The air of France, not less than Gallic At aught, however fair, that bore the zeal mien Kindled and burnt among the sapless Of a conclusion, or catastrophe. twigs f my exhausted heart. If busy men 745 1 sober conclave met, to weave a web f amity, whose living threads should stretch eyond the seas, and to the farthest pole, here did I sit, assisting. If, with noise nd acclamation, crowds in open air 750 xpressed the tumult of their minds, my voice 780 Why then conceal, that, when the simply In timid selfishness withdrew, I sought came; And, by what compromise it stood, not nice? 785 Enough if notions seemed to be highpitched, And qualities determined.-Among men here mingled, heard or not. The powers So charactered did I maintain a strife of song eft not uninvoked; and, in still groves, here mild enthusiasts tuned a pensive lay thanks and expectation, in accord 755 ith their belief, I sang Saturnian rule turned,-a progeny of golden years rmitted to descend, and bless mankind. With promises the Hebrew Scriptures teem: Hopeless, and still more hopeless every needs 795 elt their invitation; and resumed 760 All that Abstraction furnished for my long-suspended office in the House public worship, where, the glowing phrase ancient inspiration serving me, romised also, with undaunted trust retold, and added prayer to prophecy; e admiration winning of the crowd; 766 e help desiring of the pure devout. Scorn and contempt forbid me to proceed! t History, time's slavish scribe, will tell gusted therefore, or appalled, by aims 775 Brutus did to Virtue, 'Liberty, orshipped thee, and find thee but a Shade!' Such recantation had for me no charm, would I bend to it; who should have grieved Or purposes; nor scrupled to proclaim, Or even found pleasure, in such vagrant The weak were praised, rewarded, and That volume-as a compass for the so advanced; And, from the impulse of a just disdain, 830 Revered among the nations. I implored Its guidance; but the infallible support Of faith was wanting. Tell me, wi refused To fly, for safeguard, to some foreign To One by storms annoyed and advers shore, Remote from Europe; from her blasted Perplexed with currents; of his weake winds; In the old World compare, thought I, for Of her own passions; and to regions haste, And waves have wafted to this distant More dignified, and stronger in himself; shore, n the condition of a damaged seed, Vhose fibres cannot, if they would, take root. Whether to act, judge, suffer, or enjoy. soon 925 Will sweep the remnant of his line away; 890 lere may I roam at large;-my business is, loaming at large, to observe, and not to Than her destructive energies, attend 929 feel His independence, when along the side nd, therefore, not to act-convinced Of Mississippi, or that northern stream1 that all That spreads into successive seas, he walks; hich bears the name of action, how- Pleased to perceive his own unshackled soe'er life, ut by the obstreperous voice of higher With mind that sheds a light on what he still; sees; 940 the And, while the melancholy Muccawiss 910 Repeated o'er and o'er his plaintive cry, Lat soonest fails to please, and quickliest I sympathised at leisure with the sound; I found him not. There, in his stead, Inverted trees, rocks, clouds, and arm appeared sky; A creature, squalid, vengeful, and im- And, on its glassy surface, specks of fort pure; Remorseless, and submissive to no law But superstitious fear, and abject sloth. "Enough is told! Here am I-ye have heard 956 What evidence I seek, and vainly seek; What from my fellow-beings I require, And either they have not to give, or I Lack virtue to receive; what I myself, Too oft by wilful forfeiture, have lost 961 Nor can regain. How languidly I look Upon this visible fabric of the world, May be divined-perhaps it hath been said: But spare your pity, if there be in me 965 Aught that deserves respect: for I exist, Within myself, not comfortless. - The tenour Which my life holds, he readily may conceive Whoe'er hath stood to watch a mountain brook In some still passage of its course, and 970 Within the depths of its capacious breast, seen, And conglobated bubbles undissolved, Numerous as stars; that, by their onward lapse, Betray to sight the motion of the stream Else imperceptible. Meanwhile, is heard A softened roar, or murmur; and th sound Though soothing, and the little floating isles Though beautiful, are both by Nati charged With the same pensive office; and ma known Through what perplexing labyrinths, 2 rupt Precipitations, and untoward straits, The earth-born wanderer hath passes and quickly, That respite o'er, like traverses and tus BOOK FOURTH. DESPONDENCY CORRECTED. ARGUMENT. State of feeling produced by the foregoing Narrative.-A belief in a superintending Providence e only adequate support under affliction.-Wanderer's ejaculation.-Acknowledges the difficulty a lively faith.-Hence immoderate sorrow.-Exhortations.-How received.-Wanderer applies 3 discourse to that other cause of dejection in the Solitary's mind.-Disappointment from the rench Revolution.-States grounds of hope, and insists on the necessity of patience and fortide with respect to the course of great revolutions.-Knowledge the source of tranquillity.— ral Solitude favourable to knowledge of the inferior Creatures; Study of their habits and ways Sommended; exhortation to bodily exertion and communion with Nature.-Morbid Solitude iable.-Superstition better than apathy.-Apathy and destitution unknown in the infancy of ciety. The various modes of Religion prevented it.—Illustrated in the Jewish, Persian, Baby. Han, Chaldean, and Grecian modes of belief.-Solitary interposes.-Wanderer points out the luence of religious and imaginative feeling in the humble ranks of society, illustrated from sent and past times.-These principles tend to recall exploded superstitions and Popery.anderer rebuts this charge, and contrasts the dignities of the Imagination with the presumpus littleness of certain modern Philosophers.-Recommends other lights and guides.---Asserts power of the Soul to regenerate herself; Solitary asks how.-Reply.-Personal appeal.hortation to activity of body renewed.-How to commune with Nature.-Wanderer concludes ha legitimate union of the imagination, affections, understanding, and reason.-Effect of his course.-Evening; Return to the Cottage. ERE closed the Tenant of that lonely | Of infinite benevolence and power; vale Whose everlasting purposes embrace 15 s mournful narrative-commenced in All accidents, converting them to good. pain, -The darts of anguish fix not where the pain commenced, and ended without peace: seat Of suffering hath been thoroughly fortified t tempered, not unfrequently, with By acquiescence in the Will supreme strains 6 native feeling, grateful to our minds; id yielding surely some relief to his, hile we sate listening with compassion due. 20 For time and for eternity; by faith, love Of his perfections; with habitual dread pause of silence followed; then, with Of aught unworthily conceived, endured voice Impatiently, ill-done, or left undone, at did not falter though the heart was To the dishonour of his holy name. moved, e Wanderer said : 26 Soul of our Souls, and safeguard of the world! "One adequate support 10 Sustain, thou only canst, the sick of the calamities of mortal life ists-one only; an assured belief at the procession of our fate, howe'er or disturbed, is ordered by a Being heart; Restore their languid spirits, and recall 30 thine!" Dd |