Help with cursive

[OneEye]

I'm doing a report for my 書法專題研究 class on a piece by 俞樾 about 文徵明 (號衡山). Most of it is fairly straightforward, so I've figured out what everything says except for this one character. I have no idea what it is, and neither does anyone else I've asked about it. Second column from the right, third character down (click for a larger version):

 

Here's what I have so far, with the beginning of the first sentence from the previous page in parentheses, and the character in question represented, appropriately, by a question mark:

 

（古今人不相及，為）此投筆三歎，附以詩曰：

 

貞詞？有衡山筆，妙墨今歸玉可藏；
愧我今年差長一，鴉塗數字不成行。

 

光緒三十年夏六月，余養痾吳下。
花農侍郎館丈寄此索題率筆應之。
      曲園俞樾

 

The second and third lines are a 詩. I'm not very good with poetry, but I think it has to be a 仄聲 character. Most Taiwanese people have guessed 存, but of course that's 平聲 and ignores the 艹-ish thing at the top. It kind of looks like 薦 (simplified: 荐), but it isn't quite right and I don't think it fits given the context. I'm willing to be wrong though, because of course my language ability still leaves something to be desired.

 

If anyone could help me figure this out, it would be greatly appreciated. I'm giving a presentation on Monday and this is the last piece of the puzzle. Any disagreements or corrections, whether characters or punctuation or anything else, would be more than welcome.

 

For reference, the whole thing:

衡山先生作字無一筆苟且，雖與人簡扎，少不當意，必再三更易。或勸之，則曰：「吾心自娛，非為人也。」故愈老而愈精妙。先生書此時已八十有三，而精力彌滿，神采流逸，與少壯無異，真天人也。
余今年八十有四，視先生書，此時只長一年耳，而眼花昏花、手腕疲苶。古今人不相及，為此投筆三歎，附以詩曰：

 

貞詞？有衡山筆，妙墨今歸玉可藏；
愧我今年差長一，鴉塗數字不成行。

 

光緒三十年夏六月余養痾吳下
花農侍郎館丈寄此索題率筆應之
      曲園俞樾

[Hofmann]

The 3rd character in a line doesn't have to follow the rules. Best guesses 花莊茲

[Yang Chuanzhang]

荏？

[OneEye]

Thanks for the help. I don't see how any of the suggested characters fit meaning-wise though. Any help there?

 

Here's a better shot of that character, if it helps.

[Lu]

I don't know anything about 行书, but that looks like an abbreviation/simplification. Two dots on top, then the upper/left part of 存, and then a thing that must be short for something else. Since you're majoring in this, you probably know all the resources and have searched there already. Can you ask the teacher? Because that seems the best option at this point.

[OneEye]

It seems like that's what I'll have to do. There's a calligraphy supply store down the street from my university, so I'll go there tomorrow morning if I have time and see if anyone there has any better ideas, but if not I'm just going to leave it unsolved and ask for opinions from the rest of the class and the teacher.

 

Thanks for the help, all. I'll post back once I find out what it is.

[OneEye]

OK, so it's 僅, just with the 艹 written on top. Nobody else in my class could figure it out either, but of course after my teacher explained it, it made perfect sense.

 

I was thinking 唯 would fit meaning-wise, but of course the form wasn't right. Glad my 語感 wasn't too far off.

[OneEye]

By the way, I was also wrong about two other characters, and the punctuation in a few areas:

 

衡山先生作字無一筆苟且，雖與人簡札，少不當意，必再三更易。或勸之，則曰：「吾以自娛，非為人也。」故愈老而愈精妙。先生書此時已八十有三，而精力彌滿，神采流逸，與少壯無異，真天人也。
余今年八十有四，視先生書此時只長一年耳，而眼花昏花、手腕疲苶。古今人不相及如此，投筆三歎，附以詩曰：

 

貞詞僅有衡山筆，妙墨今歸玉可藏；
愧我今年差長一，鴉塗數字不成行。

 

光緒三十年夏六月余養疴吳下。
花農侍郎館丈寄此索題率筆應之。
      曲園俞樾

 

Here's a scan of the whole thing for anyone interested.

俞樾〈衡山先生離騷卷題跋〉.tiff