KING SIGEBERT OF ESSEX, OR A FRIEND AT NEED.

‘ At last resolve, my brother, and my friend!

Fling from you, as I fling this cloak, your Gods,

And cleave to Him, the Eternal, One and Sole,

The All-Wise, All-Righteous and Illimitable,

Who made us, and will judge.’ Thus Oswy spake

To Sigebert, his friend, of Essex King,

Essex once Christian. Royal Sebert dead,

The Church of God had sorrow by the Thames:

Three Pagan brothers in his place held sway:

They warred upon God's people; for which cause

God warred on them, and by the Wessex sword

In one day hewed them down. King Sigebert,

Throned in their place, to Oswy thus replied:

‘ O friend, I saw the Truth, yet saw it not!

‘ Twas like the light forth flashed from distant oar,

Now vivid, vanished now. Not less, methinks,

Thy Christ ere now had won me save for this;

I feared that in my bosom love for thee,

Not Truth alone, prevailed. I left thy court;

I counselled with my wisest; by degrees,

Though grieving thus to outrage loyal hearts,

Reached my resolve: henceforth I serve thy God:

My kingdom may renounce me if it will.’

Then came the Bishop old, and nigh that Wall

Which spans the northern land from sea to sea

Baptized him to the God Triune. At night

The King addressed him thus:‘ My task is hard;

Yield me four priests of thine from Holy Isle

To shape my courses.’ Finan gazed around

And made election — Cedd and others three;

He consecrated Cedd with staff and ring;

And by the morning's sunrise Sigebert

Rode with them, face to south.

The Spring, long checked,

Fell, like God's Grace, or fire, or flood, at once

O'er all the land: it swathed the hills in green;

It fringed with violets cleft and rock; illumed

The stream with primrose tufts: but mightier far

That Spring which triumphed in the monarch's breast,

All doubt dispelled. That smile which knew not cause

Looked like his angel's mirrored on his face:

At times he seemed with utter gladness dazed;

At times he laughed aloud.‘ Father,’ he cried,

‘ That darkness from my spirit is raised at last:

Ah fool! ah fool! to wait for proof so long!

Unseal thine eyes, and all things speak of God:

The snows on yonder thorn His pureness show;

Yon golden iris bank His love. But now

I marked a child that by its father ran:

Some mystery they seemed of love in heaven

Imaged in earthly love.‘ With sad, sweet smile

The old man answered:‘ Pain there is on earth —

Bereavement, sickness, death.’ The King replied:

‘ It was by suffering, not by deed, or word,

God's Son redeemed mankind.’ Then answered Cedd:

‘ God hath thee in His net; and well art thou!

That Truth thou seest this day, and feelest, live!

So shall it live within thee. If, more late,

Rebuke should come, or age, remember then

This day-spring of thy strength, and answer thus,

“With me God feasted in my day of youth:

So feast He now with others! "’

Years went by,

And Cedd in work and word was mighty still,

And throve with God. The strong East Saxon race

Grew gentle in his presence: they were brave,

And faith is courage in the things divine,

Courage with meekness blent. The heroic heart

Beats to the spiritual cognate, paltering not

Fraudulent with truth once known. Like winds from God

God's message on them fell. Old bonds of sin,

Snapt by the vastness of the growing soul,

Burst of themselves; and in the heart late bound

Virtue had room to breathe. As when that Voice

Primeval o'er the formless chaos rolled,

And, straight, confusions ceased, the greater orb

Ruling the day, the lesser, night; even so,

Born of that Bethlehem Mystery, order lived:

Divine commandments fixed a firmament

Betwixt man's lower instincts and his mind:

From unsuspected summits of his spirit

The morning shone. The nation with the man

Partook the joy: from duty freedom flowed;

And there where tribes had roved a people lived.

A pathos of strange beauty hung thenceforth

O'er humblest hamlet: he who passed it prayed

‘ May never sword come here!’ Bishop and King

Together laboured: well that Bishop's love

Repaid that royal zeal. If random speech

Censured the King, though justly, sudden red

Circling the old man's silver-tressèd brow

Showed, though he spake not, that in saintly breast

The human heart lived on.

