From low to high doth dissolution climb,
And sinks from high to low, along a scale
Of awful notes, whose concord shall not fail;
A musical but melancholy chime,
Which they can hear who meddle not with crime,
Nor avarice, nor over-anxious care.
Truth fails not; but her outward forms that bear
The longest date do melt like frosty rime,
That in the morning whitened hill and plain
And is no more; drop like the tower sublime
Of yesterday, that royally did wear
Its crown of weeds, but could not even sustain
Some casual shout that broke the silent air,
Or the unimaginable touch of Time.
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.
[Illustration: [Pastoral Scene]]
XXVII.
=Winter.=
An interesting passage from Hesiod is given below. The extract is taken
from the “Works and Days,” a poem giving instructions regarding
agriculture, trade, and labor, blended with precepts of a moral
character; and, in addition to the extremely remote date of its origin,
the passage is also remarkable as one of the few instances in which a
poet of the old heathen world has entered into detail of description on
natural subjects. Its authenticity is, I believe, admitted. “The
picturesque description given by Hesiod of Winter bears all the
evidences of great antiquity,” says a learned German critic.