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to whom they are dedicated . But in any abode where a just sense of the Deity fills the soul , " Such bubbles burst , and folly ' s dancing foam Melts , if it cross the threshold ; where the wreath Of awe-struck wisdom droops . " P . 106 .
We meant to say not one word more on the subject of Wordsworth ' s politics , but the Sonnet of " Congratulation / ' 98 , has flashed upon our eye , and we cannot refrain . Nir . W . lias lately travelled through the South of Europe . He can hardly have
journeyed a league without hearing indignation in every form against his country ' perfidy . He has probably been at Genoa . He knows that England is every where accused of having consented to every scheme of spoliation and tyranny . He knows that every country which has lost its liberty looks
upon England ( or the English government ) as having rivetted its chains . He knows that England has lost her reputation for hospitality and generosity , ever since she denied ( no ! England has not denied !) the protection of her laws to the exiles who might seek her shores . The cruel and
Antienglish Alien Bill exists—and Wordsworth writes : " We have felt , As a loved substance , their futurity ; Good , which they dared hope for , we have seen : i
¦ ~/ ^** ^^ a . ja a A State , whose generous will thro earth is dealt : A State , which balancing herself between Licence and slavish order , dares be free . " P . 98 .
We remember the time when the name of Englishman was , over the whole continent , a passport to urbanity and courtesy ; and we say , without fear of contradiction , that from Torneo to the Pillars of Hercules , from Athens to the Tagus , that name is become a sound of reproach , —of indignation—and of hatred .
" So has her generous will thro' earth been dealt . " The " Memorials" have many pages of exquisite pathos , of strong and glorious poetry . There arc descriptions in the very highest style of vigour and beauty - and some of the IJymns and Devotional Memorials
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which are inter-blended , touch our very deepest soul . The Sonnet to Waterloo is fine : " A winged Goddess , clothed in vesture
wrought Of rainbow colours ; One whose port was bold , Whose overburthened hand could scarcely hold y
The glittering crowns and garlands which it brought , Hover'd in air above the far-famed spot . She vanished—All was joyless , blank and cold ; But if from wind-swept fields of corn that roll'd
In dreary billows , from the meagre cot And monuments that soon may disappear Meanings we craved which could not there be found ; If the wide prospect seemed an envious seal
Of great exploits ; we felt as men should feel , With such vast hoards of hidden carnage near , And horror breathing from the silent ground ! " P . 4 . If , indeed , they " felt as men should feel , "
" Amidst that dance of objects sadness came O'er the defrauded heart— . " P . 9 . What sense so dull as not to be touched by such a passage as this" Oa the Fall of the Aar" ?
" From the fierce aspect of this river throwing His giant body o'er the steep rock's brink , Back in astonishment and fear we shrink : But , gradually a calmer look bestowing , Flowers we espy beside the torrent
growing ; Flowers ihat peep forth from many a cleft and chink , And , from the whirlwind of his anger , drink Hues ever fresh , in rocky fortress
blowing : They suck , from breath that threatening to destroy Is more benignant than the dewy eve , Beauty , and life , and motions as of joy * Nor doubt but He to whom yon pi « o
trees nod , rheir heads in sign of worship , Nature s God , . „ rhese humbler adorations will receive . P . 18-The Elegiac stanzas ( pp - 60 T ^ ire moat pathetic . It were worth ay-
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364 Review . ' —Wordsworths Ecclesiastical Sketches .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1822, page 364, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2513/page/44/
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