"Housed near a blazing fire-is seen to flit "While in the Body lodged, her warm abode ; 1 1837. 1822. "That, stealing in while by the fire you sit "Housed with rejoicing Friends, is seen to flit "Safe from the storm, in comfort tarrying. through the wisdom which the true God hath given me, to destroy, for the good example of others, what in foolishness I worshipped? Immediately, casting away vain superstition, he besought the King to grant him what the laws did not allow to a priest, arms and a courser (equum emmissarium); which mounting, and furnished with a sword and lance, he proceeded to destroy the Idols. The crowd, seeing this, thought him madhe however halted not, but approaching he profaned the temple, casting against it the lance which he had held in his hand, and, exulting in acknowledgment of the worship of the true God, he ordered his companions to pull down the temple, with all its enclosures. The place is shown where those idols formerly stood, not far from York, at the source of the river Derwent, and is at this day called Gormund Gaham, "ubi pontifex ille, inspirante Deo vero, polluit ac destruxit eas, quas ipse sacraverat aras." The last expression is a pleasing proof that the venerable monk of Wearmouth was familiar with the poetry of Virgil.-W. W., 1822. The following is Bede's account of the speech of "another of the king's chief men:""The present life of man, O king, seems to me in comparison. of that time which is unknown to us, like to the swift flight of a sparrow through the room wherein you sit, at supper in winter, with your commanders and ministers, and a good fire in the midst, whilst the storms of rain and snow prevail abroad. The sparrow, I say-flying in at one door, and immediately out at another-whilst he is within, is safe from the misty storm; but, after a short space of fair weather, he immediately vanishes out of your sight into the dark winter from which he had emerged. So this life of man appears for a short space, but of what went before, and of what is to follow, we are utterly ignorant. If therefore this new doctrine contains something more certain, it seems justly to deserve to be followed." -ED. APOLOGY. 17 XVII. CONVERSION.* PROMPT transformation works the novel Lore; Shall, by regenerate life, the promise claim. XVIII. APOLOGY. NOR scorn the aid which Fancy oft doth lend 1 1827. Then let the good be free * See Wordsworth's note to Sonnet XVI. -ED. 1822. + The early propagators of Christianity were accustomed to preach near rivers, for the convenience of baptism.-W. W., 1822. Of elevation; let their odours float Around these Converts: and their glories blend, * XIX. PRIMITIVE SAXON CLERGY.* How beautiful your presence, how benign, That the firm soul is clothed with fruit divine! At his approach, and low-bowed necks entreat A benediction from his voice or hand; Whence grace, through which the heart can understand, And vows, that bind the will, in silence made. Having spoken of the zeal, disinterestedness, and temperance of the clergy of those times, Bede thus proceeds :-“Unde et in magna erat veneratione tempore illo religionis habitus, ita ut ubicunque clericus aliquis, aut monachus adveniret, gaudenter ab omnibus tanquam Dei famulus exciperetur. Etiam si in itinere pergens inveniretur, accurrebant, et flexâ cervice vel manu signari, vel ore illius se benedici, gaudebant. Verbis quoque horum exhortatoriis diligenter auditum præbebant." Lib. iii. cap. 26.-W. W., 1822. SECLUSION. 19 XX. OTHER INFLUENCES. Aн, when the Body,1 round which in love we clung, Is tender pity then of no avail ? Are intercessions of the fervent tongue A waste of hope ?-From this sad source have sprung Rites that console the Spirit, under grief Which ill can brook more rational relief: Hence, prayers are shaped amiss, and dirges sung Confession ministers the pang to soothe In him who at the ghost of guilt doth start. XXI. SECLUSION. LANCE, shield, and sword relinquished, at his side Or staff more harmless than a shepherd's crook, In cloistered privacy. But not to dwell In soft repose he comes. Within his cell, Round the decaying trunk of human pride, Like ivy, round some ancient elm, they twine Yet, while they strangle, a fair growth they bring,1 XXII. CONTINUED. METHINKS that to some vacant hermitage The "ancient elm," with ivy twisting round it "in grisly folds and strictures serpentine,” which suggested these lines, grew in Rydal Park, near the path to the upper waterfall.-ED. There are several natural "hermitages" such as this near the Rydal beck.-ED. |