A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers by Henry David Thoreau
page 58 of 428 (13%)
page 58 of 428 (13%)
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of the forest. Still less have I seen such strong and wilderness
tints on any poet's string. These modern ingenious sciences and arts do not affect me as those more venerable arts of hunting and fishing, and even of husbandry in its primitive and simple form; as ancient and honorable trades as the sun and moon and winds pursue, coeval with the faculties of man, and invented when these were invented. We do not know their John Gutenberg, or Richard Arkwright, though the poets would fain make them to have been gradually learned and taught. According to Gower,-- "And Iadahel, as saith the boke, Firste made nette, and fishes toke. Of huntyng eke he fond the chace, Whiche nowe is knowe in many place; A tent of clothe, with corde and stake, He sette up first, and did it make." Also, Lydgate says:-- "Jason first sayled, in story it is tolde, Toward Colchos, to wynne the flees of golde, Ceres the Goddess fond first the tilthe of londe; * * * * * Also, Aristeus fonde first the usage Of mylke, and cruddis, and of honey swote; Peryodes, for grete avauntage, From flyntes smote fuyre, daryng in the roote." |
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