A time there was, ere England's griefs began,
When every rood of ground maintain’d its man:
For him light Labor spread her wholesome store,
Just gave what life required, but gave no more;
His best companions, innocence and health;
And his best riches, ignorance of wealth.

But times are alter'd: Trade's unfeeling train
Usurp the land, and dispossess the swain.
Along the lawn where scatter'd hamlets rose,
Unwieldy wealth and cumbrous pomp repose,
And every want to luxury allied,

And every pang that folly pays to pride.
Those gentle hours that Plenty bade to bloom;
Those calm desires that ask'd but little room;

60

65

70

Those healthful sports that graced the peaceful scene,

Lived in each look, and brighten'd all the green,—

These, far departing, seek a kinder shore;

And rural mirth and manners are no more.
Sweet Auburn, parent of the blissful hour!
Thy glades forlorn confess the tyrant's power.
Here as I take my solitary rounds

Amidst thy tangling walks and ruin'd grounds,

Norrs.-58. maintain'd, sup-76. the tyrant's power. This

ported.

65. lawn, plain.

76. confess, show.

also refers to the oppres

sion of the extensive land. holders.

ANALYSIS.-57. Dispose of there and ere.

59. light Labor, etc.

60. Just gave, etc.

What figure?

Should this not be gave just, etc.?

61, 62. Supply the ellipsis.

63. are alter'd. Give present form.
63, 64. What figure in these lines?

66. What figure in this line?

67, 68. Dispose of want and pang.

69. Plenty bade. What figure?

69-71. Give construction of hours, desires, sports.

76. glades forlorn. Dispose of forlorn.

77. What does Here modify?

Give the meaning of take my solitary rounds.

75

And, many a year elapsed, return to view
Where once the cottage stood, the hawthorn grew,
Remembrance wakes with all her busy train,
Swells at my breast, and turns the past to pain.
In all my wanderings round this world of care,
In all my griefs-and God has given my share-
I still had hopes, my latest hours to crown,
Amidst these humble bowers to lay me down;
To husband out life's taper at the close,
And keep the flame from wasting by repose;
I still had hopes, for pride attends us still,
Amidst the swains to show my book-learn'd skill,
Around my fire an evening group to draw,
And tell of all I felt, and all I saw;
And, as a hare whom hounds and horns pursue,
Pants to the place from whence at first he flew,
I still had hopes, my long vexations past,
Here to return,-and die at home at last.

O blest retirement, friend to life's decline,
Retreats from care, that never must be mine!
How blest is he who crowns, in shades like these,
A youth of labor with an age of ease;
Who quits a world where strong temptations try,
And, since 'tis hard to combat, learns to fly!
For him no wretches, born to work and weep,
Explore the mine or tempt the dangerous deep;

ANALYSIS.-79. Dispose of elapsed.

....

81. Remembrance.. train. Explain the line and give the figure. 87. To husband out life's tuper. What figure?

90. Transpose this line.

92. Dispose of tell.

93, 94. Criticise these lines according to modern usage

95, 96. These two lines seem to express what has before been ex

pressed in lines 83-88.

97. O blest retirement. What figure?

98. must. Would the word can express the meaning here?

99. who crowns, etc. What figures?

101, 102. Explain these lines.

103. To what does him refer?

100

95

Nor surly porter stands in guilty state,
To spurn imploring famine from the gate:
Bu. on he moves to meet his latter end,
Angels around befriending Virtue's friend;
Sinks to the grave with unperceived decay,
While resignation gently slopes the way;
And, all his prospects brightening to the last,
His Heaven commences ere the world be past.
Sweet was the sound, when oft, at evening's close,
Up yonder hill the village murmur rose;
There, as I pass'd with careless steps and slow,
The mingling notes came soften'd from below:
The swain responsive as the milkmaid sung,
The sober herd that low'd to meet their young,
The noisy geese that gabbled o'er the pool,
The playful children just let loose from school,

104

110

115

120

The watch-dog's voice that bay'd the whispering wind,
And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind,—
These all in sweet confusion sought the shade,
And fill'd each pause the nightingale had made.
But now the sounds of population fail;
No cheerful murmurs fluctuate in the gale;

125

confusion
proached.

