Invites us monument of ancient taste, Now scorned, but worthy of a better fate. 255 Our fathers knew the value of a screen
From sultry suns, | and in their shaded walks
And long protracted bowers, enjoyed at noon
The gloom and coolness of declining day.]
We bear our shades about us ; self-deprived
260 of other screen, the thin umbrella spread,]
And range an Indian waste without a tree.]
Thanks to Benevolus]-he spares me yet
These chestnuts ranged in corresponding lines, |
And,) though himself so polished, | still reprieves
265 The obsolete prolixity of shade.)
Descending now but cautious,) lest too fast,]
A sudden steep, upon a rustic bridge,
We pass a gulf, | in which the willows dip
Their pendent boughs, stooping as if to drink.]
270 Hence, ankle-deep in moss and flowery thyme,
We mount again, | and feel at every step
Our foot half sunk in hillocks green and soft,
Raised by the mole, the miner of the soil.]
He, not unlike the great ones of mankind,
275 Disfigures earth, and, plotting in the dark,
Toils much to earn a monumental pile,]
That may record the mischiefs | he has done.]
The summit gained, behold the proud alcove]
That crowns it! | yet not all its pride secures
280 The grand retreat from injuries impressed
By rural carvers, who with knives deface
The panels, leaving an obscure, rude name,
260. We is the Subj. to spread, and range. 262. Benevolus.-This "kind man" was John Courtney Throckmorton, Esq. of Weston Underwood. Thanks, scil. be. MeThis Dat. is becoming more and more scarce in English, owing to its identity in form with the Accusative.
264. Supply he is, after though.
265. Prolixity, for length, is a very farfetched and pedantic expression.
266. Supply we descend, before too fast. 269. As if [they stooped] to drink. 278. Alcove-A recess in a room, here equivalent to bower, arbour.
280. From injuries.-Adverbial adjunct to secures.
In characters uncouth, and spelt amiss.
So strong the zeal to immortalize himself 285 Beats in the breast of man, that even a few,
Few transient years, won from the abyss abhorred
Of blank oblivion, seem a glorious prize,
Now roves the eye,|
And posted on this speculative height
290 Exults in its command.] The sheepfold here
Pours out its fleecy tenants o'er the glebe. |
At first, progressive as a stream, they seek
The middle field; but scattered by degrees,
Each to his choice, soon whiten all the land.]
295 There from the sunburnt hayfield, homeward creeps
The loaded wain, | while, lightened of its charge,
The wain) that meets it passes swiftly by,
The boorish driver leaning o'er his team
Vociferous, and impatient of delay.)
300 Nor less attractive is the woodland scene,
Diversified with trees of every growth,
Alike yet various. Here the grey smooth trunks
Of ash, or lime, or beech, distinctly shine,
Within the twilight of their distant shades ;|
305 There lost behind a rising ground, the wood
Seems sunk, and shortened to its topmost boughs.
No tree in all the grove] but has its charms,]
Though each its hue peculiar,] paler some,
And of a wannish grey ;] the willow such,
288. Now roves-Inversion, see line 16.
289. Speculative height-Speculative used in its original sense, it being derived from speculari, to watch, observe, connected with spectacle. The word is now only employed properly of philosophical or commercial speculation.
293. The middle field - A Latinis:n, medrum campum, for the middle of the field.
294. Each to his choice-Perhaps the best way to explain the grammatical construction of each in such places as this, is to re
gard it as a Nom. abs., with the appropriate participle (e.g., giving) understood.
298-9. Nom. abs. again.
306. Topmost-An Adj. formed like foremost, hindmost, uppermost, inmost, or innermost, utmost (i.e., uttermost), only with this difference, that the first part, top, is a substantive, and not an adjective. For the construction of sunk, and shortened, see Gr. 77, Remark 1.
307 to 317. The student will easily supply the various Subjects and Predicates required to complete the sentences.
310 And poplar,] that with silver lines his leaf, |
And ash far stretching his umbrageous arm ;]
Of deeper green the elm ;] and deeper still,
Lord of the woods, the long-surviving oak.]
Some glossy-leaved, and shining in the sun,
315 The maple, and the beech of oily nuts
Prolific, and the lime at dewy eve
Diffusing odours ] nor unnoted pass
The sycamore, capricious in attire,
Now green, now tawny, and,) ere autumn yet
320 Have changed the woods, in scarlet honours bright.)
O'er these, but far beyond (a spacious map
Of hill and valley interposed between),
The Ouse, dividing the well-watered land,
Now glitters in the sun, and now retires,
325 As bashful, yet impatient to be seen.]
Hence the declivity is sharp and short,|
And such the re-ascent ;] between them weeps
A little naiad her impoverished urn
All summer long, | which winter fills again. |
330 The folded gates would bar my progress now, |
But that the lord of this enclosed demesne,
Communicative of the good) he owns,]
Admits me to a share :) the guiltless eye
Commits no wrong, | nor wastes] what it enjoys. |
335 [Refreshing change !] where now the blazing sun ?]
