[954] 1835.
... on sea or land ...
Version in The Morning Post.
[955] Compare the Sonnet On the Projected Kendal and Windermere Railway, written in 1844.—Ed.
XLIII
THE MONUMENT COMMONLY CALLED LONG MEG AND HER DAUGHTERS, NEAR THE RIVER EDEN[956]
Composed, probably, in 1821.—Published 1822
A weight of awe, not easy to be borne,
Fell suddenly upon my Spirit—cast
From the dread bosom of the unknown past,
When first I saw that family forlorn.[957]
Speak Thou, whose massy strength and stature scorn[958]
The power of years—pre-eminent, and placed 6
Apart, to overlook the circle vast—
Speak, Giant-mother! tell it to the Morn
While she dispels the cumbrous shades of Night;
Let the Moon hear, emerging from a cloud; 10
At whose behest uprose on British ground
That Sisterhood, in hieroglyphic round
Forth-shadowing, some have deemed, the infinite
The inviolable God, that tames the proud![959][960]
FOOTNOTES:
[956] It first appeared in A Description of the Scenery of the Lakes in the North of England, third edition, 1822.—Ed.
[957] 1837.