"Farewell, deep Valley, with thy one rude House, And its small lot of life-supporting fields, And guardian rocks! Farewell, attractive seat! To the still influx of the morning light Open, and day's pure cheerfulness, but veiled From human observation, as if yet Primeval forests wrapped thee round with dark Impenetrable shade; once more farewell, Majestic circuit, beautiful abyss, By Nature destined from the birth of things For quietness profound!" Upon the side Of that brown ridge, sole outlet of the vale Which foot of boldest stranger would attempt, Lingering behind my comrades, thus I breathed A parting tribute to a spot that seemed Like the fixed centre of a troubled world. Again I halted with reverted eyes; The chain that would not slacken, was at length Snapt, and, pursuing leisurely my way, How vain, thought I, is it by change of place To seek that comfort which the mind denies; Yet trial and temptation oft are shunned Wisely; and by such tenure do we hold Frail life's possessions, that even they whose fate Yields no peculiar reason of complaint Might, by the promise that is here, be won To steal from active duties, and embrace Obscurity, and undisturbed repose. Knowledge, methinks, in these disordered times, Should be allowed a privilege to have Her anchorites, like piety of old; Men, who, from faction sacred, and unstained By war, might, if so minded, turn aside Uncensured, and subsist, a scattered few Living to God and nature, and content With that communion. Consecrated be The spots where such abide! But happier still The Man, whom, furthermore, a hope attends That meditation and research may guide His privacy to principles and powers Discovered or invented; or set forth, Through his acquaintance with the ways of truth, In lucid order; so that, when his course Is run, some faithful eulogist may say, He sought not praise, and praise did overlook His unobtrusive merit; but his life, Sweet to himself, was exercised in good That shall survive his name and memory. Acknowledgments of gratitude sincere Accompanied these musings; fervent thanks For my own peaceful lot and happy choice; A choice that from the passions of the world Withdrew, and fixed me in a still retreat; Sheltered, but not to social duties lost, Secluded, but not buried; and with song Cheering my days, and with industrious thought; With the ever-welcome company of books; With virtuous friendship's soul-sustaining aid, And with the blessings of domestic love. Thus occupied in mind I paced along, Following the rugged road, by sledge or wheel Worn in the moorland, till I overtook My two Associates, in the morning sunshine Halting together on a rocky knoll, Whence the bare road descended rapidly To the green meadows of another vale. Here did our pensive Host put forth his hand In sign of farewell. "Nay," the old Man said, "The fragrant air its coolness still retains; The herds and flocks are yet abroad to crop The dewy grass; you cannot leave us now, We must not part at this inviting hour." He yielded, though reluctant; for his mind Instinctively disposed him to retire To his own covert; as a billow, heaved Upon the beach, rolls back into the sea. So we descend: and winding round a rock Attain a point that showed the valley stretched In length before us; and, not distant far, Upon a rising ground a grey church-tower, Whose battlements were screened by tufted trees. And towards a crystal Mere, that lay beyond Among steep hills and woods embosomed, flowed A copious stream with boldly-winding course; Here traceable, there hidden there again To sight restored, and glittering in the sun. On the stream's bank, and everywhere, appeared Fair dwellings, single, or in social knots; Some scattered o'er the level, others perched On the hill sides, a cheerful quiet scene, Now in its morning purity arrayed. "As 'mid some happy valley of the Alps," Said I, "once happy, ere tyrannic power, Wantonly breaking in upon the Swiss, Destroyed their unoffending commonwealth, A popular equality reigns here, Save for yon stately House beneath whose roof A rural lord might dwell." "No feudal pomp, Or power," replied the Wanderer, "to that House Belongs, but there in his allotted Home Abides, from year to year, a genuine Priest, The shepherd of his flock; or, as a king Is styled, when most affectionately praised, The father of his people. Such is he; And rich and poor, and young and old, rejoice Under his spiritual sway. He hath vouchsafed To me some portion of a kind regard; And something also of his inner mind Hath he imparted but I speak of him As he is known to all. The calm delights Of unambitious piety he chose, And learning's solid dignity; though born Of knightly race, nor wanting powerful friends. Hither, in prime of manhood, he withdrew From academic bowers. He loved the spot Who does not love his native soil? he prized The ancient rural character, composed Of simple manners, feelings unsupprest And undisguised, and strong and serious thought A character reflected in himself, With such embellishment as well beseems His rank and sacred function. This deep vale Winds far in reaches hidden from our sight, And one a turreted manorial hall Adorns, in which the good Man's ancestors Have dwelt through ages, Patrons of this Cure. To them, and to his own judicious pains, The Vicar's dwelling, and the whole domain, Owes that presiding aspect