on his finger bears my signet," and
finally the "Vision of Judgment," stanzas 3 to 5.]

[Footnote 79: "Island," iii. 3, and compare, of shore surf, the "slings
its high flakes, shivered into sleet" of stanza 7.]

[Footnote 80: A modern editor--of whom I will not use the expressions
which occur to me--finding the "we" a redundant syllable in the iambic
line, prints, "we're." It is a little thing--but I do not recollect, in
the forty years of my literary experience, any piece of editor's retouch
quite so base. But I don't read the new editions much: that must be
allowed for.]

[Footnote 81: "Island," ii. 5. I was going to say, "Look to the
context," but am fain to give it here; for the stanza, learned by heart,
ought to be our school-introduction to the literature of the world.

"Such was this ditty of Tradition's days,
Which to the dead a lingering fame conveys
In song, where fame as yet hath left no sign
Beyond the sound whose charm is half divine;
Which leaves no record to the skeptic eye,
But yields young history all to harmony;
A boy Achilles, with the centaur's lyre
In hand, to teach him to surpass his sire.
For one long-cherish'd ballad's simple stave,
Rung from the rock, or mingled with the wave,
Or from the bubbling streamlet's grassy side,
Or gathering mountain echoes as they glide,
Hath greater power o'er each true heart and ear,
Than all the columns Conquest's minions rear;
Invites, when hieroglyphics are a theme
For sages' labors or the student's dream;
Attracts, when History's volumes are a toil--
The first, the freshest bud of Feeling's soil,
Such was this rude rhyme--rhyme is of the rude,
But such inspired the Norseman's solitude,
Who came and conquer'd; such, wherever rise
Lands which no foes destroy or civilize,
Exist; and what can our accomplish'd art
Of verse do more than reach the awaken'd heart?"]

[Footnote 82: "Shepherd's Calendar." "Coronatioen," loyal-pastoral for
Carnation; "sops in wine," jolly-pastoral for double pink; "paunce,"
thoughtless pastoral for pansy; "chevisaunce," I don't know (not in
Gerarde); "flowre-delice"--pronounce dellice--half made up of "delicate"
and "delicious."]

[Footnote 83: Herrick, "Dirge for Jephthah's Daughter."]

[Footnote 84: "Passionate Pilgrim."]

[Footnote 85: In this point compare the "Curse of Minerva" with the
"Tears of the Muses."]

[Footnote 86: "He,"--Lucifer; ("Vision of Judgment," 24). I