LEIAN

938

LIBRARY

COWPER'S TEXT.

"I was a stricken deer that left the herd
Long since with many an arrow deep impress'd
My panting side was charg'd; and I withdrew
To seek a tranquil death in distant shades:
Here I was found by one, who had himself
Been hurt by th' archers: in his side he bore
And in his hands and feet the cruel scars:

With gentle force soliciting the darts,

He drew them forth, and heal'd, and bade me live."

YES! thou wast stricken, ere thy rank was known,

Thyself least knowing it of all the herd:

Restor'd, the wound declaredst thou from heav'n,
And therefore nursedst it to a relapse :

So came thy fiftieth year-when thy career
Lean'd bright on temp'ral glory, though it still
Held its strong wheeling on th' eternal goal :
Faith, hope, and charity baptiz'd thy course,
And stern expostulation, and a talk

Thy table best might bear, and a review

B

With'ring to modern discipline at schools,
The iron still tighten'd of thy splendid curb:
And yet at times right cheerily it shook,
E'en innocently jingling from its hold,
As when the train-band hero rode so fast
By wife and child and bell and balcony,
Boasted at Ware, and then rode back as fast:
'Twas thine own levity, of many one,
Simple, unspotted, guileless, graceful all :
And now the fair impos'd on thee a theme,
Soft, 'twas the sofa-fair, 'twas from the fair,
But, if sublime, sublime as Cowper's Task :
And 'tis sublime-sofas were not for thee,
And the mere name took a repulsive power,
And urg'd thee thro' the fields of earth and heav'n,
As vast proprietor, by truth made free.

Thy home was in the vale-thy morning air
Drugg'd from the market-place of wretched town,
But from that dwelling-place could walk with thee,
A kindred guardian of a mind that claim'd

A kindred guardian in a still small voice:
And ye would walk together, save when clouds
Were harsh upon this weather-house, our world,
And suffered but the man to brave the toy :
Then as no pangs arthritic plagu'd thy step,
In masculine dignity thou wouldst alone