which might well Attract your notice; statelier than could else Have been bestowed, through course of common chance, On an unwealthy mountain Benefice." This said, oft pausing, we pursued our way; Nor reached the village-churchyard till the sun Travelling at steadier pace than ours, had risen Above the summits of the highest hills, And round our path darted oppressive beams. As chanced, the portals of the sacred Pile Stood open; and we entered. On my frame, At such transition from the fervid air, A grateful coolness fell, that seemed to strike The heart, in concert with that temperate awe And natural reverence which the place inspired. Not raised in nice proportions was the pile, But large and massy; for duration built; With pillars crowded, and the roof upheld By naked rafters intricately crossed, Like leafless underboughs, in some thick wood, All withered by the depth of shade above. Admonitory texts inscribed the walls, Each, in its ornamental scroll, enclosed; Each also crowned with winged heads a pair Of rudely-painted Cherubim. The floor Of nave and aisle, in unpretending guise, Was occupied by oaken benches ranged In seemly rows; the chancel only showed Some vain distinctions, marks of earthly state By immemorial privilege allowed; Though with the Encincture's special sanctity But ill according. An heraldic shield, Varying its tincture with the changeful light, Imbued the altar-window; fixed aloft A faded hatchment hung, and one by time Yet undiscoloured. A capacious pew Of sculptured oak stood here, with drapery lined; And marble monuments were here displayed Thronging the walls; and on the floor beneath Sepulchral stones appeared, with emblems graven And foot-worn epitaphs, and some with small And shining effigies of brass inlaid. The tribute by these various records claimed, Duly we paid, each after each, and read The ordinary chronicle of birth, Office, alliance, and promotion all Ending in dust; of upright magistrates, Grave doctors strenuous for the mother-church, And uncorrupted senators, alike To king and people true. A brazen plate, Not easily deciphered, told of one Whose course of earthly honour was begun In quality of page among the train Of the eighth Henry, when he crossed the seas His royal state to show, and prove his strength In tournament, upon the fields of France. Another tablet registered the death, And praised the gallant bearing, of a Knight Tried in the sea-fights of the second Charles. Near this brave Knight his Father lay entombed; And, to the silent language giving voice, I read, how in his manhood's earlier day He, 'mid the afflictions of intestine war And rightful government subverted, found One only solace that he had espoused A virtuous Lady tenderly beloved For her benign perfections; and yet more Endeared to him, for this, that, in her state Of wedlock richly crowned with Heaven's regard, She with a numerous issue filled his house, Who throve, like plants, uninjured by the storm That laid their country waste. No need to speak Of less particular notices assigned To Youth or Maiden gone before their time, And Matrons and unwedded Sisters old; Whose charity and goodness were rehearsed In modest panegyric. "These dim lines, What would they tell?" said I, but, from the task Of puzzling out that faded narrative, With whisper soft my venerable Friend Called me; and, looking down the darksome aisle, I saw the Tenant of the lonely vale Standing apart; with curved arm reclined On the baptismal font; his pallid face Upturned, as if his mind were rapt, or lost In some abstraction; gracefully he stood, The semblance bearing of a sculptured form That leans upon a monumental urn In peace, from morn to night, from year to year. Him from that posture did the Sexton rouse; Who entered, humming carelessly a tune, Continuation haply of the notes That had beguiled the work from which he came, With spade and mattock o'er his shoulder hung; To be deposited, for future need, In their appointed place. The pale Recluse Withdrew; and straight we followed, to a spot Where sun and shade were intermixed; for there A broad oak, stretching forth its leafy arms From an adjoining pasture, overhung Small space of that green churchyard with a light And pleasant awning. On the moss-grown wall My ancient Friend and I together took Our seats; and thus the Solitary spake, Standing before us: "Did you note the mien Of that self-solaced, easy-hearted churl, Death's hireling, who scoops out his neighbour's grave, Or wraps an old acquaintance up in clay, All unconcerned as he would bind a sheaf, Or plant a tree. And did you hear his voice? I was abruptly summoned by the sound From some affecting images and thoughts, Which then were silent; but crave utterance now. Much," he continued, with dejected look, "Much, yesterday, was said in glowing phrase, Of our sublime dependencies, and hopes For future states of being; and the wings Of speculation, joyfully outspread, Hovered above our destiny on earth: But stoop, and place the prospect of the soul In sober contrast with reality, And man's substantial life. If this mute earth Of what it holds could speak, and every grave Were as a volume, shut, yet capable Of yielding its contents to eye and ear, We should recoil, stricken with sorrow and shame, To see disclosed, by such dread proof, how ill That which is done accords with what is known To