FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111  
112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   >>   >|  
ale moonlight' Its magnifying charm bestows; Yet deem I that I 'viewed it right.' The wind-swept shadows fast careered, Like living things that joyed or feared, Adown the sunny Eildon Hill, And the sweet winding Tweed the distance crowned well. "I inly laughed to see that scene Wear such a countenance of youth, Though many an age those hills were green, And yonder river glided smooth, Ere in these now disjointed walls The Mother Church held festivals, And full-voiced anthemings the while Swelled from the choir, and lingered down the echoing aisle. "I coveted that Abbey's doom: For if, I thought, the early flowers Of our affection may not bloom, Like those green hills, through countless hours, Grant me at least a tardy waning Some pleasure still in age's paining; Though lines and forms must fade away, Still may old Beauty share the empire of Decay! "But looking toward the grassy mound Where calm the Douglas chieftains lie, Who, living, quiet never found, I straightway learnt a lesson high: And well I knew that thoughtful mien Of him whose early lyre had thrown Over these mouldering walls the magic of its tone. "Then ceased I from my envying state, And knew that aweless intellect Hath power upon the ways of Fate, And works through time and space uncheck'd. That minstrel of old Chivalry In the cold grave must come to be; But his transmitted thoughts have part In the collective mind, and never shall depart. "It was a comfort, too, to see Those dogs that from him ne'er would rove, And always eyed him reverently, With glances of depending love. They know not of that eminence Which marks him to my reasoning sense; They know but that he is a man, And still to them is kind, and glads them all he can. "And hence their quiet looks confiding, Hence grateful instincts seated deep, By whose strong bond, were ill betiding, They'd risk their own his life to keep. What joy to watch in lower creature Such dawning of a moral nature, And how (the rule all things obey) They look to a higher mind to be their law and stay!" At the University he lived a sweet and gracious life. No man had truer or fonder friends, or was more a
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111  
112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Though

 
living
 

things

 

comfort

 

aweless

 

depart

 
envying
 
ceased
 

Chivalry

 
minstrel

uncheck

 

collective

 

transmitted

 

thoughts

 

intellect

 

eminence

 

betiding

 

strong

 
University
 

nature


dawning

 

creature

 

seated

 

reasoning

 
fonder
 

higher

 
friends
 

reverently

 

glances

 
depending

confiding

 

gracious

 

grateful

 

instincts

 

chieftains

 

yonder

 
glided
 

smooth

 

countenance

 

disjointed


Swelled

 

lingered

 

anthemings

 

voiced

 
Church
 
Mother
 

festivals

 

laughed

 
viewed
 

bestows