Stealing alternately at them and us
(As doth his comrade too) a look of pride:
And, verily, the silent creatures made
A splendid sight, together thus exposed;
Dead-but not sullied or deformed by death,
That seemed to pity what he could not spare.
But O, the animation in the mien
Of those two boys! yea in the very words
With which the young narrator was inspired,
When, as our questions led, he told at large
Of that day's prowess! Him might I compare,
His looks,1 tones, gestures, eager eloquence,
To a bold brook that 2 splits for better speed,
And at the self-same moment, works its way
Through many channels, ever and anon
Parted and re-united: his compeer
To the still lake, whose stillness is to sight 3
As beautiful-as grateful to the mind.
-But to what object shall the lovely Girl
Be likened ? She whose countenance and air
Unite the graceful qualities of both,
Even as she shares the pride and joy of both.
My grey-haired Friend was moved; his vivid eye Glistened with tenderness; his mind, I knew, Was full; and had, I doubted not, returned, Upon this impulse, to the theme-erewhile Abruptly broken off. The ruddy boys
Withdrew, on summons to their well-earned meal; 4
Did now withdraw to take their well-earned meal; 1814.
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—as One
Who from truth's central point serenely views
The compass of his argument-began
Mildly, and with a clear and steady tone.
DISCOURSE OF THE WANDERER, AND AN
EVENING VISIT TO THE LAKE*
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 deplored 2-Former conversation recurred to, and the Wanderer's opinions set in a clearer light 3-Truth placed within reach of the humblest
Vicious inclinations are best kept under by giving good
ones an opportunity to shew themselves—
deplored from want of due respect to this truth on
the part of their superiors in society—
* "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,
Wanderer breaks off-Walk to the Lake-embark·
Description of scenery and amusements
Compare Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey (vol. ii.
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things.
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 hath1 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.
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?
That good and wise ever will be allowed,4
Though strength decay, to breathe in such estate
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, 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
* 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 "Parsonage." Possibly, however, the allusion may be to Fairfield, or Stone Arthur.
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