Enliven'd happiness with joy o'erflowing,
With joy, and-oh! that memory should survive
To speak the word-with rapture! Nature's boon,
Life's genuine inspiration, happiness
Above what rules can teach, or fancy feign;
Abused, as all possessions are abused
That are not prized according to their worth.

And yet, what worth? what good is given to Men,
More solid than the gilded clouds of heaven?
What joy more lasting than a vernal flower?
None! 't is the general plaint of human kind
la solitude, and mutually addressed

From each to all, for wisdom's sake:-This truth
The Priest announces from his holy seat;

And, crowned with garlands in the summer grove,
The Poet fits it to his pensive Lyre.
Yet, ere that final resting-place be gained
Sharp contradictions may arise by doom
Of this same life, compelling us to grieve
That the prosperities of love and joy
Should be permitted, oft-times, to endure
So long, and be at once cast down for ever.
Oh! tremble Ye to whom hath been assigned
A course of days composing happy months,
And they as happy years; the present still
So like the past, and both so firm a pledge
Of a congenial future, that the wheels
Of pleasure move without the aid of hope:
For Mutability is Nature's bane;

And slighted Hope will be avenged; and, when
Ye need her favours, Ye shall find her not;
But, in her stead-fear-doubt-and agony !»

This was the bitter language of the heart:
But, while he spake, look, gesture, tone of voice,
Though discomposed and vehement, were such
As skill and graceful Nature might suggest
To a Proficient of the tragic scene
Standing before the multitude, beset
With dark events. Desirous to divert

Or stem the current of the Speaker's thoughts,
We signified a wish to leave that Place
Of stillness and close privacy, a nook
That seemed for self-examination made,
Or, for confession, in the sinner's need,
Hidden from all Men's view. To our attempt
He yielded not; but, pointing to a slope
Of mossy turf defended from the sun,
And, on that couch inviting us to rest,
Full on that tender-hearted Man he turned
A serious eye, and thus his speech renewed.

You never saw, your eyes did never look
On the bright Form of Her whom once I loved :-
Her silver voice was heard upou the earth,
A sound unknown to you; else, honoured Friend!
Your heart had borne a pitiable share
Of what I suffered, when I wept that loss,
And suffer now, not seldom, from the thought
That I remember, and can weep no more.—
Stripped as I am of all the golden fruit
Of self-esteem; and by the cutting blasts
Of self-reproach familiarly assailed ;

I would not yet be of such wintry bareness,
Bat that some leaf of your regard should hang
Upon my naked branches:-lively thoughts

Give birth, full often, to unguarded words;
I grieve that, in your presence, from my tongue
Too much of frailty hath already dropped;
But that too much demands still more.

You know,

Revered Compatriot;-and to you, kind Sir
(Not to be deemed a Stranger, as you come
Following the guidance of these welcome feet
To our secluded Vale) it may be told,
That my demerits did not sue in vain
To One on whose mild radiance many gazed
With hope, and all with pleasure. This fair Bride,
In the devotedness of youthful Love,
Preferring me to Parents, and the choir
Of gay companions, to the natal roof,
And all known places and familiar sights,
(Resigned with sadness gently weighing down
Her trembling expectations, but no more
Than did to her due honour, and to me
Yielded, that day, a confidence sublime
In what I had to build upon)- this Bride,
Young, modest, meek, and beautiful, I led
To a low Cottage in a sunny Bay,
Where the salt sea innocuously breaks,
And the sea breeze as innocently breathes,
On Devon's leafy shores;-a sheltered Hold,
In a soft clime encouraging the soil
To a luxuriant bounty!-As our steps
Approach the embowered Abode-our chosen Seat-
See, rooted in the earth, her kindly bed,
The unendangered Myrtle, decked with flowers,
Before the threshold stands to welcome us!
While, in the flowering Myrtle's neighbourhood,
Not overlooked, but courting no regard,
Those native plants, the Holly and the Yew,
Gave modest intimation to the mind
How willingly their aid they would unite
With the green Myrtle, to endear the hours
Of winter, and protect that pleasant place.
-Wild were the Walks upon those lonely Downs,
Track leading into Track, how marked, how worn
Into bright werdure, between fern and gorse
Winding away its never-ending line

