Became a gentleman-pensioner in 1526. For having killed a mercer in
a fracas escaped to France and joined the French army; returning, he
married Anne, sister of Henry VIII’s sixth queen, and at once rose
in royal favour. At the dissolution of the monasteries he received
the Abbey of Wilton, destroyed the monastic building and built a
magnificent mansion. Further grants of land were made him by Henry
VIII and Edward VI. On the outbreak of the quarrel between Somerset
and Warwick Pembroke sided with the latter for which he was suitably
rewarded, receiving Somerset’s estates in Wiltshire. He signed the
agreement for the succession of lady Jane Grey to the throne, and was
with her at the Tower of London, but later he declared in favour of
Mary and accompanied the Lord Mayor of London to Cheapside to read the
proclamation. On the outbreak of the Wyatt rebellion--although his
loyalty was regarded as suspicious--was appointed chief in command of
the army to resist Wyatt’s entry into London, but his troops made
such a feeble resistance that Wyatt succeeded in entering the city.
He introduced into the royal presence the Spanish ambassador who came
to represent Philip at the formal betrothal of the Queen, and on the
arrival of Philip met him at Southampton, and was one of the four peers
who gave Mary away at the wedding in Winchester Cathedral. Although a
great favourite with both Mary and Philip his loyalty was regarded from
time to time with such suspicion that Mary was advised to place him
under arrest. Immediately upon Mary’s death, Pembroke went to Hatfield
and attended Elizabeth’s first Privy Council, and zealously supported
a protestant revival. Appointed Lord Steward of the royal household in
1568, he compromised his position by supporting the proposed marriage
of the duke of Norfolk with Mary, queen of Scots, and was arrested,
admitted sympathy with the scheme but denied the charge of disloyalty.
He died in 1570, and was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral.
_Queen Mary._
PENDRAGON.
A title--meaning ‘chief leader in war’--conferred upon several British
chiefs in times of distress. Uther and Arthur were each appointed to
the office to repel the Saxon invaders.
_Lancelot and Elaine._
PENDRAGONSHIP.
Has reference to the title of Pendragon (_q.v._).
_Guinevere._
PENEÏAN.
The long divine Peneïan pass,
The vast Akrokeraunian walls,
The river Peneus in Thessaly which flows through a narrow pass, and is
extremely beautiful on account of the precipitous rocks on either side.
_To E. L._
PENENDEN HEATH.
but ten thousand men on Penenden Heath all calling after your worship,
Pennenden Heath. Originally a large common near Maidstone in Kent. In
Saxon times the Witenagemot was held here, since which time it has been
the meeting place for large and important gatherings. A large portion
of the common has now been built upon, and part is now used as a public
recreation ground under the control of the Maidstone Corporation.
_Queen Mary._
PENUEL.
Past Yabbok brook the livelong night,
And heaven’s mazed signs stood still
In the dim tract of Penuel.
_Clear-headed Friend._
PERCIVALE.
A Knight of the Round Table, son of Pellinore, king of Wales. In
_Lancelot and Elaine_ he is called ‘the meek Sir Percivale’ and in the
_Holy Grail_ is known as ‘the Pure’ and is hailed as the guardian of
the Holy Grail:
And the angelic choir sang in jubilant tones:
‘Hail to thee Percival, king of the Grail!
Seemingly lost for ever,
Now thou art blest for ever.
Hail to thee Percival, king of the Grail!’
Wagner: _Epics and Romances of the Middle Ages
(Trans. by M. W. Macdowall)._
Sir Percivale accompanied sir Galahad and sir Bors in the quest of
the Holy Grail and was present when it appeared, but whether he was
permitted to see it with his bodily eyes is not known. Some authorities
consider that sir Galahad only saw the vision, while others contend
that both sir Galahad and sir Percivale beheld the holy vessel, after
which Percivale withdrew into a hermitage and spent the rest of his
life in prayer.
Sir Percivale
Whom Arthur and his knighthood call’d The Pure,
Has pass’d into the silent life of prayer,
Praise, fast, and alms; and leaving for the cowl
The helmet in an abbey far away
From Camelot, there, and not long after, died
_Merlin and Vivien_;
_Lancelot and Elaine_;
_Holy Grail_;
_Pelleas and Ettarre_.
PERSEPHONÈ.
