Chapter X: Part II (3)

Once to the verge of yon steep barrier came
A roving school-boy; what the Adventurer’s age
Hath now escaped his memory--but the hour,
One of a golden summer holiday,
He well remembers, though the year be gone. 5
Alone and devious from afar he came;
And, with a sudden influx overpowered
At sight of this seclusion, he forgot
His haste, for hasty had his footsteps been
As boyish his pursuits; and, sighing said, 10
“What happy fortune were it here to live!
And, (if a thought of dying, if a thought
Of mortal separation, could intrude
With paradise before him), here to die!”
No prophet was he, had not even a hope, 15
Scarcely a wish, but one bright pleasing thought,
A fancy in the heart of what might be
The lot of others, never could be his.
The station whence he looked was soft and green,
Not giddy yet aerial, with a depth 20
Of vale below, a height of hills above.
For rest of body, perfect was the spot,
All that luxurious nature could desire,
But stirring to the spirit. Who could gaze
And not feel motions there? He thought of clouds 25
That sail on winds, of breezes that delight
To play on water, or in endless chase
Pursue each other through the yielding plain
Of grass or corn, over and through and through,
In billow after billow, evermore 30
Disporting. Nor unmindful was the Boy
Of sunbeams, shadows, butterflies and birds,
Of fluttering Sylphs, and softly-gliding Fays,
Genii, and winged Angels that are Lords
Without restraint of all which they behold. 35
The illusion strengthening as he gazed, he felt
That such unfettered liberty was his,
Such power and joy; but only for this end,
To flit from field to rock, from rock to field,
From shore to island, and from isle to shore, 40
From open ground to covert, from a bed
Of meadow-flowers into a tuft of wood,
From high to low, from low to high, yet still
Within the bound of this high concave; here
Must be his home, this Valley be his world. 45
Since that day forth the place to him--_to me_
(For I who live to register the truth
Was that same young and happy being) became
As beautiful to thought, as it had been,
When present, to the bodily sense; a haunt 50
Of pure affections, shedding upon joy
A brighter joy; and through such damp and gloom
Of the gay mind, as ofttimes splenetic youth
Mistakes for sorrow darting beams of light
That no self-cherished sadness could withstand: 55
And now ’tis mine, perchance for life, dear Vale,
Beloved Grasmere (let the Wandering Streams
Take up, the cloud-capped hills repeat, the Name),
One of thy lowly dwellings is my Home.
And was the cost so great? and could it seem 60
An act of courage, and the thing itself
A conquest? who must bear the blame? sage man
Thy prudence, thy experience--thy desires;
Thy apprehensions--blush thou for them all.
Yes, the realities of life so cold, 65
So cowardly, so ready to betray,
So stinted in the measure of their grace
As we pronounce them, doing them much wrong,
Have been to me more bountiful than hope,
Less timid than desire--but that is passed. 70
On Nature’s invitation do I come,[359]
By reason sanctioned--Can the choice mislead,
That made the calmest, fairest spot of earth,
With all its unappropriated good,
My own; and not mine only, for with me 75
Entrenched, say rather peacefully embowered,
Under yon orchard, in yon humble cot,
A younger orphan of a home extinct,
The only daughter of my parents, dwells.
Aye, think on that, my heart, and cease to stir, 80
Pause upon that, and let the breathing frame
No longer breathe, but all be satisfied.
--Oh if such silence be not thanks to God
For what hath been bestowed, then where, where then
Shall gratitude find rest? Mine eyes did ne’er 85
Fix on a lovely object, nor my mind
Take pleasure in the midst of happy thoughts,
But either She whom now I have, who now
Divides with me this loved abode, was there,
Or not far off. Where’er my footsteps turned, 90
Her Voice was like a hidden Bird that sang,
The thought of her was like a flash of light,
Or an _unseen_ companionship, a breath,
Or fragrance independent of the wind.
In all my goings, in the new and old 95
Of all my meditations, and in this
Favourite of all, in this the most of all.
--What Being, therefore, since the birth of man
Had ever more abundant cause to speak
Thanks, and if favours of the heavenly Muse 100
Make him more thankful, then to call on verse
To aid him, and in Song resound his joy.
The boon is absolute; surpassing grace
To me hath been vouchsafed; among the bowers
Of blissful Eden this was neither given, 105
Nor could be given, possession of the good
Which had been sighed for, ancient thought fulfilled
And dear Imaginations realized
Up to their highest measure, yea and more.
Embrace me then, ye Hills, and close me in, 110
Now in the clear and open day I feel
Your guardianship; I take it to my heart;
’Tis like the solemn shelter of the night.
But I would call thee beautiful, for mild
And soft, and gay, and beautiful thou art, 115
Dear Valley, having in thy face a smile
Though peaceful, full of gladness. Thou art pleased,
Pleased with thy crags, and woody steeps, thy Lake,
Its one green Island and its winding shores;
The multitude of little rocky hills, 120
Thy Church and cottages of mountain stone
Clustered like stars some few, but single most,
And lurking dimly in their shy retreats,
Or glancing at[360] each other cheerful looks,
Like separated stars with clouds between. 125
What want we? have we not perpetual streams,
Warm woods, and sunny hills, and fresh green fields,
And mountains not less green, and flocks, and herds,
And thickets full of songsters, and the voice
Of lordly birds, an unexpected sound 130
Heard now and then from morn till latest eve,
Admonishing the man who walks below
Of solitude, and silence in the sky?
These have we, and a thousand nooks of earth
Have also these, but _no_ where else is found, 135
No where (or is it fancy?) _can_ be found
The one sensation that is here; ’tis here,
Here as it found its way into my heart
In childhood, here as it abides by day,
By night, here only; or in chosen minds 140
That take it with them hence, where’er they go.
’Tis, but I cannot name it, ’tis the sense
Of majesty, and beauty, and repose,
A blended holiness of earth and sky,
Something that makes this individual Spot, 145
This small abiding-place of many men,
A termination, and a last retreat,
A centre, come from wheresoe’er you will,
A whole without dependence or defect,
Made for itself; and happy in itself, 150
