COLDLY WE SPAKE Hark! 'tis the tolling Curfew!--the stars shine; 1 29 5 ΙΟ That quench, from hut to palace, lamps and fires,* 10 To Creed or Ritual brings no fatal change.2 By wrong triumphant through its own excess, From fields laid waste, from house and home devoured Though men be, there are angels that can feel 1 1827. Hark! 'tis the Curfew's knell! the stars may 5 shine; 2 1837. Brings to Religion no injurious change. 1822. 1822. * The introduction of the curfew-bell (couvre-feu, cover fire) into England is ascribed to the Conqueror, but the custom was common in Europe long before his time.-ED. And has a Champion risen in arms to try His Country's virtue, fought, and breathes no more; And far above the mine's most precious ore The least small pittance of bare mould they prize Scooped from the sacred earth where his dear relics lie. ΙΟ XXXIII THE COUNCIL OF CLERMONT "AND shall,” the Pontiff asks, "profaneness flow "With prayers and blessings we your path will sow; 5 ΙΟ Through "Nature's hollow arch"* that voice resounds.3† * Compare Fuller's Holy War, I. 8.-ED. The decision of this Council was believed to be instantly known in remote parts of Europe.-W. W. 1822. There were several Councils of Clermont, the chief of them being that of RICHARD I 31 XXXIV CRUSADES THE turbaned Race are poured in thickening swarms The scimitar, that yields not to the charms * 5 ΙΟ XXXV RICHARD I REDOUBTED King, of courage leonine, 5 1 1827. Love's vow 1822. 1095, at which the Crusade was definitely planned. Pope Urban II. addressed the Council in such a way that at the close the whole multitude exclaimed simultaneously Deus Vult; and this phrase became the war-cry of the Crusade.-ED. * Ten successive armies, amounting to nearly 950,000 men, took part in the first Crusade. "The most distant islands and savage countries," says William of Malmesbury, were inspired with this ardent passion."-ED. And see love-emblems streaming from thy ship, To tell-how, finding in the rash distress ΙΟ XXXVI AN INTERDICT † REALMS quake by turns: proud Arbitress of grace, Straight from the sun and tainted air's embrace 1 1837. 5 * Richard I. (Cœur de Lion), one of the two leaders in the third Crusade, after conquering Cyprus-on his way to Palestine-while in that island married Berengaria, daughter of Sanchez, King of Navarre.-ED. At the command of Pope Innocent III., the Bishops of London, Ely, and Worcester were charged to lay England under an interdict. They did so, in defiance of King John, and left England. Southey's description of the result may be compared with this sonnet. "All the rites of a Church whose policy it was to blend its institutions with the whole business of private life were suddenly suspended: no bell heard, no taper lighted, no service performed, no church open; only baptism was permitted, and confession and sacrament for the dying. The dead were either interred in unhallowed ground, without the presence of a priest, or any religious ceremony, ... or they were kept unburied. Some little mitigation was allowed, lest human nature should have rebelled against so intolerable a tyranny. The people, therefore, were called to prayers and sermon on the Sunday, in the churchyards, and marriages were performed at the church door." (Southey's Book of the Church, vol. i. chap. ix. pp. 261, 262.)—ED. PAPAL ABUSES With natural smiles 1 of greeting. 33. Bells are dumb ; Ditches are graves funereal rites denied ; And comfortless despairs the soul benumb. XXXVII PAPAL ABUSES * As with the Stream our voyage we pursue, 1 1845. smile * Compare Aubrey de Vere's Thomas à Becket.-ED. 1822. 5 ΙΟ † After Becket's murder and canonisation Henry II., from political motives, did penance publicly at his shrine. Clad in a coarse garment, he walked three miles barefoot to Canterbury, and at the shrine submitted to the discipline of the Church. Four bishops, abbots, and eighty clergy were present, each with a knotted cord, and inflicted 380 lashes. Bleeding he threw sackcloth over his shoulders, and continued till midnight kneeling at prayer, then visited all the altars, and returned fainting to Becket's shrine, where he remained till morning.-ED. On the festival of the Ascension, John "laid his crown at Pandulph's feet, and signed an instrument by which, for the remission of his sins, and those of his family, he surrendered the kingdoms of England and Ireland to the Pope, to hold them thenceforth under him, and the Roman see.' Pandulph "kept the crown five days before he restored it to John." (Southey, Book of the Church, vol. i. p. 218.)-ED. VOL. VII D |