In Greek mythology the daughter of Jupiter and Demeter, and queen
of the lower world. As a maiden she was carried off, while plucking
flowers in Enna, into the lower world by Pluto in his car, and is
represented sitting on an ebony throne wearing a crown.
or the enthroned
Persephonè in Hades,
She married Pluto and became the mother of the Furies. In Italian
mythology she is identified with Proserpine.
_The Princess_;
_Demeter and Persephone_.
PERSIA.
An Asiatic country.
_Alexander_;
_Lover’s Tale_.
PERSIAN GIRL.
Then stole I up, and trancedly
Gazed on the Persian girl alone,
= Anis al-Jalis, in Burton’s _Arabian Nights_.
_Recollections of the Arabian Nights._
PERU.
_Queen Mary._
PETER.
= Saint Peter, one of the twelve Apostles.
_Godiva_;
_Gareth and Lynette_;
_To E. Fitzgerald_;
_Locksley Hall Sixty Years After_;
_Queen Mary_;
_Harold_;
_Becket_.
PETER.
Then of the latest fox--where started--kill’d
In such a bottom: ‘Peter had the brush,
My Peter, first:’
A character at a meeting of the hounds.
_Aylmer’s Field._
PETER.
The Eternal Peter of the changeless chair,
= Pope of Rome.
_Queen Mary._
PETER (Peter Martyr).
Pietro Martire Vermigli, born at Florence 1550. Was an Augustinian
monk, but became a convert to the reformed faith, and in consequence
had to flee from Italy in 1542. Professor of Divinity at Strasburg
1542-7, and at Oxford in 1548; returned to Strasburg in 1553, and
became Professor of Divinity in the following year; died at Zurich in
1562.
Peter, I’ll swear for him
He _did_ believe the bond incestuous.
_Queen Mary._
PETERBORO’.
Abbot Alfwig,
Leofric, and all the monks of Peterboro’
Strike for the king;
_Harold._
PETER CAREW.
Son of sir William Carew. In the reign of Henry VIII was sheriff of
Devonshire. On the death of Edward VI he opposed the succession of
lady Jane Grey and proclaimed Mary as queen in the West. Conspired
against the Spanish marriage and the plot being discovered escaped to
the continent. Passing through Antwerp he was arrested by lord Paget,
sent back to England, and confined in the Tower. On the accession of
Elizabeth he rose in favour, and was Constable of the Tower in 1572,
when the duke of Norfolk was convicted for treason. The latter part of
his life was spent in recovering his property in Ireland. He died in
1575, and was buried in the church at Waterford.
_Queen Mary._
PETERS.
Gentleman to lord Howard.
_Queen Mary._
PETER’S-PENCE.
An annual tribute of one penny paid to support the pope. Presented by
Ina of the West-Saxons for the endowment of an English College at
Rome, 725, it was confirmed by Offa, 777, and afterwards claimed by
the pope as a tribute from England and collected regularly until its
abolition by Henry VIII in 1534.
_Talking Oak._
PETHER.
An’ tell thim in Hiven about Molly Magee an’ her Danny O’Roon,
Till Holy St. Pether gets up wid his kays an’ opens the gate!
= St. Peter.
_Tomorrow._
PEVENSEY.
PEVENSEY CASTLE.
A village in Sussex on the English Channel twelve miles from Hastings.
It was in the bay of this little village that William, duke of
Normandy, landed with his army on September 28, 1066. The Romans
built here a castle--now in ruins--the fortress of which was of great
strength. It withstood for six days the attack of the army of Rufus
against Odo, bishop of Bayeux; king Stephen and Simon de Montfort
besieged it unsuccessfully; but it was again successfully defended by
lady Jane Pelham in 1399. The castle remained a fortress until the time
of Elizabeth.
_Harold_;
_Becket_.
PEWIT.
= The lapwing.
_Will Waterproof’s Lyrical Monologue._
PHARAOH.
May Pharaoh’s darkness, folds as dense as those
Which hid the Holiest from the people’s eyes
Ere the great death, shroud this great sin from all!
_See Exodus x. 21-23._
_Aylmer’s Field._
PHAROS.
but had you stood by us,
The roar that breaks the Pharos from his base
Had left us rock.
An island near Alexandria on which a lighthouse was erected by Ptolemy
I, +B.C.+ 250.
_The Princess._
PHENOMENON.
Name of a horse.
_The Brook._
PHILIBERT.
PHILIBERT OF SAVOY.
Emanuel Philibert, duke of Savoy, born 1528, succeeded 1553; died 1580.
