That task would foil;» then, letting fall his voice In heart or soul, in station or pursuit,
While he advanced, thus spake: « Tradition tells Did most resemble him. Degrees and Ranks,
That, in Eliza's golden days, a Knight

Fraternities and Orders—heaping high
Came on a War-horse sumpluously attired,

New wealth upon the burthen of the old, And fix'd his home in this sequester'd Vale.

And placing trust in privilege confirm'd T is left untold if here he first drew breath,

And re-confirm'd-arc scoff d at with a smile
Or as a Stranger reach'd this deep recess,

Of greedy foretaste, from the secret stand
Unknowing, and unknown. A pleasing thought Of Desolation aim'd: to slow decline
I sometimes entertain, that, haply bound

These yield, and these to sudden overthrow;
To Scotland's court in service of his Queen,

Their virtue, service, happiness, and state Or sent on mission to some northern Chief

Expire; and Nature's pleasant robe of green, Of England's Realm, this Vale he might have seen Humanity's appointed shroud, en wraps With transient observation; and thence caught Their monuments and their memory. The vast Frame An Image fair, which, brightening in his soul

Of social Nature changes evermore When joy of war and pride of Chivalry

Her organs and her members with decay
Languish'd beneath accumulated years,

Restless, and restless generation, powers
Had power to draw him from the world-resolved And functions dying and produced at need, -
To make that paradise his chosen home

And by this law the mighty Whole subsists :
To which his peaceful Fancy oft had turn'd.

With an ascent and progress in the main; - Vague thoughts are these; but, if belief may rest Yet, oh! how disproportiond to the hopes L'pop unwritten story fondly traced

And expectations of self-flattering minds! From sire to son, in this obscure Retreat

- The courteous Knight, whose bones are here interra, The Knight arrived, with pomp of spear and shield, Lived in an age conspicuous as our own And borne upon a Charger cover'd o'er

For strife and ferment in the minds of men; With gilded housiays. And the lofty Steed

Whence alteration, in the forms of things, His sole companion, and his faithful friend,

Various and vast. A memorable age! Whom he, in gratitude, let loose to range

Which did to him assign a pensive lot, In fertile pastures—was beheld with cyes

- To linger 'mid the last of those bright Clouds, Of admiration and delightful awe,

That, on the steady breeze of honour, sailed
By those untravelld Dalesmen. With less pride, In long procession calm and beautiful.
Yet free from touch of envious discontent,

He who had seen his own bright Order fade,
They saw a Mansion at his bidding rise,

And its devotion gradually decline, Like a Bright star, amid the lowly band,

(While War, relinquishing the lance and shield, Of their rude Homesteads. Here the Warrior dwelt, Her temper changed, and bow'd to other laws) And, in that Mansion, Children of his own,

Had also witness d in his morn of life, Or kindred, gather'd round him. As a Tree

That violent Commotion, which o'erthrew, That falls and disappears, the House is gone;

In town, and city, and sequester'd glen, And, through improvidence or want of love

Altar, and Cross, and Church of solemn roof, For ancient worth and honourable things,

And old religious House-Pile after Pile; The spear and shield are vanish d, which the Knight And shook the Tenants out into the fields, Hung in his rustic Hall. One ivied arch

Like wild Beasts without home! Their hour was come; | Myself have seen, a gateway, last remains

But why no softening thought of gratitude,
Of that Foundation in domestic care

No just remembrance, scruple, or wise doubt?
Raised by his hands. And now no trace is left Benevolence is mild; nor borrows help,
Of the mild-hearted Champion, save this Stone, Save at worst need, from bold impetuous force,
Faithless memorial! and his family name

Fitliest allied to anger and revenge.
Borne by yon clustering cottages, that sprang

But Human-kind rejoices in the might
From out the ruins of his stately Lodge:

Of Mutability, and airy Hopes,
These, and the name and title at full length, Dancing around her, hinder and disturb
Sir Alfred Jrthing, with appropriate words

Those meditations of the soul, that feed
Accompanied, still extant, in a wreath

The retrospective Virtues. Festive songs
Or posy-girding round the several fronts

Break from the maddeu'd Nations at the sight
Of three clear-sounding and harmonious bells, Of sudden overthrow; and cold neglect
That in the steeple hang, his pious gift.»

Is the sure consequence of slow decay.

