BOOK EIGHTH. RETROSPECT.-LOVE OF NATURE LEADING TO WHAT Sounds are those, Helvellyn, that are heard To make the sounds more audible? What crowd Covers, or sprinkles o'er, yon village green? Crowd seems it, solitary hill! to thee, Though but a little family of men, Shepherds and tillers of the ground-betimes Assembled with their children and their wives, They hold a rustic fair-a festival, Such as, on this side now, and now on that, Sees annually, if clouds towards either ocean Blown from their favourite resting-place, or mists Dissolved, have left him an unshrouded head. In this secluded glen, and eagerly They give it welcome. Long ere heat of noon, From byre or field the kine were brought; the sheep Are penned in cotes; the chaffering is begun. The heifer lows, uneasy at the voice Of a new master; bleat the flocks aloud. Booths are there none; a stall or two is here ; A lame man or a blind, the one to beg, The other to make music; hither, too, From far, with basket, slung upon her arm, Of hawker's wares-books, pictures, combs, and pins- Some sweet lass of the valley, looking out Fruits of her father's orchard, are her wares, And with the ruddy produce, she walks round Among the crowd, half pleased with half ashamed The children now are rich, for the old to-day Faint, but more tranquil, like the changing sun As tender infants are: and yet how great! For all things serve them them the morning light Loves, as it glistens on the silent rocks; And them the silent rocks, which now from high P Look down upon them; the reposing clouds ; The wild brooks prattling from invisible haunts; And old Helvellyn, conscious of the stir Which animates this day their calm abode. With deep devotion, Nature, did I feel, In that enormous City's turbulent world Of men and things, what benefit I owed To thee, and those domains of rural peace, Where to the sense of beauty first my heart Was opened; tract more exquisitely fair Than that famed paradise of ten thousand trees, Or Gehol's matchless gardens, for delight Of the Tartarian dynasty composed (Beyond that mighty wall, not fabulous, China's stupendous mound) by patient toil Of myriads and boon nature's lavish help; There, in a clime from widest empire chosen, Fulfilling (could enchantment have done more ?) A sumptuous dream of flowery lawns, with domes Of pleasure sprinkled over, shady dells. For eastern monasteries, sunny mounts With temples crested, bridges, gondolas, Rocks, dens, and groves of foliage taught to melt Into each other their obsequious hues, Vanished and vanishing in subtle chase, Too fine to be pursued; or standing forth But lovelier far than this, the paradise The elements, and seasons as they change, Man free, man working for himself, with choice Or social, and still followed by a train And beauty, and inevitable grace. Yea, when a glimpse of those imperial bowers Would to a child be transport over-great, |