XXIX.

TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE.

BUT, to outweigh all harm, the sacred Book,
In dusty sequestration wrapt too long,
Assumes the accents of our native tongue;

And he who guides the plough, or wields the crook,
With understanding spirit now may look

Upon her records, listen to her song,

And sift her laws-much wondering that the wrong, Which Faith has suffered, Heaven could calmly brook. Transcendent boon! noblest that earthly King

Ever bestowed to equalize and bless

Under the weight of mortal wretchedness!

But passions spread like plagues, and thousands wild With bigotry shall tread the Offering

Beneath their feat, detested and defiled.*

XXX.

THE POINT AT ISSUE.

Pub. 1827.

FOR what contend the wise ?-for nothing less
Than that the Soul, freed from the bonds of Sense,
And to her God restored by evidence 1

Of things not seen, drawn forth from their recess,
Root there, and not in forms, her holiness;-
For 2 Faith, which to the Patriarchs did dispense

Than that pure faith dissolve the bonds of sense;
The soul restored to God by evidence.

1827.

2

1832.

That

1827.

As was the case during the French Revolution. --ED.

EDWARD VI.

Sure guidance, ere a ceremonial fence

Was needful round men thirsting to transgress;

1

For Faith, more perfect still, with which the Lord

Of all, himself a Spirit, in the youth

Of Christian aspiration, deigned to fill

The temples of their hearts who, with his word
Informed, were resolute to do his will,

And worship Him in spirit and in truth.

XXXI.

EDWARD VI.

'SWEET is the holiness of Youth

-so felt

Time-honoured Chaucer speaking through that Lay
By which the Prioress beguiled the way,*
And many a Pilgrim's rugged heart did melt.
Hadst thou, loved Bard! whose spirit often dwelt
In the clear land of vision, but foreseen
King, child, and seraph,† blended in the mien

Of pious Edward kneeling as he knelt

In meek and simple infancy, what joy

For universal Christendom had thrilled

Thy heart! what hopes inspired thy genius, skilled (O great Precursor, genuine morning Star)

The lucid shafts of reason to employ,

Piercing the Papal darkness from afar!

1 1832.

2

57

* The quotation is not from The Prioress's Tale of Chaucer, but from Wordsworth's own Selections from Chaucer modernized, st. ix. Wordsworth adds an idea, not found in the original, and to make room for it, he extends the stanza from seven to eight lines.-ED.

+ King Edward VI. ascended the throne in 1547, at the age of ten, and reigned for six years.-ED.

XXXII.

EDWARD SIGNING THE WARRANT FOR THE EXECUTION OF JOAN OF KENT.

THE tears of man in various measure gush

From various sources; gently overflow

From blissful transport some; from clefts of woe

Some with ungovernable impulse rush;

And some, coeval with the earliest blush

Of infant passion, scarcely dare to show
Their pearly lustre coming but to go;

And some break forth when others' sorrows crush
The sympathising heart. Nor these, nor yet
The noblest drops to admiration known,

To gratitude, to injuries forgiven ;

Claim Heaven's regard like waters that have wet
The innocent eyes of youthful Monarchs driven
To pen the mandates, nature doth disown.*

XXXIII.

REVIVAL OF POPERY.

Pub. 1827.

THE saintly Youth has ceased to rule, discrowned 1

By unrelenting Death.† O People keen

For change, to whom the new looks always green

1

1832.

Melts into silent shades the youth, discrowned,

!

1827.

* Joan Bocher, of Kent, a woman of good birth, friend of Ann Askew at Court, was accused, and condemned to die for maintaining that Christ was human only in appearance. Cranmer, by order of the Council, obtained from Edward a warrant for her execution. Edward, who was then in his thirteenth year, signed it, telling Cranmer that he must be answerable for the deed.-Ed.

+ Edward died in 1553, aged sixteen. -ED.

LATIMER AND RIDLEY.

Rejoicing did they cast upon the ground

Their Gods of wood and stone; and, at the sound

Of counter-proclamation, now are seen,

(Proud triumph is it for a sullen Queen!)
Lifting them up, the worship to confound
Of the Most High. Again do they invoke
The Creature, to the Creature glory give;
Again with frankincense the altars smoke

Like those the Heathen served; and mass is sung;

And prayer, man's rational prerogative,

Runs through blind channels of an unknown tongue.*

59

XXXIV.

LATIMER AND RIDLEY.

Pub. 1827.

How fast the Marian death-list is unrolled !

See Latimer and Ridley in the might

Of Faith stand coupled for a common flight! †
One (like those prophets whom God sent of old)
Transfigured from this kindling hath foretold

1 1832.

They cast, they cast with joy upon the ground

1827.

* On the death of Edward and the accession of Mary Tudor, the Roman Catholic worship was restored, all the statutes of Edward VI. with regard to religion being repealed by Parliament.-ED.

+ Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, and Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of Winchester, were sent to the Tower, and subsequently burnt together at Oxford in the front of Balliol College, Oct. 16th, 1555.-ED.

“M. Latimer suffered his keeper very quietly to pull off his hose, and his other array, which to looke unto was very simple: and being stripped into his shrowd, he seemed as comely a person to them that were present, as one should lightly see: and whereas in his clothes hee appeared a withered and crooked sillie (weak) olde man, he now stood bolt upright, as comely a father as one might lightly behold. * * * * Then they brought a faggotte, kindled with fire, and laid the same downe at doctor Ridley's feete. To whome M. Latimer spake in this manner, 'Bee of good comfort,

A torch of inextinguishable light;
The Other gains a confidence as bold;
And thus they foil their enemy's despite.
The penal instruments, the shows of crime,
Are glorified while this once-mitred pair

Of saintly Friends the 'murtherer's chain partake,
Corded, and burning at the social stake:'
Earth never witnessed object more sublime
In constancy, in fellowship more fair!

XXXV.

CRANMER.*

OUTSTRETCHING flame-ward his upbraided hand1 (O God of mercy, may no earthly Seat

1 1827.

upbraiding hand

1822.

master Ridley, and play the man: wee shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England, as I trust shall never bee put out."-Fox's Acts, &c.

Similar alterations in the outward figure and deportment of persons brought to like trial were not uncommon. See note to the above passage in Dr Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography, for an example in an humble Welsh fisherman.-W. W., 1827.-Ecclesiastical Biography, Vol. III. pp. 287, 288.-Ed.

Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, and leader in the ecclesiastical affairs of England during the latter part of Henry VIII. and Edward VI.'s reign, was, on the accession of Mary Tudor, committed to the Tower, tried on charges of heresy, and condemned. He recanted his opinions, but was nevertheless condemned to die. He then recanted his recantation. "They brought him to the spot where Latimer and Ridley had suffered. After a short prayer, he put off his clothes with a cheerful countenance and a willing mind. His feet were bare; his head appeared perfectly bald. Called to abide by his recantation, he stretched forth his right arm, and replied, "This is the hand that wrote it, and therefore it shall suffer punishment first.' Firm to his purpose, as soon as the flame rose, he held his hand out to meet it, and retained it there steadfastly, so that all the people saw it sensibly burning before the fire reached any other part of his body; and after he repeated with a loud and firm voice, 'This hand hath offended, this unworthy right hand.' Never did martyr endure the fire with more invincible resolution; no cry was heard from him, save the