XVIII.

SEATHWAITE CHAPEL.

SACRED Religion! 'mother of form and fear,'
Dread arbitress of mutable respect,

New rites ordaining when the old are wrecked,
Or cease to please the fickle worshipper;

Mother of Love! (that name best suits thee here)
Mother of Love! for this deep vale, protect
Truth's holy lamp, pure source of bright effect,
Gifted to purge the vapoury atmosphere
That seeks to stifle it ;-as in those days
When this low Pile * a Gospel Teacher knew,
Whose good works formed an endless retinue:
Such Priest as Chaucer sang in fervent lays;
Such as the heaven-taught skill of Herbert drew;

And tender Goldsmith crowned with deathless praise !

See Note.

XIX.

TRIBUTARY STREAM.

My frame hath often trembled with delight
When hope presented some far-distant good,
That seemed from heaven descending, like the flood
Of yon pure waters, from their aëry height
Hurrying, with lordly Duddon to unite;
Who, 'mid a world of images imprest

On the calm depth of his transparent breast,
Appears to cherish most that Torrent white,
The fairest, softest, liveliest of them all !
And seldom hath ear listened to a tune

More lulling than the busy hum of Noon,

Swoln by that voice-whose murmur musical
Announces to the thirsty fields a boon

Dewy and fresh, till showers again snall fall.

XX.

THE PLAIN OF DONNERDALE.

THE old inventive Poets, had they seen,
Or rather felt, the entrancement that detains
Thy waters, Duddon ! 'mid these flowery plains;
The still repose, the liquid lapse serene,
Transferred to bowers imperishably green,
Had beautified Elysium! But these chains
Will soon be broken;-a rough course remains,
Rough as the past; where Thou, of placid mien,
Innocuous as a firstling of the flock,

And countenanced like a soft cerulean sky,

Shalt change thy temper; and, with many a shock Given and received in mutual jeopardy,

Dance, like a Bacchanal, from rock to rock,

Tossing her frantic thyrsus wide and high!

XXI.

WHENCE that low voice ?-A whisper from the heart,
That told of days long past, when here I roved
With friends and kindred tenderly beloved;
Some who had early mandates to depart,

Yet are allowed to steal my path athwart

By Duddon's side; once more do we unite,
Once more beneath the kind Earth's tranquil light;
And smothered joys into new being start.

From her unworthy seat, the cloudy stall
Of Time, breaks forth triumphant Memory;
Her glistening tresses bound, yet light and free
As golden locks of birch, that rise and fall
On gales that breathe too gently to recal
Aught of the fading year's inclemency!

XXII.

TRADITION.

A LOVE-LORN Maid, at some far-distant time,
Came to this hidden pool, whose depths surpass
In crystal clearness Dian's looking-glass;

And, gazing, saw that Rose, which from the prime
Derives its name, reflected as the chime

Of echo doth reverberate some sweet sound :

The starry treasure from the blue profound

She longed to ravish ;-shall she plunge, or climb
The humid precipice, and seize the guest

Of April, smiling high in upper air?

Desperate alternative! what fiend could dare

To prompt the thought ?-Upon the steep rock's breast The lonely Primrose yet renews its bloom,

Untouched memento of her hapless doom!