It was, I ween, a lovely spot of ground: And there a season atween June and May, Half prankt with spring, with summer half imbrowned, A listless climate made, where, sooth to say, No living wight could work, ne carèd even for play. 3. Was nought around but images of rest : Sleep-soothing groves, and quiet lawns between; 4. Joined to the prattle of the purling rills, 5. Full in the passage of the vale, above, A sable, silent, solemn forest stood; Where nought but shadowy forms was seen to move, And up the hills, on either side, a wood Of blackening pines, aye waving to and fro, Sent forth a sleepy horror through the blood; And where this valley winded out, below, The murmuring main was heard, and scarcely heard, to flow. 6. A pleasing land of drowsihead it was, Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye; Instil a wanton sweetness through the breast, And the calm pleasures always hovered nigh; But whate'er smacked of noyance, or unrest, Was far far off expelled from this delicious nest. 'This poem being writ in the manner of Spenser [cf. my master Spenser' (Canto ii., stanza 52)], the obsolete words, and a simplicity of diction in some of the lines, which borders on the ludicrous, were necessary, to make the imitation more perfect' (Advertisement). THE CASTLE PORTER. (From The Castle of Indolence, Canto i.) [In this delicious nest' has Indolence, a most enchanting wizard' (stanza 2), 'close-hid his castle mid embowering trees' (7). He sits at the massy gate with his lute, and charms the listening throng' of passers-by to enter within his gates.] 24. Waked by the crowd, slow from his bench arose Ne could himself from ceaseless yawning keep; Through which his half-waked soul would faintly peep. 25. The lad leaped lightly at his master's call. Save sleep and play who minded nought at all, And which his portly paunch would not permit, 26. Meantime the master-porter wide displayed And heightens ease with grace. This done, right fain, Sir porter sat him down, and turned to sleep again. Compare Thomson's stanzas with Spenser's. WILLIAM COLLINS.-1720-1759. WILLIAM COLLINS, the son of a hatter and alderman of Chichester, studied at Winchester and Oxford. In 1744 he went to London,' with many projects in his head, and little money in his pocket.' After suffering severely from poverty, he fell heir to £2000 by the death of an uncle; but his health was completely shattered, and his mind gave way. While in residence at Magdalen College, Oxford, Collins published his Oriental Eclogues. The Odes appeared in 1747, but were unsuccessful. Yet I should conceive that Collins had a much greater poetical genius than Gray' (Hazlitt). ODE TO EVENING. If aught of oaten stop or pastoral song May hope, O pensive Eve, to soothe thine ear, Like thy own brawling springs, Thy springs, and dying gales; O nymph reserved, while now the bright-haired Sun 5 With brede ethereal wove, Now air is hushed, save where the weak-eyed bat, His small but sullen horn, As oft he rises 'midst the twilight path, To breathe some softened strain, Whose numbers stealing through thy darkening vale, As, musing slow, I hail Thy genial loved return! For when thy folding star arising shews Who slept in buds the day, 10 15 20 And many a nymph who wreathes her brows with sedge, 25 And sheds the freshening dew, and lovelier still, The pensive pleasures sweet, Prepare thy shadowy car; Then let me rove some wild and heathy scene, Whose walls more awful nod By thy religious gleams. Or if chill blustering winds, or driving rain, 30 Prevent my willing feet, be mine the hut That from the mountain's side 35 Views wilds, and swelling floods, And hamlets brown, and dim-discovered spires, And hears their simple bell, and marks o'er all Thy dewy fingers draw The gradual dusky veil, 40 While Spring shall pour his showers, as oft he wont, While Summer loves to sport Beneath thy lingering light; While sallow Autumn fills thy lap with leaves; And rudely rends thy robes; So long, regardful of thy quiet rule, Shall Fancy, Friendship, Science, smiling Peace, Thy gentlest influence own, And love thy favourite name! NOTES. The I. Oaten stop... pastoral song. beginning of Vergil's first Eclogue represents the shepherd Tityrus practising in the cool of the evening a 'pastoral song,' or 'woodland tune' (Lat. silvestrem musam), on the stops of his 'slender reed,' pipe, or flageolet (Lat. avěna, lit. oaten straw or stalk). 7. Brede, braid. Cf. em-broider. From 10. Observe the alliteration. 45 50 22. Paly, somewhat, slightly pale. THOMAS GRAY.-1716-1771. THOMAS GRAY, the son of a London money-scrivener, was educated at Eton, and at Peter-House, Cambridge (1734-8). In 1739, he accompanied Horace Walpole to the Continent, where he devoted much attention to various branches of the Fine Arts-architecture, painting, music, &c.; but a rupture took place between them, and Gray returned to England in 1741. After coquetting a short time with law, Gray settled down at Cambridge to diligent study of the classics, and to elaborate poetical composition. In 1757, he was |