There, under shadow of the neighbouring rocks,
Sang youthful tales of shepherds and their flocks;
Unconscious prelude to heroic themes, Heart-breaking tears, and melancholy dreams Of slighted love, and scorn, and jealous rage, With which his genius shook the buskined stage.
Communities are lost, and Empires die, And things of holy use unhallowed lie; They perish;-but the Intellect can raise, From airy words alone, a Pile that ne'er de- cays.
WRITTEN WITH A PENCIL UPON A STONE IN
THE WALL OF THE HOUSE (AN OUT-HOUSE),
ON THE ISLAND AT GRASMERE.
RUDE is this Edifice, and Thou hast seen Buildings, albeit rude, that have maintained Proportions more harmonious, and approached To closer fellowship with ideal grace. But take it in good part:-alas! the Vitruvius of our village had no help From the great City; never, upon leaves Of red Morocco folio saw displayed, In long succession, pre-existing ghosts Of Beauties yet unborn-the rustic Lodge Antique, and Cottage with verandah graced, Nor lacking, for fit company, alcove, Green-house, shell-grot, and moss-lined hermi. tage.
Thou see'st a homely Pile, yet to these walls The heifer comes in the snow-storm, and here The new-dropped lamb finds shelter from the wind.
And hither does one Poet sometimes row His pinnace, a small vagrant barge, up-piled With plenteous store of heath and withered fern,
(A lading which he with his sickle cuts, Among the mountains) and beneath this roof He makes his summer couch, and here at noon Spreads out his limbs, while, yet unshorn, the Sheep,
Panting beneath the burthen of their wool, Lie round him, even as if they were a part Of his own Household: nor, while from his bed He looks, through the open door-place, toward
And to the stirring breezes, does he want Creations lovely as the work of sleepFair sights, and visions of romantic joy!
WRITTEN WITH A SLATE PENCIL ON A STONE, ON THE SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN OF BLACK COMB.
STAY, bold Adventurer; rest awhile thy limbs On this commodious Seat! for much remains Of hard ascent before thou reach the top Of this huge Eminence,-from blackness named,
And, to far-travelled storms of sea and land, A favourite spot of tournament and war! But thee may no such boisterous visitants Molest: may gentle breezes fan thy brow And neither cloud conceal, nor misty air
Bedim, the grand terraqueous spectacle, From centre to circumference, unveiled! Know, if thou grudge not to prolong thy rest, That on the suminit whither thou art bound A geographic Labourer pitched his tent, With books supplied and instruments of art, To measure height and distance; lonely task, Week after week pursued !-To him was given Full many a glimpse (but sparingly bestowed On timid man) of Nature's processes Upon the exalted hills. He made report That once, while there he plied his studious work
Within that canvas dwelling, colours, lines, And the whole surface of the out-spread map, Became invisible: for all around
Had darkness fallen-unthreatened, unproclaimed
As if the golden day itself had been Extinguished in a moment; total gloom, In which he sate alone, with unclosed eyes, Upon the blinded mountain's silent top! 1813.
WRITTEN WITH A SLATE PENCIL UPON A STONE, THE LARGEST OF A HEAP LYING NEAR A DESERTED QUARRY, UPON ONE OF THE ISLANDS AT RYDAL.
STRANGER! this hillock of mis-shapen stones Is not a Ruin spared or made by time, Nor, as perchance thou rashly deem'st, the Cairn
Of some old British Chief: 'tis nothing more Than the rude embryo of a little Dome Or Pleasure-house, once destined to be built Among the birch-trees of this rocky isle. But, as it chanced, Sir William having learned That from the shore a full-grown man might wade,
And make himself a freeman of this spot At any hour he chose, the prudent Knight Desisted, and the quarry and the mound Are monuments of his unfinished task. The block on which these lines are traced, perhaps,
Was once selected as the corner-stone
Of that intended Pile, which would have been Some quaint odd plaything of elaborate skill, So that, I guess, the linnet and the thrush, And other little builders who dwell here, Had wondered at the work. But blame him
For old Sir William was a gentle Knight, Bred in this vale, to which he appertained With all his ancestry. Then peace to him, And for the outrage which he had devised Entire forgiveness!-But if thou art one On fire with thy impatience to become An inmate of these mountains,-if, disturbed By beautiful conceptions, thou hast hewn Out of the quiet rock the elements
Of thy trim Mansion destined soon to blaze In snow-white splendour,-think again; and, taught
By old Sir William and his quarry, leave Thy fragments to the bramble and the rose; There let the vernal slow-worm sun himself, And let the redbreast hop from stone to stone. 1800.
INSCRIPTIONS SUPPOSED TO BE FOUND IN AND NEAR A HERMIT'S CELL. 1818. I.
