573
Before us lay a heath,
And clouds obscur'd the day ;
In spires rose the darkness ;
The lightnings flash'd their fires.
Before us lay a heath,
And clouds obscur'd the day ;
In spires rose the darkness ;
The lightnings flash'd their fires.
Carey - Practice English Prosody Exercises
Vtrsification.
169
Iambics of eight syllables, with alternate rhime --
1. e. the first line rkiming with the third -- the second,
with the fourth.
525
Thou object of my mournful tear! when last we met,
thy smiles were glad.
But thy sun is now set in shades, no more to cheer
mine eyes with smiles.
. 526
In our youthful days, how gaily on the vernal plain
we gambol'd,
where the pure streamlet stravs swiftly to the main,
through woodlands and vales !
. 527
Each sabbath morn, duly is seen, with herbs and
flow'rs, a weeping troop
of virgins and youths, to adorn, within the sacred
green, thy grave.
528
To the subjugated mind fell Despotism shows his
giant form,
as the meteor of the storm, the horror, the dread of
mankind, glares.
529
While, with bare bosom, Jessy rov'd, the boist'rous
blast of heav'n roar'd loud :
the fleecy snow was driv'n in heaps: the black'ning
tempest fill'd the air.
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? 170 Versification.
530
Sorrow's child ! tranquil and serene be thy rest! be
thy slumbers soft!
Thy smiles have oft beguil'd my tears, and sooth'd
my agitated breast.
531
Oh ! sue yon chief go to battle. As he flies, the stroke
arrests him.
He falls; and the husband and the father dies, in
that fatal blow.
532
Too full to speak, Laura's fond heart sigh'd a soft
adieu to Arthur.
As Arthur withdrew mournfully, down her cheek
stole love's gentle tear.
533
Now releas'd from the cares of worldly bus'ness,
impatient Arthur
repairs with ardor to the spot where all his cares
ceas'd in rapture.
534
The moon, with pallid beam, shot temporary light
through louring clouds,
on the rippled scream now glitt'ring, now fading from
the sight slowly.
535
What mournful voice sounds sad along the winding
vale with plaintive sighs?
What piercing shrieks of paiguish rise, and float
upon the passing gale ? . "
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? Versification. 171
536
Each fragrant flow'r, that drinks the dew, shall spring
around my ivied porch ;
and Lucy, in russet gown and blue apron, shall sing
at her wheel.
537
Contending hosts drop the brandish'd blade from
their grasp, in mute surprise,
forget th' affray, and turn on th' angelic maid their
eyes, transported.
53S
At op'ning day, the thrush, high on the thorn, be-
gins his sprightly song;
r. nd the blackbird tunes his varied lay, where the .
streamlet winds along.
539. -- To Friendship.
Men call thpe vain, c hanging, sordid, scarce known,
an 1 'are to see, on earth ;
and <. n thee tiiey lay the heavy blame, when they
feei L. ise treach'ry's |,ain.
540
As late I stray'd alo. ig the flow'rv side of Derwenl's
murm'ring si ream,
in the sunny glade 1 spied a rosy sweet-briar bush
full blooming.
Its blossoms, as they spread o'er the glass}' wave,
glow'd with crimson die ;
and their delicate perfume was shed on the gales that
sportedby.
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? 172 Versification.
To the spot returning this day, to view the bush so
richly blown, *
I mark'd its lot with tearful eye; for its crimson bloom
was all gone.
541. -- To the Nightingale.
Why, tell me wliy thy troubled heart sighs for ever,
plaintive warbler f
Cannot that glowing sky, these groves, impart to
thy woes a solace ?
See, Nature renews her robe of gayest green, at thy
wish'd return:
and, when Nature wakes the rural scene, can thy
wayward bosom mourn ?
In dews Aurora steeps the new-born flow'rets of the
dale, for thee;
On the western gale she strews her fragrance with
lib'ral hand, for thee.
542
Gentle Sleep, come! steal softly upon my senses
with drowsy charms:
In thy downy arms infold me, and set thy seal on
my eye-lids.
543
Fancy ! come, weave for thy vot'ry the dreams that
own thy soft control.
Lift thy wand high : my willing soul shall bless and
believe thy fictions.
I long have known the louring sky, the with'ring
blast, the cheerless path.
Fancy ! come, aid me : we'll descry a world of our
own, far happier.
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? Versification. ]73
There fine forms alone, with soften'd mien and gentle
voice, shall visit:
nor cold Distrust, nor Selfishness, nor severe Pride,
shall be seen there.
And Hope shall light up our skies and our landscapes
with her gay sunshine ;
and Sensibility, with dewy eyes and swelling heart,
stray there.
The sentient plant, whose feeling frame turns away
from the stranger's touch,
exists but in the soften'd beam, which art can con-
vey around it.
Distress'd by ev'ry passing gale, by coarser stems
that rise near it,
oppress'd by ev'ry rude impulse -- expose it, and it
dies, like me.
In the following stanzas, of the same measure as the
preceding, the rhime is confined to the second and fourth
lines.
544
Thus propitious Nature grac'd my natal hour, with
indulgent care,
and gave the fiow'r, the sunshine, and the gale, with
superior sweetness.
545
He went, and he spake sweet mercy's mild accents,
with a parent's voice.
