Chapter VII: Conclusion (1)

Why sleeps the future, as a snake enrolled,
Coil within coil, at noon-tide? For the WORD
Yields, if with unpresumptuous faith explored,
Power at whose touch the sluggard shall unfold
His drowsy rings. Look forth!--that Stream behold,
THAT STREAM upon whose bosom we have passed 6
Floating at ease while nations have effaced
Nations, and Death has gathered to his fold
Long lines of mighty Kings--look forth, my Soul!
(Nor in this[339] vision be thou slow to trust) 10
The living Waters, less and less by guilt
Stained and polluted, brighten as they roll,
Till they have reached the eternal City--built
For the perfected Spirits of the just!

FOOTNOTES:

[339] 1827.

... that ... 1822.

TO THE LADY FLEMING,[340]

ON SEEING THE FOUNDATION PREPARING FOR THE ERECTION OF RYDAL CHAPEL,[341] WESTMORELAND

Composed 1822.--Published 1827

[After thanking Lady Fleming in prose for the service she had done to her neighbourhood by erecting this Chapel, I have nothing to say beyond the expression of regret that the architect did not furnish an elevation better suited to the site in a narrow mountain-pass, and, what is of more consequence, better constructed in the interior for the purposes of worship. It has no chancel; the altar is unbecomingly confined; the pews are so narrow as to preclude the possibility of kneeling with comfort; there is no vestry; and what ought to have been first mentioned, the font, instead of standing at its proper place at the entrance, is thrust into the farther end of a pew. When these defects shall be pointed out to the munificent Patroness, they will, it is hoped, be corrected.--I. F.[342]]

One of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection," from the edition of 1827 to that of 1843; but transferred, in 1845, to the "Miscellaneous Poems." From 1827 to 1836 the title was "To the Lady ----, on seeing the foundation preparing for the erection of ---- Chapel, Westmoreland."--ED.

I

Blest is this Isle--our native Land;
Where battlement and moated gate
Are objects only for the hand
Of hoary Time to decorate;
Where shady hamlet, town that breathes 5
Its busy smoke in social wreaths,
No rampart's stern defence require,
Nought but the heaven-directed spire,
And[343] steeple tower (with pealing bells
Far-heard)--our only citadels. 10

II

O Lady! from a noble line
Of chieftains sprung,[344] who stoutly bore
The spear, yet gave to works divine
A bounteous help in days of yore,
(As records mouldering in the Dell 15
Of Nightshade[345] haply yet may tell;)
Thee kindred aspirations moved
To build, within a vale beloved,
For Him upon whose high behests
All peace depends, all safety rests. 20

III[346]

How fondly will the woods embrace
This daughter of thy pious care,
Lifting her[347] front with modest grace
To make a fair recess more fair;
And to exalt the passing hour; 25
Or soothe it with a healing power
Drawn from the Sacrifice fulfilled,
Before this rugged soil was tilled,
Or human habitation rose
To interrupt the deep repose![348] 30

IV

Well may the villagers rejoice!
Nor heat, nor cold, nor weary ways,
Will be[349] a hindrance to the voice
That would unite in prayer and praise;
More duly shall wild wandering Youth 35
Receive the curb of sacred truth,
Shall tottering Age, bent earthward, hear
The Promise, with uplifted ear;[350]
And all shall welcome the new ray
Imparted to their sabbath-day. 40

V

Nor deem the Poet's hope misplaced,
His fancy cheated--that can see
A shade upon the future cast,
Of time's pathetic sanctity;
Can hear the monitory clock 45
Sound o'er the lake with gentle shock[351]
At evening,[352] when the ground beneath
Is ruffled o'er with cells of death;
Where happy generations lie,
Here tutored for eternity. 50

VI

Lives there a man whose sole delights
Are trivial pomp and city noise,
Hardening a heart that loathes or slights
What every natural heart enjoys?
Who never caught a noon-tide dream 55
From murmur of a running stream;
Could strip, for aught the prospect yields
To him, their verdure from the fields;
And take the radiance from the clouds
In which the sun his setting shrouds.[353] 60

VII

A soul so pitiably forlorn,
If such do on this earth abide,
May season apathy with scorn,
May turn indifference to pride;
And still be not unblest--compared 65
With him who grovels, self-debarred[354]
From all that lies within the scope
Of holy faith and christian hope;
Or, shipwreck'd, kindles on the coast
False fires, that others may be lost.[355] 70

VIII

Alas! that such perverted zeal
Should spread on Britain's favoured ground![356]
That public order, private weal,
Should e'er have felt or feared a wound
From champions of the desperate law 75
Which from their own blind hearts they draw;[357]
Who tempt their reason to deny
God, whom their passions dare defy,[358]
And boast that they alone are free
Who reach this dire extremity! 80

IX

But turn we from these "bold bad" men;[359]
The way, mild Lady! that hath led
Down to their "dark opprobrious den,"[360]
Is all too rough for Thee to tread.
Softly as morning vapours glide 85
Down Rydal-cove from Fairfield's side,[361]
Should move the tenor of _his_ song
Who means to charity no wrong;
Whose offering gladly would accord
With this day's work, in thought and word. 90

X

Heaven prosper it! may peace, and love,
And hope, and consolation, fall,
Through its meek influence, from above,
And penetrate the hearts of all;
All who, around the hallowed Fane, 95
Shall sojourn in this fair domain;
Grateful to Thee, while service pure,
And ancient ordinance, shall endure,
For opportunity bestowed
To kneel together, and adore their God![362] 100

FOOTNOTES:

[340] 1840.

To the Lady ---- ... 1827.

[341] 1840.

Of ---- Chapel ... 1827.

[342] Rydal Chapel remained in the state mentioned in the Fenwick note till the year 1884.--ED.

[343] 1827.

Or ... MS. sent to Lady Beaumont.

[344] The Fleming family is descended from Sir Michael le Fleming, a relative of Baldwin, Earl of Flanders, brother-in-law to William the Conqueror. This Sir Michael le Fleming, who came over with the Conqueror, was sent into Cumberland against the Scots, and was rewarded for his services by the gift of several manors in _Copeland_, Cumberland.--ED.

[345] Bekangs Ghyll--or the dell of Nightshade--in which stands St. Mary's Abbey in Low Furness.--W. W. 1827.

[346] In the edition of 1827, stanzas iii. and iv. are numbered iv. and iii. respectively.--ED.

[347] 1832.

Even Strangers, slackening here their pace,
Shall hail this work of pious care,
Lifting its ... 1827.

[348] Compare _Glen-Almain_ (vol. ii. p. 394)--

A convent, even a hermit's cell,
Would break the silence of this Dell.--ED.