Perfect Contentment, Unity entire.
Bleak season was it, turbulent and bleak,[361]
When hitherward we journeyed, side by side,
Through bursts of sunshine and through flying showers,
Paced the long Vales--how long they were--and yet 155
How fast that length of way was left behind,
Wensley’s rich Vale and Sedbergh’s naked heights.
The frosty wind, as if to make amends
For its keen breath, was aiding to our steps,
And drove us onward like two ships at sea, 160
Or like two birds, companions in mid air,
Parted and re-united by the blast.
Stern was the face of Nature. We rejoiced
In that stern countenance, for our souls thence drew
A feeling of their strength. The naked trees, 165
The icy brooks, as on we passed, appeared
To question us. “Whence come ye? to what end?”
They seemed to say; “What would ye,” said the shower,
“Wild wanderers, whither through my dark domain?”
The sunbeam said, “Be happy.” When this Vale 170
We entered, bright and solemn was the sky
That faced us with a passionate welcoming,
And led us to our threshold. Daylight failed
Insensibly, and round us gently fell
Composing darkness, with a quiet load 175
Of full contentment, in a little shed
Disturbed, uneasy in itself as seemed,
And wondering at its new inhabitants.
It loves us now, this Vale so beautiful
Begins to love us! By a sullen storm, 180
Two months unwearied of severest storm,
It put the temper of our minds to proof,
And found us faithful through the gloom, and heard
The Poet mutter his prelusive songs
With cheerful heart, an unknown voice of joy, 185
Among the silence of the woods and hills;
Silent to any gladsomeness of sound
With all their Shepherds.
But the gates of Spring
Are opened. Churlish Winter hath given leave
That she should entertain for this one day, 190
Perhaps for many genial days to come,
His guests, and make them jocund. They are pleased,
But most of all the Birds that haunt the flood
With the mild summons; inmates though they be
Of winter’s household, they keep festival 195
This day, who drooped, or seemed to droop, so long;
They shew their pleasure, and shall I do less?
Happiest of happy though I be, like them
I cannot take possession of the sky,
Mount with a thoughtless impulse, and wheel there, 200
One of a mighty multitude, whose way
Is a perpetual harmony, and dance
Magnificent. Behold, how with a grace
Of ceaseless motion,[362] that might scarcely seem
Inferior to angelical, they prolong 205
Their curious pastime, shaping in mid air,
And sometimes with ambitious wing that soars
High as the level of the mountain tops,
A circuit ampler than the lake beneath,
Their own domain;--but ever, while intent 210
On tracing and retracing that large round,
Their jubilant activity evolves
Hundreds of curves and circlets, to and fro,
Upwards and downwards, progress intricate
Yet unperplexed, as if one spirit swayed 215
Their indefatigable flight. ’Tis done--
Ten times and more, I fancied it had ceased;
But lo! the vanished company again
Ascending, they approach--I hear their wings
Faint, faint at first; and then an eager sound 220
Passed in a moment--and as faint again!
They tempt the sun to sport among[363] their plumes;
Tempt the smooth water,[364] or the gleaming ice,
To show them a fair image; ’tis themselves,
Their own fair forms, upon the glimmering plain, 225
Painted more soft and fair as they descend,
Almost to touch;--then up again aloft,
Up with a sally, and a flash of speed,
As if they scorned both resting-place and rest![365]
This day is a thanksgiving, ’tis a day 230
Of glad emotion and deep quietness;
Not upon me alone hath been bestowed,
Me rich in many onward-looking thoughts,
The penetrating bliss; oh surely these
Have felt it, not the happy Quires of Spring, 235
Her own peculiar family of love
That sport among green leaves, a blither train.
But two are missing--two, a lonely pair
Of milk-white Swans, wherefore are _they_ not seen
Partaking this day’s pleasure? From afar 240
They came, to sojourn here in solitude,
Choosing this Valley, they who had the choice
Of the whole world.[366] We saw them day by day,
Through these two months of unrelenting storm,
Conspicuous at the centre of the Lake, 245
Their safe retreat. We knew them well, I guess
That the whole Valley knew them; but to us
They were more dear than may be well believed,
Not only for their beauty, and their still
And placid way of life, and constant love 250
Inseparable, not for these alone,
But that _their_ state so much resembled ours,
They having also chosen this abode;
They strangers, and we strangers; they a pair,
And we a solitary pair like them. 255
They should not have departed; many days
Did I look forth in vain, nor on the wing
Could see them, nor in that small open space
Of blue unfrozen water, where they lodged,
And lived so long in quiet, side by side. 260
Shall we behold them, consecrated friends,
Faithful companions, yet another year
Surviving--they for us, and we for them--
And neither pair be broken? Nay perchance
It is too late already for such hope, 265
The Dalesmen may have aimed the deadly tube,
And parted them; or haply both are gone
One death, and that were mercy given to both.
Recal my song the ungenerous thought; forgive,
Thrice favoured Region, the conjecture harsh 270
Of such inhospitable penalty,
Inflicted upon confidence so pure.
Ah, if I wished to follow where the sight
Of all that is before mine eyes, the voice
Which speaks from a presiding Spirit here, 275
Would lead me, I should whisper to myself;
They who are dwellers in this holy place
Must needs themselves be hallowed, they require
No benediction from the stranger’s lips,
For they are blest already. None would give 280
The greeting “peace be with you” unto them,
For peace they have, it cannot but be theirs,
And mercy, and forbearance. Nay--not these,
Their healing offices a pure goodwill
Precludes, and charity beyond the bounds 285
Of charity--an overflowing love,
Not for the creature only, but for all
That is around them, love for every thing
Which in this happy region they behold!
Thus do we soothe ourselves, and when the thought 290
Is past we blame it not for having come.
What, if I floated down a pleasant Stream
And now am landed, and the motion gone,
Shall I reprove myself? Ah no, the stream
Is flowing, and will never cease to flow,[367] 295
And I shall float upon that stream again.
By such forgetfulness the soul becomes,
Words cannot say, how beautiful. Then hail,
Hail to the visible Presence, hail to thee,
Delightful Valley, habitation fair! 300
