Mid gloom and tumult, but no less 'mid Evening and morning, sleep and waking, fair And tranquil scenes, that universal power And fitness in the latent qualities 325 And essences of things, by which the mind Is moved with feelings of delight, to me Came strengthened with a superadded soul, A virtue not its own. My morning walks Were early; oft before the hours of school 330 I travelled round our little lake, five miles thought 355 From sources inexhaustible, poured forth To feed the spirit of religious love In which I walked with Nature. But let this 360 Be not forgotten, that I still retained My first creative sensibility; That by the regular action of the world My soul was unsubdued. A plastic power Abode with me; a forming hand, at times Rebellious, acting in a devious mood; Of pleasant wandering. Happy time! A local spirit of his own, at war more dear For this, that one was by my side, a Then passionately loved; with heart how Would he peruse these lines! For many years 335 Have since flowed in between us, and, Both silent to each other, at this time From human dwelling, or the vernal Was audible; and sate among the woods. Yet slumbering, lay in utter solitude. 345 Oft in these moments such a holy calm 365 With general tendency, but, for the most, Came from my mind, which on the setting Murmuring so sweetly in themselves, A like dominion, and the midnight storm Nor should this, perchance, Is more poetic as resembling more was come; In objects where no brotherhood exists time, 390 1 O'er all that, lost beyond the reach of Yet mingled not unwillingly with sneers thought And human knowledge, to the human eye Invisible, yet liveth to the heart; 405 O'er all that leaps and runs, and shouts | and sings, On visionary minds; if, in this time Or beats the gladsome air; o'er all that The blessing of my life; the gift is yours Beneath the wave, yea, in the wave itself, hast fed My lofty speculations; and in thee, 1 Thou, my Friend! wert reared In the great city, 'mid far other scenes; But we, by different roads, at length have gained The self-same bourne. And for this cause to thee Forgot her functions, and slept undis- I speak, unapprehensive of contempt, 455 turbed. If this be error, and another faith The insinuated scoff of coward tongues, And all that silent language which so oft In conversation between man and man Find easier access to the pious mind, 420 Blots from the human countenance all trace Yet were I grossly destitute of all Those human sentiments that make this earth So dear, if I should fail with grateful voice To speak of you, ye mountains, and ye lakes And sounding cataracts, ye mists and winds 425 That dwell among the hills where I was born. If in my youth I have been pure in heart, If, mingling with the world, I am content With my own modest pleasures, and have lived Of beauty and of love. For thou hast BOOK THIRD. RESIDENCE AT CAMBRIDGE. It was a dreary morning when the wheels | From shop to shop about my own affairs, clouds, And nothing cheered our way till first With honour and importance: in a world f welcome faces up and down I roved; uestions, directions, warnings and ad vice, As if the change 35 Had waited on some Fairy's wand, at once Behold me rich in monies, and attired In splendid garb, with hose of silk, and hair Powdered like rimy trees, when frost is keen. My lordly dressing-gown, I pass it by, 40 With other signs of manhood that sup plied The lack of beard.-The weeks went roundly on, With invitations, suppers, wine and fruit, Smooth housekeeping within, and all without Liberal, and suiting gentleman's array. 45 } The Evangelist St. John my patron was: Three Gothic courts are his, and in the first Was my abiding-place, a nook obscure; lowed in upon me, from all sides; fresh Right underneath, the College kitchens day 24 made í pride and pleasure! to myself I seemed A humming sound, less tuneable than .man of business and expense, and went bees, 50 Y 3 But hardly less industrious; with shrill Reflective acts to fix the moral law Deep in the conscience, nor of Christian Hope, notes Of sharp command and scolding intermixed. Near me hung Trinity's loquacious clock, Who never let the quarters, night or day, Slip by him unproclaimed, and told the hours 55 Twice over with a male and female voice. Her pealing organ was my neighbour too; And from my pillow, looking forth by light 85 Bowing her head before her sister Faith As one far mightier), hither I had come, Bear witness Truth, endowed with holy powers And faculties, whether to work or feel. Oft when the dazzling show no longer new Had ceased to dazzle, ofttimes did I quit My comrades, leave the crowd, buildings and groves, Of moon or favouring stars, I could be. And as I paced alone the level fields Of College labours, of the Lecturer's room All studded round, as thick as chairs could stand, 65 Far from those lovely sights and sounds Drooped not; but there into herself re turning, With prompt rebound seemed fresh as heretofore. At least I more distinctly recognised Her native instincts: let me dare to speak A higher language, say that now I felt With loyal students faithful to their | What independent solaces were mine, cast down? To mitigate the injurious sway of place Or circumstance, how far soever changed In youth, or to be changed in after years As if awakened, summoned, roused, ean strained, I looked for universal things; perused The common countenance of earth and sky: Earth, nowhere unembellished by som trace Of that first Paradise whence man we driven; And sky, whose beauty and bounty ar expressed 180 By the proud name she bears-the nam of Heaven. I called on both to teach me what they might; Or turning the mind in upon herself, Pored, watched, expected, listened, sprea my thoughts And spread them with a wider creeping felt Incumbencies more awful, visitings For (not to speak of Reason and her pure | That tolerates the indignities of Time, This is, in truth, heroic argument, This genuine prowess, which I wished to touch With hand however weak, but in the main It lies far hidden from the reach of words. Points have we all of us within our souls Where all stand single; this I feel, and make 186 With undisordered sight. But leaving Breathings for incommunicable powers; t was no madness, for the bodily eye 155 umid my strongest workings evermore Vas searching out the lines of difference s they lie hid in all external forms, fear or remote, minute or vast; an eye |