The Humours of the Court Author:Robert Seymour Bridges Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: I. THE WINNOWERS. Betwixt two billows of the downs The little hamlet lies, And nothing sees but the bald crowns Of the hills, and the blue skies. ... more »Clustering beneath the long descent And grey slopes of the wold, The red roofs nestle, oversprent With lichen yellow as gold. We found it in the mid-day sun Basking, what time of year The thrush his singing has begun, Ere the first leaves appear. High from his load a woodman pitched His faggots on the stack: Knee-deep in straw the cattle twitched Sweet hay from crib and rack: And from the barn hard by was borne A steady muffled din, By which we knew that threshed corn Was winnowing, and went in. The sunbeams on the motey air Streamed through the open door, And on the brown arms moving bare, And the grain upon the floor. One turns the crank, one stoops to feed The hopper, lest it lack, One in the bushel scoops the seed, One stands to hold the sack. We watched the good grain rattle down, And the awns fly in the draught; To see us both so pensive grown The honest labourers laughed: Merry they were, because the wheat Was clean and plump and good, Pleasant to hand and eye, and meet For market and for food. It chanced we from the city were, And had not gat us free In spirit from the store and stir Of its immensity: But here we found ourselves again. Where humble harvests bring After much toil but little grain, 'Tis merry winnowing. chapter{Section 4II. THE AFFLICTION OF RICHARD. Love not too much. But how, When thou hast made me such, And dost thy gifts bestow, How can I love too much? Though I must fear to lose, And drown my joy in care, With all its thorns I choose The path of love and prayer. Though thou, I know not why, Di...« less