In Ithancester

He dwelt, and toiled: not less to Lindisfarne,

His ancient home, in spirit oft he yearned,

Longing for converse with his God alone;

And made retreat there often, not to shun

Labour allotted, but to draw from heaven

Strength for his task. One year, returning thence,

Dëira's King addressed him as they rode:

‘ My father, choose the richest of my lands

And build thereon a holy monastery;

So shall my realm be blessed, and I, and mine.’

He answered:‘ Son, no wealthy lands for us!

Spake not the prophet: “There where dragons roamed,

In later days the grass shall grow — the reed”?

I choose those rocky hills that, on our left,

Drag down the skiey waters to the woods:

Such loved I from my youth: to me they said,

“Bandits this hour usurp our heights, and beasts

Cumber our caves: expel the seed accurst,

And yield us back to God! "’

The King gave ear;

And Cedd within those mountains passed his Lent,

Driving with prayer and fast the spirits accurst

With ignominy forth. Foundations next

He laid with sacred pomp. Fair rose the walls:

All day the March sea blew its thunder blasts

Through wide-mouthed trumpets of ravine or rift

On winding far to where in wooden cell

The old man prayed, while o'er him rushed the cloud

Storm-borne from crag to crag. Serener breeze,

With alternation soft in Nature's course,

Following ere long, great Easter's harbinger,

Thus spake he:‘ I must keep the Feast at home;

My children there expect me.’ Parting thence,

He left his brothers three to consummate

His work begun, Celin, and Cynabil,

And Chad, at Lichfield Bishop ere he died.

Thus Lastingham had birth.

Beside the Thames

Meantime dark deeds were done. There dwelt two thanes,

The kinsmen of the King, his friends in youth,

Of meanest friend unworthy. Far and wide

They ravined, and the laws of God and man

Despised alike. Three times, in days gone by,

A warning hand their Bishop o'er them raised;

The fourth like bolt from heaven on them it fell,

And clave them from God's Church. They heeded not;

And now the elder kept his birthday feast,

Summoning his friends around him, first the King.

Doubtful and sad, the o'er-gentle monarch mused:

‘ To feast with sinners is to sanction sin,

A deed abhorred; the alternative is hard:

Must then their sovereign shame with open scorn

Kinsman and friend? I think they mourn the past,

And, were our Bishop here, would pardon sue.’

Boding, yet self-deceived, he joined that feast:

Thereat he saw scant sign of penitence:

Ere long he bade farewell.

That self-same hour

Cedd from his northern pilgrimage returned;

The monarch met him at the offenders’ gate,

And, instant when he saw that reverend face,

His sin before him stood. Down from his horse

Leaping, he told him all, and penance prayed.

Long time the old man on that royal front

Fixed a sad eye.‘ Thy sin was great, my son,

Shaming thy God to spare a sinner's shame:

That sin thy God forgives, and I remit:

But those whom God forgives He chastens oft:

My son, I see a sign upon thy brow!

Ere yonder lessening moon completes her wane

Behold, the blood-stained hand late clasped in thine

Shall drag thee to thy death.’ The King replied:

‘ A Sigebert there lived, East Anglia's King,

Whose death was glorious to his realm. May mine,

Dark and inglorious, strengthen hearts infirm,

And profit thus my land.’

A time it was

When Christian mercy, judged by Pagan hearts,

Not virtue seemed but sin. That sin's reproach

The King had long sustained. Ere long it chanced

That, near the stronghold of that impious feast,

A vanquished rebel, long in forests hid,

Drew near, and knelt to Sigebert for grace,

And won his suit. The monarch's kinsmen twain,

Those men of blood, forth-gazing from a tower,

Saw all; heard all. Upon them fury fell,

As when through cloudless skies there comes a blast

From site unknown, that, instant, finds its prey,

Circling some white-sailed bark, or towering tree,

And, with a touch, down-wrenching; all things else

Unharmed, though near. They snatched their daggers up,

And rushed upon their prey, and, shouting thus,

‘ White-livered slave, that mak'st thy throne a jest,

And mock'st great Odin's self, and us, thy kin,

To please thy shaveling,’ struck him through the heart;

Then, spurring through the woodlands to the sea,

Were never heard of more.