By short transition we have lost his glare,|
And stepped at once into a cooler clime.]
[Ye fallen avenues !] once more I mourn
Your fate unmerited, once more rejoice]
340 That yet a remnant of your race survives.
How airy and how light the graceful arch,]
Yet awful] as the consecrated roof
325. As-Stands for as if.
327. Weeps-Equivalent to laments, here a Transitive Verb. On the inversion, see line 16, note.
328. Naiads are the nymphs of rivers,
331. But that-But may be here regarded as a Prep., equivalent to except, and the Substantive sentence following may be regarded as the case governed by it.
Re-echoing pious anthems !] while beneath
The chequered earth seems restless | as a flood 345 Brushed by the wind.] So sportive is the light Shot through the boughs, | it dances) as they dance, | Shadow and sunshine intermingling quick,
And darkening and enlightening,) as the leaves
Play wanton, every moment, every spot.)
And now, with nerves new braced and spirits cheered,
We tread the wilderness, | whose well-rolled walks,
With curvature of slow and easy sweep-
Deception innocent-give ample space
To narrow bounds. | The grove receives us next ;|
355 Between the upright shafts of whose tall elms
We may discern the thresher at his task. |
Thump after thump resounds the constant flail,|
That seems to swing uncertain, and yet falls
Full on the destined ear.] Wide flies the chaff; |
360 The rustling straw sends up a frequent mist
Of atoms, sparkling in the noonday beam.
Come hither, ye that press your beds of down
And sleep not ;] see him sweating o'er his bread]
Before he eats it. 'Tis the primal curse,
365 But softened into mercy; made the pledge
Of cheerful days, and nights without a groan. |
By ceaseless action, all) that is subsists.)
Constant rotation of the unwearied wheel)
That Nature rides upon, | maintains her health,
370 Her beauty, her fertility.) She dreads
An instant's pause, and lives but] while she moves. [
Its own revolvency upholds the world.
344. As a flood-Supply seems, or is.
346. It dances-Supply that; Adv. Sent. attached to so.
347-8. Nom. absolutes.
349. Every moment-Adj. of time. Every spot-Obj. to darkening and enlightening. 353. Deception innocent! -An interjectural phrase.
355-6. Adj. Sent. to grove.
357. Thump after thump-Adverbial adjunct to resounds.
358. Uncertain-Adj. agreeing with that, but used to qualify swing adverbially. 365. Pledge-Gr. 77, Remark 1.
371. But Equivalent to only, Adv. qualifying lives.
Winds from all quarters agitate the air,|
And fit the limpid element for use,
375 Else noxious ] oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams,
All feel the freshening impulse, and are cleansed
By restless undulation.] Even the oak
Thrives by the rude concussion of the storm :|
He seems indeed indignant, and to feel
380 The impression of the blast with proud disdain,
Frowning as if in his unconscious arm
He held the thunder. But the monarch owes
His firm stability to) what he scorns, |
More fixed below,) the more disturbed above.] 385 The law,) by which all creatures else are bound, | Binds man, the lord of all.) Himself derives
No mean advantage from a kindred cause,
From strenuous toil his hours of sweetest ease.]
The sedentary stretch their lazy length
390 When custom bids, | but no refreshment find,]
For none they need :] the languid eye, the cheek
Deserted of its bloom, the flaccid, shrunk,
And withered muscle, and the vapid soul,
Reproach their owner with that love of rest|
395 To which he forfeits even the rest | he loves. |
Not such the alert and active.] Measure life
By its true worth, the comforts] it affords,]
And theirs alone seems worthy of the name.
Good health, and its associate in the most,
400 Good temper; spirits prompt to undertake,
And not soon spent, though in an arduous task;
The powers of fancy and strong thought are theirs ;|
Even age itself seems privileged in them
With clear exemption from its own defects. | 405 A sparkling eye beneath a wrinkled front
375. Noxious-Attrib. to elements. 385. Else-Attrib. to creatures.
386. Himself-Used as Subject by a poetic license.
396. Measure-This is strictly the imperative mood, but it is used to imply a condition. If you measure life, &c., then theirs, &c. 399 to 402, Subj to are theirs.
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