Part III

. p. 74.--ED.

I

"I SAW THE FIGURE OF A LOVELY MAID"

I saw the figure of a lovely Maid Seated alone beneath a darksome tree, Whose fondly-overhanging canopy Set off her brightness with a pleasing shade. No Spirit was she; _that_[242] my heart betrayed, 5 For she was one I loved exceedingly; But while I gazed in tender reverie (Or was it sleep that with my Fancy played?) The bright corporeal presence--form and face-- Remaining still distinct grew thin and rare, 10 Like sunny mist;--at length the golden hair, Shape, limbs, and heavenly features, keeping pace Each with the other in a lingering race Of dissolution, melted into air.

FOOTNOTES:

[242] 1837.

Substance she seem'd (and _that_ ... 1822.

II

PATRIOTIC SYMPATHIES

Last night, without a voice, that Vision spake Fear to my Soul, and sadness which might seem[243] Wholly[244] dissevered from our present theme; Yet, my belovèd Country! I partake[245] Of kindred agitations for thy sake; 5 Thou, too, dost visit oft[246] my midnight dream; Thy[247] glory meets me with the earliest beam Of light, which tells that Morning is awake. If aught impair thy[248] beauty or destroy, Or but forebode destruction, I deplore 10 With filial love the sad vicissitude; If thou hast[249] fallen, and righteous Heaven restore The prostrate, then my spring-time is renewed, And sorrow bartered for exceeding joy.

FOOTNOTES:

[243] 1845.

... this Vision spake Fear to my Spirit--passion that might seem 1822.

... this Vision spake Fear to my Soul, and sadness that might seem 1837.

[244] 1827.

To lie ... 1822.

[245] 1832.

Yet do I love my Country--and partake 1822.

[246] 1832.

... for her sake; She visits oftentimes ... 1822.

[247] 1832.

Her ... 1822.

[248] 1832.

... her ... 1822.

[249] 1832.

If she hath ... 1822.

III

CHARLES THE SECOND

Who comes--with rapture greeted, and caress'd With frantic love--his kingdom to regain?[250] Him Virtue's Nurse, Adversity, in vain Received, and fostered in her iron breast: For all she taught of hardiest and of best, 5 Or would have taught, by discipline of pain And long privation, now dissolves amain, Or is remembered only to give zest To wantonness--Away, Circean revels![251] But for what gain? if England soon must sink 10 Into a gulf which all distinction levels-- That bigotry may swallow the good name,[252][253] And, with that draught, the life-blood: misery, shame, By Poets loathed; from which Historians shrink!

FOOTNOTES:

[250] "No event ever marked a deeper or a more lasting change in the temper of the English people, than the entry of Charles the Second into Whitehall. With it modern England begins." (Green's _Short History of the English People_, chap. ix. sec. 1.)--ED.

[251] "The Restoration brought Charles to Whitehall; and in an instant the whole face of England was changed. All that was noblest and best in Puritanism was whirled away." (Green, chap. ix. sec. I.) The excesses of every kind that came in with the Restoration were notorious.--ED.

[252] 1837.

Already stands our Country on the brink Of bigot rage, that all distinction levels Of truth and falsehood, swallowing the good name, 1822.

[253] In 1672 the Duke of York was publicly received into the Church of Rome.--ED.

IV

LATITUDINARIANISM

Yet Truth is keenly sought for, and the wind Charged with rich words poured out in thought's defence; Whether the Church inspire that eloquence,[254] Or a Platonic Piety confined To the sole temple of the inward mind;[255] 5 And One there is who builds immortal lays, Though doomed to tread in solitary ways,[256] Darkness before and danger's voice behind; Yet not alone, nor helpless to repel Sad thoughts; for from above the starry sphere 10 Come secrets, whispered nightly to his ear; And the pure spirit of celestial light Shines through his soul--"that he may see and tell Of things invisible to mortal sight."[257]

FOOTNOTES:

[254] As in the case of John Hales of Eton, William Chillingworth, who wrote _The Religion of Protestants_, and Jeremy Taylor, author of _The_ _Liberty of Prophesying_.--ED.

[255] The Cambridge Platonists, Ralph Cudworth, John Smith, and Henry More, are referred to.--ED.

[256] Milton.--ED.

[257] Compare _Paradise Lost_,