From hence, ye beauties, undeceived, Not all that tempts your wandering eyes Gray. 151.-EPITAPH ON A TAME HARE.[1] Here lies whom hound did ne'er pursue, Nor swifter greyhound follow; Old Tiney, surliest of his kind, Who, nursed with tender care, Though duly from my hand he took He did it with a jealous look, And when he could, would bite. His diet was of wheaten bread, Thistles, or lettuces instead, With sand to scour his maw.[2] [1] Tiney and Puss were the names of two tame hares kept many years by the poet Cowper :-on the death of Tiney he wrote these lines as a memorial. [2] Maw-stomach. r On twigs of hawthorn he regaled, A Turkey carpet was his lawn, His frisking was at evening hours, Eight years, and five round rolling moons, Dozing out all his idle noons, And every night at play. I kept him for his humour's sake, My heart of thoughts that made it ache, But now beneath this walnut shade She, still more aged, feels the shocks, And, partner once of Tiney's box, Must soon partake his grave. Cowper. 152. FROM THE PERSIAN. On parent's knees, a naked new-born child, Weeping, thou sat'st, while all around thee smil'd; So live, that sinking in thy last sad sleep, Calm, thou may'st smile, while all around thee weep. Sir W. Jones. 153.-TIME. Time that is past, thou never canst recal; 154.-CHILDHOOD'S SPORTS. 'Neath yonder elm, that stands upon the moor, When the clock spoke the hour of labour o'er, What clam'rous throngs, what happy groups, were seen, In various postures scatt'ring o'er the green! T And for our warlike arms we sought the mead, We storm'd some ruin'd pigstye for a town. Kirke White. 155.-BETH-GELERT, OR THE GRAVE OF THE GREYHOUND. [1] The spearman heard the bugle sound, And many a brach, [2] and many a hound, And still he blew a louder blast, "Where does my faithful Gelert roam? "Twas only at Llewellyn's board The faithful Gelert fed; He watch'd, he serv'd, he cheer'd his lord, [1] The name of a village in North Wales. The circumstances narrated in this poem occurred in the reign of King John of England, when Llewellyn the Great was the independent Prince of North Wales. [2] Brach-a female hound. [3] Sentinel'd-watched as a sentinel. In sooth, he was a peerless hound, But now no Gelert could be found, And now, as over rocks and dells That day Llewellyn little loved Unpleased, Llewellyn homeward hied, Bounding his lord to greet. But when he gain'd his castle door, The hound was smear'd with drops of gore, Llewellyn gazed with wild surprise, [1] Royal John-King John of England. [2] Craggy chaos-confused mass of craggy rocks, which formed the mountain. [S] Portal seat-seat at the door of his castle. [4] Fangs-long tusks or teeth. [5] Guise-manner, appearance. |