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The peaceful guest advancing from afar.
Bright be the Fabric, as a star
Fresh risen, and beautiful within?-there

meet

Dependence infinite, proportion just;

A Pile that Grace approves, and Time can

trust

With his most sacred wealth, heroic dust.

III.

But if the valiant of this k
In reverential modesty demand,
That all observance, due to them, be paid
Where their serene progenitors are faid;
Kings, warriors, high-souled poets, saint-
like sages,

England's illustrious sons of long, long
ages;

Be it not unordained that solemn rites,
Within the circuit of those Gothic walls,
Shall be performed at pregnant intervals;
Commemoration holy that unites
The living generations with the dead;
By the deep sout-moving sense
Of religious eloquence,--
By visual pomp, and by the tie
Of sweet and threatening harmony
Soft notes, awful as the omen
Of destructive tempests coming,
And escaping from that sadness
Into elevated gladness;

While the white-robed choir attendant,
Under mouldering banners pendent,
Provoke all potent symphonies to raise

Songs of victory and praise,

For them who bravely stood unhurt, or bled With medicable wounds, or found their graves

Upon the battle-field, or under ocean's

waves;

Or were conducted home in single state,
And long procession-there to lie,
Where their sons, and all posterity,

And, drinking towns and cities, still can
drink

Cities and towns-'tis Thou-the work is
Thine!→

The fierce Tornado sleeps within thy

courts

He hears the word-he flies-
And navies perish in their ports,
For Thou art angry with thine enemies!
For these, and mourning for our errors,
And sins, that point their terrors,
We bow our heads betore Thee, and we
laud

And magnify thy name, Almighty God!
But man is thy most awful instrument,
In working out a pure intent;
Thou cloth'st the wicked in their dazzling
mail,

And for thy righteous purpose they pre-
vail;

Thine arm from peril guards the coasts
Of them who in thy laws delight:
Thy presence turns the scale of doubtful
fight,

Tremendous God of battles, Lord of Hosts!

V.

Forbear:-to Thee

Father and Judge of all, with fervent tongue

But in a gentler strain

Of contemplation, by no sense of wrong,
(Too quick and keen, incited to disdain
Of pity pleading from the heart in vain-
To THEE-TO THEE

Just God of christianized Humanity
Shal! praises be poured forth, and thanks
ascend,

That thou hast brought our warfare to an
end,

And that we need no second victory!
Blest, above measure blest,

If on thy love our Land her hopes shall
rest,

Unheard by them, their deeds shall cele- And all the Nations labor to fulfil

brate!

IV.

Nor will the God of peace and love
Such martial service disapprove.
He guides the Pestilence-the cloud
Of locusts travels on his breath;
The region that in hope was ploughed
His drought consumes, his mildew taints
with death;

He springs the hushed Volcano's mine,
He puts the Earthquake on her still design,
Darkens the sun, hath bade the forest sink

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On hearts howe'er insensible or rude;
Whether thy punctual visitations smite
The haughty towers where monarchs dwell;
Or thou, impartial Sun, with presence
bright

Cheer'st the low threshold of the peasant's cell!

Not unrejoiced I see thee climb the sky
In naked splendor, clear from mist or haze,
Or cloud approaching to divert the rays,
Which even in deepest winter testify

Thy power and majesty,

Dazzling the vision that presumes to gaze. - Well does thine aspect usher in this Day; As aptly suits therewith that modest pace Submitted to the chains

That bind thee to the path which God ordains

That thou shalt trace,

Till, with the heavens and earth, thou pass away!

Nor less, the stillness of these frosty plains,
Their utter stillness, and the silent grace
Of yon ethereal summits white with snow,
(Whose tranquil pomp and spotless purity
Report of storms gone by
To us who tread below)

Do with the service of this Day accord.
-Divinest Object which the uplifted eye
Of mortal man is suffered to behold:

Thou, who upon those snow-clad Heights has poured

Meek lustre, nor forget'st the humble Vale; Thou who dost warm Earth's universal mould,

And for thy bounty were not unadored
By pious men of old;

Once more, heart-cheering Sun, 1 bid thee

hail!

