IN THE FRITH OF CLYDE, AILSA CRAG 369

XXIII

IN THE FRITH OF CLYDE, AILSA CRAG1

DURING AN ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, JULY 17

[The morning of the eclipse was exquisitely beautiful while we passed the Crag as described in the Sonnet. On the deck of the steam-boat were several persons of the poor and labouring class, and I could not but be struck by their cheerful talk with each other, while not one of them seemed to notice the magnificent objects with which we were surrounded; and even the phenomenon of the eclipse attracted but little of their attention. Was it right not to regret this? They appeared to me, however, so much alive in their own minds to their own concerns that I could not look upon it as a misfortune that they had little perception for such pleasures as cannot be cultivated without ease and leisure. Yet, if one surveys life in all its duties and relations, such ease and leisure will not be found so enviable a privilege as it may at first appear. Natural Philosophy, Painting, and Poetry, and refined taste are no doubt great acquisitions to society; but among those who dedicate themselves to such pursuits, it is to be feared that few are as happy, and as consistent in the management of their lives, as the class of persons who at that time led me into this course of reflection. I do not mean by this to be understood to derogate from intellectual pursuits, for that would be monstrous: I say it in deep gratitude for this compensation to those whose cares are limited to the necessities of daily life. Among them, selftormentors, so numerous in the higher classes of society, are rare.-I. F.]

SINCE risen from ocean, ocean to defy,
Appeared the Crag of Ailsa, ne'er did' morn

With gleaming lights more gracefully adorn

His sides, or wreathe with mist his forehead high :
Now, faintly darkening with the sun's eclipse,*
Still is he seen, in lone sublimity,

Towering above the sea and little ships;
For dwarfs the tallest seem while sailing by,
Each for her haven; with her freight of Care,
Pleasure, or Grief, and Toil that seldom looks
Into the secret of to-morrow's fare;

Though poor, yet rich, without the wealth of books,
Or aught that watchful Love to Nature owes

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For her mute Powers, fix'd Forms, or1 transient Shows.

XXIV

ON THE FRITH OF CLYDE

(IN A STEAM-BOAT)

[The mountain outline on the north of this island, as seen from the Frith of Clyde,† is much the finest I have ever noticed in Scotland or elsewhere.—I. F.]

ARRAN! a single-crested Teneriffe,

A St. Helena next-in shape and hue,
Varying her crowded peaks and ridges blue;
Who but must covet a cloud-seat, or skiff
Built for the air, or wingèd Hippogriff?
That he might fly, where no one could pursue,
From this dull Monster and her sooty crew;

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1 1837.

and

1835.

* Compare The Eclipse of the Sun, 1820, in the “Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820" (vol. vi. p. 345).—ED.

He doubtless refers to the view of Goatfell and Kaim-na-Calliach, with Loch Ranza in front.-ED.

ON REVISITING DUNOLLY CASTLE

And, as 1 a God, light on thy topmost cliff.
Impotent wish! which reason would despise
If the mind knew no union of extremes,

No natural bond between the boldest schemes
Ambition frames, and heart-humilities.*
Beneath stern mountains many a soft vale lies,
And lofty springs give birth to lowly streams.

371

10

XXV

ON REVISITING DUNOLLY CASTLE
(See former series, "Yarrow Revisited," etc., p. 278.)
THE captive Bird was gone ;—to cliff or moor
Perchance had flown, delivered by the storm;
Or he had pined, and sunk to feed the worm :
Him found we not: but, climbing a tall tower,
There saw, impaved with rude fidelity

Of art mosaic, in a roofless floor,2

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An Eagle with stretched wings, but beamless eye-
An Eagle that could neither wail nor soar.

3

Effigy of the Vanished †—(shall I dare

This ingenious piece of workmanship, as I afterwards learned, had been executed for their own amusement by some labourers employed about the place.-W. W. 1835.

To call thee so ?) or symbol of fierce deeds
And of the towering courage which past times
Rejoiced in—take, whate’er thou be, a share,1
Not undeserved, of the memorial rhymes
That animate my way where'er it leads!

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Lieutenant-Colonel M'Dougal of Dunollie wrote to me (October 1883) that "the mosaic picture of an eagle—if it may be called so still exists, though it is rather a rude work of art. I believe it was executed by a gardener, who was here about the time of Wordsworth's visit. It was made of small stones, and is now a good deal overgrown with weeds, moss, etc., as the second story of the old ruin is open to the weather. An eagle was for many years kept in a cage, made against a wall of the ruin, and this no doubt was the cause of the rude picture being made."-Ed.

XXVI

THE DUNOLLY EAGLE

NOT to the clouds, not to the cliff, he flew ;
But when a storm, on sea or mountain bred,
Came and delivered him, alone he sped
Into the castle-dungeon's darkest mew.
Now, near his master's house in open view
He dwells, and hears indignant tempests howl,
Kennelled and chained. Ye tame domestic fowl,2
Beware of him! Thou, saucy cockatoo,
Look to thy plumage and thy life !—The roe,
Fleet as the west wind, is for him no quarry;

1 1837.

or symbol of past times,

That towering courage, and the savage deeds

Those times were proud of, take Thou too a share, 1835.

Their towering courage, and the savage deeds

Which they were proud of,

2 1835.

MS.

villatic Fowl,

MS.

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TO

WRITTEN IN A BLANK LEAF

Balanced in ether he will never tarry,
Eyeing the sea's blue depths.

373

Poor Bird! even so

Doth man of brother man a creature make

That clings to slavery for its own sad sake.

XXVII

WRITTEN IN A BLANK LEAF OF MAC-
PHERSON'S OSSIAN *

Composed 1824.-Published 1827

[The verses,

or strayed

From hope and promise, self-betrayed,

were, I am sorry to say, suggested from apprehensions of the fate of my friend, H. C., † the subject of the verses addressed to H. C. when six years old. The piece to "Memory" arose out of similar feelings.-I. F.]

OFT have I caught, upon a fitful breeze,1
Fragments of far-off melodies,

With ear not coveting the whole,
A part so charmed the pensive soul:
While a dark storm before my sight
Was yielding, on a mountain height
Loose vapours have I watched, that won
Prismatic colours from the sun;

1 1832.

Nor felt a wish that heaven would show
The image of its perfect bow.

What need, then, of these finished Strains?
Away with counterfeit Remains !

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ΙΟ

* This poem was first published among the Poems of Sentiment and Reflection in the edition of 1827. In the edition of 1836 Wordsworth gave 1824 as the year of its composition. It is here printed in the series to which it was finally assigned, although slightly out of its chronological place.—ED. Hartley Coleridge.-ED.

See p. 117.-ED.