But frost had reared the gorgeous Pile And, while I gazed, with sudden shock XII. [WHERE the second quarry now is, as you pass from Rydal to Grasmere, there was formerly a length of smooth rock that sloped towards the road, on the right hand. I used to call it Tadpole Slope, from having frequently observed there the water-bubbles gliding under the ice, exactly in the shape of that creature.] III. HAST thou seen, with flash incessant, Bubbles gliding under ice, Bodied forth and evanescent, No one knows by what device? Such are thoughts!-A wind-swept meadow Mimicking a troubled sea, Such is life; and death a shadow From the rock eternity! XIII. NEAR THE SPRING OF THE HERMITAGE. IV. TROUBLED long with warring notions What avails the kindly shelter Parching Summer hath no warrant Thus, dishonouring not her station, XIV. Y. Nor seldom, clad in radiant vest, The smoothest seas will sometimes prove, And, if she trust the stars above, The umbrageous Oak, in pomp outspread, But Thou art true, incarnate Lord, I bent before thy gracious throne, XV. FOR THE SPOT WHERE THE HERMITAGE STOOD ON ST. HERBERT'S ISLAND, DERWENT-WATER. If thou in the dear love of some one Friend Hast been so happy that thou know'st what thoughts Will sometimes in the happiness of love Make the heart sink, then wilt thou reverence This quiet spot; and, Stranger! not unmoved Here stood his threshold; here was spread the roof After long exercise in social cares A Fellow-labourer, whom the good Man loved While o'er the lake the cataract of Lodore 1800. XVI. ON THE BANKS OF A ROCKY STREAM. BEHOLD an emblem of our human mind Crowded with thoughts that need a settled home, Yet, like to eddying balls of foam Within this whirlpool, they each other chase Round and round, and neither find An outlet nor a resting-place! Stranger, if such disquietude be thine, Fall on thy knees and sue for help divine. SELECTIONS FROM CHAUCER MODERNISED. I. THE PRIORESS' TALE. 'Call up him who left half told In the following Poem no further deviation from the original has been made than was necessary for the fluent reading and instant understanding of the Author: so much, however, is the language altered since Chaucer's time, especially in pronunciation, that much was to be removed, and its place supplied with as little incongruity as possible. The ancient accent has been retained in a few conjunctions, as alsò and alwày, from a conviction that such sprinklings of antiquity would be admitted, by persons of taste, to have a graceful accordance with the subject. The fierce bigotry of the Prioress forms a fine back-ground for her tender-hearted sympathies with the Mother and Child; and the mode in which the story is told amply atones for the extravagance of the miracle. I. "O LORD, our Lord! how wondrously," (quoth she) Thy worship is performed and precious laud; |