[349] 1827.

Nor storms henceforth, nor weary ways,
Shall be ...

MS. sent to Lord Lonsdale.

[350] 1827.

The Aged shall be free to hear
The Promise, caught with steadfast ear.

MS. sent to Lord Lonsdale.

[351] 1832.

Not yet the corner stone is laid
With solemn rite; but Fancy sees
The tower time-stricken, and in shade
Embosomed of coeval trees;
Hears, o'er the lake, the warning clock
As it shall sound with gentle shock 1827.

[352] Compare the last stanza of _The Wishing Gate_.--ED.

[353] Compare the _Ode, Intimations of Immortality_, stanza xi.--ED.

[354] 1827.

With one who fosters disregard

MS. sent to Lady Beaumont.

[355] 1827.

Yea, strives for others to bedim
The glorious Light too pure for him. 1832.

The text of 1845 returns to that of 1827.

[356] 1827.

... happy ground.

MS. to Lady Beaumont.

[357] 1827.

From Scoffers leagued in desperate plot
To make their own the general lot;

MS. to Lady Beaumont.

[358] 1827.

... do defy,

MS. to Lady Beaumont.

[359] See _The Faërie Queene_, book I. canto i. stanza 37. Also Shakespeare's _Henry VIII._, act II. scene ii. l. 44.--ED.

[360] See _Paradise Lost_, book ii. l. 58.--ED.

[361] 1832.

Through Rydal Cove from Fairfield's side,

MS. to Lady Beaumont.

Through Mosedale-Cove from Carrock's side, 1827.

[362] Dorothy Wordsworth wrote to Henry Crabb Robinson (December 21, 1822), "William has just written a poem upon the Foundation of a Church, which Lady Fleming is about to erect at Rydal. It is about 80 lines. I like it much." This letter was obviously written before the poem reached its final form.--ED.

ON THE SAME OCCASION

Composed 1822.--Published 1827

One of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection" from the edition of 1827 to that of 1843. In 1835 transferred to the "Miscellaneous Poems."--ED.

Oh! gather whencesoe'er ye safely may
The help which slackening Piety requires;
Nor deem that he perforce must go astray
Who treads upon the footmarks of his sires.

Our churches, invariably perhaps, stand east and west, but _why_ is by few persons _exactly_ known; nor, that the degree of deviation from _due_ east often noticeable in the ancient ones was determined, in each particular case, by the point in the horizon, at which the sun rose upon the day of the saint to whom the church was dedicated.[363] These observances of our ancestors, and the causes of them, are the subject of the following stanzas.

When in the antique age of bow and spear
And feudal rapine clothed with iron mail,
Came ministers of peace, intent to rear
The Mother Church in yon sequestered vale;[364]

Then, to her Patron Saint a previous rite 5
Resounded with deep swell and solemn close,
Through unremitting vigils of the night,
Till from his couch the wished-for Sun uprose.

He rose, and straight--as by divine command,
They, who had waited for that sign to trace 10
Their work's foundation, gave with careful hand
To the high altar its determined place;

Mindful of Him who in the Orient born
There lived, and on the cross his life resigned,
And who, from out the regions of the morn, 15
Issuing in pomp, shall come to judge mankind.

So taught _their_ creed;--nor failed the eastern sky,
'Mid these more awful feelings, to infuse
The sweet and natural hopes that shall not die,
Long as the sun his gladsome course renews. 20

For us hath such prelusive vigil ceased;
Yet still we plant, like men of elder days,
Our christian altar faithful to the east,
Whence the tall window drinks the morning rays;

That obvious emblem giving to the eye 25
Of meek devotion, which erewhile it gave,
That symbol of the day-spring from on high,
Triumphant o'er the darkness of the grave.[365]

FOOTNOTES:

[363] St. Oswald's Day is the 8th of August in the Calendar.--ED.

[364] Doubtless Grasmere Church (itself originally a chapelry under Kendal), the advowson of which was sold in 1573 to the Le Flemings of Rydal. The date of the foundation is prehistoric. There is a thirteenth century window in it, but the tower is older. The church is dedicated to St. Oswald, King of Northumbria.--ED.

[365] Compare _Ode, Intimations of Immortality_, l. 117--

In darkness lost, the darkness of the grave.--ED.

1823

Only one poem and two sonnets were written in 1823.--ED.

MEMORY

Composed 1823.--Published 1827

One of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection." See the Fenwick note to the lines _Written in a Blank Leaf of Macpherson's Ossian_ (p. 373 of this volume), where Wordsworth says that the poem was "suggested from apprehensions of the fate of his friend, H. C." (Hartley Coleridge).--ED.

A pen--to register; a key--
That winds through secret wards;
Are well assigned to Memory
By allegoric Bards.

As aptly, also, might be given 5
A Pencil to her hand;
That, softening objects, sometimes even
Outstrips the heart's demand;

That smooths foregone distress, the lines
Of lingering care subdues, 10
Long-vanished happiness refines,
And clothes in brighter hues;

Yet, like a tool of Fancy, works
Those Spectres to dilate
That startle Conscience, as she lurks 15
Within her lonely seat.

O! that our lives, which flee so fast,
In purity were such,
That not an image of the past
Should fear that pencil's touch! 20

Retirement then might hourly look
Upon a soothing scene,
Age steal to his allotted nook
Contented and serene;

With heart as calm as lakes that sleep, 25
In frosty moonlight glistening;
Or mountain rivers, where they creep
Along a channel smooth and deep,
To their own far-off murmurs listening.

"NOT LOVE, NOT WAR, NOR THE TUMULTUOUS SWELL"

Composed 1823.--Published 1827

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

Not Love, not[366] War, nor the tumultuous swell
Of civil conflict, nor the wrecks of change,
Nor[367] Duty struggling with afflictions strange--
Not these _alone_ inspire the tuneful shell;
But where untroubled peace and concord dwell, 5
There also is the Muse not loth to range,
Watching the twilight smoke of cot or grange,[368]
Skyward ascending from a woody dell.[369][370]
Meek aspirations please her, lone endeavour,
And sage content, and placid melancholy; 10
She loves to gaze upon a crystal river--
Diaphanous because it travels slowly;[371]
Soft is the music that would charm for ever;[372]
The flower of sweetest smell is shy and lowly.

FOOTNOTES:

[366] 1832.

... nor ... 1823.

[367] 1827.

And ... 1823.[373]

[368] 1837.

Watching the blue smoke of the elmy grange, 1823.

[369] 1837.

... from the twilight dell, 1823.

