14.

Who with the ploughshare clove the barren moors,
And to green meadows changed the swampy shores?
Thinned the rank woods; and for the cheerful Grange
Made room where Wolf and Boar were used to range?
Who taught, and showed by deeds, that gentler chains
Should bind the Vassal to his Lord's domains?
The thoughtful Monks, intent their God to please,
For Christ's dear sake, by human sympathies
Poured from the bosom of thy Church, St. Bees!

15.

But all availed not; by a mandate given

Through lawless will the Brotherhood was driven Forth from their cells;-their ancient House laid low In Reformation's sweeping overthrow.

But now once more the local Heart revives,

The inextinguishable Spirit strives.

Oh may that Power who hushed the stormy seas, And cleared a way for the first Votaries,

Prosper the new-born College of St. Bees!

16.

Alas! the Genius of our age from Schools
Less humble draws her lessons, aims, and rules.
To Prowess guided by her insight keen
Matter and Spirit are as one Machine;
Boastful Idolatress of formal skill

She in her own would merge the eternal will:
Expert to move in paths that Newton trod,
From Newton's Universe would banish God.
Better, if Reason's triumphs match with these,
Her flight before the bold credulities

That furthered the first teaching of St. Bees.

NOTE.

St. Bees. Page 275.

"Were not, in sooth, their Requiems sacred ties."

THE author is aware that he is here treading upon tender ground; but to the intelligent reader he feels that no apology is due. The prayers of survivors, during passionate grief for the recent loss of relatives and friends, as the object of those prayers could no longer be the suffering body of the dying, would naturally be ejaculated for the souls of the departed; the barriers between the two worlds dissolving before the power of love and faith. The ministers of religion, from their habitual attendance upon sick-beds, would be daily witnesses of these benign results; and hence would be strongly tempted to aim at giving to them permanence, by embodying them in rites and ceremonies, recurring at stated periods. All this, as it was in course of nature, so was it blameless, and even praiseworthy; but no reflecting person can view without sorrow the abuses which rose out of thus formalizing sublime instincts, and disinterested movements of passion, and perverting them into means of gratifying the ambition and rapacity of the priesthood. But, while we deplore and are indignant at these abuses, it would be a great mistake if we imputed the origin of the offices to prospective selfishness on the part of the monks and clergy: they were at first sincere in their sympathy, and in their degree dupes rather of their own creed, than artful and designing men. Charity is, upon the whole, the safest guide that we can take in judging our fellow-men, whether of past ages, or of the present time.

[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. See the Author's Poems. They are placed here as having some connection with the foregoing Poem.]

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 controul
Which fellow-feeling doth not mitigate!"

THE VAUDOIS.

But whence came they who for the Saviour Lord
Have long borne witness as the Scriptures teach?
Ages ere Valdo raised his voice to preach

In Gallic ears the unadulterate Word,
Their fugitive Progenitors explored

Subalpine vales, in quest of safe retreats

[heats

Where that pure Church survives, though summer

Open a passage to the Romish sword,

Far as it dares to follow. Herbs self-sown,

And fruitage gathered from the chestnut wood, Nourish the Sufferers then; and mists, that brood O'er chasms with new-fallen obstacles bestrown, Protect them; and the eternal snow that daunts Aliens, is God's good winter for their haunts.