M XLII STEAMBOATS, VIADUCTS, AND RAILWAYS OTIONS and Means, on land and sea at war In your harsh features, Nature doth embrace ΤΟ XLIII THE MONUMENT COMMONLY CALLED LONG MEG AND HER A WEIGHT of awe, not easy to be borne, Fell suddenly upon my Spirit-cast From the dread bosom of the unknown past, When first I saw that family forlorn. Speak Thou, whose massy strength and stature scorn The power of years-pre-eminent, and placed Apart, to overlook the circle vast Speak, Giant-mother! tell it to the Morn While she dispels the cumbrous shades of Night; Probably 1821 ΤΟ XLIV L OWTHER! in thy majestic Pile are seen Cathedral pomp and grace, in apt accord With the baronial castle's sterner mien; 1 See Note. And charters won and guarded by the sword And will maintain, if God his help afford. The strength of backward-looking thoughts is scorned. With what ye symbolise; authentic Story Will say, Ye disappeared with England's Glory! XLV TO THE EARL OF LONSDALE 'Magistratus indicat virum' ONSDALE! it were unworthy of a Guest, LON Whose heart with gratitude to thee inclines, LIST XLVI THE SOMNAMBULIST IST, ye who pass by Lyulph's Tower 2 Doth Aira-force, that torrent hoarse, And holier seems the ground 1 See Note. ΤΟ ΤΟ 2 A pleasure-house built by the late Duke of Norfolk upon the banks of Ullswater. FORCE is the word used in the Lake District for Water-fall. Not far from that fair site whereon The Pleasure-house is reared, There set, and guarded well; To win this bright Bird from her cage, To make this Gem their own, Came Barons bold, with store of gold, But one She prized, and only one; Full happy season, when was known, ΤΟ 20 Known chiefly, Aira! to thy glen, Where Passion caught what Nature taught, 30 Where Fact with Fancy stooped to play ; To trouble hours that winged their way, Whose sun could never set. But in old times Love dwelt not long Best throve the fire of chaste desire, They parted.-Well with him it fared 40 And She her happiness can build On woman's quiet hours; Though faint, compared with spear and shield, And needlework and flowers. Yet blest was Emma when she heard She warbled from full heart; Of absence! but they will not stay, Hope wanes with her, while lustre fills As if his orb, that owns no curb, Received the light hers loses. He comes not back; an ampler space He ranges on from place to place, But what her fancy breeds. His fame may spread, but in the past Clear sight She has of what he was, 'Still is he my devoted Knight?' The tear in answer flows; Month falls on month with heavier weight; In sleep She sometimes walked abroad, Like that pale Queen whose hands are seen But she is innocent of blood, The moon is not more pure That shines aloft, while through the wood She thrids her way, the sounding Flood While 'mid the fern-brake sleeps the doe, In white arrayed, glides on the Maid By whom on this still night descried? A wandering Ghost, so thinks the Knight, Beneath the boughs that heard their vows, What means the Spectre? Why intent Thought Eglamore, by which I swore Here am I, and to-morrow's sun, To her I left, shall prove That bliss is ne'er so surely won As when a circuit has been run So from the spot whereon he stood, And, drawing nigh, with his living eye, 120 And whispers caught, and speeches small, Some muttered to the torrent-fall ;— 'Roar on, and bring him with thy call; I heard, and so may He!' Soul-shattered was the Knight, nor knew If Emma's Ghost it were, Or boding Shade, or if the Maid 130 |