...authority: 'Twas at an early age, ere I had seen Nine summers— when upon the mountain slope The frost and breath of frosty wind had snapped The last autumnal crocus, 'twas my joy To wander half the night among the cliffs And the smooth hollows where the woodcocks ran Along the...

...bare earth dropped with a startling sound . . . or of a crocus breaking — among the mountain-slopes Frost, and the breath of frosty wind, had snapped The last autumnal crocus . . . or of snowdrops that, by their very name, seem in planting to drop from the hand — Planting...

...Childhood Twas at an early age, ere I had seen Nine summers — when upon the mountain slope The frost and breath of frosty wind had snapped The last autumnal crocus, 'twas my joy To wander half the night among the cliffs And the smooth hollows where the woodcocks ran Along the...

...something pursuing him: Ere I had told Ten birth-days . . . 'twas my joy, With store of springes [snares] o'er my shoulder hung To range the open heights where...smooth green turf. Through half the night. Scudding away from snare to snare, I plied That anxious visitation;—moon and stars Were shining o'er my head;...

...Vale to which ere long We were transplanted; — there were we let loose For sports of wider range. Ere I had told Ten birth-days, when among the mountain...smooth green turf. Through half the night, Scudding away from snare to snare, I plied That anxious visitation; — moon and stars Were shining o'er my...

...Vale to which erelong We were transplanted; — there were we let loose For sports of wider range. Ere I had told Ten birth-days, when among the mountain...my joy With store of springes o'er my shoulder hung 10 To range the open heights where woodcocks run Along the smooth green turf. Through half the night,...