NOTES.—The above selection is from the "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table."
Lochiel. See note on page 214.
The Duke of Wellington (b. 1769, d. 1852) was the most celebrated of
English generals. He won great renown in India and in the "Peninsular
War," and commanded the allied forces when Napoleon was defeated at
Waterloo.
Easter Beurre', Saint Germain, Winter Nelis, Early Catherine and
Jargonelles are the names of certain varieties of pears.
Milton. See biographical notice on page 312.
Chaucer, Geoffrey (b. 1328, d. 1400). is often called "The Father of English Poetry." He was the first poet buried in Westminster Abbey. He was a prolific writer, but his "Canterbury Tales" is by far the best known of his works.
CXVII. THUNDERSTORM ON THE ALPS. (408)
Clear, placid Leman! thy contrasted lake,
With the wild world I dwell in, is a thing
Which warns me, with its stillness, to forsake
Earth's troubled waters for a purer spring.
This quiet sail is as a noiseless wing
To waft me from distraction; once I loved
Torn ocean's roar, but thy soft murmuring
Sounds sweet, as if a sister's voice reproved,
That I with stern delights should e'er have been so moved.
All heaven and earth are still—though not in sleep,
But breathless, as we grow when feeling most;
And silent, as we stand in thoughts too deep—
All heaven and earth are still: from the high host
Of stars, to the lulled lake and mountain coast,
All is concentered in a life intense,
Where not a beam, nor air, nor leaf is lost,
But hath a part of being, and a sense
Of that which is of all Creator and defense.
The sky is changed! and such a change! O night,
And storm, and darkness, ye are wondrous strong,
Yet lovely in your strength, as is the light
Of a dark eye in woman! Far along,
From peak to peak, the rattling crags among,
Leaps the live thunder! Not from one lone cloud,
But every mountain now hath found a tongue,
And Jura answers, through her misty shroud,
Back to the joyous Alps, who call to her aloud!