At every moment, and, with strength, increase The nightly hunter, lifting up his eyes Towards the crescent moon, with grateful heart Assaulting and defending, and the wind, Calld on the lovely wanderer who bestow'd A sightless labourer, whistles at his work That timely light, to share his joyous sport: Fearful, but resignation tempers fear, And hence, a beaming goddess with her nymphs, And piety is sweet to infant minds. Across the lawn and through the darksome grove The shepherd lad, who in the sunshine carves, (Not unaccompanied with tuneful notes On the green turf, a dial, to divide By echo multiplied from rock or cave) The silent hours ; and who to that report Swept in the storm of chase, as moon and stars Can portion out his pleasures, and adapt Glance rapidly along the clouded heaven, His round of pastoral duties, is not left When winds are blowing strong. The traveller With less intelligence for moral things slaked Of gravest import. Early he perceives, His thirst from rill or gushing fount, and thank'd Within himself, a measure and a rule, The naiad. Sunbeams, upon distant hills Which to the sun of truth he can apply, Gliding apace, with shadows in their train, That shines for him, and shines for all mankind. Might, with small help from fancy, be transform'd Experience daily fixing his regards Into fleet oreads sporting visibly. On nature's wants, he knows how few they are, The zephyrs, fanning as they pass'd, their wings, And where they lie, how answer'd and appeased. Lack'd not, for love, fair objects whom they woo'd This knowledge ample recompense affords With gentle whisper. Wither'd boughs grotesque, For manifold privations; he refers Stripp'd of their leaves and twigs by hoary age, His notions to this standard, on this rock From depth of shaggy covert peeping forth Rests his desires; and hence, in after life, In the low vale, or on steep mountain side; Soul-strengthening patience, and sublime content. And, sometimes, intermix'd with stirring horns Imagination not permitted here Of the live deer, or goat's depending beardTo waste her powers, as in the worldling's mind, These were the lurking satyrs, a wild brood On fickle pleasures, and superfluous cares Of gamesome deities; or Pan himself, And trivial ostentation-is left free The simple shepherd's awe-inspiring god !” And puissant to range the solemn walks As this apt strain proceeded, I could mark Of time and nature, girded by a zone Its kindly influence, o'er the yielding brow That, while it binds, in vigorates and supports. Of our companion, gradually diffused Acknowledge, then, that whether by the side While, listening he had paced the noiseless turf, Of his poor hut, or on the mountain top, Like one whose untired ear a murmuring stream Or in the cultured field, a man so bred Detains ; but tempted now to interpose, (Take from him what you will upon the score He with a smile exclaim'd Of ignorance or illusion) lives and breathes “ 'Tis well you speak For noble purposes of mind: his heart At a safe distance from our native land, Beats to the heroic song of ancient days; And from the mansions where our youth was taught. His eye distinguishes, his soul creates. The true descendants of those godly men And those illusions, which excite the scorn Who swept from Scotland, in a flame of zeal, Or move the pity of unthinking minds, Shrine, altar, image, and the massy piles Are they not mainly outward ministers That harbour'd them,-the souls retaining yet Of inward conscience ? with whose service charged The churlish features of that after race They came and go, appear'd and disappear, Who fled to caves, and woods, and naked rocks, Diverting evil purposes, remorse In deadly scorn of superstitious rites, Awakening, chastening an intemperate grief Or what their scruples construed to be such Or pride of heart abating: and, whene'er How, think you, would they tolerate this scheme For less important ends those phantoms move. Of fine propensities, that tends, if urged Who would forbid them, if their presence serve Far as it might be urged, to sow afresh Among wild mountains and unpeopled heaths, The weeds of Roman phantasy, in vain Filling a space, else vacant, to exalt Uprooted; would re-consecrate our wells The forms of nature, and enlarge her powers ? To good Saint Fillan and to fair Saint Anne; “Once more to distant ages of the world And from long banishment recall Saint Giles, Let us revert, and place before our thoughts To watch again with tutelary love The face which rural solitude might wear O’er stately Edinborough throned on crags ? To th' unenlighten'd swains of pagan Greece. A blessed