MOTHER! whose virgin bosom was uncrost
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 than eastern skies at daybreak strewn
With fancied roses, than the unblemished 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 mixed and reconciled in Thee
Of mother's love with maiden purity,
Of high with low, celestial with terrene !

Nor utterly unworthy to endure
Was the supremacy of crafty Rome;
Age after age to the 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;" unsoftened, undismayed
By aught that mingled with the tragic scene
Of pity or fear; and More's gay genius played
With the inoffensive sword of native wit,
Than the bare axe more luminous and keen,

XX.

IMAGINATIVE REGRETS.

DEEP is the lamentation! Not alone
From Sages justly honoured 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 hatched of old, hath sorrow past
Hangs o'er the Arabian Prophet's native Waste,
Where once his airy helpers schemed and planned,
'Mid phantom lakes bemocking thirsty men,
And stalking pillars built of fiery sand.

XXI.

REFLECTIONS.

GRANT, that by this unsparing Hurricane
Green leaves with yellow mixed are torn away,
And goodly fruitage with the mother spray,
"Twere madness wished we, therefore, to detain,
With hands stretched forth in mollified disdain,
The "
trumpery" that ascends in bare display,
Bulls, pardons, relics, cowls black, white, and grey,
Upwhirled and flying o'er the ethereal plain
Fast bound for Limbo Lake.

And yet not choice
But habit rules the unreflecting herd,
And airy bonds are hardest to disown;

Hence, with the spiritual sovereignty transferred
Unto itself, the Crown assumes a voice

Of reckless mastery, hitherto unknown.

XXII.

TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE.

BUT, to outweigh all harm, the sacred Book,

In dusty sequestration wrapt too long,
Assumes the accents of our native tongue;

And he who guides the plough, or wields the crook,
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 suffered, Heaven could calmly brook.
Transcendent Boon! noblest that earthly King
Ever bestowed to equalize and bless

Under the weight of mortal wretchedness!

But passions spread like plagues, and thousands wild With bigotry shall tread the Offering

Beneath their feet

detested and defiled.

XXIII.

THE POINT AT ISSUE.

FOR what contend the wise? for nothing less

Than that the Soul, freed from the bonds of Sense,

And to her God restored by evidence

Of things not seen

drawn forth from their recess,

Root there, and not in forms, her holiness;

For Faith which to the Patriarchs did dispense
Sure guidance, ere a ceremonial fence

Was needful round men thirsting to transgress;
For Faith, more perfect still, with which the Lord
Of all, himself a Spirit, in the youth

Of Christian aspiration, deigned to fill

The temples of their hearts who, with his word
Informed, were resolute to do his will,

And worship him in spirit and in truth.

"SWEET is the holiness of Youth'

so felt Time-honoured Chaucer when he framed the 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 thrilled

Thy heart! what hopes inspired thy genius, skilled
(O great Precursor, genuine morning Star)
The lucid shafts of reason to employ,
Piercing the Papal darkness from afar!

XXV.. EDWARD SIGNING THE WARRANT FOR THE
EXECUTION OF 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, coëval 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
Το pen the mandates, nature doth disown.

XXVI.. REVIVAL OF POPERY.

THE saintly Youth has ceased to rule, discrowned By unrelenting Death. O People keen

For change, to whom the new looks always green!
Rejoicing did they cast upon the ground

Their Gods of wood and stone; and, at the sound
Of counter-proclamation, now are seen,
(Proud triumph is it for a sullen Queen !)
Lifting them up, the worship to confound
Of the Most High. Again do they invoke
The Creature, to the Creature glory give;
Again with frankincense the altars smoke
Like those the Heathen served; and mass is sung;
And prayer, man's rational prerogative,

Runs through blind channels of an unknown tongue.

XXVII.

LATIMER AND RIDLEY.

How fast the Marian death-list is unrolled!

See Latimer and Ridley 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;

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 witnessed object more sublime
In constancy, in fellowship more fair!

*See note, p. 200.