[370] Compare _Tintern Abbey_, II. 17, 18.--ED.

[371] _e. g._ The Rothay, or the Duddon.--ED.

[372] 1827.

... please for ever, 1823.

[373] See the same reading in _The Poetical Album_, 1829, vol. i. p. 43, edited by Alaric Watts.--ED.

"A VOLANT TRIBE OF BARDS ON EARTH ARE FOUND"

Composed 1823.--Published 1827

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

A volant Tribe of Bards on earth are found,
Who, while the flattering Zephyrs round them play,
On "coignes of vantage"[374] hang their nests of clay;
How quickly from that aery hold unbound,
Dust for oblivion! To the solid ground 5
Of nature trusts the Mind that builds for aye;
Convinced that there, there only, she can lay
Secure foundations. As the year runs round,
Apart she toils within the chosen ring;
While the stars shine,[375] or while day's purple eye 10
Is gently closing with the flowers of spring;
Where even the motion of an Angel's wing
Would interrupt the intense tranquillity
Of silent hills, and more than silent sky.[376]

FOOTNOTES:

[374] _Macbeth_, act I. scene vi. l. 7.--ED.

[375] 1827.

... nests of clay,
Work cunningly devised, and seeming sound;
But quickly from its airy hold unbound
By its own weight, or washed, or blown away
With silent imperceptible decay.
If man must build, admit him to thy ground,
O Truth! to work within the eternal ring,
Where the stars shine, ... 1823.

[376] Compare Alexander Hume's _Day's Estival_ (1599). This and the preceding sonnet were first published in 1823 in _A Collection of Poems, chiefly manuscript, and from living authors, edited for the benefit of a Friend_, by Joanna Baillie. The collection includes Sir Walter Scott's _Macduff's Cross_, and Southey's _The Cataract of Lodore_.--ED.

1824

The poems written in 1824 were few. They include two addressed to Mrs. Wordsworth, two or three composed at Coleorton, and a couple of memorial sonnets suggested during a tour in North Wales.--ED.

TO ----

Composed 1824.--Published 1827

[Written at Rydal Mount. On Mrs. Wordsworth.--I.F.]

One of the "Poems founded on the Affections."--ED.

Let other bards of angels sing,
Bright suns without a spot;
But thou art no such perfect thing:
Rejoice that thou art not!
[377]

Heed not tho' none should call thee fair;[378] 5
So, Mary, let it be
If nought in loveliness compare
With what thou art to me.

True beauty dwells in deep retreats,
Whose veil is unremoved 10
Till heart with heart in concord beats,
And the lover is beloved.

FOOTNOTES:

[377]

Such if thou wert in all men's view,
A universal show,
What would my Fancy have to do,
My Feelings to bestow?

A second (additional) stanza in the editions of 1827-43.

[378] 1832.

The world denies that Thou art fair; 1827.

TO ----

Composed 1824.--Published 1827

[Written at Rydal Mount. To Mrs. W.--I. F.]

One of the "Poems founded on the Affections."--ED.

O dearer far than light and life are dear,
Full oft our human foresight I deplore;
Trembling, through my unworthiness, with fear
That friends, by death disjoined, may meet no more!

Misgivings, hard to vanquish or control, 5
Mix with the day, and cross the hour of rest;
While all the future, for thy purer soul,
With "sober certainties" of love is blest.[379]

That sigh of thine,[380] not meant for human ear,
Tells[381] that these words thy humbleness offend; 10
Yet bear me up[382]--else faltering in the rear
Of a steep march: support[383] me to the end.

Peace settles where the intellect is meek,
And Love is dutiful in thought and deed;
Through Thee communion with that Love I seek: 15
The faith Heaven strengthens where _he_ moulds the Creed.

FOOTNOTES:

[379] See _Comus_, l. 263.--ED.

[380] 1836.

If a faint sigh, ... 1827.

[381] 1836.

Tell ... 1827.

[382] 1836.

Cherish me still-- ... 1827.

[383] 1836.

... uphold ... 1827.

"HOW RICH THAT FOREHEAD'S CALM EXPANSE!"

Composed 1824.--Published 1827

[Written at Rydal Mount. Mrs. Wordsworth's impression is that the Poem was written at Coleorton: it was certainly suggested by a Print at Coleorton Hall.--I. F.]

One of the "Poems founded on the Affections."--ED.

How rich that forehead's calm expanse!
How bright that heaven-directed glance!
--Waft her to glory, wingèd Powers,
Ere sorrow be renewed,
And intercourse with mortal hours 5
Bring back a humbler mood!
So looked Cecilia when she drew
An Angel from his station;[384]
So looked; not ceasing to pursue
Her tuneful adoration! 10

But hand and voice alike are still;
No sound _here_ sweeps away the will
That gave it birth: in service meek
One upright arm sustains the cheek,
And one across the bosom lies-- 15
That rose, and now forgets to rise,
Subdued by breathless harmonies
Of meditative feeling;
Mute strains from worlds beyond the skies,
Through the pure light of female eyes, 20
Their sanctity revealing!

FOOTNOTES:

[384] Compare Dryden's _Alexander's Feast_, an Ode in honour of St. Cecilia's Day--

_Timotheus._ He raised a mortal to the skies.

_Cecilia._ She drew an angel down.--ED.

TO ----

Composed 1824.--Published 1827

[Written at Rydal Mount. Prompted by the undue importance attached to personal beauty by some dear friends of mine.--I. F.]

One of the "Poems founded on the Affections."--ED.

Look at the fate of summer flowers,
Which blow at daybreak, droop ere even-song;[385]
And, grieved for their brief date, confess that ours,
Measured by what we are and ought to be,
Measured by all that, trembling, we foresee, 5
Is not so long!

If human Life do pass away,
Perishing yet more swiftly than the flower,
If we are creatures of a _winter's_ day;[386]
What space hath Virgin's beauty to disclose 10
Her sweets, and triumph o'er the breathing rose?
Not even an hour!

The deepest grove whose foliage hid
The happiest lovers Arcady might boast
Could not the entrance of this thought forbid: 15
O be thou wise as they, soul-gifted Maid!
Nor rate too high what must so quickly fade,
So soon be lost.

Then shall love teach some virtuous Youth
"To draw, out of the object of his eyes,"[387] 20
The while[388] on thee they gaze in simple truth,
Hues more exalted, "a refinèd Form,"
That dreads not age, nor suffers from the worm,
And never dies.

FOOTNOTES:

[385] Compare Robert Herrick's poem _To Daffodils_--

Fair daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon;
As yet the early rising sun
Has not attain'd his noon.
Stay, stay,
Until the hasting day
Has run
But to the even-song, etc.

