ETHELGAR, A SAXON POEM. Thomas Chatterton Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
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Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T39457 K039720.000 Chatterton, Thomas, 1752-1770. Miscellanies in Prose and Verse; by Thomas Chatterton, the supposed author of the poems published under the names of Rowley, Canning, &c. London printed for Fielding and Walker, Pater-Noster Row, MDCCLXXVIII. 1778 pp. 5-10. xxxii,245,[3]p.,plates; 8⁰.

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ETHELGAR , A SAXON POEM .

'TIS not for thee , O man ! to murmur at the will of the Almighty . When the thunders roar , the lightnings shine on the rising waves , and the black clouds sit on the brow of the lofty hill ; who then protects the flying deer , swift as a sable cloud , tost by the whistling winds , leaping over the rolling floods , to gain the hoary wood : whilst the lightnings shine on his chest , and the wind rides over his horns ? When the wolf roars ; terrible as the voice of the Severn ; moving majestic as the nodding forests on the brow of Michel-stow ; who then commands the sheep to follow the swain , as the beams of light attend upon the morning ? — Know , O man ! That God suffers not the least member of his work to perish , without answering the purpose of their creation . The evils of life , with some , are blessings : and the plant of death healeth the wound of the sword . — Doth the sea of trouble and affliction overwhelm thy soul , look unto the Lord , thou shalt stand firm in the days of temptation , as the lofty hill of Kinwulf ; in vain shall the waves beat against thee ; thy rock shall stand .

Comely as the white rocks ; bright as the star of the evening ; tall as the oak upon the brow of the mountain ; soft as the showers of dew , that fall upon the flowers of the field , Ethelgar arose , the glory of Exeter . Exanceastre : noble were his ancestors , as the palace of the great Kenric ; his soul , with the lark , every morning ascended the skies ; and sported in the clouds : when stealing down the steep mountain , wrapt in a shower of spangling dew , evening came creeping to the plain , closing the flowers of the day , shaking her pearly showers upon the rustling trees ; then was his voice heard in the grove , as the voice of the nightingale upon the hawthorn spray ; he sung the works of the Lord ; the hollow rocks joined in his devotions ; the stars danced to his song ; the rolling years , in various mantles drest , confest him man . — He saw Egwina of the vale ; his soul was astonished , as the Britons who fled before the sword of Kenric ; she was tall as the towering elm ; stately as a black cloud bursting into thunder ; fair as the wrought bowels of the earth ; gentle and sweet as the morning breeze ; beauteous as the sun ; blushing like the vines of the west ; her soul as fair as the azure curtain of heaven . She saw Ethelgar ; her soft soul melted as the flying snow before the sun . The shrine of St. Cuthbert united them . The minutes fled on the golden wings of bliss . Nine horned moons had decked the sky , when Aelgar saw the light ; he was like a young plant upon the mountain's side , or the sun hid in a cloud ; he felt the strength of his fire ; and , swift as the lightnings of Heaven , pursued the wild boar of the wood . The morn awoke the sun ; who , stepping from the mountain's brow , shook his ruddy locks upon the shining dew ; Aelgar arose from sleep ; he seized his sword and spear , and issued to the chace . As waters swiftly falling down a craggy rock , so raged young Aelgar thro' the wood ; the wild boar bit his spear , and the fox died at his feet . From the thicket a wolf arose , his eyes flaming like two stars ; he roared like the voice of the tempest ; hunger made him furious , and and he fled like a falling meteor to the war . Like a thunderbolt tearing the black rock , Aelgar darted his spear through his heart . The wolf raged like the voice of many waters , and seizing Aelgar by by the throat , he sought the regions of the blessed . — The wolf died upon his body . — Ethelgar and Egwina wept . — They wept like the rains of the spring ; sorrow sat upon them as the black clouds upon the mountains of death : but the power of God settled their hearts .

The golden sun arose to the highest of his power ; the apple perfumed the gale ; and the juicy grape delighted the eye . Ethelgar and Egwina bent their way to the mountain's side , like two stars that move through the sky . The flowers grew beneath their feet ; the trees spread out their leaves ; the sun played upon the rolling brook ; the winds gently passed along . Dark , pitchy clouds veiled the face of the sun ; the winds roared like the noise of a battle ; the swift hail descended to the ground ; the lightnings broke from the sable clouds , and gilded the dark brown corners of the sky ; the thunder shook the lofty mountains ; the tall towers nodded to their foundations ; the bending oaks divided the whistling wind ; the broken flowers fled in confusion round the mountain's side . Ethelgar and Egwina sought the sacred shade , the bleak winds roared over their heads , and the waters ran over their feet . Swift from the dark cloud the lightning came ; the skies blushed at the sight . Egwina stood on the brow of the lofty hill , like an oak in the spring ; the lightnings danced about her garments , and the blasting flame blackened her face : the shades of death swam before her eyes ; and she fell breathless down the black steep rock : the sea received her body , and she rolled down with the roaring water .

Ethelgar stood terrible as the mountain of Maindip ; the waves of despair harrowed up his soul , as the roaring Severn plows the sable sand ; wild as the evening wolf , his eyes shone like the red vapors in the valley of the dead : horror sat upon his brow ; like a bright star shooting through the sky , he plunged from the lofty brow of the hill , like a tall oak breaking from the roaring wind . Saint Cuthbert appeared in the air ; the black clouds fled from the sky ; the sun gilded the spangling meadows ; the lofty pine stood still ; the violets of the vale gently moved to the soft voice of the wind ; the sun shone on the bubbling brook . The saint , arrayed in glory , caught the falling mortal ; as the soft dew of the morning hangs upon the lofty elm , he bore him to the sandy beech , whilst the sea roared beneath his feet . Ethelgar opened his eyes , like the grey orbs of the morning , folding up the black mantles of the night — Know , O man ! said the member of the blessed , to submit to the will of God ; he is terrible as the face of the earth , when the waters sunk to their habitations ; gentle as the sacred covering of the oak ; secret as the bottom of the great deep ; just as the rays of the morning . Learn that thou art a man , nor repine at the stroke of the Almighty , for God is as just as he is great . The holy vision disappeared as the atoms fly before the sun . Ethelgar arose , and bent his way to the college of Kenewalein ; there he flourishes as a hoary oak in the wood of Arden .

D. B. Bristol , March 4 , 1769 .