restoration, to behold In that fair clime, the lonely herdsman, stretch'd The patron, on the shoulders of his priests, On the soft grass through half a summer's day, Once more parading through her crowded streets; With music lull'd his indolent repose: Now simply guarded by the sober powers And in some fit of weariness, if he, Of science, and philosophy, and sense !" When his own breath was silent, chanced to hear This answer follow'd. “ You have turn'd my A distant strain, far sweeter than the sounds thoughts Which his poor skill could make, his fancy fetch'd, Upon our brave progenitors, who rose E'en from the blazing chariot of the sun Against idolatry with warlike mind, A beardless youth, who touch'd a golden lute, And shrunk from vain observances, to lurk And fill'd th’ illumined groves with ravishment. In caves, and wouds, and under dismal rocks, Deprived of shelter, covering, fire, and food; And twice ten thousand interests, do yet prize This soul, and the transcendent universe, That one, poor, infinite object, in the abyss “Nor higher place can be assign'd to bim And from their fervent lips drew hymns of praise, And his compeers—the laughing sage of France. That through the desert rang. Though favour'd Crown'd was he, if my memory do not err, less, With laurel planted upon hoary hairs, Far less, than these, yet such, in their degree, In sign of couquest by his wit achieved, Were those bewilder'd pagans of old time. And benefits his wisdom had conferr’d, Beyond their own poor natures and above His tottering body was with wreaths of flowers They look’d: were humbly thankful for the good Opprest, far less becoming ornaments Which the warm sun solicited—and earth Than spring oft twines about a mouldering tree ; Bestow'd; were gladsome,--and their moral sense Yet so it pleased a fond, a vain old man, They fortified with reverence for the gods And a most frivolous people. Him I mean And they had hopes that overstepp'd the grave. Who penn'd, to ridicule confiding faith, “Now, shall our great discoverers,” he exclaim'd, This sorry legend; which by chance we found Raising his voice triumphantly,“ obtain Piled in a pook, through malice, as might seem, From sense and reason less than these obtain'd, Among more innocent rubbish.” Speaking thus, Though far misled? Shall men for whom our age With a brief notice when, and how, and where, Unbaffled powers of vision hath prepared, We had espied the book, he drew it forth ; At once, all traces from the good man's heart Restored it to its owner. Gentle friend," The planets in the hollow of their hand; Herewith he grasp'd the solitary's hand, And they who rather die than soar, whose pains “ You have known better lights and guides than Have solved the elements, or analyzed theseThe thinking principle--shall they in fact Ah ! let not aught amiss within dispose Prove a degraded race? and what avails A noble mind to practise on herself, Renown, if their presumption make them such ? And tempt opinion to support the wrongs 0! there is laughter at their work in heaven! Of passion : whatsoe'er be felt or fear'd, Inquire of ancient wisdom: go, demand From higher judgment seats make no appeal To lower: can you question that the soul To be cast off, upon an oath proposed By each new upstart notion ? In the ports In disconnexion dead and spiritless ; Of levity no refuge can be found, And still dividing, and dividing still, No shelter, for a spirit in distress. He, who by wilful disesteem of life, That her mild nature can be terrible; T'avenge their own insulted majesty. O blest seclusion! when the mind admits That this magnificent effect of power, The law of duty; and can therefore move The earth we tread, the sky that we behold Through each vicissitude of loss and gain, By day, and all the pomp which night reveals, Link'd in entire complacence with her choice ; That these--and that superior mystery, When youth's presumptuousness is mellow'd down, Our vital frame, so fearfully devised, And manhood's vain anxiety dismiss'd ; And the dread soul within it-should exist When wisdom shows her seasonable fruit, Upon the boughs of sheltering leisure hung To drink with gratitude the crystal stream To muse,-and be saluted by the air My heart a daily sacrifice to truth, Of meck repentance, wafting wall-flower scents I now affirm of nature and of truth, From out the crumbling ruins of fall’n pride Whom I have served, that their DIVINITY And chambers of transgression now forlorn. Revolts, offended at the ways of men 0, calm, contented days, and peaceful nights Sway'd by such motives, to such end employ'd; Who, when such good can be