His love return'd, he long'd to strain his sorrowing
child within his arm*.
p3
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? . 174 ,. Versification.
'*t '*
Iambics of ten syllables, with alternate rhime.
540 ,
Mark how the frequent gale delights to play around
the grave of her I still adore,
forsakes the rosy how'r and spicy^ grove, to wave the
grass thai clothes this hallow'd clay.
547
Immortal Liberty, the heav'nly guardian of the Bri-
tish isles, stood triumphant,
and, with fav'ring smiles, view'd her gallant sons,
undaunted heroes of the flood or field.
548
Farewell, fleeting, false hopes, and vain desires!
Anxious, fond wishes, that within my breast
dwell with tin-availing anguish and sighs, leave me,
oh ! to my wonted rest leave me.
549
Alas! 1 myself must never know the consolation I
would grant to others ;
but, if I want the means, the pow'r to bless, I can
commiserate, though not bestow.
550
When the orient sun expands his roseate ray o'er the
sky, the rising morn is fair;
and the meek radiance of departing day fades lovely
to the bard's enraptur'd eye.
551
The flow'r, though so sweet once, so lovely to the
eye, thus fades, nipp'd by the frozen gale :
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? Versification. 175
when boist'rous storms assail, the tall oaks, torn
from the earth, thus lie a mighty ruin.
552
The shipwreek'd stranger's weary bones should he
far, far beyond the haled billow's reach :
but blest the hands, that, with pious rare, supply
this hasiy grave on the wave-worn beach.
553
Oh ! could I hide the pencil'd story of my early
years from Mem'rv's steadfast eye!
She heaves the ling'ring sigh o'er the sad view, and
drops her fruitless tears at ev'ry glance.
554
The lucid orb of day now gilds the verdant beauties
of the lawn with mellow tints: <
his slowly-setting ray smiles unclouded -- sure pre-
sage of a mild dawn succeeding.
555 .
Heav'n saw her meek submission to her maker's will,
and with pitying eyes view'd the maid,
and, from ev'ry future ill, caught her pure soul to
the blissful mansions of the skies.
556
Pomp shall no more display her charms for him, nor
ceremony with a smile greet him.
Servile swarms of sycophants, veil'd in flatt'ry, shall
no more attend him, to beguile.
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? 176 Versification.
Iambics of ten syllables; the first line to rhime with the
fourth -- the second, with the third.
557
From thy bright abode, O Mercy ! descend ; and bid
Ambition's direful contests'cease.
Oh ! haste! and bring sweet smiling Peace with thee,
and all the blessings bestow'd by her hand.
558
Ah ! I thought once, this bosom, that had throbb'tl
so much with varied yangs, was steel'd at length
by sullen apathy, nor would more yield to sensibi-
lity's impressive touch.
569
The shepherd, rous'd from his dream, hears a sound
of rustling plumes, that seek a distant clime ;
and their clamors strike his ears at intervals, as he
marks them steer their sublime course.
560
I do not dread the vivid lightning, glancing, with
awe-inspiring glare, o'er the plain;
nor all the horrors, now spread around me, give one
moment's pain to my aching breast.
561. --To the Owl.
Melancholy, cheerless bird ! I woo thee. Thy fu-
nereal cry is soothing to me.
Build thy lonely nest here ; and be thy sullen wail-
ings ever heard nigh my dwelling.
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? Versification. 177
Iambics of eight syllables. -- Epithets * are to be
added to the substantives which are printed in Italics,
and each line to make one verse.
562
Through yon grove of mournful yews,
I muse with solitary steps.
563 9
The sland'ring thief'h worse
Than the rogue who steals your purse.
564
One night, when slumbers shed
Their poppies o'er my head.
565
Does not the ox bow
His neck, to draw the plough ?
566
Now Cambria's + wilds appear,
Her drear valleys, and rude mountains.
* Although the word, Epithet, in its original signification,
simply means an adjective, it is, in treating of poetry, exclu-
sively employed to designate an ornamental adjective -- orna-
mental to the poetry, I mean, whether ornamental or dispara-
ging to the subject to which it is applied--as bounteous nature,
the fostering sun, the sordid miser, the noxious viper. --Where
an adjective is not used for poetic ornament, but is necessary to
complete the sense, it is not, in this point of view, considered
as an epithet: ex. gr. An old gentleman of high rank met a
young man of lorn degree.
\ Cambria is the Latin name for Wales.
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? 178 ' Versificatien.
567
In ev'ry shade, fancy now dreads
The midnight robber's blade.
5m
Releas'd from Winter's arms,
Spring unfolds now her early charms.
56y
Is there no pow'r in nature
Tosooih affliction? ? lonely hour,
To blunt the edge of disease,
And tench these wint'ry shades to please?
570
When, sunk in despair by guilt,
Repent nice breathes her prayr,
Thy vo ce cheers thr suppliant;
And mercy calms her fears.
571
As he who travels Libya's plains,
Where the lion rtigns lawless,
Is seis'd with fear and dismay,
When the foe obstructs his way
572
Methought T spy'd a spacious road,
(And trees adorn'd its side)
Frequented by a crowd
Of mortals, loud and vain.