See also his poem _To Blossoms_.--ED.

[386] 1836.

Whose frail existence is but of a day; 1827.

[387] Compare Lyly's _Endymion_, v. 3--

To have him in the object of mine eyes.--ED.

[388] 1836.

The whilst ... 1827.

A FLOWER GARDEN,

AT COLEORTON HALL, LEICESTERSHIRE[389]

Composed 1824.--Published 1827

[Planned by my friend, Lady Beaumont, in connection with the garden at Coleorton.--I. F.]

One of the "Poems of the Fancy."--ED.

Tell me, ye Zephyrs! that unfold,
While fluttering o'er this gay Recess,[390]
Pinions that fanned the teeming mould
Of Eden's blissful wilderness,
Did only softly-stealing hours 5
There close the peaceful lives of flowers?

Say, when the _moving_ creatures saw
All kinds commingled without fear,
Prevailed a like indulgent law
For the still growths that prosper here? 10
Did wanton fawn and kid forbear
The half-blown rose, the lily spare?

Or peeped they often from their beds
And prematurely disappeared,
Devoured like pleasure ere it spreads 15
A bosom to the sun endeared?
If such their harsh untimely doom,
It falls not _here_ on bud or bloom.

All summer-long the happy Eve
Of this fair Spot her flowers may bind, 20
Nor e'er, with ruffled fancy, grieve,
From the next glance she casts, to find
That love for little things by Fate
Is rendered vain as love for great.

Yet, where the guardian fence is wound, 25
So subtly are our eyes beguiled
We see not nor suspect a bound,[391]
No more than in some forest wild;
The sight is free as air--or crost[392]
Only by art in nature lost. 30

And, though[393] the jealous turf refuse
By random footsteps to be prest,
And feed[394] on never-sullied dews,
_Ye_, gentle breezes from the west,
With all the ministers of hope 35
Are tempted to this sunny slope!

And hither throngs of birds resort;
Some, inmates lodged in shady nests,
Some, perched on stems of stately port
That nod to welcome transient guests; 40
While hare and leveret, seen at play,
_Appear_ not more shut out than they.

Apt emblem (for reproof of pride)
This delicate Enclosure shows
Of modest kindness, that would hide 45
The firm protection she bestows;
Of manners, like its viewless fence,
Ensuring peace to innocence.

Thus spake the moral Muse--her wing
Abruptly spreading to depart, 50
She left that[395] farewell offering,
Memento for some docile heart;
That may respect the good old age
When Fancy was Truth's willing Page;
And Truth would skim the flowery glade, 55
Though entering but as Fancy's Shade.

In a letter from Mrs. Wordsworth to Lady Beaumont, dated "Rydal Mount, Feb. 28" (1824), the following occurs:--

"This garden is made out of Lady Caroline Price's, and your own, combining the recommendations of both. Like you, I enjoy the beauty of flowers, but do not carry my admiration so far as my sister, not to feel how very troublesome they are. I have more pleasure in clearing away thickets, and making such arrangements as produced the Winter Garden, and those sweet glades behind Coleorton Church."--ED.

FOOTNOTES:

[389] 1836.

A FLOWER GARDEN. 1827.

[390] The flower garden was constructed below the terrace to the east of the Hall.--ED.

[391] 1836.

So subtly is the eye beguiled
It sees not nor suspects a Bound, 1827.

MS. sent by Mrs. Wordsworth to Lady Beaumont.

[392] 1836.

Free as the light in semblance--crost. 1827.

MS. sent by Mrs. Wordsworth to Lady Beaumont.

[393] 1827.

What though ...

MS. sent by Mrs. Wordsworth to Lady Beaumont.

[394] 1836.

And feeds ... 1827.

[395] 1827.

... this ...

MS. sent by Mrs. Wordsworth to Lady Beaumont.

TO THE LADY E. B. AND THE HON. MISS P.

Composed in the Grounds of Plass Newidd,[396] near
Llangollen, 1824.

Composed 1824.--Published 1827

[In this Vale of Meditation my friend Jones resided, having been allowed by his diocesan to fix himself there without resigning his Living in Oxfordshire. He was with my wife and daughter and me when we visited these celebrated ladies who had retired, as one may say, into notice in this vale. Their cottage lay directly in the road between London and Dublin, and they were of course visited by their Irish friends as well as innumerable strangers. They took much delight in passing jokes on our friend Jones's plumpness, ruddy cheeks and smiling countenance, as little suited to a hermit living in the Vale of Meditation. We all thought there was ample room for retort on his part, so curious was the appearance of these ladies, so elaborately sentimental about themselves and their _Caro Albergo_ as they named it in an inscription on a tree that stood opposite, the endearing epithet being preceded by the word Ecco! calling upon the saunterer to look about him. So oddly was one of these ladies attired that we took her, at a little distance, for a Roman Catholic priest, with a crucifix and relics hung at his neck. They were without caps, their hair bushy and white as snow, which contributed to the mistake.--I. F.]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

A STREAM, to mingle with your favourite Dee,
Along the VALE OF MEDITATION[397] flows;
So styled by those fierce Britons, pleased to see
In Nature's face the expression of repose;
Or haply there some pious hermit chose 5
To live and die, the peace of heaven his aim;
To whom the wild sequestered region owes,
At this late day, its sanctifying name.
GLYN CAFAILLGAROCH, in the Cambrian tongue,
In ours, the VALE OF FRIENDSHIP, let _this_ spot 10
Be named; where, faithful to a low-roofed Cot,
On Deva's banks, ye have abode so long;
Sisters in love, a love allowed to climb,
Even on this earth, above the reach of Time!

FOOTNOTES:

[396] Plass Newidd is close to Llangollen, a small cottage a quarter of a mile to the south of the town. The ladies referred to in the Fenwick note, Lady Eleanor Butler and the Hon. Miss Ponsonby, formed a romantic attachment; and, having an extreme love of independence, they withdrew from society, and settled in this remote and secluded cottage. Lady Butler died in 1829, aged ninety, and Miss Ponsonby in 1831, aged seventy-six, their faithful servant, Mary Caroll, having predeceased them. The three are buried in the same grave in Llangollen Churchyard, and an inscription to the memory of each is carved on a triangular pillar beside their tomb.

