TILL, HIGHER MOUNTED, STRIVES IN VAIN TO CHEER THE WEARY HILLS, IMPERVIOUS, BLACKENING NEAR;-(WORDSWORTH) "6 THUS HOPE, FIRST POURING FROM HER Blessed hoRN MORS OMNIA VINCIT. virtues of the poor, but by fixing his imagination on the elemental feelings, MORS OMNIA VINCIT. REFLECTIONS IN A CHURCHYARD. HIS file of infants; some that never breathed, And the besprinkled Nursling, unrequired Taken from air and sunshine, when the rose The thinking, thoughtless Schoolboy; the bold Youth Are op'ning round her; those of middle age, And gentle "Nature grieved that One should die !" [From "The Excursion."-" These general reflections on the indiscriminating rapacity of Death, though by no means original in themselves, and expressed with too bold a rivalry of the Seven Ages of Shakespeare, have yet a character of vigour and truth about them that entitles them to notice.' -LORD JEFFREY.] HER DAWN, FAR LOVELIER THAN THE MOON'S OWN MORN, 485 YET DOES SHE STILL, UNDAUNTED, THROW THE WHILE ON DARLING SPOTS REMOTE HER TEMPTING SMILE."-WORDSWORTH. "I HAVE LEARNED TO LOOK ON NATURE, NOT AS IN THE HOUR OF THOUGHTLESS YOUTH, 486 PEACE SETTLES WHERE THE INTELLECT IS MEEK,-(WORDSWORTH) WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. THE SHADOW IN THE STREAM. HEN having reached a bridge, that overarched On a grassy bank A snow-white Ram, and in the crystal flood Yet in partition, with their several spheres, [From "The Excursion."-This "elaborate and fantastic picture" exhibits the master's finest touches; it is painted, to use the language of artjargon, in his best style.] BUT HEARING OFTENTIMES THE STILL, SAD MUSIC OF HUMANITY."-w. WORDSWORTH. A SELECTION FROM WORDSWORTH'S SONNETS. I. IN MEMORY OF MILTON. MILTON! thou shouldst be living at this hour: And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. AND LOVE IS DUTIFUL IN THOUGHT AND DEED."-WORDSWORTH WE POETS IN OUR YOUTH BEGIN IN GLADNESS,-(WORDSWORTH) Thy soul was like a star, and dwelt apart : Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free. The lowliest duties on herself did lay. [From the Sonnets.-Wordsworth's protests against worldliness of spirit and superstitious idolatry of wealth are even more necessary now than in his own time. But in making these protests he did a great, and high, and holy work, whose value must not be calculated or measured by his success-alas! how would the work of any man appear, if judged by such a standard?-but by its truth. "The work Wordsworth did," says F. W. Robertson," and I say it in all reverence, was the work which the Baptist did when he came to the pleasure-laden citizens of Jerusalem to work a reformation; it was the work which Milton tried to do, when he raised that clear, calm voice of his to call back his countrymen to simpler manners and to simpler laws. That was what Wordsworth did, or tried to do; and the language in which he has described Milton might with great truth be applied to Wordsworth himself."-REV. F. W. ROBERTSON, Lectures and Addresses, p. 236.] "I HAVE FELT A PRESENCE THAT DISTURBS ME WITH THE JOY OF ELEVATED THOUGHTS, II. THE ARTIST'S CONFIDENCE IN HIS ART. HIGH is our calling, friend! Creative art Faith in the whispers of the lonely Muse, BUT THEREOF COME DESPONDENCY AND MADNESS."-WORDSWORTH. A SENSE SUBLIME OF SOMETHING FAR MORE DEEPLY INTERFUSED."-WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. NEVER TO BLEND OUR PLEASURE OR OUR PRIDE-(WORDSWORTH) WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. Brook no continuance of weak-mindedness: Great is the glory, for the strife is hard! [This Sonnet was addressed to the painter, B. R. Haydon. The ninth and tenth lines were almost prophetic.] "THEREFORE AM I STILL A LOVER OF THE MEADOWS, AND THE WOODS, AND MOUNTAINS, WILLIAM WORDSWORTH) III. ENGLAND'S GLORY. It is not to be thought of that the flood Which Milton held. In everything we are sprung [The reader should be reminded that this noble Sonnet was written in 1803, when Napoleon was threatening our shores with invasion. It is the just expression of the enthusiasm which then stirred the heart of every Englishinan; which filled him with a longing to fight for his altar and his hearth, and for the grand inheritance of glory handed down by his an cestors.] AND OF ALL THAT WE BEHOLD FROM THIS GREEN EARTH; OF ALL THE MIGHTY world of eye anD EAR."-WORDSWORTH. IV.-ENGLAND AND FRANCE CONTRASTED. GREAT men have been among us; hands that penned WITH SORROW OF THE MEANEST THING THAT feels." -WORDSWORTH. These moralists could act and comprehend: Taught us how rightfully a nation shone In splendour: what strength was, that would not bend But in magnanimous meekness. strange, France, 'tis Hath brought forth no such souls as we had then. [Written about 1802-3.] ; 489 "WELL PLEASED TO RECOGNIZE IN NATURE AND THE LANGUAGE OF THE SENSE, THE ANCHOR OF MY THOUGHTS, THE NURSE, THE GUIDE, THE GUARDIAN OF MY HEART, AND SOUL OF ALL MY MORAL BEING."-WORDSWORTH. V. THE SLEEPING CITY. EARTH has not anything to show more fair: All bright and glittering in the smokeless air. [Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1803.] |