Divine communion; both to live and move, in her our sins and sorrows past. XXXVII. INTENT on gathering wool from hedge and brake, A poor old Dame will bless them for the boon: To pleasure snatched for reckless pleasure's sake. The silent thoughts that search for steadfast light, March 8th, 1842. XXXVIII. A PLEA FOR AUTHORS, MAY, 1838. FAILING impartial measure to dispense And social Justice, stripped of reverence For natural rights, a mockery and a shaine; ! XXXIX. VALEDICTORY SONNET. Closing the Volume of Sonnets published in 1838. SERVING no haughty Muse, my hands have here Disposed some cultured Flowerets (drawn from spots Where they bloomed singly, or in scattered knots), Each kind in several beds of one parterre ; Both to allure the casual Loiterer, And that, so placed, my Nurslings may requite Through It have won a passage to thy heart; XL. TO THE REV. CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, D.D., MASTER OF HARROW SCHOOL, After the perusal of his Theophilus Anglicanus, recently published. ENLIGHTENED Teacher, gladly from thy hand may these lessons be with profit scanned To thy heart's wish, thy labor blest by God! So the bright faces of the young and gay Shall look more bright, the happy, happier still; Catch, in the pauses of their keenest play, Motions of thought which elevate the will, And, like the Spire that from your classic Hill XLI. TO THE PLANET VENUS, Upon its approximation (as an Evening Star) to the Earth, Jan. 1838. WHAT strong allurement draws, what spirit guides, Thee, Vesper! brightening still, as if the nearer Thou com'st to man's abode the spot grew dearer But are we aught enriched in love and meekness? Aught dost thou see, bright Star! of pure and wise More than in humbler times graced human story; That makes our hearts more apt to sympathize With heaven, our souls more fit for future glory, When earth shall vanish from our closing eyes, Ere we lie down in our last dormitory? XLII. WANSFELL!* this Household has a favored lot, Living with liberty on thee to gaze, To watch while Morn first crowns thee with her rays, Or when along thy breast serenely float * The Hill that rises to the southeast, above Ambleside Thy visionary majesties of light, How in thy pensive glooms our hearts found rest. Dec 24, 1842. XLIII. WHILE beams of orient light shoot wide and high, Deep in the vale a little rural Town* Breathes forth a cloud-like creature of its own, Hangs o'er its Parent waking to the cares, Endears that Lingerer. And how blest her sway IN XLIV. my mind's eye a Temple, like a cloud Slowly surmounting some invidious hill Rose out of darkness: the bright Work stood still; And might of its own beauty have been proud, * Ambleside. |