In a letter to Sir George Beaumont from Hindwell, Radnorshire, Wordsworth gives an account of this tour in North Wales.... "We turned from the high-road three or four miles to visit the 'Valley of Meditation' (Glyn Myvyr), where Mr. Jones has, at present, a curacy with a comfortable parsonage. We slept at Corwen, and went down the Dee to Llangollen, which you and dear Lady B. know well. Called upon the celebrated Recluses, who hoped that you and Lady B. had not forgotten them.... Next day I sent them the following sonnet from Ruthin, which was conceived, and in a great measure composed, in their grounds." Compare Sir Walter Scott's account of his visit to these Ladies in 1825 (Lockhart's _Life of Scott_, vol. viii. pp. 48, 49).--ED.

[397] Glyn Myvyr.--W. W. The word is misspelt in most of the editions.--ED.

TO THE TORRENT AT THE DEVIL'S BRIDGE,[398] NORTH WALES, 1824

Composed 1824.--Published 1827

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

How art thou named? In search of what strange land,
From what huge height, descending? Can such force
Of waters issue from a British source,[399]
Or hath not Pindus fed thee,[400] where the band
Of Patriots scoop their freedom out, with hand 5
Desperate as thine? Or come the incessant shocks
From that young Stream,[401] that smites the throbbing rocks
Of Viamala? There I seem to stand,
As in life's morn; permitted to behold,
From the dread chasm, woods climbing above woods, 10
In pomp that fades not; everlasting snows;
And skies that ne'er relinquish their repose;
Such power possess the family of floods
Over the minds of Poets, young or old!

FOOTNOTES:

[398] The Devil's Bridge in North Wales is at Hafod, near Aberystwyth, in Cardiganshire. Like the Teufelsbrücke, on the road from Göschenen to Airola, over the St. Gotthard in Switzerland, which spans the Reuss, the Devil's Bridge in Wales is double; _i.e._ an upper and an under bridge span the river Mynach. This _Pont-y-Mynach_ was built either by the monks of Strata Florida, or by the Knights Hospitallers.

In the letter to Sir George Beaumont, referred to in a previous note, Wordsworth writes: "We went up the Rhydiol to the Devil's Bridge, where we passed the following day in exploring these two rivers, and Hafod in the neighbourhood. I had seen these things long ago, but either my memory or my powers of observation had not done them justice. It rained heavily in the night, and we saw the waterfalls in perfection. While Dora was attempting to make a sketch from the chasm in the rain, I composed by her side the following address to the torrent,

How art thou named? etc."--ED.

[399] There are several consecutive falls on the river Mynach, at the Devil's Bridge, the longest being one of 114 feet, and the whole taken together amounting to 314 feet.--ED.

[400] The lofty ridge of mountains in northern Greece between Thessaly and Epirus, which, like the Apennines in Italy, form the back-bone of the country.--ED.

[401] The Rhine. The Via Mala is the gorge between Thusis and Zillis, near the source of the Rhine. Compare _Descriptive Sketches_ (vol. i. p. 46)--

Or, led where Via Mala's chasms confine
The indignant waters of the infant Rhine.--ED.

COMPOSED AMONG THE RUINS OF A CASTLE IN NORTH WALES

Composed 1824.--Published 1827

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

Through shattered galleries, 'mid roofless halls,
Wandering with timid footsteps[402] oft betrayed,
The Stranger sighs, nor scruples to upbraid
Old Time, though he, gentlest among the Thralls
Of Destiny, upon these wounds hath laid 5
His lenient touches, soft as light that falls,
From the wan Moon, upon the towers and walls,
Light deepening the profoundest sleep of shade.
Relic of Kings! Wreck of forgotten wars,
To winds abandoned and the prying stars, 10
Time _loves_ Thee! at his call the Seasons twine
Luxuriant wreaths around thy forehead hoar;
And, though past pomp no changes can restore,
A soothing recompense, his gift, is thine![403]

FOOTNOTES:

[402] 1837.

... footstep ... 1827.

[403] Compare _The White Doe of Rylstone_, canto i. ll. 118, 119 (vol. iv. p. 110)--

Nature, softening and concealing,
And busy with a hand of healing.

This was doubtless Carnarvon Castle, which Wordsworth visited in September 1824, at the close of his three weeks' ramble in North Wales, of which he wrote to Sir George Beaumont, "We employed several hours in exploring the interior of the noble castle, and looking at it from different points of view in the neighbourhood."--ED.

ELEGIAC STANZAS

(ADDRESSED TO SIR G.H.B. UPON THE DEATH OF
HIS SISTER-IN-LAW)

1824[404]

Composed 1824.--Published 1827

[On Mrs. Fermor. This lady had been a widow long before I knew her. Her husband was of the family of the lady celebrated in the _Rape of the Lock_, and was, I believe, a Roman Catholic. The sorrow which his death caused her was fearful in its character as described in this poem, but was subdued in course of time by the strength of her religious faith. I have been for many weeks at a time, an inmate with her at Coleorton Hall, as were also Mrs. Wordsworth and my sister. The truth in the sketch of her character here given was acknowledged with gratitude by her nearest relatives. She was eloquent in conversation, energetic upon public matters, open in respect to those, but slow to communicate her personal feelings; upon these she never touched in her intercourse with me, so that I could not regard myself as her confidential friend, and was accordingly surprised when I learnt she had left me a legacy of £100, as a token of her esteem. See in further illustration the second stanza inscribed upon her cenotaph in Coleorton church.--I.F.]

One of the "Epitaphs and Elegiac Pieces." In 1827 the title was simply, _Elegiac Stanzas, 1824_, and the title of the group was then, and in 1832, "Epitaphs and Elegiac Poems."--ED.

O for a dirge! But why complain?
Ask rather a triumphal strain
When FERMOR'S race is run;
A garland of immortal boughs
To twine[405] around the Christian's brows, 5
Whose glorious work is done.

We pay a high and holy debt;
No tears of passionate regret
Shall stain this votive lay;
Ill-worthy, Beaumont! were the grief 10
That flings itself on wild relief
When Saints have passed away.

Sad doom, at Sorrow's shrine to kneel,
For ever covetous to feel,
And impotent to bear! 15
Such once was hers--to think and think
On severed love, and only sink
From anguish to despair!

But nature to its inmost part
Faith had[406] refined; and to her heart 20
A peaceful cradle given:
Calm as the dew-drop's, free to rest
Within a breeze-fanned rose's breast
Till it exhales to Heaven.

Was ever Spirit that could bend: 25
So graciously?[407]--that could descend,
Another's need to suit,
So promptly from her lofty throne?--
In works of love, in these alone,
How restless, how minute! 30

Pale was her hue; yet mortal cheek[408]
Ne'er kindled with a livelier streak
When aught had suffered wrong,--
When aught that breathes had felt a wound;
Such look the Oppressor might confound, 35
However proud and strong.