Throughout the land

Lament was made; lament in every house,

As though in each its eldest-born lay dead;

Lament far off and near. The others wept:

Cedd, in long vigils of the lonely night,

Not wept alone, but lifted strength of prayer

And, morn by morn, that Sacrifice Eterne,

Mightier tenfold in impetrative power

Than prayers of all man's race, from Adam's first

To his who latest on the Judgment Day

Shall raise his hands to God. Four years went by:

That mourner's wound they staunched not. Oft in sleep

He murmured low,‘ Would I had died for thee!’

And once, half-waked by rush of morning rains,

‘ Why saw I on his brow that fatal sign?—

He might have lived till now!’ Within his heart

At last there rose a cry,‘ To Lastingham!

Pray with thy brothers three, for saints are they:

So shall thy friend, who resteth in the Lord

With perfect will submiss, the waiting passed,

Gaze on God's Vision with an eye unscaled,

In glory everlasting.’ At that thought

Peace on the old man settled. Staff in hand

Forth on his way he fared. Nor horse he rode

Nor sandals wore. He walked with feet that bled,

Paying, well pleased, that penance for his King;

And murmured ofttimes,‘ Not my blood alone!—

Nay, but my life, my life!’

Yet penance pain,

Like pain of suffering Souls at peace with God,

Quelled not that gladness which, from secret source

Rising, o'erflowed his heart. Old times returned:

Once more beside him rode his King in youth

Southward to where his realm — his duty — lay,

Exulting captive of the Saviour Lord,

With face love-lit. As then, the vernal prime

Hourly with ampler respiration drew

Delight of purer green from balmier airs:

As then the sunshine glittered. By their path

Now hung the woodbine; now the hare-bell waved;

Rivulets new-swoll'n by melted snows, and birds

‘ Mid echoing boughs with rival rapture sang:

At times the monks forgat their Christian hymns,

By humbler anthems charmed. They gladdened more

Beholding oft in cottage doors cross-crowned

Angelic faces, or in lonely ways;

Once as they passed there stood a little maid,

Some ten years old, alone‘ mid lonely pines,

With violets crowned and primrose. Who were those,

The forest's white-robed guests, she nothing knew;

Not less she knelt. With hand uplifted Cedd

Signed her his blessing. Hand she kissed in turn;

Then waved, yet ceased not from her song,‘ Alone

‘ Two lovers sat at sunset.’

Every eve

Some village gave the wanderers food and rest,

Or half-built convent with its church thick-walled

And polished shafts, great names in after times,

Ely, and Croyland, Southwell, Medeshamstede,

Adding to sylvan sweetness holier grace,

Or rising lonely o'er morass and mere

With bowery thickets isled, where dogwood brake

Retained, though late, its red. To Boston near,

Where Ouse, and Aire, and Derwent join with Trent,

And salt sea waters mingle with the fresh,

They met a band of youths that o'er the sands

Advanced with psalm, cross-led. The monks rejoiced,

Save one from Ireland — Dicul. He, quick-eared,

Had caught that morn a war-cry on the wind,

And, sideway glancing from his Office-book,

Descried the cause. From Mercia's realm a host

Had crossed Northumbria's bound. His thin, worn face

O'er-flamed with sudden anger, thus he cried:

‘ In this, your land, men say, “Who worketh prays;”

In mine we say, “Well prays who fighteth well:”

A Pagan race treads down your homesteads! Slaves,

That close not with their throats!’

Advancing thus,

On the tenth eve they came to Lastingham:

Forth rushed the brethren, watching long far off,

To meet them, first the brothers three of Cedd,

Who kissed him, cheek and mouth. Gladly that night

Those foot-worn travellers laid them down, and slept,

Save one alone. Old Cedd his vigil made,

And, kneeling by the tabernacle's lamp,

Prayed for the man he mourned for, ending thus:

‘ Thou Lord of Souls, to Thee the Souls are dear!

Thou yearn'st toward them as they yearn to Thee;

Behold, not prayer alone for him I raise:

I offer Thee my life.’ When morning's light

In that great church commingled with its gloom,

The monks, slow-pacing, by that kneeler knelt,

And prayed for Sigebert, beloved of God;

And lastly offered Mass: and it befell

That when, the Offering offered, and the Dead

Rightly remembered, he who sang that Mass

Had reached the‘ Nobis quoque famulis,’

There came to Cedd an answer from the Lord

Heard in his heart; and he beheld his King

Throned‘ mid the Saints Elect of God who keep

Perpetual triumph, and behold that Face

Which to its likeness hourly more compels

Those faces t'ward It turned. That function o'er,

Thus spake the Bishop:‘ Brethren, sing “Te Deum;"’

They sang it; while within him he replied,

‘ Lord, let Thy servant now depart in peace.’