On their smooth surface, evidence was none:
But, there, lay open to our daily haunt,

A range of unappropriated earth,

Where youth's ambitious feet might move at large; Whence, unmolested Wanderers, we beheld

The shining Giver of the Day diffuse

His brightness, o'er a tract of sea and land
Gay as our spirits, free as our desires,

As our enjoyments boundless.-From those lleights
We dropped, at pleasure, into sylvan Combs;
Where arbours of impenetrable shade,
And mossy seats, detained us side by side,
With hearts at ease, and knowledge in our hearts
'That all the grove and all the day was ours.'

<< But Nature called my Partner to resign Her share in the pure freedom of that life, Enjoyed by us in common.—To my hope, To my heart's wish, my tender Mate became The thankful captive of maternal bouds; And those wild paths were left to me alone. There could I meditate on follies past; And, like a weary Voyager escaped

From risk and hardship, inwardly retrace
A course of vain delights and thoughtless guilt,
And self-indulgence-without shame pursued.
There, undisturbed, could think of, and could thank
Her-whose submissive spirit was to me

Rule and restraint—my Guardian-shall I say
That earthly Providence, whose guiding love
Within a port of rest had lodged me safe;
Safe from temptation, and from danger far!
Strains followed of acknowledgment addressed
To an Authority enthroned above

The reach of sight; from whom, as from their source,
Proceed all visible ministers of good

That walk the earth-Father of heaven and earth,
Father, and King, and Judge, adored and feared!
These acts of mind, and memory, and heart,
And spirit,-interrupted and relieved
By observations transient as the glance
Of flying sunbeams, or to the outward form
Cleaving with power inherent and intense,
As the mute insect fixed upon the plant

On whose soft leaves it hangs, and from whose cup
Draws imperceptibly its nourishment,-
Endeared my wanderings; and the Mother's kiss,
And Infant's smile, awaited my return.

<< In privacy we dwelt-a wedded pair-
Companions daily, often all day long;
Not placed by fortune within easy reach
Of various intercourse, nor wishing aught
Beyond the allowance of our own fire-side,
The Twain within our happy cottage born,
Inmates, and heirs of our united love;
Graced mutually by difference of sex,
By the endearing names of nature bound,
And with no wider interval of time

Between their several births than served for One
To establish something of a leader's sway;
Yet left them joined by sympathy in age;
Equals in pleasure, fellows in pursuit.
Ou these two pillars rested as in air
Our solitude.

It soothes me to perceive,

Your courtesy withholds not from my words
Attentive audience. But, oh! gentle Friends,
As times of quiet and unbroken peace
Though, for a Nation, times of blessedness,
Give back faint echoes from the Historian's page;
So, in the imperfect sounds of this discourse,
Depressed I hear, how faithless is the voice
Which those most blissful days reverberate.
What special record can, or need, be given
To rules and habits, whereby much was done,
But all within the sphere of little things,
Of humble, though, to us, important cares,
And precious interests? Smoothly did our life
Advance, not swerving from the path prescribed;
Her annual, her diurnal round alike
Maintained with faithful care. And you divine
The worst effects that our condition saw
If you imagine changes slowly wrought,
And in their progress imperceptible;
Not wished for, sometimes noticed with a sigh
(Whate'er of good or lovely they might bring),
Sighs of
regret, for the familiar good,

And loveliness endeared-which they removed.