-Even,» said the Wanderer, «as that courteous Knight, «So fails, so languishes, grows dim, and dies,» Bound by his vow to labour for redress The grey-hair'd Wanderer pensively exclaim'd, Of all who suffer wrong, and to enact

All that this world is proud of. From their spheres By sword and lance the law of genueness, The stars of human glory are cast down;

If I may venture of myself to speak, Perish the roses and the flowers of Kings,

Trusting that not incongruously I blend Princes, and Emperors, and the crowns and palms Low things with lofty, I too shall be doom'd Of all the Mighty, withered and consumed!

To outlive the kindly use and fair esteem Nor is power given to lowliest Innocence,

Of the poor calling which my Youth embraced Long to protect her own. The Man himself

With no unwortby prospect. But enough; Departs; and soon is spent the Line of those

-Thoughts crowd upon me-and 'l were seemlier now Who, in the bodily image, in the mind,

To stop, and yield our gracious Teacher thanks

For the pathetic Records which his voice

--But let us hence! my Dwelling is io sight, Hath liere delivered; words of heartfelt truth,

And there >> Tending to patience when Affliction strikes;

At this the Solitary shrunk To hope and love; to confident repose

With backward will; but, wanting not address In God; and reverence for the dust of Man.»

That inward motion to disguise, he said
To his Compatriot, smiling as he spake;

—«The peaceable Remains of this good Knighi BOOK VIII.

Would be disturbid, I fear, with wrathful scorn,
If consciousness could reach bim where he lies
That One, albeit of these degenerate times,

Deploring changes påst, or dreading change
ARGUMENT.

Foreseen, had dared 10 couple, even in thought, Pastor's apprehensions that he might have detained his The fine Vocation of the sword and lance

Audtors too long -- Invitation to his flouse—Solitary With the gross aims and body.bending coil disinclined to comply-rallies the Wanderer; and Of a poor Brotherhood who walk the carth somewhat playfully draws a comparison between his Pitied, and where they are not known, despised. itinerant profession and that of the Knight-errant-1-Yet, by the good Knight's leave, the two Estates which leads to Wanderer's giving an account of Are graced with some resemblancé. Errant Those, changes in the Country from the manufacturing Exiles and Wanderers--and the like are These; spirit-Favourable effects — The other side of the who, with their burtdien, traverse bill and dale, picture, and chiefly as it has affected the humbler Carrying relief for Nature's simple wants. classes -- Wanderer asserts the hollowness of all na - What though no higher recompense they seek tional grandeur if unsupported by moral worth Than honest maintenance, by irksome toil gives Jostances — Physical science unable to support Full oft procured, yet such may claim respert, itself-Lamentations over an excess of manufactur- Among the Intelligent, for what this course ing industry among the humbler Classes of Society, Enables them to be, and to perform. Picture of a Child employed in a Cotton-mill-Igno- Their tardy steps give leisure to observe, rance and degradation of Children among the agri- wbile solitude permits the mind to feel : cultural Population reviewed—Conversation broken Instructs and prompts her to supply defects off by a renewed Invitation from the Pastor-Path By the division of her in ward self, leading to his House-Its appearance described — His For grateful converse: and to these poor Men Daughter-His Wife—this Son (a Boy) enters with his (As I have heard you boast with honest pride). Companion – Their happy appearance - The Wan. Nature is bountiful, where'er they go; derer how affected by the sight of them.

Kind Nature's various wealth is all their own.

Versed in the characters of men ; and bound, THE PARSONAGE.

By lie of daily interest, to maintain

Conciliatory manners and smooth speech :
The pensive Sceptic of the lonely Vale

Such have been, and still are in their degree,
To those acknowledgments subscribed his own, Examples efficacious to refine
With a sedate compliance, which the Priest

Rude jotercourse; apt Agents to expel, tailid not to notice, inly pleased, and said,

By importation of unlook'd-for Arts, « Jf Ye, by whom invited I commenced

Barbarian torpor, and blind prejadice; These Narratives of calm and humble life,

Raising, through just gradation, savage life Be satisfied, 't is well,-- the end is gaind;

To rustic, and the rustic to urbane. And, in return for sympathy bestow'd

-Within their moving magazines is lodged And patient listening, thanks accept from me.

