Class PR4Aia. Book lAJ 1 1\(> OopyiightN e ^ st COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. °\ ^ I Favorite Poems. By JEAN INGELOW. SONGS OF SEVEN. THE HIGH TIDE. THE SHEPHERD LADY, AND OTHER POEMS. Illustrated BOSTON: ROBERTS BROTHERS. 1886. •a ^ Copyright, 1885, By Roberts Brothers. TRADE MARK. (Llnibrrsth) ^resa : John Wilson and Son, Cambridge mgS^^^HB^^S^M^ES A\\via\\\\m\\\ww\\\w\\\\\\ SONGS OF SEVEN. BY JEAN INGELOW. EUustrateti. BOSTON: ROBERTS BROTHERS. 1886. Copyright, 1881, By Roberts Brothers. The full-page illustrations are designed by Miss C. A. Noetham and J. Eeancis Muephy ; the tiilepage, and those in the text, by Edmund H. Gaeeett. The book is prepared and the illustrations engraved bv Geo. T. Andeew. Seven Times One : Exultation .... Seven Tim.es Two : Eomance Seven Times Three : Love Seven Times Four -. Maternity .... Seven Times Five : "Widowhood .... Seven Times Six : Giving in Marriage . Seven Times Seven: Longing for Home . Page 13 16 23 26 33 36 43 TlTLEPAGE. SEVEN" TIMES ONE . "I am seven times one to-day" " The lambs play always, they know no better ' ' You are nothing now but a bow " . " columbine, open your folded wrapper" SEVEN TIMES TWO " I wait for my story — the birds cannot sing it " Turn again, turn again, once they rang cheerily " Tailpiece Page 11 11 13 14 15 16 17 19 20 SEVEN TIMES THREE " Dark, dark was the garden, I saw not the gate " " You night-moths that hover where honey brims over 1 Tailpiece 21 21 24 25 SEVEN TIMES FOUR .... " Heigh-ho ! daisies and buttercups ! Mother shall thread them a daisy chain. " A ship sails afar over warm ocean waters " Tailpiece IO Illustrations* SEVEN TIMES FIVE .... "I lift mine eyes, and what to see But a world happy and fair ! " "0 what anear hut golden brooms " . Tailpiece SEVEN TIMES SIX ... . " Thy mother's tenderest words are said, Thy face no more she views." "To wed, And with thy lord depart " Tailpiece SEVEN TIMES SEVEN " Can I call that home where I anchor yet Though my good man has sailed ? ' " Lightly she rocked to her port remote " She faded out on the moonlit foam " " There was once a nest in a hollow" . ' ' One after one they flew away " Tailpiece .... Page 31 31 34 35 36 37 39 40 41 41 43 44 45 40 47 SEVEN TIMES ONE. EXULTATION. EXULTATION. / am seven times one to-day. Seven times One. EXULTATION. H^HEEE'S no dew left on the daisies and clover There's no rain left in heaven ; I've said my " seven times " over and over, Seven times one are seven. I am old, so old, I can write a letter ; My birthday lessons are done ; The lambs play always, they know no better ; They are only one times one. 14 Songs of Seven. moon ! in the night I have seen you sailing And shining so round and low ; You were bright ! ah bright ! but your light is failing : You are nothing now but a bow You moon, have you done something wrong in heaven That God has hidden your face ? I hope if you have you will soon be forgiven, And shine again in your place. velvet bee, you're a dusty fellow, You've powdered your legs with gold ! brave marsh marybuds, rich and yellow, Give me your money to hold ! $/ columbine, open your folded wrapper, |§ Where two twin turtle-doves dwell ! fj cuckoopint, toll me the purple clapper That hangs in your clear green bell. And show me your nest with the young ones in it ; I will not steal them away; I am old ! you may trust me, linnet, linnet : I am seven times one to-day. SEVEN TIMES TWO. ROMANCE. ROMANCE. / -wait for my story — the birds cannot sing it." Seven times Two. ROMANCE. "\7~0U bells in the steeple, ring, ring out your changes, How many soever they be, And let the brown meadow-lark's note as he ranges Come over, come over to me. Yet bird's clearest carol by fall or by swelling No magical sense