XXIII
REPROOF
But what if One, through grove or flowery meed,
Indulging thus at will the creeping feet
Of a voluptuous indolence, should meet
Thy hovering Shade, O[66] venerable Bede!
The saint, the scholar, from a circle freed 5
Of toil stupendous, in a hallowed seat
Of learning, where thou heard'st[67] the billows beat
On a wild coast, rough monitors to feed
Perpetual industry.[68] Sublime Recluse!
The recreant soul, that dares to shun the debt 10
Imposed on human kind, must first forget
Thy diligence, thy unrelaxing use
Of a long life; and, in the hour of death,
The last dear service of thy passing breath![69]
FOOTNOTES:
[66] 1827.
The hovering Shade of ... 1822.
[67] 1827.
... he heard ... 1822.
[68] Bede spent the most of his life in the seclusion of the monastery of Jarrow, near the mouth of the Tyne; the wild coast referred to in the Sonnet being the coast of Northumberland.—Ed.
[69] He expired in the act of concluding a translation of St. John's Gospel.—W. W. 1822.