As with the Stream our voyage we pursue, The gross materials of this world present A marvellous study of wild accident;[109] Uncouth proximities of old and new; And bold transfigurations, more untrue 5 (As might be deemed) to disciplined intent Than aught the sky's fantastic element, When most fantastic, offers to the view. Saw we not Henry scourged at Becket's shrine?[110] Lo! John self-stripped of his insignia:--crown, 10 Sceptre and mantle, sword and ring, laid down At a proud Legate's feet![111] The spears that line Baronial halls, the opprobrious insult feel; And angry Ocean roars a vain appeal. FOOTNOTES: [109] Compare Aubrey de Vere's _Thomas à Becket_.--ED. [110] After Becket's murder and canonisation Henry II., from political motives, did penance publicly at his shrine. Clad in a coarse garment, he walked three miles barefoot to Canterbury, and at the shrine submitted to the discipline of the Church. Four bishops, abbots, and eighty clergy were present, each with a knotted cord, and inflicted 380 lashes. Bleeding he threw sackcloth over his shoulders, and continued till midnight kneeling at prayer, then visited all the altars, and returned fainting to Becket's shrine, where he remained till morning.--ED. [111] On the festival of the Ascension, John "laid his crown at Pandulph's feet, and signed an instrument by which, for the remission of his sins, and those of his family, he surrendered the kingdoms of England and Ireland to the Pope, to hold them thenceforth under him, and the Roman see." Pandulph "kept the crown five days before he restored it to John." (Southey, _Book of the Church_, vol. i. p. 218.)--ED. XXXVIII SCENE IN VENICE Black Demons hovering o'er his mitred head, To Cæsar's Successor the Pontiff spake;[112] "Ere I absolve thee, stoop! that on thy neck Levelled with earth this foot of mine may tread." Then he, who to the altar had been led, 5 He, whose strong arm the Orient could not check, He, who had held the Soldan[113] at his beck, Stooped, of all glory disinherited, And even the common dignity of man!-- Amazement strikes the crowd: while many turn 10 Their eyes away in sorrow, others burn With scorn, invoking a vindictive ban From outraged Nature; but the sense of most In abject sympathy with power is lost. FOOTNOTES: [112] The reference is to the legend of Pope Alexander III. and Frederick Barbarossa. See the Fenwick note prefixed to these sonnets.--ED. [113] Soldan, or Sultan, "Soldanus quasi solus dominus."--ED. XXXIX PAPAL DOMINION