Power that comes forth to quicken and exalt --Life, Death, Eternity! momentous themes

Affections seated in the Mother's breast, Are they--and might demand a Scraph's tongue, And in the Lover's fancy; and to feed Were they not equal to their own support;

The sober sympathies of long-tried Friends. And therefore no incompetence of mine

-By these Itinerants, as experienced Men, Could do them wrong. The universal forms

Counsel is given; contention they appease Of human nature, in a Spot like this,

With genule language; in remotest Wilds, Present themselves at once to all Men's view :

Tears wipe away, and pleasant tidings bring:
Ye wish'd for act and circumstance that make

Could the proud quest of Chivalry do more ?»
The Jadividual known and understood;
And such as my best judgment could select

« Happy,» rejoin'd the Wanderer, ** they who gain
From what the place afforded have been given ; A panegyric from your generous tongue!
Though apprehensions crossd me, in the course But if to these Wayfarers once pertain'd
Of this self-pleasing exercise, that Ye

Aught of romantic interest, 't is gone; My zeal to his would liken, who unlocks

Their purer service, in this realm at least, A Cabinet with gems or pictures stored,

Is past for ever. An inventive Age And draws them forth-soliciting regard

Has wrouglıt, if not with speed of magic. yet To this, and this, as worthier than the last,

To most strange issues. I have lived to mark Till the Spectator, who a while was pleased

A new and unforeseen Creation rise More than the Exhibitor himself, becomes

From out the labours of a penceful Land, Weary and forint, and lon's to be released.

Wielding her potent Engincry to fratne

And to produce, with appetite as keen

While all things else are gathering to their liomes, As that of War, which rests not night or day,

Advance, and in the firmament of heaven lodustrious to destroy! With fruitless pains

Glitter-but undisturbing, undisturbed ; Might one like me now visit many a tract

As if their silent company were charged Which, in his youth, he trod and trod again,

With peaceful admonitions for the heart A lone Pedestrian with a scanty freight,

Of all-beholding Man, earth's thoughtful Lord ; Wish'd for, or welcome, wheresoe'er he came,

Then, in full many a region, once like this Among the Tepantry of Thorpe and Vill;

The assured domain of calm simplicity
Or straggling Burgh, of ancient charter proud, And pensive quiet, an unnatural light,
And dignified by battlements and towers

Prepared for never-resting Labour's eyes,
Of some stern Castle, mouidering on the brow Breaks from a many-windowed Fabric huge;
Of a green hill or bank of rugged stream.

And at the appointed hour a Bell is heard-
The fool-path faintly marked, the horse-track wild, Of harsher import than the Curfew-knoll
And formidable length of plashıy lane,

That spake the Norman Conqueror's stern behest (Prized avenues ere others had been shaped

A local summons to unceasing toil! Or easier links conuecting place with place)

Disgorged are now the Ministers of day; Have vanish d, -swallowd up by stately roads And, as they issue from the illumined Pile, Easy and bold, that penetrate the gloom

A fresh Band meets them, at the crowded doorOf Britain's farthest Glens. The Earth has lent And in the Courts—and where the rumbling Stream, Her waters, Air lier breezes; and the Sail

That turos the multitude of dizzy wheels, Of traffic glides with ceaseless interchange,

Clares, like a troubled Spirit, in its bed Glistening along the low and woody dale,

Among the rocks below. Men, Maidens, Youths, Or on the oaked mountain's lofty side.

Mother and little Children, Boys and Girls, Meanwhile, at social Industry's command,

Enter, and each the wonted task resumes How quick, how vast an increase! From the cerin

Within this Temple-wbere is offered up Of some poor Hamlet, rapidly produced

To Gain-the master Idol of the Realm, Here a huge town, continuous and compact,

Perpetual sacrifice. Even thus of old Hiding the face of earth for leagues--and there,

Our Ancestors, witbin the still domain Where not a Habitation stood before,

Of vast Cathedral or Conventual Church, Abodes of men irregularly mass'd

Their vigils kept; where tapers day and night Like trees in forests-spread through spacious tracts,

On the dim altar burned continually, O'er which the smoke of unremittiog fires

in token that the House was evermore i Hangs permanent, and plentiful as wreaths

Watching to God. Religious Men were they; Of vapour glittering in the morning sun.

Nor would their Reason, tutored to aspire And, wheresoe'er the Traveller turos bis stops,

Above this transitory world, allow | He sees the barren wilderness erased,

That there should pass a moment of the year, Or disappearing; triumph that proclaims

When in their land the Almighty's Service ceased. How much the mild Directress of the plough Owes to alliance with these new-born Arts !