conveys, And bells have forgotten their old art of telling The fortune of future days. 20 Songs of Seven. " Turn again, turn again," once they rang cheerily, While a boy listened alone ; Made his heart yearn again, musing so wearily All by himself on a stone. Poor bells ! I forgive you ; your good days are over, And mine, they are yet to be ; No listening, no longing, shall aught, aught discover You leave the story to me. The foxglove shoots out of the green matted heather, Preparing her hoods of snow ; She was idle, and slept till the sunshiny weather : 0, children take long to grow. Songs of Seven. 21 I wish, and I wish that the spring would go faster, JSTor long summer bide so late ; And I could grow on like the foxglove and aster, For some things are ill to wait. I wait for the day when dear hearts shall discover, While dear hands are laid on my head ; " The child is a woman, the book may close over, For all the lessons are said." I wait for my story — the birds cannot sing it, Not one, as he sits on the tree ; The bells cannot ring it, but long years, bring it l Such as I wish it to be. SEYEN TIMES THREE. LOVE. LOVE. Dark, dark was the garden, I saic not the gale.'''' Seven times Three. LOVE. T LEANED out of window, I smelt the white clover, Dark, dark was the garden, I saw not the gate ; "Now, if there be footsteps, he comes, my one lover — Hush, nightingale, hush ! 0, sweet nightingale, wait Till I listen and hear If a step draweth near, For my love he is late ! 26 Songs of Seven. " The skies in the darkness stoop nearer and nearer, A cluster of stars hangs like fruit in the tree, The fall of the water comes sweeter, comes clearer : To what art thou listening, and what dost thou see ? Let the star-clusters glow, Let the sweet waters now, And cross quickly to me. "You night-moths that hover where honey brims over From sycamore blossoms, or settle or sleep ; You glow-worms, shine out, and the pathway dis- cover To him that comes darkling along the rough steep. Ah, my sailor, make haste, For the time runs to waste, And my love lieth deep — Songs of Seven, 27 " Too deep for swift telling ; and yet, my one lover I've conned thee an answer, it waits thee to-night." By the sycamore passed he, and through the white clover, Then all the sweet speech I had fashioned took flight; But I'll love him more, more Than e'er wife loved before, Be the days dark or bright. S* SEVEN TIMES FOUR. MATERNITY. MATERNITY. "Heigh-ho! daisies and bidtercups ! Mother shall thread them a daisy chain:'' 1 TEIGH-HO ! daisies and buttercups, Fair yellow daffodils, stately and tall ! C. When the wind wakes how they rock in the grasses, And dance with the cuckoo-buds slender and small ! Here's two bonny boys, and here's mother's own lasses, Eager to gather them all. 32 Songs of Seven. Heigh-ho ! daisies and buttercups ! Mother shall thread them a daisy chain ; Sing them a song of the pretty hedge-sparrow, That loved her brown little ones, loved them full fain ; Sing, " Heart, thou art wide though the house be but narrow," — Sing once, and sing it again. Heigh-ho ! daisies and buttercups, Sweet wagging cowslips, they bend and they bow ; A ship sails afar over warm ocean waters, And haply one musing doth stand at her prow. O bonny brown sons, and sweet little daughters, Maybe he thinks on you now ! Songs of Seven. 