RICHARD I. Their tents, and check the current of their arms. XXXV. RICHARD I. REDOUBTED King, of courage leonine, I mark thee, Richard! urgent to equip To tell-how, finding in the rash distress Of those Enthusiasts a subservient friend, To 2 giddier heights hath clomb the Papal sway. 31 1822. * Ten successive armies, amounting to nearly 950,000 men, took part in the first Crusade. "The most distant islands and savage countries," says William of Malmesbury, "were inspired with this ardent passion.”—ED. ↑ Richard I. (Cœur de Lion), one of the two leaders in the third Crusade, after conquering Cyprus-on his way to Palestine-while in that island married Berengaria, daughter of Sanchez, King of Navarre.-ED. XXXVI. AN INTERDICT.* REALMS quake by turns: proud Arbitress of grace, Closes the gates of every sacred place. Straight from the sun and tainted air's embrace With natural smiles1 of greeting. Bells are dumb; Ditches are graves-funereal rites denied; And in the church-yard he must take his bride And comfortless despairs the soul benumb. At the command of Pope Innocent III., the Bishops of London, Ely, and Worcester were charged to lay England under an interdict. They did so, in defiance of King John, and left England. Southey's description of the result may be compared with this sonnet. "All the rites of a Church whose policy it was to blend its institutions with the whole business of private life were suddenly suspended: no bell heard, no taper lighted, no service performed, no church open; only baptism was permitted, and confession and sacrament for the dying. The dead were either interred in unhallowed ground, without the presence of a priest, or any religious ceremony, or they were kept unburied. Some little mitigation was allowed, lest human nature should have rebelled against so intolerable a tyranny. The people, therefore, were called to prayers and sermon on the Sunday, in the churchyards, and marriages were performed at the church door." (Book of the Church, Vol. I., ch. 9, pp. 261-2.)—Ed. SCENE IN VENICE. 33 XXXVII. PAPAL ABUSES. As with the Stream our voyage we pursue, XXXVIII SCENE IN VENICE. BLACK Demons hovering o'er his mitred head, * Compare Aubrey de Vere's Thomas à Becket.-ED. + After Becket's murder and canonization Henry II., from political motives, did penance publicly at his shrine. Clad in a coarse garment, he walked three miles barefoot to Canterbury, and at the shrine submitted to the discipline of the Church. Four bishops, abbots, and eighty clergy were present, each with a knotted cord, and inflicted 380 lashes. Bleeding he threw sackcloth over his shoulders, and continued till midnight kneeling at prayer, then visited all the altars, and returned fainting to Becket's shrine, where he remained till morning.-ED. On the festival of the Ascension, John "laid his erown at Pandulph's feet, and signed an instrument by which, for the remission of his sins, and those of his family, he surrendered the kingdoms of England and Ireland to the Pope, to hold them thenceforth under him, and the Roman see." Pandulph "kept the crown five days before he restored it to John." -Southey (Vol. I., p. 218).-ED. § The reference is to the legend of Pope Alexander III. and Frederick Barbarossa. See the Fenwick note prefixed to these sonnets.-ED. "Ere I absolve thee, stoop! that on thy neck He, whose strong arm the Orient could not check, And even the common dignity of man!— From outraged Nature; but the sense of most XXXIX. PAPAL DOMINION. UNLESS to Peter's Chair the viewless wind As that by dreaming Bards to Love assigned, For occupation of a magic wand, And 'tis the Pope that wields it :-whether rough Soldan, or Sultan, "Soldanus quasi solus dominus.”—ED. + According to the canons of the Church, the Pope was above all kings, "He was king of kings and lord of lords, although he subscribed himself FROM FALSE ASSUMPTION ROSE, AND FONDLY HAILED. 35 PART II. TO THE CLOSE OF THE TROUBLES IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES I. I. Pub. 1845. How soon-alas! did Man, created pure- 'Mid Heaven-born flowers that shall for aye endure, If good can smooth the way to evil choice, II. Pub. 1845. FROM false assumption rose, and fondly hailed the servant of servants." He might dethrone kings, and tax nations, or destroy empires, as he pleased. All power had been committed to him, and any secular law that was opposed to a papal decree was, ipso facto, null and void.-ED. |