But hushed be every thought that springs
From out the bitterness of things;
Her quiet is secure;
No thorns can pierce her tender feet, 40
Whose life was, like the violet, sweet,
As climbing jasmine, pure--

As snowdrop on an infant's grave,
Or lily heaving with the wave
That feeds it and defends; 45
As Vesper, ere the star hath kissed
The mountain top, or breathed the mist
That from the vale ascends.

Thou takest not away, O Death!
Thou strikest[409]--absence perisheth, 50
Indifference is no more;
The future brightens on our sight;
For on the past hath fallen a light
That tempts us to adore.

In a letter from Mrs. Wordsworth to Lady Beaumont, dated "Rydal Mount, Feb. 25, 1825," she says:--

"We are all much moved by the manner in which Miss Willes has received the verses,--particularly Wm., who feels himself more than rewarded for the _labour_ I cannot call it of the composition--for the tribute was poured forth with a deep stream of fervour that was something beyond labour, and it has required very little correction. In one instance a single word in the '_Address to Sir George_' is changed since we sent the copy, viz.: 'graciously' for 'courteously,' as being a word of more dignity."

The following inscription was "copied from the Churchyard of Claines, Sept. 14, 1826," by Dorothy Wordsworth, in a MS. book, containing numerous epitaphs on tombstones, and inscriptions on rural monuments in Cathedrals and Churches, in various parts of the country.

Sacred
To the memory of Frances Fermor,
Relict of Henry Fermor, Esqre.,
Of Fritwell, in the County of Oxford,
And eldest Daughter of the late
John Willes, Esqre., of Astrop, in the county
_Of Northamptonshire_, who departed this life,
Dec. 5th, 1824, aged 68 years.
I am the way, the truth, and
The life. Whoso cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out.--ED.

FOOTNOTES:

[404] 1837.

ELEGIAC STANZAS, 1824. 1827.

[405] 1845.

To bind ... 1827.

[406] 1837.

Had Faith ... 1827.

[407] 1827.

So courteously ...

In a MS. copy sent to Coleorton.

[408] 1827.

Pale was her hue, but mortal cheek

In MS. from Mrs. Wordsworth to Lady Beaumont.

[409] 1840.

Thou strik'st--and ... 1827.

CENOTAPH

In affectionate remembrance of Frances Fermor, whose remains are deposited in the church of Claines, near Worcester, this stone is erected by her sister, Dame Margaret, wife of Sir George Beaumont, Bart., who, feeling not less than the love of a brother for the deceased, commends this memorial to the care of his heirs and successors in the possession of this place.

Composed 1824.--Published 1842

[See "Elegiac Stanzas. (Addressed to Sir G.H.B., upon the death of his sister-in-law.)"--I.F.]

One of the "Epitaphs and Elegiac Pieces."--ED.

By vain affections unenthralled,
Though resolute when duty called
To meet the world's broad eye,
Pure as the holiest cloistered nun
That ever feared the tempting sun, 5
Did Fermor live and die.

This Tablet, hallowed by her name,[410]
One heart-relieving tear may claim;
But if the pensive gloom
Of fond regret be still thy choice, 10
Exalt thy spirit, hear the voice
Of Jesus from her tomb!

"I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE."

In the letter to Lady Beaumont, referred to in the notes, the title of this poem is "Inscription in the Church of Coleorton," and a footnote is added, "Say, to the left of the vista, within the thicket, below the churchyard wall.--M. W."

Mrs. Wordsworth also says, "To fit the lines, intended for an urn, for a Monument, W. has altered the closing stanza, which (though they are not what he would have produced had he first cast them with a view to the Church) he hopes you will not disapprove."--ED.

FOOTNOTES:

[410] 1842.

This cenotaph that bears her name,

MS. Mrs. Wordsworth to Lady Beaumont.

This sacred stone that bears her name,

MS. Mrs. Wordsworth to Lady Beaumont.

1825

Three Poems were written in 1825, _The Pillar of Trajan_, _The Contrast: The Parrot and the Wren_, and the lines _To a Skylark_.--ED.

THE PILLAR OF TRAJAN

Composed 1825.--Published 1827

[These verses perhaps had better be transferred to the class of "Italian Poems." I had observed in the newspaper, that the Pillar of Trajan was given as a subject for a prize-poem in English verse. I had a wish perhaps that my son, who was then an undergraduate at Oxford, should try his fortune, and I told him so; but he, not having been accustomed to write verse, wisely declined to enter on the task; whereupon I showed him these lines as a proof of what might, without difficulty, be done on such a subject.--I.F.]

From 1827 to 1842 one of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection"; in 1845 one of the "Memorials of a Tour in Italy."--ED.

Where towers are crushed, and unforbidden weeds
O'er mutilated arches shed their seeds;
And temples, doomed to milder change, unfold
A new magnificence that vies with old;
Firm in its pristine majesty hath stood 5
A votive Column, spared by fire and flood:--
And, though the passions of man's fretful race
Have never ceased to eddy round its base,
Not injured more by touch of meddling hands
Than a lone obelisk, 'mid Nubian sands, 10
Or aught in Syrian deserts left to save
From death the memory of the good and brave.
Historic figures round the shaft embost
Ascend, with lineaments in air not lost:
Still as he turns, the charmed spectator sees 15
Group winding after group with dream-like ease;
Triumphs in sunbright gratitude displayed,[411]
Or softly stealing into modest shade.
--So, pleased with purple clusters to entwine
Some lofty elm-tree, mounts the daring vine; 20
The woodbine so, with spiral grace, and breathes
Wide-spreading odours from her flowery wreaths.

Borne by the Muse from rills in shepherds' ears
Murmuring but one smooth story for all years,
I gladly commune with the mind and heart 25
Of him who thus survives by classic art,
His actions witness, venerate his mien,
And study Trajan as by Pliny seen;
Behold how fought the Chief whose conquering sword
Stretched far as earth might own a single lord; 30
In the delight of moral prudence schooled,
How feelingly at home the Sovereign ruled;
Best of the good--in pagan faith allied
To more than Man, by virtue deified.

