The moving waters, and the invisible air.
Whate'er exists hath properties that spread
Beyond itself, cominunicating 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,
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 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 Childhood - but that there the Soul discerns
The dear memorial footsteps unimpaired
Of her own native vigour thence can hear
Reverberations; and a choral song,
Commingling with the incense that ascends
Undaunted, tow'rd the imperishable heavens,
From her own lonely altar?- Do not think
That Good and Wise ever will be allowed,
Though strength decay, to breathe in such estate
As shall divide them wholly from the stir
Of hopeful nature. Rightly is it 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

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
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 not his ear;

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
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 mày 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 For me, consulting what I feel within

In times when most existence with herself

Is satisfied, I cannot but believe,

That, far as kindly Nature hath free scope And Reason's sway predominates, even so far, Country, society, and time itself,

That saps the Individual's bodily frame,

And lays the generations low in dust,

Do, by the Almighty Ruler's grace, partake

Of one maternal spirit, bringing forth

And cherishing with ever-constant love,

That tires not, nor betrays. Our Life is turned

Out of her course, wherever Man is made
An offering, or a sacrifice, a tool

Or implement, a passive Thing employed
As a brute mean, without acknowledgment
Of common right or interest in the end;
Used or abused, as selfishness may prompt.
Say, what can follow for a rational Soul
Pervorted thus, but weakness in all good

Of life, and hope, and action. And 't is known
That when we stand upon our native soil,
Unelbowed by such objects as oppress

Our active powers, those powers themselves become
Strong to subvert our noxious qualities:
They sweep distemper from the busy day,
And make the Chalice of the big round Year
Run o'er with gladness; whence the Being moves
In beauty through the world; and all who see
Bless him, rejoicing in his neighbourhood."

"Then," said the Solitary, "by what force
Of language shall a feeling Heart express
Her sorrow for that multitude in whom

We look for health from seeds that have been sown
In sickness, and for increase in a power
That works but by extinction? On themselves
They cannot lean, nor turn to their own hearts
To know what they must do; their wisdom is
To look into the eyes of others, thence
To be instructed what they must avoid:
Or rather, let us say, how least observed,
How with most quiet and most silent death,
With the least taint and injury to the air
The Oppressor breathes, their human Form divine,
And their immortal Soul, may waste away."

The Sage rejoined, “I thank you - you have spared
My voice the utterance of a keen regret,
A wide compassion which with you I share.
When, heretofore, I placed before your sight
A Little-one, subjected to the Arts
Of modern ingenuity, and made
The senseless member of a vast machine,
Serving as doth a spindle or a wheel;
Think not, that, pitying him, I could forget
The rustic Boy, who walks the fields, untaught;
The slave of ignorance, and oft of want,
And miserable hunger. Much, too much
Of this unhappy lot, in early youth
We both have witnessed, lot which I myself
Shared, though in mild and merciful degree:
Yet was the mind to hinderances exposed,
Through which I struggled, not without distress
And sometimes injury, like a Lamb enthralled
'Mid thorns and brambles; or a Bird that breaks
Through a strong net, and mounts upon the wind,
Though with her plumes impaired. If they, whose souls
Should open while they range the richer fields
Of merry England, are obstructed less
By indigence, their ignorance is not less,

Nor less to be deplored. For who can doubt

That tens of thousands at this day ex st
Such as the Boy you painted, lineal Heirs
Of those who once were Vassals of her soil,
Following its fortunes like the beasts or trees
Which it sustained. But no one takes delight
In this oppression; none are proud of it;
It bears no sounding name, nor ever bore;
A standing grievance, an indigenous vice
Of every country under heaven. My thoughts
Were turned to evils that are new and chosen,
A Bondage lurking under shape of good,-
Arts, in themselves beneficent and kind,
But all too fondly followed and too far;
To Victims, which the merciful can see

Nor think that they are Victims; turned to wrongs
By Women, who have Children of their own,
Beheld without compassion, yea with praise!
I spake of mischief by the wise diffused
With gladness, thinking that the more it spreads
The healthier, the securer, we become;
Delusion which a moment may destroy!
Lastly, I mourned for those whom I had seen
Corrupted and cast down, on favoured ground,
Where circumstance and nature had combined
To shelter innocence, and cherish love;
Who, but for this intrusion, would have lived,
Possessed of health, and strength, and peace of mind,
Thus would have lived, or never have been born.