HOPES what are they?-Beads of morning Strung on slender blades of grass; Or a spider's web adorning In a strait and treacherous pass. What are fears but voices airy? Whispering harm where harm is not; And deluding the unwary Till the fatal bolt is shot! What is glory? in the socket See how dying tapers fare! What is pride?-a whizzing rocket That would emulate a star.
What is friendship?-do not trust her, Nor the vows which she has made; Diamonds dart their brightest lustre From a palsy-shaken head. What is truth?-a staff rejected; Duty?-an unwelcome clog; Joy?-a moon by fits reflected In a swamp or watery bog;
Bright, as if through ether steering, To the Traveller's eye it shone: He hath hailed it re-appearing- And as quickly it is gone; Such is Joy-as quickly hidden Or mis-shapen to the sight, And by sullen weeds forbidden To resume its native light. What is youth ?—a dancing billow, (Winds behind, and rocks before!) Age?-a drooping, tottering willow On a flat and lazy shore.
What is peace?-when pain is over, And love ceases to rebel,
Let the last faint sigh discover That precedes the passing-knell !
PAUSE, Traveller! whosoe'er thou be Whom chance may lead to this retreat, Where silence yields reluctantly Even to the fleecy straggler's bleat; Give voice to what my hand shall trace, And fear not lest an idle sound Of words unsuited to the place Disturb its solitude profound.
I saw this Rock, while vernal air Blew softly o'er the russet heath, Uphold a Monument as fair As church or abbey furnisheth. Unsullied did it meet the day, Like marble, white, like ether, pure; As if, beneath, some hero lay, Honoured with costliest sepulture. My fancy kindled as I gazed; And, ever as the sun shone forth, The flattered structure glistened, blazed, And seemed the proudest thing on earth. But frost had reared the gorgeous Pile Unsound as those which Fortune builds- To undermine with secret guile, Sapped by the very beam that gilds. And, while I gazed, with sudden shock Fell the whole Fabric to the ground; And naked left this dripping Rock, With shapeless ruin spread around!
HAST thou seen, with flash incessant, Bubbles gliding under ice,
Bodied forth and evanescent,
No one knows by what device?
Such are thoughts!-A wind-swept meadow Mimicking a troubled sea,
Such is life; and death a shadow From the rock eternity!
NEAR THE SPRING OF THE HERMITAGE.
TROUBLED long with warring notions Long impatient of thy rod,
I resign my soul's emotions Unto Thee, mysterious God! What avails the kindly shelter Yielded by this craggy rent, If my spirit toss and welter On the waves of discontent?
Parching Summer hath no warrant To consume this crystal Well; Rains, that make each rill a torrent Neither sully it nor swell.
Thus, dishonouring not her station, Would my Life present to Thee, Gracious God, the pure oblation Of divine tranquillity!
NOT seldom, clad in radiant vest, Deceitfully goes forth the Morn; Not seldom Evening in the west Sinks smilingly forsworn.
The smoothest seas will sometimes prove To the confiding Bark untrue And, if she trust the stars above, They can be treacherous too.
The umbrageous Oak, in pomp outspread, Full oft, when storms the welkin rend, Draws lightning down upon the head It promised to defend.
But Thou art true, incarnate Lord, Who didst vouchsafe for man to die; Thy smile is sure, thy plighted word No change can falsify!
I bent before thy gracious throne, And asked for peace on suppliant knee; And peace was given,-nor peace alone, But faith sublimed to ecstasy!
FOR THE SPOT WHERE THE HERMITAGE STOOD ON ST HERBERT'S ISLAND, DERWENT-WATER. If thou in the dear love of some one Friend Hast been so happy that thou know'st what thoughts
Will sometimes in the happiness of love Make the heart sink, then wilt thou reverence This quiet spot; and, Stranger! not unmoved Wilt thou behold this shapeless heap of stones, The desolate ruins of St Herbert's Cell. Here stood his threshold; here was spread the roof
That sheltered him, a self-secluded Man, After long exercise in social cares And offices humane, intent to adore The Deity, with undistracted mind, And meditate on everlasting things, In utter solitude.-But he had left
A Fellow-labourer, whom the good Man loved As his own soul. And, when with eye upraised To heaven he knelt before the crucifix, While o'er the lake the cataract of Lodore Pealed to his orisons, and when he paced Along the beach of this small isle and thought Of his Companion, he would pray that both (Now that their earthly duties were fulfilled) Might die in the same moment. Nor in vair So prayed he:-as our chronicles report, Though here the Hermit numbered his last day Far from St Cuthbert his beloved Friend, Those holy Men both died in the same hour. 1800.
