Then paced the beaten downward way that led

Right to a rough stream's edge, and there

broke off;

570

The only track now visible was one That from the torrent's further brink held forth

Conspicuous invitation to ascend

A lofty mountain. After brief delay Crossing the unbridged stream, that road we took,

And clomb with eagerness, till anxious fears

Intruded, for we failed to overtake

Our comrades gone before. By fortunate chance,

While every moment added doubt to doubt, A peasant met us, from whose mouth we learned

That to the spot which had perplexed us first 580

We must descend, and there should find the road,

Which in the stony channel of the stream Lay a few steps, and then along its banks; And, that our future course, all plain to sight,

Was downwards, with the current of that

Was Man in my affections and regards 350
Subordinate to her, her visible forms
And viewless agencies: a passion, she,
A rapture often, and immediate love
Ever at hand; he, only a delight
Occasional, an accidental grace,

His hour being not yet come. Far less had then

The inferior creatures, beast or bird, attuned

My spirit to that gentleness of love, (Though they had long been carefully observed),

Won from me those minute obeisances 360
Of tenderness, which I may number now
With my first blessings. Nevertheless, on
these

The light of beauty did not fall in vain,
Or grandeur circumfuse them to no end.

BOOK XIV

[Lines 1-129]

CONCLUSION

IN one of those excursions (may they ne'er Fade from remembrance !) through the Northern tracts

Of Cambria ranging with a youthful friend, I left Bethgelert's huts at couching-time, And westward took my way, to see the

sun

Rise, from the top of Snowdon. To the

door

Of a rude cottage at the mountain's base We came, and roused the shepherd who attends

30

In that wild place and at the dead of night,
Being over and forgotten, on we wound
In silence as before. With forehead bent
Earthward, as if in opposition set
Against an enemy, I panted up
With eager pace, and no less eager thoughts.
Thus might we wear a midnight hour away,
Ascending at loose distance each from each,
And I, as chanced, the foremost of the
band;

When at my feet the ground appeared to brighten,

And with a step or two seemed brighter still;

Nor was time given to ask or learn the

And to that simple object appertains

20

A story-nnenriched with strange events,
Yet not unfit, I deem, for the fireside,
Or for the summer shade. It was the first
Of those domestic tales that spake to me
Of shepherds, dwellers in the valleys, men
Whom I already loved; not verily

For their own sakes, but for the fields and hills

Where was their occupation and abode.
And hence this Tale, while I was yet a Boy
Careless of books, yet having felt the power
Of Nature, by the gentle agency
Of natural objects, led me on to feel
For passions that were not my own, and

think

30

(At random and imperfectly indeed)
On man, the heart of man, and human life.
Therefore, although it be a history
Homely and rude, I will relate the same
For the delight of a few natural hearts;
And, with yet fonder feeling, for the sake
Of youthful Poets, who among these hills
Will be my second self when I am gone.