LVII.

"To the rich thou art a check;

When his foot is on the neck
Of his victim, thou dost make
That he treads upon a snake.

LVIII.

"Thou art justice: ne'er for gold
May thy righteous laws be sold
As laws are in England; thou
Shield'st alike the high and low.

LIX.

"Thou art wisdom: freemen never
Dream that God will damn for ever
All who think those things untrue
Of which priests make such ado.

LX.

"Thou art peace: never by thee
Would blood and treasure wasted be
As tyrants wasted them when all
Leagued to quench thy flame in Gaul.

LXI.

"What if English toil and blood Was poured forth even as a flood?

It availed, O Liberty,

To dim-but not extinguish thee.

LXII.

"Thou art love: the rich have kissed

Thy feet, and, like him following Christ,

Given their substance to the free,

And through the rough world followed thee.

LXIII.

"Oh! turn their wealth to arms, and make

War, for thy beloved sake,

On wealth and war and fraud; whence they Drew the power which is their prey.

LXIV.

"Science, and poetry, and thought, Are thy lamps; they make the lot

Of the dwellers in a cot

Such they curse their Maker not.

LXV.

"Spirit, patience, gentleness,

All that can adorn and bless,

Art thou. Let deeds, not words, express

Thine exceeding loveliness.

LXVI.

"Let a great assembly be

Of the fearless and the free

On some spot of English ground

Where the plains stretch wide around.

LXVII.

"Let the blue sky overhead,

The green earth on which ye tread,
All that must eternal be,

Witness the solemnity.

LXVIII.

"From the corners uttermost

Of the bounds of English coast;

From every hut, village, and town,

Where those who live and suffer moan
For others' misery or their own;

LXIX.

"From the workhouse and the prison
Where, pale as corpses newly risen,
Women, children, young and old,
Groan for pain, and weep for cold;

LXX.

"From the haunts of daily life

Where is waged the daily strife

With common wants and common cares Which sow the human heart with tares;

LXXI.

"Lastly, from the palaces

Where the murmur of distress

Echoes like the distant sound

Of a wind alive around

LXXII.

"Those prison-halls of wealth and fashion,
Where some few feel such compassion,
For those who groan and toil and wail,
As must make their brethren pale ;-

LXXIII.

"Ye who suffer woes untold

Or to feel or to behold

Your lost country bought and sold

With a price of blood and gold!

LXXIV.

"Let a vast assembly be,

And with great solemnity

Declare with ne'er-said words that ye

Are, as God has made ye, free!

LXXV.

"Be your strong and simple words Keen to wound as sharpened swords, And wide as targes let them be,

With their shade to cover ye.

LXXVI.

"Let the tyrants pour around

With a quick and startling sound,

Like the loosening of a sea,
Troops of armed emblazonry.

LXXVII.

"Let the charged artillery drive,
Till the dead air seems alive
With the clash of clanging wheels,

And the tramp of horses' heels.

LXXVIII.

"Let the fixèd bayonet

Gleam with sharp desire to wet
Its bright point in English blood,
Looking keen as one for food.

LXXIX.

"Let the horsemen's scimitars

Wheel and flash, like sphereless stars

Thirsting to eclipse their burning
In a sea of death and mourning.

LXXX.

"Stand ye calm and resolute, Like a forest close and mute,

With folded arms, and looks which are

Weapons of an unvanquished war.

LXXXI.

"And let Panic, who outspeeds

The career of armed steeds,

Pass, a disregarded shade,

Through your phalanx undismayed.

LXXXII.

"Let the laws of your own land,
Good or ill, between ye stand,
Hand to hand, and foot to foot,
Arbiters of the dispute :-

LXXXIII.

"The old laws of England-they

Whose reverend heads with age are grey,

Children of a wiser day;

And whose solemn voice must be

Thine own echo-Liberty!

LXXXIV.

"On those who first should violate

Such sacred heralds in their state

Rest the blood that must ensue ;
And it will not rest on you.

LXXXV.

"And, if then the tyrants dare,
Let them ride among you there,
Slash and stab and maim and hew:
What they like, that let them do.

LXXXVI.

"With folded arms and steady eyes,

And little fear and less surprise,
Look upon them as they slay,
Till their rage has died away

LXXXVII.

"Then they will return with shame,
To the place from which they came,
And the blood thus shed will speak
In hot blushes on their cheek.

LXXXVIII.

"Every woman in the land

Will point at them as they stand--
They will hardly dare to greet
Their acquaintance in the street :

LXXXIX.

"And the bold true warriors

Who have hugged danger in the wars
Will turn to those who would be free,
Ashamed of such base company:

XC.

"And that slaughter to the nation
Shall steam up like inspiration,
Eloquent, oracular,

A volcano heard afar :

XCI.

"And these words shall then become
Like Oppression's thundered doom,
Ringing through each heart and brain,
Heard again-again-again!

XCII.

"Rise, like lions after slumber,
In unvanquishable number!

Shake your chains to earth, like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you!
Ye are many-they are few!"

LINES

WRITTEN DURING THE CASTLEREAGH ADMINISTRATION.

I.

CORPSES are cold in the tomb;

Stones on the pavement are dumb;
Abortions are dead in the womb,