Nor stagnant mires where hoggets take delight;
But all is comfortable, neat, and clean,
In whiteness smiling on the rustic scene.
Shaded by yonder elms and stately birch,
How unassuming stands the Parish Church!
No haughty spire it bears, but it can boast
"Beauty, when unadorned, adorned the most."
The thrifty fathers of the hamlet seem
All outward show superfluous to deem,
And think the Church's power to guard from sin
Lies less in style without than strength within.
Behind that wall o'er which the alders peep,
Elders and juniors both together sleep—
In the lone silent "rest that knows no breaking," Till summoned to a blest or awful waking.
Those distant cabins skirt the Village Green, Where nimble youngsters at their plays are seen; Some fling the stone, while others leap the pole, And some with well-skill'd science aim the bowl. There, too, the more expert at quoits are tried, And learn to foster emulative pride.
Thus were the youths to active sports inured,
And taught the toil that after-life endured,
And thus served pastime, in each pleasing game,
To nurture vigour, and to nerve the frame.
A murmuring rivulet flows through the lea,
Meandering from the mountains to the sea,
Whose foam-crown'd billows beat upon the shore,
Just two miles off,--by road 'tis scarcely more.
That brook supplies the wheelrace of our mill,
Whose pond in Summer it can barely fill.
A ruined footbridge scarce connects the road,
So through the stream must pass the farmer's load.
In childhood I remember the wild lea,
That scarce debarred incursions of the sea,
The farmer's homestead, and its yellow thatch,
The yard unfenc'd, with byre and barn to match.
In boyhood-still improving, I could find
The walled-in gardens-offices behind,
Increasing haggards, meliorated grounds,
And trenches filled with deturbated mounds.
If partial vacancy occurred elsewhere-
If sad desertion came through want of care;
My native vale! thy recent face displays
A charm beyond my pencil or its praise.
Where late the low-thatched cabin held its place,
A stately mansion serves the site to grace;
Where narrow borheen met the stranger's eye,
The well-wall'd walk doth now its room supply;
And the rude bawn, its dung-heap, and its mire,
Are gone the where we scarcely need inquire.
This is not in some solitary case;
'Tis everywhere-I scarce could name its place.
Improvement has been rapid in its flight—
Here in its loveliness, and there in might;
Even Architecture, in its simple way,
Has here asserted, and been granted sway.
Such are the main complexions of our vale,
The scene of many a wild and merry tale.
Now turn we to its master-spirits.
We find a task that calls forth all our care;
But we shall sketch in Truth, and Envy's censure dare.
Who claims the mansion hid in yonder dale,
As if it scorned to grace the humble vale,—
With turrets crowned, and fronted by a lawn,
Where browse two doer, and skips a nimble fawn?
There dwells the parish Pastor; thence he sees
How thrives his flock, and how improve his peas;
For he's a shepherd, and a gard❜ner both;
And even to farm is sometimes nothing loth,
When neighbours can their men and cattle spare
To till his fields without his helping care.
He is a man of stern and restless eye, That rather shuns than seeks the passer-by; His features cold-(his hair just ting'd with age)Betokening more the stoic than the sage.
No heart grows warm to know the Rector near; He claims respect, though few esteem him dear; His conduct can defy a single flaw;
He does his duty, and fulfils the law.
No works of supererogation were
Laid to his charge, through twenty years of care;
His sermons every year he wadeth through,
Then turns them over, and begins anew;
Thus many a clown, unaided by a note,
Can preach last Sabbath's sermon off by rote.
When Summer's bright and sunny days are o'er, And Nature spreads around her Autumn store, The Rector is not chary of a walk,
But quite familiar grows, and fond of talk.
He likes to hear the farmer calculate
How much will profit yonder stacks of wheat,
How much his oats-how much his barley yields,
And what the produce of his other fields.
All these he loves to hear,-'tis scarce a fault,
For tithe, no doubt, is distant from his thought.
The Preacher is no bigot in his creed;
He's quite a liberal in word and deed.
On terms of friendship stand the Priest and he,
Displaying thus true Christian charity;
And though they wage a controversial war,
They'll drive together on each other's car;
Thus, while the Parson argues with the Priest,
They both forget to fast, and oft together feast.
See you that tall neglected looking pile,
The meek remains of elegance and style,
Whose roof is raised above the lowly town,
On which its philosophic head looks down;
Whose window panes, with copies neatly patched,
And lettered sign-board to the front attached,
(Even if no sash reclined on slate or rule,)
Proclaim that stately house the Village School.
There, on his creaky seat, in sovereign ease,
The village Teacher all his charge surveys;
A man of silvery locks and solemn face,
Whose years alone exalt the master's place.
His careful glance goes round the well-filled room,
Portentous, now of mirth, and now of gloom;
He smiles one moment-(he is never vext
To hear a well-read chapter),—and the next
Frowns, as the busy noise too loud becomes
Of reading primers, and of working sums.
No wonder if the labouring pen should fail,
That mansion's inside splendours to detail;
Still it must seize each best-apparent plan,
From things of chance to character the man.
Behind the door is nailed a bonnet rack,
Above the fire a large Sheet Almanack;
Along the wall in goodly order set,
Of various sizes hangs the Alphabet,
While copy-books, in wild profusion flung,
Are "Universals" loosely thrown among,
Desks ranged with forms extend in triple rows,
Whose ink-dyed surfaces their use disclose,
The high tribunal stands in state, alone,
Bearing the great man's chair, his awful throne,
Where, with his sceptre, a rough ashen rod,
The trembling urohins quake beneath his nod,
Who to their seats in terror shrink appalled,
Arrived too late to hear the roll o'ercalled,
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