And now, on every side, the surface breaks
Into blue spots, and slowly lengthening streaks;
Here, plots of sparkling water tremble bright
With thousand thousand twinkling points of light;
There, waves that, hardly weltering, die away,
Tip their smooth ridges with a softer ray;
And now the whole wide lake in deep repose
Is hushed, and like a burnished mirror glows,1
Save where, along the shady western marge,
Coasts, with industrious oar, the charcoal barge.2

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

120

125

130

Shot, down the headlong path darts with his sledge; 3
Bright beams the lonely mountain-horse illume
Feeding 'mid purple heath, “green rings,”* and broom;
While the sharp slope the slackened team confounds,
Downward † the ponderous timber-wain resounds;
4 In foamy breaks the rill, with merry song,

135

And, brightly blue, the burnished mirror glows, 2 1845.

1820.

The sails are dropped, the poplar's foliage sleeps,
And insects clothe, like dust, the glassy deeps.

3

1820.

This couplet followed 1. 127 from 1820 to 1843.

Shot, down the headlong pathway darts his sledge; 1793. 4 1820.

Beside their sheltering cross of wall, the flock
Feeds on in light, nor thinks of winter's shock;
Only in the edition of 1793.

* "Vivid rings of green."-Greenwood's Poem on Shooting.-W. W. 1793. The title is A Poem written during a Shooting Excursion on the Moors. It was published by Cruttwell at Bath in 1787, 4to, pp. 25. The quotation is from stanza xvi., l. 11.—ED.

"Down the rough slope the pondrous waggon_rings."-BEATTIE.— W. W. 1793. See The Minstrel, stanza xxxix., l. 4.-ED.

These rude structures, to protect the flocks, are frequent in this country: the traveller may recollect one in Withburne, another upon Whinlatter. W. W. 1793.

Dashed o'er 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,
2 door of mountain-farms.

Found by the grassy

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 the warrior's head.4
Bright sparks his black and rolling 5 eye-ball hurls
Afar, his tail he closes and unfurls;

6 On tiptoe reared, he strains 7 his clarion throat,
Threatened by faintly-answering farms remote :
Again with his shrill voice the mountain rings,

140

145

150

154

While, flapped with conscious pride, resound his wings! 8

Whose state, like pine-trees, waving to and fro,

Droops, and o'er canopies his regal brow,

7 1820.

This couplet was inserted in the editions 1793 to 1832.

blows

8 This couplet was first printed in the edition of 1820.

1793.

* "Dolcemente feroce."-TASSO. In this description of the cock, I remembered a spirited one of the same animal in the L'Agriculture ou Les Géorgiques Françoises, of M. Rossuet.-W. W. 1793.

Where, mixed with graceful birch, the sombrous pine And yew-tree1 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 all 2 the enormous hive within,
While Echo dallies with its 3 various din !

Some (hear you not their chisels' clinking sound ?) 4
Toil, small as pigmies in the gulf profound;
Some, dim between the lofty 5 cliffs descried,
O'erwalk the slender 6 plank from side to side;
These, by the pale-blue rocks that ceaseless ring,
In airy baskets hanging, work and sing.7

8

Just where a cloud above the mountain rears
An 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 that orb has touched the purple steep
Whose softened image penetrates the deep.10

1 1836.

Bright'ning the cliffs between where sombrous pine,
And yew-trees

160

165

170

1793.

2 1836.

8 1836.

Hung o'er a cloud, above the steep that rears

1793.

'Cross the calm lake's blue shades the cliffs aspire,
With towers and woods, a 66
prospect all on fire";
While 1 coves and secret hollows, through a ray
Of fainter gold, a purple gleam betray.
Each slip of lawn the broken rocks between
Shines in the light with more than earthly green :
Deep yellow beams the scattered stems 3 illume,
Far in the level forest's central gloom :
Waving his hat, the shepherd, from the vale,
Directs his winding dog the cliffs to scale,-

2

180

184

The dog, loud barking, 'mid the glittering rocks,
Hunts, where his master points, the intercepted flocks.5
Where oaks o'erhang the road the radiance shoots
On tawny earth, wild weeds, and twisted roots;
The druid-stones a brightened ring unfold;"

That flings its image

1832.

And now the sun has touched the purple steep
Whose softened image penetrates the deep.

1836.

1 1836.

Each speck of lawn the broken rocks between ;
invests with richer green

1793.

1820.

3 1827.

That, barking busy 'mid the glittering rocks,
Hunts, where he points, the intercepted flocks;

1793.

6 1845.

The Druid stones + their lighted fane unfold,

1793.

a burnished ring unfold;

1836.

*

I am unable to trace this quotation.-ED. + Not far from Broughton is a Druid monument, of which I do not recollect that any tour descriptive of this country makes mention. Perhaps this poem may fall into the hands of some curious traveller, who may thank me for informing him, that up the Duddon, the river which forms the estuary at Broughton, may be found some of the most romantic scenery of these mountains.-W. W. 1793.

This circle is at the top of Swinside, a glen about four miles from Broughton. It consists of 50 stones, 90 yards in circumference; and is on the fell, which is part of the range terminating in Black Combe.-ED.

VOL. I

C

And all the babbling brooks are liquid gold;

Sunk to a curve, the day-star lessens still,
Gives one bright glance, and drops1 behind the hill.

In these secluded vales, if village fame,
Confirmed by hoary hairs, belief may claim;
When up the hills, as now, retired the light,
Strange apparitions mocked the shepherd's sight.2

The form appears of one that spurs his steed
Midway along the hill with desperate speed; 3
Unhurt pursues his lengthened flight, while all
Attend, at every stretch, his headlong fall.
Anon, appears a brave, a gorgeous show
Of horsemen-shadows moving to and fro; 4
At intervals imperial banners stream,5
And now the van reflects the solar beam ; 6

*

190

195

200

1 1827.

sinks

1793.

2 1845.

In these lone vales, if aught of faith may claim,
Thin silver hairs, and ancient hamlet fame;
When up the hills, as now, retreats the light,
Strange apparitions mock the village sight.

1793.

In these secluded vales, if village fame,
Confirmed by silver hairs, belief may claim;
When up the hills, as now, retired the light,
Strange apparitions mocked the gazer's sight.

3 1836.

1820. shepherd's sight. 1836.

A desperate form appears, that spurs his steed,
Along the midway cliffs with violent speed;

1793.

* From Thomson: see Scott's Critical Essays.-W. W. 1793.

It is difficult to know to what Wordsworth here alludes, but compare The

Seasons,

Summer," 1. 1467.

and now a golden curve,

Gives one bright glance, then total disappears.-ED.