For could our Father in the skies, Look down with pleased or loving eyes, My Mother? A THE SQUIRE'S PEW. SLANTING ray of evening light And since those trappings first were new, How many a cloudless day, To rob the velvet of its hue, Has come and passed away! Crumbled beneath the hillock green That carved this fretted door, I ween, And now the worm hath done her part In days of yore (as now we call) All seated round in order due, With broidered suit and buckled shoe. On damask cushions decked with fringe, Each holding in a lily hand, Responsive to the priest's command. Now, streaming down the vaulted aisle, And there, in marble hard and cold, Outstretched together are exprest With hands uplifted on the breast, Set forth in order as they died, Their numerous offspring bend, Devoutly kneeling side by side, As if they did intend For past omissions to atone By saying endless prayers in stone. Those mellow days are past and dim, In regular descent from him Have filled the stately pew, And in the same succession go And now the polished modern Squire Who duly to the Hall retire A season every year, And fill the seats with belle and beau, As 'twas so many years ago; Perchance, all thoughtless, as they tread Of that dark house of kindred dead, In turn receive to silent rest Another and another guest: The feathered hearse and sable train, Shall wind along the village lane, Brought many a distant county through, And when the race is swept away, All to their dusty beds, Still shall the mellow evening ray I REMEMBER. BY THOMAS HOOD.-1798-1845. [THIS exquisite humourist was the son of a London bookseller. Originally intended as a merchant's clerk, he first turned engraver, and finally author. With the gloom of chronic disease upon him, he toiled bravely and arduously for his family, lighting our murky London air with jokes that sparkled like the star sparks of fireworks. He excelled both in pathos and humour: his "Dream of Eugene Aram" is vigorous and passionate; his "Miss Kilmansegg" is irresistibly droll, and spangled with gems of exquisite and thoughtful nonsense. In his " Song of the Shirt," which appeared in "Punch," Hood rose to a higher flight, and touched the deeper cords of the human heart. True to the finer utilitarianism of our age, the poet wished to have this line alone inscribed upon his grave, "He wrote "The Song of the Shirt."" Those who have themselves suffered can best sympathise with the miseries of the poor. An invalid for half his life as Hood was, it is not any wonder that thoughts upon physical suffering are frequent in his writings-unconsciously they crept in as some pang of pain followed the laugh that always came from the heart. An honest and industrious writer for daily bread (the nightingale perhaps requires the thorn at its breast), Hood had acquired an extraordinary command of words, his power of pleating and twisting phrases was miraculous; some of his poems he enclosed in crystal tear drops, while others he cut into as many facets as if they had been rose diamonds. Extracted from Mr. Thornbury's "Two Centuries of Song."] |