to every onward step in that progress of liberal reform and social improvement which is the great distinguishing characteristic of the age. In fact, we are by no means certain but that, as a general rule, the opposition of the Quarterly ought to suffice to recommend any proposed measure of reform to most readers on this side of the Atlantic. And if we needed any other sign than those already abounding, of the early advent of the day which, even in England as well as in our own country, is to witness the ignominious destruction of the last gallows, by the hands of the last hangman, we should read it in the fact of the London Quarterly finding it necessary to come out in formal protest against so un-Tory an aspiration.
But we regret profoundly that Wordsworth should have lent the aid of his genius and his moral influence to promote this unholy purpose. From the strongly conservative cast of his mind and political opinions, it might indeed have been too much to expect his advocacy of an innovation upon the "mos majorum," the "custom of our ancestors," seemingly so bold and strong as the total abolition of Capital Punishment, even for the crime of murder. Yet to behold him take down the sacred lyre, and attune its chords to the harsh creaking of the scaffold and the clanking of the victim's chains, seems almost a profanation and a sacrilege-as though a harp of heaven were transported from its proper sphere and its congenial themes, to be struck by some impious hand to the foul and hideous harmonies of hell.
Before proceeding to any remarks upon them, we give the entire series of the Sonnets themselves, gathering them together from the pages of the work to which we have referred:
"This spot-at once unfolding sight so fair
Of sea and land, with yon gray towers that still
Rise up as if to lord it over air-
Might soothe in human breasts the sense of ill,
Or charm it out of memory; yea, might fill
The heart with joy and gratitude to God
For all his bounties upon man bestowed;
Why bears it then the name of Weeping Hill?'
Thousands, as toward yon old Lancastrian towers,
A prison's crown, along this way they passed
For lingering durance or quick death with shame,
From this bare eminence thereon have cast
Their first look-blinded, as tears fell in showers
Shed on their chains; and hence that doleful name."
VOL. X., No. XLV.—35
"Tenderly do we feel by Nature's law
For worst offenders: though the heart will heave
With indignation, deeply moved we grieve
In after-thought for him who stood in awe
Neither of God nor man, and only saw,
Lost wretch! a horrible device enthroned
On proud temptations, till the victim groaned
Under the steel his hand had dared to draw.
But oh! restrain compassion, if its course,
As oft befalls, prevent or turn aside
Judgments and aims and acts whose higher source
Is sympathy with the unforewarned that died
Blameless-with them who shuddered o'er his grave—
And all who from the Law firm safety crave."
"The Roman Consul doomed his sons to die
Who had betrayed their country. The stern Word
Afforded (may it through all time afford !)
A theme for praise and admiration high.
Upon the surface of humanity
He rested not, its depths his mind explored;
He felt; but his parental bosom's Lord
Was duty,-Duty calmed his agony.
And some, we know, when they by wilful act
A single human life have wrongly taken,
Pass sentence on themselves, confess the fact,
And to atone for it, with soul unshaken
Kneel at the feet of Justice, and for faith
Broken with all mankind solicit Death."
"Is Death, when evil against good has fought
With such fell mastery that a Man could dare
By deeds the blackest purpose to lay bare,-
Is Death, for One to that condition brought,
For him or any One, the thing that ought
To be most dreaded? Lawgivers! beware
Lest capital pains remitting till ye spare
The Murderer, ye, by sanction to that thought
Seemingly given, debase the general mind;
Tempt the vague will tried standards to disown;
Nor only palpable restraints unbind,
But upon Honor's head disturb the crown,
Whose absolute rule permits not to withstand
In the weak love of life his least command."
"Not to the object specially designed, Howe'er momentous in itself it be, Good to promote or curb depravity,
Is the wise Legislator's view confined.
His Spirit, when most severe, is oft most kind:
As all authority in earth depends
On Love and Fear, their several powers he blends,
Copying with awe the one Paternal Mind.
Uncaught by processes in show humane,
He feels how far the act would derogate
From even the humblest functions of the State,
If she, self-shorn of Majesty, ordain
That never more shall hang upon her breath
The last alternative of Life or Death."
"Ye brood of conscience, Spectres! that frequent
The bad Man's restless walk and haunt his bed,
Fiends in your aspect, yet beneficent
In act as hovering Angels when they spread
Their wings to guard the unconscious Innocent,
Slow be the statutes of the land to share
A laxity that could not but impair
Your power to punish crime, and so prevent.
And ye, Beliefs! coiled serpent-like about
The adage on all tongues, Murder will out,
How shall your ancient warnings work for good
In the full might they hitherto have shown,
If for deliberate Shedder of Man's blood
Survive not Judgment that requires his own?"