reason, and by conscience is enjoined; How idly, how perversely, life's whole course, To this conclusion, deviates from the line, Or of the end stops short, proposed to all At her aspiring outset. Mark the babe Not long accustomed to this breathing world; One that hath barely learned to shape a smile, Though yet irrational of soul, to grasp With tiny finger to let fall a tear; And, as the heavy cloud of sleep dissolves, To stretch his limbs, bemocking, as might seem, The outward functions of intelligent man; A grave proficient in amusive feats Of puppetry, that from the lap declare His expectations, and announce his claims To that inheritance which millions rue That they were ever born to! In due time A day of solemn ceremonial comes; When they, who for this Minor hold in trust Rights that transcend the loftiest heritage Of mere humanity, present their Charge, For this occasion daintily adorned, At the baptismal font. And when the pure And consecrating element hath cleansed The original stain, the child is there received Into the second ark, Christ's church, with trust That he, from wrath redeemed, therein shall float Over the billows of this troublesome world To the fair land of everlasting life. Corrupt affections, covetous desires, Are all renounced; high as the thought of man Can carry virtue, virtue is professed; A dedication made, a promise given For due provision to control and guide, And unremitting progress to ensure In holiness and truth." "You cannot blame," Here interposing fervently I said, "Rites which attest that Man by nature lies Bedded for good and evil in a gulf Fearfully low; nor will your judgment scorn Those services, whereby attempt is made To lift the creature toward that eminence On which, now fallen, erewhile in majesty He stood; or if not so, whose top serene At least he feels 'tis given him to descry; Not without aspirations, evermore Returning, and injunctions from within Doubt to cast off and weariness; in trust That what the Soul perceives, if glory lost, May be, through pains and persevering hope, Recovered; or, if hitherto unknown, Lies within reach, and one day shall be gained." "I blame them not," he calmly answered "no; The outward ritual and established forms With which communities of men invest These inward feelings, and the aspiring vows To which the lips give public utterance Are both a natural process; and by me Shall pass uncensured; though the issue prove, Bringing from age to age its own reproach, Incongruous, impotent, and blank. But, oh! If to be weak is to be wretched miserable, As the lost Angel by a human voice Hath mournfully pronounced, then, in my mind, Far better not to move at all than move By impulse sent from such illusive power, That finds and cannot fasten down; that grasps And is rejoiced, and loses while it grasps; That tempts, emboldens for a time sustains, And then betrays; accuses and inflicts Remorseless punishment; and so retreads The inevitable circle: better far Than this, to graze the herb in thoughtless peace, By foresight or remembrance, undisturbed! Philosophy! and thou more vaunted name Religion! with thy statelier retinue, Faith, Hope, and Charity from the visible world Choose for your emblems whatsoe'er ye find Of safest guidance or of firmest trust The torch, the star, the anchor; nor except The cross itself, at whose unconscious feet The generations of mankind have knelt Ruefully seized, and shedding bitter tears, And through that conflict seeking rest of you, High-titled Powers, am I constrained to ask, Here standing, with the unvoyageable sky In faint reflection of infinitude Stretched overhead, and at my pensive feet A subterraneous magazine of bones, In whose dark vaults my own shall soon be laid, Where are your triumphs? your dominion where? And in what age admitted and confirmed? Not for a happy land do I enquire, Island or grove, that hides a blessed few Who, with obedience willing and sincere, To your serene authorities conform; But whom, I ask, of individual Souls, Have ye withdrawn from passion's crooked ways, Inspired, and thoroughly fortified? If the heart Could be inspected to its inmost folds By sight undazzled with the glare of praise, Who shall be named in the resplendent line Of sages, martyrs, confessors the man Whom the best might of faith, wherever fixed, For one day's little compass, has preserved From painful and discreditable shocks Of contradiction, from some vague desire Culpably cherished, or corrupt relapse To some unsanctioned fear?" "If this be so, And Man," said I, "be in his noblest shape Thus pitiably infirm; then, he who made, And who shall judge the creature, will forgive. Yet, in its general tenor, your complaint Is all too true; and surely not misplaced: For, from this pregnant spot of ground, such thoughts Rise to the notice of a serious mind By natural exhalation. With the dead In their repose, the living in their mirth, Who can reflect, unmoved, upon the round Of smooth and solemnized complacencies, By which, on Christian lands, from age to age Profession mocks performance. Earth is sick, And Heaven is weary, of the hollow words Which States and Kingdoms utter when they talk Of truth and justice. Turn to private life And social neighbourhood; look we to ourselves; A light of duty shines on every day For all; and yet how few are warmed or cheered! How few who mingle