XXXIV. SKY-PROSPECT-FROM THE PLAIN OF FRANCE. Lo! in the burning west, the craggy nape Of a proud Ararat! and, thereupon, The Ark, her melancholy voyage done! lon rampant cloud mimics a lion's shape; There, combats a huge crocodile-agape A golden spear to swallow ! and that brown Tnd massy grove, so near yon blazing town, Stirs and recedes-destruction to escape! Yet all is harmless-as the Elysian shades Where Spirits dwell in undisturbed reposeSilently disappears, or quickly fades: Meek Nature's evening comment on the shows 'That for oblivion take their daily birth From all the fuming vanities of Earth!
ON BEING STRANDED NEAR THE HARBOUR OF BOULOGNE.
WHY cast ye back upon the Gallic shore, Ye furious waves! a patriotic Son
Of England-who in hope her coast had won, His project crowned, his pleasant travel o'er? Well-let him pace this noted beach once more, That gave the Roman his triumphal shells; That saw the Corsican his cap and bells Haughtily shake, a dreaming Conqueror !- Enough: my Country's cliffs I can behold, And proudly think, beside the chafing sea, Of checked ambition, tyranny controlled, And folly cursed with endless memory: These local recollections ne'er can cloy; Such ground I from my very heart enjoy!
UPON RECEIVING THE PRECEDING SHEETS FROM THE PRESS.
Is then the final page before me spread Nor further outlet left to mind or heart? Presumptuous Book! too forward to be read, How can I give thee licence to depart? One tribute more: unbidden feelings start Forth from their coverts; slighted objects rise; My spirit is the scene of such wild art As on Parnassus rules, when lightning flies, Visibly leading on the thunder's harmonies. All that I saw returns upon my view, All that I heard comes back upon my ear, All that I felt this moment doth renew; And where the foot with no unmanly fear Recoiled-and wings alone could travel-there I move at ease; and meet contending themes That press upon me, crossing the career Of recollections vivid as the dreams
Of midnight,-cities, plains, forests, and mighty
Fancy hath flung for me an airy bridge Across thy long deep Valley, furious Rhone! Arch that here rests upon the granite ridge Of Monte Rosa-there on frailer stone Of secondary birth, the Jung-frau's cone; And, from that arch, down-looking on the Vale The aspect I behold of every zone; A sea of foliage, tossing with the gale, Blithe Autumn's purple crown, and Winter's icy mail!
Far as ST MAURICE, from yon eastern FORKS,* Down the main avenue my sight can range: And all its branchy vales, and all that lurks Within them, church, and town, and hut, and,
On Sarnen's Mount, there judge of fit and Announcing, ONE was born mankind to free; right.
In simple democratic majesty ; Soft breezes fanning your rough brows-the might
His acts, his wrongs, his final sacrifice; Lessons for every heart, a Bible for all eyes. Our pride misleads, our timid likings kill.
And purity of nature spread before your sight!-Long may these homely Works devised of
From this appropriate Court, renowned LUCERNE
Calls me to pace her honoured Bridge-that cheers
The Patriot's heart with pictures rude and stern,
An uncouth Chronicle of glorious years. Like portraiture, from loftier source, endears That work of kindred frame, which spans the
COMPANION! by whose buoyant Spirit cheered, | These records take: and happy should I be
In whose experience trusting, day by day Treasures I gained with zeal that neither
The toils nor felt the crosses of the way, RYDAL MOUNT, Feb. 14th, 1842.
Were but the Gift a meet Return to thee For kindnesses that never ceased to flow, And prompt self-sacrifice to which I owe Far more than any heart but mine can know. W. WORDSWORTH.
THE Tour of which the following Poems are very inadequate remembrances was shortened by report, too well founded, of the prevalence of Cholera at Naples. To make some amends for what was reluctantly left unseen in the South of Italy, we visited the Tuscan Sanctuaries among the Apennines, and the principal Italian Lakes among the Alps. Neither of those lakes, nor of Venice, is there any notice in these Poems, chiefly because I have touched upon them elsewhere. See, in particular, "Descriptive Sketches," "Memorials of a Tour on the Continent in 1820," and a Sonnet upon the extinction of the Venetian Republic.
MUSINGS NEAR AQUAPENDENT.