573
Before us lay a heath,
And clouds obscur'd the day ;
In spires rose the darkness ;
The lightnings flash'd their fires.
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? Versification* 179
574
O wisdom! if thy control
Can sooth the sickness of the soul,
Can bid the passions cease,
And breathe the calm of peace,
Wisdom ! 1 bless thy sway,
And will ever, ever obey.
575
Whene'er we meet, the hours flow soft,
And virtue is our treat.
Our breasts know no envy;
And hence we fear no foe.
Ambition ne'er attends our walks ;
And hence we ask no friends.
Ten-syllable Iambics. -- Epithets to be added to the
words printed in Italic.
576
What offence springs from am'rous causes ;
What contests rise from trivial things. . . .
577
Goddess, say, what motive could impel
A lord t'assault a gentle belle ?
578. -- The Hunted Stag.
He flies so fast, that his eye
Has lost the chasers, and his ear the cry.
579
By my sire, I claim superior lineage,
Who warm'd the clod with heav'nly fire.
580. -- The Mariner.
With day his labors cease not;
But perils and toils mark his nightly way.
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? 180 Versification.
581
Mem'ry wakes me now to Ibe review
Of joys, that, like the morning dew, faded.
582
As the grave M use awakes the strings,
In airy rings the Graces dance round you.
583
Thenars lag slow, worn in anguish;
And these conqu'rors mock their captives' woe.
584
A happy offspring bless'd his board:
Fruitful were his fields, and well stor'd his barns.
585
There his horses, warm with toil, browse
Their canopy of pendent boughs.
586
When hell's agent found him so stagg'ring,
While virtue scarce maintain'd her ground. . . .
587
Not that I contemn your father's mildness;
But force becomes the diadem.
588
Nor happier they, where sundy wastes extend,
Where Arabs tend their parch'd cattle;
589
And Fame's trumpet shall tell to the world,
Nelson fell in Vict'ry's arms.
590
The hand of Time may heal perchance
The guilty pangs, the remorse I feel.
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? Versification. 181
591
To this thore we bid thee welcome,
Whereadverse winds no more shall thwart thy course.
592
'Tvras night. The chiefs lie beside their vessel,
Till morn had purpled o'er the sky ;
Then launch, and hoist the mast: gales,
By Phoebus supplied, fill the sails.
593
The quarrels of the mortal state
Are far unworthy of your debate, Gods!
Let men employ their days in strife,
We * in constant joy and peace.
594
The woodbine, faintly streak'd with red, blows here,
And rests its head on ev'iy bough :
Its branches meet round the young ash,
Or crown the hawthorn with its odors.
595
The prophet spoke ; and, with a frown,
From his throne the monarch started :
? My young readers will observe, that this passage, though
from the pen of Mr. Pope, is not grammatically correct; for,
On supplying the ellipsis, they will find, " let we employ our
days which is a solecism. It should have been us: but, as
a>>, standi< g singly in this place, would have been harsh and
? ukward, he oujiht to have either repeated the verb Let, with an
infinitive alter as, or adopted the other form of the imperative,
in some such manner as the following--
Pass we our years in constant peace and joy.
0
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? 182 Versification.
Choler fill'd his breast, that boil'd with ire ;
And the^re flash'd from his eye-balls.
The prey, in each conquest, is thine;
Though the danger and sweat of (he clay [be*] mine.
1 bear to my ships some trivial present;
Or praises pay the wounds of war.
597
Let not Britannia's sons deem ignoble
The task that guides the team or sows the corn,
That watches o'er the grain, anxious,
And clothes the plain with crops.
598
Now has Autumn assum'd her reign,
And the mists remain upon the hills:
The whirlwind roars o'er the heath;
The torrent pours through rocky vales.
599. -- The lost Child.
The mother flies through ev'ry grove,
Tries each glade, each path-way,
'Till the light leaves disclose the boy,
Long stretch'd in repose on the wood-moss.
600
They press'd the ground, laid close by each other;
Their bosoms pierc'd with many a wound.
Nor were they well alive, nor wholly dead :
But some signs of life appear.
? The word between crotchets is to be omitted.
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? Versification.
601
Should sleep surprise, on Missisippi's bank,
The peasant, in ambush close lies
The alligator, gorg'd with blood:
Beneath the flood he lurks concTeal'd,
Or ranges around the shore, fierce,
Climbs the bank,and crouches on the ground.
602
Beneath the hawthorn shade I oft have seen
A rustic maid reclin'd on the turf,
With anxious eye watching her lambs
Sporting round their dams in circles;
H ave heard her, o'ercome with heat, hail
The freshness of the rising gale.
60S. --'Rooks and Crows.
The flock goes increasing from field to field,
Most formidable foes to level crops.
The plunderers well know their clanger,
And, on some bough, place a watch.
Yet oft, bv surprise, the gunner,
As they rise, will scatter ieath among them.
60+
May the spirits of the dea. : descend oft,
To -watch the slumbers ol a friend ;
Round his ev'ning walk, unseen, to hover,
And, on the green, hold converse;
To hail the spot where firsi grew their fi iendshi
And nature and heav'n open'd to their view.
605
O'er dale and hill, Night extends her wings,
9<<
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? 184 Versification.
And spreads aveil on shadowy earth;
The pictur'd forms of nature fade,
And sink in shade, melting.
