Patrick Brontë's The Rural Minstrel


As soon as I finished posting Emma (which is being revised right now- I did catch a handful of errors, and I still have to add bibliographic information) I recieved offers of more resources for the site, including more e-texts and transcriptions. When I said that the site would not be empty for long, I meant what I said! Two new e-texts in as many days isn't bad. Thisbeciel was good enough to find the e-text she had once sent me before I began blogging. It is of Patrick Brontë's The Rural Minstrel. These poems are now available at the Brontëana Resource site, and the text is now listed in the sidebar.

1 Erewhile, the morning o'er the blushing sky,
2 In milder beauty, held the soverign sway;
3 The streaky east, with many a changing hue,
4 Glowed on the confines of the ether blue,
5 And gently ushered in the king of day.
6 Now hangs the sun, his golden lamp on high,
7 Diffusing, brighter, warmer light;
8 The sleepy charms dissolving, of the drowsy night,
9 The spirits cheering, with a quicker flow,
10 And fostering all the rosy flowers of health that blow.
11 How charming is the scene!
12 The fields in flowery green,
13 Scent the soft breezes, with their fragrant smell:
14 The blackbird and the thrush,
15 Make vocal every bush;
16 Perched on the milk-white thorn, the linnet sweetly sings;
17 The labouring bee, shakes music, from his mellow wings:
18 Loud tolls the Sabbath Bell;
19 From yonder ancient tower, proceeds the solemn sound,---
20 Where dusky yews, and lofty ashes bend,
21 Beneath a load of years, their crazy head,
22 Mourn o'er the living, and protect the dead.