Part 82 (1/2)

Similar alterations in the outward figure and deportment of persons brought to like trial were not uncommon. See note to the above pa.s.sage in Dr. Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography, for an example in an humble Welsh fisherman.

352. _Craft_.

----'craftily incites The overweening, personates the mad.' [Sonnet XLI. l. 11.]

A common device in religious and political conflicts. See Strype in support of this instance.

353. _The Virgin Mountain_. [Sonnet XLIII.]

Jung-frau.

354. _Laud_. [Sonnet XLV.]

In this age a word cannot be said in praise of Laud, or even in compa.s.sion for his fate, without incurring a charge of bigotry; but fearless of such imputation, I concur with Hume, 'that it is sufficient for his vindication to observe that his errors were the most excusable of all those which prevailed during that zealous period.' A key to the right understanding of those parts of his conduct that brought the most odium upon him in his own time, may be found in the following pa.s.sage of his speech before the bar of the House of Peers:--'Ever since I came in place, I have laboured nothing more than that the external publick wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d, so much slighted in divers parts of this kingdom, might be preserved, and that with as much decency and uniformity as might be.

For I evidently saw that the publick neglect of G.o.d's service in the outward face of it, and the nasty lying of many places dedicated to that service, _had almost cast a damp upon the true and inward wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d, which while we live in the body, needs external helps, and all little enough to keep it in any vigour_.'

PART III. FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE PRESENT TIME.

355. _The Pilgrim Fathers_. [Sonnet XIII.]

American episcopacy, in union with the church in England, strictly belongs to the general subject; and I here make my acknowledgments to my American friends, Bishop Doane, and Mr. Henry Reed of Philadelphia, for having suggested to me the propriety of adverting to it, and pointed out the virtues and intellectual qualities of Bishop White, which so eminently fitted him for the great work he undertook. Bishop White was consecrated at Lambeth, Feb. 4, 1787, by Archbishop Moor; and before his long life was closed, twenty-six bishops had been consecrated in America, by himself. For his character and opinions, see his own numerous Works, and a 'Sermon in commemoration of him, by George Was.h.i.+ngton Doane, Bishop of New Jersey.'

356. _The Clergyman_.

'A genial hearth---- And a refined rusticity, belong To the neat mansion.' [Sonnet XVIII. ll. 1-3.]

Among the benefits arising, as Mr. Coleridge has well observed, from a Church Establishment of endowments corresponding with the wealth of the country to which it belongs, may be reckoned as eminently important, the examples of civility and refinement which the Clergy stationed at intervals, afford to the whole people. The Established clergy in many parts of England have long been, as they continue to be, the princ.i.p.al bulwark against barbarism, and the link which unites the sequestered peasantry with the intellectual advancement of the age. Nor is it below the dignity of the subject to observe, that their taste, as acting upon rural residences and scenery often furnishes models which country gentlemen, who are more at liberty to follow the caprices of fas.h.i.+on, might profit by. The precincts of an old residence must be treated by ecclesiastics with respect, both from prudence and necessity. I remember being much pleased, some years ago, at Rose Castle, the rural seat of the See of Carlisle, with a style of garden and architecture, which, if the place had belonged to a wealthy layman, would no doubt have been swept away. A parsonage-house generally stands not far from the church; this proximity imposes favourable restraints, and sometimes suggests an affecting union of the accommodations and elegances of life with the outward signs of piety and mortality. With pleasure I recall to mind a happy instance of this in the residence of an old and much-valued Friend in Oxfords.h.i.+re. The house and church stand parallel to each other, at a small distance; a circular lawn or rather gra.s.s-plot, spreads between them; shrubs and trees curve from each side of the dwelling, veiling, but not hiding, the church. From the front of this dwelling, no part of the burial-ground is seen; but as you wind by the side of the shrubs towards the steeple-end of the church, the eye catches a single, small, low, monumental headstone, moss-grown, sinking into, and gently inclining towards the earth. Advance, and the churchyard, populous and gay with glittering tombstones, opens upon the view. This humble and beautiful parsonage called forth a tribute, for which see the seventh of the 'Miscellaneous Sonnets,' Part III.

357. _Rush-bearing_. [Sonnet x.x.xII.]

This is still continued in many churches in Westmoreland. It takes place in the month of July, when the floor of the stalls is strewn with fresh rushes; and hence it is called the 'Rush-bearing.'

358. _George Dyer_.

'Teaching us to forget them or forgive.' [Sonnet x.x.xV. l. 10.]

This is borrowed from an affecting pa.s.sage in Mr. George Dyer's History of Cambridge.

359. _Apprehension_.

----'had we, like them, endured Sore stress of apprehension.' [Sonnet x.x.xVII. l. 6.]

See Burnet, who is unusually animated on this subject; the east wind, so anxiously expected and prayed for, was called the 'Protestant wind.'