I.

EXTRACT

FROM THE CONCLUSION OF A POEM,

Composed upon leaving School.

DEAR native Regions, I foretell,
From what I feel at this farewell,
That, wheresoe'er my steps shall tend,
And whensoe'er my course shall end,
If in that hour a single tie

Survive of local sympathy,

My soul will cast the backward view,
The longing look alone on you.

Thus, when the Sun, prepared for rest,
Hath gained the precincts of the West,
Though his departing radiance fail
To illuminate the hollow Vale,

A lingering light he fondly throws

On the dear mountain-tops where first he rose.

II.

AN EVENING WALK,

ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG LADY.

General Sketch of the Lakes-Author's Regret of his Youth passed amongst them-Short Description of Noon- Cascade Scene-Noon-tide Retreat - Precipice and sloping Lights— Face of Nature as the Sun declines Mountain Farm, and

the Cock-Slate Quarry — Sunset — Superstition of the Country, connected with that Moment - Swans - Female Beggar Twilight Sounds · •Western Lights-Spirits-Night

Moonlight-Hope-Night Sounds - Conclusion.

FAR from my dearest Friend, 'tis mine to rove
Thro' bare grey dell, high wood, and pastoral cove;
Where Derwent stops his course to hear the roar
That stuns the tremulous cliffs of high Lodore;
Where silver rocks the savage prospect cheer
Of giant yews that frown on Rydal's mere ;

Where peace to Grasmere's lonely island leads,
To willowy hedgerows, and to emerald meads;
Leads to her bridge, rude church, and cottaged grounds,
Her rocky sheepwalks, and her woodland bounds;
Where, deep embosom'd, shy * Winander peeps
'Mid clustering isles, and holly-sprinkled steeps;
Where twilight glens endear my Esthwaite's shore,
And memory of departed pleasures, more.

gaze

Fair scenes! with other eyes, than once, I
Upon the varying charm your round displays,
Than when, ere-while, I taught, " a happy child,"
The echoes of your rocks my carols wild :
Then did no ebb of cheerfulness demand
Sad tides of joy from Melancholy's hand;

In youth's keen eye the livelong day was bright,
The sun at morning, and the stars of night,
Alike, when heard the bittern's hollow bill,

Or the first+woodcocks roam'd the moonlight hill.

* These lines are only applicable to the middle part of that lake.

+ In the beginning of winter, these mountains are frequented by woodcocks, which in dark nights retire into the woods,

In thoughtless gaiety I coursed the plain,
And hope itself was all I knew of pain.

For then, ev'n then, the little heart would beat
At times, while young Content forsook her seat,
And wild Impatience, panting upward, show'd
Where, tipp'd with gold, the mountain-summits glow'd.
Alas! the idle tale of man is found

Depicted in the dial's moral round;

With Hope Reflection blends her social rays
To gild the total tablet of his days;

Yet still, the sport of some malignant Pow'r,
He knows but from its shade the present hour.

But why, ungrateful, dwell on idle pain? To show what pleasures yet to me remain, Say, will my Friend, with unreluctant ear, The history of a poet's ev'ning hear?

When, in the south, the wan noon, brooding still, Breathed a pale steam around the glaring hill, And shades of deep-embattled clouds were seen, Spotting the northern cliffs with lights between; When, at the barren wall's unshelter'd end, Where long rails far into the lake extend,

Crowded the shorten'd herds, and beat the tides
With their quick tails, and lash'd their speckled sides;
When school-boys stretch'd their length upon the green;
And round the humming elm, a glimmering scene!
In the brown park, in herds, the troubled deer
Shook the still-twinkling tail and glancing ear;
When horses in the sunburnt* intake stood,
And vainly eyed below the tempting flood,
Or tracked the Passenger, in mute distress,
With forward neck the closing gate to press-
Then, while I wander'd up the huddling rill
Brightening with water-breaks the sombrous† ghyll,
As by enchantment, an obscure retreat
Open'd at once, and stay'd my devious feet.
While thick above the rill the branches close,
In rocky basin its wild waves repose,

Inverted shrubs, and moss of gloomy green,

Cling from the rocks, with pale wood-weeds between;

* The word intake is local, and signifies a mountain inclosure.

+ Ghyll is also, I believe, a term confined to this country, Glen, ghyll, and dingle, have the same meaning.