YE Apennines! with all your fertile vales Deeply embosomed, and your winding shores Of either sea, an Islander by birth, A Mountaineer by habit, would resound Your praise, in meet accordance with your claims
Bestowed by Nature, or from man's great deeds
Inherited :-presumptuous thought!-it fled Like vapour, like a towering cloud, dissolved. Not, therefore, shall my mind give way to sadness;
Yon snow-white torrent-fall, plumb down it drops
Yet ever hangs or seems to hang in air, Lulling the leisure of that high perched town, AQUAPENDENTE, in her lofty site
Its neighbour and its namesake-town, and flood
Forth flashing out of its own gloomy chasm Bright sunbeams-the fresh verdure of this
Strewn with grey rocks, and on the horizon's verge,
O'er intervenient waste, through glimmering haze,
Unquestionably kenned, that cone-shaped hill
With fractured summit, no indifferent sight To travellers, from such comforts as are thine, Bleak Radicofani! escaped with joy- These are before me; and the varied scene May well suffice, till noon-tide's sultry heat Relax, to fix and satisfy the mind Passive yet pleased. What! with this Broom in flower
Close at my side! She bids me fly to greet Her sisters, soon like her to be attired With golden blossoms opening at the feet Of my own Fairfield. The glad greeting given,
Given with a voice and by a look returned Of old companionship, Time counts not minutes
Ere, from accustomed paths, familiar fields, The local Genius hurries me aloft, Transported over that cloud-wooing hill, Seat Sandal, a fond suitor of the clouds, With dream-like smoothness, to Helvellyn's top,
There to alight upon crisp moss, and range Obtaining ampler boon, at every step, Of visual sovereignty-hills multitudinous, (Not Apennine can boast of fairer) hills Pride of two nations, wood and lake and plains, And prospect right below of deep coves shared By skeleton arms, that, from the mountain's trunk
Extended, clasp the winds, with mutual moan
And downward by the skirt of Greenside fell, And by Glenridding-screes, and low Glencoign, Places forsaken now, though loving still The muses, as they loved them in the days Of the old minstrels and the border bards.- But here am I fast bound; and let it pass, The simple rapture-who that travels far To feed his mind with watchful eyes could share Or wish to share it ?-One there surely was, "The Wizard of the North," with anxious hope Brought to this genial climate, when disease Preyed upon body and mind-yet not the less Had his sunk eye kindled at those dear words That spake of bards and minstrels; and his spirit
Had flown with mine to old Helvellyn's brow Where once together, in his day of strength, We stood rejoicing, as if earth were free From sorrow, like the sky above our heads. Years followed years, and when, upon the eve Of his last going from Tweed-side, thought turned,
Or by another's sympathy was led,
To this bright land, Hope was for him no friend, Knowledge no help; Imagination shaped No promise. Still, in more than ear-deep seats, Survives for me, and cannot but survive The tone of voice which wedded borrowed words
To sadness not their own, when, with faint
Peace to their Spirits! why should Poesy Yield to the lure of vain regret, and hover In gloom on wings with confidence outspread To move in sunshine!-Utter thanks, my Soul! Tempered with awe, and sweetened by com- passion
For them who in the shades of sorrow dwell That I-so near the term to human life Appointed by man's common heritage, Frail as the frailest, one withal (if that Deserve a thought) but little known to fame- Am free to rove where Nature's loveliest looks, Art's noblest relics, history's rich bequests, Failed to reanimate and but feebly cheered The whole world's Darling-free to rove at will O'er high and low, and if requiring rest, Rest from enjoyment only.
Thanks poured forth For what thus far hath blessed my wanderings, thanks
Fervent but humble as the lips can breathe Where gladness seems a duty--let me guard Those seeds of expectation which the fruit Already gathered in this favoured Land Enfolds within its core. The faith be mine,
Of Genoa the superb-should there be led However humble in themselves, with thoughts To meditate upon his own appointed tasks, Raised and sustained by memory of Him Who oftentimes within those narrow bounds
Rocked on the surge, there tried his spirit's strength And of grasp purpose, long ere sailed his ship To lay a new world open.