« Seven years of occupation undisturbed Established seemingly a right to hold That happiness; and use and habit gave To what an alien spirit had acquired

A patrimonial sanctity. And thus,

With thoughts and wishes bounded to this world,
I lived and breathed; most grateful, if to enjoy
Without repining or desire for more,

For different lot, or change to higher sphere,
(Only except some impulses of pride
With no determined object, though upheld
By theories with suitable support)

Most grateful, if in such wise to enjoy
Be proof of gratitude for what we have;
Else, I allow, most thankless.-But, at once,
From some dark seat of fatal Power was urged
A claim that shattered all.-Our blooming Girl,
Caught in the gripe of Death, with such brief time
To struggle in as scarcely would allow
Her cheek to change its colour, was conveyed
From us, to regions inaccessible;
Where height, or depth, admits not the approach
Of living Man, though longing to pursue.
-With even as brief a warning-and how soon,
With what short interval of time between,
I tremble yet to think of-our last prop,
Our happy life's only remaining stay-
The Brother followed; and was seen no more!

<< Calm as a frozen Lake when ruthless Winds
Blow fiercely, agitating earth and sky,
The Mother now remained; as if in her,
Who, to the lowest region of the soul,
Had been erewhile unsettled and disturbed,
This second visitation had no power
To shake; but only to bind up and seal;
And to establish thankfulness of heart
In Heaven's determinations, ever just.
The eminence on which her spirit stood,
Mine was unable to attain. Immense
The space that severed us! But, as the sight
Communicates with Heaven's ethereal orbs
Incalculably distant; so, I felt

That consolation may descend from far;
(And, that is intercourse, and union, too,)
While, overcome with speechless gratitude,
And, with a holier love inspired, I looked
On her at once superior to my woes
And Partner of my loss.-O heavy change!
Dimness o'er this clear Luminary crept
Insensibly the immortal and divine
Yielded to mortal reflux; her pure Glory,
As from the pinnacle of worldly state
Wretched Ambition drops astounded, fell
Into a gulf obscure of silent grief,
And keen heart-anguish—of itself ashamed,
Yet obstinately cherishing itself:

And, so consumed, She melted from my arms;
And left me, on this earth, disconsolate.

«What followed cannot be reviewed in thought; Much less, retraced in words. If She, of life Blameless; so intimate with love and joy, And all the tender motions of the Soul, Had been supplanted, could I hope to standInfirm, dependent, and now destitute?

<< From that abstraction I was roused,—and how? Even as a thoughtful Shepherd by a flash Of lightning startled in a gloomy cave

Of these wild hills. For lo! the dread Bastile,
With all the chambers in its horrid Towers,
Fell to the ground :—by violence o'erthrown
Of indignation; and with shouts that drowned
The crash it made in falling! From the wreck
A golden Palace rose, or seemed to rise,
The appointed Seat of equitable Law
And mild paternal Sway. The potent shock
I felt the transformation I perceived,
As marvellously seized as in that moment
When, from the blind mist issuing, I beheld
Glory-beyond all glory ever seen,
Confusion infinite of heaven and earth,
Dazzling the soul! Meanwhile, prophetic harps
In every grove were ringing, 'War shall cease;
Did ye not hear that conquest is abjured?
Bring garlands, bring forth choicest flowers, to deck
The Tree of Liberty.'-My heart rebounded;
My melancholy Voice the chorus joined ;

¦ — Be joyful all ye Nations! in all Lands,
Ye that are capable of Joy be glad!
Henceforth, whate'er is wanting to yourselves
In others ye shall promptly find;—and all
Be rich by mutual and reflected wealth.'

