;>G A (lOOl) WOIM) FOR WINTER. 



junlocossovs Miul iiiul out thoiv likitiy:s by a flower 

 snapped i>tV horo and thoro to pn-nish thoir own nosegays. 

 (,'owper had been ro;ulin<>- Thomson, and "the inverted 

 year" pleased his fancy with its suggestion of that starry 

 wheel of the zodiac moving roiuid through its spaces infi- 

 nite, lie could not help loving a handy Latinism (espe- 

 L'ially with elision beauty added), any more than (<ray, 

 any more tliau Wordsworth, — on the sly. But the 

 memlier I'or ()hiey lias the Hoor : — 



" Winter, rulor of the invovtotl yonr, 

 'J'hy sciittori'il Imir with sleet like ashes filled, 

 Thy breath eon<ie!»leil upoi» thy lips, tliy eheeks 

 Fringed with :i beard made white with other snows 

 Than those (.fage, thy forehead wrapt in clouds, 

 A leafless bruneh thy seeptre. and thy throne 

 A sliding ear, indebted to no wheels, 

 Rut urged by storms along its slip|HM-y way, 

 I love thee all unlovely as thou seeufsr, 

 Anil dreaded as thou art ! Thou hold'st the sun 

 A i)risouer in the yet midawning east, 

 Shortening his journey between morn and noon. 

 And luu'rying lum, impatient of Ids stay, 

 l">owu to the rosy west, but kindly still 

 Compensating his loss with added hours 

 Of social converse and instructive ease. 

 And gathering at short notice, in one group, 

 The family disiiersed, and fixing thought. 

 Not less disperscil by daylight and its cares. 

 1 crown thee king of intimate delights. 

 Fireside enjoyments, houu^iorn happiness, 

 And all the comforts that the lowly roof 

 Of undisturbed IJetirement. and the hours 

 or long uninterrupted evening know." 



I call this a good /iiimaii bit of writing, imaguiative, 

 too, — not so flushed, not so ... . highfaluting (let me 

 dare the odioiis word !) as the modern style since poets 

 have got hold of a theory that imagination is conmion- 

 sense turned inside out, and not connnon-scusc sublimed, 

 — but wholesome, masculine, and strong in the simplicity 

 of a mind wholly occupied with its theme. To me Cow- 



