Mercy and Love have met thee on thy road, Thou wretched Outcast, from the gift of fire And food cut off by sacerdotal ire, From every sympathy that Man bestowed! Yet shall it claim our reverence, that to God, 5 Ancient of days! that to the eternal Sire, These jealous Ministers of law aspire, As to the one sole fount whence wisdom flowed, Justice, and order. Tremblingly escaped, As if with prescience of the coming storm, 10 _That_ intimation when the stars were shaped; And still, 'mid yon thick woods, the primal truth Glimmers through many a superstitious form[19] That fills the Soul with unavailing ruth. FOOTNOTES: [19] 1827. And yon thick woods maintain the primal truth, Debased by many a superstitious form, 1822. V UNCERTAINTY Darkness surrounds us: seeking, we are lost On Snowdon's wilds, amid Brigantian coves,[20] Or where the solitary shepherd roves Along the plain of Sarum, by the ghost Of Time and shadows of Tradition, crost;[21] 5 And where the boatman of the Western Isles Slackens his course--to mark those holy piles Which yet survive on bleak Iona's coast.[22] Nor these, nor monuments of eldest name,[23] Nor Taliesin's unforgotten lays,[24] 10 Nor characters of Greek or Roman fame, To an unquestionable Source have led; Enough--if eyes, that sought the fountain-head In vain, upon the growing Rill may gaze. FOOTNOTES: [20] The reference is to Yorkshire. The Brigantes inhabited England from sea to sea, from Cumberland to Durham, but more especially Yorkshire. See Tacitus, _Annals_, book xii. 32; Ptolemy, _Geographia_, 27, 1; Camden, _Britannia_, 556-648.--ED. [21] 1827. Of silently departed ages crossed; 1822. [22] Compare the four sonnets on Iona, in the "Poems composed or suggested during a Tour in the Summer of 1833."--ED. [23] 1841. ... fame, 1822. [24] See note [40], p. 13.--ED. VI PERSECUTION 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: Against the Followers of the incarnate Lord 5 It rages;--some are smitten in the field-- Some pierced to the heart through the ineffectual shield[25] Of sacred home;--with pomp are others gored And dreadful respite. Thus was Alban tried,[26] England's first Martyr, whom no threats could shake; Self-offered victim, for his friend he died, 11 And for the faith; nor shall his name forsake That Hill, whose flowery platform seems to rise By Nature decked for holiest sacrifice.[27] FOOTNOTES: [25] 1840. Some pierced beneath the unavailing shield 1822. ... ineffectual 1827.