358

Partake the nature of their fenny bed;
Here on its wiry stem, in rigid bloom,
Grows the salt lavender that lacks perfume:
Here the dwarf sallows creep, the septfoil

harsh,

And the soft slimy mallow of the marsh; Low on the ear the distant billows sound, And just in view appears their stony bound; No hedge nor tree conceals the glowing sun; Birds, save a wat'ry tribe, the district shun, Nor chirp among the reeds where bitter waters

run.

*

Again, the country was enclosed, a wide And sandy road has banks on either side; Where, lo! a hollow on the left appeared, And there a gipsy tribe their tent had reared; 'Twas open spread, to catch the morning sun, And they had now their early meal begun, When two brown boys just left their grassy

seat,

150

Trained but yet savage, in her speaking face
He marked the features of her vagrant race;
When a light laugh and roguish leer ex-
pressed

The vice implanted in her youthful breast:
Forth from the tent her elder brother came,
Who seemed offended, yet forbore to blame
The young designer, but could only trace 161
The looks of pity in the traveller's face:
Within, the father, who from fences nigh
Had brought the fuel for the fire's supply,
Watched now the feeble blaze, and stood de-
jected by.

On ragged rug, just borrowed from the bed,
And by the hand of coarse indulgence fed,
In dirty patchwork negligently dressed,
Reclined the wife, an infant at her breast;
In her wild face some touch of grace re-
mained,

Of vigour palsied and of beauty stained; 171
Her bloodshot eyes on her unheeding mate
Were wrathful turned, and seemed her wants
to state,

Cursing his tardy aid her mother there With gipsy-state engrossed the only chair; Solemn and dull her look; with such she stands,

And reads the milk-maid's fortune in her hands,

Tracing the lines of life; assumed through

To see the world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower;
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

TWO KINDS OF RICHES

Since all the riches of all this world

May be gifts from the devil and earthly kings,

I should suspect that I worshipped the devil If I thanked God for worldly things.

The countless gold of a merry heart,
The rubies and pearls of a loving eye,
The idle man never can bring to the mart,
Nor the cunning hoard up in his treasury. 8

LOVE'S SECRET

Never seek to tell thy love,

Love that never told shall be; For the gentle wind does move Silently, invisibly.

I told my love, I told my love,
I told her all my heart,
Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears.
Ah! she did depart!

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

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And I watered it in fears

He took her with a sigh.

Soon after she was gone from me,

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8

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