And to whatever else of outward form
Can give us inward help, can purify,
And elevate, and harmonise, and soothe,
And steal away, and for a while deceive
And lap in pleasing rest, and bear us on 305
Without desire in full complacency,
Contemplating perfection absolute
And entertained as in a placid sleep.
But not betrayed by tenderness of mind
That feared, or wholly overlooked the truth, 310
Did we come hither, with romantic hope
To find, in midst of so much loveliness,
Love, perfect love; of so much majesty
A like majestic frame of mind in those
Who here abide, the persons like the place. 315
Not from such hope, or aught of such belief
Hath issued any portion of the joy
Which I have felt this day. An awful voice,
’Tis true, hath in my walks been often heard,
Sent from the mountains or the sheltered fields; 320
Shout after shout--reiterated whoop
In manner of a bird that takes delight
In answering to itself; or like a hound
Single at chase among the lonely woods,
His yell repeating;[368] yet it was in truth 325
A human voice--a Spirit of coming night,
How solemn when the sky is dark, and earth
Not dark, nor yet enlightened, but by snow
Made visible, amid a noise of winds
And bleatings manifold of mountain sheep, 330
Which in that iteration recognise
Their summons, and are gathering round for food,
Devoured with keenness ere to grove or bank
Or rocky _bield_ with patience they retire.
That very voice, which, in some timid mood 335
Of superstitious fancy, might have seemed
Awful as ever stray Demoniac uttered,
His steps to govern in the Wilderness;
Or as the Norman Curfew’s regular beat,
To hearths when first they darkened at the knell: 340
That Shepherd’s voice, it may have reached mine ear
Debased and under profanation, made
The ready Organ of articulate sounds
From ribaldry, impiety, or wrath
Issuing when shame hath ceased to check the brawls 345
Of some abused Festivity--so be it.
I came not dreaming of unruffled life,
Untainted manners; born among the hills,
Bred also there, I wanted not a scale
To regulate my hopes. Pleased with the good, 350
I shrink not from the evil with disgust,
Or with immoderate pain. I look for Man,
The common creature of the brotherhood,
Differing but little from the Man elsewhere,
For selfishness, and envy, and revenge, 355
Ill neighbourhood--pity that this should be--
Flattery and double-dealing, strife and wrong.
Yet is it something gained, it is in truth
A mighty gain, that Labour here preserves
His rosy face, a servant only here 360
Of the fire-side, or of the open field,
A freeman, therefore, sound and unimpaired;
That extreme penury is here unknown,
And cold and hunger’s abject wretchedness,
Mortal to body, and the heaven-born mind; 365
That they who want, are not too great a weight
For those who can relieve. Here may the heart
Breathe in the air of fellow-suffering
Dreadless, as in a kind of fresher breeze
Of her own native element, the hand 370
Be ready and unwearied without plea
From tasks too frequent, or beyond its power
For languor, or indifference, or despair.
And as these lofty barriers break the force
Of winds, this deep Vale,--as it doth in part 375
Conceal us from the storm,--so here abides
A power and a protection for the mind,
Dispensed indeed to other solitudes,
Favoured by noble privilege like this,
Where kindred independence of estate 380
Is prevalent, where he who tills the field,
He, happy man! is master of the field,[369]
And treads the mountains which his fathers trod.
Not less than half-way up yon Mountain’s side
Behold a dusky spot, a grove of Firs, 385
That seems still smaller than it is. This grove
Is haunted--by what ghost? a gentle spirit
Of memory faithful to the call of love;
For, as reports the dame, whose fire sends up
Yon curling smoke from the grey cot below, 390
The trees (her first-born child being then a babe)
Were planted by her husband and herself,
That ranging o’er the high and houseless ground
Their sheep might neither want (from perilous storms
Of winter, nor from summer’s sultry heat) 395
A friendly covert. “And they knew it well,”
Said she, “for thither as the trees grew up,
We to the patient creatures carried food
In times of heavy snow.” She then began
In fond obedience to her private thoughts 400
To speak of her dead husband. Is there not
An art, a music, and a strain of words
That shall be like the acknowledged voice of life,
Shall speak of what is done among the fields,
Done truly there, or felt, of solid good 405
And real evil, yet be sweet withal,
More grateful, more harmonious than the breath,
The idle breath of softest pipe attuned
To pastoral fancies? Is there such a stream,
Pure and unsullied, flowing from the heart 410
With motions of true dignity and grace?
Or must we seek that stream where Man is not?
Methinks I could repeat in tuneful verse,
Delicious as the gentlest breeze that sounds
Through that aerial fir-grove, could preserve 415
Some portion of its human history
As gathered from the Matron’s lips, and tell
Of tears that have been shed at sight of it,
And moving dialogues between this pair,
Who in their prime of wedlock, with joint hands 420
Did plant the grove, now flourishing, while they
No longer flourish, he entirely gone,
She withering in her loneliness. Be this
A task above my skill; the silent mind
Has her own treasures, and I think of these, 425
Love what I see, and honour humankind.
No, we are not alone, we do not stand,
My Sister, here misplaced and desolate,
Loving what no one cares for but ourselves;
We shall not scatter through the plains and rocks 430
Of this fair Vale, and o’er its spacious heights
Unprofitable kindliness, bestowed
On objects unaccustomed to the gifts
Of feeling, which were cheerless and forlorn
But few weeks past, and would be so again 435
Were we not here; we do not tend a lamp
Whose lustre we alone participate,
Which shines dependent upon us alone,
Mortal though bright, a dying, dying flame.
Look where we will, some human hand has been 440
Before us with its offering; not a tree
Sprinkles these little pastures but the same
Hath furnished matter for a thought; perchance,
For some one, serves as a familiar friend.
Joy spreads, and sorrow spreads; and this whole Vale, 445
Home of untutored shepherds as it is,
Swarms with sensation, as with gleams of sunshine,
Shadows or breezes, scents or sounds. Nor deem
These feelings, though subservient more than ours
To every day’s demand for daily bread, 450
And borrowing more their spirit, and their shape
