And be not slow a stately growth to rear That may recall to mind that awful Pile Where Reynolds, 'mid our country's noblest dead, In the last sanctity of fame is laid. -There, though by right the excelling WRITTEN WITH A PENCIL UPON A STONE Painter sleep Where Death and Glory a joint sabbath keep, Yet not the less his Spirit would hold dear Self-hidden praise, and Friendship's private tear: Hence, on my patrimonial grounds, have I Raised this frail tribute to his memory; From youth a zealous follower of the Art That he professed; attached to him in heart; Admiring, loving, and with grief and pride Feeling what England lost when Reynolds died. IV. IN THE WALL OF THE HOUSE (AN OUT-HOUSE), ON THE ISLAND AT GRAS MERE. RUDE is this Edifice, and Thou hast seen To closer fellowship with ideal grace. FOR A SEAT IN the Groves oF COLEOR- Green-house, shell-grot, and moss-lined her TON. BENEATH Yon eastern ridge, the craggy bound, Rugged and high, of Charnwood's forest ground Stand yet, but, Stranger! hidden from thy view, The vied Ruins of forlorn GRACE DIEU! Erst a religious House, which day and night With hymns resounded, and the chanted rite: mitage. Thou see'st a homely Pile, yet to these walls The heifer comes in the snow-storm, and here The new-dropped lamb finds shelter from the wind. And hither does one Poet sometimes row His pinnance, a small vagrant barge, uppiled With plenteous store of heath and withered fern, (A lading which he with his sickle cuts, On this commodious Seat! for much remains Of hard ascent before thou reach the top And, to far-travelled storms of sea and land, That on the summit whither thou art bound To measure height and distance; lonely task, Week after week pursued!-To him was given Full many a glimpse (but sparingly bestowed On timid man) of Nature's processes Within that canvas dwelling, colors. lines, And the whole surface of the out-spread map, Became invisible; for all around Than the rude embryo of a little Dome That from the shore a full-grown man might wade, And make himself a freeman of this spot Was once selected as the corner-stone Some quaint odd plaything of elaborate skill, So that, I guess, the linnet and the thrush, For old Sir William was a gentle Knight, By beautiful conceptions, thou hast hewn taught X. INSCRIPTIONS SUPPOSED TO BE FOUND IN AND NEAR A HERMIt's cell 1818. 1. HOPES what are they?-Beads of morning What is glory? in the socket What is friendship?-do not trust her, What is truth?-a staff rejected; Bright, as if through ether steering, What is youth ?-a dancing billow, What is peace?-when pain is over, Give voice to what my hand shall trace, I saw this Rock, while vernal air Unsullied did it meet the day, My fancy kindled as I gazed; But frost had reared the gorgeous Pile And, while I gazed, with sudden shock The smoothest seas will sometimes prove The umbrageous Oak, in pomp outspread, But Thou art true, incarnate Lord, I bent before thy gracious throne, XV FOR THE SPOT WHERE THE HERMITAGE STOOD ON ST. HERBERT'S ISLAND, DERWENT-WATER. IF thou in the dear love of some one Friend NEAR THE SPRING OF THE HERMITAGE. Hast been so happy that thou know'st what That sheltered him, a self secluded Man, A Fellow-laborer, whom the good Man loved As his own soul. And, when with eye upraised To heaven he knelt before the crucifix, While o'er the lake the cataract of Lodore Pealed to his orisons, and when he paced Along the beach of this small isle and thought Of his Companion, he would pray that both (Now that their earthly duties were fulfilled) Might die in the same moment. Nor in vain So prayed he:-as our chronicles report, Though here the Hermit numbered his last day Far from St. Cuthbert his beloved Friend, Those holy men both died in the same hour. 1800. XVI. ON THE BANKS OF A ROCKY STREAM. BEHOLD an emblem of our human mind Crowded with thoughts that need a settled home, Yet, like to eddying balls of foam chase Round and round, and neither find THE PRIORESS' TALE. "Call up him who left half told The story of Cambuscan bold" In the following Poem no further deviation from the original has been made than was necessary for the fluent reading and instant understanding of the Author. so much, however, is the language altered since Chaucer's time, especially in pronunciation, that much! was to be removed, and its place supplied with as little incongruity as possible. The ancient accent has been retained in a few conjunctions, as also and alwày, from a conviction that such sprinklings of antiquity would be admitted, by persons of taste, to have a graceful accordance with the subject. The fierce bigotry of the Prioress forms a fine back-ground for her tender-hearted sympathies with the Mother and Child; and the mode in which the story is told amply atones for the extravagance of the miracle. I. "OLORD, our Lord! how wondrously," (quoth she) "Thy name in this large world is spread abroad! For not alone by men of dignity Thy worship is performed and precious laud; But by the mouths of children, gracious God! Thy goodness is set forth; they when they lie |