Chapter VIII: Appendix (7)

This, this is holy;--while I hear
These vespers of another year, 20
This hymn of thanks and praise,
My spirit seems to mount above
The anxieties of human love,
And earth's precarious days.

But list!--though winter storms be nigh, 25
Unchecked is that soft harmony;
There lives Who can provide
For all His creatures; and in Him,
Even like the radiant Seraphim,
These choristers confide. 30

See the Fenwick note to the second of the two _Odes to Lycoris_. This poem and the next in order are "the two that follow," referred to in that note as "composed in front of Rydal Mount, and during my walks in the neighbourhood." Note the eulogy of Spring, and (comparative) disparagement of Autumn, in _Lycoris_; and the complimentary truth, in reference to Autumn, brought out in this fragment.--ED.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote DX: Rydal Mere. Compare the _Ode to Lycoris_ (pp. 145-148).--ED.]

UPON THE SAME OCCASION

Composed 1819.--Published 1820

One of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."--ED.

Departing summer hath assumed
An aspect tenderly illumed,
The gentlest look of spring;
That calls from yonder leafy shade
Unfaded, yet prepared to fade, 5
A timely carolling.

No faint and hesitating trill,
Such tribute as to winter chill
The lonely redbreast pays!
Clear, loud, and lively is the din, 10
From social warblers gathering in
Their harvest of sweet lays.

Nor doth the example fail to cheer
Me, conscious that my leaf is sere,[DY]
And yellow on the bough:-- 15
Fall, rosy garlands, from my head!
Ye myrtle wreaths, your fragrance shed
Around a younger brow!

Yet will I temperately rejoice;
Wide is the range, and free the choice 20
Of undiscordant themes;
Which, haply, kindred souls may prize
Not less than vernal ecstasies,
And passion's feverish dreams.

For deathless powers to verse belong, 25
And they like Demi-gods are strong
On whom the Muses smile;
But some their function have disclaimed,
Best pleased with what is aptliest framed
To enervate and defile.[DZ] 30

Not such the initiatory strains
Committed to the silent plains
In Britain's earliest dawn:
Trembled the groves, the stars grew pale,
While all-too-daringly the veil 35
Of nature was withdrawn![EA]

Nor such the spirit-stirring note
When the live chords Alcæus smote,[EB]
Inflamed by sense of wrong;
Woe! woe to Tyrants! from the lyre 40
Broke threateningly, in sparkles dire
Of fierce vindictive song.[EC]

And not unhallowed was the page
By wingèd Love inscribed, to assuage
The pangs of vain pursuit; 45
Love listening while the Lesbian Maid[ED]
With finest touch of passion swayed[394]
Her own Æolian lute.

O ye, who patiently explore
The wreck of Herculanean lore,[EE] 50
What rapture! could ye seize
Some Theban fragment, or unroll
One precious, tender-hearted, scroll
Of pure Simonides.[EF]

That were, indeed, a genuine birth 55
Of poesy; a bursting forth
Of genius from the dust:
What Horace gloried to behold,[395][EG]
What Maro loved[EH] shall we enfold?
Can haughty Time be just! 60

VARIANTS:

[Footnote 394: 1827.

With passion's finest finger swayed 1820.
]

[Footnote 395: 1820.

(4 vol. edition.)

... boasted to behold, 1820.

(1 vol. edition.)
]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote DY: Compare _Macbeth_, act V. scene iii. l. 23--

my way of life
Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf.

ED.
]

[Footnote DZ: The reference may be to some of the poets of the Restoration.--ED.]

[Footnote EA: Here the reference may be to Cædmon's _Paraphrase_.--ED.]

[Footnote EB: Alcæus of Mytilene, in Lesbos, the first of the Æolian lyric poets, flourished in the 42nd Olympiad, about 600 B.C. He wrote odes, songs, and epigrams, and was the inventor of the Alcaic metre, called after his name. "During the civil war Alcæus engaged actively on the side of the nobles, whose spirits he endeavoured to cheer by a number of most animated odes, full of invectives against the tyrant; and after the defeat of his party, he, with his brother Antimenidas, led them again in an attempt to regain their country." (Mr. Philip Smith in the _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography_.)--ED.]

[Footnote EC: I am indebted to Mr. H. T. Rhoades, Rugby, for the following note on Alcæus:--"There is nothing exactly corresponding to 'Woe, woe, to Tyrants' in the fragments of Alcæus which have come down to us--which are chiefly drinking songs--the nearest is an exultation over a dead tyrant, νῦν χρὴ μεθύσθην ... ἐπειδὴ κάτθανε Μύρσιλος--but he wrote verses which Pittacus thought dangerous, and for which he was banished. Horace, _Od._ IV. ix. 7, has 'Alcæi minaces camenæ,' and Wordsworth has perhaps had this in his mind."--ED.]

[Footnote ED: Sappho. Her ode to Aphrodite--of which Longinus said it was "not one passion, but a congress of passions"--is the most perfect in Greek literature. It is to it that Wordsworth refers; and as there has been much controversy as to the character of this magnificent erotic ode--compare the discussion by Welcher (_Rheinisches Museum_, 1857); by Mure (_Critical History of the Language and Literature of Ancient Greece_, vol. iii. chap. V. 11); by Müller (_Literature of Ancient Greece_, pp. 175, 178); and by J. A. Symonds (_Studies of the Greek Poets_, 1st Series, p. 129), Wordsworth's verdict--

Not unhallowed was the page
With finest touch of passion swayed,

is noteworthy.--ED.]

[Footnote EE: In 1752, during the excavations at Herculaneum, the villa of an Epicurean philosopher was discovered, in which were 1800 rolls of papyri, containing fragments of Epicurus' work _On Nature_. Only about 350 of these charred MSS. have as yet been unwound. When the discovery was first made that a library of ancient literature had been unearthed, European scholars everywhere anticipated

a bursting forth
Of genius from the dust.

Hence Wordsworth's allusion to the possible discovery of the long buried fragments of classical antiquity, such as the poems of Simonides, or the lost books of Livy and Tacitus, for which others longed.--ED.]

[Footnote EF: Simonides, of Ceos, perfected Greek elegy and epigram, a "brilliant representative not only of Greek choral poetry in its prime, but of the whole literary life of Hellas during the period which immediately preceded and followed the Persian war." We find in him "a Dorian solemnity of thought and feeling, which qualified him for commemorating in elegy and epigram and funereal ode the achievements of Hellas against Persia.... The genius of Simonides is unique in this branch of monumental poetry (epigram). His couplets--calm, simple, terse, strong as the deeds they celebrate, enduring as the brass or stone which they adorned--animated succeeding generations of Greek patriots." (Symonds, _Studies of the Greek Poets_, 1st Series, pp. 146-149.) The phrase "pure Simonides" probably refers to his reputation--which was proverbial--for σωφροσύνη, that temperance and restraint, that moderation and self-control which are seen both in his poems and in his reputed sayings as a philosopher.--ED.]

