morning  with  a  knot  of  Gipsies,  who  had  pitched  their
blanket-tents  and  straw  beds,  together  with  their  children
and  asses,  in  some  field  by  the  roadside. At  the  close  of
the  day  on  his  return  our  tourist  found  them  in  the  same
5  place. "  Twelve  hours,"  says  he,

"Twelve  hours,  twelve  bounteous  hours,  are  gone  while  I
Have  been  a  traveller  under  open  sky,
Much  witnessing  of  change  and  cheer,
Yet  as  I  left  I  find  them  here !  "

10  Whereat  the  poet,  without  seeming  to  reflect  that  the  poor
tawny  wanderers  might  probably  have  been  tramping  for
weeks  together  through  road  and  lane,  over  moor  and
mountain,  and  consequently  must  have  been  right  glad  to
rest  themselves,  their  children  and  cattle,  for  one  whole

15  day ;  and  overlooking  the  obvious  truth,  that  such  repose
might  be  quite  as  necessary  for  them,  as  a  walk  of  the  same
continuance  was  pleasing  or  healthful  for  the  more  fortunate
poet ;  expresses  his  indignation  in  a  series  of  lines,  the  dic-
tion and  imagery  of  which  would  have  been  rather  above,

20  than  below  the  mark,  had  they  been  applied  to  the  immense
empire  of  China  improgressive  for  thirty  centuries  : 1

"The  weary  Sun  betook  himself  to  rest,  —

Then  issued  Vesper  from  the  fulgent  west,

Outshining,  like  a  visible  God,
25  The  glorious  path  in  which  he  trod !

And  now  ascending,  after  one  dark  hour,

And  one  night's  diminution  of  her  power,

Behold  the  mighty  Moon  !  this  way

She  looks,  as  if  at  them  —  but  they
30  Regard  not  her  :  — oh,  better  wrong  and  strife,

Better  vain  deeds  6r  evil  than  such  life !


BIOGRAPHIA  LITER  ARIA. 