Thus was I reconverted to the world;
Society became my glittering Bride,
And airy hopes my Children.--From the depths
Of natural passion, seemingly escaped,
My soul diffused herself in wide embrace
Of institutions, and the forms of things;
As they exist, in mutable array,

Upon life's surface. What, though in my veins
There flowed no Gallic blood, nor had I breathed
The air of France, not less than Gallic zeal
Kindled and burnt among the sapless twigs
Of my exhausted heart. If busy Men
In sober conclave met, to weave a web
Of amity, whose living threads should stretch
Beyond the seas, and to the farthest pole,
There did I sit, assisting. If, with noise
And acclamation, crowds in open air

Expressed the tumult of their minds, my voice
There mingled, heard or not.
The powers of

song

I left not uninvoked; and, in still groves,
Where mild Enthusiasts tuned a pensive lay
Of thanks and expectation, in accord
With their belief, I sang Saturnian Rule
Returned,-a progeny of golden years
Permitted to descend, and bless mankind.
-With promises the Hebrew Scriptures teem:
I felt the invitation; and resumed

A long-suspended office in the House
Of public worship, where, the glowing phrase
Of ancient inspiration serving me,

I promised also,-with undaunted trust
Foretold, and added prayer to prophecy;
The admiration winning of the crowd;
The help desiring of the pure devout.

« Scorn and contempt forbid me to proceed! But History, Time's slavish Scribe, will tell How rapidly the Zealots of the cause Disbanded-or in hostile ranks appeared; Some, tired of honest service; these, outdone, Disgusted, therefore, or appalled, by aims of fiercer Zealots-so Confusion reigned, And the more faithful were compelled to exclaim, As Brutus did to Virtue, 'Liberty,

I worshipped Thee, and find thee but a Shade!'

« Such recantation had for me no charm,
Nor would I bend to it; who should have grieved
At aught, however fair, that bore the mien
Of a conclusion, or catastrophe.
Why then conceal, that, when the simply good
In timid selfishness withdrew, I sought
Other support, not scrupulous whence it came,
And, by what compromise it stood, not nice?
Enough if notions seemed to be high-pitched,
And qualities determined.-Among men
So charactered did I maintain a strife
Hopeless, and still more hopeless every hour;
But, in the process, I began to feel
That, if the emancipation of the world
Were missed, I should at least secure my own,
And be in part compensated. For rights,
Widely-inveterately usurped upon,

I spake with vehemence; and promptly seized
Whate'er Abstraction furnished for my needs
Or purposes; nor scrupled to proclaim,
And propagate, by liberty of life,
Those new persuasions. Not that I rejoiced,
Or even found pleasure, in such vagrant course,
For its own sake; but farthest from the walk
Which I had trod in happiness and peace,
Was most inviting to a troubled mind;
That, in a struggling and distempered world,
Saw a seductive image of herself.

Yet, mark the contradictions of which Mau

Is still the sport! Here Nature was my guide,
The Nature of the dissolute; but Thee,
O fostering Nature! I rejected-smiled

At others' tears in pity; and in scorn

At those, which thy soft influence sometimes drew From my unguarded heart.-The tranquil shores Of Britain circumscribed me; else, perhaps,

I might have been entangled among deeds,

Which, now, as infamous, I should abhor-
Despise, as senseless for my spirit relished
Strangely the exasperation of that Land,
Which turned an angry beak against the down
Of her own breast; confounded into hope
Of disencumbering thus her fretful wings.
-But all was quieted by iron bonds
Of military sway. The shifting aims,

The moral interests, the creative might,
The varied functions and high attributes
Of civil Action, yielded to a Power
Formal, and odious, and contemptible.
-In Britain, ruled a panic dread of change;
"The weak were praised, rewarded, and advanced;
And, from the impulse of a just disdain,
Once more did I retire into myself.
There feeling no contentment, I resolved
To fly, for safeguard, to some foreign shore,
Remote from Europe; from her blasted hopes;
Her fields of carnage, and polluted air.

2

« Fresh blew the wind, when o'er the Atlantic Main
The Ship went gliding with her thoughtless crew;
And who among them but an Exile, freed
From discontent, indifferent, pleased to sit
Among the busily employed, not more
With obligation charged, with service taxed,
Than the loose pendant-to the idle wind
Upon the tall mast, streaming:-but, ye powers
Of soul and sense-mysteriously allied,
O, never let the Wretched, if a choice
Be left him, trust the freight of his distress
To a long voyage on the silent deep!

