Alas! that such perverted zeal Should spread on Britain's favoured ground! That public order, private weal, Should e'er have felt or feared a wound From champions of the desperate law Which from their own blind hearts they draw; God, whom their passions dare defy, But turn we from these "bold bad men; The way, mild Lady! that hath led Softly as morning vapours glide Through Mosedale-cove from Carrock's side, Should move the tenour of his song Who means to Charity no wrong; Whose offering gladly would accord With this day's work, in thought and word. Heaven prosper it! may peace, and love, All who, around the hallowed Fane, To kneel together, and adore their God! XXVI. ON THE SAME OCCASION. Oh! gather whencesoe'er ye safely may Our churches, invariably perhaps, stand east and west, but why is by few persons exactly known; nor, that the degree of deviation from due east often noticeable in the ancient ones was determined, in each particular case, by the point in the horizon, at which the sun rose upon the day of the Saint to whom the church was dedicated. These observances of our Ancestors, and the causes of them, are the subject of the following stanzas. WHEN in the antique age of bow and spear Then, to her Patron Saint a previous rite Till from his couch the wished-for Sun uprose. They who had waited for that sign to trace Their work's foundation, gave with careful hand To the high Altar its determined place; Mindful of Him who in the Orient born So taught their creed;-nor failed the eastern sky, For us hath such prelusive vigil ceased; Our Christian Altar faithful to the East, That obvious emblem giving to the eye XXVII. THE FORCE OF PRAYER *; OR, THE FOUNDING OF BOLTON PRIORY. A TRADITION. "What is good for a bootless bene?" With these dark words begins my Tale; And their meaning is, whence can comfort spring When Prayer is of no avail? "What is good for a bootless bene?" The Falconer to the Lady said; And she made answer" ENDLESS SORROW!" For she knew that her Son was dead. She knew it by the Falconer's words, See the White Doe of Rylstone, ante, VOL. IV. N |