AUTUMN-OCTOBER. AUTUMN. ARGUMENT. Acorns. Hogs in the wood. Wheat-sowing. The church. Village girls. The mad girl. The bird-boy's hut. Disappointments; reflections, &c. Euston-hall. Fox-hunting. Old Trouncer. Long nights. A welcome to Winter. SUBJECT; SCENES OF AUTUMN.-SWINEHERD; HUNTSMAN. AGAIN, the year's decline, midst storms and floods The thundering chase, the yellow fading woods, Invites my song; that fain would boldly tell Of upland coverts, and the echoing dell, By turns resounding loud, at eve and morn, The swineherd's halloo, or the huntsman's horn. NEW-FALLEN MAST; SOW AND PIGS FEEDING ON ACORNS. No more the fields with scattered grain supply Till the strong gale have shook them to the ground; The trudging sow leads forth her numerous young, Playful, and white, and clean, the briers among, Till briers and thorns, increasing, fence them round, Where last year's mouldering leaves bestrew the ground; And o'er their heads, loud lashed by furious squalls, Bright from their cups the rattling treasure falls. THE POOL; THE HAUNT OF THE WILD DUCK; LUDICROUS FRIGHT OF THE LITTLE PIGS. Hot thirsty food! whence doubly sweet and cool The welcome margin of some rush-grown pool, The wild duck's lonely haunt, whose jealous eye Guards every point; who sits prepared to fly, On the calm bosom of her little lake, Too closely screened for ruffian winds to shake; And as the bold intruders press around, At once she starts and rises with a bound: With bristles raised the sudden noise they hear, And, ludicrously wild, and winged with fear, The herd decamp with more than swinish speed, And snorting dash through sedge, and rush, and reed; Through tangling thickets headlong on they go, Then stop and listen for their fancied foe: The hindmost still the growing panic spreads, THE HOG'S NEST AT NIGHT; THE PHEASANT; GILES'S VAIN SEARCH FOR THE SWINE, For now the gale subsides, and from each bough The roosting pheasant's short but frequent crow Invites to rest; and huddling side by side The herd in closest ambush seek to hide; Seek some warm slope with shagged moss o'erspread, Dried leaves their copious covering and their bed. In vain may Giles, through gathering glooms that And solemn silence, urge his piercing call; [fall, Whole days and nights they tarry midst their store, Nor quit the woods till oaks can yield no more. WINTER-WHEAT; HOW TO PROTECT IT WHEN SOWN IN AUTUMN. Beyond bleak Winter's rage, beyond the Spring That rolling earth's unvarying course will bring, Who tills the ground, looks on with mental eye, And sees next Summer's sheaves and cloudless sky; And even now, whilst Nature's beauty dies, Deposits seed, and bids new harvests rise; Seed well prepared, and warmed with glowing lime, 'Gainst earth-bred grubs, and cold, and lapse of time: For searching frosts and various ills invade, The plough moves heavily, and strong the soil, THE PARSON'S HORSE; THE RUDE CHAPEL; DAWS. Nor his alone the sweets of ease to taste : Kind rest extends to all; - save one poor beast, That, true to time and pace, is doomed to plod, To bring the pastor to the house of God: Mean structure; where no bones of heroes lie! The rude inelegance of poverty Reigns here alone: else why that roof of straw? Those narrow windows with the frequent flaw? THE GRAVES ABOUT THE CHAPEL; SUNDAY TALK OF FARMERS ; Round these lone walls assembling neighbors meet, And tread departed friends beneath their feet; And new-briered graves, that prompt the secret sigh, Show each the spot where he himself must lie. Midst timely greetings village news goes round, Of crops late shorn, or crops that deck the ground; Experienced ploughmen in the circle join; While sturdy boys, in feats of strength to shine, With pride elate, their young associates brave To jump from hollow-sounding grave to grave; Then close consulting, each his talent lends To plan fresh sports when tedious service ends. THE VILLAGE MAIDS; THEIR ERRAND AT CHURCH. Hither at times, with cheerfulness of soul, Sweet village maids from neighboring hamlets stroll, That, like the light-heeled does o'er lawns that rove, Look shyly curious; ripening into love; For love's their errand: hence the tints that glow On either cheek an heightened lustre know : When, conscious of their charms, e'en Age looks sly; And rapture beams from Youth's observant eye. STORY OF CRAZED POLLY RAYNOR; HER DRESS, WHIMS, MISERY, WILDNESS, AND PITEOUS INSANITY. The pride of such a party, Nature's pride, Was lovely Poll ;1 who innocently tried, With hat of airy shape and ribbons gay, Love to inspire, and stand in Hymen's way: But ere