the home book of verse-4-第2部分
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Up rose the Reverend Doctor Brown;
Up rose the Doctor's 〃winsome marrow〃;
The lady laid her knitting down;
Her husband clasped his ponderous Barrow;
Whate'er the stranger's caste or creed;
Pundit or papist; saint or sinner;
He found a stable for his steed;
And welcome for himself; and dinner。
If; when he reached his journey's end;
And warmed himself in court or college;
He had not gained an honest friend;
And twenty curious scraps of knowledge; …
If he departed as he came;
With no new light on love or liquor; …
Good sooth; the traveller was to blame;
And not the Vicarage; nor the Vicar。
His talk was like a stream which runs
With rapid change from rocks to roses;
It slipped from politics to puns;
It passed from Mahomet to Moses;
Beginning with the laws which keep
The planets in their radiant courses;
And ending with some precept deep
For dressing eels or shoeing horses。
He was a shrewd and sound divine;
Of loud Dissent the mortal terror;
And when; by dint of page and line;
He 'stablished Truth; or startled Error;
The Baptist found him far too deep;
The Deist sighed with saving sorrow;
And the lean Levite went to sleep
And dreamed of tasting pork to…morrow。
His sermon never said or showed
That Earth is foul; that Heaven is gracious;
Without refreshment on the road
From Jerome; or from Athanasius;
And sure a righteous zeal inspired
The hand and head that penned and planned them;
For all who understood; admired;
And some who did not understand them。
He wrote; too; in a quiet way;
Small treatises; and smaller verses;
And sage remarks on chalk and clay;
And hints to noble lords and nurses;
True histories of last year's ghost;
Lines to a ringlet or a turban;
And trifles to the Morning Post;
And nothings for Sylvanus Urban。
He did not think all mischief fair;
Although he had a knack of joking;
He did not make himself a bear;
Although he had a taste for smoking;
And when religious sects ran mad;
He held; in spite of all his learning;
That if a man's belief is bad;
It will not be improved by burning。
And he was kind; and loved to sit
In the low hut or garnished cottage;
And praise the farmer's homely wit;
And share the widow's homelier pottage。
At his approach complaint grew mild;
And when his hand unbarred the shutter;
The clammy lips of Fever smiled
The welcome which they could not utter。
He always had a tale for me
Of Julius Caesar or of Venus;
From him I learned the rule of three;
Cat's…cradle; leap…frog; and Quae genus。
I used to singe his powdered wig;
To steal the staff he put such trust in;
And make the puppy dance a jig
When he began to quote Augustine。
Alack; the change! In vain I look
For haunts in which my boyhood trifled;
The level lawn; the trickling brook;
The trees I climbed; the beds I rifled。
The church is larger than before;
You reach it by a carriage entry:
It holds three hundred people more;
And pews are fitted up for gentry。
Sit in the Vicar's seat; you'll hear
The doctrine of a gentle Johnian;
Whose hand is white; whose voice is clear;
Whose phrase is very Ciceronian。
Where is the old man laid? Look down;
And construe on the slab before you:
〃Hic jacet Gulielmus Brown;
Vir nulla non donandus lauru。〃
Winthrop Mackworth Praed '1802…1839'
THE BELLE OF THE BALL…ROOM
Years; years ago; ere yet my dreams
Had been of being wise or witty;
Ere I had done with writing themes;
Or yawned o'er this infernal Chitty; …
Years; years ago; while all my joy
Were in my fowling…piece and filly;
In short; while I was yet a boy;
I fell in love with Laura Lilly。
I saw her at the County Ball;
There; when the sounds of flute and fiddle
Gave signal sweet in that old hall
Of hands across and down the middle;
Hers was the subtlest spell by far
Of all that sets young hearts romancing:
She was our queen; our rose; our star;
And then she danced; … oh; heaven; her dancing!
Dark was her hair; her hand was white;
Her voice was exquisitely tender;
Her eyes were full of liquid light;
I never saw a waist so slender;
Her every look; her every smile;
Shot right and left a score of arrows;
I thought 'twas Venus from her isle;
And wondered where she'd left her sparrows。
She talked of politics or prayers; …
Of Southey's prose; or Wordsworth's sonnets;
Of danglers or of dancing bears;
Of battles; or the last new bonnets;
By candle…light; at twelve o'clock;
To me it mattered not a tittle;
If those bright lips had quoted Locke;
I might have thought they murmured Little。
Through sunny May; through sultry June;
I loved her with a love eternal;
I spoke her praises to the moon;
I wrote them to the Sunday Journal。
My mother laughed; I soon found out
That ancient ladies have no feeling:
My father frowned; but how should gout
See any happiness in kneeling?
