Redoubted King, of courage leonine, I mark thee, Richard! urgent to equip Thy warlike person with the staff and scrip; I watch thee sailing o'er the midland brine; In conquered Cyprus see thy Bride decline 5 Her blushing cheek, love-vows[104] upon her lip, And see love-emblems streaming from thy ship, As thence she holds her way to Palestine.[105] My Song, a fearless homager, would attend Thy thundering battle-axe as it cleaves the press 10 Of war, but duty summons her away To tell--how, finding in the rash distress Of those Enthusiasts a subservient friend, To[106] giddier heights hath clomb the Papal sway. FOOTNOTES: [104] 1827. ... Love's vow ... 1822. [105] Richard I. (Coeur 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. [106] 1837. Of those enthusiast powers a constant Friend, Through ... 1822. XXXVI AN INTERDICT[107] Realms quake by turns: proud Arbitress of grace, The Church, by mandate shadowing forth the power She arrogates o'er heaven's eternal door, Closes the gates of every sacred place. Straight from the sun and tainted air's embrace 5 All sacred things are covered: cheerful morn Grows sad as night--no seemly garb is worn, Nor is a face allowed to meet a face With natural smiles[108] of greeting. Bells are dumb; Ditches are graves--funereal rites denied; 10 And in the church-yard he must take his bride Who dares be wedded! Fancies thickly come Into the pensive heart ill fortified, And comfortless despairs the soul benumb. FOOTNOTES: [107] 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 maybe 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. [108] 1845. ... smile ... 1822. XXXVII PAPAL ABUSES