_Queen Mary._
PHILIP.
A priest.
_Queen Mary._
PHILIP.
King of Naples and Sicily, afterwards king of Spain, son of the emperor
Charles V. In 1554 married Mary, queen of England in Winchester
Cathedral, and became unpopular. In the following year left England
in disappointment that an expected heir was not born to him; resolved
to extirpate protestantism in his dominions, and employed sword and
fire with bitterness; the Netherlands however resisted the attack and
succeeded in throwing off the Spanish yoke; made overtures to queen
Elizabeth, but was refused and in 1559 married Isabella, daughter of
the king of France. In 1588 he sent his ‘Invincible’ Armada against
England, which was almost totally destroyed, the defeat of which
marked the beginning of the decline of Spain. The only praise that
can be accorded to this tyrant is that he gave a certain amount of
encouragement to the advancement of the Arts and Sciences (1527-1598).
_Queen Mary._
PHILIP.
And following our own shadows thrice as long
As when they follow’d us from Philip’s door,
Arrived and found the sun of sweet content
Re-risen in Katie’s eyes, and all things well
Father of Katie Willows.
_The Brook._
PHILIP.
PHILIP RAY.
_See_ =Enoch, Enoch Arden=.
PHILIP (de Eleemosyna).
Pope’s Almoner; called the Abbot of l’Aumône; was of the Cistercian
order.
_Becket._
PHILIP (Philip Edgar, afterwards Mr. Harold).
_See_ =Eva=.
_Promise of May._
PHILIP EDGAR (afterwards Mr. Harold).
_See_ =Eva=.
_Promise of May._
PHILIP HAROLD (Philip Edgar).
_See_ =Eva=.
_Promise of May._
PHILIP HEDGAR (Edgar).
_See_ =Eva=.
_Promise of May._
PHILIPPINES.
An archipelago, lying between the China Sea in the west, and the
Pacific Ocean in the east.
_Queen Mary._
PHLEGETHON.
That oft had seen the serpent-wanded power
Draw downward into Hades with his drift
Of flickering spectres, lighted from below
By the red race of fiery Phlegethon:
In Greek mythology a river of hell.
_Demeter and Persephone._
PHŒBE.
A priestess in the temple of Artemis, along with Camma. Camma’s husband
Sinnatus was slain by Synorix. Camma married Synorix, and seemed to
have no fear of him. Phœbe reminded her of the shyness with which
she faced her first marriage, and was horrified to think that Camma
should marry and ‘clasp a hand Red with the blood of Sinnatus?’ but she
endured it all that she might pass to Sinnatus on the other side of
Death, and tell him that he was avenged.
_The Cup._
PHOSPHOR.
Bright Phosphor, fresher for the night,
By thee the world’s great work is heard
Beginning, and the wakeful bird;
Behind thee comes the greater light:
The light-bringer or morning star.
_In Memoriam._
PHOSPHORUS.
The personification of the ‘Morning-star.’ The name of a knight--one of
four brothers--who kept the passages of Castle Perilous where the lady
Lyonors was held captive, and who was overthrown by sir Gareth.
_Gareth and Lynette._
PHRA-BAT.
The footstep of the Lord on a rock. _See_ =Phra-Chai=.
_To Ulysses._
PHRA-CHAI.
The shadow of the Lord. Certain obscure markings on a rock in Siam,
which express the image of Buddha to the Buddhist more or less
distinctly according to the faith and his moral worth.--_Poet’s Note._
_To Ulysses._
PHRYNE.
_Becket._ Where, my liege? With Phryne,
Or Lias, or thy Rosamund, or another?
Has reference to Phryne, a Greek courtesan. On account of her beauty
she obtained numerous suitors who lavished gifts upon her so freely
that she became exceedingly rich. She was a model to Praxiteles for
his statue of Venus. Being accused of profanity she was brought before
the Tribunal, and was defended by Hyperides, one of her lovers; but
seeing that the eloquence of Hyperides failed to convince the judges,
she exposed her person, and was immediately acquitted, and carried in
triumph to the temple of Venus.
_Becket._
PIACENZA.
An old Italian city.
_The Daisy._
PICUS.
‘But who was he, that in the garden snared
Picus and Faunus, rustic Gods?
King of Latium, son of Saturn, and the Italian god of agriculture. He
married the nymph Canens, and became the father of Faunus. When out
hunting in the woods one day he was met by Circe, who changed him into
a woodpecker, because he rejected her love and was faithful to Canens.
