-And let him nurse his fond deceit,
And what if he must die in sorrow!
Who would not cherish dreams so sweet,
Though grief and pain may come to morrow?

V.

REMEMBRANCE OF COLLINS,

COMPOSED UPON THE THAMES NEAR RICHMOND.

GLIDE gently, thus for ever glide,
O Thames that other bards may see
As lovely visions by thy side

As

now,

fair river! come to me.
O, glide, fair stream! for ever so
Thy quiet soul on all bestowing,
Till all our minds for ever flow

As thy deep waters now are flowing.

Vain thought!

Yet be as now thou art,

1789.

That in thy waters may be seen

The image of a poet's heart,

How bright, how solemn, how serene!

Such as did once the Poet bless,

*

Who, murmuring here a later ditty,

✦ Collins's Ode on the Death of Thomson, the last written, I believe, of the poems which were published during his lifetime. This Ode is also alluded to in the next stanza.

Could find no refuge from distress
But in the milder grief of pity.

Now let us, as we float along,
For him suspend the dashing oar;
And pray that never child of song
May know that Poet's sorrows more.
How calm! how still! the only sound,
The dripping of the oar suspended!
- The evening darkness gathers round,
By virtue's holiest Powers attended.

1799.

VI.

DESCRIPTIVE SKETCHES

TAKEN

DURING A PEDESTRIAN TOUR AMONG THE ALPS

ΤΟ

THE REV. ROBERT JONES,

FELLOW OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.

DEAR SIR:

However desirous I might have been of giving you proofs of the high place you hold in my esteem, I should have beer cautious of wounding your delicacy by thus publicly addressng you, had not the circumstance of our having been com

panions among the Alps seemed to give this dedication a propriety sufficient to do away any scruples which your modesty might otherwise have suggested.

In inscribing this little work to you, I consult my heart. You know well how great is the difference between two companions lolling in a post-chaise, and two travellers plodding slowly along the road, side by side, each with his little knap *ack of necessaries upon his shoulders. How much more of heart between the two latter!

I am happy in being conscious that I shall have one reader who will approach the conclusion of these few pages with regret. You they must certainly interest, in reminding you of moments to which you can hardly look back without a pleasure not the less dear from a shade of melancholy. You will meet with few images without recollecting the spot where we observed them together; consequently, whatever is feeble in my design, or spiritless in my coloring, will be amply supplied by your own memory.

With still greater propriety I might have inscribed to you a description of some of the features of your native mountains, through which we have wandered together, in the same manner, with so much pleasure. But the sea-sunsets, which give such splendor to the vale of Clwyd, Snowdon, the chair of Idris, the quiet village of Bethgelert, Menai and her Druids, the Al pine steeps of the Conway, and the still more interesting windings of the wizard stream of the Dee, remain yet untouched. Ap prehensive that my pencil may never be exercised on these subjects, I cannot let slip this opportunity of thus publicly assuring you with how much affection and esteem

London, 1793.

I

am, dear Sir,
Most sincerely yours,
W. WORDSWORTH.

Happiness (if she had been to be found on Earth) among the Charms of Nature.- Pleasures of the Pedestrian Traveller. Author crosses France to the Alps.-Present State of

the Grande Chartreuse.-Lake of Como.-Time, Sunset. Same Scene, Twilight. Same Scene, Morning; its volup tuous Character; Old Man and Forest-cottage Music. -River Tusa. Via Mala and Grison Gypsy.- Sckellenen-thal. — Lake of Uri.-Storiny Sunset. - Chapel of William Tell. --Force of local Emotion. - Chamois-chaser. - View of the higher Alps. - Manner of Life of a Swiss Mountaineer, interspersed with Views of the higher Alps. - Golden Age of the Alps. Life and Views continued. - Ranz des Vaches, famous Swiss Air. - Abbey of Einsiedlen and its Pilgrims. -Valley of Chamouny. - Mont Blanc.- Slavery of Savoy. -Influence of Liberty on Cottage Happiness. — France. Wish for the Extirpation of Slavery. — Conclusion.

-

WERE there, below, a spot of holy ground
Where from distress a refuge might be found,
And solitude prepare the soul for heaven;
Sure, nature's God that spot to man had given
Where falls the purple morning far and wide
In flakes of light upon the mountain-side;
Where with loud voice the power of water shakes
The leafy wood, or sleeps in quiet lakes.

Yet not unrecompensed the man shall roam, Who at the call of summer quits his home, And plods through some wide realm o'er vale and height,

Though seeking only holiday delight;

At least, not owning to himself an aim

To which the sage would give a prouder name.
No gains toc cheaply earned his fancy cloy,
Though every passing zephyr whispers joy;
Brisk toil, alternating with ready ease,

Feeds the clear current of his sympathies.
For him sod-seats the cottage-door adorn;
And peeps the far-off spire, his evening bourn!
Dear is the forest frowning o'er his head,
And dear the velvet green-sward to his tread:
Moves there a cloud o'er mid-day's flaming eye?
Upward he looks-" and calls it luxury":
Kind Nature's charities his steps attend;
In every babbling brook he finds a friend;
While chastening thoughts of sweetest use, be
stowed

By wisdom, moralize his pensive road.

Host of his welcome inn, the noontide bower,
To his spare meal he calls the passing poor;
He views the sun uplift his golden fire,
Or sink, with heart alive like Memnon's lyre;
Blesses the moon that comes, with kindly ray,
To light him shaken by his rugged way.
Back from his sight no bashful children steal;
He sits a brother at the cottage meal;
His humble looks no shy restraint impart ;
Around him plays at will the virgin heart.
While unsuspended wheels the village dance,
The maidens eye him with inquiring glance,
Much wondering by what fit of crazing care,
Or desperate love, bewildered, he came there.

*

*The lyre of Memnon is reported to have emitted melancholy or cheerfu! tones as it was touched by the sun's evening or morning rays.