A sweet recoil of love and pity.
And what, if in a world of sin

(0 sorrow and shame should this be true!)
Such giddiness of heart and brain
Comes seldom save from rage and pain,
So talks as it's most used to do.

1801.

675

LINES TO W. L.1

WHILE HE SANG A SONG TO PURCELL'S MUSIC

WHILE my young cheek retains its healthful hues,
And I have many friends who hold me dear,
L! methinks, I would not often hear
Such melodies as thine, lest I should lose
All memory of the wrongs and sore distress
For which my miserable brethren weep!
But should uncomforted misfortunes steep

My daily bread in tears and bitterness;
And if at Death's dread moment I should lie
With no beloved face at my bed-side,
To fix the last glance of my closing eye,

Methinks such strains, breathed by my angel-guide,
Would make me pass the cup of anguish by,

Mix with the blest, nor know that I had died!

1797.

5

10

First published in the Annual Anthology for 1800: included in Sibylline Leaves, 1817, 1828, 1829, and 1834. A MS. is extant dated Sept. 14, 1797.

Lines to W. L.-Title] To Mr. William Linley MS. 1797: Sonnet XII, To W. L. 2! Esq., while he sung &c. An. Anth. : To W. L. Esq. &c. S. L. 1828, 1829: Lines to W. Linley, Esq. 1893.

3 L -2!] Linley! MS, 1893. 10 at] by An. Anth.

O God! An. Anth.

12 Methinks]

FIRE, FAMINE, AND SLAUGHTER1

A WAR ECLOGUE

The Scene a desolated Tract in La Vendée. FAMINE is discovered lying on the ground; to her enter FIRE and SLAUGhter.

Fam. SISTERS! sisters! who sent you here?
Slau. [to Fire]. I will whisper it in her ear.
Fire. No! no! no!

Spirits hear what spirits tell :

Twill make a holiday in Hell.
No! no! no!

Myself, I named him once below,
And all the souls, that damnéd be,
Leaped up at once in anarchy,

Clapped their hands and danced for glee.
They no longer heeded me;

But laughed to hear Hell's burning rafters
Unwillingly re-echo laughters!

No! no! no!

Spirits hear what spirits tell:
Twill make a holiday in Hell!

Fam. Whisper it, sister! so and so!

In a dark hint, soft and slow.

Slau. Letters four do form his name-
And who sent you?

Both.

The same! the same!

5

ΤΟ

15

20

First published in the Morning Post, January 8, 1798: included in Annual Anthology, 1800, and (with an Apologetic Preface, vide Appendices) in Sibylline Leaves, 1828, 1829, and 1834. The poem was probably written in 1796. See Watchman, passim.

Fire, Famine, &c.-Title] Scene: A depopulated Tract in La Vendée. Famine is discovered stretched on the ground; to her enter Slaughter and Fire M. P., Jan. 8, 1798.

2 SLAUGHTER. I will name him in your ear. M. P. editions to 1834. II me] me M. P.

16 a] an all editions to 1884.

M. P.

17-18 FAMINE. Then sound it not, yet let me know;
Darkly hint it-soft and low!
In a dark hint, soft and low.

19 Four letters form his name. M. P.

An. Anth.

5 a] an all

20 Both] FAMINE MP.

Slau. He came by stealth, and unlocked my den, And I have drunk the blood since then

Of thrice three hundred thousand men.

Both. Who bade you do 't?

Slau.

Letters four do form his name.

The same! the same!

25

He let me loose, and cried Halloo!

To him alone the praise is due.

Fam. Thanks, sister, thanks! the men have bled, Their wives and their children faint for bread.

I stood in a swampy field of battle;

30

With bones and skulls I made a rattle,

To frighten the wolf and carrion-crow

22-3

And the homeless dog-but they would not go.
So off I flew: for how could I bear
To see them gorge their dainty fare?
I heard a groan and a peevish squall,
And through the chink of a cottage-wall-
Can you guess what I saw there?

