The Poetical Works of Ebenezer Elliott Edited by his Son Edwin Elliott ... A New and Revised Edition: Two Volumes |
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 | The Poetical Works of Ebenezer Elliott |  |
THE VICARAGE.
The Vicar's house is smother'd in its roses,His garden glows with dahlias large and new;
“Bees murmur in his limes the summer through;”
And on the seat beneath them often dozes
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His living is three hundred pounds a-year;
“But not of servants, wife, and children clear.”
He gives away his common right and closes,
And keeps no horse. When winter strips the tree,
To poor men's homes his wife and daughters go,
With needful gifts of flannel, food, or fire,
And made-wines for the sick. Now, would not he,
Who deem'd the labourer worth of his hire,
Have paid it to his faithful servant?—No.
| The Poetical Works of Ebenezer Elliott | |