive conquest. Ancient Bangor itself soon fell into his hands, and was demolished; the noble monastery was levelled to the ground; its library, which is mentioned as a large one, the collection of ages, the repository of the most precious monuments of the ancient Britons, was consumed; half ruined walls, gates, and rubbish were all that remained of the magnificent edifice." (See Turner's valuable history of the Anglo-Saxons.)

The account Bede gives of this remarkable event, suggests a most striking warning against National and Religious prejudices.-W. W. 1822. Appendix note.

Taliesin was present at the battle which preceded this desolation.-W. W. 1822.

Taliesin was chief bard and retainer in the Hall of Urien, the great North England Cymric chief. He sang of Urien's and his son Owain's victories, in the middle of the sixth century. See Pitseus, Relationes Historicae de rebus Anglicis, 1619, vol. i. p. 95, De Thelesino. See also Sharon Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons (vol. i. book iii. chap. iv.).—ED.

e.g. in the Lake District, the Greta, Derwent, etc.-ED.

$e.g. in the Lake District, Stone Arthur, Blencathara, and Catbells. -ED.

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