Say rather, all his thoughts now flowing clear,
From a clear fountain flowing, he looks round
And seeks for good; and finds the good he seeks :
Until abhorrence and contempt are things

1225

He only knows by name; and, if he hear,
From other mouths, the language which they speak,
He is compassionate; and has no thought,

No feeling, which can overcome his love.

"And further; by contemplating these Forms 1230 In the relations which they bear to man, He shall discern, how, through the various means Which silently they yield, are multiplied The spiritual presences of absent things. Trust me,1 that for the instructed, time will come When they shall meet no object but may teach Some acceptable lesson to their minds

Of human suffering, or of human joy.

So shall they learn, while all things speak of man,
Their duties from all forms; 2 and general laws,
And local accidents, shall tend alike

To rouse, to urge; and, with the will, confer
The ability to spread the blessings wide
Of true philanthropy. The light of love
Not failing, perseverance from their steps
Departing not, for them shall be confirmed 3
The glorious habit by which sense is made

1 1827.

of absent Things,

Convoked by knowledge; and for his delight
Still ready to obey the gentle call.

1235

1240

1245

1814.

Trust me,

21827.

For them shall all things speak of Man, they read
Their duties in all forms;

1814.

3 1827.

Departing not, they shall at length obtain

1814.

Subservient still to moral purposes,

Auxiliar to divine. That change shall clothe
The naked spirit, ceasing to deplore

The burthen of existence. Science then
Shall be a precious visitant; and then,
And only then, be worthy of her name :
For then her heart shall kindle; her dull eye,
Dull and inanimate, no more shall hang
Chained to its object in brute slavery;
But taught with patient interest to watch
The processes of things, and serve the cause
Of order and distinctness, not for this
Shall it forget that its most noble use,
Its most illustrious province, must be found
In furnishing clear guidance, a support
Not treacherous, to the mind's excursive power.
-So build we up the Being that we are;
Thus deeply drinking-in the soul of things,
We shall be wise perforce; and, while inspired
By choice, and conscious that the Will is free,
Shall move unswerving, even as if impelled 1
By strict necessity, along the path
Of order and of good. Whate'er we see,
Or feel, shall tend to quicken and refine;

1

Shall fix, in calmer seats of moral strength,
Earthly desires; and raise, to loftier heights
Of divine love, our intellectual soul." 2

1 1836.

Unswerving shall we move, as if impelled

2 1845.

1250

1255

1260

1265

1270

1814.

Whate'er we see,

Whate'er we feel, by agency direct

Or indirect shall tend to feed and nurse

Our faculties, shall fix in calmer seats

Of moral strength, and raise to loftier heights
Of love divine, our intellectual Soul."

1814.

Whate'er we feel, shall tend to feed and nurse,
By agency direct or indirect,

Here closed the Sage that eloquent harangue,
Poured forth with fervour in continuous stream,
Such as, remote, 'mid savage wilderness,
An Indian Chief discharges from his breast
Into the hearing of assembled tribes,1
In open circle seated round, and hushed
As the unbreathing air, when not a leaf
Stirs in the mighty woods.-So did he speak :
The words he uttered shall not pass away
Dispersed, like music that the wind takes up
By snatches, and lets fall, to be forgotten;
No-they sank into me,2 the bounteous gift
Of one whom time and nature had made wise,
Gracing his doctrine 3 with authority

Which hostile spirits silently allow;
Of one accustomed to desires that feed

On fruitage gathered from the tree of life;

To hopes on knowledge and experience built;

Of one in whom persuasion and belief
Had ripened into faith, and faith become

1275

1280

1285

1290

A passionate intuition; whence the Soul,

1295

Our faculties, shall fix in calmer seats
Of moral strength, and raise to loftier heights
Of divine love,

1836.

Though bound to earth by ties of pity and love,
From all injurious servitude was free.

The Sun, before his place of rest were reached,
Had yet to travel far, but unto us,

To us who stood low in that hollow dell,
He had become invisible,—a pomp

Leaving behind of yellow radiance spread
Over1 the mountain sides, in contrast bold
With ample shadows, seemingly, no less
Than those resplendent lights, his rich bequest;
A dispensation of his evening power.

-Adown the path that 2 from the glen had led
The funeral train, the Shepherd and his Mate
Were seen descending :-forth to greet them ran
Our little Page: the rustic pair approach ;
And in the Matron's countenance may be read
Plain indication 4 that the words, which told
How that neglected Pensioner was sent
Before his time into a quiet grave,
Had done to her humanity no wrong:
But we are kindly welcomed-promptly served
With ostentatious zeal.-Along the floor
Of the small Cottage in the lonely Dell

3

A grateful couch was spread for our repose;
Where, in the guise of mountaineers, we lay,5
Stretched upon fragrant heath, and lulled by sound

1300

1304

1310

1315

1320

Of far-off torrents charming the still night,
And, to tired limbs and over-busy thoughts,
Inviting sleep and soft forgetfulness.1

Book Fifth

THE PASTOR

ARGUMENT

Farewell to the Valley-Reflections—A large and populous Vale described 2-The Pastor's Dwelling, and some account of him3- Church and Monuments- The Solitary musing, and where-Roused-In the Churchyard the Solitary communicates the thoughts which had recently passed through his mind-Lofty tone of the Wanderer's discourse of yesterday adverted to-Rite of Baptism, and the professions accompanying it, contrasted with the real state of human life— Apology for the Rite-Inconsistency of the best men— Acknowledgment that practice falls far below the injunctions of duty as existing in the mind-General complaint of a falling off in the value of life after the time of youth-Outward appearances of content and happiness in degree illusive -Pastor approaches-Appeal made to him—His answer— Wanderer in sympathy with him—Suggestion that the least ambitious enquirers may be most free from error-The Pastor

1 Added in C.

Till every thought as gently as a flower,
That shuts its eyes at close of every day
Had folded up itself in dreamless sleep. *

2 1836.

Sight of a large and populous Vale-Solitary consents to go forward-Vale described

1814.

3 1836.

1814.

The Church-yard—

4

Apology for the Rite

First inserted in the edition of 1836.

* With this compare The Prelude, book i. line 463 (vol. iii. p. 146)—– Till all was tranquil as a dreamless sleep.