The Norton Anthology of English literature. Volume 2

325 Or after rain with chalky mixture gray, But still refreshing in its shallow course, The cottage garden; most for use design'd, Yet not of beauty destitute. The vine Mantles the little casement; yet the briar

330 Drops fragrant dew among the July flowers; And pansies rayed, and freak'd and mottled pinks Grow among balm, and rosemary and rue; There honeysuckles flaunt, and roses blow Almost uncultured:0 Some with dark green leaves uncultivated

335 Contrast their flowers of pure unsullied white; Others, like velvet robes of regal state Of richest crimson, while in thorny moss Enshrined and cradled, the most lovely, wear The hues of youthful beauty's glowing cheek.�

8. Every cottage in this country has its orchard; mavera Candida e vermiglia," is every where so and I imagine that not even those of Herefordshire, enchanting [Smith's note, quoting Petrarch's son- or Worcestershire, exhibit a more beautiful pros-net 310, "pure and ruddy spring"]. pect, when the trees are in bloom, and the "Pri

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56 / CHARLOTTE SMITH

340 With fond regret I recollect e'en now In Spring and Summer, what delight I felt Among these cottage gardens, and how much Such artless nosegays, knotted with a rush By village housewife or her ruddy maid,

345 Were welcome to me; soon and simply pleas'd.

An early worshipper at Nature's shrine, I loved her rudest scenes�warrens,0 and heaths, land for breeding And yellow commons, and birch-shaded hollows, And hedge rows, bordering unfrequented lanes

350 Bowered with wild roses, and the clasping woodbine Where purple tassels of the tangling vetch9 With bittersweet, and bryony inweave,1 And the dew fills the silver bindweed's2 cups.� I loved to trace the brooks whose humid banks

355 Nourish the harebell, and the freckled pagil;3 And stroll among o'ershadowing woods of beech, Lending in Summer, from the heats of noon A whispering shade; while haply there reclines Some pensive lover of uncultur'd flowers,0 wildflowers

360 Who, from the tumps0 with bright green mosses clad, hillocks, mounds Plucks the wood sorrel,4 with its light thin leaves, Heart-shaped, and triply folded; and its root Creeping like beaded coral; or who there Gathers, the copse's pride, anemones,5

365 With rays like golden studs on ivory laid Most delicate: but touch'd with purple clouds, Fit crown for April's fair but changeful brow.

Ah! hills so early loved! in fancy still I breathe your pure keen air; and still behold

370 Those widely spreading views, mocking alike The Poet and the Painter's utmost art. And still, observing objects more minute, Wondering remark the strange and foreign forms Of sea-shells; with the pale calcareous0 soil chalky

375 Mingled, and seeming of resembling substance.6 Tho' surely the blue Ocean (from the heights Where the downs westward trend, but dimly seen) Here never roll'd its surge. Does Nature then

9. Vetch. Vicia syivatica [Smith's note], 1. Bittersweet. Solatium dulcamara. Bryony. Bryonia alba [Smith's note]. 2. Bindweed. Convolvulus senium [Smith's note]. 3. Harebell. Hyacinthus non scriptus. Pagil. Primula veris [Smith's note]. 4. Sorrel. Oxalis acetosella [Smith's note]. 5. Anemones. Anemone tiemorosa. It appears to be settled on late and excellent authorities, that this word should not be accented on the second syllable, but on the penultima. I have however ventured the more known accentuation, as more generally used, and suiting better the nature of my verse [Smith's note]. 6. Among the crumbling chalk I have often found shells, some quite in a fossil state and hardly distinguishable from chalk. Others appeared more recent; cockles, muscles, and periwinkles, I well remember, were among the number; and some whose names I do not know. A great number were like those of small land snails. It is now many years since I made these observations. The appearance of sea-shells so far from the sea excited my surprise, though I then knew nothing of natural history. I have never read any of the late theories of the earth, nor was I ever satisfied with the attempts to explain many of the phenomena which call forth conjecture in those books I happened to have had access to on this subject [Smith's note].

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BEACHY HEAD / 57

Mimic, in wanton mood, fantastic shapes

380 Of bivalves, and inwreathed volutes,7 that cling To the dark sea-rock of the wat'ry world? Or did this range of chalky mountains, once8 Form a vast basin, where the Ocean waves Swell'd fathomless? What time these fossil shells,

385 Buoy'd on their native element, were thrown Among the imbedding calx:� when the huge hill lime Its giant bulk heaved, and in strange ferment Grew up a guardian barrier, 'twixt the sea And the green level of the sylvan weald.9

390 Ah! very vain is Science' proudest boast, And but a little light its flame yet lends To its most ardent votaries; since from whence These fossil forms are seen, is but conjecture, Food for vague theories, or vain dispute,