Thrice happy Creature! in all lands Nurtured by hospitable hands: Free entrance to this cot has he, 60 Entrance and exit both _yet_ free; And, when the keen unruffled weather That thus brings man and bird together, Shall with its pleasantness be past, And casement closed and door made fast, 65 To keep at bay the howling blast, _He_ needs not fear the season's rage, For the whole house is Robin's cage. Whether the bird flit here or there, O'er table _lilt_, or perch on chair, 70 Though some may frown and make a stir, To scare him as a trespasser, And he belike will flinch or start, Good friends he has to take his part; One chiefly, who with voice and look 75 Pleads for him from the chimney-nook, Where sits the Dame, and wears away Her long and vacant holiday; With images about her heart, Reflected from the years gone by, 80 On human nature's second infancy. FOOTNOTES: [1004] 1836. ... breast, Where tiny sinking, and faint swell, 1835. [1005] 1845. ... _his_ ... 1835. [1006] 1845. ... he ... 1835. [1007] 1845. ... him ... 1835. [1008] 1845. Eases his pain, and helps his prayers. 1835. [1009] The words-- "Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John, Bless the bed that I lie on," are part of a child's prayer, still in general use through the northern counties.--W. W. 1835. [1010] 1836. And the moon filled the church with light, 1835. ADDENDA (1) p. 35. _How soon--alas! etc._ The following version is written in the late Lord Coleridge's copy of the Poems:-- Alas! full soon did man created pure, By Angels guarded, deviate from the line Of innocence, and woeful forfeiture Incur by wilful breach of law divine. Even so Christ's church, how prone was she to appear Obedient to her Lord, how prompt to twine 'Mid glorious flowers that shall for aye endure, Weeds on whose front the world hath fixed her sign. So Man, if with thy trials thus it fares, And good can smooth the way to evil choice, From hasty censure be the mind kept free. He only judges right who weighs, compares, And in the sternest sentence, which his voice May utter, ne'er abandons Charity. C. (2) p. 83. _Down a swift stream, etc._, l. 14-- The manifold aspects of our sacred theme. C. (3) p. 86. _Bishops and Priests_, _etc._, l. 1-- ... how blessed ... C. (4) p. 160, footnote [448]--