II

And lo! with crimson banners proudly streaming,
And upright weapons innocently gleaming,
Along the surface of a spacious plain

Advance in order the redoubted Bands,

And there receive green chaplets from the hands

Of a fair female train—
Maids and Matrons, dight

In robes of dazzling white;

While from the crowd bursts forth a rapturous

noise

By the cloud-capt hills retorted;

And a throng of rosy boys

In loose fashion tell their joys;

And grey-haired sires, on staffs supported,

Look round, and by their smiling seem to say,
Thus strives a grateful Country to display
The mighty debt which nothing can repay!'

III

Anon before my sight a palace rose

Built of all precious substances,

so pure

And exquisite, that sleep alone bestows

Ability like splendour to endure:

Entered, with streaming thousands, through the gate,

I saw the banquet spread beneath a Dome of state,
A lofty Dome, that dared to emulate

The heaven of sable night

With starry lustre ; yet had power to throw

Solemn effulgence, clear as solar light,

Upon a princely company below,

While the vault rang with choral harmony,

Like some Nymph-haunted grot beneath the roaring

sea.

-No sooner ceased that peal, than on the verge

Of exultation hung a dirge

Breathed from a soft and lonely instrument,

That kindled recollections

Of agonised affections;

And, though some tears the strain attended,
The mournful passion ended

In peace of spirit, and sublime content!

60

70

80

IV

But garlands wither; festal shows depart, Like dreams themselves; and sweetest sound(Albeit of effect profound)

It was—and it is gone!

Victorious England! bid the silent Art

Reflect, in glowing hues that shall not fade,

Those high achievements; even as she arrayed
With second life the deed of Marathon

So

Upon Athenian walls;

may she labour for thy civic halls :

And be the guardian spaces

Of consecrated places,

As nobly graced by Sculpture's patient toil;
And let imperishable Columns rise

Fixed in the depths of this courageous soil;
Expressive signals of a glorious strife,
And competent to shed a spark divine
Into the torpid breast of daily life ;—
Records on which, for pleasure of all eyes,
The morning sun may shine
With gratulation thoroughly benign!

V

And ye, Pierian Sisters, sprung from Jove And sage Mnemosyne,-full long debarred From your first mansions, exiled all too long From many a hallowed stream and grove, Dear native regions where ye wont to rove, Chanting for patriot heroes the reward

Of never-dying song!

Now (for, though Truth descending from above
The Olympian summit hath destroyed for aye
Your kindred Deities, Ye live and move,
Spared for obeisance from perpetual love,
For privilege redeemed of godlike sway),
Now, on the margin of some spotless fountain,
Or top serene of unmolested mountain,
Strike audibly the noblest of your lyres,
And for a moment meet the soul's desires!
That I, or some more favoured Bard, may hear
What ye, celestial Maids! have often sung
Of Britain's acts,—may catch it with rapt ear,
And give the treasure to our British tongue!
So shall the characters of that proud page
Support their mighty theme from age to age;

And, in the desert places of the earth,
When they to future empires have given birth,
So shall the people gather and believe

The bold report, transferred to every clime;
And the whole world, not envious but admiring,
And to the like aspiring,

Own—that the progeny of this fair Isle
Had power as lofty actions to achieve
As were performed in man's heroic prime;
Nor wanted, when their fortitude had held
Its even tenor, and the foe was quelled,
A corresponding virtue to beguile
The hostile purpose of wide-wasting Time-
That not in vain they laboured to secure,
For their great deeds, perpetual memory,
And fame as largely spread as land and sea,
By Works of spirit high and passion pure!

XL

1816

FEELINGS OF A FRENCH ROYALIST, ON THE DISINTERMENT OF THE REMAINS OF THE DUKE D'ENGHIEN

EAR Reliques! from a pit of vilest mould

DUprisen to lodge among ancestral kings;

And to inflict shame's salutary stings

On the remorseless hearts of men grown old
In a blind worship; men perversely bold
Even to this hour,—yet, some shall now forsake
Their monstrous Idol if the dead e'er spake,
To warn the living; if truth were ever told
By aught redeemed out of the hollow grave:
O murdered Prince! meek, loyal, pious, brave!
The power of retribution once was given :
But 'tis a rueful thought that willow bands
So often tie the thunder-wielding hands
Of Justice sent to earth from highest Heaven!

