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The wrath consummate and the threat fulfilled;

So, with devout humility be it said,

So did a portion of that spirit fall
On me uplifted from the vantage-ground

Of pity and sorrow to a state of being

That through the time's exceeding fierceness saw, Glimpses of retribution, terrible,

And in the order of sublime behests:

But, even if that were not, amid the awe

Of unintelligible chastisement,

Not only acquiescences of faith

Survived, but daring sympathies with power,
Motions not treacherous or profane, else why
Within the folds of no ungentle breast
Their dread vibration to this hour prolonged?
Wild blasts of music thus could find their way
Into the midst of turbulent events;
So that worst tempests might be listened to.
Then was the truth received into my heart,
That, under heaviest sorrow earth can bring,
If from the affliction somewhere do not grow
Honor which could not else have been, a faith,
An elevation, and a sanctity,

If new strength be not given nor old restored,
The blame is ours, not Nature's. When a taunt
Was taken up by scoffers in their pride,
Saying, "Behold the harvest that we reap
From popular government and equality,"
I clearly saw that neither these nor aught
Of wild belief engrafted on their names

By false philosophy had caused the woe,
But a terrific reservoir of guilt

And ignorance filled up from age to age,
That could no longer hold its loathsome charge.
But burst and spread in deluge through the land.

And as the desert hath green spots, the sea Small islands scattered amid stormy waves, So that disastrous period did not want Bright sprinklings of all human excellence, To which the silver wands of saints in Heaven Might point with rapturous joy. Yet not the less, For those examples in no age surpassed

Of fortitude and energy and love,

And human nature faithful to herself

Under worst trials, was I driven to think

Of the glad times when first I traversed France,
A youthful pilgrim; above all reviewed

That eventide, when under windows bright
With happy faces and with garlands hung,

And through a rainbow-arch that spanned the street,

Triumphal pomp for liberty confirmed,

I paced, a dear companion at my side,
The town of Arras, whence with promise high
Issued, on delegation to sustain

Humanity and right, that Robespierre,
He who thereafter, and in how short time!
Wielded the sceptre of the Atheist crew.
When the calamity spread far and wide,

And this same city, that did then appear
To outrun the rest in exultation, groaned
Under the vengeance of her cruel son,
As Lear reproached the winds,

I could almost Have quarrelled with that blameless spectacle For lingering yet an image in my mind.

To mock me under such a strange reverse.

O Friend! few happier moments have been

mine

Than that which told the downfall of this Tribe
So dreaded, so abhorred. The day deserves
A separate record. Over the smooth sands
Of Leven's ample estuary lay

My journey, and beneath a genial sun,
With distant prospect among gleams of sky
And clouds, and intermingling mountain-tops,
In one inseparable glory clad,

Creatures of one ethereal substance met
In consistory, like a diadem

· Or crown of burning seraphs as they sit
In the empyrean. Underneath that pomp
Celestial lay unseen the pastoral vales
Among whose happy fields I had grown up
From childhood. On the fulgent spectacle,
That neither passed away nor changed, I gazed
Enrapt; but brightest things are wont to draw
Sad opposites out of the inner heart,

As even their pensive influence drew from mine.
How could it otherwise? for not in vain

That very morning had I turned aside

To seek the ground where, 'mid a throng of graves,
An honored teacher of my youth was laid,
And on the stone were graven by his desire
Lines from the churchyard elegy of Gray.
This faithful guide, speaking from his death-bed,
Added no farewell to his parting counsel,
But said to me, "My head will soon lie low";
And when I saw the turf that covered him,
After the lapse of full eight years, those words,
With sound of voice and countenance of the Man,
Came back upon me, so that some few tears
Fell from me in my own despite. But now
I thought, still traversing that wide-spread plain,
With tender pleasure of the verses graven
Upon his tombstone, whispering to myself:
He loved the Poets, and, if now alive,
Would have loved me, as one not destitute
Of promise, nor belying the kind hope
That he had formed, when I, at his command,
Began to spin, with toil, my earliest songs.

As I advanced, all that I saw or felt
Was gentleness and peace. Upon a small
And rocky island near, a fragment stood
(Itself like a sea rock) the low remains
(With shells incrusted, dark with briny weeds)
Of a dilapidated structure, once

A Romish Chapel, where the vested priest
Said matins at the hour that suited those

Who crossed the sands with ebb of morning tide.
Not far from that still ruin all the plain
Lay spotted with a variegated crowd
Of vehicles and travellers, horse and foot,
Wading beneath the conduct of their guide
In loose procession through the shallow stream
Of inland waters; the great sea meanwhile
Heaved at a safe distance, far retired. I paused,
Longing for skill to paint a scene so bright
And cheerful, but the foremost of the band
As he approached, no salutation given.
In the familiar language of the day,

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Cried, Robespierre is dead!" nor was a doubt,

After strict question, left within my mind,

That he and his supporters all were fallen.

Great was my transport, deep my gratitude To everlasting Justice, by this fiat

Made manifest. "Come now, ye golden times,"
Said I, forth-pouring on those open sands

A hymn of triumph: "as the morning comes
From out the bosom of the night, come ye:
Thus far our trust is verified; behold!
They who with clumsy desperation brought
A river of Blood, and preached that nothing else
Could cleanse the Augean stable, by the might
Of their own helper have been swept away;
Their madness stands declared and visible;
Elsewhere will safety now be sought, and earth
March firmly towards righteousness and peace.".

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