Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE VICAR, by WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Some years ago, ere time and taste Last Line: Vir nulla non donandus lauru.' Subject(s): Clergy; Priests; Rabbis; Ministers; Bishops | ||||||||
SOME years ago, ere time and taste Had turned our parish topsy-turvy, When Darnel Park was Darnel Waste, And roads as little known as scurvy, The man who lost his way, between St. Mary's Hill and Sandy Thicket, Was always shown across the green, And guided to the Parson's wicket. Back flew the bolt of lissom lath; Fair Margaret, in her tidy kirtle, Led the lorn traveller up the path, Through clean-clipt rows of box and myrtle; And Don and Sancho, Tramp and Tray, Upon the parlour steps collected, Wagged all their tails, and seemed to say-- 'Our master knows you--you're expected.' Uprose the Reverend Dr. Brown, Uprose the Doctor's winsome marrow; The lady laid her knitting down, Her husband clasped his ponderous Barrow; Whate'er the stranger's caste or creed, Pundit or Papist, saint or sinner, He found a stable for his steed, And welcome for himself, and dinner. If, when he reached his journey's end, And warmed himself in Court or College, He had not gained an honest friend And twenty curious scraps of knowledge,-- If he departed as he came, With no new light on love or liquor,-- Good sooth, the traveller was to blame, And not the Vicarage, nor the Vicar. His talk was like a spring, which runs With rapid change from rocks to roses: It slipped from polities to puns. It passed from Mahomet to Moses; Beginning with the laws which keep The planets in their radiant courses, And ending with some precept deep For dressing eels, or shoeing horses. He was a shrewd and sound Divine, Of loud Dissent the mortal terror; And when, by dint of page and line, He 'stablished Truth, or startled Error, The Baptist found him far too deep; The Deist sighed with saving sorrow; And the lean Levite went to sleep, And dreamed of tasting pork to-morrow. His sermons never said or showed That Earth is foul, that Heaven is gracious, Without refreshment on the road From Jerome or from Athanasius: And sure a righteous zeal inspired The hand and head that penned and planned them, For all who understood admired, And some who did not understand them. He wrote, too, in a quiet way, Small treatises, and smaller verses, And sage remarks on chalk and clay, And hints to noble Lords--and nurses; True histories of last year's ghost, Lines to a ringlet, or a turban, And trifles for the Morning Post, And nothings for Sylvanus Urban. He did not think all mischief fair, Although he had a knack of joking; He did not make himself a bear, Although he had a taste for smoking; And when religious sects ran mad, He held, in spite of all his learning, That if a man's belief is bad, It will not be improved by burning. And he was kind, and loved to sit In the low hut or garnished cottage, And praise the farmer's homely wit, And share the widow's homelier pottage: At his approach complaint grew mild; And when his hand unbarred the shutter, The clammy lips of fever smiled The welcome which they could not utter. He always had a tale for me Of Julius Caesar, or of Venus; From him I learnt the rule of three, Cat's cradle, leap-frog, and Quae genus: I used to sings his powdered wig, To steal the staff he put such trust in, And make the puppy dance a jig, When he began to quote Augustine. Alack the change! in vain I look For haunts in which my boyhood trifled,-- The level lawn, the trickling brook, The trees I climbed, the beds I rifled: The church is larger than before; You reach it by a carriage entry; It holds three hundred people more, And pews are fitted up for gentry. Sit in the Vicar's seat: you'll hear The doctrine of a gentle Johnian, Whose hand is white, whose tone is clear, Whose phrase is very Ciceronian. Where is the old man laid?--look down, And construe on the slab before you, Hic jacet GVLIELWRS BROWN, Vir nulla non donandus lauru.' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SONG OF THE DEMENTED PRIEST by JOHN BERRYMAN HORATIO ALGER (1834-1899) by MADELINE DEFREES ELEGIES FOR THE OCHER DEER ON THE WALLS AT LASCAUX by NORMAN DUBIE IN THE TIME OF FALSE MESSIAHS; CIRCA 1648 by NORMAN DUBIE THE GUARDIAN OF THE RED DISK (SPOKEN BY A CITIZEN OF MALTA - 1300) by EMMA LAZARUS DOMESDAY BOOK: FATHER WHIMSETT by EDGAR LEE MASTERS DOMESDAY BOOK: REV. PERCY FERGUSON by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THIS SIDE OF CALVIN by PHYLLIS MCGINLEY WHAT WAS LEFT OVER; FOR SUJATA BHATT by ELEANOR WILNER GOOD-NIGHT TO THE SEASON by WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED SCHOOL AND SCHOOLFELLOWS; FLOREAT ETONA by WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED |
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