And, if there be whom broken ties Yon hazy ridges to their eyes To stop-no record hath told where ! 41 50 Wings at my shoulders seem to play; But, rooted here, I stand and gaze On those bright steps that heavenward raise Their practicable way. Come forth, ye drooping old men, look abroad, And see to what fair countries ye are bound! Ye Genii! to his covert speed; IV Such hues from their celestial Urn Were wont to stream before mine eye, Where'er it wandered in the morn Of blissful infancy. This glimpse of glory, why renewed? Nay, rather speak with gratitude; 60 RITTEN UPON A BLANK LEAF N "THE COMPLETE ANGLER" 1819. 1819 HILE flowing rivers yield a blameless sport, all live the name of Walton: Sage benign! hose pen, the mysteries of the rod and line nfolding, did not fruitlessly exhort reverend watching of each still report hat Nature utters from her rural shrine. Leek, nobly versed in simple discipline, e found the longest summer day too short, o his loved pastime given by sedgy Lee, r down the tempting maze of Shawford brook airer than life itself, in this sweet Book, he cowslip-bank and shady willow-tree; nd the fresh meads - where flowed, from every nook f his full bosom, gladsome Piety! To fit proportion with my altered state! TO A SNOWDROP LONE Flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they But hardier far, once more I see thee bend Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, waylay The rising sun, and on the plains descend; Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blueeyed May Shall soon behold this border thickly set With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers; Nor will I then thy modest grace forget, Chaste Snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring, And pensive monitor of fleeting years! ON SEEING A TUFT OF SNOWDROPS IN A STORM 1819. 1820 WHEN haughty expectations prostrate lie, And grandeur crouches like a guilty thing, Oft shall the lowly weak, till nature bring Mature release, in fair society Survive, and Fortune's utmost anger try; Like these frail snowdrops that together cling, And nod their helmets, smitten by the wing Of many a furious whirl-blast sweeping by. Observe the faithful flowers! if small to great May lead the thoughts, thus struggling used to stand The Emathian phalanx, nobly obstinate; And so the bright immortal Theban band, Whom onset, fiercely urged at Jove's command, Might overwhelm, but could not separate! Kind Nature's various wealth was all yez own; And benefits were weighed in Reason's scales ! "GRIEF, THOU HAST LOST AN EVER-READY FRIEND" 1819. 1819 I could write a treatise of lamentation upon the changes brought about among the cottages of Westmoreland by the silence of the spinning wheel. During long winter nights and wel days, the wheel upon which wool was sp gave employment to a great part of a fandy The old man, however infirm, was able to cari the wool, as he sate in the corner by the fir side; and often, when a boy, have I admired the cylinders of carded wool which were softy laid upon each other by his side. Two wheels were often at work on the same floor; and others of the family, chiefly little childre were occupied in teasing and cleaning the wo to fit it for the hand of the carder. So that si except the smallest infants, were contributing to mutual support. Such was the employment that prevailed in the pastoral vales. Where wool was not at hand, in the small rural towns the wheel for spinning flax was almost in s constant use, if knitting was not preferred: which latter occupation has the advantage (n some cases disadvantage) that, not being of necessity stationary, it allowed of gossiping about from house to house, which good house wives reckoned an idle thing. GRIEF, thou hast lost an ever-ready friend Now that the cottage Spinning-wheel is mute; And Care a comforter that best could HEARD (ALAS! 'T WAS ONLY IN A DREAM)" 1819. 1819 HEARD (alas! 't was only in a dream) rains - which, as sage Antiquity believed, 7 waking ears have sometimes been received afted adown the wind from lake or stream; most melodious requiem, a supreme nd perfect harmony of notes, achieved y a fair Swan on drowsy billows heaved, 'er which her pinions shed a silver gleam. or is she not the votary of Apollo? nd knows she not, singing as he inspires, hat bliss awaits her which the ungenial Hollow f the dull earth partakes not, nor desires? Whose footsteps superstitiously avoid (Above the general roar of woods and crags) Distinctly heard from far -a doleful note! As if (so Grecian shepherds would have deemed) The Hamadryad, pent within, bewailed Some bitter wrong. Nor is it unbelieved, By ruder fancy, that a troubled ghost Haunts the old trunk; lamenting deeds of which |