[Footnote EG: Horace refers to Simonides, _Carmina_ IV. ix. 5-8--

Non, si priores Mæonius tenet
Sedes Homerus, Pindaricæ latent
Ceæque et Alcæi minaces
Stesichorique graves camenæ;

and again, _Carmina_ II. i. 37-40--

Sed ne relictis, Musa, procax iocis
Ceæ retractes munera neniæ:
Mecum Dionæo sub antro
Quære modos leviore plectro.

ED.
]

[Footnote EH: I have been unable to find any allusion to Simonides in Virgil. But probably Wordsworth merely refers to the numerous lost books of Greek and Latin literature; and wonders if these treasures (of all kinds), which Horace and Virgil knew and prized, would ever be recovered by us. Some of Horace's most significant references to the literature of Greece, and of the past, occur in _Odes_ III. 3; iv. 2 and 3.

Since the above was written, the late Professor William Sellar wrote to me:--"I do not find any special reference to Simonides in Virgil. Besides the passages you refer to in Horace, there are two or three lines in the _Odes_, which he has translated from Simonides, _e.g._

Est et fideli tuta silentio
Merces: (_Carmina_ III. ii. 25)

but I think Wordsworth's reference is quite vague. It is quite appropriate so far, that it was only in the Augustan age that the Romans got back to the great sources of Greek poetry, and one cause of the superiority of Virgil and Horace to all their contemporaries was that they did this much more thoroughly than the others, and appreciated the purest and oldest of these sources. Horace's special study was of course the whole range of Greek lyric poetry. He no doubt acknowledges his relation to Sappho and Alcæus more than to Simonides, but he recognises him as well as Pindar among the Masters of lyrical poetry. So far as one can judge by the fragments of Simonides' lyrical poetry, I should say that his characteristics were tenderness, piety, and purity; and, in these respects, he has a strong affinity with Virgil, which may explain their association together by Wordsworth. The passage quoted by you is very interesting, as showing how Wordsworth--the most essentially modern and least conventional of poets--regarded Virgil and Horace, who have often been disparaged as types of conventionalism.... It would be very interesting to bring together the various passages in which Wordsworth draws from the sources of classical poetry. His reminiscences of Latin poetry seem to me to have a peculiar freshness, different from the more direct reproduction of Milton, Gray, etc."--ED.]

1820

The following poems may be assigned to the year 1820. _The River Duddon, a series of Sonnets_, the Ode _To Enterprise_, some of the _Memorials of a Tour on the Continent_, and a number of _Miscellaneous Sonnets_. Several of the Duddon Sonnets were composed in previous years, and one of them was published as early as 1807; but, as the volume containing the entire series was published in 1820--and the dedication was written on Christmas Eve of that year--the whole has been assigned to 1820. In localising the allusions in these sonnets, I have been greatly indebted to Mr. Herbert Rix, whose paper contributed to the "Transactions of the Wordsworth Society" was only the first of a Series of admirable studies of the Duddon. I have also been greatly indebted to Canon Rawnsley. Most of the "Memorials" of the Continental Tour were written during the journey; and, although they were not finished till 1822--the year of publication--I think their chronological place should be in the year 1820. In connection with these poems, I have had the advantage of perusing the two singularly interesting Journals of the Tour, written by Mrs. Wordsworth, and by the poet's sister Dorothy. Both of these were written, in the form of notes or "memoranda," during the journey. Miss Wordsworth's was expanded from these earlier jottings, two months after her return to Rydal Mount; and added to, as late as December 1821. In the case of each poem, illustrative extracts are given from these two Journals; and it will be seen that they cast much light on the incidents which gave rise to the Memorial Verses, and the circumstances under which they were composed. The poet's wish that these journals should be published, at least in part, is expressed in the Fenwick note, which precedes the sonnet beginning, "What lovelier home could gentle Fancy choose?" p. 294; and Mrs. Wordsworth, in a letter to Mr. John Kenyon--dated 28th December 1821--after referring to her husband's being "busily engaged upon subjects connected with our Continental Journey," says, "Miss W. is going on with her Journal, which will be ready to go to press interspersed with her brother's Poems I hope before your return." She adds, however, "I do not say this seriously, but we sometimes jestingly talk of raising a fund by such means, for a second and a farther trip into Italy." The diary and correspondence of Henry Crabb Robinson is also of use in determining some points connected with this Continental Journey, in which he accompanied the Wordsworths.--ED.

COMPOSED ON THE BANKS OF A ROCKY STREAM

Composed 1820.--Published 1820

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

Dogmatic Teachers, of the snow-white fur!
Ye wrangling Schoolmen, of the scarlet hood!
Who, with a keenness not to be withstood,
Press the point home, or falter and demur,
Checked in your course by many a teasing burr; 5
These natural council-seats your acrid blood
Might cool;--and, as the Genius of the flood
Stoops willingly to animate and spur
Each lighter function slumbering in the brain,
Yon eddying balls of foam, these arrowy gleams 10
That o'er the pavement of the surging streams
Welter and flash, a synod might detain
With subtle speculations, haply vain,
But surely less so than your far-fetched themes!

ON THE DEATH OF HIS MAJESTY (GEORGE THE THIRD)[396]

Composed 1820.--Published 1820

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

Ward of the LAW!--dread Shadow of a King!
Whose realm had dwindled to one stately room;
Whose universe was gloom immersed in gloom,
Darkness as thick as life o'er life could fling,
Save haply for some feeble glimmering[397] 5
Of Faith and Hope--if thou, by nature's doom,
Gently hast sunk into the quiet tomb,
Why should we bend in grief, to sorrow cling,
When thankfulness were best?--Fresh-flowing tears,
Or, where tears flow not, sigh succeeding sigh, 10
Yield to such after-thought the sole reply
Which justly it can claim. The Nation hears
In this deep knell, silent for threescore years,[EI]
An unexampled voice of awful memory!

His Majesty, George III., died on the 29th January 1820, in the 82nd year of his age, and the 60th of his reign. His mental powers had given way completely since 1810. See the sonnet, _November, 1813_ (vol. iv. p. 282) beginning,

Now that all hearts are glad, all faces bright.