From self-respecting interests, deem them not
Unworthy therefore, and unhallowed: no,
They lift the animal being, do themselves
By Nature’s kind and ever-present aid 455
Refine the selfishness from which they spring,
Redeem by love the individual sense
Of anxiousness with which they are combined.
And thus it is that fitly they become
Associates in the joy of purest minds, 460
They blend therewith congenially: meanwhile,
Calmly they breathe their own undying life
Through this their mountain sanctuary. Long,
Oh long may it remain inviolate,
Diffusing health and sober cheerfulness, 465
And giving to the moments as they pass
Their little boons of animating thought
That sweeten labour, make it seen and felt
To be no arbitrary weight imposed,
But a glad function natural to man. 470
Fair proof of this, newcomer though I be,
Already have I gained. The inward frame
Though slowly opening, opens every day
With process not unlike to that which cheers
A pensive stranger, journeying at his leisure 475
Through some Helvetian dell, when low-hung mists
Break up, and are beginning to recede;
How pleased he is where thin and thinner grows
The veil, or where it parts at once, to spy
The dark pines thrusting forth their spiky heads; 480
To watch the spreading lawns with cattle grazed,
Then to be greeted by the scattered huts,
As they shine out; and _see_ the streams whose murmur
Had soothed his ear while _they_ were hidden: how pleased
To have about him, which way e’er he goes, 485
Something on every side concealed from view,
In every quarter something visible,
Half-seen or wholly, lost and found again,
Alternate progress and impediment,
And yet a growing prospect in the main. 490
Such pleasure now is mine, albeit forced,
Herein less happy than the Traveller
To cast from time to time a painful look
Upon unwelcome things, which unawares
Reveal themselves; not therefore is my heart 495
Depressed, nor does it fear what is to come,
But confident, enriched at every glance.
The more I see the more delight my mind
Receives, or by reflexion can create.
Truth justifies herself, and as she dwells 500
With Hope, who would not follow where she leads?
Nor let me pass unheeded other loves
Where no fear is, and humbler sympathies.
Already hath sprung up within my heart
A liking for the small grey horse that bears 505
The paralytic man, and for the brute--
In Scripture sanctified--the patient brute,
On which the cripple, in the quarry maimed,
Rides to and fro: I know them and their ways.[370]
The famous sheep-dog, first in all the Vale, 510
Though yet to me a stranger, will not be
A stranger long; nor will the blind man’s guide,
Meek and neglected thing, of no renown!
Soon will peep forth the primrose; ere it fades
Friends shall I have at dawn, blackbird and thrush 515
To rouse me, and a hundred warblers more;
And if those eagles to their ancient hold
Return, Helvellyn’s eagles! with the pair
From my own door I shall be free to claim
Acquaintance as they sweep from cloud to cloud. 520
The owl that gives the name to Owlet-Crag
Have I heard whooping, and he soon will be
A chosen one of my regards. See there
The heifer in yon little croft belongs
To one who holds it dear; with duteous care 525
She reared it, and in speaking of her charge
I heard her scatter some endearing words
Domestic, and in spirit motherly
She being herself a Mother, happy Beast
If the caresses of a human voice 530
Can make it so, and care of human hands.
And ye as happy under Nature’s care,
Strangers to me, and all men, or at least
Strangers to all particular amity,
All intercourse of knowledge or of love 535
That parts the individual from his kind,
Whether in large communities ye keep
From year to year, not shunning Man’s abode,
A settled residence, or be from far,
Wild creatures, and of many homes, that come 540
The gift of winds, and whom the winds again
Take from us at your pleasure--yet shall ye
Not want, for this, your own subordinate place
In my affections. Witness the delight
With which erewhile I saw that multitude 545
Wheel through the sky, and see them now at rest,
Yet not at rest, upon the glassy lake.
They _cannot_ rest, they gambol like young whelps;
Active as lambs, and overcome with joy.
They try all frolic motions; flutter, plunge, 550
And beat the passive water with their wings.
Too distant are they for plain view, but lo!
Those little fountains, sparkling in the sun,
Betray their occupation, rising up,
First one and then another silver spout, 555
As one or other takes the fit of glee,
Fountains and spouts, yet somewhat in the guise
Of play-thing fire-works, that on festal nights
Sparkle about the feet of wanton boys.
--How vast the compass of this theatre, 560
Yet nothing to be seen but lovely pomp
And silent majesty; the birch-tree woods
Are hung with thousand thousand diamond drops
Of melted hoar-frost, every tiny knot
In the bare twigs, each little budding place 565
Cased with its several beads, what myriads there
Upon one tree, while all the distant grove
That rises to the summit of the steep
Shows like a mountain built of silver light.
See yonder the same pageant, and again 570
Behold the universal imagery
Inverted, all its sun-bright features touched
As with the varnish, and the gloss of dreams;
Dreamlike the blending also of the whole
Harmonious landscape; all along the shore 575
The boundary lost, the line invisible
That parts the image from reality;
And the clear hills, as high as they ascend
Heavenward, so piercing deep the lake below.
Admonished of the days of love to come 580
The raven croaks, and fills the upper air
With a strange sound of genial harmony;[371]
And in and all about that playful band,
Incapable although they be of rest,
And in their fashion very rioters, 585
There is a stillness, and they seem to make
Calm revelry in that their calm abode.
Them leaving to their joyous hours I pass,
Pass with a thought the life of the whole year
That is to come, the throng of woodland flowers, 590
And lilies that will dance upon the waves.
Say boldly then that solitude is not
Where these things are. He truly is alone,
He of the multitude whose eyes are doomed
To hold a vacant commerce day by day 595
With objects wanting life, repelling love;
He by the vast Metropolis immured,
Where pity shrinks from unremitting calls,
Where numbers overwhelm humanity,
And neighbourhood serves rather to divide 600
Than to unite. What sighs more deep than his,
Whose nobler will hath long been sacrificed;
Who must inhabit, under a black sky,
