XXVIII

INFLUENCE ABUSED

1821 1822

URGED by Ambition, who with subtlest skill
Changes her means, the Enthusiast as a dupe
Shall soar, and as a hypocrite can stoop,
And turn the instruments of good to ill,

Moulding the credulous people to his will.
from its Benedictine coop

Such DUNSTAN:

Issues the master Mind, at whose fell swoop

The chaste affections tremble to fulfil

Their purposes. Behold, pre-signified,

The Might of spiritual sway! his thoughts, his dreams,

Do in the supernatural world abide:

So vaunt a throng of Followers, filled with pride In what they see of virtues pushed to extremes, And sorceries of talent misapplied.

XXIX

DANISH CONQUESTS

1821 1822

WOE to the Crown that doth the Cowl obey! 54
Dissension, checking arms that would restrain
The incessant Rovers of the northern main
Helps to restore and spread a Pagan sway:
But Gospel-truth is potent to allay

Fierceness and rage; and soon the cruel Dane
Feels, through the influence of her gentle reign,
His native superstitions melt away.

Thus, often, when thick gloom the east o'ershrouds,
The full-orbed Moon, slow climbing, doth appear
Silently to consume the heavy clouds;

How no one can resolve; but every eye

Around her sees, while air is hushed a clear
And widening circuit of ethereal sky.

XXX

CANUTE

1821 1822

A PLEASANT music floats along the Mere,
From Monks in Ely chanting service high,

While-as Canute the King is rowing by:

"My Oarsmen," quoth the mighty King, “draw near,
That we the sweet song of the Monks may hear!"
He listens (all past conquests, and all schemes
Of future, vanishing like empty dreams)
Heart-touched, and haply not without a tear.
The Royal Minstrel, ere the choir is still,
While his free Barge skims the smooth flood along,
Gives to that rapture an accordant Rhyme.55
O suffering Earth! be thankful: sternest clime
And rudest age are subject to the thrill
Of heaven-descended Piety and Song.

XXXI

THE NORMAN CONQUEST

1821 1822

THE Woman-hearted Confessor prepares
The evanescence of the Saxon line.

Hark! 't is the tolling Curfew! - the stars shine;
But of the lights that cherish household cares
And festive gladness, burns not one that dares
To twinkle after that dull stroke of thine,
Emblem and instrument, from Thames to Tyne,
Of force that daunts, and cunning that ensnares!
Yet as the terrors of the lordly bell,

That quench, from hut to palace, lamps and fires, Touch not the tapers of the sacred quires;

Even so a thraldom, studious to expel

Old laws, and ancient customs to derange,
To Creed or Ritual brings no fatal change.

XXXII

1821 1837

COLDLY we spake. The Saxons, overpowered

By wrong triumphant through its own excess,

From fields laid waste, from house and home devoured By flames, look up to heaven and crave redress

From God's eternal justice. Pitiless

Though men be, there are angels that can feel

For wounds that death alone has power to heal,
For penitent guilt, and innocent distress.

And has a Champion risen in arms to try

His Country's virtue, fought, and breathes no more; Him in their hearts the people canonize;

And far above the mine's most precious ore

The least small pittance of bare mould they prize Scooped from the sacred earth where his dear relics lie.