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But He who fixed immovably the frame
Of the round world, and built, by laws as
strong,

A solid refuge for distress→→→
The towers of righteousness;

He knows that from a holier altar came The quickening spark of this day's sacri fice;

Knows that the source is nobler whence doth rise

The current of this matin song;
That deeper far it lies

Than aught dependent on the fickle skies.

III.

Have we not conquered?-by the vengeful sword?

Ah no, by dint of Magnanimity; That curbed the baser passions, and left free

Clear-sighted Honour, and his staid ComA loyal band to follow their liege Lord

peers,

In execution of heroic deeds
Along a track of most unnatural years;

Whose memory, spotless as the crystal beads

Of morning dew upon the untrodden meads,

Shall live enrolled above the starry spheres.
He, who in concert with an earthly string
Óf Britain's acts would sing,

Of One whose spirit no reverse could quell;
He with enraptured voice will tell
Of One that mid the failing never failed-
Who paints how Britain struggled and pre-
vailed;

Shall represent her laboring with an eye
Shall show her clothed with strength and
Of circumspect humanity,
skill,

All martial duties to fulfil;
Firm as a rock in stationary fight;

Fierce as a flood-gate bursting at midnight
In motion rapid as the lightning's gleam;
To rouse the wicked from their giddy

dream

Woe, woe to all that face her in the field! Appalled she may not be, and cannot yield.

IV.

And thus is missed the sole true glory
That can belong to human story!

At which they only shall arrive
Who through the abyss of weakness
dive

The very humblest are too proud of heart;
And one brief day is rightly set apart
For Him who lifteth up and layeth low;
For that Almighty God to whom we owe,
Say not that we have vanquished-but that
we survive.

V.

How dreadful the dominion of the impure!

Why should the Song be tardy to proclaim That less than power unbounded could not

tame

That soul of Evil-which, from hell let loose,

Had filled the astonished world with such abuse

As boundless patience only could endure? -Wide-wasted regions--cities wrapt in flame

Who sees, may lift a streaming eye

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Who can forget thy prowess, never more Be that ungrateful Son allowed to hear

To Heaven;-who never saw, may heave a Thy green leaves rustle or thy torrents roar.

sigh;

But the foundation of our natures shakes, And with an infinite pain the spirit aches, When desolated countries, towns on fire,

Are but the avowed attire

Of warfare waged with desperate mind
Against the life of virtue in mankind;
Assaulting without ruth

The citadels of truth;

While the fair gardens of civility,

By ignorance defaced,

By violence laid waste,

Perish without reprieve for flower or tree!

VI.

A crouching purpose-a distracted will Opposed to hopes that battened upon scorn, And to desires whose ever-waxing horn Not all the light of earthly power could fill; Opposed to dark, deep plots of patient skill, And to celerities of lawless force; Which, spurning God, had flung away re

morse

What could they gain but shadows of redress?

-So bad proceeded propagating worse;
And discipline was passion's dire excess.
Widens the fatal web, its lines extend,
And deadlier poisons in the chalice blend.
When will your trials teach you to be wise?
-O prostrate Lands, consult your agonies!

VII.

No more-the guilt is banish'd, And, with the guilt, the shame is fled;

As springs the lion from his den,

As from a forest-brake

Upstarts a glistening snake,

The bold Arch-despot re-appeared:-again Wild Europe heaves, impatient to be cast, With all her armèd Powers,

On that offensive soil, like waves upon a thousand shores.

The trumpet blew a universal blast!

