Stop thief! stop thief! — a highwayman! Not one of them was mute; And all and each that pass'd that way Did join in the pursuit. And now the turnpike gates again Flew open in short space; That Gilpin rode a race. And so he did, and won it too, Nor stopp'd till where he had got up Now let us sing, long live the king, And Gilpin long live he; And when he next doth ride abroad, May I be there to see! Cowper. 27.-TO THE SMALL CELANDINE. PANSIES, lilies, kingcups, daisies, They will have a place in story: Eyes of some men travel far For the finding of a star; Up and down the heavens they go, Men that keep a mighty rout I'm as great as they, I trow, Since the day I found thee out, Modest, yet withal an Elf Bold, and lavish of thyself; Since we needs must first have met I have seen thee, high and low, Thirty years or more and yet, 'Twas a face I did not know; Thou hast now, go where I may, Fifty greetings in a day. Ere a leaf is on a bush, In the time before the thrush Thou wilt come with half a call, Telling tales about the Sun, When we've little warmth, or none. Poets, vain men in their mood! Travel with the multitude: Never heed them; I aver That they all are wanton wooers; But the thrifty cottager, Who stirs little out of doors, Joys to spy thee near her home; Comfort have thou of thy merit, Careless of thy neighbourhood, Thou dost show thy pleasant face On the moor and in the wood, Ill befal the yellow flowers, They have done as worldlings do, Prophet of delight and mirth, Ill-requited upon earth; Herald of a mighty band, Of a joyous train ensuing, I will sing as doth behove, Hymns in praise of what I love! Wordsworth. THE shades of night were falling fast, Excelsior! His brow was sad; his eye beneath Flashed like a faulchion from its sheath, And like a silver clarion rung The accents of that unknown tongue, In happy homes he saw the light 66 Excelsior! Try not the Pass!" the old man said, "Dark lowers the tempest overhead, "The roaring torrent is deep and wide!” And loud that clarion voice replied, Excelsior! "O stay!" the maiden said, "and rest Thy weary head upon this breast!" 66 A tear stood in his bright blue eye, "Beware the pine-trees withered branch! "Beware the awful avalanche!" This was the peasant's last good night! At break of day, as heavenward A traveller, by the faithful hound, There, in the twilight cold and gray, And from the sky, serene and far, Longfellow. 29. YE MARINERS OF ENGLAND. YE Mariners of England, That guard our native seas; Whose flag has braved a thousand The battle and the breeze! years, Your glorious standard launch again, And sweep through the deep, While the storm winds do blow; While the battle rages loud and long, The spirits of your fathers Shall start from every wave! For the deck it was their field of fame, And Ocean was their grave; Where Blake and mighty Nelson fell, Britannia needs no bulwarks, No towers along the steep; Her march is o'er the mountain-waves, Her home is on the deep. With thunders on her native oak, She quells the floods below, |