with their fellow-men And still remain self-governed, and apart, Like this our honoured Friend; and thence acquire Right to expect his vigorous decline, That promises to the end a blest old age!" "Yet," with a smile of triumph thus exclaimed The Solitary, "in the life of man, If to the poetry of common speech Faith may be given, we see as in a glass A true reflection of the circling year, With all its seasons. Grant that Spring is there, In spite of many a rough untoward blast, Hopeful and promising with buds and flowers; Yet where is glowing Summer's long rich day, That 'ought' to follow faithfully expressed? And mellow Autumn, charged with bounteous fruit, Where is she imaged? in what favoured clime Her lavish pomp, and ripe magnificence? Yet, while the better part is missed, the worse In man's autumnal season is set forth With a resemblance not to be denied, And that contents him; bowers that hear no more The voice of gladness, less and less supply Of outward sunshine and internal warmth; And, with this change, sharp air and falling leaves, Foretelling aged Winter's desolate sway. How gay the habitations that bedeck This fertile valley! Not a house but seems To give assurance of content within; Embosomed happiness, and placid love; As if the sunshine of the day were met With answering brightness in the hearts of all Who walk this favoured ground. But chance-regards, And notice forced upon incurious ears; These, if these only, acting in despite Of the encomiums by my Friend pronounced On humble life, forbid the judging mind To trust the smiling aspect of this fair And noiseless commonwealth. The simple race Of mountaineers (by nature's self removed From foul temptations, and by constant care Of a good shepherd tended as themselves Do tend their flocks) partake man's general lot With little mitigation. They escape, Perchance, the heavier woes of guilt; feel not The tedium of fantastic idleness: Yet life, as with the multitude, with them Is fashioned like an ill-constructed tale; That on the outset wastes its gay desires, Its fair adventures, its enlivening hopes, And pleasant interests for the sequel leaving Old things repeated with diminished grace; And all the laboured novelties at best Imperfect substitutes, whose use and power Evince the want and weakness whence they spring." While in this serious mood we held discourse, The reverend Pastor toward the churchyard gate Approached; and, with a mild respectful air Of native cordiality, our Friend Advanced to greet him. With a gracious mien Was he received, and mutual joy prevailed. Awhile they stood in conference, and I guess That he, who now upon the mossy wall Sate by my side, had vanished, if a wish Could have transferred him to the flying clouds, Or the least penetrable hiding-place In his own valley's rocky guardianship. For me, I looked upon the pair, well pleased: Nature had framed them both, and both were marked By circumstance, with intermixture fine Of contrast and resemblance. To an oak Hardy and grand, a weather-beaten oak, Fresh in the strength and majesty of age, One might be likened: flourishing appeared, Though somewhat past the fulness of his prime, The other like a stately sycamore, That spreads, in gentle pomp, its honied shade. A general greeting was exchanged; and soon The Pastor learned that his approach had given A welcome interruption to discourse Grave, and in truth too often sad. "Is Man A child of hope? Do generations press On generations, without progress made? Halts the individual, ere his hairs be grey, Perforce? Are we a creature in whom good Preponderates, or evil? Doth the will Acknowledge reason's law? A living power Is virtue, or no better than a name, Fleeting as health or beauty, and unsound? So that the only substance which remains, (For thus the tenor of complaint hath run) Among so many shadows, are the pains And penalties of miserable life, Doomed to decay, and then expire in dust! Our cogitations, this way have been drawn, These are the points," the Wanderer said, "on which Our inquest turns. Accord, good Sir! the light Of your experience to dispel this gloom: By your persuasive wisdom shall the heart That frets, or languishes, be stilled and cheered." "Our nature," said the Priest, in mild reply, "Angels nay weigh and fathom: they perceive, With undistempered and unclouded spirit, The object as it is; but, for ourselves, That speculative height 'we' may not reach. The good and evil are our own; and we Are that which we would contemplate from far. Knowledge, for us, is difficult to gain Is difficult to gain, and hard to keep As virtue's self; like virtue is beset With snares; tried, tempted, subject to decay. Love, admiration, fear, desire, and hate, Blind were we without these: through these alone Are capable to notice or discern Or to record; we judge, but cannot be Indifferent judges. 