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A softened roar, or murmur;1 and the sound
Though soothing, and the little floating isles
Though beautiful, are both by Nature charged
With the same pensive office; and make known
Through what perplexing labyrinths, abrupt
Precipitations, and untoward straits,

The earth-born wanderer hath passed; and quickly,
That respite o'er, like traverses and toils
Must he again encounter.2. -Such a stream
Is human Life; and so the Spirit fares
In the best quiet to her 3 course allowed;
And such is mine,- -save only for a hope
That my particular current soon will reach
The unfathomable gulf, where all is still!"

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Book Fourth

DESPONDENCY CORRECTED

ARGUMENT

State of feeling produced by the foregoing Narrative—A belief in a superintending Providence the only adequate support under affliction—Wanderer's ejaculationa— Acknowledges

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the difficulty of a lively faith-Hence immoderate sorrow -Exhortations · How received-Wanderer applies 2 his discourse to that other cause of dejection in the Solitary's mind-Disappointment from 3 the French Revolution. States grounds of hope, and insists on the necessity of patience and fortitude with respect to the course of great revolutions — Knowledge the source of tranquillity—Rural Solitude favourable to knowledge of the inferior Creatures; Study of their habits and ways recommended; exhortation

account of his own devotional feelings in youth involved—

1827. 1827. Implores that he may retain in age the power to find repose among enduring and eternal things— 1814.

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sorrow-but doubt or despondence not therefore to be in

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How these are received-Wanderer resumes—and applies

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7 1827.

Rural life and Solitude particularly favourable to a 1814.

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1814.

recommended for its influence on the affections and the imagination

to bodily exertion and communion1 with Nature-Morbid Solitude pitiable 2-Superstition better than apathy-Apathy and destitution unknown in the infancy of society-The various modes of Religion prevented it-Illustrated 33 in the Jewish, Persian, Babylonian, Chaldean, and Grecian modes of belief-Solitary interposes- Wanderer points out the influence of religious and imaginative feeling in the humble ranks of society, illustrated from present and past times— These principles tend to recal exploded superstitions and popery-Wanderer rebuts this charge, and contrasts the dignities of the Imagination with the presumptuous▾ littleness of certain modern Philosophers-Recommends 8 other lights and guides-Asserts the power of the Soul to regenerate herself; Solitary asks how 9-Reply-Personal appeal

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1 1827.

and an active Communion

1814.

2 1827.

a pitiable thing-If the elevated imagination cannot be exerted-try the humbler fancy—

1814.

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5 1827.

feeling on the mind in the humble ranks of society, in rural life especially-This illustrated

1814.

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10 1836.

Happy for us that the imagination and affections in our own despite mitigate the evils of that state of intellectual

Exhortation to activity of body renewed-How to commune with Nature-Wanderer concludes with a1 legitimate union of the imagination, affections, understanding, and reason 2 -Effect of his discourse 3—Evening; return to the Cottage.

HERE closed the Tenant of that lonely vale solitary

His mournful narrative commenced in pain,

In pain commenced, and ended without peace:
Yet tempered, not unfrequently, with strains
Of native feeling, grateful to our minds;
And yielding surely 4 some relief to his,
While we sate listening with compassion due.
A pause of silence followed; then, with voice
That did not falter though the heart was moved,5
The Wanderer said :-

"One adequate support
For the calamities of mortal life
Exists-one only; an assured belief

Slavery which the calculating understanding is so apt to
produce-

is apt to

1814.

MS.

Happy that the imagination and the affections mitigate
the evils of that intellectual slavery which the calculating
understanding is apt to produce—

1

1827.

How Nature is to be communed with
cludes with a prospect of a

2 1827.

1827.

Wanderer con

1814.

the affections, the understanding, and the reason— 1814.

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That did not falter though the heart was moved,

1814.

Such pity yet surviving, with clear voice
That falter'd not, albeit the heart was moved,
VOL. V

1836.

L

faith in definite
Power
Runel for
The on anti-

That the procession of our fate, howe'er
Sad or disturbed, is ordered by a Being
Of infinite benevolence and power;
Whose everlasting purposes embrace
All accidents, converting them to good.
-The darts of anguish fix not where the seat
Of suffering hath been thoroughly fortified
By acquiescence in the Will supreme
For time and for eternity; by faith,
Faith absolute in God, including hope,

And the defence that lies in boundless love
Of his perfections; with habitual dread
Of aught unworthily conceived, endured
Impatiently, ill-done, or left undone,
To the dishonour of his holy name.

Soul of our Souls, and safeguard of the world!
Sustain, thou only canst, the sick of heart;
Restore their languid spirits, and recal
Their lost affections unto thee and thine!" *

Then, as we issued from that covert nook,
He thus continued, lifting up his eyes

Shall the Soul,

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To heaven "How beautiful this dome of sky;
And the vast hills, in fluctuation fixed
At thy command, how awful!
Human and rational, report of thee
Even less than these ?-Be mute who will, who can,
Yet I will praise thee with impassioned voice:
My lips, that may forgot thee in the crowd,
Cannot forget thee here; where thou hast built,
For thy own glory, in the wilderness!

Me didst thou constitute a priest of thine,

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* In January 1849, the year before Wordsworth's death, he was asked by Mr. Francis C. Yarnall of Philadelphia for his autograph, for a lady in America; and, in reply, he wrote the four lines, beginning

Soul of our Souls, and safeguard of the world!

They were doubtless suggested to him at the time by the death of his own daughter. See Mr. Yarnall's paper on "Wordsworth's Influence in America," in the Transactions of the Wordsworth Society, No. v.-Ed.

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