"Before the world had passed her time of youth,
While polity and discipline were weak,
The precept, Eye for eye and tooth for tooth,
Came forth-a light, though but as of day-break,
Strong as could then be borne. A Master meek
Proscribed the spirit fostered by that rule,
Patience his law, long-suffering his school,
And Love the end, which all through peace must seek.
But lamentably do they err who strain
His mandates, given rash impulse to control,
And keep vindictive thirstings from the soul,
So far that, if consistent in their scheme,
They must forbid the State to inflict a pain,
Making of social order a mere dream."
"Fit retribution by the moral code
Determined, lies beyond the State's embrace :
Yet, as she may for each peculiar case,
She plants well-measured terrors in the road
Of wrongful acts. Downward it is and broad,
And the main fear once doomed to banishment,
Far oftener then, bad ushering worse event,
Blood would be spilt, that in his dark abode
Crime might lie better hid. And should the change
Take from the horror due to a foul deed,
Pursuit and evidence so far must fail,
And Guilt escaping, Passion then might plead
In angry spirits for her old free range,
And the wild justice of Revenge' prevail."
"Though to give timely warning and deter
Is one great aim of penalty, extend
Thy mental vision farther, and ascend
Far higher, else full surely shalt thou err.
What is a State? The wise behold in her
A creature born of Time, that keeps one eye
Fixed on the statutes of Eternity,
To which her judgments reverently defer:
Speaking through Law's dispassionate voice, the State
Indues her conscience with external life
And being-to preclude or quell the strife
Of individual will, to elevate
The grovelling mind, the erring to recall,
And fortify the moral sense of all.”
"Our bodily life, some plead, that life the shrine
Of an immortal spirit, is a gift
So sacred, so informed with light divine,
That no tribunal, though most wise to sift
Deed and intent, should turn the being adrift
Into that world where penitential tear
May not avail, nor prayer have for God's ear
A voice that world whose veil no hand can lift
For earthly sight. Eternity and time,'
They urge, have interwoven claims and rights,
Not to be jeopardized through foulest crime:
The sentence rule by mercy's heaven-born lights
Even so; but measuring not by finite sense
Infinite Power, perfect Intelligence."
"Ah, think how one compelled for life to abide Locked in a dungeon, needs must eat the heart
Out of his own humanity, and part
With every hope that mutual cares provide;
And should a less unnatural doom confide
In life-long exile on a savage coast,
Soon the relapsing penitent may boast
Of yet more heinous guilt, with fiercer pride.
Hence thoughtful mercy, mercy sage and pure,
Sanctions the forfeiture that law demands,
Leaving the final issue in His hands,
Whose goodness knows no change, whose love is sure,
Who sees, foresees; who cannot judge amiss;
And wafts at will the contrite soul to bliss."
"See the condemned alone within his cell,
And prostrate at some moment when remorse
Stings to the quick, and with resistless force
Assaults the pride she strove in vain to quell.
Then mark him, him who could so long rebel,
The crime confessed, a kneeling penitent
Before the altar, where the sacrament
Softens his heart, till from his eyes outwell
Tears of salvation. Welcome death! while Heaven
Does in this change exceedingly rejoice;
While yet the solemn heed the State hath given
Helps him to meet the last tribunal's voice
In faith, which fresh offences, were he cast
On old temptations, might for ever blast."
"Yes, though he well may tremble at the sound
Of his own voice, who from the judgment-seat
Sends the pale convict to his last retreat
In death; though listeners shudder all around,
They know the dread requital's source profound;
Nor is, they feel, its wisdom obsolete-
Would that it were !-the sacrifice unmeet
For Christian faith. But hopeful signs abound:
The social rights of man breathe purer air;
Religion deepens her preventive care :
Then, moved by needless fear of past abuse,
Strike not from law's firm hand that awful rod,
But leave it thence to drop for lack of use.
O speed the blessed hour, Almighty God!"
"The formal world relaxes her cold chain
For one who speaks in numbers; ampler scope
His utterance finds; and conscious of the gain,
Imagination works with bolder hope,
The cause of grateful Reason to sustain ;
And, serving Truth, his heart most strongly beats
Against all barriers which his labor meets
In lofty place, or humble life's domain,
Enough;-before us lay a painful road,
And guidance have I sought in duteous love
From Wisdom's heavenly Father; hence hath flowed
Patience, with trust that, whatsoe'er the way
Each takes in this high matter, all may move
Cheered with the prospect of a brighter day."
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