Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.
Loddon Hall
By George Crabbe (1754–1832)S
Rose on his view,—the pride of Loddon Hall:
Spread o’er the park he saw the grazing steer,
The full-fed steed, and herds of bounding deer:
On a clear stream the vivid sunbeams played,
Through noble elms, and on the surface made
That moving picture, checkered light and shade;
The attended children, there indulged to stray,
Enjoyed and gave new beauty to the day;
Whose happy parents from their room were seen
Pleased with the sportive idlers on the green.
Home went the lovers through that busy place,
By Loddon Hall, the country’s pride and grace;
By the rich meadows where the oxen fed,
Through the green vale that formed the river’s bed;
And by unnumbered cottages and farms,
That have for musing minds unnumbered charms;
And how affected by the view of these
Was then Orlando,—did they pain or please?
Nor pain nor pleasure could they yield,—and why?
The mind was filled, was happy, and the eye
Roved o’er the fleeting views, that but appeared to die.