234 The Poets and Nature. 



" Oft unobserved invade the vital core, 

 Pernicious tenants ! and their secret caves 

 Enlarging hourly prey on the pulp." 



The "gentle" (as in Clare) : 



" For make-shifts oft crook'd pins to thread were tied, 

 And delve his knife with wishes ever warm 

 In rotten dunghills, for the grub and worm 

 The harmless treachery of his hooks to bait." 



And many another, too, 



" Not seen but understood, 

 That live in vinegar and wood." 



Only once, however, is the " maggot " defended, and that is 

 in Southey's " Filbert " : 



" Nay, gather not that filbert, Nicholas; 

 There is a maggot there, it is his house, 

 His castle, oh ! commit not burglary ; 

 Strip him not naked ; 'tis his clothes, his shell, 

 His bones, the very armour of his life ; 

 And thou shalt do no murder, Nicholas." 



To be "enkernelled" thus, regardless of the daily papers 

 and all the turmoil of life, must be delightful : 



' ' The perfection this 

 Of snugness ! It were to unite at once 

 Hermit retirement, aldermanic bliss, 

 And Stoic independence of mankind." 



