H poet of tbe poor 



which shades off into exquisite pathos, 

 tenderness, and sweetness ; Harris, with 

 his singular certainty of touch and depth 

 of sympathy ; Edwards, with his happy 

 impressionism ; and Page, with his charm- 

 ing romance — have opened ways of their 

 own. 



Tennyson's idyls are nothing if not of 

 aristocratic caste. The Laureate fascinated 

 all classes, but he never was a poet of the 

 poor. Even the ''Miller's Daughter" 

 ranges above the staff of poverty and 

 unconscious simplicity. 



Theocritus was, in spirit if not in fact, a 

 goatherd himself. It was his own nature 

 that cries out: 



Sweet, O goatherd, is the pine-tree's sound 

 Murmuring beside the water-springs. . . . 

 Beside cool water is my leafy bed. . . . 



His was the simple rustic bloom (GaXepdv) 

 which breathed the perfect perfume of un- 

 sophisticated poverty. He strayed away 

 sometimes from his pastures, his caves, his 

 huts, and his hinds, to court the favor of 

 the rich ; but the characteristic charm, the 

 2 113 



