Sonnets Dedicated to Liberty.
COMPOSED BY THE SEA-SIDE, NEAR
CALAIS, AUGUST, 1802.
FAIR star of evening, splendour of the
west,
[brink
Star of my country!-on the horizon's
Thou hangest, stooping, as might seem, to
sink
[rest,
On England's bosom: yet well pleased to
Meanwhile, and be to her a glorious crest
Conspicuous to the nations. Thou, I
think,
[shouldst wink,
Shouldst be my country's emblem; and
Bright star! with laughter on her banners,
drest
[spot
In thy fresh beauty. There! that dusky
Beneath thee, it is England; there it lies.
Blessings be on you both! one hope, one
lot,
One life, one glory! I with many a fear
For my dear country, many neartfelt sighs,
Among men who do not love her, linger
here.
Is it a reed that's shaken by the wind,
Or what is it that ye go forth to see?
Lords, lawyers, statesmen, squires of low
degree,
[and blind,
Men known, and men unknown, sick, lame,
Post forward all, like creatures of one
kind,
[the knee
With first-fruit offerings crowd to bend
In France, before the new-born majesty.
'Tis even thus. Ye men of prostrate mind!
A seemly reverence may be paid to power;
But that's a loyal virtue, never sown
In haste, nor springing with a transient
shower:
[flown,
When truth, when sense, when liberty were
What hardship had it been to wait an hour?
[prone! Shame on you, feeble heads, to slavery
TO A FRIEND. COMPOSED NEAR CALAIS,
ON THE ROAD LEADING TO ARDRES,
AUGUST 7, 1802.
JONES! while from Calais southward you
and I
[way
Urged our accordant steps, this public
Streamed with the pomp of a too-credulous
day,*
[liberty:
When faith was pledged to new-born
A homeless sound of joy was in the sky;
The antiquated earth, as one might say,
Beat like the heart of man: songs, gar-
lands, play,
Banners, and happy faces, far and nigh!
And now, sole register that these things were,
Two solitary greetings have I heard,
"Good morrow, citizen!" a hollow word,
As if a dead man spake it! Yet despair
Touches me not, though pensive as a bird
Whose vernal coverts winter hath laid bare.
Books, leisure, perfect freedom, and the
talk
[walk
Man holds with week-day man in the hourly
Of the mind's business: these are the
degrees
[the stalk
By which true sway doth mount; this is
True power doth grow on; and her rights
are these.
CALAIS, AUGUST 15, 1802.
FESTIVALS have I seen that were not names:
This is young Bonaparte's natal day,
And his is henceforth an established sway,
Consul for life. With worship France
proclaims
[games.
Her approbation, and with pomps and
Heaven grant that other cities may be gay!
Calais is not : and I have bent my way
To the sea-coast, noting that each man
frames
His business as he likes. Far other show
My youth here witnessed, in a prouder
time;
The senselessness of joy was then sublime!
Happy is he, who, caring not for pope,
Consul, or king, can sound himself to know
The destiny of man, and live in hope.
If fall they must. Now, whither doth it
tend?
And what to him and his shall be the end?
That thought is one which neither can appal
Nor cheer him for the illustrious Swede
hath done
[above
The thing which ought to be: he stands
All consequences; work he hath begun
Of fortitude, and piety, and love,
Which all his glorious ancestors approve
The heroes bless him, him their rightful son.
TO TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE.
TOUSSAINT, the most unhappy man of men!
Whether the whistling rustic tend his plough
Within thy hearing, or thy head be now
Pillowed in some deep dungeon's earless
den;
O miserable chieftain! where and when
Wilt thou find patience? Yet die not! do
thou
Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow:
Though fallen thyself, never to rise again,
Live, and take comfort. Thou hast left
behind
[and skies:
Powers that will work for thee, air, earth,
There's not a breathing of the common
wind
That will forget thee; thou hast great allies;
ON THE EXTINCTION OF THE VENETIAN Thy friends are exultations, agonies,
ONCE did she hold the gorgeous East in
fee;
And was the safeguard of the West: the
Of Venice did not fall below her birth,
Venice, the eldest child of liberty.
She was a maiden city, bright and free;
No guile seduced, no force could violate;
And when she took unto herself a mate,
She must espouse the everlasting sea!
And what if she had seen those glories fade,
Those titles vanish, and that strength decay;
Yet shall some tribute of regret be paid
When her long life hath reached its final
day:
[the shade
Men are we, and must grieve when even
Of that which once was great, is passed
THE KING OF SWEDEN.
THE voice of song from distant lands shall
call
[youth
To that great king; shall hail the crowned
Who, taking counsel of unbending truth,
By one example hath set forth to all
And love, and man's unconquerable mind.
Among the capricious acts of tyranny that disgraced these times, was the chasing of all negroes from France by decree of the govern ment we had a fellow-passenger who was one of the expelled.
