[Page 26]

WOODSPRING ABBEY, 1836.
14 Three mailed men, in Canterbury Cathedral, rushed on the Archbishop of Canterbury, and murdered him before the altar. Conscience-stricken, they fled and built Woodspring Abbey, in the remote corner of Somersetshire, near Western Super Mare, where the land looks on the Atlantic sea. There are three unknown graves on the Flat Holms.

1 These walls were built by men who did a deed
2 Of blood: terrific conscience, day by day,
3 Followed, where'er their shadow seemed to stay,
4 And still in thought they saw their victim bleed,
5 Before God's altar shrieking: pangs succeed,
6 As dire upon their heart the deep sin lay,
7 No tears of agony could wash away:
8 Hence! to the land's remotest limit, speed!
9 These walls are raised in vain, as vainly flows
10 Contrition's tear: Earth, hide them, and thou, Sea,
11 Which round the lone isle, where their bones repose,
12 Dost sound for ever, their sad requiem be,
13 In fancy's ear, at pensive evening's close,
14 Still[ murmuring] Miserere, Domine.

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Title (in Source Edition): WOODSPRING ABBEY, 1836.
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Bowles, William Lisle, 1762-1850. The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. I. With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan. Edinburgh: James Nichol, 9 North Bank Street..., 1855, p. 26.  (Page images digitized from a copy held at the University of California Libraries.)

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