A City where, if indifference to disgust
Yield not, to scorn, or sorrow, living men 605
Are ofttimes to their fellow-men no more
Than to the forest hermit are the leaves
That hang aloft in myriads--nay, far less,
For they protect his walk from sun and shower,
Swell his devotion with their voice in storms, 610
And whisper while the stars twinkle among them
His lullaby. From crowded streets remote,
Far from the living and dead wilderness
Of the thronged world, Society is here[372]
A true Community, a genuine frame 615
Of many into one incorporate.
_That_ must be looked for here, paternal sway,
One household under God for high and low,
One family, and one mansion; to themselves
Appropriate, and divided from the world 620
As if it were a cave, a multitude
Human and brute, possessors undisturbed
Of this recess, their legislative hall,
Their Temple, and their glorious dwelling-place.
Dismissing therefore, all Arcadian dreams, 625
All golden fancies of the golden age,
The bright array of shadowy thoughts from times
That were before all time, or is to be
Ere time expire, the pageantry that stirs
And will be stirring when our eyes are fixed 630
On lovely objects, and we wish to part
With all remembrance of a jarring world,
--Take we at once this one sufficient hope,
What need of more? that we shall neither droop,
Nor pine for want of pleasure in the life 635
Scattered about us, nor through dearth of aught
That keeps in health the insatiable mind;
That we shall have for knowledge and for love
Abundance; and that, feeling as we do
How goodly, how exceeding fair, how pure 640
From all reproach is yon ethereal vault,
And this deep vale its earthly counterpart,
By which, and under which, we are enclosed
To breathe in peace, we shall moreover find
(If sound, and what we ought to be ourselves, 645
If rightly we observe and justly weigh)
The inmates not unworthy of their home
The dwellers of their dwelling.
And if this
Were otherwise, we have within ourselves
Enough to fill the present day with joy, 650
And overspread the future years with hope,
Our beautiful and quiet home, enriched
Already with a stranger whom we love
Deeply, a stranger of our father’s house,
A never-resting Pilgrim of the Sea,[373] 655
Who finds at last an hour to his content
Beneath our roof. And others whom we love
Will seek us also, sisters of our hearts,[374]
And one, like them, a brother of our hearts,
Philosopher and Poet,[375] in whose sight 660
These mountains will rejoice with open joy.
--Such is our wealth; O Vale of Peace, we are
And must be, with God’s will, a happy band.
Yet ’tis not to enjoy that we exist,
For that end only; something must be done. 665
I must not walk in unreproved delight
These narrow bounds, and think of nothing more,
No duty that looks further, and no care.
Each being has his office, lowly some
And common, yet all worthy if fulfilled 670
With zeal, acknowledgment that with the gift
Keeps pace, a harvest answering to the seed--
Of ill-advised Ambition and of Pride
I would stand clear, but yet to me I feel
That an internal brightness is vouchsafed 675
That must not die, that must not pass away.
Why does this inward lustre fondly seek,
And gladly blend with outward fellowship?
Why do _they_ shine around me whom I love?
Why do they teach me whom I thus revere? 680
Strange question, yet it answers not itself.
That humble roof embowered among the trees,
That calm fire-side, it is not even in them,
--Blest as they are--to furnish a reply,
That satisfies and ends in perfect rest. 685
Possessions have I that are solely mine,
Something within which yet is shared by none,
Not even the nearest to me and most dear,
Something which power and effort may impart,
I would impart it, I would spread it wide, 690
Immortal in the world which is to come.
Forgive me if I add another claim,
And would not wholly perish even in this,
Lie down and be forgotten in the dust,
I and the modest partners of my days 695
Making a silent company in death;
Love, knowledge, all my manifold delights
All buried with me without monument
Or profit unto any but ourselves.
It must not be, if I, divinely taught, 700
Be privileged to speak as I have felt
Of what in man is human or divine.
While yet an innocent little-one, with a heart
That doubtless wanted not its tender moods,
I breathed (for this I better recollect) 705
Among wild appetites and blind desires,
Motions of savage instinct, my delight
And exaltation. Nothing at that time
So welcome, no temptation half so dear
As that which urged me to a daring feat. 710
Deep pools, tall trees, black chasms, and dizzy crags,
And tottering towers; I loved to stand and read
Their looks forbidding, read and disobey,
Sometimes in act, and evermore in thought.
With impulses that scarcely were by these 715
Surpassed in strength, I heard of danger, met
Or sought with courage; enterprize forlorn
By one, sole keeper of his own intent,
Or by a resolute few who for the sake
Of glory, fronted multitudes in arms. 720
Yea to this hour I cannot read a tale
Of two brave vessels matched in deadly fight,
And fighting to the death, but I am pleased
More than a wise man ought to be. I wish,
Fret, burn, and struggle, and in soul am there; 725
But me hath Nature tamed, and bade to seek
For other agitations, or be calm;
Hath dealt with me as with a turbulent stream,
Some nursling of the mountains, which she leads
Through quiet meadows, after he has learnt 730
His strength, and had his triumph and his joy,
His desperate course of tumult and of glee.
That which in stealth by Nature was performed
Hath Reason sanctioned. Her deliberate voice
Hath said, “Be mild and cleave to gentle things, 735
Thy glory and thy happiness be there.
Nor fear, though thou confide in me, a want
Of aspirations that _have_ been, of foes
To wrestle with, and victory to complete,
Bounds to be leapt, darkness to be explored, 740
All that inflamed thy infant heart, the love,
The longing, the contempt, the undaunted quest,
All shall survive--though changed their office, all
Shall live,--it is not in their power to die.”
Then farewell to the Warrior’s schemes, farewell 745
The forwardness of soul which looks that way
Upon a less incitement than the cause
Of Liberty endangered, and farewell
That other hope, long mine, the hope to fill
The heroic trumpet with the Muse’s breath! 750
Yet in this peaceful Vale we will not spend
Unheard-of days, though loving peaceful thoughts.
A voice shall speak, and what will be the theme?[18]