The dews descend, unheard : the show'rs, unseen,
Cool the earth, revive theJlow'rs. . . .
606
The laborers bless their home now,
When midnight and the tempest come.
The farmer wakes, and, with dread, sees
The shafts of heav'n gleam round his head.
The cloud roars re-iterated,
Shakes his roof, and jars his doors.
607
O'er the village green steal twilight's dews,
To harmonise the scene with magic tints.
The hum is still, that broke through the hamlet,
When, round the ruins of their oak,
To hear the minstrel play, the peasants flock'd,
And carols and games clos'd the day.
608. --To Memory.
His ev'ning ray when Joy's sun has shed,
And Hope's meteors cease to play ;
When clouds on clouds close the prospect,
Thy star still glows serenely through the gloom:.
She gilds the brow ol night, like yon orb*,
With the magic of reflected light.
609
Distracting thoughts rul'd his bosom by turns,
Now fir'd by wrath, and now cool'd by reason.
? The Moon.
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? Versification. 185
That prompts his hand to draw the sword,
Force through the Greeks, and pierce their lord;
This whispers soft, to control his vengeance,
And calm the tempest of his soul.
610
Achilles bore not his loss so :
But, returning to the shore, sad,
He hung o'er the margin of the deep,
That kindred deep, from which sprung his mother ;
There, bath'd in tears of disdain and anger,
Lamented loud to the main, thus.
6iI. -- The Farmers Boy.
He hies, with many a shrug, from the fire-side,.
Glad, if the moon salute his eyes,
And, through the stillness of the night,
Shed her beams of light on his path.
The distant stile he climbs with saunt'ring step,
Whilst all wears a smile around him ;
There views the clouds driv'n in clusters,
And all the pageantry of heav'n.
612
The goddess flies swift* to the seas,
Jove to his mansion in the skies.
* As some grammarians loudly condemn an adjective thus
employed in conjunction with a verb, and maintain, that, in alt
such cases, in poetry equally as in prose, the adverb alone is
correctly admissible, viz. " the goddess flies swiftly"--let me
caution my young readers against that doctrine, which, if
adopted, would prove the ruin of poetry, and debase it to the.
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? 18G Versification.
The synod of th' immortals wait
The god coming, and, from their thrones of state.
Arising silent, rapt in/ear,
Appear before the Majesty of heav'n.
While Jove assumes the throne, they stand trembling,
All but the god's queen alone.
low level of tame, vulgar prose. In poetry, an adjective maj
very properly be thus used--agreeing, of course, with the nomi-
native to the verb, as here, " the goddess, swift in her motion,
flies:" and, in cases innumerable, it is by far more elegant and
poetic than the adverb. That such has ever been the unanimous
opinion of our best and most admired poets--in short, of all our
poets most distiuguiihed for correctness of diction and taste--is
evident from their own practice, in which they have judiciously
copied the example of the Greek and Roman bards, who, much
oftener than our English writers, use the adjective in lieu of the
adverb, and with very fine poetic effect, asmust be acknowledged
by every reader who is capable of perceiving and relishing their
beauties. To my conception, the mode or quality, thus ex-
pressed by the adjective, appears more perfectly identified with
the substantive--becoming, for the moment at least, one of its
characteristic features, and forming with it a more complete uuity
of object, than could possibly result from the addition of the ad-
verb. --At the same time, I cannot approve the improper substi-
tution of the adjective for the adverb, which too often takes
place in careless conversation, as when a person says he is " very
iad," instead. of" very ill:" and, although Dr. Johnson (without
authority) has inadvertently suffered Bad, for Sick, to steal into
his dictionary, I advise my young readers to avoid the phrase,
test they lay themselves open to such answer as a gentleman of
my acquaintance jocularly made to a lady w ho complained that
she was " very bad"--"I alwajs thought you bad: but now,
that you confess it, I cannot doubt of your badness. "
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? Versification. 18/
613
Lo! Faith's visions burst upon the sight,
And put to flight the host of Fear.
Terror's Myrmidons recede afar,
Before the beams of Hope's star,
That shoots rays, for ever clear sparkling,
Through Sorrow's realms, and Doubt's hemisphere;
Cheers the pilgrim on his way,
With a happier day, and finer prospects;
And points the sage, oppress'd by toils,
To lasting pleasures, and a land of rest.
614
From this cliff, whose impending rough brow
Frowns o'er the cataract that foams below,
I view the plain, where many a hand
Tills the land for another's gain.
Borne on the ev'ning breeze, their song
Stamps images of ease on my soul.
Ah ! why, dead to man and social converse,
Do I alone tread the mountain,
Where Nature, stubborn and coy, seems to fly
The human race, and defy all approach ?
615
When gates diffuse on closing flow'rs
The fragrant tribute of the dews,
When, at her pail, the milkmaid chants,
And, o'er the vale, reapers whistle,
Charm'd by the murmurs of the shade,
I stray'd along the liver's banks,
And, through the twilight way, calmly musing,
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? 188 Versification.
I fratn'd my rustic lay in pensive mood;
When lo ! a golden gleam, from clouds,
O'er ihe shadowy stream ponr'd splendors,
And its guardian queen arose from the wave,
Known by her stole of green,
6l6
Oh ! say, Muse, whose purer birth
Disdains the low ties of earth,
By what images shall be defin'd
The nature of th' eiernal mind ?