She was the daughter of a dean;
Rich; fat; and rather apoplectic;
She had one brother just thirteen;
Whose color was extremely hectic;
Her grandmother; for many a year;
Had fed the parish with her bounty;
Her second cousin was a peer;
And lord…lieutenant of the county。
But titles and the three…per…cents;
And mortgages; and great relations;
And India bonds; and tithes and rents;
Oh; what are they to love's sensations?
Black eyes; fair forehead; clustering locks; …
Such wealth; such honors; Cupid chooses;
He cares as little for the stocks;
As Baron Rothschild for the Muses。
She sketched; the vale; the wood; the beach;
Grew lovelier from her pencil's shading;
She botanized; I envied each
Young blossom in her boudoir fading:
She warbled Handel; it was grand; …
She made the Catilina jealous;
She touched the organ; I could stand
For hours and hours to blow the bellows。
She kept an album; too; at home;
Well filled with all an album's glories;
Paintings of butterflies and Rome;
Patterns for trimmings; Persian stories;
Soft songs to Julia's cockatoo;
Fierce odes to famine and to slaughter;
And autographs of Prince Leboo;
And recipes for elder…water。
And she was flattered; worshipped; bored;
Her steps were watched; her dress was noted;
Her poodle…dog was quite adored;
Her sayings were extremely quoted。
She laughed; and every heart was glad;
As if the taxes were abolished;
She frowned; and every took was sad;
As if the opera were demolished。
She smiled on many just for fun; …
I knew that there was nothing in it;
I was the first; the only one
Her heart had thought of for a minute。
I knew it; for she told me so;
In phrase which was divinely moulded;
She wrote a charming hand; and oh;
How sweetly all her notes were folded!
Our love was like most other loves; …
A little glow; a little shiver;
A rosebud and a pair of gloves;
And 〃Fly Not Yet;〃 upon the river;
Some jealousy of some one's heir;
Some hopes of dying broken…hearted;
A miniature; a lock of hair;
The usual vows; … and then we parted。
We parted: months and years rolled by;
We met again four summers after。
Our parting was all sob and sigh; …
Our meeting was all mirth and laughter;
For; in my heart's most secret cell;
There had been many other lodgers;
And she was not the ball…room's belle;
But only Mrs。 … Something … Rogers。
Winthrop Mackworth Praed '1802…1839'
THE FINE OLD ENGLISH GENTLEMAN
I'll sing you a good old song;
Made by a good old pate;
Of a fine old English gentleman
Who had an old estate;
And who kept up his old mansion
At a bountiful old rate;
With a good old porter to relieve
The old poor at his gate;
Like a fine old English gentleman
All of the olden time。
His hall so old was hung around
With pikes and guns and bows;
And swords; and good old bucklers;
That had stood some tough old blows;
'Twas there 〃his worship〃 held his state
In doublet and trunk hose;
And quaffed his cup of good old sack;
To warm his good old nose;
Like a fine old English gentleman
All of the olden time。
When winter's cold brought frost and snow;
He opened house to all;
And though threescore and ten his years;
He featly led the ball;
Nor was the houseless wanderer
E'er driven from his hall;
For while he feasted all the great;
He ne'er forgot the small;
Like a fine old English gentleman
All of the olden time。
But time; though old; is strong in flight;
And years rolled swiftly by;
And Autumn's falling leaves proclaimed
This good old man must die!
He laid him down right tranquilly;
Gave up life's latest sigh;
And mournful stillness reigned around;
And tears bedewed each eye;
For this fine old English gentleman
All of the olden time。
Now surely this is better far
Than all the new parade
Of theaters and fancy balls;
〃At home〃 and masquerade:
And much more economical;
For all his bills were paid;
Then leave your new vagaries quite;
And take up the old trade
Of a fine old English gentleman;
All of the olden time。
Unknown
A TERNARIE OF LITTLES; UPON A PIPKIN OF JELLY SENT TO A LADY
A Little Saint best fits a little Shrine;
A little Prop best fits a little Vine;
As my small Cruse best fits my little Wine。
A little Seed best fits a little Soil;
A little Trade best fits a little Toil;
As my small Jar best fits my little Oil。
A little Bin best fits a little Bread;
A little Garland fits a little Head;
As my small Stuff best fits my little Shed。
A little Hearth best fits a little Fire;
A little Chapel fits a little Quire;
As my small Bell best fits my little Spire。
A little Stream best fits a little Boat;
A little Lead best fits a little Float;
As my small Pipe best fits my little Note。
A little Meat best fits a little Belly;
As sweetly; lady; give me leave to tel