[359] The following lines, 71-97, and 110-125, were first published in the _Memoirs of Wordsworth_, in 1851.--ED.

[360]

… on …

1851.

[361] The lines 152-167 were first published in the _Memoirs of Wordsworth_ in 1851.--ED.

[362]

Mark how the feathered tenants of the flood
With grace of motion …

MS.

[363]

… amid …

MS.

[364]

They tempt the water, or …

MS.

[365] The foregoing twenty-seven lines were published under the title _Water-Fowl_, in the 1827 edition of Wordsworth’s “Poetical Works.” They are also printed in the fifth edition of the _Guide through the District of the Lakes in the North of England_ (section first).--ED.

[366] Compare _Paradise Lost_, book xii. l. 646.--ED.

[367] Compare, in the _After-Thought_ to “The Duddon Sonnets”--

Still glides the Stream, and shall for ever glide.

ED.

[368] Compare, in _An Evening Walk_, l. 378--

Or yell, in the deep woods, of lonely hound.

ED.

[369] Compare Wordsworth’s numerous references to the Cumbrian and Westmoreland “Statesmen,” in his Prose Works, and elsewhere.--ED.

[370] Compare _Peter Bell_.--ED.

[371] Compare _The Excursion_, book iv. ll. 1175-1187.--ED.

[372] Wordsworth says elsewhere that

Solitude is blithe Society.

ED.

[373] John Wordsworth.--ED.

[374] The Hutchinsons.--ED.

[375] Coleridge.--ED.

“SHALL HE WHO GIVES HIS DAYS TO LOW PURSUITS”

The following lines occur in the experimental efforts made by Wordsworth to write an autobiographical poem. They occur in one of his sister’s Journals, entitled “May to December, 1802”; and were probably either dictated to her in that year, or were copied by her from some earlier fragment. They stand related to passages in _The Prelude_. (See vol. iii. p. 269.)--ED.

Shall he who gives his days to low pursuits
Amid the undistinguishable crowd
Of cities, ’mid the same eternal flow
Of the same objects, melted and reduced
To one identity, by differences 5
That have no law, no meaning, and no end,
Shall he feel yearning to those lifeless forms,
And shall we think that Nature is less kind
To those, who all day long, through a busy life,
Have walked within her sight? It cannot be. 10

1803

“I FIND IT WRITTEN OF SIMONIDES”

Published in _The Morning Post_, October 10, 1803

S.T.C. writing to Tom Poole, October 14, 1803, said that Wordsworth wrote to _The Morning Post_ “as W. L. D., and sometimes with no signature.” There is ample evidence that the following sonnet was written by Wordsworth. He had contributed five sonnets to _The Morning Post_ before the month of September 1803; and on the 10th of October in that year the following appeared.--ED.

I find it written of Simonides,
That, travelling in strange countries, once he found
A corpse that lay expos’d upon the ground,
For which, with palms, he caus’d due obsequies
To be perform’d, and paid all holy fees. 5
Soon after this man’s ghost unto him came,
And told him not to sail, as was his aim,
On board a ship then ready for the seas.
Simonides, admonish’d by the ghost,
Remain’d behind: the ship the following day 10
Set sail, was wreck’d, and all on board were lost.
Thus was the tenderest Poet that could be,
Who sang in antient Greece his loving lay,
Sav’d out of many by his piety.

1804

“NO WHIMSEY OF THE PURSE IS HERE”

Writing to Sir George Beaumont, on Christmas Day, 1804, Wordsworth said: “We have lately built in our little rocky orchard a circular hut, lined with moss, like a wren’s nest, and coated on the outside with heath, that stands most charmingly, with several views from the different sides of it, of the Lake, the Valley, and the Church.… I will copy a dwarf inscription which I wrote for it” (_i.e._ the circular hut, in his Orchard-Garden) “the other day before the building was entirely finished, which indeed it is not yet.”[376]--ED.

No whimsey of the purse is here,
No pleasure-house forlorn;
Use, comfort, do this roof endear;
A tributary shed to cheer
The little cottage that is near,
To help it and adorn.

[376] See the _Memorials of Coleorton_, vol. i. p. 81; and Wordsworth’s letter on the subject in a later volume of this edition.--ED.

1805

“PEACEFUL OUR VALLEY, FAIR AND GREEN”

This is extracted from a copy of an appendix to _Recollections of a Tour in Scotland_ by Dorothy Wordsworth, written by Mrs. Clarkson, September-November 1805. It was composed by the poet’s sister. In February 1892 it was published in _The Monthly Packet_ under the title “Grasmere: a Fragment,” and with the signature “Rydal Mount, September 26, 1829.” It is now printed from the MS. of 1805.--ED.

Peaceful our valley, fair and green;
And beautiful the cottages
Each in its nook, its sheltered hold,
Or underneath its tuft of trees.

Many and beautiful they are; 5
But there is one that I love best,
A lowly roof in truth it is,
A brother of the rest.

Yet when I sit on rock or hill
Down-looking on the valley fair, 10
That cottage with its grove of trees
Summons my heart; it settles there.

Others there are whose small domain
Of fertile fields with hedgerows green
Might more seduce the traveller’s mind 15
To wish that there his home had been.

Such wish be his! I blame him not,
My fancies they, perchance, are wild;
I love that house because it is
The very mountain’s child. 20

Fields hath it of its own, green fields;
But they are craggy, steep, and bare;
Their fence is of the mountain stone,
And moss and lichen flourish there.

And when the storm comes from the North 25
It lingers near that pastoral spot,
And piping through the mossy walls,
It seems delighted with its lot.

And let it take its own delight,
And let it range the pastures bare 30
Until it reach that grove of trees
----It may not enter there!

A green unfading grove it is,
Skirted with many a lesser tree,
Hazel and holly, beech and oak, 35
A fair and flourishing company!

