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Page 79.

"Nor wants the cause the panic-striking aid

Of hallelujahs."

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

Page 79.

"By men yet scarcely conscious of a care

For other monuments than those of Earth."

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, particularize 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.

Page 80. Sonnet XII.

"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 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.

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Taliesin was present at the battle which preceded this desolation.

The account Bede gives of this remarkable event suggests a most striking warning against national and religious prejudices.

Page 82. Sonnet xv.

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The person of Paulinus is thus described by Bede, from the memory of an eyewitness:- Longæ staturæ, paululum in curvus, nigro capillo, facie macilenta, naso adunco, pertenui, venerabilis simul et terribilis aspectu."

Page 82.

"Man's life is like a Sparrow."

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See the original of this speech in Bede. - The Conversion of Edwin, as related by him, is highly interesting, — and the breaking up of this Council accompanied with an event so striking and characteristic, that I am tempted to give it at length in a translation. Who, exclaimed the King, when the Council was ended, shall first desecrate the altars and the temples? I, answered the Chief Priest; for who more fit than myself, through the wisdom which the true God hath given me, to destroy, for the good example of others, what in foolishness I worshipped? Immediately, casting away vain superstition, he besought the King to grant him what the laws did not allow to a priest, arms and a courser (equum emissarium); which mounting, and furnished with a sword and lance, he proceeded to destroy the Idols. The crowd, seeing this, thought him mad; he however halted not, but, approaching, he profaned the temple, casting against it the lance which he had held in his hand, and, exulting in acknowledgment of the worship of the true God, he ordered his companions to pull down the temple, with all its inclosures. The place is shown where those idols formerly stood, not far from York, at the source of the river Derwent, and is at this day called Gormund Gaham, ubi pontifex ille, inspirante Deo vero, polluit ac destruxit eas, quas ipse sacraverat aras." The last

VOL. IV.

23

expression is a pleasing proof that the venerable monk of Wearmouth was familiar with the poetry of Virgil.

Page 83.

"Such the inviting voice

Heard near fresh streams," &c.

The early propagators of Christianity were accustomed to preach near rivers, for the convenience of baptism.

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Having spoken of the zeal, disinterestedness, and temperance of the clergy of those times, Bede thus proceeds: -"Unde et in magna erat veneratione tempore illo religionis habitus, ita ut ubicunque clericus aliquis, aut monachus adveniret, gaudenter ab omnibus tanquam Dei famulus exciperetur. Etiam si in itinere pergens inveniretur, accurrebant, et flexa cervice, vel manu signari, vel ore illius se benedici, gaudebant. Ver bis quoque horum exhortatoriis diligenter auditum præbebant." -Lib. III. cap. 26.

Page 88.

"The people work like congregated bees."

See, in Turner's History, Vol. III. p. 528, the account of the erection of Ramsey Monastery. Penances were removable by the performance of acts of charity and benevolence.

Page 89.

"Pain narrows not his cares."

Through the whole of his life, Alfred was subject to grievous maladies.

Page 91.

"Woe to the Crown that doth the Cowl obey!"

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.

Page 100.

"Here Man more purely lives," &c.

"Bonum est nos hic esse, quia homo vivit purius, cadit rarius, surgit velocius, incedit cautius, quiescit securius, moritur felicius, purgatur citius, præmiatur copiosius."- BERNARD. "This sentence," says Dr. Whitaker, "is usually inscribed in some conspicuous part of the Cistertian houses."

Page 107.

"Whom Obloquy pursues with hideous bark."

The list of foul names bestowed upon those poor creatures is long and curious:-and, as is, alas! too natural, most of the opprobrious appellations are drawn from circumstances into which they were forced by their persecutors, who even consolidated their miseries into one reproachful term, calling them Patarenians, or Paturins, from pati, to suffer.

Dwellers with wolves, she names them, for the pine
And green oak are their covert; as the gloom
Of night oft foils their enemy's design,
She calls them Riders on the flying broom;
Sorcerers, whose frame and aspect have become
One and the same through practices malign.

Page 111.

"And the green lizard and the gilded newt
Lead unmolested lives, and die of age."

These two lines are adopted from a MS., written about the year 1770, which accidentally fell into my possession. The close of the preceding Sonnet on monastic voluptuousness is taken from the same source, as is the verse, "Where Venus sits," &c., and the line, " Once ye were holy, ye are holy still," in a subsequent Sonnet.

Page 120.

"One (like those prophets whom God sent of old)

Transfigured," &c.

"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 bold upright, as comely

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a father as one might lightly behold. . . . . . Then they brought a faggotte, kindled with fire, and laid the same downe at Doctor Ridley's feet. To whome M. Latimer spake in this manmer: "Bee of good comfort, 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 Biog raphy, for an example in an humble Welsh fisherman.

Page 123.

"The gift exalting, and with playful smile."

"On foot they went, and took Salisbury in their way, purposely to see the good Bishop, who made Mr. Hooker sit at his own table; which Mr. Hooker boasted of with much joy and gratitude when he saw his mother and friends; and at the Bishop's parting with him, the Bishop gave him good counsel and his benediction, but forgot to give him money; which when the Bishop had considered, he sent a servant in all haste to call Richard back to him, and at Richard's return the Bishop said to him,' Richard, I sent for you back to lend you a horse which hath carried me many a mile, and I thank God with much ease,' and presently delivered into his hand a walking-staff, with which he professed he had travelled through many parts of Germany; and he said, 'Richard, I do not give, but lend you my horse; be sure you be honest, and bring my horse back to me, at your return this way to Oxford. And I do now give you ten groats to bear your charges to Exeter; and here is ten groats more, which I charge you to deliver to your mother, and tell her I send her a Bishop's benediction with it, and beg the continuance of her prayers for me. And if you bring my horse back to me, I will give you ten groats

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