For, like a Plague, will Memory break out;
And, in the blank and solitude of things,
Upon his Spirit, with a fever's strength,
Will Conscience prey.-Feebly must They have felt
Who, in old time, attired with snakes and whips
The vengeful Furies. Beautiful regards
Were turned on me-the face of her I loved;
The Wife and Mother, pitifully fixing
Tender reproaches, insupportable!
Where now that boasted liberty? No welcome
From unknown Objects I received; and those,
Known and familiar, which the vaulted sky
Did, in the placid clearness of the night,
Disclose, had accusations to prefer
Against my peace. Within the cabin stood
That Volume-as a compass for the soul-
Revered among the Nations. I implored
Its guidance; but the infallible support
Of faith was wanting. Tell me, why refused
To One by storms annoyed and adverse winds;
Perplexed with currents; of his weakness sick;
Of vain endeavours tired; and by his own,
And by his Nature's, ignorance, dismayed!

Some boundary, which his Followers may not cross
In prosecution of their deadly chase,
Respiring I looked round.-How bright the Sun,
How promising the Breeze! Can aught produced
In the old World compare, thought I, for power
And majesty with this gigantic Stream,
Sprung from the Desert? And behold a City
Fresh, youthful, and aspiring! What are these
To me, or I to them? As much at least
As He desires that they should be, whom winds
And waves have wafted to this distant shore,
In the condition of a damaged seed,
Whose fibres cannot, if they would, take root.
Here may I roam at large;-my business is,
Roaming at large, to observe, and not to feel;
And, therefore, not to act-convinced that all
Which bears the name of action, howsoe'er
Beginning, ends in servitude-still painful,
And mostly profitless. And, sooth to say,
On nearer view, a motley spectacle
Appeared, of high pretensions-unreproved
But by the obstreperous voice of higher still;
Big Passions strutting on a petty stage;
Which a detached Spectator may regard
Not unamused.-But ridicule demands
Quick change of objects; and, to laugh alone,
At a composing distance from the haunts
Of strife and folly,-though it be a treat
As choice as musing Leisure can bestow;
Yet in the very centre of the crowd,
To keep the secret of a poignant scorn,
Howe'er to airy Demons suitable,

Of all unsocial courses, is least fit
For the gross spirit of Mankind,-the one
That soonest fails to please, and quickliest turns
Into vexation.Let us, then, I said,
Leave this unknit Republic to the scourge

Of her own passions; and to Regions haste,
Whose shades have never felt the encroaching are,
Or soil endured a transfer in the mart

Of dire rapacity. There, Man abides,
Primeval Nature's Child. A Creature weak
In combination (wherefore else driven back
So far, and of his old inheritance
So easily deprived?) but, for that cause,
More dignified, and stronger in himself;
Whether to act, judge, suffer, or enjoy.
True, the Intelligence of social Art
Hath overpowered his Forefathers, and soon
Will
sweep the remnant of his line away;
But contemplations, worthier, nobler far
Than her destructive energies, attend
His Independence, when along the side
Of Mississippi, or that Northern Stream
That spreads into successive seas, he walks;
Pleased to perceive his own unshackled life,
And his innate capacities of soul,

There imaged: or, when having gained the top
Of some commanding Eminence, which yet
Intruder ne'er beheld, he thence surveys
Regions of wood and wide Savannah, vast
Expanse of unappropriated earth,

With mind that sheds a light on what he sees;
Free as the Sun, and lonely as the Sun,
Pouring above his head its radiance down
Upon a living, and rejoicing World!