Nor less prized To mild, to lowly, and to seeming weak, Be those impressions which incline the heart Bend that way her desires. The dew, the The dew whose moisture fell in gentle drops On the small hyssop destined to become, By Hebrew ordinance devoutly kept, That shook on Lebanon the cedar's top, A purifying instrument-the storm And as it shook, enabling the blind roots With magnitude and strength fit to uphold Further to force their way, endowed its trunk The glorious temple-did alike proceed From the same gracious will, were both an offspring
Between Powers that aim Higher to lift their lofty heads, impelled By no profane ambition, Powers that thrive By conflict, and their opposites, that trust In lowliness-a mid-way tract there lies Of thoughtful sentiment for every mind Pregnant with good. Young, Middle-aged, and Old,
From century on to century, must have known The emotion-nay, more fitly were it said— The blest tranquillity that sunk so deep Into my spirit, when I paced, enclosed In Pisa's Campo Santo, the smooth floor Of its Arcades paved with sepulchral slabs, And through each window's open fret-work looked
O'er the blank Area of sacred earth Fetched from Mount Calvary, or haply delved In precincts nearer to the Saviour's tomb, By hands of men, humble as brave, who fought For its deliverance-a capacious field That to descendants of the dead it holds And to all living mute memento breathes,
More touching far than aught which on the Those vernal charms of sight and sound, apwalls
Is pictured, or their epitaphs can speak, Of the changed City's long-departed power, Glory, and wealth, which, perilous as they
Here did not kill, but nourished, Piety. And, high above that length of cloistral roof, Peering in air and backed by azure sky, To kindred contemplations ministers The Baptistery's dome, and that which swells From the Cathedral pile; and with the twain Conjoined in prospect mutable or fixed (As hurry on in eagerness the feet, Or pause) the summit of the Leaning-tower. Nor less remuneration waits on him Who having left the Cemetery stands
In the Tower's shadow, of decline and fall Admonished not without some sense of fear, Fear that soon vanishes before the sight Of splendour unextinguished, pomp unscathed, And beauty unimpaired. Grand in itself, And for itself, the assemblage, grand and fair To view, and for the mind's consenting eye A type of age in man, upon its front Bearing the world-acknowledged evidence Of past exploits, nor fondly after more Struggling against the stream of destiny, But with its peaceful majesty content. Oh what a spectacle at every turn The Place unfolds, from pavement skinned with moss,
Or grass-grown spaces, where the heaviest foot Provokes no echoes, but must softly tread; Where Solitude with Silence paired stops short Of Desolation, and to Ruin's scythe Decay submits not.
But where'er my steps Shall wander, chiefly let me cull with care Those images of genial beauty, oft Too lovely to be pensive in themselves But by reflection made so, which do best And fitliest serve to crown with fragrant
Life's cup when almost filled with years, like
-How lovely robed in forenoon light and shade,
Each ministering to each, didst thou appear Savona, Queen of territory fair
As aught that marvellous coast thro' all its length
Yields to the Stranger's eye. Remembrance holds
As a selected treasure thy one cliff, That, while it wore for melancholy crest A shattered Convent, yet rose proud to have Clinging to its steep sides a thousand herbs And shrubs, whose pleasant looks gave proof how kind
The breath of air can be where earth had else Seemed churlish. And behold, both far and
Garden and field all decked with orange bloom, And peach and citron, in Spring's mildest
Expanding and, along the smooth shore
Into a natural port, a tideless sea,
Smooth space of turf which from the guardian
Sloped seaward, turf whose tender April green, In coolest climes too fugitive, might even here Plead with the sovereign Sun for longer stay Than his unmitigated beams allow,
Nor plead in vain, if beauty could preserve, From mortal change, aught that is born on earth
Or doth on time depend.
While on the brink Of that high Convent-crested cliff I stood, Modest Savona! over all did brood
A pure poetic Spirit-as the breeze, Mild as the verdure, fresh-the sunshine, bright-
Thy gentle Chiabrera!—not a stone, Mural or level with the trodden floor, In Church or Chapel, if my curious quest Missed not the truth, retains a single name Of young or old, warrior, or saint, or sage, To whose dear memories his sepulchral verse Paid simple tribute, such as might have flowed From the clear spring of a plain English heart, Say rather, one in native fellowship With all who want not skill to couple grief With praise, as genuine admiration prompts. The grief, the praise, are severed from their dust,
Yet in his page the records of that worth Survive, uninjured :-glory then to words, Honour to word-preserving Arts, and hail Ye kindred local influences that still, If Hope's familiar whispers merit faith, Await my steps when they the breezy height Shall range of philosophic Tusculum; Or Sabine vales explored inspire a wish To meet the shade of Horace by the side Of his Bandusian fount; or I invoke His presence to point out the spot where once He sate, and eulogized with earnest pen Peace, leisure, freedom, moderate desires; And all the immunities of rural life Extolled, behind Vacuna's crumbling fane. Or let me loiter, soothed with what is given Nor asking more, on that delicious Bay, Parthenope's Domain-Virgilian haunt, Illustrated with never-dying verse, And, by the Poet's laurel-shaded tomb, Age after age to Pilgrims from all lands Endeared. And who-if not a man as cold In heart as dull in brain-while pacing ground Chosen by Rome's legendary Bards, high minds Out of her early struggles well inspired To localize heroic acts-could look Upon the spots with undelighted eye, Though even to their last syllable the Lays And very names of those who gave them birth Have perished?-Verily, to her utmost depth. Imagination feels what Reason fears not To recognize, the lasting virtue lodged In those bold fictions that, by deeds assigned To the Valerian, Fabian, Curian Race, And others like in fame. created Powers With attributes from History derived, By Poesy irradiate, and yet graced,
To that mild breeze with motion and with voice Through marvellous felicity of skill, Softly responsive; and, attuned to all
With something more propitious to high aims
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