Memorial Pillar! 'mid the wrecks of Time 35
Preserve thy charge with confidence sublime--
The exultations, pomps, and cares of Rome,
Whence half the breathing world received its doom;
Things that recoil from language; that, if shown
By apter pencil, from the light had flown. 40
A Pontiff, Trajan _here_ the Gods implores,
_There_ greets an Embassy from Indian shores;
Lo! he harangues his cohorts--_there_ the storm
Of battle meets him in authentic form!
Unharnessed, naked, troops of Moorish horse 45
Sweep to the charge;[412] more high, the Dacian force,
To hoof and finger mailed;[413]--yet, high or low,
None bleed, and none lie prostrate but the foe;[414]
In every Roman, through all turns of fate,
Is Roman dignity inviolate; 50
Spirit in him pre-eminent, who guides,[415]
Supports, adorns, and over all presides;
Distinguished only by inherent state
From honoured Instruments that round him wait;[416]
Rise as he may, his grandeur scorns the test 55
Of outward symbol, nor will deign to rest
On aught by which another is deprest.
--Alas! that One thus disciplined could toil
To enslave whole nations on their native soil;
So emulous of Macedonian fame, 60
That, when his age was measured with his aim,
He drooped, 'mid else unclouded victories,
And turned his eagles back with deep-drawn sighs.
O weakness of the Great! O folly of the Wise!

Where now the haughty Empire that was spread 65
With such fond hope? her very speech is dead;
Yet glorious Art the power of Time defies,
And Trajan still, through various enterprise,
Mounts, in this fine illusion, toward the skies:
Still are we present with the imperial Chief, 70
Nor cease to gaze upon the bold Relief
Till Rome, to silent marble unconfined,
Becomes with all her years a vision of the Mind.

Trajan's Column was set up by the Senate and people of Rome, in honour of the Emperor, about A.D. 114. It is one of the most remarkable pillars in the world; and still stands, little injured by time, in the centre of the _Forum Trajanum_ (now a ruin); its height--132 feet--marking the height of the earth removed when the Forum was made. On the pedestal bas-reliefs were carved in series showing the arms and armour of the Romans; and round the shaft of the column similar reliefs, exhibiting pictorially the whole story of the Decian campaign of the Emperor. These are of great value as illustrating the history of the period, the costume of the Roman soldiers and the barbarians. A colossal statue of Trajan crowned the column; and, when it fell, Pope Sixtus V. replaced it by a figure of St. Peter. It is referred to by Pausanias (v. 12. 6), and by all the ancient topographers. See a minute account of it, with excellent illustrations, in Hertzberg's _Geschichte des Römischen Kaiserreiches_, pp. 330-345 (Berlin: 1880); also Müller's _Denkmäler der alten Kunst_, p. 51. The book, however, from which Wordsworth gained his information of this pillar was evidently Joseph Forsyth's _Remarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters, during an Excursion in Italy in 1802-3_ (London: 1813). It is thus that Dean Merivale speaks of it:--

"Amid this profusion of splendour" (_i.e._ in the _Forum Trajanum_) "the great object to which the eye was principally directed was the column, which rose majestically in the centre of the forum to the height of 126 feet, sculptured from the base of the shaft to the summit with the story of the Decian wars, shining in every volute and moulding, with gold and pigments, and crowned with the colossal effigy of the august conqueror.... The proportions of the Trajan column are peculiarly graceful; the compact masses of stone, nineteen in number, of which the whole shaft is composed, may lead us to admire the skill employed in its construction; but the most interesting feature of this historic monument is the spiral band of figures which throughout enriches it. To the subjects of Trajan himself, this record of his exploits in bold relief must have given a vivid and sufficient idea of the people, the places, and the actions indicated; even to us, after so many centuries, they furnish a correct type of the arms, the arts, and the costume both of the Romans and barbarians which we should vainly seek for elsewhere. The Trajan column forms a notable chapter in the pictorial history of Rome." (_History of the Romans under the Empire_, vol. viii. pp. 46, 47.)

In the Fenwick note, Wordsworth mentions that, what gave rise to this poem was, his observing in the newspapers that "the Pillar of Trajan" was prescribed as a subject for a prize poem at Oxford. This determines the date of composition. _The Pillar of Trajan_ was the Newdigate prize poem, won by W. W. Tireman, Wadham Coll., in 1826. We may therefore assume that the subject was proposed about the summer of 1825.--ED.

FOOTNOTES:

[411] As Wordsworth says, in his note of 1827, "See Forsyth," it may be interesting to add Forsyth's account of the Pillar, in footnotes. "Trajan's Column, considered as a long historical record to be read round and round a long convex surface, made perspective impossible. Every perspective has one fixed point of view, but here are ten thousand. The eye, like the relievos of the column, must describe a spiral round them, widening over the whole piazza. Hence, to be legible the figures must be lengthened as they rise. This licence is necessary here; but in architecture it may be contested against Vitruvius himself." (Forsyth's _Remarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters, during an Excursion in Italy in 1802-3_, pp. 250, 251.)--ED.

[412] "In detailing the two wars, this column sets each nation in contrast: here the Moorish horse, all naked and unharnessed" (Forsyth's _Remarks_, _etc._, p. 251.)--ED.

[413] See Forsyth.--W. W. 1827.

"There the Taranatians, in complete mail down to the fingers and the hoofs. It exhibits without embellishment all the tactics of that age, and forms grand commentary on Vegetius and Frontinus." (_Remarks_, _etc._, p. 252.)--ED.

[414] "How unlike the modern relievos, where dress appears in all its distinctions, and prostration in all its angles! none kneel here but priests and captives; no Roman appears in a fallen state: none are wounded or slain but the foe.

"No monument gives the complete and real costume of its kind so correctly as this column.... On this column we can see parts of the _subarmalia_; we can see real drawers falling down to the officers' legs; and some figures have _focalia_, like invalids, round the neck." (_Remarks_, _etc._, p. 251-2.)--ED.

[415] "This column is an immense field of antiquities, where the emperor appears in a hundred different points, as sovereign, as general, as priest." (_Remarks_, _etc._, p. 251.)--ED.

[416] "His dignity he derives from himself or his duties; not from the trappings of power, for he is dressed like any of his officers, not from the debasement of others, for the Romans stand bold and erect before him." (_Remarks_, _etc._, p. 251.)--ED.

THE CONTRAST

THE PARROT AND THE WREN[417]

Composed 1825.--Published 1827

[The Parrot belonged to Mrs. Luff while living at Fox-Ghyll. The Wren was one that haunted for many years the summerhouse between the two terraces at Rydal Mount.--I. F.]

One of the "Poems of the Fancy."--ED.

I

Within her gilded cage confined,
I saw a dazzling Belle,
A Parrot of that famous kind
Whose name is NON-PAREIL.

Like beads of glossy jet her eyes; 5
And, smoothed by Nature's skill,
With pearl or gleaming agate vies
Her finely-curvèd bill.

Her plumy mantle's living hues
In mass opposed to mass, 10
Outshine the splendour that imbues
The robes of pictured glass.

