1

That there is One who scorns thy power :-
But dance for under Jedborough Tower,
A Matron dwells who, though she bears
The weight of more than seventy years,
Lives in the light of youthful glee,2
And she will dance and sing with thee.

Nay! start not at that Figure-there!
Him who is rooted to his chair!
Look at him-look again! for he
Hath long been of thy family.
With legs that move not, if they can,
And useless arms, a trunk of man,
He sits, and with a vacant eye;
A sight to make a stranger sigh!
Deaf, drooping, that is now his doom:
His world is in this single room :
Is this a place for mirthful cheer ? 3
Can merry-making enter here ? *

The joyous Woman is the Mate
Of him in that forlorn estate !
He breathes a subterraneous damp;

But bright as Vesper shines her lamp:

*

MS.

1827.

Compare Tennyson's Deserted House, stanza iv.—
Come away: no more of mirth
Is here, or merry-making sound.

ED.

He is as mute as Jedborough Tower:

She jocund as it was of yore,

With all its bravery on; in times
When all alive with merry chimes,
Upon a sun-bright morn of May,
It roused the Vale to holiday.

I praise thee, Matron! and thy due
Is praise, heroic praise, and true!
With admiration I behold

Thy gladness unsubdued and bold:
Thy looks, thy gestures, all present
The picture of a life well spent :
This do I see; and something more;
A strength unthought of heretofore!
Delighted am I for thy sake;

30

35

40

And yet a higher joy partake:
Our Human-nature throws away

45

Its second twilight, and looks gay;

A land of promise and of pride
Unfolding, wide as life is wide.

Ah! see her helpless Charge! enclosed
Within himself as seems, composed;
To fear of loss, and hope of gain,

The strife of happiness and pain,
Utterly dead! yet in the guise
Of little infants, when their eyes

50

Begin to follow to and fro

55

The more I looked, I wondered more

And, while I scanned them o'er and o'er,1
Some inward trouble suddenly

Broke from the Matron's strong black eye-2
A remnant of uneasy light,

A flash of something over-bright! *

Nor long this mystery did detain

My thoughts;—she told in pensive strain 3
That she had borne a heavy yoke,
Been stricken by a twofold stroke;
Ill health of body; and had pined
Beneath worse ailments of the mind.

So be it but let praise ascend
To Him who is our lord and friend !
Who from disease and suffering

65

70

75

4 Hath called for thee a second spring;
Repaid thee for that sore distress

80

By no untimely joyousness;

Which makes of thine a blissful state;

And cheers thy melancholy Mate!

Sept. 20, 1803.-"We were received with hearty welcome by a good woman, who, though above seventy years old, moved about as briskly as if she was only seventeen.

Those

And soon she made this matter plain;
And told me, in a thoughtful strain,

4 As bad almost as Life can bring,

*

1807.

Added in MS.

Compare stanza xiii. of Resolution and Independence, p. 318.-ED. VOL. II

2 E

parts of the house which we were to occupy were neat and clean; she showed me every corner, and, before I had been ten minutes in the house, opened her very drawers that I might see what a stock of linen she had; then asked how long we should stay, and said she wished we were come for three months. She was a most remarkable person; the alacrity with which she ran up-stairs when we rung the bell, and guessed at, and strove to prevent, our wants was surprising; she had a quick eye, and keen strong features, and a joyousness in her motions, like what used to be in old Molly when she was particularly elated. I found afterwards that she had been subject to fits of dejection and ill-health we then conjectured that her overflowing gaiety and strength might in part be attributed to the same cause as her former dejection. Her husband was deaf and infirm, and sate in a chair with scarcely the power to move a limb-an affecting contrast! The old woman said they had been a very hard-working pair; they had wrought like slaves at their trade her husband had been a currier; and she told me how they had portioned off their daughters with money, and each a feather bed, and that in their old age they had laid out the little they could spare in building and furnishing that house, and she added with pride that she had lived in her youth in the family of Lady Egerton, who was no high lady, and now was in the habit of coming to her house whenever she was at Jedburgh, and a hundred other things; for when she once began with Lady Egerton, she did not know how to stop, nor did I wish it, for she was very entertaining. Mr. Scott sat with us an hour or two, and repeated a part of the Lay of the Last Minstrel. When he was gone our hostess came to see if we wanted anything, and to wish us good-night. On all occasions her manners were governed by the same spirit: there was no withdrawing one's attention from her. We were so much interested that William, long afterwards, thought it worth while to express in verse the sensations which she had excited, and which then remained as vividly in his mind as at the moment when we lost sight of Jedburgh."-(From Dorothy Wordsworth's Recollections of a Tour made in Scotland, 1803.) -ED.

"FLY, SOME KIND HARBINGER, TO
GRASMERE-DALE"*

Composed September 25, 1803.-Published 1815

[This was actually composed the last day of our tour between Dalston and Grasmere.-I. F.]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets" in 1815 and 1820. -ED.

FLY, some kind Harbinger, to Grasmere-dale ! 1
Say that we come, and come by this day's light;
Fly upon swiftest wing round field and height,2
But chiefly let one Cottage hear the tale;
There let a mystery of joy prevail,
The kitten frolic, like a gamesome sprite,3
And Rover whine, as at a second sight
Of near-approaching good that shall not fail:
And from that Infant's face let joy appear;
Yea, let our Mary's one companion child-
That hath her six weeks' solitude beguiled
With intimations manifold and dear,

While we have wandered over wood and wild--
Smile on his Mother now with bolder cheer.

66

5

Sunday, September 25, 1803.-A beautiful autumnal day. Breakfasted at a public-house by the road-side; dined at Threlkeld; arrived at home between eight and nine o'clock, where we found Mary in perfect health, Joanna Hutchinson with her, and little John asleep in the clothes-basket by the fire."--(From Dorothy Wordsworth's Recollections of a Tour made in Scotland, 1803.)-ED.

1 1837.

Fly, some kind Spirit, fly to Grasmere Vale!

dale,

1815.

1827.

Glad tidings!-spread them over field and height; 1815.

2 1837.

3 1837.

The Kitten frolic with unruly might,

The happy Kitten bound with frolic might,

1815.

1827.

* In the editions of 1815 and 1820, this poem bore the title, On approach

ing Home, after a Tour in Scotland, 1803.-Ed.