"IT MUST BE TAUGHT IN DARKNESS AND IN PAIN, OR BY THE BOSOM OF A CHILD AGAIN :-(JAMES HOGG) WHERE SHALL THE SPIRIT REST? WHERE SHALL IT GO? A WITCH'S RIDE. And when we came to the Lapland lone, The fairies were all in array; Were keeping their holiday. 189 KNOWLEDGE OF ALL, AVAILS THE HUMAN KIND, FOR ALL BEYOND THE GRAVE ARE JOYS OF MIND."-HOGG. ["The genii of the North were keeping their holiday."] And they washed us all with the witch-water While our beauty bloomed like the Lapland rose That wild in the forest grew. [From the wild romantic ballad of "The Witch of Fife;" a very characteristic specimen of Hogg's peculiar powers. It forms the Eighth Bard's Story in "The Queen's Wake;" but has been Anglicised here for the convenience of our readers.] OR HOW ENJOY A BLISS IT DOES NOT KNOW?"-J. HOGG. "GLOOMY IS THE HOUSE OF WOE, WHERE TEARS ARE FALLING WHILE THE BELL IS KNELLING,-(HOOD) 190 "OH, VERY, VERY DREARY IS THE ROOM THOMAS HOOD. Thomas Hood. [THOMAS HOOD was born in London in 1798. He was educated for the Thomas Hood died in May 1845. The breadth and richness of his comic WITH ALL THE DARK SOLEMNITIES WHICH SHOW THAT DEATH IS IN THE DWELLING."-T. HOOD. "WITH SWEET KIND NATURES, AS IN HONEYED CELLS, RELIGION LIVES."-THOMAS HOOD. THE BLUE, SIGNIFICANT FORGET-ME-NOT."-THOMAS HOOD. "FAITH IS A KIND OF PARASITIC PLANT, THAT GRASPS THE NEAREST STEM."-T. HOOD. "HOW SWEET THE SOUND OF VILLAGE BELLS, WHEN ON THE UNDULATING AIR THEY SWIM, FAINT NOW, AS FAREWELLS, AND TREMBLING ALL ABOUT THE BREEZY DELLS."-T. HOOD. "WITH SWEET KIND NATURES, RELIGION LIVES, AND FEELS HERSELF At home-(т. HOOD) 66 EVEN THE BRIGHT EXTREMES OF JOY-HOOD) THE RELIGION OF NATURE. 193 "Oh, but for one short hour! No blessed leisure for Love or Hope, A little weeping would ease my heart, But in their briny bed My tears must stop, for every drop Hinders needle and thread!" With fingers weary and worn, Stitch! stitch! stitch! In poverty, hunger, and dirt, And still with a voice of dolorous pitch- She sang this "Song of the Shirt." [This pathetic poem first appeared in the columns of Punch, and immediately attracted the attention of the public. Its influence was so great that it led to the adoption of several measures for the amelioration of the condition of distressed seamstresses. Its power is mainly due to its sim plicity.] BUT ONLY ON A FORMAL VISIT DWELLS WHERE WASPS HAVE FORMED THE COMB."-T. HOOD. THE RELIGION OF NATURE. HRICE blessèd is the man with whom The gracious prodigality of nature, The balm, the bliss, the beauty, and the bloom, BRING ON CONCLUSIONS OF DISGUST."-T. HOOD. |