Apt emblem (for reproof of pride) Of modest kindness, that would hide Thus spake the moral Muse-her wing 1824. III. [OBSERVED in the holly-grove at Alfoxden, where these verses were written in the spring of 1799. I had the pleasure of again seeing, with dear friends, this grove in unimpaired beauty forty-one years after.] A WHIRL-BLAST from behind the hill Rushed o'er the wood with startling sound; And showers of hailstones pattered round. Of tallest hollies, tall and green; And all the year the bower is green. 1799. IV. THE WATERFALL AND THE EGLANTINE. [SUGGESTED nearer to Grasmere, on the same mountain track as that referred to in the following Note. The Eglantine remained many years afterwards, but is now gone.] I. "BEGONE, thou fond presumptuous Elf," "Nor dare to thrust thy foolish self Between me and my choice!' A small Cascade fresh swoln with snows II. "Dost thou presume my course to block? I'll hurl thee headlong with the rock The Flood was tyrannous and strong; III. "Ah!" said the Briar, "blame me not; Why should we dwell in strife? We who in this sequestered spot Once lived a happy life! You stirred me on my rocky bed What pleasure through my veins you spread The summer long, from day to day, My leaves you freshened and bedewed; Nor was it common gratitude That did your cares repay. IV. When spring came on with bud and bell, Among these rocks did I Before you hang my wreaths to tell That gentle days were nigh! And in the sultry summer hours, I sheltered you with leaves and flowers; And in my leaves-now shed and gone, Had little voice or none. V. But now proud thoughts are in your breastWhat grief is mine you see, Ah! would you think, even yet how blest Together we might be! Though of both leaf and flower bereft, Some ornaments to me are left Rich store of scarlet hips is mine, With which I, in my humble way, VI. What more he said I cannot tell, 1800. THE OAK AND THE BROOM. A PASTORAL. [SUGGESTED upon the mountain pathway that leads from Upper Rydal to Grasmere. The ponderous block of stone, which is mentioned in the poem, remains, I believe, to this day, a good way up Nab-scar. Broom grows under it, and in many places on the side of the precipice.] I. His simple truths did Andrew glean A careful student he had been Among the woods and hills. One winter's night, when through the trees II. "I saw a crag, a lofty stone As ever tempest beat! Out of its head an Oak had grown, A Broom out of its feet. The time was March, a cheerful noon- |