I met thee, –, when the leaves were green And living verdure clothed the countless trees When meadow flowers allured the summer bees And silvery skies shone o'er the cloudless scene Bright as my thoughts when wand'ring to thy home Where Nature looks as though she were divine Not in the richness of the rip'ning vine Not in the splendour of imperial Rome. It is a ruder scene of rocks and trees Where even barrenness is beauty—where The glassy lake, below the mountain bare Curls up its waters 'neath the casual breeze And, 'midst the plenitude of flower and bud Sweet violets hide them in the hilly wood.

II

I parted with thee one autumnal day When o'er the woods the northern tempest beat— The spoils of autumn rustling at our feet And Nature wept to see her own decay. The pliant poplar bent beneath the blast The moveless oak stood warring with the storm Which bow'd the pensive willow's weaker form And naught gave token that thy love would last Save the mute eloquence of forcing tears Save the low pleading of thy ardent sighs The fervent gazing of thy glowing eyes A firm assurance, spite of all my fears That, as the sunshine dries the summer rain Thy future smile should bless for parting pain.

* * H.

ILLUSTRATION OF SOME OLD PROVERBS, &c

(For the Mirror.)

"Ax." To ask. This word which now passes for a mere vulgarism, is the original Saxon form, and used by Chaucer and others. See "Tyrwhitt's Glossary." We find it also in Bishop Bale's "God's Promises." "That their synne vengeaunce axed continually." Old Plays. i. 18. Also in the "Four P.'s," by Heywood, "And axed them thys question than." Old Pl. i. 84. An axing is used by Chaucer for a request. Ben Jonson introduces it jocularly:

"A man out of wax, As a lady would ax."

Masques, vol. 6, p. 85.

"Between the Cup and the Lip." The proverb that many things fall out between the cup and the lip, is a literal version of one in Latin. Multo inter pocula ac libra cadunt. The origin of which was as follows:—A king of Thrace had planted a vineyard, when one of his slaves, whom he had much oppressed in that very work, prophesied that he should never taste of the wine produced in it. The monarch disregarded the prediction, and when at an entertainment he held a glassful of his own wine made from the grape of that vineyard, he sent for the slave, and asked him what he thought of his prophecy now; to which the other replied, "Many things fall out between the cup and the lip," and he had scarcely delivered this singular response, before news was brought that a monstrous boar was laying waste the favourite vineyard. The king, in a rage, put down the cup which he held in his hand, and hurried out with his people to attack the boar; but being too eager, the boar rushed upon him and killed him, without having tasted of the wine. Such is the story related by some of the Greek writers, and though evidently apocryphal, it certainly is productive of a good practical moral.

"In the merry pin." This is said of those who have drunk freely and are cheerful in their cups. Among the ancient northern nations, it was customary to drink out of large horns, in which were placed small pins, like a scale of distances, and he who quaffed most was considered as a toper of the first magnitude, and respected accordingly. The merry pin was that which stood pretty far from the mouth of the horn, and he who, at a draught, reduced the liquor to that point, was a man of no ordinary prowess in bacchanalian contest.

"Under the Rose be it spoken." The rose being dedicated by Cupid to Harpocrates, the god of Silence, to engage him to conceal the amours of Venus, was an emblem of Silence; whence to present it or hold it up to any person in discourse, served instead of an admonition, that it was time for him to hold his peace; and in entertaining rooms it was customary to place a rose above the table, to signify that what was there spoken should be kept private. This practice is described by the following epigram:—

Est rosa flos, Veneris cujus quo facta laterunt, Harpocrati matri dona dicavit Amor, Inde rosam mensis hospes suspendit amicis Convivii et sub ea dicta tacenda sciat.

Potter's Ant. Greece.

"Cant." This word, which is now generally applied to fanatical preachers, and hypocritical apprentices in religion, derives its name from two Scotch Presbyterian ministers, in the reign of Charles II. They were father and son, both called Andrew Cant; and Whitelocke in his "Memoirs," p. 511, after narrating the defeat at Worcester, in 1651, says, "Divers Scotch ministers were permitted to meet at Edinburgh, to keep a day of humiliation, as they pretended, for their too much compliance with the King," and in the same month when Lord Argyll had called a parliament, Mr. Andrew Cant, a minister, said in his pulpit, that "God was bound to hold this parliament, for that all other parliaments was called by man, but this was brought about by his own hand."

"An't please the Pigs." In this phrase there is not only a peculiarity of dialect, but the corruption of a word, and a change of one thing for another. In the first place, an, in the midland counties, is used for if; and pigs is evidently a corruption of Pyx, the sacred vessel containing the host in Roman Catholic countries. In the last place, the vessel is substituted for the power itself, by an easy metonymy in the same manner as when we talk of "the sense of the house," we do not mean to ascribe intelligence to a material building; but to the persons in it assembled for a deliberate purpose; the expression therefore signifies no more than "Deo volente," or God willing.

"Bumper." In many parts of England any thing large is called a bumper. Hence a bumping lass is a large girl of her age, and a bumpkin is a large-limbed, uncivilized rustic; the idea of grossness of size entering into the idea of a country bumpkin, as well as that of unpolished rudeness. Dr. Johnson, however, strangely enough deduces the word bumpkin from bump; but what if it should prove to be a corruption of bumbard, or bombard: in low Latin, bombardus, a great gun, and from thence applied to a large flagon, or full glass. Thus the Lord Chamberlain says to the porters who had been negligent in keeping out the mob.

"You are lazy knaves: And here ye lie, baiting of bombard, when Ye should do service."

Shaks. Hen. VIII. Act 5, Scene 3.

"Baiting of bombard" is a term for sitting and drinking, which Nash in his "Supplycacyon to the Deuyll," calls by the like metaphor, "bear baiting." So Shakspeare again in the "Tempest," says,

"Yond same black cloud, yond huge one, Seems like foul bombard, that would shed his liquor."

Tempest, Act 2, Scene 2.

Which Theobald rightly explains thus: "A large vessel for holding drink, as well as the piece of ordinance so called."

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The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 387, August 28, 1829

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TWO SONNETS

To M– F–

(For the Mirror.)

I

II

ILLUSTRATION OF SOME OLD PROVERBS, &c

(For the Mirror.)

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