1849 MARTIN LUTHER 157 



Peace, vexed soul ! there is a God above. 



What though an evil destiny hath blighted 

 Thy fervent hope, quenching the dawning love 



That, like a penetrating sunbeam, lighted 

 Life's shadowy path ; beyond thy narrow care 



The world is bright as ever. Look around ! 

 The earth is strewn with flowers, how passing fair ! 



The ringing voices of the brooks resound 

 In the low valleys, moss-grown rock and earn, 



And the tall water-reeds reflected rest 

 On the deep bosom of the mountain tarn, 



Telling of peace : the far-off mountain crest, 

 Piercing the sky, how strong, though tempest-riven ! 



Calleth aloud of rest, and points the way to heaven. 



. A tremendous day's work with Selwyn, 

 all across Dolwyddelan, up Cwm Penanmen, and round 

 by Pwll Francon and Bettws y coed/ 



CAPEL CURIG, 26th November 1849. 



MY DEAR WILLIE l The lines you allude to are 

 Cowper's 



Would I describe a preacher, such as Paul, 

 I would describe him sober, grave, sincere, etc. 



You will find them, I think, in 'The Sofa.' 2 It is 

 a fine description. Martin Luther, however, is my 

 favourite among more modern divines. A man also 

 ' sober, grave, sincere ' ; but not always grave a 

 great divine and reformer and eke a great composer 

 of sacred music, one who was not always grave, but 

 sang his ballad 'with a full round mouth,' and was 

 fond of a cask of good beer, as his letter to the 

 Elector of Saxony (I think) proves, when he thanked 

 him for one while attending a congress of divines. 

 It is always worth living in the world while good beer 



1 His brother. 



2 The lines thus quoted from memory are not quite accurately given, and 

 occur not in 'The Sofa,' but in ' The Timepiece,' line 395. 