169
Iambics of eight syllables, with alternate rhime --
1. e. the first line rkiming with the third -- the second,
with the fourth.
525
Thou object of my mournful tear! when last we met,
thy smiles were glad.
But thy sun is now set in shades, no more to cheer
mine eyes with smiles.
. 526
In our youthful days, how gaily on the vernal plain
we gambol'd,
where the pure streamlet stravs swiftly to the main,
through woodlands and vales !
. 527
Each sabbath morn, duly is seen, with herbs and
flow'rs, a weeping troop
of virgins and youths, to adorn, within the sacred
green, thy grave.
528
To the subjugated mind fell Despotism shows his
giant form,
as the meteor of the storm, the horror, the dread of
mankind, glares.
529
While, with bare bosom, Jessy rov'd, the boist'rous
blast of heav'n roar'd loud :
the fleecy snow was driv'n in heaps: the black'ning
tempest fill'd the air.
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? 170 Versification.
530
Sorrow's child ! tranquil and serene be thy rest! be
thy slumbers soft!
Thy smiles have oft beguil'd my tears, and sooth'd
my agitated breast.
531
Oh ! sue yon chief go to battle. As he flies, the stroke
arrests him.
He falls; and the husband and the father dies, in
that fatal blow.
532
Too full to speak, Laura's fond heart sigh'd a soft
adieu to Arthur.
As Arthur withdrew mournfully, down her cheek
stole love's gentle tear.
533
Now releas'd from the cares of worldly bus'ness,
impatient Arthur
repairs with ardor to the spot where all his cares
ceas'd in rapture.
534
The moon, with pallid beam, shot temporary light
through louring clouds,
on the rippled scream now glitt'ring, now fading from
the sight slowly.
535
What mournful voice sounds sad along the winding
vale with plaintive sighs?
What piercing shrieks of paiguish rise, and float
upon the passing gale ? . "
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? Versification. 171
536
Each fragrant flow'r, that drinks the dew, shall spring
around my ivied porch ;
and Lucy, in russet gown and blue apron, shall sing
at her wheel.
537
Contending hosts drop the brandish'd blade from
their grasp, in mute surprise,
forget th' affray, and turn on th' angelic maid their
eyes, transported.
53S
At op'ning day, the thrush, high on the thorn, be-
gins his sprightly song;
r. nd the blackbird tunes his varied lay, where the .
streamlet winds along.
539. -- To Friendship.
Men call thpe vain, c hanging, sordid, scarce known,
an 1 'are to see, on earth ;
and <. n thee tiiey lay the heavy blame, when they
feei L. ise treach'ry's |,ain.
540
As late I stray'd alo. ig the flow'rv side of Derwenl's
murm'ring si ream,
in the sunny glade 1 spied a rosy sweet-briar bush
full blooming.
Its blossoms, as they spread o'er the glass}' wave,
glow'd with crimson die ;
and their delicate perfume was shed on the gales that
sportedby.
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? 172 Versification.
To the spot returning this day, to view the bush so
richly blown, *
I mark'd its lot with tearful eye; for its crimson bloom
was all gone.
541. -- To the Nightingale.
Why, tell me wliy thy troubled heart sighs for ever,
plaintive warbler f
Cannot that glowing sky, these groves, impart to
thy woes a solace ?
See, Nature renews her robe of gayest green, at thy
wish'd return:
and, when Nature wakes the rural scene, can thy
wayward bosom mourn ?
In dews Aurora steeps the new-born flow'rets of the
dale, for thee;
On the western gale she strews her fragrance with
lib'ral hand, for thee.
542
Gentle Sleep, come! steal softly upon my senses
with drowsy charms:
In thy downy arms infold me, and set thy seal on
my eye-lids.
543
Fancy ! come, weave for thy vot'ry the dreams that
own thy soft control.
Lift thy wand high : my willing soul shall bless and
believe thy fictions.
I long have known the louring sky, the with'ring
blast, the cheerless path.
Fancy ! come, aid me : we'll descry a world of our
own, far happier.
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? Versification. ]73
There fine forms alone, with soften'd mien and gentle
voice, shall visit:
nor cold Distrust, nor Selfishness, nor severe Pride,
shall be seen there.
And Hope shall light up our skies and our landscapes
with her gay sunshine ;
and Sensibility, with dewy eyes and swelling heart,
stray there.
The sentient plant, whose feeling frame turns away
from the stranger's touch,
exists but in the soften'd beam, which art can con-
vey around it.
Distress'd by ev'ry passing gale, by coarser stems
that rise near it,
oppress'd by ev'ry rude impulse -- expose it, and it
dies, like me.
In the following stanzas, of the same measure as the
preceding, the rhime is confined to the second and fourth
lines.
544
Thus propitious Nature grac'd my natal hour, with
indulgent care,
and gave the fiow'r, the sunshine, and the gale, with
superior sweetness.
545
He went, and he spake sweet mercy's mild accents,
with a parent's voice.
His love return'd, he long'd to strain his sorrowing
child within his arm*.
p3
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? . 174 ,. Versification.
