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Wayside Weeds.
by William Hodgson Ellis.
INTRODUCTION
BY MAURICE HUTTON, LL.D., _Princ.i.p.al of University College, Toronto_
W. H. E.
There is a Heav'n: at least on earth below: It is where scholars read and thinkers brood: For crowns and halos volumes in a row For angels' wings it has its gown and hood.
In that seraphic choir see Ellis sit!
With that Elys-ian light his numbers glow: The scholar's seriousness, the scholar's wit, Twin spirits in alternate ebb and flow.[1]
Studious and silent he has read life's page, Scholar and chemist he sees part and whole; Teaching and thought let loose his n.o.ble rage And stir the genial current of his soul.
His golden rod absorbs our meaner staves As Aaron's rod the rods of Phara-oh, Or as New Brunswick's river-name outbraves[2]
The pious Jordan of Ontario.
His May-blossoms relieve our strenuous May, Our evening smoke curls bluer as we read, The earliest pipe of half-awakened day Draws a new fragrance from his choicer weed.
His artless puff-b.a.l.l.s have a tale to tell, His Flora opens treasures new and old, His way-side weeds have been our asphodel[3]
His "dandy lines" become our "harmless gold."[4]
[1]Plato (sixth letter-323 c.) speaks of Elysian or Ellis-i-an scholars "Swearing with scholarly seriousness and with that playfulness which is seriousness' twin sister." Thompson's _Gorgias_, 41.
[2]See "Weed," p. 37.
[3]See "Weed," p. 43.
[4]See Lowell on "Dandelions":-
"Fringing the dusty road with harmless gold."
SOME ELUCIDATIONS OF THE INTRODUCTION BY THE EDITORS
Lines
1. So also,
". . . amidst the fairest flowers Of the blest isles, Elysium's blooming bowers."
Greek inscription on a marble at Rome. Neaves, _Greek Anthology_, _Edin._, 1874, p. 62 ("blooming," vulgarism, meaning weedy.)
2. Cf. _Ezekiel_, x.x.xvii. 1, 2.
3. Academic "crowns and halos" (cf. Seneca, _Naturales Questiones_, 1, 2, 1 and 3) must needs, for obvious reasons, be made of paper. Notice also the subtle suggestion that Dr. Ellis is _laurea donandus Apollinari_, worthy of the laurel (crown) of Apollo. (Horace, _Carminum_, iv. 2, 9.)
4. Why should "the gown and hood" be required "for angels' wings"? To clothe them withal, of course. The draping of angels with wings and the attachment of wings to the structure of the back of the human figure have presented problems to artists in all ages.
The best solution is undoubtedly to cover up the wings, and the gown with its hood is the only appropriate garment. (Cf.
Carpenter, Edward, "Angels' Wings," . . . London, 1898, pp.
25-40, in which the anatomical and sartorial difficulties are fully discussed.)
8. Princ.i.p.al Hutton and Dr. Ellis present the phenomenon of ???ast?? sprouting (or swearing) together. Cf. Theophrastus, "On the Causes of Plants," v, 5, 4.
10. In other words, Dr. Ellis is at once p???pa?p????, exceeding crafty (_i.e._ master of many crafts, including angling). Cf.
Homer, _Odyssey_, 15, 419, 11. and p???p????, subject to many pa.s.sions. Cf. Plutarch, _Moralia_, 171.
11-12. A subtle hint of ???s?-???ta, thunder hurling (cf. Pindar, _Fragments_, 108), or ????ss? ???, to dance round about it (whatever it may be). Cf. Callimachus, _Del._ 321.
13. Clearly referring to "_praedam calamo tremente ducit_," he draws in his prey with a rod. Martial, 4, 30, 9. Cf. _infra_, "Weed"
p. 31.
16. "The pious Jordan" is evidently a bull, referring to the cult of the river-G.o.d. It reflects _tauriformis Aufidus_, the bull-formed Aufidus, the river upon which Horace was born (Horace, _Carminum_, iv. 14, 25). We also have our Afidus or Jordan, upon whose banks our own Horace lives.
17-20. An ingenious reference to the University final examinations in May, when candidates write all day and the examiner reads and smokes till dawn. Having subjected his victims to freshly devised tortures (_novo quaestiones genere distorsit_ Suetonius, _Dom._ 10), he broods over their miseries and their papers-??e?? ????e??-an owl without pity.
23-24. Or, in the language of the angler, his ?pa??????de? have been our ?pa???s??; his weeds have given us the motive for the design on the back of this book.
J. M.
J. J. M.
Little White Crow (A LEGEND OF ST. ANNE)
Part I.
Little White Crow was an Algonkin, And he lived on the Isle of Chips; His legs were long, and his flanks were thin, He had high cheek-bones, and a strong square chin, Jet black was his hair, dark red was his skin, And white were his teeth, when a joyful grin At the sound of the war-whoop's hideous din Parted his silent lips.
