And lo! the Great, the Rich, the Mighty Men, 1 Tremble far-off-for lo! the Giant Frenzy Uprooting empires with his whirlwind arm. Mocketh high Heaven; burst hideous from the cell O return! Pure Faith! meek Piety! The abhorred Form2 310 315 320 325 Whose names were many and all blasphemous, Hath met the horrible judgment! Whence that cry? On whose black front was written Mystery; 330 She that reeled heavily, whose wine was blood; She that worked whoredom with the Daemon Power, Brought forth and nurtured: mitred Atheism! 335 And from the dark embrace all evil things And patient Folly who on bended knee Gives back the steel that stabbed him; and pale Fear con 1 Alluding to the French Revolution 1834: The French Revolution 1796 : This passage alludes to the French Revolution: and the subsequent paragraph to the downfall of Religious Establishments. I am vinced that the Babylon of the Apocalypse does not apply to Rome exclusively; but to the union of Religion with Power and Wealth, wherever it is found. Footnote to line 320, 1797, to line 322, 1803. ? And there came one of the seven Angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, come hither! I will show unto thee the judgment of the great Whore, that sitteth upon many waters: with whom the kings of the carth have committed fornication, &c. Revelation of St. John the Divine, chapter the seventeenth. Note to 1.343. Notes, 1796, p. 175. 337 Hunted by ghastlier terrors 1796, Watchman. 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829. Haunted] Hunted The kingdoms of the world are your's: each heart Raised from the common earth by common toil As float to earth, permitted visitants! Wide open, and forth come in fragments wild And odours snatched from beds of Amaranth, 340 345 350 355 For in his own and in his Father's might When that blest future rushes on my view! Old Ocean claps his hands! The mighty Dead Lead up their mystic dance, the Desert shouts ! The Saviour comes! While as the Thousand Years' 360 With conscious zeal had urged Love's wondrous plan, The Millenium :-in which I suppose, that Man will continue to enjoy the highest glory, of which his human nature is capable.-That all who in past ages have endeavoured to ameliorate the state of man will rise and enjoy the fruits and flowers, the imperceptible seeds of which they had sown in their former Life: and that the wicked will during the same period, be suffering the remedies adapted to their several bad habits. I suppose that this period will be followed by the passing away of this Earth and by our entering the state of pure intellect; when all Creation shall rest from its labours. Footnote to line 365, 1797, to line 367, 1803. 345-8 When on some solemn Jubilee of Saints Are thrown wide open, and thence voyage forth Detachments wild of seraph-warbled airs 1796, Watchman. 355 beatitudes] beatitude 1796, Watchman, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829. 356 Seize on] Have seiz'd Watchman. 359-61 The SAVIOUR comes! While as to solemn strains, The high groves of the renovated Earth Raises to heaven: and he of mortal kind 365 370 375 0 Years! the blest pre-eminence of Saints! 380 385 1 David Hartley. [Footnote to line 392, 1796, to line 375, 1797, to line 380, 1803 reprinted in 1828, 1829, and 1834.] 2 Rev. chap. iv. v. 2 and 3.-And immediately I was in the Spirit : and behold, a Throne was set in Heaven and one sat on the Throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone, &c. [Footnote to line 386, 1797, to line 389, 1803: reprinted in 1828, 1829, and 1834.] 365 370-2 378-80 The odorous groves of Earth reparadis'd 1796. Roll subtly-surging. Pressing on his steps Lo! PRIESTLEY there, Patriot, and Saint, and Sage A childish pang of impotent regret Hath thrill'd my heart. Him from his native land 1796. Pass in fine surges. Pressing on his steps Sweeping before the rapt prophetic Gaze Stream from the gorgeous and face-veiling plumes 380 they bend] he bends 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829. Making noon ghastly! Who of woman born In feverous slumbers-destined then to wake, Believe thou, O my soul, 2 Life is a vision shadowy of Truth; 390 395 And vice, and anguish, and the wormy grave, Shapes of a dream! The veiling clouds retire, 400 Wraps in one blaze earth, heaven, and deepest hell. Contemplant Spirits! ye that hover o'er With untired gaze the immeasurable fount And ye of plastic power, that interfused 405 (And what if Monads of the infinite mind?) I haply journeying my immortal course Shall sometime join your mystic choir! Till then 410 I discipline my young and novice thought In ministeries of heart-stirring song, And aye on Meditation's heaven-ward wing Soaring aloft I breathe the empyreal air 415 1 The final Destruction impersonated. [Footnote to line 394, 1797, to line 396, 1803: reprinted in 1828, 1829, and 1834.] 2 This paragraph is intelligible to those, who, like the Author, believe and feel the sublime system of Berkley (sic); and the doctrine of the final Happiness of all men. Footnote to line 402, 1797, to line 405, 1803. 387 May image in his wildly-working thought 1796: May image, how the red-eyed Fiend outstretcht 1803. 390 feverous] feverish 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829. Between 391, 392 DESTRUCTION! when the Sons of Morning shout, The Angels shout, DESTRUCTION 1803. Spirit 1796. 400 om. 1803. 401 blaze] Light 1803. noviciate 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829. 393 The Mighty 411 and novice] Whose day-spring rises glorious in my soul. Sheds on the frost-bound waters-The glad stream 1794-1796. MONODY ON THE DEATH OF CHATTERTON 1 O WHAT a wonder seems the fear of death, Night following night for threescore years and ten! Away, Grim Phantom! Scorpion King, away! For coward Wealth and Guilt in robes of State! (That all bestowing, this withholding all) Made each chance knell from distant spire or dome 5 ΤΟ 15 'The Monody', &c., dated in eds. 1796, 1797, 1803, 'October, 1794,' was first published at Cambridge in 1794, in Poems, By Thomas Rowley [i. e. Chatterton] and others edited by Lancelot Sharpe (pp. XXV-xxviii). An Introductory Note was prefixed :-'The Editor thinks himself happy in the permission of an ingenious friend to insert the following Monody.' The variants marked 1794 are derived from that work. The 'Monody' was not included in Sibylline Leaves, 1817. For MS. variants vide ante, Monody', &c., Christ's Hospital Version. Coleridge told Cottle, May 27, 1814 that lines 1-4 were written when he was a mere boy' (Reminiscences, 1847, p. 348); and, again, April 22, 1819, he told William Worship that they were written in his thirteenth 1-15 When faint and sad o'er Sorrow's desart wild 1794, 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828. [Lines 1-15 of the text were first printed in 1829.] |