A man he was to all the country dear, 50 And passing* rich with forty pounds a year; Remote from towns he ran his godly race,

*

Passing, exceedingly.

Forty pounds a

Nor e'er had changed, nor wished to change, his year was the acplace.

Unskilful he to fawn,* or seek for power,

tual income of the Rev. Charles Goldsmith, the poet's father. Remote, at a distance, removed. Fawn, to court favour, to flatter. Far other, far

By doctrines fashioned to the varying hour;
55 Far other* aims his heart had learned 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 different.

pain.

The long-remembered beggar was his guest,
60 Whose beard descending swept his aged breast;
The ruined spendthrift, now no longer proud,
Claimed kindred there, and had his claim allowed;
The broken soldier,* kindly bade to stay,
Sat by his fire and talked the night away,
65 Wept o'er his wounds, or, tales of sorrow done,
Shouldered his crutch, and showed how fields

were won!

Pleased with his guests, the good man learned to
glow,*

And quite forgot their vices, in their woe; Careless their merits or their faults to scan,' 70 His pity gave, ere charity began.

*

Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride,
And e'en his failings leaned to virtue's side;
But, in his duty prompt at every call,

*

He watched and wept, he prayed and felt for all : 75 And, as a bird each fond endearment tries

*

To tempt her new-fledged offspring to the skies,
He tried each art, reproved each dull delay,
Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way.
Beside the bed where parting life was laid,
80 And sorrow, guilt, and pain, by turns dismayed,
The reverend champion stood. At his control,
Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul;
Comfort came down* the trembling wretch to
raise,

85

And his last faltering accents whispered praise.
At church, with meek and unaffected grace,
His looks adorned the venerable place;
Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway;
And fools, who came to scoff,* remained to pray.
The service past, around the pious man,
90 With ready zeal, each honest rustic* ran;

*

Bent, inclined.
Vagrant, beg-
ging, wandering,
houseless.
Chid, reproved,
rebuked.

Spendthrift, one

who wastes his
property.
Broken soldier,
crippled in war.

Wile, a sly trick. Even children followed with endearing wile,*
And plucked his gown, to share the good man's

smile:

His ready smile a parent's warmth expressed,
Their welfare pleased him, and their cares dis-
tressed;

To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given,
But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven :
As some tall cliff,* that lifts its awful * form,
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the

storm;

Though round its breast the rolling clouds are
spread,

Eternal* sunshine settles on its head.

Beside yon* straggling * fence that skirts the
way,

glee

With blossomed furze* unprofitably gay,
There, in his noisy mansion, skilled to rule,
The village master taught his little school.
A man severe he was, and stern to view;
I knew him well, and every truant knew ;
Well had the boding * tremblers learned to trace
The day's disasters in his morning face:
Full well they laughed with counterfeited *
At all his jokes, for many a joke had he:
Full well the busy whisper, circling round,
Conveyed the dismal tidings when he frowned.
Yet he was kind, or if severe in aught,
The love he bore to learning was in fault;
The village all declared how much he knew-
'Twas certain he could write and cipher * too;
Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage,*
And e'en the story ran that he could gauge."
In arguing, too, the parson owned his skill,

*

95

100

105

ΠΙΟ

115

For e'en though vanquished,* he could argue still; 120
While words of learned length and thundering

sound

Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around:
And still they gazed,* and still the wonder grew
That one small head should carry all he knew.
But past is all his fame. The very spot *
Where many a time he triumphed is forgot

125

YOUTH AND AGE.-Coleridge.

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772-1834) was the son of a Devonshire clergyman, and was educated at Christ's Hospital and Cambridge. He was strongly influenced in his poetry by his philosophical studies, and had an intellect of extraordinary range. Chief poems: Genevieve, The Ancient Mariner, Christabel, and Odes.

5

YOUTH, a breeze 'mid blossoms straying,
Where Hope clung feeding, like a bee—
Both were mine! Life went a Maying,
With Nature, Hope, and Poesy,

When I was young!
When I was young-Ah, woful When !
Ah! for the change 'twixt Now and Then!
This breathing house* not built with hands,
This body that does me grievous* wrong,
1Ο O'er airy cliffs and glittering sands,

How lightly then it flashed along :-
Like those trim skiffs,* unknown of yore,*
On winding lakes and rivers wide,
That ask no aid * of sail or oar,

15 That fear no spite of wind or tide!

20

Nought cared this body for wind or weather,
When Youth and I lived in't together.

Flowers are lovely; Love is flower-like;
Friendship is a sheltering tree;
Oh the joys, that came down shower-like,
Of Friendship, Love, and Liberty,

Ere I was old!

Ere I was old? Ah, woful Ere,
Which tells me, Youth's no longer here!

25 0 Youth! for years so many and sweet,
"Tis known that thou and I were one,
I'll think it but a fond conceit *.
It cannot be, that thou art gone!
Thy vesper-bell * hath not yet tolled,
30 And thou wert aye* a masker * bold!
What strange disguise hast thou put on,
To make believe, that thou art gone?
I see these locks in silvery slips,
This drooping gait,* this altered size :
35 But springtide blossoms on thy lips,
And tears take sunshine from thine eyes!
Life is but thought: so think I will
That Youth and I are housemates still.

EDGAR ALLAN POE (1811-1849) was an American poet, and possessed of considerable originality. He was the son of a strolling player, on whose death he was adopted by Mr. Allan, a rich merchant. He died from the effects of intemperance and dissipation.

Sledge,

a carriage

made for sliding upon

snow.

HEAR the sledges * with the bells *-
Silver bells!

The bells, when heard What a world of merriment* their melody foretells!

in the frosty air,

have a merry tinkling sound.

Merriment, rejoicing.

Crystalline, clear; sparkling like crystal.

Runic rhyme, a rhyme

How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that over-sprinkle
All the heavens seem to twinkle
With a crystalline * delight;
Keeping time, time, time,

In a sort of Runic rhyme,*

peculiar to the lan- To the tintinnabulation * that so musically wells

guage of the ancient

northern nations.

Tintinnabulation,

tinkling.

From the bells, bells, bells, bells,

Bells, bells, bells,

From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

Hear the mellow wedding bells,

Golden bells!

5

IO

15

Harmony, musical What a world of happiness their harmony* foretells!

concord.

Through the balmy air of night

How they ring out their delight!
From the molten golden notes,
And all in tune,

What a liquid ditty * floats

To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats

On the moon!

Oh, from out the sounding cells,

What a gush of euphony* voluminously * wells!

25

30

How it swells!

How it dwells

On the Future! how it tells

Of the rapture * that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,

Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells-

35 To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!

In a clamorous* appealing to the mercy of the

fire,

45 In a mad expostulation* with the deaf and frantic * fire,

50

55

60

65

Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a resolute endeavour
Now-now to sit, or never,

By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!

What a tale their terror tells

Of Despair!

How they clang, and clash, and roar !*

What a horror they outpour

On the bosom of the palpitating* air!

Yet the ear it fully knows,

By the twanging

And the clanging,

How the danger ebbs and flows;

Yet the ear distinctly tells,

In the jangling,

And the wrangling,

How the danger sinks and swells

By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of

the bells

Of the bells,

Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,

Bells, bells, bells,

Clamorous, noisy.

Expostulation, re

monstrance, Frantic, furious.

Palpitating, beating quickly, throbbing.

Clangour,

clashing

In the clamour and the clangour* of the bells! together."