'Spite of proudest boast, Reason, best reason, is to imperfect man An effort only, and a noble aim; A crown, an attribute of sovereign power, Still to be courted never to be won. Look forth, or each man dive into himself; What sees he but a creature too perturbed; That is transported to excess; that yearns, Regrets, or trembles, wrongly, or too much; Hopes rashly, in disgust as rash recoils; Battens on spleen, or moulders in despair; Thus comprehension fails, and truth is missed; Thus darkness and delusion round our path Spread, from disease, whose subtle injury lurks Within the very faculty of sight. Yet for the general purposes of faith In Providence, for solace and support, We may not doubt that who can best subject The will to reason's law, can strictliest live And act in that obedience, he shall gain The clearest apprehension of those truths, Which unassisted reason's utmost power Is too infirm to reach. But, waiving this, And our regards confining within bounds Of less exalted consciousness, through which The very multitude are free to range, We safely may affirm that human life Is either fair and tempting, a soft scene Grateful to sight, refreshing to the soul, Or a forbidden tract of cheerless view; Even as the same is looked at, or approached. Thus, when in changeful April fields are white With new-fallen snow, if from the sullen north Your walk conduct you hither, ere the sun Hath gained his noontide height, this churchyard, filled With mounds transversely lying side by side From east to west, before you will appear An unillumined, blank, and dreary plain, With more than wintry cheerlessness and gloom Saddening the heart. Go forward, and look back; Look, from the quarter whence the lord of light, Of life, of love, and gladness doth dispense His beams; which, unexcluded in their fall, Upon the southern side of every grave Have gently exercised a melting power; 'Then' will a vernal prospect greet your eye, All fresh and beautiful, and green and bright, Hopeful and cheerful: vanished is the pall That overspread and chilled the sacred turf, Vanished or hidden; and the whole domain, To some, too lightly minded, might appear A meadow carpet for the dancing hours. This contrast, not unsuitable to life, Is to that other state more apposite, Death and its two-fold aspect! wintry one, Cold, sullen, blank, from hope and joy shut out; The other, which the ray divine hath touched, Replete with vivid promise, bright as spring." "We see, then, as we feel," the Wanderer thus With a complacent animation spake, "And in your judgment, Sir! the mind's repose On evidence is not to be ensured By act of naked reason. Moral truth Is no mechanic structure, built by rule; And which, once built, retains a stedfast shape And undisturbed proportions; but a thing Subject, you deem, to vital accidents; And, like the water-lily, lives and thrives, Whose root is fixed in stable earth, whose head Floats on the tossing waves. With joy sincere I re-salute these sentiments confirmed By your authority. But how acquire The inward principle that gives effect To outward argument; the passive will Meek to admit; the active energy, Strong and unbounded to embrace, and firm To keep and cherish? how shall man unite With self-forgetting tenderness of heart An earth-despising dignity of soul? Wise in that union, and without it blind!" "The way," said I, "to court, if not obtain The ingenuous mind, apt to be set aright; This, in the lonely dell discoursing, you Declared at large; and by what exercise From visible nature, or the inner self Power may be trained, and renovation brought To those who need the gift. But, after all, Is aught so certain as that man is doomed To breathe beneath a vault of ignorance? The natural roof of that dark house in which His soul is pent! How little can be known This is the wise man's sigh; how far we err This is the good man's not unfrequent pang! And they perhaps err least, the lowly class Whom a benign necessity compels To follow reason's least ambitious course; Such do I mean who, unperplexed by doubt, And unincited by a wish to look Into high objects farther than they may, Pace to and fro, from morn till eventide, The narrow avenue of daily toil For daily bread." "Yes," buoyantly exclaimed The pale Recluse "praise to the sturdy plough, And patient spade; praise to the simple crook, And ponderous loom resounding while it holds Body and mind in one captivity; And let the light mechanic tool be hailed With honour; which, encasing by the power Of long companionship, the artist's hand, Cuts off that hand, with all its world of nerves, From a too busy commerce with the heart! Inglorious implements of craft and toil, Both ye that shape and build, and ye that force, By slow solicitation, earth to yield Her annual bounty, sparingly dealt forth With wise reluctance; you would I extol, Not for gross good alone which ye produce, But for the impertinent and ceaseless strife Of proofs and reasons ye preclude in those Who to your dull society are born, And with their humble birthright rest content. Would I had ne'er renounced it!" A slight flush Of moral anger previously had tinged The old Man's cheek; but, at this closing turn Of self-reproach, it passed away. Said he, "That which we feel we utter; as we think So have we argued; reaping for our pains No visible recompense. For our relief You," to the Pastor turning thus he spake, "Have kindly interposed. May I entreat Your further help? The mine of real life Dig for us; and present us, in the shape Of virgin ore, that gold which we, by pains Fruitless as those of aery alchemists, Seek from the torturing crucible. There lies Around us a domain where you have long Watched both the outward course and inner heart: Give us, for our abstractions, solid facts; For our disputes, plain pictures. Say what man He is who cultivates yon hanging field; What qualities