A week went by with gladness winged and prayer.

In wonder Cedd beheld those structures new

From small beginnings reared, though many a gift,

Sent for that work's behoof, had fed the poor

In famine time laid low. Moorlands he saw

By cornfields vanquished; marked the all-beauteous siege

Of pasture yearly threatening loftier crags

Loud with the bleat of lambs. Their shepherd once

Had roved a bandit; next had toiled a slave;

Now with both hands he poured his weekly wage

Down on his young wife's lap, his pretty babes

Gambolling around for joy. A hospital

Stood by the convent's gate. With moistened eye,

Musing on Him Who suffers in His sick,

The Bishop paced it. There he found his death:

That year a plague had wasted all the land:

It reached him. Late that night he said,‘'Tis well!’

In three days more he lay with hands death cold

Crossed on a peaceful breast.

Like winter cloud

Borne through dark air, that portent feared of man,

Ill tidings, making way with mystic speed,

Shadowed ere long the troubled bank of Thames,

And spread a wailing round its Minsters twain,

Saint Peter's and Saint Paul's. Saint Alban's caught

That cry, and northward echoed. Southward soon

Forlorn it rang‘ mid towers of Rochester;

Then seaward died. But in that convent pile,

Wherein so long the Saint had made abode,

A different grief there lived, a deeper grief,

That grief which part hath none in sobs or tears —

Which needs must act. There thirty monks arose,

And, taking each his staff, made vow thenceforth

To serve God's altar where their father died,

Or share his grave. Through Ithancestor's gate

As forth they paced between two kneeling crowds,

A little homeless boy, who heard their dirge

( Late orphaned, at its grief he marvelled not ),

So loved them that he followed, shorter steps

Doubling‘ gainst theirs. At first the orphan went

That mood relaxed: before them now he ran

To pluck a flower; as oft he lagged behind,

The wild bird's song so aptly imitating

That, by his music drawn, or by his looks,

That bird at times forgat her fears, and perched

Pleased on his arm. As flower and bird to him

Such to those monks the child. Better each day

He loved them; yet, revering, still he mocked,

And though he mocked, he kissed. The westering sun

On the eighth eve from towers of Lastingham

Welcomed those strangers. In another hour,

Well-nigh arrived, they saw that grave they sought

Sole on the church's northern slope. As when,

Some father, absent long, returns at last,

His children rush loud-voiced from field to house,

And cling about his knees; and they that mark —

Old reaper, bent no more, with hook in hand,

Or ploughman, leaning‘ gainst the old blind horse —

Beholding wonder not; so to that grave

Rushed they; so clung. Around that grave ere long

Their own were ranged. That plague which smote the sire

Spared not his sons. With ministering hand

From pallet still to pallet passed the boy,

Now from the dark spring wafting colder draught,

Now moistening fevered lips, or on the brow

Spreading the new-bathed cincture. Him alone

The infection reached not. When the last was gone

He felt as though the earth, man's race — yea, God

Himself — were dead. Around he gazed, and spake,

‘ Why then do I remain?’

From hill to hill

( The monks on reverend offices intent )

All solitary oft that boy repaired,

From each in turn forth gazing, fain to learn

If friend were t'wards him nighing. Many a hearth

More late, bereavement's earlier anguish healed,

Welcomed the creature: many a mother held

The milk-bowl to his mouth, in both hands stayed,

With smile the deeper for the draught prolonged,

And lodged, as he departed, in his hand

Her latest crust. With children of his age

Seldom he played. That convent gave him rest;

Nor lost he aught, surviving thus his friends,

Since childhood's sacred innocence he kept,

While life remained, unspotted. When mature

Five years he lived there monk, and reverence drew

To that high convent through his saintly ways;

Then died. Within that cirque of thirty graves

They laid him, close to Cedd. In later years,

Because they ne'er could learn his name or race,

Nor yet forget his gentle looks, the name

Of Deodatus graved they on his tomb.