BOOK EIGHTH.

THE PARSONAGE.

ARGUMENT.

Pastor's apology and apprehensions that he might have detained his Auditors too long, with the Pastor's invitation to his house-Solitary disinclined to comply-rallies the Wanderer-and playfully draws a comparison between his itinerant profession and that of the Knight-errant-which leads to Wanderer's giving an account of changes in the Country from the manufacturing spirit.-Favourable effects.-The other side of the picture, and chiefly as it has affected the humbler classes.-Wanderer asserts the hollowness of all national grandeur if unsupported by moral worth.-Physical science unable to support itself. Lamentations over an excess of manufacturing industry among the humbler Classes of Society.-Picture of a Child employed in a Cotton-mill.-Ignorance and degradation of Children among the agricultural Population reviewed.-Conversation broken off by a renewed Invitation from the Pastor.-Path leading to his House. Its appearance described. His Daughter. His Wife.-His Son (a Boy) enters with his Companion. Their happy appearance. —The Wanderer how affected by the sight of them.

THE PARSONAGE.

THE pensive Sceptic of the lonely vale
To those acknowledgments subscribed his own,
With a sedate compliance, which the Priest.
Failed not to notice, inly pleased, and said:
"If ye, by whom invited I began
These narratives of calm and humble life,
Be satisfied, 'tis well,-the end is gained;
And in return for sympathy bestowed
And patient listening, thanks accept from me.

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Life, death, eternity! momentous themes 10 Are they-and might demand a seraph's tongue, Were they not equal to their own support; And therefore no incompetence of mine Could do them wrong. The universal forms Of human nature, in a spot like this, Present themselves at once to all men's view: Ye wished for act and circumstance, that make The individual known and understood; And such as my best judgment could select 19 From what the place afforded, have been given; Though apprehensions crossed me that my zeal To his might well be likened, who unlocks A cabinet stored with gems and picturesdraws

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His treasures forth, soliciting regard

To this, and this, as worthier than the last, 25 Till the spectator, who awhile was pleased More than the exhibitor himself, becomes

Weary and faint, and longs to be released. -But let us hence! my dwelling is in sight, And there-"

At this the Solitary shrunk 30 With backward will; but, wanting not address That inward motion to disguise, he said To his Compatriot, smiling as he spake;

"The peaceable remains of this good Knight Would be disturbed, I fear, with wrathful

scorn,

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If consciousness could reach him where he lies
That one, albeit of these degenerate times,
Deploring changes past, or dreading change
Foreseen, had dared to couple, even in thought,
The fine vocation of the sword and lance
With the gross aims and body-bending toil
Of a poor brotherhood who walk the earth
Pitied, and, where they are not known, despised.

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Yet, by the good Knight's leave, the two estates

Are graced with some resemblance. Errant those,

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Exiles and wanderers-and the like are these; Who, with their burthen, traverse hill and dale, Carrying relief for nature's simple wants.

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-What though no higher recompense be sought Than honest maintenance, by irksome toil Full oft procured, yet may they claim respect, Among the intelligent, for what this course Enables them to be and to perform. Their tardy steps give leisure to observe, While solitude permits the mind to feel; Instructs, and prompts her to supply defects. By the division of her inward self

For grateful converse: and to these poor men Nature (I but repeat your favourite boast)

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Is bountiful-go wheresoe'er they may;
Kind nature's various wealth is all their own.
Versed in the characters of men; and bound,
By ties of daily interest, to maintain
Conciliatory manners and smooth speech;
Such have been, and still are in their degree, 65
Examples efficacious to refine

Rude intercourse; apt agents to expel,
By importation of unlooked-for arts,
Barbarian torpor, and blind prejudice;
Raising, through just gradation, savage life 70
To rustic, and the rustic to urbane.

-Within their moving magazines is lodged
Power that comes forth to quicken and exalt
Affections seated in the mother's breast,
And in the lover's fancy; and to feed
The sober sympathies of long-tried friends.
-By these Itinerants, as experienced men,
Counsel is given; contention they appease
With gentle language; in remotest wilds,
Tears wipe away, and pleasant tidings bring; 80
Could the proud quest of chivalry do more?"

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"Happy," rejoined the Wanderer, "they who
gain

A panegyric from your generous tongue!
But, if to these Wayfarers once pertained.
Aught of romantic interest, it is gone.
Their purer service, in this realm at least,
Is past for ever.—An inventive Age
Has wrought, if not with speed of magic, yet
To most strange issues. I have lived to mark
A new and unforeseen creation rise
From out the labours of a peaceful Land
Wielding her potent enginery to frame
And to produce, with appetite as keen
As that of war, which rests not night or day,

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