The bard, and minor poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

The bard, and minor poems

By John Walker Ord ... Collected and edited by John Lodge

Ord, John Walker (1811-1853)

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THE ALUM ROCKS.

These rocks, now shrouded o'er with oak and pine,
Fern, bramble, flowering furze,—each rugged plant
Once shook with heavy toil through every mine,
And labour struggled for a nation's want.
The aspiring Chaloner, from hills of Rome,
Brought the rare art, and fixed it here—his home;

283

(For this the dread anathema was hurl'd
And Rome's imperious oriflamme unfurl'd:)
Stately they rise, firm, steadfast and serene,
Nor Winter harms them, nor the Autumn rains,
Yon fir-trees are their coronals of green,
And still they tower majestic o'er the plains;
Alas! the noble peasants are no more,
But nature reigns, and shall for evermore!

The anathema is the same quoted by Sterne as the curse of Ernulphus, and is published at length in the Notes to the first volume of “England,” an historical Poem.