SCREAMS Tound the Arch-druid's brow the seamew *—white) As Menai's foam; and toward the mystic ring Slowly the cormorant aims her heavy flight, That, in the lapse of ages, hath crept o'er Haughty the Bard ;—can these meek doctrines blight His trausports? wither his heroic strains? But all shall be fulfilled ;-the Julian spear A way first opened; and, with Roman chains, They come-they spread-the weak, the suffering, hear; This water-fowl was, among the Druids, an emblem of those traditiona connected with the deluge that made an important part of their mysteries. The Cormorant was a bird of bad omen. IV. 1 DRUIDICAL EXCOMMUNICATION. MERCY and Love have met thee on thy road, From every sympathy that Man bestowed! As to the one sole fount whence wisdom flowed, As if with prescience of the coming storm, UNCERTAINTY. 1 DARKNESS surrounds us; seeking, wo are lost On Snowdon's wilds, amid Brigantian coves, Or where the solitary shepherd roves · Along the plain of Sarum, by the ghost Of Time and shadows of Tradition, crost; Nor characters of Greek or Roman fame, VI. PERSECUTION. LAMENT! for Dioclesian's fiery sword Works busy as the lightning; but instinct With malico ne'er to deadliest weapon linked, Which God's ethereal store-houses afford : Some pierced to the heart through th' ineffectual shield And dreadful respite. Thus was Alban tried, And for the faith; nor shall his name forsake By Nature decked for holiest sacrifice *. • Soo Note. VII. RECOVERY. As, when a storm hath ceased, the birds regain For all things are less dreadful than they seem. |