obtain'd, would strive Philosophers, who, though the human soul To reconcile his manhood to a couch Be of a thousand faculties composed, Soft, as may seem, but, under that disguise turn Stuff'd with the thorny substance of the past, For you, assuredly, a hopeful road Lies open : we have heard from you a voice By tenderness of heart; have seen your eye, “Within the soul a faculty abides, Even like an altar lit by fire from heaven, That with interpositions, which would hide Kindle before us. Your discourse this day, And darken, so can deal, that they become That, like the fabled lethe, wish'd to flow Contingencies of pomp; and serve t'exalt In creeping sadness, through oblivious shades Her native brightness. As the ample moon, Of death and night, has caught at eve In the deep stillness of a summer even The colours of the sun. Access for you Rising behind a thick and lofty grove, Is yet preserved to principles of truth, Which the imaginative will upholds With her minute and speculative pains, A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract Of inland ground, applying to his ear To which, in silence hushid, his very soul Listend intensely; and his countenance soon From error, disappointment,-nay, from guilt: Brightend with joy ; for murmurings from within And sometimes, so relenting justice wills, Were heard,-sonorous cadences ! whereby From palpable oppressions of despair." To his belief, the monitor express'd The solitary by these words was touch'd Mysterious union with its native sea. With manifest emotion, and exclaim'd, E'en such a shell the universe itself “But how begin? and whence ? The mind is free; Is to the ear of faith: and there are times, Resolve, the haughty moralist would say, I doubt not, when to you it doth impart This single act is all that we demand. Authentic tidings of invisible things; Alas ! such wisdom bids a creature fiy Of ebb and flow, and ever during power ; Whose very sorrow is, that time hath shorn And central peace, subsisting at the heart His natural wings! To friendship let him turn Of endless agitation. Here you stand, For succour; but perhaps he sits alone Adore, and worship, when you know it not; On stormy waters, in a little boat Pious beyond the intention of your thought; That holds but him, and can contain no more! Devout above the meaning of your will. Religion tells of amity sublime Yes, you have felt, and may not cease to feel. Which no condition can preclude: of one Th’estate of man would be indeed forlorn Who sees all suffering, comprehends all wants, If false conclusions of the reasoning power All weakness fathoms, can supply all needs; Made the eye blind, and closed the passages But is that bounty absolute? His gifts, Through which the ear converses with the heart. Are they not still, in some degree, rewards Has not the soul, the being of your life, For acts of service? Can his love extend Received a shock of awful consciousness, To hearts that own not him ? Will showers of In some calm season, when these lofty rocks grace, At night's approach bring down the unclouded sky When in the sky no promise may be seen, To rest upon their circumambient walls; And yet not too enormous for the sound Of hụman anthems,-choral song, or burst Sublime of instrumental harmony And the soft woodlark here did never chant Her vespers, nature fails not to provide Stoop'd to this apt reply Impulse and utterance. The whispering air “ As men from men Sends inspiration from the shadowy heights, Do, in the constitution of their souls, And blind recesses of the cavern'd rocks; Differ, by mystery not to be explaind; The little hills, and waters numberless, And as we fall by various ways, and sink Inaudible by daylight, blend their notes One deeper than another, self-condemnd, With the loud streams: and often, at the hour Through manifold degrees of guilt and shame, When issue forth the first pale stars, is heard, So manifold and various are the ways Within the circuit of this fabric huge, Of restoration, fashion'd to the steps One voice—the solitary raven, flying Of all infirmity, and tending all Athwart the concave of the dark-blue dome, To the same point,-attainable by all; Unseen, perchance above all power of sightPeace in ourselves, and union with our God. An iron knell! with echoes from afar 57 2 p 2 Faint-and still fainter-as the cry, with which Departing not, for them shall be confirm'd The glorious habit by which sense is made Subservient still to moral purposes, Diminishing by distance till it seem'd Auxiliar to divine. That change shall clothe T'expire, yet from th' abyss is caught again, The naked spirit, ceasing