LADY OF THE LAKE LOQUITUR.
Reprinted by permission from 'Punch' of February 5, 1876.
'Mr Ruskin has issued an invitation to all persons "who have any regard" for him or his writings, to sign a petition to Parliament to prevent the extension of railroads across the Lake country. It appears that longing eyes have been cast by those who desire to develop the material, and especially the mineral, resources of the district, upon the route which passes through Ambleside to Keswick. The ostensible reason assigned is to bring the most attractive parts of Westmorland within reach of the tourist, who now has to walk long distances or go to the expense of hiring a trap. But behind this the author of Modern Painters detects, and no doubt rightly, the intention of converting these pleasant places of rest into a mining region.'—The Academy, January 22, 1876.
List! Let my silver voice at least be heard,
Echoing that eloquence which oft hath stirred
Even Philistine feeling!
Let not the Trade-Gnome further still intrude
Within the sweet sequestered solitude,
Where Nature's coyest charms may yet be wooed
To full revealing.
Can you not keep one inch of all your isle
In the unsullied light of Beauty's smile,
Which dirt and discord banish?
Must your swart Titans thrust their iron arms
Till, scared by driving reek and rude alarms,
From their fouled path Pan's brood with all their charms
Shall wholly vanish?
