SUMMER EVE.

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That, soon as loosed booms with full twang away, (The sudden rushing of the minnow shoal

Scared from the shallows by my passing tread.) (Dimpling the water glides, with here and there A glossy fly, skimming in circlets gay

The treacherous surface, while the quick-eyed trout
Watches his time to spring; or from above,

Some feathered dam, purveying 'mong the boughs,
Darts from her perch, and to her plumeless brood
Bears off the prize :-sad emblem of man's lot!

GRAHAME.

✓

SUMMER EVE.

Down the sultry arc of day

The burning wheels have urged their way,
And Eve along the western skies
Spreads her intermingling dyes;
Down the deep, the miry lane,
Creaking comes the empty wain.
And driver on the shaft-horse sits,

Whistling now and then by fits;
And oft with his accustomed call,

Urging on the sluggish Ball.

The barn is still,-the master's gone,

And thresher puts his jacket on ;
While Dick upon the ladder tall
Nails the dead kite to the wall.
Here comes Shepherd Jack at last,
He has penned the sheepcot fast;
For 'twas but two nights before
A lamb was eaten on the moor;

His empty wallet Rover carries,—
Now for Jack, when near home, tarries;
With lolling tongue he runs to try

If the horse-trough be not dry.

The milk is settled in the pans,

And supper messes in the cans;
In the hovel carts are wheeled,

And both the colts are drove a-field:
The horses are all bedded up,
And the ewe is with the tup.

The snare for Mister Fox is set,
The leaven laid, the thatching wet,
And Bess has slinked away to talk
With Roger in the holly walk.
Now on the settle all but Bess

Are set, to eat their supper mess;

SUMMER EVE.

And little Tom and roguish Kate
Are swinging on the meadow gate.
Now they chat of various things,—
Of taxes, ministers, and kings;
Or else tell all the village news,-
How madam did the 'squire refuse,
How parson on his tithes was bent,
And landlord oft distrained for rent.
Thus do they, till in the sky

The pale-eyed moon is mounted high.
The mistress sees that lazy Kate
The happing coal on kitchen grate
Has laid,-while master goes throughout,

Sees shutters fast, the mastiff out;
The candles safe, the hearths all clear,

And nought from thieves or fire to fear;
Then both to bed together creep,

And join the general troop of sleep.

KIRKE WHITE.

77

LEAFY JUNE.

Now come the rosy June, and blue-eyed Hours,
With song of birds, and stir of leaves and wings,
And run of rills and bubble of bright springs,
And hourly bursts of pretty buds to flowers;
With buzz of happy bees in violet bowers,
And gushing lay of the loud lark, who sings
High in the silent sky, and sleeks his wings
In frequent sheddings of the flying showers;)
With plunge of struggling sheep in plashy floods,
And timid bleat of shorn and shivering lamb,
Answered in far-off faintness by its dam ;)

With cuckoo's call from green depths of old woods ;)
And hum of many sounds, making one voice,

That sweetens the smooth air with a melodious noise.

THE RAIN.

How beautiful is the rain!

After the dust and heat,

In the broad and fiery street,

In the narrow lane,

How beautiful is the rain!

WEBBE.

THE RAIN.

How it clatters along the roofs,
Like the tramp of hoofs !

How it gushes and struggles out

From the throat of the overflowing spout!

Across the window-pane

It pours and pours;

And swift and wide,

With a muddy tide,

Like a river down the gutter roars

The rain, the welcome rain!

The sick man from his chamber looks

At the twisted brooks;

He can feel the cool

Breath of each little pool;

His fevered brain.

Grows calm again,

And he breathes a blessing on the rain.

From the neighboring school

Come the boys,

With more than their wonted noise

And commotion ;

And down the wet streets

79