Are privileged Inmates of deep solitude;
Nor would the nicest Anchorite exclude
A field or two of brighter green, or plot
Of tillage-ground, that seemeth like a spot
Of stationary sunshine:- thou hast viewed
These only, Duddon! with their paths re-
newed

By fits and starts, yet this contents thee not. Thee hath some awful Spirit impelled to leave,

Utterly to desert, the haunts of men, Though simple thy companions were and few;

And through this wilderness a passage cleave

Attended but by thy own voice, save when The clouds and fowls of the air thy way pursue!

XVI

AMERICAN TRADITION

1820. 1820

SUCH fruitless questions may not long be. guile

Or plague the fancy 'mid the sculptured shows

Conspicuous yet where Oroonoko flows; There would the Indian answer with a smile Aimed at the White Man's ignorance, the while,

Of the GREAT WATERS telling how they

rose,

Covered the plains, and, wandering where they chose,

Mounted through every intricate defile, Triumphant --Inundation wide and deep, O'er which his Fathers urged, to ridge and steep

Else unapproachable, their buoyant way; And carved, on mural cliff's undreaded side, Sun, moon, and stars, and beast of chase or prey;

Whate'er they sought, shunned, loved, or deified!

XVII RETURN

1820. 1820