O suffering Earth! be thankful; sternest clime
And rudest age are subject to the thrill
Of heaven-descended Piety and Song.

CISTERTIAN MONASTERY.

" Here Man more purely lives, less oft doth fall,
More promptly rises, walks with stricter heed,
More safely rests, dies happier, is freed
Earlier from cleansing fires, and gains withal
A brighter erown."*— On yon Cistertian wall
Thai confident assurance may be read;
And, to like shelter, from the world have fled
Inereasing multitudes. The potent call
Doubtless shall cheat full oft the heart's desires;
Yet, while the rugged Age on pliant knee
Vows to rapt Fancy humble fealty,
A gentler life spreads round the holy spires;
Where'er they rise, the sylvan waste retires,
And aery harvests erown the fertile lea.

MONKS AND SCHOOLMEN.

Record we too, with just and faithful pen,
That many hooded Cenobites there are,
Who in their private cells have yet a care
Of public quiet; unambitious Men,
Counsellors for the world, of piercing ken;
Whose fervent exhortations from afar
Move Princes to their duty, peace or war;
And oft-times in the most forbidding den
Of solitude, with love of science strong,
How patiently the yoke of thought they bear I
How subtly glide its fmest threads along!
Spirits that erowd the intellectual sphere
With mazy boundaries, as the astronomer
With orb and cycle girds the starry throng.

Praised be the Rivers, from their mountain-splings
Shouting to Freedom, "Plant thy banners here!"
To harass'd Piety, "Dismiss thy fear,
And in our caverns smooth thy ruffled wings!"
Nor be nnthank'd their final lingerings —
Silent, but not to high-soul'd Passion's ear —

9 "Bomim est nps hie esse, quia homo vivit purins, cadit rnrins, snrjrlt velocins icedit cnutius, quieecit securing, moritur felicins, yurgatur citius, p ajmiatnr copious." JSerniml. "This sentence," says Dr. Wlutaker, "is usually inseribed ir e conspicuous part of the Ciatertian houses."

'Mid reedy fens wide-spread and marshes drear,
Their own ereation. Such glad welcomings
As Po was heard to give where Venice rose,
Hail'd from aloft those Heirs of truth divine
Who near his fountains sought obscure repose,
Yet came prepared as glorious lights to shine,
Should that be needed for their saered Charge;
Blest Prisoners They, whose spirits were at large !

DISSOLUTION' OF THE MONASTERIES.

Threats come which no submission may assuage,

No saerifice avert, no power dispnte;

The tapers shall be qucnch'd, the belfries mute,

And, 'mid their choirs unroof d by selfish rage

The warbling wren shall find a leafy cage;

The gadding bramble hang her purple fruit;

And the green lizard and the gilded newt

Lead unmolested lives, and die of age.

The owl of evening and the woodland fox

For their abode the shrines of Waltham choose:

Proud Glastonbury can no more refuse

To stoop her head before these desperate shocks, —

She whose high pomp displaced, as story tells,

Arimathean Joseph's wattled cells.

THE SAME SUBJECT.

The lovely Nun (submissive, but more meek

Through saintly habit than from effort due,

To unrelenting mandates that pursue

With equal wrath the steps of strong and weak)

Goes forth, — unveiling timidly a cheek

Suffused with blushes of celestial hue,

While through the Convent's gate to open view

Softly she glides, another home to seek.

Not Iris, issuing from her cloudy shrine,

An Apparition more divinely bnght !

Not more attractive to the dazzled sight

Those watery glories, on the stormy brine

Pour'd forth, while summer suns at distance shine,

And the green vales lie hush'd in sober light l

THE VIRGIN.

Mother! whose virgin bosom was unerost
With the least shade of thought to sin allied;
Woman! above all women glorified,

Our tainted nature's solitary boast;
Purer than foam on central ocean tost;
Brighter thd,n eastern skies at daybreak strewn
With fancied roses, than th' nnblemish'd Moon
Before her wane begins on heaven's blue coast;
Thy Image falls to earth. Yet some, I ween,
Not unforgiven the suppliant knee might bend,
As to a visible Power, in which did blend
All that was mix'd and reconciled in Thee
Of mother's love with maiden purity,
Of high with low, celestial with terrene!

APOLOGY.

Not utterly unworthy to endure

Was the supremacy of erafty Rome;

Age after age to th' arch of Christendom

Aerial keystone haughtily secure;

Supremacy from Heaven transmitted pure,

As many hold; and therefore to the tomb

Pass, some through fire, and by the scaffold some, —

Like saintly Fisher, and unbending More.

" Lightly for both the bosom's lord did sit

Upon his throne;" unsoften'd, undismay'd

By aught that mingled with the tragic scene

Of pity or fear; and More's gay genius play'd

With th' inoffensive sword of native wit,

Than the bare axo more luminous and keen.

