III

TREPIDATION OF THE DRUIDS

1821 1822

SCREAMS round the Arch-druid's brow the seamew -white 42

As Menai's foam; and toward the mystic ring
Where Augurs stand, the Future questioning,
Slowly the cormorant aims her heavy flight,
Portending ruin to each baleful rite,

That, in the lapse of ages, hath crept o'er
Diluvian truths, and patriarchal lore.

Haughty the Bard: can these meek doctrines blight
His transports? wither his heroic strains?

But all shall be fulfilled; the Julian spear

A way first opened; and, with Roman chains,

The tidings come of Jesus crucified;

Receive the faith, and in the hope abide.

IV

DRUIDICAL EXCOMMUNICATION

1821 1822

MERCY and Love have met thee on thy road,
Thou wretched Outcast, from the gift of fire
And food cut off by sacerdotal ire,

From every sympathy that Man bestowed!
Yet shall it claim our reverence, that to God,
Ancient of days! that to the eternal Sire,
These jealous Ministers of law aspire,

As to the one sole fount whence wisdom flowed,
Justice, and order. Tremblingly escaped,

As if with prescience of the coming storm,
That intimation when the stars were shaped;

And still, 'mid yon thick woods, the primal truth
Glimmers through many a superstitious form
That fills the Soul with unavailing ruth.

V

UNCERTAINTY

1821 1822

DARKNESS surrounds us; seeking, we are lost
On Snowdon's wilds, amid Brigantian coves,
Or where the solitary shepherd roves
Along the plain of Sarum, by the ghost
Of Time and shadows of Tradition, crost;
And where the boatman of the Western Isles

Slackens his course to mark those holy piles
Which yet survive on bleak Iona's coast.
Nor these, nor monuments of eldest name,
Nor Taliesin's unforgotten lays,

Nor characters of Greek or Roman fame,

To an unquestionable Source have led;
Enough -if eyes, that sought the fountain-head
In vain, upon the growing Rill may gaze.

VI

PERSECUTION

1821 1822

LAMENT! for Diocletian's fiery sword
Works busy as the lightning; but instinct
With malice ne'er to deadliest weapon linked
Which God's ethereal store-houses afford:
Against the Followers of the incarnate Lord
It rages; some are smitten in the field

Some pierced to the heart through the ineffectual shield

Of sacred home; - with pomp are others gored And dreadful respite. Thus was Alban tried, England's first Martyr, whom no threats could shake;

Self-offered victim, for his friend he died,

And for the faith; nor shall his name forsake That Hill, whose flowery platform seems to rise By Nature decked for holiest sacrifice. 43

VII

RECOVERY

1821 1822

As, when a storm hath ceased, the birds regain
Their cheerfulness, and busily retrim

Their nests, or chant a gratulating hymn
To the blue ether and bespangled plain;
Even so, in many a re-constructed fane,
Have the survivors of this Storm renewed
Their holy rites with vocal gratitude:
And solemn ceremonials they ordain
To celebrate their great deliverance;
Most feelingly instructed 'mid their fear

That persecution, blind with rage extreme,

May not the less, through Heaven's mild counten

ance,

Even in her own despite, both feed and cheer;
For all things are less dreadful than they seem.