As befits a solemn fane;
We revere, and while we hear
The tides of Music’s golden sea
Setting towards eternity,
Uplifted high in heart and hope are we,
Until we doubt not that for one so true
There must be other nobler work to do
Than when he fought at Waterloo ...
Nor, on the other hand, are the passages here questioned, and others like them, instances of the lowered tension in writing such as we often find introduced with artistic propriety into narrative poetry. They are, rather, indications that the poet is momentarily relaxed in creative attention, and borrowing, and from a bad source at that. Other examples may be found by those who care to look for them, in both Locksley Halls, and in a way, though less evidently and with more excuse, from such amusing exercises as the Northern Farmer poems.
Tis’n them as ’as munny as breäks into ’ouses an’ steäls,