And, sooth to say, an apter Mate
Did never tempt the choice
Of feathered Thing most delicate 15
In figure and in voice.

But, exiled from Australian bowers,
And singleness her lot,
She trills her song with tutored powers,
Or mocks each casual note. 20

No more of pity for regrets
With which she may have striven!
Now but in wantonness she frets,
Or spite, if cause be given;

Arch, volatile, a sportive bird 25
By social glee inspired;
Ambitious to be seen or heard
And pleased to be admired!

II

This Moss-Lined shed, green, soft, and dry,
Harbours a self-contented Wren, 30
Not shunning man's abode, though shy,
Almost as thought itself, of human ken.

Strange places, coverts unendeared,
She never tried; the very nest
In which this Child of Spring was reared, 35
Is warmed, thro' winter, by her feathery breast.

To the bleak winds she sometimes gives
A slender unexpected strain;
Proof that[418] the hermitess still lives,
Though she appear not, and be sought in vain. 40

Say, Dora! tell me, by yon placid moon,
If called to choose between the favoured pair,
Which would you be,--the bird of the saloon,
By lady-fingers tended with nice care,
Caressed, applauded, upon dainties fed, 45
Or Nature's DARKLING of this mossy shed?

The "moss-lined shed, green, soft, and dry," still remains at Rydal Mount, as it was in the poet's time.--ED.

FOOTNOTES:

[417] 1832.

The Contrast. 1827.

[418] 1836.

That tells ... 1827.

TO A SKY-LARK

Composed 1825.--Published 1827

[Written at Rydal Mount, where there are no skylarks, but the Poet is everywhere.--I. F.]

One of the "Poems of the Imagination."--ED.

Ethereal minstrel! pilgrim of the sky!
Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound?
Or, while the[419] wings aspire, are heart and eye
Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground?
Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will, 5
Those quivering wings composed, that music still!

Leave to the nightingale her[421] shady wood;
A privacy of glorious light is thine;
Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood
Of harmony, with instinct[422] more divine; 10
Type of the wise who soar, but never roam;
True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home!

Compare this with the earlier poem _To a Skylark_, written in 1805, and both poems with Shelley's still finer lyric to the same bird, written in 1820. See also the _Morning Exercise_ (1828), stanzas v.-x. The eighth stanza of that poem was, from 1827 to 1842, the second stanza of this one. The poem was published in the _Poetical Album_, for 1829, edited by Alaric Watts, vol. ii. p. 30.--ED.

FOOTNOTES:

[419] 1827.

... thy ...

_Poetical Album_, 1829.

[420] The following second stanza occurs only in the editions 1827-43--

To the last point of vision, and beyond,
Mount, daring Warbler! that love-prompted strain,
('Twixt thee and thine a never-failing bond)
Thrills not the less the bosom of the plain:
Yet might'st thou seem, proud privilege! to sing
All independent of the leafy spring.

[421] 1827.

... the ...

_Poetical Album_, 1829.

[422] 1832.

... rapture ... 1827.

1826

The poems composed in 1826 were six. They include two referring to the month of May, and two descriptive of places near Rydal Mount.--ED.

"ERE WITH COLD BEADS OF MIDNIGHT DEW"

Composed 1826.--Published 1827

[Written at Rydal Mount. Suggested by the condition of a friend.--I. F.]

One of the "Poems founded on the Affections."--ED.

Ere with cold beads of midnight dew
Had mingled tears of thine,
I grieved, fond Youth! that thou shouldst sue
To haughty Geraldine.

Immoveable by generous sighs, 5
She glories in a train
Who drag, beneath our native skies,
An oriental chain.

Pine not like them with arms across,
Forgetting in thy care 10
How the fast-rooted trees can toss
Their branches in mid air.

The humblest rivulet will take
Its own wild liberties;
And, every day, the imprisoned lake 15
Is flowing in the breeze.

Then, crouch no more on suppliant knee,
But scorn with scorn outbrave;
A Briton, even in love, should be
A subject, not a slave! 20

ODE

COMPOSED ON MAY MORNING

Composed 1826.--Published 1835

[This and the following poem originated in the lines, "How delicate the leafy veil," etc. My daughter and I left Rydal Mount upon a tour through our mountains, with Mr. and Mrs. Carr,[423] in the month of May, 1826, and as we were going up the Vale of Newlands I was struck with the appearance of the little chapel gleaming through the veil of half-opened leaves; and the feeling which was then conveyed to my mind was expressed in the stanza referred to above. As in the case of _Liberty_ and _Humanity_, my first intention was to write only one poem, but subsequently I broke it into two, making additions to each part so as to produce a consistent and appropriate whole.--I. F.]

In 1835, included in the Poems on _Yarrow Revisited_, etc. In
1837, one of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."--ED.

While from the purpling east departs
The star that led the dawn,
Blithe Flora from her couch upstarts,
For May is on the lawn,[424]
A quickening hope, a freshening glee, 5
Foreran the expected Power,
Whose first-drawn breath, from bush and tree,
Shakes off that pearly shower.

All Nature welcomes Her whose sway
Tempers the year's extremes; 10
Who scattereth lustres o'er noon-day,
Like morning's dewy gleams;
While mellow warble, sprightly trill,
The tremulous heart excite;
And hums the balmy air to still 15
The balance of delight.

Time was, blest Power! when youths and maids
At peep of dawn would rise,
And wander forth in forest glades
Thy birth to solemnize. 20
Though mute the song--to grace the rite
Untouched the hawthorn bough,
Thy Spirit triumphs o'er the slight;
Man changes, but not Thou!

Thy feathered Lieges bill and wings 25
In love's disport employ;
Warmed by thy influence, creeping things
Awake to silent joy:
Queen art thou still for each gay plant
Where the slim wild deer roves; 30
And served in depths where fishes haunt
Their own mysterious groves.

Cloud-piercing peak, and trackless heath,
Instinctive homage pay;
Nor wants the dim-lit cave a wreath 35
To honour thee, sweet May!
Where cities fanned by thy brisk airs
Behold a smokeless sky,
Their puniest flower-pot-nursling dares
To open a bright eye. 40

And if, on this thy natal morn,
The pole, from which thy name
Hath not departed, stands forlorn
Of song and dance and game;
Still from the village-green a vow 45
Aspires to thee addrest,
Wherever peace is on the brow,
Or love within the breast.

Yes! where Love nestles thou canst teach
The soul to love the more; 50
Hearts also shall thy lessons reach
That never loved before.
Stript is the haughty one of pride,
The bashful freed from fear,
While rising, like the ocean-tide, 55
In flows the joyous year.