DRIVEN from the soil of France, a female
From Calais with us, brilliant in array,
A negro woman like a lady gay,
Yet downcast as a woman fearing blame;
Meek, destitute, as seemed, of hope or aim
She sate, from notice turning not away,
But on all proffered intercourse did lay
A weight of languid speech, -or at the
Was silent, motionless in eyes and face.
Meanwhile those eyes retained their tropic
fire,
Which, burning independent of the mind,
Joined with the lustre of her rich attire
To mock the outcast-O ye heavens be
kind!
How they with dignity may stand; or fall; | And feel, thou earth, for this afflicted race!
COMPOSED IN THE VALLEY, NEAR DOVER, | Then cleave, oh, cleave to that which still
INLAND, within a hollow vale, I stood;
And saw, while sea was calm and air was
clear,
[how near!
The coast of France, the coast of France
Drawn almost into frightful neighbourhood.
I shrunk, for verily the barrier flood
Was like a lake, or river bright and fair,
A span of waters; yet what power is there!
What mightiness for evil and for good!
Even so doth God protect us if we be
Virtuous and wise. Winds blow, and
waters roll,
Strength to the brave, and power, and deity,
Yet in themselves are nothing! One decree
Spake laws to them, and said that by the soul
Only the nations shall be great and free!
is left; [it be For, high-souled maid, what sorrow would That mountain floods should thunder as before,
And ocean bellow from his rocky shore, And neither awful voice be heard by thee!
WRITTEN IN LONDON, SEPTEMBER, 1802.
O FRIEND! I know not which way I must
look
For comfort, being, as I am, opprest,
For show; mean handy-work of craftsman,
To think that now our life is only drest
cook,
[brook
In the open sunshine, or we are unblest:
Or groom!-We must run glittering like a
The wealthiest man among us is the best;
No grandeur now in nature or in book
Delights us. Rapine, avarice, expense,
This is idolatry; and these we adore;
Plain living and high thinking are no more;
The homely beauty of the good old cause
Is gone; our peace, our fearful innocence
And pure religion breathing household laws
MILTON ! thou shouldst be living at this
England hath need of thee; she is a fen
Of stagnant waters; altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom,
power.
Thy soul was like a star, and dwelt apart;
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
THOUGHT OF A BRITON ON THE SUBJUGA- So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
GREAT men have been among us; hands that penned [none: And tongues that uttered wisdom, better The later Sidney, Marvel, Harrington, Young Vane, and others who called Milton
These moralists could act and comprehend: They knew how genuine glory was put on; Taught us how rightfully a nation shone
WHEN I have borne in memory what has
tamed
[depart
Great nations, how ennobling thoughts
When men change swords for ledgers, and
desert
[unnamed
The student's bower for gold, some fears
I had my country!-am I to be blamed?
But when I think of thee, and what thou
Verily, in the bottom of my heart.
Of those unfilial fears I am ashamed.
THESE times touch moneyed worldlings
with dismay :
[air
Even rich men, brave by nature, taint the
With words of apprehension and despair:
While tens of thousands, thinking on the
affray,
But dearly must we prize thee; we who Men unto whom sufficient for the day
In thee a bulwark for the cause of men ;
And I by my affection was beguiled.
What wonder if a poet now and then,
Among the many movements of his mind,
Felt for thee as a lover or a child?
ONE might believe that natural miseries
Had blasted France, and made of it a land
Unfit for men, and that in one great band
Her sons were bursting forth, to dwell at
But 'tis a chosen soil, where sun and breeze
And minds not stinted or untilled are given,
Sound, healthy children of the God of
heaven,
Are cheerful as the rising sun in May.
What do we gather hence but firmer faith
That every gift of noble origin
[breath?
Is breathed upon by hope's perpetual
That virtue and the faculties within
Are vital, and that riches are akin
To fear, to change, to cowardice and
death!
Of thy offences be a heavy weight:
Make merry, wives! ye little children, stun Your grandames' ears with pleasure of your noise! [must be
Oh, grief! that earth's best hopes rest all Clap, infants, clap your hands! Divine That triumph, when the very worst, the [slain, And even the prospect of our brethren Had something in it which the heart
WHEN, looking on the present face of things,
I see one man, of men the meanest too!
Raised up to sway the world, to do. undo,
With mighty nations for his underlings,
The great events with which old story rings
Seem vain and hollow, I find nothing great;
Nothing is left which I can venerate;
So that almost a doubt within me springs
Of Providence, such emptiness at length
Seems at the heart of all things. But, great
God!
I measure back the steps which I have trod;
And tremble, seeing whence proceeds the
strength
[sublime
Of such poor instruments, with thoughts
I tremble at the sorrow of the time.
In glory will they sleep and endless sanctity.
That in ourselves our safety must be sought; That by our own right hands it must be (low. wrought, That we must stand unpropped, or be laid O dastard whom such foretaste doth not cheer!
We shall exult, if they who rule the land Be men who hold its many blessings dear, Wise, upright, valiant; not a servile band, Who are to judge of danger which they fear,
And honour which they do not understand.
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