NOTES.-121. bay'd, barked at. 122. that spoke, etc., that indicated, etc.

123. sweet confusion....shade; that is, were all heard in

as night ap

124. each pause, etc., each intermission in the night. ingale's song.

ANALYSIS.-104. Give the meaning of the line.

106. imploring famine. What figure? Explain the line. 107. What does the line mean?

110. resignation.. slopes. What figure?

112. Dispose of ere, and explain the line.

113, 114. Rewrite the lines in prose order.

115. What is the meaning of careless as used here?

116. Dispose of below.

118. sober herd. What figure?

125. sounds of population fail. Explain.

126. Auctuate in the gale. What is the meaning?

No busy steps the grass-grown footway tread;
For all the blooming flush of life is fled,-
All but yon widow'd, solitary thing

That feebly bends beside the plashy spring:

She, wretched matron; forced in age, for bread,
To strip the brook with mantling cresses spread,
To pick her wintry fagot from the thorn,
To seek her nightly shed, and weep till morn,-
She only left of all the harmless train,
The sad historian of the pensive plain!

Near yonder copse, where once the garden smiled,
And still where many a garden-flower grows wild,—
There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose,
The village preacher's modest mansion rose.
A man he was to all the country dear,

And passing rich with forty pounds a year.
Remote from towns he ran his godly race,

130

135

140

Nor e'er had changed, nor wished to change, his place
Unpracticed he to fawn, or seek for power.

115

By doctrines fashion'd to the varying hour;

NOTES.-137. copse, woods of | 142. passing, moderately. small growth; brush. 147. far other, far higher.

ANALYSIS.-128. Give the meaning of blooming

Modernize. What figure in the line?

129. Dispose of but.

131. for bread. Show what it modifies.

134. For what is the word morn a substitute? What figure of

orthography?

131-135. Dispose of the word she in each line.

136 Dispose of the word historian.

137 What figure in the line?

14C mansion. What does the word mean here?

142 Parse the word passing.

113. he ran his godly race. What figure?

144. Explain the line.

145. Give the meaning of fawn here.

146. fashion'd to. Explain.

Far other aims his heart had learn'd to prize, —
More bent to raise the wretched than to rise.
His house was known to all the vagrant train:
He chid their wanderings, but relieved their pain.
The long-remember'd beggar was his guest,
Whose beard, descending, swept his aged breast;
The ruin'd spendthrift, now no longer proud,
Claimed kindred there, and had his claims allow'd;
The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay,
Sat by his fire, and talk'd the night away,
Wept o'er his wounds, or, tales of sorrow done,

150

155

Shoulder'd his crutch and show'd how fields were won.

Pleased with his guests, the good man learn'd to glow,
And quite forgot their vices in their woe:
Careless their merits or their faults to scan,

160

His pity gave ere charity began.

Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride;

And e'en his failings lean'd to virtue's side.
But in his duty, prompt at every call,

165

He watch'd and wept, he pray'd and felt, for all;
And, as a bird each fond endearment tries

To tempt its new-fledged offspring to the skies,
He tried each art, reproved each dull delay,
Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way.

170

Beside the bed where parting life was laid,

And sorrow, guilt, and pain, by turns dismay'd,

NOTES.-149. vagrant train, trav- | 159. learn'd to glow, became eling vagrants, tramps.

animated.

ANALYSIS.-148. What does the line modify?
155. Meaning of broken soldier?

158. show'd how fields were won,

What figure?

162. Dispose of the word ere.

163. What is the predicate of this sentence?

164. Dispose of the word e'en.

167. as a bird, etc. What figure?

167-170. Analyze this sentence.