Behold, in witness of this mournful truth, A group approach me, whose dejected looks, Sad Heralds of distress! proclaim them Men Banish'd for ever5 and for conscience sake From their distracted Country, whence the name Of Freedom misapplied, and much abus'd By lawless Anarchy, has driven them far To wander; with the prejudice they learn'd
3. In Greek mythology Sisyphus was condemned forever to push a rock uphill, only to have it roll back down just before it reached the top. The Danaides were condemned to pour water into leaky vessels. 4. I have a confused notion, that this expression, with nearly the same application, is to be found in [Edward] Young: but I cannot refer to it [Smith's note; the quotation has never been identified],
5. Catholic clergymen, banished from France by the revolutionists.
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THE EMIGRANTS / 45
From Bigotry (the Tut'ress of the blind), Thro' the wide World unshelter'd; their sole hope, That German spoilers, thro' that pleasant land
105 May carry wide the desolating scourge Of War and Vengeance;6 yet unhappy Men, Whate'er your errors, I lament your fate: And, as disconsolate and sad ye hang Upon the barrier of the rock, and seem
110 " To murmur your despondence, waiting long Some fortunate reverse that never comes; Methinks in each expressive face, I see Discriminated0 anguish; there droops one, distinct, marked Who in a moping cloister long consum'd
115 This life inactive, to obtain a better, And thought that meagre abstinence, to wake From his hard pallet with the midnight bell, To live on eleemosynary bread,0 alms And to renounce God's works, would please that God.
120 And now the poor pale wretch receives, amaz'd, The pity, strangers give to his distress, Because these strangers are, by his dark creed, Condemn'd as Heretics�and with sick heart Regrets0 his pious prison, and his beads.7� recalls with regret
125 Another, of more haughty port, declines The aid he needs not; while in mute despair His high indignant thoughts go back to France, Dwelling on all he lost�the Gothic dome, That vied with splendid palaces;8 the beds
130 Of silk and down, the silver chalices, Vestments with gold enwrought for blazing altars; Where, amid clouds of incense, he held forth To kneeling crowds the imaginary bones Of Saints suppos'd, in pearl and gold enchas'd,0 decoratively set
135 And still with more than living Monarchs' pomp Surrounded; was believ'd by mumbling bigots To hold the keys of Heaven, and to admit Whom he thought good to share it.�Now alas! He, to whose daring soul and high ambition
140 The World seem'd circumscrib'd; who, wont to dream Of Fleuri, Richelieu, Alberoni,9 men Who trod on Empire, and whose politics Were not beyond the grasp of his vast mind, Is, in a Land once hostile, still prophan'd
6. An Austro-Prussian army invaded France in August 1792 but was driven back. 7. Lest the same attempts at misrepresentation should now be made, as have been made on former occasions, it is necessary to repeat, that nothing is farther from my thoughts, than to reflect invidiously on the Emigrant clergy, whose steadiness of principle excites veneration, as much as their sufferings compassion. Adversity has now taught them the charity and humility they perhaps wanted, when they made it a part of their faith, that salvation could be obtained in no other religion than their own [Smith's note].
8. Let it not be considered as an insult to men in fallen fortune, if these luxuries (undoubtedly inconsistent with their profession) be here enumerated.� France is not the only country, where the splendour and indulgences of the higher, and the poverty and depression of the inferior Clergy, have alike proved injurious to the cause of Religion [Smith's note]. 9. Three cardinals who held important political offices.
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46 / CHARLOTTE SMITH
145 By disbelief, and rites un-orthodox, The object of compassion.�At his side, Lighter of heart than these, but heavier far Than he was wont, another victim comes, An Abbe�who with less contracted brow
150 Still smiles and flatters, and still talks of Hope; Which, sanguine as he is, he does not feel, And so he cheats the sad and weighty pressure Of evils present;�Still, as Men misled By early prejudice (so hard to break),
155 I mourn your sorrows; for I too have known Involuntary exile; and while yet England had charms for me, have felt how sad It is to look across the dim cold sea,
That melancholy rolls its refluent0 tides ebbing
160 Between us and the dear regretted land We call our own�as now ye pensive wait On this bleak morning, gazing on the waves That seem to leave your shore; from whence the wind Is loaded to your ears, with the deep groans
165 Of martyr'd Saints and suffering Royalty, While to your eyes the avenging power of Heaven Appears in aweful anger to prepare The storm of vengeance, fraught with plagues and death. Even he of milder heart, who was indeed
170 The simple shepherd in a rustic scene, And,'mid the vine-clad hills of Languedoc, Taught to the bare-foot peasant, whose hard hands Produc'd1 the nectar he could seldom taste, Submission to the Lord for whom he toil'd;
175 He, or his brethren, who to Neustria's sons0 the men of Normandy Enforc'd religious patience, when, at times, On their indignant hearts Power's iron hand Too strongly struck; eliciting some sparks Of the bold spirit of their native North;
180 Even these Parochial Priests, these humbled men, Whose lowly undistinguish'd cottages Witness'd a life of purest piety, While the meek tenants were, perhaps, unknown Each to the haughty Lord of his domain,
185 Who mark'd them not; the Noble scorning still The poor and pious Priest, as with slow pace He glided thro' the dim arch'd avenue Which to the Castle led; hoping to cheer The last sad hour of some laborious life
190 That hasten'd to its close�even such a Man Becomes an exile; staying not to try By temperate zeal to check his madd'ning flock,
1. See the finely descriptive Verses written at Montauban in France in 1750, by Dr. Joseph War- ton. Printed in Dodsley's Miscellanies, Vol. IV, page 203 [Smith's note; the lines begin, "Tarn, how delightful wind thy willow'd waves, / But ah! they fructify a land of slaves! / In vain thy barefoot, sunburnt peasants hide / With luscious grapes yon hill's romantic side; / No cups nectareous shall their toils repay . . ."]. Languedoc is in southern France, just above the Pyrenees.
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BEACHY HEAD / 47
Who, at the novel sound of Liberty (Ah! most intoxicating sound to slaves!),
195 Start into licence.�Lo! dejected now, The wandering Pastor mourns, with bleeding heart, His erring people, weeps and prays for them, And trembles for the account that he must give To Heaven for souls entrusted to his care.