« So, westward, tow'rd the unviolated Woods
I beat my way; and, roaming far and wide,
Failed not to greet the merry Mocking-bird;
And, while the melancholy Muccawiss
(The sportive Bird's companion in the Grove)
Repeated, o'er and o'er, his plaintive cry,
I sympathized at leisure with the sound;
But that pure Archetype of human greatness,
I found him not. There, in his stead, appeared
A Creature, squalid, vengeful, and impure;
Remorseless, and submissive to no law
But superstitious fear, and abject sloth.
-Enough is told! Here am I-Ye have heard
What evidence I seek, and vainly seek;
What from my Fellow-beings I require,
And cannot find; what I myself have lost,
Nor can regain; how languidly I look
Upon this visible fabric of the World,
May be divined-perhaps it hath been said :-
But spare your pity, if there be in me
Aught that deserves respect: for I exist-
Within myself-not comfortless.-The tenour
Which my life holds, he readily may conceive
Whoe'er hath stood to watch a mountain Brook
In some still passage of its course, and seen,
Within the depths of its capacious breast,
Inverted trees, and rocks, and azure sky;
And, on its glassy surface, specks of foam,
And conglobated bubbles undissolved,
Numerous as stars; that, by their onward lapse,
Betray to sight the motion of the stream,
Else imperceptible; meanwhile, is heard
A softened roar, a murmur; and the sound
Though soothing, and the little floating isles
Though beautiful, are both by Nature charged
With the same pensive office; and make known
Through what perplexing labyrinths, abrupt
Precipitations, and untoward straits,

The earth-born Wanderer hath passed; and quickly,
That respite o'er, like traverses and toils
Must be again encountered.-Such a stream
Is human Life; and so the spirit fares
In the best quiet to its course allowed;
And such is mine,-save only for a hope
That my particular current soon will reach
The unfathomable gulf, where all is still!»

BOOK IV.

ARGUMENT.

Knowledge the source of tranquillity-Rural Solitude favourable to knowledge of the inferior Creatures-Study of their habits and ways recommended-Exhortation to bodily exertion and Communion with Nature-Morbid Solitude pitiable-Superstition better than apathy-Apathy and destitution unknown in the infancy of society-The various modes of Religion prevented it-illustrated in the Jewish, Persian, Babylonian, Chaldean, and Grecian modes of belief -Solitary interposes Wanderer points out the influence of religious and imaginative feeling in the humble ranks of society-Illustrated from present and past times-These principles tend to recall exploded superstitions and popery-Wanderer rebuts this charge, and contrasts the dignities of the Imagination with the presumptive littleness of certain modern Philosophers-Recommends other lights and guides Asserts the power of the Soul to regenerate herself Solitary asks how-Reply-Personal appeal -Happy that the imagination and the affections mitigate the evils of that intellectual slavery which the calculating understanding is apt to produce-Exhortation to activity of body renewed-How to commune with Nature-Wanderer concludes with a legitimate union of the imagination, affections, understanding, and reason-Effect of his discourse-Evening-Return to the Cottage.

--

DESPONDENCY CORRECTED.

HERE closed the Tenant of that lonely vale
His mournful Narrative-commenced in pain,
In pain commenced, and ended without peace:
Yet tempered, not unfrequently, with strains
Of native feeling, grateful to our minds;
And doubtless yielding some relief to his,
While we sate listening with compassion due
Such pity yet surviving, with firm voice,

That did not falter, though the heart was moved,
The Wanderer said-

« One adequate support For the calamities of mortal life Exists, one only;-an assured belief That the procession of our fate, howe'er Sad or disturb'd, is order'd by a Being Of infinite benevolence and power, Whose everlasting purposes embrace All accidents, converting them to good. -The darts of anguish fix not where the seat Of suffering hath been thoroughly fortified By acquiescence in the Will Supreme For Time and for Eternity; by faith, Faith absolute in God, including hope, And the defence that lies in boundless love Of his perfections; with habitual dread Of aught unworthily conceived, endured Impatiently; ill-done, or left undone, To the dishonour of his holy Name. Soul of our Souls, and safeguard of the world! Sustain, Thou only canst, the sick of heart; Restore their languid spirits, and recall Their lost affections unto Thee and thine!>>