_Lucretius._
PIERIAN.
If the lips were touch’d with fire from off a pure Pierian altar,
A regular epithet for the muses.
_Parnassus._
PIERO.
Piero was cruelly murdered by the captain of a band of highwaymen. The
reason given by his wife for such an outrage is
‘the Bandit had woo’d me in vain, and he stabb’d my Piero with this.
The bandit dragged the woman to his cave in the mountain, where she
lived in hatred of her husband’s murderer, crying to the saints to
avenge. On the birth of a son, however, there seemed to be a little
less hatred between them. Being tracked by the police, the bandit
accidentally strangled the child as he utter’d a cry. The woman’s
loathing revived, she stabbed him as he slept, put the head in a
cloth, and set out to receive the promised ransom.
You have set a price on his head: I may claim it without a lie.
* * * * *
For I with this dagger of his--do you doubt me? Here is his head!
_Bandit’s Death._
PIERO.
The dead lover of Elisabetta, nurse to Count Federigo degli Alberighi.
Elisabeth remonstrated with the count for his extravagance towards the
lady Giovanni for whom he had bought a diamond necklace, and pointing
to her own said:
they are but blue beads--my Piero,
God rest his honest soul, he brought ’em for me,
Ay, but he knew I meant to marry him.
_The Falcon._
PIGEON.
A well-known bird of the genus _Columba_.
_Audley Court_;
_The Brook_;
_Gareth and Lynette_.
PIKE.
A large fresh-water fish.
_Village Wife._
PILATE.
Pontius Pilate.
_Becket._
PILGRIM’S PROGRESS.
More like the picture
Of Christian in my ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ here
Bow’d to the dust beneath the burthen of sin.
An allegory by John Bunyan, recounting the adventures of the hero
Christian in journeying from the City of Destruction to the heavenly
Jerusalem. It was written by Bunyan during his imprisonment in Bedford
jail, between 1660 and 1672.
_Promise of May._
PINDAR.
Fair things are slow to fade away,
Bear witness you, that yesterday
From out the Ghost of Pindar in you
Roll’d an Olympian;
The greatest lyric poet of Greece.
_To Professor Jebb._
PINE.
A cone-bearing evergreen tree.
_Leonine Elegiacs_;
_Two Voices_;
_Œnone_;
_Lotos-Eaters_;
_Amphion_;
_The Voyage_;
_Aylmer’s Field_;
_Lucretius_;
_The Princess_;
_Ode on the death of the Duke of Wellington_;
_A Welcome to Her Royal Highness Marie Alexandrovna,
Duchess of Edinburgh_;
_The Daisy_;
_To Rev. F. D. Maurice_;
_The Islet_;
_The Window_;
_Maud_;
_Gareth and Lynette_;
_Lover’s Tale_;
_Voyage of Maeldune_;
_To Ulysses_;
_Progress of Spring_;
_Death of Œnone_;
_Bandit’s Death_;
_Queen Mary_;
_Becket_;
_The Cup_.
PLANE.
= a tree of the genus _Platanus_.
_Lucretius_;
_The Princess_;
_The Cup_.
PLANTAGENET.
What songs below the waning stars
The lion-heart, Plantagenet,
Sang looking thro’ his prison bars?
Refers to the songs supposed to have been composed by Richard I during
his captivity.
_Margaret._
PLANTAGENET.
A line of English kings who reigned from the extinction of the Norman
line to the accession of the Tudor, 1154-1485. _See_ =Geoffrey=.
_Queen Mary_;
_The Foresters_.
PLANTAIN.
A common weed, with broad, strong leaves.
_Aylmer’s Field._
PLATO.
A Greek philosopher, 427-347 +B.C.+
_Palace of Art_;
_Lucretius_;
_The Princess_;
_Sisters (Evelyn and Edith)_.
PLEIADS.
A cluster of seven stars; applied in Greek mythology to seven Greek
poets.
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades,
Or loose the bands of Orion?
_Job xxxviii. 31._
_Locksley Hall_;
_Queen Mary_.
PLOVER.
= the lapwing.
_May Queen_;
_Come not, when, etc._;
_Geraint and Enid_;
_Happy_;
_Becket_.
POET-SATYR.
Poet of the poet-satyr
Whom the laughing shepherd bound with flowers;
Silenus, who was caught asleep and bound with flowers as narrated in
Virgil’s _Sixth Eclogue_.