33 Heigh-ho ! daisies and buttercups, Fair yellow daffodils, stately and tall — A sunshiny world full of laughter and leisure, And fresh hearts unconscious of sorrow and thrall ! Send down on their pleasure smiles passing its meas- ure, God that is over us all ! SEYEN TIMES FIVE. WIDOWHOOD. ■■■■MJ W1DOWHO0 D. "/ lift mine eyes, and what to see But a world happy and fair ! " *-- Seven times Five W1D0WH00 D. SLEEP and rest, my heart makes moan Before I am well awake ; " Let me bleed ! let me alone, -^ Since I must not break ! " X For children wake, though fathers sleep With a stone at foot and at head : J sleepless God, for ever keep, : Keep both living and dead ! %y'fzr 38 Songs of Seven. I lift mine eyes, and what to see But a world happy and fair ! I have not wished it to mourn with me, — Comfort is not there. what anear but golden brooms, And a waste of reedy rills ! what afar but the fine glooms On the rare blue hills ! I shall not die, but live forlore — How bitter it is to part ! to meet thee, my love, once more ! my heart, my heart ! Songs of Seven. 39 No more to hear, no more to see ! that an echo might wake And waft one note of thy psalm to me Ere my heart strings break ! I should know it how faint soe'er, And with angel-voices blent ; once to feel thy spirit anear, I could be content. Or once between the gates of gold, While an entering angel trod, But once — thee sitting to behold On the hills of God ! SEVEN TIMES SIX. GIVING IN MARRIAGE. GIVING IN MARRIAGE. Thy mother's tenderest words are said, Thy face no more she views.'''' 44 Songs of Seven, To hear, to heed, to wed, And with thy lord depart In tears that he, as soon as shed, Will let no longer smart. — To hear, to heed, to wed, This while thou didst I smiled, For now it was not God who said, " Mother, give me thy child." fond, fool, and blind, To God I gave with tears ; But when a man like grace would find, My soul put by her fears. fond, fool, and blind, God guards in happier spheres ; That man will guard where he did bind Is hope for unknown years. Songs of Seven, 45 To hear, to heed, to wed, Fair lot that maidens choose, Thy mother's tenderest words are said ; Thy face no more she views ; Thy mother's lot, my dear, She doth in naught accuse ; Her lot to bear, to nurse, to rear, To love — and then to lose. SEYEX TIMES SEYEN. LONGING FOR HOME. LONGING FOR HOME. " Can I call thai home where I anchor yet Though my good man has sailed? " Seven times Seve, LONGING FOR HOME. A SONG of a boat: — There was once a boat on a billow : Lightly she rocked to her port remote, And the foam was white hi her wake like snow, And her frail mast bowed when the breeze would blow, And bent like a wand of willow. 50 Songs of Seven. I shaded mine eyes one day when a boat Went curtseying over the billow, I marked her course till a dancing mote She faded out on the moonlit foam, And I stayed behind in the dear loved home ; And my thoughts all day were about the boat, And my dreams upon the pillow. I pray you hear my song of a boat, For it is but short : — My boat, you shall find none fairer afloat, In river or port. Long I looked out for the lad she bore, On the open desolate sea, And I think he sailed to the heavenly shore, For he came not back to me — Ah me! A song of a nest : — There was once a nest in a hollow : Down in the mosses and knot-grass pressed, Soft and warm, and full to the brim. Vetches leaned over it purple and dim, With buttercup buds to follow. I pray you hear my song of a nest, For it is not long : — You shall never light, in a summer quest The bushes among — Shall never light on a prouder sitter, A fairer nestful, nor ever know A softer sound than their tender twitter, That wind-like did come and go. 52 Songs of Seven. I had a nestful once of my own, Ah happy, happy I ! Eight dearly I loved them : but when they They spread out their wings to fly. 0, one after one they flew away Far up to the heavenly blue, To the better country, the upper day, I wish I was going too. I pray you, what is the nest to me, My empty nest ? And what is the shore where I stood to see My boat sail down to the west ? Can I call that home where I anchor yet, Though my good man has sailed ? Songs of Seven. 