That wretched boon, days lengthen'd by mistrust. Released from life and cares of princely state, CHARACTER OF THE HAPPY WARRIOR. WHO is the happy Warrior? Who is he Is placable, because occasions rise So often that demand such sacrifice; More skilful in self-knowledge, even more pure, [1816. THE HAPPY WARRIOR. Who, if he rise to station of command, Whose powers shed round him in the common strife A constant influence, a peculiar grace; But who, if he be call'd upon to face Some awful moment to which Heaven has join'd Is happy as a Lover; and attired With sudden brightness, like a Man inspired; Come when it will, is equal to the need: It is his darling passion to approve; More brave for this, that he hath much to love. Who, whether praise of him must walk the Earth 105 Finds comfort in himself and in his cause; That every Man in arms should wish to be. [1806. SONNETS. WHERE lies the Land to which yon Ship must go? Is she for tropic suns, or polar snow? What boots th' inquiry? Neither friend nor foe And, almost as it was when ships were rare, Is with me at thy farewell, joyous Bark! WITH ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh, This Ship was nought to me, nor I to her, When will she turn, and whither? She will brook ODE TO DUTY. DEVOTIONAL INCITEMENTS. ["Not to the earth confined, Ascend to heaven."] 107 And humours change, are spurn'd like weeds: The priests are from their altars thrust; HERE will they stop, those breathing Founder amid fanatic storms. Powers, e Spirits of the new-born flowers? om humble violet-modest thyme- [ers, ke ambition be their guide. oused by this kindliest of May-show= spirit-quickener of the flowers, t with moist virtue softly cleaves buds, and freshens the young leaves, birds pour forth their souls in notes apture from a thousand throats, e check'd by too impetuous haste, le there the music runs to waste, bounty more and more enlarged, the whole air is overcharged: = ear, O Man! to their appeal, thirst for no inferior zeal, , who canst think, as well as feel. -unt from the Earth; aspire! aspire! eads the town's cathedral quire, rains that from their solemn height to attain a loftier flight; e incense from the altar breathes fragrance in embodied wreaths; ung from swinging censer, shrouds aper-lights, and curls in clouds nd angelic Forms, the still Hon of the painter's skill, on the service wait conceal'd moment, and the next reveal'd.ff your bonds, awake, arise, Or no transient ecstasies! else can mean the visual plea or moving imagery,erated summons loud, asted on th' attendant crowd, holly lost upon the throng ng the busy streets along? ! the sanctities combined to unsensualise the mind, Yet evermore, through years renew'd skies Is wafted in mute harmonies; And ground fresh-cloven by the plough Is fragrant with a humbler vow; Where birds and brooks from leafy dells Chime forth unwearied canticles, And vapours magnify and spread The glory of the Sun's bright head,Conforming to th' eternal Will, Still constant in her worship, still Whether men sow or reap the fields, Divine monition Nature yields, That not by bread alone we live, Or what a hand of flesh can give; That every day should leave some part Free for a sabbath of the heart: So shall the seventh be truly blest, From morn to eve, with hallow'd rest. ODE TO DUTY. [1832. "Jam non consilio bonus, sed more eò STERN Daughter of the Voice of God! When empty terrors overawe; From vain temptations dost set free; 1 "No longer good by conscious effort, but so led on to goodness by habit, that now I not only can do what is right, but am unable to do otherwise."-- The motto well propounds the central thought of this noble Ode, which is "all compact” Serene will be our days and bright, And they a blissful course may hold My hopes no more must change their name, I long for a repose that ever is the same. Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear To humbler functions, awful Power! Yet seek thy firm support, according to O, let my weakness have an end! their need. I, loving freedom, and untried; Too blindly have reposed my trust: The task, in smoother walks to stray; if I may. Through no disturbance of my soul, 2 The poet here strikes a deep principle of ethics. When a man is so in love with Duty as to find his supreme delight therein, then he will naturally be held to her service by the sweetness of it, and constancy in that service will needs perpetuate his joy. Give unto me, made lowly wise, And in the light of truth thy Bondman let AN age hath been when Earth was proud To be sustain'd; and Mortals bow'd Who then, if Dian's crescent gleam'd, [plains 3 With Englishmen, the word charter carries the sense of liberty secured by And smooths her liquid breast, to show law. But that which protects freedom These swan-like specks of mountain necessarily restrains and limits it. And inward freedom is a blessing, and by upright minds is felt to be such, so far only White as the pair that slid along the as the inner man is self-restrained and Of heaven, when Venus held the reins !4 ordered in submission to the law of con science. Now, Duty, with her stern legis snow, lation, is the proper home of conscience; 4 This poem originated in the last four and so none but the willing bondmen lines of the first stanza. Those specks of of Duty can have the peace and joy of snow, reflected in the lake and so transthat home. In the well-known words of ferred, as it were, to the subaqueous sky, Hooker, "Of Law there can no less be reminded me of the swans which the acknowledged, than that her seat is the fancy of the ancient classic poets yoked bosom of God, her voice the harmony of to the car of Venus. Hence the tenor of the world." the whole first stanza, and the name of |