Upon that open moorland stood a grove,
The wished-for port to which my course was bound.1 Thither I came, and there, amid the gloom Spread by a brotherhood of lofty elms,* Appeared a roofless Hut; four naked walls. That stared upon each other!--I looked round, And to my wish and to my hope espied The Friend I sought; a Man of reverend age, But stout and hale, for travel unimpaired. There was he seen upon the cottage-bench, Recumbent in the shade, as if asleep;
An iron-pointed staff lay at his side.
Him had I marked the day before-alone And stationed in the public way, with face
Turned toward the sun then setting, while that staff Afforded, to the figure of the man 3.
Detained for contemplation or repose,
Graceful support; his countenance as he stood
The wished-for Port to which my steps were bound. 1814. my course was bound. 1827.
Turned tow'rds the sun then setting, while that staff
Compare the Sonnet composed at Neidpath Castle"A brotherhood of venerable Trees."
Was hidden from my view, and he remained 1 Unrecognised; but, stricken by the sight, With slackened footsteps I advanced, and soon A glad congratulation we exchanged
At such unthought-of meeting.-For the night We parted, nothing willingly; and now He by appointment waited for me here, Under the covert2 of these clustering elms.
We were tried Friends; amid a pleasant vale, In the antique market-village where was passed My school-time,* an apartment he had owned, To which at intervals the Wanderer drew,3 And found a kind of home or harbour there. He loved me; from a swarm of rosy boys Singled out me, as he in sport would say, For my grave looks, too thoughtful for my years.
the countenance of the Man Was hidden from my view, and he himself
A market-village, seated in a tract
Of mountains, where my school-day time was pass'd,
One room he owned, the fifth part of a house,
A place to which he drew, from time to time, where were passed
Hawkshead. See the notes to The Prelude, Books I. and II. The Fenwick note tells us, "At Hawkshead, while I was a school-boy, there occasionally resided a packman, with whom I had frequent conversations upon what had befallen him, and what he had observed during his wandering life, and, as was natural, we took much to each other."-ED.
As I grew up, it was my best delight
To be his chosen comrade. Many a time,
On holidays, we rambled through the woods: We sate-we walked; he pleased me with report 1 Of things which he had seen; and often touched Abstrusest matter, reasonings of the mind Turned inward; or at my request would sing 2 Old songs, the product of his native hills ;3 A skilful distribution of sweet sounds, Feeding the soul, and eagerly imbibed As cool refreshing water, by the care
Of the industrious husbandman, diffused
Through a parched meadow-ground, in time of drought.
Still deeper welcome found his pure discourse; How precious when in riper days I learned To weigh with care his words, and to rejoice In the plain presence of his dignity!
Oh! many are the Poets that are sown By Nature; men endowed with highest gifts, The vision and the faculty divine ;*
Yet wanting the accomplishment of verse, (Which, in the docile season of their youth, It was denied them to acquire, through lack Of culture and the inspiring aid of books, 1 1827.
, we wandered through the woods, A pair of random travellers; we sate-
We walked; he pleased me with his sweet discourse 1814.
Old songs brought with him from his native hills.
Compare the Stanzas suggested by a picture of Peele Castle in a Storm— "The consecration, and the Poet's dream,"
and the discourse on Poetry in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads (Vol. IV. p. 275).-ED.
Or haply by a temper too severe,
Or a nice backwardness afraid of shame) Nor having e'er, as life advanced, been led By circumstance to take unto the height
The measure of themselves, these favoured Beings, All but a scattered few, live out their time, Husbanding that which they possess within, And go to the grave, unthought of. Are often those of whom the noisy world
Hears least; else surely this Man had not left † His graces unrevealed and unproclaimed.
But, as the mind was filled with inward light, ‡ So not without distinction had he lived, Beloved and honoured-far as he was known. And some small portion of his eloquent speech, And something that may serve to set in view The feeling pleasures of his loneliness, His observations, and the thoughts his mind1 Had dealt with-I will here record in verse; Which, if with truth it correspond, and sink Or rise as venerable Nature leads,
The high and tender Muses shall accept With gracious smile, deliberately pleased, And listening Time reward with sacred praise.
Sir Henry Taylor, Philip van Artevelde, Act i. Scene 5.-ED.
+ "Nec vixit male qui natus moriensque fefellit."
-Hor. Ep. i. 17, 10.—Ed.
"The light that never was, on sea or land.”
Where,1 on a small hereditary farm,
An unproductive slip of rugged ground,
His Parents, with their numerous offspring, dwelt; 2 A virtuous household, though exceeding poor! Pure livers were they all, austere and grave,
And fearing God ;* the very children taught Stern self-respect, a reverence for God's word, And an habitual piety, maintained
With strictness scarcely known on English ground.
From his sixth year, the Boy of whom I speak, In summer, tended cattle on the hills;
But, through the inclement and the perilous days Of long-continuing winter, he repaired, Equipped with satchel, to a school, that stood3 Sole building on a mountain's dreary edge, Remote from view of city spire, or sound
His Father dwelt; and died in poverty; While He, whose lowly fortune I retrace, The youngest of three sons, was yet a babe, A little one-unconscious of their loss. But ere he had outgrown his infant days His widowed Mother, for a second Mate Espoused the Teacher of a Village School; Who on her offspring zealously bestowed Needful instruction; not alone in arts Which to his humble duties appertained, But in the lore of right and wrong, the rule Of human kindness, in the peaceful ways Of honesty, and holiness severe.
Religious men, who give to God and man their dues."
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