53 Can I call that home where my nest was set, Now all its hope hath failed ? Nay, but the port where my sailor went, And the land where my nestlings be, There is the home where my thoughts are sent The only home for me — Ah me ! ® UtfteW* % e°M x ^f, THE HIGHfeTIDEiO NSTHE8CQAS TfOFMJNCO LNSHIRE#1J f If PUBLJSHEDOTROB ERU'BHOTHERJOFBQSTO ' 1 N-IN-THESTATEOFMA^ACH M wtm^k Copyright, 1SS3, By Roberts Brothers. -• r ~ " '• - ' —^ tj?W |[urir^tion Drawn and Engraved Under the Supervision of GEORGE T. ANDREW. PAGE Half-title . . . i Titlepage 3 Heading, Lift of Illuftrations . 5 St. Botolph Church .... 9 The Belfry Tower .... 11 " ' Good ringers, pull your 3 belt,' quoth he" . . . . 13 " The flights of mews and peewits pied by millions crouched on the old fea wall" 15 " I fat and fpun within the doore.. my thread brake off, I raifed myne eyes" 17 "Where the reedy Lindis floweth" 19 "From the meads where melick groweth" 19 PAGE " My fonne's faire wife, Elizabeth " 21 " Meadow graffes ; " " ftalks of parfley " . . 23 " And all the aire, it feemeth mee, bin full of floating bells " 25 " The fhepherde lads I heard afarre " 27 " The fwanherds where their fedges are, moved on in funfet's golden breath " 29 "Then fome looked uppe into the fky" . .... 31 " For evil news from Mablethorpe " 33 " Of pyrate galleys warping downe " 35 " Came riding downe with might and main "...... 37 " Where Lindis winds away, with her two bairns I marked her long " . . 39 " A mighty eygre reared his creft " ............... 41 " Or like a demon in a fhroud " 41 " Then beaten foam flew round about — then all the mighty floods were out " 43 " Before a fhallow feething wave fobbed in the graffes at our feet "... 45 "And all the world was in the fea" 45 " I marked the lofty beacon light " 47 "And yet the ruddy beacon glowed" 49 " Upon the roofe we fate that night " 51 " The lifted fun fhone on thy face " 53 " The waters laid thee at his doore " . 53 "That flow ftrewed wrecks about the grafs " 55 "That ebbe fwept out the flocks to fea" • • • 55 " When the water winding down, onward floweth to the town "..... 57 "'Cufha! Cufha! Cuflia ! ' calling" 59 " Where the reeds and rufhes quiver " 61 " I fhall never hear her calling, ' Leave your meadow graffes mellow ' " . . 63 " But each will mourn his own " 65 Ullugtrattrjns in Notes, PAGE Jean Ingelow's Home i Skirbeck Church, Bofton, England iii The Old Vicarage, Bofton, England iv ARTISTS. F. S. Church. Wm. St. John Harper. Harry Fenn. J. Appleton Brown. W. A. Rogers. F. B. Schell. J. Francis Murphy. W. F. Halsall. J. D. Woodward. W. L. Taylor. F. Childe Hassam. SEAL. OLD BOSTON, ENGLAND. St. Botolph Church. Cije i^ig^ Citie. The old mayor climbed the belfry tower, The ringers rang by two, by three ; " Pull, if ye never pulled before ; Good ringers, pull your belt," quoth he " Play uppe, play uppe, O Bofton bells ! Ply all your changes, all your fwells, Play uppe 'The Brides of Enderby.' " Good ringers, pull your beft] quoth heP Men fay it was a ftolen tyde — The Lord that fent it, He knows all ; But in myne ears doth ftill abide The meffage that the bells let fall : And there was nought of ftrange, befide The flights of mews and peewits pied By millions crouched on the old fea wall. I fat and fpun within the doore, My thread brake off, I raifed myne eyes ; The level fun, like ruddy ore, Lay finking in the barren fkies ; And dark againft day's golden death She moved where Lindis wandereth, My fonne's faire wife, Elizabeth, "Cufha! Cufha! Cufha!" calling, Ere the early dews were falling, Farre away I heard her fong, " Cufha ! Cufha ! " all along ; Where the reedy Lindis floweth, Floweth, floweth, From the meads where melick groweth Faintly came her milking fong — "" ' " ■ :&-. ■■"■■"■■'■ "". " '■:.'