to deplore And yet again recover'd. The burden of existence. Science then “ But descending Shall be a precious visitant; and then, From these imaginative heights, that yield And only then, be worthy of her name, Far-stretching views into eternity, For then her heart shall kindle; her dull eye, Acknowledge that in nature's humbler power Dull and inanimate, no more shall hang Your cherish'd sullenness is forced to bend Chain'd to its object in brute slavery; E’en here, where her amenities are sown But taught with patient interest to watch With sparing hand. Then trust yourself abroad The processes of things, and serve the cause To range her blooming bowers, and spacious fields, of order and distinctness, not for this Where on the labours of the happy throng Shall I forget that its most noble use, She smiles, including in her wide embrace Its most illustrious province, must be found City, and town, and tower,-and sea with ships In furnishing clear guidance, a support Sprinkled; be our companion while we track Not treacherous to the mind's ercursive power. Her rivers populous with gliding life ; So build we up the being that we are ; While, free as air, o'er printless sands we march, Thus deeply drinking in the soul of things, Or pierce the gloom of her majestic woods; We shall be wise perforce ; and while inspired Roaming, or resting under grateful shade By choice, and conscious that the will is free, In peace and meditative cheerfulness; Unswerving shall we move, as if impell’d and ear, Of order and of good. Whate'er we see, And speak to social reason's inner sense, Whate'er we feel, by agency direct With inarticulate language. Or indirect, shall tend to feed and nurse « For the man, Our faculties, shall fix in calmer seats Who, in this spirit, communes with the forms Of moral strength, and raise to loftier heights Of nature, who with understanding heart Of love divine, our intellectual soul.” Doth know and love such objects as excite Here closed the sage that eloquent harangue, No morbid passions, no disquietude, Pour'd forth with fervour in continuous stream; No vengeance, and no hatred, needs must feel Such as, remote, ’mid savage wilderness, The joy of that pure principle of love An Indian chief discharges from his breast So deeply, that, unsatisfied with aught Into the hearing of assembled tribes, Less pure and exquisite, he cannot choose In open circle seated round, and hush'd But seek for objects of a kindred love As the unbreathing air, when not a leaf In fellow natures and a kindred joy. Stirs in the mighty woods. So did he speak: Accordingly he by degrees perceives The words he utter'd shall not pass away ; His feelings of aversion soften'd down; For they sank into me—the bounteous gift A holy tenderness pervade his frame. Of one whom time and nature had made wise. His sanity of reason not impair’d, Gracing his language with authority To hopes on knowledge and experience built; A passionate intuition; whence the soul, No feeling, which can overcome his love. Though bound to earth by ties of pity and love, “ And further ; by contemplating these forms From all injurious servitude was free. In the relations which they bear to man, The sun, before his place of rest were reach'd, He shall discern, how, through the various means Had yet to travel far, but unto us, Which silently they yield, are multiplied To us who stood low in that hollow dell, He had become invisible,-a pomp With ample shadows, seemingly, no less Than those resplendent lights, his rich bequest, So shall they learn, while all things speak of man, A dispensation of his evening power. Their duties from all forms; and general laws, Adown the path that from the glen had led And local accidents, shall tend alike The funeral train, the shepherd and his mate To rouse, to urge; and, with the will, confer Were seen descending; forth to greet them ran Th' ability to spread the blessings wide Our little page; the rustic pair approach ; Of true philanthropy. The light of love And in the matron's aspect may be read Not failing, perseverance from their steps A plain assurance that the words which told ARGUMENT. How that neglected pensioner was sent Frail life's possessions, that even they whose fate Before his time into a quiet grave, Yields no peculiar reason of complaint, Had done to her humanity no wrong: Might, by the promise that is here, be won But we are kindly welcomed-promptly served To steal from active duties, and embrace With ostentatious zea). Along the floor Obscurity, and calm forgetfulness. Of the small cottage in the lonely dell Knowledge, methinks in these disorder'd