Chapter XII

About thy sheltered cradle, in the green
Untroubled groves of Sussex, brooded forms
That to the mother’s eye remained unseen,--
Terrors and ardours, passionate hopes, and storms
Of fierce retributive fury, such as jarred
Ancient and sceptred creeds, and cast down kings,
And oft the holy cause of Freedom marred
With lust of meaner things,
With guiltless blood, and many a frenzied crime
Dared in the face of unforgetful Time.