"Alas! what differs more than man from man!
And whence that difference? whence but from himself
For see the universal Race endowed

With the same upright form! The sun is fixed,
And the infinite magnificence of heaven,
Fixed within reach of every human eye;

The sleepless Ocean murmurs for all ears;
The vernal field infuses fresh delight

Into all hearts. Throughout the world of sense,
Even as an object is sublime or fair,

That object is laid open to the view
Without reserve or veil; and as a power

Is salutary, or an influence sweet,

Are each and all enabled to perceive

That power, that influence, by impartial law.

Gifts nobler are vouchsafed alike to all;

Reason, and, with that reason, smiles and tears,

Imagination, freedom in the will,

Conscience to guide and check; and death to be

Foretasted, immortality presumed.

Strange, then, nor less than monstrous might be deemed
The failure, if the Almighty, to this point
Liberal and undistinguishing, should hide

The excellence of moral qualities
From common understanding; leaving truth
And virtue, difficult, abstruse, and dark;
Hard to be won, and only by a few;

Strange, should He deal herein with nice respects.
And frustrate all the rest! Believe it not:

The primal duties shine aloft — like stars;
The charities that soothe, and heal, and bless,
Are scatttered at the feet of Man-like flowers.
The generous inclination, the just rule,
Kind wishes, and good actions, and pure thoughts -
No mystery is here; no'special boon

For high and not for low, for proudly graced
And not for meek of heart. The smoke ascends
To heaven as lightly from the Cottage hearth
As from the haughty palace. IIc, whose soul
Ponders this true equality, may walk
The fields of earth with gratitude and hope;
Yet, in that meditation, will he find
Motive to sadder grief, as we have found, -
Lamenting ancient virtues overthrown,
And for the injustice grieving, that hath made
So wide a difference betwixt Man and Man.

"But let us rather turn our gladdened thoughts
Upon the brighter scene. How blest that Pair
Of blooming Boys (whom we beheld even now)
Blest in their several and their common lot!
A few short hours of each returning day
The thriving Prisoners of their Village school:
And thence let loose, to seek their pleasant homes
Or range the grassy lawn in vacancy,

To breathe and to be happy, run and shout

Idle,
For every genial Power of heaven and earth,
Through all the seasons of the changeful year,
Obsequiously doth take upon herself
To labour for them; bringing each in turn
The tribute of enjoyment, knowledge, health,
Beauty, or strength! Such privilege is theirs,
Granted alike in the outset of their course
To both; and, if that partnership must cease,
grieve not," to the Pastor here he turned,
"Much as I glory in that Child of yours,
Repine not, for his Cottage-comrade, whom
Belike no higher destiny awaits
Than the old hereditary wish fulfilled,
The wish for liberty to live-
With what Heaven grants, and die—in peace of mind,
Within the bosom of his native Vale.

but no delay, no harm, no loss;

content

At least, whatever fate the noon of life
Reserves for either, this is sure, that both
Have been permitted to enjoy the dawn;
Whether regarded as a jocund time,
That in itself may terminate, or lead
In course of nature to a sober eve.

Both have been fairly dealt with; looking back
They will allow that justice has in them
Been shown-alike to body and to mind."