her twentieth summer could expand, Or youth was rendered happy with her hand, Her mind's serenity was lost and gone, Her eye grew languid, and she wept alone; Yet causeless seemed her grief; for quick restrained, Mirth followed loud, or indignation reigned: Whims wild and simple led her from her home, The heath, the common, or the fields, to roam : Terror and joy alternate ruled her hours; Now blithe she sung, and gathered useless flowers; Now plucked a tender twig from every bough, To whip the hovering demons from her brow. Ill-fated maid! thy guiding spark is fled, And lasting wretchedness awaits thy bedThy bed of straw! for mark, where even now O'er their lost child afflicted parents bow; Their woe she knows not, but, perversely coy, Inverted customs yield her sullen joy. Her midnight meals in secrecy she takes, Low muttering to the moon, that rising breaks Through night's dark gloom :-0, how much more forlorn Her night, that knows of no returning dawn! — 1 Mary Raynor, of Ixworth Thorp, or Village. Slow from the threshold, once her infant seat, Her head bowed down, her faded cheeks to hide ;- She hears the unwelcome foot advancing nigh; THE JOYS OF WEDDED Love. Fair promised sunbeams of terrestrial bliss, Health's gallant hopes, — and are ye sunk to this? For in life's road though thorns abundant grow, There still are joys poor Poll can never know; Joys which the gay companions of her prime Sip, as they drift along the stream of time; At eve to hear beside their tranquil home The lifted latch, that speaks the lover come : That love matured, next playful on the knee To press the velvet lip of infancy; To stay the tottering step, the features trace; Inestimable sweets of social peace! PRAYER FOR PEACE OF MIND AND WARMTH OF HEART. 0 Thou, who bidst the vernal juices rise! Thou, on whose blasts autumnal foliage flies! Let peace ne'er leave me, nor my heart grow cold, Whilst life and sanity are mine to hold. CARE OF THE LATE-HATCHED CHICKENS, ETC. Of cold-nipped weaklings of the latter brood, THE BIRD-BOY'S WATCH. Far weightier cares and wider scenes expand; What devastation marks the new-sown land! 'From hungry woodland foes, go, Giles, and guard The rising wheat; insure its great reward: A future sustenance, a Summer's pride, Demand thy vigilance: then be it tried ; Exert thy voice, and wield thy shotless gun: Go, tarry there from morn till setting sun.' GILES BUILDS A HUT OF STRAW AND TURF, LIKE CRUSOE, FOR SHELTER. Keen blows the blast, or ceaseless rain descends; Whose roof, repelling winds and early snow, HIS HOSPITABLE FEAST OF HAWS AND SLOES; DISAPPOINTED OF HIS BOY-GUESTS. SOLITUDE AND LIBERTY. On whitethorns towering, and the leafless rose, A frost-nipped feast in bright vermilion glows: Where clustering sloes in glossy order rise, He crops the loaded branch; a cumbrous prize; And o'er the flame the sputtering fruit he rests, Placing green sods to seat his coming guests; His guests by promise; playmates young and gay : But, ah! fresh pastimes lure their steps away! He sweeps his hearth, and homeward looks in vain, Till, feeling disappointment's cruel pain, His fairy revels are exchanged for rage, His banquet marred, grown dull his hermitage. The field becomes his prison, till on high Benighted birds to shades and coverts fly. Midst air, health, daylight, can he prisoner be? If fields are prisons, where is liberty? Here still she dwells, and here her votaries stroll; HOPE DEFERRED; THE PRISONER; HOWARD. But disappointed hope untunes the soul: Restraints unfelt whilst hours of rapture flow, When troubles press, to chains and barriers grow. Shorn of their flowers that shed the untreasured Look, then, from trivial up to greater woes ; seed, The withering pasture, and the fading mead, Less tempting grown, diminish more and more, The dairy's pride; sweet Summer's flowing store. New cares succeed, and gentle duties press, Where the fireside, a school of tenderness, Revives the languid chirp, and warms the blood From the poor bird-boy with his roasted sloes, Thy slights can make the wretched more forlorn, And deeper drive affliction's barbéd thorn. VISIT THE PRISONER, AND DISAPPOINT HIM NOT. Say not, 'I'll come and cheer thy gloomy cell With news of dearest friends; how good, how well : I'll be a joyful herald to thine heart :' Then fail, and play the worthless trifler's part, To sip flat pleasures from thy glass's brim, And waste the precious hour that's due to him! In mercy spare the base, unmanly blow: Where can he turn, to whom complain of you? Back to past joys in vain his thoughts may stray, Trace