On the 2nd of February 1820 Wordsworth wrote to the Earl of Lonsdale: "I sincerely condole with you on the lamented death of our most gracious and venerable Sovereign.... The best consolation for us all lies in the reflection that George the Third will be ranked by posterity among the best and wisest kings that ever sat upon the throne of England."--ED.

VARIANTS:

[Footnote 396: 1832.

ON THE DEATH OF HIS LATE MAJESTY. 1820.
]

[Footnote 397: 1827.

Yet haply cheered with some faint glimmering 1820.
]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote EI: His predecessor, George II., died in 1760.--ED.]

"THE STARS ARE MANSIONS BUILT BY NATURE'S HAND"

Composed 1820.--Published 1820

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

The stars are mansions built by Nature's hand,
And, haply, there the spirits of the blest
Dwell, clothed in radiance, their immortal vest;[398]
Huge Ocean shows, within his yellow strand,[399]
A habitation marvellously planned, 5
For life to occupy in love and rest;
All that we see--is dome, or vault, or nest,
Or fortress, reared at Nature's sage command.[400]
Glad thought for every season! but the Spring[401]
Gave it while cares were weighing on my heart, 10
'Mid song of birds, and insects murmuring;
And while the youthful year's prolific art--
Of bud, leaf, blade, and flower--was fashioning
Abodes where self-disturbance hath no part.

VARIANTS:

[Footnote 398: 1845 and C.

And, haply, there the spirits of the blest
Live, clothed in radiance, their immortal vest; 1820.

The Sun is peopled; and with Spirits blest,
Say, can the gentle Moon be unpossest? 1827.

The Sun, perchance, a Palace where the blest
Live clothed in radiance, their immortal vest; MS. 1817.

The text of 1840 returns to that of 1820.
]

[Footnote 399: 1827.

Huge Ocean frames, ... 1820.
]

[Footnote 400: 1837.

Or fort, erected at her sage command. 1820 and MS. 1817.
]

[Footnote 401: 1832.

Is this a vernal thought? Even so, the Spring
1820 and MS. 1817.
]

TO THE LADY MARY LOWTHER[EJ]

With a selection from the Poems of Anne, Countess of Winchelsea; and extracts of similar character from other Writers; transcribed[402] by a female friend.

Composed 1820.--Published 1820

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

Lady! I rifled a Parnassian cave
(But seldom trod) of mildly-gleaming ore;
And culled, from sundry beds, a lucid store
Of genuine crystals, pure as those that pave
The azure brooks, where Dian joys to lave 5
Her spotless limbs; and ventured to explore
Dim shades--for reliques, upon Lethe's shore,
Cast up at random by the sullen wave.
To female hands the treasures were resigned;
And lo this Work!--a grotto bright and clear 10
From stain or taint; in which thy blameless mind
May feed on thoughts though pensive not austere;
Or, if thy deeper spirit be inclined
To holy musing, it may enter here.

In the "Essay Supplementary to the Preface" of the Second Edition of _Lyrical Ballads_ (see "Prose Works," vol. ii. p. 240), Wordsworth wrote, "it is remarkable that, excepting _The Nocturnal Reverie_ of Lady Winchelsea, and a passage or two in the _Windsor Forest_ of Pope, the Poetry of the period intervening between the publication of _Paradise Lost_ and _The Seasons_ does not contain a single new image of external nature." _The Nocturnal Reverie_ was written by Anne, Countess of Winchelsea, daughter of Sir William Kingsmill, Southampton.--ED.

VARIANTS:

[Footnote 402: 1827.

the whole transcribed ... 1820.
]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote EJ: In 1820 (first edition) the title was "To ----."--ED.]

ON THE DETRACTION WHICH FOLLOWED THE PUBLICATION OF A CERTAIN POEM

Composed 1820.--Published 1820

See Milton's Sonnet, beginning, "A book was writ of late called _Tetrachordon_."

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

A book came forth of late, called PETER BELL;
Not negligent the style;--the matter?--good
As aught that song records of Robin Hood;
Or Roy, renowned through many a Scottish dell;
But some (who brook those hackneyed themes full well,
Nor heat,[403] at Tam o' Shanter's name, their blood) 6
Waxed wroth, and with foul claws, a harpy brood,
On Bard and Hero clamorously fell.
Heed not, wild Rover once through heath and glen,
Who mad'st at length the better life thy choice, 10
Heed not such onset! nay, if praise of men
To thee appear not an unmeaning voice,
Lift up that grey-haired forehead, and rejoice
In the just tribute of thy Poet's pen!

It may be useful, for comparison, to quote Milton's sonnet in full.

_On the Detraction which followed upon my writing certain Treatises_

A book was writ of late called _Tetrachordon_,
And woven close, both matter, form, and style;
The subject new: it walked the town a while,
Numbering good intellects; now seldom pored on.
Cries the stall-reader, "Bless us! what a word on
A title-page is this!"; and some in file
Stand spelling false, while one might walk to Mile-End
Green. Why, is it harder, sirs, than _Gordon_,
_Colkitto_, or _Macdonnel_, or _Galasp_?
Those rugged names to our like mouths grow sleek,
That would have made Quintilian stare and gasp.
Thy age, like ours, O soul of Sir John Cheek,
Hated not learning worse than toad or asp,
When thou taught'st Cambridge and King Edward Greek.

ED.

VARIANTS:

[Footnote 403: 1820.

1 vol. edition.

... (who brook these hacknied themes full well,
Nor chafe, ... 1820.

4 vol. edition.

Edition 1827 returns to text of 1820, 1 vol. edition.
]

OXFORD, MAY 30, 1820

Composed 1820.--Published 1820

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

Ye sacred Nurseries of blooming Youth!
In whose collegiate shelter England's Flowers
Expand, enjoying through their vernal hours
The air of liberty, the light of truth;
Much have ye suffered from Time's gnawing tooth: 5
Yet, O ye spires of Oxford! domes and towers!
Gardens and groves! your presence overpowers
The soberness of reason; till, in sooth,
Transformed, and rushing on a bold exchange,
I slight my own beloved Cam, to range 10
Where silver Isis leads my stripling feet;
Pace the long avenue, or glide adown
The stream-like windings of that glorious street--
An eager Novice robed in fluttering gown!

Wordsworth's love for his own university of Cambridge was strong; and he has commemorated St. John's College, as well as King's, and Trinity, in _The Prelude_ (book iii. ll. 4, 46, 53, etc.): but the enthusiasm, expressed in this Sonnet, for "the spires of Oxford," and

The stream-like windings of that glorious street,

(High Street), and "the long avenue" (Broad Walk) was both natural and generous.--ED.

