116 ΤΟ So looked Cecilia when she drew But hand and voice alike are still; That rose, and now forgets to rise, Mute strains from worlds beyond the skies, [Written at Rydal Mount. Prompted by the undue importance attached to personal beauty by some dear friends of mine.] LOOK at the fate of summer flowers, Which blow at daybreak, droop ere even-song; t Compare Dryden's Ode to St Cecilia, or Alexander's Feast"He" (Timotheus) "raised a mortal to the skies." "She" (Cecilia) "drew an angel down." + Compare Robert Herrick's poem To Daffodils— "Fair daffodils, we weep to see You haste away so soon; As yet the early rising sun Until the hasting day Has run But to the even-song," &c. See also his poem To Blossoms.—ED. -ED. TO And, grieved for their brief date, confess that ours, If human Life do pass away, Perishing yet more swiftly than the flower, The deepest grove whose foliage hid Then shall love teach some virtuous Youth " To draw, out of the object of his eyes,' 2 The while on thee they gaze in simple truth, That dreads not age, nor suffers from the worm, 117 1827. 1827. 118 A FLOWER GARDEN. A FLOWER GARDEN, AT COLEORTON HALL, LEICESTERSHIRE.1 Comp. 1824. Pub. 1827. [Planned by my friend, Lady Beaumont, in connection with the garden at Coleorton.] TELL me, ye Zephyrs! that unfold, Did only softly-stealing hours There close the peaceful lives of flowers? Say, when the moving creatures saw For the still growths that prosper here? Or peeped they often from their beds All summer-long the happy Eve Of this fair Spot her flowers may bind, A flower garden. 1827. * The flower garden was constructed below the terrace to the east of the Hall.-ED. A FLOWER GARDEN. From the next glance she casts, to find Yet, where the guardian fence is wound, And, though the jealous turf refuse 3 And hither throngs of birds resort; So subtly is the eye beguiled It sees not nor suspects a bound. 1827. 119 MS. copy sent by Mrs Wordsworth to Free as the light in semblance crost. 1827. MS. copy sent by Mrs Wordsworth to 120 TO THE LADY E. B. AND THE HON. MISS P. Apt emblem (for reproof of pride) Of modest kindness, that would hide Thus spake the moral Muse-her wing She left that farewell offering,1 Memento for some docile heart; That may respect the good old age In a letter from Mrs Wordsworth to Lady Beaumont, dated "Rydal Mount, Feb. 28" (1824), the following occurs : "This garden is made out of Lady Caroline Price's, and your own, combining the recommendations of both. Like you, I enjoy the beauty of flowers, but do not carry my admiration so far as my sister, not to feel how very troublesome they are. I have more pleasure in clearing away thickets, and making such arrangements as produced the Winter Garden, and these sweet glades behind Coleorton Church." -ED. TO THE LADY E. B. AND THE HON. MISS P. [In this Vale of Meditation my friend Jones resided, having been allowed by his diocesan to fix himself there without resigning his Living in Oxfordshire. He was with my wife and daughter and me when we 1 1827. this farewell offering MS. copy sent by Mrs Wordsworth to * Plass Newidd is close to Llangollen, a small cottage a quarter of a mile to the south of the town. The ladies referred to in the Fenwick note, Lady Eleanor Butler and the Hon. Miss Ponsonby, formed a romantic |