Nor chide the Muse that stooped to break a spell Which might have else been on me yet:— FAREWELL. UPON PERUSING THE FOREGOING EPISTLE THIRTY YEARS AFTER ITS COMPOSITION. Soon did the Almighty Giver of all rest Take those dear young Ones to a fearless nest; Note.-LOUGHRIGG TARN, alluded to in the foregoing Epistle, resembles, though much smaller in compass, the Lake Nemi, or Speculum Dianæ as it is often called, not only in its clear waters and circular form, and the beauty immediately surrounding it, but also as being overlooked by the eminence of Langdale Pikes as Lake Nemi is by that of Monte Calvo. Since this Epistle was written Loughrigg Tarn has lost much of its beauty by the felling of many natural clumps of wood, relics of the old forest, particularly upon the farm called "The Oaks," from the abundance of that tree which grew there. It is to be regretted, upon public grounds, that Sir George Beaumont did not carry into effect his intention of constructing here a Summer Retreat in the style I have described; as his taste would have set an example how buildings, with all the accommodations modern society requires, might be introduced even into the most secluded parts of this country without injuring their native character. The design was not abandoned from failure of inclination on his part, but in consequence of local untowardnesses which need not be particularised. II. GOLD AND SILVER FISHES IN A VASE, THE soaring lark is blest as proud Her flight by vocal wings; Your silent lives employ For something more than dull content, VI. YE brood of conscience-Spectres! that frequent In act, as hovering Angels when they spread IX. THOUGH to give timely warning and deter Endues her conscience with external life VII. BEFORE the world had past her time of youth And love the end, which all through peace must seek. But lamentably do they err who strain X. OUR bodily life, some plead, that life the shrine So sacred, so informed with light divine, VIII. FIT retribution, by the moral code Take from the horror due to a foul deed, XI. AH, think how one compelled for life to abide sure, Who sees, foresees; who cannot judge amiss, And wafts at will the contrite soul to bliss. XII. SEE the Condemned alone within his cell XIII. CONCLUSION. YES, though He well may tremble at the sound Of his own voice, who from the judgment-seat In death; though Listeners shudder all around, For Christian Faith. But hopeful signs abound; XIV. APOLOGY. THE formal World relaxes her cold chain The cause of grateful reason to sustain ; And, serving Truth, the heart more strongly beats From Wisdom's heavenly Father. Hence hath flowed Patience, with trust that, whatsoe'er the way 1840 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 1. EPISTLE TO SIR GEORGE HOWLAND BEAUMONT, BART. FROM THE SOUTH-WEST COAST OF CUMBERLAND.-1811. FAR from our home by Grasmere's quiet Lake, Frowns deepening visibly his native gloom, Rough is the time; and thoughts, that would be free Those heights (like Phoebus when his golden He veiled, attendant on Thessalian flocks) And, in disguise, a Milkmaid with her pai Trips down the pathways of some winding d Or, like a Mermaid, warbles on the shores To fishers mending nets beside their doors; Or, Pilgrim-like, on forest moss reclined, Gives plaintive ditties to the heedless wind, Or listens to its play among the boughs Above her head and so forgets her vows If such a Visitant of Earth there be And she would deign this day to smile on And aid my verse, content with local bond Of natural beauty and life's daily rounds, Thoughts, chances, sights, or doings, which Without reserve to those whom we love welThen haply, Beaumont! words in current ess Will flow, and on a welcome page appear Duly before thy sight, unless they perish ber What shall I treat of? News from Maki Such have we, but unvaried in its style; No tales of Runagates fresh landed, whene And wherefore fugitive or on what preten Of feasts, or scandal, eddying like the wind Most restlessly alive when most confined. Ask not of me, whose tongue can best appetit The mighty tumults of the HOUSE OF KETš The last year's cup whose Ram or Heifer What slopes are planted, or what mosses d An eye of fancy only can I cast -This Dwelling's Inmate more than three weeks' On that proud pageant now at hand or past space And oft a Prisoner in the cheerless place, Though these dull hours (mine is it, or their shame?) When full five hundred boats in trim arra, With nets and sails outspread and stres And chanted hymns and stiller voice of pay For the old Manx-harvest to the Deep rea Soon as the herring-shoals at distance sh Like beds of moonlight shifting on the bri Mona from our Abode is daily seen, But with a wilderness of waves between; And by conjecture only can we speak Of aught transacted there in bay or creek. No tidings reach us thence from town ar ie Only faint news her mountain sunbeams pie And some we gather from the misty air, And some the hovering clouds, our telegraph, declare. But these poetic mysteries I withhold; For Fancy hath her fits both hot and cold, Let more substantial themes the pen engage, And nearer interests culled from the opening stage Of our migration.—Ere the welcome dawn Had from the east her silver star withdrawn, 'he Wain stood ready, at our Cottage-door, 'houghtfully freighted with a various store; and long or ere the uprising of the Sun ■'er dew-damped dust our journey was begun, needful journey, under favouring skies, hrough peopled Vales; yet something in the guise f those old Patriarchs when from well to well hey roamed through Wastes where now the tented Arabs dwell. Say first, to whom did we the charge confide, ho promptly undertook the Wain to guide many a sharply-twining road and down, ad over many a wide hill's craggy crown, rough the quick turns of many a hollow nook, nd the rough bed of many an unbridged brook? blooming Lass-who in her better hand re a light switch, her sceptre of command hen, yet a slender Girl, she often led, Iful and bold, the horse and burthened sled >m the peat-yielding Moss on Gowdar's head. hat could go wrong with such a Charioteer ♫ goods and chattels, or those Infants dear, Pair who smilingly sate side by side, - hope confirming that the salt-sea tide, ose free embraces we were bound to seek, uld their lost strength restore and freshen the pale cheek? I hope did either Parent entertain ing behind along the silent lane. And in that griesly object recognise So that the very heaving of his breath death. Long as we gazed upon the form and face, Advancing Summer, Nature's law fulfilled, The choristers in every grove had stilled; But we, we lacked not music of our own, For lightsome Fanny had thus early thrown, Mid the gay prattle of those infant tongues, Some notes prelusive, from the round of songs With which, more zealous than the liveliest bird That in wild Arden's brakes was ever heard, Her work and her work's partners she can cheer, The whole day long, and all days of the year. Thus gladdened from our own dear Vale we pass And soon approach Diana's Looking-glass! To Loughrigg-tarn, round clear and bright as heaven, Such name Italian fancy would have given, Lithe hopes and happy musings soon took flight, Ere on its banks the few grey cabins rose lo! an uncouth melancholy sightgreen bank a creature stood forlorn half protruded to the light of morn, inder part concealed by hedge-row thorn. Figure called to mind a beast of prey >t of its frightful powers by slow decay, though no longer upon rapine bent, memory keeping of its old intent. started, looked again with anxious eyes, * A local word for Sledge. That yet disturb not its concealed repose More than the feeblest wind that idly blows. Ah, Beaumont! when an opening in the road Stopped me at once by charm of what it showed, The encircling region vividly exprest Within the mirror's depth, a world at rest- * A word common in the country, signifying shelter, as in Scotland. |