To slumber in the carriage more secure, | For I have loved the rural walk through lanes 110 Of grassy swarth close cropped by nibbling sheep, And skirted thick with intertexture firm Of thorny boughs; have loved the rural walk Of hours] that sorrow since has much endeared, | Disdains not, nor the palate undepraved 125 By culinary arts unsavoury deems. | No Sofa then awaited my return ;| Youth repairs Incurring short fatigue ; and though our years) 130 As life declines, | speed rapidly away,) And not a year] but pilfers) as he goes | Some youthful grace) that age would gladly keep, | Their length and colour from the locks) they spare ;] 135 The elastic spring of an unwearied foot) That mounts the stile with ease, or leaps the fence,] Fast locked in mine, with pleasure such as love, But genuine,] and art partner of them all.] 155 Has slackened to a pause, and we have borne 131. "And [though there is] not a year, but [he]pilfers," &c.-Concessional sentence to the principal contained in lines 135 to 140. 140. Mine-Scil. my years. 142. No longer young; agreeing with I. 144. Witness-Bear witness, not observe. 150. Thou knowest my praise of nature to be most sincere. 1 Mrs. Unwin. C While admiration feeding at the eye, And still unsated, dwelt upon the scene, Thence with what pleasure have we just discerned 160 The distant plough slow moving, and beside His labouring team,) that swerved not from the track, | Here Ouse, slow winding through a level plain Of spacious meads with cattle sprinkled o'er, 165 Conducts the eye along his sinuous course Delighted. There, fast rooted in their bank Stand, never overlooked, our favourite elms, | That screen the herdsman's solitary hut ; | While far beyond, and overthwart the stream,) 170 That, as with molten glass, inlays the vale, | The sloping land recedes into the clouds ; Displaying on its varied side the grace Of hedgerow beauties numberless, square tower, Tall spire,) from which the sound of cheerful bells 175 Just undulates upon the listening ear; | Groves, heaths, and smoking villages remote.) Scenes must be beautiful | which daily viewed Please daily, and whose novelty survives Long knowledge and the scrutiny of years: | 180 Praise justly due to those] that I describe. | Nor rural sights alone, but rural sounds Exhilarate the spirit, and restore The tone of languid nature.] Mighty winds,) 169. Beyond and overthwart the stream-Overthwart is a compound of over, and athwart, not differing in meaning from either of the two compounds. The pleonasm is still heightened by the addition of be- 180. [This is] praise. 190 Nor less composure waits upon the roar Of distant floods, or on the softer voice Of neighbouring fountain, or of rills that slip Through the cleft rock, and chiming) as they fall Upon loose pebbles, lose themselves at length 195 In matted grass,] that with a livelier green Betrays the secret of their silent course. | Nature inanimate employs sweet sounds,] But animated nature sweeter still To soothe and satisfy the human ear.] 200 Ten thousand warblers cheer the day, and one But cawing rooks, and kites) that swim sublime 205 The jay, the pie, and even the boding owl) 210 That hails the rising moon, | have charms for me.) Peace to the artist,] whose ingenious thought 215 When Winter soaks the fields, and female feet, At such a season, and with such a charge, 220 Once went I forth, and found, till then unknown, A cottage,] whither oft we since repair | : 'Tis perched upon the green-hill top, but close 190. Nor-Equivalent to but not. Composure waits upon the roar of floods, i.c., it results from the roar of floods. 203. Sublime-The Latin sublimis, high, in a literal, not a metaphorical sense. Environed with a ring of branching elms) From such unpleasing sounds) as haunt the ear 230 In village or in town, | the bay of curs Incessant, clinking hammers, grinding wheels, Its elevated site forbids the wretch 240 To drink sweet waters of the crystal well;| 223. Close environed, &c.-Enlargement to Subj. itself. 225. So thick [is it] beset. 227. That I called, &c.-Adv. Sent. after correlative so. 228. As it is [hidden]—Hidden and remote both qualify the Obj. covert. 246. And his last crust consumed.-Nom. absolute. To join this with the adjectives angry, and sad, as another qualification of he, is a somewhat loose grammatical construction, but allowable in poetry. 247. So [thou] envy of the peasants' nest, farewell. 251. Mine abode-Mine, for my, to avoid the hiatus; thus, in "mine host." |