OXFORD, MAY 30, 1820

Composed 1820.--Published 1820

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

Shame on this faithless heart! that could allow
Such transport, though but for a moment's space;
Not while--to aid the spirit of the place--
The crescent moon clove[404] with its glittering prow
The clouds, or night-bird sang[405] from shady bough; 5
But in plain daylight:--She, too, at my side,
Who, with her heart's experience satisfied,
Maintains inviolate its slightest vow!
Sweet Fancy! other gifts must I receive;
Proofs of a higher sovereignty I claim; 10
Take from _her_ brow the withering flowers of eve,
And to that brow life's morning wreath restore;
Let _her_ be comprehended in the frame
Of these illusions, or they please no more.

The reference (in lines 6-8) is probably to his sister Dorothy. Wordsworth, his wife, and sister were at Oxford on the 30th of May 1820; and they went on immediately afterwards to London: for H. C. Robinson tells us that, on the 2nd of June, he met the Wordsworths at Charles Lamb's.--ED.

JUNE, 1820

Composed 1820.--Published 1820

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

Fame tells of groves--from England far away--
[EK]Groves that inspire the Nightingale to trill
And modulate, with subtle reach of skill
Elsewhere unmatched, her ever-varying lay;
Such bold report I venture to gainsay: 5
For I have heard the quire of Richmond hill
Chanting, with indefatigable bill,
Strains that recalled to mind a distant day;[406]
When, haply under shade of that same wood,
And scarcely conscious of the dashing oars 10
Plied steadily between those willowy shores,
The sweet-souled Poet of the Seasons stood--
Listening, and listening long, in rapturous mood,
Ye heavenly Birds! to your Progenitors.[EL]

VARIANTS:

[Footnote 404: 1827.

... cleaves ... 1820.
]

[Footnote 405: 1827.

... sings ... 1820.
]

[Footnote 406: 1827.

While I bethought me of a distant day; 1820.
]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote EK: Wallachia is the country alluded to.--W. W. 1820.]

[Footnote EL: The Wordsworths remained some time in London in 1820, before they started for the Continent, on the 1st of August. They came up to be present at the marriage of Mr. Monkhouse. It is probable that they visited Richmond during this visit, and that the above Sonnet was suggested, both by the nightingale's song at Richmond, and by the prospect of their own Continental Tour. In connection with the six last lines of the Sonnet, it may be remembered that, when sailing between Kew and Richmond, Thomson,

The sweet-souled Poet of the Seasons,

caught the cold which ended his days. He lies buried in Richmond Church. In the first Book of _The Seasons_, on "Spring," he thus alludes to the nightingales--

Lend me your song, ye nightingales! Oh pour
The mazy running soul of melody
Into my varied verse.

Again,

She sings
Her sorrows through the night; and, on the bough
Sole sitting, still at every dying fall
Takes up again her lamentable strain
Of winding woe.

Also in his _Hymn_,

Sweetest of birds! sweet Philomela, charm
The listening shades.

To Richmond he alludes frequently, _e.g._

Ascend
While radiant Summer opens all its pride
Thy hill, delightful Shene.

Shene was the old name for Richmond.--ED.]

THE GERMANS ON THE HEIGHTS OF HOCK HEIM[407]

Published 1822

This sonnet was first published in the "Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820"; the title being _Local Recollections on the Heights near Hockheim_. In 1827 it became one of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty."--ED.

Abruptly paused the strife;--the field throughout
Resting upon his arms each warrior stood,
Checked in the very act and deed of blood,
With breath suspended, like a listening scout.
O Silence! thou wert mother of a shout 5
That through the texture of yon azure dome
Cleaves its glad way, a cry of harvest home
Uttered to Heaven in ecstasy devout!
The barrier Rhine hath flashed, through battle-smoke,
On men who gaze[408] heart-smitten by the view, 10
As if all Germany had felt the shock!
--Fly, wretched Gauls! ere they the charge renew
Who have seen--themselves now casting off the yoke--[409]
The unconquerable Stream his course pursue.[EM]

VARIANTS:

[Footnote 407: 1827.

The title in 1822 was _Sonnet_. _Local Recollections on the Heights near Hockheim._]

[Footnote 408: 1827.

... gazed ... 1822.
]

[Footnote 409: 1837.

... (themselves delivered from the yoke) 1822.
]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote EM: The event is thus recorded in the journals of the day:--"When the Austrians took Hockheim, in one part of the engagement they got to the brow of the hill, whence they had their first view of the Rhine. They instantly halted--not a gun was fired--not a voice heard: but they stood gazing on the river with those feelings which the events of the last 15 years at once called up. Prince Schwartzenberg rode up to know the cause of this sudden stop, they then gave three cheers, rushed after the enemy, and drove them into the water."--W. W. 1822.

The only reference which Dorothy Wordsworth makes to Hockheim in her Journal of the Tour on the Continent (1820) is as follows:--July 25th.--"We had a magnificent prospect down the Rhine into the Reingaw, stretching towards Bingen. Hockheim is on the right bank, nearly opposite to Mayence. The broad hills are enlivened by hamlets, villas, villages, and churches."

Prince Schwartzenberg, referred to in Wordsworth's own note, was Generalissimo of the allied armies of Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, and Russia, who were victors in the battle of Leipsic in 1813. The retreat of the French towards the Rhine after that battle was almost as disastrous to them as the retreat from Moscow in the previous winter. The incident described in the sonnet doubtless occurred during this retreat, when the French were driven across the Rhine in November 1813.--ED.]

A PARSONAGE IN OXFORDSHIRE

Composed 1820.--Published 1822

[This Parsonage was the residence of my friend Jones, and is particularly described in another note.[EN]--I. F.]

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

Where holy ground begins, unhallowed ends,
Is marked by no distinguishable line;
The turf unites, the pathways intertwine;
And, wheresoe'er the stealing footstep tends,
Garden, and that Domain where kindred, friends, 5
And, neighbours rest together, here confound
Their several features, mingled like the sound
Of many waters, or as evening blends
With shady night. Soft airs, from shrub and flower,
Waft fragrant greetings to each silent grave; 10
And while those lofty poplars gently wave
Their tops, between them[410] comes and goes a sky
Bright as the glimpses of eternity,
To saints accorded in their mortal hour.

This sonnet was written at Brugès, during the Continental Tour of 1820 (see note p. 291). It was originally published in a note to one of the "Ecclesiastical Sonnets," beginning

A genial hearth, a hospitable board.--ED.