Precious the shelter of those trees!
They screen the cottage that I love;
The sunshine pierces to the roof
And the tall pine trees tower above. 40

When first I saw that dear abode
It was a lovely winter’s day:
After a night of perilous storm
The West wind ruled with gentle sway;

A day so mild, it might have been 45
The first day of the gladsome spring;
The robins warbled; and I heard
One solitary throstle sing:

A stranger in the neighbourhood,
All faces then to me unknown, 50
I left my sole companion-friend
To wander out alone.

Lur’d by a little winding path,
I quitted soon the public road,
A smooth and tempting path it was 55
By sheep and shepherds trod.

Eastward, toward the mighty hills
This pathway led me on,
Until I reach’d a lofty Rock
With velvet moss o’ergrown. 60

With russet Oak and tufts of Fern
Its top was richly garlanded;
Its sides adorn’d with Eglantine
Bedropp’d with hips of glossy red.

There too in many a shelter’d chink 65
The foxglove’s broad leaves flourish’d fair,
And silver birch whose purple twigs
Bend to the softest breathing air.

Beneath that rock my course I stay’d
And, looking to its summit high, 70
“Thou wear’st,” said I, “a splendid garb,
Here winter keeps his revelry.

“I’ve been a dweller on the plains,
Have sigh’d when summer days were gone;
No more I’ll sigh; for winter here 75
Hath gladsome gardens of his own.

“What need of flowers? The splendid moss
Is gayer than an April mead;
More rich its hues of various green,
Orange and gold and glowing red.” 80

----Beside that gay and lovely rock
There came with merry voice
A foaming streamlet glancing by,
It seem’d to say “Rejoice!”

My youthful wishes all fulfill’d, 85
Wishes matured by thoughtful choice,
I stood an Inmate of this vale,
How could I but rejoice?

“AH! IF I WERE A LADY GAY”

The following two stanzas were added by Wordsworth to his sister’s poem, entitled _The Cottager to her Infant_--composed in 1805, and issued in 1815 (see vol. iii. pp. 74, 75); but they were never published in Wordsworth’s lifetime.--ED.

Ah! if I were a lady gay
I should not grieve with thee to play;
Right gladly would I lie awake
Thy lively spirits to partake,
And ask no better cheer. 5

But, Babe! there’s none to work for me,
And I must rise to industry;
Soon as the cock begins to crow
Thy mother to the fold must go
To tend the sheep and kine. 10

1806

TO THE EVENING STAR OVER GRASMERE WATER, JULY 1806

The Lake is thine,
The mountains too are thine, some clouds there are,
Some little feeble stars, but all is thine,
Thou, thou art king, and sole proprietor.

A moon among her stars, a mighty vale, 5
Fresh as the freshest field, scoop’d out, and green
As is the greenest billow of the sea.

The multitude of little rocky hills,
Rocky or green, that do like islands rise
From the flat meadow lonely there. 10
…
Embowering mountains, and the dome of Heaven
And waters in the midst, a Second Heaven.

MICHAEL ANGELO IN REPLY TO THE PASSAGE UPON HIS STATUE OF NIGHT SLEEPING

In the first volume of a copy of the edition of 1836,--long kept by Wordsworth at Rydal Mount, and afterwards the property of the late Lord Coleridge--which has been referred to in the Preface to Vol. 1., and very often in the footnotes to all the volumes, signed C.--Wordsworth wrote in MS. two translations of a fragment of Michael Angelo’s on Sleep, and a translation of some Latin verses by Thomas Warton on the same subject. These fragments were never included in any edition of his published works, and it is impossible to say to what year they belong. From their close relation to other translations from Michael Angelo, made by Wordsworth in 1806, I assign them, conjecturally, to the same year. The title is from Wordsworth’s own MS.--ED.

I

Grateful is Sleep, my life, in stone bound fast,
More grateful still: while wrong and shame shall last,
On me can Time no happier state bestow
Than to be left unconscious of the woe.
Ah then, lest you awaken me, speak low. 5

II

Grateful is Sleep, more grateful still to be
Of marble; for while shameless wrong and woe
Prevail, ’tis best to neither hear nor see.
Then wake me not, I pray you. Hush, speak low.

“COME, GENTLE SLEEP, DEATH’S IMAGE THO’ THOU ART”

Come, gentle Sleep, Death’s image tho’ thou art,
Come share my couch, nor speedily depart;
How sweet thus living without life to lie,
Thus without death how sweet it is to die.

The Latin verse by Thomas Warton, of which these lines are a translation, is as follows:--

Somne veni! quamvis placidissima Mortis imago es,
Consortem cupio te tamen esse tori;
Hue ades, haud abiture citò! nam sic sine vita
Vivere quam suave est, sic sine morte mori!

Thomas Warton, Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, and Professor of Poetry in that University, is chiefly known by his _History of English Poetry_ (1774-1781).--ED.

“BROOK, THAT HAST BEEN MY SOLACE DAYS AND WEEKS”

The following version of the sonnet beginning “Brook! whose society the Poet seeks,” probably written in 1806 and first published in 1815 (see vol. iv. p. 52), has come to light since that volume was issued. The variants throughout are sufficient to warrant its publication here. Had I received it earlier they would have appeared in vol. iv.--ED.

Brook, that hast been my solace days and weeks,
And months, and let me add the long year through,
I come to thee, thou dost my heart renew;
O happy Thing! among thy flowery creeks,
And happy, dancing down thy water-breaks: 5
If I some type of thee did wish to view,
Thee, and not thee thyself, I would not do
Like Grecian Poets, give thee human cheeks,
Channels for tears! No Naiad should’st thou be;
Have neither wings, feet, feathers, joints, nor hairs. 10
It seems the Eternal Soul is clothed in thee
With purer robes than those of flesh and blood,
And hath bestowed on thee a better good;
The joy of fleshly life without its cares.

TRANSLATION FROM MICHAEL ANGELO

The date of this is unknown, and the original MS. is difficult to decipher. It is here and there illegible. It may belong to the year of the “Ecclesiastical Sonnets,” but I place it beside the other translation from Michael Angelo.--ED.

