University of Virginia Library

But soon the Tyrants sought themselves to save,
For soon Invaders pierc'd the Druid cave;
Forth from the Baltic pour'd the deathful host,
And train'd to havock, crimson'd all the coast,
The Northern Hive swarm'd terrible around,
And every Altar smoak'd upon the ground,
Fire, sword, and carnage, spotted every hand,
Swell'd the gorg'd tomb and delug'd all the land.
Different in mind, and manners, as in face,
The Normans came, an innovating race;
Their power, their passions, and their pride, they brought,
Fierce, bold, and bloody, and with conquest fraught,
From the forc'd mixture of a foreign breed,
Unnatural customs, laws, and wars succeed;
The Saxon superstition, weak as dire,
In two extremes of water and of fire,
The burning ploughshare and the cauldron hot,
To prove the Culprit innocent or not,
Were lenient mercies to the cruel strife,
That then with horror hung a cloud on life,
Then, by no ties of law or nature bound,
Assassination took its deathful round;
In every grove the lurking stabber lay,
And human bloodshed clotted all the way,
In every street the mangled corpse appear'd,
And mutual hate the sanguine standard rear'd;
In slavish homage to an haughty Lord,
All social joy was broken at the board,
From house to house the Tyrant's edict ran,
And the Feast ended ere the Mirth began,
At the eighth hour toll'd out by dread command,
The dreary knell that darken'd all the land;
Wisdom, her lessons could no more impart,
Nor Friendship gladden or improve the heart,
Ere to their bliss the genial hours invite,
Oppression shed impenetrable night,
The friendly faggot chear'd the heart no more,
And all the soft'ning blooms of life were o'er;
To ruin'd Juries the dire sword succeeds,
And at each pore insulted Justice bleeds,
Ev'n rural pastime in that iron age,
No more to jovial sports the youth engage,
The savage beasts, which Nature gave to all,
To glut th'insatiate pride of one must fall;
No more the chace, no more the woods were free,
All, all was Hate,—for all was Slavery.
The Lawyer, Clergy too, and Baron proud,
Aping their Prince, struck terror thro' the croud;
Next, bigot Priests, th'imposing mandate bring,
And yoke the Neck of each succeeding King;
Rome sent her Monks, and superstition reign'd,
Freedom in bonds, and even Conscience chain'd;
Impious as vain, the Pope his terrors laid,
Ignorance was awed and folly was afraid;
Fair Truth in fetters was like Reason bound,
And dread Anathema's were peal'd around,
Pomp of procession, and parade of prayer,
Pardon, and curse, dealt mercy or despair:
The heart was tainted, and the head confus'd,
And all the attributes of God abus'd;
People and Prince were in one chaos hurl'd,
Law, Justice, Order, Virtue, left the World!