These two lines are in a great measure taken from _The Beauties of Spring, a Juvenile Poem_, by the Rev. Joseph Sympson, author of _The Vision of Alfred_, etc. He was a native of Cumberland, and was educated in the vale of Grasmere, and at Hawkshead school: his poems are little known, but they contain passages of splendid description; and the versification of his _Vision of Alfred_ is harmonious and animated. The present severe season,[438] with its amusements, reminds me of some lines which I will transcribe as a favourable specimen. In describing the motions of the Sylphs, that constitute the strange machinery of his _Vision of Alfred_, he uses the following illustrative simile:-- Glancing from their plumes A changeful light the azure vault illumes. Less varying hues beneath the Pole adorn The streamy glories of the Boreal morn, That wavering to and fro their radiance shed On Bothnia's gulf with glassy ice o'erspread, Where the lone native, as he homeward glides, On polish'd sandals o'er the imprisoned tides, And still the balance of his frame preserves, Wheel'd on alternate foot in lengthening curves, Sees at a glance, above him and below, Two rival heav'ns with equal splendour glow. Sphered in the centre of the world he seems, For all around with soft effulgence gleams; Stars, moons, and meteors, ray opposed to ray, And solemn midnight pours the blaze of day. He was a man of ardent feeling, and his faculties of mind, particularly his memory, were extraordinary. Brief notices of his life ought to find a place in the History of Westmoreland.--W. W. 1820.] [Footnote FE: "Even in the 'unfruitful solitudes' of Wrynose, one may find--sheltered in the little gullies which the rills have worn down the fell-side--not only the strawberry, speedwell, and thyme, mentioned in the sonnet, but sundry other flowers, such as the Spearwort, Milkwort, Small Bedstraw, _Euphrasia officinalis_, and _Potentilla tormentilla_, but this and the following Sonnet were perhaps inspired by the beauty of the flowery meadows just below Cockley Beck." (Herbert Rix.) * * * * * "Wordsworth, from his Sonnet VI., would seem to have been describing the Duddon in April; and though by some misnomer 'the little speedwell's darling blue' has by him been called the 'trembling eyebright,' to-day in July 1884--though the time of the singing of birds who 'warble to their paramours' is over and gone--one can see by Duddon-side these 'old remains of hawthorn bowers.'