But Thou art foremost in the field :-there

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To highest Heaven, the labor of the Soul;
That builds, as thy unerring precepts teach,
Upon the internal conquests made by each,
Her hope of lasting glory for the whole.
Yet will not heaven disown nor earth gainsay
The outward service of this day;
Whether the worshippers entreat
Forgiveness from God's mercy seat;
Or thanks and praises to His throne ascend
That He has brought our warfare to an end,
And that we need no second victory!-

Ha! what a ghastly sight for man to see; And to the heavenly saints in peace who dwell,

For a brief moment, terrible;
But, to thy sovereign penetration, fair,
Before whom all things are that were,
All judgments that have been, or e'er shall
be,

Links in the chain of thy tranquillity!
Along the bosom of this favored Nation,
Breathe Thou, this day, a vital undulation!
Let all who do this land inherit
Be conscious of thy moving spirit!
Oh! 'tis a goodly Ordinance,-the sight,
Though sprung from bleeding war, is one
of pure delight;

Bless Thou the hour, or e'cr the hour arrive, When a whole people shall kneel down in prayer,

And, at one moment, in one rapture, strive
With lip and heart to tell their gratitude
For thy protecting care,
Their solemn joy-praising the Eternal

Lord

For Tyranny subdued,

And for the sway of equity renewed,
For liberty confirmed, and peace restored!

But hark

placid lake

X.

the summons !--down the

Bright shines the Sun, as if his beams would wake

The tender insects sleeping in their cells; Bright shines the Sun-and not a breeze to shake

The drops that tip the melting icicles.
O, enter now his temple gate!
Inviting words-perchance already flung
(As the crowd press devoutly down the
aisle

Of some old Minster's venerable pile)
From voices into zealous passion stung,
While the tubed engine feels the inspiring
blast,

And has begun-its clouds of sound to cast
Forth towards empyreal Heaven,

As if the fretted roof were riven. Us, humbler ceremonies now await; But in the bosom, with devout respect The banner of our joy we will erect, And strength of love our soul shall elevate: For to a few collected in his name, Their heavenly Father will incline an ear Gracious to service hallowed by its aim;Awake! the majesty of God revere !

Go-and with foreheads meekly bowed Present your prayers-go-and rejoice aloud

The Holy One will hear! And what, 'mid silence deep, with faith sincere,

Ye, in your low and undisturbed estate,
Shall simply feel and purely meditate-
Of warnings-from the unprecedented might,
Which, in our time, the impious have dis-
closed;

And of more arduous duties thence imposed
Upon the future advocates of right;

Of mysteries revealed,

And judgments unrepealed,
Of earthly revolution,

And final retribution,—

To his omniscience will appear

An offering not unworthy to find place,

Floats the soft cadence of the church-tower On this high DAY OF THANKS, before the

bells:

Throne of Grace!

MEMORIALS OF A TOUR ON THE CONTINENT.

1820.

DEDICATION.

(SENT WITH these poems, IN MS., TO)

DEAR Fellow-travellers! think not that the
Muse,

To You presenting these memorial Lays,
Can hope the general eye thereon would gaze,
As on a mirror that gives back the hues
Of living Nature; no- -though free to choose
The greenest bowers, the most inviting ways,
The fairest landscapes and the brightest
days-

RYDAL MOUNT, Nov., 1821.

I.

FISH-WOMEN.-ON LANDING AT CALAIS. 'TIS said, fantastic ocean doth enfold The likeness of whate'er on land is seen; But, if the Nereid Sisters and their Queen, Above whose heads the tide so long hath rolled,

The Dames resemble whom we here behold, How fearful were it down through opening

waves

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Offers the beauty, the magnificence,
And sober graces, left her for defence
Against the injuries of time, the spite
Of fortune, and the desolating storms
Of future war. Advance not-spare to hide,
O gentle Power of darkness! these mild
hues;

Obscure not yet these silent avenues
of stateliest architecture, where the Forms
Of nun-like females, with soft motion,
glide;

III.

BRUGES.

THE Spirit of Antiquity-enshrined
In sumptuous buildings, vocal in sweet song,
In picture, speaking with heroic tongue,
Mounts to the seat of grace within the mind:
And with devout solemnities entwined-
Hence Forms that glide with swan-like ease
along,

Hence motions, even amid the vulgar throng,

To an harmonious decency confined
As if the streets were consecrated ground,
The city one vast temple, dedicate
To mutual respect in thought and deed;
To leisure, to forbearances sedate;
To social cares fr: m jarring passions freed;
A deeper peace than that in deserts found!

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