and retrace the beaten, worn-out way, The rankling injury will pierce his breast, And curses on thee break his midnight rest. THE AUTUMN MUSIC OF THE CHASE; EUSTON; FITZROY ; HOUND AND HORN. Bereft of song, and ever cheering green, The soft endearments of the Summer scene, New harmony pervades the solemn wood, Dear to the soul, and healthful to the blood: For bold exertion follows on the sound Of distant sportsmen, and the chiding hound; O'er slopes and lawns, the park's extensive pride, THE FOX-HUNT; THE FOX BLOCKED OUT; STARTED FROM COVER THE VIEW-HALLOO. In earliest hours of dark, unhooded morn, Ere yet one rosy cloud bespeaks the dawn, Whilst far abroad the fox pursues his prey, He's doomed to risk the perils of the day, From his strong hold blocked out; perhaps to bleed, Or owe his life to fortune or to speed. For now the pack, impatient rushing on, Range through the darkest coverts one by one; Trace every spot; whilst down each noble glade, That guides the eye beneath a changeful shade, The loitering sportsman feels the instinctive flame, And checks his steed to mark the springing game. Midst intersecting cuts and winding ways The huntsman cheers his dogs, and anxious strays Where every narrow riding, even shorn, Gives back the echo of his mellow horn : Till fresh and lightsome, every power untried, The starting fugitive leaps by his side, His lifted finger to his ear he plies, And the View-halloo bids a chorus rise Of dogs quick-mouthed and shouts that mingle loud, As bursting thunder rolls from cloud to cloud. THE HORSE IN THE CHASE; THE VILLAGERS TURN OUT. With ears erect, and chest of vigorous mould, O'er ditch, o'er fence, unconquerably bold, The shining courser lengthens every bound, And his strong foot-locks suck the moistened ground, As from the confines of the wood they pour, And joyous villages partake the roar. O'er heath far stretched, or down, or valley low, The stiff-limbed peasant, glorying in the show, Pursues in vain; where youth itself soon tires, Spite of the transports that the chase inspires; For who unmounted long can charm the eye, Or hear the music of the leading cry? THE FOX-HOUND TROUNCER; HIS EXPLOITS. Poor faithful Trouncer! thou canst lead no more; All thy fatigues and all thy triumphs o'er ! Triumphs of worth, whose honorary fame Was still to follow true the hunted game; Beneath enormous oaks, Britannia's boast, In thick, impenetrable coverts lost, When the warm pack in faltering silence stood, Thine was the note that roused the listening wood, Rekindling every joy with ten-fold force, Through all the mazes of the tainted course. Still foremost thou the dashing stream to cross, And tempt along the animated horse; Foremost o'er fen or level mead to pass, And sweep the showering dew-drops from the grass; Then bright emerging from the mist below To climb the woodland hill's exulting brow. DEATH AND EPITAPH OF TROUNCER. Pride of thy race! with worth far less than thine, Full many human leaders daily shine! Less faith, less constancy, less generous zeal ! — Then no disgrace mine humble verse shall feel, Where not one lying line to riches bows, Or poisoned sentiment from rancor flows; Nor flowers are strewn around Ambition's car :An honest dog's a nobler theme by far. Each sportsman heard the tidings with a sigh, When death's cold touch had stopped his tuneful cry; And though high deeds, and fair exalted praise, THE EARLY CROW OF THE COCK; THE GEESE; SHORT DAYS AND PREPARATIONS FOR WINTER. In safety housed throughout night's lengthening reign, The cock sends forth a loud and piercing strain; 1 Inscribed on a stone in Euston Park wall. Hours now in darkness veiled; yet loud the scream To meet the threats of Boreas undismayed, WELCOME TO WINTER; HOPE FOR THE POOR. Then welcome, cold; welcome, ye snowy nights! Heaven, midst your rage, shall mingle pure delights, And confidence of hope the soul sustain, While devastation sweeps along the plain : Nor shall the child of poverty despair, But bless the Power that rules the changing year; Assured, though horrors round his cottage reign,That Spring will come, and Nature smile again. Tusser's "October's Husbandry." ** Now lay up thy barley-land, dry as ye can, Who soweth in rain, he shall reap it with tears; 1 To lay up' is to cover the ridge baulk by two opposite furrows, to shed water. 2 Wheat is sown in England from mid-August to midDecember, but chiefly in October; the compiler has sown winter-wheat in northern Illinois as late as Nov. 13. — J. 3 To 'peel' is to spend or exhaust. One after another, no comfort between, [kept |