And curse your spells, that film the eye of Faith, Mid countless brethren with a lonely heart But first offences needs must come! Even now (Black Hell laughs horrible—to hear the scoff!) And thy mild laws of Love unutterable, * January 21, 1794, in the debate on the Address to his Majesty, on the speech from the Throne, the Earl of Guildford moved an amendment to the following effect; "That the House hoped his Majesty would seize the earliest opportunity to conclude a peace with France, &c." This motion was opposed by the Duke of Portland, who 66 considered the war to be merely grounded on one principle-the preservation of the Christian Religion." May 30, 1794, the Duke of Bedford moved a number of resolutions, with a view to the establishment of a peace with France. He was opposed (among others) by Lord Abingdon in these remarkable words; "The best road to peace, my Lords, is war! and war carried on in the same manner in which we are taught to worship our Creator, namely, with all our souls, and with all our minds, and with all our hearts, and with all our strength." Of social Peace! and list'ning Treachery lurks Thee, Lamb of God! Thee, blameless Prince of Peace! Lick his young face, and at his mouth inbreathe Death's prime Slave-merchants! Scorpion-whips of Fate! Nor least in savagery of holy zeal, Apt for the yoke, the race degenerate, Whom Britain erst had blush'd to call her sons! Thee to defend the Moloch Priest prefers The prayer of hate, and bellows to the herd In the fierce jealousy of waken'd wrath Lord of unsleeping Love,* From everlasting Thou! We shall not die. • "Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord, mine Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for Judgment," These, even these, in mercy didst thou form, In the primeval age a dateless while A host of new desires: with busy aim, And hence Disease that withers manhood's arm, Wide-wasting ills! yet each th' immediate source &c.-Habakkuk, i. 12. In this paragraph the author recalls himself from his indignation against the instruments of Evil, to contemplate the uses of these evils in the great process of Divine benevolence. In the first age, men were innocent from ignorance of vice; they fell, that by the knowledge of consequences, they might attain intellectual security, i. e. Virtue, which is a wise and strong-nerved Inno cence. And the pale-featur'd Sage's trembling hand Such as the blind Ionian fabled erst. From Avarice thus, from Luxury and War Sprang heavenly Science; and from Science Freedom. O'er waken'd realms Philosophers and Bards Spread in concentric circles: they whose souls Conscious of their high dignities from God, Brook not Wealth's rivalry; and they who long Enamour'd with the charms of order hate Th' unseemly disproportion; and whoe'er Turn with mild sorrow from the victor's car And the low puppetry of thrones, to muse On that bless'd triumph, when the Patriot Sage Call'd the red lightnings from th' o'er-rushing cloud And dash'd the beauteous Terrors on the earth Smiling majestic. Such a phalanx ne'er Measur'd firm paces to the calming sound Of Spartan flute! These on the fated day, When, stung to rage by Pity, eloquent men Have rous'd with pealing voice th' unnumber'd tribes That toil and groan and bleed, hungry and blind, These hush'd awhile with patient eye serene Shall watch the mad careering of the storm; Then o'er the wild and wavy chaos rush And tame th' outrageous mass, with plastic might Moulding Confusion to such perfect forms, As erst were wont, bright visions of the day! To float before them, when, the Summer noon, Beneath some arch'd romantic rock reclin'd They felt the sea-breeze lift their youthful locks; Or in the month of blossoms, at mild eve, Wandering with desultory feet, inhal'd The wafted perfumes, and the flocks and woods The wretched Many! Bent beneath their loads Deep in the lucid stream his bloody jaws; Or serpent plants his vast moon-glittering bulk, O ye numberless, Whom foul Oppression's ruffian gluttony Drives from life's plenteous feast! O thou poor wretch, *Behemoth in Hebrew signifies wild beasts in general. Some believe it is the Elephant, some the Hippopotamus; some affirm it is the Wild Bull. Poetically, it designates any large quadruped. |