Yet still, the sport of some malignant power, [hour. He knows but from its shade the present But why, ungrateful, dwell on idle pain? To show what pleasures yet to me remain, Say, will my friend with unreluctant ear, The history of a poet's evening hear? were seen, When, in the south, the wan noon, brooding still, [hill, Breathed a pale steam around the glaring And shades of deep-embattled clouds [between; Spotting the northern cliffs, with lights When, at the barren wall's unsheltered end, Where long rails far into the lake extend, Crowded the shorten'd herds, and beat the tides [speckled sides; With their quick tails, and lashed their When school-boys stretched their length upon the green; Ling scene! And round the humming elm, a glimmerIn the brown park, in herds, the troubled [ear; Shook the still-twinkling tail and glancing When horses in the sunburnt intake*stood, And vainly eyed below the tempting flood, Or tracked the passenger, in mute distress, With forward neck the closing gate to press--[rill deer Then while I wandered where the huddling Brightens with water-breaks the sombrous ghyll,t feet. As by enchantment, an obscure retreat Opened at once, and stayed my devious [close, While thick above the rill the branches In rocky basin its wild waves repose, Inverted shrubs, and moss of gloomy green, [weeds between; Cling from the rocks, with pale wood Save that aloft the subtle sunbeams shine On withered briars that o'er the crags recline, Sole light admitted here, a small cascade, Illumes with sparkling foam the impervious shade; Beyond, along the vista of the brook, Where antique roots its bustling course o'erlook, The word intake is local and signifies a mountain inclosure. † Ghyll is also, I believe, a term confined to this country, ghyll and dingle have the same ineaning. feet, Three humble bells their rustic chime repeat; [boat; Sounds from the water-side the hammered And blasted quarry thunders, heard remote! Even here, amid the sweep of endless woods, [floods, Blue pomp of lakes, high cliffs, and alling Not undelightful are the simplest charms, Found by the grassy door of mountain farms. There, objects, by the searching beams From lonesome chapel at the mountain's betrayed, Come forth, and here retire in purple shade; [white, Even the white stems of birch, the cottage Soften their glare before the mellow light: The skiffs, at anchor where with umbrage wide [hide, Yon chestnuts half the latticed boat-house Shed from their sides, that face the sun's slant beam, [lous stream: Strong flakes of radiance on the tremuRaised by yon travelling flock, a dusty cloud [moving shroud; Mounts from the road, and spreads its The shepherd, all involved in wreaths of fire, [lost entire. Now shows a shadowy speck, and now is Into a gradual calm the zephyrs sink: Save where, along the shady western marge, Their panniered train a group of potters Winding from side to side up the steep road; In foamy breaks the rill, with merry song, Sweetly ferocious, t round his native walks, [stalks; Pride of his sister-wives, the monarch Spur-clad his nervous feet, and firm his tread; +"Dolcemente feroce."-TASSO. In this description of the cock, I remembered a spirited one of the same animal in the "L'Agriculture; "Vivid rings of green." - Greenwood's ou, Les Géorgiques Françaises,' of M Poem on Shooting, Rossuet. With towers and woods a "prospect all on The coves and secret hollows, through a ray tween; Of fainter gold, a purple gleam betray; The gilded turf invests with richer green Each speck of lawn the broken rocks be[illume, Deep yellow beams the scattered stems Far in the level forest's central gloom; Waving his hat, the shepherd, from the vale, Directs his winding dog the cliffs to scale, That, barking busy, mid the glittering rocks, [flocks. Hunts, where he points, the intercepted Where oaks o'erhang the road the radiance [roots; On tawny earth, wild weeds, and twisted The Druid stones their lighted fane unfold, And all the babbling brooks are liquid gold; shoots Sunk to a curve, the day-star lessens still, Gives one bright glance, and drops behind the hill.* Thence issuing often with unwieldy stalk, With broad black feet ye crush your flowery walk; [morn Or, from the neighbouring water, hear at The hound, the horse's tread, and mellow horn; [rings, Involve your serpent necks in changeful Rolled wantonly between your slippery wings, Or, starting up with noise and rude delight, Force half upon the wave your cumbrous flight. caressed, Fair swan! by all a mother's joys [thee blessed; Haply some wretch has eyed, and called The whilst upon some sultry summer's day She dragged her babes along this weary way; [road Or taught their limbs along the burning A few short steps to totter with their load. I see her now, denied to lay her head, On cold blue nights, in hut or straw-built shed. Turn to a silent smile their sleepy cry, trees, In broken sounds her elder child demand, And skyward lift, like one that prays, his hand, If, in that country, where he dwells afar, road, And fireless are the valleys far and wide, Where the brook brawls along the painful [broad, Dark with bat-haunted ashes stretching Oft has she taught them on her lap to play Delighted, with the glow-worm's harmless ray [the ground Tossed light from hand to hand; while on Small circles of green radiance gleam around. Oh! when the sleety showers her path assail, And roars between the hills the torrent gale; No more her breath can thaw their fingers cold, [fold; Their frozen arms her neck no more can Weak roof a cowering form two babes to shield, And faint the fire a dying heart can yield! Now with religious awe, the farewell light [night; Blends with the solemn colouring of the 'Mid groves of clouds that crest the mountain's brow, [shadows throw, And round the west's proud lodge their Like Una shining on her gloomy way, The half-seen form of Twilight roams astray; [small, Shedding, through paly loopholes mild and Gleams that upon the lake's still bosom fall; [pale, Soft o'er the surface creep those lustres Tracking the fitful motions of the gale. With restless interchange at once the bright Wins on the shade, the shade upon the light. No favoured eye was e'er allowed to gaze chase, Brushing with lucid wands the water's face; No wreck of all the pageantry remains. mere, -Now o'er the soothed accordant heart we | (For sighs will ever trouble human breath) feel Creep hushed into the tranquil breast of death. A sympathetic twilight slowly steal, Stay! pensive, sadly-pleasing visions, stay! retains. The bird, who ceased, with fading light, to thread Silent the hedge or streaming rivulet's bed, From his gray re-appearing tower shall soon Salute with boding note the rising moon, Frosting with hoary light the pearly ground, And pouring deeper blue to ether's bound; And pleased her solemn pomp of clouds to fold In robes of azure, fleecy-white, and gold. See, o'er the eastern hill, where darkness broods [woods; O'er all its vanished dells, and lawns, and Where but a mass of shade the sight can trace, She lifts in silence up her lovely face; Above the gloomy valley flings her light, Far to the western slopes with hamlets white; [upland strew, And gives, where woods the chequered To the green corn of summer autumn's hue. Thus Hope, first pouring from her blessed horn {own morn; Her dawn, far lovelier than the moon's Till higher mounted, strives in vain to cheer The weary hills, impervious, blackening near; [while But now the clear-bright moon her zenith gains, And rimy without speck extend the plains; The deepest dell the mountain's front displays, [rays; Scarce hides a shadow from her searching From the dark-blue faint silvery threads divide The hills, while gleams below the azure tide; The scene is wakened, yet its peace unbroke, By silvered wreaths of quiet charcoal smoke, That, o'er the ruins of the fallen wood, Steal down the hill, and spread along the flood. The song of mountain streams, unheard by day, [way. Now hardly heard, beguiles my homeward All air is, as the sleeping water, still, Listening the aërial music of the hill, Broke only by the slow clock tolling deep, Or shout that wakes the ferryman from : sleep, 1 Yet does she still, undaunted, throw the WRITTEN WHILE SAILING IN A BOAT AT On darling spots remote her tempting smile. EVENING. How richly glows the water's breast A little moment past so smiling! Such views the youthful bard allure; |