'*t '*
Iambics of ten syllables, with alternate rhime.
540 ,
Mark how the frequent gale delights to play around
the grave of her I still adore,
forsakes the rosy how'r and spicy^ grove, to wave the
grass thai clothes this hallow'd clay.
547
Immortal Liberty, the heav'nly guardian of the Bri-
tish isles, stood triumphant,
and, with fav'ring smiles, view'd her gallant sons,
undaunted heroes of the flood or field.
548
Farewell, fleeting, false hopes, and vain desires!
Anxious, fond wishes, that within my breast
dwell with tin-availing anguish and sighs, leave me,
oh ! to my wonted rest leave me.
549
Alas! 1 myself must never know the consolation I
would grant to others ;
but, if I want the means, the pow'r to bless, I can
commiserate, though not bestow.
550
When the orient sun expands his roseate ray o'er the
sky, the rising morn is fair;
and the meek radiance of departing day fades lovely
to the bard's enraptur'd eye.
551
The flow'r, though so sweet once, so lovely to the
eye, thus fades, nipp'd by the frozen gale :
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? Versification. 175
when boist'rous storms assail, the tall oaks, torn
from the earth, thus lie a mighty ruin.
552
The shipwreek'd stranger's weary bones should he
far, far beyond the haled billow's reach :
but blest the hands, that, with pious rare, supply
this hasiy grave on the wave-worn beach.
553
Oh ! could I hide the pencil'd story of my early
years from Mem'rv's steadfast eye!
She heaves the ling'ring sigh o'er the sad view, and
drops her fruitless tears at ev'ry glance.
554
The lucid orb of day now gilds the verdant beauties
of the lawn with mellow tints: <
his slowly-setting ray smiles unclouded -- sure pre-
sage of a mild dawn succeeding.
555 .
Heav'n saw her meek submission to her maker's will,
and with pitying eyes view'd the maid,
and, from ev'ry future ill, caught her pure soul to
the blissful mansions of the skies.
556
Pomp shall no more display her charms for him, nor
ceremony with a smile greet him.
Servile swarms of sycophants, veil'd in flatt'ry, shall
no more attend him, to beguile.
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? 176 Versification.
Iambics of ten syllables; the first line to rhime with the
fourth -- the second, with the third.
557
From thy bright abode, O Mercy ! descend ; and bid
Ambition's direful contests'cease.
Oh ! haste! and bring sweet smiling Peace with thee,
and all the blessings bestow'd by her hand.
558
Ah ! I thought once, this bosom, that had throbb'tl
so much with varied yangs, was steel'd at length
by sullen apathy, nor would more yield to sensibi-
lity's impressive touch.
569
The shepherd, rous'd from his dream, hears a sound
of rustling plumes, that seek a distant clime ;
and their clamors strike his ears at intervals, as he
marks them steer their sublime course.
560
I do not dread the vivid lightning, glancing, with
awe-inspiring glare, o'er the plain;
nor all the horrors, now spread around me, give one
moment's pain to my aching breast.
561. --To the Owl.
Melancholy, cheerless bird ! I woo thee. Thy fu-
nereal cry is soothing to me.
Build thy lonely nest here ; and be thy sullen wail-
ings ever heard nigh my dwelling.
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? Versification. 177
Iambics of eight syllables. -- Epithets * are to be
added to the substantives which are printed in Italics,
and each line to make one verse.
562
Through yon grove of mournful yews,
I muse with solitary steps.
563 9
The sland'ring thief'h worse
Than the rogue who steals your purse.
564
One night, when slumbers shed
Their poppies o'er my head.
565
Does not the ox bow
His neck, to draw the plough ?
566
Now Cambria's + wilds appear,
Her drear valleys, and rude mountains.
* Although the word, Epithet, in its original signification,
simply means an adjective, it is, in treating of poetry, exclu-
sively employed to designate an ornamental adjective -- orna-
mental to the poetry, I mean, whether ornamental or dispara-
ging to the subject to which it is applied--as bounteous nature,
the fostering sun, the sordid miser, the noxious viper. --Where
an adjective is not used for poetic ornament, but is necessary to
complete the sense, it is not, in this point of view, considered
as an epithet: ex. gr. An old gentleman of high rank met a
young man of lorn degree.
\ Cambria is the Latin name for Wales.
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? 178 ' Versificatien.
567
In ev'ry shade, fancy now dreads
The midnight robber's blade.
5m
Releas'd from Winter's arms,
Spring unfolds now her early charms.
56y
Is there no pow'r in nature
Tosooih affliction? ? lonely hour,
To blunt the edge of disease,
And tench these wint'ry shades to please?
570
When, sunk in despair by guilt,
Repent nice breathes her prayr,
Thy vo ce cheers thr suppliant;
And mercy calms her fears.
571
As he who travels Libya's plains,
Where the lion rtigns lawless,
Is seis'd with fear and dismay,
When the foe obstructs his way
572
Methought T spy'd a spacious road,
(And trees adorn'd its side)
Frequented by a crowd
Of mortals, loud and vain.
573
Before us lay a heath,
And clouds obscur'd the day ;
In spires rose the darkness ;
The lightnings flash'd their fires.
