XIV

WALDENSES

1821 1822

THOSE had given earliest notice, as the lark

Springs from the ground the morn to gratulate; Or rather rose the day to antedate,

By striking out a solitary spark,

When all the world with midnight gloom was

dark.

Then followed the Waldensian bands, whom

Hate

In vain endeavours to exterminate,

Whom Obloquy pursues with hideous bark: 58
But they desist not; - and the sacred fire,
Rekindled thus, from dens and savage woods
Moves, handed on with never-ceasing care,
Through courts, through camps, o'er limitary
floods;

Nor lacks this sea-girt Isle a timely share
Of the new Flame, not suffered to expire.

XV

ARCHBISHOP CHICHELY TO HENRY V

1821 1822

"WHAT beast in wilderness or cultured field

The lively beauty of the leopard shows?
What flower in meadow-ground or garden grows
That to the towering lily doth not yield?
Let both meet only on thy royal shield!

Go forth, great King! claim what thy birth bestows;
Conquer the Gallic lily which thy foes

Dare to usurp; - thou hast a sword to wield,

And Heaven will crown the right.' The mitred Sire

Thus spake and lo! a Fleet, for Gaul addrest,

Ploughs her bold course across the wondering seas;

For, sooth to say, ambition, in the breast

Of youthful heroes, is no sullen fire,

But one that leaps to meet the fanning breeze.

XVI

WARS OF YORK AND LANCASTER

1821 1822

THUS is the storm abated by the craft

Of a shrewd Counsellor, eager to protect

The Church, whose power hath recently been

checked,

Whose monstrous riches threatened. So the shaft

Of victory mounts high, and blood is quaffed
In fields that rival Cressy and Poictiers -
Pride to be washed away by bitter tears!
For deep as Hell itself, the avenging draught
Of civil slaughter. Yet, while temporal power
Is by these shocks exhausted, spiritual truth
Maintains the eise endangered gift of life;
Proceeds from infancy to lusty youth;

And, under cover of this woeful strife,

Gathers unblighted strength from hour to hour.

XVII

WICLIFFE

1821 1822

ONCE more the Church is seized with sudden fear, And at her call is Wicliffe disinhumed:

Yea, his dry bones to ashes are consumed

And flung into the brook that travels near;

Forthwith, that ancient Voice which Streams can

hear

Thus speaks (that Voice which walks upon the

wind,

Though seldom heard by busy human kind) — "As thou these ashes, little Brook! wilt bear Into the Avon, Avon to the tide

Of Severn, Severn to the narrow seas,
Into main Ocean they, this deed accurst
An emblem yields to friends and enemies
How the bold Teacher's Doctrine, sanctified
By truth, shall spread, throughout the world dis-
persed."

XVIII

CORRUPTIONS OF THE HIGHER

CLERGY

1821 1822

"WOE to you, Prelates! rioting in ease And cumbrous wealth· the shame of your

estate;

You, on whose progress dazzling trains await
Of pompous horses; whom vain titles please;
Who will be served by others on their knees,
Yet will yourselves to God no service pay;
Pastors who neither take nor point the way
To Heaven; for, either lost in vanities.

Ye have no skill to teach, or if ye know
And speak the word

things

Alas! of fearful

"T is the most fearful when the people's eye Abuse hath cleared from vain imaginings; And taught the general voice to prophesy Of Justice armed, and Pride to be laid low.