That made my fancy restless as itself. 'Twas now for me a burnished silver shield 415 Suspended over a knight's tomb, who lay Inglorious, buried in the dusky wood: An entrance now into some magic cave Or palace built by fairies of the rock; Nor could I have been bribed to disenchant 460 With length of shade so thick, that whoso 420 The spectacle by visiting the spot. Thus wilful Fancy, in no hurtful mood, By pure Imagination: busy Power swarm Of these vagaries, with an eye so rich If, when the woodman languished with Induced by sleeping nightly on the ground 440 Within his sod-built cabin, Indian-wise, I called the pangs of disappointed love, man, 470 glides Along the line of low-roofed water, moves Flung from the setting sun, as they re- In silent beauty on the naked ridge In a pure stream of words fresh from the Dear native Regions,1 whereso'er shall My mortal course, there will I think on you Doth with the fond remains of his last power Still linger, and a farewell lustre sheds 475 On the dear mountain-tops where first he If not already from the woods retired 445 To die at home, was haply as I knew, Withering by slow degrees, 'mid gentle 480 airs, Birds, running streams, and hills so beautiful On golden evenings, while the charcoal pile Breathed up its smoke, an image of his ghost 450 Or spirit that full soon must take her flight. Nor shall we not be tending towards that point Of sound humanity to which our tale Leads, though by sinuous ways, if here I show How Fancy, in a season when she wove 455 Those slender cords, to guide the unconscious Boy For the Man's sake, could feed at Nature's call 1 See Coleridge's Frost at Midnight, 51-53 (p. 350). 485 rose. Enough of humble arguments; recall, My song! those high emotions which thy voice Has heretofore made known; that burst- Of sympathy, inspiring and inspired, stars, Through every magnitude distinguishable, As, of all visible natures, crown, though Of dust, and kindred to the worm; a Both in perception and discernment, first 490 In every capability of rapture, Through the divine effect of power and As, more than anything we know, instinct 1 The following eight lines are recast from the Beginning timidly, then creeping fast, 580 Till the whole cave, so late a senseless mass, Busies the eye with images and forms Boldly assembled,-here is shadowed forth From the projections, wrinkles, cavities, A variegated landscape,-there the shape 625 585 Of some gigantic warrior clad in mail, edge came, Sought or unsought, and influxes of power Came, of themselves, or at her call derived In fits of kindliest apprehensiveness, From all sides, when whate 'er was in itself 605 Capacious found, or seemed to find, in me A correspondent amplitude of mind; Such is the strength and glory of our youth! The human nature unto which I felt That I belonged, and reverenced with love, 610 Was not a punctual presence, but a spirit Diffused through time and space, with aid derived Of evidence from monuments, erect, Prostrate, or leaning towards their common rest In earth, the widely scattered wreck sub lime 615 Of vanished nations, or more clearly drawn From books and what they picture and record. 620 Stript of their harmonizing soul, the life Weighed with me, could support the test And, in despite of all that had gone by, 630 Or was departing never to return, There I conversed with majesty and power Like independent natures. Hence the place 'Tis true, the history of our native land, 660 And in our high-wrought modern narra- Nay brighter shone, by this portentous gloom Set off; such opposition as aroused Darkness ere day's mid course, and morning light More orient in the western cloud, that drew From Book XI. FRANCE O pleasant exercise of hope and joy! For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood Upon our side, us who were strong in love! 110 In which the meagre, stale, forbidding ways in the region of their peaceful selves; Now was it that both found, the meek and lofty Did both find, helpers to their hearts' de sire, And stuff at hand, plastic as they could wish, Were called upon to exercise their skill, 140 Not in Utopia,-subterranean fields, 145 Or some secreted island,' Heaven knows where! But in the very world, which is the world Why should I not confess that Earth To me, what an inheritance, new-fallen, Seems, when the first time visited, to one Who thither comes to find in it his home? He walks about and looks upon the spot 150 With cordial transport, moulds it and remoulds, 155 160 And is half-pleased with things that are amiss, 'Twill be such joy to see them disappear. An active partisan, I thus convoked From every object pleasant circumstance To suit my ends; I moved among mankind With genial feelings still predominant; When erring, erring on the better part, And in the kinder spirit; placable, Indulgent, as not uninformed that men See as they have been taught-Antiquity Gives rights to error; and aware, no less, That throwing off oppression must be work As well of License as of Liberty; And above all-for this was more than all 1 Such as Bacon's New Atlantis. |