 | The Poetical Works of John Scott |  |
93
ECLOGUE I. RURAL SCENERY;
or, The Describers.
December's frost had bound the fields and streams,
And Noon's bright sun effus'd its chearful beams:
Where woodland, northward, screen'd a pleasant plain,
And on dry fern-banks brouz'd the fleecy train,
Two gentle youths, whom rural scenes could please,
Both skill'd to frame the tuneful rhyme with ease,
Charm'd with the prospect, slowly stray'd along,
Themselves amusing with alternate song.
And Noon's bright sun effus'd its chearful beams:
Where woodland, northward, screen'd a pleasant plain,
And on dry fern-banks brouz'd the fleecy train,
Two gentle youths, whom rural scenes could please,
Both skill'd to frame the tuneful rhyme with ease,
Charm'd with the prospect, slowly stray'd along,
Themselves amusing with alternate song.
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These pollard oaks their tawny leaves retain,
These hardy hornbeams yet unstripp'd remain;
The wintry groves all else admit the view
Thro' naked stems of many a varied hue.
SECOND.
Yon shrubby slopes a pleasing mixture show;
There the rough elm and smooth white privet grow,
Straight shoots of ash with bark of glossy grey,
Red cornel twigs, and maple's russet spray.
FIRST.
These stony steeps with spreading moss abound,
Grey on the trees, and green upon the ground;
With tangling brambles ivy interweaves,
And bright mezerion spreads its clust'ring leaves.
95
Old oaken stubs tough saplings there adorn,
There hedge-row plashes yield the knotty thorn;
The swain for different uses these avail,
And form the traveller's staff, the thresher's flail.
FIRST.
Where yon brown hazels pendent catkins bear,
And prickly furze unfolds its blossoms fair,
The vagrant artist oft at ease reclines,
And broom's green shoots in besoms neat combines.
SECOND.
See, down the hill, along the ample glade,
The new-fallen wood in even ranges laid!
There his keen bill the busy workman plies,
And bids in heaps his well-bound faggots rise.
96
Soon shall kind Spring her flowery gifts bestow,
On sunny banks when silver snowdrops blow,
And tufts of primrose all around are spread,
And purple violets all their fragrance shed.
SECOND.
The woods then white anemonies array,
And lofty sallows their sweet bloom display,
And spicy hyacinths azure bells unfold,
And crowfoot clothes the mead with shining gold.
FIRST.
Then soon gay Summer brings his gaudy train,
His crimson poppies deck the corn-clad plain;
There scabious blue , and purple knapweed rise,
And weld and yarrow show their various dyes.
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In shady lanes red foxglove bells appear,
And golden spikes the downy mulleins rear ;
Th' inclosure ditch luxuriant mallows hide,
And branchy succory crowds the pathway side.
FIRST.
Th' autumnal fields few pleasing plants supply,
Save where pale eyebright grows in pastures dry,
Or vervain blue, for magic rites renown'd,
And in the village precincts only found .
98
Th' autumnal hedges withering leaves embrown,
Save where wild climbers spread their silvery down ,
And rugged blackthorns bend with purple sloes,
And the green skewerwood seeds of scarlet shows .
FIRST.
When healthful sallads crown the board in spring,
And nymphs green parsley from the gardens bring,
Mark well lest hemlock mix its poisonous leaves—
Their semblance oft th' incautious eye deceives.
99
Warn, O ye Shepherds! warn the youth who play
On hamlet wastes, beside the public way;
There oft rank soils pernicious plants produce,
There nightshade's berry swells with deadly juice.
FIRST.
What varied scenes this pleasant country yields,
Form'd by th' arrangement fair of woods and fields!
On a green hillock, by the shady road,
My dwelling stands—a sweet recluse abode!
And o'er my darken'd casement intertwine
The fragrant briar, the woodbine, and the vine.
SECOND.
How different scenes our different tastes delight!
Some seek the hills, and some the vales invite.
Where o'er the brook's moist margin hazels meet,
Stands my lone home—a pleasant, cool retreat!
100
And tuneful reed-birds midst the sedges sing.
FIRST.
Before my door the box-edg'd border lies,
Where flowers of mint and thyme and tansy rise;
Along my wall the yellow stonecrop grows,
And the red houseleek on my brown thatch blows.
SECOND.