_To Virgil._
POINET (JOHN).
Bishop of Winchester; became a convert to the reformed faith, and was
appointed chaplain to archbishop Cranmer in 1547. Created bishop of
Rochester by Edward VI in 1550 and translated to Winchester in the
following year. On the accession of Mary he was deprived and fled to
Strasburg where he died in 1556.
_Cranmer._ To Strasburg, Antwerp, Frankfort, Zurich, Worms,
Geneva, Basle--our Bishops from their sees
Or fled, they say, or flying--Poinet, Barlow,
Bale, Scory, Coverdale;
_Queen Mary._
POITEVINS.
I learn but now that those poor Poitevins,
= The people of Poitou.
_Becket._
POITOU.
A province of France.
_Harold._
POLAND.
Shall I weep if a Poland fall? shall I shriek if a Hungary fail?
Has reference to the Polish insurrection against Russia in 1831.
The rebellion proving a failure, Cracow, which had been hitherto an
independent state was annexed to Austria, and the remainder of the
kingdom of Poland was made a constitutional monarchy under the Czar of
Russia.
_Maud_;
_Poland_.
POLE (Reginald).
_See_ =Reginald Pole=.
POLECAT.
An animal of the weasel kind, which has glands secreting a disagreeable
odour.
_The Foresters._
POLLIO.
Chanter of the Pollio, glorying in the blissful years again to be.
Roman historian and poet; the Pollio is the fourth _Eclogue_ of
Virgil, which the poet dedicated to him.
_To Virgil._
POLYTHEISM.
The doctrine of the belief in a plurality of gods each with a sphere
of his own, and each a personification of some elemental power in the
government of the world.
_Akbar’s Dream._
PONTHIEU.
A French province.
_Harold._
PONTIC.
_To Ulysses._
PONTIGNY.
A French village possessing a famous Cistercian monastery built in the
twelfth century, and the monastery in which Becket took refuge when he
fled to France in 1164.
_Becket._
PONTIUS.
That Pontius and Iscariot by my side
Show’d like fair seraphs.
= Pontius Pilate.
_St. Simeon Stylites._
PONTUS.
An ancient district of Asia Minor on the south-east coast of the Euxine
or Black Sea. In Pontus a native monarchy arose soon after 400 +B.C.+
which reached its chief importance under Mithridates VI the Great, who
carried on several wars with Rome. In 63 +B.C.+ after the conquest of
Mithridates, Pompey made the western half a Roman province, and in 63
+A.D.+ the eastern half was also added to the Roman empire.
_The Cup._
POPLAR.
POPLAR-TREE.
A tree of the genus _Populus_.
_Leonine Elegiacs_;
_Mariana_;
_Ode to Memory_;
_Amphion_;
_In Memoriam_;
_Lancelot and Elaine_;
_Sisters (Evelyn and Edith)_;
_Voyage of Maeldune_;
_Balin and Balan_;
_The Cup_.
POPPY.
A plant of the genus _Papaver_ having large showy flowers.
_Lotos-Eaters_;
_Dora_;
_The Princess_;
_Last Tournament_;
_Voyage of Maeldune_;
_Spinster’s Sweet-Arts_;
_The Tourney_.
PORTUGAL.
_Sisters (Evelyn and Edith)._
PRASÚTAGUS.
King of the Iceni, husband of queen Boädicea. On his deathbed, 60
+A.D.+, he made the emperor Nero with his two daughters joint heir of
his wealth, in the hope of securing Nero’s protection for his family
and the people of Iceni; but no sooner was he dead than the Romans
seized the territory and treated the inhabitants with cruelty, who
under Boädicea (_q.v._) rose against them but were defeated.
_Boädicea._
PRESTER JOHN.
Or clutch’d the sacred crown of Prester John
And cast it to the Moor:
A supposed king and priest who is said to have reigned over a kingdom
in the interior of Asia. This idea was universal until the beginning
of the fourteenth century when it was transferred to Ethiopia and the
title applied to a ruler of the Abyssinian kingdom. He claimed to have
been the mightiest monarch on earth, no less than seventy-two kings
being his tributaries. In 1221 he was defeated by Genghis Khan, one of
the tributary kings who had revolted against him.
_Columbus._
PRIVET.
A shrub, much used for hedges.
_Walking to the Mail._
PROSERPINE.