I'

XLI

OCCASIONED BY THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO

(The last six lines intended for an Inscription)

FEBRUARY, 1816

NTREPID sons of Albion! not by you

Is life despised; ah no, the spacious earth Ne'er saw a race who held, by right of birth, So many objects to which love is due:

1816

140

IO

Ye slight not life-to God and Nature true;
But death, becoming death, is dearer far,
When duty bids you bleed in open war:

Hence hath your prowess quelled that impious crew.
Heroes! for instant sacrifice prepared ;

Yet filled with ardour and on triumph bent
'Mid direst shocks of mortal accident-

To you who fell, and you whom slaughter spared
To guard the fallen, and consummate the event,
Your Country rears this sacred Monument!

Feb. 1816

XLII

SIEGE OF VIENNA RAISED BY JOHN SOBIESKI

FEBRUARY, 1816

FOR a kindling touch from that pure flame
Which ministered, erewhile, to a sacrifice

Of gratitude, beneath Italian skies,

In words like these: Up, Voice of song! proclaim
Thy saintly rapture with celestial aim:

For lo! the Imperial City stands released

From bondage threatened by the embattled East,
And Christendom respires; from guilt and shame
Redeemed, from miserable fear set free

By one day's feat, one mighty victory.

Chant the Deliverer's praise in every tongue! The Cross shall spread, the Crescent hath waxed dim; He conquering, as in joyful Heaven is sung, HE CONQUERING THROUGH GOD, AND GOD BY HIM.'1

XLIII

Feb. 1816

T1

OCCASIONED BY THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO

FEBRUARY, 1816

HE Bard-whose soul is meek as dawning day, Yet trained to judgments righteously severe, Fervid, yet conversant with holy fear,

As recognising one Almighty sway:

-

He, whose experienced eye can pierce the array
Of past events; to whom, in vision clear,

The aspiring heads of future things appear,

Like mountain-tops whose mists have rolled away—

'See Filicaia's Ode.

ΙΟ

Assoiled from all encumbrance of our time,1
He only, if such breathe, in strains devout
Shall comprehend this victory sublime;
Shall worthily rehearse the hideous rout,
The triumph hail, which from their peaceful clime
Angels might welcome with a choral shout!

Feb. 1816

ΤΟ

E

XLIV

MPERORS and Kings, how oft have temples rung

With impious thanksgiving, the Almighty's scorn!

How oft above their altars have been hung

Trophies that led the good and wise to mourn
Triumphant wrong, battle of, battle born,

And sorrow that to fruitless sorrow clung!

Now, from Heaven-sanctioned victory, Peace is sprung;

In this firm hour Salvation lifts her horn.

Glory to arms! But, conscious that the nerve

Of popular reason, long mistrusted, freed

Your thrones, ye Powers, from duty fear to swerve!
Be just, be grateful; nor, the oppressor's creed
Reviving, heavier chastisement deserve

Than ever forced unpitied hearts to bleed.

ΙΟ

XLV
ODE

Probably Feb. 1816

1815

I

MAGINATION-ne'er before content,
But aye ascending, restless in her pride
From all that martial feats could yield
To her desires, or to her hopes present-
Stooped to the Victory on that Belgic field
Achieved, this closing deed magnificent,

And with the embrace was satisfied.
-Fly, ministers of Fame,

With every help that ye from earth and heaven may
claim !

Bear through the world these tidings of delight!

ΙΟ

-Hours, Days, and Months, have borne them in the

sight

1 From all this world's encumbrance did himself assoil.'-SPENSER [Faerie Queene, Bk. vi. canto v. stanza 37].