GRASS AND GREEN THINGS. 19 



He gafe ensample in his parsone, 



And we the wordes have alone, 



Like to the tre with leves greene 



Upon the which no fruit is seene. 



GowEa. 



Let him, while his outward deeds are fair and goodly to behold, che- 

 rish also the inward sympathies and high thoughts which tend to 

 fruitfulness in the future ; and he shall then become as a tree whose 

 harvests are equal to its spring promises ; and the fruition of his heart 

 shall endear him to his age and generation. "The greene leaves out- 

 ward sheweth that the tree is not drie inwarde ; and the good woorkes 

 oftenlie notifieth the inwarde heart secretlie." * 



Over the field where human blood has flowed, and thousands have 

 fallen in the fight for freedom, the grass waves as greenly as before ; 

 and where the martyrs sleep, it grows in rich luxuriance, to hide their 

 blanched bones from the gazing of the world. They who sleep — 



Deep beneath the grass-grown soil, 

 Far in the common field, 



will awake no more to the sunshine of this world, but meet the re- 

 ward of the justice or injustice of their fight beyond the grassy shores 

 of this. And so the world revolves ; and the spot whereon armies 

 have assembled, where emperors have achieved territory and martial 

 glory, where crowns have been lost and won, and thousands have 

 sunk down unknelled to rise no more, the grass comes again with its 

 refreshing verdure, gladdening the husbandman with its assurances 

 of plenty, cheering the heart by its spring light and whisperings of 

 love, and surrounding the life of man with perfumed benedictions. 

 These are the teachings of the grass, these the lessons of its verdurous 

 beauty. It is alike the symbol of exuberance and the teacher of fate. 

 In the wilderness it welcomes man to pitch his tent and become a 

 peaceful sojourner ; and, amid the ruins, it mocks him for his work : 

 the city which he rears sinks into the dust, and — 



Desolation o'er the grass-grown street 

 Expands her raven wings, and from the gate 

 Where senates once the weal of nations plann'd 

 Hisseth the slimy snake, through hoary weeds, 

 That clasp the mouldering column. t 



* Golden Boke, Letter 7. 

 t Akenside — Pleasures of Imagination, B. ii. 

 e 2 