In Italian mythology the daughter of Zeus and Demeter; identified with
the Greek Persephonè (_q.v._). Whilst gathering wild asphodels in the
fields of Enna was seized and carried off by Pluto to the infernal
regions and made queen of Hades.
she moved
Like Proserpine in Enna, gathering flowers
She married Pluto and became the mother of the Furies.
_Edwin Morris._
PROVENÇAL.
Nay, if I took and translated that hard heart into our Provençal
facilities, I could so play about it with the rhyme--
_Becket._
PROVENCE.
A province of southern France.
_Lover’s Tale_;
_Becket_.
PSYCHE.
Lady Psyche was one of the tutors at the female college founded by
princess Ida, heroine of _The Princess_. She was supposed to be a
person possessing a very charming manner, and was essentially feminine
both in heart and manner. Her abilities as a lecturer were marked and
to her abilities Cyril paid a delicate compliment when he, disguised as
a girl student, gained admission into the college.
_The Princess._
PSYCHE.
The long-limb’d lad that had a Psyche too:
In Greek mythology a beautiful maiden, the youngest of three daughters
of a king, represented as the personification of the Human Soul. She
was loved by Cupid who carried her away to a palace where he visited
her without being identified. Psyche could not however resist the
curiosity of knowing who he was, and lit a lamp, when a drop of oil
fell on Cupid’s shoulder, which awoke him and he fled. She then
wandered from place to place in search of her lover, until she came
to the palace of Venus, who, being jealous of her beauty, made her
her slave, but ultimately Cupid came to her rescue, married her and
bestowed on her immortality.
_The Princess._
PTARMIGAN.
and know
The ptarmigan that whitens ere his hour
Woos his own end;
A species of grouse. The colour of this bird varies, being
brownish-gray in summer and white in winter.
_Last Tournament._
PUBLIUS.
Captain of a band of Roman soldiers, and guard to Synorix, from whom
he received orders to capture as traitors any one who was talking with
Synorix when he cried ‘Rome, Rome.’ Publius was also present in the
temple at the murder of Sinnatus by Synorix, and helped to bear away
the body from the temple for burial.
_The Cup._
PUMPY.
Scizzars an’ Pumpy was good uns to goä
Thruf slush an’ squad
When roäds was bad,
But hallus ud stop at the Vine-an’-the-Hop,
Fur boäth on ’em knawed as well as mysen
That beer be as good fur ’erses as men.
Name of a horse.
_Promise of May._
P. W.
Poor Philip, of all his lavish waste of words
Remains the lean P. W. on his tomb:
= Philip Willows; father of Katie Willows.
_The Brook._
PYRENEAN.
Till o’er the hills her eagles flew
Beyond the Pyrenean pines,
= The Pyrenees.
_Ode on the death of the Duke of Wellington._
PYTHAGORAS.
And once for ten long weeks I tried
Your table of Pythagoras,
= A vegetarian diet, as recommended by Pythagoras, the famous Greek
philosopher, and adopted by Fitzgerald.
_To E. Fitzgerald._
QUAIL.
A bird closely allied to the partridge.
_Audley Court._
QUEEN O’ THE MAY.
The chief character in the poem entitled the _May Queen_. The poem is
divided into three parts, and opens
You must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear:
To-morrow ’ill be the happiest time of all the glad New-year;
Of all the glad New-year, mother, the maddest merriest day;
For I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.
The second portion, entitled _New Year’s Eve_, opens with a request
from the girl to her mother to call her early on the first morning of
the year:
If you’re waking call me early, call me early mother dear,
For I would see the sun rise upon the glad New-year.
It is the last New-year that I shall ever see.
Then you may lay me low i’ the mould and think no more of me.
Later on in the poem we find the girl lying seriously ill, but longs to
live until the snowdrop comes:
There’s not a flower on all the hills: the frost is on the pane:
I only wish to live till the snowdrops come again:
I wish the snow would melt and the sun come out on high:
I long to see a flower so before the day I die.
Towards the end of the poem she charges her sister to look after her
little garden:
She’ll find my garden-tools upon the granary floor:
Let her take ’em: they are hers: I shall never garden more:
But tell her, when I’m gone, to train the rosebush that I set
About the parlour-window and the box of mignonette.
The girl however lingers long enough to see not only the snowdrop but
also the violet:
I thought to pass away before, and yet alive I am;
And in the fields all round I hear the bleating of the lamb.
How sadly, I remember, rose the morning of the year!
To die before the snowdrop came, and now the violet’s here.