[227] Originated by Robert Catesby, the intention being to destroy King, Lords, and Commons, by an explosion at Westminster, when James I. went in person to open Parliament on the 5th November 1605.—Ed.
[228] The massacre of St. Bartholomew, which occurred on August 24, 1572.—Ed.
XLIII
ILLUSTRATION
The Jung-frau and the Fall of the Rhine near Schaffhausen
The Virgin Mountain,[229] wearing like a Queen
A brilliant crown of everlasting snow,
Sheds ruin from her sides; and men below
Wonder that aught of aspect so serene
Can link with desolation. Smooth and green,
And seeming, at a little distance, slow,
The waters of the Rhine; but on they go
Fretting and whitening, keener and more keen;
Till madness seizes on the whole wide Flood,
Turned to a fearful Thing whose nostrils breathe 10
Blasts of tempestuous smoke—wherewith he tries
To hide himself, but only magnifies;
And doth in more conspicuous torment writhe,
Deafening the region in his ireful mood.[230]
FOOTNOTES:
[229] The Jung-frau.—W. W. 1822.
[230] This Sonnet was included among the "Memorials of a Tour on the Continent" (1822), and the following note was added:—"This Sonnet belongs to another publication, but from its fitness for this place is inserted here also, 'Voilà un énfer d'eau,' cried out a German Friend of Ramond, falling on his knees on the scaffold in front of this Waterfall. See Ramond's Translation of Coxe."—W. W.