IMAGINATIVE REGRETS.

Deep is the lamentation! Not alone
From Sages justly honour'd by mankind;
But from the ghostly tenants of the wind,
Demons and Spirits, many a dolorous groan
Issues for that dominion overthrown:
Proud Tiber grieves, and far-off Ganges, blind
As his own worshippers: and Nile, reclined
Upon his monstrous urn, the farewell moan
Renews. Through every forest, cave, and den,
Where frauds were hateh'd of old, hath sorrow past, .
Hangs o'er th' Arabian Prophet's native Waste,
Where once his airy helpers schemed and plann'd
'Mid spectral lakes bemocking thirsty men,
And stalking pillars built of fiery sand.

TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE.

But, to outweigh all harm, the saered Book,
In dusty sequestration wrapt too long,

Assumes the accents of our native tongue;

And he who guides the plough, or wields the erook,

With understanding spirit now may look

Upon her records, listen to her song,

And sift her laws, — much wondering that the wrong,

Which Faith has suffer'd, Heaven could calmly brook.

Transcendent boou! noblest that earthly King

Ever bestow'd, to equalize and bless

Under the weight of mortal wretehedness!

But passions spread like plagues, and thousands wild

With bigotry shall tread the Offering

Beneath their feet, detested and defiled.

EDWARD VL

" Sweet is the holiness of Youth," — so felt
Time-honour'd Chaucer speaking through that Lay
By which the Prioress beguiled the way,
And many a Pilgrim's rugged heart did melt.
Hadst thou, loved Bard! whose spirit often dwelt
In the clear land of vision, but foreseen
King, child, and seraph, blended in the mien
Of pious Edward kneeling as he knelt
In meek and simple infancy, what joy
For universal Christendom had tfarill'd
' Thy heart! what hopes inspired thy genins, skill'd
(O great Precursor, genuine morning Star)
The lucid shafts of reason to employ,
Piercing the Papal darkness from afar I

EDWARD SIGNING THE WARRANT FOR THE EXECUTION 01
JOAN OF KENT.

The tears of man in various measure gush

From various sources: gently overflow

From blissful transport some; from clefts of woe

Some with ungovernable impulse rush; ..

And some, coeval with the earliest blush

Of infant passion, scarcely dare to show

Their pearly lustre, — coming but to go;

And some break forth when others' sorrows crush

The sympathising heart. Nor these, nor yet

The noblest drops to admiration known,

To gratitude, to injuries forgiven,

Claim Heaven's regard like waters that have wet

The innocent eyes of youthful Monarchs driven

To pen the mandates nature doth disown.

LATIMER AND RIDLET.

How fast the Marian death-list is unroll'd!

See Latimer and Ridlcy in the might

Of Faith stand coupled for a common flight!

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

Transfigured, from this kindling hath foretold

A torch of inextinguishable light;i*

The Other gains a confidence as bold;

And thus they foil their enemy's despite.

The penal instruments, the shows of crime,

Are glorified while this once-mitred pair

Of saintly Friends the " murtherer's chain partake,

Corded, and burning at the social stake:"

Earth never witness'd object more sublime

In constancy, in fellowship more fair!

EMINENT REFORMERS.

Methinks that I could trip o'er heaviest soil,
Light as a buoyant bark from wave to wave,
Were mine the trusty staff that Jewel gave
To yonthful Hooker, in familiar style
The gift exalting, and with playful smile;u
For, thus cquipp'd, and bearing on his head
The Donor's farewell blessing, can he dread
Tempest, or length of way, or weight of toil? —
More sweet than odours caught by him who sails
Near spicy shores of Araby the blest,
A thousand times more exquisitely sweet,

10 M. Lalimor suffered his keeper very quietly" to pull off his hose, and his other array, which to looke into was very simple: nnd being stripped into liis shrowd, ha 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) ohle man, he now stood Ilolt upright, as comely a father .is one might lightly behold. . . . . Then they brought a faggotte, kindled with fire, and laid the same downe at Dr. Ridley's feete. To whome M. Latimer spake in this manner, "Bee of good comfort, master Hidley, and play the man: wee shall this elay light such a candle by Clod's grace in England, as l trust shall never be pnt ont." — Fox's Acts, ifc.

II On loot 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 gratitnde when he saw his mother and friends; and at the Bishop's parting with him, the Bishop give him good counsel and his benediction, bnt forgot to give him money; which wlien the Bishop had considered, he sent a servant in all haste to call Richard back to him, and at Kichard'fl 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, bnt lend yon my horse; be sure 5-0u 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 boar your charges to Exeter; anil here is ten groats more, which I charge yon 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 m(--. And if you bring my horse back to me, I will give you ten groats more to carry you on foot to tie college; acd so God bless you, good liiehard."— H'alton'i Life of liichard Uouker. " *