« Triumph who will in these profaner rices 1 - Hence is the wide Sea peopled, -hence the Shores Which We, a generation self-extolled, Of Britain are resorted to by Ships

As zealously perform! I cannot share
Freighted from every climate of the world

His proud complacency; yet I exull,
With the world's choicest produce. Hence that sum Casting reserve away, exult to see
Of Keels that rest within her crowded ports,

An Intellectual mastery exercised
Or ride at anchor in her sounds and bays;

O'er the blind Elements; a purpose giveu, That animating spectacle of Sails

perseverance fed ; almost a soul Which, through her inland regions, to and fro Imparted-to brute Matter. I rejoice, Pass with the respirations of the tide,

Measuring the force of those gigantic powers, Perpetual, multitudinous ! Finally,

That by the thinking Mind have been compelled Hence a dread arm of floating Power, a voice

To serve the Will of feeble-bodied Man. 1 Of Thunder daunting those who would approach For with the sense of admiratiou blends With hostile purposes the blessed Isle,

: The animatiog hope that time may come Truth's consecrated residence, the seat

When strengthened, yet not dauled, by the might Impregnable of Liberty and Peace.

Of this dominion over Nature gained,

Ven of all lands shall exercise the same « And yet, О happy Pastor of a Flock

in due proportion to their country's need; Faithfully watcbed, and, by that loving care

Learning, though late, that all true glory rests,
And Heaven's good providence, preserved from taint! All praise, all safety, and all happiness,
With You I grieve, when on the darker side

L'pon the moral law. Egyptian Thebes;
Of this great change I look; and there behold,

Tyre by the margin of the sounding waves ; Such outrage done to Nature as compels

Palmyra, central in the Desert, feil ; The indignant Power to justify herself ;

And the Arts died by which they had been raised. Yea, to avenge her violated rigbus,

- Call Archimedes from his buried Tomb For England's bane.- When soothing darkness spreads l'pon the plain of vanished Syracuse, (D'er hill and vale,» the Wanderer thus cxpressed And feelingly the Sage shall make report Llis recollections, and the punctual stars,

los insecure, low baseless in itself,

Is the Philosophy, whose sway depends

Blocks out the forms of Nature, preconsumes
On mere material instruments :-how weak

The
reason,

famishes the heart, shuts up
Those Arts, and high Inventions, if unpropped The Infant Being in itself, and makes
By Virtue. He with sighs of pensive grief,

Its very spring a season of decay! Amid his calm abstractions, would admit

The lot is wretched, the condition sad,
That not the slender privilege is theirs

Whether a pining discontent survive,
To save themselves from blank forgetfulness !» And thirst for change; or habit hath subdued

The soul depressed, dejected-even to love
When from the Wanderer's lips these words had fallen, of her dull tasks, and close captivity.
I said, « And, did in truth these vaunted Arts

-Oh, banish far such wisdom as condemns
Possess such privilege, how could we escape

A native Briton to these inward chains, Regret and painful sadness, who revere,

Fixed in lois soul, so early and so deep, And would preserve as things above all price,

Without his own consent, or knowledge, fixed ! The old domestic morals of the land,

He is a Slave to whom release comes not, Her simple manners, and the stable worth

And cannot come. The Boy, where'er he turus, That dignified and cheered a low estate ?

Is still a prisoner; when the wind is up Oh! where is now the character of peace,

Among the clouds and in the ancient woods ; Sobriety, and order, and chaste love,

Or when the sun is shining in the east, And honest dealing, and untainted speech,

Quiet and calm. Belold him in the school And pure good-will, and hospitable cheer;

Of his attainments ? no ; but with the air That made the very thought of Country-life

Fanding his temples under heaven's blue arch. A thought of refuge, for a Mind detained

His raiment, whitened o'er with cotton flakes, Reluctantly amid the bustling crowd ?

By savage Nature's unassisted care.

Sleeps, like a caterpillar sheathed in ice?
Naked and coloured like the soil, the feet

This torpor is no pitiable work
On which they stand; as if thereby they drew Of modern ingenuity; no Town
Some nourishment, as Trees do by their roots, Nor crowded City may be taxed with aughe
From Earth the common Mother of us all.

Of sottish vice or desperate breach of law,
Figure and mien, complexion and attire,

To which in after years he may be roused. Are leagued to strike dismay, but outstretched hand - This Boy the Fields produce : his spade and hocAnd whining voice denote them Supplicants

The Carter's whip that on his shoulder rests For the least boon that pity can bestow.

