Vain thought! Yet be as now thou art,
That in thy waters may be seen
The image of a poet's heart,
How bright, how solemn, how serene!
Such as did once the Poet bless,
Who murmuring here a later ditty,
Could find no refuge from distress
But in the milder grief of pity.

Now let us, as we float along,
For him suspend the dashing oar;
And pray that never child of song
May know that Poet's sorrows more.
How calm! how still! the only sound,
The dripping of the oar suspended!

The evening darkness gathers round By virtue's holiest Powers attended.

DESCRIPTIVE SKETCHES

TAKEN DURING A PEDESTRIAN TOUR AMONG THE ALPS

1791-2. 1793

Much the greatest part of this poem was composed during my walks upon the banks of the Loire in the years 1791, 1792. I will only notice that the description of the valley filled with mist, beginning"In solemn shapes," was taken from that beautiful region of which the principal features are Lungarn and Sarnen. Nothing that I ever saw in nature left a more delightful impression on my mind than that which I have attempted, alas! how feebly, to convey to others in these lines. Those two lakes have always interested me especially, from bearing, in their size and other features, a resemblance to those of the North of England. It is much to be deplored that a district so beautiful should be so unhealthy as it is.

ΤΟ

THE REV. ROBERT JONES, fellow of sT. JOHN'S College, CambrIDGE DEAR SIR,

However desirous I might have been of giving you proofs of the high place you hold in my esteem, I should have been cautious of wounding your delicacy by thus publicly addressing you, had not the circumstance of our having been companions among the Alps, seemed to give this dedication a propriety sufficient to do away any scruples which your modesty might otherwise have suggested.

In inscribing this little work to you, I consult my heart. You know well how great is the difference between two companions lolling in a post-chaise, and two travellers plodding slowly along the road, side by side, each with his little knapsack of necessaries upon his shoulders. How much more of heart between the two latter!

I am happy in being conscious that I shall have one reader who will approach the conclusion of these few pages with regret. You they must certainly interest, in reminding you of moments to which you can hardly look back without a pleasure not the less dear from a shade of melancholy. You will meet with few images without recollecting the spot where we observed them together; consequently, whatever is feeble in my design, or spiritless in my colouring, will be amply supplied by your own

memory.

With still greater propriety I might have inscribed to you a description of some of the

features of your native mountains, through which we have wandered together, in the same manner, with so much pleasure. But the seasunsets, which give such splendour to the vale of Clwyd, Snowdon, the chair of Idris, the quiet village of Bethgelert, Menai and her Druids, the Alpine steeps of the Conway, and the still more interesting windings of the wizard stream of the Dee, remain yet untouched. Apprehensive that my pencil may never be exercised on these subjects, I cannot let slip this opportunity of thus publicly assuring you with how much affection and esteem I am, dear Sir,

LONDON, 1793.

Most sincerely yours,
W. WORDSWORTH.

Happiness (if she had been to be found on earth) among the charms of Nature - Pleasures of the pedestrian Traveller-Author crosses France to the Alps - Present state of the Grande Chartreuse Lake of Come -Time, Sunset - Same Scene, TwilightSame Scene, Morning; its voluptuous Character; Old man and forest-cottage music River Tusa - Via Mala and Grison Gipsy Sckellenen-thal Lake of Uri - Stormy sunset Chapel of William Tell - Force of local emotion - Chamois-chaser - View of the higher Alps - Manner of life of a Swiss mountaineer, interspersed with views of the higher Alps-Golden age of the AlpsLife and views continued - Ranz des Vaches, famous Swiss Air-Abbey of Einsiedlen and its pilgrims - Valley of Chamouny - Mont Blanc-Slavery of Savoy - Influence of liberty on cottage-happiness - France - Wish for the Extirpation of Slavery - Conclusion.

To light him shaken by his rugged way.
Back from his sight no bashful children steal;
He sits a brother at the cottage-meal;
His humble looks no shy restraint impart;
Around him plays at will the virgin heart.
While unsuspended wheels the village
dance,

39

The maidens eye him with enquiring glance, Much wondering by what fit of crazing care, Or desperate love, bewildered, he came there.

A hope, that prudence could not then approve,

That clung to Nature with a truant's love,
O'er Gallia's wastes of corn my footsteps led;
Her files of road-elms, high above my head
In long-drawn vista, rustling in the breeze;
Or where her pathways straggle as they
please

By lonely farms and secret villages.
But lo! the Alps ascending white in air, 50
Toy with the sun and glitter from afar.

And now, emerging from the forest's
gloom,

I greet thee, Chartreuse, while I mourn thy doom.

bell

Calls forth the woodman from his desert cell,

And quickens the blithe sound of oars that

pass

Along the steaming lake, to early mass. But now farewell to each and all — adieu To every charm, and last and chief to you, Ye lovely maidens that in noontide shade 129 Rest near your little plots of wheaten glade; To all that binds the soul in powerless trance, Lip-dewing song, and ringlet-tossing dance; Where sparkling eyes and breaking smiles illume

The sylvan cabin's lute-enlivened gloom.

Alas! the very murmur of the streams Breathes o'er the failing soul voluptuous dreams,

While Slavery, forcing the sunk mind to dwell

On joys that might disgrace the captive's

cell,

Her shameless timbrel shakes on Como's marge

139

And lures from bay to bay the vocal barge.

Yet are thy softer arts with power indued To soothe and cheer the poor man's solitude. By silent cottage doors, the peasant's home Left vacant for the day, I loved to roam. But once I pierced the mazes of a wood In which a cabin undeserted stood; There an old man an olden measure scanned On a rude viol touched with withered hand. As lambs or fawns in April clustering lie Under a hoary oak's thin canopy, Stretched at his feet, with stedfast upward

eye,

150

His children's children listened to the sound; - A Hermit with his family around!

But let us hence; for fair Locarno smiles Embowered in walnut slopes and citron isles:

Or seek at eve the banks of Tusa's stream, Where, 'mid dim towers and woods, her waters gleam.

From the bright wave, in solemn gloom, retire

The dull-red steeps, and, darkening still, aspire

To where afar rich orange lustres glow 160 Round undistinguished clouds, and rocks, and snow:

Or, led where Via Mala's chasms confine The indignant waters of the infant Rhine,