Linenotes

Between 19-25

With which I can hold commune. Idle thought!
But still the living spirit in our frame,
That loves not to behold a lifeless thing,
Transfuses into all its own delights,
Its own volition, sometimes with deep faith
And sometimes with fantastic playfulness.
Ah me! amus'd by no such curious toys
Of the self-watching subtilizing mind,
How often in my early school-boy days
With most believing superstitious wish.

4o.

With which I can hold commune: haply hence,
That still the living spirit in our frame,
Which loves not to behold a lifeless thing,
Transfuses into all things its own Will,
And its own pleasures; sometimes with deep faith,
And sometimes with a wilful playfulness
That stealing pardon from our common sense
Smiles, as self-scornful, to disarm the scorn
For these wild reliques of our childish Thought,
That flit about, oft go, and oft return
Not uninvited.
Ah there was a time,
When oft amused by no such subtle toys
Of the self-watching mind, a child at school,
With most believing superstitious wish.

P. R.

Between 20-4

To which the living spirit in our frame,
That loves not to behold a lifeless thing,
Transfuses its own pleasures, its own will.

S. L. 1828.

To watch the stranger there! and oft belike 4o, P. R.

had] have P. R.

wild] sweet S. L. (for sweet read wild. Errata, S. L., p. [xii]).

deep] dead 4o, P. R., S. L. (for dead read deep. Errata, S. L., p. [xii]).

Fill] Fill'd S. L. (for Fill'd read Fill. Errata, S. L., p. [xii]).

thrills] fills 4o, P. R., S. L. (for fills read thrills. Errata, S. L., p. [xii]).

redbreast] redbreasts 4o, P. R.

the nigh] all the 4o.

trances] traces S. L. (for traces read trances. Errata, S. L., p. [xii]).

-end

Or whether the secret ministery of cold
Shall hang them up in silent icicles,
Quietly shining to the quiet moon,
Like those, my babe! which ere tomorrow's warmth
Have capp'd their sharp keen points with pendulous drops,
Will catch thine eye, and with their novelty
Suspend thy little soul; then make thee shout,
And stretch and flutter from thy mother's arms
As thou wouldst fly for very eagerness.

4o.