Mother! whose virgin bosom was uncrost With the least shade of thought to sin allied; Woman! above all women glorified, Our tainted nature's solitary boast; Purer than foam on central ocean tost;...
"Sweet is the holiness of Youth" so felt Time-honoured Chaucer speaking through that Lay By which the Prioress beguiled the way, And many a Pilgrim's rugged heart did melt....
The tears of man in various measure gush From various sources; gently overflow From blissful transport some, from clefts of woe Some with ungovernable impulse rush; And some, coeval with the earliest blush...
The saintly Youth has ceased to rule, discrowned By unrelenting Death. O People keen For change, to whom the new looks always green! Rejoicing did they cast upon the ground...
How fast the Marian death-list is unrolled! See Latimer and Ridley in the might Of Faith stand coupled for a common flight! One (like those prophets whom God sent of old)...
Methinks that I could trip o'er heaviest soil, Light as a buoyant bark from wave to wave, Were mine the trusty staff that Jewel gave To youthful Hooker, in familiar style...
For what contend the wise? for nothing less Than that the Soul, freed from the bonds of Sense, And to her God restored by evidence Of things not seen, drawn forth from their recess,...
Outstretching flameward his upbraided hand (O God of mercy, may no earthly Seat Of judgment such presumptuous doom repeat!) Amid the shuddering throng doth Cranmer stand;...
Aid, glorious Martyrs, from your fields of light, Our mortal ken! Inspire a perfect trust (While we look round) that Heaven's decrees are just: Which few can hold committed to a fight...
Scattering, like birds escaped the fowler's net, Some seek with timely flight a foreign strand; Most happy, re-assembled in a land By dauntless Luther freed, could they forget...
Hail, Virgin Queen! o'er many an envious bar Triumphant, snatched from many a treacherous wile! All hail, sage Lady, whom a grateful Isle Hath blest, respiring from that dismal war...
Watch, and be firm! for, soul-subduing vice, Heart-killing luxury, on your steps await. Fair houses, baths, and banquets delicate, And temples flashing, bright as polar ice,...
As, when a storm hath ceased, the birds regain Their cheerfulness, and busily retrim Their nests, or chant a gratulating hymn To the blue ether and bespangled plain; Even so, in many a re-constructed fane,...
Lament! for Diocletian's fiery sword Works busy as the lightning; but instinct With malice ne'er to deadliest weapon linked Which God's ethereal store-houses afford:...
Darkness surrounds us; seeking, we are lost On Snowdon's wilds, amid Brigantian coves, Or where the solitary shepherd roves Along the plain of Sarum, by the ghost Of Time and shadows of Tradition, crost;...
A bright-haired company of youthful slaves, Beautiful strangers, stand within the pale Of a sad market, ranged for public sale, Where Tiber's stream the immortal City laves:...
'The oppression of the tumult, wrath and scorn The tribulation and the gleaming blades' Such is the impetuous spirit that pervades The song of Taliesin; Ours shall mourn...
Nor wants the cause the panic-striking aid Of hallelujahs tost from hill to hill For instant victory. But Heaven's high will Permits a second and a darker shade Of Pagan night. Afflicted and dismayed,...
For ever hallowed be this morning fair, Blest be the unconscious shore on which ye tread, And blest the silver Cross, which ye, instead Of martial banner, in procession bear;...
How beautiful your presence, how benign, Servants of God! who not a thought will share With the vain world; who, outwardly as bare As winter trees, yield no fallacious sign...