VARIANTS:

[Footnote 410: 1827.

Meanwhile between those Poplars, as they wave
Their lofty summits, ... 1822.
]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote EN: See the note to _Pastoral Character_, in the "Ecclesiastical Sonnets," Part III. xviii.--ED.]

TO ENTERPRISE

Composed 1820.--Published 1822.

_The Italian Itinerant_, etc. [see p. 338], led to the train of thought which produced the annexed piece.--W. W. 1822.

This poem having risen out of the _Italian Itinerant_, etc. [page 338], it is here annexed.--W. W. 1827.

From 1822 this poem was included in the "Memorials of a Tour on the Continent." In 1845 it was placed among the "Poems of the Imagination."--ED.

Keep for the Young the impassioned smile
Shed from thy countenance, as I see thee stand
High on that[411] chalky cliff of Britain's[412] Isle,
A slender volume grasping in thy hand--
(Perchance the pages that relate 5
The various turns of Crusoe's fate)--
Ah, spare the exulting smile,
And drop thy pointing finger bright
As the first flash of beacon light,
But neither veil thy head in shadows dim, 10
Nor turn thy face away
From One who, in the evening of his day,
To thee would offer no presumptuous hymn!

I

Bold Spirit! who art free to rove
Among the starry courts of Jove, 15
And oft in splendour dost appear
Embodied to poetic eyes,
While traversing this nether sphere,
Where Mortals call thee ENTERPRISE.
Daughter of Hope! her favourite Child, 20
Whom she to young Ambition[413] bore,
When hunter's arrow first defiled
The grove, and stained the turf with gore;
Thee wingèd Fancy took, and nursed
On broad Euphrates' palmy shore, 25
And[414] where the mightier Waters burst
From caves of Indian mountains hoar!
She wrapped thee in a panther's skin;
And Thou, thy favourite food to win,
The flame-eyed eagle oft would scare 30
From her rock-fortress in mid air,
With infant shout; and often sweep,[415]
Paired with the ostrich, o'er the plain;
Or,[416] tired with sport, wouldst sink asleep
Upon the couchant lion's mane! 35
With rolling years thy strength increased;
And, far beyond thy native East,
To thee, by varying titles known
As variously thy power was shown,
Did incense-bearing altars rise, 40
Which caught the blaze of sacrifice,
From suppliants panting for the skies!

II

What though this ancient Earth be trod
No more by step of Demi-god
Mounting from glorious deed to deed 45
As thou from clime to clime didst lead;
Yet still, the bosom beating high,
And the hushed farewell of an eye
Where no procrastinating gaze
A last infirmity betrays, 50
Prove that thy heaven-descended sway
Shall ne'er submit to cold decay.
By thy divinity impelled,
The Stripling seeks the tented field;
The aspiring Virgin kneels; and, pale 55
With awe, receives the hallowed veil,
A soft and tender Heroine
Vowed to severer discipline;
Inflamed by thee, the blooming Boy
Makes of the whistling shrouds a toy, 60
And of the ocean's dismal breast
A play-ground,--or a couch of rest;
'Mid the blank world of snow and ice,
Thou to his dangers dost enchain
The[417] Chamois-chaser awed in vain 65
By chasm or dizzy precipice;
And hast Thou not with triumph seen
How soaring Mortals glide between
Or through the clouds,[418] and brave the light
With bolder than Icarian flight? 70
How they, in bells[419] of crystal, dive--
Where winds and waters cease to strive--
For no unholy visitings,
Among the monsters of the Deep;
And all the sad and precious things 75
Which there in ghastly silence sleep?
Or, adverse tides and currents headed,
And breathless calms no longer dreaded,
In never-slackening voyage go
Straight as an arrow from the bow; 80
And, slighting sails and scorning oars,
Keep faith with Time on distant shores?
--Within[420] our fearless reach are placed
The secrets of the burning Waste;
Egyptian tombs unlock their dead, 85
Nile trembles at his fountain head;
Thou speak'st--and lo! the polar Seas
Unbosom their last mysteries.
--But oh! what transports, what sublime reward,
Won from the world of mind, dost thou prepare 90
For philosophic Sage; or high-souled Bard
Who, for thy service trained in lonely woods,
Hath fed on pageants floating through the air,
Or calentured in depth of limpid floods; 94
Nor grieves--tho' doomed thro' silent night to bear
The domination of his glorious themes,
Or struggle in the net-work of thy dreams!

III

If there be movements in the Patriot's soul,
From source still deeper, and of higher worth,
'Tis thine the quickening impulse to control, 100
And in due season send the mandate forth;
Thy call a prostrate[421] Nation can restore,
When but a single Mind resolves to crouch no more.[422]

IV

Dread Minister of wrath!
Who to their destined punishment dost urge 105
The Pharaohs of the earth, the men of hardened heart!
Not unassisted by the flattering stars,
Thou strew'st temptation o'er the path
When they in pomp depart
With trampling horses and refulgent cars-- 110
Soon to be swallowed by the briny surge;
Or cast, for lingering death, on unknown strands;
Or caught amid a whirl[423] of desert sands--
An Army now, and now a living hill 114
That a brief while heaves with convulsive throes--
Then all is still;[424][EO]
Or, to forget their madness and their woes,
Wrapt in a winding-sheet of spotless snows!

V

Back flows the willing current of my Song:
If to provoke such doom the Impious dare, 120
Why should it daunt a blameless prayer?
--Bold Goddess! range our Youth among;
Nor let thy genuine impulse fail to beat
In hearts no longer young;
Still may a veteran Few have pride 125
In thoughts whose sternness makes them sweet;
In fixed resolves by Reason justified;
That to their object cleave like sleet
Whitening a pine tree's northern side,
When fields are naked far and wide, 130
And withered leaves, from earth's cold breast
Up-caught in whirlwinds, nowhere can find rest.[425]

VI

But, if such homage thou disdain
As doth with mellowing years agree,
One rarely absent from thy train 135
More humble favours may obtain
For thy contented Votary.
She, who incites the frolic lambs
In presence of their heedless dams,
And to the solitary fawn 140
Vouchsafes her lessons, bounteous Nymph
That wakes the breeze, the sparkling lymph
Doth hurry to the lawn;
She, who inspires that strain of joyance holy 144
Which the sweet Bird, misnamed the melancholy,[EP]
Pours forth in shady groves, shall plead for me;
And vernal mornings opening bright
With views of undefined delight,
And cheerful songs, and suns that shine
On busy days, with thankful nights, be mine. 150

VII

But thou, O Goddess! in thy favourite Isle
(Freedom's impregnable redoubt,
The wide earth's store-house fenced about
With breakers roaring to the gales
That stretch a thousand thousand sails) 155
Quicken the slothful, and exalt the vile!--
Thy impulse is the life of Fame;
Glad Hope would almost cease to be
If torn from thy society;
And Love, when worthiest of his name,[426] 160
Is proud to walk the earth with Thee!

