Page:White - The natural history of Selborne, and the naturalist's calendar, 1879.djvu/485

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The mountain-brow commands the woods below: In Jewry first this order found a name, When madding Croisades set the world in flame; When western climes, urged on by Pope and priest, Pour'd forth their millions o'er the deluged East: Luxurious knights, ill suked to defy To mortal fight Turcestan chivalry.
 * Nor be the Parsonage by the muse forgot;

The partial bard admires his native spot; Smit with its beauties, loved, as yet a child, (Unconscious why) its scapes grotesque, and wild. High on a mound th' exalted gardens stand, Beneath, deep valleys scoop'd by Nature's hand. A Cobham here, exulting in his art, Might blend the General's with the Gardener's part Might fortify with all the martial trade Of rampart, bastion, fosse, and palisade; Might plant the mortar with wide threatening bore, Or bid the mimic cannon seem to roar.
 * Now climb the steep, drop now your eye below,

Where round the blooming village orchards grow; There, like a picture, lies my lowly seat, A rural, shelter'd, unobserved retreat.
 * Me far above the rest Selbornian scenes,

The pendent forests, and the mountain greens Strike with delight; there spreads the distant view, That gradual fades till sunk in misty blue: Here Nature hangs her slopy woods to sight, Rills purl between, and dart a quivering light.