Where from the barren wall's unsheltered end
Long rails into the shallow lake extend ;
When school-boys stretched their length upon the green;
And round the humming elm, a glimmering scene,
In the brown park, in flocks the troubled deer
Shook the still-twinkling tail and glancing ear;
When horses in the wall-girt intake stood,
Unshaded, eyeing far below the flood,
Crowded behind the swain, in mute distress,
With forward neck the closing gate to press—
Then, as I wandered where the huddling rill
Brightens with water-breaks the hollow ghyll,*
To where, while thick above the branches close,
In dark brown bason its wild waves repose,
Inverted shrubs, and moss of darkest green,
Cling from the rocks, with pale wood-weeds between;
Save that aloft the subtle sunbeams shine
On withered briars that o'er the crags recline;
Sole light admitted here, a small cascade
Illumes with sparkling from the twilight shade;
Beyond, along the vista of the brook,
Where antique roots its bustling path o'erlook,
The eye reposes on a secret bridge
Half gray, half shagged with ivy to its ridge.4
Sweet Rill, farewell! To morrow's noon again
Shall hide me, wooing long thy wildwood strain;
But now the sun has gained his western road,
And eve's mild hour invites my steps abroad.
While, near the midway cliff, the silvered kite
In many a whistling circle wheels her flight;
Slant watery lights, from parting clouds, apace
Travel along the precipice's base;
Cheering its naked waste of scattered stone,
By lichens gray, and scanty moss, o'ergrown ;
Where scarce the foxglove peeps, or thistle's beard ; And restless stone-chat, all day long, is heard.
How pleasant, as the yellowing sun declines,
And with long rays and shades the landscape shines,
To mark the birches' stems all golden light,
That lit the dark slant woods with silvery white;
The willow's weeping trees that, twinkling hoar,
Glanced oft upturned along the breezy shore,
Low bending o'er the coloured water, fold
Their moveless boughs and leaves like threads of gold;
The skiffs with naked masts at anchor laid,
Before the boat-house peeping through the shade;
The unwearied glance of woodman's echoed stroke ;
And, curling from the trees, the cottage smoke.
Their panniered train a group of potters goad,
Winding from side to side up the steep road;
The peasant, from yon cliff of fearful edge
Shot, down the headlong path darts with his sledge ;
Bright beams the lonely mountain-horse illume
Feeding 'mid purple heath, "green rings,"5 and broom;
While the sharp slope the slackened team confounds,
Downward the ponderous timber-wain resounds;
In foamy breaks the rill, with merry song,
Dashed down the rough rock, lightly leaps along;
From lonesome chapel at the mountain's feet,
Three humble bells their rustic chime repeat;
Sounds from the water-side the hammered boat;
And blasted quarry thunders, heard remote !
Even here amid the sweep of endless woods,
Blue pomp of lakes, high cliffs, and falling floods,
Not undelightful are the simplest charms,
Found by the grassy door of mountain-farms.
Sweetly ferocious, round his native walks, Pride of his sister-wives, the monarch stalks ;
Spur-clad his nervous feet, and firm his tread;
A crest of purple tops his warrior head.
Bright sparks his black and rolling eye-ball hurls
Afar, his tail he closes and unfurls;
On tiptoe reared, he strains his clarion throat,
Threatened by faintly-answering farms remote.
Bright'ning the cliffs between, where sombrous pine And yew-trees o'er the silver rocks recline,
I love to mark the quarry's moving trains,
Dwarf panniered steeds, and men, and numerous wains : How busy the enormous hive within,
While Echo dallies with the various din !
Some (hardly heard their chisels' clinking sound)
Toil, small as pigmies in the gulf profound;
Some, dim between th' aerial cliffs descried,
O'erwalk the slender plank from side to side:
These, by the pale-blue rocks that ceaseless ring,
Glad from their airy baskets hang and sing.
Hung o'er a cloud above the steep that rears,
Its edge all flame, the broadening sun appears;
A long blue bar its ægis orb divides,
And breaks the spreading of its golden tides;
And now it touches on the purple steep
That flings his shadow on the pictured deep.
'Cross the calm lake's blue shades the cliffs aspire,
With towers and woods, a "prospect all on fire;"
The coves and secret hollows, through a ray
Of fainter gold, a purple gleam betray.
The gilded turf arrays in richer green
Each speck of lawn the broken rocks between;
Deep yellow beams the scattered boles illume,
Far in the level forest's central gloom :
Waving his hat, the shepherd, in the vale,
Directs his winding dog the cliffs to scale,-
That barking, busy 'mid the glittering rocks,
Hunts, where he points, the intercepted flocks.
Where oaks o'erhang the road, the radiance shoots
On tawny earth, wild weeds, and twisted roots;
The druid-stones their lighted fane enfold;
And all the babbling brooks are liquid gold;
Sunk to a curve, the day-star lessens still,
Gives one bright glance, and drops behind the hill.*
In these lone vales, if aught of faith may claim
Their silver hairs, and ancient hamlet fame,
When up the hills, as now, retreats the light,
Strange apparitions mock the village sight.
A desperate form appears that spurs his steed
Along the midway cliff's with violent speed;
Unhurt pursues his lengthened flight, while all
Attend, at every stretch, his headlong fall.
Anon, in order mounts a gorgeous show
Of horsemen-shadows moving to and fro ;
And now the van is gilt with evening's beam;
The rear through iron brown betrays a sullen gleam,
While silent stands the admiring crowd below,
Lost gradual o'er the heights in pomp they go,
Till, but the lonely beacon, all is fled
That tips with eve's latest gleam his spiry head.
Now, while the solemn evening shadows sail,
On red slow-waving pinions, down the vale;
And, fronting the bright west, in stronger lines,
The oak its darkening boughs and foliage twines;
How pleasant near the tranquil lake to stray
Where winds the road along a secret bay,
Along the "wild meandering shore" to view,
Obsequious grace the winding swan pursue;
He swells his lifted chest, and backward flings;
His bridling neck beneath his tow'ring wings;
On as he floats, the silvered waters glow,
Proud of the varying arch and moveless form of snow.
While tender cares and mild domestic loves
With furtive watch pursue her as she moves,
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