And, billow favoring billow, She reached the destined strand. Blest Pair! whate'er befall you 1880. THE RIVER DUDDON. A SERIES OF SONNETS. THE RIVER DUDDON rises upon Wrynose Fell, on the confines of Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Lancashire; and, having served as a boundary to the two last counties for the space of about twenty-five miles, enters the Irish Sea, between the Isle of Walney and the Lordship of Millum. TO THE REV. DR. WORDSWORTH. (WITH THE SONNETS TO THE RIVER DUDDON, AND OTHER POEMS IN THIS COLLECTION, 1820.) THE Minstrels played their Christmas tune While, smitten by a lofty moon, The encircling laurels, thick with leaves, Gave back a rich and dazzling sheen, Through hill and valley every breeze So stout and hardy were the band That scraped the chords with strenuous hand! And who but listened?-till was paid O Brother! I revere the choice Yet, would that thou, with me and mine, And seen on other faces shine A true revival of the light Which Nature and these rustic Powers, In simple childhood, spread through ours! For pleasure hath not ceased to wait Or they are offered at the door That guards the lowliest of the poor. How tonching, when, at midnight, sweep Or, at an earlier call, to mark, By blazing fire, the still suspense The mutual nod, the grave disguise For names once heard, and heard no more; Tears brightened by the serenade For infant in the cradle laid. Ah! not for emerald fields alone, With ambient streams more pure and bright Than fabled Cytherea's zone Glittering before the Thunderer's sight, Is to my heart of hearts endeared The ground where we were born and reared! Hail, ancient Manners! sure defence, And ye that guard them, Mountains old! Bear with me, Brother! quench the thought If thee fond Fancy ever brought To humbler streams, and greener bowers. Yes, they can make, who fail to find, And profit by those kindly rays That through the clouds do sometimes steal, And all the far-off past reveal. Hence, while the imperial City's din Beats frequent on thy satiate ear, A pleased attention I may win That neither overwhelm nor cloy, I. NoT envying Latian shades, if yet they throw A grateful coolness round that crystal Spring, Blandusia, prattling as when long ago The Sabine Bard was moved her praise to sing; Round the moist marge of Persian fountains cling; n. CHILD of the clouds! remote from every taint Thine are the honors of the lofty waste; Not seldom, when with heat the valleys faint, And Desolation is thy Patron-saint! She guards thee, ruthless Power! who would not spare |