XXV
MISSIONS AND TRAVELS
Not sedentary all: there are who roam
To scatter seeds of life on barbarous shores;
Or quit with zealous step their knee-worn floors
To seek the general mart of Christendom;
Whence they, like richly-laden merchants, come 5
To their belovèd cells:—or shall we say
That, like the Red-cross Knight, they urge their way,
To lead in memorable triumph home
Truth, their immortal Una? Babylon,
Learned and wise, hath perished utterly, 10
Nor leaves her Speech one word to aid the sigh[72]
That would lament her;—Memphis, Tyre, are gone
With all their Arts,—but classic lore glides on
By these Religious saved for all posterity.
FOOTNOTES:
[72] 1827.
... speech wherewith to clothe a sigh 1822.
XXVI
ALFRED
Behold a pupil of the monkish gown,
The pious Alfred, King to Justice dear!
Lord of the harp and liberating spear;[73]
Mirror of Princes![74] Indigent Renown
Might range the starry ether for a crown 5
Equal to his deserts, who, like the year,
Pours forth his bounty, like the day doth cheer,
And awes like night with mercy-tempered frown.
Ease from this noble miser of his time
No moment steals; pain narrows not his cares.[75] 10
Though small his kingdom as a spark or gem,
Of Alfred boasts remote Jerusalem,[76]
And Christian India, through her wide-spread clime,
In sacred converse gifts with Alfred shares.[77][78]