The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Poems, Plays, Essays, Lectures, Autobiography & Personal Letters (Illustrated). Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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СКАЧАТЬ Beneath that tree, while yet it was a tree

       He found a baby wrapt in mosses, lined

       With thistle beards, and such small locks of wool

       As hang on brambles. Well, he brought him home,

       And reared him at the then Lord Velez’ cost.

       And so the babe grew up a pretty boy,

       A pretty boy, but most unteachable —

       And never learnt a prayer, nor told a bead.

       But knew the names of birds, and mocked their notes,

       And whistled, as he were a bird himself:

       And all the autumn ‘twas his only play

       To get the seeds of wild flowers, and to plant them

       With earth and water, on the stumps of trees.

       A Friar, who gathered simples in the wood,

       A grey-haired man — he loved this little boy,

       The boy loved him — and, when the Friar taught him,

       He soon could write with the pen: and from that time,

       Lived chiefly at the Convent or the Castle.

       So he became a very learned youth.

       But Oh! poor wretch! — he read, and read, and read,

       Till his brain turned — and ere his twentieth year,

       He had unlawful thoughts of many things:

       And though he prayed, he never loved to pray

       With holy men, nor in a holy place —

       But yet his speech, it was so soft and sweet,

       The late Lord Velez ne’er was wearied with him.

       And once, as by the north side of the Chapel

       They stood together, chained in deep discourse,

       The earth heaved under them with such a groan,

       That the wall tottered, and had well-nigh fallen

       Right on their heads. My Lord was sorely frightened;

       A fever seized him, and he made confession

       Of all the heretical and lawless talk

       Which brought this judgment: so the youth was seized

       And cast into that cell. My husband’s father

       Sobbed like a child — it almost broke his heart:

       And once as he was working in the cellar,

       He heard a voice distinctly; ‘twas the youth’s

       Who sang a doleful song about green fields,

       How sweet it were on lake or wild savannah,

       To hunt for food, and be a naked man,

       And wander up and down at liberty.

       Leoni doted on the youth, and now

       His love grew desperate; and defying death,

       He made that cunning entrance I described:

       And the young man escaped.

      MARIA.

      ’Tis a sweet tale.

       And what became of him?

      FOSTER-MOTHER.

      He went on shipboard

       With those bold voyagers, who made discovery

       Of golden lands. Leoni’s younger brother

       Went likewise, and when he returned to Spain,

       He told Leoni, that the poor mad youth,

       Soon after they arrived in that new world,

       In spite of his dissuasion, seized a boat,

       And all alone, set sail by silent moonlight

       Up a great river, great as any sea,

       And ne’er was heard of more: but ‘tis supposed,

       He lived and died among the savage men.

GOODY BLAKE & HARRY GILL

       Table of Contents

      A TRUE STORY

      Oh! what’s the matter? what’s the matter?

       What is’t that ails young Harry Gill?

       That evermore his teeth they chatter,

       Chatter, chatter, chatter still.

       Of waistcoats Harry has no lack,

       Good duffle grey, and flannel fine;

       He has a blanket on his back,

       And coats enough to smother nine.

      In March, December, and in July,

       ’Tis all the same with Harry Gill;

       The neighbours tell, and tell you truly,

       His teeth they chatter, chatter still.

       At night, at morning, and at noon,

       ’Tis all the same with Harry Gill;

       Beneath the sun, beneath the moon,

       His teeth they chatter, chatter still.

      Young Harry was a lusty drover,

       And who so stout of limb as he?

       His cheeks were red as ruddy clover,

       His voice was like the voice of three.

       Auld Goody Blake was old and poor,

       Ill fed she was, and thinly clad;

       And any man who pass’d her door,

       Might see how poor a hut she had.

      All day she spun in her poor dwelling,

       And then her three hours’ work at night!

       Alas! ‘twas hardly worth the telling,

       It СКАЧАТЬ