He paused, as if revolving in his soul

Some weighty matter, then, with fervent voice. And an impassioned majesty, exclaimed,

O for the coming of that glorious time

When, prizing knowledge as her noblest wealth
And best protection, this Imperial Realm,
While she exacts allegiance, shall admit
An obligation, on her part, to teach
Them who are born to serve her and obey;
Binding herself by Statute* to secure
For all the Children whom her soil maintains
The rudiments of Letters, and inform
The mind with moral and religious truth,
Both understood, and practised, - so that none,
However destitute, be left to droop
By timely culture unsustained; or run
Into a wild disorder; or be forced

To drudge through weary life without the aid
Of intellectual implements and tools;
A savage Horde among the civilized,
A servile Band among the lordly free!
This sacred right, the lisping Babe proclaims
To be inherent in him, by Heaven's will,
For the protection of his innocence;
And the rude Boy, who, having overpast
The sinless age, by conscience is enrolled,
Yet mutinously knits his angry brow,
And lifts his wilful hand on mischief bent,
Or turns the godlike faculty of speech
To impious use - by process indirect
Declares his due, while he makes known his need
-This sacred right is fruitlessly announced,
This universal plea in vain addressed,
To eyes and ears of Parents who themselves
Did, in the time of their necessity,
Urge it in vain; and, therefore, like a prayer
That from the humblest floor ascends to heaven,
It mounts to reach the State's parental ear;
Who, if indeed she own a Mother's heart,
And be not most unfeelingly devoid
Of gratitude to Providence, will grant
The unquestionable good; which England, safe
From interference of external force,
May grant at leisure; without risk incurred
That what in wisdomn for herself she doth,
Others shall e'er be able to undo.

"Look! and behold, from Calpe's sunburnt cliff
To the flat margin of the Baltic sea,
Long-reverenced Titles cast away as weeds;
Laws overturned; -and Territory split,
Like fields of ice rent by the polar wind,
And forced to join in less obnoxious shapes,
Which, ere they gain consistence, by a gust
Of the same breath are shattered and destroyed.
Meantime the Sovereignty of these fair Isles

*The discovery of Dr. Bell affords marvellous facilities for carrying this into effect; and it is impossible to over-rate the benefit which might accrue to humanity from the universal ap plication of this simple engine under an enlightened and con scientious government.

"With such foundations laid, avaunt the fear
Of numbers crowded on their native soil,
To the prevention of all healthful growth
Through mutual injury! Rather in the law
Of increase and the mandate from above
Rejoice!-and Ye have special cause for joy.
-For, as the element of air affords
An easy passage to the industrious bees
Fraught with their burthens; and a way as smooth
For those ordained to take their sounding flight
From the thronged hive, and settle where they list
In fresh abodes, their labour to renew;
So the wide waters, open to the power,
The will, the instincts, and appointed needs
Of Britain, do invite her to cast off

Her swarms, and in succession send them forth;
Bound to establish new communities
On every shore whose aspect favours hope
Or bold adventure; promising to skill
And perseverance their deserved reward.

- Yes," he continued, kindling as he spake,
"Change wide, and deep, and silently performed,
This Land shall witness; and as days roll on,
Earth's universal Frame shall feel the effect
Even till the smallest habitable Rock,
Beaten by lonely billows, hear the songs
Of humanized Society; and bloom
With civil arts, that send their fragrance forth,
A grateful tribute to all-ruling Heaven.
From Culture, unexclusively bestowed
On Albion's noble Race in freedom born,
Expect these mighty issues; from the pains
And faithful care of unambitious Schools
Instructing simple Childhood's ready ear:
Thence look for these magnificent results!
Vast the circumference of hope- and Ye
Are at its centre, British Lawgivers;

And earnest preparation. Forth we went,
And down the vale along the Streamlet's edge
Pursued our way, a broken Company,
Mute or conversing, single or in pairs.

Thus having reached a bridge, that overarched

The hasty rivulet where it lay becalmed
In a deep pool, by happy chance we saw
A two-fold Image; on a grassy bank
A snow-white Ram, and in the crystal flood
Another and the same! Most beautiful,
On the green turf, with his imperial front
Shaggy and bold, and wreathed horns superb,
The breathing Creature stood; as beautiful,
Beneath him, showed his shadowy counterpart
Each had his glowing mountains, each his sky,
And each seemed centre of his own fair world
Antipodes unconscious of each other,
Yet, in partition, with their several spheres,
Blended in perfect stillness, to our sight!

"Ah! what a pity were it to disperse,

Or to disturb, so fair a spectacle,