of mind she bears, who comes, For morn and evening service, with her pail, To that green pasture; place before our sight The family who dwell within yon house Fenced round with glittering laurel; or in that Below, from which the curling smoke ascends. Or rather, as we stand on holy earth, <<<< 646 And have the dead around us, take from them Your instances; for they are both best known, And by frail man most equitably judged. Epitomise the life; pronounce, you can, Authentic epitaphs on some of these Who, from their lowly mansions hither brought, Beneath this turf lie mouldering at our feet: So, by your records, may our doubts be solved; And so, not searching higher we may learn 'To prize the breath we share with human kind; And look upon the dust of man with awe'." The Priest replied "An office you impose For which peculiar requisites are mine; Yet much, I feel, is wanting else the task Would be most grateful. True indeed it is That they whom death has hidden from our sight Are worthiest of the mind's regard; with these The future cannot contradict the past: Mortality's last exercise and proof Is undergone; the transit made that shows The very Soul, revealed as she departs. Yet, on your first suggestion, will I give, Ere we descend into these silent vaults, One picture from the living. You behold, High on the breast of yon dark mountain, dark With stony barrenness, a shining speck Bright as a sunbeam sleeping till a shower Brush it away, or cloud pass over it; And such it might be deemed a sleeping sunbeam; But 'tis a plot of cultivated ground, Cut off, an island in the dusky waste; And that attractive brightness is its own. The lofty site, by nature framed to tempt Amid a wilderness of rocks and stones The tiller's hand, a hermit might have chosen, For opportunity presented, thence Far forth to send his wandering eye o'er land And ocean, and look down upon the works, The habitations, and the ways of men, Himself unseen! But no tradition tells That ever hermit dipped his maple dish In the sweet spring that lurks 'mid yon green fields; And no such visionary views belong To those who occupy and till the ground, High on that mountain where they long have dwelt A wedded pair in childless solitude. A house of stones collected on the spot, By rude hands built, with rocky knolls in front. Backed also by a ledge of rock, whose crest Of birch-trees waves over the chimney top; A rough abode in colour, shape, and size, Such as in unsafe times of border-war Might have been wished for and contrived, to elude The eye of roving plunderer for their need Suffices; and unshaken bears the assault Of their most dreaded foe, the strong Southwest In anger blowing from the distant sea. Alone within her solitary hut; There, or within the compass of her fields, At any moment may the Dame be found, True as the stock-dove to her shallow nest And to the grove that holds it. She beguiles By intermingled work of house and field The summer's day, and winter's; with success Not equal, but sufficient to maintain, Even at the worst, a smooth stream of content, Until the expected hour at which her Mate From the far-distant quarry's vault returns; And by his converse crowns a silent day With evening cheerfulness. In powers of mind, In scale of culture, few among my flock Hold lower rank than this sequestered pair: But true humility descends from heaven; And that best gift of heaven hath fallen on them; Abundant recompense for every want. Stoop from your height, ye proud, and copy these! Who, in their noiseless dwelling-place, can hear The voice of wisdom whispering scripture texts For the mind's government, or temper's peace; And recommending for their mutual need, Forgiveness, patience, hope, and charity!" "Much was I pleased," the grey-haired Wanderer said, "When to those shining fields our notice first You turned; and yet more pleased have from your lips Gathered this fair report of them who dwell In that retirement; whither, by such course Of evil hap and good as oft awaits A tired way-faring man, once 'I' was brought While traversing alone yon mountain pass. Dark on my road the autumnal evening fell, And night succeeded with unusual gloom, So hazardous that feet and hands became Guides better than mine eyes until a light High in the gloom appeared, too high, methought, For human habitation; but I longed To reach it, destitute of other hope. I looked with steadiness as sailors look On the north star, or watch-tower's distant lamp, And saw the light now fixed and shifting now Not like a dancing meteor, but in line Of never-varying motion, to and fro. It is no night-fire of the naked hills, Thought I some friendly covert must be near. With this persuasion thitherward my steps I turn, and reach at last the guiding light; Joy to myself! but to the heart of her Who there was standing on the open hill, (The same kind Matron whom your tongue hath praised) Alarm and disappointment! The alarm Ceased, when she learned through what mishap I came, And by what help had gained those distant fields. Drawn from her cottage, on that aery height, Bearing a lantern in her hand she stood, Or paced the ground to guide her Husband home, By that unwearied signal, kenned afar; An anxious duty! which the lofty site, Traversed but by a few irregular paths, Imposes, whensoe'er untoward chance Detains him after his accustomed hour Till night lies black upon the ground. 