XXXVII.

PAPAL ABUSES.

As with the Stream our voyage we pursue, gross materials of this world present

The

A marvellous study of wild accident;
Uncouth proximities of old and new;
And bold transfigurations, more untrue
(As might be deemed) to disciplined intent
Than aught the sky's fantastic element,
When most fantastic, offers to the view.
Saw we not Henry scourged at Becket's shrine?
Lo! John self-stripped of his insignia :-crown,
Sceptre and mantle, sword and ring, laid down
At a proud Legate's feet! The spears that line
Baronial halls, the opprobrious insult feel;

And angry Ocean roars a vain appeal.

XXXVIII.

SCENE IN VENICE.

BLACK Demons hovering o'er his mitred head,
To Cæsar's Successor the Pontiff spake ;
"Ere I absolve thee, stoop! that on thy neck
"Levelled with earth this foot of mine may
Then he, who to the altar had been led,

tread.".

He, whose strong arm the Orient could not check, He, who had held the Soldan at his beck,

Stooped, of all glory disinherited,

And even the common dignity of man !———
Amazement strikes the crowd: while many turn
Their eyes away in sorrow, others burn
With scorn, invoking a vindictive ban

From outraged Nature; but the sense of most

In abject sympathy with power is lost.

XXXIX.

PAPAL DOMINION.

UNLESS to Peter's Chair the viewless wind
Must come and ask permission when to blow,
What further empire would it have? for now
A ghostly Domination, unconfined

As that by dreaming Bards to Love assigned,
Sits there in sober truth-to raise the low,
Perplex the wise, the strong to overthrow;
Through earth and heaven to bind and to unbind !—
Resist the thunder quails thee!—crouch-rebuff
Shall be thy recompence! from land to land
The ancient thrones of Christendom are stuff

For occupation of a magic wand,

And 'tis the Pope that wields it :—whether rough

Or smooth his front, our world is in his hand!

232

ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS.

PART II.

TO THE CLOSE OF THE TROUBLES IN THE REIGN OF

CHARLES I.

I.

CISTERTIAN MONASTERY.

"HERE Man more purely lives, less oft doth fall, "More promptly rises, walks with stricter heed, "More safely rests, dies happier, is freed

"Earlier from cleansing fires, and gains withal
"A brighter crown*.”—On yon Cistertian wall
That confident assurance may be read;

And, to like shelter, from the world have fled
Increasing multitudes. The potent call

Doubtless shall cheat full oft the heart's desires;
Yet, while the rugged Age on pliant knee
Vows to rapt Fancy humble fealty,

A gentler life spreads round the holy spires;
Where'er they rise, the sylvan waste retires,
And aëry harvests crown the fertile lea.

*See Note.

II.

DEPLORABLE his lot who tills the ground,
His whole life long tills it, with heartless toil
Of villain-service, passing with the soil

To each new Master, like a steer or hound,
Or like a rooted tree, or stone earth-bound;
But mark how gladly, through their own domains,
The Monks relax or break these iron chains;
While Mercy, uttering, through their voice, a sound
Echoed in Heaven, cries out, "Ye Chiefs, abate
These legalized oppressions! Man-whose name
And nature God disdained not; Man-whose soul
Christ died for cannot forfeit his high claim
To live and move exempt from all controul
Which fellow-feeling doth not mitigate!"