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26

DANISH CONQUESTS.

Shall soar, and as a hypocrite can stoop,
And turn the instruments of good to ill,
Moulding the credulous people to his will.
Such DUNSTAN:-from its Benedictine coop
Issues the Master mind,* at whose fell swoop

The chaste affections tremble to fulfil

Their purposes. Behold, pre-signified,

The Might of spiritual sway! his thoughts, his dreams, Do in the supernatural world abide:

So vaunt a throng of Followers, filled with pride

In what they see of virtues pushed to extremes,
And sorceries of talent misapplied.

XXIX.

DANISH CONQUESTS.

WOE to the Crown that doth the Cowl obey! †
Dissension, checking 2 arms that would restrain

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Dunstan was made Abbot of Glastonbury by Eadmund, and there he introduced the Benedictine rule, being the first Benedictine Abbot in England. His aim was a remodelling of the Anglo-Saxon Church, "for which," says Southey, "he was qualified by his rank, his connections, his influence at court, his great and versatile talents, and more than all, it must be added, by his daring ambition, which scrupled at nothing for the further. ance of its purpose."-(Book of the Church, I. 6). "Dunstan stands first in the line of ecclesiastical statesmen, who counted among them Langfranc and Wolsey, and ended in Laud." "Raised to the See of Canterbury, he wielded for sixteen years, as the minister of Eadgar, the secular and ecclesiastical powers of the realm.”—(Green, I. 6.) In the effort to retain the ascendancy he had won, he lent himself, however, to superstition and to fraud, to craft and mean device. He was a type of the ecclesiastical sorcerer.-ED.

+ The violent measures carried on under the influence of Dunstan, for strengthening the Benedictine Order, were a leading cause of the second series of Danish invasions.-See Turner.-W. W., 1822.

CANUTE.

The incessant Rovers of the northern main,*
Helps to restore and spread a Pagan sway;1
But Gospel-truth is potent to allay

Fierceness and rage; and soon the cruel Dane
Feels, through the influence of her gentle reign,
His native superstitions melt away.

Thus, often, when thick gloom the east o'ershrouds,
The full-orbed Moon, slow-climbing, doth appear
Silently to consume the heavy clouds;

How no one can resolve; but every eye

Around her sees, while air is hushed, a clear

And widening circuit of ethereal sky.

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XXX.

CANUTE

A PLEASANT music floats along the Mere,
From Monks in Ely chanting service high,
While-as Canute the King is rowing by:

"My Oarsmen," quoth the mighty King, "draw near,
"That we the sweet song of the Monks may hear!Ӡ
He listens (all past conquests and all schemes

Of future vanishing like empty dreams)

1

1837.

And widely spreads once more a Pagan sway;

1822.

* E.g., Anlaef, Haco, Svein.-(See Turner's History, II., 3, 8, 9.)-ED. + A monk of Ely, who wrote a History of the Church (circa 1166), records a fragment of song, said to have been composed by Canute when on his way to a Church festival. He told his rowers to proceed slowly, and near the shore, that he might hear the chanting of the Psalter by the monks, and he then composed a song himself.

Merie sangen the Muneches binnen Ely,

Tha Cnut ching reu therby :

Roweth cnites ner the land

And here ye thes Muneches sang.-ED.

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*

THE NORMAN CONQUEST.

Heart-touched, and haply not without a tear.

The Royal Minstrel, ere the choir is still,1

While his free Barge skims the smooth flood along,
Gives to that rapture an accordant Rhyme.**
O suffering Earth! be thankful; sternest clime
And rudest age are subject to the thrill

Of heaven-descended Piety and Song.

XXXI.

THE NORMAN CONQUEST.

THE Woman-hearted Confessor prepares t
The evanescence of the Saxon line.
Hark! 'tis the tolling Curfew!—the stars shine,3
But of the lights that cherish household cares
And festive gladness, burns not one that dares
To twinkle after that dull stroke of thine,
Emblem and instrument, from Thames to Tyne,
Of force that daunts, and cunning that ensnares!
Yet as the terrors of the lordly bell,

That quench, from hut to palace, lamps and fires, ‡

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Hark! 'tis the Curfew's knell the stars may

shine;

Which is still extant.-W. W., 1822. See last note.-ED.

1822.

+ Edward the Confessor (1042-1066).-"There was something shadowlike in the thin form, the delicate complexion, the transparent womanly hands, that contrasted with the blue eyes and golden hair of his race; and it is almost as a shadow that he glides over the political stage. The work of government was done by sterner hands."-(Green.)—ED.

The introduction of the curfew-bell (couvre-feu, cover fire) into England is ascribed to the Conqueror, but the custom was common in Europe long before his time.-ED.

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COLDLY WE SPAKE.

Touch not the tapers of the sacred quires;
Even so a thaldrom, studious to expel
Old laws, and ancient customs to derange,
To Creed or Ritual brings no fatal change.1

XXXII.

Pub. 1836.

COLDLY we spake. The Saxons, overpowered

By wrong triumphant through its own excess,

From fields laid waste, from house and home devoured

By flames, look up to heaven and crave redress

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Though men be, there are angels that can feel

For wounds that death alone has power to heal,
For penitent guilt, and innocent distress.

And has a Champion risen in arms to try

His Country's virtue, fought, and breathes no more;
Him in their hearts the people canonize;

And far above the mine's most precious ore

The least small pittance of bare mould they prize Scooped from the sacred earth where his dear relics lie.

XXXIII.

THE COUNCIL OF CLERMONT.

"AND shall," the Pontiff asks, "profaneness flow
"From Nazareth-source of Christian piety,
"From Bethlehem, from the Mounts of Agony
"And glorified Ascension? Warriors, go,

1 1837.

Brings to Religion no injurious change.

1822.

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With prayers and blessings we your path will sow;

"Like Moses hold our hands erect, till ye
"Have chased far off by righteous victory
"These sons of Amalek, or laid them low!"—
"GOD WILLETH IT," the whole assembly cry;
Shout which the enraptured multitude astounds!1
The Council-roof and Clermont's towers reply ;-
"God willeth it," from hill to hill rebounds,

And, in awe-stricken 2 Countries far and nigh,
Through Nature's hollow arch' that voice resounds.3 *

XXXIV.

CRUSADES.

THE turbaned Race are poured in thickening swarms.
Along the west; though driven from Aquitaine,
The Crescent glitters on the towers of Spain;
And soft Italia feels renewed alarms;

The scimitar, that yields not to the charms

Of ease, the narrow Bosphorus will disdain;

Nor long (that crossed) would Grecian hills detain

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The decision of this Council was believed to be instantly known in remote parts of Europe.-W. W.

There were several Councils of Claremont, the chief of them being that of 1095, at which the Crusade was definitely planned. Pope Urban II. addressed the Council in such a way that at the close the whole multitude exclaimed simultaneously Deus Vult; and this phrase became the war-cry of the Crusade. - ED

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