'But come, Come,' said the Matron, 'to our poor abode; Those dark rocks hide it!' Entering, I beheld A blazing fire beside a cleanly hearth Sate down; and to her office, with leave asked, The Dame returned. Or ere that glowing pile Of mountain turf required the builder's hand Its wasted splendour to repair, the door Opened, and she re-entered with glad looks, Her Helpmate following. Hospitable fare, Frank conversation, made the evening's treat: Need a bewildered traveller wish for more? But more was given; I studied as we sate By the bright fire, the good Man's form, and face Not less than beautiful; an open brow Of undisturbed humanity; a cheek Suffused with something of a feminine hue; Eyes beaming courtesy and mild regard; But, in the quicker turns of the discourse, Expression slowly varying, that evinced A tardy apprehension. From a fount Lost, thought I, in the obscurities of time, But honoured once, those features and that mien May have descended, though I see them here. In such a man, so gentle and subdued, Withal so graceful in his gentleness, A race illustrious for heroic deeds, Humbled, but not degraded, may expire. This pleasing fancy (cherished and upheld By sundry recollections of such fall From high to low, ascent from low to high, As books record, and even the careless mind Cannot but notice among men and things) Went with me to the place of my repose. Roused by the crowing cock at dawn of day, I yet had risen too late to interchange A morning salutation with my Host, Gone forth already to the far-off seat Of his day's work. 'Three dark mid-winter months 'Pass,' said the Matron 'and I never see, 'Save when the sabbath brings its kind release, 'My Helpmate's face by light of day. He quits 'His door in darkness, nor till dusk returns. 'And, through Heaven's blessing, thus we gain the bread 'For which we pray; and for the wants provide 'Of sickness, accident, and helpless age. 'Companions have I many; many friends, 'Dependants, comforters my wheel, my fire, 'All day the house-clock ticking in mine ear, 'The cackling hen, the tender chicken brood, 'And the wild birds that gather round my porch. 'This honest sheep-dog's countenance I read; 'With him can talk; nor blush to waste a word 'On creatures less intelligent and shrewd. 'And if the blustering wind that drives the clouds 'Care not for me, he lingers round my door, 'And makes me pastime when our tempers suit; 'But, above all, my thoughts are my support, 'My comfort: would that they were oftener fixed 'On what, for guidance in the way that leads 'To heaven, I know, by my Redeemer taught.' The Matron ended nor could I forbear To exclaim 'O happy! yielding to the law Of these privations, richer in the main! While thankless thousands are opprest and clogged By ease and leisure; by the very wealth And pride of opportunity made poor; While tens of thousands falter in their path, And sink, through utter want of cheering light; For you the hours of labour do not flag; For you each evening hath its shining star, And every sabbath-day its golden sun.'" "Yes!" said the Solitary with a smile That seemed to break from an expanding heart, "The untutored bird may found, and so construct, And with such soft materials line, her nest Fixed in the centre of a prickly brake, That the thorns wound her not; they only guard, Powers not unjustly likened to those gifts Of happy instinct which the woodland bird Shares with her species, nature's grace sometimes Upon the individual doth confer, Among her higher creatures born and trained To use of reason. And, I own that, tired Of the ostentatious world a swelling stage With empty actions and vain passions stuffed, And from the private struggles of mankind Hoping far less than I could wish to hope, Far less than once I trusted and believed I love to hear of those, who, not contending Nor summoned to contend for virtue's prize, Miss not the humbler good at which they aim, Blest with a kindly faculty to blunt The edge of adverse circumstance, and turn Into their contraries the petty plagues And hindrances with which they stand beset. In early youth, among my native hills, I knew a Scottish Peasant who possessed A few small crofts of stone-encumbered ground; Masses of every shape and size, that lay Scattered about under the mouldering walls Of a rough precipice; and some, apart, In quarters unobnoxious to such chance, As if the moon had showered them down in spite. But he repined not. Though the plough was scared By these obstructions, 'round the shady stones 'A fertilising moisture,' said the Swain, 'Gathers, and is preserved; and feeding dews 'And damps, through all the droughty summer day 'From out their substance issuing, maintain 'Herbage that never fails; no grass springs up 'So green, so fresh, so plentiful, as mine!' But thinly sown these natures; rare, at least, The mutual aptitude of seed and soil That yields such kindly product. He, whose bed Perhaps yon loose sods cover, the poor Pensioner Brought yesterday from our sequestered dell Here to lie down in lasting quiet, he, If living now, could otherwise report Of rustic loneliness: that grey-haired Orphan So call him, for humanity to him No parent was feelingly could have told, In life, in death, what solitude can breed Of selfishness, and cruelty, and vice; Or, if it breed not, hath not power to cure. But