. .^"ifiil ■ "My forme's /aire wife, Elizabeth. " Cufha ! Cufha ! Cufha ! " calling, " For the dews will foone be falling ; Leave your meadow graffes mellow, Mellow, mellow ; Quit your cowflips, cowflips yellow ; Come uppe Whitefoot, come uppe Lightfoot ; Quit the ftalks of parfley hollow, /.^ Hollow, hollow ; '^S '/; Come uppe Jetty, rife and follow, From the clovers lift your head ; Come uppe Whitefoot, come uppe Lightfoot, Come uppe Jetty, rife and follow, Jetty, to the milking fhed." If it be long, ay, long ago, When I beginne to think howe long, Againe I hear the Lindis flow, Swift as an arrowe, fharpe and ftrong ; And all the aire, it feemeth mee, Bin full of floating bells (fayth fhee), That ring the tune of Enderby. Alle frefh the level pafture lay, And not a fhadowe mote be feene, Save where full fyve good miles away The fteeple towered from out the greene ; And lo ! the great bell farre and wide Was heard in all the country fide That Saturday at eventide. The fwanherds where their fedges are Moved on in funfet's golden breath, The Ihepherde lads I heard afarre, And my fonne's wife, Elizabeth ; Till floating o'er the graffy fea Came downe that kyndly meffage free, The " Brides of Mavis Enderby." The fwanherds where their /edges are Moved on in funfefs golden breath." Then fome looked uppe into the fky, And all along where Lindis flows To where the goodly veffels lie, And where the lordly fteeple fhows. They fayde, "And why fhould this thing be? What danger lowers by land or fea ? They ring the tune of Enderby ! " For evil news from Mablethorpe, Of pyrate galleys warping down ; For fhippes afhore beyond the fcorpe, They have not fpared to wake the towne : But while the weft bin red to fee, And ftorms be none, and pyrates flee, Why ring ' The Brides of Enderby ' ? " i t wsm, " : i^^ Of py rate galleys warping down. I looked without, and lo ! my fonne Came riding downe with might and main : He raifed a fhout as he drew on, Till all the welkin rang again, " Elizabeth ! Elizabeth ! " (A fweeter woman ne'er drew breath Than my fonne's wife, Elizabeth.) ' .. y y M'i • 'U -,..,. "The old fea wall," he cried, " is downe, The rifing tide comes on apace, And boats adrift in yonder towne Go failing uppe the market-place." He fhook as one that looks on death : " God fave you, mother ! " ftraight he faith ; "Where is my wife, Elizabeth?" " Good fonne, where Lindis winds away, With her two bairns I marked her long ; And ere yon bells beganne to play Afar I heard her milking fong." He looked aerofs the graffy lea, To right, to left, " Ho, Enderby ! " They rang "The Brides of Enderby!" With that he cried and beat his breaft ; For, lo ! along the river's bed A mighty eygre reared his creft, And uppe the Lindis raging fped. It fwept with thunderous noifes loud ; Shaped like a curling fnow-white cloud, Or like a demon in a fhroud. " Then beaten foam flew round about — Then all the mighty floods were out" So farre, fo fall the eygre drave, The heart had hardly time to beat, Before a mallow teething wave SSgRS^ --'-S| Sobbed in the graffes at oure feet : The feet had hardly time to flee Before it brake againft the knee, And all the world was in the fea. Upon the roofe we fate that night, The noife of bells went fweeping by ; I marked the lofty beacon light Stream from the church tower, red and high A lurid mark and dread to fee ; And awfome bells they were to mee, That in the dark rang " Enderby," ■d'f V fi; : ft;> They rang the failor lads to guide From roofe to roofe who fearlefs rowed ; And I — my fonne was at my fide, And yet the ruddy beacon glowed ; And yet he moaned beneath his breath, " O come in life, or come in death ! O loft ! my love, Elizabeth." " Upon the roofs we fate that -%S£ .:^"-@