Go forth, in faith and patience, hope and love!
But think not, voyagers, to leave behind
Ills of the flesh or passions of the mind,
Nor to anticipate the bliss above
In this new home for evil must be there,
Evil, that sails alike on every wind,
In spite of all your caution, all your care :
Then be ye tolerant; let no stern soul,
However right his ethics or his life,
Over the weaker brothers claim control,
Stirring the flock to bitterness of strife:
Honour man's conscience; from all shackles loose
The honest mind with freedom's instinct rife:
Take the Church with you, but no church-abuse.
The Canterbury Seal.
AN ILLUSTRATION.
Triple blessings on the plough,
Triple blessings on the fleece!
Heaven's Angel send you now
To be fruitful and increase:
"So your country shall remain,"
And all happiness be pour'd
Upon Canterbury plain,
From the LORD!
Triple blessings on the fleece!
Triple blessings on the plough!
For beneath the Cross of Peace
All your toil is hallow'd now:
While the Church, in sacred robe,
Is your help on either hand,
As the pillars of the globe
Ye shall stand!
The "Clameur de Baro."
AN OLD NORMAN APPEAL TO THE SOVEREIGN; which saved Castle Cornet from demolition, in August 1850, Guernsey.
Haro, Haro! à l'aide, mon Prince!
A loyal people calls:
Bring out Duke Rollo's Norman lance
To stay destruction's fell advance
Against the Castle walls ;-
Haro, Haro! à l'aide, ma Reine!
Thy duteous children not in vain
Plead for old Cornet yet again
To spare it, ere it falls!
What! shall Earl Rodolph's sturdy strength
After six hundred years at length
Torn down within one outraged hour
By worse than Vandal's ruthless power?
Haro! à l'aide, Haro!
Nine years old Cornet, for the Throne,
Against Rebellion stood alone,-
And honour'd still shall stand
For heroism so sublime,
A relic of the olden time,
Renown'd in Guernsey prose and rhyme,
The glory of her land!
Ay,-let your science scheme and plan
With better skill than so:
Touch not this dear old barbican,
Nor dare to lay it low!
On Vazon's ill-protected bay
Build and blow up, as best ye may,
And do your worst to scare away
Some visionary foe,-
But, if in brute and blundering power
You tear down Rodolph's granite tower,
Defeat, and scorn, and shame, that hour
Shall whelm you like an arrowy shower,—
Haro! à l'aide, Haro!
Maut Orgueil: Jersey.
AN HISTORICAL PICTURE.
Mount of honour, Mount of Pride,
Throned above the stormy tide,-
Feudal eyrie, built on high,
As to flout the common sky,
Weather-beaten, ivied pile,
Glory of this Norman isle,—
Thee my song would praise to-day,
Dreaming of ages past away!
Woe! for those old evil times,
Foul with wrong, and full of crimes;
Woe! for those drear days of old,
Dark with horrors all untold!
Through the mist of centuries past,
Dimly cluster'd, thick and fast,
Shadowy forms of terror loom,
Shrouded in sepulchral gloom!
See! the Cromlech on this height,
Red with the Druid's bloody rite,-
The Beacon, blazing far away,
To beckon pirates to their prey,-
The Cairn, piled high above the wave,
Some rude Berserkir's gory grave,—
The rocky Fort, aloft that stood
To guard its Sea-king's briny brood,
When off he flew, for blood to roam,
Leaving his vulture flock at home,—
All these, with Shame, and Sin, and Fear,
Dimly vision'd, cluster here!
Then, Rome's vengeful cohorts came
To cleanse the nest by sword and flame;
With foss and mound secured the post,
And mann'd it with her iron host:
So on, so on; till Rollo's power
Tore down amain the Roman's tower,
And proudly flung against the sky
Old Gouray's battlements on high!
This was thine hour of pride and fame;
When gentle knight, and high-born dame,
In hall, and bower, and warder'd gate
Kept their high chivalric state:
Nor soon was this thy glory set ;-
De Barentin, De Carteret,
Stand forth! and tell us of your might
Against Du Guesclin in the fight;
How the Great Captain lost the day,
And rash Maulevrier slunk away,
And our fifth Henry's favouring smile
Changed Gouray Fort to Mont Orgueil,
For patriot praise, and truth well tried,
Mount of honour, Mount of Pride!
So on, so on; and years flew by
That times were changed, and words ran high,
And fanatics stood charged with sin,
And foolish zeal imprison'd Prynne :
Then, Charles, in retribution's hour,
Felt here a despot people's power,
Hiding his wanderer head awhile,
Ere yet he left the loyal isle.
So, years flew on; by scores they past,
And kings and kingdoms perish'd fast;
Till a fair Queen, in happier days,
Bless'd all her realm with peaceful praise,
And gilt, with Her benignant smile,
Her royal castle, Mont Orgueil!
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