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? Versification* 179
574
O wisdom! if thy control
Can sooth the sickness of the soul,
Can bid the passions cease,
And breathe the calm of peace,
Wisdom ! 1 bless thy sway,
And will ever, ever obey.
575
Whene'er we meet, the hours flow soft,
And virtue is our treat.
Our breasts know no envy;
And hence we fear no foe.
Ambition ne'er attends our walks ;
And hence we ask no friends.
Ten-syllable Iambics. -- Epithets to be added to the
words printed in Italic.
576
What offence springs from am'rous causes ;
What contests rise from trivial things. . . .
577
Goddess, say, what motive could impel
A lord t'assault a gentle belle ?
578. -- The Hunted Stag.
He flies so fast, that his eye
Has lost the chasers, and his ear the cry.
579
By my sire, I claim superior lineage,
Who warm'd the clod with heav'nly fire.
580. -- The Mariner.
With day his labors cease not;
But perils and toils mark his nightly way.
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? 180 Versification.
581
Mem'ry wakes me now to Ibe review
Of joys, that, like the morning dew, faded.
582
As the grave M use awakes the strings,
In airy rings the Graces dance round you.
583
Thenars lag slow, worn in anguish;
And these conqu'rors mock their captives' woe.
584
A happy offspring bless'd his board:
Fruitful were his fields, and well stor'd his barns.
585
There his horses, warm with toil, browse
Their canopy of pendent boughs.
586
When hell's agent found him so stagg'ring,
While virtue scarce maintain'd her ground. . . .
587
Not that I contemn your father's mildness;
But force becomes the diadem.
588
Nor happier they, where sundy wastes extend,
Where Arabs tend their parch'd cattle;
589
And Fame's trumpet shall tell to the world,
Nelson fell in Vict'ry's arms.
590
The hand of Time may heal perchance
The guilty pangs, the remorse I feel.
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? Versification. 181
591
To this thore we bid thee welcome,
Whereadverse winds no more shall thwart thy course.
592
'Tvras night. The chiefs lie beside their vessel,
Till morn had purpled o'er the sky ;
Then launch, and hoist the mast: gales,
By Phoebus supplied, fill the sails.
593
The quarrels of the mortal state
Are far unworthy of your debate, Gods!
Let men employ their days in strife,
We * in constant joy and peace.
594
The woodbine, faintly streak'd with red, blows here,
And rests its head on ev'iy bough :
Its branches meet round the young ash,
Or crown the hawthorn with its odors.
595
The prophet spoke ; and, with a frown,
From his throne the monarch started :
? My young readers will observe, that this passage, though
from the pen of Mr. Pope, is not grammatically correct; for,
On supplying the ellipsis, they will find, " let we employ our
days which is a solecism. It should have been us: but, as
a>>, standi< g singly in this place, would have been harsh and
? ukward, he oujiht to have either repeated the verb Let, with an
infinitive alter as, or adopted the other form of the imperative,
in some such manner as the following--
Pass we our years in constant peace and joy.
0
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? 182 Versification.
Choler fill'd his breast, that boil'd with ire ;
And the^re flash'd from his eye-balls.
The prey, in each conquest, is thine;
Though the danger and sweat of (he clay [be*] mine.
1 bear to my ships some trivial present;
Or praises pay the wounds of war.
597
Let not Britannia's sons deem ignoble
The task that guides the team or sows the corn,
That watches o'er the grain, anxious,
And clothes the plain with crops.
598
Now has Autumn assum'd her reign,
And the mists remain upon the hills:
The whirlwind roars o'er the heath;
The torrent pours through rocky vales.
599. -- The lost Child.
The mother flies through ev'ry grove,
Tries each glade, each path-way,
'Till the light leaves disclose the boy,
Long stretch'd in repose on the wood-moss.
600
They press'd the ground, laid close by each other;
Their bosoms pierc'd with many a wound.
Nor were they well alive, nor wholly dead :
But some signs of life appear.
? The word between crotchets is to be omitted.
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? Versification.
601
Should sleep surprise, on Missisippi's bank,
The peasant, in ambush close lies
The alligator, gorg'd with blood:
Beneath the flood he lurks concTeal'd,
Or ranges around the shore, fierce,
Climbs the bank,and crouches on the ground.
602
Beneath the hawthorn shade I oft have seen
A rustic maid reclin'd on the turf,
With anxious eye watching her lambs
Sporting round their dams in circles;
H ave heard her, o'ercome with heat, hail
The freshness of the rising gale.
60S. --'Rooks and Crows.
The flock goes increasing from field to field,
Most formidable foes to level crops.
The plunderers well know their clanger,
And, on some bough, place a watch.
Yet oft, bv surprise, the gunner,
As they rise, will scatter ieath among them.
60+
May the spirits of the dea. : descend oft,
To -watch the slumbers ol a friend ;
Round his ev'ning walk, unseen, to hover,
And, on the green, hold converse;
To hail the spot where firsi grew their fi iendshi
And nature and heav'n open'd to their view.
605
O'er dale and hill, Night extends her wings,
9<<
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? 184 Versification.
And spreads aveil on shadowy earth;
The pictur'd forms of nature fade,
And sink in shade, melting.
The dews descend, unheard : the show'rs, unseen,
Cool the earth, revive theJlow'rs. . . .