Among green osiers winds my stream away,
Where the blue halcyon skims from spray to spray,
Where waves the bulrush as the waters glide,
And yellow flag-flow'rs deck the sunny side.
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Spread o'er the slope of yon steep western hill,
My fruitful orchard shelters all the vill;
There pear-trees tall their tops aspiring show,
And apple-boughs their branches mix below.
SECOND.
East from my cottage stretch delightful meads,
Where rows of willows rise, and banks of reeds;
There roll clear rivers; there, old elms between,
The mill's white roof and circling wheels are seen.
FIRST.
Palemon's garden hawthorn hedges bound,
With flow'rs of white, or fruit of crimson, crown'd;
There vernal lilacs show their purple bloom,
And sweet syringas all the air perfume;
The fruitful mulberry spreads its umbrage cool,
And the rough quince o'erhangs the little pool.
102
Albino's fence green currants hide from view,
With bunches hung of red or amber hue;
Beside his arbour blows the jasmine fair,
And scarlet beans their gaudy blossoms bear;
The lofty hollyhock there its spike displays,
And the broad sunflow'r shows its golden rays.
FIRST.
Where moss-grown pales a sunny spot inclos'd,
And pinks and lilies all their hues expos'd,
Beneath a porch, with mantling vines enwreath'd,
The morning breeze the charming Sylvia breath'd:
Not pink nor lily with her face could vie,
And, O how soft the languish of her eye!
I saw and lov'd; but lov'd, alas, in vain!
She check'd my passion with severe disdain.
103
When o'er the meads with vernal verdure gay
The village children wont at eve to stray,
I pluck'd fresh flowrets from the grassy ground,
And their green stalks with bending rushes bound;
My wreaths, my nosegays, then my Delia drest,
Crown'd her fair brow, or bloom'd upon her breast.
Young as I was, the pleasing thought was mine,
One day, fond boy, that beauty will be thine!
FIRST.
Beside his gate, beneath the lofty tree,
Old Thyrsis' well-known seat I vacant see;
There, while his prattling offspring round him play'd,
He oft to please them toys of osiers made:
That seat his weight shall never more sustain,
That offspring round him ne'er shall sport again.
104
Yon lone church tow'r that overlooks the hills!—
The sight my soul full oft with sorrow fills:
There Damon lies;—in prime of youth he died!—
A ford unknown, by night he vent'rous tried:
In vain he struggled with the foaming wave;
No friendly arm, alas, was near to save!
FIRST.
Cease, friend! and, homeward as we bend our way,
Remark the beauties of the closing day;
See, tow'rds the west, the redd'ning Sun declines,
And o'er the fields his level lustre shines.
SECOND.
How that bright landscape lures the eye to gaze,
Where with his beams the distant windows blaze!
And the gilt vane, high on the steeple spire,
Glows in the air—a dazzling spot of fire!
105
Behind yon hill he now forsakes our sight,
And yon tall beeches catch his latest light;
The hamlet smokes in amber wreaths arise;
White mist, like water, on the valley lies.
SECOND.
Where yon chalk cliffs th' horizon eastward bound,
And spreading elms the ancient hall surround,
The moon's bright orb arises from the main,
And Night in silence holds her solemn reign.
Mezerion, Laureola Sempervirens: vulg. Spurge-Laurel. This beautiful little evergreen is frequent among our woods and coppices. Its smooth shining leaves are placed on the top of the stems in circular tufts or clusters. Its flowers are small, of a lightgreen, and perfume the air at a distance in an agreeable manner. It blows very early in mild seasons and warm situations. The common deciduous Mezerion, frequently planted in gardens, though very different in appearance, is another species of this genus.
Weld: Luteola Vulgaris, or Dyers' Weed.—These plants, with many others not inferior in beauty, are frequent on the balks, or ridges, which separate different kinds of corn in our common fields.
The Digitalis, or Foxglove, is a very beautiful plant; there are several varieties of it which are honoured with a place in our gardens. The Mullein is not inferior in beauty, consequently merits equal notice.
It is a vulgar opinion, that Vervain never grows in any place more than a quarter of a mile distant from a house.—Vide Miller's Gardener's Dictionary, article Verbena.
Wild Climbers: Clematis, Viorna, or, Traveller's Joy. The white downy seeds of this plant make a very conspicuous figure on our hedges in autumn.
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