Rid of a vexing and a heavy load,
Eternal Lord! and from the world set free,
Like a frail Bark, weary I turn to Thee,--
From frightful storms into a quiet road.
On much repentance Grace will be bestow’d. 5
The nails, the thorns, and thy two hands, thy face
Benign, meek, …, offers grace
To sinners whom their sins oppress and goad.
Let not thy justice view, O Light Divine,
My fault, and keep it from thy sacred ear. 10
…
Cleanse with thy blood my sins, to this incline
More readily, the more my years require
Prompt aid, forgiveness speedy and entire.

1808

GEORGE AND SARAH GREEN

Composed 1808.--Published 1839

This poem was first printed in De Quincey’s “Recollections of Grasmere,” which appeared in _Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine_, September 1839, p. 573, and afterwards in his _Recollections of the Lakes_ (1853), p. 23.

The text is printed as it is found in De Quincey’s article. Doubtless Wordsworth, or some member of the family, had supplied him with a copy of these verses. Wordsworth himself seemed to have thought them unworthy of publication. A copy of the poem was transcribed at Grasmere by Dorothy Wordsworth for Lady Beaumont on the 20th April 1808. In this copy there are numerous variations from the text as published by De Quincey, and these are indicated in the footnotes. In the letter to Lady Beaumont, Dorothy Wordsworth says, “I am going to transcribe a poem composed by my brother a few days after his return. It was begun in the churchyard when he was looking at the grave of the Husband and Wife, and is in fact supposed to be entirely composed there.”

Wordsworth returned to his old home at Dove Cottage, Grasmere, after a short visit to London, on the 6th April 1808; and there he remained, till Allan Bank was ready for occupation. I therefore conclude that this poem was written in April 1808.

Compare De Quincey’s account of the disaster that befell the Greens, as reported in his _Early Recollections of Grasmere_. The Wordsworths had evidently taken part in the effort to raise subscriptions in behalf of the orphan children. They issued a printed appeal on the subject. The following is an extract from a letter of Dorothy Wordsworth’s to Lady Beaumont on the subject:--

“GRASMERE, _April 20th, 1808_.

“We received your letter this morning, enclosing the half of a
£5 note. I am happy to inform you that the orphans have been
fixed under the care of very respectable people. The baby is
with its sister--she who filled the Mother’s place in the house
during their two days of fearless solitude. It has clung to her
ever since, and she has been its sole nurse. I went with two
ladies of the Committee (in my sister’s place, who was then
confined to poor John’s bedside) to conduct the family to their
separate homes. The two Girls are together, as I have said; two
Boys at another Home; and the third Boy by himself at the house
of an elderly man who had a particular friendship for their
father. The kind reception that the children met with was very
affecting.”

See the letters from Wordsworth to Richard Sharpe, Esq., Mark Lane, London, in a subsequent volume, referring to the catastrophe.--ED.

Who weeps for strangers? Many wept
For George and Sarah Green;
Wept for that pair’s unhappy fate,
Whose grave may here be seen.[377]

By night, upon these stormy fells,[378] 5
Did wife and husband roam;
Six little ones at home had left,
And could not find that home.[379]

For _any_ dwelling-place of man
As vainly did they seek. 10
He perish’d; and a voice was heard--
The widow’s lonely shriek.[380]

Not many steps, and she was left[381]
A body without life--
A few short steps were the chain that bound[382] 15
The husband to the wife.[383]

Now do those[384] sternly-featured hills
Look gently on this grave;
And quiet now are the depths[385] of air,
As a sea without a wave. 20

But deeper lies the heart of peace
In quiet more profound;[386]
The heart of quietness is here
Within this churchyard bound.[387]

And from all agony of mind 25
It keeps them safe, and far
From fear and grief, and from all need
Of sun or guiding star.[388]

O darkness of the grave! how deep,[389]
After that living night-- 30
That last and dreary living one
Of sorrow and affright!

O sacred marriage-bed of death,
That keeps[390] them side by side
In bond of peace, in bond of love,[391] 35
That may not be untied!

[377] 1839.

Wept for that Pair’s unhappy end,
Whose Grave may here be seen.

MS. letter of Dorothy Wordsworth’s.

[378] 1839.

… these stormy Heights,

MS.

[379] 1839.

Six little ones the Pair had left,
And could not find their home.

MS.

[380] 1839.

Down the dark precipice he fell,
And she was left alone,
Not long to think of her children dear,
Not long to pray, or groan.

Added in MS.

[381] 1839.

A few wild steps--she too was left,

MS.

[382] 1839.

The chain of but a few wild steps.

MS. in Dorothy Wordsworth’s handwriting--sent to Lady Beaumont.

[383] 1839.

Four stanzas are here added in MS., only one of which need be given--

Our peace is of the immortal soul,
Our anguish is of clay;
Such bounty is in Heaven: so pass
The bitterest pangs away.

[384] 1839.

Now do the …

MS.

[385] 1839.

… is the depth …

MS.

[386] 1839.

In shelter more profound.

MS.

[387] 1839.

… ground.

MS.

[388] 1839.

From fear, and from all need of hope
From sun or guiding star.

MS.

[389] 1839.

… how calm,

MS.

[390] 1839.

That holds …

MS.

[391] 1839.

In bond of love, in bond of God,

MS.

1818

“THE SCOTTISH BROOM ON BIRD-NEST BRAE”[392]

The Scottish Broom on Bird-nest brae[393]
Twelve tedious years ago,
When many plants strange blossoms bore
That puzzled high and low,
A not unnatural longing felt, 5
What longing would ye know?
Why, friend, to deck her supple twigs
With _yellow_ in full blow.

To Lowther Castle she addressed
A prayer both bold and sly, 10
(For all the Brooms on Bird-nest brae
Can talk and speechify)
That flattering breezes blowing thence
Their succour would supply,
Then she would instantly put forth 15
A flag of _yellow_ dye.