CANTO VII "AH me! O Satan! Satan!" loud exclaim'dPlutus, in accent hoarse of wild alarm:And the kind sage, whom no event surpris'd,To comfort me thus spake: "Let not thy fearHarm thee, for power in him, be sure, is noneTo hinder down this rock thy safe descent."Then to that sworn lip turning, "Peace!"  he cried,"Curs'd wolf! thy fury inward on thyselfPrey, and consume thee! Through the dark profoundNot without cause he passes.  So 't... more...

John Gilpin was a citizenOf credit and renown,A train-band captain eke was heOf famous London town. John Gilpin's spouse said to her dear,Though wedded we have beenThese twice ten tedious years, yet weNo holiday have seen. To-morrow is our wedding-day,And we will then repairUnto the Bell at Edmonton,All in a chaise and pair. My sister and my sister's child,Myself and children three,Will fill the chaise; so you must rideOn... more...

McLOUGHLIN BRO'S 30 BEEKMAN St   There was a crooked man, and he went a crooked mile,And he found a crooked six-pence against a crooked stile;He bought a crooked hat, which caught a crooked mouse,And they all lived together in a little crooked house. Go to bed Tom, go to bed Tom—Merry or sober, go to bed Tom.   Little Tommy Grace,Had a pain in his face,So that he could not learn a letter;   When in came Dicky... more...

Rupert Brooke was both fair to see and winning in his ways. There was at the first contact both bloom and charm; and most of all there was life. To use the word his friends describe him by, he was "vivid". This vitality, though manifold in expression, is felt primarily in his sensations — surprise mingled with delight — "One after one, like tasting a sweet food." This is life's "first fine rapture". It makes him patient to name over... more...

Oh, ye, who so lately were blythesome and gay, At the Butterfly’s Banquet, carousing away; Your feasts and your revels of pleasure are fled, For the soul of the Banquet, the Butterfly’s dead. No longer the Flies and the Emmets advance, To join with their friends in the Grasshopper’s dance; For see, his thin form o’er the favourite bend, And the Grasshopper mourns for the loss of his friend. And hark, to... more...

INTRODUCTION. Early in the present century John Harris—one of the successors to the business of "Honest John Newbery," now carried on by Messrs Griffith & Farran at the old corner of St. Paul's Churchyard—began the publication of a series of little books, which for many years were probably among the most famous of the productions of the House. Now, however, according to the fate which usually overtakes books for children, nearly... more...

INTRODUCTION Every now and then in our reading we come suddenly face to face with first things,—the very elemental sources beyond which no man may go. There is a distinct satisfaction in dealing with such beginnings, and, when they are those of literature, the sense of freshness is nothing short of inspiring. To share the same lofty outlook, to breathe the same high air with those who first sensed a whole era of creative thoughts, is the... more...

THE SHADOW SHOW   Trains with wheels and clouds of smoke,Funny crowds of dodging folk,Trams that run along with sparks,Sofa games and pillow larks,Grubs and ponies, worms and tigers,Sparrows on the tree,Oh!What a lot of lots of thingsFor little boys to see! Aeroplanes and paper darts,Woodmen driving broken carts,Minahs on the chimney tops,Swallows dodging near the shops,Barking pups that make the postmanFall down off his bike;Oh!What a... more...

Canto I. Right beautiful is Torksey's hall,Adown by meadowed Trent;Right beautiful that mouldering wall,And remnant of a turret tall,Shorn of its battlement.For, while the children of the SpringBlush into life, and die;And Summer's joy-birds take light wingWhen Autumn mists are nigh;And soon the year—a winterling—With its fall'n leaves doth lie;That ruin gray—Mirror'd, alway,Deep in the silver stream,Doth summon weird-wrought... more...

INTRODUCTION I call you bad, my little child,Upon the title page,Because a manner rude and wildIs common at your age.The Moral of this priceless work(If rightly understood)Will make you—from a little Turk—Unnaturally good.Do not as evil children do,Who on the slightest groundsWill imitate   the Kangaroo,With wild unmeaning bounds: Do not as children badly bred,Who eat like little Hogs,And when they have to go to bedWill... more...