"But, from the mountain's grassy side A guiltless feast I bring A scrip with herbs and fruits supplied, "Then, pilgrim, turn, thy cares forego; Soft as the dew from heaven descends, The modest stranger lowly bends, And follows to the cell. Far, in a wilderness obscure, A refuge to the neighbouring poor No stores beneath its humble thatch And now, when busy crowds retire And gaily pressed, and smiled; The lingering hours beguiled. Its tricks the kitten tries; But nothing could a charm impart And tears began to flow. His rising cares the hermit spied, "From better habitations spurned, Or grieve for friendship unreturned, "Alas! the joys that fortune brings And those who prize the paltry things, "And what is friendship but a name, A shade that follows wealth or fame, "And love is still an emptier sound- On earth unseen, or only found To warm the turtle's nest. "For shame, fond youth, thy sorrows hush, And spurn the sex," he said; Surprised, he sees new beauties rise, The bashful look, the rising breast, The lovely stranger stands confess'd, "And, ah! forgive a stranger rude, "My father lived beside the Tyne A wealthy lord was he; And all his wealth was marked as mine, He had but only me. "To win me from his tender arms Unnumbered suitors came; "Each hour, a mercenary crowd With richest proffers strove; "In humble, simplest habit clad, "And when, beside me in the dale, His breath lent fragrance to the gale, "The blossom opening to the day, "The dew, the blossom on the tree, "For still I tried each fickle art, And while his passion touched my heart, I triumphed in his pain. "Till quite dejected by my scorn, He left me to my pride; And sought a solitude forlorn In secret, where he died. "But mine the sorrow, mine the fault, "And there, forlorn, despairing, hid, "Forbid it, Heaven!" the hermit cried, "Turn, Angelina, ever dear My charmer, turn to see Restored to love and thee. "Thus let me hold thee to my heart, And every care resign; And shall we never, never part, "No; never, from this hour to part, The sigh that rends thy constant heart O. Goldsmith. XXIV. OLD LONDON.* THE history of many cities has been deciphered from inscriptions, and so the history of Old London may, much of it, be deciphered from the inscriptions which we find written up at the corners of its streets. These familiar names, which catch the eye as we pace the pavement, perpetually remind us of the London of bygone centuries, and recall the stages by which the long unlovely avenues of street have replaced the elms and hedgerows, and have spread over miles of pleasant fields, till scores of outlying villages have been absorbed into a "boundless contiguity" of brick and mortar. By the aid of the street-names of London let us then endeavour to reconstruct the history of London, and, in the first place, let us take these names as our guide-book in making the circuit of *From Words and Places. |