VARIANTS:

[Footnote 411: 1837.

... a ... 1822.
]

[Footnote 412: The edition of 1849 has "Briton's," evidently a misprint.]

[Footnote 413: 1822.

... to youthful Courage ... C.
]

[Footnote 414: 1845.

Or ... 1822.
]

[Footnote 415: 1837.

And thou (if rightly I rehearse
What wondering Shepherds told in verse)
From rocky fortress in mid air
(The food which pleased thee best to win)
Did'st oft the flame-eyed Eagle scare
With infant shout,--as often sweep, 1822.

And thou, whose earliest thoughts held dear
Allurements that were edged with fear,
(The food that pleased thee best, to win)
From rocky fortress in mid air
The flame-eyed Eagle oft would scare
With infant shout,--as often sweep, 1827.

And thou, whose earliest thoughts held dear
Allurements that were edged with fear,
(The food that pleased thee best, to win)
With infant shout wouldst often scare
From her rock-fortress in mid air
The flame-eyed Eagle--often sweep, 1832.
]

[Footnote 416: 1837.

And, ... 1822.
]

[Footnote 417: 1837.

... and a couch of rest;
Thou to his dangers dost enchain,
'Mid the blank world of snow and ice,
The ... 1822.

... and a couch of rest;
'Mid the blank world of snow and ice,
Thou to his dangers dost enchain
The ... 1832.
]

[Footnote 418: 1837.

... glide serene
From cloud to cloud, ... 1822.
]

[Footnote 419: 1832.

Or, in their bells ... 1822.
]

[Footnote 420: 1832.

... in ghastly silence sleep?
--Within ... 1822.
]

[Footnote 421: 1832.

... an abject ... 1827.
]

[Footnote 422: This stanza was first added in the edition of 1827.]

[Footnote 423: 1837.

Or stifled under weight ... 1822.
]

[Footnote 424: 1845.

Heaving with convulsive throes,--
It quivers--and is still; 1822.

Raised in a moment; with convulsive throes
It heaved--and all is still; 1837.
]

[Footnote 425: 1840.

While ... 1822.

And withered leaves, from Earth's cold breast
Up-caught in whirlwinds, nowhere can find rest. 1832.

... like sleet
Clothing a tall pine's northern side,
In rough November days when winds have tried
Their force on all things else--left naked far and wide. 1837.
]

[Footnote 426: 1837.

... of the name, 1822.
]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote EO:

Awhile the living hill
Heaved with convulsive throes, and all was still.

--Dr. Darwin describing the destruction of the army of Cambyses.--W. W. 1822.

Compare _Memoirs of Wordsworth_, vol. ii. p. 225.--ED.]

[Footnote EP: The nightingale. Compare _Il Penseroso_, l. 62.--ED.]

THE RIVER DUDDON

A SERIES OF SONNETS

Composed 1820.--Published 1820

[It is with the little river Duddon as it is with most other rivers, Ganges and Nile not excepted,--many springs might claim the honour of being its head. In my own fancy I have fixed its rise near the noted Shire-stones placed at the meeting-point of the counties, Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Lancashire. They stand by the way side on the top of the Wrynose Pass, and it used to be reckoned a proud thing to say that, by touching them at the same time with feet and hands, one had been in the three counties at once. At what point of its course the stream takes the name of Duddon I do not know. I first became acquainted with the Duddon, as I have good reason to remember, in early boyhood. Upon the banks of the Derwent I had learnt to be very fond of angling. Fish abound in that large river; not so in the small streams in the neighbourhood of Hawkshead; and I fell into the common delusion that the farther from home the better sport would be had. Accordingly, one day I attached myself to a person living in the neighbourhood of Hawkshead, who was going to try his fortune as an angler near the source of the Duddon. We fished a great part of the day with very sorry success, the rain pouring torrents, and long before we got home I was worn out with fatigue; and, if the good man had not carried me on his back, I must have lain down under the best shelter I could find. Little did I think then it would be my lot to celebrate, in a strain of love and admiration, the stream which for many years I never thought of without recollections of disappointment and distress.

During my college vacation, and two or three years afterwards, before taking my Bachelor's degree, I was several times resident in the house of a near relative who lived in the small town of Broughton. I passed many delightful hours upon the banks of this river, which becomes an estuary about a mile from that place. The remembrances of that period are the subject of the 21st sonnet. The subject of the 27th is in fact taken from a tradition belonging to Rydal Hall, which once stood, as is believed, upon a rocky and woody hill on the right hand as you go from Rydal to Ambleside, and was deserted from the superstitious fear here described, and the present site fortunately chosen instead. The present hall was erected by Sir Michael le Fleming, and it may be hoped that at some future time there will be an edifice more worthy of so beautiful a position. With regard to the 30th sonnet it is odd enough that this imagination was realised in the year 1840 when I made a tour through that district with my wife and daughter, Miss Fenwick and her niece, and Mr. and Mrs. Quillinan. Before our return from Seathwaite Chapel the party separated. Mrs. Wordsworth, while most of us went further up the stream, chose an opposite direction, having told us that we should overtake her on our way to Ulpha. But she was tempted out of the main road to ascend a rocky eminence near it, thinking it impossible we should pass without seeing her. This, however, unfortunately happened, and then ensued vexation and distress, especially to me, which I should be ashamed to have recorded, for I lost my temper entirely. Neither I nor those that were with me saw her again till we reached the Inn at Broughton, seven miles. This may perhaps in some degree excuse my irritability on the occasion, for I could not but think she had been much to blame. It appeared, however, on explanation that she had remained on the rock, calling out and waving her handkerchief as we were passing, in order that we also might ascend and enjoy a prospect which had much charmed her. "But on we went, her signals proving vain." How then could she reach Broughton before us? When we found she had not gone on before to Ulpha Kirk, Mr. Quillinan went back in one of the carriages in search of her. He met her on the road, took her up, and by a shorter way conveyed her to Broughton, where we were all re-united and spent a happy evening.

I have many affecting remembrances connected with this stream. Those I forbear to mention; especially things that occurred on its banks during the later part of that visit to the sea-side, of which the former part is detailed in my Epistle to Sir George Beaumont.--I. F.]