Both. Whisper it, sister! in our ear.
Fam. A baby beat its dying mother:

I had starved the one and was starving the other!
Both. Who bade you do 't?

Fam.

The same! the same!

Letters four do form his name.
He let me loose, and cried, Halloo!
To him alone the praise is due.

Fire. Sisters! I from Ireland came!
Hedge and corn-fields all on flame,
I triumph'd o'er the setting sun!
And all the while the work was done,
On as I strode with my huge strides,

I flung back my head and I held my sides,
It was so rare a piece of fun

To see the sweltered cattle run

And I have spill'd the blood since then

Of thrice ten hundred thousand men. M. P.

35

40

45

50

22 drunk] drank An. Anth., S. L. 1828, 1829. 24 Both] FIRE and FAMINE 25 Four letters form his name. M. P.

M. P.

and children M. P.

29 Their wives

39

32 and the carrion crow M. P., An. Anth. Both] SLAUGHTER and FIRE M.P. 42 Both] SLAUGHTER and FIRE M. P. 43 Four letters form his name. M. P. 47 Hedge] Huts M. P. 48 om. An. Anth. 49 Halloo! halloo! the work was done An. Anth. 50 As on I strode with monstrous strides M. P.: And on as I strode with my great strides An. Anth. 51 and held M. P., An. Anth.

With uncouth gallop through the night,
Scared by the red and noisy light!
By the light of his own blazing cot
Was many a naked Rebel shot:

The house-stream met the flame and hissed,
While crash! fell in the roof, I wist,
On some of those old bed-rid nurses,
That deal in discontent and curses.
Both. Who bade you do 't?
Fire.

55

60

The same! the same!

Letters four do form his name.
He let me loose, and cried Halloo !
To him alone the praise is due.

65

All. He let us loose, and cried Halloo!

Slau. They shall tear him limb from limb!

Fire. O thankless beldames and untrue!

And is this all that you can do

For him, who did so much for you?
Ninety months he, by my troth!
Hath richly catered for you both;

54 through] all M. P.

75

58 flame] fire M. P.: flames An. Anth. 62 Both] SLAUGHTER and M. P. 65 How shall 71 and] of M. P.

59 While crash the roof fell in I wish M. P. FAMINE M. P. 63 Four letters form his name. I give him honour due? M. P. 67 we] I M. P. 75 foll.

For him that did so much for you.

And in an hour would you repay

An eight years' work?-Away! away!
I alone am faithful! I

Cling to him everlastingly.

1798.

80

FROST AT MIDNIGHT1

THE Frost performs its secret ministry,
Unhelped by any wind. The owlet's cry
Came loud-and hark, again! loud as before.
The inmates of my cottage, all at rest,
Have left me to that solitude, which suits
Abstruser musings: save that at my side
My cradled infant slumbers peacefully.
"Tis calm indeed! so calm, that it disturbs
And vexes meditation with its strange
And extreme silentness. Sea, hill, and wood,
This populous village! Sea, and hill, and wood,
With all the numberless goings-on of life,
Inaudible as dreams! the thin blue flame
Lies on my low-burnt fire, and quivers not;
Only that film," which fluttered on the grate,
Still flutters there, the sole unquiet thing.
Methinks, its motion in this hush of nature
Gives it dim sympathies with me who live,
Making it a companionable form,

Whose puny flaps and freaks the idling Spirit

10

15

20

1 First published in a quarto pamphlet printed by Johnson in S. Paul's Churchyard, 1798': included in Poetical Register, 1808-9 (1812) : in Fears in Solitude, &c., printed by Law and Gilbert, (?) 1812: in Sibylline Leaves, 1817, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

* Only that film. In all parts of the kingdom these films are called strangers and supposed to portend the arrival of some absent friend. 4o, P. R.

Below 81 1798] 1796 S. L. 1828, 1829, and 1834.

Between 19-25

Idle thought!

With which I can hold commune.
But still the living spirit in our frame,
That loves not to behold a lifeless thing,
Transfuses into all its own delights,
Its own volition, sometimes with deep faith
And sometimes with fantastic playfulness.