In air high-towering with a boorish pomp, Such on the breast of darksome heaths are found; The sceptre of his sway; his country's name, And with their parents dwell upon the skirts

Her equal rights, her churches and her schoolsOf furze-clad commons; such are born and reared What have they done for him? And, let me ask, At the mine's mouth, beneath impending rocks,

For tens of thousands uninformed as he?
Or in the chambers of some natural cave;

In brief, what liberty of mind is here !»
And where their Ancestors erected huts,
For the convenience of unlawful gain,

This ardent sally pleased the mild good Man,
In forest purlieus; and the like are bred,

To whom the appeal couched in its closing words All England through, where nooks and slips of ground, Was pointedly addressed ; and to the thoughts Purloined, in times less jealous than our own, That, in assent or opposition, rose From the green margin of the public way,

Within his mind, he seemed prepared to give A residence afford them, 'mid the bloom

Prompt utterance; but, rising from our seat, And gaiety of cultivated fields.

The hospitable Vicar interposed -Such (we will hope the lowest in the scale)

With invitation urgently renewed. Do I remember oft-times to have seen

-We followed, taking as he led, a Path Mid Buxton's dreary heights. Upon the watch, Along a Hedge of hollies, dark and tall, Till the swift vehicle approach, they stand;

Whose flexile boughs, descending with a weight Then, following closely with the cloud of dust, Of leafy spray, concealed the stems and roots An uncouth feat exhibit, and are gone

That gave them nourishment. When frosty winds Heels over bead like Tumblers on a Stage.

Howl from the north, what kindly warmth methought -Cp from the ground they snatch the copper coin, Is here, how grateful this impervious screen! And, on the freight of merry Passengers

Not shaped by simple wearing of the foot Fixing a steady eye, maintain their speed;

On rural business passing to and fro And spin--and paul-and overhead again,

Was the commodious Walk; a careful hand Wild Pursuivants ! until their breath is lost,

Had marked the line, and strewn the surface o'er Or bounty tires and every face, that smiled

With pure cerulean gravel, from the heights Encouragement, hath ceased to look that way. Fetched by the neighbouring brook.- Across the Vale -But, like the Vagrants of the Gipsy tribe,

The stately Fence accompanied our steps ; These, bred to little pleasure in themselves,

And thus the Pathway, by perennial green Are profitless to others. Turn we then

Guarded and graced, seemed fashioned to unite, To Britons born and bred within the pale

As by a beautiful yet solemn chaio,
Of civil polity, and early trained

The Pastor's Mansion with the House of Prayer.
To earn, by wholesome labour in the field,
The bread they eat. A sample should I give

Like Image of solemnity, conjoined ? Of what this stock produces to enrich

With feminine allurement soft and fair, The tender age of life, ye would exclaim,

The Mansion's self displayed ;-a reverend Pile * Is this the whistling Plough-boy whose shrill notes With bold projections and recesses deep ; Impart new gladness to the morning air ?'

Shadowy, yet gay and lightsome as it stood Forgive me if I venture to suspect

Fronting the noontide Sun. We paused to admire That many, sweet to hear of in soft verse,

The pillared Porch, elaborately embossed ; Are of no finer frame :--bis joints are stiff ;

The low wide windows with their mullions old; Beneath a cumbrous frock, that to the knees

The cornice richly fretted, of grey stone; lovests the thriving Churl, his legs appear,

And that smooth slope from which the Dwelling rose, Fellows to those that lustily upheld

By beds and banks Arcadian of gay flowers The wooden stools for everlasting use,

And flowering shrubs, protected and adorned ; Whereon our Fathers sate. And mark his brow! Profusion bright! and every flower assuming Coder whose shaggy canopy are set

A more than natural vividness of hue, Two eyes, not dim, but of a healthy stare :

Frooi unaffected contrast with the gloom Wide, sluggish, blank, and ignorant, and strange ; Of sober cypress, and the darker foil Proclaiming boldly that they never drew

Of yew, in which survived some traces, here A look or motion of intelligence

Not unbecoming, of grotesque device From infant conning of the Christ-cross-row,

And uncouth fancy. From behind the roof Or puzzling through a Primer, line by line,

Rose the slim ash and massy sycamore, Till perfect mastery crown the pains at last.

Blending their diverse foliage with the green What kindly warmth from touch of fostering hand, Of ivy, flourishing and thick, that clasped What penetrating power of sun or breeze,

The huge round chimneys, harbour of delight Shall e'er dissolve the crust wherein his soul

For wren and redbreast, where they sit and sing