times, Living to God and nature, and content The spots where such abide! But happier still The man, whom, furthermore, a hope attends That meditation and research may guide His privacy to principles and powers Discover'd or invented : or set forth, Farewell to the valley. Reflections. Sight of a large Through his acquaintance with the ways of truth, and populous vale. Solitary consents to go forward. In lucid order ; so that, when his course Vale described. The pastor's dwelling, and some Is run, some faithful eulogist may say, account of him. The churchyard. Church and monu He sought not praise, and praise did overlook ments. The solitary musing, and where. Roused. His unobtrusive merit; but his life, In the churchyard the solitary communicates the Sweet to himself, was exercised in good thoughts which had recently passed through his mind. Lofty tone of the wanderer's discourse of yesterday | That shall survive his name and memory. adverted to Rite of baptism, and the professions Acknowledgments of gratitude sincere accompanying it, contrasted with the real state of Accompanied these musings: fervent thanks human life. Inconsistency of the best men. - Acknow. For my own peaceful lot and happy choice ; ledgment that practice falls far below the injunctions a choice that from the passions of the world of duty as existing in the mind. General complaint of a falling off in the value of life after the time of youth. Withdrew, and fix'd me in a still retreat, Outward appearances of content and happiness in Shelter'd, but not to social duties lost, degree illusive. Pastor approaches Appeal made to Secluded, but not buried; and with song him. His answer. Wanderer in sympathy with him. Cheering my days, and with industrious thought, Suggestion that the least ambitious inquirers may be With ever-welcome company of books, most free from error. The pastor is desired to give some portraits of the living or dead from his own ob By virtuous friendship’s soul-sustaining aia, servation of life among these mountains. And for And with the blessings of domestic love. what purpose. Pastor consents. Mountain cottage. Thus occupied in mind I paced along, Excellent qualities of its inhabitants. Solitary ex. Following the rugged road, by sledge or wheel presses his pleasure; but denies the praise of virtue Worn in the moorland, till I overtook to worth of this kind. Feelings of the priest before My two associates, in the morning sunshine he enters upon his account of persons interred in the churchyard. Graves of unbaptized infants. What Halting together on a rocky knoll, sensations they excite. Funeral and sepulchral ob- From which the road descended rapidly servances, whence. Ecclesiastical establishments, To the green meadows of another vale. whence derived Profession of belief in the doctrine Here did our pensive host put forth his hand of immortality. In sign of farewell. “Nay,” the old man said, FAREWELL, deep valley, with thy one rude house, “ The fragrant air its coolness still retains ; And its small lot of life-supporting fields, The herds and flocks are yet abroad to crop And guardian rocks! Farewell, attractive seat! The dewy grass; you cannot leave us now, To the still influx of the morning light We must not part at this inviting hour.” Open, and day's pure cheerfulness, but veil'd He yielded, though reluctant; for his mind From human observation, as if yet Instinctively disposed him to retire Primeval forests wrapp'd thee round with dark To his own covert; as a billow, heaved Impenetrable shade ; once more farewell, Upon the beach, rolls back into the sea, Majestic circuit, beautiful abyss, So we descend ; and winding round a rock By nature destined from the birth of things Attain a point that show'd the valley-stretch'd For quietness profound ! In length before us; and, not distant far, Upon a rising ground a gray church tower, Whose battlements were screen'd by tusted trees, Lingering behind my comrades, thus I breathed And, towards a crystal mere, that lay beyond A parting tribute to a spot that seem'd Among steep hills and woods embosom’d, flow'd Like the fix'd centre of a troubled world. A copious stream with boldly winding course; And now, pursuing leisurely my way, Here traceable, there hidden—there again How vain, thought I, it is by change of place To sight restored, and glittering in the sun, To seek that comfort which the mind denies; On the stream's bank, and every where, appear'd Yet trial and temptation oft are shunnid Fair dwellings, single, or in social knots ; Wisely; and by such tenure do we hold Some scatter'd o'er the level, others perch'd |