And He to whom all tongues resigned their rights
With willingness, to whom the general ear
Listened with readier patience than to strain
Of music, lute or harp, a long delight

That ceased not when his voice had ceased-
Who from truth's central point serenely views
The compass of his argument—began
Mildly, and with a clear and steady tone.

595

-as One

600

Book Ninth

DISCOURSE OF THE WANDERER, AND AN
EVENING VISIT TO THE LAKE*

ARGUMENT

Wanderer asserts that an active principle pervades the Universe, its noblest seat the human soul-How lively this principle is in Childhood-Hence the delight in old Age of looking back upon Childhood-The dignity, powers, and privileges of Age asserted-These not to be looked for generally but under a just government-Right of a human Creature to be exempt from being considered as a mere Instrument 1 The condition of multitudes deplored2_Former conversation recurred to, and the Wanderer's opinions set in a clearer light 3-Truth placed within reach of the humblest

1 1836.

Vicious inclinations are best kept under by giving good
ones an opportunity to shew themselves-

1814.

deplored from want of due respect to this truth on
the part of their superiors in society-

2 1836.

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A

L

* "On the side of Loughrigg Fell, at the foot of the lake, and looking down upon it and the whole Vale and its encompassing mountains, the Pastor is supposed by me to stand, when at sunset he addresses his companions."-I. F.

-Equality-Happy1 state of the two Boys again adverted
to-Earnest wish expressed for a System of National
Education established universally by Government-Glorious
effects of this foretold-Walk to the Lake-Grand spectacle
from the side of a hill-Address of Priest to the Supreme
Being in the course of which he contrasts with ancient
Barbarism the present appearance of the scene before him—
The change ascribed to Christianity-Apostrophe to his flock,
living and dead— Gratitude to the Almighty Return
over the Lake-Parting with the Solitary-Under what
circumstances.

"To every Form of being is assigned,"
Thus calmly spake the venerable Sage,
“An active Principle :—howe’er removed
From sense and observation, it subsists
In all things, in all natures; in the stars
Of azure heaven, the unenduring clouds,
In flower and tree, in every pebbly stone
That paves the brooks, the stationary rocks,
The moving waters, and the invisible air.
Whate'er exists hath properties that spread
Beyond itself, communicating good,
A simple blessing, or with evil mixed;
Spirit that knows no insulated spot,
No chasm, no solitude; from link to link
It circulates, the Soul of all the worlds.*

This is the freedom of the universe;
Unfolded still the more, more visible,

The more we know; and yet is reverenced least,

5

ΤΟ

15

1 1836.

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humblest-Happy

21836.

Wanderer breaks off-Walk to the Lake-embark-
Description of scenery and amusements—

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*

Compare Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey (vol. ii.

p. 55, l. 100)—

VOL. V

A motion and a spirit, that impels

All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things.

ED.

2 A

And least respected in the human Mind,
Its most apparent home. The food of hope
Is meditated action; robbed of this
Her sole support, she languishes and dies.
We perish also; for we live by hope
And by desire; we see by the glad light
And breathe the sweet air of futurity;
And so we live, or else we have no life.
To-morrow-nay perchance this very hour
(For every moment hath 1 its own to-morrow!)

Those blooming Boys, whose hearts are almost sick
With present triumph, will be sure to find

A field before them freshened with the dew
Of other expectations ;—in which course
Their happy year spins round.

The youth obeys

A like glad impulse; and so moves the man
'Mid all his apprehensions, cares, and fears,—
Or so he ought to move. Ah! why in age
Do we revert so fondly to the walks

Of childhood--but that there the Soul discerns
The dear memorial footsteps unimpaired

Of her own native vigour; thence can hear 2
Reverberations; and a choral song,

Commingling with the incense that ascends,
Undaunted, toward 3 the imperishable heavens,
From her own lonely altar?

"Do not think

That good and wise ever will be allowed,4

Though strength decay, to breathe in such estate

20

25

30

35

40

45

As shall divide them wholly from the stir
Of hopeful nature. Rightly it is said
That Man descends into the VALE of years;
Yet have I thought that we might also speak,
And not presumptuously, I trust, of Age,
As of a final EMINENCE; though bare
In aspect and forbidding, yet a point
On which 'tis not impossible to sit
In awful sovereignty; a place of power,
A throne, that 2 may be likened unto his,
Who, in some placid day of summer, looks

Down from a mountain-top,—say one of those
High peaks, that bound the vale where now we are.
Faint, and diminished to the gazing eye,
Forest and field, and hill and dale appear,
With all the shapes over 3 their surface spread :
But, while the gross and visible frame of things
Relinquishes its hold upon the sense,
Yea almost on the Mind herself,4 and seems
All unsubstantialized, how loud the voice
Of waters, with invigorated peal
From the full river † in the vale below,
Ascending! For on that superior height.
Who sits, is disencumbered from the press
Of near obstructions, and is privileged

50

55

*

60

65

70

*The vale of Langdale rather than that of Grasmere. It was the cottage at Hackett that was, by "the magician's wand," converted into the "ParsonPossibly, however, the allusion may be to Fairfield, or Stone Arthur.

age.'

-ED.

The Rothay.-ED.

To breathe in solitude, above the host

Of ever-humming insects, 'mid thin air

That suits not them. The murmur of the leaves
Many and idle, visits 1 not his ear:

75

This he is freed from, and from thousand notes
(Not less unceasing, not less vain than these,)
By which the finer passages of sense
Are occupied; and the Soul, that would incline
To listen, is prevented or deterred.

"And may it not be hoped, that, placed by age
In like removal, tranquil though severe,
We are not so removed for utter loss;
But for some favour, suited to our need?
What more than that the severing should confer 2
Fresh power to commune with the invisible world,
And hear the mighty stream of tendency
Uttering, for elevation of our thought,
A clear sonorous voice, inaudible

To the vast multitude; whose doom it is
To run the giddy round of vain delight,
Or fret and labour on the Plain below.

*

"But, if to such sublime ascent the hopes
Of Man may rise, as to a welcome close
And termination of his mortal course;
Them only can such hope inspire whose minds
Have not been starved by absolute neglect ;
Nor bodies crushed by unremitting toil;
To whom kind Nature, therefore, may afford
Proof of the sacred love she bears for all;
Whose birthright Reason, therefore, may ensure.

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What more than this, that we thereby should gain 1814.

* A phrase now familiarized to English ears by Mr. Arnold's use of it.-ED.