BOOK NINTH. DISCOURSE OF THE WANDERER, AND AN EVENING VISIT TO THE LAKE. ARGUMENT. Wanderer asserts that an active principle pervades the Universe, its noblest seat the human soul. How lively this principle is in Childhood.-Hence the delight in old Age of looking back upon Childhood.-The dignity, powers, and privileges of Age asserted.-These not to be looked for generally but under a just government.-Right of a human Creature to be exempt from being considered as a mere Instrument.-The condition of multitudes deplored.-Former conversation recurred to, and the Wanderer's opinions set in a clearer light.-Truth placed within reach of the humblest.-Equality.-Happy state of the two Boys again adverted to.-Earnest wish expressed for a System of National Education established universally by Government.-Glorious effects of this foretold.-Walk to the Lake-Grand spectacle from the side of a hill.-Address of Priest to the Supreme Being-in the course of which he contrasts with ancient Barbarism the present appearance of the scene before him.-The change ascribed to Christianity.-Apostrophe to his flock, living and dead.-Gratitude to the Almighty.-Return over the Lake.-Parting with the Solitary.-Under what circumstances. And by desire; we see by the glad light (For every moment hath its own to- Those blooming Boys, whose hearts are almost sick With present triumph, will be sure to find 30 A field before them freshened with the dew Of other expectations;-in which course Their happy year spins round. The youth obeys A like glad impulse; and so moves the Reverberations; and a choral song, Commingling with the incense that ascends, By which the finer passages of sense Undaunted, toward the imperishable hea- To listen, is prevented or deterred. vens, From her own lonely altar? 80 "And may it not be hoped, that, placed by age In like removal, tranquil though severe, Do not think That good and wise ever will be allowed, Though strength decay, to breathe in such estate 46 As shall divide them wholly from the stir Of hopeful nature. Rightly it is said That Man descends into the VALE of Fresh power to commune with the in 65 visible world, Country, society, and time itself, That saps the individual's bodily frame, And lays the generations low in dust, Do, by the almighty Ruler's grace, partake of one maternal spirit, bringing forth And cherishing with ever-constant love, (Not less unceasing, not less vain than That tires not, nor betrays. Our life is 75 Many and idle, visits not his ear: these,) turned 115 Out of her course, wherever man is made Of common right or interest in the end; Was Man created; but to obey the law Of life, and hope, and action. And 'tis With the least taint and injury to the air 150 The oppressor breathes, their human form divine, And their immortal soul, may waste away." The Sage rejoined, "I thank you—you have spared My voice the utterance of a keen regret, A wide compassion which with you I share. 155 When, heretofore, I placed before your sight A Little-one, subjected to the arts The rustic Boy, who walks the fields, untaught; The slave of ignorance, and oft of want, And miserable hunger. Much, too much, Of this unhappy lot, in early youth 165 We both have witnessed, lot which I myself Shared, though in mild and merciful degree: Yet was the mind to hinderances exposed, Through which I struggled, not without distress And sometimes injury, like a lamb enthralled 170 How with most quiet and most silent Of those who once were vassals of her death, soil, 180 Following its fortunes like the beasts or trees Into all hearts. Throughout the world of sense, Which it sustained. But no one takes Even as an object is sublime or fair, 215 delight In this oppression; none are proud of it; It bears no sounding name, nor ever bore; A standing grievance, an indigenous vice Of every country under heaven. My thoughts 186 Were turned to evils that are new and chosen, A bondage lurking under shape of good,— Arts, in themselves beneficent and kind, But all too fondly followed and too far;To victims, which the merciful can see Nor think that they are victims-turned to wrongs, Foretasted, immortality conceived By all,-a blissful immortality, 225 By women, who have children of their To them whose holiness on earth shall own, make Beheld without compassion, yea, with The Spirit capable of heaven, assured. praise! And whence that difference? Whence but For high-yet not for low; for proudly The fields of earth with gratitude and Within the bosom of his native vale. hope; Yet, in that meditation, will he find 250 Motive to sadder grief, as we have found; Lamenting ancient virtues overthrown, And for the injustice grieving, that hath made 280 At least, whatever fate the noon of life So wide a difference between man and Both have been fairly dealt with; looking man. "Then let us rather fix our gladdened thoughts 255 Upon the brighter scene. How blest that pair Of blooming Boys (whom we beheld even now) Blest in their several and their common lot! A few short hours of each returning day The thriving prisoners of their villageschool: 260 And thence let loose, to seek their pleasant homes Or range the grassy lawn in vacancy; To breathe and to be happy, run and shout Idle, but no delay, no harm, no loss; For every genial power of heaven and earth, 265 Through all the seasons of the changeful back Binding herself by statute to secure1 For all the children whom her soil maintains 300 The rudiments of letters, and inform The mind with moral and religious truth, Both understood and practised,— -so that none, However destitute, be left to droop Of intellectual implements and tools; To both; and, if that partnership must A savage horde among the civilised, cease, A servile band among the lordly free! 310 I grieve not," to the Pastor here he This sacred right, the lisping babe proturned, claims To be inherent in him, by Heaven's will, For the protection of his innocence; And the rude boy-who, having overpast The sinless age, by conscience is enrolled, 315 Yet mutinously knits his angry brow, 1 See Note, p. 983. |