606
The laborers bless their home now,
When midnight and the tempest come.
The farmer wakes, and, with dread, sees
The shafts of heav'n gleam round his head.
The cloud roars re-iterated,
Shakes his roof, and jars his doors.
607
O'er the village green steal twilight's dews,
To harmonise the scene with magic tints.
The hum is still, that broke through the hamlet,
When, round the ruins of their oak,
To hear the minstrel play, the peasants flock'd,
And carols and games clos'd the day.
608. --To Memory.
His ev'ning ray when Joy's sun has shed,
And Hope's meteors cease to play ;
When clouds on clouds close the prospect,
Thy star still glows serenely through the gloom:.
She gilds the brow ol night, like yon orb*,
With the magic of reflected light.
609
Distracting thoughts rul'd his bosom by turns,
Now fir'd by wrath, and now cool'd by reason.
? The Moon.
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? Versification. 185
That prompts his hand to draw the sword,
Force through the Greeks, and pierce their lord;
This whispers soft, to control his vengeance,
And calm the tempest of his soul.
610
Achilles bore not his loss so :
But, returning to the shore, sad,
He hung o'er the margin of the deep,
That kindred deep, from which sprung his mother ;
There, bath'd in tears of disdain and anger,
Lamented loud to the main, thus.
6iI. -- The Farmers Boy.
He hies, with many a shrug, from the fire-side,.
Glad, if the moon salute his eyes,
And, through the stillness of the night,
Shed her beams of light on his path.
The distant stile he climbs with saunt'ring step,
Whilst all wears a smile around him ;
There views the clouds driv'n in clusters,
And all the pageantry of heav'n.
612
The goddess flies swift* to the seas,
Jove to his mansion in the skies.
* As some grammarians loudly condemn an adjective thus
employed in conjunction with a verb, and maintain, that, in alt
such cases, in poetry equally as in prose, the adverb alone is
correctly admissible, viz. " the goddess flies swiftly"--let me
caution my young readers against that doctrine, which, if
adopted, would prove the ruin of poetry, and debase it to the.
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? 18G Versification.
The synod of th' immortals wait
The god coming, and, from their thrones of state.
Arising silent, rapt in/ear,
Appear before the Majesty of heav'n.
While Jove assumes the throne, they stand trembling,
All but the god's queen alone.
low level of tame, vulgar prose. In poetry, an adjective maj
very properly be thus used--agreeing, of course, with the nomi-
native to the verb, as here, " the goddess, swift in her motion,
flies:" and, in cases innumerable, it is by far more elegant and
poetic than the adverb. That such has ever been the unanimous
opinion of our best and most admired poets--in short, of all our
poets most distiuguiihed for correctness of diction and taste--is
evident from their own practice, in which they have judiciously
copied the example of the Greek and Roman bards, who, much
oftener than our English writers, use the adjective in lieu of the
adverb, and with very fine poetic effect, asmust be acknowledged
by every reader who is capable of perceiving and relishing their
beauties. To my conception, the mode or quality, thus ex-
pressed by the adjective, appears more perfectly identified with
the substantive--becoming, for the moment at least, one of its
characteristic features, and forming with it a more complete uuity
of object, than could possibly result from the addition of the ad-
verb. --At the same time, I cannot approve the improper substi-
tution of the adjective for the adverb, which too often takes
place in careless conversation, as when a person says he is " very
iad," instead. of" very ill:" and, although Dr. Johnson (without
authority) has inadvertently suffered Bad, for Sick, to steal into
his dictionary, I advise my young readers to avoid the phrase,
test they lay themselves open to such answer as a gentleman of
my acquaintance jocularly made to a lady w ho complained that
she was " very bad"--"I alwajs thought you bad: but now,
that you confess it, I cannot doubt of your badness. "
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? Versification. 18/
613
Lo! Faith's visions burst upon the sight,
And put to flight the host of Fear.
Terror's Myrmidons recede afar,
Before the beams of Hope's star,
That shoots rays, for ever clear sparkling,
Through Sorrow's realms, and Doubt's hemisphere;
Cheers the pilgrim on his way,
With a happier day, and finer prospects;
And points the sage, oppress'd by toils,
To lasting pleasures, and a land of rest.
614
From this cliff, whose impending rough brow
Frowns o'er the cataract that foams below,
I view the plain, where many a hand
Tills the land for another's gain.
Borne on the ev'ning breeze, their song
Stamps images of ease on my soul.
Ah ! why, dead to man and social converse,
Do I alone tread the mountain,
Where Nature, stubborn and coy, seems to fly
The human race, and defy all approach ?
615
When gates diffuse on closing flow'rs
The fragrant tribute of the dews,
When, at her pail, the milkmaid chants,
And, o'er the vale, reapers whistle,
Charm'd by the murmurs of the shade,
I stray'd along the liver's banks,
And, through the twilight way, calmly musing,
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? 188 Versification.
I fratn'd my rustic lay in pensive mood;
When lo ! a golden gleam, from clouds,
O'er ihe shadowy stream ponr'd splendors,
And its guardian queen arose from the wave,
Known by her stole of green,
6l6
Oh ! say, Muse, whose purer birth
Disdains the low ties of earth,
By what images shall be defin'd
The nature of th' eiernal mind ?