* * * * *

The River Duddon rises upon Wrynose Fell, on the confines of Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Lancashire; and, having served[427] as a boundary to the two last[428] counties for the space of about twenty-five miles, enters the Irish Sea, between the Isle of Walney and the Lordship of Millum.--W. W. 1820.[EQ]

TO THE REV. DR. WORDSWORTH[429][ER]

(WITH THE SONNETS TO THE RIVER DUDDON, AND OTHER POEMS IN THIS COLLECTION, 1820[430])

The Minstrels played their Christmas tune
To-night beneath my cottage-eaves;
While, smitten by a lofty moon,
The encircling laurels, thick with leaves,
Gave back a rich and dazzling sheen, 5
That overpowered their natural green.

Through hill and valley every breeze
Had sunk to rest with folded wings:
Keen was the air, but could not freeze,
Nor check, the music of the strings; 10
So stout and hardy were the band
That scraped the chords with strenuous hand!

And who but listened?--till was paid
Respect to every Inmate's claim:
The greeting given, the music played, 15
In honour of each household name,
Duly pronounced with lusty call,
And "merry Christmas" wished to all!

O Brother! I revere the choice
That took thee from thy native hills; 20
And it is given thee to rejoice:
Though public care full often tills
(Heaven only witness of the toil)
A barren and ungrateful soil.

Yet, would that Thou, with me and mine, 25
Hadst heard this never-failing rite;
And seen on other faces shine
A true revival of the light
Which Nature and these rustic Powers,
In simple childhood, spread through ours! 30

For pleasure hath not ceased to wait
On these expected annual rounds;
Whether the rich man's sumptuous gate
Call forth the unelaborate sounds,
Or they are offered at the door 35
That guards the lowliest of the poor.

How touching, when, at midnight, sweep
Snow-muffled winds, and all is dark,
To hear--and sink again to sleep!
Or, at an earlier call, to mark, 40
By blazing fire, the still suspense
Of self-complacent innocence;

The mutual nod,--the grave disguise
Of hearts with gladness brimming o'er;
And some unbidden tears that rise 45
For names once heard, and heard no more;
Tears brightened by the serenade
For infant in the cradle laid.

Ah! not for emerald fields alone,
With ambient streams more pure and bright 50
Than fabled Cytherea's zone[ES]
Glittering before the Thunderer's sight,
Is to my heart of hearts endeared
The ground where we were born and reared!

Hail, ancient Manners! sure defence, 55
Where they survive, of wholesome laws;
Remnants of love whose modest sense
Thus into narrow room withdraws;
Hail, Usages of pristine mould,
And ye that guard them, Mountains old! 60

Bear with me, Brother! quench the thought
That slights this passion, or condemns;
If thee fond Fancy ever brought
From the proud margin of the Thames,
And Lambeth's venerable towers,[ET] 65
To humbler streams, and greener bowers.

Yes, they can make, who fail to find,
Short leisure even in busiest days;
Moments, to cast a look behind,
And profit by those kindly rays 70
That through the clouds do sometimes steal,
And all the far-off past reveal.

Hence, while the imperial City's din
Beats frequent on thy satiate ear,
A pleased attention I may win 75
To agitations less severe,
That neither overwhelm nor cloy,
But fill the hollow vale with joy![EU]

VARIANTS:

[Footnote 427: 1837.

... and, serving 1820.
]

[Footnote 428: 1827.

... latter 1820.
]

[Footnote 429: 1827.

To the Rev. Dr. W----. 1820.
]

[Footnote 430: The date, 1820, was first inserted in the edition of 1837.]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote EQ: Wordsworth delighted in tracing the course of rivers all the way from their source to the sea. On November 12, 1808, Southey wrote to his son, "If I go" (it was to Workington) "it will be with Wordsworth, for the sake of tracing the Derwent the whole way." (See _Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey_, vol. ii. p. 108.)--ED.]

[Footnote ER: In the first edition of 1820, this dedicatory poem is not placed at the beginning of the series, but between the lines _Composed at Cora Linn_, and _Repentance_. The whole volume, however,--including many other poems besides those on the Duddon, and the _Topographical Description of the Country of the Lakes in the North of England_--is dedicated thus, "To the Rev. Christopher Wordsworth, D.D., etc. etc., these sonnets called forth by one of the most beautiful streams of his native county, are respectfully inscribed, by his affectionate brother, William Wordsworth."--ED.]

[Footnote ES: The fields and streams were those around Cockermouth and Hawkshead. It was near the island Cythera that Aphrodite was said, according to some legends, to have risen from the sea-foam. Hence the term "Cytherea's zone." The "Thunderer" is, of course, Jupiter Tonans.--ED.]

[Footnote ET: Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, afterwards Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, was then Rector of Lambeth parish.--ED.]

I

"NOT ENVYING LATIAN SHADES--IF YET THEY THROW"

Not envying Latian shades--if yet they throw
A grateful coolness round that crystal Spring,
Blandusia, prattling--as when long ago
The Sabine Bard was moved her praise to sing;[431][EV]
Careless of flowers that in perennial blow 5
Round the moist marge of Persian fountains cling;
Heedless of Alpine torrents thundering
Through ice-built arches[432] radiant as heaven's bow;
I seek the birth-place of a native Stream.--[EW]
All hail, ye mountains! hail, thou morning light! 10
Better to breathe at large on this clear height
Than toil[433] in needless sleep from dream to dream:
Pure flow the verse, pure, vigorous, free, and bright,
For Duddon, long-loved Duddon, is my theme!

VARIANTS:

[Footnote 431: 1837.

Not envying shades which haply yet may throw
A grateful coolness round that rocky spring,
Blandusia, once responsive to the string
Of the Horatian lyre with babbling flow; 1820.
]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote EU: With this last stanza compare what Charles Lamb wrote to Dorothy Wordsworth on May 25, 1820, after reading the poem: "I have traced the Duddon in thought and with repetition along the banks (alas!) of the Lea--(unpoetical name): it is always flowing and murmuring in my ears." (_Letters of Charles Lamb_, edited by Alfred Ainger, vol. ii. p. 56.)--ED.]

[Footnote EV: See Horace, _Carmina_ III. 13, _Ad fontem Blandusiæ_:

... unde loquaces
Lymphæ desiliunt tuæ,

and compare _Epistolae_ I. 16, 9.--ED.]

[Footnote 432: 1837.

