["He (Mr. GOSCHEN) was in favour of giving the agricultural
labourer every opportunity of becoming more attached to the
soil."--_Mr. Goschen at Cambridge_.]

Attached to the soil! Pretty optimist phrase
We are so, and have been, from _Gurth's_ simpler days,
Though now platform flowers of speech--pleasant joke!--
May wreath the serf's ring till men scarce see the yoke.
Attached to the soil! The soil clings to our souls!
Young labour's scant guerdon, cold charity's doles,
The crow-scarer's pittance, the poor-house's aid
All smell of it! Tramping with boots thickly clayed
From brown field or furrow, or lowered at last
In our special six-feet by the sexton up-cast,
We smack of the earth, till we earthy have grown,
Like the mound that Death gives us--best friend--for our own.
We tramp it, we delve it, we plough it, this soil,
And a grave is the final reward of our toil.
Attached? The attachment of love is one thing,
The attachment of profit another. _Gurth's_ ring
Is _our_ form of attachment at bottom, Sir, still,
And to favour _that_ bond HODGE doubts not your good will.
But when others talk of improving our lot
By possession of more than a burial plot,
By pay for our toil, and by balm for our troubles,
You ban all such prospects as "radiant bubbles."
Declare "under-currents of plunder" run through
All plans for our aid save those favoured by you,
Attached to the soil! Ah! how many approve
_That_ attachment, when founded on labour and love!