your compliance, Sir! with our request My words too long have hindered." Undeterred, Perhaps incited rather, by these shocks, In no ungracious opposition, given To the confiding spirit of his own Experienced faith, the reverend Pastor said, Around him looking; "Where shall I begin? Who shall be first selected from my flock Gathered together in their peaceful fold?" He paused and having lifted up his eyes To the pure heaven, he cast them down again Upon the earth beneath his feet; and spake: "To a mysteriously-united pair This place is consecrate; to Death and Life, And to the best affections that proceed From their conjunction; consecrate to faith In him who bled for man upon the cross; Hallowed to revelation; and no less To reason's mandates: and the hopes divine Of pure imagination; above all, To charity, and love, that have provided, Within these precincts, a capacious bed And receptacle, open to the good And evil, to the just and the unjust; In which they find an equal resting-place: Even as the multitude of kindred brooks And streams, whose murmur fills this hollow vale, Whether their course be turbulent or smooth, Their waters clear or sullied, all are lost Within the bosom of yon crystal Lake, And end their journey in the same repose! And blest are they who sleep; and we that know, While in a spot like this we breathe and walk, That all beneath us by the wings are covered Of motherly humanity, outspread And gathering all within their tender shade, Though loth and slow to come! A battlefield, In stillness left when slaughter is no more, With this compared, makes a strange spectacle! A dismal prospect yields the wild shore strewn With wrecks, and trod by feet of young and old Wandering about in miserable search Of friends or kindred, whom the angry sea Restores not to their prayer! Ah! who would think That all the scattered subjects which compose Earth's melancholy vision through the space Of all her climes these wretched, these depraved, To virtue lost, insensible of peace, From the delights of charity cut off, To pity dead, the oppressor and the opprest; Tyrants who utter the destroying word, And slaves who will consent to be destroyed Were of one species with the sheltered few, Who, with a dutiful and tender hand, Lodged, in a dear appropriated spot, This file of infants; some that never breathed The vital air; others, which, though allowed That privilege, did yet expire too soon, Or with too brief a warning, to admit Administration of the holy rite That lovingly consigns the babe to the arms Of Jesus, and his everlasting care. These that in trembling hope are laid apart; And the besprinkled nursling, unrequired Till he begins to smile upon the breast That feeds him; and the tottering little-one Taken from air and sunshine when the rose Of infancy first blooms upon his cheek; The thinking, thoughtless, school-boy; the bold youth Of soul impetuous, and the bashful maid Smitten while all the promises of life Are opening round her; those of middle age, Cast down while confident in strength they stand, Like pillars fixed more firmly, as might seem, And more secure, by very weight of all That, for support, rests on them; the decayed And burthensome; and lastly, that poor few Whose light of reason is with age extinct; The hopeful and the hopeless, first and last, The earliest summoned and the longest spared Are here deposited, with tribute paid Various, but unto each some tribute paid; As if, amid these peaceful hills and groves, Society were touched with kind concern, And gentle 'Nature grieved, that one should die;' <<<< 975 Or, if the change demanded no regret, Observed the liberating stroke and blessed. And whence that tribute? wherefore these regards? <<<< 978 Not from the naked 'Heart' alone of Man (Though claiming high distinction upon earth As the sole spring and fountain-head of tears, His own peculiar utterance for distress Or gladness) No," the philosophic Priest Continued, "'tis not in the vital seat Of feeling to produce them, without aid From the pure soul, the soul sublime and pure; With her two faculties of eye and ear, The one by which a creature, whom his sins Have rendered prone, can upward look to heaven; The other that empowers him to perceive The voice of Deity, on height and plain, Whispering those truths in stillness, which the word, To the four quarters of the winds, proclaims. Not without such assistance could the use Of these benign observances prevail: Thus are they born, thus fostered, thus maintained; And by the care prospective of our wise Forefathers, who, to guard against the shocks The fluctuation and decay of things, Embodied and established these high truths In solemn institutions: men convinced That life is love and immortality, The being one, and one the element. There lies the channel, and original bed, From the beginning, hollowed out and scooped For Man's affections else betrayed and lost And swallowed up 'mid deserts infinite! This is the genuine course, the aim, and end Of prescient reason; all conclusions else Are abject, vain, presumptuous, and perverse. The faith partaking of those holy times, Life, I repeat, is energy of love Divine or human; exercised in pain, In strife, and tribulation; and ordained, If so approved and sanctified, to pass, Through shades and silent rest, to endless joy."

The Excursion - Book Fifth - The Pastor