FLETCHER, JOHN.
Country Scenes in Olden Days
CAREW, THOMAS.
Unfading Beauty
HERRICK, ROBERT.
Song
To Blossoms
The Country Life
STRAFFORD, THOMAS, EARL OF.
A Last Farewell ...
SHIRLEY, JAMES.
Death's Final Conquest...
HEYWOOD, THOMAS.
A Morning Song
ANONYMOUS.
Robin Goodfellow
My Mind to me a Kingdom is ...
The Countryman
MILTON, JOHN.
Hymn on the Nativity
Introduction to Paradise Lost
Fallen Angels, The, in the Burning Lake
Creator, Hymn to the
MARVELL, ANDREW.
The Girl describes her Fawn ...
VAUGHAN, HENRY.
Friends Departed
DRYDEN, JOHN.
Alexander's Feast
ADDISON, JOSEPH.
Creation
POPE, ALEXANDER.
The Dying Christian to his Soul
The Universal Prayer
The Town and Country Mico ...
Restoration of Jerusalem
A Lesson of Thankfulness
THOMSON, JAMES.
A Hymn on the Seasons
Health
GRAY, THOMAS.
Elegy, written in a Country Churchyard
MERRICK, JAMES.
The Chameleon
GOLDSMITH, OLIVER.
From the Deserted Village
COWPER, WILLIAM.
On the Receipt of his Mother's Picture
Love for our Native Land
BARBAULD, MRS.
Life...
DIBDIN, CHARLES.
Before Battle
Britannia's Name
CRABBE, GEORGE.
An English Peasant
BLAKE, WILLIAM,
The Land of Dreams
BURNS, ROBERT.
To Mary in Heaven
Lines Left in a Reverend Friend's House
WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM.
A Perfect Woman
The Daffodils
Sonnets
SCOTT, SIR WALTER.
Marmion entering Norham Castle
Marmion and Douglas
The Battle of Flodden Field and Death of Marmion
MONTGOMERY, JAMES.
Home
COLERIDGE, SAMUEL TAYLOR.
Hymn before Sunrise in the Valley of Chamouni
SOUTHEY, ROBERT.
Kailyal is borne to Indra's Paradise
CAMPBELL, THOMAS.
Ye Mariners of England
Battle of Hohenlinden
Battle of the Baltic
MOORE;: THOMAS.
'Paradise and the Peri
SMITH, HORACE.
Address
to a Mummy
BARHAM, R. H. D. (Ingoldsby Legen 13).
The Confession
New Made Honour
BYRON, LORD.
The Night before Waterloo
The Shipwreck...
WOLFE, CHARLES.
The Death of Mary
The Burial of Sir John Moore
SHELLEY, PERCY BYSSHE.
Autumn: a Dirge
The Recollection...
HEMANS, FELICIA DOROTHEA.
The Treasures of the Deep
LOCKHART, JOHN GIBSON.
The Bridal of Andalla
HOOD, THOMAS.
The Song of the Shirt
Love
MACAULAY, LORD.
The Battle of Naseby
Ivry...
The Armada
DICKENS, CHARLES.
The Ivy Green
BROWNING, ROBERT,
How they Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix
MACKAY, CHARLES.
To-day and To-morrow
KINGSLEY, CHARLES.
The Last Buccaneer
ANONYMOUS.
The Last Journey
GEOFFREY CHAUCER –Born in London, 1328; Died, 1400.
Geoffrey Chaucer is the first English poet of high rank. He lived through the reign of Edward III. in a good position in society. He is best known by bis “Canterbury Tales," from which the following piece is taken. Many words in his day had still the Norman-French pronunciation-a fact to be remembered in reading his poetry.
A TRUE good man there was there of religiòn,
Pious and poor—the parson of a town.”
But rich he was in holy thought and work.
And thereto: a right learned man; a clerk
That Christ's pure gospel would sincerely preach,
And his parishioners devoutly teach.
Benign he was, and wondrous diligent,
And in adversity full patient;
As proven' oft. To all who lack'd a friend -
Loth for his tithes to ban or to contende —
At every need, much rather, was he found,
Unto his poor parishioners around
Of his own substance and his dues' to give;
Content on little, for himself, to live.
Wide was his cure;1o the houses far asunder;
Yet never failed he, orl for rain or thunder,-
Whenever sickness or mischance might call,-
The most remote to visit, great or small,
And, staff in hand, on foot, the storm to brave.
This noble ensample to his flock he gave,
That, first, he wrought,12 and, afterwards, he taught
The word of life he from the Gospel caught;
And well this comment added he thereto,
“If that gold rusteth what should iron do!
And if the priest be foul, on whom we trust,
What wonder if the unlettered layman rust ?
And shame it were in him the flock should keep,
To see a sullied shepherd, and clean sheep.
For sure a priest the sample ought to give
By his own cleanness how his sheep should live.”
5 benign, gracious, kind.
6 patient, pronounce pa ti ent.
proven, still used, as in “not
9 dues, as parish priest.
cure, the parish for which he
cared.
11
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