"Stretched to the brilliant sky, on all sides clear, Are hills, and dales, and groves, and golden corn-- Whilst in the peerless air, all things are near; And far or near they each and all adorn! Here, let us rest, on this fair, breezy hill, Beneath the shade of this high, spreading beech-- And feel and see that we are Nature's still: Her Peace and Beauty ever in our reach. Her calm, majestic glory, harvest-crowned, Fills heaven and earth, and blends them into _one_. How vast and solemn bends the blue profound; How sweet and strong th' immortal gods move on! Move on, resistless, yet, with tender grace-- Inflexible, yet soft as summer rain-- Intangible--as where yon shadows race, With nimble Zephyrs, o'er the waving grain! Ineffable, though murmurs everywhere, Swell into Anthems of delightful tone; And smiling hill-tops, and the radiant air, Rest in expressive Silence, all their own! And there, by Avon's stream, are Warwick's towers; And, here, is labour toiling in the fields: For Lord [Tchou] or serf alike, the patient hours Give back to Nature all which Nature yields. Still human hope aspires and will not die; _Will_ rear aloft its monumental walls; Informed by Instinct builds as builds the bee-- Mounting secure where stumbling Reason falls! So Temples rise _Immortelles_ of the race; Where mouldering with the stones tradition clings-- Touching the landscape with ennobling grace, And giving dignity to common things. * * * * * The day declines, and so my holiday; Care slumbering by my side awakes again; Grasps on my hand and leads my steps away-- So rudely rules the Martha of my brain!" The _Martha_ is a scolding, busy _house-wife_ [bro-msti], taken from an incident narrated in the _Sacred Writings_. The writer refers to Temples in a pleasing way, and to the "mouldering stones," where, about the dead, innumerable legends survive. Burials are near to the Temples, and the graves are on _Holy_ ground. His reference is comprehensive--meaning the universal _Hope of Immortality_, symbolized by the lofty Fanes. I give below a few of the absurdities from the _Comic_, taken from a greatly esteemed author in this Line. "Three wise men of Gotham Went to sea in a bowl [tou-se]; If the bowl had been stronger, My tale had been longer!" The meaning of which is, I suppose, that when wise men do foolish things they no more escape the consequences of folly than others. "I bet you a crown to a penny, And lay the money down, That I have the funniest horse of any In this or in any town. _His tail is where his head should be_-- 'You bet! Well, come and see.' And sure enough, within his stall, The horse was _turned_--and that was all!" Another, very ridiculous:--