Our Village: Sketches of Rural Character and Scenery, Volume 1

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Geo. B. Whitaker, 1825 - English essays

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Page 142 - Into a pretty anger, that a bird, Whom art had never taught cliffs, moods, or notes, Should vie with him for mastery, whose study Had busied many hours to perfect practice ; To end the controversy, in a rapture Upon his instrument he plays so swiftly So many voluntaries, and so quick That there was curiosity and cunning, Concord in discord, lines of differing method Meeting in one full centre of delight.
Page 143 - Alas, poor creature, I will soon revenge This cruelty upon the author of it. Henceforth this lute, guilty of innocent blood, Shall never more betray a harmless peace To an untimely end ;" and in that sorrow, As he was pashing it against a tree, I suddenly stept in.
Page 138 - When daisies pied, and violets blue, And lady-smocks all silver white, And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue, Do paint the meadows with delight, The cuckoo then, on every tree, Mocks married men, for thus sings he, Cuckoo ; Cuckoo, cuckoo...
Page 34 - ... on the wing, with the little keen bright eye fixed on the window ; then they would stop for two pecks ; then stay till they were satisfied. The shyer birds, tamed by their example, came next ; and at last one saucy fellow of a blackbird — a sad glutton, he would clear the board in two minutes, — used to tap his yellow bill against the window for more. How we loved the fearless confidence of that fine, frank-hearted creature ! And surely he loved us. I wonder the practice is not more general....
Page 142 - As I stole nearer, Invited by the melody, I saw This youth, this fair-faced youth, upon his lute, With strains of strange variety and harmony, Proclaiming, as it seem'd, so bold a challenge To the clear choristers of the woods, the birds, That, as they flock'd about him, all stood silent, Wond'ring at what they heard.
Page 93 - She had no French either, not a word ; no Italian ; but then her English was racy, unhackneyed, proper to the thought to a degree that only original thinking could give. She had not much reading, except of the Bible and Shakspeare, and Richardson's novels, in which she was learned ; but then her powers of observation were sharpened and quickened, in a very unusual degree, by the leisure and opportunity afforded for their devclopement, at a time of life when they are most acute.
Page 6 - ... and delicate as herself. The first house on the opposite side of the way is the blacksmith's ; a gloomy dwelling, where the sun never seems to shine ; dark and smoky within and without, like a forge. The blacksmith is a high officer in our little state, nothing less than a constable ; but, alas ! alas ! when tumults arise, and the constable is called for, he will commonly be found in the thickest of the fray. Lucky would it be for his wife and her eight children if there were no public-house...
Page 23 - a journeyman hatter, in B. He had walked over one Sunday evening to see the cricketing ; and then he came again. Her mother liked him. Every body liked her William — and she had promised, — she was going, — was it wrong?

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