LIX.-ADMONITION. Intended more particularly for the Perusal of those who may have happened to be enamoured of some beautiful Place of Retreat, in the Country of the Lakes. YES, there is holy pleasure in thine eye! -The lovely Cottage in the guardian nook Hath stirred thee deeply; with its own dear brook, Its own small pasture, almost its own sky! But covet not the Abode ;-forbear to sigh, As many do, repining while they look; Intruders-who would tear from Nature's book This precious leaf, with harsh impiety. Think what the Home must be if it were thine, Even thine, though few thy wants !-Roof, window, door, The very flowers are sacred to the Poor ; The roses to the porch which they entwine. Yea, all, that now enchants thee, from the day On which it should be touched, would melt away. LX. WANSFELL!' this Household has a favoured lot, To watch while Morn first crowns thee with her rays, Or when along thy breast serenely float Evening's angelic clouds. Yet ne'er a note As soon we shall be, may these words attest How in thy pensive glooms our hearts found rest. 1 The Hill that rises to the south-east, above Ambleside. "IF THOU INDEED." IF Thou indeed derive thy light from Heaven, Visible though it be to half the Earth, Though half a sphere be conscious of its brightness, Is yet of no diviner origin, No purer essence, than the One that burns, Like an untended watch-fire, on the ridge Of some dark mountain; or than those which seem Humbly to hang, like twinkling winter lamps, Among the branches of the leafless trees. INFLUENCE OF NATURAL OBJECTS IN CALLING FORTH AND STRENGTHENING THE IMAGINATION IN BOYHOOD AND EARLY YOUTH. WISDOM and Spirit of the Universe! Thou Soul, that art the Eternity of thought! By day or star-light, thus from my first dawn 'Twas mine among the fields both day and night, Was set, and, visible for many a mile, The cottage windows through the twilight blazed, I heeded not the summons :-happy time It was indeed for all of us; for me It was a time of rapture !-Clear and loud The village clock tolled six-I wheeled about, That cares not for his home. -All shod with steel And woodland pleasures,-the resounding horn, Of melancholy, not unnoticed, while the stars, Not seldom from the uproar I retired -or sportively Into a silent bay,— Glanced sideway, leaving the tumultuous throng, To cut across the reflex of a Star; Image, that, flying still before me, gleamed Upon the glassy plain: and oftentimes, When we had given our bodies to the wind, And all the shadowy banks on either side Came sweeping through the darkness, spinning still The rapid line of motion, then at once |