[224] A common device in religious and political conflicts. See Strype, in support of this instance.—W. W. 1822.
Probably the reference is to the case of Cussin, a Dominican Friar. He pretended to be a Puritan minister; and, in his devotions, assumed the airs of madness. See in Strype's The Life and Acts of Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, vol. i. chaps, xiii. and xvi.—Ed.
[225] 1827.
The Throne is plagued; ... 1822.
[226] See the note to the previous sonnet, No. XL.—Ed.
XLII
GUNPOWDER PLOT[227]
Fear hath a hundred eyes that all agree
To plague her beating heart; and there is one
(Nor idlest that!) which holds communion
With things that were not, yet were meant to be.
Aghast within its gloomy cavity 5
That eye (which sees as if fulfilled and done
Crimes that might stop the motion of the sun)
Beholds the horrible catastrophe
Of an assembled Senate unredeemed
From subterraneous Treason's darkling power: 10
Merciless act of sorrow infinite!
Worse than the product of that dismal night,
When gushing, copious as a thunder-shower,
The blood of Huguenots through Paris streamed.[228]