ON THE BANKS OF A ROCKY STREAM. BEHOLD an emblem of our human mind Crowded with thoughts that need a settled home,
Yet, like to eddying balls of foam Within this whirlpool, they each other chase Round and round, and neither find An outlet nor a resting-place!
Stranger! if such disquietude be thine, Fall on thy knees and sue for help divine.
THE PRIORESS' TALE.
Call up him who left half told The story of Cambuscan bold." In the following Poem no further deviation from the original has been made than was necessary for the fluent reading and instant understanding of the Author: so much, however, is the language altered since Chaucer's time, especially in pronunciation, that much was to be removed, and its place supplied with as little incongruity as possible. The ancient accent has been retained in a few conjunctions, as also and alwày, from a conviction that such sprinklings of antiquity would be admitted, by persons of taste, to have a graceful accordance with the subject. The fierce bigotry of the Prioress forms a fine back-ground for her tender-hearted sympathies with the Mother and Child; and the mode in which the story is told amply atones for the extravagance of the
There was in Asia, in a mighty town, 'Mong Christian folk, a street where Jews might be,
Assigned to them and given them for their own By a great Lord, for gain and usury, Hateful to Christ and to his company; And through this street who list might ride and wend;
Free was it, and unbarred at either end.
A little school of Christian people stood Down at the farther end, in which there were A nest of children come of Christian blood, That learned in that school from year to year Such sort of doctrine as men usèd there, That is to say, to sing and read also, As little children in their childhood do.
Among these children was a Widow's son, A little scholar, scarcely seven years old, Who day by day unto this school hath gone, And eke, when he the image did behold Of Jesu's Mother, as he had been told, This Child was wont to kneel adown and say Ave Marie, as he goeth by the way.
This Widow thus her little Son hath taught Our blissful Lady, Jesu's Mother dear, To worship aye, and he forgat it not; For simple infant hath a ready ear. Sweet is the holiness of youth and hence, Calling to mind this matter when I may, Saint Nicholas in my presence standeth aye, For he so young to Christ did reverence.
This little Child, while in the school he sate His Primer conning with an earnest cheer, The whilst the rest their anthem-book repeat, The Alma Redemptoris did he hear; And as he durst he drew him near and near, And hearkened to the words and to the note, Till the first verse he learned it all by rote.
This Latin knew he nothing what it said, For he too tender was of age to know; But to his comrade he repaired, and prayed That he the meaning of this song would show, And unto him declare why men sing so; This oftentimes, that he might be at ease, This child did him beseech on his bare knees.
His Schoolfellow, who elder was than he, Answered him thus:-'This song, I have heard say,
Was fashioned for our blissful Lady free; Her to salute, and also her to pray To be our help upon our dying day: If there is more in this, I know it not; Song do I learn,- small grammar I have got.'
'And is this song fashioned in reverence Of Jesu's Mother?' said this Innocent; 'Now, certès, I will use my diligence To con it all ere Christmas-tide be spent ; Although I for my Primer shall be shent, And shall be beaten three times in an hour, Our Lady I will praise with all my power.'
His Schoolfellow, whom he had so besought, As they went homeward taught him privily And then he sang it well and fearlessly, From word to word according to the note:
I Twice in a day it passed through his throat;
From that day forward have the Jews conspired
Out of the world this Innocent to chase; And to this end a Homicide they hired, That in an alley had a privy place, And, as the Child 'gan to the school to pace This cruel Jew him seized, and held him fast And cut his throat, and in a pit him cast.
I say that him into a pit they threw, A loathsome pit, whence noisome scents ex- hale ;
O cursed folk! away, ye Herods new! What may your ill intentions you avail? Murder will out; certès it will not fail; Know, that the honour of high God may spread,
The blood cries out on your accursed deed,
O Martyr 'stablished in virginity! Now may'st thou sing for aye before the throne,
Following the Lamb celestial," quoth she, "Of which the great Evangelist, Saint John, In Patmos wrote, who saith of them that go Before the Lamb singing continually, That never fleshly woman they did know.
Now this poor widow waiteth all that night After her little Child, and he came not; For which, by earliest glimpse of morning light,
With face all pale with dread and busy thought,
She at the School and elsewhere him hath sought,
Until thus far she learned, that he had been In the Jews' street, and there he last was seen.
With Mother's pity in her breast enclosed She goeth, as she were half out of her mind, To every place wherein she hath supposed By likelihood her little Son to find;
And ever on Christ's Mother meek and kind She cried, till to the Jewry she was brought, And him among the accursèd Jews she sought.
She asketh, and she piteously doth pray
Homeward and schoolward whensoe'er he To every Jew that dwelleth in that place
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