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God's Own Country


RichardB

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"Man, through all ages of revolving time,

Unchanging man, in every varying clime,

Deems his own land of every land the pride,

Beloved of heaven, o’er all the world beside;

His home, the spot of earth supremely blest,

A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest."

James Montgomery.

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The First Leaf of an Album

By James Montgomery, Esq.

lit Pictura, Poesis.—Hor. de Art. Port.

Two lovely Sisters here unite

To blend improvement with delight;

Painting and Poetry engage

By turns to deck the Album's page.

Here may each glowing Picture be

The quintessence of Poesy,

With skill so exquisitely wrought,

As if the colours were pure thought,—

Thought from the bosom's inmost cell,

By magic tints made visible,

That, while the eye admires, the mind

Itself, as in a glass, may find.

B

And may the Poet's verse, alike,

With all the power of Painting strike ;

So freely, so divinely trace,

In every line, the line of grace;

And beautify, with such sweet art,

The image-chamber of the heart,

That Fancy here may gaze her fill,

Forming fresh scenes and shapes at will,

Where silent words alone appear,

Or, borrowing voice, but touch the ear.

Yet humble Prose with these shall stand ;

Friends, kindred, comrades, hand in hand,

AH in this fair enclosure meet,

The Lady of the Book to greet,

And, with the pen or pencil, make

These leaves love-tokens, for her sake.

Sheffield, 1828.

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Guest skeets

The First Leaf of an Album

By James Montgomery, Esq.

lit Pictura, Poesis.—Hor. de Art. Port.

Two lovely Sisters here unite

To blend improvement with delight;

Painting and Poetry engage

By turns to deck the Album's page.

Here may each glowing Picture be

The quintessence of Poesy,

With skill so exquisitely wrought,

As if the colours were pure thought,—

Thought from the bosom's inmost cell,

By magic tints made visible,

That, while the eye admires, the mind

Itself, as in a glass, may find.

B

And may the Poet's verse, alike,

With all the power of Painting strike ;

So freely, so divinely trace,

In every line, the line of grace;

And beautify, with such sweet art,

The image-chamber of the heart,

That Fancy here may gaze her fill,

Forming fresh scenes and shapes at will,

Where silent words alone appear,

Or, borrowing voice, but touch the ear.

Yet humble Prose with these shall stand ;

Friends, kindred, comrades, hand in hand,

AH in this fair enclosure meet,

The Lady of the Book to greet,

And, with the pen or pencil, make

These leaves love-tokens, for her sake.

Sheffield, 1828.

l learned something from this verse ,l often wondered where the word DECKO, [as in lets have a decko], came from, obviously from the old word DECK meaning look ?. Skeets

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Guest Gramps

l learned something from this verse ,l often wondered where the word DECKO, [as in lets have a decko], came from, obviously from the old word DECK meaning look ?. Skeets

Where's Bayleaf when you need him ? Never mind, - I'll don my pedant's hat for a moment to put you wise. he he

The word he wanted to use was 'bedeck' - to adorn or decorate but it would have spoilt the rythm so he abbreviated it as was his poetic licence.

The origin of decko according to this http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/5...ssages/534.html

"The British Army, during its long occupation of India, picked up a lot of Indian words, such as Hindi "dekho," meaning a look or a peep. It was often spelled, when it began to appear in British publications of the late 19th century, dekko or decko."

Nice try though skeets ;-)

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