 | Sonnets and Other Small Poems |  |
57
INSCRIPTIONS.
59
FOR A TABLE
Which was formerly used as a Writing-Desk by Thomson the Poet.
Ye, who on things of simplest kindCan stamp the mystic worth of mind;
Who press the turf where Virgil trod,
And think it like no other sod;
Or guard each leaf from Shakspeare's tree
With druid-like idolatry:—
Ye will this Relic fondly view,
On which the sylvan Scholiast drew
With moral sweet, and comment clear,
His record of the rural year;
While every Season's change he trac'd,
With Shakspeare's fancy, Virgil's taste.
60
FOR AN ANTIQUE ROOT-HOUSE,
Attempted in the Language of Chaucer' s Time.
Thei, frō simplesse and sothfastness,
Whiche hadde lever seke cherisance
In humblehede, wher doublenes
To foison nought maie them avance,
Maie happe find here mo trew plesance,
Wher mavis flickers with woodwale,
Then wher disdeinous lordings praunce
To soun of fetise ribible.
Whiche hadde lever seke cherisance
In humblehede, wher doublenes
To foison nought maie them avance,
Maie happe find here mo trew plesance,
Wher mavis flickers with woodwale,
Then wher disdeinous lordings praunce
To soun of fetise ribible.
Echone natheles let beknowe,
Certes groyning is guerdonles;
Plite ne place graunts wele ne wo,
Meke desyres winne selynesse.
Certes groyning is guerdonles;
Plite ne place graunts wele ne wo,
Meke desyres winne selynesse.
61
ANOTHER,
Adapted to the Æra of Queen Elizabeth.
There be which plainenesse more enioyes,
Then bowres where false suspect is rife;
There be which plowswaines more do prize,
Then tising gaudes of courtlie life;
Sith courtlie life doth crafte molest,
And crafte will surely bring unrest.
Then bowres where false suspect is rife;
There be which plowswaines more do prize,
Then tising gaudes of courtlie life;
Sith courtlie life doth crafte molest,
And crafte will surely bring unrest.
Suche, on this daisie-freckled floore,
In rusticke arbour ciel'd with mosse,
May fitter bide, then in high towre
Which stateliness mought proudly glosse,
For statelinesse is aye unblest,
And pride will alwayes bring unrest.
In rusticke arbour ciel'd with mosse,
May fitter bide, then in high towre
Which stateliness mought proudly glosse,
For statelinesse is aye unblest,
And pride will alwayes bring unrest.
62
INSCRIPTIVE ANATHEMA,
For the Entrance to a Shrubbery.
If he who through this Coppice steers,Should harm its native choristers,
Or younglings seize, or nests destroy;
May sylvan plagues his peace annoy.
Him may the sounding hornet scare
With dart and gilded coat of war;
Him may the fleet gnat slily sting
While dors against him dash their wing:
Across his path may paddocks sprawl,
Around his couch let ear-wigs crawl;
His wells may water-newts infest,
May screech-owls break his midnight rest,
And should he doze at morning gray,
Let his shrill herald be the jay!
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