She daunts, forth-thundering from her spiritual tower, Brute rapine, or with gentle lure she tames.
Justice and Peace through Her uphold their claims; And Chastity finds many a sheltering bower. Realm there is none that if controlled or swayed By her commands partakes not, in degree,
Of good, o'er manners arts and arms, diffused:
Yes, to thy domination, Roman See, Tho' miserably, oft monstrously, abused By blind ambition, be this tribute paid.
CISTERTIAN MONASTERY.*
"HERE Man more purely lives, less oft doth fall, More promptly rises, walks with stricter heed,1 More safely rests, dies happier, is freed Earlier from cleansing fires, and gains withal A brighter crown." t-On yon Cistertian wall That confident assurance may be read;
And, to like shelter, from the world have fled Increasing multitudes. The potent call
Doubtless shall cheat full oft the heart's desires; 2
*The Cistercian order was named after the monastery of Citéaux or Cistercium, near Dijon, founded in 1098 by the Benedictine abbot, Robert of Molême.-ED.
+ "Bonum est nos hic esse, quia homo vivit purius, cadit rarius, surgit velocius, incedit cautius, quiescit securius, moritur felicius, purgatur citius, præmiatur copiosius."-Bernard. "This sentence," says Dr Whitaker, "is usually inscribed in some conspicuous part of the Cistertian houses.”W. W., 1822.
DEPLORABLE HIS LOT WHO TILLS THE GROUND.
Yet, while the rugged Age on pliant knee Vows to rapt Fancy humble fealty,
A gentler life spreads round the holy spires; Where'er they rise, the Sylvan waste retires, And aëry harvests crown the fertile lea.
DEPLORABLE his lot who tills the ground, His whole life long tills it, with heartless toil Of villain-service, passing with the soil To each new Master, like a steer or hound, Or like a rooted tree, or stone earth-bound; But mark how gladly, through their own domains, The Monks relax or break these iron chains; While Mercy, uttering, through their voice, a sound Echoed in Heaven, cries out, "Ye Chiefs, abate These legalized oppressions! Man—whose name And nature God disdained not; Man-whose soul Christ died for-cannot forfeit his high claim To live and move exempt from all control
Which fellow-feeling doth not mitigate!"
*The following note, referring to Sonnets 4, 12, and 13, appears in the volume of 1835-entitled Yarrow Revisited, and other Poems-immediately after the poem St Bees
[The three following Sonnets are an intended addition to the "Ecclesiastical Sketches," the first to stand second; and the two that succeed, seventh and eighth, in the second part of the series. They are placed here as having some connection with the foregoing poem.]-ED.
MONKS AND SCHOOLMEN.
RECORD We too, with just and faithful pen, That many hooded Cenobites* there are, Who in their private cells have yet a care Of public quiet; unambitious Men Councillors for the world, of piercing ken; Whose fervent exhortations from afar Move Princes to their duty, peace or war; † And oft-times in the most forbidding den Of solitude, with love of science strong, How patiently the yoke of thought they bear! How subtly glide its finest threads along! Spirits that crowd the intellectual sphere With mazy boundaries, as the astronomer With orb and cycle girds the starry throng.
AND, not in vain embodied to the sight, Religion finds even in the stern retreat
Cenobites (Kobßiot), monks who live in common, as distinguished from hermits or anchorites, who live alone.-ED.
"Counts, kings, bishops," says F. D. Maurice, "in the fulness of their wealth and barbaric splendour, may be bowing before a monk, who writes them letters from a cell in which he is living upon vegetables and water."-Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy, Vol. I., Medieval Philosophy, chap. iv., p. 534.-ED.
E.g., Albertus Magnus (1193-1280); Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274) ; Duns Scotus (1275-1308); Roger Bacon (1214-1294).—ED.
Of feudal sway her own appropriate seat; From the collegiate pomps on Windsor's height Down to the humbler1 altar, which the Knight And his retainers of the embattled hall Seek in domestic oratory small,
For prayer in stillness, or the chanted rite; Then chiefly dear, when foes are planted round, Who teach the intrepid guardians of the place— Hourly exposed to death, with famine worn, And suffering under many a perilous wound-2 How sad would be their durance, if forlorn
Of offices dispensing heavenly grace!
AND what melodious sounds at times prevail ! And, ever and anon, how bright a gleam Pours on the surface of the turbid Stream! What heartfelt fragrance mingles with the gale That swells the bosom of our passing sail! For where, but on this River's margin, blow Those flowers of chivalry, to bind the brow Of hardihood with wreaths that shall not fail?- Fair Court of Edward! wonder of the world!+
* St George's Chapel, Windsor, begun by Henry III. and finished by Edward III., rebuilt by Henry VII., and enlarged by Cardinal Wolsey.— ED.
+ Edward the Third (1336-1360). See The Wonderful Deeds of Edward the Third, by Robert of Avesbury; and Longman's History of Edward the Third.-ED.
I see a matchless blazonry unfurled Of wisdom, magnanimity, and love; And meekness tempering honourable pride; The lamb is crouching by the lion's side, And near the flame-eyed eagle sits the dove.
FURL we the sails, and pass with tardy oars Through these bright regions, casting many a glance Upon the dream-like issues-the romance 1 Of many-coloured life that 2 Fortune pours Round the Crusaders, till on distant shores Their labours end; or they return to lie, The vow performed, in cross-legged effigy, Devoutly stretched upon their chancel floors. Am I deceived? Or is their requiem chanted By voices never mute when Heaven unties Her inmost, softest, tenderest harmonies; Requiem which Earth takes up undaunted,
When she would tell how Brave, and Good, and Wise,3 For their high guerdon not in vain have panted!
Nor can Imagination quit the shores
Of these bright scenes without a farewell glance Given to those dream-like issues-that Romance
Given to the dream-like Issues-that Romance
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