March, 1832

Composed 1832.--Published 1832

One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty and Order."--ED.

Reluctant call it was; the rite delayed; And in the Senate some there were who doffed The last of their humanity, and scoffed At providential judgments, undismayed By their own daring. But the People prayed As with one voice; their flinty heart grew soft With penitential sorrow, and aloft Their spirit mounted, crying, "God us aid!" Oh that with aspirations more intense, Chastised by self-abasement more profound, This People, once so happy, so renowned For liberty, would seek from God defence Against far heavier ill, the pestilence Of revolution, impiously unbound!