Through icy portals ... 1820.
]

[Footnote EW: Mr. Herbert Rix--late Assistant Secretary to the Royal Society--has made a very minute and careful study of the Duddon Valley--repeated during many seasons--with the object of localising the allusions in the sonnets. I am indebted to him for the following notes, which bear his name.

The Rev. Canon Rawnsley has also studied the Duddon Valley with great care, and I place his comments beside those of Mr. Rix, both when they are supplementary, and when they differ from the conclusions come to by Mr. Rix.--ED.

"The Duddon rises on Wrynose Fell, near to the 'Three-Shire Stone,' where Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Lancashire meet, though which of the rills descending from the heights above Wrynose Gap and uniting to form the streamlet which flows along the pass, is to be regarded as the ultimate source, or which of them the poet may have followed, it would perhaps be difficult to say. More than one takes its rise in just such a spot as we find described in the second and third sonnets, where the 'lofty waste' is haunted by the Spirit of 'Desolation,' where the 'whistling blast' sweeps bleakly by, and where 'naked stones,' such as the poet chose for his seat, are scattered all around. James Thorne, in his _Rambles by Rivers_ (London, 1844, p. 10), has given a rough woodcut of the source of the Duddon." (Herbert Rix.)

"I was fortunate in seeking the 'birth-place of a native stream' after a very heavy fall of rain, and I followed the left hand branch to a basin, from which in winter time a full stream must pass with force, to judge by the deep channel-bed of white and bleached stones which the water has carved out of the peat-moss for itself. There was the clear height, and from it was seen quite distinctly Brathay Vale, and a glimpse of Duddon Vale at Cockley Beck, and of Windermere Lake below Lowwood, and the bare Yorkshire hills far away to the east-south-east." (H. D. Rawnsley.) ]

II

"CHILD OF THE CLOUDS! REMOTE FROM EVERY TAINT"

Child of the clouds! remote from every taint
Of sordid industry thy lot is cast;
Thine are the honours of the lofty waste;[A]
Not seldom, when with heat the valleys faint,
Thy handmaid Frost with spangled tissue quaint 5
Thy cradle decks;--to chant thy birth, thou hast
No meaner Poet than the whistling Blast,
And Desolation is thy Patron-saint![EX]
She guards thee, ruthless Power! who would not spare
Those mighty forests, once the bison's screen, 10
Where stalked the huge deer to his shaggy lair[EY]
Through paths and alleys roofed with darkest[434] green
Thousands of years before the silent air
Was pierced by whizzing shaft of hunter keen!

VARIANTS:

[Footnote 433: 1837.

Better to breathe upon this aëry height
Than pass ... 1820.
]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote EX: See note [EV] to the previous sonnet.--ED.]

III

"HOW SHALL I PAINT THEE?--BE THIS NAKED STONE"

How shall I paint thee?--Be this naked stone
My seat, while I give way to such intent;
Pleased could my verse, a speaking monument,
Make to the eyes of men thy features known.
But as of all those tripping lambs not one 5
Outruns his fellows, so hath Nature lent
To thy beginning nought that doth present
Peculiar ground[435] for hope to build upon.
To dignify the spot that gives thee birth,
No sign of hoar Antiquity's esteem 10
Appears, and none of modern Fortune's care;
Yet thou thyself hast round thee shed a gleam
Of brilliant moss, instinct with freshness rare;[EZ]
Prompt offering to thy Foster-mother, Earth!

VARIANTS:

[Footnote 434: 1845.

... sombre ... 1820.
]

[Footnote 435: 1837.

... grounds ... 1820.
]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote EY: The deer alluded to is the Leigh, a gigantic species long since extinct.--W. W. 1820.

"As one looks upon the peat-moss, with its fragments of birch trees laid bare by the stream, one could easily imagine that the poet had been led, as he gazed, to think of

Those mighty forests, once the bison's screen,
Where stalked the huge deer to his shaggy lair."

(H. D. Rawnsley.)
]

[Footnote EZ: "'A gleam of brilliant moss' refers, no doubt, to the _Sphagnum_, or Bog-moss, which grows here in large patches, very noticeable among the sombre heather, and which shines like gold when the sunlight is upon it." (Herbert Rix.)

"On the edge of the saucer-like hollow, into which the rillets that make the stream descend, are glacier-banded rock outcrops, and on one of these is a rock perché, to which instinctively I turned for a seat. The lines in Sonnet III.--

How shall I paint thee?--Be this naked stone
My seat,

at once suggested themselves to me; and below me, as I sat, gleamed the 'brilliant moss, instinct with freshness rare,' which the poet's eyes had rejoiced in, so many years ago." (H. D. Rawnsley.)]

IV

"TAKE, CRADLED NURSLING OF THE MOUNTAIN, TAKE"

Take, cradled Nursling of the mountain, take
This parting glance, no negligent adieu![FA]
A Protean change seems wrought while I pursue
The curves, a loosely-scattered chain doth make;
Or rather thou appear'st[436] a glittering snake, 5
Silent, and to the gazer's eye untrue,
Thridding with sinuous lapse the rushes, through
Dwarf willows gliding, and by ferny brake.
Starts from a dizzy steep the undaunted Rill
Robed instantly in garb of[437] snow-white foam; 10
And laughing dares the Adventurer, who hath clomb
So high, a rival purpose to fulfil;
Else let the dastard backward wend, and roam,
Seeking less bold achievement, where he will![FB]

VARIANTS:

[Footnote 436: 1820.

... I behold ... C.
]

[Footnote 437: 1820.

Leaps instantly enrobed in ... C.
]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote FA: "The 'parting glance' of this sonnet would naturally be taken just before rounding the brow of the hill. The path drops somewhat suddenly, so that two or three steps bring the traveller from a level whence looking backward the 'sinuous lapse' of the stream may be seen for some distance, to a stage where it is entirely hidden from view. Or, more likely, the 'sinuous lapse' is that which lies below the spectator, as he stands at this point of vantage, and looks down into Wrynose Bottom. The 'Protean change' is then the contrast between the 'cradled Nursling' as the poet looks back into Wrynose Gap, and the 'loosely-scattered chain' or 'glittering snake' which he sees below him, as he turns and looks down into Wrynose Bottom. These similes are accurately descriptive of the river so seen, especially towards evening when the western light is on the water. From this point the Duddon descends to the valley by a quick series of falls. The first of these falls--a very pretty cascade just at the edge of the hill--is probably the 'dizzy steep' mentioned in the sonnet." (Herbert Rix.)]

V

"SOLE LISTENER, DUDDON! TO THE BREEZE THAT PLAYED"